The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

30
HISTORY OF THE POPES.
followers as the days went by. He then found himself in
great dififtculties in choosing another candidate, since, if he
decided upon one of the younger Cardinals, he would offend
the older ones, while among the latter there was not a single
one who seemed suitable both to him and to the other electors.
He therefore asked the Dean of the Sacred College, Pisani, to
call together Cardinals Farnese, Cristoforo Madruzzo, Este,
Corgna, Pacheco and Vitelli, and asked them to nominate a
suitable candidate from their point of view, promising that,
if his conscience permitted, he would support him with all
his party. 1
Borromeo's proposal was received with suspicion. They
feared that he was not in earnest, and that he only wished to
lay the responsibility for the long duration of the conclave
upon the shoulders of his colleagues, or else that he would only
pretend to support the candidate thus nominated, and thus
v/eary the electors, leaving the way open for his own sup-
porters. ^ Corgna, however, nominated Saraceni, Ricci, and
Cicada, while Vitelli put forward the Franciscan, Dolera.
Borromeo rejected Ricci on the spot, and, in spite of the
remonstrances of Delfino, persisted in so doing. He would
have allowed himself to be won over to the candidature of
Dolera, but Mark Sittich, whose views had to be respected
as a nephew of Pius IV., flatly declared that he did not want
a religious.^ Neither Saraceni nor Cicada seemed suitable
to Borromeo, and thus the conference in Pisani's cell had no
results as far as choosing a candidate was concerned.
Thus the position of the man who had so far been the leading
personality in the conclave was completely changed. Until
now it had been Borromeo who put forward the proposals,
while the others had been content to give their opinion as
to their value, or to take steps to frustrate them. But now
^ HiLLiGER, 129 seq.
^ *" Fu sospettato da qualch'uno deli detti cardenali che
Borromeo havesse fatto questo ofQcio per mostrare che per
ipsum non stabat quin pontifex eligeretur." Report of the con-
clave to Maximilian II. of January 5, 1566, State Archives, Vienna.
* HiLLiGER, 133.