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

THE INFLUENCE OF BORROMEO. 43
himself in his favour, this was undoubtedly because, in so
doing, he would have rendered him a very doubtful service.^
In any case the election of Pius V. must be attributed to him,
and that not only in the sense that he succeeded in thwarting
the artifices of Farnese and Este, and thus at length united
all votes for Ghislieri. The Spanish ambassador^ and the
astute Florentines^ had no great opinion of Borromeo's powers
of dealing with tricks and subterfuges, and his confidant,
Bascape,^ expresses the same opinion ; in the matter of the
election of Pius V., as had so often happened to him before,
his secret desires seemed to be fulfilled of their own accord,
and from the force of circumstances. Borromeo's great merit,
however, lay in the fact that he looked beyond the petty
considerations of a short-sighted family policy,^ that he waited
la sua esaltatione." (Borromeo to Philip II., January 27, 1566,
Ambrosian Library, Milan, F.37, Inf. p. 7). Cf. Borromeo to
King Sebastian and Cardinal Henry, February 25 and 26, 1566,
in Baluze-Mansi, III., 529.
^ Cf. supra p. 36.
2 " El negocio de Moron y de Sirletto estuvo tan ferca que
qualquiera dellos fuera Papa, si Borromeo supiera darse buena
mana." To PhiUp II., January 11, 1566, Corresp. dipl. I. 84.
* *" Basta che siamo fuori deUi scogU, i quali si sono schifati
non gia per il buon governo di Borromeo." Serristori and Concini,
January 7, 1566, loc. cit. {cf. supra p. 19, n. i).
* " Minus sagaciter vel etiam prudenter eum curasse aliquid
et ideo non obtinuisse putamus interdum, qui sibi aequo animo
passus id fuerit eripi ; contra nee opinantem et pene coactum
admisisse, quod consulto sit secutus ac non libenti solum, sed
gaudenti etiam animo acceperit " (I. i c. 9 p. 21). In his report
for 1569, Tiepolo gives the following description of Borromeo
as the leader of the party :
" sebbene nel conclave passato dasse
a'cardenali malissima sodisfazione, e si governasse in modo che
perdesse assai dell'amor loro." Alberi II. 4, 184.
* " El cardenal Borromeo y Alteps an hecho a este, siendo
mal tratado de su tio ; digo que le an hecho, porque estava en
su mano el excluylle, y sino vinieran en ^1, fuera imposible sello ;
es action con que Borromeo a dado muy buen exemplo al colegio "
(Pacheco to Philip II. on January 7, 1566, Corresp. dipl. I. 80).