mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Eleanor Herman
polite. But Camillo was all varnish and no substance. He seemed to
have no drive to excel in politics or finance, and he dragged himself
through each day with a general air of lassitude.
If Olimpia looked at her son and heir with ill-concealed disappointment,
she must have consoled herself with the knowledge that she had
enough brains and ambition for the whole family. It was she, a poorly
educated woman, who had raised the Maidalchini and Pamphili clans
from nothing to the pinnacle of greatness. Looking at the inert, inept,
insipid Camillo from her lofty position, she realized he was a hopeless
ditherer.
But it was all right. Camillo could dither as much as he wanted as
long as he performed the one duty his mother assigned him. He must
marry the girl of her choice.
A widow was supposed to shun society, speak rarely, and fasten her eyes
on the floor lest she be tempted by worldly vanities. She was to put away
her jewels, pray daily for her husband’s soul, never talk to unrelated
men, and above all, never be seen laughing. A virtuous sense of shame
was to imbue her every action. Interestingly, advice manuals of the time
encouraged widows to shun the society of their brothers-in-law; while
virgins didn’t know what they were missing, widows were considered to
be sexually insatiable and easily led astray by even the closest relatives.
Olimpia evidently did not read advice manuals for widows. She
looked men straight in the eye, spent more time than ever with her
brother-in-law, and, bedecked in diamonds, attended theatrical performances
at which she guffawed most loudly of all. She also hunted regularly.
Now and then the Viterbans were treated to the unusual sight of a
grieving widow racing across the fields after a fox, her billowing black
weeds flapping around her.
Nor did Olimpia give up speaking to unrelated men. According to
the ambassador of Mantua, she was “haughty and entered into conversations
more than was seemly for a widow, and spent many hours
gambling.” 12 Olimpia was passionate about card games and held latenight
gambling parties in her palace. She loved beating her opponents,
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