Gherardo Nigri, the leading spirit of the Milanese Republic, had been hastily recalled from Genoa, where he had been for some time negotiating an alliance, offensive and defensive, between the two cities. The report of the immediate advance of the Emperor's powerful army greatly discouraged him; for, fully penetrating Barbarossa's designs, he foresaw, in a not far distant future, the fall, and perhaps the total destruction, of his proud city. Similar fears agitated all those who had accompanied him to Castellamare. Among them was one, in ecclesiastical costume, whose exterior indicated a personage of importance. This was Galdini Sala, Archdeacon of the Cathedral, and destined, as Archbishop of Milan, afterwards to play an important part in the history of his country. By nature taciturn and reflective,--his eyes usually downcast,--Sala became animated and bold whenever it became necessary to assert the rights of the Church, which alone could resist human passion and the encroachments of Imperial despotism. Consequently, Galdini's opposition to Barbarossa was more than violent.
"The circumstances are most serious," said Bonello; "but we must not forget that God alone is the arbiter of human destiny. Barbarossa seeks to unite in his own person the spiritual and the temporal power; but we have seen others, as bold and powerful as he, fail in the like attempt."
"You are right," replied Gherardo; "no power can subdue the Church. The papacy is eternal,--as immovable as the rock on which it is built, and which, God has promised, shall endure forever. But, alas! dear Guido, what fearful disasters must result from the strife which is now preparing!"
"It would be easy to prove," said Galdini Sala, "that the Church has never had an enemy so dangerous to her peace as this same Barbarossa. From the times of Nero until the conversion of Constantine, the bloody tyrants strove only to tear away her members. Frederic does not tear away; he stifles! his deadly work is the more dangerous, that it is wrought in silence. The Pagans would have overthrown Christianity, in order to prevent their own conversion; but this despot seeks to destroy the order of things which has existed for centuries. The Roman Emperors sought to protect and save their own paganism. Frederic would subvert the Christian world, in order to build up, upon its ruins, his own Imperial omnipotence."