“Act—yes; for I am not a Christian, nor are you.”
“If one must have a religion, give me Islam! God is One! That is the whole of its theology; a prayer-mat is its whole liturgy.”
“You have to have a washing-basin besides.”
“And a harem.”
“Things are certainly in a bad way with our religion. If one reads its history, it is a history of the decay of Christianity. That has been continually going on for fifteen hundred years since the days of the Apostles; soon the process of degeneration must be complete.”
“And if one reads the history of the Papacy, it is the same.”
“No, hush!” said a fat Cardinal, “you must let the papal throne remain till I have sat in it.”
“After a Borgia, it would suit as well to have a Medici like you, and especially a son of Lorenzo the Magnificent.”
“Will not the cardinals dance?” asked one, who seemed to be Chigi himself.
“Yes, after supper, in the pavilion, and behind closed doors,” answered the Cardinal de Medici, “and after I have hung up the red hat.”