'It's a pagan allusion out of Appollodorus,' the monk explained.
'What my Lord Cardinal means,' said Beppo, 'is that to feed you was a sheer waste, since as long as it continued, you sat here doing nothing.'
'Doing nothing!' Vignate was indignant. 'Let him keep to his Mass and his breviary and what else he understands.'
'He understands more than your lordship supposes.'
'More of what?'
'Of the art of war, my lord.'
And my lord laughed unpleasantly, being joined by his captain, but not by the monk whom it offended to see a cardinal derided.
And now Beppo went on: 'He assumes that this news will be a spur you need.'
'Why damn his impudence and yours! I need no spur. You'll tell him from me that I make war by my own judgment. If I have sat here inactive, it is that I have sat here awaiting my chance.'
'And now that the threat of starvation will permit you to sit here no longer, you will be constrained to go out and seek that chance.'