Pope JuliusII.
Thisextraordinary man was originally a fisherman, but his uncle, SextusIV., being pope, and seeing that he possessed great talents, caused him to enter the church, where he soon obtained distinction. His ambition was vast, and reaching from point to point, he at last became pope, in 1503.
Although he professed to be the successor ofSt.Peter, who preached the gospel of peace, Julius did not hesitate to raise armies and make war; and, what is remarkable, he led his armies in person, and in battle displayed all the fierce courage and bold daring of the soldier. At the siege of Mirandola, in 1511, he exposed himself, at the head of his men, at any point of danger: when a breach in the walls was effected, he entered by a scaling ladder, sword in hand, being among the very foremost of the headlong assailants!
The great mind of Julius was occupied with many vast projects. In the first place, he desired to restore the see of Rome to its former power, and he made wars, fought battles, and intrigued with kings and princes, to effect this object. He did a good deal, as he thought, to strengthen the power of the popes, and establish, not only the spiritual, but temporal dominion of the church; but while he was pleasing himself with the idea of success in one direction, we shall see that he was laying the train, in another, by which his schemes were to be finally exploded, and the church itself shaken to its foundations.
Pope Julius IIPope JuliusII.
Pope JuliusII.
Julius was a lover of pleasure, and many tales are told of his vices and immoralities.He was also a lover of the fine arts—painting, sculpture, and architecture. Of these he became a patron, and many great artists, particularly Raphael and Michael Angelo, flourished in his time and under his auspices.
Julius did a great deal to improve and embellish the Vatican, which is the Pope’s palace, at Rome. This building is still one of the wonders of the world, and it would require a large book to describe its hundreds of rooms, and its treasures of art, in painting and sculpture.
Among other great projects, Julius determined to build a cathedral church, one of such majesty and splendor as was suitable to the city of Rome, the seat of the popes, the centre and head of that religion which had not only pervaded the civilized world, but claimed to be the perpetuation and completion of God’s dealings with man on earth. The stupendous and admirable church ofSt.Peter, still standing at Rome,—the wonder of the world and the triumph of art,—was the result of this grand conception.
Julius was a man of great energy—and he set immediately about his darling project. The greatest artists were employed, and the edifice was begun on the 18th April, 1506. It was hurried forward with such expedition, that the walls, after they were carried to a great elevation, cracked, and it required the wonderful genius of Michael Angelo to devise the means of remedying the difficulty, and of furnishing the stupendous plans for the final completion of the building.
St.Peter’s was not finished till more than a century after both Julius and Michael Angelo had gone down to their graves—so vain are both ambition and genius, in satisfying their own desires. And as to Julius, this very work, designed, no doubt, to hand down his name with glory to after times, resulted in a very different manner. His various schemes led him into many expenses, and in his need for money he granted the sale ofindulgencesfor sins—causing it to be set forth that the money thus obtained, was to build the church ofSt.Peter. Julius seems to have thought it very desirable to erect this noble church; he, perhaps, regarded it as a very laudable and holy enterprise, though doubtless, some share of selfish ambition was mingled with other feelings. And, further, Julius seems to have thought, for such a great and good object, that he might deal in indulgences,—which were pieces of paper, sold for large sums of money, in which the pope declared that the sins committed by persons buying them, were remitted and forgiven of God!
This traffic being carried on to a great extent, roused the famous Martin Luther in opposition to the church of Rome, and the result was the Reformation, by which the power of the church of Rome was greatly abridged, and the popes themselves humbled. Thus the ambition of Julius resulted in disgrace to himself, and humiliation to the institution which he so eagerly sought to glorify.
A gentleman, one dark night, riding home through a wood, had the misfortune to strike his head against the branch of a tree, and fell from his horse, stunned by the blow. The animal immediately returning to the house which they had left, about a mile distant, found the door closed and the family retired to bed.
He then pawed at the door, till one of them, hearing the noise, arose and opened it, and to his surprise found the horse of his friend. No sooner was the door opened than the horse turned round, and the man, suspecting there was something wrong, followed the animal, who led him directly to the spot where his master lay on the ground in a state of insensibility.