ABSTRACT
In the writings of the Secretary the passages which speak of his grier at losing his job are few and bitter; but none seems more heartfelt than the brief but eloquent note ‘post res perditas’ which he wrote to signify the period which followed his dismissal, 1 almost equating in those words his own downfall and that of the free republic, his misfortunes and those of his country. The blow was a bitter one, the injustice flagrant, after he had served the state with such faithful zeal; beset by anxiety for the future, he found unbearable those first days of an idleness to which he was totally unaccustomed. After he had been used to spending the whole day in the rooms of the Palazzo, his own home must have seemed all the poorer and smaller, now that he had to stay within its walls. Outside, he was depressed by the baseness of some and the changed attitude of others. Many who once were friendly towards the Secretary of the Republic, now avoided or looked askance at him.
