The Cardinals and Prelates are not, properly speaking, the Pope's subjects, but rather his ghostly confederates, and the partners of his omnipotence.
The distinction of class is more especially perceptible at Rome, near the Pontifical throne.

It gradually disappears, together with many other abuses, in proportion to their distance from their source.

There are bottomless abysses between the noble Roman and the citizen of Rome, between the citizen of Rome and the plebeian of the city.

The plebeian himself discharges a portion of the scorn expressed by the two superior classes for himself, upon the peasants he meets at market: it is a sort of cascade of contempt.

At Rome, thanks to the traditions of history, and the education given by the Popes, the inferior thinks he can get out of his nothingness, and become something, by begging the favour and support of a superior.