_As noble as the Pope_ would be simply ludicrous, since a swineherd, the son of a swineherd, may be elected Pope, and receive the oath of fidelity from all the Roman princes.

They may well then consider themselves upon an equality among themselves, these poor grandees, seeing that they are equally looked down upon by a few priests.
They console themselves with the thought that they are superior to all the laymen in the world.

This soothing vanity, neither noisy nor insolent, but none the less firmly rooted in their hearts, enables them to swallow the daily affront of conscious inferiority.
I am quite aware of the points in which they are inferior to the upstarts of the Church, but their affected superiority to other men is less evident to me.
As to their courage.

Some years have elapsed since they had the opportunity of proving it on the field of battle.[4] Heaven forbids duelling.

The Government inculcates the gentler virtues.
They are not wanting in a certain ostentatious and theatrical liberality.