Here their reception was not what they had anticipated.

Having failed in the main object and brought scandal on the Church, they were maintained for some months in obscurity, and then coldly bidden to depart with scanty recompense.

All this while their lives remained exposed to the Venetian ban.

Under these circumstances it is not strange that the men were half-maddened.

Poma raged like a wild beast, worshiping the devil in his private chamber, planning schemes of piracy and fresh attacks on Sarpi, even contemplating a last conspiracy against the person of the Pope.