Some courtiers of less note succeeded in extorting smaller sums.

The unhappy man had spirit enough to feel keenly the degradation to which he had stooped.

He survived the day of his ignominy several years.

He lived to see his party triumphant, to be once more an important member of it, to rise high in the state, and to make his persecutors tremble in their turn.

But his prosperity was embittered by one insupportable recollection.