ABEY. III.] ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM. 265

bat all his best years in it, i suoi piu Jioriti anni,says Bosio, its quick re-establishment was consideredcertain. Yet not so; the Pope did all he could.But his was an unsteady position. The temporaldecline of the Papacy had already begun. Thebanner of the order still had the place of honour,as at the procession of Leo X.; only it was nowborne by another Prior of Capua. But thoughappearances remained the same, yet neither whatwaved, nor he for whom it waved, were in realityso potent as then. 1

Fearing that in difficult times distinctions fromthe Pope might be misinterpreted into a charge ofbreach of neutrality between Christians, the grandmaster determined to remove to Viterbo, underpretext of his presence being required at the chaptergeneral. 2 Viterbo was lent to him as a mixedjurisdiction, where he might preside as captaingeneral of the army, and governor for the Pope,while left supreme authority over his own people.

He therefore quitted Rome on the 25th of Janu-ary, 1524, his knights marching first, and afterthem the Rhodians, and with great joy and honourwas he received by those of Viterbo, both noblesand people. 3 At Viterbo, then, the order remained

1 Bosio: par. iii., lib. ii. 29.

2 Id.: par. iii., lib. ii. 29.—Appendix, cxcvii.

3 Id.: par. iii., lib. ii. 29, anno 1524.