For him, dealing with a greenhorn like this was all too easy.
He was confident that in all of Pisa, only his father, Cesare, was worthy of his serious consideration. Everyone else was beneath his notice.
"I don't think I need to remind you all how foolish and shortsighted the common poor are. They see only immediate gain. To them, the future isn't worth as much as a moldy loaf of black bread.
Offer them the slightest benefit, and they'll swarm around our backsides like dogs, ready to be ordered about. They're only a small step above slaves.
Although I am loath to imagine our great Administrative Officer Cesare and his family in this light, as a member of the Governance Council, I still have a duty to remind you all of a simple historical fact.
The last person to so thoroughly court the favor of the poor was Caesar, a thousand years ago. And for a few mouthfuls of bread, the poor of Rome sold the Republic to him.
