He avowed that he feared no attempts at assassination, for, if the seigniors took his life, they would destroy the best friend they ever had.

This villa, where most of his plans were matured and his state papers drawn up, was called by the people, in derision of his supposed ancestry, "The Smithy." Here, as they believed, was the anvil upon which the chains of their slavery were forging; here, mostly deserted by those who had been his earlier, associates, he assumed a philosophical demeanor which exasperated, without deceiving his adversaries.

Over the great gate of his house he had placed the marble statue of a female.

It held an empty wine-cup in one hand, and an urn of flowing water in the other.

The single word "Durate" was engraved upon the pedestal.