But on this point it was difficult to induce the Pope to listen to reason.
During his hours of insomnia he would often rise and send Squadra to fetch a secretary in order that he might detail some memoranda or sketch out an encyclical letter.

When the drafting of one of the latter impassioned him he would have spent days and nights over it, just as formerly, when claiming proficiency in Latin verse, he had often let the dawn surprise him whilst he was polishing a line.

But, indeed, he slept very little, his brain ever being at work, ever scheming out the realisation of some former ideas.

His memory alone seemed to have slightly weakened during recent times.
Pierre, as he slowly paced to and fro, gradually became absorbed in his thoughts of that lofty and sovereign personality.

From the petty details of the Pope's daily existence, he passed to his intellectual life, to the _role_ which he was certainly bent on playing as a great pontiff.