Had Giacomo Antonelli been gifted at his birth with the simple virtues of an Arcadian shepherd, his village would have instantly disowned him.

But the influence of certain events modified his conduct, although they failed to modify his nature.

His infancy and his childhood were subjected to two opposing influences.
If he received his earliest lessons from successful brigandage, his next teachers were the gendarmerie.

When he was hardly four years old, the discharge of a high moral lesson shook his ears: it was the French troops who were shooting brigands in the outskirts of Sonnino.

After the return of Pius VII.