Note 356 — Chapter XVII · THE RENAISSANCE: CHANGE IN THE CHARACTER OF THE EMPIRE.
Reading edition
'Nam quamvis Imperatorem et regem et dominum vestrum esse fateamini, precario tamen ille imperare videtur: nulla ei potentia est; tantum ei paretis quantum vultis, vultis autem minimum.'—Æneas Sylvius to the princes of Germany, quoted by Hippolytus a Lapide.