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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: citizen class and the nobility, armed allies who sometimes
victoriously put royalty to flight; but Anne of Austria's devoted
servant took off no heads, he succeeded in vanquishing the whole of
France, and trained Louis XIV., who completed Richelieu's work by
strangling the nobility with gilded cords in the grand Seraglio of
Versailles. Madame de Pompadour dead, Choiseul fell!
Had Herrera soaked his mind in these high doctrines? Had he judged
himself at an earlier age than Richelieu? Had he chosen Lucien to be
his Cinq-Mars, but a faithful Cinq-Mars? No one could answer these
questions or measure this Spaniard's ambition, as no one could foresee
what his end might be. These questions, asked by those who were able
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