But there was still the difference that in the old state of things the plebeian was shut out by law, while in the new state of things no law shut out the new man.
The new man had much to strive against, but he could sometimes thrust himself through, and when he did his descendants had their jus imaginum.
However bad his natural disposition, the magical words of absolution would make him a new man.
If so, their disappointment may account for the statements of ecclesiastical writers, like Walsingham, that Henry on becoming king was changed suddenly into a new man.
In the pro Cluentio, 111, he contends that nothing is easier than for a new man to rise at Rome.
