And the holy man said:
"You judge me, not by my acts and my words, which are manifest, but by my motives, which are visible only to God's eye."
And the Judge replied:
"Nay! if we could not see the invisible and were not gods upon earth, how would it be possible for us to judge folk? Do you not know a law has just been passed in Viterbo, which punishes even men's secret thoughts? For the police of cities is for ever being perfected, and the wise Ulpian, who held the rule and the square in the days of Cæsar, would be astonished himself, if he could see our rules and squares, improved as they are."
And the Judge said again:
"Giovanni, you have been conspiring in your prison against the common weal."
But the holy man denied having ever conspired against the weal of Viterbo. Then the Judge said:
"The gaoler has given testimony against you."
And the holy man asked the Judge:
"What weight will my testimony have in one scale, when that of the gaoler is in the other?"