On May 26, 1546, I presented myself at the house of Doctor Gaspard Hoyer, who, at the first glance, knew my identity by my likeness to Magister Johannes. He changed my straw hat, ornamented with the holy relic which I had bought at Loretto, for a black biretta of Italian fashion, a headgear very much worn in those days at Rome. He had with him Gerard Schwartz, the younger brother of Master Arndt Schwartz, and in talking together we discovered that we had left Trent on the same day without having fallen in with each other, Schwartz having travelled by way of Ferrara. He was a very scholarly young man, and a near kinsman of Dr. Hoyer. I never saw him again; and one day, when I asked Master Arndt Schwartz, he told me that Gerard had come back to Stralsund mentally affected, and that subsequently he disappeared. I have got an idea that he had contracted an illness in Rome which he dared not avow to his relatives.
Master Gaspard Hoyer had only learnt of the death of my brother thirteen days before my arrival, in a letter from my father. The news had grieved and surprised him, but there remained the fact that my parents in Pomerania had been informed more promptly of the misfortune than an inhabitant of Rome. I conceived many tragic suspicions, on the subject of which I could only trust to God. Dr. Hoyer proved his goodwill by accompanying me to the Cardinal Count de St. Flore,[[34]] whose servant my late brother had been; he presented me, exposed my wretched situation, and renewed the request he had preferred at the receipt of my father's letter. The cardinal was exquisitely sympathetic; he had promptly communicated with his steward at Acquapendente, and he expected the reply, together with my brother's belongings, at every moment. Nevertheless, Master Hoyer had to wait until July 1 without receiving another summons to call. He considered my presence necessary, and on our way he told me that he and the cardinal had offered my brother a canonry at Lubeck, and that in consequence of his refusal my brother had become strongly suspected of Lutheranism.
We were taken at once to the cardinal, who handed me five-and-twenty golden crowns, three double ducats, two golden florins, two rose nobles, one florin of Hungary, three angelots (French money), a golden chain of twenty and a half crowns, three golden rings (the first being a seal, the second a keepsake, and the third set with a turquoise), worth seven and a half crowns, another half-crown in gold, and three Juliuses. I was told at the same time that my brother had spent thirty crowns in clothes, that during his illness he had bequeathed twenty crowns to the poor, and that his tombstone had cost another thirty. According to Roman custom, the servants had divided his wardrobe among themselves. The cardinal said also to me: "Legit aliquoties libros mihi admodum suspectos, et quanquam admonui eum, ut non legeret, tamen deprehendi saepius legentem."
After this he asked me several questions of interest about Pomerania. Was it as hot there as in Rome? The cardinal, in fact, was sitting in his shirt sleeves, in a large room whose window panes were made of linen instead of glass; the floor was constantly sprinkled with water, which by a nice contrivance ran away. My reply caused the cardinal to exclaim: "O utinam et Romae ejusmodi temperatum aërem haberemus." After Master Hoyer had thanked him in both our names, we took our leave. "Did you hear what the cardinal said?" asked the doctor, when we were in the streets once more. "No doubt I did," was the answer. "Yes," he remarked, "Master Johannes' stay at Acquapendente was a very short one; and yet, no German was ever less fond of Italian fruit, fresh figs, melons, etc., than he." People ought to know that those fruits are delicious, but harmful to those who are not used to them. Many a German on his first arrival yields to the temptation, and pays for the imprudent act with his life. Besides, Dr. Hoyer had not had the slightest anxiety with regard to my brother, whom only very recently he had met in the street. I left the money and the trinkets with Dr. Hoyer until my departure.
Master Gaspard Hoyer was an honest, loyal and obliging little man; may the Lord watch over him. In order to make my money hold out, he took a good deal of trouble to find me a place with the superintendent of the hospitium of Santa-Brigitta, an aged Swedish priest, who took boarders from among the advocates, procurators and suitors of the Tribunal of the Rote. To cook, to wash up, to make the beds, to lay the table, and to clear it, to bring the wine from the cellar, and to serve it, these were my functions, for which I received half a crown per month. Apparently they were satisfied with my culinary talent; it is true, I had only to prepare the soup, called "minestra"; the other dishes came from the tavern. In Rome, where there are so many people who cannot publicly live with a woman, and where it swarms with suitors and pleaders who would find it difficult to keep up a house, there are excellent taverns, providing fish, flesh, game, poultry roast, boiled pasties, and delicate wines; in short, everything necessary to a princely banquet.
One day, while at meat, my master announced the happy tidings of the death of Dr. Luther; the heresiarch had met with the end he deserved; a legion of devils had swooped down upon him, and a horrible din had put all those around him to flight. Luther himself had bellowed like a bull, and at the last moment he had uttered a terrible yell; his spirit went on haunting the house. The boarders vied with each other in falling foul of "that abominable Luther," that limb of Satan, doomed, like all the other demons, to everlasting fire. The only one who did not join in this charitable colloquy was a procurator of the Rote; he only opened his lips to murmur now and again: "O Jesu, fili Dei, miserere mei," to the tune of that famous Italian song, to which there seems no end, "Fala lilalela."
My master, who performed mass at the chapel of the hospitium, hit upon the idea to take me as his acolyte; my ignorance of the various movements and my lukewarmness to learn, made him exclaim: "Profecto tu es Lutheranus!" "Sum Christianus," I replied, "my schooling in my native country, and my daily work at Spires by the receiver of the Order of St. John, left me no leisure to think of mass." I am bound to confess that as we went on, the suspicions of my new master did not fail to inspire me with fears for my safety. My master officiated at all the masses on saints' days, both in town and in the neighbourhood; there were as many as three on the same day; and as the journey from one church to the other was long, and we left at daybreak to return very late at night, our satchel contained a large flagon of wine and substantial food. Each altar was completely prepared for mass; our master halted before the altar nearest to the entrance, put on his chasuble and said a mass. The first one I heard; then we departed for another church, and there, while my master officiated, I sat down behind the altar, my satchel on my knee, and ate a comfortable morsel, and washed it down with a moderately full cup. At meal time the priest noted the deficiency, and asked me for an explanation; I frankly confessed my inability to prolong the fast, which after all I was not bound to observe, inasmuch as I did not say mass. The explanation was more or less graciously received.
This visit to the various stations enabled me to see and to learn a great many in a short time, for my master, who knew the city thoroughly, was very pleased to show me its curiosities, and often went a long way round for my sake. Rome has close upon one hundred and fifty churches, seven of which count as principal ones. There are many abbeys, convents and asylums. I did not see all these buildings, and the majority of those I saw did not strike me as remarkable. At the door of each church a tablet tells the dates of the pilgrimages and the number of indulgences to be gained; the general list of the pilgrimages and of the indulgences is also sold separately. The annual number of stations or pilgrimages exceeds a hundred; hence, one can redeem all one's sins at least a dozen times; that is, eleven times more than is necessary, and one is furthermore gratified with a hundred thousand years of indulgences. O, good Jesus, why didst not thou remain in heaven, if our salvation is after all to depend upon holy popes and their magnificent indulgences, notwithstanding which they have to go and join the devils in hell.
A special mention is due to the Asylum of the Holy Spirit, the pride of Rome, and which is considered by the wise as the most meritorious work of Christendom. Rome contains a mass of single folk of both sexes; the pope's entourage consists of fifteen or sixteen cardinals, whose establishments are kept on a footing as good as that of the courts of our princes of Germany. Then there are about a hundred bishops having servants, and several thousand prelates, canons and priests with their servitors. I refrain from numbering the young monks, who keep their vow of chastity as a dog observes Lent. Nor should we forget the assessors, advocates, procurators, notaries and pleaders of a hundred different countries who crowd the law courts. All these are forbidden to have a wife. Nevertheless, thousands of them shelter under their roofs persons of the fair sex, supposed cooks, washerwomen and chambermaids. And now calculate the number of disorderly women.
They, however, enjoy a wonderful liberty, and it is safer to wound or even to kill a man in Rome than to treat roughly an importunate harlot. At Vespers, great lords, pope, cardinals, bishops and prelates send for these "damsels of joy." They come to their homes in male disguise; the others know exactly where to find them.