As soon as his adversaries were informed of his return, they laid a charge of heresy before the senate of Sienna and the court of Rome. Determined to employ all means to destroy Paleario, they resolved to constrain the ecclesiastical authority to go along with them by the strong pressure they would bring to bear upon it. With this intent twelve of them met, and, bent on prevailing upon the archbishop to demand that Paleario should be put upon his trial, they marched through the streets of the city to the prelate’s palace. In this excited band there was the senator Cotta with five others, distinguished among whom was Alexis Lucrinas, an impetuous and foolish man; then three priests, people of little importance, but very violent, grossly ignorant, and untiring babblers;[[863]] and lastly, three monks. The archbishop happened just then to be at his villa in the suburbs, for the sake of the purer air; the delegates went there after him, accompanying their march with such shouting, threats, and disputes, that the women, attracted by the unusual noise, ran to the windows, fancying they were taking some criminal to punishment. Some of the conspirators said: ‘The witnesses will be heard, the motives of his condemnation will be declared, and then Paleario will be thrown into the fire;’ but others wanted to proceed more quickly, so that the punishment should follow immediately upon the statement of the offence without any form of trial and without permitting the accused to be heard.[[864]] Archbishop Francesco Bandini, of the illustrious house of Piccolomini, was a friend of letters and consequently of Paleario. It was afternoon; the prelate who was taking his siesta, being awoke by the noise, called a servant, and asked him who were vociferating in that manner. Being informed that they were men of consideration, he ordered them to be admitted. He rose from his couch, took his seat and waited for the strange deputation. They entered: Lucrinas, who had been sometimes invited to his lordship’s table, was full of confidence in himself, and accordingly had begged that they would allow him to speak. Looking round him with a satisfied and boasting air, he began to pour out against Paleario a long string of insults and maledictions in a passionate tone. The bishop, a wise and grave man, had some difficulty to contain himself, and said that the whole proceeding appeared to him full of levity. ‘There can be no question of levity,’ impudently exclaimed Lucrinas, ‘when three hundred citizens are ready to sign the accusation.’ ‘And I could produce six hundred witnesses,’ rejoined the prelate, ‘who have sworn that you are a merciless usurer. I did not, however, give effect to their denunciation. Did I do well or ill? tell me.’ ... The poor wretch was silent; the fact was too notorious to be denied, and too scandalous to be confessed. But his companions were not to be put out by such a trifle; they explained the motives of their prosecution, threw themselves at the prelate’s feet, and conjured him in the name of religion to support the charge against Paleario. The archbishop, considering that it was a question of heresy, thought that it was a matter for the courts to decide, and consented to their prayer.
Paleario’s Enemies.
Paleario’s enemies set to work immediately; they endeavored to prejudice the most notable persons in Sienna against him; and picked out individuals from among the populace, who were without light and without conscience, whom they induced to testify before the court to things of which they knew nothing.[[865]] It was in vain that the famous Sadolet, summoned to Rome by the pope, stopped at Sienna, and undertook Paleario’s defence. It was in vain that the cardinal, the archbishop, and Paleario had a consultation in which Sadolet commended the accused to the archbishop, and gave touching proofs of his esteem and affection for him; the conspirators were able to turn the interview against the man whom they had sworn to sacrifice to their hatred. A number of people who had assembled in the public square began to talk about the conference: ‘When Paleario was accused by the prelate,’ said some, ‘he was silent through shame.’ ‘No,’ said the others, ‘he answered, but was sharply reprimanded by Sadolet.’[[866]] Impatient to see their victim handed over to death, happy at having already caused doubt in the mind of the archbishop, and imagining they had convinced Sfondrati the president of the republic, and Crasso the prætor, the twelve obtained an order for Paleario to be summoned before the senate on a charge of heresy.
That innocent and just man was not blind to the danger and difficulty of his position. He felt that the calumnies of his enemies would check the good he hoped to do, would break up old friendships, and destroy the peace that the city was beginning to enjoy. Ere long, perhaps, his wife would be a widow and his children orphans: a veil of sadness covered his face. Oh! how bitter was such a trial! He knew full well that afflictions awaken heavenly life in the Christian; that it is a privilege of the child of God; but he was for some time without comfort, and his soul was bowed down. ‘My adversaries,’ he said, ‘heap wrong upon wrong, hatred upon hatred:[[867]] they have done nothing else these six months. Has there ever been a man saintly enough not to give way under the attacks of such a perverse zeal? I will not speak of Socrates, Scipio, Rutilius, or Metellus; certain failings might have laid them open to the attacks of their enemies. But even He than whom none was so good, none so holy, even the all-innocent Jesus Christ himself, was assailed on every side.[[868]] Alas! where can the righteous man turn? whom can he implore?’
Trial Of Paleario.
Paleario soon learnt to answer this. When he found himself summoned to appear before the senate, his courage revived. He was not only strong in his innocence, but the faith which inspired his heart told him that God loves his servants, and that with Him they are free from every danger. He went to the palace of the Signiory, and entered the hall, leaning on the arm of the youthful Faustus Bellantes, son of his old friend, accompanied by some faithful men who were unwilling to forsake him in the day of his distress. He stood in the presence of those who held his life in their hands. Sfondrati the president, Crasso the prætor, the senate, and the Nine were seated in their judicial chairs. His adversaries were there also; Cotta especially, full of presumptuous assurance, and feeling certain that the time had come at last when he could fall upon his prey. Paleario recognized him; he was agitated and indignant at seeing him quietly taking his seat in the senate, at the very time he was bent on carrying out an infamous plot. He contained himself, however; and, first addressing the senators, to whom he gave the title employed in ancient Rome, he said:[[869]] ‘Conscript fathers, when there was a talk about me in former years, I was not seriously moved by it: the times were times of desolation; all human and divine rights were confounded in the same disorder. But now, when, by the goodness of God, men of wisdom have been placed at the head of the republic, when the sap and the blood circulate afresh through the state,[[870]] why should I not lift up my head?’
By degrees Paleario grew warm; his eyes fell again upon his insolent enemy whom he apostrophized as Cicero did Catiline: ‘Cotta, you wicked, arrogant, and factious man,’ he said, ‘who practise not that religion in which God is worshipped in spirit and in truth, but that which plunges into every superstition, because it is the best adapted to impose upon mankind: Cotta, you imagine you are a Christian, because you bear the image of Christ upon your purple robe; while by your calumnies you are crushing an innocent man, who is also an image, a living image, of Jesus Christ. When you accused me falsely of a crime, did you obey Jesus Christ? When you went to the house of the Nine to utter falsehoods against me, did you think, Cotta, you were making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem? I am surprised that you do not crucify innocent persons.... You would do it—yes, you would do it, if you could do all that your pride suggests.’[[871]]
Paleario then passed on to a more important subject. In attacking him, his adversaries really attacked the Gospel, the Reformation, and those excellent men whom God was making use of to transform Christian society. Paleario defended the reformers in the presence of all Italy.
Paleario’s Defence.
‘You bring impudent reproaches against me, Cotta,’ he continued; ‘you assert that I think wrongly on religious matters, that I am falling into heresy, and you accuse me of having adopted the opinions of the Germans. What a paltry accusation! Do you pretend to bind all the Germans in the same bundle? Are all the Germans bad? Do you not know that the august emperor is a German? Will you say that you mean only the theologians? What noble theologians there are in Germany! But though your accusations are unmeaning in appearance, there is a sting lying under them. I know the venom they contain.... The Germans that you mean are Œcolampadius, Erasmus, Melancthon, Luther, Pomeranus, Bucer, and their friends. But is there a single theologian in Italy so stupid as not to know that there are many things worthy of praise in the works of those doctors?... Exact, sincere, earnest, they have professed the truths which we find set forth by the early fathers. To accuse the Germans is to accuse Origen, Chrysostom, Cyrillus, Irenæus, Hilary, Augustin, and Jerome. If I purpose imitating those illustrious doctors of Christian antiquity, why repeat perpetually that I think like the Germans? What! because the learned professors of the German schools have followed the footsteps of those holy men of the first centuries, may not I follow them also? You would like me to imitate the folly of those who, to obtain good preferments, fight against even that which is good in Germany.... Ah! conscript fathers, rather than strive after those delights which lead many astray, I prefer to live honestly. My circumstances may be narrow, but my conscience is at liberty.[[872]] Let those vile flatterers sit on the doctor’s seat or the bishop’s throne, let them put mitres or tiaras on their heads, let them wear the purple.[[873]]... Not so for me, I will remain in my library, sitting on a wooden stool, wearing a woollen garment against the cold, a linen garment in the heat, and with only a little bed on which to taste the repose of sleep.