Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/570

 554 INTELLECT AND FAITH. unreasonably denied. According to one account be was accused of unortbodox speculations, in 1278, to Geronimo d'Ascoli, Gen- eral of the Order ; bis opinions were condemned, the bretbren were ordered scrupulously to avoid tbem, and be himself was cast into prison, doubtless because be did not submit as serenely as Olivi to Geronimo's sentence. He must have bad followers and sympathizers, for Geronimo is said to have prevented their com- plaints by promptly applying to Nicholas III. for a confirmation of the judgment. How long his imprisonment lasted is not known, though there is a tradition that he perished in jail, either through sickness or the ill-treatment which we have seen was freely visited by the Franciscans on their erring bretbren. Another statement attributes his incarceration to the ascetic Raymond Gaufridi, who was General of the Order from 1289 to 1295. In either case it would not be difficult to explain the cause of his disgrace. In the fierce passions of the schools, one who antagonized so com- pletely the prevailing currents of thought, and who exposed so mercilesslv the ignorance of the learned, could not fail to excite bitter enmities. The daring scholar who preferred Scripture to the Sentences, and pronounced the text of the Vulgate to be cor- rupt, must have given ample opportunity for accusations of heresy in a time when dogma had become so intricate, and mortal heresy might lurk in the minutest aberration. The politic Geronimo might readily listen to enemies so numerous and powerful as those whom Bacon must have provoked. The ascetic Raymond, whose aim was to bring back the Order to its primitive rudeness and simplicity, would regard Bacon's labors with the same aversion as that manifested by the early Spirituals to Crescenzio Grizzi's learning. It was a standing complaint with his section of the Order that Paris had destroyed Assisi. As Jacopone da Todi sang "TaFe, qual'e, tal 1 &, Non religione c' h. Mai vedemmo Parigi Che n' a destrutto Assisi," and the Spiritual General might well like to strike a blow at the greatest scholar of the Order.* Brewer, Pref. p. xcviii.— Wadding, ami. 1278, Xo. 26; arm. 1284, No. 12. —