Page:Luther's correspondence and other contemporary letters 1507-1521.djvu/122

 to sound me on my position before the interview with himself- All think that the man came to me suborned and instructed by the legate, for he plead with me long, advancing arguments for sanity (as he called it), saying that I should simply agree with the legate, return to the Church, recant what I had said ilL He gave me the example of the Abbot Joachim of Flora* who, by acting as he [Serralonga] advised me to do, deserved to be considered no heretic, although he had uttered heresy. Then the suave gentleman dissuaded iiie from defending my opinions, asking if I wished to make it a tournament. In short, he is an Italian and an Italian he will remain. I said that if I could be shown that I had said anything contrary to the doctrine of the Holy Roman Church, I would soon be my own judge and recant. Our chief difficulty was that he cherished the opinions of Aquinas beyond what he can find authority for in the decrees of the Church. I will not yield to him on this point until the Church repeals her former decree on which I rely. "Dear, dear," said he, "so you wish to have a tournament?" Then he went on to make some insane propositions, as; for example, he openly confessed that it was right to preach lies, if they were profitable and filled the chest. He denied that the power of the Pope should be treated in debate, but that it should be so exalted that the Pope might by his sole authority abrogate everything, including articles of faith, and especially that point we were now disputing on. He also made other propositions which I will tell you when I see you. But I dismissed this Sinon,* who too openly showed his Greek art, and he went away. Thus I hang between hope and fear, for this clumsy go-between did not give me the least confidence. . •.

The very reverend Vicar John Staupitz writes that he will certainly come when he hears that I have arrived. . ..

We know that the Pope has sent the Rose* to our most illustrious elector, a favor they give to great men with lively

I Joachim of Flora (i 145-1203) started an eschatological movement in Italy which made a great commotion when his works were published by some of his followers after his death under the name of *'The Eternal Gospel" (1254).

The Greek who persuaded the Trojans to admit the wooden horse into their eity. Virgil» Aeneid, ii. 79S.

»C/. supra, no. 79.

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