Page:The life & times of Master John Hus by Count Lützow.djvu/250

 so I have come, wishing to know if this is true, and if you hold the views that are attributed to you. Firstly, it is said that you maintain and assert that, after consecration, material bread remains in the sacrament of the altar.’ And Magister John Hus: ‘I hold not this view, and he: ‘You hold it not?’ Then the magister (said): ‘No, I hold it not.’ When he had given this answer three times, Lord John of Chlum, who was sitting near, said: ‘What kind of a man art thou? If some one were once to affirm or deny something to me, I should believe him, but this man has answered thee three times saying: “I hold not this view,” and thou continuest to question him.’ Then the monk said: ‘Noble knight, bear me no ill-will, for I am a simple, uneducated monk, who seeks instruction.’ Then when the monk began to question Magister John as to the unity of the human and the divine nature in Christ, the magister said to Lord John in Bohemian: ‘This monk says indeed that he is a plain, uneducated man, but he cannot be so very simple, as he questions me on the most profound subjects.’ Then, turning to the monk, he said: ‘Thou sayest that thou art simple (simplex), but I say that thou art false (duplex), not simple.’ Then the monk said: ‘I deny that I am false.’” Mladenovic then reports the continuation of the conversation, or rather of the cross-examination of Hus by the monk. “Then,” Mladenovic continues, “the monk left, and the armed men who were standing near, the guards of the supreme pontiff John XXIII., said: ‘Know ye who this man was?’ And when the magister replied that he knew not, they said: ‘He is Magister Didacus, reputed in all Lombardy the most subtle of theologians.’ Then Magister Hus said: ‘Had I but known it! I would have plied him differently with Scripture. Were they but all like that, with God’s aid and the support of Holy Scripture supporting me, I should fear none of them!’” During the time that Hus remained in the bishop’s palace, a considerable number of Bohemians