"Tliey are heartless and comjilaining men," said he in his defence, "who seek to decl;ire tlie most innocent ac- tion a crime; so that one dares not venture to praise, uu- piinislied, the srlory of Christ, who is the Author of all happiness, the King of all nations and peoples. The fact that I have written a book this year, in the Tuscan lan- guage, wherein I praise the henetits which have accrued to the human race through the death of Christ, is made the ground of a criminal charge against me. Can one think of anything more hatefid? I have said that once he in whom the Godhead dwelt bodily has shed his blood for our redemption, and that we should have no more doubt as to the mercy of God, but enjoy perfect peace and rest. Supported by the most unquestionable author- ity of antiquity, the Holy Scriptures^, and the Chnrch fa- thers, I have tnaintained that whoever directs his eyes to Jesus Christ the crucified, confides in his promises, and places his hopes in him alone, will receive from him the forgiveness of his sins and redemption from all evil, be- cause he cannot disappoint (Uir hopes. And yet these things have appeared to those twelve jnrymen — who no longer deserve the name of men — so horrible and fearful that they have all declared with one voice that the author must be condemned to be burned! If! must suffer this penalty — for I rcf^ard my writing much more a confession than an invective — then, senators, no better fortune could befall me! In my opinion, at a time like ours no Chris- tian should die in his bed ! Accused, imprisoned, scourged, hany:ed, sewn up in a sack, thrown to the wild beasts', or roasted in the flames — what does it matter, if only by such a death the glorious truth comes evermore to li^ht ?"
In the course of his address Paleario turned to his ac- cusers, disclosed to them their wickedness, and pro- claimed the whole course of his life. In referring to his circumstances, he said :
"My only temporal happiness consists in living among my books. A woollen rug as a protection against the cold, a i)iece of linen to wipe away the sweat from my brow, a bed to rest on, and a simple bench to sit upon— these are all I need. And do thou, O Christ, merciful Lord, preserve and increase those gifts which I have from thee! Thou hast kindled in me a disdain of all earthly goods, and the firm determination to speak in conformity with the truth, and not according to my own mind and my own will. Do thou add to these favors pietv, tem- perance, and self-denial, and adorn me with all the vir- tues which are pleasing to thee and thy children !"
Paleario's eloquent defence, in which boldness and can- dor were tempered by prudence and address, triumphed over the violence and intrigues of his adversaries. He was declared free from the charges of his accusers. He was, however, obliged soon after to quit Siena, as his opponents had by his acquittal become only the more embittered ; but, though he changed the place of his residence, he did not escape from the odium which he had incurred ; and we shall afterwards lind him endur- ing that martyrdom which he early anticipated, and for which it appears to have been his object all along to prepare his thoughts. On quitting the Sienese, about the year 1543, he embraced an invitation from the sen- ate of Lucca, where he taught the Latin classics, and acted as orator to the republic on solemn occasions. To this place he was followed by Marco Blatcrone, one of his former adversaries, a sciolist who possessed that vol- ubility of tongue which captivates the vulgar ear, and whose ignorance and loquacity had been severely chas- tised, but not corrected, by the satirical pen of Aretino, Lucca at that time abounded with men of enlightened and honorable minds; and the eloquence of Paleario, sustained by the lofty bearing of his spirit, enabled him easily to triumph over his unworthy rival, who, disgraced and driven from the city, sought his revenge through the Dominicans at Kome. But by means of his frionda in the conclave, Paleario counteracted at that time the informations of his accuser. About 1553 a verj' warm invitation came to him from the officials of Milan to re- move to that place and become a professor of eloquence. The handsome stipend which was proffered him induced the Reformer to reply favorably ; and when he had set- tled at Milan he hoped for no further change until his final departure to the heavenly Jerusalem. But the heresy-hunting Inquisitors, together with his enemies, had determined otherwise. For some ten j-ears there had been daily persecutions, imprisonments, and death- punishment for many a soid devoted to the new cause, then steadih' gaining adherents in Italy. Paleario's friends feared for him, but he quieted them with the assurance that he knew of no danger. Upon the acces- sion of Pius V, whom all regarded as the death-mes- senger to Reformed doctrines in Italy, when Paleario's friends had succeeded in obtaining his consent for re- moval to Bologna, he was suddenly arrested in 1568, and by pontifical authority his case, now over twenty years settled, was ordered for a rehearing at Rome. During his trial he was imprisoned in the Torre di Nona, the most wretched of the three prisons of the In- quisition at Rome. His book on the benefit of Christ's death, his commendations of Ochino (q. v.), his defence of himself before the senators of Siena, and the suspi- cions which he had incurred during his residence at that place and at Lucca, were all revived against him. After the whole had been collected and sifted, the charge at last resolved itself into the four following articles: that he denied purgatory ; disapproved of burying the dead in churches, preferring the ancient Roman method of sepulture without the walls of cities ; ridiculed the monastic life; and appeared to ascribe justification sole- ly to confidence in the mercy of God forgiving our sins through Jesus Christ. For holding these opinions he was condemned, after an imprisonment of two years, to