8 35. LUTHER AND CAJETAN. OCTOBER, 1518. 178
Luther, — he devoted himself chiefly to the study of the Scriptures, and urged it upor his friends. He labored with the aid of Hebrew and Greek scholars to correct the Vulgate by a more faithful version, and advocated Jerome’s liberal views on questions of criticism and the canon, and a sober grammatical exegesis against allegorical fancies, without, however, surrendering the Catholic principle of tradition.
There was a great contrast between the Italian cardinal | and the German monk, the shrewd diplomat and the frank | scholar ; the expounder and defender of medieval scholas-' ticism, and the champion of modern biblical theology; the man of church authority, and the advocate of personal freedom. | ζ
They had three interviews (Oct. 12, 18, 14). Cajetan treated Luther with condescending courtesy, and assured him of his friendship.t. But he demanded retraction of his errors, and absolute submission to the Pope. Luther resolutely refused, and declared that he could do nothing against his conscience ; that one must obey God rather than man ; that he had the Scripture on his side; that even Peter was once reproved by Paul for misconduct (Gal. 2: 11), and that surely his successor was not infallible. Still he asked the cardinal to intercede with Leo X., that he might not harshly condemn him. Cajetan threatened him with excommunication, having already the papal mandate in his hand, , and dismissed him with the words: ‘“ Revoke, or do not. come again into my presence.” He urged Staupitz to do his — best to convert Luther, and said he was unwilling to dis-
1 Luther received at first a favorable impression, and wrote in a letter to Carlstadt, Oct. 14 (De Wette, I. 161): ‘‘ The cardinal calls me constantly his dear son, and assures Staupitz that I had no better friend than himself. . . - I would be the most welcome person here if I but spoke this one word, revoco. But I will not turn a heretic by revoking the opinion which made me a Christian : I will rather die, be burnt, be exiled, be cursed.’? Afterwards he wrote in a different tone about Cajetan, e.g., in the letter to the
Elector Frederick, Nov. 19 (I. 175 sqq.), and to Staupitz, Dec. 13 (De Wette, I. 194).
174 THE GERMAN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517 τὸ 1530.
pute any further with that “‘deep-eyed German beast filled with strange speculations.” !
Under these circumstances, Luther, with the aid of friends who provided him with an escort, made his escape from Augsburg, through a small gate in the city-wall, in the night of the 20th of October, on a hard-trotting hack, without pantaloons, boots, or spurs. He rode on the first day as far as the town of Monheim? without stopping, and fell utterly exhausted upon the straw in a stable?
He reached Wittenberg, in good spirits, on the first anni- _versary of his Ninety-five Theses. He forthwith published a | report of his conference with a justification of his conduct. | He also wrote (Nov. 19) a long and very eloquent letter to
the Elector, exposing the unfairness of Cajetan, who had misrepresented the proceedings, and demanded from the Elector the delivery of Luther to Rome or his expulsion from Saxony.
Before leaving Augsburg, he left an appeal from Cajetan \to the Pope, and “from the Pope ill informed to the Pope to ibe better informed” (a papa male informato ad papam melius informandum). Soon afterwards, Nov. 28, he formally and
1 “ Ego nolo amplius cum hac bestia loqui. Habet enim profundos oculos et mirabiles speculationes in capite suo.’’ ‘This characteristic dictum is not reported by Luther, but by Myconius, Hist. Ref. p. 73. Comp. Ldéscher, 11. 477. The national antipathy between the Germans and the Italians often appears ~ in the transactions with Rome, and continues to this day. Monsignor Eugenio Cecconi, Archbishop of Florence, in his tract Martino Lutero, Firenze, 1883, says : “‘ Lutero non amava gi italiani, e gl italiani non hanno mai avuto ne stima ne amore per quest? uomo. Il nostro popolo, col suo naturale criteriv, lo ha giudicato da un pezzo.’’ He declared the proposal to celebrate Luther’s fourth centennial at Florence to be an act of insanity.
2 In Bavaria; not Mannheim, as Kahnis (I. 228) has it.
ὃ “ Dr, Staupitz’’ (says Luther, in his Table-Talk) ‘‘ hatte mir ein Pferd verschafft und gab mir den Rath, einen alten Ausreuter zu nehmen, der die Wege wiisste, und half mir Langemantel (Rathsherr) des Nachts durch ein klein Pfortlein der Stadt. Da eilte ich ohne Hosen, Stiefel, Sporn, und Schwert, und kam bis gen Wittenberg. Den ersten Tag ritt ich acht (German) Meilen und wie ich des Abends in die Herberge kam, war ich so mide, stieg, im Stalle ab, konnte nicht stehen, fiel stracks in die Streu.”’