794 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
dead man, but one who perished by my hands. Some, even not self-disposed towards me, wish that I had never entered on the subject of the punishment of heretics, and say that others in the like situation have held their tongues as the best way of avoiding hatred. It is well, however, that I have you to share my fault, if fault it be ; for you it was who advised and persuaded me to it. Prepare yourself, therefore, for the combat." ^
§ 158. A Plea for Religious Liberty. Castellio and Beza.
Cf. § 126, p. 627, and especially Ferd. Buisson, Se'bastien CasteUion. Paris (Hachette et C^e), 1892. 2 vols. 8vo (I. 358-413; II. 1-28).
A month after Calvin's defence of the death penalty of heretics, there appeared at Basel a pseudonymous book in defence of religious liberty, dedicated to Duke Christopher of Wiirtemberg.2 It was edited and prefaced professedly by Martinus Bellius, whose real name has never been discovered with certainty. Perhaps it was Martin Borrhaus of Stuttgart (1499-1564), professor of Hebrew learning in the University of Basel, and known under the name of " Cellarius," in honor of his first protector, Simon Cellarius (not to be confounded with Michael Cellarius of Augsburg). He
1 " Alii me diirius exagitant, quod scevitice et atrocitatis sim magister, quod mortum hominem, qui mayiibus meis periit, calamo proscindani. Sunt etiam quidam non malevoli, qui argumentum illud nunquam me attigisse cuperent, de hcereticis puniendis. Dicunt enim alios omnes, ut invidiam fugerent, data opera tacuisse. Sed bene se habet, quod te habes culpce socium, si qua tamen culpa est, quia mihi auctor et hortator fuisti. Vide igitur, ut te ad certamen compares." Henry, III. 236 and Beilage, p. 87 ; Opera, XV. 124.
2 De hmreticis, an sint persequendi, et omnino quomodo sit cum eis agendum multorum tum veterum turn recentiorum sententice. Liber hoc tarn turbulento tempore perneccssarius. Magdeburgi [false name for Basel] per Georgium Rausch, anno Domini 1554, mense Martio (173 pp., 8vo). The name of the editor who wrote the dedicatory preface is given as Martinus Bellius (in French, Martin Bellie), which was explained by the contemporaries as " Guerre a la guerre, guerre a ceux qui uscnt du glaive." Buisson, I. 358. A copy which belonged to Boniface Amerbach, is in the University Library of Basel (II. 15).
§ 158. A PLEA roil RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 795
Studied at Heidelberg and Wittenberg, appeared first among the Zwickau Prophets, and then in connection with Carlstadt (who ended liis days likewise as a professor at Basel). ^ The book was misdated from Magdeburg, the stronghold of the orthodox Lutherans, in opposition to the tyranny of the Imperial Interim. A French edition appeared, nominally at Rouen, but was probably printed at Lyons, where Castellio had a brother in the printing business.''^
Calvin at once suspected the true authors, and wrote to BuUinger, March 28, 1554: ''A book has just been clandestinely printed at Basel under false names, in which Castellio and Curio pretend to prove that heretics should not be repressed by the sword. Would that the pastors of that church at length, though late, aroused themselves to prevent the evil from spreading wider." ^ A few days afterwards Beza wrote to BuUinger about the same book, and gave it as his opinion that the feigned Magdeburg was a city on the Rhine [Basel], and that Castellio was the real author, who treated the most important articles of faith as useless or indifferent, and put the Bible on a par with the Ethics of Aristotle.*
Castellio wrote, however, only a part of the book. He adopted the pseudonym of Basilius (i.e. Sebastian) Montfortius (i.e. Castellio).^
1 See Riggenbach in Herzog,^ III. 166, and Buisson, II. 10 sq.
2 Traicte des he'retiques, a savoir si on les doit perse'cuter, et comme on se doit conduire avec eux, selon I'advis, opinion, et sentence de pleusieurs auteurs tant anciens que modernes : grandement ne'cessaire en ce temps plein de troubles, et tres utile a tons, et principalement aux Princes et Magistrals, pour cognoistre quel est leur office en une chose tant difficile et pe'rilleuse. Rouen, Pierre Freneau, 1554 (139 pp., 8vo). I copy the title from Buisson, I. 358. He gives a full analysis and extracts (pp. 360 sqq.). The book is exceedingly rare.
3 Opera, XV. 96. * Opera, XV. 97.
5 As Schweizer has shown, see above, p. 627. Buisson ignores Schweizer, but comes to the same conclusion (I. 404) : " Basile est un equivalent tres plausible de Sebastien, et Montfort e'veille une idee toute voisine de celle de CASTELLUM ou de Chatillon."