824 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH S\yiTZERLAND.
and lamentation in the whole city ; for the Republic had lost its wisest citizen, the Church its faithful shepherd, the Academy an incomparable teacher — all lamented the departure of their common father and best comforter, next to God. A multitude of citizens streamed to the death-chamber and could scarcely be separated from the corpse. Among them were several foreigners, as the distinguished Ambassador of the Queen of England to France, who had come to Geneva to make the acquaintance of the celebrated man, and now wished to see his remains. At first all were admitted ; but as the curiosity became excessive and might have given occasion to calumnies of the enemies,^ his friends deemed it best on the following morning, which was the Lord's Day, to wrap his body in linen and to enclose it in a wooden coffin, according to custom. At two o'clock in the afternoon the remains were carried to the common cemetery on Plain Palais (^Planum Palatium), followed by all the patricians, pastors, professors, and teachers, and nearly the whole city in sincere mourning." ^ Calvin had expressly forbidden all pomp at his funeral and the erection of any monument over his grave. He wished to be buried, like Moses, out of the reach of idolatry. This was consistent with his theology, which humbles man and exalts God.
1 What these calumnies were, is not stated ; they were first made public by Bolsec fifteen years later (see Note below). Francis Junius, in his animadversions upon Bellarmin, says that he was at Geneva when Calvin closed his life, but that he never saw, heard, knew, thought, or even dreamed of the blasphemies and curses which the papists said he uttered at his death.
'^ " Pomeridiana vero secunda, segitentibus funus patriciis, una cum pastoribus professoribusque scJiolce omnibus totaque pane civitate non sine uberibus lacrymis prosequente elatus est, communique ccemiterio, quod Planum Palatium vacant, nulla penitus extraordinaria pompa nulloque addito cippo (sic enivi mandarat) conditus, cut propterea, his versiculis parentavi." Then follow the Parentalia and a description of Calvin's character and habits. In his French biography, which is dated Aug. 19, 1564, Beza says that Calvin was buried "comme il I'avait ordonn^, an cemetiere commun appele Plein palais sans pompe ni appareil quelconques-la ou il gist auiourd'huy attendant la resurrection qu'il nous a enseign€e et a si constamment espere'e," etc. He closes both biographies with a list of Calvin's works. Opera, XXI. 47-50.
§ 164. Calvin's last days and death. 825
Beza, however, wrote a suitable epitaph in Latin and French, which he calls "Parentalia" (i.e. offering at the funeral of a father) : —
" Shall honored Calvin to the dust return, From whom e'en Virtue's self might learn; Shall he — of falling Rome the greatest dread, By all the good bewailed, and now (tho' dead) The terror of the vile — lie in so mean, So small a tomb, where not his name is seen ?
Sweet Modesty, who still by Calvin's side "Walked while he lived, here laid him when he died. 0 happy tomb with such a tenant graced ! 0 envied marble o'er his ashes placed ! " i
On the third centennial of the Reformation of Geneva, in 1835, a splendid memorial medal was struck, which on the one side shows Calvin's likeness, with his name and dates of birth and death ; on the other, Calvin's pulpit with the verse : " He held fast to the invisible as if he saw Him " (Heb. 11 : 27), and the circular inscription : " Broken in body ; Mighty in spirit ; Victor by faith ; the Reformer of the Church ; the Pastor and Protector of Geneva." ^
At the third centenary of his death (1864), his friends in Geneva, aided by gifts from foreign lands, erected to his
1 In his Latin Vita : —
" Romce ruentis terror ille maximus. Quern mortuiim higent boni, horrescunt malt, Ipsa a quo potuit virtutem discere virtus, Cur adeo exiguo ignotoqae in despite clausus
Calvinus latent, royas f Calvinum adsidue comitata viodestia vimim. Hoc ttiniulo manibas condidit ipsa suis. O te beatum cespitem tnnto hospite .' O cui invidere cuncta possint marmora .'"
There are besides one Hebrew, ten Greek, two Latin, and three French " Epitaphia in Calvinum scripta," in Beza's Poemala, 1597, and in Calvin's Opera, vol. XXI. 169, 173-178. The three French sonnets are from Ciiandieu, a pupil of Calvin.
- On the obverse : Johannes Calvinus Natus NoviodunI, 1509. Mortuus Genevce, 1564. On the reverse : "// teint ferme comme s'il eust veu celuy qui est invisible" (Heb. 11:27). Genev. Jubil Ann., 1835. And the inscription: " Corpore fractus : Animo patens : Fide victor: Ecclesice Re/or mator : Genevce Pastor et Tittamen." See Henrv, Til. 592.