12 JUL. CÆS. VANINI

and he delivered the book, as is their custom, to the flames. Yet no one attacked it publicly or uncovered the flaws it contains, nor did anyone act to call for a revocation, as is the habit.

HATRED
OF THE
CLERGY

Instead, they muttered in secret. Out of contempt and anger, they plotted another vengeance against the poor wretch. Since he was deprived of the necessities of life, they hoped this brutum fulmen harmless thunderbolt would soon amount to nothing. Their wish was not without success. After those "soldiers in robes" had cut off his supplies from the fortress of their black cloaks, * the miserable man became a victim of their immortal hatred. Indeed, he was miserable, for he had no place to turn and no hope to refresh his strength. Barely in control of his own mind (if it is right to believe so), he sent letters to the Supreme Pontiff the Pope that were full of delusions. These letters deserved a doctor rather than an executioner. † And the unhappy man sent them.

For these men neither laugh,
Nor do they believe the doctor, nor do they need a guardian. ‡

The Inquisitors, observing these letters with a certain "Spanish magnifying glass," imagined a monster more atrocious than any Africa produces from the stroke of every single letter.

* For he was in need, by his own testimony in the Preface to the Secrets of Nature, Dialogue 1, pages 3 and 4; Dialogue 29, page 185; Dialogue 50, and other places. Patiniana, page 44.
† Patiniana, page 51.
‡ Horace, book 1, Epistle 1.