the
young law student the brilliant abilities that were one day to make his
name illustrious, prevailed upon him to devote himself to the study of
the New Testament in the original. Day and night were spent in the
engrossing pursuit, and here were laid the foundations of that profound
biblical erudition which, at a later date, amazed the world, as well,
unfortunately, as of that feeble bodily health that embittered all
Calvin's subsequent life with the most severe and painful maladies, and
abridged in years an existence crowded with great deeds.

[Sidenote: Translates Seneca "De Clementia."]

The illness and death of his father called Calvin back to Noyon,[390]
but in 1529 we find him again in Paris, where three years later he
published his first literary effort. This was a commentary on the two
books of Seneca, "De Clementia," originally addressed to the Emperor
Nero. The opinion has long prevailed that it was no casual selection of
a theme, but that Calvin had conceived the hope of mitigating hereby the
severity of the persecution then raging. The author's own
correspondence, however, betrays less anxiety for the attainment of that
lofty aim, than nervous uneasiness respecting the literary success of
his first venture. Indeed, this is not the only indication that, while
Calvin was already, in 1532, an accomplished scholar, he was scarcely as
yet a _reformer_, and that the stories of his activity before this time
as a leader and religious teacher, at Paris and even at Bourges, deserve
only to be classed with the questionable myths obscuring much of his
history up to the time of his appearance at Geneva.[391]

[Sidenote: Calvin's escape from Paris to Angouleme.]

The incident that occasioned Calvin's flight from Paris was narrated in
a previous chapter. Escaping from the officers sent to apprehend him as
the real author of the inaugural address of the rector, Nicholas Cop,
Calvin found safety and scholastic leisure in the house of his friend
Louis du Tillet, at Angouleme. If we could believe the accounts of later
writers, we should imagine the young scholar dividing his time in this
retreat between the preparation of his "Institutes" and systematic
labors for the conversion of the inhabitants of the south-west of
France. Tradition still points out the grottos in the vicinity of
Poitiers, where, during a residence in that city, Calvin is said to have
exclaimed, pointing to the Bible lying open before him: "Here is my