of the Holy
Scriptures made by Pierre Robert Olivetanus, and corrected by Calvin,
which, unless exception be made in favor of the translation by Lefevre
d'Etaples, is entitled to rank as the earliest French Protestant
Bible.[457] It was a noble undertaking, by which the poor and humble
inhabitants of Provence, Piedmont, and Calabria conferred on France a
signal benefit, scarcely appreciated in its full extent even by those
who pride themselves upon their acquaintance with the rich literature of
that country. For, while Olivetanus in his admirable version laid the
foundation upon which all the later and more accurate translations have
been reared, by the excellence of his modes of expression he exerted an
influence upon the French language perhaps not inferior to that of
Calvin or Montaigne.[458]

[Sidenote: Preliminary persecutions.]

Intelligence of the new activity manifested by the Waldenses reaching
the ears of their enemies, among whom the Archbishop of Aix was
prominent, stirred them up to more virulent hostility. The accusation
was subsequently made by unfriendly writers, in order to furnish some
slight justification for the atrocities of the massacre, that the
Waldenses, emboldened by the encouragement of the reformers, began to
show a disposition to offer forcible resistance to the arbitrary arrests
ordered by the civil and religious authorities of Aix. But the
assertion, which is unsupported by evidence, contradicts the well-known
disposition and practice of a patient people, more prone to submit to
oppression than to take up arms even in defence of a righteous
cause.[459]

[Sidenote: The Dominican De Roma foremost in the work.]

[Sidenote: Iniquitous order of the Parliament of Aix.]

For a time the persecution was individual, and therefore limited. But in
the aggregate the number of victims was by no means inconsiderable, and
the flames burned many a steadfast Waldensee.[460] The Dominican De Roma
enjoyed an unenviable notoriety for his ferocity in dealing with the
"heretics," whose feet he was in the habit of plunging in boots full of
melted fat and boiling over a slow fire. The device did, indeed, seem to
the king, when he heard of it, less ingenious than cruel, and De Roma
found it necessary to avoid arrest by a hasty flight to Avignon, where,
upon papal soil, as foul a sink of iniquity existed as anywhere within
the bounds of Christendom.[461] But other agents, scarcely more merciful
than De Roma,