n
torment, he played with a jewel which Sanga had, asking him who was the
mistress which had given him this love-token? Turning to me, he asked,
'why Pomponio, in a letter, should call me Holy Father? Did the
conspirators agree to make you pope?' 'Pomponio,' I replied, 'can best
tell why he gave me this title, for I know not.' At length, having
pleased, but not satisfied himself with my tortures, he ordered me to
be let down, that I might undergo tortures much greater in the evening.
I was carried, half dead, into my chamber; but not long after, the
inquisitor having dined, and being fresh in drink, I was fetched again,
and the archbishop of Spalatro was there. They inquired of my
conversations with Malatesta. I said it only concerned ancient and
modern learning, the military arts, and the characters of illustrious
men, the ordinary subjects of conversation. I was bitterly threatened by
Vianesius, unless I confessed the truth on the following day, and was
carried back to my chamber, where I was seized with such extreme pain,
that I had rather have died than endured the agony of my battered and
dislocated limbs. But now those who were accused of heresy were charged
with plotting treason. Pomponius being examined why he changed the names
of his friends, he answered boldly, that this was no concern of his
judges or the pope; it was, perhaps, out of respect for antiquity, to
stimulate to a virtuous emulation. After we had now lain ten months in
prison, Paul comes himself to the castle, where he charged us, among
other things, that we had disputed concerning the immortality of the
soul, and that we held the opinion of Plato; by disputing you call the
being of a God in question. This, I said, might be objected to all
divines and philosophers, who, to make the truth appear, frequently
question the existence of souls and of God, and of all separate
intelligences. St. Austin says, the opinion of Plato is like the faith
of Christians. I followed none of the numerous heretical factions. Paul
then accused us of being too great admirers of pagan antiquities; yet
none were more fond of them than himself, for he collected all the
statues and sarcophagi of the ancients to place in his palace, and even
affected to imitate, on more than one occasion, the pomp and charm of
their public ceremonies. While they were arguing, mention happened to be
made of 'the Academy,' when the Cardinal of San Marco cried out, that we
were not 'Academics,' b