s, that he
consulted him in affairs of state, and ordinarily informed him, the
evening before, of any affair of importance that was to be treated of in
council, that he might be the more ready to give advice on the point.
The saint avoided the honor of dining with the king as often as be could
excuse himself: and, when obliged to assist at court, appeared there as
recollected as in his convent. One day at the king's table, the saint
cried out: "The argument is conclusive against the Manichees."[8] His
prior, being with him, bade him remember where he was. The saint would
have asked the king's pardon, but that good prince, fearing he should
forget the argument that had occurred to his mind, caused his secretary
to write it down for him. In the year 1259 St. Thomas assisted at the
thirty-sixth general chapter of his order, held at Valenciennes, which
deputed him, in conjunction with Albertus Magnus and three others, to
draw up rules for studies, which are still extant in the acts of that
chapter. Returning to Paris, he there continued his lectures. Nothing
was more remarkable than his meekness on all occasions. His temper was
never ruffled in the heat of any dispute, nor by any insult. It was
owing to this sweetness, more than to his invincible force of reasoning,
that he brought a young doctor to retract on the spot a dangerous
opinion, which he was maintaining a second time in his thesis. In 1261,
Urban IV. called St. Thomas to Rome, and, by his order, the general
appointed him to teach here. His holiness pressed him with great
importunity to accept of some ecclesiastical dignity,{529} but he knew
how much safer it is to refuse than to accept a bishopric. The pope,
however, obliged him always to attend his person. Thus it happened that
the saint taught and preached in all the towns where that pope ever
resided, as in Rome, Viterbo, Orvieto, Fondi, and Perugia. He also
taught at Bologna, Naples, &c.[9]

The fruits of his preaching were no less wonderful than those of his
pen. While he was preaching, on Good Friday, on the love of God for man,
and our ingratitude to him, his whole auditory melted into tears to such
a degree that he was obliged to stop several times, that they might
recover themselves. His discourse on the following Sunday, concerning
the glory of Christ, and the happiness of those who rise with him by
grace, was no less pathetic and affecting. William of Tocco adds, that
as the saint was coming out of St.