Wer wollt in solchem bleiben dheim?
Ich hab's gewagt! das ist mein Reim!"

"Der niemand groessern Schaden bringt,
Dann mir als noch die Sach gelingt
Dahin mich Gott und Wahrheit bringt,
Ich hab's gewagt."

"So breche ich hindurch, durch breche ich, oder ich falle,
Kaempfend, nach dem ich einmal geworfen das Loos!"

(So break I through the ranks else I die fighting--
Fighting, since once and forever the die I have cast!)

In this motto we have the keynote to his fiery and earnest nature.
Convinced that a cause was right, he knew no bounds of caution or
policy; he feared no prison or death. "I have dared it!"

"To all free men of Germany," he speaks. "Their tyranny will not last
forever; unless all signs deceive me, their power is soon to fail--for
already is the axe laid at the root of the tree, and that tree which
bears not good fruit will be rooted out, and the vineyard of the Lord
will be purified. That you shall not only hope, but soon see with your
eyes. Meanwhile, be of good cheer, you men of Germany. Not weak, not
untried, are your leaders in the struggle for freedom. Be not afraid,
neither weaken in the midst of the battle, for broken at last is the
strength of the enemy, for the cause is righteous, and the rage of
tyranny is already at its height. Courage, and farewell! Long live
freedom! I have dared it!" ("_Lebe die Freiheit; ich hab's gewagt_.")

Warnings and threats innumerable came to Hutten, from enemies who
feared and hated, from friends who were fearful and trembling; but he
never flinched: He had "dared it." The bull of excommunication which
came from the Pope frightened him no more than it did Luther. But at
last he was compelled to retire from the cities, and he took up his
abode in the Castle of Ebernburg, with Franz von Sickingen.

Franz von Sickingen was one of the great nobles of Germany, and he
ruled over a region in the bend of the Rhine between Worms and Bingen.
His was one of the bravest characters of that time. A knight of the
highest order, he became a disciple of Hutten and Luther, and on his
help was the greatest reliance placed by the friends of the growing
reform. His strong Castle of Ebernburg, on the hills above Bingen, was
the refuge of all who were persecuted by the authorities. The "Inn of
Righteousness" ("_Herberge von Gerechtigkeit_"), the Ebernburg was
called by Hutten.

The Humanists who had stood with Hutten in the struggle bet