tan of St. Peter's were committing
the sins of luxurious living in a most disgraceful and unbridled manner,
with no remorse and no shame, so that pretty women and handsome youths
could obtain any favours they pleased. In addition to this sensuality
which they exhibited in public, he saw that they were gluttons and
drunkards, so much so that they were more the slaves of the belly than
are the greediest of animals. When he looked a little further, he found
them so avaricious and fond of money that they sold for hard cash both
human bodies and divine offices, and with less conscience than a man in
Paris would sell cloth or any other merchandise. Seeing this and much
more that it would not be proper to set down here, it seemed to Abraham,
himself a chaste, sober, and upright man, that he had seen enough. So
he resolved to return to Paris, and carried out the resolution with his
usual promptitude. Jean de Civigny held a great fete in honour of his
return, although he had lost hope of his coming back converted. But he
left time for him to settle down before he spoke of anything, thinking
there would be plenty of time to hear the bad news he expected. But,
after a few days of rest, Abraham himself came to see his friend, and
Jean ventured to ask what he thought of the Holy Father, the cardinals,
and the other persons at the pontifical court. At these words the Jew
exclaimed, "God damn them all! I never once succeeded in finding among
them any holiness, any devotion, any good works; but, on the contrary,
luxurious living, avarice, greed, fraud, envy, pride, and even worse, if
there is worse; all the machine seemed to be set in motion by an impulse
less divine than diabolical. After what I saw, it is my firm conviction
that your pope, and of course the others as well, are using all their
talents, art, endeavours, to banish the Christian religion from the face
of the earth, though they ought to be its foundation and support; and
since, in spite of all the care and trouble they expend to arrive at
this end, I see that your religion is spreading every day and becoming
more brilliant and more pure, it is borne in upon me that the Holy
Spirit Himself protects it as the only true and the most holy religion;
this is why, deaf as you found me to your counsel and rebellious to your
wish, I am now, ever since I returned from this Sodom, firmly resolved
on becoming a Christian. So let us go at once to the church, for I am
quite ready to be b