e they
could have little influence on the verdict, and in truth having
small wish that justice should be done, persuaded the archbishop
that it would be a grave insult to him to transfer this case to
another court, and that it would be dangerous for him if by chance
I should thus be acquitted. They likewise went to the legate, and
succeeded in so changing his opinion that finally they induced him
to frame a new sentence, whereby he agreed to condemn my book
without any further inquiry, to burn it forthwith in the sight of
all, and to confine me for a year in another monastery. The
argument they used was that it sufficed for the condemnation of my
book that I had presumed to read it in public without the approval
either of the Roman pontiff or of the Church, and that,
furthermore, I had given it to many to be transcribed. Methinks it
would be a notable blessing to the Christian faith if there were
more who displayed a like presumption. The legate, however, being
less skilled in law than he should have been, relied chiefly on the
advice of the archbishop, and he, in turn, on that of my rivals.
When the Bishop of Chartres got wind of this, he reported the whole
conspiracy to me, and strongly urged me to endure meekly the
manifest violence of their enmity. He bade me not to doubt that
this violence would in the end react upon them and prove a blessing
to me, and counseled me to have no fear of the confinement in a
monastery, knowing that within a few days the legate himself, who
was now acting under compulsion, would after his departure set me
free. And thus he consoled me as best he might, mingling his tears
with mine.

CHAPTER X

OF THE BURNING OF HIS BOOK--OF THE PERSECUTION HE HAD AT THE HANDS
OF HIS ABBOT AND THE BRETHREN

Straightway upon my summons I went to the council, and there,
without further examination or debate, did they compel me with my
own hand to cast that memorable book of mine into the flames.
Although my enemies appeared to have nothing to say while the book
was burning, one of them muttered something about having seen it
written therein that God the Father was alone omnipotent. This
reached the ears of the legate, who replied in astonishment that he
could not believe that even a child would make so absurd a blunder.
"Our common faith," he said, "holds and sets forth that the Three
are alike omnipotent." A certain Tirric, a schoolmaster, hearing
this, sarcastically added the Athanasian phrase