hopes no hands save those of the papists will be stained with his blood.*
Of Sickingen persuade yourself that he alone unites with a spirit and courage truly German, evangelic piety and un- speakable humanity. If he were not ill with the gout, he would doubtless assert the cause of the gospel with his sword, for he desires only to die for Christ. And he is sick of serv- ing the Emperor, although he gets a salary of seven thousand gulden for it, only because the Emperor is obsequious to the Pope. He would be willing to have his stipend reduced to two thousand per annum to get the Emperor to read Luther's works translated into French.* I myself think it would be worth a great deal if only the Emperor would read them in the same spirit as SickingenLS, acute and learned, and agree- ing perfectly with the gospel. It is known that this hero has met Capito and Erasmus, to whom I think his excellent talents are known. Certainly he loves all learned and studious men, on whom, if possible, he would pour forth his wealth. Valentine is now going. I will write again soon, or else see you at a place where there are no vipers, for there are plenty here as the bull has come from Rome. They are now negotiating to have the affair, which the Pope committed to the Bishop of Spires,* transferred to the suffragan of Spires. ...
439. ALOISIUS MARLIAN, BISHOP OF TUY. TO ERASMUS. Erasmi opera (1703), iii. 636. Worms, April 7, 1521.
. . . But when we had returned from Spain and I met you at Brussels, I begged you to have nothing to do with Luther. For there were some men who suspected, though foolishly, that you were not averse to him. But you then promised to do as I asked so that I vouched for you before others as I did for myself. Afterwards this fatal Lutheran calamity grew stronger every day, and possessed the minds of so many that there did not seem to be any number uninfected by it.
lOn December 21, 1520. Translated, Smith, 105.
sReadinff '*Gallicam" (sc, linguam) for "GalHam." Both here and elsewhere in this letter the composition is so bad that I have had to construe with the greatest freedom. French was the only language known to Charles V., who had been brought up at Brussels.
'George of the Palatinate, Bishop of Spires 1513-29.
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