THE CHARGE OF IMPIETY. 297 



the accusation of insanity we find him writing : " When 

 the calumny is about religion (for in these days that is 

 the most perilous kind) never confess that you have 

 erred ; but it is best wholly to pass the subject over 1 ." 



At Milan he had been struck off the list of teachers, 

 and we have seen also that for a time the printing of his 

 books was stopped. He had, however, in good time? 

 formally submitted all his writings to the authorities of 

 Rome, and this precaution, as he says, saved him from 

 peril. After his imprisonment at Bologna he was again 

 prohibited from teaching, and was also finally prohibited 

 from publishing his works. The prohibitions then im- 

 posed were not removed during his lifetime; and it was 

 not until some time after his death that a few of his last 

 manuscripts, which had been preserved, were given to the 

 press. The cardinals who on the last occasion intervened 

 again to protect the philosopher in his declining years, 

 did not repeat their effort to remove the interdict upon 

 his writings. 



Though taken alone the fact is an odd one, that a 

 philosopher imprisoned for impiety should be rescued by 

 the leading cardinals, removed to Rome, and pensioned 

 by the Pope, I think it may be accounted for without 



1 Proxenata, cap. cxi. Opera, Tom. i p. 455. 



