i 4 GIORDANO BRUNO PART 



which Dufour published in I884- 1 On Thursday 

 August 6, 1579, "one Philippe Jordan called 



Freedom of Brunus, an Italian/ 7 was brought before the Council, 

 for having " caused to be printed certain replies 



De ia Fayc. and invectives against M. de la Faye, enumerat- 

 ing twenty errors made by the latter in one of his 

 lectures." De la Faye was then Professor of Philosophy 

 in the Academy, of which in 1580 he became Rector, 

 resigning that post for the theological chair a few 

 years later. His one title to fame is, that he was the 

 biographer of Beza, and he was in no sense a strong 

 man ; all the more bitter and intense was his anger 

 at the intruding Italian who criticised his views, and 

 a far graver crime disparaged his learning. Bruno, 

 heard before a body of councillors, and having confessed 

 his fault, was to be set free on giving thanks to God 

 and an apology to M. de la Faye, admitting his fault 

 before the Consistory (the governing body of the 

 Church in Geneva), and tearing up the defamatory 

 libel. 2 But when he did appear, on August 13, 

 the philosopher adopted a different tone : " Philippe 

 Brun appeared before the Consistory to admit 

 his fault, in so far as he had erred in doctrine, 

 and called the ministers of the Church of Geneva 

 ' pedagogues* asserting that he neither would excuse 

 nor condemn himself in that, for it had not been 

 reported truly, although he understood that one, 

 Anthony de la Faye, had made such a report. 

 Inquired whom he had called pedagogues, he replied 

 with many excuses and assertions that he had been 

 persecuted, making many conjectures and numerous 

 other accusations." Finally, u it was decided that 



1 Giordano Bruno a Geneve (1579), par Theophil Dufour: i/. Berti, pp. 449 ff. 

 2 From the Register of the Council. 



