THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



to Paris for three months. In 1586 he went to Wit- 

 tenberg, where he taught Philosophy until 1588. He 

 then spent a short time successively in Prague, Bruns- 

 wick, Helmstadt, and in 1590 was in Frankfort-on- 

 tlie-Main. In 1591 the imprudent desire to revisit his 

 native land led him at first to Switzerland and then in 

 1 592 to Venice. After residing there seven or eight 

 months he was denounced as a heretic by Zuane 

 Mocenigo, who had invited Bruno there to instruct 

 him, and was delivered by him into the hands of the 

 Inquisition. He was arrested and shut up in the 

 prisons of the Inquisition. Thence he was trans- 

 ferred, February 27, 1593, to Rome, where he lan- 

 guished for seven years in its dungeons. This 

 detention is represented to us as a mercy that was 

 extended to him to permit time for a retraction of 

 his errors! Finally, on February 9, 1600, his sen- 

 tence of death was read to him. He was convicted 

 of being an apostate, a heretic, and one faithless to 

 the vows of his orders. He was degraded and deliv- 

 ered to the Secular Arm. On February 17th he was 

 conducted to the Campo di Fiori and burned alive at 

 the stake. It is reported that when his condemnation 

 was read to him he said to his judges: "This sen- 

 tence, pronounced in the name of a God of Mercy, 

 may cause to you, perhaps, more fear than it does 



to me." 



54 



