582 DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARUM 





mentis subjectus linguam (indicii spem) dentibus praescidit, et 

 in os tyranni exspuit. 1 Neque tolerantia cedit (licet dignitate 

 plurimum), quod saeculo nostro accidit in Burgundo quodam, 

 Principis Aurasionensis interfectore. 2 Is virgis ferreis flagel- 

 latus et forcipibus ignitis laceratus, nullum prorsus gemitum 

 edidit; quinetiam cum forte fractum aliquid desuper in caput 

 adstantis cujuspiam incideret, ustulatus jam nebulo et in mediia 

 tormentis risit; qui tamen paulo ante, cum cincinni capillitii 

 quos gestabat tonderentur, fleverat. Animi quoque mira sere- 

 nitas et securitas, sub ipsum tempus mortis, in pluribus enituit ; 

 qualis fuit ilia centurionis apud Taciturn. Is cum a milite, qui 

 eum ex imperato occisurus esset, juberetur ut cervices porri- 

 geret fortiter, Utinam (inquit ille) tu tarn for liter ferias. 3 At 

 Joannes Dux Saxoniae, cum inter ludum scacchorum diploma, 

 quo nex ejus in posterum diem mandabatur, allatum esset, 

 adstantem quendam ad se vocavit, et subridens, Specta, inquit, 

 num non potiores paries ludi hujus teneam. Iste enim (ad collu- 

 eorem innuens), me mortuo,jactabit suas potiores paries fuisse.* 

 Noster vero Morus, Anglise Cancellarius, cum pridie quo mori- 

 turus esset tonsor ad eum veniret (missus scilicet ad hoc, ne 

 forte capillitio promisso esset apud populum in spectaculo mi- 

 serabilior) eumque interrogaret num tonderi placeret, renuit ; 

 atque ad tonsorem versus, Mihi, inquit, cum rege de capite meo 

 controversia est ; antequam vero ilia terminata fuerit, sumptus in 

 illud non faciam. Quin et idem, sub ipsum mortis articulum, 

 postquam jam caput in truncum fatalem reclinasset, rursus se 

 paululum erexit, et barba quaa ei erat promissior leniter amota, 

 At certe hcec, inquit, non offendit regem. Verum, ne hoc loco 

 longiores simus, satis patet quid velimus ; nempe ut Miracula 

 Natures Humana, viresque ejus et virtutes ultimas, tarn animi 

 quam corporis, in volumen aliquod colligantur; quod fuerit 



1 The story is somewhat differently told by Diogen. Laert. ix. 59 ; but in Pliny 

 and Valerius Maximus we find it related as in the text. A similar story is told of 

 Le;rna in ^Elian's Hist. Var. 



2 The person referred to is Balthazar Gerard of Franche Comte, who shot William 

 IX. Prince of Orange at Delft in 1584. Vide Histoire Generate des Pays Bas, 

 v. 384. 



8 Tac. Ann. xv. 67. In the same spirit Giordano Bruno told his judges that it 

 might well be that they had felt more fear in condemning him than he in hearing 

 himself condemned. 



4 The Elector of Saxony, of whom this story is told, was, in 1 547, irregularly con- 

 demned to death by Charles V. The sentence was not executed ; and it seems doubt- 

 ful whether the Emperor ever intended that it should be. 



According to De Thou, the Elector, after making some remark on the Emperor's 

 injustice, resumed and won the game. 



