P E T R I R A M I

But here also, Charles of Lorraine shone upon Ramus like a saving star in that storm. He first heard the accusation of one man, who called Ramus an Academic and described him with unheard-of slander as an enemy and foe of human and divine things, who cast doubt upon human and divine laws and taught his students to doubt them: who proposed slippery passages from Saint Augustine to his listeners for the sake of unbridled and impious liberty, and who (the more easily to abuse incautious minds) would abolish all logical disputations. When the Cardinal had recited these things to him at supper and had ordered him to respond to them, he said, "Woe is me, my Maecenas, what do I hear? Whence could any most malicious slanderer invent such an impious fraud? In which of our deeds or words could he find the slightest suspicion of such great slander? For we neither know, nor approve, nor have any Academy except one congruent and consonant with the true and useful precepts of grammar, rhetoric, and all philosophy, and one congruent with our Republic and the Christian religion. On the contrary, against such an absurd and concocted name for an Academy, we affirm the true and useful parts of the arts (in which we have been engaged until now) with precepts, illustrate them with examples, and celebrate them with daily use and practice. We are so far from doubting them or teaching others to doubt them. We have dedicated to you our books of poets, orators, and philosophers, filled with familiar examples; we have not cited slippery passages of Augustine, nor do I think there is any gymnasium in the whole Academy where logical disputations are exercised more diligently. Therefore, my Maecenas, through the most holy and just divinity of the living God, rouse your virtue and free our innocence from such a horrible and foul slander. These, these are the crimes by which we are oppressed, unless you bring us aid." Here, the Cardinal’s mind was vehemently offended by such atrocity. Therefore, he demanded a discussion of the case from the president of the Senate for the next day, yet he listened patiently to Ramus’s adversaries at home beforehand, while Ramus himself was absent. When he noticed that they were so moved without cause, he ordered Ramus to be summoned and to satisfy each of their arguments. Ramus, however, satisfied them both willingly and constantly; he showed the empty and vain tumults of angry men.