JULIO CESARE VANINI

Let us hear the very grave Gramondus. *

THE ACCUSATION. Accused of corrupting the youth through a new dogma set of principles, he is thrown into chains. By falsely claiming to be a Catholic and Orthodox holding the right belief—for so they interpreted it, since he frequently made use of the Sacraments while in prison—he delayed the punishment he had earned. He was already being released due to ambiguous evidence, when Franconus—a man of illustrious lineage, or proven to be of the highest character by this one piece of evidence—charged that Lucilio Vanini had very often denied God to him, and had subjected the secrets of the Christian Faith to mockery. The witness is set against the defendant and holds his ground. The defendant is brought before the Senate to be heard according to custom, and when asked what he thinks about God, he replies: that he worships one God in the Trinity, such as the Orthodox Church adores, and that nature itself clearly proves God. While saying this, he picked up a stray straw from the ground, and stretching out his hand to the Judges, said: This straw commands me to believe that God exists; and then it leads me toward Providence, seeing how the seed cast into the earth, which seemed to wither and die, whitens from putrefaction, grows green and is born, gradually increases, matures with the morning dew, flourishes when water is poured more abundantly from above, arms itself with ears of corn to ward off birds with its spikes, rises on its stalk and puts forth leaves, turns yellow as it ages, and with a lowered brow languishes until it dies, until afterward it is threshed, and when the grain is separated...

* Gramondus, book 3, History of France original: "Hist. Gall.".