Part 10 (1/2)

But all his wooing came to naught; another man wedded the fair Cunigunde, and the coming storm of Romish wrath left Hutten no opportunity to turn his attention elsewhere.

The old Pope was now dead, and one of the famous family of Medici, in Florence, had succeeded him as Leo the Tenth. Leo was kindly disposed toward the Humanist studies, and Hutten, as poet of the Humanists, addressed to him directly a remarkable appeal, which made the turning-point in his life, for it placed him openly among those who resisted the Pope.

Recounting to the new Pope Leo all the usurpations which in his judgment had been made, one by one, by his predecessors--all the robberies, impositions, and abuses of the Papacy, from the time of Constantine down--he appeals to Leo, as a wise man and a scholar, to restore stolen power and property, to correct all abuses, to abandon all temporal power, and become once more the simple Bishop of Rome.

”For there can never be peace between the robber and the robbed till the stolen goods are returned.”

Now, for the first time, the work of Luther came to Hutten's attention.

The disturbances at Wittenberg were in the beginning treated by all as a mere squabble of the monks. To Leo the Tenth this discussion had no further interest than this: ”Brother Martin,” being a scholar, was most probably right. To Hutten, who cared nothing for doctrinal points, it had no significance; the more monkish strifes the better--”the sooner would the enemies eat each other up.”

But now Hutten came to recognize in Luther the apostle of freedom of thought, and in that struggle of the Reformation he found a n.o.bler cause than that of the Humanists--in Luther a greater than Reuchlin.

And Hutten never did things by halves. He entered into the warfare heart and soul. In 1520 he published his ”Roman Trinity,” his gage of battle against Rome.

He now, like Luther, began to draw his inspiration, as well as his language, not from the cla.s.sics, but from the New Testament. A new motto he took for himself, one which was henceforth ever on his lips, and which appears again and again in his later writings: ”_Jacta est alea_” (”the die is cast”); or, in the stronger German, in which he more often gave it, ”_Ich hab's gewagt_” (”I have dared it”).

”Auf dasz ichs nit anheb umsunst Wolauf, wir haben Gottes Gunst; Wer wollt in solchem bleiben dheim?

Ich hab's gewagt! das ist mein Reim!”

”Der niemand grossern Schaden bringt, Dann mir als noch die Sach gelingt Dahin mich Gott und Wahrheit bringt, Ich hab's gewagt.”

”So breche ich hindurch, durch breche ich, oder ich falle, Kampfend, nach dem ich einmal geworfen das Loos!”

(So break I through the ranks else I die fighting-- Fighting, since once and forever the die I have cast!)

In this motto we have the keynote to his fiery and earnest nature.

Convinced that a cause was right, he knew no bounds of caution or policy; he feared no prison or death. ”I have dared it!”

”To all free men of Germany,” he speaks. ”Their tyranny will not last forever; unless all signs deceive me, their power is soon to fail--for already is the axe laid at the root of the tree, and that tree which bears not good fruit will be rooted out, and the vineyard of the Lord will be purified. That you shall not only hope, but soon see with your eyes. Meanwhile, be of good cheer, you men of Germany. Not weak, not untried, are your leaders in the struggle for freedom. Be not afraid, neither weaken in the midst of the battle, for broken at last is the strength of the enemy, for the cause is righteous, and the rage of tyranny is already at its height. Courage, and farewell! Long live freedom! I have dared it!” (”_Lebe die Freiheit; ich hab's gewagt_.”)

Warnings and threats innumerable came to Hutten, from enemies who feared and hated, from friends who were fearful and trembling; but he never flinched: He had ”dared it.” The bull of excommunication which came from the Pope frightened him no more than it did Luther. But at last he was compelled to retire from the cities, and he took up his abode in the Castle of Ebernburg, with Franz von Sickingen.

Franz von Sickingen was one of the great n.o.bles of Germany, and he ruled over a region in the bend of the Rhine between Worms and Bingen.

His was one of the bravest characters of that time. A knight of the highest order, he became a disciple of Hutten and Luther, and on his help was the greatest reliance placed by the friends of the growing reform. His strong Castle of Ebernburg, on the hills above Bingen, was the refuge of all who were persecuted by the authorities. The ”Inn of Righteousness” (”_Herberge von Gerechtigkeit_”), the Ebernburg was called by Hutten.

The Humanists who had stood with Hutten in the struggle between Reuchlin and Pfefferkorn saw with growing concern the gradual transfer of the field of battle from questions of literature to questions of religion. Reuchlin, growing old and weak, wrote a letter, disavowing any sympathy with the new uprisings against the time-honored authority of the Church. This letter came into Hutten's hands, and, with all his reverence for his old friend and master, he could not keep silence.

”Eternal G.o.ds!” he writes. ”What do I see? Have you sunk so deep in weakness and fear, O Reuchlin! that you cannot endure blame even for those who have fought for you in time of danger? Through such shameful subservience do you hope to reconcile those to whom, if you were a man, you would never give a friendly greeting, so badly have they treated you? Yet reconcile them; and if there is no other way, go to Rome and kiss the feet of Leo, and then write against us. Yet you shall see that, against your will, and against the will of all the G.o.dless courtesans, we shall shake off the shameful yoke, and free ourselves from slavery. I am ashamed that I have written so much for you--have done so much for you,--since when it comes to action you have made such a miserable exit from the ranks. From me shall you know henceforth that whether you fight in Luther's cause or throw yourself at the feet of the Bishop of Rome, I shall never trust you more.” The poor old man, thus hara.s.sed on all sides, found no longer any rest or comfort in his studies. Worn-out in body, and broken in spirit, he soon died.

The great source of Luther's hold on Germany lay in his direct appeal to the common people. For this he translated the Bible into German--even now the n.o.blest version of the Bible in existence. For in translating a work of inspiration the intuition of a man like Luther, as Bayard Taylor has said, counts for more than the combined scholars.h.i.+p of a hundred men learned in the Greek and Hebrew. ”The clear insight of one prophet is better than the average judgment of forty-seven scribes.” The German language was then struggling into existence, and scholars considered it beneath their notice. It was fixed for all time by Luther's Bible. Luther often spent a week on a single verse to find and fix the idiomatic German. ”It is easy to plow when the field is cleared,” he said. ”We must not ask the letters of the Latin alphabet how to speak German, but the mother in the kitchen and the plowman in the field, that they may know that the Bible is speaking German, and speaking to them. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. No German peasant would understand that. We must make it plain to him. '_Wess das Herz voll ist, dess geht der Mund uber_.' ('Whose heart is full, his mouth runs over.')”

The same influence acted on Hutten. All his previous writings were in Latin, and were directed to scholars only. Henceforth he wrote the language of the Fatherland, and his appeals to the people were in language which the people could and did read. No Reformation ever came while only the learned and the n.o.ble were in the secret of it.

”Latein, ich vor geschrieben hab Das war ein jeden nicht bekannt; Jetzt schrei ich an das Vaterland, Teutsch Nation in ihrer Sprach Zu bringen diesen Dingen Rach.”

(”For Latin wrote I hitherto, Which common people did not know.

Now cry I to the Fatherland, The German people, in their tongue, Redress to bring for all these wrongs.”)