Ten Reasons Proposed to His Adversaries for Disputation in the Name | Page 9

said later.
This hostile evidence is so striking and so ample that it might seem
unnecessary to allege more, but I attach a great deal more importance to
the praise of theologians of Campion's own faith: for, in the first place
this is much harder to obtain than the attention of the persons attacked.
Secondly, those who are acquainted with Catholic theological criticism
are at first surprised to find what very severe critics Catholic
theologians are one of another. In this case, where the writer had from
the nature of his task to make so much use of rhetorical arguments,

allusions, irony, and unusual forms of expression, there was more than
usual chance of fault being found, especially as every possible thorny
subject is introduced somehow, and that in terms meant to please not
Roman theologians, but Oxford students. Evidently there was danger
here that critics should or might be severe, or at least insist on certain
changes and emendations. In fact the work was received with joy, and
reprinted frequently and with honour. I have lately found a letter in its
commendation from the Cardinal Secretary of State of that day, and
Muret, as we have heard, perhaps the greatest humanist then living in
the Catholic ranks, described it as "Libellum aureum, vere digito Dei
scriptum."
7. THE DISPUTATIONS.
The publication of the Decem Rationes was the last act of Campion's
life of freedom. He was seized the very next week, and after five
months of suffering was martyred on 1 December, 1581. During that
prolonged and unequal struggle against every variety of craft and
violence the Ten Reasons continued to have their influence, and on the
whole they were extremely helpful, for they enabled the martyr to
recover some ground which he had lost while under torture. During
those awful agonies he confessed to having found shelter in the houses
of certain gentlemen. It is certain that these names were all known to
the Government before, and that he was not betraying any secret.
Nevertheless the gentlemen in question were at once seized, imprisoned
and fined, on the alleged evidence of Campion's confessions only. This
of course caused much scandal among Catholics, and so long as he lay
lost in the Tower dungeons, unpleasant rumours about his constancy
could not be effectively contradicted. Thus far Elizabeth's ministers had
gained an advantage, which Pounde had foretold they were likely to
win. But the remedy he had suggested also proved effective.
Though under ordinary circumstances Elizabeth's ministers "meant
nothing less" than having the disputation requested, nevertheless now
that Campion was so terribly shaken and reduced, they hoped that they
might arrange some sort of a meeting, which might in show correspond
with what had been demanded in the Decem Rationes, and yet leave
them with a certain victory. They were emboldened too, by finding that
their prisoner was not after all, such a particularly learned man. He had
never been a professor of theology, or written or made special studies,

beyond the ordinary course which in those days was not a long one. It
was, therefore, settled that four disputations should be held in the
Tower of London. Theology was still taught at Oxford and Cambridge
in something of the old mediaeval method and in syllogistic form. The
men who were pitted against Campion had lately been, or were still,
examiners at the Universities. Nor is it to be denied for a moment that
they did their work well. The attack never faltered. Their own side
quite believed they had won. The method they adopted was this. They
assumed the role of examiners, and starting with the Decem Rationes
before them, they plied Campion with crabbed texts, and obscure
quotations from the Fathers. Then they cut short his answers, and as
soon as one had examined for one quarter of an hour, another took his
place, for they were anxious above all things to avoid defeat. The
number of topics broached and left unsettled surpasses belief, indeed
the scene was one of utter confusion, taunts, scoldings, sneers--a very,
very different test from the academic argumentation, which Campion
had requested.
The martyr did not show any remarkable erudition, indeed all
opportunity to do so was carefully shut off. No University, I fancy,
would have given him a chair of theology on the strength of his replies
on that occasion. There was more than one premature assertion of
victory on the Protestant side. But when the Catholic and Protestant
accounts are compared, one sees that the advantages won against
Campion were slight. They evidently hoped that by vigorous and
repeated attacks they would at last puzzle or bear him down. But they
were never near this. He was always fresh and gay, never in difficulties,
or at the end of his tether. He stands