Galeotto had
ventured to write that the man who lived uprightly, and acted according
to the natural law born within him, would go to heaven, whatever nation
he belonged to.
Let us take, by way of example, the religious attitude of one of the
smaller men in the great army. Codrus Urceus was first the tutor of the
last Ordelaffo, Prince of Forli, and afterwards for many years
professor at Bologna. Against the Church and the monks his language is
as abusive as that of the rest. His tone in general is reckless to the
last degree, and he constantly introduces himself in all his local
history and gossip. But he knows how to speak to the edification of the
true God-Man, Jesus Christ, and to commend himself by letter to the
prayers of a saintly priest. On one occasion, after enumerating the
follies of the pagan religions, he thus goes on: 'Our theologians, too,
quarrel about "the guinea-pig's tail," about the Immaculate Conception,
Antichrist, Sacraments, Predestination, and other things, which were
better let alone than talked of publicly.' Once, when he was not at
home, his room and manuscripts were burnt. When he heard the news he
stood opposite a figure of the Madonna in the street, and cried to it:
'Listen to what I tell you; I am not mad, I am saying what I mean. If I
ever call upon you in the hour of my death, you need not hear me or
take me among your own, for I will go and spend eternity with the
devil.
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