Huss and Jerome
91
truth, though they knew it not, had been furthering the cause which
they vainly sought to destroy.
Yet another stake was to be set up at Constance. The blood of an-
other witness must testify for the truth. Jerome, upon bidding farewell
to Huss on his departure for the council, had exhorted him to courage
and firmness, declaring that if he should fall into any peril, he himself
would fly to his assistance. Upon hearing of the reformer’s imprison-
ment, the faithful disciple immediately prepared to fulfill his promise.
Without a safe-conduct he set out, with a single companion, for Con-
stance. On arriving there he was convinced that he had only exposed
himself to peril, without the possibility of doing anything for the de-
liverance of Huss. He fled from the city, but was arrested on the
homeward journey, and brought back loaded with fetters, and under
the custody of a band of soldiers. At his first appearance before the
council, his attempts to reply to the accusations brought against him
were met with shouts, “To the flames with him! to the flames!” He
[111]
was thrown into a dungeon, chained in a position which caused him
great suffering, and fed on bread and water.
After some months the cruelties of his imprisonment brought upon
Jerome an illness that threatened his life, and his enemies, fearing
that he might escape them, treated him with less severity, though he
remained in prison for one year. The death of Huss had not resulted as
the papists had hoped. The violation of his safe-conduct had roused a
storm of indignation, and as the safer course the council determined,
instead of burning Jerome, to force him, if possible, to retract. He was
brought before the assembly, and offered the alternative to recant or
to die at the stake. Death at the beginning of his imprisonment would
have been a mercy, in comparison with the terrible sufferings which
he had undergone; but now, weakened by illness, by the rigors of his
prison-house, and the torture of anxiety and suspense, separated from
his friends, and disheartened by the death of Huss, Jerome’s fortitude
gave way, and he consented to submit to the council. He pledged
himself to adhere to the Catholic faith, and accepted the action of the
council in condemning the doctrines of Wycliffe and Huss, excepting,
however, the “holy truths” which they had taught.
By this expedient, Jerome endeavored to silence the voice of con-
science and escape his doom. But in the solitude of his dungeon he
saw more clearly what he had done. He thought of the courage and