1883. Prowe's Life of Copernicus. 325
been imposed upon by such ignorant dogmatism as that of the 'Regimen ' above mentioned, which menaces, prognosticates, and prescribes in complete exemption from the constraints of reason, and implicit reliance upon popular fatuity. The vary- ing significance of thunder throughout the year, as regards human destinies, the weather, and the crops, is carefully ex- pounded ; certain dies nefasti are singled out in each month, on which bloodletting will infallibly prove fatal ; we are warned not to expect long to survive a wound received, or a potion drunk, on April 1 ; we are instructed to eat parsley- and fennel-seed each day in March, to take for supper in June zedoary, betony, and agrimony, and to avoid tasting lake-fish or potherbs in July.[1] The mere fact that these and other similar imbecilities should have been deemed worthy of preservation in writing by one of the most esteemed physicians of his time and country is curiously instructive, especially when we remember who and what that physician was.
There is reason to believe that the position of Copernicus in the Chapter became less agreeable as time went on. One by one his early friends dropped off, and a new generation of a totally different stamp arose. A great religious revolution had in the meantime passed over Germany. From the Alps to the Baltic, the doctrines of Luther had been received either with open acclamation, with tacit approval, or with mild dissent. Those who remained true to the old teachings clung to the hope that by charity and patience they might still win back the wanderers, and maintain the unity of the Church. Amongst these was Copernicus. He has, it is true, left no direct record of his theological opinions ; but it was by his advice that the ' Antilogikon ' of Bishop Gysius, one of his most intimate friends, was published. The conciliatory spirit which pervades this work was better suited to win esteem for the author than to meet the fierce exigencies of the time. It appealed to the reason of men, while talking little account of their passions ; yet we all know that by the whirlwind of their passions the mass of mankind are swept across great epochs of change.
As the quarrel became more visibly irreconcilable, sterner counsels, distasteful to the older and more tolerant school, began inevitably to prevail. Distrust and estrangement made themselves felt ; the past easy life was gone for ever ; and the
- ↑ J. Hipler, ' Kopernikus und Luther,' pp. 68-70.
