that letter, which I sent to you after starting on my journey,[1] has become public, and has been translated wrongly into Latin. They have also produced so many articles and accusations against me that I have much to write answering them all here from prison. There is no one who can help me except our merciful Lord Jesus who said: I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.[2] Remember, dearest, that I have zealously worked with you, and that I always hope for your salvation, now also when I am in prison and much tormented.″
On March 20, as already mentioned, Pope John XXIII. escaped from Constance in disguise. Hus appears at that time to have become somewhat more hopeful, perhaps because a few friends had been allowed to visit him—a great solace to a man whose health at this moment was again failing and who had lived for months surrounded only by enemies and spies. The aged Master Christian of Prachatice and John of Jesenice, two of Hus’s comrades during the long-protracted struggle against the simonists at Prague, visited him, not heeding the great danger which they incurred. Hus no doubt informed them of the treachery on the part of the council of which he had been the victim, and they both succeeded in escaping from Constance during the troubles that followed the flight of Cossa. Jerome of Prague also appeared for a short time at Constance, though Hus had begged him not to do so. He departed again almost immediately. Here, as ever, the presence of Jerome was very harmful to Hus. Another visitor was Lord Venceslas of Duba, the trusted friend and protector of Hus. He burst into tears on seeing him, and informed him
- ↑ In this letter—written in Bohemian—Hus had stated that he had left Prague without a letter of safe-conduct. We do not know what form this statement took when translated into Latin by Michael and Palec. Hus was travelling, accompanied by representatives of Sigismund who approved of his not waiting at Prague for the arrival of the letter. Some modern apologists of Sigismund have, following the example of Hus’s persecutors, maintained that the safe-conduct became invalid because Hus did not carry it on his journey.
- ↑ St. Luke xxi. 15.
