The prisoner himself was then brought forward--"A man of ordinary stature, with chestnut-brown beard, of the age and appearance of forty years"; Ciotto, too, described him as a slender man of small stature, with a small dark beard, about forty years of age. Bruno of his own accord, before a question was put, professed his readiness to speak the truth; he had several times had the threat made to him of being brought before the Holy Office (viz. by Mocenigo), but had always treated it as a jest, because he was quite ready to give an account of himself. This he proceeded to do. The biographical part of his account has been embodied in the preceding pages. [Sidenote: Third deposition of Mocenigo.] On the 29th Mocenigo made another deposition, the result of further reflections, at the request of the Father Inquisitor, on the utterances of Bruno against the Catholic faith. Bruno had said that the Catholics did not act on the model of the apostles, who taught by example and good deeds, converting through love, not force; that he preferred the Catholic religion to others, but it also stood in great need of reform; that he hoped great things from the King of Navarre; that it was a mistake to allow the friars to remain so rich (in Venice): they should do as in France, where the nobles enjoyed the revenues of the monasteries, the friars living on soup, as befitted such "asses." This was a powerful stroke of diplomacy on Mocenigo's part. It was also hinted that Bruno's life was not pure, that he said the Church erred in making a sin of what was of great service in nature, and of what he (Bruno) regarded as a high merit. [Sidenote: The twofold truth.] [Sidenote: Fra Domenico.] [Sidenote: Philosophical and theological truth.] [Sidenote: Bruno's creed.]