Still the sky became more threatening. The parliament, paying no respect to the privileges of the university, had entertained the complaint of the monks; the rector, therefore, received a message from this sovereign court summoning him to appear before it. Calvin knew quite well that a similar process would soon reach him; but he never shrank back either from before the despotism of an unjust power, or from the popular fury. 'We are not in the school of a Plato,' he said, 'where, sitting in the shade, we can indulge in idle discussions. Christ nobly maintained his doctrines before Pilate, and can we be so cowardly as to forsake him?'[499] Cop, strengthened by his friend, determined to appear to the summons of the parliament. That body had great power, no doubt; but the rector said to himself that the university possessed incontestable privileges, and that all learned Europe had been for many centuries almost at its feet. He resolved to support its rights, to accuse his accusers, and to reprimand the parliament for stepping out of the lawful course. Cop, therefore, got himself ready to appear, as became the head of the first university of the christian world. He put on his academical robes, and preceded by the beadles and apparitors, with their maces and gold-headed staves,[500] set out with great ceremony for the Palace of Justice. [Sidenote: COP GOES IN STATE TO THE PARLIAMENT.] He was going to his death. The parliament, as well as Calvin, had understood the position, but had arrived at very different conclusions. It saw that the hour was come to strike the blow that would crush the Reformation, and had resolved to arrest the rector even in the court. The absence of the king was an opportunity of which they must hasten to take advantage. A signal vengeance, inflicted in full parliament, was to expiate a crime not less signal, committed in the presence of the whole university. A member of the court, converted to the Gospel, determined to save the unfortunate Cop, and sent a trusty man to warn him of the impending danger. As he quitted the great hall, the messenger caught sight of the archers who had been sent for to arrest the rector: might it not be too late to save him? Cop was already on the road and approaching the palace, accompanied by a crowd of students, citizens, and common people, some full of good wishes, others curious to learn the issue of this singular duel between the parliament and the university. The man sent to forewarn the rector arrived just as the university procession was passing through a narrow street. Taking advantage of a momentary confusion occasioned by the crowd, he approached Cop, and whispered in his ear: 'Beware of the enemy;[501] they intend shutting you up in the Conciergerie; Berquin's fate awaits you; I have seen the officers authorised to seize you; if you go farther, you are a dead man.' ... What was to be done?... If it had been Calvin instead of Cop, he would perhaps have gone on.