Even if you must suffer death to maintain his glory, do not hesitate. It is better to die with honor than to live with ignominy.’ It was much worse when the Venetian ambassador at the court of Charles V. forwarded to the senate the letter which Melancthon had written on the 6th of July to Cardinal Campeggi, and in which he went so far as to say that the protestants did not differ from the Roman Church in any important dogma, and were disposed to acknowledge the papal jurisdiction.[801] The evangelical Christians of Venice, who wanted a decided position, were dismayed. Most of them denied that the letter was Melancthon’s; Rosselli, in particular, with generous enthusiasm, took up the doctor’s defence, and on the 1st of August sent him a copy of the letter, ‘to the end that he might carefully scrutinize the wickedness of those who ascribed to him words calculated to disgrace the true defenders of the cause of Christ and Christ himself.[802] Now that we have discovered their malice,’ added the Venetian, ‘resist their iniquity with greater zeal, and let the emperor and all Christian princes know the shameless practices of the enemy.’ What seemed impossible to the Italians was but too true: Melancthon had carried his concessions too far. When he declared, however, that he would not recognize the Bishop of Rome until he became evangelical, he had put a stipulation to his compact which rendered it impossible. From Venice we pass to Turin. The Italian revival did not present that simple historical and continuous advance which we meet with in other European countries. It was not like a single river whose deep and mighty waters, as they flowed along, ran calmly in the same channel; but like little streams, issuing from the earth in various places, whose bright and limpid waters glittered in the sunbeam and fertilized the soil around them. They disappeared; they were lost in the ground, oftentimes, alas! imparting to it a sanguine hue, and the earth returned to its former barrenness. Yet many a plant had been revived by them, and their sweet remembrance may still cause joy to others. [Sidenote: Celio Curione.] The works of the reformers had reached Turin. Piedmont, from its vicinity to Switzerland, France, and Germany, was among the first to receive a glimpse of the sun which had just risen beyond the Alps. The Reformation had already appeared in one of its cities,—at Aosta,—and most of its doctrines had for ages been current among the Waldensian valleys. Monks of the Augustine convent at Turin, Hieronimo Nigro Foscianeo in particular, were among the number of those who first became familiar with the evangelical writings. Celio Secundo Curione, a young man still at college, received them from their hands in 1520.