[555] Œcolampadius apud nos triumphat. Eras. ad Zwing. Zw. Epp. p. 312. [Sidenote: SUCCESS AND ALARM--HUTTEN.] In effect, this mild yet firm man (says Zwingle) spread around him the sweet savour of Christ, and all those who crowded about him grew in truth.[556] Often, indeed, a rumour was circulated that he would be forced to leave Basle and recommence his perilous pilgrimage. His friends, Zwingle in particular, were alarmed; but erelong the tidings of fresh victories gained by Œcolampadius scattered their fears and raised their hopes. The renown of his lectures extended even to Wittemberg, and delighted Luther, who talked with Melancthon about him every day. And yet the Saxon reformer was not without anxiety. Erasmus was at Basle, and Erasmus was the friend of Œcolampadius......Luther thought it his duty to put the man whom he loved on his guard. "I much fear," wrote he, "that Erasmus, like Moses, will die in the country of Moab, and never lead us into the land of promise."[557] [556] Illi magis ac magis in omni bono augescunt. Eras. ad Zwing. Zw. Epp. p. 312. [557] Et in terram promissionis ducere non potest. L. Epp. ii. 353. Erasmus had taken refuge at Basle, as in a quiet city, lying in the centre of the literary movement, and from the bosom of which he could, by means of the press of Frobenius, act upon France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and England. But did not like men to come and trouble him there; and if he looked upon Œcolampadius with suspicion, another man inspired him with still greater apprehension. Ulrich Hütten had followed Œcolampadius to Basle. For a long while he had been attacking the pope, as one knight engages with another. "The axe," said he, "is already laid at the root of the tree. Germans! faint not in the heat of the battle; the die is cast; the work is begun......Liberty for ever!" He had abandoned Latin, and now wrote only in German; for it was the people he wished to address. [Sidenote: LAST EFFORT OF CHIVALRY.]