David Reubeni was denied even this last honour. The Emperor Charles handed him over to the Spanish Holy Office, in the vaults of which he languished for three years and was finally killed in an obscure manner. An uncharitable and uncritical world has branded Solomon as a fool and David as a rogue. Nothing fails like failure. If an unsuccessful patriot is called an adventurer and an unsuccessful financier a swindler, an unsuccessful Messiah must submit to be stigmatised as an impostor. Not many years afterwards the Inquisition was erected in Portugal at the instigation of Ignatius Loyola, and at the beginning of the seventeenth century there occurred at Lisbon an event which supplied it with a fresh excuse for persecution. A Franciscan monk of noble descent, Diogo by name, declared that by reading the Bible he came to the conclusion that Judaism and not Christianity was the true religion. Diogo was thrown into a dungeon; but, as he freely confessed his guilt, there seemed to be no occasion for torture. However, monks have seldom been governed by lay logic. Diogo was put to the rack in order to betray his accomplices. ♦1603♦ After two years of torture, varied with theological discussion, he was burnt at the stake in the presence of a large concourse of people, including the Regent. Diogo’s example invigorated the courage of the Portuguese crypto-Jews and caused many to denounce Christianity openly, regardless of consequences. Diogo’s martyrdom was celebrated by a young Jewish poet who, however, escaped the crown which his enthusiasm deserved by fleeing to Amsterdam. Another young Marrano poet also was induced by Diogo’s constancy to revert to Judaism. This revival of zeal for the old faith spurred the Holy Office to greater strenuousness on its part. At one time one hundred and fifty Marranos were arrested, tortured and threatened with cremation. The multitude of victims, however, was embarrassing to the Government. Moreover the Court lay under heavy pecuniary obligations to the Marranos, and the latter exerted themselves by might and money to procure the release of their brethren. They offered to Philip III. not only a gift of the sums due to them but, in addition, 1,200,000 cruzados (£120,000), and they also spent 150,000 cruzados among the King’s councillors in order to convince them of the justice of their cause. Philip III. was not deaf to a plea for mercy supported by so powerful an array of arguments, and he induced Pope Clement VIII. to pardon the prisoners. ♦1604♦ The Inquisition was reluctantly obliged to content itself with the semblance of an execution. The captives, clad as penitents, were led to the _auto-da-fé_ in Lisbon, where they publicly expressed a hypocritical contrition for their sin and were rewarded with loss of all civic rights. ♦1609♦