The basis of reconciliation with Bernard was probably a second and shorter apology which Abélard wrote at Cluny. It was convenient to regard this at the time as a retractation. In reality it is for the most part a sharp rejection of Bernard’s formulation of his theses and a new enunciation of them in more orthodox phraseology. His frame of mind appears in the introductory note. ‘There is a familiar proverb that “Nothing is said so well that it cannot be perverted,” and, as St. Jerome says, “He who writes many books invites many judges.” I also have written a few things—though little in comparison with others—and have not succeeded in escaping censure; albeit in those things for which I am so gravely charged I am conscious of no fault, nor should I obstinately defend it, if I were. It may be that I have erred in my writings, but I call God to witness and to judge in my soul that I have written nothing through wickedness or pride of those things for which I am chiefly blamed.’ Then, warmly denying Bernard’s charge that he has ever taught a secret doctrine, he passes to a detailed profession of faith on the lines of Bernard’s list of errors. With regard to the Trinity he denies all the heresies ascribed to him; this he could do with perfect justice. On the other points he makes distinctions, adds explanations and qualifications, and even sometimes accepts Bernard’s thesis without remark, though one can generally see a reserve in the background. Thus, on the question of sin committed in ignorance, he makes the familiar modern distinction between culpable and inculpable ignorance: he admits that we have inherited Adam’s sin, but adds ‘because his sin is the source and cause of all our sins.’ On the question of the prevention of evil by God, he merely says, ‘Yes, He often does’; and so forth. The only sentence which looks like a real retractation is that in which he grants ‘the power of the keys’ to all the clergy. In this he clearly dissociates himself from Arnold of Brescia, and perplexes his friends. But his earlier teaching on the point is by no means so clear and categorical as that of Arnold. There is nothing either very commendable or very condemnable about the document. It probably represents a grudging concession to the abbot of Cluny’s friendly pressure and counsel to withdraw from what was really only a heated quarrel with as little friction as possible. That Abélard was not in the penitent mood some writers discover in the letter is clear from the peroration. ‘My friend [!] has concluded his list of errors with the remark: “They are found partly in Master Peter’s book of theology, partly in his _Sentences_, and partly in his _Scito te Ipsum_.” But I have never written a book of _Sentences_, and therefore the remark is due to the same malice or ignorance as the errors themselves.’