If the accused was an impenitent heretic, he was condemned, but the _auto-da-fé_ was never celebrated until every means had been tried to convert him; if he was obstinate, he was delivered up to the justice of the king, and burnt. If the unfortunate heretic had relapsed, it was in vain for him to return to the true faith; he could not avoid death, and the only favour shewn him was, that he was first strangled, and afterwards burnt. Those who escaped from the prisons, or fled to avoid being arrested, were burnt in effigy. The tribunal of the Inquisition being ecclesiastical, had originally only the power of inflicting spiritual punishments; but the laws of the emperors during the fourth and following centuries, and other circumstances, caused the inquisitors of the thirteenth century to assume the right of imposing punishments entirely temporal, except that of death. The sentence of the Inquisition imposed a variety of fines and personal penalties; such as entire or partial confiscation; perpetual, or a limited period of imprisonment; exile, or transportation; infamy, and the loss of employments, honours, and dignities. Those persons who abjured as _seriously suspected_ of heresy, were condemned to be imprisoned for a certain time proportioned to the degree of suspicion. If the accused was _violently suspected_, he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, but the inquisitor had the power of mitigating the sentence, if he judged that the prisoner repented sincerely. If the abjurer had been a _formal_ heretic, he was imprisoned for life, and the inquisitor had not the power of shortening the duration of the punishment. Among the punishments to which heretics were condemned, must be enumerated that of wearing the habit of a penitent, known in Spain under the name of _San Benito_, which is a corruption of _saco bendito_. Its real name in Spanish was _Zamarra_. The first became the common name, because the penitential habit was called _sac_ in the Jewish history. Before the thirteenth century it was the custom to bless the _sac_ which was worn in public penance, and hence it derived the epithet of _bendito_ (blessed). It was a close tunic, made like the cassock of a priest, with crosses of a different colour affixed to the breast. St. Dominic and the other inquisitors caused the _reconciled heretics_ to wear these crosses, as a protection against the Catholics who massacred all known heretics, although they might be unarmed. The _reconciled heretics_ wore two crosses to distinguish them from pure Catholics, who only wore one as crusaders. CHAPTER V. ESTABLISHMENT Of THE MODERN INQUISITION IN SPAIN.