Rarely has a heresy hunt been so successful. As a sect, the Anabaptists ceased to exist. But a strange thing happened. Many of their ideas continued to live, were picked up by other denominations, were incorporated into all sorts of religious and philosophic systems, became respectable, and are today part and parcel of everybody’s spiritual and intellectual inheritance. It is a simple thing to state such a fact. To explain how it actually came about, that is quite a different story. Almost without exception the Anabaptists belonged to that class of society which regards an inkstand as an unnecessary luxury. Anabaptist history, therefore, was writ by those who regarded the sect as a particularly venomous land of denominational radicalism. Only now, after a century of study, are we beginning to understand the great rôle the ideas of these humble peasants and artisans have played in the further development of a more rational and more tolerant form of Christianity. But ideas are like lightning. One never knows where they will strike next. And what is the use of lightning rods in Münster, when the storm breaks loose over Sienna? CHAPTER XVII THE SOZZINI FAMILY In Italy the Reformation had never been successful. It could not be. In the first place, the people of the south did not take their religion seriously enough to fight about it and in the second place, the close proximity of Rome, the center of a particularly well equipped office of the Inquisition, made indulgence in private opinions a dangerous and costly pastime. But, of course, among all the thousands of humanists who populated the peninsula, there were bound to be a few black sheep who cared a great deal more for the good opinion of Aristotle than for that of Saint Chrysostom. Those good people, however, were given many opportunities to get rid of their surplus spiritual energy. There were clubs and coffee-houses and discreet salons where men and women could give vent to their intellectual enthusiasm without upsetting empires. All of which was very pleasant and restful. And besides, wasn’t all life a compromise? Hadn’t it always been a compromise? Would it not in all likelihood be a compromise until the end of time? Why get excited about such a small detail as one’s faith? After these few introductory remarks, the reader will surely not expect to hear a loud fanfaronade or the firing of guns when our next two heroes make their appearance. For they are soft-spoken gentlemen, and go about their business in a dignified and pleasant way. In the end, they are to do more to upset the dogmatic tyranny under which the world had suffered for such a long time than a whole army of noisy reformers. But that is one of those curious things which no one can foresee. They happen. We are grateful. But how it comes about, that, alas, is something which we do not fully understand. The name of these two quiet workmen in the vineyard of reason was Sozzini. They were uncle and nephew.