He died with great bravery at the hands of
the revolutionary assassins, after telling his judges that as a friend of
the King he was accounted worthy to die on that day, the Feast of Saint
Louis.
All the venom of satirical writers seems to have been collected by that
strange author Gaspar Scioppius, who had such a singular lust for powerful
invective that he cared not whom he attacked, and made himself abhorred by
all. This Attila of authors was born in Germany in 1576, went to Rome,
abjured Protestantism, and was raised to high honours by Pope Clement
VIII. In return for these favours he wrote several treatises in support of
the Papal claims, amongst others _Ecclesiasticus_, which was directed
against James I. of England. Concerning this book Casaubon wrote in his
Epistle CLV.: "Know concerning Scioppius that some of his works have been
burned not only here at London by the command of our most wise King, but
also at Paris by the hand of the hangsman. I have written a letter, which
I will send to you, if I am able, against that beast." He poured the vials
of his wrath upon the Jesuits, declaring in his _Relatio ad reges et
principes de stratagematibus Societatis Jesu_ (1635) that there was no
truth to be found in Italy, and that this was owing entirely to the
Jesuits, who "keep back the truth in injustice, who, rejecting the cup of
Christ, drink the cup of devils full of all abominations.
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