MASTER THOMAS IN THE WAR--BECOMES
PROFESSOR IN BASLE.
Not long after that, the inhabitants of Zurich and the five Cantons
went to war again. The event was very lamentable, for many a worthy and
honest man met his death there; amongst others that eminent man, Ulrich
Zuinglius. I was at that time in Zurich. When the battle was lost, and
the report reached Zurich, they sounded an alarm on the great bell,
just about the time the candles were lighted. Then many people ran out
of the town towards the Sihlbridge, lower down on the Albis. I also
snatched up a halberd and sword in Myconius's house, and ran out with
the others: but when we had proceeded some distance, the sight was so
dreadful that I thought to myself, "Better for you to have staid at
home;" for many met us who had only one hand; others held their head
with both hands, grievously wounded and bloody; others suffering still
more dreadfully, and men with them who lighted them along, for it was
dark. When we came to the bridge they let every one out over the
bridge; but into Zurich they would let no man; for there were armed men
standing on the bridge to hinder it;--otherwise I believe the most
would have fled into the city. They then exhorted each other not to be
disheartened. There was one man out of the Zurich territory, a very
stout-hearted fellow, who spoke with a loud voice, so that every one
could hear, and reminded them how it often happened that at the
beginning the prospect was gloomy, and yet afterwards matters turned
out well; he also advised that during the night they should march
towards the Albis, for the purpose of receiving the enemy should they
come on the morrow. When we reached that place no captain was any where
to be found; for they had all been shot in the night. Besides this, it
was excessively cold at that time: for in the morning there was a
severe frost. We then made fires; and I seated myself close to one of
the fires, and pulled off my shoes to warm my feet. There was also one
Fuchsberger at my fire, at that time trumpeter of the States of Zurich;
he had neither shoes nor cap, nor any sort of weapon. As we sat there
an alarm was sounded to see how the people would behave themselves; and
while I was going to draw on my shoes, Fuchsberger snatched up my
halberd, and was going into the ranks with it. I said to him, "Hold,
comrade! leave me my weapon:" when he gave it back instantly, and said,
"Well, in God's name they knocked me about so grievously yesterday,
they may kill me outright to-day;" and with these words he laid hold of
a large hedge-stake, and placed himself in the rank directly before me.
Then I thought, "What a fine fellow that is! and there he stands quite
unarmed!" I repented very much that I had not let him keep my halberd.
Otherwise I had given myself up to my unalterable fate, and thought,
"Now it must be." I was not at all frightened; but thought I would
defend myself stoutly with my halberd; and if I lost my halberd, then I
would defend myself vigorously with my sword. When however they saw
that no enemy was at hand, they allowed the ranks to disband
themselves; and I was not less glad than many another whom I knew, and
who used to walk about very haughtily in Zurich, but trembled there
like an aspen leaf. Then I heard a brave man, who stood on an elevated
place, call out aloud, "Where are our captains? O God of heaven! is
there then no one here to direct us what to do?" Although several
thousands of us were assembled, yet no one knows what would have
happened if the enemy had come up. When it was about nine o'clock in
the morning the chief captain was seen coming across a meadow; he had
lost his way in the flight: the other captain, William vom rothen
Hause, had been killed. The third, however, George Göldin, had so
conducted himself, that afterwards in Zurich he was convicted of
treachery, and had to leave the country. What further happened there I
know not: for I was not equipped like the others; and having nothing to
eat, I went back again to Zurich. My old teacher Myconius asked me,
"What is the news? has Ulrich Zuinglius been killed?" When I said
"Yes," he said, with a grieved heart, "My God! have mercy upon us: now
I have no wish to remain any longer in Zurich;" for Zuinglius and
Myconius had been good friends for many years. When I had got something
to eat; we went out together into a chamber, and Myconius said, "Where
shall I now go to? I have no desire to remain longer in Zurich."
Hearing a few days after, that the preacher Hieronymus Bodanus, of St.
Alban's in Basle, had also been killed in the battle, I said to
Myconius, "Go to Basle, and become preacher there." He answered, "What
preacher would give way to me, and let me occupy his place?" I now
acquainted him that the preacher of St. Alban's had been killed, and
that I believed he would be received there: there was however nothing
more said about it.
After the peace was concluded, four hundred Swiss came, who were
desirous to get into the town at night. This caused a tumult among the
citizens, who feared that they were going to make a murderous night of
it; for there were but too many traitors in the town, who could have
pointed out which were to be murdered. They then locked the gate, and
the whole Rennway was filled with people. The traitorous blockhead
Escher, who had become colonel in Lavater's place, rode out to the
Swiss at the Sihl, and gave them lodging--whoever would not let them
into his house he forced the door, and was very friendly to them. When
every one had gone home from the Rennway, Dr. Ammianus came to
Myconius, and said to him, "Mr. Myconius, I will not allow you to sleep
in your house to-night. No one knows what may happen, and they will
certainly not spare you; come therefore with me." Several of his
scholars escorted him to Dr. Ammianus's house, and I amongst them.
Myconius said to me, "Thomas, do you sleep with me to-night;" so we
both slept in one bed, and each had a halberd lying beside him in the
bed. On the following day the Swiss went up along the lake of Zurich
towards home. When all was quiet again, and as I was losing my time, I
determined to go again to Basle to my studies. I studied in the
college, and slept in my own bed; I had my board at the sign of the
Pilgrim's Staff, for my wife was still in Zurich. There I have often
dined for threepence; so that one can well imagine what sort of plenty
I had. At that time I said to Henry Billing, the son of the
burgomaster, that I had heard from Myconius that he did not like to
stay longer in Zurich now that Ulrich Zuinglius had been killed. He
said, "Do you think that he could be persuaded to come here to us?" I
related my conversation with him respecting the preacher's office at
St. Alban's. He informed his father, the burgomaster, of it; and he in
turn told it to the gentlemen deputies, who sent for me to come to the
convent of the Augustines, in order to converse with me. After they had
heard me they sent me to Zurich to fetch Myconius. The travelling
expences I had however to bear myself. On the journey to Basle, four
horsemen met us in the field above Mumpf, and as that was not in the
jurisdiction of the confederacy Myconius said, "What if those men
should take us prisoners, and carry us to Ensen?" I comforted him
however when they came nearer, by saying, "Do not be afraid, they are
Baslers." They were the cadets Wolfgang von Landenberg, Eglin
Offenberg, Landenberg's son, and a horse-soldier. When they were come
nearer I said, "I know that they are Baslers, for I have often seen
them at [Oe]colompadius's sermons." At Mumpf they turned in at the Bell
Inn, for it was near night, and we also turned in there. When we came
into the room, cadet Wolfgang asked, "Whence do you come?" Myconius
answered, "From Zurich." The cadet said, "What news in Zurich?"
Myconius replied, "They are in great trouble because Master Ulrich
Zuinglius has been killed." Cadet Wolfgang continued, "Who are you?"
Myconius answered, "My name is Myconius, and I am schoolmaster in
Zurich, at the Frauenmünster." Thereupon he also asked him who he was?
He said, "I am Wolfgang von Landenberg." A little while afterwards
Myconius taking me by the coat, led me aside, and said, "Now I see how
industriously you go to church in Basle: it appears to me that this
cadet did not take up much room in the church." This he said because he
had heard him much talked of. Whilst we sat, the cadet Eglin also came
into the room, together with the two others. After supper they began to
drink immoderately, and the horseman brought Myconius a glass full to
the brim. Myconius drank a little out of the glass; then the horseman
said, "O, Sir, you must not put me off so." As he continued importuning
him, Myconius became angry, and said, "Hark ye, comrade, I was able to
drink before you were able to count five--leave me alone." The cadet
Eglin, who sat at the top of the table, heard that, and asked, "What is
the matter with you there?" Myconius answered, "That young fellow there
wants to force me to drink." On that Eglin became very angry with the
horseman; so that we thought that he would beat him; he spoke very
sharply to him: "Thou miserable fellow, wilt thou force an old man to
drink?" and the like. Thereupon he asked Myconius, "Dear sir, who are
you?" "My name is Oswald Myconius." "Were you not once schoolmaster at
St. Peter's in Basle?" "Yes." The cadet said, "My dear sir, then you
were my preceptor: had I minded you then I should have become an honest
man; whereas at present I can scarcely say what I am." They then went
on drinking immoderately. The cadet Wolf, however, had not taken any
part whatever in the quarrel. When Elgin had had enough, he laid
himself down with his elbows on the table. On this his father began to
scold him harshly, as if he had committed the greatest crime. After
supper Myconius and I went to bed: they however drank more before they
went to bed, and made an abominable noise with singing and shouting. We
heard afterwards that they had been about fourteen days in Zurich, and
had, with those who felt rather joy than sorrow, assisted at the
funeral of Zuinglius, and others who had been killed. Next morning, as
we were going over the Melifeld, Myconius said to me, "How did you like
the education of those gentlemen yesterday? To make a person drink till
he is sick, is no shame; but to lay the elbows a little on the table
deserves all that cursing and scolding!" On our arrival in Basle,
Myconius went to Dr. Oporinus, but I to the college. Several days
after, Myconius was to preach the council-sermon. I do not know whether
he had been told of it or not. When I came to him he was still in bed;
I said, "Father, get up; you are to preach." "What," replied he, "must
I preach?" and raising himself up quickly, he turned to me with these
words: "Tell me what I shall preach." "I do not know," I said. He
continued, "I am determined you shall tell me." Thereupon I proposed to
him to shew in his sermon whence and wherefore the misfortune came that
had befallen us. He required me to make a note of it on a slip of
paper. That I did, and gave him my little Testament, into which he put
the slip of paper, and so entered the pulpit; and expounded the
question to the learned people who had assembled to hear him, as one
who had never before preached a sermon. They were however all so
surprised at his sermon, that I heard amongst others Dr. Grynäus say to
a student of the name of Sultzer, after the sermon, "O Simon, let us
pray to God that _that_ man may be spared to us, for that man CAN
teach." So then he was received as preacher at St. Alban's. I
accompanied him again to Zurich, and then went back again to Basle to
my studies. After he had received his honourable dismissal he came with
his wife to Basle, and my wife also came with him. When however he
began to preach at St. Alban's, so many people went to hear him, that
it was determined to elect him, in place of Dr. [Oe]colompadius, to the
office of Antistes, or chief pastor, of which situation Mr. Thomas
Gyrenfalk had hitherto done the duties. I immediately got the
professorship of the Greek language in the Pædagogium, and lectured
upon Ceporins' Grammar and Lucian's Dialogues: but Oporinus received
the professorship of Poetry. Not long after, there was an attack of an
infectious disease, and Dr. Heerwag's corrector of the press--Jacob
Rubert, the beloved friend of Oporinus and myself--died; thereupon Dr.
Sultzer came for a while in his stead into Dr. Heerwag's service: but
when he saw that the work rather hindered than helped him in his
studies, he persuaded me to undertake it. I was indeed fearful that it
would be too much for me; but Dr. Heerwag never ceased to press me,
until I complied with his request. This business I attended to for four
years, with much trouble and labour; for there never was a burden taken
off my shoulders but another was laid on in its place.