[37] Peter Robert Olivetan, related to Calvin, and translator of the
Bible into the French language. Banished from Geneva in 1533, he had
retired to Neuchatel, where he published successively (1534-1535)
his translation of the New and of the Old Testament. This work,
undertaken at the request of the Vaudois of Piedmont, had been
revised by Calvin.
[38] This is the treatise which is entitled, "_Psychopannychia,
qua refellitur eorum error qui animas post mortem usque ad ultimum
judicium dormire putant_."--Paris, 1534, 8vo. This treatise,
translated into French by Calvin himself, has been inserted, with
a preface of the author, "_à un sien amy_," in the "_Recueil des
Opuscules_," p. 1.
[39] A pseudonyme which Calvin sometimes made use of in his Latin
correspondence.
Some how or other it has so happened that in the hurry of writing
I omitted what by no means I had intended. It was to exhort you
and the other brethren in a few words, but most heartily, to the
cultivation of peace, for the preservation of which you ought all of
you to strive the more earnestly as Satan watches intently for its
overthrow. You can scarce believe how much I was shocked at hearing
of that new uproar about the lepers, set agoing by him of whom I
would never have suspected such a thing. But at length he vomited
out the poison with which he was sweltering from long dissimulation,
and having fixed the sting, like a viper fled away. Be not wanting,
on your part, I entreat you, so far as lies in you, which, indeed,
I was confident would be the case of your own accord, but I was
willing at the same time to interpose my prayer for peace.
[_Lat. orig. autogr._--_Library of the Company of Neuchatel._]