[13] A Romanist thus describes the picture: "When the approach of
Luther was heard there ensued one of those deep silences in which the
heart alone, by its hurried pulsations, gives sign of life. Attention
was diverted from the emperor to the monk. On the appearance of Luther
every one rose, regardless of the sovereign's presence. It inspired
Werner with one of the finest acts of his tragedy.... Heine has
glorified the appearance at Worms. The Catholic himself loves to
contemplate that black gown in the presence of those lords and barons
caparisoned in iron and armed with helmet and spear, and is moved by
the voice of 'that young friar' who comes to defy all the powers of
the earth."--Audin's _Life of Luther_.
"All parties must unite in admiring and venerating the man who,
undaunted and alone, could stand before such an assembly, and
vindicate with unshaken courage what he conceived to be the cause of
religion, of liberty, and of truth, fearless of any reproaches but
those of his own conscience, or of any disapprobation but that of his
God."--Roscoe's _Life of Leo X._, vol. iv. p. 36.
Luther himself, afterward recalling the event, said: "It must indeed
have been God who gave me my boldness of heart; I doubt if I could
show such courage again."