ice there he fell in with a man who could fire balls out of a
machine by means of nitre, and who boasted that he could demolish with
this weapon a certain castle in the neighbourhood. Over supper they
began to argue, the artillerist maintaining that nitre was cold, and
that the explosion which discharged the balls was caused by the
contrariety between nitre and sulphur; Ellenbog contending that nitre
was hot, and supporting this view by scraps remembered from his
father's scientific conversation.

The general life of the Abbey is also reflected. Ottobeuren lay on one
of the routes to Italy, and so they had plenty of visitors bringing
news from regions far off: a Carthusian, who had been in Ireland and
seen St. Patrick's cave; a party of Hungarian acrobats with dancing
bears; a young Cretan, John Bondius, who had seen the labyrinth of
Minos, but all walled up to prevent men from straying into it and
being lost. A great impression he made, when he dined with the Abbot;
he was so learned and polished, and spoke Latin so well for a Greek.
In 1514 Pellican, the Franciscan Visitor, passed on his way south, and
had a talk with Ellenbog, which was all too short, about Hebrew
learning. Next year came Eck, the theologian, the future champion of
orthodoxy, returning from Rome. Eck's mother and sisters were living
under the protection of the abbey--it is not clear whether they were
merely tenants, or whether they were occupying lay quarters within its
walls, as did Fernand's at St. Germain's in Paris. At any rate, Eck
came and made himself agreeable. He preached twice before the
brethren; and when he left, he promised to send them the latest news
from America. In 1511 a copy of Vespucci's narrative of his voyage had
been lent to the monastery, and had been read with great interest.

A grave question arose whether the new races discovered in the West
were to be accounted as saved or damned. Ellenbog quotes Faber
Stapulensis' statement that nothing could be more bestial than the
condition of the Indians whom da Gama had discovered in 1498 in
Calicut, Cannanore, and Ceylon; it was to be feared that the Indians
of the West were no better. In writing to Ellenbog six months later to
say that he had no clear opinions on the question, Eck uses an
interesting expression: 'To ask what I think is like looking for
Arthur and his Britons.'[16] The reference is to the Arthurian legend
and the long-expected, never-fulfilled, return of the great