yroles, _La
Pucelle devant l'Eglise de son temps_, vol. i, pp. 61-68.]

In Italy, the same doubts and the same uncertainty prevailed
concerning the deeds of the Maid. Those there were who maintained that
they were mere inventions. At Milan, it was disputed whether any
credence could be placed in tidings from France. To discover the truth
about them, the notables of the city resolved to despatch a Franciscan
friar, Brother Antonio de Rho, a good humanist and a zealous preacher
of moral purity.

And Giovanni Corsini, Senator of the duchy of Arezzo, impelled by a
like curiosity, consulted a learned clerk of Milan, one Cosmo Raimondi
of Cremona. The following is the gist of the learned Ciceronian's
reply:

"Most noble lord, they say that God's choice of a shepherdess for the
restoration of a kingdom to a prince, is a new thing. And yet we know
that the shepherd David was anointed king. It is told how the Maid, at
the head of a small company, defied a great army. The victory may be
explained by an advantageous position and an unexpected attack. But
supposing we refrain from saying that the enemy was surprised and that
his courage forsook him, matters which are none the less possible,
supposing we admit that there was a miracle: what is there astonishing
in that? Is it not still more wonderful that Samson should have slain
so many Philistines with the jaw-bone of an ass?

"The Maid is said to possess the power of revealing the future.
Remember the Sibyls, notably the Erythraean and the Cumaean. They were
heathens. Why should not a like power be granted to a Christian? This
woman is a shepherdess. Jacob, when he kept Laban's flocks, conversed
familiarly with God. To such examples and to such reasons, which
incline me to give credence to the rumour, I add another reason
derived from physical science. In treatises on astrology I have often
read that by the favourable influence of the stars, certain men of
lowly birth have become the equals of the highest princes and been
regarded as men divine charged with a celestial mission. Guido da
Forli, a clever astronomer, quotes a great number of such instances.
Wherefore I should not deem myself to be incurring any reproach if I
believed that through the influence of the stars, the Maid has
undertaken what is reported of her."

At the conclusion of his arguments the clerk of Cremona says that,
while not absolutely rejecting the reports concerning her, he does not
consider them to