describes as an enemy notorious for his untruthfulness.[98] It would
appear that much of Montoya's second-hand information came from
another Augustinian, Francisco de Arboleda,[99] who had once been a
student of Luis de Leon's,[100] and had been entrusted by the prisoner
with the delicate mission of collecting from certain theologians in
Seville opinions favourable to Luis de Leon's views upon the
Vulgate.[101] This very sensible precaution scandalized Montoya. It is
open to criticism solely on the ground that Luis de Leon chose his
agent badly. To this criticism the real answer is that Luis de Leon
had to employ what agents he could, and that nobody but Arboleda, who
was not above flattering his old master,[102] was available at the
time of his mission to Seville. Arboleda's evidence was not damaging;
it was ill-intentioned and impertinent, inasmuch as it repeated vague
rumours of the Jewish descent of the accused;[103] the gravest fact
the witness could allege was Luis de Leon's view that a friar,
despite his vow of poverty, might spend a couple of coppers without
mortal sin in buying an _Agnus Dei_.[104] Arboleda gives the
impression of being a dullard, and this is pretty much the description
of him by another member of the Augustinian order--Pedro de
Rojas,[105] son of the Marqués de Pozas and afterwards Bishop of
Astorga and Osuna. Luis de Leon apparently agreed with Rojas in his
estimate of Arboleda's ability, and this may account for his
comparative leniency to the poor numbskull. More severe treatment is
meted out to another Augustinian, Diego de Zúñiga, whom Luis de Leon
brands as a deliberate perjurer.[106] Who was this Zúñiga? He has
generally been identified with the Zúñiga who was among the first in
Spain to declare in favour of the Copernican theory;[107] this action
needed courage and Zúñiga has had his reward. As he is respectfully
quoted by Galileo, he has attained something like immortality.[108]
There is, however, no conclusive evidence to show that this