days.

He and his friends were thrown into a state of great alarm by this
unexpected step. On the one hand, were he to submit and to acknowledge
that he had been in error his reputation would be shattered, the
Augustinians would feel themselves disgraced, and the University of
Wittenberg would lose caste in the estimation of educated Germans. On
the other hand, if he adopted the bold policy of refusing to yield to
the papal entreaties he was in danger of being denounced publicly as a
heretic. In this difficult situation his friends determined to invoke
the protection of the Elector Frederick of Saxony, the founder and
patron of Wittenberg University. Alarmed by the danger that threatened
this institution from the removal or excommunication of one of its
most popular professors, and anxious to gain time, Frederick requested
the Pope to refer the matter for decision to some German bishop or to
a neutral university. In reply to this request Leo X. appointed
Cardinal Cajetan, papal legate in Germany, to hold an inquiry (23
Aug., 1518). Luther, having armed himself with a safe conduct, went to
Augsburg to meet the papal representative, who received him very
kindly, and exhorted him to withdraw his statements and submit. Luther
endeavoured to induce the cardinal to enter into a discussion on the
questions in dispute, but the latter did not allow himself to be drawn
into a disputation. Finally, Luther refused to submit, though, at the
same time, he declared solemnly that he wished unsaid and unwritten
what he had said or written against the Roman Church. A few days later
he fled from Augsburg after having drawn up a formal appeal "from the
Pope ill-informed to the Pope well-informed," while the cardinal,
disappointed by the failure of his efforts, turned to the Elector of
Saxony for help against the rebellious monk. But the latter, deceived
by the recommendations forwarded on Luther's behalf by his own