the crucified orator 696 over them; as well as through the Cherubim, that is, through the fullness of knowledge, which is charity,” without which there is no perfect contrition, which is the key to paradise. Such a man will “arrive at the Tree of Life — Christ — and will live forever.”17 I will explain this idea of the learned Doctor with an example from the military history recounted by Paolo Giovio. Barbarossa,18 a ruffian who belonged to the Muslim religion and later became the King of Tunis in Africa, planned to capture the port of Magona, which was under the rule of the Spanish. To make this easier, he unfurled “in the sight of the defenders the banners with Christian symbols and thus impersonated the imperial navy.”19 Those [defenders], thinking that their own were approaching, having [already] put away their war machines as a sign of exultation, admitted the enemy inside. By this trick, Barbarossa seized the port and soon the town beyond it. Also (as the Jesuit Martino Martini20 recounts), the King of the Asiatic Tartars, summoned by Usangeia — the keen and very faithful General of the Chinese Emperor — to offer aid to his lord against the rascal Licungzum, gave him this advice: “So that our victory might be certain, I suggest that you command your soldiers to put on Tartar clothing and caps, and to shave their heads. Thus, perhaps, the rascal would believe us all to be Tartars.” He did believe and fled in dread of such power. Among the Poles, there was a goldsmith Przemysław — the author of a stratagem—who was soon made a Prince as a reward. 17 S. Isidorus Hispalensis Ep., Enarrationes…in Genesim, Rothomagi 1647, p. 26. 18 Cf. Rossi, Ettore, Barbarossa (Khair ad-din), in: EI VI, 134. 19 Paolo Giovio, The History of Our Own Time, Book 38. 20 Cf. Huonder, A., Martini, Martino (1614-1661), in: EC IX, 730, where M. Martini is said to have been a “distinguished Austrian Jesuit missionary to the Chinese, in the XVIIth century.” Concerning his work, we read there: “Of the great chronological work which Martini had planned, and which was to comprise the whole Chinese history from the earliest age, on the first part appeared: Sinicae Historiae, Decas I (Münich, 1658). His De Bello Tartarico Historiae (Cologne, 1654) is also important as Chinese history, for Martini himself had lived through the frightful occurrences which brought about the overthrow of the ancient Ming dynasty. The works have been repeatedly published and translated into different languages.”
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