him lacking in deference.  Though perfectly respectful, his attitude to them was anything but subservient.  The judges were accustomed to see prisoners who were brought before them crushed with awe and a sense of impending doom.  Conscious of the baselessness of the charges against him, the accused seemed to take his acquittal as certain; and he stood so little in awe of his judges that he announced his intention of appealing over their heads to the members of the Supreme Inquisition.[84] Timidity was not among his failings.  A priest of Astudillo, formerly a student at Salamanca, had occasionally strayed into Luis de Leon’s densely-packed lecture-room, and retained an abiding impression of the professor’s desenvoltura in his chair.[85] Luis de Leon had not become wholly subdued during the intervening years.  He did not mince words in court, and indulged in sweeping denunciations of large groups of men; he branded all Dominicans as ’enemies’;[86] he was scarcely more indulgent in speaking of the Jeromites (who resented his opposition to the candidature of their representative, Hector Pinto, for a chair at Salamanca);[87] and on general grounds, not unconnected with ancient academic rancours, he objected to the entire faculty of theology at the University of Alcala de Henares.[88] The evidence of such persons should, he suggested, be discounted in advance.  Slow to think evil of his neighbours, Luis de Leon was apt, once his suspicions were aroused, to fling his net widely.  He had some inkling that he and his had the fatal gift of rousing antagonism.  His uncle had been a practising lawyer, and Luis de Leon argued that all who had suffered through the professional activities of his kinsman should be debarred from testifying in his case.[89] The unworldly man manifestly took it for granted that witnesses who harboured any such grudge against him would willingly admit it, if pressed on the point.

Outspoken as was Luis de Leon with regard to groups, he was not less outspoken with regard to individuals, and in this respect it must be admitted that he does not appear at his best.  Vehemence of language had been the rule in the Salamancan juntas of professors, and much of this intemperate tone clung to Luis de Leon.  No doubt large allowances should be made for him.  He knew that his honour was at stake and that his life was in peril.[90] As he was persuaded—­perhaps rightly—­he had been brought to this pass mainly through the intrigues of an unscrupulous pair.[91] His provocation was extreme.  It was almost to be expected that he should use plain words when referring to foes as malignant as Medina and Castro.  These two men he accused of deliberately organizing a conspiracy against him;[92] he spoke bluntly of Medina’s ‘hatred’, ‘rage’, ‘trickery’, and ’lying’;[93] he was not mealy-mouthed in describing Castro’s ‘malice’, ‘deceit’, ‘calumnies’, and ’perjury’.[94] Luis de Leon dealt no less faithfully with some members of his own order