Fausto walked over to the galleries and raised one hand eloquently in the air and all eyes were alight, his successes up to this moment had been theirs also, now this too might be a victory. He turned to the Dominican.
"So you say the Inquisition is Holy, your holiness...but we have not yet ascertained if it is Holy because God approves of it, or if God approves of it because it is holy. Perhaps we need the Greek philosophers to help us to know it. Plato for instance?"
"Plato is a pagan." He spat.
"Yes but Plato can help us to answer this question. Tell me did you come here by mule?"
"That is plain to see!" He vociferated."I will soon lose my patience, what has this to do with anything!"
"It will soon become apparent your holiness. The mule carried you here. Now, were you carried because you got carried, or for some other reason?"
"I was carried because I was being carried....and you are sounding like the Devil!" He snarled in a rage.
"And if I am your holiness, it is your job to vanquish me."
The other man narrowed his eyes into slits, realising that he was suddenly now in judgement. "Proceed...antes que tu me eches los higados!"
"So isn't it true that a thing is not being carried because it gets carried, but rather because it gets carried it is being carried, am I right?'
The inquisitor looked blankly at his fellow friar, who merely shrugged his shoulders. "I assume this will lead somehow to holiness?" He answered ambiguously.
"Most certainly....for surely an erudite man such as yourself realises that something does not get approved by God simply by being approved by God, but rather, being approved by God because it gets approved! So that for something to be approved by God, it must first be holy, and not the other way."
"Stop!" Cried the other man. "It is as though you were speaking in tongues! It matters not who approves or disapproves first, second or last. Holy is holy and that is that!"
"Ahh. But we were just speculating on the holiness of the inquisition, your holiness. Is it holy because it is approved of by God or is it approved of by God because it is holy?"
The other man frowned. "It must be that it is approved of because it is holy."
"Then you are saying that you are holier than God, because following your reasoning, God himself only approves of you because you are holy in the first place!"
"I said no such thing!" He exclaimed. He loosened his collar, and dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief, 'You are twisting my words!'
The crowd gasped. The inquisitor choked. The friar distanced himself just a little.
"I don't know..." He said a little confused. "I....."
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