Ashamed  and  broken,  he  retired  from  the  presence  of  the
Nuncio  to  hide  his  confusion  in  the  convent  of  his  order,  and
died  about  six  months  afterwards,  at  the  very  crisis  of  Luther's
disputation  with  Eck.  Not,  however,  without  kindly  words
from  his  old  opponent,  who  wrote  him  a  letter  of  consolation
on  his  deathbed.  The  letter  has  perished,  but  Emser,  who
alleged  that  he  had  seen  it,  reports  that  Luther  bade  Tetzel
"  be  comforted,  that  the  affair  had  not  been  begun  on  his
account,  but  that  the  child  had  had  quite  another  father."  If
this  was  so,  it  meant  that  by  that  time  Luther  was  beginning
to  see  that  his  whole  theological  system  was  anti-Papal,  and
that  Tetzel's  coarse  presentation  of  Eoman  doctrine  had  been
only  the  occasion,  not  the  cause,  of  the  strife.-^

On  or  about  the   6th  of  January,  Miltitz  met  Luther  at
Spalatin's  house  at  Altenburg,  Fabian  von  Eeilitsch,  a  trusted

1  Spalatin  ap.  Mencken,  vol.  ii.  p.  De  Wette,  vol.  i.  pp.  223-231  ;  Seide-
593 ;  Kbmer,  Tetzel,  pp.  117,  120 ;  mann.  Die  Leipziger  Disputation,  p.
Eri.  ed.  0pp.  v.  a.  vol.  i.  p.  21 ;  conf.      56  note.
