To  this  view  of  mine   our   most   learned   theologians   agree."
•Castropalos  then  adds,  after  some  further  discussion,  "  and  for
this  I  refer  to  the  works  of  Navarra,  Tolet,  Suarez,  Valencia,
-and  Lessius."     Sanchez   and  Bonacinus   also   teach  the  same
liiing,  and  the  latter  says :  "  Interrogated  as  to  a  crime  com-
mitted, it  is  not  at  all  incumbent  on  you  to  confess,  as  long  as
you  can  find  for  your  advantage  any  tolerable  excuse. And
when  judicially  interrogated,  or  when   a  great  and  important
injury  would  accrue  to  you  from  a  confession  of  your  misdeed,
you  may  boldly  affirm  that  you  have  not  committed  it ;  only  you
must  BO  form  your  words  that  you  may  afterwards  be  able  to
explain  them  according  as  you  wish. Are  you  then  asked  as
to  your  accomplice?  You  are  not  bound  to  make  any  declaration
•of  the  truth,  rather  you  may  be  silent  about  the  matter,  or,  still
better,  answer  in  such  words  that  the  true  meaning  remains  con-
«ealed.'*     Thus  writes  the  learned  Castropalos,  and  the  greatly
admired    Father    Filliutius    expresses   himself    in   a  precisely
similar  way  in  his  great  work  on  theology   (vol. x.. Treatise
25,  chap. 12). He  writes:  "One  asks  whether  it  is  allowable
at  times  to  take  an  equivocating  oath,  a  secret  mental  reserva-
tion  being  kept   concealed. I   answer. Yes,  only  the  chief
Jthing  is  that  the  answer  must  be  so  firamed  according  to  the


EEPULSIVENESS   OF   THKIR   TEACHING,  485-

question,  that  afterwards  another  interpretation  may  be  given  to-
it,  if  it  be  found  necessary,  and  difiBculty  be  not  occasioned  by
80  doing."

The  sons  of  Loyola  showed  themselves  not  less  tolerant
regarding  other  transactions  branded  as  sinful  by  moralists  at
large. Thus,  for  instance,  the  Jesuit  Tolet  expresses  himself  in
relation  to  a  small  commercial  fraud  as  follows  (in  his  book  on
the  Seven  Mortal  Sins,  p. 1027):  "When  one  cannot  sell  his^
wine  at  the  price  he  considers  it  to  be  worth,  because  it  is  con-
sidered to  be  too  dear,  he  can  give  smaller  measure  and  mix_
with  it  a  small  quantity  of  water,  in  such  a  way,  of  course,  that
everyone  believes  he  has  the  full  measure,  and  that  the  wine  is
pure  and  unadulterated."

In  relation  to  bribery. 