In 1598 don Ottavio Montereale (who, as we remember, had been indirectly responsible for the intervention of the Holy Office) said that he had understood "this Menocchio learned his heresies from a M. Nicola, a painter of Porcia" who had gone to Montereale to paint in the home of a signor de Lazzari, don ottavio's brother-in-law. Actually, Nicola's name had emerged even during the first trial, provoking a visibly embarrassed reaction from Menocchio. First he related having met him during Lent, when he had heard Nicola declare that indeed he was fasting, but "out of fear." (Menocchio instead had been consuming "a little bit of milk, cheese, and an occasional egg,"excusing himself by the weakness of his constitution.)