Menocchio's possible contacts with "those of knowledge and learning" aren't known to us-except for one that we'll examine later. We are familiar, instead, with his stubborn attempts to spread his own ideas among"the unlearned populace .But apparently no one paid any attention to him. In the sentence that terminated the first trial, this lack of success was interpreted as a sign of divine intervention that had prevented the corruption of the simple minds of the inhabitants of Montereale.