Would you like me to teach you the true way? Try to do good and walk in the path of my ancestors, and follow what Holy Mother Church commands These were the words, as we re that Menocchio maintained (although he was probably lying) he had spoken to his fellow villagers. In fact, Menocchio had taught exactly the opposite: disassocia tion from the faith of one's forefathers, rejection of the doctrines preached by the priest from the pulpit. Maintaining this deviant position for such a long time (perhaps for almost thirty years), first in such a small community as Montereale and later before the tribunal of the Holy Office, called for moral and intellectual strength that can be described as nothing less than extraordinary. The diffidence of his relatives and friends, the reproaches of the priest, the threats of the inquisitors, none had succeeded in shaking Menocchio's self-confidence. But what made him so sure of himself? With what authority was he speaking? In the early exchanges of the trial he ascribed his opinions to diabolical inspiration: ttered those words because I was tempted ...it "Tutt was the evil spirit that made me believe those things." But he had already less submissive by the end of the first interrogation: become of God or of the devil Fifteen came either through the inspiration days later he added yet another possibility: "The devil or something tempted me." Shortly after, he clarified what this "something" was that nagged at him: My opinions came out of my head. Thereafter he never deviated from this idea during the entire course of the first trial. Even when he decided to ask his judges to forgive him, he attributed his errors to his own "artful mind.