Rober McCollum was no fool, although he certianly suspected that many here currently thought he was. That was fine, after all was it not Emperor Claudius who was able to survive Neros purges by playing the fool? Sometimes the wisest man was the one thought a fool.
In fact, McCollum's seeming complacency was built on a very sound principle. That was that the Pope had prepared for this court well and would have known nearly anything about his past that he had already revealed. If he had tried to hide his past, the Pope would have bludgeoned him with it, there was no doubt of that.
One of the first rules of warfare, is that if you deprive your enemy of a weapon, it will give them a shock, and you will be able to use that time to manuver. Robert had no doubt that the Pope had other weapons, of course, and that the man would attempt to get to him with some other tactic.
So be it. Of course, if Robert made himself look more symmpathetic: the honest Christian who admtis to wrong doings, he may just play to the mob. TBack in Claudius' time the mob ruled Rome, and he had little doubt that the same could be true now as well. He also doubted the Pope would wish to destroy a man that had gaiend the sympathy of the mob, at least that was worth a shot. If it didn't work, well, he woudl be dead anyway and his causes with it. Better to try something and, at the very least, save his family's reputation.
With this in mind Robert looked up, slowly nibbling the peice of cheese that he wished to devour and said. "Of course I renounce all heresies", and meant every word of it. Of course, there was that question of over wether he felt he was in the middle of a herecy at the moment...that question was left unaswered.
In fact, McCollum's seeming complacency was built on a very sound principle. That was that the Pope had prepared for this court well and would have known nearly anything about his past that he had already revealed. If he had tried to hide his past, the Pope would have bludgeoned him with it, there was no doubt of that.
One of the first rules of warfare, is that if you deprive your enemy of a weapon, it will give them a shock, and you will be able to use that time to manuver. Robert had no doubt that the Pope had other weapons, of course, and that the man would attempt to get to him with some other tactic.
So be it. Of course, if Robert made himself look more symmpathetic: the honest Christian who admtis to wrong doings, he may just play to the mob. TBack in Claudius' time the mob ruled Rome, and he had little doubt that the same could be true now as well. He also doubted the Pope would wish to destroy a man that had gaiend the sympathy of the mob, at least that was worth a shot. If it didn't work, well, he woudl be dead anyway and his causes with it. Better to try something and, at the very least, save his family's reputation.
With this in mind Robert looked up, slowly nibbling the peice of cheese that he wished to devour and said. "Of course I renounce all heresies", and meant every word of it. Of course, there was that question of over wether he felt he was in the middle of a herecy at the moment...that question was left unaswered.
