About the treaty to be concluded between the Elector of Saxony and the Cardinal of Mainz concerning the Burgraviate of Halle, and about the victory over Henry of Brunswick stained by plunder.
Handwritten in Aurifaber, Vol. III, p. 381. Printed in Schütze, Vol. I, p. 221 and in De Wette, Vol. V, p. 495.
To the highly famous man, Mr. Justus Jonas, Doctor of Theology, Provost at Wittenberg, Christ's envoy in Halle, his superior in the Lord.
Grace and peace! I have also heard, my dear Jonas, that a treaty has been made or is to be made between our and your [prince], but in such a way that I was persuaded that the most illustrious prince, although he does not want to let go of that title in vain, will by no means suffer any harm to come about for Halle. However, I know nothing about the conditions of which you write. I therefore write to Brück in the camp, at your expense [through
the messenger[, 1) you have sent, so that through him my opinion may be indicated to the prince, and I write to the prince himself. How infinite is this Cardinal's cardinal malice (cardinaIicitas)! But I hope that in a short time he will be killed by the tears and prayers of the godly, amen.
This extremely gratifying victory is stained for me and for others by bad rumors. For it is told of such a great rapacity both of ours and of the great ones, that in me the fear rises, that the inhabitants of the country once under favorable conditions would rather fetch their Mezentius 2) again, than suffer these robberies. "How utterly it is nothing" with the people in these depraved times, and how frightening it is to have a man of war and a friend, even a believer, in the army. But the end is coming, the end is coming. The princes keep exceedingly strict discipline, but what do these licentious sort of people care about discipline? In haste. Farewell. Greet all of ours. On September 3, Anno 1542.
Your Martin Luther, D.
No. 2946.