the unbarred window. As the mystery of his escape gave rise to superstitious rumours, he later explained how it was managed in a Dialogue, Probus. He took refuge at Salò, where he was reunited with his family: two of his sons were born there, Leo in 1536 and Agostino in 1538. Pavia, Venezia and Ferrara In 1536 he obtained a Chair in Humanistic Letters for three years at the University of Pavia: Andrea Alciati was his colleague there, and he wrote his first Orations and the first draft of the three books of Schola, sive De Perfecto Grammatico (not published until 1555). He described the perfect Grammaticus as an orator who takes the classical foundations of Cicero and Quintilian to inform a contemporary embodiment of the humanist professor, one who dignifies his profession through full responsibility towards his role as educator and cultural guide. His renown as professor was tied to his anti-Catholic stances: as a result Pope Paul III demanded his removal from the University. His admiring students accompanied him to his alternative lodgings in the city to defend him from possible attack. The Senate of Pavia, fearing a threat of excommunication from the Church, succumbed and in 1539 licensed Curio to leave the Duchy. He next went to Venice, where he attended the French Ambassador to the republic, the Bishop of Montpellier. To him he dedicated the Aranei Encomion, a short tract treating the fable of Arachne as an allegory of the Church and Holy Wisdom, published in Venice in 1540. In Lent he is likely to have heard the preaching of Bernardino Ochino. He became the companion of the Augustinian mendicant Giulio da Milano, a secret protestant convert. Giulio, who had preached justification by faith alone, was arrested in 1541, and Curio, identified as his close associate, departed abruptly for Ferrara. There his friend Pellegrino Morato, preceptor in the court of Este, recommended him to Duchess Renata, wife of Ercole II d'Este. He remained briefly, forming a friendship with Morato's young daughter Olympia Fulvia Morata, with whom he maintained a lifelong correspondence. Lucca By October he was already in Lucca, employed as preceptor by the nobleman Niccolò di Silvestro Arnolfini. The Republic of Lucca was stirred up with religious and political reform movements. The Gonfaloniere, , hoped to end the dominion of Cosimo I de' Medici and the temporal power of the Church in that region, and