Her credulous father, without inquiring whether the intelligence was true or false, went to the superior of the convent, and accused Augustin, who, though thunderstruck at the accusation, denied it firmly, and defended himself intrepidly.

But the superior was deaf to his plea of innocence, and ordered him to be shut up in his cell, that he might await his punishment.

Thither the poor young man was conducted, and threw himself on his bed in a state of horror.
The superior and the elders among the friars thought it a meet fate for the accused that he should be buried alive in a subterranean dungeon, after receiving the terrific sentence of "_Vade in pace_." At the end of several days the victim dashed out his brains against the walls of his sepulchre.

Bishop Colonna, who, it would appear, had no power to oppose this hideous transaction, when he was informed of it, determined to leave the place immediately; and Petrarch in his indignation exclaimed-- "Heu! fuge crudeles terras, fuge littus avarum."-- VIRG.
On the 26th of May, 1330, the Bishop of Lombes and Petrarch quitted Toulouse, and arrived at the mansion of the diocese.

Lombes--in Latin, Lombarium--lies at the foot of the Pyrenees, only eight leagues from Toulouse.