No More Learning

Letters of the Ambassador Contarini.
" To the Council of Ten,
" Most Serene Prince,
" To what I wrote last post I respectfully add by one, who knows
him very well.
" Poma was seen here in Rome one Sunday at the Trinit'a di Monte,
an out of the way place, and of small resort, together with a lad,
supposed to be his son, with an old man, and another with red hair,
his servant. I know that this servant goes every week with a billet
to the register of the Venice post to receive letters which, with a
feigned direction, are addressed to the said Poma. For many days I
'have been pondering on the mode of having these letters Withheld;
but I do not find it safe, for this register, named Simon Bigozzi, is a
Florentine; nor do I rely on trusting this foreigner, appointed I know
not how to this charge, the which, as all the couriers are our subjects,
ought likewise to be held by one, for he sees, handles, receives, distri-
butes, and notes all the letters; and in many instances it would prove
very convenient, the having there a confidential person. I have confid-
ed the detail about those letters of Poma to Pietro Basis, an old
courier, and who is the vice--master of the couriers in 'their house
here; charging him on his life's peril, in the name of your most
excellent Council, to keep it secret, desiring him to act with caution,
so as to obtain and bring them to me; but he has not been able to
do this, wherefore I give respectful notice thereof to your Excellen- -
cies, so that such resolve shall be taken as may be deemed best, and
in order that your Lordship may know that I fail not to do as much
as I am permitted, by the manner wherewith we must act under
existing circumstances. It was a great light to me the information I
received from your Excellencies, about the two dismissed Franciscan
friars, when His Holiness spoke to me on the subject. As I write to
the most excellent Senate, it was of great use, as enabling me to speak
resolutely, which causeth the Pontiff not to push the matter further,
or make any other reply. Gratiae, etc. "
Again: "The imprisonment of Alessandro Parasio is confirmed, in
whose name, and in whose favour, as it has been told me, M. Napi
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? Ar. 56. ] FRA PAOLO SARPI. 163
likewise a native of Ancona, spoke a few days since to the Cardinal
Borghese about some acknowledgment for the services rendered, but
not having obtained too favourable an answer, and reporting this to
Alessandro Parasio, it/made him fly into the greatest wrath; and he
protested that he would go into Turkey, using other similar language,
as usual with a man dissatisfied and desperate as it were. Monsieur Napi,
though the friend and confidant of the said Parasio, and who moreover
sought him every advantage, on hearing this, had more regard for his
own than for his neighbour's interest, and so went and told the whole
in detail to the Cardinal Borghese, who immediately betook himself to
the Pontiff, where the business being discussed, it was determined that
this Monsignore should be the medium for his getting into the hands
of the Sbirri, as took place; and Monsignore Fonti, the Cardinal Bor-
ghese's auditor, served to point him to the Barigello, who arrested him
on Sunday the 8th, immediately on his coming out of S. Sylvester's
Church, at Monte Cavallo, and having instantly put him into a car-
riage, hehlrasltaken to 'Borgo' to the prisons of the Inquisition. I
understand that it is being endeavoured to obtain certain writings which
he denies hdving kept. I
"By great diligence," the Contarini, "had become acquainted with
the feigned names under which the letters were addressed from Venice
to Rodolfa Poma. Of two of them he says. 'The which, having first
copied and rescaled, I caused to be returned to their address, in order
not to create suspicion,' They Were letters from Poma's cloistered
daughters, signed Hipolita Poma, from Padua, January 14th, 1608;
there were also two other letters, which were forwarded to the Council.
The letters Were addressed to Carlo Gattardo, Silvestro Ridolfi, Frede-
rico Bolucci, Paulo de Santi, Paulo Bortolaeci, and the above copies
were sent to the Doge by Contarini. Y'
" Most Serene Prince,
v
" Herewith your Serenity will receive the substance of what Matteo . .
JWJ 1:
Schiavon, one of the boatmen who rowed Poma, stated to my secretary
' on two occasions, when he went to seek him in his apartments, and
likewise what Tomeo di Zanon, the owner of the shallop, told a person,
my confidant, for I did not allow him to come, as he wanted to do,
and speak here in the palace, ' both on account of the different nature
of his sentence, and because little else could have been elicited from
'. e. N'? 3- '
'' pp
la'? !
1 To the Council of Ten, 2nd February, 1608, from Rome.
5 The Venetian ambassador's palace, called S. Mark's, Rome.
u&\
13. 1
M'; .
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? 164 _ THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1608.
him, in addition to what has been obtained from other sources. From
these two expositions, should they contain nothing else of importance,
your. Serenity will at least learn concerning Poma, how he keeps hid-
den, and his situation- (as I moreover have written heretofore), how
much he endeavours to remove these men to a distance, and the
confirmation of what I have previously hinted at, that Alessandro de
Franceschi is his agent, and has held intercourse with him since last
June or July, when the said Rodolfo Poma was at Rome, and when
he left a servant of his in his house, who, immediately after the deed,
went to meet him with a supply of money at Ancona.
_ " It seems he has some intention of returning home; should I become
11' Z17 aware of his reaching it, I will give account thereof to your Excel-
-/~~ lencies, of the mode whereby the said Matteo took to come and speak
with the Secretary, who was very cautious; so that he has not even
a -thought of its having been wished for. Then with regard to the
, statement of that other, namely of Tomeo, the whole is rendered intel-
ligible by the statement itself. " 'QQG
Here follows the statement of Matteo Schiavon. Ibid,-oamthe 24th
February, at Rome, in St. Mark's Palace. A
"Matteo Schiavon, boatman, one of those who rowed Poma, having
come by stealth to my apartments, I, Vittor Barbaro, Secretary of
the Ambassador Contarini, at the second hour of the night, told him
I was glad to see him well, but was sorry for his troubles, and to
give him confidence to speak freely, I added that I considered it
certain he had been deceived, and that one might moreover argue
thus from the nature of his sentence, and the clemency of the
alternative.
"Jwhereupon, bewailing his fate, and the misery of his wife and
W0? four children in Venice, and to his having been in fact
deceived and betrayed, he commenced speaking to me confidentially,
and told me in substance:
"The Signor Bidolfo Hma disappeared from Venice last July, in
I A"; consequence of failure -on the mart. One day unexpectedly he stood
Lb 'before me and said, 'Villain, what art thou doing? ' I answered,
"*7 Z '-God be praised, for -that certain foolfli people, who speaking about#&
' you, said you had failed, lied by the throat. ' He asked me whether
J I could -go with him to Padua. I answered 'Yes;' and we went there
4 "H with the gondola. He went about to one monastery and the other,
LL and came lg-ac_k to Venice; and returned in a Paduan boat which towed
the gondola, whither he took four girls of his into convents; and his
Sister di Gollardi and two maid servants accompanied them. In
returning, we took up the Chaplain of the Nuns of Santa Giustina at
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? arr 56. ] FRA PAOLO SABPI 165
la Mira, and came on merrily to "Venice. It strikes me that the
Chaplain subsequently saved some of his property. He asked me whe-
ther I would go to Loretto with him, and that he would moreover go'
as far as Bitonto, I said 'yes,' but that I must have a little money
at home/'He said he had not got any, so I, who served a grocer with
my gondola, in order to pay it off, for it had been made at his cost,
took eighteen ducats from another gondolier, and made it over to him
for him to pay for. This money I left at home; and having taken
these clothes which are now on my back, I went to Poma; and at the
water entrance of his house,\Ma embarked in a gondola by day three
or four little coffers, which I for my part thought was money he was
carrying away, and was that for---w-ls-i-oh he had failed. Being thus two
oars, namely myself and Paulo de Santa Giustina, he said to us, "I
don't choose to be seen getting into the gondola here at the entrance;
so while I go and look after the shallop on the Bio of S. Anna, do'
you go and wait for me at the FondamentLNuovQ_and don't go away,
for I shall soon be there. ' 1 We waited as ordered; Lbecame thirsty,
and would not go so far as my home, but sent to buy a little ,,y? ne;"
then came Fra Michel Viti, and inquired for Poma, saying, '
come yet? ' We told him 'no,' and he got into the gondola to Wait
E
'. A'
juncle "
5
' . - . h ' ''
for him. " I have asked him whether Poma was really
uncle; and he told me that he called him so, and that he knew nothing
J
further; and he continued: " Subsequently Poma came, with his usual A S
cloak wrapped up to his eyes, and said, 'Are you here my lads? '
"He got into the gondola desiring us to go towards the castle, and
said, 'I also will row a little,' and having laid down his cloak and'
a blunderbuss which he Had himself fitted on the crutch, the second
astern, began rowing. We were at a very little distance from the
Fonda/r\nentQ_ and two men came up who also called out, 'Sir, take
us also. ' Poma made us return to the quay, and we brought them
off without any tumult of people, or any one. He made us'go to the
cottage beyond the Certosa, apparently the edge of the lagoons at the
back of the Castle of S. Andrea' in fact on a strip of the Lido, across
which the murderers then made their way to the beach, - where the
shallop was waiting for them) and they disembarked, and there 'on
shore they came towards us, the Signor Alessandro Parasio 'with the'
J\'-fins-1
1 The date of the conversation here detailed was October 5th, 1607. "On the'
evening of which day, about an hour before sunset, Poma and-his accomplices' '
attacked Fra Paolo Sarpi at the bridge of S. Fosca, close to the Monastery of r
the Servites. The Bio of S. Anna, which Poma mentions as a stand for shal-
lops, 1607, continued such till very lately, and runs parallel to the public}
gardens towards the land entry. ' '
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? 166 THE LIFE OF' [A. n. 1608.
crew of the shallop which was on the beach, and he had the effects
taken out of the gondola and carried overland to the shallop; and to
M am, who chanced to be there, he gave a piece of forty soldi to take
the gondola to my house, but it was not mine. Having thps got on
board the shallop at sea, during the night we had almost a constant
calm, save on the fifth hour a little sirocco and swell, which soon
TL subsided, and at the first hour we made Goro, where Poma and Pa-
i-asio having disembarked. desired us to go and wait for them at Ra-
venns, and he took horses and went away with the said Parasio, I
believe to Padua, for they afterwards returned to Ravenna, bringing
the lad, the said Poma's son, who was certainly at Padua, and another
iad, his nephew, named Carlo Gottardo, his sister's son, who was like-
wise at Padua. On the same day after they had ridden off, whilst
steering our course to Ravenna, all went to sleep, except a boy who
was at the helm, the sail being hoisted in a calm; and hard by were
the boats of the Lord Chiefs of the Ten the which, had they boarded
. us, we should all have been taken napping. At Ravenna, Father
Michael artfully;;as I stated, after Poma was at the FondamentQ Nuc-
W V Pasqual di Bitonto, and Zuane di Fiorenza should all three
,2 V sleep on shore, I believe because he expected us to learn there some
A news of the assassination they had committed at Venice,_ and he was
%' afraid, and thus did it turn out; for an estafette wh'icli"'i-cached that
city divulged the fact, so I began lamenting and complaining to the
4" priest that I had been sacrificed, and he swore as a priest, and vowed
'? ? "'? ||, by the consecration of his person, that it was not true. However, one
2; M night he went o5, together with the others with the shallop without
$ saying a word to us, and left us there on shore, and hearing that he
~r
was gone to Ravenna we likewise proceeded thither with fresh la-
-- mentations and complaints, for we heard say besides that we 'should
-4' all be quartered and quite lost. I had thrown myself down on the
M4 ground there, under a portico, crying and hollowing with all my might,
1. one Vincencetto of the castle, a Venetian, who came up by chance
We put us up to carrying 05 the priest to Venice with the shallop,
_-I-0
saying that we should be set at liberty, and get four thousand ducats
reward, and he had so well persuaded us" that believing we should do
' thus he Went to Venice to say we were going there; but the priest
| secured himself by taking the effects ashore to the governor of the
city, and observed great caution, and subsequently Poma arrived with
Parasio, and the two lads aforesaid in a carriage, and having paid the
crew of the shallop twenty six livres each, left them there, whereat
they complained and stormed dreadfully, and he merely took me and
Paulo with the carriage to Ancona, where the whole being discovered,
V
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? El'. 56. ] FRA PAOLO SARPI 167
Poma said to me, 'Never fear, for as is my lot so shall be thine, if
thou art outlawed, I'll buy thee a commutation. ' One day in Ancona,
whilst walking about, I met one Roberto Fiamengo, a red--haired man,
'Poma's servant, who was coming along on horseback, he is my chum,
or gossip, and when he saw me he complained, saying to me, ' Thou'rt
here, gossip, thee too, they ruin thee tool' and he told me that Poma
had left him last summer here in Rome, in the house of one Ales-
sandro F1-anceschi, a Venetian, and that the said Franceschi had given
him the horse and money for him to come immediately to Venice by
Ancona to his master Poma, to convey to him a letter which this
Alessandro Franceschi had given him to receive a thousand ducats
here in Ancona, given him by the Pope, and so through this letter the
said Poma had the money which was paid him by Girolamo Scalin-
monti, the Pope's agent in Ancona, and he is moreover having the
walls of that city repaired, and he gave it him in high time, for he
had not a farthing. We then went to Loretto, and whilst I was in the
Church of our Lady, taking the communion they planted me, and all
went away without saying anything to me.
" So remaining as if lost I returned to Ancona, and first gained my live-
lihood by fishing for oysters, and then coasting along that shore as far as
the Albruzzo in a Chioggian vessel, in like manner as the other boatmen
maintained themselves. I heard that Poma was at Rome; I wrote to him
to ask for what belonged to me, for he had engaged me at the rate of forty
soldi per diem, and my board/' he sent me two letters in reply, and said
he would send me money, but I have never seen anything. There are the
letters, and he shewed me two, one dated 12th' December from the Cam-
pagna of Rome, the other from Paliano, dated the 2&1: of January, where-
by he exhorts him in kind terms to go and present himself at Venice,
that he not forget him, and this is the substance of the said letters,
telling him not to come to Rome by any means as it would be bad for all.
He in like manner showed me a letter sent him by his wife, with the copy
of his sentence, which is the same one had here at the palace, and that was
opened and read, but he suspects Poma of having forged it in order to
make him so much the more easily determine to-go-to-Venice. He then
added, latterly at Ruanati, I heard thaton the 13th of January, Alessan-
dro Parasio had been put in prison here in Rome (8th January, Despatch
106), and that Poma was made warder of Perugia, so seeing that he had
said he would send me money, but never remitted any to me, I resolved
on coming here, together with Tomeo di Zanon, the master of the shal-
lop. We arrived here on Ash Wednesday, and went hunting for Poma,
Parasio, Poma's servant, or some one of them; nor have we been able to
find them. But we have heard that one Zan Antonio Gottardo, the ne-'
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? 168 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1608-
pliew, and Zan Battista, the son of Poma, are come to Bitonto, but we
cannot get a sight of any of them, we believe they hide themselves, and
the other day there came a young man Well dressed as a priest, who told '
us that if we were looking for Poma that he was gone to Naples to collect
certain monies of his, but that he would cause us to receive some aims to
furnish me with the means of going to Venice, as I have the advantage of
being able to present myself, and to the master of the shallop, who lacks
this privilege, that he may go to Bitonto, where the means of support will
not fail him, and he warned us not to show ourselves here to the ambas-
sador, who would give us a good dressing. We asked him his name; he
said it was Fulvio Spe% and that he lived with the Cardinal Bevi-
lacqua, but he does not reside there, this name is not known. I keep think-
i 1g he may be that Alessandro de Franceschi; he is a tidy, dark youth. I
think 'tis so, but I don't know him. We have met him twice or thrice in
the street, and he wanted us to go on Friday to the palace at S. Peter's,
and I know not for what purpose he did not choose to go. The arrange-
ment was for us to be there after dinner, but we did not go. We mean for
a certainty to discover this Poma, and be paid. Were I to go to Venice, I
imagine that my poor wife will have sold and pawned all I have in the
world to support the children, and I should but go to die with them of
want. I keep thinking of going in preference to Leghorn, and of serving
on board the Grand Duke's vessels. " This is what he said to me, and as
he is a man in his prime, and of very fine. stature, I dissuaded him to the
utmost from the thought of going to Leghorn, exhorting him not to lose
the opportunity of presenting himself at Venice, where he will at all
events he at home, and should he allow this opportunity to escape he
might possibly sigh for it in vain all the rest of his life, without being
able again to see his children and his home; and _with the tears in his
eyes he concluded by saying that he would try whether he could rescue
anything out of the hands of those men, and having arranged to come to
me to report what befell him, he departed. "
" On the 26th of February, the aforesaid having returned at the usual
hour to me, my secretary added to me in substance that Poma's servant,
nanied Roberto, was in the palace of the Cardinal Colonna. He yesterday
kept walking in its neighbourhood such a length of time that he met
him, and after the said Roberto had complained of being himself likewise
ruined, saying that Poma and the others had fled hence, and that Ales-
sandro Parasio had been imprisoned for his talk, and that he did not know
what had become of him, he informed him as a secret, that Andrea Enici,
a Genoese, late agent for Poma in Venice, was reading there in the palace,
and that he ought to go and speak to him; and whilst talking with the
servant, on raising his eyes, he saw at a window of the palace of the said
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? arr. 56. ] FRA PAOLO SARPI 169
Cardinal Colonna, Gio. Battista ,Poma, Ridolfo's son, whom he knows'
very well, and having quitted the servant and gone upstairs to the rooms
pointed out to him as those of the said Enici, he found there Paulo of
St. Giustina the boatman, and spoke with Andrea Enici, who likewise
stating that Poma Was not there, answered him in reply to his demands
for payment, that he does not know what to do. He afterwards met in
the street near there the priest called Fulvio Splronati, who apologised for
not having shown himself on account of the rain that has fallen these
past two -days, and made an appoin_tment for him to meet him in the
evening when he would place him for four or six days, until some other
arrangement could be made, in a room where he would be boarded by a
certain woman, and that thus would he do out of charity, and for love of
the Signor Gio. Battista, for that he does not know the Signor Ridolfo.
He went that evening as 'ordered, but the priest never came, so having
returned to-day to speak to Enici he desired him to come again to-morrow
at dinner-time, and that he will give him the means for betaking himself
to Venice; and he says he considers it certain that that priest who spoke
to him does not bear the name of Fulvio, for when he mentioned him to
Enici he did not understand him, but subsequently appeared to compre'
hend)\which Matteo having recounted to me the details aforesaid, departed,
saying that he will go tomorrow as ordered and will come and tell me
the whole, adding in the act of departure that he had forgot to tell me
that one Lodovico who rowed in the shallop, and was outlawed at Ancona,
immediately on reaching that city, notwithstanding his outlawry, walked
about, and freely frequented every place. " Nothing need be added to this
prolix testimony uriless it be that of Thomas de Zanon ' who was seen
walking and talking openly in the ga. l. l. e. r:y of the Vatican with* Vene-
ze?
/,-'
6,5. . . "
tian priest ,F-ranoeeebi. Zanon alledged that he had come from Leghorn in *
a Florentine vessel; but he betrayed himself by complaining that he was
still unrewarded, and at last confessed that he " was the master of the
shallop in which Poma had escaped from Venice. " He affirmed that Mat-
teo, the gondolier, knew all, and when Poma got into the gondola at the
FondamentQ,NuovQwhen driven by the populace, and Matteo asked him
whether he had done the business? Poma urged him to row, saying' Woe
to us, we shall all be quartered, ' and Matteo answered ' Never fear, sir, as
long as you see me. ' Zanon Was left with the shallop; and Matteo, on whom
Zanon cast unmeasured blame, came to Rome to see what he could get. "
It is apparent from this long but important document, that description of
spies and remarks on the Pope's unwearied complaint of the theologians
filled a considerable portion of the ambassador's letters, and it is only
1 All from the MSS. Contarini, 28th February 1608.
\/'? 7M. e.
A-.
? ?
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? l70 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1608.
,. >>
wonderful that he was able to steer his course through such a labyrinth of
difficulty.
While his defender was thus engaged at Rome, Fra Paolo pursued the
even tenor of his way, strong in the conviction that although his life was
hourly in danger, and there were other machinations against him, unless
by the will of God not a hair of his head would be injured. He held the opi-
nion of Saint Augustine as to God being the Disposer and Controller of all
events, and although he khew that not many paces from the Convent door,
lay men ready to seize him he lived in peace, and in patience possessed his
soul. He still suffered much pain in his face consequent upon his wound,
and he felt his eyesight so much affected, that he could scarcely look
stedfastly on any object. He was obliged to wear spectacles while reading,
but happily he could avail himself of his knowledge asan optician in his
need, and he does not appear to have relaxed at all in his studies. But af-
fairs of greater moment than his bodily ailments now began to engross
his attention, and the Spanish fleet which was armed with 20,000 men,
could not cruise in the Mediterranean without exciting public uneasiness.
This, however, Sarpi tried to allay, believing the armament was merely a
demonstration of strength: he was more occupied by severe disappointments
since the raising of the Interdict, one of which was, that Casanbon had not
been rewarded for his services to the Republic. Much as the Senators had
done for the security of Fra Paolo, they did more, they provided him with
means to pay a person always to accompany him, and not only increased
his salary, but decided that the public should pay for a house in Saint
Mark's where he could live in safety. But the Father was determined not
to change his abode, and entreated to be allowed to reside in the Convent
with thefriars with whom he had lived so long, declaring that he should
never be bble to live in any other manner, that being. his vocation, in this
he was gratified, except that the Senate erected somesmall buildings
adjoining his chamber, from which by a little corridor and staircase he
would enter a boat, so that when he had occasion to return to the Convent
by night he might not be exposed to treachery. He was thus necessarily
obliged to make some change as to his expenses, although he did not spend
more than was absolutely needful, -in no way abating the rigor of his po-
verty as a friar, content with his simple food and clothing. But after
the attempt on his life' he was obliged not to walk from the Servi, because
it being necessary for him to pass through alleys which afforded an op-
portunity to any one who wished to assassinate him. During the sixteen
following years he went in his gondola from his Convent to the Rialto, land-
ed there, and then through the Merceria to S. Mark's, merely for daily
exercise that he might not lose the habit of walking altogether, and he found
it necessary to have two companions, one as his servant, the other as his
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? Arr. 56. ] FRA PAOLO SABPI 171
amanuensis, Fra Marco to whom he gave twelve hundred ducats, and fifty
ducats per annum, and to Fra Marino three hundred which he placed in
the bank for him at ten per cent, that he might not only have a living, but
also forty ducats per annum, and he increased his gifts of bread and wine
to the convent, and also to the cooks, to one of whom he gave sixty ducats
per annum. These gifts were made from prudential causes in self defence,
they conciliated many, as well as made them interested in the preservation
of his life, but with these expenses he could no longer persist in his deter-
mination not to receive the stipend assigned to him by the public munifi-
cence. He was obliged to make a great change in his reception of strangers.
He never conversed with any one but in his own chamber in the convent
or in the church, in the choir, when coming to service or to the refectory
to meals. His life was that of a hermit, he was solitary so far as his pub-
lic duties permitted; his world was his poor cell, and the little path be-
tween the Rialto and S. Marks, and Fulgenzio, having repeated that
his time was still divided between his devotion, uninterrupted study,
and his public duties, concludes with this rare encomium. " His life was
a singular combination of activity and contemplation, giving to God what
he could, to his prince that which was due to him, and to his neighbour
more than he ought by any other laws than those of charity. " '
The generous acts of the Doge and Senate during his sufferings drew
from Paolo a letter of deep gratitude, and while the government had been
bountiful to himself, the services of the physicians were not left unrequi-
ted. Together with thanks and a silver cup graven with the arms of S. Mark,
Acquapendente was rewarded by a rich collar and medal, and was created
Cavaliere. Vedova received forty ducats, and Comino twenty.
After the Interdict, Fulgenzio enters into little minutiae, and the writer
has therefore had recourse to various of the MS. letters of Paolo Sarpi as
well as others proved authentic, and as they elucidate his life, passages
from them are here quoted. The reader can easily imagine him engaged
in letter writing, seating a few moments from his daily toil to breathe
awhile more freely in the society of his friends, either by his own pen, or
that of Marino one of his amanuenses.
So highly were the letters of Fra Paolo esteemed by the learned, that
many copies and translation of them are known to have been taken. The
annexed is a transcript of a copy of a letter addressed by him to the Abbe
Medard, and was written first in Latin, translated into French, then
into English, and deemed worthy of preservation by the Archbishop Usher.
" The advertisements which yours of the 18th of June doth give me
concerning the means whereby the most Christian King doth recover his
'$'fe7A
3 MS.
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? 172 THE LIFE OF [A. n. 1608.
domains were most acceptable to me. I have also a great desire to under-
stand when there happeneth any singular and remarkable sentence in the
court of parliament on ecclesiastical matters. It seems to me an endeavour
worthy of yourself to employ your leisure time in the study of divinity
and of the ecclesiastical history, for which I do hold you so well prepared
that you have no need to be directed by any soever, much less by me;
' yet I will not omit to obey you, in writing my opinion what is the course
In
that a man of sincere affections should hold therein. And to begin with
the schoolmen wherein you particularly do require me, I shall tell you that
one had need to beware of those writers that do give their resolutions too
like magistrates with a Respondendum and Dicendum, as if they were ar-
bitrators; and rather to read them which deliver' their opinions with
reservation, and in matters not decided do not play the pedant over others.
The University of Paris hath much need to apply themselves to the best
judgments that did spring up amongst them, and the last that offered him' '
self was William Oceam, whom, if you lay his barbarism aside, you will
find a judicious writer. I have still esteemed him above all the schoolmen.
His work upon the sentences doth render the conceit of him that reads
him quick and fit to judge.
" His dialogues which pass from the speculative matters to the more
prgtical and in use, are much esteemed where they are permitted to be
read. Gerson teacheth well that which he teacheth, but he did not pro-
pound to himself to treat of the whole subject. S. Thomas is current among
the Jesuits as a writer very easy, and who doth not entangle the mind of
the reader with doubts, but resolves indeed too much. If you resolve to
read him, it will be good very punctually to examine his Sorites, for so
are almost all his proofs, and he is in the number of those that I named
first. If you read the controversies that do at this present exercise the
world, you will do well to bear in mind that the writers do all of them
exceed in affection to their own side, and do accommodate matters to their
3 own taste, and in the ancient writers do not see that Which is there, but
that which they desire. And therefore it is necessary to use them with
that caution that a good judge should use, not to pronounce till both par-
ties be heard. As for the means to get the understanding of the ecclesias-
tical history, it will be necessary to put into your head a chronology of
all the princes and famous men that have been in the world; all of them
distinguished in their times and countries.
" In the reading of the Historiographer be very wary, because for
the most part they are interested on the one hand or on the other When
they treat of any controversy. The most sincere authors are the English,
Paris, Hovedon, Walsingham. The most sincere and faithful history is to
be drawn out of the fathers and other writers of every time.
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? Air. 56. ] FRA PAOLO SARPI 173
" Above all it is necessary in reading to bear a neutral affection, and
not to suffer that which you find in one author, to take so deep in you that
it may not give place to the truth or greater probability which you may
find afterwards.
" But according to my judgment, to give a general and infallible rule
for all the difficulties that may occur in the process of your studies, I take
it to be best to consult with the Jesuits, and to resolve the clean contrary
of what they say.
" There remaineth, you say, the Parliament for a bank to keep them
from overflowirig; but I still see the water to increase and the earth of
the bank to diminish, which puts me in great doubt. We indeed are free
from their persons, but not from their vexations or ambushes. I know not
whether mischief to be the greater, that which they do being absent, or
that which they do being present. I begin to believe for that which now
I see, that they have been re-accepted in France to free that kingdom
from greater mischief, which they did in their absence, and peradventure
I am not deceived.
" Your worship doth esteem me more than is fitting, in thinking that
the Jesuits have any thought of me. Assure yourself that I am not high
enough to be stricken with such a lightning, unless they were (whereof I
doubt) in the number of those curious men that do not overstep, no, not
the least matters.
" However it be, every one is subject unto danger, only it rests to rely
ourselves on God, on these things whereunto no human caution can
arrive.
" I beseech your lordship to make me partaker sometimes of your let-
ters, whom you will oblige thereby. You will not be obliged to write
Italian, because, however I answer you in; my language, yet it is to me in-
different to yours in this or in French. Our Lord God give your
lordship all happiness, whose hands I reverently kiss.
" F. Paolo.
" From Venice, this 20th July, 1608. "
It has been denied, but it cannot be disproved, that after, as during the
time of the Interdict, there was a strong inclination on the part of many
Venetians to disentangle themselves from some of the innovations of the
Jesuits and other modern teachers of the Church of Rome; they wished
more liberty of conscience, they purchased the Italian Bible whenever they
had opportunity, they desired their Church to be less fettered and looked
for its return to its ancient usage: they were attracted by and interested
' in the sermons of Fra Paolo, the two Fulgenzios, Marsilio and the other
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? 174 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1608.
- :88}:
theologians, " the seven. " They had greedily perused the Writings du-
ring the Interdict; these had exposed much that required to be known,
and intelligent minds discovered that there was not that impassable gulf
between the Church of Rome and the Church of Rome Reformed, as was
alleged, and they said, as did Fra Paolo, that there were many observan-
ces and abuses of the Church of Rome which only belonged to ignorance.
Their affections were touched by the magnitude of the love of the Saviour,
and as this, Paolo tells us, was the theme on which the preachers dwelt,
it is not marvellous what he relates of the numbers who hung on the lips
of Fulgenzio Micanzio.
Those who have listened to the impassioned language of the priests of
Italy to a throng of worshippers, can best picture to themselves Fra Paolo,
or Fra Fulgenzio with all the bold eloquence of truth, addressing the
hearts and understandings of the crowd who were loyal to their prince and
had shown themselves willing to follow him in his recent protest against
Rome. It is a well authenticated fact, on one occasion when preaching
from the Words of the Holy Saviour to the Jews. " Have ye not read? ' "
Fra Fulgenzio added, " If the Saviour were now to ask the question
' Have ye not read? ' all the answer you could make would be ' N o, we
are forbidden to do so. ' " And it is a fact equally well vouched for, that
when the Church resounded with the same demand that Pontius Pilate
the Roman Governor made to the Holy Saviour, " What is truth? " Fra
Fulgenzio took a New Testament from his pocket and told his auditors
that after long search he had found it there. He held the precious
volume up with outstretched hands in the sight of all, " But, " he exclaimed
as he returned the book to its place, " the book is prohibited! " The
effect of these words can scarcely he described, they stirred the assembly
to its depths, Fra Paolo and Fulgenzio were of the same. _opinion as the
learned Brucciolo, who told the Duke af Tuscany " that the reading
of the Holy Scriptures was of all means that most calculated to make his
' people de"out men and dutiful subjects. " There can can be no doubt but
that at the time and after the Interdict many copies of the Holy Scrip-
tures entered Venice, ' but these volumes were soon strictly prohibited:
the adherents of Rome prevented their entrance, and the people were
forced to be content with the portions of Holy Writ contained in their
books of common prayer.
An associate of Fra Paolo, the Secretary of Sir Henry Wotton, who
must have had full opportunity of judging of the truth of the above
statements thus expresses himself.
1 S. Matt. xn, 3.
2 Edition of the Bible (Diodati) 1607.
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? E1'. 56. ] . FRA PAOLO SARPI 175
"Venice is like a new world; it is the greatest consolation to find
oneself in companies and assemblies at the houses of the nobles, and
to hear them speak with so much piety and zeal of the truth of God
with those good men Father Paolo, Fulgenzio and Bedell, the Chaplain
of the Ambassador. The sermons in public are as good as could be
preached in Geneva, and they are delivered with so much earnestness,
that crowds flock to hear them, and it is necessary to go very early
to be in time to get a place. The Inquisition is kept under by a
Senator who is a member of it, and without whose voice nothing can
be decided. He is always chosen from the greatest opponents of the
Pope. ' The vehemence against the Pope and Court is greater than ever.
The Jesuits ar'e denounced from the pulpit, their doctrines refuted and
denied, and they mortally disliked; many of the nobles have provided
themselves with tutors of the reformed religion. Three fourths of the
nobility are much attached to the truth and the rest favorably in-
clined. " '
Here may be seen what reform within the Church of Rome can do.
Not only the nobles but the citizens and people heard Fra Paolo Iand
Fulgenzio gladly. The dislike of the Jesuits grew the stronger be-
cause they still endeavored to harass Venetia, and therefore it was not
malice but love of his country that still stimulated Fra Paolo against
them, he was particularly shocked by one of their Writings sent to
him from France, and boldly says, 'such things would not be endured
in Italy. ' Since their banishment he knew that they were secretly oc-
cupied against Church _and State, and they were not so much feared
as they had been, which he regretted. Next to religion, the most
prominent topic in Fra Paolo's correspondence is freedom, he was
gratified by M. Gillot's interest in the liberty of the Church. " I will
not say, " he writes, " of the Gallican, but of the Universal Church,
and perhaps in this age God wills by a milder method than' that
adopted in the last to annihilate tyranny. A foundation was then
attempted to be laid but it was incomplete, who knows but this may
succeed better? If God blesses the work we may have hope. "
The familiar nature of Sarpi's correspondence is thus expressed by
himself, "I Write to you without taking much account of what I say,
as if I spoke to you, but such is my habit, because familiar letters
ought to be the dictate of the heart without alfectation. " '
In a letter without date, but evidently prior to this period, he
remarks that Fra Fulgenzio Manfredi had left Venice for Rome. "He
1 Geneva, Aug. 10, 1608. Mem. Du Mornay, vol. x. p. 150.
3 M. Groslot, Sep. 3, 1608.
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? 176 THE LIFE. OF [A. D. 1608.
had been seduced by emissaries of the Pope, and had yielded after
two years persecution; had been provided with a safe conduclg/from
the Nuncio at Venice, had gone through the patrimony of the hurch,
and had been met and congratulated on his way. On his arrival he
was maintained, provided with three servants by the Pope, and receiv-
ed in audience, while the General of the Jesuits was kept waiting for
two hours. " But Sarpi knew how to estimate these passing honors.
"What will come of this, time will show, but possibly it will be seen
hereafter, that he who is believed by some to be infallible, may be
so in this also. " Healso knew that Manfredi could not give any in-
formation to the Court of Rome that would injure the Republic, and
"it was the common opinion that his life would be short. " '
Aboutthis time "command had been given to Michael Viti and
Parasio, " both Sarpi's assassins, to leave Rome, and the latter was
imprisoned a second time at Ancona. "I am very cautious," Sarpi
writes, " more to defeat their wishes, 'than for any esteem I have of
myself. The Court of Rome and the Head of it have not forgotten
that we would not acknowledge his omnipotence which is the greatest
sin that can'be committed against them. They long for revenge and
they spare neither pains or trouble to return to the old way. " '
For the most part his correspondence ike the mind of Sarpi, was
cheerful, he looked on events with the eye of one who referred all to
the allwise and almighty Ruler of the universe, he did not pretend to
fathom' mysteries, to foretell future events or to question the right of
God to do what and as he willed, his great intellect bowed to the
Divine with childlike submission. His letters are filled with short but
devout aspirations of trust in God; in seeing' impiety successful he
betrays no surprise, only observing, "It is What is predicted by the
'Holy Spirit, and is for the fulfilment of holy prophecy. We ought to
compassionate one that is blind, unless he is wilfully so. I have
always observed that nothing more precipitates danger than too great
avoidance of it. "
Here Sarpi evidently alludes to the constant warnings of his friends
to beware of danger as he continues, after observing that affairs at
Venice went very ill, "But I am too much occupied with a certain
conceit of others to take care of myself, because I trust wholly to
God, except when the discourse of others forces me to think of it. It
is a strange thing that they still try to seize me even in my own
chamber. .