Thus the
famous Council of Jerusalem was composed of the priests and other
brethren in the faith; and the letters which were written from that as-
sembly went in the name of thosethree Orders.
famous Council of Jerusalem was composed of the priests and other
brethren in the faith; and the letters which were written from that as-
sembly went in the name of thosethree Orders.
Sarpi - 1868 - Life of Fra Paolo Sarpi
The said Cardinal will at last resolve
to buy the principality of Berignan for his nephews, and thus to
employ the money which he has at Naples, which they will not per-
mit him to draw from Naples unless thus disposed of. This day, at
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? NOTES 239
an early hour, the Ambassador of Savoy had an extraordinary audience
of the Pope, and of the Cardinal Borghese.
" I have not learned what passed in the Chamber of Audience, but
it is supposed that it was on the affair which is here deemed the most
important, and thus I must finish, praying God to preserve you in good
health and long life. '
" Ever your very humble servant,
" Ansm. "
" At Rome, 10th July, 1606.
CHAPTER VII -- page 136.
Un nez dont l' epine est large, qu'il soit droit ou courbe? , annonee
toujours des faculte? s superieures jamais je n'yaiete? trompe? , mais cette
forme est tries rare. Vous pouvez parcourir dix mille visages dans la
nature, et mille portraits d'hommes ce? le? bres sans le retrouver une
seule fois, elle reparait eependant de plus au moins dans les portraits
dn Fauste Socin, de Swift, de Ce? sar Borgia, de Clepseker, d' Antoine
Pagi, de Jean Charles d' Enkenberg, (personnage fameux par sa prodi-
gieuse force de corps) de PAUL SARPI, de Pierre de Medicis, de Francois
Carrache de Cossini, de Lucas de Leyde, de Titien. "
Spine. dorsum nasi 163. du nez.
Lavater. L'art de connaitre les hommes par la physiognomie Tom.
VI p. 60 etc.
PonrnArzrs or PAOLO SArrr
That by Carpioni, apparently between 60 and years of age, is much
esteemed. -
That by Carletti Caliari is at Verona -- one in the Uffizi.
Sir Roger Twysden's was till lately in the possession of his descen-
dants. Dr. Donne bequeathed to the Bishop of Chichester the portrait of
of F. Paolo as well as Fulgenzio, " as of his acquaintance both men of
great note for their remarkable learning. "
There is a engraving of F. Paolo in the British Museum, and se-
veral in the Bib. Imp. Paris.
A sketch when young.
One after Tinelli, by Lucas.
That after Zucchero Dickenson.
A medallion engraving was presented to me by the Abbe? Valen-
tenelli, from a cameo formerly possessed by the Noble Molino, the
Work of Becellio, a scholar of Sansovino, then enriched with precious
stones but now in the Marciana, 'Without gold or gems.
There in an engraving of Fra Paolo at the Archives.
There is a fine bust of Fra Paolo Sarpi in the gallery of the Ducal
palace.
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? 240 NOTES
CHAPTER VIII. --- page 156.
SENTENZA DELL' ECCELSO CONSIGLIO
DEI X are.
10th of October, 1607.
Sentence of the Most Excellent the Council of Ten against Ri-
dolfo Poma, P. Michel Viti, Alessandro Parasio, Giovanni, Pasquale de
Bitonto. etc. , etc. ,
It is decreed on this 10th day of October, 1607, in the Council of
Ten, that Ridolfo Poma, Father Michel Vita (usually officiating in
the Church of the Holy Trinity), Alessandro Parrasio of Ancona,
Giovanni of Florence, son of Paulo, a man of ordinary height, with
arched eyes and red beard, formerly in the company of the Governor
Bartolomeo Nieno, Vicentino, appointed to the vessels bound to Soria
and Alexandria, a deserter from the said company; Pasquale, of Bi-
tonto, 32 years of age, of ordinary stature, corpulent, with black hair
and black beard, who formerly served in the company of Giovanni
Troglione, of Ancona, and of Padua. And it is proclaimed, in pur-
suance of the deliberations of this Council, that (these persons) being
absent and contumacious, viz. , the said Ridolfo, Father Michel, and
Alessandro, having been engaged in an atrocious conspiracy, and most
nefariously planned and contrived by them for a long period (the
more detestable and impious, because against the person of a member
of a religious order), and they, having employed the abovementioned
Giovanni and Pasquale, and kept them during many days on the watch
with intent to commit this deed; and who (assisted and supported by
the other three, and armed with stilettoes and short arquebuses, de-
testable arms, and expressly forbidden by our laws), 1 did deliberately
and treacherously on Friday, the fifth day of the present month, about
the twenty-third hour, assault the Father M. Paul Servite, Theologian
of our Signory, a person of great worth, and of exemplary life who
with his lay brother Fra Marino, was descending the bridge of Santa
Fosca to go to his convent, with intent to murder him, giving him
three violent thrusts with their stilettoes, whereby he received three
dangerous Wounds, in the face, and in the neck; one assailant taking
the lay brother by the arms, and holding him fast, that he should not
give him any aid, moreover, discharging their arquebuses against the
people, whom this strange and horrible event had drawn to the place,
and having betaken themselves to flight, leaving the stiletto in one of
the wounds, and having by means of gondolas joined the others, they
repaired to a ten--oared pilot boat awaiting for them on the Lido,
by which they hastily passed into foreign parts, and made their escape
after the perpetration of this execrable sacrilege committed against the
1 No one in Venice might carry fire-arms; strangers might carry their
swords only.
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? NOTES 241
peace and safety of a wellgoverned city, wherein all, even aliens, have
always found a sure refuge and abode.
Therefore, the above--mentioned Ridolfo, Father Michel, and Ales-
sandro, are banished for ever from this city, from the Venetian ter-
ritory, and from all other cities, lands, and places of our dominion,
and from our fleet, armed or disarmed.
Any one of these on crossing our boundaries shall be brought into
this city, and placed in a flat boat upon a raised scaffolding, with an
official, who shall publish his crime both by sea and land, and he
shall be brought to the bridge of Santa Fosca, where his right hand
shall be cut off, and separated from the arm, by the executioner, and
with the same tied to his neck, he shall he led by land at the tail
of a horse, " between the two columns, " of Saint Mark, where, upon
a raised scaffblding, his head shall be cut off, and separated from his
body, so that he die, and his body shall be divided into four quarters,
to be hung up on gibbets in the usual places. '
Whosoever shall take, or shall deliver up to justice, or who shall
kill in any place the aforesaid Ridolfo Poma, and proper evidence of
his death having been given, shall receive four thousand ducats from
his property, if any such there be, Which shall all (both that which
belongs to him, and that of which he shall at any time become pos-
sessed), be confiscated, and liable to payment of the same forfeiture;
if not, out of the money in the Treasury of this Council appointed for
rewards, which four thousand ducats shall be immediately counted out,
and paid down to the captors, or to those who kill him, or to their
attorneys, or deputies, if they have dealings through such, and like-
wise to their heirs, if there be any. And if his capture or death be
effected in any city or place of our dominions, the aforesaid reward '
shall be paid to him by the nearest Chancery' in any kind of money,
and in the manner above declared.
And there is granted to him, besides the said reward, the power to
obtain the release of a person who has been banished by this Council,
or with authority therefrom, even though there be in his sentence, a
specified time of exile. "
Whosoever shall take, or shall kill the said Poma in any place, out
of our dominions, shall receive in the manner before declared, four
thousand ducats as a reward, and the release of two persons banished
by this Council, or with authority therefrom, though there be-. . . '
Whosoever shall take, or shall kill in any place within our dominions,
the afore--mentioned Father Michel, or Alessandro, proper evidence of
his death having been given, there shall be given to him for each of
them two thousand ducats, in the manner above declared, and more-
over, obtain the release of one person banished by this Council, or with
authority therefrom, Whatever may have been the condition of banish-
ment as to time. And if he take or slay them out of our dominions,
1 Usual place of execution of criminals on the Piazzetta S. Mark's.
5' The price set on the head of any one.
3 Where the public monies were kept.
" Stretezze de balotte.
5 Idem.
as
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? 242 some
besides the reward of two thousand ducats, as aforesaid, he shall
obtain the release of two persons banished by this Council. .
The aforesaid indulgences are granted by this Council, and that
notwithstanding any general decree as to banishment, or any special
decree to the contrary. And by no power either now existing, or that ever
can exist, whether in virtue of banishment, or by means or warnings,
or denunciations, or any matter concerning the affairs of state, still less
by the capture or death of any other banished party equal or superior
to himself, can either of these three ever be released from the present
decree, or can any pardon be given him of suspension, compensation,
remission, tnitigation, or any imaginable diminution of the present sen-
tence, neither by way of second hearing, nor of safe conduct by
the request of any prince,_or for their gratification, nor by any other
public or private cause whatsoever, unless brought forward by all the
councillors rfic. ? fic. , and votes taken with their nine balls, and after-
wards with all the balls of the Council, restricted to the perfect num-
ber of seventeen, and in no other manner, and the processe fermato
shall first be read throughout to the said Council, which processe can-
not be removed from the coffer where it shall be placed, except by
vote taken by the balls of the Council from the five urns-the present
sentence being first read, together with the crime and the accusation of
the aforesaid persons. But if Father Michel Vita, or Alessandro Parrasio,
or either of them shall kill R-idolfo Poma in any place whatsoever,
proper evidence of the slaughter having been given, they shall obtain
their own full release, it being, however, understood that the aforesaid
Ridolfo is for ever excluded from such benefit, who cannot in any man-
ner, even by the capture or the slaughter of his two companions, or
of any others included in the present sentence procure his own release,
or receive the least mitigation of penalty.
If any subject of ours, whatever be his state and condition, without
any exception, even though he be connected with either of the aforesaid
three, in whatsover degree of affinity or kindred, shall give them any
aid, either in this state or elsewhere, or shall write to them, or give
them information, or shall hold any kind of intelligence with them, he
shall incur the penalty of confiscation of all his goods of every des-
cription, and shall be closely imprisoned for ten years; and if absent,
he shall be banished for the like time from all lands and places within
our territory, and the information given by the informer against these
criminals shallnot only be kept secret, but he shall receive five hundred
ducats from the treasury of this Council.
Giovanni of Florence, and Pasquale of Bitonto, aforenamed; are and
shall be held as banished for ever from this city, from the Venetian
territory, and from all other cities, lands and places of our dominiomi
and fleets, armed or disarmed. Any one of them passing the boundaries
of the state, and being taken, shall be brought into this city, and
placed in a flat boat, in which, upon a raised scaffolding, with an
official, who shall proclaim his crime by sea and by land; he shall be
brought to the bridge of Santa Fosca, where his right hand shall be
cut off and separated from the arm by the minister of justice, with
the same tied to his neck, he shall be led by land at the tail of a.
horse to between the two columns of St. Mark, where upon a raised
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? N OTE'S 243
scaffolding his head shall be cut off, and separated from his body, so
that he die, and his body shall be divided into four parts to be hung
upon the usual gibbets, with a reward to whosoever shall take either
of them within our confines, of a thousand ducats of the money of
the treasury of this Council, appointed for reward, and the release of
one person banished by this Council, or with authority therefrom, unless
there be votes, &c. &c. ; and whosoever shall kill either of them in
any place of foreign jurisdiction shall receive fifteen hundred ducats
after the manner above declared, and moreover, the release of two
banished persons of tbe same kind and description granted to those
who shall take them within our confines. Neither can any one of them
by any power now existing or hereafter to exist, be released from the
present sentence, neither by means of warning or denunciations, nor
can any favour or remission be accorded to them by way of safe con-
duct, or of second hearing; unless the cause be brought forward by all
the councillors, rte. ? fic. , and taken first with their nine balls, and
afterwards with the whole seventeen of the Council restricted to their
perfect number. But if they shall kill Ridolfo Poma in any place
whatsoever, or shall deliver him alive into our power, they shall receive
their own full- release, and moreover the rewards promised and declared
above to those who shall kill the afore-mentioned Ridolfo, to be gran-
ted them in the manner before declared. " '
It has been stated that during his illness Sarpi remarked to Acquapen-
dente that the wounds had been given him in Stilo Romanae Curiae,
when he examined the stiletto which was drawn from the wound in his
face at the convent. This remark is not in the MS.
CHAPTER IX.
For note to page 176 see note to page 188.
CHAPTER. IX. -- page 186.
Margin of the MS. of the Friar.
" Si persuade Fra Antonio c'-e si levi da Fra Paolo.
Fra Antonio e invitato a Padova a passarvi otto giorni per ricreazione.
Si avvisa Roma di quanto si e trattato con Fra Antonio e delle
Scritture che lui aveva in camera.
Si mandano li fo li a Roma.
'? 7e? l<ra Kntomo 1n Fadova.
Quel tanto che si tratta da Fra Antonio.
Lettere mostrate a Fra Antonio per darli animo.
Fra Antonio si offerisce da sia di voler dare il veleno a Mro. Paolo.
Fra Antonio scrive di voler dare il veleno a tre mentre Fra Gio
Francesco e a Mattutino.
Fra Antonio scrive di voler levar tutte le scritture a Mro. Paolo.
1 The assassins all died by violence.
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? 344- NOTES
Fra Antonio scrive un'altra lettera perehe la prima parlava troppo
in aperto modo del veleno.
Lett-era prima per miracolo da Dio posta nelle mani di Fra Gio
Francesco.
Risposta di Roma, e uso fatto del veleno.
Scrive Fra Antonio che se li mandino denari a Padova.
Pensiero di far pigliare l' impronta della chiave della camera di Fra
Paolo.
Si ragiona da Fra Antonio in materia delle scritture, e se ci e di
pigliare 1' impronta della chiave. .
Fra Antonio dice ora di voler dare dei fogli per effettuare il tradimento.
Fra Gio Francesco preso e legato, e posto in carc'ere.
Fra Gio Francesco posto in una sepoltura di vivi come per un morto
solo.
Fra Gio Francesco costituito la prima volta.
Fra Gio Francesco alla presenza de' tre inquisitori di Stato legato. "
CAPTER IX. -- page 188.
. This letter is dated, 1st May, 1608:
"About that time, also, there came a J esuite to Venice, called
Thomas Maria Caraffa (an. 1608),1 and printed a thousand theses
of Philosophy and Divinity, and dedicated them with a blasphemous
title thus:
' PAVLO V, VICE DEO, Christianae Reipublicse invictissimo et Pon-
tificae omni potentia conservatori acerimo. '
" The which when D. B. had seen with amazement, he retired
into his study, and by just calculation found out that it contayned
exactly, in the numerall letters of that proud--looking title, the number
666 Apoc. 17 and 18, (550 5 1100 00), so that he that runs may
read it in PAvno v, VICE Duo. He showed it to the Lord Ambassador,
to P. P. , and to the seven Divines, who immediately layd hold upon
it, as if it had been by divine revelation from heaven, and acquainted
the Prince and the Senate with it. It Was carryed suddenly through
the city that this was Antichrist, and that needed not look for another.
It was published and preached through all their territories, and the
Romanists were ashamed and confounded at it, and knew not what
to doe, lest this discovery should proceed further.
"But the Pope causeth a proclamation to be made, and to be sent
unto all his Vassals and Tenants, the Popish Princes of Christendom, to
let them know that Antichrist was borne in Bahilon of the tribe of
Dan, and was coming with a huge army to waste and destroy all op-
posers, and therefore they should arm themselves speedily, and make
ready all their forces by sea and land, and so this ended.
CHAPTER IX. -- page 190.
It is plain the government of the church in its beginning was
entirely democratical, all the faithful having a share in all deliberations
1 1607-8.
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? NOTES 246
of moment. Thus we find them all assisting at the election of Matthias
to the Apostleship and of the seven Deacons: and when S. Peter had
received the Centurion Cornelius, who was a Gentile, into the number
of believers, he gave, an account of it to the whole church.
Thus the
famous Council of Jerusalem was composed of the priests and other
brethren in the faith; and the letters which were written from that as-
sembly went in the name of thosethree Orders. But as the church
increased in numbers, the faithful neglecting to assist any longer at
those public assemblies, and withdrawing themselves to the care of
their own families, the government rested solely in the ministers of
the church, and so insensibly became aristocratical, which brought all
affairs to have their determinations by Councils excepting as to elec-
tions which continued popular still. The Bishops of the same province
assembled with their Metropolitan at least twice a year, and made a
provincial Synod. The Clergy with their Bishop made a Diocesan Synod.
And almost daily they held an assembly called the Consistory, in
emulation of the Imperial Council of State and as if they affected to
rank themselves with the Council which carried that name.
"In this ecclesiastical eonsistory, which was composed of all the
principal persons of the churches in the city, assisted by the Bishop,
all the affairs of the Church were proposed, debated, and determined,
a custom which is since abolished everywhere except at Rome, and
there only the shadow of it remains. But after benefices were erected,
and the priests had their maintenance apart, they made the interest of
the community so little their care, that they ceased to go any longer
to the eonsistory, which thus fell into disuse, and was no longer
held. .
" To supply this, the Bishops held an assembly of all the Clergy
of their cathedral church, to assist in their councils, or otherwise to
administer the spiritual government. And these, receiving their main-
tenanco out of the common stock, either annually, monthly, or daily-
were called canonici (canons), from the word canon, which is the word
used in the Western Empire to signify such a measure of corn as
was sufficient for the sustenance of a man, a family, or a city. The
institution of canons was shortly before the reign of Charlemagne, by
whom also it received some improvement as to its regulation.
"It is yet further to be observed that, in those times, the benefices
and revenues of the Church were grown to that size that they became
'rewards for the principal men of the court and cities, who were made
Bishops; so the Bishoprics fell to their share, to whom the prince had
also committed a great part of the civil government, at first only on
extraordinary occasions, but after, finding that their affairs prospered
in their hands, they were constantly employed, though not everywhere,
in the same quality or station, but as the particular affairs of the place,
the abilities of the Bishop, or sometimes the incapacity of the earl or
Comes required, which defect was then supplied by substituting the
Bishop in his room.
" And hence it came that, when the posterity of Charlemagne fell
into such a state of degeneracy as to sink at last into the most profound
ignorance of those ages, the bishops thought it advisable no longer to
acknowledge this authority as derived from the prince, from whence it
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? 246 NOTES
really came, but to assume it to themselves, and exercise it as a right
peculiar to their function, under the name of ecclesiastical juristliction.
" Such was the origin of this power, which we now see so continually
and so desperately contested with Princes, even to endangering the peace
of the best civil governments, and sometimes throwing them into con-
vulsions.
" The want of spirit and genius in the princes of Charlemagne's pos-
terity, so requisite to fit them for empire, made his statutes of no long
duration, so that the former disorders were renewed. The people, in few
places and very rarely, had any share in the election of the Bishops; and
less in that of the other ministers of the Church. The Bishops ordained
whom they pleased, and disposed of benefices with the same liberty, except
when the Priest recommended any one, and then they never failed to obey.
The Pope was always chosen by the people and confirmed by the Emperor
before consecration, and the other Bishops of Italy were never consecrated
until the Emperor had first approved them. And this was observed even
more strictly in France and in Germany. When the Pope would favour
any man's pretensions to a bishopric near Rome, he applied to the Empe-
ror to desire his nomination. And if it so happened that the Pope Were
applied to for his consecration of a person who had not the imperial
letters of license, he refused consecration till he obtained it. But the pos-
terity of Charlemagne having been driven out of Italy A. D. 884, Pope
Adrian III ordained that the Popes should, for the future, be consecrated
Without application to the Emperor at all.
" In treating on this subject of benefices, it will certainly not be foreign
to our purpose to take notice of the popedom, as we shall again have o0-
casion to do in the sequel of this discourse, seeing it certainly is deservedly
to be ranked in the number of benefices, and as it has been expressly so
styled by Clement III, in a time when the Pope had not only ascended to
the highest pitch of human greatness, but haul taken also a particular style
or dignity to clistinguish him from other Bishops.
" Nothing is more-known than that the names of Sanctus Sanctissimus,
Beatus Beatissimus, were common to all believers in Christ, when all men
of that profession were aspiring to an absolute perfection of holiness. But
when secular men became more engaged in the affairs of the world than
was expedient or decent, and so quitted their titles to those blessed names,
they fell to the ecclesiastics only.
" And after the remissness that was to be found in the inferior Clergy,
. from their primitive strictness of life, these remained to the Bishops only,
but when their characters also sunk in esteem, by too eager a pursuit after
the things of this world, the Bishop of Rome alone retained these titles, not
as designations of virtue but of grandeur and power.
" As for the name of Pontifex, it was and is a name common to all
Bishops, and there are some canons still extant wherein all Bishops are
styled ' Summi Pontifices. ' And even the name of ' Papa, ' which seems
to be a title most pecuhar to the ' Pont1fex Romanus, was glven indiffe-
rently to all Bishops. St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, is called ' Papa, '
St. J erorne gives this title to St. Augustme; and, in later times, Sidonius
Ie? polhuans and many of the Bishops style one another by the name of
opes. '
" And in the decretals of Gratian, we find titles of several canons,
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? NOTES 247
Where Martin, Bishop of Bragua, is called Papa. Gregory VII was the
first who, in the year 1076, decreed that the name of Pope should be pe-
culiar to him and to his successors, and be ascribed to none but the Roman
Papa. And this matter was carried to such a height, and with so much
appearance of party rage and faction, that Anselm, Bishop of Lncca, one
of his followers, hath not scrupled to say that 'it is as absurd and impious
to suppose there are more Popes than one, as that there are more than
one God. ' "
Sarpi passes from the Precaria of France to. the Popes who were
excommunicated by their successors. Six who were driven out and de-
throned by those who aspired to their place; two who were put to death;
and Pope Stephen wounded; and after mentioning several other painful
facts, he adds: "And in short such a series of wild disorders gave oc-
casion to historians to say, that these times produced not Popes, but
monsters. "
Cardinal Baronius, being under some difficulty to treat those corrup-
tions, says, that in those days the Church indeed was, for the most part,
Without a Pope, but not without a Head, its spiritual head, Christ, being
in heaven, who never abandons it. In effect, it is certain that Christ hath
never yet forsaken his Church, neither can his Divine promise which He
hath made us fail; that He will be with it, even unto the end of the
world.
"And on this occasion it is the duty of every Christian to believe,
with Baronius, that the same calamities which happened in the World at
that time have happened also at another; and that as the assistance of
Christ alone preserved the Church in those times, so hath He afforded
the shield of defence to the Church, and will continue it to her in all the
like events and accidents of this world. So that (1 Pope was not necessary
to the existence of a Church, even though there should never more have been
a Pope. "
The following passage is in many points applicable to the Jesuits of
the present day.
"Yet our age, can boast of a production truly singular and original,
and inferior to nothing of the kind which has appeared in any age.
This is the institution of the Jesuits, who by a mixture of poverty
and abundance, conciliate to themselves the esteem and affection of the
world, rejecting with one hand what they receive, and possess as a
company and society with the other. For though their professed houses
are not capable by their institution of possessing immoveable estates,
yet their colleges are capable of acquiring and possessing. They say,
and certainly with reason, that no gover11ment simple and unmixed is
perfect, but that admixtures are found to have their conveniences on
all occasions. That the state of poverty embraced by the mendicants
hath this defect, that it is only adapted to such as are already well
advanced in the way to godliness, whose number therefore cannot be
very great. But for their parts, their designs in receiving youth into
their college is to instruct and, by an acquisition of all virtues, to fit
it for a life of evangelical poverty, so that poverty is indeed their
design and essential end, but they grow rich by accident. But the
facts we see are yet a stronger degree of evidence than the words we
hear. They write themselves that they have at present 21 professed
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? 248 NOTES
'?
houses, and 293 colleges. From this disproportion, every man may
conclude which is the essential part of their institutions, and which
the accidental. Upon the Whole it is not to be denied that they have
acquired vast riches, and that they are on the high road to increase
them. As all the temporalities which the church enjoyeth arose from
alms and oblations, so in the Old Testament the fabric of the sanc-
tuary was supported the same way. But when the inspectors of this
work saw the people continue their oblations, though all was given
already that was needful, they said to Moses, the people give more
than is needful, and Moses straight published an order that no more
should be offered for the use of the sanctuary, because more than suf--
ficient had been offered already, by Which it is manifest that God
would have nothing superfluous and abounding in his temple. And if
it were his declared pleasure in the Old Testament, which regarded
only the things in this world, that all the goods of the Church should
not go to her ministers, it is no less declared in the New. But where
will their acquisitions end, or what bounds will be set . to them? Who
among them will say the people have given enough? The ministers of
the temple, who made up the thirteenth part of the people, were not ca-
pable of receiving or enjoying any more than the tithes. Ours who
are scarce the hundredth part of the people possess at this time perhaps
more than the fourth. .
" It is impossible there could be any inconvenience in churchmen
acquiring ad 1? nfim'tum, and if all the rest of the world were reduced
to hold everything by rm? Among Christians human laws have no-
where set bounds to man's estate, because he who increaseth it to-day
may alienate it to-morrow. But there is in this case a circumstance
perhaps without example: that an order of men, perpetual, and which
never dies, should be always capable of acquiring, and never alienating.
In the Old Testament the tithes were given to the Levites, because
it was the Lord's part, and therefore they were forbidden to take any
more. A rule which they who enjoy the privileges of the Levites
ought to observe, in taking upon them all the conditions required of
them, and not only such as turn to their particular advantage. "
CHAPTER X. -- page 209.
Without remark on the alteration of the sacramental service in the
1st, 2nd, and 5th Century, and by Gregory the great, it is sufficient
to say that, the opinion as to the mass being a propitiatory sacrifice,
was not held by some. Reference to the History of the Council of
Trent by Sarpi, proves this. Lib. V1, p. 553.
" But concerning the sacrifice of the Masse, in the congregation held
until the 18th, all contended resolutely about the oblation of Christ
in the supper, and Father Salmeron was the principal man to persuade
in the affirmative. He went to the houses of those who were of the
other opinion, especially of those who had not given their voice, per-
suading them to be silent, or at the least to speak remissly, and used
the name of Cardinal Varmiense principally, and sometimes of Scri-
pando, intimating the other Legates without naming them. And this
he did with such importuuity, that the Bishops of Chiozza and Veglia
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? NOTES 249
complained of it in the congregation of the 18th of August. And
this second complained of it with very forcible reasons. He told them they
should consider well of it, because our propitiatory sacrifice being of-
fered, if it be sufficient to expiate, no other is offered but only for
thanksgiving, and he that maintaineth a propitiatory sacrifice in the
supper, 1nust needs confess that by it we are redeemed, and not by
his death, which is contrary to the Scripture and Christian Doctrine
Which ascribe our redemption to this. And if any say it is all one,
begun in the Supper and ended in the cross, he falleth into another
inconvenience as great, because it is a contradiction to say that the
beginning of a sacrifice is a sacrifice, and if any one should cease
after the beginning and go no further, no man would say he had
sacrificed, and it will never be believed that if Christ had not been
obedient unto his Father even unto the death of the Cross, but had
only made an oblation in the Supper, we had been redeemed, so that
it cannot be said that such an oblation may be called a sacrifice,
because it is a beginning of it. He said he would not absolutely de'
fend that these arguments were insoluble, but that the Councils ought
not to tie the understanding of any, who had conceived an opinion
upon such good reasons. He said as he made no difficulty to call the
mass a propitiatory sacrifice, so he could not by any means be satisfied.
that it should be said that Christgdid offer, because it is enough to say
that he commanded the oblation.
"For he said, if the synod doth atfirm that Christ did offer, the
Sacrifice either propitiatory, and so it fall into the difficulties beforc
mentioned, or not propitiatory, and so by that it cannot be concluded
that the Imass is propitiatory, and therefore that of the priest in the
Mass ought not to be. He concluded, that it was more secure to say
only, that Christ commanded the apostles to offer a propitiatory sa-
crifice in the mass.
"The Bishop then censured the Jesuit Salmeron for being factions
on matter of faith. Sarpi adds: The Bishop persuaded so many that it
was almost the common opinion not to make- mention of the propitiatory
sacrifice ofiered by Christ in the Supper.
" The General of the Jesuits, was wholly for the oblation of Christ. . .
The opinions were almost equally balanced, yet the Legates at the ear-
nest entreaty of Varmiense, resolved to put the oblation into the decree,
not making use of the Word propitiatory. "
There are priests of the Church of Rome who hold that the mass
is commemorative only of the death and passion of the Saviour of the
world.
CHAPTER X. -- page 212.
To avoid mistakes as to Fra Paolo's oflicc, works, and opinions, it
may be well to observe, that, " Opinions or Maxims as to the govern-
ment of the Republic of Venice, " was not written by him. There is no
trace of it amongst his MSS. ; it is not named in the Index Expurga-
toris, and it is not written in his style.
" In a note in the handwriting of Father Giovanni, an Augustine,
on the article Canale, is the following, in Gradenigds Chronicles, " U11
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? 250 NOTES
bastardo di casa Canale, veneziana, scrisse molte-opere politiche, tra le
quali, L'Opinz'one come debba governarsi la Repubblica dd Venezia, fal-
samente attribuita al P. P. Sarpi. " '
And in Cicogna's, Saggio (Ii Bibl1'ogra_/ia Veneziana, p. 157: " The
Opinions or Maxims falsely ascribed to P. Paolo, Servite, as to the
government of the Republic for its perpetual dominion, Meietti, 1681,
and 1685 was reprinted afterwards as if unpublished, with the title
Memorial of F. P. Sarpi, and to the Prince and Senate of Venice as
to the conduct of the Government of the Republic, Friburg (printed
in Italy), 1767, in--12? . "
Griselini alludes to this libel, in his Memorie anedote, p. 364. "Le
Prince de F. Paolo, oh Counseil politiques adresse? es a la noblesse de
Venise, par le Pere Paul Sarpi, Berlin,. 1751, in--12? .
" (Tran. ) This work and its translation first printed in Venice, by
R. Meietti, 1681, entitled: Opinions or Maxims of F. Paolo, " etc.
was reprinted by Meietti 1685, but with this title: "Opinions FALSELY
ATTRIBUTED to F. P. Sarpi. " This same work was printed at Leghorn,
with the false date of Colonia, by P. Marteau, 1760, entitled: Memorial,
etc. , as above. But notwithstanding the pains taken to sell this work
under different titles as Sarpi's, no one of the learned has ever pro-
nounced it his, but have treated the assertion as did Voltaire of some
wrong dates in his History of the Council with ridicule.
Letter of Sir H. Wotton.
To the right worthy Provost, and Professor Regius of Divinity in Cam-
bridge, (Dr. Collins). '
SIR, -- Though my feet cannot perform that counsel which I remember
from some translation in S racides ' Teras limen sensati v' i ' yet I should
at least have often visited you with my poor lines: But, on ihe other side,
while I durst not trust mine own conceit in the power of my present in-
firmity, and therefore have seldom written to any, I find myself in the
meantine overcharged with divers letters from you of singular kindness,
and one of them accompanied with a dainty Peaceful Piece, which trnely
I had not seen before, so as besides the weight of the subject, it was welcome
even for the grace of newness; yet, let me tell you, I could not but some-
what wonder to find our Spiritual Seneca (you know who I mean) among
these Reconcilers, having read a former treatise of his (if my memory fail
me not) of contrary complexion. Howsoever, now let him have his due
praise with the rest for showing his Christian wisdom and charity; but I
fear as it was anciently said by a Roman general that " B%lum sese alit-, "
so it will prove, though in a somewhat different sense, 1 ewise as rue of
this Church warfare,'tFat the ver leasure of contendin will foment
contention till the end of all Hesli But let me leave that sacred business
to our well-meanmg iathers. '
And now, Sir, having a fit messenger, and not long after the time
when love. tokens use to pass between friends, let me hold to send
you for a new year's gift a certain memorial not altogether unworthy
1 Inscriz. Ven. , Tom. m, p. 507.
1 Reliquae Wottonianse. '
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? NOTES 251
of some entertainment under your roof; namely, a true picture of Padre
Paolo, the Servita, which was first taken by a painter whom I sent unto
him from my house, then neighbouring his monastery. I have newly added
thereunto a title of mine own conception, Concilii Tridentini Eviscerator,
and had sent the frame withal, if it were portable, which is but of plam deal, coloured black, like the habit of the order. You have a luminous parlour,
which I have good cause to remember, not only by delicate fare and freedom
(the Prince of dishes), but above all, by your own learned discourse; for
to dine with you, is to dine with many good authors. In that room I be-
seech you to allow it a favourable place for my sake, and that you may
have somewhat more to tell than a bare image, if any shall ask, as in the
Table of Cebes, Tivog e? m-Z 1-6 5' dyahpa; I am desirous to characterize a
little unto you such part of his nature, customs, and abilities as I had oc-
casion to know by sight or by inquiry, He was one of the hl'lI11bl8Sttl1ing. <
that could be seen Within the bounds of humanity, the very pattern of
precept,
" Quanto doctior, tanto submissior. "
and enough alone to demonstrate t1at now e ge well digested, -- non
inflat -- excellent in positive, excellent in scholastical and polemical divi-
nity; a rare mathematician, even in the most abstruse parts thereof, as in Al-
gebra and the Theoriques, and yet withal, so expert in the history of plants,
as if he had never persued any book but nature. Lastly, a great Canonist,
which was the title of his ordinary service with the state, ----and certainly
in the time of the Pope's interdict they had their principal light from him.
When he was either reading or writing alone, his manner was to sit fenc-
ed with a castle of paper about his chair and over head, for he was of our
Lord of St. Alban's opinion, that all air is predatory, and especially hurtful
when the spirits are most emp oye .
to buy the principality of Berignan for his nephews, and thus to
employ the money which he has at Naples, which they will not per-
mit him to draw from Naples unless thus disposed of. This day, at
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? NOTES 239
an early hour, the Ambassador of Savoy had an extraordinary audience
of the Pope, and of the Cardinal Borghese.
" I have not learned what passed in the Chamber of Audience, but
it is supposed that it was on the affair which is here deemed the most
important, and thus I must finish, praying God to preserve you in good
health and long life. '
" Ever your very humble servant,
" Ansm. "
" At Rome, 10th July, 1606.
CHAPTER VII -- page 136.
Un nez dont l' epine est large, qu'il soit droit ou courbe? , annonee
toujours des faculte? s superieures jamais je n'yaiete? trompe? , mais cette
forme est tries rare. Vous pouvez parcourir dix mille visages dans la
nature, et mille portraits d'hommes ce? le? bres sans le retrouver une
seule fois, elle reparait eependant de plus au moins dans les portraits
dn Fauste Socin, de Swift, de Ce? sar Borgia, de Clepseker, d' Antoine
Pagi, de Jean Charles d' Enkenberg, (personnage fameux par sa prodi-
gieuse force de corps) de PAUL SARPI, de Pierre de Medicis, de Francois
Carrache de Cossini, de Lucas de Leyde, de Titien. "
Spine. dorsum nasi 163. du nez.
Lavater. L'art de connaitre les hommes par la physiognomie Tom.
VI p. 60 etc.
PonrnArzrs or PAOLO SArrr
That by Carpioni, apparently between 60 and years of age, is much
esteemed. -
That by Carletti Caliari is at Verona -- one in the Uffizi.
Sir Roger Twysden's was till lately in the possession of his descen-
dants. Dr. Donne bequeathed to the Bishop of Chichester the portrait of
of F. Paolo as well as Fulgenzio, " as of his acquaintance both men of
great note for their remarkable learning. "
There is a engraving of F. Paolo in the British Museum, and se-
veral in the Bib. Imp. Paris.
A sketch when young.
One after Tinelli, by Lucas.
That after Zucchero Dickenson.
A medallion engraving was presented to me by the Abbe? Valen-
tenelli, from a cameo formerly possessed by the Noble Molino, the
Work of Becellio, a scholar of Sansovino, then enriched with precious
stones but now in the Marciana, 'Without gold or gems.
There in an engraving of Fra Paolo at the Archives.
There is a fine bust of Fra Paolo Sarpi in the gallery of the Ducal
palace.
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? 240 NOTES
CHAPTER VIII. --- page 156.
SENTENZA DELL' ECCELSO CONSIGLIO
DEI X are.
10th of October, 1607.
Sentence of the Most Excellent the Council of Ten against Ri-
dolfo Poma, P. Michel Viti, Alessandro Parasio, Giovanni, Pasquale de
Bitonto. etc. , etc. ,
It is decreed on this 10th day of October, 1607, in the Council of
Ten, that Ridolfo Poma, Father Michel Vita (usually officiating in
the Church of the Holy Trinity), Alessandro Parrasio of Ancona,
Giovanni of Florence, son of Paulo, a man of ordinary height, with
arched eyes and red beard, formerly in the company of the Governor
Bartolomeo Nieno, Vicentino, appointed to the vessels bound to Soria
and Alexandria, a deserter from the said company; Pasquale, of Bi-
tonto, 32 years of age, of ordinary stature, corpulent, with black hair
and black beard, who formerly served in the company of Giovanni
Troglione, of Ancona, and of Padua. And it is proclaimed, in pur-
suance of the deliberations of this Council, that (these persons) being
absent and contumacious, viz. , the said Ridolfo, Father Michel, and
Alessandro, having been engaged in an atrocious conspiracy, and most
nefariously planned and contrived by them for a long period (the
more detestable and impious, because against the person of a member
of a religious order), and they, having employed the abovementioned
Giovanni and Pasquale, and kept them during many days on the watch
with intent to commit this deed; and who (assisted and supported by
the other three, and armed with stilettoes and short arquebuses, de-
testable arms, and expressly forbidden by our laws), 1 did deliberately
and treacherously on Friday, the fifth day of the present month, about
the twenty-third hour, assault the Father M. Paul Servite, Theologian
of our Signory, a person of great worth, and of exemplary life who
with his lay brother Fra Marino, was descending the bridge of Santa
Fosca to go to his convent, with intent to murder him, giving him
three violent thrusts with their stilettoes, whereby he received three
dangerous Wounds, in the face, and in the neck; one assailant taking
the lay brother by the arms, and holding him fast, that he should not
give him any aid, moreover, discharging their arquebuses against the
people, whom this strange and horrible event had drawn to the place,
and having betaken themselves to flight, leaving the stiletto in one of
the wounds, and having by means of gondolas joined the others, they
repaired to a ten--oared pilot boat awaiting for them on the Lido,
by which they hastily passed into foreign parts, and made their escape
after the perpetration of this execrable sacrilege committed against the
1 No one in Venice might carry fire-arms; strangers might carry their
swords only.
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? NOTES 241
peace and safety of a wellgoverned city, wherein all, even aliens, have
always found a sure refuge and abode.
Therefore, the above--mentioned Ridolfo, Father Michel, and Ales-
sandro, are banished for ever from this city, from the Venetian ter-
ritory, and from all other cities, lands, and places of our dominion,
and from our fleet, armed or disarmed.
Any one of these on crossing our boundaries shall be brought into
this city, and placed in a flat boat upon a raised scaffolding, with an
official, who shall publish his crime both by sea and land, and he
shall be brought to the bridge of Santa Fosca, where his right hand
shall be cut off, and separated from the arm, by the executioner, and
with the same tied to his neck, he shall he led by land at the tail
of a horse, " between the two columns, " of Saint Mark, where, upon
a raised scaffblding, his head shall be cut off, and separated from his
body, so that he die, and his body shall be divided into four quarters,
to be hung up on gibbets in the usual places. '
Whosoever shall take, or shall deliver up to justice, or who shall
kill in any place the aforesaid Ridolfo Poma, and proper evidence of
his death having been given, shall receive four thousand ducats from
his property, if any such there be, Which shall all (both that which
belongs to him, and that of which he shall at any time become pos-
sessed), be confiscated, and liable to payment of the same forfeiture;
if not, out of the money in the Treasury of this Council appointed for
rewards, which four thousand ducats shall be immediately counted out,
and paid down to the captors, or to those who kill him, or to their
attorneys, or deputies, if they have dealings through such, and like-
wise to their heirs, if there be any. And if his capture or death be
effected in any city or place of our dominions, the aforesaid reward '
shall be paid to him by the nearest Chancery' in any kind of money,
and in the manner above declared.
And there is granted to him, besides the said reward, the power to
obtain the release of a person who has been banished by this Council,
or with authority therefrom, even though there be in his sentence, a
specified time of exile. "
Whosoever shall take, or shall kill the said Poma in any place, out
of our dominions, shall receive in the manner before declared, four
thousand ducats as a reward, and the release of two persons banished
by this Council, or with authority therefrom, though there be-. . . '
Whosoever shall take, or shall kill in any place within our dominions,
the afore--mentioned Father Michel, or Alessandro, proper evidence of
his death having been given, there shall be given to him for each of
them two thousand ducats, in the manner above declared, and more-
over, obtain the release of one person banished by this Council, or with
authority therefrom, Whatever may have been the condition of banish-
ment as to time. And if he take or slay them out of our dominions,
1 Usual place of execution of criminals on the Piazzetta S. Mark's.
5' The price set on the head of any one.
3 Where the public monies were kept.
" Stretezze de balotte.
5 Idem.
as
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? 242 some
besides the reward of two thousand ducats, as aforesaid, he shall
obtain the release of two persons banished by this Council. .
The aforesaid indulgences are granted by this Council, and that
notwithstanding any general decree as to banishment, or any special
decree to the contrary. And by no power either now existing, or that ever
can exist, whether in virtue of banishment, or by means or warnings,
or denunciations, or any matter concerning the affairs of state, still less
by the capture or death of any other banished party equal or superior
to himself, can either of these three ever be released from the present
decree, or can any pardon be given him of suspension, compensation,
remission, tnitigation, or any imaginable diminution of the present sen-
tence, neither by way of second hearing, nor of safe conduct by
the request of any prince,_or for their gratification, nor by any other
public or private cause whatsoever, unless brought forward by all the
councillors rfic. ? fic. , and votes taken with their nine balls, and after-
wards with all the balls of the Council, restricted to the perfect num-
ber of seventeen, and in no other manner, and the processe fermato
shall first be read throughout to the said Council, which processe can-
not be removed from the coffer where it shall be placed, except by
vote taken by the balls of the Council from the five urns-the present
sentence being first read, together with the crime and the accusation of
the aforesaid persons. But if Father Michel Vita, or Alessandro Parrasio,
or either of them shall kill R-idolfo Poma in any place whatsoever,
proper evidence of the slaughter having been given, they shall obtain
their own full release, it being, however, understood that the aforesaid
Ridolfo is for ever excluded from such benefit, who cannot in any man-
ner, even by the capture or the slaughter of his two companions, or
of any others included in the present sentence procure his own release,
or receive the least mitigation of penalty.
If any subject of ours, whatever be his state and condition, without
any exception, even though he be connected with either of the aforesaid
three, in whatsover degree of affinity or kindred, shall give them any
aid, either in this state or elsewhere, or shall write to them, or give
them information, or shall hold any kind of intelligence with them, he
shall incur the penalty of confiscation of all his goods of every des-
cription, and shall be closely imprisoned for ten years; and if absent,
he shall be banished for the like time from all lands and places within
our territory, and the information given by the informer against these
criminals shallnot only be kept secret, but he shall receive five hundred
ducats from the treasury of this Council.
Giovanni of Florence, and Pasquale of Bitonto, aforenamed; are and
shall be held as banished for ever from this city, from the Venetian
territory, and from all other cities, lands and places of our dominiomi
and fleets, armed or disarmed. Any one of them passing the boundaries
of the state, and being taken, shall be brought into this city, and
placed in a flat boat, in which, upon a raised scaffolding, with an
official, who shall proclaim his crime by sea and by land; he shall be
brought to the bridge of Santa Fosca, where his right hand shall be
cut off and separated from the arm by the minister of justice, with
the same tied to his neck, he shall be led by land at the tail of a.
horse to between the two columns of St. Mark, where upon a raised
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? N OTE'S 243
scaffolding his head shall be cut off, and separated from his body, so
that he die, and his body shall be divided into four parts to be hung
upon the usual gibbets, with a reward to whosoever shall take either
of them within our confines, of a thousand ducats of the money of
the treasury of this Council, appointed for reward, and the release of
one person banished by this Council, or with authority therefrom, unless
there be votes, &c. &c. ; and whosoever shall kill either of them in
any place of foreign jurisdiction shall receive fifteen hundred ducats
after the manner above declared, and moreover, the release of two
banished persons of tbe same kind and description granted to those
who shall take them within our confines. Neither can any one of them
by any power now existing or hereafter to exist, be released from the
present sentence, neither by means of warning or denunciations, nor
can any favour or remission be accorded to them by way of safe con-
duct, or of second hearing; unless the cause be brought forward by all
the councillors, rte. ? fic. , and taken first with their nine balls, and
afterwards with the whole seventeen of the Council restricted to their
perfect number. But if they shall kill Ridolfo Poma in any place
whatsoever, or shall deliver him alive into our power, they shall receive
their own full- release, and moreover the rewards promised and declared
above to those who shall kill the afore-mentioned Ridolfo, to be gran-
ted them in the manner before declared. " '
It has been stated that during his illness Sarpi remarked to Acquapen-
dente that the wounds had been given him in Stilo Romanae Curiae,
when he examined the stiletto which was drawn from the wound in his
face at the convent. This remark is not in the MS.
CHAPTER IX.
For note to page 176 see note to page 188.
CHAPTER. IX. -- page 186.
Margin of the MS. of the Friar.
" Si persuade Fra Antonio c'-e si levi da Fra Paolo.
Fra Antonio e invitato a Padova a passarvi otto giorni per ricreazione.
Si avvisa Roma di quanto si e trattato con Fra Antonio e delle
Scritture che lui aveva in camera.
Si mandano li fo li a Roma.
'? 7e? l<ra Kntomo 1n Fadova.
Quel tanto che si tratta da Fra Antonio.
Lettere mostrate a Fra Antonio per darli animo.
Fra Antonio si offerisce da sia di voler dare il veleno a Mro. Paolo.
Fra Antonio scrive di voler dare il veleno a tre mentre Fra Gio
Francesco e a Mattutino.
Fra Antonio scrive di voler levar tutte le scritture a Mro. Paolo.
1 The assassins all died by violence.
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? 344- NOTES
Fra Antonio scrive un'altra lettera perehe la prima parlava troppo
in aperto modo del veleno.
Lett-era prima per miracolo da Dio posta nelle mani di Fra Gio
Francesco.
Risposta di Roma, e uso fatto del veleno.
Scrive Fra Antonio che se li mandino denari a Padova.
Pensiero di far pigliare l' impronta della chiave della camera di Fra
Paolo.
Si ragiona da Fra Antonio in materia delle scritture, e se ci e di
pigliare 1' impronta della chiave. .
Fra Antonio dice ora di voler dare dei fogli per effettuare il tradimento.
Fra Gio Francesco preso e legato, e posto in carc'ere.
Fra Gio Francesco posto in una sepoltura di vivi come per un morto
solo.
Fra Gio Francesco costituito la prima volta.
Fra Gio Francesco alla presenza de' tre inquisitori di Stato legato. "
CAPTER IX. -- page 188.
. This letter is dated, 1st May, 1608:
"About that time, also, there came a J esuite to Venice, called
Thomas Maria Caraffa (an. 1608),1 and printed a thousand theses
of Philosophy and Divinity, and dedicated them with a blasphemous
title thus:
' PAVLO V, VICE DEO, Christianae Reipublicse invictissimo et Pon-
tificae omni potentia conservatori acerimo. '
" The which when D. B. had seen with amazement, he retired
into his study, and by just calculation found out that it contayned
exactly, in the numerall letters of that proud--looking title, the number
666 Apoc. 17 and 18, (550 5 1100 00), so that he that runs may
read it in PAvno v, VICE Duo. He showed it to the Lord Ambassador,
to P. P. , and to the seven Divines, who immediately layd hold upon
it, as if it had been by divine revelation from heaven, and acquainted
the Prince and the Senate with it. It Was carryed suddenly through
the city that this was Antichrist, and that needed not look for another.
It was published and preached through all their territories, and the
Romanists were ashamed and confounded at it, and knew not what
to doe, lest this discovery should proceed further.
"But the Pope causeth a proclamation to be made, and to be sent
unto all his Vassals and Tenants, the Popish Princes of Christendom, to
let them know that Antichrist was borne in Bahilon of the tribe of
Dan, and was coming with a huge army to waste and destroy all op-
posers, and therefore they should arm themselves speedily, and make
ready all their forces by sea and land, and so this ended.
CHAPTER IX. -- page 190.
It is plain the government of the church in its beginning was
entirely democratical, all the faithful having a share in all deliberations
1 1607-8.
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? NOTES 246
of moment. Thus we find them all assisting at the election of Matthias
to the Apostleship and of the seven Deacons: and when S. Peter had
received the Centurion Cornelius, who was a Gentile, into the number
of believers, he gave, an account of it to the whole church.
Thus the
famous Council of Jerusalem was composed of the priests and other
brethren in the faith; and the letters which were written from that as-
sembly went in the name of thosethree Orders. But as the church
increased in numbers, the faithful neglecting to assist any longer at
those public assemblies, and withdrawing themselves to the care of
their own families, the government rested solely in the ministers of
the church, and so insensibly became aristocratical, which brought all
affairs to have their determinations by Councils excepting as to elec-
tions which continued popular still. The Bishops of the same province
assembled with their Metropolitan at least twice a year, and made a
provincial Synod. The Clergy with their Bishop made a Diocesan Synod.
And almost daily they held an assembly called the Consistory, in
emulation of the Imperial Council of State and as if they affected to
rank themselves with the Council which carried that name.
"In this ecclesiastical eonsistory, which was composed of all the
principal persons of the churches in the city, assisted by the Bishop,
all the affairs of the Church were proposed, debated, and determined,
a custom which is since abolished everywhere except at Rome, and
there only the shadow of it remains. But after benefices were erected,
and the priests had their maintenance apart, they made the interest of
the community so little their care, that they ceased to go any longer
to the eonsistory, which thus fell into disuse, and was no longer
held. .
" To supply this, the Bishops held an assembly of all the Clergy
of their cathedral church, to assist in their councils, or otherwise to
administer the spiritual government. And these, receiving their main-
tenanco out of the common stock, either annually, monthly, or daily-
were called canonici (canons), from the word canon, which is the word
used in the Western Empire to signify such a measure of corn as
was sufficient for the sustenance of a man, a family, or a city. The
institution of canons was shortly before the reign of Charlemagne, by
whom also it received some improvement as to its regulation.
"It is yet further to be observed that, in those times, the benefices
and revenues of the Church were grown to that size that they became
'rewards for the principal men of the court and cities, who were made
Bishops; so the Bishoprics fell to their share, to whom the prince had
also committed a great part of the civil government, at first only on
extraordinary occasions, but after, finding that their affairs prospered
in their hands, they were constantly employed, though not everywhere,
in the same quality or station, but as the particular affairs of the place,
the abilities of the Bishop, or sometimes the incapacity of the earl or
Comes required, which defect was then supplied by substituting the
Bishop in his room.
" And hence it came that, when the posterity of Charlemagne fell
into such a state of degeneracy as to sink at last into the most profound
ignorance of those ages, the bishops thought it advisable no longer to
acknowledge this authority as derived from the prince, from whence it
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? 246 NOTES
really came, but to assume it to themselves, and exercise it as a right
peculiar to their function, under the name of ecclesiastical juristliction.
" Such was the origin of this power, which we now see so continually
and so desperately contested with Princes, even to endangering the peace
of the best civil governments, and sometimes throwing them into con-
vulsions.
" The want of spirit and genius in the princes of Charlemagne's pos-
terity, so requisite to fit them for empire, made his statutes of no long
duration, so that the former disorders were renewed. The people, in few
places and very rarely, had any share in the election of the Bishops; and
less in that of the other ministers of the Church. The Bishops ordained
whom they pleased, and disposed of benefices with the same liberty, except
when the Priest recommended any one, and then they never failed to obey.
The Pope was always chosen by the people and confirmed by the Emperor
before consecration, and the other Bishops of Italy were never consecrated
until the Emperor had first approved them. And this was observed even
more strictly in France and in Germany. When the Pope would favour
any man's pretensions to a bishopric near Rome, he applied to the Empe-
ror to desire his nomination. And if it so happened that the Pope Were
applied to for his consecration of a person who had not the imperial
letters of license, he refused consecration till he obtained it. But the pos-
terity of Charlemagne having been driven out of Italy A. D. 884, Pope
Adrian III ordained that the Popes should, for the future, be consecrated
Without application to the Emperor at all.
" In treating on this subject of benefices, it will certainly not be foreign
to our purpose to take notice of the popedom, as we shall again have o0-
casion to do in the sequel of this discourse, seeing it certainly is deservedly
to be ranked in the number of benefices, and as it has been expressly so
styled by Clement III, in a time when the Pope had not only ascended to
the highest pitch of human greatness, but haul taken also a particular style
or dignity to clistinguish him from other Bishops.
" Nothing is more-known than that the names of Sanctus Sanctissimus,
Beatus Beatissimus, were common to all believers in Christ, when all men
of that profession were aspiring to an absolute perfection of holiness. But
when secular men became more engaged in the affairs of the world than
was expedient or decent, and so quitted their titles to those blessed names,
they fell to the ecclesiastics only.
" And after the remissness that was to be found in the inferior Clergy,
. from their primitive strictness of life, these remained to the Bishops only,
but when their characters also sunk in esteem, by too eager a pursuit after
the things of this world, the Bishop of Rome alone retained these titles, not
as designations of virtue but of grandeur and power.
" As for the name of Pontifex, it was and is a name common to all
Bishops, and there are some canons still extant wherein all Bishops are
styled ' Summi Pontifices. ' And even the name of ' Papa, ' which seems
to be a title most pecuhar to the ' Pont1fex Romanus, was glven indiffe-
rently to all Bishops. St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, is called ' Papa, '
St. J erorne gives this title to St. Augustme; and, in later times, Sidonius
Ie? polhuans and many of the Bishops style one another by the name of
opes. '
" And in the decretals of Gratian, we find titles of several canons,
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? NOTES 247
Where Martin, Bishop of Bragua, is called Papa. Gregory VII was the
first who, in the year 1076, decreed that the name of Pope should be pe-
culiar to him and to his successors, and be ascribed to none but the Roman
Papa. And this matter was carried to such a height, and with so much
appearance of party rage and faction, that Anselm, Bishop of Lncca, one
of his followers, hath not scrupled to say that 'it is as absurd and impious
to suppose there are more Popes than one, as that there are more than
one God. ' "
Sarpi passes from the Precaria of France to. the Popes who were
excommunicated by their successors. Six who were driven out and de-
throned by those who aspired to their place; two who were put to death;
and Pope Stephen wounded; and after mentioning several other painful
facts, he adds: "And in short such a series of wild disorders gave oc-
casion to historians to say, that these times produced not Popes, but
monsters. "
Cardinal Baronius, being under some difficulty to treat those corrup-
tions, says, that in those days the Church indeed was, for the most part,
Without a Pope, but not without a Head, its spiritual head, Christ, being
in heaven, who never abandons it. In effect, it is certain that Christ hath
never yet forsaken his Church, neither can his Divine promise which He
hath made us fail; that He will be with it, even unto the end of the
world.
"And on this occasion it is the duty of every Christian to believe,
with Baronius, that the same calamities which happened in the World at
that time have happened also at another; and that as the assistance of
Christ alone preserved the Church in those times, so hath He afforded
the shield of defence to the Church, and will continue it to her in all the
like events and accidents of this world. So that (1 Pope was not necessary
to the existence of a Church, even though there should never more have been
a Pope. "
The following passage is in many points applicable to the Jesuits of
the present day.
"Yet our age, can boast of a production truly singular and original,
and inferior to nothing of the kind which has appeared in any age.
This is the institution of the Jesuits, who by a mixture of poverty
and abundance, conciliate to themselves the esteem and affection of the
world, rejecting with one hand what they receive, and possess as a
company and society with the other. For though their professed houses
are not capable by their institution of possessing immoveable estates,
yet their colleges are capable of acquiring and possessing. They say,
and certainly with reason, that no gover11ment simple and unmixed is
perfect, but that admixtures are found to have their conveniences on
all occasions. That the state of poverty embraced by the mendicants
hath this defect, that it is only adapted to such as are already well
advanced in the way to godliness, whose number therefore cannot be
very great. But for their parts, their designs in receiving youth into
their college is to instruct and, by an acquisition of all virtues, to fit
it for a life of evangelical poverty, so that poverty is indeed their
design and essential end, but they grow rich by accident. But the
facts we see are yet a stronger degree of evidence than the words we
hear. They write themselves that they have at present 21 professed
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? 248 NOTES
'?
houses, and 293 colleges. From this disproportion, every man may
conclude which is the essential part of their institutions, and which
the accidental. Upon the Whole it is not to be denied that they have
acquired vast riches, and that they are on the high road to increase
them. As all the temporalities which the church enjoyeth arose from
alms and oblations, so in the Old Testament the fabric of the sanc-
tuary was supported the same way. But when the inspectors of this
work saw the people continue their oblations, though all was given
already that was needful, they said to Moses, the people give more
than is needful, and Moses straight published an order that no more
should be offered for the use of the sanctuary, because more than suf--
ficient had been offered already, by Which it is manifest that God
would have nothing superfluous and abounding in his temple. And if
it were his declared pleasure in the Old Testament, which regarded
only the things in this world, that all the goods of the Church should
not go to her ministers, it is no less declared in the New. But where
will their acquisitions end, or what bounds will be set . to them? Who
among them will say the people have given enough? The ministers of
the temple, who made up the thirteenth part of the people, were not ca-
pable of receiving or enjoying any more than the tithes. Ours who
are scarce the hundredth part of the people possess at this time perhaps
more than the fourth. .
" It is impossible there could be any inconvenience in churchmen
acquiring ad 1? nfim'tum, and if all the rest of the world were reduced
to hold everything by rm? Among Christians human laws have no-
where set bounds to man's estate, because he who increaseth it to-day
may alienate it to-morrow. But there is in this case a circumstance
perhaps without example: that an order of men, perpetual, and which
never dies, should be always capable of acquiring, and never alienating.
In the Old Testament the tithes were given to the Levites, because
it was the Lord's part, and therefore they were forbidden to take any
more. A rule which they who enjoy the privileges of the Levites
ought to observe, in taking upon them all the conditions required of
them, and not only such as turn to their particular advantage. "
CHAPTER X. -- page 209.
Without remark on the alteration of the sacramental service in the
1st, 2nd, and 5th Century, and by Gregory the great, it is sufficient
to say that, the opinion as to the mass being a propitiatory sacrifice,
was not held by some. Reference to the History of the Council of
Trent by Sarpi, proves this. Lib. V1, p. 553.
" But concerning the sacrifice of the Masse, in the congregation held
until the 18th, all contended resolutely about the oblation of Christ
in the supper, and Father Salmeron was the principal man to persuade
in the affirmative. He went to the houses of those who were of the
other opinion, especially of those who had not given their voice, per-
suading them to be silent, or at the least to speak remissly, and used
the name of Cardinal Varmiense principally, and sometimes of Scri-
pando, intimating the other Legates without naming them. And this
he did with such importuuity, that the Bishops of Chiozza and Veglia
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? NOTES 249
complained of it in the congregation of the 18th of August. And
this second complained of it with very forcible reasons. He told them they
should consider well of it, because our propitiatory sacrifice being of-
fered, if it be sufficient to expiate, no other is offered but only for
thanksgiving, and he that maintaineth a propitiatory sacrifice in the
supper, 1nust needs confess that by it we are redeemed, and not by
his death, which is contrary to the Scripture and Christian Doctrine
Which ascribe our redemption to this. And if any say it is all one,
begun in the Supper and ended in the cross, he falleth into another
inconvenience as great, because it is a contradiction to say that the
beginning of a sacrifice is a sacrifice, and if any one should cease
after the beginning and go no further, no man would say he had
sacrificed, and it will never be believed that if Christ had not been
obedient unto his Father even unto the death of the Cross, but had
only made an oblation in the Supper, we had been redeemed, so that
it cannot be said that such an oblation may be called a sacrifice,
because it is a beginning of it. He said he would not absolutely de'
fend that these arguments were insoluble, but that the Councils ought
not to tie the understanding of any, who had conceived an opinion
upon such good reasons. He said as he made no difficulty to call the
mass a propitiatory sacrifice, so he could not by any means be satisfied.
that it should be said that Christgdid offer, because it is enough to say
that he commanded the oblation.
"For he said, if the synod doth atfirm that Christ did offer, the
Sacrifice either propitiatory, and so it fall into the difficulties beforc
mentioned, or not propitiatory, and so by that it cannot be concluded
that the Imass is propitiatory, and therefore that of the priest in the
Mass ought not to be. He concluded, that it was more secure to say
only, that Christ commanded the apostles to offer a propitiatory sa-
crifice in the mass.
"The Bishop then censured the Jesuit Salmeron for being factions
on matter of faith. Sarpi adds: The Bishop persuaded so many that it
was almost the common opinion not to make- mention of the propitiatory
sacrifice ofiered by Christ in the Supper.
" The General of the Jesuits, was wholly for the oblation of Christ. . .
The opinions were almost equally balanced, yet the Legates at the ear-
nest entreaty of Varmiense, resolved to put the oblation into the decree,
not making use of the Word propitiatory. "
There are priests of the Church of Rome who hold that the mass
is commemorative only of the death and passion of the Saviour of the
world.
CHAPTER X. -- page 212.
To avoid mistakes as to Fra Paolo's oflicc, works, and opinions, it
may be well to observe, that, " Opinions or Maxims as to the govern-
ment of the Republic of Venice, " was not written by him. There is no
trace of it amongst his MSS. ; it is not named in the Index Expurga-
toris, and it is not written in his style.
" In a note in the handwriting of Father Giovanni, an Augustine,
on the article Canale, is the following, in Gradenigds Chronicles, " U11
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? 250 NOTES
bastardo di casa Canale, veneziana, scrisse molte-opere politiche, tra le
quali, L'Opinz'one come debba governarsi la Repubblica dd Venezia, fal-
samente attribuita al P. P. Sarpi. " '
And in Cicogna's, Saggio (Ii Bibl1'ogra_/ia Veneziana, p. 157: " The
Opinions or Maxims falsely ascribed to P. Paolo, Servite, as to the
government of the Republic for its perpetual dominion, Meietti, 1681,
and 1685 was reprinted afterwards as if unpublished, with the title
Memorial of F. P. Sarpi, and to the Prince and Senate of Venice as
to the conduct of the Government of the Republic, Friburg (printed
in Italy), 1767, in--12? . "
Griselini alludes to this libel, in his Memorie anedote, p. 364. "Le
Prince de F. Paolo, oh Counseil politiques adresse? es a la noblesse de
Venise, par le Pere Paul Sarpi, Berlin,. 1751, in--12? .
" (Tran. ) This work and its translation first printed in Venice, by
R. Meietti, 1681, entitled: Opinions or Maxims of F. Paolo, " etc.
was reprinted by Meietti 1685, but with this title: "Opinions FALSELY
ATTRIBUTED to F. P. Sarpi. " This same work was printed at Leghorn,
with the false date of Colonia, by P. Marteau, 1760, entitled: Memorial,
etc. , as above. But notwithstanding the pains taken to sell this work
under different titles as Sarpi's, no one of the learned has ever pro-
nounced it his, but have treated the assertion as did Voltaire of some
wrong dates in his History of the Council with ridicule.
Letter of Sir H. Wotton.
To the right worthy Provost, and Professor Regius of Divinity in Cam-
bridge, (Dr. Collins). '
SIR, -- Though my feet cannot perform that counsel which I remember
from some translation in S racides ' Teras limen sensati v' i ' yet I should
at least have often visited you with my poor lines: But, on ihe other side,
while I durst not trust mine own conceit in the power of my present in-
firmity, and therefore have seldom written to any, I find myself in the
meantine overcharged with divers letters from you of singular kindness,
and one of them accompanied with a dainty Peaceful Piece, which trnely
I had not seen before, so as besides the weight of the subject, it was welcome
even for the grace of newness; yet, let me tell you, I could not but some-
what wonder to find our Spiritual Seneca (you know who I mean) among
these Reconcilers, having read a former treatise of his (if my memory fail
me not) of contrary complexion. Howsoever, now let him have his due
praise with the rest for showing his Christian wisdom and charity; but I
fear as it was anciently said by a Roman general that " B%lum sese alit-, "
so it will prove, though in a somewhat different sense, 1 ewise as rue of
this Church warfare,'tFat the ver leasure of contendin will foment
contention till the end of all Hesli But let me leave that sacred business
to our well-meanmg iathers. '
And now, Sir, having a fit messenger, and not long after the time
when love. tokens use to pass between friends, let me hold to send
you for a new year's gift a certain memorial not altogether unworthy
1 Inscriz. Ven. , Tom. m, p. 507.
1 Reliquae Wottonianse. '
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? NOTES 251
of some entertainment under your roof; namely, a true picture of Padre
Paolo, the Servita, which was first taken by a painter whom I sent unto
him from my house, then neighbouring his monastery. I have newly added
thereunto a title of mine own conception, Concilii Tridentini Eviscerator,
and had sent the frame withal, if it were portable, which is but of plam deal, coloured black, like the habit of the order. You have a luminous parlour,
which I have good cause to remember, not only by delicate fare and freedom
(the Prince of dishes), but above all, by your own learned discourse; for
to dine with you, is to dine with many good authors. In that room I be-
seech you to allow it a favourable place for my sake, and that you may
have somewhat more to tell than a bare image, if any shall ask, as in the
Table of Cebes, Tivog e? m-Z 1-6 5' dyahpa; I am desirous to characterize a
little unto you such part of his nature, customs, and abilities as I had oc-
casion to know by sight or by inquiry, He was one of the hl'lI11bl8Sttl1ing. <
that could be seen Within the bounds of humanity, the very pattern of
precept,
" Quanto doctior, tanto submissior. "
and enough alone to demonstrate t1at now e ge well digested, -- non
inflat -- excellent in positive, excellent in scholastical and polemical divi-
nity; a rare mathematician, even in the most abstruse parts thereof, as in Al-
gebra and the Theoriques, and yet withal, so expert in the history of plants,
as if he had never persued any book but nature. Lastly, a great Canonist,
which was the title of his ordinary service with the state, ----and certainly
in the time of the Pope's interdict they had their principal light from him.
When he was either reading or writing alone, his manner was to sit fenc-
ed with a castle of paper about his chair and over head, for he was of our
Lord of St. Alban's opinion, that all air is predatory, and especially hurtful
when the spirits are most emp oye .
