conquered with the quoted wisdom of unanswerable names.

One after another the great men left the choir and came down into the
area before the pulpits, that they might lose nothing.

One after another the Frari chose out champions to confute the
child-philosopher, but he was armed on every side; and the childish
face, the boyish manner and voice lent a wonderful charm to the words he
uttered, which were not eloquent, but absolutely dispassionate and
reasonable, and the fewest by which he might prove his claim.

Again and again his audience forgot themselves in murmurs of applause,
rising beyond decorum, and once into a storm of approbation; then his
timidity returned, he became self-conscious, fumbling with the white
cowl that hung partly over his face, forgetting that it was not a hat,
and gravely taking it off in salute.

The next day it was proclaimed on the Piazza, as a bit of news for the
people of Venice--for which, indeed, those who had not witnessed the
contest in the church of the Frari cared little and understood
nothing--that "in the Philosophical Contest which had taken place
between the Friars of the Frari and the Friars of the Servi, the victory
had been won by Fra Paolo Sarpi, of the Servi, who had honorably
triumphed through his vast understanding of the wisdom of the Fathers of
the Church."

This was also published in the black frame beside the great door of the
Frari and posted upon the entrance to the church of the Servi, while in
the refectories of the respective convents it formed a theme of
absorbing interest.