papal writers, seemed to be) a sincere and obedient Servite friar,
believing in the spiritual supremacy of the pope, and revering the
religion of Rome. He therefore fought Paul inside of the Church, and his
writings on the interdict remain the monument of his polemical success. He
was the heart and brain of the Republic's whole resistance,--he supplied
her with inexhaustible reasons and answers,--and, though tempted, accused,
and threatened, he never swerved from his fidelity to her.

As he was the means of her triumph, [Footnote: The triumph was such only
so far as the successful resistance to the interdict was concerned; for at
the intercession of the Catholic powers the Republic gave up the
ecclesiastical prisoners, and he allowed all the banished priests except
the Jesuits to return. The Venetians utterly refused to perform any act of
humiliation or penance. The interdict had been defied, and it remained
despised.] remained the object of her love. He could never be persuaded to
desert his cell in the Minorite Convent for the apartments appointed him
by the State; and even when his busy days were spent in council at the
Ducal Palace, he returned each night to sleep in the cloister. After the
harmless interdict had been removed by Paul, and the unyielding Republic
forgiven, the wrath of Rome remained kindled against the friar whose logic
had been too keen for the last reason of popes. He had been tried for
heresy in his youth at Milan, and acquitted; again, during the progress of
St. Mark's quarrel with Rome, his orthodoxy had been questioned; and now
that all was over, and Rome could turn her attention to one particular
offender, he was entreated, coaxed, commanded to come to her, and put her
heart at rest concerning these old accusations. But Sarpi was very well in
Venice. He had been appointed Consultor in Theology to the Republic, and
had received free admission to the secret archives of the State,--a favor,
till then, never bestowed on any. So he would not go to Rome, and Rome
sent assassins to take his life. One evening, as he was returning from the