Paolo Sarpi, Galileo Galilei and the philologists 1». J. VAN KESSEL Before discussing die relations between Paolo Sarpi and Galileo Galilei, it will be useful to give a short introductory account of the former. Paolo Sarpi was born in Venice in 1552.1 At the age of fourteen he entered the order of the Scrviti di Maria, where his un usual intelligence and devotion to study soon made him out as an excellent scholar. His later friend, companion and biographer, Fra Fulgenzio Micanzio, tells us that already the young Fra Paolo, while the other boys were playing, would sit silently and quietly apart. He seems to have been rather a serious little boy. His studious disposition won him rapid promotion in his order. From 1570 till 1574 Sarpi lived in Mantua, where his great learning made him famous and where, which was perhaps more important, he made the acquaintance of Camillo Olivo, the former secretary of Cardinal Ercolc Gonzaga, papal legate during the last session of the Council of Trent. From Olivo, Sarpi could have obtained first hand information on the background to the turbulent session and perhaps such conversations aroused his curiosity and led him to start a collection of documents concerning the council. In fact Sarpi became its first historian and his name will always be linked with the history of the council of Trent.2 At the end of 1575, after spending a short time in Milan, Sarpi returned to Venice to read philosophy in his priory. Ar the same time he studied theology, in which he received his doctorate in 1579 at Padua. Immediately afterwards he was nominated provincial of his order, which office he held for three years. The years from 1582 to 1585 were a quiet period in his life. Then he departed for Rome and remained there until 1588 as general procurator of the Scrviti di Maria. He then returned to Venice and once again retired from public life for a long period. It is not clear why Sarpi abandoned rather abruptly the active life of an administrator for that of contemplation and study. Perhaps his poor state of health was one reason, but more probably it was the serious criticism then being made of him, both within his order and in the world outside. By this time Sarpi had already drawn upon himself several times the attention of the Roman inquisition in such a way that it seemed better to him to retire for some time from the public eye. He therefore took the opportunity to extend his knowledge both in scope and in depth and to develop his contacts with the men of science and of letters in Venice and beyond. His circle of acquaintances came to extend over half of Europe. In 1606 Sarpi re-entered public life during the famous Interdict on Venice. During this conflict between the Holy See and the Venetian Republic Sarpi put his vast knowledge and the skill of his pen at the disposal of the Republic. By his defence of the sovereign rights of Venice against the absolutism of the papal claims, he obtained a lasting inter national reputation. The Curia in Rome regarded him thenceforth as an dangerous traitor in its own camp, who was untouchable because of his moral virtues and the protection of the Venetian authorities. The Gallicans thought him their convinced supporter and protagonist in Italy, while the Protestants saw in. him the champion of the Reformation south of the Alps. So he became in his lifetime and remained thcre- joi Paolo Sarpi, Galileo Galilei and the philologists
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