PORTA AND SARPI. 233 



had come to the Venetian; for when, as Procurator of his 

 Order, he made an official visitation to Naples, it was with 

 Porta that he sojourned, and into Porta's eager ears poured 

 the story of the magnetic researches which he had then 

 just completed. The Neapolitan had reached middle age, 

 and for thirty-five years had been collecting material to 

 add to the work on Natural Magic. Perhaps he deemed 

 this latest teaching of Sarpi the cap-sheaf of all, and an 

 indication that the auspicious time for publication had 

 come. He had been admitted to the great Academy of the 

 L,yncei, and, shrewdly considering that nothing issued un- 

 der such sanction would be taken as savoring of the black 

 art, he induced that society to give the work, now extended 

 to twenty books, its official approval. This completed 

 edition appeared in 1589. The seventh book is devoted 

 wholly to the magnet, and is one of the longest in the 

 volume. Cabaeus intimates that it is merely an epitome 

 of knowledge gained by Porta from Garzoni; and Bertelli, 

 perceiving the necessity of bringing the two men at least 

 into geographical proximity, thinks that Porta may have 

 met the Jesuit when he went to Venice to make the Car- 

 dinal's mirror. 



But this is disposed of by Porta himself, who, in his 

 preface to his book on the magnet, says u We knew 

 among the' Venetians Paulus Venetus, vigilant in this 

 study. He was of the order of Serviti, then a Provincial, 

 now most worthy Procurator, from whom we not only do 

 not blush to have copied, but we rejoice therein, since we 

 know no one than he more learned or more subtle among 

 those that we have seen. He was born to universal knowl- 

 edge, and is an ornament not merely to the city of Venice 

 and to Italy, but to the world. If we begin from his funda- 

 mental ideas and proceed to his completed studies of tran- 

 scendent sublimity and accurate labor, we shall never be 

 disappointed.' 7 Sarpi was Provincial of his order from 

 1579 to 1582, so that, at the time Porta's work appeared, 

 the two men must have been in communication for more 

 than seven years. 



