226 
Fra Paolo Sarjn. 
abstemious habits stood him in good 
stead. Veiy important among the qual¬ 
ities which restored him to health were 
his optimism and cheerfulness. An early 
manifestation of the first of these was 
seen when, on regaining consciousness, 
he called for the stiletto which had been 
drawn from the main wound and, run¬ 
ning his fingers along the blade, said 
cheerily to his friends, “ It is not filed. ” 
What this meant, any one knows who 
has seen in various European collections 
the daggers dating from the “ages of 
faith ” cunningly filed or grooved to hold 
poison.^ 
As an example of the second of these 
qualities, we may take his well-known 
reply when, to the surgeon dressing the 
wound made by the “style ” or stiletto, 
— who spoke of its “extravagance,” 
rudeness, and yet ineffectiveness, — Fra 
Paolo quietly answered that in these 
characteristics could be recognized the 
style of the Roman Curia. 
Meantime the assassins had found 
their way back to Rome, and were weW 
corned with open arms; but it is son^ 
comfort to know that later, when ^ch 
conscience as there was throughout Ztaly 
and Europe showed intense dis^st at 
the proceeding, the Roman Coim treat¬ 
ed them coldly and even sev^ly. 
The Republic continued inr every way 
to show Sarpi its sympathy and grati¬ 
tude. It made him manyy^lendid offers 
which he refused; but rwo gifts he ac¬ 
cepted. One was fulMiermission to ex¬ 
plore the Venetian archives, and the oth¬ 
er was a little doorway, cut through the 
garden wall of 1^ monastery, enabling 
him to reach hie gondola without going 
through the narrow and tortuous path 
he had forUierly taken on his daily 
journey ty the public offices. This 
^ Theyfe is a remarkable example of a beau¬ 
tiful d^g'er, grooved to contain poison, in the 
imperial collection of arms at Vienna. 
2 /The present -writer has examined -with care 
thJ! spot -where the attack was made, and found 
mat never was a scoundrelly plot better con- 
/ceived or more fiendishly executed. He also 
humble portal still remains. Benesh 
few triumphal arches has there /ver 
passed as great or as noble 2 i/ con¬ 
queror.^ / 
Efforts were also made to ca^le him, 
—• to induce him to visit I^ne, with 
fine promises of recognitio^ind honor, 
and with solemn assura^es that no 
harm should come to him; but he was 
too wise to yield, f^ly ^ years 
previously he had se^ Giordano Bruno 
lured to Rome and burned alive on the 
Campo dei Fiory He had seen his 
friend and corre^ondent, FraFulgentio 
Manfredi, yieM to similar allurements 
and accept y safe conduct to Rome, 
which, though it solemnly guaranteed 
him agaiiya harm, proved as worthless 
as that /f John Huss at the Council 
of Constance; the Inquisition torturing 
him *0 death on the spot where, six 
yea/s earlier, it had burned Bruno. He 
h^ seen his friend, the Archdeacon 
Ribetti, drawn within the clutch of the 
Vatican, only to die of “a most pain¬ 
ful colic ” immediately after dining with 
a confidential chamberlain of the Pope, 
and, had he lived a few months longer, 
he would have seen his friend and con¬ 
fidant, Antonio de Dominis, Archbishop 
of Spalato, to whom he had entrusted 
a copy of his most important work, en¬ 
ticed to Rome and put to death by the 
Inquisition. Though the Vatican ex¬ 
ercised a strong fascination over its ene¬ 
mies, against Father Paul it was pow¬ 
erless ; he never yielded to it, but kept 
the even tenor of his way.^ 
In the dispatches which now passea 
comedy was mingled with tragedy. 
Very unctuous was the expression by 
His Holiness of his apprehensions re¬ 
garding “dangers to the salvation” 
and of his “ fears for the souls ” of the 
visited what was remaining of the convent in 
April, 1902, and found tbe little door as ser¬ 
viceable as wben it was made. 
® A copy of Manfredi’s “safe conduct” is 
given by Castellani, Lettere Inedite di F. P. S., 
p. 12, note. Nothing could be more explicit. 
