enetians, the very soul of Venice. After God, his
Prince and the Republic claimed obedience; and when S. Mark called,
Sarpi abandoned science for the service of his country. 'Singularly
composed of active and contemplative energies was the life of our
Father; yielding to God that which he was able, to his Prince that which
duty dictated, and to the domain of Venice more than any law but that of
love demanded.'[132]

[Footnote 131: _Lettere_, vol. ii, p. 80.]

[Footnote 132: Sarpi's _Life_ by Fra Fulgenzio, p. 64.]

Paul V. assumed the tiara with the fixed resolve of making good the
Papal claims to supremacy. Between Venice and the Holy See numerous
disputed points of jurisdiction, relating to the semi-ecclesiastical
fief of Ceneda, the investiture of the Patriarch, the navigation of the
Po, and the right of the Republic to exercise judgment in criminal cases
affecting priests, offered this Pope opportunities of interference. The
Venetians maintained their customary prerogatives; and in April 1606
Paul laid them under interdict and excommunication. The Republic denied
the legitimacy of this proceeding. The Doge, Leonardo Donato, issued a
proclamation to the clergy of all degrees within the domain, appealing
to their loyalty and enjoining on them the discharge of their sacerdotal
duties in spite of the Papal interdict. Only Jesuits at first disobeyed
the ducal mandate. When they refused to say Mass in the excommunicated
city, they were formally expelled as contumacious subjects; and the
fathers took ship amid the maledictions of the populace: '_Andate in
malora_.' Their example was subsequently followed by the reformed
Capuchins and the Theatines. Otherwise the Venetian clergy, like the
people, remained firm in their allegiance to the state. 'We are
Venetians first, Christians afterwards,' was a proverb dating from this
incident. Venice, conscious of the justice of her cause, prepared to
resist the Pope's arrogant demands if need were with arms, and to
exercise religious rites within her towns in spite of Camillo Borghese's
excommunication. The Senate, some time before these events happened,
had perceived the advantage which would accrue to the Republic from the
service of a practised Canonist and jurisprudent in ecclesiastical
affairs. Sarpi attracted their attention at an early stage of the
dispute by a memorial which he drew up and presented to the Doge upon
the best means of repelling Papal aggression. After perusin