Great light has been thrown upon Sarpi's real belief and the motives of his conduct by the letters of Christoph von Dohna, envoy of Christian, prince of Anhalt, to Venice, published by Moritz Ritter in the Briefe and Acten zur Geschichte des dreis sigjdhrigen Krieges, vol. ii. (Munich, 1874). These letters seem to show that Sarpi was a patriot first and a religious reformer after wards. His scientific attainments must have been great; and, though Sarpi did not, as has been asserted, invent the telescope, he immediately turned it to practical account by constructing a map of the moon.
Sarpi's life was written by his enthusiastic disciple, Father Fulgenzio Micanzio, whose work is meagre and uncritical. Bianchi-Giovini's biography (1836) is greatly marred by digressions, and is inferior in some respects to that by Arabella Georgina Campbell (1869), which is enriched by numerous references to MSS. unknown to Bianchi Giovini. T. A. Trollope's Paul the Pope and Paul the Friar 0860 is in the main a mere abstract of Bianchi-Giovini, but adds a spirited account of the conclave of Paul V. The incidents of the Venetian dispute from day to day are related in the contemporary diaries pub lished by Enrico Cornet (Vienna, 1859). Giusto Fontanini's Storia
arcana della vita di Pietro Sarpi (1863) , a bitter libel, is nevertheless important for the letters of Sarpi it contains, as Griselini's Memorie e aneddote (1760) is from the author's access to Sarpi's unpublished writings, afterwards unfortunately destroyed by fire. Foscarini's His tory of Venetian Literature is important on the same account. Sarpi's memoirs on state affairs remain in the Venetian archives. Portions of his correspondence have been printed at various times, and inedited letters from him are of frequent occurrence in public libraries. The King's library in the British Museum has a valuable collection of tracts in the Interdict controversy, formed by Consul Smith.
[In addition to the above works see Balan, Fra Paolo Sarpi (Venice, 1887) and Pascolato, Fra Paolo Sarpi (Milan, 5893). Some hitherto unpublished letters of Sarpi were edited by Karl Benrath and pub lished, under the title Paolo Sarpi. Neue Briefe, 16o8-16 (at Leipzig in 1909).] (R. G.)