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part05+-第62章

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suitable and final interment for the poor bones; which had seven



times been buried and reburied; and which had so long been kept



in the sordid box at the Ducal Library。 The one fitting place of



burial was the cemetery of San Michele。 To that beautiful island;



so near the heart of Venice; had; for many years; been borne the



remains of leading Venetians。 There; too; in more recent days;



have been laid to rest many of other lands widely respected and



beloved。











'1' For a full and fair statement of the researches which exposed



this pious fraud; see Castellani; Prefect of the Library of St。



Mark; preface to his Lettere Inedite di F。 P。 S。; p。 xvii。 For



methods used in interpolating or modifying passages in Sarpi's



writings; see Bianchi Giovini; Biografia di Sarpi; Zurigo; 1847;



vol。 ii。 pp。 135; et seq。











But the same persistent hatred which; in our own day; grudged and



delayed due honors at the tombs of Copernicus and Galileo among



Catholics; and of Humboldt among Protestants; was still bitter



against the great Venetian scholar and statesman。 It could not be



forgotten that he had wrested from the Vatican the most terrible



of its weapons。 But patriotic pride was strong; and finally a



compromise was made: it was arranged that Sarpi should be buried



and honored at his burial as an eminent man of science; and that



no word should be spoken of his main services to the Republic and



to the world。 On this condition he was buried with simple honors。







Soon; however; began another chapter of hatred。 There came a pope



who added personal to official hostility。 Gregory XVI; who in his



earlier days had been abbot of the monastery of San Michele; was



indignant that the friar who had thwarted the papacy should lie



buried in the convent which he himself had formerly ruled; and



this feeling took shape; first; in violent speeches at Rome; and



next; in brutal acts at Venice。 The monks broke and removed the



simple stone placed over the remains of Father Paul; and when it



was replaced; they persisted in defacing and breaking it; and



were only prevented from dragging out his bones; dishonoring them



and casting them into the lagoon; by the weight of the massive;



strong; well…anchored sarcophagus; which the wise foresight of



his admirers had provided for them。 At three different visits to



Venice; the present writer sought the spot where they were laid;



and in vain。 At the second of these visits; he found the



Patriarch of Venice; under whose rule various outrages upon



Sarpi's memory had been perpetrated; pontificating gorgeously



about the Grand Piazza; but at his next visit there had come a



change。 The monks had disappeared。 Their insults to the



illustrious dead had been stopped by laws which expelled them



from their convent; and there; little removed from each other in



the vestibule and aisle of the great church; were the tombs of



Father Paul and of the late Patriarch side by side; the great



patriot's simple gravestone was now allowed to rest unbroken。







Better even than this was the reaction provoked by these



outbursts of ecclesiastical hatred。 It was felt; in Venice;



throughout Italy; and indeed throughout the world; that the old



decree for a monument should now be made good。 The first steps



were hesitating。 First; a bust of Father Paul was placed among



those of great Venetians in the court of the Ducal Palace; but



the inscription upon it was timid and double…tongued。 Another



bust was placed on the Pincian Hill at Rome; among those of the



most renowned sons of Italy。 This was not enough: a suitable



monument must be erected。 Yet it was delayed; timid men



deprecating the hostility of the Roman Court。 At last; under the



new Italian monarchy; the patriotic movement became irresistible;



and the same impulse which erected the splendid statue to



Giordano Bruno on the Piazza dei Fiori at Rome;on the very spot



where he was burned;and which adorned it with the medallions of



eight other martyrs to ecclesiastical hatred; erected in 1892;



two hundred and seventy years after it had been decreed; a



statue; hardly less imposing; to Paolo Sarpi; on the Piazza Santa



Fosca at Venice; where he had been left for dead by the Vatican



assassins。 There it stands; noble and serene;a monument of



patriotism and right reason; a worthy tribute to one who; among



intellectual prostitutes and solemnly constituted impostors;



stood forth as a true man; the greatest of his time;one of the



greatest of all times;an honor to Venice; to Italy; and to



humanity。                                  Andrew D。 White。







*************************************************************







Then came the death of the Empress Frederick。 Even during her



tragic struggle with Bismarck; and the unpopularity which beset



her during my former official term at Berlin; she had been kind



to me and mine。 At my presentation to her in those days; at



Potsdam; when she stood by the side of her husband; afterward the



most beloved of emperors since Marcus Aurelius; she evidently



exerted herself to make the interview pleasant to me。 She talked



of American art and the Colorado pictures of Moran; which she had



seen and admired; of German art and the Madonna painted by Knaus



for the Russian Empress; which Miss Wolfe had given the



Metropolitan Museum at New York; and in reply to my



congratulations upon a recent successful public speech of her



eldest son; a student at Bonn; she had dwelt; in a motherly way;



upon the difficulties which environ a future sovereign at a great



university。 In more recent days; and especially during the years



before her death; she had been; at her table in Berlin and at her



castle of Kronberg; especially courteous。 There comes back to me



pleasantly a kindly retort of hers。 I had spoken to her of a



portrait of George III which had interested me at the old castle



of Homburg nearly forty years before。 It had been sent to his



daughter; the Landgravine of Hesse…Homburg; who had evidently



wished to see her father's face as it had really become; for it



represented the King; not in the gold…laced uniform; not in the



trim wig not in the jauntily tied queue of his official portraits



and statues; but as he was: in confinement; wretched and



demented; in a slouching gown; with a face sad beyond expression;



his long; white hair falling about it and over it; of all



portraits in the world; save that; at Florence; of Charles V in



his old age; the saddest。 So; the conversation drifting upon



George III and upon the old feeling between the United States and



Great Britain; now so happily changed; I happened to say; 〃It is



a remembrance of mine; now hard to realize; that I was brought up



to ABHOR the memory of George III。〃 At this she smiled and



answered; 〃That was very unjust; for I was brought up to ADORE



the memory of Washington。〃 Then she spoke at length regarding the



feeling of her father and mother toward the United States during



our Civil War; saying that again and again she had heard her



father argue to her mother; Queen Victoria; for the Union and



against slavery。 She discussed current matters of world politics



with the strength of a statesman; yet nothing could be more



womanly in the highest sense。 On my saying that I hoped to see



the day when Germany; Great Britain; and the United States would



stand together in guarding the peace of the world; she threw up



her hands and replied; 〃Heaven grant it; but you forget Japan。〃



The funeral at Potsdam dwells in my mind as 
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