And yet he does not seem to have lost influence among his comrades by the purity which marked him out as exceptional.] [Footnote 130: _Lettere_, vol.i.p.

237.] Be this as it may, Sarpi was not the man to work his way by monkish intrigue or courtly service into high place either in his Order or the Church.

Long before he unsheathed the sword in defense of Venetian liberties, he had become an object of suspicion to Rome and his superiors.

Some frank words which escaped him in correspondence, regarding the corruption of the Papal Curia, closed every avenue to office.

Men of less mark obtained the purple.