John Milton, Paolo Sarpi and “Il penseroso”. In 1645-46 the Poems of. M.r John Milton, both English and Latin, compos’d at several times, were printed in London by Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Moseley. They included an English poem, with an Italian enigmat ic title: “Il penseroso”, at pages 37-44. I suggest that the title itself and some verses were inspired by an Italian booklet, printed in 1646 in Leiden, but which had probably circulated as a manuscript since 1623-1624 1 . It was the Vita del padre Paolo dell’ordine de servi e theologo della serenissima republica di Venetia, written by his pupil f. Fulgenzio Micanzio 2 . In his biography, the young Sarpi is described as “penseroso”. “Davano già in quell’età anco i suoi diportamenti segni de’costumi futuri c he chiameremo inclinationi naturali, […] com’era una ritiratezza in sé medesimo, un sembiante sempre penseroso, e più tosto malinconico, che serio, un silentio quasi continuato, anco co’coetanei, una quiete totale […] 3 . It is well known that Milton read Sarpi extensively since 1643-1644. Non only he referred to him as the “great unmasker” of the Council of Trent, but he founded his Areopagitica on Sarpi’s History of the Inquisition (which was originally a counsel delivered to the Republic of Venice), in its section concerning prohibited books. Of course, Micanzio was not the only Italian writer of the XVII century who used the expression “penseroso”. But he was strongly related to Giovanni Diodati, Galileo Galilei and Henry Wotton (former ambassador in Venice) whose importance for Milton’s travel to Italy in 1638-1639 is obvious for any reader of Milton’s Defensio secunda of 1654. And Micanzio had strong links with English culture. Thanks to Roberto Ferrini, we can now read Micanzio’s letters to William Cavendish, 1615-1628, in the English version by Thomas Hobbes (Lettere a William Cavendish, 1615-1628, nella versione inglese di Thomas Hobbes, Roma 1987). One of the clearest hints at Sarpi in Milton’s poem, is the image of Melancholy described as “ pensive Nun, devout and pure”. Pensive is the English translation of penseroso (a poor translation: therefore the poet preserved the Italian “Penseroso” for the title). We could object that a nun is not exactly a monk. But the young Sarpi is described by his biographer Micanzio as a pure boy: “benchè giovanetto, veniva onorato da tutti come un’idea di modestia , di pietà e di tutte le virtù cristiane e morali” 4 He was also a living model of modesty, like a young bride: 1 According to Corrado Vivanti, it was written between September 1623 and December 1624. See Corrado Vivanti, Nota al testo, in: Paolo Sarpi, Istoria del concilio tridentino seguita dalla “Vita del padre Paolo” di Fulgenzio Micanzio, Corrado Vivanti ed., Torino, Einaudi, 1974, p. XCVII. On manuscript circulation in XVIIth century Venice, see Filippo De Vivo, Information & Communication in Venice. Rethinking Early Modern Politics, Oxford 2007. 2 My quotations are taken from the first edition of Leiden, 1646. For a modern edition, see Paolo Sarpi, Istoria del concilio tridentino seguita dalla “Vita del padre Paolo” di Fulgenzio Micanzio, Corrado Vivanti ed., Torino, Einaudi, 1974, p. 1273-1413. 3 Leida 1646, p. 7; Torino 1974, p. 1277. 4 Leida 1646, p.22; Torino, 1974, p. 1284.