The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

THE POPE AND LEARNING. I29
who sang the praises of the part taken by the Pope in the
victory of Lepanto remained without recognition. ^ The
fact that in spite of his parsimony he gave 5,000 scudi for the
reprinting of the works of St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure
shows in what direction the real interests of Pius V. lay. 2
It is true that he never carried into execution the literary plan
which he had once, while a simple religious, propounded to a
learned German, namely, an edition of unedited Greek works,^
but on March 5th, 1571, he appointed a commission composed
of Cardinals Sirleto, Hosius, Maffei, Montalto, Colonna and
Giiistiniani to examine and refute in writing the Confession of
Augsburg, and the attacks of the Centuriators of Magdeburg.*
Clearly realizing the necessity of a solid defence against the
attacks of the Protestants in the matter of Church history,^
the Pope in 1567 charged the learned Jesuit Canisius to show
in the first place, with examples, how the Centuriators had
distorted historical events.® Since Pius V. died hardly a
^ See the poems of G. B. Albano, H. Catena, Lud. Cavani, and
Tommaso Correa in Carmina illustr. poet., I., 456 seq. ; III., 316
seq., 317 seq., 448 seq. Of the many poems which were occasioned
by the Battle of Lepantu (see Vol. XVIII. of this work) there was
dedicated to the Pope the very rare " Canzone supra la vittoria
ottenuta dall'armata de principi christiani contra la Turchesca,"
Venice, A. Muschio, 1571, on the title-page of wliich there is a
" Roma et Italia resurgens." Perhaps
vignette with the motto :
its author was the Venetian, Ottaviano Maggi ; cj. Melzi, 1., 171.
Another very rare work is " Hier. Zo])])io, Laude del santiss. et
grandiss. Pio V'.P. per la glorios. et lelic. vittona contra 'lurcho,"
Bologna, Aless. Benaccio, 1571.
* See Catena, 136.
' See the *letter of Giov. Sambucus to Sirleto ol February 20,
1566, Vatican Library ; set- A|>p. n. 6
* See Ada consist, card. S. Sevennae, XXllL, 322.
^ The Centenarius of Wilhelm Eisengrein (Ingolstadt, 15661 of
which Pius V. accepted the dedication, certainly gave the first im-
pulse to this ; see Pfleger in Histor. Jahrbuch, XXV., 782 seq.; cf.
also Braunsberger, Pius V., 62 seq., and Corresp. dipt., II., 273.
* See Canisii Epist., V., 480 6eq. ; cj. Braunsberger, Pius V.,
64 seq.
VOL. XVIL 9