the Venetian Embassador in the Ceremonies at the Wedding of the Emperor with the Princess Maria Anna de Bavaria celebrated at Gratz in the year 1600. As to the Bull the Venetian replies that he is comprehended under the exception praeter Reges being treated like Kings in all the Courts of Europe And if the Count d' Ognate the Spanish Embassador refused it to Peter Gritti the Venetian Embassador at Vienna * as was done since at Madrid by the Emperors Embassador the Count de Chesniller to Leonardo Moro Embassador from that Senat yet this Novelty which they would introduce to revenge their quarrel about the Valtoline could not prejudice the known Right of this Republick nor strengthen the Right of the Electors In a word a Cardinal refusing Letters from the Senat because they were writ with the Title of Illustrissimo and not Eminentissimo Vrban VIII declared in the Sacred Colledg that he comprehended the State of Venice in the clause Exceptis Regibus and requir'd all the Cardinals to treat them as formerly It is clear likewise if the Duke of Venice should go to Rome he would be received as a King as Christopherus Morus was received at Ancona by the Sacred Colledg during the vacancy of the See For though he has but the Title of a Duke that Title being personal would cease by representation of the Body of the Commonwealth which is a kind of Royalty or King And this is so true that in the Pontificat of Clem. VIII certain Cardinals advising with the Master of the Ceremonies how they should treat Duke Marin Grimani if he came to Ferrara as his Holiness had invited him it was told them by the said Master of the Ceremonies that they must treat him like a King that Commonwealth having for a long time been possess'd of the Soveraignty Their Condition with France IF the Senat has an aversion to the Spaniard it has no great kindness for the French whose Power they look upon with an evil eye as fearing their Neighbourhood and retaining the the memory of their Wars with Lewis XII The French acquisition of Pignerol increases their fear though it be as a Port open'd to the Supplies sent to the Italian Princes against the oppression of the Spaniard who were grown insupportable to them since the Exchange for the Marquisat of Saluzzes The Venetian makes it it his business to stand Neuter betwixt the Spaniard and the French either to preserve the Friendship of both or so to balance their Power as to keep both in an Equilibrium And how great soever their jealousie be against the Spaniard they would never help to drive them out of Italy to bring the French in their places For which cause the Count de la Roque Embassador from Spain at Venice found no great difficulty in gaining his cause against Messieurs de Bellieure and de la Tuillerie the French Embassadors who solicited the Senat to a League with their King against the King of Spain that by a conjunction of their Forces they might wrest the Dutchy of Milan out of his hand And the Marquis of Fuentes prevail'd as easily with that State not to suffer the French to pass the River Adda demanding that liberty for the King his Master by that artifice to oblige the Senat to a refusal of France that they should not be able to excuse and by so doing they sav'd Milan which otherwise had been certainly lost as the Marquis of Caracene confess'd if the French had gain'd passage there Besides the Spanish humour is more agreeable to the Venetians than the French and doubtless they would love the Spaniards much the better of the two had they no Dominions in Italy or if those they have were in our possession But to say truth the Venetian loves neither the one nor the other and how great soever their outward appearance and correspondence may be they will never trust either of them more than of necessity they are oblig'd And 't is a common saying That the Venetians know how to hate the Spaniard without favouring the French However it must be confess'd they are more inclinable to the French than the Spaniard especially in what relates to their Embassadors who are more desir'd there and are more consider'd than the Spanish Besides the Senat upon particular occasions sides always with the French as in the vacancy of the Holy See at which time they give Orders to such Cardinals as depend upon them to join with the French Faction in the Conclave and to their Embassador at Rome to act in that affair by consent of the French Embassador Which is a great advantage to the French when the Venetian Embassadors proceeds franckly according to Orders from his Masters who are no less concern'd in point of interest to oppose the Spaniards than the French Yet sometimes they steer quite contrary as Sorance betray'd the French party in the Conclave in the year 1621 in hopes he should have got a Cap. Moreover the Venetian Cardinals depend not absolutely upon the Senat which contributes nothing to their promotion but their single recommendation to the Pope but they serve in their own way without considering any thing but their own interest Their Condition with the Duke of Savoy THE Venetians and Duke of Savoy do not live in the same good intelligence as formerly Charles Emanuel I. began the breach by sending home their Embassador Vincent Gussoni upon occasion of succours they sent to the Cardinal Duke of Mantoua for the defense of Montferrat Victor Amideus offended them likewise by taking upon him the Title of King of Cyprus And Duke Charles Emanuel II. has been all his time at a distance or rather in dispute with them upon the same subject and the superscription of the Letters from the Senat. The Count de Bigliore the Duke of Savoys Embassador having caus'd the Arms of Savoy quartered with the Arms of Cyprus to be set up over his Gate the Senat sent him word if he caus'd them not immediately to be taken down he should see them taken down for him and torn before his face And the Embassador was glad to submit One day Count Philip d'Aglie a Knight of the Annonciade raking too far into that ingrateful Matter drew upon himself an unhappy Answer from Catarin Belegne the Venetian Embassador who told him that his Masters the State of Venice would be very glad if the Kingdom of Cyprus were in the Hands of his Highness the Duke of Savoy and not in the Hands of the Turk because if in his Highness's Hands he was sure his Masters would be able by Force of Arms to recover it in two Months These alterations and several others of a later date by degrees broke all their Correspondence so that in the year 1670 the Senat called home their Embassador Francis Michieli with which the Duke was offended and more particularly with the said Embassadors refusal to send him one of his Pages who had drawn
seen upon one of the Pillars in the Place of St. Mark Arm'd at all Points but with his Lance in his Left-hand and his Shield in his Right does denote that it is not the Venetians Profession to bear Arms though it is said by that Symbol the Senat intended to intimate that they never made War willingly and that when they did make it it was for no other end but to maintain a good and safe Peace And if in thirteen or fourteen Centuries they have grown so Potent in Italy it is easily imaginable it was not so much by their Arms as by their Money and Address like Philip of Macedon in his Conquests in Greece For Example when any difference happened betwixt their Neighbours the Senat found some way or other of interposing under colour of accommodating their Quarrel but in effect it was to embroil them more by privately fomenting their Animosity exciting the most Potent to Revenge and underhand giving Supplies to the weaker to continue the War and insensibly to ruine them both so that having tired and exhausted both the one and the other there was no great difficulty in dispossessing them all by the necessity that was upon them of putting the Contested Places into their hands in Deposito or at least of receiving a Venetian Garrison In the year 1404 they got possession of Vicenza by means of Supplies which they sent to the said Town to defend them against the Paduans their mortal enemies They plundered most of the Great Persons of Romagna some they cajol'd by fair promises others they surpriz'd and others they betrayed under the sacred name of Friendship and pretended Protection The same Practice they used with the Nobility of Ravenna especially of the Family of Polenta with the Manfredi of Faienza the Malatestes of Rimini and several others for they always esteem'd it more Honourable to vanquish their Enemy by Cunning than Force of Arms. And what was said of the Romans Sedendo Romanus vincit may be said of them for many Victories have they obtain'd sitting in their Councils and in their Closets Yet when Princes have made War upon them without troubling themselves to Treat in which notwithstanding their greatest Talent and Felicity lies they never fail to bring them to reason And if Pope Paul V had done as Sixtus IV and Julius II did that is joyn'd his Spiritual Arms with the Temporal he had certainly found the Venetians more obedient though perhaps their Cause was the better Of late years they no sooner saw the French Army in their Territories but they betook themselves to such gross and mean submission that their Confederate Princes were amaz'd to find so little Courage in those persons who before flatter'd themselves with hopes of chasing Lewis XII out of Milan and seizing the whole Dutchy for themselves to make their Dominion as absolute all over Italy as they had made it in Romagna but the loss of one Battel at Vaila made the Senat cry peccavi though before they had defied the Kings and called them in derision Sons of St. Mark as if they had been already overcome And here I shall observe by the way that upon several occasions the Venetians have done themselves injury by discovering their weakness and pusillanimity to their Enemies Their Prayers and Submissions to Francis Carrare Lord of Padua during the War with Genoa giving him in their Letters the Title of Highness which at that time was given only to Kings and supplicating him to afford Audience to six Embassadors they had sent to him an Honour they had never before done to either Pope or King these Condescentions or rather Debasements I say serv'd only to make him the more haughty and desirous of Revenge insomuch that all the answer they could get was That he would not hear their Embassadors till he had first caused the four Brass Horses in the Portico of St. Mark to be brought away which are four curious Horses that Marinzen the first Podestate from that Commonwealth at Constantinople had sent to Venice in the year 1205. Noi pregamo l' Altezzo vostra qualmente vi paccia mandar vostre Lettere de salvo Condotto de venir alla presenza dell ' Altezza vostra audiendo liberamente li nostri Ambassadori Piero Zustignan Nicolo Morosini P. Giacomo Priuli P. e tre alteri del nostro Consiglio de Pregadi c. Annales M. S. de Venise To the Magnisicent and Potent Lord Francisco da Carrara the most Wise and Discreet Imperial Vicar General Andreas Contarini by the Grace of God Duke of Venice Greeting We beseech Your Highness in what manner you please to send your Letter of Safe-Conduct for the admitting into the Presence of Your Highness and free Audience for our Embassadors Peter Zustignan Procurator Nicolo Morosini P. Giacomo Priuli P. and three more of our Senators c. Their Neutrality which is another of their Fundamental Maxims to keep themselves in Peace has been very prejudicial to them and sometimes pull'd War upon their Heads as it happen'd when they endeavoured to have kept themselves Neuter betwixt Lewis XII and Maximilian the Emperor at that time engaged in War about the Dutchy of Milan For these two great Princes being equally incens'd against this Commonwealth whose Friendship added nothing to their Affairs united in spight and form'd the Project of the League of Cambray in which all the Princes of Italy were concern'd In a word the Juncture was such that there was a necessity of declaring either for the one or the other But the Senat having chosen the mid-way which in great dangers and doubtful is always the worst in stead of preserving their Friendship they disoblig'd both and made them their Enemies So that it may be said of the Republick of Venice what was said by Florus of Marseilles That desiring Peace she precipitated her self into the War she apprehended Or what Alsonso King of Aragon said of the Sienois comparing them to those who are lodg'd in the second Story of an House and incommoded with smoke from below and water from above And truly if Neutrality be not very well managed it not only conciliates no Friendship nor prevents any Enemies but it exposes such States as have made it their Principle as the Venetians have done to the contempt and hatred of the Conquerors who according to the prudent Remonstrance of the Roman Embassador to those of Achaia are accustomed to treat those ill and if possible to ruine them that will not publickly espouse their Interests and run their Fortune witness the Republick of Florence which desir'd to remain Neuter betwixt Pope Julius II the King of France and the King of Aragon and thereby not only disoblig'd the Pope offended the King of France who expected Supplies from it as a friend but depriv'd it self of those advantages which it might have expected before from the King of Aragon upon Honourable Conditions But as much aversion as the
Blasphemy which savours of Heresy the natural end of the Inquisitor is to convince the Blasphemer of the truth and to absolve him from the Censures incurred by his Blasphemy whereas the end of the Civil Magistrate is to punish the injury to the Divine Majesty whose Service and Honour all Princes and Magistrates are obliged to regard because it is he who has put the Sword of Justice into their hands to be the Ministers of his Indignation and Vengeance From whence it must be concluded that Princes being charged with the care of Religion which God has recommended to them so oft both in the Old and New Testament are bound in Conscience to imploy their Authority against Blasphemers for whose punishment the Inquisition has no Pains suitable to the greatness of their Offence because the pains they inflict are Spiritual and not being so sensible the Blasphemers and Swearers do frequently relapse into the same Impieties so that 't is absolutely necessary for the service of God and the good of the Common-wealth that the Secular Mastistrate has Jurisdiction in these Cases to retain people in their Duties by fear of Corporal punishment For the same Reasons Sorcerers and such kind of Delinquents are not judged at Venice by the Inquisition which notwithstanding has Cognizance of Heresy when indicated by abuse of the Sacraments Fifthly The Senat suffers not the Inquisition to take notice of Usurers Victuallers Innekeepers nor Butchers who sell flesh in Lent The Magistrate being qualified for the punishment of such offenders when accused by the Ecclesiasticks because in appearance the exorbitance of those kind of people proceed only from Covetousness for to imagine a Butcher that sells Flesh in Lent does it because he thinks Abstinence at that time unnecessary is a fancy that may make all sorts of whimsies Heresy Sixthly It is not allowed the Inquisitors to make Information against either the People or Magistrates for any thing relating to the administration of Justice The reason is this Because Heresy being a personal fault the people cannot be accused of Heresy though every one were Hereticks and by consequence the Inquisition ought not to proceed but against particulars the Commnoalty being under the Protection and Authority of the Prince So the Magistrate considered as a private person may render himself suspected of Heresy by his words or his actions but considered in his Office he cannot either for the one or the other be subject to the censure of Inquisitors because as such he is invested with Publick Authority and can be responsible only to his Prince If the Magistrate gives impediment to the proceedings of the Inquisition either by hindering the appearance of a person accused or summoned in as a Witness the Inquisition is not to proceed but only by remonstrating to the Magistrate or Prince by means of the Assistants And forasmuch as the Inquisitors have often endeavoured to insert new orders in the Edict of Justice which by Custom they publish at the entrance into their Office some of them have reiterated the said publication five or six times to foist in such Commands and Inhibitions as are suitable to such occasions as they think ought to be favourable to them To prevent this inconvenience the State has wisely limited the form and ordinary tenor of the said Proclamation to six Heads to which nothing can be added by the Inquisitor The First is against such as are Hereticks themselves or knowing others to be so do not discover them The Second against those who hold meetings or discourses to the prejudice of the true Religion The Third against those who Celebrate Mass or Confess Sinners without being Priests The Fourth against Blasphemers whose Faith is suspected The Fifth against those who obstruct the Office of the Inquisition who offend its Ministers and threaten to abuse the Informers or Witnesses per causa del Officio that is to say by reason of their Office or out of animosity to the persons concerned For if it be upon other occasion he who did the injury to the Officer of the Inquisition ought to be Judged by the ordinary Magistrate otherwise it would be a great abuse by which the Ecclesiasticks would quickly establish a right of punishing all sorts of Offences and bring all Causes before them and therefore the Senat has wisely added this restriction Per opere spectanti ad esso Officio The Sixth against those who have Print or cause to be-Printed Heretical Books tending to the subversion of Religion In these cases the Assistants have power to stop the proceedings of the Inquisitors There was a good Law made by the Council of Ten in the year 1568 by which the Confiscated Estate of a person condemned for Heresy went to the right Heirs upon condition no part of it was applied to the use of the Condemned person So that the Ecclesiasticks were wiped of the advantages they formerly made of those they condemned the Seigniory of Venice-holding it cruelty to deprive the Son who perhaps is a good Christian of his Estate for the Heresy of his Father Against this Law the Court of Rome continually mumurs but with little success As to the Books forbidden by the Court of Rome the Commonwealth of Venice will not allow the Inquisitors to publish in their Dommions any other Catalogue of prohibited Books than that which they received by agreement with Clement VIII 1596. And as this Catalogue has been Printed several times since and the Inquisitors have used all imaginable Artifice to foist in new prohibited Books and by that means elude the agreement so the Senat has doubled their vigilance and put themselves in a condition not to be imposed upon by the Ecclesiasticks and when the publication of any new prohibited Book that treats not of Faith is in question before the Senat consents the Tenor and Doctrine of the Book is thoroughly by their Order examined and the Reasons soberly considered that moved the Court of Rome to condemn it after which if the Book be prohibited the prohibition runs in the Doges name and not in the name of the Inquisitors But because the Inquisitors have caused the Catalogue of 1595 to be Printed very oft all out of ostentation and to let the World see that the licensing of Books belongs wholly to the Ecclesiasticks the Senat has given Order that the said Catalogue should not be Printed for the future but with the Articicles of Agreement at the end of it by which the Ecclesiasticks have lost much of their heat and desire of Printing the Catalogue again because they would have no Copies of the Articles that contain in them many checks and restrictions of their Power in those Affairs As to defamatory Libels writ against the reputation of their Neighbours though by Ecclesiasticks themselves the Venetian affirms that the Inquisition ought not to take Cognizance of them because their Office was established for the extirpation of Heresy not the castigation of Calumny that Function belonging
Proclamations do assume the Title of Eccelso to shew the Grandure and Puissance of their Dignity Of the Quaranties THere are Three Courts in Venice called Quaranties because each of them consists of Forty Members The first is the New Quarentie-Civil to which an Appeal lies in all Civil Causes from the Sentence of all Magistrates abroad The Second is the old Quarantie-Civil that Judges in all Appeals from the inferiour Magistrates in the City The Third is the Quarantie-Criminel which Judges in all Criminal matters except Treason which belongs properly to the Council of Ten. These Three Courts are each of them considerable but the last is of greater reputation than the other two because all its Members have deliberative Voices in the Senat. Because their Capi have place in the Colledg among the Councellors di Sopra and because it is called the Serenissimo Seignoria like the Assembly of the Colledg their three Councellors presiding there in the name of the Seigniory Besides this Court is the Parliament of all the Subjects of that State as the Council of Ten is of the Nobles Eight Months is the time they remain in either of these Quaranties and the first step being to the New Quarantie the next is to the Old and the third to the Criminel The two Quaranties-Civil consist only of the poorer Nobility for the richer sort will not have patience to attend sixteen Months to gain a Ducat by their Place and therefore they aspire to enter at first into the Quarantie-Criminel at least into the Old Quarantie one or perhaps two Months before it concludes to the end they may pass presently to the Quarantie-Criminel and have Voices in the Pregadi To each of these Courts there being two Contradictors or Advocates who undertake the Causes of the Defendants and manage them against the Avogadors especially in Criminal matters where all their Art and Rhetorick is shewn in the behalf of the Person accused And here it is to be observed that inferior Judges cannot be called to the Old Quarantie-Civil without the advice and consent of three Auditori Vecchi nor to the New Quarantie-Civil but by permission of the Auditori Novi For if these Auditors confirm the Sentence of the inferiour Magistrate the business cannot be carried up into a higher Court without deposing a certain Sum of Money besides paying the Fees There have been admitted into the Senat forty of the Judges Criminel who are commonly Gentlemen of the second and third Form to balance the ancient Nobility against whom they usually unite by reason of the animosity they bear them But many times that is an impediment to their affairs The Chiefs of these Quaranties change every two Months It belongs to them to appoint the time for hearing a Cause which they call dar il pendere or dar il Consiglio alle Cause But in the two Quaranties-Civil Priviledg'd Causes are first to be dispatched and those next who are brought in by the Auditors in order according to the Roll. Those Causes are called Priviledg'd which are betwixt Father and Son Mother and Daughter or Brother and Brother as also the Causes of the Avogadori which are called Cause Avogadoresche The Causes of Prisoners and Pupils under the Tutilage of the Procurators of St. Mark 'T is not lawful to solicit these Judges either in Person or by Proxy All that can lawfully be done in the Quaranties-Civil is to Petition those Chiefs to bring the business to a speedy Hearing But in the Quarantie-Criminel it is lawful to employ all the interest and importunity of ones Friends Let us now pass to the inferior Magistrates of the City Of the three Avogadors THE Avogadors were instituted under Duke Orie Malipierre about the year 1180 and are in France called Avocats General but with this difference in France they speak finally after the Counsel for the Plaintiff has spoken and at Venice the Avogadors speak first and open the Accusation after which the Counsel for the Defendant replies The principal duty of an Avogador is to see the Laws observed and to proceed rigorously against those who transgress them as also to oppose the Deliberations of all the other Magistrates In which they resemble the ancient Tribunes of the People in Rome who as Aulus Gellius reports had not the power of Judging but of interposing their Authority in defence of the Rights and Priviledges of the People against the Authority of the Magistrates not excepting even the Dictators Gaspar Contarin tells us they may be called Tribunes of the Law because they are the Conservators of that as the Roman Tribunes were of the Liberties of the People The difference betwixt the Tribunes and the Avogadors is this that the Tribunes were Creatures only of the People the Avogadors of the Commonwealth in general and are therefore called Avogadori di Commune They remove all Process whether they please those which are of no great consequence to the Quarantie Criminel others to the Senat or Grand Council according to the quality of the Cause The Quarantie Criminel cannot refuse them when they desire to be heard by reason of a peculiar Priviledg and therefore when an Avogador presses all other business must be laid aside Sometimes they carry their Civil Affairs before the Colledg as when Controversy is about Fiefs or Lands depending upon any Manor which they would reunite to the Demeasns as it hapned in the year 1670 about Lands which the Avogadors of Brescia alledged belonged in Propriety to them In all Debates and Deliberations either of the Grand Council or Senat it is necessary at least one Avogador be present if not their Resolutions are void and of none effect The good or ill Administration of Justice depends upon these Avogadors it being their work to frame and prepare all Processes brought into Court and if they be ill men as happens too oft 't is in their power to do a great deal of mischief There are always grave and austere men chosen into these Offices to give the People greater awe and veneration for the Laws and to oblige them to greater severity the Law gives these Avogadors a considerable share in all Confiscations One Theodore Balbi who had narrowly escaped the Accusations of his enemies in the Council of Ten was made an Avogador not long after his discharge meerly out of an opinion that he would use the same severity towards other People that he had experimented himself and he answered their expectation When the Quarantie-Criminel judges a Person the Avogador who brings in the Process has no deliberative Voice in respect that he is the Accuser but he has power to propose the ridgest punishment he pleases after which the three Presidents of the Assembly propose another more moderate and both opinions being put to the Balot plurality of Voices carry it When the Grand Council makes any new Order that the Avogadors judg prejudicial to the Publick or any ways incompatible with the Laws of the
more properly to the Civil Magistrate to whom God has recommended it If the Ecclesiasticks be sufferers in it they must apply themselves to the Magistrate and he will do them Justice If any man writes against their Immunities the Prince only has Right to punish it because 't is from his Grace and Liberality they hold them and 't is he only can preserve them nor indeed is it agreeable that priviledg'd Persons should have the defence of their own Priviledges or be Judges in their own Cases But there are few such Libels in Italy to be seen though new ones are dispersed every day by the Romans against the Power of the Seculars for zealous are they in the diminution of the secular Authority and so furious in augmentation of their own Moreover the Ecclesiasticks are not competent Judges of Books relating to Civil Government it belongs to Princes who have States to govern to approve or reject the Maxims contained in such Books seeing such matters fall not under the cognizance of Ecclesiasticks to whom God has forbid the medling in secular Affairs Neither are they to be admitted Judges in Causes where they concern themselves with so much passion as to call Tyranny and humane Invention the power which God has given to secular Magistrates and Heresy and Blasphemy that Doctrine which impugns their Opinions Thus Cardinal Bellarmin in one of his Books has the confidence to pronounce those Hereticks who affirm Kings and Soveraign Princes to have no Superior in Temporal things but God Insomuch that to follow his Doctrine and the Doctrine of the Romans we must believe there is no Soveraign Power but in the Pope Again the Venetian suffers not the Inquisitors to censure Books of Love or Gallantry though they contain many things of Honour and good Manners First because the Inquisitors are instituted to judg of Heresy but not to censure Manners Secondly according to St. Paul's Doctrine the publick Honour and Tranquility are entrusted with the Civil Magistrate Thirdly because offences committed either by word or deed against the reputation of another man or against civil decency or decorum or things indisputably belonging to the secular Judg and by consequence the same offences in writing belong to the same Judges And here it is worth observation that the Court of Rome pretends not to Jurisdiction over Books that treat not of matter of Faith but since the year 1550 and that this Usurpation is turned into Custom and Right by the negligence of the Princes of Italy and their Ministers who shifting that care upon the Monks insensibly devested themselves of that part of their Authority which they never perceived till it was too late to recover There has been no State but the Republick of Venice that has always discerned the importance of this caution and by consequence not suffered diminution in their ancient Rights but the Venetian Ministers continue to peruse all the Books that are Printed to the end that nothing may slip in of erroneous Doctrine hindering likewise such Books as have been Printed formerly from being Reprinted or exposed to sale to prevent the increase of that mischief which otherwise they might do Again the Cardinal Baronius magnifies exceedingly the Enterprizes of Jurisdiction made formerly by the Court of Rome affirming boldly in a Letter of the 13th of June 1605 to the King of Spain to complain of his Ministers for stopping the sale of the Eleventh Tome of his Annals in the States of Naples and Milan That the Pope was the sole lawful Judg of Books and that therefore neither Princes nor any of their Ministers could condemn such Works as his Holiness had approved To which the King replying not by words but deeds and suffering the Prohibitions published by his Ministers to proceed the said Cardinal in his 12th Tome printed 1607 added a Discourse to this purpose That it was an horrid and impious thing for Kings or their Ministers to censure such Books as had been approved by the Pope or to forbid the Stationers to sell them That it was to rob St. Peter of one of the Keys that Jesus Christ had given him that is to say the knowledg that is to discern betwixt good and evil And at length that the Ministers of Spain had prohibited his Book because it reprehended the injustice of their Masters Which evidently discovers the passion of the Romanists who think it lawful to speak irreverently of Kings and to decry their Government by invectives under the Cloke of Religion whilst Princes are not allowed Power to hinder the reading of such Books in their own proper Dominions What disorder would it produce in the World if the approbation that Popes for their own interest have given to Books written against the Secular Power should oblige all Princes to receive them What could be more unreasonable than to require a Book wherein the King is called Tyrant and Usurper his Ancestors defamed and his Subjects excited to Rebellion should be printed read and sold publickly even in the Territory of the said Prince And yet this is no more than Baronius pretended to who after he had spake dishonourably of several Kings of Aragon and particularly of Ferdinand in his Discourse of the Sicilian Monarchy believed that Philip III had done him great injury not to permit the sale of his Book though full of acrimony and invective against his Predecessors and Parents As it is undoubtedly true a Book treating of matter of Faith and licensed by the Pope cannot be condemned by any secular Power so 't is as certain a Book treating of History or Civil Government may as justly be prohibited by Princes or their Ministers though licensed by all the Prelats in Europe For the Expedient Baronius proposes of repairing with humility to the Bishops for suppression of such Books as the secular Magistrate shall judg pernicious or scandalous I have said already the Remedy is worse than the Disease seeing thereby the Ecclesiasticks would make themselves in a thousand things that belong not to their Jurisdiction Besides that Government would be very imperfect that had not in it self power to provide what was necessary for its subsistance but must attend till remedy be applied by those whose interest it is to have the mischief continued and who will never address themselves to reform it but as their own interest prompts them And therefore in my judgment Princes are not to rely upon the diligence of other People in things that concern the good of their State God Almighty having given them Authority to secure themselves In short 't is only the Prince understands what is proper for his State and therefore no reason he should be beholding to the Pope for what he has of his own which made John de Monluc Bishop of Valentia say upon occasion That it would be madness to see Paris on fire and to expect till water could be fetch'd from the Tyber to quench it when the Seine was so near The Venetian
must be the detriment of the State In this manner it was that the Procurator Dominick Trevisan prevailed against the just Demands of Julius II who contented himself with the restitution of Rimini and Faenza Usurped under his Papacy to refuse his Ratification of the League of Cambray An effect of the feebleness and ignorance of the generality of Mankind who not regarding the future chose rather to lose all afterward than at present to part with any thing though for the safety of the rest like the Merchants that perish in the Sea because they will not suffer any part of their Goods to be thrown over-board Or like those obstinate People who will rather run the hazard of a Gangreen than endure the pain of an inconsiderable Incision so that whatever Exprience the Venetians have had they will not change their Method and thereby verifying the saying of the Italians That the State of Venice never releases any thing willingly that she has once got into her clutches But we are not to admire such ill Councels are given in the Pregadi seeing ill Counsels are most acceptable and good not only rejected but heard with indignation The Councel that Bartholomew Alviani gave them to carry on the War into the Enemies Countrey according to the old Rule of the Romans and to invade the Dutchy of Milan before Lewis XII passed into Italy was looked upon as rash though no more than their affairs required and in appearance that rashness would have ' been happy but it seems the Senat wanted both Courage and Providence Besides the wisest of the Senators do many times forbear giving their advice as knowing the danger of exposing themselves to the Capriccio of the weaker sort who are as much their Judges as the greatest of the Sages For the Proposers of great Enterprises like those who throw up great Stones into the Air are in great danger of having them fall upon their heads and again if they succeed every one will pretend to the Glory as Tiberius told the Senat but if they miscary the Blame redounds to the Author though the fault be in the ill management of all Those who at Rome advised that the Consulary Tribunes should be indifferently chosen out of the Nobility and People were generally blamed both by the People and the Nobility though the People had Espoused the Interest of the Nobility against the Senat when they understood that the first Popular Consul who Commanded the Army was defeated by the Enemy and almost the same thing happened at Venice during the War They condemned at last what they approved in the beginning and they judged of the Actions of their Generals only by the success of their Arms which many times is a wrong and irrational Argument They have another ill Custom likewise and that is How good soever the Resolution is that their General takes in any dangerous exigence how advantageous soever the terms they make with the Enemy they always find fault and account it the worst And therefore after they had received with satisfaction and great applause the News of the Peace which General Morosini had made in Candia and had ratified it with all expressions of extraordinary approbation in a few Months time they changed their note and made the deliverer of their Countrey as they called him before a Criminal and a Traitor Moreover the State of Venice is much subject upon any ill-conjuncture of their Affairs to take the middle-way which is commonly the worst That is to say of two Counsels proposed one generous and brave the other poor and pusilanimous they frame a third out of both without examining their incompatibility or danger Nor is their parsimony less pernicious to the Venetians for the want of keeping a forreign Militia in time of Peace when-ever War is declared they are sure to be surprized No sooner were they delivered from the War in Candia but they disbanded their Forces as if they had been sure never to have had occasion for them more and yet within a year they engaging in a new Quarrel about limits in Dalmatia and were in danger of losing that whole Province before they could have reinforc'd it with 2000 men had the Port been willing or known how to have made use of the opportunity The Author of disbanding their Army was the Procurator Nani and his advice was preferr'd because it pretended frugality So that it may be said of this State as it was of Perseus King of Macedon that he knew better how to keep his Money than his Country The Kingdom of Cyprus was lost partly by their Avarice refusing to pay the 50000 Crowns owing to Selymus as Successor to the Sultan of Egypt according to agreement with the said Sultan and King James whose Heirs they were which drew upon them the displeasure and Arms of that Emperor Historians have likewise observed that their Avarice was the chief cause of the ruine of their Trade in the Persian Gulf for 〈…〉 willing to allow the Portugals should be their companions in so profitable a Commerce they contented not themselves to excite the King of Calecut and the Sultan of Egypt against them and to send them Gunners and Engineers to assist them but they called in the Hollanders who after they had setled their Correspondencies and Magazins in requital they supplanted the Venetians In the same manner they were handled by the Turks after they had brought them out of the Black-Sea into Europe at the rate of 25000 Crowns for those Infidels having invaded Servia Bulgaria and Bosnia advanced at length against Greece God permitting by a just Judgment that those who for their base interest had sacrificed their Neighbours to those miscreants should at length in their turn be buried in the common ruine And to these may be added another reason of their decay and that is the ill-Education of their Youth For in Venice 't is a common thing to see the Father courting his Concubine and treating the other instruments of his Debauchery in the presence of his Son who perhaps learns the act before he understands the evil involving himself farther as he advances in years being corrupted by an example he thinks himself bound to follow so that these young Gentlemen entring into publick affairs with so wicked dispositions 't is impossible but the Administration must be infected And therefore Sixtus V in a Letter to the Archbishop Matteuzzi his Nuntio at Venice had these words J am venit hora eorum Their time is coming And truly if we consider the loss this Commonwealth has sustained within these hundred years and what they are like to do more unless God Almighty prevents it it is in danger of being reduced to its Primitive Patrimony that is to say the bare Dominion of their Lakes and their Marshes and which is worse do Homage to the Grand Seignior as Ragusa does at this day Let us now take a Prospect of their Governours
by the Venetian Writers 't is not easy to be desided whom I am to believe The Author of the Squitinio della liberta Veneta has found out the true cause why the Venetians would rob King Pipin of so famous a Victory Accortesi says he che attribuendo la Vittoria a Pipino la Liberta sempre perpetuata andava di male si accordarono poco a poco di dire tutti ad una voce che loro furono Vittoriosi e Pipino perdente When they considered says he that by attributing the Victory to King Pipin it would reflect upon their Liberty which as they pretended had been perpetual without interruption they unanimously agreed with one voice to affirm the Victory was theirs and Pipin defeated Podesta is a Lombard word taken from the Latin and is as much as Potestatem habens Proveditor In French he would be called Proviseur but because the Italian word is easily understood and to be found every day in the Gazette I have not thought fit to change it any more than the Sopra-Proveditor who is the same with a Sur-Intendant Quarantie I know it is no French word and 't is possible to call it Quarantine might be better ' I say possibly because 't is an equivocal word and signifies forty men or forty days But that which gave me most confidence to call it so was because I heard it called Quarantie by persons who understood all the delicacies of the French Tongue Rectori is a name common to a Podestat or Captain at Arms. They are promiscuously called Rettori because they govern the Cities under the dominion of that State together but each with separate Jurisdiction and 't is in this sence they say Andar in Reggimento Regates are the Courses or Combats of their Boats upon the Grand Canal for a Prize not unlike the Carrousels These Contests were instituted first by Duke John Surance to accustom the Common People to fight at Sea Vt Cives doceret Maritimis assuescere Bellis ludicras instituit Naumachias Matina Rois de Sparta There were always two Kings in Sparta one of the elder Branch of Euristenides or Agides The other of the Branch of Proclides or Euripontides who were of the younger House Mos est sais Probus in Agesilao a majoribus Lacedemoniis traditus ut duos haberent semper Reges ex duabus Familiis Proclis Euristinis .... Harum ex altera in alterius locum fieri non licebat Itaque uterque suum retinebat Ordinem It was a custom derived to them from their Ancestors to have at the same time two Kings of two particular Families the Proclis and the Euristinis ..... And it being unlawful to transpose one into anothers place each retained his own proper order The Emulation betwixt these two Kings kept them constantly within the bounds of their Duty as is observed by Plato 3. de Legib Dens says he opinos aliquis de vobis curam gerens geminam vobis Regum Progericem ex una stirpe producens ad moderationem eorum potestatem retraxit Some God says he having more than ordinary care of you provided you a double Race of Kings out of one Stock and thereby reduced their Power to moderation Sebastian Ziani To this Doge it was Pope Alexander III. gave the Silver Trumpets the Parasol the Folding-Chair the Cushions the Banners and the White-Wax carried before the Senat in their Publick Ceremonies as also he gave him permission to Seal his Ducals with Lead as the Court of Rome does Vt Veneti Senatus gravitatem praedicaret says Matina in Seb. Ciano Serenita is a Title the Venetians give their Doge to distinguish him from other Noble men and they think that a greater Title than Highness Superscription of Letters from the Senat of Venice to the Duke of Savoy is always Latin and in these Terms Illustrissimo Excellentissimo Principi N. .... sabaudiae Duci dignissimo filio nostro Carissimo But the Duke of Savoy pretends they should give him the Title of Serenissimo as they do the Title of Altezza in the middle of their Letters And for this reason the Duke of Venice never himself receives the Credentials of the Venetian Embassadors but causes them to be received and opened by the Secretary without looking upon the Superscription Title of Most Christian given by the Popes to the Republick of Venice Honorius dignissimo titulo merito quidem Venetam Rempublicam Christianissimam nominat utpote que relictis Schismaticis Romanae Ecclesiae adhaesisset Quo amplessimo titulo gloriosa Terra Marique feliciter dominium propagavit Honorius justly calls the Republick of Venice by the Honourable title of Most Christian because renouncing the Schismaticks She stuck close to the Church of Rome under which honourable Compellation She performed many brave things and inlarged his Dominion both at Land and Sea Baron Tom. 8. Ann. 630. Pius II. confirmed it to them by this Benediction in a full Consistory Benedicti sint Filii nostri Veneti Benedicat Deus Christianissimam Rempubl Senatum eorum adjuvet eisque adversus Turkas praestet Victoriam God Bless our good Sons the Venetians God bless their Most Christian Commonwealth God bless their Senat and give them Victory against the Turks Thomas Moccineguo This Duke before his death called into his Chamber the principal Senators of Venice and desired each of them to tell him upon whom they pitched for his Successor The greatest part named Francis Foscaro the Person of all to whom the said Thomas had most aversion because he knew him strongly inclined to make War upon the Continent Upon which Consideration he told them Sapete Seigniori quanto odio glorioso per amor della Patria jo habbi conceputo contro di questo soggetto circa l'interprender la Guerra Vi tornerible piu a conto d'attendere alla Conservatione di cio che avete conquistato nel Mar che procurar di piantare in Terra le Palme Ma prego Seignior Iddio sia propitio ed a voi edalla vostra Republica Know Gentlemen my Love to my Countrey has made me always averse to enterprizes of War at Land It will turn better to account if you apply to the conservation of what you have gained at Sea and not think of planting Lawrels on Shore but I beseebh God to be Propitious both to you and your Government And these were his last words But the Venetians interpreted this grave advice to be only jealousy against Foscaro as the Romans did of Augustus when he advised them not to think of extending the Bounds of their Dominion Tac. Ann. 1. Turks The Venetians began their first War with the Turks about the year 1340 and their first Captain General that Commanded against them was Peter Zen Created under the Dogeship of Francis Dandole Surnamed the Dogg and he defeated them in the Syrian Sea Since then they have had several Wars but three more unfortunate to the Venetians than the rest