and elation of their young men who are naturally ambitious by calling them gravely and in good time to those preferments as Tiberius said to the Senat of Rome IV. The Noblemen cannot hold many Offices at a time how small or inconsiderable soever they be by which means the Publick is better serv'd and more of them are employed But it is lawful to quit one Office for a better if he be chosen to it though in his first Office his time be not expir'd V. Those Noblemen who refuse any Office to which they are chosen are obliged to pay a Fine of 2000 Ducats to the Publick so that even their disobedience in some measure turns to accompt after which they are to absent themselves for two years from the Graud Council and the Broglio which is little better than an Exile VI. 'T is forbidden to joy a new Officer upon his Election to prevent flattery which is too frequent in those occasions and to keep the Noblemen in such a modesty as is convenient for Citizens of that Common-wealth But in this Law there is an exception for the Duke and Procurators of St. Mark in respect of the great merit of such as are advanc'd to those eminent Dignities VII The Magistrates in Venice and upon the Continent cannot lay down their Authority though their time be expir'd till the Grand Council has appointed their Successors They cannot be absent from their Charges without permission from the Seigniory which will hardly be granted but upon very good cause so that the Publick service is seldom interrupted but in case of the sickness of an Officer 't is otherwise for if they see 't is like to be chronical others are immediately substituted in their place And if it happens to any of the Rettori of the Towns the Captain executes for the Podesta or the Podesta for the Captain and in case both be sick some other Noble Venetian in Office upon the place till upon notice the Seigniory supplies them by which means there happens no delay in their Affairs and no contradiction of Orders VIII The Noblemen who are Knights of Malta have no more part of the Government than if they were no Noblemen because that Dignity subjects them to the Laws and Statutes of a Forreign Prince so that ordinarily there are but two Gentlemen Venetians of that Order one of the House of Carnarro and the other of the House of the Lippomade and that to preserve two considerable Commands the first the Government of Trevisa with the Title of Grand Commander of Cyprus and the other of Conillan in the Marches of Trevisan IX It is forbidden to the Nobles to receive Presents or Pensions from Forreign Princes as also to purchase Lands under their Dominions upon penalty of degradation from their Nobility confiscation of their Estates and Banishment which is the true way of obliging them to the common Defence of their Countrey where all their Estates and all their Hopes do lie whereas if they were suffered to have their solid Establishment elsewhere they would many times betray the Publick Interest in Complacency to those Princes in whose Territories their Estates lay which in time might be a prejudice if not subversion to the whole Government And it was by this means the Republick of Genoa subjected it self to the King of Spain who knew well enough to make his advantage of the foolish ambition those Nobles had for Authority and Jurisdiction in the Kingdom of Naples not suffering them to dispose of them but to others of their own Countrey to the end that they might preserve their Dominion over them and oblige them in perpetual Servitude X. The Nobles are not permitted to purchase Fiefs or Lordships upon the Terra-firma that there might be neither superiority nor dependance to destroy the Equality among them Besides it would occasion jealousie and disorder betwixt the ancient Nobility that are poor and the new who being generally rich would in time buy the whole Terra-firma Formerly they were not allowed Houses of Pleasure upon the Continent but of late that has been indulg'd so that in Venice 't is quite otherwise than in Genoa where particular Persons are rich but the Government poor but here private Persons are poor and the Publick wealthy having the Propriety of all the Lands as in the Republick of Rome XI The Noblemen are not suffered to marry with Strangers nor their Daughters to the Subjects of another Prince though they be Gentlemen and the design thereby is to preserve their Riches among themselves which otherwise would be insensibly transported by those Marriages and to stop the ambitious carreer of the ancient Nobility who by Marrying with Forreign Princes would by degrees come to despise all Matches at home and lastly to deprive those Families of a retreat to those Princes with whom they are allied which would render them more bold in Enterprizing against their Country as being not easily contented with the Parity there Moreover it would be almost impossible to keep any thing secret in a Senat Constituted of such Nobles as were under forreign Alliance which would beget new factions and divisions at home But they may marry their Daughters to such Gentlemen of the Terra-firma as thereby become better-affected to the Venetian Nobility whose protection they are willing to purchase The Law suffers the Nobility to marry with Citizens to fortify their Party against the Populace in case they should mutiny against them thereby not so much communicating as corroborating their Power by uniting with the Citizens as with a Body capable with the Nobility to resist any Effort of the multitude By this means likewise the Nobles that are poor do sometimes marry advantageously there being no rich Citizen but is very ready to embrace an Alliance with a Noble Venetian it being an honour and protection to his whole Family And in this the Seigniory is not without a peculiar interest for these sorts of Marriages do put the Nobles into a condition of serving the Publick in Embassies and other expensive employments Not but that sometimes the Nobles who marry these Citizens Daughters grow contemptible to the People who do frequently call their Children Amphibia And yet 't is every day to be seen in Venice Noblemen of the last impression do marry Ladies of the first the first purchasing their Wives the latter their Husbands But when a Nobleman marries a Citizen his Contract must pass the approbation of the Grand Council otherwise their Children cannot pass for Noble Venetians By Citizens are meant the Secretaries of State Advocates Notaries Physicians Mercers Drapers Glass-makers c. And if a Nobleman marries out of this Category his Children are ignoble and degenerate into Citizens As appear'd in the Case of the Procurator John Baptisto Cornero Piscopia who during the War in Candia was glad to purchase Nobility for two of his Children because their Mother was Daughter to a Gondolier XII There is no Eldership or Seniority among
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
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
Great Duke of Tuscany design any thing against the liberty of that State 't is probable the Venetians would not refuse their assistance With the Grisons THE Senat of Venice bear an Affection to the Grisons as a People whose Interest it is equally to hinder the Spaniards from entring the Valtolin and encreasing their Power in Italy where already they have several Princes under their dependance And therefore the Grisons no sooner understood the designs of the Duke of Feria Governor of Milan upon the Valtolin but they repair'd immediately to the Venetian for relief against the Valtolins who were Revolted at the instigation of the Spaniard and indeed that Affair alarm'd the Republick of Venice more than any other Prince of Italy by reason of the situation of that Valley which bordering on one side upon Tirol and on the other upon Milan serv'd as a kind of Gallery to the Spaniards to join their Dominions with the Emperors and to stop up the passage for forreign supplies against all Italy and particularly against their own Countrey which the Emperor and his Catholick Majesty kept block'd up as in a Circle This was the design of the Count de Fuentes not long since when he advised his Master to seize upon Monaco and Final and the Valtolin which was the ready way to reduce the Princes of Italy into servitude But because the execution of his design requir'd time he laid the first Stone by building the Fort of his Name at the mouth of the River Adda which since has produc'd that long and mischievous War to the Grisons But were it not for their interest the Venetian regards them but little as looking upon them as poor people and savage With the Swisses THE Senat on the other side courts the Swiss very much as knowing their fidelity and valour It raises Soldiers among them in time of War and takes of their Officers into their Armies paying them Pensions for their lives They have moreover a Resident constantly either at Zurick or Berne which are two of the best Towns in Switzerland where all the chiefest of their Affairs are transacted With Holland THE Commonwealth of Venice and Holland are under a strict obligation of Amity and Interest They are both at the same defiance with the King of Spain The Hollander withdrew himself from his obedience to that Crown and the other favoured the Revolt by Councels Money and Solicitations with Queen Elizabeth to engage her in the defence of their new Companion And though they be separated by a long tract of Land yet upon occasion they can easily unite by their communication at Sea where both of them are very powerful With England THE Senat maintains a perfect Correspondence with the King of Great Britain considering him as a Prince whose Amity may much import that State in their necessities by his great interest and reputation with other Kings King James had a great respect for the Commonwealth of Venice and in their difference with Paul V. he no sooner understood the King of Spain had declar'd in favour of the Pope but he declared for the Venetian promising their Embassador George Justiniani that he would not only assist him with all the force of his Kingdom but oblige all his Allies in their defence And if the quarrel had broke out into a War 't is believ'd he would have been as good as his word as well as the Hollander who upon his recommendation offer'd them a considerable number of Ships and of Men. King Charles I. continued the esteem and affection of his Father and by a just return they preserv'd for him in his misfortunes and even after his death all the Kindness and Veneration they shew'd to him during his life For they were the lást that sent Embassadors to the Protector and their forbearance was look'd upon by him as a silent reproach of his Government and a contempt of his Authority so many great Princes having as it were contended who by their Embassadors should honour him first And Cromwell having complain'd of their backwardness the Senat fearing his displeasure at a time when they were at War with the Turk was oblig'd to cause John Sagrede their Embassador in France to pass over to London to appease him At length Charles II. being restor'd they renewed their ancient Alliance with him which was answered by his Majesty in the solemn Embassy of the Lord Falconbridge who after he had staid two months himself in Venice left Mr. Dorington as Resident for his Majesty of Great Britain But how great soever the Intelligence is betwixt England and this State there is no probability that that King will ever send any Ships into the Venetian service against the Turk lest the Grand Seignior should seize upon the Goods and Effects of the Turky-Company of London which amounts to more than five millions of money Which would ruine the best branch of the English Trade and be a great diminution to his Revenue With Denmark THE Senat has no Correspondence at all with the King of Denmark their Countries lying so remote that they can neither expect relief from one another upon occasion nor apprehend any detriment With the Swede and the Pole IF Resemblance of Government or Interest be one of the principal causes of Amity there are no two States in all Europe obliged to stricter Alliance than Venice and Poland they being the only two Crown'd Commonwealths both of them govern'd by a Senat and an Elective Prince both Neighbours to the Turk and both famous for their Wars against that cruel and formidable Enemy For though Poland carries the name of a Kingdom 't is nothing but an Aristocracy mix'd with a Monarchy according to the old Model of Sparta Upon these considerations the State of Venice is much concern'd for all accidents in Poland whether they be good or bad And if the Progress made by Gustavus Adolphus in the Empire pleas'd them very well the Success of Charles Gustavus in Poland afflicted them as much because the impoverishment of that Kingdom would be an advantage to the Turk as it prov'd afterward 'T is not to be doubted then but the interest of the Pole is dearer to the Venetian than the interest of the Swede whose prodigious increase both at Land and at Sea it began to apprehend That King having taken the Northern Liconia from the Pole and all one side of the Baltick from the King of Denmark With the Great Duke of Muscovy THough the Senat has no particular affair with the Czar of Moscovy yet it puts a great value upon his friendship that King being very potent and of great reputation with the King of Persia whose Alliance is necessary for the Venetian thereby to give diversion to the Turk For whenever the Sophy of Persia invades him on that side the Venetian finds it no hard matter to repel him on the other and these Negotiations with the Persian are managed by the Mediation of the Czar So that if upon
violence And yet this Custom hinders not but that great Honors are paid to them after their death Their Funerals are solemnized with great Pomp at the charge of the State Their Funeral Orations pronounced formally in the Church of St. Mark an Honor the Law did not formerly allow and which began but since the death of Andreas Contarin They fix upon their Vaults a Scutcheon with their Armes in memory of their Dukeship which was introduced at the Obsequies of Duke Marin Morosini And last of all it is permitted to set up noble and rich Tombes for them But that which is singular in their Funerals is that the Senat attends the Corps in their Robes of Scarlet a colour far enough from mourning but they do it to shew that though their Duke be Mortal their Commonwealth is not That the perpetuity of their Empire consists in the Body of the Senat upon which only depends the Safety of the People Aeternitas rerum meacum vestra salus incolumitate Senatus firmatur Tac. Hist 1. And that it belongs to private not publick persons to lament in which they choose rather to satisfy a punctilio of Honour than to discharge the common duties of Piety and Compassion for the Dead And here it is remarkable that the Hall where the Dukes Corps is exposed is the same where he receives his first Complements of Congratulation from the Forreign Ambassadors the day he was Crown'd that the joy of his Advancement might be tempered by considerations of Death and that he might look upon the Magnificence and Ornaments of his Dukeship as the beginning of his Funeral Pomp and as if like a Victim he was Crown'd but for a Sacrifice To this end the Grand Chancellor alwayes reflects upon Death in his Complement when he is put the first day into possession of the Palace of St. Mark Admonishing That his Government is not over Subjects but Fellow-Citizens and Companions to be Commanded only by his Example That the Nobility have made him Duke not to do as he pleases but to labour and charge himself with all the Cares and Troubles of the State That his Dignity is but an Honourable Servitude as Antigonus said formerly to his Son And that his Crown was not a thing of Parade and Authority but of Obligation to his Countrey and Obedience to their Laws When the Doge is sick or absent he is represented by one of the Council called the Vice-Doge that the Council might never be without a Head But this Vice-Doge sits not in the Ducal Chair wears not the Bonnet nor is treated with the Title of Serenissimo yet Embassadors directing their speech to him in the Colledg do give him that Title but 't is interpreted to the Table This Representative replies like the Duke to Forreign Ministers but puts not off his Bonnet and keeps the middle-place when he walks The Grand Council in the year 1553 made a Decree that in the Audience of Embassadors the Vice-Doge should take his place betwixt the Dean of the Council and the Embassador who accordingly was removed from the first place on the right hand of the Throne to a third which was an injury to the Embassadors it being clear that the Representative of a Prince ought in Justice to pay them more respects than the Prince himself But this Decree was rectified the next year gave the Embassadors their ancient place and put the Vice-Doge beneath them yet he was not allowed to salute them with his Bonnet The Councellors of the Seigniory THE present Councellors of State in Venice are those who formerly were Tribunes of the Isles and as every Isle had then its Tribune to administer Justice so now the six Quarters of the City called Contrade or Sestieri have each their Councellor who according to an Ordinance of Duke Orie Malipierre is to reside personally in his Quarter So that a Nobleman whose common Residence is in the Country of St. Mark cannot be chosen Councellor of the Castle St. Paul c. These Lords are called Councellors of the Seigniory because with the Doge they represent the Body of the Commonwealth They are called likewise Consiglieri di Sopra to distinguish them from the Consiglieri d' Abasso who Preside in the Quaranty Criminel in stead of the Seigniory which sate formerly there And here it is to be understood that the Office of Councellor that is annual is differently exercised during that time the Councellors sitting only eight months in the Colledg the other four they go down into the Quaranty Criminel and Preside there whereas if they begin in the Chamber as Consiglieri d' Abasso they are advanc'd alla Banca di Sopra or the Colledg The Councellors of the Seigniory have two Offices one publick the other private The last is to Consult with the Duke and three Heads of the Quaranty Criminel such matters as are to be proposed in the Councils And this they do in the presence of a Secretary called alle Voci who marks their Votes To open all Letters directed to the Seigniory whether the Duke be present or not To receive all Petitions Cognoscible in the Grand Council to examine them among themselves and to tear them in pieces if they do not like them To grant Priviledges and Exemptions To appoint Judges to both Parties when the Controversy is about Jurisdiction and in short to resolve when the Council is to be called extraordinarily The first that is to say their Publick Office is to Preside in all Councils to dispatch all necessary Orders during the Interregnum to the Podestats General of their Armies Proveditors at Land or at Sea and in a word to all the Officers of State When Relations have any Contest among them and desire extraordinary Judges 't is in the power of the Duke and the Councellors of the Seigniory to appoint them and the said deputed Judges by vertue of a Commission confirmed by the Grand Council determine definitively This in Venice is called dellegar una Causa but this favour that prevents a great deal of Charge especially li Caratti or Fees is not vouchsafed but to Persons of principal Quality and upon Causes of great importance to the Publick such remissions giving just occasion to the Magistrates to complain These Delegates are commonly chosen out of the Senat for the better Authority of their Judgment and are called Savii del Corpo del Senato The Councellors both di Sapra and d' Abasso are always habited in red both sitting in Council and walking in the Streets under penalty of 25 Ducats of Gold for every time they offend In Winter they wear a Scarlet-Robe with Ducal-Sleeves and in Summer a Red Watered-Camlet with a Cloth-bonnet of the same colour unless their Fathers or Brothers be lately dead in which case they are permitted to mourn for a month and during the Holy-week they are in Black also It is forbidden to the Councellors Heads of the Quaranty Criminel Sages of
they stretched their Authority so far as to revoke and null the Decrees of the Grand Council and to negotiate Leagues Offensive and Defensive with Forreign Princes unknown to the Senat which they did upon certain Emergencies and in a juncture of time properer for Execution than Deliberation And in this they resembled the Roman Dictator who in time of publick calamity had all the Power of the State in his hand with Suspension to the Power of the Senat. Nor do we want Instances of several Negotiations undertaken and perfected by the Council of Ten in defiance of the whole Pregadi Witness the Peace they concluded with Antonio Soderini and John Baptista Rodolfi Florence Embassadors who could make no advance with the Senat of Venice And this Peace was a Coup d'Et at Bajazet the Second declared War against them not long after which if the Florentines could have foreseen or if the Conclusion had been protracted but for some few weeks 't is most certain the Florentines would never have complied unless upon better Conditions as knowing the Venetians would have been forced to their own terms lest otherwise they should have been engaged in two Wars at one time But at present the Authority of the Ten is restrained to Criminal Causes and as there is no Court in the World where the Judges proceed with more severity against Persons accused it will not be amiss to say something of their Methods in this place After the three Capi-Dieci who are the monthly Presidents have received the Depositions of the Witnesses in Writing and have perfectly instructed themselves in all the circumstances of the Fact they cause the accused Person to be secured privately and examined by the Chief for that Week whose Answers are taken by a Clerk or Register and by him communicated with his two Colleagues and their advice taken thereupon after which the Cause is carried by them to the Council where they all three do manage the Accusation against the Malefactor urging his Confession against him and this they do whilst the poor Criminal is not allowed to plead his own Cause nor to retain Counsel nor to see any of his Friends or Relations or so much as to receive a Letter from them He has only one remedy and that is one of his Judges sometimes touched with compassion for the Person accused or perhaps convinced of his Innocence will take his Cause into his protection and defend it against the Accusers but though these kind of good Offices happen now and then they are seldom effectual For this Council is so inclinable to severity the least offence in matter of State is unpardonable and very appearance passes for a crime 'T is said that in Athens Draco writ all his Laws in Blood the same may be said as justly of this Council in which Clemency and Mercy are Virtues unknown where jealousy is incurable distrust eternal where great reputation is dangerous great services odious and commonly requited with either banishment or death The Maxims of this Council are these That not only Crimes against the State are never to be pardoned but even appearances are to be punished and that they must proceed to punishment before they examine the offence That in those things shadow is to be taken for substance and possibility for matter of fact that humane Prudence is not to be contented that things are not yet hapned but must order things so as they never may happen that the Publick is to prevent what it fears at their Cost who gave the apprehension without expecting till the mischief occur there being no greater crime than to be suspicious to ones Prince and to disturb his Tranquility That if in other Affairs it be discretion to imagine the ill-consequences less than they will be in matters of State and things relating to its quiet and repose 't is not only prudent but necessary to imagine them greater that injustice to private Persons is not to be considered where advantage accrews to the Publick because say they 't is impossible to Govern without injury to somebody To which we may add another of their Maxims no less pernicious and that is That 't is wisdom to rid themselves of any body they have disobliged by their wrongful suspicions lest his resentment puts him upon revenge and the fear of a second injury tempts him to secure himself though by the subversion of the Government By these Principles this Council is become so odious to the Nobles that they have tried all ways imaginable to supplant them In the year 1628 the Family of the Cornari and their Party push'd it so far in revenge of the Quarrel of George Cornaro the then Duke's Son who had been proscribed and degraded by the Ten that their Court would have been certainly suppressed had it not been prevented by an old Seignior who in the Grand Council remonstrated That the safety of the State depended upon the continuation of that Council which kept the Nobility in their duty by fear of Correction and the People in obedience by the goodness of their Example That to suppress that Tribunal which was the svpport of their Laws the knot of their Concord the foundation of their Equality their defence against Tyranny and the true balance that kept all Parties in a poise would be no less than to introduce Confusion Licentiousness and Impunity That nothing rendred their Government more Excellent and Conspicuous than to see their Nobility obnoxious to the severest of their Courts and their Authority check'd by their fear whilst those in greater Power were in greatest Awe seeing them exposed to the rigour of the Laws as well if not more than particular Persons That those who endeavoured to abolish them were People who designed to be Criminal if they were not so already That they were to be separated frrm the body of the State if they could not submit to a civil life or subject themselves to the Laws which put them upon a happy necessity of doing well and in short That it would be dishonourable to suffer the clamours of a few Citizens to prevail for a Change so much to the prejudice of the State But however the said Council is continued to this day 't is very displeasing to the Nobility who cannot hear it mentioned without trembling In the year 1670 the Grand Council proceeding to the Election of the Ten who are renewed every year in the Month of August all those that were proposed were rejected two Sundays together and in the third there was only Seignior Angelo Emo who passed in the Balotation nay the ill-humour was carried on so far that some of the Electors named either in contempt or despight some of the new Nobility and among the rest a Portugal called Fonseca of Jewish Extraction knowing well those kind of People would never get their just number of Voices For that Court which is as it were the Parliament and la Fournelle of the Nobles has been always supplied by
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
therefore they are seldom recalled till they have served under two or three Embassadors And these are the Secretaries who assist in the Colledg at the Audience of Forreign Embassadors that they may briefly expose to the Seigniory what are the Proposals of the said Embassadors which sometimes are understood by none of the said Lords nor by the Secretary himself But this inconvenience is prevented by a Copy the Embassador gives in of his business which is translated and presented before he be admitted by the Senat to whom it belongs to give an Answer The Secretaries of these two formes are privy to all affairs it being their Office to read in the Colledg and in the Pregadi all the Letters writ to that State and to prepare all those which are sent from the Senat. When they carry an Answer to the Embassadors they read it before them and afterwards they impart it to their Secretaries but if they be from home the Secretaries carry back their Copy for 't is death to leave it behind them These Secretaries have each of them a Salary of 400 Ducats per annum besides other Profits and considerable Priviledges In Ceremonies they are clad in Violet-coloured Cloth with Velvet Bonnets of the same colour The Secretaries of the third Classis are not any precise number and their Office is like our Registers For they enter all Judgments given in the Courts of St. Mark and the Rialte to deliver them to the Parties They draw up the Contracts of Marriage and pass all Wills and other Acts relating to the Tabellionage So that properly they are no more than Notaries or Registers without any Cognizance in matters of Government These three Orders of Secretaries depend wholly upon the Council of Ten by whom they are chosen and when any of them is defective he is responsible to that terrible Court Of the Patriarch of Venice VEnice is Governed in Spiritualibus by a Patriarch always a Noble Venetian and elected by the Senat. In his Decrees and Orders he stiles himself Patriarch Divina Miseratione only not adding as the rest of the Bishops sanctae sedis Apostolicae Gratia He is Primate of Dalmatia and Metropolitan over the Archbishops of Candia and Corfu The Ducal Church of St. Mark acknowledges him not because it has a private Officer of its own called Primicirio who performs all the Episcopal Functions giving Benediction to the People with Indulgences for forty days conferring the Quatre-Mineurs to all who present themselves And if at any time the Patriarch officiates in his Pontificalibus in presence of the Seignioria 't is upon request to the Primicier who consents perhaps to do him that Honour but without making it a President When the Primicier becomes Patriarch he ceases to be Primicier lest the Deanery of St. Mark should be reunited to the Patriarchal The Patriarch has the nomination only of two Benefices in the City the Theologate of his own Church and the Cure of St. Bartholomews whose Curate is his Vicar by course for the Pope hath the Collation of the Archdeaconry the Chapter disposes of the Prebendaries and the Parishians Citizens as well as Nobles have the choice of their Curates But that which is strange is the small Authority this Prelat has over the Priests and Monks whose lives are very scandalous An effect of the jealousy of this Republick which is to depress the credit of Episcopal Jurisdiction opposes it self daily by its Magistrates against the execution of the Sentences given by the Ecclesiastical Judges and protects the Priests publickly though they be convict of most abominable crimes They are often to implore the interposition of the secular Magistrate though the business nothing concerns them in hopes they may escape without punishment Which occasioned that common saying of Matthew Zanes That Venice was become a second Babylon A great Prelat of Venice told me one day in Discourse That 't was impossible for the Venetian Bishops to reform the manners of their Clergy because the secular Magistrate held their hands and made their Censures contemptible and to annihilate their whole Ecclesiastical Power hindred the holding of Synods which are the best and most effectual means of correcting the enormities of the Priests At the end of which I remember he added an Elogy upon the Church of France whither as he said the sanctity of the whole Primitive Church was retired concluding with these words Piacesse a Dio che tutta la Chiesa si Governasse a Guisa del Clero Francese And would to God our Church was governed according to the French model There is another thing also a great diminution to his Authority and that is That the Body of the Secular Clergy in Venice which contains 70 Parishes is divided into nine Congregations each of which has a separate Jurisdiction where all Causes of the Priests and Friers in their several Wards are first judged and if there be occasion for an Appeal it lies before the Colledg Plebaâ—â—â—l composed of Deputies from all the Congregations which Deputies do either Null or Confirm the Sentences the private Judges have given before and this Colledg does it so well that their Affairs are seldom or never brought before the Patriarch from whose Jurisdiction 't is their whole care to substract if at any time any thing of that nature is brought to him 't is Tanquam ad Judicem Compromissarium says the Statute Non vero Ordinarium By which it appears that the Secular Clergy in Venice is in a manner separate from its Prelat to whom in other respects great Ceremony is paid when he visits their Churches a Canopy being prepared for him as for the Doge or a Cardinal Venice anciently was but a small Bishoprick whose Bishops were called only Sanctae Olivolensis Ecclesiae Episcopi by reason of the situation of their Church in the Isle of Olivole and for their whole Revenue had only the fees of Burials wherefore they were surnamed Vescovi de Morti. In the year 1091 Henry Contarin the 23d Bishop of Olivole took upon him the Title of Bishop of Castel which is the name of one of the six Quarters of the Town and that continued till the year 1451 when the Patriarchship laps'd to B. H. Lawrence Justinian Bishop of Castil according to a Bull of Nicolas V or Eugenius IV his Predecessor who to end the Controversy betwixt the Bishops and the Patriarchs of Grade their Metropolitans Ordered that when one of the Competitors died both Churches should devolve to the Survivor with all their Titles and Rights and Dominick Michieli the Patriarch dying first the Bishop of Castel was in the Patriarchal Dignity and left it to his Successors A Noble Venetian cannot pretend to any Cure in Venice the State choosing to leave those Benefices to the Populace to oblige them as also to prevent the disorders of Competition which would probably happen betwixt the Nobles and them for in all likelihood the suffrages of the People which have greatest
several Pro-Consuls were at Rome for having under their Administration duo Praetoria duo Tribunalia for though the fault may be in the Wife the scandal lies wholly upon the Husband and 't is he must answer for it In these Commands it is that the Nobles are allowed to exceed in all manner of magnificence because thereby they signify the extraordinary Grandure of the Publick Majesty and imprint love and veneration in the minds of the People The Captains at Arms. THE Office of a Captain at Arms upon the Terra-firma answers to the Military Tribune in Rome and in all Inscriptions upon publick Buildings he is called Praefectus Armorum or Tribunus Militum His Office is to Command the Souldiers of the City and all the Garrisons under his Jurisdiction he judges in all differences betwixt Officer and Souldier without application to the Podesta All the Chastellains of the Town and quite thorow his Territory receive his Orders and submit to his Jurisdiction as well Noble Venetians as others It is his care to look to the reparation of the Walls Gates Ports and Fortifications as he pleases He has the disposing of all the Revenue and Imposts in his Government and in all places belonging to it the Camerlingues who receive it giving an account to him and not daring to disburse a farthing without his Authority to the end the publick Money should be disposed to the publick Use and that those who keep it may not have power to purloin The Roman Praetors had the disposing of their Treasure but the Venetians will not allow that liberty to the Podesta's that by parting equally they might moderate their Authority and bring them to some balance and proportion with the Captains at Arms which are the two Officers that represent the Majesty of their Masters and are therefore called by one common name Rectores like the Provincial Harmostae of the Lacedemonians in their smaller Towns there is only one Rector who is Podesta and Captain at Armes both The Captains at Armes at Padua and Brescia are always Illustrious Senators who for their Services may challenge the Robe of Procurator par Merite when any of those places are vacant The Captain of Bergamo has a deliberative Voice in the Pregadi at his return as also the Chastelaine of Brescia by peculiar Priviledg above all the rest of the Governours of Castles or Forts When great Officers in a Town differ about Jurisdiction which happens very oft they are not allowed to defend their Cause with any thing but the Pen that is to say by humble Remonstrances to the Senat and if they come to Blows both parties are judged Criminal as well he that receives as he that offers the Injury In Friul THE Proveditor General of Palma Nova is the chief Officer of the whole Province and this Office always in the nomination of the Senat is biennial and supplied by a Senator of the first Rank The Governour or Lieutenant of Vdina is the second Officer in the said Province and at his return may be proposed for admission into the Council of Ten. There are under him two Officers one called the Marschal d'Vdina who is a kind of Chastelaine and the other a Treasurer The City of Vdina in the year 1415 came under the Dominion of the Venetians with the whole Province of Friul which before was under the Patriarchs of Aquileia to which the Counts Savorgnanes contributed much and were made Noble Venetians for their pains In Istria CApo d'Istria the chief Town in that Province and a Bishoprick is Governed by a Podestat and three Councellors of the poorer sort of the Nobility Cita-Nuova Parenzo and Pola all three Episcopal Towns have each of them their Podestats as also Piran Rovigno Cherso Osero and Raspo which last has the Priviledg of having a Senator because 't is a place where much is gained with little expence and therefore some of the poorer sort of Senators are sent thither In Dalmatia THE Proveditor General holds the first Rank and Commands all the Governours Proveditors and Chastelanies of Towns and Fortresses in that Province and therefore that Charge is always executed by an Illustrious Senator or Procurator for besides the Authority 't is a place of great Profit He has under him a Forreigner who Commands the Forces as General but can do nothing but by his consent not so much as gratify a Souldier with a Peny nor order him a loaf of bread more than his Comerade The Cities of Zara and Spalatra two Archbishopricks in Dalmatia are Governed each of them by a Count and a Chamberlaine who performs likewise the Office of a Chastelaine These Officers are two years in Office as is the Proveditor of Clessa a Fortress upon an inaccessible Mountain The Chastelains of Traeo and Zebenigo are biennial likewise Cattaro an Episcopal Town has two Magistrates one a Proveditor and the other a Camertingue each of them changed every two years Budoa the last place of the Venetians upon the Coast of Dalmatia has its Podesta whose authority continues but two years 'T is not many years since Dolcingo was under their Dominion but they lost it to Selymus II. In the Isles upon the Mediterranean Sea THE Commonwealth has always a Proveditor and two Councellors at Corfeu which she has possessed ever since the year 1382 in despight of all the efforts of the Turks it being one of the Keys of the Golf Corfeu is an Archbishoprick worth 4000 Ducats per annum always supplied by a Noble Venetian and furnishes Venice with 200000 Minots of Salt every year 't is guarded by Sant Ange a Fort thought to be impregnable The Isles of Zephalonia and Zante are Governed each by a Proveditor and three Councellors renewed every two years These three Islands have a General to whom the respective Proveditors are subservient and accountable He is always a Person of eminent Quality and continues in his Command sixteen Months And to the end all these Officers may be kept in their Duty by the fear of a scrutiny the Senat creats every five years three Syndics to visit all the Towns and Forts depending upon the State to hear the Complaints of their Subjects against the Podestats Captains and Proveditors and to inspect their several Administrations like the Inquisitors of Sparta called Thucydides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Persons sent by the Romans incognito into the Provinces to inquire into the Conduct of their Officers whereby the poorer sort who are not able to come with their Complaints to Venice have a way open to revenge themselves at their ease if their Governours have done them any injury It remains now that I speak something of their Principal Military Commands at Sea all of which are executed by Noble Venetians whereas those at Land are given to Strangers for the reasons above-said The Generalissimo or Captain-General at Sea THis General is always a Noble Venetian and Created by the Senat in time of War to
Command the Fleet of the Commonwealth His Power is so absolute over all other Generals and Captains that he seems a Dictator and rather a Sovereign than a Subject for the three years of his Command His Authority extends not only to the Fleet but to all the Ports Isles and Fortresses where his Orders are received without dispute and if he goes to any of them in person the Clergy are obliged to meet him and the Keys are presented him by the Governours and Rectors as if all the Senat came with him and indeed all their Power is in him so that it is no less than Treason to disobey him or contest his Orders Formerly the Senat allowed him not to enterprise any thing without advice of them but the distance many times retarding their affairs and the Resolution of the Senat not arriving till the opportunity was lost it leaves him now to his own liberty to act as he sees occasion only recommending this Caution to him to manage things so that the Commonwealth may receive no detriment thereby And this they do with more Confidence because he has the possession of no Town or Port to which he may retire if he be false and therefore is obliged to keep always at Sea exposed to the mercy of the Wind and the Waves Moreover there is no Prince whatever who at their return uses their Generals worse than the Venetians If any of them have lost a Battle or a Town they are plagued by the Inquisitors of State or rather by as many Judges as there are Nobles in the City the Commonwealth having given them the Conduct of their Armies and the Government of their Towns upon the same condition the famous Lady of Sparta gave the Buckler to her Son Aut in hoc aut cum hoc intending thereby that he should either dye or return with what she had given him If they obtain a Victory they must render an account to those who emulate their success and will be sure if not to procure to encourage their accusers In time of Peace they always debase them and the meanest Nobleman will not only think himself his equal but beard him in the competition of any new Command which renders the Yoak of their Obedience very heavy to the Subject But if a new War be begun and the timidity and incapacity of the others be compared with the Experience and Courage of these then it is that Envy gives place to Desert and their Rivals in time of Peace do Homage to their Valour during the War When the Genoeses were at Chiozza and thought of nothing but Plundering of Venice the Senat was obliged to discharge honourably their General Victor Pisani who was then in Prison for the loss of Pola* a Town in Istria and to joyn him in the Sovereign Command of the Army with Andreas Contarini to the dishonour of all his calumniators Antonio Grimani after he had Conquered the Towns of Monopoli Mola Pulignan Trani Brunduscium and Otranto in Pouelle was degraded from his Procuratorship and Banished into Istria for unhappily losing the Battle of Modon to the Turks But after he had been Banished ten years he was called back again upon an exigence restored to his Dignity and at last Created Duke In the year 1670 the difference betwixt them and the Port about Confines in Dalmatia having caused the Venetians to apprehend a new Rupture the whole World immediately cast their eyes upon Francis Morosini though he was in disgrace and at that time actually under a Charge and not without cause for there was none but he capable of the Command which he had in Candia and had the War gone on the Senat would have been constrained to have begged him to have taken upon him the Generalship again The awe the Captains have of the Council of Ten does not deter them from applying their utmost industry to raise their own fortunes though to the prejudice of the Publick not doubting but to find an Asylum if they have where withall to purchase it providing against the worst out of an opinion they shall certainly be questioned at their return how moderately soever they have behaved themselves and therefore the fear of an inevitable suspition incourages them the more boldly to pillage that they may revenge themselves beforehand for such injury as they are like to meet afterwards And yet they use all imaginable Artifice to conceal the defects of their Administration being desirous to appear as innocent as Gracchus who assured the People of Rome that he went rich to Sardena but returned poor A General of Candia would have perswaded the Venetians to the same thing by borrowing 4000 Ducats of a Merchant to defray the Expence of his entry into his Procuratorship though he had brought back several Barrels of Silver which stood him in good stead For there are but few such persons as the Procurator Nani who imployed all the Money he had received as a Gratuity from the Senat in presents to the Commissioners from the Port by which means the Contest about Limits was brought to a happy accommodation Whereas many others would have applied it to their own proper use as their Comerades do at Constantinople The habit of these Generals is always Scarlet with a Bonnet of the same Colour like the Mertier of the Presidents of Parliament They never lay aside their long Cloak made in the fashion of that which the antients called Chlamys no not even in Fight The Proveditor-General at Sea THis Officer called in their Ducals Classis Legatus as the other is called Classis Imperator is perpetual not as to person who never holds the Command above two years but as to the Office which is constantly supplied contrary to the former which expires with the War His Authority extends to the whole Fleet which he manages as he pleases in the absence of the Captain-General He has Power to Cashier or punish even with Death such Officers as are defective in their Duties as well Noble Venetians as others He disposes of their Commands He pays the Souldiers and Seamen disposes of the Money belonging to the Fleet and is accountable to the Senat at his return The Generalissimo and the Proveditor having served their time lay down their Dictatorship at Capo d'Istria and return to Venice and their former condition of life retaining nothing of all their Grandure but the honour of what is past and the hopes of what is to come They are obliged by a certain Law to deliver themselves up into Custody before they give an account of their administration especially if they have been overcome which is a great cause of Persecution at Venice where nothing but success is considered General Francis Morosini not complying with the said Law incensed the Nobility exceedingly against him insomuch that after he had happily withstood one Attack he was over-powered by a second and forced to do that dishonourably and by necessity that
several Princes the Venetians are always the last who receive it not that they may Regulate by the example of the rest but to have time to sift and discover the subtilties of that Court which are always introduced with pretences of Religion In fine as the Popes apply themselves indústriously to the augmentation of the Ecclesiastical Power and the subjection of the Secular the Senat on their side are as solicitous against it using all possible care at the reception of any Bull that nothing may surprize them and to this end they cannot be presented to the Colledg till they have been canvased and subscribed by two Doctors entertained on purpose by the State to give the Doge notice if they contain any thing of Mystery or Innovation And this difficulty in the Senat at the reception of their Bulls makes the Court of Rome as cautious how they offend them Thus much for the Assistance let us now examine how far the Jurisdiction of the Inquisitors in the State of Venice extends First The Jews living in the Territory of this State are not punishable by the Inquisition for any Crime they commit and this Rule is founded upon St. Paul's Doctrine that Ecclesiastical Authority extends not to those who are not nor never were of the same Church and by a decision of Pope Innocent III it has been Declared that the Jews not being subject to the same Law should not be Judged by the Law and therefore in Poland they are judged by Palatins and not by Ecclesiasticks Moreover it is well known that Sixtus V and Clement VIII granted Safe-conduct to the Maranes to remain and traffick in the Town of Ancona without being molested or disturbed by the Inquisitors contradicting the Bull of Gregory XIII of the year 1581 which subjected Jews and all other Infidels to that Sacred Office Besides the Inquisition being erected only against Hereticks Judaisme being no Heresy falls not under their Jurisdiction If a Jew speaks irreverently of our Religion if he blasphemes our Mysteries prophanes our Sacred things debauches any body to his Religion the Ecclesiasticks and other persons concerned bring their complaints to the Officer on purpose for Blasphemy who fails not to punish him severely according to ancient Custom in the Church by which the Ecclesiasticks concerned themselves no farther than to judg whether the Opinion complained of as Heresy was contrary to our Faith which having determined they committed them to the Secular to be Judged And this was the Practice of the Church under the Roman Empire till the Division in the year 800 and in the Eastern Empire to the last 2. The Inquisition Judges not the Greeks for these following Reasons First Because 't is unreasonable the Ministers of Rome should Judge the Greeks in their own proper Cause the Greeks insisting upon the observation of the Canons which submit every Nation to its own proper Prelats and the Romans pretending to be above the Canons do challenge a right of changing and vacating the ancient Constitutions and Laws of the Councils and Fathers This Doctrine has caused the separation of those two Churches which lived in unity and Christian Charity the space of 800 years before the Greeks acknowledging the Pope to be St. Peters Successor and first of all the Catholick Bishops whilest he contented himself with the Power the Canons allowed him and kept himself within the bounds of his Primacy without pretending to Sovereignty over the rest of the Bishops Secondly Because the Doge permitting the Inquisition to meddle with the Greeks would lessen his own Authority over them and leave it to such as could not exercise it without great trouble and confusion The Power of punishing Offences in matters of Religion has been always invested in the Civil Magistrate quite through the Grecian Church as the Greeks of this age do readily confess as desiring that Custom might be continued and thus Justice is administred to the Greeks by the Civil Power with general satisfaction whereas if the Inquisitors interposed in their affairs the whole Nation would oppose themselves against their Judgments and mutiny against their Soveraignty Thirdly Because the State of Venice receiving the Greeks under the Venetian Protection permitted them to live secondo il Rito loro But their Customs and Statutes would subject them to Princes for punishment of all Temporal Crimes and to Prelates of the Church for Spititual Offences From whence it follows that it belongs not to the Inquisitors either to Judg or Examine what the Greeks do or believe privately but only to inform the Civil Magistrate of such as are scandalous either in their actions or words Besides the Republick of Venice does no prejudice to the Church by permitting the Greeks to live according to the general Custom of their Countrey because that permission was the principal Condition of their Obedience to that State and for the Senat to subject them to the Inquisition would be no less than of good and faithful Subjects to make them Rebels and implacable Enemies from whence no advantage could accrue to the Inquisition For these Reasons the Commonwealth of Venice that Governs its Subjects by peaceable Principles more than any other Prince in Europe have been unwilling to consent that the Greeks should be liable to the Judgment of the Inquisitors let the nature of their Charge be what it would Thirdly The Inquisition of Venice hath no Cognizance of such as have two Wives though they pretend to it alledging that Crime to be an abuse of the Sacrament of Marriage To which it is answered that the first Marriage which is good rendering the second void there is no abuse of the Sacrament and by consequence it belongs not to the Inquisitors to rectify but to the Civil Magistrate who is obliged to punish the injury the Husband does to his Wife because 't is an offence against Civil society as much as Adultery which every body knows is not subject to the Inquisition Bigamy is Judged by the Lords Criminal of the Night as also the Jews who live in Adultery with the Wives of Christians Fourthly The Inquisition meddles not with Blasphemy because it belongs to the Secular Magistrate according to the Civil and Canon Law and Custom of all Christendom But if the Blasphemer gives any suspition of Heresy against the Informer the Inquisition Judges of the suspition and with him the Magistrate for Blasphemy so by that means the accused person is never unpunished there being two sentences against an Offender one of the Sacred Office for Spiritual chastisement the other of the Civil Magistrate for Corporal correction As to what the Inquisitors say that 't is too great severity for a man to have two Sentences alledging an old Aphorisme That one Judg is sufficient for one Offence the Venetians reply It is no inconvenience to have two Judges in the same Cause when the punishments inflicted are of several kinds and the ends of those Judgments are different So in the case of
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
I mean consider the Manners and Maxims of their Nobility For as Tacitus observes to discover the Nature and Qualities of a Government we must inform our selves of the genius and humour of the Prince who is the Soul that informs it Which occasioned an ancient Author to say That Nature would sooner be defective in her Operations than a State in imitating their Prince The Manners and general Maxims of the Venetians IT being natural to Republicks to dread Ambitious and Popular Servants The Venetians are no less suspitious than other Nations They love great Exploits but many times they hate those that perform them believing that those who have been able to preserve their Country may be as able to destroy it and that therefore 't is more danger to advance such than dishonourable to debase them For this cause it is they often crush those persons who have delivered their State because they fear lest those tutelar Angels should out of Ambition or Revenge become Domestick Enemies and Carve out their own Recompence with their Swords thus they rid themselves of a Gentleman of the House of Loredano who by his presence had appeased a Commotion of the People when all the Magistrates of the Town with their promises and their threats could do nothing supposing the said Loredano might some time or other set up for the Government having had so great success in working upon the People like Tiberius who conceived an implacable hatred against the Wife of Germanicus for having stopped a Sedition which himself could not appease In the same manner they caused the person to be put to death who discovered the Conspiracy of Duke Martin Falier first making him a Noble Venetian and then taking away his Life when they had done But 't is no small part of their care to conceal this procedure to Strangers whose Assistance they cannot want in their Wars and to draw whom into their service they have caused several Statues and Monuments to be erected in their Churches and Publick places in Venice and Padua for Strangers that have served the State thereby to allure others with hopes of the same Honour They bear a hatred to any that are great with the People the common inconvenience of an Aristocracie where the Nobility living in constant Jealousy and distrust every man fancies that his Companion designs by insinuating with the People to enslave the Commonwealth and this imagination has caused the death of many a brave Person One Cornaro who in time of Famine had distributed Corn among the Poor was Poisoned for his Charity upon suspition that it was not innocent but that like Andrew Sforzi in Florence he aimed to make himself Prince For in such States 't is the Custom to apprehend those very actions which they admire and to make away the Authors of them How far this was the case of Antonio Foscarini the Senator I cannot determine for the Senate afterwards put to death those persons by whom he had been charged with suppositious Letters from the Spanish Embassador By all which we may see how fatal the favour of the People proves to particular Persons especially in an Aristocracie No wonder then if at Venice we see Gentlemen odious to the Commons for their Extortions and Excess Nor is there any thing more safe than to avoid Popularity Thus was one Priuli called Taglia-braccia not only tolerated but preferred to great imployment because having no interest with the People they thought there could be no danger of his designing against the Nobility Besides these kind of Extravagants are useful many times in Seditions and Tumults to asswage the fury of the People who wreaking their indignation upon such hated persons all the rest are left free whereas those who are Popular cannot be touched but it increases the Flame and hazards a general Conflagration Hence it is that sometimes in Venice it may be dangerous to have too great a reputation because it may create a man as many Enemies as there are Noble-men whom he excells And this perhaps was the cause of the Banishment of Ange Badoer the Senator who was by some thought more Popular than was convenient for the Government For some stick not to make it an Aphorism of State That great Wits be kept under lest elated by the applause of the People they should be encouraged to aspire Moreover they seem not to approve of Persons above their business and employment and therefore they do not much countenance Learning because they think it fills the mind with Notions and hinders that gravity of Judgment which ought to be brought to Publick Debates where good sense with experience suffices whereas your Scholars many times spoil all with their Criticisms and subtilties and rather intangle and perplex Councils than clear them But though they are not Persons that do generally apply themselves to profound Learning yet they are content that Strangers should think otherwise of them And therefore they were offended at the expression of an Embassador of theirs who pretending to give a reason why his Superiors had in their Banner put the Book of St. Mark open and not shut which had been more proper in respect of the War said It was to shew that the City of Venice was recalling good Letters which had been Banished from them so long Which expression caused such Commotion among the Senators that some of them cried out aloud to have the Book shut and in anger returned to their Houses The knowledg of the Venetians lies generally in understanding their own affairs they trouble not their heads much with Books beyond their own Histories and Customs and except some few Gentlemen who have been Embassadors abroad or gone along in their Equipage they are generally very little curious of forreign transactions There goes a Story that a Senator finding his Son reading the History of France snatched it away with this Reprimend Balordo leggi le cose della sua Republica e non altero You Blockhead if you must be reading read your own History and no other They believe the Government of Venice a Model for all the World and no Nation under Heaven so happy as themselves though herhaps they are as Tacitus saith Magis sine Domino quam in libertate Rather without a Master than at Liberty The Florentines call them Grossolum And yet they laugh at the Florentines who with all their exactness and delicacy of breeding have not been able to keep themselves in liberty So true it is that the finest and subtilest wits are not always fittest to Govern and that men of moderate parts so they be setled and stayed are more useful than sublime and exalted heads which commonly are unquiet and unsteady and subject to suddain and temerarius attempts Which made that Noble Florentine say The Venetians were much more capable of Discipline and Reason than the Florentines whose wit was too sharp In effect the Thebans