share in those Elections would be more inclinable to the Popular Person than to the Nobleman For the same reason they have granted the Offices and Governments of their Monasteries to the Citizens who thinking themselves much honoured thereby are better affected to the Government In which the Nobles imitated the Romans Apud quos jus imperii valet inania transmittuntur Who having the Dominion in their hands despise every thing else as superfluous The Commonwealth of Venice has under it another Patriarch called the Patriarch of Aquileia which Town was anciently the Metropolis of the Province of Venice and of all Istria but 't is now much fallen from its pristine Grandure and much inferior to the Patriarchship of Venice However the Patriarch of Aquileia is still Primate of Istria and 't is said that in all Councils he pretends to Precedence over all the Arch-Bishops and Primates of Christendom He chooses his own Coadjutor as is said before who being afterwards confirmed by the Senat with the Title of Eletto d' Aquileia keeps his Residence at Vdina in Friul The Commonwealth and the ancient Patriarchs of Aquileia had great Contests about the Patriarchs of Grade whom the Popes had invested with the spoils of the Patriarchs of Aquileia for which reason in History Grade is called Aquileia Nova Mandy-Thursday was made a Festival originally by one Vlrick Patriarch of Aquileia who coming to Grade to surprize his Competitor was himself made a Prisoner with 12 Canons and after set at liberty upon condition he should send every year to Venice one Bull 12 Hogs and 12 Loaves The Senat anciently had or pretended to have the nomination of all the Bishops and Abbots in their Dominions but they wholly renounced it by their Treaty of Peace in the year 1510 with his Holiness Pope Julius 2 to take him off from the League of Cambray Under the Papacy of Vrban VIII there was great Controversy betwixt the Court of Rome and the Senat about the proposition of the Bishopricks belonging to the State of Venice in the Confistory the Senat insisting that that Function should be performed by the Venetian Cardinals but it was accommodated at length and agreed that the proposition about the said Bishopricks should be made by a Venetian Cardinal but the Cardinal Patron was always to be by The Senat never names any particular Nobleman for a Cap lest it should give offence to the rest but the Venetian Embassador at Rome proposes to the Pope several who are worthy of that Honour and they are afterwards recommended by the Senat. The Embassador may propose himself if he thinks fit however he employs all his interest with the Pope for his friends Vrban VI was the first Pope who honoured the Noble Venetians with this Cardinalitial Dignity and he did it because that Commonwealth was the only State almost that stuck to him against Clement VII Pope of Avignion Those Cardinals were Lewis Donat General of the Cordeliers and John Amedeus Arch-Bishop of Corfu the first with the Title of St. Mark the other of St. Sabina since which time there have been always Venetians in the sacred Colledg and three of them were Popes Ange Corraro under the name of Gregory XII who notwithstanding was but the Depository of the Papacy Gabriel Condolmier his Nephew called Eugenius IV and Peter Barbo Nephew to Eugenius with the name of Paul II to whom we might add Alexander V that succeeded Gregory who being a Candiot was born in the Territory of the Venetian Paul V was wont to say the Popes ought not to admit any of the Noble Venetians into the sacred Colledg because the Venetians excluded their Ecclesiasticks out of all Councils and secular Offices in that State But 't is now time we proceed to the Magistrates of the Provinces The Podestats THE Name of Podesta answers to Praetor among the Romans as appears by Latin Inscriptions upon the publick Buildings where the Podesta is called Praetor and the Venetian Podestats administer Justice in their respective Jurisdictions as the Praetors did formerly in Rome and in the Provinces When these Magistrates keep their Court they are assisted by certain Lawyers chosen by them to give their advice which the Lawyers esteem as a more than ordinary Honour An Appeal lies from these Podestats to the Auditori nuovi or to the new Quarantie-Civil The Province of Venice which is called Il Degado di Venetia contains several Podestaries or Regencies The chief is Chiozza an Episcopal City built like Venice upon piles in which great store of Salt is made The others are Malamocco the Port of Venice Murano a small Town famous for making of Glasses Torcella Grade and Caorle Their Territory upon the Terra-firma comprehends seven considerable Governments viz. Trevigiana Padua Vicenza Verona Brescia Bergamo and Crema upon which depends many little Towns Chastellanies and Forts of which every one has a Gentleman for its Governor but all these Governments last but sixteen months that those who are in possession might not have time by making an interest to make themselves Masters For the State of Venice differs much from the judgment of Tiberius who seldom changed his Governors pretending that being satiated with the Blood of the People they would grow honester men In short the threats of Lentulus Getulicus to the said Emperor to raise his whole Province if he sent another over his head is a good arguement how dangerous it is to continue Governors too long because the People will look upon them as their only Masters and 't will be no little difficulty to resume an Authority that has been left too long in their hands The Cities of Padua and Brescia are always governed by ancient Senators Verona and Bergamo by Noble Venetians betwixt 35 and 40 years of age who before had passed thorow many Offices in Venice the rest are commanded by young Gentlemen of the best Families of the Nobility Every 4th year is sent a poor Noble Venetian to Vicenza by reason of a Present of Silver which that City makes every fifth year to their Governor before his departure The City of Vicenza is stil'd the Senat 's Eldest Daughter because she was the first upon the Terra-firma that surrendred to the Commonwealth of Venice in the year 1404. 'T is a long time since the Podestats were permitted to carry their Wives with them to their Governments lest the Governors themselves should be governed by them But the Senat observing the disorders that hapned in several Families by the absence of the Husbands the Chastity of their Wives being many times assaulted and often overcome by solicitations of their Gallants as hapned to the Wife of the Chevalier Lewis Molin and others of later date they released the severity of that Law in compassion to those persons who served abroad But then it imports the Husband to have an eye over the Conduct of his Wife that at their return from their Command they be not reproached as
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
been speaking to him alone which Custom in jealousy the Senat has reform'd to shew that their Republick depends not upon the Duke who is but a single Member as the rest and therefore in his absence Forreign Ministers use the same Title of Serenissime Prince and May it please your Serenity because the Prince is supposed to be where-ever the Seigniory is The Colledg rises and uncovers for the Pope's Nuntio and the Embassadors of Crown'd-Heads as soon as they appear at the door of the Chamber and make their first Reverence but the Duke pulls not off his Hat a thing he never does but to Soveraign Princes Princes of the Blood in France or Cardinals The Embassadors introduced are plac'd on the Duke 's right-hand if they be sent from Kings and if from a Duke they have the same place but the Colledg rises not till their second Reverence in the middle of the Chamber neither do they rise at their going out till their second Salutation Forreign Generals are plac'd as the Embassadors whereas the Generals that are Noble Venetians are set below the Councellors but the Seigniory rises not either when they come in or go forth The Receiver of Malta who is always one of the Commanders of the Orders sits next under the Deputy from the Quarantie Criminelle by which he is distinguished from all Residents without exception to the Emperors who for that cause negotiates with them by an Agent with the Character of Secretary for he is seldom known to have any Embassador there The Nuntio and the Royal Embassadors are receiv'd at their Publick Entrances by sixty of the Senators and Complemented by a Knight of the Golden Stool which is the mark of a Nobleman that has been an Embassador But for the Embassador of a Duke the Colledg orders them to be received by forty Nobles of the Sous-Pregadi who are no better than bare assistants to the Senat and no person is sent to receive a Resident but he is of the number of the Publici Representanti For the Deputies of Towns and Corporations under the obedience of the Seigniory they are never admitted to Audience from the Colledg but upon three Conditions that they have Credentials from the Governor or Podesta of the place from whence they are sent that they have a Memorial of their Demands under the hand of their Governor and another seal'd Letter from him in which he gives his judgment of their Affair to the Senat that the Prince may not be surpriz'd But if these Deputies come with complaints against their Superiors which is but rare it suffices for their admission if their Letters be only from the Commonalty or Corporation In a word it belongs to the Colledg to call the Senat but by mutual dependance it obeys it when met and receives and executes its Resolutions and Orders One proposes the other disposes and these two Councils act always by agreement When the Senat has taken any thing ill from a Prince and is willing to shew a Resentment it causes the Colledg to refuse Audience to his Embassador or Minister In the time of Vrban the VIII Audience was refus'd to his Nuntio upon the affront offered to the Seigniory in exunging the Elogy of the Venetians relating to the Restauration of Pope Alexander III the Memory of which his Holiness had a mind to abolish In the interregnum no Forreign Minister enters the Colledg unless with the usual Complements of Condolence upon the Duke's Death For nothing of business is transacted till another be chosen I shall not speak here of the Function of such Magistrates as make up the Colledg as belonging more properly to my Second Part I shall passs therefore to the Senat immediately as to the chiefest and most important Councils of this State Of the Senat. THE Senat is the Soul of the Commonwealth as the Grand Council is the Body It is the Fountain of Peace and War the Balance that keeps an Harmony and Exactness in all the parts of the State It is called Pregadi because that formerly there being no set-days for the meeting of the said Council the principal Members of the City were invited upon extraordinary Emergency and it therefore retains the Name of Pregadi or Invited Assembly though the Custom of calling them together in that manner is laid aside At first the Senat consisted only of sixty Senators but upon any great occasion they added 25 or 30 more by Commission but their Commission ceas'd as soon as the Debate was resolv'd They proceeded in this manner in the time of Johannes Delfinus in the Treaty of Peace with Lodovic King of Hungary about the year 1360. Under the Duke Laurence Celsus during the Revolt of Candia 1363 and under Prince Michael Sten upon occasion of the War in Ferrara against the Marquess Albert of Este in the year 1410. But the War in Lombardy following some years after the Venetians established in the year 1435 a perpetual Giunta or supply of sixty more Senators to answer the multitude of Affairs that were then before them and these are they which at this day are called the Pregadi Extraordinare So that the Body of the Senat consists of 120 Gentlemen who have deliberative voices without difference of Senators in Ordinary and Senators of the Giunta unless in their Name and Quality There are in the Pregadi several Magistrates some with voices by vertue of their Offices as the Procurators the Ten and all the Judges of the Quarenty Criminelle others are there only to hear and learn as the Sous-Pregadi so that the Venetian Senat consists of three Orders as that of Rome Senators in Ordinary like the hundred Patres created by Romulus Senators additional like the Patres conscripti of the Sabins associated by Romulus with the former and simple Assistants like those in Rome who were called Pedarii who had no right of opinion the whole amounting to 300 Nobles among whom it is marvellous to consider how secret their Affairs were kept as if none of them were privy or as if they had power to forget whatever they heard Non dicam unum sed neminem audisse crederes quod tam multorum auribus suerat commissum Valer. l. 2. c. 2. Titus Livius tells us that King Eumenes having accused King Persius in a full Senat at Rome and proposed ways of making War upon him nothing was known of it more than his introduction to Audience Venice affords us Examples not at all inferior In the year 1495 the Pope the King of the Romans the King of Spain and the Duke of Milan Treated and concluded a League with this Republick against Charles VIII so privately that Philip de Comines his Embassador who saw every day the Ministers of the Confederate Princes enter into the Colledg and conferr'd frequently with them discovered nothing of that important Negotiation which had been transacting several months till he received the first advice from Duke Augustine Barbarigue Lewis Sforca
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
The six Lords-Civil of the Night THey are Judges in certain Nocturnal Affairs that are not altogether Criminal as also in cheats and frauds betwixt private persons they lay the Damages appoint the Costs and execute the Sentences of the Magistrate called al Foristerio for regulating and letting of Houses They were instituted under Duke Peter Lando with the Auditori Novissimi and created for the ease of the said Auditori who had too much business upon their hands their judgment goes no higher than fifty Ducats The three Proveditors du Commun THE Office of this Magistrate not unlike the Aedils in Rome is to keep up the neatness and uniformity of the City to see the Pavements and Bridges kept in repair to look to the Ships and see they be not over-laden to preserve the Priviledges of the Citizens to set a Plate upon new-Printed Books to inspect the several Companies of Artists and the Gondoliers They have Vote in the Pregadi and continue in Office sixteen months The three Proveditori alle Ragione Vecchie THeir Office is in the name of the Senat to send the accustomed Presents to Princes Embassadors or other great Lords as come to Venice and to keep an account of all those kind of expences They are Judges of all damage done to the Demeasns of the Seigniory without the Town with Power to inspect the Accounts of the Proveditors all Biave This Magistrate resembles the Questors in Rome who had the care of lodging such Princes and Embassadors as came suddenly to Town and to furnish them with necessary conveniences in the Name of the Publick they continue likewise 16 months and have voice in the Pregadi There are also three Proveditori alle Ragione nuove young Gentlemen appointed to look to the payment of such as are concerned in the Publick Forms and to seize their Estates upon any defect It belongs to them likewise to cause to be coined several little pieces of Silver called Oselle which pieces the Doge presents to all the Noblemen of the Grand Council in lieu of certain River-fowl which were sent them formerly to their Houses from whence the Medals are called Oselle The four Proveditori alla Giustitia Vecchia THeir Office is to judg in cases of false weights or measures and they commonly punish those Offenders severely They set the prises upon Fruit and Sea-fish which the Fishermen are obliged to sell standing with their Hats in their hands by that inconvenience to humble them and take from them the confidence of bartering too sawcily with the Citizens All Mechannicks are under the Jurisdiction of these Proveditors so that if a Citizen has any controversy with an Artificer it belongs to these Proveditors to decide it These kind of Tradesmen cannot change their Signs for their Shops but with permission from them nor take an Apprentice or other Person to work without acquainting them with the Conditions which they cause to be entred into a Register otherwise their Contracts are void There are three other Proveditors called della Giustitia Nuova whose Authority is over Inns and Cabaritts to prevent selling of sophisticated Wines They take care likewise that Taxes be well paid and they continue 16 months in their Office The three Sopra Proveditorialle Biave THese Seigniors like the Aediles Coreris instituted by Julius Caesar have care of providing the City with Corn and all sorts of Grain that by keeping the People in plenty they might keep them obedient and well-affected to the Government upon apprehension of Famine these Officers advise with the Doge and Sages of the Colledg how they may supply themselves from the Neighbouring Provinces and to this purpose they contract with certain wealthy Merchants who engage to bring them in and deliver them at Venice the quantity agreed for at a precise day upon certain Conditions which are always made good by the Seigniory and if the Merchant fails he is condemned in a considerable penalty There are subservient to these Magistrates three other Nobles called Proveditori alle Biave who do the same and two Seigniori al Formento who visit the publick Magazins see them filled up again every year and when any thing wasts or grows unfit to keep them they see it sold and other bought in its place by which means they are continually full The four Sopra Proveditori del Sal. THese Officers see the Salt brought from the Publick Salt-houses into the Granaries of the City where 't is disposed and sold by their direction they have Power to punish such as imbezle it or sell it without permission This Office is of considerable profit but it lasts but ten Months The Senat Creates sometimes three Revisori al Sal to look into the abuses committed in the Gabelle after which their Office ceases The three Sopra Proveditori alla Sanita 'T IS their Office to see that nothing contagious be brought into the City and that nothing putrified or stinking be sold in the Market 'T is their Office to send out of the Town all such as are ill of any Pestilential Disease to hinder any Persons or Commodities from Landing till they know from whence they come and the Captain of the Ship produces a formal Certificate from the Magistrates of the place where he Laded Otherwise they are sent three miles off from Venice to the Lazant to make their Quarantine And these Proveditori are assisisted with three more of the same Name There is no Town in the World where they are more careful of their health than this and not without reason for indeed the Plague has raged strangely among them and continues commonly a long time because of the streightness of the Streets and driness of a great part of their Canals in Summer which sends forth most unfufferable stinks and therefore there are two Offices created expresly for the Water the one called Savii alla Acque consisting of Senators or Procurators the other Esecutori alle Acque composed of three young Noblemen whose business is to see the Regulations and Orders of the first duly executed both of them have Power to punish such as cast any nastiness into the Canals which the Laws require to be cleansed every year to prevent their filling up But the constant cleansing them according to that Law having been neglected during the War in Candia produce great Inconvenience in many places not only for stinks but by making the passage difficult by the heaps of Mud and Sand insomuch that to clear their Canals and their Ponds the Undertakers have asked no less than two Millions whereas had it been taken in time it could not have cost above 100000 Crowns The three Sopra Proveditorialle Pompe THis Officer in Venice is the same the Gineconomo were in Athens The Harmosins in Sparta and the Censors in Rome For like theirs it is the business of these to reform extravagance both in Cloaths and Diet which in the judgement of Seneca is the sign of a declining State And indeed Feasting is so rare a
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