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
any interregnum in Poland the Senat should appear for the Election of any person their interest would put them upon the Election of the Czar upon condition he would turn Catholick because that Prince would be in a posture not only to oppose the Turk but to carry the War home into his own Country and force him to disgorge all that he has swallowed from Poland and if this should once happen the Senat might then confederate with the Pole against the Turk either to attack them openly at the same time and give them diversion or to defend one another reciprocally by an Auxiliary War whenever either of them should be invaded After which if the Sophy should enter into the League which he would do if he saw the Czar his ancient Ally made King of Poland 't is not to be doubted but that Triple Alliance would bring the Turk to reason or at least keep him closer in the bounds of his Empire But because the Election of the Moscovite to the Crown of Poland is like to meet with great difficulty in respect that the Nobility would fear the subversion of their Liberty by so powerful a Prince the Senat of Venice desires at least to continue in good intelligence with him by reason of the great advantages it may receive from him upon any extraordinary Exigence With the Ottoman Court. T IS no fault in the Republick of Venice that they are not always at Peace with the Turk for there is scarce any thing they omit to procure it They endeavour or rather purchase his friendship by continual Presents They dissemble the Injuries and Affronts that they receive lest they should be oblig'd to revenge them They suffer his Pyracies in the Adriatick-Sea and yet pay him more Submission and Ceremony than to the Pope and all the Princes of Europe which if we may believe the testimony of a Venetian Embassador at Constantinople serves but to enhance the insolence of the Turk whose nature it is to make advantage of every thing where he finds himself dreadful And though at Land he be incomparably stronger than the Venetian yet at Sea the Venetian is too hard for him in respect that the Grand Signior has neither good Pilots good Rowers nor good Mariners nor is it so easy for him to recruit at Sea as at Land not for want of Ships or Galleys but for want of good Sea-men and good Officers to Command them for generally the Ottoman Fleet consists principally of slaves who never were at Sea before and by consequence are unable to endure its Fatigue by which disadvantage the Turks have been often beaten at Sea by the Venetian who understands that Trade very well and makes it their continual Exercise So that the Turks have a saying God has given the Sea to the Christians and the Land to the Turk Nevertheless the Venetian is in such awe of the Turk that they will renounce their Alliance with all the Princes of Europe to preserve his and their Complacency is so great they care not to break with the best of their Friends when the benefit they are to expect from them may give the least jealousy to the Porte Upon this Consideration they would not permit the Pope to hold the last Council in Vicenza and therefore the Italians call the Venetians Semiturchi and the Spaniards Venice l'Amancebada del Turco that is to say the the Concubine or Prostitute of the Great Turk who suffers him to do any thing And to speak truth 't is but just they should fear him having suffered his Power to encrease to such a pitch that they are not able to deal with him with their single Force which at first they could do at least with as much ease as the four last Paleologi kept Constantinople a whole Age in the middle betwixt two Capital Turkish Cities Adrianople and Burse that kept it as it were block'd up as Huniades raised the Siege of Belgrade in 1442 in spight of Amurath II and in 1456 in spight of Mahomet II. Or as a poor Prince of Albania defended his chief City called Coja against the Efforts of both those Emperors Amurath dying of pure indignation that he could not carry the Town and the other drawing off with shame as he did from the Siege of Rhodes where he lost his time and a great part of his Army So that it may be concluded the Venetians lost in that time the Isle of Negropont Corinth and the best part of Morea Albania which they had seized after the death of Scanderbeg only for want of Courage seeing they alone had more Money and Force than the Kings of Hungary Albania and the Knights of Rhodes all together The Greatness and ancient Extent of this Commonwealth may be estimated by their losses since the Turks established in Europe Amurath II took from them Salonica the richest Town in Macedonia and demolished that famous Wall called Hexamile that stop'd the progress of his Conquests and secur'd that Country from his Invasions In the year 1470 Mahomet invaded Negropont and seized upon part of Moria and Albania after he had a second time ruin'd that Corinthian Wall which the Venetians had repaired Bajazet II took from them Lepanto Modon Coron and Duras in the year 1500. Selimus II possessed himself of the Kingdom of Cyprus 1570. Canea and Retimo in Candia were taken by Ibrahim and at length in the year 1669 Candia it self was taken by Ibrahim's Son Mahomet IV the present Grand Seignior Fifteen months after the loss of Candia they were in danger of a new War about the limits of Dalmatia but by good fortune they escaped that the Bashaw of Bosnia with whom the Procurator Nani was to treat being favourable towards them it being concluded betwixt them that Salona Navigrade St. Daniel and all betwixt Zebenigo and Spalatro should remain to the Venetian with Clissa and the Country five miles about That Scardona should return to the Turks not having been conquered by force and as to Pizzano and other places in dispute they should be kept in their ancient bounds But this Treaty was not ratified gratis for the Senat sent his Highness a Present of 12000 Sequins with a large quantity of Cloth of Gold for the Sultanesses So that the Port needs no more than to complain or threaten to draw Money and Presents from the Venetian who by his Gifts renders himself rather worthy than secure of the Amity of the Turks and the reason is because he knows not how to Comport with a firm generous Resolution They have constantly an Embassador at Constantinople whom they call Bailo this Embassy recompences all their other for as they say in Venice in three years time they get above 100000 Crowns all Charges born the Embassador having considerable Duties upon all Merchants Ships that carry the Standard of St. Mark They have two other Bailos or Consuls in the Dominion of the Great Turk one at Al ppo the Center of
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
without considering their respective Ranks in the Common-wealth Let us now pass to the Procurators of St. Mark which is the second Dignity in that State The Procurators of St. Mark THere was antiently but one Procurator of St. Mark called Procurator Operis B. Marci because he had inspection over the building of that Church and this seems to support the opinion of those who believe that Office to have been Created by Duke Peter Orseole the first of that name by reason he began to rebuild the Ducal Chappel which had been burned under Peter Candien his Predecessor Be it as it will Bartelemi Fiepole Elected 1049 under Prince Dominick Contarin is the first to be found in the Archives where it appears that there was but one Procurator till the year 1231 at which time Philip Memme being sent Embassador to the Emperor Baldwin II. at Constantinople Peter Dandole was chosen that the City might not be left without a Procurator so that at the return of the said Memme was the first time two Procurators are mentioned to be together Some will have it that Duke Sebastian Ziani having ordered by his Will that the Revenue of the Lands he left to the Church of St. Mark should be annually distributed to the Poor by the Procurator it was thought unfit the disposition of so much Money should be intrusted to one man lest thereby he should insinuate with the people and use them in some dangerous Designe and therefore to prevent that inconvenience the Venetians had chosen another Procurator to see the Will of Ziani executed But it appears by several Manuscripts in the Library of St. Mark that under the three Dukes who succeeded after Sebastian Ziani there was but one Procurator and that it was upon occasion of the absence of Philip Memme a second was created as is mentioned before The Riches of St. Mark being well increased since that time the Councel chose in the year 1258 Mark Sorance for a third Procurator and divided the Business and Advantages betwixt them charging the First with the Care and Government of the Ducal Church The Second with the disposal of such Legacies as were left to it by such as lived on that side the Grand Canal And the Third with whatever was left to it by such as lived on the other side of the said Canal which two Persons were called likewise Commissaries di qua e di la. And in the year 1261 a Fourth Procurator was made in the Person of James Molin who was Colleague to the First and writ thus Ego N. Procurator Operum B. Marci not Operis for the building was grown too great and Magnificent But the Republick finding this Dignity much sought after and that it would furnish them with a way of gratifying their Subjects without any Expence In the year 1319 they Created Nicholas Tailer and Marin Foscarin a Fifth and a Sixth Procurator associating them with the Second and Third who had no Colleagues and giving them the keeping of all their Charters and Records These Six Procurators were divided into three Chambers called commonly Ridotti di Supra di Citra and di Vltra In the year 1442 Three more were made viz. Lewis Loredan Paul Tron and Francis Barbarigue assigning to the First the Chamber di Supra to the Second the Chamber di Citra and to the Third the Chamber di Vltra so that each Chamber had three Procurators all of them reteining the Title of Procurators of St. Mark though only those di Sopra were intrusted with the administration about the Ducal-Chappel This last Creation was attended with a Decree by which the Grand Council ascertain'd the Number of Procurators and confined them to Nine declaring that no Person whatever should be proposed nor admitted into that Order till after the Death of some one of those Nine who were at that time in possession of the said Dignity That is to say James Trevisan Di Sopra Mark Mobin Lewis Loredan Mark Foscare Di Citra Andrew Contarin Paul Tron Stephen Contarin Di Vltra Paul Correr Fran. Barbarigue In those dayes the Procurators were made only for their Merits but the affairs of the Commonwealth changing their Face afterwards by the War of Cambray which exhausted it and cost them Five Millions of Gold the Council of Ten made two Decrees one of the ninth of May the other of the first of June 1516 by virtue of which Six Noblemen viz. Lewis Pisani George Eme Franc. Fossare Laurence Loredan Lewis Molin and Jerome Justinian were for a Sum of Money added to the rest of the Procurators But with condition that no more should be Created till the said Company should be reduced to the determinate number of Nine from which notwithstanding the said Council thought fit to digress by another Decree of the 26 of March 1522 which Decree was presently followed by the Election of Three other Procurators for their Money so that the number of Extraordinaries was equal to the Ordinaries under Anthony Grimani and under Andrew Grimani who succeeded him they were increased to six or seven more This exorbitant number of Procurators was afterwards by the death of several of them reduced to Nine whom the Council declared Procurators in Ordinary though of the Nine Six were Extraordinary But in the year 1570 the Republick being at Wars with the Turk was forced for want of Money to sell that Dignity again to Six several Gentlemen which since they have continued to do in all necessities of their State and particularly in their last War in Candia which continued 25 years for never was there seen so many Procurators as then During the Siege of Candia there were no less than Forty some of them being of the New Nobility paid 70000 Ducats for their Places whereas the Antient paid not above 30000 at most The Commonwealth making it a Maxim to favour the Antient Nobility and to squeeze the New as having more juice for the generality than the other But of all these Procurators there are only Nine in Ordinary called by the People Procurators par meriti whose Places are filled up after their Deaths according to the Decree in the year 1572. For when any of these Nine are dead the Bell called la Trottiere designed only to assemble the Grand Council is rung and the Defunct is not Buried till his Successor be chosen to prevent Disorders that may be caused by multitude of Competitors The new Procurator appoints a day for the Solemnity of his Entry according to antient Custom and all his Relations and Friends come home to his House to attend him first to the Church of St. Mark where he hears Mass accompanied by the antient Procurator who in Honour to him gives him the Right-hand that day He is followed by the rest as also by the Senators and other Gentlemen invited who march two and two in their Scarlet Robes Mass being done he swears upon the Evangelists to observe exactly his
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
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
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