Venice

by Clara Erskine Clement Waters

The action took place on Sunday, September 8; and in the very beginning the Venetians crashed down on the Genoese, and ten of their vessels were sunk with every soul on board. The sea was strewn with the débris of these ships, and for some hours it seemed that victory still, as ever, attended the Venetians. As the ships met, the Venetians did not hesitate to board those of the enemy, who, knowing their fate if captured by the men of the Republic, fought like wild beasts in despair. Wounded men were hurled into the sea; many were crushed between the ships; the vessels of the two admirals were in conflict for hours, and the Venetians had almost won the day, when suddenly the wind changed, and several Venetian galleys were driven on the coast and completely wrecked.

Now all was changed; vainly did Dandolo exert every power to encourage his men and restore order; vainly did Quirini, Marco Polo, and other brave men expose their lives with patriotic devotion; vainly did the men of Zara and Chioggia perform feats of valor; twelve captains were seized with such fear that they took to flight, and thus led to irretrievable defeat.

Doria quickly perceived his advantage, and his order to advance flew all along his line like lightning. A struggle followed which in desperation and loss of life has rarely been equalled, never surpassed. The conflict seemed still so equal that neither side could feel the confidence of success, when suddenly the Genoese, by a skilful movement, forced the Venetian centre, their reserve came up, and the rout of the Venetians was complete. The only vessels saved were the twelve which ran away; eighty-three were foundered in action or fell into the hands of the enemy, who dismantled and burned nearly all of them.

Five thousand Venetians were prisoners to the Genoese; the number killed was not known; Dandolo and Marco Polo, who had shown the most impetuous daring and bravery, were taken alive, and all the misgivings with which the brave admiral had opened the battle were more than justified.

"The spectacle which presents itself at Curzola on that terrible 8th of September, after the action, can be pictured more easily than described. In the evening the followers of Doria are seen in a dreamy and trance-like posture, holding with tremulous hands the palm which they have so dearly won, and thinking of the reply which they must give when, on their return, mothers ask for their children, and children for their fathers, who have lost their liberty or their lives on that too eventful day. Curzola hears no shouts of victory, no songs of triumph; several thousand Genoese have felt the edge of Venetian steel; several thousand Venetians see before their dim and feverish vision the horror and ignominy of a Genoese dungeon; and as the sun goes down on the conquerors and the conquered, its serene effulgence affords a striking contrast to the deep lurid hue which has been imparted to the sky for several miles around by the gradual immersion of sixty galleys in a sea of belching fire."

Even the Genoese writers speak of this victory as fortuitous; the losses of the combatants were nearly equal, and the squadrons were well matched, as the superior number of the Venetian ships was fully compensated by the size and strength of the opposing vessels; and even after the change of the wind, if the heroic conduct of Dandolo and his chiefs, of the Zaratines and Chioggians, had not been neutralized by the infamous desertion of twelve ships, the victory might yet have been with the Lion of St. Mark.

"No joy-bells or other manifestations of popular enthusiasm awaited the return of Doria to his country. Too many among the multitude which thronged the quays to witness the landing of the troops were doomed to retrace their steps to a bereaved home, and to hearths made desolate by war; and in the extremity of their affliction, the Genoese were almost tempted to forget their glory, and to check their unbecoming exultation at the abasement of Venetian insolence and purse pride.

"But there was one who was expected to be in the crowd of Venetian prisoners, and whom the Genoese displayed the greatest eagerness to see in chains. He was not there. Unable to support the galling thought that the son of a Doge of Venice was about to grace a Genoese triumph, to be paraded in fetters before a Genoese mob, and then to rot in a Genoese dungeon, the brave and unfortunate Dandolo took an opportunity of dashing his head against the gunwale of the vessel which was conveying him to his new destination, and thus miserably terminated his existence."

Marco Polo was wounded and in an alarming condition when taken to prison; but so much admired was he, and so capable of fascinating enemies as well as friends, that he was cared for in such a way as to insure his recovery, and was even visited by Genoese gentlemen. All who came near him listened to his stories of travels and adventures with rapt attention and delight; and especially a fellow-prisoner, a Pisan, Rusticiano, who had been a writer in his day, and was seized with a desire to write out all the wonderful tales which Marco repeated again and again. Through the kindly offices of a Genoese noble the necessary materials were furnished, and three months were devoted to writing, in curious antique French seasoned with Italian idioms, the tales of the modern Herodotus. We can imagine the supreme felicity with which Rusticiano began: "Oh, emperors and kings, oh, dukes, princes, marquises, barons, and cavaliers, and all who delight in knowing the different races of the world and the variety of countries, take this book and read it!" The first perfect copy was presented to the Republic of Genoa. The length of Polo's imprisonment is not positively known; but he probably returned to Venice in 1299, just when the "Serrata" and the insurrections convulsed the city. But his public life was finished; and his marriage, the making of his will in 1323, and such personal matters are the only records of his remaining life.

The Venetians at once set about the building and organization of a new fleet of one hundred galleys, and rose from their defeat with an energy and spirit that astonished the world. They bought artillery in Spain, and built vessels with such rapidity that the Genoese were undoubtedly influenced to make their peace with Venice by the conviction that she would be ready again to attack much sooner than they to repel. At all events, within a few months, these rivals concluded a perpetual peace with all possible pledges of friendship and mutual respect.