Venice

by Clara Erskine Clement Waters

"More terrible than any personal despot, because impalpable, impervious to the dagger of the assassin, it was no concrete despotism, but the very essence of tyranny. To seek its overthrow was vain. Those who strove to wrestle with it clasped empty air; they struck at it, but the blow was wasted on space. Evasive and pervasive, this dark, inscrutable body ruled Venice with a rod of iron. For good or for bad, the Council of Ten was the very child of the new aristocracy, which had won its battle against both the people and the old nobility. The victorious party breathed, and their breath became the Ten; and it is the Ten which determined the internal aspect of Venice for the remainder of her existence."

Thus had Gradenigo silently and determinedly worked a greater revolution than Bajamonte could have made, had he succeeded in his plans; and he had made himself hated in his success, while his rival was beloved to the end. The name of Pietro Gradenigo is not so frequently mentioned as those of other Doges and generals of the Republic. The man who firmly established the aristocrats in power and originated the Council of Ten is forgotten in the importance and vast results of his work; but so far as the sovereignty of Venice was concerned, no man was more remarkable than Gradenigo.

When he died, in August, 1311, he was hastily buried at Murano. Whether this was because he was so hated that a riot was feared, or on account of his excommunication, we know not. How truly of him could it be said, he brought nothing into this world; and it is certain he carried nothing out,—not even sufficient respect from those he had benefited to lead them to follow him to his grave. This was all the more noticeable from its contrast with the usual obsequies of those who held his office. Hazlitt gives the following account of a Doge's funeral:

"In the first instance the ducal remains were transported from the Palace on the shoulders of twenty of the oldest Senators to the saloon of the Signori di Notte; one of the household marched in front, carrying a sheathed sword with the point upward; and a large number of patricians followed the corpse. The Doge was splendidly attired in the costume which he wore on state occasions; and the gilded spurs, indicating his equestrian rank, were fastened at his heels. After a brief interval the procession was again set in motion; and, the members of the College having taken leave at this point, the rest proceeded to St. Mark's, where the Dogaressa and her ladies and a throng of mourning nobles had assembled. Here the burial service was performed with the accustomed solemnity; and after its celebration the bearers resumed their burden, and the body was conveyed, with every mark of pomp, to the family vault."

With Bajamonte Tiepolo died the old nobility. He and it and the people were sacrificed to the new aristocrats, who had overridden the old Constitution. From the Quirini-Tiepolo conspiracy the peculiar government which was purely Venetian, and unparalleled elsewhere, may be dated; and strangely enough, the leaders of the revolt contributed largely to the success of Gradenigo, since, but for the insurrection, it is doubtful if he could have riveted his chains and clasped them with the Council of Ten.

Time has obliterated the traces of the rebellion. The Column of Infamy was broken soon after its erection by one of Bajamonte's admirers, and after many removals from one garden to another it was carried to Como. A square of white marble in the pavement of the Campo of Sant' Agostino, inscribed "Col: Bai: The: MCCCX.," is the sole reminder of the insurrection; and this is where few strangers go, in the heart of Venice, between the Frari and the Campo San Polo.

The family of the Tiepolo were not crushed by the failure and exile of Bajamonte. Their palaces, always bearing two obelisks on the roofs, are still seen on the Grand Canal, and prove that in later days this house was not disgraced by the remembrance of the Gran Cavaliero.

THE COUNCIL OF TEN.

Until within the last half-century it would have been a matter of surprise to hear a charitable word spoken for this famous council, much more to hear it defended as the best method for the government of Venice at the time when it was the controlling spirit of the Republic. But in more recent years the historians of various nationalities, taking into account the more reliable and wider knowledge that has come from the study of the Venetian archives, are not inclined to the severe condemnation of the Ten which it formerly received, and have indeed been led to think it well suited to its era, and of great value in upholding the power and guarding the prosperity of the Republic.