Venice

by Clara Erskine Clement Waters

But the people soon learned that Pisani had merely been given the command of the Lido, while Giustiniani was at the head of the navy. Then a great tumult arose; and although the government alleged that Pisani was needed at the Lido, the people to the number of fifty thousand refused to embark on the galleys until Vettore Pisani was made captain-general of all the forces of the Republic by sea and land. The matter was then referred to the Ten, who were awed into compliance; and the commission was granted as desired, and this but four days after the fall of Chioggia, so hastily had all been done.

Meantime the allies had progressed less rapidly, owing to divisions in their counsels; but they had pushed forward to Malamocco, and there erected a battery within three miles of the capital. Many stray shots reached Santo Spirito.

Pisani had much to do to make efficient sailors and soldiers of raw recruits, to provide for the safety of the city, to equip between twenty and thirty skeletons of galleys which were at the Arsenal and were ready for sea in three days, and to attend to the lists of the volunteers. The whole city was enthusiastically patriotic. "All classes hastened to enroll themselves. Painters quitted their studios to be initiated in the rudiments of naval discipline on the Giudecca; cutlers and apothecaries closed their workshops, and devoted themselves to drilling and exercise. Artisans brought their savings; women plucked the jewels from their dresses, and begged the Seigniory to dispose of them as they would."

Pisani found the wooden towers which Giustiniani had erected at Porto Lido to be insufficient, and demolished them in order to build others of stone. Giustiniani, full of rage, endeavored to persuade the friends of Pisani not to approve of this; and he, seeing the hesitation, seized a trowel, crying, "He that loves Saint Mark, let him follow me!" and laid the first stone with his own hands. The men returned to their duty, and the castles of San Andrea and San Niccolo were built in four days! Many other preparations were made; and when on August 24 the Genoese attempted an attack at two different points, they were repulsed in such a manner as to convince them of the futility of their efforts, and the siege of Venice was raised. After a few weeks Doria destroyed the works he had raised at Malamocco and retired to Chioggia, there to await the fall of Venice by starvation.

The situation in Venice was so desperate that some of the councillors even made a motion for emigration to Candia or Negropont; but this wild notion was met with declarations that death among the ruins of Venice would be preferable to life elsewhere. Food was so scarce and dear that a large proportion of the people were famishing; even the wealthy families often ate their last loaf not knowing where to get another, and they were also as charitable as it was in their power to be to their poorer countrymen. Thus the autumn passed and winter had come, and yet Carlo Zeno had not returned. He was the only hope for Venice and her people. A letter found on a captured vessel gave information of splendid successes which he had achieved and rich booty that he had taken; his name inspired terror from the Golden Horn to the Riviera, and he was now probably off Canea, whither a messenger was sent to command his immediate return.

Just at this point Barbarigo captured three of the Genoese ships and took one hundred and fifty prisoners, and Pisani advised that this good fortune should be followed up by an endeavor to recover Chioggia. He recognized the daring and difficulty of the undertaking; but not to make this effort meant starvation, and they might reasonably count on the aid of Zeno very soon. This advice was acted upon, and a decree was published that of those families of plebeians who should most liberally meet this emergency by the offer of soldiers and money, thirty should be summoned to the Great Council; that to those not thus called five thousand ducats should be annually distributed, and continued to their heirs forever; that all foreign merchants who showed zeal for the cause should be made citizens, and all Venetians who eluded the burdens and hardships of the time should forfeit all civil rights. This measure produced immediate results. Men and money were freely offered; and the Doge Contarini, seventy-three years old, but hale and hearty still, wished to assume command, with Pisani as his admiral and vice-captain-general.

Pisani had learned, by one means and another, that Doria had thirty thousand men, fifty galleys, seven hundred or more light craft, and full supplies of every sort. The odds against the Venetians were overwhelming, but they delayed not, and December 21 was fixed for the beginning of the attack. Thirty-four galleys, sixty barks, and four hundred boats of all sorts of build and dimensions made up the Venetian fleet. Orders were issued that every man should be at his post in the ships, at noon, under pain of death. The whole force was divided into three parts,—the first under command of Pisani; the centre under the Doge, assisted by Cavalli; and the last under Cornaro, called Collo storto from his crooked neck. At the hour for vespers the Doge, Pisani, and the leaders attended a Mass in San Marco, and it was eight o'clock before Contarini mounted his barge and unfurled the same great banner which had floated above the victory over Barbarossa. All had been done rapidly and without noise.

It was a mild winter evening; the stars were bright and the sea calm, and everything seemed propitious to the undertaking. Soon after passing the Lido a fog came on, but speedily disappeared; and not far from ten o'clock the fleet was off the Pass of Chioggia, at the southern point of Pelestrina. Pisani had planned to blockade the Genoese instead of attacking them; and in the course of three days the Strait of Chioggia was choked and dammed on the shores of Pelestrina and Brondolo.

But this had been done at the cost of great hardships and loss of life. Even in this winter-time the men had worked in the water up to their waists, all the while in danger of drowning as well as of being shot by the enemy. They began to murmur; they declared that this was more than flesh and blood could bear, and they demanded leave to return to Venice. Pisani had shared all their perils, but he knew that great firmness was required to put down this discontent, and he asked the Doge, in a tone which made his request a command, to swear on his sword that he would not return to Venice unless Chioggia was taken. Contarini took this oath without hesitation. This scene occurred on Christmas eve.