Not many days later, on the eighteenth of October 1571, the great ‘Angel Gabriel,’ a galley of war, came sailing into the harbour of Venice, full
Molmenti, Seb. Venier.
dressed with flags, and trailing in her wake long line of Turkish standards, and turbans and coats. Then the cannon thundered, and the crew cried ‘Victory! Victory!’ and the triumphant note went rolling over Venice, while Onofrio Giustiniani, the commander of the man-of-war, went up to the ducal palace. Then the people went mad with joy, and demanded that all prisoners should be set free in honour of the day; and the Council allowed at least all those to be liberated who were in prison for debt. Then, too, the people cried ‘Death to the Turks!’ and would have massacred every Mussulman in the Turks’ quarter; but to the honour of Venice it is recorded that the government was strong enough to hinder that.
And then the Doge, Aloise Mocenigo, found his way through the closely packed crowd to the Basilica,
Aloise Mocenigo, praying, Tintoretto; Sala del Collegio.
and fifty thousand voices sang ‘Te Deum laudamus Domine,’ till the triumphant strain must have been heard far out on the lagoon. During four days processions marched through the streets and hymns of victory and thanksgiving were sung; the greatest battle of the age had been fought and won on the feast of Saint Justina, who was one of the patrons of Venice. In return for her military assistance an enthusiastic and devout people resolved to set up a statue of her in the Arsenal and to build her a church in Padua, as she already had one in Venice.
Religious obligations being thus cancelled, the universal rejoicing manifested itself in civic pageantry,
Rom. vi. 317.
and, to use a modern expression, the Venetians held a general exhibition of their treasures. The square of the Rialto was draped with scarlet cloth, on which were hung the pictures of the most famous masters, at a time when some of the greatest that ever lived were alive in Venice and at the height of their glory. In the midst of the square a trophy was raised, composed of Turkish arms and banners, turbans, slippers, jewels, and all sorts of ornaments taken from the slain. From the jewellers’ lane to the bridge a canopy of blue cloth covered with golden stars was spread high across the way, the most precious tapestries were hung on the walls of the houses, the shops showed all their most artistic wares in their windows. The German quarter was so crammed with beautiful objects that it seemed one great enchanted palace. To increase the general gaiety, the government made a special exception and allowed masks in the streets.
When it is remembered that Venice really obtained little or no immediate advantage from the battle of Lepanto, her frenzy of triumph may seem exaggerated; yet it was moderate compared with the reception Rome gave to the commander of the Papal fleet, Marcantonio Colonna. The Venetian captain, Sebastian Venier, was not present, and there was not the least personal note in the rejoicings; that, indeed, would have been very contrary to the usual behaviour of the Republic towards her own sons, for if they failed she disowned them or put them to death, and if they succeeded it was her motherly practice to disgrace them as soon as possible, and generally to find an excuse for imprisoning them, lest they should grow dangerous to herself.