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
the death of Duke Francis Erizza ordaining that no Duke should be chosen General at Land nor at Sea nor any of their Brothers or Children during their Dukeship Which serv'd to confirm the report at that time that the Senat having found the danger they had pulled upon themselves by the large Power they had given to Duke Erizza had poisoned him as he was ready to depart The Kings of Sparta had power to dismiss the Embassadors of their Enemies or Allies with positive Answers The Doges cannot resolve any thing upon their own heads nor answer any of the Propositions or Demands of Forreign Ministers as I have said before The Kings of Sparta could by their own Authority commence continue or determine a War reserving to themselves the Soveraign Command whilst it lasted The Doges can neither begin protract nor conclude it The Kings of Sparta could abrogate old Laws and establish new but the Doge of Venice cannot alter a syllable of what is decreed by the Grand Council and the Senat. In a word the Republick of Venice not only detains their Dukes Prisoners in their Palace encompass'd with Spies and Informers destitute of common divertisements and divested of all the Authority of Princes but it daily retrenches their Priviledges to vilifie them the more Formerly the Presents sent them from the Levant or other Countries where it was the Custom to send them by their Embassadors belong'd to the Dukes In the 1668 the Muscovite Embassadors in their return from France passing by Venice where they had something to negotiate for the interest of their Master presented the Doge to the value of Ten or Twelve Thousand Crowns in Sables and other Furrs The Procurator Andreas Contarin a Sage-Grand nearly related to the Duke of that Name but a mortal Enemy to the Procurator his Son who had made himself odious to all the Nobles by his abominable avarice remonstrated to the Grand Council That the Presents of the Muscovites ought not to be appropriated to the Doge for he being no Soveraign neither the Embassadors nor Presents were sent to him any more than he sent their Embassadors Adding That when their Embassadors carried Presents to Constantinople it was not at the charge of the Doge and therefore it was not reasonable that he should have the profit of what belong'd in Justice to the Publick which defrayed the charge of the Embassadors And the business coming to a debate it was solemnly decreed that for the future the Doge and his Successors should be deprived of that ancient advantage When the Doge appears in any publick Procession or Ceremony he is magnificently cloathed sometimes in Cloth of Gold sometimes in Cloth of Silver and sometimes in Scarlet with the Ducal-Corne upon his head the ushers of his houshold marching before him and two of them carrying his Train The Captain-Grand marches likewise before him with his Officers the Secretaries of the Pregadi and Grand-Chancellor with the Golden-Stole and after him follows the Senat. In this Equipage he draws the Eyes and forces Veneration from the People who are always taken with the outward tokens of Grandure But it is to be observed the Senat follows not in addition to his Honor but to participate of what is given him where-ever he goes believing that if the Duke should receive it alone he would appear a Soveraign to the People and to such strangers as were present The Venetians like not that their Duke should have too much parts they believe that would make him less tractable and give him a Confidence in himself They had rather have a person of moderate qualifications who is capable of their affairs but governable by them and easily held to his duty Besides the Senat where he has but a single voice like another Nobleman supplies the defects of his understanding And therefore Duke John Pesaro was no proper man for them because he knew too much himself to be perswaded by other people whom for the most part he drew to his opinion by the strength of his arguments as in the business for the reestablishment of the Jesuites Nor indeed is it necessary a Prince in a Republick having nothing but the bare name and being but the shadow of the Senat should have too large and capacious an Intellect seeing he is to do nothing of himself and therefore it was the Thebans pictured their Prince with his Ears open and his Eyes shut to signifie it was not his Office to see or determine what was to be done but to hear and execute blindly what was concluded by the Senat. They make him Duke for his life to render him more Majestick and like to the Crowned Heads among whom they are willing he should be reckoned as also to coax him for the little Power he has by the Duration of his Dignity but they choose him always antient that other pretenders may have hopes to succeed Besides old age wanting the Vigor of youth is not so bold and undertaking They are very glad when their Dukes are rich that they may adorn their dignity and be an ornament to the Publick which allows them not above 12000 Crowns per annum half of which is spent in his four annual Feasts To which may be added the charge of his entrance which is never well celebrated but by large Gifts to the people thrown among them in Silver in the Palace of St. Mark a Custom first introduced by Duke Sebastian Ziani So that if they have any touch of Generosity and Magnificence they do often incommode if not ruine their Families And that is it the Senat desires having perhaps no other design in exempting their Children from the penalty of their Sumptuary Laws The Administration of their Dukes is looked into after their deaths by three Inquisitors and five Correctors created on purpose who always find that either the Duke has abused his Authority some more some less or neglected the Publick affairs for the advancement of his Private or else that he has not lived according to his quality And this canvasing of his Conduct is commonly followed by the condemnation of his Heir in some Pecuniary Mulct so that their Children cannot enjoy their Inheritance till they have obliged themselves by Oath to pay what Imposition shall be laid upon them Thus was the Family of the Duke Peter Loredan charged with a Fine of 1500 Sequins because the Father had lived too narrowly in his Dukeship In my time they found the like fault with their Duke who besides his own parsimony had a Son who took what-ever he could lay his hands upon as if to make amends for the old age of his Father which appeared the worse because the people had been accustomed to the Magnificence of his Predecessors the Dukes Valier and Pesaro In a word the fear of this Inspection into their Management makes the Dukes and their Children cautions what they do and shuts the door against all their oppression and
betwixt their Subjects and Strangers betwixt Stranger and Stranger as also to the letting of Houses Ships or Boats to hire The three Cattaveri THey judg of all goods found either at Land or at Sea determining to whom they belong The word Cattaveri is as much as Searcher of the truth Cattar in the Lombard Language signifying to Search They appropriate to the Publick and put it in possession of all the Goods of such as dye Intestate or without Heirs They punish such of the Jews as wear the Black Cap without permission from them a liberty they sell for Money but never for above a Month that they may have always a way of squeezing those People who would not be distinguished by a Red Cap. The three Seigniori alli Banchi THeir Jurisdiction extends only to three places where the Jews are obliged to lend their Money upon Security a way the Publick has found out to supply the poor People who had rather pawn their Goods to them and redeem them again at moderate Interest that to sell them for half the worth as they would be constrained by their necessities These Banks are not unlike those in Italy called Monti di Pieta Not to trouble my Reader with an unnecessary ennumeration of particulars I pass by an Hundred other Judges But must not as I conceive leave Venice and make a visit to the Provincial Magistrates till I have said something of their Chancellor and Secretaries as bearing part in the Government as also of the Patriarch of that City and the Venetian Cardinals a matter that carries great connection with the Subject I intend Of the Chancellor and Secretaries THE Grand Chancellor is Head of the second Order that is of Citizens amongst whom he is a kind of a Doge Cancellarius Ducem quasi ex populo refert He is present at all Councils without exception He is privy to all Intrigues and Secrets of the Commonwealth which writes nor receives no Letters of which he has not a sight He has the keeping of the Seal and it cannot be taken from him without deposing him quite He is as it were a Chevalier born by virtue of his Place which gives him the title of Excellence and precedence before all the Senators and Magistrates of the City except the Councellors of the Seigniory and the Procurators of St. Mark He is chief of all the Secretaries who with him represent the Body of the Citizens as the Doge and Councellors of the Colledg do the Body of the Nobles and therefore in Latine Instruments he is called Magnus-Scriba Scribarum Princeps And it is to be observed the Office of Grand Chancellor is affected by all the Secretaries as the end of their hopes and desires to which when they arrive they will have no cause to lament any pains they have taken or any Service they have done to the Commonwealth there being no Nobleman with proportion so well recompenced as they no not the Doge himself nor the Procurators par merite The Chancellors Office is for life he wears Purple like the Duke and the six Councellors of the Colledg enjoys all the priviledges of a Nobleman and has some peculiar to himself The State allows him a Pension of 3000 Ducats besides the common Perquisits of his place which amount to 9 or 10000 Ducats more without obliging him to any expence In short he wants nothing but a deliberative Voice in the Councils where he sits only as an Instrument and in that he is inferior to the meanest of the Nobility When the Seigniory marches upon any publick occasion the Chancellor is preceded by the Secretaries the Doge by the Chancellor and the Senat by the Doge where we may take notice of two different Customs one of the Nobles which is preceded by their Chief the otber of the Cittadinance or Body of Citizens which proceds their Chief the first to shew that the Nobility and the Citizens are not to take equal measures the other to intimate that the Chancellor is not the Creature of the People but the Agent and Officer of the Nobles by whom he is chosen and of whom by consequence he holds his Charge and Authority and last of all to signify the concord and harmony of all parts in the Government The Chancellor after his election makes a publick entry and passes to the Colledg accompanied by several Procurators the ancientest of whom assisting commonly that day gives him the upper hand as the Senators and the rest of the Nobles do to the Citizens who in that Ceremony march like Noblemen in their Red Gowns so that it is not altogether unlike the Saturnals of old where the Servants were attended by their Masters In Publick Ceremonies if it be Winter the Chancellor appears in a Crimson Velvet Robe if Summer in Red Damask with his Stole of Gold but his common habit is Scarlet or Purple Cloth In a word when the Chancellor dyes he has the same Honours as the Doge when he dies his Funerals are kept in the Church of St Mark and his Elogy pronounced in presence of the Senat who upon that occasion are in Mourning thereby shewing greater regrate for the loss of their Chancellor than for the loss of their Duke whose Obsequies are Celebrated by them in Scarlet Robes as I observed before Having so many Priviledges 't is no wonder that the Chancellor Augustin Vianole bought Nobility for his Sons without mentioning himself the reason is plain not being like to be Chancellor and Noble Venetian together a thing that never happened but once in favour to Mark Ottobon Father to the Cardinal of that name he chose rather to keep his place and continue in the Populatc than to quit it and make himself Noble The Chancellor Ballarin was of the same mind and preferred his Chancellorship before the Honour of being Noble par Merite that is to say gratis which the Seigniory put to his choice The Chancellor is chosen by the Grand Council as all the Magistrates of the City are As to the Secretaries there are three sorts The first are called Secretaries of the Council of Ten and are most considerable because of the Preheminence of that Court The second are called Secretaries of the Senat and the third Notaries or Ducal Clerks from Ducal Clerks they rise to be Secretaries of the Senat and from thence they are preferred to the First according to their respective Capacities The Secretaries of the Council of Ten are but four and their places are much sought after and very hard to be got The Secretaries of the Senat are twenty four of which five or six are imployed as Residents in Naples Milan Florence and Zurich in Switzerland with Pensions of 2000 Ducats five or six others are imployed as Secretaries to their Embassies in the Courts of Kings where the Senat continues them for several years that at their leisure they may imbibe all that is necessary for the instruction of those who succeed them and
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
what it is able to keep And if it be true that a State can never maintain it self but by means conformable to its principle no wonder if the Republick of Venice conceived in Fear brought forth in the Waters brought up in Poverty and elevated in Peace began to decline from its greatness by engaging in a War with the Dukes of Milan and Ferrara without considering the nature of their Forces or the difficulty of maintaining their Conquests Had the Venetians followed the wise counsel of their Doge Thomas Moccineguo which he gave them upon his death-bed to content themselves with their Conquests at Sea where they had acquired so many fair and rich Islands the delights of the Terra-firma would not have debauched them nor provoked the emulation and jealousy of all the Princes of Italy who were obliged to unite in a War against them to curb their extravagant ambition They might better have resisted the Turk who finding them otherwise employed began from that time to invade Greece and infest their Maritime Provinces And Polititians have observed that the recovery of their Lands upon the Continent was the first cause of the loss of Cyprus and Candia places of much more importance than their Towns upon the Terra-firma And therefore P. Scipio had reason when to the Officer who cried about the Streets in Rome Jupiter auge Rempublicam he told him he had much better pray to Jupiter to preserve than to encrease it Satis esse auctam dicens dummodo Conservaretur Though the Lacedemonians were all professed Souldiers they punished not those who lost their Swords in the Battel but those who lost their Bucklers it being then an infamy among them as since among the Germans to shew that they esteemed it less Glorious to Conquer than to Defend the Sword serving for Invasion the Buckler for Defence With much more reason the Venetian being a People of the Robe and for Councel ought to have imployed their Buckler against their Neighbours and applied themselves more diligently to their Interest in the Levant where Fortune had been so favorable to them A Second Cause of their decay is the slowness of their Councels 'T is true this fault is common in all Commonwealths but with them it may be said to be in extremity their Senat seeming sometimes to be asleep with so much heaviness and inactivity it moves upon several occasions They had seasonable advertisement of the vastness of the Ottoman preparation for the Invasion of Candia and yet they thought no more of putting themselves into a posture of defence than if they had had no former experience of the Turkish perfidy or had been assured by Revelation that that great Force was not intended against-them This Confidence was founded upon the Promises of an Infidel who deceived them by making them believe that the Designes of the Port were against Malta though Hungary and Poland might have given them wholsom instances of fear and distrust And John Sorance their Embassador at Constantinople admonished them of their danger and exhorted them constantly to provide but apprehending to disgust the Grand-Seignior if they should discover any open suspition and fearing to precipitate themselves by false Measures into a War against which they thought themselves safe by virtue of their Alliance which they had lately renewed they saw the Fortress of St. Theodore surprized and the City of Canea besieged before they would believe their Countrey was to be the Theatre of the War and the whole Charges to be defraied by them Which shews there is a certain Fatality that governs all things and blinds the wisest persons living when misfortune is at hand The loss of Canea drew after it the loss of Retimo and the Field And when there was nothing remaining to them but the chief City and some few Villages and Forts they began to deliberate in despair The greatest part were for delivering it up freely for Peace and it had been certainly done had not John Pesaro since Doge bravely Remonstrated to the Senat That if they gave up that place to the Turk it would be the way to make him more insolent to increase his Contempt of them and raise in him an insatiable desire to Invade them by the easiness of his Conquests and therefore it was his Judgment better by a vigorous resistance to discourage him That if he were once master of Canea he would quickly demand the three Isles and the rest of Dalmatia That to be Conquered and Submit to their Force would be no scandal but to submit for fear would be dishonourable and base that though an Enemy be never so formidable we are not to publish our apprehension That States are not maintained by Pusilanimity and Trusting That if it be almost imposible to preserve a Countrey already more than half lost it would be the more honourable to defend it Courageously the less likelihood there was of success That the Commonwealth of Venice like a Corpulent man had need to Exercise to dissipate the gross Humours it had contracted by too long repose That the War in Candia was like a Wound to be kept open to prevent a Gangrene That the Eyes of all Christendom were upon them to observe how they followed the steps of their Glorious Ancestors and what expression they made of their Constancy and Courage And that if their Forces were not strong enough for the Turks yet they were strong enough in such a desperate juncture where their Honour and Safety was at stake This Discourse turned the Scale and put the Senat upon a resolution to maintain the War to the utmost extremity which they did a long time with prodigious expence And here it is to be observed the Venetians who are naturally very fearful and superstitious were not so when they should have been Some Months before the Turks landed in Candia a Nobleman of that Countrey being present at Mass with the Senat in the Chappel of the Colledg stole the Pax which is usually given about to be kissed and not many days after in the Court of the Palace of St. Mark the word Pax out of the Verse Justitia Pax osculatae sunt fell down out of the hands of Justice in the sight of several persons which was taken as a certain presage of the War wherewith that Republick was threatned in the opinion of all People and the Omen was much more intelligible than that whereby Ceditius Prognosticated the coming of the Gauls to Rome But the Senat made no use of these Prodigies either willing to conceal its distress according to the Custom of Princes or else insensible of its danger Thus the Venetians lost the Kingdom of Cyprus by their irresolution though the Procurator Hieronimo Zane and Pascal Cicogne their Generals in Dalmatia and Candia remonstrated to the Senat that they were not to expect till Selymus declared but to look upon it as certain and provide to meet him with a good Fleet at