XVII

Giustinian Giustiniani had been among the electors and had listened to

that strict canvassing of acts, both private and official, which

preceded the final vote for the Prince of Venetia.

"Venice hath taken stand before the courts of Europe with a leader who

feareth naught--save not to do the right," he magnanimously assured the

Lady Laura one evening when, according to their wont, they were

discussing the theme which never failed in interest. "Nay, not even

that; for Donato hath courage in himself, and in his own rulings faith,

and more a man needs not."

"Then wherefore hath the Signoria created this office of _Teologo

Consultore_, and appointed thereto this friar of the Servi, of whom they

tell such marvels--as if the Collegio, with all our learned chancellors,

were not enough!"

"Leave thou these matters to the Signoria, who, verily, know how to

rule--ay, and how to choose; for the man is like none other."

"What uses hath the Senate for this cloistered scholar, skilled in many

sciences and master of tongues," the Lady Laura persisted, "that it

should create an office--which since the _serrata_ it hath not been

known to do--and appoint a friar over the heads of our nobles who have

loyally served the Republic since our ancestors first sat in the

Consiglio? There are the halls of Padua for our scholars, where already

his friend, the master Galileo, holdeth high honors, by favor of the

Senate; and if Fra Paolo were named Rector Magnifico, and put at its

head----"

"Nay, nay, the Senate is wise," her husband interrupted, not ill pleased

at her vehemence and the patrician pride which prompted it. "And if the

Republic hath no present need of the Consultore's mastery of sciences,

the fame thereof hath made a hearing for any speech of his. But he hath

no mind to any social pleasures--how, then, my lady, hast seen him, or

knowest thou the quality of his learning?"

"Fra Francesco is never weary of telling of his wisdom; they have been

friends since boyhood in the Servi. The master Galileo, if one may

believe him, can do naught without consulting Fra Paolo, and together

they are building some strange tunnel that shall bring the stars nearer!

It is like a fable to listen to these marvels of his friend, who for his

discoveries might well hold all the chairs in Padua if Fra Francesco

might decree his deserts! But Fra Francesco is simple-minded. Tell me,

Giustinian, how doth the Consultore appear to thee?"

"To me and to all men like one who betrays no secret and speaks no idle

word."

"Once," pursued the lady meditatively, "I had sight of him, going with

Marco to the convent to see our Madonna of the Veronese, and Fra Paolo

ministered in the chapel of the Consolation; very quiet and simple he

seemed, like the other frati. I had not thought him great, nor a leader

of men. Are there no statesmen in Venice who might better fit the

dignity of so great an office?"

"Think not to teach subtlety to the Signoria, my Lady Laura! Is not

every noble a statesman trained, and every one at the service of the

Republic? But there is no greater theologian at the Court of Paul V, nor

any ecclesiastic among them all more familiar with the writings of their

authorities; and he hath a memory so astounding that he beareth the

meaning of all their codes on the end of his tongue wherewith to confute

the fallacious arguments of Rome."

"Giustinian!"

"It is like a woman to ask a thing and cry out if the answer be not

smothered in sweets!" the old Senator retorted irritably, resenting her

accent of reproof. "It is small marvel if the Consultore seemeth not

great to thee; the power of the man is in the clarity of his vision and

the brevity of his speech."

"Who named him to the Signoria?"

"Donato knew him well, and Morosini and all our ablest men; and his

knowledge of the ways of Rome, where he hath been much in legislation at

the Vatican, is a power in the Senate--which hath no mind to be taken in

argument, nor to fail in courtesy, nor to show ignorance in its demands.

It is much to have a judge whose opinion our adversary must respect."

"The Senate will be cautious--will not forget the reverence owed to the

Holy Church?" she asked, in warning, troubled at his bold use of words.

"Nay, but the Republic will first remember the duty owed to our prince,

since it is a matter that toucheth the State," he answered,

uncompromisingly, "and for our duty to the Church--leave that to our

frate, than whom none is more devout."

She was too keenly interested not to put the further question:

"Is it safe for Fra Paolo to lead this controversy? Is it pleasing to

his order?"

Giustinian gave a contemptuous laugh.

"Thou mayest well ask! Fra Paolo also would not hear of it at first,

foreseeing where it might lead. But from urgency of the Senate he

yielded--if the consent of the general of the Servi were first won.

Wherefore it was granted one knows not; but the purple robe had,

perchance, some weight in the argument,--being a pleasing honor,--though

one may dare assert that Fra Paolo himself gave it not a thought, having

gathered honors all his life with no care for any greatness they might

bring."

"Nay, it was not this that won them," said the Lady Laura, with

decision, "but their hope that Fra Paolo would support the claims of the

Holy Father; it could have been nothing else."

"A hope most reasonable, were he a man of less remarkable force,"

Giustinian answered confidently. "But, as if he held a divining-rod, he

findeth at once the heart of a matter, and Venice hath no fears."

No, Venice had no fears. If there had been heartburnings, they were all

forgotten; her rulers were one in determination while they calmly

weighed the balance between Church and State, and confidently awaited

the issue. The briefs had been opened and the chief Counsellor, the new

Teologo Consultore, had given an opinion which filled the Senate with

admiration.

"Two remedies might be found: one, material, by forbidding the

publication of the censures and preventing the execution of them, thus

resisting illegitimate force by force clearly legitimate, so long as it

doth not overpass the bounds of natural right of defense; and the other

moral, which consisteth in an appeal to a future council. But,"

continued this sagacious Counsellor, after a word explanatory of the

"future council," "it were better to avoid this appeal in order not to

irritate the Pope more than ever; and also because he who appealeth

admiteth that the goodness of his cause is doubtful, whereas that of the

Republic is indubitable."

Such was the opinion, brief as positive, to which the senators listened

in undisguised satisfaction on that memorable day in January, 1606; and

although those briefs, "Given in Saint Peter's, in Rome, under the Ring

of the Fisherman, on the 10th of December, 1605," darkly threatened

excommunication unless these dearly beloved sons of Venice withdrew from

the stand they had taken, yet with a Doge who "would laugh at an

excommunication," and a learned Counsellor who assured them that the

cause of the Republic was indubitable, well might the shadows lessen in

the Senate Chamber; while in calm assurance the Savii[7] prepared the

reply to these communications from his Holiness, which the Signor

Agostino Nani presently delivered in an audience at Rome.

[7] These Savii, or _wise men_, had charge of the diplomatic

despatches of the Republic.

But the task of the courtly Nani was not an enviable one, deferent as

was the form of the epistle in which these devoted sons declared that

nothing could have been further from the thoughts of Venice than to

prejudice the rights of the Church--humbly as they implored the Holy

Father to recall the many acts of loyalty by which Venice had shown her

love and reverence. Had she not been foremost in the Crusade? Was the

Church anywhere more magnificently supported in temporal weal? Earnestly

as they assured him of the harmlessness of those laws which he condemned

as hurtful to their souls, quietly announcing that the Republic had

transgressed no right in making laws for her own independent civil

government,--and gracious and diplomatic as were the ways of Nani,--his

Holiness declared the letter to be "frivolous and vain," and dismissed

the ambassador with temper, assuring him that unless the Republic found

means to retract those laws "the gates of hell should not prevail" to

deter him from inflicting the utmost threatened penalty.

It was a frank contest of wills, in which each opponent conscientiously

believed himself in the right; but it was, nevertheless, not an equal

contest; for Paul, conceiving that his duty in the exalted position of

head of the Church which had been so unexpectedly thrust upon him, lay

in its mere temporal aggrandizement, while consciously turning all his

powers in that direction, misnamed the struggle a _spiritual_ one. But

Venice not only believed but confessed it to be merely a question of

civil rights of rulers, and, strong in the sense of the justice of her

cause, used every grace of trained diplomacy in asserting it--upon an

understanding of civil law which was beyond the attainment of the lawyer

Camillo Borghese, and with the aid of specialists whose knowledge of

canon law equaled that of his Holiness.

Among the important matters touched upon in those days in the Senate the

question had been broached, not without anxiety, as to whether Rome

would have recourse to force of a less spiritual nature, and a secret

commission had been appointed to examine and report from the frontiers

any accession of papal troops, while envoys were sent to Ferrara on the

same furtive errand: and the more serious Venetians were already

discussing the possibility of war as one of the aspects of this quarrel

with the Holy See.

One day, through the swift and secret mouth of the Lion, an unusual

message reached the Ten, standing strangely out amid a mass of darker

matter--denunciations, sinister information, hints of intrigues; the

reason for the choice of this mysterious messenger was stated in the

preamble: "To the end that this may, without circumlocution, immediately

reach your noble body and be acted upon in your discretion--being

secretly dismissed, if this seemeth wisest in the interests of the

State." It was a brief offer on the part of Girolamo Magagnati to equip

and maintain, at his expense, in the event of war with the Holy See, a

war-galley of the largest size, as a gift to the Republic in the name of

his little grandson, the infant Giustinian.

Venice, being more munificent in expenditure than her unassisted

treasury would warrant, was at all times ready to receive and encourage

private bounties from her wealthy citizens; and the promptness and

generosity of Magagnati's gift, the first which had been offered in this

emergency, seemed in the interests of the government to demand some

adequate public recognition, modestly as it had been proffered. Haughty

as was the attitude of Venice in the face of the threatened

excommunication, the occasion was one of peril to which she was not

blind, and the danger was greatest among the people--the _popolo_--who

were more under the influence of the priests, and who still included in

their beliefs many superstitions which were not likely to deter the

disciplined body of nobles from acquiescence in the decisions of their

chiefs.

It was therefore a moment for diplomacy, when Venice might fitly show

magnanimity in her acceptance of so princely a gift from one of the

people, as this master-worker of Murano was still esteemed; and Girolamo

Magagnati was invited to appear before the Senate and receive the

acknowledgment of the Serenissimo, who had already been informed by the

Councillors that while the spontaneous offer of a galley so maintained

had no precedent in the annals of Venice, the reward which the Senate

proposed to bestow had, in fact, in early historic days been offered by

the Republic as a stimulus to such a gift.

Girolamo Magagnati, a grave and venerable figure,--with white locks

falling from under his round black cap, and a full gray beard flowing

over the long merchant's robe of stiff silk, and wearing the insignia

of his calling, a golden chain which by its weight and numerous links

was also an indication of his wealth,--might have been one of the

Signoria, as he stood among them to receive their thanks--unabashed, as

became one of his dignity of character and age, unattended, as befitted

one of the people.

The Doge himself made a gracious speech of acceptance on behalf of the

Republic, to which Girolamo briefly answered: "Most Serene Prince and

Noble Lords of the Council, in the name of my grandson Giustinian, I

thank you," and with a grave obeisance he would have retired; but it was

signified to him that he might not yet withdraw.

"Yet one thing remaineth, most esteemed Messer Magagnati, by which this

Republic would testify her appreciation of such loyalty and forethought,

by reason of which--as for the esteem in which this Republic hath ever

held the ancient house of Magagnati, which from the earliest times hath

been foremost in our industry of Murano--we propose to confer nobility

upon thine house, and to give thee an immediate seat of right in the

Maggior Consiglio."

The honor was so unexpected that the body of grave Councillors had risen

in congratulation before Girolamo Magagnati could frame other response

than his profound and grave obeisance.

But there was no hint of indecision in the deep, measured tones with

which he made reply:

"Most Serene Prince and Lords of the Council, I beg you to believe in my

deep appreciation of the honor you would bestow. But let it rather be

said of me that I--being still of the people, as all of my house from

the commencement of this Republic have ever been--have yet received such

favor of my Prince that he accepts from one of the people this token of

loyal service to the government. And more I ask not."

"Also," he proceeded calmly, taking no note of the consternation on the

faces of his auditors, "is it not fitting for old men to receive favors

from children, rather for them to bestow--as I, this galley, in the name

of the boy; the which--were I to accept in return the munificence of the

Senate--would be the offering of my galley as so much base coin,

wherewith to purchase an honor not mine by birth. Let it not be said in

scorn that Girolamo Magagnati hath bought the nobility with which his

birth hath failed to endow him!"

"Is it better, Messer Magagnati, that some should now say 'it is for

arrogance that this noble son of the people refuses a seat among the

nobles of Venice'?" the Doge questioned coldly.

"Not so, Most Serene Prince; each man is rather noble if, in that place

which God hath assigned him, he doeth nobly the duty belonging thereto;

as ye, my Lords, Nobles, and Councillors of the Republic, each in the

seat appointed you by birth, serve, without wearying, the interests of

Venice. I am already old and the last of my race, for those of my blood

who come after me, by the favor of Venice, are inscribed in the 'Libro

d'Oro.' If I have deserved aught of your bounty, be gracious when some

right of the people is in danger of being forgotten; and let my

grandson, among the nobles, ever serve nobles and people alike--as

Venetians--without distinction of interests. But let me die as I have

lived, among the workmen of Murano--Magagnati, of the Venetian people."

"Never before, in the annals of the Republic, was one known to refuse

the gift of nobility," Giustinian explained, as he described the scene

to the Lady Laura. "And, verily, one saw that the displeasure of the Ten

was great; the more so that in the interests of the government the

return they would have made may not be kept from the knowledge of the

people. Yet our senior master of Murano was suffered to depart with a

gracious word of regret from this consummate Donate, 'that a new noble,

so loyal in sentiment, should not be numbered among the councillors of

Venice.' Truly this grandsire of our little one lacketh not pride, and

his bearing became him well, though the Senate would have had it

otherwise. His gift was generous; but verily he needeth little for the

maintenance of the state he keepeth!"

"Giustinian, it was a noble act! And already the Republic is more

beholden to our baby than to any child in Venice; it will bring gladness

to the face of our sad Marina."

"Nay, guard thee from speech of it; perchance she may not hear thereof,

being thus concerned with grief for this quarrel--womanlike; and she

hath not strength to bear the thought of war. Verily, the reverend

father confessors in Venice have much to answer for; I would thou

couldst find means to keep Fra Francesco from his ministrations in her

palace."

"Fra Francesco--so holy and gentle--a man to trust!"

"Ay, I have naught against him, save that he is trained in the school of

Rome, having a conscience to uphold their claims, and with no thought or

care for anything but the Church--no wisdom to discover any right of

princes. Such confessors make trouble among the people. I doubt not our

daughter trusteth the word of Fra Francesco beyond thine or mine. Do thy

possible to keep him from her; there is no knowing what Marcantonio may

do at her bidding, and in this crisis there shall be no stain upon our

house."

"Thou, then, Giustinian, speak with Marco."

"Nay, I dare not name Marina to him under such suspicion; it might be

the forcing of the very thing we fear. He hath a way with him of hearing

all and saying naught, save some gay, facile word, courteous to the

point one can find no fault; and underneath he hath perhaps some scheme,

and never can one get a promise from him."