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THE QUARRY. 5
shores of the lagoons; and in 1508 the league of Cambrai
marks the period usually assigned as the commencement of the
decline of the Venetian power; * the commercial prosperity of
Venice in the close of the fifteenth century blinding her historians to the previous evidence of the diminution of her internal strength.
§ vi. Now there is apparently a significative coincidence
between the establishment of the aristocratic and oligarchical
powers, and the diminution of the prosperity of the state. But
this is the very question at issue ; and it appears to me quite
undetermined by any historian, or determined by each in accordance with his own prejudices. It is a triple question:
first, whether the oligarchy established by the efforts-of individual ambition was the cause, in its subsequent operation, of
the Fall of Venice; or (secondly) whether the establishment of
the oligarchy itself be not the sign and evidence, rather than
the cause, of national enervation; or (lastly) whether, as I
rather think, the history of Venice might not be written
almost without reference to the construction of her senate or
the prerogatives of her Doge. It is the history of a people
eminently at unity in itself, descendants of Roman race, long
disciplined by adversity, and compelled by its position either to
live nobly or to perish :—for a thousand years they fought for
life; for three hundred they invited death: their battle was
rewarded, and their call was heard.
§ vn. Throughout her career, the victories of Venice, and,
at many periods of it, her safety, were purchased by individual
heroism; and the man who exalted or saved her was sometimes
(oftenest) her king, sometimes a noble, sometimes a citizen.
To him no matter, nor to her: the real question is, not so
much what names they bore, or with what powers they were
entrusted, as how they were trained; how they were made
masters of themselves, servants of their country, patient of
distress, impatient of dishonor; and what was the true reason
* Ominously signified by their humiliation to the Papal power (as before
to the Turkish) in 1509, and their abandonment of their right of appointing
the clergy of their territories.
| Title | The stones of Venice - 1 |
| Creator | Ruskin, John |
| Publisher | J. Wiley |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1889 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000026 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | THE QUARRY. 5 shores of the lagoons; and in 1508 the league of Cambrai marks the period usually assigned as the commencement of the decline of the Venetian power; * the commercial prosperity of Venice in the close of the fifteenth century blinding her historians to the previous evidence of the diminution of her internal strength. § vi. Now there is apparently a significative coincidence between the establishment of the aristocratic and oligarchical powers, and the diminution of the prosperity of the state. But this is the very question at issue ; and it appears to me quite undetermined by any historian, or determined by each in accordance with his own prejudices. It is a triple question: first, whether the oligarchy established by the efforts-of individual ambition was the cause, in its subsequent operation, of the Fall of Venice; or (secondly) whether the establishment of the oligarchy itself be not the sign and evidence, rather than the cause, of national enervation; or (lastly) whether, as I rather think, the history of Venice might not be written almost without reference to the construction of her senate or the prerogatives of her Doge. It is the history of a people eminently at unity in itself, descendants of Roman race, long disciplined by adversity, and compelled by its position either to live nobly or to perish :—for a thousand years they fought for life; for three hundred they invited death: their battle was rewarded, and their call was heard. § vn. Throughout her career, the victories of Venice, and, at many periods of it, her safety, were purchased by individual heroism; and the man who exalted or saved her was sometimes (oftenest) her king, sometimes a noble, sometimes a citizen. To him no matter, nor to her: the real question is, not so much what names they bore, or with what powers they were entrusted, as how they were trained; how they were made masters of themselves, servants of their country, patient of distress, impatient of dishonor; and what was the true reason * Ominously signified by their humiliation to the Papal power (as before to the Turkish) in 1509, and their abandonment of their right of appointing the clergy of their territories. |
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