The Vatican Decrees in Their Bearing On Civil Allegiance

He asked, in particular, what were Venetian prejudices and opinions. The native writers of the survey could not enlighten him since, they said, such questions admitted no answer. No other city had so effectively silenced its inhabitants. There were times, in fact, when indiscretion exacted a high price. When two glass-blowers escaped to foreign capitals with the secrets of their trade, in 1745, the senate decreed that they should be assassinated by means of poison. It was observed that, on the Rialto, the bankers and merchants customarily spoke in hushed voices. The government of the city was conducted in secrecy. We might almost describe it as an Oriental secrecy, with secret meetings, secret payments, secret audiences, secret decisions and secret deaths. When new nobles were introduced to the business of government their oath of allegiance included the promise of БЂњfaith and silence.БЂ«It is highly characteristic of Venice. One of the allegorical paintings in the dogeБЂ™s palace is that of taciturnity. There is a strange figure of stone on the edifice of Saint MarkБЂ™s; it is of an old man, leaning on crutches, who has a finger to his lips ...»