Contarini

“ Contarini sent for Cabot, who happened then to be residing at the court, and gave him his letter, which he there read with manifest embarrassment. After his fears had been quieted he told Contarini that he had previously, in England, out of the love he bore his country, spoken to the ambassadors of Venice on the subject of the newly discovered countries, through which he had the means of benefiting Venice, and that the letter had reference to that subject; but he besought the ambassador to keep the thing a secret, as it would cost him his life. ”

“ Contarini said. "Perhaps not. But you are braver than I. I am not afraid of any man living. But you are afraid of neither the living nor the dead, nor of man nor devil—which is a great deal more than I can say for myself. ”

“ The child’s mother possessed herself of the regency and persuaded the Porte, by the usual methods, to sanction her usurpation. Soon afterwards, however, there visited Athens on some commercial errand a young Venetian noble, Bartolommeo Contarini, whose father had been governor of the Venetian colony of Nauplia. The Duchess fell in love with her charming visitor, and bade him aspire to her hand and land. Contarini replied that alas! he had left a wife behind him in his palace on the lagoons. ”

“ How could she marry a man she did not love? How could she love any man but Zorzi? They might show her twenty Venetian patricians, that she might choose among them. Meanwhile she would show her indifference. Nothing was easier than to put on an inscrutable expression which betrayed nothing, but which, as she knew, sometimes irritated her father beyond endurance.
He had always promised that she should not be married against her will, as many girls were. Then why should she marry Contarini, any more than any other man except the one she had chosen? ”

“ But, pardon me--- I know not how this artifice may prevent The nuptials of proud Contarini! Fiorilla
Know you That Foscarini loves the maid, and she Returns his passion, bitterly detesting His haughty rival! Let the youthful lover Come at the latest hour---his presence crosses These ill starred nuptials. Leonardo
And you, fairest lady--- Forgive me---is a false admirer worth Such stratagem to regain? Fiorilla
Hear me, Leonardo. You see me but the gay and fickle dame Whose smiles are showered on all ”

“ Foscarini. retires up the stage.
Contarini
Can you doubt now? Badoero
Appearances Are strong against him, but his words, though bold, Seem those of innocence. Contarini
Is't new to you, The boldness of the guilty? Badoero
He preserves, At least, the aspect of his former virtue. Loredano
Hear me! The doge is Foscarini's friend. Grant him a meeting with the prisoner; He may prevail, and draw the secret from him That we have failed to learn. Contarini
What mockery this! Loredano
Nay---is not life at stake? Should we neglect Aught that may save the boy? ”

“ As he sank down beside her in the luxurious silence of satisfaction, her fingers were stealthily trying the weight of his laden wallet. She could not lift it with one hand. She smiled again, as she thought how easily Aristarchi would carry the money in his teeth, well tied and knotted in a kerchief, when he slipped down the silk rope from her window, though it would be much wiser to exchange it for pearls and diamonds which Contarini might see and admire, and which she could easily take with her in her final flight. ”

“ He seemed a true incarnation of his magnificent city, a century before the rest of all Italy in luxury, in extravagance, in the art of wasteful trifling with great things which is a rich man's way of loving art itself; and there were many others of the company who were of the same stamp as he, but whose faces had no interest for Zorzi compared with Contarini's. Beside him they were but ordinary men in the presence of a young god.
No woman could resist such a man as that, thought the poor waif. ”

“ My lord---my lord---the dying speak not falsely!' Doge
It must be so. We have been deceived. (To Badoero) Signor, will you delay the execution? (Tumult and shouts heard without) Badoero (to Memmo)
Whence is this tumult, sir? Memmo
The guards have seized Vincentio, him who stirred the multitude To factious rage without. Contarini
Unheard of treason! Loredano
Move not, I pray you. But a moment past, Ye spoke, if I mistake not, of deferring The prisoner's execution? Badoero
First secure That daring felon. Quell the stir without; That we seem not to yield grace to rebellion. ”

“ This marshaling of the entire ruling body of the Republic could not fail to exercise a steadying power, and neither fear nor irresolution were revealed to the impressive, penetrating, and commanding gaze of Leonardo, when the Senator Contarini resumed the speech which had been so strangely interrupted. ”

“ Many members of the family distinguished themselves in the service of the republic, in the wars against the Turks, and no less than seven Contarini fought at Lepanto. One Andrea Contarini was beheaded in 1430 for having wounded the doge Francesco Foscari (q.v.) on the nose. Other members of the house were famous as merchants, prelates and men of letters ”

“ The excellent Contarini had not yet departed [194] thence on his mission of conciliation to the Conference, which had been arranged with the Protestant leaders at Ratisbon. The brightest and most cheering hopes were based on a total misconception of the nature, or rather on an entire ignorance of the existence of that under current of social change, which, to the north of the Alps, made the reformatory movement something infinitely greater, more fruitful of vast results, and more inevitable, than any scholastic dispute on points of theologic doctrine. ”

“ Contarini and Badoero count the votes.
Senators of Venice,
Ye to the public eye should be as gods,
Not men thus passion moved.
Contarini.
Fathers! the laws have triumphed.
Read the decree.
Badoero (reads.)
“It is hereby enacted, that if any Patrician be seen to hold intercourse in secret with the ambassadors of France or Spain, or pass their thresholds after sunset, he shall be held guilty of treason and shall suffer its penalty.”
Doge.
’Tis well; such is the Senate’s voice. And now
Another duty. Summon Foscarini. ”

“ You see I was in Saint Mark's when you went there to meet the glass-maker's daughter, and I have seen you at other times. I should be sorry never to see such a beautiful beard again, so I mean to take it with me, and if you will keep quiet, I shall really not hurt you."
Thereupon he produced from his doublet a bright pair of shears, and knelt down by the wretched man's head. Contarini twisted himself as be might and tried instinctively to draw his head away.
"I have heard that pirates sometimes accidentally cut off a prisoner's ear," said Aristarchi. ”

“ She began to tell him how this was the third time that a number of masked men had come to the house an hour after dark, and had stayed till midnight or later, and how Contarini had told her that they came to play at dice where they were safe from interruption, and that on these nights the servants were sent to their quarters at sunset on pain of dismissal if Jacopo found them about the house, but that they also received generous presents of money to keep them silent.
"The man is a fool!" said Aristarchi again. "He puts himself in their power." ”

“ Bewildered by his terror, Antonio sat trembling, and utterly incapable of deciding as to the course he should adopt, when the trusty gondolier again came to his rescue.
"Cospetto! Signor!" he exclaimed, "have you lost your senses, that you run thus into the very jaws of those devil's messengers? To one like myself flight would certainly avail little; but, with a Proveditore for your father, you may arrange matters if you only take time before you become their prisoner. Quick, then, to the palazzo! Don't you see old Contarini's head stuck out of his window? He is telling them you are not there. ”

“ In Italy (§ 139, 22) there had sprung up a number of men well instructed in Scripture, who sought to reform the doctrine of the church by adopting the principle of justification by faith without touching the primacy of the pope and the whole hierarchical system. Contarini was one of the leaders of this party. He had come to an understanding with the emperor that justification by faith, the use of the cup in communion by the laity, and marriage of priests should be allowed for Germany, and that, on the other hand, the Protestants were to agree to the primacy of the pope. ”

“ The same evening I saw the Prince of Piedmont and told him of the apprehensions of Contarini, of how I had acquainted the Cardinal de Richelieu with them, and of the answer he had given me. The Prince replied that the Venetians were speculative and suspicious people, who retailed their dreams and their imaginations as authoritative news; that they had spread this report from suspicion rather than from any information they had obtained; and that, for himself, he was perfectly sure that no negotiations to the prejudice of the League or to our present projects were in progress. ”

“ But Contarini evidently felt that the Pope needed pressing. When the Commission of Nine had been appointed, the Pope had summoned a General Council to meet at Mantua in May 1537, in a Bull published on May 29th, 1536, and had also published a Bull of Reformation in September of that year. The Council never met—the war between Charles V. and Francis I. preventing. The Council was then summoned to meet at Vicenza, but was again postponed. The Emperor had no wish for a General Council in Italy, and the Pope was determined not to call one to meet in Germany. ”

“ IN June of the next year the venerable and faithful Doge Andrea Contarini was laid to rest in the cloister of S. Stefano, and Michele Morosini was elected in his stead. Morosini was one who in the gloomiest time of the Chioggian war had given an inestimable pledge of his faith in the Republic by buying some house property belonging to the commune for 25,000 ducats, and when rallied by his friends for his folly, replied, [42] “If ill befall the land, I have no desire for fortune.” ”

“ If it shall appear He had no thought of treason, shall his youth And recent services, all plead in vain? Loredano (significantly)
'Tis rumoured that some fairer cause impelled him Incautious into danger.--- Contarini
Idle falsehoods! Must we give heed to every lying breath That stirs the populace? Badoero
Hush, the prisoner comes. (Foscarini is brought in by Beltramo)
(To Beltramo) You may retire. ”

“ When I came to Venice for the winter, she followed; and as she found herself out to be a favourite, she came to me pretty often. But she had inordinate self-love, and was not tolerant of other women. At the 'Cavalchina,' the masked ball on the last night of the carnival, where all the world goes, she snatched off the mask of Madame Contarini, a lady noble by birth, and decent in conduct, for no other reason, but because she happened to be leaning on my arm. ”

“ A clause binding the Doge to keep himself informed of the number of prisoners in the cells at the Ducal Palace and to see that each and every prisoner should be brought to trial within a month of his incarceration, demonstrates how careful the aristocracy were to justify power by wise principles of government. Contarini was an old man of eighty when he accepted office, and after six years retired on an annuity of 1500 lire, the first pension ever granted to a Doge. The steady pursuance of commercial aggrandisement brought Venice in the previous reign into conflict with Bologna. ”

“ Contarini accompanies Uzun-Hassan from Ispahan to Tauris, where he finds Ambassadors from the Duke of Burgundy and the Prince of Muscovy, and gets leave to return to Venice.
The king left Ispahan with all his court on the 25th of November for Tauris, and we travelled along with him, passing through most of the places which we had seen in going to Ispahan. In this journey we always slept in tents in the fields, and the camp was well supplied with provisions, as many merchants had received orders to provide grain, victuals of all kinds, and all sorts of necessaries. ”

“ We find Tommaso Contarini, ambassador to Flanders, greatly struck by the value of peat as fuel, and bringing back some to Venice to assist [141] him in ascertaining if anything of the kind is obtainable near. Then there was "Der Einlasse," the complicated night-entrance to Augsburg, worked by mechanism which allowed a person to be admitted without seeing any one,—such a mystery that many allowed themselves to be locked out on purpose to see it work, and Queen Elizabeth sent a special agent to acquire the secret; in vain. ”

“ About this time a Soranzo was hanged, though not in Venice itself, for sacrilege, and a Contarini put in chains for burglary; another of the same family came in 1499 before the Signory, and complained that for many years he had been without an office, that he had only sixteen ducats a year and nine children, that his debts amounted to sixty ducats, that he knew no trade and had lately been turned into the streets. We can understand why some of the wealthier nobles built houses, sometimes whole rows of them, to provide free lodging for their needy comrades. ”

“ Among these men were Contarini, the learned and saint-like Venetian, Sadolet, Giberto, Caraffa (a man, who however earnest in his piety, showed himself at a later period, when he became pope as Paul IV., to be animated with a very different spirit from that of most of his fellow religionists) , Gaetano, Thiene, who was afterwards [Pg 357] canonised, etc. But in almost every part of Italy, not less than in Rome, there were men of the same stamp, who carried the new ideas to greater or lesser lengths, were the objects of more or less ecclesiastical censure and persecution ”

“ Even in this winter-time the men had worked in the water up to their waists, all the while in danger of drowning as well as of being shot by the enemy. They began to murmur; they declared that this was more than flesh and blood could bear, and they demanded leave to return to Venice. Pisani had shared all their perils, {156} but he knew that great firmness was required to put down this discontent, and he asked the Doge, in a tone which made his request a command, to swear on his sword that he would not return to Venice unless Chioggia was taken. Contarini took this oath without hesitation. ”