Venice was then, as now, a city intersected by innumerable water highways, bordered by marble mansions mingled with tenements of wood, studded with churches, and having public squares confined on three sides by houses, while on theTHE BRIDGE OF THE RIALTOremaining side a quay overlooked the sea. The streets bustled with traffic. Gon"dolas⑦ skimmed rapidly along the canals. The merchants assembled on the Rial"to,⑧ and the money-changers spread their tables under the shadow of the Campani"le.⑨The Bank of Venice-the first institution of the kind ever established-the credit of which was guaranteed by the State, attested at once the wisdom and the commercial enterprise of the City of the Waters. In the shops, every article of use, luxury, or ornament, could be obtained. Contractors of all kinds and of different nations resorted thither, and the ships of every flag loaded and unloaded at the quays.
The rivalry of Gen"oa forms a large element in the history of Venice. The two republics were deadly and relentless enemies. Whenever their ships met there was a fight; and in a narrow sea like the Mediterranean, where in some cases they frequented the same ports, they met very often.
In 1261 a rupture with the Byzantine government at Constantinople led to the exclusion of the Venetians from the trade of the Black Sea. Genoa for a time was in the ascendant. A desperate war ensued, which at the end of four years terminated in the triumph of the Venetians, whose maritime and commercial supremacy was thus indicated. The object of the struggle-the trade of the Black Sea-was, however, lost to the victors as well as to the vanquished; for the Turks intervened and imposed their paralyzing influence on the commerce and industry of those parts. Within the Mediterranean, Venice remained without a rival. The blowwhich proved fatal to her influence came from without, and was as unexpected as it was inevitable. It was the discovery of⑩a sea passage to India,which set aside the old caravan routes,
of which Venice formed, as it were, the European centre.
- J. H. FYFE.
WORDS
accessions, additions. attested, evidenced. celebrate, solemnize. channels, passages. conceive, imagine. confidence, assurance. cruising, sailing to and fro. desperate, furious. devastated, laid waste. emanated, issued. encrasted, coated. enterprise, daring. established, settled. estimate, calculation. exclusive, excepting. exquisite, beautiful. frequented, visited.
inevitable, unavoidable. intersected, cut up. intervened, interposed. mainland, continent. maritime, naval. original, primary. pattern, design.
rapine, plunder. relentless, implacable. stunted, dwarfed. subsistence, living. symbolizing, typifying. tenements, houses. texture, fabrication. tortuous, winding. transformed, changed.
NOTES
① Attila, King of the Huns.-He ravaged the Eastern Empire 445-450 A. D.; and, having made peace with the Emperor Theodosius II., prepared to invade the Empire of the West. In 451, he was defeated at Chalons, by Aetius, the Roman general, aided by Theodoric the Ostro-Goth.
② Lagoons, marshes or lakes formed by the overflowing of the sea, and separated from itby banks of sand.
③ Roman Empire in the East.-The Empire was divided into eastern and western portions in 364 A. D., when two brothers began to reign,-Valentinian in the west, and Valens in the east.
④ Bucentaur.-The name is supposed to be a corruption of Ducentorum , the first state barge having been officially described as "navigium ducentorum hominum;" that is, a ship for two hundred men. The last Bucentaur , which was destroyed by the French in 1797, was a galley one hundred feet in length, having two decks. In the lower, sat one hundred and sixty picked rowers. The upper deck comprised two magnificent galleries for the Doge"s retinue, and a state saloon at the stern, which glittered with the ducal throne.
⑤ Doge (Doj), the chief magistrate, or Duke of Venice. The chief ruler of Genoa bore the same title.
⑥ The marriage of Venice.-The ceremony took place on Ascension Day each year. Venice is said to have acquired the sovereignty of the Adriatic from Pope Alexander III. in 1170, who confirmed the concession by the gift of a ring of gold. It was after this that the ceremony of the mystical marriage was introduced. Previously, the Doge had visited the Adriatic in state, and performed certain rites, according to the fashion of the age.
⑦ Gondola, a light flat-bottomed boat used as a public conveyance through the water- streets of Venice. Lord Byron describes it as "a coffin clapt in a canoe;" and Mr. S. Laing as a Thames wherry with the upper part of a mourning coach stuck amidships.
⑧ The Rialto, a famous bridge in Venice, between the isle of Rialto (where Venice firstsprang) and that of St. Mark. It, and the street leading to it, form the greatest business thoroughfare in the city. The present bridge, which is of marble, was begun in 1588, and completed within two years. It is 72 feet wide, and is divided longitudinally into five parts,- two rows of shops, two narrow passages, and a broad passage (21 feet wide) in the middle.
⑨ The Campanile (Campanela ), the Bell Tower of St. Mark"s Cathedral. It is detachedfrom the church, and rises to the height of 323 feet.
⑩ Discovery of a sea passage to India-by Vasco da Ga"ma, in 1497. He established thefirst European settlement in India at Cochin, in 1502.
QUESTIONS
When and by whom was Venice founded? What was the common food of the first settlers? What article did they export? "What made them so expert as seamen? With what distant places did they ere long open up a trade? What was the largest of the Venetian galleys called? On what occasion was it used? In what manufactures did the Venetians excel? What was the population of Venice at the end of the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries respectively? What has Venice for streets? And what for carriages? Where did the merchants assemble? And the moneychangers? What republic was a great rival of Venice? What gave Genoa the ascendency for a time? What deprived both of the object of their struggle? What blow at last proved fatal to Venice?
