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part05+-第49章

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throughout the earth to that fatal year when the young Bonaparte



tossed the Republic over to the House of Austria; the Doge;



crowned and robed; kneels humbly before the Saviour; the Virgin;



or St。 Mark。 In that vast Hall of the Five Hundred; the most



sumptuous room in the world; there is spread above the heads of



the Doge and Senators and Councilors; as an incentive to the



discharge of their duties on earth; a representation of the



blessed in Heaven。







From highest to lowest; the Venetians lived; moved; and had their



being in this religious environment; and; had their Republic been



loosely governed; its external policy would have been largely



swayed by this all…pervading religious feeling; and would have



become the plaything of the Roman Court。 But a democracy has



never been maintained save by the delegation of great powers to



its chosen leaders。 It was the remark of one of the foremost



American Democrats of the nineteenth century; a man who received



the highest honors which his party could bestow; that the



Constitution of the United States was made; not to promote



Democracy; but to check it。 This statement is true; and it is as



true of the Venetian Constitution as of the American。'1'











'1' See Horatio Seymour's noted article in the North American



Review。











But while both the republics recognized the necessity of curbing



Democracy; the difference between the means employed was



world…wide。 The founders of the American Republic gave vast



powers and responsibilities to a president and unheard…of



authority to a supreme court; in the Venetian Republic the Doge



was gradually stripped of power; but there was evolved the



mysterious and unlimited authority of the Senate and Council of



Ten。







In these sat the foremost Venetians; thoroughly imbued with the



religious spirit of their time; but; religious as they were; they



were men of the world; trained in the polities of all Europe and



especially of Italy。







In a striking passage; Guizot has shown how the Crusaders who



went to the Orient by way of Italy and saw the papacy near at



hand came back skeptics。 This same influence shaped the statesmen



of Venice。 The Venetian Ambassadors were the foremost in Europe。



Their Relations are still studied as the clearest; shrewdest; and



wisest statements regarding the men and events in Europe at their



time。 All were noted for skill; but the most skillful were kept



on duty at Rome。 There was the source of danger。 The Doges;



Senators; and controlling Councilors had; as a rule; served in



these embassies; and they had formed lucid judgments as to



Italian courts in general and as to the Roman Court in



particular。 No men had known the Popes and the Curia more



thoroughly。 They had seen Innocent VIII。 buy the papacy for



money。 They had been at the Vatican when Alexander VI。 had won



renown as a secret murderer。 They had seen; close at hand; the



merciless cruelty of Julius II。 They had carefully noted the



crimes of Sixtus IV。; which culminated in the assassination of



Julian de' Medici beneath the dome of Florence at the moment the



Host was uplifted。 They had sat near Leo X。 while he enjoyed the



obscenities of the Calandria and the Mandragora;plays which; in



the most corrupt of modern cities; would; in our day; be stopped



by the police。 No wonder that; in one of their dispatches; they



speak of Rome as 〃the cloaca of the world。〃'1'











'1' For Sixtus IV。 and his career; with the tragedy in the



Cathedral of Florence see Villari's Life of Machiavelli; English



Edition; vol。 ii。 pp。 341; 342。 For the passages in the



dispatches referred to; vide ibid。 vol。 i。 p。 198。











Naturally; then; while their religion showed itself in wonderful



monuments of every sort; their practical sense was shown by a



steady opposition to papal encroachments。







Of this combination of zeal for religion with hostility to



ecclesiasticism we have striking examples throughout the history



of the Republic。 While; in every other European state; cardinals;



bishops; priests; and monks were given leading parts in civil



administration and; in some states; a monopoly of civil honors;



the Republic of Venice not only excluded all ecclesiastics from



such posts; but; in cases which touched church interests; she



excluded even the relatives of ecclesiastics。 When church



authority decreed that commerce should not be maintained with



infidels and heretics; the Venetian merchants continued to deal



with Turks; Pagans; Germans; Englishmen; and Dutchmen as before。



When the Church decreed that the taking of interest for money was



sin; and great theologians published in Venice some of their



mightiest treatises demonstrating this view from Holy Scripture



and the Fathers; the Venetians continued borrowing and lending



money on usance。 When efforts were made to enforce that



tremendous instrument for the consolidation of papal power; the



bull In Coena Domini; Venice evaded and even defied it。 When the



Church frowned upon anatomical dissections; the Venetians allowed



Andreas Vesalius to make such dissections at their University of



Padua。 When Sixtus V。; the strongest of all the Popes; had



brought all his powers; temporal and spiritual; to bear against



Henry IV。 of France as an excommunicated heretic; and seemed



ready to hurl the thunderbolts of the Church against any power



which should recognize him; the Venetian Republic not only



recognized him; but treated his Ambassador with especial



courtesy。 When the other Catholic powers; save France; yielded to



papal mandates and sent no representatives to the coronation of



James I。 of England; Venice was there represented。 When Pope



after Pope issued endless diatribes against the horrors of



toleration; the Venetians steadily tolerated in their several



sorts of worship Jews and Greeks; Mohammedans and Armenians; with



Protestants of every sort who came to them on business。 When the



Roman Index forbade the publication of most important works of



leading authors; Venice demanded and obtained for her printers



rights which were elsewhere denied。







As to the religious restrictions which touched trade; the



Venetians in the public councils; and indeed the people at large;



had come to know perfectly what the papal theory meant;with



some of its promoters; fanaticism; but with the controlling power



at Rome; revenue; revenue to be derived from retailing



dispensations to infringe the holy rules。







This peculiar antithesisnowhere more striking than at Venice;



on the one side; religious fears and hopes; on the other; keen



insight into the ways of ecclesiasticismled to peculiar



compromises。 The bankers who had taken interest upon money; the



merchants who had traded with Moslems and heretics; in their last



hours frequently thought it best to perfect their title to



salvation by turning over large estates to the Church。 Under the



sway of this feeling; and especially of the terrors infused by



priests at deathbeds; mortmain had become in Venice; as in many



other parts of the world; one of the most serious of evils。 Thus



it was that the clergy came to possess between one fourth and one



third of the whole territory of the Republic; and in its Bergamo



district more than one half; and all this was exempt from



taxation。 Hence it was that the Venetian Senate found it



necessary to devise a legal cheek which should make such



absorption of estates by the Church more and more difficult。







There was a second cause of trouble。 In that religious atmosphere



of Venice; monastic orders of every sort grew luxuriantly; not



only absorbing more and more land to be held by the dead hand;



thus escaping the public burdens; but ever absorbing more and



more men and women; and thus depriving the state of any healthy



and normal service from them。 Here; too; the Senate thought it



best to interpose a check: it insisted that all new structures



for religious orders must be authorized by the State。







Yet another question flamed forth。 Of the monks of every sort



swarming through the city; many were luxurious and some were



criminal。 On these last; the Venetian Senate determined to lay



its hands; and in the first years of the seventeenth century all



these questions; and various other matters distasteful to the



Vatican; culminated in the seizure and imprisonment of two



ecclesiastics charged with various high crimes;
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