All this is very fine in the abstract, but we often find it detestable in the application.
In the year 1400, while Antonio Venier was Doge, his son having committed an offence which evidently sprung from mere5 youthful levity6, and nothing worse, was condemned7 in a fine of one hundred ducats, and to be imprisoned8 for a certain time.
While the young man was in prison, he fell sick, and petitioned to be removed to a purer air. The Doge rejected the petition; declaring, that the sentence must be executed literally9; and that his son must take the fortune of others in the same predicament. The youth was much beloved, and many applications were made, that the sentence might be softened10, on account of the danger which threatened him. The father was inexorable, and the son died in[159] prison. Of whatever refined substance this man’s heart may have been composed, I am better pleased that mine is made of the common materials.
Carlo Zeno was accused, by the Council of Ten, of having received a sum of money from Francis Carraro, son of the Seignior of Padua, contrary to an express law, which forbids all subjects of Venice, on any pretext11 whatever, accepting any salary, pension, or gratification, from a foreign Prince, or State. This accusation12 was grounded on a paper found among Carraro’s accounts, when Padua was taken by the Venetians. In this paper was an article of four hundred ducats paid to Carlo Zeno, who declared, in his defence, that while he was, by the Senate’s permission, governor of the Milanese, he had visited Carraro, then a prisoner in the castle of Asti; and finding him in want of common necessaries,[160] he had advanced to him the sum in question; and that this Prince, having been liberated13 some short time after, had, on his return to Padua, repaid the money.
Zeno was a man of acknowledged candour, and of the highest reputation; he had commanded the fleets and armies of the State with the most brilliant success; yet neither this, nor any other considerations, prevailed on the Court to depart from their usually severity. They owned that, from Zeno’s usual integrity, there was no reason to doubt the truth of his declaration; but the assertions of an accused person were not sufficient to efface14 the force of the presumptive circumstances which appeared against him.—His declaration might be convincing to those who knew him intimately, but was not legal evidence of his innocence15; and they adhered to a distinguishing maxim16 of this Court, that it is of more importance to the[161] State, to intimidate17 every one from even the appearance of such a crime, than to allow a person, against whom a presumption18 of guilt19 remained, to escape, however innocent he might be. This man, who had rendered the most essential services to the republic, and had gained many victories, was condemned to be removed from all his offices, and to be imprisoned for two years.
But the most affecting instance of the odious20 inflexibility21 of Venetian courts, appears in the case of Foscari, son to the Doge of that name.
This young man had, by some imprudences, given offence to the Senate, and was, by their orders, confined at Treviso, when Almor Donato, one of the Council of Ten, was assassinated22, on the 5th of November 1750, as he entered his own house.
A reward, in ready money, with pardon for this, or any other crime, and a pension of two hundred ducats, revertible to children, was promised to any person who would discover the planner, or perpetrator, of this crime. No such discovery was made.
One of young Foscari’s footmen, named Olivier, had been observed loitering near Donato’s house on the evening of the murder;—he fled from Venice next morning. These, with other circumstances of less importance, created a strong suspicion that Foscari had engaged this man to commit the murder.
Olivier was taken, brought to Venice, put to the torture, and confessed nothing; yet the Council of Ten, being prepossessed with an opinion of their guilt, and imagining that the master would have less resolution, used him in the same cruel manner.—The[163] unhappy young man, in the midst of his agony, continued to assert, that he knew nothing of the assassination23. This convinced the Court of his firmness, but not of his innocence; yet as there was no legal proof of his guilt, they could not sentence him to death. He was condemned to pass the rest of his life in banishment24, at Canéa, in the island of Candia.
This unfortunate youth bore his exile with more impatience25 than he had done the rack; he often wrote to his relations and friends, praying them to intercede26 in his behalf, that the term of his banishment might be abridged27, and that he might be permitted to return to his family before he died.—All his applications were fruitless; those to whom he addressed himself had never interfered28 in his favour, for fear of giving offence to the obdurate29 Council, or had interfered in vain.
After languishing30 five years in exile, having lost all hope of return, through the interposition of his own family, or countrymen, in a fit of despair he addressed the Duke of Milan, putting him in mind of services which the Doge, his father, had rendered him, and begging that he would use his powerful influence with the State of Venice, that his sentence might be recalled. He entrusted32 his letter to a merchant, going from Canéa to Venice, who promised to take the first opportunity of sending it from thence to the Duke; instead of which, this wretch33, as soon as he arrived at Venice, delivered it to the chiefs of the Council of Ten.
This conduct of young Foscari appeared criminal in the eyes of those judges; for, by the laws of the republic, all its subjects are expressly forbid claiming the protection of foreign Princes, in any thing which relates to the government of Venice.
Foscari was therefore ordered to be brought from Candia, and shut up in the State prison. There the chiefs of the Council of Ten ordered him once more to be put to the torture, to draw from him the motives34 which determined35 him to apply to the Duke of Milan. Such an exertion36 of law is, indeed, the most flagrant injustice37.
The miserable38 youth declared to the Council, that he had wrote the letter, in the full persuasion39 that the merchant, whose character he knew, would betray him, and deliver it to them; the consequence of which, he foresaw, would be, his being ordered back a prisoner to Venice, the only means he had in his power of seeing his parents and friends; a pleasure for which he had languished40, with unsurmountable desire, for some time, and which he was willing to purchase at the expence of any danger or pain.
The Judges, little affected41 with this generous instance of filial piety42, ordained43, that the unhappy young man should be carried back to Candia, and there be imprisoned for a year, and remain banished44 to that island for life; with this condition, that if he should make any more applications to foreign Powers, his imprisonment45 should be perpetual. At the same time they gave permission, that the Doge and his lady, might visit their unfortunate son.
The Doge was, at this time, very old; he had been in possession of the office above thirty years. Those wretched parents had an interview with their son in one of the apartments of the palace; they embraced him with all the tenderness which his misfortunes, and his filial affection, deserved. The father exhorted46 him to bear his hard fate with firmness; the son protested, in the most moving terms, that this was not in his power; that however[167] others could support the dismal47 loneliness of a prison, he could not; that his heart was formed for friendship, and the reciprocal endearments48 of social life; without which his soul sunk into dejection worse than death, from which alone he should look for relief, if he should again be confined to the horrors of a prison; and melting into tears, he sunk at his father’s feet, imploring49 him to take compassion50 on a son who had ever loved him with the most dutiful affection, and who was perfectly51 innocent of the crime of which he was accused; he conjured52 him, by every bond of nature and religion, by the bowels53 of a father, and the mercy of a Redeemer, to use his influence with the Council to mitigate54 their sentence, that he might be saved from the most cruel of all deaths, that of expiring under the slow tortures of a broken heart, in a horrible banishment from every creature he loved.—“My son,” replied the Doge, “submit to the laws of your country,[168] and do not ask of me what it is not in my power to obtain.”
Having made this effort, he retired55 to another apartment; and, unable to support any longer the acuteness of his feelings, he sunk into a state of insensibility, in which condition he remained till some time after his son had sailed on his return to Candia.
Nobody has presumed to describe the anguish31 of the wretched mother; those who are endowed with the most exquisite56 sensibility, and who have experienced distresses57 in some degree similar, will have the justest idea of what it was.
The accumulated misery58 of those unhappy parents touched the hearts of some of the most powerful senators, who applied59 with so much energy for a complete pardon for young Foscari, that they were on the[169] point of obtaining it; when a vessel60 arrived from Candia, with tidings, that the miserable youth had expired in prison a short time after his return.
Some years after this, Nicholas Erizzo, a noble Venetian, being on his death-bed, confessed that, bearing a violent resentment61 against the Senator Donato, he had committed the assassination for which the unhappy family of Foscari had suffered so much.
At this time the sorrows of the Doge were at an end; he had existed only a few months after the death of his son. His life had been prolonged, till he beheld62 his son persecuted63 to death for an infamous64 crime; but not till he should see this foul65 stain washed from his family, and the innocence of his beloved son made manifest to the world.
The ways of heaven never appeared more dark and intricate, than in the incidents and catastrophe66 of this mournful story. To reconcile the permission of such events, to our ideas of infinite power and goodness, however difficult, is a natural attempt in the human mind, and has exercised the ingenuity67 of philosophers in all ages; while, in the eyes of Christians68, those seeming perplexities afford an additional proof, that there will be a future state, in which the ways of God to man will be fully69 justified70.
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1
impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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7
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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8
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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11
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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liberated
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| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
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efface
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| v.擦掉，抹去 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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intimidate
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| vt.恐吓，威胁 | |
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18
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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inflexibility
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| n.不屈性，顽固，不变性；不可弯曲；非挠性；刚性 | |
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22
assassinated
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| v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏 | |
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23
assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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banishment
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| n.放逐，驱逐 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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intercede
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| vi.仲裁，说情 | |
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abridged
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| 削减的，删节的 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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obdurate
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| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
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languishing
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| a. 衰弱下去的 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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32
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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languished
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| 长期受苦( languish的过去式和过去分词 )； 受折磨； 变得（越来越）衰弱； 因渴望而变得憔悴或闷闷不乐 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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42
piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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43
ordained
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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44
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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46
exhorted
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| v.劝告，劝说( exhort的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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48
endearments
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| n.表示爱慕的话语，亲热的表示( endearment的名词复数 ) | |
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49
imploring
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| 恳求的，哀求的 | |
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50
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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51
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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52
conjured
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| 用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现 | |
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53
bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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54
mitigate
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| vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和 | |
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55
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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56
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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distresses
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| n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 )；痛苦；贫困；危险 | |
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58
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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59
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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60
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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62
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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63
persecuted
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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64
infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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66
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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69
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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