With an education which ought to have ensured me an honourable1 standing2 in the world, with some intelligence, wit, good literary and scientific knowledge, and endowed with those accidental physical qualities which are such a good passport into society, I found myself, at the age of twenty, the mean follower3 of a sublime4 art, in which, if great talent is rightly admired, mediocrity is as rightly despised. I was compelled by poverty to become a member of a musical band, in which I could expect neither esteem5 nor consideration, and I was well aware that I should be the laughing-stock of the persons who had known me as a doctor in divinity, as an ecclesiastic6, and as an officer in the army, and had welcomed me in the highest society.
I knew all that, for I was not blind to my position; but contempt, the only thing to which I could not have remained indifferent, never shewed itself anywhere under a form tangible7 enough for me to have no doubt of my being despised, and I set it at defiance8, because I was satisfied that contempt is due only to cowardly, mean actions, and I was conscious that I had never been guilty of any. As to public esteem, which I had ever been anxious to secure, my ambition was slumbering9, and satisfied with being my own master I enjoyed my independence without puzzling my head about the future. I felt that in my first profession, as I was not blessed with the vocation10 necessary to it, I should have succeeded only by dint11 of hypocrisy12, and I should have been despicable in my own estimation, even if I had seen the purple mantle13 on my shoulders, for the greatest dignities cannot silence a man’s own conscience. If, on the other hand, I had continued to seek fortune in a military career, which is surrounded by a halo of glory, but is otherwise the worst of professions for the constant self-abnegation, for the complete surrender of one’s will which passive obedience14 demands, I should have required a patience to which I could not lay any claim, as every kind of injustice15 was revolting to me, and as I could not bear to feel myself dependent. Besides, I was of opinion that a man’s profession, whatever it might be, ought to supply him with enough money to satisfy all his wants; and the very poor pay of an officer would never have been sufficient to cover my expenses, because my education had given me greater wants than those of officers in general. By scraping my violin I earned enough to keep myself without requiring anybody’s assistance, and I have always thought that the man who can support himself is happy. I grant that my profession was not a brilliant one, but I did not mind it, and, calling prejudices all the feelings which rose in my breast against myself, I was not long in sharing all the habits of my degraded comrades. When the play was over, I went with them to the drinking-booth, which we often left intoxicated16 to spend the night in houses of ill-fame. When we happened to find those places already tenanted by other men, we forced them by violence to quit the premises17, and defrauded18 the miserable19 victims of prostitution of the mean salary the law allows them, after compelling them to yield to our brutality20. Our scandalous proceedings21 often exposed us to the greatest danger.
We would very often spend the whole night rambling22 about the city, inventing and carrying into execution the most impertinent, practical jokes. One of our favourite pleasures was to unmoor the patricians’ gondolas25, and to let them float at random26 along the canals, enjoying by anticipation27 all the curses that gondoliers would not fail to indulge in. We would rouse up hurriedly, in the middle of the night, an honest midwife, telling her to hasten to Madame So-and-so, who, not being even pregnant, was sure to tell her she was a fool when she called at the house. We did the same with physicians, whom we often sent half dressed to some nobleman who was enjoying excellent health. The priests fared no better; we would send them to carry the last sacraments to married men who were peacefully slumbering near their wives, and not thinking of extreme unction.
We were in the habit of cutting the wires of the bells in every house, and if we chanced to find a gate open we would go up the stairs in the dark, and frighten the sleeping inmates29 by telling them very loudly that the house door was not closed, after which we would go down, making as much noise as we could, and leave the house with the gate wide open.
During a very dark night we formed a plot to overturn the large marble table of St. Angelo’s Square, on which it was said that in the days of the League of Cambray the commissaries of the Republic were in the habit of paying the bounty30 to the recruits who engaged to fight under the standard of St. Mark — a circumstance which secured for the table a sort of public veneration31.
Whenever we could contrive32 to get into a church tower we thought it great fun to frighten all the parish by ringing the alarm bell, as if some fire had broken out; but that was not all, we always cut the bell ropes, so that in the morning the churchwardens had no means of summoning the faithful to early mass. Sometimes we would cross the canal, each of us in a different gondola24, and take to our heels without paying as soon as we landed on the opposite side, in order to make the gondoliers run after us.
The city was alive with complaints, and we laughed at the useless search made by the police to find out those who disturbed the peace of the inhabitants. We took good care to be careful, for if we had been discovered we stood a very fair chance of being sent to practice rowing at the expense of the Council of Ten.
We were seven, and sometimes eight, because, being much attached to my brother Francois, I gave him a share now and then in our nocturnal orgies. But at last fear put a stop to our criminal jokes, which in those days I used to call only the frolics of young men. This is the amusing adventure which closed our exploits.
In every one of the seventy-two parishes of the city of Venice, there is a large public-house called ‘magazzino’. It remains33 open all night, and wine is retailed34 there at a cheaper price than in all the other drinking houses. People can likewise eat in the ‘magazzino’, but they must obtain what they want from the pork butcher near by, who has the exclusive sale of eatables, and likewise keeps his shop open throughout the night. The pork butcher is usually a very poor cook, but as he is cheap, poor people are willingly satisfied with him, and these resorts are considered very useful to the lower class. The nobility, the merchants, even workmen in good circumstances, are never seen in the ‘magazzino’, for cleanliness is not exactly worshipped in such places. Yet there are a few private rooms which contain a table surrounded with benches, in which a respectable family or a few friends can enjoy themselves in a decent way.
It was during the Carnival35 of 1745, after midnight; we were, all the eight of us, rambling about together with our masks on, in quest of some new sort of mischief36 to amuse us, and we went into the magazzino of the parish of the Holy Cross to get something to drink. We found the public room empty, but in one of the private chambers37 we discovered three men quietly conversing38 with a young and pretty woman, and enjoying their wine.
Our chief, a noble Venetian belonging to the Balbi family, said to us, “It would be a good joke to carry off those three blockheads, and to keep the pretty woman in our possession.” He immediately explained his plan, and under cover of our masks we entered their room, Balbi at the head of us. Our sudden appearance rather surprised the good people, but you may fancy their astonishment39 when they heard Balbi say to them: “Under penalty of death, and by order of the Council of Ten, I command you to follow us immediately, without making the slightest noise; as to you, my good woman, you need not be frightened, you will be escorted to your house.” When he had finished his speech, two of us got hold of the woman to take her where our chief had arranged beforehand, and the others seized the three poor fellows, who were trembling all over, and had not the slightest idea of opposing any resistance.
The waiter of the magazzino came to be paid, and our chief gave him what was due, enjoining40 silence under penalty of death. We took our three prisoners to a large boat. Balbi went to the stern, ordered the boatman to stand at the bow, and told him that he need not enquire41 where we were going, that he would steer42 himself whichever way he thought fit. Not one of us knew where Balbi wanted to take the three poor devils.
He sails all along the canal, gets out of it, takes several turnings, and in a quarter of an hour, we reach Saint George where Balbi lands our prisoners, who are delighted to find themselves at liberty. After this, the boatman is ordered to take us to Saint Genevieve, where we land, after paying for the boat.
We proceed at once to Palombo Square, where my brother and another of our band were waiting for us with our lovely prisoner, who was crying.
“Do not weep, my beauty,” says Balbi to her, “we will not hurt you. We intend only to take some refreshment43 at the Rialto, and then we will take you home in safety.”
“Where is my husband?”
“Never fear; you shall see him again to-morrow.”
Comforted by that promise, and as gentle as a lamb, she follows us to the “Two Swords.” We ordered a good fire in a private room, and, everything we wanted to eat and to drink having been brought in, we send the waiter away, and remain alone. We take off our masks, and the sight of eight young, healthy faces seems to please the beauty we had so unceremoniously carried off. We soon manage to reconcile her to her fate by the gallantry of our proceedings; encouraged by a good supper and by the stimulus44 of wine, prepared by our compliments and by a few kisses, she realizes what is in store for her, and does not seem to have any unconquerable objection. Our chief, as a matter of right, claims the privilege of opening the ball; and by dint of sweet words he overcomes the very natural repugnance46 she feels at consummating47 the sacrifice in so numerous company. She, doubtless, thinks the offering agreeable, for, when I present myself as the priest appointed to sacrifice a second time to the god of love, she receives me almost with gratitude49, and she cannot conceal50 her joy when she finds out that she is destined51 to make us all happy. My brother Francois alone exempted52 himself from paying the tribute, saying that he was ill, the only excuse which could render his refusal valid53, for we had established as a law that every member of our society was bound to do whatever was done by the others.
After that fine exploit, we put on our masks, and, the bill being paid, escorted the happy victim to Saint Job, where she lived, and did not leave her till we had seen her safe in her house, and the street door closed.
My readers may imagine whether we felt inclined to laugh when the charming creature bade us good night, thanking us all with perfect good faith!
Two days afterwards, our nocturnal orgy began to be talked of. The young woman’s husband was a weaver54 by trade, and so were his two friends. They joined together to address a complaint to the Council of Ten. The complaint was candidly55 written and contained nothing but the truth, but the criminal portion of the truth was veiled by a circumstance which must have brought a smile on the grave countenances56 of the judges, and highly amused the public at large: the complaint setting forth57 that the eight masked men had not rendered themselves guilty of any act disagreeable to the wife. It went on to say that the two men who had carried her off had taken her to such a place, where they had, an hour later, been met by the other six, and that they had all repaired to the “Two Swords,” where they had spent an hour in drinking. The said lady having been handsomely entertained by the eight masked men, had been escorted to her house, where she had been politely requested to excuse the joke perpetrated upon her husband. The three plaintiffs had not been able to leave the island of Saint George until day-break, and the husband, on reaching his house, had found his wife quietly asleep in her bed. She had informed him of all that had happened; she complained of nothing but of the great fright she had experienced on account of her husband, and on that count she entreated58 justice and the punishment of the guilty parties.
That complaint was comic throughout, for the three rogues60 shewed themselves very brave in writing, stating that they would certainly not have given way so easily if the dread61 authority of the council had not been put forth by the leader of the band. The document produced three different results; in the first place, it amused the town; in the second, all the idlers of Venice went to Saint Job to hear the account of the adventure from the lips of the heroine herself, and she got many presents from her numerous visitors; in the third place, the Council of Ten offered a reward of five hundred ducats to any person giving such information as would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of the practical joke, even if the informer belonged to the band, provided he was not the leader.
The offer of that reward would have made us tremble if our leader, precisely62 the one who alone had no interest in turning informer, had not been a patrician23. The rank of Balbi quieted my anxiety at once, because I knew that, even supposing one of us were vile45 enough to betray our secret for the sake of the reward, the tribunal would have done nothing in order not to implicate63 a patrician. There was no cowardly traitor64 amongst us, although we were all poor; but fear had its effect, and our nocturnal pranks65 were not renewed.
Three or four months afterwards the chevalier Nicolas Iron, then one of the inquisitors, astonished me greatly by telling me the whole story, giving the names of all the actors. He did not tell me whether any one of the band had betrayed the secret, and I did not care to know; but I could clearly see the characteristic spirit of the aristocracy, for which the ‘solo mihi’ is the supreme66 law.
Towards the middle of April of the year 1746 M. Girolamo Cornaro, the eldest67 son of the family Cornaro de la Reine, married a daughter of the house of Soranzo de St. Pol, and I had the honour of being present at the wedding — as a fiddler. I played the violin in one of the numerous bands engaged for the balls which were given for three consecutive68 days in the Soranzo Palace.
On the third day, towards the end of the dancing, an hour before day- break, feeling tired, I left the orchestra abruptly69; and as I was going down the stairs I observed a senator, wearing his red robes, on the point of getting into a gondola. In taking his handkerchief out of his pocket he let a letter drop on the ground. I picked it up, and coming up to him just as he was going down the steps I handed it to him. He received it with many thanks, and enquired70 where I lived. I told him, and he insisted upon my coming with him in the gondola saying that he would leave me at my house. I accepted gratefully, and sat down near him. A few minutes afterwards he asked me to rub his left arm, which, he said, was so benumbed that he could not feel it. I rubbed it with all my strength, but he told me in a sort of indistinct whisper that the numbness71 was spreading all along the left side, and that he was dying.
I was greatly frightened; I opened the curtain, took the lantern, and found him almost insensible, and the mouth drawn72 on one side. I understood that he was seized with an apoplectic73 stroke, and called out to the gondoliers to land me at once, in order to procure74 a surgeon to bleed the patient.
I jumped out of the gondola, and found myself on the very spot where three years before I had taught Razetta such a forcible lesson; I enquired for a surgeon at the first coffee-house, and ran to the house that was pointed48 out to me. I knocked as hard as I could; the door was at last opened, and I made the surgeon follow me in his dressing-gown as far as the gondola, which was waiting; he bled the senator while I was tearing my shirt to make the compress and the bandage.
The operation being performed, I ordered the gondoliers to row as fast as possible, and we soon reached St. Marina; the servants were roused up, and taking the sick man out of the gondola we carried him to his bed almost dead.
Taking everything upon myself, I ordered a servant to hurry out for a physician, who came in a short time, and ordered the patient to be bled again, thus approving the first bleeding prescribed by me. Thinking I had a right to watch the sick man, I settled myself near his bed to give him every care he required.
An hour later, two noblemen, friends of the senator, came in, one a few minutes after the other. They were in despair; they had enquired about the accident from the gondoliers, and having been told that I knew more than they did, they loaded me with questions which I answered. They did not know who I was, and did not like to ask me; whilst I thought it better to preserve a modest silence.
The patient did not move; his breathing alone shewed that he was still alive; fomentations were constantly applied75, and the priest who had been sent for, and was of very little use under such circumstances, seemed to be there only to see him die. All visitors were sent away by my advice, and the two noblemen and myself were the only persons in the sick man’s room. At noon we partook silently of some dinner which was served in the sick room.
In the evening one of the two friends told me that if I had any business to attend to I could go, because they would both pass the night on a mattress76 near the patient.
“And I, sir,” I said, “will remain near his bed in this arm-chair, for if I went away the patient would die, and he will live as long as I am near him.”
This sententious answer struck them with astonishment, as I expected it would, and they looked at each other in great surprise.
We had supper, and in the little conversation we had I gathered the information that the senator, their friend, was M. de Bragadin, the only brother of the procurator of that name. He was celebrated77 in Venice not only for his eloquence78 and his great talents as a statesman, but also for the gallantries of his youth. He had been very extravagant79 with women, and more than one of them had committed many follies80 for him. He had gambled and lost a great deal, and his brother was his most bitter enemy, because he was infatuated with the idea that he had tried to poison him. He had accused him of that crime before the Council of Ten, which, after an investigation81 of eight months, had brought in a verdict of not guilty: but that just sentence, although given unanimously by that high tribunal, had not had the effect of destroying his brother’s prejudices against him.
M. de Bragadin, who was perfectly82 innocent of such a crime and oppressed by an unjust brother who deprived him of half of his income, spent his days like an amiable83 philosopher, surrounded by his friends, amongst whom were the two noblemen who were then watching him; one belonged to the Dandolo family, the other was a Barbaro, and both were excellent men. M. de Bragadin was handsome, learned, cheerful, and most kindly84 disposed; he was then about fifty years old.
The physician who attended him was named Terro; he thought, by some peculiar85 train of reasoning, that he could cure him by applying a mercurial86 ointment87 to the chest, to which no one raised any objection. The rapid effect of the remedy delighted the two friends, but it frightened me, for in less than twenty-four hours the patient was labouring under great excitement of the brain. The physician said that he had expected that effect, but that on the following day the remedy would act less on the brain, and diffuse88 its beneficial action through the whole of the system, which required to be invigorated by a proper equilibrium89 in the circulation of the fluids.
At midnight the patient was in a state of high fever, and in a fearful state of irritation90. I examined him closely, and found him hardly able to breathe. I roused up his two friends; and declared that in my opinion the patient would soon die unless the fatal ointment was at once removed. And without waiting for their answer, I bared his chest, took off the plaster, washed the skin carefully with lukewarm water, and in less than three minutes he breathed freely and fell into a quiet sleep. Delighted with such a fortunate result, we lay down again.
The physician came very early in the morning, and was much pleased to see his patient so much better, but when M. Dandolo informed him of what had been done, he was angry, said it was enough to kill his patient, and asked who had been so audacious as to destroy the effect of his prescription91. M. de Bragadin, speaking for the first time, said to him —
“Doctor, the person who has delivered me from your mercury, which was killing92 me, is a more skilful93 physician than you;” and, saying these words, he pointed to me.
It would be hard to say who was the more astonished: the doctor, when he saw an unknown young man, whom he must have taken for an impostor, declared more learned than himself; or I, when I saw myself transformed into a physician, at a moment’s notice. I kept silent, looking very modest, but hardly able to control my mirth, whilst the doctor was staring at me with a mixture of astonishment and of spite, evidently thinking me some bold quack94 who had tried to supplant95 him. At last, turning towards M. de Bragadin, he told him coldly that he would leave him in my hands; he was taken at his word, he went away, and behold96! I had become the physician of one of the most illustrious members of the Venetian Senate! I must confess that I was very glad of it, and I told my patient that a proper diet was all he needed, and that nature, assisted by the approaching fine season, would do the rest.
The dismissed physician related the affair through the town, and, as M. de Bragadin was rapidly improving, one of his relations, who came to see him, told him that everybody was astonished at his having chosen for his physician a fiddler from the theatre; but the senator put a stop to his remarks by answering that a fiddler could know more than all the doctors in Venice, and that he owed his life to me.
The worthy97 nobleman considered me as his oracle98, and his two friends listened to me with the deepest attention. Their infatuation encouraging me, I spoke99 like a learned physician, I dogmatized, I quoted authors whom I had never read.
M. de Bragadin, who had the weakness to believe in the occult sciences, told me one day that, for a young man of my age, he thought my learning too extensive, and that he was certain I was the possessor of some supernatural endowment. He entreated me to tell him the truth.
What extraordinary things will sometimes occur from mere100 chance, or from the force of circumstances! Unwilling101 to hurt his vanity by telling him that he was mistaken, I took the wild resolution of informing him, in the presence of his two friends, that I possessed102 a certain numeral calculus103 which gave answers (also in numbers), to any questions I liked to put.
M. de Bragadin said that it was Solomon’s key, vulgarly called cabalistic science, and he asked me from whom I learnt it.
“From an old hermit104,” I answered,” “who lives on the Carpegna Mountain, and whose acquaintance I made quite by chance when I was a prisoner in the Spanish army.”
“The hermit,” remarked the senator, “has without informing you of it, linked an invisible spirit to the calculus he has taught you, for simple numbers can not have the power of reason. You possess a real treasure, and you may derive105 great advantages from it.”
“I do not know,” I said, “in what way I could make my science useful, because the answers given by the numerical figures are often so obscure that I have felt discouraged, and I very seldom tried to make any use of my calculus. Yet, it is very true that, if I had not formed my pyramid, I never should have had the happiness of knowing your excellency.”
“How so?”
“On the second day, during the festivities at the Soranzo Palace, I enquired of my oracle whether I would meet at the ball anyone whom I should not care to see. The answer I obtained was this: ‘Leave the ball-room precisely at four o’clock.’ I obeyed implicitly106, and met your excellency.”
The three friends were astounded107. M. Dandolo asked me whether I would answer a question he would ask, the interpretation108 of which would belong only to him, as he was the only person acquainted with the subject of the question.
I declared myself quite willing, for it was necessary to brazen109 it out, after having ventured as far as I had done. He wrote the question, and gave it to me; I read it, I could not understand either the subject or the meaning of the words, but it did not matter, I had to give an answer. If the question was so obscure that I could not make out the sense of it, it was natural that I should not understand the answer. I therefore answered, in ordinary figures, four lines of which he alone could be the interpreter, not caring much, at least in appearance, how they would be understood. M. Dandolo read them twice over, seemed astonished, said that it was all very plain to him; it was Divine, it was unique, it was a gift from Heaven, the numbers being only the vehicle, but the answer emanating110 evidently from an immortal111 spirit.
M. Dandolo was so well pleased that his two friends very naturally wanted also to make an experiment. They asked questions on all sorts of subjects, and my answers, perfectly unintelligible112 to myself, were all held as Divine by them. I congratulated them on their success, and congratulated myself in their presence upon being the possessor of a thing to which I had until then attached no importance whatever, but which I promised to cultivate carefully, knowing that I could thus be of some service to their excellencies.
They all asked me how long I would require to teach them the rules of my sublime calculus. “Not very long,” I answered, “and I will teach you as you wish, although the hermit assured me that I would die suddenly within three days if I communicated my science to anyone, but I have no faith whatever in that prediction.” M. de Bragadin who believed in it more than I did, told me in a serious tone that I was bound to have faith in it, and from that day they never asked me again to teach them. They very likely thought that, if they could attach me to them, it would answer the purpose as well as if they possessed the science themselves. Thus I became the hierophant of those three worthy and talented men, who, in spite of their literary accomplishments113, were not wise, since they were infatuated with occult and fabulous114 sciences, and believed in the existence of phenomena115 impossible in the moral as well as in the physical order of things. They believed that through me they possessed the philosopher’s stone, the universal panacea116, the intercourse117 with all the elementary, heavenly, and infernal spirits; they had no doubt whatever that, thanks to my sublime science, they could find out the secrets of every government in Europe.
After they had assured themselves of the reality of my cabalistic science by questions respecting the past, they decided118 to turn it to some use by consulting it upon the present and upon the future. I had no difficulty in skewing myself a good guesser, because I always gave answers with a double meaning, one of the meanings being carefully arranged by me, so as not to be understood until after the event; in that manner, my cabalistic science, like the oracle of Delphi, could never be found in fault. I saw how easy it must have been for the ancient heathen priests to impose upon ignorant, and therefore credulous119 mankind. I saw how easy it will always be for impostors to find dupes, and I realized, even better than the Roman orator120, why two augurs121 could never look at each other without laughing; it was because they had both an equal interest in giving importance to the deceit they perpetrated, and from which they derived122 such immense profits. But what I could not, and probably never shall, understand, was the reason for which the Fathers, who were not so simple or so ignorant as our Evangelists, did not feel able to deny the divinity of oracles123, and, in order to get out of the difficulty, ascribed them to the devil. They never would have entertained such a strange idea if they had been acquainted with cabalistic science. My three worthy friends were like the holy Fathers; they had intelligence and wit, but they were superstitious124, and no philosophers. But, although believing fully28 in my oracles, they were too kind-hearted to think them the work of the devil, and it suited their natural goodness better to believe my answers inspired by some heavenly spirit. They were not only good Christians125 and faithful to the Church, but even real devotees and full of scruples126. They were not married, and, after having renounced127 all commerce with women, they had become the enemies of the female sex; perhaps a strong proof of the weakness of their minds. They imagined that chastity was the condition ‘sine qua non’ exacted by the spirits from those who wished to have intimate communication or intercourse with them: they fancied that spirits excluded women, and ‘vice versa’.
With all these oddities, the three friends were truly intelligent and even witty128, and, at the beginning of my acquaintance with them, I could not reconcile these antagonistic129 points. But a prejudiced mind cannot reason well, and the faculty130 of reasoning is the most important of all. I often laughed when I heard them talk on religious matters; they would ridicule131 those whose intellectual faculties132 were so limited that they could not understand the mysteries of religion. The incarnation of the Word, they would say, was a trifle for God, and therefore easy to understand, and the resurrection was so comprehensible that it did not appear to them wonderful, because, as God cannot die, Jesus Christ was naturally certain to rise again. As for the Eucharist, transubstantiation, the real presence, it was all no mystery to them, but palpable evidence, and yet they were not Jesuits. They were in the habit of going to confession133 every week, without feeling the slightest trouble about their confessors, whose ignorance they kindly regretted. They thought themselves bound to confess only what was a sin in their own opinion, and in that, at least, they reasoned with good sense.
With those three extraordinary characters, worthy of esteem and respect for their moral qualities, their honesty, their reputation, and their age, as well as for their noble birth, I spent my days in a very pleasant manner: although, in their thirst for knowledge, they often kept me hard at work for ten hours running, all four of us being locked up together in a room, and unapproachable to everybody, even to friends or relatives.
I completed the conquest of their friendship by relating to them the whole of my life, only with some proper reserve, so as not to lead them into any capital sins. I confess candidly that I deceived them, as the Papa Deldimopulo used to deceive the Greeks who applied to him for the oracles of the Virgin134. I certainly did not act towards them with a true sense of honesty, but if the reader to whom I confess myself is acquainted with the world and with the spirit of society, I entreat59 him to think before judging me, and perhaps I may meet with some indulgence at his hands.
I might be told that if I had wished to follow the rules of pure morality I ought either to have declined intimate intercourse with them or to have undeceived them. I cannot deny these premises, but I will answer that I was only twenty years of age, I was intelligent, talented, and had just been a poor fiddler. I should have lost my time in trying to cure them of their weakness; I should not have succeeded, for they would have laughed in my face, deplored135 my ignorance, and the result of it all would have been my dismissal. Besides, I had no mission, no right, to constitute myself an apostle, and if I had heroically resolved on leaving them as soon as I knew them to be foolish visionaries, I should have shewn myself a misanthrope136, the enemy of those worthy men for whom I could procure innocent pleasures, and my own enemy at the same time; because, as a young man, I liked to live well, to enjoy all the pleasures natural to youth and to a good constitution.
By acting137 in that manner I should have failed in common politeness, I should perhaps have caused or allowed M. de Bragadin’s death, and I should have exposed those three honest men to becoming the victims of the first bold cheat who, ministering to their monomania, might have won their favour, and would have ruined them by inducing them to undertake the chemical operations of the Great Work. There is also another consideration, dear reader, and as I love you I will tell you what it is. An invincible138 self-love would have prevented me from declaring myself unworthy of their friendship either by my ignorance or by my pride; and I should have been guilty of great rudeness if I had ceased to visit them.
I took, at least it seems to me so, the best, the most natural, and the noblest decision, if we consider the disposition139 of their mind, when I decided upon the plan of conduct which insured me the necessaries of life and of those necessaries who could be a better judge than your very humble140 servant?
Through the friendship of those three men, I was certain of obtaining consideration and influence in my own country. Besides, I found it very flattering to my vanity to become the subject of the speculative141 chattering142 of empty fools who, having nothing else to do, are always trying to find out the cause of every moral phenomenon they meet with, which their narrow intellect cannot understand.
People racked their brain in Venice to find out how my intimacy143 with three men of that high character could possibly exist; they were wrapped up in heavenly aspirations144, I was a world’s devotee; they were very strict in their morals, I was thirsty of all pleasures! At the beginning of summer, M. de Bragadin was once, more able to take his seat in the senate, and, the day before he went out for the first time, he spoke to me thus:
“Whoever you may be, I am indebted to you for my life. Your first protectors wanted to make you a priest, a doctor, an advocate, a soldier, and ended by making a fiddler of you; those persons did not know you. God had evidently instructed your guardian145 angel to bring you to me. I know you and appreciate you. If you will be my son, you have only to acknowledge me for your father, and, for the future, until my death, I will treat you as my own child. Your apartment is ready, you may send your clothes: you shall have a servant, a gondola at your orders, my own table, and ten sequins a month. It is the sum I used to receive from my father when I was your age. You need not think of the future; think only of enjoying yourself, and take me as your adviser146 in everything that may happen to you, in everything you may wish to undertake, and you may be certain of always finding me your friend.”
I threw myself at his feet to assure him of my gratitude, and embraced him calling him my father. He folded me in his arms, called me his dear son; I promised to love and to obey him; his two friends, who lived in the same palace, embraced me affectionately, and we swore eternal fraternity.
Such is the history of my metamorphosis, and of the lucky stroke which, taking me from the vile profession of a fiddler, raised me to the rank of a grandee147.
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1
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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3
follower
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| n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒 | |
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4
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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6
ecclesiastic
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| n.教士，基督教会；adj.神职者的，牧师的，教会的 | |
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tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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9
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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10
vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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dint
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| n.由于，靠；凹坑 | |
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12
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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13
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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14
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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15
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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intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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17
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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18
defrauded
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| v.诈取，骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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20
brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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21
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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22
rambling
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| adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的 | |
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23
patrician
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| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
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24
gondola
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| n.威尼斯的平底轻舟；飞船的吊船 | |
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25
gondolas
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| n.狭长小船( gondola的名词复数 )；货架（一般指商店，例如化妆品店）；吊船工作台 | |
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26
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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28
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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29
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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30
bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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31
veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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32
contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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33
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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34
retailed
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| vt.零售（retail的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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35
carnival
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| n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演 | |
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36
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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37
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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38
conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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39
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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40
enjoining
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| v.命令( enjoin的现在分词 ) | |
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41
enquire
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| v.打听，询问；调查，查问 | |
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42
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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43
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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44
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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45
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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46
repugnance
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| n.嫌恶 | |
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47
consummating
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| v.使结束( consummate的现在分词 )；使完美；完婚；（婚礼后的）圆房 | |
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48
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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49
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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50
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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51
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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52
exempted
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| 使免除[豁免]( exempt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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54
weaver
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| n.织布工；编织者 | |
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55
candidly
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| adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地 | |
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56
countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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57
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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58
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
entreat
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| v.恳求，恳请 | |
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60
rogues
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| n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽 | |
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61
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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62
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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63
implicate
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| vt.使牵连其中，涉嫌 | |
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64
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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65
pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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66
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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67
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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68
consecutive
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| adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的 | |
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69
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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70
enquired
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| 打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问 | |
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71
numbness
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| n.无感觉，麻木，惊呆 | |
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72
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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73
apoplectic
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| adj.中风的；愤怒的；n.中风患者 | |
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74
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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75
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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76
mattress
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| n.床垫，床褥 | |
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77
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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78
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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79
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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80
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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81
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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82
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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83
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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84
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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85
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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86
mercurial
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| adj.善变的，活泼的 | |
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87
ointment
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| n.药膏，油膏，软膏 | |
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88
diffuse
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| v.扩散；传播；adj.冗长的；四散的，弥漫的 | |
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equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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90
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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91
prescription
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| n.处方，开药；指示，规定 | |
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92
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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93
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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94
quack
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| n.庸医；江湖医生；冒充内行的人；骗子 | |
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supplant
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| vt.排挤；取代 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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oracle
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| n.神谕，神谕处，预言 | |
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99
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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101
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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calculus
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| n.微积分；结石 | |
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104
hermit
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| n.隐士，修道者；隐居 | |
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105
derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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106
implicitly
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| adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
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107
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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108
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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109
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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110
emanating
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的现在分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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111
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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112
unintelligible
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| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
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113
accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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114
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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115
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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116
panacea
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| n.万灵药；治百病的灵药 | |
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117
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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118
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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credulous
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| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
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120
orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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121
augurs
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| n.（古罗马的）占兆官( augur的名词复数 )；占卜师，预言者v.预示，预兆，预言( augur的第三人称单数 )；成为预兆；占卜 | |
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122
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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123
oracles
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| 神示所( oracle的名词复数 )； 神谕； 圣贤； 哲人 | |
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124
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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125
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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127
renounced
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| v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
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128
witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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129
antagonistic
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| adj.敌对的 | |
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130
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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131
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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132
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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133
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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134
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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135
deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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136
misanthrope
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| n.恨人类的人；厌世者 | |
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137
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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138
invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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139
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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140
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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141
speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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142
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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143
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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144
aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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145
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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146
adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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grandee
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| n.贵族；大公 | |
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