284 THE STONES OF VENICE

appearance of insecurity, owing to the entire independence of the pieces of stone composing it, which, though of course fastened by iron, look as if they stood balanced on the cornice like the pillars of Stonehenge; but I have never heard of its having been disturbed by anything short of an earthquake; and, as we have seen, even the great earthquake of 1511, though it much injured the gorne,¹ or battlements, of the Casa d’Oro, and threw down several statues at St. Mark’s,* only shook one lily from the brow of the Ducal Palace.

§ 15. Although, however, these light and fantastic forms appear to have been universal in the battlements meant primarily for decoration, there was another condition of parapet altogether constructed for the protection of persons walking on the roofs or in the galleries of the churches,

* It is a curious proof how completely, even so early as the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Venetians had lost the habit of reading the religious art of their ancient churches, that Sanuto, describing this injury, says, that “four of the Kings in marble fell from their pinnacles above the front, at St. Mark’s church;” and presently afterwards corrects his mistake, and apologises for it thus: “These were four saints, St. Constantine, St. Demetrius, St. George, and St. Theodore, all Greek saints. They look like Kings.” Observe the perfect, because unintentional, praise given to the old sculptor.

I quote the passage from the translation of these precious diaries of Sanuto, by my friend Mr. Rawdon Brown, a translation which I hope will some day become a standard book in English libraries.²

¹ [Gorna is the Venetian word for gutter; protected, in this case, by battlements: see in the next volume, Venetian Index, s. “D’Oro,” n.]

² [Marin Sanuto, the younger, was a senator of Venice and an historian. From his chronicles (Vitæ Ducum), Ruskin quotes below, p. 349. His diaries (1496-1533), in the compilation of which he was given special facilities by the Council of Ten, contain a record day by day-made (in his own words) “at the sweat of the brow, at the cost of much labour, many vigils and continual researches”-of every note-worthy occurrence not only in Venice and the provinces of the Republic, but in all the then known world. Rawdon Brown was among the first to appreciate and make known the historical value of “these precious diaries.” In 1837 he published (in Italian) two volumes of extracts from them with notes (see below, p. 354 n.). It appears from the present passage that he had intended to publish a translation of some of them, but this was not done, Brown’s subsequent labours being concentrated on the State Papers (see Vol. IX. p. 420 n.). The diaries themselves (I Diarii di Marin Sanuto) were published in fifty-six folio volumes by the Deputazione Veneta di Storia Patria in 1877 and following years. The passages here quoted by Ruskin are in vol. xii. pp. 79, 81; the earthquake occurred on March 26, 1511.]

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