III. GROTESQUE RENAISSANCE 147

chastisement; but the forgetfulness of God, and the claim of honour by man, as belonging to himself, are visited at once, whether in Hezekiah, Nebuchadnezzar, or Herod, with the most tremendous punishment. We have already seen¹ that the first reason for the fall of Venice was the manifestation of such a spirit; and it is most singular to observe the definiteness with which it is here marked,-as if so appointed, that it might be impossible for future ages to miss the lesson. For, in the long inscriptions which record the acts of Vincenzo Cappello, it might at least have been anticipated that some expressions would occure indicative of remaining pretence to religious feeling, or formal acknowledgment of Divine power. But there are none whatever. The name of God does not once occur; that of St. Mark is found only in the statement that Cappello was a procurator of the church: there is no word touching either on the faith or hope of the deceased; and the only sentence which alludes to supernatural powers at all, alludes to them under the heathen name of fates, in its explanation of what the Admiral Cappello would have accomplished, “nisi fata Christianis adversa vetuissent.”*

§ 19. Having taken sufficient note of all the baseness of mind which these facts indicate in the people, we shall not be surprised to find immediate signs of dotage in the conception of their architecture. The churches raised throughout this period are so grossly debased, that even the Italian critics

* The inscriptions are as follows:

To the left of the reader-

“VINCENTIUS CAPELLUS MARITIMARUM

RERUM PERITISSIMUS ET ANTIQUORUM

LAUDIBUS PAR, TRIREMIUM ONERARIA

RUM PRÆFECTUS, AB HERRICO VII. BRI

TANNIÆ REGE INSIGNE DONATUS CLAS

SIS LEGATUS V. IMP. DESIG. TER CLAS

SEM DEDUXIT, COLLAPSAM NAVALEM DIS

CIPLINAM RESTITUIT, AD ZACYNTHUM

AURIÆ CÆSARIS LEGATO PRISCAM

VENETAM VIRTUTEM OSTENDIT.”

¹ [See above, ch. ii. §§ 46 seq.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]