148 THE STONES OF VENICE

of the present day, who are partially awakened to the true state of art in Italy, though blind, as yet, to its true cause, exhaust their terms of reproach upon these last efforts of the Renaissance builders. The two churches of San Moisè and Santa Maria Zobenigo, which are among the most remarkable in Venice for their manifestation of insolent atheism, are characterised by Lazari, the one as “culmine d’ ogni

To the right of the reader-

“IN AMBRACIO SINU BARBARUSSUM OTTHO

MANICÆ CLASSIS DUCEM INCLUSIT

POSTRIDIE AD INTERNITIONEM DELETU

RUS NISI FATA CHRISTIANIS ADVERSA

VETUISSENT. IN RYZONICO SINU CASTRO NOVO

EXPUGNATO DIVI MARCI PROCUR

UNIVERSO REIP CONSENSU CREATUS

IN PATRIA MORITUR TOTIUS CIVITATIS

MŒRORE, ANNO ÆTATIS LXXIV. MDXLII. XIV. CAL. SEPT.”¹

¹ [The inscriptions may thus be translated:-

“Vincenzo Capello, in maritime affairs exceeding skilful and equal to the praises of men of old time; commander of the merchant fleet; by Henry VII. (?VIII), the illustrious King of Britain, rewarded; after having been five times appointed Legate of the fleet and three times commander-in-chief, again launched the fleet, restored from collapse the discipline of the navy, and at Zante displayed to Doria, the Legate of the Emperor, the ancient valour of Venice.

“In the Ambracian Gulf he shut in Barbarossa, the commander of the Ottoman fleet, and would on the next day have brought him to destruction, had not fortune, adverse to the Christian cause, prevented. In the Ryzonic Gulf he captured Castle Nuovo. By common consent of the Republic he was appointed Procurator of Saint Mark. He died in his own country, to the grief of the whole state, in the 74th year of his age, 1542, on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of September (i.e., on August 18).”

The exploits thus recorded refer, for the most part, to the naval war with the Turks, 1537-1540, in which Venice was in alliance with the Pope and the Emperor. The command was given to Capello, in spite of his advanced years, and Venice, as was her fate in other wars, received little support from her allies. The Turkish fleet under Chaireddin Barbarossa was in the Gulf of Arta (the Ambracian Gulf of classical geography), and Cappello succeeded in taking Prevesa at the entrance of the gulf. Doria, the admiral of the Spanish fleet, had joined the Venetians with a part of his force; but “his excessive caution, if it were not downright treachery, prevented the Venetian admiral from carrying out his operations with sufficient élan to secure a victory.” This was what the inscription meant by its “fata Christianis adversa.” The issue of the combat was doubtful, and the honours rested with the Turks, for the whole allied fleet withdrew to Corfu. Capello then reluctantly followed Doria’s advice, and sailed away to the coasts of Albania, where he captured and burnt the town of Castel Nuovo, near Cattaro. In 1540 the Republic concluded a disastrous peace with the Turks, Capello being appointed to the post of Procurator of St. Mark’s, one of the most coveted and honourable offices in the Republic. The story of the campaign may be read in Daru’s History, vol. iv. (Book xxvi. §§ 8, 9); at p. 78 a spirited speech of Capello to Doria is reported, which may be what the inscription refers to in the words “Cæsaris legato priscam Venetam virtutem ostendit.” The town of Auria, between Brindisi and Taranto, is said to have given its name to the Doria family. For a short summary of the events in question, see H. F. Brown’s Venice, p. 363.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]