History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6

Name: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6
Author: Gibbon, Edward

Gibbon, Edward

Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.

the Greeks, the Saracens, and the Normans, were encountered by
      her naval arms. The Franks of Syria were assisted by the
      Venetians in the reduction of the sea coast; but their zeal was
      neither blind nor disinterested; and in the conquest of Tyre,
      they shared the sovereignty of a city, the first seat of the
      commerce of the world. The policy of Venice was marked by the
      avarice of a trading, and the insolence of a maritime, power; yet
      her ambition was prudent: nor did she often forget that if armed
      galleys were the effect and safeguard, merchant vessels were the
      cause and supply, of her greatness. In her religion, she avoided
      the schisms of the Greeks, without yielding a servile obedience
      to the Roman pontiff; and a free intercourse with the infidels of
      every clime appears to have allayed betimes the fever of
      superstition. Her primitive government was a loose mixture of
      democracy and monarchy; the doge was elected by the votes of the
      general assembly; as long as he was popular and successful, he
      reigned with the pomp and authority of a prince; but in the
      frequent revolutions of the state, he was deposed, or banished,
      or slain, by the justice or injustice of the multitude. The
      twelfth century produced the first rudiments of the wise and
      jealous aristocracy, which has reduced the doge to a pageant, and
      the people to a cipher. 39

      35 (return) [ History, &c., vol. iii. p. 446, 447.]

      36 (return) [ The foundation and independence of Venice, and
      Pepin’s invasion, are discussed by Pagi (Critica, tom. iii. A.D.
      81, No. 4, &c.) and Beretti, (Dissert. Chorograph. Italiæ Medii
      Ævi, in Muratori, Script. tom. x. p. 153.) The two critics have a
      slight bias, the Frenchman adverse, the Italian favorable, to the
      republic.]

      37 (return) [ When the son of Charlemagne asserted his right of
      sovereignty, he was answered by the loyal Venetians, oti hmeiV
      douloi Jelomen einai tou 'Rwmaiwn basilewV, (Constantin.
      Porphyrogenit. de Administrat. Imperii, pars ii. c. 28, p. 85;)
      and the report of the ixth establishes the fact of the xth
      century, which is confirmed by the embassy of Liutprand of
      Cremona. The annual tribute, which the emperor allows them to pay
      to the king of Italy, alleviates, by doubling, their servitude;
      but the hateful word douloi must be translated, as in the charter
      of 827, (Laugier, Hist. de Venice, tom. i. p. 67, &c.,) by the
      softer appellation of _subditi_, or _fideles_.]

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Opening the text

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6Gibbon, Edward

History

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6

Gibbon, Edward

Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.

the Greeks, the Saracens, and the Normans, were encountered by
      her naval arms. The Franks of Syria were assisted by the
      Venetians in the reduction of the sea coast; but their zeal was
      neither blind nor disinterested; and in the conquest of Tyre,
      they shared the sovereignty of a city, the first seat of the
      commerce of the world. The policy of Venice was marked by the
      avarice of a trading, and the insolence of a maritime, power; yet
      her ambition was prudent: nor did she often forget that if armed
      galleys were the effect and safeguard, merchant vessels were the
      cause and supply, of her greatness. In her religion, she avoided
      the schisms of the Greeks, without yielding a servile obedience
      to the Roman pontiff; and a free intercourse with the infidels of
      every clime appears to have allayed betimes the fever of
      superstition. Her primitive government was a loose mixture of
      democracy and monarchy; the doge was elected by the votes of the
      general assembly; as long as he was popular and successful, he
      reigned with the pomp and authority of a prince; but in the
      frequent revolutions of the state, he was deposed, or banished,
      or slain, by the justice or injustice of the multitude. The
      twelfth century produced the first rudiments of the wise and
      jealous aristocracy, which has reduced the doge to a pageant, and
      the people to a cipher. 39

      35 (return) [ History, &c., vol. iii. p. 446, 447.]

      36 (return) [ The foundation and independence of Venice, and
      Pepin’s invasion, are discussed by Pagi (Critica, tom. iii. A.D.
      81, No. 4, &c.) and Beretti, (Dissert. Chorograph. Italiæ Medii
      Ævi, in Muratori, Script. tom. x. p. 153.) The two critics have a
      slight bias, the Frenchman adverse, the Italian favorable, to the
      republic.]

      37 (return) [ When the son of Charlemagne asserted his right of
      sovereignty, he was answered by the loyal Venetians, oti hmeiV
      douloi Jelomen einai tou 'Rwmaiwn basilewV, (Constantin.
      Porphyrogenit. de Administrat. Imperii, pars ii. c. 28, p. 85;)
      and the report of the ixth establishes the fact of the xth
      century, which is confirmed by the embassy of Liutprand of
      Cremona. The annual tribute, which the emperor allows them to pay
      to the king of Italy, alleviates, by doubling, their servitude;
      but the hateful word douloi must be translated, as in the charter
      of 827, (Laugier, Hist. de Venice, tom. i. p. 67, &c.,) by the
      softer appellation of _subditi_, or _fideles_.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6

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