In wealthy families, on the occasion of a baptism, it was not allowable to invite patricians or high officials as witnesses, because it was feared that these families would become too powerful if too closely allied, and the position of godfather was one of very intimate relations and sacred trusts. So in marriages, in families of importance, as has already been shown, certain ceremonies must be held in the Ducal Palace, thus assuring a publicity which enabled the State to have its part in the affair, and have full knowledge of it, the religious ceremony being apparently quite a secondary matter. With death only did jealousy cease, and at funerals the noble and wealthy Venetians were permitted to freely indulge their love of pageantry. The funeral procession of a patrician was usually at night. About two in the morning all the clergy of the quarter in which the dead had resided, with relatives and friends, attended the body to the church. Here it was placed on a bier, the nave being lighted by torch-bearers, and sentinels placed on guard until the morning hour, when the burial took place. At this ceremony a large number of clergy, and all persons named in the will of the deceased, preceded the body to its final resting-place. If the dead had been eminent for services to the State, all the clergy of the chapter of St. Mark, the prebendaries of the Archbishop's cathedral, and the chapter of the Congregation led the procession. Two canons of St. Mark acted as precentors in singing dirges. Then came men bearing the ornamented and embroidered banners of all the guilds and societies to which the deceased had {257} belonged. Next followed the brethren of the "Scuola" with which he had been associated. These frequently numbered two hundred, all in white robes, and by night bearing torches. Behind them the body, on a bier, was borne by eight men. It was most richly dressed, and covered with a trellis of golden wire. Lastly followed the relatives, friends, servants, and behind all others, the orphan children of the dead man. Next day the friends, in funeral attire, went to the Ducal Palace, whither the bereaved family were expected to come, and there receive condolences. The Venetian archives throw a very favorable light on the hospitality, benevolence, and wisdom in sanitary regulations shown by the rulers of Venice in the Middle Ages. From the time of Michieli II. (1117-28) the streets were lighted at night, and watchmen had been employed earlier than that,--at least a century before they were instituted in London, under Henry III.