Haughty
as was the attitude of Venice in the face of the threatened
excommunication, the occasion was one of peril to which she was not
blind, and the danger was greatest among the people--the _popolo_--who
were more under the influence of the priests, and who still included in
their beliefs many superstitions which were not likely to deter the
disciplined body of nobles from acquiescence in the decisions of their
chiefs.
It was therefore a moment for diplomacy, when Venice might fitly show
magnanimity in her acceptance of so princely a gift from one of the
people, as this master-worker of Murano was still esteemed; and Girolamo
Magagnati was invited to appear before the Senate and receive the
acknowledgment of the Serenissimo, who had already been informed by the
Councillors that while the spontaneous offer of a galley so maintained
had no precedent in the annals of Venice, the reward which the Senate
proposed to bestow had, in fact, in early historic days been offered by
the Republic as a stimulus to such a gift.
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