Let it not be said in
scorn that Girolamo Magagnati hath bought the nobility with which his
birth hath failed to endow him!"
"Is it better, Messer Magagnati, that some should now say 'it is for
arrogance that this noble son of the people refuses a seat among the
nobles of Venice'?" the Doge questioned coldly.
"Not so, Most Serene Prince; each man is rather noble if, in that place
which God hath assigned him, he doeth nobly the duty belonging thereto;
as ye, my Lords, Nobles, and Councillors of the Republic, each in the
seat appointed you by birth, serve, without wearying, the interests of
Venice. I am already old and the last of my race, for those of my blood
who come after me, by the favor of Venice, are inscribed in the 'Libro
d'Oro.' If I have deserved aught of your bounty, be gracious when some
right of the people is in danger of being forgotten; and let my
grandson, among the nobles, ever serve nobles and people alike--as
Venetians--without distinction of interests. But let me die as I have
lived, among the workmen of Murano--Magagnati, of the Venetian people.
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