The group of Councillors on the dais swayed and parted against that
wonderful background of Tintoret, the dead Christ and the two Doges
reverently kneeling in proof of the devotion of this Most Serene
Republic. Around the vast and sumptuous chamber, where the proud
Signoria assembled, like a council of kings, Venice had chronicled her
triumphs and her religious humility in endless repetition and intimately
blended, as became her faith; the Doges Priuli, kneeling in prayer;
Venice, mounted defiantly on the Lion of Saint Mark; other portraits of
other doges, in attitudes of devotion; other pictures of the Christ, of
the saints, always symbolic; but over all,--triumphant, beautiful,--with
its irresistible sea-tones, cool and strong, Venice, Queen of the Sea,
compelling the homage of her rulers, from the ceiling's height.
Twice the Doge essayed to speak, but the faces of the younger men warned
him of the danger of such an interruption at a moment when the entire
vote had seemed sure, and so filled him with wrath that he dared not
speak until he could control his voice, lest its tremor be mistaken for
fear.
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