In truth, but for those unknown _observors_ in secret service to the
terrible Inquisition,--an army sixty thousand strong, one third of the
entire population of Venice,--impressed from nobles, gondoliers,
ecclesiastics, and people of every grade and profession, from every
quarter of the city, and charged to lose nothing of any detail that
might aid the dreaded chiefs of the Inquisition in their silent and
fearful work--the power of Piero would have been virtually limitless.
These three terrible unknown chiefs of the Inquisition were never named
among the people except with bated breath, as "i tre di sopra," _the
three above_, lest some echo should condemn the speakers. But the
unsought favor of the government was as much a check as an assistance to
Piero's schemes, bringing him so frequently into requisition for
official intrigues that he had less opportunity for counterplotting,
while his knowledge of State secrets which he might not compromise, of
the far-reaching vision of Inquisitorial eyes, and of the swift and
relentless execution of those unknown _osservatori_ who had been
unfaithful to their primal duty as spies, made him dare less where
others were concerned than he would have foretold before he had been
admitted to these unexpected official confidences; while for himself he
had absolutely no fears--having but one life to order or to lose, and
caring less for its length than for the freedom of its ruling while it
remained to him.
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