And to-day the people gathered in gloomy silence while the great bell of
the campanile tolled the call to the solemn funeral pageant by which the
Republic offered reparation over the exhumed body of the victim. The
senators, wrapped in mourning cloaks, surrounded the bust of the man
they desired to honor as it was carried in triumph to the church where
the tomb was prepared; and the three _avvogadori_, who had the keeping
of the Golden Book, bore it on a great cushion behind the marble effigy,
the leaf bound open where the name was re-inscribed. Here also walked
the domestics of the re-habilitated noble of Venice--the hatchments that
had been doomed to oblivion freshly embroidered upon their sleeves above
their tokens of crepe. The Doge and the Signoria all took part in this
tragic confession of wrong, doing penance unflinchingly for the sins of
their predecessors; for Venice could be munificent in reparation, not
shrinking from her own humiliation to appease outraged justice and
confirm her power, and there was nothing lacking that might add
impressiveness to the pageant.
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