364 THE STONES OF VENICE

Tobias follows at his feet, and he bears in his hand a scroll with this inscription:

EFICE Q

SOFRE

TUR AFA

EL REVE

RENDE

QUIETU

i.e., Effice (quæso?) fretum, Raphael reverende, quietum.* I could not decipher the inscription on the scroll borne by the angel Michael;¹ and the figure of Gabriel, which is by much the most beautiful feature of the Renaissance portion of the palace, has only in its hand the Annunciation lily.

§ 43. Such are the subjects of the main sculptures decorating the angles of the palace; notable, observe, for their simple expression of two feelings, the consciousness of human frailty, and the dependence upon Divine guidance and protection: this being, of course, the general purpose of the introduction of the figures of the angels; and, I imagine, intended to be more particularly conveyed by the manner in which the small figure of Tobias follows the steps of

* “Oh, Venerable Raphael, make thou the gulf calm, we beseech thee.” The peculiar office of the angel Raphael is, in general, according to tradition, the restraining the harmful influences of evil spirits. Sir Charles Eastlake told me, that sometimes in this office he is represented bearing the gall of the fish caught by Tobias; and reminded me of the peculiar superstitions of the Venetians respecting the raising of storms by fiends, as embodied in the well-known tale of the Fisherman and St. Mark’s ring.²

¹ [A note added in the revised (1884) issue of the “Travellers’ Edition” says:-

“It was, however, lately (1884) read by a correspondent, thus:-‘Ense bonos tego, malorum crimina purgo.’ ”

This reading was in fact supplied by Ruskin in Fors Clavigera, Letter 78 (1877), where he describes the sculpture more fully, discussing also and translating the inscription: “With my sword I guard the good, and purge the crimes of the evil.”]

² [For this tale, see above, p. 76 n. The story of Tobias and the Angel (from the Book of Tobit) was a favourite one with the mediæval painters (see Fors Clavigera, Letter 74, for Ruskin’s account of it); Raphael carrying a small box for the gall of the fish (Tobit, vi. 4) may be seen in a beautiful picture of the Florentine School in the National Gallery, No. 781. Ruskin had made the acquaintance of Sir Charles Eastlake in 1850; see Journals and Correspondence of Lady Eastlake, vol. i. p. 252.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]