242 THE STONES OF VENICE

Thirdly, and for the present lastly. What the natural or divine facts of the universe are; what God is, or what His work has been, or shall be, no man has ever yet known, nor has any wise man ever attempted, but as a child, to discover. But the utmost reach both towards the reality and the love of all things yet granted to human intellect, has been granted to the thinkers and the workmen who have trusted in the teaching of Christ, and in the spiritual help of the mortals who have tried to serve Him. And the strength, and joy, and height of achievement, of any group or race of mankind has, from the day of Christ’s nativity to this hour, been in exact proportion to their power of apprehending, and honesty in obeying the truth of His Gospel.

Which rarely now seen historical fact, it having been permitted me in consistent labour of life to ascertain, I trust in conclusive gathering of that labour enough to prove; ending this book, contentedly, with three pieces of former statement, made in three different books, respecting the life and power of ancient Venice.

The first shall be the passage in St. Mark’s Rest, describing the election of a Venetian Doge in the eleventh century.

The second, the extract given in Fors Clavigera, from the oath of the Venetian brotherhood of St. Theodore in the thirteenth.

And the third, the passage in the last volume of Modern Painters, describing the state of Venice in the days of Giorgione.*

(1.) “When the Doge Contarini died, the entire multitude of the people of Venice came in armed boats to the Lido, and the Bishop of Venice, and the monks of the new abbey of St. Nicholas, joined with them in prayer,-the monks in their church, and the people on the shore and in their boats,-that God would avert all dangers from their country, and grant to them such a king as should be worthy to reign over it.

* See St. Mark’s Rest, Chap. vii., p. 81; Fors Clavigera, Letter 75; Modern Painters, Vol. V., Part ix., Chap. ix., § 1.

[Version 0.04: March 2008]