II. PRIDE OF STATE II. ROMAN RENAISSANCE 93

the words of the Psalm, “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder.”¹ A hundred and fifty years later, the Venetian ambassador, Francesco Dandolo, unable to obtain even an audience from the Pope, Clement V., to whom he had been sent to pray for a removal of the sentence of excommunication pronounced against the republic, concealed himself (according to the common tradition) beneath the Pontiff’s dining-table; and thence coming out as he sat down to meat, embraced his feet, and obtained, by tearful entreaties, the removal of the terrible sentence.

I say, “according to the common tradition;” for there are some doubts cast upon the story by its supplement. Most of the Venetian historians assert that Francesco Dandolo’s surname of “Dog” was given him first on this occasion, in insult, by the cardinals; and that the Venetians, in remembrance of the grace which his humiliation had won for them, made it a title of honour to him and to his race. It has, however, been proved* that the surname was borne by the ancestors of Francesco Dandolo long before; and the falsity of this seal of the legend renders also its circumstances doubtful. But the main fact of grievous humiliation having been undergone, admits of no dispute; the existence of such a tradition at all is in itself a proof of its truth; it was not one likely to be either invented or received without foundation; and it will be well, therefore, that the reader should remember, in connection with the treatment of Barbarossa at the door of the Church of St. Mark’s, that in the Vatican,²

* Sansovino, lib. xiii.

¹ [Psalms xci. 13.]

² [The Papal Court was at this time transferred to Avignon, and it was there that Francesco Dandolo obtained from Pope Clement V. the removal of the interdict (for which see Vol. IX. p. 29 n.) The common tradition is told by Daru (book viii. ch. 1). “After having solicited an audience, which was refused, Dandolo presented himself suddenly while the pontiff was at table, and threw himself at the pontiff’s feet, asking pardon for the Venetians. It has been recorded that the ambassador, to render his proceedings more touching, wore the garb of a suppliant. It is added that the cardinals who were present so far forgot Christian charity as to treat Dandolo like a dog, and that the ambassador, prostrated before the Vicar of Christ, did not murmur at the indignity.” The surname “Cane,” though an old name of the family, was associated in popular tradition with this incident.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]