CHAPTER V

THE SHADOW ON THE DIAL

59. THE history of Venice, then, divides itself into four quite distinct periods.¹

I. The first, in which the fugitives from many cities on the mainland, gathered themselves into one nation, dependent for existence on its labour upon the sea; and which develops itself, by that labour, into a race distinct in temper from all the other families of Christendom. This process of growth and mental formation is necessarily a long one, the result being so great. It takes, roughly, seven hundred years-from the fifth to the eleventh century, both inclusive. Accurately, from the Annunciation day, March 25th, 421, to the day of St. Nicholas, December 6th, 1100.

At the close of this epoch Venice had fully learned Christianity from the Greeks, chivalry from the Normans, and the laws of human life and toil from the ocean. Prudently and nobly proud, she stood, a helpful and wise princess, highest in council and mightiest in deed, among the knightly powers of the world.

60. II. The second period is that of her great deeds in war, and of the establishment of her reign in justice and truth (the best at least that she knew of either) over, nominally, the fourth part of the former Roman Empire. It includes the whole of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and is chiefly characterized by the religious passion of the Crusades. It lasts, in accurate terms, from December 6th, 1100, to February 28th, 1297; but as the event of that day

¹ [For a subdivision of the first period, see the Appendix, below, p. 427.]

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