DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61893#0210
182 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. IV.
mitted to plunder, to slavery, and to indelible
disgrace. Not one arm was raised, not one
sword was drawn, and Venice fell, self-betrayed,
and unpitied. Her enemies punished her pusil-
lanimity, by pillaging· her public and her private
treasures, by defacing her edifices, by stripping
her arsenal, by carrying away her trophies; and
then they handed her over as a contemptible prize,
to a foreign despot. A tremendous lesson to rich
and effeminate nations to rouse them to exertion,
and to prove, if such proof were wanting, that
independence must be preserved, as it can only
be obtained, by the sword; that money may pur-
chase arms, but not freedom; that submission ex-
cites contempt; and that determined heroic re-
sistance, even should it fail, challenges and obtains
consideration and honor.
Non tamen ignavae
Percipient gentes quam sit non ardua virtus
Servitium fugisse manu .....
Ignorantque datos, ne quisquam serviat, enses.
Lucan,
The population of Venice, previous to the late
revolution, amounted to about one hundred and
fifty thousand souls; it is supposed to have de-
creased considerably since that event, and if the
present order of things should unfortunately con-
tinue, it will diminish, till, deserted like Sienna
mitted to plunder, to slavery, and to indelible
disgrace. Not one arm was raised, not one
sword was drawn, and Venice fell, self-betrayed,
and unpitied. Her enemies punished her pusil-
lanimity, by pillaging· her public and her private
treasures, by defacing her edifices, by stripping
her arsenal, by carrying away her trophies; and
then they handed her over as a contemptible prize,
to a foreign despot. A tremendous lesson to rich
and effeminate nations to rouse them to exertion,
and to prove, if such proof were wanting, that
independence must be preserved, as it can only
be obtained, by the sword; that money may pur-
chase arms, but not freedom; that submission ex-
cites contempt; and that determined heroic re-
sistance, even should it fail, challenges and obtains
consideration and honor.
Non tamen ignavae
Percipient gentes quam sit non ardua virtus
Servitium fugisse manu .....
Ignorantque datos, ne quisquam serviat, enses.
Lucan,
The population of Venice, previous to the late
revolution, amounted to about one hundred and
fifty thousand souls; it is supposed to have de-
creased considerably since that event, and if the
present order of things should unfortunately con-
tinue, it will diminish, till, deserted like Sienna