DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55699#0130
100
THE LANDSCAPE ANNUAL.
ministers. In support of their testimony the Vani referred
to Giovanni Battista, a servant of the Spanish ambas-
sador ; but suggested the propriety of proceeding against
Foscarini on their own evidence, as the examination of
the servant might be the means of warning the other
offenders of their danger. This course the inquisitors
resolved to pursue, and Foscarini, passing at night from
the senate through the ducal palace, was seized, muffled,
and committed to close prison. Being examined, he de-
nied the charge; but as that denial could not be received
against the positive testimony of two witnesses, he was,
by sentence of the Council of Ten, strangled in prison,
and hung by one leg on a gallows in the Piazza, from
sunrise to sunset, with every imaginable circumstance of
infamy. His very face was so bruised by his being
dragged on the ground, that his features were with dif-
ficulty recognised ; an act by some considered as a brutal
favour, intended to prevent his being known.
The infamous Vani, having been thus successful, pro-
ceeded with more confidence in their denunciations,
and named another noble Venetian, Marco Miani. For-
tunately, however, one of the inquisitors, doubtful per-
haps as to the truth of their story, urged the necessity
of examining Giovanni Battista, who had left the service
of the Spanish ambassador, and was residing in Venice.
Being secretly interrogated, he contradicted in every
particular the testimony of the Vani, who being con-
fronted with him confessed, without the application of
torture, the falsehood of their accusation with regard to
Miani, and were sentenced to be hanged. Before their
execution the nephews of Foscarini petitioned the Coun-
U. B HEIDELBERG
THE LANDSCAPE ANNUAL.
ministers. In support of their testimony the Vani referred
to Giovanni Battista, a servant of the Spanish ambas-
sador ; but suggested the propriety of proceeding against
Foscarini on their own evidence, as the examination of
the servant might be the means of warning the other
offenders of their danger. This course the inquisitors
resolved to pursue, and Foscarini, passing at night from
the senate through the ducal palace, was seized, muffled,
and committed to close prison. Being examined, he de-
nied the charge; but as that denial could not be received
against the positive testimony of two witnesses, he was,
by sentence of the Council of Ten, strangled in prison,
and hung by one leg on a gallows in the Piazza, from
sunrise to sunset, with every imaginable circumstance of
infamy. His very face was so bruised by his being
dragged on the ground, that his features were with dif-
ficulty recognised ; an act by some considered as a brutal
favour, intended to prevent his being known.
The infamous Vani, having been thus successful, pro-
ceeded with more confidence in their denunciations,
and named another noble Venetian, Marco Miani. For-
tunately, however, one of the inquisitors, doubtful per-
haps as to the truth of their story, urged the necessity
of examining Giovanni Battista, who had left the service
of the Spanish ambassador, and was residing in Venice.
Being secretly interrogated, he contradicted in every
particular the testimony of the Vani, who being con-
fronted with him confessed, without the application of
torture, the falsehood of their accusation with regard to
Miani, and were sentenced to be hanged. Before their
execution the nephews of Foscarini petitioned the Coun-
U. B HEIDELBERG