Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/405

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 383 WTien the six ambassadors of the French pilc^rims arrived atAUianceof Venice, they were hospitably entertained in the palace of St. andvenetuns Mark by the reigning duke : his name was Henry Dandolo ; *^ and he shone in the last period of human life as one of the most illustrious characters of the time. Under the weight of years, and after the loss of his eyes,^" Dandolo retained a sound under- standing and a manly courage ; the spirit of an hero, ambitious to signalise his reign by some memorable exploits ; and the wis- dom of a patriot, anxious to build his fame on the glory and advantage of his countr^^ He praised the bold enthusiasm and liberal confidence of the barons and their deputies : in such a cause, and with such associates, he should aspire, were he a pri- vate man, to terminate his life ; but he was the servant of the republic, and some delay was requisite to consult, on this arduous business, the judgment of his colleagues. The proposal of the French was first debated by the six sages who had been recently appointed to control the administration of the doge ; it was next disclosed to the forty members of the council of state ; and finally communicated to the legislative assembly of four hundred and fifty representatives, who were annually chosen in the six quarters of the city. In peace and war, the doge was still the chief of the republic ; his legal authority was supported by the personal reputation of Dandolo ; his arguments of public interest were balanced and approved ; and he was authorised to inform the ambassadors of the following conditions of the treaty. ^^ It was proposed that the crusaders should assemble at Venice, on the feast of St. John of the ensuing year ; that flat-bottomed vessels should be prepared for four thousand five hundred horses, and ^^ Henry Dandolo was eighty-four at his election (a.d. 1192), and ninety-seven at his death (a.d. 1205) [probably not quite so old]. See the Obser'ations of Du- cange sur Villehardouin, No. 204. But this extraordinary longevity is not observed by the original writers ; nor does there exist another e.xample of an hero near an hundred years of age. Theophrastus might afford an instance of a writer of ninety- nine ; but instead of «i'i'er^Koi'Ta(Prooem. ad Character.), I am much inclined to read k^ho^uKovto., with his last editor Fischer, and the first thoughts of Casaubon. It is scarcely possible that the powers of the mind and body should support themselves till such a period of life. ■*' The modern Venetians (Laugier, torn. ii. p. 119) accuse the emperor Manuel ; but the calumny is refuted by Villehardouin and the old writers, who suppose that Dandolo lost his eyes by a wound (No. 34, and Ducange). ■*3See the original treaty in the Chronicle of Andrew Dandolo, p. 323-326. [It was agreed that Egypt should be the object of attack (see above, p. 380). A special reason for this decision is said by Gunther (in Riant's Exuviae Sacrae, i. 71) to have been the distress then prevailing in Egj'pt owing to the fact that the Nile had not risen for five years.]