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ALVISE SANUTO.
_A Venetian Story_[7]
[7] The nobility of Venice were subject to the most rigorous
_surveillance_, and dearly paid, occasionally, for the small
degree of power conceded by the ducal house. The jealousy of
the government with regard to these men was carried to excess.
I may mention three regulations among the many that related to
them, as illustrative of the galling yoke that pressed on them,
amid all their pride and splendour. The first forbade them to
leave the dominions of the state without the special permission
of the council of ten; and this was granted with difficulty.
The second prohibited them from possessing foods and chattels
out of the state. This was with a view of preventing the danger
that might arise from attempts to betray the republic under an
idea of finding an asylum elsewhere. The third and most severe
decree forbade communication with foreign ambassadors, under
pain of death! The terror inspired by this was such, that not
only the ministers of the court, but their secretaries and
domestics, fled from the ambassadors as if they were infected
with the plague.
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