“I have heard the same since the sun set, in the Piazzetta, Signore!”

“And do men converse of our impartiality, and more than all of our promptitude?  Bethink thee, Jacopo, ’tis but a se’nnight since the claim was preferred to the senate’s equity!”

“None dispute the promptitude with which the Republic visits offences.”

“Nor the justice, I trust also, good Jacopo.  There is a beauty and a harmony in the manner in which the social machine rolls on its course, under such a system, that should secure men’s applause!  Justice administers to the wants of society, and checks the passions with a force as silent and dignified, as if her decrees came from a higher volition.  I often compare the quiet march of the state, contrasted with the troubled movements of some other of our Italian sisters, to the difference between the clatter of a clamorous town, and the stillness of our own noiseless canals.  Then the uprightness of the late decree is in the mouths of the masquers to-night?”

“Signore, the Venetians are bold when there is an opportunity to praise their masters.”

“Dost thou think thus, Jacopo?  To me, they have ever seemed more prone to vent their seditious discontent.  But ’tis the nature of man to be niggardly of praise and lavish of censure.  This decree of the tribunal must not be suffered to die, with the mere justice of the case.  Our friends should dwell on it, openly, in the cafes, and at the Lido.  They will have no cause to fear, should they give their tongues a little latitude.  A just government hath no jealousy of comment.”

“True, Signore.”

“I look to thee and thy fellows to see that the affair be not too quickly forgotten.  The contemplation of acts such as this, will quicken the dormant seeds of virtue in the public mind.  He who has examples of equity incessantly before his eyes, will come at last to love the quality.  The Genoese, I trust, will depart satisfied?”

“Doubt it not, Signore; he has all that can content a sufferer; his own with usury, and revenge of him who did the wrong.”

“Such is the decree—­ample restoration and the chastening hand of punishment.  Few states would thus render a judgment against themselves, Jacopo!”

“Is the state answerable for the deed of the merchant, Signore?”

“Through its citizen.  He who inflicts punishment on his own members, is a sufferer, surely.  No one can part with his own flesh without pain; is not this true, fellow?”

“There are nerves that are delicate to the touch, Signore, and an eye or a tooth is precious; but the paring of a nail, or the fall of the beard, is little heeded.”

“One who did not know thee, Jacopo, would imagine thee in the interest of the emperor!  The sparrow does not fall in Venice, without the loss touching the parental feelings of the senate.  Well, is there further rumor among the Jews, of a decrease of gold?  Sequins are not so abundant as of wont, and the chicanery of that race lends itself to the scarcity, in the hope of larger profits.”