Venetian Skill and Learning

Besides Venice there were several Italian cities which achieved great renown in commerce, art and learning during the middle ages. These were Genoa, Florence, Pisa and Milan. They followed Venetian methods to a considerable degree and seemed possessed in a measure of the Venetian character for commerce and finance. Rivalries sprang up and wars between Venice and these cities were frequent and bitter. Genoa was an inveterate enemy of Venice and their conflicts at times remind one of the Punic Wars waged between Rome and Carthage. Venice may be said to have reached the period of its greatest wealth and power about the fourteenth century. Then, by gradual steps, the original, democratic constitution of the Republic was changed into an oppressive, hereditary aristocracy and the power of the state vested in a few noble families. Venice was governed with dictatorial power; a state Inquisition with subterranean dungeons and racks was established, and every act of the people was watched, every word listened to. Along with this, luxury and wealth had brought corruption in office, and the moral tone of the people declined, thus sowing the seeds of national weakness and decay. Two other circumstances contributed directly and powerfully to the decline of Venice. The first of these was the continued successes of the Turks in the East, by which Venice was robbed of the commercial advantages which she had so long and profitably enjoyed, together with the loss of the island of Crete, one of her richest colonies; and the other was the discovery of the sea route to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope. These diverted a considerable portion of the commerce of Western Europe from its former channels through the Mediterranean, and thus reduced the commerce of Venice accordingly.