On the Magistrates and Republic of Venice

tenor, and from there led away to the most diverse peoples by land and by sea. Others were detained by the crowdedness of the city, and the gathering of almost all peoples, as if the Venetian state were the common emporium of the world. Some marveled at the magnitude of the empire, and the dominion extending both by land and by sea. But most of all, men of more refined and keen intellect were accustomed to think this new arrangement of the city's site, and one so opportune for all things, to have been the work and invention of the immortal gods rather than of men, and for this reason above all others, that the Venetian city excels all others that are anywhere among the nations, or ever have been. And indeed, if you examine the past, you will easily be able to find even in this age some cities to which you might compare ours. Many, in truth, in past centuries, which far excelled the city of Venice in the magnitude of their empire, the frequency of their people, and the abundance and magnificence of all things. But within human memory, no city of the nations has ever