On the Magistrates and Republic of Venice

families in the midst of such calamities. Furthermore, after those times (a thing which we do not read to have happened to any other city), from the very origin of the city down to these times, for almost eleven hundred years, the Venetian city has always remained immune from hostile force, although it is a most opulent and wealthy city, abounding in gold, silver, and all things, and one that could have invited barbarians to plunder it even from the farthest regions of the world. Whence it comes about that I do not think those men feel incorrectly who judged that for this one reason Venice surpasses other cities. But there is something else in this city which I would deem far the most excellent of all: and with me, all those who think that a city is not just walls and houses, but consider that the assembly and order of its citizens lay the primary claim to this name—namely, the structure and form of the republic, from which a blessed life falls to men. This I deem to be that extraordinary and illustrious thing in which Venice especially shines, and seems to surpass all antiquity. For although it is discovered that there have been some republics