国外英文文学系列 The Lion of Saint Mark.docx

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1、1国外英文文学系列国外英文文学系列 The Lion of Saint MarkTitle:The Lion of Saint MarkA Story of Venice in the Fourteenth CenturyAuthor:G.A.HentyPreface.Of all the chapters of history,there are few more interesting or wonderful than that which tellsthe story of the rise and progress of Venice.Built upon a few sandy i

2、slands in a shallow lagoon,and originally founded by fugitives from the mainland,Venice became one of the greatest andmost respected powers of Europe.She was mistress of the sea;conquered and ruled over aconsiderable territory bordering on the Adriatic;checked the rising power of the Turks;conquered

3、 Constantinople;successfully defied all the attacks of her jealous rivals to shake herpower;and carried on a trade relatively as great as that of England in the present day.I have laidmy story in the time not of the triumphs of Venice,but of her hardest struggle forexistence-when she defended hersel

4、f successfully against the coalition of Hungary,Padua,andGenoa-for never at any time were the virtues of Venice,her steadfastness,her patriotism,andher willingness to make all sacrifice for her independence,more brilliantly shown.The historicalportion of the story is drawn from Hazlitts History of t

5、he Republic of Venice,and with it I havewoven the adventures of an English boy,endowed with a full share of that energy and pluckwhich,more than any other qualities,have made the British empire the greatest the world hasever seen.G.A.Henty.2Chapter 1:Venice.I suppose you never have such nights as th

6、ese in that misty island of yours,Francisco?Yes,we have,the other said stoutly.I have seen just as bright nights on the Thames.I havestood down by Pauls Stairs and watched the reflection of the moon on the water,and the lightsof the houses on the bridge,and the passing boats,just as we are doing now

7、.But,he added honestly,I must confess that we do not have such still,bright nights very often,while with you they are the rule,though sometimes even here a mist rises up and dims the water,just as it does with us.But I have heard you say that the stars are not so bright as we have them here.No,I do

8、not think they are,Matteo.I do not remember now,but I do know,when I first camehere,I was struck with the brightness of the stars,so I suppose there must have been adifference.But you like this better than England?You are glad that your father came out here?Francis Hammond did not answer at once.I a

9、m glad he came out,he said after a pause,because I have seen many things I should neverhave seen if I had stayed at home,and I have learned to speak your tongue.But I do not knowthat I like it better than home.Things are different,you see.There was more fun at home.Myfather had two or three apprenti

10、ces,whom I used to play with when the shop was closed,andthere were often what you would call tumults,but which were not serious.Sometimes therewould be a fight between the apprentices of one ward and another.A shout would be raised ofClubs!and all the prentices would catch up their sticks and pour

11、out of the shops,and thenthere would be a fight till the city guard turned out and separated them.Then there used to bethe shooting at the butts,and the shows,and the Mayday revels,and all sorts of things.Thepeople were more merry than you are here,and much more free.You see,the barons,who arethe sa

12、me to us that your great families are to you,had no influence in the city.You are a nation oftraders,and so are we;but in London the traders have the power,and are absolute mastersinside their own walls,caring nothing for the barons,and not much for the king.If anyone didwrong he got an open and fai

13、r trial.There was no fear of secret accusations.Everyone thoughtand said as he pleased.There was no Lions Mouth,and no Council of Ten.Hush!hush!Francisco,the other said,grasping his arm.Do not say a word against the council.There is no saying who may be listening.And he looked nervously round to see

14、 if anyone was within earshot.3There it is,you see,his companion said.So long as we have a safe conscience,in London weare frightened at nothing,whereas here no one can say with certainty that he may not,beforetomorrow morning,be lying in the dungeons of St.Mark,without the slightest idea in the wor

15、ldas to what his crime has been.There,there,Francisco,Matteo said uneasily.Do talk about other things.Your notions may dovery well in England,but are not safe to discuss here.Of course there are plenty here who wouldgladly see a change in some matters,but one cannot have everything;and,after all,whe

16、n onehas so much to be proud of,one need not grumble because everything is not just as one wouldlike.Yes,you have much to be proud of,Francis Hammond agreed.It is marvellous that the peopleof these scattered islets should be masters of the sea,that their alliance should be coveted byevery power in E

17、urope,that they should be the greatest trading community in the world.If I werenot English I should like to be Venetian.The speakers were standing at the edge of the water in front of the Palace of St.Mark.In thepiazza behind them a throng of people were walking to and fro,gossiping over the latest

18、newsfrom Constantinople,the last rumour as to the doings of the hated rival of Venice,Genoa,or thepurport of the letter which had,as everyone knew,been brought by the Bishop of Treviso fromthe pope to the seignory.The moon was shining brightly overhead,and glittering in the waters of the lagoon,whic

19、h werebroken into innumerable little wavelets by the continual crossing and recrossing of the gondolasdotting its surface.There was a constant arrival and departure of boats from the steps,fifty yardsto the right of the spot where the speakers were standing;but where they had stationedthemselves,abo

20、ut halfway between the landing steps and the canal running down by the side ofthe ducal palace,there were but few people about.Francis Hammond was a lad between fifteen and sixteen years old.His father was a merchant ofLondon.He was a man of great enterprise and energy,and had four years before dete

21、rmined toleave his junior partner in charge of the business in London,and to come out himself for a timeto Venice,so as to buy the Eastern stuffs in which he dealt at the headquarters of the trade,instead of paying such prices as the agents of the Venetian traders might demand in London.He had succe

22、eded beyond his expectations.In Venice there were constantly bargains to bepurchased from ships returning laden with the spoils of some captured Genoese merchantman,or taken in the sack of some Eastern seaport.The prices,too,asked by the traders with the townsof Syria or the Black Sea,were but a fra

23、ction of those charged when these goods arrived inLondon.It was true that occasionally some of his cargoes were lost on the homeward voyage,captured either by the Genoese or the Moorish pirates;but even allowing for this,the profits ofthe trade were excellent.The English merchant occupied a good pos

24、ition in Venice.The promptness of his payments,and4the integrity of his dealings,made him generally respected;and the fact that he was engaged intrade was no drawback to his social position,in a city in which,of all others,trade was consideredhonourable,and where members of even the most aristocrati

25、c families were,with scarcely anexception,engaged in commerce.There were many foreign merchants settled in Venice,for fromthe first the republic had encouraged strangers to take up their residence there,and had grantedthem several privileges and advantages.Between Venice and England there had always

26、 been good feeling.Although jealous of foreigners,England had granted the Venetians liberty to trade in London,Southampton,and some othertowns as far back as the year 1304;and their relations had always been cordial,as there were nogrounds for jealousy or rivalry between the two peoples;whereas the

27、interference of France,Germany,Austria,and Hungary in the affairs of Italy,had frequently caused uneasiness to Venice,and had on several occasions embroiled her with one or other of the three last named powers.France had as yet taken a very minor part in the continual wars which were waged between t

28、herival cities of Italy,and during the Crusades there had been a close alliance between her andVenice,the troops of the two nations fighting together at the siege of Constantinople,andcausing the temporary overthrow of the Greek Empire of the East.The rise of Venice had been rapid,and she owed her a

29、dvancement to a combination ofcircumstances.In the first place,her insular position rendered her almost impervious to attack,and she had therefore no occasion to keep on foot any army,and was able to throw all herstrength on to the sea,where Genoa was her only formidable rival.In the second place,he

30、rmercantile spirit,and her extensive trade with the East,brought in a steady influx of wealth,andher gold enabled her to purchase allies,to maintain lengthy struggles without faltering,and toemerge unscathed from wars which exhausted the resources,and crippled the powers,of herrivals.The third sourc

31、e of her success lay in the spirit of her population.Like Rome in her early days,shewas never cast down by reverses.Misfortune only nerved her to further exertions,and after eachdefeat she rose stronger than before.But the cause which,more than all,contributed to give toVenice her ascendancy among t

32、he cities of Italy,was her form of government.Democratic at first,as among all communities,it had gradually assumed the character of a close oligarchy,andalthough nominally ruled by a council containing a large number of members,her destinies wereactually in the hands of the Doge,elected for life,an

33、d the Council of Ten,chosen from the greatbody of the council.Thus she had from the first been free from those factions which were thebane of Genoa and Florence.Some of the great families had from time to time come moreprominently to the front than others,but none had attained predominant political

34、power,andbeyond a few street tumults of slight importance,Venice had not suffered from the populartumults and uprisings which played so prominent a part in the history of her rivals.Thus,undisturbed by discord at home,Venice had been able to give all her attention and all hercare to her interests ab

35、road,and her affairs,conducted as they were by her wisest citizens,with asingle eye to the benefit of the state,had been distinguished by a rare sagacity.Her object hadbeen single and uniform,to protect her own interests,and to prevent any one city on the5mainland attaining such a preponderance as w

36、ould render her a dangerous neighbour.Hence shewas always ready to ally herself with the weaker against the stronger,and to aid with money andmen any state struggling against an ambitious neighbour.Acting on this principle she by turnsassisted Padua against Verona,and Verona against Padua,or either

37、of them when threatened bythe growing power of Milan,and at the end of a war she generally came out with an increasedterritory,and added importance.It is probable that no community was ever governed,for hundreds of years,with such uniformwisdom and sagacity as was Venice;but the advantage was not wi

38、thout drawbacks.The vigilanceof the Council of Ten in repressing plots,not unfrequently set on foot by the enemies of therepublic,resulted in the adoption of a hateful system of espionage.The city was pervaded withspies,and even secret denunciations were attended to,and the slightest expression of d

39、iscontentagainst the ruling authorities was severely punished.On the other hand,comparatively slightattention was paid to private crime.Assassinations were of frequent occurrence,and unless thevictim happened to be very powerfully connected,no notice was taken when a man was found tobe missing from

40、his usual place,and his corpse was discovered floating in the lagoon.Consequently crimes of this kind were,in the great majority of cases,committed with impunity,and even when traced,the authors,if possessed of powerful protectors,seldom suffered anygreater punishment than temporary banishment.After

41、 standing for some time on the Piazzetta,the two lads turned and,entering the square ofSaint Mark,mingled with the crowd.It was a motley one.Nobles in silks and satins jostled withfishermen of the lagoons.Natives of all the coasts and islands which owned the sway of Venice,Greeks from Constantinople

42、,Tartar merchants from the Crimea,Tyrians,and inhabitants of theislands of the Aegean,were present in considerable numbers;while among the crowd,vendors offruit and flowers from the mainland,and of fresh water or cooling drinks,sold their wares.TheEnglish lads companion-Matteo Giustiniani-belonged t

43、o one of the leading families of Venice,and was able to name to Francis most of the nobles and persons of importance whom theypassed.There is Pisani,he said.Of course you know him.What a jolly,good-tempered looking fellowhe is!The sailors would do anything for him,and they say he will have command o

44、f the next fleetthat puts to sea.I wish I was going with him.There is sure to be a fierce fight when he comesacross the Genoese.His father was one of our greatest admirals.That noble just behind him is Fiofio Dandolo.What a grand family they have been,what anumber of great men they have given to the

45、 republic!I should like to have seen the grand oldDoge who stormed the walls of Constantinople,and divided the Eastern empire among thecrusading barons.He was a hero indeed.No;I dont know who that young noble in the green velvet cap and plum coloured dress is.O yes,I do,though;it is Ruggiero Mocenig

46、o;he has been away for the last two years at Constantinople;he was banished for having killed Polo Morosini-he declared it was in fair fight,but no onebelieved him.They had quarrelled a few days before over some question of the precedence of6their families,and Morosini was found dead at the top of t

47、he steps close to the church of SaintPaolo.Some people heard a cry and ran up just as Mocenigo leapt into his gondola,but as itrowed off their shouts called the attention of one of the city guard boats which happened to bepassing,and it was stopped.As his sword was still wet with blood,he could not

48、deny that he wasthe author of the deed,but,as I said,he declared it was in fair fight.The Morosinis asserted thatPolos sword was undrawn,but the Mocenigo family brought forward a man,who swore that hewas one of the first to arrive,and pick up the sword and place it in its scabbard to prevent itsbein

49、g lost.No doubt he lied;but as Mocenigos influence in the council was greater than that ofthe Morosini,the story was accepted.However,the public feeling was so strong that they couldnot do less than sentence Ruggiero to two years banishment.I suppose that has just expired,andhe has returned from Con

50、stantinople.He had a bad reputation before this affair took place,butas his connections are so powerful,I suppose he will be received as if nothing had happened.There are plenty of others as bad as he is.Its a scandalous thing,Francis Hammond said indignantly,that,just because they have gotpowerful