t of a learned antiquarian and a faithful
subject, who considered Venice as the only legitimate offspring of the
Roman republic. He fixes the date of the epistle, and consequently the
praefecture, of Cassiodorus, A.D. 523; and the marquis's authority has
the more weight, as he prepared an edition of his works, and actually
published a dissertation on the true orthography of his name. See
Osservazioni Letterarie, tom. ii. p. 290-339.]

[Footnote 571: The learned count Figliasi has proved, in his memoirs
upon the Veneti (Memorie de' Veneti primi e secondi del conte Figliasi,
t. vi. Veneziai, 796,) that from the most remote period, this nation,
which occupied the country which has since been called the Venetian
States or Terra Firma, likewise inhabited the islands scattered upon
the coast, and that from thence arose the names of Venetia prima and
secunda, of which the first applied to the main land and the second
to the islands and lagunes. From the time of the Pelasgi and of the
Etrurians, the first Veneti, inhabiting a fertile and pleasant country,
devoted themselves to agriculture: the second, placed in the midst
of canals, at the mouth of several rivers, conveniently situated with
regard to the islands of Greece, as well as the fertile plains of Italy,
applied themselves to navigation and commerce. Both submitted to the
Romans a short time before the second Punic war; yet it was not till
after the victory of Marius over the Cimbri, that their country was
reduced to a Roman province. Under the emperors, Venetia Prima obtained
more than once, by its calamities, a place in history. * * But the
maritime province was occupied in salt works, fisheries, and commerce.
The Romans have considered the inhabitants of this part as beneath the
dignity of history, and have left them in obscurity. * * * They dwelt
there until the period when their islands afforded a retreat to their
ruined and fugitive compatriots. Sismondi. Hist. des Rep. Italiens,
v. i. p. 313.--G. ----Compare, on the origin of Venice, Daru, Hist. de
Venise, vol. i. c. l.--M.]

[Footnote 58: See, in the second volume of Amelot de la Houssaie,
Histoire du Gouvernement de Venise, a translation of the famous
Squittinio. This book, which has been exalted far above its merits, is
stained, in every line, with the disingenuous malevolence of party: but
the principal evidence, genuine and apocryphal, is brought together and
the reader will easily choose the fair medium.]