, tended to become a close
aristocracy. In 1179 the Ducal power was still further restricted by the
creation of a senate called the Quarantia for the administration of
justice; while in 1229 the Senate of the Pregadi, interposed between the
Doge and the Grand Council, became an integral part of the constitution.
To this latter Senate were assigned all deliberations upon peace and
war, the voting of supplies, the confirmation of laws. Both the
Quarantia and the Pregadi were elected by the Consiglio Grande, which by
this time had become the virtual sovereign of the State of Venice. It is
not necessary here to mention the further checks imposed upon the power
of the Doges by the institution of officials named Correttori and
Inquisitori, whose special business it was to see that the coronation
oaths were duly observed, or by the regulations which prevented the
supreme magistrate from taking any important action except in concert
with carefully selected colleagues. Enough has been said to show that
the constitution of Venice was a pyramid resting upon the basis of the
Grand Council and rising to an ornamented apex, through the Senate, and
the College, in the Doge. But in adopting this old simile--originally
the happy thought of Donato Giannotti, it is said[1]--we must not
forget that the vital force of the Grand Council was felt throughout
the whole of this elaborate system, and that the same individuals were
constantly appearing in different capacities. It is this which makes the
great event of the years 1297-1319 so all-important for the future
destinies of Venice. At this period the Grand Council was restricted to
a certain number of noble families who had henceforth the hereditary
right to belong to it. Every descendant of a member of the Grand Council
could take his seat there at the age of twenty-five; and no new
families, except upon the most extraordinary occasions, were admitted to
this privilege.[2] By the Closing of the Grand Council, as the
ordinances of this crisis were termed, the administration of Venice was
vested for perpetuity in the hands of a few great houses. The final
completion was given to the oligarchy in 1311 by the establishment of
the celebrated Council of Ten,[3] who exercised a supervision over all
the magistracies, constituted the Supreme Court of judicature, and ended
by controlling the whole foreign and internal policy of Venice. The
changes which I have thus briefly indicated are not to be reg