human
Cyprus will seem nearer now,
gpt
A century nearer than it was in the days of Comnenus, the other answered him, with a recollection of the attempted purchase and occupancy of the island in those earlier times.
human
But now--praise be to San Marco, the time is ripe.
gpt
And Venice hath never ceased to covet that 'Island of Delights!' But now her fleets may lie at anchor in the splendid port of Famagosta while she taketh her leisure in dealing with the merchants of the East; for the King of Cyprus must aye keep faith with the Republic.
human
Yet let Venice beware, the other answered, lowering his voice to a confidential tone.
gpt
It is not over-easy to hold His Majesty to any faith or compact, by what one may guess from the talk of the Senate: but the favor of Venice is needful to him.
human
And none the less that there be those who favor him not. Genoa is wroth at him for having chased them from Famagosta--the most marvellous stronghold in the world, if one may credit Messer Andrea Cornaro, the friend of the King.
gpt
He spake truly, from what I myself should have guessed thereof--getting no closer to the Fortress than any Cyprian might have done six years ago, when I had gone with my fleet to the Syrian Coast for a marvellous cargo of spices, and Cyprus tempted me to a voyage of pleasure, being not so far--the sail of a day with a fair galley. The Genoese held the great Fortress and the splendid city of Famagosta and the country for miles around; an enemy entrenched in the very heart of a kingdom! Small wonder that King Janus, being of a most laudable prowess, should claim his own again--which won him laurels, for the Cyprians had been sore over the matter. Aye; Cyprus is good for the commerce of Venice, and it would be a hard day when the ships of the Republic might not harbor in her waters. And if the good of Venice be the good of Cyprus,--the amity is the more like to last!
human
Aye, for the commerce it is well--most truly well. But there will be too many of our patrician daughters in the suite of the young queen when she shall sail on the morrow. I could more easily have spared fewer.
gpt
They are but charming childish faces; and they have left their sisters behind them--they and the little Caterina; it is well that the bride should make a brave showing at the court of Cyprus--which is held for a marvel of splendor.
human
Thou knowest it, Messer Querini, having been there?
gpt
Nay--not at court--it is Messer Andrea Cornaro who will tell of it. But I passed some days at Nikosia, on my way back from Alexandria, and verily the cities were twins for richness. The beauty of the churches--one for each day of the year through,--we of Venice may not at all equal, save in our Basilica of San Marco;--the precious altars inlaid with gold and jewels,--like our Pala d'Oro that cometh not forth of our treasury save on days of _festa_; finest statues of ivory and silver; great carven columns wrought like our columns of Acre--but vaster and of that same fineness of workmanship: and such broideries of golden thread and great pearls for draperies and altar-cloths, as one may scarce dream of! And in their market-places, strewn with the spoils of the East are faces and voices of every clime and a very babel of tongues; more--far more than on our own Rialto; with schools for every language. And I saw a thing in Nikosia that in all my journeyings I have not met with before.
human
Thy tales are more piquant than the tales of Marco Polo,
gpt
All is marvellous of which thou hast not hitherto known, though it be simpler than thou art wont to behold. So I found strange and noble, a great building already a century and a half old, in the heart of this sumptuous city, whereon it was signified by a writing cut into the stone, that all men of every clime who but confess the name of Christus, being ill or needy, should receive therein, freely given, rest and entertainment.
human
If the entertainment were of the wines of Cyprus it would be verily a gift: for these one may even taste who hath not been in her great cities.
gpt
Truth is truth. the other assented.
human
And that wine of the Commanderie --the dignified speaker interrupted himself with slow unmistakable signs of approval--
gpt
I will make it known to thee to-morrow at the banquet. And her ortolans!--It is a rich land: the Senate hath done well.
human
How sayest thou, 'the Senate hath done well?' Is it not that we are losing too many of our own patricians, rather than coming into favor of Cyprus?
gpt
How 'losing them'--to win relations that be wise for Venice? Andrea Cornaro hath never been one to keep himself at rest in his palace at San Cassiano, and through his wandering hath come this royal alliance for Venice; and to-morrow he goeth again to Cyprus as auditor to the young queen, his niece. The Contarini, the Giustiniani--as thou knowest well--have already vast holdings on those Mediterranean shores.
human
What sayest thou of the Senator Aluisi Bernardini--that _he_ is no loss to Venice?
gpt
Nay, nay: he is one that Venice may not too well spare: a man after her best traditions--one for an embassy or any place of power--a man to do us honor--overgrave and quiet, perchance, for his youth, yet of a courtesy and judgment!--and never leaving the thing undone! It is his father again.
human
Might not some other man, less finely tempered, have served in Cyprus?
gpt
Aye--if the Bernardini himself were not so finely-tempered! I was in the Senate the day they put the choice before him--it was no secret, and it proved the man. To do him honor the Senate gave him choice--and the Senate doth more easily command. And this they laid before him. An Embassy to France, of which he should be chief--his father held it before him, and the Lady of the Bernardini hath been eager that her son should bear his father's honors: that, measured with this mission to Cyprus--to attend the charming little cousin, as private Chamberlain to the Queen, forsooth,--a man twice her years and already of an acknowledged dignity!
human
It seemeth not easy to translate his choice. What sayeth the proud Lady of the Bernardini? For it is less honor.
gpt
One knoweth not; she being of Casa Cornaro, of the elder branch, and, like her son, of few words and great discretion. But she had lately spoken with me of this embassy to France, wishing that her son might hold it, thinking him well fitted for the place. Ah, well--she giveth no sign; and to-morrow she also setteth sail for Cyprus,--being created chief lady in waiting to her fair, young cousin.
human
The Lady of the Bernardini in the court of the Caterina! Impossible! She, in whose salons one might not think one's own thoughts!
gpt
By San Tadoro! one might think them, at one's ease, so only they were of a quality to please her.
human
And the Lady of the Bernardini to leave her splendid palace! Venice without the Lady of the Bernardini!
gpt
Where hast thou been that thou knowest it not? It is even so!
human
Thou dost verily flatter the vanity of a man, Querini, to forget that I am but two days returned with my cargoes from Flanders.
gpt
Nay--thy pardon, friend. I mind it well enough and shall mind it better when thou hast a chance to make us envious of the wares thou wilt unburden from thy cumbrous, carven chests, for there is much talk of their richness. But the ear of Venice is so attuned to these wedding-chimes that it hath no chance to vibrate to another theme until the rejoicings of the morrow be past.
human
And the great estates of the Bernardini? I remember some rumor in the Broglio, before this matter of Cyprus came uppermost, that the houses would have been allied--a marriage between the little Caterina and the cousin Aluisi--a dispensation to be gotten from His Holiness. It would have been well for the estates and the Casa Cornaro.
gpt
Aye, it would have been well for the Casa Cornaro: better perchance than this dazzling foreign marriage, and more fortune in it for the Cornari. For the estates of the Bernardini are princely; and it is well known in the Senate, though it be uttered in decorous whispers, that the dower of the charming bride hath left small remainder to her noble uncle. And Messer Andrea also, is large lender to a king--for war-debts and the like--Janus having nothing until he had regained his kingdom. But as well buy a King as a vast estate for one's toy, if one hath the _zecchini_.
human
Thou art verily more a merchant than I had esteemed thee, Messer Querini, if thou hast no thought in this marriage but for the _zecchini_--as well those of her uncle Andrea for the maid Caterina, as those of the Bernardini.
gpt
May gold buy a man like our young Senator Bernardini! Nay:--but it is the fuss and manner of this marriage that turneth me somewhat against it: and because the father of the Bernardini was in truth my friend. But Caterina was still a child when a king appeared as suitor, and the question of the Bernardini was never made; and Marco Cornaro--Marco is a delighted _magnifico_. _Ebbene_--San Marco might see many of us wise, old fools choosing a king for a son-in-law, if one came our way to beg the favor. And Messer Andrea hath it that King Janus is full winsome. One should not be hard upon Marco Cornaro--it is not the first alliance that his noble house hath made with royalty. May happy fortune befall the maid--who is verily charming and of a consummate dignity.
human
The King hath sent an embassy, that doeth honor to any royal house, to bring his bride to Cyprus. His Excellency the Ambassador, Messer Filippo Podacatharo, is a princely escort; and yesterday when he gave banquet to the merchants of Venice, all were in admiration at the sumptuousness of the fleet of Cyprus.
gpt
I would have been there, but some matters of moment for the Bernardini held me. It is not easy for him to leave Venice, with his vast holdings. And his father was my friend. I command his galleys to-morrow, which follow the Bucentoro to the fleet of Cyprus, outside our harbor--San Marco favor the day!