Chapter 12

"A power that if but named
In casual converse, be it where it might,
The speaker lowered at once his voice, his eyes,
And pointed upward as at God in heaven."
ROGERS.

The reader has probably anticipated, that Antonio was now standing in an
antechamber of the secret and stern tribunal described in the preceding
chapter. In common with all of his class, the fisherman had a vague idea
of the existence, and of the attributes, of the council before which he
was to appear; but his simple apprehension was far from comprehending
the extent or the nature of functions that equally took cognizance of
the most important interests of the Republic, and of the more trifling
concerns of a patrician family. While conjectures on the probable result
of the expected interview were passing through his mind, an inner door
opened, and an attendant signed for Jacopo to advance.

The deep and imposing silence which instantly succeeded the entrance of
the summoned into the presence of the Council of Three, gave time for a
slight examination of the apartment and of those it contained. The room
was not large for that country and climate, but rather of a size suited
to the closeness of the councils that had place within its walls. The
floor was tessellated with alternate pieces of black and white marble;
the walls were draped in one common and sombre dress of black cloth; a
single lamp of dark bronze was suspended over a solitary table in its
centre, which, like every other article of the scanty furniture, had
the same melancholy covering as the walls. In the angles of the room
there were projecting closets, which might have been what they seemed,
or merely passages into the other apartments of the palace. All the
doors were concealed from casual observation by the hangings, which gave
one general and chilling aspect of gloom to the whole scene. On the side
of the room opposite to that on which Antonio stood, three men were
seated in curule chairs; but their masks, and the drapery which
concealed their forms, prevented all recognition of their persons. One
of this powerful body wore a robe of crimson, as the representative that
fortune had given to the select council of the Doge, and the others
robes of black, being those which had drawn the lucky, or rather the
unlucky balls, in the Council of Ten, itself a temporary and
chance-created body of the senate. There were one or two subordinates
near the table, but these, as well as the still more humble officials of
the place, were hidden from all ordinary knowledge, by disguises similar
to those of the chiefs. Jacopo regarded the scene like one accustomed to
its effect, though with evident reverence and awe; but the impression on
Antonio was too manifest to be lost.