But while the institution of the dogeship brought with it a certain
measure of equilibrium and security, it left the political framework in
almost every other respect untouched. The work of reform and
consolidation had merely commenced. The first stone only had been laid
of a great and enduring edifice. The first permanent step had been taken
toward the unification of a group of insular clanships into a
homogeneous society, with a sense of common interests.
The late tribunitial ministry has transmitted to us as its monument
little beyond the disclosure of a chronic disposition to tyranny and
periodical fluctuations of preponderance. The so-called chair of Attila
at Torcello is supposed to have been the seat where the officer
presiding over that district long held his court _sub dio_.
The doge Anafesto appears to have pacified, by his energy and tact, the
intestine discord by which his country had suffered so much and so long,
and the Equilese, especially--who had risen in open revolt, and had
refused to pay their proportion of tithes--were persuaded, after some
fierce struggles in the _pineto_ or pine woods, which still covered
much of the soil, to return to obedience.
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