"
There was not much difference after all between the methods used by the
seventeenth-century Italian to those actually in force in England at a much
later date when the Press Gang swept the honest and the dishonest into its
net in its midnight raids.
"The galley slaves," observes Pantera, "cherish repose and sincerely wish
to avoid fatigue; in order to incite them to do their duty it is necessary
to use the whip as well as the whistle; by using it with severity the
officers will find that they are better obeyed, and it will in consequence
be good for the service, for fear of the whip is the principal cause of
good behaviour among the gallerians." Further on he observes that it is
well not to flog them too severely and without reason, "for this irritates
the gallerians, as I have frequently observed: this may cause them to
despair and to wish for death as the only sure way out of their troubles."
The excellent Pantera a little later on even says that he cannot agree that
the attempt to cure a sick gallerian "is all nonsense, as is maintained by
some persons," as sick men are a source of danger on board. He apparently
was not prepared to throw them overboard alive, but urges that the best way
to avoid such pestilences among them as killed forty thousand Venetians at
the port of Zara in 1570 is to embark sound and good victuals.
It is interesting to have a contemporary view of the correct treatment of
the galley slave from those who had to do with him.
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