The government or the individual that is negligent of
reputation, cannot expect long to retain the respect of its equals."
"The ambition of the House of Hapsburgh robs me of my sleep!" exclaimed
the other, throwing aside some papers, over which his eye had glanced in
disgust. "Holy St. Theodore! what a scourge to the race is the desire to
augment territories and to extend an unjust rule, beyond the bounds of
reason and nature! Here have we, in Venice, been in undisputed
possession of provinces that are adapted to our institutions, convenient
to our wants, and agreeable to our desires, for ages; provinces that
were gallantly won by our ancestors, and which cling to us as habits
linger in our age: and yet are they become objects of a covetous
ambition to our neighbor, under a vain pretext of a policy that I fear
is strengthened by our increasing weakness. I sicken, Signori, of my
esteem for men, as I dive deeper into their tempers and desires, and
often wish myself a dog, as I study their propensities. In his appetite
for power, is not the Austrian the most rapacious of all the princes of
the earth?"
"More so, think you, worthy Signore, than the Castilian? You overlook
the unsatiated desire of the Spanish king to extend his sway in Italy."
"Hapsburgh or Bourbon; Turk or Englishman, they all seem actuated by the
same fell appetite for dominion; and now that Venice hath no more to
hope, than to preserve her present advantages, the least of all our
enjoyments becomes a subject of covetous envy to our enemies.
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