From
this view of the case, however, he was gradually enticed by his
companions, who reminded him that the law commonly made a distinction
between the intention and the execution of an offence. Driven from his
first determination by the cooler heads of his colleagues, the young
inquisitor next proposed that the case should be sent to the ordinary
tribunals for judgment. Instances had not been wanting in which the
aristocracy of Venice sacrificed one of its body to the seemliness of
justice; for when such cases were managed with discretion, they rather
strengthened than weakened their ascendency. But the present crime was
known to be too common, to permit so lavish an expenditure of their
immunities, and the old inquisitors opposed the wish of their younger
colleague with great plausibility, and with some show of reason. It was
finally resolved that they should themselves decide on the case.
The next question was the degree of punishment. The wily senior of the
council began by proposing a banishment for a few months, for Giacomo
Gradenigo was already obnoxious to the anger of the state on more
accounts than one. But this punishment was resisted by the Signor
Soranzo with the ardor of an uncorrupted and generous mind. The latter
gradually prevailed, his companions taking care that their compliance
should have the air of a concession to his arguments. The result of all
this management was, that the heir of Gradenigo was condemned to ten
years' retirement in the provinces, and Hosea to banishment for life.
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