with great vigor, but with no effect on the Castle of Love, as it was
called, till the Venetians made a breach at a weak point. These young men
were better skilled in the arts of war than their allies; they were
richer, and had come to Treviso decked in the spoils of the recent sack of
Constantinople, and at the moment they neared the castle it is reported
that they corrupted the besieged by throwing handfuls of gold into the
tower. Whether this be true or not, it is certain that the conduct of the
Venetians in some manner roused the Paduans to insult, and that the hot
youths came to blows. In an instant the standard of St. Mark was thrown
down and trampled under the feet of the furious Paduans; blood flowed, and
the indignant Trevisans drove the combatants out of their city. The spark
of war spreading to the rival cities, the Paduans were soon worsted, and
three hundred of their number were made prisoners. These they would
willingly have ransomed at any price, but their enemies would not release
them except on the payment of two white pullets for each warrior. The
shameful ransom was paid in the Piazza, to the inextinguishable delight of
the Venetians, who, never wanting in sharp and biting wit, abandoned
themselves to sarcastic exultation. They demanded that the Paduans should,
like the patriarch, repeat the tribute annually; but the prudent Doge
Ziani judged the single humiliation sufficient, and refused to establish a
yearly celebration of the feast.

One of the most famous occasional festivals of Venice is described by
Petrarch in a Latin letter to his friend Pietro Bolognese. It was in
celebration of the reduction of the Greeks of Candia, an island which in
1361 had recently been ceded to the Republic. The Candiotes rose in
general rebellion, but were so promptly subdued that the news of the
outbreak scarcely anticipated the announcement of its suppression in
Venice. Petrarch was at this time the guest of the Republic, and from his
seat at the right of the Doge on the gallery of St. Mark's Church, in