for battle by signing a treaty, drawn up by the wily
nonagenarian, in which in the event of victory Venice took literally the
lion's share of the spoils.

The fighting then began. At first the Greeks were too strong, and a
feeling grew among the allies that withdrawal was best; but Dandolo
refused; they fought on, and Constantinople was theirs. Unhappily the
victors then lost all control, and every kind of horror followed,
including the wanton destruction of works of art beautiful beyond
dreams. Such visible trophies of the conquest as were saved and brought
back to Venice are now to be seen in S. Mark's. The four bronze horses
were Dandolo's spoils, the Pala d'oro, probably the four carved columns
of the high altar, and countless stone pillars and ornaments that have
been worked into the structure.

The terms of the treaty were carried out faithfully, and the French paid
the Venetians their original debt. Baldwin, Count of Flanders, the head
of the Crusade, was named Emperor and crowned; Venice acquired large
tracts of land, including the Ionian Islands; and Dandolo became "Doge
of Venice, Dalmatia, and Croatia, and Lord of one-fourth and one-eighth
of the Roman Empire."

The painters have chosen from Dandolo's career the following scenes:
Dandolo and the Crusaders pledging themselves in S. Mark's; the capture
of Zara; the request of Alexius for help; the first capture of
Constantinople by Dandolo, who set the banner on the wall; the second
capture of Constantinople; the election of Baldwin as Emperor; the
crowning of Baldwin by Dandolo.

I said at the beginning of this precis of a gigantic campaign that it
was not of great profit to Venice; nor was it. All her life she had
better have listened to the Little Venice party, but particularly then,
for only misfortune resulted. Dandolo, however, remains a terrific
figure. He died in Constantinople in 1205 and was buried in S. Sofia.
Doge Andrea Dandolo, whose tomb we saw in the Baptistery, was a
descendant who came to the throne some hundred and forty years later.

Mention of Andrea Dandolo brings us to the portraits of Doges around the
walls of this great hall, where the other Dandolo will also be found;
for in the place adjoining Andrea's head is a black square. Once the
portrait of the Doge who succeeded Andrea was here too, but it was
blacked out. Marino Faliero, for he it was, became Doge in 1354 when his
age was seventy-six, having been both a soldier and a dip