n his dominions from the threatened
vengeance. For this delicate and novel negotiation, Peter Martyr was
chosen. The avowed object of his mission has been suspected of masking
some undeclared purpose, though what this may have been is purely a
matter of conjecture. He was also entrusted with a secret message to
the Doge and Senate of Venice, where French influences were felt to be
at work against the interests of Spain. Travelling by way of Narbonne
and Avignon, the ambassador reached Venice a few days after the death
of the Doge, Barbarigo, and before a successor had been elected.
Brief as was his stay in the city of lagoons, every hour of it was
profitably employed. He visited churches, palaces, and convents,
inspecting their libraries and art treasures; he was enraptured by the
beauty and splendour of all he beheld. Nothing escaped his searching
inquiries concerning the form of government, the system of elections,
the ship-building actively carried on in the great arsenal, and the
extent and variety of commercial intercourse with foreign nations.
Mention of his visit is made in the famous diary of the younger Marino
Sanuto.[1]

[Note 1: _A di 30 Septembris giunse qui uno orator dei reali di
Spagna; va al Soldano al Cairo; qual monto su le Gallie nostre di
Alessandria; si dice per prepare il Soliano relaxi i frati di Monte
Syon e li tratti bene, e che 30 mila. Mori di Granata si sono
baptizati di sua volonta, e non coacti_.]

Delightful and absorbing as he undoubtedly found it to linger amidst
the glories of Venice, the ambassador was not forgetful that the
important purpose of his mission lay elsewhere. Delivering his message
to the Senate, he crossed to Pola (Pula), where eight Venetian ships lay,
ready to sail to various ports in the Levant. The voyage to Egypt
proved a tempestuous one, and it was the twenty-third of December when
the storm-beaten vessel safely entered the port of Alexandria, after
a narrow escape from being wrecked on the rocky foundations of the
famous Pharos of antiquity. Christian merchants trading in the Levant
were at that period divided into two groups, one of which was under
the protection of Venice, the other, in which were comprised all
Spanish subjects, being under that of France. The French consul,
Felipe de Paredes, a Catalonian by birth, offered the hospitality of
his house pending the arrival of the indispensable safe-conduct and
escort from the Sultan. In the _Legatio Babylonica_,