266 Travels in Italy 



si possa metter in dubio, che questa famiglia discenda dagli 

 antichi Marcelli di Roma; antichi tribuni. — Michieli ; anti- 

 chissima di Venezia; gli elettori del primo Doge. — Mocenigo ; 

 delle prime venute in Venezia. — Molin ; stabilita in Venezia 877 ; 

 antichi tribuni. — Morosini ; rifugiti per le incurzioni di Attila; 

 fra gli elettori del primo Doge, e antichi tribuni. — Da Mosto ; 

 Vennero 454 rifugiati per Attila. — Nani ; Vennero in Venezia 

 sin dalla prima sua fondazione; antichi tribuni. — Orio ; rifu- 

 giata per Attila ; antichi tribuni. — Pisani ; dagli antichi Pisoni 

 di Roma; dell' antico consiglio. — Querini ; elettori del primo 

 T>ogQ.—Sagredo ; Vennero nel 485. — Salomon; tra le elettrici del 

 primo Doge. — Sanudo ; dei primi fondatori della citta. — Semite- 

 cola, sin dal 843; antico consiglio. — Soranzo; senza dubbio delle 

 prime rifugite in Venezia; antichi tribuni. — Tiepolo; gli elettori 

 del primo Doge: antichi trihuni.—Trevtsan; Vennero per 

 rirruzione d'Attila. — Valier ; rifugiti per le incursione di Attila 

 sino dal 423; tribuni antichi. — Venier; Vennero per Attila; 

 antichi tribuni.— Zaw^; antichissima famiglia di Venezia; antico 

 consiglio.— Ze«; dei 12 elettori del primo Doge. Bembo, Coco, 

 Dandolo, Falier, Foscari, Gritti, Malipiero, Marini, Minio, 

 Minotto, Moro, Muazzo, Nadal, Pesaro, Da Riva, Ruzini, Tron, 

 Zusto, all these antichi tribuni. 



From the details of these families it appears that many have 

 an origin as old as Attila the Hun, who invaded Italy in 452. 

 If all these families are allowed to date from that period (and 

 no reason appears against it), their origin may be traced to more 

 than 1300 years. The election, however, of the first Doge, in 697 , 

 by the twelve heads of the republic, is one of the most authentic 

 and the most noted acts in the establishment of any govern- 

 ment. To this undisputed origin, the preceding list assigns the 

 families of Civran, Contarini, Michieli, Morosini, Querini, 

 Salomon, Tiepolo. and Zen, rejecting thus several families which 

 have been commonly esteemed the first in the republic, and 

 which former writers have expressly ranked among the electors 

 of the first Doge. The only families in which both lists agree 

 are Contarini, Michieli, Morosini, and Tiepolo: whether the 

 others were, or were not electors of the Doge, there is no ques- 

 tion about their great antiquity; and it is equally certain, that 

 there are now actually at Venice from forty to fifty families 

 which, in point of antiquity well ascertained, exceed all that are 

 to be found in the rest of Europe. 



And here I take leave of the Venetian lion ; I am tired of it : — 

 if the state were to build a pig-sty, I believe they would decorate 



