ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



Ramusio informed Bembo that he had been proposed 

 as his successor in the important office of historio- 

 grapher to the Republic. At first he shrank from 

 undertaking so arduous a task, and pleaded his advanc- 

 ing years and ignorance of history in support of his 

 reluctance. But his objections were overruled, and in 

 June 1530 he was appointed to succeed Messer Andrea, 

 both as historian to the State and Keeper of the Nicene 

 Library, for which latter office his vast knowledge of 

 manuscripts fitted him especially. " God forgive you, 

 my son, Gian Matteo, and my brother, Messer 

 Giovanni Battista, for interrupting the sweet repose of 

 this delicious life and the studies that are dearer to me 

 than any dignities and grandeur. It is your doing I 

 am persuaded, and I know that your motive has been 

 an excellent one. But once I put out to sea again and 

 take up this burden, I shall never live as peacefully as 

 of old. . . . And believe me, it is no light task to 

 write history with any credit to oneself." l 



During the next eight years Bembo discharged the 

 duties of his double office with conscientious assiduity. 

 His house in Venice became the meeting-place of the 

 most famous scholars, and his writings attained a 

 world-wide celebrity. Erasmus celebrated his praises 

 as the brightest ornament of the age, and in his dreams 

 Aretino saw him throned on the heights of Parnassus 

 1 Lettere, ii. 214. 



156 



