According to a concept introduced by the sages, both the wisdom and the greatness of God make themselves known as much through the minutiae of a small insect as through the articulation and organisation of a large elephant.108The sorcerers of Egypt could form frogs, but they were never able to create gnats. Similarly, the vir-tue of the sovereign prince in administering justice [34v] shines out whenever it is used, for the common people as well as for the eminent and remarkable nobility.
According to the Holy Scripture, God himself takes more pride in being acknowl-edged as the father of orphans and the judge of widows than in being called the oppressor of haughty monarchs and the dominator of tyrants. The prophet Malachi, according to the Hebrew text, stated: “But unto you that fear My name shall the sun of righteousness shine with healing in its wings.”109Clemency is similar to the sun:
its rays heat lower region of the air, closer to the earth, more than the upper air [that is] nearer to it. So too the clemency of God is exercised in helping the lowly and the depressed as much as those who are dignified and sublime.
Thus Isaiah, in chapter 66, stated in the name of God: “Whom will I look at if not at the man that is poor and of a contrite spirit?”110 And the writer of the Psalms, addressing God, says to him, “As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness.”111 This means that the omnipotence, wisdom, and authority of God tend to the infinity and immensity of which they are attributes, but clemency and mercy pertain and are related to human weakness and fragility. Since they are portrayed in such a way that they correspond to our capacities, they also partly express divinity. Thus, when Moses
108 This seems to be a frequently used topos in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature. The classical source associating insects and elephants with reference to the greatness of nature is Pliny the Elder (Natural History IX:1,4): “But we marvel at elephants’ shoulders carrying castles…, where-as really nature is to be found in her entirety nowhere more than in her smallest creations.” A similar topos also appears in the Bible, Proverbs 30:24–28: “24. There are four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise: 25. The ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer; 26. The rock-badgers are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the crags; 27. The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands; 28. The spider thou canst take with the hands, yet is she in kings’ palaces.” Augustine, City of God IX:22:
“Deus autem ita est artifex magnus in magnis, ut minor non sit in parvis.” Gerard J. M. Bartelink,
“Augustinus über die minuta animalia: Eminet in minimis maximus ipse Deus,” in Aevum inter utrumque. Mélanges offerts à Gabriel Sanders, ed. Marc van Uytfanghe and Roland Demeulenaere (Steenbrugge: Abbatia S. Petri, The Hague: Nijoff, 1991), 11–19. See also Lissa, “La zooantropologia scettica.”
109 Hebrew:קברמילגעכ,םתשפוםתאציו;היפנכב,אפרמו,הקדצשמש,ימשיאריםכלהחרזו. 110 Hebrew:חור-הכנוינע-לא--טיבאהז-לאו.
111 Psalms 17:15. Hebrew:ךתנומת,ץיקהבהעבשא;ךינפהזחא,קדצב--ינא.
che ricercò da Iddio ostende mihi gloriam tuam,30altro non li fu mostrato che la sua clementia, e misericordia, come nell’Exodo capitolo 33. Ma perché li Prencipi ancor loro sono rappresentanti della Divinità conviene che nelle attioni della clemenza con-corrono dovendo li [35r] ritratti dell’istesso originario in fra loro non esser dispari.
Ricordomi in questo proposito d’haver inteso da esperimentato e saggio politico ministro di gran Prencipe, che affermava, che capitando lui in città, ove dimorano Hebrei, non sapeva ritrovare conietura più evidente per indagare li veraci, et interni sentimenti del Prencipe, et essentiali, e reali conditioni del governo, che in essami-nare, e cautamente osservare le maniere con quali si trattava con gli Hebrei sudditi, ché se il Prencipe al suo proprio, e natio popolo mostra piacevolezza, et essercita incorrotta giustitia, può forsi ciò derrivare piuttosto da fiachezza d’animo, e timore, se con forastieri è humano, chissà ciò non avvenire per servile rispetto che tiene al Prencipe a cui sono vassalli.
Ma della giustitia, clemenza, protettione, e diffesa ch’usa verso gli Hebrei non può esserne causa se non una virtù eroica d’animo ingenuo, naturalmente disposto in solevare gli oppressi, e sovvenire gli deboli, essendo gli Hebrei non solo d’animo rimesso, et humile, e sempre avvezzi nelle gravezze, et oppressioni, ché però sono acostumati di non esalare pur un languido lamento, com’ancor parimente, privi affatto in qualunque regione del mondo di alcun particolare Prencipe che li sia pro-tettore, e difensore. E di più mi soggiunse detto ministro, che fra molte evidentie della giustitia venetiana, e dell’ottimo suo [35v] Gover|no non essere l’ultima, l’os-servatione da lui fatta circa l’indifferente equità, e non esorbitante impositione, che verso gli Hebrei era usata di fare.
Dal che si può ancora concludere non esser meno honorevole al Prencipe vene-tiano la protettione che tiene della natione, di quello gli è di profitto l’entrate di sopra accenate, tanto più, che queste l’accrescano solamente tesoro, cosa comune con li privati, ma quella gli apporta gloria, ch’è proprietà individuale di Prencipi, e gran monarchi.
30 Exodus 33:18: “Qui ait: Ostende mihi gloriam tuam.”
asked God, “Show me Thy glory”112 in Exodus 33, he was shown nothing but His clemency and mercy. But given that princes are still representatives of the divinity, it is appropriate [for them] to take part in acts of clemency, since the [35r] portrait should not be different from the original.
With regard to this subject, I recall having heard a wise and experienced politi-cian, the minister of a great prince, affirm that when he dwelled in a city where Jews had settled, he knew of no plainer deduction for investigating the true and inner feelings of the prince and the essential and real conditions of the government than by examining and cautiously observing the manners with which Jewish sub-jects were treated. If the prince demonstrated benevolence to his native people and exercised true justice, one could perhaps understand this to be the result of fear and a weakness in spirit. If he was humane and kind towards foreigners, he may have been doing so because he was displaying a servile respect to the prince of these foreigners.
Quite contrary to this, any justice, clemency, protection, and defence that he employs towards the Jews can only arise from the heroic virtue of a genuine spirit naturally disposed to helping the oppressed and meeting the needs of the weak. For not only do the Jews have a submissive and humble spirit; they are also accustomed to difficulties and oppressions. They will not even breathe a feeble lament as they continue to be simultaneously completely deprived of a prince who was willing to protect and shelter them in any region of the world. The above-mentioned minister also told me that among the many demonstrations of Venetian justice and in the excellence of its [35v] government, he took no little notice of the equanimity, free from any passion, that was employed towards the Jews, and remarked on the lack of impositions usually placed upon them.
From these remarks, it can be concluded that it is no less honourable for the Venetian prince to exercise protection towards the Jewish Nation than it is profit-able, because of the aforementioned gains resulting from the entrance fees. These profits not only help to increase the treasury he must share with private citizens, but [his engagement in protecting the Jews is especially honourable] for bringing glory, which is the personal attribute of princes and great monarchs.
112 Hebrew:ךדובכ-תא,אנינארה.