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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

while so formidable a force was on foot, proposed a triple alliance between theVenetians, the pope, and themselves, for the mutual security of all partiesagainst a foe whose ambition was rendered tremendously alarming by the extentof the power which he possessed of gratifying it. The Venetian fleet quicklymade its appearance at sea for the service of the general cause, and in compli-ance with the engagements which it had entered into. It was unavoidably,however, soon withdrawn from the Italian seas, and dispatched to the relief ofConstantinople, which city was for the second time besieged by Vattasus.Its arrival was productive of the same effect which it had been on a formeroccasion, and the danger was no sooner averted from the empire, than theVenetians returned to the shores of Italy, for the purpose of once more joiningthe forces of their confederates. Mutual enyy and animosities prevented theaccomplishment of that purpose, which was the avowed object of the alliance ;for no encounter taking place, the power of the Franks, and their friends thePisans, went unsubdued, so that the only advantage which the pope derivedfrom the treaty was, that the armaments of both were, by the junction of therival fleets, so far kept in check, as to be afraid of making any farther attempton his dominions.

The jealousies and feuds which had so long injured the cause of the confe-deracy, and had, in proportion to their continuance, progressively widened be-tween the rival republics, at length reached such an height, as caused theirmutual secession from the cause and interests of the unfortunate pope. Thismeasure proved the almost immediate forerunner of a very bloody and destruc-tive war, which commenced between the Venetians and the Genoese. Religion,the pretext most frequently used during the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenthcenturies, for the commencement of hostilities, afforded its aid in this instance.The claim made by the zealots of the two states to a particular church in the cityof Aeon, captured from the Saracens, caused, at first, a dispute which requiredvery little assistance from art to be ripened into a serious quarrel. The fanaticismand furious zeal of both parties, totally prevented all possibility of reconciliation.Notwithstanding the pope himself used every possible endeavour to abate theirpublic, as well as private anger, the fleets of both countries met to terminate,if possible, that dispute which was so furious as to have baffled the benevolentattempts of his holiness. The contending and furious rivals met near thecity of Ptolemais : their force was so nearly equal, and the courage of both’

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