Enough has been said to show that the constitution of Venice was a pyramid resting upon the basis of the Grand Council and rising to an ornamented apex, through the Senate, and the College, in the Doge.

But in adopting this old simile--originally the happy thought of Donato Giannotti, it is said[1]--we must not forget that the vital force of the Grand Council was felt throughout the whole of this elaborate system, and that the same individuals were constantly appearing in different capacities.

It is this which makes the great event of the years 1297-1319 so all-important for the future destinies of Venice.

At this period the Grand Council was restricted to a certain number of noble families who had henceforth the hereditary right to belong to it.

Every descendant of a member of the Grand Council could take his seat there at the age of twenty-five; and no new families, except upon the most extraordinary occasions, were admitted to this privilege.[2] By the Closing of the Grand Council, as the ordinances of this crisis were termed, the administration of Venice was vested for perpetuity in the hands of a few great houses.