One of these, named the Trevisan, discharged stones of a hundred and ninety-five pounds in weight, and the Victory was little smaller.

But the science of artillery was then in its youth, and these guns could only be discharged once in twenty-four hours.
But, on the 29th, the Venetians could do no more, and officers, soldiers, and sailors united in the demand that they should return to Venice.

Even Pisani felt that the enterprise was beyond him, and that his men, exhausted by cold, hunger, and their incessant exertions, could no longer resist the overwhelming odds brought against him.
Still, he maintained a brave front, and once again his cheery words, and unfeigned good temper, and the example set them by the aged doge, had their effect; but the soldiers required a pledge that, if Zeno should not be signalled in sight by New Year's Day, he would raise the siege.

If Pisani and the doge would pledge themselves to this, the people agreed to maintain the struggle for the intervening forty-eight hours.
The pledge was given, and the fight continued.

Thus, the fate of Venice hung in the balance.