In Lombardy the nobles
live upon the rent of their inherited estates; descent and the
abstinence from any regular calling, constitute nobility. In Venice,
the 'nobili,' the ruling caste, were all merchants. Similarly in Genoa
the nobles and nonnobles were alike merchants and sailors, and only
separated by their birth: some few of the former, it is true, still
lurked as brigands in their mountain castles. In Florence a part of the
old nobility had devoted themselves to trade; another, and cer- tainly
by far the smaller part, enjoyed the satisfaction of their titles, and
spent their time, either in nothing at all, or else in hunting and
hawking.
The decisive fact was, that nearly everywhere in Italy, even those who
might be disposed to pride themselves on their birth could not make
good the claims against the power of culture and of wealth, and that
their privileges in politics and at court were not sufficient to
encourage any strong feeling of caste. Venice offers only an apparent
exception to this rule, for there the 'nobili' led the same life as
their fellow-citizens, and were distinguished by few honorary
privileges. The case was certainly different at Naples, which the
strict isolation and the ostentatious vanity of its nobility excluded,
above all other causes, from the spiritual movement of the Renaissance.
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