The few Venetians destined to
be remembered among those who had contributed to the intellectual
advancement of Italy vegetated in obscurity, suffering not so much from
religious persecution--for the Inquisition had little power in
Venice--as from the incorrigible indifference of a society which ignored
all who did not contribute to its amusement. Odo indeed might have
sought out these unhonoured prophets, but that all the influences about
him set the other way, and that he was falling more and more into the
habit of running with the tide. Now and then, however, a vague ennui
drove him to one of the bookshops which, throughout Italy were the chief
meeting-places of students and authors. On one of these occasions the
dealer invited him into a private room where he kept some rare volumes,
and here Odo was surprised to meet Andreoni, the liberal bookseller of
Pianura.
Andreoni at first seemed somewhat disconcerted by the meeting; but
presently recovering his confidence, he told Odo that he had been
recently banished from Pianura, the cause of his banishment being the
publication of a book on taxation that was supposed to reflect on the
fiscal system of the duchy. Though he did not name the author, Odo at
once suspected Gamba; but on his enquiring if the latter had also been
banished, Andreoni merely replied that he had been dismissed from his
post, and had left Pianura. The bookseller went on to say that he had
come to Venice with the idea of setting up his press either there or in
Padua, where his wife's family lived.
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