osservatori

Updated: May 12, 2025

But the unsought favor of the government was as much a check as an assistance to Piero's schemes, bringing him so frequently into requisition for official intrigues that he had less opportunity for counterplotting, while his knowledge of State secrets which he might not compromise, of the far-reaching vision of Inquisitorial eyes, and of the swift and relentless execution of those unknown osservatori who had been unfaithful to their primal duty as spies, made him dare less where others were concerned than he would have foretold before he had been admitted to these unexpected official confidences; while for himself he had absolutely no fears having but one life to order or to lose, and caring less for its length than for the freedom of its ruling while it remained to him.

Mrs. Lawrence Turnbull - A Golden Book of Venice