Arthur Steinberg and Jonathan Wy-Decline of Nations lie, in Comparative Studies in Society and History (Jan. 1990), 102 Rackham Bldg., Univ. of Mich., Ann Arbor, Mich. 48109-

How many times has the story been re-peated? A society slowly rises to greatness and then, just as it passes its peak, experi- ences a spectacular flowering of the arts.
Venice during the early 16th century was such a place. Exhausted decades of war with the Ottoman Empire, it then con- fronted the League of Cambrai-including F...