This constellation allowed the citizens of Venice to consider control and freedom of movement, spying, libertinage, and veneration not as opposites, but rather, as reciprocal fires in the expression of their unique concept of performing citizenship.

The Venetian Republic-which subsisted for a thousand years (from around 797 to 1797) without any means of providing for itself except through clever trade-relied heavily on the quick undermining of any suggestion of corruption. But in this regard, one might ponder whether our вЂenlightenedвЂ™ and idealized image of mankind might not actually be its own comeuppance when accusations of misconduct are directed at a few вЂblack sheepвЂ™, instead of the tendency for misconduct being recognized as a conditio humana.

In the context of a book on вЂPerforming CitizenshipвЂ™ that focuses rather on contemporary problematizations, the horizon of this essay suggests a new perspective from which contemporary citizens and civil rights movements might perhaps reconsider their usual form of general institutional critique by drawing inspiration from the inventiveness with which historical Venice sought to limit abuses of power, using institutional means and procedures.ДЄdmittedly, the richness of their inventiveness was triggered by a negative image of humanity that Napoleon was not alone in considering pre-modern and hostile to reason. Instead of wanting to change the nature of man, say, by affirmative self-declaration, it created a system of procedural interventions and institutional coups whose purpose was to counteract abuse and corruption, like a corset used to fight formlessness. The success of the Venetian Republic depended on its profound pessimism, its distrust in human goodness.

They had little expectations of weak-but only too corruptible-human beings. Acknowledging the fact that destroying and doing harm was simple in comparison to the difficulties of re-installing trust and credibility, they invented sophisticated practices and countless precautions from which they expected more benefits and practical wisdom. They racked their brains over procedures that would prevent human beings from choosing the easy way. Instead, the Venetians believed in institutions, in imposing restrictions to control unwelcome human behaviour. The Venetians did not believe in the good of man, which is one of the reasons why the republic survived a thousand years of crusades and slaughter but not the century of enlightenment. The mask reflects the richness of Venetian social and political inventions. Above all, it revolutionized social life by allowing a simple form of anonymization, thus guaranteeing Venetian citizens of both sexes libertine, even voluptuous, practices while respecting etiquette. As a social mask, the bautГ grew in popularity between the 14th and 18th centuries, and it played a role at almost every public occasion, as can be seen in countless Canaletto, Longhi and Guardi paintings. But it soon developed into a powerful social equalizer, for it permitted the Venetian Republic to regard its own police and spy state as necessary interventions in the fight against corruption and, at the same time, allowed its citizens to lead a relatively untroubled life beyond convention and constraints. Presumably, it was in protest against the Black Death-that killed rich and poor without exception-that this so-called maschera nobile or bautГ 1 was first borne. While the plague raged in 14th century Venice-eradicating countless patrician families, who were what kept the Maritime Republic alive with its unique system of office rotation and power distribution-the Venetians reinvented their endangered community and polity, with the help of a uniform white mask (larva or volto), a black hood and a three-pointed hat.

Who sings a thousand years