The Republic of Venice: de Magistratibus Et Republica Venetorum - Paperbackby Gasparo Contarini (Author), Filippo Sabetti (Editor), Giuseppe Pezzini (Translator) At a time when social scientists are increasingly focusing on the reasons why nations fail and democracies die, Filippo Sabetti turns to the opposite issue, asking instead why institutions endure. To do so, he presents Gasparo Contarini's sixteenth century description of the Republic of Venice to help modern readers understand what made Venice the longest lived self