Worn out with long contending,
fearful, not for herself but for her subjects of Cyprus,--she
yielded to the demands of the senate, and abdicated in favor of
the Republic.
Then she returned to Venice. The same wealth of display and
ceremonial that had attended her departure welcomed the return of
this obedient daughter of the Republic, now no longer a
light-hearted young girl, but a dethroned queen, a widowed and
childless woman.
She was allowed to retain her royal title of Queen of Cypus, and
a noble domain was given her for a home in the town of Asola, up
among the northern mountains. Here, in a massive castle, she held
her court. It was a bright and happy company, the home of poetry
and music, the arts, and all the culture and refinement of that
age, when learning belonged to the few and the people were sunk
in densest ignorance.
Here Titian, the great artist, painted the portrait of the exiled
queen that has come down to us. Here she lived for years, sad in
her memories of the past, but happy in her helpfulness of others
until, on her way to visit her brother Giorgio in Venice, she was
stricken with a sudden fever, and died in the palace in which she
had played as a child.
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