The Royal Pawn of Venice A Romance of Cyprus

Among the day-dreams of the Rulers of Venice the island of Cyprus had long loomed large and fair – Cyprus, the happy isle of romance, l'isola fortunata, sea-girdled, clothed with dense forests of precious woods, veined with inexhaustible mines of rich metals; a very garden of luscious fruits, garlanded with ever-blooming flowers – a land flowing with milk and honey and steeped in the fragrance of wines that a god might covet. Kypros – Paphos – a theme for poets, where Aphrodite rose from