Note 380 — Scene I.—An Antechamber in the Ducal Palace.
Reading edition
[The Consiglio Minore, which originally consisted of the Doge and his six councillors, was afterwards increased, by the addition of the three Capi of the Quarantia Criminale, and was known as the Serenissima Signoria (G. Cappelletti, Storia della Repubblica di Venezia, 1850, i. 483). The Forty who were "debating on Steno's accusation" could not be described as the "Signory."]