mans power but alas no body can end one This War was commenc'd by the ambition of the Legate but prosecuted by the indignation of the Florentines who entred into an immediate League with Monsieur Barnabo and all the Cities which were at enmity with the Church To manage it they created eight Citizens whom they invested with absolute authority of proceeding without appeal and disbursing without account This War against the Pope though Uguccione was dead reviv'd those who had followed the fortunes of the Ricci who in opposition to the Albizi had favoured Barnabo and appeared against the Church and the rather because the eight were all enemies to the Guelfs whereupon Piero de gli Albizi Lapo da Castiglionochio Carlo Strozzi and others united to defend themselves against their adversaries And while the eight great Citizens were imployed in the management of the War and they in their admonitions the War continued three years till the death of that Pope However it was carried on with so universal satisfaction that the Eight were continued yearly in their Office and got the Title of Santi notwithstanding they had sequestred the riches of the Churches forc'd the Clergy to the execution of their Functions and despised the censures of the Pope So much did the Citizens at that time prefer the advantage of their Country before the quiet of their Consciences and so earnest were they to make it appear to the Church that as when they were friends they had power to defend it so now being enemies they were as able to distress it having put all Romagna la Marca and Perugia into Rebellion But though they were able to maintain War at this rate against the Pope they could not so well defend themselves against their Captains and Factions The indignation and hatred the Guelfs had conceived against the Eight augmented their insolence and they affronted them as well as the rest of the chief of the Citizens Nor was the arrogance of the Captains inferior to the insolence of the Guelfs they had made themselves more formidable than the Signori and men went with more awe and reverence to their Houses than to the Senators Palace insomuch that not an Embassador was sent to Florence but he receiv'd Audience from and had particular commission to the Captains Pope Gregory being dead this City had no more Wars abroad yet at home it was in great confusion the imperiousness of the Guelfs was grown insupportable and no way visible to suppress them it was judged therefore necessary to take Arms and commit the superiority to the decision of Fortune On the Guelfs side there were all the ancient Nobility and the greatest part of the more powerful Citizens of whom as we have said Lapo Piero and Carlo were the chief On the other side were all the inferior sort of the people headed by the Eight and assisted by Georgio Scali Tomaso Strozzi the Ricci the Alberti and the Medici The rest of the multitude as it happens always in such cases joyned with the discontents The power of their adversaries seemed very considerable to the Guelfs and their danger great if any Senate should prove their enemies and go about to destroy them desirous to prevent it they assembled together where examining the State and condition of the City they found the persons which had been admonished were so numerous that they had thereby disoblig'd most of their Citizens and made them their enemies They could propose no other remedy but as they had degraded them of their honours so to banish them the City seize upon the Senators Palace by force and constrain the whole Town to come over to their side according to the example of the Guelfs their Predecessors whose quiet and security was to be attributed wholly to their banishing their adversaries As to the design all of them agreed but they differed about the time It was in the year 1377 in the month of May when Lapo conceiving it unsafe to defer acquainted them that delays were dangerous especially to them considering that in the next Senate Salvestro de Medici might be chosen Gonfaloniere who was a known enemy to their sect Piero de gli Albizi was of another sentiment and thought it best to protract in respect that more force would be necessary which were not to be got together privately and to raise them publickly was to run themselves into palpable danger His judgment therefore was that they should have patience till S. Iohn's day which was at hand at which time in regard it was one of the greatest Festivals and great resort would come to the City of Course they might convey in what numbers they pleased without danger of discovery And to obviate their apprehension of Salvestro he proposed to have him admonished and if that would not do to put the change upon him by some fraud or artifice in the imborsation and foist in some other of the Colledg of his quarter to defeat him securely of that Office This last opinion being approved it was resolved to put off though Lapo consented unwillingly urging that delay was uncertain that no time can in all circumstances be convenient and that he who expects a perfect oportunity seldom attempts any thing and when he does it turns commonly to his own disadvantage However they proceeded to admonish him but could not hinder Salvestro And for the change the Eight had got an inkling of that and took care to prevent it so that Salvestro was drawn for Gonfaloniere by Alamanno de Medici Being of a Noble Popular Family he could not endure that the People should be oppressed by the power of a few great persons resolving therefore with himself to put a period to their insolence seeing he was favoured by the people and back'd by several of the principal Citizens he communicated his designs with Benedetto Alberto Tomaso Strozzi and Georgio Scali all of them concurring in the Plot and ingaging their assistance Upon this they form'd a Law privately whereby the Ordini dâ—lla Giustitia against the Grandees were reviv'd the authority of the Capitani di parte retrench'd and the Ammoniti re-admitted to the Magistracy And because it was best to propose and enact it at one time if it were possible for it was first to be presented to the Colledges and afterwards debated in the Councils Salvestro being in his Office which for the time is as it were Prince of the City he caused a Colledge and Council to be called both together in one morning and coming in person to the Colledge which were none of his friends he proposed the Law to them which he had prepared but it was rejected as an innovation and he could not prevail to have it pass'd Salvestro seeing himself defeated in his first practice to obtain it pretended some necessity to go forth and without being perceived slip'd away to the Council where having placed himself so as he might be heard and seen by the whole Assembly he
him they proposed it to their brethren who were all of opinion that innovations are not to be attempted where the success is doubtful and the danger inevitable Whereupon Donato having tryed all ways in vain in his passion caused it to be told them that seeing they would not permit the City to be reformed by fair means it should be done by foul which words being highly resented the Senate communicating the whole business with the principal Governors cited Donato who upon his appearance being confronted and convicted by the person to whom he dilivered his message he was committed to custody and confined to Barlette With him were imprisoned Alamanno and Antonio de Medici with all which were descended of Alamanno's Family and several others of the more inferior Arts that were in reputation with the people All these things happened within two years after Maso had reassumed the Government The City remaining in this posture many discontents at home and many exiles abroad there chanc'd to be at Bologna among the banished men Piccho Cavicciulli Tomaso de Ricci Antonio de Medici Benedetto de gli Spini Antonio Girolami Christofano di Carlone with two more of inferior condition all of them young brisk and disposed to encounter any difficulty that hindred their return to their Country To these it was privately signified by Piggiello and Baroccio Cavicciulli who at the same time were admonished in Florence that if they would come into the Town they would convey them into an house from whence they might kill Maso de gli Albizi and call the people to Arms who being discontented would be easily provoked and the rather because they would be headed by the Ricci Adimari Medici Menelli and several other considerable Families Allured by these hopes on the fourth of August 1397 they arrived privately in Florence and being disposed of according to agreement they sent out to observe the motions of Maso by whose death they presumed they should raise a tumult among the people Maso was gone out and by accident in an Apothecary's shop not far from San Piero Maggiore the messenger that was to set him seeing of him there repaired immediately to his Comrades to give them information who taking their swords ran directly to the place but he was gone Not at all discouraged with their first miscarriage they turned towards the old Market where they killed one of their adversaries Upon which a great noise being raised and a clamor of the people crying out Arm Liberty Arm let the Tyrants die they marched towards the new Market where near the Calimara they slew another and so going forward with the same shout and out-cry no-body taking Arms they stopped in the Loggia della Nighitosa and mounting there upon the highest place they could find the multitude being round about them but come rather to stare than assist they exhorted them to take Arms and free themselves from a bondage which so highly they abhorr'd they assured them the complaints and lamentations of such as were oppressed in the City had moved them to endeavour their liberty and not any private injury to themselves that they were sensible they had the prayers of many good people that God would give opportunity to their designs Had they had an Head to have commanded them it was believed they would have succeeded at any time but now occasion was offered and they had Captains enough to conduct them they stood gaping upon one another expecting like sots till those persons who endeavoured their freedom were knock'd on the head and their slavery redoubled They could not likewise but marvel that they who upon the least injury were heretofore ready to take Arms should not stir now upon so great and numerous provocations but suffer so many of their Citizens to be banished and admonished when it was in their power to restore the one to their Country and the other to their Offices These words how true soever moved not the multitude in the least either because they were affraid or else because the death of the two persons which were killed had made the murderers odious so that the founders of the tumult perceiving that neither words nor actions would work any thing understanding too late how dangerous it is to enterprize the liberty of a people that are resolved to be slaves and despairing of success they retreated into the Church of S. Reparata not to secure their lives but to protract their deaths Upon the first noise of this tumult the Senate had arm'd and caused the Palace to be shut up but when they heard what the business was who were the Authors and what was become of them they took courage and commanded the Captain with what Fortes he could get to go and apprehend them which was no hard matter to perform for the Church-doors being broken open and part of them slain the rest were taken prisoners who upon examination confessed nothing but that Baroccio and Piggiello Cavicciulli were the only incendiaries and they were both of them killed After this accident there happened another of greater importance About this time as we said before the City had Wars with the Duke of Milan who finding open force was not like to prevail applyed himself to artifice and by the help of the Florentine exiles of which Lombardy was full he procured a treaty with several in the Town in which it was concluded that at a certain day from the nearest places to Florence they could contrive the greatest part of the Exiles which were able to bear Arms should pass by the river Arnus into the City and then joyning suddenly with their friends within should run to the Palace of the Senate and other houses of the chief Officers and having slain them model and reform afterwards as they pleased Among the Conspirators in the Town there was one of the Ricci called Samminiato who as it falls out in most plots where few are not sufficient and many not secure seeking for a companion found an informer for imparting the business to Salvestro Cavicciulli whose own injuries as well as his relations might have made him more faithful he post-poning his future hopes to his present fear discovered all to the Senate Whereupon Samminiato being seized they extorted the whole process of the Conspiracy but of his accomplices no-body was taken but one Tomaso Davisi who coming from Bologna not knowing what was happened in Florence was apprehended by the way before he got thither all the rest upon the imprisonment of Samminiato fled away in great fear and dispersed Samminiato and Tomaso being punished according to the quality of their offence a new Balia was made of several Citizens and authority given them to inquire farther after delinquents and to secure the State This Balia proclaimed Rebels 6 of the Family of the Ricci 6 of the Alberti 2 of the Medici 3 of the Scali 2 of the Strozzi Bindo Altoviti Bernardo Adimari and several others of meaner condition
the agressor would be in the fault and the other excusable to all the Princes of Italy Neither could they demand the assistance of their Neighbours with so much confidence to invade other People as to defend themselves nor would any body â—ight so chearfully to gain from others as to secure their own To this it was answer'd that the Enemy was not to be expected at home that fortune is oftner a friend to the Invader than to the invaded and that though it may be possibly more expence yet there is less damage and detriment in making War in an Enemies Country than in ones own These arguments carried it and Orders were given to the Ten to try all ways and turn every stone for the recovery of Furli out of the hands of the Duke The Duke observing how serious and busie the Florentines were in retriving a place he had undertaken to secure sent Agnolo della Pergola with a considerable force to Imola That the Prince having his hands full at home might not be at leisure to think of the defence of his Grandson Agnola advanc'd with his Army near Imola and though the Florentines lay at Modigliana took the Town one night by the benefit of a great Frost which had frozen the Ditches and sent Lodovico Prisoner to Milan The Florentines seeing Imola lost and the War publickly owned commanded their Army to march and beseige Furli which being accordingly performed that Town was immediately beleagured and to hinder the Conjunction of the Dukes Forces to relieve it they hired the Comte Alberigo with his Squadron from Zagonara to keep them in perpetual alarm and to make daily in-roads to the very walls of Imola Agnolo perceâ—v'd by the strong entrenchment of our Army that Furli could not without great difficulty be reliev'd so he resolv'd to set down before Zagonara presuming the Florentines would not lose that place and that if they came to releive it they must not only raise their Seige before Furli but fight his Army upon great disadvantage Hereupon the Duke Alberigo's Forces were constrain'd to a Parley in which it was agreed the Town should be surrender'd if in fifteen days time it was not reliev'd by the Florentines Their condition being known in the Florentine Camp begot great disorders there as well as in the City and every body desiring to wrest so great a prize out of the hands of the Enemy their Host hasten'd the loss of it form marching from Furli to the relief of Lagonaria they came to an ingagement and were utterly defeated not so much by the Valour of their Enemies as the badness of the weather for our Men having march'd several hours thorow deep ways in perpetual rain finding the Enemy fresh and drawn up with advantage it was no hard matter to overcome them Nevertheless in a Victory so famous all over Italy it was strange and yet true that there died no body of any Eminence but Lodovico Albizi and two of his Sons who falling from their Horses were stifled in the dirt The news of this defeat put the whole City of Florence into a dumps especially the Grandees who had persuaded the War they saw the Enemy strong and couragious themselves without force of friends the people incens'd railing up and down the Streets upbraiding them with the great Taxes and the impertinence of the War girding and scoffing at them with most contumelious expostulations are these they which created the Ten to terrifie the Enemy Are these they who have reliev'd Furli and rescued it out of the hands of the Duke See how strangely their Counsels are discover'd and the ends to which they inclin'd not to defend our Liberty which is an Enemy to them but to increase their Power which God in his Wisdom has most justly diminish'd Nor is this the only enterprize they have pull'd upon the City but several others and particularly that against Ladisâ—ao which was parallel exactly To whom will they now address for supplies To Pope Martin Braccio can be witness how they us'd him before To Queen Giovanna She was forc'd formerly to desert them and throw her self into the Protection of the King of Aragon Such language as this and whatever could be invented by an enraged people was the Common dialect in the Streets To prevent inconveniencies the Senate thought good to assemble several Citizens who with gentle words should endeavour to quiet those humours which were stir'd in the people Rinaldo de gli Albizi was one of them who being eldest Son to Maso and by means of his own Vertue and the reputation of his Father arriv'd at considerable esteem in the City spake to them at large He told them that it was neither justice nor prudence to judge things by success seeing many times good Counsels miscarry and ill ones do prosper That to commend ill Counsels upon their good success was to encourage Errour rather than Virtue which would turn to the great prejudice of the publick because they are not always unfortunate On the other side to condemn wise Counsels for the unhappiness of their event is as blameable as that seeing thereby honest Citizens are discouraged and deter'd from speaking their judgments though the exigence be never so great Then he demonstrated the necessity of the War and how if it had not been carried into Romagna it would have broke out in Tuscany He told them it had pleas'd God their Army should be beaten yet their loss was not so great as it would be if the design should be abandon'd but if still they would bear up against their misfortune and put themselves forward to the utmost of their Power they should not need to be much sensible of their loss nor the Duke of his Victory That they ought prenot to be discourag'd at their Expences and Taxes it being necessary to increase at them sent as a way to lessen them hereafter He told them that greater supplies are more necessary in an offensive than a defensive War and in conclusion he exhorted them to the imitation of their fore-fathers who by the Manliness of their behaviour in all their distresses did always defend themselves against any Adversary whatever Incouraged by his Authority the Citizens entertain'd the Comte de Oddo Son to Braccio into their pay committing him to the instruction of Nicolo Piccinino who had been brought up under Braccio and was reputed the best of his Officers to whom they joyn'd other Commanders of their own and certain Horse Officers which were remaining of the late defeat For the raising of more Monys they created XX. Commissioners out of the Citizens who finding the chief Citizens low and depress'd upon the late overthrow overlaid them with Taxes and opress'd them exceedingly These impositions disgusted them much yet at first in the point of honor they thought it beneath them to complain of their own private usage only they blam'd the Taxes in general and press d to have them abated
to purpose and recommend what is to be debated and resolved upon by the Magistrates in the Council In the same City there are many Noble Families so mighty and potent they are not without difficulty to be brought to any obedience to the Magistrate Of all those Families the Tregosi and Adorni are most powerful and wealthy and from them spring all the divisions of the City and all the contempt of the Laws for differing perpetually among themselves and pretending both to the Dogeship they are not contented to have it fairly decided but came many times to blows by which as one is set up the other is always depressed and sometimes it fals out that that party which is over-power'd and unable to carry that Office otherwise calls in foreign assistance and prostitutes that Government which they cannot enjoy themselves to the dominion of a stranger By this means it comes often to pass that they who have the Government in Lombardy have the command of Genoa likewise as it happened at the time when Alphonso was taken prisoner Among the principal Citizens of Genoa who caused that City to be delivered into the hands of the Duke Francisco Spinola was one who not long after he had been very active to enslave his Country became suspected to the Duke as it often happens in those cases Francisco being highly dissatisfied left the Town and by a kind of voluntary exile had his residence at Caietta being there at that time when the engagement was with Alphonso and having behav'd himself very well in it he presumed he had again merited so much favour from the Duke as to be permitted to live quietly in Genoa but finding the Duke's jealousie to continue as not believing he that had betrayed his Country could ever be true to him he resolved to try a new experiment to restore his Country to its liberty and himself to his honour and security at once believing no remedy could be administred so properly to his fellow Citzens as by the same hand which gave them their wound Observing therefore the general indignation against the Duke for having delivered the King he concluded it a convenient time to put his designs in execution and accordingly he communicated his resolutions with certain Persons which he had some confidence were of the same opinion and encouraged them to follow him It happened to be S. Iohn Baptist's day which is a great Festival in that City when Arismino a new Governor sent them from the Duke made his entry into Genoa Being entred into the Town in the Company of Opicino his predecessor in the Government and other considerable Citizens Francisco Spinola thought it no time to protract but running forth Armed into the streets with such as were before privy to his design he drew them up in the Piazza before his house and cryed out Liberty Liberty 'T is not to be imagined with what alacrity the people and Citizens ran to him at that very name insomuch that if any out of interest or other consideration retain'd an affection for the Duke they were so far from having time to arm and make defence they had scarce leisure to escape Arismino with some of the Genoeses of his party fled into the Castle which was kept for the Duke Opicino presuming he might get thither fled towards the Palace where he had 2000 men at his command with which he supposed he might not only be able to secure himself but to animate the people to a defence but he reckoned without his Host for before he could reach it he was knock'd on the head torn in pieces by the multitude and his members drag'd about the Streets After this the Genoeses having put themselves under new Magistrates and Officers of their own the Castle and all other posts which were kept for the Duke were reduced and the City perfectly freed from its dependance on the Duke these things thus managed though at first they gave the Princes of Italy occasion to apprehend the growing greatness of the Duke yet now observing their conclusion they did not despair of being able to curb him and therefore notwithstanding their late League with him the Florentines Venetians and Genoeses made a new one among themselves Whereupon Rinaldo de gli Albizi and the other chief Florentine Exiles seeing the face of affairs altered and all things tending to confusion they conceived hopes of persuading the Duke to a War against Florence and going upon that design to Milan Rinaldo accosted the Duke as followeth If we who have been formerly your Enemies do now with confidence supplicate your assistance for our return into our own Country neither your Highness nor any body else who considers the Progress of humane affairs and the volubility of fortune ought at all to be surprized seeing both of our pass'd and present actions of what we have done formerly to your self and of what we intend now to our Country we can give a clear and a reasonable account No good man will reproach another for defending his Country which way soever he defends it Nor was it ever our thoughts to injure you but to preserve our Country which will be evident if you consider how in the greatest stream of our victories and success we no sooner found your Highness dispos'd to a peace but we readily embraced it and pursued it with more eagerness than your self so that as yet we are not conscious to our selves of any thing that may make us doubt of your favour Neither can our Country in justice complain that we are now pressing and importuning your Highness to imploy those Arms against it when we have obstinately oppos'd them before in its defence for that Country ought equally to be beloved by all which is equally indulgent to all and not that which despising the rest advances and admires only a few No-body maintains it unlawful in all cases to bear Arms against ones Country Cities are mix'd bodies yet have they their resemblance with natural bodies and as in these many diseases grow which are not to be cur'd without violence so in the other many times such inconveniences arise that a charitable and good Citizen would be more criminal to leave it infirm than to cure it though with amputation and the loss of some of its members What greater distemper can befal a politick body than servitude And what more proper remedy can be applyed than that which will certainly remove it Wars are just when they are necessary and Arms are charitable when there is no other hopes left to obtain justice I know not what necessity can be greater than ours nor what act of charity more commendable than to wrest our Country out of the jaws of slavery Our cause then being both just and charitable ought not to be slighted either by us or your Highness though it were only in compassion But your Highness has your particular provocation besides the Florentines having had the confidence after a peace
those dayes the Pope being desirous to keep the Lands of the Church in their natural obedience had caused Spoliro to be sacked which Town by instigation of the Factions within it had been in rebellion and the City of Castello having been in the same contumacy was afterwards besieged In that Town Nicolo Vitelli was Prince who retaining a great correspondence and friendship with Lorenzo di Medici had supplies sent him from Florence though not enough to defend Nicolo yet sufficient to sow the seeds of such enmity betwixt the Pope and the Medici as produced most pernitious effects Nor had it been long before they had discovered themselves had not the death of Piero Cardinal di S. Sisto intervened For that Cardinal having travelled thorow all Italy and spent some time both at Venice and Milan in honor as he pretended to the Marquess of Ferrara's wedding had sifted the Princes to see how they stood inclined to a difference with the Florentines but being returned to Rome he died not without suspition of being poisoned by the Venetians out of an apprehension of his power when ever he should have opportunity to exert it for though his humor and extraction were mean and his education retired in a Covent yet upon his promotion to the Cardinalship he discovered more pride and ambition than was becoming not only a Cardinal but a Pope For he had the vanity to make a feast at Rome which cost him above 20000 Florens and would have been thought an extravagance in the greatest King of his time Pope sixtus having lost his Minister proceeded more coolly in his designs nevertheless the Florentines the Duke and the Venetians entred into a League Sixtus and the King of Naples entred into another and left room for several other Princes to come in if they pleased By this means all Italy was divided into two factions every day producing something or other which augmented the feuds and particularly a dispute about the Isle of Cyprus to which Ferrando pretended but the Venetian had got the possession upon which the Pope and Ferrando confederated more strictly the great Captain of those times and the most eminent for conduct was Federigo Prince of Urbin who had served under the Florentine a long time that their League might not have the advantage of such a General the Pope and Ferrando resolved if possible to debauch him from them and to that end both of them invited him to Naples Federigo obeyed with great astonishment and displeasure to the Florentines concluding he would run the same fate which Giacopo Piccinino had done before him but they were utterly mistaken for Federigo returned with great honor from Naples and Rome and was made General of their League In the mean time the Pope and the King were not idle but still feeling and tempting the Senats of Romagna and Sienna to make them their friends and enable themselves thereby to be revenged on the Florentines of which the Florentines having advertisement they provided such remedy against their ambition as would consist with their time and having lost Federigo they entertained Roberto do Pimino into their pay they renewed their Leagues with the Citizens of Perugia and the Senate of Faenza The Pope and the King pretended that the grounds of their dissatisfaction was for that they had seduced the Venetians from their League and associated with them themselves and the Pope did not think that he could preserve the honor and reputation of the Church nor Count Girolamo his Sovereignty in Romagna whilst the Venetian and Florentine were united The Florentines on the other side feared that they did not desire to seperate them from the Venetians so much to make them their friends as to enable themselves more easily to injure them so that for two years together Italy remained under these jealousies and diversities of humors before any tumult broke out The first which happened and that was no great one was in Tuscany Braccio of Perugia a Person as we have said before of great reputation in the Wars left two Sons Oddo and Carlo whilst the last was very young his Brother was slain unhappily in a tumult in the Val di Lamona And Carlo when capable for his age was preferred by the Venetians to a command in their Army out of respect to the memory of the Father and the hopefulness of the Son The time of his Commission expired about that time and Carlo would not suffer it to be renewed by the Senate being resolved to see whether his own reputation or his Fathers could bring him back again to Perugia To which the Venetians readily consented as People which added something to their Empire by every commotion Carlo therefore marched into Tuscany but finding the Perugians in League with the Florentines and his enterprize by consequence more uneasie then he expected that nevertheless he might do something worthy thy to be talked of he assaulted the Siennesi pretending an old debenture to his Father for service he had done them and fell upon them with such fury that their whole Country was overrun The Siennesi seeing themselves so fiercely invaded and being naturally jealous of the Florentines persuaded themselves it was done by their consent and made their complaints to the Pope and the King they sent Embassadors likewise to Florence who complained of the injuries they had received and remonstrated that without their privacy and connivance Carlo could never have assaulted them so securely The Florentines excused themselves assuring them they would employ their greatest interest that Carlo should not injure them any farther and that in what way soever their Embassadors should propose they would require him to desist of which proceeding Carlo complained as much on the other side declaring that for not having supplied him the Florentines had robb'd themselves of a considerable acquist and him of great honor and reputation for he promised them the possession of that City in a short time so much cowardize he had observed in the People and so much disorder in their defence whereupon Carlo drew off and retired to his old Masters the Venetians and the Siennesi though delivered by the Florentines means remained full of disgust as not thinking it an obligation to rescue them from a calamity they had brought upon their heads Whilst the affairs in Tuscany were carried on in this manners by the Pope and the King there fell out an accident in Lombardy of greater importance and threatened greater destruction There was a person called Cola of Mantoua who taught the Latine tongue to several young Gentlemen in Milan this Cola being a learned but ambitious man out of pique to the Dukes conversation or some private exceptions of his own took occasion in all his discourse wherever he came to declaim against subjection to an ill Prince and to magnifie their felicity whose fortune it was to be born and brought up in a Commonwealth affirming that all famous Men had their education not under
that he would not stir from Monte-Carlo thereby to draw them into his Clutches and make them hast with all speed to gain the avenues to the Val de Nievole and this plot of his jump'd exactly with the Florentine design For they having no mind that Pistoia should be the Theatre of the War and being willing to remove it into the Vale they encamped above Seravalle with intention to have passed the Streights the next day not imagining in the least that the Castle was surprized Castruccio having notice of their motion about midnight drew his Army out of their quarters and stole privately before break of day to the foot of Seravalle The accident was odd for as he marched up the Hill on one side the Enemy marched up on the other caused his Foot to advance by the way of the common Road but he drew out a party of Four hundred Horse and commanded them towards the left on that side towards the Castle There were Four hundred of the Enemies Horse that were a Forlorn to their Army and the whole Infantry followed them but their Scouts were no sooner upon the top of the Hill when on a sudden they fell foul upon the Troops of Castruccio They were strangely surprized for knowing nothing of the taking of the Castle they could not imagine the Enemy would come to meet them Insomuch that before they had leisure to put themselves into a posture they were constrained to engage tumultuosly with those Troops which were drawn up in good Order but they in confusion Not but some of the Florentine Cavaliers behaved themselves gallantly but the noise of so unexpected an Encounter put them presently to a stand and being defused in the Army it put all into great disorder and fear The Horse and the Foot fell foul upon one another and both upon the baggage Want of ground rendered the Experience of the Officers of no use and the streightness of the pass confounded all their Military cunning The first Troops that Castruccio charged upon the top of the Hill were immediately routed and the small resistance they made was not so much the defect of their courage as the effect of the place with the incommodity of which and the strangeness of the surprize they were constrained to give ground There was no way left for them to run on their Flanks the Mountains were inaccessable their Enemies were in the Front and their own Army in the reer In the mean time as this first charge of Castruccio was not sufficient to stagger the enemies Battel he drew out a party of Foot and sent them to joyn with the Horse in the Castle of Seravalle this body in reserve having possession of the Hills and falling upon the flank of the Florentines forced them to give ground and yield to the wild incommodity of the place and the violence and fierceness of the enemy The Reer-guard ran and having got into the plain that looks towards Pistoia every man shifted as well as he could This defeat was bloody and great among the multitude of prisoners there were many of the principal Officers among the rest three Noble Florentines Bandino di Rossi Francesco Brunilleschi and Giovanni della Tosa without mentioning several considerable Tuscans and many of the King of Naples his Subjects who by their Princes order were in the service of the Florentine Upon the first tidings of their defeat the Pistoians turned the Guelfs Faction out of Town and came with their keys and presented them to Castruccio who pursuing his Victory carried Prato and all the Town in that plain as well beyond as on this side the Arno after which he encamped with his Army in the plain of Peretola two miles from Florence where he continued braving the City and passed several days in the enjoyment of his good fortune parting the spoil and coining of mony thereby exercising with great ostentation a kind of Soveraign right over their Territory and releasing something of the rigour of his discipline he gave his Soldiers liberty to insult as they pleased over the conquered and to make his triumph the more remarkable nothing could serve the turn but naked women must run Courses on horse-back under the very walls of the City But this gallantry and ostentation entertained him but lightly or rather served but as a colour to hide his greater designs for in the mean time he found a way to corrupt Lupacci Frescobaldi and some certain other Gentlemen in the Town who were to have delivered him a Gate and brought him into Florence in the night had not their Conspiracy been discovered and defeated afterward by the punishment of the accomplices This great Town being so streightned and so long block'd up that the Inhabitants seeing no other way of preserving their liberty than by engagiâ—g it to the King of Naples sent Embassadors to that Prince and offered to throw themselves into his arms It was not only for his honour to accept of their proffer but for the general interest of the whole Faction of the Guelfs which without that could subsist no longer in Tuscany The terms being agreed the treaty concluded and the Florentines to pay him annually two hundred thousand Florens he sent them four thousand Horse under the Command of Prince Carlo his Son During this negotiation an unexpected accident hapned which put Castruccio into a cooler temper and made him give the Florentines breath in spight of his teeth there was a new Conspiracy against him at Pisa not to be suppressed by his presence Benedetto Lanfranchi one of the chief Citizens in the Town was the author of it Benedetto troubled to see his Country subject to the tyranny of a Lucchese undertook to surprize the Citadel force out the Garison and cut the throats of all that were friends to Castruccio But as in those kind of conjurations if a small number be able to keep things secret it is not sufficient to put them in execution and therefore whilst Lanfranchi was endeavouring to hook in more associates he met with those who were false and discovered all to Castruccio Two Noble Florentines Cecchi and Guidi who were fled to Pisa were suspected to be the Traitors and the suspicion of that perfidy left an ill stain upon their reputation which way soever it was Castruccio put Lanfranchi to death banished his whole Family and several of the chief Pisans were left shorter by the head This plot discovering to Castruccio that the fidelity of the Towns of Pistoia and Pisa would be always easily shaken he put all things in practice that cunning or open force could suggest to keep them in their duties but whilst his thoughts were upon the tenters about so important a care the Florentines had some respite to recover their Senses and expect the Neapolitan Succours which being at length arrived under the Conduct of Prince Carlo a general Counsel was held of the whole Faction of the Guelfs Upon the resolution taken there an Army was
Pistoia which 15 years since as it is now was divided into the Panciatichi and Cancellieri only then they were at open defyance which now they are not After many contests and disputes among themselves they proceeded to blood to the plundering and demolishing one anothers houses and committing all other hostilities imaginable The Florentines whose business it was to unite them used this third way which rather encreased than mitigated their tumults so that weary of that way and grown wiser by experience they made use of the second banished some of the Ring-leaders and imprisoned the rest whereby they not only quieted their differences then but have kept them so ever since But doubtless the safest way had been to cut them off at first and if those executions were forborn then by us or have been since by any other Commonwealth it is for no other cause but that they require a certain generosity and greatness of spirit that in weak Commonwealths is hardly to be found And these are the errors which as I said in the beginning are committed by the Princes of our times when they are to determine in such great controversies for they should inform themselves how others have comported in the same cases before them but they are so weak by reason of the slightness of our present education and their unexperience in History that they look upon the examples of the ancients as inhumane or impossible So that our modern opinions are as remote from the truth as that saying of our wise men was upon a time Che bisognavatener Pistoiacon le parti Pisacon le fortezze That Pistoia was to be kept under by factions and Pisa by a Citadel but they were mistaken in both What my judgment is about Citadels and such kind of Fortresses I have delivered elsewhere so as in this place I shall only demonstrate how unpracticable it is to keep Towns in subjection by fomenting their differences and factions and first it is impossible to keep both parties true to you be you Prince or Commonwealth or whatever for men are naturally so inconstant it cannot be that those parties which favour you to day should be affected to you always for they will still look out for some new Patron and Protector so that by degrees one of the parties taking some disgust against you the next War that happens you run a great hazard of losing your Town If it be under the Government of a State the City is in more danger than in the other case because each party looks out for friends among the great ones and will spare no pains nor mony to corrupt them From whence two great inconveniences do arise One is you can never make them love you because by reason of the frequent alteration of Governors and putting in sometimes a person of one humour and sometimes another of another they can never be well govern'd And then the other is by this fomenting of Factions your State must be necessarily divided Blondus speaking of the passages betwixt the Florentines and Pistoians confirms what we have said in these words Mentreche i Florentini disâ—gnavano de riunir Pistoia divisono se Medesimi Whilst the Florentines thought to have united the Pistoians they divided themselves In the year 1501. Arezzo revolted from the Florentines and the Valleys di Tenere and Chiana were entirely over-run by the Vitelli and Duke Valentine Whereupon Monsieur de Lant was sent from the King of France to see all that they had lost restored to the Florentines Wherever Monsieur de Lant came observing the persons that came to visit him did still profess themselves of the party of Morzocco he was much dissatisfied with their factions and more that they should declare themselves so freely for said he if in France any man should pronounce himself of the King's party he would be sure to be punished because it would imply that there was a party against the King and it was his Masters desire that his Kingdom and Cities should be all of a mind If therefore a Prince believes there is no way for him to keep his Towns in obedience but by keeping up Factions it is a certain argument of his weakness for being unable by force and courage to keep them under he betakes himself to these pernicious arts which in peaceable times may palliate a little but when troubles and adversity come will assuredly deceive him CHAP. XXVIII A strict eye is to be kept upon the Citizens for many times under pretence of Officiousness and Piety there is hid a principle of Tyranny The City of Rome being distressed for want of provisions and the publick stores being unable to supply it it came into the thoughts of Spurius Melius a rich Citizen of those times to furnish the Common people gratis out of his own private stock whereby he wrought himself so far into the favour of the people that the Senate suspecting the ill consequences of his bounty began to conspire his destruction before his interest became too great to which purpose they created a Dictator who put him to death from whence it may be observed that many times those actions which seem charitable and pious at first sight and are not reasonable to be condemned are notwithstanding cruel and dangerous for a State if not corrected in time To make this more clear I say a Commonwealth cannot be well governed nor indeed subsist without the assistance and ministry of powerful and great men and yet on the other side that power and reputation of particular Citizens is the occasion of tyranny To regulate this inconvenience it is necessary that seeing there must be great men things should be so ordered that they may have praise and reputation by such things as are rather useful than prejudicial to the State Wherefore it is carefully to be observed what ways they take to acquire their reputation and they are usually two either publick or private The publick way is when they arrive at their reputation by some good counsel or some great exploit which they have atchieved for the benefit of the publick and this way of reputation is not only not to be precluded to the Citizens but to be opened by such promises of reward for their good counsels or actions as may both dignify and inrich them and when a reputation is gained by these plain and sincere ways it is never to be feared But when their courses are private which is the other of the two ways they are dangerous nay totally pernitious Those private ways are by obliging particular persons by lending them mony by marrying their relations by defending them against the Magistrates and doing several other particular favours which may encourage their Clients to violate the Laws and vitiate the Commonwealth for which cause it ought to be so well fortified with good Laws that the endeavors of such ambitious men may be either discouraged or defeated and on the other side rewards proposed to such as
in Rome The Manlii were always rigid and severe The Publicoli benign and lovers of the people The Appii ambitious and enemies to the people and so in several other Families they had their peculiar qualities that discriminated them from the rest which cannot proceed barely from their extraction and blood for that must of necessity have been altred by the variety of their Marriages but rather from the diversity of their Education in the several Families for it is a great matter when a man is accustomed to hear well or ill of any thing from his infancy and makes such an impression in him that from thence he many times regulates his conversation as long as he lives and if this were not so it would have been impossible that all the Appii should have been agitated by the same passion and ambition as Livy observed in most of them and particularly in one of the last who being made Censor and to deposite his Office at the expiration of 18 months according to Law refused it absolutely though his Colleague resigned insisting upon an old Law made by the Censors to continue their Magistracy for five years and though there were many meetings and great contention and tumult about this yet in spite both of Senate and People he could not be brought to deposite And he who reads the Oration which he made against P. Sempronius the Tribune of the people will discern the insolence of that Family and the bounty and humanity of several other Citizens expressed by their obedience to the Laws and their affection to their Country CHAP. XLVII A good Citizen is to forget all private injury when in competition with his love to his Country MAnlius the Consul being employed in the Wars against the Samnites received a wound that disabled him for executing his charge upon which the Senate thought sit to send Papirius Cursor the Dictator to supply his place and the Dictator being by the Laws to be nominated by Fabius who was then with his Army in Tuscany they were fearful in respect of an old quarrel betwixt them that Fabius would not name him Whereupon the Senate dispatched two Embassadors toward him to intreat that laying aside all private animosity he would name Cursor for Dictator which Fabius did out of love to his Country though by his sullenness and silence and several other signs he signified his reluctancy and that that Election went against the hair From hence therefore all good Citizens are to take example and learn to prefer the publick good before any private quarrel of their own CHAP. XLVIII When an Enemy commits any grand fault 't is to be suspected for a fraud FUlnius being left Lieutenant of the Roman Army in Tuscany upon the Consuls going to Rome to be present at some Ceremony the Tuscans to draw him into a trap lay'd an Ambuscade for him not far from his Camp and having disguised some of their Soldiers in the habit of Shepheards they caused them to drive certain Cattel within sight of the Romans and the Shepheards were so exact in their obedience that they came up to their very Stoccadoes The Lieutenant wondered at their confidence and the unreasonableness of the thing gave him occasion to suspect whereupon he found out a way to discover the fraud and frustrate the whole plot From whence we may observe that a General is not to presume upon any gross error that his enemy commits because it is not rational to believe he would be so sottish and inconsiderate were there not some stratagem at the bottom yet many times men are so blinded with desire of Victory that they see nothing but what makes for themselves The French having overthrown the Romans not far from the Allia and pursuing them to Rome found the gates open and without any guards to defend them They apprehended it a design and stood drawn up all that day and the next night without daring to enter not imagining the Romans could have been so abject and imprudent as to have abandoned their Country In the year 1508. when the Florentines besieged Pisa Alfonso del Mutolo a considerable Citizen of that Town being Prisoner in the Camp promised that if they would give him his liberty he would deliver one of the Gates into their hands the Florentines believed and discharged him but coming afterwards to negotiate more particularly with certain Commissioners deputed to that purpose he was so far from coming privately that he was always accompanied with several of the Pisans only when they came to treat he desired them to withdraw Forasmuch therefore as he came publickly and attended by several Pisans the Florentines had good reason to suspect the performance of his promise But the Florentines were so blinded with a desire to have the City that following the direction of Alfonso they came up to the Gate towards Lucca expecting to be let in but all things being prepared for them they received a great loss and left many of their best Officers and Soldiers behind them CHAP. XLIX A Commonwealth which desires to preserve it self free has need of new provisions every day and upon what score Fabius was called Maximus IT falls out of necessity as has been said before that in a great City there is not a day but some accidents occur that have need to be remedied and as they are of more or less importance so their Physician ought to be more or less expert And if strange and unexpected accidents ever hapned in any City it was in Rome one of which sort was the the general conspiracy of the Roman Women against their Husbands some had poysoned their Husbands already and all the rest had their materials ready to do as much by theirs Of the same sort was the conspiracy of the Bacchanals discovered during the time of the Macedonian War in which many thousands of Men and Women were engaged which would have been very dangerous for that City had it not been discovered for the Romans had not a custom of punishing whole multitudes when they offended And here we cannot but admire the fortitude the severity the magnanimity of the Romans in punishing offenders which if there were nothing else to evince it would be a great testimony of their virtue and power For so great was their justice they made no scruple to execute a whole Legion or City at a time sometimes they banished 8 or 10000 men together with such conditions as would have been insupportable to a single man so it hapned to those who escaped from the Battel at Cannas they banished them all into Sicily forbidding them to Quarter in any Town or to commit any disorder But the most terrible of all their executions was the decimation of their Armies in which every tenth man was put to death by lot quite thorow their Army nor for the punishment of a multitude can any way be found more formidable for where a multitude transgresses and no certain Author is known to punish
who having possest themselves of that part of Spain call'd Betica being press'd hard by the Visigoti and distressed beyond all remedy they were call'd over by Boniface who at that time Govern'd Africk for the Emperours to come and plant there for those Provinces being then in rebellion he was afraid his ill Administration might be discovered This invitation and their own Exigence concurring the Vandals embrac'd that Enterprize and performed many memorable and brave things in Africk under Gensericus their King In the mean time Theodosius the Son of Arcadius succeeded to the Empire who regarding but litle the Affairs of the West gave those Nations the first thoughts of fixing in their New Conquests Accordingly the Vandali in Africk the Alani and Visigoti in Spain began to set up for themselves and Lord it over the Natives The Franchi and the Burgundi not only over-run and possess'd themselves of France but according to the parts they possest they gave it their Names one of them being call'd Francia and the other Burgundia The success of their Camrades inviting new multitudes to the subversion of the Empire the Hunni fell upon Pannonia which is a Province upon the banks of the Danube and giving it their Name have denominated it Hungaria to this very day Then as an addition to the disorders the Emperour finding himself attacked in so many places to contract the number of his Enemies he began first to treat and capitulate with the Vandals then with the Franks which Treaty increas'd the Authority of the Barbarians and diminish'd his own Nor was the Island of great Britain call'd England at this day exempt from its troubles For the Britains grown apprehensive of the people which had Conquered France and not discerning which way the Emperour would be able to defend them call'd in the Angli a Nation in Germany to their assistance The Angli under the Conduct of Vortiger their King undertook their defence and at first behav'd themselves faithfully afterwards their Opportunity increasing with their Power they drove the Natives out of the Island possess'd themselves of it and gave it their Name in commutation for its liberty Being robb'd of their Countrey and made Valiant by Necessity though they were not able to recover their own the Britains began to think of invading some other and planting themselves there In this Resolution they cross'd the Seas with their whole Families and possess'd themselves of those parts which lie upon the Coasts of France and are call'd Britain to this day The Hunns who as was said before had over-run Pannonia being streightned and disturb'd in their Quarters by other Nations viz. the Zepidi Eruli Turingi and Ostrogoti or Eastern Goths they rose again and put themselves once more in motion for New Habitations Not being able to force their way into France which was at that time defended by the Barbarians they fell into Italy under Attila their King who not long before to rid himself of a Partner in the Government had slain Bleda his own Brother and by that means made himself absolute Andaricus King of the Zepidi and Velamir King of the Ostrogoti remained as his Subjects Attila having in this manner made his inroad into Italy he besieg'd Aquilegia lay without interruption two years before it wasted the Countrey round about it and dispersed the Inhabitants which as we shall afterwards declare was the occasion of building the City of Venice After he had taken sack'd and demolish'd Aquilegia and several other Towns he advanc'd towards Rome but forbore the destruction of it upon the intercession of the Pope for whom Attila had so great a Reverence and Veneration that upon his single persuasion he withdrew out of Italy into Austria where he died After Attila's death Velamir King of the Ostrogoti with the Commanders of other Nations took up Arms against Tenricus and Eurius Attila's Sons One of them they kill'd and forc'd the other with the Hunni back again over the Danube into their own Countrey Upon which the Ostrogoti and Zepidi plac'd themselves in Pannonia and the Eruli and Turingi remain'd upon the Bank of the Danube Attila being departed out of Italy Valentinianus at that time Emperour of the West had a design to repair that Empire and for his Capacity of defending it with more Ease and Convenience against the irruptions of the Barbarians he quitted Rome and setled his Residence at Ravenna The Calamities wherewith the Western Empire had been oppressed were the occasion that the Emperour residing at Constantinople had many times transfer'd the possession of it to other people as a thing of great danger and expence many times without the Emperour's permission the Romans seeing themselves deserted had created new Emperours in order to their defence and sometimes other persons taking advantage of their own Interest and Authority Usurp'd as it happen'd when Maximus a Citizen of Rome got possession of it after the death of Valentinianus and forc'd his Widow Eudoxa to take him for her Husband who desirous of revenge and disdaining being of Imperial extraction the Embraces of so inferiour a person she invited privately Gensericus King of the Vandals into Italy remonstrating the Easiness and Utility of the Conquest who allured by the Prize was without much difficulty perswaded He entred Italy with his Army march'd up to Rome found it abandon'd sack'd it and continued in it fourteen days after which he took and plundr'd several other Towns and having laden both himself and his Army with the Spoyl he return'd into Africk The Romans returning upon his departure Maximus being dead they made Avicus a Roman Emperour After many occurrences both within Italy and without and the death of several Emperours the Empire of Constantinople fell into the hands of Zeno and the Empire of Româ— by Stratagem and Artifice to Orestes and Augustulus his Son who preparing to defend it by force were invaded by the Eruli and Turingi plac'd as we said before upon the Banks of the Danube Confederate for that Expedition under the Command of Odoacres their General Of such places as they had thought good to baulk and leave empty the Lombards possessed themselves a Northen Nation like the rest and Commanded by Godoglio their King which were the last People that plagued Italy as shall be shown in its place Odoacres having made his way into Italy he encountred vanquish'd and slew Orestes near Pavia but Augustulus got off After this Victory that the Title might change with the Government Odoacres caus'd himself to be call'd King of Rome and was the first Chieftain of those Nations which at that time over-ran the whole World that thought of fixing in Italy for either suspecting their abilities to keep it by reason of the easiness and facility wherewith it might be reliev'd by the Emperour of the East or for some other secret cause the rest had ravag'd and plunder'd it but they always
retir'd and sought out other Countreys for their Establishment and Plantation In those days the ancient Empire of Rome was reduc'd under these Princes Zeno Governing in Constantinople Commanded the whole Empire of the East The Ostrogoti Commanded Mesia The Visigoti Pannonia The Suevi and Alani Gascoigne and Spain The Vandali Africa The Franchi and Burgundi France The Eruli and Turingi Italy The Kingdom of the Ostrogoti was devolv'd upon a Nephew of Velamir's call'd Theodorick who retaining an Amity with Zeno Emperour of the East writ him word That his Ostrogoti being in Valour superiour to other Nations they thought it injust and unreasonable to be inferiour in Territory and Command and that it would be impossible for him to confine them within the Limits of Pannonia That being therefore necessitated to comply and suffer them to take up Arms in quest of New Countreys he could do no less than give him timely advertisment that he might provide against the worst and if he pleas'd assign them some other Countrey which by his Grace and Favour they might inhabit with more Latitude and Convenience Whereupon Zeno partly out of fear and partly desirous to drive Odoacres out of Italy directed Theodorick against him and gave him that Countrey for his pains when it was his fortune to catch it Theodorick accepts the Proposition removes from Pannonia where he left the Zepidi his Friends and marching into Italy slew Odoacres and his Sâ—n call'd himself King of Rome by his Example and made Ravenna his Residence upon the same Reasons as had prevail'd before with Valentinian Theodorick was an excellent person both in War and Peace In the first he was always Victor in the last a continual Benefactor as that City and that Nation experimented often He divided his Ostrogoti into several Countreys appointing Governours over them that might Command in time of Wars and Correct in time of Peace He inlarged Ravenna and repair'd Rome and restor'd all its Priviledges except its Military Discipline Without any noise or tumult of War by his own single Wisdom and Authority he kept all the Barbarian Princes who had Cantonized the Empire in their just bounds He built several Towns and Castles between the Adriatick-Sea and the Alps to obstruct any new Incursion by the Barbarians and had not his many Virtues been sulli'd and eclipsed towards his latter end by some Cruelties he committed upon a jealousie of being depos'd as the deaths of Symmachus and Boetius both of them virtuous men do sufficiently declare his Memory would have been this day as honourable as his Person was then for by his Vertue and Bounty not only Rome and Italy but all the rest of the Western Empire was freed from the continual Conflicts which for so many years it indur'd by the frequent irruption of the Barbarians and reduc'd into good Order and Condition And certainly if any times were ever miserable in Italy and those Provinces which were over-run by the Barbarians they were the times betwixt the Reigns of Aâ—cadius and Honorius and his for if it be consider'd what inconveniences and damage do generally result to a Common-wealth or Kingdom upon alteration of Prince or Government especially if effected not by forreign force but civil dissention If it be observed how fatal the least Changes prove to Common-wealth or Kingdom how potent soever it may easily be imagin'd how much Italy and other Provinces of the Roman Empire suffer'd in those days losing not only their Government but their Laws Customs Conversations Religions Language Habits and even their Names The thoughts of any one of which things without so great an accumulation would make the stoutest heart to ake much more the seeing and feeling of them And as this was the destruction so it was the foundation and augmentation of many Cities In the number of those which were ruin'd was Aquileia Luni Chiusi Popolonia Fiesole and many others Among those which were new built were Venice Siena Ferrara l' Aquila and several other both Towns and Castles which for brevity sake I omit Those which from small beginnings became great and considerable were Florence Genoa Pisa Milan Naples and Bolonia to which may be added the ruine and reparation of Rome and several other Cities which were demolish'd and rebuilt Among these devastations and inroads of new people there sprang forth new Languages as is visible by what is us'd both in France Spain and Italy which being mixt with the Language of their Invaders and the ancient Roman is become new and clear another thing to what it was before Besides not only the Provinces lost their Names but particular places Rivers Seas and Men France Italy and Spain being full of new Appellatives quite contrary to what they were of old as the Po Garda and Archipelago for Rivers and Seas and for Men in stead of Cesar and Pompey they began to be call'd Peter Iohn Matthew c. But among all these Variations the changing of their Religions was of no less imporâ—ance for the Custome and Prescription of the ancient Faith being in combat and competition with the Miracles of the New many tumults and dissentions were created which had the Christian Church been unanimous and entire would never have happen'd but the Greek the Roman the Church at Ravenna being in contention and the Heretick with the Catholick as furiously zealous they brought great misery upon the World as Africa can witness which suffer'd more by their Arrianism which was the Doctrine of the Vandals than by all their avarice and cruelty Whilst men lived expos'd to so many persecutions the terrour and sadness of their hearts was legible in their faces for besides the multitude of Calamities they endured otherwise great part of them had not power to betake themselves to the protection of God Almighty who is the surest refuge of all that are in distress for being uncertain whither their devotions were to be directed they died miserably without any Theodorick therefore deserved no small praise who was the first which gave them respite from the multitude of their Evils and restored Italy to such a degree of Grandeur in the thirty eight years which he raigned there that there was scarce any thing to be seen of its former desolation but when he died and the Government devolv'd upon Atalaricus the Son of Amalasciunta his Sister in a short time the malice of their Fortune being not exhausted as yet they relaps'd and fell over head and ears into their old troubles again For Atalaricus dying not long after him the Kingdom fell into the hands of his Mother who was betray'd by Theodate a person she had call'd in to assist her in the Government She being remov'd and he made King to the great dissatisfaction of the Ostrogoths to whom that Usurpation had made him insufferably odious Iustinian the Emperour took courage began to think of driving him out of Italy and deputed Bellisarius his General for that Expedition who before
had Conquer'd Africa driven out the Vandals and reduc'd it under that Empire again Having first possessed himself of Sicily and from thence passed his Army into Italy Bellisarius recovered Naples and Rome The Goths foreseeing their destruction kill'd Theodate their King as the occasion of all and elected Vitegetes in his place who after several Skirmishes was at length besieged and taken in Ravenna by Bellisarius who not prosecuting his Victory as was expected was call'd back by Iustinian and his Command given to Iohannes and Vitalis who were much short of him both in Virtue and Conversation so that the Goths took heart and created Ildovado their King who was at that time Governour of Verona and being kill'd shortly after the Kingship fell to Totila who beat the Emperours forces recover'd Tuscany and subdu'd the Governours of all those Provinces which Bellisarius had reduc'd Upon which misfortune Iustinianus thought it necessary to send him again into Italy but returning with small Force he rather lost what he had gained before than acquir'd any new Reputation For Totila whilst Bellisarius lay incamped with his Army at Hostia besieg'd Rome and took it as it were under his Nose and then upon consideration that he could neither well keep nor relinquish it he demolish'd the greatest part of it forcing away the people and carrying the Senators as Prisoners along with him and taking no notice of Bellisarius he advanc'd with his Army into Calabria to encounter and cut off certain supplies which were sent out of Greece to reinforce him Bellisarius seeing Rome abandon'd in this manner addressed himself to a very honourable Enterprise and entring the City repair'd the Walls withall possible Celerity and re-invited the Inhabitants when he had done But Fortune concurr'd not to the nobleness of his design for Iustinianus being at that time invaded by the Parthi Bellisarius was call'd back to repell the Invasion In obedience to his Master he marched his Army out of Italy and left that Province to the discretion of the Enemy who seized again upon Rome but us'd it not so barbarously as before being wrought upon by the prayers of Saint Benedict a person very eminent in those times for his Sanctity he apply'd himself rather to repair than destroy it In the mean time Iustinian had made a Peace with the Parthi and resolving to send new Supplies into Italy he was diverted by a new Alarm from the Sclavi another Northern people who had pass'd the Danube and fallen upon Illyria and Thrace So that Totila had his full swing and was in a manner in possession of all Italy As soon as Iustinian had Conquer'd the Sclavi and setled the Countreys which they had invaded he sent a new Army into Italy under the Conduct of Narsetes an Eunuch a brave Captain and of great experience in the Wars Being arrived in Italy he fought beat and kill'd Totila after whose death the remainder of the Goths retir'd into Pavia and made Teia their King On the other side Narsetes after his Victory took Rome and than marching against Teia he ingaged him about Nocera defeated his Army and slew him among the rest By which disaster the very Name of the Goths was well near extinguish'd in Italy where they had reigned from the time of Theodorick to this Teia full seventy years But Italy was scarce warm in its Liberty when Iustinianus dy'd and left his Son Iustinus to succeed who by the Counsel of his Wife Sophia recall'd Narsetes out of Italy and sent Longinus in his place Longinus according to the Example of his Predecessors kept his Residence at Ravenna in other things he digress'd and particularly by introducing a new form of Government in Italy not constituting Governours in every Province as the Goths had done before but deputing a Captain in every City or other Town of importance with the Title of Duke Nor in this distribution did he show any greater favour to Rome than to the rest for removing the Consuls and Senate Names which to that time had been sacred among them he constituted a Duke which he sent every year from Ravenna and his Government was call'd the Dukedom of Rome But lie that more immediately represented the Emperour at Ravenna and had the Universal Government of Italy was call'd Esarco This division not only facilitated the ruine of Italy but hasten'd it exceedingly by giving the Lombards opportunity to possess it Narsetes was much disgusted with the Emperour for calling him off from the Command of those Provinces which by his own Vertue and effusion of his bloud he had acquir'd And Sophia not thinking it injury sufficient to get him recall'd had given out contumelious words as if she would make him Spin among the rest of the Eunuchs Whereupon in great disdain Narsetes incourag'd Alboino King of the Lombards who at that time Govern'd in Pannonia to invade Italy and possess it As was shown before the Lombards were enter'd and had taken possession of such places upon the Danube as had been deserted by the Eruli and Turingi when Odoacres their King conducted them into Italy They had continued there some time till their Kingdom fell to Alboino for a daring and couragious man under whom passing the Danube they encounter'd with Commodus King of the Zepidi a People planted in Pannonia and overcame him Among the rest Rosmunda one of Commodus Daughters was taken Prisoner whom Alboinus took for his Wife made himself Lord of her Countrey and mov'd by the barbarousness of his nature he caus'd a Cup to be made of her Father's Skull and in memory of that Victory drank out of it very often But being call'd into Italy by Narsetes with whom he had retain'd a Friendship in his Wars with the Goths he left Pannonia to the Hunni who as we said before return'd into their own Countrey after the death of Attila march'd into Italy and finding it so strangly Cantoniz'd and divided he possessed or rather surpriz'd Pavia Milan Verona Vicenza all Tuscany and the great part of Flaminia call'd now Romagnia So that presuming from the greatness and suddenness of his Conquests all Italy was his own he made a solemn Feast at Verona where much drinking having exalted his Spirits and Commodus his Skull being full of Wine he caus'd it to be presented to Rosmunda the Queen who sat over against him at the Table declaring and that so loud she could not but hear that at a time of such hearty and extraordinary Mirth it was fit she should drink one Cup with her Father Which expression touching the Lady to the quick she resolv'd to be reveng'd and knowing that Almachilde a young and valiant Lombard had an intrigue with one of her Maids she prevail'd that she might personate her one night and lie with him her self Accordingly Almachilde being introduc'd upon a time into a very dark place he injoy'd Rosmunda instead of her Maid The Business being done Rosmunda discover'd her self
neighbouring places which had been anciently their Subjects And because the Tuscans refus'd to submit they march'd confusedly against them but they being re-inforced by Frederick gave the Roman Army such a blow that since that time Rome could never recover its old Condition either for Populousness or Wealth Upon these Events Pope Alexander was return'd to Rome presuming he might be safe there by reason of the Animosity the Romans retain'd against the Emperour and the Employment his Enemies gave him in Lombardy But Frederick postponing all other respects march'd with his Army to besiege Rome Alexander thought it not convenient to attend him but withdrew into Puglia to William who upon the death of Roger being next Heir was made King Frederick being much molested and weaken'd by a Contagion in his Army rais'd his Siege and went back into Germany The Lombards which were in League against him to restrain their Excursions and streighten the Towns of Pavia and Tortona caus'd a City to be built which they intended for the Seat of the War and call'd it Alexandria in honour to Pope Alexander and defiance to the Emperour Guido the new Anti-Pope died likewise and Iohn of Fermo was chosen in his room who by the favour of the Imperial party was permitted to keep his Residence in Monte Fiascone whilst Alexander was gone into Tuscany invited by that people that by his Authority they might be the better defended against the Romans Being there Embassadors came to him from Henry King of England to clear their Masters innocence in the death of Thomas Becket Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with which he was publickly and most infamously aspersed To inquire into the truth the Pope sent two Cardinals into England who notwithstanding they found not his Majesty in any manifest guilt yet for the scandal of the Fact and that he had not honour'd the said Arch-Bishop with the respect he deserved they prescribed as a Penance That he should call all the Barons of his Kingdom together swear his Innocence before them send 200 Soldiers to Ierusalem to be paid by him for a twelve-month and himself follow in person with as great a Power as he could raise before three years were expir'd that he should disanul all things pass'd in his Kingdom in prejudice to the Ecclesiastick liberty and consent that any of his Subjects whatever should appeal to Rome when and as often as they thought it convenient all which Conditions were readily accepted and that great Prince submitted to a Sentence there is scarce a private person but would scorn at this day But though his Holiness was so formidable to the Princes abroad he was not so terrible in Rome the people in that City would not be â—oaksed nor persuaded to let him live there though he protested he would meddle no farther than Ecclesiastical matters by which it appears things at a distance are more dreadful than near at hand In the mean time Frederick was return'd into Italy with resolution to make a new War upon the Pope but whilst he was busie about his preparations his Barons and Clergy gave him advertisement that they would all forsake him unless he reconcil'd himself to the Church so that changing his design he was forc'd to go and make his submission at Venice and pacification being made the Pope in the Agreement devested the Emperor of all the Authority he pretended over Rome and named William King of Sicily and Puglia his Confederate Frederick being an active Prince and unable to lie still embarqu'd himself in the Enterprize into Asia to spend his Ambition against the Turk which he could not do so effectually against the Pope But being got as far as the River Cidvo allur'd by the clearness and excellence of the Waters he would needs wash himself in it and that washing gave him his death Those Waters being more beneficial to the Turks than all Excommunications to the Christians for whereas these only cool'd and asswag'd his Ambition they wash'd it away and extinguish'd it quite Frederick being dead nothing remain'd now to be suppres'd but the contumacy of the Romans After much argument and dispute about their Creation of Consuls it was concluded the Romans according to ancient Custom should have liberty to choose them but they should not execute their Office till they had sworn fealty to the Church Upon this accord Iohn the Anti-Pope fled to Monte Albano and died presently after In the mean time William King of Naples died also and having left no Sons but Tanacred a Bastard the Pope design'd to have possess'd himself of his Kingdom but by the opposition of the Barons Tanacred was made King Afterwards Celestin III. coming to the Papacy and being desirous to wrest that Kingdom from Tanacred he contriv'd to make Enrico Fredericks Son King promising him the Kingdom of Naples upon Condition he would restore such Lands as belong'd to the Church and to facilitate the business he took Costanza an ancient Maid daughter to King William out of a Monastery and gave her him for his Wife by which means the Kingdom of Naples pass'd from the Normans who had founded it and fell under the dominion of the Germans Henricus the Emperor having first setled his affairs in Germany came into Italy with his Wife Costanza and one of his Sons call'd Frederick about four years of age and without much difficulty possess'd himself of that Kingdom Tanacred being dead and only one Child remaining of his Issue call'd Roger Not long after Enricus died in Sicily he was succeeded in that Kingdom by Frederick and Otto Duke of Saxony chosen Emperour by the assistance of Pope Innocent III. But no sooner had he got the Crown upon his Head but contrary to the opinion of all men he became Enemy to the Pope seiz'd upon Romania and gave out Orders for the assaulting that Kingdom Upon which being Excommunicated by the Pope and deserted by his Friends Frederick King of Naples was chosen Emperour in his place The said Frederick coming to Rome to be Crown'd the Pope scrupl'd it being jealous of his power and endeavoured to persuade him out of Italy as he had done Otto before which Frederick disdaining retir'd into Germany and making War upon Otto overcame him at last In the mean time Innocent died who besides other magnificent Works built the Hospital di Santo Spirito at Rome Honorius III. succeeded him in whose Papacy were instituted the Orders of S. Dominick and S. Francis in the year MCCXVIII Honorius Crown'd Frederick to whom Iohn descended from Baldwin King of Ierusalem who commanded the remainder of the Christians in Asia and retain'd that Title gave one of his Daughters in marriage and the Title of that Kingdom in Dower with her and from that time whoever is King of Naples has that Title annex'd In Italy at that time they liv'd in this manner The Romans had no more the Creation of Consuls but in lieu of it they invested sometimes one
effected Of this Venice is instance sufficient for though seated in a sickly and watrish place the concourse of so many people at one time made it healthfull enough Pisa by reason of the malignity of the Air was very ill inhabited till Genoa and the Inhabitants upon its Rivers being defeated and dispossess'd by the Saracens it follow'd that being supplanted all of them at once and repairing thither in such Numbers that Town in a short time became populous and potent But the Custom of sending Colonies being laid aside new Conquests are not so easily kept void places not so easily supply'd nor full and exuberant places so easily evacuated Whereupon many places in the world and particularly in Italy are become desolate and deserted in respect of what in former ages they have been which is imputable to nothing but that Princes do not retain their ancient appetite of true glory nor Common-wealths the laudable Customs they were wont In old time by the virtue and courage of these Colonies new Cities were many times built and what were new begun inlarg'd In which number the City of Florence may be reckon'd which was begun by the Inhabitans of Fiesole and augmented by the Colonies It is a true Story if Dante and Iohn Villani may be believ'd that the City of Fiesole though plac'd it self on the top of a Mountain nevertheless that their Markets might be better frequented and their Commodities brought to them with greater convenience to the Merchant they order'd them a place not on the top of the hill but in the plain betwixt the bottom of the Mountain and the Rivor Arnâ—â—s These Merchants in my judgment were the first occasion of building in that place and what was originally but Store-houses for receipt of their Commodities became afterwards a Town and place of Habitation After the Romans had Conquer'd the Carthaginians and render'd Italy safe against Forreign imbroilments they multiply'd exceedingly for men will not incommode themselves but where they are constrain'd by necessity and though the terrours of War may force them for shelter to fortify'd places and rocks yet when the danger is over their profit and convenience calls them back again to their houses and they perfer Elbow-room and Ease before any such restraint The security which follow'd in Italy upon the reputation of the Roman Common-wealth might possibly be the occasion that this place from the aforesaid beginning increasing so vastly became afterwards a Town and was call'd at first Arnina After this there arose Civil Wars in Rome first betwixt Marius and Silla then betwixt Caesar and Pompey and afterwards betwixt them that Murder'd Caesar and those which reveng'd his death By Silla first and after that by the three Roman Citizens who revenged the Assassination of Caesar and divided the Empire Colonies were sent to Fiesole all or Part of which setled in the plain not far from the Town which was already begun So that by this occasion the place was so replenish'd with Houses Men and all things necessary for Civil Government that it might be reckon'd among the Cities of Italy But from whence it assum'd the name of Florence is variously conjectur'd Some would have it call'd Florence from Florino one of the chief of that Colonie Some say it was not called Florentia but Fluentia in the beginning in respect of its nearness to the River Arno and they produce Pliny as a witness who has this Expression That the Fluentini are near to the Channel of the River Arnus But that in my opinion is a mistake because Pliny in his Book design'd to tell where the Florentines were seated not what they were call'd Nor is it unlikely but that word Fluentini might be corrupted because Frontinus and Tacitus who writ and were near contemporary with Pliny call'd the Town Florentia and the people Florentini forasmuch as they were Govern'd in the time of Tiberius according to the same Laws and Customs with the rest of the Cities in Italy and Cornelius Tacitus relates that Embassadors were sent from the Florentines to the Emperour to desire that the Waters of the River Chiane might not be disimbogued or diverted upon their Countrey neither is it reasonable to think that City could have two names at one time My opinion therefore is clear that whatever might be the occasion of its Original or Denomination it was always call'd Florentia that it was founded under the Empire of the Romans and began to be mention'd in History in the time of the first Emperours that when that Empire was first afflicted by the Barbarians Totila King of the Ostrogoti demolish'd Florence that 250 years after it was rebuilt by Carolus Magnus from whose time till the year 1215. it follow'd the fortune of the rest of Italy and was subject to those that Commanded during which it was governed first by the Successors of Charles afterwards by the Berengarii and last of all by the Emperours of Germany as has been shewn in our general discourse In those days it was not in the power of the Florentines to extend their bounds or to perform any memorable action by reason of their subjection to Forreign Dominion Nevertheless in the year 1010. on St. Romulus day which was a solemn Festival among the Fiesolani they took and destroy'd Fiesole either by the connivance of the Emperours or by the opportunity of an Interregnum betwixt the death of one Emperour and the Creation of another at which time all the Cities were free But afterwards when the Popes assum'd more Authority and the Emperours power began to diminish all the Towns in that Province began to comport themselves with less regard or reverence to their Princes so that in the year 1080. in the days of Arrigo 3. though Italy was divided betwixt him and the Church yet till the year 1215. the Florentines by submitting to the Conquerours and designing no farther than their own preservation kept themselves quiet and intire But as in the Body of Man the later they come the more dangerous and mortal are the Diseases so Florence the longer it was before it fell into the paroxysms of faction the more fatally it was afflicted afterwards when it did The occasion of its first division is considerable and being mention'd by Dante and several other Writers as remarkable I shall take the liberty to discourse of it briefly Among other great and powerful Families in Florence there were the Buondelmonti and Uberti and not long after them the Amidei and Donati In the Family of the Donati there was a Lady a Widow very rich who had a great Beauty to her Daughter The Lady had resolv'd with her self to Marry her Daughter to Messr Buondelmonte a Young Gentleman the head of that Family This intention of hers either by negligence or presuming it safe enough at any time she had not imparted to any body so that before she was aware Messr Buondelmonte was to be Married to a Daughter of the
Countrey against the commotion of his Friends he resolved to give way to their Envy and Banish himself from that City which he had preserv'd from the Tyranny of the Nobility by his own danger and charge The Nobility after his departure to recover their dignity which they conceived lost by the dissentions among them united and apply'd themselves by two of their Number to the Senate or Segnoria which they judg'd to be their friends to intreat them to mitigate in some measure the acerbity of those Laws which were made against them which demand was no sooner known but the people fearing the Signoria should comply began immediately to tumultuate and betwixt the ambition of the one and suspicion of the other they fell soon after to blows The Nobility stood upon their Guards in three places at St. Iohn's in the Mercato nuovo and the Piazza de Mozzi under three Commanders Forese Adinari Vanni de Mozzi and Geri Spini The people were not got together under their Ensigns in great Numbers at the Senator's Palace which at that time not far from St. Pruocolo and because the people were jealous of the Signori they deputed six Citizens to share with them in the Government In the mean time while both parties were preparing for the Combat some both of the Nobility and Commons with certain Religious persons of good Reputation interpos'd themselves remonstrating to the Nobility that the Honour they had lost and the Laws made against them were occasioned by their arrogance and ill Government that now to take Arms and betake themselves to force for the recovery of what was lost by their own dissention and ill-management would be the ruine of their Countrey and a detriment to themselves That they should consider in number riches and malice they were much inferiour to the people That that Nobility they so vainly affected by which they thought to advance others when they came to sight would prove but a meer Title and Name unable to defend them against the advantages which their Enemies had over them To the people it was represented imprudence to drive things too far and make their Adversaries desperate For he that hopes no good fears no ill That it ought to be considered their Nobility were they which had gain'd so much Honour to their City in its Wars and were not therefore in justice to be used at that rate That they could be content to have the Supream Magistacy taken from them and endure it patiently but they thought it unreasonable and insupportable to be at every bodies mercy as their new Laws rendered them and subject to be driven out of their Countrey upon every Cappriccio That it would be well to mitigate their fury and lay down their Arms rather than to run the hazard of a Battel by presumption upon their Numbers which had many times fail'd and been worsted by the less The people were divided in their Judgments some were for ingaging as a thing some time or other would necessarily be and better now than to deser till their Enemies were more powrful and if it could be imagined the mitigation of the Laws would content them they should be mitigated accordingly but their insolence and pride could never be laid by till by force they were constrain'd to 't To others more moderate and prudent it appeared that the alteration of the Laws would not signifie much but to come to a Battel might be of very great importance and their Opinion prevailing it was provided that no accusation should be admitted against a Nobleman without necessary testimony Though upon these terms both parties laid down their Arms yet their jealousies of one another were mutually retain'd and they began again to fortifie on both sides The People thought sit to re-order the Government and reduc'd their Signori to a less number as suspecting some of them to be too great favouers of the Nobility of whom the Mansini Magalotti Altoviti Peruzzi and Cerretani were the chief Having setled the State in this manner in the year 1298. for the greater Magnificence and Security of their Signori they founded their Palace and made a Piazza before it where the houses of the Uberti stood formerly About the same time also the Foundation of the Prisons were laid which in few years after were finished Never was this City in greater splendor nor more happy in its condition than then abounding both in men riches and reputation They had 3000. Citizens in the Town â—it to bear Arms and 70000. more in their Territory All Tuscany was at its devotion partly as subjects and partly as friends And though there were still piques and suspicions betwixt the Nobility and the People yet they did not break out into any ill effect but all lived quietly and peaceably together and had not this tranquillity been at length interrupted by dissention within it had been in no danger from abroad being in such terms at that time it neither feared the Empire nor its Exiles and could have brought a force into the Field equivalent to all the rest of the States in Italy But that diseasâ— from which ab extra it was secure was ingendred in its own bowels There were two Families in Florence the Cerchi and the Donati equally considerable both in numbers riches and dignity being Neighbours both in City and Countrey there happened some exceptions and disgust betwixt them but not so great as to bring them to blows and perhaps they would never have produc'd any considerable effects had not their ill humours been agitated and fermented by new occasion Among the chief Families in Pistoia there was the Family of the Cancellieri It happened that Lore the Son of Gulielmo and Geri the Son of Bertaccio fell out by accident at play and passing from words to blows Geri received a slight wound Gulielmo was much troubled at the business and thinking by excess of humility to take off the scandal he increased it and made it worse He commanded his Son to go to Geri's Fathers house and demand his pardon Lore obey'd and went as his Father directed but that act of humanity did not at all sweeten the acerbity of Bertaccio's mind who causing Lore to be seiz'd by his servants to aggravate the indignity he caused him to be led by them into the stable and his hand cut off upon the Manger with instruction to return to his Father and to let him know That wounds are not cured so properly by words as amputation Gulielmo was so enraged at the cruely of the fact as he and his friends immediately took Arms to revenge it and Bertaccio and his friends doing as much to defend themselves the whole City of Pistoia was engaged in the quarrel and divided into two parties These Cancellieri being both of them descended from one of the Cancellieri who had two Wives one of them called Bianca that party which descended from her called it self Bianca and the other in
Lieutenant in Florence The King granted their request sent the Conte to them forthwith and the adverse party though the Signori also were Enemies to the King had not the Courage to oppose him But the Conte for all that had not much Authority confer'd because the Signori and Gonfalonieri of the Companies were favourers of Laudo and his accomplices During these troubles in Florence the daughter of Alberto coming out of Germany pass'd by the City in her way to her husband Charles Son to King Robert She was very honourably received by such as were friends to the King who complaining to her of the sad Condition of their City and the Tyranny of Laudo and his party she promis'd her assistance and by the help of her interposition and such as were sent thither from the King the Citizens were reconcil'd Laudo depos'd from his Authority and sent home to Agobbio full of treasure and blood Laudo being gone they fell to Reform and the Signoria was confirm'd by the King for three years longer and because before there were VII in the Senate of Laudo's party VI new were chosen of the Kings and they continu'd XIII for sometime but they were reduced afterwards to VII their old number About this time Ugucciene was driven out of Lucca and Pisa and Castruccio Castracani a Citizen of Lucca succeeded him in the Government and being a brave and Couragious young Gentleman and Fortunate in all his Undertakings in a short time he made himself Chief of the Ghibilin faction in Tuscany For this cause laying aside their private discords the Florentines for several years made it their business first to obstruct the growth of Castruccio's Power and afterwards in case he should grow powerful against their will to consider which way they were to defend themselves against him and that the Signori might deliberate with more Counsel and Execute with more Authority they Created XII Citizens which they call'd Buonhuomini without whose advice and concurrence the Signori were not to do any thing of importance In the mean time the Authority of King Robert expir'd the Government devolv'd once more upon the City which set up the old Rectori and Magistrates as formerly and their fear of Castruccio kept them Friends and united Castruccio after many brave things performed against the Lord's of Lunigiana sat down before Prato The Florentines alarm'd at the news resolv'd to relieve it and shutting up their Shops they got together in a confus'd and tumultuous manner about 20000 Foot and 1500 Horse and to lessen the force of Castruccio and add to their own Proclamation was made by the Signori that what ever Rebel of the Guelfs should come in to the relief of Prato should be restor'd afterwards to his Country upon which Proclamation more than 4000 of the Guelfs came in and joyned with them by which accession their Army being become formidable they march'd with all speed towards Prato but Castruccio having no mind to hazard a Battail against to considerable a force drew off and retreated to Lucca Upon his retreat great Controversie arose in the Army betwixt the Nobility and the people The people would have pursued and fought in hopes to have overcome and destroyed him the Nobility would return alledging they had done enough already in exposing Florence for the relief of Prato That there being a necessity for that it was well enough done but now no necessity being upon them little to be gotten and much to be lost fortune was not to be tempted nor the Enemy to be follow'd Not being able to accord among themselves the business was referred to the Signori which consisting of Nobility and Commons they fell into the same difference of opinion which being known to the City they assembled in great multitudes in the Piazza threatning the Nobility highly till at last they condescended But their resolution coming too late and many constrain'd to joyn in it against their persuasions the Enemy had time and drew safely off to Lucca This difference put the people into such a huff against the Nobility the Signori refus'd to perform the Promise they made to the Rebels which came in upon Proclamation which the Rebels perceiving they resolv'd to be before hand if possible and accordingly presented themselves at the Gates of the City to be admitted before the Army came up but their design being suspected miscarryed and they were beaten back by those who were left in the Town To try if they could obtain that by treaty which they could not compass by force they sent eight Embassadors to the Signori to commemorate to them the Faith they had given the dangers they had run thereupon and that it could not be unreasonable they should have their promised reward The Nobility thought themselves obliged having promis'd them particularly as well as the Signori and therefore imploy'd all their interest for the advantage of the Rebels but the Commons being inrag'd that the Enterprize against Castruccio was not prosecuted as it might have been would not consent which turn'd afterwards to the great shame and dishonour of the City The Nobility being many of them disgusted thereat endeavoured that by force which was denyed them upon applications and agreed with the Guelfs that if they would attempt their entrance without they would take up Arms in their assistance within but their Plot being discover'd the Day before it was to be Executed when the banish'd Guelfs came to make their attack they found the City in Arms and all things so well dispos'd to repell them without and suppress those within that none of them durst venture and so the Enterprize was given over without any effort The Rebels being departed it was thought fit those Persons should be punish'd who invited them thither nevertheless though every Body could point at the delinquents yet no Body durst Name them much more accuse them That the truth might impartially be known it was ordered that the Names of the Offendors should be written down and deliver'd privately to the Captain which being done the Persons accused were Amerigo Donati Teghiaio Frescobaldi and Loteringo Gherardini whose Judges being now more favourable than perhaps their crime deserv'd they were only condemn'd to pay a Sum of Money and came off The tumults in Florence upon the alarm by the Rebels demonstrated clearly that to the Company of the People one Captain was not sufficient and therefore it was ordered for the future that every Company should have three or four and every Gonfalonier two or three join'd to them which should be call'd Pennonieri that in case of necessity where the whole Company could not be drawn out part of it might appear under one of the said Officers And as it happens in all Common-wealths after any great accident some or other of the old Laws are abrogated and others reviv'd to supply them so the Signoria being at first but occasional and temporary the Senators and Collegi then in being having the
power in their hands took Authority upon themselves to make a Council of the Signori which should sit forty Months for the future their Names being to be put into a purse and drawn out every two Months But for as much as many of the Citizens were jealous their Names were not in the purse there was a new Imborsation before the forty Months began Hence it was the custom of the purse had its Original and was us'd in the Creation of their Magistrats both at home and abroad whereas formerly they were chosen by a Council of the Successors as the term of the Office began to expire At first this way of election was call'd Imborsationi and afterwards Squittini And because every three or at most five years this custom was to be us'd it was thought they had prevented great mischiefs to the City occasion'd by multitude of Competitors and tumults at every election of Magistrats which tumults being to be corrected no way in their Judgments so readily they pitched upon this not discerning the evils which they conceal'd under so small a convenience It was now in the year 1325. when Castruccio having seiz'd on Pistoia was grown so considerable that the Florentines jealous of his greatness resolv'd before he had setled his new conquest to fall upon him and recover it if possible out of his hands Whereupon of Citizens and their Friends they assembled 20000 Foot and 3000 Horse and encamp'd before Alto Pascio by taking it to render the relief of Pistoia the more difficult The Florentines took that pass and when they had done they march'd towards Lucca forraging and wasting the Countrey But by the Imprudence and Treachery of their Commander little progress was made This Person call'd Ramondo da Cardona observing the Florentines to have been very liberal of their liberty and to have confer'd the Government sometimes upon Kings sometimes upon Legats and sometimes upon more inferiour Persons he thought with himself that if he could bring them into any exigence or distress it might easily fall out that they would make him their Prince to this purpose he frequently desir'd and press'd to have the same Authority invested in him in the City as he had in the Army otherwise he could not require nor expect that Obedience which was necessary for a General The Florentines not hearing on that Ear their Captain proceeded but slowly neglecting his time as much as Castruccio improv'd it for Castruccio having procur'd supplies from the Visconti and other Princes of Lombardy and made himself strong Ramondo who before lost his opportunity of conquering for want of fidelity now lost the possibility of preserving himself for want of discretion for marching up and down lazily with his Army he was overtaken by Castruccio near Alto Pascio assaulted and after a long fight broken to pieces in which Action many Florentines were taken Prisoners and Kill'd and their General among the rest who receiv'd the reward of his infidelity and ill Counsel from Fortune her self which had been more properly bestow'd by the hands of the Florentines The calamities which Castruccio introduced upon the Florentines after his Victory the Depradations Imprisonments Ruin's and Burnings are not to be express'd having no Body to oppose him for several Months together he went where and did what he had a mind to and the Florentines thought themselves happy after such a defeat if they could save the City Nevertheless they were not so desperatly low but they made great provisions of Money rais'd what Soldiers was possible and sent to their Friends for assistance but no providence was sufficient against such an Enemy they were forc'd therefore to make choice of Carlo Duke of Calabria the Son of King Robert to be their Soveraign If it would please him to undertake their defence for that Family having been us'd to the Supremacy of that City they promis'd him rather their Obedience than Friendship But Carlo being personally imploy'd in the Wars of Sicily he sent Gualtieri a French Man and Duke of Athens to take possession in his behalf He as his Masters Leiutenant took possession of the Government and created Magistrats as he plea'sd Notwithstanding his behaviour was so modest and in a manner so contrary to his own Nature every one lov'd him Having finish'd his War in Sicily Charles came with a thousand Horse to Florence and made his entry in Iuly 1326. His arrival gave some impediment to Castruccio kept him from rummaging up and down the Country with that freedom and security which he had formerly done But what the City gain'd abroad it lost at home and when their Enemies were restrain'd they became expos'd to the insolence and oppression of their Friends for the Signori acting nothing without the consent of the Duke in a years time he drain'd the City of four hundred thousand Florins though in the Articles of agreement it was expresly provided he should not exceed 200000. So great were the Impositions which he or his Father laid upon the Town and yet as if these were too few their miseries were increas'd by an accumulation of new jealousies and new Enemies For the Ghibilines of Lombardy were so fearful of Carlos advance into Tuscany that Galiazzo Visconti and the rest of the princes of Lombardy with Money and fair Promises persuaded Lewis of Bavaria who had been Elected Emperour against the Popes will to pass into Italy with an Army Being arriv'd in Lombardy he pass'd forward into Tuscany made himself Master of Pisa by the assistance of Castruccio and having receiv'd a considerable supply of Money there he march'd on towards Rome Whereupon Charles being fearful of his Kingdom and leaving Philippo da Saginitto his Lieutenant in Florence went Home with the Force he brought with him Upon his departure Castruccio seiz'd upon Pisa and the Florentines got Pistoia by stratagem Castruccio march'd immediatly to recover it sat down before it and manag'd his business with so much Conduct and resolution that though the Florentines made many attempts to relieve it both by Insults upon his Army and incursions into his Country their Attacks and their diligences were all ineffectual they could not possibly remove him for so firmly was he resolv'd to chastise the Pistoians and weaken the Florentines that the Pistoians were constrain'd to surrender and receive him once more for their Lord by which Action as he contracted much Honour and Renown so he thereby contracted so much Sickness and Infirmity that he died shortly after upon his return to Lucca And because one ill or good accident goes seldome alone Charles Duke of Calabria and Lord of Florence died at Naples much about the same time so that in a very small space the Florentines were freed from the oppression of the one and the apprehension of the other They were no sooner free but they fell to reforming null'd all the Laws and Ordinances of the ancient Councils and created two new
potent and considerable for the people being admitted to the administration of the Magistracy Armies and Empire equally with the Nobles they became inspir'd with the same Vertue and Magnanimity as they and as their Vertue increased their power increased with it But in Florence the people prevailing devested the Nobility of their Authority and if they had a mind to recover it it was necessary by their conversation and behaviour not only to be but to profess themselves like the people And this was the cause of the changing their Arms the variation of their Titles and Families which was frequent in those times among the Nobility to recommend them to the Commons and make them pass amongst them so that the Eminency of their Arms and the Generosity of their minds for both which the Nobility was formerly famous was spent and expir'd and not to be reviv'd in the people where the least spark of it was not to be found which rendered Florence every day more abject and base And whereas Rome transported with its own Vertue grew to that height of Pride that it could not subsist longer without a Prince Florence was reduced to that pass that a wise Legislator might have form'd the Government according to what scheme and model he pleased All which by perusing of the preceeding books will be obvious to any body Having shewn therefore the foundation of Florence the original of its Liberty the occasion of its Dissention and how the factions of the Nobility and people concluded with the Tyranny of the Duke of Athens and the destruction of the Nobility it remains now I should discourse of the Emulations betwixt the people and the multitude and several accidents which they produced The power of the Nobility being depress'd and the War with the Arch-Bishop of Millan at an end there appeared no respect of future contention in Florence But the ill fate of our City the ill conduct of their Affairs suffered a new Emulation to spring up betwixt the Families of the Albizi and Ricci which produced as great division in the Town as was at first betwixt the Buondelmonti and the Uberti and afterwards betwixt the Cerchi and Donati The Popes who had then their residence in France and the Emperors who resided in Germany to make good their reputation in Italy had many times upon several occasions supplied us with multitude of Souldiers of all Nations English Dutch and Britains The Wars ended and they out of pay being Souldiers of Fortune they were constrain'd to make bold sometimes with one Prince and sometimes with another and force them to contribution In the year 1353 it happened one of the Companies came into Tuscany under the Command of Monsieur Real of Provence and put the whole Country into a fear whereupon the Florentines not only made publick provision of men but several private Citizens and the Albizi and Ricci among the rest furnished themselves with Arms for their proper defence There was a mortal hatred betwixt these two Families each of them aspiring at the Government and conspiring the destruction of the other However as yet they were not come to Hostility only they clash'd and interfer'd in their Counsels and in the executions of the Magistracy But upon this occasion the City being arm'd there happen'd a quarrel by accident in the old Market place to which the People that were near flock'd as they do on all such occasions To the Ricci it was reported the Albizi had fallen upon some of their Family To the Albizi that the Ricci were come out in defiance of them Hereupon the whole City got together and no small difficulty it was to the Magistrate to restrain either of the Families or to put an end to a Conflict which was begun by chance without the fault or contrivance of either This accident though meerly contingent reviv'd their animosity and put them both upon designs of increasing their Parties And because by the ruine of the Nobility the Citizens were reduced to such an equality that the Magistrates were become more venerable than formerly they resolved both of them to advance their interest rather by ordinary means than private violence We have declar'd before how after the Victory of Charles the First the Guelfs were created Magistrates and great authority given them over the Ghibilin Faction which authority and preheminence time accident and their new divisions had so far enervated that the Ghibilins were grown into the Government and exercised the principal Offices as well as the Guelfs Uguccione de Ricci being at that time the head of that Family prevail'd to have the Laws against the Ghibilins renewed to which Faction it was suppos'd by many the Albizi were inclin'd whose Original being anciently from Arezzo they transplanted from thence and setled in Florence so that Uguccione design'd by the renovation of those Laws to render that Family incapable of any great Office providing thereby that it should be criminal for any person descended from the Ghibilins to exercise the Magistracy This practice of Uguccione was discovered to Piero Son of Philippo de gli Albizi who resolved to connive at it presuming he should declare himself a Ghibilin if he opposed it These Laws though renewed by the prevalence and ambition of the Ricci substracted nothing from the reputation of the Albizi but were the foundation of many mischiefs Nor indeed can a Republick make any Law so pernicious as a Law of retro spection Piero having rather promoted than resisted those Laws that which his enemies intended as an impediment proved a means and occasion of his preferment for being made the chief person to super inspect the execution of those Laws he exercised more authority than before and became the only favourite of the Faction of the Guelfs And because in these Laws there was no definition of a Ghibilin nor no Magistrate deputed to discover them they were of little importance only the Captains were appointed to inquire them out and to admonish them that they were not to take the Magistracy upon them if they did they should be liable to a penalty Whereupon those who were afterwards incapacitated for the Magistracy were called Ammoniti But at length the Captains growing bold and audacious in their office without any regard whether they were conscious or not they admonished who they pleased as their avarice or animosity directed them So that from the year 1357 in which this Law was renewed to the year 1366 there were more than 200 Citizens admonished By which means the Captains and the Faction of the Guelfs were grown great and considerable especially Piero de gli Albizi Lapo da Castiglionochio and Carlo Strozzi for the fear of being admonished made all people respect them And though the insolence of their proceedings disgusted many more yet none look'd upon it with so much indignation as the Family of the Ricci who had been the occasion of that disorder which was not only like to be the ruine
of opposition it sub-divides of necessity and falls out with it self and then all goes to wrack the people not being able to defend themselves with those private Laws wâ—ich were made at first for their preservation That these things are true the ancient and modern dissentions in our own City can sadly demonstrate When the Ghibilins were destroyed it was every mans judgment the Guelfs would have lived honourably and quietly a long time after and yet it was not long before they divided into the Factions of the Neri and Bianchi when the Bianchi were over-powred new parties arose and new troubles attended them sometimes fighting in behalf of the Exiles and sometimes quarrelling betwixt the Nobility and the People and to give that to others which either we could not or would not possess quietly our selves committing our liberty sometimes to King Robert sometimes to his brother and at last to the Duke of Athens never fixing or reposing in any Government as not being agreed to live free nor contented to be servile Nay so much was our State dispos'd to division that rather than acquiesce in the administration of a King it prostituted it self to the regiment of an Agobbian of mean and ignominious Extraction The late Duke of Athens cannot be mentioned with any honour to this City yet his insolence and Tyranny may make us wiser for the future Being in Arms at his expulsion we fell to it among our selves and fought with more fury one against another than we had ever done before till at length the Nobility was overcome and at the mercy of the people and it was the general opinion their insupportable pride and ambition being taken down there could be no more faction or troubles in Florence but we have found to our cost how false and fallacious mans judgment is The pride and ambition of the Nobility was not extinct but transmigrated into the people who by degrees grew as impatient for authority as they and having no other way to attain it but by domâ—stick dissention they reviv'd the obsolete names of Guelfs and of Ghibilins which it had been happy for this City never to have known And that nothing which is humane may be perpetual and stable it is the pleasure of the Heavens that in all States or Governments whatsoever some fatal Families should spring up for their ruine and destruction Of this our City can afford as many and as lamentable instances as any of her neighbours as owing its miseries not only to one or two but several of those Families as first the Buondelmonti and Uberti next the Donati and the Cerchi and now the Ricci and Albizi a shameful and ridiculous thing We have not enumerated our divisions nor deduc'd our ill customs so high to upbraid or to discourage you by them but rather as a memorial of their causes to shew that they are in our memory as well as yours and to exhort you by their example not to be diffident or timerous in correcting them For in those days the power of the Nobility was so great and their alliances so considerable the Laws and Civil Magistrates were too weak to restrain them but now the Emperor having no power the Pope no influence all Italy and particularly this City reduc'd to such a parity as to be able to Govern our selves where is the difficulty What impediment remains why this Common-wealth in spight of all examples to the contrary may not only be united but reform'd and improv'd by new Laws and Constitutions were your Lordships disposed to create them To which good work we do most humbly importune you not out of private passion so much as publick compassion for our Country Our corruption is great and t is you only can correct the rage and expel the contagion that spreads and luxuriates among us The disorders of our Ancestors are not imputable to the nature of the men but to the iniquity of those times which being now altered gives this City fair hopes by the institution of better Laws to better its fortune whose malignity is easily to be overcome by a prudent restraint of ambition a seasonable inhibition of such customs as propagate Faction and a discreet election and adherence to such things as are compatible with our freedom And better it is you do it now legally of your selves than by deferring it to divert that office upon the people and make them do it by force The Signori mov'd then by these arguments which they had fram'd to themselves before and by authority and encouragement afterwards commissionated 56 Citizens to superintend for the safety of the Common-wealth True it is many men are more proper to preserve good Laws than to make them and these Citizens imploy'd themselves more in extirpating the present Factions than providing against new by which means they succeeded in neither for not taking away the occasion of the new and one of the present Factions being more potent than the other it could not be done without great danger to the Common-wealth However they depriv'd three of the Family of the Albizi and as many of the Ricci of all Magistracy unless of the Guelfish party for three years in which number Piero de gli Albizi and Uguccione de Ricci were two They prohibited all Citizens for the coming into the Palace unless the Senate was sitting They decreed that in case of batterry or unjust interruption in the possession of their Estates it should be lawful to accuse any man though of the Nobility to the Council and to make them answer to their Charge These Laws had greater reflection upon the Ricci than the Albizi for though they were equally intended the Ricci suffered most by them Piero indeed was shut out of the Palace of the Signori but at the Palace of the Guelfs where his authority was great his entrance was free and though he and his Comrades were forward enough in their admonitions before they were much forwarder now and new accidents occurr'd to make them yet worse Gregory XI was Pope at that time whose residence being at Avignon he governed Italy by Legates as his Predecessors had done before him These Legates being proud and rapacious had brought great calamity upon several of the Cities One of these Legates being at that time in Bologna took the advantage of a scarcity which was in Florence and resolved to make himself Lord of Tuscany to which end he not only omitted to supply the Florentines with provisions but to deprive them utterly of all other relief as soon as the spring appeared and gave opportunity for his motion he invaded them with a great Army hoping they would be easily conquered because they were both famished and disarm'd and possibly his design might have taken had not his Army been mercenary and corrupt for the Florentines having no other weapons to defend themselves betook themselves to their bags and paid his Army 130000 Florins to draw off To begin a War is in any
did to Benedetto Alberto who by the persuations of those who did not love him consented to the ruine of Giorgio scali and Tomaso Strozzi and not long after was himself banish'd by the same Persons which inveigled him he advis'd him therefore to consider more seriously of the busness and rather than to proceed to follow the example of his Father who to ingratiate with the people abated the Excise upon Salt procur'd that whosoevers Taxes was half a Floren or under should pay it if they pleas'd otherwise it should never be levyed Prevail'd that the day the Councils assembled should be priviledg'd and all Persons for that time protected from their Creditors and at last concluded that for his own part he was resolv'd to acquiesce in the Government as it stood then and to leave the City as he found it These transactions being talk'd of abroad procur'd much reputation to Giovanni but more hatred to the other Citizens whose conversation he declin'd what he could to give the less encouragement to those who designed new troubles under his familiarity and favour declaring to every Body he discours'd withal about it that in his judgment factions were rather to be extinguish'd than fomented at that time and that as to himself he desir'd nothing more cordially than love and unanimity in the City though several of his own party were dissatisfi'd with him and had advis'd him to be more stirring and active in the busness Among the rest Alainanno de Medici was one who being naturally furious egg'd him on to take this oportunity of revenging himself upon his Enemies and obliging his friends reproaching him by the coldness of his proceedings which as he told him gave his Enemies occasion to practise against him without fear or respect which practices it was to be doubted would succeed one time or other and be the destruction both of his family and friends Cosimo his Son importun'd him to the same but Giovanni neither for what had been reveal'd nor prognosticated could be mov'd from his resolution however the faction appear'd plain enough and the whole City was most manifestly divided There were at that time attending the Senate in the Palace two Chancellors Martino and Pagolo The latter was a favourer of Uzano the former of the Medici Rinaldo finding Giovanni inexorable and not to be wrought over to them contrived to turn Martino out of his office presuming after that the Senate would be more inclinable to them Which design being smelt by the Adversary Martino was not only continued in his Place but Pagolo turn'd out to the great detriment and dissatisfaction of his party and doubtless the effects would have been dreadful had not the War lien so heavy upon them and the late defeat at Zagonara put the City into such confusion For whilst these things were agitated in Florence Agnolo della Pergola with the Dukes Troops had taken all the Towns which the Florentines held in Romagna except Castracaro and Modigliana some for want of due fortification and some for want of courage or fidelity in the Garisons In the acquisition of these Towns two things happen'd which demonstrate how grateful valour is even to an Enemy and how much cowardize and pusillanimity is despis'd Biagio del Milano was Captain of the Castle call'd Montepetroso which being not only besieg'd but set on fire by the Enemy looking over the walls and finding no way to escape or preserve the Castle he caus'd straw and bedding and what other cloaths he had to be thrown over the walls where he saw the fire was not yet come and then letting down two of his Children upon them he cry'd out to the Enemy Here take such moveables as God and my fortune have given me 't is in your power to force them and not in mine to preserve them but for the treasure of my mind in which my glory and honour consists you cannot ravish that from me and I will never surrender it The Enemy amaz'd at his Gallantry ran presently to save the Children and presented him Ropes and Ladders to have preserv'd himself but he refus'd them and chose rather to die in the flames than to be sav'd by the Enemies of his Country An example worthy of the commendation of Antiquity and the more remarkable by how much few of them are to be found The Children were restor'd to what ever could be preserv'd and sent home by the Enemy with singular generosity to their Relations who receiv'd them not with more joy than they were entertain'd by the State which for their Fathers and their own sakes kept them at the publick charge during their lives The other happen'd in Galeata where Zenobi del Pino was Podesta who without any defence at all deliver'd up his Castle to the Enemy and afterwards persuaded Agnolo to quit the Alps in Romagna and betake himself to the hills in Tuscany where he might spin out the War with more advantage and less danger to himself Agnolo not able to brook such meanness and baseness of his Spirit deliver'd him over to his Servants to dispose of him as they pleas'd who after millions of affronts and derisions allow'd him nothing but painted cards for his dyet declaring they intended of a Guelf to make him a Ghibilin that way but what ever they intended in a short time he was starv'd to Death In the mean time Conte Oddo with Nicolo Piccinino were enter'd into the Valdi Lamona to see if they could reduce the State of Faenza to an amity with the Florentines or at the least hinder Agnola della Pergola from making his incursions so freely into the territory of Romagna But the vale being very strong and the inhabitants martial Conte Oddo was slain and Piccinino carried Prisoner to Faenza However as it fell out the Florentines obtain'd by this loss what they would have hardly gain'd by the victory for Nicolo Piccinino transacted so well with the Governour of Faenza and his Mother that by his persuasion they became friends to the Florentines and enter'd into a League with them by which he was releas'd But Piccinino follow'd not that Counsel which he had given to others for either being debauch'd by the Towns he pass'd thorow or looking upon the condition of the Florentines to be but low and his own to be better'd in another place he departed abruptly from Arrezzo where his post was and stealing away into Lombardy he took up Arms under that Duke The Florentines weaken'd by these accidents and disheartened by the expence of the War concluded they were unable to carry it on upon their own private account hereupon they sent Embassadors to the Venetians to desire their assistance which they might easily and effectually grant against the growing greatness of a Person who if let alone would be as dangerous and destructive to them as to the Florentines Francesco Carmignuola persuaded them likewise to the same enterprize who was an excellent Souldier as any
this City diffuse the story of our sufferings all over Italy we have waved â—nd declin'd it thinking it unjust to asperse so Noble so Charitable a Common-wealth with the cruelty and dishonour of a Barbarous Citizen whose insatiable avarice had we known or could have but suspected before we had try'd it we would have strain'd and and forc'd our selves to have gorg'd it though indeed it has neither bounds nor bottom and by that means if possible preserv'd part of our Estates by sacrificing the rest But that being too late we have address'd our selves most humbly to your Lordships begging that ye should releive the infelicity of your Subjects that other People may not by our president be terrifi'd or discourag'd from committing themselves under your Empire and Dominion If the infinite and unsupportable injuries we have suffer'd be too weak or few to procure your compassion yet let the fear of God's displeasure prevail whose Temples have been plundr'd and burn'd and his People betraid in the very bowles of his Churches And having said thus they threw themselves before them upon the ground yelling and imploring that they might be reposess'd of their Estates and their Country and that their Lordships would take care seeing their reputation was irrecoverable that at least the Wives might be restored to their Husbands and the Children to their Parents The cruelty and inhumanity of his behaviour having been understood before and now particularly related by the sufferers themselves wrought so highly upon the Magistrates that immediately they Commanded Astorre back from the Army casheir'd him and made him afterwards incapable of any Command They caus'd inquisition likewise to be made after the goods of the Saravezesi such as were found were restor'd what could be found was repriz'd afterwards by the City as opportunity was offer'd Rinaldo de gli Albizi was accus'd on the other side for managing the War not so much for the publick profit of his Country as for his own it was objected against him that from the very hour of his Commission he laid aside all thoughts of reducing Lucca and design'd no farther than to plunder the Country to fill his own pastures with other Peoples Cattel and furnish his own houses with other Peoples goods That his own Bokty and his Officers being too little to satisfie him he barter'd and bought the plunder of his common Soldiers and of a General made himself a Merchant These calumniations being come to his ears netled his honest but haughty mind more perhaps than a wise Man would have suffer'd them to do However they disturb'd him so that in a rage both against Magistrate and City without expecting or so much as desiring leave he return'd upon the spur to Florence presented himself before the Ten and told them That he now found how difficult and dangerous it was to serve an unconstant People and a divided City the one entertain'd all reports and believ'd them The other punish'd what was amiss condemn'd what was uncertain but rewarded nothing that was done well So that if you overcome no body thanks you if you mistake every body blames you if you miscarry every body reproaches you either your friends persecute you for emulation or your Enemies for Malice However for his part he had never for fear of Scandal or imputation omitted any thing which he judg'd might be of certain advantage to his Country But that now indeed the baseness of the calumnies under which at present he lay had master'd his patience and chang'd his whole Nature Wherefore he beg'd the Magistrates would for the future be more ready to justifie their officers that they might act with more alacrity for the good of their Country And that seeing in Florence no Triumph was to be expected that they at least would concern themselves so far as to secure them from obloquy He admonish'd them likewise to reflect that they themselves were officers of the same City and by consequence every hour lyable to such slanders as may give them to understand how great trouble and disquiet honest Men conceive at such false accusations The Ten endeavour'd to pacifie him as much as the time would allow but transfer'd his command upon Neri di Gino and Alamanno Salviati who instead of rambling and harrasing the Country advanced with their Army and block'd up the Town The season being cold the Army was lodg'd at Capanole the new Generals thinking the time long had a mind to be nearer and encamp before the Town but the Souldier objected the ill weather and would not consent though the Ten sent them positive orders to that purpose and would not hear of excuse There was at that time resident in Florence a most excellent Architect call'd Philip the the Son of Brunelesco of whose Workmanship this City is so full that after his Death he deserv'd to have his statute set up in Marble in the principal Church of the Town with an inscription under it to testifie his great excellence to the Reader This Philip upon consideration of the banks of the River Scrchio and the situation of the Town had found out a way to drown it This invention he imparted to the Ten and so convinc'd them that by their order experiment was to be made which was done but it turn'd more to the prejudice of our camp than to the detriment of the Town For the Lucchesi perceiving the design heighten'd and strengthned their banks one that part where the river was to overflow and afterwards taking their opportunity one night they brake down the sluice which was made to turn the water upon them so that their banks being firm and high and the banks towards the plain open it overflowed their Camp and forc'd them to remove This design miscarrying the Ten call'd home their Commissioners and sent Giovanni Guiccardini to command the Army in their stead who clap'd down before the Town and straiten'd it immediately Finding himself distress'd the Governor of the Town upon the incouragement of Antonio dell Rosso a Sienese who was with him as resident from the Town of Sienna sent Salvestro Trenta and Lodovico Bonvisi to the Duke of Milan to desire he would relieve him Finding him cold in the business they entreated him privately that he would at least send them supplies and promis'd him from the People that as soon as they were arriv'd they would deliver both Lord and Town into their hands assuring him that if this resolution were not suddenly taken their Lord would surrender it to the Florentines who had tempted him with several fair proffers The fear of that made the Duke lay aside all other respects wherefore he caus'd the Conte Francesco Sforza his General publickly to desire leave to march with his forces into the Kingdom of Naples and having obtain'd it he went with his Troops to Lucca notwithstanding the Florentines upon notice of his transaction sent to the Conte Boccaccinor Alamanni their friend to prevent it Francesco having
so that that might be ruined before Nicolo could be called back or any other sufficient remedy provided That if things were curiously examined it would be found that Nicolo was sent into Tuscany upon no other errand but to divert the Count from his enterprize in Lomberdy and remove the War from his own Country by carrying it into another so that if the Count should pursue him without irresistable necessity he would rather accomplish his desâ—gns and do as he would have him but if they continued their Army in Lombardy 〈◊〉 shifted in Tuscany as well as they could they would be sensible of their ill resolution when it was too late and find that they had lost all in Lombardy irrecoverably without any equivalence or reprisal in Tuscany 〈◊〉 manner every Man having spoken and replyed as his judgment directed him it was concluded to be quiet for some days to see what the agrement betwixt Nicolo and the Malatesti would produce whether the Florentines might rely upon Piero Giam Pagolo and whether the Pope proceeded fairly with the League as he had promised he would This â—â—â—â—lution bâ—ing taken not long after they had intelligence that Piero Giam Pagolo was 〈◊〉 towards Tuscany with his Army and that the Pope was better inclined to the 〈◊〉 at that time than before with which advertisements the Count being confirmed he was content to remain in Lombardy himself that Neri should be dispatched thither with a 1000 of his Horse and five hundred others and if things should proceed so as that his presence should be necessary in Tuscany upon the left summons from Neri the Count engaged to repair to him without any delay Accordingly Neri marched away arrived with his forces at Florence in April and the same day Giam Pagolo arrived there also in the mean time Nicolo Piccinino having settled the affairs of Romagna was designing for Tuscany and being inclined to have marched by the way of the Alps of S. Benedetto and the vale of Montone he found that passage so well defended by the conduct of Nicolo da Pisa that he believed his whole Army would not be able to force it and because of the suddenness of this irruption the Florentines were but indifferently provided either with Souldiers or Officers they committed the passes of the other Alps to the guard of certain of their Citizens with some new raised Companies of Foot among which Citizens Bartholomeo Orlandini had the command and more particularly the keeping of the Castle of Marradi and the pass that was by it Nicolo Piccinino supposing the pass of S. Benedetto insuperable by reason of the courage and vigilance of the Commander chose rather to attempt the other way where the cowardice and inexperience of the chief Officer was not like to give him so great opposition Marradi is a Castle built at the foot of those Alps which divide Tuscany and Romagna but on the side of Romagna at the entrance into the Vale di Lamona though it has no Walls yet the River the Mountains and the inhabitants make it strong For the Men are martial and faithful and the River has worn away the bancks and made such Grotes and hollows therein that it is impossible from the valley to approach it if a little Bridge which lies over the River be defended and on the mountain side the Rocks and the Cliffs are so steep it is almost impregnable but the pusillanimity of Bartolomeo debas'd the courage of his Men and rendered the situation of his Castle of no importance for no sooner did he hear the report of the Enemies approach but leaving all in confusion away he ran with his Party and never stoped til he came at Borgo a San. Lorenzo Nicolo having posses'd himself of that pass strangely surprized to consider how poorly it had been defended and as much pleased that now it was his own marched down into Mugello and having taken several Castles he staid at Puliciano to refresh from whence he made his excursions as far as Monte Fiesole and was so bold to pass the River Arno scouring forraging and plâ—undering the Country within three miles of Florence The Florentines however were not at all dismaid but the first thing they did was to secure the Government of which they were not much afraid both for the intrest which Cosimo had with the people and the method they had taken to reduce the chief Officers of the City into the hands of a few of the most potent Citizens who with their vigilance and severity kept under all such as were discontented or studious of new things besides they had news of the resolutions in Lombardy of Neri's approach with the number of his forces and that the Pope had promised to supply them with more which hopes were sufficient to support them till Neri's arrival But Neri finding the City in some disorders resolved to take the field and restrain Nicolo from foraging so freely and therefore drawing together what Infantry he could out of the People he joyned them with his Horse marched into the field and took Remole which the Enemy had possess'd After the taking of that Town he encamped his Army there obstructed the excursions of Nicolo and gave the City great hopes of sending him farther off Nicolo observing though the Florentines had lost many of their Men it procured no commotion and understanding they were all quiet and secure in the Town he concluded it vain to lose time any longer wherefore he changed his designs and resolved to do something which might cause the Florentines to provoke him to a Battle in which he doubted not to overcome and then all things would follow as he expected of course there was at that time in Nicolo's Army Francesco Conte di Poppi who when the Enemy was in Mugello revolted from the Florentines with whom he was in League the Florentines had a jealousie of him before and endeâ—voured to continue him their friend by enlarging his pay and making him there Deputy over all the Towns which were near him but nothing could do so strongly did his affection incline him to the other party that no fear nor act of kindness what ever was sufficient to divide him from Rinaldo and the rest of the Brethren who had had the Government formerly so that he no sooner heard of Nicolo's approach but he went in to him immediately and solicited him with all imaginable importunity to advance towards the City and march into Casentino discovering to him the whole strength of the Country and with what ease and security he might straiten the Enemy Nicolo took his Counsel and marching into Casentino he possess'd himself of Romena and Bibiena and afterwards encamped before Castle San Nicolo That Castle is placed at the foot of those Alps which divide Casentino from the vale of Arno and by reason it stood high and had a strong Garison in it it was no easie matter to take it though Nicolo ply'd it continually
with his Cannon This siege continued twenty days during which time the Florentines had got together what force they could and had already under several Officers 3000 foot at Fegghine commanded by Piero Giam Pagolo as General Neri Capponi and Bernardo de Medici as Commissioners The Castle of San Nicolo had sent out four Persons to give them notice of their Condition and press them for relief whereupon the Commissioners examining the situation of the place found it was not to be relieved but by the Alps which came down from the Vale of Arno the tops of which might easily be possess'd by the Enemy before they could come at them in respect they had a shorter cut to them and the Florentines could not stir but they must of necessity be seen so that to attempt a thing which was not like to succeed was to expose and cast away their Men without doing any good upon these considerations the Commissioners having commended their courage pass'd advised them to continue it whilst they were able and when they found they could hold it no longer to surrender upon as good termes as they could hereupon after 32 days siege Nicolo became Master of the Castle but the losing so much time upon so inconsiderable a place was in great part the miscarriage of that enterprize for had he invested Florence or but keep it blocked up at a distance the Governor of that City would have been constrained to raise Mony and Men and must have supplied it with provisions with much more difficulty having the Enemy so near them besids many would have been pressing for peace seeing the War so likely to continue but the desire the Count di Poppi had to be revenged of that Garison which had been his Enemy a long time caused him to give that Counsel and Nicolo to oblige him consented to it which was the destruction of both and indeed it seldom happens but private animosity proves a prejudice to the interest of the publick Nicolo pursuing his Victory took Passina and Chiusi and the Count di Poppi persuaded him to continue in those parts alledging that he might extend his Quarters betwixt Chiusi and Pieve as he pleased and making himself Master of the Alps he might as he saw occasion return to the old post in Casentino and the Vale Arno or falling down into Vale di Chiana and the Vale de Fevere be ready upon the least motion of the Enemy But Nicolo reflecting upon the rockiness of those places only he replyed his Horses could swallow no stones and removed to Borgo a S. Sepulcro where he was received with all demonstration of kindness from whence he endeavoured to debauch the Citizens of Castello but they were too firm to the Florentines to entertain any such motion Being desirous to have Perugia where he was born at his devotion he went either with 40 Horse to make them a visit and was honorably treated but in a few days he rendred himself suspected having been wheedling with the Legate and several of the Citizens and made many proposals to them but none of them succeeded so that receiving 8000 Ducats of them he returned to his Army After this he got intelligence in Cortona and was very busie in seducing it from the Florentines but being discovered before it was ripe that also came to nothing Among the principal of that City there was on Bartolomeo di senso who going the Rounds one night by the Captains order was told by a Country Man his friend that if he had no mind to be killed he should have a care and go back Bartolomeo pressing to know his reason he found the whole series of the Plot and went immediately to the Governor and acquainted him how seizing upon the Conspirators and doubling his Gurards thereupon expected the coming of Nicolo according to agreement who came indeed punctually at his time but finding himself descovered returned to his quarters Whilst things ware carried on in Tuscany at this rate with little advantage to the forces of the Duke his affairs in Lombardy were as unquiet but with more detriment and loss for Count Francesco as soon as the season gave leave took the field with his Army and the Venetians having repaired their fleet in the Lake he thought it best in the first place to make himself Master of that and to drive the Duke out supposing when he had done that the rest would be easie Whereupon he caused the Venetian Fleet to set upon the Dukes which they did and defeated them after which he took all the Castles which they had in their possession so that the Enemy which besieged Brescia by land understanding the destiny of their Comerades drew of from the siege and left the Town free after it had been straitned three years Having finished his business there and obtained so important a Victory the Count thought â—it to seek out the Enemy who was retired to Socino a Castle upon the River of Oglio and dislodging them there they retreated to Cremona where the Duke made a head and resolved to defend that part of his Country But the Count advancing daily against him being fearful he should lose all or a great part of his Territory he began to lament the resolution of sending Nicolo into Tuscany and to redress his error he writ word to Nicolo of the condition he was in pressing him with all speed to come back to his relief The Florentines in the mean time had joyned their forces with the Popes and made a halt at Anghiari a Castle at the foot of the mountains which part Val di Tevere from Valdichiana four miles distant from San Sepulcro betwixt which places the way was plain the Country champain sit for Horse and proper for a Battle Having heard of the Counts Victory and that Nicolo was recalled they thought the Victory might be obtained without more hazard or labour and therefore orders was dispatched in all haste to the Comissaries to avoid an engagement by all means for Nicolo could not stay in Tuscany many days These orders coming to Nicolo's ear finding that of necessity he must part that he might have left nothing untryed he resolved to provoke them to a Battle believing he should take them unprovided seeing according to their intelligence they could have no reason to expect any such thing and to this he was much encouraged by Rinaldo the Conte di Poppi and all the Florentine exiles who knew well enough they were undone if Nicolo departed but if they could bring them to a fight there was a possibility of prevailing and if they did lose the Victory they should lose it with honor This resolution being taken the Army moved and being advanced as far as Borgo before the Florentines perceived it he commanded 2000 Men out of that City who relying much upon the conduct of their General and the promises he made them being also desirous of plunder followed him chearfully Marching on from
perpetual Peace as the Duke of Milan should chuse the Dukes Commissioners returning to know his resolution they found him dead however the Milanesi were willing to stand to their agreement but the Venetians would not condescend fancying great hopes to themselves of overrunning that State because Lodi and Piacenza had submitted to them soon after the death of the Duke and believing either by treaty or force they should be able to reduce the rest before any Body could come in to their relief and this they fancied the rather because the Florentines were engaged in a War with Alfonso Alfonso was at this time at Tiboli and being impatient to pursue his designs upon Tuscany according to agreement betwixt him and the Duke conceiving the Waralready commenced in Lombardy would give him convenience he had a great mind to have fome footing in the state of Florence before the War should apparently break out to that purpose he entred into correspondence with some persons in the Castle of Cennina in the upper Vald ' Arno and took it the Florentines were much surprized at so unexpected an accident and seeing that King in motion against them they listed Men created a new Council of Ten and provided themselves for War with as much industry as any of their predecessors The King was marched already with his Army into the Country of Siena and had used his utmost endeavours to get that city into his clutches but it continued firm to the Florentines refused to admit him and all the rest of the Towns under its jurisdiction did the same Yet they furnished him with provisions their weakness and the Kings great strength excusing it The Kings resolution was changed of invading the Florentines by the way of the Val d' Arno either because Cennina was taken from him again or that the Florentines were too well furnished with Souldiers in those parts wherefore he turned towards Volterra and surprized many Castles in the County belonging thereto From thence he passed into the County of Pisa where by the assistance of Arrigo and Fatio Counts of Gherardesca he took some posts and then assaulted Campiglia which being defended by the Florentines he was not able to carry so that the King leaving Garisons in the places he had taken and certain Troops to make excursions upon the Enemy with the rest of his Army retired and took his quarters in the Country of Siena The Florentines in the mean time being secured by the season of the year provided themselves with Souldiers with all possible care and gave the command of them to Federigo Lord of Urbino and Gismondo Malatesta da Rimino betwixt whom there was some precedent difference yet it was so prudently composed by Neri de Gino and Barnardetto de Medici their Commissaries that they took the field together before the Winter was over recovered the places lost in the Country of Pisa and the Pomerancie in the Volterran curbing and restraining his excursions of those who were left by Alfonso upon the Coasts so as they were scarceable to secure their Garisons As soon as the Spring was come the Commissaries had a Rendevous of all their Army which consisted of about 5000 Horse and 2000 Foot at Spedalletto and the King had another of about 15000 some three miles from Campiglia and when it was supposed he would have fallen upon that Town he turned about to Piombino believing it would be no hard matter to gain it in respect that it was but indifferently provided and if he did it would be no little prejudice to the Florentines seeing from thence he could harrass them with a tedious War and by sending forces there by Sea infest the whole Country of Pisa. This Policy of Alfonsoâ— startled the Florentines and consulting what was to be done it was concluded that if they could lye with their Army upon the coasts of Campiglia he would run a hazard of being beaten or be forced to draw off with no little disgrace To this purpose they rigg'd out four Galliasses which they had at Ligorn and sent three thousand foot in them to reinforce Piombino and then posted themselves at Caldane a place of no easie access for to lie upon the coasts in the plain they judged it more dangerous and more subject to attacks the Florentines were to be supplied from the neighbouring Towns which being thin and but ill inhabited they were but indifferently furnished so that the Army was much incommoded especially for Wine for none growing there and coming with great difficulty from other parts it was not possible to provide for them all But the King though straitned by the Florentines had plenty of all things by the way of the Sea The Florentines perceiving it had a mind to try experiment whether their forces could not be supplied by Sea likewise whereupon they caused their Galliasses to be brought loaded them with victuals and having dispatched them accordingly they were set upon by seven of Alfonso's Gallies and two of them taken and the other two fled This disaster cut off all hopes of relieving that way so that 200 of the looser sort of Souldiers ran away to the Kings Camp for want of Wine and the rest mutiny'd grumling that they should be confin'd to so hot places where there was no Wine and the Water very bad hereupon the Commissaries took it into debate and it was concluded that they should leave that Post and address themselves to the recovery of certain Castles which remained in the hands of the King On the other side the King though he wanted no provision and was more numerous in Men found himself no less distressed for his Army was full of the diseases which those maritime Countries do produce they were grown so general and fierce that many Men died and most of them were sick Upon this consideration a Peace was proposed and the King insisted upon 50000 Florens and that Piombino might be left to his discretion Which demands being deliberated at Florence many who desired peace were earnest to have them accepted affirming they could not expect success in a War which required so vast an expence to maintain it but Neri Capponi going to Florence gave them such pregnant reasons to the contrary that the whole City agreed to refuse them and the Governor of Piombino was well entertained and promised to be relieved both in time of War and Peace if he would defend it couragiously as he had hitherto done The King having notice of their resolution and perceiving his Army too sickly and infirm to take the place he brake abruptly from his siege left above 2000 of his Men dead behind him retreated with the rest of his Army thorow the County of Siena and from thence into the Kingdom of Naples highly dissatisfied with the Florentines and threatning them with a new War when occasion offered Whilst these things passed in Tuscany the Count Francesco being made General for the Milanesi thought fit before any thing
it a reputation the first thing they did was to ratifie the peace which Lorenzo had made with the King and they appointed Antonio Ridolfi and Piero Nasi Embassadors to the Pope Notwithstanding this Peace the Duke of Calabria departed from the Country of Siena with his Army pretending he was retained by the dissentions of that City which were so great that being quartered not far off he was invited into the Town and their defferences referred to his arbitration The Duke accepted the overture fin'd several of the Citizens imprisoned several banished some and some he put to death so that he became suspicious not only to the Sienesi but to the Florentines also that his design was to make himself Prince of that City nor could they devise any remedy seeing they had entred into a League with the King and thereby made both Pope and Venetians their Enemies And this suspicion was not only got into the brains of the multitude in Florence a subtile interpreter of affairs but into the minds also of the Governors so that it was generally concluded the liberty of that City was never in more danger but God who has always had a particular care of it in all its extremities averted that evil and by an unexpected accident gave the King the Pope and the Venetians a diversion which imported them more than their advantages in Tuscany Mahomet the great Turk was with a great Army encamped before Rhodes and had lien before it several months though his forces were numerous and his diligence great yet the valour of the besieged was not to be mastered for they defended themselves so bravely he was forced to draw off and quit the siege with a great deal of dishonor Having left Rhodes he sent part of his Fleet under the command of Giacometto Bascia towards Velona and either upon consideration of the easiness of the enterprize or express command from the Grand Signore to that purpose coasting about Italy on a sudden he landed 6000 Men assaulted the City of Otranto took it plundered it killed all the Inhabitants and when he had done fortified both the Town and the harbour as much as possibly he could and with a good party of Horse scowred the whole Country about it The King being much alarmed at this invasion as knowing how great a Monarch he had to deal with sent his Embassadors about to every Body to let them know his condition and to beg their assistance against the common Enemy besides which he pressed the Duke of Calabria with all imaginable importunity to leave his designs at Siena and come back with all his forces this invasion though it was very dreadful to the Duke and all the rest of Italy yet it was welcome to Florence and Siena the one thinking its liberty most miraculously preserved and the other themselves as strangely delivered from those dangers which would of necessity have destroyed them Which opinion was much encreased by the unwillingness wherewith the Duke departed from Siena complaining and cursing his fortune which by so unreasonable and an unexpected accident had defeated him of the Dominion of Tuscany The same thing changed the Counsels of the Pope and whereas before he would never admit any Embassador from Florence he was grown now so meek he would hear any body speak of a general Peace and word was sent to the Florentines that when ever they found themselves enclined ask pardon of the Pope they would be sure to have it The Florentines thought not fit to slip so fair an occasion and therefore sent 12 Embassadors to the Pope who entertained them with diverse practices after they were arrived at Rome before he admitted them to audience yet at length it was adjusted how all Parties should comport for the future and what every one should contribute in time of Peace as well as in War after which the Embassadors were admitted to the feet of the Pope who was placed in great Pomp with his Cardinals about him The Embassadors to extenuate what had passed laid the fault sometimes upon their own necessities sometimes upon the malignity of other People sometimes upon the popular fury sometimes upon their own just indignation as being so unhappy to be forced either to fight or to die and because death is the most terrible of all things and all things will be tried before that will be embraced they had endured the War the excommunications and all the ill consequences which followed rather than suffer their liberty which is the life of a Commonwealth to be taken from them and extinguished nevertheless if their necessity had run them upon the rocks and forced them to do any thing which was displeasing to him they were ready to make him satisfaction and did hope according to the example of their gracious Redeemer he would be as ready to receive them into his most merciful Arms. To which excuses his Holiness replyed with great heat and indignation reproaching them by all the mischiefs which they had done to the Church nevertheless to preserve the Commandments of God he was contented to grant them their pardon as they desired but intimated withal that they were to be more obedient for the future and if again they transgressed that liberty which now they were only like to have lost should be then taken wholly and that justly away because they who deserved to be free were such as practised good things and not bad and liberty abused was destructive both to themselves and other People for to neglect their duty either to God or his Church was not the office of good Men but of such as were dissolute and lewd the correction of which belongeth not only to Princes but to all that are Christians so that for what was to be passed they were to lay the fault upon themselves who by their ill deeds had given occasion of the War and continued it by their worse but now that was at an end yet it was attributed more to the goodness of other People than any merit in them after which he gave them his benediction and the form of the agreement to which he had added besides what had been debated and concluded on in Counsel that if the Florentines expected any fruit from his blessing they should furnish out fifteen Gallies and keep them in their pay till the Turk was beaten out of Italy The Embassadors complained grievously to have an article of that weight superadded to what was concluded in the Treaty but by all the friends they could make and all the arts they could use they could not prevail to have it expunged whereupon returning to Florence that Senate to perfect the Peace sent Guid Antonio Vespucci who not long before was returned from France their Embassador to his Holiness and by his prudence he brought the terms to be tolerable and as a greater sign of his reconciliation received several other marks of his Holiness favour The Florentines having put an end to all
Galeazzo being of age become capable of the Government and married to the Daughter of the Duke of Calabria he had a mind his Son-in-Law and not Lodovico should exercise the Government Lodovico smelling his design resolved if possible to prevent him This inclination of Lodovico's being known to the Venetians they thought it a fair opportunity to gain as they had done before by peace what by Wur they had lost and making private overtures to him in August 1484 they came to an agreement which was no sooner divulged but the other Confederuts were highly displeased especially seeing all they had taken from the Venetians would be restored the Venetians lefvin the possession of Rovigo and Polisine which they had taken from the Marquess of Ferrara and invested with all the Prerogatives and preheminences which they had exercised over that City before for every Man judged they had made a chargeable War gained some honor indeed in the prosecution of it but in the conclusion they had come off with disgrace for the Towns which they had taken were restored but the Towns they had lost were kept by the Enemy yet the confederats were glad to accept the Peace being weary of the war and unwilling to attempt their fortune any further with the defects and ambition of other People Whilst in Lombardy things were managed at this rate the Pope by the mediation of Lorenzo pressed hard upon the City of Castello to turn out Nicolo Vitelli who to bring over the Pope to their party was deserted by the League Whilst they were intrenched before the Town those of the Garison who were friends to Vitelli sallyed out upon the Enemy and beat them from the siege hereupon the Pope recalled Girolamo from Lombardy caused him to come to Rome to recruit his Army and then sent him to pursue his designs against Castello but judging it better upon second thoughts to reduce Nicolo by fair means than foul he made peace with him and reconciled him as much as in him lay to his adversary Lorenzo and to this he was constrained more out of apprehension of new troubles than any desire to peace for he saw ill humours remaining betwixt the Colonnesi and the Ursini In the War betwixt the Pope and the King of Naples the King of Naples had taken from the Ursini the Country of Pagliacozzo and given it to the Colonnesi who followed his party When Peace was afterwards made betwixt the Pope and the King the Ursini demanded restitution by virtue of that treaty The Pope many times required the Colonnesi to deliver it but neither the prayers of the one nor the threats of the other being able to prevail they fell upon the Ursini with their old way of depredation and plunder The Pope not enduring that insolence drew all his forces together and joyning them with the Ursini they sacked the Houses of all the Colonni in Rome killed those who resisted and destroyed most of the Castles which they had in those parts so that those tumults were ended not by peace but by the destruction of one of the parties In the mean time the affairs in Genoa and Tuscany were in no better condition for the Florentines kept Antonio da Marciano with his forces upon the frontiers of Serezana and with excursions and skirmishes kept the Serezani in perpetual alarm In Genoa Battistino Fregoso Doge of that City reposing too much confidence in Paulo Fregoso the Arch-Bishop was himself his Wife and Children seized by him and the Archbishop made himself Prince The Venetian fleet had at that time assaulted the King of Naples possess'd themselves of Galipoli and alarmed all the Towns about it but upon the peace in Lombardy all the differences were composed except those in Tuscany and Rome for the Pope died five days after the Peace was proclaimed either his time being then come or else his indignation at the Peace against which he was most obstinately averse having killed him However he left all Italy quiet when he died though whilst he lived he kept it constantly imbroiled Upon his death Rome was immediatly in Arms Count Girolamo with his forces retired to the Castle the Ursini were fearful the Colonni would revenge the injuries they had so lately received the Colonni demanded their Houses and Castles to be made good so that in a few days Murders Roberies and burning of Houses was to be seen in several parts of the City but the Cardinals having persuaded Girolamo to deliver up the Castle into the hands of their Colledge to retire to his own Government and free the City from his forces hoping thereby to make the next Pope his friend he readily obeyed delivered up the Castle to the Colledge and drew off his forces to Imola So that the Cardinals being rid of that fear and the Barons of the assistance they expected from Girolamo they proceeded to the Election of a new Pope and after some little disputes they made choice of Giovan Battista Cibo Cardinal di Malfetta a Genoese with the name of Innocent the 8 who by the easiness of his Nature being a Man of peace prevailed with them to lay down their Arms and once more made all quiet at Rome Notwithstanding this Peace the Florentines could not be prevailed with to be quiet it appearing to them dishonorable and insufferable that a private Gentleman should have taken and keep from them the Castle of Serazana and because it was an article in the Peace that not only all that had been lost might be demanded again but that War might be waged against any that obstructed it they prepared Men and mony to go on with that enterprize whereupon Agostino Fregoso who had surprized Serazana finding himself unable with his private force to sustain such a War he resigned it to S. George And seeing we shall many times have occasion to mention S. George and the Genoesi it will not be inconvenient to describe the orders and methods of that City which is one of the principal in Italy When the Genoesi had made peace with the Venetians after the greatest War in which they had ever been engaged not being able to satisfie certain Citizens who had advanced great sums of money for the service of the publick they made over to them the profits of the Dogana appointing that every Man should share of them according to the proportion of his principal sum till his whole debt should be wrought out and for their convenience of meeting and better disposing of their affairs they consigned the Palace to them which was over the Custom-house These Creditors erected a kind of Government among themselves created a Counsel of 100 to deliberate and order all publick matters and another of eight Citizens to put them in execution their debts were divided into several parts which they called Luoghi and their whole body was called San. Giorgia Having established their Government in this manner new exigences arising every day to the Commonwealth they
had recourse to San. Giorgio for supplies which being rich and well managed was able always to relieve them but the Magistrates and community of the City having granted them their customs before were forced now when they borrowed any mony to make over their lands to them and they had done it so frequently that the necessities of the one and the supplies of the other had brought things to that pass that the greatest part of the Towns and Cities under the jurisdiction of Genoa were fallen into their hands and they Governed and disposed of them as they pleased chusing annually their Rettori or Governors by publick suffrage without the least interposition or concernment of the Common-wealth From hence it happened that the affection of the People was removed from the Government of the Commonwealth which they looked upon as tyrannical to the Government of San Giorgio which was well and impartially administred and from hence the casic and often changes of the State did proceed which submitted it self sometimes to this Citizen sometimes to that stranger as occasion invited and the reason was because it was not San. Giorgio but the Magistrats which altered the Government Therefore when the contention was betwixt the Fregosi and Adorni for Soveraignty of the City because the controversie was only among the Governors of the Commonwealth the greatest part of the Citizens withdrew and left the State to him that could catch it the office of San. Giorgio concerning it self no farther than to swear the person advanced to the conservation of their Laws which have not been altered to this very day for having Arms and mony and conduct they cannot be subverted without danger of a destructive Rebellion A rare and incomparable example not to be fellowed in all the visible or immaginary Commonwealths of the Philosophers to behold in the same Circle among the same Citizens liberty and tyranny civility and corruption justice and rapine to be exercised at the same time for that order alone preserved that City in its ancient and vencrable customs And had it fallen out as in time doubtless it will that the Government of the Commonwealth had fallen to the management of San. Giorgio no question but before this it would have been greater and more formidable than the republick of Venice To this San. Giorgio therefore Agostino Fregosa not being able to keep it himself delivered Serezana San. Giorgio accepted it readily undertook to defend it put out a Fleet immediatly to Sea and sent forces to Pietra Santa to intercept any that should go to the Florentines who were already encamped before Serezana The Florentines on the other side had a months mind to Pietra Santa as a Town which by reason of its situation betwixt Pisa and that would make Serezana inconsiderable though they should take it and in the mean time interrupt them in their Leaguer as often as that Garison should think it fit to come forth To bring this about the Florentines sent a considerable quantity of provisions and amunition with a small party to convey them from Pisa to their Camp Supposing that the Garison of Pietra Santa would be tempted to take them both from the weakness of the convoy and the greatness of the prize and their artifice succeeded for the Garison could not see such a booty and suffer it to pass This was as the Florentines desired and gave them just pretence of hostility whereupon rising from Serezana they marched to Pietra Santa and encamped before it which being well man'd defended it self stoutly The Florentines having disposed their artillery in the plain they raised a new battery upon the mountain intending likewise to batter it from thence Giacopo Guicardini was their Commissary at that time and whilst they were employed at Pietra Santa in this manner the Genoa fleet took and burned the Rocca di Vada and landing some Men overran all the Country there abouts Against these forces Bongiami Gianfigliazza was dispatched with a party of Horse and foot who restrained their extravagance so as they did not make their excursions as formerly However the Fleet continued to moleft the Florentines and accordingly removed to Ligorn where with bridges and other military engines having got close to the New Tower they battered it smartly for several days together but finding it to no purpose they went off again with shame In the mean time the siege at Pietra Santa went on very slowly insomuch that the Enemy was encouraged to attempt upon their battery and sallying out when they saw their advantage they carried it much to their own reputation and to the discouragement of their Enemy who immediatly drew off to about four miles distance and the officers considering it was October and the Winter fâ—r on were of opinion to put their Army into their quarters and reserve the prosecution of their siege till a better season These disorders being known at Florence filled all the chief officers with great indignation upon which to recruit their Camp and recover their reputation they elected Antonio Pucci and Bernardo del Nero for their new Comissaries who being sent with a consisiderable supply of mony to the Camp remonstrated to the chief officers the displeasure of the Senate the State and the whole City their commands to return their Leaguer with the Army the scandal and infamy it would be if so many great officers with so great an Army having nothing to oppose them but a pitiful Garison should not be able to carry so weak and so contemptible a Town They represented likewise the present and future advantage which they might expect if it were taken so that they were all encouraged to return and the first thing to be attacked they resolved should be the Bastion out of which they had been forced in which action it was manifest what courtesie affability kind usage and good words could produce in the Souldiers for Antonio Pucci persuading this promising that assisting a third with his hand and embracing the fourth incited them to the assault with such fury that they regained the Bastion in a moment but they did not take it without loss for the Count Antonio da Marciano was slain from one of their great Guns This success brought such a terror upon the Garison that they began to think of surrendring That things might be transacted with greater reputation Lorenzo de Medici thought good to repair in person to the Camp where he was no sooner arrived but in a few days the Castle surrendered Winter being come it did not appear to those Officers convenient to prosecute the War but to attend better weather for the season of the year by the malignity of the air had infected the Army extreamly for many of their chief Officers were sick and among the rest Antonio Pucci and Bongianni Gianfigliazzi were not only sick but died to the great regret of all People so much honor and estimation had Antonio acquired by his conduct at Pietra Santa The Florentine had
relyed upon before But in Kingdoms that are governed according to the Model of France it happens quite contrary because having gained some of the Barons to your side and some of them will always be discontent and desirous of change you may readily enter They can as I said before give you easie admission and contribute to your Victory But to defend and make good what you have got brings a long train of troubles and calamities with it as well upon your friends as your foes Nor will it suffice to exterminate the race of the King forasmuch as other Princes will remain who upon occasion will make themselves heads of any Commotion and they being neither to be satisfied nor extinguished you must of necessity be expell'd upon the first Insurrection Now if it be considered what was the Nature of Darius his Government it will be found to have been very like the Turks and therefore Alexander was obliged to fight them and having conquered them and Darius dying after the Victory the Empire of the Persians remained quietly to Alexander for the reasons abovesaid and his Successors had they continued united might have enjoyed it in peace for in that whole Empire no Tumults succeeded but what were raised by themselves But in Kingdoms that are constituted like France it is otherwise and impossible to possess them in quiet From hence sprung the many defections of Spain France and Greece from the Romans by reason of the many little Principalities in those several Kingdoms of which whil'st there remained any memory the Romans enjoyed their possession in a great deal of incertainty but when their memory was extinct by power and diuturnity of Empire they grew secure in their possessions and quarrelling afterwards among themselves every Officer of the Romans was able to bring a party into the field according to the latitude and extent of his Command in the said Provinces and the reason was because the race of their old Princes being extirpate there was no body left for them to acknowledge but the Romans These things therefore being considered it is not to be wondred that Alexander had the good fortune to keep the Empire of Asia whil'st the rest as Pyrrhus and others found such difficulty to retain what they had got for it came not to pass from the small or great Virtue of the Victor but from the difference and variety of the Subject CHAP. V. How such Cities and Principalities are to be Govern'd who lived under their own Laws before they were subdued WHen States that are newly conquered have been accustomed to their liberty and lived under their own Laws to keep them three ways are to be observed The first is utterly to ruine them the second to live personally among them the third is contenting your self with a Pension from them to permit them to enjoy their old priviledges and Laws erecting a kind of Council of State to consist of a few which may have a care of your interest and keep the people in amity and obedience And that Council being set up by you and knowing that it subsists only by your favour and authority will not omit any thing that may propagate and inlarge them A Town that has been anciently free cannot more easily be kept in subjection than by employing its own Citizens as may be seen by the Example of the Spartans and Romans The Spartans had got possession of Athens and Thebes and setled an Oligarchie according to their fancy and yet they lost them again The Romans to keep Capua Carthage and Numantia ordered them to be destroyed and they kept them by that means Thinking afterwards to preserve Greece as the Spartans had done by allowing them their liberty and indulging their old Laws they found themselves mistaken so that they were forced to subvert many Cities in that Province before they could keep it and certainly that is the safest way which I know for whoever conquers a free Town and does not demolish it commits a great error and may expect to be ruin'd himself because whenever the Citizens are disposed to a revolt they betake themselves of course to that blessed name of Liberty and the Laws of their Ancestors which no length of time nor kind usage whatever will be able to eradicate and let all possible care and provision be made to the contrary unless they be divided some way or other or the Inhabitants dispersed the thought of their old priviledges will never out of their heads but upon all occasions they will endeavour to recover them as Pisa did after it had continued so many years in subjection to the Florentines But it falls out quite contrary where the Cities or Provinces have been us'd to a Prince whose race is extirpated and gone for being on the one side accustomed to obey and on the other at a loss for their old Family they can never agree to set up another and will never know how to live freely without so that they are not easily to be tempted to rebel and the Prince may oblige them with less difficulty and be secure of them when he hath done But in a Commonwealth their hatred is more inverterate their revenge more insatiable nor does the memory of their ancient liberty ever suffer or ever can suffer them to be quiet So that the most secure way is either to ruine them quite or make your residence among them CHAP. VI. Of Principalities acquired by ones own proper Conduct and Arms. LEt no man think it strange if in speaking of new Governments either by Princes or States I introduce great and eminent Examples forasmuch as men in their actions follow commonly the ways that are beaten and when they would do any generous thing they propose to themselves some pattern of that Nature nevertheless being impossible to come up exactly to that or to acquire that virtue in perfection which you desire to imitate a wise man ought always to set before him for his Example the actions of great Men who have excell'd in the atchievement of some great Exploit to the end that though his virtue and power arrives not at that perfection it may at least come as near as is possible and receive some tincture thereby Like Experienced Archers who observing the Mark to be at great distance and knowing the strength of their Bow and how far it will carry they fix their aim somewhat higher than the Mark not with design to shoot at that height but that by mounting their Arrow to a certain proportion they may come the nearer to the Mark they intend I say then that Principalities newly acquited by an upstart Prince are more or less difficult to maintain as he is more or less provident that gains them And because the happiness of rising from a private person to be a Prince presupposes great Virtue or Fortune where both of them concur they do much facilitate the conservation of the Conquest yet he who has committed least to Fortune has continued
the Infant was no less affected with wonder and compassion than his Sister before him Debating with themselves what course was to be taken it was concluded to bring it up Anthony being a Priest and she having no children They christened it Castruccio by the name of their Father and look'd to it as carefully as it had been their own Castruccio's graces encreased with his years and his wit was so pregnant they put him to nothing but he took it very well Anthony designed him for a Priest and to resign his Canonship and other Benefices one day and according to that design he gave him education but he could not find that Castruccio had inclination to that kind of life on the contrary he perceived his natural disposition tending quite another way In short Castruccio was scarce 14 years old but abating by little and little of his awe and respects to Antonio and Dianora he began to neglect his Studies to devote himself to Arms and taking great delight in wrestling and running and such violent exercises his mettle was so well suted with the strength of his body that none of his companions were able to cope with him He troubled himself very little with reading unless it were such things as might instruct him for War or acquaint him with the great actions of some eminent Commander which did not only disquiet Antonio but afflicted him There was at that time in Lucca a Gentleman called Francisco of the House of the Guinigi a handsom man very rich and remarkable for many good qualities which recommended him to one of the first ranks in the Town He had born Arms all his life long and for the most part under the Viscontis Dukes of Milan He had with them engaged for the Ghibilins and the City of Lucca look'd upon him as the very life of their party It was at the time when these two great Factions the Guelfs and the Ghibilins shared all Italy betwixt them divided the Popes and the Emperors engaged in their different interests the Inhabitants of the same Town and the members of the same Family Francisco accompanied usually by persons of Quality of his Cabal walk'd often before the place of St. Michael not far from the Palace of the Podestat or Governor In that Market-place he tooke notice of Castruccio who was often times playing there amongst his School-fellows and Comrades He observed the youth always prescribed such sports to the rest as he had chosen on purpose to prepare him for the War Francisco could easily perceived how much the agility of Castruccio advanced him above his Companions and he as easily perceived that he assumed an authority over them and that they on their part paid him a reverence and such a one as was accompanied with kindness and zeal Francisco took a great fancy to the boy inquited what he was and being informed by some who were by he had a months mind to have him himself calling him to him one day he ask'd him if he did not prefer a Gentlemans Family where he might learn to ride the great Horse and exercise his Arms before the Cloister of a Church-man where he must spin out his days in idleness and melancholy He no sooner mentioned Horses and Arms but Castruccio was ready to have leap'd out of his skin but recollecting himself a sentiment of modesty kept him from answering till the fine words of Francisco having given him more confidence he told him that if he had the liberty of choosing he had rather a thousand times be employed as a Gentleman than in the way for which he was design'd His resolution was so pleasing to Francisco that not long after he made a visit to Antonio and begg'd Castruccio of him in so pressing and yet so civil a manner that Antonio finding it impossible to master the natural inclinations of the youth delivered him to Francisco By this means Castruccio changed his Education and 't is not to be beleived with what easiness he improved in those exercises which are fit for a Gentleman to learn It was to be admired with what address and vigor he mounted his horse with what grace he managed his launce and with what comeliness his sword and this his dexterity distinguished him so highly from the croud of his companions that it would have been imprudence in any one of them to have contended with him either at the Barrieri or Iusts To all these advantages he had an engaging way with him that obliged where-ever he came his actions and his words seemed premedtiate and studied so careful and so regular he was lest he should say or do any thing that might any ways offends He carried himself always with respect to his superiors with modesty to his equals and with civility and complaisance to those who were beneath him so that these good qualities did not only gain him the affection of Francisco's whole Family but the love and esteem of the whole City of Lucca he was eighteen years old when the Faction of the Guelfs drove the Ghibilins out of Pania Visconti Prince of Milan a zealous Partizan of the Ghibilins solicited Succours from Francisco Guinigi who casting his eyes upon Castruccio as the first mark of his affection made him Lieutenant of a Company of Foot and marched with him to Visconti The first Campania this new Lieutenant made put him into such reputation that he eclipsed the glory of all the rest who served in that War He gave so great and so many testimonies both of his courage and conduct that his fame was spread all over Lombardy When also he came back to Lucca and observed the Town had doubled the respect which they had for him before he applyed himself to make new friendships and to that purpose made use of all the courtesie and insinuation that is necessary in that case Not long after Francesco Guinigi fell sick and finding himself near his end having but one Son of about 13 years of age called Pagolo he sent for Castruccio and committed the tuition of his Son and the management of his Estate into his hands and having gently remembred Castruccio that he was the Person who raised him he begg'd that he would shew the same generosity towards Pagolo as he had done towards him and if any thing was due to the bounty of the Father to return it upon his Son He fancied he discerned in the countenance of Castruccio all the marks and indications of a generous mind and died without being disturbed with the least suspicion of his ingratitude The trust and his administration of so great an Estate made Castruccio more considerable than before but they created him likewise some enemies and lessened the affection which some had had for him for knowing him to be of an enterprizing spirit many began to fancy his designs were tyrannical and to oppress the liberty of his Country The Signeur Giorgio Opizi chief of the Guelfs Faction in Lucca was the most to be
judgment of the people in the distribution of Offices and Honours and such particular affairs for in those things they are almost infallible and when they do mistake it is rather to be attributed to the obstinacy of some few to whom that business is referred than to the ignorance of the whole body which being certainly so I think it not superfluous to shew in my next Chapter the Order which the Senate observed to over-reach the people in those kinds of distributions CHAP. XLVIII To prevent the advancement of mean people to the Magistracy it is particularly to be contrived that the competition be betwixt the best and most Noble and the wickedest and most abject WHen the Senate began to apprehend that the Tribunes wnuld be chosen out of the people and invested with Consular power they had two ways one of which they constantly made use of They put the best and most honorable persons to stand or else by their Mony they foisted in some sordid and ignoble Plebeian among those of the better sort which pretended to the Magistracy and demanded it for him The last way made the people ashamed to confer it the first made them ashamed to remove it which reinforces what I have said so often before that though in generals the people may be mistaken in particulars they are provident enough CHAP. XLIX If those Cities which have been free from their foundation as Rome have found it difficult to contrive such Laws as might maintain them so Those which have been always servile will find it almost impossible THe Government of Rome and its affairs abroad and at home do sufficiently show how hard it is to establish such Laws in a Commonwealth as my preserve it always in a good and quiet Estate It had first Romulus then Numa Tullus Hostilius Servius and others who employed their industry and capacity to regulate it well and prescribe good Laws after which ten Citizens were created on purpose and yet new difficulties arose every day which required new remedies One of their great expedients which indeed contributed much to the incorruption of that City was the creation of the Censors to correct the exorbitances splendor and ill husbandry of the Citizens and although in the beginning it was with some inconsideration decreed that those Officers should be created for five years yet by the prudence of Mamercus the Dictator that error was afterwards rectifyed and the time of their continuance reduced to 18 months which disgusted the then Censors so highly that they found means to turn Mamercus out of the Senate to the great regret both of the Senators and people And because the History does not show how Mamercus defended himself it must needs be the neglect of the Historian or the defect of the Laws for it is not to be thought that in a perfect Commonwealth a Citizen should be so ill treated for promuâ—ging a Law so much for the security of their liberty and his innocence left without sanctuary or protection But to return to my design I say it is not to be admired if Cities conceived and born and brought up all along in servitude find so much difficulty to regulate and preserve themselves in tranquility and peace as was to be seen in Florence when Rome and other States which have been free from the beginning have scarce been able to do it Florence was in Subjection to the Roman Empire and governed by other people so long that it had searce any hopes of ever being free Afterwards having time to breath it began to look up and make Laws for it self but mingling them with their old Laws which were bad they did them no good For two hundred years together their Government was in this manner so that it was scarce worthy the name of a Commonwealth And the same inconveniencies have been incident to all Cities whose beginnings have been servile like that And though the Florentines did many times by publick and free suffrage transfer an Authority upon a few of their principal Citizens to examine and reform all things yet those few regarded not so much the common enterest and liberty as their own private design and advantage in the whole manner of their proceedings which was so far from producing any order or settlement as was intended that it augmented the disorder and made things worse than before To pass by other things which are likewise to be observed I say that in every Commonwealth it is particularly to be considered in whose hands the Cognizance of Capital offences is placed and who has the execution of the Sanguinary Laws This was well ordered in Rome an appeal lying to the people from all the courts and Magistrates of the City and if at any time by that appeal the delay of execution became dangerous to the State they had recourse to the Dictator who commanded execution immediately but they never made use of their refuge but in extream necessity But Florence and other Cities born in servitude and Subjection had not the benefit of such an Officer but were governed by strangers upon whom the Prince had transferred his Authority which Custom they kept up after they had made themselves free and continued the same Authority in a Foreigner whom they called their Captain which was a dangerous thing considering how easily he might be corrupted by the better sort of the Citizens Afterwards the Custom changed with the revolutions of State and eight Citizens were created to do the Office of the Captain which alteration proved much for the worse for as I said before a few men prefer'd to the government are always liable to be caressed and cajoled by the Nobility to the prejudice of the people Against which inconvenience Venice provided very well where there is a Council of Ten which can punish any Citizen whatever without any appeal yet for fear they should not be sufficient though they have authority enough for the punishment of persons of more than ordinary quality they have constituted the Quarantie to assist them and the Council of Pregui besides which is the highest Council of that City so that if any man will accuse there are judges enough ready to hear him If therefore in Rome which was originally free and model'd and govern'd by the Counsels of so many wise men new faults were daily discovered and fresh occasions for new Laws to be made for the preservation of their liberty it is not to be admir'd if in other Cities it was worse where their Original was not so free nor so many wise men to model and instruct them CHAP. L. No Magistrate or Council ought to have power to check or controul the publick acts of the City TItus Quintius Cincimatus and Cneus Iulius Mentus being Consuls together in Rome but at perpetual odds the affairs of that State was at a stand their Laws were not executed their Wars were not prosecuted nor any thing managed as it should be The Senate observing it persuaded
thousand unexpected accidents fall in to hasten its destruction CHAP. XVIII Nothing is more honourable in a General than to foresee the Designs of his Enemy IT was the saying of Epaminondas the Theban that no one quality was more useful and necessary in a General than to be able to know the resolutions and designs of his Enemy and discover that by conjecture which he could not do by any certain intelligence Nor is it difficult only to understand his designs but his actions and of those actions not only such as are perform'd privately or at a distance but such as are done as it were before his Face For it many times falls out that when a Battel continues till night he who has the better believes he has the worst and who has lost all supposes he has the Victory Which mistakes has put the Generals many times upon pernicious counsels as it hapned betwixt Brutus and Cassius for Brutus having defeated the Enemy with his Wing Cassius supposing he had been lost and his whole Body dispers'd killed himself in despair In our times at the Battel of S. Cilicia in Lombardy Francis King of France coming to an engagement with the Swizzers the Fight continued till night a body of the Swizzers remaining entire and hearing nothing of the defeat and execution of their Comrades concluded the Victory was theirs which error was the occasion that they marched not off as they might have done but kept their ground till the next morning at which time they were charged again and overthrown The same error had almost ruined the Armies of the Pope and King of Spain who upon a false alarm of the Victory of the Swizzers passed the Po and advanced so far that ere they were aware they had like to have fallen into the mouths of the victorious French The like fell out of old in the Camps of the Romans and Aequi Sempronius the Consul being commanded out with an Army against the enemy and forcing him to a Battel it continued till night without any visible advantage on either side Night coming on and both Armies sufficiently spent neither of them retir'd to their Camps but betook themselves to the neighbouring hills where they believed they should be more safe The Roman Army divided into two parts one went with the Consul and the other with Tempanius the Centurion by whose courage the Roman Army was preserved that day The next morning the Consul hearing no more of the enemy retreated towards Rome the Aequi with their Army did the same for both of them though they had been beaten and marched away without regarding the loss or plunder of their Camps it hapned that Tempanius being behind with his squadron and marching off as the rest he took certain of the wounded Aequi prisoners who inform'd him that their Generals were gone out of the field and had quitted their Camps Upon enquiry finding it to be true he entred into the Roman and secured it but the enemies Camp was given in prey to the Souldier after which he returned with Victory to Rome which Victory consisted only in having the first intelligence of the enemies disorder from whence it is observable that two Armies engaged may be each of them in the same distress and despair and that that Army goes away with the Victory which has first notice of the necessities of the other and of this I shall give a pregnant example of late days and at home In the year 1498 the Florentines had a great Army in the Country of Pisa and had besieged that City very close The Venetian having undertaken its protection and seeing no other way to relieve it to divert the enemy and remove the war they resolved to invade the Territory of the Florentine to which purpose they raised a strong Army marched into their Country by the Val di Lamona possessed themselves of the Town of Marradi and besieged the Castle of Castiglione which stands above upon an hill The Florentines upon the alarm resolved to relieve Maradi and yet not weaken their Army before Pisa whereupon they raised a new Army both Horse and Foot and sent them thither under the Command of Iacopo Quarto Appiano Lord of Piombino and the Count Rinuccio da Marciano The Florentine Army being conducted to the hills the Venetian raised his siege before Castiglione and retreated into the Town the Armies being in this posture and facing one another for several days both of them suffered exceedingly for want of all manner of Provisions at length neither of them being very earnest to come to a Battel and each of them being ignorant of the others distress they resolved the next morning to break up their Camp and each of them to retire the Venetian towards Berzighella and Faenza and the Florentine towards Casaglia and Mugello The morning being come and the Baggage sent away before a poor Woman hapned to come into the Florentine Camp from Marradi to see some of her Relations who were in the service of the Florentine by this Woman the Florentine Generals had notice that the Venetians were gone whereupon reassuming their courage they altered their counsels pursued the enemy and writ Letters to Florence that they had not only beaten the Venetians but made an end of the War Which Victory proceeded from nothing but because they had the first news of the retreat of the Enemy which if it had come to the other side as it did to them the consequence would have been the same and the Florentines have been beaten CHAP. XIX Whether for the Government of the multitude obsequiousness and iâ—dulgence be more necessary than punishment THe Roman Commonwealth was perplexed with the dissentions betwixt the Nobility and the people nevertheless their foreign Wars requiring it they sent forth with their Armies Quintius and Appius Claudius Appius being rough and cruel in his commands was so ill obeyed by his Soldiers that he was defeated and fled out of his Province Quintius being more gentle and benign was better obeyed and carried the Victory where he was from whence it appears more conducing to the well governing of a multitude to be rather obliging than proud and pitiful than cruel However Cornelius Tacitus tells us and many others are of his mind In multitudine regendâ— plus paena quam obsequium valet That to the managing of a multitude severity is more requisite than mildness And I think both may be true to his distinction of Companions and Subjects if those under your command be Companions and fellow Citizens with you you cannot securely use them with that severity of which Tacitus speaks for the people of Rome having equal authority with the Nobility was not to be used ruggedly by any man that was put over them for but a while And it has been many times seen that the Roman Generals who behaved themselves amicably towards their Souldiers and governed them with mildness have done greater things than those who used them with austerity and
fortified Fabr. YOU must understand that Towns and Castles are strong two ways by Nature or by Art They are strong by Nature which are encompassed by Rivers or Fens as Mantua and Ferrara or seated upon some Rock or craggy Mountain as Monaco and Sanleo for other places seated upon Mountains if not difficult of access are in our days rather weaker than otherwise in respect of our Artillery and Mines and therefore at present being to build a City or erect a Fort that may be strong we choose to do it in a Plain and fortifie it artificially with Ramparts and Bastions and our first care is to make the Walls crooked and retort with several Vaults and places of receipt that if the Enemy attempts to approach he may be opposed and repulsed as well in the flank as the front If your Walls be made too high they are too obnoxious to the Cannon if they be too low they are easily scaled if you make a Ditch before the VVall to make the Scalado more difficult the Enemy fills it up which with a great Army is no hard matter and makes himself Master immediately My opinion therefore is this but with submission to better judgments that to provide against both inconveniencies the best way will be to make your VVall high and a Ditch on the inside rather than without and this is the strongest way that you can build because it keeps you both from their Artillery and assaults and gives the Enemy no capacity of filling up the Ditch Your VVall then is to be of the best height you can contrive three yards thick at the least to resist their Batteries it is to have Towers and Bulwarks at the distance of every 200 yards The Ditch within is to be thirty yards broad at least and twelve in depth and all the earth which is taken out of the Ditch is to be thrown towards the Town against a Wall which is to be brought for that purpose from the bottom of the Ditch and carried up a man's height above the ground which will make the Ditch more deep and secure Towards the bottom of the Ditch every two hundred yards I would have a Casemat from whence the Artillery may scour and play upon any body that shall descend The great Guns which are used for the defence of a Town are to be planted behind the Wall on the inside of the Ditch for to defend the first wall Falcons and such small Pieces are easier managed and do as good Execution If the Enemy comes to scale you the height of the first Wall defends you easily If he comes with his Artillery he must batter down the first Wall and when he has done that it being Natural in all Batteries for the Wall and rubbish to fall outward there being no Ditch without to swallow and receive it the ruines of the Wall will encrease the Depth of the Ditch in such manner as that you cannot get forward being obstructed by the Ruines hindred by the Ditch and interrupted by the Enemies great Guns within the Walls that do great slaughter upon you The only remedy in this case is to fill up the Ditch which is very hard in respect of its dimensions and the danger in coming to it the Wall being crooked and Vaulted and full of Angles among which there is no coming without manifest hazard for the reasons abovesaid and to think to march with Faggots over the ruines and to fill it up that way is a chimerical thing so that I conclude a City so fortified is not to be taken Battista If one should make a Ditch without besides that within the Wall would not your Town be the stronger Fabr. Yes without doubt but my meaning is if one Ditch only be to be made it is better within than without Battista Would you have Water in your Ditch or would you rather have it dry Fabr. Opinions are divided in that point for Ditches with water are more secure against Mines and Ditches without are harder to be filled up But upon consideration of the whole I would have them without water because they are more secure for it has been seen that the freezing of the Ditch in the Winter has been the taking of many a Town as it hapned at Mirandola when Pope Iulius besieged it And to prevent Mines I would carry my Ditch so low that whoever would think to work under it should come to the water Castles I would build as to my Ditches and Walls in the same manner that they might have as much trouble who stormed them But let me give one caution to any man who defends a City and it is this that he makes no redoubts without at any distance from the Wall and another to him that builds and fortifies a Castle and that is that he makes no works within for retreats in case the first Wall be taken The reason that makes me give this Counsel is because no man ought to do that which may lessen his reputation at first for the dimunition of that makes all his other orders contemptible and discourages those who have undertaken his defence And this that I say will always happen when you make Bastions without and oblige your self to defend them they will certainly be lost for such small things being now adays to contend with the fury of Artillery 't is impossible they should hold out and the loss of them being a lessening to your reputation the lessening of your reputation will be the loss of the place When Genoa rebelled against Lewis King of France he caused certain Bastions to be erected upon the Hills which were about the Walls which Bastions were no sooner lost and they were lost presently but the City was taken As to my second advice I do affirm that there is nothing so pernicious to a Castle as to have those works of retreat for the hopes that men have of preserving themselves by deserting their Posts makes them abandon them often and the loss of their Posts is afterwards the loss of the Fort. We have a fresh example of this in the taking of the Castle at Furli when the Countess Catharina defended it against Caesar Borgia the Son of Alexander VI. who had brought the French Army before it This Castle was full of those retreats for first there was a Citadel then a Fortress and betwixt both a good Ditch with a draw bridge The Castle within was divided into three parts and each part strongly separated from the other with Ditches and Water and Draw-bridges by which they communicated As soon as the Duke had made his approaches he with his great Guns battered one part of the Castle and laid open a good part of the Wall whereupon Giovanni da Casale who had the command of that quarter never stood to make good the breach but left it to retire into another part so that the Enemy having entred the first quarter with little difficulty it was not long before they made themselves
sometimes more of their Senators with the same power The League continued all the while into which the Cities of Lombardy had entred against Frederick Barbarossa and the Cities were these Milan Brescia Mantua with the greater part of the Cities in Romagna besides Verona Vicenza Padua and Trevigi The Cities on the Emperours side were Cremona Bergamo Parma Reggio Modena and Trenta The rest of the Cities of Lombardy Romagna and the Marquisate of Trevizan took part according to their interest sometimes with this sometimes with the other party In the time of Otto III one Ezelino came into Italy of whose Loyns there remaining a Son call'd also Ezelino being powerful and rich he joyn'd himself with Frederick II who as was said before was become an Enemy to the Pope By the incouragement and assistance of this Ezelino Frederick came into Italy took Verona and Mantua demolish'd Vicenza seiz'd upon Padoua defeated the united Forces of those parts and when he had done advanc'd towards Toscany whilst in the mean time Ezelino made himself Master of the Marquisate of Trevizan Ferrara they could not take being defended by Azone da Esti and some Regiments of the Popes in Lombardy Whereupon when the Siege was drawn off his Holiness gave that City in Fee to Azone da Esti from whom those who are Lords of it at this day are descended Frederick stop'd and fix'd himself at Pisa being desirous to make himself Master of Tuscany and by the distinctions he made betwixt his Friends and his Foes in that Province rais'd such ammosites as proved afterwards the destruction of all Italy For both Guelfs and Gibilins increas'd every day the first siding with the Church the other with the Emperour and were call'd first by those Names in the City of Pistoia Frederick being at length remov'd from Pisa made great devastations and several inroads into the Territories of the Church in so much that the Pope having no other remedy proclaim'd the Croifada against him as his Predecessors had done against the Saracens Frederick left he should be left in the lurch by his own people as Frederick Barbarossa and others of his Ancestors had been before entertain'd into his Pay great numbers of the Saracens and to oblige them to him and strengthen his opposition to the Pope by a party that should not be afraid of his Cursâ—s he gave them Nocera in that Kingdom to the end that having a Râ—treat in their own hands they might serve him with more confidence and security At this time Innocent IV. was Pope who being apprehensive of Frederick remov'd to Genoa and thence into France where he call'd a Counsel at Lyons and Frederick design'd to have been there had he not been retain'd by the Rebellion of Parma Having had ill Fortune in the suppressing of that he march'd away into Tuscany and from thence into Sicily where he died not long after leaving his Son Currado in Sâ—evia and in Puglia his natural Son Manfredi whom he had made Duke of Benevento Currado went to take possession of the Kingdom died at Naples and left only one lâ—â—tle Son behind him in Germany who was call'd Currado by his own Name By which means Manfred first as Tutor to Currado got into the Government and afterwards giving out that his Pupil was dead he made himself King and forc'd the Pope and Neapolitans who oppos'd it to consent Whilst Affairs in that Kingdom were in that posture many Commotions happen'd in Lombardy betwixt the Guelfs and the Gibilins The Guelfs were headed by a Legate from the Pope the Gibilins by Ezelino who at that time had in his possession all that part of Lombardy on this side the Poe. And because while he was entertain'd in this War the City of Padoua rebell'd he caus'd 12000 of them to be slain and not long after before the War was ended died himself in the thirtieth year of his age Upon his death all those Countreys which had been in his hands became free Manfredi King of Naples continued his malevolence to the Church as his Ancestors had done before him holding Pope Urban IV. in perpetual anxiety so that at length he was constrain'd to convoke the Crociata against him and to retire into Perugiâ— till he could get his Forces together but finding them come in slowly and thin conceiving that to the overcoming of Manfred greater supplies would be necessary he address'd himself to the King of France making his Brother Charles Duke of Angio King of Sicily and Naples and excited him to come into Italy and take possession of those Kingdoms Before Charles could get to Rome the Pope died and Clement V. succeeded in his place In the said Clements time Charles with 30 Galleys arriv'd at Ostia having Ordered the rest of his Forces to meet him by Land During his residence at Rome as a Complement to him the Romans made him a Senator and the Pope invested him in that Kingdom with condition that he should pay 50 thousand Florins yearly to the Church and published a Decree that for the future neither Charles nor any that should succeed him in that Kingdom should be capable of being Emperours After which Charles advancing against Manfred fought with him beat him and kill'd him near Benâ—vento thereby making himself King of Sicily and that Kingdom Corradino to whom that State devolv'd by his Fathers Testament gathering what Forces together he could in Germany march'd into Italy against Charles and ingaging him at Tagliacozza was presently defeated and being afterwards discover'd in his flight taken and slain Italy continued quiet till the Papacy of Adrian V. who not enduring that Charles should continue in Rome and govern all 〈◊〉 he did by vertue of his Senatorship he remov'd to Vitâ—rbo and solicited Ridolfus the Emperour to come into Italy against him In this manner the Popes sometimes for defence of Religion sometimes out of their own private ambition call'd in new Men and by consequence new Wars into Italy And no sooner had they advanc'd any of them but they repented of what they had done and sought immediately to remove him nor would they suffer any Province which by reason of their weakness they were unable themselves to subdue to be injoy'd quietly by any body else The Princes were all afraid of them for whether by fighting or flying they commonly overcame unless circumvented by some Stratagem as Boniface VIII and some others were by the Emperours under pretence of Friendship and Amity Ridolfus being retain'd by his War with the King of Bohemia was not at leisure to visit Italy before Adrian was dead He which succeeded him was Nicolas the III. of the House of Ursin a daring ambitious man who resolving to take down the Authority of Charles contriv'd that Ridolfus the Emperour should complain of Charles his Governour in Tuscany of his siding with the Guelfs who after the death of Manfred had been receiv'd and protected in that Province To comply with the
time Iohn XXII was created Pope in whose Papacy the Emperour ceased not to persecute the Guelfs and the Church but King Robert and the Florentines interposing in their defence great Wars ensued in Lombardy under the Conduct of the Visconti against the Guelfs and against the Florâ—ntines in Tuscany by Castruccio di Lucca And because the Family of the Visconti were the Original of the Dukedom of Milan one of the five Principalities that govern'd all Italy afterwards I think it not amiss to deduce it a little higher After the League amaong the Cities in Lombardy which I have mentioned before for their mutual defence against Frederick Barbarossa Milan being rescued from the ruine that impended to revenge it self of the injuries it had receiv'd enter'd into that Confederacy which put a stop to the Emperours career and preserv'd the Churches interest in Lombardy for a while In the process of those Wars the Family of the Torri grew very powerful increasing daily more and more while the Emperour's Authority was small in those parts But Frederick II. arriving in Italy and the Ghibilin Faction by the assistance of Ezelino prevailing it began to dilate and spread it self in all the Cities and particularly in Milan the Family of the Visconti â—iding with that party drove the Family of the Torri out of that Town But long they were not banish'd for by an accord made betwixt the Emperour and Pope they were restor'd Afterwards when the Pope remov'd with his Court into France and Arrigo of Luxemburg came to Rome to be Crown'd he was receiv'd into Milan by Maffeo Visconti the Head of that House and Guido della Torre the Chief of the other Yet how kindly soever they carry'd it outwardly Masseo had a secret design by the Emperour 's being there to drive out the Torri believing the Enterprize the more practicable because Guido was of the Enemies Faction He took the advantage of the peoples complaints against the behaviour of the Germans incouraging them slily to take Arms and rescue themselves from their barbarous servitude Having dispos'd things as he desired he caused a tumult to be raised by one of his Confidents upon which the whole Town was to be in Arms and pretendedly against the Germans The Tumult was no sooner begun but Maffeo his Sons Servants and Partizans were immediately in Arms and ran to Arrigo assuring him that Tumult was raised by the Torri who not content with their private Condition took that occasion to ruine him as an Enemy to the Guelfs and make themselves Princes of that City But he desired him to be secure for they and their party would not fail to defend him when ever he requir'd it Arrigo believed all to be true that Maffeo had told him joyned his Forces with the Visconti fell upon the Torri who were dispersed up and down the City to suppress the Tumult killed those of them which they met banished the rest and seized their Estates So that Maffeo Visconti made himself Prince After him there succeeded Galeazo and Aza and after them Luchino and Iohn who was afterwards Arch-Bishop of that City Luchino died before him and left two Sons Barnardo and Galeazo Galeazo dying not long after left one Son called Giovan Galeazo Conti di Vertu who after the death of the Arch-Bishop killed his Unkle Barnardo made himself Prince and was the first that took upon him the Title of Duke of Milan He left two Sons only Philip and Giovan Maria Angelo who being slain by the people of Milan the Government remain'd wholly to Philip. He dying without issue Male the Dukedom was translated from the House of the Visconti to the Sforza's but of the manner and occasions of that hereafter To return therefore where I left Lewis the Emperour to give reputation to his party and to be formally Crown'd came into Italy and being at Milan to drain the City of its Money he pretended to set them at Liberty and clap'd the Visconti in Prison Afterwards by the Mediation of Castruccio da Luca he releas'd them march'd to Rome and that he might more easily disturb the tranquillity of Italy he made Piero della Carvaro Anti-Pope by whose reputation and the interest of the Visconti he presum'd he should be able to keep under both the Tuscans and Lombards But Castruccio died in the nick and his death was the Emperours ruine for Pisa and Lucca rebelled out of hand The Pisans took the Anti-pope and sent him Prisoner to the Pope into France so that the Emperour despairing of his Affairs in Italy he left them all as they were and retired into Germany He was scarce gone before Iohn King of Bohemia came into Italy with an Army being invited by the Ghibilins in Brescia and possest himself both of that City and Bergamo The Pope however he dissembled it was not averse to his coming and therefore his Legat at Bologna favoured him privately looking upon him as a good Antidote against the Emperours return These under-hand practices chang'd the Condition of Italy for the Florentines and King Robert perceiving the Legat a favourer of the Ghibilin Faction turn'd Enemies to all people that profess'd themselves their Friends In so much as without respect to either Ghibilins or Guelfs many Princes associated with them among the rest were the Families of the Visconti Scala Philippo di Gonsaga of the House of Mantua the Families of Carara and Este whereupon the Pope Excommunicated them all The King apprehensive of their League return'd home to reinforce himself and coming back with more Force into Italy found his Enterprize very difficult notwithstanding so that growing weary of the business though much to the dissatisfaction of the Legat he return'd into Bohemia leaving Garrisons only in Modena and Reggio recommending Parma to the Care of Marsilio and Piero de Rossi who were eminent men in that City As soon as he was departed Bologna enter'd into the Confederacy and the Colleagues divided the four Towns that were remaining to the Church among themselves Parma to the Scali Reggio to the Gonzagi Modena to the Esti and Luca to the Florentines But many differences follow'd upon that division which for the greatest part were compos'd afterwards by the Venetians And now I speak of the Venetians it may appear indecorous to some people that among all the occurrences and revolutions in Italy I have deferr'd speaking of them notwithstanding their Government and Power places them above any other Republick or Principality in that Countrey That that Exception may be remov'd and the occasion appear it will be necessary to look back for some time to make their Original conspicuous and the reasons for which they reserv'd themselves so long from interposing in the Affairs of Italy Attila King of the Hunni having besieg'd Aquilegia the Inhabitants after a generous defence being reduc'd to distress and despairing of Relief conveighing their Goods as well as they could to certain Rocks in that point of
accident drowned His death was a great prejudice to the affairs of the Queen who thereupon would have run great hazard of being droven out of her Kingdom had not her loss been supplyed by Philip Visconti Duke of Milan who forced Alphonso back again into Arragon But Braccio not at all discouraged at Alphonso's departure continued War upon the Queen and besieged Aquila The Pope looking upon Braccio's greatness as a diminution to the Church entertained Francisco the Son of Sforza into his pay who marching with an Army to the relief of Aquila ingaged Braccio routed his Army and slew him Of Braccio's party there remained only Otho his Son from whom the Pope took Perugia but left him the Government of Montone But he also was not long after slain in Romania in the Florentine assistance so that of all those who fought under the Discipline of Braccio Nicholas Piccinino was the man now of greatest reputation Being come thus near with our Narrative to the times we designed that which remains being considerable in nothing but the Wars which the Florentines and the Venetians had with Philip Duke of Milan of which our Relation shall be particular when we come to treat of Florence we shall forbear to enlarge any farther and only in short reduce it to Memory in what state and posture Italy then stood with its Princes and Armies Among the principal States Queen Giovanna held the Kingdom of Naples La Marca the Patrimony and Romagna Part of their Towns belonged to the Church part to their particular Governours or others which had Usurped them as Ferrara Modena Reggio to the Family of the Esti Faenzi to the Manfredi Imola to the Alidosi Furli to the Ordelaffi Rimini and Pesaro to the Malatesti and Camerino to the House Varana Lombardy was divided part under Duke Philip and part under the Venetian All the rest who had had any soveraignty or principality in those parts being extinct except only the House of Gonzagua which governed in Mantua at that time Of Tuscany the greatest part was under the Dominion of the Florentine Lucca only and Siena lived free under their own Laws Lucca under the Guinigi and Siena of it self The Genoueses being free sometimes sometimes under the Authority of the French and sometimes of the Visconti they lived without any great reputation and were reckoned among the meaner and most inconsiderable states of that Countrey Their principal Potentates were not themselves in Command but their Armies managed by their Generals Duke Philip consined himself to his Chamber and not being to be seen his Wars were manag'd by Commissioners The Venetians altering their Scene and making War by Land they disbarqued that Army which had made them so glorious by Sea and according to the Custom of their Countrey gave the Command of it to other people The Pope being a Religious person and Giovanna Queen of Naples a woman were not so proper to Command in person and therefore did that by necessity which others did by indiscretion The Florentines were under the same necessity for their frequent divisions having exhausted their Nobility and the Government of the City remaining in the hands of such as were bred up to Merchandize in their Wars they were forc'd to follow the fortune and direction of strangets So that the Armies all Italy over were in the hands of the smaller Princes or such as had no Soveraignty at all Those smaller Princes embracing those Commands not from any impulse or stimulation of Glory but to live plentifully and safe The others Education having been small not knowing what other course to take they took up Arms hoping thereby to gain either Honour or Estate Among these the most eminent were Carmignuola Francisco Sforza Nicholo Piccinino brought up under Braccio Agnolo della Pergola Lorenzo and Micheletto Attenduli Il Tartaglia Giaccopaccio Ceccolino da Perugia Nicolo da Tolentino Guido Torello Antonio dal Ponte ad Hera and many others With these may be reckon'd those Princes which I have mention'd before to which may be added the Barons of Rome the Orsini Colonnesi and other Lords and Gentlemen of the Kingdom of Lombardy who depending upon the Wars had setled a kind of a League and Intelligence betwixt themselves model'd it with that artifice and temporized so exactly that most commonly who ever were Enemies both sides were sure to be losers By this means the Art of War became so mean and unserviceable every little Officer that had but the least spark of Experience could have easily corrected it Of these lazy Princes and their despicable Officers shall be the subject of my ensuing discourse but before I come to it it will be necessary according to my promise at first to deduce Florence from its Original and give every one a clear prospect what was the State of that City in those times and by what means it arriv'd at it thorough the imbroilments of a thousand years in which Italy was involv'd THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE Book II. AMong the great and admirable orders of former Kingdoms and Common-wealths though in our times it is discontinued and lost it was the Custom upon every occasion to build new Towns and Cities and indeed nothing is more worthy and becoming an excellent Prince a well-disposed Common-wealth nor more for the interest and advantage of a Province than to erect new Towns where men may cohabit with more Convenience both for Agriculture and Defence For besides the Beauty and Ornament which follow'd upon that Custom it render'd such Provinces as were Conquer'd more dutiful and secure to the Conquerour planted the void places and made a commodious distribution of the people upon which living regularly and in order they did not only multiply faster but were more ready to invade and more able for defence But by the negligence and omission of Common-wealths and Principalites this method being at present disused the Provinces are become weaker and some of them ruin'd For as I said before it is this order alone that secures a Countrey and supplies it with people The security consists in this that in a new Conquer'd Country a Colony placed by Authority is a Fortress and Guard to keep the Natives in obedience neither without this can a Province continue inhabited or preserve a just distribution of the people because all places being not equally fertile or healthful where it is barren they desert where unwholsome they die and unless there be some way to invite or dispose new men to the one as well as the other that Province must fail the abandoning some places leaving them desolate and weak and the thronging to others making them indigent and poor And forasmuch as these inconveniences are not to be remedied by Nature Art and Industry is to be apply'd and we see many Countreys which are naturally unhealthful much better'd by the multitude of Inhabitants the Earth being purify'd by their Tillage and the Air by their Fires which Nature alone would never have
with the chief of the Ghibilines and determin'd to take that back again by force from the people which so unadvisedly they had given With which design having assembled the several Companies in their Arms and the XXXVI Reformatori with them causing a suddain Alarm to be brought in the Reformatori being frighted and retiring to their Houses the Ensigns of the several faculties were display'd and several Armed men behind them immediately understanding that Count Guido and his party were at St. Iohns they made a stand at St. Trinita and chose Giovanni Soldanieri for their Captain The Count on the other side hearing where they had posted advanced against them and the people not declining they met in a place which is now call'd Loggia dei Tornaquinci where the Count was worsted and most of his party slain Being off of his mettle and fearful the Enemy would assault him in the night and cut his Throat his Men being cow'd and unable to defend him without considering other remedy he resolv'd to preserve himself by flying rather than by fighting and accordingly contrary to the perswasion of the Heads of the Ghibilines he retired to Prato with what men he had left When he found himself safe and his fear over he became sensible of his Errour and being desirous to have repair'd it next morning at break of day he drew out his Men march'd back to Florence designing to recover that Honourably which he had so Scandalously lost but he found himself mistaken for though it might have cost the people hot water to have expell'd him they found it no hard matter to keep him out when he was gone insomuch that being repuls'd he drew off with great sorrow and shame to Casentino and the Ghibilines return'd to their Houses The people being Conquerours out of affection to all such as had a love for their Countrey they resolv'd to reunite the City once more and call'd home all their Citizens which were abroad as well Ghibilines as Guelfs Hereupon the Guelfs return'd after six years banishment the Ghibilines late attempt was pardoned and they receiv'd back again but yet they continued odious both to the people and Guelfs the last not being able to extinguish the memory of their banishment nor the first to forget their Tyranny and insolence when the Government was in their hand so that their animosity was deposited neither on the one side nor the other Whil'st the affairs of Florence were in this posture a report was spread that Corradine Nephew to Manfredi was coming with Forces out of Germany to Conquer the Kingdom of Naples upon which the Ghibilines conceiv'd fresh hopes of recovering their Authority and the Guelfs being no less solicitous for their security begg'd the assistance of King Charles in case Corradine should come Charles having comply'd and his Forces upon their March the Guelfs became so insolent and the Ghibilines so timorous that two days before the French Army arriv'd the Ghibilines fled out of the City without staying to be expell'd The Ghibilines departed the Florentines new Modell'd their City choosing Twelve principal Magistrates to continue in Authority only for two Months not under the title of Antiani but Ruoni-huomini Next to them they constituted a Councel of 80 Citizens which they call'd La Credenza after which 180 were chosen out of the people which with the Credenza and the 12 Buoni-huomini were call'd the General-Councel besides which they erected another Councel consisting of 120. both Citiziens and Nobles which Councel was to consummate and ratifie whatever was debated or resolv'd in the rest Having setled their Government in this manner and by new Laws and Election of Magistrates of their own party fortifi'd themselves against the Machinations of the Ghibilines the Guelfs confiscated the Ghibilines Estates and having divided them into three parts one was assign'd to publike uses another given to their Magistrates and Captains and the third distributed among the Guelfs to recompense the damage they had receiv'd The Pope to preserve Tuscany to the Faction of the Guelfs made King Charles Imperial Vicar of that Province By this method the Florentines having maintain'd their honour and reputation abroad by their Arms and at home by their Laws they remain'd firm and secure in the mean time the Pope dyed and after a two years vacancy and a tedious dispute Gregory X. was elected who being at the time of his Election and a long while before in Syria and by consequence ignorant of the humours of the Factions he carry'd not himself with that caution towards them as his Predecessors had done But in his way to France being arriv'd at Florence he thought it the Office of a good Pastor to endeavour to compose their differences and prevail'd with them to receive Commissioners from the Ghibilines to negotiate the manner of their return but though their Peace was made and all particulars concluded the Ghibilines were too jealous to accept them and refus'd to come back The Pope imputed the fault to the City and excommunicated it in his passion under which censure it continued whil'st he lived but after his death when Innocent V. was created it was taken off Innocent V. was succeeded by Nicholas III. of the house of the Orsini and because the Popes were alwayes jealous of any great power in Italy though rais'd by the favour of the Church and constantly endeavour'd to depress it great troubles and frequent variations ensued for the fear of a Person grown Potent to any degree was the advancement of another less powerful than he who growing powerful by his preferment as his Predecessor had done became formidable like him and that fear was the occasion of his debasement This was the cause that Kingdom was taken from Manfredi and given to Charles This was the reason that Charles became terrible afterwards and his ruine was conspir'd for Nicholas III. mov'd by the considerations aforesaid prevail'd so that Charles by the Emperours means was remov'd from the Government of Tuscany and Latino the Popes Legat sent thither in his place by Commission from the Emperour Florence at this time was in no very good condition for the Guelfish Nobility being grown insolent and careless of the Magistrates several Murders and other violences were daily committed the Malefactors passing unpunish'd by the favour and protection of the Nobles To restrain these insolencies it was thought good by the Heads of the City to recall those who were banished which gave opportunity to the Legate to reunite the City and to the Ghibilines to return whereupon instead of XII Governours which they had before they were increas'd to XIV VII of each party their Government to be Annual and their Election by the Pope Two years Florence remain'd under this Form till Martino a Frenchman was created Pope who restor'd to King Charles whatever Authority Pope Nicholas had taken from him So that Florence being again in Commotion the Citizens
rest of the Neri who were banish'd to return to Florence being assur'd that Charles and the Captains of the companies were their friends Whilst their suspicion of Charles had put the City in Arms Corso his Comrades and many of their followers enter'd into Florence without any impediment And although Veri de Cerchi was perswaded to oppose he refus'd it and told them he would leave their Chastisement to the people of Florence against whose interest Corso did come But he was mistaken in his Measures for in stead of being punished he was received very kindly by the people and Veri was forc'd to fly for his safety For Corso having forc'd his entrance at the Porta Pinti drew up and made a stand at S. Pietro Maggiori a place not far from his Palace and having united with such of the people and his friends as desir'd Novelty and were come thither on purpose the first thing he did was to discharge all Prisoners whatever and however committed whether by private or publick Authority He forc'd the Signori to return privately to their houses and elected a certain Number of the faction of the Neri out of the people to supply their places For five days together they ransack'd and plunder'd the houses of the chief of the Bianchi The Cerchi and the heads of that faction seeing the people for the most part their Enemies and Charles none of their friend were retir'd out of the City to such Castles as they had and whereas before they would not entertain the Counsel of the Pope they were now glad to implore his assistance and to let him understand that Charles was not come to the advantage but to the prejudice of the City Whereupon the Pope sent his Legate Matteo di Aquasparta to Florence the second time who not only made a peace betwixt the Cerchi and Donati but fortified it by several marriages and alliances Nevertheless insisting to have the Bianchi participate of the Chief Offices and being deny'd by the Neri who had them in possession he left the City as ill satisfi'd as before and again Excommunicated it for its disobedience Thus both parties continued discontented The Neri seeing their Enemies so near were apprehensive least by their destruction they should recover the Honours and Authority which they had lost and as if these Fears and Animosities had been not sufficient to do mischief new affronts and injuries were offered Nicholas de Cerchi being going with some of his friends to some of his houses as he pass'd by the Ponte ad Africo was assaulted by Simon son of Corso Donati The Conflict was sharp and on either side deplorable for Nicholas was kill'd upon the place and Simon so wounded that he died the next Morning This accident disturb'd the whole City afresh and though the Neri were indeed most Culpable yet they were protected by the Government and before judgment could be obtain'd a Conspiracy was discover'd between the Bianchi and Piero Terranti one of Charles his Barons with whom they practis'd privately to be restor'd to the Government The Plot was detected by several letters from the Cerchi to the said Piero though some imagin'd they were counterfeited by the Donati to divert the infamy they had incurr'd by the assassination of Nicholas The Cerchi and all their Clann were at this time Prisoners to the Donati and among the rest Dante the Poet their Estates were Consiscated and their houses demolish'd Their party with several of the Ghibilines that had joyn'd themselves with them were dispers'd up and down in sundry places attending new troubles to better their Condition and Charles having finish'd what he design'd when he came thither return'd to the Pope in pursuance of his Expedition into Sicily in which he managed himself with no more prudence than he had done in Florence but losing many of his men he went back into France with no little dishonour After Charles was departed for some time Florence was quiet only Corso was dissatisfied as not thinking himself in Authority suitable to his deserts for the Government being in the hands of the people he believed it managed by such as were much his inferiours Moved therefore by these provocations to varnish over a foul design with a fair pretence he calumniated several Citizens who had had charge of the Publick money for imbeziling of it and applying it to their private use giving out that it was fit they should be inquir'd after and punished several of his mind did the same and many others by their ignorance and Credulity were persuaded that what Corso did was out of pure care and affection to his Country On the other side the persons accus'd having the favour of the people stood upon their justification and so far these differences proceeded that after several expostulations and civil controversies they came at length to take Arms. On one side there were Corso Lotieri Bishop of Florence with many of the Nobility and some of the Commons On the other side there were the Signori and the greatest part of the people so that there was sighting in many places of the City The Signori perceiving their affairs in some danger sent to Lucca for aid and immediately all the people in Lucca came in to their assistance by whose supervention things were presently compos'd the tumults asswag'd and the people continued in their former Liberty and Government without any other punishment of the Author of the scandal The Pope had heard of the tumults at Florence and sent thither Nicholas da Prato his Legate to appease them who for his quality learning and behaviour being a man of great reputation he quickly obtained such credit with the people that they gave him Authority to reform or Model their Government as he pleas'd Being of the Ghibiline faction he was inclin'd to call home those of that party who were banish'd But first he thought it convenient to ingratiate with the people by restroing their Ancient Companies which Act added as much strength to their interest as it took away from the Nobless When he had as he thought sufficiently oblig'd the multitude The Legate design'd to call home the Exiles and try'd many ways to effect it but was so far from succeeding in any of them that he render'd himself suspected to the Governors was forc'd out of the City and leaving all in confusion in a great passion he Excommunicated it at his departure Nor was this City molested with one humour only but several there being at one the factions betwixt the Nobility and the people the Guelfs and the Ghibilines the Bianchi and the Neri At that time all the City was in Arms and many bickerings happend'd Many were discontented at the Legates departure being willing the banish'd Citizens should return The Chief of them who rais'd the report were the Medici and the Giugni who with the Legate were discover'd to be favourers of the Rebels in the interim Skirmishes and Rencounters pass'd in several
Garrisons of his friends that though the people were very numerous and press'd hard to have enter'd them they could not prevail The Conflict was smart many kill'd and wounded on both sides and the people finding there was no entrance that way by force got into the houses of his Neighbours and through them they brake unexpectedly into his Corso finding himself inviron'd by his Enemies and no hopes of relief from Ugnccione dispairing of Victory he resolv'd to try what was possible for his Escape advancing therefore with Gherardo Bondini and several other his most faithful and valiant friends he charg'd so furiously upon his Enemies that he brake them and made his way thorow them fighting out of the Pâ—â—ta della Croce Nevertheless being pursu'd Gherardo was slain by Boccaccio Cavicciulli upon the Africa and Corso was taken Prisoner at Rouezano by certain Spanish horsmen belonging to the Signoria But disdaining the sight of his Victorious Enemies and to prevent the torments which they would probably inflict as they were bringing him back towards Florence he threw himself off his horse and was cut to pieces by one of the Company his body was gather'd together by the Monks of S. Salvi and bury'd but without any solemnity This was the sad end of that Magnanimous Person to whom his Country and the Neri ow'd much both of their good fortune and ill and doubtless had his mind been more Moderate his memory would have been more honourable however he deserves a place among the best Citizens this City did ever produce though indeed the turbulency of his Spirit caus'd his Country and party both to forget their obligations to him and at length procur'd his death and many mischiefs to them Uguccione coming to the relief of his Son in Law as far as Remoli and hearing he was taken by the people presuming he could do him no good to save his own stake he return'd back as he came Corso being dead in the year 1308. all tumults ceas'd and every body liv'd quietly till news was brought that Arrigo the Emperor was come into Italy with all the Florentinâ— Exiles in his Company whom he had promis'd to reinstate on their own Country To obviate this and lessen the number of their Enemies the Magistrates thought fit of themselves to reinvite all those who had been rebels but some few which were particularly excepted Those which were excepted were the greatest part of the Ghibilines and some of the faction of the Bianchi among which were Dante Aleghieri the Sons of Veri de Cerchi and Giano della Bella. They sent likewise to desire the assistance of Robert King of Naples but not prevailing in an amicable way without terms they gave him the Government of their City for five years upon condition he would defend them as his subjects The Emperour in his passage came to Pisa and from thence coasting along the shore he went to Rome where he was Crown'd in the year 1312 after which addressing himself to the subduction of the Florentines he marcht by the way of Perugia and Arezzo to Florence and posted himself with his Army at the Monastery of St. Salvi where he continued fifty days without any considerable exploit Despairing of success against that City he remov'd to Pisa confederated with the King of Sicily to make an Enterprize upon Naples and marched forward with his Army but whilst he thought himself sure of Victory and Robert gave himself for lost the Emperour died at Buonconvento and that Expedition miscarri'd Not long after it fell out that Uguccione became Lord of Pisa and by degrees of Lucca where he joyn'd himself with the Ghibilines and by the assistance of that faction committed great depredations upon the Neighbours The Florentines to free themselves from his Excursions desir'd King Robert that his Brother Piero might have the Command of their Army In the mean time Uguccione was not idle To increase his numbers and extend his dominion partly by force and partly by stratagem he had possess'd himself of many strong Castles in the Vallies of Arno and Nievole and having advanc'd so far as to besiege Monte Catini the Florentines thought it necessary to Relieve it left otherwise that Conflagration should consume their whole Country Having drawn together a great Army they March'd into the Val di Nievole gave battel to Uguccione and after a sharp sight were defeated In the battel they lost 2000. men besides Piero the Kings Brother whose body could never be found Nor was the Victory on Uguccione's side without some qualification he having lost one of his Sons and several Officers of Note After this disaster the Florentines fortifi'd at home as much as they could and King Robert sent them a new General call'd the Conte di Andrea with the title of Conte Novello By his deportment or rather by the Genius of the Florentines whose property it is to increase upon every settlement and to fall afterwards into factions upon every accident notwithstanding their present War with Uguccione they divided again and some were for King Robert and others against him The chief of his Adversaries were Simon della Tosa the Magalotti and other popular familes who had greatest interest in the Government These persons sent first to France and then into Germany to raise men and invite Officers that by their assistance they might be able to rid themselves of their new Governour the Conte But their fortune was adverse and neither could be procur'd Nevertheless they gave not their Enterprize over though they had been disappointed both in Germany and France they found out an Officer in Agobbio having driven out King Roberts Governour they sent for Lando from Agobbio and made him Essecutore or indeed Executioner giving him absolute power over their whole City Laudo being naturally cruel and avaritious march'd with arm'd men up and down the City plundering this place and killing in that as those who sent for him gave him directions and not content with this insolence he Coyn'd false money with the Florentine stamp and no man had the power to oppose it to such grandeur was he arriv'd by the dissention of the Citizens Miserable certainly and much to be lamented was the Condition of this City which neither the Consequences of their former divisions their apprehension of Uguccione nor the Authority of a King was sufficient to unite Abroad they were infested by Uguccione at home they were pillag'd by Laudo and yet no reconciliation The Kings friends many of the Nobility several great men of the Populace and all the Guelfs were Enemies to Laudo and his party Nevertheless the Adversary having the Authority in his hand they could not without manifest danger discover themselves however that they might not be deficient in what they were able to do towards the freeing themselves of so dishonourable a Tyranny they writ privately to King Robert to intreat that he would make Conte Guido da Buttifolle his
his integrity every one exhorting him to go on in finding out and punishing the fraudâ— of their Neighbours The Authority of the XX. was much lessen'd the Dukes reputation increas'd and a general fear of him overspread the whole City so that to show their affections towards him all People caus'd his Arms to be painted upon their Houses and nothing but the bare title was wanting to make him a Prince Being now in a condition as he thought of attempting any thing securely he caus'd it to be signifi'd to the Senate that for the good of the Publick he judg'd it necessary they should transfer their Authority upon him and that seeing the whole City approv'd it he desir'd he might have their resignation The Signori having long foreseen the ruine of their Country approaching were much troubled at the message They were sensible of the danger they were in yet not to be deficient in any Act of duty to their Country they refus'd him couragiously As a pretence and specimen of his Religion and humility the Duke had taken up his quarters in the Monastery of St. Croce and being desirous to give the finishing stroke to his wicked designs he by Proclamation requir'd all the People to appear before him the next morning in the Piazza belonging to that Monastery This Proclamation alarmed the Signori more than his message whereupon joyning themselves with such as were lovers both of their liberty and Country upon consideration of the Power of the Duke and that their force was insufficient it was resolv'd they should address themselves to him in an humble and supplicatory way to try if by their Pâ—ayers they might prevail with him to give his Enterprize over or else to execute it with more moderation All things being concluded part of the Signori were sent to attend him and one of them accosted him in this manner My Lord we are come hither mov'd first by your Proposal and next by your Proclamation for assembling the People presuming your resolution is to obtain that by force to which upon private application we have not consented it is not our design to oppose force against force but rather to remonstrate the burden and heaviness of that load you would take upon your self and the dangers which will probably occur And this we do that you may hereafter remember and distinguish betwixt ours and the Counsel of such as advise the contrary not so much out of respect and deference to your advantage as for the venting their own private fury and revenge Your endeavour is to bring this City into servitude which has always liv'd free because the Government has been formerly given by us to the Kings of Naples whereas that was rather an association than a subjection Have you consider'd how important and dear the Name of Liberty is to us A thing no force can extirpate no time can extinguish nor no merit preponderate Think Sir I beseech you what Power will be necessary to keep such a City in subjection All the strangers you can entertain will not be sufficient those which are Inhabitants you cannot prudently trust for though at present they are Friends and have push'd you forward upon this resolution yet as soon as they have glutted themselves upon their Enemies their next Plot will be to expel you and make themselves Princes The People in whom your greatest confidence is placed will turn upon every slight accident against you so that in a short time you will run a hazzard of having the whole City your Enemies which will infallibly be the ruine both of it and your self because those Princes only can be secure whose Enemies are but few and they easily remov'd either by banishment or death but against universal hatred there is no security because the spring and fountain is not known and he that fears every Man can be safe against no Man If yet you persist and take all possible care to perserve your self you do but encumber your self with more danger by exciting their hatred and making them more intent and serious in their revenge That time is not able to eradicate our desire of Liberty is most certain We could mention many good Cities in which it has been reassum'd by those who never tasted the sweetness of it yet upon the bare character and tradition of their Fathers they have not only valu'd but fought and contended to recover it and maintain'd it afterwards against all difficulties and dangers Nay should their Fathers have neglected or forgot to recommend it the publick Palaces the Courts for the Magistrats the Ensigns of their freedom which are of necessity to be known by all Citizens would certainly proclaim it What action of yours can counterpoize against the sweetness of Liberty For what can you do to expunge the desire of it out of the Hearts of the People Nothing at all no though you should add all Tuscany to this State and return every day into this City with new victory over your Enemies The Honor would be yours not ours and the Citizens have gain'd fellow-servants rather than subjects Nor is it the power of your deportment to establish you Let your Life be never so exact your conversation affable your judgments just your liberality never so conspicuous all will not do all will not gain you the affections of the People if you think otherwise you deceive your self for to People that have liv'd free every link is a load and every bond a burthen And to find a state violently acquir'd to accord quietly with its Prince though never so good is impossible of necessity one must comply and frame it self to the other or else one must ruine and destroy the other You have this therefore to consider whether you will hold this City by violence for which all the Guards and Citadels within and all the friends could be made abroad have been many times too weak â— or be content with the Authority we give you to which last we do rather advise because no Dominion is so durable as that which is voluntary and the other however your ambition may disguise it will but conduct you to a height where being neither able to advance nor continue you must tumble down of necessity to your own great detriment as well as ours But the Dukes heart was too hard for such impressions as these He reply'd That it was not his intention to extirpate but to establish their Liberty that Cities divided were the only Cities that were servile and not those that were united That if he by his conduct could clear their City of their Schisms Ambitions and Animosities he could not be said to take away but to restore their liberty That he did not assume that Office out of any ambition of his own but accepted it at the importunity of several of the Citizens and that they would do well to consent themselves as their fellows had done That as to the dangers he was like to incur he
not only the Florentines who neither know how to maintain liberty nor endure slavery were incens'd but the most servile Nation in the World would have been inflam'd to have attempted the recovery of its freedom Whereupon many Citizens of all qualities and degrees resolv'd to destroy him and it fell out that at the same time three Conspiracies were on foot by three sorts of People the Grandees the People and Artificers Besides the General oppression each party had its peculiar reason The Nobility were not restor'd to the Government the People had lost it and the Artificers trade was decay'd The Archbishop of Florence Agnolo Acciaivoli had in his Sermons highly magnifi'd the qualities of the Duke and procur'd him great favour among the People but after he was Governor and his tyranny became notorious they found how the Archbishop had deluded them To make them amends for the fault he had committed he thought nothing could be more reasonable than that the same hand that gave them the wound should endeavour to cure it and therefore he made himself head of the first and most considerable Conspiracy in which were ingag'd with him the Bardi Rossi Frescobaldi Scali Altoviti Magalotti Strozzi and Mancini The Principals of the second Conspiracy were Manno and Corso Donati and with them the Pazzi Cavicciulli Cerchi and Albizzi Of the third Antonio Adimari was the head and with him the Medici Bordini Ruccellai and Aldobrandini Their design was to have kill'd him in the house of the Albizzi whither it was suppos'd he would go on Midsummer day to see the running of the Horses but he went not that day and that design was lost The next proposition was to kill him as he was walking in the streets but that was found to be difficult because he went always well arm'd and well attended and his motions being various and uncertain they could not tell where it was most proper to way-lay him Then it was debated to slay him in the Council but that also was not without danger because though they should kill him they must of necessity remain at the mercy of his Guards Whilst these things were in debate among the Conspirators Antonio Adimari in hopes of assistance from them discover'd the Plot to some of his Friends in Siena told them the Principal of the Conspirators and assur'd them the whole City were dispos'd to redeem themselves whereupon one of the Siennesi communicated the whole business to Francesco Brunelleschi not with intention to have betraid it but in presumption he had been privy to it before and Francâ—sco out of fear or malice to some that were ingag'd in it discover'd all to the Duke Pagolo de Mazzeccha and Simon de Monterapoli being immediatly apprehended they confess'd the whole matter with the number and quality of the Conspirators at which the Duke was much surpriz'd and counsel being given him rather to summon the Conspirators to appear than to secure them abruptly because if they fled of themselves he would be as safe without scandal he summon'd Adimari who appear'd in confidence of the number of his Accomplices Adimari was arrested and the Duke advis'd by Francesco Brunelleschi and Uguccione Buondelmonti to betake himself to his arms and go up and down to their houses and kill all of them they met But his force in the Town was Judg'd too small for that resolution and therefore he pitch'd upon another which had it succeeded would have secured him against his Enemies and provided him with Men. The Duke was wont upon any great Emergencies to call the chief Citizens together and to advise with them Having first sent to prepare what force he was able he caus'd a list of three hundred Citizens to be made and deliver'd to his Sergeants to summon them to Council by their Names resolving when they were met to kill or imprison them as he pleas'd Antonio Adimari being secur'd and so many great Citizens summon'd which could not be done without noise many of them and especially those who were conscious began to suspect and some refus'd absolutely to obey The list having been brought to them all and perus'd by every one of them they began to understand and incourage one another to take Arms and dye manfully like Men rather than be driven quietly like sheep to the slaughter so that in few hours all the Conspiracies were known and the Conspirators united holding Counsel among themselves it was concluded that the next day being the 26 of Iuly 1343. a tumult should be rais'd in the old Market-place upon which all were to take Arms and excite the people to liberty The next day the Signal being given by sounding a Bell as it was agreed before every Body took Arms and crying out Liberty Liberty the People betook themselves to their Arms likewise and fell to fortify in their several Quarters under their respective Ensigns which was done by the contrivance of the Conspirators The chief of all Families both Nobility and People met and took an Oath to live and die with one another in the destruction of the Duke except only the Buondelmonti the Cavalcanti and the four Families of the People which consented to make him Prince who with the Butchers and Rascality of the City ran down arm'd to the Piazza in defence of the Duke The Duke alarm'd at these proceedings fortifi'd his Palace call'd home his Servants which were lodg'd in several parts of the Town and sallying forth with them on Horseback towards the Market-place they were many times assaulted by the way and many of them slain being forced back and recruited with 300 fresh Horse he was in doubt with himself whether he had best fall upon them again or stand upon his guard and in the mean time the Medici Cavicciulli Ruccellai and other families that were most disoblig'd by the Duke were in no less fear that if he should make a sally many who had taken Arms against him in the uproar would show themselves his friends desirous therefore to keep him from sallying and by that means increasing his numbers drawing what force together they were able they advanc'd towards the Market place where some of their fellow Citizens had posted themselves indefence of the Duke The Citizens which were there in the front and had appear'd first for their Prince seeing themselves so briskly confronted chang'd their sides left their Duke in the lurch and joyn'd with their fellow Citizens all but Uguccione Buondelmonti who retired into the Palace and Giannozzo Cavalcanti who retreating with some of his party into the New-Market and getting upon a bench made an earnest speech exhorting the People to stand firm to the Duke and having got more force to him to fright them if his perswasion fail'd he threatned to kill them all Man Woman and Child if they joyn'd or persisted in any design against him But seeing no body follow him nor no body near to chastise him for his insolence perceiving he had
troubled himself hitherto in vain he resolv'd to tempt his fortune no farther and so retir'd peaceable to his house The conflict in the mean time in the Market-place betwixt the People and the Dukes party was great and though the Dukes Creatures were reinforc'd from the Palace yet they were beaten part taken Prisoners and part leaving their Horses to their Enemies got on foot into the Palace Whilst the contest continu'd in the Market-place Corso and Amerigo Donati with part of the People broke up the Stinche burn'd the Records of the Potesta and publick Chamber sack'd the Houses of the Rettori and kill'd all the Dukes Officers they could meet with The Duke on the other side finding he had lost the Piazza the whole City was become his Enemy and no hopes left him of being reliev'd He resolv'd to try if by any act of kindness or humanity he might work upon the People Calling his Prisoners therefore to him with fair and gentle language he gave them their liberty and made Antonio Adimari a Knight though not at all to his satisfaction he caus'd his Ensign to be taken down and the Standard of the People to be set up upon the Palace Which things being done unseasonably and by force they avail'd but little In this manner he remain'd block'd up in his Palace not at all delighted with his condition having coveted too much formerly he was now like to lose all and in a few days was in danger of being famish'd or slain The Citizens to give some form to their Government assembled themselves in the S. Reparata and created XIV Citizens half of the Nobility and half of the People who with their Bishop should have full Power to model and reform the State as they pleas'd The Authority of the Potesta they committed to VI Persons of their own election which they were to exercise till he that was elected should come There were at that time many strangers resorted to Florence in assistance to that City among the rest the Siennesi had sent six Embassadors of honorable condition in their own Countrey to negotiat a peace betwixt the Duke and the People The People refus'd any overture unless Guglielmo da Scesi his Son and Cerrettieri Bisdomini were deliver'd into their hands which the Duke obstinatly deny'd till the threats of those who were shut up with him in the Palace constrain'd him to consent Greater doubtless is the insolence and contumacy of the People and more pernicious the mischiefs which they do whilst they are in pursuit of their Liberty than when they have acquir'd it Guglielmo and his Son were brought forth and deliver'd up among thousands of their Enemies his Son was a young Gentleman not yet arriv'd at eighteen years of age yet neither his youth his comliness nor innocence were able to preserve him those who could not get near enough to do it whilst he was alive wounded him when he was dead and as if their swords had been partial and executed the dictates of their fury with too much moderation they fell to it with their teeth and their hands biting his flesh and tearing it to pieces And that all their Senses might participate in their revenge having feasted their ears upon their groans their eyes upon their wounds and their touch upon their bowels which they rent out of their bodies with their hands their taste must likewise be treated and regal'd that their inward parts as well as their outward might have a share of the Ragoust This Barbarous outrage how fatal soever it was to them two was very lucky to Cerrettieri for the People being tyr'd in the formalities of their execution forgot they had any more to punish and left him in the Palace not so much as demanded from whence the next night he was safely convey'd by his Relations and friends The People having satiated themselves upon the Blood of those two the peace was concluded the Duke to depart safely himself and all that belong'd to him for which he was to renounce all his Claim and Authority in Florence and to ratify his renunciation when he came out of the Florentine Dominions to Casentino The Articles being agreed on the VI. of August attended by a multitude of Citizens the Duke departed from Florence and arriv'd at Casentino where he ratify'd the renuntiation but so unwillingly that had not Conte Simone threatned to carry him back to Florence it had never been done This Duke as his actions demonstrate was covetous cruel difficult of access and insolent in his answers Not being so much effected with the kindness and benevolence of People as with their servitude and servility he chose to be fear'd rather than belov'd Nor was the shape and contexture of his Body less contemptible than his manners were odious He was very little exceeding black his beard long and thin not apart about him but concurr'd to make him despicable In this manner the exhorbitancies of his administration in ten Months time depriv'd him of his Dominion which had been plac'd upon him by the Counsels of ill Men. These accidents happening thus in the City all the Towns under the jurisdiction of Florence took courage and began to stand up for their liberty so that in a short time Arrezzo Castiglione Pistoia Volterra Colle St. Gimignano rebell'd and the whole territory of Florence after the example of its Metropolis recover'd its freedom After the Duke and his Creatures were removed the XIV chief Citizens and the Bishop consulting together thought it better to pacify the People with peace than to provoke them again by War and therefore pretended to be as well pleas'd with their liberty as their own They sent Embassadors therefore to Arrezzo to renounce the Authority they had over them and to enter into an alliance of amity with them that though they might not hereafter command them as subjects they might upon occasion make use of them as friends With the rest of the Cities they made as good terms as they could retaining amity with them all This resolution being prudently taken succeeded very happily for in a few months Arrezzo and all the other Towns return'd to their Obedience and it is frequently seen to decline or renounce things voluntarily is the way to gain them more readily and with less danger and expence than to pursue them with all the passion and impetuosity in the World Affairs abroad being compos'd in this manner they apply'd themselves to a settlement at home and after some debates and alterations betwixt the Nobility and the People it was concluded the third part of the Signoria â—r Senat should consist of the Nobility and half the other Magistracies to be executed by them The City as is said before was divided into six parts out of which sixth six Signori were chosen one out of every sixth only by accident now and then their number was increas'd to XII or XIII and reduc'd it again to six afterwards at length they
of the Common-wealth but the promotion and advancement of their Enemies quite contrary to what they designed Uguccione therefore being one of the Senate to put an end to those inconveniences which he by accident had created obtain'd a new Law that to the six Captains three more should be added two of them to be chosen out of the inferior Mechanicks and prevail'd that the Ghibilins should not be convicted but by 24 of the Guelfs deputed particularly to that office For the time these Laws in some measure tempered the exorbitance of the Captains so as their admonitions lost much of their terror and if any they were but few that were admonished Notwithstanding the emulation betwixt the Albizi and Ricci continued their leagues practices and consultations going on with more eagerness as their fury suggested In this distraction the City continued from the year 1366 to the year 1371 at which time the Guelfs recovered their power In the Family of the Buondelmonti there was a Gentleman called Benchi who for his Gallantry in the Wars against the Pisans was prefer'd to be one of the people and by that means qualified to be a Senator But when he expected to be admitted into the Senate a Decree was made that no person of Noble Extraction that was become one of the people should be received into the Senate This Decree was highly offensive to Benchi who upon consultation with Piero de gli Albizi resolv'd with his admonitions to depress the meaner sort of the people and make themselves Governors of the City And indeed by his influence upon the Nobility and Piero's upon the wealthiest of the Citizens the Faction of the Guelfs began to grow more considerable for with their new models and regulations they ordered things so that the Captains and 24 Citizens were wholly at their disposing their admonitions exercised with as much audacity as formerly and the house of the Albizi being head of that Faction increased exceedingly The Ricci in the mean time were not behind hand in using all their interest and friends to obstruct their designs so that every one lived in great apprehension as fore-seeing their destruction was approaching Whereupon many Citizens out of affection to their Country assembled in S. Piero Scheraggio and having discoursed of their disorders among themselves they went afterwards to the Senate to whom one of the most eminent among them made this harrangue Most Magnificent Lords we have many of us doubted whether to assemble by private order though upon publick occasion might not be offensive and render us remarkable for our presumption and punishable for our ambition But when we considered that daily without the least caution or regard many Citizens do meet and confer not for any benefit to the Common-wealth but in pursuit of their own private designs We presum'd that if they were permitted to meet and Conspire against the peace of their Country without displeasure to your Lordships those whose design was nothing but its preservation and prosperity needed not to fear your reproof If therefore we have not incurr'd your Lordships disfavour we are not much solicitous what others judge of us because we find they are as indifferent what we think of them The love we bear to our Country most Magnificent Lords was that which assembled us at first and now presents us before you to remonstrate our distractions which though too great encrease daily upon our hands and to offer our utmost assistance to remove them How difficult soever their Enterprise may appear we cannot despair of success if laying aside private respects you would be pleased with publick force to exert your authority The corruption of their Cities in Italy has vitiated ours for since Italy freed it self from the yoke of the Empire all the Towns wanting their former restraint â—lew out into extreams and ordain'd Laws and Governors not as free men but as people divided into Factions From this Fountain all our miseries all our disorders do spring In the first place no friendship nor integrity is to be found among the Citizens unless among those whose wickedness makes them faithful having been formerly engaged together in some villainous action either against their Neighbour or Country Religion and the fear of God is utterly extinguished Promises and Oaths are binding no farther than they are profitable and used not for a tye but a snare and as a means to facilitate their cheats which are always more honourable by how much their success is less difficult and dangerous Hence it is that vitious and mischievous men are commended for their industry and good men which are innocent and quiet are reckoned for sots And certainly as there is no sort of corruption but may be found in Italy so there are no sort of people more unhappily adapted to receive it The young men are idle the old men lascivious all sexes all ages all places full of licentious brutality above the correction of the Laws Hence springs that avarice among the Citizens and that ambition not of true glory but of dishonourable preferment which being accompanied with hatred enmity schism and dissention are commonly followed by executions banishments affliction of good men and exaltation of evil for good men depending upon their innocence and not looking abroad for any thing extroardinary either to advance or defend themselves do too often miscarry without either and become the sad objects of the cruelty of Usurpers This creates inclination to parties and increases their power ill people siding for covetousness ambition revenge or some other sinister end and good people for fear and that which renders our condition more deplorable is to behold the Contrivers and Ring-leaders of all as if a word could make them innocent and consecrate the iniquity of their actions guilding or rather decking over their ill designs with some Illustrious Title for being all enemies to liberty let them pretend as they please either to defend an Optimacy or Populacy the result must be destruction for the fruit they expect from their Victory is not the honour of having delivered their Country but the satisfaction of having mastered their enemies and usurped the dominion to themselves and being arrived at that height what is there so unjust what is there so cruel what is there so ravenous as they Hence-forward Laws are made not for publick benefit but their private advantage hence-forward War and peace and Amity is concluded not for common honour but particular humor And if the other Cities of Italy are repleat with these disorders ours is much more Our Laws our Statutes and Civil Ordinances are made according to the ambition and capricio of the Conqueror and not according to the true interest of people that would be free whence it follows that one Faction is no sooner extinguished but another succeeds for that City which would maintain it self by Faction rather than by Law can never be quiet when one party prevails and depresses its rival beyond the power
told them as follows That being made Gonfaloniere he did not think he had been design'd for the Cognizans and determination of private Causes which have their peculiar Iudges but to superintend the State to correct the insolence of the Grandees and to moderate and rectifie such Laws as were found prejudicial nay destructive to the Common-wealth That in both cases he had been diligent to the utmost and imployed himself with all possible industry but the perversness and malevolence of some men was so untractable and contrary to his good designs they did not only hinder him from perpetrating any â—hing for the benefit of the publick but they denied him their Counsel and refused for to bear him Wherefore finding it was not in his power to be any way beneficial to his Country he knew not for what reason or with what confidence he should continue in an Officâ— which either he did not really deserve or of which he was thought unworthy by others For this cause his intention was to retire and leave the people to the election of another who might be more vertuous or more fortunate than he And having said he departed from the Council towards his own house Those of the Council who were privy to the design and others desirous of novelty raised a tumult thereupon to which the Senators and Colledges immediately resorted and meeting their Gonfaloniere they prevailed with him partly with their authority and partly with their intreaty to return to the Council which by that time was in great confusion many of the Noble Citizens had been threatened and injuriously treated and among the â—est Carlo Strozzi had been taken by the buttons by an Artificer and doubtlesly slain had not the standers-by interposed and with some difficulty sav'd him But he which made the greatest hubub and put the City in Arms was Benedetto de gli Alberti who from a window of the Palace cry'd out aloud to the people to Arm Upon which the Piazza was fill'd with arm'd men immediately and the Colledges did that out of fear which they had denied upon request The Captains of the parties had in the mean time got together what Citizens they could to advise what was to be done against this Decree of the Senate But when they heard of the tumult and understood what had passed in Council they all of them slunk back to their houses Let no man that contrives any alteration in a City delude himself or believe that he can either stop it when he will or mannage it as he pleases Salvestro's intention was to have procur'd that Law and setled the City But it fell out quite otherwise for their humours being stir'd every man was distracted the shops shut up the Citizens assaulted in their houses several remov'd their goods into the Monestaries and Churches to secure them all people expecting some mischief at hand The whole Corporation of the Arts met and each of them made a Syndic Hereupon the Priori call'd their Colledges and were in Counsel a whole day together with the Syndics to find out a way to compose their disorders to the satisfaction of all parties but being of different judgments nothing was agreed The next day the Arts came forth with Ensigns displaid which the Senate understanding and doubting what would follow they call'd a Counsel to prevent the worst which was no sooner met but the tumult increased and the Ensigns of the Arts marched up into the Piazza with Colours flying and store of arm'd men at their heels Thereupon to satisfie the Arts and the multitude and if possible to dispel that cloud of mischief which was impending the Council gave General power which in Florence is called Balia to the Senators Colledges the Eight the Captains of the Parties and the Syndics of the Arts to reform the State as they should think most advantagious for the publick Whilst these things were in agitation some of the Ensigns of the Arts joyning themselves with some of the rabble being stimulated by certain persons who were desirous to revenge themselves of some late injuries which they had received from the Guelfs stole away from the rest went to the Palace of Lapo da Castiglionchio broke into it plunderd it and burned it Lapo upon intelligence of what the Senate had done in contradiction to the orders of the Guelfs and seeing the people in Arms having no variety of choice but either to hide or to fly he absconded first in S. Croce but afterwards fled away to Casentino in the disguise of a Frier where he was often heard to complain of himself for having consented to Piero de gli Albizi and of Piero for having protracted their attempt upon the Government till S. Iohn's day Piero and Carlo Strozzi upon the first noise of the tumult hid themselves only presuming when it was over they had relations and friends enough to secure their residence in Florence The Palace of Lapo being burn'd mischiefs being more easily propagated than begun several other houses ran the same fate either out of publick malice or private revenge and that the greediness and rapacity of their Companions might if possible out-do theirs they broke up the Goals and set the prisoners at liberty and after this they sack'd the Monastery of Agnoli and the Convent di S. Spirito to which many Citizens had convey'd much of their goods Nor had the publick Chamber escap'd their violence had not the awe and reverence of one of the Signori defended it who being on horse-back with some persons in Arms attending him opposed himself in the best manner he could against the fury of the people which being appeased in some measure either by the authority of the Signori or the approach of the night the next day the Balia indemnified the Ammoniti with proviso that for three years they should not exercise any Magistracy in that City They rescinded those Laws which were made in prejudice to the Guelfs They proclaimed Lapo da Castiglionochio and his accomplices Rebels after which new Senators were chosen and of them Luigâ— Guicciardini was made Gonfaloniere Being all lookt upon as peaceable men and lovers of their Country great hopes were conceived the tumult would have ceased notwithstanding the shops were not opened the people stood to their Arms and great Guards kept all over the City so that the Signori entred not upon the Magistracy abroad with the usual pomp but privately within doors and without any ceremony at all These Senators concluded nothing was so necessary nor profitable for the publick at the begining of their Office as to pacifie the tumult whereupon by Proclamation they requir'd all Arms to be laid down all shops to be opened and all persons who had been call'd out of the Country to the assistance of any Citizen to depart They disposed Guards in several places of the Town and ordered things so that if the Ammoniti could have been contented the whole City would have been quiet
capacity of retaliating and giving them as much occasion of fearing you as you have had of them Time has wings opportâ—â—ity flies away and when once pass'd is never to be reclaim'd You see our enemies are preparing let us prevent their preparation who-ever begins first is sure to prevail to the ruine of their enemies and exaltation of themselves Go on therefore with courage 't is an enterprise will yield honour to many of us but security to us all Though their own propensity was too much this speech push'd the people forward with more impetuosity to mischief so that after they had drawn together what company they were able they concluded to take Arms and oblig'd themselves by oath to relieve one another when any of them should fall under the correction of the Magistrate Whilst they were in this manner conspiring against the Government the Senators had notice of it from one and having caused one Simone to be apprehended he confessed the whole plot and that the next day was intended for a tumult whereupon fore-seeing the danger they were in they assembled the Colledges and such Citizens as sided with the Sindic's of the Arts and laboured the preservation of the City Before they could be got together it was night and the Signori were advised to consult with the Consoli dell ' Arti who agreed unanimously that the whole City should Arm and the Gonfaloniere del Populo draw all the Companies the next morning into the Piazza At the time when the Citizens met and Simone was upon the Rack one Nicolada Friano being in the Palace to do something about the clock returned with all speed to his house put the whole neighbourhood into an uproar and brought above a thousand arm'd men together into the Piazza di Santo Spirito in a moment The alar'm increasing came to the rest of the Conspirators who immediatly took Arms and in a short space San Piero Mâ—ggiore and Sâ—n Lorenza as they had appointed before were full of Arm'd men The day being arriv'd which was the 21st of Iuly in favour of the Senate there were not above 80 men appeared in their Arms and none of the Gonfaloniere for they having intelligence the whole City was in Arms were affraid to stir out of their houses The first party of the people which advanced to the Piazza was that which had met at San Piero Maggior but the Forces which were drawn there before did not remove Not long after them appeared the rest of the multitude who finding no resistance with hideous noise demanded their prisoners of the Signori and not succeeding by threats to gain them by force they set fire to the Palace of Luigi Guicciardini and burned it to the ground whereupon for fear oâ— worse mischief their prisoners were ordered to be delivered When they had recovered their prisoners they took the Standard della Giustitia from the Essecutore burned many houses under it and persecuted all people that they were angry with whether upon publick or private account many Citizens upon particular quarrels conducting the tumult to the houses of their adversaries it being sufficient to cry out in the multitude To such an house to such a man or for him that carried the Standard to direct it to such a place They burned the accounts and books of the Company of the Clothing Trade and after they had done mischief good store that they might accompany their exorbitance with some laudable action they made Salvestro de Medici a Knight and as many more of their Partners as the whole number amounted to 64 among which there were Benedetto and Antonio de gli Alberti Tomazo Strozzi and several others some of which received their honour much against their wills In which accident one thing is more then ordinarily remarkable that those persons some of them whose houses were burned were the same day knighted by the same persons which had burned them so unconstant are the people and so small the distance betwixt their kindness and revenge an experiment of which was seen in their behaviour to Luigi Guicciardini the Gonfaloniere della Giustitia The Senators finding themselves abandoned by their Guards by the chief of the Arts and their Gonfaloniere themselves were very much perplexed no-body coming into their assistance as they were commanded and of the 16 Gonfaloni there was only the Company of the Golden Lion and two more which appeared and they staid not long in the Piazza for not finding themselves followed by their Brethren they also returned to their houses the Citizens on the other side seeing the fury of the multitude uncontroulable and the Palace of the Signori deserted some of them kept close in their houses others thrust themselves into the crowd thereby to secure there own houses and their friends by which means the numbers of the people were much increased and the power of the Senate extreamly diminished The tumult continued in this violence all day long and at night there were above 6000 men together at the Palace of Stephano behind the Church of S. Barnaby Before day they constrained the several Arts to send for their Ensigns and having got them in the morning they march'd with their Colours before them to the Palace of the Podesta who refusing to surrender they fell upon it and forced it The Senate desirous to compose things another way perceiving nothing was to be done by force called three Members of their Colledges and sent them to the Palace of the Podesta who found that the heads of the people had been already in consultation with the Sindic's of the Arts and some other considerable Citizens to resolve what was fit to be demanded of the Senate so that they returned in a short time to the Senate with four Deputies from the people and these following proposals That the Clothing Trade might not for the future be subject to the Government of a forreigner That three new Companies or Corporations should be erected one to consist of Carders and Diers another of Barbers Taylers Shoomakers and such other Mechanicks and the third of the more inferior Trades out of Which Companies two should be chosen to sit in the Senate and three to sit among the 14 which had the Government of the Artiminori or inferiour Trades That the Senate should provide Halls for these new Companies where they might meet and consult about their affairs That no person of any of these Companies should be constrained to pay any debt under fifty Duckets for the space of two years That no interest should be paid out of the Banks and only the principal to be restor'd That all prisoners and condemn'd persons should be discharged That all the Ammoniti should be re-admitted to all honours Many other things were demanded in behalf of their friends and on the contrary as to their enemies they insisted that several of them might be imprisoned and several admonished To give perfection to all it was necessary they should be
to the Magistrate that Gionnozza da Salerno with the assistance of all those who were banished was to march down with his Army against Florence and that several in the City had ingaged to take Arms in his behalf and to deliver up the Town Upon this information many were accused in the first place Piero de gli Albizi and Carlo Strozzi were named and after them Capriano Mangioni Iacopo Sacchetti Donato Barbadori Philippo Strozzi and Giovanni Anselmi all which were secured except Carlo Srozzi who escaped and that no-body might dare to take Arms for their rescue the Senate deputed Tomaso Srozzi and Benedetto Alberti with a competent number of Souldiers to secure the City The Prisoners being examined and their charge and answer compared they were found not Guilty and the Captain refused to condemn them hereupon those who were their enemies incensed the people so highly against them that in a great fury they forced the Captain to condemn them Neither could Piero de gli Albizi be excused either for the greatness of his Family or the antiquity of his Reputation he having a long time been the most feared and the most reverenced Citizen in Florence Whereupon either some of his true friends to teach him moderation in the time of his greatness or some of his enemies to check and alar'm him with the unconstancy of fortune at a great Treat which he had made for several of the Citizens sent him a salver of Comfits among which a nail was privately conveyed which being discovered in the dish and viewed by the whole Table it was interpreted as an admonishment to him to fix the wheel of his fortune for being now at the height if its rotation continued he must of necessity fall to the ground which interpretation was verified first by his fall and then by his death After this execution the City remained full of confusion both Conquerors and Conquered being affraid but the saddest effects proceeded from the jealousie of the Governors every little accident provoking them to new injuries against the Citizens by condemning admonishing or banishing them the Town to which may be added the many new Laws and Ordinances which they made to fortifie their authority which were executed with great prejudice to all such as were suspected by their party for by them 66 were commissioned with the assistance of the Senate to purge the Common-wealth of such people as they thought dangerous to the State These Commissioners admonished 39 Citizens several of the Populace and debased many of the Nobles and to oppose themselves more effectually against foreign invasions they entertained into their pay an English man called Iohn Aguto and excellent Officer and one who had commanded in Italy for the Pope and other Princes a long time Their alarms from abroad were caused by intelligence that Carlo Durazzo was raising several Companies for the invasion of the Kingdom of Naples and the Florentine Exiles joyned with him in the Expedition but to obviate that danger they provided not only what force but what mony was possible and when Carlo came with his Army to Arrezzo the Florentines being ready with fourty thousand Florines to receive him he promised he would not molest them After he had received their money he proceeded in his enterprise against Naples and having taken the Queen he sent her Prisoner into Hungary His Victory there suggested new jealousie into the Governors of Florence they could not imagine their money could have greater influence upon the King than the friendship his Family had long maintained with the Faction of the Guelfs who were undone by him Apprehensions increasing at this rate enormities increased with them which were so far from extinguishing their fears that they were exceedingly multiplied and the greater part of the City were in great discontent To make things worse the insolence of Giargio Scali and Tomaso Strozzi were added who being grown more powerful than the Magistrate every one feared lest by their conjunction with the Plebeians they should be ruined Nor did this Government seem violent and tyrannical to good men only but to the seditious and debauched for this arrogance of Giorgio's being some time or other of necessity to have an end it happened that Giovanni di Cambio was accused by one of his acquaintance for practising against the State but upon examination Cambio was found innocent by the Captain and the Judge gave sentence that the Informer should suffer the same punishment which should have been inflicted on the other had his charge been made good Giorgio interposed with his intreaties and authority to preserve him but not prevailing he and Tomaso Strozzi with a number of arm'd men rescued him by force plundered the Captains Palace and forced him to hide himself This action made the whole City detest him put his enemies upon contriving his destruction and Plotting which way they might redeem the City out of his hands and the Plebeians who for three years together had had the command of it To this design the Captain gave the opportunity for the tumult being appeased he went to the Senate and told them That he had chearfully accepted the Office to which they had elected him presuming he had served Persons of Honour and Equity who would have taken Arms to have promoted and vindicated Iustice rather than to have obstructed it but his observation and experience had acquainted him with the Governors of the City and their manner of conversation that dignity which so willingly he had taken up for the benefit of his Country to avert the danger and detriment impending he was as ready to lay down The Captain was sweetned by the Senate and much confirmed by a promise made to him of reparation for what he had suffered already and security for the future Hereupon several of them consulting with such of the Citizens as they thought greatest lovers of their Country and least suspicious to the state it was concluded that they had now a fair opportunity to redeem the City of the clutches of Giorgio and his Plebeians most people having alienated their affections from him upon his last insolence and the best way would be to improve it before they had time to reconcile for they knew the favour of the people was to be lost and gained by the least accident in the World For the better conduct of their affairs it was thought necessary that Benedetto Alberti should be drawn into the Plot without whose concurrence the enterprize would be dangerous This Benedetto was a very rich man courteous sober a true lover of his Country and one infinitely dissatisfied with the irregularity of their ways so that it was no hard matter to persuade him to any thing that might contribute to the ruine of Giorgio for that which had made him before an enemy to the Popular Nobility and the faction of the Guelfs was the insolence of the one and the tyranny of the other and afterwards finding the heads of the multitude no
better than they he forsook them likewise and all the misdemeanors and impieties which were committed after that were done without his approbation or consent so that the same reasons which inclined him to the people at first the same reasons impelled him now to desert them Having brought Benedetto and the heads of the Arts to their Lure in this manner and furnished themselves with Arms they seized upon Giorgio but Tomaso escaped The next day after he was apprehended Giorgio was beheaded with so great terror and consternation to his party that they were so far from endeavouring his rescue that all of them crowded in to behold his execution Being brought to die before those people who had so lately adored him he complained of the iniquity of his fortune and the malignity of those Citizens who by their injury and justice had constrained him to side with a multitude which was not capable either of gratitude or fidelity and discovering Benedetto in the midst of the Guards he said And can you Benedetto consent that this wrong should be done to me Were you in my place I assure you I would not suffer it but let me tell you this day is the last of my misfortunes and the first of yours After which lamenting his unhappiness in having committed his fortunes and life to the constancy of the people which is shaken by every rumor or accident or conceit he laid down his head and it was cut off in the midst of his armed and insulting enemies after him several of his confederates were executed and their bodies dragged about the streets by the people His death put the whole City into commotion for at his execution many Citizens had put themselves into Arms in favour of the Senators and the Captain of the people and some upon the dictates of their own private ambition and revenge The City being full of various humors every one had his private design which all desired to compass before they laid down their arms The ancient Nobility called Grandi could not brook that they were deprived of publick imployments and therefore set all their wits upon the tenters to recover what they had lost and arm'd upon pretence of re-investing the Captains of the Arts with their original authority The popular Nobility and the greater Arts were disgusted that the Government should be communicated to the inferior Arts and the lowest sort of the people On the other side the inferior Arts were disposed to augment not detract from their authority and the meaner sort of people were as tender and jealous of loosing their Colledges which distractions caused the City to tumultuate several times in one year sometimes the Nobility sometimes the better Trades sometimes the lesser sometimes the common people and sometimes altogether betaking to their Arms in several parts of the Town upon which many skirmishes and rencounters happened betwixt them and the Guards of the Palace the Senators contending sometimes and sometimes complying as they judged most likely to remedy those inconveniences so that after two Treaties and several Balia's created for the reformation of the City after many mischiefs and troubles and dangers they came to an agreement That all who had been imprisoned after Salvestro de Medici was made Gonfaloniere should be discharged That all dignities and pensions conferred by the Balia LXXVIII should be taken away That their honours should be restored to the Guelfs That the two new Arts should be deprived of their Incorporation and Governors and all their members and dependents disposed into the old Companies as formerly That the Gonfaloniere di Giustitia should not be elected by the lesser Arts and whereas before they had the disposition of half they should hereafter be capable but of a third part of the Offices of the City and the best of them too to be put out of their power so that the popular Nobility and the Guelfs reassumed the whole Gâ—vernment and the Commons were absolutely dispossessed after they had held it from the year 1378 to 1381. Nor was this Magistracy less injurious towards the Citizens nor less grievous in its principles than the Government of the people many of the popular Nobility who had been eminent defenders of the people interest being clap'd in prison with great numbers of the chief of the Plebeians Among which Michaele Lando was one nor could the many good Offices which he had done in the time of his authority protect him from the rage of that parry when the licentious and unrestrained multitude ruined the City so little was his Country thankful for all his great actions Into which error because many Princes and Common-wealths do frequently fall it happens that men terrified by such examples before they can be made sensible of their Princes ingratitude do fall into their displeasure These slaughters and these exilements had always and did then displease Benedetto Alberti and he both publickly and privately condemn'd them Whereupon the Government were fearful of him as believing him one of the Plebeians principal friends and one who had consented to the death of Giorgio Scali not out of any disapprobation of his conduct but that he might remain alone in authority after him By degrees his words and demeanor came to be suspicious and the party that was uppermost watch'd him very narrowly to find out some occasion to send him after Giorgio Things being in this posture at home no great action happened abroad that little which did happen was occasioned more by fear of what they might than from any prejudice that was actually sustain'd Lodovico d' Angio coming into Italy about that time to drive Carlo Durazzo out of the Kingdom of Naples and repossess the Queen Giovanna The passage of this Prince put the Florentines into no little distraction Carlo upon the old score of amity desired their assistance Lodovico like those who seek new friendships demanded their neutrality The Florentines that they might please both parties if possible to comply with Lodovico and supply Carlo discharged Aguto from their service and recommended him to Pope Urban who was a professed enemy to Carlo which artifice was easily discovered by Lodovico and he thought himself much injured thereby While the War continued in Puglia betwixt Lodovic and Charles supplies were sent out of France to reinforce Lodovico which Forces being arrived in Tuscany were conducted to Arezzo by those who were banished out of that Town where they removed all those who were of Charles his party and just as they design'd the same measures against Florence as they had taken against Arezzo Lodovic died and the affairs of Puglia and Tuscany followed his fate for Charles secur'd himself of his Kingdom which he thought he had lost and the Florentines who were not sure to defend their own bought Arezzo of those who had kept it for Lodovic Charles having secured himself of Puglia departed for Hungaria which Kingdom was by inheritance descended to him leaving his Wife behind him
in Puglia with Ladislao and Giovanna two of his children as shall be shewn more fully Carlo possessed himself of Hungary but died shortly after hower his Conquest of that Country was so grateful an exploit to the Florentines that never greater expressions of joy were made for any victory of their own as appeared as well by publick as private magnificence many Families keeping open houses and feasting exceedingly but none with that pomp and extravagance as the Family of the Alberti the provision and ostentation of whose entertainments were fitter for the condition of a Prince than for a private person Which extravagance gained him much envy and that being seconded by a jealousie in the Government that Benedetto had designs against it was the occasion of its destruction for they could not be safe whilst they thought it might fall out every day that he reconciling himself with the people might turn them out of the City as he pleased Things being at this uncertainty it happened that he being Gonfaloniere delle Compagnie his Son in Law Philippo Magalotti was made Gonfaloniere di Giustitia which accident redoubled the apprehension of the Governors as thinking Benedetto grew upon them so fast their authority must of necessity decline but desirous to remedy it what they could and if possible without a tumult they encouraged Bese Magalotte his enemy and competitor to acquaint the Senate that Philippo not being of age for the execution of that Office he could not nor ought not enjoy it and the cause being heard in the Senate Philippo was adjudged incapable of that Dignity and Bardo Mancini succeeded in his place a person fiercely against the faction of the people and a perfect enemy to Benedetto Having entred upon his Office he called a Balia for reformation of the State which Balia inprisoned Benedetto Alberti and banished all the rest of his Family only Antonio was excepted Before he was carried away Benedetto called all his friends together to take his leave of them and finding them sad and the tears in their eyes he spake to them as follows You see Gentlemen in what manner fortune has ruin'd me and threatned you I do not wonder at it nor indeed ought it to be strange to you seeing it so happens always to them who among ill men are studious of being good or sollicitous of sustaining that which all people are desirous to pull down The love to my Country associated me first with Salvestro de Medici and the same love divided me afterwards from Giorgio Scali it is nothing but that and the injustice of their proceedings which have made me hate those who are now at the Stern who as they have had no-body that could punish them so they are desirous to leave no-body to reprehend them I am content with my banishment to free them of the fear they have conceived not only of me but of all that are sensible of their Tyranny and injustice For my self I am not so much concern'd the honours conferred upon me when my Country was free I can quietly relinquish whilst it is in servitude and bondage and the memory of my past condition will give me more pleasure than the infelicity of my present can give me regret My greatest affliction will be to consider my Country is become a prey to particular men and exposed to their insolence and rapine it troubles me likewise for you lest those evils which this day are consummated in me and but commencing in you should prove greater detriment to you than they have done to me however comfort your selves bear up against any misfortune and carry your selves so that if things happen adversly as doubtless they will it may appear to all people that you were innocent and that they succeeded without the least fault or contribution of yours Afterwards to give as great testimony of his virtue abroad as he had done at home he went to the Sepulchre of our Saviour and in his return back died at Rhodes His bones were brought back to Florence and buried with great solemnity by those very people who pursued him whilst he was living with all the calumny and injustice imaginable nor were the Alberti the only sufferers in these distractions many Families beside that were admonished and imprisoned Among the rest there were Piero Benini Matteo Alderotti Giovanni e Francesco del Bene Giovanni Benchi Andrea Adimari and with them several of the lesser Artificers Among them which were admonished were the Covoni the Benini the Rinucoi the Formiconi the Corbizi the Manelli and the Alderotti The Balia was by custom created for a precise time and being now in the execution of these Citizens who were fairly elected having done what they could for the satisfaction of the State they desired to lay down though their time was not critically expir'd which the people understanding many of them ran with their Arms to the Palace crying out there were several more to be admonished and several more to be imprisoned before they renounced The Senate was much displeased but entertained them with fair promises till they had fortified themselves so as they were able to make them lay by those Arms for fear which in their rage they had taken up nevertheless to comply in some proportion with the fierceness of the humour and lessen the Authority of the Plebeian Artificers it was ordered that whereas the third part of the Offices of the City were in their hands before they should now be reduced to a fourth part only and that there might always be two of the most trusty and faithful persons to the State in the Senate authority was given to the Gonfaloniere di Giustitia and four other Citizens to put a certain number of select mens names into a purse out of which at every meeting of the Senate two were to be drawn Affairs thus setled in the year 1381 the City continued quiet within till 1393 in which year Giovan Galeazzo Visconti called the Comte di Vertu took his Uncle Barnabo prisoner and made himself by that Master of all Lombardy This Comte di Vertu had an opinion he could make himself King of Italy by force as easily as he had made himself Duke of Milan by fraud so that in the year 1390 he began a War upon the Florentines which though prosecuted with variety of fortune on both sides yet the Duke was many times in danger to have ruined Florence and doubtless had ruined it had not it been prevented by his death However their defence was couragious as might be expected from a Republick and the end of the War less unhappy than the course of it had been dreadful for when the Duke had taken Bologna Pisa Perugia and Siena and prepared a Crown to be crowned King of Italy in Florence he died in the nick and his death permitted him not to taste the pleasures of his past Victories nor the Florentines to feel the calamities which would have followed
They admonished besides the whole Family of the Alberti Ricci and Medici for ten years except only some few Among those of the Alberti which were not admonished Antonio was one being esteemed a quiet and a peaceable man their jealousie of this plot being not yet out oâ—t their heads a Monk happened to be apprehended who had been observed whilst the conspiracy was on foot to have passed many times betwixt Bologna and Florence and he confessed he had frequently brought Letters to Antonio Antonio being taken into custody denied it obstinately at first but being confronted by the Monk and the charge justified against him he was fined in a sum of mony and banished three hundred miles distance from the City and that they might not always be in danger of the Alberti they decreed that none of that Family above 15 years of age should be suffered to continue in the Town These things happened in the year 1400 two years after Giovan Galezo Duke of Milan died whose death as we have said before put an end to a War that had been prosecuted for twelve years After which the Government having extended its authority and all things at quiet both abroad and at home they undertook the enterprize of Pisa which succeeded so well they took the Town very honourably and enjoyed that and the rest very peaceably till the year 1433. Only in the year 1412 the Alberti having transgress'd against the terms of their banishment a new Balia was erected new provisions made for the security of the State and new impositions inflicted upon that Family About this time the Florentines had War likewise against Ladislaus King of Naples which ended in the year 1416 upon the death of that King During the time of the War finding himself too weak he had given the City of Cortona to the Florentines of which he was Lord but afterwards recovering more strength he renewed his War with them and managed it so that it was much more dangerous than the former and had not his death determined it as the other was by the death of the Duke of Milan doubtless he had brought Florence into as great exigence as the Duke of Milan would have done and endangered if not ruined its liberty Nor did their War with this King conclude with less good fortune than the other for when he had taken Rome Sienna la Marka and Romagna and nothing remained but Florence to hinder his passage with his whole force into Lombardy he died so that death was always a true friend to the Florentines and did more to preserve them than all their own conduct or courage could do From the death of this King this City remained at peace both abroad and at home eight years at the end of that term their Wars with Philip Duke of Milan reviv'd their factions which could never be suppressed but with the subversion of the State which had governed from the year 1371 to 1434 with much honour and maintained many Wars with much advantage having added to their Dominion Arezzo Pisa Cortona Livorno and Monte Pulciano and doubtless would have extended it farther had the City been unanimous and the old humours not been rubb'd up and reviv'd as in the next book shall be more particularly related THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE Book IV. ALL Cities especially such as are not well constituted under the Titles of Common Wealths do sometime or other alter their Government yet not as many think by means of Liberty and Subjection but by occasion of servitude and licentiousness for only the name of Liberty is pretended by popular Persons such as are the instrument of licentiousness and servitude is sought for by those that are Noble neither of them both desiring to be restrain'd either by Laws or any thing else Nevertheless when it does happen as it happens but seldom that a City has the good fortune to produce and advance some Wise Honest and Potent Citizen by whom the Laws may be so order'd that the humors and emulations betwixt the Nobility and the People if not perfectly compos'd may be yet so well circumscrib'd and corrected that they may be check'd from breaking forth to its prejudice Then it is That City may be call'd free and that State pronounce it self durable for being founded upon good Laws and Orders at first it has not that necessity of good Men to maintain it Of such Laws and Principles many Common Wealths were antiently constituted and continued a long time Others have wanted and do still want them which has frequently occasion'd the variation of the Government from Tyranny to licentiousness and from licentiousness to Tyranny for by reason of the powerful animosities in all of them it is not nor can be possible they should be of any duâ—ation one disgusting the Good and the other the Wise. One doing mischief with ease and the other good with difficulty in this the insolent have too much Authority in another the sots and therefore it is convenient that both one and the other be supported and maintained by the fortune and Valour of some Eminent Man though he may be taken from them by Death or made unserviceable by misfortune I say therefore that Government which flourished in Florence from the death of Giorgio Scali which fell out in the year 1381 was supported first by the conduct of Muso di gli Albizi and afterwards by Nicolo Uzano This City from the year 1414 till the end of the 22 remain'd quiet King Ladisâ—ans being dead and Lombardy divided into several Cantons so that neither abroad nor at home had they the least cause of apprehension The next Citizens in Authority to Nicolo Uzano were Bartolmeo Valori Nerone de Nigi Rinaldo de gli Albizi Neri di Gino and Lapo Nicolini The factions which sprung from the animosity betwixt the Albizi and the Ricci which were with so much mischief reviv'd afterward by Salvestro de Medici could never be extinguish'd and although that which was most generally succour'd prevailed but three years and was afterwards depress'd yet the greatest part of the City had imbib'd so much of their humor as could never be wrought out True it is the frequent exprobrations and constant persecutions of the heads of that party from the year 1381 to 1400 had almost brought them to nothing The first Families which were persecuted as the chief of that faction were the Alberti Ricci and Medici who were rob'd of their Men as well as their Money and if any of them continued in the City their imployments and dignities were most certainly taken from them which usage had indeed debas'd that party and almost consum'd it However the memory of the injuries receiv'd and a secret desire of being reveng'd lay close in the Hearts of many of them and having no opportunity to show it they kept it private to themselves Those of the Popular Nobility who govern'd the City so quietly committed two errours which were the ruine of their Government
concluded abroad the War was transplanted and broke out at home The Grandees of the City could not digest the Catasto and not seeing any way of suppressing it they contriv'd ways of incensing the people against it that they might have more Companions to oppose it They remonstrated therefore to the Officers for collection that they were to search and Catastat the goods of the Neighbouring Towns lest any of the Florentine goods should be conveyed thither Whereupon all that were Subjects to that City were requir'd to bring In Inventories of their goods within a certain time But the Volterrani complaining to the Senate incensed the Officers so highly they put eighteen of them in Prison This action provok'd the Volterrani exceedingly but the regard they had for their Prisoners kept them at present from any commotion About this time Giovanni de Medici fell Sick and finding his Sickness to be mortal he call'd his Sons Cosimo and Lorenzo to him and said I suppose the time that God and Nature allotted me at my Birth is now expir'd I die contented leaving you rich and healthful and honourable if you follow my footsteps and instruction and indeed nothing makes my Death so easie and quiet to me as the thought that I have been so far from injuring or disobliging any Person that I have done them all the good offices I was able and the same course I recommend to you For matter of Office and Government if you would live happy and secure my advice is you accept what the Laws and the people confer upon you that will create you neither envy nor danger for 't is not what is given that makes men Odious but what is usurp'd and you shall always find greater number of those who encroaching upon other peoples interest ruine their own at last and in the mean time live in perpetual disquiet With these arts among so many factions and enemies I have not only preserv'd but augemented my reputation in this City if you follow my example you may maintain and increase yours But if neither my example nor persuasion can keep you from other ways your ends will be no happier than several others who in my memory have destroy'd both themselves and their Families Not long after he died and was infinitly lamented by the greatest part of the City as indeed his good qualities deserv'd for he was charitable to the height not only relieving such as he ask'd but preventing the modesty of such as he thought poor and supplying them without it He loved all People the good the Commended the bad he Commiserated He sought no Office and went through them all He never went to the Palace but invited He was a lover of Peace and an Enemy to War He reliev'd those who were in adversity and those who were in prosperity he assisted He was no friend to publick extortion and yet a great argumenter of Common Stock Courteous in all his imployments not very eloquent but solid and judicious His complexion appear'd melancholy but in company he was pleasant and facetious He died rich especially in Love and Reputation and the inheritance of all descended upon his Son Cosimo The Volterrani were weary of their Imprisonment and to recover their liberties promis'd to condescend to what was requir'd Being discharg'd and return'd to Volterra the time for the new Priori's entrance into the Magistracy arriv'd and one Giusto a Plebeian but a Man of good interest among them was chosen in the place Having been one of those who were imprison'd at Florence he had conceiv'd a mortal hatred against the Florentines and it was much increas'd by the instigation of one Giovanni a Person of Noble extraction who being in Authority with him at the same time persuaded him that by the authority of the Priori and his own interest he would stir up the People to rescue themselves from their dependance upon Florence and afterwards make himself Prince upon this incouragement Giusto took Arms possess'd himself of the Town imprison'd the Florentine Governor and by consent of the people made himself Lord. The news of these revolutions in Volterra was not at all pleasing to the Florentines But their peace being made with the Duke and their Articles sign'd they thought they had leisure enough to recover that Town and to lose no time they made Rinaldo de gli Albizi and Palla Strozzi Commissioners and sent them thither out of hand Guisto suspecting the Florentines would assault him sent to Sienna and Lucca for relief The Siennesi refus'd him alledging they were in League with the Florentine and Pagolo Guinigi who was then Lord of Lucca to reingratiate with the people of Florence whose favour he had lost in their Wars with the Duke not only deny'd his assistance to Giusto but sent his Embassador Prisoner to Florence The Commissioners to surprize the Volterrani before they were aware assembled what strength they had of their own rais'd what foot they could in the lower Val d' Arno and the territory of Pisa and march'd towards Volterra Giusto discourag'd neither by the desertion of his Neighbours nor the approach of the Enemy rely'd upon the situation and strength of the Town and prepar'd for his defence There was at that time in Volterra one Arcolano a Brother of that Giovanni who had persuaded Giusto to take the Government upon him a Person of good credit among the Nobility This Arcolano having got several of his Confidents together he remonstrated to them how God Almighty by this accident had reliev'd the necessities of their City for if they would take Arms with him remove Giusto from the Government and deliver all up to the Florentines they should not only have their old priviledges confirm'd but be themselves made the chief Officers of the Town Having consented to the design they repair'd immediatly to the Palace where Giusto resided and leaving the rest below Arcolano with three more went up into the dining-room where they found him with other Citizens they pretended to speak with him about business of importance and having in the variety of their discourse drill'd him to another Chamber Arcolano and his accomplices fell upon him with their Swords but they were not so nimble but Giusto had the opportunity to draw his and wound two of them before he fell himself yet his destiny being unavoidable he was kill'd and thrown out into the Palace yard Wherupon those who were Confederate with Arcolano taking Arms they deliver'd up the Town to the Florentine Commissioners who were not far off with their Army The Commissioners march'd directly into the Town without any Capitulation so that then the condition of the Volterrani was worse than before for among other things a great part of their Country was dismembred and the Town it self reduc'd to a Vicariata Volterra being in this manner lost and recover'd at the same time there had been no danger of new War had not the ambition of some
forced his passage into the Town the Florentines drew off to Librafatta and the Conte march'd out and sat down before Pescia where Pagolo da Diaccetto was Governor and in great fear ran away to Pistoia Had not the Town been better defended by Giovanni Malavolti than by him it had been most dishonourably lost The Conte not able to carry it at the first assault drew off to Buggiano took that and Stilano a Castle not far off and burn'd both of them to the ground The Florentines displeas'd with this devastation apply'd themselves to a remedy which had often preserv'd them and knowing that Souldiers of Fortune are easier corrupted than beaten they caus'd a considerable sum to be proffer'd to the Conte not only to depart but to deliver them the Town The Conte perceiving no Man was to be squeez'd out of that City accepted the proposition in part but not thinking it convenient in point of honor to put them in possession of the Town he articled to draw away his Army upon the payment of 50000 Ducats This agreement being made that the people of Lucca might excuse him to the Duke he seiz'd upon their Governor which they had promis'd to depose Antonio dell Rosso the Siena Embassador was at that time in Lucca as we said before This Antonio by the Authority of the Conte meditated the destruction of Pagolo The heads of the Conspiracy were Pietro Cennami and Giovanni da Chivizano The Conte was quartered out of the Town upon the Banks of the Serchio and with him the Governor's Son The Conspirators about 40 in number went in the night to find out Pagolo who hearing of their intention came forth in great fear to meet them and inquire the occasion To whom Cennami made answer That they had been too long Govern'd by him that the Enemy was now about their walls and they brought into a necessity of dying either by Famine or the Sword That for the future they were resolv'd to take the Government into their own hands and therefore they demanded that the Treasure and the Keys of the City might be delivered to them Pagolo repli'd that the Treasure was consum'd but both the Keys and himself were at their service only he had no request to make to them that as his Government had begun and continued without blood so there might be none spilt at its conclusion Hereupon Pagolo and his Son were deliver'd up to the Conte Francesco who presented them to the Duke and both of them dyed afterwards in prison This departure of the Conte having freed the Lucchesi from the Tyranny of their Governor and the Florentine from the fear of his Army both sides fell again to their preparations the one to beleaguer and the other to defend The Florentines made the Conte Orbino their General who begirt the Town so close the Lucchesi were constrain'd once more to desire the assistance of the Duke who under the same pretence as he had formerly sent the Conte sent Nicolo Piccinino to relieve them Piccinino advancing with his Troops to enter the Town the Florentines opposing his passage over the River the Florentines were defeated after a sharp ingagement and the General with very few of his Forces preserv'd themselves at Pisa. This disaster put the whole City in great consternation and because the enterprize had been undertaken upon the peoples account not knowing where else to direct their complaints they laid the fault upon the Officers and managers seeing they could not fix it upon the contrivers of the war and reviv'd their old articles against Rinaldo But the greatest part of their indignation fell upon Giovanni Guiccardini charging him that it was in his power to have put an end to the war after Conte Francesco was departed but that he had been corrupted by their mony part of which had been remitted to his own house by bills of exchange and part he had received himself and carryed it with him These reports and rumors went so high that the Captain of the people moved by them and the importunity of the contrary party summon'd him before him Giovanni appear'd but full of indignation whereupon his relations interpos'd and to their great honor prevail'd so far with the Captain that the process was laid aside The Lucchesi upon this Victory not only recover'd their own Towns but over-ran and possess'd themselves of the whole Territory of Pisa except Biantina Calcinaia Liccorno and Librafatta and had not a conspiracy been accidently discover'd in Pisa that City had been lost among the rest The Florentines however recruited their Army and sent it out under the command of Micheletto who had been bred up a Soldier under Sforza The Duke having obtain'd the Victory to overlay the Florentines with multitude of Enemies procured a League betwixt the Genouesi Sanisi and the Lord of Piombino for the defence of Lucca and that Piccinino should be their General which thing alone was the discovery of the plot Hereupon the Venetians and Florentines renew there League Open Hostilities are committed both in Lombardy and Tuscany and many Skirmishes and Rencounters happen with various fortune on both sides till at length every Body being tyr'd a General Peace was concluded betwixt all parties in the month of May 1433. by which it was agreed that the Florentines Siennesi Lucchesi and who ever else during that war had taken any Towns or Castles from their Enemies should restore them and all things return to the possession of the owners During the time of this war abroad the malignant and factious humors began to work again and ferment at home and Cosimo de Medici after the Death of his Father began to manage the publick business with greater intention and magnanimity and converse with his Friends with greater freedom than his Father had done Insomuch that those who before were glad at the death of Giovanni were much surpriz'd and confounded to see him so far out-done by his Son Cosimo was a wise and sagacious Gentleman grave but grateful in his presence liberal and courteous to the highest never attempted any thing against any party nor the State but watch'd all opportunities of doing good to every Body and obliging all people with his continual beneficence So that indeed the excellency of his conversation was no little distraction and disadvantage to those who were at the helm However by that way he presum'd he should be lyable to live as freely and with as much Authority in Florence as other people or else being driven to any strait by the malice of his Adversaries it would be in his power to deal with them by the assistance of his friends The great instruments for the propagation of his interest were Averardo de Medici and Puccio Pucci Averardo with his prudence procuring him much favour and reputation This Puccio was a Person so eminent for his judgment and so well known to the people that he denominated the faction which was not call'd
more modern transactions will tell us what to avoid Italy by those who commanded it was reduced into such a condition that when by agreements of the Princes a Peace was made up it was presently interrupted by those who had Arms in their hands so that they neither gained honour by their Wars nor quiet by their Peace A Peace being concluded betwixt the Duke of Milan and the League in the year 1433 the Soldiers unwilling to disband turned the War upon the Church These Souldiers were at that time of two Factions the Braccescan and the Sforzescan Faction Of this latter Conte Francesco the son of Sforza was Captain the first was commanded by Nicolo Piccinino and Nicolo Forte Braccio To these two parties all the rest of the Souldiers in Italy joyned themselves Of the two Sforza's party was most considerable as well for the courage of their Conte as for a promise the Duke of Milan had made him to give him in Marriage a natural daughter of his called Madona Bianca the probability of which alliance gained him great reputation After the Peace of Lombardy was concluded both these parties upon several pretended occasions turned their Arms against Eugenius the Pope Nicolo Forte Braccio was moved by an old animosity Braccio had always retained to the Church The Conte was spurr'd on by his ambition Nicolo assaulted Rome and the Conte possessed himself of la Marca whereupon the Romans to evade the War turned Eugenius out of Rome who fled to Florence though with no little danger and difficulty Being arrived there upon consideration of the danger he was in and that he was deserted by all the Princes who reâ—used upon his score to take up those Arms again which so lately and so willingly they laid down made his Peace with the Conte and gave him the Signorie of la Marca though the Conte had added insolence to his usurpation and in his Letters to his Agents dated them in Latin as they do frequently in Italy Ex Girifalco nostro Firmiano invito Petro Paulo But not contented with the Grant of that Country he would needs be created Gonfaloniere of the Church and the Pope condescended so much â—id his Holiness perfer an ignominious Peace before dangerous War The Conte upon these terms became a friend to the Pope and converted his Arms against Nicolo Forte Braccio betwixt whom for many Months together several accidents happened in the territory of the Church so that which side soever prevailed the Pope and his Subjects suffered more than those that managed the War At length by the mediation of the Duke of Milan an agreement in the nature of a Truce was concluded betwixt them by which both of them remained Masters of several Towns in the Patrimony of the Church The War was in this manner extinguished in Rome but it brake out again presently in Romagna by the means of Battista da Canneto who had caused certain of the Family of the Grifoni in Bologna to be assassinated and drove out the Pope's Governor and many others which he suspected to be his enemies to keep by force what he had got by surprize he address'd himself to Philippo for aid and the Pope to countermine him and revenge the injuries he had received applied to the Venetian and Florentine Both parties being supplied there were two great Armies in Romagna of a sudden Philp's Auxiliaries were commanded by Nicolo Piccinino The Venetian and Florentine by Gattamelata and Nicolo da Tolentino Not far from Imola they came to a Battel in which the Venetians and Florentines were defeated and Nicolo da Tolentino sent Prisoner to the Duke where he died in a few days either by Poison or grief The Duke being either impoverished by the War or apprehending this Victory would quiet the League followed not his advantage but gave the Pope and his Confederates opportunity to recruit who choosing the Conte Francesco for their General they sent him to drive Forte Braccio out of the Lands of the Church and to try if they could put an end to that War which they had begun in favour of the Pope The Romans seeing his Holiness in the field again and his Army considerable they desired to be reconciled and having concluded the terms they received a Governor from him Among other Towns Nicolo Forte Braccio had possessed himself of Fiboli Montefiasconi the City of Castello and Ascesi not being able to keep the field Nicolo was retreated into this latter Town and besieged by the Conte The siege proving long by the braveness of Nicolo's defence the Duke began to cast about and consider he must either hinder the League from carrying the Town or look to himself as soon as it was taken To give the Conte therefore diversion he commanded Nicolo Piccinino by the way to Romagna to pass into Tuscany whereupon the League judging the defence of Tuscany of more importance than the reducing of Ascesi they sent to the Conte to stop Piccinino's passage who was at that time with his Army at Furli Upon these orders the Conte raised his siege and marched with his Forces to Cesena having left the War of la Marca and the care of his own affairs to the management of his Brother Lione Whilst Piccinino was labouring to pass and Francesco to obstruct him Nicolo Forte Braccio fell upon Lione and with great honour to himself took him Prisoner plundered his people and following his blow took several Towns in la Marca at the same excursion This news was very unwelcome to the Conte who gave all his own Country for lost nevertheless leaving part of his Army to confront Piccinino he marched himself against Forte Braccio with the rest forc'd him to an engagement and beat him In which defeat Forte Braccio was hurt taken prisoner and died of his wounds This Victory recovered all that Nicolo Forte Braccio had taken from him and forced the Duke of Milan to desire a peace which he obtained by the mediation of Nicolo da Esti Marqeuss of Ferrara by which it was agreed that the Towns which the Duke had got in Romagna should be restored and his Forces withdrawn into Lombardy and Battista da Caneto as it happens to those who owe their dominion to the courage or power of other people as soon as the Duke's Forces were drawn off despairing to remain in Bologna upon his own legs quitted the Town and left it to re-admit its old Governor Antonio Bentivogli who was chief of the contrary party All these things succeeded during the banishment of Cosimo upon whose return those persons who were active in his restauration and those who had suffered more than ordinarily before concluded without regard to any body else to secure themselves of all the Offices in the State The Senate which succeeded for the months of November and December not satisfied with what their predecessors had done in favour of their party they lengthned the time changed the places of several
convenient preparations were made for the Wedding when of a sudden some new scruple or cavil was found to protract it however to make the Conte more secure he added some deeds to his promises and sent him thirty thousand Florens to which the Duke had engaged himself by the articles of marriage But this transaction hindered not the proceeding of the War in Lombardy Every day the Venetian lost some Town or other the Boats they sent to secure the Rivers were sunk and dispers'd by the Dukes forces the Country of Bresca and Verona harassed and possess'd and those Cities both of them so straightly block'd up the common opinion was they could not hold out the Marquess of Mantua who for many years had been their General left them and went over to the Duke so what their pride would not suffer them to do in the beginning in the process of War they were driven to by their fear for finding now they had no remedy but in the friendship of the Conte and the Florentines they demanded it of themselves but not without much diffidence and suspition least the Florentines should make them the same answer which in the enterprize of Lucca they had received from them about the affairs of the Conte but they found them more tractable than they expected and indeed more than their carriage towards them had deserved So much more prevalent in the Florentines was their old quarrel to their Enemies than their new pick and exceptions to their friends And having long before prefaged the distress into which the Venetians of necessity would fall they had represented to the Conte how inseparable his ruine would be from theirs and that he would find himself deceiv'd if he expected the Duke would esteem him more in his good than his adverse fortune for it was fear of him whilst his affairs were uncertain and nothing else had moved him to that treaty about his Daughter and forasmuch as the same thing which necessity constrains people to promise it constrains them to perform it was necessary to continue the Duke in the same distress which could not be done but by preserving the Grandeur of the Venetians He ought therefore to consider that if the Venetians should be forced to quit their territory upon the land he would not only be deprived of the conveniences he might have from them but of all that he might reasonably expect from other People who were afraid of them and if he reflected upon other states of Italy he would find some of them poor and some of them Enemies and alone as they had often inculcated the Florentines were not able to maintain him so that in all respects it was his interest to sustain the Dominion of the Venetians upon the Terra firma These persuasions added to the hatred the Conte had conceived against the Duke for his jugling about his Daughter dispos'd him to the agreement yet not so as to oblige himself to pass the Po. The Articles were agreed in February 1438 in which the Venetians engag'd to defray two thirds of the Charge of the War the Florentines one each of them obliging themselves at their own expences to defend the Conte's lands in la Marca in the mean time Nor was the League contented with these forces and allies for they joyned to them the Lord of Faenza the Sons of Pandolfo Malatesta da Rimino and Piero Giampagolo Ursino they tryed the Marquess of Mantoua likewise but they could not remove him from the Duke to whom the Lord of Faenza revolted upon better conditions though he had enter'd the League which put them into great fear they should not be able to execute their designs in Romagna so readily as they propos'd at this time Lombardy was in such distress that Brescia was besieged by the Dukes forces and reduced into such a condition it was daily expected when by famine it should be constrained to surrender Verona was in the same condition and if either of them was taken it was concluded all farther opposition would be in vain and all their expences hitherto lost against this there was no visible remedy but to send the Conte into Lombardy and in that there were three difficulties One was to persuade the Conte to pass the Po and carry on the War in all places the second was that the Florentines seemed to be exposed thereby and left to the discretion of the Duke who retiring into his own fastnesses might divide his forces and facing the Conte with one party joyn with their rebels with the other and march into Tuscany which was a course they were not a little afraid of The third was to resolve which way the Conte might pass most securely into the Contry of Padua to the Venetian Army Of these three difficulties the second relating to the Florentines took up the greatest debate but knowing the necessity and tired with the Venetians who press'd for the Conte with all imaginable opportunity and protested that without him they would give over all they prefer'd the necessity of their associate before any danger of their own However the difficulty of the way was refer'd to be secured by the Venetians and because for the managing of this Treaty and inclining the Conte to pass into Lombardy it was thought fit that Neri the Son of Gino Capponi should be dispatched to him the Senate concluded to send for him to Venice to make the imployment the more grateful and instruct him the more commodiously about the way the Conte was to march Upon this invitation Neri departed from Cesena and came by water to Venice where never any Prince was received with more honour and acclamation than he was by the Senate for upon his coming and the resolutions which thereupon they were to take they believed the whole happiness and safety of their Government did depend Neri being introduced into the Senate spake to them in this manner Most Serene Prince MY Masters were always of Opinion that the greatness of the Duke would be the destruction of your Commonwealth and their own and that if any thing prevented it it must be the Grandeur and prosperity of both Had this been credited in time by your Lordships our condition had been better than it is and your state secure from many dangers wherewith it is now infested but you not having given us either assistance or credit when our necessities required we could not make such haste to your relief nor you desire it so readily as you might have done had you known us better either in prosperity or adversity or understood that where we love once our love is inextinguishable and where we hate once our hatred is immortal the love and respect we have always retained to this illustrious Senate you your selves do know having many times seen Lombardy full of our forces which was sent in to your relief our animosity to Philip is known to all the World and we shall continue it to his family for
Brescians should yield thereupon they solicited the Count very earnestly both by letters and Messages that he would attempt to relieve them The Count perceiving his hopes of doing it by the Lake absolutely defeated and his way by the fields impossible by reason of the Trenches and Bulwarks which were so numerous and strong and an Army to make them good so that to venture among them would be inevitable destruction the way by the Mountains having been succesful to him at Verona he resolved to try it once more for the relief of Brescia Having pitched upon his way the Count departed from Zeno and by the Val d' Acri marching to the Lake of St. Andrea he pass'd to Forboli and Penda upon the Lake di Garda from whence he advanced to Tenna and sate down before it it being necessary that Castle should be taken before he could get into Brescia Nicolo having intelligence of his design marched his Army to Pischiera and from thence joyning with the Marquess of Mantoua and a commanded party of his best-men he proceeded to engage the Count who giving him battle Nicolo was beaten his Army dispersed many of them taken Prisoners and those which escaped many of them fled to their Camp and many of them to the Fleet. Nicolo got off himself into Tenna and night being come concluding if he stayed till morning he could never get farther to avoid a certain danger he exposed himself to a doubtful Of all his retinue Nicolo had only one servant with him a lusty stong German and one that had always been very faithful to him Nicolo persuaded his German that if he would put him into a sack he might carry him off to some secure place upon his shoulders as some luggage of his Masters The Enemy lay round before the Castle but transported and secure upon their Victory the day before without any Order or guards by which means the German found no great difficulty in the business for putting himself into the habit of a freebooter and Mounting his Master upon his shoulders he passed thorow their whole Camp and brought him safe to his party This Victory had it been improved as happily as it was gained might have given more relief to Brescia and more felicity to the Venetians but being ill managed they had little reason to exult and Brescia remaining in the same necessity as before for Nicolo was no sooner returned to the forces which he had left behind but he set all his wits to work which way he might exploit some new thing to attone for his loss and obstruct the relief of the Town he knew himself the situation of the Citadel of Verona and had learned from the Prisoners taken in that War not only that it was ill guarded but the way how it might easily be surprized he believed therefore that fortune had presented him with an opportunity of recovering his honor and converting his Enemies joy into sadness and sorrow Verona is in Lombardy seated at the foot of those Mountains which divide Italy from Germany so that it stands partly upon the Hill and partly upon the plain the River Adice rises in the vally di Trento and running into Italy does not extend himself immediately thorow the plains but banding to the left hand among the Mountains it comes at length to the City and passes thorow the midst of it yet not so as to divide it into equal parts for towards the plain it is much greater then towards the Mountains upon the rising part of the City there are two Castles one of them called San Piero and the other San Felice which appear stronger in their situation than their walls and do by it command the whole Town In the plain on this side the Adice behind the wall of the City there are two Fortresses about a thousand paces distant one from the other of which the one is called the old Citadel and the other the new On the inside of one of them there passes a wall to the other and is in respect of the other walls which fetch a compass as the string to a bow All the space betwixt these two walls is full of Inhabitants and called the Borg of San Zeno. These two Castles and the Burg Nicolo designed to surprize believing it would be no difficult matter both because of the former negligence of the Guards which he presumed after the late Victory would be much greater and of an opinion he had that no enterprize was so feasible as that which the Enemy believed was impossible to be done Having drawn out a party of choice Men in order to his design he joyned with the Marquess of Mantoua and marching in the night to Verona he scaled the new Citadel and tooke it without being perceived and then forcing upon the Port di S. Antoine the signal was given to his Horse and they marched all of them into the Town Those of the old Citadel who were upon the Guard hearing the noise when the Sentinels in the other Citadel were knock'd on the head and when the Gate of S. Antoine was broken up believing it was the Enemy cryed out to the People to Arm and fell a ringing their Bels. The Citizens taking the alarm came together in great Confusion those of them who had most courage got to their Arms and retreated with them to the Palace of the Rettori in the mean time Nicolo's Souldiers had plundered the Borgo di S. Zeno and advancing towards the Town the Citizens perceiving the Dukes forces was entred and no way left to defend themselves advised the Venetian Rettori to retire into the fortresses and preserve themselves and their goods for as they said it would be much better to do so and attend better fortune than by endeavouring to avoid the present danger to be knock'd on the Head and the whole City pillaged hereupon the Rettori and all the Venetians betook themselves to the Castle of S. Felice and several of the principal Citizens went to meat Nicolo and the Marquess of Mantoua to beg of them that they would rather possess that City rich and with honor than poor to their disgrace especially seeing they had not by an obstinate defence deserved preferment from their old Masters or hatred from their new The Marquess and Nicolo having encouraged them what they could they protected them from plunder as much as was possible and because they were confident the Count would immediately address himself to the recovery of the Town they contrived with all imaginable industry to get the Fort into their hands but what they could not take they block'd up with ditches and trenches cut about to obstruct the Enemy from relieving them The Count Francesco was with his Army at Tenna where upon the first report of this surprize he believed it but vain afterwards understanding the truth he resolved by a more than ordinary speed to recompence his former negligence and expiate its disgrace And though all the chief
thence directly towards Anghiari in Battalia Nicolo arrived with his whole Army within two miles when Micheletto Attendulo perceiving a great dust and suspecting it to be the Enemy cryed out to have all People stand to their Arms. The tumult in the Florentine Camp was not small for that Army encamped ordinarily without any Discipline and being negligent besides in presumption the Enemy were further off they were fitter to fly than to fight all of them being disarmâ—d and straggled from their quarters into such places as the shade or their recreations had carried them Nevertheless so much diligence was used by the Commissaries and the General that before the Enemy could get up they were on Horseback and in order to receive them and as Micheletto was the first that discovered them so he was the first that engaged them running with his Troop to secure the Bridge which crossed the way not far from Anghiari Micheletto having posted himself at the Bridge Simomino an Officer of the Popes and his Legate placed themselves on the right hand and the Florentine Commisâ—aries and General on the left having planted the foor as thick as possible upon the banks there was only one way for the Enemy to attack them and that was by the bridge nor had the Florentines any where to defend themselves but there only they ordered their foot that if the Enemies foot should leave the high way and fall upon the flanks of the Horse they should let fly at them with their Crossbows and give their Cavalry a secure passage over the Bridge The first that appeared were gallantly received by Micheletto and repulsed but Astor re and Francesco Piccinino coming in with a commanded party to their relief they charged him so briskly that Micheletto was not only beat back over the Bridge but pursued to the very end of the Town and they which pursued them being charged again in the Flank were repulsed over the Bridge and all things as at first This skirmish continued two hours compleat sometimes Nicolo and sometimes the Florentines being Masters of the Bridge and though the fight upon the Bridge was equal to both yet on this side and the other Nicolo had much the disadvantage For Nicolo's men passing the Bridge were received by a gross of the Enemy which being drawn up with advantage by reason of the ground could charge or wheel or relieve those that were distressed as they saw occasion But when the Florentines passed over Nicolo had no place to relieve his Men for the ditches and banks in the way as it appeared in the conflict for though Nicolo's forces gained the Bridge several times yet by the fresh supplies of the Enemy they were still forced to give back but when the Florentines prevailed and passed over the Bridge Nicolo had not time by reason of the briskness of their charge and the incommodity of the ground to reinforce his Men but those which were behind were forced to mix with those that were before one disordered the other and the whole Army was constrained to fly and every Man got to Bargo as well as he could The Florentines let them go as having more inclination to the plunder which in Horses Arms and other things afforded them a plentiful prey for with Nicolo there escaped not above 1000 Horse most of the rest being taken Prisoners the Citizens of Borgo who had followed Nicolo for prize became prize themselves and were most of them taken with all their carriages and colours this victory was not so much prejudicial to the Duke as it was advantageous to Tuscany for had the Florentines lost the Day that Province had been his but he losing it lost nothing but his Arms and his Horses which a little money would recruit Never was there any War made in an Enemies Country with less execution than in this for in so great a rout and so sharp an engagement which lasted four hours there was but one Man slain and he not by any wound or honorable exploit but falling from his Horse he was trodden to Death with such security did they fight then for all of them being cuirashers on Horseback and compleatly armed they could not presently be killed and if they found there was no likelyhood of getting off themselves or being rescued by their friends they surrendred before they could come at them to slay them this Battel both in it self and consequences was a great instance of the unhappiness of that War for the Enemy being beaten and Nicolo fled to Borgo the Commissioners would have pursued and besieged him in that place to have made there Victory intire But some of the Officers and Souldiers would not obey pretending they would dispose of their plunder and cure themselves of their wounds and which is more remarkable the next day about noon without any regard to or leave from their superior Officers they went to Arezzo deposited their prey and returned to Anghiari when they had done A thing so contrary to all order and military discipline that the reliques and remainder of any well governed Army would easily have rob'd them of their Victory which so undeservedly they had obtained And besides this the Commissioners giving order that all prisoners should be kept to prevent their rallying or getting together again in spight of their Orders they dismiss'd them all A thing most justly to be admir'd that an Army so constituted should be able to get the Victory and that the Enemy should be so poor spirited as to be beaten by them Whilst the Florentines therefore were marching to Arezzo and returning again Nicolo had opportunity to quit Borgo and draw off all his Men towards Romagna and with him the Florentine exiles who seeing their hopes desperate of returning to Florence they dispersed themselves into all parts of Italy and some of them into other Countries as their conveniences prompted them of these Rinaldo chose Ancona for his residence and afterwards to obtain a mansion in Heaven for that which he had lost upon Earth he went to visit the Sepulchre of our Saviour from whence being returned as he was sitting at Table very merry at the Wedding of one of his Daughters he fell down on a sudden and died His fortune being favourable so far as to take him away in one of the most pleasant days of his Life a man truly honorable in all conditions but would have been much more had his Stars brought him forth in a City that had been united for Florence being factious the same things disgusted there which would have been rewarded in another place The Commissaries when their Men were come back from Arezzo and Nicolo departed presented themselves before Borgo whereupon the Townsmen would have surrendred to the Florentines but could not be accepted in this Treaty and negotiation the Commissaries became jealous of the Popes Legate lest he had a design for seizing it for the Church so that they came to ill language and doubtless
now in his power to make him absolute Master of Lombardy and to put all his Enemies into his hands he thought it but reasonable as he was certain of his Victory to be secured of his reward and therefore he did propose he might have the City of Piacenza made over to him that when he had tired and worn himself out in his Wars he might have that Town for his recess and at the last he took the boldness to threaten the Duke with the quitting his enterprize if he was not gratified in his demands This contumelious and insolent way of capitulation was so offensive and detestable to the Duke that he resolved to lose all rather than comply so that this arrogance in Nicolo wrought an effect upon him to which the Arms nor the minaces of the Enemy could never reduce him and that was to make peace with the Count to whom he sent Guido Buone da Fortona with proposals of peace and the proffer of his Daughter which was embraced with both Arms by the Count and his Collegues All being privatly agreed among themselves the Duke sent a message to Nicolo to require him to make a Truce with the Count for a twelve month pretending his treasure was low and had been so exhausted with the War that he could not but prefer a certain Peace before a Victory that was doubtful Nicolo admired his resolution as not able to imagine what should make him reject so glorious a Victory not in the least suspecting that he bogled at the remuneration of his friends and chose rather to let his Enemies escape so that not obeying him readily the Duke was constrained to threaten that without immediate compliance he would deliver him up as a prey for his own Souldiers and his Enemy Whereupon Nicolo submitted but with the same alacrity as on that is forced to forsake both his Country and friends complaining and lamenting his unhappiness whose Victory over his Enemies was always interrupted either by his fortune or the Duke The truce being made the Marriage betwixt Madona Bianca and the Count was consummated and the City of Cremona given to her in Dower after which the peace was concluded in November 1441 at which for the Venetians Francesco Barbadico and Pagolo Frono for the Florentines Agnolo Acciailo were present the Venetians got by this peace Peschiera Asola and Leonata a Castle belonging to the Marquess of Mantoâ—a The Wars in Lombardy being ended the only part of Italy where there was any Hostility was in the Kingdom of Naples which not being able to be composed was the occasion of new troubles in Lombardy During the Wars in those parts Alfonso of Aragon had over-run the whole Kingdom of Naples and left the King of Rinato nothing at all but the Country about the Metropolis Whereupon Alfonso conceiving the Victory already in his hands resolved whilst he besieged Naples to seize upon Benevento and the rest of the Towns which were yet remaining to the Count in those Countries supposing it might be done without much danger the Count himself being imployed in Lombardy and his design succeeded as easily as he imagined for he took all his Towns with little or no opposition But the news arriving of the peace in Lombardy Alfonso began to apprehend lest the Count to recover what he had lost should joyn with Rinato and Rinato being of the same opinion sent to invite and solicite the Count that he would come and revenge himself of his Enemy by relieving his friend On the otherside Alfonso was as earnest with the Duke that in respect of the friendship which was betwixt them he would give the Count some diversion and by imploying him in greater affairs enforce him from undertaking of this Philippo entertained the motion very readily not considering it intrenched upon that peace which not long before he had concluded with so much prejudice to himself he caused therefore to be signified to the Pope Eâ—genius that then was the time to recover the Towns which the Count had taken from the Churches and for his easier success he proffered him Nicolo Piccinino who was in his pay during the War but discharged upon the peace and was at that time in Romagna with his forces the Pope received the proposition very joyfully upon a double account both as he hated Francesco and desired his own and though he had been cheated by Nicolo once before yet now the Duke interposing he could not suspect him in the least joyning his forces therefore with Nicolo's he marched into la Marca the Count being much alarm'd at the news got what strength together he could and went to encounter them In the mean time Alfonso took Naples and all that Kingdom fell into his hands except Castelnuovo Rinato having left a strong Garison in Castelnuovo went away himself for Florence where he was most honorably received but finding he was not able to continue the war he stayed there but some certain days and away he passed to Marsilia during which time Alfonso had taken Castelnuovo and the Count was got into La Marca but not so strong as the Pope and Nicolo wherefore he addressed himself to the Venetian and Florentine for assistance both of men and mony representing to them that unless they now looked upon them and did something to restrain the Pope and Alfonso whilst he was in being afterwards they would have enough to do to secure themselves for they might joyn with Duke Philip and divide all Italy betwixt them for some time both Venetian and Florentine suspended their answer either because they were unwilling to make his Holiness and Alfonso their Enemies or else because their hands were already full in Bologna Hannibal Bentivoglio had driven Francesco Piccinino out of that City and to enable himself to defend it against the Duke who was a favourer of Francesco he had desired the assistance of the Venetians and Florentines and they not denied it Whilst the affairs in Bologna were in this manner uncertain they could not resolve to give the Count their assistance but Hannibal defeating Francesco afterwards so that all things there seemed to be composed they then concluded to supply him Yet first to secure themselves against the Duke they renewed the League with him to which the Duke was not averse for though he had consented to the War against the Count whilst Rinato was in the field yet now Rinato was routed and his whole Kingdom taken from him he had no mind the Count should be destroyed likewise and to that end he nto only consented to the aid which they desired but he writ to Alfonso to draw his forces back again into Naples and not to prosecute the War there any longer to which although Alfonso was very unwilling yet in respect of his obligations to the Duke he quietly consented and drew off his Army to the other side of Trento Whilst things were in this posture in Romagna the Florentines were not
by the meditation of the Florentines by which the Pope was to have in la Marca Osimo Fabriano and Ricanato restored and all the rest were to remain to the Count. After this accommodation in la Marca all Italy had been quiet had not the Bolognesi disturbed it there were two super-eminent families in Bologna the Canneschi and the Bentivogli Hannibal was the head of the latter and Battista of the first To beget the greater confidence betwixt them many matches had been made but among Men that aspire to the same degree of greatness an Allyance is sooner made than a friendship Bologna was in League with the Venetians and Florentines which League was made by Hannibal Bentivogli's means after Francesco Piccinino was expelled Battista understanding how earnestly the Duke desired the friendship of that City contrived how he might kill Hannibal and deliver that City to the Duke and having concluded the circumstances on the 24th of Iune 1445 Battista and his accomplices set upon Hannibal and slew him and when they had done declared themselves for the Duke The Venetians and Florentine commissaries were at the same time in the Town and at the first report of the tumult returned privatly to their houses but finding the people thronging in great numbers in the Market place complaining and exclaiming against the Murderers of Hannibal they took courage joyned themselves with them and putting them into a posture they fell upon the Canneschi and in half an hours time routed them killed part of them and and drove the rest out of the City Battista not having opportunity to get away nor his Enemies to kill him betook himself to his house where hiding himself in a chest or Bing to keep Corn in they searched for him a whole day and could not discover him being assured he was not gone out of Town they came back again and threatened his Servants so that one of his Lacqueys betrayed him and carried them to him then drawing him out of his hole in armour as he was they killed him and dragged him about the Sreets and burned him so that the Victory of the Duke was sufficient to encourage that enterprize but his expedition in relieving it was not great enough to make it good By the death of Battista and the expulsion of the Canneschi their tumults were composed but the Bolognesi remained in no little confusion there being none of the family of the Bentivoglio's left to govern them for Hannibal had only one Son of about six years old called Giovanni and it was feared lest some difference and division might arise betwixt the friends of Bentivoglio in whose power it was to restore the Canneschi to the destruction of their party and Country Whilst they were in this suspence the Conte di Poppi being by accident in Bologna sent word to the principal of the City that if they would be governed by one of Hannibals blood he could direct them where they might have one for about twenty years since Hercules a Cousin-German of Hannibals being at Poppi had the enjoyment of a young Maid in that Town who was brought to bed afterwards of a Son called Santi which Hercules affirmed to him many times was his nor was it to be denied for who ever knew them both must needs ownea more than ordinary resemblance The Citizens giving credit to what he said dispatched some of their Citizens to Florence immediately to see the Youth and to desire Neri and Cosimo that he might be delivered to them the reputed father of Santi was dead and the Son lived with an Uncle called Antonioda Cascese a rich Man without Children of his own and a great friend of Neri's Neri out of respect to his Uncle thinking the business not to be despised nor on the other side rashly accepted proposed that Santi might be sent for and that in the presence af Cosimo and the Bolognian Embassadors they might hear what he could say for himself he was sent for accordingly and behaved himself so well the Bolognesi were ready to worship him so strangely prevalent sometimes is the love of a faction yet there was nothing concluded at this meeting only Cosimo took Santi aside and told him No Body can counsel you better in this case than your self because you may follow your own inclination If you be the Son of Hercules Bentivogli you will apply your self to such things as are worthy and sutable to the honor of that house But if you be the Son of Agnolo da Cascese you will continue in Florence and spend the rest of your days basely in the ordering of Wool This Speech netled the young Man and whereas before he seemed to be irresolute he now declared he would refer himself wholly to Cosimo and Neri and do as they directed him and it being agreed with the Embassadors Clothes and Horses were bought and equipage provided and a while after being honourably conducted to Bolonia he was made Governor both of Hannibals Son and the City which office he executed so well that whereas all his predecessors were killed by their Enemies he lived quietly all his time and died lamented at last After the death of Nicolo and the peace concluded in La Marca Philip wanting a new General to command his Army made private overtures to Ciarpellone one of the most experienced officers in the Counts Army and at last coming to an agreement Ciarpellone desired leave of the Count to go to Milan and take possession of certain Castles which Philip had given him in the late Wars The Count suspecting the business to disappoint the Duke and prevent his serving against him he caused him first to be stopped and afterwards to be killed pretending to have found him engaged in Conspiracy against him at which manner of proceeding the Duke was highly incensed but the Venetians and the Florentines were pleased well enough as apprehending the least amity betwixt the Count and the Duke however this indignity set all La Marca in an uproar and was the occasion of new War there Gismondo Malatesti was Lord of Rimino and being Son-in-Law to the Count he expected to have had the Government of Pesaro but the Count having reduced it gave the Command of it to his Brother which Gismondo took very ill and to make it the worse his mortal Enemy Federico di Monte Feltro by the Counts means had usurped the Dominion of Urbino upon these provocations Gismondo joyned himself with the Duke and solicited the Pope and the King of Naples to make War upon the Count who to give his Son-in-Law a relish of the War to which he had such a mind he resolved to begin and to fall first upon him whereupon the Countries of Romagna and La Marca were in a tumult immediately for Philip the King of Naples and the Pope sent all of them assistance to Gismondo and the Venetians and Florentines though they sent him no Men supplied the Count with what monies he wanted Philip
assistance publickly to the state and privatly to his friends but especially to Cosimo de Medici who in all his undertakings had counsel'd him faithfully and freely supplied him nor did he desert him now in his distress but furnish'd him with what could privatly be convey'd encouraged him to go on in his design he propos'd likewise that the City would publickly own him but he found difficulty in that Neri the Son of Capponi was the most potent Man in Florence and to him it appeared more for the interest of that City that the Count should accept of the peace than prosecute the War His first apprehension was least out of indignation to the Count the Milanesi should give themselves up to the dominion of the Venetian which would be the ruine of them all then if the Count should succeed and Milan come into his hands so great an Army with so great a territory added to it must needs in his judgment at least become dangerous and formidable for if he were troublesom whilst but a Count when a Duke he would be insupportable For these reasons he affirmed it would be better for the republick of Florence and for all Italy besides that the Count should remain as he was with his reputation in the Army and Lombardy be divided into two Commonwealths which were never like to joyn to the ruine of their Neighbours and singly and by themselves they were not able to do hurt to compass which he saw no way so probable as by preserving their old amity with the Venetians and disclaiming the Count. These arguments were not approved by Cosimo's friends believing they were not so much Neri's judgment as jealousie lest the Count being made a Duke Cosimo should grow too powerful by being his friend Cosimo on the other hand persuaded that their alliance with the Count would be for the advantage both of Florence and all Italy for it was madness to imagine Milan could continue a Commonwealth seeing the humour of the Citizens their manner of Life and the old factions and differences among them were not capable of any form or system of civil Government so that of necessity the Count must be Duke of it or the Venetians Lords and in that case no body could be so weak but to prefer a single Neighbour competently powerful before an Enemy that was remote but more great and incontroulable Neither could he believe the Milanesi would give themselves up to the Venetians for the Count had the bigger party in the Town and when ever they found themselves unable to defend their liberties any longer they would more probably surrender to the Count than the Venetian These varieties of opinions kept the City a long time in suspence but at length it was agreed that Embassadors should be dispatch'd to the Count to treat about their alliance if they found him so strong that there was likelyhood he should prevail then they should conclude but if otherwise they were to cavil and protract By the time these Embassadors had got to Reggio they had news the Count was become Master of Milan For the Count as soon as his truce was expired and had clapped down again before it with his Army hoping to carry it in a short time in despight of the Venetians for they could not come to relieve it but by the river Adda which was easie to be hinder'd being Winter he could not fear they would remove him with their whole Army and before the Spring he doubted not to carry it especially seeing Francesco Piccinino was dead and Giacopo his Brother remained sole Captain of their forces The Venetian had sent an Embassador to Milan to encourage them to defend themselves and to assure them of speedy and effectual relief and so far they were as good as their words that during the Winter many skirmishes and conflicts passed betwixt the Venetians and the Count till when the weather began to be open they came down with their Army under the command of Pandolfo Malatesta and encamped upon the river of Adda where it being debated in Counsel whether they should fall upon the Count and run the hazard of a Battle it was opposed by Pandolfo upon his experience both of the Count and his army who advis'd the Town might be relieved without any such danger the Count being distressed already both for forrage and Corn. Wherefore his opinion was that they should block him up where he was and intercept his provisions which would keep up the Spirits of the Milanesi and divert them from surrendring to him This resolution was most plausible to the Venetians because they thought it safe in it self and did hope by keeping the Town in constant necessity it would be forc'd at last to deliver up to them for considering how the Count had provok'd them they could not imagine they would surrender to him In the mean time the Milanesi were reduced to extream misery for being a populous City the poor People fell down dead in the Streets for want of Bread and this scarcity begetting murmurs and complaints in several places the Magistrats were afraid of some tumult or other and us'd all possible diligence to prevent their assembling The multitude is not suddenly to be engaged in any mischief but when once they are dispos'd the lest accident imaginable sets them on work It happen'd that two persons of indifferent condition being in discourse near the Porta Nuova about the calamities of the City and what ways were left to preserve it People got about them by degrees so as in a short time they were in a considerable number upon which a rumour was spred in the Town that they were in Arms against the Magistrats at Porta Nuova hereupon the whole multitude who expected some occasion put themselves in Arms made Gasparre da Vico Mercato their leader and marching up to the place where the Magistrats were in Council they fell upon them with such fury that all which could not escape were slain among the rest Lionardo Veneto the Venetian Embassador who had laugh'd at their miseries and was judg'd the principal occasion of their wants having made themselves Masters of the City they deliberated which way to relieve themselves of their distresses and it was unanimously resolv'd seeing their liberty was not to be preserved that they should throw themselves under the protection of some Prince which should be able to defend them but they were divided about the Person some were for King Alfonso some for the Duke of Savoy some the King of France not one word all the while of the Count so great and implacable was the indignation of the People against him yet at last not agreeing in the rest Gasparre da Vico Mercato mentioned the Count and display'd gravely before them that if their design was to rid themselves of the War the Count was the only person to be chosen for the People of Milan were in necessity of a certain and present peace
a solemn counsel where the publick administration was debated those to whom the Government at that time belonged advised that there should be no Balia for the future that the way of imborsation should be laid aside and the Magistrats be chosen by lots as in the former Squittini's or elections To obviate this humour Cosimo had two ways either to possess himself forcibly of the Government by the power of his party and depose his Enemies or to let things go which way they would and attend till time should make his friends discern that they did not take the Government and authority so much from him as from themselves Of the two he made choice of the last knowing that according to that constitution the purses being full of his friends he could without any danger reassume his Authority when he pleas'd The City being thus reduc'd to its old way of creation of Magistrats by lots they thought they had perfectly recover'd their liberty and that for the future elections were to be made not according to the influence of the Nobility but the inclination of the People So that sometimes the friend of one Grandee was rejected and sometimes of another and those whose houses were formerly full of Clients and their presents had now scarce housholdstuff left or servant to attend them those who were formerly their inferiors were now become their equals and their equals advanced to be their Superiours they were not regarded nor respected but rather derided and abus'd all People taking the freedom to talk of them and their Government as they pleas'd even in the streets and high ways without any contradiction so that it was not long after they discovered that as he had told them it was not so much Cosimo as themselves which were degraded However Cosimo took no notice but in all propositions that would please the People he was the first who concurr'd But that which was most terrible to the Nobility and made Cosimo look about him was the receiving of the Catastro of the year 1427 by which the impositions were to be laid by order of Law and not by the capriccio's of particular Men. This Law being reviv'd and Magistrats already chosen to put in execution the Nobility assembled and went to Cosimo to beg of him that he would be a means to rescue them out of the jaws of the people and restore the State to a condition that might make him powerful and them honorable To which Cosimo replyed he would do it with all his heart provided it might be done legally by the consent of the people and without any force of which he would not endure to hear Then they endeavoured in the Counsels to prevail for a new Balia but they could not obtain it whereupon they returned to Cosimo and press'd him with all expressions of humility that he would consent to a Parliament but Cosimo resolved to make them fully sensible of their error absolutely refused it and because Donati Cochi being Gonfaloniere di Giustitia at that time presum'd to call a Parliament without his consent Cosimo made him so ridiculous and contemptible in the Senate he was not able to continue there but as a distracted Man was sent home again to his house Nevertheless lest things should run too far to be recovered Luca Pitti a bold and tenacious Man being made Gonfaloniere di Giustitia â—e thought it a convenient time to have the Government to him that if any thing miscarried in that enterprize it might be imputed to Luca. And accordingly Luca in the very beginning of his office urged the People many times to the restauration of the Balia threatning those of the Counsels with opprobrious and insolent language and not long after he executed what he had threatned for in August 1453 in the vigil of San. Lownzo having filled the Palace with armed Men he called the people together in the Piazza and constrained them by force to consent to what they had voluntarily refused Having repossess'd themselves of the state created a new Balia and changed the Magistrats according to the pleasure of a few that the biginning of their Government might be as terrible as it was forcible they confin'd Girolamo Machiavelli and some others and deprived many of their honors Girolamo not being exact in observing his bounds was proscrib'd and wandring up and down Italy to excite the several Princes against his own Country by the Treachery of one of the Senators in Lunigiana he was apprehended brought back to Florence and executed in Prison This Government which lasted eight years was very violent and insupportable for Cosimo being grown old weary of business and infirm in his body could not be so sedulous as formerly so that the City was become a prey to a few particular Citizens who in requital of his good service to the State made Luca Pitti a Knight and he in return of their kindness appointed that whereas before they were called Priori dell Arti now that they might at least retain the Title though they lost the possession they should be be called Priori della liberta He ordered likewise that whereas formerly the Gonfalonieri sat on the right hand of the Retori they should sit in the midst of them hereafter and that God might have his share in the revolution he caused solemn services and processions to be performed by way of thanks for the honors to which they were restored Luca was richly presented both by Cosimo and the Senate after whom the whole City came in flocks so that it was beleived he had given him that day to the value of 20000 Ducats by which means he grew into such reputation that not Cosimo but he was looked upon as the Governor of City and he arrived at that point of vanity to begin two stately and magnificent houses one in Florence the other at Rucina not above a miles distance from the City but that in Florence was greater and more splendid than the House of any other private Citizen whatsoever for the finishing of which he baulk'd no extraordinary way for not only the Citizens and better sort presented him and furnish'd him with what was necessary about it but the Common people gave him all of them their assistance besides all that were banish'd or guilty of Murder Felony or any other thing which expos'd them to publick punishment had Sanctuary at that house provided they would give him their labour The rest of his Brethren though they built not such houses they were no less rapacious than he so that though Florence had no Wars abroad to destroy it it had Citizens at home in its own bowels which would not suffer it to prosper In the mean time as we have said before the Wars happen'd in the Kingdom of Naples and the Pope had difference with the Malatesti in Romagna concerning Rimino and Cesana which they had taken from him and desired to recover so that betwixt the thoughts of that and the
gate which goes towards Pistoia whilst those in the Town who were privy to the conspiracy armed likewise and sent one of their number to the Governor to beg the favour of the keys pretending there was a Citizen which desired to enter To Governor suspecting nothing sent one of the servants with the Keys who being gone a convenient distance from the Palace was knocked down his charge taken from him and the Gate being opened Bernardo and his party were let in Having entered and discoursed a little while with their friends in the Town they divided into two bodies one of them under the conduct of Salvestro a Pratese surprized the Castle the other commanded by Bernardo possess'd themselves of the Palace took the Governor and his whole Family Prisoners and committed them to the custody of some of his Men which done they set up a great cry for liberty in the Streets and upon it many of the People resorted to the Market place It being now day and the Magistrats informed that the Castle and Palace were surprized and the Governor and all his Family in Prison they could not imagine from whence this accident should proceed The eight who in that City were supream met together in the Palace to consult what was to be done But Bernardo and his accomplices having run some time about the streats and found few or no body come in upon information that the eight were assembled they went directly to them and Bernardo took occasion to let them know that their design was only to deliver their Town from servitude and that if they would take Arms and joyn with them in it they would create immoratal honor to themselves perpetual peace to the People then he remembred them of their ancient Liberty and compared it with their present condition and promised them such assistance in a few days as the Florentines should not be able to contend withal besides he assured them he had intelligence in Florence and they would show themselves as soon as they understood their success in this Town but the eight were not to be moved with bare words and answered that they knew not whether Florence was in liberty or bondage nor did it belong to them to inquire this they knew that for their parts they desired no further liberty then to continue under the same Magistrats which had then the Government of Florence from whose hands they had never received any injury that might provoke them to take Arms against them they admonished him therefore to release the Governor leave the Town as he found it and withdraw in time from an enterprize which he had rashly begun But Bernardo was not to be discouraged so easily for seeing intreaties and fair means had no better success he resolved to try how far terror would work and as a taste of what was to be expected concluded to put the Governor to Death having caused him to be haled out of Prison he gave orders he should be hanged out of one of the Windows in the Palace Petrucci was brought almost to the Window with a rop about his neck when he spied Bernardo attending to see him executed and turning to him he said Bernardo you think by cutting me off to make the Pratesi follow you but the effect will be quite contrary The Veneration they bear to the Governors which are sent hither from Florence is so great it will incense them to see me destroyed and your cruelty to me will turn to your ruine so that 't is that 't is my life not my death must do your business if I command then what you think fit to direct they will obey me before you and I following your direction your design will be fulfilled Bernardo who was no conjurer thought his counsel was good and therefore ordered him out of a back window which looked into the Market-place to require the obedience of the People which as soon as he had done he was carried back from whence he came The weakness of the Cospirators was by this time discovered and several of the inhabitants were got together and Giorgio Ginori a Knight of Rhodes among the rest The Giorgio being the first who took Arms advanced against Bernardo who was riding up and down the Streets sometimes persuading and sometimes threatning the City Having found him and charged him with a considerable number that followed Bernardo was wounded and taken prisoner after which it was not hard to release the Governor and over-power the rest for being but few and divided into several parties they were most of them either taken or killed In the mean time the news of this accident arrived at Florence and was represented much greater than the truth The first report was that Prato was surprized the Governor and his whole Family slain the Town full of the Enemies forces Pistoia in Arms and several Citizens of that City engaged in the Plot so that of a sudden the Palace was full of Citizens expecting orders from the Senate for what was to be done There was in Florence at that time an eminent Captain called Roberto San Severino it was resolved to send what forces they could get together of a sudden under his command towards Prato that he should advance as near it as he could give them particular notice of all passages and act as he in his discretion should see occasion Roberto was presently dispatched and marched with his party as far as the Castello di Campi when he was met by a messenger from Petrucci with the news that Bernardo was taken his party defeated and all things in quite so that he marched back again to Florence and not long after Bernardo was brought thither to be examined by the Magistrats Being questioned upon several things and particularly what induced him to that enterprize he replyed that choosing rather to die in Florence then to live any longer in exile he determined to do semething which might make him memorable when he was dead This tumult being composed almost as soon as begun the Citizens began to return to their old way of security thinking without any regard or consideration to enjoy the profits of a Government which they had so lately re-established and confirmed from whence all those incovenences ensued which are too often the followers of peace the youth being more vain and extravagant than formerly squandred away vast sums in Cloaths and Treats and all manner of Luxury and having nothing to do spent their whole time and Estates among dancing Masters and Women their whole study and ambition was to be thought glorious in their habit and smart and poinant in their discourse for he that could retort or bite the most readily was thought the gretest wit and had the greatest applause and yet these effeminacies were much encreased by the arrival of the Duke of Milan who with his Lady and whole Court was come to Florence to fulfil a pretended vow where he was entertained with magnificene sutable to his
The Sunday before this plot was to be executed that no Man might be a sufferer by any ill fortune of his he paid all his debts and all the effects in his Ware houses or custody which belongeth to other Persons he consigned to their several owners with an unimaginable care after a long examination Giovan Battista Montesecco was at last condemned and his head struck off Guglielmo de Pazzi was banished and his kinsmen which were left alive imprisoned in a dungeon in the Castle of Volterra When the tumult was over and the Conspirators executed Guiliano's funeral was celebrated with the universal condolement of the City he having been a person of as much goodness and humanity as could be desired in one of his quality and extraction He had only one Son born some months after his death who was christned Giulio who proved so remarkable for his virtue and fortune that the whole World rings of his reputation at this day and if God gives me life I shall speak largely of when I come to the description of his times The forces which were got together under Lorenzo de Castello in the vail of di Tevero under Giovan Francesco Tolentino in Romagna in behalf of the Pazzi were in their march towards Florence but hearing of the miscarriage of their affairs they returned from whence they came Nevertheless the Pope and the King of Naples though their Conspiracy had failed and not produced those mutations which they hoped for in Florence resolved to attempt that by open War which could not otherwise be effected and both the one and the other caused their forces to advance towards that City with all possible diligence declaring as they went that all the design of their march and all their desire of the Citizens was not removing but the removal of Lorenzo who was the only Enemy he had in the Town The King's Army had already passed the Tronto and the Popes was in the Country of Perugia and lest his temporal power should be too little he let loose his spiritual maledictions and excommunications against him Whereupon the Florentines seeing themselves invaded with such formidable numbers addressed themselves to their defence with all possible care Lorenzo de Medici because the War was pretended only against him prest very earnestly that all the chief Citizens might be invited to the Palace before the Senate and above 300 of them appearing he spake to them in this manner Most noble Lords and you must magnificent Citizens I do not well know whether I am to congratulate or condole with you this day for the things which are passed and truly when I consider with what malice and collusion I was assaulted and my Brother slain I cannot but condole and my whole heart and Soul is overwhelmed with the affliction when after that I revolve with what promptitude with what zeal with what love with what unanimity and universal consent of the whole City his death was revenged and mine prevented I cannot but rejoyce nay even triumph and exsult For as experience has now taught me that I had more Enemies in this City than I suspected it has convinced me on the other side I had more true friends than I could have hoped for so that I am to congratulate your goodness and to condole the injury and iniquity of other People which is the more deplorable because rare and underserved Think I beseech you most noble Citizens to what point of infelicity fortune hath brought our family when even among our friends our relations and in the very Church we are in danger Those who are in distress or apprehension of death are wont to fly to their friends and relations for shelter we found ours not only disposed but armed and prepared and impatient to destroy us Those who are under any publick or private persecution have usually their refuge and Sanctuary in the Church where others are protected we are assaulted where Parricides and Murderers are secured the Medici are murdered themselves But God who has not hitherto deserted our family has preserved us and undertaken our defence What injury have we done any body that could deserve such vehement revenge Sure we our selves never offended those persons who have been so furious against us if we had we should not have left them in that capacity to revenge themselves if it be publick censure or injury which provoked them and of that too I know nothing 'tis you not we are offended This Palace this Senate and the Majesty of this Government is aspersed with undeserved decrees against the Citizens in partiality to us which to my own knowledge is far from being true We would not have injured them if we had been able and you would not have suffered us had we been willing who ever traces the truth to the bottom will find our Family was not exalted by this Government for nothing if I may speak it modestly it was their humanity their bounty their munificence which constrained you to it if then we have been beneficial to strangers how came our relations to be disgusted If their appetite of dominion prompted them to what they have done and the seeing of this Palace and filling the Piazza with armed Men is an evident demonstration it was nothing else the design is sufficient conviction and shows their brutality and ambition If it were hatred and detestation of our authority it was you that gave it us and it is you were injured But certainly if any power or authority deserves to be regreted 't is that which is usurped not that which is acquired by a continued stream of kindness and liberality I appeal to you most Illustrious Senators whether any of my predecessors arrived at their Grandeur any way but by the unanimous consent and promotion of this Court My Grandfather Cosimo returned not from his banishment by violence and force of Arms but by your invitation My ancient and infirm Father was too weak to have supported his authority against so many Enemies it was your bounty it was your authority which defended it When my Father was dead and I though but a Child was left to succeed him Alas how could I have maintained the honor and dignity of the Family without your favour and instruction Our house never was nor ever will be able to govern this State without your cooperation and assistance I cannot imagine therefore what quarrel they should have had against us or what just reason for their envy they should rather have turned their indignation upon their own ancestors who with their insolence and avarice defeated them of that honor which ours have gained by their generosity and goodness But let us gratifie them so far as to grant we had injured them and that their combinations against us were but reasonable and just Why must they conspire against this Palace Why must they confederate with the Pope and King of Naples against the innocence and liberty of this Commonwealth Why must
of Roberto da Rimino who since the death of Count Carlo was the chief and best reputed officer among them knowing what it was that set the Enemy agog they resolved to attend him and coming to a Battel not far from the Lake in the very place where Hannibal gave the Romans that memorable defeat the Popes Army was routed The news of this victory was extreamly welcome in Florence both to the Magistrates and People and it would have been great honor and advantage to that enterprize had not disorders in the Army at Poggibonzi spoiled all and the victory over the one Camp been interrupted by a mutiny in the other for that Army having got much plunder in the Country of Sienna when they came to divide there fell out great difference betwixt the Marquess of Ferrara and the Marquess of Mantoâ—a so that they came to blows and did one another what mischief they were able The Florentines finding no good was to be expected from them together consented that the Marquess of Ferrara with his forces might march home by which means the Army being weakned without a head and very disorderly the Duke of Calabria being with his Army not far from Sienna took a resolution of falling upon them but the Florentines hearing of his advance not trusting to their Arms their numbers which was much greater than the Enemy nor the situation of their Camp which were very strong without expecting their coming or seeing so much as the face of their Enemy as soon as they preceived the dust they fled and left their Amunition and Carriages and Artillery behind them and so cowardly and poor spirited that Army was become that the turning of a horses head or tail gave either victory or defeat This Rout filled the King's Souldiers with prize and the Florentines with fear for that City was not only afflicted with War but with so violent a pestilence that most of the inhabitants were forced to leave the Town and betake themselves to the Country This overthrow was rendred more terrible by sickness for those Citizens who had Estates in the Val di Pisa and the Val Delsa being driven thither and secure were forced upon this rout to hurry back again to Florence as well as they could and that not only with their goods and their Children but with all their families and dependants for every hour they were afraid the Enemy would have presented himself before the Town They who had the administration of the War being sensible of these disorders commanded their Army which was victorious in Perugia that leaving their designs there they should march into the Val Delsa and oppose themselves against the Enemy who since their last victory over-run that whole Country And though that Army had so straitned Perugia it was every hour expected to surrender yet the Florentines chose rather to defend themselves than to gain upon any body else and raising their siege they were conducted to S. Cassiano a Castle about eight miles from Florence as the only place where they might lie secure till the other Army was rallied and brought to them The Enemy on the other side being at liberty in Perugia upon the withdrawing of the Florentines took heart and made their inroads daily into the countries of Arezzo and Cortona and the other Army which under the command of the Duke of Calabria had routed them at Poggibonzi took Poggibonzi and Vico pillaged Certaldo made great spoil and got great prize in that Country after they sat down before Colle which in those times was looked upon as extraordinary strong and being well man'd and provided with all things it was hoped it might entertain the Enemy till their Armies could be united The Florentines having joyned all their forces at S Cassiano and the Enemy proceeding very fiercely in their leaguer they resolved to march towards them and post themselves as near them as they could supposing they should thereby not only encourage the Garison to defend themselves but make the Enemy more cautious in all his attacks Hereupon they removed from S. Cassiano and encamped at S. Giminiano about five miles from Colle from whence with their Horse and the lightest of their foot they daily molested the Dukes Camp but this was not enough for the Garison in Colle for wanting all things that were necessary they surrendered the 13 of November to the great displeasure of the Florentines but the great joy of the Enemy especially the Siennesi who besides their common hatred to Florence had a particular quarrel against this Town Winter was now at the height the season unfit for War and the Pope and King to give them hopes of peace or to enjoy their victory quietly themselves offered a truce for three Months to the Florentines and allowed them ten days for an answer which proffer was accepted but as a wound is more painful when cold than when 't is first given this small repose gave the Florentines greater sence of the miseries which they had endured insomuch as they began to talk freely and upbraid one another by the miscarriages in the War charging one another with the greatness of the expence and the inequality of their taxes and these exprobrations were not only in the streets and among the ordinary sort of People but even in their conventions and publick counsels in which one of them took the confidence to tell Lorenzo to his face that the City was weary and would have no more War and that therefore he should bethink himself of peace upon which Lorenzo discerning the necessity advised with such of his friends as he judged most faithful and able and it was concluded by all that seeing the Venetians were cold and uncertain the Duke young and imbroiled in new troubles at home their best way would be to seek out for new alliance and try what that would contribute to their success Their great scruple was into whose arms they should cast themselves whether into the Popes or the King 's of Naples and upon serious debate it was resolved into the King's as a person of more stability and likely to yield them better protection in regard of the shortness of the Popes lives and the changes upon their successions For the small fear the Church has of any Prince and the small regard it has of any body else in all its resolutions causes that no secular Prince can repose any intire confidence or communicate freely in his affairs with any of the Popes for the that associats with him in war and in dangers may perhaps have a companion and a sharer in his Victories but in his distress he shall be sure to be alone his holiness being still brought off by his speritual influence and authority It being therefore determined more profitable to reconcile with the King there could be no way thought of so likely as by Lorenzo himself for by how much the more that King had tasted of his liberality by so much the more
they thought it probable he might succeed Lorenzo embracing the motion and having prepared for his journey committed the City and Government to Tomaso Soderini at that time Gonfaloniere di Gustitia and left Florence in the beginning of December Being arrived at Pisa in his way he writ to the Senate and gave them an account of his design and the Senate in honor to him and that he might treat with more reputation made him Embassador for the People of Florence and gave him authority to conclude with him according to his own judgment and discretion About this time Signore Roberto da Santo Severino joyning with Lodovico and Ascanio for their brother Sforza was dead they invaded the State of Milan in hopes to have re-invested themselves having possess'd themselves of Tortona and Milan and the whole State being in Arms the Dutchess was advised to compose her civil dissentions to restore the Sforzi and receive them into the Government again Her great Councellor in this was Antonio Tassino a Ferrarese who though meanly extracted being come to Milan was preferred to be Chamberlain both to the Duke and the Dutchess this Antonio for the comliness of his person or some other secret excellence after the Dukes death grew into great favour with the Dutchess and in a manner governed the whole State which was very unpleasing to Cecco a Man of great prudence and long experience in publick affairs insomuch that he used all his interest both with the Dutchess and the rest of the Governors to clip the wings of his authority remove him Antonio having notice of his design to countermine him and have some body near which might be able to defend him he advis'd the Dutchess to restore the Sforzi and the Dutchess following his persuasion invited them back again without communicating with Cecco upon which he is reported to have told her that she had done a thing which would cost him his life and deprive her of the Government And so afterwards it fell out for Cecco was put to death by Lorenzo and Tassino turned out of Milan which the Dutchess took in such dudgeon that she forsook the Town and left the Government of her Son to his unckle Lodovico which act of her's in leaving that whole Dutchy to the Government of Lodovico was the ruine of Italy as shall be shown in its place Lorenzo de Medici was in his journey towards Naples and the truce betwixt the parties in a very fair way when on a sudden beyond all expectation Lodovico Fregoso having intelligence in Serezana surprized the Town and made all prisoners whom he found any ways affected to the Florentines This accident was highly resented by the Governors of Florence for they imagined it done by the order of Ferrando and therefore complained heavily to the Duke of Calabria who was with his Army at Sienna that whilst they were in Treaty they should be assaulted so treacherously but the Duke assured them by Letters and an Embassy on purpose that what had passed was done without either his consent or his Fathers However the affairs of the Florentines were judged in a very ill condition their treasure being exhausted their Prince in the hands of the King an old War on Foot with the Pope and the King a new War commenced with the Genoeesi and no friends to support them for they had no hopes of the Venetian and of the State of Milan they had more reason to be afraid it was so various and unstable the only hope remaining to the Florentines was in Lorenzo's address to the King Lorenzo arrived at Naples by Sea was honorably received both by the King and the whole City and though the War was begun for no other end but to ruine him yet the greatness of his Enemies did but add to his Grandeur for being brought to his audience he delivered himself so handsomly and discoursed so well of the condition of Italy of the humors of all the Princes and People therein and gave so good account of what was to be dreaded by War and what was to be hoped for by peace that the King admired the greatness of his mind the dexterity of his wit the solidity of his judgment more now than he had wondered before how he could alone sustain so great an invasion insomuch that he doubled his respects towards him and began to think it his interest much more to make him his friend than to continue him his Enemy Nevertheless upon sundry pretences and fetches he kept him in dispence from December to March not only to satisfie himself in a farther experience of Lorenzo but to inform himself of the infidelity of Florence for that City was not without those who would have been glad the King would have kept him and handled him as Giacopo Piccinino was handled These People began to complain and spake ill of him all over the Town to oppose themselves publickly in the Councils against any thing that was moved in favour to Lorenzo and gave out generally where ever they came that if the King kept him much longer at Naples they would alter the Government so that the King forbore to dispatch him for some time in expectation of a tumult But finding all quiet and no likelyhood of any such thing on the 6 of March 1479 he dismissed him having first presented him so nobly and treated him so honorably that they had made a perpetual League and obliged themselves mutually for the preservation of one anothers Dominions If therefore Lorenzo was great when he went from Florence he was much greater when he returned and was received with a joy and acclamation in the City sutable to his quality and the recency of his deserts who had ventred his own life so frankly to procure peace to his Country Two days after his arrival the Articles of Peace were published by which both the State of Florence and King had particularly obliged themselves to a common defence that such Towns as were taken from the Florentines during the War if in the King's power should be restored that the Pazzi which were prisoners at Volterra should be discharged and a certain sum of mony payed to the Duke of Calabria for a prefixed time This Peace was no sooner published but the Pope and the Venetians were infinitly offended the Pope thinking himself neglected by the King and the Venetians by the Florentines for both one and the other having been partners in the War they took it unkindly to be left out of the Peace Their displeasure being reported and believed at Florence it was presently apprehended that the effect of this peace would be a greater War Hereupon the Governors of the State began to think of contracting the government and reducing it into a lesser number of Ministers appointing a Council of 70 Citizens to transact such affairs as were of principal importance This new Constitution settled the minds of those who were desirous of innovation and to give
their differences with the Pope Siena being free they delivered from their apprehensions of the King by the Duke of Calabria drawing away with his Army out of Tuscany and the War continuing with the Turks they pressed the King so hard to the restitution of such places as the Duke of Calabria at his departure had committed to the keeping of the Sanesi that he began to fear the Florentines might desert him and by making War upon the Sanesi hinder the assistance which he expected from the Pope and the rest of the Princes of Italy whereupon he caused them all to be delivered and by several new favours reobliged the Florentines to him from whence we may observe that it is interest and necessity not their hands or their words which make Princes keep their promises These Castles being restored and the new League confirmed Lorenzo de Medici gained greater reputation than the War first and after the peace when they were jealous of the King had taken from him For at that time there wanted not those who calumniated him openly as one who to preserve himself had sold his Country and as by the War they had lost their Towns by the peace they should lose their liberty But when the Towns were restored and honorable peace concluded with the King and the City returned to its ancient reputation the People who are generally greedy to talk and judge of things more by the success than the Counsel changed their note presently and cryed up Lorenzo to the skies as one who had gained more by his management in that peace than their ill fortune had got them by the War and that his prudence and judgment had done what all the Armies and power of their Enemies could not This descent of the Turks defer'd the War which the Pope and the Venetians upon provocation of that peace had designed against them but as the beginning of the Turkish invasion was unexpected and produced much good so the end of it was unlooked for and the occasion of much mischief for Mahomet the Grand Signore died suddenly and difference arising betwixt his Sons those who were landed in Puglia being abandoned by their Lord came to an agreement with the King of Naples and delivered up Otranto into his hands This fear therefore being removed which kept the Pope and the Venetians quiet every one began to be apprehensive of new troubles On the one side the Pope and the Venetian were in League and with them Genoesi Sanesi and other lesser Potentates On the other side were the Florentines the King of Naples the Duke of Milan and with them the Bolognesi and several other little States The Venetian had a design upon Ferrara they thought they had reason enough to attempt it and hopes enough to carry it The reason was because the Marquess had declared himself obliged no longer to receive either their Visdomine or their falt for by compact after 70 years that City was to be exempt both from the one and the other to which the Venetians replyed that so long as he retained the Polesine so long he was to receive the Visdomine and the Salt but the Marquess refusing they thought they had just occasion to take Arms and their opportunity was convenient seeing the Pope in such indignation both against the Florentines and King to oblige him the more Count Girolamo being by accident at Venice was honorably treated made a Gentleman of that City and had all the priviledges and immunities of a Citizen conferred upon him which is a particular favour and shows always the great esteem they bear to the Person which receives it In preparation for this War they laid new taxes upon their subjects and for their General they had chosen Roberto da San Severino who upon some difference betwixt him and Lodovick Duke of Milan fled to Tortona and having made some tumults there he got off to Genoa from whence he was invited by the Venetians and made General of their Army The news of these preparations coming to the ears of the League they prepared themselves accordingly The Duke of Milan chose Federigo Lord of Urbin for his General The Florentines Costanzo di Pesaro and to sound the Pope and discover whether these proceedings of the Venetians were by his consent King Ferrando sent the Duke of Calabria with his Army to quarter upon the Tronto and desired leave of his Holiness that they might pass thorow his territories from thence into Lombardy to the relief of the Marquess which being absolutely denied the Florentines and King thinking that a sufficient declaration of his mind resolved to attempt it by force and try if that they could make him their friend or at least give him such impediments as should hinder his supplying of the Venetians who had already taken the field invaded the Marquess overrun most of the Country and clap'd down with their Army before Figarolo a Castle of great importance to the affairs of that Prince The King and the Florentines having in the mean time concluded to fall upon the Pope Alfonso Duke of Calabria marched his Army towards Rome and by the help of the Collennesi who were joyned with him in opposition to the Orsini who sided with the Pope he committed great spoils all over that Country On the other side the Florentines under the command of Nicolo Vitelli assaulted the City of Castello took it turned out Lorenzo who had kept it for the Pope and gave it to Nicolo as Prince the Pope was at this time in very great anxiety Rome was full of factions within and the Enemy in the Country without Nevertheless like a couragious Prince resolved to overcome not to yield to his Enemies he entertained for his General Roberto da Rimino and inviting him to Rome where he had assembled all the forces he could make he represented how great an honor it would be to him if he could rescue the Church from the calamities which were upon it and that not only himself and his successors but God Almighty would reward him Roberto having taken a view of his Army and all the Magazines he persuaded the Pope to raise him what foot he could more which was done with great diligence and expedition The Duke of Calabria was all this while forraging about that Country and making his inroads to the very walls of the City which netled and provoked the Citizens so as many of them came freely and offered their service to remove them which Roberto with many thanks and great expressions of kindness accepted The Duke understanding their preparations thought fit to draw farther off from the City supposing that Roberto would not venture to follow him at any distance from the Town besides he had some expectation of his Brother Federigo who was to come to him with fresh supplies from his Father Roberto finding himself equal in Horse and superior in foot drew his Army out of the Town and directing towards the Enemy he encamped within two
the minds of the Commons is above all things to endeavour to ingratiate with the People which will be as the other if he undertakes their protection And Men receiving good Offices where they expected ill are indear'd by the surprize and become better affected to their Benefactor than perhaps they would have been had he been made Prince by their immediate favour There are many ways of insinuating with the People of which no certain rule can be given because they vary according to the diversity of the subject and therefore I shall pass them at this time concluding with this assertion that it is necessary above all things that a Prince preserves the affections of his people otherwise in any Exigence he has no refuge nor remedy Nabides Prince of the Spartans sustained all Greece and a Victorious Army of the Romans and defended the Government and Country against them all and to do that great action it was sufficient for him to secure himself against the Machinations of a few whereas if the People had been his Enemy that would not have done it Let no man impugn my opinion with that old saying he that builds upon the People builds upon the sand That is true indeed when a Citizen of private Condition relies upon the people and persuades himself that when the Magistrate or his Adversary goes about to oppress him they will bring him off in which case many presidents may be produced and particularly the Gracchi in Rome and Georgio Scali in Florence But if the Prince that builds upon them knows how to command and be a man of Courage not dejected in adversity nor deficient in his other preparations but keeps up the spirits of his people by his own Valour and Conduct he shall never be deserted by them nor find his foundations laid in a wrong place These kind of Governments are most tottering and uncertain when the Prince strains of a sudden and passes as at one leap from a Civil to an absolute power and the reason is because they either command and act by themselves or by the Ministry and Mediation of the Magistrate In this last case their authority is weaker and more ticklish because it depends much upon the pleasure and concurrence of the Chief Officers who in time of adversity especially can remove them easily either by neglecting or resisting their Commands nor is there any way for such a Prince in the perplexity of his affairs to establish a Tyranny because those Citizens and Subjects who used to exercise the Magistracy retain still such power and influence upon the people that they will not infringe the Laws to obey his and in time of danger he shall always want such as he can trust So that a Prince is not to take his measures according to what he sees in times of peace when of the Subjects having nothing to do but to be governed every one runs every one promises and every one dyes for him when death is at a distance but when times are tempestuous and the ship of the State has need of the help and assistance of the Subject there are but few will expose themselves And this experiment is the more dangerous because it can be practised but once So then a Prince who is provident and wise ought to carry himself so that in all place times and occasions the People may have need of his administration and Regiment an ever after they shall be faithful and true CHAP. X. How the strength of all principalities is to be computed TO any man that examines the nature of principalities it is worthy his consideration whether a Prince has power and territory enough to subsist by himself or whether he needs the assistance and protection of other People To clear the point a little better I think those Princes capable of ruling who are able either by the numbers of their men or the greatness of their wealth to raise a compleat Army and bid Battel to any that shall invade them and those I think depend upon others who of themselves dare not meet their Enemy in the field but are forced to keep within their bounds and defend them as well as they can Of the first we have spoken already and shall say more as occasion is presented Of the second no more can be said but to advise such Princes to strengthen and fortifie the Capital Town in their Dominions and not to trouble himself with the whole Country and whoever shall do that and in other things manage himself with the Subjects as I have described and perhaps shall do hereafter shall with great caution be invaded for men are generally wary and tender of enterprizing any thing that is difficult and no great easiness is to be found in attacking a Town well fortified and provided where the Prince is not hated by the People The Towns in Germany are many of them free though their Country and district be but small yet they obey the Emperor but when they please and are in no awe either of him or any other Prince of the Empire because they are all so well fortified every one looks upon the taking of any one of them as a work of great difficulty and time their Wals being so strong their Ditches so deep their works so regular and well provided with Cannon and their stores and Magazines always furnish'd for a Twelvemonth Besides which for the aliment and sustenance of the People and that they may be no burthen to the publick they have work-houses where for a year together the poor may be employed in such things as are the Nerves and life of that City and sustain themselves by their labour Military Discipline and Exercises are likewise much request there and many Laws and good Customs they have to maintain them A Prince then who has a City well fortified and the affections of his people is not easily to be molested and he that does molest him is like to repent it for the affairs of this world are so various it is almost impossible for any Army to lie quietly a whole year before a Town without interruption If any objects that the people having houses and possessions out of the Town will not have patience to see them plundered and burned and that Charity to themselves will make them forget their Prince I answer that a wise and dexterous Prince will easily evade those difficulties by encouraging his Subjects and persuading them sometimes their troubles will not be long sometimes inculcating and possessing them with the cruelty of the Enemy and sometimes by correcting and securing himself nimbly of such as appear too turbulent and audacious Moreover the usual practice is for the Enemy to plunder and set the Country on fire at their first coming whil'st every man's spirits is high and fixed upon defence so that the Prince needs not concern himself nor be fearful of that for those mischiefs are pass'd and inconveniencies received and when the People in three or
gain such persons as were satisfied with the former Government and by consequence his Enemies than those who being disobliged sided with him and assisted to subvert it It has been a Custom among Princes for the greater security of their Territories to build Citadels and Fortresses to bridle and restrain such as would enterprize against them and to serve as a refuge in times of Rebellion and I approve the way because anciently practised yet no longer ago than in our days Mr. Nicolo Vitelli was known to dismantle two Forts in the City of Castello to secure his Government Guidobaldo Duke of Urbin returning to his State from whence Caesar Borgia had driven him demolished all the strong places in that Province and thereby thought it more unlikely again to fall into the hands of the Enemy The Bentivogli being returned to Bologna used the same course So that Fortresses are useful or not useful according to the difference of time and if in one place they do good they do as much mischief in another And the case may be argued thus That Prince who is more afraid of his Subjects than Neighbours is to suffer them to stand The Family of the Sforza's has and will suffer more mischief by the Castle of Milan which ws built by Francesco Sforza than by all its other troubles whatever so that the best fortification of all is not to be hated by the people for your Fortresses will not protect you if the people have you in detestation because they shall no sooner take Arms but Strangers will fall in and sustain them In our times there is not one instance to be produced of advantage which that course has brought to any Prince but to the Countess of Furly when upon the Death of Hierâ—nimo her Husband by means of those Castles she was able to withstand the popular fury and expect till supplies came to her from Milan and resetled her in the Government and as times then stood the people were not in a Condition to be relieved by any stranger But afterwards they stood her in no stead when Caesar Borgia invaded her and the people being incensed joyned with her Enemy Wherefore it had been better for her both then and at first to have possessed the affections of the people than all the Castles in the Country These things being considered I approve both of him that builds those Fortresses and of him that neglects them but must needs condemn him who relies so much upon them as to despise the displeasure of the people CHAP. XXI How a Prince is to demean himself to gain reputation NOthing recommends a Prince so highly to the world as great Enterprizes and noble Expressions of his own Valor and Conduct We have in our days Ferdinand King of Aragon the present King of Spain who may and not improperly be called a new Prince being of a small and weak King become for fame and renown the greatest Monarch in Christendom and if his Exploits be considered you will find them all brave but some of them extraordinary In the beginning of his Reign he invaded the Kingdom of Granada and that Enterprize was the foundation of his Grandeur He began it leisurely and without suspicion of impediment holding the Barons of Castile employed in that service and so intent upon that War that they dreamt not of any Innovation whil'st in the mean time before they were aware he got reputation and Authority over them He found out a way of maintaining his Army at the expence of the Church and the people and by the length of that War to establish such Order and Discipline among his Soldiers that afterwards they gained him many honourable Victories Beside this to adapt him for greater Enterprizes always making Religion his pretence by a kind of devout cruelty he destroyed and exterminated the jews called Marrani than which nothing could be more strange or deplorable Under the same Cloak of Religion he invaded Affrica made his Expedition into Italy assaulted France and began many great things which always kept the minds of his Subjects in admiration and suspence expecting what the event of his Machinations would be And these his Enterprizes had so sudden a spring and result one from the other that they gave no leisure to any man to be at quiet or to continue any thing against him It is likewise of great advantage to a Prince to give some rare Example of his own administration at home such is reported of Messer Bernardo da Milano when there is occasion for some body to perform any thing Extraordinary in the Civil Government whether it be good or bad and to find out such a way either to reward or punish him as may make him much talk'd of in the world Above all a Prince is to have a care in all his actions to behave himself so as may give him the reputation of being excellent as well as great A Prince is likewise much esteemed when he shows himself a sincere friend or a generous Enemy That is when without any hesitation he declares himself in favour of one against another which as it is more frank and Princely so it is more profitable than to stand neuter for if two of your potent Neighbours be at Wars they are either of such condition that you are to be afraid of the Victor or not In either which cases it will be always more for your benefit to discover your self freely and make a fair War For in the first cause if you do not declare you shall be a prey to him who overcomes and it will be a pleasure and satisfaction to him that is conquered to see you his Fellow-sufferer nor will any body either defend or receive you and the reason is because the Conqueror will never understand them to be his Friends who would not assist him in his distress and he that is worsted will not receive you because you neglected to run his fortune with your Arms in your hands Antiochus upon the invitation of the Etolians passed into Greece to repel the Romans Antiochus sent Embassadors to the Achaians who were in amity with the Romans to persude them a Neutrality and the Romans sent to them to associate with them The busines coming to be debatedin the Council of the Achaians and Antiochus his Embassador pressing them to be Neuters The Roman Embassador replyed As to what he has remonstrated That it is most useful and most consistent with the interest of your State not to engage your selves in our War their is nothing more contrary aud pernicious for if you do not concern your selves you will assuredly become a prey to the Conqueror without any thanks or reputation and it will always be that he who has least kindness for you will tempt you to be Neuters but they that are your friends will invite you to take up Arms. And those Princes who are ill advised to avoid some present danger follow the Neutral way are most commonly ruin'd
his design to Eight of his principal intimates amongst whom Don Michael and Monsignor d' Euna were two and appointed that when Vitellozzo Pagolo Ursini the Duke de Gravina and Oliverotto should come to meet him two of his Favourites should be sure to order it so as to get one of the Ursini betwixt them assigning every couple his man and entertain them till they came to Sinigaglia with express injunction not to part with them upon any terms till they were brought to the Dukes Lodgings and taken into Custody After this he ordered his whole Army Horse and Foot which consisted of 2000 of the first and 10000 of the latter to be ready drawn up upon the banks of the Metauro about five miles distant from Fano and to expect his arrival Being come up to them upon the Metauro he commanded out two hundred Horse as a Forlorn and then causing the Foot to march he brought up the Reer himself with the remainder Fano and Sinigaglia are two Cities in la Marca seated upon the bank of the Adriatick Sea distant one from the other about 15 miles so that travelling up towards Sinigaglia the bottom of the Mountains on the right hand are so near the Sea they are almost wash'd by the water at the greatest distance they are not above two miles The City of Sinigaglia from these Mountains is not above a flight shot and the Tide comes up within less than a Mile By the side of this Town there is a little River which runs close by the wall next Fano and is in sight of the Road So that he who comes to Sinigaglia passes a long way under the Mountains and being come to the River which runs by Sinigaglia turns on the left hand upon the bank which within a bow shot brings him to a Bridge over the said River almost right against the Gate before the Gate there is a little Bourg with a Market-place one side of which is shouldred up by the bank of the River The Vitelli and Ursini having concluded to attend the Duke themselves and to pay their personal respects to make room for his Men had drawn off their own and disposed them into certain Castles at the distance of six miles only they had left in Sinigaglia Oliveretto with a party of about 1000 Foot and 150 Horse which were quartered in the said Bourg Things being in this order Duke Valentine approached but when his Horse in the Van came up to the Bridge they did not pass but opening to the right and left and wheeling away they made room for the Foot who marched immediately into the Town Vitellozzo Pagolo and the Duke de Gravina advanced upon their Mules to wait upon Duke Valentine Vitellozzo was unarm'd in a Cap lin'd with green very sad and melancholy as if he had had some foresight of his destiny which considering his former courage and exploits was admired by every body And it is said that when he came from his house in order to meeting Duke Valentine at Sinigaglia he took his last leave very solemnly of every body He recommended his Family and its fortunes to the chief of his Officers and admonished his Grand-children not so much to commemorate the fortune as the magnanimity of their Ancestors These three Princes being arrived in the presence of Duke Valentine saluted him with great civility and were as civilly received and each of them as soon as they were well observed by the persons appointed to secure them were singled and disposed betwixt two of them But the Duke perceiving that Oliveretto was wanting who was left behind with his Regiment and had drawn it up in the Market-place for the greater formality he wink'd upon Don Michael to whom the care of Oliveretto was assign'd that he should be sure to provide he might not escape Upon this intimation Don Michael clap'd spurs to his Horse and rid before and being come up to Oliveretto he told him it was inconvenient to keep his Men to their Arms for unless they were sent presently to their quarters they would be taken up for the Dukes wherefore he persuaded him to dismiss them and go with him to the Duke Oliveretto following his Counsel went along with him to the Duke who no sooner saw him but he call'd him to him and Oliveretto having paid his Ceremony fell in with the rest Being come into the Town and come up to the Duke's Quarters they all dismounted and attended him up where being carried by him into a private Chamber they were instantly Arrested and made Prisoners The Duke immediately mounted and commanded their Soldiers should be all of them disarmed Oliveretto's Regiment being so near at hand were plundered into the bargain The Brigades which belong'd to Vitelli and Ursini being at greater distance and having notice of what had hapned to their Generals had time to unite and remembring the Discipline and Courage of their Masters they kept close together and marched away in spight both of the Country people and their Enemies But Duke Valentine's Soldiers not content with the pillage of Oliveretto's Soldiers fell foul upon the Town and had not the Duke by the death of several of them repressed their insolence Sinigaglia had been ruined The night coming on and the tumults appeased the Duke began to think of his Prisoners resolved Vitellozzo and Oliveretto should die and having caused them to be guarded into a convenient place he commanded they should be strangled but they said nothing at their deaths that was answerable to their lives for Vitellozzo begged only that the Pope might be supplicated in his behalf for a plenary indulgence Oliveretto impeached Vitellozzo and lay'd all upon his back Pagolo and the Duke de Gravina were continued alive till the Duke had information that his Holiness at Rome had seized upon the Cardinal Orsino the Arch-bishop of Florence and Messer Iacopo da Santa Croce upon which News on the 18th of Ianuary they also were both strangled in the Castle of Piene after the same manner THE STATE OF FRANCE IN An Abridgment written by Nicolo Machiavelli Secretary of FLORENCE THE Kings and Kingdom of France are at this time more rich and more powerful than ever and for these following Reasons First The Crown passing by succession of Blood is become rich because in case where the King has no Sons to succeed him in his paternal Estate it falls all to the Crown and this having many times hapned has been a great corroboration as particularly in the Dutchy of Anjou and at present the same is like to fall out to this King who having no Sons the Dutchy of Orleans and State of Milan his hereditary Countries are like to devolve upon the Crown So that at this day most of the good Towns in France are in the Crown and few remaining to particular persons A second great Reason of the strength of that King is That whereas heretofore France was not entire but subject to
the management of War in the administration of Justice in the enlargement and propagation of Empire there is not to be found either Prince Republick great Captain or Citizen which repairs to Antiquity for example which persuaded me it proceeded not so much from niceness and effeminacy our present Education has introduced upon the world nor from the mischief which turbulent and seditious idleness has brought forth in many Provinces and Cities in Christendom as from our ignorance or inadvertency in History not taking the sense of what we read or not minding the relish and poinancy with which it is many times impregnated from whence it comes to pass that many who read are much pleased and delighted with the variety of accidents contained in History but never think them intended for their imitation that being a thing in their judgments not only difficult but impossible as if the Heaven the Sun the Elements and Mankind were altered and dispossessed of the motion order and power with which they were primitively invested Being desirous to reduce such as shall fall into this error I have Judged it necessary to write upon all those Books of Titus Livius which by the malignity of time have not been intercepted what I according to ancient and modern opinion shall think useful for their further explanation to the end that they which shall peruse these my discourses may extract such advantage and document as is necessary for their proficiency and improvement by History and though my enterprize appears to be difficult yet by the assistance of those who put me upon it I do not despair but to discharge my self so as to leave the way much more easie and short to any man that shall desire to come after me CHAP. I. What have been generally the principles of all Cities and particularly of Rome THose who shall read the Original of the City of Rome by what Legislators advanced and by what Government ordered will not wonder it shall remain firm and entire for so many ages afterwards so vast an Empire spring out of it as that Common-wealth arrived to Being to discourse first of its Original it is convenient to premise that all Cities are built either by natives born in the Country where they were erected or by strangers The first happens when to the Inhabitants dispersed in many and little parties it appears their habitation is insecure not being able apart by reason of their distance or smalness of their numbers to resist an invasion if any Enemy should fall upon them or to unite suddenly for their defence without leaving their Houses and Families exposed which by consequence would be certain prey to the enemy Whereupon to evade those dangers moved either by their own impulse or the suggestions of some person among them of more than ordinary authority they oblige themselves to live together in some place to be chosen by them for convenience of provision and easiness of defence Of this sort among many others Athens and Venice were two the first that built under the authority of Theseus upon occasion of the like distance and dispersion of the natives The other there being many people driven together into certain little Islands in that point of the Adriatick Sea to avoid the War which every day by the access and irruption of new Armies of Barbarians after the declension of the Roman Empire grew intolerable in Italy began by degrees among themselves without the assistance or encouragement of any Prince to treat and submit to such Laws as appeared most likely to preserve them and it succeeded to their desire by the long respite and tranquillity their situation afforded them that Sea having no passage at that end and the Barbarians no ships to disturb them so that the least beginning imaginable was sufficient to exalt them to their present authority and grandeur The second case when a City is raised by strangers it is done by people that are free or depending as Colonies or else by some Prince or Republick to ease and disburthen themselves of their exuberance or to defend some Territory which being newly acquir'd they desire with more safety and less expence to maintain of which sort several were by the people of Rome all over their Empire otherwise they are sometimes erected by some Prince not for his residence so much as for his glory and renown as Alexandria by Alexander the great But these Cities not being free in their Original do seldom arise to any extraordinary height more than to be reckoned the heads or chief of some Kingdom Of this sort was Florence for whether built by the Souldiers of Silla or perchance by the Inhabitants of the Mountain di Fiesole who presuming upon and being encouraged by the long Peace under the Reign of Augustus descended from their Mountain to inhabit the plain upon the River Arms it was built under the Roman Empire and could not upon those principles exalt it self higher than the courtesie of the Prince would permit The Founders of Cities are free when by themselves or the Command of their Soveraign they are constrained upon occasion of sickness famine or war to abandon their own inquest of new Countries and these do either possess themselves of such Towns as they find ready built in their Conquests as Moses did or they build them de novo as Aeneas In this case the power of the builder and the fortune of the building is conspicuous and honourable according as the cause from whence it derives its Original is more or less eminent His virtue and prudence is discernible two ways by the election of the Seat and institution of the Laws and because men build as often by necessity as choice and the judgment and wisdom of the builder is greater where there is less room and latitude for his election it is worthy our consideration whether it is more advantagious building in barren and unfruitful places to the end that the people being constrained to be industrious and less obnoxious to idleness might live in more unity the poverty of the soil giving them less opportunity of dissention Thus it fell out in Raugia and several other Cities built in such places and that kind of election would doubtless be most prudent and profitable if men could be content to live quietly of what they had without an ambitious desire of Command But there being no security against that but power it is necessary to avoid that sterility and build in the fruitfullest places can be found where their numbers encreasing by the plentifulness of the soil they may be able not only to defend themselves against an assault but repel any opposition shall be made to their grandeur and as to that idleness to which the richness of the situation disposes it may be provided against by Laws and convenient exercise enjoyn'd according to the example of several wise men who having inhabited Countries pleasant fruitful and apt to produce such lazy people improper for service
to prevent the inconvenience which might follow thereupon enjoyned such a necessity of exercise to such as were intended for the Wars that by degrees they became better Souldiers than those Countries which were mountainous and barren could any where produce Among whom may be reckoned the Kingdom of Egypt which notwithstanding that it was extreamly pleasant and plentiful by the virtue and efficacy of its Laws produced excellent men and perhaps such as had not their names been extinguished with time might have deserved as much honour as Alexander the Great and many other great Captains whose memories are so fresh and so venerable among us An who-ever would consider the Government of the Soldan the discipline of the Mamalukes and the rest of their Militia before they were extirpated by Selimus the Turk might find their great prudence and caution in exercising their Souldiers and preventing that softness and effeminacy to which the felicity of their soil did so naturally incline them For these reasons I conceive best to build in a fruitful place if the ill consequences of that fertility be averted by convenient Laws Alexander the Great being desirous to build a City to perpetuate his name Dinocrates an Architect came to him and undertook to build him one upon the Mountain Athos and to recommend and inforce his proposal besides the goodness of the soil he persuaded him it should be made in the shape and figure of a man a thing which would be new wonderful and sutable to his greatness But when Alexander enquired whence it was to be supplyed the Architect replyed he had not considered of that at which answer Alexander laugh'd very heartily and leaving him and his mountain to themselves he built Alexandria where people might be tempted to plant by the richness of the Soil the nearness of the Sea and convenience of the River Nile Again if we examine the Original of Rome and admit Aeneas for the first Founder it will fall in the number of those Cities built by foreigners if Romulus among such as were erected by the natives either way it was originally free without any dependance It will appear likewise as shall be shewn more particularly hereafter by what Laws Romulus Numa and others fortified and secur'd it insomuch that neither the fertility of the Soil the commodity of the Sea the frequency of their Victories nor the largeness of its Empire were able to debauch or corrupt it but it remained for several ages for piety and virtue more exemplary than any other Commonwealth either since or before it And because the great things acted under that Government and transmitted to us by Titus Livius were performed by publick or private Counsel within or without the City I shall begin with what occur'd in the Town and was managed by publick debate as judging that most worthy our annotation super-adding what-ever depended thereupon and with these discourses I intend this first Book or rather Part shall conclude CHAP. II. The several kinds of Commonwealths and under which kind the Roman is comprehended WAving the discourse of those Cities which in their beginning have been dependant I shall speak of such as were originally free and governed themselves according to their own fancies Commonwealths or Principalities as their own inclinations lead them Of these according to the diversity of their principles their Laws and Orders were divers Some of them at their first foundation received their Laws at one time from a single person as the Spartans from Lycurgus Others received them by chance at several times upon variety of accidents as Rome and that Commonwealth is doubtlesly happy whose good fortune it is to have a person so wise as to constitute and dispose its Laws in such manner at first that it may subsist safely and securely by them without necessity of new modelling or correction Of this sort was Sparta which for more than 800 years was observed to remain entire and incorrupt without any dangerous commotion On the other side that City must needs be in some measure unhappy which not having submitted to or complyed with the prudence of a single founder is necessitated of it selt to remodel and reformâ— Of these kinds that is most unhappy whose principles were at first remote and devious from the right way which might have conducted to perfection and indeed those Common-wealths which are in this degree are almost impossible to be established by any accident whatsoever But others whose Commencements are good and capable of improvement though perhaps not exquisitely perfect may become perfect afterwards by the concurrence of accidents yet not without danger forasmuch as most men are averse and will not easily admit of any new Law which introduces new Orders and Customs into a City without great appearance of necessity and that necessity arising necessarily from some danger impending it many times falls out the Commonwealth perishes before remedy can be applyed Of this the Commonwealth of Florence is instance sufficient which in the commotion of Aretz was the IIth time reformed and the 12 th time confounded by the sedition of Prato But being now to discourse of the State of the Roman Commonwealth and what were the accidents and orders which advanced it to that perfection it is convenient to premise what has been asserted by several Authors that there are but three sorts of Governments Monarchy Aristocracy and Democracy to either of which who-ever intends to erect a Government may apply as he pleases Other of no less reputation are of opinion the forms of Government are six of which three are bad and three good of themselves but so easily corrupted even they become fatal and pernicious Those which are good are the three before mentioned those which are evil are three others depending upon the three former and carrying so near a resemblance they many times interfere and fall one into the other as Monarchy into tyranny Aristocracy into Oligarchy and Democracy into Anarchy and Confusion insomuch that who-ever forms his Government of one of the three former forms it for no long time because no care nor remedy can prevent but it will degenerate into its contrary by reason of the similitude betwixt virtue and vice and these changes and variations of Government happened by accident amongst men for at the beginning of the World the Inhabitants being few they lived dispersed after the manner of beasts afterwards as they multiplyed they began to unite and for their better defence to look out for such as were more strong robust and valiant that they might choose one out of them to make him their head and pay him obedience from hence the first distinction betwixt honest and dishonest did arise for observing that if any injur'd his Benefactor it immediately created an hatred and compassion among the rest all people abhorring him that was ungrateful and commiserating him that was injur'd lest the same injustice might happen to themselves they began to make Laws and ordain punishments for
considered that Prince certainly which aims at glory and reputation in the world should desire a Government where the manners of his Subjects are corrupted and depraved not to subvert and destroy it like Caesar but to rectifie and restore it like Romulus than which the Heavens cannot confer nor man propose to himself greater honour And if a Prince who would regulate and reform a City cannot do it without depositing his Authority In that case he is excusable in some measure if he dispenses but where he can retain the one and accomplish the other he is altogether unpardonable they therefore to whom the Heavens are so propitious as to present such an opportunity are to consider that they have two ways before them one leading to security whil'st they live and an honourable memory when they are dead the other to continual troubles here and perpetual infamy hereafter CHAP. XI Of the Religion and Ceremonies of the Romans THough Rome should have been founded by Romulus and owe him as his Daughter for her Birth and Education yet the Heavens foreseeing that the Constitutions of Romulus would not be sufficient for so great an Empire put it into the heart of the Roman Senate to create Numa Pompilius for his Successor to the end that what was left defective by the first might be compleated by the latter Numa finding the people martial and fierce and being desirous by the Arts of Peace to reduce them to civil obedience he betook himself to Religion as a thing absolutely necessary to the maintenance of civil policy and he ordered things so that for many ages together never was the fear of God so eminently conspicuous as in that Commonwealth which was a great promotion to whatever was designed either by the Senate or Princes And he who shall peruse the infinite actions of that City collectively or of several Romans in particular will find those Citizens more tender of falsifying an Oath than of violating the Laws judging an offence against God more hainous than an offence against Men and God more able to punish it Of this we have manifest Evidence in the Examples of Scipio and Manlius Torquatus for after the defeat which Hanibal had given the Romans at Cannas the people tumultuating and many of them assembling in great fear to consider of their condition They resolved among themselves to leave Italy and transplant into Sicily Scipio having notice repaired to them immediately and coming in suddenly among them with his Sword drawn he forced them to recant and take a peremptory Oath not to abandon their Country Lucius Manlius Father to Titus Manlius who was afterwards called Torquatus was impeached by Marcus Pomponius a Tribune of the people Before the day arrived for the hearing of the Father the Son coming to the Tribune and threatning to kill him unless he would swear to withdraw his accusation he forced him to his Oath and he performed as he had sworn and so those Citizens who could not be retained by either the love of their Country or Laws were kept at home by an Oath which they took upon force and the Tribune laid by his hatred to the Father passed by the insolence of the Son and neglected the reflection it would have upon his own honour to be punctual in his Oath which proceeded from nothing but those principles of Religion which Nama had distused And surely it will be found by whoever considers the Roman History how useful a thing Religion was to the governing of Armies to the uniting of the people to the keeping men good and to the deterring them from being bad so that should it fall into dispute whether Rome was most obliged to Romulus or Numa I am of opinion Numa would have the preheminence because where Religion is fixed Military Discipline is easily introduced but where Religion is wanting Discipline may be brought in with difficulty but never in perfection It is to be seen likewise that for the constituting a Senate and establishing of Laws both Military and Civil Romulus had no need to pretend Divine Authority but with Numa it was otherwise he was of necessity to pretend to it and thereupon gave out that he had private Conference with a Nymph who dictated to him what he was to prescribe to the people and all was because he had a mind to introduce new Laws and Customs into that City which he thought his own private authority would never effect And certainly never any man brought in new Laws or set up any Doctrine extraordinary but with pretence of Religion because otherwise they would never have been admitted for a man may be wise and know many things are good and yet want reasons and arguments to convince other people wherefore to remove that difficulty prudent men do make that always their pretence and Solon Lycurgus and several others who had the same design practised the same The people then admiring the goodness and wisdom of Numa submitted in all things True it is the devotion of the age and ignorance of the people contributed much for thereby he was able to impress them with what new form he thought good and questionless he that would establish a Commonwealth at this day would find it more easie among the rude people of the Mountains who have not been acquainted with Civility than among such as have been educated in Cities where their civility was corrupted like rude unpolished Marble which is more readily carv'd into a Statue than what has been mangled already by some bungling workman So that all things considered I conclude That the Religion introduced by Numa was one of the first causes of that Cities felicity because Religion produced good Laws good Laws good Fortune and good Fortune a good End in whatever they undertook And as strictness in Divine Worship and Conscience of Oaths are great helps to the advancement of a State so contempt of the one and neglect of the other are great means of its destruction Take away Religion and take away the foundation of Government for though perhaps the goodness and fear of their Prince may sustain it for some time and supply the want of Religion in his subjects yet because he is mortal and possibly but very short lived that Kingdom can hardly out-live the virtue of its Governor Wherefore those States which depend only upon the piety of their Princes are of little duration for commonly one dyes with the other and the virtue of the Father seldom revives in the Son as Dante has said very wisely Rade volte discende per li rami L' tunn ana probitate et questo vuole Quel che la da perche da lai si chiami Virtue 's but seldom to the branches spread He who bestows't has in his wisdom said Let him that wants come to the fountain-head Things being thus it is not sufficient for a Commonweal thor Kingdom to have a Prince who Governs it wisely whil'st he lives but he must lay his foundation so
ultio in quaestu habetur 'T is more natural to return an injury than a courtesie because courtesies are burthensom but revenge is sweet But if this ingratitude either in Prince or People proceeds not so much from avarice as suspicion in that case it is somewhat excusable and of that kind we read of good store as when a General has conquered a Province or Empire for his Master when he has exterminated his Enemies enriched his Army and gain'd himself a great Name 't is impossible but he must be so acceptable to his own Soldiers and so dreadful to his Enemies as must beget a jealousie in the Prince for the Nature of man being jealous and ambitious and not to be confined within the bounds of his fortune it cannot be but if the Prince has taken a fancy that the glory of his General is a diminution to his the General must by some vain-glorious or discontented action establish and confirm it and then what has the Prince to do but to secure himself either by causing him to be murthered by taking away his Command lessening his reputation with the Soldiers and People and by all ways of industry possessing them that the Victory was not obtained by any Conduct of his but by the kindness of Fortune vileness of the Enemy or prudence and good management of the rest of the Officers After Vespasian being in Iudea was declared Emperor by his Army Antonius Primus being at the same time in Illyria with another Army declared for the Emperor and marched into Italy against Vitellius who was then Paramount in Rome and having beaten him in two pitch'd Battels he enter'd the City in the Name of Vespasian So that Mutianus being sent against Vitellius by Vespasian he found the Enemy broken the Town taken and all things done by Antonius to his hand And how was he requited Why Mutianus took away his Commission removed him from the Army and by degrees so lessened his Authority in Rome that Antonius going into Asia to make his Complaints to Vespasian was received so coldly that in a short time he was stript of all kind of authority and died very miserable and of this Nature examples are very frequent in History every body knows how in our times Gonsalvo Ferrante being the King of Arragon's General in the Kingdom of Naples against the French behaved himself so well that by his singular Conduct he conquered it and put it wholly under the obedience of his Master who coming afterwards to Naples himself took from him the Command of his Army dispossessed him of many strong places which he held in that Country and carried him with him into Spain where not long after he died in obscurity But there is no remedy these kind of jealousies are so natural to Princes that it is almost impossible for them to be grateful to any man who has performed any great thing for them And if it be so with Kings no wonder if it be so with the people for in a free State they have always two principal ends one is to enlarge their Dominions the other to keep what they have got and their eagerness to both these makes them so often guilty of ingratitude As to the first point we shall speak elsewhere the errors in preserving their liberty to disgust such persons as ought to be rewarded and to suspect such as ought to be trusted and though such practices are the occasion of great mischiefs in a corrupt Commonwealth and Tyranny does many times ensue as in Rome by Caesar who took that by force which the ingratitude of the people denied to his merits yet in a Town that is entire and incorrupt they do very well and add much to the duration of their liberty to enforce great and ambitious men for fear of punishment to comport themselves better In my judgment of all the Commonwealths that ever had Empire Rome was the least ingratful for the reasons abovesaid there being never an Example of its ingratitude but in the case of Scipio For Coriolanus and Camillus were banished for their injuries to the people and though one of them remaining obstinate was never recalled yet the other was not only recalled but so restored to the affections of the people that all his life after they adored him as a Prince But their jealousie of Scipio was of such a sort as had never been known before proceeding from the Ornaments of his body and the endowments of his mind His youth his wisdom his excellent qualifications had render'd him too admirable the powerfulness of his Enemy the danger and tediousness of the War which he had concluded in a very short time his deliberation in resolving and his quickness in Execution had gained him a greater reputation than was ever got by any General before him insomuch as the Senators Pretors and all the chief Magistrates in the City began to fear and respect him This was no pleasing sight to the graver sort because it had not been formerly the Custom in Rome whereupon Cato a man of great esteem for his piety and justice took up the Cudgels against him and complained publickly that the City could not be called free whil'st the Magistrates were in awe of any particular Citizen if then in a thing so nearly importing their liberty the people followed the opinion of Cato in my judgment they were in some measure to be excused In short my opinion is as I said before that it is avarice and suspicion which makes men ingrateful To the first of which the people are not naturally addicted and to the last with much less propensity than Princes as having less occasion which shall be proved hereafter CHAP. XXX What rules are to be observed by a Prince or Commonwealth to avoid this Vice of ingratitude and how a General or great Citizen is to demean himself to elude it TO avoid the necessity of living always in suspicion and being ingrateful to his Ministers a Prince ought to go personally with his Armies as was done at first by the Emperors of Rome as the great Turk does now and as all they do and have done that are valiant and couragious for in so doing the honor and profit of their Victories accrews to themselves but where they are not present at their Conquests themselves the honor redounds upon their Officers and they have not any compleat enjoyment of their successes till they have eclipsed if not extinguished that glory in other people which they durst not venture for themselves so that their ingratitude and injustice to their Officers does them more mischief than their Conquests do them good But when out of negligence or imprudence they lie at home idle themselves and send their Generals in their stead know no better precept to give them than what they know already themselves As to the General if he finds that jealousie inevitable he has his choice of two things As soon as the War is ended he is voluntarily to lay
of the Nobility for most of them having more Land than was allowed by this Law their fortunes by it were to be confiscated and half of them taken away and then by the distribution of what they should take from the Enemy they should lose all opportunity of enriching themselves for the future which being certainly true and this Law so perfectly pernicious to the interest of the Nobility it was never mentioned by the Tribunes but the Patricii opposed it and with all the eagerness imaginable yet not always by force but sometimes by evasion either commanding out their Armies upon some pretended design or by setting up another Tribune in opposition to him who proposed the Law that thereby they might dissolve it or else by sending new Colonies And so it hapned when the Colony was sent to Antium at the time when the difference was so high betwixt the Patricii and the Agrarians that no other expedient could be found to keep them from blood Livy tells us That there were very few that would list themselves upon that accompt to fill up the number of that Colony so much more did the people prefer an alotment about Rome than in any other place But afterwards the quarrel grew higher and to appease their Seditions the Romans were glad to send their Armies sometimes to the extreamest parts of Italy and sometimes beyond them But afterwards it falling out that the Lands which they took from the Enemy were remote at great distance from Rome and not to be cultivated with any convenience the people grew weary and insisted not so fiercely on their Agrarian Law They began also to be more moderate in those kind of confiscations but when any Country was seized they sent Colonies to plant them With these Arts they skin'd over their animosities till the time of the Gracchi who reviving them again gave occasion to the ruine of their Government for the Nobility having encreased their strength the quarrel advanced so far that they came to blows and the Magistrate being unable to restrain them thâ— fury of the Faction encreasing each party began to look out for a head The people chose Marius and made him four times Consul with some little interval which authority he managed so well to his own advantage that by the power and interest which he had got in that time he made himself thrice Consul afterwards The Nobility having no other remedy against so growing a Plague applyed themselves to Sylla and having made him their chief they fell to down right Wars which were carried on with much blood and variety of fortune till at last the Nobility prevailed The same faction revived again in the days of Caesar and Pompey and was attended by the destruction of the State For Caesar espousing the Marian party and Pompey the Syllan Caesar overcame and was the first that set up a Tyranny in Rome after whose time that City could never recover its liberty This was the beginning and this was the end of the Agrarian Law which may seem to contradict what we have said elsewhere That the discords and enmity betwixt the people and Senate of Rome conduced to the enlargement of their Empire and the conservation of their liberty by giving opportunity for the making of such Laws as were great corroboration to their liberties and freedom but I answer That the effects of the Agrarian Law does not hinder but that what we have said may be true for so great was the ambition of the Nobility that had it not been curb'd and check'd several ways it would have usurped upon the City and got the whole power into its hands And if we observe that the Agrarian dispute was three hundred years together in Rome before it could subvert it we may easily imagine the ambition of the Patricii would have done it much sooner had it not been ballanced and depressed by the people with their Agrarian Laws and some other inventions From whence likewise we may observe that wealth is more estimable among men than honor for when the Patricii were in controversie with the people about Titles and Honor they never went so high as to give them any extraordinary disgust But when their Estates and Fortunes were at stake they defended them with such zeal that they chose rather to put the whole Commonwealth into a flame than to part with them quickly The great authors of that Conflagration were the Gracchi whose good will and intentions towards the people was much more to be commended than their wisdom For to remove an inveterated inconvenience and to that purpose to make a Law with too much retrospection is ill Counsel as I said before and hastens that ruine which it was designed to prevent but with Patience and Compliance the mischief is either delayed or spends it self in time before it does any great hurt CHAP. XXXVIII Weak Commonwealths are generally irresolute and ill advised taking their measures more from Necessity than Election THe Volsci and the Equi understanding that Rome was sadly visited with a Contagion concluded it a fair opportunity to conquer it and having betwixt them raised a powerful Army they invaded the Latini and Hernici over-ran most of their Country and forced them to send to Rome for assistance The Romans returned answer that they should put themselves in Arms and make as good defence as they could for the Sickness was so raging they could give them no relief which shows the generosity and wisdom of that Senate That in all conditions and under the greatest of their Calamities never receded from its Majesty and Grandeur but at all times would have the disposal of the affairs of its Subjects and when necessity required made no scruple to command things contrary to their old ways of proceeding This I say because formerly the Senate had forbidden them to arm upon any occasion whatever and perhaps another Council would have thought it derogatory to their Grandeur to permit them to defend themselves But this Senate was endued with admirable prudence understood how things were to be taken and rejected and of two evils how to make choice of the least It troubled them much that they were not in condition to protect them and it troubled them no less That they would be forced to defend themselves upon their own score without succours from Rome yet finding there was a necessity of it the enemy being at their Gates and threatning them with death they retained their authority and with great gravity sent them word to defend themselves and raise what forces they could This may seem but a common resolution and what any other Commonwealths would have taken as well as that but weak and ill ordered Commonwealths cannot come off with so much honour Duke Valentine having taken Faenza and overrun most part of Bologna demanded passage of the Florentines to march his Army to Rome The Florentine Council met and consulted and there was not one man who thought it convenient to
grant it This was not according to the discretion of the Romans for the Duke being very strong and the Florentines but weak it had been more for their honour to have granted him passage when they could not obstruct it that what they could not resist might have been imputed to their courtesie But there is no remedy 't is the property of weak States to do every thing amiss and never to do well but in spight of their teeths for there is no such thing as prudence amongst them And this Florence has verified in two other cases In the year 1500. when Lewis XII had repossessed himself of Milan he had an inclination to restore Pisa to the Florentines upon the payment of 50000 Florens To this purpose he sent thither his Army under the Command of Mounsieur de Beaumont in whom though a French man the Florentines had great confidence Beaumont came up with his Army betwixt Cassina and Pisa and lodged it conveniently for the battering the Town having been two or three days before it and all things ready for the assault Commissioners came out and offered to surrender to the French upon condition that he would engage upon the honor of his Master that it should not in four months time be delivered to the Florentine to which the Florentines not consenting the Commissioners returned The cause why the Florentines refused it was their jealousie of the King though they had put themselves under his protection They did not consider that the King could better have put the Town into their hands when he was Master of it himself and if he had refused it it would have discover'd him than promise to do it when he was not in possession and yet they be forced to purchase that promise at a very great rate Two years after Arezzo revolted and the King sent Seigneur Iubalt with supplies to the Florentines who had besieged the Town Iubalt was no sooner arrived but the Inhabitants of Arezzo made him the same proffer and the Florentines could not be brought to consent Iubalt resented it and knowing it to be a great fault he practised privately with the Aretines without Communicating with the Florentine Commissaries An agreement was clap'd up betwixt them by virtue of which Iubalt entred the Town and reproached the Florentines by their indiscretion as people wholly inexperienced in the affairs of the world He told them if they desired to have it they should signifie it to the King who would be better able to gratifie them in the Town than without The Florentines were highly offended and spake very hardly of Iubalt till they considered that of Beaumont had done the same at Pisa they had both as well as one I say therefore that weak and irresolute States do seldom take good Counsels unless they be forced for their weakness suffers them not to deliberate where any thing is doubtful and if that doubt be not removed by a violent necessity they never come to a resolution but are always in suspence CHAP. XXXIX Divers People have many times the same Accidents WHoever compares past things with the present will find that in all Ages men have had the same humours and appetites as now So that 't is an easie matter by consulting what is pass'd not only in all common-wealths to see what will follow but to provide such remedies as their Predecessors did apply or if there be no Presidents to invent new remedies according to the similitude of the accidents But because these considerations are neglected History not read or not understood at least by him who governs it comes to pass that all Ages have their miscarriages and troubles The City of Florence after the Government had stood 94 years having lost a good part of its Territory as Pisa and other Towns was forced to make War upon those who possessed them and the Inhabitants being strong and unwilling to restore them much was spent in the War to very little purpose Their great expence occasioned great Taxes and their impositions upon the people made them mutinous and unquiet These affairs were administred by a Magistracy of ten Citizens who were called the Dieci della Guerra The people began to repine and to complain that the said Counsel was the cause of the War and that they embezled their Money That the best way would be to remove them from that Office or when their time was expired to choose no more but let the Government fall back into its old channel again These grave Persons who had the superintendancy of the War were no sooner discharged but things grew worse and worse and instead of recovering Pisa and the rest of the Towns in dispute they lost Arezzo and several other places The people finding their mistake and that their malady was rather from the Feaver than the Physitian they restored the ten Commissaries which before they had cashier'd The people of Rome had the same fancy against the Consuls and would not believe but they were the causes of all their distractions and that to settle all things and preserve themselves in peace the best way would be to remove them entirely and provide that there should never be any more or else to restrain and limit their authority in such manner that they should have no power over them either within the City or without They believed that all proceeded from the ambition of the Nobility who not being able to chastise the people in the City because they were protected by their Tribunes contrived to carry them out of Town under the command of their Consuls to correct them where they should not be capable of any redress The first man who had the confidence to propose it was Terentillus a Tribune who moved that it might be committed to five persons to consider the power of the Consuls and to appoint limitations The Nobility opposed it and it is probable employed all their interest against it for it was no less than to debase the Majesty of the Government and leave themselves no dignity in the commonwealth Nevertheless the obstinacy of the Tribunes was such that the Name of Consul was laid aside and after several experiments the people chose rather to create their Tribunes with Consular power than to create new Consuls again showing thereby that their quarrel was not so much against the authority as Name But they found their error at length and restored their Consuls as the Florentines did their Council of ten CHAP. XL. The creation of the Decem-virat in Rome what things are most remarkable in it and how far such a Constitution may be useful or pernicious to a Common-wealth BEfore we discourse of the troubles and commotions which hapned in Rome by means of the Decem-virat it will not be amiss to give a short history of its Creation in which there are many things well worthy our remark as well for the preservation as destruction of a State and this discourse will remonstrate the errors both of the
how worthy and honest soever left he should have occasion to suspect them afterwards Nor can he make those Cities which he subdues dependant or tributary to that where he is absolute for 't is not the interest of a Tyrant to make his Subjects powerful or united but to keep them low and divided that every Town every Province may depend wholly upon himself so that the Conquests of an Usurper may turn to his own profit but never to the publick to which purpose many things are very handsomely written by Xenophon in his Treatise of Tyranny and things being thus no body is to admire if our Ancestors had so great a zeal for their liberty and the very name of a Tyrant was so odious to them that when long since news was brought to the Army of the assassination of Hieronymo the Nephew of Hiero of Syracuse and the whole Camp was in an uproar against the Conspirators yet when it was told them that they had proclaimed Liberty and a free Government they laid by their indignation against the Tyrannicids and being pacified with the very name of Liberty fell into consultation how it was to be preserved Nor is it to be wondred at then if their revenge be so violent and extraordinary upon those who would violate it of which though there be many examples I shall instance only in one but that most remarkable and horrid and hapning in Corcirca a City in Greece for all Greece being divided and consisting of two Factions one of them under the protection of the Athenians and the other of the Spartans and in Corcirca the Nobility prevailing and having usurped upon the liberty of the people it hapned that the people being reinforced by the assistance of the Athenians overpowred the Nobility and conquered them again Having restored their liberty and shaked off their servitude they clap'd up all the Nobility in a large prison and bringing them forth by ten at a time as if they were to be banished they put them to death with most exquisite torments which severity coming by degrees to the ears of the remainder they resolved to do what was possible to defend themselves against it upon which they stood upon their guard and would suffer none of the Officers to come in whereupon in a great fury the people ran thither pull'd off the covering of the house where they were and throwing down the walls buried them all in the ruines and of this sort of cruelty there were many other examples in that Province for the people are usually more impetuous in revenging the loss of their Liberty than in defending it But it may not unfitly be admir'd in this place what should be the cause that the ancients should be more zealous for publick liberty than we in our days if my opinion may pass I think it is for the same reason that in those times men were more robust and stronger than now which proceedeth much from the diversity betwixt their Education their Religion and ours for whereas our Religion gives us a just prospect and contemplation of things and teaches us to despise the magnificence and pomp of the World the Ethnicks valued them so highly and believing them their chiefest happiness it made them more fierce and busie to defend them and this may be collected from several of their customs for if the sacrifices in their days be compared with the sacrifices in ours theirs will be found magnificent and horrid ours delicate and neat but neither so magnificent nor cruel They wanted not pomp nor formality in those ceremonies and yet to make them the more venerable and solemn they added blood and slaughter to them offering up infinite numbers of beasts which being slain before the people made them more hard-hearted and cruel Moreover the Religion of the Gentiles did not place their beatitude any where but upon such as were full of worldly glory and had done some great action for the benefit of their Country In our Religion the meek and humble and such as devote themselves to the contemplation of divine things are esteemed more happy than the greatest Tyrant and the greatest Conquerer upon Earth and the summum bonum which the others placed in the greatness of the mind the strength of the body and what-ever else contributed to make men active we have determined to consist in humility abjection and contempt of the World and if our Religion requires any fortitude it is rather to enable us to suffer than to act So that it seems to me this way of living so contrary to the ancients has rendred the Christians more weak and effeminate and left them as a prey to those who are more wicked and may order them as they please the most part of them thinking more of Paradise than Preferment and of enduring than revenging of injuries as if Heaven was to be won rather by idleness than arms but that explication of our Religion is erroneous and they who made it were poor and pusillanimous and more given to their case than any thing that was great for if the Christian Religion allows us to defend and exalt our Country it allows us certainly to love it and honour it and prepare our selves so as we may be able to defend it But that lazy and unactive way of education and interpreting things falsly has been the cause that there are not so many Commonwealths as formerly in the World nor so many Lovers and Champions for their Liberty and yet I believe the greatness of the Roman Empire contributed something by reducing all the free States and Republicks under their Dominion Nevertheless when that great Empire was broken and dissolved very few of those poor States could recover their liberty but when it began first to encrease and extend it self no Country was without them and where-ever the Romans carried their Arms they found little Commonwealths banding and confederating against them and defending their liberties with all imaginable constancy which shews that the Romans were a people of more than ordinary courage or they could never have subdued them The Samnites alone will be example sufficient who as Livy reports were so powerful and so hearty defenders of their liberty that for 46 years together they maintained War with the Romans and though they had received many losses and such devastations had been committed in their Country yet they could never be wholly reduc'd before the Consulship of Papyrius Cursor the Son of the first Papyrius But 't is a spectacle worthy of any mans pity to see a Country so full formerly of brave Cities and brave men and all of them free now desolate and uninhabited and scarce any body left to which condition it could have never been reduced but by the discipline and diligence and courage of the Romans but all this proceeded from diversity of Constitution for all Cities and free States whatsoever encrease not only in riches and authority but in the numbers of their men for who is
it that had not rather procreate and have children where he may marry and enrich himself freely than where there is danger that what he gets painfully and lays up carefully for his children may be ravished from them by a Tyrant In a free State you may be sure your children shall be no slaves and that if they behave themselves virtuously they shall be sure of preferment and perhaps come to be Princes riches encrease there faster and that not only by tillage and agriculture but by traffick and arts and people do naturally throng to those places where they may get what they lawfully can and keep securely what they have got The quite contrary happens in Countries that are servile and their condition is worse as their servitude is greater but there is no servitude so severe as to depend upon a Commonwealth and that for two reasons first because it is more durable and less hopes of recovering their liberty and secondly because it is the practise of all Commonwealths to impoverish and weaken what-ever they conquer to fortifie themselves which with Princes is not the way unless they be very barbarous indeed and like the Eastern Princes who not only ruine whole Countries but destroy all human conversation but where Princes are well instituted they know better things and do many times indulge their new Conquests as much as their own Territories leaving them the exercise of their Arts and the enjoyment of their Laws so that though they cannot encrease their wealth as where they are free yet they are not so subject to be ruined as where they are slaves I speak now of servitude to a foreign Prince for the usurpation of a Citizen I have spoken before All which being considered no wonder if the Samnites whilst they enjoyed their liberty were so couragious and strong and when it was once lost grew so abject and contemptible Titus Livius tells us in his History of the Punick War that the Samnites were so overlaid and cowed by one single Legion of the Romans at Nola that they sent Embassadors to Hanibal to beg his assistance and that the said Ambassadors in their Oration to Hanibal the better to move his compassion had this expression We are the People who for an hundred years together waged War with the Romans with our own private Forces and bore up many times against two Armies and two Consuls at once but now our misery is so great and our spirits so low we are unable to defend our selves against one pitiful Legion CHAP. III. It contributed much to the grandeur of the City of Rome that they ruined the neighbouring Cities and admitted strangers to their own dignities and priviledges CRescit interea Roma Albae ruinis The ruine of Alba was the rise of the Romans 'T was the saying of Livy and 't is true for who-ever would make any City great and apt for dominion must endeavour with all industry to throng it with inhabitants otherwise it will be impossible to bring it to any great perfection And this is done two ways by love and by force the first by giving passage and security to all persons that will come and inhabit there that every man shall be free the second by destroying the neighbour Cities and forcing the people to come and dwell in yours The Romans observed both ways and grew so numerous upon it that in the time of their sixth King they had 80000 men in the Town able to bear Arms proceeding in some respects like the Country-man who to make his plant larger and more fruitful cuts off its first shoots that the juyce and virtue which otherwise would dilate into the branches being kept close to the trunk might break out with more vigor afterwards and make it more beautiful and fertile And that this way is necessary for the propagation of the strength and authority of a City appears by the example of Athens and Sparta which Cities though they were both free numerous in Men and happy in their Laws yet they could never arrive at the grandeur of the Romans though Rome seemed more tumultuous and not so well governed as they and all for the reason abovesaid for Rome having by both those ways encreased the number of their Citizens was able to set out an Army at one time of 280000 men whereas Sparta and Athens could never exceed 20000. which is not to be attributed to the excellence of the situation of Rome but to the diversity of their Conduct for Lycurgus the Founder of the Spartan Commonwealth conceiving nothing could be more pernitious to it nor more easily abrogate his Laws than intermixing with new inhabitants he provided with all possible industry that his Citizens should have no commerce or conversation with strangers To that end he not only prohibited the admission of foreigners and their marrying with them but that there might be no encouragement or occasion of entercourse betwixt them he put out a certain Mony of Leather so pitifully inconsiderable that he presumed no Merchants would trouble themselves to import any foreign Commodities for it by which means that City was never in a capacity of being very populous And because all human affairs do hold some proportion and analogy with Nature and it is impossible that a slender trunk should bear vast and ponderous branches it is not to be expected that a small Commonwealth consisting of a small number of Citizens should subdue or at least keep and maintain greater and more populous States than themselves and if it should happen that they should conquer them at any time upon every slight accident they would be subject to lose them like the tree it would be too weak for its boughs and every puff of wind apt to blow it down And thus it fell out with Sparta though it had conquered all Greece made it self absolute thorow that whole Province yet Thebes no sooner rebelled but all the rest of the Cities revolted and having lost its great Empire in a moment it remained like a Tree destitute of its Branches But with Rome it was otherwise its Root and Trunk was strong enough to support its Branches how heavy and spacious soever and this was the great cause of the greatness of the Roman Empire which Livy expressed in two words when he said Crescit interea Roma Alvae ruinis CHAP. IV. There are three ways which Commonwealths have taken to enlarge their Territories HE who has read and observed the History of our Ancestors must find That Common-wealths had generally three ways of enlarging their Empire One is that which was observed of the Tuscans of old who entred into a League of Confederacy with several other Commonwealths with condition of Equality that no particular should have any degree or authority above the rest and that comprehension should be left for all their new Conquests to come in not much unlike the practice of the Swizzers in our times and the Achaians and Aetolians of old And because the
of the Emperour and had no dependance upon any body else redeemed themselves in that manner Whilst these Cities were imployed in this Traffick with the Emperour it fell out that several Corporations that belonged to the Duke of Austria rebelled and having established their Liberty they encreased so fast in reputation and wealth that instead of returning to their subjection to the Duke they became terrible to all people about them From hence it is that in our days this Province is said to consist of the Swizzers the free Towns the Princes and the Emperor And if in the diversity of their constitutions no Wars do arise or at least continue any time it is from their universal respect and defence to the Emperour who though his force be not great has such reputation among them that upon any controversie betwixt them he can easily compose it and this it is that has kept them quiet so long that in man's memory they have had little or no troubles but what hapned betwixt the Swizzers and the House of Austria and though for many years past the title of Emperour has been in the said House yet has it not been able to reduce the pertinacy of the Swizzers though it has attempted it very solemnly Nor did the rest of the Princes and free Towns in Germany contribute their assistance against the Swizzers partly because they were favourers of Liberty and partly because being poor themselves they had no mind the House of Austria should be rich Germany being constituted in this ballance and aequilibrium it rather reverences than fears the Authority of the Emperour and is quiet and at peace because the particular Princes and States being contented with their own moderate Dominions and in awe one of another do forbear those injuries and encroachments which are common in other places whereas if its constitution was otherwise the people would certainly think of enlarging as well as their Neighbors and by consequence interrupt that happy tranquillity which at present they enjoy In other Countries where there is not that exact proportion and equality of power betwixt the Princes and free Towns 't is not so easie to preserve them in peace so that those Commonwealths which have an ambition of extending their Empire must do it by confederation or by the ways of the Romans and whoever takes any other course rather ruines than advantages himself for new Conquests are prejudicial a thousand ways and especially when your force does not encrease with your Territory and you are not able to keep what you conquer and this happens when the expence of an Enterprise is greater than the profit though it succeeds This was the case with our Florentines and the Venetians who after they had conquered Lombardy and Tuscany were much weaker than before when one of them was contented with the Dominion of the Gulf and the other with a territory of six miles about We all think of getting what we can but take no care which way we shall keep it which is the more inexcusable because we have the Roman example before our eyes which we may follow if we please whereas they had no such advantage but wrought all out by their own industry and wisdom But there is another way by which new Conquests do a great deal of mischief and especially to a well ordered Commonwealth and that is when the City or Province that is conquered is voluptuous or effeminate as it hapned first to the Romans and then to Hannibal in the Conquest of Capua where the contagion of their ill manners spread it self so suddenly among the Soldiers that had Capua been farther off the remedies not so near or the Romans in the least measure corrupted themselves that Conquest would have been the ruine of their State For it was true what Livy told us in these words Iam tunc minime salubris militari disciplinae Capua instrumentum omnium voluptatum delinitos militum animos avertit a memoria patriae Capua at that time was no place for Military Discipline for being the instrument and contriver of all sorts of sensuality it debauched the minds of the Soldier from the memory of his Country And certainly such Cities and Provinces do revenge themselves of their Conqueror without effusion of Blood for diffusing their ill manners among his people they become so weak and enervated thereby that they are at the mercy of whoever assails them which Iuvenal has excellently well expressed when he tells us that by their conversation among strangers the Roman manners were so changed that instead of their old temperance and parsimony they were given up wholly to luxury and excess Stevior armis Luxuria incubuit victumque ulciscitur Orbem What by the Conquer'd world could never be Reveng'd by force is done by luxurie Things being thus and even the people of Rome notwithstanding the excellence of their constitution and discipline being subject to suffer and be corrupted by their new acquisitions what will become of those who have no such virtue nor education to defend them but besides all the errors above-mentioned are guilty of another as dangerous as the rest and that is by making use in their Wars not of their own Subjects or Soldiers but of Auxiliaries and Hirelings CHAP. XX. No Prince or Commonwealth without manifest danger can employ foreign Forces either Auxiliary or Mercenary HAd I not discoursed at large in another place about the inconvenience of Auxiliary or Merâ—â—â—â—â—â— Forces in respect of ones own I would have taken this opportunity to have spoken more of it here than I shall do now but having done it already I shall only touch upon it at present which I cannot forbear upon a new occasion which I have met withal in Livr I call those Forces Auxiliaries which a Prince or Confederate sends to your assistance under his own Officers and pay Of this sort were the two Legâ—ons which after the defeat of the Samnites upon the importunity of the Capuâ—◠〈◊〉 left with them for the security of their City But those Legions which were intended for the defence of that City languishing in ease and wallowing in luxury began to forget the Disciplne of their Country and their Reverence to the Senate and contrive how they might make themselves Masters of the Town conceiving the Inhabitants unworthy to enjoy those possessions which they were unable to defend But this Conspiracy was diâ—covered in time and not only prevented but punished by the Romans as we shall shew more largly hereafter At present I shall only say this that of all Soldiers none are employed with so much hazard as your Auxiliaries For first neither Soldiers nor Officers receiving pay from you but from the Prince or State by whom they are sent they have but little regard either to your interest or authority but when the War is done give themselves wholly to pillaging and mischief and that not only with the Enemy but their Friends moved sometimes by their own and
and retaken and following the fate of their Cities and that with no more difficulty or variety of fortune than when there are none at all as has been visible in Lombardy Romagna the Kingdom of Naples and all other quarters of Italy And as to those Citadels which are built in your new Conquests to defend you from your Enemies abroad they also are absolutely unnecessary where you have an Army in the field and where you have none they are of no use A good Army without any such Forts is sufficient to defend you And this has been found by experience by all those who have been thought excellent in the Arts of War or of Peace and particularly by the Romans and Spartans The Romans never erected any new Castles and the Spartans never suffered any old but what Cities soever they conquered down went their Walls nay even in their own Cities they would not permit any fortification as believing nothing so proper to defend them as the virtue and courage of their Citizens A Spartan being demanded by an Athenian Whether the Walls of Athens were not very beautiful Yes says the Spartan if it was but inhabited by Women A Prince therefore who has a good Army in the field may have some benefit by his Castles if they be upon the Frontiers of his Country or in some places upon the Coast where they may â—etard and entertain an Enemy for some time till the Army can come up But if the Prince has no Army on foot let his Castles be where they will upon the Frontiers or elsewhere they are either unserviceable or dangerous dangerous because they are easily lost and made use of by the Enemy against you or if they be too strong to be taken yet the Enemy marches on and leaves them unserviceable behind him For an Army that has no Enemy in the field to confront it takes no notice of Cities or Castles but passing by as it pleases rambles up and down and ravages the whole Country as may be observed both in ancient History and new Francesco Maria not many years since invaded the Dutchy of Urbin nor concern'd himself at all though he left ten of his Enemies Cities behind him Wherefore that Prince who has a good Army need not stand upon Castles and he that has no Castles need not trouble himself to build any all that he is to do is to fortifie the Town of his own residence as well as he can and accustom the Citizens to Arms that he may be able to sustain an Enemy at least for a while till he can make his conditions or procure relief All other designs are expensive in times of Peace and unprofitable in time of War so that he who considers what has been said must acknowledge that as the Romans were wise in every thing else so more particularly in their affairs with the Latins and Privernates in not thinking of Castles and Fortresses but of more noble and generous ways of securing their allegiance CHAP. XXV To attempt a City full of intestine divisions and to expect to carry it thereby is uncertain and dangerous THe divisions in the Commonwealth of Rome were so great betwixt the People and the Nobility that the Veientes and Hetrusci taking the opportunity conspired its destruction and having raised an Army and harrassed their whole Country the Senate sent out G. Manlius and M. Fabius against them whose Army encamping near the Enemy were so provoked by the insolence of their language that the Romans laid aside their private animosities and coming to a Battel overthrew them by which we may observe how easily we erre in our Counsels and how we lose things many times the same way by which we intended to gain them The Veientes thought by assaulting the Romans whilst they were embroil'd in their intestine divisions they should certainly overcome them and their invading them at that time united the Enemy and ruined themselves and not without reason for the occasion of discord and faction in a Commonwealth is idleness and peace and there is nothing unites like apprehension and War So that had the Veientes been wise as they should have been they should have forborn making War upon them at that time and have tryed other artificial ways to have destroyed them The surest way is to insinuate and make your self a Mediator betwixt them and to take upon your self the arbitration rather than they should come to blows When it is come to that you are privately and gently to supply the weaker side to foment and continue the War till they consume one another but be sure your supplies be not too great lest both parties begin to suspect you and believe your design is to ruine them both and make your self Prince If this way be well managed it will certainly bring you to the end which you desired for when both sides are weary they will commit themselves to your arbitration By these Arts the City of Pistoia returned to its dependance upon Florence for labouring under intestine divisions the Florentines favouring first one side and then the other but so slily that no occasion of jealousie was given to either brought them both in a short time to be weary of their distractions and throw themselves unanimously into their arms The Government of the City of Siena had never been changed by their own domestick dissentions had not the Florentines supplied both parties under-hand and fomented them that way whereas had they appeared openly and above board it would have been a means to have united them I shall add one example more Philip Visconti Duke of Milan made War many times upon the Florentines hoping by the dissentions of the City to have conquered them the more easily but he never succeeded So that complaining one time of his misfortunes he had this Expression The follies of the Florentines have cost me two millions of Mony to no purpose In short as the Veientes and Tuscans found themselves in an error when they thought by help of the differences in Rome to have mastered the Romans and were ruined themselves for their pains So it will fare with whoever takes that way to oppress or subvert any other Government CHAP. XXVI He who contemns or reproaches another person incurs his hatred without any advantage to himself I Look upon it as one of the greatest points of discretion in a man to forbear injury and threatning especially in words neither of them weakens the Enemy but threatning makes him more cautious and injury the more inveterate and industrious to revenge it This is manifest by the example of the Veienti of which I discoursed in the foregoing Chapter for not contenting themselves with the mischiefs that they brought upon them by the War they added contumely and opprobrious language which so provoked and enflamed the Roman Army that whereas before they were irresolute and seemed to decline it they now fell upon them unanimously and over-threw them So that it ought to be
the principal care in an Officer that neither himself nor his Soldiers do incense and exasperate his Enemy by ill language for that makes him but the more so does not at all hinder him from revenging himself but does the Author more mischief than the Enemy And of this we have a notable example in Asia Gabades the Persian General having besieged Amida a long time without any considerable progress weary of the tediousness of the Leaguer and hopeless of success he resolved to draw off and be gone but as he was raising his Camp the Garison perceiving it got all upon the Walls and with the basest and most provoking circumstances imaginable upbraided them with Cowardize which nettled Gabedes in such manner that he changed his Counsels sate down again and ply'd it with that industry and indignation that he took it in few days and gave it up to the fury of the Soldier The same thing hapned to the Veienti as I said before who not coâ—tenting themselves to make War upon the Romans went up under their very Noses to reproach them and what followed they irritated them so that they settled the courage and united the animosities of the Roman Army and put them into so high a sit of impatience that they forced the Consul to a Battel in which the Veientes received the reward of their contumacy He therefore who is General of an Army or Governour of a Commonwealth and commands or governs discreetly â—hkes particular care that such ill language be not used either in the City or Army to one another nor to the Enemy For to an Enemy they make him but worse unless such remedies be applyed as are practised by wise men The Romans having left two of their Legions at Capoua they conspired against the Capouans as shall be described more largely hereafter which occasioned a great sedition but it was afterwards appeased by Valerius Corvinus and among other things necessary in that juncture an Act of Oblivion was passed with great penalty to any man that should upbraid any of the Soldiers by their Sedition Tiberius Grachus having the command of a certain number of Servants in the time of Hanibal's Wars which the scarcity of men had forced the Romans to Arm made it no less than death for any man to reproach them by their servitude So mindful were the Roman Officers always of preventing such exprobration as knowing that nothing provokes and incenses a man so highly as to have his imperfections rip'd up whether in earnest or in jest 't is the same thing Nam facetiae asperae quando nimium ex vero traxere acrem sui memoriam relinquunt for biting raillery especially with a tincture of truth leaves an ill impression upon the Memory CHAP. XXVII Wise Princes and well governed States ought to be contented with victory for many times whilst they think to push things forward they lose all THat we use our Enemy with rude and dishonorable language proceeds either from insolence upon some victory past or extraordinary confidence of obtaining it which being false perplexes our understanding and makes us err not only in our words but our actions For from the time that error seizes upon our judgments it makes us many times lose the occasion of a certain good in hopes of a better that is but uncertain which is a point not unworthy our consideration seeing thereby our reason is disturbed and our State many times brought in danger of ruine and this I shall demonstrate by examples both ancient and modern because arguments cannot do it so distinctly Hanibal after he had defeated the Romans at Cannas sent Messengers to Carthage with the news of his Victory and to desire Supplies The Senate was a long time in Counsel what was to be done Annon a grave and solid Citizen being present advised them to make wise use of their Victory and think of making Peace with the Romans which they might do upon better conditions now they were Conquerors than they were in reason to expect upon any disaster That the Carthaginians had satisfied the whole world that they were able to balance the Romans for they had fought with them and beaten them and having gone so far with honour and success they ought not at least in his judgment expose what they had got and by hoping for more run a hazard of losing all But this Counsel was not followed though afterwards when too late it was found to be the better Alexander the great had conquered all the East when the Commonwealth of Tyre a great Town situate like Venice in the water amazed at the grandeur of Alexander sent Embassadors to him to offer him their obedience and subjection upon what terms he pleased only they were unwilling either himself or any of his Army should come into their Town Alexander disdaining to be excluded by a private City to whom the whole world had opened their Gates rejected their offers sent their Embassadors back and went immediately to besiege it The Town stood in the Sea and was well provided both with Victual and Ammunition insomuch as at four months end Alexander began to consider that that single Town had deprived his glory of more time than many other of his Conquests of much greater importance Whereupon he resolved to come to an agreement with them and to grant them the conditions which they demanded at first but the Tyrians transported with pride not only refused his proffers but put his Messengers to death upon which in a rage Alexander caused it to be assaulted immediately and it was done with that fury that the Town was taken and sack'd and part of the people put to the Sword and the rest made slaves In the year 1512. a Spanish Army came into the Dominions of the Florentines to restore the Medici in Florence and tax the City and they were called in and conducted by the Citizens themselves who had promised that as soon as they appeared in those parts they would take Arms and declare for them being entered in the plain and finding no body to joyn with them or supply them scarcity of provisions prevailed with the Spaniard to think of a Treaty and propose it to the Enemy but the Florentines were too high and reâ—used it which was the loss of Prato and the ruine of their State So then a Prince that is attack'd by another Prince more potent than himself cannot be guilty of a greater error than to refuse an agreement especially when it is offered for it can never be so bad but it shall have in it something of advantage for him who accepts it and perhaps contribute to his Victory It ought therefore to have satisfied the people of Tyre that Alexander accepted of the conditions which he had formerly denyed them and it had been Victory enough for them that with Arms in their hands they had forced so great a Conqueror to condescend It was the same case with the Florentines they ought to have
or foreign supplies have had various events as fortune was pleased to befriend them Cataline was ruined Hanno of whom we have spoken before failing in his poison arm'd many thousands of his Partisans which were all slain with him Certain of the principal Citizens of Thebes by the help of a Spartan Army made themselves Masters of that City and tyranniz'd over it so that if all conspiracies against their Country be examined there will none or but very few be found to have miscarried in the management but the whole stress of their good or bad fortune has layn upon the execution which being once pass'd they are subject to no more dangers than what depend upon the nature of the Government for when a man usurps and makes himself a Tyrant he exposes himself to those natural and inseparable dangers which are the consequences of Tyranny against which he has no other remedies than what have been described before This is what I have thought convenient to write upon the subject of Conspiracies and if I have discoursed only of those which are executed by the sword and not by poison it is because they have the same orders and methods True it is the way of poison is the most dangerous as being the more uncertain because every one has not convenience but is forc'd to confer with other people and the necessity of that Conference is much to be feared besides many things happen which makes your potion ineffectual as it fell out to those who killed Commodus who having disgorg'd his poison forc'd the Conspirators to strangle him Princes then have no Enemy to which they are more dangerously exposed than to these Conspiracies because they are never undertaken against any of them but they take away his life or reputation If they succeed he dies if they miscarry and the instruments be put to death it is look'd upon as a pretence and invention of the Prince to satiate his avarice or cruelty upon the blood or fortunes of his enemies My advice therefore is both to Prince and Commonwealth that upon the discovery of a Conspiracy before they think of revenge seriously to consider the quality of it and to compare the condition of the Conspirators with their own if they find them potent and strong till they have furnished themselves with a proportionable force no notice is to be taken if notice be taken they are unable to defend themselves and certainly ruined for the Conspirators finding themselves discovered will grow desperate and be under a necessity of venturing let the success be what it will The Romans may be an example of this way of dissembling for having as we said before left two of their Legions at Capua for the security of that City against the Samnites the Commanders of the said Legions conspir'd to make themselves Masters of the Town The Romans having notice of their designs committed the prevention of it to Rutilius their new Consul who to lull and delude the Conspirators gave out that the Senate had confirmed that Station to those Legions for another winter which the Legions believed and thinking then they should have time enough they neglected to hasten their design till at length observing the Consul to draw them away insensibly and dispose them into other parts they began to suspect and that suspicion made them discover themselves and put their plot in execution Nor can an example be brought more properly for either sides for by it we may see how cool and remiss people are when they think they have time enough and how sudden and vigorous when necessity presses them And the Prince or Commonwealth which would defer the discovery of a Plot cannot do it with more advantage to himself than by giving the Conspirators some handsom occasion to believe that they may execute it with more ease and security another time for thereby the Prince or Commonwealth will have more leisure to provide for their defence they who have proceeded otherwise have but hastened their own ruine as we have seen in the case of the Duke of Athens and Gulielmo de Pazzi The Duke having made himself Sovereign in Florence and understanding there were Conspiracies against him without enquiring farther into the business caused one of them to be apprehended which giving an alarm to the rest they immediately took arms and turn'd the Duke out of his Supremacy Gulielmo being Commissary for that City in the Val di Chiana in the year 1501 having news of a great Plot in Arezzo in favour of the Vitelli and that their design was to renounce the dominion of the Florentines he marched thither directly without considering the power of the Conspirators or his own or so much as furnishing himself with what Forces he might have done and by the advice of the Bishop his Son causing one of the Conspirators to be seized the rest fell presently to their arms disclaim'd the Florentines and took their Commissary prisoner But when Conspiracies are weak and in their infancy if they be discovered they are to suppress them out of hand without any suspence and not to follow the example either of the Duke of Athens or Dion of Syracuse of whom the first caused a Citizen who had discovered a plot to him to be put to death that the rest observing how unwilling he was to believe any thing of them might be the more secure and hold themselves obliged Dion on the other side suspecting the affections of some people caused one of his Confidents called Calippus to pretend a Conspiracy and see if he could draw them in but both these practices succeeded very ill for by the first all people were discouraged from making any discovery and all Conspirators confirmed and by the other a way was recommended for the murdering of himself for Calippus finding he had an opportunity to practice without danger he did it so effectually that it cost Dion both his Government and Life CHAP. VII How it comes to pass that in the changes of State from liberty to servitude and from servitude to liberty some are very innocent and others very bloody SOme people perhaps may wonder how it should come to pass that Governments should be changed from one form to another sometimes easily and without blood and sometimes with great difficulty and slaughter be the variation as it will either from liberty to tyranny or from tyranny to liberty And this diversity of mutations is so strange that as History tells us they happen sometimes with infinite effusion of blood and at other times without the least injury to any body as in Rome when the Government was taken from the Kings and put into the hands of the Consulâ— no body was expulsed or so much as molested but the Tarquins but in other alterations it has been otherwise and the cause of this diversity may in my judgment be deduced from the manner in which that State was acquired if it was obtained by force it could not be without injury
kept them in perpetual fear unless they were endued with more than ordinary virtue like Manlius Torquatus But he whose command is over his Subjects of whom Cornelius speaks is to have a care they grow not insolent and contemn him for his easiness and there is rather to use severity than gentleness with them yet that is to be done too with such moderation that they may be kept from abhorring him for the hatred of the Subject is never good for a Prince and the best way to prevent it is by not interrupting the Subject in the quiet enjoyment of his Estate for blood unless there be some design of rapacity under it no Prince does desire it but upon some extraordinary necessity and that necessity happens but seldom But when cruelty and rapine meet together in the nature of one person there never wants desire nor pretences for cruelty as I have demonstrated largely in another Treatise upon this occasion Quintius therefore deserved more praise than Appius deserved and the saying of Tacitus is true enough with the aforesaid restriction but not in the case of Appius and because I have spoken of kindness and severity I will give you one example how mildness prevailed more upon the Falisci than violence could do CHAP. XX. One instance of humanity wrought more upon the Falisci than all the force of the Romans CAmillus having besieged the Falisci and attempted many things against them but in vain a School-master who had the tuition of several of the principal young Gentlemen of that City thinking to gratifie Camillus and ingratiate with the people of Rome carrying them out of the walls under pretence of exercise and recreation he conveyed them all into the Camp of Camillus and presenting them to him told him that by their means he might become Master of the Town Camillus was so far from accepting his present that he caused the Paedagogue to be strip'd and his hands tied behind him and then putting a rod into every one of the young Gentlemens hands he caused them scourge him back again into the Town which piece of humanity and justice when the Citizens understood they resolved to defend themselves no longer and so immediately surrendred a great example doubtless and by which we may learn that many times kindness and generosity moves an Enemy more than all the force and artifice of war for 't is frequently seen that those Provinces and Cities which no violence or stratagem have subdued have been melted and wrought upon by one single act of pity chastity or liberality and of this History is full of many other examples besides Pyrrhus could not be got out of Italy by all the power of the Romans and yet Fabritius sent him packing by one act of generosity and that was giving him notice that some of his intimates would poison him and had made overtures to the Romans to that purpose Again Scipio Africanus got not so much honour by the taking of Carthage as he did by one act of chastity when he sent home a young beautiful Lady that was taken prisoner and presented to him untouch'd to her Husband for at the news of that one act all Spain was astonished and began to admire the virtue and innocence of the Romans which virtue is a thing so universally celebrated that there are no great persons endued with it but are highly esteemed by all people as appears by all Ethicks Politicks and History among which the History of Xenophon is abundantly copious in demonstrating what Honours and what Victories accrewed to Cyrus upon the bare account of his affability and mildness and how he was never guilty of the least pride or cruelty or luxury or any other vice that defiles the conversation of man Nevertheless seeing Hanibal did the same things and by a contrary way it will not be amiss in the next Chapter to enquire the reason CHAP. XXI How it came to pass that Hanibal by methods quite contrary to what were practised by Scipio did the same things in Italy that the other did in Spain I Doubt not but it may seem strange to some people that other Captains who have taken a quite contrary way to what is prescribed in my last Chapter should notwithstanding have had the same success for from thence it seems to follow that Victory does not depend either upon humanity or justice when we see the same praise and reputation acquir'd by quite contrary habits and to prove this we need not go far for examples the same Scipio whom we mentioned before being with an Army in Spain carried himself with so much piety and justice and liberality to all people that he got the love of the whole Province on the other side we see Hanibal in Italy acting quite contrary and with violence cruelty rapine and all manner of infidelity persecuting the people and yet with the same laudable effects as Scipio had in Spain And considering with my self what might be the reason they seemed to me to be several The first is because men are studious of novelty and that not only those who are under slavery or subjection but those who are free and in peace for as is said before men are as well satiated with happiness as afflicted with misery This desire therefore of change opens a door to any man that invades a Province with any considerable force if he be a foreigner they all follow after him if a native they attend him assist him and encourage him so that let him take which way he pleases he must needs make great progress in those places Again people are generally excited two ways either by love or by fear so that he that is feared is often times as readily obeyed as he that is beloved and sometimes more It is not material therefore to a Commander which of these two ways he takes for if he be a virtuous person and of any extraordinary faculties he will be admired by the people as Hanibal and Scipio were whose great worth effaced or covered all the faults that they committed But in either of these two ways great inconveniences may arise and such as may ruine a Prince For he who desires to be beloved upon the least excess or immoderation in his Courtship is subject to be despised and he on the other side who affects to be feared upon the least extravagance makes himself odious and to keep the middle way exactly is not possible to our nature wherefore it is necessary to those who exceed in either kind to attone for it with some extraordinary virtue as Hanibal and Scipio did who though persons of great prudence and conduct yet it appeared that both of them suffered by their manner of living as well as they were advanced Their advancement is mentioned before their sufferings as to Scipio was the rebellion of his Army and part of his friends in Spain which proceded from nothing but want of being feared for men are naturally so unquiet that every little
command Valerius Corvinus on the other side might exercise his gentleness without inconvenience because he commanded nothing extraordinary or contrary to the customs of the Romans at that time which custom being good was sufficient to honour him and not very troublesom to observe whereby it hapned that Valerius was not necessitated to punish offenders because there were but very few of that sort and when there were any their punishment as is said before was imputed to the Laws and not to the cruelty of the Prince by which it fell out that Valerius had an opportunity by his gentleness to gain both affection and authority in the Army which was the cause that the Souldiers being equally obedient to one as well as the other though their humours and discipline were different yet they might do the same things and their actions have the same effects If any are desirous to imitate either of them they will do well to have a care of running into the same errors as Scipio and Hanibal did before which is not to be prevented any other way but by singular virtue and industry These things being so it remains now that we enquire which of those two ways are most laudable to follow and it is the harder to resolve because I find Authors are strangely divided some for one way and others for the other Nevertheless they who pretened to write how a Prince is to govern are more inclinable to Valerius than Manliâ—s and Xenophon in his character of Cyrus jumps exactly with Livy's description of Valerius especially in his expedition against the Samnites when he was Consul for the morning before the Fight he made a speech to his Souldiers with that mildness and humanity that the Historian tells us Non aliâs militi familiarior dux fuit inter infimos militum omnia haud gravate munia obeundo In ludo praeterea militari cum velocitatis viriumque inter se aequales cort amina ineunt comiter facilis vincere ac vinci vultu eodem nec quenquam aspernari parem qui se offerret factis benig nus prore dictis haud minus libertatis alienae quam suae dignitatis memor quo nihil popularius est quibus artibus petierat Magistratum iisdem Gerebat No General was ever more familiar with his Soldiers no Soldier too mean for him to converse with no office too base for him to undertake In their Military recreations when they ran or wrestled for a prize he would not only run or wrestle but win or lose be overcome or conquer with the same evenness and unconcernment nor did he ever disdain or refuse any man that challenged him In his actions he was bountiful as occasion was offered in his words he was as mindful of other peoples liberty as of his own dignity and which is the most grateful thing to the people in the world the same arts which he used in the obtaining the same he exercised in the management of his Magistracy Livy speaks likewise very honorably of Manlius acknowledging that his severity upon his Son made the whole Army so obedient and diligent that it was the occasion of their victory against the Latins and he goes so far in his praise that after he has given an exact account of the Battel and victory and described all the dangers and difficulties to which the Romans were exposed he concludes that it was only the Conduct and courage of Manlius that got the victory that day and afterwards comparing the strength of both Armies he does not scruple to say that on which side soever Manlius had been that side would certainly have had the day Which being so makes my question very hard to determine nevertheless that it may not be altogether unresolved I conceive that in a Citizen brought up under the strictness of a Commonwealth the way of Manlius would be best and least subject to danger because it seems most for the interest of the publick and not at all proceeding from private ambition besides to carry ones self severely to every body and pursue nothing but the benefit of the Publick is not a way to make parties or friends without which there can be no troubles in a State So that he who proceeds in that manner must needs be very useful and not at all suspicious to the State But the way of Valerius is quite contrary for though the Commonwealth reaps the same fruits as in the other yet jealousies will arise and people will be fearful that in the end his great favour among the Souldiers will be employed to set up himself with very ill consequences upon their liberty And if in Publicola's time these ill effects did not happen it was because as then the minds of the Romans were not corrupt nor had he been long enough in authority But if we consider a Prince as Xenophon did in that case we must leave Manlius and follow Valerius clearly because a Prince is by all means to endeavour the obedience of his Subjects and Soldiers by ways of amity and kindness They will be obedient if they find him virtuous and a strict observer of his Laws they will love him if they see him courteous and affable and merciful and endued with all the good qualities which were in Valerius and which Xenophon attributes to Cyrus For to be particularly beloved and have an Army true to his interest is instar omnium and answers to all other policies of State But it is otherwise when an Army is commanded by one who is a Citizen of the same City with the rest of his Army for he is subject to the same Laws and Magistrates as well as they In the Annals of Venice we read that in former times the Venetian Galleys returning from some expedition and lying near the Town there happened a quarrel betwixt the Citizens and the Seamen which proceeded so far that it came to a tumult both sides betook themselves to their Arms and neither the power of their Officers the reverence of the Citizens nor the authority of the Magistrate was able to quiet them But as soon as a certain Gentleman appeared who had commanded them the year before remembring with what courtesie he had behaved himself their kindness to him prevail'd above all other courses and they gave over the combat and retir'd but that affection and ready obedience to his commands cost the poor Gentleman very dear for thereby he became so obnoxious to the Senate that not long after they secured themselves against him either by imprisonment or death I conclude then that a Prince may better follow the example of Valerius but to a Citizen it is dangerous both to himself and the State to the State because that way leads directly to Tyranny to himself because let his intentions be never so innocent he will certainly be suspected and bring himself in danger So on the other side the severity of Manlius is as pernicious in a Prince but in a Citizen it is
the whole with death would be too severe and to punish one part and excuse another would be injust to those who were punish'd and encourage the other to commit the same offence again But where all are alike guilty to execute every tenth man by lots gives him who is to be punished occasion to complain only of his fortune and makes him who escapes afraid against the next time The good Women then who would have poyson'd their Husbands and the Priests of Bacchus were punished as they deserv'd and though these maladies in a Commonwealth have many times very ill Symptoms yet they are not mortal because there is still time enough for the cure But where the State is concern'd it is otherwise and time may be wanting and therefore if they be not seasonably and prudently redressed the whole Government may miscarry And this may be clear'd to us by what hapned in Rome The Romans having been very free in bestowing the freedom and priviledges of their City upon strangers the strangers grew so numerous by degrees and to have so great a Vote in the Councils that the whole Government began to totter and decline from its old to its new Inhabitants which being observed by Quiâ—â—us Fabius the Censor he applyed a remedy in time by reducing all the new Citizens into four Tribes that being contracted into so narrow a space they might not have so malignant an influence upon the City and this so timely and so useful expedient was taken so thankfully from him by the people that they gave him the addition of Maximus and he was called Fabius Maximus ever after THE ART OF WAR IN SEVEN BOOKS By NICHOLAS MACHIAVEL Newly Translated into ENGLISH and for the benefit of the Reader divided into CHAPTERS LONDON Printed for Iohn Starkey Charles Harper and Iohn Amery in Fleetstreet 1680. THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER Kind Reader IT may seem strange to you at first that I have divided the Books of Machiavel and disposed them into Chapters contrary to the order of his Dialogues but I am assured when you consider my intention you will rather applaud than condemn me I was always sensible that no man could blame me if I kept exactly to my Author nevertheless I thought this way more beneficial the length of a Discourse being commonly tiresome to any man who affects brevity besides that in all sorts of Books these kind of breaches and sections are very helpful to the memory For this reason the Works of Aristotle Vitruvius and Pliny which were originally in another method have been reduc'd since into this manner of division I have presum'd to do the same in this my Translation having had more regard to the ease and advantage of the Reader than to the exact order of the Author whom I have not followed verbatim by reason of the diversity of the Languages yet his sense I have observed as strictly as would consist with the propriety of our own Language assuring my self that your bounty will dispence with some faults seeing nothing can be done so accurately but will be subject to many THE PREFACE OF NICOLO MACHIAVELLI TO Lorenzo the Son of Philippo Strozzi Gentleman of FLORENCE MAny have been and are still of opinion that in the whole world no two things are more incongruous and dissimilar than a Civil and a Military life insomuch that many times when a man designs himself for a Soldier he not only takes upon him a new habit but he changes his Customs his Company his manner of Discourse and leaves off all ways of civil conversation for he who would be light and nimble and ready for the execution of all sort of violence looks upon a civil habit as improper and cumbersome civil customs are unsuitable to him who thinks them soft and effeminate and inconsistant with the life he proposes and indeed it would be undecent if a man whose business it is to look big and Hector and fright the whole world with his Oaths and his Blasphemies should carry himself demurely and behave himself with the usual gentleness and complacency of other men and this is it which in our days makes this opinion true But if we consider the condition and method of old times we shall find no two things more united more conformable nor more necessarily amicable than they For all the Arts which are contrived in a City for the common good all the courses invented to keep men in fear of God and the Laws would be useless and vain were not force provided for their defence which force if well ordered will be able to make them good though perhaps the Laws are not so exact in themselves for this is most certain good Orders without Military coertion will quickly moulder to nothing and run to decay like a Noble and Princely Palace that is uncovered at the top and has nothing but the splendor and richness of its furniture to defend it from the weather And if anciently Kingdoms and States imploy'd great industry to keep people in peace and in the faith and fear of God certainly in the regulation of their Military Discipline they employed much more for where can ones Country repose greater confidence than in him who has promised to die for it Where can there be greater inclination to Peace than in him who is not capable of molestation or injury but by War Where can there be more fear of God than in him who being obnoxious to hourly dangers has more need of his divine assistance This necessity being well considered by those who gave Laws to Kingdoms and those who had the Command of their Armies was the cause that the life of a Souldier was in great reputation with all people and much imitated and follow'd But Military discipline being now totally deprav'd and degenerated from the practice of the ancients that depravity hath been the occasion of several ill opinions which have brought that Discipline into contempt and made all people hate and avoid the conversation of a Souldier But considering with my self both from what I have seen and read that it is not impossible to revive the discipline of our Ancestors and reduce it to its primitive excellence I resolved to keep my self from idleness to write what I thought might be to the satisfaction of such persons as were studious of the art of War and lovers of Antiquity 't is true 't is more than ordinary boldness to treat of this Subject where others have been so scrupulous and wary yet I cannot think it an error to write of what others have professed and exercised with much more audacity and presumption For my faults in writing may be corrected without prejudice to any body but those faults which they commit in the execution cannot be repair'd but by the destruction and ruine of several people consider then Sir the quality of my labours and according to your judgment let them be approved or rejected as you think they deserve I send them to you as
the whole World being as it were inclosed in the walls of Rome when it grew depraved and corrupted there the whole World became corrupt and the Scythians were encouraged to make their inroads and depredations upon the Empire which had been able to consume and extinguish the virtue of all other places but was not able to preserve it at home And though afterwards by the inundation of those Barbarians it was divided into several Cantons yet for two reasons their virtue was never restored one was because when Laws and Orders are once neglected and disused it is with no little pain that they are reassumed the other our way of living in these times in respect of the Christian Religion imposes not that necessity of defending our selves as anciently it did for then those who were overcome in war either killed themselves or remained in perpetual slavery in which they lived afterwards in continual misery The Towns that were taken were either totally demolished or the Inhabitants banished their Goods plundered their Estates sequestred and themselves dispersed all over the World so that he who was overcome suffered such miseries as are not to be expressed People being terrified by these insupportable cruelties kept up the reputation of military discipline and advanced all those who were excellent therein But at present we are under no such apprehensions no man kills himself for being conquered no man is kept long a prisoner because it is more easie to set him at liberty If a City rebels twenty times it is not immediately razed and demolished the Citizens are continued in their Estates and the greatest punishment they fear is a mulct or a tax so that men will not now submit to military orders nor apply themselves to those labours to avoid a peril which they do not apprehend Besides the Provinces of Europe are under few heads in comparison of what they were anciently for all France is under one King all Spain under another Italy is divided into four parties so that the weaker Cities that are unable to maintain war of themselves defend themselves by alliances with the Conqueror and those who are strong for the reasons abovesaid are in no fear of ruine Cos. And yet within these five and twenty years several Cities have been sack'd and several Kingdoms subverted which example should teach others to reassume and live according to the custom of our ancestors Fabr. 'T is true as you say yet if you observe what those Towns were which have suffered in that nature you will find that they were no capital Cities but subordinate and depending so we see though Tortona was demolished Milan was not though Capua was destroyed Naples was not Brescia was sack'd but Venice was not Ravenna was pillaged but Rome was not These examples do not make him who governs recede from his designs but makes him rather more refractory and obstinate and pursue them with more vehemence to recompence himself with taxes and new impositions This it is that makes men unwilling to expose themselves to the trouble of military exercises â—â—oking upon it partly as unnecessary and partly as a thing which they do â—ot understand Those who are subjects and ought to be affrighted with such example of servituâ—e â—â—ve not power to help themselves and those who are Princes having lost their dominion are unable as having neither time nor convenience Whilst those who are able either cannot or will not choosing rather to run along with fortune without any disquiet than to trouble themselves to be virtuous for believing that all things are governed by fortune they had rather follow her swing than contend with her for mastery And that you may believe what I have said to be really true consider the Country of Germany where by reason of their several Principalities and States their discipline is good and depends upon the example of those people who being jealous of their States and Seigneuries maintain themselves in honour and grandeur as fearing to fall into a servitude out of which they could not so easily emerge This I suppose is sufficient to shew the reason of the vileness and depravity of our present discipline I know not whether you may be of the same opinion or whether my discourse may not have raised some scruple in your mind Cosimo Not at all I am rather perfectly satisfied only I desire returning to our first subject to know of you how you would order your horse with these Battalia's in what numbers you would have them how you would have them arm'd and how officer'd CHAP. IV. What number of horse are to be put into a Battalion and what proportion is to be observed for their baggage Fabr. YOu may think perhaps I forgot it but do not wonder for I shall speak of it but little for two reasons One is because the nerves and strength of an Army 〈◊〉 the Infantry the other is because the horse are not so much debauched and degenerated as the foot for the Cavalry is equal if not better at this day than in ancient times Yet I have said something before of the way how they are to be exercised and as to the manner of arming them I would arm them according to our present fashion both light horse and men at arms But the light horse if I might prescribe should carry cross-bows with some few harquebusses among them which though in other affairs of war they are but of little use are here very necessary to frighten the Country people and force them from their passes which perhaps they have undertaken to defend for one harquebuss will scarre them more than an hundred other arms But to come to their number having undertaken to imitate the Roman Militia I would take but 300 good horse for every Battalion of which 150 should be men at arms and 150 light horse and I would appoint a Captain to each of these squadrons 15 Corporals to each and a Trumpet and Ensign I would allow every ten men at arms five Carriages and every ten light horse two which Carriages as with the foot should carry the Tents Utensils Hatchets and other Instruments and Harness Think not that what I say would be any disorder seeing their men at arms had each of them four horses in their equipage which is a thing much corrupted for now in Germany you shall see men at arms with but one horse and themselves and twenty of them are allowed but one Wagon to carry their necessaries The Roman horse were likewise alone but the Triarii were lodg'd always by them who were obliged to assist them in the looking to their horses which may be easily imitated by us as shall be shewn in the distribution of our lodgments what there the Romans did of old and what the Germans do at this day we may do likewise and we do very ill if we do not These horse being listed and called over may be mustered sometimes with the Battalion at a general Muster of all the
their numbers quickly distress'd them and they were forced to surrender CHAP. IV. Other Advertisements both for the Besiegers and the Besieged Fabr. IN matters of assault I say the first thing to be provided against is the Enemies first Effort for by that way the Romans gain'd many a Town assaulting it suddenly and in all places at once and this they called Aggredi urbem Corona or to make a general assault as Scipio did when he took new Carthage in Spain But if the Besieged can stand the first shock it gives him such courage he will hardly be taken afterwards And if things should go so far that a breach should be made and the enemy enter yet the Citizens have their remedy if they will stand to one another for many Armies have been repelled and defeated after they have entered a Town The remedy is this that the Inhabitants make good the highest places of the City and fire upon them from the windows and tops of their houses But against this the Assailers have made use of two inventions one was to open the Gates of the City and give the Inhabitants opportunity to escape The other is to make Proclamation that whoever throws down his Arms shall have quarter and none put to the Sword but such as are taken in Arms and this artifice has been the taking of many a Town Moreover a Town is taken with more ease when it is so suddenly attacked as when an Army keeps at such a distance as that the Town believes either you will not at all or cannot attempt it before they shall have the alarm of your motion because it is at present so far off Wherefore if you can come upon them suddenly and secretly not once in twenty times but you will succeed in your design I speak very unwillingly of the occurrences of our times because it must be done with reflection upon me and my friends and if I should discourse of other people I should not know what to say Nevertheless I cannot pass by the example of Caesar Borgia called Duke Valentino who being with his Army at Nocera under pretence of making an inroad into the Dutchy of Camerin turned suddenly upon the State of Urbin and master'd it without any trouble in one day which another man would not have been able to have effected in a much longer time CHAP. V. A man is not to depend upon the Countenance of the Enemy but is rather to suspect what even he sees with his eyes Fabr. THose who are besieged are to be very careful of the tricks and surprizes of the Enemy and therefore they are not to relye upon the countenance that he carries but are rather to suspect there is some fraud or deceit that will fall heavily upon them if they suffer themselves to be deluded Domitius Calvinus besieging a Town made it his custom every day to march round about the Walls with a good part of his Army The Garrison fancying by degrees that it was only for his recreation began to slacken their Guards of which Domitius having notice fell suddenly upon them and carried the Town Other Generals have had intelligence of relief that was expected in the Town and having habited a certain number of their Soldisrs and disposed them under counterfeit Ensigns like those which the besieged expected they were received into the Gates and possessed themselves of the Town Cimon an Athenian General having a design to surprize a Town in the night set fire on a Temple that was without it and the Inhabitants flocking out to extinguish the fire they fell into an Ambuscado and lost their Town Others having taken some of the Servants and such people as came forth for forrage put them to the Sword and disguising their own Soldiers in their Cloths have entred the Gates and made themselves Masters of the Town CHAP. VI. How to disfurnish a Garrison of its men and to bring a terror upon a Town Fabr. THe Ancients have besides these made use of several Stratagems and Artifices to unfurnish the Enemies Garrisons of their men When Scipio was in Affrica being desirous to possess himself of some of the Garrisons which the Carthaginians had in their custody he made many offers to besiege them but pretending fear he not only drew off on a sudden but marched away with his Army to a great distance Hanibal supposing our apprehension real to follow him with a greater force drew out his Garrisons which Scipio understanding sent Massinissa to surprize them and he did it with success Pyrrhus making War in Sclavonia advanced against the chief Town in that Province in the defence of which Town several people having got together he pretended to despair of carrying it by force and turning his Arms against other Towns which were not visibly so strong he prospered so well in his design that the said Town drawing out a good part of its Garrison in relief to their Neighbours left it self so weak as it became a prey to the Enemy Many have corrupted and defiled the waters and turned Rivers out of their Channels to make themselves Masters of a Town and have miscarried when they have done It is a way likewise that contributes much to the taking of a Town to affright them with reports as of some great Victory that you have obtained some great supplies that you have received and an obstinate resolution if they do not surrender quickly to put them all to the Sword CHAP. VII To corrupt a Garrison and take it by Treachery Fabr. SOme Generals of old have endeavoured to take Towns by treachery by corrupting some of the Garrison and they have done it several ways Some have sent of their own men as fugitives into the Town thereby to put them into credit and Authority with the Enemy and give them opportunity to betray them Some by this means have discovered the strength of the Garrison and by that discovery have taken the Town Some under feigned pretences have stopped up the Gates of a Town from shutting with a Cart or beam or such kind of thing and given their party the convenience of entring Hanibal besieging the Town of Tarentum in Calabria which was defended by the Romans under the Conduct of Levius corrupted a person in the Garrison called Eoneus and ordered him that he should go out a hunting in the night and pretend he durst not do it in the day for fear of the Enemy Eoneus observed his directions went out and in several nights together and the Guards had not the least suspition at length Hanibal disguizing some of his men in the habit of Huntsmen sent them in after him who killed the Guards possessed themselves of the Gates and let Hanibal into the Town A Garison is likewise to be cheated by drilling them a good distance out of Town and pretending to fly when they come to charge you Many and Hanibal among the rest have suffered their Camps to be possessed by the Enemy that they
grave and wise Citizen could never persuade the people against an Expedition into Sicily but persuing it against all sober advise they miscarried and their own Country was ruined Scipio when he was made Consul desired that he might have Africk for his province and he would undertake to demolish Carthage but the Senate being averse upon the judgment of Fabius Maximus Scipio threatned to propose it to the people as knowing very well how gratfâ—ul it would be to them We might produce examples of the same nature out of our own City of Florence as when Hercules Bentivogli General of the Florentine Army with Antonio Giacomini having defeated the Forces of Bertolomeo at San Vincenti they went to besiege Pisa which enterprize was debated and concluded by the people upon the great promises which Hercules had made though indeed the wiser sort of Citizens were against it but the multitude were possessed with great matters that would be done and nothing could dissuade them I say then there is not an easier way to ruine a State where the authority is in the people than to put them upon some gallant but desperate enterprize for where there is any thing of magnanimity in their nature it is sure to be embraced and it is not in the wit of men to dissuade them but as this is many times the ruine of the State so it is more often and more certainly the destruction of those Citizens which promoted and commanded it for the people full of expectations of victory when they find they have miscarried never impute it to an ill accident or fortune but throw all upon the ignorance or treachery of their Commanders which seldom escape without being banished imprisoned or killed as has hapned to several of the Carthaginian and Athenian Captains Nor does it avail that they have been victorious before for their present misfortune drowns all as it fell out to Antonio Giacomini our General who not taking Pisa as he promised and the people expected fell into so great disgrace with them that notwithstanding the many great things which he had done he was permitted to live more by the favour and humanity of the Governors than by gratitude or good nature of the people CHAP. LIV. How great the authority of a grave man is to asswage the tumultuousness of the people THe second thing remarkable that was mentioned in my last Chapter is that their is nothing more certain to appease a popular tumult and reduce the people to reason than the interposition of some wise person of authority among them as Virgil has told us with very good reason Tum pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem Conspexere silent arrectisque auribus adstant If in their tumults a grave man appears All 's whist and nothing stirring but their ears He therefore who commands in a mutinous Army or in a seditious City and desires to appease either the one or the other is in my judgment to present himself with the most grace and advantage that he can adorned with all the ornaments of his dignity and what-ever else may make him venerable to the people Not many years since Florence was divided into Factions the Frateschi and the Arabiati and their animosity was so great they came to blows and the Frateschi were overthrown and Pagolantonio Soderini slain among the rest who was as eminent a Citizen as most of his time upon the strength of this Victory the people ran in a tumult to his house with intention to plunder it but his Brother Francesco then Bishop of Volterra and Cardinal now being accidently there as soon as he understood how things were and perceived the rabble to encrease he called for the richest of his Robes and having put them on and his Episcopal Rochet over them he marched out into the croud and by the Majesty of his person and the efficacy of his language prevailed with them to forbear and to return peaceably to their houses which action was so grateful to the City that it was celebrated publickly many daies after I conclude therefore that there is not a surer nor more necessary way to compose the distractions of the people than the appearance of some grave person in such a posture as may make him venerable to them To return therefore to what we said before it may be seen from hence with what obstinacy the Romans accepted of that proposition for transplanting to Veii because they thought it profitable and did not perceive the inconvenience that was in it for as there hapned many tumults thereupon so much more mischief had followed had not the Senate and some other grave persons interposed and by good fortune restrain'd them CHAP. LV. How easily things are managed in a City where the Commons are incorrupt how hard it is to erect a principality where there is an equality and where it is not a Commonwealth is impossible THough we have declared before what we thought was to be expected from a City whose inhabitants were totally corrupt yet that will not hinder us from considering the subtilty of the Senate in relation to a vow which Camillus had made to consecrate the tenth part of the spoils of the Veientes to Apollo which spoils being fallen into the clutches of the Common people the Senate had no way but to publish an Edict requiring all of them at a certain time and place to bring in the tenth part of their gains 'T is true that Proclamation had no great effect because another expedient was found out to satisfie the vow yet it is remarkable the confidence the Senate had in the good nature and complyance of the people and the great opinion that they would punctually bring in what-ever they were commanded On the other side it is observable that the people went not about to shuffle or defraud the Edict by bringing in less than their due but declared frankly against it as a thing illegally required Which example with many other which I have mentioned before are brought to shew the probity and religion wherewith that people was endued and what good might be expected from them and certainly where there is not that submission and conformity no confidence is to be had as in those Provinces which are corrupted at this day in Italy above all the rest and I may say in France and in Spain which are likewise in some measure under the same corruption for tho they are not perhaps subject to so many and so dangerous disorders as we are in Italy yet it proceeds not from the meliority of the people but from the excellence of their constitution being governed by a Monarchy which keeps them united not only by the virtue and example of their Prince but by the Laws and Customs of each Kingdom which are preserved to this day Germany is the place of the whole World where the footsteps of the old Romans virtue and fidelity is conspicuous and that fidelity is the cause why so many
Cities live happily in liberty for they are so careful and studious of their Laws that that very one thing keeps them from servitude and being over-run by their enemies and if any instance be desired of this more than ordinary probity in the Germans I shall produce one not unlike that before betwixt the Senate and the people of Rome It is the custom in those States when they have occasion for mony upon the publick account for the councils and Magistrates in authority to lay a tax of one or two per cent upon all the inhabitants under their jurisdiction according to their respective Estates at the day and place appointed for payment every man appears with his mony and having taken his oath first that the sum he pays is according to the full of his Estate he throws it into a chest provided for that purpose and no notice taken what it is he throws in from whence we may conclude that there is still some sparks left in that people of their old ingenuity and religion nor is it to be doubted but every man pays his due for otherwise the sum would not amount to the imposition nor to what they formerly paid whereby the fraud would be discovered and they become liable to a new tax which integrity and justice is the more admirable in our days because it is to be found no where but in Germany and the reason as I conceive is twofold one because they have had little or no commerce with their neighbours neither trading into foreign parts nor admitting foreigners into theirs contenting themselves with their own diet and clothes and commodities and thereby preventing all occasion of evil conversation which is the corruption of good manners especially among the French the Spaniards and Italians which are wicked enough to debauch the whole World The other reason is because those Commonwealths who have preserved their liberties and kept themselves incorrupt do not suffer any of their Citizens to live high and at the rate of a Gentleman but they live all in an equality and parity as those few Noblemen or Gentlemen who are there are very odious to the people and when-ever any of them fall by accident into their hands they die without mercy as those who are the fountain of all their luxury and the occasion of their scandal I call those Gentlemen who live idly and plentifully upon their Estates without any care or employment and they are very pernicious where-ever they are but above all they are most dangerous who besides their great revenues have their Castellanies their Jurisdictions and their Vassels which pay them fealty and homage of these two sorts the Kingdom of Naples the Territories of Rome Romagna and Lombardy are full for which reason there is no such thing as a free State in all those Countries because the Gentry are mortal enemies to those constitutions and it would be impossible to erect a Republick where they had the dominion if any alteration be to be wrought it is by reducing them into a Monarchy for the matter being so corrupt that the Laws are become ineffectual to restrain them there is a necessity that force be applyed and that by a regal power the licentiousness and ambition of the Grandees be reduced into order this may be illustrated by the example of Tuscany which is a small Territory and yet has three considerable Commonwealths in it as Florence Siena and Lucca and the rest of the Cities of that Province though they depend upon them yet their minds and their laws shew a strange propensity to freedom all which proceeds from the scarcity of Gentry in those parts especially with such power and jurisdiction as aforesaid On the contrary there is so great an equality among them that if a prudent and publick man should happen among them who had any knowledg of that kind of Government he might easily form them into a solid Commonwealth but hitherto it has been their misfortune to have no such man I conclude therefore that he who would establish a Commonwealth where the Country consists most of Gentlemen will find it impossible unless he ruines them first and on the other side he who would set up a Monarchy or Principality where the equality is great must select the most considerable and unquiet amongst them give them Castles and Lands and Preferments and any thing that may oblige them to his side by which means they shall not only maintain the power of their Prince but their own insolence and ambition and the people be forced to submit to a yoke to which nothing else could compel them for whilst there is a due proportion betwixt the Prince and the Subject all things go well and every man enjoys his Estate but to settle a Republick in a Country disposed to Monarchy or to erect a Monarchy where the condition of the people have a tendency to a Commonwealth requires a person of more than ordinary authority and brain Many have tried it but very few have succeeded the greatness and difficulty of the enterprize confounding them so at first that they know not where they are and give over as soon as they have begun But it may be objected that the constitution of the Venetian Government confutes my position That no Commonwealth can be established where the Gentry are considerable for under that State no man is admitted to any office but those who are Gentlemen I answer that the Venetian Gentry are nothing but name for their Lands and Possessions are very few the principal part of their Estates lying in their merchandize and goods besides none of them have any Seigneuries or Jurisdiction over the people so that a Gentleman among them is but a title of honour and preheminence founded upon none of those things which in other places make them so considerable For as in other Commonwealths the Citizens are distinguished into several Orders so Venice is entirely divided into two the Populace and the Gentry the Gentry having or being capable of all honours and employments from which the Populace are utterly excluded which for the reasons abovesaid it has produced no disturbance in that State These things being considered let him who desires to erect a Government settle a Commonwealth where there is a parity among the inhabitants and a Monarchy where there are many great men and the Gentry numerous Otherwise his Government will be incongruous and of little duration CHAP. LVI Great accidents before they happen to any City or Province are commonly prognosticated by some sign or predicted by some men HOw it comes to pass I know not but by ancient and modern example it is evident that no great accident befalls a City or Province but it is presaged by Divination or Prodigy or Astrology or some way or other and that I may not go far for my proof every one knows what was foretold by Frier Girolamo Savonarola before the Expedition of Charles viii into Italy besides which it was
might have opportunity to clap between with their Army and get into the Town Again they are sometimes deluded by pretending to raise the Siege as Formio the Athenian did who having plundered and harrassed the Country of Calcidon received their Embassadors afterwards with propositions of Peace He gave them very good words and sent them back full of security and fair promises upon which the poor people presuming too much Formio fell suddenly upon them and overcame them Those who are shut up in a Town are to keep a strict eye upon such as they have any reason to suspect but they are sometimes to be secured and obliged to you by preferment as well as by punishment Marcellus knew that Lucius Baucius the Nolan was a great favourer of Hanibal yet he carried himself to him with so much kindness and generosity that of an Enemy he made him his intimate Friend CHAP. VIII Good Guard is to be kept in all places and times Fabr. THose who are in any fear of being besieged are to keep diligent guard as well when the Enemy is at a distance as at hand and they are to have most care of those places where they think themselves most secure for many Towns have been lost by being assaulted on that side where they thought themselves impregnable and this miscarriage arises from two causes either because the place is really strong and believed inaccessible or else because of the policy of the Enemy who with great clamour and noise pretend to storm it on one side whilst on the other he does it as vigorously but with all the silence imaginable And therefore it concerns the besieged to be very careful and keep good Guards upon the Walls especially in the night and that as well with Dogs as with Men for if they be fierce and watchful they will give an alarm if the Enemy approaches as soon as any thing And not only Dogs but Birds have been known to have preserved a Town as it happen'd to the Romans when the French besieged the Capitol when the Spartans lay before Athens Alcibiades to discover how his watches were kept commanded that in the night when ever he held up a light each of the Guards should hold up another and great punishment was to be inflicted upon any that neglected it Isâ—crates killed a Centinal that he found a-sleep with this expression I leave him as I found him CHAP. IX Ways to write privately to ones Friends Fabr. THose who have been besieged have contrived several ways of conveying intelligence to their friends not daring to trust their affairs to the tongue of a messenger they write in cyphers many times and conceal them several ways The cyphers are made according to every mans fancy and the ways of concealing them are divers some have writ on the in-side of a scabard of a Sword others have put their Letters up in Paste baked it and then given it for sustenance to the messenger that is to carry it some have hid them in their privities some in the collar of the messenger's dog There is another very useful and ingenious way and that is by writing an ordinary Letter about your private affairs and afterwards betwixt every two lines to write your intrigues with a certain kind of water that will never be discovered but by dipping it into other water or by holding it to the fire and by so doing the Letters will be visible And this trick has been very subtilly practised in our times in which a certain person having a desire to signifie a secret to some of his friends and not daring to trust it to a messenger he sent out Letters of Excommunication written very formerly but interlined as abovesaid and caused them to be fixed to the doors of the Churches which being known to his friends by some private marks they understood the whole business and this is a very good way for he who carries it may be deceived and he that writes it is in no great danger There are a thousand other ways invented according to every mans fancy and wit But it is much easier to write to those who are block'd up in a Town than for those who are besieged to write to their friends abroad because these Letters cannot be conveyed but by somebody who must pretend to run away out of the Town which is a hard and a dangerous thing if the enemy be any thing careful But 't is otherwise with Letters to be sent into a Town for a man has a thousand occasions to come into a Leaguer where he may watch his opportunity and slip into the Town CHAP. X. How to repair a breach and the way to defend it Fabr. BUt let us come now to the present way of beleaguering of Towns I say that if you be assaulted in a Town that is not fortified with ditches on the in-side as I have mentioned before that your enemy may not enter at the breaches which the Artillery make for against other breaches there is no remedy it is necessary whilst the Artillery is playing to cut a new ditch behind the breach of at least thirty yards wide and to throw all the earth that comes out of it towards the Town that it may make a good Rampart and add to the depth of the ditch and this work is to be carried on with such diligence that when the wall falls the ditch may be at least five or six yards deep and whilst they are at work to make this ditch it is necessary that they be secured with two Caseniats that may flank the Enemy in case he should endeavour to disturb them and if the wall be so strong as to give you time to make your ditch and your casemats that part which is battered will be the strongest part about the Town for that Rampart will be of the same form and model which we proposed for the ditch within But where the wall is so weak as to allow you no time then you must show your courage and present yourself bravely at the breach your Souldiers well arm'd and with as much chearfulness as is possible This way of throwing up new works was observed by the Pisans when you besieged it and they might do it well enough for their walls were strong which gave them time and the earth good and proper for Ramparts whereas had they wanted either of those conveniences they must of necessity have been lost It is wisdom therefore to make these ditches round about the Town before there be any necessity as we said before for in that case you may expect the enemy without fear CHAP. XI Of Mines Fabr. THe ancients took several Towns by mining under ground and that two ways either by carrying their mines under ground into the Town and entring thereby as the Romans did when they took the City of Vejentum or by undermining only the walls and so tumbling them down At present this latter way is more used than the other and
renders those Towns which stand high weaker then the rest because more subject to be min'd and then adding but a good quantity of powder which takes fire in an instant you do not only ruine the wall but you open the very mountain and cleave the works into pieces The way to prevent this is to fortifie in a flat Country and make the ditch which encompasses your Town so deep that the enemy may not dig under it without coming to the water which is the best defence against mines But if you be to defend a Town upon an eminence your best way will be to make several deep holes in the wall that may give vent to the powder when the enemy sets in on fire There is another way likewise to prevent them and that is by countermining if you find where the enemy mines but 't is a hard matter to discover them especially if you be besieged by a cautious enemy CHAP. XII Good guards are always to be kept and your Souldiers not to be divided Fabr. HE who is besieged is to take extraordinary care that he be not surprized in time of repose as after a storm after the Guards are set which is either at break of day or at the shutting in of the evening or especially whilst you are at dinner in which time many Towns have been taken and many sallies have been made to the destruction of the besiegers Wherefore it is necessary to be upon the Guard in all quarters and your men generally arm'd and here I cannot omit to tell you that nothing makes a Town or Camp harder to be defended than the dividing of your forces for the enemy being able to attack you when he pleases with all his power at once you must be ready on all sides and having parted your Forces you will be forced to defend your self with a part and to keep the same guards with the remainder when ever the enemy assails you as you should have done when your whole Garrison was together which is a great disadvantage for he can attack you with his whole power when you have but a part of yours to defend your self CHAP. XIII That when ones sees himself block'd up on every side it is good to expose ones self now and then and of the advantages which have ensued Fabr. IF he who is besieged be beaten considerately he is certainly lost but the Besieger can only be repulsed for which reason many who have been besieged either in Camp or Town though they have been inferior in number have nevertheless sallied with their whole force at a time and been two hard for the enemy Thus Marcellus did at Nola thus Caesar did in France when his Camp was encompassed with a vast number of Gauls for finding he was not able to defend it because he must divide his men into partles and distribute them round and finding also that standing within his stoccado's he could not do so much execution upon the enemy as he desired he opened his Camp on one side and issuing out of it with his whole force charged the enemy with such fury and courage that he put them to the rout Besides the obstinacy and resolution of the besieged does many times astonish and terrifie the enemy Pompey being encamped against Caesar and Caesar's Army in great distress for provisions Pompey had presented him a piece of Caesar's bread which was made of herbs and look'd upon as a very strange thing Pompey having viewed it commanded that it should not be shewn in his Army lest it should discourage them to consider the obstinacy of their Enemy Nothing was more honourable to the Romans in their War with Hanibal than their constancy because in the greatest of their distress and in the worst of their fortune they never demanded peace nor discovered any token of fear on the contrary when Hanibal was under their Walls they sold the ground in which he was encamped at an higher rate than it would have been sold at another time and they were so true and firm in their enterprizes that they would not draw off from Capua to defend their own City though they had an Army before that when Hanibal appeared before Rome I am sensible that I have told you several things that you understood and perhaps considered already yet I have done it as I said before by that means to give you a better comprehension of the quality of this Army and to satisfie such if there be any such here as have not had the opportunity to understand it so well as you I suppose now there remains nothing but that I give you some general rules which are very obvious and common CHAP. XV. General Rules to be observed in Military Discipline Fabr. THat which is beneficial to you is prejudicial to your Enemy and that which is beneficial to him is prejudicial to you He who in War is most vigilant to observe the designs and enterprizes of the Enemy and takes most pains in exercising and disciplining his Army shall expose himself to less danger and have greater probability of victory Never bring your men to fight till you have some just confidence in their courage till you have seen them well arm'd and well ordered and never let them engage but when you find them cheerly and hopeful of success It is better to conquer an Enemy by hunger than fighting in which last victory fortune has more share than virtue or courage No resolution is so likely to succeed as that which is concealed from the Enemy till it comes to be executed Nothing is of more importance in the whole art of War than to know how to take advantage when it is offered Nature produces few persons strong but industry and exercise makes many Order and discipline is more available in War than valour or force When any come over to your service from the Enemy they are of great advantage to you provided they be faithful for it is more diminution to the Enemies strength to have Soldiers revolt than to have so many slain though the name of a fugitive is suspicious to new friends and abominable to old It is better in the drawing up your Battalions for a Battel to draw them up with reserves and place such behind the front as may supply it upon occasion than to enlarge your front and make as it were but one rank of your whole Army He who understands his own Forces and the Enemies too can hardly miscarry The courage of Soldiers is better than their number The situation of the place is sometimes more effectual than the courage of your men New and unexpected things are an astonishment to some Armies Your Soldiers despise things that are common and are weary of any thing that is tedious I would advise therefore that by pickeering and little skirmishes you acquaint your men with your Enemy before you bring them to a Battel He who pursues an Enemy that is disordered in disorder himself shall lose