M.J.C.L. De Sismondi, has, to suit the plan of the _Cabinet
Cyclopaedia_, endeavoured to include in one of its volumes--a summary
of Italian history from the fall of the Roman empire to the end of
the Middle Age--a period of about six and a half centuries. What a
succession of stirring scenes does this volume present; what fields
of bloody action; what revelry of carnage; what schemes of petty
ambition; what trampling on necks, what uncrowning of heads; what
orgies of fire, sword, famine, and slaughter; what overtoppling of
thrones, and unseating of rulers; what pantings after freedom; what
slavery of passion; what sunny scenes of fortune to be shaded with
melancholy pictures of desolation and decay--are comprised in these
few pages of the history of a comparatively small portion of the
world for a short period--a narrow segment of the cycle of time.
What Sismondi so ably accomplished in sixteen volumes, he has here
comprised in one. He tells us that he could sacrifice episodes and
details without regret. The present is not, however, an abridgment of
his great work, "but an entirely new history, in which, with my eyes
fixed solely on the free people of the several Italian states, I have
studied to portray their first deliverance, their heroism, and their
misfortunes."
We quote a few sketchy extracts.
_Last Struggle of Rome for Liberty_.
"1453. Stefano Porcari, a Roman noble, willing to profit by the
interregnum which preceded the nomination of Nicholas V., to make the
Roman citizens demand the renewal and confirmation of their ancient
rights and privileges, was denounced to the new pope as a dangerous
person; and, so far from obtaining what he had hoped, he had the
grief to see the citizens always more strictly excluded from any
participation in public affairs. Those were entrusted only to
prelates, who, being prepared for it neither by their studies nor
sentiments, suffered the administration to fall into the most shameful
disorder.
"In an insurrection of the people in the Piazza Navona, arising from a
quarrel, which began at a bull-fight, Stefano Porcari endeavoured to
direct their attention to a more noble object, and turn this tumult to
the advantage of liberty. The pope hastily indulged all the fancies
of the people, with respect to their games or amusements; but firmly
rejected all their serious demands, and exiled Porcari to Bologna. The
latter hoped to obtain by conspiracy what he had failed to accomplish
by insurrection. There were not less than 400 exiled Roman citizens:
he persuaded them all to join him, and appointed them a rendezvous
at Rome, for the 5th of January, 1453, in the house of his
brother-in-law. Having escaped the vigilance of the legate of Bologna,
he proceeded there himself, accompanied by 300 soldiers, whom he had
enlisted in his service. The whole band was assembled on the night of
the appointed 5th of January; and Stefano Porcari was haranguing them,
to prepare them for the attack of the capitol,--in which he reckoned
on re-establishing the senate of the Roman republic,--when, his secret
having been betrayed, the house was surrounded with troops, the doors
suddenly forced, and the conspirators overcome by numbers before their
arms had been distributed. Next morning, the body of Stefano Porcari,
with those of nine of his associates, were seen hanging from the
battlements of the castle of St. Angelo. In spite of their ardent
entreaties, they had been denied confession and the sacrament. Eight
days later, the executions, after a mockery of law proceedings, were
renewed, and continued in great numbers. The pope succeeded in causing
those who had taken refuge in neighbouring states to be delivered up
to him; and thus the last spark of Roman liberty was extinguished in
blood."
_General Mildness of Italian Warfare_.
"1492. The horses and armour of the Italian men at arms were reckoned
superior to those of the transalpine nations against which they had
measured themselves in France, during "the war of the public weal."
The Italian captains had made war a science, every branch of which
they thoroughly knew. It was never suspected for a moment that the
soldier should be wanting in courage: but the general mildness of
manners, and the progress of civilization, had accustomed the Italians
to make war with sentiments of honour and humanity towards the
vanquished. Ever ready to give quarter, they did not strike a fallen
enemy. Often, after having taken from him his horse and armour, they
set him free; at least, they never demanded a ransom so enormous as
to ruin him. Horsemen who went to battle clad in steel, were rarely
killed or wounded, so long as they kept their saddles. Once unhorsed,
they surrendered. The battle, therefore, never became murderous. The
courage of the Italian soldiers, which had accommodated itself to this
milder warfare, suddenly gave way before the new dangers and ferocity
of barbarian enemies. They became terror-struck when they perceived
that the French caused dismounted horsemen to be put to death by their
valets, or made prisoners only to extort from them, under the name of
ransom, all they possessed. The Italian cavalry, equal in courage, and
superior in military science, to the French, was for some time
unable to make head against an enemy whose ferocity disturbed their
imaginations."
_Battle of Marignano_.
"1515.--Francis I. succeeded Louis XII. on the 1st of January; on the
27th of June he renewed his predecessor's treaty of alliance with
Venice; and on the 15th of August, entered the plains of Lombardy, by
the marquisate of Saluzzo, with a powerful army. He met but little
resistance in the provinces south of the Po, but the Swiss meanwhile
arrived in great force to defend Maximilian Sforza, whom, since they
had reseated him on the throne, they regarded as their vassal. Francis
in vain endeavoured to negotiate with them; they would not listen
to the voice of their commanders; democracy had passed from their
_landsgemeinde_ into their armies, popular orators roused their
passions; and on the 13th of September they impetuously left Milan
to attack Francis I. at Marignano. Deep ditches lined with soldiers
bordered the causeway by which they advanced; their commanders wished
by some manoeuvre to get clear of them, or make the enemy change his
position; but the Swiss, despising all the arts of war, expected to
command success by mere intrepidity and bodily strength. They marched
to the battery in full front; they repulsed the charge of the knights
with their halberds, and threw themselves with fury into the ditches
which barred their road. Some rushed on to the very mouths of the
cannon, which guarded the king, and there fell. Night closed on the
combatants; and the two armies mingled together fought on for four
hours longer by moonlight. Complete darkness at length forced them to
rest on their arms; but the king's trumpet continually sounded, to
indicate to the bivouac where he was to be found; while the two famous
horns of Uri and Unterwalden called the Swiss together. The battle was
renewed on the 14th at daybreak: the unrelenting obstinacy was the
same; but the French had taken advantage of the night to collect
and fortify themselves. Marshal Trivulzio, who had been present at
eighteen pitched battles, declared that every other seemed to him
children's play in comparison with this "battle of giants," as he
called it: 20,000 dead already covered the ground; of these two-thirds
were Swiss. When the Swiss despaired of victory they retreated
slowly,--but menacing and terrible. The French did not dare to pursue
them."
The concluding paragraph of the volume is beautifully enthusiastic: it
may almost be regarded as prophetic in connexion with events that are
at this moment shaking Italy to her very base:
"Italy is crushed; but her heart still beats with the love of liberty,
virtue, and glory: she is chained and covered with blood; but she
still knows her strength and her future destiny: she is insulted by
those for whom she has opened the way to every improvement; but she
feels that she is formed to take the lead again: and Europe will know
no repose till the nation which, in the dark ages, lighted the torch
of civilization with that of liberty, shall be enabled herself to
enjoy the light which she created."
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