_Castruccio reconnoitres for a Surprise.--Embassy
of Tripalda._
Arrigo returned sorrowfully to Lucca. He found Castruccio playing at
chess with Mordecastelli; while a priest, Battista Tripalda, sat
observing the game, and spoiling it by his interference.
"Nay, Vanni, I shall check-mate you next move," said Castruccio; "think
again if you cannot escape, and make better play. Well, Arrigo, is peace
or war the word you bring?"
"You must choose that, my lord; the countess wishes for peace, but she
will not submit."
"Not submit!" cried Tripalda, stalking with his tall, upright figure
into the middle of the room. "The woman is mad! I see that there is
something wrong in this, that I must set right."
"Aye," said Mordecastelli; "as you set my game right for me, and made me
lose two knights and a castle."
"I wish he could persuade Euthanasia to lose a castle, and then all
would go well. Are there no hopes, Arrigo? tell me what she said."
Arrigo repeated her message, endeavouring to soften her expressions; but
Castruccio was too experienced in the management of the human mind, not
to draw from the youth the very words she had uttered.
"A murderer and a tyrant! pretty words applied to me, because I put a
traitor to death, who otherwise would have placed my head on a
Florentine pike. To what extremities am I driven! I would give the world
not to go to open war about her miserable castle: yet have it I must,
and that quickly, before she can send for her Florentine friends. What a
spirit she has! I do not blame her; but, by St. Martin, I must tame it!
Vanni, send for Castiglione; I must give him instructions for the
conduct of the siege: I will have nothing to do with it personally; so
to-morrow I shall away to keep the Florentines in check, if not to beat
them."
"My lord," said Tripalda, drawing himself up before Castruccio with an
air of the utmost self-consequence, "you have often found me of use in
occasions of this sort; and I intreat you to authorize me to go and
expostulate with the countess; I doubt not that I shall bring you a
favourable answer: she must hear reason, and from no one is she so
likely to hear it as from myself."
"You little know her disposition, friend Tripalda; but the most hopeless
effort is worth making, before I declare war, and take her possessions
by force. Go therefore to-morrow morning early; in the mean time I will
give Castiglione my instructions; that, if your persuasions are vain, he
may commence the attack the following day."
Tripalda then retired to meditate the speech by which he should persuade
Euthanasia to yield; while Castruccio, desperate of any composition,
gave his full directions for the conduct of the siege.
"If I were not in the secret of the place," said he to Castiglione, "I
might well believe the castle of Valperga to be impregnable, except by
famine; and that would be a tedious proceeding; but I know of other
means which will give you entrance before nightfall. Lead a detachment
of your most useless soldiers to the pathway which conducts to the main
entrance of the castle; that of course will be well guarded; and, if the
defence is directed with common judgement, the disadvantages under which
the assailants must labour would render the attempt almost insane. But,
as I said, let your more useless troops be employed there; they will
keep the besieged in play; while you will conduct a chosen band to sure
victory. You remember the fountain of the rock, beside which we were
feasted, when the countess held her court, and where she sustained the
mockery of a siege; to be conquered in play, as she now will be in
earnest. You remember the narrow path that leads from the fountain to
the postern, a gate, which, though strong, may easily be cut through by
active arms and good hatchets. I know a path which leads from this
valley to the fountain; it is long, difficult, and almost impracticable;
but I have scaled it, and so may you and your followers. To-night before
the moon rises, and it rises late, we will ride to the spot, and when
you are in possession of this secret, the castle is at your mercy."
It was now the beginning of the month of October; the summer, which had
been particularly sultry, had swiftly declined; already the gales which
attend upon the equinox swept through the woods, and the trees, who know
His voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves,
had already begun to obey the command of their ruler: the delicate
chesnut woods, which last dare encounter the blasts of spring, whose
tender leaves do not expand until they may become a shelter to the
swallow, and which first hear the voice of the tyrant Libeccio, as he
comes all conquering from the west, had already changed their hues, and
shone yellow and red, amidst the sea-green foliage of the olives, the
darker but light boughs of the cork trees, and the deep and heavy masses
of ilexes and pines. The evening was hot; for the Libeccio, although it
shuts out the sun with clouds, yet brings a close and heavy air, that
warms, while it oppresses.
When evening came, Castruccio and his companion addressed themselves for
their expedition. They muffled themselves in their capuchins, and,
leaving the town of Lucca, crossed the plain, riding swiftly and
silently along. Who can descend into the heart of man, and know what the
prince felt, as he conducted Castiglione to the secret path, discovered
by his love, now used to injure and subdue her whom he had loved? The
white walls of the castle, half concealed by the cork and ilex trees
which grew on the platform before it, stood quietly and silent; and she
who dwelt within, whose heart now beat fast with fear and wretchedness,
was the lovely and beloved Euthanasia, whose sweet and soft eyes, which
shone as violets beneath a load of snow, had formerly beamed unutterable
love on him, and whose gentle and modulated voice had once pronounced
words of tenderness, which, though changed, he could never forget,--it
was she, the beautiful, who had lived on earth as the enshrined statue
of a divinity, adorning all places where she appeared, and adored by all
who saw her; it was she, whose castle he was about to take and raze, it
was against her that he now warred with a fixed resolution to conquer.
Castruccio thought on all this; he called to mind her altered mien, and
the coldness which had changed her heart from a fountain of burning love
to an icy spring: and this awakened a feeling which he would fain have
believed to be indignation. "Shall this false girl," he muttered, "enjoy
this triumph over me? And shall the love which she despises, save her
from the fate to which her own coldness and imprudence consign her? Let
her yield; and she will find the Castruccio whom she calumniates,
neither a tyrant nor a monster; but, if she resist, on her be the
burthen of the misery that must follow."
Yet still, as officious conscience brought forward excuses for her, and
called on him again and again to beware, he rode along side Castiglione,
and entered into conversation. "To-morrow at this hour," he said, "you
and your troop must come along this road, and hide yourselves in the
forest which we are about to enter. When morning is up, do not long
delay to scale the mountain, and enter the castle, for the sooner you
take it, the less blood will be shed: order the battle so, that the
troops you leave for the false attack may be fully engaged with the
besieged before you enter; and then, coming behind the garrison, you can
drive them down the mountain among their enemies, so that they may all
be taken prisoners, at small expence either of their lives or ours."
They now dismounted; and, leaving their horses to their servants, began
to ascend the acclivity. They moved cautiously along; and, if there had
been any to listen to their footsteps, the sound was drowned by the
singing of the pines, which moaned beneath the wind. Following the path
of a torrent, and holding by the jutting points of rock, or the bare and
tangled roots of the trees that overhung them, they proceeded slowly up
the face of the mountain. Then turning to the right, they penetrated a
complete wilderness of forest ground, where the undergrowth of the giant
trees, and the fern and brambles, covered every path, so that Castruccio
had need of all his sagacity to distinguish the slight peculiarities of
scene that guided him. They awoke the hare from her form; and the
pheasants, looking down from the branches of the trees, flew away with a
sharp cry, and the whiz of their heavy wings, as their solitude was
disturbed.
Their progress was difficult and slow; but, after their toil had
continued nearly two hours, Castruccio exclaimed, "Yes, I see that I am
right!" and he paused a moment beside a spring, near which grew a
solitary, but gigantic cypress, that seemed, as you looked up, to attain
to the bright star which shone right above it, and towards which its
moveless spire pointed; "I am right; I know this place well; mark it,
Castiglione; and now our journey is almost ended."
It was here, that in their childish days Castruccio and Euthanasia often
played; their names were carved on the rough bark of the cypress, and
here, in memory of their infantine friendship, they had since met, to
renew the vows they had formerly made, vows now broken, scattered to the
winds, more worthless than the fallen leaves of autumn on which he then
trod. The way to the rock which overlooked the fountain was now short,
but more difficult than ever; and both hands and feet were necessary to
conquer the ascent. At length they came to a pinnacle, which, higher
than the castle, overlooked the whole plain; and immediately under was
the alcove which sheltered Euthanasia's fountain.
"I see no path which may lead to the fountain, my lord," said
Castiglione.
"There is none," replied the prince, "nor did I ever get into the castle
this way; but I have observed the place, and doubt not of the
practicability of my plan."
Castruccio drew from under his cloak a rope, and fastened it to the
shattered stump of a lightning-blasted tree; by the help of this rope,
and a stick shod with iron which he carried in his hand, he contrived
with the aid of Castiglione to reach a projecting ledge in the rock
about two feet wide, which ran round the precipice about ten feet from
its base; the fountain flowed from a crevice in this ledge, and steps
were hewn out of the rock, leading from the source to the basin.
Castruccio pointed out these circumstances to his companion, and made it
fully apparent that, with a little boldness and caution, they might
arrive by the means he had pointed out at the path which led to the
postern of the castle. A few questions asked by Castiglione, which the
prince answered with accuracy and minuteness, sufficed to clear all the
doubts which the former had entertained, and to explain the whole of his
proceeding.
As they returned, however, Castiglione said suddenly, "My lord, you
understand this path so much better than I, why will you not undertake
the attack?"
"I thank you," replied Castruccio, with a bitter smile; "but this
business falls to your share; I must away to keep off the aid the
countess expects from the Florentines."
They descended slowly; the moon had risen, which would have discovered
their path to them, but that she was hid behind so thick a woof of dark
and lightning-bearing clouds, that her presence sufficed only to dispel
the pitchy blackness, in which, but for her, they had been enveloped.
Every now and then the growling of distant but heavy thunder shook the
air, and was answered by the screeching of the owl, and the screams of
the birds whom it awoke from their sleep among the trees. The two
adventurers soon reached the valley; and, mounting their horses, crossed
the plain at full gallop; and the strong Libeccio against which they
drove, cutting the air with difficulty, warmed the spirits, and somewhat
dissipated the melancholy, which, in spite of all his efforts, oppressed
Castruccio. He arrived much fatigued at his journey's end; and, whatever
might be the revolutions in his feelings, or the remorse which stung him
when he reflected on the work for which he prepared, throwing himself on
his couch, deep sleep quickly overcame all; nor did he awake, until an
attendant came to announce to him, that the day was advanced, that the
troops had long quitted Lucca, and that his principal officers, waited
only for him to join them in their march towards the Florentine camp.
Castruccio then shook off sleep; and, having examined well that his
esquire had omitted no piece of his armour which another horse bore, and
having visited his charger which was to be led unbacked to the field, he
mounted a black palfrey; and, merely saying to Castiglione, as he passed
him in the palace court, "You understand all,"--he joined his officers,
and they rode off on the road to Florence.
As they quitted the town, they met Tripalda, who, accosting the prince,
told him, that he was now going to Valperga, and that he did not doubt
that his arguments would induce the countess to surrender. Castruccio
shook his head in disbelief, and, hastily wishing him good-success, put
spurs to his horse, apparently impatient to quit every thing that
reminded him of the odious task he had left his friends to perform.
Battista Tripalda, the ambassador of Castruccio on this occasion, was a
canon of the cathedral of St. Ambrose at Perugia. By this time the
colleges of canons, who had before lived in common like monks, had been
dissolved, and each member was permitted to live privately, receiving
his share of the yearly income which was before employed as a common
stock. But the canons had offices to perform in the church, which
obliged them to reside in the town, in which the cathedral to which they
belonged was situated; Tripalda had however been long absent from his
duties, nor did his bishop ever enquire after him, or require him to
return. He had appeared at Lucca about a year before this time, unknown
and unrecommended; but he had intruded himself into the palaces of the
nobles, and been well received: his eccentric manners made them pardon
his opinions, and the subtleties of his mind forced them to forgive his
uncouth and arrogant demeanour. Yet, although received by all, he was
liked by none, for there was a mystery about him that no one could
divine; and we seldom like what we do not comprehend. He was an
unbelieving priest, yet was permitted to exercise the clerical
functions; he was a man who cried out against the simony and wickedness
of the Roman religion, yet he was tolerated by all its members; he was
equally severe against tyrants and lords, yet he was received at every
court in Italy. He was an earnest panegyrizer of republics and
democracies; yet he was satisfied with no existing form of government,
because none was sufficiently free: he contended that each man ought to
be his own king and judge; yet he pretended to morality, and to be a
strict censor of manners and luxury. He had a deep insight into artful
and artificial character, and a kind of instinctive prudence in
extricating himself from the most embarrassing circumstances; so that
his penetration almost gave him the appearance of a tamperer in the
forbidden arts, which however he held in supreme contempt.
He was equally well received by the opposite factions, allying himself
with neither, but condemning both. When he first appeared at Lucca, he
was humble and mild, pretending to nothing but uncorrupted and
uncorruptible virtue, desiring none of the goods of fortune, except that
which she could not withhold from him, namely, the esteem and friendship
of all good men. But this was merely the prelude to what was to follow.
He was as those dwarfs we read of in fairy tales, who at first appear
small and impotent, but who on further acquaintance assume the form of
tremendous giants; so, when he became familiar with his new friends, he
cast off his modest disguise, and appeared vain, presumptuous and
insolent, delivering his opinions as oracles, violent when opposed in
argument, contemptuous even when agreed with: there was besides
something buffoonish in his manner, which he occasionally endeavoured to
pass off for wit and imagination, and at other times, served him as a
cloak for deep designs and dangerous opinions. The Guelphs declared that
they believed him to be a Ghibeline spy; the Ghibelines, that he was
under pay from the Pope; many said, that he tampered with both parties,
and betrayed both. Worse stories had been whispered concerning him, but
they were believed by few; it was said that the flagrant wickedness of
his actions had caused him to be banished from Perugia; but this was
disproved at once, for if so, why was he not deprived of his emoluments
in the church?
The first conjecture concerning him was that he was a spy; but, however
that might be, he escaped detection, and contrived to maintain his
confidence with the chiefs of the opposite factions, and among these was
Euthanasia. She admired his talents, believed him to be honest, and
refused to listen to the accusations advanced against him, since the
manner in which they were brought forward stamped them with the show of
unfounded calumnies. She was sometimes irritated by his impertinence,
and shocked at his want of delicacy; but she had heard that early
misfortunes had deranged his understanding, and she pitied and forgave
him. Indeed she had known him a very short time; and he had not yet
thrown off his mask of humility and virtue, which he ever wore on his
first appearance on a new scene.
Euthanasia waited with impatience to hear the result of her message to
Castruccio. She could not believe that he would put his threats in
execution; but, in case of the worst, she resolved to oppose his
pretensions, and to use every means to preserve her independence. She
had sent, the same night of her interview with Arrigo, to intreat the
Florentine general to dispatch a brigade for her defence, and to request
the assistance of an able officer in sustaining the siege she might
encounter. She called together the few militia of her villages. She
visited the works of the castle, and gave orders for the immediate
demolition of all roads and bridges on the first advance of the enemy;
and then, overcome by the sense of wretchedness which clung to her in
spite of the exalted state of her mind, she shrunk to solitude, and
tried to seek in the recesses of her own soul for the long-studied
lessons of courage and fortitude.
She believed herself justified, nay called upon to oppose the
encroachments of the prince of Lucca; she felt roused to resistance by
his menaces, and the implied accusation of treachery with which he had
endeavoured to brand her. Her innocence made her proud, her spirit of
independence, bold; she had ever refused to submit to his usurpations;
her castle had often been the asylum for his victims, and herself the
aider of the persecuted. "I may fall," she thought; "but I will not
stoop. I may become his victim; but I will never be his slave. I refused
to yield to him when I loved him, if he did not dismiss his ambitious
designs. Love, which is the ruling principle of my mind, whose power I
now feel in every nerve, in every beating of my heart, I would not
submit my conscience to the control of love; and shall fear rule me?"
She said this, and at the same moment Tripalda was announced. He
advanced towards Euthanasia with a serious and important look, yet at
the same time with an endeavour to appear courteous, if not humble. He
kissed her hand, and having gravely asked after her health, he soon
began to speak on the object of his visit, and to endeavour to persuade
her that all resistance to the will of the prince was useless, and that
in timely submission was the only hope left for her preservation.
Euthanasia felt her cheeks glow as he spoke, and once her eyes seemed to
flash lightning, when the word _Mercy_ escaped from the orator, who
talked on, appearing to observe little of what she felt, but to be
wholly engrossed in the winding up of his periods. "Madonna," said he,
"the prince has a true and sincere friendship for you, and he is
infinitely grieved at the idea of being at open hostility with you; but
he must obey the will of the senate and the council, and you must
ultimately submit to the forces sent against you. Listen then to one
older than yourself, who has lived longer in the world, and has grown
wise by experience: never, being, weak, contend with the strong; for it
is far more politic to yield at first upon conditions, than, falling
after combat, to receive the law from the conqueror."
"I am afraid, _Messer Canonico_," replied Euthanasia, calmly, but
somewhat haughtily, "that our opinions agree too little, to allow you to
be a fitting arbiter between me and the prince of Lucca. This castle,
and the power annexed to it, belonged to my ancestors; and when I
received it from my mother's hands, I vowed to exercise and preserve it
for the good of my people----"
"And is it for the good of your people to expose them to the desolation
of war, when you might conclude a satisfactory peace?"
"Messer Battista, I listened patiently while you spoke; and it boots
little to continue this discussion, if you will not also attend to me.
I will be very brief: Castruccio formed an alliance with me, and, as the
condition of my independence, I promised not to join his enemies. I have
preserved my part of the agreement; and, if he wishes to break his, I
have friends and allies, who will not permit that my situation should be
so hopeless as you imagine. It is the height of injustice to say that I
bring war into this territory; since every prayer and every wish of my
heart is for peace; but, if attacked, I will defend myself, and my right
must become both my sword and shield."
"You speak proudly, but foolishly, countess Euthanasia; for right was
never yet sword or shield to any one. It is well to talk in this manner
to women and children, and thus to keep the world in some degree of
order. You are a woman, it is true; but your rank and power have placed
you in a situation to know the truth of things; and, if you have not yet
learned the futility of the lessons of the priests, whose sole end to
all their speeches is to find a way, shorter or longer, into your purse;
learn it from me, who am both willing and able to teach you."
"I shall make a sorry pupil, I am afraid; but, if you please, I will
alter my phraseology, that my meaning may be more clear. I expect the
aid of the Florentines; and I depend upon the courage with which the
hatred of a usurper will inspire my soldiers, who love me, and will, I
doubt not, defend me to the last drop of their blood: if my right cannot
help me, my resolution shall. The prince of Lucca has called me, perhaps
he believes me to be, a traitor; I am none to him, nor will I be to the
party to which I belong. I promised my allies not to submit; and my word
is sacred. Messer Battista, I doubt not that the motives which urged
your visit, were honest, perhaps friendly; but cease to vex yourself and
me with fruitless altercation."
"I do not intend altercation, Madonna; but I wished to expostulate with
you, and to shew you the pit into which you seem obstinately resolved to
fall. I know that the wisdom of all ages tells us, that women will have
their will; I had hoped to find you superior to the foibles of your sex;
and my mistake becomes my crime: for in truth you are as headstrong as a
girl of fifteen, who hopes to cover her head with the nuptial veil. But
I have set my heart on carrying this point with you, and will not be
discouraged by a woman's eloquence or obstinacy."
"This is going too far," said Euthanasia, half angrily; "you imagine
perhaps that I am already the slave of your lord, that you no longer
preserve the respect which even then would be due to me. My mind is too
full both of grief and anxiety, to string sentences together in answer
to your arguments; but my purpose is firm, and you cannot shake it. If
you come from the lord Castruccio himself, my answer is ever the same. I
am at peace with him; but, if he attacks me, I know how to defend
myself."
Any man but Tripalda might have been awed by the dignity of Euthanasia,
and the restrained indignation, that glistened in her eyes, and flushed
her cheek. She rose to bid the priest farewel, and her serious manner
made him pause for an instant in his address; but his accustomed
impudence quickly overcame the momentary shame, and he said, "I came to
speak reason to the deaf, and to shew danger to the blind; but the deaf
man says, I hear better than you, and the sound of arms and trumpets is
yet far off;--and the blind man cries, Avaunt! I see my path better than
you: meanwhile the one falls into the hands of the enemy, and the other
tumbles into the pit round which I would have led him. You will repent
too late, that you did not follow my counsel; and then who will medicine
your wounds?"
"The God who inflicted them upon me. I fear not!"
Tripalda returned to Lucca. Castruccio had left the town; and
Castiglione, hearing the result of the priest's embassy, instantly
prepared for the attack. Heralds were sent in due form to demand the
surrender of the castle; and, when refused, war was immediately
declared.
In the mean time the Florentine army had advanced into the Lucchese
territory; but, when they heard of the march of Castruccio, they fell
back to Fucecchio, and pitched their tents on the banks of the river
Guisciana. Castruccio came up to them with his troops; but, being on
opposite sides of the river, and not caring to cross it in face of the
enemy, both armies remained observing each other's motions, each
preparing to attack the other on the first shew of fear or retreat. The
Florentine general had received the message of Euthanasia, but he found
it difficult to comply with her wishes; for any troops sent to her aid
must pass the Guisciana, and that was too well guarded to permit of any
but a general passage and attack. He communicated her situation to the
Florentine government, which sent her a small troop with Bondelmonti at
its head, who, making the circuit of Bologna and the Modenese mountains,
arrived on the eve of the attack, having with infinite difficulty
surmounted the fortified passages of the mountains; so that many of his
followers being made prisoners, and others left behind, he made his
appearance at Valperga with not more than fifty men.