integral part of the German Empire. The small towns quickly perceived that their only safety was in joining some one of the great cities, and making common cause against their oppressor. Thence arose the Guelph and Ghibeline parties, which distracted the peninsula with civil war during several centuries.

The two party-cries, which seem to us insufficient to account for the sanguinary proceedings which desolated Italy, represented two important principles. The Emperors of Germany were determined to vanquish the democratic institutions of the Italians, and, by granting certain immunities to different cities, obtained their assistance against the Guelphs, who asserted their independence of the Emperors, and found a willing ally in the Papacy, then in the height of the struggle to rid itself of the temporal power.

Notwithstanding the civil commotion which threw the entire country into one camp or the other, Italy presented a magnificent picture at the close of the thirteenth century. The authority of the popes and emperors having become suspended, numerous petty independent republics had arisen: the country was filled with cultivated plains and valleys, the proprietors advancing capital and sharing the harvests; immense canals were constructed for purposes of irrigation, of which the Naviglio Grande of Milan still bears testimony to the science and perseverance of seventy-eight years. The cities began to construct and perfect those wonderful works of art, which the lapse of six centuries still sees drawing the steps of travellers to Florence, Genoa, and Venice: the towns were surrounded with fortifications, and the streets paved with flag-stones. Magnificence and taste combined to raise and beautify the palaces of Italian citizens, at a time when the nobles and princes of the rest of Europe thought but of security and defence. Sculpture, both of bronze and marble, flourished under the chisels of the forerunners of Michael Angelo; the "Gates of Heaven" of the Baptistery at Florence were cast, whilst Cimabue and Giotto revived painting, Casella, music, and Dante gave to the world his glorious poem. History was studied, and written with elegance and truth by Giovanni Villani and others, whose records bear testi

mony to the flourishing state of their country, and its happiness under the blessings of self-government. The manufactures of Italy, particularly in stuffs and arms, excited the astonishment and cupidity of the northern nations; the Tuscan and Lombard merchants trafficked in the East and West, bartering their goods to the people, and lending money to the nobles at large interest: the banking and monetary system of Europe was established by them. The laboring classes were in similar prosperity; each gained largely, and spent but moderately, for manners were yet pure, and luxury had not as yet affected virtue.

But this prosperity was doomed, and the dissensions of the various republics soon surrendered liberty to the uncontrolled power of such despots as the Visconti and the Medici. War broke out in 1282, between Genoa and Pisa, which continued with various success until the year 1284.

The history of Florence, "that land where the poet's lip and the painter's hand are most divine," presents more objects of importance than any other republic of the Middle Ages. Previous to her subjection to the Medici, she was free, active, and independent, the protectress of Italian liberty, the nurse of art and science. There was an immeasurably greater degree of democratic liberty in her midst than elsewhere. Venice was an oligarchy, whilst a powerful aristocracy predominated more or less in the other republics.

"Florence was the Athens of Italy. The genius displayed by some of its citizens,—the talent and intelligence in business to be found even in the mass of the people, the generosity which seemed the national character, whenever it was necessary to protect the oppressed to defend the cause of liberty,-raised this city above every other."*

Discord broke out, however, in 1378; the lower orders demanding a more complete equality with the higher classes. The constitution became at this time entirely democratic; the people were sovereign, and the nobles were excluded from the government. The seeds of anarchy and oppression were, however, in her midst,-the citizens

* Sismondi.

were divided into twenty-one different corporations of arts or trades, from seven of which, termed arti maggiori, the magistrates might alone be chosen. From these sprung the Albizzi and Ricci, rival houses, and eventually the Medici, who, from popular leaders, became the absolute sovereigns of the republic.

The disputes between the higher and lower orders of the citizens broke out with renewed intensity in 1378. The poorer classes of artisans flew to arms, and made themselves masters of the city. A carder of wool, Michele Lando, marched at the head of the people, carrying in his hand the gonfalon or national standard, when suddenly the citizens proclaimed him gonfalonier. He restored peace and security to the State, and ordained that in future the chief magistracy should consist of three members of the major arts, three of the minor, and three of the ciompi or wool-carders. But this state of order and freedom did not long exist: in 1381 the people were deprived of power, and the family of Albizzi then directed the republic for fiftythree years. This house governed the State prosperously; Florence attained an unexampled degree of prosperity, setting a limit to the ambition of the powerful Gian Galeazza Visconti, Ladislaus, king of Naples, and Filippo Maria, duke of Milan.

"No triumph of an aristocratic faction ever merited a more brilliant place in history. The one in question maintained itself by the ascendency of its talents and virtues, without ever interfering with the rights of the other citizens, or abusing a preponderance which was all in opinion."*

The family of the Medici having obtained the leadership of the people by advocating popular doctrines, now intrigued to build up the fortunes of their house, and Cosmo de Medici became the rival of the 'Albizzi. Driven from the city in 1433, he was recalled the following year, and the Albizzi expelled.

Had there been any patriotism in the Italian nation at this period— had any common course of action or policy existed, or union of the different republics been effected-Italy could have cleared the Penin

* Sismondi.

sula of foreign armies, and driven the French, Germans, Spaniards, and Swiss, with countless Condottieri, beyond the Alps. The great republics of Milan, Venice, and Florence, could not, however, consent to this forgetfulness of rivalry, and the two latter refused to admit Milan into such a union. Italy, therefore, soon became a prey, not merely to foreigners, but to her own citizens, and the various republics fell into the hands of those rich families, whose only object was self-aggrandizement.

Cosmo de Medici resolved to effect that, in which the family of the Bentivogli had been successful in Bologna,—the subjugation of the State to his rule, and that of his descendants. In this he eventually succeeded, and henceforward we can no longer regard Florence as a republic, but as a duchy,-glorious, magnificent, and powerful, it is true, but a State in which democratic liberty did not exist, even in name, where the pride of a dominant family was the first, the only consideration. Florence had been the least selfish of all the Italian republics: she had opposed the oppressive power of the German emperors, assisted her weaker neighbors against their tyrants, and been the guardian of liberty, generally, in Italy. But she fell, because in an evil hour she followed a selfish policy, and forgot the good of the whole in her private jealousies.

There was a gleam of hope, however, when, in 1494, Florence expelled the Medici, after they had governed the city during sixty years. Three parties aspired to power. The Piagnoni, headed by the famous Savonarola, a monk, who demanded a democratic constitution; the Arabbiati, who aspired to hold the same aristocratic power as that formerly held by the Medici; and the Bigi, the partisans of the Medici, who kept studiously in retirement. These three parties became so evenly balanced in the balia or national council of 1494, that "Savonarola took advantage of this state of affairs to urge that the people had never delegated their power to a balia, which did not abuse their 'The people,' he said, 'would do much better to reserve this power to themselves, and exercise it by a council, into which all the citizens should be admitted.' His proposition was agreed to, and a

trust.

general council was formed, and declared sovereign on the 1st of July, 1495; it was invested with the election of magistrates, hitherto chosen by lot, and a general amnesty was proclaimed, to bury in oblivion all the ancient dissension of the Florentine republic."*

But the popular voice proved inconstant, and Savonarola's influence quickly gave way to that of the Arabbiati, who arrested him, and put his partisans, the Piagnoni, to flight. Pope Alexander VI. dispatched messages to Florence, ordering the monk to be put to death, with his two disciples, Buonvicino and Marruffi, and they were accordingly burned alive, after suffering those excruciating tortures which preIceded their execution.

With the aid of the Spaniards, in 1512, the exiled Medici returned to Florence; but they had lost every republican feeling, and all sympathy of the Florentines. Their only object was to raise money for themselves, and for those Spaniards who had assisted them in regaining their tyrannical power. In 1569, Pope Pius V. granted the title of Grand-Duke of Tuscany to Cosmo de Medici, a youth of nineteen: seven grand-dukes of that family reigned in Florence, the last of whom, Gian Gastone, died in 1737. Thereafter, Florence, once the first on the scroll of liberty and fame, was scarcely mentioned in Europe.

The little republic of San Marino, which has existed as an inde pendent State since the fifth century, contains, at the present day, but four thousand inhabitants. Whilst her once powerful and magnificent neighbors no longer exist, and, what is remarkable, under the very eaves of the Vatican, she still preserves her laws and freedom. San Marino has its nobles and plebeians, from whom the legislative council of sixty members is chosen by universal suffrage. There is also an Upper Chamber, called the Council of Twelve, two-thirds of whom are renewed every year; and two capatini, who form the executive. A supreme magistrate, who is invariably a stranger, administers justice, and is elected for three years. The revenues are about $6,000, and the armed force consists of forty men. The Republic pays great attention to letters, and supports a college which contains some fifty

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