FOOTNOTES
[1]
"O pria sì cara al ciel del mondo parte,
Che l'acqua cigne, e 'l sasso orrido serra;
O lieta sopra ogn' altra e dolce terra,
Che 'l superbo Appennin segna e diparte;
Che val omai se 'l buon popol di Marte
Ti lasciò del mar donna e de la terra?
Le genti a te gia serve, or ti fan guerra,
E pongon man ne le tue treccie sparte.
Lasso nè manea de' tuoi figli ancora
Chi le più strane a te chiamando insieme
La spada sua nel tuo bel corpo adopre.
Or son queste simili a l' antich' opre?
O pur così pietate e Dio a' onora?
Ahi secol duro, ahi tralignato seme."
Bembo, rime Son. 108.
This exquisite little lyric, inferior to none other which had appeared on the same subject since the "Italia mia" of Petrarch, was composed by Bembo at the period of which we are treating.
[2] The philosophic Machiavelli discerned the true causes of the calamities, in the corruptions of his country; which he has exposed, with more than his usual boldness and bitterness of sarcasm, in the seventh book of his "Arte della Guerra."
[3] Lorenzo Suarez de la Vega filled the post of minister at the republic during the whole of the war. His long continuance in the office at so critical a period, under so vigilant a sovereign as Ferdinand, is sufficient warrant for his ability. Peter Martyr, while he admits his talents, makes some objections to his appointment, on the ground of his want of scholarship. "Nec placet quod hunc elegeritis hac tempestate. Maluissem namque virum, qui Latinum calleret, vel salterm intelligeret, linguam; hic tantum suam patriam vernaculam novit; prudentem esse alias, atque inter ignaros literarum satis esse gnarum, Rex ipse mihi testatus est. Cupissem tamen ego, quae dixi." (See the letter to the Catholic queen, Opus Epist., epist. 246.) The objections have weight undoubtedly, the Latin being the common medium of diplomatic intercourse at that time. Martyr, who on his return through Venice from his Egyptian mission took charge for the time of the interests of Spain, might probably have been prevailed on to assume the difficulties of a diplomatic station there himself. See also Part II. Chapter 11, note 7, of this History.
[4] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. i. lib. 5, cap. 38, 48.—Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, tom. iii. lib. 6.—Daru, Hist. de Venise, tom. iii. p. 347.—Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. i. lib. 6, p. 311, ed. 1645.— Buonaccorsi, Diario, pp. 77, 81.
[5] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. i. lib. 5, cap. 55.—Coxe, History of the House of Austria, (London, 1807,) vol. i. chap. 23.
[6] Buonaccorsi, Diario, p. 78.—St. Gelais, Hist. de Louys XII., pp. 173, 174.—Varillas, Hist. de Louis XII., tom. i. pp. 386, 387.—Mémoires de la Trémoille, chap. 19, apud Petitot, Collection des Mémoires, tom. xiv.— Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom. xiv. anno 1503.—Carta de Gonzalo, MS.
Historians, as usual, differ widely in their estimates of the French numbers. Guicciardini, whose moderate computation of 20,000 men is usually followed, does not take the trouble to reconcile his sum total with the various estimates given by him in detail, which considerably exceed that amount. Istoria, pp. 308, 309, 312.
[7] Buonaccorsi, Diario, p. 81.—Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, lib. 6.
The little ceremony with which Alexander's remains were treated, while yet scarcely cold, is the best commentary on the general detestation in which he was held. "Lorsque Alexandre," says the pope's maître des cérémonies, "rendit le dernier soupir, il n'y avait dans sa chambre que l'évêque de Rieti, le dataire et quelques palefreniers. Cette chambre fut aussitôt pillée. La face du cadavre devint noire; la langue s'enfla au point qu'elle remplissait la bouche qui resta ouverte. La bière dans laquelle il fallait mettre le corps se trouva trop petite; on l'y enfonça à coups de poings. Les restes du pape insultés par ses domestiques furent portés dans l'église de St. Pierre, sans être accompagnés de prêtres ni de torches, et on les plaça en dedans de la grille du choeur pour les dérober aux outrages de la populace." Notice de Burchard, apud Brequigny, Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque du Roi, (Paris, 1787-1818,) tom. i. p. 120.
[8] Buonaccorsi, Diario, p. 82.—Machiavelli, Legazione Prima a Roma, Let. 1, 3, et al.—Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, tom. iii. lib. 6.—Ammirato, Istorie Fiorentine, tom. iii. lib. 28.—Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 47.
[9] Guicciardini, in particular, has related them with a circumstantiality which could scarcely have been exceeded by one of the conclave itself. Istoria, lib. 6, pp. 316-318.
[10] Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, lib. 6.—Ammirato, Istorie Fiorentine, tom. iii. lib. 28.
The election of Pius was extremely grateful to Queen Isabella, who caused
Te Deums and thanksgivings to be celebrated in the churches, for the
appointment of "so worthy a pastor over the Christian fold." See Peter
Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 265.
[11] Machiavelli, Legazione Prima a Roma, let. 6.—Bembo, Istoria Viniziana, lib. 7.
[12] Garnier, Hist. de France, tom. v. pp. 435-438.—Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 6, p. 316.—Buonaccorsi, Diario, p. 83.—St. Gelais, Hist. de Louys XII., p. 173.
[13] Cicero's country seat stood midway between Gaeta and Mola, the ancient Formiae, about two miles and a half from each. (Cluverius, Ital. Antiq., lib. 3, cap. 6.) The remains of his mansion and of his mausoleum may still be discerned, on the borders of the old Appian way, by the classical and credulous tourist.
[14] Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, fol. 258, 259.—Chrónica del Gran Capitan, lib. 2, cap. 95.—Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., fol. 19.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 261.
[15] Zurita, Hist. del Rey Hernando, tom. i. lib. 5, cap. 38, 43, 44, 48, 57.—Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, fol. 258, 259.—Sismondi, Hist. des Français, tom. xv. p. 417.—Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 16.—Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. pp. 252-257.—Carta del Gran Capitan, MS.
The Castilian writers do not state the sum total of the Spanish force, which is to be inferred only from the scattered estimates, careless and contradictory as usual, of the various detachments which joined it.
[16] The Spaniards carried Monte Casino by storm, and with sacrilegious violence plundered the Benedictine monastery of all its costly plate. They were compelled, however, to respect the bones of the martyrs, and other saintly relics; a division of spoil probably not entirely satisfactory to its reverend inmates. Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, fol. 262.
[17] Chrónica del Gran Capitan, lib. 2, cap. 102.—Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., fol. 21.—Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. i. lib. 6, pp. 326, 327.—Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 267.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 188.
[18] The remains of this city, which stood about four miles above the mouth of the Liris, are still to be seen on the right of the road. In ancient days it was of sufficient magnitude to cover both sides of the river. See Strabo, Geographia, lib. 5, p. 233, (Paris, 1629, with Casaubon's notes,) p. 110.
[19] Chrónica del Gran Capitan, lib. 2, cap. 107.—Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, fol. 263.
[20] The marshes of Minturnae lay between the city and the mouth of the Liris. (Cluverius, Ital. Antiq., lib. 3, cap. 10, sec. 9.) The Spanish army encamped, says Guicciardini, "in a place called by Livy, from its vicinity to Sessa, aquae Sinuessanae, being perhaps the marshes in which Marius hid himself." (Istoria, lib. 6.) The historian makes two blunders in a breath. 1st. Aquae Sinuessanae, was a name derived not from Sessa, the ancient Suessa Aurunca, but from the adjacent Sinuessa, a town about ten miles southeast of Minturnae. (Comp. Livy, lib. 22, cap. 14, and Strabo, lib. 5, p. 233.) 2d. The name did not indicate marshes, but natural hot springs, particularly noted for their salubrity. "Salubritate harum aquarum," says Tacitus in allusion to them (Annales, lib. 12); and Pliny notices their medicinal properties more explicitly. Hist. Naturalis, lib. 31, cap. 2.
[20] This does not accord with Horace's character of the Garigliano, the ancient Liris, as the "taciturnus amnis," (Carm., lib. i. 30,) and still less with that of Silius Italicus,
"Liris … qui fonte quieto
Dissimulat cursum, et nullo mutabilis imbre
Perstringit tacitas gemmanti gurgite ripas."
Puncia, lib. 4.
Indeed, the stream exhibits at the present day the same soft and tranquil aspect celebrated by the Roman poets. Its natural character, however, was entirely changed at the period before us, in consequence of the unexampled heaviness and duration of the autumnal rains.
[21] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 188.—Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. rey 30, cap. 14.—Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 16. —Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 269.—Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, fol. 262-264.—Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., fol. 22.—Machiavelli, Legazione Prima a Roma, let. 11, Nov. 10.—let. 16, Nov. 13.—let. 17.—Chrónica del Gran Capitan, lib. 2, cap. 106.—Garnier, Hist. de France, tom. v. pp. 440, 441.
[22] Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, fol. 264.
[23] Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 6, pp. 327, 328.—Giovio, Vitae Illust. Virorum, fol. 262.—Machiavelli, Legazione Prima a Roma, let. 29.— Garnier, Hist. de France, tom. v. pp. 443-445.
[24] Legazione Prima a Roma, let. 9, 10, 18.
The French showed the same confidence from the beginning of hostilities. One of that nation having told Suarez, the Castilian minister at Venice, that the marshal de la Trémouille said, "He would give 20,000 ducats, if he could meet Gonsalvo de Cordova in the plains of Viterbo;" the Spaniard smartly replied, "Nemours would have given twice as much not to have met him at Cerignola." Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 36.
[25] This barren tract of uninhabited country must have been of very limited extent; for it lay in the Campania Felix, in the neighborhood of the cultivated plains of Sessa, the Massicau mountain, and Falernian fields,—names, which call up associations, that must live while good poetry and good wine shall be held in honor.
[26] Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 28, cap. 5.—Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. i. lib. 6, p. 328.—Machiavelli, Legazione Prima a Roma, let. 44.—Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., fol. 22.—Chrónica del Gran Capitan, cap. 107, 108.—The Neapolitan conquests, it will be remembered, were undertaken exclusively for the crown of Aragon, the revenues of which were far more limited than those of Castile.
[27] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 188.—Chrónica del Gran Capitan, lib. 2, cap. 108.—Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap, 16.—Guicciardini, Istoria, lib. 6, p. 328.—Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 58.
[28] Giovio, Vita Magni Gonsalvi, fol. 265.—Garnier, Hist. de France, tom. v. p. 445.—Zurita, Anales, tom. v. lib. 5, cap. 59.—Buonaccorsi, Diario, fol. 85.—Ulloa, Vita di Carlo V., fol. 22.—Varillas, Hist. de Louis XII., tom. i. pp. 401, 402.
[29] Garnier, Hist. de France, tom. v. pp. 440-443.—Giovio, Vitae Illust.
Virorum, fol. 264, 265.—Guicciardini, Istoria, tom. i. lib. 6, p. 329.—
Machiavelli, Legazione Prima a Roma, let. 44.—St. Gelais, Hist. de Louys
XII., pp. 173, 174.
[30] Chrónica del Gran Capitan, lib. 2, cap. 106.—Mémoires de Bayard, chap. 25, apud Petitot, Collection des Mémoires, tom. xv.—Varillas, Hist. de Louis XII., tom. i. p. 417.—Quintana, Españoles Célebres, tom. i. pp. 288-290.—Machiavelli, Legazione Prima a Roma, let. 39, 44.
[31] Compare the prose romances of D'Auton, of the "loyal serviteur" of Bayard, and the no less loyal biographer of the Great Captain, with the poetic ones of Ariosto, Berni, and the like.
"Magnanima menzogna! or quando è il vero
Si bello, che si possa a te preporre?"