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the civilization of the renaissance in italy-第23章

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d to useful  account; till the Italians became the teachers of all Europe; both in  the build… ing of fortifications and in the means of attacking them。  Princes like Federigo of Urbino and Alfonso of Ferrara acquired a  mastery of the subject compared to which the knowledge even of  Maximilian I appears superficial。 In Italy; earlier than elsewhere;  there existed a comprehensive science and art of military affairs;  here; for the first time; that impartial delight is taken in able  generalship for its own sake; which might; indeed; be expected from the  frequent change of party and from the wholly unsentimental mode of  action of the Condottieri。 During the Milano…Venetian war of 1451 and  1452; between Francesco Sforza and Jacopo Piccinino; the headquarters  of the latter were attended by the scholar Gian Antonio Porcellio dei  Pandoni; commissioned by Alfonso of Naples to write a report of the  campaign。 It is written; not in the purest; but in a fluent Latin; a  little too much in the style of the humanistic bombast of the day; is  modelled on Caesar's Commentaries; and interspersed with speeches;  prodigies; and the like。 Since for the past hundred years it had been  seriously disputed whether Scipio Africanus or Hannibal was the  greater; Piccinino through the whole book must needs be called Scipio  and Sforza Hannibal。 But something positive had to be reported too  respecting the Milanese army; the sophist presented himself to Sforza;  was led along the ranks; praised highly all that he saw; and promised  to hand it down to posterity。 Apart from him the Italian literature of  the day is rich in descriptions of wars and strategic devices; written  for the use of educated men in general as well as of specialists; while  the contemporary narratives of northerners; such as the 'Burgundian  War' by Diebold Schilling; still retain the shapelessness and matter… of…fact dryness of a mere chronicle。 The greatest _dilettante _who has  ever treated in that character of military affairs; Machiavelli; was  then busy writing his 'Arte della Guerra。' But the development of the  individual soldier found its most complete expression in those public  and solemn conflicts between one or more pairs of combatants which were  practiced long before the famous 'Challenge of Barletta' (1503)。 The  victor was assured of the praises of poets and scholars; which were  denied to the northern warrior。 The result of these combats was no  longer regarded as a Divine judgement; but as a triumph of personal  merit; and to the minds of the spectators seemed to be both the  decision of an exciting competition and a satisfaction for the honour  of the army or the nation。

It is obvious that this purely rational treatment of warlike affairs  allowed; under certain circumstances; of the worst atrocities; even in  the absence of a strong political hatred; as; for instance; when the  plunder of a city had been promised to the troops。 After the forty  days' devastation of Piacenza; which Sforza was compelled to permit to  his soldiers (1477); the town long stood empty; and at last had to be  peopled by force。 Yet outrages like these were nothing compared with  the misery which was afterwards brought upon Italy by foreign troops;  and most of all by the Spaniards; in whom perhaps a touch of oriental  blood; perhaps familiarity with the spectacles of the Inquisition; had  unloosed the devilish element of human nature。 After seeing them at  work at Prato; Rome; and elsewhere; it is not easy to take any interest  of the higher sort in Ferdinand the Catholic and Charles V who knew  what these hordes were; and yet unchained them。 The mass of documents  which are gradually brought to light from the cabinets of these rulers  will always remain an important source of historical information; but  from such men no fruitful political conception can be looked for。

The Papacy

The Papacy and the dominions of the Church are creations of so peculiar  a kind that we have hitherto; in determining the general  characteristics of Italian States; referred to them only occasionally。  The deliberate choice and adaptation of political' expedients; which  gives so great an interest to the other States is what we find least of  all at Rome; since here the spiritual power could constantly conceal or  supply the defects of the temporal。 And what fiery trials did this  State undergo in the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth  century; when the Papacy was led captive to Avignon! All; at first; was  thrown into confusion; but the Pope had money; troops; and a great  statesman and general; the Spaniard Albornoz; who again brought the  ecclesiastical State into complete subjection。 The danger of a final  dissolution was still greater at the time of the schism; when neither  the Roman nor the French Pope was rich enough to reconquer the newly… lost State; but this was done under Martin V; after the unity of the  Church was restored; and done again under Eugenius IV; when the same  danger was renewed。 But the ecclesiastical State was and remained a  thorough anomaly among the powers of Italy; in and near Rome itself;  the Papacy was defied by the great families of the Colonna; Orsini;  Savelli and Anguillara; in Umbria; in the Marches; and in Romagna;  those civic republics had almost ceased to exist; for whose devotion  the Papacy had shown so little gratitude; their place had been taken by  a crowd of princely dynasties; great or small; whose loyalty and  obedience signified little。 As self…dependent powers; standing on their  own merits; they have an interest of their own; and from this point of  view the most important of them have already been discussed。

Nevertheless; a few general remarks on the Papacy can hardly be  dispensed with。 New and strange perils and trials came upon it in the  course of the fifteenth century; as the political spirit of the nation  began to lay hold upon it on various sides; and to draw it within the  sphere of its action。 The least of these dangers came from the populace  or from abroad; the most serious had their ground in the characters of  the Popes themselves。

Let us; for this moment; leave out of consideration the countries  beyond the Alps。 At the time when the Papacy was exposed to mortal  danger in Italy; it neither received nor could receive the slightest  assistance either from France; then under Louis XI; or from England;  distracted by the Wars of the Roses; or from the then disorganized  Spanish monarchy; or from Germany; but lately betrayed at the Council  of Basle。 In Italy itself there was a certain number of instructed and  even uninstructed people whose national vanity was flattered by the  Italian character of the Papacy; the personal interests of very many  depended on its having and retaining this character; and vast masses of  the people still believed in the virtue of the Papal blessing and  consecration; among them notorious transgressors like Vitelozzo  Vitelli; who still prayed to be absolved by Alexander VI; when the  Pope's son had him strangled。 But all these grounds of sympathy put  together would not have sufficed to save the Papacy from its enemies;  had the latter been really in earnest; and had they known how 
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