New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-03-19

Mr. Symonds records how Lucrcza Horgia ITO whom
we shall have occasion TO refer again. was hiIIi,"
to Giovanni Sforga and how, the pretenSlonS VI 'o
Borgias having Outgrown this alliance, she va"
vorccd and given to Alfon1o OF bsegi'a' Il" "''s''
mate son Of the King of Naples; and how when 'Als
mans father lost his crown the Boreas not caring
to be connected with an cx-royal family, caused
Alfonzo TO be stabbed on the steps of ST. Ieters III
IDOL But he did not die Immediately OF MS
wounds and the BOrgias. feeling great pressure Oh
Inconvenience from this protracted cohhe' tioh VII"
member of an tx. royal family, caused nm 10 DC
strapgled in his sick bed Ivy u gentleman named
NirLcnozzo. who held the distinguished position ol
Cesore Borgia's assassin-ln-chci. Chuchmeh'
priests, canons cardinals and PopeS were not DC
hind the mobiles and the sodicry in the violation OF
all the laws Of God and of man. That they had
nephews as their children necessarily illegtlmate
were called. and that they used their power and
their influence for the advancement of the interests
of these ncphcws whence the term nepotisml, was
the least of their sins for these those OF
natural affection and human weakness; but they
were rapacious dcccitful brutal unnatural, bloody
and unscrupuOus to degree that to us IN these
days is incompreheusbe, almost inconceIyable
Their passions seemed to be those of wild beastsi
and so their cOnscIenceS And this was III an age Ill
which to use Mr.. SymOndsS own words even he
widest and most perlGous o. tyrants felt the en-
nobling influences and the sacred thirst of kn0Wl-
edge What there was enrolling III these in
huences. what sacred in that thirst, we may be
better able to say after an examination Of MI
Symonds's third and seventh chapters OF his Age OF
the Despots. which, although necessarily curSory,
shall not be superficial.
This Age of the Dcspots includes the fifteenth
century u4OO 30 1900 as we'll as the previous one.
In the fourteenth century tho conditions of the
Renaissance were evolved; but it was between
1925 and 1900 that the Renaissance was fully
developed and perfected Italy was at this time
without even the semlance OF a central Govern
mcnt. There were certain Italian peoples, but no
Italian nation. FcudaliSm had never taken strong
hold in the peninsula. There were tho great indie.
pendent cities and sO-callcd Republics OF Florence.
Genoa and Venice. Nearly Ill OF the rest of the
country was the battlefield aud the booty OF
strong-handed remorselcss tyrants; and Florence
itself in the end became the prey OF family OF
despots These dcspots were not kings or princes
according to the modern notion CT the royal or
prnccly dignity They rarely Inherited their posi-
tons and even in succession from father to son
legitimacy was little respected. The title to SUI
premacy was personal power, ;Or rather personal
success And il is TO he remarked that the ten
dencv of political and social Influences in Italy was.
and had been and long continued to be, toward the
growth of individualism. Mr.. Symonds thus sets
forth this condition of Italian society and its con-
sequences;
Under the Italian dcspotisms we observe nearly
the oppose Of all the influences brought TO bear I'D
thc same period upon the nations of the North.
There Is no gradual absorption of the great yassalS
in monarchies no fixed allegiance t. Il reignlng
dynasty, no fcudal aid or military service attached
to the tenure of the land no tendency TO centraiZc
the whole intellectual activity OF the race IN any
capital nc suppression of individual character by
Strongly biased public feeling, by mmutalle law,
nv I've SuuprucU.nlpUt weight OF n
archy. Everything on the contrary tends to the
free emergence OF personal passions ana personal
aims. Though the vaSsals OF GeSpot are neither
his soldiers nor his loyal licgeS, but his cOurter5
and taxpayers the continual objects OF his cruelty
and fear yet each subject has the chance OF pecom-
ing a prince like SfOrZa or companion on princes
like Petrarch. Equality of servltude goes lar TO
democratize a nation, and common hatred of the
tyrant leads to the combination OF all classes
AGAINST him. Thence follows the fermentation OF
arrogant and sef-reliant passions III the breasts OF
tiops of government teach men 70 care for them
selves and to depend upon themselves alone IN the
battle of the world; W hile the necessity OF craft
and policy IN the conduct OF cohpHcaIeu dHaII'
sharpens intelligence.
This fine passage which is a characteristic eX-
ample of the reflective and deductve manner of the
author presents picture of the political and social
condition of Italy at the time of the Renaissance
which we may safely assume to be correct. And i'll
if we have the key of whatever mystery there was
in this singular epoch of modern history. There
was no political social restraint nothing to cor
respond to what we AnglO-SaxOn folk understand
by a constitutOn-ether political. OF a constitu-
ton of society. What wonder then, that among a
people full of energy and of intellect, thus unre-
strained there should be individuals whose eXerted
brains and unrestraiued passions made them almost
or quite mOnsters-a Cesare Borga on the one hand,
n Benvenuto Cen on the other In snch a coun-
trv and in such a society despots were only IA
I,,9 inf 1,iS utrVo and i'm Ia
age can hardly comprehend the lives and the ac-
tons of these despots or how they could be toll
Grated through two or three centuries MT.
Symonds's first volume tells this dreadful story.
II is in fact a history of Italy during the four
teenth fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. with
special reference TO these petty depots and despo-
isns and to the eminent men who like Machiayelll
on the one hand served the despotS, or like savona
rola OH the other, withstood them and propheSed
against them.
The first Of these deSpOts, and he who came to be
the model of his kind in after ages, was Ezzelno da
Romano. lie PROPOSED to regard himself as
divinelv appointed scOurge of humanity; and under
this prctence he abandoned himself to the greed of
power and the lust of blood. He no big bold,
brutal soldier but small, pale, wiry man, foe to
luxury, with no love of children in his heart no
capacity of the beauty OF the charm OF woman
either in soul or in body. He was originally what
was then called noble, but his power rested upon
the captaincy of the Imperial party delegated to
him by the Emperor Frederick II. We cannot tell
here all that is told of him in the welauthcnticaed
histories of the time, which Mr.. Symonds has well
winnowel. In Padua alone he built eight prisons,
two of which would hold 300 prisoners each: and
although the sword of the executiOncr was con-
stanty red in them these prisons were always full.
Every cell was by its construction place Of torture.
Ezzelino not only slew and imprisoned but tor
mented and mutilated At the capture of Friola he
mutilated the whole people; causing them ali,
yvith,nt rcpard la age on sex. be deprived of