New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-01-10
FLORENCE.
A TRANSLATION OF sIGNOR vILLARrs
HISTORY.

L. "a
the Time OF Dante. BY Professor Pasquale VII
lari. Translated by Linda Villari Illustrated:
Pp. xvi. 3e5 Imported by Charles Scribners
sons
This book might we'll have been entitled. THE
Rise Of the Forentne Republic" For the author
finishes his task at the point where the power OF
Florence seems greatest. but where signs OF de-
cay are already to be SEEN When the little Com
monwealth produced Dante. II did its best The
next great man OF letters. Boccacco, when COM
pared with the poet seems hardly more than a
mark Of decadence. To make the comparison Is
to perceive "how deep was the change Few
years had wrought in the spirit Of Florence and
OF all Italy" The change was the better for the
world but it could hardly have seemed like an
Improvement to those hardy and virtuous F1oren-
tines Of an earlier age who clad in skins
and had 10 fight for every liberty they possessed.
They WERE above all. citizens Of Florence, and 1t
was when Florentines ceased to be municipal or
national and became cosmopolitan that the fort
unes of the city began TO change for the worse.
These two facts the cosmopolitanism OF the Flor
entine merchant and statesman and the political
decay OF the town, were neither. perhaps, the
cause Of the other, but they were due to idenucal
causes in the past Signor Villari. while he enters
deeply into the discussion OF authorities and the
succession OF chronclers and annalists leaves the
question Of the origin Of Florence In doubt But
the reader catches gmpses OF an unsettled popu-
lation in the early Middle Ages. which in times of
peril scattered to the hills sought refuge In the
ancient town Of Fiesole and then returned with
peace 10 the pleasant valley Of the Arno One
reads again the story of every ancient Italian city
from Rome onward. a story Of the rivalry OF vii
lagos and the gradual annexation Of the weaker
ones by that particular organism which, through
some accident contained the stubbornest fighting
he Long iOple not
two cities which have grown up beside each other
by this process OF accreion. They are so near TO-
gether that each must claim the same territory
and the war between them can only end In the
complete subjugation perhaps the absolute efface-
nent OF the weaker party. The story OF Rome
and Vea the story of Florence and Fiesole-that
has been, with variations in detail. the story OF
every great town in Italy. After the destruction
of the first rival, the victorious city proceeds TO
new conquests and new annexations. Rome alone
succeeded in extending Its authority over the
whole peninsula. To the medieval cities ths
was impossible They were too we'll matched IN
physical prowess. in military genius, In aptitude
for gathering wealth. They inherited equally the
culture and traditions OF the past and they were
equally adept in the use OF that precept divide
ct impera" which was the wisdom or Rome ana
the curse Of Italy
a
change in the population OF the country. But, as
q matter Of fact important changes had oc-
Cured and thereby hangs tale Of learned dis
mite in modern times. 1t happened that most OF
,he newer people who found their way into Italy
were Teutons and the modern Teuton Is very
loath TO acknowledge that the institutions or any
country which his ancestors once dominated can
have had other than a Teutonc origin On the
other hand the partisans Of the Latin race STUD
bornly insisted on the Roman character OF every
important usage among those who were the de-
scendants Of Roman citizens. 1t is certain tha'
the conquest OF Italy by successive hordes OF
Northern invaders pressed the natives down INTO
that condition Of slavery familiar in the North OF
Europe Toward their masters they stood in
relation that could only be defined by rore'en
law which they Ill understood. But toward each
otter they acted unconsciously and instincuVeiy
in accordance with precepts which had become
mart ~ their very existence through ages OF use
Thus the Roman law never died out In Italy, oul
such parts Of it as had never formed an essential
,e,oan, IN the life Of the people were forgotten and
the remainder was gradually mingled with Gus
tome that arose from the necessity Of a new order
~ things Even the most oppressive and oDnoN-
ions Of all the invaders Of Italy. the Longobards'
cou,d nor detect and destroy all the usages IN
berited from the Roman Empire. The people
could not have told them, even mad they "lsheu
to do so, the reason for many things that they
did II would have been easier 10 extirpa'e ''ie
Iatins altogether than TO have deprived them OF
their individuality or eradicated the customs u
which they chung without knowing why bu' '''e
very fact that the places where the l"ngoparo
supremacy lasted longest were the latest 10 TAKE
I'D the usages Of other cities. while nevertheiess
when their evolution did come to light IL 1oi-
lowed the same lines in every case, SHOWS 'haI
tho ,mnulse Of growth was given from within and
not from without-that is to say IL WAS H"''''
o,a No, German. To the comparative antiquity
If the Republic Of Amalf. which fourished under
the mild BYZANTINE rule. Sgnor Villar attributes
+he tradition that the Roman Pandects were pre-
served there The legend Of the transfer OF 'hese
IN pisa amounted simply to saying that PISA had
hegun her development in harmony with ancient
tradition The new life Of the cities OF southern
1talv hogan as early the seventh century
r,ore was no German tradition among them. anu
no one has ever been preposterous enough 10 oue-
gest the influence OF the Eastern Empire "ha'
the Empire did was to give the cities an oppoi'u.
nifty to expand according to their own lh'ei"a'
principle of organization
The history Of that central fact OF H'eui"o'' az
ism the Italian Commune, Is largely harra"'e
Of the struggle between the Latin ana herman
races Therefore Signor Nillari ASKS per'heh'i!
"If Latin civilization had been utterly oes'royeu'
how came 1t that the dead could rise again 10
oo,,ha, tba l,v,ng?" And he sums up the results
of the conflict by saying that. whenever by 'he
torce ~ things. and b. long intercourse con-
o,srors and conquered come into closer contact.
~. b,rbarians are unavoidably driven TO make
,no CONCESSIONS TO the Latin civilization. which
even when apparently extnguished Is away
found 10 have life. How explain otherwise '"e
Gradual yielding OF Longobard law to the press
ure Of Roman law; how explain the new species
Of code that gradually took shape ana was
STYLED by Capponi an almost Roman eoiice