The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-12-15

OF tho fIorentfne commune ana pfoceeur
TO describe it's first wars and reforms. Then
follows an exposition Of the first popular
Government and of the constitution OF the
greater guilds, the commercial interests
and policy Of which are also carefully
examined. There are chapters on THE
Family and the State in Italian
and on the "Enactments of Justice the
book concluding with a delineation OF the
F%lorentine republic as II was in Dante's
time. with whose death the medieval period
may be said to have ended and the Italian
Renaissance to have begun. We may say
at once that no part of this book could have
been written fifty or even thirty years ago.
What we have here is the embodiment OF
the results Of Italian and German researches
during the last quarter Of a century.
Prof. Villari regards IL as a certainty
that the beginning Of a settlement on the
site of Florence was made by the Etruscans
of Fiesole. He accepts as credible, and
even probable, Machiav elli's assertion
that from very remote times the traders of
Fiesole had established a post OF the Arno
at a point where the Mugnone runs into the
river. Gradually a cluster Of cabins arose.;
these. in time, grew into houses, and,
finally, formed n rival II was the
Romans who converted the town into a
city, though at what period Is still un-
ascertained. II Is improbable that tho
event occurred earlier han two centuries
before Christ. Florius. writing in the
second century of era, mentions Flor
ence among the cities which had suffered
most in tho days of Sulla. Recent excava-
tions made in digging new sewers have
furnished proofs that In Sulla's time the
city must have already possessed build
ings of no small Importance, includ-
ing an amphitheatre. The restoration OF
Florence after the serious mi uries inflicted
on II in Sulla's day is generally attributed
TO Augustus, who Ia supposed 20 have
made IL a seat Of one Of the twenty-eight
colonies founded by him. 1t certainly
must have been a colony in Is b. C., when,
as we learn from Tacitus. it sent n deputa-
ton 20 Tiberius, asking him to forbid the
junction Of the river Chiana with the Arno
on account of the damage this would cause.
The weighty authority of Mommsen, how
ever, supports the view that, in spite of the
testimony given by Florius. the colony CT
Florence was founded. not by Augustus.
but by Sulla. We should, at all events,
ascribe to the first century b. c. the con-
struction of the oldest circuit Of walls
which existed during a great part of the
Middle Ages, and some remains of which
nave been discovered in our own day.
For a long time after the epoch OF the
barbarian in~va-ions the history of Flor
ence is involved in great obscurity, and
what little information is obtainable on
the subject is mixed with legends. Prof.
Villari rejects the tradition accepted by
NT.Il--. A.. A.,l. ,kA ,u,,r &c God
DESTROYED Florence and rebuilt Fiesole.
There is no doubt that the Goths captured
Florence at one time, but they did not
destroy the city. The occupation OF Tus-
cany by the Lombards took place about
A. ID. $40, and was followed by two centuries
Of darkness. There are extant documents
belonging to the latter half of the eighth
century which allude 10 Florence as though
il had become a suburb Of Fiesole. In
SO Charlemagne halted in Florence on his
way TO Rome, an incident that gave rise
to the legend that the rebuilding Of the city
was his work. There is no doubt, how
ever, that, owing TO the greater order and
tranquility brought about by Charlemagne,
men once more forsook the hills for the
valley and Florence began to prosper at
Fiesole's expense In e55 the Emperor
Ohio /. halted In Florence on the way to
his coronation by the Pope. M n chron-
icler attributes To him an imaginary grant
Of a territory six miles in extent. II is
certain that from the Frankish times down.
ward the prosperity Of Florence slowly but
surely increased. The geographical posi-
ton Of the city proved increasingly advan-
tageous TO it's commerce. A. early as
SIS the Emperor Lothair had proposed
Florence with seven other Italian cities
as the seat Of a public school The Popes
often sojourned there, when popular dis
turbanccs expelled them from Rome. Vic
tor II. died In Florence in 1867; so did stephen
IN. In the next year: three years later
Nicholas II. and his cardinals stayed in
the town pending the election of Alex
ander II. In continual relation with the
Eternal City, Florence already began TO
show the religious and Guelphic tendencies
that afterwari became such conspicuous
features Of her history Toward the
clo-o 81 the tenth century many new
churches arose within and without tho
city walls. and. during the eleventh CEN
fury FLORENCE heraIE" one 81 the chief cen
tres Of the movement m favor Of mpnastic
reform II Wa ~ q Floirntin" Who died
In 1913 tina the reformed B"n'iictinr order
known by the uamo Of Nall.mhrusa wac
f.und"i About this time there was a
Duke 81 Tuscany. and floroIo" Vac GO,
orru,,i hy bic military representative tl"
Commune ~as rtIl unborn In 100 tlr
famous ,ouut"~ Matilda. the d",uuf ur
I.ll-t - a.. palary. va- mi.trs-- 81 o..
,l.t. 4- vrI' o.. II ,'N't tHtrfur.# ST.
uIf,. aft.r t.r fashion ~ L'r rrnlr r'
.. . d.. . H.