New-York tribune., 1903-01-18

as the glamour of the past by which they are
enveIoped entities them to that epithet. The
Sienese were ever, they are to-day. Of
mobile temperament. taking life lightly in
moment and rising to heights of religious fervor
in the next loving all earthly pleasures and
capable of heroic deeds. but at bottom they
were profoundly susceptible to the play Of COM
merciaI interests and Mr.. Douglas justly char
acterizes them as "a nation Of shOpkeepers."
He renders good service to the student in
phasizing this point throughout, exhibiting it as
of commanding Importance in the long drawn
out story of that rivalry between Siena and
Florence which has too often been attributed 70
purely political conditions. The truth, as this
book exposes it. luminously and in detail, is that
by their geographical positions Florence and
Siena were necessarily embroiled in competi-
ton which could not but grow fercer as civ
iization-and trade-developed in the Peninsula
With territories so closely related and with in
dividualities SO sharply differentiated. as was
bound to be the case with any two Italian cities
of the Middle Ages it was in the nature OF
things impossible for them to live in harmony
Each craYed complete control Of the highroads
to Rome and to the ports of the Mediterranean
A certain patriotic impulse unquestiOnabiy gave
impetus to each side in the bitter conflict but
Guelph and GhibeIline while willing enough to
fight for ideal. We're keener on their own
practical interests than they ever were on those
Of Emperor or Pope Thus beneath the compli-
Gated web of religious and political hatredS and
ambitions which lie upon the surface OF Tuscan
history the petty instinct of the tradesmen can
almost invariably be discerned, and the highest
issues of both FIorentine and Sierese are con-
stantIy taking a certain color from economic
conditions. 1t is this dITiere peHsee which ex-
plains quite as much as that variable tempera-
ment to which have alluded the ready ad-
justnlent Of the Sienese 10 each new crisis n
their history.
Capable of great emotional flights, they passed
readily into a mood Of intense practically
Their weakness resided in their lack Of staying
power Just as the frivoIity in the nature Of the
people made it impossible for them TO maintain
unbroken fidelity to their reiigion. so that in
times of peace license ran riot in the city, and
when war threatened they bowed themselves IN
tears to the service of the Madonna, their ao-
sorption in commerce withdrew them again and
again from the disinterested study OF political
problems out of which alone they could have
hoped to form stable government Faction
was always rife in Siena- Persistent adherence
to a well defined scheme Of public administra-
ton was beyond them. If they did not love
change for its own sake, they were at all events
hospitable to it as men too deeply Interested IN
trade to foster the pure flame on the altar OF
lass account it would appear that the protec-
ton of the city was a more or less haPhazard
affair in one century after another. Even in
the early period of constant strife with the
feUdaI lords who sought TO take tolls by force
from the merchants guiding their precious car
ayans across the wild stretches of the MaremTna.
il needed the enemy almost at the gate TO make
the greedy burghers bestir themselves Later
when having repressed their turbulent neigh
bors the Sienese were confronted by the better
organized and more formidable hostility OF the
Florentines, they seem to have relied less upon
the sustained policy of well constructed defence
and a carefully guarded frontier than upon
spasmadic ebulitions of heroic prOwess. Be II
said in their honor that when the battle was
Joined they quit themselves like lions
The great fight of Montaperti, the greatest in
their arnals offers case in point. and We may
touch upon this event more at length for the
further reason that the records give an es-
peciaIIy vivid Illustration of the manner in
which Italian combatants in the middle OF the
thirteenth century proceeded to settle dispute
Neither FIorentina nor SIenese were sincere
when in July, 1855, their representatives s"ore
eternal peace and amity in the parish Church
of San Donato-in- -Poggio. the former promising
that they would not harbor any Sienese rebel.
the latter agreeing to preserve a similar poticS
toward any exile from the city on the Arno-
Siena in due time, gave refuge to some FloTen-
tine Ghibellines, and sent clubbing rely 70