could only be affirmed by those who had been accessory to his sufferings; and whether what was extorted from him was the unvarnished truth, or the raving of one suffering excruciating pain, can never be known. No proof of his guilt, however, could be produced, either at that time or afterwards, and he was conveyed to public execution with a gag over his mouth, as if his murderers dreaded the effect which his asseverations of innocence might produce on the multitude. At the conclusion of the war in the following year, mutual restoration of the conquests which had been made took place between Milan and Florence. Venice alone had reaped a valuable accession of territory, owing to the valour of the unfortunate Carmagnola, and her dominions now extended to the banks of the Adda, beyond which they were fated never to pass; but little good resulted from her possessions on the main land. As long as Venice contented herself with being a maritime republic, her prosperity was unrivalled; but when she neglected the care of her navy and foreign trade, to engage in the wars of the peninsula, her conquests only made her an object of jealousy to those states who would have willingly yielded her the dominion of the waves*. Perceval, vol. ii. vited to Venice under pretence of conferring with the senate on terms of peace, and was greeted, both on the road and on his arrival at the capital, with every demonstration of respect. Amid the shouts of the populace, he proceeded with his train to the ducal palace, but his attendants were there dismissed, under pretence that the doge would require their presence for a longer time than it would be agreeable for them to wait. Carmagnola, haunted perhaps by some secret misgivings, entered the palace alone. The gates were immediately closed behind him, and he was informed that the doge was indisposed, and could not see him until the next morning; he then turned towards the court in order to withdraw, but was seized and dragged towards a private door. In a piercing voice he exclaimed, "I am lost!" but while wildly struggling to free himself, he was immured in a profound dungeon, and heard the door close after his betrayers. Left to his solitary reflections, he could entertain no doubt as to his ultimate fate, and was forced to prepare himself as best he might for the fatal moment. A few days afterwards he was put to the torture, though the unhealed wounds which he had received in the service of Venice might have shamed the signory from this act of cruelty. It was given out that while on the rack he confessed that he had been treacherous to Venice; but the truth of this could only be affirmed by those who had been accessory to his sufferings; and whether what was extorted from him was the unvarnished truth, or the raving of one suffering excruciating pain, can never be known. No proof of his guilt, however, could be produced, either at that time or afterwards, and he was conveyed to public execution with a gag over his mouth, as if his murderers dreaded the effect which his asseverations of innocence might produce on the multitude. . At the conclusion of the war in the following year, mutual restoration of the conquests which had been made took place between Milan and Florence. Venice alone had reaped a valuable accession of territory, owing to the valour of the unfortunate Carmagnola, and her dominions now extended to the banks of the Adda, beyond which they were fated never to pass; but little good resulted from her possessions on the main land. As long as Venice contented herself with being a maritime republic, her prosperity was unrivalled; but when she neglected the care of her navy and foreign trade, to engage in the wars of the peninsula, her conquests only made her an object of jealousy to those states who would have willingly yielded her the dominion of the waves*. • Perceval, vol. ii. SFORZA ATTENDOLO. A. D. 1424. GIACOMUZZO, or Muzzo Attendolo, one of the most distinguished Italian condottieri of the fifteenth century, was the son of a peasant in the small village of Cotignola, and was born about the year 1369. One day, being at work in the fields, he was accosted by a party of soldiers, belonging to Barbiano's famous company of St. George, who laughingly invited him to enlist. The roving life of a free companion presented many charms to the imagination of the young peasant; and as he gazed at the blithe countenances and shining accoutrements of the strangers, and listened to their enticing descriptions of a soldier's life, he felt greatly inclined to abandon his humble calling, and try his fortune in the field. Half in jest, he exclaimed, "I will throw my spade into yonder oak, and if it falls to the ground, I will remain as I am; but if it lodges among the boughs, I will follow you." He flung his spade into the tree as he spoke, and it caught in the branches; on which he immediately enlisted. Attendolo had not long been in Barbiano's company before he formed a friendship with Braccio di Montone, a brave and lively young man, who afterwards proved himself one of the most distinguished generals formed in the school of St. George. The habits and dispositions of the two comrades were essentially different, for Attendolo was illiterate, and attached to the rustic habits, plain food, and simple apparel, to which he had been accustomed in his father's cottage; whereas Moutone had been brought up delicately, and was fond of costly dress and the pleasures of the table*; but they resembled each other in an ardent passion for military distinction, and, it must be added, for the pecuniary advantages attending a profession in which heavy ransoms and abundant booty were the sure fruits of victory. It was Attendolo's disposition to seize by force whatever came in his way, which procured him the surname of Sforza, by which he is best known, and which was assumed by his children. Montone had been born in a far loftier sphere than his friend. He was a Perugian nobleman, who with many of his fraternity had been doomed to banishment; and having acquired the knowledge and experience necessary for a commander under Barbiano's banners, he returned at the head of his fellow nobles and a strong body of mercenaries to revenge himself on his native city by subjugating * Bayle. |