Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/287

263 EXPEDITION OF CHARLES VIII. 263 seventy years of age at the period of vi^hich we are chapter treating, 1493. The heir apparent, Alfonso, was ' equally sanguinary in his temper, though possessing less talent for dissimulation than his father. Such was the character of the principal Italian character or ■*• ^ Italian poli- courts at the close of the fifteenth century. The '*•='• politics of the country were necessarily regulated by the temper and views of the leading powers. They were essentially selfish and personal. The ancient republican forms had been gradually effaced during this century, and more arbitrary ones intro- duced. The name of freedom, indeed, was still inscribed on their banners, but the spirit had disap- peared. In almost every state, great or small, some military adventurer, or crafty statesman, had suc- ceeded in raising his own authority on the liberties of his country ; and his sole aim seemed to be to enlarge it still further, and to secure it against the conspiracies and revolutions, which the reminis- cence of ancient independence naturally called forth. Such was the case with Tuscany, Milan, Naples, and the numerous subordinate states. In Rome, the pontiff proposed no higher object than the concentration of wealth and public honors in the hands of his ow^n family. In short, the admin- istration of every state seemed to be managed with exclusive reference to the personal interests of its chief. Venice was the only power of sufficient strength and stability to engage in more extended schemes of policy, and even these were conducted, as has been already noticed, in the narrow and cal- culating spirit of a trading corporation.