Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/352

328 328 ITALIAN WARS. PART embraced the whole extent of it in II their histories. These two writers, ' besides the attractions of elegant scholarship, and talent, occupied a position which enabled them to take a clear view of all the prin- cipal political movements of their age ; circumstances, which have made their accounts of infinite value in respect to foreign transactions, as well as domestic. Guicciardini was a conspicuous actor in the scenes he describes ; and a long residence at the court of Ferdinand the Catholic opened to him the most authentic sources of informa- tion in regard to Spain. Giovio, from his intimate relations with the principal persons of his time, had also access to the best sources of knowledge, while in the notice of foreign transactions he was but Sismondi. little exposed to those venal influ- ences, which led him too often to employ the golden or iron pen of history as interest dictated. Un- fortunately, a lamentable hiatus occurs in his greatest work, " His- toriae suiTemporis," embracing the whole period intervening between the end of Charles VIII. 's expedi- tion and the accession of Leo X., in 1513. At the time of the memo- rable sack of Rome by the Duke of Bourbon, in 1527, Giovio deposited his manuscript, with a quantity of plate, in an iron chest, which he hid in an obscure corner of the church of Santa Maria sopra Mi^ nerva. The treasure, however, did not escape the searching eyes of two Spanish soldiers, who broke open the chest, and one of them seized on the plate, regarding the papers as of no value. The other, not being quite such a fool, says Giovio, preserved such of the man- uscripts as were on vellum, and ornamented with rich bindings, but threw away what was written on paper. The part thus thrown away con- tained six books, relating to the period above mentioned, which were never afterwards recovered. The soldier brought tho remainder to their author, who bought them at the price of a vacant benefice, which he persuaded the pope to confer on the freebooter, in his native land of Cordova. It is not ol'ten that simony has found so good an apolo- gy. The deficiency, although never repaired by Giovio, was in some degree supplied by his biographies of eminent men, and, among others, by that of Gonsalvo de Cordova, in which he has collected with great in- dustry all the events of any interest in the life of this great commander. The narrative is in general cor- roborated by the Spanish authori- ties, and contains some additional particulars, especially respecting his early life, which Giovio's personal intimacy with the principal charac- ters of the period might easily have furnished. This portion of our story is, moreover, illustrated by the labors of M. Sismondi, in his " R6pub- liques Italiennes," which may un- doubtedly claim to be ranked among the most remarkable historical achievements of our time ; whether we consider the dexterous manage- ment of the narrative, or the admi- rable spirit of philosophy by which it is illumined. It must be ad- mitted, that he has perfectly suc- ceeded in unravelling the intricate web of Itahan pohtics ; and, not- withstanding the complicated, and, indeed, motley character of his sub- ject, the historian has left a uniform and liarmonious impression on the mind of the reader. This he has accomplished, by keeping constant- ly in view the principle which regu- lated all the various movements of the complex machinery ; so that his narrative becomes, what he terms it in his English abridgment, a history of Italian liberty. By keeping this principle steadily be- fore him, he has been able to solve much that hiliierto was dark and problematical in his subject; and, if he has occasionally sacrificed something to theory, he lias, on the wliolo, pursued tiie investigation in a truly philosophical manner, and