Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/136

110 II. 10 ITALIAN WARS. I'ART arts of the cabinet, on which the Italians were ac- customed to rely, much more than on the sword, in their disputes with one another, were of no avail against these rude invaders, whose strong arm easily broke through the subtile webs of policy, which en- tangled the movements of less formidable adver- saries. It was the triumph of brute force over civilization, — one of the most humiliating lessons by which Providence has seen fit to rebuke the pride of human intellect.^ The fate of Italy inculcates a most important lesson. With all this outward show of prosperity, her political institutions had gradually lost the vital principle, which could alone give them stability or real value. The forms of freedom, indeed, in most instances, had sunk under the usurpation of some aspiring chief. Everywhere patriotism was lost in the most intense selfishness. Moral principle was at as low an ebb in private, as in public life. The hands, which shed their liberal patronage over genius and learning, were too often red with blood. The courtly precincts, which seemed the favorite haunt of the Muses, were too often the Epicurean sty of brutish sensuality; while the head of the church itself, w^hose station, exalted over that of every worldly potentate, should have raised him at 1 "O pria si cara al cid del mondo parte, O pur cosl pietatc c DIo s' onora? Che r acqua eigne, o '1 sasso orrido serra; Ahi secol duro, ahi tralignato seme." O lieta sopra ogn' altra e dolce terra, Benibo, Rime, Son. 108. Che'leupert.oApprnninsegnaediparte: ^his exquisite little Ivric, infe- Clio val omai, se 'i biion popol di Mnrle. ', i • i t i Ti lascio del mar donna e dc la terra .' "Or to nonC Other whicll had ap- Le genti a tc gii serve, or li fun guerra, peared On the Samc Subjcct since E pongon man ne!e the treccie sparic. .Up it T(^li^ mia " of Prtr.iroli wto Lasso ni manca de' tiioi tlgii ancora, '"^ iiaua mia 01 rcirarcn, yas Chile pill strane a tcriiianmndoiiisicme Composed by iJembo at the period La spada sua ncl tiio bd eorpo adopre. of which We are treating. Or son questc simili a I' autich' opre?