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diff --git a/12542-0.txt b/12542-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08e4667 --- /dev/null +++ b/12542-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9151 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12542 *** + +RAVENNA +A STUDY + +BY +EDWARD HUTTON + +ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR AND LINE +BY +HARALD SUND + +1913 + +TO MY FRIEND +ARTHUR SYMONS +IN AFFECTIONATE HOMAGE + + + + +PREFACE + + +My intention in writing this book has been to demonstrate the unique +importance of Ravenna in the history of Italy and of Europe, especially +during the Dark Age from the time of Alaric's first descent into the +Cisalpine plain to the coming of Charlemagne. That importance, as it seems +to me, has been wholly or almost wholly misunderstood, and certainly, as I +understand it, has never been explained. In this book, which is offered to +the public not without a keen sense of its inadequacy, I have tried to show +in as clear a manner as was at my command, what Ravenna really was in the +political geography of the empire, and to explain the part that position +allowed her to play in the great tragedy of the decline and fall of the +Roman administration. If I have succeeded in this I am amply repaid for all +the labour the book has cost me. + +The principal sources, both ancient and modern, which I have consulted in +the preparation of this volume have been cited, but I must here acknowledge +the special debt I owe to the late Dr. Hodgkin, to Professor Diehl, to +Dr. Corrado Ricci, and to the many contributors to the various Italian +Bollettini which I have ransacked. + +E.H. + +_March_ 1913. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. + +I. THE GEOGRAPHICAL AND POLITICAL POSITION OF RAVENNA + +II. JULIUS CAESAR IN RAVENNA + +III. RAVENNA IN THE TIME OF THE EMPIRE + +IV. THE RETREAT UPON RAVENNA Honorius and Galla Placidia + +V. THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST + +VI. THEODORIC + +VII. THE RECONQUEST Vitiges, Belisarius, Totila, Narses + +VIII. MODICA QUIES The Pragmatic Sanction and the Settlement of Italy + +IX. THE CITADEL OF THE EMPIRE IN ITALY The Lombard Invasion + +X. THE PAPAL STATE Pepin and Charlemagne + +XI. THE CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF THE FIFTH CENTURY The Cathedral, Baptistery, +Arcivescovado, S. Agata, S. Pietro Maggiore, S. Giovanni Evangelista, S. +Giovanni Battista, and the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia + +XII. THE ARIAN CHURCHES OF THE SIXTH CENTURY The Palace of Theodoric, +S. Apollinare Nuovo, S. Spirito, S. Maria in Cosmedin, the Mausoleum of +Theodoric + +XII. THE BYZANTINE CHURCHES S. Vitale and S. Apollinare in Classe + +XIV. RAVENNA IN THE MIDDLE AGE + +XV. DANTE IN RAVENNA + +XVI. MEDIAEVAL RAVENNA The Churches + +XVII. RAVENNA IN THE RENAISSANCE The Battle of 1512 + +XVIII. RENAISSANCE RAVENNA Churches and Palaces + +XIX. THE GALLERY AND THE MUSEUM + +XX. THE PINETA + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +COLOURED PLATES + +S. APOLLINARE NUOVO + +S. AGATA + +THE MAUSOLEUM OF THEODORIC + +S. VITALE: THE GALLERY + +S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA + +THE MAUSOLEUM OF GALLA PLACIDIA + +S. VITALE: THE PRESBYTERY + +S. GIOVANNI BATTISTA + +S. MARIA IN PORTO + +PORTA SERRATA + + +LINE DRAWINGS + +SKETCH MAP + +SKETCH MAP + +SKETCH MAP + +GREEK RELIEF FROM A TEMPLE OF NEPTUNE + +SARCOPHAGUS OF THE EMPEROR HONORIUS + +THE APSE OF S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA + +THE MAUSOLEUM OF GALLA PLACIDIA + +CAPITAL FROM THE COLONNADE IN PIAZZA MAGGIORE + +S. APOLLINARE IN CLASSE + +CAPITAL FROM S. VITALE + +CAPITAL FROM SANTO SPIRITO + +SKETCH MAP + +SKETCH MAP OF CITIES IN IMPERIAL HANDS + +SKETCH MAP SHOWING NARSES' MARCH TO MEET TOTILA + +SKETCH MAP + +THE SARCOPHAGUS OF THE EXARCH ISAAC + +GUARDHOUSE OF THE PALACE OF THEODORIC + +THE CATHEDRAL (_Basilica Ursiana_) + +THE BAPTISTERY AND CAMPANILE OF THE CATHEDRAL + +THE CAMPANILE OF S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA + +S. VITALE + +CAPITAL FROM S. VITALE + +INTERIOR OF S. APOLLINARE IN CLASSE + +CAPITAL FROM S. VITALE + +THE CAMPANILE OF S. APOLLINARE + +CASA POLENTANA + +DANTE'S TOMB + +CAMPANILE OF S. FRANCESCO + +INTERIOR OF S. MARIA IN PORTO FUORI + +TORRE DEL COMUNE + +PORTAL OF S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA + +ROCCA VENIZIANA + +MONUMENT OF GASTON DE FOIX + +THE CLOISTER OF S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA + +THE PINETA + +THE PINETA + +TO PORTO CORSINI + +PLAN OF RAVENNA _see front end paper_ + +[Illustration: Colour Plate S. APOLLINARE NUOVO] + +RAVENNA + +A STUDY + + + + +I + +THE GEOGRAPHICAL AND POLITICAL POSITION OF RAVENNA + + +Upon the loneliest and most desolate shore of Italy, where the vast +monotony of the Emilian plain fades away at last, almost +imperceptibly, into the Adrian Sea, there stands, half abandoned in +that soundless place, and often wrapt in a white shroud of mist, a +city like a marvellous reliquary, richly wrought, as is meet, +beautiful with many fading colours, and encrusted with precious +stones: its name is Ravenna. + +It stands there laden with the mysterious centuries as with half +barbaric jewels, weighed down with the ornaments of Byzantium, rigid, +hieratic, constrained; and however you come to it, whether from Rimini +by the lost and forgotten towns of Classis and Caesarea, or from +Ferrara through all the bitter desolation of Comacchio, or across the +endless marsh from Bologna or Faenza, its wide and empty horizons, its +astonishing silence, and the difficulty of every approach will seem to +you but a fitting environment for a place so solitary and so +imperious. + +For this city of mute and closed churches, where imperishable mosaics +glisten in the awful damp, and beautiful pillars of most precious +marbles gleam through a humid mist, of mausoleums empty but +indestructible, of tottering _campanili_, of sumptuous splendour and +incredible decay, is the sepulchre of the great civilisation which +Christianity failed to save alive, but to which we owe everything and +out of which we are come; the only monument that remains to us of +those confused and half barbaric centuries which lie between Antiquity +and the Middle Age. + +Mysteriously secured by nature and doubly so after the failure of the +Roman administration, Ravenna was the death-bed of the empire and its +tomb. To her the emperor Honorius fled from Milan in the first years +of the fifth century; within her walls Odoacer dethroned the last +emperor of the West, founded a kingdom, and was in his turn supplanted +by Theodoric the Ostrogoth. It was from her almost impregnable +isolation that the attempt was made by Byzantium--it seemed and +perhaps it was our only hope--to reconquer Italy and the West for +civilisation; while her fall before the appalling Lombard onset in the +eighth century brought Pepin into Italy in 754, to lay the foundation +of a new Christendom, to establish the temporal power of the papacy, +and to prophesy of the resurrection of the empire, of the unity of +Europe. + +But though it is as the imperishable monument of those tragic +centuries that we rightly look upon Ravenna: before the empire was +founded she was already famous. It was from her silence that Caesar +emerged to cross the Rubicon and all unknowing to found what, when all +is said, was the most beneficent, as it was the most universal, +government that Europe has ever known. In the first years of that +government Ravenna became, and through the four hundred years of its +unhampered life she remained, one of its greatest bulwarks. While upon +its failure, as I have said, she suddenly assumed a position which for +some three hundred and fifty years was unique not only in Italy but in +Europe. And when with the re-establishment of an universal government +her importance declined and at length passed away, she yet lived on in +the minds and the memory of men as something fabulous and still, +curiously enough, as a refuge, the refuge of the great poet of the new +age; so that to-day, beside the empty tombs of Galla Placidia and +Theodoric, there stands the great sarcophagus which holds the dust of +Dante Alighieri. + +We may well ask how it was that a city so solitary, so inaccessible, +and so remote should have played so great a part in the history of +Europe. It is to answer this question that I have set myself to write +this book, which is rather an essay _in memoriam_ of her greatness, +her beauty, and her forlorn hope, than a history properly so called of +Ravenna. But if we are to come to any real understanding of what she +stood for, of what she meant to us once upon a time, we must first of +all decide for ourselves what was the fundamental reason of her great +renown. I shall maintain in this book that the cause of her greatness, +of her opportunity for greatness, was always the same, namely, her +geographical position in relation to the peninsula of Italy, the +Cisalpine plain, and the sea. Let us then consider these things. + +Italy, the country we know as Italy, properly understood, is +fundamentally divided into two absolutely different parts by a great +range of mountains, the Apennines, which stretches roughly from sea to +sea, from Genoa almost but not quite to Rimini. + +The country which lies to the south of that line of mountains is Italy +proper, and it consists as we know of a long narrow mountainous +peninsula, while its history throughout antiquity may be said to be +altogether Roman. + +What lies to the north of the Apennines is not Italy at all, but +Cisalpine Gaul. + +In its nature this country is altogether continental. It consists for +the most part of a vast plain divided from west to east by a great +river, the Po, and everywhere it is watered and nourished by its two +hundred tributaries. + +Shut off as it is on the south from Italy proper by the Apennines, +this plain is defended from Gaul and the Germanics, on the west and +the north, by the mightiest mountains in Europe, the Alps, which here +enclose it in a vast concave rampart that stretches from the +Mediterranean to the Adriatic. On the east it is contained by the sea. + +[Illustration: Sketch Map of northern Italy] + +The history of this vast country before the Roman Conquest is, as is +history everywhere in the West before that event, vague and obscure. +But this at least may be said: it was first in the occupation of the +Etruscans, who in time were turned out, destroyed, or enslaved by the +Gauls, those invaders who crossed the Alps from the west and who +during nearly two hundred years, continually, though never with an +enduring success, invaded Italy, and in 388 B.C. actually captured the +City. Rome, however, had by the year 223 B.C. succeeded in planting +her fortresses at Placentia and Cremona and in fortifying Mutina +(Modena), when suddenly in 218 B.C. Hannibal unexpectedly descended +into the Cisalpine plain and destroyed all she had achieved. With his +defeat, however, the conquest of Cisalpine Gaul was undertaken anew, +and at some time after 183 B.C.--we do not know exactly when--the +whole of this vast lowland country passed into Roman administration, +to become the chief province of Caesar's great triple command, and one +of the most valuable parts of the empire. + +What, then, is the relation of this vast lowland country between the +Alps and the Apennines to Italy proper? It stands as it has always +stood to her as a great defence. For if, as we must, we consider Italy +as the shrine, the sanctuary, and the citadel of Europe, a place apart +and separate--and because of this she has been able to do her work +both secular and religious--what has secured her but Cisalpine Gaul? +The valley of the Po, all this vast plain, appears in history as the +cockpit of Europe, the battlefield of the Celt, the Phoenician, the +Latin, and the Teuton, of Catholic and Arian, strewn with victories, +littered with defeats, the theatre of those great wars which have +built up Europe and the modern world. If the Gauls had not been broken +by the plain, they would perhaps have overwhelmed Italy and Rome; if +Hannibal had found there enemies instead of friends, the Oriental +would not so nearly have overthrown Europe. It broke the Gothic +invasion, Attila never crossed it, it absorbed the worst of the +appalling Lombard flood; Italy remains to us because of it. + +Now since Cisalpine Gaul thus secured Italy, the entry from the one to +the other, the road between them must always have been of an immense +importance. That entry and that road, whenever they were in dispute, +Ravenna commanded, and a good half of her importance lies in this. + +I say whenever they were in dispute: in time of peace that road and +that entry were not in the keeping of Ravenna but of Rimini. + +A study of the map will show us that though the Apennines shut off +Italy proper from Cisalpine Gaul along a line roughly from Genoa to +Rimini, actually that difficult and barren range just fails to reach +the Adriatic as it curves southward to divide the peninsula in its +entire length into two not unequal parts. This failure of the +mountains quite to reach the sea leaves at this corner a narrow strip +of lowland, of marshy plain in fact, between them. Therefore the +Romans, though they were compelled to cross the Apennines, for Rome +lay upon their western side, were able to do so where they chose and +not of necessity to make the difficult passage at a crucial point. + +[Illustration: Sketch Map of Ravenna region] + +The road they planned and laid out, the Flaminian Way, the great north +road of the Romans, was built by Caius Flaminius the Censor about 220 +B.C.[1], that is to say, immediately after the first subjection of the +Gauls south of the Po which had been largely his achievement, and for +military and political business which that achievement entailed. This +road ran from Rome directly to Ariminum (Rimini) and it crossed the +Apennines near the modern Scheggia and by the great pass of the +Furlo.[2] + +[Footnote 1: It is, of course, certain that a road was in existence +long before; but not as a constructed, permanent, and military Way.] + +[Footnote 2: The Furlo was to be held in the time of Aurelius Victor, +if not of Vespasian, by the fortress of Petra Pertusa.] + +The first act of the Romans after the defeat of Hannibal was the +re-establishment of their fortresses at Placentia, Cremona, and Mutina +(Modena), the second was the construction of a great highway which +connected Placentia through Mutina with the Via Flaminia at Rimini. +This was the work of the Consul Aemilius Lepidus in 187 B.C. and the +road still bears his name. + +It is obvious then that the command of the way from Italy into +Cisalpine Gaul, or _vice versa_, lay in the hands of Rimini, and it is +significant that the political boundary between them was here marked +by a little river, the Rubicon, a few miles to the north of that city. +The command which Rimini thus held was purely political; it passed +from her to Ravenna automatically whenever that entry was threatened. +Why? + +The answer is very simple: because Rimini could not easily be +defended, while Ravenna was impregnable. + +Ravenna stood from fifteen to eighteen miles north and east of the +Aemilian Way and some thirty-one miles north and a little west of +Rimini. Its extraordinary situation was almost unique in antiquity and +is only matched by one city of later times--Venice. It was built as +Venice is literally upon the waters. Strabo thus describes it: +"Situated in the marshes is the great Ravenna, built entirely on +piles, and traversed by canals which you cross by bridges or +ferry-boats. At the full tides it is washed by a considerable quantity +of sea water, as well as by the river, and thus the sewage is carried +off and the air purified; in fact, the district is considered so +salubrious that the (Roman) governors have selected it as a spot in +which to bring up and exercise the gladiators. It is a remarkable +peculiarity of this place that, though situated in the midst of a +marsh, the air is perfectly innocuous."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Strabo, v. i. 7, tells us Altinum was similarly +situated.] + +[Illustration: Sketch Map or Ravenna region in more detail] + +Ravenna must always have been impregnable to any save a modern army, +so long as it was able to hold the road in and out and was not taken +from the sea. The one account we have of an attack upon it before the +fall of the empire is given us by Appian and recounts a raid from the +sea. It is but an incident in the civil wars of Marius and Sulla when +Ravenna, we learn, was occupied for the latter by Metellus his +lieutenant. In the year 82 B.C., says Appian, "Sulla overcame a +detachment of his enemies near Saturnia, and Metellus sailed round +toward Ravenna and took possession of the level wheat-growing country +of Uritanus." + +This impregnable city, the most southern of Cisalpine Gaul, +immediately commanded the pass between Cisalpine Gaul and Italy +directly that pass was threatened, and to this I say was due a good +half of its fame. The rest must be equally divided between the fact +that the city was impregnable, and therefore a secure refuge or _point +d'appui_, and its situation upon the sea. + +Strabo in his account of Ravenna, which I have quoted above, +emphasises the fact rather of its situation among the marshes than of +its position with regard to the sea. This is perhaps natural. The +society to which he belonged (though indeed he was of Greek descent) +loathed and feared the sea with an unappeasable horror. No journey was +too long to make if thereby the sea passage might be avoided, no road +too rough and rude if to take it was to escape the unstable winds and +waters. That too was a part of Ravenna's strength. She was as much a +city of the sea as Venice is; but of what a sea? + +The Adriatic, upon whose western shore she stood at the gate of Italy +and Cisalpine Gaul, was--and this partly because of the Roman horror +of the sea--the fault between Greek and Latin, East and West. To this +great fact she owes much of her later splendour, much of her unique +importance in those centuries we call the Dark Age. + +Even to-day as one stands upon the height of the republic of S. Marino +and catches, faintly at dawn, the sunlight upon the Dalmatian hills, +one instinctively feels it is the Orient one sees. + +This, then, is the cause of the greatness, of the opportunity for +greatness, of Ravenna: her geographical position in regard to the +peninsula of Italy, the Cisalpine plain, and the sea. Each of these +exalt her in turn and all together give her the unique and almost +fabulous position she holds in the history of Europe. + +Because she held the gateway between Italy and the Cisalpine plain, +Caesar repaired to her when he was treating with the Senate for the +consulship, and from her he set out to possess himself of all that +great government. + +Because she was impregnable, and held both the plain where the enemy +must be met and the peninsula with Rome within it, Honorius retreated +to her from Milan when Alaric crossed the Alps. + +Because she was set upon the sea, and that sea was the fault between +East and West, and because she held the key as it were of all Italy +and through Italy of the West, Justinian there established his +government when the great attempt was made by Byzantium to reconquer +us from the barbarian. + +"_Ravenna Felix_" we read on many an old coin of that time, and +whatever we may think of that title or prophecy, which indeed might +seem never to have come true for her, this at least we must +acknowledge, that she was happy in her situation which offered such +opportunities for greatness and so certain an immortality. + + + + +II + +JULIUS CAESAR IN RAVENNA + + +When we first come upon Ravenna in the pages of Strabo, its origin is +already obscured; but this at least seems certain, that it was never a +Gaulish city. Strabo tells us that "Ravenna is reputed to have been +founded by Thessalians, who, not being able to sustain the violence of +the Tyrrheni, welcomed into their city some of the Umbri who still +possess it, while they themselves returned home."[1] The Thessalians +were probably Pelasgi, but apart from that Strabo's statement would +seem to be reasonably accurate. At any rate he continually repeats it, +for he goes on to tell us that "Ariminum (Rimini), like Ravenna, is an +ancient colony of the Umbri, but both of them received also Roman +colonies." Again, in the same book of his Geography, he tells us: "The +Umbri lie between the country of the Sabini and the Tyrrheni, but +extend beyond the mountains as far as Ariminum and Ravenna." And again +he says: "Umbria lies along the eastern boundary of Tyrrhenia and +beginning from the Apennines, or rather beyond these mountains +(extends) as far as the Adriatic. For commencing from Ravenna the +Umbri inhabit the neighbouring country ... all allow that Umbria +extends as far as Ravenna, as the inhabitants are Umbri." + +[Footnote 1: Strabo _ut supra_.] + +We may take it, then, that when Rome annexed Ravenna it was a city of +the Umbri, and we may dismiss Pliny's statement[1] that it was a +Sabine city altogether for it is both improbable and inexplicable. + +[Footnote 1: Pliny, III. 15; v. 20.] + +When Ravenna received a Roman colony we do not know, for though Strabo +states this fact, he does not tell us when it occurred and we have no +other means of knowing. All we can be reasonably sure of is that this +Umbrian city on the verge of Cisalpine Gaul, hemmed in on the west by +the Lingonian Gauls, received a Roman colony certainly not before 268 +B.C. when Ariminum was occupied. The name of Ravenna, however, does +not occur in history till a late period of the Roman republic, and the +first incident in which we hear of Ravenna having any part occurs in +82 B.C., when, as I have already related, Metellus, the lieutenant of +Sulla, landed there or thereabouts from his ships and seems to have +made the city, already a place of some importance, the centre of his +operations. + +Ravenna really entered history--and surely gloriously enough--when +Julius Caesar chose it, the last great town of his command towards +Italy, as his headquarters while he treated with the senate before he +crossed the Rubicon. + +"Caesar," says Appian, "had lately recrossed the straits from Britain, +and, after traversing the Gallic country along the Rhine, had passed +the Alps with 5000 foot and 300 horse, and arrived at Ravenna which +was contiguous to Italy and the last town in his government." This was +in 50 B.C. The state of affairs which that act was meant to elucidate +may be briefly stated as follows. + +The Roman republic, still in the midst of the political, social, and +economic revolution whose first phase was the awful civil wars of +Marius and Sulla, had long been at the mercy of Pompey the +opportunist, Crassus the plutocrat, and Julius Caesar--the first +Triumvirate. Crassus had always leaned towards Caesar and the +_entente_ between Caesar and Pompey had been strengthened by the +marriage of the latter with Caesar's daughter Julia, who was to die in +the midst of the crisis 54 B.C. In 58 B.C., the year following this +marriage, Caesar went to take up his great command in the Gauls, but +Pompey remained in Rome, where every day his influence and popularity +were failing while the astonishing successes of Caesar made him the +idol of the populace. In 55 B.C. Pompey was consul for the second time +with Crassus. He received as his provinces the two Spains, but he +governed them by his legates and remained in the neighbourhood of the +City. Crassus received the province of Syria, and the appalling +disasters of the Parthian war, in which he most miserably lost life +and honour, seemed to give Pompey the opportunity for which he had +long been waiting. He encouraged the growing civil discord which was +tearing the state in pieces, and with such success that the senate was +compelled to call for his assistance. In 52 B.C. he became sole +consul, restored order, and placed himself at the head of the +aristocratic party which he had deserted to become the great popular +hero when he was consul with Crassus in 70 B.C. + +Now Caesar had long watched the astonishing actions of Pompey, and had +no intention of leaving the fate of the republic to him and the +aristocracy. He does not seem to have wished to break altogether with +Pompey, but only to hold him in check. At his meeting with Pompey at +Luca (Lucca) in 56 B.C. he had been promised the consulship for 48 +B.C. when his governorship came to an end, and he now determined to +insure the fulfilment of this promise which would place him upon a +legal equality with his rival. For the rest he knew that he was as +superior to Pompey as a statesman as he was as a soldier, and he did +not apparently anticipate any difficulty in out-manoeuvring him in the +senate and in the forum. Caesar, then, claimed no more than an +equality with Pompey and the fulfilment of his promise; but these he +determined to have. All through the winter of 52-51 B.C. he was +arming. Well served by his friends, among whom were Mark Antony and +Curio the tribunes, in 50 B.C., "having gone the circuit for the +administration of justice," as Suetonius tells us, "he made a halt at +Ravenna resolved to have recourse to arms if the senate should proceed +to extremity against the tribunes of the people, who had espoused his +cause." But first he determined for many reasons to send ambassadors +to Rome, to request the fulfilment of the promise made to him at Luca. +Pompey, who was not yet at open enmity with him, determined, although +he had made the promise, neither to aid him by his influence nor +openly to oppose him on this occasion. But the consuls Lentulus and +Marcellus, who had always been his enemies, resolved to use all means +in their power to prevent him gaining his object. + +At this juncture Caius Curio, tribune of the people, came to Caesar in +Ravenna. Curio had made many energetic struggles in behalf of the +republic and Caesar's cause; but at last, when he perceived that all +his efforts were in vain, he fled through fear of his enemies and +Caesar's to Ravenna and told Caesar all that had taken place; and, +seeing that war was openly being prepared against Caesar, advised him +to bring up his army and to rescue the republic. + +Now Caesar was not ignorant of the real state of affairs, but he was +perhaps not yet ready to act, or he hoped in fact to save the ancient +state; at any rate, he gave it as his opinion that particular regard +should be had to the tranquillity of the republic, lest any one should +assert that he was the originator of civil war. Therefore he sent +again to his friends, making through them this very moderate request, +that two legions and the provinces of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum +should be left him. No one could openly quarrel with such a reasonable +demand and the patience with which it was more than once put forward; +for when Caesar could not obtain a favourable answer from the consuls, +he wrote a letter to the senate in which he briefly recounted his +exploits and public services, and entreated that he should not be +deprived of the favour of the people who had ordered that he, although +absent, should be considered a candidate for the consulship at the +next election. He stated also that he would disband his army if the +senate and the Roman people desired it, provided that Pompey would do +the same. But he stated also that, as long as Pompey retained the +command of his army, there could be no just reason why Caesar should +disband his troops and expose himself to the power of his enemies. + +This was Caesar's third offer to his opponents. He entrusted the +letter to Curio, who travelled one hundred and sixty miles in three +days and reached the City early in January. He did not, however, +deliver the letter until there was a crowded meeting of the senate and +the tribunes of the people were present; for he was afraid lest, if he +gave it up without the utmost publicity, the consuls would suppress +it. A sort of debate followed the reading of the letter, but when +Scipio, Pompey's mouthpiece, spoke and declared, among other things, +that Pompey was resolved to take up the cause of the senate now or +never, and that he would drop it if a decision were delayed, the +majority, overawed, decreed that Caesar should "at a definite and not +distant day give up Transalpine Gaul to Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, +and Cisalpine Gaul to Marcus Servilius Nonianus and should dismiss his +army, failing which he should be esteemed a traitor. When the +tribunes, of Caesar's party, made use of their right of veto against +this resolution not only were they, as they at least asserted, +threatened in the senate house itself by the swords of Pompeian +soldiers and forced, in order to save their lives, to flee in slaves' +clothing from the capital, but the senate, now sufficiently overawed, +treated their interference as an attempt at revolution, declared the +country in danger, and in the usual form called the burgesses to take +up arms, and all the magistrates faithful to the constitution to place +themselves at the head of the armed." + +That was on January 7th. Five days later Caesar was on his way at the +head of his troops to invade Italy and, without knowing it, to found +the empire, that universal government out of which we are come. + +It was with one legion[1] that Caesar undertook his great adventure. +That legion, the Thirteenth, had been stationed near Tergeste +(Trieste), but at Caesar's orders it had marched into Ravenna in the +first days of January. Upon the fateful twelfth, with some secrecy, +while Caesar himself attended a public spectacle, examined the model +of a fencing school, which he proposed to build, and, as usual, sat +down to table with a numerous party of friends,[2] the first companies +of this legion left Ravenna by the Rimini gate, to be followed after +sunset by its great commander; still with all possible secrecy it +seems, for mules were put to his carriage, a hired one, at a mill +outside Ravenna and he went almost alone. + +[Footnote 1: Plutarch says "Caesar had not then with him more than 300 +horse and 5000 foot. The rest of his forces were left on the other +side of the Alps."] + +[Footnote 2: So Suetonius; but Plutarch says "As for himself, he spent +the day at a public show of gladiators, and a little before evening +bathed, and then went into the apartment, where he entertained +company. When it was growing dark, he left the company, having desired +them to make merry till his return, which they would not have long to +wait for."] + +The road he travelled was not the great way to Rimini, but a by-way +across the marshes, and it would seem to have been in a wretched +state. At any rate Caesar lost his way, the lights of his little +company were extinguished, his carriage had to be abandoned, and it +was only after wandering about for a long time that, with the help of +a peasant whom he found towards daybreak, he was able to get on, afoot +now, and at last to reach the great highway. That night must have +tried even the iron nerves and dauntless courage of the greatest +soldier of all time. + +Caesar came up with his troops on the banks of the Rubicon, the sacred +boundary of Italy and Cisalpine Gaul in the narrow pass between the +mountains and the sea. "There," says Suetonius, whose account I have +followed, "he halted for a while revolving in his mind the importance +of the step he was about to take. At last turning to those about him, +he said: 'We may still retreat; but if we pass this little bridge +nothing is left us but to fight it out in arms.'" + +Now while he was thus hesitating, staggered, even he, by the greatness +of what he would attempt, doubtless resolving in silence arguments for +and against it, and, if we may believe Plutarch, "many times changing +his opinion," the following strange incident is said to have happened. + +A person, remarkable, says Suetonius, for his noble aspect and +graceful mien, appeared close at hand sitting by the wayside playing +upon a pipe. When not only the shepherds herding their flocks +thereabout, but a number of the legionaries also gathered round to +hear this fellow play, and there happened to be among them some +trumpeters, the piper suddenly snatched a trumpet from one of these, +ran to the river, and, sounding the advance with a piercing blast, +crossed to the other side. Upon which Caesar on a sudden impulse +exclaimed: "Let us go whither the omens of the gods and the iniquity +of our enemies call us. The die is cast." And immediately at the head +of his troops he crossed the river and found awaiting him the tribunes +of the people who, having fled from Rome, had come to meet him. There +in their presence he called upon the troops to pledge him their +fidelity, with tears in his eyes, Suetonius assures us, and his +garments rent from his bosom. And when he had received their oath he +set out, and with his legion marched so fast the rest of the way that +he reached Ariminum before morning and took it. + +The fall of Ariminum was but a presage, as we know, of Caesar's +triumph. In three months he was master of all Italy. From Ravenna he +had emerged to seize the lordship of the world, and out of a misery of +chaos to create Europe. + + + + +III + +RAVENNA IN THE TIME OF THE EMPIRE + + +That great revolutionary act of Julius Caesar's may be said to have +made manifest, and for the first time, the unique position of Ravenna +in relation to Italy and Cisalpine Gaul. In the years which followed, +that position remained always unchanged, and is, indeed, more +prominent than ever in the civil wars between Antony and Octavianus +which followed Caesar's murder; but with the establishment of the +empire by Octavianus and the universal peace, the _pax romana_, which +it ensured, this position of Ravenna in relation to Italy and to +Cisalpine Gaul sank into insignificance in comparison with her other +unique advantage, her position upon the sea. For Octavianus, as we +shall see, established her as the great naval port of Italy upon the +east, and as such she chiefly appears to us during all the years of +the unhampered government of the empire. + +In the civil wars between Antony and Octavianus, however, she appears +still as the key to the narrow pass between Italy and Cisalpine Gaul. +Let us consider this for a moment. + +Antony, as we know, after that great scene in the senate house when +the supporters of Pompey and the aristocrats had succeeded in denying +Caesar everything, had fled to Caesar at Ravenna. In the war which +followed he had been Caesar's chief lieutenant and friend. At the +crucial battle of Pharsalus in 48 B.C. he had commanded, and with +great success, the left wing. In 44 B.C. he had been consul with +Caesar and had then offered him the crown at the festival of the +_Lupercalia_. After Caesar's murder he had attempted, and not without +a sort of right, to succeed to his power. It was he who pronounced the +speech over Caesar's body and read his will to the people. It was he +who obtained Caesar's papers and his private property. It cannot then +have been without resentment and surprise that he found presently a +rival in the young Octavianus, the great-nephew and adopted son of the +dictator, who joined the senate with the express purpose of crushing +him. + +Now Antony, perhaps remembering his master, had obtained from the +senate the promise of Cisalpine Gaul, then in the hands of Decimus +Brutus, who, encouraged by Octavianus, refused to surrender it to him. +Antony proceeded to Ariminum (Rimini), but Octavianus seized Ravenna +and supplied it both with stores and money.[1] Antony was beaten and +compelled to retreat across the Alps. In these acts we may see which +of the two rivals understood the reality of things, and from this +alone we might perhaps foresee the victor. + +[Footnote 1: Appian, III. 42.] + +That was in 44 B.C. A reconciliation between the rivals followed and +the government was vested in them and in Lepidus under the title of +_Triumviri Reipublicae Constituendae_ for five years. In 42 B.C. +Brutus and Cassius and the aristocratic party were crushed by Antony +and Octavianus at Philippi; and Antony received Asia as his share of +the Roman world. Proceeding to his government in Cilicia, Antony met +Cleopatra and followed her to Egypt. Meanwhile Fulvia, his wife, and +L. Antonius, his brother, made war upon Octavianus in Italy, for they +like Antony hoped for the lordship of the world. In the war which +followed, Ravenna played a considerable part. In 41 B.C., for +instance, the year in which the war opened, the Antonine party secured +themselves in Ravenna, not only because of its strategical importance +in regard to Italy and Cisalpine Gaul, but also because as a seaport +it allowed of their communication with Antony in Egypt from whom they +expected support. All this exposed and demonstrated more and more the +importance of Ravenna, and we may be sure that the wise and astute +Octavianus marked it. + +But it was the war with Sextus Pompeius which clearly showed what the +future of Ravenna was to be. In that affair we find Ravenna already +established as a naval port apparently subsidiary, on that coast, to +Brundusium, as Misenum was upon the Tyrrhene sea to Puteoli; and there +Octavianus built ships. + +It was not, however, till Octavianus, his enemies one and all disposed +of, had made himself emperor at last, that, on the establishment and +general regulation of his great government, he chose Ravenna as the +major naval port of Italy upon the east, even as he chose Misenum upon +the west. + +Octavianus had learned two things, certainly, in the wars he had +fought to establish himself in the monarchy his great-uncle had +founded. He had learned the necessity and the value of sea power, and +he had understood the unique position of Ravenna in relation to the +East and the West. That he had been able to appreciate both these +facts is enough to mark him as the great man he was. + +Julius Caesar, for all his mighty grasp of reality, had not perceived +the enormous value, nay the necessity, of sea power, and because of +this failure his career had been twice nearly cut short; at Ilerda, +where the naval victory of Decimus Brutus over the Massiliots alone +saved him; and at Alexandria. Both the liberators and Antony had +possessed ships; but both had failed to use them with any real effect. +It was Sextus Pompeius who forced Octavianus to turn to the sea, and +when Octavianus became Augustus he did not forget the lesson. Sole +master of the Mediterranean and of all its ships of war, he understood +at once how great a support sea power offered him and his principate. +Nor was the empire, while it was vigorous, though always fearful of +and averse from the sea, ever to forget the power that lay in that +command. + +Thus it was that among the first acts of Augustus was the +establishment of two fleets, as we might say, "in being" in the +Mediterranean; the fleet of Misenum and the fleet of Ravenna; the +latter with stations probably at Aquileia, Brundusium, the Piraeus, +and probably elsewhere. + +The fleet of Ravenna was, certainly after A.D. 70, probably about A.D. +127, entitled _Praetoria_. The origin of this title is unknown, but it +was also borne by the fleet of Misenum and it distinguishes the +Italian from the later Provincial fleets, the former being in closer +relation to the emperor, just as the Praetorian cohorts were +distinguished from the legions. + +The emperor was, of course, head of all the fleets, which were, each +of them, commanded by a prefect and sub-prefect appointed by him; and +if we may judge from the recorded promotions we have, it would seem +that the Misenate prefect ranked before the Ravennate and both before +the Provincial. But in the general military system the navy stood +lowest in respect of pay and position. The fleets were manned by freed +men and foreigners who could not obtain citizenship until after +twenty-six years' service. We find Claudius employing the marines of +the _Classis Ravennas_ to drain lake Fucinus, and it was probably +Vespasian who formed the Legion II. _Adjutrix_ from the Ravennate, +even as Nero had formed Legion I. _Adjutrix_ from the Misenate +marines. + +The Ravenna that Augustus thus chose to be the great base and port of +his fleet in the eastern sea was, as we have seen, a place built upon +piles in the midst of the marshes, impregnable from the land, and, +because impregnable, able, whenever it was in dispute, to command the +narrow pass between the mountains and the sea that was the gate of +Italy and Cisalpine Gaul. Such a place, situated as it was upon the +western shore of that sea which was the fault between East and West, +was eminently suitable for the great purpose of the emperor. Pliny[1] +indeed would seem to tell us that from time immemorial Ravenna had +possessed a small port; but such a place, well enough for the small +traders of those days, could not serve usefully the requirements of a +great fleet. Therefore the first act of Augustus, when he had chosen +Ravenna as his naval base, was the construction of a proper port and +harbour, and these came to be named, after the fleet they served and +accommodated, Classis. Classis was situated some two and a half miles +from the town of Ravenna to the east-south-east. We may perhaps have +some idea both of its situation and of its relation to Ravenna if we +say that it was to that city what the Porto di Lido is to Venice. + +[Footnote 1: Pliny, iii. 20; cf. also Strabo, v. 7.] + +It is very difficult, in looking upon Ravenna as we see it to-day, to +reconstruct it, even in the imagination, as it was when Augustus had +done with it. To begin with, the sea has retreated several miles from +the city, which is no longer within sight of it, while all that is +left of Classis, which is also now out of sight of the sea, is a +single decayed and deserted church, S. Apollinare in Classe. Strabo, +however, who wrote his _Geography_ a few years after Augustus had +chosen Ravenna for his port upon the Adriatic, has left us a +description both of it and the country in which it stood, from which +must be drawn any picture we would possess of so changed a place. He +speaks of it, as we have seen, as "a great city" situated in the +marshes, built entirely upon piles, and traversed by canals which were +everywhere crossed by bridges or ferry-boats. While at the full tide +he tells us it was swept by the sea and always by the river, and thus +the sewage was carried off and the air purified, and this so +thoroughly, that even before its establishment by Augustus the +district was considered so healthy that the Roman governors had chosen +it as a spot in which to train gladiators.[1] That river we know from +Pliny[2] was called the Bedesis; and the same writer tells us that +Augustus built a canal which brought the water of the Po to Ravenna. + +[Footnote 1: Strabo, v. 7.] + +[Footnote 2: Pliny, iii. 20.] + +Tacitus in his _Annals_[1] merely tells us that Italy was guarded on +both sides by fleets at Misenum and Ravenna, and in his _Histories_[2] +speaks of these places as the well known naval stations without +stopping to describe them. While Suetonius,[3] though he mentions the +great achievement of Augustus, does not emphasise it and does not +attempt to tell us what these ports were like. + +[Footnote 1: Tacitus, Ann. iv. 5.] + +[Footnote 2: Tacitus, Hist. ii. 100; iii. 6, 40.] + +[Footnote 3: Suetonius, _Augustus_.] + +Perhaps the best description we have of Augustan Ravenna comes to us +from a writer who certainly never saw the port in its great Roman +days, but who probably followed a well established tradition in his +description of it. This is Jornandes, who was born about A.D. 500 and +was first a notary at the Ostrogothic court and later became a monk +and finally bishop of Crotona. In his _De Getarum Origins et Rebus +Gestis_ he thus describes Ravenna: + +"This city (says he) between the marshes, the sea, and the Po is only +accessible on one side. Situated beside the Ionian Sea it is +surrounded and almost submerged by lagoons. On the east is the sea, on +the west it is defended by marshes across which there remains a narrow +passage, a kind of gate. The city is encircled on the north by a +branch of the Po, called the Fossa Asconis, and on the south by the Po +itself, which is called the Eridanus, and which is there known as the +King of Rivers. Augustus deepened its bed and made it larger; it +flowed quite through the city, and its mouth formed an excellent port +where once, as Dion reports [this passage of Dion Cassius is lost], a +fleet of 250 ships could be stationed in all security.... The city has +three names with which she glorifies herself and she is divided into +three parts to which they correspond; the first is Ravenna, the last +Classis, that in the midst is Caesarea between Ravenna and the sea. +Built on a sandy soil this quarter is easily approached and is +commodiously situated for trade and transport." + +We thus have a picture of Ravenna as a triune city, consisting of +Ravenna proper, the port Classis, and the long suburb between them, +Caesarea, connected by a great causeway and everywhere watered by +canals, the greatest of which was the Fossa Augusta by which a part of +the waters of the Po were carried to Ravenna and thence to Classis and +the sea; a city very much, we may suppose, what we know Venice to be, +if we think of her in connection with the Riva, the great suburb of +the Marina, and the Porto di Lido. At Classis we must understand there +was room for a fleet of two hundred and fifty ships and accommodation +for arsenals, magazines, barracks, and so forth, while there is one +other thing we know of this port, and that from Pliny,[1] who tells us +that it had a Pharos like the famous one of Alexandria. "There is +another building (says he) that is highly celebrated, the tower that +was built by a king of Egypt on the island of Pharos at the entrance +to the harbour of Alexandria.... At present there are similar fires +lighted up in numerous places, Ostia and Ravenna for example. The only +danger is that when these fires are thus kept burning without +intermission they may be mistaken for stars." + +[Footnote 1: Pliny xxx. vi. 18] + +Such was the splendour of Ravenna in the time of Augustus. His +achievement so far as Ravenna was concerned was to understand her +importance not only in regard to Italy and Cisalpine Gaul, an +importance already discounted by the universal peace he had +established, but in regard to the sea. He turned Ravenna into a +first-class naval port and based his eastern fleet upon her; and this +was so wise an act that, so long as the empire remained strong and +unhampered, Ravenna appears as the great base of its sea power in the +East. + +In that long peace which Italy enjoyed under the empire we hear little +of Ravenna. We know Claudius built a great gate called Porta Aurea, +which was only destroyed in 1582; and we know that the great sea port +had one weakness, the scarcity of good water for drinking purposes. +Martial writes + + "I'd rather at Ravenna have a cistern than a vine + Since I could sell my water there much better than my wine," + +and again: + + "That landlord at Ravenna is plainly but a cheat + I paid for wine and water, but he served wine to me neat"[1] + +[Footnote 1: Martial, _Fp_ iii. 56, 57. Trs Hodgkin] + +This weakness would seem, however, to have been overcome by Trajan, +who built an aqueduct nearly twenty miles long, which Theodoric +restored, after the fall of the empire, in 524. This aqueduct, of +which some arches remain in the bed of the Bedesis (Ronco), seems to +have run, following the course of the river, from near Forli, where +there still remains a village called S. Maria in Acquedotto, to +Ravenna. + +[Illustration: GREEK RELIEF FROM A TEMPLE OF NEPTUNE] + +The great city-port thus became one of the most important and +considerable of the cities of Italy, at a time when the whole of the +West was rapidly increasing in wealth and population, and especially +the old province of Cisapline Gaul, which had indeed become, during +the _pax romana_, the richest part of the new Italy. Always an +important military port it was often occupied by the emperors as their +headquarters from which to watch and to oppose the advance of their +enemies into Italy, and the possessor of it, for the reasons I have +set forth, was always in a commanding position. Thus in A.D. 193 it +was the surrender of Ravenna without resistance that gave the empire +to Septimius Severus, when, scarcely allowing himself time for sleep +or food, marching on foot and in complete armour, he crossed the Alps +at the head of his columns to punish the wretched Didius Julianus and +to avenge Pertinax. It was there in 238 that Pupienus was busy +assembling his army to oppose Maximin when he received the news of the +death of his enemy before Aquileia. + +And because it was impregnable and secluded it was often chosen too as +a place of imprisonment for important prisoners. + +It is true that we know very little, in detail, of the life of any +city other than Rome during those years of the great Peace in which we +see the empire change from a Pagan to a Christian state. Those +centuries which saw Christendom slowly emerge, in which Europe was +founded, still lack a modern historian, and the magnitude and +splendour of their achievement are too generally misconceived or +ignored. We are largely unaware still of what they were in themselves +and of what we owe to them. By reason of the miserable collapse of +Europe, of Christendom, in the sixteenth century and its appalling +results both in thought and in politics, we are led, too often by +prejudices, to regard those mighty years rather as the prelude to the +decline and fall of the empire than as the great and indestructible +foundations of all that is still worth having in the world. + +For rightly understood those centuries gave us not only our culture, +our civilisation, and our Faith, but ensured them to us that they +should always endure. They established for ever the great lines upon +which our art was to develop, to change, and yet not to suffer +annihilation or barrenness. They established the supremacy of the +idea, so that it might always renew our lives, our culture, and our +polity, and that we might judge everything by it and fear neither +revolution, defeat, nor decay. They, and they alone, established us in +the secure possession of our own souls so that we alone in the world +might develop from within, to change but never to die, and to be--yes, +alone in the world--Christians. + +The almost incredible strength and well being of those years must be +seized also. There was not a town in Italy and the West that did not +expand and increase in a fashion almost miraculous during that period. +It was then the rivers were embanked, the canals made, the great roads +planned and constructed, and our communications established for ever. +There was no industry that did not grow marvellously in strength, +there is not a class that did not increase in wealth and well-being +beyond our dreams of progress. There is scarcely anything that is +really fundamental in our lives that was not then created that it +might endure. It was then our religion, the soul of Europe, was born. + +Christianity, the Faith, which, little by little, absorbed the empire, +till it became the energy and the cause of all that undying but +changeful principle of life and freedom which rightly understood is +Europe, is thought to have been brought first to Ravenna by S. +Apollinaris, a disciple as we are told of S. Peter, who made him her +first bishop. So at least his acts assert; and though little credence +may, I fear, be placed in them, that he was the first bishop of +Ravenna, and in the time of S. Peter, is not at variance with what we +know of that age, is attested by the traditions of the city, and is +supported by later authorities. S. Peter Chrysologus (_c_. 440), the +most famous of his successors, for instance, assures us of it. This +great churchman calls S. Apollinaris martyr, and in that there is +nothing strange, but he asserts that though he often spilt his blood +for the Faith, yet God preserved him a long time, not less than twenty +years, to his church, and that his persecution did not take away his +life.[1] + +[Footnote 1: His relics lay for many years in the church dedicated in +his honour at Classis; but in 549 they were removed from their great +tomb and placed in a more secret spot in the same church. Cf. +Agnellus. _Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis_ (Ed. Holder--Egger +in _Monumenta Germanicae Historica_) and S. Peter Chrysologus, Sermon +128 in Migne.] + +The empire which it had taken more than a millenium to build, which +was the most noble and perhaps the most beneficient experiment in +government that has ever been made, was in obvious economic and +administrative decay by the middle of the fourth century. Christianity +perhaps was already undermining the servile state, which in its effort +of self-preservation adopted an economic system hopelessly at variance +with the facts of the situation; while the weakness of its frontiers +offered a military problem which the empire was unable to face. +Diocletian had attempted to solve it by dividing the empire, but the +division he made was rather racial that strategic, for under it the +two parts of the empire, East and West, met on the Danube. The eastern +part, by force of geography, was inclined to an Asiatic point of view +and to the neglect of the Danube; the western was by no means strong +enough either financially or militarily to hold that tremendous line. + +We read, in the letters of S. Ambrose among others, of the decay of +the great cities of Cisalpine Gaul,[1] of the failure of agriculture +in that rich countryside, of the poverty and misery that were +everywhere falling upon that great state. It is possible that in the +general weakening of administrative power even the roads, the canals, +the whole system of communications were allowed to become less perfect +than they had been; everywhere there was a retreat. The frontiers were +no longer inviolate, and it is probable that in the general decay the +port of Classis, the city of Ravenna, suffered not less than their +neighbours. + +[Footnote 1: See S. Ambrose, _Ep_. 39, written in 388, quoted by +Muratori, _Dissertazioni_, vol. i. 21. "De Bonomensi veniens Urbe, a +tergo Claternam, ipsam Bononiam, Mutinam, Regium derelinquebas; in +dextera erat Brixillum; a fronte occurrebat Placentia.... Te igitur +semirutarum Urbium cadavera, terrarumque sub eodem conspectu exposita +funera non te admonent...."] + +Indeed already in 306 it is rather as a refuge than as a great and +active naval base that Ravenna appears to us, when Severus, destitute +of force, "retired or rather fled" thither from the pursuit of +Maximian. He flung himself into Ravenna because it was impregnable and +because he expected reinforcements from Illyricum and the East, but +though he held the sea with a powerful fleet he made no use of it, and +the emissaries of Maximian easily persuaded him to surrender. Already +perhaps, a century later, when Honorius retired from Milan on the +approach of Alaric and the first of those barbarian invasions which +broke up the decaying western empire had penetrated into Cisalpine +Gaul, the great works of Augustus and Trajan at Ravenna, the canals, +the mighty Fossa, and the port itself had fallen into a sort of decay +which the fifth century was to complete, till that marvellous city, +once the base of the eastern fleet and one of the great naval ports of +the world, became just a decaying citadel engulfed in the marshes, +impregnable it is true, but for barbarian reasons, lost in the fogs +and the miasma of her shallow and undredged lagoons. + + + + +IV + +THE RETREAT UPON RAVENNA + +HONORIUS AND GALLA PLACIDIA + + +When Honorius left Milan on the approach of Alaric he went to Ravenna. +Why? + +Gibbon, whom every writer since has followed without question, tells +us, in one of his most scornful passages, that "the emperor Honorius +was distinguished, above his subjects, by the pre-eminence of fear, as +well as of rank. The pride and luxury in which he was educated had not +allowed him to suspect that there existed on the earth any power +presumptuous enough to invade the repose of the successor of Augustus. +The acts of flattery concealed the impending danger till Alaric +approached the palace of Milan. But when the sound of war had awakened +the young emperor, instead of flying to arms with the spirit, or even +the rashness, of his age, he eagerly listened to those timid +counsellors who proposed to convey his sacred person and his faithful +attendants to some secure and distant station in the provinces of +Gaul.... The recent danger to which the person of the emperor had been +exposed in the defenceless palace of Milan urged him to seek a retreat +in some inaccessible fortress of Italy, where he might securely remain +while the open country was covered by a deluge of barbarians." + +No historian of Ravenna, and certainly no writer upon the fall of the +empire, has cared to understand what Ravenna was. Gibbon complains +that he lacks "a local antiquarian and a good topographical map;" yet +it is not so much the lack of local knowledge that leads him +unreservedly to censure Honorius for his retreat upon Ravenna, as the +fact that he has not perhaps really grasped what Ravenna was, what was +her relation to Italy and Cisalpine Gaul, and especially how she stood +to the sea, and what part that sea played in the geography and +strategy of the empire. + +For my part I shall maintain that, whatever may be the truth as to the +private character of Honorius, which would indeed be difficult to +defend, he was wisely advised by those counsellors who conceived his +retreat from Milan to Ravenna; that this retreat was not a mere +flight, but a consummate and well thought out strategical and +political move, and that any other would have been for the worse and +would probably have involved the West in an utter destruction. + +Cisalpine Gaul, at this crisis, as always both before and since, was +the great and proper defence of Italy; not the Alps nor the Apennines +but Cisalpine Gaul broke the barbarians, and, in so far as it could be +materially saved, saved Italy and our civilisation, of which Rome was +the soul. There Stilicho met Alaric and broke his first and worst +enthusiasm; there Leo the Great turned back Attila; there the fiercest +terror of the Lombard tide spent itself. + +Now, as we have seen, Cisalpine Gaul, in its relation to Italy, was +best held and contained from Ravenna, which commanded, whenever it was +in danger, the narrow pass between them. Therefore the retreat of +Honorius upon Ravenna was a consummate strategical act, well advised +and such as we might expect from "the successor of Augustus." Its +results were momentous and entirely fortunate for Italy, and indeed, +when the truth about Ravenna is once grasped, any other move would +appear to have been craven and ridiculous. + +But there is something more that is of an even greater importance. + +The best hope of the West in its fight with the barbarian undoubtedly +lay in its own virility and arms, but it had the right to expect that +in such a fight it would not be unaided by the eastern empire and the +great civilisation whose capital was that New Rome upon the Bosphorus. +If it was to receive such assistance, it must receive it at Ravenna, +which held Cisalpine Gaul and was the gate of the eastern sea. + +When Honorius then retreated upon Ravenna, he did so, not merely +because Ravenna was impregnable, though that of course weighed too +with his advisers, for the base of any virile and active defence must, +or should, be itself secure; but also because it held the great pass +and the great road into Italy, and as the eastern gate of the West +would receive and thrust forward whatever help and reinforcement the +empire in the East might care or be able to give. + +[Illustration: SARCOPHAGUS OF THE EMPEROR HONORIUS] + +That the defence which was made with Ravenna for its citadel was not +wholly victorious, that the attack which the eastern empire planned +and delivered from Ravenna, perhaps too late, was not completely +successful, were the results of many and various causes, but not of +any want of Judgment in the choice of Ravenna as their base. That base +was rightly and consummately chosen without hesitation and from the +first; and because it was chosen, the hope of the restoration never +quite passed away and seemed to have been realised at last when +Charlemagne, following Pepin into Italy, was crowned emperor in S. +Peter's Church on Christmas Day in the year 800. + +It will readily be understood, then, that the most important and the +most interesting part of the history of Ravenna begins when Honorius +retreated upon her before the invasion of Alaric, and not only the +West, but Italy and Rome, the heart and soul of it, seemed about to be +in dispute. + +But first amid all the loose thought and confusion of the last three +hundred years let us make sure of fundamentals. + +I shall take for granted in this book that Rome accepted the Faith not +because the Roman mind was senile, but because it was mature; that the +failure of the empire is to be regretted; that the barbarians were +barbarians; that not from them but from the new and Christian +civilisation of the empire itself came the strength of the +restoration, the mighty achievements of the Middle Age, of the +Renaissance, of the Modern world. The barbarian, as I understand it, +did nothing. He came in naked and ashamed, without laws or +institutions. To some extent, though even in this he was a failure, he +destroyed; it was his one service. He came and he tried to learn; he +learnt to be a Christian. When the empire re-arose it was Roman not +barbarian, it was Christian not heathen, it was Catholic not +heretical. It owed the barbarian nothing. That it re-arose, and that +as a Roman and a Catholic state, is due largely to the fact that +Honorius retreated upon Ravenna. + +If we could depend upon the dates in the Theodosian Code we should be +able to say that Honorius finally retreated upon Ravenna before +December 402;[1] unhappily the dates we find there must not be relied +upon with absolute confidence. We may take it that Alaric entered +Venetia in November 401, and that at the same time Radagaisus invaded +Rhaetia. Stilicho, Honorius' great general and the hero of the whole +defence, advanced against Radagaisus. Upon Easter Day in the following +year, however, he met Alaric at Pollentia and defeated him, but the +Gothic king was allowed to withdraw from that field with the greater +part of his cavalry entire and unbroken. Stilicho hoping to annihilate +him forced him to retreat, overtook him at Asta (Asti), but again +allowed him to escape and this time to retreat into Istria. + +[Footnote 1: Cf. Hodgkin, _Italy and her Invaders_, vol. i. pt. 2, p. +712.] + +In the summer of 403 Alaric again entered Italy and laid siege to +Verona; Stilicho, however, met him and defeated him, but again allowed +him to retreat. Well might Orosius, his contemporary, exclaim that +this king with his Goths, though often hemmed in, often defeated, was +always allowed to escape. + +The battle of Verona was followed by a peace of two years duration. +But in 405 the other barbarian Radagaisus came down into Cisalpine +Gaul as Alaric had done, and Stilicho, knowing that the pass through +which the great road entered Italy was secured by Ravenna, assailed +him at Ticinum (Pavia). Radagaisus, however, did a bold and perhaps an +unexpected thing. He attempted to cross the Apennines themselves by +the difficult and neglected route that ran over them and led to +Fiesole.[2] But the Romans had been right in their judgment. That way +was barred by nature. It needed no defence. Before the barbarian had +quite pierced the mountains Stilicho caught him, slew him, and +annihilated his already starving bands at Fiesole. Cisalpine Gaul and +the fortress of Ravenna, its key, still held Italy secure. + +[Footnote 2: Livy asserts that C. Flamimus, the colleague of M. +Aemilius Lepidus in B.C. 187, built a road direct from Arezzo to +Bologna across the Tuscan Apennines. This road early fell into disuse +and ruin. We hear nothing of it (but see Cicero, _Phil_. xii. 9) till +this raid of Radagaisus. Later, Totila came this way to besiege Rome. +Cf. Repetti, _Dizionavio della Toscana_, vol. v. 713-715.] + +Honorius and his great general and minister now essayed what perhaps +should have been attempted earlier, namely, to employ Alaric in the +service of Rome, as the East had known how to employ him, at a +distance from the capital. He was first offered the province of +Illyricum; but the senate refused to hear of any such treaty, and +though at last it consented to pay the Goth 4000 pounds in gold "to +secure the peace of Italy and conciliate the friendship of the Gothic +king," Lampadius, one of the most illustrious members of that +assembly, asserted that "this is not a treaty of peace but of +servitude." Thus the senate was alienated from Stilicho, and not the +senate only but the army also, which was exasperated by his affection +for the barbarians. Nor was the great general more fortunate with the +emperor, who had come of late under the influence of Olympius, a man +who, Zosimus tells us, under an appearance of Christian piety, +concealed a great deal of rascality. Stilicho had promoted him to a +very honourable place in the household of the emperor; nevertheless he +plotted against him. At his suggestion Honorius proposed to show +himself to the army at Pavia, already at enmity with Stilicho. The +result was disastrous. For the occasion was seized for a revolt in +which the best officers of the empire perished. Stilicho, not daring +to march his barbarians from Bologna upon the Roman army, and by this +refusal incurring their enmity also, flung himself into Ravenna and +took refuge in the great church there. On the following day, however, +he was delivered up by the bishop to Count Heraclian and slain. + +Thus perished in the great fortress of the defence the great defender, +leaving the whole of Italy in confusion. He was not long to go +unavenged. + +[Illustration: Colour Plate S. AGATA] + +Stilicho was slain in Ravenna upon August 23rd, 408. In October of +that year Alaric, who had watched the appalling revolution that +followed his own defeat and the annihilation of Radagaisus, after +fruitless negotiations with Honorius, descended into Italy, passed +Aquileia, and coming into the Aemilian Way at Bologna found the pass +open and without misadventure entered Italy at Rimini, and, without +attacking Ravenna, marched on "to Rome, to make that city desolate." +He besieged Rome three times and pillaged it, taking with him, when he +left it, hostages. As we know he never returned, but died at Cosentia +in southern Italy, and was buried in the bed of the Buxentius, which +had been turned aside, for a moment, by a captive multitude, to give +him sepulture. + +Among those hostages which Alaric had claimed from the City and taken +with him southward was the sister of the two emperors, the daughter of +the great Theodosius, Galla Placidia. + +This great lady had been born, as is thought, in Rome about 390; she +had, however, spent the first seven years of her life in +Constantinople, but had returned to Italy on the death of Theodosius +with her brother Honorius, in the care of the beautiful Serena, the +wife of Stilicho. She does not seem to have followed her brother +either to Milan or to Ravenna, for indeed his residence in both these +cities was part of the great defence. She remained in Rome, probably +in the house of her kinswoman Laeta, the widow of Gratian. That she +had a grudge against Serena seems certain, though the whole story of +the plot to marry her to Eucherius, Serena's son, would appear +doubtful. That she initiated her murder, as Zosimus[1] asserts, is +extremely improbable and altogether unproven. However that may be, +after one of his three sieges of Rome, Alaric carried Galla Placidia +off as a hostage. He seems, according to Zosimus, to have treated her +with courtesy and even with an exaggerated reverence, as the sister of +the emperor and the daughter of Theodosius, but she was compelled to +follow in his train and to see the ruin of Lucania and Calabria. For, +as a matter of fact and reality, Galla Placidia was the one hope of +the Goths and this became obvious after the death of Alaric. + +[Footnote 1: Zosimus, v. 38. Zosimus was a pagan. Placidia was a +devout and enthusiastic Catholic.] + +The Gothic army was in a sort of trap; it could not return without the +consent of Ravenna, and if it were compelled to remain in Italy it was +only a question of time till it should be crushed or gradually wasted +away. It is probable that Alaric was aware of this; it is certain that +it was well appreciated by his successor Ataulfus. He saw that his one +chance of coming to terms with the empire lay in his possession of +Galla Placidia. Moreover, Italy and Rome had worked in the mind and +the spirit of this man the extraordinary change that was to declare +itself in the soul of almost every barbarian who came to ravage them. +He began dimly to understand what the empire was. He felt ashamed of +his own rudeness and of the barbarism of his people. Years afterwards +he related to a citizen of Narbonne, who in his turn repeated the +confession to S. Jerome in Palestine in the presence of the historian +Orosius, the curious "conversion" that Italy had worked in his heart. +"In the full confidence of valour and victory," said Ataulfus, "I once +aspired to change the face of the universe; to obliterate the name of +Rome; to erect on its ruins the dominion of the Goths; and to acquire, +like Augustus, the immortal fame of the founder of a new empire. By +repeated experiments I was gradually convinced that laws are +essentially necessary to maintain and regulate a well constituted +state, and that the fierce untractable humour of the Goths was +incapable of bearing the salutary yoke of laws and civil government. +From that moment I proposed to myself a different object of glory and +ambition; and it is now my sincere wish that the gratitude of future +ages should acknowledge the merit of a stranger who employed the sword +of the Goths not to subvert but to restore and maintain the prosperity +of the Roman Empire."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Orosius, vii. c. 43. Gibbon, c. xxxi.] + +With this change in his heart and the necessity of securing a retreat +upon the best terms he could arrange, Ataulfus looked on Placidia his +captive and found her perhaps fair, certainly a prize almost beyond +the dreams of a barbarian. He aspired to marry her, and she does not +seem to have been unready to grant him her hand. Doubtless she had +been treated by Alaric and his successor with an extraordinary respect +not displeasing to so royal a lady, and Ataulfus, though not so tall +as Alaric, was both shapely and noble.[1] There seems indeed to have +been but one obstacle to this match. This was the ambition of +Constantius, the new minister of Honorius, who wished to make his +position secure by marrying Placidia himself. + +[Footnote 1: Jornandes, c. xxxi.] + +Italy, however, needed peace as badly as the Goths needed a secure +retreat. And when negotiations were opened it was seen that their +success depended entirely upon this question of Placidia. A treaty was +drawn up of friendship and alliance between the Goths and the empire. +The services of Ataulfus were accepted against the barbarians who were +harrying the provinces beyond the Alps, and the king, with Galla +Placidia a willing captive, began his retreat from Campania into Gaul. +His troops occupied the cities of Narbonne, Toulouse, and Bordeaux, +and in spite of the protests and resistance of the harassed +provincials soon extended their quarters from the Mediterranean to the +Atlantic. + +To hold the Goth to his friendship and to secure his absence from +Italy nothing remained but to accord him the hand of Placidia; and in +the year 414 at Narbonne their marriage was solemnised.[2] + +[Footnote 2: Olympiodorus and Idatius say the marriage took place at +Narbonne, but Jornandes, _op cit_. c. 31, asserts that it took place +at Forli before Ataulfus left Italy. Perhaps there were two +ceremonies, or perhaps the ceremony at Narbonne was but the +celebration of an anniversary.] + +With the retreat of the Goth and the treaty sealed by the marriage of +Placidia, the sister of Honorius, and the Gothic king, Italy secured +herself a peace and a repose which endured for some forty-two years, +only broken by the raid of Heraclian from Africa in 413. + +But Ataulfus did not long survive his marriage. Having crossed the +Pyrenees and surprised in the name of Honorius the city of Barcelona, +he was assassinated in the palace there, and in the tumult which +followed, Singeric, the brother of his enemy and a stranger to the +royal race, was hailed as king. This revolution made Placidia once +more a fugitive, and we see the daughter of Theodosius "confounded +among a crowd of vulgar captives, compelled to march on foot above +twelve miles before the horse of a barbarian, the assassin of a +husband whom Placidia loved and lamented." On the seventh day of his +reign, however, Singeric was himself assassinated and Wallia, who then +became king of the Goths, after repeated representations backed at +last by the despatch of an army surrendered the princess to her +brother in exchange for 600,000 measures of wheat. + +That must have been a strange home-coming for Placidia. Bought and +sold twice over, twice a fugitive, the companion of the rude Goth, she +is the most pathetic figure in all that terrible fifth century, and +never does she appear more pitiful than on her return from the camps +and the triumphs of the barbarians to the decadent splendour and the +corruption of the imperial court of Ravenna, and again as a captive, a +prize, booty. + +For the man who had been at the head of that army whose approach, real +or supposed, had decided the Goths to deliver up the sister of the +emperor was Constantius, her old lover, he who had delayed her +marriage with Ataulfus and who now determined to marry her himself. + +It was in 416 that Placidia returned to Ravenna. In the following year +Honorius gave her to Constantius, then his colleague in the consular +office for the second time. The marriage ceremony of very great +splendour took place in Ravenna; and in the same year was born of that +marriage Honoria, who was to offer herself to Attila, and in 419 +Valentinian, one day to be emperor. + +That marriage soon had the result Constantius had intended. In 421 +Honorius was compelled to associate him with himself on the imperial +throne and to give to Placidia the title of Augusta. The new emperor, +however, survived his elevation to the throne but seven months and +once more Placidia was a widow. Her life, never a happy one, if we +except the few years in which she was the wife of Ataulfus, whom she +seems really to have loved, became unbearable after the death of +Constantius. At the mercy of her brother who was fast sinking, at the +age of thirty-nine, into a vicious and idiotic senility, she, always a +sincere Catholic in spite of her romantic marriage with the Arian +Ataulfus, seems to have been forced into a horrible intimacy with him; +at least we know that he obliged her to receive his obscene kisses, +even in public, to the scandal and perhaps the amusement of that +corrupt society. And then suddenly her brother's dreadful love seems +to have turned to hate and she is a fugitive again with her two +children at the court of her nephew Theodosius II. at Constantinople. +In the very year of her flight Honorius died and the throne of the +West was vacant. + +It was filled by the obscure civil servant Joannes, the chief of the +notaries, the creature of some palace intrigue. But such a choice +could not be tolerated by Theodosius, who immediately confirmed +Placidia in her title of Augusta, which had not before been recognised +at Constantinople, and accepted Valentinian, whose title was +Nobilissimus, as the heir to the western throne, giving him the title +of Caesar. To suppress the usurper Joannes, Theodosius despatched an +army to bring Placidia and her children to Ravenna. After a short +campaign in northern Italy, by a miracle, according to the +contemporary historian Socrates, the troops of Theodosius arrived +before Ravenna. "The prayer of the pious emperor again prevailed. For +an angel of God, under the semblance of a shepherd, undertook the +guidance of Aspar and his troops, and led them through the lake near +Ravenna. Now no one had ever been known to ford that lake before; but +God then caused that to be possible which before had been impossible. +But when they had crossed the lake, as if going over dry land, they +found the gates of the city open and seized the tyrant Joannes."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Socrates, vii. 23. Cf. Hodgkin, _op cit_. i. 847.] + +So the Augusta with the young Caesar and her daughter Honoria entered +Ravenna, to reign there, first as regent and then as the no less +powerful adviser of her son, for some twenty-five years. + +When Ravenna opened its gates some eighteen months had passed since +the death of Honorius. But the appearance of that "angel of God under +the semblance of a shepherd" had not been the only miracle that had +occurred on the return of Placidia to the imperial city by the eastern +sea. For it seems that on her voyage either from Constantinople to +Aquileia, where she remained till Ravenna was taken, or from Aquileia +to Ravenna, Placidia and her children were caught in a great storm at +sea and came near to suffer shipwreck. Then Placidia prayed aloud, +invoking the aid of S. John the Evangelist for deliverance from so +great a peril, and vowing to build a church in his honour in Ravenna +if he would bring them to land. And immediately the winds and the +waves abated and the ship came safely to port.[2] It was in fulfilment +of her vow that Placidia built in Ravenna the Basilica of S. John the +Evangelist. + +[Footnote 2: The invocation of S. John is curious, and we have not the +key to it. For though he was a fisherman, so was S. Peter for +instance. It is interesting, though not perhaps really significant, to +note that it is only S. John who notes in his Gospel (vi. 21) that, +when the Apostles saw Our Lord walking on the water in the great +storm, and had received Him into their ship, "immediately the ship was +at the land."] + +The city of Ravenna at this time would seem to have been full of +churches. Its first bishop, S. Apollinaris, had been the friend of S. +Peter who, as it was believed, had appointed him to the see of +Ravenna. That was in the earliest days of the Christian Church. But we +find the tradition still living in the fourth century when Severus, +bishop of Ravenna, miraculously chosen to fill the see, sat in the +council of Sardica in 344 and refused to make any alteration in the +Nicene Creed. About the end of the century Ursus had been bishop and +had built the great cathedral church, the Basilica Ursiana, dedicated +in honour of the Resurrection, with its five naves and fifty-six +columns of marble, its _schola cantorum_ in the midst, and its +mosaics, all of which were finally and utterly destroyed in 1733. +There was too the baptistery which remains and the church of S. Agata +and many others which have perished. + +With the church of S. Agata we connect one of the great bishops of the +fifth century, Joannes Angeloptes, who was there served at Mass by an +angel. While with the beautiful little chapel in the bishop's palace, +which still, in some sort at least, remains to us, we connect perhaps +the greatest bishop Ravenna can boast of, S. Peter Chrysologus, for he +built it. + +Nor was Placidia herself slow to add to the ecclesiastical splendour +of her city. We have already seen that she built S. Giovanni +Evangelista, rebuilt in the thirteenth century, in fulfilment of her +vow and in memory of her salvation from shipwreck. Close to her palace +she built another church in honour of the Holy Cross, and attached to +it she erected her mausoleum, which remains perhaps the most precious +monument in the city. The church and the monastery which her niece +Singleida built beside it have perished. + +But though during the lifetime of Placidia Italy was free from foreign +invasion, the decay of the western empire, of what had been the +western empire, was by no means arrested; on the contrary, Britain, +Gaul, Spain, and Africa were finally lost. Two appalling catastrophes +mark her reign, the Vandal invasion of the province of Africa and the +ever growing cloud of Huns upon the north-eastern frontiers. + +[Illustration: THE APSE OF S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA] + +Placidia's two chief ministers were Boniface and Aetius, either of +whom, according to Procopius, "had the other not been his +contemporary, might truly have been called the last of the Romans." +Their simultaneous appearance, however, finally destroyed all hope of +an immediate resurrection of civilisation in the West. For Boniface, +whose "one great object was the deliverance of Africa from all sorts +of barbarians," betrayed Africa to the Vandals, and to this he was led +by the rivalry and intrigue of Aetius who, on the other hand, must +always be remembered for his heroic and glorious victory over Attila +at Chalons which delivered Gaul from the worst deluge of all--that of +the Huns. + +The truth would seem to be that while corruption of every sort, and +especially political corruption, was destroying the empire, the +importance of Christianity was vastly increasing. The great quarrel +was really that between Catholicism and heresy. This was a living +issue while the cause of the empire as a political entity was already +dead. Placidia certainly eagerly considered all sorts of +ecclesiastical problems and provided and legislated for their +solution. We do not find her seeking the advice and offensive and +defensive alliance of Constantinople for the restoration of her +provinces. It might seem almost as though the mind of her time was +unable to fix itself upon the vast political and economic problem that +now for many generations had demanded a solution in vain. No one seems +to have cared in any fundamental way, or even to have been aware, that +the empire as a great state was gradually being ruined, was indeed +already in full decadence--a thing to despair of. That is the curious +thing--no one seems to have despaired. On the other hand, every one +was keenly interested in the religious controversy of the time which, +because we cannot fully understand that time, seems to us so futile. +But it is only what is in the mind that is fundamentally important to +man, and that will force him to action. The council of Ephesus which +destroyed Nestorius in 431, the council of Chalcedon which condemned +Dioscorus in 451, seemed to be the important things, and one day we +may come to think again, that on those great decisions, and not on the +material defence, both military and economic, of the West, depended +the future of the world. If this be so, it would at least explain the +hopeless variance of East and West, which, almost equally concerned in +the material problem, were by no means at one in philosophy. + +[Illustration: THE MAUSOLEUM OF GALLA PLACIDIA] + +Nevertheless, although Theodosius II. had not trodden "the narrow path +of orthodoxy with reputation unimpaired," as Placidia certainly had, +the material alliance of East and West were seen to be so important +that in 437 Valentinian III., the son of Placidia, and emperor in the +West, was married to Eudoxia, the daughter of Theodosius II., in +Constantinople. + +Neither the accession of her son nor his marriage seem to have made +any real difference in the power of Placidia who, we may believe, not, +as Procopius asserts, by a cunning system of training by which she had +ruined his character, but rather by reason of her innate virility, +retained the reins of government in her own hands. Certainly she +ruled, the Augusta of the West, during the twelve years that remained +to her after her son's marriage. And when at last she died in Rome in +450, on the 27th November,[1] in the sixtieth year of her age, and a +few months after her nephew Theodosius II., and was borne in a last +triumph along the Via Flaminia, to be laid, seated in a chair of +cedar, in a sarcophagus of alabaster in the gorgeous mausoleum she had +prepared for herself beside the church of S. Croce in Ravenna, she +left Italy at least in a profound peace, so secure, as it seemed, that +the whole court had in that very year removed to Rome. It might appear +as though the barbarian had but awaited her passing to descend once +more upon the citadel of Europe. + +[Footnote 1: Agnellus asserts that on the Ides of March in the year +following Placidia's death Ravenna suffered from a great fire, in +which many buildings perished, but he does not tell us what they +were.] + + + + +V + +THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST + + +For more than ten years before the death of Placidia both East and +West had been aware of a new cloud in the north-east. This darkness +was the vast army of Huns, which, in the exodus from Asia proper, +under Attila, threatened to overrun the empire and to lay it waste. In +447, indeed, Attila fell upon the Adriatic and Aegean provinces of the +eastern empire and ravaged them till he was bought off with a shameful +tribute. His thoughts inevitably turned towards the capital, and it is +said, I know not with how much truth, that in the very year of their +death both Placidia and Theodosius received from this new barbarian an +insolent message which said: "Attila, thy master and mine, bids thee +prepare a palace for him." + +Theodosius II., however, was succeeded upon the Eastern throne by his +sister Pulcheria who shared her government with the virile and bold +soldier Marcian. But upon Placidia's death, on the other hand, the +government of the West fell into the hands of her weak and sensual son +Valentinian III. + +Placidia's greatest failure, indeed, was in the training and education +of her children. Valentinian was incapable and vicious, while Honoria, +who had inherited much of the romantic temperament of her mother, was +both unscrupulous and irresponsible. Sent to Constantinople on account +of an intrigue with her chamberlain, Honoria, bored by the ascetic +life in which she found herself and furious at her virtual +imprisonment, sent her ring to Attila and besought him to deliver her +and make her his wife as Ataulfus had done Placidia her mother. +Though, it seems, the Hun disdained her, he made this appeal his +excuse. Within a year of the death of Theodosius and Placidia he +decided that the way of least resistance lay westward. If he were +successful he could make his own terms, and, among his spoil, if he +cared, should be the sister of the emperor. + +At first it was Gaul that was to be plundered; but there, as we know, +the wild beast was met by Aetius who defeated him at the battle of +Chalons and thus saved the western provinces. But that victory was not +followed up. Attila and his vast army were allowed to retreat; and +though Gaul was saved, Italy lay at their mercy. That was in 451. +Attila retreated into Pannonia, and prepared for a new raid in the +following year. + +He came, as Alaric had done, through the Julian Alps; and before +spring had gone Aquileia was not, Concordia was utterly destroyed, +Altinum became nothing. Nor have these cities ever lived again; out of +their ruin Venice sprang in the midst of the lagoons. All the +Cisalpine plain north of the Po was in Attila's hands; Vicenza, +Verona, Brescia, Bergamo, Pavia, even Milan opened their gates. No +defence was offered, they saved themselves alive. And southward, over +the Po, between the mountains and the sea, the gate which Ravenna held +stood open wide. Italy without defence lay at the mercy of the Asiatic +invader. + +Without defence! Valentinian and his court were in Rome; no one armed +and ready waited in impregnable Ravenna to break the Hun as with a +hammer when he should venture to take the road through the narrow pass +between the mountains and the sea. The great defence was not to be +held; the road, as once before, lay open and unguarded. In this +moment, one of the greatest crises in the history of Europe, suddenly, +and without warning, the reality of that age, which had changed so +imperceptibly, was revealed. The material civilisation and defence of +the empire were, at least as organised things, seen to be dead; its +spiritual virility and splendour were about to be made manifest. + +For it was not any emperor or great soldier at the head of an army +that faced Attila by the Mincio on the Cisalpine plain and saved +Italy, but an old and unarmed man, alone and defenceless. Our saviour +was pope Leo the Great; but above him, in the sky, the Hun perceived +the mighty figures, overshadowing all that world, of S. Peter and S. +Paul, and his eyes dazzled, he bowed his head. "What," he asked +himself, "if I conquer like Alaric only to die as he did?" He yielded +and consented to retreat, Italy was saved. The new emperor, the true +head and champion of the new civilisation that was to arise out of all +this confusion, had declared himself. It was the pope. + +There, it might seem, we have the truth at last, the explanation, +perhaps, of all the extraordinary ennui and neglect that had made such +an invasion as that of Alaric, as that of Radagaisus, as this of +Attila, possible. For it is only what is in the mind that is of any +importance. The empire rightly understood was not about to die, but to +change into a new spiritual kingdom in the hearts of men; and there, +in the place of the emperor, would sit God's Vicegerent, till in the +fullness of time the material empire should be re-established and that +Vicegerent should place the imperial crown once more upon a merely +royal head. The force of the old empire had always lain in wholly +material things and its excuse had been its material success; but it +was a servile state, and after the advent of Christianity it was +inevitable that it should change or perish. It changed. The force of +the new empire was to be so completely spiritual that to-day we can +scarcely understand it. Upon the banks of the Mincio it declared +itself; and when, twenty-three years later, Odoacer the barbarian +deposed Romulus Augustulus and made himself king of Italy, the true +champion of all that Latin genius had established was already +enthroned in Rome; but the throne was Peter's, and men called him not +Emperor but Father. + +Those twenty-three years, so brief a period, are, as we might imagine, +full of confusion and strange barbarian voices. + +After Leo had turned him back from Italy there by the Mincio, Attila +retreated again into Pannonia, but he still insisted "on this point +above all, that Honoria, the sister of the emperor and the daughter of +the Augusta Placidia, should be sent to him with the portion of the +royal wealth which was her due; and he threatened that unless this +were done he would lay upon Italy a far heavier punishment than any +which it had yet borne." But within a year Attila was dead in a +barbaric marriage-bed by the Danube, and his empire destroyed. And as +for Honoria we know no more of her, she disappears from history, +though tradition has it that she spent the rest of her life in a +convent in southern Italy. + +The two heroes of the Hunnish deluge in the West were Aetius, the +great general who broke Attila upon the plain of Chalons, and Leo the +pope surnamed the Great. Aetius had been unable to persuade his +victorious troops to march to the defence of Italy, and in this again +we see the growing failure of the imperial idea; but he was a great +soldier, and certainly the greatest minister that Valentinian III. +could boast. Nevertheless, after the death of Attila he seemed to the +emperor both dangerous and useless; dangerous because, like Stilicho, +he thought of the empire for his son, and useless because Valentinian +had recently placed his confidence in another, the eunuch Heraclius. +Just as Honorius contrived the murder of Stilicho, so did Valentinian +contrive to rid himself of Aetius, and with his own hand, for +Valentinian stabbed him himself in his palace on the Palatine Hill in +Rome, towards the end of 454. Six months, however, had not gone by +when Aetius was avenged and Valentinian lay dead in the Campus Martius +stabbed by two soldiers of barbarian origin. Beside him, dead too, lay +the eunuch Heraclius. This was the vengeance of the friends of Aetius, +and of him who was to be emperor, Petronius Maximus, whose wife +Valentinian had ravished. + +With Valentinian III., who had no children, the great line of +Theodosius came to an end both in the East and in the West, for +Pulcheria had died in 453. In Constantinople Marcian continued to rule +till 457, when he was succeeded by Leo I. the Thracian. In Rome he who +had so signally avenged himself, Petronius Maximus, a senator, sixty +years of age, reigned during seventy days in which he was rather a +prisoner than a monarch. During those seventy days, whether moved by +lust or revenge we know not, he attempted to make the widow of +Valentinian his wife. This brought all down, for Eudoxia, without a +friend in the world, followed the fatal example of Honoria and called +in the Vandal to her assistance. And when Genseric was on his way to +answer her from Carthage, the terrified City, by the hands of the +imperial servants and the soldiers, tore the emperor limb from limb +and flung what remained into the Tiber so that even burial was denied +him. But the Vandal came on, and in spite of Leo, as we know, sacked +the City and departed--to lose the mighty booty in the midst of the +sea. + +What are we to say of the years which follow, and what are we to say +of those ghostly figures, which hover, always uncertainly and briefly, +about the imperial throne after the assassination of Valentinian III. +and the second sack of the City? There was Avitus the Gaul (455-456), +Majorian (457-461), Libius Severus (461-465), Anthemius (467-472), +Olybrius (472), Glycerius (473-474), Julius Nepos (474-475), and at +last the pitiful boy Romulus Augustulus (475-476). Nothing can be said +of them; they are less than shadows, and their empire, the material +empire they represented, was no longer conscious of itself, was no +longer a reality, but an hallucination, haunting the mind. It is true +that the chief seat of their government, if government it can be +called, was Ravenna, and that the city is concerned with most of the +incidents of those vague and confused years; the proclamations of +Majorian, of Severus, of Glycerius, and of Romulus Augustulus, the +abdication of the last and the fight in the pinewood in which his +uncle Paulus was broken and Odoacer made himself master. But they are, +for the most part, the years of Ricimer the patrician, for they are +full of his puppets. + +This man is another Stilicho, another Aetius, a great and heroic +soldier, but of a sinister and subtle policy without loyalty or +scruple. His is a figure that often appears about the death-bed of +dying states, but his genius has not so often been matched. The son of +a Suevic father, his mother the daughter of Wallia, the successor and +avenger of Ataulfus the Visigoth, he was the champion of the empire +against the Vandal, that is to say, against her most relentless foe. +His success in this was the secret of his power. Pondering the fate of +his predecessors he determined he would not end as they did. Therefore +he determined to make whom he would emperor and to depose him when he +had done with him; in a word, he meant to be the master as well as the +saviour of Italy. In this he was successful. He deposed Avitus and +caused him to be consecrated bishop of Placentia. In his place he set +a man of his own choice, Majorian, whom he raised to the empire on +April 1, 457, in the camp at Columellae, at the sixth milestone, it +seems, from Ravenna; and upon August 2,461, he caused him to be put to +death near Tortona. + +He chose Libius Severus to fill the place of Majorian and had him +proclaimed in Ravenna upon November 19, 461; and upheld him for nearly +four years till he died in Rome on August 15, 465, poisoned, men said, +by Ricimer. Then the "king-maker" allied himself with Constantinople +and placed Anthemius, son-in-law of Marcian, upon the throne of the +West, in 467, kept him there till 472, and then proclaimed Olybrius, +another Byzantine, emperor; laid siege to Anthemius in Rome, took the +City, slew Anthemius, and forty days later himself died, leaving the +command of his army to his nephew Gundobald, one of the princes of the +Burgundians. Seven months later Olybrius died. + +The alliance Ricimer had made with Constantinople, though he repented +it, was the one hope of the future, and as a fact the future belonged +to it. For a moment Gundobald was able to place an obscure soldier +Glycerius upon the throne, but he soon exchanged the purple for the +bishopric of Salona, and the nominee of Constantinople, Julius Nepos, +reigned in Ravenna in his stead. But though the future belonged to +Constantinople, the present did not. The barbarian confederates, +discontented and unwilling to give their allegiance to this Greek, +rebelled and under Orestes their general marched upon Ravenna. Julius +Nepos fled by ship to Dalmatia and Orestes in Ravenna proclaimed his +young son Romulus Augustulus emperor. But those barbarian mercenaries +were not to be so easily satisfied. Of the new emperor they demanded a +third of the lands of all Italy, and when this was refused them they +flocked to the standard of that barbarian general in the Roman service +whom we know as Odoacer. "From all the camps and garrisons of Italy" +the barbarian confederates flocked to the new standard and Orestes was +compelled to shut himself up in Pavia while Paulus, his brother, held +Ravenna for the boy emperor. Upon August 23, 476, Odoacer was raised +like the barbarian he was, upon the shield, as Alaric had been, and +his troops proclaimed him king. Five days later Orestes, who had +escaped from Pavia, was taken and put to death at Placentia, and on +September 4 Paulus his brother was taken in the Pineta outside Classis +by Ravenna and was slain. The gates of Ravenna were open, Romulus +Augustulus, the last emperor in the West, was forced to abdicate and +was sent by Odoacer to the famous villa that Lucullus had built for +himself long and long ago in Campania, and was granted a pension of +six thousand _soldi_, and Odoacer reigned as the first king of Italy; +the western empire, as such, was at an end. + +And the senate addressed, by unanimous decree, to the emperor Zeno in +Constantinople an epistle, in which they disclaimed "the necessity, or +even the wish, of continuing any longer the imperial succession in +Italy, since, in their opinion, the majesty of a sole monarch is +sufficient to pervade and protect at the same time both East and West. +In their own name and in the name of the people they consent to the +seat of universal empire being transferred from Rome to +Constantinople, and they renounce the right of choosing their master. +They further state that the republic (they repeat that name without a +blush) might safely confide in the civil and military virtues of +Odoacer; and they humbly request that the emperor would invest him +with the title of patrician and the administration of the _diocese_ of +Italy." + +And Odoacer sent the diadem and the purple robe, the imperial ensigns, +the sacred ornaments of the throne and palace to Byzantium and +received thence the title of patrician. + + + + +VI + +THEODORIC + + +We may well ask what was the condition of Ravenna when the western +empire fell and Odoacer made himself king of Italy. And by the +greatest of good fortune we can answer that question. For we have a +fairly vivid account of Ravenna from the hand of Sidonius Apollinaris +who passed through the city on his way to Rome in 467. + +Ravenna had been the chief city of Italy during the seventy years of +revolution and administrative disaster and decay which had followed +the incursion of Alaric. For the greater part of that period she had +been the seat of the emperors and of their government, and it is +perhaps for reasons such as these that we find, after all, but little +change in her condition. She does not seem to have suffered much decay +since Honorius retreated upon her. + +"It is difficult," Sidonius tells us, "to say whether the old city of +Ravenna is separated from the new port or joined to it by the Via +Caesaris which lies between them. Above the town the Po is divided +into two streams, of which one washes its walls and the other passes +through its streets. The whole river has been diverted from its true +channel by means of large mounds thrown across it at the public +expense, and being thus drawn off into channels marked out for it, so +divides its waters, that they offer protection to the walls which they +encompass and bring commerce into the city which they penetrate. By +this route, which is most convenient for the purpose, all kinds of +mechandise arrive, and especially food. But against this must be set +the fact that the supply of drinking water is wretched. On the one +side you have the salt waves of the sea dashing against the gates, on +the other the canals, filled with sewage of the consistency of gruel, +are being constantly churned up by the passage of the barges; and the +river itself, here gliding along with a very slow current, is made +muddy by the poles of the bargemen which are being continually thrust +into its clayey bed. The consequence was that we were thirsty in the +midst of the waves, since no wholesome water was brought to us by the +aqueducts, no cistern was flowing, no well was without its mud."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Sidonius Apoll. _Ep_. 1 5. Cf. Hodgkin, _op. cit_. vol. +1. p. 859.] + +In another letter we have a rather more fantastic picture. "A pretty +place Cesena must be if Ravenna is better, for there your ears are +pierced by the mosquito of the Po and a talkative mob of frogs is +always croaking round you. Ravenna is a mere marsh where all the +conditions of life are reversed, where walls fall and waters stand, +towers flow down and ships squat, invalids walk about and their +doctors take to bed, baths freeze and houses burn, the living perish +with thirst and the dead swim about on the surface of the water, +thieves watch and magistrates sleep, priests lend at usury and Syrians +sing psalms, merchants shoulder arms and soldiers haggle like +hucksters, greybeards play at ball and striplings at dice, and eunuchs +study the art of war and the barbarian mercenaries study +literature."[2] + +[Footnote 2: _Idem. Ep_. 1. 8. Cf. Hodgkin, _op cit_ vol. 1. p. 860.] + +Such was the Ravenna of the barbarian who called himself king of +Italy. + +We have seen Ravenna since her incorporation into the Roman +administrative system fulfilling the various reasons of her existence; +as the fortress which held the gate into Italy from Cisalpine Gaul, as +the second naval port of the West, and as the great impregnable +fortress of Italy in the barbarian invasions. Odoacer, also, chose it +as his chief seat of government for similar advantages. Ravenna +strongly held gave him, as strongly held she had given every one of +her masters, Italy and Cisalpine Gaul; while as the gate of the +eastern sea, Ravenna was his proper means of communication with his +over-lord and the eastern provinces of what was, rightly understood, +the reunited empire. + +That, theoretically at least, is how Odoacer regarded the state in +which, by the good pleasure of the emperor Zeno, he held the title of +patrician. He was an unlettered man, an Arian, as were all the +barbarians, and he held what he held by permission of Constantinople, +though he had won it by his own strength in the weakness and misery of +the time. He never aspired, it would seem, to make himself emperor. +Certainly for the first four years of his rule in Ravenna that great +office was filled by Julius Nepos in exile at Salona, whose deposition +at the hands of Orestes had never been recognised by Constantinople. +Thereafter, the western and the eastern empire were in theory +reunited, with New Rome upon the Bosphorus for their true capital; and +both before and after that event Odoacer ruled in Italy with the title +of patrician conferred upon him by Constantinople. When that consent +was withdrawn, as it was immediately Odoacer showed signs of ambition, +he fell. + +Odoacer had ruled in Ravenna from 476 to 493, when he fell in that +city after sustaining a siege of three years. He ruled well and +strongly and by the laws of the empire. He was compelled by the +barbaric confederates, who had placed him where he was, to grant them +a third of the lands, certainly, of the great Italian landowners; but +he created nothing new; like all the barbarians he was sterile, his +only service was a service of destruction. With him even this service +was small. + +His fall was curious and is exceedingly significant. + +In 481, after the murder of the emperor Julius Nepos in Salona, +Odoacer led an expedition into Dalmatia to chastise the murderers and +seized the opportunity to make himself master of Dalmatia. This action +at once renewed the suspicion of Constantinople; but when in 484 +Odoacer entered into negotiations with Illus, the last of the +insurgents who disturbed the reign of Zeno, Constantinople decided +that he must be broken; therefore Feletheus, king of the Rugians upon +the Danube, was stirred up against him, and when that failed, for +Odoacer defeated him, Constantinople sent Theodoric and his +Ostrogothic host into Italy to dispose of Odoacer the patrician[1]. + +[Footnote 1: Cf. Anon. Valesii, "Missus ab imperatore Zenone de +partibus orientis ad defendendam sibi Italiam...."] + +Theodoric, another unlettered barbarian and heretic, but a man of a +great and noble character, set out for Italy from Nova on the southern +bank of the Danube, where he had been a constant danger to the Eastern +provinces, in the autumn of 488. His purpose, set forth in his own +words to the Emperor Zeno, was as follows: "Although your servant is +maintained in affluence by your liberality, graciously listen to the +wishes of my heart. Italy, the inheritance of your predecessors, and +Rome itself, the head and mistress of the world, now fluctuate under +the violence and oppression of Odoacer the mercenary. Direct me with +my national troops to march against this tyrant. If I fall, you will +be delivered from an expensive and troublesome friend; if, with the +Divine permission, I succeed, I shall govern, in your name and to your +glory, the Roman senate and the part of the republic delivered from +slavery by my victorious arms." + +That march was an exodus. Procopius tells us that, "with Theodoric +went the people of the Goths, putting their wives and children and as +much of their furniture as they could take with them into their +waggons," and as Ennodius, bishop of Ticinum, asserts, it was "a world +that migrated" with Theodoric into Italy, "a world of which every +member is nevertheless your kinsman." "Waggons," says he, "are made to +do duty as houses, and into these wandering habitations all things +that can minister to the needs of the occupants are poured. Then were +the tools of Ceres, and the stones with which the corn is ground, +dragged along by the labouring oxen. Pregnant mothers, forgetful of +their sex and of the burden which they bore, undertook the toil of +providing food for the families of thy people. Followed the reign of +winter in thy camp. Over the hair of thy men the long frost threw a +veil of snowy white; the icicles hung in a tangle from their beards. +So hard was the frost that the garment which the matron's persevering +toil had woven had to be broken before a man might fit it to his body. +Food for thy marching armies was forced from the grasp of the hostile +nations around, or procured by the cunning of the hunter."[1] It has +been supposed by Mr. Hodgkin that not less than 40,000 fighting men +and some 200,000 souls in all thus entered Italy. To us it might seem +that no such number of people could have lived without commissariat +during that tremendous march of seven hundred miles through some of +the poorest land of Europe in the depth of winter. However that may +be, Theodoric after many an encounter with barbarians wilder than his +own descended from the Julian Alps into Venetia in August 489, after a +march of not less than ten months. + +[Footnote 1: Ennodius, _Panegyricus_, p. 173. Trs. by Hodgkin, _op. +cit_. iii. 179-80.] + +Odoacer was waiting for him. He met him near the site of the old +fortress of Aquileia, which Attila had annihilated, that once held the +passage of the Sontius (Isonzo). He was defeated and all Venetia fell +into the hands of the Ostrogoth. Odoacer retreated to Verona, that red +fortress on the Adige; once more and more certainly he was beaten. He +retreated to Ravenna,[2] while Theodoric advanced to Milan, to Milan +which now led nowhere. + +[Footnote 2: "Et Ravennam cum exercitu fugiens pervenit." Anon. +Valesii, 50.] + +After Verona, Theodoric had received the submission of a part of +Odoacer's army under Tufa. When he had possessed himself of Milan, he +sent these renegades and certain nobles with their men from his own +army, apparently under the leadership of Tufa, to besiege Ravenna. +They came down the Aemilian Way as far as Faventia (Faenza). There no +doubt a road left the great highway for the impregnable city of the +marshes. At Faventia, then, Theodoric expected to begin to blockade +Ravenna. In this he was mistaken. Suddenly Tufa deserted his new +master, was joined by Odoacer, who came to Faventia, and certain of +the Ostrogothic nobles, if not all of them, were slaughtered. The +expedition was lost and not the expedition alone: Milan was no longer +safe. Therefore Theodoric evacuated that city, always almost +indefensible, and occupied Ticinum (Pavia), which was naturally +defended by the Ticino and the Po. There he established himself in +winter quarters. + +A new diversion from the west, a frustrated attack of Gundobald and +his Burgundians, kept Theodoric busy for a year. Meantime Odoacer +appeared in the plain, retook and held all the country between +Faventia and Cremona and even visited Milan, which he chastised. Then +in August 490 Theodoric met him on the Adda, and again Odoacer was +defeated, and again he fled back to Ravenna. All over Italy his cause +tottered, was betrayed, or failed. A general massacre of the +confederate troops throughout the peninsula seems to have occurred. +And by the end of the year there remained to him but Ravenna, his +fortress, and the two cities that it commanded, Cesena upon the +Aemilian Way and Rimini in the midst of the narrow pass at the head of +the Via Flaminia. Theodoric himself began the siege of Ravenna. + +This siege, the first that Ravenna had ever experienced, endured for +near three years, from the autumn of 490 to the spring of 493. "_Et +mox_" says a chronicle of the time, "_subsecutus est eum patricius +Theodoricus veniens in Pineta, et fixit fossatum, obsidiens Odoacrem +clausum per trienum in Ravenna et factus est usque ad sex solidos +modicus tritici_...."[1] Theodoric established himself in a fortified +camp in the Pineta with a view to preventing food or reinforcements +arriving to his enemy from the sea. Ravenna was closed upon all sides +and before the end of the siege corn rose in the beleaguered city to +famine price, some seventy-two shillings of our money per peck, and +the inhabitants were forced to eat the skins of animals and all sorts +of offal, and many died of hunger. + +[Footnote 1: Anon. Valesii.] + +In 491, according to the same chronicler,[1] a sortie was made by +Odoacer and his barbarians, but after a desperate fight in the Pineta +this was repelled by Theodoric. In 492, another chronicle tells us,[2] +Theodoric took Rimini and from thence brought a fleet of ships to the +Porto Leone, some six miles from Ravenna, thus cutting off the city +from the sea. Till at last in the beginning of 493 Odoacer was +compelled to open negotiations for surrender. He gave his son Thelane +as a hostage, and on the 26th February Theodoric entered Classis, and +on the following day the treaty of peace was signed. Upon the 5th +March 493, according to Agnellus, "that most blessed man, the +archbishop John, opened the gates of the city which Odoacer had +closed, and went forth with crosses and thuribles and the Holy Gospels +seeking peace, with the priests and clergy singing psalms, and +prostrating himself upon the ground obtained what he sought. He +welcomed the new king coming from the East and peace was granted to +him, not only with the citizens of Ravenna, but with the other Romans +for whom the blessed John asked it." + +[Footnote 1: Anon. Valesii.] + +[Footnote 2: Agnellus, _Liber Pontificalis Rav_.] + +The terms of that treaty are extraordinarily significant of the +importance of Ravenna in the defence of Italy. It would seem that +Theodoric had possessed himself of everything but Ravenna easily +enough, yet without Ravenna everything else was nothing. The city was, +in spite of blockade and famine, impregnable, and it commanded so +much, was still indeed, as always, the key to Italy and the plain and +the very gate of the West, that not to possess it was to lose +everything. Its surrender was necessary and Theodoric offered +extraordinary terms to obtain it. Odoacer was not only to keep his +life but his power. He was to rule as the equal of Theodoric. This +mighty concession shows us at once what Ravenna really was, what part +she played in the government of Italy, and how unique was her position +in the military scheme of that country. + +Theodoric had certainly no intention of carrying out the terms of his +treaty. In the very month in which he signed it, he invited Odoacer to +a feast at the Palace "in Lauro" to the south-east of Ravenna. When +the patrician arrived two petitioners knelt before him each clasping +one of his hands, and two of Theodoric's men stepped from hiding to +kill him. Perhaps they were not barbarians: at any rate, they lacked +the courage and the contempt alike of law and of honour necessary to +commit so cold a murder. It was Theodoric himself who lifted his sword +and hewed his enemy in twain from the shoulder to the loins. "Where is +God?" Odoacer, expecting the stroke, had demanded. And Theodoric +answered, "Thus didst thou to my friends." And after he said, "I think +the wretch had no bones in his body." + +The barbarian it might seem had certainly nothing to learn from the +worst of the emperors in treachery and dishonour. + +Theodoric set up his seat in the city he had so perfidiously won, and +for the next thirty years appears as the governour of Italy. He had +set out, it will be remembered, as the soldier of Constantinople, had +asked for leave to make his expedition, and had protested his +willingness to govern in the name of the emperor and for his glory. It +is not perhaps surprising that a barbarian, and especially Theodoric +who knew so well how to win by treachery what he could not otherwise +obtain, should after his victory forget the promise he had made to his +master. After the battle of the Adda he had the audacity to send an +embassy to the emperor to request that he might be allowed to clothe +himself in the royal mantle. This was of course refused. Nevertheless +the Goths "confirmed Theodoric to themselves as king without waiting +for the order of the new emperor Anastasius."[1] This "confirmation," +whatever it may have meant to the Goths, meant nothing to the Romans +or to the empire. For some years Constantinople refused all +acknowledgment to Theodoric, till in 497 peace was made and Theodoric +obtained recognition, much it may be thought as Odoacer had done, from +Constantinople; but the ornaments of the palace at Ravenna, which +Odoacer had sent to New Rome, were brought back, and therefore it +would seem that the royalty of Theodoric was acknowledged by the +empire; but we have no authority to see in this more than an +acknowledgment of the king of the Goths, the vicegerent perhaps of the +emperor in Italy. What Theodoric's title may have been we have no +means of knowing: _de jure_ he was the representative of the emperor +in Italy: _de facto_ he was the absolute ruler, the _tyrannus_, as +Odoacer had been, of the country; but he never ventured to coin money +bearing his effigy and superscription and he invariably sent the names +of the consuls, whom he appointed, to Constantinople for confirmation. +He ruled too, as Odoacer had done, by Roman law, and the Arian heresy, +which he and his barbarians professed as their religion, was not till +the very end of his reign permitted precedence over the Catholic +Faith. For the most part too he governed by means of Roman officials, +and to this must be ascribed the enormous success of his long +government. + +[Footnote 1: Anon. Valesu, 57.] + +[Illustration: CAPITAL FROM THE COLONNADE IN PIAZZA MAGGIORE] + +For that he was successful, that he gave Italy peace during a whole +generation, is undeniable. In all the chronicles there is little but +praise of him. The chief of them[1] says of him: "He was an +illustrious man and full of good-will towards all. He reigned +thirty-three years[2] and during thirty of these years so great was +the happiness of Italy that even the wayfarers were at peace. For he +did nothing evil. He governed the two nations, the Goths and the +Romans, as though they were one people. Belonging himself to the Arian +sect, he yet ordained that the civil administration should remain for +the Romans as it had been under the emperors. He gave presents and +rations to the people, yet though he found the treasury ruined he +brought it by hard work into a flourishing state. He attempted nothing +against the Catholic Faith. He exhibited games in the circus and +amphitheatre, and received from the Romans the names of Trajan and +Valentinian, for the happy days of those most prosperous emperors he +did in truth seek to restore, and at the same time the Goths rendered +true obedience to their valiant king according to the edict which he +had given them. + +[Footnote 1: Anon. Valesii. This was probably Bishop Maximian, a +Catholic bishop of Ravenna. I follow, with a few changes, Mr. +Hodgkin's translation.] + +[Footnote 2: Thirty-two years and a half from the death of Odoacer; +thirty-seven from his descent into Italy.] + +"He gave one of his daughters in marriage to the king of the Visigoths +in Gaul, another to the son of the Burgundian king; his sister to the +king of the Vandals and his niece to the king of the Thuringians. Thus +he pleased all the nations round him, for he was a lover of +manufactures and a great restorer of cities. He restored the Aqueduct +of Ravenna which Trajan had built, and again after a long interval +brought water into the city. He completed but did not dedicate the +Palace, and he finished the Porticoes about it. At Verona he erected +Baths and a Palace, and constructed a Portico from the Gate to the +Palace. The Aqueduct, which had been destroyed long since, he renewed, +and brought in water through it. He also surrounded the city with new +walls. At Ticinum (Pavia) too he built a Palace, Baths, and an +Amphitheatre and erected walls round the city. On many other cities he +bestowed similar benefits. + +"Thus he so delighted the nations near him that they entered into a +league with him hoping that he would be their king. The merchants, +too, from many provinces flocked to his dominions, for so great was +the order which he maintained, that, if any one wished to keep gold +and silver in the country it was as safe as in a walled city. A proof +of this was that he never made gates for any city of Italy, and the +gates that already existed were never closed. Any one who had business +to do, might go about it as safely by night as by day." + +But if such praise sound fulsome, let us hear what the sceptical and +censorious Procopius has to say: + +"Theodoric," he tells us, "was an extraordinary lover of justice and +adhered vigorously to the laws. He guarded the country from barbarian +invasions, and displayed the greatest intelligence and prudence. There +was in his government scarcely a trace of injustice towards his +subjects, nor would he permit any of those under him to attempt +anything of the kind except that the Goths divided among themselves +the same proportion of the land of Italy as Odoacer had given to his +confederates. Thus then Theodoric was in name a tyrant, in fact a true +king, not inferior to the best of his predecessors, and his popularity +increased greatly both with the Goths and the Italians, and this was +contrary to the ordinary course of human affairs. For generally as +different classes in the state want different things, the government +which pleases one party incurs the hatred of the other. After a reign +of thirty-seven years he died having been a terror to all his enemies, +but leaving a deep regret for his loss in the hearts of his subjects." + +In these panegyrics, which we cannot but accept as sincere, mention is +made of one of the greatest virtues of Theodoric, his reparation of +and care for the great monuments of the empire. In Ravenna we read he +repaired the Aqueduct which Trajan had built and which had long been +out of repair, so that Ravenna always deficient in water had for many +years suffered on this account. In the _Variae_ of Cassiodorus, his +minister and a Roman, we read as follows:-- + +"_King Theodoric to all Cultivators_. + +"The Aqueducts are an object of our special care. We desire you at +once to root up the shrubs growing in the Signine channel, which will +before long become big trees scarcely to be hewn down with an axe and +which interfere with the purity of the water in the Aqueduct of +Ravenna. Vegetation is the peaceable overturner of buildings, the +battering-ram which brings them to the ground, though the trumpets +never sound for siege. Now we shall have Baths again that we may look +upon with pleasure; water which will cleanse not stain[1]; water after +using which we shall not require to wash ourselves again; drinking +water too, such as the mere sight of it will not take away all +appetite for food[2]." + +[Footnote 1: Cf. Sidonius Apollinaris above.] + +[Footnote 2: Cassiodorus, _Variae_, v. 38. Trs. Hodgkin, _The Letters +of Cassiodorus_ (Oxford, 1886).] + +The general restoration of the great material works of the empire was +characteristic of the reign of Theodoric and could only have been +carried out by Roman officials and workmen. It is especially frequent +in Ravenna and in Rome. Theodoric will, if he can help it, have +nothing more destroyed. He is afraid of destruction, and that is a +mark of the barbarian. He wishes, Cassiodorus tells us, "to build new +edifices without despoiling the old. But we are informed that in your +municipality (of Aestunae) there are blocks of masonry and columns, +formerly belonging to some building, now lying absolutely useless and +unhonoured. If this be so, send these slabs of marble and columns by +all means to Ravenna that they may again be made beautiful and take +their place in a building there."[1] And again: "We rely upon your +zeal and prudence to see that the required blocks of marble are +forwarded from Faenza to Ravenna without any extortion from private +persons; so that, on the one hand, our desire for the adornment of +that city may be gratified, and, on the other, there may be no cause +for complaint on the part of our subjects.[2] + +His care and adornment of Ravenna are remarkable. It was his capital +and he built there with a truly Roman splendour. We hear vaguely of a +Basilica of Hercules which was to be adorned with a mosaic, though +what this may have been we do not know; but we still have the +magnificent Arian church of S. Apollinare, which he called S. Martin +_de Coelo Aureo_ because of its beautiful gilded roof; and less +perfectly there remains to us the Arian church he built, called then +S. Theodore and now S. Spirito, and the Arian baptistery beside it; +the ruin, known as his palace, and his mighty tomb. + +The government of Theodoric was great and generous, Roman in its +completeness and in its largeness; but he did not succeed in +establishing a new kingdom, a nation of Goths and Romans in Italy. +Why? + +The answer to that question must be given and it is this: Theodoric +and his Goths were Arians. Much more than race or nationality religion +forms and inspires a people, welds them into one or divides them +asunder. Even though there had been no visible difference in culture +and civilisation between the Goths, when for a generation they had +been settled south of the Alps, and the Romans of the plain and of +Italy, nevertheless they would have remained barbarians, for Arianism +at this time was the certain mark of barbarism.[3] Had the barbarians +not fallen into this strange heresy, had the Goths, above all, been +Catholics, who knows what new nation might have arisen upon the ruin +of the Western empire to create, more than five hundred years before, +as things were, it was to blossom, the rose of the Middle Age? + +[Footnote 1: Cassiodorus, op cit. iii. 9. Trs. Hodgkin, op. cit.] + +[Footnote 2: Cassiodorus, op. cit. v. 8.] + +[Footnote 3: Heathenism even more so of course. It cannot be +altogether a cooincidence that those barbarians which first became +Catholic, though they had been ruder and rougher than the rest, were +destined to re-establish the empire in the West--the Franks.] + +[Illustration: S. APOLLINARE IN CLASSE] + +[Illustration: Colour Plate THE MAUSOLEUM OF THEODORIC] + +But this was not to be. The work of Theodoric, a useful work as we +shall see, was serving quite another purpose than that of establishing +a new Gothic kingdom. As for him and his government, they were utterly +to pass away and by reason of the religion they professed. + +The first blow at the endurance and security of the Ostrogothic +hegemony was the conversion of Clovis to Catholicism in 496. This +changed the political relations, not only of every state in Gaul, but +of every state in Europe, and enormously to the disadvantage of the +Arians. The second was the reconciliation, in 519, of the pope and the +emperor, which rightly understood was the death warrant of the Gothic +kingdom. Had the Goths been Catholic, either that reconciliation would +not have taken place, or it would have been without ill results for +them. As it was it was fatal, though not all at once. + +The Arian heresy, if we are to understand it aright, must be +recognised as an orientalism having much in common with Judaism and +the later Mahometanism. It denied several of the statements of the +Nicene Creed, those monoliths upon which the new Europe was to be +founded. It maintained that the Father and the Son are distinct +Beings; that the Son though divine is not equal to the Father; that +the Son had a state of existence previous to His appearance upon +earth, but is not from Eternity; that Christ Jesus was not really man +but a divine being in a case of flesh. Already against it the future +frowned dark and enormous as the Alps. + +Such was the heresy at the root of the Ostrogothic kingdom, and it is +significant that the cause of the first open alienation between +Theodoric and the Catholics of Italy was concerned with the Jews. It +seems that the Jews, whom Theodoric had always protected, had, during +his absence from Ravenna, mocked the Christian rite of baptism and +made sport of it by throwing one another into one of the two muddy +rivers of that city, and also by some blasphemous foolishness aimed at +the Mass. The Catholic population had naturally retaliated by burning +all the Jewish synagogues to the ground. Theodoric, like all the +Gothic Arians, sided with the Jews and fined the Catholic citizens of +Ravenna, publicly flogging those who could not pay, in order that the +synagogues might be rebuilt. Such was the first open breach between +the king and the Romans, who now began to remind themselves that there +was an Augustus at Constantinople. This memory, which had slumbered +while pope and emperor were in conflict--such is the creative and +formative power of religion--was stirred and strengthened by the +reconciliation between the emperor Justin and the Holy See. It is +curious that the man who was to lead the Catholic party and to suffer +in the national cause had translated thirty books of Aristotle into +Latin; his name was Boethius and he was master of the offices. + +This great and pathetic figure had been till the year 523 continually +in the favour of Theodoric. In that year suddenly an accusation was +brought against the patrician Albinus of "sending letters to the +emperor Justin hostile to the royal rule of Theodoric." In the debate +which followed, Boethius claimed to speak and declared that the +accusation was false, "but whatever Albinus did, I and the whole +senate of Rome with one purpose did the same." We may well ask for a +clear statement of what they had done; we shall get no answer. +Boethius himself speaks of "the accusation against me of having hoped +for Roman freedom," and adds: "As for Roman freedom, what hope is left +to us of that? Would that there were any such hope." To the charge of +"hoping for Roman freedom" was added an accusation of sorcery. + +Boethius was tried in the senate house in Rome while he was lying in +prison in Pavia. Without being permitted to answer his accusers or to +be heard by his judges he was sentenced to death by the intimidated +senate whose freedom he was accused of seeking to establish. From +Pavia, where in prison awaiting death he had written his _De +Consolatione Philosophiae_ which was so largely to inform the new +Europe, he was carried to "the _ager Calventianus_" a few miles from +Milan; where he was tortured, a cord was twisted round his forehead +till his eyes burst from their sockets, and then he was clubbed to +death. This occurred in 524, and in that same year throughout the +empire we find the great movement against Arianism take on new life. + +[Illustration: CAPITAL FROM S. VITALE] + +This irresistible attack began in the East and Theodoric seems at once +to have seen in it the culmination of all those dangers he had to +fear. He recognised, too, at last, that it was Catholicism he had to +face. Therefore he sent for pope John I. When the pope, old and +infirm, appeared in Ravenna, Theodoric made the greatest diplomatic +mistake of his life. He bade the pope go to Constantinople to the +emperor and tell him that "he must not in any way attempt to win over +those whom he calls heretics to the Catholic religion." + +Apart from the impertinence of this command to the emperor from the +king of the Goths, it was foolish in the extreme. His object should +have been, above all else, to keep the emperor and the pope apart, but +by this act he forced them together; only anger can have suggested +such an impolitic move. "The king," says the chronicler[1], "returning +in great anger [from the murder of Boethius] and unmindful of the +blessings of God, considered that he might frighten Justin by an +embassy. Therefore he sent for John the chief of the Apostolic See to +Ravenna and said to him, 'Go to Justin the emperor and tell him that +among other things he must restore the converted heretics to the +(Arian) faith.' And the pope answered, 'What thou doest do quickly. +Behold here I stand in thy sight. I will not promise to do this thing +for thee nor to say this to the emperor. But in other matters, with +God's help, I may succeed.' Then the king being angered ordered a ship +to be prepared and placed the pope aboard together with other bishops, +namely, Ecclesius of Ravenna, Eusebius of Fano, Sabinus of Campania, +and two others with the following senators, Theodorus, Importunus, +Agapitus, and another Agapitus. But God, who does not forsake those +who are faithful, brought them prosperously to their journey's end. +Then the emperor Justin met the pope on his arrival as though he were +St. Peter himself[2], and when he heard his message promised that he +would comply with all his requests, but _the converts who had given +themselves to the Catholic Faith he could by no means restore to the +Arians_." + +[Footnote 1: Anon. Valesii, _ut supra_.] + +[Footnote 2: "Prone on the ground the emperor, whom all other men +adored, adored the weary pontiff.... When Easter-day came, the pope, +taking the place of honour at the right hand of the patriarch of +Constantinople, celebrated Mass according to the Latin use in the +great cathedral."--Marcellinus Comes, quoted by Hodgkin, _op. cit_. +iii. p. 463.] + +That was a great day not only for the papacy but for Italy. The pope +can never have hoped that Theodoric would open to him so great an +opportunity for confirming the reconciliation between the emperor and +the papacy which was the great need of the Latin cause. There can be +little doubt that pope John used his advantage to the utmost. Early in +526 he returned to Ravenna to find Theodoric beside himself with +anger. The barbarian who had perfidiously murdered Odoacer his rival, +and most foully tortured the old philosopher Boethius to death, was +not likely to shrink from any outrage that he thought might serve him, +even though his victim were the pope. Symmachus, the father-in-law of +Boethius, a venerable and a saintly man, was barbarously done to death +and Pope John and his colleagues were thrown into prison in Ravenna, +where the pope died on May 18 of that same year, and one hundred and +four days later was followed to the grave by the unhappy Gothic king. + +[Illustration: CAPITAL FROM SANTO SPIRITO] + +Theodoric had utterly failed in everything he had attempted. His +Romano-Gothic kingdom proved to be a hopeless chimaera, and this +because he had not been able to understand the forces with which he +had to deal. Nor was he capable of learning from experience. Even +after the death of Pope John he countersigned the death warrant of his +kingdom by an edict, issued with the signature of a Jewish treasury +clerk, that all the Catholic churches of Italy should be handed over +to the Arians. He had scarcely published this amazing document, +however, when he died after three days of pain on August 30, 526, the +very day the revolution was to have taken place. + +The Gothic king was buried outside Ravenna upon the north-east and in +the mighty tomb--a truly Roman work--that the Romans, at his orders, +had prepared for him: a marvellous mausoleum of squared stones in two +stories, the lower a decagon, the upper an octagon covered by a vast +dome hewn out of a single block of Istrian marble. There in a porphyry +vase reposed all that was mortal of the great barbarian who failed to +understand what the Roman empire was, but who almost without knowing +it rendered it, as we shall see, so great a service. But the body of +Theodoric did not long remain in the enormous silence of that +sepulchre. Even in the time of Agnellus (ninth century) the body was +no longer in the mausoleum and what had become of it will always +remain a mystery. A weird and awful legend, in keeping with the +tremendous tragedy that was played out in his time and in which he had +filled the main role, relates how a holy hermit upon the island of +Lipari on the day and in the hour of the great king's death saw him, +his hands and feet bound, his garments all disarrayed, dragged up the +mountain of Stromboli by his two victims, pope John and Symmachus, the +father-in-law of Boethius, and hurled by them into the fiery crater of +the volcano. + +Agnellus, of Ravenna, who records that the body of Theodoric was no +longer in the great mausoleum, tells us that as it seems to him it was +cast forth out of that sepulchre. A later suggestion would lead us to +suppose that this was done by the monks of a neighbouring monastery, +who are said to have cast the body in its golden armour into the +Canale Corsini close by[1]. A few pieces of a golden cuirass +discovered there and now in the museum of Ravenna, seem to confirm +this story, which certainly is not unreasonable though of course it is +the merest conjecture. It is possible that the body of Theodoric did +not rest longer in its tomb than the Gothic power remained in Italy. +For already within a year of the death of Theodoric the new saviour +had appeared. Once more a great man sat upon the throne of the empire, +in whose mind and in whose will was set the dream of the reconquest, +of the re-establishment of the empire through the West, of the +promulgation of the great code by which the new Europe was to realise +itself. Justinian reigned in the New Rome upon the Bosphorus. + +[Footnote 1: There is apparently no foundation for the assertion of +Fra Salimbene, the thirteenth-century chronicler of Parma (_Cronica_, +ed Holder-Egger, pp 209-210), that it was S. Gregory the Great himself +who ordered the body of Theodoric to be cast forth from its tomb. Cf. +E.G. Gardner _The Dialogues of S. Gregory_ (1911), p 273] + + + + +VII + + +THE RECONQUEST + +VITIGES, BELISARIUS, TOTILA, NARSES + +The failure of Theodoric, the failure of barbarism, of Arianism that +is, for barbarism and civilisation were now for all intents and +purposes mere synonyms for heresy and Catholicism, was probably fully +appreciated by the Gothic king, who was, nevertheless, incapable of +mastering his fate. The great lady who succeeded to his power in Italy +as the guardian of her son, his heir, Athalaric, was certainly as +fully aware as Theodoric may have been of the cause of that failure, +and she made the attempt, which he had not wished or dared to make, to +save the kingdom. The value of her heroic effort, which, for all its +courage, utterly failed, lies for us in the confirmation it gives to +our analysis of the causes of the Gothic failure to establish an +enduring government in the West. + +That Amalasuntha wished to become a Catholic is probably true enough; +it is certain that she understood from the first that, in such an act, +she would not be able to carry her people with her. Therefore, she did +what she could short of this the only real remedy. She attempted to +educate her little son as a Roman, and hoped thus to insure his power +with the Latin population, trusting that the fact of his birth would +perhaps ensure the loyalty of the Gothic nation. In this she was +wholly to fail, because, as her attempt shows, she had not +fundamentally understood, any more than her father had been able to +do, the realities of the situation in which she found herself. + +For all her genuine love for Roman things, her contempt of Gothic +rudeness and barbarism, she failed to see that the one living thing +that impressed the Roman mind, and really differentiated the Latin +from the Goth, was religion, was Catholicism. She remained, possibly +from necessity, but she remained, an Arian, and though she brought +Athalaric up "in all respects after the manner of the Romans," she did +not make him a Catholic, nor did she attempt the certainly hopeless +task of leading the Gothic nation towards the only means of +reconciliation that might have been successful. + +The compromise she adopted was useless and futile, and only succeeded +in alienating the Goths, without winning her a single ally among the +Romans. Her own people utterly disapproved of her method of education +for her son, their king, "because they wished him to be trained in +more barbaric style so that they might the more readily oppress their +subjects." Presently they remonstrated with her: "O Lady, you are not +dealing justly with us, nor doing what is best for the nation when you +thus educate your son. Letters and book-learning are different from +courage and fortitude, and to permit a boy to be trained by old men is +the way to make him a coward and a fool. He who is to dare and to win +glory, and fame, must not be subjected to the fear of a pedagogue, but +must spend his time in martial exercise. Your father, Theodoric, would +never suffer his Goths to send their sons to the grammarians, for he +used to say: 'If they fear the teacher's strap they will never look on +sword or javelin without a shudder.' He himself, who won the lordship +of such wide lands and died king of so fair a kingdom, which he had +not inherited from his fathers, knew nothing, even by hearsay, of book +learning. Therefore, lady, you must say 'good-bye' to these +pedagogues, and give Athalaric companions of his own age, who may grow +up with him to manhood, and make him a valiant king after the manner +of the barbarians."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Hodgkin, _Theodoric_ (Putnam, 1900), pp. 307-308.] + +Amalasuntha was forced to bow to this, the public opinion of her own +people. The result was disastrous; for the young Athalaric, like a +true barbarian, was soon led away into a bestial sensuality which +presently destroyed his health and sent him to an early grave. Seeing +his instability both of body and mind, Amalasuntha entered into secret +communication with Constantinople, where Justinian was now emperor, +and even prepared for a possible flight to that city. Thus in 534, +when she received an ambassador in Ravenna from Justinian who demanded +of her the surrender of Lilybaeum, a barren rock in Sicily which +Theodoric had assigned to Thrasamund on his marriage with his sister +Amalafrida, in public she protested vigorously against the attempt of +the emperor to pick a quarrel with "an orphaned king" too young to +defend himself; but in private she assured the imperial ambassador of +her readiness "to transfer to the emperor the whole of Italy." + +Italy was in this unstable state when, on the 2nd October 534, +Athalaric died in his eighteenth year. This apparently upset +Amalasuntha's plans. At any rate, we see her suddenly face quite about +and sending for Theodahad, the son of Amalafrida, upon whom she had +but lately pronounced a humiliating sentence, she offered to make him +her official colleague upon the Gothic throne. This man was an +ambitious villain. Of course he accepted Amalasuntha's foolish offer +and swore to observe the agreement made between them. But before many +weeks had passed he had made her a prisoner and had her securely +hidden upon an island in the Lake of Bolsena in Umbria. But Theodahad +appears to have been a fool as well as a villain. Having disposed of +Amalasuntha, he sent an embassy to Constantinople to explain his +conduct and to attempt to come to terms with Caesar. For his +ambassadors he chose not Gothic nobles, who might have found his +actions to their advantage, but Roman senators all but one of whom +told a plain tale. Justinian immediately despatched his ambassador +Peter to reassure Amalasuntha of his protection and to threaten +Theodahad that if she were hurt it would be at the price of his own +head. Peter however, had scarcely landed in Italy when he had news of +Amalasuntha's murder in her island prison. He continued at once on his +way to Ravenna, and there in the court before all the Gothic nobles +not only denounced the murderer, but declared "truceless war" upon the +Goths.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Cf. Procopius, _De Bello Gotico_, 25. The murder of +Amalasuntha served the interests of the imperialists so well that +public opinion at Constantinople attributed it to Peter the ambassador +and to Theodora, the wife of Justinian. It remains, however, extremely +doubtful whether there is any truth in this accusation, although it is +certain that Theodora was in communication with Theodahad.] + +The truth was that Justinian was ready, the hour had struck, and with +the hour had appeared the man who with his great master was ready to +attempt the reconquest of the West for civilisation. + +We shall see the true state of affairs from the point of view of +Constantinople if we retrace our steps a little. + +Justinian had succeeded Justin upon the imperial throne in 527. This +great man had early set before himself the real recovery of the West +for the empire. Circumstances, which he was not slow to use, caused +him to attempt first the reconquest of Africa from the Vandals, and +the true state of affairs is disclosed by the causes which brought +about this great campaign. + +Hilderic, who had succeeded Thrasamund on the Vandal throne in Africa, +had put Amalafrida, the queen dowager, the sister of Theodoric, to +death. In June 531, he was deposed. Now Hilderic favoured the +Catholics, was the ally of the empire, and was descended on his +mother's side from the great Theodosius. Justinian determined to +avenge him, and in avenging him to reconquer Africa for the empire. +The hour had struck as I say, and the man had appeared with the hour. +That man was the great soldier Belisarius, the instrument of Justinian +in all his heroic design. + +Belisarius was entirely successful in his African campaign. On 15th +September 533, he entered Carthage, and "was received by the majority +of the citizens who spoke the Latin tongue and professed the Catholic +Faith with unconcealed rejoicing." And as it happened he entered +Carthage only to hear of Hilderic's murder. Before the end of the year +the reconquest was complete. Africa was once more and in reality a +province of the empire, and offered an excellent base of operations +for the conquest of Italy, now to be undertaken. + +In the summer of 535, eighteen months later, Justinian began the great +war against the Goths, the opportunity for which was offered him by +the murder of Amalasuntha, and the result of which was to be the +re-establishment of the empire in Italy. Rightly understood the true +service of Theodoric--and it was a real and a precious service--was +that the thirty years of settled government and peace which he had +given Italy had prepared the way for the reconquest. + +That reconquest occupied five years. It was begun with an attack upon +Sicily and proceeded northward by way of Naples and Rome to Ravenna, +with the fall of which it was achieved. From a purely strategical +point of view Belisarius was wrong to attack Sicily first and to carry +the campaign from south to north; he should have attacked Ravenna +first, and from the sea, and thus possessed himself of the key of +Italy, and this especially as his base was Constantinople. But +politically he was absolutely right. Sicily was almost empty of Gothic +troops and the provincials were eagerly Catholic and only too willing +to make a real part of the Roman empire. Thus the campaign opened with +surrender after surrender, was indeed almost a procession; only +Palermo offered resistance, and this because it was held by a garrison +of Goths; but before the end of 535 the whole island was once more +subject to the empire. + +Early in 536 a rebellion in Africa, which proved to be little more +than a mutiny in Carthage, took Belisarius away; but he was back in +Sicily before the end of the spring, and in the early summer was +marching through southern Italy almost unresisted, welcomed everywhere +with joy and thanksgiving till he came to the fortress of Naples, +which was held by a Gothic garrison. Here the people wished to welcome +him and surrender the city, but were prevented by the garrison, which, +however, was soon cleverly outwitted and taken prisoner, and by the +end of November all southern Italy was in Belisarius' hands. + +The fall of Naples brought Theodahad to the ground. The Goths deposed +him and raised upon their shields Vitiges the soldier. As for +Theodahad he was overtaken on the road to Ravenna, whither he was +flying, and his throat was cut as he lay on the pavement of the way, +"as a priest cuts the throat of his victim." + +If Theodahad was a villain as well as a fool, perhaps Vitiges was only +the latter. At any rate, he is generally considered to have acted with +criminal folly, when, as the first act of his reign, he abandoned Rome +and fell back upon Ravenna, determined to make his great defence in +northern Italy. But I think, if we consider the position more closely, +we shall see that Vitiges was not such a fool as he looks. He had seen +the two great fortresses of Palermo and Naples fall, and mainly for +the same reason, the fact that the whole of their populations except +the Gothic garrisons were eagerly on the side of the enemy. The +situation of Rome, its great size, made it difficult to defend except +with a very great army, and this would become a hundred times more +difficult, if not impossible, if the population were to side with the +attack. Yet not only was that already certain, but the sympathies of +the citizens there might be expected to be even more passionately +Roman than others had been elsewhere; for Rome was the capital of +Catholicism, the throne of the Church, the seat of Peter. The Goth had +to face the fact that, while he was perhaps hardly holding his own in +Rome, Belisarius might stealthily pass on to overthrow the Gothic +citadel at Ravenna. He had to ask himself whether he could expect to +defend both Rome and Ravenna, for if Ravenna were to fall the whole +kingdom was lost, since now, not less but rather more than before, +Ravenna was the key to Italy. + +There is this also; Justinian had in the summer of 535 despatched two +armies from Constantinople. One of these was that which Belisarius had +disembarked in Sicily, and which till now had been so uniformly and so +easily victorious. The other under Mundus had entered Dalmatia which +it had completely wrested from the Goths by the middle of 536. It is +probable that Vitiges expected to be attacked in the rear and from the +north by this victorious army. If that should fall upon Ravenna while +the Gothic strength was engaged in the defence of Rome, what would be +the fate of that principal city, and with that lost, what would become +of him in the Catholic capital? + +Of course Vitiges ought to have met the imperial army in the field and +given battle. That was the true solution. But no Gothic army ever +dared to face Belisarius in the open, for though the Goths enormously +outnumbered his small force of some 8000 men, they feared him as the +possessor of a superior arm in the _Hippotoxotai_, mounted troops +armed with the bow, and above all they feared his genius. + +But Vitiges was no fool; his cause was hopeless from the first. He +abandoned Rome and fell back upon Ravenna, because that was the best +thing to be done in the circumstances in which he found himself. Among +these must be reckoned the newness of his authority and the necessity +of consolidating it by a marriage with a princess of the blood of +Theodoric. As it happened, this retreat enabled him to prolong a war +that at first looked like coming to an end in a few months for four +more years. + +Vitiges then abandoned Rome, but it seems not altogether. What he may +be supposed to have imagined Belisarius doing to his disadvantage, +that he himself did. He left in Rome a garrison of four thousand men +under a veteran general Leudaris, while he himself with the Gothic +army fell back upon Ravenna. No sooner was he gone than the surrender +of the City was offered to Belisarius by pope Silverius who spoke for +the citizens and the Roman people. This was the reality of the +situation. Then indeed an almost incredible blunder was committed, but +not by Vitiges. The four thousand Goths whom he had left to hold the +City, and at least to delay and waste the imperialists, marched out of +Rome along the Flaminian Way as Belisarius entered from the south by +the Via Latina. Leudaris alone refused to quit this post. He was taken +prisoner, and sent with the keys of the Eternal City to Justinian. + +Belisarius established himself upon the Pincian Hill, and his first +act after his occupation of the City is significant both of his +profound knowledge of the barbarians and of the immutable +characteristics of a Latin people. + +It is possible that the Romans, seeing the fall of Palermo and Naples +and the occupation of Rome itself obtained so easily, believed that +the Goths were finally disposed of. But Belisarius' vast experience of +the character of the barbarians taught him otherwise. He immediately +began to provision Rome from Sicily as fast as he could, and he at +once undertook the fortification of the City, the repair of the +Aurelian Wall. In these acts of Belisarius two things become evident. +We see that he expected the return of the Goths, and we are made aware +of the fact that they had neglected to fortify the City. + +It must be well seized by the reader, that the Gothic armies very +greatly outnumbered the imperial troops, who were but a small +expedition of not more than eight thousand men face to face with an +immense horde of barbarians. The great advantage of the imperialists +was that they were fighting in a friendly country, and they had too +certain superiorities of armament which civilisation may always depend +upon having at its command as against barbarians. Nevertheless, +Belisarius knew that his end would be more securely won if he could +wear down the barbarians, always impatient of so slow a business as a +siege, from behind fortifications. He expected the barbarians, +unstable in judgment and impatient of any but the simplest strategy +and tactics, to swarm again and again about the City, and he was +right: what he expected came to pass. + +On the other hand, we see in the neglect on the part of the Goths of +all fortification of the City a neglect instantly repaired by +Belisarius, a characteristic persistent and perhaps ineradicable in +the Teutonic mind from the days of Tacitus to our own time. The Romans +had always asserted, and those nations to-day who are of their +tradition still assert, that the spade is the indispensable weapon of +the soldier. But the barbarians and those nations to-day who are of +their tradition, while they have not been so foolish as to refuse the +spade altogether, have always fortified reluctantly. You see these two +characteristics at work to-day in the opposite methods of the French +and the Germans, just as you see them at work in the sixth century +when Belisarius rebuilt the fortifications of the City which the Goths +had neglected. + +And if we have praised Vitiges for his retreat upon Ravenna, how much +more must we praise Belisarius for the fortification of Rome. For if +the one had for its result the prolongation of the war for some four +years, the other determined what the end of that war should be. + +Let us once more consider the military situation. It is evident that +Vitiges evacuated Rome because he was afraid of losing Ravenna, his +base, by an outflanking movement on the part of Belisarius and perhaps +by a new attack from Dalmatia.[1] + +[Footnote 1: My theory of the strategy of Vitiges and of his purpose +is perhaps unorthodox; the orthodox theory being that he was a fool +and the abandonment of Rome a mere blunder. But my theory would seem +to be accurate enough, for Vitiges's first act from Ravenna was to +despatch an army into Dalmatia.] + +In leaving a garrison within the City of some four thousand men--say +half as many as the whole imperialist army--he at least hoped to delay +the enemy till he had secured himself in the north and to waste him. I +do not think he expected to hold the city for any length of time, for +the whole country was spiritually with the enemy. + +What he hoped to gain by his retreat was, however, not merely the +security of the north. He hoped also to lure Belisarius thither after +him where, in a country less wholly Latin and imperialist, he would +have a better chance of annihilating him by mere numbers once and for +all. To this supreme hope and expectation of the Goth's, the +refortification of Rome by Belisarius finally put an end. It was a +countermove worthy of such a master and entirely in keeping with the +Roman tradition. + +At first it must have appeared to Vitiges that the course he had +expected Belisarius to pursue was actually being followed; for +presently the imperialists began to move up the Flaminian Way. But it +was soon evident that this was no advance in force, but rather a part +of the fortification of the City. All the places occupied were +fortresses and all were with one exception upon the Via Flaminia which +they commanded. The first of these strong places was Narni, which held +the great bridge over the Nera at the southern exit of the passes +between the valley of Spoleto and the lower Tiber valley, where the +two roads over the mountains, one by Todi, the other by Spoleto, met. +The second place occupied was Spoleto at the head, and the third was +Perugia at the foot, of the great valley of Spoleto, from which the +Via Flaminia rose to cross the central Apennines. The three places +were occupied without much trouble, and it was thus attempted to make +the great road from the north impassable. + +If Vitiges, as I believe, thought the imperialists would immediately +follow him northward he was no more deceived than the Romans +themselves. They had surrendered the City to Belisarius to save it +from attack and the last thing they desired was to suffer a siege. A +feeling of resentment, the old jealousy of Constantinople, seems to +have appeared, and in this Vitiges thought he saw his opportunity. +With 150,000 men, according to Procopius, he issued from Ravenna and +marched upon Rome, avoiding apparently the three forts held by the +imperialists, for he came, again according to Procopius, through +Sabine territory and therefore his advance was upon the eastern bank +of the Tiber. However that may be, he got without being attacked as +far as the bridge over the Anio on the Via Salaria, or as the Milvian +Bridge over the Tiber where the Via Cassia and the Via Flaminia meet +to enter the City.[1] This bridge, whichever it was, Belisarius had +determined to hold, but without his knowledge it was deserted. The +Goths were crossing unopposed when the general himself appeared with +1000 horse. A tremendous fight followed in which, such was his rage +and astonishment, Belisarius bore himself rather like a brave soldier +than a wise general. Unhurt in spite of the _melee_ he fell back +either upon the Porta Salaria[2] or upon the Porta Flaminia (del +Popolo), which he found closed against him, for the City believed him +dead. Almost in despair he rallied his men and made a desperate +charge, which, such was the number of the Goths in the road and the +confusion of their advance, was successful. The barbarians fled and +Belisarius and his gallant troopers entered the City at nightfall. + +[Footnote 1: Procopius tells us both that Vitiges advanced through the +Sabine country and that he crossed the Tiber--an impossible thing. +Gibbon and Hodgkin refuse the former, Gregorovius the latter +statement. I agree with Gregorovius, for Procopius confuses the Tiber +and Anio elsewhere, notably iii. 10.] + +[Footnote 2: Possibly the Porta Pinciana.] + +[Illustration: Sketch Map of VITIGES, MARCH] + +All through that night the walls of Rome were aflame with watchfires +and disastrous tidings, happily false; and when the dawn rose out of +the Campagna, Rome was still inviolate. + +Thus began the first siege of Rome in the early days of March 537. It +lasted for three hundred and seventy-four days and ended in the sullen +retreat of the barbarians to save Ravenna, which as Vitiges had at +first foreseen would happen was threatened with attack. But as so +often in later times, those three hundred and seventy-four days had +dealt incomparably more hardly with the besiegers than with the +besieged. The Campagna had done its work, and it has been calculated +that of the 150,000 men that are said to have marched with Vitiges to +attack the city, not more than 10,000 returned to Ravenna. + +Meanwhile during the great siege Belisarius, by means of his +subordinate general, John, had carried on a campaign in Picenum and +had been able to send assistance to the people of Milan, eagerly Roman +as they were. + +In Picenum, John had perhaps rashly pushed forward from Ancona to +Rimini; which he held precariously and to the danger of Ancona. The +first act of Belisarius after the raising of the siege of the City was +to despatch troops post haste to Rimini. He sent Ildiger and Martin +with a thousand horse to fight their way if necessary to Rimini to +withdraw John and his two thousand horse. He purposed to hold Rimini +only with the tips of his fingers, for his determination was to secure +all he held before he entered upon a final and a real advance +northward. + +The position of Belisarius seemed more insecure than in fact it was. +If we consider the great artery of his advance northward, the Via +Flaminia, we shall find that he held everything to the east of the +road between Rome and Ancona save one fortress, Osimo above Ancona, +which was held by four thousand of the enemy. But all was or seemed to +be insecure because he held nothing to the west of the great road save +Perugia: Orvieto, Todi, Chiusi, Urbino were all in Gothic hands, while +the Furlo Pass over the Apennines was also held by the enemy. + +Well might Belisarius desire the cavalry of John, useless in Rimini, +for the direct road to that city was still in the hands of the enemy. +But when John got his orders he refused to obey them and Ildiger and +Martin returned without him. What excuse is possible for this refusal +of obedience on the part of a subordinate which might well have +imperilled the whole campaign? This only: that he had orders from one +superior even to Belisarius. It is probable that John in Rimini and +Ancona was aware that he might expect reinforcement from +Constantinople and that Belisarius knew nothing of them. These +reinforcements arrived under Narses, the great and famous chamberlain +of Justinian, not long after Rimini had begun to suffer the memorable +siege that followed the departure of Ildiger and Martin, and Ancona +had only just been saved. The presence of Narses in Italy changed the +whole aspect of the campaign, and whatever motives Justinian may have +had for sending him thither, the effect of his landing at Ancona with +great reinforcements can have had only a good effect upon the war. + +[Illustration: Sketch Map CITIES UNDERLINED WERE IN IMPERIAL HANDS] + +Belisarius had now secured himself to this extent that Todi and Chiusi +were in his hands, and he hastened to meet Narses at Fermo forty miles +south of Ancona. There a council of war was held in which Belisarius +maintained his plan, namely, that Rimini should be abandoned because +Osimo, very strongly held over Ancona, was in the hands of the Goths. +Narses, on the contrary, looked only to the spiritual side of war. He +maintained that if a city once recovered for the empire was abandoned +the moral result would be disastrous. At any cost he was for the +relief of Rimini. Somewhat reluctantly, realising the danger, +Belisarius consented to try. A screen of a thousand men was placed +before Osimo, an army was embarked for Rimini and another was sent out +by the coast road, while Belisarius himself and Narses with a column +of cavalry set out from Fermo westward, crossed the Apennines above +Spoleto, struck into the Flaminian Way, recrossed the Apennines by the +Furlo, and had come within a day's journey of Rimini when they came +upon a party of Goths, who fled and gave the alarm to Vitiges. But +before the Goth could decide what to do, Ildiger was upon him from the +sea, Martin was upon him with a great army from the south, and +Belisarius and Narses came down from the mountains in time to rejoice +at the delivery of the city. + +That deliverance but disclosed the two parties that divided the +imperial army. When John refused obedience to Belisarius we may be +sure he was not acting wholly without encouragement, and this at once +became obvious after the deliverance of Rimini which Belisarius had +carried out but which had been conceived by Narses. It will be +remembered that Milan was by the act of Belisarius in the hands of the +Romans; it was, however, now besieged even as Rimini had been by a +very redoubtable Gothic leader, Uraius. Orvieto and Osimo also were +still in barbarian hands. Belisarius now proposed to employ the army +in the relief of the one and the capture of the others. Narses, on the +other hand, proposed to take his part of the army and with it to +reoccupy the province of Aemilia between the Apennines and the Po. +These rivalries and differences were to cost the life of a great city, +Milan. For since Narses would not consent to the plan of Belisarius, +only what seemed most urgent was done; Orvieto was taken, Urbino too, +and the energy of the imperial army and its purpose, also, was +expended upon many unimportant things, an attempt upon Cesena, the +reduction of Imola, which involved a hopeless dispersal of forces upon +no great end. Belisarius, warned of the danger, ordered John to the +relief of Milan; again that creature of Narses refused. And down came +Milan before Uraius the Goth, who fell upon the helpless citizens and +massacred three hundred thousand of them, being all the men of the +city; and the women he gave as payment to his Burgundian ally; and of +Milan he left not one stone upon another. But when Justinian read the +despatch of Belisarius, he recalled Narses, for if the fall of Rimini +would have injured so sorely the imperial cause, what of the fall of +Milan, the massacre of its inhabitants, the utter destruction of the +city? So great was its effect that we read even Justinian thought of +treating with the Goths; for he was haunted by the weakness of his +Persian frontier, and he had soon to look to the western Alps. + +Not so Belisarius. He went on his way and first he reduced two +fortresses that had long threatened him, Osimo and Fiesole, and then +and at long last he began the great advance upon Ravenna. + +In this he was attempting with a small and weary force what had never +before been accomplished. Theodoric, it is true, had entered Ravenna +as a conqueror, but only by stratagem and deceptive promises after a +siege of three years. Belisarius, none knew it better than he, had +neither the time nor the forces that were at the disposal of the great +Gothic king. He must act quickly if at all, and nowhere and on no +occasion does this great and resourceful man appear to better +advantage than in his achievement at Ravenna, which should have been +the last military action of the reconquest. + +Procopius, who was perhaps an eye-witness of the whole business of the +siege and certainly entered Ravenna in triumph with Belisarius, tells +us that, after the fall of Osimo, Belisarius made haste to Ravenna +with his whole army. He sent one of his generals, Magnus, before him +with a sufficient force, to march along the Po and to prevent +provisions being taken into the impregnable city from the Aemilian +Way; while another general, Vitalius, he called out of Dalmatia with +his forces to hold the northern bank of the river. When this was done +a most extraordinary accident occurred which it seems impossible to +explain. "An accident then befell," says Procopius, "which clearly +shows that Fortuna determines even yet every struggle. For the Goths +had brought down the Po many barges from Liguria[1] laden with corn, +bound for Ravenna; but the water suddenly grew so low in the river +that they could not row on; and the Romans coming upon them took them +and all their lading. Soon after the river had again its wonted stream +and was navigable as before. This scarcity of water had never till +then occurred so far as we could hear." + +[Footnote 1: Cf. Cassiodorus, _Variae_, II. 20, where we read of +Theodoric in a time of scarcity supplying Liguria with food from +Ravenna. "Let any provision ships which may be now lying at Ravenna be +ordered round to Liguna, which in ordinary times supplies the needs of +Ravenna herself."] + +Owing to this accident and the closeness of the investment the Goths +began to be short of provisions, for they could import nothing from +the sea, since the Romans were masters there. In their need, however, +the King of the Franks, knowing how things were, sent ambassadors to +Vitiges in Ravenna, and so did Belisarius. The Franks offered to lead +an army of five hundred thousand men over the Alps and to bury the +Romans in utter ruin if the Goths would consent to share Italy with +them. But the Goths feared the Franks, and the ambassadors of +Belisarius were able to persuade them to reject their offers. From +this time forward negotiations went on without ceasing between +Belisarius and the Goths, for the one was short of time, the other of +food. Nevertheless, the Romans did not relax their investment of the +city in any way. Indeed, Belisarius chose this moment for his +shrewdest and cruellest blow. "For hearing how there was much corn in +the public magazines of Ravenna, he won a citizen with money to set +them afire; which loss, some say, happened by Matasuntha's advice, the +wife of Vitiges. It was so suddenly done that some thought it was by +lightning, as others by design, and Vitiges and the Goths, taking it +in either kind, fell into more irresolution, mistrusting one another, +and thinking that God himself made war against them." + +At this misfortune Uraius, the destroyer of Milan, proposed to attempt +to relieve Ravenna, but Belisarius easily outwitted him and his +intervention came to nothing. + +Nevertheless time, so scarce with the Romans, was running short. +Justinian was impatient to have done with the Italian war, for the +general situation was extremely grave; upon the Danube an invasion of +Slavs was gathering; in Asia, Persia threatened the empire. It is not +altogether surprising then that Justinian now made an attempt to come +to terms with Vitiges behind the back of Belisarius. He sent two +ambassadors to offer peace upon the following really amazing terms, +namely, that the Goths were to have half the royal treasure and the +dominion of the country beyond the Po, that is to say, to the north of +the Po; the other half of the revenues and the rest of Italy with +Sicily were to be the emperor's. The ambassadors showed their +instructions to Belisarius, who had them conducted into Ravenna, where +Vitiges and the Goths gladly consented to make peace and to accept +these conditions. But both sides had reckoned without Belisarius, who +doubtless saw that such a peace could not endure and that all his +labour, if such terms were to be made, had gone for nothing. Nothing +would satisfy his ideas of security save the absolute defeat of the +Goths with its natural sequel, the bringing of Vitiges to +Constantinople as a prisoner. He, therefore, refused to sign the +treaty, leaving it to be established by the ambassadors alone. But +when the Goths saw this they thought that the Romans cozened them, and +refused to conclude anything without the signature and oath of +Belisarius. + +That Belisarius was right we cannot doubt; but his action naturally +laid him open to be accused of a design, against the emperor's +intentions, to prolong the war for his own glory. Nor were certain of +his generals slow to make such an accusation. When he heard of it, he +(who had suffered more than enough from the disloyalty of +subordinates) called them all together, and in the presence of the +ambassadors confessed that Fortune was the great decider of war, and +that a good opportunity for peace should ever be seized. Then he bade +them speak their minds in the present case. They declared then, one +and all, that it were best to follow the instructions of the emperor. +When Belisarius heard them speak thus he was glad and bade them put +their opinions in writing, that neither he nor they might afterwards +deny their confession that they were not able to subdue the enemy by +war. + +But Belisarius was sure of his ground. The Goths pressed by famine +could hold out no longer, and weary of Vitiges, who had given them no +success, yet afraid of yielding to the emperor lest he should remove +them out of Italy to Constantinople and thereabout, they resolved, of +all things, to declare Belisarius emperor in the West. Secretly they +sent to entreat him to accept the empire, professing to be most +willing to obey him. Such an astonishing proposal must have filled +Belisarius with delight. He, indeed, had no intention of receiving +from such hands a gift so fantastic, for he hated the name of usurper; +but he saw at once how this proposal might help his ends. He +immediately called his generals and the ambassadors together and asked +them if they did not think it a matter of importance to make all the +Goths and Vitiges the emperor's captives, to capture their wealth, and +to recover all Italy to the Romans. They answered it would be an +extreme high fortune and bade him effect it if he could. Then +Belisarius sent to the Goths and bade them perform what they had +offered. And they, for the famine was too hard to bear, agreed and +sent ambassadors to take the oath of the great Roman for their +indemnity and that he would be King of Italy, and when they had it, to +return into Ravenna with the Roman army. Now as to their indemnity +Belisarius bound himself, but touching the kingdom he said he would +swear it to Vitiges himself and the Gothic commanders. And the +ambassadors, not thinking he would forego the kingdom, but that he +desired it above all things, prayed him forthwith to march into +Ravenna. And he himself with his army and the Gothic ambassadors +entered Ravenna; and he commanded also ships to be laden with corn and +to come into Classis. + +"When I saw," says Procopius, whose account of the siege and fall of +Ravenna I have followed so far, "when I saw the entrance of their army +into Ravenna, I considered how actions are not concluded by valour, +multitudes, or human virtue, but by some Divinity that steers the acts +and judgements of men. The Goths had much the advantage in numbers and +power, and since they came to Ravenna no defeat there had overthrown +them, yet they became prisoners and thought it no shame to be slaves +to fewer in number. The women (who had heard from their husbands that +the enemy were tall and gallant men and not to be numbered) looked +with contempt upon the Roman soldiers when they saw them in the city, +and spat in the faces of their husbands, reviling them with cowardice, +pointing at their conquerors." + +Thus Ravenna, the impregnable city, was taken by stratagem and +willingly; never again to pass out of Roman hands till Aistulf the +Lombard in 752 seized it for a few years and thus caused Pepin to +cross the Alps to vindicate the Roman name. + + * * * * * + +The first Gothic war, against Vitiges, (536-540) had thus for its +crown and end, the capture of Ravenna; the second, against Totila +(541-553), proceeded from Ravenna for the reconquest, yet once again, +of Italy. + +In 540, after Ravenna had been occupied, Belisarius recalled, and +Vitiges taken as a captive to Constantinople, the Romans held all +Italy except the city of Pavia. In 544, when Belisarius returned, they +held only Ravenna, Rome, Spoleto, and a few other strongholds such as +Perugia and Piacenza. Nor was this all. In this second war all Italy +was laid waste and ruined, Rome was twice besieged and occupied by the +Goths, and in 546, when Totila had done with her, during a space of +forty days the City remained utterly desolate, without a single +inhabitant. How had such a miserable and unexpected catastrophe +befallen the Catholic cause? + +In the first place it must be admitted that the capture of Ravenna by +stratagem was not the final catastrophe it appeared for the Goths. It +is true that that triumph seemed to give, and indeed did give, all +Italy into the hands of the Romans, but that gift was never secured. +Belisarius, partly from necessity, partly on account of the suspicious +jealousy of the emperor, was withdrawn from Italy too soon. He was +victorious, but he was not given time to secure his victories. The +extraordinary incompetence and rivalries of the committee of generals +which succeeded him let the opportunity for securing and establishing +an enduring peace slip through its fingers; the inevitable reaction +that followed the departure of Belisarius was not met at all, the +whole situation that then developed was misunderstood, with the result +that the Goths were soon able to find a leader, perhaps the most +formidable, and certainly the most destructive, that they had ever +produced. + +The cause of the imperial incompetence and failure would appear to +have been financial. The empire had been perhaps always, certainly for +two hundred years, bankrupt. Its administration and above all its +defence were beyond its means. The Gothic war had been a tremendous +strain upon the imperial finances already incredibly involved in the +defence of the East. It was necessary to find in Italy the money for +that war and for the future defence of that country; but Italy had +been ruined by the Gothic war and above all things needed capital and +a period of reproductive repose. These Justinian was unable to give +her. His necessities forced him to cover the peninsula with tax +gatherers, to bleed an already ruined country of the little that +remained to her. If the result was a reaction, in the north actively +Gothic, in the centre and south certainly indifferent to the imperial +cause, we cannot wonder at it. The spiritual situation and the +economic or material would not chime. The result was the appalling +confusion we know as the second Gothic war. + +[Illustration: Colour Plate S. VITALE: THE GALLERY] + +I say it was a confusion. No clear issue seems to present itself from +beginning to end; the old democratic cause, the Catholicism of the +people rising in rage and fury against the Arianism of the courts, +burnt low for a moment, and was indeed in part extinguished by the +appalling misery of the material situation of Italy. Upon this +materialism, the material benefits that Theodoric had undoubtedly +conferred upon the Italian people, Totila, that formidable chieftain +who now came to the front as the Gothic leader, based his appeal and +his hope of victory. "Surely," he says to the Roman senate, "you must +remember sometimes in these evil days the benefits which you received +not so very long ago at the hands of Theodoric and Amalasuntha." And +again: "What harm did the Goths ever do you? And tell me then what +good you received from Justinian the emperor?... Has he not compelled +you to give an account of every _solidus_ which you received from the +public funds even under the Gothic kings? All harassed and +impoverished as you are by the war, has he not compelled you to pay to +the Greeks the full taxes which could be levied in a time of +profoundest peace?" Totila based his appeal upon the material +well-being of the people. It was a formidable appeal; it nearly +succeeded. That it did not succeed, though it had so much in its +favour, is the best testimony we could have to the real nature of the +war, which was not a struggle between two races or even primarily, at +any rate, between barbarism and civilisation, but something greater +and more fundamental, a fight to the death between two religions +Arianism and Catholicism, upon the result of which the whole future of +Europe depended. + +The confusion of the second Gothic war, in which the future of the +world and the major interests of man were in jeopardy, may be divided +into three parts. The first of these is that in which the whole +administration precariously established by Belisarius fell to pieces +before the earthquake that was Totila, who, never systematically met +and opposed, by the year 544 held all Italy with the exception, as I +have said, of Ravenna, Rome, Spoleto, Perugia, Piacenza, and a few +other strongholds. The second is that in which Belisarius again +appears, and from the citadel of Ravenna, without ceasing or rest, but +without much success, opposes him everywhere. In this period Rome was +occupied and reoccupied no less than four times, and, as I have said, +in 546 was left utterly desolate. Nevertheless, when for the second +time Belisarius was recalled, in 548, he left things much as he had +found them. He had at least--and with what scarcity of men and money +we may see in his letters to the emperor--opposed and perhaps stemmed +the overwhelming Gothic advance. At his departure the imperialists +held Ravenna, Rome (but after the sack of 546), Rimini, Spoleto, +Ancona, and Perugia. But before he arrived in Constantinople, Perugia +had fallen; in the same year, 549, a mutiny in Rome gave the City to +the Goths and Rimini was betrayed. In the year 551, the year of +Narses' appointment as general-in-chief in Italy and the opening of +the third period, only Ravenna and Ancona, with Hydruntum (Otranto) +and Crotona in southern Italy, remained to the empire. + +In that year, 551, however, everywhere the Gothic cause began to fail. +In a sea-fight off Sinigaglia the imperial forces disposed of the +Gothic sea power and relieved Ancona, which was in grave danger. About +the same time Sicily was delivered from the Gothic yoke, and in the +spring of 552 Crotona was relieved. Meanwhile, in Illyricum, Narses +gathered his army, in which Ardoin, King of the Lombards, rode at the +head of two thousand of his people, and prepared for the great march +into Italy. + +He came through Venetia round the head of the Adriatic, close to the +sea (for a formidable Frankish host held the great roads), crossing +with what anxiety we may guess, the mouths of the Piave, the Brenta, +the Adige, and the Po by means of his ships, and having thus turned +the flank of the Frankish armies he triumphantly marched into Ravenna. +There he remained for nine days, as it were another Caesar about to +cross the Rubicon. + +While he waited in Ravenna an insulting challenge reached him from the +barbarian Usdrilas who held Rimini. "After your boasted preparations, +which have kept all Italy in a ferment, and after striking terror into +our hearts by knitting your brows and looking more awful than mortal +men, you have crept into Ravenna and are skulking there afraid of the +very name of the Goths. Come out with all that mongrel host of +barbarians to whom you want to deliver Italy and let us behold you, +for the eyes of the Goths hunger for the sight of you."[1] And Narses +laughed at the insolence of the barbarian, and presently he set +forward with the army he had made, upon the great road through Classis +for Rimini, till he came to the bridge over the Marecchia, there which +Augustus had built and which was held by the enemy. There in the fight +which followed--little more than a skirmish--the barbarian Usdrilas +came by his end, and Narses ignoring Rimini marched on, his great +object before him, Totila and his army, which he meant, before all +things else, to seek out and to destroy. So he went down the Flaminian +Way to Fano and there presently left it for a by-way upon the left, +rejoining the great highway some miles beyond the fortress of Petra +Pertusa, which he disregarded as he had done that of Rimini. He +marched on till he came to the very crest of the Apennines, over which +he passed and camped upon the west under the great heights, at a place +then called Ad Ensem and to-day Scheggia. + +[Footnote 1: Hodgkin's free translation of Procopius, _op. cit_. iv. +28.] + +[Illustration: Sketch Map NARSES' MARCH FROM RAVENNA _To Meet_ TOTILA] + +Meanwhile Totila had come to meet him from Rome, and had managed to +reach Tadinum, the modern Gualdo Tadino, when he found Narses, +unexpectedly, for he must have thought the way over the mountains +securely barred by the fortress of Petra Pertusa, upon the great road +before him. + +Narses sent an embassy to Totila to offer, "not peace, but pardon;" +this the barbarian refused. Asked when he would fight Totila answered, +"In eight days from this day." But Narses, knowing what manner of man +his enemy was, made all ready for the morrow, and at once occupied the +great hill upon his left which overlooked both camps. In this he was +right, for no sooner had he seized this advantage than Totila +attempted to do the same, but without any success. + +Then on the morrow Totila, having meanwhile been reinforced with two +thousand men, rode forth before the two armies and "exhibited in a +narrow space the strength and agility of a warrior. His armour was +enchased with gold; his purple banner floated with the wind; he cast +his lance into the air; caught himself backwards; recovered his seat +and managed a fiery steed in all the paces and evolutions of the +equestrian school."[1] No doubt Narses the eunuch smiled. The +barbarians were all the same, and they remain unaltered. Totila's +theatrical antics are but the prototype to those amazing cavalry +charges, excellently stage-managed, that may be seen almost any autumn +during the German manoeuvres, a new Totila at their head. + +[Footnote 1: Gibbon's free translation of Procopius, iv. 31.] + +When Totila had finished his display the two armies faced one another, +the imperialists with Narses and John upon the left, the Lombards in +the centre, and Valerian upon the right with John the Glutton; the +Goths in what order of battle we do not know. At length at noon the +battle was joined. The Gothic charge failed, Narses drew his straight +line of troops into a crescent, and the short battle ended in the +utter rout of the Goths, Totila flying from the field. In that flight +one Asbad a Gepid struck at him and fatally wounded him. He was borne +by his companions to the village of Caprae, more than twelve miles +away, and there he died. + +Thus ended Totila the Goth and with him the Gothic cause in Italy. A +remnant of his army made its way to Pavia, where it was contained by +Valerian; and all over Italy the Gothic fortresses hastened to +surrender, Perugia, Spoleto, Narni, all opened their gates, and Narses +marched on to occupy Rome which he did without much difficulty. All +Italy lay open to the imperialists, and when Totila's successor Teias +was slain all hope of recovery was gone. The Goths offered to leave +Italy, and their offer was accepted. For a year longer a desultory +war, the reduction of Cumae and Lucca, occupied Narses; but by 554 +this too was brought to an end, and unhappy Italy was once more +gathered into the government of the empire. + + + + +VIII + +MODICA QUIES + +THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION AND THE SETTLEMENT OF ITALY + + +Such was the inevitable end of the Gothic war in Italy. The issue thus +decided was, as I have tried to show, something much more tremendous +than the mere supremacy of a race. Nothing less than the future of the +world was assured upon those stricken fields and about those ruined +fortresses, the supremacy of the Catholic religion in which was +involved the whole destiny of Europe, the continuance of our +civilisation and culture. For let it be said again: these wars of the +sixth century were not a struggle to the death between two races, but +between two religions; the opponents were not really Roman and Goth, +but Catholic and Arian, and in the victory of the former was involved +the major interest of mankind. The whole energy of that age was +devoted to the final establishment of what for a thousand years was to +be the universal religion of Europe, the source of all her greatness +and the reason of her being. What was saved in those unhappy campaigns +was not Italy, but the soul of Europe. + +Certainly it was not Italy. Materially the result of those eighteen +years of war, which began with the invasion of Italy by Belisarius in +536, reached their crisis in 540 with the capture of Ravenna, and were +finally decided by Narses in 552-554, was the ruin of Italy. +Exhausted, devastated, and unfilled, the prey, for half a generation, +of a fundamental war, Italy was materially ruined by Justinian's +Gothic campaigns, and so hopelessly that, when in 568 the Lombards +fell upon her, she was almost unable to defend herself, to offer any +resistance to what proved--and in part for this reason--the only +barbaric invasion which had upon her any enduring consequences. +Visigoths, Huns, Vandals, Ostrogoths, all poured over her, and +presently, like winter floods, retreated and subsided, leaving nothing +to remind us of their fear and devastation; the Lombards remained. + +I say this was largely due to the appalling exhaustion and ruin of +Italy in the Gothic war; but there was something else which we must +not forget. The Gothic war was a religious war. The Arianism of the +Goths had really threatened our civilisation. But the Lombards were +largely mere heathens. Their heathenism was not at all dangerous to us +as a heresy must always be.[1] Therefore Italy never roused herself +from her exhaustion, one might almost say her indifference. It was +only her material well-being that was at stake, her future was safe. +Her great attempt against the Lombards was a spiritual effort, was an +effort for their conversion, and their final discomfiture, wrought not +from within the peninsula, but from over the Alps, did not involve +their expulsion from Italy, but was seized upon as the opportunity for +the re-establishment in name and in fact of the Western Empire, and +for the great crowning of Charlemagne by the pope in S. Peter's +church. + +[Footnote 1: It was not the paganism of the Italian Renaissance but +the heresy of the Teutons which destroyed the unity of Europe in the +sixteenth century.] + +Italy, and with Italy Europe, were, then, saved from nothing less than +death when Narses finally disposed of Totila in the Apennines in 552; +but that war which had a result so very glorious had materially ruined +the country. + +From this general bankruptcy one city certainly escaped; that city was +Ravenna, which since the year 540, when she had opened her gates to +Belisarius, had been free from attack, and had more than ever been +established as the capital of the West. That position was secured to +her, as I have already said, by her geographical position, which now +that Constantinople had reasserted the claim of the empire to Italy +established her more than at any time in her history as the necessary +seat of military and administrative power; and from Ravenna as from +the citadel the whole of the second part of the Gothic war was waged +by the imperialists. As we might expect the true nature of that war is +immediately manifested in her history at this time. + +It would seem that very shortly after the occupation of Ravenna by the +imperialists in 540, the re-edification of the city and its splendid +embellishment was begun. The church of S. Vitalis begun by S. +Ecclesius (_c_. 521-532) was finished and gloriously adorned with +mosaics by S. Maximianus (_c_ 546-556), and not long after S. +Apollonaris in Classe begun by S. Ursicinus (532-536) was completed +and adorned by the same great bishop. + +But this eagerness to mark and to express in such glorious monuments +as these the great victory for Catholicism and civilisation that was +then in the winning becomes even more manifest after the death of +Totila and the end of the war. To the S. Agnellus and to the Church of +Ravenna Justinian "_rectae fidei Augustus_" gave all the substance of +the Goths, according to the _Liber Pontificalis_,[1] "not only in +Ravenna itself, but in the suburban towns and in the villages, both +sanctuaries and altars, slaves and maidens, whatever was theirs. _S. +Mater Ecclesia Ravennas, vera mater, vera orthodoxa nam ceterae multae +Ecclesiae falsam propter metum et terrores Principum superinduxere +doctrinam; haec vero et veram et unicam Sanctam Catholicam tenuit +Fidem, nunquam mutavit fluctuationem sustinuit, a tempestate quassata +immobilis permansit_. Therefore S. Agnellus the archbishop reconciled +all the churches of the Goths, which in their time or in that of King +Theodoric had been built or had been occupied by the false doctrines +of the Arians.... He thus reconciled the church of S. Eusebius which +Unimundus the (Arian) bishop had built in the twenty-third year of +King Theodoric. In the same year he reconciled the church of S. +Georgius (S. Giorgio ad Tabulam fuori delle Mura) ... the church of S. +Sergius which is in Classis and of S. Zenone which is in Caesarea." In +Ravenna itself he reconciled the churches of S. Theodorus (S. +Spirito), S. Maria in Cosmedin (the Arian Baptistery), the church of +S. Martin (S. Apollinare Nuovo) which Theodoric had built, which was +called _Caelum Aureum_ and which Agnellus re-decorated with the +mosaics of the Martyrs and Virgins we see and the effigies of +Justinian and himself. + +[Footnote 1: Agnellus, _Liber Pontificalis_ (ed. Holder-Egger. P. 334) +_ad vitam Sancti Agnelli_.] + +Such was the work achieved in the fortunate capital. But ruined Italy +awaited a more necessary, if less splendid, labour. This can have been +nothing less than the resurrection of the country, which, in those +eighteen years of war, can have become little less than a desert; and, +as we might expect, all Italy desolate and depopulated looked to +Justinian to succour her in her misery if she was not to perish under +her ruins and her debts. The first step in that work was undertaken in +the very year of the peace, in the August of the year 554, and it took +the form of a solemn "Pragmatic Sanction" addressed to Narses and to +Antiochus, the Prefect of Italy,[1] in Ravenna. It had for its object +the social peace of Italy, the re-establishment of order out of the +chaos of the Ostrogothic war; and it is significant of the true +position of affairs that this decree asserts that it is issued by the +emperor in reply to the petition of the pope. + +[Footnote 1: The fact that it was addressed to both surely seems to +show that Narses at this time only held a military power in Italy. +This is interesting as touching the discussion later on of the genesis +of the exarchate.] + +It consists of twenty-seven articles, and first establishes what is to +be considered as still having authority in that tempestuous past; what +part of it is to remain and to be confirmed and what is to be utterly +swept away. Thus the emperor confirms all dispositions made by +Amalasuntha, Athalaric, and Theodahad, as well as all his own +acts--and these would include Theodoric's--and those of Theodora. But +everything done by "the most wicked tyrant Totila" is null and void, +"for we will not allow these law-abiding days of ours to take any +account of what was done by him in the time of his tyranny."[1] Totila +had indeed most cruelly attacked the great landed proprietors whom he +suspected of too great an attachment for Constantinople; he had +attacked them in their persons and in their wealth. With a single +stroke of the pen Justinian, as it were, effaced all the ordinances of +the tyrant and rendered again to their legitimate masters, as far as +it could be done, their lands, their flocks, their peasants, and their +slaves which had been taken from them, or which fear had caused them +to alienate. + +[Footnote 1: Cf. Hodgkin, _op. cit_. vi. pp. 519-520.] + +Such were the political achievements of the decree. Nor were its +financial provisions less far-reaching. Something had to be done to +meet the crisis resulting from the enormous quantity of debt. +Everywhere Justinian undertook great public works, and tried to repair +the destruction caused by the war; but it is probable that in reality +he achieved very little. He had enriched the Church; he had +re-established the great proprietors in their lands and their rights, +but the industry and commerce of Italy, save perhaps at Ravenna and at +Naples, he could not restore. And we seem to understand that the mere +lack of men left whole districts of Italy uncultivated and desert. + +As for the administrative and legal clauses of the decree, they gave +the Italian--the Roman as he is called--the right to have his suit +heard by a civil judge instead of a military official. This +established the security of the Italian against the barbaric hosts the +imperial armies had brought into the country. But perhaps more +important, and certainly more significant, is the twelfth clause of +the decree which relates to the way in which the _Judices +Provinciarum_ are to be appointed. "We order," says Justinian, "that +only fit and proper persons able to administer the local government +shall be chosen, and this by the bishops and chief persons of each +province from the inhabitants of that province." This clause was soon +proved to contain so much wisdom that in 569 by Justinian's successor +it was extended to the provinces of the Eastern empire. + +In all this we recognise the work of the great reformer who had +already produced the _Corpus Juris Civilis_, consisting of the +Institutes, Digest, Code, and Novellae, which more than anything else +he did--and he did everything--determined that Europe, which he had +secured for ever, should be a Roman thing established upon Roman Law. +But are we also to see in this great man the creator of the exarchate, +that citadel of the empire in Italy which was to endure, though almost +all else perished, till Charlemagne appeared and the empire itself +suddenly re-arose, armed at all points and ready for battle? It might +seem that we are not to attribute that great scheme to Justinian, but +rather to a later recognition of the force and reality of the +disasters that so few years after his death descended once more upon +Italy. + +When Narses at the head of the armies of Justinian had in 554 +conquered the Goths and possessed Italy, the administrative divisions +of the peninsula would seem to have remained almost the same as they +had been in the time of Honorius. Indeed the re-entry of Italy within +the empire was accompanied by no important change in the provincial +divisions of the peninsular because there was no necessity for it. +Narses, who ruled just eleven years in Ravenna, was never known by the +title of exarch. On the contrary, Procopius and Agathias call him +simply the general-in-chief of the Roman army [Greek: o Romaion +strataegos], and pope Pelagius calls him _Patricius et Dux in Italia_, +and others, among them Gregory the Great and Agnellus, simply +_Patricius_. But it is obvious that there was something new in the +official situation and that certain extraordinary powers were +conferred upon Narses. And it is the same with his successor Longinus. +All the texts that mention him, including the _Liber Pontificalis_, +call him _Praefectus_. But the transformation from which the exarchate +arose was more obscure and far more slow than any official reform of +Justinian's could have been. It is in part the result of the new +condition of the country, which Justinian had had to take into +account, but it is much more the result of the progress of the Lombard +conquest and the new necessities of defence, which not one of the +three great men who had restored Italy to the empire lived to see. + +For Belisarius and Justinian both died in 565, and Narses, who was +recalled in that year by the foolish and insolent Sophia, the wife of +the new emperor Justin II., seems to have died about 572. + +It is difficult to determine to which of these three great and heroic +figures Italy, and through Italy, Europe, owes most, but since it was +Justinian who chose and employed them we must, I think, accord him, +here too, the first place in our remembrance. + +Belisarius, who had fought the first great war so gloriously against +Vitiges, and for so long and with so little encouragement had opposed +Totila in the second, is of course one of the great soldiers of the +world and perhaps the greatest the empire ever employed. His capture +of Ravenna, by stratagem it is true, but against time and, as it were, +in spite of the emperor, brought the first Gothic war to an end, and +would, had he been left in Italy a few months longer, have prevented +all the long drawn out agony of the second. As it was his achievement, +and his achievement alone, made that second war something better than +the hopeless affair it seemed for so long, and though he himself to +all appearances made little headway against Totila, it was his series +of heroic campaigns, in which he refused despair, that made the ever +glorious march of Narses possible, and the final crushing of the +barbarian in the Apennines after all but the crown of his endeavour. + +Of his master, the great emperor, it is not for me to speak since to +this day his works speak for him. The thirty-eight years of his reign +are the most brilliant period of the later Roman empire, and if the +military triumphs he conceived were the work of Belisarius and Narses +we must attribute to him alone the magnificent conception, the +tireless energy, and the heroic purpose which established the great +pillars of the _Corpus Juris Civilis_ which is the legal foundation of +mediaeval and of modern Europe, the basis of all Canon Law and of all +Civil Law in every civilised country. Of his great ecclesiastical +polity perhaps we must speak with less enthusiasm, though not with +less wonder; while his glorious buildings remain only less enduring +than his codification of the laws. If in Ravenna we are most nearly +and splendidly reminded of him in S. Vitale, we do not forget that he +was the creator of perhaps the greatest ecclesiastical building left +to us, the mighty church--lost to us now for near five hundred +years--of S. Sophia in Constantinople. On the whole we see in +Justinian the greatest of all the emperors save Augustus, and perhaps +Constantine. Nor can any later state show us so great a ruler. + +Justinian in his Italian designs had been very well served by +Belisarius, nor were his ideas less splendidly carried out by Narses. +Indeed, in many ways the eunuch was the better instrument and +especially in administration. He ruled in peace in Ravenna as I have +said for eleven years, devoting himself to the resurrection of unhappy +Italy. In this we may think he was as successful as the shortness of +the time of his rule would allow. The catastrophe that put an end +alike to his work and to the regeneration of Italy was the death of +Justinian. In that very year, 565, the great eunuch was deposed, an +insulting recall reached him from the empress Sophia, and he retired +to Rome, where he passed the few years that remained to him in +retirement, and died there, it is thought, in 572. + +A curious and certainly an unproved accusation hangs over his name. It +seems that his government of Italy was not wholly grateful to the +Italians, who it must be remembered were ruined and whom many years of +eager self-denial would hardly render solvent again. Now the business +of Narses was to achieve this solvency and to pay out of Italy some +sort of interest upon the enormous sums Justinian had disbursed for +the great war. If he incurred the hatred of the Italians it would not +be surprising, nor would it lead us to accuse him of tyranny. "Where +Narses the eunuch rules," they said, "he makes us slaves." This cry +came to the ears of the emperor for whom it was meant. No doubt, being +a fool, he was anxious to be rid of Justinian's pro-consul. However +that may be, Narses was recalled, the empress, it is said, sending him +a message to the effect that as he was a eunuch she would appoint him +to apportion the spinning to the women of her household. To this +Narses is reported to have replied, doubtless with much the same smile +as that with which he had greeted the equestrian display of Totila, +that he would spin her a thread of which neither she nor the emperor +Justin would be able to find the end. In the course of time this +mysterious threat, which was probably never uttered, was said to refer +to the enormous catastrophe which within three years of Narses' recall +fell upon Italy--the Lombard invasion. And Narses, who had employed +the Lombards in the last campaign against Totila, was said to have +revenged himself by inviting them into Italy to possess it. + +The accusation rests upon no good authority, and is altogether +unlikely when we remember how great a part of his life had been +devoted to the incorportion of Italy within the empire. But there is +this much truth in it we may perhaps think; that had the great eunuch +been left in command, Alboin would not have dared to come on, and if +he had dared, would have found an army and an Italy ready to fling him +back into his darkness. + + + + +IX + +THE CITADEL OF THE EMPIRE IN ITALY + +THE LOMBARD INVASION + + +It was upon the second day of April 568, upon the Monday within the +octave of Easter, that Alboin set out to cross the Julian Alps, to +descend upon an Italy which even the great Narses had not been able, +in the short sixteen years of peace he had secured her, to recover +from the utter exhaustion of a generation of war. No army awaited him, +no attempt was made to crush his rude and barbarous army in the +marches, he was unopposed, save that the bishop of Treviso begged him +to spare the property of his church, and presently the whole province +of Venetia, with the exception of Padua, Mantua, and Monselice, was in +his hands. Those who could, doubtless fled away, for the most part to +that new settlement in the Venetian lagoons which was presently to +give birth to Venice and which had been founded by those who had fled +from Attila; but there were many who could not flee. These came under +the cruel yoke of the invader. Perhaps Alboin spent the winter in +Verona, perhaps in Friuli; wherever it was, he but prepared his +advance and still no one appeared to say him nay. By the end of 569 +all Cisalpine Gaul with Liguria and Milan, except Pavia, the coast, +Cremona, Piacenza, and a few smaller places, were in his hands. +Indeed, in all that terrible flood of disasters we hear of but one +great city which offered even for a time a successful resistance. This +was Pavia, naturally so strongly defended by the Po and the Ticino. +Alboin established an army about it, and swore to massacre all its +inhabitants since it alone had dared to resist him. Pavia fell to the +Lombard, after a three years' siege, in 572; but Alboin was prevented +from carrying out his vow, and not long after Pavia became the capital +of the Lombard power in Italy. + +Meantime, those three years, during which Pavia held her own, had not +been wasted by the barbarian. He crossed the Apennines, we may believe +as Totila had done, by the old deserted way to Fiesole, brought all +Tuscany under his yoke and a great part both of central and of +southern Italy, establishing there two "duchies" as the centres of his +power at Spoleto and Benevento. Then he returned to take Pavia, all +this time besieged, and in the same year, 572, it is probable that +Piacenza fell also, and Mantua. All Italy was in confusion, the system +of government re-established by Narses broken; the work of Justinian's +reconquest seemed all undone. That it was not wholly undone, that it +lived on and was at last re-established, we owe to two great facts: +the conversion of the Lombards to Catholicism by Gregory the Great and +the establishment of the exarchate, the entrenchment of Roman power +and civilisation in Ravenna. Let us consider these things. + +The Lombards were barbarians and therefore pagans or Arians, but their +Arianism was of a different kind from that of the Huns, different even +from that of the Ostrogoths. Indeed, though the Lombards may be called +Arian, for indeed such Christianity as they possessed was wholly +Arian, they were but little removed from mere heathenism. It is true +that they sacked churches, slaughtered priests, and carried off the +holy vessels everywhere as they came into Italy; but they did this, it +would seem, not from a sectarian hatred of the Catholic Faith, but +from mere heathenism. As pagans, heathen or semi-heathen, they might +be converted, and thus their advent was ultimately less dangerous to +our civilisation than the conquest of the Ostrogoths threatened to be. +I do not mean to suggest that that advent was without danger. It was +of course full of dreadful peril, but that peril was chiefly material +and not spiritual; it could destroy, but not create; moreover, since +in the main it was pagan, it could only destroy material things. + +It is unthinkable that the Italy of the sixth century was for a moment +in danger of losing its Faith, of being dechristianised. That, all +things considered, in the third fourth and fifth centuries there had +more than once been a real danger of the victory of some heresy, and +especially of that subtle Arianism, the forerunner of Mahometanism, +which all the invaders professed, and most of them so bitterly, we +know; as we know that with the hard won victory of the Catholic Faith +the whole of the future was safe; but that in the Italy of the sixth +century the Faith was in danger from a horde of semi-pagan barbarians +is not to be thought of. To this extent, and it is three parts at +least of the whole, the Lombard invasion was less perilous than those +which had come and passed away before it. Once more, the Catholic +church was to be victorious, but in a different fashion. It cast out +the Visigoths, the Huns, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths from Italy, +for it could not convert them; the Lombards it converted and they +remained. It converted them because they were rather heathen than +Arian, and the victory was won by that great Gregory who, seeing our +forefathers in the Forum of Rome, and loving them for their bright +hair and open faces--_non Angli sed Angeli si Christiani_--sent S. +Austin to turn them too from their pagan rites and gather them into +the fold of Christ. + +But there was something else beside the fact that the Lombards were +pagan, and therefore to be converted, which was a part of the +salvation of Italy. + +It is possible that the Lombards might have been as Catholic as the +Franks and yet, barbarians as they were, have destroyed civilisation +in Italy, have broken the continuity of Europe, have obliterated all +our traditions, and altogether undone the great work of Justinian. It +is possible, but it is highly improbable; that it was impossible we +owe to Ravenna. + +Ravenna was impregnable and her seaward gate was always open. During +all the years of the Lombard domination she was the citadel of the +empire in Italy, the seat of the prefect and the exarch, the imperial +representatives. + +It must be grasped that even after the fall of Ticinum in 572, as the +Byzantine historian tells us, perhaps no one, and certainly no one in +Ravenna, regarded the invasion as anything but a passing evil like all +the other barbarian incursions. No one believed Italy to be +irrevocably lost; on the contrary, everyone was assured that the lost +provinces could soon be delivered again. + +This may explain, though perhaps it cannot excuse, the passive +attitude of Longinus, the successor of Narses, who in Ravenna +represented the emperor in Italy, perhaps till the year 584. We know +nothing of any attempts he may have made to stem the barbarian flood, +and indeed the only incident in his career with which we are +acquainted is romantic rather than military or political. For when +Rosamond, the queen of the Lombards, murdered her husband Alboin in +his palace at Verona, because he had forced her to pledge him in a +goblet fashioned from the skull of her father, she fled away with her +stepdaughter Albswinda, the great Lombard spoil, and her two +accomplices, Helmichis her lover and Peredeus the chamberlain, and +came to seek shelter in Ravenna. It seems she had written to Longinus +and he, perhaps, hoping for some political advantage, and certainly +full of the tales of her beauty, sent a ship up the Po to bring her to +him with her two companions. When he saw her he found that rumour had +not lied, and longing for her, suggested that she should kill +Helmichis and marry himself. Whether from fear or ambition she did +this thing, and slew her lover with a cup of poison as he came from +the bath. But he, even as he drank understanding all, suddenly forced +the same cup upon her, and standing over her with a naked sword forced +her to drink; so that they both lay dead upon the pavement. + +Albswinda and the Lombard treasure, the spoil of the cities of Italy, +were sent with Peredeus to Constantinople. And it may be that it was +in them Longinus hoped to find his political advantage; in this, +however, he was deceived. It is true that a pause in the Lombard +advance followed the death of Alboin, and that Cleph, his successor, +was soon murdered. But the pause in the advance, though, through it +all, Rome was blockaded, was due to the fact that Authari, the heir to +the Lombard throne, was but a boy. Nevertheless, this interval was +used by Constantinople to despatch Baduarius, the son-in-law of the +emperor Justin, to Italy with an army, but without success; and in +578, the year in which Justin died, the Lombards were bought off from +Rome with imperial gold, only to turn upon the very citadel of the +empire in Italy, Ravenna itself. In the year 579 Faroald, duke of +Spoleto, fell upon Classis, and took it and spoiled it. + +This, however, was but an isolated effort, and though the Lombards +held Classis, they achieved little else in Italy till after Authari +was chosen king in 584. + +In the following year Smaragdus, as we may think, was appointed to +succeed Longinus and apparently with new powers, and three years +later, in the very year that the heroic Insula Comacina was taken by +the Lombards, Classis was recovered for the empire. + +The Lombards had then been ravaging Italy for twenty years, an +extraordinary change had come over the provinces that Justinian had so +hardly recovered, and this change is at once visible in the imperial +administration in Italy. The exarchate appears. + +It has been maintained by many historians that the great reform of +which the establishment of the exarch and the exarchate is the result +was the work of that very great reformer Justinian. It was worthy of +him; but the Italy he knew and saved was not in need of any change in +her administrative divisions which, as I have said, remained under +Narses almost the same as they had been in the last days of the +Western empire.[1] + +[Footnote 1: For what follows cf. Diehl, _Etudes sur l'administration +Byzantine dans l'Exarchat de Ravenne_ (1888).] + +The transformation out of which the exarchate arose was slow and +obscure, not the work of a great creative mind, but of necessity. It +was the result of many causes which it is not difficult to name; they +were the progress of the Lombard conquest, the condition imposed upon +the unconquered parts of Italy by that conquest, and especially the +new necessity for defence imposed on the imperial power. + +It is obvious that the result of the first ten years of that conquest +was a complete destruction of the limits of the old Roman provinces of +Italy. A new grouping of territories was not only necessary but was +already forming itself under the pressure of the conquest and its +terror. The regions which had escaped the barbarians were drawing +together without any regard for the ancient provincial divisions and +were grouping themselves about the cities, where the resistance, such +as it was, was concentrating itself, and where the imperial +administration had taken refuge. + +If we confine ourselves for the moment to Italy north of the +Apennines, we shall find that in the old province of Liguria the vicar +of the prefect of the praetorium had fled from Milan to Genoa, and +that about that city the debris of the old province was slowly +re-assembling itself. In Venetia we shall find that the governor had +departed to Grado, and about this town as a centre the eastern part of +the old province was gathered. The western part of that province, cut +off from its capital, attached itself by force of circumstances to +what remained of Aemilia and of Flaminia, whose neighbour she was, and +these fragments of the ancient provinces all together grouped +themselves about, or found their centre in, Ravenna, the capital of +Flaminia and the residence of the prefect of Italy. + +In these new groupings the great pre-occupation and the supreme +interest are defence--the defence of civilisation against the +barbarian. + +Now, it was to regulate this new state of affairs that the exarchate +was created; or rather the exarchate was the official acknowledgment +of a state of affairs that the disastrous invasion of the Lombards had +brought about. The new order was established at the end of the reign +of Justin II. (565-578) under a new and supreme official. Without +doing away with the prefect of Italy the emperor placed over him as +supreme head of the new administration the exarch[1] who was both the +military commander-in-chief and the governor-general of Italy; and, +since the chief need of Italy was defence, without entirely +suppressing the civil administration, he placed at the head of each of +the re-organised provinces a certain military officer--the duke. + +[Footnote 1: For the discussion of the derivation of the title +"Exarch," _see_ Diehl, _op. cit_. pp. 15-16.] + +The earliest document that remains to us in which we find definite +mention of the exarch is the famous letter, dated October 4, 584, of +pope Pelagius II. to the deacon Gregory, his nuncio in Constantinople. +It is probable that the exarch at this time was Smaragdus, but it is +extremely improbable that he was the first to bear the new title. This +it would seem was a much nobler and more notable person. + +It will be remembered that in the year 575 Baduarius, the son-in-law +of the emperor, had appeared in Italy at the head of an army, had been +beaten by the Lombards, and a little later had died, probably in +575.[1] This man was not only a great Byzantine official, but the +destined successor of Justin and one of the first personages of the +empire. It is obvious, if at such a moment he commanded the imperial +armies in Italy, he was supreme governor of the province And it seems +certain that it was to mark the amalgamation in him of the two +offices, military and civil, that the new title of exarch was +created.[2] + +[Footnote 1: Migne, lxxii. 865; Joannes Biclarensis, _s.a_. 575; cf. +Hodgkin, _op. cit_. v. p. 195, and Diehl, _u.s_.] + +[Footnote 2: "It is only an hypothesis," says M. Charles Diehl, the +originator of this theory, "but it explains how, between the prefect +Longinus (569-572) and the exarch Smaragdus (584) was produced in the +years 572-576 the administrative transformation out of which rose the +exarchate."] + +At the same time as the central government took on a new form the +provincial administration was re-organised. Before the year 590, this +had been certainly achieved. Istria, as we have seen, was divided from +Venetia and formed a new and a special government. In Flaminia Rimini, +which till now had been a part of the same province as Ravenna, was +detached and became the capital of a new government in which a part of +the Picenum, Ancona, and Osimo were involved. While the exarchate +properly so called, that is the region of Ravenna from which Rimini +and Picenum were now separate, formed a new province under the direct +authority of the governors-general of Italy, that is to say, of the +exarch of Ravenna. By the year 590, then, we see Italy thus divided +into seven districts or governments: (1) the Duchy of Istria, (2) the +Duchy of Venetia, (3) the Exarchate to which Calabria is attached, (4) +the Duchy of Pentapolis, (5) the Duchy of Rome, (6) the Duchy of +Naples, (7) Liguria. + +Geographically the exarchate of Ravenna was bounded on the north by +the Adige, the Tartaro, and the principal branch of the Po as far as +its confluence with the Panaro. Hadria and Gabellum were its most +northern towns in the hands of the imperialists. The western frontier +is more difficult to determine with exactitude; it may be said to have +run between Modena and Bologna. On the south the Marecchia divided the +exarchate from the duchy of Pentapolis whose capital was Rimini. The +Pentapolis consisted of Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Sinigaglia, and Ancona +upon the sea and of the five inland cities of Urbino, Fossombrone, +Jesi, Cagli, and Gubbio; while the great towns of the exarchate were +set along the Via Aemilia and were Bologna, Imola (Forum Cornelii), +Faenza, Forli, Forlimpopoli, and Cesena. + +Such then, before the year 590, was the new imperial administration in +the Italy formed by the Lombard invasion. + +[Illustration: SKETCH MAP] + +In the year after the recapture of Classis from the Lombards, that is +to say, in 589, the exarch Smaragdus was recalled. He had apparently +become insane and had been guilty of extraordinary violence towards +the patriarch of Aquileia and three other bishops whom he dragged to +Ravenna. His successor was Romanus who held office till 597. In the +same year, 589, Authari was married at Pavia to Theodelinda, who was +to be so potent an instrument in the conversion of the Lombards and +therefore in the salvation of Italy. And in the following year, 590, +pope Pelagius II. died, and Gregory the Great was chosen to succeed +him. + +With the advent of the new exarch a brighter prospect seemed for a +moment to open for Italy. In the first year of Romanus's appointment +the imperialists regained the greater part of the cities of the plain; +they re-occupied Modena, Reggio, Parma, Piacenza, Altinum, and Mantua. +But the strength of the Latin position in Italy lay, and continued to +lie, in the two great imperial cities, Ravenna and Rome. Little by +little this position had crystallised and now a new state appeared, a +state which in one way or another was to endure till our day and which +our fathers knew as the States of the Church. With the two cities of +Ravenna and Rome as _nuclei_, this state formed itself in the very +heart of Italy along the Via Flaminia which connected them. It cut, +and effectually, the Lombard kingdom in two, and isolated the duchies +of Spoleto and Benevento from the real Lombard power in Cisalpine +Gaul, with its great capital at Pavia; and indestructible as it was, +it absolutely insured the final success of the Catholic Faith, the +Latin nationality, and the imperial power, the three necessities for +the resurrection of Europe. + +This achievement was in the first place due to three great +personalities: to Justinian who had succeeded in establishing the +imperial power with its capital at Ravenna, and whose work had such +life in it that, in spite of every adverse circumstance, it was able +to develop and to maintain itself during more than two hundred years +and uphold the imperial idea in Italy until the pope was able to +re-establish the empire in the West as a self-supporting state; to +Gregory the Great in whom we see personified the hope and strength of +the papacy and the Latin idea which it was to uphold and to glorify; +and to Theodelinda, that passionately Catholic Lombard queen, who was +able to lead her Lombards into the fold of the Roman church, and who +in her son Adalwald by her second husband Agilulf, whom she had raised +to the throne, presented the Lombard kingdom with its first Catholic +king, and had thus done her part to secure the future. + +Of these three powers those of Ravenna and Rome were, of course, by +far the more important; for indeed the conversion of the Lombards was, +rightly understood, but a part of the work of Gregory. Yet though both +were working for the same end they did not always propose to march by +the same road. In 592, for instance, the pope, seeing Naples the +capital of the little isolated duchy upon his southern flank very hard +pressed, proposed at all costs to relieve it; but the exarch Romanus, +perhaps seeing further, was not to be moved to the assistance of the +peasants of Campania from the all-important business of the defence of +central Italy and the Flaminian Way, the line of communication between +Ravenna and Rome. He proposed to let Naples look after itself and at +all costs to hold Perugia. Gregory, however, who claimed in an +indignant letter of this date (592) to be "far superior in place and +dignity" to the exarch, proceeded to save Naples by making a sort of +peace with the Lombard duchy of Spoleto. It is possible that this +peace saw the Lombard established in Perugia, which was the Roman key, +till now always in Roman hands, of the great line of communication +between Rome and Ravenna. However that may be, Gregory's peace not +only aroused great anger in Constantinople, but brought Romanus +quickly south with an army to re-occupy Perugia, Orte, Todi, Ameria, +and various other cities of Umbria. But Romanus had been right. His +movement southward alarmed Agilulf, who immediately left Pavia, and +crossing the Apennines, we may suppose,[1] as Totila had done, +threatened Rome itself. Then, however, he had to face something more +formidable than an imperial army. Upon the steps of S. Peter's church +stood the Vicegerent of God, great S. Gregory, who alone turned him +back and saved the city. + +[Footnote 1: All that Paulus Diaconus, _Hist. Lang_. lib. iv. cap. 8, +says is: "Hac etiam tempestate Romanus Patricius et Exarchus Ravennae +Romam properavit. Qui dum Ravennam revertitur retenuit civitates, quae +a Langobardis tenebantur, quarum ista sunt nomma: Sutrium, Polimartium +Hortas, Tuder, Ameria, Perusia, Luceolis et alias quasdam civitates. +Quod factum cum regi Agilulfo nunciatum esset statim Ticino egressus +cum valido exercitu civitatem Perusium petiit ..."] + +The truth of all this would appear to be that Gregory was really +working for peace. The Lombards were in a fair way to becoming +Catholic, and as such they were no longer really dangerous to Italy. +The real danger was, as the pope saw, the prolongation of a useless +war. Two years later, in 595, we find Gregory writing to the +"assessor" of the exarch enjoining peace. "Know then that Agilulf, +king of the Lombards, is not unwilling to make a general peace, if my +lord the patrician is of the same mood.... How necessary such a peace +is to all of us you know well. Act therefore with your usual wisdom, +that the most excellent exarch may be induced to come in to this +proposal without delay, and may not prove himself to be the one +obstacle to a peace so expedient for the state. If he will not +consent, Agilulf again promises to make a separate peace with us; but +we know that in that case several islands and other places will +necessarily be lost. Let the exarch then consider these points, and +hasten to make peace, that we may at least have a little interval in +which we may enjoy a moderate amount of rest, and with the Lord's help +may recruit the strength of the republic for future resistance."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Gregory, _Ep_. v. 36 (34), trs. Hodgkin, _op. cit_. v. p. +382.] + +It is obvious from this letter that the pope and the emperor no longer +understood one another, and it is not surprising that the one thought +the other a fool and told him so. Doubtless the emperor recalled the +long and finally successful war against the Ostrogoths, in which +Belisarius had always refused, not only terms of peace other than +unconditional surrender, but even to treat. That policy had been, at +least from the point of view of Constantinople, successful. From the +point of view of the papacy and of Italy, it had had a more doubtful +result, but the fact that the Ostrogoths were Arians had satisfied +perhaps both, and certainly the papacy, that a truce could not be +thought of. + +From the imperial point of view things remained much the same in the +Lombard war as they had been in the war with the Ostrogoths. From the +papal and Italian point of view they were very different. To begin +with, the Lombards were fast accepting the Catholic Faith, and then if +Italy had suffered in the Ostrogothic wars, which were everywhere +eagerly contested by Constantinople, what was she suffering now when +the greater part of the country was open to a continual and an almost +unopposed attack? "You think me a fool," the pope wrote to the +emperor. In Ravenna the papal envoy was lampooned and laughed at. Then +in the end of 596 the exarch Romanus died. + +Romanus was succeeded by Callinicus (Gallicinus) in whom the pope +found a more congenial and perhaps a more reasonable spirit. By 598 an +armistice had been officially concluded between the imperialists and +the Lombards, and at length in 599, after some foolish delays in which +it would appear that the pope was not without blame, a peace was +concluded. Gregory, however, for all his reluctance at the last, had +won his way. Henceforth it would be impossible to regard the Lombards +as mere invaders after the pattern of their predecessors, Visigoths, +Vandals, Huns, and Ostrogoths. They were, or would shortly be, a +Catholic people; they held a very great part of Italy; they had +entered into a treaty with the emperor not as _foederati_ but as +equals and conquerors. Gregory the Great had permanently established +the barbarians in Italy, and in his act, the act be it remembered of +the apostle of the English, of the apostle of the Lombards, we seem to +see the shadowy power that had been Leo's by the Mincio suddenly +appear, a new glory in the world. The new power in the West, the +papacy, which thus shines forth really for the first time in the acts +of Gregory, unlike the empire, whether Roman or Byzantine, will know +no frontiers, but will go into all the world and compel men to come in +as its divine commission ordained. + +In Italy from the time of the peace with the Lombards (599) onwards +what we see is the decline of the imperial power of Constantinople and +the rise of the papacy. And this was brought about not only by the +circumstances in which Italy and the West found themselves, but also +by the character of the imperial government. + +When Justin II. disappeared in 578, and made way for Tiberius II., he +was already a madman, and though Tiberius was renowned for his +virtues, he reigned but four years, and in 582 Maurice the Cappadocian +sat upon the throne of Justinian and ruled for twenty years not +unwisely, but, so far as Italy was concerned, without success. It was +he who was at last brought to make peace with the Lombards and thus +for the first time to acknowledge a barbarian state independent of the +empire in Italy. He and his children were all murdered in 602 by +Phocas, a centurion, whose shame and crimes and cruelties doubtless +did much to weaken the moral power of the empire face to face with the +papacy. + +The peace of 599, the usurpation of Phocas in 602, and the death of +Gregory the Great in 604, close a great period and stamp the seventh +century in its very beginning with a new character. + +That character is in a sense almost wholly disastrous. Those vague and +gloomy years, of which we know so little, are almost unrelieved in +their hopeless confusion. It is true that Italy had found a champion +in the papacy which would one day restore the empire in the West, as +Justinian himself had not been able to do; it is true that already +Arianism was defeated if not stamped out. But it is in the seventh +century that Mahometanism, the greater successor of the Arian heresy, +first appears; and it is in the seventh century that it first becomes +certain that East and West are philosophically and politically +different and irreconcilable. The whole period is full of disasters, +and is as we may think the darkest hour before the dawn. + +As I have said, the history of those disastrous years is everywhere in +the West vague and confused, and this is not least so in Italy and +Ravenna. + +Ravenna as always remains the citadel of the imperialists in Italy and +the West, and as such we must regard her, passing in review as well as +we may those miserable years in which she played so great and so +difficult a part. + +When the Emperor Maurice was assassinated with his family in the year +602, Callinicus was, as we have seen, exarch in Ravenna, but with the +usurpation of Phocas that Smaragdus who had already been exarch and +had been recalled, perhaps for his too great violence, in 589, was +again appointed. He seems to have ruled from 602 to 611. In the last +year of the government of Callinicus an attempt had been made by the +exarch to force the Lombards to renew the two years' peace established +in 599, and on better terms, by the seizure of a daughter of +Agilulf's, then in Parma, with her husband. They were carried off to +Ravenna. But the imperialists got nothing by their treachery. Agilulf +at once moved against Padua and took it and rased it to the ground. In +the following year Monselice also fell to his arms, and though after +the murder of the emperor Maurice in 602 the exarch Callinicus, the +author of the abduction, fell, and Smaragdus was appointed by Phocas, +the hostages were not returned, and in July 603, Agilulf, after a +campaign of less than three months, had possessed himself of Cremona, +Mantua, and Vulturina, and probably of most of those places which the +imperialists had re-occupied in Cisalpine Gaul in 590. Smaragdus was +forced to make peace and to give up his hostages. The peace he made, +which left Agilulf in possession of all the cities he had taken, was +to endure for eighteen months, but it seems to have been renewed from +year to year, and when in 610 Phocas was assassinated and with the +accession of Heraclius (610-641) Smaragdus was again recalled and +Joannes appointed to Ravenna, the same policy seems to have been +followed. + +Joannes Lemigius Thrax, as Rubeus, the sixteenth-century historian of +Ravenna, calls him, ruled in Ravenna from 611 to 615, and in the +latter year was assassinated there apparently in the midst of a +popular rising, though what this really was we do not know. His +successor, the eunuch Eleutherius (616-620), seems to have found the +now fragmentary imperial state in Italy in utter confusion, and indeed +on the verge of dissolution. Naples had been usurped by a certain +Joannes of Compsa, perhaps "a wealthy Samnite landowner," who +proclaimed himself lord there, and it is obvious that even in Ravenna +there was grave discontent. Eleutherius soon disposed of the usurper +of Naples, but only to find himself faced by a renewal of the Lombard +war, which he seems to have prevented by consenting to pay the yearly +tribute which perhaps Gregory the Great had promised when he made a +separate peace with the Lombard in 593, when Rome was practically in +the hands of the barbarian. It was obvious that the imperial cause was +failing. That the exarch thought so is obvious from the fact that in +619 he actually assumed the diadem and proclaimed himself emperor in +Ravenna, and set out with an army along the Flaminian Way for Rome to +get himself crowned by the pope Boniface V. But the eunuch was before +his time; moreover, he was a defeated and not a victorious general. At +Luceoli upon the Flaminian Way, not far from Gualdo Tadino where +Narses had broken Totila, in that glorious place his own soldiers slew +him and sent his head to Heraclius. + +Of his immediate successor we know nothing--not even his name,[1] but +in or about 625 Isaac the Armenian was appointed and he ruled, as his +epitaph tells us, for eighteen years (625-644). Isaac's rule was not +fortunate for the imperialists. He is probably to be acquitted of the +murder of Taso, Lombard duke of Tuscia, but it is certain that +Rothari, the Lombard king in his time, "took all the cities of the +Romans which are situated on the sea-coast from Luna in Tuscany to the +boundary of the Franks; also he took and destroyed Opitergium, a city +between Treviso and Friuli, and with the Romans of Ravenna he fought +at the river of Aemilia which is called Scultenna (Panaro). In this +fight 8000 fell on the Roman side, the rest fleeing away."[2] + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Hodgkin (_op. cit_. vi. 157) suggests that the +predecessor of Isaac was that Euselnus who, as ambassador for +Constantinople, persuaded, or is said to have persuaded, Adalwald, +King of the Lombards since the death of his father, Agilulf (615), to +slay all his chief men and nobles, and to hand over the Lombard +kingdom to the empire; but was poisoned, it is suggested, by Isaac in +Ravenna, whither he had fled when he had killed twelve among them. +Ariwald succeeded him (625).] + +[Footnote 2: Paulus Diaconus, cf. Hodgkin, vi. 168.] + +[Illustration: THE SARCOPHAGUS OF EXARCH ISAAC] + +Nor was this all. It is in Isaac's time that the growing jealousy of +the empire in regard to the papacy for the first time breaks into +flame. Isaac, who as exarch had the right to "approve" the election of +the pope, on the accession of Severinus (638) sent Maurice his +_chartularius_ to Rome as his ambassador. This Maurice it seems was +eager against the papal power, and finding an opportunity in Rome +suddenly seized the Lateran and its wealth at the head of "the Roman +army," and wrote to Isaac that he might come and enjoy the spoil. The +exarch presently arrived in Rome, resided in the Lateran during eight +days, banished the cardinals, and proceeded to steal everything he +could lay his hands on in the name of the emperor, to whom he sent a +part of the booty. A little later Maurice attempted to repeat his +rape, but doubtless hoping to enrich himself he began by repudiating +Isaac, who then dealt with him, had him brought northward, and +beheaded at a place called Ficulae, twelve miles from Ravenna; but +before he could decide what punishment to mete out to Maurice's +accomplices the exarch himself died, "smitten," as it was said, "by +God," and the exarchate was filled apparently by Theodore Calliopas +(644-646). + +Theodore Calliopas was twice exarch. Of his first administration we +know nothing at all; but in 646 he was succeeded by Plato (646-649), +whose name we learn from a letter of the emperor Constans II. to his +successor Olympius (649-652), who had been imperial chamberlain in +Constantinople. Theodore Calliopas was then again appointed and ruled +in Ravenna for eleven years (653-664). + +We have seen the empire and the papacy politically at enmity and +certainly bent on attaining different political ends in Italy and the +West, and this is emphasised by the economic condition of Italy which +the empire taxed heavily. Philosophically Constantinople had never +perhaps been very eagerly Catholic--or must one say papal? But now at +this dangerous moment a doctrine definitely heretical was to be +officially adopted there and supported by emperor and patriarch with +insistance and perhaps enthusiasm. Heraclius, the grandfather of +Constans II., had asserted the Monothelete heresy which maintained +that although Christ had two distinct natures yet He had but one +_Will_--his human will being merged in the divine. The patriarch of +Constantinople, always jealous of the popes, eagerly upheld this +doctrine which the papacy continually and consistently denounced. Now +Constans II. cared for none of these things. He refused to allow that +either pope or patriarch was right, but as though he had been living +in the sixteenth instead of the seventh century gravely announced that +"the sacred Scriptures, the works of the Fathers, the Decrees of the +five General Councils are enough for us;" and asked: "Why should men +seek to go beyond these?" Roundly he refused to allow the question to +be either supported or attacked. + +Now the whole of the West was very heartily with the pope in +sentiment; but save for the bishops of Italy he stood alone against +the great patriarchates of the East. Nevertheless, he refused to be +silent and to obey the emperor. Therefore Olympius, Constans' +chamberlain in 649, came to Italy as exarch with orders to arrest the +pope and bring him to Constantinople: this it seemed to him a prudent +thing to do; he was to judge for himself. Olympius decided it was not +a prudent thing to do. He found the Italian bishops and the people +eagerly Catholic. There is a story that he attempted instead to take +the pope's life as he said Mass, but this is probably untrue, for we +find pope and exarch presently excellent friends. He went on into +Sicily to meet the first invasion of the Saracens in that island, and +died there of the pestilence. + +Theodore Calliopas was appointed exarch for the second time as his +successor in 652. He had either less sagacity or less scruple than his +predecessor, for in the following year he appeared with an army in +Rome. He found the pope ill and in bed before the high altar of S. +John Lateran. He surrounded the church and entered it with his men, +who were guilty of violence and desecration. But the pope, to save +bloodshed, surrendered himself to the exarch, shouting as he emerged +from the church, "Anathema to all who say that Martin has changed a +jot or tittle of the Faith Anathema to all who do not remain in his +orthodox Faith even to the death." Through the tumultuous and weeping +city the pope passed to the palace of the exarch upon the Palatine +Hill. He entered it a prisoner and was presently smuggled away on +board ship to Constantinople, where he was examined and condemned to +death, insulted in the Hippodrome, and his sentence commuted to +imprisonment and exile to Cherson, where he died in 655. + +The controversy slumbered. Before long, surely to the amazement of the +West, the emperor landed in Italy at Tarentum with the object of +finally dealing with the Lombards, for Rothari was dead. It is said he +asked some hermit there in the south: "Shall I vanquish and hold down +the nation of the Lombards which now dwelleth in Italy?" The answer +was as follows, and, rightly understood, contained at least the +fundamental part of the truth: "The nation of the Lombards," said the +hermit after a night of prayer, "cannot be overcome because a pious +queen coming from a foreign land has built a church in honour of S. +John Baptist who therefore pleads without ceasing for that people. But +a time will come when that sanctuary will be held in contempt, and +then the nation shall perish."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Diaconus. v. 6; cf. Hodgkin, _op. cit_. vi. 272. Paulus +adds that the prophecy was fulfilled when adulterous and vile priests +were ordained in the church at Monza and the Lombards fell before +Pepin.] + +That prophecy contained the fundamental truth that since the Lombards +were Catholic it was not possible to turn them out of Italy. But +Constans heeded it not. He marched on, besieged Beneventum, was not +successful, and went on to Rome, and himself spoiled the City. From +Rome he returned southward to Naples and Sicily, where in 668 he died. + +All that time Gregory was exarch. He had succeeded Theodore Calliopas +in 664, and he ruled till 677. We know little of him save that he +appears to have attempted to confirm Maurus, archbishop of Ravenna, in +his "independence" of the Papal See.[1] This Maurus was undoubtedly a +schismatic and Agnellus tells us that he had many troubles with the +Holy See and many altercations. Indeed the position of the archbishop +of Ravenna can never have been a very enviable one and especially at +this time when the breach between pope and emperor, papacy and empire, +was continually widening. Always the archbishop of Ravenna, as the +bishop of the imperial citadel in Italy, must have been tempted to +follow the emperor rather than the pope, and more especially since, +personally, he might expect to gain both in power and wealth that way. + +[Footnote 1: That was the "Privilegium," whatever it was worth and +whatever exactly it meant, conferred by Constans II. Constantine +Pogonatus, the successor of Constans, is still to be seen in S. +Apollinare in Classe the "Privilegium" in his hands in mosaic. See +_infra_, p. 208.] + +The exarch Gregory was succeeded apparently by a certain Theodore +whose contemporary archbishop in Ravenna was also a Theodore. He ruled +it seems for ten years, 677-687, and built near his palace an oratory, +or a monastery, not far from the church of S. Martin (S. Apollinare +Nuovo), and was, according to Agnellus, a pious man, presenting three +golden chalices to the church in Ravenna and composing the differences +of his namesake the archbishop and his clergy. + +Theodore in his turn was succeeded by Joannes Platyn (687-701). Two +years before his appointment in 685 Justinian II. (685-695) had +succeeded to the imperial throne, and in that same year pope Benedict +II. died. John V. succeeded him and reigned for a few months, when +there followed two disputed elections, those of Conon and of Sergius. +In the latter Joannes Platyn the exarch played a miserable and +disastrous part. For he suddenly appeared in Rome as the partisan of +Paschal, the rival of Sergius, who had obtained his support by a +promise of one hundred pounds of gold if he would help him to the +papal throne. On his advent in Rome, however, the exarch found that he +must abandon Paschal and consent to the election of Sergius, in which +all concurred. He refused, however, to abandon his bribe which he now +demanded of the new pope. Sergius replied that he had never promised +anything to the exarch and that he could not pay the sum demanded. And +he brought forth in the sight of the people the holy vessels of S. +Peter, saying these were all he had. As the pope doubtless intended, +the Romans were enraged against the exarch, the money was scraped +together, and the holy vessels rescued. + +In all this we see the growing distrust and hatred of Constantinople, +which the taxation had first aroused on the part of the Italian people +and their champion the papacy. These feelings were to be crystallised +by the extraordinary and tactless council that the emperor convened in +691, in which the empire attempted to avenge the defeat it had +sustained at the hands of the papacy in regard to the Monothelete +heresy. The council, which was mainly concerned with discipline, +altogether disregarded Western custom and the See of Rome, and +especially asserted that "the patriarchal throne of Constantinople +should enjoy the same privileges as that of Old Rome, and in all +ecclesiastical matters should be entitled to the same pre-eminence and +should count as second after it." The pope promptly forbade the +publication of the decrees of this council which he had refused to +sign. Then the emperor sent a truculent soldier, one Zacharias, to +Rome with orders to seize Sergius and bring him to Constantinople as +Martin had been arrested and dragged away. It only needed this to make +the whole situation clear once and for all. + +For it was not only the people of Rome who rose to prevent this +outrageous act. When Zacharias landed in Ravenna, the citadel of the +empire in Italy, the "army of Ravenna," no longer perhaps Byzantine +mercenaries, but Italians, mutinied and determined to march to Rome to +defend the pope. As they marched down the Flaminian Way, the soldiers +of the Pentapolis joined them, a Holy War, a revolution, declared +itself, and for this end: "We will not suffer the Pontiff of the +Apostolic See to be carried to Constantinople." This curious mob of +soldiers, gathering force and recruits as it marched with songs and +shouting down the Way, hurled itself against the walls of the Eternal +City, battered down the gate of S. Peter which Zacharias, afraid and +in tears, had ordered to be closed, and demanded to see the pope who +was believed to have been spirited away in the night on board a +Byzantine ship like his predecessor Martin. Zacharias took refuge +under the pope's bed, and Sergius showed himself upon the balcony of +the Lateran and was received with the wildest enthusiasm. + +In that revolution was destroyed all hope of the Byzantine empire in +Italy. A new vision had suddenly appeared to those whom we may call, +and rightly now, the Italian people. The long resurrection of the +West, the greatest miracle of the papacy, was upon that day secured +for the future. And henceforth the mere appearance of the exarch in +Rome was regarded as an insult and a declaration of war. + +In the year 695 Justinian II. was deposed and mutilated by Leontius, +but he was to appear again as emperor ten years later when Sergius was +dead and John VII. sat on the throne of Peter. Pope John reigned but +for three years, in which he was successfully bullied by Justinian. He +was then succeeded by Sisinnius, who reigned for a few months, and +then by Constantine who ruled for seven years (708-715). The +archbishops of Ravenna had certainly not dared openly to side with the +imperial party and the exarch during the revolution, but, with the +restoration of Justinian, archbishop Felix (708-724) felt himself +strong enough to oppose the pope when he categorically required of him +an oath "to do nothing contrary to the unity of the Church and the +safety of the empire." He had, however, chosen a bad time to set +himself against his superior, who in the minds of all was the champion +of Italy. + +Justinian II. had by no means forgotten the injuries he had received +at the hands of the Ravennati: "_ad Ravennam_," says Agnellus, "_corda +revolvens retorsit, et per noctem plurima volvens, infra se taliter +agens; heu quid agam et contra Ravennam quae exordia sumam_?" "What +can I do against Ravenna?" What he did was this. Theodore the +patrician, one of his generals, was despatched with a fleet to Ravenna +by way of Sicily. He proceeded up the Adriatic and when far off he saw +the great imperial city, he first, according to Agnellus, lamented its +fate, "for she shall be levelled with the ground which lifted her head +to the clouds;" and then having landed and been greeted with due +ceremony, set his camp on the banks of the Po a few hundred yards +outside the city walls. There he invited all the chief men of the +Ravennati to a banquet in the open air. As two by two they entered his +tent to be presented to their host they were bound and gagged and put +aboard ship. Thus all the nobles and Felix the archbishop were taken +and the soldiers of Theodore entered Ravenna and burned their houses +to the ground. + +Theodore took his captives to Constantinople where they were all slain +save Felix, who, however, was blinded. Later he returned to Ravenna, +was reconciled with the Holy See, and died archbishop in 725. + +It would appear that all this happened when Theophylact (702-709) was +exarch, though Theodore the patrician may have superseded him for a +moment on his arrival. The exarch in 710 was Joannes Rizocopus, and in +that year pope Constantine visited Constantinople with the future pope +Gregory II. in his train. They met in Rome, the pope about to set +sail, the exarch on his way to Ravenna, where he was apparently +assassinated in a popular tumult, "the just reward of his wickedness." +The people of Ravenna then elected a certain Giorgius as their +captain, and all the neighbouring cities, Cervia, Forli, Forlimpopoli, +and others, placed themselves under his government and turned upon the +imperial troops. We know very little of this revolution, what directly +was the cause of it, or how it was suppressed; but it is clear that +the exarchate, if it did not actually perish, was from this time forth +for all intents and purposes dead. Three more exarchs were to reign in +Ravenna, but not to govern. In 713, Scholasticus was appointed and +remained till 726. He was followed by Paulus (726-727) who attempted +to arrest Leo III., was prevented by the joint action of the Romans +and the Lombards, and met his death at the hands of the people of +Ravenna; and by Eutychius (727-752) who it seems saw the fall of +Ravenna before the assault of the Lombard Aistulf. He was the last +representative of the Byzantine empire to govern in Ravenna or in +Italy. + +But the fall of the imperial power in Italy was not the work of the +Romans or of the Lombards. It fell because it had ceased to be +Catholic. + +We have seen the invasions of the Visigoths and the Huns fade away +into nothing; we have seen the greater attempt of the Ostrogoths to +found a kingdom in Italy brought to nought. One and all they failed +for this fundamental reason, that they were not Catholic. The future +belonged to Catholicism, and since it is only what is in the mind and +the soul that is of any profound and lasting effect, to be Arian, to +be heretic, was to fail. The great attempt, the noble attempt of +Justinian to refound the empire in the West, to gather Italy +especially once more into a universal government, succeeded, in so far +as it did succeed, because the circumstances of the time in Italy +forced it to be a pre-eminently Catholic movement. When that movement +ceased to be Catholic it failed. + +Let us be sure of this, for our whole understanding of the Dark Age +depends upon it. Justinian's success in Italy was a Catholic success. +What had always differentiated the imperialists from the barbarians +since the fall of the old empire was their Catholicism. Justinian, a +great Catholic emperor, perhaps the greatest, faced and outfaced the +Arian Goths. He succeeded because his cause was the Catholic cause. +But when his successors had to meet the Lombards they soon found that, +for all they could do, they had no success. The Lombards, never very +eagerly Arian, were open to conversion, slowly they became Catholic, +and from the day they became Catholic there was no longer any hope of +turning them out of Italy. It is only what is in the mind that is of +any fundamental account. Face to face with such a thing as religion, +race is as a tale that is told. But though all hope of turning the +Lombards out of Italy ceased with their conversion, and the plan of +Justinian, with nothing as it were to kick against, was thus rendered +a thousand times more difficult, it did not become utterly hopeless +and impossible till the empire, the East, that is, Constantinople, +fell into heresy and ceased itself to be Catholic. It was the gradual +failure of Constantinople in Catholicism that disclosed the pope to +the Italians as their champion. It was this failure that raised up +even in the imperial citadel, even in Ravenna, men and armies +passionately antagonistic to the emperor, passionately papal too. +During a hundred years this movement grew till, in the eight century, +the _coup de grace_, as we might say, was given to the Justinian plan +by the Iconoclastic heresy. + +The Iconoclastic decrees of the emperor Leo are said to have appeared +in Italy in the year 726. Leo was an adventurer from the mountains of +Isauria. He was, so Gibbon tells us, "ignorant of sacred and profane +letters; but his education, his reason, perhaps his intercourse with +the Jews and the Arabs, had inspired the martial peasant with an +hatred of images." It was his design to pronounce the condemnation of +images as an article of faith by the authority of a general council. +This, however, he was not able to do, for he was at once met and his +iconoclasm pronounced heretical by the greatest of all opponents, the +pope--Gregory II. + +Gregory had been elected to the papacy in 715 upon the death of +Constantine. He was a man of great strength of purpose and nobility of +character. Upon the Lombard throne sat Liutprand whose boast it was +that "his nation was Catholic and beloved of God," and who +acknowledged the pope as "the head of all the churches and priests of +God through the world." These three men were the great protagonists +who decided the fate of the empire in Italy. + +The Lombards though they were thus Catholic had certainly not ceased +to make war upon the empire. In this ceaseless quarrel, for instance, +they had, perhaps about 720, possessed themselves of Classis, the +seaport of Ravenna, and not long after of the fortress of Narni upon +the Flaminian Way, and a little later, about 752, Liutprand himself +laid siege to Ravenna, apparently without much result, though Classis +seems to have suffered pillage. But if Ravenna did not then fall it +was because the emperor's Iconoclastic decrees had not then reached +Italy. They appear to have arrived in the following year and +immediately the whole peninsula was aflame. "No image of any saint, +martyr, or angel shall be retained in the churches," said Leo, "for +all such things are accursed." The pope was told to acquiesce or to +prepare to endure degradation and exile. Then, says Gibbon, surely +here an unbiassed authority, "without depending on prayers or +miracles, Gregory II. boldly armed against the public enemy and his +pastoral letters admonished the Italians of their danger and their +duty. At this signal Ravenna, Venice, and the cities of the Exarchate +and Pentapolis adhered to the cause of religion; their military force +by sea and land consisted for the most part of the natives; and the +spirit of patriotism and zeal was transfused into the mercenary +strangers. The Italians swore to live and die in the defence of the +pope and the holy images; the Roman people were devoted to their +Father and even the Lombards were ambitious to share the merit and +advantage of this holy war. The most treasonable act, but the most +obvious revenge, was the destruction of the statues of Leo himself; +the most effectual and most pleasing measure of rebellion was the +withholding of the tribute of Italy and depriving him of a power which +he had recently abused by the imposition of a new duty." + +The life of the pope was attempted by the imperial officials and the +exarch appears to have been privy to the plot. The Romans rose and +prevented the murder by slaying two of the conspirators, and when the +exarch attempted to arrest the pope the very Lombards "flocked from +all quarters" to defend him. In Ravenna itself there was revolution; +Paulus the exarch was slain it seems in 727, and Ravenna apparently +swore allegiance to the Holy See. Leo sent a fleet and an army to +chastise her; "after suffering," says Gibbon, "from the wind and wave +much loss and delay, the Greeks made their descent in the +neighbourhood of Ravenna; they threatened to depopulate the guilty +capital and to imitate, perhaps to surpass, the example of Justinian +II. who had chastised a former rebellion by the choice and execution +of fifty of the principal inhabitants. The women and clergy in +sackcloth and ashes lay prostrate in prayer; the men were in arms for +the defence of their country; the common danger had united the +factions, and the event of a battle was preferred to the slow miseries +of a siege. In a hard-fought day, as the two armies alternately +yielded and advanced, a phantom was seen, a voice was heard, and +Ravenna was victorious by the assurance of victory. The strangers +retreated to their ships, but the populous sea-coast poured forth a +multitude of boats; the waters of the Po were so deeply infected with +blood that during six years the public prejudice abstained from the +fish of the river; and the institution of an annual feast perpetuated +the worship of images and the abhorrence of the Greek tyrant." + +So Gibbon, following Agnellus whose account is obscure and perhaps +altogether untrustworthy. What is certain is that Liutprand was +advancing against the empire in war; that he took Bologna and without +difficulty made himself master of the whole of the Pentapolis. + +Yet the emperor took no heed. The eunuch Eutychius was appointed as +exarch. He appeared in Naples and sent orders to Rome to have the pope +murdered; but again the Roman people saved their champion and swore to +him a new allegiance. Then Eutychius turned to the Lombards. + +He attempted to bribe both Liutprand and the dukes. At first he was +unsuccessful, but presently they began to listen to him. Liutprand +certainly hoped to make himself king of Italy, and it may be that it +was this which Eutychius offered him under the emperor. Moreover, he +was jealous, and not without cause, of the dukes of Spoleto and +Benevento, who had rallied to the pope, and was anxious to have them +under his feet. This, too, he may have hoped to attain as King of +Italy and the emperor's representative in Italy. + +When the pope saw Liutprand march southward with the exarch he must +have known that the whole of the future depended upon the outcome of +this act. Liutprand presently encamped with his army in the plain of +Nero between the Vatican and Monte Mario. There the pope met him and, +even as Leo the Great had done upon the banks of the Mincio, and as +Gregory the Great had done upon the steps of S. Peter's, overawed the +barbarian. Liutprand laid his crown and his sword at the pope's feet +and begged, not only for his own forgiveness, but for that of the +exarch his ally. The moment of enormous danger passed, the pope +received both his enemies; but from that moment it was evident that +the Lombards were not to be trusted and must one day feel the weight +of the papal arm. + +Gregory died in February 731, and was succeeded by Gregory III. who +continued his predecessor's Italian policy. The great and terrible +danger which had suddenly threatened the whole of papal policy when +Liutprand and the exarch approached one another seems to have haunted +the third Gregory. His obvious defence was to support the dukes +against Liutprand, and this he did. Liutprand marched down against him +and seized several towns in the duchy of Rome. It is now that the +future begins to declare itself. The pope in his peril, a peril that +would presently increase, made an appeal to the great Christian +champion, Charles Martel; he appealed to the Franks; in the event, as +we know, it was the Franks who saved the situation. In 740, however, +Charles Martel refused to interfere; he was the kinsman of Liutprand +and his son was a guest at the court of Pavia; that son was to be king +Pepin the Deliverer--the father of Charlemagne, the first emperor of +the restored West. + +That appeal for help was in all probability not made only on account +of the threat of Liutprand against Rome. It was obvious and more and +more obvious that the imperial power in Italy was about to dissolve. +What was to take its place? The papacy? Yes, but the state of Italy, +the hostility of Liutprand, the whole attitude and condition of the +Lombards, forced upon the papacy the necessity of finding a champion, +a soldier and an army. That champion Gregory hoped to find in Charles +Martel; his successors found him in Charles's son Pepin and in +Charlemagne. + +I say the appeal of the pope for help was not made only on account of +the Lombard threat against Rome. It was the sudden dissolution of the +imperial power that called it forth. In or about 737, the city of +Ravenna, as we may believe, was besieged and taken by Liutprand and +for some three years remained in his hands, till at the united prayers +of exarch and pope the Venetians fitted out a fleet and recaptured it +for the empire as we may think in 740.[1] + +[Footnote 1: I follow Hodgkin, vi. p. 482 _et seq_., and Appendix F. +Cf. also for discussion as to the date, Pinton in _Archivio Veneto_ +(1889), pp. 368-384, and Monticolo in _Archivio della R. S. Romana di +St. Pat_. (1892), pp. 321-365.] + +We know nothing of that siege and capture and practically nothing of +the splendid victory of the Venetians. But the tremendous significance +of the fall of Ravenna, which had been the impregnable seat of the +empire in Italy since Belisarius entered it in 540, must not escape +us. Rightly understood it made necessary all that followed. + +At this dramatic moment the Emperor Leo died, to be followed in 741 by +Pope Gregory and Charles Martel. Gregory was succeeded by Pope +Zacharias, who in the year of his election met Liutprand at Narni and +obtained from him the restoration of the four frontier towns he had +taken two years before. But though Rome was thus secured Ravenna was +in worse danger than ever, for Liutprand now renewed his attack upon +it and it was only the intervention of the pope in person at Pavia +that saved the city. Zacharias set forth along the Flaminian Way; at +Aquila perhaps near Rimini the exarch met him, and he entered Ravenna +in triumph, the whole city coming out to meet him. In spite of the +opposition of Liutprand he made his way to Pavia, and was successful +in persuading him to give up his attempt to take the once impregnable +city and to restore much he had captured. Liutprand was an old man; +perhaps he was not hard to persuade, for he was on the eve of his +death, which came to him in 744. His successor Hildeprand reigned for +six months and was deposed. Ratchis became king, a pious man who made +truce with the pope, and in 749 abdicated and entered a monastery. +Aistulf was chosen king, and at once turned his thoughts to Ravenna. +The crisis so long foreseen, so often prevented by the papacy, came at +last with great suddenness. In 751 Ravenna fell and the Byzantine +empire in Italy thereby came to an end. + +We know nothing of this tremendous affair; we do not know whether the +great imperial city, full of all the strange wonder of Byzantium, and +heavy with the destiny of Europe, was taken suddenly by assault or +after a long siege. We know only that it fell, and that Aistulf was +master there in the year of our Lord 751. + +A sort of silence followed that fall. In 752 Pope Zacharias died. His +successor was never consecrated, but died within three days of his +election and made way for Pope Stephen. In the confusion of all things +it is said that a party in Rome urged Aistulf to usurp the empire. +This was enough; it might have been, and perhaps was, expected. The +pope had his answer ready. The heir of the empire in Italy was not the +Lombard but the Holy See. Aistulf threatened to invade Roman +territory, and, indeed, occupied Ceccano in the duchy of Rome. Again +the pope had his answer. That answer was the appeal to Pepin and his +Franks. The papacy had found a champion. + + + + +X + +THE PAPAL STATE + +PEPIN AND CHARLEMANGE + + +The appeal of Stephen, which was to have for its result the +resurrection of the empire in the West and the establishment of the +papacy as a temporal power and sovereignty, was made in a letter now +lost to us, which a pilgrim on his way back to France from Rome +carried to Pepin the king of the Franks. In reply to it, the abbot of +Jumieges appeared in Rome as Pepin's ambassador to invite the pope +himself to cross the Alps. + +Meantime two events occurred, which cannot but have hardened the +resolve of the pope to find a champion. These events were the +occupation of Ceccano in the duchy of Rome by Aistulf and the appeal +of the emperor to the pope that he should go to Pavia and attempt to +persuade the Lombard king to give up Ravenna and the cities he had +lately taken. The appeal of the emperor must have assured the pope, if +indeed he had any doubt about it, that the emperor, so far as Italy +was concerned, was helpless; while the occupation of Ceccano made it +doubly obvious that the Lombard intended, now that the empire was +helpless, to be absolute master throughout the peninsula. + +[Illustration: Colour Plate S. GlOVANNI EVANGELISTA] + +Stephen considered what course he should pursue, received two other +Prankish envoys in Rome, consented to go to Pavia on behalf of the +emperor, and determined at the same time to visit Pepin in the north. +He set out for Pavia upon October 13, 753, leaving Rome with a vast +concourse of people, which accompanied him some distance along the +Way, out of the Flaminian Gate. His mission on behalf of the empire +was naturally entirely fruitless, and early in November the pope left +Pavia with the hardly won consent of Aistulf to cross the Alps by the +Great S. Bernard--a difficult and dangerous business at that time of +year--and to meet the Frankish king at S. Maurice in the valley of the +Rhone. In the latter he was disappointed. Pepin had been called away +to deal with an incursion of the Saxons, and now awaited his amazing +visitor at Ponthion in Champagne, but he sent his son Charles, +destined to be the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, a hundred +miles down the long roads to meet the pope, and it was in the company +of this youthful hero that upon the Feast of the Epiphany 754 Stephen +entered Ponthion at last, and was greeted by Pepin, who cast himself +upon the ground before him and walked as his lackey beside him as he +rode. + +The result of their interview is given in the _Liber Pontificalis_: +"The most blessed pope tearfully besought the said most Christian king +that by means of a treaty of peace (? with him the pope) he would +dispose of the cause of the blessed Peter and the republic of the +Romans, who by an oath there and then (de praesenti) satisfied the +most blessed pope that he would obey all his commands and admonitions +with all his strength and that it pleased him to restore by every +means the exarchate of Ravenna and the rights and territories of the +republic."[1] + +[Footnote 1: As this is very important I give the original Latin +"Ibidem beatissmus Papa praefatum Christianissimum regem +lacrimabiliter deprecatus est ut per pacis foedera causam beati Petri +et reipublicarae Romanorum disponeret. Qui de praesenti jurejurando +eundem beatissimum Papam satisfecit omnibus ejus mandatis et +ammonitionibus sese totis nisibus obedire, et ut illi placitum fuerit +Exarchatum Ravennae et reipublicae jura seu loca reddere modis +omnibus."] + +That winter the pope spent at S. Denis, where he solemnly crowned +Pepin and his queen, and Charles and Carloman their children, +pronouncing an anathema upon all or any who should ever attempt to +elect a king not of their house. Upon Pepin too he conferred the title +of patrician. Can it be that by this he intended the king of the +Franks to be his executor in the exarchate as the exarch had been the +executor of the emperor?[1] We do not know; but a little later a +document was drawn up in which Pepin declared and enumerated the +territories he was ready to secure for the pope. This document, the +Donation of Pepin, would seem to have confirmed in detail and in +writing the oath he had sworn to the pope at Ponthion. Unhappily the +document has disappeared, and we can only judge of its contents by +what actually happened. + +[Footnote 1: The title patrician was not exclusively borne by the +exarch, the Dux Romae, for instance, bore that title in 743.] + +The adventure into Italy to which the pope had persuaded Pepin was not +universally popular with the Frankish nobles. We find Pepin attempting +to gain his end by negotiation with Aistulf, but all to no purpose, +and probably in March 755 the Franks set out with the pope at their +head to march into Italy to curb and chastise the Lombard. + +The great army of Pepin crossed the Alps by the Mont Cenis, and in +what was little more than a skirmish upon the northern side of the +pass defeated the Lombard army and proceeded to invest Pavia and +ravish the country round about. Aistulf, who was rather an impetuous +than a great soldier, had soon had enough and was ready to entertain +proposals for peace. A treaty was made in which he agreed "to restore" +Ravenna and divers other cities, and to attempt nothing in the future +against Rome and the Holy See. This having been decided, the pope took +leave of Pepin, who returned to France, and went on his way to Rome. + +The pope had won and had really established the Holy See as the heir +of the empire; but Aistulf was by no means done with. He forgot alike +his treaty and his promises. "Ever since the day when we parted," the +pope writes to Pepin and the young kings, his sons Charles and +Carloman, "he has striven to put upon us such afflictions and on the +Holy Church of God such insults as the tongue of man cannot +declare.... You have made peace too easily, you have taken no +sufficient security for the fulfilment of the promises you have made +to S. Peter, which you yourselves guaranteed by writing under your +hand and seal...." + +But the Franks were deaf. An expedition to crush the Lombards was a +laborious and an expensive business, and Pepin had much to occupy him +at home. + +In January 756, however, Aistulf, mad from the start, laid siege to +Rome, and for three months laid waste the farms of the Campagna, S. +Peter's patrimony. Narni was taken and indeed all seemed as hopeless +as ever. Then the pope took up his pen and as the successor of the +Prince of the Apostles wrote a letter as from S. Peter himself and +sent it to the three kings, Pepin, Charles, and Carloman, to the +bishops, abbots, priests and monks, the dukes, counts, armies, and +people of Francia. Gibbon thus summarises this extraordinary and +dramatic epistle: "The apostle assures his adoptive sons the king, the +clergy, and the nobles of France that dead in the flesh, he is still +alive in the spirit; that they now hear and must obey the voice of the +founder and guardian of the Roman Church; that the Virgin, the angels, +the saints, and the martyrs, and all the host of heaven unanimously +urge the request, and will confess the obligation; that riches, +victory, and paradise will crown their pious enterprise; and that +eternal damnation will be the penalty of their neglect, if they suffer +his tomb, his temple, and his people to fall into the hands of the +perfidious Lombards." + +Pepin could not be deaf to such an appeal. He again crossed the Mont +Cenis, and again the Lombards were as chaff before him. On his march +to Pavia he was met by two envoys from Constantinople who had +ill-treated, detained, and outstripped the papal ambassador. They +besought Pepin to restore Ravenna and the exarchate to the empire, but +he denied them and declared roundly that "on no account whatsoever +should those cities be alienated from the power of the blessed Peter +and the jurisdiction of the Roman Church and the Apostolic See, +affirming too with an oath that for no man's favour had he given +himself once again to this conflict, but only for love of S. Peter and +for the pardon of his sins; asserting, also, that no abundance of +treasure would bribe him to take away what he had once offered for S. +Peter's acceptance."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Cf. Hodgkin, _op, cit_. vii. p. 217.] + +Pepin marched on; Pavia was besieged, Aistulf was beaten to the dust. +A treaty was drawn up in which the Lombard gave to "S. Peter, the Holy +Roman Church, and all the popes of the Apostolic See forever" the +Exarchate, the Pentapolis, and Comacchio. An officer was commissioned +to receive the submission of every city, and their keys and the deed +of Pepin's donation were placed upon the tomb of S. Peter in Rome. The +papal state was founded; where the empire had ruled so long there +appeared the heir of the empire, the papacy "sitting crowned upon the +grave thereof." + +The cities that with their _contadi_ and dependencies thus formed the +temporal dominion of the pope were, according to the papal biographer, +twenty-three in number; Ravenna first and foremost, then Rimini, +Pesaro, Fano, Sinigaglia (but not Ancona) that had formed the old +Pentapolis. To them was added La Cattolica. The whole of the inland +Pentapolis--though Fossombrone is not mentioned--Urbino, Jesi, Cagli, +Gubbio--passed to the pope as well as the following places: Cesena and +the Mons Lucatium, Forlimpopoli, Forli, Castro, Caro, S. Leo, Arcevia, +Serra dei Conti, the Republic of S. Marino, Sarsina, and Cantiano +together with Comacchio and Narni. A few months after all this was +accomplished, in December 756, Aistulf, "that follower of the devil," +as the pope called him, died. + +Every state that is nearing dissolution is the prey of civil discord. +So it was with the Lombards. Ratchis, who had more than seven years +before become a monk, claimed the throne; so did Desiderius, "mildest +of men." Pope Stephen supported the latter on condition that Ancona, +that last city of the Pentapolis, Osimo which dominated it, and Umana, +together with Faenza, Imola, and Ferrara, were "restored" to the +papacy. Desiderius agreed and became king, but failed, as the Lombards +always failed, to keep his promise, for though he handed over Faenza, +Bagnacavallo, and Gavello, he withheld Imola, Bologna, Ancona, Osimo, +and Umana; this was in 757, the year of Stephen's death. + +In the same year Pope Paul I. seems to have visited the chief city of +his new state, Ravenna, mainly perhaps on ecclesiastical business, for +the archbishop Sergius was by no means a loyal subject and had only +been brought to heel when nothing but submission was left open to him. +He had then, according to Agnellus, promised to deliver to the pope +all the "gold, silver, vessels of price, hoards of money," and so +forth stored up in Ravenna. Agnellus tells a long and incoherent tale +of the way the pope obtained this treasure and of certain plots to +murder him therefor. All that seems fairly certain is that in the +first year of his reign pope Paul I. visited Ravenna. Indeed the chief +difficulty of the papacy at this time must have been the occupation of +the state it had won so consummately. How were the popes to make good +their somewhat shadowy hold upon Ravenna, and the Pentapolis, and +those other strongholds in central Italy and Aemilia? + +That they were not to hold them easily was soon evident. The empire +was plotting to win Pepin to its side, and when that failed again, +rumours of an imperial invasion reached Rome. Politically all +relations ceased between Constantinople and Rome about this time; for +though the pope in reality had long ceased to be a subject of the +emperor, when he had possessed himself of the exarchate even theory +had to give way to fact. Nor was the papacy more fortunate in its +relations with Desiderius. The pope's object was doubtless to keep the +Lombard kingdom weak, if not to destroy it. The first step to that end +was obviously to encourage the achievement of a real independence by +the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento, which, again, bordering as they +did upon the duchy of Rome, would be easier to deal with if they stood +alone. There can be little doubt that the pope fostered the sleepless +disaffection of the dukes, but when their revolt matured Desiderius +was able to crush it, laying waste the Pentapolis on his way. He was +then wise enough to visit Rome and to arrange a peace which was only +once broken during pope Paul's pontificate: in 761 when Desiderius +attacked Sinigaglia. + +It was easier, however, for the pope to arrange successfully a foreign +policy than to administer his new state. No machinery existed for the +secular government by the Holy See of a country so considerable; nor +was this easy to invent. The pope was forced to fall back upon his +representative in Ravenna, namely, the archbishop. Now the archbishops +of Ravenna had always been lacking in loyalty. Ravenna and the +exarchate were governed in the name of the pope by the archbishop, +assisted by three tribunes who were elected by the people. This +government was never very successful, for at every opportunity, and +especially after the resurrection of the empire in the West, the +archbishops were eager to consider themselves as feudatories of the +empire. This was natural and it may be worth while briefly to inquire +why. + +Because Ravenna had for so long, ever since the year 404, been the +seat of the empire in Italy, the bishops of that city had acquired +extraordinary privileges and even a unique position among the bishops +of the West. As early as the time of Galla Placidia, the bishop of +Ravenna had obtained from the Augusta the title and rights of +metropolitan of the fourteen cities of Aemilia and Flaminia. It is +true that the bishop continued to be confirmed and consecrated by the +pope--S. Peter Chrysologus was so confirmed and consecrated--but the +presence of the imperial court and later of the exarch encouraged in +the minds of the bishops a sense of their unique importance and a +certain spirit of independence in regard to Rome. Of course the Holy +See was not prepared to cede any of its rights; but the spirit of +disloyalty remained, and presently the bishop of Ravenna at the time +of his consecration was forced to sign a declaration of loyalty, in +which was set forth his chief duties and a definition of his rights. + +After the Byzantine conquest the church of Ravenna, which the empire +regarded as a bulwark against the papal claims, received important +privileges and its importance in the ecclesiastical hierarchy was +greatly increased. Like the bishop of Rome, the bishop of Ravenna had +a special envoy at Constantinople and was represented, again like +Rome, in a special manner in the councils of the Orient. In religions +ceremonies the bishops of Ravenna took a place immediately behind the +pope, and in ecclesiastical assemblies they sat at the right hand of +the pontiff. There can be little doubt indeed of the Erastianism of +Justinian nor of his encouragement of the bishop of Ravenna. + +The declaration that the bishops were forced to sign upon their +consecration by the pope by no means settled matters. In 648 this +declaration itself was in dispute as to its interpretation, for +Constans II. had conferred upon the See of Ravenna the privilege of +autonomy, and at this time the bishop did not go to Rome for +consecration. The Iconoclastic heresy of Constantinople, however, +indirectly brought about peace between the pope and his suffragan, for +Ravenna was in this whole heartedly Roman. + +It was then, by means of an instrument still very uncertain, that the +papacy was forced to govern its new state, and in these circumstances, +friendly relationship with Constantinople daily becoming more +impossible, it is not surprising that we see the pope making an +attempt to come to some sort of permanent reconciliation with +Desiderius; and indeed when pope Paul died in 767 undoubtedly a peace +had been arranged. + +All might have been well if pope Paul's successor had been regularly +chosen; but a layman Constantine was elected by a rabble at the +instigation of his brother Toto of Nepi. Christopher and his son +Sergius, who held two of the greatest offices in the papal chancery, +decided to call in the aid of the duke of Spoleto to attack +Constantine, Rome was entered, and in the appalling confusion the +Lombards elected a certain priest named Philip to be pope. Christopher +appeared, Philip was turned out, and Stephen III., a Sicilian, was +regularly chosen. That was in 768, and in the same year king Pepin +died and was succeeded by his two sons, Charles to whom apparently +fell Austrasia and Neustria, and Carloman who took Burgundy, Provence, +and Swabia. + +The death of Pepin left the papacy without a champion. Nor was this +all, as soon appeared. Charles and Carloman began to quarrel and to +effect their reconciliation, or to avert its consequences, Bertrada, +their mother, counselled and succeeded in forcing upon them a +friendship and an alliance with the Lombards which meant the complete +abandonment of Italy upon the part of the Franks. This alliance was to +be secured by a double marriage. Charles was to marry Desiderata, the +daughter of the Lombard king, while Gisila, Bertrada's daughter, was +to marry Desiderius' heir. It is obvious that S. Peter was in peril, +nor was pope Stephen slow to denounce the whole arrangement. His +remonstrance, however, was ineffectual and there remained to him but +one thing to do: to arrange himself with the now uncurbed Lombard +king. This was exceedingly difficult, because his own election had +been achieved only by the humiliation of the Lombards. However, he +managed it at the price of civil war. Desiderius and his army entered +Rome at the behest of the pope, who celebrated Mass before the king in +S. Peter's. The Franks were checkmated. + +It was not long before Charles saw that he had been outwitted. An +immediate change of his policy was necessary. In 771 it came with the +repudiation of Desiderata, who was sent back to her father's court at +Pavia. Henceforth Charles and Desiderius were implacable enemies. And +now everything went in favour of the papal policy, just as before +everything had seemed to cross it. Carloman, who had not quarrelled +with Desiderius, and might have opposed Charles and changed all the +future, suddenly died in December of the year of the quarrel. Charles +became thus sole king of the Frankish nation. When pope Stephen came +to die in February 772 he must have laid him down with a quiet mind. + +In Stephen's stead there was elected as pope a pure Roman, born in the +Via Lata of the nobility of the City; he took the famous name of +Hadrian I. Desiderius, who had watched with a growing anxiety the +amazing policy of Stephen, now turned to his successor, and both +demanded and begged a renewal of friendship. Hadrian answered his +ambassador at last with the mere truth. "How can I trust your king +when I recall what my predecessor Lord Stephen of pious memory told me +in confidence of his perfidy? He told me that he had lied to him in +everything as to the rights of Holy Church, though he swore upon the +body of the Blessed Peter.... Look you, such is the honour of king +Desiderius and the measure of the confidence I may repose in him." + +Desiderius' answer was not to the point. He seized the cities of +Faenza, Ferrara, and Comacchio and ravaged the territory about +Ravenna, burned the farms and carried off the cattle. Then he fell +upon the Pentapolis, seized Sinigaglia, Jesi, Urbino, Gubbio, S. Leo, +and other "Roman" cities, and indeed possessed himself of everything +save only Ravenna and Rimini, and proceeded upon a raid into the duchy +of Rome. + +The answer of the pope was mild but firm: mild, for the hour was not +yet come; firm, for it would strike ere long. "Tell your king," said +he, "that I swear in the presence of God that if he choose to restore +those cities which in my time he has taken from S. Peter, I will +hasten into his presence wherever he may appoint a meeting place, at +Pavia, Ravenna, Perugia, or here in Rome, that we may confer +together.... But if he does not restore what he has taken away he +shall never see my face." + +The hour was not come. Charles was busy with the Saxon hordes upon the +north and east of his kingdom. It was not till the beginning of +January 773 that the pope sent his messenger Peter to summon him to +his aid. Meanwhile, Desiderius marched on Rome. But even without +Charles the pope was not defenceless. The Vicegerent of God who had +without a soldier turned back Attila on the Mincio and had thrust back +Liutprand from Rome was not to be at the mercy of such a king as +Desiderius. At Viterbo his messengers, the three bishops of Albano, +Palestrina, and Tivoli, met the Lombard king and gave him the pope's +last word: "Anathema." Desiderius shrank back. In that moment as it +seems the ambassadors of Charles arrived in Rome, satisfied themselves +of the justice of the papal summons, and carried back to the great +Frank the prayer of the pope that he would "redeem the Church of God." +In the late summer of that year the Frankish host was assembled at +Geneva and was already beginning to cross the mountains in two mighty +commands by the Great S. Bernard and the Mont Cenis; in October the +siege of Pavia was begun. + +That siege endured for more than eight months. Meanwhile Charles had +made himself master of Verona and of many of the cities of the plain. +The men of Spoleto hastened to "commend" themselves to the pope and +the citizens of Fermo, Osimo, and Ancona, and of Citta di Castello, we +read, followed their example, and for the feast of Easter 774, Charles +appeared in Rome, and was greeted and embraced by the pope at S. +Peter's. On Easter Day Charles heard Mass in S. Maria Maggiore, on +Easter Monday in S. Peter's, on Easter Tuesday in S. Paul's. On the +Wednesday in that Easter week, according to Hadrian's biographer, he +made that great Donation to the papacy which confirmed and extended +and secured the gift of Pepin his father. The duchies of Spoleto and +Benevento, and much else, were added to the exarchate "as it was of +old" and given to the pope. Then in June Pavia, the Lombard capital, +fell and Desiderius and his wife were sent by Charles as prisoners to +a convent in Picardy where it is said they ended their lives. + +[Illustration: GUARDHOUSE OF THE PALACE OF THEODORIC] + +The Donation of Pepin, confirmed, renewed, and enlarged by Charles, +may, of course, be understood in various ways; at any rate it has been +so understood; but it is certain that the pope saw in it both the +fulfilment of his hopes and the final establishment of the papal +monarchy. Yet while he utterly refused, and rightly, to admit the +claim of Charles--not yet emperor--to interfere in the election of the +archbishop of Ravenna, the head of his new dominion, he graciously +permitted the king to take away certain mosaics from the old imperial +city to adorn his palace at Aix; and that in the following letter, +which Dr. Hodgkin translates: "We have received your bright and +honeysweet letters brought us by Duke Arwin. In these you expressed +your desire that we should grant you the mosaics and marbles of the +palace in the city of Ravenna, as well as other specimens to be found +both in the pavement and on the walls. We willingly grant your request +because by your royal struggles the Church of your patron S. Peter +daily enjoys many benefits, for which great will be your reward in +heaven...." On no theory yet put forward can the pope be considered as +the subject of the king of the Franks. That he had been and was to be +the subject of the emperor can be defended, but when has S. Peter been +the creature of a king? + +It was not Hadrian as we know but Leo who was destined to crown what +pope Stephen had begun, and to re-establish the empire in the West, +and as he thought to create for S. Peter not an occasional but a +permanent champion. + +Twenty-five years after that great Easter in Rome, pope Leo, who +succeeded Hadrian, whose long pontificate lasted for twenty-three +years, was attacked in the streets of Rome and thrown to the ground in +the Corso by two nephews of Hadrian's. Exactly what was the nature of +their quarrel with Leo we do not know, but they managed to imprison +the pope, who presently escaped and, assisted by Winichis, duke of +Spoleto, made his way to the court of Charles. During the summer of +799 the pope remained in France, and probably in October returned to +Rome with a Frankish guard of honour. In the following autumn Charles +set out on his fourth journey to Rome. It was now that he visited +Ravenna, as he had already done in 787, and remained for seven days. +On the 24th November he arrived in Rome. A month later upon Christmas +Day the great king, attended by his nobles, amid a vast multitude, +went to S. Peter's to hear Mass. It was there in the midst of that +great basilica, before the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, that +upon the birthday of Christ the empire re-arose; the pope placed upon +the head of Charlemagne the golden diadem and the Roman people cried +aloud, "_Carolo Piissimo Augusta Deo, Coronato Magno a Pacifico +Imperatori Vita et Victoria_," Three times that great acclamation +echoed over the tomb of the Fisherman. Once more there was an emperor +in the West, a champion of the Faith and defender of the Holy See. + +It has been asserted, and is still I believe maintained, that that +coronation was a surprise to Charles. But such things do not come +unforeseen, nor was Charlemagne the man to permit or to tolerate so +amazing an astonishment. All Rome knew what was about to be +accomplished and had gathered in the ancient basilica to await it and +complete it. + +Such a question, however, concerns us but little. For us it remains to +note that with the re-creation of the empire, and the appearance of +the Holy See as a great temporal sovereignty in Italy, the historical +importance of Ravenna comes to an end. We have seen that in the autumn +of the most famous year save that of the birth of Our Lord, +Charlemagne had visited Ravenna and had spent seven days in the city. +Once more he was to visit it, and that upon his return journey +northward in May 801. From this time Ravenna ceases to be of any +significance in the history of Europe. The pass it held was no longer +of importance, for the barbarian invasions were at an end, and a new +road into Italy over the Apennines was coming into use, the Via +Francigena, the way of the Franks. As the port upon the sea which was +the fault between East and West it, too, ceased to exist; for East and +West were no longer of any real importance the one to the other, and +already the alteration of the coast line, which was one day to leave +the old seaport some miles from the shore, had begun. + +The history of Ravenna, her importance in the history of Europe and +Italy, thus comes to an end with the appearance of Charlemagne and the +resurrection of the West. The ancient and beautiful city which had +played so great a part in the fortunes of the empire, which had, as it +were, twice been its birthplace and twice its tomb, herself passes +into oblivion when that empire, Holy now and Roman still, rises again +and in the West with the crowning of Charlemagne in S. Peter's Church +upon Christmas Day in the year of Our Lord 800. With her subsequent +story, interesting to us mainly in two of its episodes--the apparition +of Dante and the incident of 1512--I shall deal when I come to +consider the Mediaeval and Renaissance city. + +But in fact we always think of Ravenna as a city of the Dark Age, and +in that we are right. She is a tomb, the tomb of the old empire, and +like the sepulchre outside the gates of Jerusalem, that was Arimathean +Joseph's, she held during an appalling interval of terror and doubt +the most precious thing in the world, to be herself utterly forgotten +in the morning of the resurrection. And surely to one who had +approached her in the dawn, while it was yet dark, of the ninth +century, of mediaeval Europe that is, her words would have been those +of the angels so long ago: _Non est hic; sed surrexit_. While to us +to-day she would say: _Venite et videte locum ubi positus erat +Dominus_. + + + + +XI + +THE CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF THE FIFTH CENTURY + +THE CATHEDRAL, BAPTISTERY, ARCIVESCOVADO, S. AGATA, S. PIETRO +MAGGIORE, S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA, S. GIOVANNI BATTISTA, AND THE +MAUSOLEUM OF GALLA PLACIDIA + + +Ravenna, as we see her to-day, is like no other city in Italy. As in +her geography and in her history, so in her aspect, she is a place +apart, a place very distinctive and special, and with a physiognomy +and appearance all her own. What we see in her is still really the +city of Honorius, of Galla Placidia, of Theodoric, of Belisarius and +Narses, of the exarchate, in a word, of the mighty revolution in which +Europe, all we mean by Europe, so nearly foundered, and which here +alone is still splendidly visible to us in the great Roman and +Byzantine works of that time. + +For the age, the Dark Age, of her glory is illumined by no other city +in Italy or indeed in the world. She was the splendour of that age, a +lonely splendour. And because, when that age came to an end, she was +practically abandoned--abandoned, that is, by the great world--just as +about the same time she was abandoned by the sea, much of her ancient +beauty has remained to her through all the centuries since, even down +to our own day, when, lovelier than ever in her lonely marsh, she is a +place so lugubrious, so infinitely still and sad, full of the autumn +wind and the rumours of silence of the tomb, of the most reverent of +all tombs--the tomb of the empire. + +We shall not find in Ravenna anything at all, any building, that is, +or work of art, of classical antiquity; all she was, all she did, all +she possessed in the great years of the empire has perished. Nor shall +we find much that may have been hers in the smaller life that came to +her in the beginning of the Middle Age, or that was hers in the time +of the Renaissance; the memory and the dust of Dante, a few churches, +a few frescoes, a few pictures, a few palaces; nothing beside. For all +these we must go to Pompeii and to Rome, or to Florence, Siena, +Assisi, and Venice; in Ravenna we shall find something more rare, but +not these. She remains a city of the Dark Age, of the fifth, sixth, +seventh, and eighth centuries, and she is full of the churches, the +tombs, and the art of that time, early Christian and Byzantine things +that we shall not find elsewhere, or, at any rate, not in the same +abundance, perfection, and beauty. + +And yet though so much remains, her story since the time of +Charlemagne might seem to be little else but a long catalogue of +pillage and destruction. Charlemagne himself began this cruel work +when he carried off the mosaics and the marbles, the ornaments of the +imperial palace, to adorn Aix-la-Chapelle, and since his day not a +century has passed without adding to this vandalism; the worst +offenders being the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, +eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, which by rebuilding, by frank +pillage, by mere destruction, by earthquakes, by contempt, and worst +of all by restoration have utterly destroyed much that should have +remained for ever, and have altogether spoilt and transformed most of +that which, almost by chance it might seem, remains. + +And so it comes to pass that the oldest buildings remaining to us +to-day in Ravenna are to be found in the baptistery, the cathedral, +the arcivescovado, and the mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the oldest +complete building being the last. Let us then first consider these. + +The first bishop, the "Apostle" of Ravenna, according to Agnellus, was +S. Apollinaris, a Syrian of Antioch, the friend and disciple of S. +Peter, who, as we know, had been bishop of Antioch for seven years +before he went to Rome. Apollinaris followed S. Peter to the Eternal +City and was appointed by him bishop of Ravenna, whither he came to +establish the church. There might seem to be some doubt as to his +martyrdom; but, according to Agnellus, he was succeeded by his +disciple S. Aderitus, and he in his turn by S. Eleucadius, a +theologian, who is said to have written commentaries upon the books of +the Old and New Testaments, and to have been followed as bishop by S. +Martianus, a noble whom S. Apollinaris had ordained deacon. There +follows in the _Liber Pontificalis_ of Agnellus a list of twelve +bishops, S. Calocerus, S. Proculus, S. Probus, S. Datus, S. Liberius, +S. Agapetus, S. Marcellinus, S. Severus (c. 344), S. Liberius II., S. +Probus II., S. Florentius, and S. Liberius III., who occupy the see +before we come to S. Ursus, who "first began to build a Temple to God, +so that the Christians previously scattered about in huts should be +collected into one sheepfold."[1] S. Ursus, according to Dr. +Holder-Egger, ruled in Ravenna from 370 to 396, and his church was +dedicated in 385; but a later authority[2] would seem to place his +pontificate later, and to argue that it immediately preceded that of +S. Peter Chrysologus, who, the same authority asserts, was elected in +429. All agree that S. Ursus reigned for twenty-six years, and +therefore, if he immediately preceded S. Peter Chrysologus, he was +elected not in 370, but in 403; that is to say, in or about the same +time as Honorius took up his residence in Ravenna. + +[Footnote 1: "Iste piimus hic initiavit Templum construere Dei, ut +plebes Christianorum quae in singulis tuguriis vagabant in unum ovile +piissimus collegeret Pastor ... Igitur aedificavit iste Beatissimus +Praesul infra hanc Civitatem Ravennam Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam, +quo omnes assidue concurremus, quam de suo nomine Ursianam nominavit +... "] + +[Footnote 2: A Testi Rasponi, _Note Marginali al Liber Pontificalis di +Agnello Ravennate_ in _Atti e Memorie della R. Dep. di St. Pat. per la +Romagna_, iii. 27 (Bologna, 1909-10).] + +However that may be, we must attribute the foundation of a new +cathedral church in Ravenna to S. Ursus, for till this day it bears +his name, Ecclesia Ursiana, though it appears to have been dedicated +in honour of the Resurrection (Anastasis.) + +[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL (_Basilica Ursiana_)] + +Agnellus gives us a fairly full account of this church, which +consisted of five naves divided and upheld by four rows of +fifty-six[1] columns of precious marble from the temple of Jupiter. +That the church was approached by steps we learn from Agnellus in his +life of S. Exuperantius, for he there tells us that Felix the +patrician was killed "on the steps of the Ecclesia Ursiana." Both the +vault and the walls were adorned with mosaics,[2] which Agnellus +describes and which would seem to have covered then or later the whole +of the interior; the wall on the women's side of the church being +decorated with a figure of S. Anastasia, while over all was a dome +"adorned with various coloured tiles representing different figures." +When Agnellus wrote (ninth century) this great church was of course +standing, but doubtless it had been added to and adorned from century +to century, and it is impossible to learn from his description, or +indeed any other that we have, what was due therein to S. Ursus and +what to his successors. One of the most splendid ornaments the church +possessed would seem to have been a ciborium of silver, borne by +columns which stood over the high altar also of silver. This is said +by Agnellus to have been placed there by the bishop S. Victor, who +seems to have ruled in Ravenna from about 537 to 544. It is said to +have cost, with the consent of Justinian, the whole revenue of Italy +for a year and to have weighed some one hundred and twenty pounds. The +whole stood in the midst of a circular choir of marble, itself covered +with silver it might seem, if we may believe a chronicler of Vicenza +of the fifteenth century, quoted by Zirardini,[3] who says: "In the +great church of Ravenna all the choir, the altar, and the great +tabernacle over the altar are of silver." Before the altar was the +_Schola Caniorum_. + +[Footnote 1: Fabri, however, in his _Sacre Memorie_, says there were +forty-nine columns.] + +[Footnote 2: Agnellus gives the names of the mosaicists Euserius or +Cuserius, Paulus, Agatho, Satius, and Stephanus.] + +[Footnote 3: Zirardini, _De Antiquis Sacris Ravennae Aedificiis_.] + +Agnellus tells us further in his life of S. Felix (_c_. 693) that that +bishop built a _Salutatorium_ (? Sacristy), "whence the bishop and his +assistants proceeded at the Introit of the Mass into the presence of +the people." But the Epigram which Agnellus quotes from this building +would seem to suggest that the _salutatorium_ was rather then rebuilt +than added for the first time to the church. + +The magnificent basilica, one of the most splendid in Italy, was +sacked by the French in April 1512, but, as Dr. Corrado Ricci says, it +was not they who destroyed the church itself, but the _accademici_ of +the eighteenth century, who, instead of conserving the glorious +building, then some thirteen hundred years old, began in 1733 to pull +it down, to break up the beautiful capitals and columns of precious +marbles, and to make out of the fragments the pavement of the new +church we still see, begun in 1734 by Gian Francesco Buonamici da +Rimini. Only the apse with its beautiful great mosaic remained for a +few years till at last it too was destroyed. + +Thus the church we have in place of the old Basilica Ursiana is a +building of the eighteenth century, and all that we care for in it is +the fragments that are to be found there of its glorious predecessor. + +These are few in number and of little account. Supporting the central +arch of the portico are two marble columns which belonged to the old +basilica, and by the main door are two others of granite which came +perhaps from the old nave. + +Entering the church we find ourselves in a cruciform building +consisting of three naves, divided by twenty-four columns of marble, +transept, and apse, with a dome over the crossing. In the second +chapel on the right is an ancient marble sarcophagus said to be that +of S. Exuperantius, bishop of Ravenna about 470. The magnificent tomb +carved in high relief did not, however, belong to the old cathedral, +but was brought here when the church of S. Agnese was destroyed. In +the south transept is the chapel of the Madonna del Sudore, where on +either side are two other sarcophagi of marble adorned with figures +and symbols. That on the right is said to be the tomb of S. +Barbatianus, confessor of Galla Placidia, and was originally in the +church of S. Lorenzo in Caesarea, whence it was brought to the +cathedral in the thirteenth century by the archbishop Bonifazio de' +Fieschi, whom Dante found in Purgatory among the gluttons: + + "Bonifazio + che pasturo col rocco molte genti..." + +He brought the sarcophagus to the cathedral for his own tomb and there +I suppose he was buried. The sarcophagus upon the left was likewise +used in 1321 as a tomb for himself by the archbishop, Rainaldo +Concoreggio. This, too, is sculptured with a bas-relief of Christ, a +nimbus round His head, a book in His hand, seated on a throne set on a +rock, out of which four rivers flow. With outstretched hand He gives a +crown to S. Paul, while S. Peter bearing a cross holds a crown, just +received, in his hand. The sculpture on the sarcophagus of S. +Barbatianus is ruder. + +The high altar is of course modern, but within it is an ancient marble +sarcophagus of the sixth century, in which it is said the dust of nine +bishops of about that time lies. + +But one noble thing remains here among all the modern trash to remind +us of all we have lost: the glorious processional cross of silver +called of S. Agnello. Yet even this, noble as it is, does not come to +us from Roman or Byzantine times it seems, but is rather a work of the +eleventh century. + +In the midst of this great cross, upon one side, is the Blessed Virgin +praying, and upon the other Christ rising from the tomb. Upon the arms +of the cross, and the uprights, are forty medallions of saints, of +which three would seem to be archbishops. I say this beautiful and +precious thing comes to us from the eleventh century; but it has been +very much restored at various times and is now largely a work of the +sixteenth century. Dr. Ricci tells us that on the side where we see +the Madonna only the five medallions on the lower upright and the two +last of the upper are original; while upon that of the Risen Christ, +only the five medallions on the lower upright are untouched, all the +rest is restoration. + +Beneath the eighteenth-century apse of the cathedral is the ancient +crypt, no longer to be seen; it does not, according to Dr. Ricci, date +earlier than the ninth century nor do any of the other crypts in the +city. + +In the left aisle a few fragments from the old church remain +recognisable. They are the marble slabs of an _ambo_ erected by S. +Agnellus, archbishop of Ravenna in the middle of the sixth century. +There we read: _Servus Christi Agnellus Episcopus hunc pyrgum fecit_. +Among these are some earlier panels of the fifth century. In the +treasury, again, we find two other panels from the _ambo_ of S. +Agnellus, and a strange calendar carved upon a slab of marble to +enable one to find the feast of Easter in any year from 532 to 626; +this is certainly of the sixth century. + +A certain number of Mediaeval and Renaissance things are also to be +seen in the church. Here in the treasury we have a cross of silver +gilt, with reliefs of the Crucifixion, God the Father, the Blessed +Virgin, S. John Baptist, and S. Mary Magdalen, dating from the middle +of the fourteenth century (1366). Over the entrance to the sacristy is +a fresco by Guido Reni of Elijah the prophet fed by an angel. Within, +is a good picture by Marco Palmezzano: a Pieta with S. John Baptist; +while the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament is decorated by him and his +pupils. + +It is obvious, then, that very little remains to us of the original +Basilica Ursiana; nor can we reckon among that little the beautiful +round and isolated campanile. This is not older than the ninth +century, and has been much tampered with, especially in the sixteenth +century, after an earthquake, and in the seventeenth century after +both earthquake and fire. Indeed, the upper storey dates entirely from +1658. + +As it is with the cathedral, so it is with the _Arcivescovado_. Of the +old palace of the Bishops of Ravenna only a few walls, a tower, and a +wonderful little chapel remain. What we see now is work of the +sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries after a restoration at the end +of the nineteenth. The old vast palace which has been destroyed was +the work of many archbishops, achieved during many centuries. It +consisted of a series of buildings grouped about the palace which the +archbishop S. Peter Chrysologus built in the fifth century, and its +most magnificent part was due to S. Maximian, archbishop of Ravenna in +the time of Justinian. All their work, which we would so gladly see, +is gone except the little chapel of S. Peter Chrysologus, which he +built and signed in one of the arches in the fifth century.[1] + +[Footnote 1: According to Rasponi the chapel was dedicated originally +to S. Andrea and is to be identified with the Monasterium di S. +Andrea, which was not built by S. Peter Chrysologus (429-_c_. 449), +but by Peter II. (494-_c_. 519). Cf. Rasponi, _Note Marginali al Liber +Pontificalis di Agnello Ravennate_ (Atti e Memorie della R. Dep. di +Stor. Pat. per la Romagna, iii. 27), Bologna, 1909-1910.] + +Of this great man Agnellus records: "He was beautiful in appearance, +lovely in aspect; before him there was no bishop like him in wisdom, +nor any other after him." He was a native of Imola, then called Forum +Cornelii, and was ordained deacon by the bishop of that city, one +Cornelius, of whom he always speaks with affection and gratitude. When +the bishop of Ravenna died, it is said the clergy of the cathedral, +then just built or building, with the people, chose a successor, and +besought the bishop of Imola to go to Rome to obtain the confirmation +of the pope. Cornelius took with him his deacon Peter, and the pope, +who had been commanded so to do by the Prince of the Apostles in a +dream, refused to ratify the election already made, but proposed Peter +the deacon as the bishop chosen by S. Peter himself. Peter was there +and then consecrated bishop, was conducted to Ravenna, and received +with acclamation. He is said to have found a certain amount of +paganism still remaining in his diocese, and to have completely +extirpated it. He often preached before the Augusta Galla Placidia and +her son Valentinian III., and he was perhaps the first archbishop of +the see, Ravenna till his time having been suffragan to Milan. He +seems to have died about 450 in Imola. Among his many buildings, which +included the monastery of S. Andrea at Classis, is the little chapel +now dedicated in his honour in the _Arcivescovado_ of Ravenna. It is +perhaps the only one of his works which remains. The little square +chamber, out of which the sanctuary opens, is upheld by four arches, +which are covered, as is the vaulting, with most precious mosaics, +still of the fifth century, though they have been and are still being +much restored. On the angles of the vaulting, on a gold ground, we see +four glorious white angels holding aloft in their upraised hands the +symbol of Our Lord. Between them are the mighty signs of the Four +Evangelists, the angel, the lion, the ox, and the eagle. In the key, +as it were, of the arches east and west is a medallion of Our Lord, +and three by three under the arch on either side the eleven Apostles +and S. Paul, who takes the place of Judas instead of Matthias. In the +key of the arches north and south is a medallion of the symbol of +Christ, and three by three under the arch on either side six saints, +the men to the right SS. Damian, Fabian, Sebastian, Chrysanthus, +Chrysologus, and Cassianus; the women to the left SS. Cecilia, +Eugenia, Eufemia, Felicitas, Perpetua, and Daria. Here the SS. Fabian, +Sebastian, and Damian, Dr. Ricci tells us, are altogether +restorations. For the rest, these mosaics have suffered much, both +from restoration, properly so called, and from painting. + +The pavement is old and beautiful, as I think are the walls, but the +frescoes, once by Luca Longhi, are most unworthy and out of place. The +recess which now contains the altar might seem not to have made a part +of the original chapel or oratory; it appears it was only in the +eighteenth century that the two were thrown into one. At that time the +mosaics of the Blessed Virgin and of S. Apollinaris and S. Vitalis +were brought here from the old cathedral. + +Just outside this wonderful little chapel in the _Arcivescovado_ there +is an apartment devoted to Roman and other remains found from time to +time in Ravenna: a torso of a statue, a work of Roman antiquity, +should be noted, as should certain fragments of a frieze, also an +antique Roman work. Here, too, is preserved the splendid cope of S. +Giovanni Angeloptes who was archbishop from 477 to 494[1] when he +died. + +[Footnote 1: Cf. A. Testi Rasponi, _op. cit. supra_.] + +In another apartment of the _Arcivescovado_ is preserved a relic of +another great archbishop of Ravenna: the ivory throne of S. +Maximianus. This is a magnificent work of the early part of the sixth +century, and is one of the most splendid works known to us of its +kind. It was made for the cathedral of Ravenna, but in or about the +year 1001 it was carried off by the Venetians and given by doge Pietro +Orseolo II. to the emperor Otto III., who left it to the church of +Ravenna on his death. It is entirely formed of ivory leaves, most of +them carved sumptuously in relief. In front we see the monogram of +_Maximianus Episcopus_ and under it are carvings of S. John Baptist +between the Four Evangelists; all these between elaborately carved +decorative panels. About the throne to right and left is the story of +Joseph in ten panels, and upon the back in the seven panels that +remain[2] the miracles of Our Lord. Altogether it is a work of the +most lovely kind, and certainly Byzantine. + +[Footnote 2: Four of those missing, Dr. Ricci tells us, have of late +years been discovered, one in the Naples Museum (1893), one in the +collection of Count Stroganoff (1903), one at Pesaro (1894), and +another in the Archaeological Museum at Milan (1905).] + +We shall come upon S. Maximianus again in S. Vitale, where something +must be said of him. He lies, as has already been noted, in one of the +great sarcophagi in the second chapel on the right in the cathedral. + +From the _Arcivescovado_ we pass to what is now the most remarkable +building of the group--the Baptistery. + +Dr. Ricci tells us that it was originally one of the halls of the +baths that were near the present cathedral. But it was converted into +a baptistery and ornamented with mosaics by the archbishop Neon of +Ravenna (_c_. 449-459) as its inscriptions tell us and is signed with +his monogram. The original floor is three metres below that we see, +and a second floor about a metre and a half above the original floor +has been discovered; this it would seem is that made by Neon, while a +third remains about half a metre under the pavement we use, and upon +this are set the eight columns, with their capitals, two of them +Byzantine and the rest Roman, which uphold the arches of the upper +arcade upon which is set the great drum of the dome. The plan is a +simple octagon, bare brick without, covered with a "tent" roof of +amphorae under the tiles; but within, everywhere encrusted with +glorious marbles and mosaics. + +It is to the mosaic of the cupola that we instinctively turn first, +for it is, perhaps, the finest left to us in Ravenna. It is divided +into three parts. In the midst is the Baptism of Our Lord on a gold +ground. Christ stands up to His waist in the clear waters of the +Jordan, the god of which river waits upon Him. S. John high up on the +bank, his staff, topped with a cross, in his hand, pours the water +from a shell upon Our Lord's head while the Dove, an almost heraldic +figure, is seen above About this circular mosaic is set a greater +circle in which we see, upon a blue ground, the twelve Apostles in +procession, each bearing his crown. Nothing left to us of that age is +finer or more gravely splendid than these mosaics, they seem to be the +highest expression of a great art which has known how to reject the +brutal realism of an earlier time and to seize perfectly the secret of +decoration. Nothing of the kind more masterly remains to us in Europe. + +Beneath these two circles another is set in which are eight panels, +each of three parts, where are represented eight temples, four of them +with thrones signed with the Cross, and four of them with altars upon +which the book of the Gospel is open. + +[Illustration: THE BAPTISTERY AND CAMPANILE OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +The whole cupola is borne by the upper arcade, where we see sixteen +figures of the Prophets in stucco. The upper arcade is in its turn +borne by the lower, which is everywhere encrusted with mosaics, +restorations of our own time. The walls are panelled with various +marbles. In the midst of the building is a huge octagonal font with +its _ambo_, and in one of the wall niches is an ancient altar, and in +another a vase of marble. + +The effect of all this splendour is even to-day very lovely and +glorious; what it might have been if it had been properly cared for +instead of "restored" we can only guess. Unhappily the "restoration" +has been very radical. Even in the central Baptism, the head and +shoulders and right arm of the figure of the Saviour, the head and +shoulders and right arm, the right leg and foot of the Baptist and the +cross in his his left hand have been destroyed and the whole dimmed +and even spoiled. Such as it is, however, where shall we find its +equal or anything to compare with it? + +From the cathedral group we now turn to the other churches which were +built in the time of the old empire in Ravenna for the most part, in +the days, that is, of Galla Placidia and her son Valentinian III. + +Among these is the church of S. Agata (entrance Via Mazzini 46), which +though entirely rebuilt, with its campanile, in the later part of the +fifteenth century is since the "restoration" of 1893 interesting, if +at all, because the church dates originally from the fifth century. It +would seem indeed that it was founded in the time of the Augusta, and +to this the walls of part of the nave bear witness, but it was +continued later perhaps by the archbishop Exuperantius (_c_. 470) +whose monogram appears upon the second column to the left in the nave, +and finally completed or in part rebuilt in the sixth century. In the +fifteenth century (1476-94), the church was largely rebuilt again, but +its tribune with its great mosaic remained till 1688 when it fell. In +the sixth century it would seem to have had an atrium or narthex. Its +main interest for us to-day lies in the beauty of its columns of bigio +antico, cipollino, porphyry, granite, and other marbles belonging to +the original church, with their Roman and Byzantine capitals. Also to +the right of the nave we see a curious _ambone_ hollowed out of a +fragment of a gigantic column of Greek marble. The altar, too, is +formed from an ancient sarcophagus which is said to hold the dust of +the two archbishops, Sergius, with whom the pope had so much trouble, +and Agnellus. According to Agnellus the chronicler there was a +portrait of the archbishop S. John Angeloptes in the apse, but this +like the great mosaic of the tribune is gone. It was here, however, +that S. John got that strange surname of his--Angeloptes. He and his +predecessor S. Peter Chrysologus with S. Maximian and Sergius were the +great archbishops of this great see. We hear that the emperor +Valentinian III., according to Agnellus--but we should place the +bishopric of S. John Angeloptes 477-494--"was so much affected by the +preaching of this holy man that he took off his imperial crown and +humbly on his knees begged his blessing.... Not long after he gave him +fourteen cities with their churches to be governed by him +_Archieratica potestate_. And even to this day (ninth century), these +fourteen cities with their bishops are subject to the church of +Ravenna.[1] This bishop first received from the emperor a _Pallium_ of +white wool, just such as it is the custom for the pope to wear over +the _Duplum_; and he and his successors have used such a vestment even +to the present day." + +[Footnote 1: The Archbishop of Ravenna at the present day has seven +suffragans, Bertinoro, Cervia, Cesena, Comacchio, Forli, Rimini, +Sarsina. It is hard to decide whether this man or Peter Chrysologus +was the first archbishop of Ravenna.] + +This passage of Agnellus is important, but does not seem, on +examination, to have any real bearing upon the question of the +dependence of the See of Ravenna upon Rome. The Pallium was originally +an imperial gift to the popes, probably in the fourth century. And the +fact that it is the emperor and not the pope who bestowes it upon the +archbishop of Ravenna in the fifth century, if it be true, can have no +meaning at all in the question of papal supremacy. + +Agnellus, whom I have quoted, goes on to tell us of that miracle which +gave S. John, archbishop of Ravenna, his surname of Angeloptes or +Angel-seer. "When the said John," he tells us, "was singing Mass in +the Basilica of S. Agata and had accomplished all things according to +the pontifical rite, after the reading of the Gospel, after the +Protestation (? the Credo), the catechumens to whom it was given to +see saw marvellous things. For when that most blessed man began the +Canon, and made the sign of the Cross over the sacrifice, suddenly an +angel from heaven came and stood on the other side of the altar in +sight of the bishop. And when after finishing the consecration he had +received the Body of the Lord, the assisting deacon who wished to +fulfil his ministry could not see the chalice which he had to hand to +him. Suddenly he was moved aside by the angel who offered the holy +chalice to the bishop in his place. Then all the priests and people +began to shake and to tremble beholding the holy chalice self-moved, +inclined to the bishop's mouth, and again lifted into the air, and +laid upon the holy altar. A strange thrill passed through the waiting +multitude. Some said: 'The deacon is unworthy;' others affirmed, 'Not +so, but it is a heavenly visitation.' And so long did the angel stand +by the holy man until all the solemnities of the Mass were ended." + +Soon after this strange miracle S. John Angeloptes died and was buried +in the basilica of S. Agata behind the altar in the place where he saw +the angel standing. + +Nothing seems to remain of his tomb or his grave; but the church is +full of curious fragments, broken pillars, bits of mosaic, ancient +marble panels, beautifully carved, and more than one old sarcophagus. +Somewhere there no doubt the dust of S. John Angeloptes awaits the +resurrection. + +From S. Agata we pass to S. Francesco. This church was founded by S. +Peter Chrysologus (429-_c_. 449) and was completed by S. Peter +Chrysologus' successor, the archbishop S. Neon (_c_. 459). Its first +title would seem to have been that of S. Peter Major; we hear, too, +that it was called SS. Peter and Paul, and Agnellus in his life of S. +Neon calls the church Basilica Apostolorum. The region of the city in +which it stands would seem to have borne also the name _Regio Aposto +lorum_, though whether it got the name from the church or the church +from it is impossible to decide.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The Franciscans conventuals would seem to have possessed +the church from 1261 to 1810.] + +Unhappily the church has been entirely rebuilt in the eighteenth +century, and our interest in it is confined for the most part to the +tower, the crypt, the twenty-two columns of Greek marble which uphold +the nave, two of which are signed 'P. E.' and four others 'E. V. G.,' +and the tombs. The tall square tower dates, perhaps, from the tenth +century, the crypt from the ninth, but the columns are of the fifth +century. Perhaps the oldest thing in the church is the sarcophagus on +the right of the main door which has on its front Pagan sculptures and +on its sides Christian. Close to the holy water stoup is a very lovely +sarcophagus of the fourth century with reliefs of Our Lord and eight +Apostles. The ribs of the cover have as finials the heads of lions; +altogether this is a very splendid and noble tomb. In the last chapel +upon the right we find the great sarcophagus, still used as an altar, +of S. Liberius, bishop of Ravenna (_c_. 375), "a great man, a +never-failing fountain of charity; who brought much honour to the +church," according to Agnellus. The sarcophagus dates from the end of +the fourth century and is sculptured in high relief. + +I shall return to S. Francesco when I consider Mediaeval Ravenna.[2] +At present I would direct the reader's attention to S. Giovanni +Evangelista. + +[Footnote 2: See _infra_, p. 245 _et seq_.] + +This church was originally founded by Galla Placidia herself, in +fulfilment of a vow made by her to S. John Evangelist, when, on her +way from Constantinople to Ravenna, she was in danger of shipwreck.[3] +Agnellus tells us that of old the church bore an inscription to this +effect, and he gives it to us: _Sancto ac Beatissimo Apostolo Johanni +Evangelistae Galla Placidia Augusta cum filio suo Placidio +Valentiniano Augusta et filia sua Justa Grata Honoria Augusta, +Liberationis penculum marts votum solmentes_. The mosaic of the apse +of old represented the incident. Unhappily the church was almost +entirely rebuilt in 1747, only the tower of the eleventh century and +the portico of the fourteenth being left as they had been. The +beautiful fourteenth-century door, however, bears above it a relief of +that time in which we see Our Lord, S. John Evangelist, Valentinian +III., Galla Placidia with her soldiers and her confessor, S. +Barbatian, with priests. Below this on either side of the arch of the +doorway is a representation of the Annunciation and within the arch +itself a relief which recounts the miracle which attended the +consecration of the church. For the church of S. Giovanni Evangelista +was not only founded in recompense for a miracle, but a miracle +attended its consecration. It seems that when the church was to be +consecrated no relic of S. John Evangelist was to be had. Therefore +the Augusta and her confessor gave themselves a whole night to prayer, +and suddenly there appeared to them S. John himself, vested like a +bishop with a thurible in his hand, with which he incensed the church. +Then when he came to the altar to incense it, and they would have +venerated him, he suddenly vanished, only leaving in the hand of the +Augusta one of his shoes. This legend, which is represented in relief +in the fourteenth-century doorway of S. Giovanni Evangelista, is also +the subject of a picture by Rondinelli of Ravenna in the Brera at +Milan. + +[Footnote 3: See _supra_, p. 41.] + +The church has, as I have said, been ruined by the rebuilding of 1747; +but there still remain the twenty-four columns of bigio antico with +their Roman capitals, which upheld the old basilica, and in the crypt +is the ancient high altar of the fifth century. Something, too, of the +old church would seem to remain in the much repaired walls of the apse +without. + +[Illustration: THE CAMPANILE OF S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA] + +The frescoes by Giotto, sadly repainted, in the fourth chapel on the +left, must be noted. They represent the four Evangelists with their +symbols over them, and the four Latin fathers of the Church, S. +Jerome, S. Ambrose, S. Austin, and S. Gregory. Certain fragments of a +thirteenth-century mosaic pavement are to be seen in the chapel of S. +Bartholomew, which is itself perhaps the oldest part of the church. + +We turn now to the church of S. Giovanni Battista which was founded by +a certain Baduarius, according to Agnellus, and consecrated by S. +Peter Chrysologus. It is possible that Baduarius was the mere builder, +and that he built by order of Galla Placidia. Nothing, however, is +left of the old church, which was entirely rebuilt in 1683, except the +apse as it is seen from the outside, the round campanile in its first +story and the beautiful columns sixteen in number, four of bigio +antico, two of pavonazzetto, one of cipollino, and the rest of greco +venato, according to Dr. Ricci. + + * * * * * + +There remains to be considered what is, when all is said, I suppose +the noblest monument of the fifth century left to us in Italy or in +Europe--the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. + +Agnellus tells us that the Augusta built close to her palace a great +church in the shape of a Latin cross. This she dedicated in honour of +the Holy Cross which it will be remembered her predecessor S. Helena +had discovered in Jerusalem. Of this church, though it has long since +disappeared--the "western" part of it having been destroyed in 1602 +and what remained restored out of all recognition in 1716--we know a +good deal. According to Agnellus it was covered with most precious +stones (? marbles) and apparently with mosaics and was full of +splendid ornaments. It had, too, a great narthex, and at the end of +this Galla Placidia presently built a cruciform oratory for her own +mausoleum, where she was to lie between her brother Honorius and her +son Valentinian. + +[Illustration: Colour Plate THE MAUSOLEUM OF GALLA PLACIDIA] + +The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is the oldest complete building left +to us in Ravenna, for it dates from well within the first half of the +fifth century, whereas the baptistery, altered and transformed as it +was by S. Neon, is as we see it a work of the first years of the +second half of that century. Simple as it is, without, a cruciform +building of plain brick, within it is so sumptuously and splendidly +adorned that not an inch anywhere remains that is not encrusted with +mosaic or precious marbles. These mosaics were, before their radical +"restoration," perhaps finer and more classical than those of the +baptistery. It might seem, indeed, that they were perhaps the finest +and subtlest work done in the Roman realistic tradition, nor was there +perhaps anywhere to be found so noble a representation of the Good +Shepherd as that which adorned this great monument. It is, however, +impossible to speak with any confidence of what we see there now, for +all has been restored again and again, and is now little better than a +_rifacimento_ of our own time, a copy, faithful perhaps, but still a +copy, of the work of the fifth century. + +Nevertheless, the impression of the whole is very splendid and solemn. +The roofs and dome are covered with mosaics of a wonderful and +indescribable night blue, powdered with stars. In the cupola is a +cross and at the four angles are set the symbols of the four +Evangelists, glorious heraldic figures. + +Above the door we see Christ the Good Shepherd, youthful, classic in +form and repose, very noble and Roman, seated on a rock in a broken +hilly landscape, a cross in His left hand, caressing His sheep with +His right. This figure even after "restoration" gives us more than a +glimpse of what it once was. Nowhere had Christian art produced so +majestic a representation of its Lord; nor had the subject of the Good +Shepherd been anywhere more splendidly treated than here. + +Over the great sarcophagus, opposite the entrance, we see a very +different scene. Here is no longer a youthful Christ, with the hair +and the noble aspect of Apollo, but a bearded and majestic figure in +the fullness of manhood, His eyes full of anger, His draperies flying +about Him, moving swiftly, the cross on His shoulders, in His left +hand an heretical, probably Arian, book which he is about to cast into +the furnace in the midst. Upon the extreme left is a case or cupboard +in which we see the books of the four Gospels. In the other lunettes +we see very gorgeous decorative work of arabesques and stags at a +fountain and two doves drinking from a vase. Above in the spandrils of +the arches are figures of apostles or saints. Nothing in the world is +more solemnly gorgeous in effect than this beautiful rich interior. +The pavement is composed of fragments of the same precious marbles as +those which line the lower parts of the walls. + +Under the mosaic of the burning of the heretical books we see the +mighty sarcophagus of plain Greek marble which once held the body of +the Augusta. This, of old, was richly adorned with carved marbles and +perhaps with silver or mosaic; and we know that in the fourteenth +century certainly it was possible to see within the figure of a woman +richly dressed seated in a chair of cedar and this was believed to be +the mummy of the Augusta Galla Placidia. However, we hear nothing of +it before the fourteenth century, and Dr. Ricci suggests that it may +have been an imposture of about that time. It is possible, but perhaps +unlikely, for the Augusta was not a saint, and what reason could men +have in the thirteenth century, when the very meaning of the empire +was about to be forgotten, for such an imposture? However this may be, +the figure remained there seated in its chair during the fourteenth, +fifteenth, and the greater part of the sixteenth centuries. And +indeed, it might have been there still but that in 1577 some children, +curious about it and anxious to see a thing so wonderful, thrust a +lighted taper into the tomb through one of the holes in the marble, +when mummy, vestments, chair and all were consumed, and in a moment +nothing remained but a handful of dust. + +The sarcophagi under the arches on either side, according to various +authorities, hold the dust of the emperor Honorius, the brother of the +Augusta, and of Constantius her husband, or of the emperor Valentinian +III. her son. It is impossible to decide at this late day exactly who +does and who does not lie in these great Christian tombs. + +The Mausoleum of the Augusta was long known, though not from its +origin, as the sanctuary of SS. Nazaro e Celso. When it was so +dedicated I am ignorant, but it was not in the time of the Augusta. +Then, in the fifteenth century, when so much was remembered and so +much more was forgotten, it bore the title of SS. Gervasio e Protasio, +and this name remained to it till the seventeenth century, when the +old title was revived. To-day although it retains its name of SS. +Nazaro and Celso, it is more rightly and universally known as the +Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. + + + + +XII + +THE ARIAN CHURCHES OF THE SIXTH CENTURY + +THE PALACE OF THEODORIC, S. APOLLINARE NUOVO, S. SPIRITO, S. MARIA IN +COSMEDIN, THE MAUSOLEUM OF THEODORIC + + +It was, as we have seen, upon March 5, 493, that Theodoric, king of +the Ostrogoths, entered Ravenna as the representative of the emperor +at Constantinople. One of his first acts seems to have been the +erection of a palace designed for his habitation and that of his +successors. Why this should have been so we do not know. It might seem +more reasonable to find the Gothic king taking possession of the +imperial palace, close to which the Augusta Galla Placidia had erected +the church of S. Croce and her tomb. Perhaps this had been destroyed +in the revolution or series of revolutions in which the empire in the +West had fallen, perhaps it had been ruined in the Gothic siege which +endured for some three years. Whatever had befallen it, it was not +occupied, restored, or rebuilt by Theodoric. He chose a situation upon +the other side of the city and there he built a new palace and beside +it a great Arian church, for both he and his Goths were of that sect. +We call the church to-day S. Apollinare Nuovo. + +The palace, of which nothing actually remains to us, though certain +additions made to it during the exarchate are still standing, was, +according to the various chroniclers whose works remain to us, +surrounded by porticoes, such as Theodoric built in many places, and +was carved with precious marbles and mosaics. It was of considerable +size, set in the midst of a park or gardens. Something of what it was +we may gather from the mosaics of S. Apollinare Nuovo in which it is +conventionally represented. It came to owe much to Amalasuntha who +lived there during her brief reign, and more to the exarchs who made +it their official residence. + +In 751 when Ravenna fell into the hands of the Lombards Aistulf +established himself there, but it might seem that the place had +suffered grievously in the wars, and it was probably little more than +a mighty ruin when, in 784, Charlemagne obtained permission from the +pope to strip it of its marbles and its ornaments and to carry them +off to Aix-la-Chapelle. Among these was an equestrian statue in gilded +bronze, according to Agnellus a portrait of the great Gothic king, but +as Dr Ricci suggests a statue of the Emperor Zeno. This too in the +time of Leo III. Charlemagne carried away. According to the same +authority the back of the palace was not then very far from the sea, +and this was so even in 1098. Nothing I think can give us a better +idea of the change that has come over the _contado_ of Ravenna than an +examination of its situation to-day, more than four miles from the sea +coast. + +The only memorial we have left to us _in situ_ of that palace of the +Gothic king is a half-ruined building, really a mere facade with +round-arched blind arcades and a central niche in the upper story, a +colonnade in two stories, and the bases of two round towers with a +vast debris of ruined foundations, walls, and brickwork, scarcely +anything of which, in so far as it may be said to be still standing, +would seem to have been a part of the palace Theodoric built. Indeed +the ruined facade would seem to belong to a guard house built in the +time of the exarchs in the seventh or eighth century. If we seek then +for some memory of Theodoric in this place we shall be disappointed. + +Far otherwise is it with the great church, the noblest in Ravenna, of +S. Apollinare Nuovo. This was built about the same time as the palace, +in the first twenty years of the sixth century, as the Arian cathedral +by the Gothic king. It was the chief temple in Ravenna of that heresy, +and it remained in Arian hands till with the re-establishment of the +imperial power in Italy it was consecrated, in 560, for Catholic use +by the archbishop S. Agnellus. It consists of a basilica divided into +three naves by twenty-four columns of Greek marble with +Romano-Byzantine capitals. Of old it had an atrium, but this was +removed in the sixteenth century, as was the ancient apse in the +eighteenth. The original apse, however, was ruined in an earthquake, +as Agnellus tells in his life of S. Agnellus, in the sixth century, +and of the atrium only a single column remains _in situ_ before the +church. The campanile, a noble great round tower, dates from the ninth +century for the most part, its base is, however, new. The portico +before the church is a work of the sixteenth century, as is the +facade, which nevertheless contains certain ancient marbles, among +which are two inscribed stones, one of the fourth century and the +other of the eleventh. + +When Theodoric built this great and glorious church he dedicated it to +Jesus Christ. It seems to have been dedicated in honour of S. Martin +in 560 by the archbishop S. Agnellus who consecrated it for Catholic +worship, and finally in the middle of the ninth century to have been +given the title of S. Apollinare by the archbishop John, who asserted +that he had brought hither the relics of the first archbishop of the +see from S. Apollinare in Classe when that church was threatened by +the Saracens. + +The oldest name by which the church was generally known, however, is +that of _Coelum Aureum_. Agnellus in his life of the archbishop S. +Agnellus says, speaking of the Catholic consecration of the church, +"Then the most blessed Agnellus the bishop reconciled within this city +the church of S. Martin Confessor, which Theodoric the king founded, +and which was called _Coelum Aureum_...." And he goes on to say that +it was found from an inscription that "King Theodoric made this church +from its foundations in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ."[1] It got +the name of _Coelum Aureum_ perhaps from its glorious roof of gold. +This, however, was destroyed in 1611. + +[Footnote 1: Cf. also Agnellus, _Liber Pontificalis_, Vita Theodori, +cap. n.] + +The church has indeed suffered very much in the course of the fourteen +hundred years of its existence, and yet in many ways it is the best +preserved church in Ravenna. In the sixteenth century, for instance, +it was fast sinking into ruin; the floor of the church and the bases +of the columns were then more than a metre and a half beneath the +level of the soil, and it was decided that something must be done if +the building was to be saved. In 1514 this work was undertaken; the +columns were raised and the arches cut and thus the church and its +great mosaics were preserved. It is, however, still sinking; the new +pavement of the sixteenth century has disappeared, and that of 1873 +which was brought from the suppressed church of S. Niccolo covers the +bases of the columns. + +If S. Apollinare Nuovo had been allowed to fall, nothing that we +possess in the world would have compensated us for its loss. For not +only have we here a beautiful interior very largely of the sixth +century, but the great mosaics of the nave which cover the walls above +the arcade under the windows are, I suppose, at once the largest and +the most remarkable works of that time which ever existed. They are +also of an extraordinary and exceptional beauty. They represent upon +both sides, through the whole length of the nave, as it were two long +processions of saints. Upon the Epistle side are the martyrs issuing +out of the city of Ravenna to lay their crowns at the feet of Our Lord +on His throne, guarded by four angels. Upon the Gospel side are the +virgins headed by the three kings, who offer gifts to Our Lord in his +Mother's arms enthroned between four angels. There is nothing in +Christendom to compare with these mosaics. They are unique and, as I +like to think, in their wonderful significance are the key to a +mystery that has for long remained unsolved. For these long +processions of saints, representing that great crowd of witnesses of +which S. Paul speaks, stand there above the arcade and under the +clerestory where in a Gothic church the triforium is set. But the +triforium is the one inexplicable and seemingly useless feature of a +Gothic building. It seems to us, in our ignorance of the mind of the +Middle Age, of what it took for granted, to be there simply for the +sake of beauty, to have no use at all. But what if this church in +Ravenna, the work indeed of a very different school and time, but +springing out of the same spiritual tradition, should hold the key? +What if the triforium of a Gothic church should have been built as it +were for a great crowd of witnesses--the invisible witnesses of the +Everlasting Sacrifice, the sacrifice of Calvary, the sacrifice of the +Mass? It is not only in the presence of the living, devout or half +indifferent, that that great sacrifice is offered through the world, +yesterday, to-day, and for ever, but be sure in the midst of the +chivalry of heaven, a multitude that no man can number, none the less +real because invisible, among whom one day we too are to be numbered. +Not for the living only, but for the whole Church men offer that +sacrifice _pro redemptione animarum suarum, pro spe salutis et +incolumitatis suae. Memento etiam Domine famulorum famularumque tuarum +qui nos praecesserunt cum signo fidei et dormiunt in somno pacis_.... +Here in S. Apollinare at any rate for ever they await the renewal of +that moment. + +Those marvellous figures that appear in ghostly procession upon the +walls of S. Apollinare here in Ravenna are really indescribable, they +must be seen if the lovely significance of their beauty is to be +understood. What can one say of them? + +Upon the Epistle side we see as it were a procession of twenty-five +figures all in white with palms in the right hands and crowns in their +left. They are the martyrs SS. Clement, Sixtus, Laurence, Cyprian, +Paul, Vitalis, Gervasius, Protasius, Hippolytus, Cornelius, Cassianus, +John, Ursinus, Namor, Felix, Apollinaris, Demetrius, Polycarp, +Vincent, Pancras, Chrysogonus, Protus, Jovenius, and Sabinus, and +their names are written in a long line over them; each is aureoled, +and each upon his white robe bears a letter the significance of which +is hidden from us. This procession comes out of the city of Ravenna +which is magnificently represented, occupying indeed a fifth of the +whole length of the mosaic. + +In the foreground is the palace of Theodoric, the whole facade of it, +the triple arched peristyle in the midst flanked on either side by two +triple arched loggias, each having a second story of five arches. In +the spandrils of the arches are figures of Victories, and of old in +the tympanum we might have seen Theodoric on horseback. Within, the +arches are hung with curtains. On the extreme right is the great gate +of the palace in the wall of the city, flanked on either side by +towers. In the lunette over the gateway we see three small figures of +Christ with the cross between two Apostles, and within the gate, I +think, a great figure, seated. Over the facade of the palace we look +into the city and see four churches, which Dr. Ricci suggests may be, +on the right, this very church with its baptistery, now destroyed, +together with the church of S. Teodoro (now S. Spirito) and the Arian +baptistery: they are altogether Byzantine in type. Out of this city +come the martyrs; there are twenty-five of them all in white, as I +have said, and they are led by S. Martin Confessor, who bears of +course no palm, is robed in purple, and bears his crown in both his +hands. He leads the procession along a way strewn with flowers to the +throne where Christ sits guarded by four angels. + +Above this great scene, between the windows, above each of which there +is an ornamental mosaic, we see sixteen figures of Prophets or perhaps +Fathers. Over these are twenty-seven compartments each filled with a +mosaic. Those over the heads of the prophets are, except in the case +of him who stands, at each end, last but one, filled with a sort of +recessed throne in mosaic, over which in each case are set two doors. +But the eleven compartments over the windows and the two over the two +figures last but one at either end are filled with thirteen scenes +from the New Testament, beginning on the left as follows: (1) The Last +Supper, (2) The Agony in the Garden, (3) The Kiss of Judas, (4) Christ +taken, (5) Christ before the High Priest, (6) Christ before Herod, (7) +The Denial of Peter, (8) Judas trying to restore the money to the +priests, (9) Christ before Pilate, (10) The Via Crucis, (n) The Maries +at the Sepulchre, (12) The way to Emmaus, (13) The Incredulity of S. +Thomas. + +Turning now to the Gospel side of the church, we find a similar +procession over the arcade, but of twenty-one virgin martyrs bearing +palms and crowns richly dressed with precious ornaments and jewels. +They bear the following names: SS. Pelagia, Agatha, Eulalia, Cecilia, +Lucia, Crispina, Valeria, Vincentia, Agnes with her lamb, Perpetua, +Felicitas, Justina, Anastasia, Daria, Paulina, Victoria, Anatolia, +Christina, Savona, Eugenia. They issue out of the towered gate of the +Castello of Classis, whose wall stretches before us to the great sea +gate through which we look upon the port with three ships on the +water, one of which is sailing in or out. Within the castello over the +wall of it we see buildings of a distinctly Roman type. + +The procession of virgins which issues forth from this castello is led +by S Eufemia, who does not bear a palm, but carries her crown in her +two hands. Before her go the three Magi, Balthassar, Melchior, and +Caspar, bearing their gold, frankincense, and myrrh under the palms of +the long way, guided by the star to where Madonna sits enthroned with +her little Son between four angels. + +Above between the windows, as on the Epistle side, are sixteen figures +in mosaic of the Prophets or Fathers; and over them again, as before, +are thirteen scenes from the life of Our Lord: (1) The Healing of the +cripple at Capernaum, (2) The Herd of Swine, (3) The Healing of the +paralytic who was let down in a bed to Jesus, (4) The Parable of the +sheep and the goats, (5) The Widow's mite, (6) The Pharisee and the +Publican, (7) The Raising of Lazarus, (8) The Woman of Samaria at the +well, (9) The Healing of the woman with an issue of blood, (10) The +Healing of the two blind men, (11) The Miraculous draught of fishes, +(12) The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, (13) The Water turned into +Wine. + +And what are we to say of these marvellous things? This first of all, +that for the most part they are not of the time of Theodoric, but +rather of that S. Agnellus who consecrated the church for Catholic +use. This is not to deny that there were always in the church mosaics +occupying the place which these we see fill; on the contrary. But the +processions of the martyrs and of the virgins with the three Magi are +certainly Catholic works, and of the middle or end of the sixth +century; they obviously took the place of certain mosaics perhaps full +of Arian doctrines which then stood there. On the other hand, the +castello of Classis, the Christ enthroned with angels, the Virgin +enthroned with angels, the Prophets or Fathers, and the scenes of Our +Lord's life and teaching, above them, are of Theodoric's time. The +city of Ravenna I am perhaps alone in attributing to the later period. +Dr. Ricci--and he is of course an almost infallible +authority--attributes it to the time of Theodoric. It does not seem to +me to be so. All this, however, must be understood to refer to such +parts of these mosaics as have not suffered restoration, which, +however, has not often been as drastic as that which has befallen the +figures of the Magi; of which the upper parts are new, as are the +figures of the two outer angels. + +We have here then under our eyes the two schools of mosaics, that of +Rome and that of Constantinople. It is easy to see that the Roman +work, the original work that is, is more classical and realistic than +the rich and glorious figures of the processions; but it is not +decoratively so successful. Indeed I know of nothing anywhere that is +more artistically, dramatically, and as it were liturgically +satisfying than these long processions on either side of S. Apollinare +Nuovo. + +Little else remains in the church worth notice except an ancient ambo +under the arcade in the nave and the chapel of the Relics at the top +of the left aisle. This was largely built of ancient fragments in the +sixteenth century. We see there two beautiful alabaster columns with +capitals of serpentine with two small columns of verde antico also +with ancient capitals. The screen is Byzantine. The walls are +ornamented with bas-reliefs and paintings, but above all these we see +there a marvellous portrait in mosaic of the emperor Justinian as an +old man, unhappily restored in 1863. The altar is ancient and above it +is a marble coffer with Renaissance ornaments, upheld by four columns +of porphyry, having two Byzantine and two Roman capitals. On the +Epistle side of the altar here is a marble chair--a Roman thing. + +From that splendid and well-preserved church we pass to that of the +Spirito Santo. Unhappily this once glorious building has suffered as +much as any church left to us in Ravenna, for it was almost entirely +rebuilt in 1543 when the portico we see was added to it, and in 1627 +was restored and adorned, as it was in 1854 and 1896. That it was +founded and built by the Goths and reconciled later for Catholic use +appears in Agnellus' life of the archbishop S. Agnellus, where we read +that of old the Arian Episcopio stood near by, together with a bath +and a _monastero_ of S. Apollinare. What the _monastero_ may have been +we do not know, but the bath was perhaps the Arian baptistery known as +S. Maria in Cosmedin. + +The church of the Spirito Santo was not in Arian times known under +that dedication, but was called of S. Theodore. It owes the pleasing +portico it now possesses, as I have said, to the sixteenth century, +but that portico is itself largely constructed of old materials, being +upheld by eight antique columns, of which six are of Greek marble. +These originally supported the baldacchino over the high altar. +Within, the church is divided into three naves by fourteen columns, +thirteen of which are of bigio antico, and the other, the last on the +Epistle side towards the altar, of a rare and curious marble known as +verde sanguigno. The capitals are of Theodoric's time, late Roman +work. + +Very little remains in the church that is of any interest to us. In +the sacristy, however, we may see in the present lavabo some fragments +of the ancient ciborio. And in the nave at the western end on the +Gospel side is an ancient sarcophagus of Greek marble which was carved +in the Renaissance and in the seventeenth century became the sepulchre +of one of the Pasolini family. In the first chapel on this side of the +church is the ancient _ambone_ removed from the nave in the sixteenth +century, and in the second are two columns of pavonazzetto marble. + +Something better is to be had in the utterly desolate baptistery close +by known as S. Maria in Cosmedin. This was originally, as we may +think, the ancient bath of which Agnellus speaks, and it was converted +into a baptistery by the Arians, and later consecrated for Catholic +uses under the title of S. Maria in Cosmedin and used as an oratory. +It is an octagonal building whose walls support a cupola which is +covered with mosaics in circles like that of the original baptistery +of the city. In the midst we see Christ almost a youth standing naked +in Jordan immersed to his waist. Upon His left, S. John stands upon a +rock, his staff in his left hand, while his right rests upon the head +of Our Lord. Opposite to him sits enthroned the old god of Jordan, a +reed in his hand, listening, perhaps, to the words of the Father: +"This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Over Christ's head +the Dove is displayed in the golden heaven. + +About the central mosaic is set a band of palm leaves, while on the +outer circle we see the twelve Apostles very much like the martyrs of +S. Apollinare standing dressed in white, their crowns in their hands +between palms. Only S. Peter and another, perhaps S. John or S. Paul, +do not bear crowns, but S. Peter his keys and the other a book. +Between them is set a throne on which stands a jewelled cross. + +It is exceedingly difficult to say when these mosaics were executed, +for they have been so entirely restored that very little of the +original work is left to us. They are certainly very early for work of +the Catholic restoration; and yet they remind one strongly of the +processions of S. Apollinare Nuovo. If as a whole the design of these +mosaics is of the time of the archbishop S. Agnellus, it is curious +that the subject of the Baptism should have been used for a church +which by his act had ceased to be a baptistery. The most reasonable +hypothesis would seem to be that the design and choice of subject is +in the main due to the Arians; that the central disc remains late work +of their time in so far as it is original at all. While the apostles +may be in the main the work of the Catholic restoration. + +Theodoric was, as these works serve to show, a great builder of +churches in his capital. Not all of them have remained to our day. Dr. +Ricci has thought that we see something of one of them in the Portico +Antico of the Piazza Maggiore where there are eight columns of granite +upon the left of the Palazzo del Comune with late Roman capitals, four +of which have the monogram of the Gothic king. The church of S. +Andrea,[1] according to Dr Ricci, stood by the city wall, near where +the Venetians in the fifteenth century built their Rocca, destroying +the church to make room for it. Dr. Ricci suggests that when they +began to construct the Portico of the Piazza they used, as indeed they +more than any other people were wont to do, the material of the +demolished church in their new building and among it these great +columns with their Roman capitals and strange monograms. + +[Footnote 1: S. Andrea was, according to Rasponi, _op. cit. ut supra_, +the same as the chapel of the Arcivescovado called S, Pier Crisologo.] + +But astonishing though these churches are which Theodoric built by the +art and hands of the Italians during the generation of his rule in +Ravenna, they would not impress us with the strength and importance of +his personality and government, as undoubtedly they do, if we had not +in his mausoleum perhaps the most impressive late Roman building left +to us practically intact in all Italy, a thing which, quite as much as +the mightier tomb of Hadrian, assures us of the enormous vitality of +Roman civilisation, its weight, endurance, and unfailing continuance +through every sort of disaster and misgovernment. + +This mighty monument is situated upon the north-east of the city, +perhaps upon the old Roman road the Via Popilia. That it was built by +Theodoric himself might seem certain. For though it has been said that +it was erected by Amalasuntha the Anonymus Valesii tells us that +Theodoric built it before he died. "While yet he lived he made a +monument of squared stone, a work of marvellous greatness, covered +with a single stone." It is perhaps of little consequence to whom we +owe this mighty tomb, for it is absolutely, and in any case, Roman +work, and might seem to have been modelled upon the far larger and +more tremendous mausoleum of Hadrian.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Choisy points out that the mausoleum of Theodoric has +stylistic affinities with Syrian work, and Strzygowski, who reminds us +that several bishops of Ravenna were Syrians, thinks that Ravenna in +much derived from Syria especially from Antioch.] + +The mausoleum is built in two stories of block after block of hewn and +squared stone. The lower of the two stories is decagonal and has in +every side a vast archway or niche, one of which forms the gateway. +Within we find a huge cruciform chamber lighted by six square +openings. The upper story, now reached by two stairways, built with +ancient materials in 1774, is circular, having about it eighteen blind +arches and over it a vast circular roof hewn out of a single block of +Istrian stone that weighs, it is said, two hundred tons. It may be +that this upper story, smaller as it is than the lower, was of old +surrounded by a colonnade, and it may be that the twelve projections +upon the vast monolith of the roof once upheld statutes of the twelve +Apostles. We do not know.[1] + +[Footnote 1: On the other hand, these projections are thought by many +to have been used as rings for the ropes by which the roof was hauled +up an inclined bank of earth into place They each bear the name of an +Apostle, and are similar to the small abutting arches round the dome +of S. Sophia at Salonica] + +Here in this mighty tomb, which is known in Ravenna as _La Rotonda_, +abandoned now in an unkempt garden, Theodoric, who expected to found a +line of kings who would one day lie beside him; as long as he lay +there at all, lay there alone. Not for long, however, did he enjoy +that solitude. Already, when Agnellus wrote his _Liber Pontificalis_, +the tomb was empty. He tells us that the porphyry urn, which had +served as sepulchre for the Gothic king, then stood at the door of the +Benedictine monastery close by, and that it was empty. And it seemed +to him, he says, that the body of the king had been thrown out of the +mausoleum because a heretic and a barbarian, as we may suppose, was +not worthy of it. At any rate the body of Theodoric was no longer in +the mausoleum in the beginning of the ninth century, and it is certain +that it had been ejected thence many years before. In the year 1854 a +gang of navvies who were excavating a dock between the railway station +and the Corsini Canal, some two hundred yards perhaps from the +mausoleum, and on the site of an old cemetery, came upon a skeleton +"armed with a golden cuirass, a sword by its side, and a golden helmet +upon its head. In the hilt of the sword and in the helmet large jewels +were blazing." Most of this booty they disposed of, but a few pieces +were recovered and these are now in the Museo. It might seem that this +can have been none other than the body of the great Gothic king. +Indeed Dr. Ricci finds the ornament upon the armour to be similar to +the decoration upon the cornice of the mausoleum. If this be so it +puts the matter almost beyond doubt. + +Theodoric was not allowed to rest in the mighty tomb that Latin genius +had built for him; but for ages many, famous and distinguished in +their day, sought to lie under a monument so splendid. The place +became a sort of pantheon. Long before then, however, it had been +consecrated as a church, S. Maria della Rotonda, and a Benedictine +monastery had been founded close by whose monks served it. To-day that +monastery has utterly disappeared, and there are no signs of a church +in the _Rotonda_. Only the mausoleum remains in a tangled garden, far +from any road, empty and deserted. + + + + +XIII + +THE BYZANTINE CHURCHES + +S. VITALE AND S. APOLLINARE IN CLASSE + + +When Belisarius entered Ravenna in 540, he apparently found more than +one new building begun but not finished; of these the chief was the +church of S. Vitale. This magnificent octagonal building with its +narthex and atrium had, according to Agnellus, been founded by the +Archbishop S. Ecclesius, that is to say, between 521 and 534. It was +apparently finished and decorated later by Julius Argentarius, and was +consecrated by the archbishop S. Maximianus in 547. In plan it +resembles very closely the church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus in +Constantinople built by Justinian about 527. As we know both Justinian +and Theodora, his empress, contributed largely to the perfecting of S. +Vitale, which remains certainly his most glorious monument in the +West. + +The plan of the church, as I have said, is octagonal, surmounted by a +dome octagonal without but circular within. From one of these eight +sides the sanctuary is thrust out, flanked on either side by a +circular chapel with a rectangular presbytery. Standing obliquely +across one of the two angles of the octagon, directly opposite this +sanctuary, stretched the narthex flanked by circular towers. The great +octagon is divided into two stories, each of which has three windows +upon each of the eight sides, the octagonal dome being lighted by +eight single windows. + +[Illustration: S. VITALE] + +Within the great octagon formed by the walls is a smaller octagon +formed by an arcade of mighty piers which upholds the cupola. This +arcade contains a double loggia which thus runs round the whole church +with the exception of the presbytery, where it ends in lofty tribunes. +It is upheld between the piers by columns of precious marble having +capitals of the most marvellous beauty. + +The space within this inner octagon is covered with a pavement laid +down in the sixteenth century, consisting of all sorts of fragments of +mosaics and marbles which that century destroyed. The upper loggia was +of old the _gyneceo_, the place of the women. Nothing I think left to +us in the world is more sumptuous and gorgeous than this interior. +Everywhere are glittering mosaics, precious slabs of marble, priceless +columns of beautiful marble. And where the mosaics have been destroyed +or left unfinished, as in the cupola and the body of the church, +baroque artists have filled the place with their paintings, paintings +which in their own style are matchless and which it is now foolishly +proposed should be destroyed.[1] + +[Footnote 1: We know nothing of any mosaics other than those in the +presbytery and the tribunes, it may be that the church was covered +with mosaic or was painted by the Byzantine artists, and this as well +where the marble slabs now cover the piers as elsewhere. If so it must +have been glorious indeed. Nothing that we can do can restore this +work to us, and we achieve nothing but destruction by destroying the +work that is now there.] + +In our examination of the church we turn first to the presbytery, +which is entirely encrusted with most precious marbles and mosaics. In +the midst of it stands the altar consisting of slabs of +semi-transparent alabaster, within which of old lights were set. The +marvellously lovely piece which serves for the altar stone itself is +supported by four columns, and that piece which serves for frontal is +carved with a great cross between two sheep. This altar had long +disappeared, but piece by piece it was recovered; the beautiful altar +stone itself was found behind an altar in a chapel now destroyed in +this church, and was re-erected as we see it in 1899. + +[Illustration: Colour Plate S. VITALE: THE PRESBYTERY] + +In the same chapel stood till then the beautiful low fretted screens +that now are set across the apse behind the altar, where indeed they +remained till 1700, according to Dr. Ricci. The lower part of the apse +and the piers of the presbytery have been covered with fine marbles, +some of which are ancient, but the vault, the lunettes, and the walls +are entirely encrusted with gorgeous mosaics. + +The presbytery is approached from the inner octagon of the church +under a triumphal arch. In the curve of this we see amid much +decorative ornament fifteen circular discs containing the head of Our +Lord, the twelve Apostles, S. Gervasius, and S. Protasius. Beneath +these are two monuments variously formed, Dr. Ricci tells us, in the +sixteenth century. The four columns which they contain originally +supported the baldacchino over the high altar here; three of them are +of verde antico. Framed by these columns are two Roman reliefs from a +frieze originally in the Temple of Neptune, other parts of which are +in the Sala Lapidaria in the Arcivescovado here, in the Louvre, in the +Uffizi, in the Castello of Milan, and in the Museo Archeologico at +Venice. They are indubitably of course the oldest things in the +church. + +Within this triumphal arch upon either side rise the tribunes in which +the upper loggia of the church itself comes to an end. These tribunes, +which are exceedingly beautiful, consist of two triple arches, one +above the other on either side, and the columns which support them, +with their marvellous capitals, are I suppose among the most glorious +left in Christendom. The arches themselves and the lunettes upon +either side are encrusted with mosaics. In the lunette upon the right +on either side an altar gorgeously draped, Abel offers to God the +firstling of his flock and Melchizedek Bread and Wine. Upon the face +of the arch we see Moses tending the sheep of Jethro, Moses upon Mount +Hebron, and Moses before the burning bush. In the lunette upon the +left we have the sacrifice of Abraham of his only son, and the visit +of the three angels to Abraham and Sara. Upon the face of the arch we +see Jeremiah the Prophet and Moses upon Mount Sinai. Above, upon the +balustrades, as it were, of the upper loggia we see angels upholding a +circle in which is the sign of the Cross, and above again upon the +face of the arches on either side the four Evangelists and their +symbols. The vault is entirely covered with ornaments in mosaic, amid +which three angels rise and support with uplifted hands the central +disc in which is represented the Agnus Dei. + +Though these mosaics have suffered much from unforeseen disaster and +from restoration they still delight us with their richness and +splendour, and nothing I think can well be finer than their effect, +their decorative effect as a whole. They seem to hang there like some +gorgeous Eastern tapestry of Persian stuff, as Dr. Ricci says, some +unfading and indestructible tapestry of the Orient left by chance or +forgetfulness in the old capital of the West. + +We now turn to the apse, which we enter under a second triumphal arch +upon the face of which we see upon the left the city of Hierusalem and +upon the left Bethlehem. A cypress stands at the gate of each, and +between them two angels in flight uphold a discus or aureole having +within it eight rays. Above this again are three windows about which +is spread a gorgeous decoration in mosaic. + +Beneath within the tribune of the apse we see Our Lord, "beautiful as +Apollo," enthroned upon the orb of the world, an angel upon either +hand, while to his right stands S. Vitalis to whom He hands a crown, +to His left S. Ecclesius bearing the model of this church in his hand. + +Beneath upon either side stand the two great mosaic pictures, the most +marvellous works of the sixth century that have come down to us and +perhaps the most glorious and splendid works of art which that age was +able to achieve, and it is needless to say that there is nothing like +them anywhere in the world. + +Upon the left we see the great emperor, perhaps the greatest of all +the Caesars, Justinian, bearing in his hands a golden dish; beside him +stands the archbishop of Ravenna, S. Maximianus. A little behind these +two figures and on either side stand five attendant priests, and on +the extreme left of the picture is a group of soldiers. + +[Illustration: Capital from S. Vitale] + +In the mosaic upon the right we see the empress Theodora, straight +browed, most gorgeously arrayed, very beautiful and a little sinister, +bearing a golden chalice, attended by her splendid ladies and two +priests. Upon the extreme left of the picture stands a little fountain +before an open doorway hung with a curtain. + +What can be said of these gorgeous and astonishingly lovely works? +Nothing. They speak too eloquently for themselves. Not there do we see +the mere realism of Rome, the careful and often too careful +arrangement that Roman art, able to speak but incapable of song, +always gives us. Here we have something at once more gorgeous and more +mysterious and more artistic, a symbolical and hieratic art, the gift +of the Orient, of Byzantium. In the best Roman art of the best period +there is always something of the street, something too close to life, +too mere a transcription and a copy of actual things, a mere imitation +without life of its own. But here is something outside the classical +tradition, outside what imperial Rome with its philistinism and its +puritanism has made of the art of Greece and thrust perhaps for ever +upon Europe. Here we are free from the overwhelming common-place of +Roman art, its mediocrity and respectable endeavour. + +It is, however, not in the gorgeous mosaics alone that we find the +delight and originality of S. Vitale. The whole church is amazingly +different from anything else to be seen in Italy, for it is altogether +outside the Roman tradition, an absolutely Byzantine building as well +in its construction as in its decoration. It must be compared with the +later S. Sophia and SS Sergius and Bacchus of Constantinople. These, +however, are works more assured and more gracious than S. Vitale, and +yet in its plan at least S. Vitale is a masterpiece, and altogether +the one great sanctuary of Byzantine art of the time of Justinian that +we have in the West. Every part of it is worthy of the strictest and +most eager attention, from the ambulatory, which was covered in 1902 +with old marble slabs and where there are two early Christian +sarcophagi, to the restored Cappella Sancta Sanctorum with its +fifth-century sarcophagus, the tomb of the exarch Isaac, and the lofty +_Matronaeum_, the women's gallery, from which the best view of the +mosaics and the marvellously carved Byzantine capitals may be had. Nor +should the narthex be forgotten, mere skeleton though it be. It is +characteristic of such a church as this, and set as it is obliquely to +it, is original in conception and curious. + +When we have finished with S. Vitale it is well to leave Ravenna and +to drive by the lofty road over the marshes to the solitary church of +S. Apollinare in Classe which was built also by Giuliano Argentario +for archbishop Ursicinus (535-538) and was consecrated by archbishop +Maximianus in 549. + +Classis, Classe, as we know, was the station or port of the Roman +fleet, established and built by Augustus Caesar. It was doubtless a +great place enjoying the busy and noisy life of a great port and +arsenal and possessed vast barracks for the soldiers and sailors of +the imperial fleet. Later even when disasters had fallen upon that +great civilisation it maintained itself, and from the fifth to the +seventh centuries we hear of its churches, S. Apollinare, S. Severo, +S. Probo, S. Raffaele, S. Agnese, S. Giovanni "ad Titum," S. Sergio +_juxta viridarium_, and the great Basilica Petriana. + +It was joined to the city of Ravenna by the long suburb of the Via +Caesarea, much I suppose as the Porto di Lido is joined to Venice by +the Riva or as Rovezzano is joined to Florence by the Via Aretina. Of +all the buildings that together made up the Castello of Classe and the +suburb of Caesarea nothing remains to us but the mighty church of S. +Apollinare and its great and now tottering campanile. For Classe and +Cassarea seem to have been finally destroyed in the long Lombard wars, +either as a precautionary measure by the people of Ravenna and the +imperialists or by the attacking Lombards, while the sea which once +washed the walls of Classe has retreated so far that it is only from +the top of her last watch tower it may now be seen. + +Nothing can be more desolate and sad than the miserable road across +the empty country between Ravenna and that lonely church of S. +Apollinare. In summer deep in dust that rises, under the heavy tread +of the great oxen which draw the curiously painted carts of the +countryside, in great clouds into the sky; in winter and after the +autumn rains lost in the white curtain of mist that so often surrounds +Ravenna, it is an almost impassable morass of mud and misery. Even at +its best in spring time it is melancholy and curiously mean without +any beauty or nobility of its own, though it commands so much of those +vast spaces of flat and half desolate country which the sea has +destroyed, on the verge of which stands the lonely church. + +One comes to this great basilica always I think as to a ruin, to find +without surprise the doors closed and only to be opened after long +knocking. The round campanile that towers and seems to totter in its +strange dilapidation beside the church is so beautiful that it +surprises one at once by its melancholy nobility in the midst of so +much meanness and desolation. It is a building of the ninth century, +and may well have been used as much as a watch tower as a bell tower. +Till recently it had at its base a sacristy, but this has been swept +away. Of old the church too had before it a great narthex of which +certain ruins are left, among them a little tower on the left. + +Within we find ourselves in a vast basilica divided into three naves +upheld by twenty-four marvellous columns of great size and beauty, of +Greek marble, with beautiful Byzantine bases and capitals. The central +nave is closed by a curved apse set high over a great crypt thrust out +beyond the rest of the church. Beyond the two aisles are two chapels +each with its little curved apse. The walls of the church and the +walls above the arcade were undoubtedly originally covered, in the one +case with splendid marbles, in the other with mosaics. The walls of +the church were, however, stripped in 1449 by Sigismondo Malatesta of +Rimini when he was building, or rather encasing, the church of S. +Francesco in Rimini with marbles, and turning what had been a Gothic +church of brick into what we know as the Tempio Malatestiano, by the +hands of Alberti. We know that a great quantity of marble of different +kinds was gathered by Sigismondo from all parts of Italy, not only to +furnish the interior of his _Tempio_, but to cover the exterior also +according to the design of Leon Alberti. Even the sepulchral stones +from the old Franciscan convent of S. Francesco in Rimini were used +and the blocks which the people of Fano had collected for their +church. S. Apollinare in Classe was then in Benedictine hands. With +the consent of the Abate there, very many ancient and valuable marbles +were torn from the walls and carried off by Sigismondo to Rimini; so +many in fact that the people of Ravenna complained to the Venetian +doge Francesco Foscari, saying that Sigismondo had despoiled the +church. The doge, however, seems to have cared nothing about it and +Sigismondo sent to Ravenna and to the Abate two hundred gold florins, +so that both declared themselves satisfied. Then the church passed to +me, these three sheep belong rather to the upper part of the mosaic +which, with the Cross in the midst, bearing the face of Our Lord, and +on either side Moses and Elias, symbolises the Transfiguration. These +three sheep would thus represent S. Peter, S. James and S. John. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF S. APOLLINARE IN CLASSE] + +[Illustration: CAPITAL FROM S. VITALE] + +Beneath between the windows we see represented four Bishops of +Ravenna, S. Ursinus, S. Ursus, S. Severus, and S. Ecclesius. To the +right are the sacrifices of Abel, Melchizedek, and Abraham. To the +left the privileges of the church of Ravenna. In the midst we see an +archbishop and the emperor who hands him a scroll on which is written +_privilegia_. To the left are three priests bearing fire, incense, and +a thurible. To the right are three other figures supporting the +emperor as the three priests support the archbishop. Doubtless this +mosaic records the privileges granted to the church of Ravenna by +Constantinople. The archbishop is probably Reparatus who received so +much from the Emperor Constantinus IV. Two of the figures who attend +the emperor represent Heraclius and Tiberius. This mosaic is the +latest in the church, dating from 668. + +Over the arch of the tribune is a medallion bust of the Saviour +holding a book in His left hand and blessing us with His right. Upon +either side are symbols of the four Evangelists in the clouds of the +sky. Beneath we see on either side the cities of Bethlehem and +Hierusalem, from each of which issue six sheep--perhaps the twelve +apostles. Beneath again are two palm trees and again the archangels +Gabriel and Michael and S. Luke and S. Matthew. + +These mosaics have often been remade and repaired. When Crowe and +Cavalcaselle examined them before 1860 they found that the whole tunic +of the Moses had been repainted and half the face of the Elias had +been restored. They proceed: "The head of S. Apollinare is in part +damaged, the left hand and lower part of the figure destroyed. The +sheep beside S. Apollinare, but particularly those on the right of +that figure, are almost completely modern. A large part of the left +side of the apsis is repainted, of the four bishops between the +windows of the tribune the head of Ecclesius is preserved, the lower +part repainted. The head of S. Ursinus is a new mosaic, and the lower +half of the figure is restored. In the mosaic of the sacrifice half +the head from the eyes upwards and part of the arms of Abel are +repainted, the legs have become dropsical under repair. The figures of +Abraham and Isaac are almost completely repainted, and the hands and +feet are formless for that reason. This mosaic is repaired in two +different ways with white cubes coloured over and with painted stucco. +In the mosaic representing the tender of privileges the nimbi as +already stated are new, but besides, the lower part of all the figures +is repainted in stucco and the heads are all more or less repaired. Of +the figures in the arch that of the archangel Gabriel is half ruined +and half restored, and part of S. Matthew and S. Luke are new." + +Since Crowe and Cavalcaselle wrote a vast restoration has been +undertaken, and this was finished in 1908. It was very carefully +carried out and it is to be believed that the work as we see it is now +secure. + +There is much else of interest in the church: the beautiful crypt with +its ancient sarcophagus of S. Apollinare and its columns; the ten +great sarcophagi which stand about the church, three of which contain +the relics of archbishops of Ravenna; the curious tabernacle at the +end of the north aisle. But a whole morning, or for that matter a +whole day, is not too much to spend in this beautiful and deserted +sanctuary which bridges for us so many centuries and in which we are +made one with those who helped to establish the foundations of Europe. + + + + +XIV + +RAVENNA IN THE MIDDLE AGE + + +The last great original work to be undertaken in Ravenna as the +capital of the empire in the West was the building and decoration of +the churches of S. Vitale and S. Apollinare in Classe. All the +Byzantine work that was done later in Ravenna is merely imitative, an +expression of failing power under the crushing disaster of the Lombard +invasion. When at last Aistulf in 751 made himself master of the +impregnable city, it ceased, and suddenly, to be a capital, and though +in 754 Pepin "restored" it to the papacy and established the pope +throughout the Exarchate and the Pentapolis, he by that act founded +the Papal States, whose capital of necessity was Rome. Thus Ravenna +found herself when Charlemagne had been crowned emperor in 800 little +more than a decaying provincial city, without authority or hope of +resurrection, and it is as a city of the provinces full only of +gigantic memories that she appears in the Middle Age and the +Renaissance and remains to our own day. + +The appearance of Charlemagne, the resurrection of the empire in the +West, confirm and consolidate the misfortune of 751 in which indeed +she lost everything. But when we see the great Frank strip the +imperial palace of its marbles and mosaics it is as though the fate of +Ravenna had been expressed in some great ceremony and not by unworthy +hands. An emperor had set her up so high, an emperor had kept her +there so long; it was an emperor who, as in a last great rite, stript +her of her apparel and left her naked with her memories. + +[Illustration: The Campanile of S. Apollinare] + +Those memories, not only splendid and glorious, but gaunt and terrible +too, smoulder in her ruined heart as the fire may do in the ashes when +all that was living and glorious has been consumed. Almost nothing as +she became when Charlemagne left her, a mere body still wrapt in +gorgeous raiment stiff with gold, but without a soul, she still dreamt +of dominion, of empire, and of power. Governed by her archbishops, she +rebelled against Rome, struggled for a secular and sometimes a +religious autonomy, and came at last, as surely might have been +prophesied, to consider herself as a feudatory of the Empire, not of +the Church. + +But though this struggle might have been foreseen it is futile, it has +no life in it, it is without any real importance, it leads nowhere and +fails to interest us. All that really concerns us in the confused +story of Ravenna from the time of the resurrection of the empire till +our own day are two strange incidents that have nothing fundamentally +to do with her, that befell her by chance; I mean the apparition of +Dante, when we see the most eager mediaeval apologist of the imperial +idea fortunately and rightly find in her a refuge and a tomb; and the +battle of 1512 in which fell Gaston de Foix and which cost the lives +of twelve thousand men and achieved nothing. + +Nevertheless Ravenna, for so long the citadel of the empire in the +West, of all the cities of Italy was least likely to forget her origin +or to forsake her memories, and it is both curious and interesting to +watch her entry, little splendid though that entry be, into the +marvellously vital world of the Middle Age in Italy. + +The slow re-establishment of Latin power which followed the crowning +of Charlemagne, and which the Church secured by that act, first began +to come to its own with the rise of the bishops to civil power in the +cities of Italy. Now Ravenna had certainly been governed by her +archbishop ever since Pepin in 754 had forced Aistulf to place the +keys of the city upon the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles. If +nowhere else in the Cisalpine plain, Latin civilisation and law, then, +never failed in Ravenna, and whatever may have happened elsewhere it +might seem certain that here in Ravenna and probably throughout the +exarchate the curia existed and endured throughout the barbarian +confusion. + +This would explain the early and extraordinary development of communal +institutions in Ravenna. And since, one may believe, the Roman legions +were replaced throughout the empire by the religious orders, it is +interesting to know that in the tenth century her Latin energy is +borne witness to by the fact that in 956 she produced S. Romuald of +the Onesti family of Ravenna, who was educated in the Benedictine +monastery of Classe and who founded the Order of Camaldoli, and toward +the end of the same century, in 988, she produced S. Peter Damian, the +brother of the arch-priest of Ravenna, cardinal-bishop of Ostia and +papal legate in Milan. + +Nor with the rise of the "spirito italico" everywhere in Italy do we +find Ravenna exhausted. Far from it, she is as ardent as any other +city of the peninsula whatsoever. Only always she is anti-papal, as +though, living in her memories, as she could not but do, and this was +her greatest strength, she remembered her old allegiance to the +emperor and could not forget that when the pope became his heir in +Italy she had fallen from her old eminence. Thus as early as the first +years of the eleventh century her archbishop obtains confirmation from +the emperor of his temporal powers, in which confirmation no +recognition of the sovereignty of the pope appears at all. This act of +allegiance to the emperor was repeated when Barbarossa appeared, and +indeed the archbishops of Ravenna soon became the most eager if not +most the serious supporters of the emperors in all the great plain and +perhaps in all Italy. Ravenna, once the imperial capital, though +fallen was imperial still. She was haunted, haunted by ghosts that +were restless in those marvellous tombs, that litter her churches, +loom out of the grey curtain of mist like a fortress, or shine and +glitter with imperishable colours and are full of memories as +imperishable as themselves. + +Yet though it was to her the emperors so often looked for aid and +succour and rest, it was not always so. The present, even with her, +was more than the past. With the great development of communal +institutions which marked especially the twelfth century, compelled +too to face, though never with success, the increasing state of +Venice, which, indeed, and successfully, had usurped her place in the +world and had realised what she had failed to achieve, she was ready +and able in 1198 to place herself at the head of the league of the +cities of the Romagna and the Marches against the imperial power then +both oppressive and feeble; so that pope Innocent III. found it easy +to restore the unforgotten rights of the Holy See there and these were +ratified by Otto IV. and by Frederick II. as the price of papal +support. + +It will thus be readily understood that if, at the opening of the +thirteenth century, there was one city in Italy more certain than +another to be at the mercy of the universal quarrel of Guelf and +Ghibelline, that city was Ravenna. In its larger sense that quarrel +was her inheritance. It was the one thought which filled her mind. But +here, as elsewhere, the great quarrel was insoluble or at any rate not +to be solved. It merely bred faction and divided the city against +itself. Guelf and Ghibelline tore Ravenna as they tore Florence and +Siena in pieces. + +The two great Ghibelline families were the Ubertini and the Mainardi +and these at first gained the mastery of the city; but in 1218 Pietro +Traversari with the aid of the Mainardi turned the Ubertini out and, +what is more, made himself master. + +Pietro Traversari was succeeded as Podesta in 1225 by his son Paolo, +who became Guelf and fought in Innocent IV.'s quarrel against the +emperor Frederick II.; Frederick was able to turn the Traversari out +of Ravenna in 1240 and to hold the city for eight years, but in 1248 +the pope retook it and the Traversari were restored though not I think +to the chief power. They remained in power till in the last year of +the reign of Gregory X., 1275, Guido da Polenta appears. + +Rudolph of Hapsburg was now king--not emperor, for he was never +crowned by the pope. He had been a partisan of the second Frederick's, +but pope Nicholas III. did not find in the founder of the Hapsburg +dynasty the stuff of the Hohenstaufen. In 1278 he forced Rudolph to +secure to him by an "irrevocable decree" all that the papacy had ever +claimed in the Exarchate and the Pentapolis. The empire renounced all +its claims in the Romagna and the Marches; the confines of the states +of the Church were defined anew, and the cities of which the pope was +absolute lord were named one by one. Of course among these was +Ravenna. + +The Polentani appear first in the story of Ravenna in or about the +year 1167, when we find them acting as vicars for the archbishops. We +next hear of them as Podesta, their long rule really beginning, as I +have said, in 1275, when Guido il Vecchio, a rather formidable +soldier, appears as captain of the people and victor over Cervia, +whose territory he added to the dominion of Ravenna. It was indeed +this man who first in the Ravenna of the Middle Ages attempted to +establish an independent or semi-independent state, by adding +territory to territory and thus creating a lordship. For this end he +allied himself with the Malatesta of Rimini--a master stroke, for the +Polentani of Ravenna and the Malatesta of Rimini had long been bitter +foes. + +The alliance was cemented by a marriage which all the world knows as +an immortal tragedy. Guido Vecchio had a beautiful daughter, +Francesca. Malatesta had two sons, the elder Giovanni called, for he +was a cripple, _lo Sciancato_, the younger, for he was very fair, +known as Paolo _il Bello_. To secure their alliance Polenta married +his daughter Francesca to Malatesta's elder son Giovanni; but she had +already learned to love, or she soon came to love, his brother Paolo +il Bella. Giovanni came upon them one night in Rimini and killed them +both with one thrust of his sword. The tragedy, however, should only +be told in the immortal words of Dante, who recounts the tale +Francesca told him in the second circle of the Inferno. For seeing +Francesca and her lover floating for ever in each other arms "light +before the wind," as the wind swayed them towards Virgil and himself +the Florentine addressed them: + + "O wearied spirits come, and hold discourse + With us, if by none else restrained.' As doves + By fond desire invited, on wide wings + And firm, to their sweet nest returning home, + Cleave the air, wafted by their will along, + Thus issued, from that troop where Dido ranks, + They, through the ill air speeding, with such force + My cry prevailed, by strong affection urged. + 'O gracious creature and benign! who go'st + Visiting, through this element obscure, + Us, who the world with bloody stain imbrued, + If, for a friend, the King of all, we own'd, + Our prayer to him should for thy peace arise, + Since thou hast pity on our evil plight + Of whatsoe'er to hear or to discourse + It pleases thee, that will we hear, of that + Freely with thee discourse, while e'er the wind + As now is mute The land that gave me birth + Is situate on the coast, where Po descends + To rest in ocean with his sequent streams + 'Love that in gentle heart is quickly learnt + Entangled him by that fair form, from me + Ta'en in such cruel sort, as grieves me still, + Love that denial takes from none beloved + Caught me with pleasing him so passing well + That as thou seest, he yet deserts me not + 'Love brought us to one death, Caina waits + The soul who spilt our life' Such were their words, + At hearing which downward I bent my looks + And held them there so long that the bard cried + 'What art thou pondering?' I in answer thus + 'Alas' by what sweet thoughts, what fond desire + Must they at length to that ill pass have reached' + Then turning, I to them my speech address'd, + And thus began 'Francesca! your sad fate + Even to tears my grief and pity moves + But tell me, in the time of your sweet sighs, + By what, and how Love granted, that ye knew + Your yet uncertain wishes?' She replied + 'No greater grief then to remember days + Of joy when misery is at hand That kens + Thy learn'd instructor Yet so eagerly + If thou art bent to know the primal root + From whence our love gat being, I will do + As one who weeps and tells his tale One day + For our delight we read of Lancelot, + How him love thrall'd Alone we were and no + Suspicion near us Oft-times by that reading + Our eyes were drawn together, and the hue + Fled from our altered cheek But at one point + Alone we fell When of that smile we read, + That wished smile, so rapturously kissed + By one so deep in love, then he, who ne'er + From me shall separate, at once my lips + All trembling kissed The book and writer both + Were love's purveyors In its leaves that day + We read no more' While thus one spirit spake + The other wailed so sorely, that heart-struck + I, through compassion fainting, seem'd not far + From death and like a corse fell to the ground" + +With the name of Dante we come to the real importance Ravenna has for +us in the Middle Age. Dante, however, was not the guest of Guido +Vecchio. That great lord ruled in Ravenna as perpetual captain till +his death in 1310, when he was succeeded by his son Lamberto who had +for some time been the leading spirit in the city. He altogether +abolished the so-called democratic government, that is to say, the +consulship which was filled in turn by two consuls, the one succeeding +the other every fifteen days. Lamberto made himself lord and reigned +till 1316, when he was succeeded by his nephew Guido Novello, the +consul of Cesena, who thus brought Cesena into the lordship. It is +with this man that a universal interest in Ravenna may be said for a +moment to revive, for it was he who had the honour to be the host of +Dante Alighieri. + +Guido Novello was not a mere adventurer like Guido Vecchio, he was a +man of considerable culture, with a love of learning and of the arts. +It was, as we shall see, at his earnest solicitation that Dante came +to visit him, and if we may believe Vasari it was at the poet's +suggestion he invited Giotto to his court. "As it had come to the ears +of Dante that Giotto was in Ferrara, he so contrived that the latter +was induced to visit Ravenna, where the poet was then in exile, and +where Giotto painted some frescoes which are moderately good ... for +the Signori da Polenta." + +Dante as we may think spent the last four years of his life in +Ravenna. Those four years we shall consider presently. Here it will be +enough to note that he met his death at last in the service of his +host and benefactor Guido Novello. The most disastrous action of his +life was, it will be remembered, the embassy he made on behalf of his +own city of Florence to pope Boniface VIII. That business cost him his +home and the city he loved with so cruel a passion; it made him an +exile. It was upon the longest journey of all that his last embassy +sent him. He set out it seems as ambassador of Guido Novello for +Venice, which so far as the sea and all its business are concerned had +long replaced Ravenna as mistress of the Adriatic. The recent +acquisition of the city and the salt flats of Cervia by Ravenna had +become a grievance with the Venetians who desired that monopoly for +themselves. It seems that in some local quarrel at Cervia certain +Venetian sailors had been killed and Dante went on Guide's behalf to +clear the matter up. He was to be as it happened as unsuccessful in +his last embassy as he had been in his first. The old doge, according +to the legend which I am bound to say is now generally regarded as a +fable, received him coldly and, so the tale runs, invited him to +dinner upon a fast day. "In front of the envoys of other princes who +were of greater account than the Polentani of Ravenna, and were served +before Dante, the larger fish were placed, while in front of Dante was +placed the smallest. This difference of treatment nettled Dante who +took up one of the little fish in his hand and held it to his ear as +though expecting it to say something. The doge observing this asked +him what his strange behaviour meant. To which Dante replied: 'As I +knew that the father of this fish met his death in these waters I was +asking him news of his father.' + +"'Well,' said the doge, 'and what did he answer?' Dante replied: 'He +told me that he and his companions were too little to remember much +about him; but that I might learn what I wanted to know from the older +fish, who would be able to give me the news I asked for.' + +"Thereupon the doge at once ordered Dante to be served with a fine +large fish." + +[Illustration: Colour Plate S. GIOVANNI BATTISTA] + +Thus Dante called attention to his great achievement, by which I +suppose he hoped at once to vindicate his dignity as a great man, +certainly greater than any one present, and by this means to lend +importance to his mission. Whatever may have been the personal result +of his sally, it did his mission no good at all. When the official +interview took place Dante, if we may believe something of the +apocryphal "Letter of Dante to Guido da Polenta," began to address the +doge in Latin and was bidden to speak in Italian or to obtain an +interpreter. His mission was a failure and Venice, who in the person +of her doge did her best to show either her ignorance of the great +poet who did her the honour of crossing her Piazza or of her +philistine contempt of him, lives in the _Divine Comedy_ only as an +illustration of Hell. + + "Thus we from bridge to bridge ... + Pass'd on, and to the summit reaching, stood + To view another gap, within the round + Of Malebolge, other bootless pangs. + Marvellous darkness shadow'd o'er the place. + In the Venetian arsenal as boils + Through wintry months tenacious pitch, to smear + Their unbound vessels ... + So not by force of fire but art divine + Boiled here a glutinous thick mass, that round + Limed all the shore." + +On his way back to Ravenna by land, for the Venetians added to their +shame by refusing him the sea passage, he caught a fever in the +marshes and returned to Ravenna only to die: the mightiest of all +those--emperors and kings--who lie in that "_generale sepolcro di +santissimi corpi_." + +That was in 1321; and with the death of Dante our interest in Ravenna +again becomes cold. Guido Novello soon fell, driven out of Ravenna, +never to return, by Ostasio who had assassinated Guide's brother the +archbishop-elect Rinaldo. Ostasio ruled with the title of vicar which +he received both from Lewis the Bavarian and from pope Benedict XII. +This vicious and cruel despot was succeeded by his equally cruel son +Bernardino. He ruled for fourteen years, 1345-1359, not, however, +without mishap, for his brothers conspired against him and flung him +into prison at Cervia. He contrived, however, to turn the tables upon +them and to hold them in the same dungeon where he himself had been +their prisoner. He was succeeded at last by Guido Lucio, a man of some +integrity; but he too was the victim of his family, his own sons +rising up against him in his old age and in 1389 flinging him into +prison where he died. + +He was followed in the lordship of Ravenna by his son Ostasio. This +man died in 1431, that is to say, in the midst of all the confusion, +here in Romagna and the Marches, of the fifteenth century, when the +condottieri were one and all looking for thrones and such ambitions as +those of the Visconti, of Francesco Sforza, of Sigismondo Malatesta, +of Federigo of Urbino and of a host of _parvenus_ were struggling for +dominion and mastery. Thus it was that Ostasio's successor, Ostasio, +in 1438 was compelled to make alliance with duke Filippo Maria of +Milan. Venice, ever watchful, saw Visconti's game, remembered Cervia, +and insisted upon Ostasio coming to Venice. While there he learned +that Venice had annexed his dominion. Nor are we surprised to learn +that he ended his days in a Franciscan convent, where he was +mysteriously assassinated, probably by order of Venice. But with the +entry of Venice into Ravenna the Middle Age, even in that far place, +comes to an end. The Polentani were done with. A new and vigorous +government ushered the old imperial city into the Renaissance. + + + + +XV + +DANTE IN RAVENNA + + +Before following the fortunes of Ravenna under that new and alien +government into the Renaissance and the modern world, it will be well +if we turn to examine more closely her one great moment in the Middle +Age, the moment in which Dante found in her a last refuge, and then +linger a little among such of her mediaeval buildings as the modern +world has left her. + +In any attempt to deal, however briefly, with Dante's sojourn in +Ravenna we must first find out what we really know concerning it and +distinguish this from what is mere conjecture or deduction. Now the +first authority for Dante's life generally, is undoubtedly Boccaccio, +and as it happens he was in Ravenna, where he had relations, certainly +in 1350 and perhaps in 1346. In 1350 he was the envoy of the Or San +Michele Society, who by his hand sent Beatrice, the daughter of Dante, +then a nun in the convent of S. Stefano dell' Uliva in Ravenna, ten +gold florins He was thus in communication with Dante's daughter so +that when he came to write the Vita di Dante, probably in 1356-1357, +he was certainly in possession of facts. It will be well then if we +state to begin with in his own words what he has told us of the years +Dante spent in Ravenna. + +But first as to the date of Dante's coming to Ravenna. Boccaccio would +seem to place it immediately after the death of Henry VII. in 1313. To +modern scholarship this has seemed incredible for various reasons, and +it prefers to allow Dante to visit Verona first and to come to Ravenna +in 1317. Yet let us hear Boccaccio. + +He begins by telling us that the too early death of the emperor, who +was poisoned, as is thought, at Buonconvento in southern Tuscany on S. +Bartholomew's day in 1313, cast every one of his faction into despair +"and Dante most of all; wherefore no longer going about to seek his +own return from exile he passed the heights of the Apennines and +departed to Romagna where his last day, that was to put an end to all +his toils, awaited him. + +"In those times was Lord of Ravenna (a famous and ancient city of +Romagna) a noble cavalier whose name was Guido Novello da Polenta; he +was well skilled in the liberal arts and held men of worth in the +highest honour, especially such as excelled others in knowledge. And +when it came to his ears that Dante, beyond all expectation, was now +in Romagna and in such desperate plight, he, who had long time before +known his worth by fame, resolved to receive him and do him honour. +Nor did he wait to be requested by him to do this, but considering +with how great shame men of worth ask such favours, with liberal mind +and with free proffers he approached him, requesting from Dante of +special grace that which he knew Dante must needs have begged of him, +to wit, that it might please him to abide with him. The two wills, +therefore, of him who received and of him who made the request thus +uniting on one same end, Dante, being highly pleased by the liberality +of the noble cavalier, and on the other side constrained by his +necessities, awaited no further invitation but the first, and took his +way to Ravenna, where he was honourably received by the lord thereof, +who revived his fallen hope by kindly festerings; and giving him +abundantly such things as were fitting, he kept him with him there for +many years, yea, even to the last year of his life. + +"Never had his amorous longings, nor his grieving tears, nor his +domestic anxieties, nor the seducing glory of public offices, nor his +miserable exile, nor his unendurable poverty, been able with all their +force to turn Dante aside from his main intent, to wit, from sacred +studies; for as will be seen hereafter, when mention shall be made +severally of the works that he composed, he will be found to have +exercised himself in writing in the midst of all that is fiercest +among these passions. And if in the teeth of such and so many +adversaries as have been set forth above, he became by force of genius +and of perseverance so illustrious as we see, what may we suppose he +would have been if, like many another, he had had even as many +supports; or, at least, had had no foes; or but few? Indeed I know +not. But were it lawful so to say, I would declare that he had surely +become a God upon the earth. + +[Illustration: Casa Polentana] + +"Dante then, having lost all hope of a return to Florence, though he +retained the longing for it, dwelt in Ravenna for a number of years, +under the protection of its gracious lord. And here by his teachings +he trained many scholars in poetry, especially in the vernacular, +which vernacular to my thinking he first exalted and brought into +repute amongst us Italians no otherwise than did Homer his amongst the +Greeks or Virgil his amongst the Latins. Before him, though it is +supposed that it had already been practised some short space of years, +yet was there none who by the numbering of the syllables and by the +consonance of the terminal parts had the feeling or the courage to +make it the instrument of any matter dealt with by the rules of art; +or rather it was only in the lightest of love poems that they +exercised themselves therein. But he showed by the effect that every +lofty matter may be treated in it; and made our vernacular glorious +above every other. + +"But since his hour is assigned to every man, Dante when already in +the middle or thereabout of his fifty-sixth year fell sick and in +accordance with the Christian religion received every Sacrament of the +Church humbly, and devoutly, and reconciled himself with God by +contrition for everything, that, being but man, he had done against +His pleasure; and in the month of September in the year of Christ one +thousand three hundred and twenty-one, on the day whereon the +Exaltation of the Holy Cross is celebrated by the Church, not without +greatest grief on the part of the aforesaid Guido and generally all +the other Ravennese citizens, he rendered up to his Creator his +toil-worn spirit, the which I doubt not was received into the arms of +his most noble Beatrice, with whom, in the sight of Him who is the +supreme good, the miseries of this present life left behind, he now +lives most joyously in that life the felicity of which expects no end. + +"The magnanimous cavalier placed the dead body of Dante, adorned with +poetic insignia, upon a funeral bier, and had it borne on the +shoulders of his most distinguished citizens to the place of the Minor +Friars in Ravenna, with such honour as he deemed worthy of such a +corpse And here, public lamentations as it were having followed him so +far, he had him placed in a stone chest, wherein he still lieth. And +returning to the house in which Dante lately lived, according to the +Ravennese custom he himself delivered an ornate and long discourse +both in commendation of the profound knowledge and the virtue of the +deceased, and in consolation of his friends whom he had left in +bitterest grief. He purposed, had his estate and his life endured, to +honour him with so choice a tomb that if never another merit of his +had made him memorable to those to come, this tomb should have +accomplished it. + +"This laudable intent was in brief space of time made known to certain +who in those days were most famous for poetry in Ravenna; whereon each +one for himself, to show his own power and to bear witness to the +goodwill he had to the dead poet, and to win the grace and love of the +signore, who was known to have it at heart, made verses which, if +placed as epitaph on the tomb that was to be, should with due praises +teach posterity who lay therein. And these verses they sent to the +glorious signore, who, by great guilt of Fortune, in short space of +time lost his estate, and died at Bologna; wherefore the making of the +tomb and the placing of the verses thereon were left undone. Now when +these verses were shown to me long afterward, perceiving that they had +never been put in their place, by reason of the chance already spoken +of, and pondering on the present work that I am writing, how that it +is not indeed a material tomb, but is none the less--as that was to +have been--a perpetual preserver of his memory, I imagined that it +would not be unfitting to add them to this work. But in as much as no +more than the words of some one of them (for there were several) would +have been cut upon the marble, so I held that only the words of one +should be written here; wherefore on examining them all I judged that +the most worthy for art and for matter were fourteen verses made by +Messer Giovanni del Virgilio the Bolognese, a most illustrious and +great poet of those days, and one who had been a most especial friend +of Dante. And the verses are these hereafter written: + + "'Theologus Dantes, nullius dogmatis expers, + Quod foveat claro philosophia sinu, + Gloria musarum, vulgo gratissimus auctor, + Hic iacet, et fama pulsat utrumque polum, + Qui loca defunctis, gladiis regnumque gemellis, + Distribuit, laicis rhetoricisque modis. + Pascua Pieriis demum resonabat avenis, + Atropos heu letum livida rupit opus + Huic ingrata tulit tristem Florentia fructum, + Exilium, vati patria cruda suo. + Quem pia Guidonis gremio Ravenna Novelli + Gaudet honorati continuisse ducis. + Mille trecentenis ter septem Numinis annis, + Ad sua septembris idibus astra redit.'"[1] + +[Footnote 1: The translation is Mr. Wicksteed's The Early Lives of +Dante. He adds a translation of the verses "Theologic Dante, a +stranger to no teaching that philosophy may cherish in her illustrious +bosom; glory of the Muses, author most acceptable to the commonalty, +lieth here and smiteth either pole with his fame, who assigned their +places to the dead, and their jurisdictions to the twin swords, in +laic and rhetoric modes. And lastly, with Pierian pipe he was making +the pasture lands resound, black Atropos, alas, broke off the work of +joy. For him ungrateful Florence bore the dismal fruit of exile, harsh +fatherland to her own bard. But Ravenna's piety rejoices to have +gathered him into the bosom of Guido Novello, her illustrious chief. +In one thousand three hundred and three times seven years of the +Deity, he went back on September's Ides to his own stars."] + +So far Boccaccio. Though his account tells us much it certainly does +not permit us to make many definite statements as to Dante's life in +Ravenna. One of the first things, for instance, that any modern +biographer would have noted with accuracy would have been the house in +which Dante lived. Something definite, too, we might have expected as +to his friends and correspondents, as to his occupations and habits. +Of all this there is almost nothing. It will, however, especially be +noted that Boccaccio speaks of Dante as "training many scholars in +poetry especially in the vernacular." What can this mean? + +It has been suggested and with some authority that Dante was not +entirely dependent upon his host Guido Novello, that he was able to +gain a livelihood, at least, by lectures either in his own house or in +some public place, and that it is even probable that he occupied an +official position in Ravenna of a very honourable sort, that he was, +in fact, professor of Rhetoric in that city. There is no evidence to +support such a theory. It is true that though we know the names of the +professors of Grammar or Rhetoric in the very ancient schools of +Ravenna, schools which date from the time of Theodosius the Great, we +do not find the name of him who filled that chair during the time of +Dante's sojourn in Ravenna. In 1268 Pasio della Noce was lecturing on +Jurisprudence in Ravenna; in 1298 Ugo di Riccio was professor of Civil +Law there; in 1304 Leone da Verona is teaching Grammar and Logic in +the city. Then we hear no more till we come to the year 1333, when a +certain Giovanni Giacomo del Bando is professor.[1] The mere absence +of names--a silence which does not coincide in any way with Dante's +advent or with Dante's death--is, certainly, not enough to allow us to +assert the probability of the great poet's having filled the office of +lecturer or professor of Civil Law in the school of Ravenna. It is +true that Saviozzo da Siena tells us: + + "Qui comincio a leggere Dante in pria + Retorica vulgare e molti aperti + Fece di sua Poetica armonia" + +and that Manetti, an early biographer, seems to support the theory. +But the best evidence, if evidence it can be called, which we have for +this theory is to be found in a codex in the Laurentian Library, +quoted by Bandini and cited by Dr. Ricci, which says: "It is commonly +reported that Dante, being in Ravenna, studying and giving lectures as +a doctor to his pupils upon various works, the schools became the +resort of many learned men." This statement upon hearsay, however, +does little more than confirm the definite assertion of Boccaccio that +Dante "trained many scholars," not in civil law, but in "poetry, +especially in the vernacular." + +[Footnote 1: For a full discussion of all that may be known of Dante +at the Poleata court see Dr. Ricci's large work, _L'Ultimo Rifugio di +Dante_ (1891). A charming book in English, _Dante in Ravenna_ (1898), +by Catherine Mary Phillimore, is to a great extent based upon Dr. +Ricci's work. A valuable book that should be consulted is the more +recent volume by P.H. Wicksteed and E.G. Gardner, _Dante and Giovanni +del Virgilio_ (1902).] + +It is quite unproved then that Dante lectured in Ravenna as a +professor of Civil Law. It might seem equally certain that he did +lecture upon Poetry and the vulgar tongue, and it seems likely that we +have the text of his lectures in the latter if not in the earlier part +of the _De Vulgari Eloquentia_ "in which in masterly and polished +Latin he reproves all the vulgar dialects of Italy." Boccaccio tells +us he composed this when he was "already nigh his death," and though +modern criticism seems inclined to date its composition not later than +1306 the evidence of Boccaccio is not lightly to be set aside[1]. + +[Footnote 1: The first part of this work was certainly not written +later than 1306 the second part may well have been later.] + +Lonely as he doubtless was in Ravenna he was not alone there. With him +it would seem was his daughter Beatrice, who became a nun in S. +Stefano dell' Uliva, and his sons Pietro and Jacopo. The latter, +though a lawyer and not in holy orders, held two benefices in Ravenna, +but most of his time seems to have been spent in Verona where Jacopo, +his brother, later held a canonry. And then there were his friends. + +In his lectures upon Poetry one of his most eager pupils would seem to +have been his best friend and host, Guido Novello, who evidently knew +well at least those parts of the _Divine Comedy_, chiefly the +_Inferno_ be it noted, which deal with his ancestors, for he quotes +one of the most famous of them--an unforgettable line spoken by his +aunt Francesca da Rimini: + + "Questi che mai da me non fia diviso." + +in a sonnet of his own[2]. + +[Footnote 2: Cf. _Ultimo Rifugio_, p. 384, where the sonnet is given +in full.] + +After the lord Guido Novello, we must name the archbishop of Ravenna, +Rainaldo Concorreggio, as among Dante's friends. It is possible that +he had known Dante at the University of Bologna and he had been a +chaplain of Boniface VIII. He was a brave man, learned in theology, +law, and music, and devoted to his religion, an eager student, and he +had composed a treatise which has come down to us upon Galla Placidia +and her church. + +And then there was Giotto who came to paint if not in S. Maria in +Porto fuori, certainly in S. Giovanni Evangelista. He was Dante's dear +friend and it was probably at the poet's suggestion he had been +invited to Ravenna. We do not know whether these two men attended +Dante's lectures. But the true audience there which came simply to +hear was probably various, consisting of poets, notaries, and all +sorts of men, some of whom were Dante's friends and companions. There +was Ser Dino Perini, Ser Pietro di Messer Giardino--he was a +notary--and Fiduccio dei Milotti, who walked with Dante in the Pineta. +All these names have come down to us in the Latin eclogues written by +Dante while in Ravenna to his friend Giovanni del Virgilio--del +Virgilio because he could so well imitate Virgil. + +These eclogues are full of shrewd and curious thought, a real +correspondence, and they help us to see the men who surrounded the +poet in Ravenna. They do not, however, give us so extraordinary an +impression of the strength and keenness of Dante's powers of +observation as many a passage in the _Divine Comedy_ in which Ravenna +and the rude and fierce world of the Romagna of that day live for +ever. It is in answer to the inquiries of the great _Guido of +Montefeltro_ that Dante speaks of Romagna in the _Inferno_. Feeble and +anaemic though the great lines become in any translation, even so all +their virtue is not lost: + + "Never was thy Romagna without war + In her proud tyrants' bosoms, nor is now; + But open war there left I none. The state + Ravenna hath maintained this many a year + Is steadfast. There Polenta's eagle[1] broods, + And in his broad circumference of plume + O'ershadows Cervia[2]. The green talons[3] grasp + The land, that stood e'erwhile the proof so long + And piled in bloody heap the host of France. + The old mastiff of Verrucchio and the young[4] + That tore Montagna[5] in their wrath still make + Where they are wont, an augre of their fangs, + Lamone's[6] city and Santerno's[7] range + Under the lion of the snowy lair[8], + Inconstant partisan, that changeth sides + Or ever summer yields to winter's frost. + And she whose flank is washed of Savio's wave[9] + As 'twixt the level and the steep she lies, + Lives so 'twixt tyrant power and liberty." + +[Footnote 1: The coat of the Polenta.] + +[Footnote 2: Cervia, the least secure of the Polenta possessions.] + +[Footnote 3: The green lion of the Ordelaffi of Forli.] + +[Footnote 4: Malatesta and Malatestino, lords of Rimini, deriving from +Verrucchio, a castle in the hills.] + +[Footnote 5: The Malatesta were Guelfs, Montagna de' Parcitati, whom +they murdered, was the leader of the Ghibelline party in Rimini.] + +[Footnote 6: Faenza.] + +[Footnote 7: Imola.] + +[Footnote 8: Maghinardo Pagano, whose arms were a blue lion in a white +field.] + +[Footnote 9: Cesena.] + +All Romagna with its untamable fierceness and confusion lies in these +lines which, as Dante wrote them, seem as unalterable as those in +which the creation of the world is described. + +Nor is Dante forgetful of the great destiny that had been Ravenna's. +In the sixth canto of the _Paradiso_ it is Justinian himself, "_Cesare +fui e son Giustiniano_" who recounts to Dante the victories of the +Roman eagle: + + "When from Ravenna it came forth and leap'd + The Rubicon," + +or when + + "with Belisarius + Heaven's high hand was linked," + +or when + + "The Lombard tooth with fang impure + Did gore the bosom of the Holy Church + Under its wings, victorious, Charlemagne + Sped to her rescue." + +Nor is Dante forgetful of Ravenna's other claims to glory. In the +seventh heaven, which is the planet Saturn, led by Beatrice, he finds +S. Romualdo, and speaks of S. Peter Damiano, and blessed Peter _Il +Peccatore_, the founder of the church of S. Maria in Porto fuori, two +of them of the Onesti house of Ravenna. + + "In that place was I Peter Damiano + And Peter the sinner dwelt in the house + Of our blest Lady on the Adriatic shore." + +Of the earlier Podesta, too, he is not unmindful: + + "Arrigo Mainardi, Pier Traversaro,... + Wonder not, Tuscan, if thou seest me weep + When I recall those once loved names ... + With Traversaro's house and Anastagio's, + Each race disinherited." + +With the pitiful story of Francesca da Polenta we have seen how he +dealt and how he spoke of Guido Vecchio. These people live because of +him, and Ravenna in the Middle Age still holds our interest and our +love because he dwelt there and she harboured him. + +It was in her service, too, he met his death as we have seen, and in +her church of the Friars Minor that he was laid to rest by Guido +Novello. + +Nine months later the lord of Ravenna received the first complete copy +of the _Divina Commedia_, made by Jacopo Alighieri from his father's +autograph. A very curious incident is related by Boccaccio in +connection with this. It was Dante's custom, Boccaccio tell us, +"whenever he had done six or eight cantos, more or less, to send them +from whatever place he was in before any other had seen them to Messer +Cane della Scala, whom he held in reverence above all other men; and +when he had seen them, Dante gave access to them to whoso desired. And +having sent to him in this fashion all save the last thirteen cantos, +which he had finished, but had not yet sent him, it came to pass that, +without bearing it in his mind that he was abandoning them, he died. +And when they who were left behind, children and disciples, had +searched many times, in the course of many months, amongst all his +papers, if haply he had composed a conclusion to his work, and could +by no means find the remaining cantos; and when every admirer of his +in general was enraged that God had not at least lent him to the world +so long that he might have had opportunity to finish what little +remained of his work; they had abandoned further search in despair +since they could by no means find them. + +[Illustration: DANTE'S TOMB] + +"So Jacopo and Piero, sons of Dante, both of them poets in rhyme, +moved thereto by certain of their friends, had taken it into their +minds to attempt to supplement the parental work, as far as in them +lay, that it might not remain imperfect, when to Jacopo, who was far +more zealous than the other in this work, there appeared a wondrous +vision, which not only checked his foolish presumption but showed him +where were the thirteen cantos which were wanting to this Divine +Comedy and which they had not known where to find. A worthy man of +Ravenna whose name was Piero Giardino, long time a disciple of +Dante's, related how, when eight months had passed after the death of +his master, the aforesaid Jacopo came to him one night near to the +hour that we call matins, and told him that that same night a little +before that hour he, in his sleep, had seen his father, Dante, +approach him, clad in whitest garment, and his face shining with an +unwonted light; whom he seemed to ask if he were yet living, and to +hear in reply that he was, but in the true life, not in ours. Whereon +he seemed further to ask him if he had finished his work or ever he +passed to that true life; and if he had finished it, where was the +missing part, which they had never been able to find. To this he +seemed to hear again in answer, 'Yea! I finished it.' Whereon it +seemed that he took him by the hand and led him to that chamber where +he was wont to sleep when he was living in this life; and touching a +certain spot said, 'Here is that which ye so long have sought.' And no +sooner was uttered that word than it seemed that both Dante and sleep +departed from him at the same moment. Wherefore he averred that he +could not hold but come and signify what he had seen, that they might +go together and search in the place indicated to him, which he held +most perfectly stamped in his memory, to see whether a true spirit or +a false delusion had shown it him. Wherefore since a great piece of +the night still remained, they departed together and went to the place +indicated, and there found a mat fixed to the wall, which they lightly +raised and found a recess in the wall which neither of them had ever +seen, nor knew that it was there; and there they found certain +writings all mouldy with the damp of the wall and ready to rot had +they stayed there much longer; and when they had carefully removed the +mould and read, they saw that they contained the thirteen cantos so +long sought by them. Wherefore, in great joy, they copied them out, +and after the author's wont sent them first to Messer Cane and then +joined them on, as was meet, to the imperfect work. In such a manner +did the work of so many years see its completion." + +As Boccaccio tells us, Guido Novello had scarce buried Dante in that +temporary tomb in the church of the Friars Minor when he lost his +lordship. On April 1, 1322, he was elected captain of the people in +Bologna, and when he was about to return to Ravenna he suddenly heard +that the archbishop had been murdered and that the city was in the +hands of his enemies. Do what he would he never returned to his own +city, and thus his intentions with regard to the tomb of the poet were +never carried out. The noble sepulchre which Guido had planned was not +built and the body of Dante reposed in the ancient sarcophagus in +which it had been first placed. There it remained when Boccaccio came +to Ravenna, probably in 1346 and certainly in 1350, as the bearer of a +gift from the Or San Michele Society to Beatrice di Dante, then a nun +in S. Stefano dell' Uliva. + +Boccaccio, it will be remembered, had in his life of Dante bitterly +upbraided Florence for her treatment of her greatest son, and to his +blame had added a prophecy that she would soon repent of her shameful +ingratitude and would envy Ravenna "the body of him whose works have +held the admiration of the whole world." This prophecy fulfilled +itself many times and first in 1396. In that year, upon December 22, +Florence made the first of her many demands for the body of Dante, +which she now wished to bury in S. Maria del Fiore. The demand, as +Boccaccio had foreseen, was refused. It was repeated in 1429 and again +refused. By 1476, when her next attempt was made, Ravenna had passed +into the power of the Venetian Republic. It was therefore to Venice +that Florence now turned through the Venetian ambassador, who is said +to have been none other than Bernardo Bembo. + +Bembo's request on behalf of Florence was, of course, a failure, but +he seems to have himself repaired the tomb and to have placed upon it +an epitaph. + + "Exigua tumuli Dantes hic sorte jacebas + Squallenti nulli cognite pene situ. + At nunc marmoreo subnixus conderis arcu + Omnibus et cultu splendidiore nites + Nimirum Bembus musis incensus ethruscis + Hoc tibi quem in primis hoc coluere dedit. + + Ann Sal. mcccclxxxiii. vi. Kal. Jvn. + Bernardus Bemb. Praet. aere suo Posuit." + +His work of reparation and of adornment was carried out by Pietro +Lombardo who was already at work in Ravenna for the Venetian republic, +the sculptured effigy of Dante in relief being also from his hand. + +But Florence was by no means at the end of her resources. In 1509 +Ravenna had passed into the hands of the pope. In 1519 Leo X., a +Medici, being on the throne of Peter, the Accademia Medicea of +Florence petitioned the pope (among the signatories of the petition +was Michelangelo, who offered to "make a worthy sepulchre for the +divine poet in an honoured place" in Florence), to be allowed to carry +away the bones of Dante from Ravenna to the City of Flowers. The pope +gave the Florentine envoys the permission they required as was +expected. They proceeded to Ravenna and opened the sarcophagus; but +when they lifted the lid, they found it empty, save for "a fragment of +bone and a few withered leaves of the laurel which had adorned the +poet's head." From that time till our own day the resting place of +Dante's bones has been a complete mystery. + +It is recorded that in the middle of the seventeenth century the +Franciscans rebuilt and repaired the so-called chapel of Braccioforte +at S. Francesco, which till then had been joined by a portico to the +tomb of Dante. In 1658 this portico among other alterations was +removed, and the exterior of the tomb itself was reconstructed with an +entrance into the Piazza, as we see it. The interior of the tomb was, +however, left in some confusion so that the papal legate determined +himself to repair it. In this he met with much opposition from the +friars who claimed, as of old, jurisdiction over the sepulchre. +Nevertheless he completed the work, and in 1692 placed the following +upon the tomb: + + Exulem a Florentia Dantem Liberalissime + Excepit Ravenna. + Vivo fruens Mortuum colens + Magnis cineribus licet in parvo magnifici parentarunt + Polentani Principes erigendo + Bembus Praetor Luculentissime extruendo + Praetiosum Musis et Apollini Mausoleum + Quod injuria temporum pene squallens + E. mo Dominico Maria Cursio Legato + Joanne Salviato Prolegato + Magni civis cineres Patriae reconciliare + Cultus perpetuitate curantibus + S. P. Q. R. + Jure Ac Aere suo + Tanquam Thesaurum suum munivit + Instauravit ornavit + A.D. MDCXCII. + +Outside the tomb he placed his coat-of-arms, and on either side that +of the legate of the province and that of the Franciscan Order. In +1760 the third restoration was undertaken and the tomb assumed the +form we now see and was given yet another inscription: + + Danti Aleghiero + Poetae sui temporis primo + Restitutori + Politioris humanitatis + Guido et Hostasius Polentiani + clienti et hospiti peregre defuncto + monumentum fecerunt + Bernardus Bembus Praetor Venet. Ravenn. + Pro meritis eius ornatu excoluit. + Aloysius Valentius Gonzaga Card. + Leg. prov. Aemil. + Superiorum Temporum negligentia corruptum + Operibus ampliatis + Munificentia sua restituendum + curavit + Anno M DCC LXXX. + +At the same time the tomb was opened again and was found to be empty. +In spite of this fact in 1864 the municipal authorities in Florence +wrote to Ravenna again demanding the body of the poet, only to be +again refused. This, however, was the sixth centenary of Dante's birth +and the sarcophagus was again to be opened to "verify the remains." +The workmen were indeed at work upon some necessary repairs and +draining, when it was found that a part of the wall of the +Braccioforte chapel would have to be removed. In setting to work upon +this--little more than the removal of a few stones--the pickaxe of one +of the workmen struck against wood, and presently a wooden box +appeared which partly fell to pieces, revealing a human skeleton. +Within the box was found this inscription: + + Dantis ossa + Denuper revisa die 3 Junu + 1677 + + Dantis ossa + A me Fre Antonio Santi + hic posita + Ano 1677 die 18 Octobris + +Medical experts were summoned. They made, Miss Phillimore tells us, "a +careful examination of the bones, and proceeded to reconstruct the +skeleton.... The stature answered to that of the poet as nearly as the +measurement of a skeleton can represent the living form, and the skull +found in the chest corresponded exactly with the mask taken from +Dante's face immediately after his death, which was brought from +Florence for the purpose of making this comparison." + +What seems to have happened has been made clear for us by Dr. Ricci. +Between 1483, when Bembo reconstructed the tomb, and 1520, when the +Florentines again claimed the body, and for the first time with a +certainty of success, the body of Dante disappeared. It seems that in +1520 the Franciscans entered the mausoleum, abstracted the body, and +hid it to save it for Ravenna. In June 1677 Fra Antonio visited the +bones in their hiding place and verified them. In October of the same +year they were built into the new wall where the old entrance to the +Braccioforte chapel had been; to be discovered by chance in 1865. + +It is curious that even as the last cantos of the _Divine Comedy_ were +discovered by means of a dream, so a dream went before the discovery +of the bones of Dante. + +"The sacristan of the Franciscan confraternity," we read, "called La +Confraternita della Mercede, was wont to sleep in the damp recesses of +the ancient chapel of Braccioforte." His name was Angelo Grillo ... +This sacristan declared himself to have seen in a dream a shade issue +from the spot where the body was found, clad in red, that it passed +through the chapel into the adjoining cemetery. It approached him, and +on being asked who it was, replied, 'I am Dante.' The sacristan died +in May 1865, a few days before the discovery of the bones on the 27th +of that month. Upon June 26, 1865, the bones of Dante were replaced in +their original sarcophagus, ornamented by Pietro Lombardi, after +having lain in state for three days, during which thousands from all +over Italy passed before them. There it is to be hoped they will +remain. + +[Illustration: CAMPANILE OF S. FRANCESCO] + + + + +XVI + +MEDIAEVAL RAVENNA + +THE CHURCHES + + +When we come to examine what is left to us of mediaeval Ravenna, of +the buildings which were erected there during the Middle Age, we shall +find, as we might expect, very little that is either great or +splendid, for, as we have seen, after the first year of the ninth +century Ravenna fell from her great position and became nothing more +than a provincial city, perhaps more inaccessible than any other in +the peninsula. Her achievement such as it was in the earlier mediaeval +period consisted in the production of three men of real importance, S. +Romuald of the Onesti family of Ravenna, who was born in the city +about the year 956 and who founded, as we know, the Order of +Camaldoli; S. Peter Damian, who was born there about 988; and Blessed +Peter of Ravenna, Pietro degli Onesti, called _Il Peccatore_, of the +same stock as S. Romuald. + +The work of S. Romuald was a reform of the Benedictine Order. The +Order of Camaldoli which he founded was the second reform which had +come out of the great brotherhood of S. Benedict; it was younger than +the Cluniac but older than the Cistercian reform, and it was begun in +1012. In that year S. Romuald, who was a Benedictine abbot, having +been dismissed by all the houses over which he had successively ruled, +for they would not bear the penitential strictness of his government, +founded a hermitage at Camaldoli above the upper valley of the Arno +called the Casentino. There each monk lived in a separate dwelling, +all being enclosed in a great wall some five hundred and thirty yards +about, beyond which the monks were forbidden to go. They followed the +Rule of S. Benedict, kept two Lents in the year, and never tasted +meat. They had, of course, a church in common where they were bound to +recite the divine office, for this is of the essence of the Rule of S. +Benedict, but certain among them--and this is the essence of the +reform of Camaldoli--never quitted their cells, their food being +brought to them in their huts, where, if the lecluse were a priest, he +said his Mass, assisted by some one close by but not in the same room. +Thus we see the monks and the hermits living side by side, but +scarcely together, and so they continued from the year 1012 till our +own day, which has seen the great Camaldoli suppressed. The device of +the order was a cup or chalice out of which two doves drank, +representing thus the two classes of hermits and monks, the +contemplative and the active life. + +[Illustration: Colour Plate S. MARIA IN PORTO] + +The second great Ravennese of the Middle Age, S. Peter Damian, who was +born about 988 in Ravenna, of a good but at that time poor family, was +the youngest of many children. He was early left an orphan, and living +in his brother's house was treated, it would appear, rather as a beast +than a man. Presently, however, another brother, then archpriest of +Ravenna, took pity on him and had him educated, first at Faenza but +after at Parma, where he studied under a famous master. Here he became +immersed in the religious life so that when two monks belonging to +Fonte Avellana, "a desert at the foot of the Apennines in Umbria," +happened to call at the place of his abode he followed them. After a +life of penitence and hardship, in 1057 pope Stephen IX. prevailed +upon him to quit his desert and made him cardinal-bishop of Ostia, and +later pope Nicholas II. sent him to Milan as his legate, till in 1062 +the successor of Nicholas allowed him to return to his solitude; but +in 1063 he was sent to France as papal legate. Later we find him as +papal ambassador in Ravenna--this in 1072. He was then a very old man, +and on his way back to Rome he died at Faenza. + +This famous saint has often been confused with the third great +Ravennese of this time, Pietro degli Onesti, called Pietro _Il +Peccatore_[1] This confusion, which Dante disposes of in the +well-known passage of the _Paradiso_: + + "In quel loco fui 10, Pier Damiano, + e Pietro Peccator fu nella casa + Di nostra Donna in sul lito Adriano,"[2] + +is commented upon in one of Boccaccio's letters to his friend +Petrarch.[3] It is true both Peters were of Ravenna, but whereas +Blessed Pietro _Il Peccatore_ was of the Onesti family, as was S. +Romuald, S. Pietro Damiano was not; the last died in 1072 at Faenza as +we have seen, the first as we may think in 1119. + +[Footnote 1: It is I confess doubtful whether Pietro degli Onesti was +ever called _Il Peccatore_ till a later epoch. The authenticity of the +letters in which he so styles himself is open to question and the +inscription on his tomb is it seems of the fifteenth century.] + +[Footnote 2: _Paradiso_, xxi. 121-123. "In quel loco" refers to Fonte +Avellana.] + +[Footnote 3: Cf. Corazzini, _Lettere edite ed inedite di Giovanni +Boccaccio_ (Firenze, 1877), p. 307.] + +Now though all were famous and all were of Ravenna it is the last and +I suppose the least of them who is most closely connected with the +city. The others went away and won, not only great place in the world, +but an everlasting fame. Blessed Pietro _Il Peccatore_ stayed in +Ravenna and built there outside the walls in the marsh between Ravenna +and Classe the great home of Our Lady, S. Maria in Porto fuori. About +the middle of the eleventh century, Dr Ricci tells us, certain +religious retired into the solitude by the shore of the Adriatic and +there built a little church or oratory that was called S. Maria _in +fossula_. In this act we may certainly see the example of S. Romuald. +But about 1096 there joined himself to them Pietro degli Onesti called +_Il Peccatore_, and perhaps because he was of the Onesti he built +there a new and a larger church, it is said in fulfilment of a vow +made, as was Galla Placidia's, in a storm at sea. It is this church +which in great part we still see, with additions of the thirteenth +century, a lonely and beautiful thing in the emptiness of the sodden +fields to the south-east of Ravenna between the Canale del Molino and +the Fiumi Uniti. + +The lonely and melancholy church of S. Maria in Porto fuori is a +basilica consisting of three naves which formed a part of the original +church of the Blessed Pietro, and a presbytery, apse, and chapels +which are of the thirteenth century. There we see some frescoes of a +very beautiful and early character which have been erroneously +attributed to Giotto, and as erroneously it might seem to Peter of +Rimini. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF S. MARIA IN PORTO FUORI] + +They were the gift of a certain Graziadeo, a notary who in 1246 +provided the cost of the work, which was carried out it would seem by +Maso da Faenza (1314), Rastello da Forll (1350-60), Giovanni da +Ravenna (1368-96), and other painters of the Romagnuol school.[1] +These works, which are among the loveliest we have of the school, may +be noted as follows: in the nave to the left we see the Madonna and +Child with four saints; here, too, is S. Julian. Upon the triumphal +arch we see in the midst the Saviour and on the one side Antichrist +and the martyrdom of the saints, on the other the defeat and end of +Antichrist who is beheaded by angels. Beneath are scenes of Paradise +and Hell. On the roof of the choir we see the Evangelists with their +symbols and the Doctors of the Church. Upon the right the Death, +Assumption, and Coronation of the Blessed Virgin, together with the +Massacre of the Innocents and the Last Supper and perhaps S. Francis +and S. Clare. Upon the left we have the Birth and Presentation of the +Blessed Virgin in the Temple. The last two figures upon the right here +are said to be portraits of Giotto and Guido da Polenta by those who +attribute these works to the Florentine master. In the chapel on the +left we see pope John I. before Theodoric, pope John in prison, and in +the lunette the martyrdom of a saint. Close by are other frescoes +repainted of S. Apollinaris and S. Antony Abbot. In the chapel on the +right we see perhaps S. John baptising a king, S. John preaching, and +Blessed Pietro _Il Peccatore_ healing the blind and sick. Here too +would appear to be scenes from the life of S. Matthew, but unhappily +the subjects are all of them obscure and difficult to interpret. At +the end of the apse we see the three Maries at the Sepulchre and the +Incredulity of S. Thomas. + +[Footnote 1: Cf. Dr. Ricci, _Guida di Ravenna_ (Bologna, fourth +edition), and see Anselmi, _Memorie del Pittore Trecentista Petrus da +Rimini_ in _La Romagna_ (1906), vol. III. fasc. Settembre.] + +Of these majestic but spoilt works undoubtedly the noblest in design +is that of the Death of the Blessed Virgin. The Last Supper is also +exceedingly beautiful, and the Incredulity of S. Thomas is a splendid +piece of work. But in the course of ages these latter works especially +have suffered grievously, as of course has the whole church. + +Built in the marsh it has sunk so deeply into it that its pillars are +covered half way up, and the church seems always about to be wholly +engulfed. It was called S. Maria in Porto because it was originally +built near to the famous Port that Augustus Casar had established and +which for so long was the headquarters of the eastern fleet. In the +sixteenth century when the Canons Regular of the Lateran, who then +served it, were compelled to abandon it, they built within the city of +Ravenna another church which they named after that they had left, S. +Maria in Porto. Thereafter the old church without the walls was known +as S. Maria in Porto fuori. + +The mighty tower which rises beside S. Maria in Porto fuori has been +thought to be in part the famous Pharos of which Pliny speaks.[1] It +is almost certainly founded upon it, but the lower part in its huge +strength is, as we see it, a work of the end of the twelfth century, +as is the lofty campanile which rises from it. + +[Footnote 1: See _supra_, p. 24.] + +S. Maria in Porto fuori is undoubtedly the greatest monument that +remains to Ravenna of the Middle Age; nothing really comparable with +it is to be found in the city itself. + +The earliest of the friars' churches, those great monuments of the +Middle Age in Italy, is S. Chiara which with its convent is now +suppressed and lost in the Recovero di Mendicita (Corso Garibaldi, +19). This convent, which dates certainly from 1255, was founded by +Chiara da Polenta and was rebuilt in 1794. It is from its garden that +we get our best idea of the church which within possesses frescoes of +the Romagnuol school, where in the vault we see the four Evangelists +with their symbols and the four Doctors of the Church. Upon the walls +we see a spoiled fresco of the Presepio, that peculiarly Franciscan +subject, and again the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi, the +Baptism of Our Lord, Christ in the Garden, the Crucifixion, and +various saints. These frescoes are the work of the men who painted in +S. Maria in Porto fuori. + +It cannot have been much later that the church of S. Pier Maggiore, of +which I have already spoken,[2] came into Franciscan hands, and +certainly from 1261 it was called S. Francesco, when the archbishop +Filippo Fontana handed it over to the Conventuals who held it till +1810. Its chief mediseval interest lies for us of course in the fact +that Dante was buried, probably at his own desire, within its +precincts. But there are other things too. Close to the entrance door +is a slab of red Verona marble dated 1396, which is the tomb of +Ostasio da Polenta who was a Tertiary of the Franciscan Order, and was +therefore buried in the habit of the friars. The figure carved there +in relief to represent Ostasio is evidently a portrait and a very fine +and noble piece of work. To the left, again, is another slab of red +Verona marble which marks the tomb of the General of the Franciscan +Order, Padre Enrico Alfieri, who died of fever in Ravenna in 1405. The +fine Renaissance pilasters in the Cappella del Crocefisso should be +noted, and the beautiful sixteenth-century monument of Luffo Numai by +Tommaso Flamberti at the end of the left aisle. + +[Footnote 2: See _supra_, pp. 174 _et seq_.] + +The Dominicans have not been more fortunate than the Franciscans. +Somewhat to the north of the Piazza Venti Settembre in the Via Cavour +we find their church S. Domenico. It is said that originally there +stood here a Byzantine church dedicated in honour of S. Maria +Callopes, but this Dr. Ricci denies. S. Domenico was built from its +foundations it seems in October 1269 for the Dominicans and was +enlarged in 1374 according to an inscription in the sacristy; but it +was almost entirely rebuilt in the beginning of the eighteenth +century. The facade and the side portico are perhaps now the most +genuine parts of the church. The chief treasure is, however, not of +the Middle Age at all, but of the Renaissance, and consists of four +large pictures painted in tempera, probably organ shutters, +representing the Annunciation, S. Peter Martyr, and S. Dominic. They +are the excellent work of Niccold Rondinelli the pupil of Giovanni +Bellini.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _infra_, pp. 267 _et seq_.] + +[Illustration: TORRE DEL COMUNE] + +From S. Domenico we pass again to S. Giovanni Evangelista if only to +note the beautiful Gothic portal of the fourteenth century, of which I +have already spoken,[2] and the spoiled frescoes by Giotto in the +vaulting of the fourth chapel on the left. Giotto, according to +Vasari, came to Ravenna at the instigation of Dante and painted in S. +Francesco, but whatever he may have done there has utterly perished, +and there only remains in Ravenna his spoilt work in this little +chapel in S. Giovanni Evangelista. Here we see in a ceiling divided by +two diagonals, at the centre of which the Lamb and Cross are painted +on a medallion, the four Evangelists enthroned with their symbols and +the four Doctors of the Church, a subject common everywhere and +especially so in Ravenna. These works have suffered very greatly from +restoration, but they seem indeed to be the work of the master in so +far as the design is concerned, all surely that is left after the +repaintings that have befallen them. + +[Footnote 2: See _supra_, pp. 175 _et seq_.] + +The mosaic pavements of 1213, representing scenes from the third +crusade, in the chapel to the left of the choir should be noted. + +We must not leave S. Giovanni Evangelista without a look at the great +tower of the eleventh century which overshadows it. It might seem to +be contemporary with the greater Torre Comunale in the Via Tredici +Giugno as the street is now absurdly named. Nor should any one omit to +visit the Casa Polentana near Porta Ursicina and the Casa Traversari +in the Via S. Vitale, grand old thirteenth-century houses that speak +to us, not certainly of Ravenna's great days, but of a greater day +than ours, and one, too, in which the most tragic of Italians wandered +up and down these windy ways eating his heart out for Florence. Indeed +Dante consumes all our thoughts in mediaeval Ravenna. + +There is a tale told by Franco Sacchetti that I will set down here, +for it expresses what in part we must all feel, and what in the +confusion of philosophy at the end of the Middle Age was felt far more +keenly by men who visited this strange city. + +"Maestro Antonio of Ferrara was a man of very great parts, almost a +poet, and as entertaining as a jester, but he was very vicious and +sinful. Being in Ravenna during the time that Messer Bernardino of +Polenta held the lordship, it chanced that this Messer Antonio, who +was a very great gambler, had been gambling one day and had lost +nearly all he possessed. Being in despair, he entered the church of +the Friars Minor, where there is the tomb which holds the body of the +Florentine poet Dante, and having seen an antique Crucifix half-burned +and smoked by the great number of lights placed around it, and finding +just then many candles lighted there, he immediately went and took all +the tapers and candles which were burning there and going to the tomb +of Dante he placed them before it saying, 'Take them, for thou art far +more worthy of them than it is.' The people beholding this and +marvelling greatly said, 'What doth this man?' And they all looked at +one another...." + +[Illustration: PORTAL OF S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA] + +Sacchetti does not answer the question asked by the astonished people +of Ravenna, but goes on to tell us of the lord "who delighted in such +things as do all lords." He could not have answered it for he did not +know himself what it meant. We are in better case, I think, and know +that what that wild and half--blasphemous act meant was that the +Renaissance had made an end of the Middle Age here in Ravenna as +elsewhere. + + + + +XVII + +RAVENNA IN THE RENAISSANCE + +THE BATTLE OF 1512 + + +When in the year 1438 duke Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan forced +Ostasio da Polenta, the fifth of that name, into an alliance and the +Venetians thereupon invited him to visit them, Venice had decided for +her own safety to annex Ravenna and Ostasio soon learned that the new +government had proclaimed itself in his old capital. He, as I have +said, presently disappeared, the victim of a mysterious assassination; +and Venice governed Ravenna by _provveditori_ and _podesta_, as +happily and successfully, it might seem, as she governed Venetia and a +part of Lombardy. For her doubtless the acquisition of Ravenna was not +a very great thing, nor does it seem to have changed in any very great +degree the half-stagnant life of the city itself, which, as we may +suppose, had for so long ceased to play any great part in the life of +Italy, that a change of government there was not of much importance to +any one except the Holy See, the true over-lord. + +The Holy See, however, had no intention of submitting to the incursion +of the republic into its long established territories without a +protest. In the war of Ferrara, Venice had come into collision with +the pope and had in reality been worsted, though the peace of Bagnolo +(1484) gave her Rovigo, the Polesine, and Ravenna. But she had adopted +a fatal policy in appealing to the French, a policy which led straight +on to Cambray, which, as we may think, so unfortunately crippled her +for ever. + +The descent of the French was successful at least in this, that it +aroused the cupidity and ambition of the king of Spain and of the +emperor. Italy was proved to be any one's prize at Fornovo, and when +Louis XII. succeeded Charles VIII. in 1498 and combined in his own +person the claim of the French crown to Naples and to Genoa and the +Orleans claim to Milan, Venice, instead of being doubly on guard, +thought she saw a chance of extending her Lombard dominions. She +refused the alliance Sforza offered and promised to assist Louis in +return for Cremona and its _contado_. In other words, she committed +treason to Italy and thus justified, if anything could justify, the +League of Cambray. + +Sforza's first act was to urge the Turk, who needed no invitation, to +attack the republic, whose fleet in 1499 was utterly defeated at sea +by the Orientals, who presently raided into Friuli. Venice was forced +to accept a humiliating peace. It was in these circumstances that, +with all Italy alienated from her, the papacy began to act against +her. + +Its first and most splendid effort to create a reality out of the +fiction of the States of the Church was the attempt of Cesare Borgia, +who actually made himself master of the whole of the Romagna. Venice +watched him with the greatest alarm, but chance saved her, for with +the death of Alexander VI., Cesare and his dream came to nothing. +Venice acted at once, for indeed even in her decline she was the most +splendid force in Italy. She induced by a most swift and masterly +stroke the leading cities of the Romagna to place themselves under her +protection. It was a great stroke, the last blow of a great and +desperate man; that it failed does not make it less to be admired. + +The rock which broke the stroke as it fell and shattered the sword +which dealt it was Pope Julius II. + +Louis and the emperor had come together, and when in June 1508 a truce +was made they would have been content to leave Venice alone; it was +the pope who refused, and by the end of the year had formed the +European League for the purpose of "putting a stop to losses, +injuries, rapine, and damage which Venice had inflicted not merely on +the Holy See, but also on the Holy Roman Empire, the House of Austria, +the Duchy of Milan, the King of Naples and other princes, seizing and +tyrannically occupying their territories, cities, and castles as +though she were conspiring to the common ill...." So ran the preamble +of the League of Cambray. It contemplated among other things the +return of Ravenna, Faenza, Rimini, and the rest of the Romagna to the +Holy See; Istria, Fruili, Treviso, Padua, Vicenza, and Verona being +handed to the emperor; Brescia, Bergamo, Crema, and Cremona passing to +France, and the sea-coast towns in Apulia to the king of Spain; +Dalmatia was to go to the king of Hungary and Cyprus to the duke of +Savoy. + +[Illustration: ROCCA VENIZIANA] + +In the spring of 1507, Julius launched his bull of excommunication +against Venice; Ravenna, which was held by the podesta Marcello and by +Zeno, was attacked by the pope's general, the duke of Urbino, and +after the disastrous defeat of the Venetians by the French and +Milanese, at Aguadello, on the Adda, the republic ordered the +restoration of Ravenna to the Holy See, together with the other cities +of the Romagna. + +The pope was now content, but France and the emperor were not, and +Venice was forced to ally herself first with one side and then with +the other. + +In the brutal struggle of the foreigner for Cisalpine Gaul there were +two desperate battles, that of Ravenna in 1512, in which the French, +though victorious, lost their best leader, Gaston de Foix, and that of +Novara in 1513, which induced the French to leave Italy. As the first +of these battles concerns Ravenna we must consider it more closely. + +At this time Venice was in alliance with Spain and the pope against +the French, who were commanded by Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours, a +nephew of the French king. The combined Spanish and papal troops, +about 20,000 strong, were led by Raimondo da Cardona. The French were +south of the Apennines when the Papal-Spanish force swung round from +Milan into the Ferrarese, seized the territory south of the Po, and +laid siege to Bologna. A Venetian force was hurrying to aid them. + +Gaston de Foix did not hesitate. On February 5, he flung himself over +the ice-bound Apennine and hastened to relieve Bologna. Cardona +retreated before him down the Aemilian Way; but Brescia opened its +gates to the Venetians, and this, which hindered Gaston, so enraged +him that when he had taken the city he gave it up to a pillage in +which more than eight thousand were slain and his men "were so laden +with spoil that they returned to France forthwith to enjoy it." + +Gaston was compelled to return to Milan to re-form his troops, for he +was determined both by necessity and by his own nature, which loved +decision, to force a battle with the allies. The truth was that the +position of France was precarious, her career in Italy was deeply +threatened by the allies, Henry VIII. of England contemplated a +descent upon Normandy, and until the enemy in Italy was disposed of +her way was barred to Naples. + +So Gaston set out with some 7000 cavalry and 17,000 infantry, French, +Italian, German, to pursue and to defeat Cardona, who did not wish to +fight. The army of the allies was chiefly Spanish and it numbered some +6000 cavalry and 16,000 infantry of most excellent fighting quality. + +As the French advanced along the Via Aemilia, Cardona withdrew to +Faenza. Gaston went on to Ravenna, which he besieged. Cardona was +forced to intervene and try to save the city. He, too, approached +Ravenna. Upon Easter Day, 1512, the two armies met in the marsh +between Ravenna and the sea; and, in the words of Guicciardini, "there +then began a very great battle, without doubt one of the greatest that +Italy had seen for these many years.... All the troops were +intermingled in a battle fought thus on a plain without impediments +such as water or banks, and where both armies fought, each obstinately +bent on death or victory, and inflamed not only with danger, glory, +and hope, but also with the hatred of nation against nation. It was a +memorable spectacle in the hot engagement between the German and +Spanish infantry to see two very noted officers, Jacopo Empser, a +German, and Zamudio, a Spaniard, advance before their battalions and +encounter one another as if it were by challenge, in which combat the +Spaniard went off conqueror by killing his adversary. The cavalry of +the army of the League was not at best equal to that of the French, +and having been shattered and torn by the artillery was become much +inferior. Wherefore after they had sustained for some time, more by +stoutness of heart than by strength of arms, the fury of the enemy, +Yves d'Allegre with the rearguard and a thousand foot that were left +at the Montone under Paliose and now recalled charging them in flank, +and Fabrizio Colonna, fighting valiantly, being taken prisoner by the +soldiers of the Duke of Ferrara, they turned their backs, in which +they did no more than follow the example of their generals; for the +Viceroy and Carvagiale, without making the utmost proof of the valour +of their troops, betook themselves to flight, carrying off with them +the third division or rearguard almost entire with Antonio da Leva, a +man of that time of low rank though afterwards by a continual exercise +of arms for many years, rising through all the military degrees, he +became a very famous general. The whole body of light horse had been +already broken, and the Marchese di Pescara, their commander, taken +prisoner, covered with blood and wounds. And the Marchese della +Palude, who had led up the second division, or main battle, through a +field full of ditches and brambles in great disorder to the fight, was +also taken. The ground was covered with dead men and horses, and yet +the Spanish infantry, though abandoned by the horse, continued +fighting with incredible fierceness; and though, at the first +encounter with the German foot, they had received some damage from the +firm and close order of the pikes, yet afterwards getting their +enemies within the length of their swords, and many of them, covered +with targets, pushing with daggers between the legs of the Germans, +they had penetrated with very great slaughter almost to the centre of +their battalions. The Gascon foot who were posted by the Germans on +the ground between the river and a rising bank had attacked the +Italian infantry, which, though they had greatly suffered by the +artillery, would have repulsed them highly to their honour, had not +Yves d'Allegre entered among them with a squadron of horse. But the +fortune of that general did not answer his valour, for his son +Viverais being almost immediately killed before his eyes, the father, +unwilling to survive so great a loss, threw himself with his horse +into the thickest of the enemies, where, fighting like a most valiant +captain and killing several, he was at last cut to pieces. The Italian +foot, unable to resist so great a multitude, gave way; but part of the +Spanish infantry hastening to support them, they rallied. On the other +side, the German infantry, being sorely pressed by the other part of +the Spaniards, were hardly capable of making any resistance; but the +cavalry of the confederates being all fled out of the field, Foix with +a great body of horse turned to fall upon them. The Spaniards, +therefore, rather retiring than driven out of the field, without the +least disorder in their ranks, took their way between the river and +the bank, marching slowly and with a close front, by the strength of +which they beat off the French and began to disengage themselves; at +which time Navarre, choosing rather to die than to save himself, and +therefore refusing to leave the field, was made a prisoner. But Foix, +thinking it intolerable that this Spanish infantry should march off in +battle array like conquerors and knowing that the victory was not +perfect if these were not broken and dispersed like the rest, went +furiously to attack them with a squadron of horse and did execution +upon the hindmost; but being surrounded and thrown from his horse, or, +as some say, his horse falling upon him, while he was fighting, he +received a mortal thrust with a pike in his side. And if it be +desirable, as it is believed, for a man to die in the height of his +prosperity, it is certain that he met with a most happy death in dying +after he had obtained so great a victory. He died very young, but +famous through the world, having in less than three months, and being +a general almost before he was a soldier, with incredible ardour and +expedition obtained so many victories. Near him lay on the ground for +dead Lautrec, having received twenty wounds; but being carried to +Ferrara he was by diligent care of the surgeons recovered. + +"By the death of Foix, the Spanish infantry were suffered to pass off +unmolested, the remainder of the army being already dispersed and put +to flight, and the baggage, colours, and cannons taken. The pope's +legate was also taken by the Stradiotti and carried to Federigo da +Bozzolo, who made a present of him to the legate of the council. There +were taken also Fabrizio Colonna, Pietro Navarra, the Marchese della +Palude, the Marchese di Bitonto, and the Marchese di Pescara, with +many other lords, barons, and honourable gentlemen, Spaniards and +Neapolitans. Nothing is more uncertain than the number of the killed +in battles; but amidst the variety of accounts it is the most common +opinion that there died of both armies at least 10,000, of which a +third was of the French and two-thirds of their enemies: some talk of +many more, but they were without question almost all of them of the +most valiant and choice soldiers, among whom, belonging to the papal +forces, was Raffaello de' Pazzi, an officer of high reputation; and +great numbers were wounded. But in this respect the loss of the +conqueror was without comparison much the greater by the death of +Foix, Yves d'Allegre, and many of the French nobility, and many other +brave officers of the German infantry, by whose valour, though at vast +expense of their blood, the victory was in a great measure acquired. +Molard also fell with many other officers of the Gascons and Picards, +which nation lost all their glory that day among the French. But their +loss was exceeded by the death of Foix, with whom perished the very +sinews and spirits of that army. Of the vanquished that escaped out of +the field of battle the greater part fled towards Cesena, whence they +continued their flight to more distant places; nor did the Viceroy +stop till he came to Ancona where he arrived with a very few horse. +Many were stripped and murdered in their flight; for the peasants +scoured all the roads and the Duke of Urbino, who from his sending +some time before Baldassare da Castiglione to the King of France, and +employing some trusty persons as his agents with Foix, was supposed to +have entered into a private agreement against his uncle, not only +raised the country against those that fled, but sent his soldiers to +intercept them in the territories of Pesaro; so that only those who +took their flight through the dominions of the Florentines were by +orders of the magistrates, confirmed by the republic, suffered to pass +unmolested. + +"The victorious army was no sooner returned to camp than the people of +Ravenna sent deputies to treat of surrendering their city; but when +they had agreed or were upon the point of agreement, and the +inhabitants being employed in preparing provisions to be sent to the +camp were negligent in guarding the walls, the German and Gascon foot +entered through the breach that had been made and plundered the town +in a most barbarous manner, their cruelty being exasperated not only +by their natural hatred to the name of the Italians, but by a spirit +of revenge for the loss they had sustained in the battle. On the +fourth day after this, Marcantonio Colonna gave up the citadel, into +which he had retired, on condition of safety to their persons and +effects, but obliging himself on the other hand, together with the +rest of the officers, not to bear arms against the King of France nor +the Pisan Council till the next festival of S. Mary Magdalen; and not +many days after, Bishop Vitello, who commanded in the castle with a +hundred and fifty men, agreed to surrender it on terms of safety for +life and goods. The cities of Imola, Forli, Cesena, and Rimini, and +all the castles of the Romagna, except those of Forli and Imola, +followed the fortune of the victory and were received by the legate in +the name of the council." + +The site of this great battle is marked by a monument, a square +pilaster of marble, called the Colonna dei Francesi, adorned with +bas-reliefs and inscriptions, raised in 1557 by the President of the +Romagna, Pier Donato Cesi, on the right bank of the Ronco, some three +miles from the city. We may recall Ariosto's verses: + + "Io venni dove le campagne rosse + eran del sangue barbaro e latino + che fiera stella dianzi a furor mosse. + + "E vidi un morto all' altro si vicino + che, senza premer lor, quasi il terreno + a molte miglia non dava il cammino. + + "E da chi alberga fra Garonna e Reno + vidi uscir crudelta, che ne dovria + tutto il mondo d'orror rimaner pieno." + +The League of Cambray had succeeded in breaking the real security and +confidence of Venice; the death of Gaston de Foix, "the hero boy who +died too soon," destroyed the energy of her ally, the French army, in +Italy; and the battle of Novara, as I have said, in 1513, inducing +that ally to withdraw from the peninsula, left the republic to be +menaced by Cardona, who failed only to take Venice itself. + +Nor was that great government more fortunate in the long struggles +which followed between Francis I. and Charles V. In 1523, seeing that +the French were failing, Venice came to terms with the emperor, by +that time the real arbiter of Italy. In 1527, though then in alliance +with pope Clement VII, she seized once more Ravenna and the Romagna, +but the emperor intervened, and by the peace of Cambray in 1529, which +on payment of a fine confirmed Venice in her Lombard possessions as +far as the Adda, she was compelled to restore Ravenna and the Romagna +to the pope. + +The treaty of Cambray had so far as Ravenna was concerned a certain +finality about it. Thenceforth the popes ruled the city through a +cardinal legate, and an era of a certain social and artistic splendour +began; the city was adorned with at least one new church, S. Maria in +Porto, with many monuments and palaces, and some great public works +were undertaken. + +So Ravenna in the arms of the Church slumbered till, in 1797, the +great soldier of the Revolution descended upon Italy in that +marvellous campaign which so closely recalls the achievement of +Caesar. Ravenna then became a part first of the Cispadan and later of +the Cisalpine republic. Then, as we know, came the Austrians who took +Ravenna from the French, but were in their turn expelled in 1800, when +the city was incorporated into the short-lived kingdom of Italy. But +it was again attacked by the Austrians, and later restored once again +to the pope. A period of uncertainty and confusion followed in which +various provisional governments were established for Ravenna, but at +last in 1860 the city and its province were, by a vote of the people, +included in the kingdom of United Italy. + +[Illustration: MONUMENT OF GASTON DE FOIX] + + + + +XVIII + +RENAISSANCE RAVENNA + +CHURCHES AND PALACES + + +The period of the Renaissance which saw the papal government +re-established in Ravenna in 1529, has left its mark upon the city in +many a fine monument, indelibly stamped with the style of that +fruitful period. Among such monuments we must note the beautiful tombs +of Guidarello Guidarelli, by Tullio Lombardi, erected in 1557, now in +the Accademia, and of Luffo Numai by Tommaso Flamberti in S. +Francesco, erected about fifty years earlier (1509). Above all, +however, must be named the great church of S. Maria in Porto (1553) +and the palaces of Minzoni, Graziani, and others, with the Loggia del +Giardino at S. Maria in Porto. And there is, too, the work of the +painters Niccolo Rondinelli, Cotignola, Luca Longhi and his sons, +Guido Reni, and others. + +Later the papal government undertook many great public works. The +Venetians had, as we shall see, re-fortified Ravenna; these +fortifications the papal government enlarged, and in the middle of the +seventeenth century undertook the digging and construction of the +Canale Pamfilio, so named in honour of Innocent X., and in the +following century of the Canale Corsini. These works were necessary, +it is said, not only for the maritime commerce of the city, which one +may think was scarcely large enough to have excused them, but for the +preservation of Ravenna from inundation consequent upon the silting up +of the rivers. + +But the earliest work done in Ravenna after the close of the Middle +Age was that undertaken by the Venetians. It was in 1457 that they +began to build the really tremendous fortification or Rocca, the ruins +of which we may still see. They were engaged during some ten years +upon this great fortress, the master of the works being Giovanni +Francesco da Massa. They employed as material the ruins of the church +of S. Andrea dei Goti, built by Theodoric, which they had been +compelled to destroy to make room for the fortress, as well as the +materials of a palace of the Polentani. The Rocca with its great +citadel played a considerable part in the battle of 1512, and the +subsequent sack of the city. But when Ravenna came again into the +government of the Holy See, though the fortifications of the city as a +whole were enlarged, the Rocca itself soon fell into a decay and was +indeed in great part destroyed in the middle of the seventeenth +century, the monastery and the church of Classe being repaired and +enlarged with its ruins and the Ponte Nuovo over the Fiumi Uniti, +according to Dr. Ricci, being also constructed from its remains, as +were other buildings in Ravenna. Then like the Rocca Malatestiana at +Rimini it came to be used as a mere prison, and when it failed to +prove useful for that purpose it was allowed to become the picturesque +ruin we see. + +Upon the Torre del Ponte of old were set two great reliefs; on high +the Madonna and Child and beneath the Lion of S. Mark. The Madonna and +Child, a mediocre work, remains, but when Venice was turned out of +Ravenna the Lion was taken down and behind it were carved the papal +arms. Both Madonna and Lion would seem to have been the work of Marino +di Marco Ceprini. + +Another work undertaken and achieved by the Venetians was the +enlargement and the adornment of the Piazza Maggiore. There in 1483, +when their work was finished, they raised two columns which still +stand before the Palazzo del Comune. They stand upon circular bases in +three tiers, sculptured in relief by Pietro Lombardi with the signs of +the Zodiac and other symbols and ornaments. The capitals of both the +columns are beautiful. Upon the northern column of old stood a statue +of S. Apollinaris, the true patron of the city, while upon the +southern column stood the Lion of S. Mark. But when in 1509 Ravenna +came into the hands of Julius II. the Lion was removed and in 1640 the +statue of S. Apollinaris from the northern column took its place, +while there, where of old S. Apollinaris had stood, a statue of S. +Vitalis was set as we see to-day. The Palazzo del Comune was entirely +reconstructed in 1681, while the Palazzo Governativo was built in 1696 +by the Cardinal Legate Francesco Barberini and the Orologio Pubblico, +originally dating from 1483, was transformed, as we see it, in 1785 Of +the Portico Antico I have already spoken.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _supra_, p. 192.] + +One of the most interesting and accessible fifteenth-century houses in +Ravenna is to be found in the Albergo del Cappello, with its fine +original windows in the Via Rattazzi, not far from S. Domenico; it may +stand as an example of many other old houses in the Via Arcivescovado, +but I must especially name that beautiful Venetian house in the Via +Ponte Marino--it is No. 15--the Casa Graziani with its lovely balcony, +the Casa Baldim (Via Mazzini, 31) with its double loggia in the +_cortile_, the Casa Fabbri next door (No. 33), the Casa Zirardini (Via +Belle Arti, No. i), the Casa Baromo (Via Romolo Gessi, Nos. 6 and 16), +and the Casa Ghigi with its lovely door and portico (No. 7 of the same +street). + +[Illustration: THE CLOISTER OF S. GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA] + +Undoubtedly the greatest monument which the sixteenth century has left +us in Ravenna is the church of S. Maria in Porto. This was built by +the Canons Regular of the Lateran, the most ancient community of +canons still extant, in the year 1553, when for about fifty years they +had been compelled to abandon the church of S. Maria in Porto fuori +outside the city, in the marsh. They not only furnished their new +church, but to a considerable extent built it, out of the materials of +S. Lorenzo in Cesarea, which they thus destroyed. + +[Illustration: Colour Plate PORTA SERRATA] + +S. Maria in Porto as we see it has suffered from restoration, and the +facade is a work of the eighteenth century, but the church itself +remains a noble sixteenth-century building divided within into three +naves by huge pilasters and columns and covered at the crossing with a +great octagonal cupola. There is, however, little that is very +precious to be seen, a few fine marbles and the beautiful marble +relief of the Madonna in prayer in the transept, called the Madonna +Greca, a Byzantine work probably brought to Ravenna, according to Dr. +Ricci, at the time of the crusades. It was originally in S. Maria in +Porto fuori. The noble choir should also be noticed and the beautiful +ciborio. + +Close by the church is the Monastero of the Canons, within which there +remains the lovely cloister which should be compared with those at S. +Vitale and S. Giovanni Evangelista of the same period. This of S. +Maria in Porto, however, is the finest, having doubled storied logge. +Above all the exquisite Loggia del Giardino should not be missed. It +was built in 1508, and looks on to a piece of the sixth-century wall +of Ravenna. + +Not far away in the Via Girotto Guaccimanni near the Hotel Byron is +the church of S. Maria delle Croci, founded in the tenth century, but +entirely rebuilt in the sixteenth. The rose in terracotta of the +facade is a work of this time, as is the exquisite baldacchino over +the high altar within, upheld by two pilasters and two columns of +Greek marble. The picture, too, of the Assumption over the altar is by +a master, perhaps Gaspare Sacch' of Imola, of the sixteenth century. +Of the same period is the massive Porta Serrata at the north end of +the Corso Garibaldi. + +The best monument of later times left in Ravenna is the fine Palazzo +Rasponi in Via S. Agnese (No. 2) built in or about 1700. + + + + +XIX + +THE GALLERY AND THE MUSEUM + + +Ravenna isolated in her marsh and altogether, both geographically and +politically, out of the Italian world that began to flower so +wonderfully in Tuscany, then in Umbria, and later still in Venice in +the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, is the last city +in which to look for pictures. Nevertheless a few delightful pieces +among much that is negligible are to be found in the Accademia delle +Belle Arti in the Via Alfredo Baccarini. The collection was begun +about 1827, and though what is to be seen there is never of the first +importance it is certainly more than we had the right to expect. + +The first two rooms upon the upper floor are devoted to the Romagnuol +and Bolognese painters, the best of them here pupils or disciples of +the one master Ravenna can boast, Niccolo Rondinelli. + +We have seen Rondinelli's organ shutters in S. Domenico, here we have +something better. This really fine pupil of Giovanni Bellini was born +it seems in Ravenna in the middle of the fifteenth century. Vasari +tells us that "there also flourished in Romagna an excellent painter +called Rondinello.... Giovanni Bellini, whose disciple he had been, +had availed himself to a considerable extent of his services in +various works. But after Rondinello had left Giovanni Bellini he +continued to practise his art and in such a manner that, being +exceedingly diligent, he produced numerous works which are highly +deserving of and have obtained considerable praise.... For the altar +of S. Maria Maddalena in the cathedral of Ravenna this master painted +a picture in oil, wherein he portrayed the figure of that saint only; +but in the predella he executed three stories, the small figures of +which are very gracefully depicted. In one of these is our Saviour +Christ appearing to Mary Magdalen in the form of the gardener; another +shows S. Peter leaving the ship and walking upon the waves of the sea, +and between them is the Baptism of Christ. All these representations +are executed in an exceedingly beautiful manner.[1] Rondinello +likewise painted two pictures in the church of S. Giovanni Evangelista +in the same city. One of these portrays the Consecration of the church +by S. Giovanni[2] and the other exhibits three martyrs, S. Cancio, S. +Canciano, and S. Cancianilla, all very beautiful figures.[3] For the +church of S. Apollinare also in Ravenna this master painted two +pictures, each containing a single figure, S. Giovanni Battista and S. +Sebastiano, namely, both highly extolled.[4] There is a picture by the +hand of Rondinello in the church of S. Spirito likewise; the subject, +Our Lady between S. Jerome and the virgin martyr S. Catherine.[5] In +S. Francesco, Rondinello painted two pictures, in one of which are S. +Catherine and S. Francesco; while in the other our artist depicted the +Madonna accompanied by many figures, as well as by the apostle S. +James and by S. Francesco.[6] For the church of S. Domenico, +Rondinello painted two pictures; one is to the left of the high altar +and exhibits Our Lady with numerous figures; the other is on the +fagade of the church and is very beautiful.[7] In the church of S. +Niccolo, a monastery of Augustinians, this master painted a picture +with S. Lorenzo and S. Francesco, a work which was most highly +commended, in so much that it caused Rondinello to be held in the +utmost esteem for the remainder of his life, not in Ravenna only, but +in all Romagna.[8] The painter here in question lived to the age of +sixty years, and was buried in S. Francesco at Ravenna."[9] + +[Footnote 1: This picture would seem to be lost.] + +[Footnote 2: This picture is now in the Brera at Milan, No. 452.] + +[Footnote 3: This picture would seem to be lost. Milanesi says it was +taken to Milan. _Vas_. v. 254, n. 2.] + +[Footnote 4: There is a Sebastian by this master in the Duomo at +Forli; the S. Giovanni panel seems to be lost.] + +[Footnote 5: This is now in the Accademia of Ravenna, No. 6.] + +[Footnote 6: This would seem to have disappeared; but cf. Brera, 455.] + +[Footnote 7: The first of these remains in S. Domenico, the other is, +I think, now in the Accademia, No. 7.] + +[Footnote 8: This picture, too, seems to be lost.] + +[Footnote 9: Vasari (trs. Foster), vol. III. pp 382-384.] + +In another place, Vasari tells us that the pupil who copied Giovanni +Bellini most closely and did him most honour was "Rondinello of +Ravenna, of whose aid the master availed himself much in all his +works.... Rondinello painted his best work for the church of S. +Giovanni Battista in Ravenna. The church belongs to the Carmelite +Friars and in the painting, besides a figure of Our Lady, Rondinello +depicted that of S. Alberto, a brother of their order;[10] the head of +the saint is extremely beautiful, and the whole work very highly +commended."[11] + +[Footnote 10: Now in the Accademia, unnumbered; it represents the +Madonna between S. Alberto and S. Sebastian.] + +[Footnote 11: Vasari (trs. Foster), vol. II. pp. 171-172.] + +Of all the works thus named by Vasari as painted by Rondinelli in +Ravenna only four remain, three in the Accademia and one in S. +Domenico. I have already spoken of the tempera pieces in S. +Domenico.[12] Of the three pieces in the Accademia, the Madonna and +Child between S. Catherine and S. Jerome (No. 6) comes from S. +Spirito; the Madonna and Child between SS. Catherine, Mary Magdalen, +John Baptist, and Thomas Aquinas comes from S. Domenico, and is, I am +convinced, the picture spoken of by Vasari rather than the +sixteenth-century work that still hangs there, which is, according to +Dr. Ricci, perhaps the mediocre work of Ragazzini. The third picture +by Rondinelli in the Accademia, the Madonna and Child between S. +Alberto and S. Sebastian, comes from the church of the Carmelites, S. +Giovanni Battista. + +[Footnote 12: See _supra_, p. 246.] + +Beside these three fine works of Rondinelli hangs the work of a man he +strongly influenced, Francesco Zaganelli da Cotignola. When Vasari +tells us that Rondinelli was buried in S. Francesco at Ravenna, he +goes on to say that "after him came Francesco da Cotignola, who was +also greatly esteemed in that city and painted numerous pictures +there. On the high altar of the church which belongs to the Abbey of +Classe, for example, there is one from his hand of tolerably large +size, representing the Raising of Lazarus with many figures[1]. +Opposite to this work in the year 1548 Giorgio Vasari painted another +for Don Romualdo da Verona, the abbot of that place. This represents a +Deposition of Christ from the Cross, and has also a large number of +figures[2]. Francesco Cotignola painted a picture in S. Niccolo, +likewise a very large one, the subject of which is the Birth of +Christ, with two in S. Sebastiano exhibiting numerous figures[3]. For +the hospital of S. Caterina, Francesco painted a picture of Our Lady, +S. Caterina, and many other figures[4]; and in S. Agata, he painted a +figure of our Saviour Christ on the Cross, the Madonna being at the +foot thereof, with a considerable number of other figures; this work +also has received commendation[5]. In the church of S. Apollinare in +the same city are three pictures by this artist, one at the high altar +with Our Lady, S. Giovanni Battista, S. Apollinare, S. Jerome, and +other saints; in the second is also the Madonna with S. Peter and S. +Catherine[6]; and in the third and last is Jesus Christ bearing his +Cross, but this Francesco could not finish having been overtaken by +death before its completion[7]. Francesco coloured in a very pleasing +manner, but had not such power of design as Rondinello; he was +nevertheless held in great account by the people of Ravenna. It was +his desire to be buried in S. Apollinare, where he had painted certain +figures, as we have said, wishing that in the place where he had lived +and laboured his remains might find their repose after his death." + +[Footnote 1: This is in the ex-church of S. Romuald in Classe in the +sacristy, now part of the Museo] + +[Footnote 2: This is now in the Accademia, No 40] + +[Footnote 3: The first of these is in the Accademia (No. 10), as I +suppose are the two other undescribed pictures] + +[Footnote 4: Is this a Marriage of S. Catherine in S. Girolamo in +Ravenna?] + +[Footnote 5: Now in the Accademia, No 13.] + +[Footnote 6: Of these I know nothing] + +[Footnote 7: Now in the canonica of S. Croce in Ravenna] + +To-day in Ravenna there remain the three works described by Vasari, +one in the ex-church S. Romualdo di Classe, the other, as I think, +once in the Hospital of S. Catherine and now in S. Girolamo, and +another at S. Croce. In the Accademia there are nine of his works, of +which the S. Niccolo Presepio (No. 10) and the S. Agata Crucifixion +(No. 13) are the better. A S. Sebastian (No. 12) and a S. Catherine +(No. 11) should also be noticed. By his brother and assistant, +Bernardino, there is one picture in the Accademia, the Agony in the +Garden (No. 194). + +Another master of the Romagnuol school, Marco Palmezzano, the pupil of +Melozza da Forli, a contemporary of Rondinelli, who influenced him to +some small extent, is represented in the Accademia by two works in +Sala II., the Nativity and the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin +(Nos. 189 and 190); in the Vescovado there is a Madonna and Child with +four saints from his hand. Vasari says nothing of him, but only +mentions his name, yet he has a good deal to tell us of perhaps a +lesser man, Luca Longhi (1507-1580), who was born in Ravenna. + +"Maestro Luca de' Longhi of Ravenna," he says, "a man of studious +habits and quiet reserved character, has painted many beautiful +pictures in oil, with numerous portraits from the life in his native +city and its neighbourhood. Among other productions of Longhi are two +sufficiently graceful little pictures which the reverend Don Antonio +da Pisa, then abbot of the monastery, caused him to paint no long time +since for the monks of Classe; many other works have also been +executed by this painter. It is certain that Luca Longhi, being +studious, diligent, and of admirable judgment as he is, would have +become an excellent master had he not always confined himself to +Ravenna where he still remains with his family; his works are +accomplished with much patience and study; and of this I can bear +testimony since I know the progress which he made during the time of +my stay in Ravenna both in the practise and comprehension of art. Nor +will I omit to mention that a daughter of his, called Barbara, still +but a little child, draws very well and has begun to paint also in a +very good manner and with much grace." + +There are five pictures by Luca Longhi in the Accademia besides three +portraits. In Sala I. we have an early work painted at the age of +twenty-two, the Marriage of S. Catherine (No. 14); a Madonna and Child +with S. Benedict, S. Apollinaris, S. Barbara, and S. Paul (No. 23). In +Sala II. the Dead Christ between S. Bartholomew and Don Antonio da +Pisa, abbot of the monastery of Classe (No. 17), and two pictures of +the Adoration of the Shepherds (Nos. 15, 16). Here, too, are the three +portraits from his hand which represent Raffaele Rasponi (No. 22), +Giovanni Arrigoni (No. 21), and Girolamo Rossi (No. 20). By Luca's son +Francesco there is a feeble Crucifixion (No. 29) in Sala I.;[1] and +happily in Sala II. three pictures by Barbara, Luca's daughter, of +whom Vasari speaks; a S. Catherine, which is really a portrait of the +painter (No. 81), a Madonna and Child (No. 27), and a Judith (No. +28).[2] + +[Footnote 1: There is another work, an Annunciation, by Francesco +Longhi in S. Croce.] + +[Footnote 2: Another work by Barbara Longhi, S. Peter visiting S. +Agata in Prison, may be seen in S. Maria Maggiore.] + +Only one picture by a Bolognese master is really worthy of much notice +here; I mean the S. Romuald of Guercino (No. 33) in Sala I. In the +floor of this first room there is set a fine mosaic from S. Apollinare +in Classe which should be noted. + +The third room in the Accademia, filled with various works of little +merit of the sundry schools of Italy, may be neglected. The fourth +room, however, is devoted to the beautiful tomb of Guidarello +Guidarelli, the very glorious work of Tullio Lombardi. Of old this +exquisite tomb stood in the Cappella Braccioforte at S. Francesco. +Guidarello of Ravenna was killed in battle at Imola in 1501, and +Tullio Lombardi, the son of Pietro, was employed to make his tomb. "I +doubt," says M. de Vogue, "whether, apart from the work of Donatello, +the early Renaissance produced anything more beautiful." Guidarello +the knight is represented in marble, a life-size figure, lying on his +back, his body encased in armour, his helmet on his head, his visor +raised, his gloved hands crossed over his sword which lies along his +body. He seems, weary of fighting at last, to be sleeping, but the +sweet expression upon the tired face makes us think rather of a monk +than a soldier. In truth he was a knight of the olden time. + +We leave the room in which he sleeps for ever in his marble, +reluctantly, and, passing Sala V., which is full of late pictures of +no interest, come to Sala VI. where there are several delightful early +Italian works. One would not certainly expect to find in Ravenna a +picture of the most exquisite school in Tuscany, the school of Siena. +Yet here is a delightful Madonna and Child with S. Peter and S. +Barbara (No. 191) by Matteo di Giovanni (1435-1495); and a +fourteenth-century Annunciation (No. 176) from Tuscany. In the +Crucifixion (No. 225) we seem to have an early Venetian work, and +another Crucifixion (No. 181) might almost be from the hand of Lorenzo +Monaco. It is probable that we see a work of Antonio da Fabriano in +the S. Peter Damiano (No. 188), and certainly an Umbrian work in the +S. Francis receiving the Stigmata (216). But the most remarkable +Umbrian picture here is the Christ with the Cross between two angels +(No. 202), the work of Niccolo da Foligno. A few early works by the +mediocre masters of the Romagnuol school (Nos. 174, 171, 172, 182) are +to be seen here also. + +Sala VI. is entirely devoted to an immense number of pictures in the +Byzantine manner, of considerable interest and much beauty, but not +yet to be discussed. + +We leave the Accademia for the Museo close by. The building in which +the collections are housed is the old Camaldulensian monastery of +Classe built in 1515 by the monks of S. Apollinare in Classe, and +since S. Romuald, the founder of the order, was a Ravennese one may +think the monastery might have been left in the hands of the monks. +Even as it is it has considerably more interest for us than the +collections gathered within it. The beautiful seventeenth-century +cloisters, the old convent church of S. Romualdo in the baroque style +of 1630, and the convent itself are delightful. The collections are +mediocre. But here we may see all that is to be seen of the Ravenna of +Augustus and of the great years of the empire, fragments and +inscriptions and reliefs now and then of real interest, as in the +relief representing the Apotheosis of Augustus, in the eastern walk of +the cloisters, and in the remains of that suit of gold armour thought +to be Theodoric's in the old sacristy. But for the most part the +collection is without much attraction, yet certainly not to remain +unvisited. + +[Illustration: THE PINETA] + + + + +XX + +THE PINETA + + +Ravenna has so much that is rare and precious to show us that few +among the many who spend a day or two within her walls have the +inclination to explore the melancholy marshes in which she stands. No +doubt most of us drive out to S. Apollinare in Classe, but the road +thither does not encourage a further journey, for it is rude and rough +and the country over which it passes is among the most featureless in +Italy. Nevertheless he does himself a wrong who leaves Ravenna for +good without having spent one day at any rate in the Pineta which, +ruined though it now be, is still one of the loveliest and most +mysterious places in the Romagna. + +But lovely though it is, and full of memories, what can be said of +this vast ruined forest of stone pines with its mystery of mere and +fen, its coolness and shadow, its astonishing silence? Only this I +think, that if once you find it, nothing else in Ravenna will seem +half so precious as this green wood. You will love it always and for +its own sake more than anything else in Ravenna, and in this you will +not be alone; every one who has come to it these thousand years has +felt the same, Dante, Boccaccio, Byron, Carducci, the Pineta knows the +footsteps of them all and they seem to haunt it still. + +Dante would seem to have loved it best in the morning; out of it he +conjures his _Paradiso Terrestre_ in the twenty-eighth canto of the +_Purgatorio_: + + "Through that celestial forest, whose thick shade + With lively greenness the new-springing day + Attemper'd, eager now to roam, and search + Its limits round, forthwith I left the bank; + Along the champain leisurely my way + Pursuing, o'er the ground, that on all sides + Delicious odour breathed. A pleasant air + That intermitted never, never veer'd, + Smote on my temples, gently as a wind + Of softest influence, at which the sprays, + Obedient all, lean'd trembling to that part + Where first the holy mountain casts his shade, + Yet were not so disordered, but that still + Upon their top the feathered quiristers + Applied their wonted art, and with full joy + Welcomed those hours of prime, and warbled shrill + Amid the leaves that to their jocund lays + Kept tenour; even as from branch to branch + Along the piny forests on the shore + Of Chiassi rolls the gathering melody + When Eolus hath from his cavern loosed + The dripping south. Already had my steps, + Though slow, so far into that ancient wood + Transported me, I could not ken the place + Where I had entered; when, behold, my path + Was bounded by a rill which to the left + With little rippling waters bent the grass + That issued from its brink. On earth no wave + How clear so'er that would not seem to have + Some mixture in itself, compared with this + Transpicuous clear; yet darkly on it rolled, + Darkly beneath perpetual gloom, which ne'er + Admits or sun or moon-light there to shine." + +Well, is not it the very place? And did not Dante, who knew Italy as +few have known it, do well to remember it when he would describe for +us the Earthly Paradise? In the forest the morning is sacred to him +and there one should turn, with less misunderstanding than anywhere +else, the precious pages of that poem which is in itself a universe. + +But if the clear morning there is Dante's, when we may still hear the +voice he heard pass by there, in the stillness, singing, _Beati quorum +tecta sunt peccata_, the long noon belongs to Boccaccio, for it is +full of the most tragic and pitiful of his tales. + +[Illustration: THE PINETA] + +"Ravenna being a very ancient City in Romania, there dwelt sometime a +great number of worthy Gentlemen, among whom I am to speake of one +more especially, named Anastasio, descended from the Family of the +Honesti, who by the death of his Father, and an Unckle of his, was +left extraordinarily abounding in riches, and growing to yeares +fitting for marriage, (as young Gallants are easily apt enough to do) +he became enamored of a very bountifull Gentlewoman, who was Daughter +to Signior Paulo Traversario, one of the most ancient and noble +Families in all the Countrey. Nor made he any doubt, but by his meanes +and industrious endeavour, to derive affection from her againe; for he +carried himselfe like a brave-minded Gentleman, liberall in his +expences, honest and affable in all his actions, which commonly are +the true notes of a good nature, and highly to be commended in any +man. But, howsoever Fortune became his enemy, these laudable parts of +manhood did not any way friend him, but rather appeared hurtfull to +himselfe: so cruell, unkind, and almost meerely savage did she shew +her self to him; perhaps in pride of her singular beauty, or presuming +on her nobility by birth, both which are rather blemishes, then +ornaments in a woman, especially when they be abused. + +"The harsh and uncivill usage in her, grew very distastefull to +Anastasio, and so unsufferable, that after a long time of fruitlesse +service, requited still with nothing but coy disdaine; desperate +resolutions entred into his brain, and often he was minded to kill +himselfe. But better thoughts supplanting those furious passions, he +abstained from any such violent act; and governed by more manly +consideration, determined, that as shee hated him, he would requite +her with the like, if he could: wherein he became altogether deceived, +because as his hopes grew to a dayly decaying, yet his love enlarged +it selfe more and more. + +"Thus Anastasio persevering still in his bootlesse affection, and his +expences not limited within any compasse; it appeared in the judgement +of his Kindred and Friends, that he was falne into a mighty +consumption, both of his body and meanes. In which respect, many times +they advised him to leave the City of Ravenna, and live in some other +place for such a while; as might set a more moderate stint upon his +spendings, and bridle the indiscreete course of his love, the onely +fuell which fed this furious fire. + +"Anastasio held out thus a long time, without lending an eare to such +friendly counsell: but in the end, he was so neerely followed by them, +as being no longer able to deny them, he promised to accomplish their +request. Whereupon, making such extraordinary preparation, as if he +were to set thence for France or Spaine, or else into some further +distant countrey: he mounted on horsebacke, and accompanied with some +few of his familiar friends, departed from Ravenna, and rode to a +countrey dwelling house of his owne, about three or foure miles +distant from the Cittie, which was called Chiasso, and there (upon a +very goodly greene) erecting divers Tents and Pavillions, such as +great persons make use of in the time of a Progresse: he said to his +friends, which came with him thither, that there he determined to make +his abiding, they all returning backe unto Ravenna, and might come to +visite him againe so often as they pleased. + +"Now, it came to passe, that about the beginning of May, it being then +a very milde and serrene season, and he leading there a much more +magnificent life, then ever hee had done before, inviting divers to +dine with him this day, and as many to morrow, and not to leave him +till after supper: upon the sodaine, falling into remembrance of his +cruell Mistris, hee commanded all his servants to forbeare his +company, and suffer him to walke alone by himselfe awhile, because he +had occasion of private meditations, wherein he would not (by any +meanes) be troubled. It was then about the ninth houre of the day, and +he walking on solitary all alone, having gone some halfe miles +distance from his Tents, entred into a Grove of Pine-trees, never +minding dinner time, or any thing else, but onely the unkind requitall +of his love. + +"Sodainly he heard the voice of a woman, seeming to make most +mournfull complaints, which breaking off his silent considerations, +made him to lift up his head, to know the reason of this noise. When +he saw himselfe so farre entred into the Grove, before he could +imagine where he was; hee looked amazedly round about him, and out of +a little thicket of bushes and briars, round engirt with spreading +trees, hee espyed a young Damosell come running towards him, naked +from the middle upward, her haire dishevelled on her shoulders, and +her faire skinne rent and torne with the briars and brambles, so that +the blood ran trickling downe mainely; she weeping, wringing her +hands, and crying out for mercy so lowde as she could. Two fierce +Blood-hounds also followed swiftly after, and where their teeth tooke +hold, did most cruelly bite her. Last of all (mounted on a lusty +blacke Courser) came galloping a Knight, with a very sterne and angry +countenance, holding a drawne short Sword in his hand, giving her very +vile and dreadful speeches, and threatning every minute to kill her. + +"This strange and uncouth sight, bred in him no meane admiration, as +also kinde compassion to the unfortunate woman; out of which +compassion, sprung an earnest desire, to deliver her (if he could) +from a death so full of anguish and horror: but seeing himselfe to be +without Armes, he ran and pluckt up the plant of a Tree, which +handling as if it had bene a staffe, he opposed himselfe against the +Dogges and the Knight, who seeing him comming, cryed out in this +manner to him. Anastasio, put not thy selfe in any opposition, but +referre to my Hounds and me, to punish this wicked woman as she hath +justly deserved. And in speaking these words, the Hounds tooke fast +hold on her body, so staying her, untill the Knight was come neerer to +her, and alighted from his horse: when Anastasio (after some other +angry speeches) spake thus unto him: I cannot tell what or who thou +art, albeit thou takest such knowledge of me, yet I must say, that it +is meere cowardize in a Knight, being armed as thou art, to offer to +kill a naked woman, and make thy dogges thus to seize on her, as if +she were a savage beast; therefore beleeve me, I will defend her so +farre as I am able. + +"Anastasio, answered the Knight, I am of the same City as thou art, +and do well remember, that thou wast a little Ladde, when I (who was +then named Guido Anastasio, and thine Unckle) became as intirely in +love with this woman, as now thou art of Paulo Traversarioes daughter. +But through her coy disdaine and cruelty, such was my heavy fate, that +desperately I slew my selfe with this short sword which thou beholdest +in mine hand: for which rash sinfull deede, I was, and am condemned to +eternall punishment. This wicked woman, rejoycing immeasurably in mine +unhappy death, remained no long time alive after me, and for her +mercilesse sinne of cruelty, and taking pleasure in my oppressing +torments; dying unrepentant, and in pride of her scorne, she had the +like sentence of condemnation pronounced on her, and sent to the same +place where I was tormented. + +"There the three impartiall Judges, imposed this further infliction on +us both; namely, that she should flye in this manner before me, and I +(who loved her so deerely while I lived) must pursue her as my deadly +enemy, not like a woman that had a taste of love in her. And so often +as I can overtake her, I am to kill her with this sword, the same +Weapon wherewith I slew my selfe. Then am I enjoyned, therewith to +open her accursed body, and teare out her hard and frozen heart, with +her other inwards, as now thou seest me doe, which I give unto my +Hounds to feede on. Afterward, such is the appointment of the supreame +powers, that she reassumeth life againe, even as if she had not bene +dead at all, and falling to the same kinde of flight, I with my Hounds +am still to follow her; without any respite or intermission. Every +Friday, and just at this houre, our course is this way, where she +suffereth the just punishment inflicted on her. Nor do we rest any of +the other dayes, but are appointed unto other places, where she +cruelly executed her malice against me, being now (of her deare +affectionate friend) ordained to be her endlesse enemy, and to pursue +her in this manner for so many yeares, as she exercised moneths of +cruelty towards me. Hinder me not then, in being the executioner of +divine justice; for all thy interposition is but in vaine, in seeking +to crosse the appointment of supreame powers. + +"Anastasio having attentively heard all this discourse, his haire +stood upright like Porcupines quils, and his soule was so shaken with +the terror, that he stept backe to suffer the Knight to do what he was +enjoyned, looking yet with milde commisseration on the poore woman. +Who kneeling most humbly before the Knight, and stearnely seized on by +the two blood-hounds, he opened her brest with his weapon, drawing +foorth her heart and bowels, which instantly he threw to the dogges, +and they devoured them very greedily. Soone after, the Damosell (as if +none of this punishment had bene inflicted on her) started up +sodainly, running amaine towards the Sea shore, and the Hounds swiftly +following her, as the Knight did the like, after he had taken his +sword, and was mounted on horse-backe; so that Anastasio had soone +lost all sight of them, and could not gesse what was become of them. + +"After he had heard and observed all these things, he stoode a while +as confounded with feare and pitty, like a simple silly man, hoodwinkt +with his owne passions, not knowing the subtle enemies cunning +illusions in offering false suggestions to the sight, to worke his +owne ends thereby, and encrease the number of his deceived servants. +Forthwith he perswaded himselfe, that he might make good use of this +womans tormenting, so justly imposed on the Knight to prosecute, if +thus it should continue still every Friday. Wherefore, setting a good +note or marke upon the place, he returned backe to his owne people, +and at such time as he thought convenient, sent for divers of his +kindred and friends from Ravenna, who being present with him, thus he +spake to them. + +"Deare Kinsmen and Friends, ye have a long while importuned me, to +discontinue my over-doating love to her, whom you all thinke, and I +find to be my mortall enemy: as also, to give over my lavish expences, +wherein I confesse my selfe too prodigall; both which requests of +yours, I will condiscend to, provided, that you will performe one +gracious favour for me; Namely, that on Friday next, Signior Paulo +Traversario, his wife, daughter, with all other women linked in linage +to them, and such beside onely as you shall please to appoint, will +vouchsafe to accept a dinner heere with me; as for the reason thereto +mooving me, you shall then more at large be acquainted withall. This +appeared no difficult matter for them to accomplish: wherefore, being +returned to Ravenna, and as they found the time answerable to their +purpose, they invited such as Anastasio had appointed them. And +although they found it some-what an hard matter, to gaine her company +whom he so deerely affected; yet notwithstanding, the other women won +her along with them. + +"A most magnificent dinner had Anastasio provided, and the tables were +covered under the Pine-trees, where he saw the cruell Lady so pursued +and slaine: directing the guests so in their seating, that the yong +Gentlewoman his unkinde Mistresse, sate with her face opposite unto +the place, where the dismall spectacle was to be seen. About the +closing up of dinner, they beganne to heare the noise of the poore +prosecuted Woman, which drove them all to much admiration; desiring to +know what it was, and no one resolving them, they arose from the +Tables, and looking directly as the noise came to them, they espyed +the wofull Woman, the Dogges eagerly pursuing her; and the armed +Knight on horsebacke, gallopping fiercely after them with his drawne +weapon, and came very nere unto the company, who cryed out with lowd +exclaimes against the dogs and the Knight, stepping forth in +assistance of the injured woman. + +"The Knight spake unto them, as formerly he had done to Anastasio, +(which made them draw backe, possessed with feare and admiration) +acting the same cruelty as he did the Friday before, not differing in +the least degree. Most of the Gentlewomen there present, being neere +allyed to the unfortunate Woman, and likewise to the Knight, +remembring well both his love and death, did shed teares as +plentifully, as if it had bin to the very persons themselves, in +usuall performance of the action indeede. Which tragicall Scoene being +passed over, and the Woman and Knight gone out of their sight: all +that had seene this straunge accident, fell into diversity of confused +opinions, yet not daring to disclose them, as doubting some further +danger to ensue thereon. + +"But beyond all the rest, none could compare in feare and astonishment +with the cruell yong Maide affected by Anastasio, who both saw and +observed all with a more inward apprehension, knowing very well, that +the morall of this dismall spectacle, carried a much neerer +application to her then any other in all the company. For now she +could call to mind, how unkinde and cruell she had shewne her selfe to +Anastasio, even as the other Gentlewoman formerly did to her Lover, +still flying from him in great contempt and scorne: for which, she +thought the Blood-hounds also pursued her at the heeles already, and a +sword of vengeance to mangle her body. This feare grew so powerfull in +her, that to prevent the like heavy doome from falling on her, she +studied (by all her best and commendable meanes, and therein bestowed +all the night season) how to change her hatred into kinde love, which +at the length she fully obtained, and then purposed to prosecute in +this manner. + +"Secretly she sent a faithfull Chamber-maide of her owne, to greete +Anastasio on her behalfe; humbly entreating him to come see her: +because now she was absolutely determined, to give him satisfaction in +all which (with honour) he could request of her. Whereto Anastasio +answered, that he accepted her message thankfully, and desired no +other favour at her hand, but that which stood with her owne offer, +namely, to be his Wife in honourable marriage. The Maide knowing +sufficiently, that he could not be more desirous of the match, then +her Mistresse shewed her selfe to be, made answer in her name, that +this motion would be most welcome to her. + +"Heereupon, the Gentlewoman her selfe, became the solicitour to her +Father and Mother, telling them plainly, that she was willing to be +the Wife of Anastasio: which newes did so highly content them, that +upon the Sunday next following, the marriage was very worthily +solemnized, and they lived and loved together very kindly. Thus the +divine bounty, out of the malignant enemies secret machinations, can +cause good effects to arise and succeede. For, from this conceite of +fearfull imagination in her, not onely happened this long desired +conversion, of a Maide so obstinately scornfull and proud; but +likewise all the women of Ravenna (being admonished by her example) +grew afterward more kind and tractable to mens honest motions, then +ever they shewed themselves before. And let me make some use hereof +(faire Ladies) to you, not to stand over-nicely conceited of your +beauty and good parts, when men (growing enamored of you by them) +solicite you with their best and humblest services. Remember then this +disdainfull Gentlewoman, but more especially her, who being the death +of so kinde a Lover, was therefore condemned to perpetuall punishment, +and he made the minister thereof, whom she had cast off with coy +disdaine, from which I wish your minds to be as free, as mine is ready +to do you any acceptable service."[1] + +[Footnote 1: This translation is from the English version of _The +Decameron_, first published in 1620, but in 1569 had appeared _A +Notable Historye of Nastagto and Traversan_, or rhymed version of +Boccaccio's tale, by C.T., usually supposed to be Christopher Tye the +musician. Dryden used this story for his fable _Theodore and Honoria_. +It is curious to note that Anita, Garibaldi's wife, was actually +hunted to death here in the Pineta by the Austrians.] + +To Dante and to Boccaccio belong of right morning and noon in the +Pineta; but the evening is ours for it belongs to Byron: + + "Sweet hour of twilight' in the solitude + Of the pine forest, and the silent shore + Which bounds Ravenna's immemorial wood, + Rooted where once the Adrian wave flowed o'er, + To where the last Caesarean fortress stood, + Evergreen forest I which Boccaccio's lore + And Dryden's lay made haunted ground to me + How have I loved the twilight hour and thee; + + "The shrill cicalas, people of the pine, + Making their summer lives one ceaseless song, + Were the sole echoes, save my steed's and mine, + And vesper bells that rose the boughs along, + The spectre huntsman of Onesti's line, + His hell-dogs, and their chase, and the fair throng + Which learn'd from this example not to fly + From a true lover--shadow'd my mind's eye + + "Soft hour! which wakes the wish and melts the heart + Of those who sail the seas, on the first day + When they from their sweet friends are torn apart. + Or fills with love the pilgrim on his way + As the far bell of vesper makes him start, + Seeming to weep the dying day's decay, + Is this a fancy which our reason scorns? + Ah, surely nothing dies but something mourns!" + +That "sweet hour of twilight" in the Pineta is the most precious hour +of the day, when far off across the marsh softly, softly comes the Ave +Maria.... + + "_O tu rinnovellata + itala gente da le molte vite + rendi la voce + + "de ta preghiera, la campana squilli + ammonitrice, il campanil risorto + canti di clivo in clivo a la campagna + Ave Maria. + + "Ave Maria! Quando su l'aure corre + l'umil saluto, i piccioh mortali + scovrono il capo, curvano la fronte + Dante ed Aroldo_" + +[Illustration: TO PORTO CORSINI] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ravenna, A Study, by Edward Hutton + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12542 *** |