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Chapter XXVI.
Chapter XXVI.
An Exhortation to Liberate Italy from the Barbarians
Turning over in my mind all the matters which have above been considered,
and debating with myself whether in Italy at the present hour the times are
such as might serve to confer honour on a new Prince, and whether a fit
opportunity now offers for a prudent and valiant leader to bring about changes
glorious for himself and beneficial to the whole Italian people, it seems to
me that so many conditions combine to further such an enterprise, that I know
of no time so favourable to it as the present. And if, as I have said, it was
necessary in order to display the valour of Moses that the children of Israel
should be slaves in Egypt, and to know the greatness and courage of Cyrus
that the Persians should be oppressed by the Medes, and to illustrate the
excellence of Theseus that the Athenians should be scattered and divided, so
at this hour, to prove the worth of some Italian hero, it was required that
Italy should be brought to her present abject condition, to be more a slave
than the Hebrew, more oppressed than the Persian, more disunited than the
Athenian, without a head, without order, beaten, spoiled, torn in pieces,
over-run and abandoned to destruction in every shape.
But though, heretofore, glimmerings may have been discerned in this man
or that, whence it might be conjectured that he was ordained by God for her
redemption, nevertheless it has afterwards been seen in the further course of
his actions that Fortune has disowned him; so that our country, left almost
without life, still waits to know who it is that is to heal her bruises, to
put an end to the devastation and plunder of Lombardy, to the exactions and
imposts of Naples and Tuscany, and to stanch those wounds of hers which long
neglect has changed into running sores.
We see how she prays God to send some one to rescue her from these
barbarous cruelties and oppressions. We see too how ready and eager she is to
follow any standard were there only some one to raise it. But at present we
see no one except in your illustrious House (pre-eminent by its virtues and
good fortune, and favoured by God and by the Church whose headship it now
holds), who could undertake the part of a deliverer.
But for you this will not be too hard a task, if you keep before your
eyes the lives and actions of those whom I have named above. For although
these men were singular and extraordinary, after all they were but men, not
one of whom had so great an opportunity as now presents itself to you. For
their undertakings were not more just than this, nor more easy, nor was God
more their friend than yours. The justice of the cause is conspicuous; for
that war is just which is necessary, and those arms are sacred from which we
derive our only hope. Everywhere there is the strongest disposition to engage
in this cause; and where the disposition is strong the difficulty cannot be
great, provided you follow the methods observed by those whom I have set
before you as models.
But further, we see here extraordinary and unexampled proofs of Divine
favour. The sea has been divided; the cloud has attended you on your way; the
rock has flowed with water; the manna has rained from heaven; everything has
concurred to promote your greatness. What remains to be done must be done by
you; since in order not to deprive us of our free will and such share of glory
as belongs to us, God will not do everything himself.
Nor is to be marvelled at if none of those Italians I have named has been
able to effect what we hope to see effected by your illustrious House; or that
amid so many revolutions and so many warlike movements it should always appear
as though the military virtues of Italy were spent; for this comes her old
system being defective, and from no one being found among us capable to strike
out a new. Nothing confers such honour on the reformer of a State, as do the
new laws and institutions which he devises; for these when they stand on a
solid basis and have a greatness in their scope, make him admired and
venerated. And in Italy material is not wanting for improvement in every form.
If the head be weak the limbs are strong, and we see daily in single combats,
or where few are engaged, how superior are the strength, dexterity, and
intelligence of Italians. But when it comes to armies, they are nowhere, and
this from no other reason than the defects of their leaders. For those who
are skilful in arms will not obey, and every one thinks himself skilful,
since hitherto we have had none among us so raised by merit or by fortune
above his fellows that they should yield him the palm. And hence it happens
that for the long period of twenty years, during which so many wars have
taken place, whenever there has been an army purely Italian it has always
been beaten. To this testify, first Taro, then Alessandria, Capua, Genoa,
Vaila, Bologna, Mestri.
If then your illustrious House should seek to follow the example of those
great men who have delivered their country in past ages, it is before all
things necessary, as the true foundation of every such attempt, to be provided
with national troops, since you can have no braver, truer, or more faithful
soldiers; and although every single man of them be good, collectively they
will be better, seeing themselves commanded by their own Prince, and honoured
and esteemed by him. That you may be able, therefore, to defend yourself
against the foreigner with Italian valour, the first step is to provide
yourself with an army such as this.
And although the Swiss and the Spanish infantry are each esteemed
formidable, there are yet defects in both, by reason of which troops trained
on a different system might not merely withstand them, but be certain of
defeating them. For the Spaniards cannot resist cavalry and the Swiss will
give way before infantry if they find them as resolute as themselves at
close quarters. Whence it has been seen, and may be seen again, that the
Spaniards cannot sustain the onset of the French men-at-arms and that the
Swiss are broken by the Spanish foot. And although of this last we have no
complete instance, we have yet an indication of it in the battle of Ravenna,
where the Spanish infantry confronted the German companies who have the same
discipline as the Swiss; on which occasion the Spaniards by their agility and
with the aid of their bucklers forced their way under the pikes, and stood
ready to close with the Germans, who were no longer in a position to defend
themselves; and had they not been charged by cavalry, they must have put the
Germans to utter rout. Knowing, then, the defects of each of these kinds of
troops, you can train your men on some different system, to withstand cavalry
and not to fear infantry. To effect this, will not require the creation of
any new forces, but simply a change in the discipline of the old. And these
are matters in reforming which the new Prince acquires reputation and
importance.
This opportunity then, for Italy at last to look on her deliverer, ought
not to be allowed to pass away. With what love he would be received in all
those Provinces which have suffered from the foreign inundation, with what
thirst for vengeance, with what fixed fidelity, with what devotion, and what
tears, no words of mine can declare. What gates would be closed against him?
What people would refuse him obedience? What jealousy would stand in his way?
What Italian but would yield him homage? This barbarian tyranny stinks in all
nostrils.
Let your illustrious House therefore take upon itself this enterprise
with all the courage and all the hopes with which a just cause is undertaken;
so that under your standard this our country may be ennobled, and under your
auspices be fulfilled the words of Petrorch:-
`Brief will be the strife
When valour arms against barbaric rage;
For the bold spirit of the bygone age
Still warms Italian hearts with life.`
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