Villani's Chronicle Part 4

-- 37.--_How the city of Fiesole surrendered itself to the Romans and was destroyed and laid waste._

[Sidenote: Circ. 72 B.C.]

[Sidenote: Par. vi. 53, 54. xv. 124-126.]

Fiesole having been besieged as aforesaid the second time, and the city being much wasted and afflicted both by reason of hunger and also because their aqueducts had been cut off and destroyed, the city surrendered to Caesar and to the Romans at the end of two years and four months and six days (for so long had the siege lasted), on condition that any which desired to leave the city might go in safety.

The city was taken by the Romans, and despoiled of all its wealth, and was destroyed by Caesar, and laid waste to the foundations; and this was about seventy-two years before the birth of Christ.

-- 38.--_How the city of Florence was first built._

After the city of Fiesole was destroyed, Caesar with his armies descended to the plain on the banks of the river Arno, where Fiorinus and his followers had been slain by the Fiesolans, and in this place began to build a city, in order that Fiesole should never be rebuilt; and he dismissed the Latin horseman whom he had with him, enriched with the spoils of Fiesole; and these Latins were called Tudertines.

Caesar, then, having fixed the boundaries of the city, and included two places called Camarti and Villa Arnina [of the Arno], purposed to call it Caesaraea from his own name. But when the Roman senate heard this, they would not suffer Caesar to call it after his name, but they made a decree and order that the other chief n.o.ble Romans who had taken part in the siege of Fiesole should go and build the new city together with Caesar, and afterwards populate it; and that whichever of the builders had first completed his share of the work should call it after his own name, or howso else it pleased him.

[Sidenote: Inf. xxiii. 107, 108.]

[Sidenote: 70 B.C.]

[Sidenote: Inf. xv. 73-78. Par. xv. 124-126.]

Then Macrinus, Albinus, Gneus Pompey, and Marcius, furnished with materials and workmen, came from Rome to the city which Caesar was building, and agreed with Caesar to divide the work after this manner: that Albinus undertook to pave all the city, which was a n.o.ble work and gave beauty and charm to the city, and to this day fragments of the work are found, in digging, especially in the sesto of Santo Piero Scheraggio, and in Porta San Piero, and in Porta del Duomo, where it shows that the ancient city was. Macrinus caused the water to be brought in conduits and aqueducts, bringing it from a distance of seven miles from the city, to the end the city might have abundance of good water to drink and to cleanse the city; and this conduit was carried from the river called Marina at the foot of Montemorello, gathering to itself all the springs above Sesto and Quinto and Colonnata. And in Florence the said springs came to a head at a great palace which was called "caput aquae," but afterwards in our speech it was called Capaccia, and the remains can be seen in the Terma until this day. And note that the ancients, for health's sake, used to drink spring waters brought in by conduits, forasmuch as they were purer and more wholesome than water from wells; seeing that few, indeed very few, drank wine, but the most part water from conduits, but not from wells; and as yet there were very few vines. Gneus Pompey caused the walls of the city to be built of burnt bricks, and upon the walls of the city he built many round towers, and the s.p.a.ce between one tower and the other was twenty cubits, and it was so that the towers were of great beauty and strength. Concerning the size and circuit of the city we can find no chronicle which makes mention thereof; save that when Totila, the scourge of G.o.d, destroyed it, history records that it was very great. Marcius, the other Roman lord, caused the Capitol to be built after the fas.h.i.+on of Rome, that is to say the palace, or master fortress of the city, and this was of marvellous beauty; into which the water of the river Arno came by a hollowed and vaulted pa.s.sage, and returned into the Arno underground; and the city, at every festival, was cleansed by the outpouring of this duct. This Capitol stood where to-day is the piazza which is called the Mercato Vecchio, over against the church which is called S. Maria, in Campidoglio. This seems to be the best supported opinion; but some say that it was where the place is now called the Guardingo [citadel]; beside the Piazza di Popolo (so called from the Priors' Palace), which was another fortress. Guardingo was the name afterwards given to the remains of the walls and arches after the destruction by Totila, where the bad quarter was. And the said lords each strove to be in advance of the work of the others. And at one same time the whole was completed, so that to none of them was the favour granted of naming the city according to his desire, but by many it was at first called "Little Rome." Others called it Floria, because Fiorinus, who was the first builder in that spot, had there died, he being the _fiore_ [flower] of warlike deeds and of chivalry, and because in the country and fields around where the city was built there always grew flowers and lilies.

Afterwards the greater part of the inhabitants consented to call it Floria, as being built among flowers, that is, amongst many delights.

And of a surety it was, inasmuch as it was peopled by the best of Rome, and the most capable, sent by the senate in due proportion from each division of Rome, chosen by lot from the inhabitants; and they admitted among their number those Fiesolans which desired there to dwell and abide. But afterwards it was, through long use of the vulgar tongue, called Fiorenza, that is "flowery sword." And we find that it was built in the year 682, after the building of Rome and seventy years before the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. And note that it is not to be wondered at that the Florentines are always at war and strife among themselves, being born and descended from two peoples so contrary and hostile and different in habits as were the n.o.ble Romans in their virtue and the rude Fiesolans fierce in war.

-- 39.--_How Caesar departed from Florence, and went to Rome, and was made consul to go against the French._

[Sidenote: Par. vi. 65. Epist. v. (3) 47-49.]

[Sidenote: Par. vi. 73-81. Convivio iv. 5: 16-79. De Mon. ii. 9: 99-105; and ii. 12. Epist. vii. (3) 64-73.]

After that the city of Florence was built and peopled, Julius Caesar being angered because he, having been the first builder thereof, and having had the victory over the city of Fiesole, had nevertheless not been permitted to call the city after his name, departed therefrom and returned to Rome, and for his zeal and valour was elected consul and sent against the French, where he abode ten years whilst he was conquering France and England and Germany; and when he returned victorious to Rome his triumph was refused him, because he had transgressed the decree (made by Pompey the consul, and by the senate, through envy, under colour of virtue), that no one was to continue in any command for more than five years. The which Caesar returning with his army of French and Germans from beyond the Alps, Italians, Pisans, Pirates, Pistoians, and also Florentines, his fellow-citizens, brought footmen and hors.e.m.e.n and slingers with him to begin a civil war, because his triumph had been refused him, but moreover that he might be lord of Rome as he had desired long time. So he fought against Pompey and the senate of Rome. And after the great battle between Caesar and Pompey, well-nigh all the combatants were slain in Emathia, to wit Thessaly in Greece, as may fully be read in Lucan the poet, by whoso desires to know the history. And after that Caesar had gained the victory over Pompey, and over many kings and peoples who were helping those Romans who were his enemies, he returned to Rome, and so became the first Emperor of Rome, which is as much as to say commander over all. And after him came Octavia.n.u.s Augustus, his nephew and adopted son, who was reigning when Christ was born, and after many victories ruled over all the world in peace; and thenceforward Rome was under imperial government, and held under its jurisdiction and that of the Empire all the whole world.

-- 40.--_Of the ensign of the Romans and of the Emperors, and how from them it came to the city of Florence and other cities._

[Sidenote: De Mon. ii. 4: 30-41.]

[Sidenote: Par. xix. 101, 102.]

[Sidenote: De Mon. ii. 11: 23. Purg. x. 80. Par. vi. 32, 100.]

[Sidenote: Par. xx. 8, 31, 32. Inf. iv. 95, 96. Purg. ix. 30.]

[Sidenote: Ep. vi. (3) 79-85.]

In the time of Numa Pompilius by a divine miracle there fell from heaven into Rome a vermilion-coloured s.h.i.+eld, for the which cause and augury the Romans took that ensign for their arms, and afterwards added S.P.Q.R. in letters of gold, signifying Senate of the People of Rome; the same ensign they gave to all the cities which they built, to wit, vermilion. Thus did they to Perugia, and to Florence, and to Pisa; but the Florentines, because of the name of Fiorinus and of the city, charged it with the white lily; and the Perugians sometimes with the white griffin; and Viterbo kept the red field, and the Orvietans charged it with the white eagle. It is true that the Roman lords, consuls and dictators, after that the eagle appeared as an augury over the Tarpeian rock, to wit, over the treasure chamber of the Capitol, as t.i.tus Livius makes mention, added the eagle to their arms on the ensign; and we find that the consul Marius in the battle of the Cimbri had on his ensigns the silver eagle, and a similar ensign was borne by Catiline when he was defeated by Antonius in the parts about Pistoia, as Sall.u.s.t relates. And the great Pompey bore the azure field and silver eagle, and Julius Caesar bore the vermilion field and golden eagle, as Lucan makes mention in verse, saying,

Signa pares aquilas, et pila minantia pilis.

But afterwards Octavia.n.u.s Augustus, his nephew and successor, changed it, and bore the golden field and the eagle natural, to wit, in black colour, signifying the supremacy of the Empire, for like as the eagle surpa.s.ses every other bird, and sees more clearly than any other creature, and flies as high as the heaven of the hemisphere of fire, so the Empire ought to be above every other temporal sovereignty. And after Octavia.n.u.s all the Roman emperors have borne it in like manner; but Constantine, and after him all the other Greek emperors, retained the ensign of Julius Caesar, to wit, the vermilion field and golden eagle, but with two heads. We will leave speaking of the ensigns of the Roman commonwealth and of the Emperors, and we will return to our subject concerning the doings of the city of Florence.

-- 41.--_How the city of Florence became the Treasure-House of the Romans and the Empire._

-- 42.--_How the Temple of Mars, which is now called the Duomo of S.

Giovanni, was built in Florence._

After that Caesar and Pompey, and Macrinus and Albinus and Marcius, Roman n.o.bles and builders of the new city of Florence, had returned to Rome, their labours being completed, the city began to increase and multiply both in Romans and Fiesolans who had settled as its inhabitants, and in a short time it became a fine city for those times; for the emperors and senate of Rome advanced it to the best of their power, much like another little Rome. Its citizens, being in prosperous state, determined to build in the said city a marvellous temple in honour of the G.o.d Mars, by reason of the victory which the Romans had had over the city of Fiesole; and they sent to the senate of Rome to send them the best and most skilful masters that were in Rome, and this was done. And they caused to be brought white and black marbles and columns from many distant places by sea, and then by the Arno; they brought stone and columns from Fiesole, and founded and built the said temple in the place anciently called Camarti, and where the Fiesolans held their market. Very n.o.ble and beautiful they built it with eight sides, and when it had been built with great diligence, they dedicated it to the G.o.d Mars, who was the G.o.d of the Romans, and they had his effigy carved in marble in the likeness of an armed cavalier on horseback; they placed him on a marble pillar in the midst of that temple, and held him in great reverence, and adored him as their G.o.d so long as paganism continued in Florence. And we find that the said temple was begun during the reign of Octavia.n.u.s Augustus, and that it was built under the ascendant of such a constellation that it will continue almost to eternity; and this we find written in a certain place engraved within the s.p.a.ce of the said temple.

-- 43.--_Tells how the province of Tuscany lies._ -- 44.--_Concerning the might and lords.h.i.+p possessed by the province of Tuscany before Rome came into power._ -- 45.--_These are the bishoprics of the cities of Tuscany._ -- 46.--_Of the city of Perugia._ -- 47.--_Of the city of Arezzo._ -- 48.--_Of the city of Pisa._ -- 49.--_Of the city of Lucca._

-- 50.--_Of the city of Luni._

[Sidenote: Par. xvi. 73.]

[Sidenote: Purg. xiii. 152.]

[Sidenote: Vita Nuova -- 2. Convivio ii. 15.]

The city of Luni, which is now destroyed, was very ancient, and we find from the stones of Troy, that from the city of Luni there went a fleet and soldiers in aid of the Greeks against the Trojans; afterwards it was destroyed by soldiers from beyond the mountains, by reason of a lady, the wife of a lord, who, when on the way to Rome, was adulterously seduced in this city of Luni, wherefore, as the said lord returned, he destroyed the city by force, and to-day the country is desert and unhealthy. And note that of old the coasts were much inhabited, and albeit inland there were few cities, and few inhabitants, yet in Maremma and Maretima, towards Rome on the coast of the Campagna, there were many cities and many inhabitants, which to-day are consumed and brought to nought by reason of the corruption of the air: for there was the great city of Populonia, and Soana, and Talamone, and Grosseto, and Civitaveglia, and Mascona, and Lansedonia, which were with their troops at the siege of Troy; and in Campagna, Baia, Pompeia, c.u.mina, and Laurenza, and Albania. And the cause why to-day these cities of the coast are almost without inhabitants and unhealthy, and also why Rome is less healthy, is said by the great masters of astronomy to be because of the movement of the eighth sphere of heaven, which in every hundred years moves one degree towards the North Pole, and thus it will move 15 in 1,500 years, and afterwards will turn back in like manner, if it be the pleasure of G.o.d that the world shall endure so long; and by the said change of the heaven is changed the quality of the earth and of the air, and where it was inhabited and healthy, it now is without inhabitants and unhealthy, and also the converse. And furthermore, we see that in the course of nature all things in the world change, and rise and diminish, as Christ said with His mouth that nothing here abides.

---- 51-56.--_Of Viterbo, Orvieto, Cortona, Chiusi, Volterra, and Siena._

-- 57.--_The story returns to the doings of the city of Florence, and how S. Miniato there suffered martyrdom under Decius, the Emperor._

[Sidenote: 270 A.D.]

[Sidenote: 1013 A.D.]

[Sidenote: Purg. xii. 100-105.]

Now that we have briefly made some mention of our neighbouring cities in Tuscany, we will return to our subject and tell of our city of Florence. As we recounted before, the said city was ruled long time under the government and lords.h.i.+p of the emperors of Rome, and ofttimes the emperors came to sojourn in Florence when they were journeying into Lombardy, and into Germany, and into France to conquer provinces. And we find that Decius, the Emperor, in the first year of his reign, which was in the year of Christ 270, was in Florence, the treasure-house and chancelry of the Empire, sojourning there for his pleasure; and the said Decius cruelly persecuted the Christians wheresoever he could hear of them or find them, and he heard tell how the blessed Saint Miniato was living as a hermit near to Florence, with his disciples and companions, in a wood which was called Arisbotto of Florence, behind the place where now stands his church, above the city of Florence. This blessed Miniato was first-born son to the king of Armenia, and having left his kingdom for the faith of Christ, to do penance and to be far away from his kingdom, he went over seas to gain pardon at Rome, and then betook himself to the said wood, which was in those days wild and solitary, forasmuch as the city of Florence did not extend and was not settled beyond Arno, but was all on this side; save only there was one bridge across the Arno, not however where the bridges now are. And it is said by many that it was the ancient bridge of the Fiesolans which led from Girone to Candegghi, and this was the ancient and direct road and way from Rome to Fiesole, and to go into Lombardy and across the mountains. The said Emperor Decius caused the said blessed Miniato to be taken, as his story narrates. Great gifts and rewards were offered him as to a king's son, to the end he should deny Christ; and he, constant and firm in the faith, would have none of his gifts, but endured divers martyrdoms: in the end the said Decius caused him to be beheaded where now stands the church of Santa Candida alla Croce al Gorgo; and many faithful followers of Christ received martyrdom at that place. And when the head of the blessed Miniato had been cut off, by a miracle of Christ, with his hands he set it again upon his trunk, and on his feet pa.s.sed over Arno, and went up to the hill where now stands his church, where at that time was a little oratory in the name of the blessed Peter the Apostle, where many bodies of holy martyrs were buried; and when S. Miniato was come to that place, he gave up soul to Christ, and his body was there secretly buried by the Christians; the which place, by reason of the merits of the blessed S. Miniato, was devoutly venerated by the Florentines after that they were become Christians, and a little church was built there in his honour. But the great and n.o.ble church of marble which is there now in our times, we find to have been built later by the zeal of the venerable Father Alibrando, bishop and citizen of Florence, in the year of Christ 1013, begun on the 26th day of the month of April by the commandment and authority of the catholic and holy Emperor Henry II. of Bavaria, and of his wife the holy Empress Gunegonda, which was reigning in those times; and they presented and endowed the said church with many rich possessions in Florence and in the country, for the good of their souls, and caused the said church to be repaired and rebuilt of marbles, as it is now; and they caused the body of the blessed Miniato to be translated to the altar which is beneath the vaulting of the said church, with much reverence and solemnity by the said bishop and the clergy of Florence, with all the people, both men and women, of the city of Florence; but afterwards the said church was completed by the commonwealth of Florence, and the stone steps were made which lead down by the hill; and the consuls of the art of the Calimala were put in charge of the said work of S. Miniato, and were to protect it.

-- 58.--_How S. Crescius and his companions suffered martyrdom in the district of Florence._

-- 59.--_Of Constantine the Emperor, and his descendants, and the changes which came thereof in Italy._

[Sidenote: Inf. xix. 115-117.]