Valperga (39 page)

As they quitted the town, they met Tripalda, who, accosting the
prince, told him, that he was now going to Valperga, and that he
did not doubt that his arguments would induce the countess to
surrender. Castruccio shook his head in disbelief, and, hastily
wishing him good- success, put spurs to his horse, apparently
impatient to quit every thing that reminded him of the odious task
he had left his friends to perform.

Battista Tripalda, the ambassador of Castruccio on this
occasion, was a canon of the cathedral of St. Ambrose at Perugia.
By this time the colleges of canons, who had before lived in common
like monks, had been dissolved, and each member was permitted to
live privately, receiving his share of the yearly income which was
before employed as a common stock. But the canons had offices to
perform in the church, which obliged them to reside in the town, in
which the cathedral to which they belonged was situated; Tripalda
had however been long absent from his duties, nor did his bishop
ever enquire after him, or require him to return. He had appeared
at Lucca about a year before this time, unknown and unrecommended;
but he had intruded himself into the palaces of the nobles, and
been well received: his eccentric manners made them pardon his
opinions, and the subtleties of his mind forced them to forgive his
uncouth and arrogant demeanour. Yet, although received by all, he
was liked by none, for there was a mystery about him that no one
could divine; and we seldom like what we do not comprehend. He was
an unbelieving priest, yet was permitted to exercise the clerical
functions; he was a man who cried out against the simony and
wickedness of the Roman religion, yet he was tolerated by all its
members; he was equally severe against tyrants and lords, yet he
was received at every court in Italy. He was an earnest panegyrizer
of republics and democracies; yet he was satisfied with no existing
form of government, because none was sufficiently free: he
contended that each man ought to be his own king and judge; yet he
pretended to morality, and to be a strict censor of manners and
luxury. He had a deep insight into artful and artificial character,
and a kind of instinctive prudence in extricating himself from the
most embarrassing circumstances; so that his penetration almost
gave him the appearance of a tamperer in the forbidden arts, which
however he held in supreme contempt.

He was equally well received by the opposite factions, allying
himself with neither, but condemning both. When he first appeared
at Lucca, he was humble and mild, pretending to nothing but
uncorrupted and uncorruptible virtue, desiring none of the goods of
fortune, except that which she could not withhold from him, namely,
the esteem and friendship of all good men. But this was merely the
prelude to what was to follow. He was as those dwarfs we read of in
fairy tales, who at first appear small and impotent, but who on
further acquaintance assume the form of tremendous giants; so, when
he became familiar with his new friends, he cast off his modest
disguise, and appeared vain, presumptuous and insolent, delivering
his opinions as oracles, violent when opposed in argument,
contemptuous even when agreed with: there was besides something
buffoonish in his manner, which he occasionally endeavoured to pass
off for wit and imagination, and at other times, served him as a
cloak for deep designs and dangerous opinions. The Guelphs declared
that they believed him to be a Ghibeline spy; the Ghibelines, that
he was under pay from the Pope; many said, that he tampered with
both parties, and betrayed both. Worse stories had been whispered
concerning him, but they were believed by few; it was said that the
flagrant wickedness of his actions had caused him to be banished
from Perugia; but this was disproved at once, for if so, why was he
not deprived of his emoluments in the church?

The first conjecture concerning him was that he was a spy; but,
however that might be, he escaped detection, and contrived to
maintain his confidence with the chiefs of the opposite factions,
and among these was Euthanasia. She admired his talents, believed
him to be honest, and refused to listen to the accusations advanced
against him, since the manner in which they were brought forward
stamped them with the shew of unfounded calumnies. She was
sometimes irritated by his impertinence, and shocked at his want of
delicacy; but she had heard that early misfortunes had deranged his
understanding, and she pitied and forgave him. Indeed she had known
him a very short time; and he had not yet thrown off his mask of
humility and virtue, which he ever wore on his first appearance on
a new scene.

Euthanasia waited with impatience to hear the result of her
message to Castruccio. She could not believe that he would put his
threats in execution; but, in case of the worst, she resolved to
oppose his pretensions, and to use every means to preserve her
independence. She had sent, the same night of her interview with
Arrigo, to intreat the Florentine general to dispatch a brigade for
her defence, and to request the assistance of an able officer in
sustaining the siege she might encounter. She called together the
few militia of her villages. She visited the works of the castle,
and gave orders for the immediate demolition of all roads and
bridges on the first advance of the enemy; and then, overcome by
the sense of wretchedness which clung to her in spite of the
exalted state of her mind, she shrunk to solitude, and tried to
seek in the recesses of her own soul for the long-studied lessons
of courage and fortitude.

She believed herself justified, nay called upon to oppose the
encroachments of the prince of Lucca; she felt roused to resistance
by his menaces, and the implied accusation of treachery with which
he had endeavoured to brand her. Her innocence made her proud, her
spirit of independence, bold; she had ever refused to submit to his
usurpations; her castle had often been the asylum for his victims,
and herself the aider of the persecuted. "I may fall,"
she thought; "but I will not stoop. I may become his victim;
but I will never be his slave. I refused to yield to him when I
loved him, if he did not dismiss his ambitious designs. Love, which
is the ruling principle of my mind, whose power I now feel in every
nerve, in every beating of my heart, I would not submit my
conscience to the control of love; and shall fear rule
me?"

She said this, and at the same moment Tripalda was announced. He
advanced towards Euthanasia with a serious and important look, yet
at the same time with an endeavour to appear courteous, if not
humble. He kissed her hand, and having gravely asked after her
health, he soon began to speak on the object of his visit, and to
endeavour to persuade her that all resistance to the will of the
prince was useless, and that in timely submission was the only hope
left for her preservation. Euthanasia felt her cheeks glow as he
spoke, and once her eyes seemed to flash lightning, when the word
Mercy escaped from the orator, who talked on, appearing to observe
little of what she felt, but to be wholly engrossed in the winding
up of his periods. "Madonna," said he, "the prince
has a true and sincere friendship for you, and he is infinitely
grieved at the idea of being at open hostility with you; but he
must obey the will of the senate and the council, and you must
ultimately submit to the forces sent against you. Listen then to
one older than yourself, who has lived longer in the world, and has
grown wise by experience: never, being weak, contend with the
strong; for it is far more politic to yield at first upon
conditions, than, falling after combat, to receive the law from the
conqueror."

"I am afraid, Messer Canonico," replied Euthanasia,
calmly, but somewhat haughtily, "that our opinions agree too
little, to allow you to be a fitting arbiter between me and the
prince of Lucca. This castle, and the power annexed to it, belonged
to my ancestors; and when I received it from my mother's hands,
I vowed to exercise and preserve it for the good of my
people--"

"And is it for the good of your people to expose them to
the desolation of war, when you might conclude a satisfactory
peace?"

"Messer Battista, I listened patiently while you spoke; and
it boots little to continue this discussion, if you will not also
attend to me. I will be very brief: Castruccio formed an alliance
with me, and, as the condition of my independence, I promised not
to join his enemies. I have preserved my part of the agreement;
and, if he wishes to break his, I have friends and allies, who will
not permit that my situation should be so hopeless as you imagine.
It is the height of injustice to say that I bring war into this
territory; since every prayer and every wish of my heart is for
peace; but, if attacked, I will defend myself, and my right must
become both my sword and shield."

"You speak proudly, but foolishly, countess Euthanasia; for
right was never yet sword or shield to any one. It is well to talk
in this manner to women and children, and thus to keep the world in
some degree of order. You are a woman, it is true; but your rank
and power have placed you in a situation to know the truth of
things; and, if you have not yet learned the futility of the
lessons of the priests, whose sole end to all their speeches is to
find a way, shorter or longer, into your purse; learn it from me,
who am both willing and able to teach you."

"I shall make a sorry pupil, I am afraid; but, if you
please, I will alter my phraseology, that my meaning may be more
clear. I expect the aid of the Florentines; and I depend upon the
courage with which the hatred of a usurper will inspire my
soldiers, who love me, and will, I doubt not, defend me to the last
drop of their blood: if my right cannot help me, my resolution
shall. The prince of Lucca has called me, perhaps he believes me to
be, a traitor; I am none to him, nor will I be to the party to
which I belong. I promised my allies not to submit; and my word is
sacred. Messer Battista, I doubt not that the motives which urged
your visit, were honest, perhaps friendly; but cease to vex
yourself and me with fruitless altercation."

"I do not intend altercation, Madonna; but I wished to
expostulate with you, and to shew you the pit into which you seem
obstinately resolved to fall. I know that the wisdom of all ages
tells us, that women will have their will; I had hoped to find you
superior to the foibles of your sex; and my mistake becomes my
crime; for in truth you are as headstrong as a girl of fifteen, who
hopes to cover her head with the nuptial veil. But I have set my
heart on carrying this point with you, and will not be discouraged
by a woman's eloquence or obstinacy."

"This is going too far," said Euthanasia, half
angrily; "you imagine perhaps that I am already the slave of
your lord, that you no longer preserve the respect which even then
would be due to me. My mind is too full both of grief and anxiety,
to string sentences together in answer to your arguments; but my
purpose is firm, and you cannot shake it. If you come from the lord
Castruccio himself, my answer is ever the same. I am at peace with
him; but, if he attacks me, I know how to defend myself."

Any man but Tripalda might have been awed by the dignity of
Euthanasia, and the restrained indignation, that glistened in her
eyes, and flushed her cheek. She rose to bid the priest farewell,
and her serious manner made him pause for an instant in his
address; but his accustomed impudence quickly overcame the
momentary shame, and he said, "I came to speak reason to the
deaf, and to shew danger to the blind; but the deaf man says, I
hear better than you, and the sound of arms and trumpets is yet far
off;--and the blind man cries, Avaunt! I see my path better than
you: meanwhile the one falls into the hands of the enemy, and the
other tumbles into the pit round which I would have led him. You
will repent too late, that you did not follow my counsel; and then
who will medicine your wounds?"

"The God who inflicted them upon me. I fear not!"

Tripalda returned to Lucca. Castruccio had left the town; and
Castiglione, hearing the result of the priest's embassy,
instantly prepared for the attack. Heralds were sent in due form to
demand the surrender of the castle; and, when refused, war was
immediately declared.

In the mean time the Florentine army had advanced into the
Lucchese territory; but, when they heard of the march of
Castruccio, they fell back to Fucecchio, and pitched their tents on
the banks of the river Guisciana. Castruccio came up to them with
his troops; but, being on opposite sides of the river, and not
caring to cross it in face of the enemy, both armies remained
observing each other's motions, each preparing to attack the
other on the first shew of fear or retreat. The Florentine general
had received the message of Euthanasia, but he found it difficult
to comply with her wishes; for any troops sent to her aid must pass
the Guisciana, and that was too well guarded to permit of any but a
general passage and attack. He communicated her situation to the
Florentine government, which sent her a small troop with
Bondelmonti at its head, who, making the circuit of Bologna and the
Modenese mountains, arrived on the eve of the attack, having with
infinite difficulty surmounted the fortified passages of the
mountains; so that many of his followers being made prisoners, and
others left behind, he made his appearance at Valperga with not
more than fifty men.

AFTER the departure of Tripalda, Euthanasia remained long on the
battlements of her castle, watching the men who were employed in
repairing and erecting some outworks for its defence. Every now and
then she heard a murmuring near her, a slight noise, and then a
voice which said--"Aye, that will do; this helmet is still too
large, I must find some way to cut it round the edges."