THE SUPPER IN VIALATA.

Bloody propositions attributed to Verrina—The count repulses all treacherous plans—New schemes—The conspirators introduced into the city—Gianluigi pays his respects to Prince Doria—Gianettino removes the suspicions of Giocante and Doria—The supper of Gianluigi—The guests embrace the conspiracy—Eleonora Cybo and her presentiments.

Everything being now in readiness, the count called together a few of his most trusted partisans to consult upon the time and plan of their uprising.

About this time were celebrated the espousals of Giulio Cybo, prince of Massa and Carrara and brother of Eleonora Fieschi, with Peretta, the sister of Gianettino. Verrina proposed that Gianluigi should give a splendid banquet to the young couple which the Dorias would be obliged to attend; and, that in the midst of the festivities, assassins concealed for the purpose should fall upon and butcher them. We find that Verrina sent a messenger to Milan to make purchases for the banquet and that with these purchases he introduced into the palace some chests filled with ammunition, swords, arquebuses, pikes and halberds.[42] However, the count refused his assent to the proposition as a violation of the laws of hospitality.

If we may believe Sigonio, Verrina formed another not less inhuman project. An ecclesiastic of an illustrious family was about to celebrate his first mass in the church of St. Ambrogio, and the Dorias, Adamo Centurione, his son Marco, Figuerroa and other old nobles were expected to be present. Verrina proposed to follow the example of the Pazzi in Florence and of Olgiato in Milan and to assassinate them while kneeling at the altar; then to rouse the city, take possession of the senatorial palace, crown Fieschi with the diadem of the Doges and put to the edge of the sword all who offered resistance. But this atrocious design against the liberties of the republic is denied by all the historians of the period. Even the writers most partial to the Dorias tell us that Gianluigi rejected the temptation to assassinate Gianettino under the shadow of the crucifix, though he was convinced that he could find no better opportunity of crushing his rival at a single blow.

The count abhorred bloodshed. In fact but little was spilled in all the fierce civil commotions of Genoa. These revolutions resemble wars of adventurers which have no other aim than to capture the enemy. There was no fighting to the death; he who refused to yield the field or broke the lines of his enemy was proclaimed conqueror without more ado. He who got possession of the government palace seldom punished his adversaries beyond confiscation of goods and banishment. Our laws and our history are full of examples. Gianluigi contemplated such a revolution and could not bring himself to approve schemes of corruption and slaughter.

Other propositions were then made. Among these the most prominent was that of awaiting the period for electing a new Doge, that is the fourth of the following January. The entire nobility would then be assembled in the government palace, and a single blow would sever the knot. The plan seemed every way feasible and Gianluigi was disposed to follow it; but it was abandoned because it was found Gianettino would be absent and escape the vengeance of Fieschi. It was at length resolved to make a bolder attempt on Christmas Eve, 1547 (old style.)

Orders were therefore issued on this plan to the corporals in the city and to conspirators in other places, particularly to Gianluca Fieschi, Giulio Cybo and the marquis of Valdimagra. A number of armed men were introduced into the city under cover of the festivities of that day on which the burghers are wont to flock into the city from every direction. Much artifice was employed in bringing in the troops. They entered in small bodies and by different gates, some even by subterranean passages which conducted to the palace of the count. Some wore the habit of mountaineers, others had various disguises. A number were loaded with chains under pretence that they were criminals condemned to serve on the galleys of the count. Some were lodged in the houses of the conspirators, but the greater part in the palace in Vialata and neighbouring houses. Still, the main body of the soldiers was not brought within the walls, but distributed over mount Fasce and contiguous heights, ready to enter the gates so soon as a smoke should rise from the hill of Carignano. Such was the good order and discretion of the conspirators that the Senate had not the faintest suspicion.

Early in the day count Fieschi, mounted upon a spirited jennet, rode through the populous streets. He had never appeared so jovial and composed, his strong will governing his impetuous nature.

We find in some letters of Sacco,[43] of which we shall speak in another place, that a personage whose name is concealed held a conference that day with the count in the palace of Vialata. This person discoursed of the popular dislike for the Doria government, and concluded by saying that the count had only to wish it to become master of Genoa. It is easy to see, that the count brusquely repulsed the insinuation. Sacco believed that this man had been sent by Gianettino to pry into the plans and purposes of Fieschi; but it is now certain that the Dorias were living in entire ignorance of the tempest gathering over their heads. The unknown personage must have been one of the spies whom Figuerroa kept on the trail of all the opponents of the Spanish power in Italy.

Near the close of the day the count visited several families. He went to the Doria palace, where, finding in the vestibule the children of Gianettino with their father, he caressed and kissed them with much tenderness. After some conversation he drew Gianettino aside and begged him to make no opposition to the departure of some of his vessels which were that night to sail for the Levant. He added that if the vessels should discharge some fire-arms in the port, he hoped the admiral would give himself no concern. He also requested Gianettino to interpose his good offices with prince Doria in case the prince should oppose the count’s plan of privateering. This plan was in fact a violation of the treaty between the emperor and the Turks, because the galleys of Fieschi would have sailed from a port over which Doria was, as the admiral of CÆsar, master and guardian. Gianettino, not from any love he bore the count, as a modern writer remarks, but because the favour was of trivial importance, promised to use his influence with the prince if it should become necessary, and gave to his captains the order requested by Fieschi.

Afterwards, Gianluigi went to the apartment of Andrea who was lying in bed suffering from pains and a fever. It happened that the prince was at that moment in conversation with Gomez Suarez Figuerroa, who, having received repeated messages from Gonzaga respecting the conspiracies of Fieschi, had come to speak of the soldiers taken by the count from the duke of Piacenza and other facts wearing an ambitious appearance. But so soon as Andrea saw the count on his threshold, at the sight of the ingenuous and courteous youth whom he loved almost as a son, he bent his head to the ear of the minister and whispered,—“Tell me yourself if it be possible that a base spirit can be concealed under that angelic countenance.”[44]

After a brief conversation the count retired, mounted his superb jennet and rode gracefully along the streets. Figuerroa exhausted all his arts to remove the delusion of Doria but without success.

Shortly after, Andrea was on the verge of making the discovery by other means, but in this case, by combinations of chance, Gianettino was the person to dissipate his apprehensions. Giocante, of the Casa Bianca family, who had once been in the service of the Venitians, had command of the permanent militia.

He had distinguished himself in many actions and especially when fighting with Doria at the head of a large body of Ligurians in favour of France against the Bourbons, he raised the siege of Marseilles. Colonel Giocante had received on this very day several messages informing him that many soldiers of various detachments had left their quarters and taken refuge in the house of Fieschi. Doria being in fact, though not nominally, the head of the republic, Giocante informed him and Adamo Centurione of what had occurred. As soon as he had read the letter, Andrea called Gianettino and ordered him to provide for the emergency; but Gianettino related the conversation he had just held with the count and reasoned that the momentary desertion of a few soldiers, who were probably vassals of the Fieschi and wished to celebrate the day in Vialata, was of no importance. He concluded by saying that Giocante attached consequence to frivolous matters, and so entirely removed the suspicions of the prince.

The restless Verrina was not idle. At nightfall he collected, in the house of Tomaso Assereto, more than thirty gentlemen whose families had but recently been inscribed in the book of gold. Fieschi, after leaving Doria went directly to this place and invited these new noblemen to sup with him that night in Carignano. Arriving there many were surprised to find, in place of festive preparations, the halls filled with arms and armed men, strange faces and the din of warlike preparation. They looked round for the count, but he had gone to confer with Verrina and to learn whether he had visited all the stations and the mustering places of the conspirators, whether the Senate entertained any suspicions or his near neighbours the Sauli had obtained any information of the conspiracy. Verrina assured him that all was prepared and that none of their adversaries suspected their preparations for revolution, and the count joined his guests.

These gentlemen, alarmed at finding the palace a camp rather than a festive hall, gathered about him to learn the cause of these extraordinary sights and sounds. Then the count changing his careless look into one of stern purpose and striking the naked table with his fist, broke out,—“The time so longed for by us, young friends, has at last arrived. Our native land is to-night in our hands to be liberated from the tyranny of the few and restored to a popular government. This is my banquet, these are the festivals to which I have invited you. You will never be invited to a more honourable feast. With the approbation of CÆsar, (and if you wish I will show you the proofs and letters.) Gianettino Doria grown to excessive power and riches has long aspired to tyranny in Genoa. But finding me an obstacle to his designs, because I am not less devoted to the public good and the liberties of the nation than were my ancestors, he employs himself day and night in conspiring against my life. He has often vainly tried poison; now he trusts to the secret dagger. Who of you does not swell with indignation at the insolence of the old nobility, who both in their private life and in the public offices deprive you of honour and hold you in derision? I tell you that more bitter and shameful things are reserved for us. If we suffer so much to-day, what shall we have when the patricians, with Gianettino at their head, shall have drawn to themselves all public authority and reduced us to vassalage? You will become a plebeian herd! Let us then grapple like heroes with evils which overhang me, yourselves and the country. It is my design to kill the ambitious tyrant and Doria himself, to capture their galleys, to occupy the government palace and by destroying a few powerful enemies to restore popular liberty.

“Even though the result of this enterprise were doubtful, I have such confidence in your courage and patriotism, that I believe you would not leave me to encounter the danger alone. But the city is now in our power. Three hundred of my bravest men are with me, the greater part of the soldiers who guard the government palace are my partisans. The keepers of the gates are for us and await a preconcerted signal. A galley rides at anchor in the port armed with a body of men unsurpassed for equipment, strength and courage. One thousand and five hundred artisans are in arms to follow me. Two thousand men from my castles are at the gates. As many more from Piacenza will follow them. We have no enemy before us. The night is serene and everything is propitious. You will not be companions in the battle but spectators of a victory. Give your love to your country; raise your courage, your confidence. The glory and honour of this undertaking are not only yours to share but yours to dispense.”

We have preferred to translate from the Latin of Bonfadio[45] this speech of the count rather than to compose one in the style of rhetoricians. Bonfadio, who was a witness of that revolt, thus clearly displays the object of Fieschi to overthrow Gianettino who aimed to master the republic and to build again the popular government. Still, we are not able to agree with Bonfadio that the count intended to assassinate Andrea; because what we have written tends to prove the contrary, and still more because the murder of the old and decrepit prince would have provoked universal condemnation, and finally because the means of escape were left open to him. It was doubtless for the interests of Bonfadio to receive this fable and incorporate it in his history, to justify Doria’s sanguinary vengeance.

The words of Gianluigi powerfully moved his guests. They enthusiastically offered to share the perils of the enterprise. Two, Giovanni Battista Cattaneo-Bava and Giovanni Battista Giustiniano, alone refused to take arms; not because they dissented from the views of Fieschi, but because they trembled at the sight of muskets and sabres. Some of their companions drew their daggers and wished to assassinate the cowards on the spot; but Gianluigi interposed and contented himself with confining them under guard to prevent their revealing the conspiracy. This is a new proof of the count’s unwillingness to shed blood.

Fieschi then placed, one by one, under the eyes of his companions the letters of Pierluigi, of cardinal Farnese and of others, which clearly showed that Gianettino aspired to royal state and, as if already mounted to a throne, was planning the death of the count. A cry of indignation burst from the whole company and all swore to liberate the country and the count from the plots of the common enemy.

Fieschi then visited his wife whom he found immersed in the most profound sorrow. The military preparation, the clang of arms and the crowd filling the palace had too clearly revealed to her that a bloody enterprise was on foot. He tried to console her, told her for the first time the long history of his conspiracy and assured her that no danger lay before him. But Eleonora strove to change his audacious purpose. She kissed him, she hung upon his neck and exhausted her affectionate acts to bend his resolute will. Pansa entered at that moment and he, too, tried to divert him from the undertaking; but with no better success than the countess Eleonora. Fieschi embraced his beloved spouse whose tears moved his heart to profound pity; but his preparations were made, and if he had wished it there was no place for retreat. When the stern voice of Verrina called him from her arms, the tears disappeared in an instant from his eye-lashes; the husband vanished and only the conspirator remained. Eleonora fell lifeless into the arms of Pansa.

The count returned to the hall, ordered a frugal meal and then distributed the arquebuses, pikes, spears, swords and coats of mail. There was a story that at that moment the soot of the chimney caught fire and that the cries of the countess filled the heart of the count with painful forebodings. There were other fables; that a flock of birds rising from the garden below flew off to the left, that during the day his horse stumbled and nearly threw him from his saddle, that a dog bayed long and mournfully, that setting his foot carelessly on the threshold of his palace as he went out he nearly fell down. They tell us that Calcagno, who was at his side at this moment, said to him that according to the ancients sinister presages usually foretold success, and then the count recovered his spirits and drawing his sword said:—“Let us go,” leading the way to the street.

Thus far we have in these fables only the mania for classic imitation which bewildered the historians of Gianluigi, and led them to underrate his courage. Now come the calumnies. We are told that the count ordered that whosoever moved from the ranks or hesitated should be run through; that being asked on the way by a noble, who wished to save some friend, whether all the nobility were to be butchered, he answered that all should be slain beginning from his own nearest relatives. It is clear that these romancers destroyed all confidence in their veracity by such exaggeration.

To disprove their partial statements it is only necessary to say that Gianluigi himself had prevented the assassination of the two nobles who had refused to follow him. He forbade an attack on the palace of Prince Doria, and would not even consent that Sebastiano Lercaro should be killed, though he knew that this person had accepted the commission of Gianettino to assassinate himself.

Having drawn up his ranks and exhorted the men to prefer a glorious death to preserving their lives by cowardice, he sent off one hundred and fifty infantry to occupy the Borgo de’ Lanieiri, and marched down the descent of San Leonardo followed by the gentlemen and by the select part of his troops. The hour was about midnight.