§ 1.—Forasmuch as among our Florentine ancestors, few and ill-arranged memorials are to be found of the past doings of our city of Florence, either by the fault of their negligence or by reason that at the time that Totila, the scourge of God, destroyed it, their writings were lost, I, John, citizen of Florence, considering the nobility and greatness of our city at our present times, hold it meet to recount and make memorial of the root and origins of so famous a city, and of its adverse and happy changes and of past happenings; not because I feel myself sufficient for such a work, but to give occasion to our successors not to be negligent in preserving records of the notable things which shall happen in the times after us, and to give example to those who shall come after, of changes, and things come to pass, and their reasons and causes; to the end that they may exercise themselves in practising virtues, and shunning vices, and enduring adversities with a strong soul, to the good and stability of our republic. And, therefore, I will furnish a faithful narrative in this book in plain vernacular, in order that the ignorant and unlettered may draw thence profit and delight; and if in any part there should be defect, I leave it to the correction of the wiser. And first we will say whence were the origins of our said city, following on for as long a time as God shall grant us grace; and not without much toil shall I labour to extract and recover from the most ancient and diverse books, and chronicles, and authors, the acts and doings of the Florentines, compiling them herein; and first the origin of the ancient city of Fiesole, the destruction whereof was the cause and beginning of our city of Florence. And because our origin starts from very long ago, it seems to us necessary to our treatise to recount briefly other ancient stories; and it will be delightful and useful to our citizens now and to come, and will encourage them in virtue and in great actions to consider how they are descended from noble ancestors and from folk of worth, such as were the ancient and worthy Trojans, and valiant and noble Romans. And to the end our work may be more praiseworthy and good, I beseech the aid of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name every work has a good beginning, continuance and end.

§ 2.—How through the confusion of the Tower of Babel the world began to be inhabited.

We find in the Bible histories, and in those of the Assyrians, that Nimrod the giant was the first king, or ruler, and assembler of the gatherings of the peoples, that he by his power and success ruled over all the families of the sons of Noah, which were seventy-two in number, to wit, twenty-seven of the issue of Shem the first-born son of Noah, and thirty of Ham the second son of Noah, and fifteen of Japhet the third son of Noah. This Nimrod was the son of Cush, which was the son of Ham, the second son of Noah, and of his pride and strength he thought to rival God, saying that God was Lord of Heaven, and he of Earth; and to the end that God might no longer be able to hurt him by a flood of water, as He had done in the first age, he ordained the building of the marvellous work of the Tower of Babel; wherefore God, to confound the said pride, suddenly sent confusion upon all mankind, which were at work upon the said tower; and where Inf. xxxi. 12-18, 46-81. Par. xxvi. 124-126. De Vulg. El. i. 6: 49-61 and i. 7. Purg. xii. 34-36. all were speaking one language (to wit, Hebrew), it was changed into seventy-two divers languages, so that they could not understand one another's speech. And by reason of this, the work of the said tower had of necessity to be abandoned, which was so large that it measured eighty miles round, and it was already 4,000 paces high, and 1,000 paces thick, and each pace is three of our feet. And afterwards this tower remained for the walls of the great city of Babylon, which is in ChaldÆa, and the name Babylon is as much as to say "confusion"; and therein by the said Nimrod and his descendants, were first adored the idols of the false gods. The said tower, or wall of Babylon, was begun 700 years after the Flood, and there were 2,354 years from the beginning of the world to the confusion of the Tower of Babel. And we find that they were 107 years working at it; and men lived long in those times. And note, that during this long life, having many wives, they had many sons and descendants, and multiplied into a great people, albeit disordered and without law. Of the said city of Babylon the first king which began to make wars was Ninus, son of Belus, descended from Asshur, son of Shem, which Ninus built the great city Inf. v. 52-60. De Mon. ii. 9: 22 sqq. of Nineveh; and then after him reigned Semiramis, his wife, in Babylon, which was the most cruel and dissolute woman in the world, and she was in the time of Abraham.

§ 3.—How the world was divided into three parts, and of the first called Asia. §4.—Of the second part of the world called Africa, and its boundaries.

§ 5.—Of the third part of the world called Europe, and its boundaries.

* * * * This Europe was first inhabited by the descendants of Japhet, the third son of Noah, as we shall make mention hereafter in our treatise; and also according to Escodio, master in history, Noah in person, with Janus his son, which he begat after the Flood, came into this part of Europe into the region of Italy, and there ended his life; and Janus abode there, and from him were descended great lords and peoples, and he did many things in Italy.

§ 6.—How King Atlas, born in the fifth degree from Japhet, son of Noah, first came into Europe.

§ 7.—How King Atlas first built the city of Fiesole.

* * * * This Atlas, with Electra his wife, and many followers, by omens and the counsel of Apollinus his astrologer and master, arrived in Italy in the country of Tuscany, which was entirely uninhabited by De Vulg. El. i. 8: 11-13. human beings, and searching by the aid of astronomy through all the confines of Europe for the most healthy and best situated place which could be chosen by him, he took up his abode on the mount of Fiesole, which seemed to him strong in position and well situated. And upon that rock he began and built the city of Fiesole, by the counsel of the said Apollinus, who found out by astronomical arts that Fiesole Inf. xv. 61-63. Par. xv. 126. was in the best and most healthy place that there was in the said third part of the world called Europe. Since it is well-nigh midway between the two seas which encircle Italy, to wit, the sea of Rome and Pisa, which Scripture calls the Mediterranean, and the Adriatic Sea or Gulf, which to-day is called the Gulf of Venice, and, by reason of the said seas, and by the mountains which surround it, better and more healthy winds prevail there than in other places, and also by reason of the stars which rule over that place. And the said city was founded during the ascendant of such a sign and planet, that it gives more sprightliness and strength to all its inhabitants than any other part of Europe; and the nearer one ascends to the summit of the mountain, the more healthy and better it is. And in the said city there was a bath, which was called the Royal Bath, and which cured many sicknesses; and into the said city there came by a marvellous conduit from the mountains above Fiesole, the finest and most wholesome spring waters, of which the city had great abundance. And Atlas had the said city walled with strongest walls, wondrous in their masonry and their thickness, and with great and strong towers; and there was a fortress upon the summit of the mountain, of the greatest beauty and strength, where dwelt the said king, as is still shown and may be seen by the foundations of the said walls, and by the strong and healthy site. The said city of Fiesole multiplied and increased in inhabitants in a short time, so that it ruled over the surrounding country to a great distance. And note that it was the first city built in the said third division of the world called Europe, and therefore it was named "Fia Sola" [it shall be alone], to wit, first, with no other inhabited city in that said division.

§ 8.—How Atlas had three sons, Italus and Dardanus and Sicanus.

Atlas, king of Fiesole, after that he had built the said city, begat by Electra his wife three sons: the first was called Italus, and from his name the kingdom of Italy was named, and he was lord and king thereof; the second son was named Dardanus, which was the first rider to ride a horse with saddle and bridle. Some have written that Dardanus was son to Jove, king of Crete, and son to Saturn, as has been afore mentioned; but this was not true, forasmuch as Jove abode in Greece, and his descendants were kings and lords thereof, and were always the enemies of the Trojans; but Dardanus came from Italy, and was son to Atlas, as the history will make mention. And Virgil the poet confirms it in his book of the Æneid, when the gods said to Æneas that he should seek the country of Italy, whence had come his forefathers which had built Troy; and this was true. The third son of De Mon. ii. 3: 67, 68. Atlas was named Sicanus, that is in our parlance Sezzaio [last], which had a most beautiful daughter called Candanzia. This Sicanus went into the island of Sicily, and was the first inhabitant thereof, and from De Vulg. El. i. 10: 39-85. his name the island was at the first called Sicania, and by diversity of vernacular of the inhabitants it is now called by them Sicilia, and by us Italians Cicilia. This Sicanus built in Sicily the city of Saragosa, and made it chief of the realm whereof he was king, and his descendants after him for a very long time, as is told in the history of the Sicilians, and by Virgil in the Æneid.

§ 9.—How Italus and Dardanus came to agree which should succeed to the city of Fiesole and the kingdom of Italy.

When King Atlas had died in the city of Fiesole, Italus and Dardanus his sons were left rulers after him; and each of them being a lord of great courage, and both being worthy in themselves to reign over the kingdom of Italy, they came to this agreement together, to go with their sacrifices to sacrifice to their great god Mars, whom they worshipped; and when they had offered sacrifice they asked whether of them twain ought to abide lord in Fiesole, and whether ought to go and conquer other countries and realms. From the which idol they received answer, either by divine revelation or by device of the devil, that Dardanus should go and conquer other lands and countries, and Italus should remain in Fiesole and in the country of Italy. To which commandment and answer they gave such effect that Italus abode as ruler, and he begat great rulers which after him governed not only the city of Fiesole and the country round about, but well-nigh all Italy, and they built many cities there; and the said city of Fiesole rose into great power and lordship, until the great city of Rome reached her state and lordship. And thereafter, for all the great power of Rome, yet was the city of Fiesole continually at war with and rebelling against it, until at last it was destroyed by the Romans, as this faithful history shall hereafter record. At present we will cease speaking of the Fiesolans and will return to their history in due time and place, and we will now go on to tell how Dardanus departed from Fiesole, and was the first builder of the great city of Troy, and the ancestor of the kings of the Trojans and also of the Romans.

§ 10.—How Dardanus came to Phrygia and built the city of Dardania, which was afterwards the great Troy.

Dardanus, as he was commanded by the answer of their god, departed from Fiesole with Apollinus, master and astrologer of his father, and with Candanzia his niece, and with a great following of his people, and came into the parts of Asia to the province which was called Phrygia [Frigia], from the name of Friga, of the descendants of Japhet, which was the first inhabitant thereof; which province of Phrygia is beyond Greece, after the islands of Archipelago are passed, on the mainland, which to-day is ruled by the Turks and is called Turkey. In that country the said Dardanus by the counsel and arts of the said Apollinus began to build, and made a city upon the shores of the said Grecian sea, which he called after his own name Dardania, and this was 3,200 years from the creation of the world. And it was called Dardania so long as Dardanus lived, or his sons.

§ 11.—How Dardanus had a son which was named Tritamus, which was the father of Trojus, after whose name the city of Troy was so called.

Now this Dardanus had a son which was called Tritamus, and Tritamus begat Trojus and Torajus; but Trojus was the wiser and the more valorous, and because of his excellence he became lord and king of the said city and of the country round about; and he had great war with Tantalus, king of Greece, son of Saturn, king of Crete, of whom we made mention. And then, after the death of the said Trojus, by reason of the goodness and wisdom and worth which had reigned in him, it pleased his son and the men of his city that the said city should always be called Troy after his name; and the chief and principal gate of the city, in memory of Dardanus, retained the name which the city had at the first, to wit Dardania.

§ 12.—Of the kings which were in Troy; and how Troy was destroyed Cf. Convivio iv. 14: 131-154. Purg. xii. 61-63. Inf. xxx. 13-15, 98, 113, 114. the first time in the time of the King Laomedon. §13.—How the good King Priam rebuilt the city of Troy. §14.—How Troy was destroyed by the Greeks. §15.—How the Greeks which departed from the siege of Troy well-nigh all came to ill. §16.—How Helenus, son of King Priam, with the sons of Hector, departed from Troy.

§ 17.—How Antenor and the young Priam, having departed from Troy, built the city of Venice, and that of Padua.

Another band departed from the said destruction, to wit Antenor, who was one of the greatest lords of Troy, and was brother of Priam, and Inf. xxxii. 88. Purg. v. 75. son of the King Laomedon, who was much accused of betraying Troy, and Æneas was privy to it, according to Dares; but Virgil makes him quite innocent of this. This Antenor, with Priam the younger, son of King Priam, a little child, escaped from the destruction of Troy with a great following of people to the number of 12,000, and faring over the sea with a great fleet arrived in the country where to-day is Venice, the great city, and they settled themselves in those little surrounding islands, to the end they might be free and beyond reach of any other jurisdiction and government, and became the first inhabitants of those rocks; whence increasing later, the great city of Inf. xxxii. 88. Venice was founded, which at first was called Antenora, from the said Antenor. And afterwards the said Antenor departed thence and came to dwell on the mainland, where to-day is Padua, the great city, and he Purg. v. 75. was its first inhabitant and builder, and he gave it the name of Padua, because it was among paduli [marshes], and by reason of the river Po, which flowed hard by and was called Pado. The said Antenor remained and died in Padua, and within our own times his body has been discovered there, and his tomb engraved with letters which bear witness that it is the body of Antenor, and this his tomb has been renewed by the Paduans and may be seen to-day in Padua.

§ 18.—How Priam III. was king in Germany, and his descendants kings of France. §19.—How Pharamond was the first king of France, and his descendants after him. §20.—How the second Pepin, father of Charles the Great, was king of France.

§ 21.—How Æneas departed from Troy and came to Carthage in Africa.

Æneas again departed from the said destruction of Troy with Anchises, his father, and with Ascanius, his son, born of Creusa, daughter of the great King Priam, with a following of 3,300 men of the best people of Troy, and they embarked upon twenty-two ships. This Æneas was of the royal race of the Trojans, in this wise: for Ansaracus, son of De Mon. ii. 3: 62. Trojus and brother of Ilius, of whom mention was made in the beginning, begat Danaus, and Danaus begat Anchises, and Anchises begat Æneas. This Æneas was a lord of great worth, wise and of great prowess, and very beautiful in person. When he departed from Troy with his following, with great lamentation, having lost Creusa, his wife, in the assault of the Greeks, he went first to the island of Ortygia, and made sacrifice to Apollo, the god of the sun, or rather idol, asking him for counsel and answer whither he should go; from the which he had answer and commandment to go into the land and country of Italy De Mon. ii. 3: 77-84. (whence at the first had come Dardanus and his forefathers to Troy), and to enter into Italy by the harbour or mouth of the river of Albola; and he said to him by the said oracle, that after many travails by sea, and battles in the said land of Italy, he should gain Epist. vii. (3) 62, 63. a wife and great lordship, and from his race should arise mighty kings and emperors, which should do very great and notable things. When Æneas heard this he was much encouraged by the fair response and promise, and straightway he put to sea with his following and ships, and voyaging long time he met with many adventures, and came to many countries, and first to the country of Macedonia, where already were Helenus and the wife and son of Hector; and after their sorrowful meeting, remembering the ruin of Troy, they departed. And sailing over divers seas, now forwards, now backwards, now crossways, as being ignorant of the country of Italy, not having with them any great masters or pilots of the sea which could guide them, so that they sailed almost whithersoever fortune or the sea winds might lead them, at last they came to the island of Sicily which the poets called Trinacria, and landed where to-day is the city of Trapali, in which Anchises, his father, by reason of his great toils and his old age, Par. xix. 131, 132. passed from this life, and in the said place was buried after their manner with great solemnities. And after the great mourning made by Æneas over his dear father, they departed thence to go into Italy; and by stress of storm the said ships were divided, and part held one way, and part another. And one of the said ships, with all on board, was lost in the sea, and the others came to the shores of Africa (neither knowing ought of the other), where the noble city of Carthage was a-building by the powerful and beautiful Queen Dido which had come thither from Sidonia, which is now called Suri [Tyre]; and the said Æneas and Ascanius, his son, and all his following in the twenty-one ships which came to that port, were received by the said queen with Par. viii. 9. great honour; above all, because the said queen was taken with great love for Æneas so soon as she beheld him, in such wise that Æneas for her sake abode there long time in such delight that he did not remember the commandment of the gods that he should go into Italy; and by a dream or vision, it was told him by the said gods that he should Inf. v. 61, 62. Par. ix. 97, 98. Cf. De Monarchia ii. 3: 102-108. Convivio iv. 26: 59-70. Canzon. xii. 35, 36. no longer abide in Africa. For the which thing suddenly with his following and ships he departed from Carthage; and therefore the said Queen Dido by reason of her passionate love slew herself with the sword of the said Æneas. And those who desire to know this story more fully may read it in the First and Second Books of the Æneid, written by the great poet Virgil.

§ 22.—How Æneas came into Italy.

When Æneas had departed from Africa, he again landed in Sicily, where he had buried his father Anchises, and in that place celebrated the anniversary of his father with great games and sacrifices; and they Conv. iv. 26: 96. received great honour from Acestes, then king of Sicily, by reason of the ancient kinship with the Trojans, who were descendants of Sicanus of Fiesole. Then he departed from Sicily, and came into Italy, to the Gulf of BaiÆ, which to-day is called Mare Morto, to the headland of Miseno, very near where to-day is Naples; in which country there were Inf. ii. 13-15. many and great woods and forests, and Æneas, going through them, was led by the appointed guide, the ErythrÆan Sibyl, to behold Hell and the pains that are therein, and afterwards Limbo; and, according to what is related by Virgil in the Sixth Book of the Æneid, he there Par. xv. 25-30. found and recognised the shades, or soul-images of his father, Anchises, and of Dido, and of many other departed souls. And by his said father were shown to him, or signified in a vision, all his descendants and their lordship, and they which were to build the great city of Rome. And it is said by many, that the place where he was led by the wise Sibyl was through the weird caverns of Monte Barbaro, which is above Pozzuolo, and which still to-day are strange and fearful to behold; and others believe and hold that, either by divine power or by magic arts, this was shown to Æneas in a vision of the Inf. ii. 13-27. spirit, to signify to him the great things which were to issue and come forth from his descendants. But however that may be, when he issued forth from Hell, he departed, and entered into a ship, and, following the shores until he came to the mouth of the river Tiber or Albola, he entered it, and came to shore, and by signs and auguries perceived that he had arrived in the country of Italy, which had been promised him by the gods; and with great festival and rejoicing they brought their labours by sea to an end, and began to build for themselves habitations, and to fortify themselves with ditches and palisades of the wood of their ships. And this place afterwards became the city of Ostia; and these fortifications they built for fear of the country people, who, fearing them as strange folk and unused to their customs, held them as foes, and fought many battles against the Trojans to drive them from the country, in all of which the Trojans were victorious.

§ 23.—How the King Latinus ruled over Italy, and how Æneas had his daughter to wife, and all his kingdom.

In this country (whereof the capital was Laurentia, the remains of which may still be traced near to where Terracina now stands), the Inf. xiv. 94-96. Par. xxii. 145, 146. King Latinus reigned, which was of the seed of King Saturn, who came from Crete when he was driven thence by Jove his son, as we made mention afore. And this Saturn came into the country of Rome, which was then ruled by Janus of the seed of Noah; but the inhabitants were then very ignorant, and lived like beasts on fruits and acorns, and dwelt in caves of the earth. This Saturn, wise in learning and in Cf. Par. xxi. 25-27. manners, by his wisdom and counsel led the people to live like men, and caused them to cultivate lands, and plant vineyards, and build houses, and enclose towns and cities; and the said Saturn was the first to build the city of Sutri, called Saturna, and it was so called after his name; and in that country, by his care, grain was first sown, wherefore the dwellers therein held him for a god; and Janus himself, which was lord thereof, made him his partner, and gave him a share in the kingdom. This Saturn reigned thirty-four years in Italy, and after him reigned Picus his son thirty-one years; and after Picus reigned Faunus his son twenty-nine years, and was slain by his people. The two sons of Faunus were Lavinus and Latinus. This Lavinus built the city of Lavina. And Lavinus reigned but a short time; and when he was dead the kingdom was left to Latinus, which changed the name of the city of Lavina to Laurentia, because on the chief tower thereof there grew a great laurel tree. The said Latinus reigned thirty-two years, and was very wise; and he much bettered the Latin tongue. This Inf. iv. 125, 126. Purg. xvii. 34-39. King Latinus had only one most beautiful daughter called Lavinia, who by her mother had been promised in marriage to a king of Tuscany, named Turnus, of the city of Ardea, now Cortona. Tuscany was the name of the country and province, because there were the first sacrifices offered to the gods, with the fumes of incense called tuscio. Æneas having arrived in the country, sought peace with the King Latinus, and that he might dwell there; by the said Latinus he was received graciously, and not only had leave of him to inhabit the country, but also had the promise of his daughter Lavinia to wife, since the command of the gods was that they should marry her to a stranger, and not to a man of the country. For which cause, and to secure the heritage of King Latinus, great battles arose, for a long time, between Æneas and Turnus and them of Laurentia, and the said Turnus Par. vi. 35, 36. Inf. i. 107, iv. 124. Purg. xvii. 34-39. Inf. i. 108. Par. vi. 3. De Monarchia ii. 3: 108-117. slew in battle the great and strong giant, Pallas, son of Evander, king of the seven hills, where to-day is Rome, who had come in aid of Æneas; and on the same account died, by the hand of Æneas, the virgin Camilla, who was marvellous in arms. In the end, Æneas, being victor in the last battle, and Turnus being slain by his hand, took Lavinia to wife, who loved Æneas much, and Æneas her; and he had the half of the kingdom of King Latinus. And, after the death of King Latinus, who lived but a short time longer, Æneas was lord over all.

§ 24.—How Julius Ascanius, son of Æneas, was king after him, and of the kings and lords who descended from him. §25.—How Silvius, Inf. ii. 13. second son of Æneas, was king after Ascanius, and how from him descended the kings of the Latins, of Alba, and of Rome. §26.—How Romulus and Remus founded the city of Rome. §27.—How Numa Par. vi. 40-42. Convivio iv. 5: 80-97. Pompilius was king of the Romans after the death of Romulus. §28.—How there were in Rome seven kings one after the other down to Tarquin, and how in his time they lost the lordship.

§ 29.—How Rome was ruled for a long time by the government of the consuls and senators, until Julius CÆsar became Emperor.

After that the kings had been driven out, and the government of Rome was left to the consuls and senators, the said King Tarquin and his son, with the aid of King Porsenna of Tuscany, who reigned in the city of Chiusi [Clusium], made great war upon the Romans, but in the end the victory remained with the Romans. And afterwards the Republic of Rome was ruled and governed for 450 years by consuls and senators, and at times by dictators, whose authority endured for five years; and they were, so to speak, emperors, for that which they commanded must of necessity be done; and other divers offices, such as tribunes of the people, and prÆtors, and censors, and chiliarchs. And in this time there were in Rome many changes, and wars, and battles, not only with their neighbours, but with all the nations of the world; the which Romans by force of arms, and virtue and the wisdom of good citizens, ruled over well-nigh all the provinces and realms and dominions in the world, and gained sovereignty over them, and made them tributary, with the greatest battles, and with slaughter of many nations of the world, and of the Romans themselves, in divers times, well-nigh innumerable to relate. And also among the citizens themselves, by reason of envy against the rulers, and strifes between magnates and them of the people; and on the cessation of foreign wars, there arose much fighting and slaughter ofttimes among the citizens; and, in addition to this, from time to time intolerable pestilences arose among the Romans. And this government endured until the great battles of Julius CÆsar against Pompey, and then against his sons, in which CÆsar was victorious; then the said CÆsar did away with the office of consuls and of dictators, and he first was called Emperor. And after him Par. vi. 79-81. Convivio iv. 5: 16-29. De Monarchia ii. 9: 99-105; and ii. 12. Epist. vii. (3) 64-73. Octavianus Augustus, who ruled in peace, after many battles, over the whole world, at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ, 700 years after the foundation of Rome; and thus it is seen that Rome was governed by kings for 254 years, and by consuls 450 years, as we have aforesaid, and it is told more at length by Titus Livius and many other authors. But note that the great power of the Romans was not alone in themselves, save in so far that they were at the head and leaders; but first all the Tuscans and then all the Italians followed them in their wars and in their battles, and were all called Romans. But we will now leave the order of the history of the Romans and of the Emperors, save in so far as it shall pertain to our matter, returning to our subject of the building of Florence, which we promised to narrate. And we have made this long exordium, forasmuch as it was necessary to show how the origin of the Roman builders of Florence (as hereafter will be narrated) was derived from the noble Trojans; and the origin and beginning of the Trojans was from Dardanus, son of Atlas, of the city of Fiesole, as we have briefly recounted; and afterwards from the descendants of the noble Romans, and of the Fiesolans, by the force of the Romans a people was founded called Florentines.

§ 30.—How a conspiracy was formed in Rome by Catiline and his followers.

At the time when Rome was still ruled by the government of consuls, in the year 680 from the foundation of the said city, Mark Tully Cicero and Caius Antony being consuls, and Rome in great and happy state and lordship, Catiline, a very noble citizen, descended by birth from the royal house of Tarquin, being a man of dissolute life but brave and daring in arms and a fine orator, but not wise, being envious of the good and rich and wise men who ruled the city, their lordship not being pleasing to him, formed a conspiracy with many other nobles and other followers disposed to evil-doing, and purposed to slay the consuls and part of the senators, and to destroy their office, and to overrun the city, robbing and setting fire to many parts thereof, and to make himself ruler thereof; and this he would have done had it not been warded off by the wit and foresight of the wise consul, Mark Tully. So he defended the city from such ruin, and found out the said conspiracy and treason; but because of the greatness and power of the Convivio iv. 5: 172-176. said Catiline, and because Tully was a new citizen in Rome, his father having come from Capua or from some other town of the Campagna, he did not dare to have Catiline seized or to bring him to justice, as his misdeeds required; but by his great wit and fine speech he caused him to depart from the city; but many of his fellow-conspirators and companions, from among the greatest citizens, and even of the order of senators, who abode still in Rome after Catiline's departure, he caused to be seized, and to be strangled in prison, so that they died, as the great scholar, Sallust, relates in due order.

§ 31.—How Catiline caused the city of Fiesole to rebel against the city of Rome.

Catiline having departed from Rome, with part of his followers came into Tuscany, where Manlius, one of his principal fellow-conspirators, who was captain, had gathered his people in the ancient city of Fiesole, and Catiline being come thither, he caused the said city to rebel against the lordship of the Romans, assembling all the rebels and exiles from Rome and from many other provinces, with lewd folk disposed for war and for ill-doing, and he began fierce war with the Romans. The Romans, hearing this, decreed that Caius Antony, the consul, and Publius Petreius, with an army of horse and many foot, should march into Tuscany against the city of Fiesole and against Catiline; and they sent by them letters and messengers to Quintus Metellus, who was returning from France with a great host of the Romans, that he should likewise come with his force from the other side to the siege of Fiesole, and to pursue Catiline and his followers.

§ 32.—How Catiline and his followers were discomfited by the Romans in the plain of Piceno.

Now when Catiline heard that the Romans were coming to besiege him in the city of Fiesole, and that Antony and Petreius were already with their host in the plain of Fiesole, upon the bank of the river Arno, and how that Metellus was already in Lombardy with his host of three legions which were coming from France, and the succour which he was expecting from his allies which had remained in Rome had failed him, he took counsel not to shut himself up in the city of Fiesole, but to go into France; and therefore he departed from that city with his people and with a lord of Fiesole who was called Fiesolanus, and he had his horses' shoes reversed, to the end that when they departed the hoofprints of the horses might show as if folk had entered into Fiesole, and not sallied forth thence, to cause the Romans to tarry near the city, that he might depart thence the more safely. And having departed by night, to avoid Metellus, he did not hold the direct road through the mountains which we call the Alps of Bologna, but took the plain by the side of the mountains, and came where to-day is the city of Pistoia, in the place called Campo Piceno, that was below where to-day is the fortress of Piteccio, purposing to cross the Apennine mountains by that way, and descend thence into Lombardy; but Antony and Petreius, hearing of his departure, straightway followed after him with their host along the plain, so that they overtook him in the said place, and Metellus, on the other side, set guards at the passes of the mountains, to the end he might not pass thereby. Catiline, seeing himself to be thus straitened, and that he could not avoid the battle, gave himself and his followers to the chances of combat with great courage and boldness, in the which battle there was great slaughter of Romans from the city and of rebel Romans and of Fiesolans; at the end of which fierce battle Catiline was defeated and slain in that place of Piceno with all his followers; and the field remained to the Romans, but with such dolorous victory that the said two consuls, with twenty horse, who alone escaped, did not care to return to Rome. The which thing could not gain credence with the Romans till the senators sent thither to learn the truth; and, this known, there was the greatest sorrow thereat in Rome. And he who desires to see this history more fully, let him read the book of Sallust called Catilinarius. The injured and wounded of Catiline's people who had escaped death in the battle, albeit they were but few, withdrew where is to-day the city of Pistoia, and there in vile habitations became the first inhabitants thereof, whilst their wounds were healing. And afterwards, by reason of the good situation and fruitful soil, the inhabitants thereof increased, which afterwards built the city of Pistoia, and by reason of the great mortality and pestilence which was near that place, both of their people and of the Romans, they gave it the name of Pistoia; and therefore it is not to be marvelled at if the Pistoians have been and are a fierce and cruel people in war among themselves and against others, being descended from the race of Catiline and from the remnants of such people as his, discomfited and wounded in battle.

§ 33.—How Metellus with his troops made war upon the Fiesolans.

After that Metellus, who was in Lombardy near the mountains of the Apennine Alps in the country of Modena, heard of the defeat and death of Catiline, straightway he came with his host to the place where the battle had been, and having seen the slain, through amazement at the strange and great mortality he was afeared, marvelling within himself as at a thing impossible. But afterwards he and his followers equally despoiled the camp of the Romans from the city and that of the enemy, seizing that which they found there; and this done he came towards Fiesole to besiege the city. The Fiesolans vigorously took to arms, and sallied forth from the city to the plain, fighting with Metellus and with his host, and by force thrust him back, and drove him to the other side of the Arno with great hurt to his people, who with his followers encamped upon the hills, or upon the banks of the river; the Fiesolans with their host drew off from the other bank of the river Arno towards Fiesole.

§ 34.—How Metellus and Fiorinus discomfited the Fiesolans.

The night following, Metellus ordered and commanded that part of his host should pass the river Arno, at a distance from the host of the Fiesolans, and should place themselves in ambush between the city of Fiesole and the host of the Fiesolans, and of that company he made captain Fiorinus, a noble citizen of Rome of the race of the Fracchi or Floracchi, who was his prÆtor, which is as much as to say marshal of his host; and Fiorinus, as he was commanded by the consul, so he did. In the morning, at the break of day, Metellus armed with all his people passing over the river Arno, began the battle against the Fiesolans, and the Fiesolans, vigorously defending the ford of the river, sustained the battle in the river Arno. Fiorinus, who was with his people in ambush, when he saw the battle begun, sallied forth boldly in the rear of the Fiesolans, who were fighting in the river against Metellus. The Fiesolans, surprised by the ambush, seeing themselves suddenly assailed by Fiorinus in the rear and by Metellus in front, put to confusion, threw down their arms and fled discomfited towards the city of Fiesole, wherefore many of them were slain and taken.

§ 35.—How the Romans besieged Fiesole the first time, and how Fiorinus was slain.

The Fiesolans being discomfited and driven back from the shores of Arno, Fiorinus the prÆtor, with the host of the Romans, encamped beyond the river Arno towards Fiesole, where were two little villages, one of which was called Villa Arnina, and the other Camarte [Casa Martis], that is campo or Domus Martis, where the Fiesolans on a certain day in the week held a market in all commodities for their towns and the region round about. The consul made a decree with Fiorinus that no one should sell or buy bread or wine or other things which might be of use to the troops save in the field where Fiorinus was stationed. After this the consul Quintus Metellus sent incontinent to Rome that they should send him men-at-arms to besiege the city of Fiesole, for the which cause the senators made a decree that Julius CÆsar, and Cicero, and Macrinus, with several legions of soldiers, should come to the siege and destruction of Fiesole; which, being come, besieged the said city. CÆsar encamped on the hill which rose above the city; Macrinus on the next hill or mountain, and Cicero on the other side; and thus they remained for six years besieging the said city, having through long siege and through hunger almost destroyed it. And likewise those in the host, by reason of the long sojourn and their many privations being diminished and enfeebled, departed from the siege, and returned to Rome, save Fiorinus, who remained at the siege with his followers in the plain where he had at first encamped, and surrounded himself with moats and palisades, after the manner of ramparts, or fortifications, and kept the Fiesolans in great straits; and thus he warred upon them long time, till his folk felt secure, and held their foes for nought. Then the Fiesolans having recovered breath somewhat, and mindful of the ill which Fiorinus had done and was doing to them, suddenly, and as if in despair, advanced by night with ladders and with engines to attack the camp or fortification of Fiorinus, and he and his people with but few guards and while they slept, not being on their guard against the Fiesolans, were surprised; and Fiorinus and his wife and his children were slain, and all his host in that place well-nigh destroyed, for few thereof escaped; and the said fortress and ramparts were destroyed, and burnt and done away with by the Fiesolans.

§ 36.—How, because of the death of Fiorinus, the Romans returned to the siege of Fiesole.

When the news was known at Rome, the consuls and senators and all the commonwealth being grieved at the misadventure which had befallen the good leader Fiorinus, straightway took counsel that this should be avenged, and that a very great host should return once more to destroy the city of Fiesole, for the which were chosen these leaders: Count Rainaldus, Cicero, Teberinus Macrinus, Albinus, Gneus Pompey, CÆsar, and Camertino Sezio, Conte Tudedino, that is Count of Todi, which was with Julius CÆsar, and of his chivalry. This man pitched his camp near to Camarti, nearly where to-day is Florence; CÆsar pitched his camp upon the hill which rose above the city, which is to-day called Mount Cecero, but formerly was called Mount CÆsar, after his name, or after the name of Cicero; but rather it is held to be after CÆsar, inasmuch as he was the greatest leader in the host. Rainaldus pitched his camp upon the hill over against the city on the other side of the Mugnone, and after his name it is so called until this day; Macrinus encamped on the hill still called after him; Camertinus in the region which is still called Camerata after his name. And all the other aforesaid lords, each one for himself pitched his camp around the city, some on the hills and some in the plain; but no other than these aforesaid have left their names to be a memorial of them. These lords, with their followers in great numbers, both horse and foot, besieging the city, arrayed and prepared themselves to make yet greater war upon the city than at the first; but by reason of the strength of the city the Romans wrought in vain, and many of them being dead by reason of the long siege and excessive toil, those great lords and consuls and senators well-nigh all returned to Rome; only CÆsar with his followers abode still at the siege. And during that sojourn he commanded his soldiers to go to the village of Camarti, nigh to the river Arno, and there to build a council house wherein he might hold his council, and might leave it for a memorial of himself. This building in our vernacular we have named Parlagio [Parliament house]. And it was round and was right marvellously vaulted, and had an open space in the midst; and then began seats in steps all around; and from step to step, built upon, vaulting, they rose, widening up to the very top, and the height thereof was more than sixty cubits, and it had two doors; and therein assembled the people to hold council, and from grade to grade the folk were seated, the most noble above, and then descending according to the dignity of the people; and it was so fashioned that all in the Parliament might see one another by face, and that all might hear distinctly that which one was saying; and it held commodiously an infinite multitude of people, and its name, rightly speaking, was Parlatorio [speaking place]. This was afterwards destroyed in the time of Totila, but in our days the foundations may yet be seen, and part of the vaulting near to the church of S. Simone in Florence, and reaching to the beginning of the square of Santa Croce; and part of the palaces of the Peruzzi are built thereupon, and the street which is called Anguillaia, which goes to Santa Croce, goes almost through the midst of the said Parliament house.

§ 37.—How the city of Fiesole surrendered itself to the Romans and was destroyed and laid waste.

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 CÆsar 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 Par. vi. 53, 54. xv. 124-126. was destroyed by CÆsar, 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, CÆsar 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. CÆsar, then, having fixed the boundaries of the city, and included two places called Camarti and Villa Arnina [of the Arno], purposed to call it CÆsarÆa from his own name. But when the Roman senate heard this, they would not suffer CÆsar to call it after his name, but they made a decree and order that the other chief noble Romans who had taken part in the siege of Fiesole should go and build the new city together with CÆsar, 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.

Then Macrinus, Albinus, Gneus Pompey, and Marcius, furnished with materials and workmen, came from Rome to the city which CÆsar was building, and agreed with CÆsar to divide the work after this manner: that Albinus undertook to pave all the city, which was a noble 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 aquÆ," 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 space 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 God, destroyed it, history records that it was very great. Marcius, the other Roman lord, caused the Capitol to be built after the fashion 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 passage, 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 Inf. xxiii. 107, 108. 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 70 b.c. 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 Inf. xv. 73-78. Par. xv. 124-126. 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 noble Romans in their virtue and the rude Fiesolans fierce in war.

§ 39.—How CÆsar departed from Florence, and went to Rome, and was made consul to go against the French.

After that the city of Florence was built and peopled, Julius CÆsar 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 CÆsar 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 horsemen 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 Par. vi. 65. Epist. v. (3) 47-49. CÆsar 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 CÆsar 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 Par. vi. 73-81. Convivio iv. 5: 16-79. De Mon. ii. 9: 99-105; and ii. 12. Epist. vii. (3) 64-73. all. And after him came Octavianus 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.

In the time of Numa Pompilius by a divine miracle there fell from heaven into Rome a vermilion-coloured shield, 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 Par. xix. 101, 102. De Mon. ii. 11: 23. Purg. x. 80. Par. vi. 32, 100. the Tarpeian rock, to wit, over the treasure chamber of the Capitol, as Titus 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 Sallust relates. And the great Pompey bore the azure field and silver eagle, and Julius CÆsar bore the vermilion field and golden eagle, as Lucan makes mention in verse, saying,

Signa pares aquilas, et pila minantia pilis.

But afterwards Octavianus 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 Par. xx. 8, 31, 32. Inf. iv. 95, 96. Purg. ix. 30. surpasses 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 Octavianus 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 CÆsar, to wit, the vermilion field and golden Ep. vi. (3) 79-85. 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 CÆsar and Pompey, and Macrinus and Albinus and Marcius, Roman nobles 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 god 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 noble and beautiful they built it with eight sides, and when it had been built with great diligence, they dedicated it to the god Mars, who was the god 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 god so long as paganism continued in Florence. And we find that the said temple was begun during the reign of Octavianus 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 space of the said temple.

§ 43.—Tells how the province of Tuscany lies. §44.—Concerning the might and lordship 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.

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 Purg. xiii. 152. 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, Cumina, 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 Vita Nuova § 2. Convivio ii. 15. 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 God 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.

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 lordship 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 270 a.d. 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 passed 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 noble 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, 1013 a.d. 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 Purg. xii. 100-105. 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.

We find that our city of Florence remained under the government of the Roman Empire for about 350 years after its first foundation, observing pagan ways, and worshipping idols, albeit there were many Christians, after the fashion whereof I have spoken, but they remained concealed in divers hermitages and caverns without the city, and they which were within did not declare themselves as Christians for fear of the persecutions which the emperors of Rome and their vicars and ministers brought upon the Christians, until the time of the great Constantine, son of Constantine the Emperor, and of Helena his wife, daughter of Inf. xix. 115-117. the king of Britain, which was the first Christian emperor, and endowed the Church with all the possessions of Rome, and gave liberty to the Christians in the time of the blessed Pope Sylvester, who Inf. xxvii. 94, 95.
320 a.d. baptized him and made him a Christian, cleansing him from leprosy by the power of Christ, and this was in the year of Christ about 320. The said Constantine caused many churches to be built in Rome to the honour of Christ, and having destroyed all the temples of paganism and of the idols, and established Holy Church in her liberty and lordship, De Mon. iii. 10. Par. vi. 1-3; xx. 55-57. and having brought the temporal affairs of the Church under due system and order, he departed to Constantinople, which he caused to be thus named, after his own name (for before this it was called Byzantium), and he raised it to great state and lordship, and there he made his seat, leaving here in command of Rome his patricians or censors, that is, vicars, which defended Rome, and fought for her, and for the Empire. After the said Constantine, which reigned more than thirty years, first in command of Rome, and then in command of Constantinople, there were left three sons, Constantine, and Constantius, and Constans, which had war and contentions among themselves, and one of them, to wit, Constantine, was a Christian, and the next, Constantius, was a heretic, and persecuted the Christians by reason of his heresy, which was begun in Constantinople by one named Arius, and this heresy was called Arian, after his name, which spread much error throughout all the world, and throughout the Church of God. These sons of Constantine by their dissensions greatly laid waste the Empire of Rome, and in a sense abandoned it, and henceforward it always seemed as if it were declining, and its sovereignty becoming less; and there began to be two and three emperors at one time, and one would be reigning in Constantinople, and another in the Empire of Rome, and one would be Christian, and another an Arian heretic, persecuting the Christians and the Church, and this endured long time, so that all Italy was infected thereby. Of the other emperors before and after, we shall make no ordered record, save of those which pertain to our subject; but he who desires to find them in order should read the Martinian Chronicle, and therein he will find the emperors and the popes which were in those times set forth in order.

§ 60.—How the Christian faith first came to Florence.

At the time that the said great Constantine became a Christian, and gave freedom and sovereignty to the Church, and S. Sylvester, the Pope, was openly established in the papacy in Rome, there spread through Tuscany, and throughout Italy, and afterwards through all the world, the true faith and belief of Jesus Christ. And in our city of Florence, the true faith began to be adopted, and paganism to be abolished, in the time of * * * * who was made bishop of Florence by Pope Sylvester; and from the noble and beautiful temple of the Florentines, of which mention has been made above, the Florentines Par. xvi. 47, 145, 146. removed their idol, which they called the god Mars, and placed it upon a high tower, by the river Arno, and would not break or destroy it, because in their ancient records they found that the said idol of Mars had been consecrated under the ascendant of such a planet, that if it Inf. xiii. 143-150. were broken or set aside in a place of contempt, the city would suffer peril and injury, and undergo great changes. And although the Florentines had lately become Christians, they still observed many pagan customs, and long continued to observe them, and they still stood in awe of their ancient idol of Mars, so little were they perfected as yet in the holy faith; and this done, they consecrated Par. xvi. 25, 47.
Par. xvi. 42. their said temple in honour of God and of the blessed S. John the Baptist, and called it the Duomo of S. Giovanni; and they decreed that the feast on the day of his nativity should be celebrated with solemn sacrifices, and that a race should be run for a samite cloak, and this custom has been always observed by the Florentines on that day. And they had baptismal fonts erected in the middle of the temple, where Inf. xix. 17-20. Par. xv. 134, 135. people and children were and still are baptized; and on Holy Saturday, when in the said fonts the baptismal water and fire were blessed, they ordered that the said holy fire should be carried through the city after the custom of Jerusalem, so that some one should enter into every house with a lighted torch, for them to kindle their fires from. And from this solemnity came the privilege of the "great torch," which pertained to the house of the Pazzi, from some hundred and seventy years before 1300; because one of their ancestors, named Pazzo, strong and tall in person, bore a larger torch than any other, and was the first to take the sacred fire, and then the others received it from him. The said duomo, after that it had been consecrated to Christ, was enlarged by the space where to-day is the choir, and the altar of the blessed John; but at the time that the said duomo was the temple of Mars, this addition had not been made thereto, nor the turret and ball at the summit; and indeed it was open above after the fashion of Santa Maria Ritonda of Rome, to the intent their idol, the god Mars, which was in the midst of the temple, might be open to the sky. But after the second rebuilding of Florence, in the year of Christ 1150, the cupola was built upon columns, and the ball, and the golden cross which is at the top, by the consuls of the Art of Calimala, to which the commonwealth of Florence had committed the charge of the building of the said work in honour of S. John. And by many people which have journeyed through the world it is said to be the most beautiful temple or duomo of any that may be found; and in our times has been completed the work of the histories depicted within in mosaic. And we find, from ancient records, that the figure of the sun carved in mosaic, which says: "En giro torte sol ciclos, et rotor igne," was done by astronomy, and when the sun enters into the sign of Cancer, it shines at mid-day on that place through the opening above, where is the turret.

§ 61.—Of the coming of the Goths and Vandals into Italy, and how they destroyed the country and besieged the city of Florence in the time of S. Zenobius, bishop of Florence.

END OF SELECTIONS FROM BOOK I.