I promessi sposi. English

by Alessandro Manzoni

  CHAPTER XXVIII.

  After the famous sedition on St. Martin's day, it may be said thatabundance flowed into Milan, as if by enchantment. The shops were wellstored with bread, the price of which was no higher than in the mostfruitful years; those who, on that terrible day, had howled through thestreets, and committed every excess in their power, had now reason tocongratulate themselves. But, with the cessation of their alarm, theyhad not resumed their accustomed quiet; on the squares, and in the inns,there were congratulations and boastings (although in an under tone) athaving hit on a mode of reducing the price of bread. However, in themidst of these popular rejoicings, there reigned a vague apprehensionand presentiment that this happiness would be of short duration. Theybesieged the bakers and vendors of flour with the same pertinacity asduring the period of the former factitious and transient abundance,produced by the first tariff of Antony Ferrer. He who had some pence byhim converted them immediately into bread and flour, which was piled inchests, in small casks, and even in vessels of earthen ware. In thusattempting to extend the advantages of the moment, their long durationwas rendered, I do not say impossible, for it was so already; but eventheir momentary continuance thus became still more difficult.

  On the fifteenth of November, Antony Ferrer, "_by the order of hisexcellency_," published a decree in which it was forbidden to any one,having any quantity of grain or flour in his house, to purchase more;and to the rest of the people to buy bread beyond that which wasnecessary for two days, "_under pecuniary and corporal penalties at thediscretion of his excellency_." The decree ordered the _anziani_(officers of justice), and invited every body, as a duty, to denouncethe offenders; it commanded the judges to cause search to be made inevery house which might be mentioned to them, issuing at the same time anew command to the bakers to keep their shops well furnished with bread,"_under penalty of five years in the galleys, and still greaterpunishment at the discretion of his excellency_." A great effort ofimagination would be required to believe that such orders were easy ofexecution.

  In commanding the bakers to make such a quantity of bread, means oughtto have been afforded for the supply of the material of which it was tobe made. In seasons of scarcity, there is always an endeavour to makeinto bread various kinds of aliment, which, under ordinarycircumstances, are consumed under other forms. In this way rice wasintroduced into the composition of a bread which was called mistura.[33]On the 23d of November, there was a decree issued, which placed at theorder of the vicar and twelve members of provision the half of the ricethat each possessed; under penalty for selling it without the permissionof those lords of the loss of the entire commodity, and a fine of threecrowns the bushel.

  [33] Mixture.

  But this rice had to be paid for at a price very disproportioned to thatof bread. The burden of supplying this enormous difference was imposedon the city: but the council of ten resolved to send a remonstrance tothe governor, on the impossibility of sustaining such a tax; and thegovernor fixed, by a decree of the 13th of December, the price of riceat twelve livres the bushel. It is also probable, though nowhereexpressly stated, that the maximum price for other sorts of grain wasfixed by other proclamations. Whilst, by these various measures, breadand flour were kept at a low price in Milan, it consequently happenedthat crowds of people rushed into the city to supply their wants. DonGonzalo, to remedy this inconvenience, forbade, by another decree of the15th of December, the carrying out of the city bread to the value ofmore than twenty pence; the penalty was a fine of "_twenty-five crowns,and in case of inability, a public flogging, and greater punishmentsstill, at the discretion of his excellency_."

  The populace wished to procure abundance by pillage and conflagration,the legal power wished to maintain it by the galleys and the rope. Everymethod was resorted to to accomplish their purpose, but the reader willsoon learn the total failure of them all. It is, besides, easy to see,and not useless to observe, that these strange means had an intimate andnecessary connection with each other; each was the inevitableconsequence of the preceding, and all, in fact, flowed from the firsterror, that of fixing upon bread a price so disproportioned to thatwhich ought to have resulted from the real state of things. Such anexpedient, however, has always appeared to the populace not onlyconformable to equity, but very simple and easy of execution; it is thenvery natural that in the agonies and misery which are the necessaryeffects of scarcity, they should, if it be in their power, adopt it. Butas the consequences begin to be felt, the government is obliged torepair the evil by new laws, forbidding men to do that which previouslaws had recently prescribed to them.

  The principal fruits of the insurrection were these; the destruction orloss of much provision in the insurrection itself, and the rapidconsumption of the small quantity of grain then on hand, which shouldotherwise have lasted until the next harvest. To these general effectsmay be added, the punishment of four of the populace, who were hung asleaders of the sedition, two before the baker's shop of the crutches,and two at the corner of the street in which was situated the house ofthe superintendent of provision.

  The historical relations of this epoch are handed down to us with solittle clearness, that it is difficult to ascertain when this arbitrarytariff ceased. But we have numerous accounts of the situation of thecountry, and especially the city, in the winter of that year and thefollowing spring. In every quarter shops were closed; and themanufactories were, for the most part, deserted; the streets afforded aterrible spectacle of sorrow and desolation; mendicants by profession,now the smallest number, were confounded with the new multitude,disputing for alms with those from whom they had formerly beenaccustomed to receive them; clerks and servants, dismissed by themerchants and shopkeepers, hardly existing upon some scanty savings;merchants and shopkeepers themselves failing and ruined by the stoppageof trade; artificers wandering from door to door, lying along thepavement, by the houses and churches, soliciting charity, and hesitatingbetween want and shame, emaciated and feeble, reduced by long fasting,and the rigours of the cold which penetrated their tattered clothing;servants, dismissed by their masters, who were incapable of maintainingtheir accustomed numerous and sumptuous establishments; and the numerousdependents upon the labour of these various classes, old men, women, andchildren, grouped around their former supporters, or wandered in searchof support elsewhere.

  Among the wretched crowds also might be distinguished, by their _longlock_, by the remnants of their magnificent apparel, by their carriageand gestures, and by the traces which habit impresses on thecountenance, many _bravoes_, who, having lost in the common misery theircriminal means of support, were reduced to an equality of suffering, andwith difficulty dragged themselves along the city that they had so oftentraversed with a proud and ferocious bearing, magnificently armed andattired; they now extended with humility the hand which they had sofrequently raised to menace with insolence, or to strike with treachery.

  But the most dense, livid, and hideous swarm was that of the villagers.These were seen in entire families; husbands with their wives, draggingalong their little ones, and supporting in their arms their wretchedbabies, whilst their own aged and helpless parents followed behind,--allflocked into the city in hopes of obtaining bread. Some, whose houseshad been invaded and despoiled by the soldiery, had fled in despair;some, to excite compassion, and render their misery more striking,showed the wounds and bruises they had received in defending theirhomes; and others, whom this scourge had not reached, had been driven,by the two scourges from which no corner of the country was exempt,sterility and the consequent increase on the price of provisions, to thecity, as to the abode of abundance and pious munificence. The new comersmight be recognised by their air of angry astonishment anddisappointment at finding such an excess of misery where they had hopedto be themselves the peculiar objects of compassion and benevolence.Here, too, might be recognised, in all their varieties of raggedhabiliments, in the midst of the general wretchedness, the pale dwellerof the marsh, the bronzed countenance of the plain or hill c
ountryman,and the sanguine complexion of the mountaineer, all, however, alike inthe hollow eye, ferocious or insane countenance, knotted hair, long andmatted beard, attenuated body, shrivelled skin and bony breast,--allalike reduced to the lowest condition of languor, of infantine debility.

  Heaps of straw and stubble were seen along the walls, and by thegutters, which appeared to be a particular provision of charity forthese unfortunate creatures; there their limbs reposed during the night;and in the day they were occupied by those who, exhausted by fatigue andsuffering, could no longer bear the weight of their emaciated bodies;sometimes, upon the damp straw a dead body lay extended; sometimes, themiserable spark of life was rekindled in its feeble tenement by timelysuccour from a hand rich in the means and in the disposition to dogood, the hand of the pious Frederick.

  He had made choice of six priests of ardent charity and robustconstitution; and, dividing them into three companies, assigned to eachthe third of the city as their charge; they were accompanied by porters,laden with food, cordials, and clothing. Each morning these worthymessengers of benevolence passed through the streets, approached thosewhom they beheld stretched on the pavement, and gave to each theirkindly assistance. Those who were too ill to be benefited by temporalsuccour received from them the last offices of religion.

  Their assistance was not limited to present relief: the good bishoprequested them, wherever it was possible, to furnish more efficaciousand permanent comfort, by giving to those who should be in some measurerestored to strength money for their future necessities, lest returningwant should again plunge them into wretchedness and misery; and toobtain shelter for others who lay exposed in the street in theneighbouring houses, by requesting their inhabitants to receive the poorafflicted ones as boarders, whose expenses would be paid by the cardinalhimself.

  Frederick had not waited for the evil to attain its height, in order toexercise his benevolence, and to devote all the powers of his mindtowards its amelioration. By uniting all his means, by practising stricteconomy, by drawing upon the sums destined to other liberalities, andwhich had now become of secondary importance, he endeavoured to amassmoney, in order to employ it entirely for those who were suffering fromhunger and its consequences. He bought a quantity of grain, and sent itto the most destitute parts of his diocese; but as the succour was farfrom adequate to the necessity, he sent with it a great quantity ofsalt, "with which," says Ripamonti[34], relating the fact, "the herbs ofthe field and the leaves of trees were made food for men." Hedistributed grain and money to the curates of the city; and he himselftravelled over it, administering alms, and secretly aiding many indigentfamilies. In the episcopal palace, rice was boiled every day, and dealtout to the necessities of the people, to the extent of 2000 measures.Besides these splendid efforts of a single individual, many otherexcellent persons, though with less powerful means, strove to mitigatethe horrible sufferings of the people: of these sufferers, thousandsstruggled to grasp the broth or other food provided at differentquarters, and thus prolong for a day, at least, their miserable lives;but thousands were still left behind in the struggle, and thesegenerally the weakest,--the aged women and children; and these might beseen, dead and dying from inanition, in every part. But in the midst ofthese calamities not the least disposition to insurrection appeared.

  [34] Historia Patriae, decad. v. lib. vi. p. 386.

  The void that mortality created each day in the miserable multitude waseach day more than replenished; there was a perpetual concourse, atfirst from the neighbouring villages, then from the more distantterritories, and, finally, from the Milanese cities.

  The ordinary spectacle of ordinary times, the contrast of magnificentapparel with rags, and of luxury with poverty, had entirely disappeared.The nobility even wore coarse clothing; some, because the general miseryhad affected their fortune; others, because they would not insult thewretchedness of the people, or because they feared to provoke thegeneral despair by the display of luxury at such a time.

  Thus passed the winter and the spring; already had the Tribunal ofHealth remonstrated with the Tribunal of Provision on the danger towhich such mass of misery exposed the city. To prevent contagiousdiseases, a proposal was made to confine the vagabond beggars in thevarious hospitals. Whilst this project was under discussion, someapproving and others condemning, dead bodies incumbered the streets. TheTribunal of Provision, however, proposed another expedient as more easyand expeditious, which was, to shut up all the mendicants, healthy ordiseased, in the lazaretto, and to maintain them there at the expense ofthe city. This measure was resolved upon, notwithstanding theremonstrances of the Tribunal of Health, who objected that, in sonumerous an assemblage, the evil to which they wished to apply a remedywould be greatly augmented.

  The little order that reigned in the lazaretto, the bad quality of thefood, and the standing water which was drank plentifully, soon creatednumerous maladies. To these causes of mortality, so much the more activefrom operating on bodies already exhausted or enfeebled, was added theunfavourableness of the season; obstinate rains, followed by moreobstinate drought, and violent heat. To these physical evils were addedothers of a moral nature, despair and wearisomeness in captivity, desirefor accustomed habits, regret for cherished beings of whom theseunfortunate beings had been deprived; painful apprehension for those whowere living, and the continual dread of death, which had itself become anew and powerful cause of the extension of disease. It is not to bewondered at that mortality increased in this species of prison to such adegree as to assume the appearance and deserve the name of _pestilence_.The number of deaths in the lazaretto soon amounted to a hundred daily.

  Whilst within these wretched walls, grief, fear, anguish, and rageprevailed, in the Tribunal of Provision, shame, astonishment, andirresolution were equally apparent. They consulted, and now listened tothe advice of the Tribunal of Health: finding they could do no betterthan to undo what they had done, at so much expense and trouble, theyopened the doors of the lazaretto, and released all who were well enoughto leave it. The city was thus again filled with its former cries, butfeebler, and more interrupted; the sick were transported to Santa Mariadella Stella, which was then the hospital for the poor, and the greaterpart perished there.

  However, the fields began to yield the harvest so long desired, and thetroops of peasants left the city for their long prayed for andaccustomed labours. The ingenious and inexhaustible charity of the goodFrederick still exerted itself; he made a present of a giulio[35] and asickle to each peasant, who solicited it at the palace.

  [35] A coin worth about 6_d._

  With a plentiful harvest, scarcity ceased to be felt; the mortality,however, continued, in a greater or less degree, until the middle ofautumn. It was on the point of ceasing, when a new scourge overwhelmedthe city and country.

  Many events of high historical importance had occurred in this intervalof time. The Cardinal Richelieu, after having taken Rochelle, and made atreaty of peace with England, had proposed, effected by his powerfulinfluence in the councils of the French king, that efficacious aidshould be sent to the Duke of Nevers; he had also persuaded the king tolead the expedition in person. Whilst the preparations were in progress,the Count of Nassau, imperial commissary, suggested to the new duke inMantua the expediency of replacing his states in the hands of Ferdinand;intimating that, in case of refusal, an army would be immediately sentby the emperor to occupy them. The duke, who in the most desperatecircumstances had rejected so hard a condition, encouraged now by thepromised succours from France, was determined still longer to defendhimself. The commissary departed, declaring that force would soon decidethe matter.

  In the month of March, the Cardinal Richelieu with the king, at the headof an army, demanded a free passage from the Duke of Savoy; he enteredinto treaties for the purpose, but nothing was concluded. After arencounter, in which the French obtained the advantage, a new treaty wasentered into, in which the duke stipulated that Don Gonzalo de Cordovashould raise the siege of Casale, engaging, i
n case of his refusal, tounite with the French, and invade the duchy of Milan. Don Gonzalo raisedthe siege of Casale, and a body of French troops entered it, toreinforce the garrison. The Cardinal Richelieu decided to return toFrance, on business which he regarded as more urgent; but GirolamoSoranzo, envoy from Venice, offered the most powerful reasons to diverthim from this resolution. To these the king and the cardinal paid noattention; they returned with the greatest part of the army, leavingonly 6000 men at Suza to occupy the passes and maintain the treaty.

  Whilst this army departed on one side, that of Ferdinand, commanded bythe Count of Collato, advanced on the other. It had invaded the countryof the Grisons, and the Valtelline, and was preparing to come down onthe Milanese. Besides the usual terrors which such an expectation wascalculated to excite, the report was spread, that the plague lurked inthe imperial army. Alessandro Tadino, one of the conservators of thepublic health, was charged by the tribunal to state to the governor thefrightful danger which threatened the country, if this army shouldobtain the pass which opened on Mantua. It appears from all the actionsof Gonzalo, that he was possessed by a desire to occupy a great place inhistory; but, as often happens, history has failed to register one ofhis most remarkable acts, the answer he returned to this Doctor Tadino;which was, "that he knew not what could be done; that reasons ofinterest and honour, which had induced the march of the army, were ofgreater weight than the danger represented; that he would, however,endeavour to act for the best, and that they must trust to Providence."

  In order, then, to act for the best, their two physicians proposed tothe tribunal to forbid, under the most severe penalty, the purchase ofany articles of clothing from the soldiers who were about to pass. As toDon Gonzalo, his reply to Doctor Tadino was one of his last acts atMilan, as the ill success of the war, which had been instigated anddirected by him, caused him to be displaced in the course of the summer.He was succeeded by Marquis Ambrosio Spinola, who had already acquiredthe military celebrity in the wars of Flanders which still endures.

  Meanwhile the German troops had received definite orders to march uponMantua, and in the month of September they entered the duchy of Milan.

  At this epoch armies were composed, for the greater part, ofadventurers, enlisted by _condottieri_, who held their commission fromsome prince, and who sometimes pursued the occupation on their ownaccount, so as to be able to sell themselves and followers together. Menwere drawn to this vocation much less by the pay which was assigned tothem, than by the hope of pillage, and the charms of licence. There wasno fixed or general discipline; and as their pay was very uncertain, thespoils of the countries which they over-ran were tacitly accorded tothem by their commanders.

  It was a saying of the celebrated Wallenstein's, that it was easier tomaintain an army of 100,000 men than one of 12,000. And this army ofwhich we are now speaking was part of that which in the thirty years'war had desolated all Germany; it was commanded by one of Wallenstein'slieutenants, and consisted of 28,000 infantry, and 7000 horse. Indescending from the Valtelline towards Milan, they had to coast alongthe Adda, to the place where it empties into the Po; eight days' marchin the duchy of Milan.

  A great proportion of the inhabitants retired to the mountains, carryingwith them their most precious possessions; some remained to watch thesick, or to preserve their dwellings from the flames, or to watch thevaluable property which they had buried or concealed; and othersremained because they had nothing to lose. When the first detachmentarrived at the place where they were to halt, the soldiers scatteredthemselves through the country; and subjected it at once to pillage; allthat could be eaten or carried off disappeared; fields were destroyed,and cottages burnt to the ground; every hiding-place, every method towhich people had resorted, in their despair, for the defence of theirproperty, became useless, nay, often resulted in the peculiar injury ofthe proprietor. Strict search was made throughout every house by thesoldiers; they easily detected in the gardens the earth which had beennewly dug; they penetrated the caverns in search of the opulentinhabitants, who had taken refuge there, and dragging them to theirhouses, forced them to declare where they had concealed their treasures.

  At last they departed; their drums and trumpets were heard receding inthe distance, and a temporary calm succeeded to these hours of tumultand affright; but, alas! the sound of drums was again heard, announcingthe arrival of another detachment, the soldiers of which, furious at notfinding booty, destroyed what the first work of desolation had spared;burned the furniture and the houses, and manifested the most cruel andsavage disposition towards the inhabitants. This continued for a periodof twenty days, the army containing that number of divisions.

  Colico was the first territory of the duchy that these demons invaded;they then threw themselves on Bellano, from which they entered andspread themselves in the Valsassina, whence they marched into theterritory of Lecco.