Castruccio Castracani

“ About the same time, Uguccione lost the sovereignty of Lucca and of Pisa, and Castruccio Castracani, a citizen of Lucca, became lord of them, who, being a young man, bold and fierce, and fortunate in his enterprises, in a short time became the head of the Ghibellines in Tuscany. On this account the discords among the Florentines were laid aside for some years, at first to abate the increasing power of Castruccio, and afterward to unite their means for mutual defense against him. ”

“ A brave general and an ambitious man, he captured Lucca and defeated the Florentines and their allies from Naples at Montecatini Uguccione della Fagginola and Castruccio Castracani. in 1315, but the following year he lost both Pisa and Lucca and had to fly from Tuscany. A new danger now threatened Florence in the person of Castruccio Castracani degli Antelminelli (q.v.) , who made himself lord of Lucca and secured help from Matteo Visconti, lord of Milan, and other Ghibellines of northern Italy. ”

“ So Pisa recovered her liberty, but Lucca was less fortunate or wise, for her citizens only transferred the power which Uguccione had usurped to the chief of the Ghibelins. Castruccio Castracani degl' Interminelli, one of the most celebrated names in Italian history. This extraordinary man ... had early in life shared the common fate of exile with the White Guelfs or Ghibelins of Lucca. Passing ten years of banishment in England, France, and the Ghibelin cities of Lombardy, he had served a long apprenticeship to arms under the best generals of the age. ”

“ Castro, Vaca de, a Spaniard, sent out by Charles V. as governor of Peru, but addressing himself to the welfare of the natives rather than the enrichment of Spain, was recalled, to pine and die in prison in 1558.
Castrogiovanni (18) , a town in a strong position in the heart of Sicily, 3270 ft. above the sea-level; at one time a centre of the worship of Ceres, and with a temple to her.
Castruccio-Castracani, Duke of Lucca, and chief of the Ghibelline party in that town, the greatest war-captain in Europe in his day; lord of hundreds of strongholds ”

“ You, Count Rinaldo, have our followers arm'd,
And meet me secret in the cypress-grove;
I'll wait there, coming from the Florentines.
Our forces and their band must join at once;
This fix'd, we'll seek the banquet-room together.
My welcome to Castruccio is my dagger!
1st noble.
One cup of wine, Leoni, ere you go.
LEONI.
I have not time—yet stay—we'll drink one pledge.
⁠ (They pour out wine; each takes a goblet.) ”

“ Yet hark, Castruccio! thou hast many foes—
Dagger and cup are armed against thy life!
And with my dying breath I bid them speed.
But I am dizzy—no—I dare not leave
Word for my kind old kinsman or Bianca:
Now can I neither save, nor yet revenge.
CESARIO.
Die with more christian words upon your lips,
For the dear sake of thy immortal soul!
LEONI (springing up for a moment) .
I'll peril it on my last word—I hate him! (Dies.)
CASTRUCCIO.
Bear him away, and instantly prepare
Arrezi's scaffold; I will make my power
Show itself fearful: they must learn my strength. ”

“ There is no path of fortune where thy step
Has not cross'd mine; in war, ambition, love,
Still hast thou been my rival! call thy guards,
Tyrant! but, ere they come, I'll try my sword.
CASTRUCCIO.
I'll call no other guard than my right hand.
(They fight.—As he disarms Leoni, Cesario and the
Attendants rush in.)
CASTRUCCIO.
Bear hence the traitor! you are just in time.
CESARIO.
He bleeds to death.
LEONI.
But yet with strength enough
For hatred and defiance; 'tis in vain—
Fate is against me—curse the hand and sword
That have betray'd me in my utmost need! ”

“ That never turn aside their sad reproach.
I'll after him, and wring a slow consent.
CESARIO.
Your pardon, lady; do not seek the count,
Let his just anger cool; think you how false,
How vile has been Arrezi's part to-night!
With flattering words he pray'd Castruccio's presence,
Made his own child the lure, yet, in his heart,
Lurk'd the assassin, and he plann'd to make
His home—his sacred home—the place for murder! ”

“ Castruccio rode on gaily towards Milan; the cheerless wintry sky and the cold air could not tame his buoyant spirits or his hopes. He panted for action, for distinction, and for power; yet he no longer desired these things as a boy, unknowing of the road which led to them. During the interval which he had spent in England and France, he had studied human nature with the observant eye of genius; and, all careless as he appeared to be, he had learned how to please the multitude, how to flatter the foibles of the noble, and thus to gain the hearts of men and to rule them. ”

“ CASTRUCCIO.
Fate mocks at us; a few brief hours suffice
To stand between us and our happiness,
Thenceforth I had those gentle hopes no more,
That make the spirit gentle where they dwell.
Lucca was then my all—I had no hopes
But for the glory of my native city;
To see her free and prosperous, became
Life's sole great object.
CLARICHA.
Not for my sake shall Lucca's hero pause
Upon his glorious path; not for my sake
Forget life's noblest duties.
CASTRUCCIO.
Thou art more strong than I am—yet not so,
I see thy cheek is pale, thine eye is wet,
I cannot leave thee. ”

“ The scene is laid in Lucca, during the contests between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines; but my object has not been to bring forward old party distinctions, in which no one now takes any interest, but to represent the first rising against the feudal system, which has since led to such important results. Castruccio is the (attempted) ideal of the hero and the patriot. He has himself been exiled and oppressed; out of this early experience grows his sympathy with the wrongs of the city to whose cause he devotes himself, while the glory of Lucca is the poetry and passion of his life. ”

“ CASTRUCCIO.
Hear me, Claricha—be yourself my judge—
What Lucca was, let our first years recall:
Years past in war and exile—when the land
Had not one vineyard safe—one hearth secure—
How stands my country now?—at peace within,
The peasant, undisturb'd beneath his vine,
The citizen in safety, high or low,
While our fair banners flout the gates of Florence.
Not for the palace only have I ruled,
But for the green fields and the market place;
Peace dwells beneath the shadow of my power.
CLARICHA.
Ah, me! I know too well how much Castruccio
Has done for Lucca. ”

“ Twenty-five years later they were divided against each other, in the wild days when Lewis the Bavarian, excommunicated and at war with the Pope, was crowned and consecrated Emperor, by the efforts of an extraordinary man of genius, Castruccio degli Interminelli, known better as Castruccio Castracane, the Ghibelline lord of Lucca who made Italy ring with his deeds for twenty years, and died of a fever, in the height of his success and glory, at the age of forty-seven years. ”

“ None question'd, then, our rightful sovereignty.
LEONI.
Which half the citizens now laugh to scorn.
As yet I have not been an hour in Lucca,
Yet I can see all things are changed.
ARREZI.
⁠Too true!
LEONI.
Your servants are your masters; where are gone
Your old respect and high authority?
ARREZI.
I do not know the times in which I live.
So much of change lies heavy on each hour!
Castruccio comes to-night—now greet him fair. ”

“ Please you, Count Castruccio,
To lead Bianca?
CASTRUCCIO.
Your pardon, lady, for a brief delay;
Let me look round this hall, I knew it not.
ARREZI.
'Tis never open'd but when some high guest
Honours us with his presence; and we ask
Our ancestors to aid us in his greeting.
CASTRUCCIO.
I like the custom. It is from the dead
The living must their noblest lessons learn;
The dead are as the stars that light the past:
We see how time has honoured them, and hope
Ourselves for equal honour. ”

“ If for a moment her will paused, and love, breaking every bank she had carefully built up to regulate her mind's course, burst in at once, and carried away in its untameable course reason, conscience, and even memory, Castruccio himself came to repair the breach, and to restrain the current; some castle burnt, some town taken by assault, some friend or enemy remorselessly banished, filled her with shame and anger, that she should love a tyrant; a slave to his own passions, the avenger of those of others. ”

“ Castruccio gazed on Euthanasia: he could, he thought, feed for life on her sweet looks, in which deep sensibility and lively thought were pictured, and a judgement and reason beyond her years. Her eyes seemed to read his soul, while they glistened with pleasure; he wished to hear her speak, but she insisted that his tale should be first told, of how he had lived at Ancona, and how he had ventured to Florence. ”

“ Castruccio was unlike these tyrants, in that we hear nothing of his taste for books, or music, or art; indeed, by his ruthless devastation of the environs of Florence, incalculable treasures, representing early Italian art, were irretrievably lost; and though we know that Castruccio had sons and other kinsmen, there was no successor to the great "soldier of fortune who had raised himself to be Duke of Lucca, Lord of Pisa, Pistoja, Volterra, and much of the Genoese Riviera." ”

“ We only ask of victory for peace.
Enter Cesario.
CESARIO.
The envoys of the emperor await
Your leisure, to acknowledge you the lord
Of Lucca.
CASTRUCCIO.
Then Lucca's freedom is assured. High Heaven
I thank thee! (Addressing the crowd.) My friends,
Not on a day of victory and peace,
Shall justice sternly ask its penalty
Freely ye will forgive your enemies.
Last night's conspirators I pardon here—
Be they set free.
OFFICER.
⁠That has been done by death!
There lies the Count Arrezi.
(The crowd opens, and Claricha is seen lying by the
bier.) ”

“ Scene I.—A Banquetting Hall opening into a garden,
and hung with pictures.—Servants—Count Arezzi.
ARREZI (Solus) .
I have but little heart for this gay banquet:
Dangers and fears encompass me around;
I know the Castrucani doubts my faith,
I know Leoni loathes the coming marriage.
Which never will his fiery spirit see
Without a struggle; and with that must come
All that I thought to shun of strife and blood.
Ah! there are moments, when my thoughts have ask'd
The heart that beats with them—can this be life? ”

“ Castruccio came. If it were in human virtue to resist the invitation of this angelic girl, his was not the mind, strictly disciplined to right, self-examining and jealous of its own integrity that should thus weigh its actions, and move only as approved by conscience. He was frank and noble in his manner; his nature was generous; and, though there lurked in his heart the germ of an evil-bearing tree, it was as yet undeveloped and inanimated; and, in obeying the summons of Beatrice, he passively gave himself up to the strong excitements of curiosity and wonder. ”

“ Castruccio was ever at war; peace subsisted between him and Florence; but the siege of Genoa by the Ghibelines of Lombardy, gave him occasion to turn his arms on that side; and, his march extending from Lucca to beyond the Magra, he deluged the country in blood, and obtained that which he desired, dominion and fame.
It were curious to mark the changes that now operated in his character. Every success made him extend his views to something beyond; and every obstacle surmounted, made him still more impatient of those that presented themselves in succession. He became all in all to himself ”

“ What of Castruccio's fate—what of our chief?
CESARIO.
The treachery of the nobles has prevail'd.
Castruccio lies within the city prison,
Thither convey'd by Ludolph's foreign band;
A thousand dangers circle him around,
The secret dagger, and the open scaffold.
2nd citizen.
Well, now we have no friend!
CESARIO.
He was your friend; the meanest citizen
Found, in the shadow of Castruccio's name,
His best security.
2nd citizen.
He never wrung from us our hard-earn'd gains.
1st citizen.
Our lives were precious to him; must he die? ”

“ I do indeed trust that there is nothing wanton in his severity; yet methinks he had better have banished himself, than so many families, who now go as beggars through the world. He also was banished once; they say that princes learn from adversity; I believe it; they learn a cunning in cruelty the prosperous can never know."
"Nay, dear countess, speak not so hardly of him. Castruccio was born to rule; he is noble-minded, but firm of resolution; and can you blame him for securing a life on which the welfare of Lucca, perhaps of Italy, depends?" ”

“ Castruccio journeyed slowly on. He was weak and unable to endure continued exercise. Yet his mind recovered by degrees its wonted strength; and imagination, ever at work, pictured future life, brilliant with glowing love, transcendant with glory and success. ”

“ Castruccio was introduced into his chamber, where he lay peacefully sleeping on a magnificent couch, his adopted child, the lovely Beatrice, watching before him, who, when she beheld Castruccio, blushed deeply, while, in spite of every effort, a smile of delight spread itself over her expressive countenance.
"He is not very ill," she said in a low voice, in answer to Castruccio's enquiries; "the fever has left him entirely; he is weak, but recovering. ”