130 REVOLT OF GONZAGA. כז also of the men who were with him, he would send none out of the city; and he was to them a stumblingblock. And he said to them, "Ye know that with all my might I have delivered this city unto this day; my renown is great among the nations, and now if I shall send of those who follow me, then I shall be left with a few men, and they will take it, and will give it up to pillage: whither shall I cause my shame to go?* Is it not better, that I go out with all the men of the host who follow me, and my name shall not be called upon by you any more? and do ye as it seemeth good in your sight." And they hearkened unto his speech, and sent unto him two men, saying, According to thy words we will do; and now arise and go out of the city, thou as well as the men who follow thee; and we will stand valiantly for the sake of our people and for the sake of the cities of our God, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by fewt." And his wrath was kindled very much; and he took a sword and twice struck one of them who was seventy years old; and the city of Florence was in consternation. 796. And every one took his weapons of war; and he hastened also, and took the ford of the river * 2 Sam. xiii. 13. Comp. 1 Sam. xiv. 6. פז FLORENCE SUBMITS TO THE EMPEROR. 131 Arno, and revolted against the lords of Florence with a high hand. And he turned the cannons of brass, which were upon the walls, against the city, and sat upon his ward. And he sent to them, saying, "Take counsel, that ye may wisely consider what ye shall do, lest I open the city, and ye be delivered into the hand of the enemy." 797. And the men feared much, when they saw that also he had joined their enemies; and they said unto him, Do as it seemeth good in thine eyes, for all is in thy hand; we will live, and not die:" and his wrath was laid. And they sent to the men of the host, and made a covenant with them. And all this proceeded from the pope with Malatesta; but he turned his heart backward. 798. The copy of the covenant was, that the city should remain with its councillors and judges as it was; only, that they should restore to the Medici what belonged to them, who should pardon the men who had lifted up their hands against them. The Medici [n] should not cause to fall one of the hairs of their head to the ground; and the emperor should give them statutes and judgments, and teach them the way wherein they should walk; and they should give to the chiefs of the host eighty 132 A. D. 1530-FLORENCE PLUNDERED. פח thousand scudi, and every one should come in peace to his place. And the overseer of the pope, and the captains of the host, entered the city on the eighth of the month of August, in the year one thousand five hundred and thirty; and the law was given, and the country had rest. 799. And it came to pass, when they came into the city, that they overstepped the statute, and violated their covenant, and did in the city according to their own desire; and they brought down six of the heads of the city into the grave in blood. And many were put into the lowest pit in the prison. And one hundred and fifty men they sent out and expelled from their country. And many fled, when they saw that evil was determined against them, and all the people they plundered; and the cry of the city went up toward heaven. 800. And it came to pass, after some days, that the deputy of the emperor made a covenant with the Medici; and they gave the government unto Alessandro, a kinsman of the pope, as duke of the city; and Florence became a servant unto tribute at that time. And it came to pass, that Alessandro did judgment and righteousness in the land, and he was skilled in knowledge; however, the great men of the city were not with him, and knew not how to speak peaceably unto him. פח ROME FLOODED. 133 801. And in the eighth month, on the sixth of the month, the Lord caused it to rain upon Rome, and its environs, the portion of their cup*. And the windows of heaven were opened. And on the seventh day the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the waters of the flood were upon the earth. And the waters prevailed, and they increased much upon the earth; and the river Tiber came into the city in the middle of the night, in the night of the sabbath; and the city was in consternation. And the Tiber increased more and more, and overflowed in abundance; and houses filled with every thing good it cast to the ground. And the houses of the city were filled with mire and dirt; and the church of the Spaniards in the Piazza Navona‡ was almost cast down, and its walls were shaken, because HE was wroth. And the waters prevailed, so that all the marks were covered, whereunto the waters reached of old times, and they prevailed ten spans§ above; the like has not been from the day it was founded, until now. And they went in boats in the streets of the town. For the waters prevailed in some parts from the foundations of the houses unto the second story, so 134 INUNDATION AT ROME. פח they sold them which sat upon it provision. And there was a great cry* in Rome during that night, and on the next morning, whose like was not before when strangers seized its property; for this overthrow was much greater. And there died from the overflowing of the proud waters, about three thousand souls of men, and much cattle. And the number of the houses which the waters cast down were four hundred; and the wine, and the oil, and the wheat, and the flour, and the clothes which the waters overflowed, were countless. And on the tenth day of the month, which was the second day, about thirty houses were pulled down in the Via Giulia. And in the night of the eleventh day of the month, of the year one thousand five hundred and thirty, the palace of Eusebio was cast down, which he bought for ten thousand ducats; and there died Eusebio and about forty souls with him under its ruins in that night. Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to another generation; for what the great pestilence left, the sword of Bourbon devoured; and what the sword of Bourbon left, the famine devoured; and what was left of the famine, the proud waters devoured† : |