ing into the light of a
higher civilization. But, with all this intellectual progress, Italy was
sadly deficient in some qualities found among the hardier sons of the
north, and which seem indispensable to a national existence. She could
boast of her artists, her poets, her politicians; but of few real
patriots, few who rested their own hopes on the independence of their
country. The freedom of the old Italian republics had passed away. There
was scarcely one that had not surrendered its liberties to a master. The
principle of union for defence against foreign aggression was as little
understood as the principle of political liberty at home. The states
were jealous of one another. The cities were jealous of one another, and
were often torn by factions within themselves. Thus their individual
strength was alike ineffectual, whether for self-government or
self-defence. The gift of beauty which Italy possessed in so
extraordinary a degree only made her a more tempting prize to the
spoiler, whom she had not the strength or the courage to resist. The
Turkish corsair fell upon her coasts, plundered her maritime towns, and
swept off their inhabitants into slavery. The Europeans, scarcely less
barbarous, crossed the Alps, and, striking into the interior, fell upon
the towns and hamlets that lay sheltered among the hills and in the
quiet valleys, and converted them into heaps of ruins. Ill fares it with
the land which, in an age of violence, has given itself up to the study
of the graceful and the beautiful, to the neglect of those hardy virtues
which can alone secure a nation's independence.

From the smoking ruins of Campli, Guise led his troops against
Civitella, a town but a few miles distant. It was built round a conical
hill, the top of which was crowned by a fortress well lined with
artillery. It was an important place for the command of the frontier,
and the duke of Alva had thrown into it a garrison of twelve hundred men
under the direction of an experienced officer, the marquis of Santa
Fiore. The French general considered that the capture of this post, so
soon following the sack of Campli, would spread terror among the
Neapolitans, and encourage those of the Angevine faction to declare
openly in his favor.

As the place refused to surrender, he prepared to besiege it in form,
throwing up intrenchments, and only waiting for his heavy guns to begin
active hostilities. He impatiently expected their arrival for some days