ITALY.

CHAPTER I.

THE EMPEROR AND THE BARBARIANS.

Geography of Italy (1)—Italy in the absence of the Emperor (2)— governed by his representatives (2, 3)—re-united to the Empire (4)— the Lombards (5)—conquer Italy (6)—and found a kingdom (7)— Rome deserted by the Emperor (8)—defended by the Pope (8)—the Franks called in (9)—Charles the Great crowned Emperor; revival of the Empire of the West; its division into kingdoms (10)—the Saracens (11)—revival of the Greek power in South Italy; decay and end of the Carolingian Empire (12).

1. Physical Geography.—Italy is a long narrow peninsula, with a vast sea-board, and we find accordingly that the southern parts, and the island of Sicily, have been much influenced by the commerce and wars of the Mediterranean. It would seem to be quite shut out from any interference by land by the great northern boundary of mountains; but unhappily this has often been overpassed, and no country has suffered more from foreign invasion. The Alps, which completely close in Italy on the north, slope rapidly down to the large and fertile plain of Lombardy. They are joined on the south-east by the Apennines, which run right through the peninsula. They first pass along the coast and shelter the Riviere (shores) of the Gulf of Genoa from the north wind;

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they then take a wider sweep, and towards the south divide into two ranges, one passing down each of the two smaller southern peninsulas. Their forms are round and wavy, unlike the sharp needle-like rocks of the Alps, and they are mostly covered with vegetation. They are of considerable height, so that the land to the south-east of them has a second bulwark against the northern nations. There are two great volcanic districts in Sicily and South Italy connected by the Lipari Islands; that in Italy may be traced nearly as far north as Parma and Modena. The chief rivers on the east of the Apennines are the Po, with its numerous tributaries, which rises at the meeting of the Alps with the Apennines, and the Adige, which rises in the Tyrol. These two drain the great northern plain. The Po flows swiftly, and

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has made great deposits of earth. the smaller rivers to the north and south of it, so that the coast-line has become much changed, and Ravenna and Ancona, once flourishing seaports, are now inland. The most remarkable effect of these deposits is the Lido, or long strip of land which encloses the Lagoons or salt-water lakes of Venice. On the west of the Apennines there are no rivers of any size save the Arno; for the Tiber is now a very small stream. The climate of Italy is warm and delicious, and the sky is clear and deep blue. The people are thus able to discuss matters out of doors, and this power in the days of freedom helped to give every man an interest and part in the government of his city or state. The soil is fruitful, especially in the well-watered northern district; and in the volcanic district of the south and in Sicily grow the vine, the date, and the aloe. Parts of Italy, especially round Rome and the Tuscan Maremma (sea-coast), are unhealthy, but this is to a great extent the result of war, bad government, and neglect. The Italians belong to the same branch of the Aryan family as the Greeks, and were welded into one people by the power

of Rome. Sicily and South Italy were colonized by Greeks, and the people generally spoke Greek as late as the twelfth century: then they gradually adopted the speech of the rest of Italy. This was of course a sort of Latin, though very different from the speech of Cicero, but the difference was not recognized for a long time, because the Italians wrote in good Latin, while they talked corrupt Latin or Romance. The Italians of the North are a brave and noble people, with great talents for poetry and the arts, with warm affections, quick perception, and lively imagination; but they lack, to some extent, depth of mind and fixity of purpose. These defects, as well as that of indolence, and a want of sufficient regard for truth, especially belong to the Italians of the South, who have been longest under absolute rulers. Many evil things in the Italian character are the results of foreign slavery, and will doubtless to a great extent disappear now that the people are again free.

2. Zeno sole Emperor, 476.-The history of the Italian nation begins with the invasion of the Lombards. As long as the Emperor, or some one sent directly from him, remained in Italy, the greatness of the Imperial power would have prevented the rise of an independent national life. The barbarian invaders of Italy tore her away from the Empire, but in doing so they made her people into a separate nation; and when the Cæsar was again acknowledged by them, he had less real power in Italy than in any other part of his dominions. The tie was not broken at once; Italy became first used to the Emperor's absence, before she saw his rule shaken off. In 476 Romulus Augustulus, the Emperor reigning over Old Rome, was deposed, and the Senate voted that there should be only one Emperor; so Zeno, the Emperor reigning in New Rome or Constantinople, was made lord of the whole Empire without any rival in the West. When this happened, the chief power in Italy was