 Chapter 29, Part 1 of the Betrothed. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Reading done by Jules Harlec of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni. Chapter 29, Part 1. And here we find that persons of our acquaintance were sharers in the widespread alarm. One who saw not Don Abondidio, the day that the news were suddenly spread of the descent of the army of its near approach and destructive proceedings, knows very little of what embarrassment and consternation really are. They are coming. They are thirty. There are forty. There are fifty thousand. They are devils, heretics, antichrists. They've sacked Cortenova. They've set fire to Primaluna. They've devastated Introbio, Pasturo, Parecio. They've been seen at Balabio. They'll be here tomorrow. Such were the reports that passed from mouth to mouth, some hurrying to and fro, others standing in little parties, together with tumultuous consultations, hesitation whether to fly or remain, the women assembling in groups and all utterly at a loss of what to do. Don Abondidio, who had resolved before anyone else and more than anyone else to fly by any possible mode of flight and to any conceivable place of retreat, discovered insuperable obstacles and fearful dangers. What shall I do? exclaimed he. Where shall I go? The mountains, letting alone the difficulty of getting there, were not secure. It was well known that the German foot soldiers climbed them like cats, where they had the least indication or hope of finding booty. The lake was wide. There was a very high wind. Besides, the greater part of the boatmen, fearing they might be compelled to convey soldiers or baggage, had retreated with their boats to the opposite side. The few that had remained were gone off, overladen with people, and, distressed by their own weight and violence of the storm, were considered in greater peril every moment. It was impossible to find a vehicle, horse, or conveyance of any kind to carry him away from the road the army had to traverse, and on foot Don Abondidio could not manage any great distance, and feared being overtaken by the way. The confines of the Bergamaskan territory were not so flurry far off, but that his limbs could have borne him further at a stretch. But a report had been already spread that a squadron of Cap Pelletti had been dispatched from Bergamo in haste, who were occupying the borders to keep the German troops in order, and those were neither more nor less devils incarnate than these, and on their part did the worst they could. The poor man ran through the house with eyes starting from his head, and half out of his senses. He kept following Perpetua to concert some plan with her. But Perpetua, busyed in collecting the most valuable household goods, and hiding them under the floor, or in any other out-of-the-way place, pushed by Hurley, eager and preoccupied with her hands, or arms full, and replied, I shall have done directly putting these things away safely, and then will do what others do. Don Abondidio would have detained her and discussed with her the different courses to be adopted, but she, what with her business and her hurry, and the fear which she too felt within, and the vexation which that of her master excited, was in this juncture less tractable than she had ever been before. Others do the best they can, and so will we. I beg your pardon, but you are good for nothing but to hinder one. Do you think that others haven't skins to save too? That the soldiers are only coming to fight with you? You might even lend a hand at such a time instead of coming crying and bothering at one's feet. With these and similar answers, she at length got rid of him, having already determined, when this bustling operation was finished as well as might be, to take him by the arm like a child, and to drag him along to one of the mountains. Left thus alone, he retreated to the window, looked, listened, or, seeing someone passing, cried out in a half-crying and half-reproachful tone. Do your poor curate this kindness to seek some horse, some mule, some ass for him? Is it possible that nobody will help me? Oh, what people, wait for me, at least, that I may go with you. Wait till you are fifteen or twenty to take me with you, that I may not be quite forsaken. Will you leave me in the hand of dogs? Don't you know they are nearly all Lutherans, who think it a meritorious deed to murder a priest? Will you leave me here to be martyred? Oh, what a set! Oh, what a set! But to whom did he address these words? To men who were passing along, bending under the weight of their humble furniture, and their thoughts turned towards that which they were leaving at home exposed to plunder. One driving before him a young cow, another dragging after him his children, also laden as heavily as they could bear, while his wife carried in her arms, such as were unable to walk. Some went on their way without replying or looking up, others said, E, sir, you two must do as you can. Happy you, who have no family, to think for. You must help yourself and do the best you can. Oh, poor me, explained Don Abundidio. Oh, what people, what hard hearts. There's no charity. Everybody thinks of himself, but nobody will think for me. And he set off again in search of Perpetua. Oh, I just wanted you, said she. Your money. What shall we do? Give it to me, and I'll go and bury it in the garden here by the house, together with the silver and the knives and forks. But, but, but give it here. Keep a few pens for whatever may happen, and then leave it to me. Don Abundidio obeyed. Went to his trunk, took out his little treasure, and handed it to Perpetua, who said, I'm going to bury it in the garden at the foot of the fig tree, and went out. Soon afterwards she reappeared with a packet in her hand, containing some provision for the appetite and a small empty basket in the bottom of which she hastily placed a little linen for herself and her master, saying, at the same time, you carry the Rivieri at least. But where are we going? Where are all the rest going? First of all, we'll go into the street, and there we shall see and hear what's best to be done. At this moment Agnes entered, also carrying a basket slung over her shoulder, and with an air of one who comes to make an important proposal, Agnes herself equally resolved not to await guests of this sort, alone as she was in the house and with little of the money of the unnamed still left, had been hesitating for some time about a place of retreat. The remainder of those scooty, which in the months of famine had been of such use to her, was now the principal cause of her anxiety and irresolution. From having heard how, in the already invaded countries, those who had any money had found themselves in a worse condition than anybody else, exposed alike to the violence of the strangers and the treachery of their fellow countrymen. True it was that she had confided to no one save Don Abondidio, the wealth that had fallen, so to say, into her lap. To him she had applied, from time to time, to change her a scudo into silver, always leaving him something to give to someone who was poorer than herself. But hidden riches, particularly with one who is not accustomed to handle much, keep the possessor in continual suspicion of the suspicion of others. While, however, she was going about hiding here and there as best she could, what she could not manage to take with her and thinking about the scooty which she kept sewn up in her stays, she remembered that, together with them, the unnamed had sent her the most ample proffers of service. She remembered what she had heard related about his castle, being in so secure a situation, where nothing could reach it against its owner's will, but birds, and she resolved to go and seek an asylum there. Wondering how she was to make herself known to the Signor, Don Abondidio quickly occurred to her mind, who, after the conversation we have related with the Archbishop, had always shown her particular marks of kindness, the more heartily as he could do so without committing himself to anyone, and the two young people being far enough off, the probability was also distant that a request would be made to him which would have put this kindness to a very dangerous test. Thinking that in such confusion the poor man would be still more perplexed and dismayed than herself, and that this course might appear desirable also to him, she came to make the proposal, finding him with perpetua, she suggested it to them both together. What say you to it, perpetua, asked Don Abondidio. I say that it is an inspiration from heaven, and that we mustn't lose time but set off at once on our journey, and then, and then, and then, when we get there we shall find ourselves very well satisfied. It is well known now that the Signor desires nothing more than to benefit his fellow creatures, and I have no doubt he'll be glad to receive us. There on the borders, and as it were in the air, the soldiers certainly won't come, and then, and then we shall find something to eat there, for up in the mountains when this little store is gone, and so saying she placed it in the basket upon the linen, we should find ourselves very badly off. He's converted, he's really converted, isn't he? Why should we doubt it any longer, after all that's known about him, nay, after what you yourself have seen, and supposing we should be going to put ourselves in prison? What prison, I declare with all your silly objections? I beg your pardon, you'd never come to any conclusion. Well done, Agnes, it was certainly a capital thought of yours, and setting the basket on a table, she passed her arms through the straps, and lifted it upon her back. Couldn't we find some man, said Don Abondidio, who would come with us as a guard to his curate? If we should meet any Ruffians, for there are plenty of them, roving about, what help could you two give me? Another plan to waste time, exclaimed Perpetua, to go now and look for a man, when everybody has to mind himself. Up with you, go and get your breviary, and hat, and let us set off. Don Abondidio obeyed, and soon returned with the breviary under his arm, his hat on his head, and his staff in his hand, and the three companions went out by a little door, which led into the churchyard. Perpetua locked it after her, rather not to neglect an accustomed form, than from any faith she placed in bolts and door posts, and put the key in her pocket. Don Abondidio cast a glance at the church in passing, and muttered between his teeth. It's the people's business to take care of it, for it is they who use it. If they've the least love for their church, they'll see to it. If they've not, why? It's their own lookout. They took the road through the fields, each silently pursuing his way, absorbed in thought on his own particular circumstances, and looking rather narrowly around. More particularly, Don Abondidio, who was in continual apprehension of the apparition of some suspicious figure, or something not to be trusted. However they encountered no one. All the people were either in their houses to guard them, to prepare bundles, and to put away goods, or on the roads which led directly to the mountain heights. After heaving a few deep sighs, and then giving vent to his vexation in an interjection or two, Don Abondidio began to grumble more connectedly. He quarreled with the Duke of Nevers, who might have been enjoying himself in France and playing the Prince there, yet was determined to be Duke of Mantua, in spite of the world, with the Emperor, who ought to have sense for the follies of others, to let matters take their own course, and not stand so much upon punctilio. For, after all, he would always be Emperor, whether tithius or simpronius were Duke of Mantua, and, above all, with the Governor whose business it was to do everything he could to avert these scourges of the country, while in fact he was the very person to invite them, all from the pleasure he took in making war. I wish, said he, that these gentry were here to see and try how pleasant it is. They will have a fine account to render. But, in the meanwhile, we have to bear it, who have no blame in the matter. Do let these people alone, for they'll never come to help us, said Perpetua. This is some of your usual prading. I beg your pardon, which just comes to nothing. What rather gives me uneasiness? What's the matter? Perpetua, who had been leisurely going over in her mind during their walk, her hasty packing and slowing away, now began her lamentations at having forgotten such a thing, and badly concealed such another. Here she had left traces which might serve as a clue to the robbers there. Well done, cried Don Abondidio, gradually sufficiently relieved from fear for his life to allow of anxiety for his worldly goods and chattels. Well done. Did you really do so? Where was your head? What exclaimed Perpetua, coming to an abrupt pause for a moment and resting her hands on her sides, as well as the basket she carry would allow? What do you begin now to scold me in this way, when it was you who almost turned my brain, instead of helping and encouraging me? I believe I've taken more care of the things of the house than of my own. I'd not a creature to lend me a hand. I've been obliged to play the parts of both Martha and Magdalene. If anything goes wrong, I've nothing to say. I've done more than my duty now. Agnes interrupted these disputes by beginning, in her turn to talk about her own grievances. She lamented not so much the trouble and damage as finding all her hopes of soon meeting her Lucia dashed to the ground. For, the reader may remember, this was the very autumn on which they had so long calculated. It was not at all likely that Donna Presidi would come to reside in her country house in that neighborhood. Under such circumstances, on the contrary, she would more probably have left it, had she happened to be there, as all the other residents in the country were doing. The sight of the different places they passed brought these thoughts to Agnes's mind more vividly, and increased the ardor of her desires. Leaving the footpath through the fields, they had taken the public road, the very same along which Agnes had come when bringing home her daughter for so short a time, after having stayed with her at the tailors. The village was already in sight. We will just say, how do you do to these good people, said Agnes. Yes, and rest there a little, for I begin to have had enough of this basket, and to get a mouthful to eat too, said Perpetua. On condition we don't lose time, for we are not journeying for our amusement, concluded Don Abondidio. They were received with open arms and welcomed with much pleasure. It reminded them of a former deed of benevolence. Do good to as many as you can, here remarks our author, and you will, the more frequently happen to meet with continences which bring you pleasure. Agnes burst into a flood of tears unembracing the good woman, which was a great relief to her, and could only reply with sobs to the questions which she and her husband put about Lucia. She is better off than we are, said Don Abondidio. She's at Milan, out of all danger, and far away from these diabolical dangers. Are this in your curate and his companion, making their escape then? asked the tailor. Certainly replied both master and servant in one breath. Oh, how I pity you both. We are on our way, said Don Abondidio, to the castle of. That's a very good thought. You'll be as safe there as in paradise. And you've no fear here, said Don Abondidio. I tell you, senor curate, they won't have to come here to halt, or as you know the saying is, in polite language, in osvatazioni. We are too much out of their grode, thank heaven. At the worst there'll only be a little party of foragers, which God forbid, but in any case there's plenty of time. We shall first hear the intelligence from the other unfortunate towns, where they go to take up their quarters. It was determined to stop here and take a little rest, and it was just the dinner hour. My friends, said the tailor, will do me the favor of sharing my poor table. At any rate you will have a hearty welcome. Perpetua said she had brought some refreshments with them, and after exchanging a few complimentary speeches, they agreed to put all together and dine in company. End of Chapter 29 Part 1 The children gathered with great glee round their old friend Agnesi. Very soon, however, the tailor desired, one of his little girls, the same that had carried that gift of charity to the Winomiria. Who knows if any reader remembers it. To go and shell a few early chestnuts, which were deposited in one corner, and then put them to roast. And you, he said to a little boy, go into the garden and shake the peach tree till some of the fruit falls, and bring them all here. Go. And you, said he to another, go climb the fig tree and gather a few of the ripest figs. You know that business too well already. He himself went to tap a little barrel of wine, his wife to fetch a clean tablecloth. Perpetua took out the provisions. The table was spread. A napkin and earthenware plate were placed at the most honorable seat for Don Abondio, with a knife and fork which Perpetua had in the basket. The dinner was dished, and the parties seated themselves at the table, and partook of the ripest, if not with great merriment, at least with much more than any of the guests had anticipated enjoying that day. What say you, senior curie, to a turnout of this sort? said the tailor. I could fancy I was reading the history of the Moors in France. What say I? To think that even this trouble should fall to my lot. Well, you've chosen a good asylum, resumed the host. People would be puzzled to get up there by force. And you'll find company there. It's already reported that many have retreated thither, and many more are daily arriving. I would feign hope, said Don Abondio, that we shall be well received. I know the spray, senior, and when I once had the pleasure of being in his company, he was so exceedingly polite. And he sent word to me, said Ignacy, by his most illustrious Lordship, that if I ever wanted anything, I had only to go to him. A great and wonderful conversion, resumed Don Abondio. And does he really continue to persevere? Oh, yes, said the tailor, and he began to speak at some length upon the holy life of the unnamed, and how, from being a scourge to the country, he had become its example and benefactor. And all those people he kept under him, that household, rejoined Don Abondio, who had more than once heard something about them, but had never been sufficiently assured of the truth. They are most of them dismissed, replied the tailor, and they who remain have altered their habits in a wonderful way. In short, this castle has become like the Thabade. You, senior, understand these things. He then began to recall with Ignacy the visit of the cardinal. A great man, said he, a great man, pity that he left us so hastily, for I did not and could not do him any honour. How often I wish I could speak to him again, a little more at my ease. Having left the table, he made them observe an engraved likeness of the cardinal, which he kept hung up on one of the doorposts, in veneration for the person, and also that he might be able to say to any visitor that the portrait did not resemble him. For he himself had had an opportunity of studying the cardinal close by and at his leisure in that very room. Did they mean this thing here for him? said Ignacy. It's like him in dress, but... It doesn't resemble him, does it? said the tailor. I always say so too. But it bears his name, if nothing more. It serves as a remembrance. Don Abondio was in a great hurry to be going. The tailor undertook to find a conveyance to carry them to the foot of the ascent, and having gone in search of one, shortly returned to say that it was coming. Then, turning to Don Abondio, he added, Senor Curie, if you should ever like to take a book with you up there to pass away the time, I shall be glad to serve you in my poor way. For I sometimes amuse myself a little with reading. They're not things to suit you, being all in the vulgar tongue, but perhaps... Thank you, thank you! replied Don Abondio. Under present circumstances, one has hardly brains enough to attend to what we are bid to read. While offering and refusing thanks, and exchanging condolence, good wishes, invitations, and promises to make another stay there on their return, the cart arrived at the front door. Putting in their baskets, the travelling party mounted after them and undertook with rather more ease and tranquility of mind the second half of their journey. The tailor had related the truth to Don Abondio about the unnamed. From the day on which we left him, he had steadily persevered in the course he had proposed to himself, atoning for wrongs, seeking peace, relieving the poor, and performing every good work for which an opportunity presented itself. The courage he had formerly manifested in offense and defense now showed itself in abstaining from both one and the other. He had laid down all his weapons and always walked alone, willing to encounter the possible consequence of the many deeds of violence he had committed, and persuaded that it would be the commission of an additional one to employ force in defense of a life which owed so much to so many creditors, and persuaded too that every evil which might be done to him would be an offense offered to God, but with respect to himself a just retribution, and that he, above all, had no right to constitute himself a punisher of such offenses. However, he had continued not less in violet than when he had kept in readiness for his security, so many armed hands, and his own. The remembrance of his former ferocity, and the sight of his present meekness, one of which it might have been expected would have left so many longings for revenge, while the other rendered that revenge so easy, conspired instead to procure and maintain for him an admiration which was the principal guarantee for his safety. He was that very man who no one could humble, and who had now humbled himself. Every feeling of rancor, therefore, formerly irritated by his contemptuous behavior, and by the fears of others, vanished before this new humility. They whom he had offended had now obtained beyond all expectation and without danger a satisfaction which they could not have promised themselves from the most complete revenge, the satisfaction of seeing such a man mourning over the wrongs he had committed, and participating, so to say, in their indignation. More than one whose bitterest and greatest sorrow had been for many years that he saw no probability of ever finding himself, in any instance, stronger than this powerful oppressor, that he might revenge himself for some great injury, meeting him afterwards alone, unarmed, and with the air of one who would offer no resistance, felt only an impulse to salute him with demonstrations of respect. In his voluntary abasement, his countenance and behavior had acquired, without his being aware of it, something more lofty and noble, because there was in them, more clearly than ever, the absence of all fear. The most violent and pertinacious hatred felt, as it were, restrained and held in all by the public veneration, for so penitent and beneficent a man. This was carried to such a length that he often found it difficult to avoid the public expression of it which was addressed to him, and was obliged to be careful that he did not invent too plainly in his looks and actions the inward compunction he felt, nor abuse himself too much, lest he should be too much exalted. He had selected the lowest place in church, and woe to anyone who should have attempted to preoccupy it. It would have been, as it were, usurping a post of honor. To have offended him, or even to have treated him disrespectfully, would have appeared not so much a criminal or cowardly as a sacrilegious act, and even they who would scarcely have been restrained by this feeling on ordinary occasions, participated in it, more or less. These and other reasons sheltered him also from the more remote animate versions of public authority, and procured for him, even in this quarter, the security to which he himself had never given a thought. His rank and family, which had at all times been some protection to him, availed him more than ever, now the personal recommendations, the renown of his conversion, was added to his already illustrious, and famous, or rather infamous name. Magistrates and nobles publicly rejoiced with the people at the change, and it would have appeared very incongruous to come forward irritated against a man who was the subject of so many congratulations. Besides, a government occupied with a protracted and often unprosperous war against active and often renewed rebellions would have been very well satisfied to be freed from the most indomitable and irksome without going in search of another. The more so as this conversion produced reparations which the authorities were not accustomed to obtain nor even to demand. To molesta saint seemed no very good means to ward off the reproach of having never been able to repress a villain, and the example they would have made of him would have had no other effect than to dissuade others like him from following his example. Probably, too, the share that Cardinal Federigo had had in his conversion and the association of his name with that of the convent served the latter as a sacred shield. And in the state of things and ideas of those times, in the singular relations between the ecclesiastical authority and the civil power which so frequently contended with each other without at all aiming at mutual destruction, nay, were always mingling expressions of acknowledgement and protestations of deference with hostilities, and which not unfrequently cooperated toward a common end without ever making peace. In such a state of things it might also seem in a manner that the reconciliation of the first carried along with it, if not the absolution, at least the forgetfulness of the second, when the former alone had been employed to produce an effect equally desired by both. Thus, that very individual, who had he fallen from his eminence would have excited emulation among small angry and trampling him underfoot, now having spontaneously humbled himself to the dust, was reverenced by many and spared by all. Chewitt is that there were indeed many to whom this much talked of change brought anything but satisfaction. Many hired perpetrators of crime, many other associates in guilt who thereby lost a great support on which they had been accustomed to depend, and who beheld the threads of a deeply woven plot suddenly snapped, at the moment perhaps when they were expecting the intelligence of its completion. But we have already seen what various sentiments were awakened by the announcement of this conversion in the Ruffians, who were with their master at the time, and heard it from his own lips, astonishment, grief, depression, vexation, a little indeed of everything except contempt and hatred. The same was felt by the others whom he kept dispersed at different posts, and the same by his accomplices of higher rank when they first learned of the terrible tidings and by all for the same reasons. Much hatred, however, as we find it in the passages elsewhere cited by Ripamonte, fell to the share of the cardinal Federigo. They regarded him as one who had intruded like an enemy into their affairs. The unnamed would see to the salvation of his own soul, and nobody had any right to complain of what he did. From time to time the greater part of the Ruffians and his household, unable to accommodate themselves to the new discipline and seeing no probability that it would ever change, gradually took their departure. Some went in search of other masters and found employment, perchance, among the old friends of the patron they had left. Others had listed in the Tarzo of Spain or Mantua, and any other belligerent power. Some infested the highways to make war on a smaller scale and on their own account. And others again contented themselves with going about as beggars at liberty. The same courses were pursued by the rest who had acted under his orders in different countries. Of those who had contrived to assimilate themselves to his new mode of life or had embraced it of their own free will, the greater number, natives of the valley, returned to the fields or to the trades which they had learnt in their early years and had afterwards abandoned for a life of villainy. The strangers remained in the castle as domestic servants, and both natives and strangers, as if blessed at the same time with their master, lived contentedly as he did, neither giving nor receiving injuries, unarmed and respected. But when, on the descent of the German troops, several fugitives from the threatened or invaded dominions arrived at his castle to request an asylum, he rejoiced that the weak and oppressed sought refuge within his walls, which had so long been regarded by them at a distance as an enormous scarecrow. Received these exiles with expressions of gratitude rather than courtesy, he caused it to be proclaimed that his house would be open to any who should choose to take refuge there, and soon proposed to put not only his castle, but the valley itself into a state of defense, if ever any of the German or bergamaskan troops should attempt to come thither for plunder. He assembled the servants who still remained with him, like the verses of Tordy, Few and Valiant, addressed them on the happy opportunity that God was giving both to them and himself of employing themselves for once in aid of their fellow creatures, whom they had so often oppressed and terrified. And with that ancient tone of command, which expressed a certainty of being obeyed, announced to them, in general, what he wished them to do, and above all impressed upon them the necessity of keeping a restraint over themselves, that they who took refuge there might see in them only friends and protectors. He then had brought down from one of the garrets all the firearms and other warlike weapons which had been for some time deposited there, and distributed them among his household, ordered that all the peasants and tenants of the valley who were willing to do so should come with arms to the castle, provided those who had none with a sufficient supply, selected some to act as officers, and placed others under their command, assigned to each his post at the entrance and in various parts of the valley, on the ascent, and at the gates of the castle, and established hours and methods of relieving the guards, as in a camp, whereas he had been accustomed to do in that very place during his life of rebellion. In one corner of this garret, divided from the rest, were the arms which he alone had borne, his famous catabine, muskets, swords, pistols, huge knives, and poniers, either lying on the ground or set up against the wall. None of the servants laid a finger on them, but they determined to ask the senior which he wished to be brought to him. Not one of them, replied he. And whether from a vow or intentional design, he remained the whole time unarmed at the head of the species of garrison. He employed at the same time other men and women of his household or dependents in preparing accommodation in the castle for as many persons as possible, in erecting bedsteads and arranging straw beds, mattresses, and sacs stuffed with straw in the apartments which were now converted into dormitories. He also gave orders that large stores of provisions should be brought in for the maintenance of the guests whom God should send him, and who thronged in in daily increasing numbers. He in the meanwhile was never stationary, in and out of the castle, up and down the ascent, round about through the valley, to establish, to fortify, to visit the different posts, to see and be seen, to put and to keep all in order by his directions, oversight, and presence. Indoors, and by the way, he gave hardy welcomes to all the newcomers whom he happened to meet, and all who had either seen this wonderful person before, or now beheld him for the first time, gazed at him in rapture, forgetting for a moment the misfortunes and alarm which had driven them thither, and turning to look at him, when having severed himself from them, he again pursued his way. End Chapter 29 Part 2 Chapter 30 Part 1 of The Betrothed This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. The Betrothed by Alessandro Mazzoni Chapter 30 Part 1 Though the greatest concourse was not from the quarter by which are three fugitives approach the valley, but rather at the opposite entrance. Yet in this second half of their journey, they began to meet with fellow travellers, companions in misfortune, who from crossroads or bypass had issued or were issuing into the main road. In circumstances like these, all who happened to meet each other are acquaintances. Every time that the cart overtook a pedestrian traveller, there was an exchanging of questions and replies. Some had made their escape like our friends, without awaiting the arrival of the soldiers. Some had heard the clanging of arms and kettle drums, while others had actually beheld them and painted them as the terror-stricken usually paint the objects of their terror. We are fortunate, however, said the two women. Let us thank heaven for it. Our goods must go, but at least we are out of the way. But Don Abondio could not find so much to rejoice at. Even this concourse, and still more the far greater one which he'd heard was pouring in from the opposite direction, began to throw a gloom over his mind. Oh, what a state of things, muttered he to the women, at a moment when there was nobody at hand. Oh, what a state of things! Don't you see that to collect so many people into one place is just the same thing as to draw all the soldiers here by force? Everybody is hiding. Everybody carries off his things. Nothing's left in the houses, so they'll think there must be some treasures up here. They'll surely come. Oh, poor me! What have I embarked in? What should they have to come here for? said Perpetua. They are obliged to go straight on their way, and besides I've always heard say that it's better to be a large party when there's any danger. A large party? A large party! replied Don Abondio, foolish woman. Don't you know that a single German soldier could devour a hundred of such as they? And then if they should take into their heads to play any pranks, it would be a fine thing, wouldn't it, to find ourselves in the midst of a battle? Oh, poor me! It would have been less dangerous to have gone to the mountains. Why should everybody choose to go to one place? Tire some folks, muttered he in a still lower voice. All here, still coming, coming, coming, one after the other like sheep that have no sense. In this way, said Agnes. They might say the same of us. Hush, hush! said Don Abondio. All this took does no good. What's done is done. We are here, and now we must stay here. It will be as Providence wills. Heaven's send it may be good. But his horror was greatly increased when, at the entrance of the valley, he saw a large body of armed men, some at the door of a house, and others quartered in the lower rooms. He cast a side glance at them. They were not the same faces which it had been his lot to see on his former melancholy entrance. Or if they were any of the same, they were strangely altered. But with all this, it is impossible to say what uneasiness this sight gave him. Oh, poor me, thought he. See now if they won't play pranks. It isn't likely it could be otherwise. I ought to have expected it from a man of this kind. But what will he want to do? Will he make war? Will he play the king, eh? Oh, poor me. In circumstances when one would wish to bury one's self underground, and this man seeks every way of making himself known and attracting attention, it seems as he wished to invite them. You see now, Signor Master, said Perpetua, addressing him. These are brave people here who will know how to defend us. Let the soldiers come now. These people are not like our clowns, who are good for nothing, but to drag their legs after them. Hold your tongue, said Donobondio, in a low and angry tone. Hold your tongue. You don't know what you are talking about. Pray heaven that the soldiers may make haste, or that they may never come to know what is doing here, that the place is being fortified like a fortress. Don't you know it's the soldiers' business to take fortresses? They wish nothing better. To take a place by storm is to them like going to a wedding, because all they find they take to themselves, and the inhabitants they put to the edge of the sword. Oh, poor me! Well, I'll surely see if there's no way of putting oneself in safety on some of these peaks. They won't reach me there in a battle. Oh, they won't reach me there. If you're afraid, too, of being defended and helped, Perpetua was again beginning. But Donobondio sharply interrupted her. Though still in a suppressed tone, hold your tongue, and take good care you don't report what we've said. Well unto us, if you do. Remember that we must always put on a pleasant countenance here, and approve all we see. At Malanet they found another watch of armed men, to whom Donobondio submissively took off his hat, saying, in the meanwhile, in his heart, Alas! Alas! I've certainly come to an encampment. Here the cart stopped, they dismounted. Donobondio hastily paid and dismissed the driver, and with his two companions silently mounted the steep. The sight of those places recalled to his imagination and mingled with his present troubles, the remembrance of those which he had suffered here once before, and Agnes, who had never seen these scenes, and who had drawn to herself an imaginary picture, which presented itself to her mind whenever she thought of the circumstances that had occurred here, on seeing them now as they were in reality, experienced a new and more vivid feeling of those mournful recollections. Us in your curate, exclaimed she, to think that my poor Lucia has passed along this road. Will you hold your tongue, you absurd woman? cried Donobondio in her ear. Are those things to be bringing up here? Don't you know we are in his place? It was well for us nobody heard you then, but if you talk in this way, oh, said Agnes, now that he's a saint, well, be quiet, replied Donobondio again in her ear. Do you think one may say without caution, even to saints, all that passes through one's mind, think rather of thanking him for his goodness to you? Oh, I've already thought of that. Do you think I don't know even a little civility? Civility is not to say things that may be disagreeable to a person, particular to one who is not accustomed to hear them, and understand well, both of you, that this is not a place to go chattering about and saying whatever may happen to come into your heads. It is a great senior's house, you know that already. See what a household there is all around. People of all sorts come here, so be prudent if you can. Weigh your words and above all, let there be few of them, and only when there is a necessity. One can't get wrong when one is silent. You do far worse with your—perpetua began—but HUSH! cried Donobondio in a suppressed voice, at the same time hastily taking off his hat, and making a profound bow. For, on looking up, he had discovered the unnamed coming down to meet them. He, on his part, had noticed and recognised Donobondio, and was now hastening to welcome him. Signor Curet said he when he had reached him. I should have liked to offer you my house on a pleasanter occasion, but under any circumstances I am exceedingly glad to be able to be of some service to you. Trusting in your illustrious lordship's great kindness, replied Donobondio, I have ventured to come under these melancholy circumstances to intrude upon you, and as your illustrious lordship sees, I have also presumed to bring company with me. This is my housekeeper. She is welcome, said the unnamed. And this, continued Donobondio, is a woman to whom your lordship has already been very good. The mother of that, of that, of Lucia, said Agnes. Of Lucia, exclaimed the unnamed, turning with a look of shame towards Agnes. Been very good. I, immortal God, you are very good to me to come here. To me, to this house, you are most heartily welcome. You bring a blessing with you. Oh, sir, said Agnes, I come to give you trouble. I have too, continued she, going very close to his ear, to thank you. The unnamed interrupted these words by anxiously making inquiries about Lucia, and having heard the intelligence they had to give, he turned to accompany his new guest to the castle, and persisted in doing so in spite of their ceremonious opposition. Agnes cast a glance at the curate, which meant to say, you see now whether there's any need for you to interpose between us with your advice. Have they reached your parish? asked the unnamed, addressing Donobondio. No, senor, for I would not willingly await the arrival of these devils, replied he. Heaven knows if I should have been able to escape alive out of their hands, and come to trouble your illustrious lordship. Well, well, you may take courage, resumed the nobleman. For you are now safe enough. They'll not come up here, and if they should wish to make the trial, we're ready to receive them. We'll hope they won't come, said Donobondio. I hear, added he, pointing with his finger towards the mountains, which enclose the valley on the opposite side. I hear that another band of soldiers is wandering about in that quarter too, but—but—true, replied the unnamed. But you need have no fear, we are ready for them also. Between two fires, in the meanwhile, said Donobondio to himself, exactly between two fires, where have I suffered myself to be drawn, and by two silly women, and this man seems actually in his element in it all. Oh, what people there are in the world! On entering the castle, the Signor had Agnese and Perpetua conducted, to an apartment in the quarter assigned to the women, which occupied three of the four sides of the inner court, in the back part of the building, and was situated on a jutting and isolated rock, overhanging a precipice. The men were lodged in the sides of the other court, to the right and left, and in that which looked on the esplanade. The central block which separated the two quadrangles, and afforded a passage from one to the other, through a wide archway opposite the principal gate, was partly occupied with provisions, and partly served as a depository for any little property, the refugees might wish to secure in this retreat. In the quarters appropriated to the men, was a small apartment destined for the use of any clergy, who might happen to take refuge there. Hither the unnamed himself conducted Donobondio, who was the first to take possession of it. Three or four and twenty days, our fugitives remained at the castle, in a state of continual bustle, forming a large company, which at first received constant additions, but without any incidents of importance. Perhaps, however, not a single day passed without their resorting to arms. Lance Canets were coming in this direction, Capoletti had been seen in that. Every time this intelligence was brought, the unnamed sent men to Reconoita, and, if there were any necessity, took with him some whom he kept in readiness for the purpose, and accompanied them beyond the valley, in the direction of the indicated danger. And it was a singular thing to behold, a band of brigands, armed capapai, and conducted like soldiers by one who was himself unarmed. Generally, it proved to be only foragers and disbanded pillagers, who contrived to make off before they were taken by surprise. But once, when driving away some of these, to teach them not to come again into that neighbourhood, the unnamed received intelligence, that an adjoining village was invaded and given up to plunder. They were soldiers of various corps, who, having loitered behind to hunt for booty, had formed themselves into a band, and made a sudden eruption into the lands surrounding that, where the army had taken up its quarters, disboiling the inhabitants, and even levying contributions from them. The unnamed made a brief harangue to his followers, and bid them march forward to the invaded village. They arrived unexpectedly. The plunderers, who had thought of nothing but taking the spoil, abandoned their prey in the midst, on seeing many in arms and ready for battle, coming down upon them, and hastily took to flight, without waiting for one another, in the direction whence they had come. He pursued them a little distance, then making a halt, waited a while to see if any fresh objects presented itself, and at length returned homewards. It is impossible to describe the shouts of applause and benediction, which accompanied the troop of Deliverers and its leader, on passing through the rescued village. Among the multitude of refugees assembled in the castle, strangers to each other and differing in rank, habit, sex and age, no disturbance of any moment occurred. The unnamed had placed guards in various posts, all of whom endeavoured to ward off any unpleasantness, with the care usually exhibited, by those who are held accountable for any misdemeanours. He had also requested the clergy, and others of most authority among those to whom he afforded shelter, to walk round the place and keep a watch, and as often as he could, he himself went about, to show himself in every direction, while, even in his absence, the remembrance of who was in the house, served as a restraint to those who needed it. Besides, they were all people that had fled from danger, and hence generally inclined to peace, while the thoughts of their homes and property, and in some cases of relatives and friends, whom they had left exposed to danger, and the tidings they heard from without, depressed their spirits, and thus maintained and constantly increased this disposition. End of chapter 30 part 1 Chapter 30 part 2 of The Betrothed This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. The Betrothed by Alessandro Mazzoni Chapter 30 part 2 There were, however, some unburdened spirits, some men of firmer mould and stronger courage, who tried to pass these days merrily. They had abandoned their homes, because they were not strong enough to defend them, but they saw no use in weeping and sighing over things that could not be helped, or in picturing to themselves and contemplating beforehand in imagination the havoc they would only too soon witness with their own eyes. Families acquainted with each other had left their homes at the same time, and had met with each other again in this retreat. New friendships were formed, and the multitude were divided into parties, according to their several habits and dispositions. They who had money in consideration went to dine down in the valley, where eating houses and inns had been hastily run for the occasion. In some, mouthfuls were interchanged with lamentations, or no subject but their misfortunes was allowed to be discussed. In others, misfortunes were never remembered, unless it were to say that they must not think about them. To those who either could not or would not, they're part of the expenses. Bread, soup and wine were distributed in the castle, besides other tables which were laid out daily for those whom the Signor had expressly invited to partake of them, and our acquaintances were among this number. Agnes and Perpetua, not to eat the bread of idleness, had begged to be employed in the services which, in so large an establishment, must have been required, and in these occupations they spent a great part of the day. While the rest was passed in chatting with some friends whose acquaintance they had made, or with the unfortunate Don Abondio, this individual, though he had nothing to do, was nevertheless never afflicted with ennui. His fears kept him company. The direct dread of an assault had, I believe, subsided, or if it still remained, it was one which gave him the least uneasiness, because whenever he bestowed upon it the slightest thought he could not help seeing how unfounded it was. But the idea of the surrounding country inundated on both sides with brutal soldiers, the armour and armed men he had constantly before his eyes, the remembrance that he was in a castle, together with the thought of the many things that might happen any moment in such a situation, all contributed to keep him in indistinct general constant alarm, let alone the anxiety felt when he thought of his poor home. During the whole time he remained in this asylum, he never once went more than a stone throw from the building, not ever set foot on the descent. His sole walk was to go out upon the esplanade, and pace up and down, sometimes to one, sometimes to the other side of the castle, there to look down among the cliffs and precipices, in hopes of discovering some practicable passage, some kind of footpath by which he might go in search of a hiding place, in case of being very closely pressed. On meeting any of his companions in this asylum, he failed not to make a profound bow or respectful salutation, but he associated with very few. His most frequent conversations were with the two women, as we have related, and to them he poured out all his griefs, at the risk of being sometimes silenced by perpetuer, and completely put to shame, even by agnese. At table, however, where he sat but little, and talked still less, he heard the news of the terrible march which arrived daily at the castle, either reported from village to village, and from mouth to mouth, or brought there by someone who had at first determined to remain at home, and had after all made his escape without having been able to save anything, and probably also, after receiving considerable ill treatment, and every day brought with it some fresh tale of misfortune. Some, who were newsmongers by profession, diligently collected the different rumours, weighed all the various accounts, and then gave the substance of them to the others. They disputed which were the most destructive regiments, and whether infantry or cavalry were the worst. They reported as well as they could the names of some of the leaders, related some of their past enterprises, specified the places of halting, and the daily marches. That day such a regiment would spread over such a district. Tomorrow it would ravage such another, wearing the meanwhile, another had been playing the very devil, and worse. They chiefly, however, sought information, and kept count of the regiments, which from time to time, crossed the bridge of Lekko, because these might be considered as fairly gone, and really out of the territory. The cavalry of Wallenstein passed it, and the infantry of Morardus. The cavalry of Anzlalt, and the infantry under Brandenburgo, the troops of Monte Cuccolo, then those of Ferrari, then Follow-Ultringer, then Firstenburg, then Coloredo, after then came the Croatians, Torkato Conti, and this, that, and the other leader, and last of all, is Heaven's good time, come at length, Galasso. The flying squadron of Venetians made their final exit, and the whole country on either hand, was once more set at liberty. Those belonging to the invaded villages, which were first cleared of their ravages, had already begun to evacuate the castle, and every day, people continued to leave the place. As after an autumnal storm, the birds may be seen issuing on every side from the leafy branches of a great tree, where they had sought a shelter from its fury. Our three refugees were perhaps the last to take their departure, owing to Don Abondio's extreme reluctance to run the risk, if they return home immediately, of meeting some struggling soldiers, who might still be loitering in the rear of the army. It was in vain, Perpetua repeated and insisted, that the longer they delayed, the greater opportunities they afforded to the thieves of the neighbourhood to enter the house and finish the business. Whenever the safety of life was at stake, Don Abondio invariably gained the day, unless indeed, the imminence of the danger was such as to deprive him of the power of self-defense. On the day fixed for their departure, the unnamed had a carriage in readiness at Mellonott, in which he had already placed a full supply of clothes for Agnes. Drawing her little aside, he also forced her to accept a small store of scuddy, to compensate for the damages she would find at home. Although striking her breast, she kept repeating that she had still some of the first supply left. When you see your poor good Lucia, said he the last thing, I am already convinced she prays for me, because I have done her so much wrong. Tell her then that I thank her, and trust in God her prayers will return, also in equal blessings upon her own head. He then insisted upon accompanying his three guests to the carriage. The obsequious and extravagant acknowledgments of Don Abondio and the complimentary speeches of Perpetua will leave to the reader's imagination. They set off, made a short stay, according to agreement at the Taylor's Cottage, and there heard a hundred particulars of the march, the usual tale of theft, violence, destruction and obscenity. But there fortunately, none of the soldiery had been seen. Ah, Signor Curut, said the Taylor, as he offered him his arm to assist him again into the carriage. They'll have matter enough for a printed book in a scene of destruction like this. As they advanced a little on their journey, our travellers began to witness, with their own eyes, something of what they had heard described. Vineyards despoiled, not as by the vintager, but as though a storm of wind and hail combined, had exerted their utmost energies. Branches strewn upon the earth, broken off and trampled underfoot, stakes torn up, the ground trodden and covered with chips, leaves and twigs, trees uprooted or their branches lopped, hedges broken down, stiles carried away. In the villages too, doors shivered to pieces, windows destroyed, straw, rags, rubbish of all kinds lying in heaps, or scattered all over the pavement, a close atmosphere, and horrid odours of a more revolting nature, proceeding from the houses. Some of the villagers busy in sweeping out the accumulation of filth within them, others in repairing the doors and windows as they best could. Some again weeping in groups and indulging in lamentations together, and as the carriage drove through, hands stretched out on both sides at the doors of the vehicle imploring arms. With these scenes now before his eyes, now pictured in their minds, and with the expectation of finding their own houses in just the same state, they at length arrived there and found that their expectations were indeed realised. Agnes deposited her bundles in one corner of her little yard, the cleanest spot that remained about the house. She then set herself to sweep it thoroughly and collect and rearrange the little furniture which had been left her. She got a carpenter and blacksmith to come and mend the doors and window frames, and then unpacking the linen which had been given her and secretly counting over her fresh doors of coins, she exclaimed to herself, I've fallen upon my feet, God and the Madonna and that good Signor be thanked, I may indeed say I've fallen upon my feet. Donna Bondio and Perpetua entered the house without the aid of keys, and at every step they took in the passage and counted a fetid odor, a poisonous effluvia, which almost drove them back, holding their noses they advanced to the kitchen door, entered on tiptoe, carefully picking their way to avoid the most disgusting parts of the filthy straw which covered the ground and cast a glance around. Nothing was left whole, but relics and fragments of what once had been, both here and in other parts of the house, were to be seen in every corner, quills and feathers from Perpetua's fowls, scraps of linen, leaves out of Donna Bondio's calendars, remnants of kitchen utensils, all heaped together, or scattered in confusion upon the floor. On the hearth might be discovered tokens of a riotous scene of destruction, like a multitude of ordinary ideas, scattered through a widely diffused period by a professional orator. There were the vestiges of extinguished faggots and billets of wood, which showed them to have been once the arm of a chair, a table foot, the door of a cupboard, a bed post, or a stave of the little cask, which contained the wine so beneficial to Donna Bondio's stomach. The rest was cinders and coal, and with some of these very coals, the spoilers by way of recreation had scrawled on the walls distorted figures, doing their best by the help of sundry squarecaps, shaven crowns and large bands, to represent priests studiously exhibited in all manner of horrible and ludicrous attitudes, an intention certainly in which such artists could not possibly have failed. Are the dirty pigs, exclaimed perpetuer. Are the thieves, cried Donna Bondio, and as if making their escape, they went out by another door that led into the garden, once more drawing their breath. They went straight up to the fig tree, but even before reaching it, they discovered that the ground had been disturbed, and both together uttered an exclamation of dismay, and on coming up, they found in truth, instead of the dead, only the empty tomb. This gave rise to some disputes. Donna Bondio began to scold perpetuer for having hidden it so badly. It may be imagined whether she would fail to retort, and after indulging in mutual recrimination till they were tired, they returned with many a lingering look, cast back at the empty hole, grumbling into the house. They found things nearly in the same state everywhere, long and diligently they worked to cleanse and purify the house, the more so, as it was then extremely difficult to get any help, and they remained for I know not what length of time, as if in encampment, arranging things as best they could, and bad was the best, and gradually restoring doors, furniture and utensils, with money lent to them by Agnese. In addition to these grievances, the disaster was for some time afterwards, the source of many other very ticklish disputes. For perpetuer by dint of asking, peeping and hunting out, had come to know for certain that some of her master's household goods, which were thought to have been carried off or destroyed by the soldiers, were instead safe and sound with some people in the neighbourhood, and she was continually tormenting her master to make a stir about them and claim his own. A cord more odious to Donobondio, could not have been touched, considering that his property was in the hands of Ruffians, of that species of persons that is to say, with whom he had it most at heart to remain at peace. But if I don't want to know about these things said he, how often am I to tell you that what is gone is gone? Am I to be harassed in this way too, because my house has been robbed? I tell you, replied perpetuer, that you would let the very eyes be eaten out of your head, to rob others is a sin, but with you it is a sin not to rob you. Very proper language for you certainly, and so Donobondio. Will you hold your tongue? Perpetuer did hold her tongue, but not so directly, and even then everything was a pretext for beginning again, so that the poor man was at last reduced to the necessity of suppressing every lamentation on the lack of this or that article of furniture at the moment he most wanted to give vent to his regrets, for more than once he had been doomed to hear, go seek it at such a once who has it, and who wouldn't have kept it till now if he hadn't had to do with such an easy man. Another and more vivid cause of disquietude was the intelligence that soldiers continued daily to be passing in confusion, as he had too well conjectured, hence he was ever in apprehension of seeing a man, or even a band of men arriving at his door, which he had had repaired in haste the first thing, and which he kept barred with the greatest precaution, but thank heaven this catastrophe never occurred, these terrors however were not appeased when a new one was added to their number, but here we must leave the poor man on one side, for other matters are now to be treated of than his private apprehensions, the misfortunes of a few villages, or a transient disaster. Chapter 31, Part 1 of the Betrothed. This is a LibriVox recording, all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Betrothed, or Ipromese Sposy, by Alessandro Manzoni. Chapter 31, Part 1. The plague, which the Board of Health had feared might enter with German troops into the Milanese, had entered it indeed, as is well known, and it is likewise well known that it pulls not here, but invaded and ravaged the great part of Italy. Following the thread of our story, we now come to relate the principal incidents of this calamity in the Milanese, or rather in Milan almost exclusively, for almost exclusively of that city, do the records of the time treat, nearly as it always and everywhere happens, for good reasons or bad. And to say the truth, it is not only our object in this narrative to represent the state of things in which our characters will shortly be placed, but at the same time to develop as far as may be in so limited a space and from our pen, an event in the history of our country, more celebrated than well known. Of the many contemporary accounts, there is not one which is sufficient by itself to convey a distinct and connected idea of it, as there is not perhaps one which may not give us some assistance in forming that idea. In everyone not accepting that of Rippa Monti, which considerably exceeds all the rest, both in copiousness and its selection of facts, and still more in its method of viewing them, essential facts are omitted which are recorded in others. In everyone there are errors of material importance, which may be detected and rectified with the help of some other, or in the few printed manuscript acts of public authority which still remain. And we may often discover in one those causes the effects of which were found partially developed in another. In all two, a strange confusion of times and things prevailed, and a perpetual wandering backwards and forwards as it were at random, without design, special or general. The character, by the by, of books of all classes in those days, chiefly among such as were written in the vulgar tongue, at least in Italy. Whether also in the rest of Europe, the learned will know, and we shrewdly suspect it so to have been. No writer of later date has attempted to examine and compare these memoirs with the view of extracting thence a connected series of events, a history of this plague, so that the idea generally formed of it must necessarily be very uncertain and somewhat confused, a vague idea of the great evils and great errors, and assuredly there were both one and the other beyond what can possibly be imagined. An idea composed more of opinions than of facts mingled indeed with a few scattered events, but unconnected sometimes with their most characteristic circumstances and without distinction of time, that is to say without perception of cause and effect, of course and progress. We, having examined and compared with at least much diligence, all the printed accounts, more than one unpublished one, and in comparison to the few that remain on the subject many official documents, have endeavored to do not perhaps all that is needed, but something which has not hitherto been done. We do not propose relating every public act, nor all the results worthy in some degree of remembrance. Still less do we pretend to render needless to such as would gain no more complete acquaintance with the subject, the perusal of the original writings. We are too well aware what lively peculiar and so to say incommunicable force invariably belongs to works of that kind in whatever manner designed and executed. We have merely endeavored to distinguish and ascertain the most general and important facts to arrange them in their real order of succession so far as the matter and the nature of them will allow to observe their reciprocal effect and thus to give for the present and until someone else shall do better a succinct but plain and continuous account of this calamity. Throughout the whole trackmen of the territory traversed by the army, corpses might be found either in the houses or lying upon the highway. Very shortly single individuals or whole families began to sicken and die of violent and strange complaints with symptoms unknown to the greater part of those who were then alive. There were only a few who had ever seen them before, the few that is who could remember the plague which 53 years previously had desolated a great part of Italy indeed but especially the Milanese where it was then and is still called the plague of San Carlo. So powerful is charity. Among the various and awful recollections of a general calamity she could cause that of one individual to predominate because she had inspired him with the feelings and actions more memorable even than the evils themselves. She could set upon him in men's minds as a symbol of all these events because in all she had urged him onward and held him to the view as guide and helper, example and voluntary victim and could frame for him as it were an emblematical device out of a public calamity and name it after him as though it had been a conquest or discovery. The oldest physician of his time Ludovico Cetala who had not only seen that plague but had been one of its most active intrepid and though then very young most celebrated successful opponents and who now in strong suspicion of this was on the alert and busily collecting information reported on the 20th of October in the Council of the Board of Health that the contagion had undoubtedly broken out in the village of Ciuso the last in the territory of Lecho and on the confines of the Bergamaskan district no resolution however was taken on this intelligence as appears from the narrative of Tedino similar tidings arrived from Lecho and Bellano the board then decided upon and contented themselves with dispatching a commissioner who should take a physician from Como by the way and accompany him on a visit to the places we had been signified both of them either from ignorance or from some other reason suffered themselves to be persuaded by an ignorant old barber of Bellano that this sort of disease was not the pestilence but in some places the ordinary effects of the autumnal exhalations from the marshes and elsewhere of the privations and sufferings undergone during the passage of the German troops this affirmation was reported to the board who seemed to have been perfectly satisfied with it but additional reports of the mortality in every quarter pouring in without intermission two deputies were dispatched to see and provide against it the above name Tedino and an auditor of the committee when these arrived the evil had spread so widely that proofs offered themselves to their view without being sought for they passed through the territory of Lecho the Valsasina the shores of the lake of Como and the district denominated Il Monte di Brenazza and La Guerra da Ada and everywhere found the towns barricaded others almost deserted and the inhabitants escaped and encamped in the fields were scattered throughout the country who seemed, says Tedino like so many wild sabbages carrying in their hands one a sprig of mint another of roue another of rosary another a bottle of vinegar they made inquiries as to the number of deaths which was really fearful they visited the sick and dead and everywhere recognized the dark and terrible marks of the pestilence they then speedily conveyed the disastrous intelligence by letter to the Board of Health who on receiving it on the 30th of October prepared, says Tedino to issue warrants to shut out of the city any persons coming from the countries where the plague had shown itself and while preparing the decree they gave some summary orders beforehand to the custom house officers in the meanwhile the commissioners in great haste and precipitation made what provisions they knew or could think of for the best and returned with the melancholy consciousness of their insufficiency to remedy or arrest an evil already so far advanced and so widely disseminated on the 14th of November having made their report both by word of mouth and a fresh in writing to the Board they received from this committee a commission to present themselves to the Governor and to lay before him the state of things they went accordingly and brought back word that he was exceedingly sorry to hear such news and had shown a great deal of feeling about it but the thoughts of war were more pressing said Belly Graviores Issei Curas so says Ripper Monty after having ransacked the records of the Board of Health and compared them with Tedino who had been specially charged with this mission it was the second if the readers remember for this purpose and with this result two or three days afterwards the 18th of November the Governor issued a proclamation in which he prescribed public rejoicing for the birth of the Prince Charles the firstborn son of the king Philip IV without thinking of or without caring for the danger of suffering a large concourse of people under such circumstances everything as in common times just as if he had never been spoken to about anything this person was as we have elsewhere said the celebrated Ambrulio Spinola sent for the very purpose of adjusting this war to repair the errors of Don Gonzalo and incidentally to govern and we may here incidentally mention that he died a few months later in that very war which he had so much at heart not wounded in the field of battle but on his bed of grief and anxiety occasioned by reproaches affronts and ill treatment of every kind received from those whom he had served history has bewailed his fate and remarked upon the ingratitude of others it has described with much diligence his military and political enterprises and extolled his foresight activity and perseverance it might also have inquired what he did with all these when pestilence threatened and actually invaded a population committed to his care or rather entirely given up to his authority but that which leaving censure diminishes our wonder at his behaviour which even creates another in greater feeling of wonder is the behaviour of the people themselves of those I mean who unreached as yet by the contagion had so much reason to fear it on the arrival of the intelligence from the territories which were so grievously infected with it territories which formed almost a semicircular line round the city in some places not more than 20 or even 18 miles distant from it who would not have thought that a general stirrer would have been created that they would have been diligent in taking precautions whether well or ill selected or at least have felt a barren disquietude nevertheless if in anything the records of the times agree it is in attesting that there was none of these the scarcity of the antecedent year the violence of the soldiery and their suffering of mind seems to them more than enough to account for the mortality and if anyone had attempted in the streets shops and houses to throw out a hint of danger and mention the plague it would have been received with incredulous scoffs or angry contempt the same incredulity or to speak more correctly the same blindness and perversity prevailed in the senate in the council of the decorione and in all the magistrates I find that cardinal Federigo immediately on learning the first cases of a contagious sickness enjoined his priests in a pastoral letter among other things to impress upon the people the importance and obligation of making known every similar case and of delivering up any infected or suspected goods and this too may be reckoned among his praise with the peculiarities the board of health solicited precautions and cooperation it was all but in vain and in the board itself their solicitude was far from equaling the urgency of the case it was the two physicians as Tadino frequently affirms and as appears still better from the whole context of his narrative who persuaded and deeply sensible of the gravity and imminence of the danger urged forward that body which was then to urge forward others we have already seen how on the first tidings of the plague there had been indifference and remissness in acting and even in obtaining information we now give another instance of deleteriness not less pretentious if indeed it was not compelled by obstacles interposed by the superior magistrates that proclamation in the form of warrants resolved upon on the 30th of October was not completed till the 23rd of the following month nor published till the 29th the plague had already entered Milan Tadino and Ripper Monty would record the name of the individual who first brought it thither together with the other circumstances of the person and the fact and in truth in observing the beginnings of a widespread destruction which in the victims not only cannot be distinguished by name but their numbers can scarcely be expressed with any degree of exactness even by the thousand one feels a certain kind of interest in ascertaining those first and few names which could be noted and preserved it seems as if this sort of distinction a precedence in extermination invests them and all the other minutiae which would otherwise be most indifferent with something fatal and memorable but one and the other historian can say that it was an Italian soldier in the Spanish service but in nothing else do they agree not even in the name according to Tadino it was a person of the name of Pietro Antonio Lovato quartered in the territory of Leco according to Ripper Monty a certain Pierre Paolo Locati quartered at Chiavena they differ also as to the day of his entrance into Milan the first placing it on the 22nd of October the second on the same day in the following month yet it cannot be on either one or the other both the dates contradict others which are far better authenticated yet Ripper Monty writing by order of the general council of the Decurioni ought to have had many means at his command of gaining the necessary information and Tadino in consideration of his office might have been better informed than anyone else on the subject of this nature in short comparing other dates which as we have said appear to us more authentic it would seem that it was prior to the publication of the warrants and if it were worthwhile it might even be proved or near so that it must have been very early in that month but the reader will doubtless excuses the task however it may be this soldier unfortunate himself and the bearer of misfortune to others entered the city with a large bundle of clothes purchased or stolen from the German troops he went to stay at the house of one of his relatives in the suburbs of the Port Oriental near to the Cappucin convent scarcely had he arrived there when he was taken ill he was conveyed to the hospital here a spot discovered under one of the armpits excited some suspicion in the mind of the person who tended him of what was in truth the fact and on the fourth day he died the board of health immediately ordered his family to be kept separate and confined within their own house and his clothes and the bed on which he had lain at hospital were burned two attendants who had there nursed him and a good friar who had rendered him his assistants were all three within a few days seized with the plague the suspicions which had here been felt from the beginning of the nature of the disease and the precautions taken in consequence prevented the further spread of the contagion from this source but the soldier had left seed outside which delayed not to spring up and shoot forth the first person in whom it broke out was the master of the house where he had lodged one Carlo Colonna, a loot player all the inmates of the dwelling were then by order of the board conveyed to the Lazareto where the greater number took to their beds and many shortly died of evident infection in the city that which had been already disseminated there by intercourse with the above mentioned family and by clothes and furniture belonging to them preserved by relations lodgers or servants from the searches and the flames prescribed by the board as well as that which was a fresh introduced by defectiveness in the regulations by negligence in executing them and by dexterity in eluding them continued lurking about and slowly insinuating itself among the inhabitants all the rest of the year and in the earlier months of 1630 the year which followed from time to time now in this now in that quarter someone was seized with the contagion someone was carried off with it and the very infrequency of the cases contributed to lull all suspicions of pestilence and confirmed the generality more and more in the senseless and murderous assurance that plague it was not and never had been for a moment many physicians too echoing the voice of the people was it in this instance also the voice of heaven derided the ominous predictions and threatening warnings of the few and always had at hand the names of common diseases to qualify every case of pestilence which they were summoned to cure with what symptom or token so ever it evinced itself the reports of these instances when they reached the board of health at all reached it for the most part tardily and uncertainly dread of sequestration and the lazaretto sharpened everyone's wits they concealed the sick they corrupted the gravediggers and elders and obtained false certificates by means of bribes from subalterns of the board itself deputed by it to visit and inspect the dead bodies as however on every discovery they succeeded in making the board ordered the wearing apparel to be committed to the flames put the houses under sequestration and sent the inmates to the lazaretto it is easy to imagine what must have been the anger and dissatisfaction of the generality of the nobility, merchants and lower order persuaded as they were that they were mere causeless vexations without any advantage the principal odium fell upon the two doctors are frequently mentioned Tadino and Senatore Cetala son of the senior physician and reached such a height that thence forward they could not obliquely appear without being assailed with appropriate language if not with stones and certainly the situation in which these individuals were placed for several months is remarkable and worthy of being recorded seeing a horrible scourge advancing towards them laboring by every method to repulse it and yet meeting with obstacles not only in the arduousness of the task but from every quarter in the unwillingness of the people and being made the general object of execration and regarded as the enemies of their country pro patria ostibus says rippamonte sharers also in the hatred with the other physicians who convinced like them of the reality of the contagion suggested precautions and sought to communicate to others their melancholy convictions the most knowing tax them with credulity and obstinacy while with the many it was evidently an imposture a planned combination to make a profit by the public fears end of chapter 31 part 1 recording by alan matts stone in oxford england chapter 31 part 2 of the betroth this is a livery box recording all livery box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liverybox.org the betrothed or e promesie sposey by alessandro manzoni chapter 31 part 2 the aged physician ludovico satala who had almost attained his 80th year who had been professor of medicine in the university of panvia and afterwards of moral philosophy at melanne the author of many works at that time in very high repute eminent for the invitations he had received to occupy the chairs of other universities engelstat pisa bologna and padua and for his refusal of all these honors was certainly one of the most influential men of his time to his reputation for learning was added that of his life and to admiration for his character a feeling of goodwill for his great kindness in curing and benefiting the poor yet there is one circumstance which in our minds disturbs and overclouts the sentiment of esteem inspired by these merits but which at that time must have rendered stronger and more general the poor man participated in the commonest and most fatal prejudices of his contemporaries he was in advance of them but not distinguished from the multitude a station which only invites trouble and often causes the loss of an authority acquired by other means nevertheless that which he enjoyed in so great a degree was not only insufficient to overcome the general opinion on this subject of the pestilence but it could not even protect him from the animosity and the insults of that part of the populace which readily steps from opinions through their exhibition by actual deeds one day as he was going in a litter to visit his patients crowds began to assemble around him crying out that he was the head of those who were determined in spite of everything to make out that there was a plague that it was he who put the city in alarm with his gloomy brow and shaggy beard and all to give employment to the doctors the multitude and their fury went on increasing so that the bearers seeing their danger took refuge with their master in the house of a friend which fortunately happened to be at hand all this occurred to him for having foreseen clearly stated what was really the fact and wished to save thousands of his fellow creatures from the pestilence when having by his deplorable advice cooperated in causing a poor unhappy wretch to be put to the torture racked and burnt as a witch because one of her masters had suffered extraordinary pains in his stomach and another sometime before had been desperately enamoured of her he had received from the popular voice additional reputation for wisdom and what is intolerable to think of the additional title of the well deserving towards the latter end of March however sickness and deaths began rapidly to multiply first in the suburbs of the Porta Oriental and then in all the other quarters of the city with the unusual accompaniments of spasms palpitation lethargy delirium and those fatal symptoms livid spots and sores and these deaths were for the most part a rapid violence and not unfrequently sudden without any previous tokens of illness those physicians who were opposed to the belief of contagion unwilling now to admit what they had hitherto derided yet obliged to give a generical name to the new malady which had become too common and too evident to go without one adopted that of malignant or pestilential fevers a miserable expedient a mere play upon words which was productive of much harm because while it appeared to acknowledge the truth it only contributed to the disbelief of what it was most important to believe and discern vis that the infection was conveyed by means of the touch the magistrates like one awakening from a deep sleep began to lend a little more ear to the appeals and proposals of the board of health to support its proclamations and second the sequestrations prescribed and the quarantines enjoined by this tribunal the board was also constantly demanding money to provide for the daily expenses of the lazaretto now augmented by so many additional services and for this they applied to the decorioni while it being decided which was never done I believe except by practice whether such expenses should be charged to the city or to the royal exchequer the high chancellor also applied importunately to the decorione by order to of the governor who had again returned to lay siege to the unfortunate casale the senate likewise applied to them imploring them to see to the best method of bitterling the city before they should be forbidden in the case of the unhappy dissemination of the contagion to have any intercourse with other countries and to find means of maintaining a large proportion of the population which was now deprived of employment the decorione endeavored to raise money by loans and taxes and of what they thus accumulated they gave a little to the board of health a little to the poor purchased a little corn and thus in some degree supplied the existing necessity the severest sufferings had not yet arrived in the lazaretto where the population although decimated daily continued daily on the increase there was another arduous undertaking to ensure attendance and subordination to preserve the enjoined separations and to maintain in short or rather to establish the government prescribed by the board of health for from the very first everything had been in confusion from the ungovernableness of many of the inmates and the negligence or connivance of the officials the board of the decorione not knowing which way to turn be thought themselves applying to the cappuccines and besought the father commissary as he was called of the province who occupied the place of the father provincial lately deceased to give them a competent person to govern this desolate kingdom the commissary proposed to them as their governor one father felice casati a man of advanced age who enjoyed a great reputation for charity activity and gentleness of disposition combined with a strong mind a character which as the sequel show was well-deserved and as his co-adjector and assistants one mccailey pozo banelli still a young man but grave and stern in mind as incontinence gladdeny enough where they accepted and on the 30th of march they entered the lazaretto the president of the board of health conducted them round as it were to put them in possession and having assembled the servants and officials of every rank proclaimed father felice in their presence governor of the place with primary and unlimited authority in proportion as the wretched multitude there assembled increased other cappuccines resorted thither and here were superintendents confessors administrators nurses cooks overlookers of the wardrobe washer women in short everything that was required father felice ever diligent ever watchful went about day and night through the porticoes chambers and open spaces sometimes carrying a spear sometimes armed only with haircloth he animated and regulated every duty pacified two malts settled disputes threatened punished reproved comforted dried and shed tears at the very outset he took the plague recovered and with fresher clarity resumed his first duties most of his brethren here sacrificed their lives and all joyfully such a dictatorship was certainly a strange expedient strange as was the calamity strange as were the times and even did we know more about it this alone would suffice as an argument as a specimen indeed of a rude and ill regulated state of society but the spirit the deeds the self sacrifice of these friars deserve no less than they should be mentioned with respect and tenderness and with that species of gratitude which one feels en masse as it were for the great services rendered by men to their fellows to die in a good cause is a wise and beautiful action at any time under any state of things whatsoever for had not ye fathers repaired hither says Tedino assurantly ye whole city would have been annihilated for it was a miraculous thing that ye fathers affected so much for ye public benefit in so short a space of time and receiving no assistance or at least very little from ye city contrived by their industry and prudence to maintain so many thousands of poor in ye lazaretto among the public also this obstinacy in denying the pestilence gave way naturally and gradually disappeared in proportion as the contagion extended itself and extended itself to before their own eyes by means of contact and intercourse and still more when after having been for some time confined to the lower orders it began to take effect upon the higher and among these as he was then the most eminent so by us now the senior physician settala deserves express mention people must at least have said the poor old man was right but who knows he with his wife two sons and seven persons in his service all took the plague one of these sons and himself recovered the rest died these cases says Tedino occurring in the city in the first families disposed the nobility and common people to think and the incredulous physicians and the ignorant and rash order orders began to bite their lips grind their teeth and arch their eyebrows in amazement but the revolutions the reprisals the vengeance so to say of the contrived obstinacy are sometimes such as to raise a wish that it had continued unshaken and unconquered even to the last against reason and evidence and this was truly one of those occasions they who had so resolutely and perseveringly impugned the existence of a germ of evil near them or among them which might propagate itself by natural means and make much havoc unable now to deny its propagation and unwilling to attribute it to those means for this would have been to confess at once a great delusion and a great error were so much the more inclined to find some other cause for it and to make good any that might happen to present itself unhappily there was one in readiness in the ideas and traditions common to that time not only here but in every part of europe of magical arts diabolical practices people sworn to disseminate the plague by means of contagious poisons and witchcraft these and similar things had already been supposed and believed during many other plagues and that Milan especially in that half a century before it may be added that even during the preceding year a dispatch signed by King Philip IV had been forwarded to the governor in which he was informed that four frenchmen had escaped from Madrid who were sought upon suspicion of spreading poisonous and pestilential ointments and requiring to be on the watch perchance they should arrive at Milan the governor communicated the dispatch to the senate and the board of health and then forward it seems they thought no more about it when however the plague broke forth and was recognized by all the return of this intelligence to memory may have served to confirm and support the vague suspicion of an iniquitous fraud it may even have been the first occasion of creating it but two actions one of blind and undisciplined fear the other of I know not what malicious mischief were what converted this vague suspicion of a possible attempt into more than suspicion and with many a certain conviction of a real plot some persons who fancied they had seen people on the evening of the 17th of May in the cathedral anointing a partition which was used to separate the spaces assigned to the two sexes had this partition and a number of benches enclosed within it brought out during the night although the president of the board of health having repealed with four members of his committee and having inspected the screen the benches and the stoops of holy water and found nothing that could confirm the ignorant suspicion of a poisonous attempt had declared to humor other people's fancies and rather to exceeding caution than from any conviction of necessity that it would be sufficient to have the partition washed this mass of piled up furniture produced a strong impression of consternation among the multitude to whom any object so readily became an argument it was said and generally believed that all the benches walls and even the bell ropes in the cathedral had been rubbed over with unctuous matter nor was this affirmed only at the time all the records of contemporaries some of them written after a lapse of many years which allude to this incident speak of it with equal certainty of assertion and we should be obliged to conjecture its true history did we not find it in a letter from the board of health to the governor preserved in the archives of san fedele from which we have extracted it and once we have quoted the words we have written in italics next morning a new stranger and more significant spectacle struck the eyes and minds of the citizens in every part of the city they saw the doors and walls of the houses stained and daubed with long streaks of i know not what filthiness something yellowish and whitish spread over them as if with a sponge whether it were a base inclination to witness a more clamorous and more general consternation or a still more wicked design to augment the public confusion or whatever else it may have been the fact is attested in such a manner that it seems to us less rational to attribute it to a dream of the imagination than to a wickedly malicious trick not entirely new indeed to the wit of man not alas deficient in corresponding effects in every place so to say and every age rippermonty who frequently on this subject of the anointing ridicules and still more frequently deplores the popular credulity here affirms that he had seen this plastering and then describes it in the above quoted letter the gentleman of the board of health relate the circumstances in the same terms they speak of inspections of experiments made with this matter upon dogs without any injurious effect and add that they believe such temerity proceeded rather from insolence than from any guilty design an opinion which evinces that up to this time they retain sufficient tranquility of mind not to see what really did not exist other contemporary records not to reckon their testimony as to the truth of the fact signify at the same time that it was at first the opinion of many that this bespattering had been done in joke in a mere frolic none of them speak of anyone who denied it and had there been any they certainly would have mentioned them were it only to call them irrational I have deemed it not out of place to relate and put together these particulars in part little known in part entirely unknown of a celebrated popular delirium because in errors and especially in the errors of a multitude what seems to me most interesting and most useful to observe is the course they have taken their appearances and the ways by which they could enter men's minds and hold sway there the city already tumultuously inclined was now turned upside down the owners of the houses with lighted straw burned bespeared spots and passes by stopped gazed and shuddered murmured strangers suspected of this alone and at that time easily recognized by their dress were arrested by the people in the streets and consigned to prism here interrogations and examinations were made of captured captors and witnesses no one was found guilty men's minds were still capable of doubting weighing understanding the board of health issued a proclamation in which they promised reward and impunity to anyone who would bring to light the author or authors of the deed in any wise not thinking it expedient say these gentlemen in the letter we have quoted which bears the date of the 21st of May but which was evidently written on the 19th the day signified in the printed proclamation that this crime should by any means remain unpunished especially in times so perilous and suspicious we have for the consolation and peace of the people this day published an edict etc in the edict however there is no mention at least no distinct one of that rational and tranquilizing conjecture they had suggested to the governor a reservation which indicates at once a fierce prejudice in the people and in themselves a degree of obsequiousness so much the more blameable as the consequences might prove more pernicious while the board with us making inquiries many of the public as is usually the case had already found the answer among those who believe this to be a poisonous ointment some were sure that it was an act of revenge by Don Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba for the insults received at his departure some that it was an idea of cardinal Richelieu's to desolate Milan and make himself the master of it without trouble others again it is not known with what motives would have it that the Count Colato was the author of the plot or Valenstein or this or that Milanese nobleman they're wanted not to as we have said those who saw nothing in this occurrence but a mischievous jest and attributed it to the students to gentlemen to officers who were weary of the siege of Casale it did not appear however as had been dreaded that infection and universal slaughter immediately ensued and this was probably the cause that this first fear began by degrees to subside and the matter was or seemed to be forgotten there was after all a certain number of persons not yet convinced that it was indeed the plague and because both in the Lazareto and in the city some were restored to health it was affirmed the final arguments for an opinion contradicted by evidence are always curious enough it was affirmed by the common people and even yet by many partial physicians that it was not really the plague or all would have died to remove every doubt the board of health employed an expedient conformable to the necessity of the case a means of speaking to the eye such as the times may have required or suggested on one of the festival days of witsentide the citizens were in the habit of flocking to the cemetery of San Gregorio outside the port of Oriental a to pray for the souls of those who had died in the former contagion and whose bodies were there interred and borrowing from devotion an opportunity of amusement and sightseeing everyone went thither in his best and gayest clothing one whole family amongst others had this day died of the plague at the hour of the thickest concourse in the midst of the carriages riders on horseback and foot passengers the corpses of this family were by order of the board drawn naked on a car to the above named burying ground in order that the crowd might be holding them the manifest token the revolting seal and symptom of the pestilence a cry of horror and consternation arose whenever the car was passing a prolonged murmur was predominant where it passed another murmur preceded it the real existence of the plague was more believed besides every day it continued to gain more belief by itself and that very concourse would contribute not a little to propagate it first then it was not the plague absolutely not by no means the very utterance of the term was prohibited then it was pestilential fevers the idea was indirectly admitted in an adjective then it was not the true nor real plague that is to say it was the plague but only in a certain sense not positively and undoubtedly the plague but something to which no other name could be affixed lastly it was the plague without doubt without dispute but even then another idea was appended to it the idea of poison and witchcraft which altered and confounded that conveyed in the word they could no longer repress there is no necessity I imagine to be well versed in the history of words and ideas to perceive that many others have followed a similar course heaven be praised that there have not been many of such a nature and of so vast importance which contradict their evidence at such a price and to which accessories of such a character may be annexed it is possible however both in great and trifling concerns to avoid in great measure so lengthened and crooked a path by following the method which has so long been laid down of observing listening comparing and thinking before speaking but speaking this one thing by itself is so much easier than all the others put together that even we I say we men in general are somewhat to be pitted end of chapter 31 part 2 recording by alan mapstone in oxford england