conceived a confederation.  The thirst for autonomy in each state was as great as of old among the cities of Greece.  To be independent of a sister republic, though such freedom were bought at the price of the tyranny of a native family was the first object of every commonwealth.  At the same time this passion for independence was only equaled by the greed of foreign usurpation.  The second object of each republic was to extend its power at the expense of its neighbors.  As Pisa swallowed Amalfi, so Genoa destroyed Pisa, and Venice did her best to cripple Genoa.  Florence obliterated the rival burgh of Semifonte, and Milan twice reduced Piacenza to a wilderness.  The notion that the great maritime powers of Italy or the leading cities of Lombardy should permanently co-operate for a common purpose was never for a moment entertained.  Such leagues as were formed were understood to be temporary.  When their immediate object had been gained, the members returned to their initial rivalries.  Milan, when, on the occasion of Filippo Maria Visconti’s death, she had a chance of freedom, refused to recognize the liberties of the Lombard cities, and fell a prey to Francesco Sforza.  Florence, under the pernicious policy of Cosimo de’ Medici, helped to enslave Milan and Bologna instead of entering into a republican league against their common foes, the tyrants.  Pisa, Arezzo, and the other subject cities of Tuscany were treated by her with such selfish harshness that they proved her chiefest peril in the hour of need.[1] Competition in commerce increased the mutual hatred of the free burghs.  States like Venice, Florence, Pisa, Genoa, depending for their existence upon mercantile wealth, and governed by men of business, took every opportunity they could of ruining a rival in the market.  So mean and narrow was the spirit of Italian policy that no one accounted it unpatriotic or dishonorable for Florence to suck the very life out of Pisa, or for Venice to strangle a competitor so dangerous as Genoa.

    [1] See the instructions furnished to Averardo dei Medici, quoted by
    Von Reumont in his Life of Lorenzo, vol. ii. p. 122, German
    edition.

Thus the jealousy of state against state, of party against party, and of family against family, held Italy in perpetual disunion; while diplomatic habits were contracted which rendered the adoption of any simple policy impossible.  When the time came for the Italians to cope with the great nations of Europe, the republics of Venice, Genoa, Milan, Florence ought to have been leagued together and supported by the weight of the Papal authority.  They might then have stood against the world.  Instead of that, these cities presented nothing but mutual rancors, hostilities, and jealousies to the common enemy.  Moreover, the Italians were so used to petty intrigues and to a system of balance of power within the peninsula, that they could not comprehend the magnitude of the impending danger.  It was difficult for a politician