and rich nobles gloried in adding tower to
tower and in looking down on all rivals.

But whatever the cause of their existence, they were picturesque, and
must have presented a gallant sight on the eve of a high festival. The
tall shafts were tinged with gold by the western sun, their battlements
crowned with three fluttering banners--the eagle of the Emperor, the
white cross of the Commune, and the device of the People--looking as tho
a cloud of many-colored butterflies were hovering over the city.

Again, how dramatic the scene when the city was rent by one of the
perpetually recurring faction-fights. Light bridges with grappling-irons
were thrown from tower to tower, doors and windows were barricaded,
balconies and battlements lined with men in shining mail, bearing the
fantastic device of their leader on helm and shield. Mangonels, or
catapults, huge engines stationed on the roofs of the towers, sent
masses of stone hurtling through the air, whistling arbelast bolts and
clothyard shafts flew in thick showers, boiling oil or lead rained down
on the heads of those who ventured down to attack the doors, and arrows,
with Greek fire attached, were shot with nice aim into the wooden
balconies and bridges. Vile insults were hurled where missiles failed to
strike. The shouts and shrieks of the combatants were mingled with the
crash of a falling tower or with the hissing of a fire-arrow. Where
those struck, a red glow arose and a thick cloud of smoke enveloped the
defenders.

Altho it is evident that towers were very numerous in Pisa, it is
difficult to arrive at their precise number. The chroniclers differ
greatly in their estimates. Benjamin da Tudela, for instance, says that
there were 10,000 in the twelfth century; while Marangone puts the
number at 15,000 and Tronci at 16,000. These are round numbers such as
the medieval mind loved, but we have abundant evidence that they are not
much exaggerated. An intarsia panel in the Duomo, shows how closely the
towers were packed together, while the mass of legislation relating to
them was directed against abuses that could only have arisen if their
number was very large.

V

NAPLES AND ITS ENVIRONS

IN AND ABOUT THE CITY[6]

BY CHARLES DICKENS

So we go, rattling down-hill, into Naples. A funeral is coming up the
street, toward us. The body, on an open bier, borne on a kind of
palanquin, covered with a gay cloth of crimson and gold. The mourners,
in white