miglia_ and also from the
inductions to many of the _Sacre Rappresentazioni_.[2]

[1] See Gregorovius, _Stadt Rom_, vol. viii. p. 225: 'E li
cardinali comenzarono a vomitar e cussi li altri,' quoted from
Sanudo.

[2] One of the excellent characteristics of Alfonso the Great
(_Vespasiano_, p. 49) was his abhorrence of gambling.

Another point which struck a northern visitor in Italy was the frequency
of private and domestic murders.[1] The Italians had and deserved a bad
reputation for poisoning and assassination. To refer to the deeds of
violence in the history of a single family, the Baglioni of Perugia, as
recorded by their chronicler Matarazzo; to cite the passages in which
Varchi relates the deaths by poison of Luisa Strozzi, Cardinal Ippolito
de' Medici, and Sanga; or to translate the pages of annalists, who
describe the palaces of nobles swarming with _bravi_, would be a very
easy task.[2] But the sketch of Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography, which
will form part of my third volume, gives so lively a picture of this
aspect of Italian life, that there is no reason to enlarge upon the
topic now. It is enough to observe that, in their employment of poison
and of paid assassins, the Italians were guided by those habits of
calculation which distinguished their character.[3] They thought nothing
of removing an enemy by craft or violence: but they took no pleasure in
murder for its own sake.[4] The object which they had in view prompted
them to take a man's life; the mere delight in brawls and bloodshed of
Switzers, Germans, and Spaniards offended their taste.

[1] See Guicc. _St. Il._ vol. i. p. 101, for the impression
produced upon the army of Charles by the murder by poison of
Gian Galeazzo Sforza.

[2] A vivid illustration of the method adopted by hired
assassins in tracking and hunting down their victims is
presented by Francesco Bibboni's narrative of his murder of
Lorenzino de' Medici at Venice. It casts much curious light,
moreover, on the relations between paid _bravi_ and their
employers, the esteem in which professional cutthroats were
held, and their connection with the police of the Italian
towns. It is published in a tract concerning Lorenzino, Milano,
Daelli, 1862.

[3] See the instructions given by the Venetian government to
their agents for the purchase of poison and the hiring of
secret murderers. See also the Maxims