PISA PISISTRATUS. 



569 



tare la Fresco del Campo ;1812). There is also here 

 a large collection of Etruscan and Roman antiquities, 

 particularly urns and sarcophagi. Among the other 

 churches, we must mention the church Madonna della 

 Spina, distinguished for its delicate architecture, and 

 the church S. Stefano, built in a more modern style, 

 which, with the neighbouring palace, belonged to the 

 military order of St Stephen, that once resided here. 

 Several palaces, and the Loggia de' Mercanti, are 

 worthy of note. An edifice is still shown as the 

 tower of famine, in which Ugolino della Gherardesca 

 perished (1283), with his children. The original 

 tower, however, no longer exists. The family of 

 Gherardesca was still extant at Pisa in 1798. The 

 university is old, and has always possessed celebrated 

 professors. The observatory and the botanical gar- 

 den are in the best condition. There are in the city 

 an accademia Jtaliana, a physico- medical college, cabi- 

 nets of art, and, in the vicinity, an agricultural estab- 

 lishment, S. Rossore, with a collection of breeding- 

 horses, a colony of 200 camels, and a herd of 1800 

 wild cows. The refinement and kindness of the inhab- 

 itants make a residence in Pisa delightful to a stran- 

 ger. At a little distance from the city, at the foot 

 of Monte S. Giuliano, and named after this mountain, 

 are the Pisan baths. Twelve warm sulphur springs 

 are enclosed in large, convenient buildings, in which 

 provision is made for all the wants of the visitors. 

 The baths are not, however, in so high repute as they 

 were in the middle of the last century. The splendid 

 Carthusian monastery near Pisa is also worth seeing. 

 The trade and manufactures of the place are of little 

 importance. Large quantities of oil, which is but 

 little inferior in quality to the oil of Lucca, is made 

 here ; the fields and hills are well cultivated, and the 

 marble quarries in the neighbourhood are among the 

 finest in Italy. 



Pisa was a flourishing republic in the middle ages, 

 and owed its prosperity to the great love of liberty, 

 and the active, commercial spirit, which distinguished 

 its citizens. From the Saracens the republic conquer- 

 ed Sardinia, Corsica, the Baleares, and was styled the 

 queen of the seas. Its territory on the Tyrrhene shore 

 comprehended the Maremmafrom Lerici to Piombino, 

 which was at that time cultivated and very fruitful. 

 By sea the rival of Venice and Genoa, she founded 

 colonies in the Levant, and sent forty vessels to aid 

 the king of Jerusalem. Faithful as a zealous Gibeline 

 to the emperor, involved in a bloody struggle with 

 the Guelfic Florence, with Lucca and Sienna, which 

 adhered to the pope, an object of jealousy to all her 

 neighbours, overcome by Genoa in a bloody naval 

 battle, and torn by the internal dissensions of power- 

 ful families, she finally sunk under, the jealousy and 

 hatred of Florence. Ugolino, however, reigned but 

 a short time over the city, which had been stripped 

 of her fortresses. The courage with which 11,000 

 Pisans preferred to suffer sixteen years of severe im- 

 prisonment, rather than surrender a fortified place to 

 the enemy, sustained for a time the spirit of the repub- 

 lic, which, with its own arms, defeated the. army of 

 the Guelfs of all Italy. But, being exhausted, it fin- 

 ally put itself under the protection of Milan, and was 

 soon after sold to duke Galeazzo Visconti, from whose 

 successors Florence obtained it by purchase, in 1406. 

 The city was compelled to surrender by famine ; and 

 those disposed to resist were kept in obedience lay 

 force. The larger part of the citizens emigrated. 

 But, after eighty-eight years of oppression, when 

 Charles VIII. of France made an expediton into Italy, 

 the ancient pride of Pisa was aroused, and, for fifteen 

 years, she fought gloriously for her liberty. Simon 

 Orlandi called his fellow citizens to arms, and the 

 people, under the protection of Charles VIII., who 

 took possession of Pisa by a treaty with Florence, j 



adopted a constitution of their own. Then began an 

 obstinate war between Florence and Pisa. The inljalt- 

 itants of the latter city, with the assistance of the 

 French garrison, reconquered the ancient territory, and 

 defeatea the Florentine mercenaries. Their courage 

 foiled every effort of their former sovereigns. When 

 the French garrison departed, they took the oath of 

 allegiance to the French king as their protector. Pisa 

 now became a place of importance. Princes and re 

 publics negotiated, some for, some against the contin 

 uance of the revived republic. Abandoned at last 

 by all, the Pisans swore to perisli rather than submit 

 to their hereditary enemy. Florence had already 

 made itself master of the Pisan territory, and, on the 

 last of July, 1499, the siege of the city was commen- 

 ced with such ardour, that, in a fortnight, the Floren- 

 tines hoped to have it in their power. But the fe- 

 males of Pisa worked day and night to repair the walls ; 

 and the enemy having taken a castle by storm, they 

 exhorted their disheartened citizens to die rather than 

 become the slaves of the Florentines. By this spirit 

 the city was saved, and the enemy after great loss, 

 raised the siege, September 4. The Pisans now 

 changed their city into a formidable fortress. Even 

 an army sent by Louis XII., king of France (who 

 wished to subjugate Pisa for the Florentines), besieg- 

 ed it in vain. In 1504, the Florentines resumed the 

 siege of Pisa. They attempted to dam up the Arno 

 above the city, but had to relinquish the plan after 

 great expense. A third siege, in 1505, was equally 

 unavailing. The city was finally (June 8, 1509) reduc- 

 ed by famine, and submitted to the Florentines, with 

 an amnesty for the past. Thus Pisa, having frustrat- 

 ed four attacks, and asserted its freedom for fifteen 

 years, fell into the power of the Florentines, and 

 ceased for ever to be independent. On its ruins was 

 founded the power of Tuscany. 



P1SIDIA. See Natalia. 



PISISTRATUS, an Athenian citizen who usurped 

 the sovereignty of his country, was of noble descent, 

 which he himself derived from Codrus, the last king 

 of Athens, and inherited from his father, Hippocrates, 

 a large fortune. He received from nature those qua- 

 lifications which give influence to an individual, faci- 

 lity of speech, and uncommon vigour of understanding. 

 To these he had added all the learning of his time. 

 On entering public life, he lent his eloquence to the 

 plans of Solon, his maternal relation, for exciting the 

 Athenians to recover Salamis, and accompanied the 

 lawgiver in the successful enterprise against that 

 island. By nature ambitious, he pursued the policy 

 which has so often succeeded in democracies : he 

 gained over the lower classes of the citizens by his 

 affability and unbounded liberality. He relieved their 

 burdens, laid open his gardens for their use, provided 

 for the sick, and caused the dead to be buried. In 

 all his harangues, he was the advocate of civil equali- 

 ty and a democratic constitution. Solon saw through 

 his policy, and expressed his apprehensions of the 

 result. They were but too soon verified. One day 

 Pisistratus appeared in the market-place, with sever- 

 al slight wounds, which he had inflicted on himself, 

 and called upon his fellow-citizens to protect him 

 against certain alleged enemies, who had, as he said, 

 attacked his life on account of his adherence to the 

 democracy. An assembly of the people was immedi- 

 ately summoned, in which one of his friends proposed 

 that a guard should be given him for the security of 

 his person. This proposal was approved, notwith- 

 standing the opposition of Solon. A body-guard, by 

 the aid of which he possessed himself of the citadel 

 of Athens, was given him. He disarmed the multi- 

 tude, and was now master of the city, while Solon 

 departed from his enslaved country (560 B. C.) But, 

 though Pisistratus, by the manner in which he obtain 



