Chapter 8 - Page 2

the number of industrious individuals who were drawn together.
Pisa, too, on account of its unwholesome air, was never filled with
inhabitants, till the Saracens, having destroyed Genoa and rendered
her rivers unnavigable, caused the Genoese to migrate thither in vast
numbers, and thus render her populous and powerful. Where the use of
colonies is not adopted, conquered countries are held with great
difficulty; districts once uninhabited still remain so, and those
which populate quickly are not relieved. Hence it is that many places
of the world, and particularly in Italy, in comparison of ancient
times, have become deserts. This has wholly arisen and proceeded from
the negligence of princes, who have lost all appetite for true glory,
and of republics which no longer possess institutions that deserve
praise. In ancient times, by means of colonies, new cities frequently
arose, and those already begun were enlarged, as was the case with
Florence, which had its beginning from Fiesole, and its increase from
colonies.

It is exceedingly probable, as Dante and Giovanni Villani show, that
the city of Fiesole, being situate upon the summit of the mountain, in
order that her markets might be more frequented, and afford greater
accommodation for those who brought merchandise, would appoint the
place in which to told them, not upon the hill, but in the plain,
between the foot of the mountain and the river Arno. I imagine these
markets to have occasioned the first erections that were made in those
places, and to have induced merchants to wish for commodious
warehouses for the reception of their goods, and which, in time,
became substantial buildings. And afterward, when the Romans, having
conquered the Carthaginians, rendered Italy secure from foreign
invasion, these buildings would greatly increase; for men never endure
inconveniences unless some powerful necessity compels them. Thus,
although the fear of war induces a willingness to occupy places strong
and difficult of access, as soon as the cause of alarm is removed, men
gladly resort to more convenient and easily attainable localities.
Hence, the security to which the reputation of the Roman republic gave
birth, caused the inhabitants, having begun in the manner described,
to increase so much as to form a town, this was at first called the
Villa Arnina. After this occurred the civil wars between Marius and
Sylla; then those of Cæsar, and Pompey; and next those of the
murderers of Cæsar, and the parties who undertook to avenge his death.
Therefore, first by Sylla, and afterward by the three Roman citizens,
who, having avenged the death of Cæsar, divided the empire among
themselves, colonies were sent to Fiesole, which, either in part or in