478 THE DECLINE AND FALL artifice ; but it may be questioned whether the instant ex- plosion of Palermo were the effect of accident or design. On the vigil of Easter, a procession of the disarmed citizens visited a church without the walls ; and a noble damsel was rudely insulted by a French soldier.^* The ravisher was in- stantly punished with death ; and, if the people was at first scattered by a military force, their numbers and fury prevailed : The Sicilian the conspirutors seized the opportunity ; the flame spread over ^y^rct 30 the island ; and eight thousand French were exterminated in a promiscuous massacre, which has obtained the name of the Sicilian Vespers. ^^ From every city the banners of freedom and the church were displayed ; the revolt was inspired by the presence or the soul of Procida ; and Peter of Arragon, who sailed from the African coast to Palermo, was saluted as the king and saviour of the isle. By the rebellion of a people on whom he had so long trampled with impunity, Charles was astonished and confounded ; and in the first agony of grief and devotion he was heard to exclaim, " O God ! if thou hast decreed to humble me, grant me at least a gentle and gradual descent from the pinnacle of greatness ". His fleet and army, which already filled the sea-ports of Italy, were hastily recalled from the service of the Grecian war ; and the situation of Messina exposed that town to the first storm of his revenge. Feeble in themselves, and yet hopeless of foreign succour, the citizens would have repented and submitted, on the assurance of full pardon and their ancient privileges. But the pride of the monarch was already rekindled ; and the most fervent in- treaties of the legate could extort no more than a promise, that he would forgive the remainder, after a chosen list of eight hundred rebels had been yielded to his discretion. The de- spair of the Messinese renewed their courage ; Peter of Arragon approached to their relief ; ^^ and his rival was driven ^ After enumerating the sufferings of his country, Nicholas Specialis adds, in the true spirit of Italian jealousy, ijux omnia et graviora quidem, ut arbitror, patienti animo Siculi tolerassent, nisi (quod primum cunctis dominantibus caven- dum est) alienas fasminas invasissent (1. i. c. 2, p. 9:24). 5' The French were long taught to remember this bloody lesson : " If I am provoked," said Henry the Fourth, " I will breakfast at Milan, and dine at Naples". "Your Majesty," replied the Spanish ambassador, "may perhaps arrive in Sicily for vespers." 5 This revolt, with the subsequent victory, are related by two national writers, Bartholemy a Neocastro (in Muratori, tom. xiii. [and in Del Re, Cronisti e scrittori, vol. 2]) and Nicholas Specialis (in Muratori, tom. x. ), the one a contem- porary, the other of the next century. The patriot Specialis disclaims the name
