The especial veneration for the four crowned martyrs seems to point to their Roman origin, and to specify the reason why the remnant of the particular _Collegium_ to which they belonged fled from Rome, and took refuge in the safe little republic of Como, so that it was not only the Goths and Vandals from whom they fled. It explains also the intense religion in their work, and rules; the very first principles of which were to respect G.o.d's name, and do all to His glory.

It need not excite wonder that any guild should have fled from Rome in these centuries. This was the time that Gregory the Great, painted so graphically in his pa.s.sionate Homily of Ezechiel, preached at Rome.

"Everywhere see we mourning, hear we laments; cities, strongholds, villages are devastated; the earth is a desert. No busy peasants are in the fields, few people in the cities, and these last relics of human kind daily suffer new wounds. There is no end to the scourging of G.o.d's judgment.... We see some carried into slavery, others cruelly mutilated, and yet more killed. What joy, oh my brethren, is left to us in life? If it is still dear to us we must look for wounds, and not for pleasures. Behold Rome, once Queen of the world, to what is she reduced?--prostrated by the sorrows and desolation of her citizens, by the fierceness of her enemies and frequent ruin, the prophecy against Samaria has been fulfilled in her. Here no longer have we a senate; the people are perished, save the few who still suffer daily. Rome is empty, and has barely escaped the flames; her buildings are thrown down. The fate of Nineveh is already upon her...."[14]

The Longobard invaders were more merciful than the Goths, for not long after their rule was over, another Pope wrote to Pepin--"Erat sanae hoc mirabile in regno Longobardorum, nulla erat violenta nulla struebantur insidiae. Nemo aliquem iniuste angariabat, nemo spoliabat. Non erat furta, non latrocinia, unusquisque quodlibebat securus sine timore pergebat."--_Histor. Franc. Scrip._ Tom. III. cap. xvi.

Whatever the moving cause, the fact remains that in the Middle Ages the Comacine Masters had a nucleus on that strong little fortified island of Comacina, which, together with Como itself, stood against the Lombards in the sixth century for twenty years before being subjugated; and in the twelfth, held its own independence for a quarter of a century against Milan and the Lombard League, which it refused to join.

When at length the Longobards became their rulers, they respected their art and privileges. The guild remained free as it had been before, and in this freedom its power must have increased fast.

The Masters worked liberally for their new lords, but it was as paid architects, not as serfs. As a proof we may cite an edict signed by King Luitprand on February 28, 713. It is ent.i.tled _Memoratorio_, and is published by Troya in his _Codex Diplomaticus Longobardus_.

It fixes the prices of every kind of building. Here are the t.i.tles of the seven clauses, referring to the payments of the _Magistri Comacini_: _De Mercede Comacinorum_--

CLVII. Capit. i. De Sala. "Si sala fecerit, etc."

CLVIII. Capit. ii. De Muro. "Si vero murum fecerit qui usque ad pedem unum sit grossus ... c.u.m axes clauserit et opera gallica fecerit ...

si arc.u.m volserit, etc."

Capit. iii. De annonam Comacinorum.

CLIX. Capit. iv. De opera.

CLX. Similiter romanense si fecerit, sic repotet sicut gallica opera.

Capit. v. De Caminata.

CLXI. Capit. vi. De marmorariis.

CLXII. Si quis axes marmoreas fecerit ... et si columnas fecerit de pedes quaternos aut quinos ...

Capit. vii. De furnum.

CLXIII. Capit. viii. De Puteum. Si quis puteum fecerit ad pedes centum.[15]

The Longobard rule explains why the Comacine Masters of the thirteenth century were known as Lombards, and the architecture of that time as the "Lombard style." In the same way they were called _Franchi_ when Charlemagne was their king; and _Tedeschi_ when the German dynasty conquered North Italy; if indeed the words _artefici Franchi_ do not merely signify Freemasons, which I strongly suspect is the true meaning.

To understand the connection of this guild of architects with little Como we must glance backwards at the state of that province under the Romans, when it was a colony ruled by a prefect. Junius Brutus himself was one of these rulers, and Pliny the Younger a later one. At this time Como was a large and flourishing city. It had in Caesar's time a theatre whose ruins were found near S. Fedele; a gymnasium for the games, which was near the present church of Santa Chiara. A doc.u.ment dated 1500 speaks of the Arena of Como as then still existing. The _campus martius_ was at S. Carpoforo, where several Roman inscriptions, urns, and medals were found. This valuable collection of Latin inscriptions, found in and about Como, proves the successive rule of emperors, prefects, military tribunes, naval prefects, Decurions, etc. We have records also of Senators, Decemviri, and other munic.i.p.al magistrates. The inscriptions also show that there were temples to Jove, Neptune, the _Dea Bona_, the Manes, the _Dea Mater_, Silva.n.u.s, aesculapius, Mars, Diana, Hygeia, and even Isis.

Some Cippi are dedicated to Mercury and Hercules; and one found near S. Maria di Nullate was inscribed by order of the Comacines to _Fortuna Obsequente_, "for the health of the citizens." To this day a _Prato Pagano_ (pagan field) exists near Como. All these proofs, together with Pliny's testimony, go to show that Como was in Roman times an important centre, and as such was likely to have its own _Collegia_ or trade guilds, to one of which probably Pliny's builder, Mustio, belonged, and to which the Roman refugees naturally fled as brethren.

Pliny the Younger at that time lived at Como, in his delightful villa, _Comedia_. In his grounds, on a high hill, were the ruins of the temple of the Eleusinian Ceres, and he determined to restore this temple, as devotees flocked there during the Ides of September, and had no refuge from sun or rain.[16] His letter to "Mustio," a Comacine architect, gives the commission for this restoration, and after explaining the form he wished the design to take, he concludes--"At least unless you think of something better, you, whose art can always overcome difficulties of position." For Pliny, fresh from Rome, to give such praise to an architect at Como, shows that even at that time good masters existed there.

Another letter of Pliny's (Lib. X. Epist. xlii.) speaks of the villa of his friend Caninus Rufus, on the same lake, with its beautiful porticoes and baths, etc., and of the many other villas, palaces, temples, forums, etc., which embellished Como and its neighbourhood.

Catullus lived here when the poet Caecilius, whose works have now perished, invited him to leave the hills of Como, and the sh.o.r.es of Lario, to join him in Verona.

Pliny seems to confirm the existence of guilds,[17] as he speaks of the inst.i.tution of a _Collegium_ of iron-workers, who wished to be patented by the Emperor, but Trajan refused to form new guilds, for fear of the _Hetaeriae_ or factions which might infiltrate into them.

Mommsen, in his work _De Collegiis et Sodalitiis Romanorum_, says that under the emperors no guild was allowed to hold meetings, except by special laws, yet though new companies were not to be formed, the existing ones of architects and artisans were permitted to continue after public liberty was lost. Several doc.u.ments prove that the chief scope of these unions was to promote the interests of their art, to provide mutual a.s.sistance in the time of need, to succour the sick and poor, and to bury the dead.

The trade guilds in London, the _Arti_ in Florence, and the town clubs kept up in England till lately, seem to be all survivals of these ancient cla.s.sical societies.

Besides the Builders' Society, Como had, in Roman times, a nautical guild. An inscription is extant, dedicated to C. Messius Fortunatus by the _Collegium nautarum Comensium_. This guild sent twenty ships of war to Venice in Barbarossa's time.

But besides having privileged societies, Como and its Comacine islands were a privileged territory, and might almost have been called a republic. We have, it is true, no doc.u.mentary evidence of this dating back to pre-Longobardic times, but as Otho in 962[18] confirmed the islands in all former privileges granted by his predecessors on the Imperial throne, we may fairly suppose the privileges dated from times far anterior to himself.

This is an anglicized version of his decree, which was granted on the pet.i.tion of the Empress Adelaide--

"In the name of the Holy and indivisible Trinity, Otho, by the will of G.o.d, august Emperor. If we incline to the demands of our faithful people, much more should we lend our ear to the prayers of our beloved consort. Know then, all ye faithful subjects of the Holy Church of G.o.d, present and future, that the august Empress Adelaide, our wife, invokes our clemency, that for her sake we receive under our protection the inhabitants of the Comacine islands, and surrounding places known as Menasie (_sic_), and we confirm all the privileges which they have enjoyed under our predecessors, and under ourselves before we were anointed Emperor, viz. they shall not be called on for military service, nor have _arbergario_ (taxes on roads and bridges), nor pay _curatura_ (tax on beasts), _terratico_ (tax on land), _ripatico_ (on ships), or the _decimazione_ (tax on householders) of our kingdom, neither shall they be obliged to serve in our councils, except the general a.s.sembly at Milan, which they shall attend three times a year. All this we concede, etc. Given on the 8th before the calends of September, in the year of the Incarnation 962, first year of the reign of the most pious Otho."--_Indiction V. in Como._

The hypothesis that this decree refers to a long-existing liberty is confirmed by the history of Como in the time of Justinian I. Up to the middle of the sixth century a certain Imperial Governor of Insubria, named Francione, who had seen Rome sacked and his own state taken, fled to Comacina as a free place of refuge when Alboin invaded Italy.

He helped the Comacines to hold out against the barbarians for more than twenty years, and so secure was the place considered that the island was by Na.r.s.es and others made the depositary of infinite treasures. With him mult.i.tudes of Romans had taken refuge there, but finally even this fell into the hands of the Longobards. We are told that Autharis subjugated Istria, and after a six months' siege, possessed himself of the very strongly fortified island of Comacina on the lake of Como, where he found immense treasures, doubtless part of the traditional wealth ama.s.sed by Na.r.s.es, and which as well as much private property had been deposited here for security by the neighbouring peoples.[19]

Here then, four centuries before Otho's decree, we have Comacina as a place of refuge in troublous times, chosen because, being a free city, it was considered more safe than other towns. We need not then consider it improbable, if in the dark centuries when the Roman Empire was dying out, and its glorious temples and streets falling into ruin under the successive inroads of half-savage despoilers; when the arts and sciences were falling into disuse or being enslaved; and when no place was safe from persecution and warfare, the guild of the Architects should fly for safety to almost the only free spot in Italy; and here, though they could no longer practise their craft, they preserved the legendary knowledge and precepts which, as history implies, came down to them through Vitruvius from older sources, some say from Solomon's builders themselves.

Among the treasures must have been works of Greek and Roman art, that kept alive the old spirit among the guild of builders gathered there; but alas! after the long generations when art was decaying, and uncalled for, their hands lost their skill, they could no longer reproduce the perfect works.

It was here the Longobards found them, and in their new Christian zeal soon furnished them with work enough.

LONGOBARD KINGS

568. Alboin conquers Italy; he was poisoned by his wife Rosamund for compelling her to drink out of her father's skull.

573. Cleoph (a.s.sa.s.sinated).

575. Autharis (poisoned).

591. Agilulf.

615. Adaloald. He was poisoned.

625. Ariold.

636. Rotharis. He married Ariold's widow, and published a code of laws.

652. Rodoald (son), a.s.sa.s.sinated.

653. Aribert (uncle).

661. Bertharis and G.o.debert (sons); dethroned by--

662. Grimoald, Duke of Beneventum.

671. Bertharis (re-established).

686. Cunibert (son).

700. Luitbert; dethroned by--