Page:Valperga (1823) Shelley Vol 1.djvu/167

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Ch. VIII.]
VALPERGA.
157

CHAPTER VIII.

Death of the Emperor.—Uguccione, tyrant of Pisa, restores Castruccio at Lucca.—Euthanasia.

Quitting Cremona, Henry engaged himself in the siege of Brescia, which made a gallant resistance, and yielded only on honourable conditions, in the month of September. Castruccio served under the emperor during this siege; but his nature was shocked by the want of faith and cruelty of this monarch, who punished his enemies by the most frightful tortures, and treated his friends as if they had been his enemies. Castruccio therefore resolved to separate himself from the Imperial army; and, when Henry quitted Lombardy for Genoa, he remained with his friend, Galeazzo Visconti.

The petty wars of Lombardy could only interest those engaged in them; and all eyes were