STONES OF CRIMES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2399, 22 February 1900, Page 54

STONES OF CRIMES.

_ $ (An Exliact from "Old Gcnci','" in the

Antiqtuu'2

Sonic stones of Genoa tell of tieachevy and crime, and as stones of infamy are, we believe, peculiar to Genoa. They belong to later and more degenerate times than those of the noble Dorias and ..heir victories. Here is one inscription on a pillar in the Via 'del Camjio: — "hi infamous memory of Julius" Cw-jiir Vacehero, most abandoned, of men, who," foi having consyired ftgjunst the Republic* witb^hia head

cut oii. wiUi hi-; gotds confiscated, w'lli his sons ban>hed, and with his hou.->e destroyed, expiated hi* well-en med punishrnsnt in tho ye.n- of grace I62S.'' This ■\\icchcro, a mm of low biitli, but wealthy, a'-pned to high dignity in the town, oncl plotted to betray the place to Charles Kmrnjiiuel. of Savoy, and to massacre the Doge and lending noble.?. He has his rev.cud, as the above inscription plainly sLow-j. Here i«s another stone af infamy: — "To John Paul i>albi, worst of men. a vile assassin, o clipper of good coin and an utterer of fdUe, a notorious thief and an infamous pxtortione* of tribute, declared a State traitor for conspiring against the Republic, his property confiscated, his sons proscribed, he himself condemned to the halter, this stone has bean raised to bis eternal shanifc in the year 1650." This Balbi was engaged in a plot to bstray the town to the French in tie time of Mazirin. Although hi,s plot v. as discovered, he contrived to effect his escape, and spared the labotu.s of the hangmo n. The third .-stone tells of "Raphael della. Torre, a despoilei by every artifice of other m / JTl ' s . g°°d s - a vile murderer, an associate of thieves, a pirate in his own waters, a, traitor ond an enemy to the State, who incurred for plotting the ruin of the Republic punishments less great than his crimes, was sentenced to be twice hanged, to have his property confiscated, his sons banished, and his houses destroyed. Through this' lasting mon-.imcnt of infamy may his name be loathsome Year of "our Loid 1672." With there remarkable memorials of the enemies to her State, we must take leave of Genoa for a while. We have seen something of hoi early gloried, her troubles and vicissitudes. There is still much to tell of her commercial greatness, her various forms of government, her Doges, her Pr.de-stas, and the changes which recent times have wrought. «ut such records would require volumes ; we have attempted only to* tell of a few of the inscriptions, monuments!, and buildings which Old Genoa contains, and to read the story which they cri YeV c us of her histoiy and ancient might. ' °