Such, briefly, was the condition of Italy in the early part of the sixteenth century, in which she lost that preëminence and reputation under which she had hitherto flourished. It is necessary to study this period, because it was then that Europe initiated the great work of her civil renovation, while in Italy there was desperate strife between dying liberties and rising tyrannies. Two hostile forces were wrestling together and shaking men’s souls; the regal and foreign dominion supported by the nobles, and the generous pride of citizens making heroic sacrifices to remain a people. Charles V. turned the trembling balance. Only in that age could have risen the company of Jesus, who did not, like the monks, constitute a democracy but an absolute monarchy such as Cæsar was founding on the ruins of our communes. The disciples of Loyola and the nobles were the sole supporters of the Austro-Spanish power, and they showed a common solicitude to strengthen the principles of despotic government. CHAPTER III. ANDREA DORIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF GENOA. The Nobles and the People--Andrea Doria and his first enterprises--How he abandoned France, and went over to the Emperor--Accusations and opinions with regard to his motives--The laws of the _Union_ destroyed the popular, and created the aristocratic Government--The objects of Doria in contrast with those of the Genoese Government and the Italian Republics--The lieutenants of Andrea and his naval forces--Popular movements arrested by bloody vengeance. WE turn with painful recollections from the conditions of Italy to that of the Genoese Republic. Our annals offer us only vicissitudes of intestine divisions and wars, in which, however, there were heroic achievements that have rendered the Republic illustrious.