It is universally known, and notoriously so, that the country of Italy has long been riven by an old and diabolical custom inspired, as many Italians believe, by the devil himself as a punishment sent by Our Lord for the many and horrible sins that beset certain of their countrymen and certain regions of the country; after all, as Holy Scripture tells us, sometimes the many are punished for the sins of the few. This perverse custom, the origin and true beginning, and the first cause of which no-one can explain, although some claim to do so, is so deep-rooted and entrenched that every town, and indeed the country as a whole, is poisoned and corrupted by it. [178] This accursed affliction leads to a universal destruction through a spilling of blood that has gone on between them for so long that no-one can remember a time of peace. And this plague is such that chiefly in the many notable cities, which could be as fine and prosperous as any in the world were they at peace, the citizens are at mortal enmity one with another, neighbour with neighbour, divided into two groups, one called the Guelphs, the other the Ghibellines; the different factions do not invade each other's territory, do not claim sovereignty over each other, but simply say: ‘You are of the Guelph clan, I am of the Ghibelline; our ancestors hated each other, and so shall we.’ For this reason alone, day by day, the factions kill and maim each other like dogs, the sons following the fathers. And so, from generation to generation, the curse continues, nor can any justice bring healing, for those who uphold this custom would absolutely refuse that in such a case justice be invoked.