THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 KNEBWORTH LIMITED EDITION 
 
 RIENZI 
 
 THE LAST OF THE ROMAN TRIBUNES 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD BULWER LYTTON 
 
 (LORD LYTTON J 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 
 BOSTON 
 
 ESTES AND LAURIAT 
 1891
 
 KNEBWORTH LIMITED EDITION. 
 Limited to One Thousand Copies 
 
 No, 595... 
 
 TYPOGRAPHY, ELECTROTYPING, AND 
 PRINTING BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 
 UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
 
 College 
 Library 
 
 ft/ 
 
 TO 
 
 ALESSANDRO MANZONI, 
 
 AS TO THE GENIUS OF THE PLACE, 
 
 ARE DEDICATED THESE FRUITS GATHERED 
 ON THE SOIL OF ITALIAN FICTION. 
 
 LONDON, December 1, 1835. 
 
 1C43331
 
 DEDICATION, 
 
 PREFIXED TO THE FIRST COLLECTED EDITION OF THE 
 AUTHOR'S WORKS IN 1840. 
 
 MY DEAR MOTHER, In inscribing with your beloved and honored name 
 this Collection of my Works, I could wish that the fruits of my manhood 
 were worthier of the tender and anxious pains bestowed upon my education 
 in youth. 
 
 Left yet young, and with no ordinary accomplishments and gifts, the sole 
 guardian of your sons, to them you devoted the best years of your useful and 
 spotless life ; and any success it be their fate to attain in the paths they have 
 severally chosen, would have its principal sweetness in the thought that such 
 success was the reward of one whose hand aided every struggle, and whose 
 heart sympathized in every care. 
 
 From your graceful and accomplished taste, I early learned that affection 
 for literature which has exercised so large an influence over the pursuits of 
 my life ; and you who were my first guide were my earliest critic. Do you re- 
 member the summer days, which seemed to me so short, when you repeated 
 to me those old ballads with which Percy revived the decaying spirit of our 
 national muse, or the smooth couplets of Pope, or those gentle and polished 
 verses with the composition of which you had beguiled your own earlier 
 leisure? It was those easy lessons, far more than the harsher rudiments 
 learned subsequently in schools, that taught me to admire and to imitate; 
 and in them I recognize the germ of the flowers, however perishable they be, 
 that I now bind up and lay upon a shrine hallowed by a thousand memories 
 of unspeakable affection. Happy, while I borrowed from your taste, could I 
 have found it not more difficult to imitate your virtues, your spirit of active 
 and extended benevolence, your cheerful piety, your considerate justice, your 
 kindly charity, and all the qualities that brighten a nature more free from the 
 thought of self than any it has been my lot to meet with. Never more than 
 at this moment did I wish that my writings were possessed of a merit which 
 might outlive my time, so that at least these lines might remain a record of 
 the excellence of the Mother and the gratitude of the Son. 
 
 E. L. B. 
 
 LONDON, January 6, 1840.
 
 PREFACE 
 TO THE FIRST EDITION OF RIENZL 
 
 I BEGAN this tale two years ago at Rome. On removing 
 to Naples I threw it aside for " The Last Days of Pompeii," 
 which required more than " Rienzi " the advantage of resi- 
 dence within reach of the scenes described. The fate of the 
 Roman Tribune continued, however, to haunt and impress 
 me, and some time after " Pompeii " was published, I re- 
 newed my earlier undertaking. I regarded the completion^ 
 of these volumes, indeed, as a kind of duty ; for having had 
 occasion to read the original authorities from which mod- 
 ern historians have drawn their accounts of the life of 
 Rienzi, I was led to believe that a very remarkable man 
 had been superficially judged, and a very important period 
 crudely examined. 1 And this belief was sufficiently strong 
 to induce me at first to meditate a more serious work upon 
 the life and times of Rienzi. 2 Various reasons concurred 
 against this project, and I renounced the biography to com- 
 mence the fiction. I have still, however, adhered, with a 
 greater fidelity than is customary in Romance, to all the 
 leading events of the public life of the Roman Tribune ; 
 and the reader will perhaps find in these pages a more full 
 and detailed account of the rise and fall of Rienzi than in 
 
 1 See Appendix, Nos. I. and II. 
 
 2 I have adopted the termination of Rienzi instead of Rienzo, as being more 
 familiar to the general reader. But the latter is perhaps the more accurate 
 reading, since the name was a popular corruption from Lorenzo.
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 any English work of which I am aware. I have, it is true, 
 taken a view of his character different in some respects 
 from that of Gibbon or Sismondi. But it is a view, in all 
 its main features, which I believe (and think I could prove) 
 myself to be warranted in taking, not less by the facts of 
 History than the laws of Fiction. In the mean while, as I 
 have given the facts from which I have drawn my inter- 
 pretation of the principal agent, the reader has sufficient 
 data for his own judgment. In the picture of the Roman 
 Populace, as in that of the Roman Nobles of the fourteenth 
 century, I follow literally the descriptions left to us ; they 
 \ are not flattering, but they are faithful, likenesses. 
 
 Preserving generally the real chronology of Rienzi's life, 
 the plot of this work extends over a space of some years, 
 and embraces the variety of characters necessary to a true 
 delineation of events. The story, therefore, cannot have 
 precisely that order of interest found in fictions strictly 
 and genuinely dramatic, in which (to my judgment at 
 least) the time ought to be as limited as possible, and the 
 characters as few ; no new character of importance to the 
 catastrophe being admissible towards the end of the work. 
 ' If I may use the word " Epic " in its most modest and un- 
 assuming acceptation, this Fiction, in short, though indulg- 
 ing in dramatic situation, belongs, as a whole, rather to 
 x the Epic than the Dramatic school. 
 
 I cannot conclude without rendering the tribute of my 
 praise and homage to the versatile and gifted Author of 
 the beautiful Tragedy of Rienzi. Considering that our 
 hero be the same ; considering that we had the same 
 materials from which to choose our several stories, I 
 trust I shall be found to have little, if at all, trespassed 
 upon ground previously occupied. With the single excep- 
 tion of a love-intrigue between a relative of Rienzi and 
 one of the antagonist party, which makes the plot of Miss 
 Mitford's Tragedy, and is little more than an episode in my
 
 PREFACE. ix 
 
 Romance, having slight effect on the conduct and none on 
 the fate of the hero, I am not aware of any resemblance 
 between the two works ; and even this coincidence I could 
 easily have removed, had I deemed it the least advisable : 
 but it would be almost discreditable if I had nothing that 
 resembled a performance possessing so much it were an 
 honor to imitate. 
 
 In fact, the prodigal materials of the story, the rich and 
 exuberant complexities of Rienzi's character, joined to the 
 advantage possessed by the Novelist of embracing all 
 that the Dramatist must reject, 1 are sufficient to prevent 
 Dramatist and Novelist from interfering with each other. 
 
 LONDON, December 1, 1835. 
 
 1 Thus the slender space permitted to the Dramatist does not allow Miss 
 Mitford to be very faithful to facts, to distinguish between Rienzi's earlier 
 and his later period of power, or to detail the true but somewhat intricate 
 causes of his rise, his splendor, and his falL
 
 PREFACE 
 TO THE EDITION OF 1848. 
 
 FROM the time of its first appearance, " RIENZI " has had the 
 good fortune to rank high amongst my most popular works, 
 though its interest is rather drawn from a faithful narration 
 of historical facts than from the inventions of fancy. And 
 the success of this experiment confirms me in my belief 
 that the true mode of employing history in the service of 
 romance is to study diligently the materials as history, 
 conform to such views of the facts as the Author would 
 adopt if he related them in the dry character of historian, 
 and obtain that warmer interest which fiction bestows, by 
 tracing the causes of the facts in the characters and 
 emotions of the personages of the time. The events of his 
 work are thus already shaped to his hand, the characters 
 already created ; what remains for him is the inner, not 
 outer, history of man, the chronicle of the human heart ; 
 and it is by this that he introduces a new harmony between 
 character and event, and adds the completer solution of 
 what is actual and true, by those speculations of what is 
 natural and probable, which are out of the province of 
 history, but belong especially to the philosophy of romance. 
 And if it be permitted the tale-teller to come reverently for 
 instruction in his art to the mightiest teacher of all, who, 
 whether in the page or on the scene, would give to airy 
 fancies the breath and the form of life, such, we may 
 observe, is the lesson the humblest craftsman in historical
 
 Xil PREFACE. 
 
 romance may glean from the Historical Plays of Shaks- 
 peare. Necessarily, Shakspeare consulted history accord- 
 ing to the imperfect lights and from the popular authorities 
 of his age, and I do not say, therefore, that as an his- 
 torian we can rely upon Shakspeare as correct. But to that 
 in which he believed he rigidly adhered ; nor did he seek, 
 as lesser artists (such as Victor Hugo and his disciples) 
 seek now, to turn perforce the Historical into the Poetical, 
 but leaving history as he found it, to call forth from its 
 arid prose the flower of the latent poem. Nay, even in 
 the more imaginative plays which he has founded upon 
 novels and legends popular in his time, it is curious and 
 instructive to see how little he has altered the original 
 ground-work, taking for granted the main materials of 
 the story, and reserving all his matchless resources of wis- 
 dom and invention to illustrate from mental analysis the 
 creations whose outline he was content to borrow. He 
 receives, as a literal fact not to be altered, the somewhat 
 incredible assertion of the novelist that the pure and 
 delicate and high-born Venetian loves the swarthy Moor, 
 and that Romeo, fresh from his " woes for Rosaline," be- 
 comes suddenly enamoured of Juliet : he found the Im- 
 probable, and employed his art to make it truthful. 
 
 That " RIENZI " should have attracted peculiar attention 
 in Italy is of course to be attributed to the choice of the 
 subject rather than to the skill of the Author. It has been 
 translated into the Italian language by eminent writers ; 
 and the authorities for the new view of Rienzi's times and 
 character which the Author deemed himself warranted to 
 take, have been compared with his text by careful critics 
 and illustrious scholars in those States in which the work 
 has been permitted to circulate. 1 I may say, I trust with- 
 out unworthy pride, that the result has confirmed the 
 
 1 In the Papal States, I believe, it was, neither prudently nor effectually, 
 proscribed.
 
 PREFACE. xiii 
 
 accuracy of delineations which English readers, relying 
 only on the brilliant but disparaging account in Gibbon, 
 deemed too favorable, and has tended to restore the great 
 Tribune to his long-forgotten claims to the love and rever- 
 ence of the Italian land. Nor, if I may trust to the assur- 
 ances that have reached me from many now engaged in 
 the aim of political regeneration, has the effect of that re- 
 vival of the honors due to a national hero, leading to the 
 ennobling study of great examples, been wholly without 
 its influence upon the rising generation of Italian youth, 
 and thereby upon those stirring events which have recently 
 drawn the eyes of Europe to the men and the lands beyond 
 the Alps. 
 
 In preparing for the Press this edition of a work illus- 
 trative of the exertions of a Roman, in advance of his 
 time, for the political freedom of his country, and of those 
 struggles between contending principles of which Italy was 
 the most stirring field in the Middle Ages, it is not out 
 of place or season to add a few sober words, whether as 
 a student of the Italian past or as an observer with some 
 experience of the social elements of Italy as it now exists, 
 upon the state of affairs in that country. 
 
 It is nothing new to see the Papal Church in the capa- 
 city of a popular reformer, and in contra-position to the 
 despotic potentates of the several States, as well as to the 
 German Emperor, who nominally inherits the sceptre of 
 the Caesars. Such was its common character under its 
 more illustrious Pontiffs ; and the old Republics of Italy 
 grew up under the shadow of the Papal throne, harboring 
 ever two factions, the one for the Emperor, the other 
 for the Pope ; the latter the more naturally allied to Italian 
 independence. On the modern stage, we almost see the 
 repetition of many an ancient drama. But the past should 
 teach us to doubt the continuous and steadfast progress of 
 any single line of policy under a principality so constituted
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 as that of the Papal Church, a principality in which no 
 race can be perpetuated, in which no objects can be per- 
 manent, in which the successor is chosen by a select eccle- 
 siastical synod, under a variety of foreign as well as of 
 national influences, in which the chief usually ascends the 
 throne at an age that ill adapts his mind to the idea 
 of human progress and the active direction of mundane 
 affairs ; a principality in which the peculiar sanctity that 
 wraps the person of the Sovereign exonerates him from 
 the healthful liabilities of a power purely temporal, and 
 directly accountable to Man. A reforming Pope is a lucky 
 accident ; and dull indeed must be the brain which believes 
 in the possibility of a long succession of reforming Popes, 
 or which can regard as other than precarious and unstable 
 the discordant combination of a constitutional government 
 with an infallible head. 
 
 It is as true as it is trite that political freedom is not 
 the growth of a day ; it is not a flower without a stalk, 
 and it must gradually develop itself amidst the unfolding 
 leaves of kindred institutions. 
 
 In one respect the Austrian domination, fairly con- 
 sidered, has been beneficial to the States over which it 
 has been directly exercised, and may be even said to have 
 unconsciously schooled them to the capacity for freedom. 
 In those States the personal rights which depend on im- 
 partial and incorrupt administration of the law are in- 
 finitely more secure than in most of the Courts of Italy. 
 Bribery, which shamefully predominates in the judicature 
 of certain Principalities, is as unknown in the juridical 
 courts of Austrian Italy as in England. The Emperor 
 himself is often involved in legal disputes with a subject, 
 and justice is as free and as firm for the humblest suitor 
 as if his antagonist were his equal. Austria indeed but 
 holds together the motley and inharmonious members of 
 its vast domain on either side the Alps by a general
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 character of paternal mildness and forbearance in all that 
 great circle of good government which lies without the one 
 principle of constitutional liberty. It asks but of its sub- 
 jects to submit to be well governed, without agitating the 
 question "how and by what means that government is 
 carried on." For every man except the politician, the 
 innovator, Austria is no harsh stepmother. But it is ob- 
 viously clear that the better in other respects the adminis- 
 tration of a state, it does but foster the more the desire 
 for that political security which is only found in constitu- 
 tional freedom ; the reverence paid to personal rights but 
 begets the passion for political ; and under a mild despot- 
 ism are already half matured the germs of a popular con- 
 stitution. But it is still a grave question whether Italy is 
 ripe for self-government, and whether, were it possible that 
 the Austrian domination could be shaken off, the very pas- 
 sions so excited, the very bloodshed so poured forth, would 
 not ultimately place the larger portion of Italy under aus- 
 pices less favorable to the sure growth of freedom than 
 those which silently brighten under the sway of the Ger- 
 man Caesar. 
 
 The two kingdoms, at the opposite extremes of Italy, to 
 which circumstance and nature seem to assign the main 
 ascendency, are Naples and Sardinia. Looking to the for- 
 mer, it is impossible to discover on the face of the earth 
 a country more adapted for commercial prosperity. Nature 
 formed it as the garden of Europe and the mart of the 
 Mediterranean. Its soil and climate could unite the pro- 
 ducts of the East with those of the Western hemisphere. 
 The rich island of Sicily should be the great corn granary 
 of the modern nations as it was of the ancient; the figs, 
 the olives, the oranges of both the Sicilies, under skilful 
 cultivation, should equal the produce of Spain and the 
 Orient ; and the harbors of the kingdom (the keys to three 
 quarters of the globe) should be crowded with the sails and
 
 xvi PREFACE. 
 
 busy with the life of commerce. But in the character of 
 its population Naples has been invariably in the rear of 
 Italian progress; it caught but partial inspiration from the 
 free Republics, or even the wise Tyrannies, of the Middle 
 Ages ; the theatre of frequent revolutions without fruit ; 
 and all rational enthusiasm created by that insurrection 
 which has lately bestowed on Naples the boon of a repre- 
 sentative system, cannot but be tempered by the conviction 
 that of all the States in Italy, this is the one which least 
 warrants the belief of permanence to political freedom, or 
 of capacity to retain with vigor what may be seized by 
 passion. 1 
 
 Far otherwise is it with Sardinia. Many years since, the 
 writer of these pages ventured to predict that the time 
 must come when Sardinia would lead the van of Italian 
 civilization, and take proud place amongst the greater 
 nations of Europe. In the great portion of this population 
 there is visible the new blood of a young race. It is not, 
 as with other Italian States, a worn-out stock ; you do not 
 see there a people fallen, proud of the past, and lazy amidst 
 ruins, but a people rising, practical, industrious, active, 
 there, in a word, is an eager youth to be formed to mature 
 
 1 If the Electoral Chamber in the new Neapolitan Constitution give a fair 
 share of members to the island of Sicily, it will be rich in the inevitable ele- 
 ments of discord, and nothing save a wisdom and moderation which cannot 
 soberly be anticipated, can prevent the ultimate separation of the island from 
 the dominion of Naples. Nature has set the ocean between the two countries ; 
 but differences in character, and degree and quality of civilization, national 
 jealousies, historical memories, have trebled the space of the seas that roll 
 between them. More easy to unite under one free Parliament Spain with 
 Flanders, or re-annex to England its old domains of Aquitaine and Nor- 
 mandy, than to unite in one Council Chamber, truly popular, the passions, 
 interests, and prejudices of Sicily and Naples. Time will show. And now, 
 in May, 1849, Time has already shown the impracticability of the first scheme 
 proposed for cordial union between Naples and Sicily, and has rendered it 
 utterly impossible, by mutual recollections of hatred, bequeathed by a civil war 
 of singular barbarism, that Naples should permanently retain Sicily by any 
 other hold than the brute force of conquest.
 
 PREFACE. xvii 
 
 development, not a decrepit age to be restored to bloom 
 and muscle. Progress is the great characteristic of the 
 Sardinian state. Leave it for five years, visit it again, and 
 you behold improvement. When you enter the kingdom 
 and find, by the very skirts of its admirable roads, a raised 
 footpath for the passengers and travellers from town to 
 town, you become suddenly aware that you are in a land 
 where close attention to the humbler classes is within the 
 duties of a government. As you pass on from the more 
 purely Italian part of the population, from the Genoese 
 country into that of Piedmont, the difference between 
 a new people and an old, on which I have dwelt, becomes 
 visible in the improved cultivation of the soil, the better 
 habitations of the laborer, the neater aspect of the towns, 
 the greater activity in the thoroughfares. To the extra- 
 ordinary virtues of the King, as King, justice is scarcely 
 done, whether in England or abroad. Certainly, despite 
 his recent concessions, Charles Albert is not and cannot 
 be at heart much of a constitutional reformer ; and his 
 strong religious tendencies, which, perhaps unjustly, have 
 procured him in philosophical quarters the character of 
 a bigot, may link him, more than his political, with the 
 cause of the Father of his Church. But he is nobly and 
 pre-eminently national, careful of the prosperity and jeal- 
 ous of the honor of his own state, while conscientiously 
 desirous of the independence of Italy. His attention to 
 business is indefatigable. Nothing escapes his vigilance. 
 Over all departments of the kingdom is the eye of a man 
 ever anxious to improve. Already the silk manufactures 
 of Sardinia almost rival those of Lyons ; in their own de- 
 partments the tradesman of Turin exhibit an artistic ele- 
 gance and elaborate finish scarcely exceeded in the wares 
 of London and Paris. The King's internal regulations are 
 admirable, his laws administered with the most impartial 
 justice ; his forts and defences are in that order without
 
 xvni PREFACE. 
 
 which, at least on the Continent, no land is safe ; his army 
 is the most perfect in Italy. His wise genius extends itself 
 to the elegant as to the useful arts ; an encouragement that 
 shames England, and even France, is bestowed upon the 
 School for Painters, which has become one of the orna- 
 ments of his illustrious reign. The character of the main 
 part of the population, and the geographical position of 
 his country, assist the monarch, and must force on himself 
 or his successors in the career of improvement so signally 
 begun. In the character of the people, the vigor of the 
 Northman ennobles the ardor and fancy of the West. In 
 
 the position of the country, the public mind is brought into 
 constant communication with the new ideas in the free 
 lands of Europe. Civilization sets in direct currents towards 
 the streets and marts of Turin. Whatever the result oi 
 the present crisis in Italy, no power and no chance which 
 statesmen can predict can preclude Sardinia from ulti- 
 mately heading all that is best in Italy. The King may 
 improve his present position; or peculiar prejudices, in- 
 separable perhaps from the heritage of absolute monarchy, 
 and which the raw and rude councils of an Electoral 
 Chamber, newly called into life, must often irritate and 
 alarm, may check his own progress towards the master 
 throne of the Ausonian land. But the people themselves, 
 sooner or later, will do the work of the King. And in 
 now looking round Italy for a race worthy of Rienzi, and 
 able to accomplish his proud dreams, I see but one for 
 which the time is ripe or ripening, and I place the hopes 
 of Italy in the men of Piedmont and Sardinia. 
 
 LONDON, February 14, 1848.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 )3oo& I. 
 
 THE TIME, THE PLACE, AND THE MEN. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 The Brothers 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 An Historical Survey, not to be passed over, except by those who dislike 
 
 to understand what they read 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Brawl 18 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 An Adventure 27 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Description of a Conspirator, and the Dawn of the Conspiracy . . 41 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Irene in the Palace of Adrian de Castello 52 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Upon Love and Lovers 57 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Enthusiastic Man judged by the Discreet Man 60 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " When the People saw this Picture, every one marvelled " 64
 
 U CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Page 
 A Rough Spirit raised, which may hereafter rend the Wizard .... 68 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 Nina di Raselli 73 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 The Strange Adventures that befell Walter de Montreal 81 
 
 II. 
 
 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 The Knight of Provence, and his Proposal 89 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 The Interview, and the Doubt 102 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 The Situation of a Popular Patrician in Times of Popular Discontent. 
 
 Scene of the Lateran 107 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Ambitions Citizen, and the Ambitions Soldier 124 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Procession of the Barons. The Beginning of the End .... 136 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Conspirator becomes the Magistrate 139 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Looking after the Halter when the Mare is stolen 143 
 
 CHAPTER VUL 
 
 The Attack. The Retreat. The Election. And the Adhesion . . 145
 
 CONTENTS. xxi 
 
 III. 
 THE FREEDOM WITHOUT LAW. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 The Return of Walter de Montreal to his Fortress ........ 154 
 
 CHARTER II. 
 
 The Life of Love and War. The Messenger of Peace. The Joust . 159 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Conversation between the Roman and the Provenfal. Adeline's History. 
 The Moon-lit Sea. The Lute and the Song ....... 177 
 
 315oofe IV. 
 
 THE TRIUMPH AND THE POMP. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The Boy Angelo. The Dream of Nina fulfilled 191 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Blessing of a Councillor whose Interests and Heart are our own. 
 The Straws thrown upward. Do they portend a Storm 1 ... 205 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 The Actor unmasked 218 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Enemy's Camp 224 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Night and its Incidents 228 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Celebrated Citation 238 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 The Festival . . 242
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ROMAN FORUM GENERAL VIEW Frontispiece 
 
 INTERIOR OF ST. PAUL'S, WITHOUT THE WALLS 17 
 
 THE CAPITOL STATUES OF CASTOR AND POLLUX 26 
 
 INTERIOR OF THE COLONNA PALACE 41 
 
 THE FORUM TEMPLE OF CASTOR AND POLLUX 61 
 
 TARPEIAN ROCK 72 
 
 THE CUM^SAN SIBYL 77 
 
 THE COLOSSEUM 81 
 
 THEATRE OF MARCELLUS, PIAZZA MONTANARA 90 
 
 TRIUMPHAL ARCH OF SEPTIMUS SEVERUS 103 
 
 ST. JOHN OF LATERAN 110 
 
 INTERIOR OF ST. JOHN OF LATERAN 113 
 
 THE BALDACCHINO, HIGH ALTAU, AND CONFESSIO, CHURCH OF 
 
 ST. PETER 121 
 
 AQUEDUCT OF CLAUDIUS THE CAMPAGNA 125 
 
 HOUSE OF COLA DI RIENZI 129 
 
 TEMPLE OF FORTUNA VIRILIS 130 
 
 VlEW OF THE PRESENT CAPITOL 149 
 
 GATE OF ST. SEBASTIAN 154 
 
 TOMB OF CECILIA MATELLA APPIAN WAY 157 
 
 THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE 169 
 
 THE CAMPAGNA, SHOWING RUINED ARCHES OF THE AQUEDUCT OF 
 
 CLAUDIUS 190 
 
 PIAZZA DEL POPOLO 205 
 
 CLOISTER OF ST. JOHN OF LATERAN 224 
 
 PIAZZA OF ST. JOHN OF LATERAN AND THE LATERAN PALACE . 230 
 EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF MARCUS AURELIUS IN THE PIAZZA DEL 
 
 CAMPIDOGLIO. It stood until 1538 in the Piazza of the Lateran, 
 
 and was supposed to be a statue of the Emperor Constantino . . 242
 
 RIENZI : 
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 THE TIME, THE PLACE, AND THE MEN. 
 
 Fcr da sua gioventudine nutricato di latte di eloquenza, buono grammatico, 
 megliore rettorico, autorista buouo. . . . Oh, come spesso diceva, " Dove sono 
 questi buoni Romani? Dov'e loro somma giustizia? Poterommi trovare in 
 tempo che questi fioriscano? " Era bell 'omo. . . . Accadde che uno suo frate 
 f u ucciso e non ne f u fatta vendetta di sua morte ; non lo poteo aiutare ; pensa 
 lungo mano vendicare '1 sangue di suo frate ; pensa lunga mano dirizzare la 
 cittate di Roma male guidata. Vita di Cola di Rienzi (ed. 1828). Forli. 
 
 From his youth he was nourished with the milk of eloquence; a good 
 grammarian, a better rhetorician, well versed in the writings of authors. . . . 
 Oh, how often would he say, " Where are those good Romans? Where is 
 their supreme justice? Shall I ever behold such times as those in which they 
 nourished? " He was a handsome man. ... It happened that a brother of his 
 was slain, and no retribution was made for his death : he could not help him ; 
 long did he ponder how to avenge his brother's blood ; long did he ponder 
 how to direct the misguided state of Rome. Life of Cola di Rienzi. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BROTHERS. 
 
 THE celebrated name which forms the title to this work will 
 sufficiently apprise the reader that it is in the earlier half of 
 the fourteenth century that my story opens. 
 
 It was on a summer evening that two youths might be seen 
 walking beside the banks of the Tiber, not far from that part 
 of its winding course which sweeps by the base of Mount Aven- 
 tine. The path they had selected was remote and tranquil. 
 
 VOL. I. 1
 
 2 RIENZI : 
 
 It was only at a distance that were seen the scattered and 
 squalid houses that bordered the river, from amidst which 
 rose, dark and frequent, the high roof and enormous towers 
 which marked the fortified mansion of some Roman baron- 
 On one side of the river, behind the cottages of the fishermen, 
 soared Mount Janiculum, dark with massive foliage, from 
 which gleamed at frequent intervals the gray walls of many 
 a castellated palace, and the spires and columns of a hundred 
 churches ; on the other side, the deserted Aventine rose abrupt 
 and steep, covered with thick brushwood ; while on the height, 
 from concealed but numerous convents, rolled, not unmusically, 
 along the quiet landscape and the rippling waves, the sound 
 of the holy bell. 
 
 Of the young men introduced in this scene, the elder, who 
 might have somewhat passed his twentieth year, was of a tall 
 and even commanding stature ; and there was that in his 
 presence remarkable and almost noble, despite the homeliness 
 of his garb, which consisted of the long, loose gown and the 
 plain tunic, both of dark-gray serge, which distinguished, at 
 that time, the dress of the humbler scholars who frequented 
 the monasteries for such rude knowledge as then yielded a 
 scanty return for intense toil. His countenance was hand- 
 some, and would have been rather gay than thoughtful in its 
 expression, but for that vague and abstracted dreaminess of 
 eye which so usually denotes a propensity to revery and con- 
 templation, and betrays that the past or the future is more 
 congenial to the mind than the enjoyment and action of the 
 present hour. 
 
 The younger, who was yet a boy, had nothing striking in 
 his appearance or countenance, unless an expression of great 
 sweetness and gentleness could be so called; and there was 
 something almost feminine in the tender deference with which 
 he appeared to listen to his companion. His dress was that 
 usually worn by the humbler classes, though somewhat neater, 
 perhaps, and newer ; and the fond vanity of a mother might 
 be detected in the care with which the long and silky ringlets 
 had been smoothed and parted as they escaped from his cap 
 and flowed midway down his shoulders.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 3 
 
 As they thus sauntered on beside the whispering reeds of 
 the river, each with his arm round the form of his comrade, 
 there was a grace in the bearing, in the youth, and in the evi- 
 dent affection of the brothers for such their connection 
 which elevated the lowliness of their apparent condition. 
 
 "Dear brother," said the elder, "I cannot express to thee 
 how I enjoy these evening hours. To you alone I feel as if I 
 were not a mere visionary and idler when I talk of the uncer- 
 tain future, and build up my palaces of the air. Our parents 
 listen to me as if I were uttering fine things out of a book ; 
 and my dear mother Heaven bless her ! wipes her eyes 
 and says, ' Hark, what a scholar he is ! ' As for the monks, if 
 I ever dare look from my Livy and cry, ' Thus should Rome 
 be again!' they stare and gape and frown, as though I had 
 broached an heresy. But you, sweet brother, though you 
 share not my studies, sympathize so kindly with all their 
 results you seem so to approve my wild schemes, and to 
 encourage my ambitious hopes that sometimes I forget our 
 birth, our fortunes, and think and dare as if no blood save that 
 of the Teuton Emperor flowed through our veins." 
 
 "Methinks, dear Cola," said the younger brother, "that 
 Nature played us an unfair trick : to you she transmitted the 
 royal soul, derived from our father's parentage ; and to me only 
 the quiet and lowly spirit of my mother's humble lineage." 
 
 " Nay," answered Cola, quickly, " you would then have the 
 brighter share; for I should have but the Barbarian origin, 
 and you the Roman. Time was when to be a simple Roman 
 was to be nobler than a northern king. Well, well, we may 
 live to see great changes ! " 
 
 " I shall live to see thee a great man, and that will content 
 me," said the younger, smiling affectionately. " A great scholar 
 all confess you to be already; our mother predicts your for- 
 tunes every time she hears of your welcome visits to the 
 Colonna." 
 
 "The Colonna!" said Cola, with a bitter smile; "the Co- 
 lonna, the pedants ! They affect, dull souls, the knowledge 
 of the past, play the patron, and misquote Latin over their 
 cups ! They are pleased to welcome me at their board be-
 
 4 RIENZI : 
 
 cause the Roman doctors call me learned, and because Nature 
 gave me a wild wit, which to them is pleasanter than the stale 
 jests of a hired buffoon. Yes, they would advance my for- 
 tunes : but how ? By some place in the public offices, which 
 would fill a dishonored coffer; by wringing, yet more sternly, 
 the hard-earned coins from our famishing citizens ! If there 
 be a vile thing in the world, it is a plebeian advanced by patri- 
 cians, not for the purpose of righting his own order, but for 
 playing the pander to the worst interests of theirs. He who 
 is of the people but makes himself a traitor to his birth if he 
 furnishes the excuse for these tyrant hypocrites to lift up their 
 hands and cry : ' See what liberty exists in Koine when we, the 
 patricians, thus elevate a plebeian!' Did they ever elevate 
 a plebeian if he sympathized with plebeians? No, brother; 
 should I be lifted above our condition, I will be raised by the 
 arms of my countrymen, and not upon their necks." 
 
 " All I hope is, Cola, that you will not, in your zeal for your 
 fellow-citizens, forget how dear you are to us. No greatness 
 could ever reconcile me to the thought that it brought you 
 danger." 
 
 " And / could laugh at all danger if it led to greatness. But 
 greatness, greatness ! Vain dream ! Let us keep it for our 
 night sleep. Enough of my plans; now, dearest brother, of 
 yours." And with the sanguine and cheerful elasticity which 
 belonged to him, the young Cola, dismissing all wilder thoughts, 
 bent his mind to listen and to enter into the humbler projects 
 of his brother. The new boat and the holiday dress, and the 
 cot removed to a quarter more secure from the oppression of 
 the barons, and such distant pictures of love as a dark eye and 
 a merry lip conjure up to the vague sentiments of a boy ; to 
 schemes and aspirations of which such objects made the limit, 
 did the scholar listen, with a relaxed brow and a tender smile ; 
 and often, in later life, did that conversation occur to him 
 when he shrank from asking his own heart which ambition 
 was the wiser. 
 
 " And then," continued the younger brother, " by degrees I 
 might save enough to purchase such a vessel as that which we 
 now see, laden, doubtless, with corn and merchandise, bring-
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 5 
 
 ing, oh such, a good return, that I could fill your room with 
 books, and never hear you complain that you were not rich 
 enough to purchase some crumbling old monkish manuscript. 
 Ah, that would make me so happy ! " 
 
 Cola smiled as he pressed his brother closer to his breast. 
 "Dear boy," said he, "may it rather be mine to provide for 
 your wishes ! Yet methinks the masters of yon vessel have 
 no enviable possession ; see how anxiously the men look round 
 and behind and before ! Peaceful traders though they be, 
 they fear, it seems, even in this city (once the emporium of 
 the civilized world), some pirate in pursuit ; and ere the voyage 
 be over, they may find that pirate in a Eoman noble. Alas, to 
 what are we reduced ! " 
 
 The vessel thus referred to was speeding rapidly down the 
 river, and some three or four armed men on deck were indeed 
 intently surveying the quiet banks on either side, as if antici- 
 pating a foe. The bark soon, however, glided out of sight, 
 and the brothers fell back upon those themes which require 
 only the future for a text to become attractive to the young. 
 
 At length, as the evening darkened, they remembered that it 
 was past the usual hour in which they returned home, and they 
 began to retrace their steps. 
 
 " Stay ! " said Cola, abruptly. " How our talk has beguiled 
 me ! Father Uberto promised me a rare manuscript, which 
 the good friar confesses hath puzzled the whole convent. I 
 was to seek his cell for it this evening. Tarry here a few 
 minutes; it is but half-way up the Aventine. I shall soon 
 return." 
 
 " Can I not accompany you ? " 
 
 " Nay," returned Cola, with considerate kindness, " you have 
 borne toil all the day, and must be wearied; my labors of 
 the body, at least have been light enough. You are delicate, 
 too, and seem fatigued already : the rest will refresh you. I 
 shall not be long." 
 
 The boy acquiesced, though he rather wished to accompany 
 his brother ; but he was of a meek and yielding temper, and 
 seldom resisted the lightest command of those he loved. He 
 sat him down on a little bank by the river-side, and the firm
 
 6 RIENZI : 
 
 step and towering form of his brother were soon hid from his 
 gaze by the thick and melancholy foliage. 
 
 At first he sat very quietly, enjoying the cool air, and think- 
 ing over all the stories of ancient Rome that his brother had 
 told him in their walk. At length he recollected that his little 
 sister Irene had begged him to bring her home some flowers ; 
 and gathering such as he could find at hand (and many a 
 flower grew, wild and clustering, over that desolate spot), 
 he again seated himself, and began weaving them into one 
 of those garlands for which the Southern peasantry still 
 retain their ancient affection, and something of their classic 
 skill. 
 
 \Yhile the boy was thus engaged, the tramp of horses and 
 the loud shouting of men were heard at a distance. They 
 came near, and nearer. 
 
 " Some baron's procession, perhaps, returning from a feast," 
 thought the boy. "It will be a pretty sight, their white 
 plumes and scarlet mantles ! I love to see such sights, but I 
 will just move out of their way." 
 
 So, still mechanically platting his garland, but with eyes 
 turned towards the quarter of the expected procession, the 
 young Roman moved yet nearer towards the river. 
 
 Presently the train came in view, a gallant company, in 
 truth : horsemen in front, riding two abreast, where the path 
 permitted, their steeds caparisoned superbly, their plumes 
 waving gayly, and the gleam of their corselets glittering 
 through the shades of the dusky twilight. A large and mis- 
 cellaneous crowd, all armed, some with pikes and mail, others 
 with less warlike or worse-fashioned weapons, followed the 
 cavaliers ; and high above plume and pike floated the blood-red 
 banner of the Orsini, with the motto and device (in which was 
 ostentatiously displayed the Guelphic badge of the keys of St. 
 Peter) wrought in burnished gold. A momentary fear crossed 
 the boy's mind, for at that time and in that city a nobleman 
 begirt with his swordsmen was more dreaded than a wild beast 
 by the plebeians ; but it was already too late to fly, the train 
 were upon him. 
 
 " Ho, boy ! " cried the leader of the horsemen, Martino di
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 7 
 
 Porto, one of the great house of the Orsini, " hast thou seen a 
 boat pass up the river? But thou must have seen it: how 
 long since ? " 
 
 " I saw a large boat about half an hour ago," answered the 
 boy, terrified by the rough voice and imperious bearing of the 
 cavalier. 
 
 " Sailing right ahead, with a green flag at the stern ? " 
 
 " The same, noble sir." 
 
 " On, then ! We will stop her course ere the moon rise," 
 said the baron. " On ! Let the boy go with us, lest he prove 
 traitor and alarm the Colonna." 
 
 " An Orsini, an Orsini ! " shouted the multitude ; " on, on ! " 
 and despite the prayers and remonstrances of the boy, he was 
 placed in the thickest of the crowd, and borne, or rather 
 dragged, along with the rest, frightened, breathless, almost 
 weeping, with his poor little garland still hanging on his arm, 
 while a sling was thrust into his -unwilling hand. Still he felt, 
 through all his alarm, a kind of childish curiosity to see the 
 result of the pursuit. 
 
 By the loud and eager conversation of those about him he 
 learned that the vessel he had seen contained a supply of corn 
 destined to a fortress up the river held by the Colonna., then at 
 deadly feud with the Orsini; and it was the object of the 
 expedition in which the boy had been thus lucklessly entrained 
 to intercept the provision and divert it to the garrison of 
 Martino di Porto. This news somewhat increased his con- 
 sternation, for the boy belonged to a family that claimed the 
 patronage of the Colonna. 
 
 Anxiously and tearfully he looked with every moment up 
 the steep ascent of the Aventine ; but his guardian, his protec- 
 tor, still delayed his appearance. 
 
 They had now proceeded some way, when a winding in the 
 road brought suddenly before them the object of their pursuit, 
 as, seen by the light of the earliest stars, it scudded rapidly 
 down the stream. 
 
 "Now, the saints be blest!" quoth the chief, "she is 
 ours ! " 
 
 " Hold ! " said a captain (a German) riding next to Martino,
 
 8 RIENZI : 
 
 in a half whisper. "I hear sounds which I like not, by yon- 
 der trees hark! the neigh of a horse! By my faith, too, 
 there is the gleam of a corselet!" 
 
 " Push on, my masters ! " cried Martino. " The heron shall 
 not balk the eagle ; push on ! " 
 
 With renewed shouts, those on foot pushed forward till, as 
 they had nearly gained the copse referred to by the German, a 
 small compact body of horsemen, armed cap-a-pie, dashed from 
 amidst the trees, and with spears in their rests charged into 
 the ranks of the pursuers. 
 
 " A Colonna ! a Colonna ! " " An Orsini ! an Orsini ! " were 
 shouts loudly and fiercely interchanged. Martino di Porto, a 
 man of great bulk and ferocity, and his cavaliers, who were 
 chiefly German mercenaries, met the encounter unshaken. 
 " Beware the bear's hug," cried the Orsini, as down went his 
 antagonist, rider and steed, before his lance. 
 
 The contest was short and fierce ; the complete armor of the 
 horsemen protected them on either side from wounds. Not so 
 unscathed fared the half-armed foot-followers of the Orsini as 
 they pressed, each pushed on by the other, against the Colonna. 
 After a shower of stones and darts, which fell but as hailstones 
 against the thick mail of the horsemen, they closed in, and by 
 their number obstructed the movements of the steeds, while 
 the spear, sword, and battle-axe of their opponents made ruth- 
 less havoc amongst their undisciplined ranks. And Martino, 
 who cared little how many of his mere mob were butchered, 
 seeing that his foes were for the moment embarrassed by the 
 wild rush and gathering circle of his foot train (for the place 
 of conflict, though wider than the previous road, was confined 
 and narrow), made a sign to some of his horsemen, and was 
 about to ride forward towards the boat, now nearly out of sight, 
 when a bugle at some distance was answered by one of his 
 enemy at hand, and the shout of "Colonna to the rescue!" 
 was echoed afar off. A few moments brought in view a num- 
 erous train of horse at full speed, with the banners of the 
 Colonna waving gallantly in the front. 
 
 " A plague on the wizards ! who would have imagined they 
 had divined us so craftily ? " muttered Martino. " We must
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 9 
 
 not abide these odds ; " and the hand he had first raised for 
 advance now gave the signal of retreat. 
 
 Serried breast to breast and in complete order, the horsemen 
 of Martino turned to fly ; the foot rabble who had come for 
 spoil remained but for slaughter. They endeavored to imitate 
 their leaders ; but how could they all elude the rushing charg- 
 ers and sharp lances of their antagonists, whose blood was 
 heated by the affray, and who regarded the lives at their mercy 
 as a boy regards the wasp's nest he destroys. The crowd dis- 
 persed in all directions, some, indeed, escaped up the hills, 
 where the footing was impracticable to the horses ; some 
 plunged into the river and swam across to the opposite bank ; 
 those less cool or experienced, who fled right onwards, served, 
 by clogging the way of their enemy, to facilitate the flight of 
 their leaders, but fell themselves, corpse upon corpse, butchered 
 in the unrelenting and unresisted pursuit. 
 
 " No quarter to the ruffians ! Every Orsini slain is a robber 
 the less! Strike for God, the Emperor, and the Colonna!" 
 Such were the shouts which rang the knell of the dismayed 
 and falling fugitives. Among those who fled onward, in the 
 very path most accessible to the cavalry, was the young 
 brother of Cola, so innocently mixed with the affray. Fast he 
 fled, dizzy with terror, poor boy, scarce before ever parted 
 from his parents' or his brother's side ! The trees glided past 
 him, the banks receded; on he sped, and fast behind came 
 the tramp of the hoofs, the shouts, the curses, the fierce 
 laughter of the foe as they bounded over the dead and the 
 dying in their path. He was now at the spot in which his 
 brother had left him. Hastily he glanced behind, and saw 
 the couched lance and horrent crest of the horseman close at 
 his rear ; despairingly he looked up, and behold ! his brother 
 bursting through the tangled brakes that clothed the mountain, 
 and bounding to his succor. 
 
 " Save me, save me, brother ! " he shrieked aloud, and the 
 shriek reached Cola's ear. The snort of the fiery charger 
 breathed hot upon him ; a moment more, and with one wild, 
 shrill cry of " Mercy, mercy ! " he fell to the ground a corpse, 
 the lance of the pursuer passing through and through him,
 
 10 11IKNXI : 
 
 from back to breast, and nailing him on the very sod where 
 he had sat, full of young life and careless hope, not an 
 hour ago. 
 
 The horseman plucked forth his spear, and passed on in 
 pursuit of new victims, his comrades following. Cola had 
 descended, was on the spot, kneeling by his murdered brother. 
 Presently, to the sound of horn and trumpet, came by a nobler 
 company than most of those hitherto engaged, who had been, 
 indeed, but the advance-guard of the Colonna. At their head 
 rode a man in years, whose long white hair escaped from his 
 plumed cap and mingled with his venerable beard. " How is 
 this ? " said the chief, reining in his steed. " Young Kienzi ! " 
 
 The youth looked up as he heard that voice, and then flung 
 himself before the steed of the old noble, and, clasping his 
 hands, cried out in a scarce articulate tone : " It is my brother, 
 noble Stephen, a boy, a mere child ; the best, the mildest ! 
 See how his blood dabbles the grass ! Back, back, your horse's 
 hoofs are in the stream ! Justice, my lord, justice ! You are 
 a great man." 
 
 " Who slew him ? An Orsini, doubtless ; you shall have 
 justice." 
 
 " Thanks, thanks ! " murmured Eienzi, as he tottered once 
 more to his brother's side, turned the boy's face from the grass, 
 and strove wildly to feel the pulse of his heart ; he drew back 
 his hand hastily, for it was crimsoned with blood, and lifting 
 that hand on high, shrieked out again, "Justice ! justice ! " 
 
 The group round the old Stephen Colonna, hardened as they 
 were in such scenes, were affected by the sight. A handsome 
 boy, whose tears ran fast down his cheeks, and who rode his 
 palfrey close by the side of the Colonna, drew forth his sword. 
 " My lord," said he, half sobbing, " an Orsini only could have 
 butchered a harmless lad like this. Let us lose not a moment ; 
 let us on after the ruffians." 
 
 " No, Adrian, no ! " cried Stephen, laying his hand on the 
 boy's shoulder. " Your zeal is to be lauded, but we must be- 
 ware an ambush. Our men have ventured too far. What ho, 
 there ! Sound a return ! " 
 
 The bugles in a few minutes brought back the pursuers,
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUTES. 11 
 
 among them the horseman whose spear had been so fatally mis- 
 used. He was the leader of those engaged in the conflict with 
 Martino di Porto, and the gold wrought into his armor, with 
 the gorgeous trappings of his charger, betokened his rank. 
 
 "Thanks, my son, thanks," said the old Colonna to this 
 cavalier; "you have done well and bravely. But tell me, 
 knowest thou for thou hast an eagle eye which of the 
 Orsini slew this poor boy ? A foul deed ; his family, too, 
 our clients ! " 
 
 " Who, yon lad ? " replied the horseman, lifting the hel- 
 met from his head and wiping his heated brow. " Say you 
 so ? How came he, then, with Martino's rascals ? I fear 
 me the mistake hath cost him dear. I could but suppose him 
 of the Orsini rabble, and so and so " 
 
 " You slew him ! " cried Kienzi, in a voice of thunder, start- 
 ing from the ground. "Justice, then, my Lord Stephen; 
 justice ! You promised me justice, and I will have it ! " 
 
 "My poor youth," said the old man, compassionately, "you 
 should have had justice against the Orsini ; but see you not 
 this has been an error ? I do not wonder you are too grieved 
 to listen to reason now. We must make this up to you." 
 
 " And let this pay for masses for the boy's soul ; I grieve 
 me much for the accident," said the younger Colonna, flinging 
 down a purse of gold. " Ay, see us at the palace next week, 
 young Cola, next week! My father, we had best return 
 towards the boat; its safeguard may require us yet." 
 
 " Eight, Gianni ! Stay, some two of you, and see to the poor 
 lad's corpse. A grievous accident ; how could it chance ? " 
 
 The company passed back the way they came, two of the 
 common soldiers alone remaining, except the boy Adrian, who 
 lingered behind a few moments, striving to console Rienzi, 
 who, as one bereft of sense, remained motionless, gazing on 
 the proud array as it swept along, and muttering to himself, 
 " Justice, justice ! I will have it yet." 
 
 The loud voice of the elder Colonna summoned Adrian, 
 reluctantly and weeping, away. "Let me be your brother," 
 said the gallant boy, affectionately pressing the scholar's hand 
 to his heart ; " I want a brother like you."
 
 12 RIENZI : 
 
 Rienzi made no reply, he did not heed or hear him ; dark 
 and stern thoughts, thoughts in which were the germ of a 
 mighty revolution, were at his heart. He woke from them 
 with a start, as the soldiers were now arranging their bucklers 
 so as to make a kind of bier for the corpse, and then burst 
 into tears as he fiercely motioned them away, and clasped 
 the clay to his breast till he was literally soaked with the 
 oozing blood. 
 
 The poor child's garland had not dropped from his arm even 
 when he fell, and, entangled by his dress, it still clung around 
 him. It was a sight that recalled to Cola all the gentleness, 
 the kind heart, and winning graces of his only brother, his 
 only friend! It was a sight that seemed to make yet more 
 inhuman the untimely and unmerited fate of that innocent 
 boy. " My brother, my brother ! " groaned the survivor. " How 
 shall I meet our mother ? How shall I meet even night and 
 solitude again ? So young, so harmless ! See ye, sirs, he was 
 but too gentle ! And they will not give us justice because his 
 murderer was a noble and a Colonna. And this gold, too 
 gold for a brother's blood ! Will they not " and the young 
 man's eyes glared like fire "will they not give us justice ? 
 Time shall show ! " So saying, he bent his head over the 
 corpse, his lips muttered, as with some prayer or invocation, 
 and then rising, his face was as pale as the dead beside him ; 
 but it was no longer pale with grief! 
 
 From that bloody clay and that inward prayer, Cola di 
 Rienzi rose a new being. "With his young brother died his own 
 youth. But for that event, the future liberator of Rome might 
 have been but a dreamer, a scholar, a poet, the peaceful 
 rival of Petrarch; a man of thoughts, not deeds. But from 
 that time all his faculties, energies, fancies, genius, became 
 concentrated into a single point ; and patriotism, before a 
 vision, leapt into the life and vigor of a passion, lastingly 
 kindled, stubbornly hardened, and awfully consecrated, by 
 . revenge!
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AN HISTORICAL SURVEY, NOT TO BE PASSED OVER, EXCEPT BY 
 THOSE WHO DISLIKE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY READ. 
 
 YEARS had passed away, and the death of the Roman boy, 
 amidst more noble and less excusable slaughter, was soon 
 forgotten, forgotten almost by the parents of the slain, in 
 the growing fame and fortunes of their eldest son ; forgotten 
 and forgiven never by that son himself. But between that 
 prologue of blood and the political drama which ensues, 
 between the fading interest, as it were, of a dream, and the 
 more busy, actual, and continuous excitements of sterner 
 life, this may be the most fitting time to place before the 
 reader a short and rapid outline of the state and circumstances 
 of that city in which the principal scenes of this story are 
 laid : an outline necessary, perhaps, to many, for a full com- 
 prehension of the motives of the actors and the vicissitudes 
 of the plot. 
 
 Despite the miscellaneous and mongrel tribes that had forced 
 their settlements in the City of the Csesars, the Roman popu- 
 lation retained an inordinate notion of their own supremacy 
 over the rest of the world; and, degenerated from the iron 
 virtues of the Republic, possessed all the insolent and unruly 
 turbulence which characterized the Plebs of the ancient Forum. 
 Amongst a ferocious, yet not a brave populace, the nobles 
 supported themselves less as sagacious tyrants than as relent- 
 less banditti. The popes had struggled in vain against these 
 stubborn and stern patricians. Their state derided, their com- 
 mand defied, their persons publicly outraged, the pontiff- 
 sovereigns of the rest of Europe resided at the Vatican as 
 prisoners under terror of execution. When, thirty-eight years 
 before the date of the events we are about to witness, a French- 
 man, under the name of Clement V., had ascended the chair of 
 Saint Peter, the new Pope, with more prudence than valor,
 
 14 RIENZI: 
 
 hud deserted Rome for the tranquil retreat of Avignon; and 
 the luxurious town of a foreign province became the court of 
 the Roman pontiff and the throne of the Christian Church. 
 
 Thus deprived of even the nominal check of the papal 
 presence, the power of the nobles might be said to have no 
 limits save their own caprice or their mutual jealousies and 
 feuds. Though arrogating through fabulous genealogies their 
 descent from the ancient Romans, they were in reality, for the 
 most part, the sons of the bolder barbarians of the North ; and 
 contaminated by the craft of Italy, rather than imbued with 
 its national affections, they retained the disdain of their for- 
 eign ancestors for a conquered soil and a degenerate people. 
 While the rest of Italy, especially in Florence, in Venice, and 
 in Milan, was fast and far advancing beyond the other states 
 of Europe in civilization and in art, the Romans appeared 
 rather to recede than to improve, unblest by laws, un visited 
 by art, strangers at once to the chivalry of a warlike, and the 
 graces of a peaceful people. But they still possessed the sense 
 and desire of liberty, and by ferocious paroxysms and desper- 
 ate struggles sought to vindicate for their city the title it still 
 assumed of " the Metropolis of the World." For the last two 
 centuries they had known various revolutions, brief, often 
 bloody, and always unsuccessful. Still, there was the empty 
 pageant of a popular form of government. The thirteen 
 quarters of the city named each a chief ; and the assembly of 
 these magistrates, called Caporioni, by theory possessed an 
 authority they had neither the power nor the courage to exert. 
 Still there was the proud name of Senator ; but at the present 
 time the office was confined to one or to two persons, sometimes 
 elected by the Pope, sometimes by the nobles. The authority 
 attached to the name seems to have had no definite limit ; it 
 was that of a stern dictator or an indolent puppet, according 
 as he who held it had the power to enforce the dignity he 
 assumed. It was never conceded but to nobles, and it was by 
 the nobles that all the outrages were committed. Private 
 enmity alone was gratified whenever public justice was in- 
 voked ; and the vindication of order was but the execution 
 of revenge.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 15 
 
 Holding their palaces as the castles and fortresses of princes, 
 each asserting his own independency of all authority and law, 
 and planting fortifications and claiming principalities in the 
 patrimonial territories of the Church, the barons of Rome 
 made their state still more secure, and still more odious, by 
 the maintenance of troops of foreign (chiefly of German) 
 mercenaries, at once braver in disposition, more disciplined in 
 service, and more skilful in arms, than even the freest Italians 
 of that time. Thus they united the judicial and the military 
 force, not for the protection, but for the ruin of Rome. Of 
 these barons, the most powerful were the Orsini and Colonna ; 
 their feuds were hereditary and incessant, and every day 
 witnessed the fruits of their lawless warfare in bloodshed, in 
 rape, and in conflagration. The flattery or the friendship of 
 Petrarch, too credulously believed by modern historians, has 
 invested the Colonna, especially of the date now entered upon, 
 with an elegance and a dignity not their own. Outrage, fraud, 
 and assassination, a sordid avarice in securing lucrative offices 
 to themselves, an insolent oppression of their citizens, and the 
 most dastardly cringing to power superior to their own (with 
 but few exceptions), mark the character of the first family of 
 Rome. But wealthier than the rest of the barons, they were 
 therefore more luxurious, and perhaps more intellectual ; and 
 their pride was flattered in being patrons of those arts of 
 which they could never have become the professors. From 
 these multiplied oppressors the Roman citizens turned, with 
 fond and impatient regret, to their ignorant and dark notions 
 of departed liberty and greatness. They confounded the 
 times of the Empire with those of the Republic, and often 
 looked to the Teutonic king who obtained his election from 
 beyond the Alps, but his title of emperor from the Romans, as 
 the deserter of his legitimate trust and proper home ; vainly 
 imagining that if both the Emperor and the Pontiff fixed their 
 residence in Rome, Liberty and Law would again seek their 
 natural shelter beneath the resuscitated majesty of the Roman 
 people. 
 
 The absence of the Pope and the papal court served greatly 
 to impoverish the citizens; and they had suffered yet more
 
 16 RIENZI : 
 
 visibly by the depredations of hordes of robbers, numerous 
 and unsparing, who infested Romagna, obstructing all the 
 public ways, and were, sometimes secretly, sometimes openly, 
 protected by the barons, who often recruited their banditti 
 garrisons by banditti soldiers. 
 
 But besides the lesser and ignobler robbers, there had risen 
 in Italy a far more formidable description of freebooters. A 
 German, who assumed the lofty title of the Duke Werner, had, 
 a few years prior to the period we approach, enlisted and 
 organized a considerable force, styled " The Great Company," 
 with which he besieged cities and invaded states, without any 
 object less shameless than that of pillage. His example was 
 soon imitated ; numerous " Companies," similarly constituted, 
 devastated the distracted and divided land. They appeared, 
 suddenly raised, as if by magic, before the walls of a city, and 
 demanded immense sums as the purchase of peace. Neither 
 tyrant nor commonwealth maintained a force sufficient to 
 resist them ; and if other northern mercenaries were engaged 
 to oppose them, it was only to recruit the standards of the 
 freebooters with deserters. Mercenary fought not mercenary, 
 nor German German; and greater pay and more unbridled 
 rapine made the tents of the " Companies " far more attractive 
 than the regulated stipends of a city, or the dull fortress and 
 impoverished coffers of a chief. Werner, the most implacable 
 and ferocious of all these adventurers, and who had so openly 
 gloried in his enormities as to wear upon his breast a silver 
 plate engraved with the words " Enemy to God, to Pity, and 
 to Mercy," had not long since ravaged llomagna with fire and 
 sword. But, whether induced by money, or unable to control 
 the fierce spirits he had raised, he afterwards led the bulk of 
 his company back to Germany. Small detachments, however, 
 remained, scattered throughout the land, waiting only an able 
 leader once more to re-unite them. Amongst those who ap- 
 peared most fitted for that destiny was Walter de Montreal, a 
 Knight of St. John and gentleman of Provence, whose valor 
 and military genius had already, though yet young, raised his 
 name into dreaded celebrity, and whose ambition, experience, 
 and sagacity, relieved by certain chivalric and noble qualities,
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 17 
 
 were suited to enterprises far greater and more important than 
 the violent depredations of the atrocious Werner. From these 
 scourges no state had suffered more grievously than Rome. 
 The patrimonial territories of the Pope in part wrested from 
 him by petty tyrants, in part laid waste by these foreign 
 robbers yielded but a scanty supply to the necessities of 
 Clement VI., the most accomplished gentleman and the most 
 graceful voluptuary of his time ; and the good father had 
 devised a plan whereby to enrich at once the Romans and 
 their pontiff. 
 
 Nearly fifty years before the time we enter upon, in order 
 both to replenish the papal coffers and pacify the starving 
 Romans, Boniface VIII. had instituted the Festival of the 
 Jubilee, or Holy Year, in fact, a revival of a pagan cere- 
 monial. A plenary indulgence was promised to every Catholic 
 who in that year and in the first year of every succeeding cen- 
 tury should visit the churches of St. Peter and St Paul. An 
 immense concourse of pilgrims, from every part of Christen- 
 dom, had attested the wisdom of the invention; "and two 
 priests stood night and day, with rakes in their hands, to 
 collect without counting the heaps of gold and silver that were 
 poured on the altar of St. Paul." 1 
 
 It is not to be wondered at that this most lucrative festival 
 should, ere the next century was half expired, appear to a dis 
 creet pontiff to be too long postponed ; and both Pope and city 
 agreed in thinking it might well bear a less distant renewal. 
 Accordingly, Clement VI. had proclaimed, under the name of 
 the Mosaic Jubilee, a second Holy Year for 1350, namely, 
 three years distant from that date at which, in the next chap- 
 ter, my narrative will commence. This circumstance had a 
 great effect in whetting the popular indignation against the 
 barons, and preparing the events I shall relate ; for the roads 
 were, as I before said, infested by the banditti, the creatures 
 and allies of the barons. And if the roads were not cleared, 
 the pilgrims might not attend. It was the object of the 
 Pope's vicar, Raimond, bishop of Orvietto (bad politician and 
 good canonist), to seek, by every means, to remove all imped- 
 
 1 Gibbon, vol. xii. c. 59. 
 VOL. i. 2
 
 18 RIENZI : 
 
 iment between the offerings of devotion and the treasury of 
 Saint Peter. 
 
 Such, in brief, was the state of Rome at the period we are 
 about to examine. Her ancient mantle of renown still, in the 
 eyes of Italy and of Europe, cloaked her ruins. In name, at 
 least, she was still the queen of the earth ; and from her hands 
 came the crown of the Emperor of the North, and the keys of 
 the Father of the Church. Her situation was precisely that 
 which presented a vast and glittering triumph to bold ambi- 
 tion, an inspiring, if mournful, spectacle to determined patri- 
 otism, and a fitting stage for that more august tragedy which 
 seeks its incidents, selects its actors, and shapes its moral 
 amidst the vicissitudes and crimes of nations. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE BRAWL. 
 
 ON an evening in April, 1347, and in one of those wide 
 spaces in which Modern and Ancient Rome seemed blent to- 
 gether, equally desolate and equally in ruins, a miscella- 
 neous and indignant populace were assembled. That morning 
 the house of a Roman jeweller had been forcibly entered and 
 pillaged by the soldiers of Martino di Porto, with a daring 
 effrontery which surpassed even the ordinary license of the 
 barons. The sympathy and sensation throughout the city 
 were deep and ominous. 
 
 " Never will I submit to this tyranny ! " 
 
 "Nor I!" 
 
 "Nor I!" 
 
 " Nor, by the bones of Saint Peter, will 1 1 " 
 
 " And what, my friends, is this tyranny to which you will 
 not submit ? " said a young nobleman, addressing himself to 
 the crowd of citizens who, heated, angry, half-armed, and with 
 the vehement gestures of Italian passion, were now sweeping
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 19 
 
 down the long and narrow street that led to the gloomy quar- 
 ter occupied by the OrsinL 
 
 "Ah, my lord!" cried two or three of the citizens in a 
 breath, " you will right us ; you will see justice done to us ; 
 you are a Colonna ! " 
 
 " Ha, ha, ha ! " laughed scornfully one man of gigantic frame, 
 and wielding on high a huge hammer, indicative of his trade. 
 " Justice and Colonna ! Body of God, those names are not often 
 found together ! " 
 
 " Down with him ! Down with him ! He is an Orsinist, 
 down with him ! " cried at least ten of the throng ; but no hand 
 was raised against the giant. 
 
 " He speaks the truth," said a second voice, firmly. 
 
 "Ay, that doth he," said a third, knitting his brows and 
 unsheathing his knife, " and we will abide by it ! The Orsini 
 are tyrants, and the Colonnas are, at the best, as bad." 
 
 " Thou liest in thy teeth, ruffian ! " cried the young noble, 
 advancing into the press and confronting the last asperser of 
 the Colonna. 
 
 Before the flashing eye and menacing gesture of the cavalier, 
 the worthy brawler retreated some steps, so as to leave an open 
 space between the towering form of the smith and the small, 
 slender, but vigorous frame of the young noble. 
 
 Taught from their birth to despise the courage of the plebei- 
 ans, even while careless of much reputation as to their own, 
 the patricians of Eome were not unaccustomed to the rude 
 fellowship of these brawls ; nor was it unoften that the mere 
 presence of a noble sufficed to scatter whole crowds that had 
 the moment before been breathing vengeance against his order 
 and his house. 
 
 Waving his hand, therefore, to the smith, and utterly un- 
 heeding either his brandished weapon or his vast stature, the 
 young Adrian di Castello, a distant kinsman of the Colonna, 
 haughtily bade him give way. 
 
 " To your homes, friends ! And know," he added, with some 
 dignity, " that ye wrong us much if ye imagine we share the 
 evil-doings of the Orsini, or are pandering solely to our own 
 passions in the feud between their house and ours. May the
 
 20 RIENZI : 
 
 Holy Mother so judge me," continued he, devoutly lifting up 
 his eyes, "as I now with truth declare that it is for your 
 wrongs, and for the wrongs of Rome, that I have drawn this 
 sword against the Orsini ! " 
 
 " So say all the tyrants," rejoined the smith, hardily, as he 
 leant his hammer against a fragment of stone, some rem- 
 nant of ancient Rome, " they never fight against each other 
 but it is for our good. One Colonna cuts me the throat of 
 Orsini's baker it is for our good ! another Colonna seizes on 
 the daughter of Orsini's tailor it is for our good ! Our good, 
 yes, for the good of the people ; the good of the bakers and 
 tailors, eh ? " 
 
 " Fellow," said the young nobleman, gravely, " if a Colonna 
 did thus, he did wrong ; but the holiest cause may have bad 
 supporters." 
 
 " Yes, the Holy Church itself is propped on very indifferent 
 columns," answered the smith, in a rude witticism on the affec- 
 tion of the Pope for the Colonna. 
 
 " He blasphemes ! the smith blasphemes ! " cried the parti- 
 sans of that powerful house. " A Colonna, a Colonna ! " 
 
 " An Orsini, an Orsini ! " was no less promptly the counter- 
 cry. 
 
 " THE PEOPLE ! " shouted the smith, waving his formidable 
 weapon far above the heads of the group. 
 
 In an instant the whole throng, who had at first united 
 against the aggression of one man, were divided by the hered- 
 itary wrath of faction. At the cry of Orsini, several new par- 
 tisans hurried to the spot; the friends of the Colonna drew 
 themselves on one side, the defenders of the Orsini on the 
 other ; and the few who agreed with the smith that both fac- 
 tions were equally odious, and the people was the sole legi- 
 timate cry in a popular commotion, would have withdrawn 
 themselves from the approaching melee, if the smith himself, 
 who was looked upon by them as an authority of great influ- 
 ence, had not whether from resentment at the haughty 
 bearing of the young Colonna, or from that appetite of con- 
 test not uncommon in men of a bulk and force which assure 
 them in all personal affrays the lofty pleasure of superiority
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 21 
 
 if, I say, the smith himself had not, after a pause of indeci- 
 sion, retired among the Orsini, and entrained, by his example, 
 the alliance of his friends with the favorers of that faction. 
 
 In popular commotions each man is whirled along with the 
 herd, often half against his own approbation or assent. The 
 few words of peace by which Adrian di Castello commenced 
 an address to his friends were drowned amidst their shouts. 
 Proud to find in their ranks one of the most beloved and one 
 of the noblest of that name, the partisans of the Colonna 
 placed him in their front and charged impetuously on their 
 foes. Adrian, however, who had acquired from circumstances 
 something of that chivalrous code which he certainly could 
 not have owed to his Koman birth, disdained at first to assault 
 men among whom he recognized no equal either in rank or 
 the practice of arms. He contented himself with putting 
 aside the few strokes that were aimed at him in the gather- 
 ing confusion of the conflict, few ; for those who recognized 
 him, even amidst the bitterest partisans of the Orsini, were 
 not willing to expose themselves to the danger and odium of 
 spilling the blood of a man who, in addition to his great birth 
 and the terrible power of his connections, was possessed of 
 a personal popularity which he owed rather to a comparison 
 with the vices of his relatives than to any remarkable virtues 
 hitherto displayed by himself. The smith alone, who had as 
 yet taken no active part in the fray, seemed to gather himself 
 up in determined opposition as the cavalier now advanced 
 within a few steps of him. 
 
 " Did we not tell thee," quoth the giant, frowning, " that the 
 Colonna were, not less than the Orsini, the foes of the people ? 
 Look ' at thy followers and clients : are they not cutting the 
 throats of humble men by way of vengeance for the crime of 
 a great one ? But that is the way one patrician always scourges 
 the insolence of another. He lays the rod on the backs of the 
 people, and then cries, ' See how just I am ! ' " 
 
 " I do not answer thee now," answered Adrian ; " but if thou 
 regrettest with me this waste of blood, join with me in attempt- 
 ing to prevent it." 
 
 "I not I ! Let the blood of the slaves flow to-day ; the
 
 22 RIENZI : 
 
 time is fast coming when it shall be washed away by the blood 
 of the lords." 
 
 " Away, ruffian ! " said Adrian, seeking no further parley, 
 and touching the smith with the flat side of his sword. In an 
 instant the hammer of the smith swung in the air, and but for 
 the active spring of the young noble would infallibly have 
 crushed him to the earth. Ere the smith could gain time for a 
 second blow, Adrian's sword passed twice through his right 
 arm, and the weapon fell heavily to the ground. 
 
 "Slay him, slay him!" cried several of the clients of the 
 Colonna, now pressing, dastard-like, round the disarmed and 
 disabled smith. 
 
 " Ay, slay him ! " said, in tolerable Italian but with a bar- 
 barous accent, one man, half-clad in armor, who had but just 
 joined the group, and who was one of those wild German 
 bandits whom the Colonna held in their pay ; " he belongs to a 
 horrible gang of miscreants sworn against all order and peace. 
 He is one of Rienzi's followers, and, bless the Three Kings ! 
 raves about the People." 
 
 "Thou sayest right, barbarian," said the sturdy smith, in a 
 loud voice, and tearing aside the vest from his breast with his 
 left hand. " Come all, Colonna and Orsini, dig to this 
 heart with your sharp blades ; and when you have reached the 
 centre, you will find there the object of your common hatred, 
 ' Rienzi and the People ! ' " 
 
 As he uttered these words, in language that would have 
 seemed above his station if a certain glow and exaggeration 
 of phrase and sentiment were not common, when excited, to 
 all the Romans, the loudness of his voice rose above the noise 
 immediately round him, and stilled for an instant the general 
 din; and when, at last, the words "Rienzi and the People" 
 rang forth, they penetrated midway through the increasing 
 crowd, and were answered, as by an echo, with a hundred 
 voices, " Rienzi and the People ! " 
 
 But whatever impression the words of the mechanic made 
 on others, it was equally visible in the young Colonna. At the 
 name of Rienzi the glow of excitement vanished from his 
 cheek, he started back, muttered to himself, and for a moment
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 23 
 
 seemed, even in the midst of that stirring commotion, to be 
 lost in a moody and distant revery. He recovered as the shout 
 died away ; and saying to the smith, in a low tone, " Friend, I 
 am sorry for thy wound ; but seek me on the morrow, and thou 
 shalt find thou hast wronged me," he beckoned to the German 
 to follow him, and threaded his way through the crowd, which 
 generally gave back as he advanced. For the bitterest hatred 
 to the order of the nobles was at that time in Home mingled 
 with a servile respect for their persons and a mysterious awe 
 of their uncontrollable power. 
 
 As Adrian passed through that part of the crowd in which 
 the fray had not yet commenced, the murmurs that followed 
 him were not those which many of his race could have heard. 
 
 " A Colonna," said one. 
 
 " Yet no ravisher," said another, laughing wildly. 
 
 " Xor murderer," muttered a third, pressing his hand to his 
 breast. " ' T is not against him that my father's blood cries 
 aloud." 
 
 " Bless him ! " said a fourth ; " for as yet no man curses 
 him." 
 
 " Ah, God help us ! " said an old man with a long gray beard, 
 leaning on his staff. "The serpent's young yet; the fangs 
 will show by and by." 
 
 " For shame, father ! he is a comely youth and not proud in 
 the least. What a smile he hath ! " quoth a fair matron who 
 kept on the outskirt of the melee. 
 
 "Farewell to a man's honor when a noble smiles on his 
 wife ! " was the answer. 
 
 "Nay," said Luigi, a jolly butcher with a roguish eye, "what 
 a man can win fairly from maid or wife, that let him do, 
 whether plebeian or noble, that 's my morality ; but when an 
 ugly old patrician finds fair words will not win fair looks, and 
 carries me off a dame on the back of a German boar, with a 
 stab in the side for comfort to the spouse, then, I say, he is a 
 wicked man and an adulterer." 
 
 While such were the comments and the murmurs that fol- 
 lowed the noble, very different were the looks and words that 
 attended the German soldier.
 
 24 RIENZI : 
 
 Equally, nay, with even greater promptitude, did the crowd 
 make way at his armed and heavy tread ; but not with looks of 
 reverence. The eye glared as he approached, but the cheek 
 grew pale, the head bowed, the lip quivered ; each man felt a 
 shudder of hate and fear, as recognizing a dread and mortal 
 foe. And well and wrathfully did the fierce mercenary note 
 the signs of the general aversion. He pushed on rudely, half- 
 smiling in contempt, half-frowning in revenge, as he looked 
 from side to side ; and his long, matted light hair, tawny- 
 colored mustache, and brawny front contrasted strongly 
 with the dark eyes, raven locks, and slender frames of the 
 Italians. 
 
 " May Lucifer double damn those German cut-throats ! " 
 muttered, between his grinded teeth, one of the citizens. 
 
 " Amen ! " answered heartily another. 
 
 " Hush ! " said a third, timorously looking round ; " if one 
 of them hear thee thou art a lost man." 
 
 " Eome, Koine ! to what art thou fallen ! " said bitterly 
 one citizen, clothed in black and of a higher seeming than the 
 rest, " when thou shudderest in thy streets at the tread of a 
 hired barbarian ! " 
 
 " Hark to one of our learned men and rich citizens ! " said 
 the butcher, reverently. 
 
 " ' T is a friend of Rienzi," quoth another of the group, 
 lifting his cap. 
 
 With downcast eyes and a face in which grief, shame, and 
 wrath were visibly expressed, Pandulfo di Guido, a citizen of 
 birth and repute, swept slowly through the crowd and disap- 
 peared. 
 
 Meanwhile Adrian, having gained a street which, though in 
 the neighborhood of the crowd, was empty and desolate, turned 
 to his fierce comrade. " Rodolf," said he, " mark ! no violence 
 to the citizens. Return to the crowd, collect the friends of 
 our house, withdraw them from the scene : let not the Colonna 
 be blamed for this day's violence ; and assure our followers, in 
 my name, that I swear, by the knighthood I received at the 
 Emperor's hands, that by my sword shall Martino di Porto be 
 punished for his outrage. Fain would I in person allay the
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 25 
 
 tumult, but my presence only seems to sanction it. Go ; thou 
 hast weight with them all." 
 
 " Ay, Signor, the weight of blows ! " answered the grim 
 soldier. "But the command is hard; I would fain let their 
 puddle-blood flow an hour or two longer. Yet, pardon me : in 
 obeying thy orders, do I obey those of my master, thy kins- 
 man ? It is old Stephen Colonna, who seldom spares blood or 
 treasure, God bless him (save his own ! ), whose money I hold, 
 and to whose hests I am sworn." 
 
 " Diavolo ! " muttered the cavalier, and the angry spot was 
 on his cheek ; but with the habitual self-control of the Italian 
 nobles he smothered his rising choler, and said aloud, with 
 calmness but dignity, 
 
 " Do as I bid thee, check this tumult ; make us the for- 
 bearing party. Let all be still within one hour hence, and call 
 on me to-morrow for thy reward ; be this purse an earnest of 
 my future thanks. As for my kinsman, whom I command 
 thee to name more reverently, 'tis in his name I speak. 
 Hark ! the din increases, the contest swells ; go, lose not 
 another moment." 
 
 Somewhat awed by the quiet firmness of the patrician, 
 Kodolf nodded without answer, slid the money into his bosom, 
 and stalked away into the thickest of the throng. But even 
 ere he arrived, a sudden reaction had taken place. 
 
 The young cavalier, left alone in that spot, followed with 
 his eyes the receding form of the mercenary as the sun, now 
 setting, shone slant upon his glittering casque, and said bit- 
 terly to himself: "Unfortunate city, fountain of all mighty 
 memories, fallen queen of a thousand nations, how art thou 
 decrowned and spoiled by thy recreant and apostate children ! 
 Thy nobles divided against themselves, thy people cursing thy 
 nobles, thy priests, who should sow peace, planting discord, 
 the Father of thy Church deserting thy stately walls, his home 
 a refuge, his mitre a fief, his court a Gallic village ; and we, we 
 of the haughtiest blood of Rome, we, the sons of Caesars and 
 of the lineage of demigods, guarding an insolent and abhorred 
 state by the swords of hirelings who mock our cowardice while 
 ';hey receive our pay, who keep our citizens slaves, and lord it
 
 26 RIENZI : 
 
 over their very masters in return ! Oh that we, the heredi- 
 tary chiefs of Rome, could but feel, oh that we could but find, 
 our only legitimate safeguard in the grateful hearts of our 
 countrymen ! " 
 
 So deeply did the young Adrian feel the galling truth of all 
 he uttered, that the indignant tears rolled down his cheeks as 
 he spoke. He felt no shame as he dashed them away; for 
 that weakness which weeps for a fallen race is the tenderness, 
 not of women, but of angels. 
 
 As he turned slowly to quit the spot, his steps were sud- 
 denly arrested by a loud shout ; " Rienzi ! Rienzi ! " smote the 
 air. From the walls of the Capitol to the bed of the glittering 
 Tiber, that name echoed far and wide ; and as the shout died 
 away, it was swallowed up in a silence so profound, so univer- 
 sal, so breathless that you might have imagined that death 
 itself had fallen over the city. And now, at the extreme end 
 of the crowd, and elevated above their level, on vast frag- 
 ments of stone which had been dragged from the ruins of 
 Rome in one of the late frequent tumults between contending 
 factions, to serve as a barricade for citizens against citizens, 
 on these silent memorials of the past grandeur, the present 
 misery, of Rome, stood that extraordinary man, who above all 
 his race was the most penetrated with the glories of the one 
 time, with the degradation of the other. 
 
 From the distance at which he stood from the scene, Adrian 
 could only distinguish the dark outline of Rienzi's form ; he 
 could only hear the faint sound of his mighty voice ; he could 
 only perceive, in the subdued yet waving sea of human beings 
 that spread around, their heads bared in the last rays of the 
 sun, the unutterable effect which an eloquence, described by 
 contemporaries almost as miraculous, but in reality less so 
 from the genius of the man than the sympathy of the audience, 
 created in all who drank into their hearts and souls the 
 stream of its burning thoughts. 
 
 It was but for a short time that that form was visible to the 
 earnest eye, that that voice at intervals reached the straining 
 ear, of Adrian di Castello ; but that time sufficed to produce a!2 
 the effect which Adrian himself had desired.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 27 
 
 Another shout, more earnest, more prolonged than the first, 
 a shout in which spoke the release of swelling thoughts, of 
 intense excitement, betokened the close of the harangue ; 
 and then you might see, after a minute's pause, the crowd 
 breaking in all directions, and pouring down the avenues in 
 various knots and groups, each testifying the strong and 
 lasting impression made upon the multitude by that address. 
 Every cheek was flushed, every tongue spoke ; the animation 
 of the orator had passed like a living spirit into the breasts of 
 the audience. He had thundered against the disorders of the 
 patricians, yet by a word he had disarmed the anger of the 
 plebeians; he had preached freedom, yet he had opposed 
 license. He had calmed the present by a promise of the 
 future. He had chid their quarrels, yet had supported their 
 cause. He had mastered the revenge of to-day by a solemn 
 assurance that there should come justice for the morrow. So 
 great may be the power, so mighty the eloquence, so formida- 
 ble the genius, of one man, without arms, without rank, with- 
 out sword or ermine, who addresses himself to a people that 
 is oppressed! 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AN ADVENTURE. 
 
 AVOIDING the broken streams of the dispersed crowd, Adrian 
 Colonna strode rapidly down one of the narrow streets leading 
 to his palace, which was situated at no inconsiderable distance 
 from the place in which the late contest had occurred. The 
 education of his life made him feel a profound interest, not 
 only in the divisions and disputes of his country, but also in 
 the scene he had just witnessed, and the authority exercised 
 by Eienzi. 
 
 An orphan of a younger, but opulent branch of the Colonna, 
 Adrian had been brought up under the care and guardianship 
 of his kinsman, that astute, yet valiant Stephen Colonna, who
 
 28 RIENZI : 
 
 of all the nobles of Rome was the most powerful, alike from 
 the favor of the Pope and the number of armed hirelings whom 
 his wealth enabled him to maintain. Adrian had early mani- 
 fested what in that age was considered an extraordinary dis- 
 position towards intellectual pursuits, and had acquired much 
 of the little that was then known of the ancient language and 
 the ancient history of his country. 
 
 Though Adrian was but a boy at the time in which, first 
 presented to the reader, he witnessed the emotions of Hienzi 
 at the death of his brother, his kind heart had been penetrated 
 with sympathy for Cola's affliction, and shame for the apathy 
 of his kinsmen at the result of their own feuds. He had earn- 
 estly sought the friendship of Rienzi, and, despite his years, 
 had become aware of the power and energy of his character. 
 But though Eienzi, after a short time, had appeared to think 
 no more of his brother's death, though he again entered the 
 halls of the Colonna and shared their disdainful hospitalities, 
 he maintained a certain distance and reserve of manner, which 
 even Adrian could only partially overcome. He rejected every 
 offer of service, favor, or promotion ; and any unwonted proof 
 of kindness from Adrian seemed, instead of making him more 
 familiar, to offend him into colder distance. The easy humor 
 and conversational vivacity which had first rendered him a 
 welcome guest with those who passed their lives between fight- 
 ing and feasting, had changed into a vein ironical, cynical, 
 and severe. But the dull barons were equally amused at his 
 wit, and Adrian was almost the only one who detected the 
 serpent couched beneath the smile. 
 
 Often Eienzi sat at the feast silent, but observant, as if 
 watching every look, weighing every word, taking gauge and 
 measurement of the intellect, policy, temperament, of every 
 guest ; and when he had seemed to satisfy himself, his spirits 
 would rise, his words flow ; and while his dazzling but bitter 
 wit lit up the revel, none saw that the unmirthful flash was 
 the token of the coming storm. But all the while he neglected 
 no occasion to mix with the humbler citizens, to stir up their 
 minds, to inflame their imaginations, to kindle their emula- 
 tion, with pictures of the present and with legends of the
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 29 
 
 past. He grew in popularity and repute, and was yet more 
 in power with the herd, because in favor with the nobles. 
 Perhaps it was for that reason that he had continued the 
 guest of the Colonna. 
 
 When, six years before the present date, the Capitol of the 
 Caesars witnessed the triumph of Petrarch, the scholastic fame 
 of the young Rienzi had attracted the friendship of the poet, 
 a friendship that continued, with slight interruption, to the 
 last, through careers so widely different ; and afterwards, one 
 among the Roman deputies to Avignon, he had been conjoined 
 with Petrarch l to supplicate Clement VI. to remove the Holy 
 See from Avignon to Rome. It was in this mission that, for 
 the first time, he evinced his extraordinary powers of eloquence 
 and persuasion. The pontiff, indeed, more desirous of ease 
 than glory, was not convinced by the arguments, but he was 
 enchanted with the pleader; and Rienzi returned to Rome 
 loaded with honors, and clothed with the dignity of high and 
 responsible office. No longer the inactive scholar, the gay 
 companion, he rose at once to pre-eminence above all his fellow- 
 citizens. Never before had authority been borne with so aus- 
 tere an integrity, so uncorrupt a zeal. He had sought to 
 impregnate his colleagues with the same loftiness of princi- 
 ple ; he had failed. Now secure in his footing, he had begun 
 openly to appeal to the people; and already a new spirit 
 seemed to animate the populace of Rome. 
 
 While these were the fortunes of Rienzi, Adrian had been 
 long separated from him, and absent from Rome. 
 
 The Colonna were stanch supporters of the imperial party, 
 and Adrian di Castello had received and obeyed an invitation 
 to the Emperor's Court. Under that monarch he had initiated 
 himself in arms, and among the knights of Germany he had 
 learned to temper the natural Italian shrewdness with the 
 chivalry of Northern valor. 
 
 In leaving Bavaria he had sojourned a short time in the 
 
 1 According to the modern historians ; but it seems more probable that 
 Rienzi's mission to Avignon was posterior to that of Petrarch. However this 
 be, it was at Avignon that Petrarch and Rienzi became most intimate, as 
 Petrarch himself observes in one of his letters.
 
 80 RIENZI : 
 
 solitude of one of his estates by the fairest lake of Northern 
 Italy ; and thence, with a mind improved alike by action and 
 study, had visited many of the free Italian states, imbibed 
 sentiments less prejudiced than those of his order, and acquired 
 an early reputation for himself while inly marking the char- 
 acters and deeds of others. In him the best qualities of the 
 Italian noble were united. Passionately addicted to the culti- 
 vation of letters, subtle and profound in policy, gentle and 
 bland of manner, dignifying a love of pleasure with a certain 
 elevation of taste, he yet possessed a gallantry of conduct and 
 purity of honor, and an aversion from cruelty, which were 
 then very rarely found in the Italian temperament, and which 
 even the Chivalry of the North, while maintaining among 
 themselves, usually abandoned the moment they came into 
 contact with the systematic craft and disdain of honesty 
 which made the character of the ferocious, yet wily South. 
 With these qualities he combined, indeed, the softer passions 
 of his countrymen, he adored Beauty, and he made a deity 
 of Love. 
 
 He had but a few weeks returned to his native city, whither 
 his reputation had already preceded him, and where his early 
 affection for letters and gentleness of bearing were still remem- 
 bered. He returned to find the position of Kienzi far more 
 altered than his own. Adrian had not yet sought the scholar. 
 He wished first to judge with his own eyes, and at a distance, 
 of the motives and object of his conduct ; for partly he caught 
 the suspicions which his own order entertained of Eienzi, 
 and partly he shared in the trustful enthusiasm of the 
 people. 
 
 " Certainly," said he now to himself, as he walked musingly 
 onward, " certainly no man has it more in his power to reform 
 our diseased state, to heal our divisions, to awaken our citizens 
 to the recollections of ancestral virtue. But that very power, 
 how dangerous is it ! Have I not seen, in the free states of 
 Italy, men, called into authority for the sake of preserving the 
 people, honest themselves at first, and then, drunk with the 
 sudden rank, betraying the very cause which had exalted them ? 
 True, those men were chiefs and nobles ; but are plebeians less
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 31 
 
 human ? Howbeit I have heard and seen enough from afar ; 
 I will now approach, and examine the man himself." 
 
 While thus soliloquizing, Adrian but little noted the various 
 passengers, who, more and more rarely as the evening waned, 
 hastened homeward. Among these were two females, who now 
 alone shared with Adrian the long and gloomy street into 
 which he had entered. The moon was already bright in the 
 heavens, and as the women passed the cavalier with a light and 
 quick step, the younger one turned back and regarded him by 
 the clear light with an eager, yet timid glance. 
 
 " Why dost thou tremble, my pretty one ? " said her com- 
 panion, who might have told some five and forty years, and 
 whose garb and voice bespoke her of inferior rank to the younger 
 female. " The streets seem quiet enough now, and, the Virgin 
 be praised ! we are not so far from home either." 
 
 " Oh, Benedetta, it is he ! it is the young signer ; it is 
 Adrian ! " 
 
 "That is fortunate," said the nurse, for such was her 
 condition, " since they say he is as bold as a Northman ; and as 
 the Palazzo Colonna is not very far from hence, we shall be 
 within reach of his aid, should we want it, that is to say, 
 sweet one, if you will walk a little slower than you have yet 
 done." t 
 
 The young lady slackened her pace, and sighed. 
 
 " He is certainly very handsome," quoth the nurse ; "but thou 
 must not think more of him, he is too far above thee f or 
 marriage, and for aught else thou art too honest and thy brother 
 too proud " 
 
 " And thou, Benedetta, art too quick with thy tongue. How 
 canst thou talk thus, when thou knowest he hath never, since, 
 at least, I was a mere child, even addressed me ? Nay, he 
 scarce knows of my very existence. He, the Lord Adrian di 
 Castello, dream of the poor Irene ! The mere thought is 
 madness ! " 
 
 " Then why," said the nurse, briskly, " dost thou dream of 
 him ? " 
 
 Her companion sighed again more deeply than at first. 
 
 "Holy Saint Catherine ! " continued Benedetta, " if there were
 
 82 RIENZI : 
 
 but one man in the world, I would die single ere I would think 
 of him, until, at least, he had kissed my hand twice, and left 
 it my own fault if it were not my lips instead." 
 
 The young lady still replied not. 
 
 " But how didst thou contrive to love him ? " asked the nurse. 
 " Thou canst not have seen him very often ; it is but some four 
 or five weeks since his return to Rome." 
 
 " Oh, how dull art thou ! " answered the fair Irene. " Have 
 I not told thee, again and again, that I loved him six years 
 ago?" 
 
 " When thou hadst told but thy tenth year, and a doll would 
 have been thy most suitable lover ! As I am a Christian, 
 Signora, thou hast made good use of thy time ! " 
 
 "And during his absence," continued the girl, fondly, yet 
 sadly, " did I not hear him spoken of, and was not the mere 
 sound of his name like a love-gift that bade me remember ? 
 And when they praised him, have I not rejoiced ; and when 
 they blamed him, have I not resented ? And when they said 
 that his lance was victorious in the tourney, did I not weep 
 with pride ; and when they whispered that his vows were wel- 
 come in the bower, wept I not as fervently with grief ? Have 
 not the six years of his absence been a dream, and was not his 
 return a waking into light, a morning of glory and the sun ? 
 And I see him now in the church when he wots not of me, and 
 on his happy steed as he passes by my lattice ; and is not that 
 enough of happiness for love ? " 
 
 "But if he loves not thee ?" 
 
 " Fool ! I ask not that, nay, I know not if I wish it. Per- 
 haps I would rather dream of him such as I would have him, 
 than know him for what he is. He might be unkind, or un- 
 generous, or love me but little ; rather would I not be loved at 
 all than loved coldly, and eat away my heart by comparing it 
 with his. I can love him now as something abstract, unreal, 
 and divine ; but what would be my shame, my grief, if I were 
 to find him less than I have imagined ! Then, indeed, my life 
 would have been wasted ; then, indeed, the beauty of the earth 
 would be gone ! " 
 
 The good nurse was not very capable of sympathizing with
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 33 
 
 sentiments like these. Even had their characters been more 
 alike, their disparity of age would have rendered such sym- 
 pathy impossible. What but youth can echo back the soul of 
 youth, all the music of its wild vanities and romantic follies ? 
 The good nurse did not sympathize with the sentiments of her 
 young lady, but she sympathized with the deep earnestness 
 with which they were expressed. She thought it wondrous 
 silly, but wondrous moving; she wiped her eyes with the 
 corner of her veil, and hoped in her secret heart that her 
 young charge would soon get a real husband, to put such un- 
 substantial fantasies out of her head. There was a short pause 
 in their conversation, when, just where two streets crossed one 
 another, there was heard a loud noise of laughing voices and 
 trampling feet. Torches were seen on high, affronting the 
 pale light of the moon ; and at a very short distance from the 
 two females, in the cross street, advanced a company of seven 
 or eight men, bearing, as seen by the red light of the torches, 
 the formidable badge of the Orsini. 
 
 Amidst the other disorders of the time, it was no infrequent 
 custom for the younger or more dissolute of the nobles, in 
 small and armed companies, to parade the streets at night, 
 seeking occasion for a licentious gallantry among the cowering 
 citizens, or a skirmish at arms with some rival stragglers of 
 their own order. Such a band had Irene and her companion 
 now chanced to encounter. 
 
 "Holy Mother!" cried Benedetta, turning pale, and half 
 running, " what curse has befallen us ? How could we have 
 been so foolish as to tarry so late at the Lady Nina's ! Run, 
 Signora, run, or we shall fall into their hands ! " 
 
 But the advice of Benedetta came too late, the fluttering 
 garments of the women had been already descried; in a 
 moment more they were surrounded by the marauders. A 
 rude hand tore aside Benedetta's veil, and at sight of features, 
 which, if time had not spared, it could never very materially 
 injure, the rough aggressor cast the poor nurse against the 
 wall with a curse, which was echoed by a loud laugh from his 
 comrades. 
 
 " Thou hast a fine fortune in faces, Giuseppe 1 " 
 
 VOL. I. 3
 
 34 RIENZI : 
 
 " Yes ; it was but the other day that tie seized on a girl of 
 sixty." 
 
 " And then, by way of improving her beauty, cut her across 
 the face with his dagger because she was not sixteen ! " 
 
 " Hush, fellows ! whom have we here ? " said the chief of 
 the party, a man richly dressed, and who, though bordering 
 upon middle age, had only the more accustomed himself to 
 the excesses of youth ; as he spoke, he snatched the trembling 
 Irene from the grasp of his followers. " Ho, there, the torches ! 
 Oh die bella faccia ! what blushes, what eyes ! Nay, look not 
 down, pretty one ; thou needst not be ashamed to win the love 
 of an Orsini ! Yes ; know the triumph thou hast achieved, 
 it is Martino di Porto who bids thee smile upon him ! " 
 
 " For the blest Mother's sake release me ! Nay, sir, this must 
 not be ; I am not unfriended, this insult shall not pass ! " 
 
 " Hark to her silver chiding ; it is better than my best 
 hound's bay ! This adventure is worth a month's watching. 
 What, will you not come ? Restive, shrieks too ! Francesco, 
 Pietro, ye are the gentlest of the band, wrap her veil 
 around her; muffle this music. So! bear her before me to 
 the palace, and to-morrow, sweet one, thou shalt go home 
 with a basket of florins, which thou mayst say thou hast 
 bought at market." 
 
 But Irene's shrieks, Irene's struggles, had already brought 
 succor to her side; and as Adrian approached the spot, the 
 nurse flung herself on her knees before him. 
 
 " Oh, sweet Signor, for Christ's grace save us ! Deliver my 
 young mistress; her friends love you well! We are all for 
 the Colonna, my lord, yes, indeed, all for the Colonna ! 
 Save the kin of your own clients, gracious Signor ! " 
 
 " It is enough that she is a woman," answered Adrian, add- 
 ing, between his teeth, " and that an Orsini is her assailant." 
 He strode haughtily into the thickest of the group ; the ser- 
 vitors laid hands on their swords, but gave way before him as 
 they recognized his person ; he reached the two men who had 
 already seized Irene ; in one moment he struck the foremost 
 to the ground, in another he had passed his left arm round the 
 light and slender form of the maiden, and stood confronting
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 35 
 
 the Orsini with his drawn blade, which, however, he pointed 
 to the ground. 
 
 " For shame, my lord, for shame ! " said he, indignantly. 
 " Will you force Rome to rise, to a man, against our order ? 
 Vex not too far the lion, chained though he be ; war against us 
 if ye will ; draw your blades upon men, though they be of your 
 own race, and speak your own tongue : but if ye would sleep at 
 nights and not dread the avenger's gripe, if ye would walk the 
 market-place secure, wrong not a Roman woman ! Yes, the 
 very walls around us preach to you the punishment of such 
 a deed. For that offence fell the Tarquins ; for that offence 
 were swept away the Decemvirs ; for that offence, if ye rush 
 upon it, the blood of your whole house may flow like water. 
 Cease then, my lord, from this mad attempt, so unworthy your 
 great name ; cease, and thank even a Colonna that he has come 
 between you and a moment's frenzy ! " 
 
 So noble, so lofty were the air and gesture of Adrian as he 
 thus spoke, that even the rude servitors felt a thrill of appro- 
 bation and remorse. Not so Martino di Porto. He had been 
 struck with the beauty of the prey thus suddenly snatched 
 from him; he had been accustomed to long outrage and to 
 long impunity ; the very sight, the very voice of a Colonna, 
 was a blight to his eye, and a discord to his ear : what, then, 
 when a Colonna interfered with his lusts and rebuked his 
 vices? 
 
 " Pedant ! " he cried, with quivering lips, " prate not to me 
 of thy vain legends and gossip's tales; think not to snatch 
 from me my possession in another, when thine own life is in 
 my hands ! Unhand the maiden, throw down thy sword, 
 return home without further parley ; or by my faith and the 
 blades of my followers look at them well thou diest ! " 
 
 "Signor," said Adrian, calmly, yet while he spoke he re- 
 treated gradually with his fair burden towards the neighboring 
 wall, so as at least to leave only his front exposed to those 
 fearful odds, " thou wilt not so misuse the present chances, and 
 wrong thyself in men's mouths, as to attack with eight swords 
 even thy hereditary foe, thus cumbered, too, as he is. But 
 nay, hold ! if thou art so proposed, bethink thee well, one cry
 
 36 11IKXZI: 
 
 of my voice would soon turn the odds against thee. Thou art 
 now in the quarter of my tribe ; thou art surrounded by the 
 habitations of the Colonna ; yon palace swarms with men who 
 sleep not, save with harness on their backs, men whom my 
 voice can reach even now, but from whom, if they once taste 
 of blood, it could not save thee ! " 
 
 " He speaks true, noble lord," said one of the band ; " we 
 have wandered too far out of our beat, we are in their very 
 den ; the palace of old Stephen Colonna is within call ; and to 
 my knowledge," added he, in a whisper, " eighteen fresh men- 
 of-arms ay, and Northmen too marched through its gates 
 this day." 
 
 " "\Vere there eight hundred men at arm's length," answered 
 Martino, furiously, " I would not be thus bearded amidst mine 
 own train. Away with yon woman! To the attack, to the 
 attack ! " 
 
 Thus saying, he made a desperate lunge at Adrian, who, 
 having kept his eye cautiously on the movements of his 
 enemy, was not unprepared for the assault. As he put aside 
 the blade with his own he shouted with a loud voice : " Colonna ! 
 to the rescue, Colonna ! " 
 
 Nor had it been without an ulterior object that the acute 
 and self-controlling mind of Adrian had hitherto sought to 
 prolong the parley. Even as he first addressed Orsini, he 
 had perceived, by the moonlight, the glitter of armor upon 
 two men advancing from the far end of the street, and judged 
 at once, by the neighborhood, that they must be among the 
 mercenaries of the Colonna. 
 
 Gently he suffered the form of Irene, which now for she 
 had swooned with the terror pressed too heavily upon him, 
 to slide from his left arm, and standing over her form while 
 sheltered from behind by the wall which he had so warily 
 gained, he contented himself with parrying the blows hastily 
 aimed at him, without attempting to retaliate. Few of the 
 Romans, however accustomed to such desultory warfare, were 
 then well and dexterously practised in the use of arms ; and 
 the science Adrian had acquired in the schools of the martial 
 North befriended him now, even against such odds. It is
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 37 
 
 true, indeed, that the followers of Orsini did not share the 
 fury of their lord ; partly afraid of the consequences to them- 
 selves should the blood of so high-born a signer be split by 
 their hands, partly embarrassed with the apprehension that 
 they should see themselves suddenly beset with the ruthless 
 hirelings so close within hearing, they struck but aimless and 
 random blows, looking every moment behind and aside, and 
 rather prepared for flight than slaughter. Echoing the cry 
 of " Colonna," poor Benedetta fled at the first clash of swords. 
 She ran down the dreary street still shrieking that cry, and 
 passed the very portals of Stephen's palace (where some grim 
 forms yet loitered) without arresting her steps there, so great 
 were her confusion and terror. 
 
 Meanwhile the two armed men whom Adrian had descried, 
 proceeded leisurely up the street. The one was of a rude and 
 common mould ; his arms and his complexion testified his 
 calling and race, and by the great respect he paid to his com- 
 panion, it was evident that that companion was no native of 
 Italy. For the brigands of the North, while they served the 
 vices of the Southern, scarce affected to disguise their contempt 
 for his cowardice. 
 
 The companion of the brigand was a man of a martial, yet 
 easy air. He wore no helmet, but a cap of crimson velvet, set 
 off with a white plume; on his mantle, or surcoat, which- was 
 of scarlet, was wrought a broad white cross, both at back and 
 breast ; and so brilliant was the polish of his corselet that as 
 from time to time the mantle waved aside and exposed it to 
 the moonbeams, it glittered like light itself. 
 
 " Nay, Eodolf," said he, " if thou hast so good a lot of it 
 here with that hoary schemer, Heaven forbid that I should wish 
 to draw thee back again to our merry band. But tell me, this 
 Eienzi, thinkest thou he has any solid and formidable power ? " 
 
 " Pshaw ! noble chieftain, not a whit of it. He pleases the 
 mob ; but as for the nobles, they laugh at him, and as for the 
 soldiers, he has no money." 
 
 " He pleases the mob, then ? " 
 
 " Ay, that doth he ; and when he speaks aloud to them, aU 
 the roar of Rome is hushed."
 
 88 RTENZI : 
 
 " Humph ! when nobles are hated and soldiers are bought, a 
 mob may in any hour become the master. An honest people 
 and a weak mob, a corrupt people and a strong mob," said the 
 other, rather to himself than to his comrade, and scarce, per- 
 haps, conscious of the eternal truth of his aphorism. " He is 
 no mere brawler, this Rienzi, I suspect; I must see to it. 
 Hark ! what noise is that ? By the Holy Sepulchre, it is the 
 ring of our own metal ! " 
 
 " And that cry, ' a Colonna ! ' " exclaimed Eodolf. " Pardon 
 me, master ; I must away to the rescue ! " 
 
 "Ay, it is the duty of thy hire; run, yet stay, I will 
 accompany thee, gratis for once, and from pure passion for 
 mischief. By this hand, there is no music like clashing 
 steel ! " 
 
 Still Adrian continued gallantly and unwounded to defend 
 himself, though his arm now grew tired, his breath wellnigh 
 spent, and his eyes began to wink and reel beneath the 
 glare of the tossing torches. Orsini himself, exhausted by 
 his fury, had paused for an instant, fronting his foe with a 
 heaving breast and savage looks, when suddenly his follow- 
 ers exclaimed, "Fly! fly! the bandits approach; we are sur- 
 rounded ! " and two of the servitors, without further parley, 
 took fairly to their heels. The other five remained irresolute, 
 and waiting but the command of their master, when he of the 
 white plume, whom I have just described, thrust himself into 
 the melee. 
 
 "What! gentles," said he, "have ye finished already? 
 Nay, let us not mar the sport; begin again, I beseech you. 
 What are the odds ? Ho ! six to one ! Nay, no wonder that 
 ye have waited for fairer play. See, we two will take the 
 weaker side. Now, then, let us begin again." 
 
 " Insolent ! " cried the Orsini. " Knowest thou him whom 
 thou addressest thus arrogantly ? I am Martino di Porto. 
 Who art thou?" 
 
 " Walter de Montreal, gentleman of Provence and Knight of 
 St. John ! " answered the other, carelessly. 
 
 At that redoubted name the name of one of the boldest 
 warriors and of the most accomplished freebooter of his time
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 39 
 
 even Martino's cheek grew pale, and his followers uttered a 
 cry of terror. 
 
 "And this my comrade," continued the Knight, "for we 
 may as well complete the introduction, is probably better 
 known to you than I am, gentles of Home ; and you doubtless 
 recognize in him Rodolf of Saxony, a brave man and a true, 
 where he is properly paid for his services." 
 
 " Signor," said Adrian to his enemy, who, aghast and dumb, 
 remained staring vacantly at the two new-comers, " you are now 
 in my power. See, our own people, too, are approaching." 
 
 And indeed from the palace of Stephen Colonna torches began 
 to blaze, and armed men were seen rapidly advancing to the spot. 
 
 "Go home in peace; and if to-morrow, or any day more 
 suitable to thee, thou wilt meet me alone and lance to lance, 
 as is the wont of the knights of the Empire, or with band to 
 band and man for man, as is rather the Roman custom, I will 
 not fail thee : there is my gage." 
 
 " Nobly spoken," said Montreal ; " and if ye choose the lat- 
 ter, by your leave, I will be one of the party." 
 
 Martino answered not. He took up the glove, thrust it in 
 his bosom, and strode hastily away; only, when he had got 
 some paces down the street, he turned back, and, shaking his 
 clenched hand at Adrian, exclaimed, in a voice trembling with 
 impotent rage, " Faithful to death ! " 
 
 The words made one of the mottoes of the Orsini; and 
 whatever its earlier signification, had long passed into a cur- 
 rent proverb to signify their hatred to the Colonna. 
 
 Adrian, now engaged in raising and attempting to revive 
 Irene, who was still insensible, disdainfully left it to Montreal 
 to reply. 
 
 "I doubt not, Signor," said the latter, coolly, "that thou 
 wilt be faithful to Death; for Death, God wot, is the only 
 contract which men, however ingenious, are unable to break 
 or evade." 
 
 " Pardon me, gentle Knight," said Adrian, looking up from 
 his charge, "if I do not yet give myself wholly to gratitude. 
 I have learned enough of knighthood to feel thou wilt acknow- 
 ledge that my first duty is here "
 
 40 RIENZI : 
 
 " Oh ! a lady, then, was the cause of the quarrel ? I need 
 not ask who was in the right, when a man brings to the riv- 
 alry such odds as yon caitiff." 
 
 "Thou mistakest a little, Sir Knight; it is but a lanib I 
 have rescued from the wolf." 
 
 " For thy own table ! Be it so ! " returned the Knight, gayly. 
 
 Adrian smiled gravely, and shook his head in denial. In 
 truth, he was somewhat embarrassed by his situation. Though 
 habitually gallant, he was not willing to expose to misconstruc- 
 tion the disinterestedness of his late conduct, and (for it was 
 his policy to conciliate popularity) to sully the credit which 
 his bravery would give him among the citizens by conveying 
 Irene (whose beauty, too, as yet, he had scarcely noted) to his 
 own dwelling ; and yet, in her present situation, there was no 
 alternative. She evinced no sign of life. He knew not her 
 home, nor parentage. Benedetta had vanished. He could not 
 leave her in the streets, he could not resign her to the care 
 of another ; and as she lay now upon his breast, he felt her 
 already endeared to him by that sense of protection which is so 
 grateful to the human heart. He briefly, therefore, explained 
 to those now gathered round him his present situation and the 
 cause of the past conflict, and bade the torch-bearers precede 
 him to his home. 
 
 " You, Sir Knight," added he, turning to Montreal, " if not 
 already more pleasantly lodged, will, I trust, deign to be my 
 guest ? " 
 
 " Thanks, Signer," answered Montreal, maliciously ; " but I 
 also, perhaps, have my own affairs to watch over. Adieu ! I 
 shall seek you at the earliest occasion. Fair night, and gentle 
 
 dreams ! 
 
 " ' Robers Bertrams qui estoit tors, 
 Mais h, ceval estoit mult fors. 
 Cil avoit o lui grans effors ; 
 Multi ot 'homes per lui mors.' " x 
 
 And muttering this rugged chant from the old "Roman de 
 Rou," the Provenal, followed by Rodolf, pursued his way. 
 
 1 "An ill-favored man, but a stout horseman, was Robert Bertram. Great 
 deeds were his, and many a man died by his hand."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 41 
 
 The vast extent of Rome and the thinness of its population 
 left many of the streets utterly deserted. The principal nobles 
 were thus enabled to possess themselves of a wide range of 
 buildings, which they fortified, partly against each other, partly 
 against the people ; their numerous relatives and clients lived 
 around them, forming, as it were, petty courts and cities in 
 themselves. 
 
 Almost opposite to the principal palace of the Colonna 
 (occupied by his powerful kinsman, Stephen) was the mansion 
 of Adrian. Heavily swung back the massive gates at his 
 approach ; he ascended the broad staircase, and bore his charge 
 into an apartment which his tastes had decorated in a fashion 
 not as yet common in that age. Ancient statues and busts 
 were arranged around ; the pictured arras of Lornbardy deco- 
 rated the walls and covered the massive seats. 
 
 " What ho ! Lights, here, and wine ! " cried the Seneschal. 
 
 " Let us alone," said Adrian, gazing passionately on the pale 
 cheek of Irene, as he now, by the clear light, beheld all its 
 beauty ; and a sweet yet burning hope crept into his heart. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE DESCRIPTION OF A CONSPIRATOR, AND THE DAWN OF 
 THE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 ALONE, by a table covered with various papers, sat a man 
 in the prime of life. The chamber was low and long ; many 
 antique and disfigured bas-reliefs and torsos were placed around 
 the wall, interspersed, here and there, with the short sword and 
 close casque, time-worn relics of the prowess of ancient Rome. 
 Right above the table at which he sat, the moonlight streamed 
 through a high and narrow casement, deep sunk in the massy 
 wall. In a niche to the right of this window, guarded by a 
 sliding door which was now partially drawn aside, but which, 
 by its solid substance and the sheet of iron with which it was 
 plated, testified how valuable, in the eyes of the owner, was
 
 42 RIEXZI : 
 
 the treasure it protected, were ranged some thirty or forty 
 volumes, then deemed no inconsiderable library, and bein^, 
 for the most part, the laborious copies in manuscript by the 
 hand of the owner, from immortal originals. 
 
 Leaning his cheek on his hand, his brow somewhat knit, his 
 lip slightly compressed, that personage indulged in meditations 
 far other than the indolent dreams of scholars. As the high and 
 still moonlight shone upon his countenance, it gave an addi- 
 tional and solemn dignity to features which were naturally of a 
 grave and majestic cast. Thick and auburn hair, the color of 
 which, not common to the Romans, was ascribed to his 
 descent from the Teuton Emperor, clustered in large curls 
 above a high and expansive forehead; and even the present 
 thoughtful compression of the brow could not mar the aspect 
 of latent power which it derived from that great breadth 
 between the eyes, in which the Grecian sculptors of old so 
 admirably conveyed the expression of authority, and the 
 silent energy of command. But his features were not cast in 
 the Grecian, still less in the Teuton mould. The iron jaw, the 
 aquiline nose, the somewhat sunken cheek, strikingly recalled 
 the character of the hard Koman race, and might not inaptly 
 have suggested to a painter a model for the younger Brutus. 
 
 The marked outline of the face, and the short, firm upper 
 lip, were not concealed by the beard and mustaches usually 
 then worn; and in the faded portrait of the person now 
 described, still extant at Eome, may be traced a certain re- 
 semblance to the popular pictures of Napoleon, not indeed 
 in the features, which are more stern and prominent in the 
 portrait of the Roman, but in that peculiar expression of 
 concentrated and tranquil power which so nearly realizes the 
 ideal of intellectual majesty. Though still young, the per- 
 sonal advantages most peculiar to youth, the bloom and 
 glow, the rounded cheek in which care had not yet ploughed 
 its lines, the full, unsunken eye, and the slender delicacy of 
 frame : these were not the characteristics of that solitary 
 student. And though considered by his contemporaries as 
 eminently handsome, the judgment was probably formed less 
 from the more vulgar claims to such distinction than from the
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 43 
 
 height of the stature, an advantage at that time more 
 esteemed than at present, and that nobler order of beauty 
 which cultivated genius and commanding character usually 
 stamp upon even homely features ; the more rare in an age so 
 rugged. 
 
 The character of Eienzi (for the youth presented to the 
 reader in the first chapter of this history is now again before 
 him. in maturer years) had acquired greater hardness and 
 energy with each stepping-stone to power. There was a cir- 
 cumstance attendant on his birth which had probably ex- 
 ercised great and early influence on his ambition. Though 
 his parents were in humble circumstances and of lowly calling, 
 his father was the natural son of the Emperor Henry VII. ; l 
 and it was the pride of the parents that probably gave to 
 Rienzi the unwonted advantages of education. This pride 
 transmitted to himself his descent from royalty dinned into 
 his ear, infused into his thoughts, from his cradle made 
 him, even in his earliest youth, deem himself the equal of the 
 Koman signors, and half unconsciously aspire to be their 
 superior. But as the literature of Home was unfolded to his 
 eager eye and ambitious heart, he became imbued with that 
 pride of country which is nobler than the pride of birth; 
 and, save when stung by allusions to his origin, he unaffect- 
 edly valued himself more on being a Roman plebeian than 
 the descendant of a Teuton king. His brother's death and the 
 vicissitudes he himself had already undergone, deepened the 
 earnest and solemn qualities of his character ; and at length all 
 the faculties of a very uncommon intellect were concentrated 
 into one object, which borrowed from a mind strongly and 
 mystically religious, as well as patriotic, a sacred aspect, and 
 grew at once a duty and a passion. 
 
 1 De Sade supposes that the mother of Rienzi was the daughter of an 
 illegitimate son of Henry VII., supporting his opinion from a MS. in the 
 Vatican. But according to the contemporaneous biographer, Rienzi, in ad- 
 dressing Charles, king of Bohemia, claims the relationship from his father. 
 " Di vostro legnaggio sono figlio di bastardo d' Enrico imperatore," etc. 
 A more recent writer, il Padre Gabrini, cites an inscription in support of thia 
 descent : " Nicolaus Tribunus . . . Laurentii Teutonici Filius," etc.
 
 44 RIENZI : 
 
 "Yes," said Rienzi, breaking suddenly from his revery, 
 "yes, the day is at hand when Rome shall rise again from her 
 ashes ; Justice shall dethrone Oppression ; men shall walk safe 
 in their ancient Forum. We will rouse from his forgotten 
 tomb the indomitable soul of Cato ! There shall be a people 
 once more in Rome ! And I I shall be the instrument of 
 that triumph, the restorer of my race ! Mine shall be the first 
 voice to swell the battle-cry of freedom ; mine the first hand to 
 rear her banner. Yes, from the height of my own soul, as 
 from a mountain, I see already rising the liberties and the 
 grandeur of the New Rome ; and on the corner-stone of the 
 mighty fabric posterity shall read my name." 
 
 Uttering these lofty boasts, the whole person of the speaker 
 seemed instinct with his ambition. He strode the gloomy 
 chamber with light and rapid steps, as if on air ; his breast 
 heaved, his eyes glowed. He felt that love itself can scarcely 
 bestow a rapture equal to that which is felt, in his first virgin 
 enthusiasm, by a patriot who knows himself sincere! 
 
 There was a slight knock at the door, and a servitor, in the 
 rich liveries wore by the Pope's officials, 1 presented himself. 
 
 "Signor," said he, "my lord the Bishop of Orvietto, is 
 without." 
 
 " Ha ! that is fortunate. Lights there ! My lord, this is an 
 honor which I can estimate better than express." 
 
 " Tut, tut ! my good friend," said the Bishop, entering, and 
 seating himself familiarly, " no ceremonies between the ser- 
 vants of the Church ; and never, I ween well, had she greater 
 need of true friends than now. These unholy tumults, these 
 licentious contentions, in the very shrines and city of Saint 
 Peter, are sufficient to scandalize all Christendom." 
 
 " And so will it be," said Rienzi, " until his Holiness him- 
 self shall be graciously persuaded to fix his residence in the 
 seat of his predecessors, and curb with a strong arm the 
 excesses of the nobles." 
 
 "Alas! man," said the Bishop, "thou knowest that these 
 words are but as wind ; for were the Pope to fulfil thy wishes, 
 
 1 Not the present hideous habiliments, which are said to have been the 
 invention of Michael Angelo.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 45 
 
 and remove from Avignon to Some, by the blood of Saint 
 Peter, he would not curb the nobles, but the nobles would 
 curb him ! Thou knowest well that until his blessed pre- 
 decessor, of pious memory, conceived the wise design of 
 escaping to Avignon, the Father of the Christian world was but 
 like many other fathers in their old age, controlled and 
 guarded by his rebellious children. Recollectest thou not how 
 the noble Boniface himself, a man of great heart and nerves 
 of iron, was kept in thraldom by the ancestors of the Orsini, 
 his entrances and exits made but at their will, so that, like a 
 caged eagle, he beat himself against his bars and died? 
 Verily, thou talkest of the memories of Kome ; these are not 
 the memories that are very attractive to popes." 
 
 " Well," said Kienzi, laughing gently, and drawing his seat 
 nearer to the Bishop's, " my lord has certainly the best of the 
 argument at present ; and I must own that strong, licentious, 
 and unhallowed as the order of nobility was then, it is yet 
 more so now." 
 
 "Even I," rejoined Kaimond, coloring as he spoke, "though 
 Vicar of the Pope, and representative of his spiritual authority, 
 was, but three days ago, subjected to a coarse affront from that 
 very Stephen Colonna who has ever received such favor and 
 tenderness from the Holy See. His servitors jostled mine in 
 the open streets, and I myself I, the delegate of the sire of 
 kings was forced to draw aside to the wall, and wait until 
 the hoary insolent swept by. Nor were blaspheming words 
 wanting to complete the insult. l Pardon, Lord Bishop,' said 
 he, as he passed me, 'but this world, thou knowest, must 
 necessarily take precedence of the other. ' ' 
 
 " Dared he so high ? " said Eienzi, shading his face with his 
 hand, as a very peculiar smile scarcely itself joyous, though it 
 made others gay, and which completely changed the character 
 of his face, naturally grave even to sternness played round 
 his lips. " Then it is time for thee, holy father, as for us, to " 
 
 " To what ? " interrupted the Bishop, quickly. " Can we 
 effect aught ? Dismiss thy enthusiastic dreamings ; descend 
 to the real earth; look soberly round us. Against men so 
 powerful, what can we do ? "
 
 46 RIENZI: 
 
 "My lord," answered Rienzi, gravely, "it is the misfortune 
 of signors of your rank never to know the people, or the accu- 
 rate signs of the time. As those who pass over the heights 
 of mountains see the clouds sweep below, veiling the plains 
 and valleys from their gaze, while they only a little above 
 the level survey the movements and the homes of men, 
 even so from your lofty eminence ye behold but the in- 
 distinct and sullen vapors ; while from my humbler station I 
 see the preparations of the shepherds to shelter themselves 
 and herds from the storm which those clouds betoken. 
 Despair not, my lord ; endurance goes but to a certain limit, 
 to that limit it is already stretched: Rome waits but the 
 occasion (it will soon come, but not suddenly) to rise simul- 
 taneously against her oppressors." 
 
 The great secret of eloquence is to be in earnest ; the great 
 secret of Rienzi's eloquence was in the mightiness of his en- 
 thusiasm. He never spoke as one who doubted of success. 
 Perhaps, like most men who undertake high and great actions, 
 he himself was never thoroughly aware of the obstacles in his 
 way. He saw the end, bright and clear, and overleaped, in the 
 vision of his soul, the crosses and the length of the path; 
 thus the deep convictions of his own mind stamped themselves 
 irresistibly upon others. He seemed less to promise than to 
 prophesy. 
 
 The Bishop of Orvietto, not over wise, yet a man of cool 
 temperament and much worldly experience, was forcibly im- 
 pressed by the energy of his companion, perhaps, indeed, 
 the more so, inasmuch as his own pride and his own passions 
 were also enlisted against the arrogance and license of tile 
 nobles. He paused ere he replied to Rienzi. 
 
 " But is it," he asked at length, " only the plebeians who will 
 rise ? Thou knowest how they are caitiff and uncertain." 
 
 "My lord," answered Rienzi, "judge, by one fact, how 
 strongly I am surrounded by friends of no common class. 
 Thou knowest how loudly I speak against the nobles. I cite 
 them by their name ; I beard the Savelli, the Orsini, the 
 Colonna, in their very hearing. Thinkest thou that they for- 
 give me ? Thinkest thou that, were only the plebeians my
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 47 
 
 safeguard and my favorers, they would not seize me by open 
 force, that I had not long ere this found a gag in their dun- 
 geons, or been swallowed up in the eternal dumbness of the 
 grave ? Observe," continued he, as, reading the Vicar's coun- 
 tenance, he perceived the impression he had made, "observe 
 that, throughout the whole world, a great revolution has begun. 
 The barbaric darkness of centuries has been broken; the 
 KNOWLEDGE which made men as demigods in the past time has 
 been called from her urn; a Power, subtler than brute force 
 and mightier than armed men, is at work. We have begun 
 once more to do homage to the Royalty of Mind. Yes, that 
 same Power which, a few years ago, crowned Petrarch in the 
 Capitol, when it witnessed, after the silence of twelve cen- 
 turies, the glories of a TRIUMPH ; which heaped upon a man of 
 obscure birth, and unknown in arms, the same honors given of 
 old to emperors and the vanquishers of kings ; which united 
 in one act of homage even the rival houses of Colonna and 
 Orsini ; which made the haughtiest patricians emulous to bear 
 the train, to touch but the purple robe of the son of the Flor- 
 entine plebeian ; which still draws the eyes of Europe to the 
 lowly cottage of Vaucluse ; which gives to the humble student 
 the all-acknowledged license to admonish tyrants, and ap- 
 proach, with haughty prayers, even the Father of the Church ! 
 yes, that same Power, which, working silently throughout 
 Italy, murmurs under the solid base of the Venetian oligarchy ; 1 
 which, beyond the Alps, has wakened into visible and sudden 
 life" in Spain, in Germany, in Flanders ; and which, even in 
 that barbarous Isle, conquered by the Norman sword, ruled by 
 the bravest of living kings, 2 has roused a spirit Norman can- 
 not break kings to rule over must rule by yes, that same 
 
 1 It was abont eight years afterwards that the long-smothered hate of the 
 Venetian people to that wisest and most vigilant of all oligarchies, the Sparta 
 of Italy, broke out in the conspiracy under Marino Faliero. 
 
 a Edward III., in whose reign opinions far more popular than those of the 
 following century began to work. The Civil Wars threw back the action 
 into the blood. It was indeed an age throughout the world which put forth 
 abundant blossoms, but crude and uuripened fruit ; a singular leap, fol- 
 lowed by as singular a pause.
 
 48 RIENZI : 
 
 Power is everywhere abroad: it speaks, it conquers in the 
 voice even of him who is before you ; it unites in his cause all 
 on whom but one glimmering of light has burst, all in whom 
 one generous desire can be kindled ! Know, Lord Vicar, that 
 there is not a man in Rome, save our oppressors themselves, 
 not a man who has learned one syllable of our ancient tongue, 
 whose heart and sword are not with me. The peaceful 
 cultivators of letters, the proud nobles of the second order, the 
 rising race, wiser than their slothful sires ; above all, my lord, 
 the humbler ministers of religion, priests and monks, whom 
 luxury hath not blinded, pomp hath not deafened, to the mon- 
 strous outrage to Christianity daily and nightly perpetrated in 
 the Christian Capital, these, all these, are linked with the 
 merchant and the artisan in one indissoluble bond, waiting but 
 the signal to fall or to conquer, to live freemen or to die 
 martyrs, with Rienzi and their country ! " 
 
 " Sayest thou so in truth ? " said the Bishop, startled, and 
 half rising. "Prove but thy words, and thou shalt not find 
 the ministers of God are less eager than their lay brethren for 
 the happiness of men." 
 
 ""What I say," rejoined Rienzi, in a cooler tone, "that can I 
 show ! But I may only prove it to those who will be with us." 
 
 " Fear me not," answered Raimond, " I know well the secret 
 mind of his Holiness, whose delegate and representative I am ; 
 and could he see but the legitimate and natural limit set to the 
 power of the patricians, who in their arrogance have set at 
 nought the authority of the Church itself, be sure that he 
 would smile on the hand that drew the line. Nay, so certain of 
 this am I, that if ye succeed, I, his responsible but unworthy 
 vicar, will myself sanction the success. But beware of crude 
 attempts ; the Church must not be weakened by linking itself 
 to failure." 
 
 " Right, my lord," answered Rienzi ; " and in this, the policy 
 of religion, is that of freedom. Judge of my prudence by my 
 long delay. He who can see all around him impatient him- 
 self not less so and yet suppress the signal and bide the 
 hour, is not likely to lose his cause by rashness." 
 
 "More, then, of this anon," said the Bishop, resettling him-
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 49 
 
 self in his seat. " As thy plans mature, fear not to communi- 
 cate with me. Believe that Home has no firmer friend than he 
 who, ordained to preserve order, finds himself impotent against 
 aggression. Meanwhile, to the object of my present visit, 
 which links itself in some measure, perhaps, with the topics 
 on which we have conversed. . . . Thou knowest that when 
 his Holiness intrusted thee with thy present office, he bade 
 thee also announce his beneficent intention of granting a gen- 
 eral Jubilee at Rome for the year 1350, a most admirable 
 design for two reasons sufficiently apparent to thyself : first, 
 that every Christian soul that may undertake the pilgrimage 
 to Eome on that occasion, may thus obtain a general remission 
 of sins ; and secondly, because, to speak carnally, the con- 
 course of pilgrims so assembled usually, by the donations and 
 offerings their piety suggests, very materially add to the reve- 
 nues of the Holy See, at this time, by the way, in no very 
 flourishing condition. This thou knowest, dear Eienzi." 
 
 Eienzi bowed his head in assent, and the prelate continued : 
 
 "Well, it is with the greatest grief that his Holiness per- 
 ceives that his pious intentions are likely to be frustrated ; for 
 so fierce and numerous are now the brigands in the public 
 approaches to Eome that, verily, the boldest pilgrim may 
 tremble a little to undertake the journey, and those who do so 
 venture will, probably, be composed of the poorest of the 
 Christian community, men who, bringing with them neither 
 gold, nor silver, nor precious offerings, will have little to fear 
 from the rapacity of the brigands. Hence arise two conse- 
 quences : on the one hand, the rich who, Heaven knows, and 
 the Gospel has, indeed, expressly declared, have the most need 
 of a remission of sins will be deprived of this glorious 
 occasion for absolution ; and, on the other hand, the coffers of 
 the Church will be impiously defrauded of that wealth which 
 it would otherwise doubtless obtain from the zeal of her 
 children." 
 
 "Nothing can be more logically manifest, my lord," said 
 Eienzi. 
 
 The Vicar continued: "Now, in letters received five days 
 since from his Holiness, he bade me expose these fearful con- 
 
 VOL. I. 4
 
 50 RIENZI : 
 
 sequences to Christianity to the various patricians who are 
 legitimately fiefs of the Church, and command their resolute 
 combination against the marauders of the road. With these 
 have I conferred, and vainly." 
 
 " For by the aid, and from the troops, of those very brigands, 
 these patricians have fortified their palaces against each other," 
 added KienzL 
 
 "Exactly for that reason," rejoined the Bishop. "Nay, 
 Stephen Colonna himself had the audacity to confess it. 
 Utterly unmoved by the loss to so many precious souls, and, I 
 may add, to the papal treasury, which ought to be little less dear 
 to right-discerning men, they refuse to advance a step against 
 the bandits. Now, then, hearken to the second mandate of 
 his Holiness : ' Failing the nobles,' saith he, in his prophetic 
 sagacity, * confer with Cola di Rienzi. He is a bold man and a 
 pious, and, thou tellest me, of great weight with the people ; 
 and say to him that if his wit can devise the method for ex- 
 tirpating these sons of Belial and rendering a safe passage 
 along the public ways, largely, indeed, will he merit at our 
 hands, lasting will be the gratitude we shall owe to him ; and 
 whatever succor thou, and the servants of our See, can render 
 to him, let it not be stinted.' " 
 
 " Said his Holiness thus ? " exclaimed Eienzi. " I ask no 
 more. The gratitude is mine that he hath thought thus of his 
 servant, and intrusted me with this charge ; at once I accept 
 it, at once I pledge myself to success. Let us, my lord, let us, 
 then, clearly understand the limits ordained to my discretion. 
 To curb the brigands without the walls, I must have authority 
 over those within. If I undertake, at peril of my life, to 
 clear all the avenues to Eome of the robbers who now infest 
 it, shall I have full license for conduct bold, peremptory, and 
 severe ? " 
 
 "Such conduct the very nature of the charge demands," 
 replied Raimond. 
 
 " Ay, even though it be exercised against the arch offenders, 
 against the supporters of the brigands, against the haughtiest 
 of the nobles themselves ? " 
 
 The Bishop paused, and looked hard in the face of the
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 51 
 
 speaker. " I repeat," said he at length, sinking his voice, and 
 with a significant tone, "in these bold attempts success is 
 the sole sanction. Succeed, and we will excuse thee all, even 
 to the " 
 
 " Death of a Colonna or an Orsini, should justice demand it, 
 and provided it be according to the law, and only incurred by 
 the violation of the law ? " added Rienzi, firmly. 
 
 The Bishop did not reply in words, but a slight motion of his 
 head was sufficient answer to Eienzi. 
 
 "My lord," said he, "from this time, then, all is well. I 
 date the revolution, the restoration of order of the state, from 
 this hour, this very conference. Till now, knowing that jus- 
 tice must never wink upon great offenders, I had hesitated, 
 through fear lest thou and his Holiness might deem it severity, 
 and blame him who replaces the law because he smites the 
 violators of law. Now I judge ye more rightly. Your hand, 
 my lord." 
 
 The Bishop extended his hand ; Rienzi grasped it firmly, and 
 then raised it respectfully to his lips. Both felt that the com- 
 pact was sealed. 
 
 This conference, so long in recital, was short in the reality ; 
 but its object was already finished, and the Bishop rose to de- 
 part. The outer portal of the house was opened, the numerous 
 servitors of the Bishop held on high their torches, and he had 
 just turned from Rienzi, who had attended him to the gate, 
 when a female passed hastily through the Prelate's train, and 
 starting as she beheld Kienzi, flung herself at his feet. 
 
 " Oh, hasten, sir, hasten ; for the love of God, hasten, or the 
 young Signora is lost forever ! " 
 
 " The Signora ! Heaven and earth, Benedetta, of whom do 
 you speak ? Of my sister, of Irene ? Is she not within ? " 
 
 " Oh, sir, the Orsini, the Orsini ! " 
 
 " What of them ? Speak, woman ! " 
 
 Here, breathlessly, and with many a break, Benedetta re- 
 counted to Rienzi, in whom the reader has already recognized 
 the brother of Irene, so far of the adventure with Martino di 
 Porto as she had witnessed ; of the termination and result of 
 the contest she knew nought
 
 52 RIENZI : 
 
 Eienzi listened in silence ; but the deadly paleness of his 
 countenance and the writhing of the nether lip testified the 
 emotions to which he gave no audible vent. 
 
 " You hear, my Lord Bishop, you hear," said he, when Bene- 
 detta had concluded ; and turning to the Bishop, whose depar- 
 ture the narrative had delayed, "you hear to what outrage the 
 citizens of Rome are subjected. My hat and sword instantly ! 
 My lord, forgive my abruptness." 
 
 " Whither art thou bent, then ? " asked Raimond. 
 
 " Whither, whither ? Ay, I forgot, my lord, you have no 
 sister. Perhaps, too, you had no brother ? No, no ; one victim 
 at least I will live to save. Whither, you ask me ? To the 
 palace of Martino di Porto." 
 
 "To an Orsini alone, and for justice ?" 
 
 " Alone, and for justice ? No ! " shouted Rienzi, in a loud 
 voice, as he seized his sword, now brought to him by one of his 
 servants, and rushed from the house ; " but one man is sufficient 
 for revenge ! " 
 
 The Bishop paused for a moment's deliberation. " He must 
 not be lost," muttered he, " as he well may be, if exposed thus 
 solitary to the wolf's rage. What, ho ! " he cried aloud, " ad- 
 vance the torches ! Quick, quick ! We ourself, we, the Vicar 
 of the Pope, will see to this. Calm yourselves, good people ; 
 your young Signora shall be restored. On, to the palace of 
 Martino di Porto ! " 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IRENE IN THE PALACE OF ADRIAN DI CASTELLO. 
 
 As the Cyprian gazed on the image in which he had embodied 
 a youth of dreams, what time the living hues flushed slowly 
 beneath the marble, so gazed the young and passionate Adrian 
 upon the form reclined before him, re-awakening gradually to 
 life. And if the beauty of that face were not of the loftiest or 
 the most dazzling order, if its soft and quiet character might 
 be outshone by many of loveliness less really perfect, yet
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 53 
 
 never was there a countenance that, to some eyes, would have 
 seemed more charming, and never one in which more eloquently 
 was wrought that ineffable and virgin expression which Italian 
 art seeks for in its models, in which modesty is the outward, 
 and tenderness the latent, expression, the bloom of youth, 
 both of form and heart, ere the first frail and delicate freshness 
 of either is brushed away ; and when even love itself, the only 
 unquiet visitant that should be known at such an age, is but 
 a sentiment, and not a passion ! 
 
 " Benedetta ! " murmured Irene, at length opening her eyes, 
 unconsciously, upon him who knelt beside her, eyes of that 
 uncertain, that most liquid hue, on which you might gaze for 
 years and never learn the secret of the color, so changed it 
 with the dilating pupil, darkening in the shade, and brighten- 
 ing into azure in the light. 
 
 " Benedetta," said Irene, " where art thou ? Oh, Benedetta ! 
 I have had such a dream." 
 
 " And 7, too, such a vision ! " thought Adrian. 
 
 " Where am I ? " cried Irene, rising from the couch. ^ This 
 room, these hangings Holy Virgin ! do I dream still ? 
 And you ! Heavens ! it is the Lord Adrian di Castello ! " 
 
 " Is that a name thou hast been taught to fear ? " said 
 Adrian. "If so, I will forswear it." 
 
 If Irene now blushed deeply, it was not in that wild delight 
 with which her romantic heart might have foretold that she 
 would listen to the first words of homage from Adrian di 
 Castello. Bewildered and confused, terrified at the strange- 
 ness of the place, and shrinking even from the thought of find- 
 ing herself alone with one who for years had been present to 
 her fancies, alarm and distress were the emotions she felt 
 the most, and which most were impressed upon her speaking 
 countenance ; and as Adrian now drew nearer to her, despite 
 the gentleness of his voice and the respect of his looks, her 
 fears, not the less strong that they were vague, increased upon 
 her. She retreated to the farther end of the room, looked 
 wildly round her, and then, covering her face with her hands, 
 burst into a paroxysm of tears. 
 
 Moved himself by these tears, and divining her thoughts,
 
 64 RIENZI : 
 
 Adrian forgot for a moment all the more daring wishes he had 
 formed. 
 
 " Fear not, sweet lady," said he, earnestly. " Recollect thy- 
 self, I beseech thee ; no peril, no evil can reach thee here. It 
 was this hand that saved thee from the outrage of the Orsini ; 
 this roof is but the shelter of a friend ! Tell me, then, fair 
 wonder, thy name and residence, and I will summon my servi- 
 tors and guard thee to thy home at once." 
 
 Perhaps the relief of tears, even more than Adrian's words, 
 restored Irene to herself and enabled her to comprehend her 
 novel situation ; and as her senses, thus cleared, told her what 
 she owed to him whom her dreams had so long imaged as the 
 ideal of all excellence, she recovered her self-possession, and 
 uttered her thanks with a grace not the less winning, if it still 
 partook of embarrassment. 
 
 " Thank me not," answered Adrian, passionately. " I have 
 touched thy hand, I am repaid. Repaid! nay, all gratitude, 
 all homage is for me to render ! " 
 
 Blushing again, but with far different emotions than before, 
 Irene, after a momentary pause, replied, " Yet, my lord, I must 
 consider it a debt the more weighty that you speak of it so 
 lightly. And now complete the obligation. I do not see my 
 companion, suffer her to accompany me home ; it is but a 
 short way hence." 
 
 " Blessed, then, is the air that I have breathed so uncon- 
 sciously ! " said Adrian. " But thy companion, dear lady, is 
 not here. She fled, I imagine, in the confusion of the conflict ; 
 and not knowing thy name, nor being able, in thy then state, 
 to learn it from thy lips, it was my happy necessity to con- 
 vey thee hither. But I will be thy companion. Nay, why 
 that timid glance ? My people also shall attend us." 
 
 "My thanks, noble lord, are of little worth; my brother, 
 who is not unknown to thee, will thank thee more fittingly. May 
 I depart ? " and Irene, as she spoke, was already at the door. 
 
 " Art thou so eager to leave me ? " answered Adrian, sadly. 
 " Alas ! when thou hast departed from my eyes, it will seem as 
 if the moon had left the night! But it is happiness to 
 obey thy wishes, even though they tear thee from me."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 55 
 
 A slight smile parted Irene's lips, and Adrian's heart beat 
 audibly to himself as he drew from that smile and those down- 
 cast eyes no unfavorable omen. 
 
 Reluctantly and slowly he turned towards the door and sum- 
 moned his attendants. " But," said he, as they stood on the 
 lofty staircase, "thou sayest, sweet lady, that thy brother's 
 name is not unknown to me. Heaven grant that he be, indeed, 
 a friend of the Colonna ! " 
 
 " His boast," answered Irene, evasively, " the boast of Cola 
 di Rienzi, is to be a friend to the friends of Rome." 
 
 " Holy Virgin of Ara Coeli ! is thy brother that extraordinary 
 man ? " exclaimed Adrian, as he foresaw, at the mention of 
 that name, a barrier to his sudden passion. " Alas ! in a 
 Colonna, in a noble, he will see no merit, even though thy 
 fortunate deliverer, sweet maiden, sought to be his early 
 friend ! " 
 
 "Thou wrongest him much, my lord," returned Irene, 
 warmly ; " he is a man above all others to sympathize with thy 
 generous valor, even had it been exerted in defence of the 
 humblest woman in Home : how much more, then, when in 
 protection of his sister ! " 
 
 " The times are indeed diseased," answered Adrian, thought- 
 fully, as they now found themselves in the open street, " when 
 men who alike mourn for the woes of their country are yet 
 suspicious of each othei ; when to be a patrician is to be re- 
 garded as an enemy to the people ; when to be termed the 
 friend of the people is to be considered a foe to the patricians ! 
 But come what may, oh! let me hope, dear lady, that no 
 doubts, no divisions, shall banish from thy breast one gentle 
 memory of me ! " 
 
 " Ah ! little, little do you know me " began Irene, and 
 stopped suddenly short. 
 
 "Speak! speak again! Of what music has this envious 
 silence deprived my soul ! Thou wilt not, then, forget me ? 
 And," continued Adrian, " we shall meet again ? It is to 
 Rienzi's house we are bound now ; to-morrow I shall visit my 
 old companion, to-morrow I shall see thee. Will it not 
 be so ? "
 
 56 RIENZI : 
 
 In Irene's silence was her answer. 
 
 " And as thou hast told me thy brother's name, make it 
 sweet to my ear, and add to it thine own." 
 
 " They call me Irene." 
 
 " Irene, Irene ! Let me repeat it. It is a soft name, and 
 dwells upon the lips as if loth to leave them, a fitting name 
 for one like thee." 
 
 Thus making his welcome court to Irene in that flowered 
 and glowing language which, if more peculiar to that age and 
 to the gallantry of the South, is also the language in whiclx 
 the poetry of youthful passion would, in all times and lands, 
 utter its rich extravagance, could heart speak to heart, Adrian 
 conveyed homeward his beautiful charge, taking, however, the 
 most circuitous and lengthened route, an artifice which Irene 
 either perceived not, or silently forgave. They were now 
 within sight of the street in which Rienzi dwelt, when a party 
 of men, bearing torches, came unexpectedly upon them. It 
 was a train of the Bishop of Orvietto, returning from the pal- 
 ace of Martino di Porto, and in their way (accompanied by 
 Rienzi) to that of Adrian. They had learned at the former, 
 without an interview with the Orsini, from the retainers in 
 the court below, the fortune of the conflict and the name of 
 Irene's champion ; and despite Adrian's general reputation for 
 gallantry, Rienzi knew enough of his character and the noble- 
 ness of his temper to feel assured that Irene was safe in 
 his protection. Alas ! in that very safety to the person is 
 often the most danger to the heart. Woman never so danger- 
 ously loves as when he who loves her, for her sake subdues 
 himself. 
 
 Clasped to her brother's breast, Irene bade him thank her 
 deliverer; and Rienzi, with that fascinating frankness which 
 sits so well on those usually reserved, and which all who would 
 rule the hearts of their fellow-men must at times command, 
 advanced to the young Colonna and poured forth his gratitude 
 and praise. 
 
 " We have been severed too long ; we must know each other 
 again," replied Adrian. "I shall seek thee ere long, be 
 assured."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUXES. 57 
 
 Turning to take his leave of Irene, he conveyed her hand to 
 his lips ; and pressing it, as it dropped from his clasp, was he 
 deceived in thinking that those delicate fingers lightly, invol- 
 untarily, returned the pressure ? 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 UPON LOVE AND LOVERS. 
 
 IF in adopting the legendary love-tele of Romeo and Juliet, 
 Shakspeare had changed the scene in which it is cast for a 
 more northern cliine, we may doubt whether the art of Shaks- 
 peare himself could have reconciled us at once to the sudden- 
 ness and the strength of Juliet's passion. And even as it is, 
 perhaps there are few of our rational and sober-minded island- 
 ers who would not honestly confess, if fairly questioned, that 
 they deem the romance and fervor of those ill-starred lovers 
 of Verona exaggerated and overdrawn. Yet in Italy the pict- 
 ure of that affection born of a night, but " strong as death," 
 is one to which the veriest commonplaces of life would afford 
 parallels without number. As in different ages, so in different 
 climes, love varies wonderfully in the shapes it takes. And 
 even at this day, beneath Italian skies, many a simple girl 
 would feel as Juliet, and many a homely gallant would rival 
 the extravagance of Romeo. Long suits in that sunny land, 
 wherein, as whereof, I now write, are unknown. In no other 
 land, perhaps, is there found so commonly the love at first 
 sight which in France is a jest, and in England a doubt; in 
 no other land, too, is love, though so suddenly conceived, more 
 faithfully preserved. That which is ripened in fancy comes at 
 once to passion, yet is embalmed through all time by senti- 
 ment. And this must be my and their excuse if the love of 
 Adrian seemed too prematurely formed, and that of Irene too 
 romantically conceived ; it is the excuse which they take from 
 the air and sun, from the customs of their ancestors, from the
 
 58 RIENZI : 
 
 soft contagion of example. But while they yielded to the dic- 
 tates of their hearts, it was with a certain though secret sad- 
 ness, a presentiment that had, perhaps, its charm, though it 
 was of cross and evil. Born of so proud a race, Adrian could 
 scarcely dream of marriage with the sister of a plebeian ; and 
 Irene, unconscious of the future glory of her brother, could 
 hardly have cherished any hope save that of being loved. Yet 
 these adverse circumstances, which in the harder, the more 
 prudent, the more self-denying, perhaps the more virtuous 
 minds that are formed beneath the northern skies, would have 
 been an inducement to wrestle against love so placed, only 
 contributed to feed and strengthen theirs by an opposition 
 which has ever its attraction for romance. They found fre- 
 quent, though short, opportunities of meeting, not quite 
 alone, but only in the conniving presence of Benedetta : some- 
 times in the public gardens, sometimes amidst the vast and 
 deserted ruins by which the house of Eienzi was surrounded. 
 They surrendered themselves, without much question of the 
 future, to the excitement, the elysium, of the hour ; they lived 
 but from day to day ; their future was the next time they should 
 meet : beyond that epoch, the very mists of their youthful love 
 closed in obscurity and shadow which they sought not to pene- 
 trate ; and as yet they had not arrived at that period of affec- 
 tion when there was danger of their fall, their love had not 
 passed the golden portal where Heaven ceases and Earth begins. 
 Everything for them was the poetry, the vagueness, the refine- 
 ment, not the power, the concentration, the mortality, of 
 desire ! The look, the whisper, the brief pressure of the hand, 
 at most, the first kisses of love, rare and few, these marked 
 the human limits of that sentiment which filled them with a 
 new life, which elevated them as with a new soul. 
 
 The roving tendencies of Adrian were at once fixed and 
 centred ; the dreams of his tender mistress had awakened to a 
 life dreaming still, but "rounded with a truth." All that 
 earnestness and energy and fervor of emotion which in her 
 brother broke forth in the schemes of patriotism and the as- 
 pirations of power, were in Irene softened down into one 
 object of existence, one concentration of soul, and that was
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 59 
 
 love. Yet in this range of thought and action, so apparently 
 limited, there was in reality no less boundless a sphere than in 
 the wide space of her brother's many-pathed ambition. Not 
 the less had she the power and scope for all the loftiest capaci- 
 ties granted to our clay. Equal was her enthusiasm for her 
 idol ; equal, had she been equally tried, would have been her 
 generosity, her devotion, greater, be sure, her courage ; more 
 inalienable her worship ; more unsullied by selfish purposes 
 and sordid views. Time, change, misfortune, ingratitude, would 
 have left her the same. What state could fall, what liberty 
 decay, if the zeal of man's noisy patriotism were as pure as 
 the silent loyalty of a woman's love ? 
 
 In them everything was yovng, the heart unchilled, un- 
 blighted, that fulness and luxuriance of life's life which has in 
 it something of divine. At that age, when it seems as if we 
 could never die, how deathless, how flushed and mighty as 
 with the youngness of a god, is all that our hearts create ! 
 Our own youth is like that of the earth itself when it peopled 
 the woods and waters with divinities ; when life ran riot, and 
 yet only gave birth to beauty, all its shapes, of poetry ; all 
 its airs, the melodies of Arcady and Olympus ! The Golden 
 Age never leaves the world ; it exists still and shall exist, till 
 love, health, poetry, are no more, but only for the young ! 
 
 If I now dwell, though but for a moment, on the interlude 
 in a drama calling forth more masculine passions than that of 
 love, it is because I foresee that the occasion will but rarely 
 recur. If I linger on the description of Irene and her hidden 
 affection, rather than wait for circumstances to portray them 
 better than the author's words can, it is because I foresee that 
 that loving and lovely image must continue to the last rather a 
 shadow than a portrait, thrown in the background, as is the 
 real destiny of such natures, by bolder figures and more gor- 
 geous colors ; a something whose presence is rather felt than 
 seen, and whose very harmony with the whole consists in its 
 retiring and subdued repose.
 
 60 RIENZI : 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE ENTHUSIASTIC MAN JUDGED BY THE DISCREET MAN. 
 
 "Tnou wrongest me," said Rienzi, warmly, to Adrian, as 
 they sat alone, towards the close of a long conference. " I do 
 not play the part of a mere demagogue ; I wish not to stir the 
 great deeps in order that my lees of fortune may rise to the 
 surface. So long have I brooded over the past that it seems to 
 me as if I had become a part of it, as if I had no separate 
 existence. I have coined my whole soul into one master- 
 passion; and its end is the restoration of Rome." 
 
 " But by what means ? " 
 
 " My lord ! my lord ! there is but one way to restore the 
 greatness of a people, it is an appeal to the people them- 
 selves. It is not in the power of princes and barons to make 
 a state permanently glorious ; they raise themselves, but they 
 raise not the people with them. All great regenerations are 
 the universal movement of the mass." 
 
 " Nay," answered Adrian, " then have we read history dif- 
 ferently. To me, all great regenerations seem to have been 
 the work of the few, and tacitly accepted by the multitude. 
 But let us not dispute after the manner of the schools. Thou 
 sayest loudly that a vast crisis is at hand, that the Good Es- 
 tate (buono stato) shall be established. How ? where are your 
 arms, your soldiers? Are the nobles less strong than hereto- 
 fore ; is the .mob more bold, more constant ? Heaven knows 
 that I speak not with the prejudices of my order ; I weep for 
 the debasement of my country ! I am a Roman, and in that 
 name I forget that I am a noble. But I tremble at the storm 
 you would raise so hazardously. If your insurrection succeed, 
 it will be violent ; it will be purchased by blood, by the 
 blood of all the loftiest names of Home. You will aim at a 
 second expulsion of the Tarquins ; but it will be more like a 
 second proscription of Sylla. Massacres and disorders never
 
 ' A
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 61 
 
 pave the way to peace. If, on the other hand, you fail, the 
 chains of Borne are riveted forever ; an ineffectual struggle to 
 escape is but an excuse for additional tortures to the slave." 
 
 "And what, then, would the Lord Adrian have us do?" 
 said Eienzi, with that peculiar and sarcastic smile which has 
 before been noted. " Shall we wait till the Colonna and Orsini 
 quarrel no more ? Shall we ask the Colonna for liberty, and 
 the Orsini for justice ? My lord, we cannot appeal to the 
 nobles against the nobles. We must not ask them to moderate 
 their power, we must restore to ourselves that power. There 
 may be danger in the attempt, but we attempt it amongst the 
 monuments of the Forum ; and if we fall, we shall perish 
 worthy of our sires! Ye have high descent and sounding 
 titles and wide lands, and you talk of your ancestral honors ! 
 We, too, we plebeians of Eome, we have ours! Our fathers 
 were freemen ! Where is our heritage ? Not sold, not given 
 away, but stolen from us, now by fraud, now by force ; filched 
 from us in our sleep, or wrung from us with fierce hands, 
 amidst our cries and struggles. My lord, we but ask that 
 lawful heritage to be restored to us, to us, nay, to you it is 
 the same ; your liberty alike is gone. Can you dwell in your 
 father's house without towers and fortresses and the bought 
 swords of bravos ? Can you walk in the streets at dark with- 
 out arms and followers ? True, you, a noble, may retaliate ; 
 though we dare not. You, in your turn, may terrify and out- 
 rage others ; but does license compensate for liberty ? They 
 have given you pomp and power ; but the safety of equal laws 
 were a better gift. Oh, were I you, were I Stephen Colonna 
 himself, I should pant, ay, thirstily as I do now, for that free 
 air which comes not through bars and bulwarks against my 
 fellow-citizens, but in the open space of Heaven, safe, be- 
 cause protected by the silent Providence of Law, and not by 
 the lean fears and hollow-eyed suspicions which are the com- 
 rades of a hated power. The tyrant thinks he is free because 
 he commands slaves: the meanest peasant in a free state is 
 more free than he is. Oh, my lord, that you, the brave, the 
 generous, the enlightened, you, almost alone amidst your order, 
 in the knowledge that we had a country, oh, would that you,
 
 62 RIENZI : 
 
 \vho can sympathize with our sufferings, would strike with us 
 for their redress ! " 
 
 " Thou wilt war against Stephen Colonna, my kinsman ; and 
 though I have seen him but little, nor, truth to say, esteem 
 him much, yet he is the boast of our house : how can I join 
 thee?" 
 
 "His life will be safe, his possessions safe, his rank safe. 
 What do we war against? His power to do wrong to 
 others ! " 
 
 " Should he discover that thou hast force beyond words, he 
 would be less merciful to thee." 
 
 "And has he not discovered that? Do not the shouts of 
 the people tell him that I am a man whom he should fear ? 
 Does he, the cautious, the wily, the profound, does he build 
 fortresses and erect towers, and not see from his battlements 
 the mighty fabric that I too have erected?" 
 
 " You ! where, Rienzi ? " 
 
 " In the hearts of Rome ! Does he not see ? " continued 
 Rienzi. "No, no; he all, all his tribe are blind. Is it 
 not so?" 
 
 . " Of a certainty, my kinsman has no belief in your power, 
 else he would have crushed you long ere this. Nay, it was 
 but three days ago that he said, gravely, he would rather you 
 addressed the populace than the best priest in Christendom ; 
 for that other orators inflamed the crowd, and no man so 
 stilled and dispersed them as you did." 
 
 " And I called him profound ! Does not Heaven hush the 
 air most when most it prepares the storm ? Ay, my lord, I 
 understand. Stephen Colonna despises me. I have been," 
 here, as he continued, a deep blush mantled over his cheek 
 "you remember it at his palace in my younger days, and 
 pleased him with witty tales and light apophthegms. Nay 
 ha ! ha ! he would call me, I think, sometimes, in gay com- 
 pliment, his jester, his buffoon! I have brooked his insult; 
 I have even bowed to his applause. I would undergo the 
 same penance, stoop to the same shame, for the same motive 
 and in the same cause. "What did I desire to effect? Can 
 you tell me ? No ! I will whisper it, then, to you : it was
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 63 
 
 the contempt of Stephen Colonna. Under that contempt I was 
 protected till protection became no longer necessary. I de- 
 sired not to be thought formidable by the patricians, in order 
 that, quietly and unsuspected, I might make my way amongst 
 the people. I have done so; I now throw aside the mask. 
 Face to face with Stephen Colonna, I could tell him, this very 
 hour, that I brave his anger ; that I laugh at his dungeons and 
 armed men. But if he think me the same Eienzi as of old, 
 let him ; I can wait my hour." 
 
 "Yet," said Adrian, waiving an answer to the haughty 
 language of his companion, "tell me, what dost thou ask for 
 the people, in order to avoid an appeal to their passions ? 
 Ignorant and capricious as they are, thou canst not appeal 
 to their reason." 
 
 " I ask full justice and safety for all men. I will be con- 
 tented with no less a compromise. I ask the nobles to dis- 
 mantle their fortresses, to disband their armed retainers, to 
 acknowledge no impunity for crime in high lineage, to claim 
 no protection save in the courts of the common law." 
 
 " Vain desire ! " said Adrian. " Ask what may yet be 
 granted." 
 
 " Ha, ha ! " replied Eienzi, laughing bitterly, " did I not tell 
 you it was a vain dream to ask for law and justice at the hands 
 of the great? Can you blame me, then, that I ask it else- 
 where ? " Then, suddenly changing his tone and manner, he 
 added with great solemnity " Waking life hath false and 
 vain dreams ; but sleep is sometimes a mighty prophet. By 
 sleep it is that Heaven mysteriously, communes with its crea- 
 tures, and guides and sustains its earthly agents in the path 
 to which its providence leads them on." 
 
 Adrian made no reply. This was not the first time he had 
 noted that Kienzi's strong intellect was strangely conjoined with 
 a deep and mystical superstition. And this yet more inclined 
 the young noble, who, though sufficiently devout, yielded but 
 little to the wilder credulities of the time, to doubt the success 
 of the schemer's projects. In this he erred greatly, though his 
 error was that of the worldly wise. For nothing ever so in- 
 spires human daring as the fond belief that it is the agent of a
 
 i',4 RIENZI: 
 
 Hiviner Wisdom. Revenge and patriotism, united in one man 
 of genius and ambition, such are the Archimedean levers 
 that lind. in FANATICISM, the spot out of the world by which 
 to move the world. The prudent man may direct a state, but 
 it is the enthusiast who regenerates it or ruins. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 "WHEN THE PEOPLE SAW THIS PICTURE, EVERY ONE 
 MARVELLED." 
 
 BEFORE the market-place and at the foot of the Capitol, 
 an immense crowd was assembled. Each man sought to push 
 before his neighbor; each struggled to gain access to one 
 particular spot, round which the crowd was wedged thick 
 and dense. 
 
 " Corpo di Dio ! " said a man of huge stature, pressing on- 
 ward like some bulky ship, casting the noisy waves right and 
 left from its prow, "this is hot work; but for what, in the 
 Holy Mother's name, do ye crowd so ? See you not, Sir Ribald, 
 that my right arm is disabled, swathed, and bandaged, so that 
 I cannot help myself better than a baby ? And yet you push 
 against me as if I were an old wall ! " 
 
 " Ah, Cecco del Vecchio ! What, man ! we must make way 
 for you ; you are too small and tender to bustle through 
 a crowd ! Come, I will protect you ! " said a dwarf of some 
 four feet high, glancing up at the giant. 
 
 " Faith," said the grim smith, looking round on the mob, 
 who laughed loud at the dwarf's proffer, " we all do want pro- 
 tection, big and small. What do you laugh for, ye apes ? Ay, 
 you don't understand parables." 
 
 " And yet it is a parable we are come to gaze upon," said 
 one of the mob, with a slight sneer. 
 
 " Pleasant day to you, Signor Baroncelli," answered Cecco 
 del Vecchio; "you are a good man, and love the people: it
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 65 
 
 makes one's heart sinile to see you. What 's all this pother 
 for ? " 
 
 " Why, the Pope's notary hath set up a great picture in the 
 market-place, and the gapers say it relates to Koine ; so they 
 are melting their brains out, this hot day, to guess at the 
 riddle." 
 
 " Ho ! ho ! " said the smith, pushing on so vigorously that 
 he left the speaker suddenly in the rear ; " if Cola di Kienzi 
 hath aught in the matter, I would break through stone rocks 
 to get to it." 
 
 " Much good will a dead daub do us," said Baroncelli, sourly, 
 and turning to his neighbors ; but no man listened to him, and 
 he, a would-be demagogue, gnawed his lip in envy. 
 
 Amidst half-awed groans and curses from the men whom he 
 jostled aside, and open objurgations and shrill cries from the 
 women, to whose robes and head-gear he showed as little 
 respect, the sturdy smith won his way to a space fenced round 
 by chains, in the centre of which was placed a huge picture. 
 
 " How came it hither ? " cried one ; " I was first at the 
 market." 
 
 ""We found it here at daybreak," said a vender of fruit; 
 "no one was by." 
 
 " But why do you fancy Rienzi had a hand in it ? " 
 " Why, who else could ? " answered twenty voices. 
 " True ! Who else ? " echoed the gaunt smith. " I dare be 
 sworn the good man spent the whole night in painting it him- 
 self. Blood of Saint Peter, but it is mighty fine ! What is 
 it about?" 
 
 "That's the riddle," said a meditative fishwoman; "if 
 I could make it out, I should die happy." 
 
 "It is something about liberty and taxes, no doubt," said 
 Luigi the butcher, leaning over the chains. " Ah ! if Rienzi 
 were minded, every poor man would have his bit of meat in 
 his pot." 
 
 " And as much bread as he could eat," added a pale baker. 
 "Chut! bread and meat, everybody has that now; but 
 what wine the poor folks drink ! One has no encouragement 
 to take pains with one's vineyard," said a vinedresser. 
 
 VOL. I. 5
 
 66 RIENZI : 
 
 " Ho, hollo 1 Long life to Pandulfo di Guido ! Make way 
 for master Pandulfo ; he is a learned man ; he is a friend of 
 the great notary ; he will tell us all about the picture. Make 
 way, there, make way ! " 
 
 Slowly and modestly, Pandulfo di Guido, a quiet, wealthy, 
 and honest man of letters, whom nought save the violence of 
 the times could have roused from his tranquil home or his 
 studious closet, passed to the chains. He looked long and hard 
 at the picture, which was bright with new and yet moist 
 colors, and exhibited somewhat of the reviving art, which, 
 though hard and harsh in its features, was about that time 
 visible, and, carried to a far higher degree, we yet gaze upon 
 in the paintings of Perugino, who flourished during the suc- 
 ceeding generation. The people pressed round the learned 
 man with open mouths, now turning their eyes to the picture, 
 now to Pandulfo. 
 
 "Know you not," at length said Pandulfo, "the easy and 
 palpable meaning of this design ? Behold how the painter 
 has presented to you a vast and stormy sea ; mark how its 
 waves " 
 
 " Speak louder, louder ! " shouted the impatient crowd. 
 
 " Hush ! " cried those in the immediate vicinity of Pandulfo ; 
 " the worthy Signer is perfectly audible." 
 
 Meanwhile, some of the more witty, pushing towards a stall 
 in the market-place, bore from it a rough table, from which 
 they besought Pandulfo to address the people. The pale 
 citizen, with some pain and shame, for he was no practised 
 spokesman, was obliged to assent ; but when he cast his eyes 
 over the vast and breathless crowd, his own deep sympathy 
 with their cause inspired and emboldened him. A light broke 
 from his eyes, his voice swelled into power, and his head, 
 usually buried in his breast, became erect and commanding in 
 its air. 
 
 "You see before you in the picture," he began again, "a 
 mighty and tempestuous sea ; upon its waves you behold five 
 ships : four of them are already wrecks, their masts are 
 broken, the waves are dashing through the rent planks, they 
 are past all aid and hope ; on each of these ships lies the
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 67 
 
 corpse of a woman. See you not, in the wan face and livid 
 limbs, how faithfully the limner hath painted the hues and 
 loathsomeness of death ? Below each of these ships is a word 
 that applies the metaphor to truth. Yonder you see the name 
 of Carthage ; the other three are Troy, Jerusalem, and Baby- 
 lon. To these four is one common inscription: 'To exhaus- 
 tion were we brought by injustice ! ' Turn now your eyes to 
 the middle of the sea, there you behold the fifth ship, tossed 
 amidst the waves, her mast broken, her rudder gone, her sails 
 shivered, but not yet a wreck like the rest, though she soon 
 may be. On her deck kneels a female clothed in mourning, 
 mark the woe upon her countenance ; how cunningly the artist 
 has conveyed its depth and desolation ! She stretches out her 
 arms in prayer, she implores your and Heaven's assistance. 
 Mark now the superscription : ' This is Home ! ' Yes, it is 
 your country that addresses you in this emblem!" 
 
 The crowd waved to and fro, and a deep murmur crept 
 gathering over the silence which they had hitherto kept. 
 
 " Now," continued Pandulfo, " turn your gaze to the right 
 of the picture, and you will behold the cause of the tempest, 
 you will see why the fifth vessel is thus perilled, and her 
 sisters are thus wrecked. Mark, four different kinds of ani- 
 mals, who from their horrid jaws send forth the winds and 
 storms which torture and rack the sea. The first are the lions, 
 the wolves, the bears, these, the inscription tells you, are 
 the lawless and savage signors of the state. The next are the 
 dogs and swine, these are the evil counsellors and parasites. 
 Thirdly, you behold the dragons and the foxes, and these 
 are false judges and notaries, and they who sell justice. 
 Fourthly, in the hares, the goats, the apes, that assist in 
 creating the storm, you perceive, by the inscription, the em- 
 blems of the popular thieves and homicides, ravishers and 
 spoliators. Are ye bewildered still, Romans, or have ye 
 mastered the riddle of the picture ? " 
 
 Far in their massive palaces the Savelli and Orsini heard the 
 echo of the shouts that answered the question of Pandulfo. 
 
 " Are ye, then, without hope ? " resumed the scholar, as the 
 shout ceased, and hushing, with the first sound of his voice,
 
 '.S RIENZI: 
 
 the ejaculations and speeches which each man had turned to 
 utter to his neighbor. " Are ye without hope ? Doth the pic- 
 ture, which shows your tribulation, promise you no redemp- 
 tion ? Behold, above that angry sea the heavens open, and 
 the majesty of God descends gloriously, as to judgment ; and 
 from the rays that surround the Spirit of God extend two 
 flaming swords, and on those swords stand, in wrath, but in 
 deliverance, the two patron saints, the two mighty guar- 
 dians of your city ! People of Rome, farewell; the parable is 
 finished ! " > 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A ROUGH SPIRIT RAISED, WHICH MAY HEREAFTER REND THE 
 
 WIZARD. 
 
 WHILE thus animated was the scene around the Capitol, 
 within one of the apartments of the palace sat the agent and 
 prime cause of that excitement. In the company of his quiet 
 scribes, Rienzi appeared absorbed in the patient details of his 
 avocation. While the murmur and the hum, the shout and 
 the tramp, of multitudes, rolled to his chamber, he seemed not 
 to heed them, nor to rouse himself a moment from his task. 
 With the unbroken regularity of an automaton, he continued to 
 enter in his large book, and with the clear and beautiful char- 
 acters of the period, those damning figures which taught him, 
 better than declamations, the frauds practised on the people, 
 and armed him with that weapon of plain fact which it is so 
 difficult for abuse to parry. 
 
 " Page 2, Vol. B.," said he, in the tranquil voice of business, 
 to the clerks, " see there the profits of the salt duty ; depart- 
 
 1 M. Sismondi attributes to Eienzi a fine oration at the showing of the 
 picture, in which lie thundered against the vices of the patricians. The con- 
 temporary biographer of Kienzi says nothing of this harangue. But, appar- 
 ently (since history has its liberties as well as fiction), M. Sismondi has 
 thought it convenient to confound two occasions very distinct in themselves.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 69 
 
 ment No. 3 very well. Page 9, Vol. D. what is the account 
 rendered by Vescobaldi, the collector ? What ! twelve thou- 
 sand florins, no more ? Unconscionable rascal ! " (Here 
 was a loud shout without of " Pandulfo ! Long live Pan- 
 dulfo ! " ) " Pastrucci, my friend, your head wanders ; you are 
 listening to the noise without, please to amuse yourself with 
 the calculation I intrusted to you. Santi, what is the entry 
 given in by Antonio Tralli ? " 
 
 A slight tap was heard at the door, and Pandulfo entered. 
 
 The clerks continued their labor, though they looked up has- 
 tily at the pale and respectable visitor, whose name, to their 
 great astonishment, had thus become a popular cry. 
 
 " Ah ! my friend," said Rienzi, calmly enough in voice, but 
 his hands trembled with ill-suppressed emotion, "you would 
 speak to me alone, eh ? Well, well ; this way." Thus saying, 
 he led the citizen into a small cabinet in the rear of the room 
 of office, carefully shut the door, and then giving himself up 
 to the natural impatience of his character, seized Pandulfo by 
 the hand. " Speak ! " cried he. " Do they take the interpre- 
 tation ? Have you made it plain and palpable enough ? Has 
 it sunk deep into their souls ? " 
 
 " Oh, by Saint Peter, yes ! " returned the citizen, whose 
 spirits were elevated by his recent discovery that he, too, was 
 an orator, a luxurious pleasure for a timid man. " They 
 swallowed every word of the interpretation ; they are moved 
 to the marrow ; you might lead them this very hour to battle, 
 and find them heroes. As for the sturdy smith " 
 
 " What ! Cecco del Vecchio ? " interrupted Eienzi. " Ah ! 
 his heart is wrought in bronze : what did he ? " 
 
 " Why, he caught me by the hem of my robe as I descended 
 my rostrum (oh, would you could have seen me ! Per fede, I 
 had caught your mantle ; I was a second you ! ) and said, weep- 
 ing like a child, ' Ah, Signor, I am but a poor man, and of 
 little worth ; but if every drop of blood in this body were a 
 life, I would give it for my country ! ' " 
 
 " Brave soul," said Rienzi, with emotion ; " would Rome had 
 but fifty such! No man hath done us more good among his 
 own class than Cecco del Vecchio."
 
 70 RIENZI : 
 
 "They feel a protection in his very size," said Pandulfo. 
 "It is something to hear such big words from such a big 
 fellow." 
 
 "Were there any voices lifted in disapprobation of the 
 picture and its sentiment ? " 
 
 "None." 
 
 " The time is nearly ripe, then ; a few suns more, and the 
 fruit must be gathered. The Aventine, the Lateran, and then 
 the solitary trumpet/" Thus saying, Kienzi, with folded arms 
 and downcast eyes, seemed sunk into a revery. 
 
 " By the way, ' said Pandulfo, " I had almost forgot to tell 
 thee that the crowd would have poured themselves hither, so 
 impatient were they to see thee ; but I bade Cecco del Vecchio 
 mount the rostrum and tell them, in his blunt way, that it 
 would be unseemly at the present time, when thou wert en- 
 gaged in the Capitol on civil and holy affairs, to rush in so 
 great a body into thy presence. Did I not right ? " 
 
 " Most right, my Pandulfo." 
 
 "But Cecco del Vecchio says he must come and kiss thy 
 hand; and thou mayest expect him here the moment he can 
 escape unobserved from the crowd." 
 
 " He is welcome ! " said Kienzi, half mechanically, for he 
 was still absorbed in thought. 
 
 "And lo ! here he is," as. one of the scribes announced the 
 visit of the smith. 
 
 " Let him be admitted ! " said Kienzi, seating himself 
 composedly. 
 
 When the huge smith found himself in the presence of 
 Kienzi, it amused Pandulfo to perceive the wonderful influences 
 of mind over matter. That fierce and sturdy giant, who in all 
 popular commotions towered above his tribe, with thews of 
 stone and nerves of iron, the rallying point and bulwark of 
 the rest, stood now coloring and trembling before the intellect 
 which (so had the eloquent spirit of Rienzi waked and fanned 
 the spark which, till then, had lain dormant in that rough 
 bosom) might almost be said to have created his own. And 
 he, indeed, who first arouses in the bondsman the sense and 
 soul of freedom comes as near as is permitted to man, nearer
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 71 
 
 than the philosopher, nearer even than the poet, to the great 
 creative attribute of God ! But if the breast be uneducated, 
 the gift may curse the giver ; and he who passes at once from 
 the slave to the freeman may pass as rapidly from the freeman 
 to the ruffian. 
 
 " Approach, my friend," said Eienzi, after a moment's pause ; 
 "I know all that thou hast done, and wouldst do, for Eome. 
 Thou art worthy of her best days, and thou art born to share 
 in their return." 
 
 The smith dropped at the feet of Kienzi, who held out his 
 hand to raise him, which Cecco del Vecchio seized and reveren- 
 tially kissed. 
 
 " This kiss does not betray," said Eienzi, smiling; "but rise, 
 my friend, this posture is only due to God and His saints ! " 
 
 " He is a saint who helps us at need," said the smith, bluntly, 
 "and that no man has done as thou hast. But when," he 
 added, sinking his voice, and fixing his eyes hard on Eienzi, as 
 one may do who waits a signal to strike a blow, "when 
 when shall we make the great effort ? " 
 
 " Thou hast spoken to all the brave men in thy neighbor- 
 hood: are they well prepared?" 
 
 " To live or die, as Eienzi bids them ! " 
 
 "I must have the list the number, names, houses, and 
 callings this night." 
 
 " Thou shalt." 
 
 "Each man must sign his name or mark with his owu 
 hand." 
 
 " It shall be done." 
 
 "Then, hark ye! attend Pandulfo di Guido at his house 
 this evening at sunset. He shall instruct thee where to meet 
 this night some brave hearts; thou art worthy to be ranked 
 amongst them. Thou wilt not fail ? " 
 
 " By the Holy Stairs ! I will count every minute till then," 
 said the smith, his swarthy face lighted with pride at the con- 
 fidence shown him. 
 
 " Meanwhile, watch all your neighbors ; let no man flag or 
 grow faint-hearted : none of thy friends must be branded as a 
 traitor ! "
 
 72 RIKNZI : 
 
 "I will cut his throat, were he my own mother's son, if I 
 find one pledged man flinch ! " said the fierce smith. 
 
 " Ha, ha ! " rejoined Kienzi, with that strange laugh which 
 belonged to him, " a miracle 1 a miracle ! The Picture speaks 
 
 now ! " 
 
 It was already nearly dusk when Eienzi left the Capitol. 
 The broad space before its walls was empty and deserted, 
 and wrapping his mantle closely round him, he walked mus- 
 ingly on. 
 
 " I have almost climbed the height," thought he, " and now 
 the precipice yawns before me. If I fail, what a fall ! The 
 last hope of my country falls with me. Never will a noble 
 rise against the nobles ; never will another plebeian have the 
 opportunities and the power that I have ! Rome is bound up 
 with me, with a single life. The liberties of all time are 
 fixed to a reed that a wind may uproot. But, Providence ! 
 hast thou not reserved and marked me for great deeds ? How, 
 step by step, have I been led on to this solemn enterprise ! 
 How has each hour prepared its successor ! And yet what 
 danger! If the inconstant people, made cowardly by long 
 thraldom, do but waver in the crisis, I am swept away ! " 
 
 As he spoke, he raised his eyes, and lo ! before him the first 
 star of twilight shone calmly down upon the crumbling rem- 
 nants of the Tarpeian Rock. It was no favoring omen, and 
 Ilienzi's heart beat quicker as that dark and ruined mass 
 frowned thus suddenly on his gaze. 
 
 " Dread monument," thought he, " of what dark catastrophes, 
 to what unknown schemes, hast thou been the witness ! To 
 how many enterprises, on which history is dumb, hast thou set 
 the seal ! How know we whether they were criminal or just ? 
 How know we whether he, thus doomed as a traitor, would 
 not, if successful, have been immortalized as a deliverer ? If 
 I fall, who will write my chronicle ? One of the people ? 
 Alas ! blinded and ignorant, they furnish forth no minds that 
 can appeal to posterity. One of the patricians ? In what 
 colors then shall I be painted! No tomb will rise for me 
 amidst the wrecks ; no hand scatter flowers upon my grave ! "
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 73 
 
 Thus meditating on the verge of that mighty enterprise to 
 which he had devoted himself, Kienzi pursued his way. He 
 gained the Tiber, and paused for a few moments beside its 
 legendary stream, over which the purple and star-lit heaven 
 shone deeply down. He crossed the bridge which leads to the 
 quarter of the Trastevere, whose haughty inhabitants yet boast 
 themselves the sole descendants of the ancient Romans. Here 
 his step grew quicker and more light ; brighter, if less solemn, 
 thoughts crowded upon his breast ; and ambition, lulled for a 
 moment, left his strained and over-labored mind to the reign of 
 a softer passion. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 NINA DI EASELLI. 
 
 " I TELL you, Lucia, I do not love those stuffs ; they do not 
 become me. Saw you ever so poor a dye ? This purple, in- 
 deed ; that crimson ! Why did you let the man leave them ? 
 Let him take them elsewhere to-morrow. They may suit the 
 signoras on the other side the Tiber, who imagine everything 
 Venetian must be perfect ; but I, Lucia, / see with my own 
 eyes, and judge from my own mind." 
 
 " Ah, dear lady," said the serving-maid, " if you were, as you 
 doubtless will be, some time or other, a grand signora, how 
 worthily you would wear the honors ! Santa Cecilia ! no 
 other dame in Rome would be looked at while the Lady Nina 
 were by." 
 
 " Would we not teach them what pomp was ? " answered 
 Nina. "Oh, what festivals would we hold! Saw you not 
 from the gallery Che revels given last week by the Lady Giulia 
 Savelli ? " 
 
 "Ay, Signora; and when you walked up the hall in your 
 silver and pearl tissue, there ran such a murmur through the 
 gallery; every one cried, 'The Savelli have entertained an 
 angel ! ' ' 
 
 " Pish ! Lucia ; no flattery, girl ! "
 
 74 RIEXZI : 
 
 " It is naked truth, lady. But that was a revel, was it not ? 
 There was grandeur ! fifty servitors in scarlet and gold ; and 
 the music playing all the while. The minstrels were sent for 
 from Bergamo. Did not that festival please you? Ah, I 
 warrant many were the fine speeches made to you that day ! " 
 
 " Ileigho ! No, there was one voice wanting, and all the 
 music was marred. But, girl, were /the Lady Giulia, I would 
 not have been contented with so poor a revel." 
 
 " How, poor ! Why, all the nobles say it outdid the proudest 
 marriage-feast of the Colonna. Nay, a Neapolitan who sat 
 next me, who had served under the young queen Joanna at her 
 marriage, says that even Naples was outshone." 
 
 " That may be, I know nought of Naples ; but I know 
 what my court should have been, were I what what I am not, 
 and may never be ! The banquet vessels should have been of 
 gold ; the cups jewelled to the brim ; not an inch of the rude 
 pavement should have been visible; all should have glowed 
 with cloth of gold. The fountain in the court should have 
 showered up the perfumes of the East ; my pages should not 
 have been rough youths, blushing at their own uncouthness, 
 but fair boys, who had not told their twelfth year, culled from 
 the daintiest palaces of Koine; and as for the music, oh, 
 Lucia! each musician should have worn a chaplet, and de- 
 served it ; and he who played best should have had a reward, 
 to inspire all the rest, a rose from me. Saw you, too, the 
 Lady Giulia's robe ? What colors, they might have put out 
 the sun at noonday ! yellow, and blue, and orange, and scarlet ! 
 Oh, sweet Saints ! but my eyes ached all the next day." 
 
 " Doubtless, the Lady Giulia lacks your skill in the mixture 
 of colors," said the complaisant waiting-woman. 
 
 "And then, too, what a mien, no royalty in it! She 
 moved along the hall so that her train wellnigh tripped her 
 every moment; and then she said, with a foolish laugh, 
 ' These holiday robes are but troublesome luxuries.' Troth, 
 for the great there should be no holiday robes ; 't is for myself, 
 not for others, that I would attire ! Every day should have its 
 new robe, more gorgeous than the last ; every day should be a 
 holiday ! "
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 75 
 
 " Methought," said Lucia, "that the Lord Giovanni Orsini 
 seemed very devoted to my lady." 
 
 "He! the bear!" 
 
 " Bear he may be, but he has a costly skin. His riches are 
 untold." 
 
 "And the fool knows not how to spend them." 
 
 " Was not that the young Lord Adrian who spoke to you just 
 by the columns, where the music played ? " 
 
 It might be ; I forget." 
 
 " Yet I hear that few ladies forget when Lord Adrian di 
 Castello wooes them." 
 
 "There was but one man whose company seemed to me 
 worth the recollection," answered Nina, unheeding the insinua- 
 tion of the artful handmaid. 
 
 " And who was he ? " asked Lucia. 
 
 " The old scholar from Avignon." 
 
 " What ! he with the gray beard ? Oh, Signora! " 
 
 " Yes," said Nina, with a grave and sad voice ; " when he 
 spoke, the whole scene vanished from my eyes, for he spoke 
 to me of HIM ! " 
 
 As she said this, the Signora sighed deeply, and the tears 
 gathered to her eyes. 
 
 The waiting-woman raised her lips in disdain, and her looks 
 in wonder ; but she did not dare to venture a reply. 
 
 " Open the lattice," said Nina, after a pause, " and give me 
 yon paper. Not that, girl, but the verses sent me yesterday. 
 What ! art thou Italian, and dost thou not know, by instinct, 
 that I spoke of the rhyme of Petrarch ? " 
 
 Seated by the open casement, through which the moonlight 
 stole soft and sheen, with one lamp beside her, from which she 
 seemed to shade her eyes, though in reality she sought to 
 hide her countenance from Lucia, the young Signora appeared 
 absorbed in one of those tender sonnets which then turned the 
 brains and inflamed the hearts of Italy. 1 
 
 1 Although it is true that the love sonnets of Petrarch were not then, as 
 now, the most esteemed of his works, yet it has been a great, though a com- 
 mon, error to represent them as little known and coldly admired. Their 
 effect was, in reality, prodigious and universal. Every ballad-singer sang
 
 Tt 1 . RIENZI: 
 
 Born of an impoverished house, which though boasting its 
 descent from a consular race of Rome, scarcely at that day 
 maintained a rank amongst the inferior order of nobility, Nina 
 di Raselli was the spoiled child, the idol and the tyrant, of her 
 parents. The energetic and self-willed character of her mind 
 made her rule where she should have obeyed ; and as in all ages 
 dispositions can conquer custom, she had, though in a clime 
 and land where the young and unmarried of her sex are usually 
 chained and fettered, assumed, and by assuming won, the pre- 
 rogative of independence. She possessed, it is true, more 
 learning and more genius than generally fell to the share of 
 women in that day, and enough of both to be deemed a mira- 
 cle by her parents. She had also, what they valued more, a 
 surpassing beauty, and what they feared more, an indomitable 
 haughtiness, a haughtiness mixed with a thousand soft and 
 endearing qualities where she loved, and which, indeed, where 
 she loved, seemed to vanish. At once vain yet high-minded, 
 resolute yet impassioned, there was a gorgeous magnificence in 
 her very vanity and splendor, an ideality in her wayward- 
 ness. Her defects made a part of her brilliancy ; without them 
 she would have seemed less woman ; and, knowing her, you 
 would have compared all women by her standard. Softer 
 qualities beside her seemed not more charming, but more in- 
 sipid. She had no vulgar ambition, for she had obstinately 
 refused many alliances which the daughter of Raselli could 
 scarcely have hoped to form. The untutored minds and savage 
 power of the Roman nobles seemed to her imagination, which 
 was full of the poetry of rank, its luxury and its graces, as 
 something barbarous and revolting, at once to be dreaded and 
 despised. She had, therefore, passed her twentieth year un- 
 married, but not without love. The faults themselves of her 
 character, elevated that ideal of love which she had formed. 
 She required some being round whom all her vainer qualities 
 could rally ; she felt that where she loved she must adore ; 
 she demanded no common idol before which to humble so strong 
 and imperious a mind. Unlike women of a gentler mould, 
 
 them in the streets (says Filippo Villani). Gravissimi nesciebant abstinere, 
 " Even the gravest could not abstain from them."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 77 
 
 who desire for a short period to exercise the caprices of sweet 
 empire, when she loved she must cease to command, and 
 pride at once be humbled to devotion. So rare were the quali- 
 ties that could attract her, so imperiously did her haughtiness 
 require that those qualities should be above her own yet of the 
 same order, that her love elevated its object like a god. Ac- 
 customed to despise, she felt all the luxury it is to venerate. 
 And if it were her lot to be united with one thus loved, her 
 nature was that which might become elevated by the nature 
 that it gazed on. For her beauty, Header, shouldst thou ever 
 go to Eome, thou wilt see in the Capitol the picture of the 
 Cumsean Sibyl, which, often copied, no copy can even faintly 
 represent. I beseech thee, mistake not this sibyl for another, 
 for the Koman galleries abound in sibyls. 1 The sibyl I speak 
 of is dark, and the face has an Eastern cast ; the robe and tur- 
 ban, gorgeous though they be, grow dim before the rich but 
 transparent roses of the cheek ; the hair would be black, save 
 for that golden glow which mellows it to a hue and lustre 
 never seen but in the South, and even in the South most rare ; 
 the features, not Grecian, are yet faultless ; the mouth, the brow, 
 the ripe and exquisite contour, all are human and voluptuous ; 
 the expression, the aspect, is something more ; the form is 
 perhaps too full for the perfection of loveliness, for the propor- 
 tions of sculpture, for the delicacy of Athenian models : but 
 the luxuriant fault has a majesty. Gaze long upon that pic- 
 ture : it charms, yet commands, the eye. While you gaze, you 
 call back five centuries ; you see before you the breathing image 
 of Nina di Raselli ! 
 
 But it was not those ingenious and elaborate conceits in 
 which Petrarch, great Poet though he be, has so often mis- 
 taken pedantry for passion, that absorbed at that moment the 
 attention of the beautiful Nina. Her eyes rested not on the 
 page, but on the garden that stretched below the casement. 
 Over the old fruit-trees and hanging vines fell the moonshine ; 
 and in the centre of the green but half-neglected sward, the 
 
 1 The sibyl referred to is the well-known one by Domenichino. As a mere 
 work of art, that by Guercino, called the Persian sibyl, in the same collection, 
 is perhaps superior ; but in beauty, in character, there is no comparison.
 
 78 RIENZI : 
 
 waters of a small and circular fountain, whose perfect propor- 
 tions spoke of days long past, played and sparkled in the star- 
 light The scene was still and beautiful; but neither of its 
 stillness nor its beauty thought Nina : towards one, the gloomi- 
 est and most rugged spot in the whole garden, turned her gaze ; 
 there the trees stood densely massed together, and shut from 
 view the low but heavy wall which encircled the mansion of 
 Raselli. The boughs on those trees stirred gently, but Nina 
 saw them wave ; and now from the copse emerged, slowly and 
 cautiously, a solitary figure, whose shadow threw itself, long 
 and dark, over the sward. It approached the window, and a 
 low voice breathed Nina's name. 
 
 " Quick, Lucia ! " cried she, breathlessly, turning to her hand- 
 maid ; " quick ! the rope-ladder ! it is he ! he is come ! How 
 slow you are ! Haste, girl ; he may be discovered ! There, 
 joy ! joy ! My lover ! my hero ! my Eienzi ! " 
 
 " It is you ! " said Eienzi, as, now entering the chamber, he 
 wound his arms around her half-averted form ; " and what is 
 night to others is day to me!" 
 
 The first sweet moments of welcome were over, and Rienzi was 
 seated at the feet of his mistress, his head rested on her knees, 
 his face looking up to hers, their hands clasped each in each. 
 
 " And for me thou bravest these dangers ! " said the lover, 
 " the shame of discovery, the wrath of thy parents ! " 
 
 " But what are my perils to thine ? Oh, Heaven ! if my 
 father found thee here thou wouldst die." 
 
 " He would think it then so great a humiliation that thou, 
 beautiful Nina, who mightst match with the haughtiest names 
 of Kome, shouldst waste thy love on a plebeian, even though 
 the grandson of an emperor!" 
 
 The proud heart of Nina could sympathize well with the 
 wounded pride of her lover ; she detected the soreness which 
 lurked beneath his answer, carelessly as it was uttered. 
 
 " Hast thou not told me," she said, " of that great Marius, 
 who was no noble, but from whom the loftiest Colonna would 
 rejoice to claim his descent ? And do I not know in thee one 
 who shall yet eclipse the power of Marius, unsullied by his 
 vices ? "
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 79 
 
 " Delicious flattery ; sweet prophet ! " said Bienzi, with a 
 melancholy smile. "Never were thy supporting promises of 
 the future more welcome to me than now ; for to thee I will 
 say what I would utter to none else, my soul half sinks be- 
 neath the mighty burden I have heaped upon it. I want new 
 courage as the dread hour approaches; and from thy words 
 and looks I drink it." 
 
 " Oh ! " answered Nina, blushing as she spoke, " glorious is 
 indeed the lot which I have bought by my love for thee, 
 glorious to share thy schemes, to cheer thee in doubt, to 
 whisper hope to thee in danger!" 
 
 " And give grace to me in triumph ! " added Bienzi, passion- 
 ately. " Ah ! should the future ever place upon these brows 
 the laurel-wreath due to one who has saved his country, what 
 joy, what recompense, to lay it at thy feet ! Perhaps, in those 
 long and solitary hours of languor and exhaustion which fill up 
 the interstices of time, the dull space for sober thought be- 
 tween the epochs of exciting action, perhaps I should have 
 failed and flagged, and renounced even my dreams for Home, 
 had they not been linked also with my dreams for thee, had I 
 not pictured to myself the hour when my fate should elevate 
 me beyond my birth, when thy sire would deem it no disgrace 
 to give thee to my arms, when thou too shouldst stand amidst 
 the dames of Rome, more honored, as more beautiful, than all, 
 and when I should see that pomp, which my own soul dis- 
 dains, 1 made dear and grateful to me because associated with 
 thee ! Yes, it is these thoughts that have inspired me when 
 sterner ones have shrunk back, appalled from the spectres that 
 surround their goal. And oh, my Nina, sacred, strong, enduring 
 must be indeed the love which lives in the same pure and ele- 
 vated air as that which sustains my hopes of liberty and fame ! " 
 
 This was the language which, more even than the vows of 
 fidelity and the dear adulation which springs from the heart's 
 exuberance, had bound the proud and vain soul of Nina to the 
 chains that it so willingly wore. Perhaps, indeed, in the ab- 
 
 1 " Quern semper abhorrui sicut cenum " is the expression used by Rienzi 
 in his letter to his friend at Avignon, and which was probably sincere. Men 
 rarely act according to the bias of their own tastes.
 
 80 RIENZI : 
 
 sence of Rienzi her weaker nature pictured to herself the 
 triumph of humbling the high-born signoras and eclipsing the 
 barbarous magnificence of the chiefs of Rome; but in his 
 presence, and listening to his more elevated and generous 
 ambition, as yet all unsullied by one private feeling save the 
 hope of her, her higher sympathies were enlisted with his 
 schemes, her mind aspired to raise itself to the height of his, 
 and she thought less of her own rise than of his glory. It 
 was sweet to her pride to be the sole confidante of his most 
 secret thoughts, as of his most hardy undertakings; to see 
 bared before her that intricate and plotting spirit ; to be ad- 
 mitted even to the knowledge of its doubts and weakness, as 
 of its heroism and power. 
 
 Nothing could be more contrasted than the loves of Rienzi 
 and Nina, and those of Adrian and Irene : in the latter all 
 were the dreams, the phantasies, the extravagance, of youth ; 
 they never talked of the future ; they mingled no other aspi- 
 rations with those of love. Ambition, glory, the world's high 
 objects, were nothing to them when together ; their love had 
 swallowed up the world, and left nothing visible beneath the 
 sun save itself. But the passion of Nina and her lover was 
 that of more complicated natures and more mature years ; it 
 was made up of a thousand feelings, each naturally severed 
 from each, but compelled into one focus by the mighty concen- 
 tration of love ; their talk was of the world ; it was from the 
 world that they drew the aliment which sustained it ; it was 
 of the future they spoke and thought, of its dreams and im- 
 agined glories they made themselves a home and altar ; their 
 love had in it more of the Intellectual than that of Adrian and 
 Irene ; it was more fitted forlthls hard earth ; it had in it, also, 
 more of the leaven of the later and iron days, and less of poe- 
 try and the first golden age. 
 
 " And must thou leave me now ? " said Nina, her cheek no 
 more averted from his lips, nor her form from his parting 
 embrace. " The moon is high yet ; it is but a little hour thou 
 hast given me." 
 
 " An hour ! Alas ! " said Rienzi, " it is near upon midnight 5 
 our friends await me."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 81 
 
 "Go, then, my soul's best half, go; Nina shall not detain 
 thee one moment from those higher objects which make thee so 
 dear to Nina. When, when shall we meet again ? " 
 
 " Not," said Eienzi, proudly, and with all his soul upon his 
 brow, " not thus, by stealth, no ! nor as I thus have met thee, 
 the obscure and contemned bondsman ! When next thou seest 
 me, it shall be at the head of the sons of Eome, her champion, 
 her restorer, or " said he, sinking his voice 
 
 "There is no or!" interrupted Nina, weaving her arms 
 round him and catching his enthusiasm ; " thou hast uttered 
 thine own destiny ! " 
 
 " One kiss more ! Farewell ! The tenth day from the 
 morrow shines upon the restoration of Rome ! " 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE STRANGE ADVENTURES THAT BEFELL WALTER DE 
 MONTREAL. 
 
 IT was upon that same evening, and while the earlier stars 
 yet shone over the city, that Walter de Montreal, returning 
 alone to the convent then associated with the church of Santa 
 Maria del Priorata (both of which belonged to the Knights of 
 the Hospital, and in the first of which Montreal had taken his 
 lodgment), paused amidst the ruins and desolation which lay 
 around his path. Though little skilled in the classic memo- 
 ries and associations of the spot, he could not but be impressed 
 with the surrounding witnesses of departed empire, the vast 
 skeleton, as it were, of the dead giantess. 
 
 "Now," thought he, as he gazed around upon the roofless 
 columns and shattered walls everywhere visible, over which 
 the starlight shone, ghastly and transparent, backed by the 
 frowning and embattled fortresses of the Frangipani, half hid 
 by the dark foliage that sprang up amidst the very fanes and 
 palaces of old, Nature exulting over the frailer Art, 
 "now," thought he, "bookmen would be inspired, by this 
 
 VOL. I. 6
 
 82 RIENZI : 
 
 scene, with fantastic and dreaming visions of the past. But 
 to me these monuments of high ambition and royal splendor 
 create only images of the future. Rome may yet be, with her 
 seven-hilled diadem, as Rome has been before, the prize of 
 the strongest hand and the boldest warrior ; revived, not by 
 her own degenerate sous, but the infused blood of a new race. 
 William the Bastard could scarce have found the hardy Eng- 
 lishers so easy a conquest as Walter the Well-born may find 
 these eunuch Romans. And which conquest were the more 
 glorious, the barbarous Isle, or the Metropolis of the 
 World ? Short step from the general to the podesta ; shorter 
 step from the podesta to the king ! " 
 
 While thus revolving his wild, yet not altogether chimerical 
 ambition, a quick, light step was heard amidst the long herb- 
 age, and looking up, Montreal perceived the figure of a tall 
 female descending from that part of the hill then covered by 
 many convents, towards the base of the Aventine. She sup- 
 ported her steps with a long staff, and moved with such elas- 
 ticity and erectness that now, as her face became visible by 
 the starlight, it was surprising to perceive that it was the 
 face of one advanced in years, a harsh, proud countenance, 
 withered and deeply wrinkled, but not without a certain regu- 
 larity of outline. 
 
 " Merciful Virgin ! " cried Montreal, starting back as that 
 face gleamed upon him ; " is it possible ? It is she it 
 is" 
 
 He sprang forward and stood right before the old woman, 
 who seemed equally surprised, though more dismayed, at the 
 sight of Montreal. 
 
 "I have sought thee for years," said the Knight, first 
 breaking the silence, "years, long years; thy conscience 
 can tell thee why." 
 
 " Mine, man of blood ! " cried the female, trembling with 
 rage or fear. " Darest thou talk of conscience, thou, the 
 dishonorer, the robber, the professed homicide; thou, dis- 
 grace to knighthood and to birth; thou, with the cross of 
 chastity and of peace upon thy breast! thou talk of con- 
 science, hypocrite ! thou ? "
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 83 
 
 " Lady, lady ! " said Montreal, deprecatingly, and almost 
 quailing beneath the fiery passion of that feeble woman, "I 
 have sinned against thee and thine. But remember all my 
 excuses, early love, fatal obstacles, rash vow, irresistible 
 temptation! Perhaps," he added, in a more haughty tone, 
 " perhaps yet I may have the power to atone my error, and 
 wring, with mailed hand, from the successor of Saint Peter, 
 who hath power to loose as to bind " 
 
 "Perjured and abandoned," interrupted the female, "dost 
 thou dream that violence can purchase absolution, or that thou 
 canst ever atone the past, a noble name disgraced, a father's 
 broken heart and dying curse ? Yes, that curse, I hear it 
 now ! It rings upon me thrillingly, as when I watched the 
 expiring clay; it cleaves to thee, it pursues thee, it shall 
 pierce thee through thy corselet, it shall smite thee in the 
 meridian of thy power ! Genius wasted, ambition blasted, 
 penitence deferred, a life of brawls and a death of shame, 
 thy destruction the offspring of thy crime ! To this, to this, 
 an old man's curse hath doomed thee! AND THOU ART 
 DOOMED ! " 
 
 These words were rather shrieked than spoken; and 
 the flashing eye, the lifted hand, the dilated form of the 
 speaker, the hour, the solitude of the ruins around, all 
 conspired to give to the fearful execration the character of 
 prophecy. The warrior, against whose undaunted breast a 
 hundred spears had shivered in vain, fell appalled and hum- 
 bled to the ground. He seized the hem of his fierce denoun- 
 cer's robe, and cried, in a choked and hollow voice, " Spare 
 me ! spare me ! " 
 
 " Spare thee ! " said the unrelenting crone : " hast thou ever 
 spared man in thy hatred, or woman in thy lust ? Ah ! grovel 
 in the dust; crouch, crouch, wild beast as thou art, whose 
 sleek skin and beautiful hues have taught the unwary to be 
 blind to the talons that rend, and the grinders that devour, 
 crouch, that the foot of the old and impotent may spurn 
 thee ! " 
 
 " Hag ! " cried Montreal, in the reaction of sudden fury and 
 maddened pride, springing up to the full height of his stature.
 
 84 RIENZI : 
 
 "Hag! them hast passed the limits to which, remembering 
 who thou art, my forbearance gave thee license. I had well- 
 nigh forgot that thou hadst assumed my part, I am the 
 Accuser ! Woman, the boy ! Shrink not, equivocate not, lie 
 not : thou wert the thief ! " 
 
 " I was. Thou taughtest me the lesson how to steal a " 
 
 "Render, restore him ! " interrupted Montreal, stamping on 
 the ground with such force that the splinters of the marble 
 fragments on which he stood shivered under his armed heel. 
 
 The woman little heeded a violence at which the fiercest 
 warrior of Italy might have trembled ; but she did not make 
 an immediate answer. The character of her countenance 
 altered from passion into an expression of grave, intent, and 
 melancholy thought. At length she replied to Montreal, 
 whose hand had wandered to his dagger-hilt with the instinct 
 of long habit, whenever enraged or thwarted, rather than 
 from any design of blood, which, stern and vindictive as he 
 was, he would have been incapable of forming against any 
 woman, much less against the one then before him. 
 
 "Walter de Montreal," said she, in a voice so calm that it 
 almost sounded like that of compassion, " the boy, I think, has 
 never known brother or sister ; the only child of a once 
 haughty and lordly race on both sides, though now on both 
 dishonored, nay, why so impatient ? thou wilt soon learn 
 the worst, the boy is dead ! " 
 
 " Dead ! " repeated Montreal, recoiling and growing pale ; 
 " dead ! No, no, say not that ! He has a mother ; you know 
 he has ! a fond, meek-hearted, anxious, hoping mother ! No, 
 no ; he is not dead ! " 
 
 " Thou canst feel, then, for a mother ? " said the old woman, 
 seemingly touched by the tone of the Provencal. " Yet, be- 
 think thee: is it not better that the grave should save him 
 from a life of riot, of bloodshed, and of crime ? Better to 
 sleep with God than to wake with the fiends ! " 
 
 " Dead ? " echoed Montreal ; " dead ? The pretty one ! So 
 young ! Those eyes the mother's eyes closed so soon ? " 
 
 " Hast thou aught else to say ? Thy sight scares my very 
 womanhood from my soul ! Let me be gone."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 85 
 
 " Dead ! May I believe thee ? or dost thou mock me ? 
 Thou hast uttered thy curse, hearken to my warning. If 
 thou hast lied in this, thy last hour shall dismay thee, and thy 
 death-bed shall be the death-bed of despair ! " 
 
 " Thy lips," replied the female, with a scornful smile, " are 
 better adapted for lewd vows to unhappy maidens than for 
 the denunciations which sound solemn only when coming from 
 the good. Farewell ! " 
 
 " Stay, inexorable woman, stay ! Where sleeps he ? Masses 
 shall be sung ; priests shall pray ; the sins of the father shall 
 not be visited on that young head ! " 
 
 " At Florence ! " returned the woman, hastily. " But no 
 stone records the departed one ; the dead boy had no name ! " 
 
 Waiting for no further questionings, the woman now 
 passed on, pursued her way; and the long herbage and the 
 winding descent soon snatched her ill-omened apparition from 
 the desolate landscape. 
 
 Montreal, thus alone, sank with a deep and heavy sigh upon 
 the ground, covered his face with his hands, and burst into 
 an agony of grief ; his chest heaved, his whole frame trem- 
 bled, and he wept and sobbed aloud with all the fearful vehe- 
 mence of a man whose passions are strong and fierce, but to 
 whom the violence of grief alone is novel and unfamiliar. 
 
 He remained thus prostrate and unmanned for a consider- 
 able time, growing slowly and gradually more calm as tears 
 relieved his emotion, and at length rather indulging a gloomy 
 revery than a passionate grief. The moon was high and the 
 hour late when he arose, and then few traces of the past ex- 
 citement remained upon his countenance ; for Walter de Mon- 
 treal was not of that mould in which woe can force a settle- 
 ment, or to which any affliction can bring the continued and 
 habitual melancholy that darkens those who feel more endur- 
 ingly, though with emotions less stormy. His were the ele- 
 ments of the true Frank character, though carried to excess ; 
 his sternest and his deepest qualities were mingled with 
 fickleness and caprice ; his profound sagacity often frustrated 
 by a whim ; his towering ambition deserted for some frivolous 
 temptation ; and his elastic, sanguine, and high-spirited nature
 
 SiJ RIENZI: 
 
 faithful only to the desire of military glory, to the poetry of a 
 daring and stormy life, and to the susceptibilities of that 
 tender passion without whose colorings no portrait of chivalry 
 is complete, and in which he was capable of a sentiment, a 
 tenderness, and a loyal devotion which could hardly have 
 been supposed compatible with his reckless levity and his 
 undisciplined career. 
 
 " Well," said he, as he rose slowly, folded his mantle round 
 him, and resumed his way, " it was not for myself I grieved 
 thus. But the pang is past, and the worst is known. Now, 
 then, back to those things that never die, restless projects 
 and daring schemes. That hag's curse keeps my blood cold 
 still, and this solitude has something in it weird and awful. 
 Ha ! what sudden light is that ? " 
 
 The light which caught Montreal's eye broke forth almost 
 like a star, scarcely larger, indeed, but more red and intense 
 in its ray. Of itself it was nothing uncommon, and might 
 have shone either from convent or cottage. But it streamed 
 from a part of the Aventine which contained no habitations of 
 the living, but only the empty ruins and shattered porticos, 
 of which even the names and memories of the ancient inhab- 
 itants were dead. Aware of this, Montreal felt a slight awe 
 (as the beam threw its steady light over the dreary land- 
 scape) ; for he was not without the knightly superstitions of 
 the age, and it was now the witching hour consecrated to 
 ghost and spirit. But fear, whether of this world or the next, 
 could not long daunt the mind of the hardy freebooter ; and 
 after a short hesitation, he resolved to make a digression from 
 his way, and ascertain the cause of the phenomenon. Uncon- 
 sciously the martial tread of the barbarian passed over the 
 site of the famed or infamous temple of Isis, which had 
 once witnessed those wildest orgies commemorated by Juve- 
 nal, and came at last to a thick and dark copse, from an open- 
 ing in the centre of which gleamed the mysterious light. 
 Penetrating the gloomy foliage, the Knight now found himself 
 before a large ruin, gray and roofless, from within which came, 
 indistinct and muffled, the sound of voices. Through a rent 
 in the wall forming a kind of casement, and about ten feet
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 87 
 
 from the ground, the light now broke over the matted and 
 rank soil, embedded, as it were, in vast masses of shade, and 
 streaming through a mouldering portico hard at hand. The 
 Provencal stood, though he knew it not, on the very place 
 once consecrated by the Temple, the Portico and the Library 
 of Liberty (the first public library instituted in Rome). The 
 wall of the ruin was covered with innumerable creepers and 
 wild brushwood, and it required but little agility on the part 
 of Montreal, by the help of these, to raise himself to the height 
 of the aperture, and, concealed by the luxuriant foliage, to 
 gaze within. He saw a table lighted with tapers, in the 
 centre of which was a crucifix, a dagger unsheathed, an open 
 scroll which the event proved to be of sacred character, and a 
 brazen bowl. About a hundred men, in cloaks and with 
 black vizards, stood motionless around; and one, taller than 
 the rest, without disguise or mask, whose pale brow and stern 
 features seemed by that light yet paler and yet more stern, 
 appeared to be concluding some address to his companions. 
 
 " Yes," said he, " in the church of the Lateran I will make 
 the last appeal to the people. Supported by the Vicar of the 
 Pope, myself an officer of the Pontiff, it will be seen that 
 Religion and Liberty the heroes and the martyrs are 
 united in one cause. After that time, words are idle ; action 
 must begin. By this crucifix I pledge my faith, on this blade 
 I devote my life, to the regeneration of Rome ! And you 
 (then no need for mask or mantle !), when the solitary trump 
 is heard, when the solitary horseman is seen, you, swear to 
 rally round the standard of the Republic, and resist with 
 heart and hand, with life and soul, in defiance of death and in 
 hope of redemption the arms of the oppressor ! " 
 
 " We swear, we swear ! " exclaimed every voice ; and crowd- 
 ing towards cross and weapon, the tapers were obscured by 
 the intervening throng, and Montreal could not perceive the 
 ceremony, nor hear the muttered formula of the oath, but he 
 could guess that the rite then common to conspiracies and 
 which required each conspirator to shed some drops of his 
 own blood, in token that life itself was devoted to the enter- 
 prise had not been omitted, when, the group again receding,
 
 SS RIENZI. 
 
 the same figure as before had addressed the meeting, holding 
 on high the bowl with both hands, while from the left arm, 
 which was bared, the blood weltered slowly, and trickled, drop 
 by drop, upon the ground, said, in a solemn voice and 
 upturned eyes, 
 
 " Amidst the ruins of thy temple, Liberty, we, Romans, 
 dedicate to thee this libation ! We, befriended and inspired 
 by no unreal and fabled idols, but by the Lord of Hosts and 
 Him who, descending to earth, appealed, not to emperors and 
 to princes, but to the fisherman and the peasant, giving to 
 the lowly and the poor the mission of Revelation." Then, 
 turning suddenly to his companions as his features, singularly 
 varying in their character and expression, brightened from 
 solemn awe into a martial and kindling enthusiasm, he cried 
 aloud, " Death to the Tyranny ! Life to the Republic ! " The 
 effect of the transition was startling. Each man, as by an 
 involuntary and irresistible impulse, laid his hand upon his 
 sword as he echoed the sentiment ; some, indeed, drew forth 
 their blades, as if for instant action. 
 
 " I have seen enow, they will break up anon," said Montreal 
 to himself ; " and I would rather face an army of thousands 
 than even half-a-dozen enthusiasts so inflamed, and I thus 
 detected." And with this thought he dropped on the ground 
 and glided away, as, once again, through the still midnight 
 air, broke upon his ear the muffled shout " DEATH TO THE 
 TYRANNY! LIFE TO THE REPUBLIC!"
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 OGNI lascivia, ogni male, nulla giustizia, nullo freno. Non c'era piu reme- 
 dia, ogni persona periva. Allora Cola di Rienzi, etc. Vita di Cola di Rienzi, 
 lib. i. chap. 2. 
 
 Every kind of lewdness, every form of evil ; no justice, no restraint. 
 Remedy there was none ; perdition fell on all. Then Cola di Rienzi, etc. 
 Life of Cola di Rienzi. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE KNIGHT OF PROVENCE, AND HIS PROPOSAL. 
 
 IT was nearly noon as Adrian entered the gates of the palace 
 of Stephen Colonna. The palaces of the nobles were not then, 
 as we see them now, receptacles for the immortal canvas of 
 Italian and the imperishable sculpture of Grecian Art; but 
 still to this day are retained the massive walls and barred 
 windows and spacious courts which at that time protected their 
 rude retainers. High above the gates rose a lofty and solid 
 tower, whose height commanded a wide view of the mutilated 
 remains of Rome ; the gate itself was adorned and strength- 
 ened on either side by columns of granite, whose Doric capitals 
 betrayed the sacrilege that had torn them from one of the 
 many temples that had formerly crowded the sacred Forum. 
 From the same spoils came, too, the vast fragments of traver- 
 tine which made the walls of the outer court. So common at 
 that day were these barbarous appropriations of the most 
 precious monuments of art that the columns and domes of 
 earlier Rome were regarded by all classes but as quarries from 
 which every man was free to gather the materials, whether for 
 his castle or his cottage, a wantonness of outrage far greater
 
 90 RIENZI : 
 
 than the Goths', to whom a later age would fain have attributed 
 all the disgrace, and which, more perhaps than even heavier 
 offences, excited the classical indignation of Petrarch and 
 made him sympathize with Rienzi in his hopes of Rome. Still 
 may you see the churches of that or even earlier dates, of the 
 most shapeless architecture, built on the sites, and from the 
 marbles, consecrating (rather than consecrated by) the names 
 of Venus, of Jupiter, of Minerva. The palace of the Prince 
 of the Orsini, Duke of Gravina, is yet reared above the grace- 
 ful arches (still visible) of the theatre of Marcellus, then a 
 fortress of the Savelli. 
 
 As Adrian passed the court a heavy wagon blocked up the 
 way, laden with huge marbles dug from the unexhausted mine 
 of the Golden House of Nero ; they were intended for an addi- 
 tional tower, by which Stephen Colonna proposed yet more to 
 strengthen the tasteless and barbarous edifice in which the old 
 noble maintained the dignity of outraging the law. 
 
 The friend of Petrarch and the pupil of Rienzi sighed deeply 
 as he passed this vehicle of new spoliations, and as a pillar of 
 fluted alabaster, rolling carelessly from the wagon, fell with a 
 loud crash upon the pavement. At the foot of the stairs 
 grouped some dozen of the bandits whom the old Colonna 
 entertained. They were playing at dice upon an ancient tomb, 
 the clear and deep inscription on which (so different from the 
 slovenly character of the later empire) bespoke it a memorial 
 of the most powerful age of Rome, and which, now empty 
 even of ashes, and upset, served for a table to these foreign 
 savages, and was strewn, even at that early hour, with frag- 
 ments of meat and flasks of wine. They scarcely stirred, they 
 scarcely looked up, as the young noble passed them ; and their 
 fierce oaths and loud ejaculations, uttered in a northern patois, 
 grated harshly upon his ear as he mounted, with a slow step, 
 the lofty and unclean stairs. He came into a vast ante- 
 chamber, which was half-filled with the higher class of the 
 patrician's retainers. Some five or six pages, chosen from the 
 inferior noblesse, congregated by a narrow and deep-sunk case- 
 ment, were discussing the grave matters of gallantry and 
 intrigue ; three petty chieftains of the band below, with their
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 91 
 
 corselets donned and their swords and casques beside them, 
 were sitting, stolid and silent, at a table, in the middle of the 
 room, and might have been taken for automatons, save for the 
 solemn regularity with which they ever and anon lifted to 
 their mustachioed lips their several goblets, and then, with a 
 complacent grunt, re-settled to their contemplations. Striking 
 was the contrast which their Northern phlegm presented to a 
 crowd of Italian clients and petitioners and parasites, who 
 walked restlessly to and fro, talking loudly to each other with 
 all the vehement gestures and varying physiognomy of South- 
 ern vivacity. There was a general stir and sensation as Adrian 
 broke upon this miscellaneous company. The bandit captains 
 nodded their heads mechanically; the pages bowed, and ad- 
 mired the fashion of his plume and hose ; the clients and 
 petitioners and parasites crowded round him, each with a sep- 
 arate request for interest with his potent kinsman. Great 
 need had Adrian of his wonted urbanity and address in extri- 
 cating himself from their grasp ; and painfully did he win, at 
 last, the low and narrow door at which stood a tall servitor, 
 who admitted or rejected the applicants, according to his inter- 
 est or caprice. 
 
 " Is the Baron alone ? " asked Adrian. 
 
 "Why, no, my lord; a foreign signor is with him, but to 
 you he is of course visible." 
 
 " Well, you may admit me. I would inquire of his health." 
 
 The servitor opened the door, through whose aperture peered 
 many a jealous and wistful eye, and consigned Adrian to the 
 guidance of a page, who, older and of greater esteem than 
 the loiterers in the ante-room, was the especial henchman of 
 the lord of the castle. Passing another, but empty chamber, 
 vast and dreary, Adrian found himself in a small cabinet and 
 in the presence of his kinsman. 
 
 Before a table bearing the implements of writing, sat the old 
 Colonna. A robe of rich furs and velvet hung loose upon his 
 tall and stately frame ; from a round skull-cap, of comforting 
 warmth and crimson hue, a few gray locks descended and 
 mixed with a long and reverent beard. The countenance of 
 the aged noble, who had long passed his eightieth year, still
 
 02 RIENZI : 
 
 retained the trices of a comeliness for which in earlier man- 
 hood he was remarkable. His eyes, if deep-sunken, were still 
 keen and lively, and sparkled with all the fire of youth ; his 
 mouth curved upward in a pleasant though half-satiric smile ; 
 and his appearance on the whole was prepossessing and com- 
 manding, indicating rather the high blood, the shrewd wit, and 
 the gallant valor of the patrician, than his craft, hypocrisy, 
 and habitual but disdainful spirit of oppression, 
 
 Stephen Colonna, without being absolutely a hero, was 
 indeed far braver than most of the Romans, though he held 
 fast to the Italian maxim, never to fight an enemy while it is 
 possible to cheat him. Two faults, however, marred the effect 
 of his sagacity : a supreme insolence of disposition, and a pro- 
 found belief in the lights of his experience. He was incapable 
 of analogy. What had never happened in his time, he was 
 perfectly persuaded never could happen. Thus, though gener- 
 ally esteemed an able diplomatist, he had the cunning of the 
 intriguant, and not the providence of a statesman. If, how- 
 ever, pride made him arrogant in prosperity, it supported him 
 in misfortune. And in the earlier vicissitudes of a life which 
 had partly been consumed in exile, he had developed many 
 noble qualities of fortitude, endurance, and real greatness of 
 soul, which showed that his failings were rather acquired by 
 circumstance than derived from nature. His numerous and 
 high-born race were proud of their chief, and with justice ; for 
 he was the ablest and most honored, not only of the direct 
 branch of the Colonna, but also, perhaps, of all the more 
 powerful barons. 
 
 Seated at the same table with Stephen Colonna was a man 
 of noble presence, of about three or four and thirty years of 
 age, in whom Adrian instantly recognized Walter de Montreal. 
 This celebrated knight was scarcely of the personal appear- 
 ance which might have corresponded with the terror his name 
 generally excited. His face was handsome, almost to the 
 extreme of womanish delicacy. His fair hair waved long and 
 freely over a white and unwrinkled forehead; the life of a 
 camp and the suns of Italy had but little embrowned his clear 
 and healthful complexion, which retained much of the bloom
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 93 
 
 of youth. His features were aquiline and regular; his eyes, 
 of a light hazel, were large, bright, and penetrating; and a 
 short, but curled beard and mustachio, trimmed with soldier- 
 like precision, and very little darker than the hair, gave indeed 
 a martial expression to his comely countenance, but rather the 
 expression which might have suited the hero of courts and 
 tournaments than the chief of a brigand's camp. The aspect, 
 manner, and bearing of the Prove^al were those which capti- 
 vate rather than awe, blending, as they did, a certain military 
 frankness with the easy and graceful dignity of one conscious 
 of gentle birth and accustomed to mix, on equal terms, with 
 the great and noble. His form happily contrasted and elevated 
 the character of a countenance which required strength and 
 stature to free its uncommon beauty from the charge of effemi- 
 nacy, being of great height and remarkable muscular power, 
 without the least approach to clumsy and unwieldy bulk, it 
 erred, indeed, rather to the side of leanness than flesh ; at once 
 robust and slender. But the chief personal distinction of this 
 warrior, the most redoubted lance of Italy, was an air and 
 carriage of chivalric and heroic grace, greatly set off at this 
 time by his splendid dress, which was of brown velvet sown 
 with pearls, over which hung the surcoat worn by the Knights 
 of the Hospital, whereon was wrought, in white, the eight- 
 pointed cross that made the badge of his order. The Knight's 
 attitude was that of earnest conversation, bending slightly 
 forward towards the Colonna, and resting both his hands 
 which (according to the usual distinction of the old Norman 
 race, 1 from whom, though born in Provence, Montreal boasted 
 his descent) were small and delicate, the fingers being covered 
 with jewels, as was the fashion of the day upon the golden 
 hilt of an enormous sword, on the sheath of which was elabor- 
 ately wrought the silver lilies that made the device of the 
 Proven9al Brotherhood of Jerusalem. 
 
 1 Small hands and feet, however disproportioned to the rest of the person, 
 were at that time deemed no less a distinction of the well-born than they 
 have been in a more refined age. Many readers will remember the pain 
 occasioned to Petrarch by his tight shoes. The supposed beauty of this pecu- 
 liarity is more derived from the feudal than the classic time.
 
 I' I KIKXZI: 
 
 " Good morrow, fair kinsman ! " said Stephen. " Seat thy- 
 self, I pray ; and know in this knightly visitor the celebrated 
 Sieur de Montreal." 
 
 " Ah, my lord," said Montreal, smiling, as he saluted Adrian ; 
 " and how is my lady at home ? " 
 
 "You mistake, Sir Knight," quoth Stephen; "my young 
 kinsman is not yet married. Faith, as Pope Boniface re- 
 marked, when he lay stretched on a sick-bed, and his confes- 
 sor talked to him about Abraham's bosom, ' that is a pleasure 
 the greater for being deferred.' " 
 
 " The Signer will pardon my mistake," returned Montreal. 
 
 " But not," said Adrian, " the neglect of Sir Walter in not 
 ascertaining the fact in person. My thanks to him, noble 
 kinsman, are greater than you weet of ; and he promised to 
 visit me, that he might receive them at leisure." 
 
 " I assure you, Signor," answered Montreal, " that I have 
 not forgotten the invitation ; but so weighty hitherto have 
 been my affairs at Rome that I have been obliged to parley 
 with my impatience to better our acquaintance." 
 
 " Oh, ye knew each other before ? " said Stephen. " And 
 how ? " 
 
 " My lord, there is a damsel in the case," replied Montreal. 
 " Excuse my silence." 
 
 " Ah, Adrian, Adrian ! when will you learn my continence ! " 
 said Stephen, solemnly stroking his gray beard. " What an 
 example I set you ! But a truce to this light conversation ; 
 let us resume our theme. You must know, Adrian, that it is 
 to the brave band of my guest I am indebted for those valiant 
 gentlemen below, who keep Rome so quiet, though my poor 
 habitation so noisy. He has called to proffer more assistance, 
 if need be, and to advise me on the affairs of Northern Italy. 
 Continue, I pray thee, Sir Knight ; I have no disguises from 
 my kinsman." 
 
 " Thou seest," said Montreal, fixing his penetrating eyes on 
 Adrian, "thou seest, doubtless, my lord, that Italy at this 
 moment presents to us a remarkable spectacle. It is a con- 
 test between two opposing powers, which shall destroy the 
 other. The one power is that of the unruly and turbulent
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 95 
 
 people, a power which they call ' Liberty j ' the other power 
 is that of the chiefs and princes, a power which they more 
 appropriately call 'Order.' Between these parties the cities 
 of Italy are divided. In Florence, in Genoa, in Pisa, for in- 
 stance, is established a Free State, a Republic, God wot ! 
 and a more riotous, unhappy state of government cannot well 
 be imagined." 
 
 " That is perfectly true," quoth Stephen ; " they banished 
 my own first cousin from Genoa." 
 
 "A perpetual strife, in short," continued Montreal, "be- 
 tween the great families ; an alternation of prosecutions and 
 confiscations and banishments : to-day the Guelfs proscribe 
 the Ghibellines ; to-morrow the Ghibellines drive out the 
 Guelfs. This may be liberty, but it is the liberty of the 
 strong against the weak. In the other cities, as Milan, as 
 Verona, as Bologna, the people are under the rule of one man, 
 who calls himself a prince, and whom his enemies call a tyrant. 
 Having more force than any other citizen, he preserves a firm 
 government ; having more constant demand on his intellect 
 and energies than the other citizens, he also preserves a wise 
 one. These two orders of government are enlisted against 
 each other ; whenever the people in the one rebel against 
 their prince, the people of the other that is the Free States 
 send arms and money to their assistance." 
 
 "You hear, Adrian, how wicked those last are," quoth 
 Stephen. 
 
 " Now it seems to me," continued Montreal, " that this con- 
 test must end some time or other. All Italy must become 
 republican or monarchical. It is easy to predict which will be 
 the result." 
 
 " Yes, Liberty must conquer in the end ! " said Adrian, 
 warmly. 
 
 " Pardon me, young lord ; my opinion is entirely the re- 
 verse. You perceive that these republics are commercial, are 
 traders ; they esteem wealth, they despise valor, they cultivate 
 all trades save that of the armorer. Accordingly, how do they 
 maintain themselves in war ? By their own citizens ? Not 
 a whit of it ! Either they send to some foreign chief, and
 
 96 RIEXZI : 
 
 promise, if he grant them his protection, the principality of 
 the city for five or ten years in return, or else they borrow 
 from some hardy adventurer, like myself, as many troops as 
 they can afford to pay for. Is it not so, Lord Adrian ? " 
 
 Adrian nodded his reluctant assent. 
 
 " Well, then, it is the fault of the foreign chief if he do not 
 make his power permanent, as has been already done in 
 States once free by the Visconti and the Scala, or else it is 
 the fault of the captain of the mercenaries if he do not con- 
 vert his brigands into senators, and himself into a king. These 
 are events so natural that one day or other they will occur 
 throughout all Italy. And all Italy will then become mon- 
 archical. Now it seems to me the interest of all the powerful 
 families your own at Rome, as that of the Visconti at Milan 
 
 to expedite this epoch, and to check, while you yet may 
 with ease, that rebellious contagion amongst the people which 
 is now rapidly spreading, and which ends in the fever of 
 license to them, but in the corruption of death to you. In 
 these free States the nobles are the first to suffer : first your 
 privileges, then your property, are swept away. Nay, in Flor- 
 ence, as ye well know, my lords, no noble is even capable of 
 holding the meanest office in the State." 
 
 "Villains!" said Colonna; "they violate the first law of 
 nature ! " 
 
 " At this moment," resumed Montreal, who, engrossed with 
 his subject, little heeded the interruptions he received from the 
 holy indignation of the Baron, " at this moment there are many 
 
 the wisest, perhaps, in the free States who desire to 
 renew the old Lombard leagues, in defence of their common 
 freedom everywhere, and against whosoever shall aspire to be 
 prince. Fortunately the deadly jealousies between these mer- 
 chant States the base plebeian jealousies, more of trade 
 than of glory interpose at present an irresistible obstacle to 
 this design ; and Florence, the most stirring and the most 
 esteemed of all, is happily so reduced by reverses of commerce 
 as to be utterly unable to follow out so great an undertaking. 
 Now, then, is the time for us, my lords : while these obstacles 
 are so great for our foes, now is the time for us to form and
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 97 
 
 cement a counter-league between all the princes of Italy. To 
 you, noble Stephen, I have come, as your rank demands, alone 
 of all the barons of Rome, to propose to you this honorable 
 union. Observe what advantages it proffers to your house. 
 The popes have abandoned Rome forever ; there is no counter- 
 poise to your ambition, there need be none to your power. 
 You see before you the examples of Visconti and Taddeo di 
 Pepoli. You may found in Rome, the first city of Italy, a 
 supreme and uncontrolled principality, subjugate utterly your 
 weaker rivals, the Savelli, the Malatesta, the Orsini, and leave 
 to your sons' sons an hereditary kingdom that may aspire once 
 more, perhaps, to the empire of the world." 
 
 Stephen shaded his face with his hand as he answered : " But 
 this, noble Montreal, requires means, money and men." 
 
 " Of the last, you can command from me enow, my small 
 company, the best disciplined, can (whenever I please) swell to 
 the most numerous in Italy ; in the first, noble Baron, the rich 
 house of Colonna cannot fail : and even a mortgage on its vast 
 estates may be well repaid when you have possessed yourself 
 of the whole revenues of Rome. You see," continued Mon- 
 treal, turning to Adrian, in whose youth he expected a more 
 warm ally than in his hoary kinsman, "you see at a glance 
 how feasible is this project, and what a mighty field it opens to 
 your house." 
 
 " Sir Walter de Montreal," said Adrian, rising from his seat 
 and giving vent to the indignation he had with difficulty 
 suppressed, " I grieve much that, beneath the roof of the first 
 citizen of Rome, a stranger should attempt thus calmly, and 
 without interruption, to excite the ambition of emulating the 
 execrated celebrity of a Visconti or a Pepoli. Speak, my lord ! " 
 turning to Stephen, " speak, noble kinsman ! and tell this 
 Knight of Provence that if by a Colonna the ancient grandeur 
 of Rome cannot be restored, it shall not be, at least by a Co- 
 lonna, that her last wrecks of liberty shall be swept away." 
 
 " How now, Adrian ! How now, sweet kinsman ! " said 
 Stephen, thus suddenly appealed to ; " calm thyself, I pr'ythee. 
 Noble Sir Walter, he is young, young and hasty ; he means 
 not to offend thee." 
 
 VOL. I. 7
 
 1'S RIENZI: 
 
 "Of that I am persuaded," returned Montreal, coldly, but 
 with great and courteous command of temper. " He speaks 
 from the impulse of the moment, a praiseworthy fault in 
 youth. It was mine at his age, and many a time have I nearly 
 lost my life for the rashness. Nay, Signor, nay ; touch not your 
 sword so meaningly, as if you fancied I intimated a threat, 
 far from me such presumption. I have learned sufficient cau- 
 tion, believe me, in the wars, not wantonly to draw against me 
 a blade which I have seen wielded against such odds." 
 
 Touched, despite himself, by the courtesy of the Knight, 
 and the allusion to a scene in which perhaps his life had 
 been preserved by Montreal, Adrian extended his hand to the 
 latter. 
 
 " I was to blame for my haste," said he, frankly ; " but know, 
 by my very heat," he added, more gravely, "that your project 
 will find no friends among the Colonna. Nay, in the presence 
 of my noble kinsman, I dare to tell you that could even his 
 high sanction lend itself to such a scheme, the best hearts of 
 his house would desert him ; and I myself, his kinsman, would 
 man yonder castle against so unnatural an ambition ! " 
 
 A slight and scarce perceptible cloud passed over Montreal's 
 countenance at these words ; and he bit his lip ere he replied : 
 
 " Yet if the Orsini be less scrupulous, their first exertion of 
 power would be heard in the crashing house of the Colonna." 
 
 " Know you," returned Adrian, " that one of our mottoes is 
 this haughty address to the Romans : ' If we fall, ye fall also ' ? 
 And better that fate than arise upon the wrecks of our native 
 city." 
 
 " "Well, well, well ! " said Montreal, reseating himself, " I see 
 that I must leave Rome to herself; the League must thrive 
 without her aid. I did but jest touching the Orsini, for they 
 have not the power that would make their efforts safe. Let us 
 sweep, then, our past conference from our recollection. It is 
 the nineteenth, I think, Lord Colonna, on which you propose 
 to repair to Corneto with your friends and retainers, and on 
 which you have invited my attendance ? " 
 
 " It is on that day, Sir Knight," replied the Baron, evidently 
 much relieved by the turn the conversation had assumed. " The
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 99 
 
 fact is that we have been so charged with indifference to the 
 interests of the good people that I strain a point in this expe- 
 dition to contradict the assertion ; and we propose, therefore, 
 to escort and protect, against the robbers of the road, a convoy 
 of corn to Corneto. In truth, I may add another reason, be- 
 sides fear of the robbers, that makes me desire as numerous 
 a train as possible. I wish to show my enemies and the peo- 
 ple generally the solid and growing power of my house ; the 
 display of such an armed band as I hope to levy will be a 
 magnificent occasion to strike awe into the riotous and refrac- 
 tory. Adrian, you will collect your servitors, I trust, on that 
 day ; we would not be without you." 
 
 "And as we ride along, fair Signer," said Montreal, inclin- 
 ing to Adrian, "we will find at least one subject on which we 
 can agree ; all brave men and true knights have one common 
 topic, and its name is Woman. You must make me acquainted 
 with the names of the fairest dames of Eome; and we will 
 discuss old adventures in the Parliament of Love, and hope 
 for new. By the way, I suppose, Lord Adrian, you, with the 
 rest of your countrymen, are Petrarch-stricken ? " 
 
 "Do you not share our enthusiasm? Slur not so your 
 gallantry, I pray you." 
 
 " Come, we must not again disagree ; but, by my halidame, 
 I think one troubadour roundel worth all that Petrarch ever 
 wrote. He has but borrowed from our knightly poesy to dis- 
 guise it, like a carpet coxcomb." 
 
 "Well," said Adrian, gayly, "for every line of the troubadours 
 that you quote, I will cite you another. I will forgive you for 
 injustice to Petrarch if you are just to the troubadours." 
 
 "Just!" cried Montreal, with real enthusiasm; "I am of 
 the land, nay, the very blood, of the troubadour! But we 
 grow too light for your noble kinsman, and it is time for me 
 to bid you, for the present, farewell. My Lord Colonna, peace 
 be with you ; farewell, Sir Adrian, brother mine in knighthood, 
 remember your challenge ! " 
 
 And with an easy and careless grace the Knight of St. John 
 took his leave.- The old Baron, making a dumb sign of excuse 
 to Adrian, followed Montreal into the adjoining room.
 
 100 RIEXZI : 
 
 "Sir Knight!" said he, "Sir Knight I" as he closed the 
 door upon Adrian, and then drew Montreal to the recess of 
 the casement, " a word in your ear. Think not I slight your 
 offer, but these young men must be managed ; the plot is great, 
 noble, grateful to my heart, but it requires time and caution. 
 I have many of my house, scrupulous as yon hot-skull, to win 
 over. The way is pleasant, but must be sounded well and 
 carefully; you understand?" 
 
 From under his bent brows Montreal darted one keen glance 
 at Stephen, and then answered, 
 
 " My friendship for you dictated my offer. The League may 
 stand without the Colonna : beware a time when the Colonna 
 cannot stand without the League. My lord, look well around 
 you. There are more freemen ay, bold and stirring ones too 
 in Eome than you imagine. Beware Kienzi ! Adieu ; we 
 meet soon again." 
 
 Thus saying, Montreal departed, soliloquizing as he passed 
 with his careless step through the crowded ante-room, 
 
 " I shall fail here ! These caitiff nobles have neither the 
 courage to be great, nor the wisdom to be honest. Let them 
 fall ! I may find an adventurer from the people, an adventurer 
 like myself, worth them all." 
 
 No sooner had Stephen returned to Adrian than he flung his 
 arms affectionately round his ward, who was preparing his pride 
 for some sharp rebuke for his petulance. 
 
 " Nobly feigned, admirable, admirable ! " cried the Baron ; 
 "you have learned the true art of a statesman at the Emperor's 
 court. I always thought you would ; always said it. You saw 
 the dilemma I was in, thus taken by surprise by that barba- 
 rian's mad scheme, afraid to refuse, more afraid to accept. 
 You extricated me with consummate address : that passion 
 so natural to your age was a famous feint ; drew off the at- 
 tack ; gave me time to breathe ; allowed me to play with the 
 savage. But we must not offend him, you know ; all my re- 
 tainers would desert me, or sell me to the Orsini, or cut my 
 throat, if he but held up his finger. Oh! it was admirably 
 managed, Adrian, admirably ! " 
 
 " Thank Heaven ! " said Adrian, with some difficulty recover-
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 101 
 
 ing the breath which his astonishment had taken away. " You 
 do not think of embracing that black proposition ? " 
 
 " Think of it ? no, indeed ! " said Stephen, throwing himself 
 back on his chair. "Why, do you not know my age, boy? 
 Hard on my ninetieth year, I should be a fool indeed to throw 
 myself into such a whirl of turbulence and agitation. I want 
 to keep what I have, not risk it by grasping more. Am I not 
 the beloved of the Pope : shall I hazard his excommunication ? 
 Am I not the most powerful of the nobles : should I be more 
 if I were king ? At my age, to talk to me of such stuff ! the 
 man 's an idiot. Besides," added the old man, sinking his voice 
 and looking fearfully round, " if I were a king, my sons might 
 poison me for the succession. They are good lads, Adrian, 
 very ; but such a temptation, I would not throw it in their 
 way ! These gray hairs have experience. Tyrants don't die a 
 natural death ; no, no ! Plague on the Knight, say I ; he has 
 already cast me into a cold sweat." 
 
 Adrian gazed on the working features of the old man, whose 
 selfishness thus preserved him from crime. He listened to his 
 concluding words, full of the dark truth of" the times ; and as 
 the high and pure ambition of Elenzi flashed upon him in con- 
 trast, he felt that he could not blame its fervor or wonder at 
 its excess. 
 
 " And then, too," resumed the Baron, speaking more deliber- 
 ately as he recovered his self-possession, " this man, by way 
 of a warning, shows me, at a glance, his whole ignorance of the 
 state. What think you ? He has mingled with the mob, and 
 taken their rank breath for power ; yes, he thinks words are 
 soldiers, and bade me me, Stephen Colonna beware, of 
 whom, think you ? No, you will never guess ! Of that speech 
 maker, Rlenzi ; my own old jesting guest ! Ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 The ignprance of these barbarians ! ha ! ha ! ha ! " and the old 
 man laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks. 
 
 " Yet many of the nobles fear that same Eienzi," said Adrian, 
 gravely. 
 
 " Ah ! let them, let them ; they have not our experience, our 
 knowledge of the world. Adrian. Tut, man, when did decla- 
 mation ever overthrow castles and conquer soldiery ? I like
 
 102 RIENZI : 
 
 llienzi to harangue the mob about old Rome and such stuff ; it 
 gives them something to think of and prate about, and so all 
 their fierceness evaporates in words : they might burn a house 
 if they did not hear a speech. But, now I am on that score, I 
 must own the pedant has grown impudent in his new office ; 
 here, here, I received this paper ere I rose to-day. I hear a 
 similar insolence has been shown to all the nobles. Bead it, 
 will you ? " and the Colonna put a scroll into his kinsman's 
 hand. 
 
 " I have received the like," said Adrian, glancing at it. " It 
 is a request of Rienzi to attend at the church of St. John of 
 Lateran, to hear explained the inscription on a Table just dis- 
 covered. It bears, he saith, the most intimate connection with 
 the welfare and state of Rome." 
 
 " Very entertaining, I dare to say, to professors and bookmen. 
 Pardon me, kinsman, I forgot your taste for these things ; 
 and my son Gianni too shares your fantasy. Well, well, it is 
 innocent enough I Go ; the man talks well." 
 
 " Will you not attend too ? " 
 
 " I, my dear boy, I ! " said the old Colonna, opening his eyes 
 in such astonishment that Adrian could not help laughing at the 
 simplicity of his own question. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE INTERVIEW, AND THE DOUBT. 
 
 As Adrian turned from the palace of his guardian and bent 
 his way in the direction of the Forum, he came somewhat 
 unexpectedly upon Raimond, bishop of Orvietto, who, mounted 
 upon a low palfrey, and accompanied by some three or four of 
 his waiting-men, halted abruptly when he recognized the young 
 noble. 
 
 " Ah ! my son, it is seldom that I see thee. How fares it 
 with thee ? Well ? So, so ! I rejoice to hear it. Alas ! what
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 103 
 
 a state of society is ours, when compared to the tranquil pleas- 
 ures of Avignon ! There, all men who, like us, are fond of the 
 same pursuits, the same studies, delicice musarum, hum ! hum ! " 
 the Bishop was proud of an occasional quotation, right or wrong, 
 "are brought easily and naturally together. But here we 
 scarcely dare stir out of our houses, save upon great occasions. 
 But talking of great occasions and the Muses, reminds me of 
 our good Kienzi's invitation to the Lateran : of course you will 
 attend? 'Tis a mighty knotty piece of Latin he proposes 
 to solve, so I hear, at least ; very interesting to us, my son, 
 very ! " 
 
 " It is to-morrow," answered Adrian. " Yes, assuredly, I will 
 be there." 
 
 " And harkye, my son," said the Bishop, resting his hand 
 affectionately on Adrian's shoulder, " I have reason to hope 
 that he will remind our poor citizens of the Jubilee for the year 
 Fifty, and stir them towards clearing the road of the brigands, 
 a necessary injunction, and one to be heeded timeously ; for 
 who will come here for absolution when he stands a chance of 
 rushing unannealed upon purgatory by the way ? You have 
 heard Rienzi, ay ? Quite a Cicero, quite ! Well, Heaven 
 bless you, my son ! you will not fail ? " 
 
 " Nay, not I." 
 
 " Yet, stay ; a word with you. Just suggest to all whom you 
 may meet the advisability of a full meeting ; it looks well for 
 the city to show respect to letters." 
 
 " To say nothing of the Jubilee," added Adrian, smiling. 
 
 " Ah, to say nothing of the Jubilee very good ! Adieu 
 for the present ! " And the Bishop, resettling himself on his 
 saddle, ambled solemnly on to visit his various friends and 
 press them to the meeting. 
 
 Meanwhile Adrian continued his course till he had passed 
 the Capitol, the arch of Severus, the crumbling columns of the 
 fane of Jupiter, and found himself amidst the long grass, the 
 whispering reeds, and the neglected vines that wave over 
 the now-vanished pomp of the Golden House of Nero. Seating 
 himself on a fallen pillar, by that spot where the traveller 
 descends to the (so-called) Baths of Livia, he looked iinpa-
 
 104 RIEXZI : 
 
 tiently to the sun, as to blame it for the slowness of its 
 march. 
 
 Not long, however, had he to wait before a light step was 
 heard crushing the fragrant grass ; and presently through the 
 arching vines gleamed a face that might well have seemed the 
 nymph, the goddess of the scene. 
 
 " My beautiful ! my Irene ! How shall I thank thee ! " 
 
 It was long before the delighted lover suffered himself to ob- 
 serve upon Irene's face a sadness that did not usually cloud it 
 in his presence. Her voice, too, trembled ; her words seemed 
 constrained and cold. 
 
 " Have I offended thee ? " he asked ; " or what less misfor- 
 tune hath occurred ? " 
 
 Irene raised her eyes to her lover's, and said, looking at him 
 earnestly, "Tell me, my lord, in sober and simple truth, tell 
 me, would it grieve thee much were this to be our last 
 meeting ? " 
 
 Paler than the marble at his feet grew the dark cheek of 
 Adrian. It was some moments ere he could reply, and he did 
 so then with a forced smile and a quivering lip. 
 
 " Jest not so, Irene ! Last ! that is not a word for us ! " 
 
 " But hear me, my lord " 
 
 " Why so cold ? Call me Adrian ! friend ! lover ! or be 
 dumb ! " 
 
 " Well, then, my soul's soul ! my all of hope ! my life's life ! " 
 exclaimed Irene, passionately, " hear me ! I fear that we stand 
 at this moment upon some gulf whose depth I see not, but 
 which may divide us forever ! Thou knowest the real nature 
 of my brother, and dost not misread him as many do. Long 
 has he planned and schemed and communed with himself, and 
 feeling his way amidst the people, prepared the path to some 
 great design. But now Thou wilt not betray, thou wilt 
 not injure him ? He is thy friend ! " 
 
 " And thy brother ! I would give my life for his ! Say 
 on!" 
 
 " But now, then," resumed Irene, " the time for that enter- 
 prise, whatever it be, is coming fast. I know not of its exact 
 nature, but I know that it is against the nobles, against thy
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 105 
 
 order, against thy house itself ! If it succeed, oh, Adrian ! 
 thou thyself mayst not be free from danger, and my name, at 
 least, will be coupled with the name of thy foes. If it fail, my 
 brother, my bold brother, is swept away ; he will fall a victim 
 to revenge or justice, call it as you will. Your kinsman may 
 be his judge, his executioner ; and I even if I should yet live 
 to mourn over the boast and glory of my humble line could 
 I permit myself to love, to see one in whose veins flowed the 
 blood of his destroyer ? Oh, I am wretched, wretched ; these 
 thoughts make me well-nigh mad ! " and wringing her hands 
 bitterly, Irene sobbed aloud. 
 
 Adrian himself was struck forcibly by the picture thus pre- 
 sented to him, although the alternative it embraced had often 
 before forced itself dimly on his mind. It was true, however, 
 that, not seeing the schemes of Rienzi backed by any physical 
 power, and never yet having witnessed the mighty force of a 
 moral revolution, he did not conceive that any rise to which 
 he might instigate the people could be permanently successful ; 
 and as for his punishment, in that city where all justice was 
 the slave of interest, Adrian knew himself powerful enough to 
 obtain forgiveness even for the greatest of all crimes, armed 
 insurrection against the nobles. As these thoughts recurred 
 to him, he gained the courage to console and cheer Irene. 
 But his efforts were only partially successful. Awakened by 
 her fears to that consideration of the future which hitherto 
 she had forgotten, Irene for the first time seemed deaf to 
 the charmer's voice. 
 
 " Alas ! " said she, sadly, " even at the best, what can this 
 love, that we have so blindly encouraged, what can it end in ? 
 Thou must not wed with one like me ! And I, how foolish 
 I have been ! " 
 
 "Recall thy senses then, Irene," said Adrian, proudly, 
 partly perhaps in anger, partly in his experience of the sex. 
 " Love another, and more wisely, if thou wilt ; cancel thy vows 
 with me, and continue to think it a crime to love, and a folly 
 to be true ! " 
 
 " Cruel ! " said Irene, falteringly, and in her turn alarmed. 
 " Dost thou speak in earnest ? "
 
 106 RIENZI: 
 
 " Tell ine, ere I answer you, tell me this : come death, come 
 anguish, come a whole life of sorrow as the end of this love, 
 wouldst thou yet repent that thou hast loved ? If so, thou 
 knowest not the love that I feel for thee." 
 
 "Never, never can I repent!" said Irene, falling upon 
 Adrian's neck ; " forgive me ! " 
 
 " But is there, in truth," said Adrian, a little while after 
 this lover-like quarrel and reconciliation, " is there, in truth, 
 so marked a difference between thy brother's past and his 
 present bearing ? How knowest thou that the time for action 
 is so near ? " 
 
 "Because now he sits closeted whole nights with all ranks 
 of men ; he shuts up his books, he reads no more, but when 
 alone, walks to and fro his chamber, muttering to himself. 
 Sometimes he pauses before the calendar, which of late he 
 has fixed with his own hand against the wall, and passes his 
 finger over the letters till he comes to some chosen date, and 
 then he plays with his sword and smiles. But two nights 
 since, arms, too, in great number were brought to the house ; 
 and I heard the chief of the men who brought them, a grim 
 giant, known well amongst the people, say, as he wiped his 
 brow : ' These will see work soon ! ' ' 
 
 " Arms ! Are you sure of that ? " said Adrian, anxiously. 
 " Nay, then, there is more in these schemes than I imagined ! 
 But," observing Irene's gaze bent fearfully on him as his voice 
 changed, he added more gayly, " but come what may, believe 
 me, my beautiful ! my adored ! that while I live, thy brother 
 shall not suffer from the wrath he may provoke ; nor I, though 
 he forget our ancient friendship, cease to love thee less." 
 
 " Signora ! Signora ! child ! it is time ; we must go ! " said 
 the shrill voice of Benedetta, now peering through the foli- 
 age. "The working-men pass home this way; I see them 
 approaching." 
 
 The lovers parted ; for the first time the serpent had pene- 
 trated into their Eden, they had conversed, they had 
 thought of other things than love !
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 107 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SITUATION OF A POPULAR PATRICIAN IN TIMES OF POPU- 
 LAR DISCONTENT. SCENE OF THE LATERAN. 
 
 THE situation of a Patrician who honestly loves the people is, 
 in those evil times when power oppresses and freedom struggles, 
 when the two divisions of men are wrestling against each 
 other, the most irksome and perplexing that destiny can 
 possibly contrive. Shall he take part with the nobles ? he 
 betrays his conscience ! With the people ? he deserts his 
 friends ! But that consequence of the last alternative is not 
 the sole, nor perhaps to a strong mind the most severe. All 
 men are swayed and chained by public opinion, it is the 
 public judge ; but public opinion is not the same for all ranks. 
 The public opinion that excites or deters the plebeian is the 
 opinion of the plebeians, of those whom he sees and meets and 
 knows; of those with whom he is brought in contact, those 
 with whom he has mixed from childhood, those whose praises 
 are daily heard, whose censure frowns upon him with every 
 hour. 1 So, also, the public opinion of the great is the opinion 
 of their equals, of those whom birth and accident cast forever 
 in their way. This distinction is full of important practical 
 deductions; it is one which, more than most maxims, should 
 never be forgotten by a politician who desires to be profound. 
 It is, then, an ordeal terrible to pass, which few plebeians ever 
 
 1 It is the same in still smaller divisions. The public opinion for lawyers 
 is that of lawyers ; of soldiers, that of the army ; of scholars, it is that of men 
 of literature and science. And to the susceptible among the latter, the hostile 
 criticism of learning has been more stinging than the severest moral censures 
 of the vulgar. Many a man has done a great act or composed a great work 
 solely to please the two or three persons constantly present to him. Their 
 voice was his public opinion. The public opinion that operated on Bishop, 
 the murderer, was the opinion of the Burkers, his comrades. Did that con- 
 demn him ? No ! He knew no other public opinion till he came to be 
 hanged, and caught the loathing eyes and heard the hissing execrations of 
 the crowd below his gibbet.
 
 10S RIENZI: 
 
 pass, which it is therefore unjust to expect patricians to cross 
 unfalteringly, the ordeal of opposing the public opinion 
 which exists for them. They cannot help doubting their own 
 judgment ; they cannot help thinking the voice of wisdom or 
 of virtue speaks in those sounds which have been deemed 
 oracles from their cradle. In the tribunal of Sectarian Pre- 
 judice they imagine they recognize the Court of Universal 
 Conscience. Another powerful antidote to the activity of a 
 patrician so placed is in the certainty that to the last the 
 motives of such activity will be alike misconstrued by the 
 aristocracy he deserts and the people he joins. It seems so 
 unnatural in a man to fly in the face of his own order that the 
 world is willing to suppose any clew to the mystery save that of 
 honest conviction or lofty patriotism. " Ambition ! " says one. 
 " Disappointment ! " cries another. " Some private grudge ! " 
 hints a third. " Mob-courting vanity ! " sneers a fourth. The 
 people admire at first, but suspect afterwards. The moment he 
 thwarts a popular wish, there is no redemption for him ; he is 
 accused of having acted the hypocrite, of having worn the 
 sheep's fleece ; and now, say they, " See ! the wolf's teeth peep 
 out ! " Is he familiar with the people ? it is cajolery ! Is he 
 distant ? it is pride ! What, then, sustains a man in such a 
 situation, following his own conscience, with his eyes opened 
 to all the perils of the path ? Away with the cant of public 
 opinion, away with the poor delusion of posthumous justice ; 
 he will offend the first, he will never obtain the last. What 
 sustains him ? His owx SOUL ! A man thoroughly great has 
 a certain contempt for his kind while he aids them ; their weal 
 or woe are all ; their applause, their blame, are nothing to him. 
 He walks forth from the circle of birth and habit ; he is deaf to 
 the little motives of little men. High, through the widest 
 space his orbit may describe, he holds on his course to guide 
 or to enlighten ; but the noises below reach him not ! Until 
 the wheel is broken, until the dark void swallow up the star, 
 it makes melody, night and day, to its own ear ; thirsting for 
 no sound from the earth it illumines, anxious for no companion- 
 ship in the path through which it rolls, conscious of its own 
 glory, and contented, therefore, to be alone!
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 109 
 
 But minds of this order are rare ; all ages cannot produce 
 them. They are exceptions to the ordinary and human virtue 
 which is influenced and regulated by external circumstance. 
 At a time when even to be merely susceptible to the voice of 
 fame was a great pre-eminence in moral energies over the rest 
 of mankind, it would be impossible that any one should ever 
 have formed the conception of that more refined and metaphy- 
 sical sentiment, that purer excitement to high deeds, that glory 
 in one's own heart, which is so immeasurably above the desire 
 of a renown that lackeys the heels of others. In fact, before we 
 can dispense with the world we must, by a long and severe 
 novitiate, by the probation of much thought and much sorrow, 
 by deep and sad conviction of the vanity of all that the world 
 can give us, have raised ourselves, not in the fervor of an hour, 
 but habitually, above the world, an abstraction, an idealism, 
 which in our wiser age how few even of the wisest can attain ! 
 Yet till we are thus fortunate, we know not the true divinity 
 of contemplation, nor the all-sufficing mightiness of conscience ; 
 nor can we retreat with solemn footsteps into that Holy of 
 Holies in our own souls wherein we know and feel how much 
 our nature is capable of the self-existence of a God ! 
 
 But to return to the things and thoughts of earth. Those con- x 
 siderations and those links of circumstance which in a similar 
 situation have changed so many honest and courageous minds, 
 changed also the mind of Adrian. He felt in a false position. 
 His reason and conscience shared in the schemes of Eienzi, 
 and his natural hardihood and love of enterprise would have 
 led him actively to share the danger of their execution. But 
 this, all his associations, his friendships, his private and 
 household ties, loudly forbade. Against his order, against his 
 house, against the companions of his youth, how could he plot 
 secretly or act sternly ? By the goal to which he was impelled 
 by patriotism, stood hypocrisy and ingratitude. Who would 
 believe him the honest champion of his country who was a 
 traitor to his friends ? Thus indeed 
 
 " The native hue of resolution 
 Was sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought," 
 
 and he who should have been by nature a leader of the time
 
 110 RIENZI: 
 
 became only its spectator. Yet Adrian endeavored to console 
 himself for his present passiveness in a conviction of the 
 policy of his conduct. He who takes no share in the com- 
 mencement of civil revolutions can often become, with the 
 most effect, a mediator between the passions and the parties 
 subsequently formed. Perhaps, under Adrian's circumstances, 
 delay was really the part of a prudent statesman; the very 
 position which cripples at the first, often gives authority before 
 the end. Clear from the excesses, and saved from the jeal- 
 ousies, of rival factions, all men are willing to look with com- 
 plaisance and respect to a new actor in a turbulent drama ; his 
 moderation may make him trusted by the people, his rank 
 enable him to be a fitting mediator with the nobles ; and thus 
 the qualities that would have rendered him a martyr at one 
 period of the revolution, raise him perhaps into a savior at 
 another. 
 
 Silent, therefore, and passive, Adrian waited the progress of 
 events. If the projects of Bienzi failed, he might by that 
 inactivity the better preserve the people from new chains, and 
 their champion from death. If those projects succeeded, he 
 might equally save his house from the popular wrath, and 
 advocating liberty, check disorder. Such, at least, were his 
 hopes ; and thus did the Italian sagacity and caution of his 
 character control and pacify the enthusiasm of youth and 
 courage. 
 
 The sun shone, calm and cloudless, upon the vast concourse 
 gathered before the broad space that surrounds the church of 
 St. John of Lateran. Partly by curiosity, partly by the desire 
 of the Bishop of Orvietto, partly because it was an occasion in 
 which they could display the pomp of their retinues, many of 
 the principal Barons of Rome had gathered to this spot. 
 
 On one of the steps ascending to the church, with his mantle 
 folded round him, stood Walter de Montreal, gazing on the 
 various parties that, one after another, swept through the lane 
 which the soldiers of the Church preserved unimpeded, in the 
 middle of the crowd, for the access of the principal nobles. 
 He watched with interest, though with his usual carelessness 
 of air and roving glance, the different marks and looks of
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. Ill 
 
 welcome given by the populace to the different personages of 
 note. Banners and pennons preceded each Signor, and as they 
 waved aloft, the witticisms or nicknames, the brief words of 
 praise or censure, that imply so much, which passed to and 
 fro among that lively crowd, were treasured carefully in his 
 recollection. 
 
 " Make way there ; way for my Lord Martino Orsini, Baron 
 di Porto ! " 
 
 " Peace, minion ; draw back ! Way for the Signor Adrian 
 Colonna, Baron di Castello and Knight of the Empire." 
 
 And at those two rival shouts you saw waving on high the 
 golden bear of the Orsini, with the motto, "Beware my em- 
 brace ! " and the solitary column, on an azure ground, of the 
 Colonna, with Adrian's especial device, " Sad, but strong." The 
 train of Martino Orsini was much more numerous than that of 
 Adrian, which last consisted but of ten servitors. But Adrian's 
 men attracted far greater admiration amongst the crowd, and 
 pleased more the experienced eye of the warlike Knight of 
 St. John. Their arms were polished like mirrors ; their height 
 was to an inch the same ; their march was regular and sedate ; 
 their mien erect; they looked neither to the right nor left; 
 they betrayed that ineffable discipline, that harmony of order, 
 which Adrian had learned to impart to his men during his own 
 apprenticeship of arms. But the disorderly train of the Lord 
 of Porto was composed of men of all heights. Their arms were 
 ill-polished and ill-fashioned, and they pressed confusedly on 
 each other ; they laughed and spoke aloud, and in their mien 
 and bearing expressed all the insolence of men who despised 
 alike the master they served and the people they awed. The 
 two bands coming unexpectedly on each other through this 
 narrow defile, the jealousy of the two houses presently declared 
 itself. Each pressed forward for the precedence ; and as the 
 quiet regularity of Adrian's train, and even its compact paucity 
 of numbers, enabled it to pass before the servitors of his rival, 
 the populace set up a loud shout : " A Colonna forever ! " " Let 
 the Bear dance after the Column ! " 
 
 " On, ye knaves ! " said Orsini aloud to his men. " How have
 
 112 RIENZI : 
 
 ye suffered this affront ? " And passing himself to the head of 
 his men, he would have advanced through the midst of his 
 rival's train, had not a tall guard, in the Pope's livery, placed 
 his baton in the way. 
 
 "Pardon, my lord! We have the Vicar's express com- 
 mands to suffer no struggling of the different trains one with 
 another." 
 
 " Knave i dost thou bandy words with me ? " said the fierce 
 Orsini ; and with his sword he clove the baton in two. 
 
 " In the Vicar's name, I command you to fall back ! " said 
 the sturdy guard, now placing his huge bulk in the very front 
 of the noble's path. 
 
 " It is Cecco del Vecchio ! '' cried those of the populace who 
 were near enough to perceive the interruption and its cause. 
 
 " Ay ! " said one, " the good Vicar has put many of the stout- 
 est fellows in the Pope's livery, in order the better to keep 
 peace. He could have chosen none better than Cecco." 
 
 " But he must not fall ! " cried another, as Orsini, glaring on 
 the smith, drew back his sword as if to plunge it through his 
 bosom. 
 
 " Shaine, shame ! Shall the Pope be thus insulted in his own 
 city ? " cried several voices. " Down with the sacrilegious ; 
 down ! " And as if by a preconcerted plan, a whole body of 
 the mob broke at once through the lane, and swept like a tor- 
 rent over Orsini and his jostled and ill-assorted train. Orsini 
 himself was thrown on the ground with violence, and trampled 
 upon by a hundred footsteps ; his men, huddled and struggling 
 as much against themselves as against the mob, were scattered 
 and overset ; and when, by a great effort of the guards, headed 
 by the smith himself, order was again restored and the line re- 
 formed, Orsini, well nigh choked with his rage and humiliation, 
 and greatly bruised by the rude assaults he had received, could 
 scarcely stir from the ground. The officers of the Pope raised 
 him, and when he was on his legs he looked wildly around for 
 his sword, which, falling from his hand, had been kicked 
 amongst the crowd; and seeing it not, he said, between his 
 ground teeth, to Cecco del Vecchio, 
 
 "Fellow, thy neck shall answer this outrage, or may God
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 113 
 
 desert me ! " and passed along through the space, while a half- 
 suppressed and exultant hoot from the bystanders followed his 
 path. 
 
 "Way there," cried the smith, "for the Lord Martino di 
 Porto ! and may all the people know that he has threatened to 
 take my life for the discharge of my duty in obedience to the 
 Pope's Vicar ! " 
 
 " He dare not ! " shouted out a thousand voices ; " the people 
 can protect their own ! " 
 
 This scene had not been lost on the Prove^al, who well 
 knew how to construe the wind by the direction of straws, and 
 saw at once, by the boldness of the populace, that they them- 
 selves were conscious of a coming tempest. " Par Dieu" said 
 he, as he saluted Adrian, who, gravely and without looking be- 
 hind, had now won the steps of the church, "yon tall fellow 
 has a brave heart, and many friends too. What think you ? " 
 he added, in a low whisper : " is not this scene a proof that the 
 nobles are less safe than they wot of ? " 
 
 "The beast begins to kick against the spur, Sir Knight," 
 answered Adrian ; " a wise horseman should, in such a case, 
 take care how he pull the rein too tight, lest the beast should 
 rear, and he be overthrown, yet that is the policy thou 
 woulclst recommend." 
 
 " You mistake," returned Montreal ; " my wish was to give 
 Rome one sovereign instead of many tyrants. But hark ! 
 what means that bell ? " 
 
 " The ceremony is about to begin," answered Adrian. " Shall 
 we enter the church together ? " 
 
 Seldom had a temple consecrated to God witnessed so singular 
 a spectacle as that which now animated the solemn space of 
 the Lateran. 
 
 In the centre of the church seats were raised in an amphi- 
 theatre, at the far end of which was a scaffolding a little higher 
 than the rest ; below this spot, but high enough to be in sight 
 of all the concourse, was placed a vast table of iron, on which 
 was graven an ancient inscription, and bearing in its centre a 
 clear anr prominent device, presently to be explained. 
 
 The seats were covered with cloth and rich tapestry. In the 
 
 VOL. I. 8
 
 114 RIENZI: 
 
 rear of the church was drawn a purple curtain. Around the 
 amphitheatre were the officers of the Church, in the party- 
 colored liveries of the Pope. To the right of the scaffold sat 
 Raimond, liishop of Orvietto, in his robes of state. On the 
 Ix-iK-hes round him you saw all the marked personages of 
 Rome, the judges, the men of letters, the nobles, from the 
 lofty rank of the Savelli to the inferior grade of a Raselli. The 
 space beyond the amphitheatre was filled with the people, who 
 now poured fast in, stream after stream ; all the while rang, 
 clear and loud, the great bell of the church. 
 
 At length, as Adrian and Montreal seated themselves at a 
 little distance from Raimond, the bell suddenly ceased, the 
 murmurs of the people were stilled, the purple curtain was 
 withdrawn, and Rienzi came forth with slow and majestic 
 steps. He came, but not in his usual sombre and plain attire. 
 Over his broad breast he wore a vest of dazzling whiteness ; a 
 long robe, in the ample fashion of the toga, descended to his 
 feet and swept the floor. On his head he wore a fold of white 
 cloth, in the centre of which shone a golden crown. But thr 
 crown was divided, or cloven, as it were, by the mystic orna 
 ment of a silver sword, which, attracting the universal atten 
 tion, testified at once that this strange garb was worn, not from 
 the vanity of display, but for the sake of presenting to the 
 concourse, in the person of the citizen, a type and emblem of 
 that state of the city on which he was about to descant. 
 
 " Faith," whispered one of the old nobles to his neighbor, 
 "the plebeian assumes it bravely." 
 
 " It will be rare sport," said a second. " I trust the good 
 man will put some jests in his discourse." 
 
 " What showman's tricks are these ? " said a third. 
 
 " He is certainly crazed ! " said a fourth. 
 
 " How handsome he is ! " said the women mixed with the 
 populace. 
 
 "This is a man who has learned the people by heart," 
 observed Montreal to Adrian. " He knows he must speak to 
 the eye, in order to win the mind ! A knave, a wise knave ! " 
 
 And now Rienzi had ascended the scaffold ; and as he looked 
 long and steadfastly around the meeting, the high and thought-
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 115 
 
 ful repose of his majestic countenance, its deep and solemn 
 gravity, hushed all the murmurs, and made its effect equally 
 felt by the sneering nobles as the impatient populace. 
 
 " Signers of Rome," said he at length, " and ye, friends and 
 citizens, you have heard why we are met together this day ; and 
 you, my Lord Bishop of Orvietto, and ye, fellow-laborers with 
 me in the field of letters, ye too are aware that it is upon some 
 matter relative to that ancient Rome, the rise and the decline 
 of whose past power and glories we have spent our youth in 
 endeavoring to comprehend. But this, believe me, is no vain 
 enigma of erudition, useful but to the studious, referring but 
 to the dead. Let the past perish ; let darkness shroud it ; let 
 it sleep forever over the crumbling temples and desolate tombs 
 of its forgotten sons, if it cannot afford us, from its disburied 
 secrets, a guide for the Present and the Future. What, my 
 lords, ye have thought that it was for the sake of antiquity 
 alone that we have wasted our nights and days in studying 
 what antiquity can teach us ? You are mistaken ; it is nothing 
 to know what we have been, unless it is with the desire of 
 knowing that which we ought to be. Our ancestors are mere 
 dust and ashes, save when they speak to our posterity ; and 
 then their voices resound, not from the earth below, but the 
 heaven above. There is an eloquence in Memory, because it is 
 the nurse of Hope. There is a sanctity in the past, but only 
 because of the chronicles it retains, chronicles of the progress 
 of mankind ; stepping-stone in civilization, in liberty, and in 
 knowledge. Our fathers forbid us to recede; they teach iis 
 what is our rightful heritage ; they bid us reclaim, they bid us 
 augment, that heritage, preserve their virtues, and avoid 
 their errors. These are the true uses of the Past. Like the 
 sacred edifice in which we are, it is a tomb upon which to rear 
 a temple. I see that you marvel at this long beginning ; ye 
 look to each other, ye ask to what it tends. Behold this broad 
 plate of iron : upon it is graven an inscription but lately dis- 
 interred from the heaps of stone and ruin which oh, shame 
 to Rome ! were once the palaces of empire and the arches 
 of triumphant power. The device in the centre of the table 
 which you behold conveys the act of the Roman Senators, who
 
 116 RIENZI : 
 
 are conferring upon Vespasian the imperial authority. It is 
 this inscription which I have invited you to hear read! It 
 specifies the very terms and limits of the authority thus con- 
 fer red. To the Emperor was confided the power of making 
 laws and alliances with whatsoever nation, of increasing or of 
 diminishing the limits of towns and districts, of mark this, 
 my lords ! exalting men to the rank of dukes and kings, 
 ay, and of deposing and degrading them, of making cities 
 and of unmaking ; in short, of all the attributes of imperial 
 power. Yes, to that Emperor was confided this vast authority. 
 But by whom ? Heed, listen, I pray you ; let not a word be 
 lost : by whom, I say ? By the Roman Senate ! What was the 
 Roman Senate ? The Representative of the Roman People ! " 
 
 " I knew he would come to that ! " said the smith, who stood 
 at the door with his fellows, but to whose ear, clear and 
 distinct, rolled the silver voice of Rienzi. 
 
 " Brave fellow ! and this, too, in the hearing of the lords ! " 
 
 " Ay, you see what the people were, and we should never 
 have known this but for him." 
 
 " Peace, fellows ! " said the officer to those of the crowd 
 from whom came those whispered sentences. 
 
 Rienzi continued : " Yes, it is the people who intrusted this 
 power ; to the people, therefore, it belongs ! Did the haughty 
 Emperor arrogate the crown ? Could he assume the authority 
 of himself ? Was it born with him ? Did he derive it, my 
 Lord Barons, from the possession of towered castles, of lofty 
 lineage ? No ! all-powerful as he was, he had no right to one 
 atom of that power, save from the voice and trust of the 
 Roman people. Such, my countrymen ! such was even at 
 that day, when Liberty was but the shadow of her former self, 
 such was the acknowledged prerogative of your fathers ! 
 All power was the gift of the people. What have ye to give 
 now ? Who, who, I say, what single person, what petty 
 chief, asks you for the authority he assumes ? His senate 
 is his sword ; his chart of license is written, not with ink, but 
 blood. The people there is no people ! Oh ! would to God 
 that we might disentomb the spirit of the Past as easily as her 
 records ! "
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 117 
 
 " If I were your kinsman," whispered Montreal to Adrian, 
 "I would give this man short breathing-time between his 
 peroration and confession." 
 
 " What is your Emperor ? " continued Rienzi, "a stranger. 
 What the great head of your Church? an exile! Ye are 
 without your lawful chiefs; and why? Because ye are not 
 without your law-defying tyrants ! The license of your nobles, 
 their discords, their dissensions, have driven our Holy Father 
 from the heritage of Saint Peter ; they have bathed your 
 streets in your own blood; they have wasted the wealth of 
 your labors on private quarrels and the maintenance of hire- 
 ling ruffians ! Your forces are exhausted against yourselves. 
 You have made a mockery of your country, once the mistress 
 of the world. You have steeped her lips in gall ; ye have set 
 a crown of thorns upon her head ! What, my lords ! " cried 
 he, turning sharply round towards the Savelli and Orsini, who, 
 endeavoring to shake off the thrill which the fiery eloquence 
 of Kienzi had stricken to their hearts, now, by contemptuous 
 gestures and scornful smiles, testified the displeasure they did 
 not dare loudly to utter in the presence of the Vicar and the 
 people, " what ! even while I speak not the sanctity of this 
 place restrains you ! I am an humble man, a citizen of Home ; 
 but I have this distinction : I have raised against myself many 
 foes and scoffers for that which I have done for Home. I am 
 hated because I love my country; I am despised because I 
 would exalt her. I retaliate, I shall be avenged. Three 
 traitors in your own palaces shall betray you ; their names are 
 Luxury, Envy, and Dissension ! " 
 
 " There he had them on the hip ! " 
 
 " Ha, ha ! by the Holy Cross, that was good ! " 
 
 " I would go to the hangman for such another keen stroke 
 as that ! " 
 
 " It is a shame if we are cowards, when one man is thus 
 brave," said the smith. 
 
 " This is the man we have always wanted ! " 
 
 " Silence ! " proclaimed the officer. 
 
 " Romans ! " resumed Rlenzi, passionately, " awake, I con- 
 jure you ! Let this memorial of your former power, your an-
 
 113 RIEXZI : 
 
 cient liberties, sink deep into your souls. In a propitious hour 
 it \, Mta it, in an evil one if ye suffer the golden opportunity 
 to escape, has this record of the past been unfolded to your 
 vollect that the Jubilee approaches." 
 
 The Bishop of Orvietto smiled, and bowed approvingly ; the 
 people, the citizens, the inferior nobles, noted well those signs 
 of encouragement ; and to their minds the Pope himself, in the 
 person of his Vicar, looked benignly on the daring of Rienzi. 
 
 The Jubilee approaches ; the eyes of all Christendom will 
 be directed hither. Here, where from all quarters of the 
 globe men come for peace, shall they find discord ? Seeking 
 absolution shall they perceive but crime ? In the centre of 
 God's dominion shall they weep at your weakness ? In the 
 seat of the martyred saints shall they shudder at your vices ? 
 In the fountain and source of Christ's law shall they find all 
 law unknown ? You were the glory of the world : will you be 
 its by-word ? You were its example : will you be its warning ? 
 Rise while it is yet time ; clear your roads from the bandits 
 that infest them, your walls from the hirelings that they har- 
 bor! Banish these civil discords, or the men how proud, 
 how great, soever who maintain them ! Pluck the scales 
 from the hand of Fraud, the sword from the hand of Violence. 
 The balance and the sword are the ancient attributes of Jus- 
 tice : restore them to her again ! This be your high task, these 
 be your great ends ! Deem any man who opposes them a 
 traitor to his country. Gain a victory greater than those of 
 the Caesars, a victory over yourselves ! Let the pilgrims 
 of the world behold the resurrection of Rome ! Make one 
 epoch of the Jubilee of Religion and the Restoration of Law ! 
 Lay the sacrifice of your vanquished passions, the first-fruits of 
 your renovated liberties, upon the very altar that these walls 
 contain, and never, oh, never, since the world began, shall men 
 have made a more grateful offering to their God ! " 
 
 So intense was the sensation these words created in the audi- 
 ence, so breathless and overpowered did they leave the souls 
 which they took by storm, that Rienzi had descended the scaffold 
 and already disappeared behind the curtain from which he had 
 emerged, ere the crowd were fully aware that he had ceased.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 119 
 
 The singularity of this sudden apparition, robed in myste- 
 rious splendor, and vanishing the moment its errand was ful- 
 filled, gave additional effect to the words it had uttered. The 
 whole character of that bold address became invested with a 
 something preternatural and inspired: to the minds of the 
 vulgar, the mortal was converted into the oracle ; and marvel- 
 ling at the unhesitating courage with which their idol had 
 rebuked and conjured the haughty barons, each of whom they 
 regarded in the light of sanctioned executioners, whose anger 
 could be made manifest at once by the gibbet or the axe, the 
 people could not but superstitiously imagine that nothing less 
 than authority from above could have gifted their leader with 
 such hardihood, and preserved him from the danger it incurred. 
 In fact, it was in this very courage of Blenzi that his safety 
 consisted ; he was placed in those circumstances where audacity 
 is prudence. Had he been less bold, the nobles would have 
 been more severe ; but so great a license of speech in an officer 
 of the Holy See, they naturally imagined, was not unauthorized 
 by the assent of the Pope, as well as by the approbation of the 
 people. Those who did not (like Stephen Colonna) despise 
 words as wind, shrank back from the task of punishing one 
 whose voice might be the mere echo of the wishes of the pon- 
 tiff. The dissensions of the nobles among each other were no 
 less favorable to Blenzi. He attacked a body, the members of 
 which had no union. 
 
 " It is not my duty to slay him ! " said one. 
 
 " I am not the representative of the barons ! " said another. 
 
 " If Stephen Colonna heeds him not, it would be absurd, as 
 well as dangerous, in a meaner man to make himself the 
 champion of the order ! " said a third. 
 
 The Colonna smiled approval when Rienzi denounced an 
 Orsini, an Orsini laughed aloud when the eloquence burst 
 over a Colonna. The lesser nobles were well pleased to hear 
 attacks upon both ; while, on the other hand, the Bishop, by 
 the long impunity of Rienzi, had taken courage to sanction the 
 conduct of his fellow-officer. He affected, indeed, at times to 
 blame the excess of his fervor, but it was always accompanied 
 by the praises of his honesty; and the approbation of the
 
 120 RIENZI : 
 
 Pope's Vicar confirmed the impression of the nobles as to the 
 approbation of the Pope. Thus from the very rashness of his 
 enthusiasm had grown his security and success. 
 
 Still, however, when the barons had a little recovered from 
 the stupor into which Rienzi had cast them, they looked round 
 to each other; and their looks confessed their sense of the 
 insolence of the orator, and the affront offered to themselves. 
 
 - Per fede!" quoth Reginaldo di Orsini, "this is past 
 bearing ; the plebeian has gone too far ! " 
 
 " Look at the populace below ! how they murmur and gape, 
 and how their eyes sparkle, and what looks they bend at us ! " 
 said Luca di Savelli to his mortal enemy, Castruccio Malatesta : 
 the sense of a common danger united in one moment, but only 
 for a moment, the enmity of years. 
 
 "Diavolo!" muttered Raselli (Nina's father) to a baron 
 equally poor, " but the clerk has truth in his lips. ' T is a pity 
 he is not noble." 
 
 " What a clever brain marred ! " said a Florentine merchant. 
 " That man might be something if he were sufficiently rich." 
 
 Adrian and Montreal were silent: the first seemed lost in 
 thought; the last was watching the various effects produced 
 upon the audience. 
 
 " Silence ! " proclaimed the officers. " Silence for my Lord 
 Vicar." 
 
 At this announcement every eye turned to Raimond, who, 
 rising with much clerical importance, thus addressed the 
 assembly : 
 
 "Although, Barons and Citizens of Rome, my well-beloved 
 flock, and children, I, no more than yourselves, anticipated the 
 exact nature of the address ye have just heard, and albeit I 
 cannot feel unalloyed contentment at the manner, nor, I may 
 say, at the whole matter of that fervent exhortation, yet," 
 laying great emphasis on the last word, " I cannot suffer you 
 to depart without adding, to the prayers of our Holy Father's 
 servant, those also of his Holiness's spiritual representative. 
 It is true, the Jubilee approaches ! The Jubilee approaches ; 
 and yet our roads, even to the gates of Rome, are infested 
 with murderers and godless ruffians ! What pilgrim can ven-
 
 I
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 121 
 
 ture across the Apennines to worship at the altars of St. Peter ? 
 The Jubilee approaches : what scandal shall it be to Rome if 
 these shrines be without pilgrims, if the timid recoil from, if 
 the bold fall victims to, the dangers of the way ! Wherefore 
 I pray you all, citizens and chiefs alike, I pray you all to lay 
 aside those unhappy dissensions which have so long consumed 
 the strength of our sacred city, and, uniting with each other in 
 the ties of amity and brotherhood, to form a blessed league 
 against the marauders of the road. I see amongst you, my 
 lords, many of the boasts and pillars of the state ; but alas ! I 
 think with grief and dismay on the causeless and idle hatred 
 that has grown up between you, a scandal to our city, and 
 reflecting, let me add, my lords, no honor on your faith as 
 Christians, nor on your dignity as defenders of the Church." 
 
 Amongst the inferior nobles, along the seats of the judges 
 and the men of letters, through the vast concourse of the 
 people, ran a loud murmur of approbation at these words. 
 The greater barons looked proudly, but not contemptuously, 
 at the countenance of the prelate, and preserved a strict and 
 unrevealing silence. 
 
 " In this holy spot," continued the Bishop, " let me beseech 
 you to bury those fruitless animosities which have already cost 
 enough of blood and treasure, and let us quit these walls with 
 one common determination to evince our courage and display 
 our chivalry only against our universal foes, those ruffians 
 who lay waste our fields and infest our public ways ; the foes 
 alike of the people we should protect and the God whom we 
 should serve ! " 
 
 The Bishop resumed his seat; the nobles looked at each 
 other without reply ; the people began to whisper loudly among 
 themselves ; when, after a short pause, Adrian di Castello 
 rose : 
 
 " Pardon me, my lords, and you, reverend Father, if I, inex- 
 perienced in years and of little mark or dignity amongst you, 
 presume to be the first to embrace the proposal we have just 
 heard. Willingly do I renounce all ancient cause of enmity 
 with any of my compeers. Fortunately for me, my long 
 absence from Rome has swept from my remembrance the feuds
 
 K1KN/I: 
 
 and rivalries familiar to my early youth; and in this noble 
 conclave 1 see but one man," glancing at Martino di Porto, who 
 sat sullenly looking down, "against whom I have at any time 
 divined it a duty to draw my sword: the gage that I once cast 
 to that noble is yet, I rejoice to think, unredeemed. I 
 withdraw it Henceforth my only foes shall be the foes of 
 Borne!" 
 
 Nobly spoken ! " said the Bishop, aloud. 
 
 "And," continued Adrian, casting down his glove amongst 
 the nobles, " I throw, my lords, the gage, thus resumed, amongst 
 you all, in challenge to a wider rivalry and a more noble field. 
 I invite any man to vie with me in the zeal that he shall show 
 to restore tranquillity to our roads and order to our state. It 
 is a contest in which, if I be vanquished with reluctance, I 
 will yield the prize without envy. In ten days from this time, 
 reverend Father, I will raise forty horsemen-at-arms, ready to 
 obey whatever orders shall be agreed upon for the security of 
 the Roman state. And you, Romans, dismiss, I pray you, 
 from your minds those eloquent invectives against your fellow- 
 citizens which ye have lately heard. All of us, of what rank 
 soever, may have shared in the excesses of these unhappy 
 times; let us endeavor not to avenge nor to imitate, but to 
 reform and to unite. And may the people hereafter find that 
 the true boast of a patrician is that his power the better enables 
 him to serve his country ! " 
 
 " Brave words ! " quoth the smith, sneeringly. 
 
 " If they were all like him ! " said the smith's neighbor. 
 
 " He has helped the nobles out of a dilemma," said Pandulfo. 
 
 " He has shown gray wit under young hairs," said an aged 
 Malatesta. 
 
 " You have turned the-tide, but not stemmed it, noble Adrian," 
 whispered the ever-boding Montreal, as, amidst the murmurs 
 of the general approbation, the young Colonna resumed his 
 seat 
 
 " How mean you ? " said Adrian. 
 
 " That your soft words, like all patrician conciliations, have 
 come too late." 
 
 Not another noble stirred, though they felt perhaps dis-
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 123 
 
 posed to join in the general feeling of amnesty, and appeared, 
 by signs and whispers, to applaud the speech of Adrian. They 
 were too habituated to the ungracefulness of an unlettered 
 pride to bow themselves to address conciliating language either 
 to the people or their foes. And Kaimond, glancing round, 
 and not willing that their unseemly silence should be long 
 remarked, rose at once, to give it the best construction in his 
 power : 
 
 " My son, thou hast spoken as a patriot and a Christian ; by 
 the approving silence of your peers we all feel that they share 
 your sentiments. Break we up the meeting; its end is 
 obtained. The manner of our proceeding against the leagued 
 robbers of the road requires maturer consideration elsewhere. 
 This day shall be an epoch in our history." 
 
 "It shall," quoth Cecco del Vecchio, gruffly, between his 
 teeth. 
 
 " Children, my blessing upon you all ! " concluded the Vicar, 
 spreading his arms. 
 
 And in a few minutes more the crowd poured from the 
 church. The different servitors and flag-bearers ranged them- 
 selves on the steps without, each train anxious for their mas- 
 ter's precedence; and the nobles, gravely collecting in small 
 knots, in the which was no mixture of rival blood, followed 
 the crowd down the aisles. Soon rose again the din and the 
 noise and the wrangling and the oaths of the hostile bands, as, 
 with pain and labor, the Vicar's officers marshalled them in 
 "order most disorderly." 
 
 But so true were Montreal's words to Adrian that the popu- 
 lace already half forgot the young noble's generous appeal, and 
 were only bitterly commenting on the ungracious silence of his 
 brother lords. What, too, to them was this crusade against 
 the robbers of the road ? They blamed the good Bishop for 
 not saying boldly to the nobles : " Ye are the first robbers we 
 must march against ! " The popular discontents had gone far 
 beyond palliatives ; they had arrived at that point when the 
 people longed less for reform than change. There are times 
 when a revolution cannot be warded off ; it must come, come 
 alike by resistance or by concession. Woe to that race in
 
 1-J4 RIENZI: 
 
 which a revolution produces no fruits; in which the thunder- 
 bolt smites the high place, but does not purify the air ! To 
 suffer in vain is often the lot of the noblest individuals ; but 
 when a People suffer in vain, let them curse themselves 1 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE AMBITIOUS CITIZEN, AND THE AMBITIOUS SOLDIER. 
 
 THE Bishop of Orvietto lingered last, to confer with Kienzi, 
 who awaited him in the recesses of the Lateran. Eaimond 
 had the penetration not to be seduced into believing that the 
 late scene could effect any reformation amongst the nobles, 
 heal their divisions, or lead them actively against the infestors 
 of the Campagna. But as he detailed to Rienzi all that had 
 occurred subsequent to the departure of that hero of the scene, 
 he concluded with saying : 
 
 " You will perceive from this, one good result will be pro- 
 duced : the first armed dissension, the first fray among the 
 nobles, will seem like a breach of promise, and to the people 
 and to the Pope, a reasonable excuse for despairing of all 
 amendment amongst the Barons, an excuse which will 
 sanction the efforts of the first, and the approval of the last." 
 
 " For such a fray we shall not long wait," answered Rienzi. 
 
 " I believe the prophecy," answered Raimond, smiling ; " at 
 present all runs well. Go you with us homeward ? " 
 
 "Nay, I think it better to tarry here till the crowd is en- 
 tirely dispersed ; for if they were to see me, in their present 
 excitement, they might insist on some rash and hasty enter- 
 prise. Besides, my lord," added Rienzi, "with an ignorant 
 people, however honest and enthusiastic, this rule must be 
 rigidly observed, stale not your presence by custom. Never 
 may men like me, who have no external rank, appear amongst 
 the crowd, save on those occasions when the mind is itself a 
 rank."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 125 
 
 "That is true, as you have no train," answered Raimond, 
 thinking of his own well-liveried menials. " Adieu, then ; we 
 shall meet soon ! " 
 
 " Ay, at Philippi, my lord. Eeverend Father, your blessing ! " 
 
 It was some time subsequent to this conference that Eienzi 
 quitted the sacred edifice. As he stood on the steps of the 
 church now silent and deserted the hour that precedes the 
 brief twilight of the South lent its magic to the view. There 
 he beheld the sweeping arches of the mighty Aqueduct ex- 
 tending far along the scene, and backed by the distant and 
 purpled hills. Before, to the right, rose the gate which took 
 its Roman name from the Coelian Mount, at whose declivity it 
 yet stands. Beyond from the height of the steps he saw 
 the villages scattered through the gray Campagna, whitening 
 in the sloped sun ; and in the farthest distance the mountain 
 shadows began to darken over the roofs of the ancient Tuscu- 
 lum, and the second Alban l city, which yet rises, in desolate 
 neglect, above the vanished palaces of Pompey and Domitian. 
 
 The Roman stood absorbed and motionless for some moments, 
 gazing on the scene and inhaling the sweet balm of the mellow 
 air. It was the soft spring-time, the season of flowers and 
 green leaves and whispering winds, the pastoral May of 
 Italia's poets ; but hushed was the voice of song on the banks 
 of the Tiber, the reeds gave music no more. From the sacred 
 Mount in which Saturn held his home, the Dryad and the 
 Nymph and Italy's native Sylvan were gone forever. Rienzi's 
 original nature, its enthusiasm, its veneration for the past, 
 its love of the beautiful and the great, that very attachment to 
 the graces and pomp which give so florid a character to the 
 harsh realities of life, and which power afterwards too lux- 
 uriantly developed; the exuberance of thoughts and fancies, 
 which poured itself from his lips in so brilliant and inexhaust- 
 ible a flood, all bespoke those intellectual and imaginative 
 Masses which, in calmer times, might have raised him in litera- 
 
 1 The first Alba the Alba Longa whose origin Fable ascribes to 
 Ascanins, was destroyed by Tullus Hostilius. The second Alba, or modern 
 Albano, was erected on the plain below the ancient town, a little before the 
 time of Nero.
 
 1 -_Y, RIENZI : 
 
 ture to a more indisputable eminence than that to which action 
 can ever lead; and something of such consciousness crossed 
 his spirit at that moment. 
 
 Happier had it been for me," thought he, "had I never 
 looked out from my own heart upon the world. I had all 
 within me that makes contentment of the present, because I 
 had that which can make me forget the present. I had the 
 power to re-people, to create ; the legends and dreams of old, 
 the divine faculty of verse, in which the beautiful superflui- 
 ties of the heart can pour themselves, these were mine! 
 Petrarch chose wisely for himself ! To address the world, but 
 from without the world ; to persuade, to excite, to command, 
 for these are the aim and glory of ambition : but to shun its 
 tumult and its toil ! His the quiet cell which he fills with the 
 shapes of beauty ; the solitude, from which he can banish the 
 evil times whereon we are fallen, but in which he can dream 
 back the great hearts and the glorious epochs of the past. 
 For me, to what cares I am wedded ; to what labors I am 
 bound ; what instruments I must use ; what disguises I must 
 assume ; to tricks and artifice I must bow my pride ! Base are 
 my enemies, uncertain my friends ; and verily, in this strug- 
 gle with blinded and mean men, the soul itself becomes 
 warped and dwarfish. Patient and darkling, the Means creep 
 through caves and the soiling mire, to gain at last the light 
 which is the End." 
 
 In these reflections there was a truth, the whole gloom and 
 sadness of which the Roman had not yet experienced. How- 
 ever august be the object we propose to ourselves, every less 
 worthy path we take to insure it distorts the mental sight of 
 our ambition ; and the means, by degrees, abase the end to 
 their own standard. This is the true misfortune of a man 
 nobler than his age, that the instruments he must use soil 
 himself : half he reforms his times ; but half, too, the times 
 will corrupt the reformer. His own craft undermines his 
 safety; the people, whom he himself accustoms to a false 
 excitement, perpetually crave it ; and when their ruler ceases 
 to seduce their fancy, he falls their victim. The reform he 
 makes by these means is hollow and momentary, it is swept
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 127 
 
 away with himself ; it was but the trick, the show, the wasted 
 genius of a conjuror : the curtain falls, the magic is over, the 
 cup and balls are kicked aside. Better one slow step in en- 
 lightenment which, being made by the reason of a whole 
 people, cannot recede than these sudden flashes in the 
 depth of the general night which the darkness, by contrast 
 doubly dark, swallows up everlastingly again! 
 
 As, slowly and musingly, Rienzi turned to quit the church, 
 he felt a light touch upon his shoulder. 
 
 " Fair evening to you, Sir Scholar ! " said a frank voice. 
 
 "To you I return the courtesy," answered Eienzi, gazing 
 upon the person who thus suddenly accosted him, and in 
 whose white cross and martial bearing the reader recognizes 
 the Knight of St. John. 
 
 " You know me not, I think ? " said Montreal. " But that 
 matters little; we may easily commence our acquaintance, 
 fqr me, indeed, I am fortunate enough to have made myself 
 already acquainted with you." 
 
 " Possibly we have met elsewhere, at the house of one of 
 those nobles to whose rank you seem to belong ? " 
 
 " Belong ? no, not exactly ! " returned Montreal, proudly. 
 " High-born and great as your magnates deem themselves, I 
 would not, while the mountains can yield one free spot for my 
 footstep, change my place in the world's many grades for 
 theirs. To the brave there is but one sort of plebeian, and 
 that is the coward. But you, sage Rienzi," continued the 
 Knight, in a gayer tone, " I have seen in more stirring scenes 
 than the hall of a Roman Baron." 
 
 Rienzi glanced keenly at Montreal, who met his eye with an 
 open brow. 
 
 " Yes ! " resumed the Knight " but let us walk on ; suffer 
 me for a few moments to be your companion. Yes ! I have 
 listened to you, the other eve, when you addressed the 
 populace, and to-day, when you rebuked the nobles ; and at 
 midnight, too, not long since, when (your ear, fair Sir ! 
 lower, it is a secret !) at midnight, too, when you adminis- 
 tered the oath of brotherhood to the bold conspirators on the 
 ruined Aventine ! "
 
 128 RIENZI: 
 
 As he concluded, the Knight drew himself aside, to watch 
 upon Rienzi's countenance the effect which his words might 
 produce. 
 
 A slight tremor passed over the frame of the conspirator, 
 for so, unless the conspiracy succeed, would Eienzi be termed, 
 by others than Montreal ; he turned abruptly round to con- 
 front the Knight, and placed his hand involuntarily on his 
 sword; but presently relinquished the grasp. 
 
 " Ha ! " said the Roman, slowly, " if this be true, fall Rome ! 
 There is treason even among the free!" 
 
 "No treason, brave Sir!" answered Montreal; "I possess 
 thy secret, but none have betrayed it to me." 
 
 " And is it as friend, or foe, that thou hast learned it ? " 
 
 "That as it may be," returned Montreal, carelessly. 
 "Enough, at present, that I could send thee to the gibbet, 
 if I said but the word, to show my power to be thy foe ; 
 enough that I have not done it, to prove my disposition to be 
 thy friend." 
 
 "Thou mistakest, stranger; that man does not live who 
 could shed my blood in the streets of Rome ! The gibbet ! 
 Little dost thou know of the power which surrounds 
 Rienzi." 
 
 These words were said with some scorn and bitterness ; but 
 after a moment's pause Rienzi resumed, more calmly, 
 
 "By the cross on thy mantle, thou belongest to one of the 
 proudest orders of knighthood; thou art a foreigner, and a 
 cavalier. What generous sympathies can convert thee into 
 a friend of the Roman people ? " 
 
 " Cola di Rienzi," returned Montreal, " the sympathies that 
 unite us are those which unite all men who by their own 
 efforts rise above the herd. True, I was born noble, but 
 powerless and poor ; at my beck now move, from city to city, 
 the armed instruments of authority : my breath is the law of 
 thousands. This empire I have not inherited; I won it by 
 a cool brain and a fearless arm. Know me for Walter de 
 Montreal: is it not a name that speaks a spirit kindred to 
 thine own ? Is not ambition a common sentiment between 
 us ? I do not marshal soldiers for gain only, though men
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUTES. 129 
 
 have termed me avaricious, nor butcher peasants for the love 
 of blood, though men have called me cruel. Arms and wealth 
 are the sinews of power: it is power that I desire. Thou, 
 bold Rienzi, strugglest thou not for the same ? Is it the rank 
 breath of the garlic-chewing mob, is it the whispered envy of 
 schoolmen, is it the hollow mouthing of boys who call thee 
 patriot and freeman words to trick the ear that will con- 
 tent thee ? These are but thy instruments to power. Have 
 I spoken truly?" 
 
 Whatever distaste Rienzi might conceive at this speech he 
 masked effectually. " Certes," said he, " it would be in vain, 
 renowned Captain, to deny that I seek but that power of 
 which thou speakest. But what union can there be between 
 the ambition of a Roman citizen and the leader of paid armies 
 that take their cause only according to their hire, to-day 
 fight for liberty in Florence, to-morrow for tyranny in 
 Bologna ? Pardon my frankness ; for in this age that is 
 deemed no disgrace which I impute to thy armies. Valor and 
 generalship are held to consecrate any cause they distinguish ; 
 and he who is the master of princes may be well honored by 
 them as their equal." 
 
 " We are entering into a less deserted quarter of the town," 
 said the Knight : " is there no secret place, no Aventine, in 
 this direction, where we can confer ? " 
 
 " Hush ! " replied Rienzi, cautiously looking round. " I 
 thank thee, noble Montreal, for the hint; nor may it be well 
 for us to be seen together. Wilt thou deign to follow me to 
 my home by the Palatine Bridge ? l There we can converse 
 undisturbed and secure." 
 
 " Be it so," said Montreal, falling back. 
 
 With a quick and hurried step, Rienzi passed through the 
 town, in which, wherever he was discovered, the scattered 
 
 1 The picturesque ruins shown at this day as having once been the habita- 
 tion of the celebrated Cola di Rienzi were long asserted by the antiquaries to 
 have belonged to another Cola, or Nicola. I believe, however, that the dis- 
 pute has been lately decided, and, indeed, no one but an antiquary, and 
 that a Roman one, could suppose that there were two Colas to whom the 
 inscription on the house would apply. 
 
 VOL. i. 9
 
 180 RIENZI : 
 
 citizens saluted him with marked respect ; and turning through 
 a labyrinth of dark alleys, as if to shun the more public 
 thoroughfares, arrived at length at a broad space near the 
 river. The first stars of night shone down on the ancient 
 temple of Fortuna Virilis, which the chances of Time had 
 already converted into the Church of St. Mary of Egypt ; and 
 facing the twice-hallowed edifice stood the house of Kienzi. 
 
 " It is a fair omen to have my mansion facing the ancient 
 Temple of Fortune," said Rienzi, smiling, as Montreal followed 
 the Roman into the chamber I have already described. 
 
 " Yet Valor need never pray to Fortune," said the Knight ; 
 " the first commands the last." 
 
 Long was the conference between these two men, the most 
 enterprising of their age. Meanwhile, let me make the reader 
 somewhat better acquainted with the character and designs of 
 Montreal than the hurry of events has yet permitted him to 
 become. 
 
 Walter de Montreal, generally known in the chronicles of 
 Italy by the designation of Fra Moreale, had passed into Italy 
 a bold adventurer, worthy to become a successor of those 
 roving Normans (from one of the most eminent of whom, by 
 the mother's side, he claimed descent) who had formerly played 
 so strange a part in the chivalric errantry of Europe real- 
 izing the fables of Amadis and Palmerin (each knight in 
 himself a host), winning territories and oversetting thrones, 
 acknowledging no laws save those of knighthood, never con- 
 founding themselves with the tribes amongst which they 
 settled, incapable of becoming citizens, and scarcely contented 
 with aspiring to be kings. At that time Italy was the India 
 of all those well-born and penniless adventurers who, like 
 Montreal, had inflamed their imagination by the ballads and 
 legends of the Roberts and the Godfreys of old, who had 
 trained themselves from youth to manage the barb, and bear 
 through the heat of summer the weight of arms, and who, 
 passing into an effeminate and distracted land, had only to 
 exhibit bravery in order to command wealth. It was considered 
 no disgrace for some powerful chieftain to collect together a 
 band of these hardy aliens, to subsist amidst the mountains on

 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 131 
 
 booty and pillage, to make war upon tyrant or republic as 
 interest suggested, and to sell, at enormous stipends, the im- 
 munities of peace. Sometimes they hired themselves to one 
 state to protect it against the other ; and the next year beheld 
 them in the field against their former employers. These bands 
 of Northern stipendiaries assumed, therefore, a civil as well as 
 a military importance ; they were as indispensable to the safety 
 of one state as they were destructive to the security of all. 
 But five years before the present date, the Florentine Republic 
 had hired the services of a celebrated leader of these foreign 
 soldiers, Grualtier, Duke of Athens. By acclamation the 
 people themselves had elected that warrior to the state of 
 prince, or tyrant, of their State; before the year was com- 
 pleted they revolted against his cruelties, or rather against his 
 exactions, for, despite all the boasts of their historians, they 
 felt an attack on their purses more deeply than an assault on 
 their liberties, they had chased him from their city, and 
 once more proclaimed themselves a Republic. The bravest 
 and most favored of the soldiers of the Duke of Athens had 
 been Walter de Montreal ; he had shared the rise and the down- 
 fall of his chief. Amongst popular commotions, the acute and 
 observant mind of the Knight of St. John had learned no 
 mean civil experience, he had learned to sound a people, to 
 know how far they would endure, to construe the signs of revo- 
 lution, to be a reader of the times. After the downfall of the 
 Duke of Athens as a Free Companion, in other words a Free- 
 booter, Montreal had augmented under the fierce Werner his 
 riches and his renown. At present without employment worthy 
 his spirit of enterprise and intrigue, the disordered and chief- 
 less state of Rome had attracted him thither. In the league 
 he had proposed to Colonna, in the suggestions he had made 
 to the vanity of that Signor, his own object was to render his 
 services indispensable, to constitute himself the head of the 
 soldiery whom his proposed designs would render necessary to 
 the ambition of the Colonna, could it be excited ; and in the 
 vastness of his hardy genius for enterprise he probably fore- 
 saw that the command of such a force would be in reality the 
 command of Rome : a counter-revolution might easily unseat
 
 182 RIENZI : 
 
 the Colonna and elect himself to the principality. It had 
 sometimes been the custom of Roman, as of other Italian 
 States, to prefer for a chief magistrate, under the title of 
 Podesto, a foreigner to a native. And Montreal hoped that he 
 might possibly become to Home what the Duke of Athens had 
 been to Florence, an ambition he knew well enough to be 
 above the gentleman of Provence, but not above the leader of 
 an army. But, as we have already seen, his sagacity perceived 
 at once that he could not move the aged head of the patricians 
 to those hardy and perilous measures which were necessary to 
 the attainment of supreme power. Contented with his present 
 station, and taught moderation by his age and his past reverses, 
 Stephen Colonna was not the man to risk a scaffold from the 
 hope to gain a throne. The contempt which the old patrician 
 professed for the people and their idol also taught the deep- 
 thinking Montreal that if the Colonna possessed not the ambi- 
 tion, neither did he possess the policy, requisite for empire. 
 The Knight found his caution against Rienzi in vain, and he 
 turned to Bienzi himself. Little cared the Knight of St. John 
 which party were uppermost, prince or people, so that his own 
 objects were attained, in fact, he had studied the humors of 
 a people, not in order to serve, but to rule them ; and believing 
 all men actuated by a similar ambition, he imagined that, 
 whether a demagogue or a patrician reigned, the people were 
 equally to be victims, and that the cry of " Order " on the one 
 hand, or of " Liberty " on the other, was but the mere pretext 
 by which the energy of one man sought to justify his ambi- 
 tion over the herd. Deeming himself one of the most honor- 
 able spirits of his age, he believed in no honor which he was 
 unable to feel ; and, sceptic in virtue, was therefore credulous 
 of vice. 
 
 But the boldness of his own nature inclined him perhaps 
 rather to the adventurous Rienzi than to the self-complacent 
 Colonna ; and he considered that to the safety of the first he 
 and his armed minions might be even more necessary than to 
 that of the last. At present his main object was to learn from 
 Rienzi the exact strength which he possessed, and how far he 
 was prepared for any actual revolt.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 133 
 
 The acute Roman took care, on the one hand, how he 
 betrayed to the Knight more than he yet knew, or disgusted 
 him by apparent reserve on the other. Crafty as Montreal 
 was, he possessed not that wonderful art of mastering others 
 which was so pre-eminently the gift of the eloquent and pro- 
 found Rienzi, and the difference between the grades of their 
 intellect was visible in their present conference. 
 
 " I see," said Rienzi, " that amidst all the events which have 
 lately smiled upon my ambition, none is so favorable as that 
 which assures me of your countenance and friendship. In 
 truth, I require some armed alliance. Would you believe it ? 
 Our friends, so bold in private meetings, yet shrink from a 
 public explosion. They fear not the patricians, but the sol- 
 diery of the patricians ; for it is the remarkable feature in the 
 Italian courage that they have no terror for each other, but the 
 casque and sword of a foreign hireling make them quail like 
 deer." 
 
 " They will welcome gladly, then, the assurance that such 
 hirelings shall be in their service, not against them ; and as 
 many as you desire for the revolution, so many shall you 
 receive." 
 
 " But the pay and the conditions," said Rienzi, with his dry, 
 sarcastic smile. " How shall we arrange the first, and what 
 shall we hold to be the second ? " 
 
 "That is an affair easily concluded," replied Montreal. 
 " For me, to tell you frankly, the glory and excitement of so 
 great a revulsion would alone suffice. I like to feel myself 
 necessary to the completion of high events. For my men it is 
 otherwise. Your first act will be to seize the revenues of the 
 state. Well, whatever they amount to, the product of the first 
 year, great or small, shall be divided amongst us. You the 
 one half, and I and my men the other half." 
 
 " It is much," said Rienzi, gravely, and as if in calculation ; 
 " but Rome cannot purchase her liberties too dearly. So be it 
 then decided." 
 
 , " Amen ! And now, then, what is your force ? for these 
 eighty or a hundred signers of the Aventine worthy men, 
 doubtless scarce suffice for a revolt!"
 
 134 RIEXZI : 
 
 Gazing cautiously round the room, the Roman placed his 
 hand on Montreal's arm, 
 
 " Between you and me, it requires time to cement it. We 
 shall be unable to stir these five weeks. I have too rashly 
 anticipated the period. The corn is indeed cut, but I must 
 now, by private adjuration and address, bind up the scattered 
 sheaves." 
 
 " Five weeks," repeated Montreal j " that is far longer than 
 I anticipated." 
 
 " What I desire," continued Rienzi, fixing his searching eyes 
 upon Montreal, " is, that in the meanwhile we should preserve 
 a profound calm, we should remove every suspicion. I shall 
 bury myself in my studies, and convoke no more meetings." 
 
 "Well 
 
 " And for yourself, noble Knight, might I venture to dictate, 
 I would pray you to mix with the nobles, to profess for me 
 and for the people the profoundest contempt, and to contribute 
 to rock them yet more in the cradle of their false security. 
 Meanwhile, you could quietly withdraw as many of the armed 
 mercenaries as you influence from Rome, and leave the nobles 
 without their only defenders. Collecting these hardy war- 
 riors in the recesses of the mountains, a day's march from 
 hence, we may be able to summon them at need, and they 
 shall appear at our gates and in the midst of our rising, 
 hailed as deliverers by the nobles, but in reality allies with 
 the people. In the confusion and despair of our enemies at 
 discovering their mistake, they will fly from the city." 
 
 " And its revenue and its empire will become the appanage 
 of the hardy soldier and the intriguing demagogue 1 " cried 
 Montreal, with a laugh. 
 
 "Sir Knight, the division shall be equal." 
 
 "Agreed!" 
 
 "And now, noble Montreal, a flask of our best vintage!" 
 said Rienzi, changing his tone. 
 
 "You know the Provencals," answered Montreal, gayly. 
 
 The wine was brought, the conversation became free and 
 familiar, and Montreal, whose craft was acquired, and whose 
 frankness was natural, unwittingly committed his secret pro-
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 135 
 
 jects and ambition more nakedly to Eienzi, than lie had de- 
 signed to do. They parted apparently the best of friends. 
 
 " By the way," said Eienzi, as they drained the last goblet, 
 " Stephen Colonna betakes him to Corneto, with a convoy of 
 corn, on the 19th. Will it not be as well if you join him ? 
 You can take that opportunity to whisper discontent to the 
 mercenaries that accompany him on his mission, and induce 
 them to our plan." 
 
 " I thought of that before," returned Montreal ; " it shall be 
 done. For the present, farewell ! 
 
 " ' His barb and his sword, 
 
 And his lady the peerless, 
 Are all that are prized 
 By Orlando the fearless. 
 
 " ' Success to the Norman, 
 The darling of story ; 
 His glory is pleasure, 
 His pleasure is glory.' " 
 
 Chanting this rude ditty as he resumed his mantle, the 
 Knight waved his hand to Klenzi and departed. 
 
 Kienzi watched the receding form of his guest with an ex- 
 pression of hate and fear upon his countenance. " Give that 
 man the power," he muttered, " and he may be a second 
 Totila. 1 Methinks I see, in his griping and ferocious nature, 
 through all the gloss of its gayety and knightly grace, the 
 very personification of our old Gothic foes. I trust I have 
 lulled him ! Verily, two suns could no more blaze in one 
 hemisphere than Walter de Montreal and Cola di Eienzi live 
 in the same city. The star-seers tell us that we feel a secret 
 and uncontrollable antipathy to those whose astral influences 
 destine them to work us evil ; such antipathy do I feel for yon 
 fair-faced homicide. Cross not my path, Montreal ; cross not 
 my path ! " 
 
 With this soliloquy Kienzi turned within, and, retiring to 
 his apartment, was seen no more that night. 
 
 1 Innocent VL, some years afterwards, proclaimed Montreal to be worse 
 than Totila.
 
 13C RIENZI : 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PROCESSION OP THE BARONS THE BEGINNING OP 
 TUB END. 
 
 IT was the morning of the 19th of May ; the air was brisk 
 and clear, and the sun, which had just risen, shone cheerily 
 upon the glittering casques and spears of a gallant procession 
 of armed horsemen, sweeping through the long and principal 
 street of Rome. The neighing of the horses, the ringing of 
 the hoofs, the dazzle of the armor, and the tossing to and 
 fro of the standards, adorned with the proud insignia of the 
 Colonna, presented one of the gay and brilliant spectacles 
 peculiar to the Middle Ages. 
 
 At the head of the troop, on a stout palfrey, rode Stephen 
 Colonna. At his right was the Knight of Provence, curbing, 
 with an easy hand, a slight but fiery steed of the Arab race ; 
 behind him followed two squires, the one leading his war 
 horse, the other bearing his lance and helmet. At the left of 
 Stephen Colonna rode Adrian, grave and silent, and replying 
 only by monosyllables to the gay bavardage of the Knight of 
 Provence. A considerable number of the flower of the Roman 
 nobles followed the old baron, and the train was closed by 
 a serried troop of foreign horsemen completely armed. 
 
 There was no crowd in the street ; the citizens looked with 
 seeming apathy at the procession from their half-closed shops. 
 
 " Have these Romans no passion for shows ? " asked Mon- 
 treal. " If they could be more easily amused, they would be 
 more easily governed." 
 
 " Oh ! Rienzi and such buffoons amuse them. We do better, 
 we terrify!" replied Stephen. 
 
 "What sings the troubadour, Lord Adrian?" said Montreal, 
 
 " ' Smiles, false smiles, should form the school 
 For those who rise and those who rule. 
 The brave they trick, the fair subdue, 
 Kings deceive, and States undo, 
 Smiles, false smiles !
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 137 
 
 " ' Frowns, true frowns, ourselves betray, 
 The brave arouse, the fair dismay, 
 Sting the pride which blood must heal, 
 Mix the bowl and point the steel. 
 
 Frowns, true frowns ! ' 
 
 The lay is of France, Signer, yet methinks it brings its wis- 
 dom from Italy ; for the serpent-smile is your countrymen's 
 proper distinction, and the frown ill becomes them." 
 
 " Sir Knight," replied Adrian, sharply, and incensed at the 
 taunt, " you foreigners have taught us how to frown, a 
 virtue sometimes." 
 
 " But not wisdom, unless the hand could maintain what the 
 brow menaced," returned Montreal with haughtiness ; for he 
 had much of the Frank vivacity, which often overcame his 
 prudence ; and he had conceived a secret pique against Adrian 
 since their interview at Stephen's palace. 
 
 " Sir Knight," answered Adrian, coloring, " our conversa- 
 tion may lead to warmer words than I would desire to have 
 with one who has rendered me so gallant a service." 
 
 " Nay, then, let us go back to the troubadours," said Mon- 
 treal, indifferently. " Forgive me if I do not think highly, in 
 general, of Italian honor or Italian valor. Your valor I ac- 
 knowledge, for I have witnessed it, and valor and honor go 
 together; let that suffice!" 
 
 As Adrian was about to answer, his eye fell suddenly on 
 the burly form of Cecco del Vecchio, who was leaning his bare 
 and brawny arms over his anvil, and gazing with a smile upon 
 the group. There was something in that smile which turned 
 the current of Adrian's thoughts, and which he could not con- 
 template without an unaccountable misgiving. 
 
 " A strong villain that," said Montreal, also eying the smith. 
 " I should like to enlist him. Fellow ! " cried he, aloud, " you 
 have an arm that were as fit to wield the sword as to fashion 
 it. Desert your anvil, and follow the fortunes of Fra Moreale ! " 
 
 The smith nodded his head. "Signer Cavalier," said he, 
 gravely, "we poor men have no passion for war. We want 
 not to kill others, we desire only ourselves to live, if you 
 will let us!"
 
 188 RIENZI : 
 
 " By the Holy Mother, a slavish answer ! But you 
 Romans " 
 
 Are slaves I " interrupted the smith, turning away to the 
 interior of his forge. 
 
 "The dog is mutinous ! " said the old Colonna. And as the 
 band swept on, the rude foreigners, encouraged by their 
 leaders, had each some taunt or jest, uttered in a barbarous 
 attempt at the Southern patois, for the lazy giant, as he again 
 appeared in front of his forge, leaning on his anvil as before, 
 and betraying no sign of attention to his insulters, save by 
 a heightened glow of his swarthy visage ; and so the gallant 
 procession passed through the streets, and quitted the Eternal 
 City. 
 
 There was a long interval of deep silence, of general calm, 
 throughout the whole of Rome ; the shops were still but half- 
 opened, no man betook himself to his business; it was like 
 the commencement of some holiday, when indolence precedes 
 enjoyment. 
 
 About noon a few small knots of men might be seen scat- 
 tered about the streets, whispering to each other, but soon dis- 
 persing ; and every now and then a single passenger, generally 
 habited in the long robes used by the men of letters, or in the 
 more sombre garb of monks, passed hurriedly up the street 
 towards the Church of St. Mary of Egypt, once the Temple of 
 Fortune. Then again all was solitary and deserted. Suddenly 
 there was heard the sound of a single trumpet f It swelled, it 
 gathered on the ear. Cecco del Vecchio looked up from his 
 anvil! A solitary horseman paced slowly by the forge, and 
 wound a long loud blast of the trumpet suspended round his 
 neck as he passed through the middle of the street. Then 
 might you see a crowd suddenly, and as by magic, appear 
 emerging from every corner ; the street became thronged with 
 multitudes : but it was only by the tramp of their feet and an 
 indistinct and low murmur that they broke the silence. Again 
 the horseman wound his trump, and when the note ceased he 
 cried aloud : " Friends and Romans ! to-morrow, at dawn of 
 day, let each man find himself unarmed before the Church of 
 St. Angelo. Cola di Rienzi convenes the Romans to provide
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 139 
 
 for the good state of Home." A shout, that seemed to shake 
 the bases of the seven hills, broke forth at the end of this 
 brief exhortation ; the horseman rode slowly on, and the crowd 
 followed. This was the commencement of the Revolution. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE CONSPIRATOR BECOMES THE MAGISTRATE. 
 
 AT midnight, when the rest of the city seemed hushed in 
 rest, lights were streaming from the windows of the Church 
 of St. Angelo. Breaking from its echoing aisles, the long and 
 solemn notes of sacred music stole at frequent intervals upon 
 the air. Rienzi was praying within the church ; thirty masses 
 consumed the hours from night till morn, and all the sanction 
 of religion was invoked to consecrate the enterprise of liberty. 1 
 The sun had long risen, and the crowd had long been as- 
 sembled before the church door and in vast streams along 
 every street that led to it, when the bell of the church tolled 
 out long and merrily; and as it ceased, the voices of the 
 choristers within chanted the following hymn, in which were 
 somewhat strikingly, though barbarously, blended the spirit of 
 the classic patriotism with the fervor of religious zeal : - 
 
 THE ROMAN HYMN OF LIBERTY. 
 
 Let the mountains exult around ! 2 
 On her seven-hill'd throne renown'd, 
 Once more old Rome is crown'd ! 
 Jubilate ! 
 
 1 In fact, I apprehend that if ever the life of Cola di Rienzi shall be written 
 by a hand worthy of the task, it will be shown that a strong religious feeling 
 was blended with the political enthusiasm of the people, the religious feeling of 
 a premature and crude reformation, the legacy of Arnold of Brescia. It was 
 not, however, one excited against the priests, but favored by them. The 
 principal conventual orders declared for the Revolution. 
 
 2 " Exultent in circuito vestro montes," etc. Let the mountains exult 
 around ! So begins Rienzi's letter to the Senate and Roman people ; preserved 
 by Hocsemius.
 
 140 RIENZI: 
 
 Sing ont, O Vale and Wave I 
 Look np from each laurell'd grave, 
 Bright dust of the deathless brave 1 
 Jubilate 1 
 
 Pale Vision, what art thou 1 Lo, 
 From Time's dark deeps, 
 Like a wind, It sweeps, 
 Like a Wind, when the tempests blow ; 
 
 A shadowy form, as a giant ghost, 
 It stands in the midst of the armed host ! 
 The dead man's shroud on Its awful limbs, 
 And the gloom of Its presence the daylight dims, 
 And the trembling world looks on aghast : 
 All hail to the SODL OF THE MIGHTY PAST ! 
 
 Hail ! all hail ! 
 
 As we speak, as we hallow, It moves, It breathes ; 
 From its clouded crest bud the laurel-wreaths ; 
 As a Sun that leaps up from the arms of Night, 
 The shadow takes shape, and the gloom takes light 
 
 Hail ! all hail ! 
 
 THE SOUL OF THE PAST again 
 
 To its ancient home, 
 
 In the hearts of Rome, 
 Hath come to resume its reign ! 
 
 O Fame, with a prophet's voice, 
 
 Bid the ends of the Earth rejoice ! 
 
 Wherever the Proud are Strong, 
 
 And Right is oppress'd by Wrong ; 
 
 Wherever the day dim shines 
 
 Through the cell where the captive pines, 
 
 Go forth, with a trumpet's sound, 
 
 And tell to the Nations round 
 
 On the Hills which the Heroes trod, 
 
 In the shrines of the Saints of God, 
 
 In the Caesars' hall and the Martyrs' prison 
 
 That the slumber is broke and the Sleeper arisen ; 
 
 That the reign of the Goth and the Vandal is o'er ; 
 
 And Earth feels the tread of THE ROMAN once more ! 
 
 As the hymn ended, the gate of the church opened, the 
 crowd gave way on either side, and, preceded by three of the 
 young nobles of the inferior order, bearing standards of allego-
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 141 
 
 rical design depicting the triumph of Liberty, Justice, and 
 Concord, forth issued Rienzi, clad in complete armor, the 
 helmet alone excepted. His face was pale with watching and 
 intense excitement, but stern, grave, and solemnly composed ; 
 and its expression so repelled any vociferous and vulgar burst 
 of feeling that those who beheld it hushed the shout on their 
 lips, and stilled, by a simultaneous cry of reproof, the gratu- 
 lations of the crowd behind. Side by side with Rienzi moved 
 Raimond, Bishop of Orvietto; and behind, marching two by 
 two, followed a hundred men-at-arms. In complete silence 
 the procession began its way until, as it approached the Capi- 
 tol, the awe of the crowd gradually vanished, and thousands 
 upon thousands of voices rent the air with shouts of exultation 
 and joy. 
 
 Arrived at the foot of the great staircase which then made 
 the principal ascent to the square of the Capitol, the proces- 
 sion halted ; and as the crowd filled up that vast space in front 
 adorned and hallowed by many of the most majestic columns 
 of the temples of old Rienzi addressed the Populace, whom 
 he had suddenly elevated into a People. 
 
 He depicted forcibly the servitude and misery of the citi- 
 zens, the utter absence of all law, the want even of common 
 security to life and property. He declared that, undaunted 
 by the peril he incurred, he devoted his life to the regenera- 
 tion of their common country; and he solemnly appealed to 
 the people to assist the enterprise, and at once to sanction 
 and consolidate the Revolution by an established code of law 
 and a Constitutional Assembly. He then ordered the chart and 
 outline of the Constitution he proposed, to be read by the 
 Herald to the multitude. 
 
 It created or rather revived, with new privileges and 
 powers a Representative Assembly of Councillors. It pro- 
 claimed, as its first law, one that seems simple enough to our 
 happier times, but never hitherto executed at Rome : Every 
 wilful homicide, of whatever rank, was to be punished by 
 death. It enacted that no private noble or citizen should be 
 suffered to maintain fortifications and garrisons in the city or 
 the country ; that the gates and bridges of the State should be
 
 142 RIENZI: 
 
 under the control of whomsoever should be elected Chief 
 Magistrate. It forbade all harbor of brigands, mercenaries, 
 and robbers, on payment of a thousand marks of silver ; and 
 it made the Barons who possessed the neighboring territories 
 responsible for the safety of the roads and the transport of 
 merchandise. It took under the protection of the State the 
 widow and the orphan. It appointed, in each of the quarters of 
 the city, an armed militia, whom the tolling of the bell of the 
 Capitol, at any hour, was to assemble to the protection of the 
 State. It ordained that in each harbor of the coast a vessel 
 should be stationed for the safeguard of commerce. It decreed 
 the sum of one hundred florins to the heirs of every man who 
 died in the defence of Kome ; and it devoted the public 
 revenues to the service and protection of the State. 
 
 Such, moderate at once and effectual, was the outline of the 
 New Constitution ; and it may amuse the reader to consider 
 how great must have been the previous disorders of the city 
 when the common and elementary provisions of civilization and 
 security made the character of the code proposed, and the limit 
 of a popular revolution. 
 
 The most rapturous shouts followed this sketch of the New 
 Constitution, and amidst the clamor up rose the huge form of 
 Cecco del Vecchio. Despite his condition, he was a man of 
 great importance at the present crisis : his zeal and his courage, 
 and, perhaps, still more, his brute passion and stubborn preju- 
 dice, had made him popular. The lower order of mechanics 
 looked to him as their head and representative ; out, then, he 
 spake loud and fearlessly, speaking well, because his 'rnind was 
 full of what he had to say. 
 
 " Countrymen and Citizens ! This New Constitution meets 
 with your approbation, so it ought. But what are good laws 
 if we do not have good men to execute them ? Who can 
 execute a law so well as the man who designs it ? If you ask 
 me to give you a notion, how to make a good shield, and my 
 notion pleases you, would you ask me, or another smith, to 
 make it for you ? If you ask another, he may make a good 
 shield, but it would not be the same as that which I should 
 have made/and the description of which contented you. Cola
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 143 
 
 di Bienzi has proposed a Code of Law that shall be our shield. 
 Who should see that the shield become what he proposes, but 
 Cola di Rienzi ? Romans, I suggest that Cola di Rienzi be 
 intrusted by the people with the authority, by whatsoever 
 name he pleases, of carrying the New Constitution into effect ; 
 and whatever be the means, we, the People, will bear him 
 harmless." 
 
 " Long life to Rienzi ! Long live Cecco del Vecchio ! He 
 hath spoken well! None but the Law-maker shall be the 
 Governor ! " 
 
 Such were the acclamations which greeted the ambitious 
 heart of the Scholar. The voice of the people invested him 
 with the supreme power. He had created a Commonwealth, 
 to become, if he desired it, a Despot ! 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 LOOKING AFTER THE HALTER WHEN THE MARE IS STOLEN. 
 
 WHILE such were the events at Rome, a servitor of Stephen 
 Colonna was already on his way to Corneto. The astonishment 
 with which the old Baron received the intelligence may be 
 easily imagined. He lost not a moment in convening his troop ; 
 and while in all the bustle of departure, the Knight of St. John 
 abruptly entered his presence. His mien had lost its usual 
 frank composure. 
 
 " How is this," said he, hastily, "a revolt ? Rienzi sov- 
 ereign of Rome ? Can the news be believed ? " 
 
 " It is too true ! " said Colonna, with a bitter smile. " Where 
 shall we hang him on our return ? " 
 
 " Talk not so wildly, Sir Baron," replied Montreal, discour- 
 teously ; " Rienzi is stronger than you think for. I know what 
 men are, and you only know what noblemen are ! Where is 
 your kinsman, Adrian ? "
 
 144 RIENZI: 
 
 " He is here, noble Montreal," said Stephen, shrugging his 
 shoulders, with a half-disdainful smile at the rebuke, which he 
 thought it more prudent not to resent ; " he is here ! See him 
 enter ! " 
 
 " You have heard the news ? " exclaimed Montreal. 
 
 I have." 
 
 " And despise the revolution ? " 
 
 I fear it ! " 
 
 " Then you have some sense in you. But this is none of 
 my atTa ir ; I will not interrupt your consultations. Adieu for 
 the present ! " and ere Stephen could prevent him, the Knight 
 had quitted the cnamber. 
 
 " What means this demagogue ? " Montreal muttered to him- 
 self. " Would he trick me ? Has he got rid of my presence 
 in order to monopolize all the profit of the enterprise ? I fear 
 me so, the cunning Roman! We Northern warriors could 
 never compete with the intellect of these Italians but for their 
 cowardice. But what shall be done ? I have already bid Ro- 
 dolf communicate with the brigands, and they are on the eve 
 of departure from their present lord. Well, let it be so ! 
 Better that I should first break the power of the Barons, and 
 then make my own terms, sword in hand, with the plebeian. 
 And if I fail in this, sweet Adeline, I shall see thee again, 
 that is some comfort, and Louis of Hungary will bid high 
 for the arm and brain of Walter de Montreal ! What, ho, Ro- 
 dolf ! " he exclaimed aloud, as the sturdy form of the trooper, 
 half armed and half intoxicated, reeled along the courtyard. 
 " Knave ! art thou drunk at this hour ? " 
 
 " Drunk or sober," answered Rodolf, bending low, " I am at 
 thy bidding." 
 
 " Well said ! Are thy friends ripe for the saddle ? " 
 
 " Eighty of them, already tired of idleness and the dull air 
 of Rome, will fly wherever Sir Walter de Montreal wishes." 
 
 " Hasten, then, bid them mount ; we go not hence with the 
 Colonna, we leave while they are yet talking ! Bid my squires 
 attend me!" 
 
 And when Stephen Colonna was settling himself on his 
 palfrey, he heard, for the first time, that the Knight of Pro-
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 145 
 
 vence, Eodolf the trooper, and eighty of the stipendiaries had 
 already departed, whither, none knew. 
 
 " To precede us to Rome, gallant barbarian ! " said Colonna. 
 "Sirs, on!" 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE ATTACK THE RETREAT THE ELECTION AND 
 
 THE ADHESION. 
 
 ARRIVING at Rome, the company of the Colonna found the 
 gates barred and the walls manned. Stephen bade advance his 
 trumpeters, with one of his captains, imperiously to demand 
 admittance. 
 
 " We have orders," replied the chief of the town-guard, " to 
 admit none who bear arms, flags, or trumpets. Let the Lords 
 Colonna dismiss their train, and they are welcome." 
 
 " Whose are these insolent mandates ? " asked the captain. 
 
 " Those of the Lord Bishop of Orvietto and Cola di Rienzi, 
 joint protectors of the Buono Stato." 1 
 
 The captain of the Colonna returned to his chief with these 
 tidings. The rage of Stephen was indescribable. " Go back," 
 he cried, as soon as he could summon voice, " and say that if 
 the gates are not forthwith opened to me and mine, the blood 
 of the plebeians be on their own head. As for Raimond, Vicars 
 of the Pope have high spiritual authority, none temporal. Let 
 him prescribe a fast, and he shall be obeyed ; but for the rash 
 Rienzi, say that Stephen Colonna will seek him in the Capitol 
 to-morrow, for the purpose of throwing him out of the highest 
 window." 
 
 These messages the envoy failed not to deliver. 
 
 The captain of the Romans was equally stern in his reply. 
 
 " Declare to your lord," said he, " that Rome holds him and 
 his as rebels and traitors, and that the moment you regain your 
 
 1 Good Estate. 
 VOL. i. 10
 
 146 RIENZI : 
 
 troop, our archers receive our command to draw their bows 
 in the name of the Pope, the City, and the Liberator." 
 
 This threat was executed to the letter ; and ere the old Baron 
 had time to draw up his men in the best array, the gates were 
 thrown open, and a well-armed, if undisciplined, multitude 
 poured forth, with fierce shouts, clashing their arms, and ad- 
 vancing the azure banners of the Koman State. So desperate 
 their charge and so great their numbers that the Barons, after 
 a short and tumultuous conflict, were driven back, and chased 
 by their pursuers for more than a mile from the walls of the 
 city. 
 
 As soon as the Barons recovered their disorder and dismay, 
 a hasty council was held, at which various and contradictory 
 opinions were loudly urged. Some were for departing on the 
 instant to Palestrina, which belonged to the Colonna, and 
 possessed an almost inaccessible fortress. Others were for 
 dispersing, and entering peaceably and in detached parties 
 through the other gates. Stephen Colonna himself incensed 
 and disturbed from his usual self-command was unable to 
 preserve his authority; Luca di Savelli, l a timid, though 
 treacherous and subtle man, already turned his horse's head, 
 and summoned his men to follow him to his castle in Romagna, 
 when the old Colonna bethought himself of a method by which 
 to keep his band from a disunion that he had the sense to 
 perceive would prove fatal to the common cause. He proposed 
 that they should at once repair to Palestrina, and there fortify 
 themselves, while one of the chiefs should be selected to enter 
 Rome alone, and apparently submissive, to examine the strength 
 of Rienzi, and with the discretionary power to resist if possible, 
 or to make the best terms he could for the admission of the 
 rest. 
 
 " And who," asked Savelli, sneeringly, " will undertake this 
 dangerous mission? Who, unarmed and alone, will expose 
 himself to the rage of the fiercest populace of Italy, and the 
 caprice of a demagogue in the first flush of his power ? " 
 
 1 The more correct orthography were Luca di Savello, but the one in the 
 text is preserved, as more familiar to the English reader.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 147 
 
 The Barons and the Captains looked at each other in silence. 
 Savelli laughed. 
 
 Hitherto Adrian had taken no part in the conference, and 
 but little in the previous contest. He now came to the 
 support of his kinsman. 
 
 "Signers!" said he, "I will undertake this mission, but 
 on mine own account, independently of yours ; free to act as I 
 may think best for the dignity of a Eoman noble and the 
 interests of a Roman citizen; free to raise my standard on 
 mine own tower, or to yield fealty to the new estate." 
 
 " Well said ! " cried the old Colonna, hastily. " Heaven for- 
 bid we should enter Rome as foes, if to enter it as friends be 
 yet allowed us ! What say ye, gentles ? " 
 
 " A more worthy choice could not be selected," said Savelli ; 
 "but I should scarce deem it possible that a Colonna could 
 think there was an option between resistance and fealty to this 
 upstart revolution." 
 
 "Of that, Signor, I will judge for myself; if you demand 
 an agent for yourselves, choose another. I announce to ye 
 frankly, that I have seen enough of other states to think the 
 recent condition of Rome demanded some redress. Whether 
 Rienzi and Raimond be worthy of the task they have assumed, 
 I know not." 
 
 Savelli was silent. The old Colonna seized the word. 
 
 " To Palestrina, then ! Are ye all agreed on this ? At the 
 worst, or at the best, we should not be divided. On this 
 condition alone I hazard the safety of my kinsman ! " 
 
 The Barons murmured a little among themselves ; the expe- 
 diency of Stephen's proposition was evident, and they at length 
 assented to it. 
 
 Adrian saw them depart, and then, attended only by his 
 squire, slowly rode towards a more distant entrance into the 
 city. On arriving at the gates, his name was demanded ; he 
 gave it freely. 
 
 "Enter, my lord," said the warder; "our orders were to 
 admit all that came unarmed and unattended. But to the Lord 
 Adrian di Castello, alone, we had a special injunction to give 
 the honors due to a citizen and a friend."
 
 MS RIENZI: 
 
 Adrian, a little touched by this implied recollection of friend- 
 ship, now rode through a long line of armed citizens, who 
 saluted him respectfully as he passed, and as he returned the 
 salutation with courtesy, a loud and approving shout followed 
 his horse's steps. 
 
 So, save by one attendant alone, and in peace, the young 
 patrician proceeded leisurely through the long streets, empty 
 and deserted, for nearly one half of the inhabitants were 
 assembled at the walls, and nearly the other half were engaged 
 in a more peaceful duty, until, penetrating the interior, the 
 wide and elevated space of the Capitol broke upon his sight. 
 The sun was slowly setting over an immense multitude that 
 overspread the spot, and high above a scaffold raised in the 
 centre shone, to the western ray, the great Gonfalon of Rome, 
 studded with silver stars. 
 
 Adrian reined in his steed. " This," thought he, " is scarcely 
 the hour thus publicly to confer with Kienzi ; yet fain would 
 I, mingled with the crowd, judge how far his power is sup- 
 ported, and in what manner it is borne." Musing a little, he 
 withdrew into one of the obscurer streets, then wholly deserted, 
 surrendered his horse to his squire, and borrowing of the latter 
 his morion and long mantle, passed to one of the more private 
 entrances of the Capitol, and, enveloped in his cloak, stood 
 one of the crowd intent upon all that followed. 
 
 " And what," he asked of a plainly dressed citizen, " is the 
 cause of this assembly ? " 
 
 " Heard you not the proclamation ? " returned the other in 
 some surprise. "Do you not know that the Council of the 
 City and the Guilds of the Artisans have passed a vote to 
 proffer to Eienzi the title of king of Eome ? " 
 
 The Knight of the Emperor, to whom belonged that august 
 dignity, drew back in dismay. 
 
 " And," resumed the citizen, " this assembly of all the lesser 
 Barons, Councillors, and Artificers, is convened to hear the 
 answer." 
 
 " Of course it will be assent ? " 
 
 "I know not, there are strange rumors; hitherto the 
 Liberator has concealed his sentiments."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 149 
 
 At that instant a loud flourish of martial music announced 
 the approach of Eienzi. The crowd tumultuously divided, 
 and presently, from the Palace of the Capitol to the scaffold, 
 passed Eienzi, still in complete armor save the helmet, and 
 with him, in all the pomp of his episcopal robes, Eaimond of 
 Orvietto. 
 
 As soon as Eienzi had ascended the platform, and was thus 
 made visible to the whole concourse, no words can suffice to 
 paint the enthusiasm of the scene, the shouts, the gestures, 
 the tears, the sobs, the wild laughter, in which the sympathy 
 of those lively and susceptible children of the South broke 
 forth. The windows and balconies of the Palace were thronged 
 with the wives and daughters of the lesser Barons and more 
 opulent citizens ; and Adrian, with a slight start, beheld amongst 
 them, pale, agitated, tearful, the lovely face of his Irene, a 
 face that even thus would have outshone all present, but for 
 one by her side, whose beauty the emotion of the hour only 
 served to embellish. The dark, large, and flashing eyes of Nina 
 di Easelli, just bedewed, were fixed proudly on the hero of her 
 choice ; and pride, even more than joy, gave a richer carnation 
 to her cheek, and the presence of a queen to her noble and 
 rounded form. The setting sun poured its full glory over the 
 spot, the bared heads, the animated faces of the crowd, the 
 gray and vast mass of the Capitol ; and not far from the side 
 of Eienzi, it brought into a strange and startling light the 
 sculptured form of a colossal Lion of Basalt, 1 which gave its 
 name to a staircase leading to the Capitol. It was an old 
 Egyptian relic, vast, worn, and grim ; some symbol of a 
 vanished creed, to whose face the sculptor had imparted some- 
 thing of the aspect of the human countenance. And this pro- 
 ducing the effect probably sought, gave at all times a mystic, 
 preternatural, and fearful expression to the stern features, and 
 
 1 The existent Capitol is very different from the building at the time of 
 Rienzi ; and the reader must not suppose that the present staircase, designed 
 by Michael Angelo, at the base of which are two marble lions, removed by 
 Pins IV. from the Church of St. Stephen del Cacco, was the staircase of the 
 Lion of Basalt, which bears so stern a connection with the history of RienzL 
 That mute witness of dark deeds is no more.
 
 150 RIENZI : 
 
 to that solemn and hushed repose which is so peculiarly the 
 secret of Egyptian sculpture. The awe which this colossal 
 and frowning image was calculated to convey was felt yet 
 more deeply by the vulgar, because " the Staircase of the Lion " 
 was the wonted place of the state executions, as of the state 
 ceremonies. And seldom did the stoutest citizen forget to 
 cross himself, or feel unchilled with a certain terror, whenever, 
 passing by the place, he caught, suddenly fixed upon him, the 
 stony gaze and ominous grin of that old monster from the 
 cities of the Nile. 
 
 It was some minutes before the feelings of the assembly 
 allowed Rienzi to be heard. But when, at length, the last 
 shout closed with a simultaneous cry of "Long live Rienzi, 
 Deliverer and King of Rome ! " he raised his hand impatiently, 
 and the curiosity of the crowd procured a sudden silence. 
 
 " Deliverer of Rome, my countrymen ! " said he. " Yes, 
 change not that title ; I am too ambitious to be a King ! Pre- 
 serve your obedience to your Pontiff, your allegiance to your 
 Emperor, but be faithful to your own liberties. Ye have a 
 right to your ancient constitution ; but that constitution needed 
 not a king. Emulous of the name of Brutus, I am above the 
 titles of a Tarquin. Romans, awake ! awake ! be inspired 
 with a nobler love of liberty than that which, if it dethrones 
 the tyrant of to-day, would madly risk the danger of tyranny 
 for to-morrow ! Rome wants still a liberator, never a usurper. 
 Take away yon bauble ! " 
 
 There was a pause; the crowd were deeply affected but 
 they uttered no shouts ; they looked anxiously for a reply 
 from their councillors, or popular leaders. 
 
 "Signer," said Pandulfo di Guido, who was one of the 
 Caporioni, " your answer is worthy of your fame ; but in order 
 to enforce the law, Rome must endow you with a legal title : if 
 not that of King, deign to accept that of Dictator or of 
 Consul." 
 
 " Long live the Consul Rienzi ! " cried several voices. 
 
 Rienzi waved his hand for silence. 
 
 " Pandulfo di Guido, and you, honored Councillors of Rome, 
 such title is at once too august for my merits, and too inappli-
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 151 
 
 cable to my functions ! I am one of the people : the people 
 are my charge; the nobles can protect themselves. Dictator 
 and Consul are the appellations of patricians. No," he con- 
 tinued, after a short pause, " if you deem it necessary, for the 
 preservation of order, that your fellow-citizen should be in- 
 trusted with a formal title and a recognized power, be it so ; 
 but let it be such as may attest the nature of our new institu- 
 tions, the wisdom of the people, and the moderation of their 
 leaders. Once, my countrymen, the people elected, for the 
 protectors of their rights and the guardians of their freedom, 
 certain officers responsible to the people, chosen from the 
 people, provident for the people. Their power was great, but 
 it was delegated : a dignity, but a trust. The name of these 
 officers was that of Tribune. Such is the title that conceded, 
 not by clamor alone, but in the full Parliament of the people, 
 and accompanied by such Parliament, ruling with such Parlia- 
 ment, such is the title I will gratefully accept." 1 
 
 The speech, the sentiments of Kienzi were rendered far\ 
 more impressive by a manner of earnest and deep sincerity; 
 and some of the Romans, despite their corruption, felt a 
 momentary exultation in the forbearance of their chief. 
 " Long live the Tribune of Rome ! " was shouted ; but less 
 loud than the cry of " Live the King ! " And the vulgar 
 almost thought the revolution was incomplete, because the 
 loftier title was not assumed. To a degenerate and embruted 
 people, liberty seems too plain a thing if unadorned by the 
 pomp of the very despotism they would dethrone. Revenge 
 is their desire, rather than Release ; and the greater the new 
 power they create, the greater seems their revenge against the 
 old. Still, all that was most respected, intelligent, and power- 
 ful amongst the assembly were delighted at a temperance 
 which they foresaw would free Rome from a thousand dangers, 
 
 1 Gibbon and Sismondi alike (neither of whom appears to have consulted 
 with much attention the original documents preserved by Hocsemius) say 
 nothing of the Representative Parliament, which it was almost Rienzi's first 
 public act to institute or model. Six days from the memorable 19th of May 
 he addressed the people of Viterbo in a letter yet extant. He summons them 
 to elect and send two syndics, or ambassadors, to the general Parliament
 
 152 RIENZI : 
 
 whether from the Emperor or the Pontiff. And their delight 
 was yet increased when Kienzi added, so soon as returning 
 silence permitted : " And since we have been equal laborers in 
 the same cause, whatever honors be awarded to me should be 
 extended also to the Vicar of the Pope, Kaimond, Lord Bishop 
 of Orvietto. Remember that both Church and State are prop- 
 erly the rulers of the people only because their benefactors. 
 Long live the first Vicar of a Pope that was ever also the 
 Liberator of a State ! " 
 
 Whether or not Rienzi was only actuated by patriotism in 
 his moderation, certain it is that his sagacity was at least 
 equal to his virtue ; and perhaps nothing could have cemented 
 the revolution more strongly than thus obtaining for a colleague 
 the Vicar and Representative of the Pontifical power : it bor- 
 rowed, for the time, the sanction of the Pope himself, thus 
 made to share the responsibility of the revolution, without 
 monopolizing the power of the State. 
 
 While the crowd hailed the proposition of Rienzi, while 
 their shouts yet filled the air, while Raimond, somewhat taken 
 by surprise, sought by signs and gestures to convey at once his 
 gratitude and his humility, the Tribune-Elect, casting his eyes 
 around, perceived many hitherto attracted by curiosity, and 
 whom, from their rank and weight, it was desirable to secure 
 in the first heat of the public enthusiasm. Accordingly, as 
 soon as Raimond had uttered a short and pompous harangue, 
 in which his eager acceptance of the honor proposed him was 
 ludicrously contrasted by his embarrassed desire not to involve 
 himself or the Pope in any untoward consequences that might 
 ensue, Rienzi motioned to two heralds that stood behind 
 upon the platform ; and one of these, advancing, proclaimed 
 " That as it was desirable that all hitherto neuter should now 
 profess themselves friends or foes, so they were invited to take 
 at once the oath of obedience to the laws, and subscription to 
 the Buono Stato." 
 
 So great was the popular fervor, and so much had it been 
 refined and deepened in its tone by the addresses of Rienzi, 
 that even the most indifferent had caught the contagion, and 
 no man liked to be seen shrinking from the rest ; so that the
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 153 
 
 most neutral, knowing themselves the most marked, were the 
 most entrapped into allegiance to the Buono Stato. The first 
 who advanced to the platform and took the oath was the Signor 
 di Easelli, the father of Nina. Others of the lesser nobility 
 followed his example. 
 
 The presence of the Pope's Vicar induced the aristocratic ; 
 the fear of the people urged the selfish ; the encouragement of 
 shouts and gratulations excited the vain. The space between 
 Adrian and Eienzi was made clear. The young noble suddenly 
 felt the eyes of the Tribune were upon him, he felt that those 
 eyes recognized and called upon him ; he colored ; he breathed 
 short. The noble forbearance of Rienzi had touched him to 
 the heart ; the applause, the pageant, the enthusiasm of the 
 scene intoxicated, confused him. He lifted his eyes, and saw 
 before him the sister of the Tribune, the lady of his love ! 
 His indecision, his pause, continued, when Eaimond, observ- 
 ing him, and obedient to a whisper from Eienzi, artfully 
 cried aloud: "Eoorn for the Lord Adrian di Castello! A 
 Colonna ! a Colonna ! " Eetreat was cut off. Mechanically, 
 and as if in a dream, Adrian ascended to the platform ; and to 
 complete the triumph of the Tribune, the sun's last ray beheld 
 the flower of the Colonna the best and bravest of the Barons 
 of Eome confessing his authority and subscribing to his 
 laws !
 
 BOOK HI. 
 
 THE FREEDOM WITHOUT LAW. 
 
 BBW f uro avventurosi i cavalieri 
 Ch' erano a quella eta, che nei valloni, 
 Nelle scure spelonche e boschi fieri, 
 Tane di serpi, d' orsi e di leoni, 
 Trovavan quel che nei palazzi altieri 
 Appena or trovar pon giudici buoni ; 
 Donne che nella lor piu fresca etade 
 Sien degne di aver titol di beltade. 
 
 ABIOSTO, Orl. Fur., can. xiii. 1. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE RETURN OF WALTER DE MONTREAL TO HIS FORTRESS. 
 
 WHEN Walter de Montreal and his mercenaries quitted 
 Corneto, they made the best of their way to Some ; arriving 
 there long before the Barons, they met with a similar reception 
 at the gates ; but Montreal prudently forbore all attack and 
 menace, and contented himself with sending his trusty Kodolf 
 into the city to seek Eienzi and to crave permission to enter 
 with his troop. Rodolf returned in a shorter time than was 
 anticipated. "Well," said Montreal, impatiently, "you have 
 the order, I suppose. Shall we bid them open the gates ? " 
 
 "Bid them open our graves," replied the Saxon, bluntly. 
 " I trust my next heraldry will be to a more friendly court." 
 
 " How ! what mean you ? " 
 
 " Briefly this : I found the new governor, or whatever his 
 title, in the palace of the Capitol, surrounded by guards and
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 155 
 
 councillors, and in a suit of the finest armor I ever saw out of 
 Milan." 
 
 " Pest on his armor ! give us his answer." 
 
 " ' Tell Walter de Montreal,' said he, then, if you will have 
 it, ' that Rome is no longer a den of thieves ; tell him that if 
 he enters he must abide a trial ' ' 
 
 " A trial ! " cried Montreal, grinding his teeth. 
 
 " ' For participation in the evil doings of Werner and his 
 freebooters.' " 
 
 Ha!" 
 
 " ' Tell him, moreover, that Rome declares war against all 
 robbers, whether in tent or tower, and that we order him in 
 forty-eight hours to quit the territories of the Church.' " 
 
 " He thinks, then, not only to deceive, but to menace me ? 
 Well, proceed." 
 
 " That was all his reply to you ; to me, however, he vouch- 
 safed a caution still more obliging. ' Hark ye, friend,' said he, 
 ' for every German bandit found in Rome after to-morrow our 
 welcome will be cord and gibbet ! Begone ! ' " 
 
 " Enough, enough ! " cried Montreal, coloring with rage and 
 shame. " Rodolf, you have a skilful eye in these matters : how 
 many Northmen would it take to give that same gibbet to the 
 upstart ? " 
 
 Rodolf scratched his huge head, and seemed a while lost in 
 calculation ; at length he said, " You, Captain, must be the best 
 judge when I tell you that twenty thousand Romans are the 
 least of his force, so I heard by the way ; and this evening 
 he is to accept the crown and depose the Emperor." 
 
 " Ha, ha ! " laughed Montreal ; " is he so mad ? Then he 
 will want not our aid to hang himself. My friends, let us wait 
 the result. At present neither barons nor people seem likely 
 to fill our coffers. Let us across the country to Terracina. 
 Thank the saints," and Montreal (who was not without a strange 
 kind of devotion, indeed he deemed that virtue essential to 
 chivalry) crossed himself piously, " the free companions are 
 never long without quarters ! " 
 
 " Hurrah for the Knight of St. John ! " cried the mercenaries. 
 
 " And hurrah for fair Provence and bold Germany ! " added
 
 156 RIENZI : 
 
 the Knight, as he waved his hand on high, struck spurs into 
 his already wearied horse, and, breaking out into his favorite 
 
 MHi 
 
 "His barb, and his sword, 
 
 And his lady the peerless," etc., 
 
 Montreal, with his troop, struck gallantly across the Campagna. 
 The Knight of St. John soon, however, fell into an absorbed 
 and moody revery, and his followers imitating the silence of 
 their chief, in a few minutes the clatter of their arms and the 
 jingle of their spurs alone disturbed the stillness of the wide 
 and gloomy plains across which they made towards Terracina. 
 Montreal was recalling with bitter resentment his conference 
 with Rienzi ; and, proud of his own sagacity and talent for 
 scheming, he was humbled and vexed at the discovery that he 
 had been duped by a wilier intriguer. His ambitious designs 
 on Rome, too, were crossed, and even crushed for the moment 
 by the very means to which he had looked for their execution. 
 He had seen enough of the Barons to feel assured that while 
 Stephen Colonna lived, the head of the order, he was not likely 
 to obtain that mastery in the state which, if leagued with a more 
 ambitious or a less timid and less potent signor, might reward 
 his aid in expelling Rienzi. Under all circumstances he deemed 
 it advisable to remain aloof. Should Rienzi grow strong, Mon- 
 treal might make the advantageous terms he desired with the 
 Barons; should Rienzi's power decay, his pride, necessarily 
 humbled, might drive him to seek the assistance and submit to 
 the proposals of Montreal. The ambition of the Provencal, 
 though vast and daring, was not of a consistent and persevering 
 nature. Action and enterprise were dearer to him, as yet, than 
 the rewards which they proffered ; and if baffled in one quarter, 
 he turned himself, with the true spirit of the knight-errant, to 
 any other field for his achievements. Louis, king of Hungary, 
 stern, warlike, implacable, seeking vengeance for the murder of 
 his brother, the ill-fated husband of Johanna (the beautiful and 
 guilty Queen of Naples, the Mary Stuart of Italy), had al- 
 ready prepared himself to subject the garden of Campania to 
 the Hungarian yoke. Already his bastard brother had entered 
 Italy ; already some of the Neapolitan states had declared in
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 157 
 
 his favor ; already promises had been held out by the Northern 
 monarch to the scattered Companies ; and already those fierce 
 mercenaries gathered menacingly round the frontiers of that 
 Eden of Italy, attracted, as vultures to the carcass, by the pre- 
 paration of war and the hope of plunder. Such was the field 
 to which the bold mind of Montreal now turned its thoughts ; 
 and his soldiers had joyfully conjectured his design when they 
 had heard him fix Terracina as their bourne. Provident of 
 every resource, and refining his audacious and unprincipled 
 valor by a sagacity which promised, when years had more 
 matured and sobered his restless chivalry, to rank him among 
 the most dangerous enemies Italy had ever known, on the first 
 sign of Louis's warlike intentions Montreal had seized and 
 fortified a strong castle on that delicious coast beyond Terracina 
 by which lies the celebrated pass once held by Fabius against 
 Hannibal, and which Nature has so favored, for war as for 
 peace, that a handful of armed men might stop the march of 
 an army. The possession of such a fortress on the very fron- 
 tiers of Naples gave Montreal an importance of which he 
 trusted to avail himself with the Hungarian king ; and now, 
 thwarted in his more grand and aspiring projects upon Rome, 
 his sanguine, active, and elastic spirit congratulated itself upon 
 the resource it had secured. 
 
 The band halted at nightfall on this side the Pontine Marshes, 
 seizing without scruple some huts and sheds, from which they 
 ejected the miserable tenants, and slaughtering with no greater 
 ceremony the swine, cattle, and poultry of a neighboring farm. 
 Shortly after sunrise they crossed those fatal swamps, which 
 had already been partially drained by Boniface VIII. ; and 
 Montreal, refreshed by sleep, reconciled to his late mortification 
 by the advantages opened to him in the approaching war with 
 Naples, and rejoicing as he approached a home which held one 
 who alone divided his heart with ambition, resumed all the 
 gayety which belonged to his Gallic birth and his reckless 
 habits. And that deadly but consecrated road, where yet may 
 be seen the labors of Augustus in the canal which had 
 witnessed the Voyage so humorously described by Horace, 
 echoed with the loud laughter and frequent snatches of wild
 
 158 RIENZI : 
 
 song by which the barbarian robbers enlivened their rapid 
 march. 
 
 It was noon when the company entered upon that romantic 
 pass I have before referred to, the ancient Lantulae. High to 
 the left rose steep and lofty rocks, then covered by the prodigal 
 verdure and the countless flowers of the closing May ; while to 
 the right the sea, gentle as a lake and blue as heaven, rippled 
 musically at their feet. Montreal, who largely possessed the 
 poetry of his land, which is so eminently allied with a love of 
 Nature, might at another time have enjoyed the beauty of the 
 scene ; but at that moment less external and more household 
 images were busy within him. 
 
 Abruptly ascending where a winding path up the mountain 
 offered a rough and painful road to their horses' feet, the band 
 at length arrived before a strong fortress of gray stone, whose 
 towers were concealed by the lofty foliage until they emerged 
 sullenly and suddenly from the laughing verdure. The sound 
 of the bugle, the pennon of the Knight, the rapid watchword, 
 produced a loud shout of welcome from a score or two of grim 
 soldiery on the walls ; the portcullis was raised, and Montreal, 
 throwing himself hastily from his panting steed, sprang across 
 the threshold of a jutting porch and traversed a huge hall, when 
 a lady young, fair, and richly dressed met him with a 
 step equally swift, and fell breathless and overjoyed into his 
 arms. 
 
 "My Walter, my dear, dear Walter! Welcome ten thou- 
 sand welcomes ! " 
 
 " Adeline, my beautiful, my adored, I see thee again ! " 
 
 Such were the greetings interchanged as Montreal pressed 
 his lady to his heart, kissing away her tears and lifting her face 
 to his, while he gazed on its delicate bloom with all the wistful 
 anxiety of affection after absence. 
 
 " Fairest," said he, tenderly, " thou hast pined, thou hast lost 
 roundness and color since we parted ! Come, come ; thou art 
 too gentle or too foolish for a soldier's love ! " 
 
 " Ah, Walter ! " replied Adeline, clinging to him, " now thou 
 art returned, and I shall be well. Thou wilt not leave me 
 again a long, long time ? "
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 159 
 
 " Sweet one, no ; " and flinging his arm round her waist, the 
 lovers for, alas ! they were not wedded retired to the more 
 private chambers of the castle. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE LIFE OF LOVE AND WAR THE MESSENGER OF PEACE 
 
 THE JOUST. 
 
 GIRT with his soldiery, secure in his feudal hold, enchanted 
 with the beauty of the earth, sky, and sea around, and passion- 
 ately adoring his Adeline, Montreal for a while forgot all his 
 more stirring projects and his ruder occupations. His nature 
 was capable of great tenderness, as of great ferocity ; and his 
 heart smote him when he looked at the fair cheek of his lady 
 and saw that even his presence did not suffice to bring back the 
 smile and the fresh hues of old. Often he cursed that fatal 
 oath of his knightly order which forbade him to wed, though 
 with one more than his equal, and remorse embittered his 
 happiest hours. That gentle lady in that robber hold, severed 
 from all she had been taught most to prize, mother, friends, 
 and fair fame, only loved her seducer the more intensely ; 
 only the more concentrated upon one object all the womanly 
 and tender feelings denied every other and less sinful vent. 
 But she felt her shame, though she sought to conceal it, and a 
 yet more gnawing grief than even that of shame contributed to 
 prey upon her spirits and undermine her health. Yet, withal, 
 in Montreal's presence she was happy, even in regret ; and in 
 her declining health she had at least a consolation in the hope 
 to die while his love was undiminished. Sometimes they made 
 short excursions, for the disturbed state of the country forbade 
 them to wander far from the castle, through the sunny woods 
 and along the glassy sea, which make the charm of that deli- 
 cious scenery ; and that mixture of the savage with the tender, 
 the wild escort, the tent in some green glade in the woods at 
 noon, the lute and voice of Adeline, with the fierce soldiers 
 grouped and listening in the distance, might have well suited
 
 160 RIENZl : 
 
 the verse of Ariosto, and harmonized singularly with that 
 strange, disordered, yet chivalric time, in which the Classic 
 South became the seat of the Northern Romance. Still, how- 
 ever, Montreal maintained his secret intercourse with the 
 Hungarian king, and, plunged in new projects, willingly for- 
 sook for the present all his designs on Rome. Yet deemed he 
 that his more august ambition was only delayed, and bright in 
 the more distant prospects of his adventurous career, rose the 
 Capitol of Rome and shone the sceptre of the Caesars. 
 
 One day, as Montreal, with a small troop in attendance, 
 passed on horseback near the walls of Terracina, the gates 
 were suddenly thrown open, and a numerous throng issued 
 forth, preceded by a singular figure, whose steps they followed 
 bareheaded and with loud blessings ; a train of monks closed 
 the procession, chanting a hymn, of which the concluding 
 words were as follows: 
 
 Beauteous on the mountains, lo, 
 
 The feet of him glad tidings gladly bringing ; 
 The flowers along his pathway grow, 
 
 And voices, heard aloft, to angel harps are singing ; 
 And strife and slaughter cease 
 Before thy blessed way, Young Messenger of Peace ! 
 
 O'er the mount and through the moor 
 
 Glide thy holy steps secure ; 
 
 Day and night no fear thou knowest, 
 
 Lonely but with God thou goest. 
 
 Where the heathen rage the fiercest, 
 
 Through the armed throng thou piercest ; 
 
 For thy coat of mail, bedight 
 
 In thy spotless robe of white ; 
 
 For the sinful sword, thy hand 
 
 Bearing bright the silver wand. 
 
 Through the camp and through the court, 
 
 Through the bandit's gloomy fort, 
 
 On the mission of the dove. 
 
 Speeds the minister of love. 
 
 By a word the wildest taming, 
 
 And the world to Christ reclaiming; 
 
 While, as once the waters trod 
 
 By the footsteps of thy God, 
 
 War and wrath and rapine cease, 
 Hush'd round thy charmed path, O Messenger of Peace !
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 161 
 
 The stranger to whom these honors were paid was a young, 
 unbearded man, clothed in white wrought with silver : he was 
 unarmed and barefooted; in his hand he held a tall silver 
 wand. Montreal and his party halted in astonishment and 
 wonder, and the Knight, spurring his horse towards the crowd, 
 confronted the stranger. 
 
 " How, friend," quoth the Prove^al, " is thine a new order 
 of pilgrims, or what especial holiness has won thee this 
 homage ? " 
 
 " Back, back ! " cried some of the bolder of the crowd ; " let 
 not the robber dare arrest the Messenger of Peace." 
 
 Montreal waved his hand disdainfully. 
 
 " I speak not to you, good sirs, and the worthy friars in your 
 rear know full well that I never injured herald or palmer." 
 
 The monks, ceasing from their hymn, advanced hastily to the 
 spot ; and indeed the devotion of Montreal had ever induced 
 him to purchase the good-will of whatever monastery neigh- 
 bored his wandering home. 
 
 " My son," said the eldest of the brethren, " this is a strange 
 spectacle, and a sacred; and when thou learnest all, thou 
 wilt rather give the messenger a passport of safety from the 
 unthinking courage of thy friends than intercept his path of 
 peace." 
 
 " Ye puzzle still more my simple brain," said Montreal, im- 
 patiently ; " let the youth speak for himself. I perceive that 
 on his mantle are the arms of Home blended with other quar- 
 terings, which are a mystery to me, though sufficiently versed 
 in heraldic art, as befits a noble and a knight." 
 
 " Signor," said the youth, gravely, " know in me the messen- 
 ger of Cola di Kienzi, Tribune of Eome, charged with letters 
 to many a baron and prince in the ways between Rome and 
 Naples. The arms wrought upon my mantle are those of the 
 Pontiff, the City, and the Tribune." 
 
 " Umph ! thou must have bold nerves to traverse the Cam- 
 pagna with no other weapon than that stick of silver!" 
 
 " Thou art mistaken, Sir Knight," replied the youth, boldly, 
 "and judgest of the present by the past. Know that not a 
 single robber now lurks within the Campagna ; the arms of the 
 
 VOL. I. 11
 
 162 RIENZI : 
 
 Tribune have rendered every road around the city as secure as 
 the broadest street of the city itself.''' 
 
 " Thou tellest me wonders." 
 
 " Through the forest and in the fortress, through the wildest 
 solitudes, through the most populous towns, have my comrades 
 borne this silver wand unmolested and unscathed. Wherever 
 we pass along, thousands hail us, and tears of joy bless the 
 messengers of him who hath expelled the brigand from his 
 hold, the tyrant from his castle, and insured the gains of the 
 merchant and the hut of the peasant." 
 
 " Par Dieu / " said Montreal, with a stern smile, " I ought to 
 be thankful for the preference shown to me. I have not yet 
 received the commands, nor felt the vengeance, of the Tribune ; 
 yet, methinks, my humble castle lies just within the patrimony 
 of Saint Peter." 
 
 "Pardon me, Signer Cavalier," said the youth; "but do I 
 address the renowned Knight of St. John, warrior of the Cross, 
 yet leader of banditti ? " 
 
 " Boy, you are bold ; I am Walter de Montreal." 
 
 "I am bound, then, Sir Knight, to your castle." 
 
 " Take care how thou reach it before me, or thou standest a 
 fair chance of a quick exit. How now, my friends ? " seeing 
 that the crowd at these words gathered closer round the 
 messenger. "Think ye that I, who have my mate in kings, 
 would find a victim in an unarmed boy ? Fie ! give way, give 
 way. Young man, follow me homeward ; you are safe in my 
 castle as in your mother's arms." So saying, Montreal, with 
 great dignity and deliberate gravity, rode slowly towards his 
 castle, his soldiers, wondering, at a little distance, and the 
 white-robed messenger following with the crowd, who refused 
 to depart; so great was their enthusiasm that they even 
 ascended to the gates of the dreaded castle, and insisted on 
 waiting without until the return of the youth assured them 
 of his safety. 
 
 Montreal, who, however lawless elsewhere, strictly preserved 
 the rights of the meanest boor in his immediate neighborhood, 
 and rather affected popularity with the poor, bade the crowd 
 enter the courtyard, ordered his servitors to provide them with
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 163 
 
 wine and refreshment, regaled the good monks in his great 
 hall, and then led the way to a small room, where he received 
 the messenger. 
 
 " This," said the youth, " will best explain my mission," as 
 he placed a letter before Montreal. 
 
 The Knight cut the silk with his dagger, and read the epistle 
 with great composure. 
 
 "Your Tribune," said he, when he had finished it, "has 
 learned the laconic style of power very soon. He orders me 
 to render this castle and vacate the Papal territory within ten 
 days. He is obliging ; I must have breathing time to consider 
 the proposal. Be seated, I pray you, young sir. Forgive me, 
 but I should have imagined that your lord had enough upon 
 his hands with his Roman barons, to make him a little more 
 indulgent to us foreign visitors. Stephen Colonna " 
 
 " Is returned to Rome, and has taken the oath of allegiance ; 
 the Savelli, the Orsini, the Frangipani, have all subscribed 
 their submission to the Buono Stato." 
 
 " How ! " cried Montreal, in great surprise. 
 
 " Not only have they returned, but they have submitted to 
 the dispersion of all their mercenaries and the dismantling of 
 all their fortifications. The iron of the Orsini palace now 
 barricades the Capitol, and the stonework of the Colonna and 
 the Savelli has added new battlements to the gates of the 
 Lateran and St. Laurence." 
 
 "Wonderful man!" said Montreal, with reluctant admira- 
 tion. " By what means was this effected ? " 
 
 " A stern command and a strong force to back it. At the 
 first sound of the great bell, twenty thousand Romans rise in 
 arms. What to such an army are the brigands of an Orsini 
 or a Colonna ? Sir Knight, your valor and renown make even 
 Rome admire you ; and I, a Roman, bid you beware." 
 
 " Well, I thank thee ; thy news, friend, robs me of breath. 
 So the Barons submit, then ? " 
 
 " Yes. On the first day, one of the Colonna, the Lord 
 Adrian, took the oath ; within a week, Stephen, assured of 
 safe conduct, left Palestrina, the Savelli in his train ; the Orsini 
 followed. Even Martino di Porto has silently succumbed."
 
 It 1 . 1 RIENZI: 
 
 " The Tribune. But is that his dignity ? Methought he 
 was to be king " 
 
 " He was offered, and he refused the title. His present rank, 
 which arrogates no patrician honors, went far to conciliate the 
 nobles." 
 
 " A wise knave ! I beg pardon, a sagacious prince I Well, 
 then, the Tribune lords it mightily, I suppose, over the great 
 Roman names ? " 
 
 "Pardon me; he enforces impartial justice from peasant 
 or patrician; but he preserves to the nobles all their just 
 privileges and legal rank." 
 
 "Ha! and the vain puppets, so they keep the semblance, 
 scarce miss the substance, I understand. But this shows 
 genius. The Tribune is unwed, I think. Does he look among 
 the Colonna for a wife ? " 
 
 " Sir Knight, the Tribune is already married ; within three 
 days after his ascension to power he won and bore home the 
 daughter of the Baron di Raselli." 
 
 " Kaselli ! no great name ; he might have done better." 
 
 "But it is said," resumed the youth, smiling, "that the 
 Tribune will shortly be allied to the Colonna, through his fair 
 sister the Signora Irene. The Baron di Castello woos her." 
 
 " What, Adrian Colonna ! Enough ; you have convinced me 
 that a man who contents the people and awes or conciliates 
 the nobles is born for empire. My answer to this letter I will 
 send myself. For your news, Sir Messenger, accept this 
 jewel," and the Knight took from his finger a gem of some 
 price. " Nay, shrink not ; it was as freely given to me as it 
 is now to thee." 
 
 The youth, who had been agreeably surprised and impressed 
 by the manner of the renowned freebooter, and who was 
 not a little astonished himself with the ease and familiar- 
 ity with which he had been relating to Fra Moreale, in his 
 own fortress, the news of Rome, bowed low as he accepted 
 the gift. 
 
 The astute Provenqal, who saw the ev'ient impression he 
 had made, perceived also that it might be of advantage in 
 delaying the measures he might deem it expedient to adopt.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 165 
 
 "Assure the Tribune," said he, on dismissing the messenger, 
 " shouldst thou return ere my letter arrive, that I admire 
 his genius, hail his power, and will not fail to consider as 
 favorably as I may of his demand." 
 
 "Better," said the messenger, warmly (he was of good 
 blood and gentle bearing), " better ten tyrants for our enemy 
 than one Montreal." 
 
 " An enemy ! Believe me, sir, I seek no enmity with princes 
 who know how to govern, or a people that has the wisdom at 
 once to rule and to obey." 
 
 The whole of that day, however, Montreal remained thought- 
 ful and uneasy ; he despatched trusty messengers to the Gov- 
 ernor of Aquila (who was then in correspondence with Louis 
 of Hungary), to Naples, and to Rome, the last charged with 
 a letter to the Tribune, which, without absolutely compromis- 
 ing himself, affected submission, and demanded only a longer 
 leisure for the preparations of departure. But at the same 
 time fresh fortifications were added to the castle, ample pro- 
 visions were laid in, and, night and day, spies and scouts were 
 stationed along the pass and in the town of Terracina. Mon- 
 treal was precisely the chief who prepared most for war when 
 most he pretended peace. 
 
 One morning, the fifth from the appearance of the Roman 
 messenger, Montreal, after narrowly surveying his outworks 
 and his stores, and feeling satisfied that he could hold out at 
 least a month's siege, repaired, with a gayer countenance than 
 he had lately worn, to the chamber of Adeline. 
 
 The lady was seated by the casement of the tower, from 
 which might be seen the glorious landscape of woods and 
 vales and orange groves, a strange garden for such a palace ! 
 As she leant her face upon her hand, with her profile slightly 
 turned to Montreal, there was something ineffably graceful in 
 the bend of her neck, the small head so expressive of gentle 
 blood, with the locks parted in front in that simple fashion 
 which modern times have so happily revived. But the expres- 
 sion of the half-averted face, the abstracted intentness of the 
 gaze, and the profound stillness of the attitude, were so sad 
 and mournful that Montreal's purposed greeting of gallantry
 
 RIENZI: 
 
 and gladness died upon his lips. He approached in silence, 
 and laid his hand upon her shoulder. 
 
 Adeline turned, and taking the hand in hers, pressed it to 
 her heart and smiled away all her sadness. 
 
 " Dearest," said Montreal, " couldst thou know how much 
 any shadow of grief on thy bright face darkens my heart, thou 
 wouldst never grieve. But no wonder that in these rude 
 walls no female of equal rank near thee, and such mirth as 
 Montreal can summon to his halls, grating to thy ear no 
 wonder that thou repentest thee of thy choice." 
 
 " Ah ! no, no, Walter, I never repent. I did but think of our 
 child as you entered. Alas ! he was our only child. How 
 fair he was, Walter; how he resembled thee!" 
 
 "Nay, he had thine eyes and brow," replied the Knight, 
 with a faltering voice, and turning away his head. 
 
 " Walter," resumed the lady, sighing, " do you remember ? 
 This is his birthday; he is ten years old to-day. We have 
 loved each other eleven years, and thou hast not tired yet of 
 thy poor Adeline." 
 
 " As well might the saints weary of Paradise," replied Mon- 
 treal, with an enamoured tenderness which changed into 
 softness the whole character of his heroic countenance. 
 
 " Could I think so, I should indeed be blest ! " answered 
 Adeline. " But a little while longer, and the few charms I yet 
 possess must fade ; and what other claim have I on thee ? " 
 
 " All claim, the memory of thy first blushes, thy first 
 kiss, of thy devoted sacrifices, of thy patient wanderings, of 
 thy uncomplaining love ! Ah, Adeline, we are of Provence, 
 not of Italy ; and when did Knight of Provence avoid his foe 
 or forsake his love ? But enough, dearest, of home and melan- 
 choly for to-day. I come to bid thee forth. I have sent on 
 the servitors to pitch our tent beside the sea; we will enjoy 
 the orange-blossoms while we may. Ere another week pass 
 over us, we may have sterner pastime and closer confines." 
 
 " How, dearest Walter ! Thou dost not apprehend danger ? " 
 
 "Thou speakest, lady-bird," said Montreal, laughing, "as if 
 danger were novelty ; methinks by this time thou shouldst 
 know it as the atmosphere we breathe."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 167 
 
 " Ah, Walter, is this to last forever ? Thou art now rich and 
 renowned ; canst thou not abandon this career of strife ? " 
 
 " Now out on thee, Adeline ! What are riches and renown 
 but the means to power ? And for strife, the shield of war- 
 riors was iny cradle : pray the saints it be my bier ! These 
 wild and wizard extremes of life, from the bower to the 
 tent, from the cavern to the palace ; to-day a wandering exile, 
 to-morrow the equal of kings, make the true element of the 
 chivalry of my Norman sires. Normandy taught me war, 
 and sweet Provence love. Kiss me, dear Adeline ; and now 
 let thy handmaids attire thee. Forget not thy lute, sweet 
 one. We will rouse the echoes with the songs of Provence." 
 
 The ductile temper of Adeline yielded easily to the gayety 
 of her lord, and the party soon sallied from the castle towards 
 the spot in which Montreal had designed their resting-place 
 during the heats of day. But already prepared for all sur- 
 prise, the castle was left strictly guarded, and besides the 
 domestic servitors of the castle, a detachment of ten soldiers, 
 completely armed, accompanied the lovers. Montreal him- 
 self wore his corselet, and his squires followed with his hel- 
 met and lance. Beyond the narrow defile at the base of the 
 castle the road at that day opened into a broad patch of ver- 
 dure, circled on all sides, save that open to the sea, by wood, 
 interspersed with myrtle and orange, and a wilderness of odor- 
 ous shrubs. In this space, and sheltered by the broad-spread- 
 ing and classic fagus (so improperly translated into the Eng- 
 lish beech}, a gay pavilion was prepared, which commanded 
 the view of the sparkling sea, shaded from the sun, but 
 open to the gentle breeze. This was poor Adeline's favorite 
 recreation, if recreation it might be called. She rejoiced to 
 escape from the gloomy walls of her castellated prison, and 
 to enjoy the sunshine and the sweets of that voluptuous 
 climate without the fatigue which of late all exercise occa- 
 sioned her. It was a gallantry on the part of Montreal, who 
 foresaw how short an interval might elapse before the troops 
 of Eienzi besieged his walls, and who was himself no less at 
 home in the bower than in the field. 
 
 As they reclined within the pavilion, the lover and his lady,
 
 168 RIENZI : 
 
 of the attendants without, some lounged idly on the beach, 
 some prepared the awning of a pleasure-boat against the de- 
 cline of the sun, some, in a ruder tent, out of sight in the 
 wood, arranged the mid-day repast ; while the strings of the 
 lute, touched by Montreal himself with a careless skill, gave 
 their music to the dreamy stillness of the noon. 
 
 While thus employed, one of Montreal's scouts arrived 
 breathless and heated at the tent. 
 
 " Captain," said he, " a company of thirty lances completely 
 armed, with a long retinue of squires and pages, have just 
 quitted Terracina. Their banners bear the twofold insignia 
 of Rome and the Colonna." 
 
 " Ho ! " said Montreal, gayly, " such a troop is a welcome 
 addition to our company. Send our squire hither." 
 
 The squire appeared. 
 
 "Hie thee on thy steed towards the procession thou wilt 
 meet with in the pass (nay, sweet lady mine, no forbiddal !), 
 seek the chief, and say that the good Knight Walter de Mon- 
 treal sends him greeting, and prays him, in passing our proper 
 territory, to rest a while with us a welcome guest ; and stay 
 
 add that if to while an hour or so in gentle pastime be 
 acceptable to him, Walter de Montreal would rejoice to break 
 a lance with him, or any knight in his train, in honor of our 
 respective ladies. Hie thee quick!" 
 
 "Walter, Walter," began Adeline, who had that keen and 
 delicate sensitiveness to her situation which her reckless lord 
 often wantonly forgot, " Walter, dear Walter, canst thou think 
 it honor to " 
 
 " Hush thee, sweet Fleur de Its ! Thou hast not seen pas- 
 time this many a day ; I long to convince thee that thou art still 
 the fairest lady in Italy, ay, and of Christendom. But these 
 Italians are craven knights, and thou needst not fear that my 
 proffer will be accepted. But in truth, lady mine, I rejoice 
 for graver objects that chance throws a Roman noble, perhaps 
 a Colonna, in my way, women understand not these matters, 
 
 and aught concerning Rome touches us home at this 
 moment." 
 
 With that the Knight frowned, as was his wont in thought,
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 169 
 
 and Adeline ventured to say no more, but retired to the interior 
 division of the pavilion. 
 
 Meanwhile the squire approached the procession that had 
 now reached the middle of the pass. And a stately and gal- 
 lant company it was. If the complete harness of the soldiery 
 seemed to attest a warlike purpose, it was contradicted on the 
 other hand by a numerous train of unarmed squires and pages 
 gorgeously attired, while the splendid blazon of two heralds 
 preceding the standard-bearers proclaimed their object as 
 peaceful, and their path as sacred. It required but a glance 
 at the company to tell the leader. Arrayed in a breastplate 
 of steel wrought profusely with gold arabesques, over which 
 was a mantle of dark-green velvet bordered with pearls, while 
 above his long dark locks waved a black ostrich plume in a 
 high Macedonian cap, such as, I believe, is now worn by the 
 Grand Master of the Order of St. Constantine, rode in the 
 front of the party a young cavalier, distinguished from his 
 immediate comrades partly by his graceful presence and partly 
 by his splendid dress. 
 
 The squire approached respectfully, and dismounting, de- 
 livered himself of his charge. 
 
 The young cavalier smiled as he answered : " Bear back to 
 Sir Walter de Montreal the greeting of Adrian Colonna, Baron 
 di Castello, and say the solemn object of my present journey 
 will scarce permit me to encounter the formidable lance of so 
 celebrated a knight ; and I regret this the more, inasmuch as 
 I may not yield to any dame the palm of my liege lady's beauty. 
 I must live in hope of a happier occasion. For the rest, I will 
 cheerfully abide for some few hours the guest of so courteous 
 a host." 
 
 The squire bowed low. " My master," said he, hesitatingly, 
 " will grieve much to miss so noble an opponent. But my mes- 
 sage refers to all this knightly and gallant train ; and if the 
 Lord Adrian di Castello deems himself forbidden the joust by 
 the object of his present journey, surely one of his comrades 
 will be his proxy with my master ? " 
 
 Out and quickly spoke a young noble by the side of Adrian, 
 Riccardo Annibaldi t who afterwards did good service both to
 
 170 RIENXI : 
 
 the Tribune and to Rome, and whose valor brought him, in 
 later life, to an untimely end. 
 
 " By the Lord Adrian's permission," cried he, " I will break 
 a lance with ' 
 
 " Hush, Annibaldi ! " interrupted Adrian. " And you, Sir 
 Squire, know that Adrian di Castello permits no proxy in 
 arms. Avise the Knight of St. John that we accept his hos- 
 pitality, and if, after some converse on graver matters, he 
 should still desire so light an entertainment, I will forget that 
 I am the ambassador to Naples, and remember only that I am 
 a Knight of the Empire. You have your answer." 
 
 The squire with much ceremony made his obeisance, remount- 
 ed his steed, and returned in a half-gallop to his master. 
 
 " Forgive me, dear Annibaldi," said Adrian, " that I balked 
 your valor ; and believe me that I never more longed to break 
 a lance against any man than I do against this boasting French- 
 man. But bethink you that though to us, brought up in the 
 dainty laws of chivalry, Walter de Montreal is the famous 
 Knight of Provence, to the Tribune of Rome, whose grave 
 mission we now fulfil, he is but the mercenary captain of a 
 Free Company. Grievously in his eyes should we sully our 
 dignity by so wanton and irrelevant a holiday conflict with 
 a declared and professional brigand." 
 
 " For all that," said Annibaldi, " the brigand ought not to 
 boast that a Roman knight shunned a Provencal lance." 
 
 " Cease, I pray thee ! " said Adrian, impatiently. In fact, 
 the young Colonna already chafed bitterly against his discreet 
 and dignified rejection of Montreal's proffer ; and recollecting 
 with much pique the disparaging manner in which the Pro- 
 vengal had spoken of the Roman chivalry, as well as a certain 
 tone of superiority which in all warlike matters Montreal had 
 assumed over him, he now felt his cheek burn and his lip 
 quiver. Highly skilled in the martial accomplishments of his 
 time, he had a natural and excusable desire to prove that he 
 was at least no unworthy antagonist even of the best lance in 
 Italy ; and, added to this, the gallantry of the age made him 
 feel it a sort of treason to his mistress to forego any means of 
 asserting her perfections.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 171 
 
 It was therefore with considerable irritation that Adrian, as 
 the pavilion of Montreal became visible, perceived the squire 
 returning to him. And the reader will judge how much this 
 was increased when the latter, once more dismounting, accosted 
 him thus : 
 
 " My master, the Knight of St. John, 011 hearing the cour- 
 teous answer of the Lord Adrian di Castello, bids me say that 
 lest the graver converse the Lord Adrian refers to should mar 
 gentle and friendly sport, he ventures respectfully to suggest 
 that the tilt should preface the converse. The sod before the 
 tent is so soft and smooth that even a fall could be attended 
 with no danger to knight or steed." 
 
 " By our Lady ! " cried Adrian and Annibaldi in a breath, 
 " but thy last words are discourteous ; and " (proceeded Adrian, 
 recovering himself) " since thy master will have it so, let him 
 look to his horse's girths. I will not gainsay his fancy." 
 
 Montreal, who had thus insisted upon the exhibition, partly, 
 it may be, from the gay and ruffling bravado common still 
 amongst his brave countrymen, partly because he was curious 
 of exhibiting before those who might soon be his open foes his 
 singular and unrivalled address in arms, was yet more moved 
 to it on learning the name of the leader of the Eoman Com- 
 pany; for his vain and haughty spirit, however it had dis- 
 guised resentment at the time, had by no means forgiven 
 certain warm expressions of Adrian in the palace of Stephen 
 Colonna and in the unfortunate journey to Corneto. While 
 Adrian, halting at the entrance of the defile, aided by his 
 squires indignantly but carefully indued the rest of his armor, 
 and saw, himself, to the girths, stirrup-leathers, and various 
 buckles in the caparison of his noble charger, Montreal in 
 great glee kissed his lady, who, though too soft to be angry, 
 was deeply vexed, and yet her vexation half-forgotten in fear 
 for his safety, snatched up her scarf of blue, which he threw 
 over his breastplate, and completed his array with the indiffer- 
 ence of a man certain of victory. He was destined, however, 
 to one disadvantage, and that the greatest, his armor and 
 lance had been brought from the castle, not his war-horse. His 
 palfrey was too slight to bear the great weight of his armor ;
 
 172 RIENZI : 
 
 nor amongst his troop was there one horse that for power and 
 could match with Adrian's. He chose, however, the 
 that was at hand; and a loud shout from his wild 
 followers testified their admiration when he sprang unaided 
 from the ground into the saddle, a rare and difficult feat of 
 agility in a man completely arrayed in the ponderous armor 
 which issued at that day from the forges of Milan, and was 
 worn far more weighty in Italy than any other part of Europe. 
 While both companies grouped slowly, and mingled in a kind 
 of circle round the green turf, and the Koman heralds, with 
 bustling importance, attempted to marshal the spectators into 
 order, Montreal rode his charger round the sward, forcing it 
 into various caracoles, and exhibiting, with the vanity that 
 belonged to him, his exquisite and practised horsemanship. 
 
 At length Adrian, his visor down, rode slowly into the green 
 space, amidst the cheers of his party. The two Knights, at 
 either end, gravely fronted each other ; they made the courte- 
 sies with their lances which, in friendly and sportive encoun- 
 ters, were customary ; and as they thus paused for the signal 
 of encounter, the Italians trembled for the honor of their 
 chief : Montreal's stately height and girth of chest forming a 
 strong contrast, even in armor, to the form of his opponent, 
 which was rather under the middle standard, and though firmly 
 knit, slightly and slenderly built. But to that perfection was 
 skill in arms brought in those times that great strength and 
 size were far from being either the absolute requisites or even 
 the usual attributes of the more celebrated knights, in fact, 
 so much was effected by the power and the management of the 
 steed that a light weight in the rider was often rather to his 
 advantage than his prejudice ; and, even at a later period, the 
 most accomplished victors in the tourney, the French Bayard 
 and the English Sidney, were far from remarkable either for 
 bulk or stature. 
 
 Whatever the superiority of Montreal in physical power ; 
 was, in much, counterbalanced by the inferiority of his horse, 
 which, though a thick-built and strong Calabrian, had neither 
 the blood, bone, nor practised discipline of the Northern 
 charger of the Roman. The shining coat of the latter, coal
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUTES. 173 
 
 black, was set off by a scarlet cloth wrought in gold ; the neck 
 and shoulders were clad in scales of mail ; and from the fore- 
 head projected a long point, like the horn of a unicorn, while 
 on its crest waved a tall plume of scarlet and white feathers. 
 As the mission of Adrian to Naples was that of pomp and 
 ceremony to a court of great splendor, so his array and retinue 
 were befitting the occasion and the passion for show that 
 belonged to the time ; and the very bridle of his horse, which 
 was three inches broad, was decorated with gold, and even 
 jewels. The Knight himself was clad in mail which had 
 tested the finest art of the celebrated Ludovico of Milan ; and, 
 altogether, his appearance was unusually gallant and splendid, 
 and seemed still more so beside the plain but brightly polished 
 and artfully flexile armor of Montreal (adorned only with his 
 lady's scarf) and the common and rude mail of his charger. 
 This contrast, however, was not welcome to the Provenal, 
 whose vanity was especially indulged in warlike equipments, 
 and who, had he foreseen the "pastime" that awaited him, 
 would have outshone even the Colonna. 
 
 The trumpeters of either party gave a short blast : the 
 Knights remained erect as statues of iron ; a second, and each 
 slightly bent over his saddle-bow; a third, and with spears 
 couched, slackened reins, and at full speed on they rushed, and 
 fiercely they met midway. With the reckless arrogance which 
 belonged to him, Montreal had imagined that at the first touch 
 of his lance Adrian would have been unhorsed; but to his 
 great surprise the young Roman remained firm, and amidst the 
 shouts of his party passed on to the other end of the lists. 
 Montreal himself was rudely shaken, but lost neither seat nor 
 stirrup. 
 
 " This can be no carpet knight," muttered Montreal between 
 his teeth as, this time, he summoned all his skill for a second 
 encounter ; while Adrian, aware of the great superiority of his 
 charger, resolved to bring it to bear against his opponent. 
 Accordingly, when the knights again rushed forward, Adrian, 
 covering himself well with his buckler, directed his care less 
 against the combatant, whom he felt no lance wielded by mor- 
 tal hand was likely to dislodge, than against the less noble
 
 174 RIENZI : 
 
 animal he bestrode. The shock of Montreal's charge was like 
 on avalanche: his lance shivered into a thousand pieces. 
 Adrian lost both stirrups, and but for the strong iron bows 
 which guarded the saddle in front and rear, would have been 
 fairly unhorsed ; as it was, he was almost doubled back by the 
 encounter, and his ears rung and his eyes reeled, so that for a 
 moment or two he almost lost all consciousness. But his steed 
 had well repaid its nurture and discipline. Just as the com- 
 batants closed, the animal, rearing on high, pressed forward 
 with its mighty crest against its opponent with a force so irre- 
 sistible as to drive back Montreal's horse several paces ; while 
 Adrian's lance, poised with exquisite skill, striking against the 
 Provencal's helmet, somewhat rudely diverted the Knight's 
 attention for the moment from his rein. Montreal drawing the 
 curb too tightly in the suddenness of his recovery, the horse 
 reared on end, and receiving at that instant, full upon his 
 breastplate, the sharp horn and mailed crest of Adrian's 
 charger, fell back over its rider upon the sward. Montreal 
 disencumbered himself in great rage and shame, as a faint cry 
 from his pavilion reached his ear and redoubled his mortifica- 
 tion. He rose with a lightness which astonished the be- 
 holders, for so heavy was the armor worn at that day that 
 few knights once stretched upon the ground could rise without 
 assistance, and drawing his sword, cried out fiercely : " On 
 foot, on foot ! The fall was not mine, but this accursed beast's, 
 that I must needs for my sins raise to the rank of a charger. 
 Come on " 
 
 "Nay, Sir Knight," said Adrian, drawing off his gauntlets 
 and unbuckling his helmet, which he threw on the ground, " I 
 come to thee a guest and a friend ; but to fight on foot is the 
 encounter of mortal foes. Did I accept thy offer, my defeat 
 would but stain thy knighthood." 
 
 Montreal, whose passion had beguiled him for the moment, 
 sullenly acquiesced in this reasoning. Adrian hastened to 
 soothe his antagonist. " For the rest," said he, " I cannot pre- 
 tend to the prize. Your lance lost me my stirrups mine left 
 you unshaken. You say right : the defeat, if any, was that of 
 your steed."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 175 
 
 " We may meet again when I am more equally horsed," said 
 Montreal, still chafing. 
 
 " Now, our Lady forbid ! " exclaimed Adrian, with so devout 
 an earnestness that the bystanders could not refrain from 
 laughing; and even Montreal, grimly and half-reluctantly, 
 joined in the merriment. The courtesy of his foe, however, 
 conciliated and touched the more frank and soldierly qualities 
 of his nature, and composing himself, he replied : 
 
 " Signer di Castello, I rest your debtor for a courtesy that I 
 have but little imitated. Howbeit, if thou wouldst bind me to 
 thee forever, thou wilt suffer me to send for my own charger 
 and afford me a chance to retrieve mine honor. With that 
 steed, or with one equal to thine, which seems to me of the 
 English breed, I will gage all I possess, lands, castle, and 
 gold, sword and spurs, to maintain this pass, one by one, 
 against all thy train." 
 
 Fortunately, perhaps, for Adrian, ere he could reply, Eiccardo 
 Annibaldi cried, with great warmth, " Sir Knight, I have with 
 me two steeds well practised in the tourney : take thy choice, 
 and accept in me a champion of the Roman against the French 
 chivalry ; there is my gage." 
 
 "Signor," replied Montreal, with ill-suppressed delight, 
 "thy proffer shows so gallant and free a spirit that it were 
 foul sin in me to balk it. I accept thy gage ; and whichever 
 of thy steeds thou rejectest, in God's name bring it hither, 
 and let us waste no words before action." 
 
 Adrian, who felt that hitherto the Komans had been more 
 favored by fortune than merit, vainly endeavored to prevent 
 this second hazard. But Annibaldi was greatly chafed, and 
 his high rank rendered it impolitic in Adrian to offend him , 
 by peremptory prohibition ; the Colonna reluctantly, therefore, 
 yielded his assent to the engagement. Annibaldi's steeds 
 were led to the spot, the one a noble roan, the other a bay, 
 of somewhat less breeding and bone, but still of great strength 
 and price. Montreal, finding the choice pressed upon him, 
 gallantly selected the latter and less excellent. 
 
 Annibaldi was soon arrayed for the encounter, and Adrian 
 gave the word to the trumpeters. The Roman was of a stature
 
 176 RIENZI: 
 
 almost equal to that of Montreal, and though some years 
 younger, seemed, in his armor, nearly of the same thews and 
 girth, so that the present antagonists appeared at the first 
 glance more evenly matched than the last. But this time 
 Montreal, well horsed, inspired to the utmost by shame and 
 pride, felt himself a match for an army ; and he met the 
 young Baron with such prowess that while the very plume on 
 his casque seemed scarcely stirred, the Italian was thrown 
 several paces from his steed, and it was not till some moments 
 after his visor was removed by his squires that he recovered 
 his senses. This event restored Montreal to all his natural 
 gayety of humor, and effectually raised the spirits of his follow- 
 ers, who had felt much humbled by the previous encounter. 
 
 He himself assisted Annibaldi to rise, with great courtesy 
 and a profusion of compliments, which the proud Roman 
 took in stern silence, and then led the way to the pavil- 
 ion, loudly ordering the banquet to be spread. Annibaldi, 
 however, loitered behind; and Adrian, who penetrated his 
 thoughts, and who saw that over their cups a quarrel between 
 the Provensal and his friend was likely to ensue, drawing him 
 aside, said : " Methinks, dear Annibaldi, it would be better if 
 you, with the chief of our following, were to proceed onward 
 to Fondi, where I will join you at sunset. My squires and 
 some eight lances will suffice for my safeguard here ; and, to 
 say truth, I desire a few private words with our strange host, 
 in the hope that he may be peaceably induced to withdraw 
 from hence without the help of our Roman troops, who have 
 enough elsewhere to feed their valor." 
 
 Annibaldi pressed his companion's hand. "I understand 
 thee," he replied, with a slight blush ; " and, indeed, I could 
 but ill brook the complacent triumph of the barbarian. I 
 accept thy offer."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 177 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE ROMAN AND THE PROVENCAL 
 ADELINE'S HISTORY THE MOON-LIT SEA THE LUTE AND 
 
 THE SONG. 
 
 As soon as Annibaldi, with the greater part of the retinue, 
 was gone, Adrian, divesting himself of his heavy greaves, 
 entered alone the pavilion of the Knight of St. John. Mon- 
 treal had already doffed all his armor save the breastplate, 
 and he now stepped forward to welcome his guest with the 
 winning and easy grace which better suited his birth than his 
 profession. He received Adrian's excuses for the absence of 
 Annibaldi and the other knights of his train with a smile 
 which seemed to prove how readily he divined the cause, and 
 conducted him to the other and more private division of the 
 pavilion, in which the repast (rendered acceptable by the late 
 exercise of guest and host) was prepared ; and here Adrian for 
 the first time discovered Adeline. Long inurement to the 
 various and roving life of her lover, joined to a certain pride 
 which she derived from conscious, though forfeited, rank, gave 
 to the outward manner of that beautiful lady an ease and free- 
 dom which often concealed, even from Montreal, her sensitive- 
 ness to her unhappy situation. At times, indeed, when alone 
 with Montreal, whom she loved with all the devotion of 
 romance, she was sensible only to the charm of a presence 
 which consoled her for all things ; but in his frequent absence, 
 or on the admission of any stranger, the illusion vanished, the 
 reality returned. Poor lady! Nature had not formed, edu- 
 cation had not reared, habit had not reconciled, her to the 
 breath of shame! 
 
 The young Colonna was much struck by her beauty, and more 
 by her gentle and high-born grace. Like her lord, she appeared 
 younger than she was ; time seemed to spare a bloom which an 
 experienced eye might have told was destined to an early 
 
 VOL. I. 12
 
 ITS IUENZI : 
 
 grave ; and there was something almost girlish in the lightness 
 of her form, the braided luxuriance of her rich auburn hair, 
 and the color that went and came, not only with every move- 
 ment, but almost with every word. The contrast between her 
 and Montreal became them both, it was the contrast of de- 
 voted reliance and protecting strength : each looked fairer in 
 the presence of the other : and as Adrian sat down to the well- 
 laden board, he thought he had never seen a pair more formed 
 for the poetic legends of their native Troubadours. 
 
 Montreal conversed gayly upon a thousand matters, pressed 
 the wine-flasks, and selected for his guest the most delicate 
 portions of the delicious spicola of the neighboring sea, and the 
 rich flesh of the wild boar of the Pontine Marshes. 
 
 " Tell me," said Montreal, as their hunger was now appeased, 
 u tell me, noble Adrian, how fares your kinsman, Signor 
 Stephen? A brave old man for his years." 
 
 " He bears him as the youngest of us," answered Adrian. 
 
 " Late events must have shocked him a little," said Mon- 
 treal, with an arch smile. " Ah ! you look grave, yet com- 
 mend my foresight ; I was the first who prophesied to thy 
 kinsman the rise of Cola di Rienzi. He seems a great man, 
 never more great than in conciliating the Colonna and the 
 Orsini." 
 
 " The Tribune," returned Adrian, evasively, " is certainly a 
 man of extraordinary genius. And now, seeing him command, 
 my only wonder is how he ever brooked to obey: majesty 
 seems a very part of him." 
 
 " Men who win power, easily put on its harness, dignity," 
 answered Montreal; "and if I hear aright pledge me to 
 your lady's health the Tribune, if not himself nobly born, 
 will soon be nobly connected." 
 
 " He is already married to a Easelli, an old Eoman house," 
 replied Adrian. 
 
 " You evade my pursuit, Le doulx soupir f le doulx soupir ! 
 as the old Cabestan has it," said Montreal, laughing. " Well, 
 you have pledged me one cup to your lady, pledge another 
 to the fair Irene, the Tribune's sister, always provided they 
 two are not one. You smile, and shake your head."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 179 
 
 " I do not disguise from you, Sir Knight," answered Adrian, 
 "that when my present embassy is over, I trust the alliance 
 between the Tribune and a Colonna will go far towards the 
 benefit of both." 
 
 " I have heard rightly, then," said Montreal, in a grave and 
 thoughtful tone. " Bienzi's power must indeed be great." 
 
 " Of that my mission is a proof. Are you aware, Signer de 
 Montreal, that Louis, King of Hungary " 
 
 "How! what of him?" 
 
 " Has referred the decision of the feud between himself and 
 Johanna of Naples respecting the death of her royal spouse, 
 his brother, to the fiat of the Tribune ? This is the first time, 
 methinks, since the death of Constantino that so great a confi- 
 dence and so high a charge were ever intrusted to a Roman ! " 
 
 "By all the saints in the calendar," cried Montreal, cross- 
 ing himself, " this news is indeed amazing ! The fierce Louis 
 of Hungary waive the right of the sword and choose other 
 umpire than the field of battle ! " 
 
 "And this," continued Adrian, in a significant tone, "this it 
 was which induced me to obey your courteous summons. I 
 know, brave Montreal, that you hold intercourse with Louis. 
 Louis has given to the Tribune the best pledge of his amity 
 and alliance ; will you do wisely if you " 
 
 " Wage war with the Hungarian's ally ? " interrupted Mon- 
 treal. "This you were about to add: the same thought 
 crossed myself. My lord, pardon me: Italians sometimes 
 invent what they wish. On the honor of a Knight of the 
 Empire, these tidings are the naked truth ? " 
 
 " By my honor, and on the Cross," answered Adrian, draw- 
 ing himself up; "and in proof thereof, I am now bound to 
 Naples to settle with the Queen the preliminaries of the 
 appointed trial." 
 
 " Two crowned heads before the tribunal of a plebeian, and 
 one a defendant against the charge of murder ! " muttered 
 Montreal ; "the news might well amaze me ! " 
 
 He remained musing and silent a little while, till, looking 
 up, he caught Adeline's tender gaze fixed upon him with that 
 deep solicitude with which she watched the outward effect of
 
 180 RIEXZI : 
 
 schemes and projects she was too soft to desire to know, and 
 too innocent to share. 
 
 " Lady mine," said the Provei^al, fondly, " how sayest thou ? 
 Must we abandon our mountain castle and these wild wood- 
 land scenes for the dull walls of a city ? I fear me so. The 
 Lady Adeline," he continued, turning to Adrian, " is of a sin- 
 gular bias : she hates the gay crowds of streets and thorough- 
 fares, and esteems no palace like the solitary outlaw's hold. 
 Yet methinks she might outshine all the faces of Italy, thy 
 mistress, Lord Adrian, of course, excepted." 
 
 " It is an exception which only a lover, and that too 
 a betrothed lover, would dare to make," replied Adrian, 
 gallantly. 
 
 " Nay," said Adeline, in a voice singularly sweet and clear, 
 " nay, I know well at what price to value my lord's flattery and 
 Signer di Castello's courtesy. But you are bound, Sir Knight, 
 to a court that, if fame speak true, boasts in its Queen the very 
 miracle and mould of beauty." 
 
 " It is some years since I saw the Queen of Naples," answered 
 Adrian ; " and I little dreamed then, when I gazed upon that 
 angel face, that I should live to hear her accused of the foulest 
 murder that ever stained even Italian royalty." 
 
 " And as if resolved to prove her guilt," said Montreal, " ere 
 long be sure she will marry the very man who did the deed. 
 Of this I have certain proof." 
 
 Thus conversing, the Knights wore away the daylight, and 
 beheld from the open tent the sun cast his setting glow over 
 the purple sea. Adeline had long retired from the board, and 
 they now saw her seated with her handmaids on a mound by 
 the beach, while the sound of her lute faintly reached their ears. 
 As Montreal caught the air, he turned from the converse, and 
 sighing, half shaded his face with his hand. Somehow or other 
 the two Knights had worn away all the little jealousy or pique 
 which they had conceived against each other at Rome. Both im- 
 bued with the soldier-like spirit of the age, their contest in the 
 morning had served to inspire them with that strange kind of 
 respect, and even cordiality, which one brave man even still 
 (how much more at that day ! ) feels for another, whose courage
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 181 
 
 lie has proved while vindicating his own. It is like the discov- 
 ery of a congenial sentiment hitherto latent, and in a life of 
 camps often establishes sudden and lasting friendship in the 
 very lap of enmity. This feeling had been ripened by their 
 subsequent familiar intercourse, and was increased on Adrian's 
 side by the feeling that in convincing Montreal of the policy 
 of withdrawing from the Roman territories, he had obtained an 
 advantage that well repaid whatever danger and delay he had 
 undergone. 
 
 The sigh and the altered manner of Montreal did not escape 
 Adrian, and he naturally connected it with something relating 
 to her whose music had been its evident cause. 
 
 "Yon lovely dame," said he, gently, "touches the lute with 
 an exquisite and fairy hand, and that plaintive air seems to my 
 ear as of the minstrelsy of Provence." 
 
 " It is the air I taught her," said Montreal, sadly, " married 
 as it is to indifferent words, with which I first wooed a heart 
 that should never have given itself to me. Ay, young Colonna, 
 many a night has my boat been moored beneath the starlit 
 Sorgia that washes her proud father's halls, and my voice 
 awaked the stillness of the waving sedges with a soldier's sere- 
 nade. Sweet memories, bitter fruit ! " 
 
 " Why bitter ? ye love each other still." 
 
 " But I am vowed to celibacy, and Adeline de Courval is leman 
 where she should be wedded dame. Methinks I fret at that 
 thought even more than she, dear Adeline ! " 
 
 " Your lady, as all would guess, is then nobly born ? " 
 
 " She is," answered Montreal, with a deep and evident feel- 
 ing which, save in love, rarely, if ever, crossed his hardy breast, 
 "she is. Our tale is a brief one: We loved each other as 
 children. Her family was wealthier than mine ; we were sep- 
 arated. I was given to understand that she abandoned me. I 
 despaired, and in despair I took the cross of St. John. Chance 
 threw us again together. I learned that her love was unde- 
 cayed, poor child ! she was even then, sir, but a child ! I 
 wild, reckless, and not unskilled, perhaps, in the arts that woo 
 and win. She could not resist my suit or her own affection ; 
 we fled. In those words you see the thread of my after-history.
 
 182 RIENZI : 
 
 My sword and my Adeline were all my fortune. Society 
 frowned on us. The Church threatened my soul, the Grand 
 Master my life. I became a knight of fortune. Fate and my 
 right hand favored me. I have made those who scorned me 
 tremble at my name. That name shall yet blaze, a star or a 
 meteor, in the front of troubled nations, and I may yet win by 
 force from the Pontiff the dispensation refused to my prayers. 
 On the same day I may offer Adeline the diadem and the ring. 
 Eno' of this. You marked Adeline's cheek : seems it not deli- 
 cate ? I like not that changeful flush ; and she moves languidly, 
 
 her step that was so blithe ! " 
 
 " Change of scene and the mild South will soon restore her 
 health," said Adrian ; " and in your peculiar life she is so little 
 brought in contact with others, especially of her own sex, that 
 I trust she is but seldom made aware of whatever is painful in 
 her situation. And woman's love, Montreal, as we both have 
 learned, is a robe that wraps her from many a storm ! " 
 
 " You speak kindly," returned the Knight ; " but you know 
 not all our cause of grief. Adeline's father, a proud sieur, died, 
 
 they said of a broken heart ; but old men die of many an- 
 other disease than that ! The mother, a dame who boasted 
 her descent from princes, bore the matter more sternly than 
 the sire, clamored for revenge, which was odd, for she is as 
 religious as a Dominican, and revenge is not Christian in a 
 woman, though it is knightly in a man 1 Well, my lord, we had 
 one boy, our only child : he was Adeline's solace in my absence ; 
 his pretty ways were worth the world to her ! She loved him 
 so that, but he had her eyes and looked like her when he slept, 
 I should have been jealous ! He grew up in our wild life strong 
 and comely : the young rogue, he would have been a brave 
 knight ! My evil stars led me to Milan, where I had business 
 with the ViscontL One bright morning in June our boy was 
 stolen : verily that June was like a December to us ! " 
 
 " Stolen ! How ? By whom ? " 
 
 " The first question is answered easily. The boy was with his 
 nurse in the courtyard, the idle wench left him for but a min- 
 ute or two so she avers to fetch him some childish toy ; 
 when she returned he was gone, not a trace left, save his
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 183 
 
 pretty cap with the plume in it ! Poor Adeline, many a time 
 have I found her kissing that relic till it was wet with tears ! " 
 
 " A strange fortune, in truth. But what interest could " 
 
 "I will tell you," interrupted Montreal, "the only conjec- 
 ture I could form : Adeline's mother, on learning we had a son, 
 sent to Adeline a letter that wellnigh broke her heart, reproach- 
 ing her for her love to me, and so forth, as if that had made 
 her the vilest of the sex. She bade her take compassion on 
 her child, and not bring him up to a robber's life, so was she 
 pleased to style the bold career of Walter de Montreal. She 
 offered to rear the child in her own dull halls, and fit him, no 
 doubt, for a shaven pate and a monk's cowl. She chafed much 
 that a mother would not part with her treasure ! She alone, 
 partly in revenge, partly in silly compassion for Adeline's child, 
 partly, it may be, from some pious fanaticism, could, it so seemed 
 to me, have robbed us of our boy. On inquiry I learned from 
 the nurse who but that she was of the same sex as Adeline, 
 should have tasted my dagger that in their walks a woman 
 of advanced years, but seemingly of humble rank (that might 
 be disguise ! ) had often stopped, and caressed, and admired the 
 child. I repaired at once to France, sought the old Castle of 
 De Courval ; it had passed to the next heir, and the old widow 
 was gone, none knew whither, but, it was conjectured, to take 
 the veil in some remote convent." 
 
 " And you never saw her since ? " 
 
 " Yes, at Rome," answered Montreal, turning pale. " When 
 last there I chanced suddenly upon her ; and then at length I 
 learned my boy's fate and the truth of my own surmise, she 
 confessed to the theft, and my child was dead ! I have not 
 dared to tell Adeline of this ; it seems to me as if it would be 
 like plucking the shaft from the wounded side, and she would 
 die at once, bereft of the uncertainty that rankles within her. 
 She has still a hope, it comforts her ; though my heart bleeds 
 when I think on its vanity. Let this pass, my Colonna." 
 
 And Montreal started to his feet as if he strove, by a strong 
 effort, to shake off the weakness that had crept over him in 
 his narration. 
 
 " Think no more of it. Life is short ; its thorns are many :
 
 184 RIENZI: 
 
 let us not neglect any of its flowers. This is piety and wis- 
 dom too. Nature, that meant me to struggle and to toil, 
 gave me, happily, the sanguine heart and the elastic soul of 
 France ; and I have lived long enough to own that to die young 
 is not an evil. Come, Lord Adrian, let us join my lady ere 
 you part, if part you must; the moon will be up soon, and 
 Fondi is but a short journey hence. You know that though I 
 admire not your Petrarch, you with more courtesy laud our 
 Provencal ballads, and you must hear Adeline sing one, that 
 you may prize them the more. The race of the Troubadours 
 is dead, but the minstrelsy survives the minstrel ! " 
 
 Adrian, who scarce knew what comfort to administer to the 
 affliction of his companion, was somewhat relieved by the 
 change in his mood, though his more grave and sensitive 
 nature was a little startled at its suddenness. But, as we have 
 before seen, Montreal's spirit (and this made perhaps its fas- 
 cination) was as a varying and changeful sky : the gayest sun- 
 shine and the fiercest storm swept over it in rapid alternation ; 
 and elements of singular might and grandeur, which, properly 
 directed and concentrated, would have made him the blessing 
 and glory of his time, were wielded with a boyish levity, 
 roused into war and desolation, or lulled into repose and 
 smoothness, with all the suddenness of chance and all the 
 fickleness of caprice. 
 
 Sauntering down to the beach, the music of Adeline's lute 
 sounded more distinctly in their ears ; and involuntarily they 
 hushed their steps upon the rich and odorous turf as, in a 
 voice, though not powerful, marvellously sweet and clear, and 
 well adapted to the simple fashion of the words and melody, 
 she sang the following stanzas : 
 
 LAY OF THE LADY OF PROVENCE. 
 
 1. 
 
 Ah, why art thou sad, my heart ? Why 
 
 Darksome and lonely ? 
 Frowns the face of the happy sky 
 
 Over thee only 1 
 
 Ah me, ah me !
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 185 
 
 Bender to joy the earth ! 
 Grief shuns, not envies, Mirth ; 
 But leave one quiet spot 
 Where Mirth may enter not, 
 To sigh, Ah me ! 
 
 Ah me ! 
 
 As a bird, though the sky be clear, 
 
 Feels the storm lower, 
 My soul bodes the tempest near 
 In the sunny hour. 
 
 Ah me, ah me ! 
 Be glad while yet we may ! 
 I bid thee, my heart, be gay ; 
 And still I know not why, 
 Thou answerest with a sigh, 
 (Fond heart ! ) Ah me ! 
 Ah me ! 
 
 3. 
 
 As this twilight o'er the skies, 
 
 Doubt brings the sorrow ; 
 Who knows when the daylight dies, 
 What waits the morrow 1 
 
 Ah me, ah me ! 
 Be blithe, be blithe, my lute, 
 Thy strings will soon be mute ! 
 Be blithe hark ! while it dies, 
 The note forewarning, sighs 
 Its last Ah me ! 
 Ah me ! 
 
 " My own Adeline, my sweetest night-bird," half-whispered 
 Montreal, and softly approaching, he threw himself at his 
 lady's feet, " thy song is too sad for this golden eve." 
 
 "No sound ever went to the heart," said Adrian, "whose 
 arrow was not feathered by sadness. True sentiment, 
 Montreal, is twin with melancholy, though not with gloom." 
 
 The lady looked softly and approvingly up at Adrian's face : 
 she was pleased with its expression; she was pleased yet 
 more with words of which women rather than men would
 
 186 RIENZI : 
 
 acknowledge the truth. Adrian returned the look with one of 
 deep and eloquent sympathy and respect, in fact, the short 
 story he had heard from Montreal had interested him deeply 
 in her ; and never to the brilliant queen, to whose court he 
 was bound, did his manner wear so chivalric and earnest a 
 homage as it did to that lone and ill-fated lady on the twilight 
 shores of Terracina. 
 
 Adeline blushed slightly and sighed ; and then, to break the 
 awkwardness of a pause which had stolen over them, as 
 Montreal, unheeding the last remark of Adrian, was tuning 
 the strings of the lute, she said : " Of course the Signor di 
 Castello shares the universal enthusiasm for Petrarch ? " 
 
 " Ay," cried Montreal, " my lady is Petrarch mad, like the 
 rest of them ; but all I know is, that never did belted knight 
 and honest lover woo in such fantastic and tortured strains." 
 
 " In Italy," answered Adrian, " common language is exaggera- 
 tion ; but even your own Troubadour poetry might tell you that 
 love, ever seeking a new language of its own, cannot but often 
 run into what to all but lovers seems distortion and conceit." 
 
 "Come, dear Signor," said Montreal, placing the lute in 
 Adrian's hands, " let Adeline be the umpire between us, which 
 music, yours or mine, can woo the more blandly." 
 
 "Ah!" said Adrian, laughing, "I fear me, Sir Knight, you 
 have already bribed the umpire." 
 
 Montreal's eyes and Adeline's met, and in that gaze Adeline 
 forgot all her sorrows. 
 
 With a practised and skilful hand Adrian touched the strings ; 
 and selecting a song which was less elaborate than those 
 mostly in vogue amongst his countrymen, though still con- 
 ceived in the Italian spirit, and in accordance with the senti- 
 ment he had previously expressed to Adeline, he sang as 
 follows : 
 
 LOVE'S EXCUSE FOR SADNESS. 
 
 Chide not, beloved, if oft with thee 
 
 I feel not rapture wholly ; 
 For aye the heart that 's fill'd with love 
 
 Runs o'er in melancholy.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 187 
 
 To streams that glide in noon, the shade 
 
 From summer skies is given ; 
 So if my breast reflects the cloud, 
 
 ' T is but the cloud of heaven ! 
 Thine image, glass'd within my soul, 
 
 So well the mirror keepeth 
 That, chide me not if with the light 
 
 The shadow also sleepeth. 
 
 " And now," said Adrian, as he concluded, " the lute is to 
 you: I but prelude your prize." 
 
 The Provensal laughed, and shook his head: "With any 
 other umpire I had had my lute broken on my own head for 
 my conceit in provoking such a rival ; but I must not shrink 
 from a contest I have myself provoked, even though in one 
 day twi-ce defeated." And with that, in a deep and exquisitely 
 melodious voice, which wanted only more scientific culture to 
 have challenged any competition, the Knight of St. John 
 poured forth 
 
 THE LAY OF THE TROUBADOUR. 
 
 1. 
 
 Gentle river, the moonbeam is hush'd on thy tide, 
 On thy pathway of light to my lady I glide. 
 My boat, where the stream laves the castle, I moor, 
 All at rest save the maid and her young Troubadour ! 
 As the stars to the waters that bore 
 
 My bark, to my spirit thou art ; 
 Heaving yet, see it bound to the shore, 
 So moor'd to thy beauty my heart, 
 Bel' amie, bel' amie, bel' amie ! 
 
 2. 
 
 Wilt thou fly from the world ? It hath wealth for the vain ; 
 But Love breaks his bond when there 's gold in the chain. 
 Wilt thou fly from the world 1 It hath courts for the proud ; 
 But Love, born in caves, pines to death in the crowd. 
 Were this bosom thy world, dearest one, 
 Thy world could not fail to be bright ; 
 For thou shouldst thyself be its sun, 
 And what spot could be dim in thy light, 
 Bel' amie, bel' amie, bel' amie 1
 
 188 R1ENZI : 
 
 3. 
 
 The rich and the great woo thee, dearest ; and poor, 
 Though his fathers were princes, thy young Troubadour ! 
 But his heart never quail'd, save to thee, his ador'd ;. 
 There 's no guile in his lute, and no stain on his sword. 
 Ah ! I reck not what sorrows I know, 
 Could I still on thy solace confide ; 
 And I care not, though earth be my foe, 
 If thy soft heart be found by my side, 
 Bel' amie, bel amie, bel' amie 1 
 
 4. 
 
 The maiden she blnsh'd, and the maiden she sigh'd. 
 Not a cloud in the sky, not a gale on the tide ; 
 But though tempest had rag'd on the wave and the wind, 
 That castle, methinks, had been still left behind ! 
 Sweet lily, though bow'd by the blast 
 
 (To this bosom transplanted) since then, 
 Wouldst thon change, could we call the past, 
 To the rock from thy garden again, 
 Bel' amie, bel' amie, bel' amie f 
 
 Thus they alternated the time with converse and song as 
 the wooded hills threw their sharp, long shadows over the sea ; 
 while from many a mound of waking flowers, and many a copse 
 of citron and orange, relieved by the dark and solemn aloe, 
 stole the summer breeze, laden with mingled odors ; and over 
 the seas, colored by the slow-fading hues of purple and rose, 
 that the sun had long bequeathed to the twilight, flitted the 
 gay fire-flies that sparkle along that enchanted coast. At length 
 the moon slowly rose above the dark forest-steeps, gleaming 
 on the gay pavilion and glittering pennon of Montreal, on the 
 verdant sward, the polished mail of the soldiers, stretched on 
 the grass in various groups, half-shaded by oaks and cypress, 
 and the war-steeds grazing peaceably together, a wild mix- 
 ture of the Pastoral and the Iron time. 
 
 Adrian, reluctantly reminded of his journey, rose to depart. 
 
 "I fear," said he to Adeline, "that I have already de- 
 tained you too late in the night air ; but selfishness is little 
 considerate."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 189 
 
 "Nay, you see we are prudent," said Adeline, pointing to 
 Montreal's mantle, which his provident hand had long since 
 drawn around her form ; " but if you must part, farewell, and 
 success attend you ! " 
 
 " We may meet again, I trust," said Adrian. 
 
 Adeline sighed gently ; and the Colonna, gazing on her face 
 by the moonlight, to which it was slightly raised, was pain- 
 fully struck by its almost transparent delicacy. Moved by his 
 compassion, ere he mounted his steed he drew Montreal aside. 
 "Forgive me if I seem presumptuous," said he ; "but to one so 
 noble this wild life is scarce a fitting career. I know that in 
 our time War consecrates all his children ; but surely a settled 
 rank in the court of the Emperor, or an honorable reconciliation 
 with your knightly brethren, were better " 
 
 "Than a Tartar camp and a brigand's castle," interrupted 
 Montreal, with some impatience : " this you were about to say. 
 You are mistaken. Society thrust me from her bosom: let 
 society take the fruit it hath sown. ' A fixed rank,' say you ? 
 Some subaltern office, to fight at other men's command ! You 
 know me not: Walter de Montreal was not formed to obey. 
 War when I will, and rest when I list, is the motto of my 
 escutcheon. Ambition proffers me rewards you wot not of; 
 and I am of the mould, as of the race, of those whose swords 
 have conquered thrones. For the rest, your news of the alli- 
 ance of Louis of Hungary with your Tribune makes it neces- 
 sary for the friend of Louis to withdraw from all feud with 
 Rome. Ere the week expire, the owl and the bat may seek 
 refuge in yon gray turrets." 
 
 "But your lady?" 
 
 " Is inured to change. God help her, and temper the rough 
 wind to the lamb ! " 
 
 " Enough, Sir Knight ; but should you desire a sure refuge 
 at Home for one so gentle and so high-born, by the right hand 
 of a knight I promise a safe roof and an honored home to the 
 Lady Adeline." 
 
 Montreal pressed the offered hand to his heart ; then pluck- 
 ing his own hastily away, drew it across his eyes and joined 
 Adeline, in a silence that showed he dared not trust himself to
 
 190 RIENZI. 
 
 speak. In a few moments Adrian and his train were on the 
 march ; but still the young Colonna turned back, to gaze once 
 more on his wild host and that lovely lady, as they themselves 
 lingered on the moonlit sward, while the sea rippled mournfully 
 on their ears. 
 
 It was not many months after that date that the name of 
 Fra Moreale scattered terror and dismay throughout the fair 
 Campania. The right hand of the Hungarian king in his 
 invasion of Naples, he was chosen afterwards vicar (or vice- 
 gerent) of Louis in Aversa ; and fame and fate seemed to lead 
 him triumphantly along that ambitious career which he had 
 elected, whether bounded by the scaffold or the throne.
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 THE TRIUMPH AND THE POMP. 
 
 ALLORA fama e paura di si buono reggimento passa in ogni terra. Vita di 
 Cola di Rienzi, lib. i. cap. 21. 
 
 Then the fame and the fear of that so good government passed into every 
 land. Life of Cola di Rienzi. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BOY ANGELO THE DREAM OF NINA FULFILLED. 
 
 THE thread of my story transports us back to Rome. It was 
 in a small chamber, in a ruinous mansion by the base of Mount 
 Aventine, that a young boy sat, one evening, with a woman of 
 a tall and stately form, but somewhat bowed both by infirmity 
 and years. The boy was of a fair and comely presence, and 
 there was that in his bold, frank, undaunted carriage which 
 made him appear older than he was. 
 
 The old woman, seated in the recess of the deep window, was 
 apparently occupied with a Bible that lay open on her knees ; 
 but ever and anon she lifted her eyes and gazed on her young 
 companion with a sad and anxious expression. 
 
 " Dame," said the boy, who was busily employed in hewing 
 out a sword of wood, " I would you had seen the show to-day. 
 Why, every day is a show at Rome now ! It is show enough 
 to see the Tribune himself on his white steed oh, it is so 
 beautiful with his white robes all studded with jewels. But 
 to-day, as I have just been telling you, the Lady Nina took 
 notice of me as I stood on the stairs of the Capitol : you know, 
 dame, I had donned my best blue velvet doublet."
 
 192 RIENZI : 
 
 " And she called you a fair boy, and asked if you would be 
 her little page ; and this has turned thy brain, silly urchin that 
 thou art " 
 
 " But the words are the least ; if you saw the Lady Nina, 
 you would own that a smile from her might turn the wisest 
 head in Italy. Oh, how I should like to serve the Tribune ! 
 All the lads of my age are mad for him. How they will stare, 
 and envy me at school to-morrow ! You know too, dame, that 
 though I was not always brought up at Rome, I am Roman. 
 Every Roman loves Rienzi." 
 
 " Ay, for the hour ; the cry will soon change. This vanity 
 of thine, Angelo, vexes my old heart. I would thou wert 
 humbler." 
 
 " Bastards have their own name to win," said the boy, color- 
 ing deeply. " They twit me in the teeth because I cannot say 
 who my father and mother were." 
 
 " They need not," returned the dame, hastily. " Thou comest 
 of noble blood and long descent, though, as I have told thee 
 often, I know not the exact names of thy parents. But what 
 art thou shaping that rough sapling of oak into ? " 
 
 "A sword, dame, to assist the Tribune against the 
 robbers." 
 
 " Alas ! I fear me, like all those who seek power in Italy, he 
 is more likely to enlist robbers than to assail them." 
 
 "Why, la you there, you live so shut up that you know and 
 hear nothing, or you would have learned that even that fiercest 
 of all the robbers, Fra Moreale, has at length yielded to the 
 Tribune and fled from his castle, like a rat from a falling 
 house." 
 
 "How, how!" cried the dame; "what say you? Has this 
 plebeian, whom you call the Tribune, has he boldly thrown the 
 gage to that dread warrior, and has Montreal left the Roman 
 territory ? " 
 
 " Ay, it is the talk of the town. But Fra Moreale seems as 
 much a bugbear to you as to e'er a mother in Rome. Did he 
 ever wrong you, dame ? " 
 
 " Yes ! " exclaimed the old woman, with so abrupt a fierceness 
 that even that hardy boy was startled.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 193 
 
 " I wish I could meet him, then," said he, after a pause, as 
 he nourished his mimic weapon. 
 
 " Now Heaven forbid ! He is a man ever to be shunned by 
 thee, whether for peace or war. Say again this good Tribune 
 holds no terms with the Free Lances." 
 
 " Say it again, why all Kome knows it." 
 
 " He is pious too, I have heard ; and they do bruit it that he 
 sees visions, and is comforted from above," said the woman, 
 speaking to herself. Then, turning to Angelo, she contin- 
 ued: "Thou wouldst like greatly to accept the Lady Nina's 
 proffer ? " 
 
 " Ah! that I should, dame, if you could spare me." 
 
 " Child," replied the matron, solemnly, " my sand is nearly 
 run, and my wish is to see thee placed with one who will nur- 
 ture thy young years and save thee from a life of license. 
 That done, I may fulfil my vow and devote the desolate rem- 
 nant of my years to God. I will think more of this, my child. 
 Not under such a plebeian's roof shouldst thou have lodged, 
 nor from a stranger's board been fed ; but at Rome my last 
 relative worthy of the trust is dead, and, at the worst, obscure 
 honesty is better than gaudy crime. Thy spirit troubles me 
 already. Back, my child; I must to my closet, and watch 
 and pray." 
 
 Thus saying, the old woman, repelling the advance and 
 silencing the muttered and confused words of the boy, half 
 affectionate as they were, yet half tetchy and wayward, 
 glided from the chamber. 
 
 The boy looked abstractedly at the closing door, and then 
 said to himself: "The dame is always talking riddles: I 
 wonder if she knows more of me than she tells, or if she is 
 any way akin to me. I hope not, for I don't love her much, 
 nor, for that matter, anything else. I wish she would place 
 me with the Tribune's lady, and then we '11 see who among the 
 lads will call Angelo Villani bastard." 
 
 With that the boy fell to work again at his sword with re- 
 doubled vigor. In fact, the cold manner of this female, his 
 sole nurse, companion, substitute for parent, had repelled his 
 affections without subduing his temper ; and though not origi- 
 
 VOL. I. 13
 
 104 RIENZI: 
 
 nally of evil disposition, Angelo Villani was already insolent, 
 cunning, and revengeful, but not, on the other hand, without 
 a quick susceptibility to kindness as to affront, a natural acute- 
 ness of understanding, and a great indifference to fear. 
 Brought up in quiet affluence rather than luxury, and living 
 much with his protector, whom he knew but by the name of 
 Ursula, his bearing was graceful, and his air that of the well 
 born. And it was his carriage, perhaps, rather than his coun- 
 tenance, which though handsome, was more distinguished for 
 intelligence than beauty, which had attracted the notice of the 
 Tribune's bride. His education was that of one reared for some 
 scholastic profession. He was not only taught to read and 
 write, but had been even instructed in the rudiments of Latin. 
 He did not, however, incline to these studies half so fondly as 
 to the games of his companions, or the shows or riots in the 
 streets, into all of which he managed to thrust himself, and 
 from which he had always the happy dexterity to return safe 
 and unscathed. 
 
 The next morning Ursula entered the young Angelo's cham- 
 ber. " Wear again thy blue doublet to-day," said she ; " I 
 would have thee look thy best. Thou shalt go with me to the 
 palace." 
 
 " What, to-day ? " cried the boy joyfully, half leaping from 
 his bed. " Dear dame Ursula, shall I really, then, belong to 
 the train of the great Tribune's lady ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and leave the old woman to die alone ! Your joy 
 becomes you, but ingratitude is in your blood. Ingratitude ! 
 Oh ! it has burned my heart into ashes ; and yours, boy, can 
 no longer find a fuel in the dry, crumbling cinders." 
 
 " Dear dame, you are always so biting. You know you said 
 you wished to retire into a convent, and I was too troublesome 
 a charge for you. But you delight in rebuking me, justly or 
 unjustly." 
 
 " My task is over," said Ursula, with a deep-drawn sigh. 
 
 The boy answered not ; and the old woman retired with a 
 heavy step, and, it may be, a heavier heart. When he joined 
 her in their common apartment, he observed what his joy had 
 previously blinded him to, that Ursula did not wear her
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 195 
 
 usual plain and sober dress. The gold chain, rarely assumed 
 then by women not of noble birth, though in the other sex 
 affected also by public functionaries and wealthy merchants, 
 glittered upon a robe of the rich flowered stuffs of Venice, and 
 the clasps that confined the vest at the throat and waist were 
 adorned with jewels of no common price. 
 
 Angelo's eye was struck by the change, but he felt a more- 
 manly pride in remarking that the old lady became it well. 
 Her air and mien were indeed those of one to whom such gar- 
 ments were habitual; and they seemed that day more than 
 usually austere and stately. 
 
 She smoothed the boy's ringlets, drew his short mantle more 
 gracefully over his shoulder, and then placed in his belt a 
 poniard whose handle was richly studded, and a purse well 
 filled with florins. 
 
 "Learn to use both discreetly," said she; "and whether 
 I live or die, you will never require to wield the poniard to 
 procure the gold." 
 
 " This, then," cried Angelo, enchanted, " is a real poniard to 
 fight the robbers with ! Ah, with this I should not fear Fra 
 Moreale, who wronged thee so. I trust I may yet avenge thee, 
 though thou didst rate me so just now for ingratitude." 
 
 " I am avenged. Nourish not such thoughts, my son ; they 
 are sinful, at least I fear so. Draw to the board and eat ; 
 we will go betimes, as petitioners should do." 
 
 Angelo had soon finished his morning meal, and sallying 
 with Ursula to the porch, he saw, to his surprise, four of those 
 servitors who then usually attended persons of distinction, and 
 who were to be hired in every city, for the convenience of 
 strangers or the holiday ostentation of the gayer citizens. 
 
 " How grand we are to-day ! " said he, clapping his hands 
 with an eagerness which Ursula failed not to reprove. 
 
 " It is not for vain show," she added, " which true nobility 
 can well dispense with, but that we may the more readily gain 
 admittance to the palace. These princes of yesterday are not 
 easy of audience to the over humble." 
 
 " Oh ! but you are wrong this time," said the boy. " The 
 Tribune gives audience to all men, the poorest as the richest.
 
 196 RIENZI : 
 
 Nay, there is not a ragged boor or a bare-footed friar who does 
 not win access to him sooner than the proudest baron. That 's 
 why the people love him so. And he devotes one day of the 
 week to receiving the widows and the orphans, and you 
 know, dame, I am an orphan." 
 
 Ursula, already occupied with her own thoughts, did not 
 answer, and scarcely heard, the boy ; but leaning on his young 
 arm, and preceded by the footmen to clear the way, passed 
 slowly towards the palace of the Capitol. 
 
 A wonderful thing would it have been to a more observant 
 eye to note the change which two or three short months of the 
 stern b\it salutary and wise rule of the Tribune had effected in 
 the streets of Rome. You no longer beheld the gaunt and mail- 
 clad forms of foreign mercenaries stalking through the vistas, 
 or grouped in lazy insolence before the embattled porches of 
 some gloomy palace. The shops, that in many quarters had 
 been closed for years, were again open, glittering with wares 
 and bustling with trade. The thoroughfares, formerly either 
 silent as death or crossed by some affrighted and solitary pas- 
 senger with quick steps, and eyes that searched every corner, 
 or resounding with the roar of a pauper rabble or the open 
 feuds of savage nobles, now exhibited the regular and whole- 
 some and mingled streams of civilized life, whether bound to 
 pleasure or to commerce. Carts and wagons, laden with goods 
 which had passed in safety by the dismantled holds of the 
 robbers of the Campagna, rattled cheerfully over the path- 
 ways. " Never, perhaps," to use the translation adapted 
 from the Italian authorities by a modern and by no means 
 a partial historian, 1 " never, perhaps, has the energy and 
 effect of a single mind been more remarkably felt than in the 
 sudden reformation of Rome by the Tribune Rienzi. A den 
 of robbers was converted to the discipline of a camp or convent. 
 ! In this time,' says the historian, 2 ' did the woods begin to 
 rejoice that they were no longer infested with robbers ; the 
 oxen began to plough ; the pilgrims visited the sanctuaries ; 8 
 
 1 Gibbon. 2 Vita di Cola di Rienzi, lib. i. c. 9. 
 
 8 Gibbon ; the words in the original are ft pellegrini cominciaro a fere la cerca 
 per la santuaria.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 197 
 
 the roads and inns were replenished with travellers : trade, 
 plenty, and good faith were restored in the markets; and a 
 purse of gold might be exposed without danger in the midst 
 of the highways.'" 
 
 Amidst all these evidences of comfort and security to the 
 people some dark and discontented countenances might be 
 seen mingled in the crowd ; and whenever one who wore the 
 livery of the Colonna or the Orsini felt himself jostled by the 
 throng, a fierce hand moved involuntarily to the sword-belt, 
 and a half-suppressed oath was ended with an indignant sigh. 
 Here and there too contrasting the redecorated, refurnished, 
 and smiling shops heaps of rubbish before the gate of some 
 haughty mansion testified the abasement of fortifications, 
 which the owner irnpotently resented as a sacrilege. Through 
 such streets and such throngs did the party we accompany 
 wend their way, till they found themselves amidst crowds, 
 assembled before the entrance of the Capitol. The officers 
 there stationed kept, however, so discreet and dexterous an 
 order that they were not long detained; and now, in the 
 broad place or court of that memorable building, they saw 
 the open doors of the great justice-hall, guarded but by a sin- 
 gle sentinel, and in which, for six hours daily, did the Tri- 
 bune hold his court; for, "patient to hear, swift to redress, 
 inexorable to punish, his tribunal was always accessible to the 
 poor and stranger." 1 
 
 Not, however, to that hall did the party bend its way, but 
 to the entrance which admitted to the private apartments of 
 the palace. And here the pomp, the gaud, the more than regal 
 magnificence of the residence of the Tribune, strongly contrast- 
 ed the patriarchal simplicity which marked his justice court. 
 
 Even Ursula, not unaccustomed, of yore to the luxurious 
 state of Italian and French principalities, seemed roused into 
 surprise at the hall crowded with retainers in costly liveries, 
 the marble and gilded columns wreathed with flowers, and the 
 gorgeous banners, wrought with the blended arms of the 
 Republican City and the Pontifical See, which blazed aloft 
 and around. 
 
 , l Gibbon.
 
 198 RIENZI : 
 
 Scarce knowing whom to address in such an assemblage, 
 Ursula was relieved from her perplexity by an officer attired 
 in a suit of crimson and gold, who, with a grave and formal 
 decorum, which indeed reigned throughout the whole retinue, 
 demanded, respectfully, whom she sought. "The Signora 
 Nina ! " replied Ursula, drawing up her stately person with 
 a natural, though somewhat antiquated, dignity. There was 
 something foreign in the accent, which influenced the officer's 
 answer. 
 
 " To-day, madam, I fear that the Signora receives only the 
 Roman ladies. To-morrow is that appointed for all foreign 
 dames of distinction." 
 
 Ursula, with a slight impatience of tone, replied : " My 
 business is of that nature which is welcome on any day at 
 palaces. I come, Signor, to lay certain presents at the Sig- 
 nora's feet, which I trust she will deign to accept." 
 
 "And say, Signor," added the boy, abruptly, "that 
 Angelo Villani, whom the Lady Nina honored yesterday 
 with her notice, is no stranger, but a Roman, and comes, 
 as she bade him, to proffer to the Signora his homage and 
 devotion." 
 
 The grave officer could not refrain a smile at the pert, yet 
 not ungraceful, boldness of the boy. 
 
 " I remember me, Master Angelo Villani," he replied, " that 
 the Lady Nina spoke to you by the great staircase. Madam, 
 I will do your errand. Please to follow me to an apartment 
 more fitting your sex and seeming." 
 
 With that the officer led the way across the hall to a broad 
 staircase of white marble, along the centre of which were laid 
 those rich Eastern carpets which at that day, when rushes 
 strewed the chambers of an English monarch, were already 
 common to the greater luxury of Italian palaces. Opening a 
 door at the first flight, he ushered Ursula and her young 
 charge into a lofty ante-chamber hung with arras of wrought 
 velvets; while over the opposite door, through which the 
 officer now vanished, were blazoned the armorial bearings 
 which the Tribune so constantly introduced in all his pomp, 
 not more from the love of show than from his politic desire
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUXES. 199 
 
 to mingle with the keys of the Pontiff the heraldic insignia of 
 the Kepublic. 
 
 " Philip of Valois is not housed like this man ! " muttered 
 Ursula. "If this last, I shall have done better for my charge 
 than I recked of." 
 
 The officer soon returned, and led them across an apartment 
 of vast extent, which was indeed the great reception-chamber 
 of the palace. Four and twenty columns of the Oriental ala- 
 baster which had attested the spoils of the later Emperors, 
 and had been disinterred from forgotten ruins to grace the 
 palace of the Eeviver of the old Republic, supported the light 
 roof, which, half Gothic, half classic, in its architecture, was 
 inlaid with gilded and purple mosaics. The tessellated floor 
 was covered in the centre with cloth of gold, the walls were 
 clothed, at intervals, with the same gorgeous hangings, re- 
 lieved by panels freshly painted in the most glowing colors, 
 with mystic and symbolical designs. At the upper end of 
 this royal chamber, two steps ascended to the place of the 
 Tribune's throne, above which was the canopy wrought with 
 the eternal armorial bearings of the Pontiff and the City. 
 
 Traversing this apartment, the officer opened the door at its 
 extremity, which admitted to a small chamber crowded with 
 pages in rich dresses of silver and blue velvet. There were 
 few amongst them older than Angelo, and from their general 
 beauty they seemed the very flower and blossom of the city. 
 
 Short time had Angelo to gaze on his comrades that were 
 to be ; another minute, and he and his protectress were in the 
 presence of the Tribune's bride. 
 
 The chamber was not large, but it was large enough to 
 prove that the beautiful daughter of Kaselli had realized her 
 visions of vanity and splendor. 
 
 It was an apartment that mocked description ; it seemed a 
 cabinet for the gems of the world. The daylight, shaded by 
 high and deep-set casements of stained glass, streamed in a 
 purple and mellow hue over all that the art of that day 
 boasted most precious, or regal luxury held most dear. The 
 candelabras of the silver workmanship of Florence ; the car- 
 pets and stuffs of the East; the draperies of Venice and
 
 200 RIENZI : 
 
 Genoa; paintings like the illuminated missals, wrought in 
 gold and those lost colors of blue and crimson ; antique mar- 
 bles which spoke of the bright days of Athens; tables of 
 disinterred mosaics, their freshness preserved as by magic; 
 censers of gold that steamed with the odors of Araby, yet 
 so subdued as not to deaden the healthier scent of flowers, 
 which blushed in every corner from their marble and alabaster 
 vases ; a small and spirit-like fountain, which seemed to gush 
 from among wreaths of roses, diffusing in its diamond and 
 fairy spray a scarce felt coolness to the air, all these, and 
 such as these, which it were vain work to detail, congregated 
 in the richest luxuriance, harmonized with the most exquisite 
 taste, uniting the ancient arts with the modern, amazed and 
 intoxicated the sense of the beholder. It was not so much 
 the cost, nor the luxury, that made the character of the cham- 
 ber, it was a certain gorgeous and almost sublime phantasy ; 
 so that it seemed rather the fabled retreat of an enchantress, 
 at whose word genii ransacked the earth and fairies arranged 
 the produce, than the grosser splendor of an earthly queen. 
 Behind the piled cushions upon which Nina half reclined, 
 stood four girls, beautiful as nymphs, with fans of the rarest 
 feathers ; and at her feet lay one older than the rest, whose 
 lute, though now silent, attested her legitimate occupation. 
 
 But had the room in itself seemed somewhat too fantastic 
 and overcharged in its prodigal ornaments, the form and face 
 of Nina would at once have rendered all appropriate, so com- 
 pletely did she seem the natural Spirit of the Place, so won- 
 derfully did her beauty, elated as it now was with contented 
 love, gratified vanity, exultant hope, body forth the brightest 
 vision that ever floated before the eyes of Tasso when he 
 wrought into one immortal shape the glory of the Enchantress 
 with the allurements of the Woman. 
 
 Nina half rose as she saw Ursula, whose sedate and mourn- 
 ful features involuntarily testified her surprise and admiration 
 at a loveliness so rare and striking, but who, undazzled by the 
 splendor around, soon recovered her wonted self-composure, 
 and seated herself on the cushion to which Nina pointed, 
 while the young visitor remained standing, and spell-bound
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 201 
 
 by childish wonder, in the centre of the apartment. Nina 
 recognized him with a smile. 
 
 " Ah ! my pretty boy, whose quick eye and bold air caught 
 my fancy yesterday, have you come to accept my offer ? Is it 
 you, madam, who claim this fair child ? " 
 
 " Lady," replied Ursula, " my business here is brief : by a 
 train of events, needless to weary you with narrating, this 
 boy from his infancy fell to my charge, a weighty and 
 anxious trust to one whose thoughts are beyond the barrier of 
 life. I have reared him as became a youth of gentle blood ; 
 for on both sides, lady, he is noble, though an orphan, mother- 
 less and sireless." 
 
 " Poor child ! " said Nina, compassionately. 
 
 " Growing now," continued Ursula, " oppressed by years, and 
 desirous only to make my peace with heaven, I journeyed 
 hither some months since, in the design to place the boy with a 
 relation of mine ; and, that trust fulfilled, to take the vows in 
 the City of the Apostle. Alas ! I found my kinsman dead, and 
 a baron of wild and dissolute character was his heir. Here 
 remaining, perplexed and anxious, it seemed to me the voice of 
 Providence when, yester-evening, the child told me you had been 
 pleased to honor him with your notice. Like the rest of Rome, 
 he has already learned enthusiasm for the Tribune, devotion to 
 the Tribune's bride. Will you, in truth, admit him of your 
 household ? He will not dishonor your protection by his blood, 
 nor, I trust, by his bearing." 
 
 " I would take his face for his guarantee, madam, even with- 
 out so distinguished a recommendation as your own. Is he 
 Roman ? His name then must be known to me." 
 
 " Pardon me, lady," replied Ursula ; " he bears the name of 
 Angelo Villani, not that of his sire or mother. The honor 
 of a noble house forever condemns his parentage to rest 
 unknown. He is the offspring of a love unsanctioned by the 
 Church." 
 
 " He is the more to be loved, then, and to be pitied, victim 
 of sin not his own ! " answered Nina, with moistened eyes, as she 
 saw the deep and burning blush that covered the boy's cheeks. 
 " With the Tribune's reign commences a new era of nobility,
 
 202 R1EXZI : 
 
 when rank ami knighthood shall be won by a man's own merit, 
 not that of his ancestors. Fear not, madam ; in my house he 
 shall know no slight." 
 
 Ursula was moved from her pride by the kindness of Nina ; 
 she approached with involuntary reverence, and kissed the 
 Signora's hand. 
 
 " May our Lady reward your noble heart ! " said she. " And 
 now ray mission is ended, and my earthly goal is won. Add 
 only, lady, to your inestimable favors, one more. These jewels " 
 and Ursula drew from her robe a casket, touched the spring, 
 and the lid flying back, discovered jewels of great size and the 
 most brilliant water "these jewels," she continued, laying 
 the casket at Nina's feet, " once belonging to the princely house 
 of Thoulouse, are valueless to me and mine. Suffer me to think 
 that they are transferred to one whose queenly brow will give 
 them a lustre it cannot borrow." 
 
 " How ! " said Nina, coloring very deeply ; " think you, 
 madam, my kindness can be bought ? What woman's kindness 
 ever was ? Nay, nay ; take back the gifts, or I shall pray you 
 to take back your boy." 
 
 Ursula was astonished and confounded; to her experience 
 such abstinence was a novelty, and she scarcely knew how to 
 meet it. Nina perceived her embarrassment with a haughty 
 and triumphant smile, and then, regaining her former courtesy 
 of demeanor, said, with a grave sweetness, 
 
 " The Tribune's hands are clean : the Tribune's wife must 
 not be suspected. Rather, madam, should I press upon you some 
 token of exchange for the fair charge you have committed to 
 me. Your jewels hereafter may profit the boy in his career : 
 reserve them for one who needs them." 
 
 "No, lady," said Ursula, rising, and lifting her eyes to 
 heaven ; " they shall buy masses for his mother's soul : for him 
 I shall reserve a competence when his years require it. Lady, 
 accept the thanks of a wretched and desolate heart. Fare you 
 well ! " 
 
 She turned to quit the room, but with so faltering and weak 
 a step that Nina, touched and affected, sprang up, and with her 
 own hand guided the old woman across the room, whispering
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 203 
 
 comfort and soothing to her ; while, as they reached the door, 
 the boy rushed forward, and, clasping Ursula's robe, sobbed 
 out : " Dear dame, not one farewell for your little Angelo ? 
 Forgive him all he has cost you ! Now, for the first time, I feel 
 how wayward and thankless I have been." 
 
 The old woman caught him in her arms and kissed him 
 passionately ; when the boy, as if a thought suddenly struck 
 him, drew forth the purse she had given him, and said, in a 
 choked and scarce articulate voice : " And let this, dearest dame, 
 go in masses for my poor father's soul ; for he is dead too, you 
 know ! " 
 
 These words seemed to freeze at once all the tenderer emo- 
 tions of Ursula. She put back the boy with the same chilling 
 and stern severity of aspect and manner which had so often 
 before repressed him; and recovering her self-possession, at 
 once quitted the apartment without saying another word. Nina, 
 surprised, but still pitying her sorrow and respecting her age, 
 followed her steps across the pages' ante-room and the recep- 
 tion-chamber, even to the foot of the stairs, a condescension 
 the haughtiest princess of Home could not have won from her ; 
 and returning, saddened and thoughtful, she took the boy's hand 
 and affectionately kissed his forehead. 
 
 " Poor boy ! " she said, " it seems as if Providence had made 
 me select thee yesterday from the crowd, and thus conducted 
 thee to thy proper refuge. For to whom should come the 
 friendless and the orphans of Eome, but to the palace of Rome's 
 first Magistrate ? " Turning then to her attendants, she gave 
 them instructions as to the personal comforts of her new 
 charge, which evinced that if power had ministered to her 
 vanity, it had not steeled her heart. Angelo Villani lived to 
 repay her well ! 
 
 She retained the boy in her presence ; and conversing with 
 him familiarly, she was more and more pleased with his bold 
 spirit and frank manner. Their conversation was however 
 interrupted, as the day advanced, by the arrival of several 
 ladies of the Roman nobility. And then it was that Nina's 
 virtues receded into shade and her faults appeared. She could 
 not resist the woman's triumph over those arrogant signoras
 
 204 RIENZI : 
 
 who now cringed in homage where they had once slighted with 
 disdain. She affected the manner of, she demanded the respect 
 due to, a queen, and by many of those dexterous arts which 
 the sex know so well, she contrived to render her very courtesy 
 a humiliation to her haughty guests. Her commanding beauty 
 and her graceful intellect saved her, indeed, from the vulgar 
 insolence of the upstart, but yet more keenly stung the pride, 
 by forbidding to those she mortified the retaliation of con- 
 tempt. Hers were the covert taunt, the smiling affront, the 
 sarcasm in the mask of compliment, the careless exaction of 
 respect in trifles, which could not outwardly be resented, but 
 which could not inly be forgiven. 
 
 " Fair day to the Signora Colouna ! " said she to the proud 
 wife of the proud Stephen. " We passed your palace yesterday. 
 How fair it now seems, relieved from those gloomy battlements 
 which it must often have saddened you to gaze upon. Signora," 
 turning to one of the Orsini, "your lord has high favor witli 
 the Tribune, who destines him to great command. His for- 
 tunes are secured, and we rejoice at it ; for no man more loyally 
 serves the state. Have you seen, fair Lady of Frangipani, the 
 last verses of Petrarch in honor of my lord ? They rest yonder. 
 May we so far venture as to request you to point out their 
 beauties to the Signora di Savelli ? We rejoice, noble Lady 
 of Malatesta, to observe that your eyesight is so well restored. 
 The last time we met, though we stood next to you in the revels 
 of the Lady Giulia, you seemed scarce to distinguish us from 
 the pillar by which we stood ! " 
 
 " Must this insolence be endured ? " whispered the Signora 
 Frangipani to the Signora Malatesta. 
 
 " Hush, hush ! if ever it be our day again ! "
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 205 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE BLESSING OF A COUNCILLOR WHOSE INTERESTS AND 
 
 HEART ARE OUR OWN. THE STRAWS THROWN UPWARD 
 
 DO THEY PORTEND A STORM ? 
 
 IT was later that day than usual when Rienzi returned from 
 his tribunal to the apartments of the palace. As he traversed 
 the reception-hall his countenance was much flushed ; his teeth 
 were set firmly, like a man who has taken a strong resolution 
 from which he will not be moved ; and his brow was dark with 
 that settled and fearful frown which the describers of his per- 
 sonal appearance have not failed to notice as the characteristic 
 of an anger the more deadly because invariably just. Close 
 at his heels followed the Bishop of Orvietto and the aged 
 Stephen Colonna. " I tell you, my lords," said Rienzi, " that 
 ye plead in vain. Eome knows no distinction between ranks. 
 The law is blind to the agent lynx-eyed to the deed." 
 
 " Yet," said Kaimond, hesitatingly, " bethink thee, Tribune : 
 the nephew of two cardinals, and himself once a senator." 
 
 Rienzi halted abruptly, and faced his companions. "My 
 Lord Bishop," said he, "does not this make the crime more 
 inexcusable ? Look you, thus it reads : A vessel from Avignon 
 to Naples, charged with the revenues of Provence to Queen 
 Johanna, on whose cause, mark you, we now hold solemn coun- 
 cil, is wrecked at the mouth of the Tiber ; with that, Martino 
 di Porto a noble, as you say the holder of that fortress 
 whence he derives his title, doubly bound, by gentle blood and 
 by immediate neighborhood, to succor the oppressed, falls upon 
 the vessel with his troops what hath the rebel with armed 
 troops ? and pillages the vessel like a common robber. He 
 is apprehended, brought to my tribunal, receives fair trial, is 
 condemned to die. Such is the law: what more would ye 
 have ? " 
 
 Mercy," said the Colonna.
 
 206 RIENZI : 
 
 Rienzi folded his arms and laughed disdainfully. " I never 
 heard my Lord Colonna plead for mercy when a peasant had 
 stolen the bread that was to feed his famishing children." 
 
 " Between a peasant and a prince, Tribune, /, for one, recog- 
 nize a distinction ; the bright blood of an Orsini is not to be 
 shed like that of a base plebeian " 
 
 " Which, I remember me," said Rienzi, in a low voice, " you 
 deemed small matter enough when my boy-brother fell beneath 
 the wanton spear of your proud son. Wake not that memory, 
 I warn you ; let it sleep. For shame, old Colonna ; for shame ! 
 so near the grave, where the worm levels all flesh, and preach- 
 ing, with those gray hairs, the uncharitable distinction between 
 man and man. Is there not distinction enough at the best ? 
 Does not one wear purple, and the other rags ? Hath not one 
 ease, and the other toil ? Doth not the one banquet while the 
 other starves ? Do I nourish any mad scheme to level the 
 ranks which society renders a necessary evil ? No. I war no 
 more with Dives than with Lazarus. But before man's judg- 
 ment-seat, as before God's, Lazarus and Dives are made equal. 
 No more." 
 
 Colonna drew his robe round him with great haughtiness, 
 and bit his lip in silence. Eaimond interposed. 
 
 " All this is true, Tribune. But," and he drew Rienzi aside, 
 "you know we must be politic as well as just. Nephew to two 
 cardinals, what enmity will not this provoke at Avignon ! " 
 
 " Vex not yourself, holy Raimond ! I will answer it to the 
 Pontiff." While they spoke, the bell tolled heavily and 
 loudly. 
 
 Colonna started. 
 
 "Great Tribune," said he, with a slight sneer, ' deign to 
 pause ere it be too late. I know not that I ever before bent 
 to you a suppliant, and I ask you now to spare mine own foe. 
 Stephen Colonna prays Cola di Rienzi to spare the life of an 
 Orsini." 
 
 " I understand thy taunt, old lord," said Rienzi, calmly, " but 
 I resent it not. You are foe to the Orsini, yet you plead for 
 him, it sounds generous ; but hark you, you are more a friend 
 to your order than a foe to your rival. You cannot bear that
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 207 
 
 one, great enough to have contended with you, should perish 
 like a thief. I give full praise to such noble forgiveness ; but 
 I am no noble, and I do not sympathize with it. One word 
 more : if this were the sole act of fraud and violence that this 
 bandit baron had committed, your prayers should plead for 
 him ; but is not his life notorious ? Has he not been from 
 boyhood the terror and disgrace of Rome ? How many matrons 
 violated, merchants pillaged, peaceful men stilettoed in the day- 
 light, rise in dark witness against the prisoner ? And for such 
 a man do I live to hear an aged prince and a pope's vicar plead 
 for mercy ? Fie, fie ! But I will be even with ye. The next 
 poor man whom the law sentences to death, for your sake will 
 I pardon." 
 
 Raimond again drew aside the Tribune, while Colonna 
 struggled to suppress his rage. 
 
 " My friend," said the Bishop, " the nobles will feel this as 
 an insult to their whole order ; the very pleading of Orsini's 
 worst foe must convince thee of this. Martino's blood will 
 seal their reconciliation with each other, and they will be as 
 one man against thee." 
 
 " Be it so ; with God and the People on my side, I will dare, 
 though a Roman, to be just. The bell ceases, you are al- 
 ready too late." So saying, Rienzi threw open the casement ; 
 and by the Staircase of the Lion rose a gibbet, from which 
 swung with a creaking sound, arrayed in his patrician robes, 
 the yet palpitating corpse of Martino di Porto. 
 
 " Behold ! " said the Tribune, sternly ; " thus die all robbers. 
 For traitors, the same law has the axe and the scaffold ! " 
 
 Raimond drew back and turned pale. Not so the veteran 
 noble. Tears of wounded pride started from his eyes ; he 
 approached, leaning on his staff, to Rienzi, touched him on 
 his shoulder, and said, 
 
 " Tribune, a judge has lived to envy his victim ! " 
 
 Rienzi turned with an equal pride to the Baron 
 
 "We forgive idle words in the aged. My lord, have you 
 done with us ? We would be alone." 
 
 "Give me thy arm, Raimond," said Stephen. "Tribune, 
 farewell ! Forget that the Colonna sued thee, an easy task,
 
 208 RIENZI : 
 
 methinks ; for, wise as you are, you forget what every one else 
 can remember." 
 
 "Ay, my lord, what?" 
 
 " Birth, Tribune, birth ; that 's all ! " 
 
 " The Signer Colonna has taken up my old calling, and turned 
 a wit," returned Rienzi, with an indifferent and easy tone. 
 
 Then, following Raimond and Stephen with his eyes till the 
 door closed upon them, he muttered, " Insolent ! were it not for 
 Adrian, thy gray beard should not bear thee harmless. Birth ! 
 what Colonna would not boast himself, if he could, the grand- 
 son of an emperor ? Old man, there is danger in thee which 
 must be watched." With that he turned musingly towards the 
 casement, and again that grisly spectacle of death met his eye. 
 The people below, assembled in large concourse, rejoiced at the 
 execution of one whose whole life had been infamy and rapine, 
 but who had seemed beyond justice, with all the fierce clamor 
 that marks the exultation of the rabble over a crushed foe. 
 And where Rienzi stood, he heard their shouts of " Long live 
 the Tribune, the just judge, Rome's liberator ! " But at that 
 time other thoughts deafened his senses to the popular 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 " My poor brother ! " he said with tears in his eyes, " it was 
 owing to this man's crimes, and to a crime almost similar to 
 that for which he has now suffered, that thou wert entrained to 
 the slaughter ; and they who had no pity for the lamb, clamor 
 for compassion to the wolf ! Ah ! wert thou living now, how 
 these proud heads would bend to thee ; though dead, thou wert 
 not worthy of a thought. God rest thy gentle soul, and keep 
 my ambition pure as it was when we walked at twilight, side 
 by side together ! " 
 
 The Tribune shut the casement, and turning away, sought 
 the chamber of Nina. On hearing his step without, she had 
 already risen from the couch, her eyes sparkling, her bosom 
 heaving ; and as he entered, she threw herself on his neck, and 
 murmured as she nestled to his breast, " Ah, the hours since 
 we parted ! " 
 
 It was a singular thing to see that proud lady, proud of her 
 beauty, her station, her new honors, whose gorgeous vanity
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 209 
 
 was already the talk of Rome and the reproach to Rienzi, 
 how suddenly and miraculously she seemed changed in his 
 presence ! Blushing and timid, all pride in herself seemed 
 merged in her proud love for him. No woman ever loved to 
 the full extent of the passion who did not venerate where she 
 loved, and who did not feel humbled delighted in that hu- 
 mility by her exaggerated and overweening estimate of the 
 superiority of the object of her worship. 
 
 And it might be the consciousness of this distinction be- 
 tween himself and all other created things which continued to 
 increase the love of the Tribune to his bride, to blind him to 
 her failings towards others, and to indulge her in a magnifi- 
 cence of parade which, though to a certain point politic to 
 assume, was carried to an extent which, if it did not conspire 
 to produce his downfall, has served the Romans with an ex- 
 cuse for their own cowardice and desertion, and historians with 
 a plausible explanation of causes they had not the industry to 
 fathom. Rienzi returned his wife's caresses with an equal 
 affection ; and bending down to her beautiful face, the sight 
 was sufficient to chase from his brow the emotions, whether 
 severe or sad, which had lately darkened its broad expanse. 
 " Thou hast not been abroad this morning, Nina ! " 
 "No, the heat was oppressive. But nevertheless, Cola, I 
 have not lacked company, half the matronage of Rome has 
 crowded the palace." 
 
 " Ah ! I warrant it. But yon boy, is he not a new face ? n 
 " Hush, Cola ! speak to him kindly, I entreat ; of his story 
 anon. Angelo, approach! You see your new master, the 
 Tribune of Rome." 
 
 Angelo approached with a timidity not his wont ; for an air 
 of majesty was at all times natural to Rienzi, and since his 
 power it had naturally taken a graver and austerer aspect, 
 which impressed those who approached him, even the ambassa- 
 dors of princes, with a certain involuntary awe. The Tribune 
 smiled at the effect he saw he had produced, and being by 
 temper fond of children, and affable to all but the great, he 
 hastened to dispel it. He took the child affectionately in his 
 arms, kissed him, and bade him welcome. 
 
 VOL. I. 14
 
 210 RIENZI : 
 
 " May we have a son as fair 1 " he whispered to Nina, who 
 blushed, and turned away. 
 
 "Thy name, my little friend?" 
 
 Angelo Villani." 
 
 "A Tuscan name. There is a man of letters at Florence, 
 doubtless writing our annals from hearsay at this moment, 
 called Villani, perhaps akin to thee ? " 
 
 "I have no kin," said the boy, bluntly; "and therefore I 
 shall the better love the Signora and honor you, if you will let 
 me. I am Roman : all the Roman boys honor Rienzi." 
 
 " Do they, my brave lad ? " said the Tribune, coloring with 
 pleasure. " That is a good omen of my continued prosperity." 
 He put down the boy, and threw himself on the cushions? 
 while Nina placed herself on a kind of low stool beside him. 
 
 " Let us be alone," said he ; and Nina motioned to the 
 attendant maidens to withdraw. 
 
 "Take my new page with you," said she ; "he is yet, perhaps, 
 too fresh from home to enjoy the company of his giddy 
 brethren." 
 
 When they were alone, Nina proceeded to narrate to Rienzi 
 the adventure of the morning; but though he seemed out- 
 wardly to listen, his gaze was on vacancy, and he was evidently 
 abstracted and self-absorbed. At length, as she concluded, he 
 said, " Well, Nina, you have acted as ever, kindly and nobly. 
 Let us to other themes. I am in danger." 
 
 " Danger I " echoed Nina, turning pale. 
 
 "Why, the word must not appal you ! you have a spirit like 
 mine, that scorns fear, and, for that reason, Nina, in all 
 Rome you are my only confidant. It was not only to glad me 
 with thy beauty, but to cheer me with thy counsel, to support 
 me with thy valor, that Heaven gave me thee as a helpmate." 
 
 " Now, our Lady bless thee for those words ! " said Nina, 
 kissing the hand that hung over her shoulder; " and if I started 
 at the word ' danger,' it was but the woman's thought of thee, 
 an unworthy thought, my Cola, for glory and danger go 
 together. And I am as ready to share the last as the first. If 
 the hour of trial ever come, none of thy friends shall be so 
 faithful to thy side as this weak form but undaunted heart."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 211 
 
 " I know it, my own Nina ; I know it," said Eienzi, rising, 
 and pacing the chamber with large and rapid strides. "Now 
 listen to me. Thou knowest that, to govern in safety, it is my 
 policy as my pride to govern justly. To govern justly is an 
 awful thing when mighty Barons are the culprits. Nina, for 
 an open and audacious robbery our court has sentenced Martin 
 of the Orsini, the Lord of Porto, to death. His corse swings 
 now on the Staircase of the Lion." 
 
 " A dreadful doom ! " said Nina, shuddering. 
 
 " True ; but by his death thousands of poor and honest men 
 may live in peace. It is not that which troubles me; the 
 Barons resent the deed, as an insult to them that law should 
 touch a noble. They will rise, they will rebel. I foresee the 
 storm, not the spell to allay it." 
 
 Nina paused a moment. " They have taken," she then said, 
 "a solemn oath on the Eucharist not to bear arms against 
 thee." 
 
 " Perjury is a light addition to theft and murder," answered 
 Eienzi, with his sarcastic smile. 
 
 " But the people are faithful." 
 
 " Yes, but in a civil war (which the saints forefend ! ) those 
 combatants are the stanchest who have no home but their 
 armor, no calling but the sword. The trader will not leave his 
 trade at the toll of a bell every day ; but the Barons' soldiery 
 are ready at all hours." 
 
 " To be strong," said Nina, who, summoned to the councils 
 of her lord, shoAved an intellect not unworthy of the honor, 
 " to be strong in dangerous times, authority must seem 
 strong. By showing no fear, you may prevent the cause of 
 fear." 
 
 " My own thought ! " returned Eienzi, quickly. " You know 
 that half my power with these Barons is drawn from the hom- 
 age rendered to me by foreign States. When from every city 
 in Italy the ambassadors of crowned princes seek the alliance 
 of the Tribune, they must veil their resentment at the rise of 
 the Plebeian. On the other hand, to be strong abroad I must 
 seem strong at home : the vast design I have planned, and, as 
 by a miracle, begun to execute, will fail at once if it seem
 
 212 RIENZI: 
 
 abroad to be intrusted to an unsteady and fluctuating power. 
 That design," continued Rienzi, pausing, and placing Ms hand 
 on a marble bust of the young Augustus, " is greater than his 
 whose profound yet icy soul united Italy in subjection ; for it 
 would unite Italy in freedom. Yes! could we but form one 
 great federative league of all the States of Italy, each gov- 
 erned by its own laws, but united for mutual and common 
 protection against the Attilas of the North, with Kome for 
 their Metropolis and their Mother, this age and this brain 
 would have wrought an enterprise which men should quote till 
 the sound of the last trump ! " 
 
 " I know thy divine scheme," said Nina, catching his enthu- 
 siasm ; " and what if there be danger in attaining it ? Have 
 we not mastered the greatest danger in the first step ? " 
 
 " Eight, Nina, right ! Heaven," and the Tribune, who ever 
 recognized, in his own fortunes, the agency of the Hand 
 above, crossed himself reverently, " will preserve him to whom 
 it hath vouchsafed such lofty visions of the future redemption 
 of the Land of the true Church and the liberty and advance- 
 ment of its children ! This I trust : already many of the cities 
 of Tuscany have entered into treaties for the formation of this 
 league ; nor from a single tyrant, save John di Vico, have I 
 received aught but fair words and flattering promises. The 
 time seems ripe for the grand stroke of all." 
 
 " And what is that ? " demanded Nina, wonderingly. 
 
 " Defiance to all foreign interference. By what right does a 
 synod of stranger princes give Home a king in some Teuton 
 Emperor ? Home's people alone should choose Rome's gov- 
 ernor. And shall we cross the Alps to render the title of our 
 master to the descendants of the Goth ? " 
 
 Nina was silent ; the custom of choosing the sovereign by a 
 diet beyond the Rhine, reserving only the ceremony of his 
 subsequent coronation for the mock assent of the Romans, 
 however degrading to that people, and however hostile to all 
 notions of substantial independence, was so unquestioned at 
 that time that Rienzi's daring suggestion left her amazed and 
 breathless, prepared as she was for any scheme, however 
 extravagantly bold.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 213 
 
 " How ! " said she, after a long pause ; " do I understand 
 aright ? Can you mean defiance to the Emperor ? " 
 
 " Why, listen : at this moment there are two pretenders to 
 the throne of Rome, to the Imperial crown of Italy, a 
 Bohemian and a Bavarian. To their election our assent 
 Rome's assent is not requisite, not asked. Can we be called 
 free, can we boast ourselves republican, when a stranger and a 
 barbarian is thus thrust upon our necks ? No, we will be free 
 in reality as in name. Besides," continued the Tribune, in a 
 calmer tone, " this seems to me politic as well as daring. The 
 people incessantly demand wonders from me : how can I more 
 nobly dazzle, more virtuously win them, than by asserting their 
 inalienable right to choose their own rulers ? The daring will 
 awe the Barons, and foreigners themselves ; it will give a start- 
 ling example to all Italy ; it will be the first brand of a univer- 
 sal blaze. It shall be done, and with a pomp that befits the 
 deed ! " 
 
 "Cola," said Nina, hesitatingly, "your eagle spirit often 
 ascends where mine flags to follow ; yet be not over bold." 
 
 "Nay, did you not, a moment since, preach a different 
 doctrine ? To be strong, was I not to seem strong ? " 
 
 "May fate preserve you!" said Nina, with a foreboding 
 sigh. 
 
 " Fate ! " cried Rienzi ; " there is no fate ! Between the 
 thought and the success, God is the only agent; and," he 
 added with a voice of deep solemnity, "I shall not be de- 
 serted. Visions by night, even while thine arms are around 
 me ; omens and impulses, stirring and divine, by day, even in 
 the midst of the living crowd, encourage my path and point 
 my goal. Now, even now, a voice seems to whisper in my 
 ear : < Pause not, tremble not, waver not ; for the eye of 
 the All-Seeing is upon thee, and the hand of the Ail-Power- 
 ful shall protect ! ' " 
 
 As Rienzi thus spoke, his face grew pale, his hair seemed to 
 bristle, his tall and proud form trembled visibly, and presently 
 he sank down on a seat and covered his face with his hands. 
 
 An awe crept over Nina, though not unaccustomed to such 
 strange and preternatural emotions, which appeared yet the
 
 214 KIENZI : 
 
 more singular in one who in common life was so calm, stately, 
 and self-possessed. But with every increase of prosperity and 
 power those emotions seemed to increase in their fervor, as if 
 in such increase the devout and overwrought superstition of 
 the Tribune recognized additional proof of a mysterious 
 guardianship mightier than the valor and art of man. 
 
 She approached fearfully and threw her arms around him, 
 but without speaking. 
 
 Ere yet the Tribune had well recovered himself, a slight tap 
 at the door was heard, and the sound seemed at once to recall 
 his self-possession. 
 
 " Enter," he said, lifting his face, to which the wonted color 
 slowly returned. 
 
 An officer, half-opening the door, announced that the person 
 he had sent for waited his leisure. 
 
 " I come ! Core of my heart," he whispered to Nina, " we 
 will sup alone to-night, and will converse more on these 
 matters ; " so saying, with somewhat less than his usual lofti- 
 ness of mien he left the room, and sought his cabinet, which 
 lay at the other side of the reception-chamber. Here he 
 found Cecco del Vecchio. 
 
 " How, my bold fellow ! " said the Tribune, assuming with 
 wonderful ease that air of friendly equality which he always 
 adopted with those of the lower class, and which made a strik- 
 ing contrast with the majesty, no less natural, which marked 
 his manner to the great. " How now, my Cecco ! Thou 
 bearest thyself bravely, I see, during these sickly heats ; we 
 laborers for both of us labor, Cecco are too busy to fall 
 ill, as the idle do, in the summer, or the autumn, of Roman 
 skies. I sent for thee, Cecco, because I would know how thy 
 fellow-craftsmen are like to take the Orsini's execution." 
 
 " Oh, Tribune ! " replied the artificer, who, now familiarized 
 with Rienzi, had lost much of his earlier awe of him, and who 
 regarded the Tribune's power as partly his own creation, " they 
 are already out of their honest wits at your courage in punish- 
 ing the great men as you would the small." 
 
 " So ; I am repaid ! But hark you, Cecco, it will bring 
 perhaps hot work upon us. Every Baron will dread lest it be
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 215 
 
 his turn next, and dread will make them bold, like rats in 
 despair. We may have to fight for the Good Estate." 
 
 " With all my heart, Tribune," answered Cecco, gruffly. " I, 
 for one, am no craven." 
 
 " Then keep the same spirit in all your meetings with the 
 artificers. I fight for the people. The people at a pinch 
 must fight with me." 
 
 " They will," replied Cecco ; they will ! " 
 
 " Cecco, this city is under the spiritual dominion of the 
 Pontiff, so be it ; it is an honor, not a burden. But the 
 temporal dominion, my friend, should be with Romans only. 
 Is it not a disgrace to Republican Rome that while we now 
 speak, certain barbarians, whom we never heard of, should be 
 deciding, beyond the Alps, on the merits of two sovereigns 
 whom we never saw ? Is not this a thing to be resisted ? 
 An Italian city, what hath it to do with a Bohemian 
 Emperor ? " 
 
 " Little eno', Saint Paul knows ! " said Cecco. 
 
 " Should it not be a claim questioned ? " 
 
 " I think so ! " replied the smith. 
 
 " And if found an outrage on our ancient laws, should it not 
 be a claim resisted ? " 
 
 " Not a doubt of it." 
 
 " Well, go to ! The archives assure me that never was 
 Emperor lawfully crowned but by the free votes of the people. 
 We never chose Bohemian or Bavarian." 
 
 " But, on the contrary, whenever these Northmen come hither 
 to be crowned, we try to drive them away with stones and 
 curses ; for we are a people, Tribune, that love our liberties." 
 
 "Go back to your friends; see, address them, say that 
 your Tribune will demand of these pretenders to Rome the 
 right to her throne. Let them not be mazed or startled, but 
 support me when the occasion comes." 
 
 " I am glad of this," quoth the huge smith ; " for our friends 
 have grown a little unruly of late, and say " 
 
 "What do they say?" 
 
 " That it is true you have expelled the banditti, and curb the 
 Barons, and administer justice fairly "
 
 216 RIENZI : 
 
 "Is not that miracle enough for the space of some two or 
 three short months ? " 
 
 " Why, they say it would have been more than enough in a 
 noble ; but you, being raised from the people, and having such 
 gifts and so forth, might do yet more. It is now three weeks 
 since they have had any new thing to talk about ; but Orsini's 
 execution to-day will cheer them a bit." 
 
 " Well, Cecco, well," said the Tribune, rising ; " they shall 
 have more anon to feed their mouths with. So you think 
 they love me not quite so well as they did some three weeks 
 back?" 
 
 " I say not so," answered Cecco. " But we Komans are an 
 impatient people." 
 
 " Alas, yes ! " 
 
 " However, they will no doubt stick close enough to you, 
 provided, Tribune, you don't put any new tax upon them." 
 
 " Ha ! But if, in order to be free, it be necessary to fight ; 
 if, to fight, it be necessary to have soldiers, why then the 
 soldiers must be paid. Won't the people contribute something 
 to their own liberties, to just laws and safe lives ? " 
 
 " I don't know," returned the smith, scratching his head as 
 if a little puzzled ; " but I know that poor men won't be over- 
 taxed. They say they are better off with you than with the 
 Barons before, and therefore they love you. But men in busi- 
 ness, Tribune, poor men with families, must look to their 
 bellies. Only one man in ten goes to law, only one man in 
 twenty is butchered by a Baron's brigand ; but every man eats, 
 and drinks, and feels a tax." 
 
 " This cannot be your reasoning, Cecco ! " said Rienzi, 
 gravely. 
 
 "Why, Tribune, I am an honest man, but I have a large 
 family to rear." 
 
 " Enough, enough ! " said the Tribune, quickly ; and then 
 he added abstractedly, as to himself, but aloud : " Methinks 
 we have been too lavish; these shows and spectacles should 
 cease." 
 
 " What ! " cried Cecco, " what, Tribune ! would you deny 
 the poor fellows a holiday? They work hard enough, and
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 217 
 
 their only pleasure is seeing your fine shows and processions ; 
 and then they go home and say : ' See, our man beats all the 
 Barons ! what state he keeps ! ' ' 
 
 " Ah ! they blame not my splendor, then ! " 
 
 " Blame it ? no ! Without it they would be ashamed of 
 you, and think the Buono Stato but a shabby concern." 
 
 " You speak bluntly, Cecco, but perhaps wisely. The saints 
 keep you ! Fail not to remember what I told you ! " 
 
 " No, no. It is a shame to have an Emperor thrust upon 
 us ; so it is. Good evening, Tribune." 
 
 Left alone, the Tribune remained for some time plunged in 
 gloomy and foreboding thoughts. 
 
 " I am in the midst of a magician's spell," said he ; " if I 
 desist, the fiends tear me to pieces. What I have begun, that 
 must I conclude. But this rude man shows me too well with 
 what tools I work. For me, failure is nothing. I have already 
 climbed to a greatness which might render giddy many a born 
 prince's brain. But with my fall, Rome, Italy, Peace, Justice, 
 Civilization, all fall back into the abyss of ages ! " 
 
 He rose ; and after once or twice pacing his apartment, in 
 which from many a column gleamed upon him the marble effi- 
 gies of the great of old, he opened the casement to inhale the 
 air of the now declining day. 
 
 The Place of the Capitol was deserted, save by the tread of 
 the single sentinel. But still, dark and fearful, hung from the 
 tall gibbet the clay of the robber noble; and the colossal 
 shape of the Egyptian lion rose hard by, sharp and dark in 
 the breathless atmosphere. 
 
 " Dread statue ! " thought Rienzi, " how many unwhispered 
 and solemn rites hast thou witnessed by thy native Nile ere 
 the Roman's hand transferred thee hither, the antique wit- 
 ness of Roman crimes ! Strange ! but when I look upon thee 
 I feel as if thou hadst some mystic influence over my own for- 
 tunes. Beside thee was I hailed the republican lord of Rome ; 
 beside thee are my palace, my tribunal, the place of my justice, 
 my triumphs, and my pomp ; to thee my eyes turn from my bed 
 of state ; and if fated to die in power and peace, thou mayst be 
 the last object my eyes will mark ! Or if myself a victim "
 
 218 RIENZI : 
 
 He paused, shrank from the thought presented to him, 
 turned to a recess of the chamber, drew aside a curtain that 
 veiled a crucifix and a small table on which lay a Bible and 
 the monastic emblems of the skull and cross-bones, emblems, 
 indeed, grave and irresistible, of the nothingness of power and 
 the uncertainty of life. Before these sacred monitors, whether 
 to humble or to elevate, knelt that proud and aspiring man ; 
 and when he rose, it was with a lighter step and more cheerful 
 mien than he had worn that day. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ACTOR UNMASKED. 
 
 " IN intoxication," says the proverb, " men betray their real 
 characters." There is a no less honest and truth-revealing 
 intoxication in prosperity than in wine. The varnish of power 
 brings forth at once the defects and the beauties of the human 
 portrait. 
 
 The unprecedented and almost miraculous rise of Rienzi 
 from the rank of the Pontiff's official to the Lord of Rome 
 would have been accompanied with a yet greater miracle if it 
 had not somewhat dazzled and seduced the object it elevated. 
 When, as in well-ordered states and tranquil times, men rise 
 slowly, step by step, they accustom themselves to their grow- 
 ing fortunes. But the leap of an hour from a citizen to a 
 prince, from the victim of oppression to the dispenser of jus- 
 tice, is a transition so sudden as to render dizzy the most sober 
 brain. And, perhaps, in proportion to the imagination, the 
 enthusiasm, the genius of the man, will the suddenness be 
 dangerous, excite too extravagant a hope, and lead to too chi- 
 merical an ambition. The qualities that made him rise, hurry 
 him to his fall ; and victory at the Marengo of his fortunes 
 urges him to destruction at its Moscow. 
 
 In his greatness Rienzi did not so much acquire new quali-
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 219 
 
 ties as develop in brighter light and deeper shadow those 
 which he had always exhibited. On the one hand he was 
 just, resolute, the friend of the oppressed, the terror of the 
 oppressor. His wonderful intellect illumined everything it 
 touched. By rooting out abuse, and by searching examination 
 and wise arrangement, he had trebled the revenues of the city 
 without a single new tax. Faithful to his idol of liberty, he 
 had not been betrayed by the wish of the people into despotic 
 authority, but had, as we have seen, formally revived, and 
 established with new powers, the Parliamentary Council of 
 the city. However extensive his own authority, he referred 
 its exercise to the people; in their name he alone declared 
 himself to govern, and he never executed any signal action 
 without submitting to them its reasons or its justification. No 
 less faithful to his desire to restore prosperity as well as free- 
 dom to Rome, he had seized the first dazzling epoch of his 
 power to propose that great federative league with the Italian 
 States which would, as he rightly said, have raised Rome to the 
 indisputable head of European nations. Under his rule trade 
 was secure, literature was welcome, art began to rise. 
 
 On the other hand, the prosperity which made more appar- 
 ent his justice, his integrity, his patriotism, his virtues, and 
 his genius, brought out no less glaringly his arrogant con- 
 sciousness of superiority, his love of display, and the wild and 
 daring insolence of his ambition. Though too just to avenge 
 himself by retaliating on the patricians their own violence; 
 though in his troubled and stormy tribuneship not one un- 
 merited or illegal execution of baron or citizen could be alleged 
 against him even by his enemies, yet sharing, less excusably, 
 the weakness of Nina, he could not deny his proud heart the 
 pleasure of humiliating those who had ridiculed him as a 
 buffoon, despised him as a plebeian, and who, even now slaves 
 to his face, were cynics behind his back. " They stood before 
 him while he sat," says his biographer, "all these Barons, 
 bareheaded, their hands crossed on their breasts, their looks 
 downcast : oh, how frightened they were ! " a picture more 
 disgraceful to the servile cowardice of the nobles than the 
 haughty sternness of the Tribune. It might be that he deemed
 
 220 RIENZI : 
 
 it policy to break the spirit of his foes, and to awe those whom 
 it w;is a vain hope to conciliate. 
 
 For his pomp there was a greater excuse, it was the 
 custom of the time ; it was the insignia and witness of power ; 
 and when the modern historian taunts him with not imitating 
 the simplicity of an ancient Tribune, the sneer betrays au 
 ignorance of the spirit of the age and the vain people whom 
 the chief magistrate was to govern. No doubt his gorgeous 
 festivals, his solemn processions, set off and ennobled if 
 parade can so be ennobled by a refined and magnificent rich- 
 ness of imagination, associated always with popular emblems, 
 and designed to convey the idea of rejoicing for Liberty Re- 
 stored, and to assert the state and majesty of Koine Revived, 
 no doubt these spectacles, however otherwise judged in a 
 more enlightened age and by closet sages, served greatly to 
 augment the importance of the Tribune abroad, and to dazzle 
 the pride of a fickle and ostentatious populace. And taste 
 grew refined, luxury called labor into requisition, and for- 
 eigners from all states were attracted by the splendor of a 
 court over which presided, under Republican names, two 
 sovereigns, 1 young and brilliant, the one renowned for his 
 genius, the other eminent for her beauty. It was, indeed, a 
 dazzling and royal dream in the long night of Rome, spoiled 
 of her Pontiff and his voluptuous train, that holiday reign of 
 Cola di Rienzi ! And often afterwards it was recalled with a 
 sigh, not only by the poor for its justice, the merchant for its 
 security, but the gallant for its splendor, and the poet for its 
 ideal and intellectual grace ! 
 
 As if to show that it was not to gratify the more vulgar ap- 
 
 1 Rienzi, speaking in one of his letters of his great enterprise, refers it to 
 the ardor of youth. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he was cer- 
 tainly a young man at the time now referred to. His portrait in the Museo 
 Barberino, from which his description has been already taken in the first book 
 of this work, represents him as beardless, and, as far as one can judge, some- 
 where above thirty, old enough, to be sure, to have a beard ; and seven years 
 afterwards he wore a long one, which greatly displeased his naive biographer, 
 who seems to consider it a sort of crime. The head is very remarkable for its 
 stern beauty, and little, if at all, inferior to that of Napoleon ; to which, as I 
 before remarked, it has some resemblance in expression, if not in feature.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 221 
 
 petite and desire, in the midst of all his pomp, when the board 
 groaned with the delicacies of every clime, when the wine most 
 freely circled, the Tribune himself preserved a temperate and 
 even rigid abstinence. 1 While the apartments of state and the 
 chamber of his bride were adorned with a profuse luxury and 
 cost, to his own private rooms he transported precisely the 
 same furniture which had been familiar to him in his obscurer 
 life. The books, the busts, the reliefs, the arms which had 
 inspired him heretofore with the visions of the past, were en- 
 deared by associations which he did not care to forego. 
 
 But that which constituted the most singular feature of his 
 character, and which still wraps all around him in a certain 
 mystery, was his religious enthusiasm. The daring but wild 
 doctrines of Arnold of Brescia, who, two centuries anterior, had 
 preached reform, but inculcated mysticism, still lingered in 
 Rome, and had in earlier youth deeply colored the mind of 
 Rienzi ; and as I have before observed, his youthful propensity 
 to dreamy thought, the melancholy death of his brother, his 
 own various but successful fortunes, had all contributed to 
 nurse the more zealous and solemn aspirations of this remark- 
 able man. Like Arnold of Brescia, his faith bore a strong re- 
 semblance to the intense fanaticism of our own Puritans of the 
 Civil War, as if similar political circumstances conduced to 
 similar religious sentiments. He believed himself inspired by \J 
 awful and mighty commune with beings of the better world ; 
 saints and angels ministered to his dreams ; and without this, 
 the more profound and hallowed enthusiasm, he might never 
 have been sufficiently emboldened by mere human patriotism 
 to his unprecedented enterprise : it was the secret of much of 
 his greatness, many of his errors. Like all men who are thus 
 self-deluded by a vain but not inglorious superstition, united 
 with and colored by earthly ambition, it is impossible to say 
 how far he was the visionary, and how far at times he dared 
 to be the impostor. In the ceremonies of his pageants, in the 
 ornaments of his person, were invariably introduced mystic and 
 figurative emblems. In times of danger he publicly professed 
 
 1 Vita di Cola di Rienzi. The biographer praises the abstinence of the 
 Tribune.
 
 222 RIENZI : 
 
 to have been cheered and directed by divine dreams ; and on 
 many occasions, the prophetic warnings he announced having 
 been singularly verified by the event, his influence with the 
 people was strengthened by a belief in the favor and inter- 
 course of Heaven. Thus delusion of self might tempt and 
 conduce to imposition on others, and he might not scruple to 
 avail himself of the advantage of seeming what he believed 
 himself to be. Yet no doubt this intoxicating credulity pushed 
 him into extravagance unworthy of, and strangely contrasted 
 by, his soberer intellect, and made him disproportion his vast 
 ends to his unsteady means by the proud fallacy that where 
 man failed, God would interpose. Cola di Eienzi was no fault- 
 less hero of romance. In him lay, in conflicting prodigality, 
 the richest and most opposite elements of character, strong 
 sense, visionary superstition, an eloquence and energy that 
 mastered all he approached, a blind enthusiasm that mastered 
 himself; luxury and abstinence, sternness and susceptibility, 
 pride to the great, humility to the low ; the most devoted pa- 
 triotism and the most avid desire of personal power. As few 
 men undertake great and desperate designs without strong 
 animal spirits, so it may be observed that with most who have 
 risen to eminence over the herd there is an aptness, at times, 
 to a wild mirth and an elasticity of humor which often astonish 
 the more sober and regulated minds that are "the commoners 
 of life ; " and the theatrical grandeur of Napoleon, the severe 
 dignity of Cromwell, are strangely contrasted by a frequent, 
 nor always seasonable, buffoonery, which it is hard to reconcile 
 with the ideal of their characters or the gloomy and portentous 
 interest of their careers. And this, equally a trait in the tem- 
 perament of Rlenzi, distinguished his hours of relaxation, and 
 contributed to that marvellous versatility with which his harder 
 nature accommodated itself to all humors and all men. Often 
 from his austere judgment-seat he passed to the social board 
 an altered man ; and even the sullen Barons, who reluctantly 
 attended his feasts, forgot his public greatness in his familiar 
 wit ; albeit this reckless humor could not always refrain from 
 seeking its subject in the mortification of his crestfallen foes, 
 a pleasure it would have been wiser and more generous to
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 223 
 
 forego. And perhaps it was, in part, the prompting of this 
 sarcastic and unbridled humor that made him often love to 
 astonish as well as to awe. But even this gayety, if so it may 
 be called, taking an appearance of familiar frankness, served 
 much to ingratiate him with the lower orders ; and if a fault 
 in the prince, was a virtue in the demagogue. 
 
 To these various characteristics, now fully developed, the 
 reader must add a genius of designs so bold, of conceptions so 
 gigantic and august, conjoined with that more minute and ordi- 
 nary ability which masters details, that with a brave, noble, 
 intelligent, devoted people to back his projects, the accession of 
 the Tribune would have been the close of the thraldom of Italy 
 and the abrupt limit of the dark age of Europe. With such a 
 people his faults would have been insensibly checked, his more 
 unwholesome power have received a sufficient curb. Experi- 
 ence, familiarizing him with power, would have gradually 
 weaned him from extravagance in its display ; and the active 
 and masculine energy of his intellect would have found field 
 for the more restless spirits, as his justice gave shelter to 
 the more tranquil. Faults he had; but whether those faults, 
 or the faults of the people, were to prepare his downfall, is 
 yet to be seen. 
 
 Meanwhile, amidst a discontented nobility and a fickle popu- 
 lace, urged on by the danger of repose to the danger of enter- 
 prise ; partly blinded by his outward power, partly impelled by 
 the fear of internal weakness ; at once made sanguine by his 
 genius and his fanaticism, and uneasy by the expectations of 
 the crowd, he threw himself headlong into the gulf of the 
 rushing Time, and surrendered his lofty spirit to no other 
 guidance than a conviction of its natural buoyancy and its 
 heaven-directed haven.
 
 224 RIENZI : 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE ENEMY'S CAMP. 
 
 WHILE Rienzi was preparing, in concert, perhaps, with the 
 ambassadors of the brave Tuscan states, whose pride of 
 country and love of liberty were well fitted to compre- 
 hend, and even share them, his schemes for the emanci- 
 pation from all foreign yoke of the Ancient Queen and the 
 Everlasting Garden of the World, the Barons, in restless 
 secrecy, were revolving projects for the restoration of their own 
 power. 
 
 One morning the heads of the Savelli, the Orsini, and the 
 Frangipani met at the disfortified palace of Stephen Colonna. 
 Their conference was warm and earnest ; now resolute, now 
 wavering, in its object, as indignation or fear prevailed. 
 
 " You have heard," said Luca di Savelli, in his usual soft and 
 womanly voice, " that the Tribune has proclaimed that, the day 
 after to-morrow, he will take the order of knighthood, and watch 
 the night before in the Church of the Lateran ! He has honored 
 me with a request to attend his vigil." 
 
 " Yes, yes, the knave ! What means this new fantasy ? " 
 said the brutal Prince of the Orsini. 
 
 "Unless it be to have the cavalier's right to challenge a 
 noble," said old Colonna, " I cannot conjecture. Will Rome 
 never grow weary of this madman ? " 
 
 " Rome is the more mad of the two," said Luca di Savelli ; 
 " but methinks, in his wildness, the Tribune hath committed one 
 error of which we may well avail ourselves at Avignon." 
 
 " Ah ! " cried the old Colonna, " that must be our game : 
 passive here, let us fight at Avignon." 
 
 " In a word, then, he hath ordered that his bath shall be 
 prepared in the holy porphyry vase in which once bathed the 
 Emperor Constantine."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 225 
 
 " Profanation ! profanation ! " cried Stephen. " This is 
 enough to excuse a bull of excommunication. The Pope shall 
 hear of it. I will despatch a courier forthwith." 
 
 " Better wait and see the ceremony," said the Savelli ; " some 
 greater folly will close the pomp, be assured." 
 
 " Hark ye, my masters ! " said the grim lord of the Orsini, 
 " ye are for delay and caution ; I for promptness and daring. 
 My kinsman's blood calls aloud, and brooks no parley." 
 
 " And what do ? " said the soft- voiced Savelli : " fight, 
 without soldiers, against twenty thousand infuriated Komans ? 
 Not I." 
 
 Orsini sank his voice into a meaning whisper. " In Venice," 
 said he, "this upstart might be mastered without an army. 
 Think you in Rome no man wears a stiletto ? " 
 
 " Hush ! " said Stephen, who was of far nobler and bet- 
 ter nature than his compeers, and who, justifying to himself 
 all other resistance to the Tribune, felt his conscience rise 
 against assassination ; " this must not be, your zeal trans- 
 ports you." 
 
 " Besides, whom can we employ ? Scarce a German left in 
 the city ; and to whisper this to a Koman were to exchange 
 places with poor Martino, Heaven take him ! for he 's nearer 
 Heaven than ever he was before," said the Savelli. 
 
 " Jest me no jests ! " cried the Orsini, fiercely. " Jests on 
 such a subject ! By Saint Francis, I would, since thou lovest 
 such wit, thou hadst it all to thyself ; and, methinks, at the 
 Tribune's board I have seen thee laugh at his rude humor as 
 if thou didst not require a cord to choke thee." 
 
 " Better to laugh than to tremble," returned the Savelli. 
 
 " How ! darest thou say I tremble ? " cried the Baron. 
 
 "Hush, hush!" said the veteran Colonna, with impatient 
 dignity. " We are not now in such holiday times as to quarrel 
 amongst ourselves. Forbear, my lords ! " 
 
 " Your greater prudence, Signer," said the sarcastic Savelli, 
 "arises from your greater safety. Your house is about to 
 shelter itself under the Tribune's ; and when the Lord Adrian 
 returns from Naples, the innkeeper's son will be brother to 
 your kinsman." 
 
 VOL. I. 15
 
 226 RIENZI : 
 
 " You might spare me that taunt/' said the old noble, with 
 some emotion. " Heaven knows how bitterly I have chafed at 
 the thought; yet I would Adrian were with us*. His word 
 goes far to moderate the Tribune and to guide my own course, 
 for my passion beguiles my reason ; and since his departure 
 methinks we have been the more sullen without being the more 
 strong. Let this pass. If my own son had wed the Tribune's 
 sister, I would yet strike a blow for the old constitution, as be- 
 comes a noble, if I but saw that the blow would not cut off my 
 own head." 
 
 Savelli, who had been whispering apart with Kinaldo Fran- 
 gipani, now said, 
 
 " Noble Prince, listen to me. You are bound by your kins- 
 man's approaching connection, your venerable age, and your 
 intimacy with the Pontiff, to a greater caution than we are. 
 Leave to us the management of the enterprise, and be assured 
 of our discretion." 
 
 A young boy, Stefanello, who afterwards succeeded to the 
 representation of the direct line of the Colonna, and whom the 
 reader will once again encounter ere our tale be closed, was 
 playing by his grandsire's knees. He looked sharply up at 
 Savelli, and said, " My grandfather is too wise, and you are too 
 timid ; Frangipani is too yielding, and Orsini is too like a vexed 
 bull. I wish I were a year or two older." 
 
 " And what would you do, my pretty censurer ? " said the 
 smooth Savelli, biting his smiling lip. 
 
 " Stab the Tribune with my own stiletto, and then hey for 
 Palestrina ! " 
 
 " The egg will hatch a brave serpent," quoth the Savelli. 
 " Yet why so bitter against the Tribune, my cockatrice ? " 
 
 " Because he allowed an insolent mercer to arrest my uncle 
 Agapet for debt. The debt had been owed these ten years ; 
 and though it is said that no house in Rome has owed more 
 money than the Colonna, this is the first time I ever heard of 
 a rascally creditor being allowed to claim his debt unless 
 with doffed cap and bended knee. And I say that I would 
 not live to be a Baron, if such upstart insolence is to be put 
 upon me."
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 227 
 
 " My child," said old Stephen, laughing heartily, " I see our 
 noble order will be safe enough in your hands." 
 
 " And," continued the child, emboldened by the applause he 
 received, " if I had time, after pricking the Tribune, I would 
 fain have a second stroke at " 
 
 " Whom ? " said the Savelli, observing the boy pause. 
 
 " My cousin Adrian. Shame on him for dreaming to make 
 one a wife whose birth would scarce fit her for a Colonna's 
 leman ! " 
 
 " Go play, my child, go play," said the old Colonna, as he 
 pushed the boy from him. 
 
 " Enough of this babble," cried the Orsini, rudely. " Tell 
 me, old lord, just as I entered, I saw an old friend (one of 
 your former mercenaries) quit the palace : may I crave his 
 errand ? " 
 
 " Ah, yes, a messenger from Fra Moreale. I wrote to the 
 Knight, reproving him for his desertion on our ill-starred re- 
 turn from Corneto, and intimating that five hundred lances 
 would be highly paid for just now." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Savelli ; " and what is his answer ? " 
 
 " Oh ! wily and evasive. He is profuse in compliments and 
 good wishes, but says he is under fealty to the Hungarian 
 king, whose cause is before Bienzi's tribunal ; that he cannot 
 desert his present standard ; that he fears Rome is so evenly 
 balanced between patricians and the people that whatever 
 party would permanently be uppermost must call in a Podesta ; 
 and this character alone the Prove^al insinuates would suit 
 him." 
 
 " Montreal our Podesta ? " cried the Orsini. 
 
 " And why not ? " said Savelli. " As good a well-born Po- 
 desta as a low-born Tribune ! But I trust we may do without 
 either. Colonna, has this messenger from Fra Moreale left the 
 city ? 
 
 " I suppose so." 
 
 " No," said Orsini ; " I met him at the gate, and knew him of 
 old : it is Rodolf the Saxon, once a hireling of the Colonna, 
 who has made some widows among my clients in the good old 
 day. He is a little disguised now ; however, I recognized and
 
 RIENZI : 
 
 accosted him, for T thought he was one who might yet become 
 a friend, and I bade him await me at my palace." 
 
 " You did well," said the Savelli, musing, and his eyes met 
 those of Orsini. Shortly afterwards a conference in which 
 much was said and nothing settled was broken up ; but Luca 
 di Savelli, loitering at the porch, prayed the Frangipani and the 
 other Barons to adjourn to the Orsini's palace. 
 
 "The old Colonna," said he, "is wellnigh in his dotage. 
 We shall come to a quick determination without him, and we 
 can secure his proxy in his son." 
 
 And this was a true prophecy; for half-an-hour's consul- 
 tation with Rodolf of Saxony sufficed to ripen thought into 
 enterprise. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE NIGHT AND ITS INCIDENTS. 
 
 WITH the following twilight, Rome was summoned to the 
 commencement of the most magnificent spectacle the Imperial 
 City had witnessed since the fall of the Caesars. It had been 
 a singular privilege, arrogated by the people of Rome, to con- 
 fer upon their citizens the order of knighthood. Twenty years 
 before, a Colonna and an Orsini had received this popular 
 honor. Rienzi, who designed it as the prelude to a more im- 
 portant ceremony, claimed from the Romans a similar dis- 
 tinction. From the Capitol in the Lateran swept, in long 
 procession, all that Rome boasted of noble, of fair, and brave. 
 First went horsemen without number, and from all the neigh- 
 boring parts of Italy, in apparel that well befitted the occasion. 
 Trumpeters and musicians of all kinds followed, and the 
 trumpets were of silver; youths bearing the harness of the 
 knightly war-steed, wrought with gold, preceded the march of 
 the loftiest matronage of Rome, whose love for show, and it 
 may be whose admiration for triumphant fame (which to 
 women sanctions many offences), made them forget the hum-
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 229 
 
 bled greatness of their lords, amidst them Nina and Irene, 
 outshining all the rest ; then came the Tribune and the Pon- 
 tiff's Vicar, surrounded by all the great signers of the city, 
 smothering alike resentment, revenge, and scorn, and strug- 
 gling who should approach nearest to the monarch of the day. 
 The high-hearted old Colonna alone remained aloof, following 
 at a little distance, and in a garb studiously plain. But his 
 age, his rank, his former renown in war and state, did not 
 suffice to draw to his gray locks and high-born mien a single 
 one of the shouts that attended the meanest lord on whom the 
 great Tribune smiled. Savelli followed nearest to Kienzi, the 
 most obsequious of the courtly band; immediately before 
 the Tribune came two men : the one bore a drawn sword, the 
 other the pendone, or standard usually assigned to royalty. 
 The Tribune himself was clothed in a long robe of white satin, 
 whose snowy dazzle (miri candoris) is peculiarly dwelt on by 
 the historian, richly decorated with gold ; while on his breast 
 were many of those mystic symbols I have before alluded to, 
 the exact meaning of which was perhaps known only to the 
 wearer. In his dark eye, and on that large tranquil brow, in 
 which thought seemed to sleep, as sleeps a storm, there might 
 be detected a mind abstracted from the pomp around ; but ever 
 and anon he aroused himself, and conversed partially with 
 Eaimond or Savelli. 
 
 " This is a quaint game," said the Orsini, falling back to the 
 old Colonna ; " but it may end tragically." 
 
 " Methinks it may," said the old man, " if the Tribune over- 
 hear thee." 
 
 Orsini grew pale. " How ? Nay, nay ; even if he did, he 
 never resents words, but professes to laugh at our spoken 
 rage. It was but the other day that some knave told him 
 what one of the Annibaldi said of him, words for which 
 a true cavalier would have drawn the speaker's life's blood ; 
 and he sent for the Annibaldi and said, ' My friend, receive 
 this purse of gold, court wit should be paid.' " 
 
 " Did Annibaldi take the gold ? " 
 
 " Why, no. The Tribune was pleased with the spirit, and 
 made him sup with him ; and Annibaldi says he never spent
 
 280 RIENZI : 
 
 a merrier evening, and no longer wonders that his kinsman, 
 Riccardo, loves the buffoon so." 
 
 Arrived now at the Lateran, Luca di Savelli fell also back, 
 and whispered to Orsini ; the Frangipani and some others of 
 the nobles exchanged meaning looks ; Rienzi, entering the 
 sacred edifice, in which, according to custom, he was to pass 
 the night watching his armor, bade the crowd farewell, and 
 summoned them the next morning, " To hear things that might, 
 he trusted, be acceptable to heaven and earth." 
 
 The immense multitude received this intimation with curi- 
 osity and gladness, while those who had been in some measure 
 prepared by Cecco del Vecchio, hailed it as an omen of their 
 Tribune's unflagging resolution. The concourse dispersed with 
 singular order and quietness ; it was recorded as a remarkable 
 fact that in so great a crowd, composed of men of all parties, 
 none exhibited license or indulged in quarrel. Some of the 
 barons and cavaliers, among whom was Luca di Savelli, whose 
 sleek urbanity and sarcastic humor found favor with the Trib- 
 une, and a few subordinate pages and attendants alone re- 
 mained ; and save a single sentinel at the porch, that broad 
 space before the Palace, the Basilica and Fount of Constantiue, 
 soon presented a silent and desolate void to the melancholy 
 moonlight. Within the church, according to the usage of the 
 time and rite, the descendant of the Teuton kings received the 
 order of the Santo Spirito. His pride or some superstition 
 equally weak, though more excusable, led him to bathe in the 
 porphyry vase which an absurd legend consecrated to Con- 
 stantine ; and this, as Savelli predicted, cost him dear. These 
 appointed ceremonies concluded, his arms were placed in the 
 part of the church within the columns of St. John. And here 
 his state bed was prepared. 1 
 
 The attendant barons, pages, and chamberlains retired out 
 of sight to a small side chapel in the edifice, and Rienzi was 
 left alone. A single lamp, placed beside his bed, contended 
 with the mournful rays of the moon, that cast through the 
 
 1 In a more northern country, the eve of knighthood would have been spent 
 without sleeping. In Italy, the ceremony of watching the armor does not 
 appear to have been so rigidly observed.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUXES. 231 
 
 long casements, over aisle and pillar, its " dim religious light." 
 The sanctity of the place, the solemnit} r of the hour, and the 
 solitary silence round were well calculated to deepen the high- 
 wrought and earnest mood of that son of fortune. Many and 
 high fancies swept over his mind, now of worldly aspira- 
 tions, now of more august but visionary belief, till at length, 
 wearied with his own reflections, he cast himself on the bed. 
 It was an omen, which graver history has not neglected to 
 record, that the moment he pressed the bed, new prepared for 
 the occasion, part of it sank under him. He himself was 
 affected by the accident, and sprang forth, turning pale and 
 muttering ; but as if ashamed of his weakness, after a moment's 
 pause again composed himself to rest, and drew the drapery 
 round him. 
 
 The moonbeams grew fainter and more faint as the time 
 proceeded, and the sharp distinction between light and shade 
 faded fast from the marble floor, when from behind a column 
 at the farthest verge of the building a strange shadow suddenly 
 crossed the sickly light ; it crept on ; it moved, but without 
 an echo ; from pillar to pillar it flitted ; it rested at last 
 behind the column nearest to the Tribune's bed ; it remained 
 stationary. 
 
 The shades gathered darker and darker round ; the stillness 
 seemed to deepen ; the moon was gone ; and save from the 
 struggling ray of the lamp beside Rienzi, the blackness of 
 night closed over the solemn and ghostly scene. 
 
 In one of the side chapels, as I have before said, which, in 
 the many alterations the church has undergone is probably 
 long since destroyed, were Savelli and the few attendants 
 retained by the Tribune. Savelli alone slept not ; he remained 
 sitting erect, breathless, and listening, while the tall lights in 
 the chapel rendered yet more impressive the rapid changes of 
 his countenance. 
 
 " Now pray Heaven," said he, " the knave miscarry not ! 
 Such an occasion may never again occur! He has a strong 
 arm and a dexterous hand, doubtless ; but the other is a power- 
 ful man. The deed once done, I care not whether the doer 
 escape or not ; if not, why we must stab him ! Dead men tell
 
 232 RIENZI : 
 
 no tales. At the worst, who can avenge Rienzi ? There is no 
 other llienzi ! Ourselves and the Frangipaui seize the Aven- 
 tine; the Colonna and the Orsini the other quarters of the 
 city ; and without the master-spirit, we may laugh at the mad 
 populace. But if discovered ," and Savelli, who, fortunately 
 for his foes, had not nerves equal to his will, covered his face 
 and shuddered. " I think I hear a noise ! No, is it the 
 wind ? Tush, it must be old Vico de Scotto, turning in his 
 shell of mail ! Silent, I like not that silence ! No cry, no 
 sound ! Can the ruffian have played us false ? or could he not 
 scale the casement? It is but a child's effort, or did the 
 sentry spy him ? " 
 
 Time passed on ; the first ray of daylight slowly gleamed, 
 when he thought he heard the door of the church close. Sa- 
 velli's suspense became intolerable ; he stole from the chapel, 
 and came in sight of the Tribune's bed ; all was silent. 
 
 " Perhaps the silence of death," said Savelli, as he crept back. 
 
 Meanwhile the Tribune, vainly endeavoring to close his 
 eyes, was rendered yet more watchful by the uneasy position 
 he was obliged to assume; for the part of the bed towards 
 the pillow having given way, while the rest remained solid, 
 he had inverted the legitimate order of lying, and drawn 
 himself up, as he might best accommodate his limbs, towards 
 the foot of the bed. The light of the lamp, though shaded by 
 the draperies, was thus opposite to him. Impatient of his 
 wakefulness, he at last thought it was this dull and flickering 
 light which scared away the slumber, and was about to rise 
 to remove it farther from him, when he saw the curtain at the 
 other end of the bed gently lifted. He remained quiet and 
 alarmed ; ere he could draw a second breath, a dark figure 
 interposed between the light and the bed, and he felt that a 
 stroke was aimed against that part of the couch which, but for 
 the accident that had seemed to him ominous, would have 
 given his breast to the knife. Rienzi waited not a second and 
 better-directed blow ; as the assassin yet stooped, groping in 
 the uncertain light, he threw on him all the weight and power 
 of his large and muscular frame, wrenched the stiletto from 
 the bravo's hand, and dashing him on the bed, placed his knee
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 233 
 
 on his breast. The stiletto rose, gleamed, descended ; the 
 murderer swerved aside, and it pierced only his right arm. 
 The Tribune raised, for a deadlier blow, the revengeful blade. 
 
 The assassin thus foiled was a man used to all form and 
 shape of danger, and he did not now lose his presence of mind. 
 
 " Hold ! " said he ; " if you kill me, you will die yourself. 
 Spare me, and I will save you" 
 
 " Miscreant ! " 
 
 " Hush ! not so loud, or you will disturb your attendants, 
 and some of them may do what I have failed to execute. 
 Spare me, I say, and I will reveal that which were worth more 
 than my life ; but call not, speak not aloud, I warn you ! " 
 
 The Tribune felt his heart stand still. In that lonely place, 
 afar from his idolizing people, his devoted guards, with but 
 loathing barons, or, it might be, faithless menials, within call, 
 might not the baffled murderer give a wholesome warning ? 
 And those words and that doubt seemed suddenly to reverse 
 their respective positions, and leave the conqueror still in the 
 assassin's power. 
 
 "Thou thinkest to deceive me," said he, but in a voice 
 whispered and uncertain, which showed the ruffian the advan- 
 tage he had gained ; " thou wouldst that I might release thee 
 without summoning my attendants, that thou mightst a second 
 time attempt my life." 
 
 " Thou hast disabled my right arm, and disarmed me of my 
 only weapon." 
 
 " How earnest thou hither ? " 
 
 " By connivance." 
 
 "Whence this attempt ? " 
 
 " The dictation of others." 
 
 " If I pardon thee " 
 
 "Thou shalt know all." 
 
 "Rise," said the Tribune, releasing his prisoner, but with 
 great caution, and still grasping his shoulder with one hand, 
 while the other pointed the dagger at his throat. " Did my 
 sentry admit thee ? There is but one entrance to the church, 
 methinks." 
 
 " He did not ; follow me, and I will tell thee more."
 
 234 RIENZI : 
 
 " Dog ! them hast accomplices ! " 
 
 " If I have, thou hast the knife at my throat." 
 
 " Wouldst thou escape ? " 
 
 " I cannot, or I would." 
 
 Rienzi looked hard, by the dull light of the lamp, at the 
 assassin. His rugged and coarse countenance, rude garb, and 
 barbarian speech seemed to him proof sufficient that he was 
 but the hireling of others, and it might be wise to brave one 
 danger present and certain, to prevent much danger future and 
 unforeseen. Rienzi too was armed, strong, active, in the prime 
 of life ; and at the worst there was no part of the building 
 whence his voice would not reach those within the chapel, 
 if they could be depended upon. 
 
 " Show me then thy place arid means of entrance," said he ; 
 " and if I but suspect thee as we move, thou diest. Take up 
 the lamp." 
 
 The ruffian nodded, with his left hand took up the lamp as 
 he was ordered, and with Rienzi's grasp on his shoulder, while 
 the wound from his right arm dropped gore as he passed, he 
 , moved noiselessly along the church, gained the altar, to the 
 left of which was a small room for the use or retirement of the 
 priest. To this he made his way. Rienzi's heart misgave 
 him a moment. 
 
 " Beware ! " he whispered j " the least sign of fraud, and 
 thou art the first victim ! " 
 
 The assassin nodded again, and proceeded. They entered 
 the room ; and then the Tribune's strange guide pointed to an 
 open casement. " Behold my entrance," said he j " and, if you 
 permit me, my egress " 
 
 " The frog gets not out of the well so easily as he came in, 
 friend," returned Rienzi, smiling. " And now, if I am not to 
 call my guards, what am I to do with thee ? " 
 
 " Let me go, and I will seek thee to-morrow ; and if thou 
 payest me handsomely, and promisest not to harm limb or life, 
 I will put thine enemies and my employers in thy power." 
 
 Rienzi could not refrain from a slight laugh at the proposi- 
 tion, but composing himself, replied : " And what if I call my 
 attendants, and give thee to their charge ? "
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 235 
 
 " Thou givest me to those very enemies and employers ; and 
 in despair lest I betray them, ere the day dawn they cut my 
 throat or thine." 
 
 " Methinks, knave, I have seen thee before." 
 
 "Thou hast. I blush not for name or country. I am 
 Eodolf of Saxony ! " 
 
 "I remember me, servitor of Walter de Montreal. He, 
 then, is thy instigator ? " 
 
 " Roman, no ! That noble Knight scorns other weapon than 
 the open sword, and his own hand slays his own foes. Your 
 pitiful, miserable, dastard Italians alone employ the courage 
 and hire the arm of others." 
 
 Kienzi remained silent. He had released hold of his prisoner, 
 and stood facing him ; every now and then regarding his 
 countenance, and again relapsing into thought. At length, 
 casting his eyes round the small chamber thus singularly 
 tenanted, he observed a kind of closet, in which the priests' 
 robes, and some articles used in the sacred service, were con- 
 tained. It suggested at once an escape from his dilemma ; he 
 pointed to it, 
 
 " There, Kodolf of Saxony, shalt thou pass some part of this 
 night, a small penance for thy meditated crime ; and to- 
 morrow, as thou lookest for life, thou wilt reveal all." 
 
 "Hark ye, Tribune," returned the Saxon, doggedly, "my 
 liberty is in your power, but neither my tongue nor my life. If 
 I consent to be caged in that hole, you must swear on the 
 crossed hilt of the dagger that you now hold that, on confession 
 of all I know, you pardon and set me free. My employers are 
 enough to glut your rage an' you were a tiger. If you do not 
 swear this " 
 
 "Ah ! my modest friend, the alternative ? " 
 
 " I brain myself against the stone wall ! Better such a 
 death than the rack ! " 
 
 " Fool, I want not revenge against such as thou. Be honest, 
 and I swear that, twelve hours after thy confession, thou shalt 
 stand safe and unscathed without the walls of Rome. So help 
 me our Lord and his saints ! " 
 
 " I am content ! Donner und Hagel f I have lived long
 
 236 RIENZI : 
 
 enough to care only for my own life, and the great captain's 
 next to it ; for the rest, I reck not if ye Southerns cut each 
 other's throats, and make all Italy one grave." 
 
 With this benevolent speech Rodolf entered the closet ; but 
 ere Rienzi could close the door, he stepped forth again. 
 
 " Hold ! " said he : " this blood flows fast. Help me to 
 bandage it, or I shall bleed to death ere my confession." 
 
 " Per fede ! " said the Tribune, his strange humor enjoying 
 the man's cool audacity; "but considering the service thou 
 wouldst have rendered me, thou art the most pleasant, for- 
 bearing, unabashed good fellow I have seen this many a year. 
 Give us thine own belt. I little thought my first eve of 
 knighthood would have been so charitably spent ! " 
 
 " Methinks these robes would make a better bandage," said 
 Rodolf, pointing to the priests' gear suspended from the wall. 
 
 " Silence, knave," said the Tribune, frowning ; " no sacri- 
 lege ! Yet, as thou takest such dainty care of thyself, thou 
 shalt have mine own scarf to accommodate thee." 
 
 With that the Tribune, placing his dagger on the ground, 
 while he cautiously guarded it with his foot, bound up the 
 wounded limb, for which condescension Rodolf gave him 
 short thanks, resumed his weapon and lamp, closed the 
 door, drew over it the long, heavy bolt without, and returned 
 to his couch, deeply and indignantly musing over the treason 
 he had so fortunately escaped. 
 
 At the first gray streak of dawn he went out of the great 
 door of the church, called the sentry, who was one of his own 
 guard, and bade him privately, and now ere the world was 
 astir, convey the prisoner to one of the private dungeons of 
 the Capitol. "Be silent," said he ; "utter not a word of this 
 to any one ; be obedient, and thou shalt be promoted. This 
 done, find out the councillor, Pandulfo di Guido, and bid him 
 seek me here ere the crowd assemble." 
 
 He then, making the sentinel doff his heavy shoes of iron, 
 led him across the church, resigned Rodolf to his care, saw 
 them depart, and in a few minutes afterwards his voice was 
 heard by the inmates of the neighboring chapel ; and he was 
 soon surrounded by his train.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 237 
 
 He was already standing on the floor, wrapped in a large 
 gown lined with furs, and his piercing eye scanned carefully 
 the face of each man that approached. Two of the Barons of 
 the Frangipani family exhibited some tokens of confusion and 
 embarrassment, from which they speedily recovered at the 
 frank salutation of the Tribune. 
 
 But all the art of Savelli could not prevent his features 
 from betraying to the most indifferent eye the terror of his 
 soul ; and when he felt the penetrating gaze of Rienzi upon 
 him, he trembled in every joint. Rienzi alone did not, how- 
 ever, seem to notice his disorder ; and when Vico di Scotto, an 
 old knight, from whose hands he received his sword, asked 
 him how he had passed the night, he replied, cheerfully, 
 
 " Well, well, my brave friend ! Over a maiden knight 
 some good angel always watches. Signor Luca di Savelli, I 
 fear you have slept but ill ; you seem pale. No matter ; our 
 banquet to-day will soon brighten the current of your gay 
 blood ! " 
 
 " Blood, Tribune ! " said Di Scotto, who was innocent of the 
 plot ; " thou sayest blood, and lo ! on the floor are large gouts 
 of it not yet dry." 
 
 " Now out on thee, old hero, for betraying my awkwardness ! 
 I pricked myself with my own dagger in unrobing. Thank 
 Heaven it hath no poison in its blade ! " 
 
 The Frangipani exchanged looks ; Luca di Savelli clung to 
 a column for support ; and the rest of the attendants seemed 
 grave and surprised. 
 
 " Think not of it, my masters," said Kienzi ; " it is a good 
 omen and a true prophecy. It implies that he who girds on 
 his sword for the good of the state must be ready to spill his 
 blood for it : that am I. No more of this, a mere scratch ; 
 it gave more blood than I recked of from so slight a puncture, 
 and saves the leech the trouble of the lancet. How brightly 
 breaks the day ! We must prepare to meet our fellow-citizens ; 
 they will be here anon. Ha, my Pandulfo, welcome ! Thou, 
 my old friend, shalt buckle on this mantle ! " 
 
 And while Pandulfo was engaged in the task, the Tribune 
 whispered a few words in his ear, which, by the smile on his
 
 238 RIENZI : 
 
 countenance, seemed to the attendants one of the familiar 
 jests with which Rienzi distinguished his intercourse with his 
 more confidential intimates. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE CELEBRATED CITATION. 
 
 THE bell of the great Lateran church sounded shrill and loud 
 as the mighty multitude, greater even than that of the preceding 
 night, swept on. The appointed officers made way with diffi- 
 culty for the barons and ambassadors, and scarcely were those 
 noble visitors admitted ere the crowd closed in their ranks, 
 poured headlong into the church, and took the way to the chapel 
 of Boniface VIII. There, filling every cranny and blocking up 
 the entrance, the more fortunate of the press beheld the Tri- 
 bune surrounded by the splendid court his genius had collected 
 and his fortune had subdued. At length, as the solemn and 
 holy music began to swell through the edifice, preluding the 
 celebration of the Mass, the Tribune stepped forth, and the 
 hush of the music was increased by the universal and dead 
 silence of the audience. His height, his air, his countenance, 
 were such as always command the attention of crowds ; and at 
 this time they received every adjunct from the interest of the 
 occasion, and that peculiar look of intent yet suppressed fervor 
 which is perhaps the sole gift of the eloquent that Nature 
 alone can give. 
 
 " Be it known," said he, slowly and deliberately, " in virtue of 
 that authority, power, and jurisdiction which the Roman people, 
 in general parliament, have assigned to us, and which the 
 Sovereign Pontiff hath confirmed, that we, not ungrateful of the 
 gift and grace of the Holy Spirit, whose soldier we now are, 
 nor of the favor of the Roman people, declare that Rome, cap- 
 ital of the world and base of the Christian Church, and that 
 every City, State, and People of Italy are henceforth free. By
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 239 
 
 that freedom, and in the same consecrated authority, we pro- 
 claim that the election, jurisdiction, and monarchy of the Roman 
 Empire appertain to Rome and Rome's people, and the whole 
 of Italy. We cite, then, and summon personally the illustrious 
 princes, Louis, Duke of Bavaria, and Charles, King of Bohemia, 
 who would style themselves Emperors of Italy, to appear be- 
 fore us, or the other magistrates of Rome, to plead and to 
 prove their claim between this day and the Day of Pentecost. 
 We cite also, and within the same term, the Duke of Saxony, 
 the Prince of Brandenburg, and whosoever else, potentate, 
 prince, or prelate, asserts the right of Elector to the imperial 
 throne, a right that, we find it chronicled from ancient and 
 immemorial time, appertaineth only to the Roman people ; and 
 this in vindication of our civil liberties, without derogation of 
 the spiritual power of the Church, the Pontiff, and the Sacred 
 College. 1 Herald, proclaim the citation, at the greater and more 
 
 1 " H tutto senza derogare all' autorita della Chiesa, del Papa e del Sacro 
 Collegio." So concludes this extraordinary citation, this bold and wonderful 
 assertion of the classic independence of Italy, in the most feudal time of the 
 fourteenth century. The anonymous biographer of Rienzi declares that the 
 Tribune cited also the Pope and the Cardinals to reside in Rome. De 
 Sade powerfully and incontrovertibly refutes this addition to the daring or the 
 extravagance of Rienzi. Gibbon, however, who has rendered the rest of the 
 citation in terms more abrupt and discourteous than he was warranted by any 
 authority, copies the biographer's blunder, and sneers at De Sade as using ar- 
 guments " rather of decency than of weight." Without wearying the reader 
 with all the arguments of the learned Abbe, it may be sufficient to give the 
 first two. 
 
 1. All the other contemporaneous historians that have treated of this event, 
 G. Villani, Hocsemins, the Vatican MSS. and other chroniclers,"relating the 
 citation of the Emperor and Electors, say nothing of that of the Pope and 
 Cardinals; and the Pope (Clement VI.), in his subsequent accusations of 
 Rienzi, while very bitter against his citation of the Emperor, is wholly silent 
 on what would have been to the Pontiff the much greater offence of citing 
 himself and the Cardinals. 
 
 2. The literal act of this citation, as published formally in the Lateran, is 
 extant in Hocsemius (whence is borrowed, though not at all its length, the 
 speech in the text of our present tale) ; and in this document the Pope and 
 his Cardinals are not named in the summons. 
 
 Gibbon's whole account of Rienzi is superficial and unfair. To the cold and 
 sneering scepticism, which so often deforms the gigantic work of that great 
 writer, allowing nothing for that sincere and urgent enthusiasm which, whether
 
 240 RIENZI : 
 
 formal length, as written and intrusted to your hands, without 
 the Lateran." 
 
 As Eienzi concluded this bold proclamation of the liberties 
 of Italy, the Tuscan ambassadors and those of some other of 
 the free States murmured low approbation. The ambassadors 
 of those States that affected the party of the Emperor looked 
 at each other in silent amaze and consternation. The Roman 
 Barons remained with mute lips and downcast eyes ; only over 
 the aged face of Stephen Colonna settled a smile, half of 
 scorn, half of exultation. But the great mass of the citizens 
 were caught by words that opened so grand a prospect as the 
 emancipation of all Italy : and their reverence of the Tribune's 
 power and fortune was almost that due to a supernatural be- 
 ing ; so that they did not pause to calculate the means which 
 were to correspond with the boast. 
 
 While his eye roved over the crowd, the gorgeous assemblage 
 near him, the devoted throng beyond; as on his ear boomed 
 the murmur of thousands and ten thousands, in the space with- 
 out, from before the Palace of Constantino (Palace now his 
 own ! ), sworn to devote life and fortune to his cause ; in the 
 flush of prosperity that yet had known no check ; in the zenith 
 of power, as yet unconscious of reverse, the heart of the 
 Tribune swelled proudly ; visions of mighty fame and limit- 
 less dominion, fame and dominion once his beloved Rome's 
 and by him to be restored, rushed before his intoxicated 
 gaze; and in the delirious and passionate aspirations of the 
 moment he turned his sword alternately to the three quarters 
 of the then known globe, and said, in an abstracted voice, as a 
 man in a dream, " In the right of the Roman people this too is 
 mine ! " * 
 
 Low though the voice, the wild boast was heard by all around 
 as distinctly as if borne to them in thunder. And vain it were 
 
 of liberty or religion, is the most common parent of daring action, the great 
 Koman seems but an ambitious and fantastic madman. In Gibbon's hands 
 what would Cromwell have been ? what Vane ? what Hampden ? The 
 pedant Julian, with his dirty person and pompous affectation, was Gibbon's 
 ideal of a great man. 
 1 Questo e mio.
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 241 
 
 to describe the various sensations it excited : the extravagance 
 would have moved the derision of his foes, the grief of his 
 friends, but for the manner of the speaker, which, solemn and 
 commanding, hushed for the moment even reason and hatred 
 themselves in awe ; afterwards remembered and repeated, void 
 of the spell they had borrowed from the utterer, the words met 
 the cold condemnation of the well-judging ; but at that moment 
 all things seemed possible to the hero of the people. He spoke 
 as one inspired they trembled and believed; and as, rapt 
 from the spectacle, he stood a moment silent, his arm still ex- 
 tended, his dark, dilating eye fixed upon space, his lip parted, 
 his proud head towering and erect above the herd, his own 
 enthusiasm kindled that of the more humble and distant spec- 
 tators ; and there was a deep murmur begun by one, echoed by 
 the rest, " The Lord is with Italy and Bienzi ! " 
 
 The Tribune turned ; he saw the Pope's Vicar astonished, 
 bewildered, rising to speak. His sense and foresight returned 
 to him at once, and, resolved to drown the dangerous disa- 
 vowal of the Papal authority for this hardihood, which was 
 ready to burst from Kaimond's lips, he motioned quickly to the 
 musicians, and the solemn and ringing chant of the sacred 
 ceremony prevented the Bishop of Orvietto all occasion of self- 
 exoneration or reply. 
 
 The moment the ceremony was over, Eienzi touched the 
 Bishop, and whispered, " We will explain this to your liking. 
 You feast with us at the Lateran. Your arm." Nor did he 
 leave the good Bishop's arm, nor trust him to other companion- 
 ship, until to the stormy sound of horn and trumpet, drum and 
 cymbal, and amidst such a concourse as might have hailed, on 
 the same spot, the legendary baptism of Constantine, the Tribune 
 and his nobles entered the great gates of the Lateran, then the 
 Palace of the World. 
 
 Thus ended that remarkable ceremony and that proud chal- 
 lenge of the Northern Powers in behalf of the Italian liberties, 
 which, had it been afterwards successful, would have been 
 deemed a sublime daring ; which, unsuccessful, has been con- 
 strued by the vulgar into a frantic insolence ; but which, calmly 
 considering all the circumstances that urged on the Tribune, 
 
 VOL. I. 16
 
 242 RIENZI : 
 
 and all the power that surrounded him, was not, perhaps, alto- 
 gether so imprudent as it seemed. And even accepting that 
 imprudence in the extremest sense, by the more penetrating 
 judge of the higher order of character it will probably be con- 
 sidered as the magnificent folly of a bold nature, excited at 
 once by position and prosperity, by religious credulities, by 
 patriotic aspirings, by scholastic visions too suddenly trans- 
 ferred from revery to action, beyond that wise and earthward 
 policy which sharpens the weapon ere it casts the gauntlet. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FESTIVAL. 
 
 THE festival of that day was far the most sumptuous hitherto 
 known. The hint of Cecco del Vecchio, which so well depicted 
 the character of his fellow-citizens, as yet it exists, though not 
 to such excess, in their love of holiday pomp and gorgeous 
 show, was not lost upon Rlenzi. One instance of the universal 
 banqueting (intended, indeed, rather for the people than the 
 higher ranks) may illustrate the more than royal profusion 
 that prevailed. From morn till eve, streams of wine flowed 
 like a fountain from the nostrils of the Horse of the great 
 Equestrian Statue of Constantine. The mighty halls of the 
 Lateran palace, open to all ranks, were prodigally spread ; and 
 the games, sports, and buffooneries of the time were in ample 
 requisition. Apart, the Tribunessa, as Nina was rather un- 
 classically entitled, entertained the dames of Rome ; while 
 the Tribune had so effectually silenced or conciliated Raimond 
 that the good Bishop shared his peculiar table, the only one 
 admitted to that honor. As the eye ranged each saloon and 
 hall, it beheld the space lined with all the nobility and knight- 
 hood, the wealth and strength, the learning and the beauty, of 
 the Italian metropolis, mingled with ambassadors and noble
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 243 
 
 strangers even from beyond the Alps, 1 envoys not only of 
 the Free States that had welcomed the rise of the Tribune, but 
 of the high-born and haughty tyrants who had first derided 
 his arrogance, and now cringed to his power. There were not 
 only the ambassadors of Florence, of Sienna, of Arezzo (which 
 last subjected its government to the Tribune), of Todi, of 
 Spoleto, and of countless other lesser towns and states, but 
 also of the dark and terrible Visconti, prince of Milan, of 
 Obizzo of Ferrara, and of the tyrant rulers of Verona and 
 Bologna; even the proud and sagacious Malatesta, lord of 
 Rimini, whose arm afterwards broke for a while the power 
 of Montreal at the head of his Great Company, had deputed 
 his representative in his most honored noble. John di Vico, 
 the worst and most malignant despot of his day, who had 
 sternly defied the arms of the Tribune, now subdued and 
 humbled, was there in person ; and the ambassadors of Hun- 
 gary and of Naples mingled with those of Bavaria and 
 Bohemia, whose sovereigns that day had been cited to the 
 Roman Judgment Court. The nodding of plumes, the glitter 
 of jewels and cloth of gold, the rustling of silks and jingle of 
 golden spurs, the waving of banners from the roof, the 
 sounds of minstrelsy from the galleries above, all presented 
 a picture of such power and state, a court and chivalry of 
 such show, as the greatest of the feudal kings might have 
 beheld with a sparkling eye and a swelling heart. But at that 
 moment the cause and lord of all that splendor, recovered 
 from his late exhilaration, sat moody and abstracted, remem- 
 bering with a thoughtful brow the adventure of the past night, 
 and sensible that amongst his gaudiest revellers lurked his 
 intended murderers. Amidst the swell of the minstrelsy and 
 the pomp of the crowd, he felt that treason scowled beside 
 him ; and the image of the skeleton obtruding, as of old, its 
 grim thought of death upon the feast, darkened the ruby of 
 the wine and chilled the glitter of the scene. 
 
 It was while the feast was loudest that Rienzi's page was 
 seen gliding through the banquet and whispering several of 
 
 1 The simple and credulous biographer of Rienzi declares his fame to have 
 reached the ears of the Soldan of Babylon.
 
 244 RIENZI : 
 
 the nobles ; each bowed low, but changed color as he received 
 the message. 
 
 " My Lord Savelli," said Orsini, himself trembling, " bear 
 yourself more bravely. This must be meant in honor, not 
 revenge. I suppose your summons corresponds with mine." 
 
 " He he asks asks me to supper at the Capitol ; a 
 f ri endly meeting (pest on his friendship ! ) after the 
 noise of the day." 
 
 " The words addressed also to me ! " said Orsini, turning to 
 one of the Frangipani. 
 
 Those who received the summons soon broke from the feast 
 and collected in a group, eagerly conferring. Some were for 
 flight, but flight was confession; their number, rank, long 
 and consecrated impunity reassured them, and they resolved 
 to obey. The old Colonna, the sole innocent Baron of the 
 invited guests, was also the only one who refused the invita- 
 tion. " Tush ! " said he, peevishly, " here is feasting enough 
 for one day ! Tell the Tribune that ere he sups I hope to 
 be asleep. Gray hairs cannot encounter all this fever of 
 festivity." 
 
 As Rienzi rose to depart, which he did early, for the ban- 
 quet took place while yet morning, Raimond, eager to escape 
 and confer with some of his spiritual friends as to the report 
 he should make to the Pontiff, was beginning his expres- 
 sions of farewell, when the merciless Tribune said to him 
 gravely, 
 
 " My lord, we want you on urgent business at the Capitol. 
 A prisoner, a trial, perhaps," he added, with his portentous 
 and prophetic frown, "an execution, waits us! Come." 
 
 "Verily, Tribune," stammered the good Bishop, "this is 
 a strange time for execution ! " 
 
 " Last night was a time yet more strange. Come." 
 
 There was something in the way in which the final word 
 was pronounced that Raimond could not resist. He sighed, 
 muttered, twitched his robes, and followed the Tribune. As 
 he passed through the halls, the company rose on all sides. 
 Rienzi repaid their salutations with smiles and whispers of 
 frank courtesy and winning address. Young as he yet was,
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 245 
 
 and of a handsome and noble presence that took every advan- 
 tage from splendid attire, and yet more from an appearance of 
 intellectual command in his brow and eye which the less 
 cultivated signers of that dark age necessarily wanted, he 
 glittered through the court as one worthy to form, and fitted 
 to preside over, it ; and his supposed descent from the Teuton 
 Emperor, which, since his greatness, was universally bruited 
 and believed abroad, seemed undeniably visible to the foreign 
 lords in the majesty of his mien and the easy blandness of 
 his address. 
 
 " My Lord Prefect," said he to a dark and sullen personage 
 in black velvet, the powerful and arrogant John di Vico, pre- 
 fect of Rome, "we are rejoiced to find so noble a guest at 
 Rome ; we must repay the courtesy by surprising you in your 
 own palace ere long. Nor will you, Signor," as he turned to 
 the envoy from Tivoli, " refuse us a shelter amidst your groves 
 and waterfalls ere the vintage be gathered. Methinks Rome, 
 united with sweet Tivoli, grows reconciled to the Muses. 
 Your suit is carried, Master Venoni : the council recognizes its 
 justice ; but I reserved the news for this holiday. You do not 
 blame me, I trust ? " This was whispered, with a half-affec- 
 tionate frankness, to a worthy citizen, who, finding himself 
 amidst so many of the great, would have shrunk from the 
 notice of the Tribune ; but it was the policy of Rienzi to pay 
 an especial and marked attention to those engaged in com- 
 mercial pursuits. As, after tarrying a moment or two with 
 the merchant, he passed on, the tall person of the old Colonna 
 caught his eye, 
 
 " Signor," said he, with a profound inclination of his head, 
 but with a slight emphasis of tone, " you will not fail us this 
 evening." 
 
 " Tribune " began the Colonna. 
 
 "We receive no excuse," interrupted the Tribune, hastily, 
 and passed on. 
 
 He halted for a few moments before a small group of men 
 plainly attired, who were watching him with intense interest ; 
 for they, too, were scholars, and in Rienzi's rise they saw 
 another evidence of that wonderful and sudden power which
 
 246 RIENZI : 
 
 intellect had begun to assume over brute force. With these, 
 as if abruptly mingled with congenial spirits, the Tribune 
 relaxed all the gravity of his brow. Happier, perhaps, his 
 living career, more unequivocal his posthumous renown, had 
 his objects as his tastes been theirs ! 
 
 " Ah, carissime ! " said he to one, whose arm he drew within 
 his own, " and how proceeds thy interpretation of the old mar- 
 bles, half unravelled? I rejoice to hear it! Confer with 
 me as of old, I pray thee. To-morrow no, nor the day after, 
 but next week we will have a tranquil evening. Dear 
 poet, your ode transported me to the days of Horace; yet, 
 methinks, we do wrong to reject the vernacular for the Latin. 
 You shake your head ? Well, Petrarch thinks with you ; his 
 great epic moves with the stride of a giant, so I hear from 
 his friend and envoy, and here he is ! My Laelius, is 
 that not your name with Petrarch ? How shall I express 
 my delight at his comforting, his inspiring letter ? Alas ! 
 he overrates not my intentions, but my power. Of this 
 hereafter." 
 
 A slight shade darkened the Tribune's brow at these words ; 
 but moving on, a long line of nobles and princes on either side, 
 he regained his self-possession and the dignity he had dropped 
 with his former equals. Thus he passed through the crowd, 
 and gradually disappeared. 
 
 " He bears him bravely," said one, as the revellers reseated 
 themselves. "Noticed you the we, the style royal?" 
 
 "But it must be owned that he lords it well," said the 
 ambassador of the Visconti ; " less pride would be cringing to 
 his haughty court." 
 
 " Why," said a professor of Bologna, " why is the Tribune 
 called proud ? I see no pride in him." 
 
 "Nor I," said a wealthy jeweller. 
 
 While these and yet more contradictory comments followed 
 the exit of the Tribune, he passed into the saloon where Nina 
 presided ; and here his fair person and silver tongue (Suavis 
 coloratceque sententice, according to the description of Petrarch) 
 won him a more general favor with the matrons than he expe- 
 rienced with their lords, and not a little contrasted the formal
 
 THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. 247 
 
 and nervous compliments of the good Bishop, who served 
 him on such occasions with an excellent foil. 
 
 But as soon as the ceremonies were done, and Kienzi 
 mounted his horse, his manner changed at once into a stern 
 and ominous severity. 
 
 " Vicar," said he, abruptly, to the Bishop, " we might well 
 need your presence. Learn that at the Capitol now sits the 
 Council in judgment upon an assassin. Last night, but for 
 Heaven's mercy, I should have fallen a victim to a hireling's 
 dagger. Knew you aught of this ? " 
 
 And he turned so sharply on the Bishop that the poor can- 
 onist nearly dropped from his horse in surprise and terror. 
 
 " I ! " said he. 
 
 Bienzi smiled. " No, good my Lord Bishop ! I see you are 
 of no murderer's mould. But to continue : that I might not 
 appear to act in mine own cause, I ordered the prisoner to be 
 tried in my absence. In his trial you marked the letter 
 brought me at our banquet ? " 
 
 " Ay, and you changed color." 
 
 " Well I might ; in his trial, I say, he has confessed that 
 some of the loftiest lords of Rome were his instigators. They 
 sup with me to-night ! Vicar, forward ! " 
 
 END OF VOL. I.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY, LOS ANGELES 
 
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