By vacant republic; and the mischiefs of discord were perpetuated by the wretched compromise of electing each year two rival senators. their private hostilities, the city and country were desolated, and the fluctuating balance inclined with their alternate success. But none of either family had fallen by the sword, till the most renowned champion of the Ursini was surprised and slain by the younger Stephen Colonna, 108 His triumph is stained with the reproach of violating the truce; their defeat was basely avenged by the assassination, before the church door, of an innocent boy and his two servants. Yet the victorious Colonna, with an annual colleague, was declared senator of Rome during the term of five years. And the muse of Petrarch inspired a wish, a hope, a prediction, that the generous youth, the son of his venerable hero, would restore Rome and Italy to their pristine glory; that his justice would extirpate the wolves and lions, the serpents and bears, who laboured to subvert the eternal basis of the marble COLUMN. 109 Rome. State. Petrarch. A. D. 1304, June 19 A. D. 1374, July 19. - Last Statutes of Final Settlement of the Ecclesiastical In the apprehension of modern times, Petrarch is the Italian songster of Laura and love. In the harmony of his Tuscan rhymes, Italy applauds, or rather adores, the father of her lyric poetry: and his verse, or at least his name, is repeated by the enthusiasm, or affectation, of amorous sensibility. Whatever may be the private taste of a stranger, 108 Petrarch (tom. i. p. 222-230.) has celebrated this victory ac cording to the Colonna; but two contemporaries, a Florentine (Giovanni Villani, 1. x. c. 220.) and a Roman (Ludovico Monaldeschi, p. 533, 534.) are less favourable to their arms. 109 The Abbé de Sade (tom. I. notes, p. 61-66.) has applied the with Canzone of Petrarch, Spirto Gentil, &c. to Stephen Colonna the younger : Orsi, lupi, leoni, aquile e serpi 1 The Mémoires sur la Vie de François Pétrarque (Amsterdam, 1764. 1767, 3 vols. in 4to.) form a copious, original, and entertaining work, a labour of love, composed from the accurate study of Petrarch and his contemporaries; but the hero is too often lost in the general history of the age, and the author too often languishes in the affectation of politeness and gallantry. In the preface to his first volume, he enumerates and weighs twenty Italian biographers, who have professedly treated of the same subject. 2 The allegorical interpretation prevailed in the xvth century; but the wise commentators were not agreed whether they should underderstand by Laura, religion, or virtue, or the blessed Virgin, or ———. See the prefaces to the ist and iid volume. 3 Laure de Noves, born about the year 1307, was married in January 1325 to Hugues de Sade, a noble citizen of Avignon, whose jealousy was not the effect of love, since he married a second within seven months of her death, which happened the 6th of April, 1348, precisely one and twenty years after Petrarch had seen and loved her." 4 Corpus crebris partubus exhaustum: from one of these is issued, in the tenth degree, the Abbé de Sade, the fond and grateful biogra pher of Petrarch; and this domestic motive most probably suggested the idea of his work, and urged him to enquire into every circumstance that could affect the history and character of his grandmother (see particularly tom. i. p. 122-133. notes, p. 7-38. tom. ii. p. 455-495. not. p. 76-82.). 5 Vaucluse, so familiar to our English travellers, is described from the writings of Petrarch, and the local knowledge of his biographer (Mémoires, tom. i. p. 310-359.). It was, in truth, the retreat of an hermit, and the moderns are much mistaken, if they place Laura and an happy lover in the grotto. 6 Of 1250 pages, in a close print, at Basil in the xvith century, but without the date of the year. The Abbé de Sade calls aloud for a his slight and superficial knowledge should humbly acquiesce in the judgment of a learned nation : yet I may hope or presume, that the Italians do not compare the tedious uniformity of sonnets and elegies, with the sublime compositions of their epic muse, the original wildness of Dante, the regular beauties of Tasso, and the boundless variety of the incomparable Ariosto. The me rits of the lover, I am still less qualified to appreciate nor am I deeply interested in a metaphysical passion for a nymph so shadowy, that her existence has been questioned; 2 for a matron so prolific,3 that she was delivered of eleven legitimate children, while her amorous swain sighed and sung at the fountain of Vaucluse. 5 But in the eyes of Petrarch, and those of his graver contemporaries, his love was a sin, and Italian verse a frivolous amusement. His Latin works of philosophy, poetry, and eloquence, established his serious reputation, which was soon diffused from Avignon over France and Italy: his friends and disciples were multiplied in every city; and if the ponderous volume of his writings be now abandoned to a long repose, our gratitude must applaud the man, who by precept and example revived the spirit and study of the Augustan age. From his earliest youth, Petrarch aspired to the poetic crown. The academical honours of the three faculties had introduced a royal degree of master or doctor in the art of poetry;7 and the title of poet laureat, which custom, rather than vanity, perpetuates in the English court, was first invented by the Cæsars of Germany. In the musical games of antiquity, a prize was bestowed on the victor: 9 the belief that Virgil and Horace had been crowned in the Capitol inflamed the emulation of a Latin bard; 10 and the laurel 11 was endeared to the lover by a verbal resemblance with the name of his mistress. The value of either object was enhanced by the difficulties of the pursuit ; and if the virtue or prudence of Laura was inexorable, 12 he enjoyed, and might boast of enjoying, the nymph of poetry. His vanity was not of the most delicate kind, since he applauds new edition of Petrarch's Latin works; but I much doubt whether it would redound to the profit of the bookseller, or the amusement of the public. 7 Consult Selden's Titles of Honour, in his works (vol. iii. p. 457466.). An hundred years before Petrarch, St. Francis received the visit of a poet, qui ab imperatore fuerat coronatus et exinde rex versuum dictus. 8 From Augustus to Louis, the muse has too often been false and venal: but I much doubt whether any age or court can produce a similar establishment of a stipendiary poet, who in every reign, and et all events, is bound to furnish twice a year a measure of praise and verse, such as may be sung in the chapel, and, I believe, in the presence, of the sovereign. I speak the more freely, as the best time for abolishing this ridiculous custom, is while the prince is a man of virtue, and the poet a man of genius. 9 Isocrates (in Panegyrico, tom. i. p. 116, 117. edit. Battie, Cantab 1729) claims for his native Athens the glory of first instituting and recommending the αγώνας και τα αθλα μέγιστα μη μόνον ταχούς και ρωμης, αλλά και λογών και γνωμης. The example of the Panathenaea was imitated at Delphi; but the Olympic games were ignorant of a musical crown, till it was extorted by the vain tyranny of Nero (Sueton. in Nerone, c. 23.; Philostrat. apud Casaubon ad locum; Dion Cassius, or Xiphilin, 1. Ixiii. p. 1032. 1041. Potter's Greek Antiquities, vol. i. p. 445. 450.). 10 The Capitoline games (certamen quinquenale, musicum, equestre, gymnicum), were instituted by Domitian (Sueton. c. 4.) in the year of Christ 86 (Censorin. de Die Natali, c. 18. p. 100. edit. Havercamp), and were not abolished in the ivth century (Ausonius de Professoribus Burdegal. V.). If the crown were given to superior merit, the exclusion of Statius (Capitolia nostræ inficiata lyre, Sylv. 1. iii. v. 31.) may do honour to the games of the Capitol; but the Latin poets who lived before Domitian were crowned only in the public opinion. 11 Petrarch and the senators of Rome were ignorant that the laurel was not the Capitoline, but the Delphic, crown (Plin. Hist. Natur. xv. 39. Hist. Critique de la République des Lettres, tom. i. p. 150-220.). The victors in the Capitol were crowned with a garland of oak leaves (Martial, I. iv. epigram 54.). 12 The pious grandson of Laura has laboured, and not without success, to vindicate her immaculate chastity against the censures of the grave and the sneers of the profane (tom. ii. notes, p. 76-82.). the success of his own labours; his name was popular; his friends were active; the open or secret opposition of envy and prejudice was surmounted by the dexterity of patient merit. In the thirty-sixth year of his age, he was solicited to accept the object of his wishes: and on the same day, in the solitude of Vaucluse, he received a similar and solemn invitation from the senate of Rome and the university of Paris. The learning of a theological school, and the ignorance of a lawless city, were alike unqualified to bestow the ideal though immortal wreath which genius may obtain from the free applause of the public and of posterity: but the candidate dismissed this troublesome reflection, and after some moments of complacency and suspense, preferred the summons of the metropolis of the world. His poetic coronation at Rome. A. D. 1341, April 8. The ceremony of his coronation 13 was performed in the Capitol, by his friend and patron the supreme magistrate of the republic. Twelve patrician youths were arrayed in scarlet; six representatives of the most illustrious families, in green robes, with garlands of flowers, accompanied the procession; in the midst of the princes and nobles, the senator, count of Anguillara, a kinsman of the Colonna, assumed his throne; and at the voice of an herald Petrarch arose. After discoursing on a text of Virgil, and thrice repeating his vows for the prosperity of Rome, he knelt before the throne, and received from the senator a laurel crown, with a more precious declaration, "This is the reward of merit." The people shouted, "Long life to the Capitol and "the poet!" A sonnet in praise of Rome was accepted as the effusion of genius and gratitude; and after the whole procession had visited the Vatican, the profane wreath was suspended before the shrine of St. Peter. In the act of diploma 14 which was presented to Petrarch, the title and prerogatives of poet laureat are revived in the Capitol, after the lapse of thirteen hundred years; and he receives the perpetual privilege of wearing, at his choice, a crown of laurel, ivy, or myrtle, of assuming the poetic habit, and of teaching, disputing, interpreting, and composing, in all places whatsoever, and on all subjects of literature. The grant was ratified by the authority of the senate and people; and the character of citizen was the recompence of his affection for the Roman name. They did him honour, but they did him justice. In the familiar society of Cicero and Livy, he had imbibed the 13 The whole process of Petrarch's coronation is accurately described by the Abbé de Sade (tom. i. p. 425-435. tom. ii. p. 1-6. notes, p. 1-13.) from his own writings, and the Roman Diary of Ludovico Monaldeschi, without mixing in this authentic narrative the more recent fables of Sannuccio Delbene. 14 The original act is printed among the Pièces Justificatives in the Mémoires sur Pétrarque, tom. iii. p. 50--53. 15 To find the proofs of his enthusiasm for Rome, I need only request that the reader would open, by chance, either Petrarch, or his French biographer. The latter has described the poet's first visit to Rome (tom. i. p. 323-335.). But in the place of much idle rhetoric and morality, Petrarch might have amused the present and future age with an original account of the city and his coronation. 16 It has been treated by the pen of a Jesuit, the P. du Cerceau, whose posthumous work (Conjuration de Nicolas Gabrini, dit de Rienzi, Tyran de Rome, en 1547) was published at Paris 1748, in 12mo. I am indebted to him for some facts and documents in John Horsemius, canon of Liege, a contemporary historian (Fabricius, Bibliot. Lat. Med. Evi, tom. iii. p. 273. tom. iv. p. 83.). 17 The Abbé de Sade, who so freely expatiates on the history of the xivth century, might treat, as his proper subject, a revolution in which the heart of l'etrarch was so deeply engaged (Mémoires, tom. ii. p. 50, 51. 320-417. notes, p. 70-76. tom. iii. p. 221–243. 366.– 375.). Not an idea or a fact in the writings of Petrarch has probably escaped him. 18 Giovanni Villani, I. xii. c. 89. 104. in Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, tom xiii. p. 969, 970. 981-983. : ideas of an ancient patriot; and his ardent fancy kindled every idea to a sentiment, and every sen timent to a passion. The aspect of the seve hills and their majestic ruins confirmed ther lively impressions; and he loved a country by whose liberal spirit he had been crowned and adopted. The poverty and debasement of Rom excited the indignation and pity of her grateful son he dissembled the faults of his fellow. citizens; applauded with partial fondness the last of their heroes and matrons; and in the remembrance of the past, in the hope of the future, was pleased to forget the miseries of the present time. Rome was still the lawful mistres of the world: the pope and the emperor, ber bishop and general, had abdicated their station by an inglorious retreat to the Rhône and the Danube; but if she could resume her virtue, the republic might again vindicate her liberty and dominion. Amidst the indulgence of enthu siasm and eloquence, 15 Petrarch, Italy, and Europe, were astonished by a revolution which realised for a moment his most splendid visions, The rise and fall of the tribune Rienzi will œcupy the following pages: 16 the subject is interesting, the materials are rich, and the glance of a patriot bard 17 will sometimes vivify the co pious, but simple, narrative of the Florentine, but more especially of the Roman, 19 historias. In a quarter of the city which was inhabited only by mechanics and an Jews, the marriage of an innkeeper and a washerwoman produced the future deliverer of Rome, 20 From such parents Nicholas Rienzi Gabrini could inherit neither dignity nor fortune; and the gift of a liberal education, which they painfully bestowed, wa the cause of his glory and untimely end. The study of history and eloquence, the writings of Cicero, Seneca, Livy, Cæsar, and Valerius Maximus, elevated above his equals and contempo raries the genius of the young plebeian: he perused with indefatigable diligence the mannscripts and marbles of antiquity; loved to dispense his knowledge in familiar language; and was often provoked to exclaim, "Where are "now these Romans? their virtue, their justice, "their power? why was I not born in those "happy times?" 21 When the republic addressed to the throne of Avignon an embassy of the three orders, the spirit and eloquence of Rienti recommended him to a place among the thirteen deputies of the commons. The orator had the Birth, cha d 19 In his third volume of Italian antiquities (p. 249–548.1, Mo ratori has inserted the Fragmenta Historie Romane ab Ansu U usque ad Annum 1354, in the original dialect of Rome or Napis 1 the xivth century, and a Latin version for the benefit of strives It contains the most particular and authentic Life of Cala (Nichoa di Rienzi; which had been printed at Bracciano 1627, in 4to, solgt the name of Tomaso Fortifiocca, who is only mentioned in this work as having been punished by the tribune for forgery. Human carm is scarcely capable of such sublime or stupid impartiality, bez who soever is the author of these Fragments, he wrote on the spot d the time, and paints, without design or art, the inanners of Kane and the character of the tribune. 20 The first and splendid period of Rienzi, his tribunitian perem ment, is contained in the xviiith chapter of the Fragments à L 479.), which, in the new division, forins the lid book of the history in Xxxviii smaller chapters or sections. 21 The reader may be pleased with a specimen of the origins idiom: Fò da soa juventutine nutricato di larte de eloquentia, kita gramatico, megliore rettuorico, autorista bravo. Deh como et quaA era veloce leitore moito usava Tito Livio, Seneca, et Tulle & Ea lerio Massimo, maito li dilettava le magnificentie di Juda Úsm raccontare. Tutta la die se speculava necl' intagli di marcie krui faccio intorno Roma. Non era altri che esso, che sapesse iero antichi pataffii. Tutte scritture antiche vulgarizzava; quesue furt di marmo justamente interpretava. Oh come spesso diceva, “Lust "suoco quelli buoni Romani? dove ene loro somma justizia ? pait"ramme trovare in tempo che quessi fiuriano!" honour of haranguing pope Clement the Sixth, and the satisfaction of conversing with Petrarch, a congenial mind; but his aspiring hopes were chilled by disgrace and poverty; and the patriot was reduced to a single garment and the charity of the hospital. From this misery he was relieved by the sense of merit or the smile of favour; and the employment of apostolic notary afforded him a daily stipend of five gold florins; a more honourable and extensive connection; and the right of contrasting, both in words and actions, his own integrity with the vices of the state. The eloquence of Rienzi was prompt and persuasive: the multitude is always prone to envy and censure: he was stimulated by the loss of a brother and the impunity of the assassins; nor was it possible to excuse or exaggerate the public calamities. The blessings of peace and justice, for which civil society has been instituted, were banished from Rome: the jealous citizens, who might have endured every personal or pecuniary injury, were most deeply wounded in the dishonour of their wives and daughters: 22 they were equally oppressed by the arrogance of the nobles and the corruption of the magistrates; and the abuse of arms or of laws was the only circumstance that distinguished the lions, from the dogs and serpents, of the Capitol. These allegorical emblems were variously repeated in the pictures which Rienzi exhibited in the streets and churches; and while the spectators gazed with curious wonder, the bold and ready orator unfolded the meaning, applied the satire, inflamed their passions, and announced a distant hope of comfort and deliverance. The privileges of Rome, her eternal sovereignty over her princes and provinces, was the theme of his public and private discourse; and a monument of servitude became in his hands a title and in centive of liberty. The decree of the senate, which granted the most ample prerogatives to the emperor Vespasian, had been inscribed on a copper-plate still extant in the choir of the church of St. John Lateran. 23 A numérous assembly of nobles and plebeians was invited to this political lecture, and a convenient theatre was erected for their reception. The notary appeared, in a magnificent and mysterious habit, explained the inscription by a version and commentary, 24 and descanted with eloquence and zeal on the ancient glories of the senate and people, from whom all legal authority was derived. The supine ignorance of the nobles was incapable of discerning the serious tendency of such representations: they might sometimes chastise with words and blows the plebeian reformer; but he was often suffered in the Colonna palace to amuse the company with his threats and predictions; and the modern Brutus 25 was concealed under the mask of folly and the character of a buffoon. While they indulged their contempt, the restoration of the good estate, his favourite expression, was entertained among the people as a desirable, a pos 22 Petrarch compares the jealousy of the Romans with the easy temper of the husbands of Avignon (Mémoires, tom. i. p. 330.). 23 The fragments of the Ler Regia may be found in the Inscriptions of Gruter, tom. i. p. 212., and at the end of the Tacitus of Ernesti, with some learned notes of the editor, tom. ii. 24 I cannot overlook a stupendous and laughable blunder of Rienzi. The Lex regia empowers Vespasian to enlarge the Pomerium, a word familiar to every antiquary. It was not so to the tribune; he con sible, and at length as an approaching, event: and while all had the disposition to applaud, some had the courage to assist, their promised deliverer. of Rome, May 20.; The A prophecy, or rather a summons, He assumes the affixed on the church door of St. government George, was the first public evi- A. D. 1347, dence of his designs; a nocturnal assembly of a hundred citizens on Mount Aventine, the first step to their execution. After an oath of secrecy and aid, he represented to the conspirators the importance and facility of their enterprise; that the nobles, without union or resources, were strong only in the fear of their imaginary strength; that all power, as well as right, was in the hands of the people; that the revenues of the apostolical chamber might relieve the public distress; and that the pope himself would approve their victory over the common enemies of government and freedom. After securing a faithful band to protect his first declaration, he proclaimed through the city, by sound of trumpet, that on the evening of the following day all persons should assemble without arms before the church of St. Angelo, to provide for the re-establishment of the good estate. whole night was employed in the celebration of thirty masses of the Holy Ghost; and in the morning, Rienzi, bareheaded, but in complete armour, issued from the church, encompassed by the hundred conspirators. The pope's vicar, the simple bishop of Orvieto, who had been persuaded to sustain a part in this singular ceremony, marched on his right hand; and three great standards were borne aloft as the emblems of their design. In the first, the banner of liberty, Rome was seated on two lions, with a palm in one hand and a globe in the other: St. Paul, with a drawn sword, was delineated in the banner of justice; and in the third, St. Peter held the keys of concord and peace. Rienzi was encouraged by the presence and applause of an innumerable crowd, who understood little, and hoped much; and the procession slowly rolled forwards from the castle of St. Angelo to the Capitol. His triumph was disturbed by some secret emotions which he laboured to suppress: he ascended without opposition, and with seeming confidence, the citadel of the republic; harangued the people from the balcony; and received the most flattering confirmation of his acts and laws. The nobles, as if destitute of arms and counsels, beheld in silent consternation this strange revolution; and the moment had been prudently chosen, when the most formidable, Stephen Colonna, was absent from the city. On the first rumour, he returned to his palace, affected to despise this plebeian tumult, and declared to the messengers of Rienzi, that at his leisure he would cast the madman from the windows of the Capitol. The great bell instantly rang an alarm, and so rapid was the tide, so urgent was the danger, that Colonna escaped with precipitation to the suburb of St. Lawrence: from thence, founds it with pomarium, an orchard, translates lo Jardino de Roma cioene Italia, and is copied by the less excusable ignorance of the Latin translator (p. 406.), and the French historian (p. 33.). Even the learning of Muratori has slumbered over the passage. 25 Priori (Bruto) tamen similior, juvenis uterque, longe ingenio quam cujus simulationem induerat, ut sub hoc obtenta liberator ille P. R. aperiretur tempore suo... Ille regibus, hic tyrannis contemptus (Opp. p. 536.). after a moment's refreshment, he continued the same speedy career till he reached in safety his castle of Palestrina; lamenting his own imprudence, which had not trampled the spark of this mighty conflagration. A general and peremptory order was issued from the Capitol to all the nobles, that they should peaceably retire to their estates: they obeyed; and their departure secured the tranquillity of the free and obedient citizens of Rome. with the title tribune. But such voluntary obedience evaand office of porates with the first transports of zeal; and Rienzi felt the importance of justifying his usurpation by a regular form and a legal title. At his own choice, the Roman people would have displayed their attachment and authority, by lavishing on his head the names of senator or consul, of king or emperor: he preferred the ancient and modest appellation of tribune; the protection of the commons was the essence of that sacred office; and they were ignorant, that it had never been invested with any share in the legislative or executive powers Laws of the of the republic. In this character, good estate. and with the consent of the Romans, the tribune enacted the most salutary laws for the restoration and maintenance of the good estate. By the first he fulfils the wish of honesty and inexperience, that no civil suit should be protracted beyond the term of fifteen days. The danger of frequent perjury might justify the pronouncing against a false accuser the same penalty which his evidence would have inflicted: the disorders of the times might compel the legislator to punish every homicide with death, and every injury with equal retaliation. But the execution of justice was hopeless till he had previously abolished the tyranny of the nobles. It was formally provided, that none, except the supreme magistrate, should possess or command the gates, bridges, or towers, of the state: that no private garrisons should be introduced into the towns or castles of the Roman territory; that none should bear arms, or presume to fortify their houses in the city or country; that the barons should be responsible for the safety of the highways, and the free passage of provisions; and that the protection of malefactors and robbers should be expiated by a fine of a thousand marks of silver. But these regulations would have been impotent and nugatory, had not the licentious nobles been awed by the sword of the civil power. A sudden alarm from the bell of the Capitol could still summon to the standard above twenty thousand volunteers: the support of the tribune and the laws required a more regular and permanent force. In each harbour of the coast, a vessel was stationed for the assurance of commerce; a standing militia of three hundred and sixty horse and thirteen hundred foot was levied, clothed, and paid in the thirteen quarters of the city: and the spirit of a commonwealth may be traced in the grateful allowance of one hundred florins, or pounds, to the heirs of every soldier who lost his life in the service of his country. For the maintenance of the 26 In one MS. I read (1. ii. c. 4. p. 409.) perfumante quatro solli, in another quarto fiorini, an important variety, since the florin was worth ten Roman solidi (Muratori, dissert. xxviii.). The former reading would give us a population of 25,000, the latter of 230,000 families; public defence, for the establishment of gra naries, for the relief of widows, orphans, and indigent convents, Rienzi applied, without fear of sacrilege, the revenues of the apostolic chamber: the three branches of hearth-money, the saltduty, and the customs, were each of the annual produce of one hundred thousand florins; and scandalous were the abuses, if in four or five months the amount of the salt-duty could be trebled by his judicious economy. After thus restoring the forces and finances of the republic, the tribune recalled the nobles from their solitary independence; required their personal appear. ance in the Capitol; and imposed an oath, of ale giance to the new government, and of submission to the laws of the good estate. Apprehensive for their safety, but still more apprehensive of the danger of a refusal, the princes and barons returned to their houses at Rome in the garb of simple and peaceful citizens: the Colonna and Ursini, the Savelli and Frangipani, were con founded before the tribunal of a plebeian, of the vile buffoon whom they had so often derided, and their disgrace was aggravated by the indignation which they vainly struggled to dis guise. The same oath was successively pro nounced by the several orders of society, the clergy and gentlemen, the judges and notaries, the merchants and artisans, and the gradual de scent was marked by the increase of sincerity and zeal. They swore to live and die with the republic and the church, whose interest was fully united by the nominal association of the bishop of Orvieto, the pope's vicar, to the office of tribune. It was the boast of Rienzi, that he had delivered the throne and patrimony of St. Peter from a rebellious aristocracy; and Clement the Sixth, who rejoiced in its fall, affected to believe the professions, to applaud the merits, and to confirm the title, of his trusty servant. The speech, perhaps the mind, of the tribune. was inspired with a lively regard for the purity of the faith; he insinuated his claim to a super. natural mission from the Holy Ghost; enforced by an heavy forfeiture the annual duty of con fession and communion; and strictly guarded the spiritual as well as temporal welfare of his faithful people. 27 prosperity d Never perhaps has the energy Freedm and effect of a single mind been the Roman more remarkably felt than in the replic sudden, though transient, reformation of Rome by the tribune Rienzi. A den of robbers was converted to the discipline of a camp or co vent: patient to hear, swift to redress, is exorable to punish, his tribunal was always accessible to the poor and stranger; nor could birth, or dignity, or the immunities of the church, protect the offender or his accomplices. The privileged houses, the private sanctuaries Rome, on which no officer of justice would presume to trespass, were abolished; and he applied the timber and iron of their barricades in the fortifications of the Capitol. The nerable father of the Colonna was exposed in his own palace to the double shame of being and I much fear, that the former is more consistent with the decat of Rome and her territory. 27 Hocsemius, p. 399. apud du Cerceau, Hist. de Rienzi, p The fifteen taibunitian laws may be found in the Roman ba I whom for brevi y I shall name) Fortifiocca, I là, c. h desirous, and of being unable, to protect a criminal. A mule, with a jar of oil, had been stolen near Capranica; and the lord, of the Ursini family, was condemned to restore the damage, and to discharge a fine of four hundred florins for his negligence in guarding the highways. Nor were, the persons of the barons more inviolate than their lands or houses: and, either from accident or design, the same impartial rigour was exercised against the heads of the adverse factions. Peter Agapet Colonna, who had himself been senator of Rome, was arrested in the street for injury or debt; and justice was appeased by the tardy execution of Martin Ursini, who, among his various acts of violence and rapine, had pillaged a shipwrecked vessel at the mouth of the Tyber.28 His name, the purple of two cardinals, his uncles, a recent marriage, and a mortal disease, were disregarded by the inflexible tribune, who had chosen his victim. The public officers dragged him from his palace and nuptial bed his trial was short and satisfactory; the bell of the Capitol convened the people: stript of his mantle, on his knees, with his hands bound behind his back, he heard the sentence of death; and after a brief confession Ursini After such an was led away to the gallows. example, none who were conscious of guilt could hope for impunity, and the flight of the wicked, the licentious, and the idle, soon purified the city and territory of Rome. In this time (says the historian) the woods began to rejoice that they were no longer infested with robbers; the oxen began to plough; the pilgrims visited the sanctuaries; 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 highway. As soon as the life and property of the subject are secure, the labours and rewards of industry spontaneously revive: Rome was still the metropolis of the Christian world; and the fame and fortunes of the tribune were diffused in every country by the strangers who had enjoyed the blessings of his government. The tribune The deliverance of his country is respected in inspired Rienzi with a vast, and Italy, &c.; perhaps visionary, idea, of uniting Italy in a great foederative republic, of which Rome should be the ancient and lawful head, and the free cities and princes the members and associates. His pen was not less eloquent than his tongue; and his numerous epistles were delivered to swift and trusty messengers. foot, with a white wand in their hand, they traversed the forests and mountains; enjoyed, in the most hostile states, the sacred security of ambassadors; and reported, in the style of flat On 28 Fortifiocca, 1. ii. c. 11. From the account of this shipwreck, we learn some circumstances of the trade and navigation of the age. 1. The ship was built and freighted at Naples for the ports of Marseilles and Avignon. 2. The sailors were of Naples and the isle of Enaria, less skilful than those of Sicily and Genoa. 3. The navigation from Marseilles was a coasting voyage to the mouth of the Tyber, where they took shelter in a storm; but, instead of finding the cur rent, unfortunately ran on a shoal: the vessel was stranded, the mariners escaped. 4. The cargo, which was pillaged, consisted of the revenue of Provence for the royal treasury, many bags of pepper and cinnamon, and bales of French cloth, to the value of 20,000 florins: a rich prize. 29 It was thus that Oliver Cromwell's old acquaintance, who remembered his vulgar and ungracious entrance into the House of Commons, were astonished at the ease and majesty of the protector on his throne (see Harris's Life of Cromwell, p. 27-34. from Claren tery or truth, that the highways along their passage were lined with kneeling multitudes, who implored Heaven for the success of their undertaking. Could passion have listened to reason; could private interest have yielded to the public welfare; the supreme tribunal and confederate union of the Italian republic might have healed their intestine discord, and closed the Alps against the barbarians of the North. But the propitious season had elapsed; and if Venice, Florence, Sienna, Perugia, and many inferior cities, offered their lives and fortunes to the good estate, the tyrants of Lombardy and Tuscany must despise, or hate, the plebeian author of a free constitution. From them, however, and from every part of Italy, the tribune received the most friendly and respectful answers: they were followed by the ambassadors of the princes and republics; and in this foreign conflux, on all the occasions of pleasure or business, the low-born notary could assume the familiar or majestic courtesy of a sovereign.29 The most glorious circumstance of his reign was an appeal to his justice from Lewis king of Hungary, who complained, that his brother, and her husband, had been perfidiously strangled by Jane queen of Naples: 50 her guilt or innocence was pleaded in a solemn trial at Rome; but after hearing the advocates,31 the tribune adjourned this weighty and invidious cause, which was soon determined by the sword of the Hungarian. Beyond the Alps, more especially at Avignon, the revolution was the theme of curiosity, wonder, and applause. Pe- and celebrated trarch had been the private friend, by Petrarch. perhaps the secret counsellor, of Rienzi: his writings breathe the most ardent spirit of patriotism and joy; and all respect for the pope, all gratitude for the Colonna, was lost in the superior duties of a Roman citizen. laureat of the Capitol maintains the act, applauds the hero, and mingles with some apprehension and advice the most lofty hopes of the permanent and rising greatness of the republic.32 The poet His vices and follies. While Petrarch indulged these prophetic visions, the Roman hero was fast declining from the meridian of fame and power; and the people, who had gazed with astonishment on the ascending meteor, began to mark the irregularity of its course, and the vicissitudes of light and obscurity. More eloquent than judicious, more enterprising than resolute, the faculties of Rienzi were not balanced by cool and commanding reason: he magnified in a tenfold proportion the objects of hope and fear; and prudence, which could not have erected, did not presume to fortify, his throne. In the blaze of prosperity, his virtues don, Warwick, Whitelocke, Waller, &c.). The consciousness of merit and power will sometimes elevate the manners to the station. 30 See the causes, circumstances, and effects of the death of Andrew, in Giannone (tom. iii. 1. xxiii. p. 220-229.), and the Life of Petrarch (Mémoires, tom. ii. p. 143-148. 245-250. 375-379. notes, p. 21-37. The Abbé de Sade wishes to extenuate her guilt. 31 The advocate who pleaded against Jane could add nothing to the logical force and brevity of his master's epistle. Johanna! inordinata vita præcedens, retentio potestatis in regno, neglecta vindicta, vir alter susceptus, et excusatio subsequens, necis viri tui te probant fuisse participem et consortem. Jane of Naples, and Mary of Scot. land, have a singular conformity. 32 See the Epistola Hortatoría de Capessenda Republica, from Petrarch to Nicholas Rienzi (Opp. p. 535-540.), and the vth eclogue or pastoral, a perpetual and obscure allegory. 4H 3 |