Êra to Rome, we may observe the real and important events that marked or
confirmed her political independence. I. The Capitoline hill, one of
her seven eminences, [36] is about four hundred yards in length, and two
hundred in breadth. A flight of a hundred steps led to the summit of the
Tarpeian rock; and far steeper was the ascent before the declivities had
been smoothed and the precipices filled by the ruins of fallen edifices.
From the earliest ages, the Capitol had been used as a temple in peace,
a fortress in war: after the loss of the city, it maintained a siege
against the victorious Gauls, and the sanctuary of the empire was
occupied, assaulted, and burnt, in the civil wars of Vitellius and
Vespasian. [37] The temples of Jupiter and his kindred deities had
crumbled into dust; their place was supplied by monasteries and houses;
and the solid walls, the long and shelving porticos, were decayed or
ruined by the lapse of time. It was the first act of the Romans, an
act of freedom, to restore the strength, though not the beauty, of the
Capitol; to fortify the seat of their arms and counsels; and as often
as they ascended the hill, the coldest minds must have glowed with the
remembrance of their ancestors. II. The first CÊsars had been invested
with the exclusive coinage of the gold and silver; to the senate they
abandoned the baser metal of bronze or copper: [38] the emblems and
legends were inscribed on a more ample field by the genius of flattery;
and the prince was relieved from the care of celebrating his own
virtues. The successors of Diocletian despised even the flattery of the
senate: their royal officers at Rome, and in the provinces, assumed the
sole direction of the mint; and the same prerogative was inherited by
the Gothic kings of Italy, and the long series of the Greek, the French,
and the German dynasties. After an abdication of eight hundred years,
the Roman senate asserted this honorable and lucrative privilege; which
was tacitly renounced by the popes, from Paschal the Second to the
establishment of their residence beyond the Alps. Some of these
republican coins of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries are shown in
the cabinets of the curious. On one of these, a gold medal, Christ is
depictured holding in his left hand a book with this inscription: "The
vow of the Roman senate and people: Rome the capital of the world;" on
the reverse, St. Peter delivering a banner to a kneeling senator in
his cap and gown, with the name and arms of his family impressed on a
shield. [39] III. With the empire, the prÊfect of the city had declined
to a municipal officer; yet he still exercised in the last appeal the
civil and criminal jurisdiction; and a drawn sword, which he received
from the successors of Otho, was the mode of his investiture and the
emblem of his functions. [40] The dignity was confined to the noble
families of Rome: the choice of the people was ratified by the pope; but
a triple oath of fidelity must have often embarrassed the prÊfect in the
conflict of adverse duties. [41] A servant, in whom they possessed but a
third share, was dismissed by the independent Romans: in his place
they elected a patrician; but this title, which Charlemagne had not
disdained, was too lofty for a citizen or a subject; and, after the
first fervor of rebellion, they consented without reluctance to the
restoration of the prÊfect. About fifty years after this event, Innocent
the Third, the most ambitious, or at least the most fortunate, of the
Pontiffs, delivered the Romans and himself from this badge of foreign
dominion: he invested the prÊfect with a banner instead of a sword,
and absolved him from all dependence of oaths or service to the
German emperors. [42] In his place an ecclesiastic, a present or future
cardinal, was named by the pope to the civil government of Rome; but his
jurisdiction has been reduced to a narrow compass; and in the days of
freedom, the right or exercise was derived from the senate and people.
IV. After the revival of the senate, [43] the conscript fathers (if I
may use the expression) were invested with the legislative and executive
power; but their views seldom reached beyond the present day; and that
day was most frequently disturbed by violence and tumult. In its utmost
plenitude, the order or assembly consisted of fifty-six senators, [44]
the most eminent of whom were distinguished by the title of counsellors:
they were nominated, perhaps annually, by the people; and a previous
choice of their electors, ten persons in each region, or parish, might
afford a basis for a free and permanent constitution. The popes, who in
this tempest submitted rather to bend than to break, confirmed by treaty
the establishment and privileges of the senate, and expected from time,
peace, and religion, the restoration of their government. The motives
of public and private interest might sometimes draw from the Romans an
occasional and temporary sacrifice of their claims; and they renewed
their oath of allegiance to the successor of St. Peter and Constantine,
the lawful head of the church and the republic. [45]
[Footnote 36: After many disputes among the antiquaries of Rome, it
seems determined, that the summit of the Capitoline hill next the river
is strictly the Mons Tarpeius, the Arx; and that on the other summit,
the church and convent of Araceli, the barefoot friars of St. Francis
occupy the temple of Jupiter, (Nardini, Roma Antica, l. v. c. 11--16. *
Note: The authority of Nardini is now vigorously impugned, and
the question of the Arx and the Temple of Jupiter revived, with new
arguments by Niebuhr and his accomplished follower, M. Bunsen. Roms
Beschreibung, vol. iii. p. 12, et seqq.--M.]
[Footnote 37: Tacit. Hist. iii. 69, 70.]
[Footnote 38: This partition of the noble and baser metals between the
emperor and senate must, however, be adopted, not as a positive fact,
but as the probable opinion of the best antiquaries, * (see the Science
des Medailles of the PËre Joubert, tom. ii. p. 208--211, in the improved
and scarce edition of the Baron de la Bastie. *
Note: Dr. Cardwell (Lecture on Ancient Coins, p. 70, et seq.) assigns
convincing reasons in support of this opinion.--M.]
[Footnote 39: In his xxviith dissertation on the Antiquities of Italy,
(tom. ii. p. 559--569,) Muratori exhibits a series of the senatorian
coins, which bore the obscure names of _Affortiati_, _Infortiati_,
_Provisini_, _Paparini_. During this period, all the popes, without
excepting Boniface VIII, abstained from the right of coining, which was
resumed by his successor Benedict XI., and regularly exercised in the
court of Avignon.]
[Footnote 40: A German historian, Gerard of Reicherspeg (in Baluz.
Miscell. tom. v. p. 64, apud Schmidt, Hist. des Allemands, tom. iii.
p. 265) thus describes the constitution of Rome in the xith century:
Grandiora urbis et orbis negotia spectant ad Romanum pontificem itemque
ad Romanum Imperatorem, sive illius vicarium urbis prÊfectum, qui de su‚
dignitate respicit utrumque, videlicet dominum papam cui facit hominum,
et dominum imperatorem a quo accipit suÊ potestatis insigne, scilicet
gladium exertum.]
[Footnote 41: The words of a contemporary writer (Pandulph. Pisan. in
Vit. Paschal. II. p. 357, 358) describe the election and oath of the
prÊfect in 1118, inconsultis patribus.... loca prÊfectoria.... Laudes
prÊfectoriÊ.... comitiorum applausum.... juraturum populo in ambonem
sublevant.... confirmari eum in urbe prÊfectum petunt.]
[Footnote 42: Urbis prÊfectum ad ligiam fidelitatem recepit, et per
mantum quod illi donavit de prÊfectur‚ eum publice investivit, qui usque
ad id tempus juramento fidelitatis imperatori fuit obligatus et ab eo
prÊfecturÊ tenuit honorem, (Gesta Innocent. III. in Muratori, tom. iii.
P. i. p. 487.)]
[Footnote 43: See Otho Frising. Chron. vii. 31, de Gest. Frederic. I.,
l. i. c. 27.]
[Footnote 44: Cur countryman, Roger Hoveden, speaks of the single
senators, of the _Capuzzi_ family, &c., quorum temporibus melius
regebatur Roma quam nunc (A.D. 1194) est temporibus lvi. senatorum,
(Ducange, Gloss. tom. vi. p. 191, Senatores.)]
[Footnote 45: Muratori (dissert. xlii. tom. iii. p. 785--788) has
published an original treaty: Concordia inter D. nostrum papam Clementem
III. et senatores populi Romani super regalibus et aliis dignitatibus
urbis, &c., anno 44∫ senat˚s. The senate speaks, and speaks with
authority: Reddimus ad prÊsens.... habebimus.... dabitis presbetria....
jurabimus pacem et fidelitatem, &c. A chartula de Tenementis Tusculani,
dated in the 47th year of the same Êra, and confirmed decreto amplissimi
ordinis senat˚s, acclamatione P. R. publice Capitolio consistentis.
It is there we find the difference of senatores consiliarii and simple
senators, (Muratori, dissert. xlii. tom. iii. p. 787--789.)]
The union and vigor of a public council was dissolved in a lawless
city; and the Romans soon adopted a more strong and simple mode of
administration. They condensed the name and authority of the senate in
a single magistrate, or two colleagues; and as they were changed at
the end of a year, or of six months, the greatness of the trust was
compensated by the shortness of the term. But in this transient reign,
the senators of Rome indulged their avarice and ambition: their justice
was perverted by the interest of their family and faction; and as they
punished only their enemies, they were obeyed only by their adherents.
Anarchy, no longer tempered by the pastoral care of their bishop,
admonished the Romans that they were incapable of governing themselves;
and they sought abroad those blessings which they were hopeless of
finding at home. In the same age, and from the same motives, most of
the Italian republics were prompted to embrace a measure, which, however
strange it may seem, was adapted to their situation, and productive of
the most salutary effects. [46] They chose, in some foreign but friendly
city, an impartial magistrate of noble birth and unblemished character,
a soldier and a statesman, recommended by the voice of fame and his
country, to whom they delegated for a time the supreme administration
of peace and war. The compact between the governor and the governed was
sealed with oaths and subscriptions; and the duration of his power, the
measure of his stipend, the nature of their mutual obligations, were
defined with scrupulous precision. They swore to obey him as their
lawful superior: he pledged his faith to unite the indifference of a
stranger with the zeal of a patriot. At his choice, four or six
knights and civilians, his assessors in arms and justice, attended the
_Podesta_, [47] who maintained at his own expense a decent retinue of
servants and horses: his wife, his son, his brother, who might bias the
affections of the judge, were left behind: during the exercise of his
office he was not permitted to purchase land, to contract an alliance,
or even to accept an invitation in the house of a citizen; nor could
he honorably depart till he had satisfied the complaints that might be
urged against his government.
[Footnote 46: Muratori (dissert. xlv. tom. iv. p. 64--92) has fully
explained this mode of government; and the _Occulus Pastoralis_, which
he has given at the end, is a treatise or sermon on the duties of these
foreign magistrates.]
[Footnote 47: In the Latin writers, at least of the silver age, the
title of _Potestas_ was transferred from the office to the magistrate:--
Hujus qui trahitur prÊtextam sumere mavis;
An Fidenarum Gabiorumque esse _Potestas_.
Juvenal. Satir. x. 99.11]
Chapter LXIX: State Of Rome From The Twelfth Century.--Part III.
It was thus, about the middle of the thirteenth century, that the Romans
called from Bologna the senator Brancaleone, [48] whose fame and merit
have been rescued from oblivion by the pen of an English historian. A
just anxiety for his reputation, a clear foresight of the difficulties
of the task, had engaged him to refuse the honor of their choice: the
statutes of Rome were suspended, and his office prolonged to the term
of three years. By the guilty and licentious he was accused as cruel;
by the clergy he was suspected as partial; but the friends of peace and
order applauded the firm and upright magistrate by whom those blessings
were restored. No criminals were so powerful as to brave, so obscure as
to elude, the justice of the senator. By his sentence two nobles of
the Annibaldi family were executed on a gibbet; and he inexorably
demolished, in the city and neighborhood, one hundred and forty towers,
the strong shelters of rapine and mischief. The bishop, as a simple
bishop, was compelled to reside in his diocese; and the standard of
Brancaleone was displayed in the field with terror and effect. His
services were repaid by the ingratitude of a people unworthy of the
happiness which they enjoyed. By the public robbers, whom he had
provoked for their sake, the Romans were excited to depose and imprison
their benefactor; nor would his life have been spared, if Bologna had
not possessed a pledge for his safety. Before his departure, the prudent
senator had required the exchange of thirty hostages of the noblest
families of Rome: on the news of his danger, and at the prayer of his
wife, they were more strictly guarded; and Bologna, in the cause of
honor, sustained the thunders of a papal interdict. This generous
resistance allowed the Romans to compare the present with the past;
and Brancaleone was conducted from the prison to the Capitol amidst the
acclamations of a repentant people. The remainder of his government was
firm and fortunate; and as soon as envy was appeased by death, his head,
enclosed in a precious vase, was deposited on a lofty column of marble.
[49]
[Footnote 48: See the life and death of Brancaleone, in the Historia
Major of Matthew Paris, p. 741, 757, 792, 797, 799, 810, 823, 833,
836, 840. The multitude of pilgrims and suitors connected Rome and
St. Albans, and the resentment of the English clergy prompted them to
rejoice when ever the popes were humbled and oppressed.]
[Footnote 49: Matthew Paris thus ends his account: Caput vero ipsius
Brancaleonis in vase pretioso super marmoream columnam collocatum, in
signum sui valoris et probitatis, quasi reliquias, superstitiose nimis
et pompose sustulerunt. Fuerat enim superborum potentum et malefactorum
urbis malleus et extirpator, et populi protector et defensor veritatis
et justitiÊ imitator et amator, (p. 840.) A biographer of Innocent IV.
(Muratori, Script. tom. iii. P. i. p. 591, 592) draws a less favorable
portrait of this Ghibeline senator.]
The impotence of reason and virtue recommended in Italy a more effectual
choice: instead of a private citizen, to whom they yielded a voluntary
and precarious obedience, the Romans elected for their senator some
prince of independent power, who could defend them from their enemies
and themselves. Charles of Anjou and Provence, the most ambitious and
warlike monarch of the age, accepted at the same time the kingdom of
Naples from the pope, and the office of senator from the Roman people.
[50] As he passed through the city, in his road to victory, he received
their oath of allegiance, lodged in the Lateran palace, and smoothed
in a short visit the harsh features of his despotic character. Yet even
Charles was exposed to the inconstancy of the people, who saluted
with the same acclamations the passage of his rival, the unfortunate
Conradin; and a powerful avenger, who reigned in the Capitol, alarmed
the fears and jealousy of the popes. The absolute term of his life was
superseded by a renewal every third year; and the enmity of Nicholas the
Third obliged the Sicilian king to abdicate the government of Rome.
In his bull, a perpetual law, the imperious pontiff asserts the truth,
validity, and use of the donation of Constantine, not less essential
to the peace of the city than to the independence of the church;
establishes the annual election of the senator; and formally
disqualifies all emperors, kings, princes, and persons of an eminent and
conspicuous rank. [51] This prohibitory clause was repealed in his own
behalf by Martin the Fourth, who humbly solicited the suffrage of
the Romans. In the presence, and by the authority, of the people, two
electors conferred, not on the pope, but on the noble and faithful
Martin, the dignity of senator, and the supreme administration of
the republic, [52] to hold during his natural life, and to exercise at
pleasure by himself or his deputies. About fifty years afterwards, the
same title was granted to the emperor Lewis of Bavaria; and the liberty
of Rome was acknowledged by her two sovereigns, who accepted a municipal
office in the government of their own metropolis.
[Footnote 50: The election of Charles of Anjou to the office of
perpetual senator of Rome is mentioned by the historians in the viiith
volume of the Collection of Muratori, by Nicholas de Jamsilla, (p. 592,)
the monk of Padua, (p. 724,) Sabas Malaspina, (l. ii. c. 9, p. 308,) and
Ricordano Malespini, (c. 177, p. 999.)]
[Footnote 51: The high-sounding bull of Nicholas III., which founds his
temporal sovereignty on the donation of Constantine, is still extant;
and as it has been inserted by Boniface VIII. in the _Sexte_ of the
Decretals, it must be received by the Catholics, or at least by the
Papists, as a sacred and perpetual law.]
[Footnote 52: I am indebted to Fleury (Hist. EcclÈs. tom. xviii. p.
306) for an extract of this Roman act, which he has taken from the
Ecclesiastical Annals of Odericus Raynaldus, A.D. 1281, No. 14, 15.]
In the first moments of rebellion, when Arnold of Brescia had inflamed
their minds against the church, the Romans artfully labored to
conciliate the favor of the empire, and to recommend their merit and
services in the cause of CÊsar. The style of their ambassadors to Conrad
the Third and Frederic the First is a mixture of flattery and pride,
the tradition and the ignorance of their own history. [53] After some
complaint of his silence and neglect, they exhort the former of these
princes to pass the Alps, and assume from their hands the Imperial
crown. "We beseech your majesty not to disdain the humility of your sons
and vassals, not to listen to the accusations of our common enemies; who
calumniate the senate as hostile to your throne, who sow the seeds of
discord, that they may reap the harvest of destruction. The pope and the
_Sicilian_ are united in an impious league to oppose _our_ liberty and
_your_ coronation. With the blessing of God, our zeal and courage
has hitherto defeated their attempts. Of their powerful and factious
adherents, more especially the Frangipani, we have taken by assault the
houses and turrets: some of these are occupied by our troops, and some
are levelled with the ground. The Milvian bridge, which they had broken,
is restored and fortified for your safe passage; and your army may enter
the city without being annoyed from the castle of St. Angelo. All that
we have done, and all that we design, is for your honor and service, in
the loyal hope, that you will speedily appear in person, to vindicate
those rights which have been invaded by the clergy, to revive the
dignity of the empire, and to surpass the fame and glory of your
predecessors. May you fix your residence in Rome, the capital of the
world; give laws to Italy, and the Teutonic kingdom; and imitate the
example of Constantine and Justinian, [54] who, by the vigor of the
senate and people, obtained the sceptre of the earth." [55] But these
splendid and fallacious wishes were not cherished by Conrad the
Franconian, whose eyes were fixed on the Holy Land, and who died without
visiting Rome soon after his return from the Holy Land.
[Footnote 53: These letters and speeches are preserved by Otho bishop of
Frisingen, (Fabric. Bibliot. Lat. Med. et Infim. tom. v. p. 186, 187,)
perhaps the noblest of historians: he was son of Leopold marquis of
Austria; his mother, Agnes, was daughter of the emperor Henry IV., and
he was half-brother and uncle to Conrad III. and Frederic I. He has
left, in seven books, a Chronicle of the Times; in two, the Gesta
Frederici I., the last of which is inserted in the vith volume of
Muratori's historians.]
[Footnote 54: We desire (said the ignorant Romans) to restore the empire
in um statum, quo fuit tempore Constantini et Justiniani, qui totum
orbem vigore senat˚s et populi Romani suis tenuere manibus.]
[Footnote 55: Otho Frising. de Gestis Frederici I. l. i. c. 28, p.
662--664.]
His nephew and successor, Frederic Barbarossa, was more ambitious of
the Imperial crown; nor had any of the successors of Otho acquired
such absolute sway over the kingdom of Italy. Surrounded by his
ecclesiastical and secular princes, he gave audience in his camp at
Sutri to the ambassadors of Rome, who thus addressed him in a free and
florid oration: "Incline your ear to the queen of cities; approach with
a peaceful and friendly mind the precincts of Rome, which has cast
away the yoke of the clergy, and is impatient to crown her legitimate
emperor. Under your auspicious influence, may the primitive times be
restored. Assert the prerogatives of the eternal city, and reduce under
her monarchy the insolence of the world. You are not ignorant, that, in
former ages, by the wisdom of the senate, by the valor and discipline of
the equestrian order, she extended her victorious arms to the East and
West, beyond the Alps, and over the islands of the ocean. By our sins,
in the absence of our princes, the noble institution of the senate
has sunk in oblivion; and with our prudence, our strength has likewise
decreased. We have revived the senate, and the equestrian order: the
counsels of the one, the arms of the other, will be devoted to your
person and the service of the empire. Do you not hear the language of
the Roman matron? You were a guest, I have adopted you as a citizen; a
Transalpine stranger, I have elected you for my sovereign; [56] and given
you myself, and all that is mine. Your first and most sacred duty is
to swear and subscribe, that you will shed your blood for the republic;
that you will maintain in peace and justice the laws of the city and
the charters of your predecessors; and that you will reward with five
thousand pounds of silver the faithful senators who shall proclaim
your titles in the Capitol. With the name, assume the character, of
Augustus." The flowers of Latin rhetoric were not yet exhausted; but
Frederic, impatient of their vanity, interrupted the orators in the high
tone of royalty and conquest. "Famous indeed have been the fortitude
and wisdom of the ancient Romans; but your speech is not seasoned
with wisdom, and I could wish that fortitude were conspicuous in your
actions. Like all sublunary things, Rome has felt the vicissitudes of
time and fortune. Your noblest families were translated to the East,
to the royal city of Constantine; and the remains of your strength and
freedom have long since been exhausted by the Greeks and Franks. Are
you desirous of beholding the ancient glory of Rome, the gravity of the
senate, the spirit of the knights, the discipline of the camp, the valor
of the legions? you will find them in the German republic. It is not
empire, naked and alone, the ornaments and virtues of empire have
likewise migrated beyond the Alps to a more deserving people: [57] they
will be employed in your defence, but they claim your obedience. You
pretend that myself or my predecessors have been invited by the Romans:
you mistake the word; they were not invited, they were implored. From
its foreign and domestic tyrants, the city was rescued by Charlemagne
and Otho, whose ashes repose in our country; and their dominion was the
price of your deliverance. Under that dominion your ancestors lived and
died. I claim by the right of inheritance and possession, and who shall
dare to extort you from my hands? Is the hand of the Franks [58] and
Germans enfeebled by age? Am I vanquished? Am I a captive? Am I not
encompassed with the banners of a potent and invincible army? You impose
conditions on your master; you require oaths: if the conditions are
just, an oath is superfluous; if unjust, it is criminal. Can you doubt
my equity? It is extended to the meanest of my subjects. Will not my
sword be unsheathed in the defence of the Capitol? By that sword the
northern kingdom of Denmark has been restored to the Roman empire. You
prescribe the measure and the objects of my bounty, which flows in a
copious but a voluntary stream. All will be given to patient merit; all
will be denied to rude importunity." [59] Neither the emperor nor the
senate could maintain these lofty pretensions of dominion and liberty.
United with the pope, and suspicious of the Romans, Frederic continued
his march to the Vatican; his coronation was disturbed by a sally from
the Capitol; and if the numbers and valor of the Germans prevailed in
the bloody conflict, he could not safely encamp in the presence of
a city of which he styled himself the sovereign. About twelve years
afterwards, he besieged Rome, to seat an antipope in the chair of St.
Peter; and twelve Pisan galleys were introduced into the Tyber: but the
senate and people were saved by the arts of negotiation and the progress
of disease; nor did Frederic or his successors reiterate the hostile
attempt. Their laborious reigns were exercised by the popes, the
crusades, and the independence of Lombardy and Germany: they courted the
alliance of the Romans; and Frederic the Second offered in the Capitol
the great standard, the _Caroccio_ of Milan. [60] After the extinction of
the house of Swabia, they were banished beyond the Alps: and their last
coronations betrayed the impotence and poverty of the Teutonic CÊsars.
[61]
[Footnote 56: Hospes eras, civem feci. Advena fuisti ex Transalpinis
partibus principem constitui.]
[Footnote 57: Non cessit nobis nudum imperium, virtute sua amictum
venit, ornamenta sua secum traxit. Penes nos sunt consules tui, &c.
Cicero or Livy would not have rejected these images, the eloquence of a
Barbarian born and educated in the Hercynian forest.]
[Footnote 58: Otho of Frisingen, who surely understood the language of
the court and diet of Germany, speaks of the Franks in the xiith
century as the reigning nation, (Proceres Franci, equites Franci, manus
Francorum:) he adds, however, the epithet of _Teutonici_.]
[Footnote 59: Otho Frising. de Gestis Frederici I., l. ii. c. 22,
p. 720--733. These original and authentic acts I have translated and
abridged with freedom, yet with fidelity.]
[Footnote 60: From the Chronicles of Ricobaldo and Francis Pipin,
Muratori (dissert. xxvi. tom. ii. p. 492) has translated this curious
fact with the doggerel verses that accompanied the gift:--
Ave decus orbis, ave! victus tibi destinor, ave!
Currus ab Augusto Frederico CÊsare justo.
VÊ Mediolanum! jam sentis spernere vanum
Imperii vires, proprias tibi tollere vires.
Ergo triumphorum urbs potes memor esse priorum
Quos tibi mittebant reges qui bella gerebant.
Ne si dee tacere (I now use the Italian Dissertations, tom. i. p. 444)
che nell' anno 1727, una copia desso Caroccio in marmo dianzi ignoto si
scopri, nel campidoglio, presso alle carcere di quel luogo, dove Sisto
V. l'avea falto rinchiudere. Stava esso posto sopra quatro colonne di
marmo fino colla sequente inscrizione, &c.; to the same purpose as the
old inscription.]