birth, and degraded the importance of his office; and the equestrian
tribune was not less odious to the nobles, whom he adopted, than to
the plebeians, whom he deserted. All that yet remained of treasure,
or luxury, or art, was exhausted on that solemn day. Rienzi led the
procession from the Capitol to the Lateran; the tediousness of the way
was relieved with decorations and games; the ecclesiastical, civil, and
military orders marched under their various banners; the Roman ladies
attended his wife; and the ambassadors of Italy might loudly applaud or
secretly deride the novelty of the pomp. In the evening, which they had
reached the church and palace of Constantine, he thanked and dismissed
the numerous assembly, with an invitation to the festival of the ensuing
day. From the hands of a venerable knight he received the order of the
Holy Ghost; the purification of the bath was a previous ceremony; but in
no step of his life did Rienzi excite such scandal and censure as by
the profane use of the porphyry vase, in which Constantine (a foolish
legend) had been healed of his leprosy by Pope Sylvester. [37] With
equal presumption the tribune watched or reposed within the consecrated
precincts of the baptistery; and the failure of his state-bed was
interpreted as an omen of his approaching downfall. At the hour of
worship, he showed himself to the returning crowds in a majestic
attitude, with a robe of purple, his sword, and gilt spurs; but the holy
rites were soon interrupted by his levity and insolence. Rising from his
throne, and advancing towards the congregation, he proclaimed in a
loud voice: "We summon to our tribunal Pope Clement: and command him
to reside in his diocese of Rome: we also summon the sacred college of
cardinals. [38] We again summon the two pretenders, Charles of Bohemia
and Lewis of Bavaria, who style themselves emperors: we likewise summon
all the electors of Germany, to inform us on what pretence they have
usurped the inalienable right of the Roman people, the ancient and
lawful sovereigns of the empire." [39] Unsheathing his maiden sword,
he thrice brandished it to the three parts of the world, and thrice
repeated the extravagant declaration, "And this too is mine!" The pope's
vicar, the bishop of Orvieto, attempted to check this career of folly;
but his feeble protest was silenced by martial music; and instead of
withdrawing from the assembly, he consented to dine with his brother
tribune, at a table which had hitherto been reserved for the supreme
pontiff. A banquet, such as the CÊsars had given, was prepared for the
Romans. The apartments, porticos, and courts of the Lateran were spread
with innumerable tables for either sex, and every condition; a stream
of wine flowed from the nostrils of Constantine's brazen horse; no
complaint, except of the scarcity of water, could be heard; and the
licentiousness of the multitude was curbed by discipline and fear. A
subsequent day was appointed for the coronation of Rienzi; [40] seven
crowns of different leaves or metals were successively placed on his
head by the most eminent of the Roman clergy; they represented the seven
gifts of the Holy Ghost; and he still professed to imitate the example
of the ancient tribunes. [401] These extraordinary spectacles might deceive
or flatter the people; and their own vanity was gratified in the vanity
of their leader. But in his private life he soon deviated from the
strict rule of frugality and abstinence; and the plebeians, who were
awed by the splendor of the nobles, were provoked by the luxury of their
equal. His wife, his son, his uncle, (a barber in name and profession,)
exposed the contrast of vulgar manners and princely expense; and without
acquiring the majesty, Rienzi degenerated into the vices, of a king.
[Footnote 36: Strange as it may seem, this festival was not without a
precedent. In the year 1327, two barons, a Colonna and an Ursini, the
usual balance, were created knights by the Roman people: their bath was
of rose-water, their beds were decked with royal magnificence, and they
were served at St. Maria of Araceli in the Capitol, by the twenty-eight
_buoni huomini_. They afterwards received from Robert, king of Naples,
the sword of chivalry, (Hist. Rom. l. i. c. 2, p. 259.)]
[Footnote 37: All parties believed in the leprosy and bath of
Constantine (Petrarch. Epist. Famil. vi. 2,) and Rienzi justified his
own conduct by observing to the court of Avignon, that a vase which had
been used by a Pagan could not be profaned by a pious Christian. Yet
this crime is specified in the bull of excommunication, (Hocsemius, apud
du CerÁeau, p. 189, 190.)]
[Footnote 38: This _verbal_ summons of Pope Clement VI., which rests on
the authority of the Roman historian and a Vatican MS., is disputed by
the biographer of Petrarch, (tom. ii. not. p. 70--76), with arguments
rather of decency than of weight. The court of Avignon might not choose
to agitate this delicate question.]
[Footnote 39: The summons of the two rival emperors, a monument of
freedom and folly, is extant in Hocsemius, (CerÁeau, p. 163--166.)]
[Footnote 40: It is singular, that the Roman historian should have
overlooked this sevenfold coronation, which is sufficiently proved by
internal evidence, and the testimony of Hocsemius, and even of Rienzi,
(Cercean p. 167--170, 229.)]
[Footnote 401: It was on this occasion that he made the profane comparison
between himself and our Lord; and the striking circumstance took place
which he relates in his letter to the archbishop of Prague. In the midst
of all the wild and joyous exultation of the people, one of his most
zealous supporters, a monk, who was in high repute for his sanctity,
stood apart in a corner of the church and wept bitterly! A domestic
chaplain of Rienzi's inquired the cause of his grief. "Now," replied
the man of God, "is thy master cast down from heaven--never saw I man so
proud. By the aid of the Holy Ghost he has driven the tyrants from the
city without drawing a sword; the cities and the sovereigns of Italy
have submitted to his power. Why is he so arrogant and ungrateful
towards the Most High? Why does he seek earthly and transitory rewards
for his labors, and in his wanton speech liken himself to the Creator?
Tell thy master that he can only atone for this offence by tears of
penitence." In the evening the chaplain communicated this solemn rebuke
to the tribune: it appalled him for the time, but was soon forgotten in
the tumult and hurry of business.--M. 1845.]
A simple citizen describes with pity, or perhaps with pleasure, the
humiliation of the barons of Rome. "Bareheaded, their hands crossed
on their breast, they stood with downcast looks in the presence of the
tribune; and they trembled, good God, how they trembled!" [41] As long
as the yoke of Rienzi was that of justice and their country, their
conscience forced them to esteem the man, whom pride and interest
provoked them to hate: his extravagant conduct soon fortified their
hatred by contempt; and they conceived the hope of subverting a power
which was no longer so deeply rooted in the public confidence. The old
animosity of the Colonna and Ursini was suspended for a moment by
their common disgrace: they associated their wishes, and perhaps their
designs; an assassin was seized and tortured; he accused the nobles;
and as soon as Rienzi deserved the fate, he adopted the suspicions
and maxims, of a tyrant. On the same day, under various pretences,
he invited to the Capitol his principal enemies, among whom were five
members of the Ursini and three of the Colonna name. But instead of a
council or a banquet, they found themselves prisoners under the sword of
despotism or justice; and the consciousness of innocence or guilt might
inspire them with equal apprehensions of danger. At the sound of the
great bell the people assembled; they were arraigned for a conspiracy
against the tribune's life; and though some might sympathize in their
distress, not a hand, nor a voice, was raised to rescue the first of the
nobility from their impending doom. Their apparent boldness was prompted
by despair; they passed in separate chambers a sleepless and painful
night; and the venerable hero, Stephen Colonna, striking against the
door of his prison, repeatedly urged his guards to deliver him by
a speedy death from such ignominious servitude. In the morning they
understood their sentence from the visit of a confessor and the tolling
of the bell. The great hall of the Capitol had been decorated for the
bloody scene with red and white hangings: the countenance of the tribune
was dark and severe; the swords of the executioners were unsheathed;
and the barons were interrupted in their dying speeches by the sound of
trumpets. But in this decisive moment, Rienzi was not less anxious or
apprehensive than his captives: he dreaded the splendor of their names,
their surviving kinsmen, the inconstancy of the people the reproaches
of the world, and, after rashly offering a mortal injury, he vainly
presumed that, if he could forgive, he might himself be forgiven. His
elaborate oration was that of a Christian and a suppliant; and, as the
humble minister of the commons, he entreated his masters to pardon these
noble criminals, for whose repentance and future service he pledged
his faith and authority. "If you are spared," said the tribune, "by the
mercy of the Romans, will you not promise to support the good estate
with your lives and fortunes?" Astonished by this marvellous clemency,
the barons bowed their heads; and while they devoutly repeated the oath
of allegiance, might whisper a secret, and more sincere, assurance
of revenge. A priest, in the name of the people, pronounced their
absolution: they received the communion with the tribune, assisted at
the banquet, followed the procession; and, after every spiritual and
temporal sign of reconciliation, were dismissed in safety to their
respective homes, with the new honors and titles of generals, consuls,
and patricians. [42]
[Footnote 41: Puoi se faceva stare denante a se, mentre sedeva, li
baroni tutti in piedi ritti co le vraccia piecate, e co li capucci
tratti. Deh como stavano paurosi! (Hist. Rom. l. ii. c. 20, p. 439.) He
saw them, and we see them.]
[Footnote 42: The original letter, in which Rienzi justifies his
treatment of the Colonna, (Hocsemius, apud du CerÁeau, p. 222--229,)
displays, in genuine colors, the mixture of the knave and the madman.]
During some weeks they were checked by the memory of their danger,
rather than of their deliverance, till the most powerful of the Ursini,
escaping with the Colonna from the city, erected at Marino the standard
of rebellion. The fortifications of the castle were instantly restored;
the vassals attended their lord; the outlaws armed against the
magistrate; the flocks and herds, the harvests and vineyards, from
Marino to the gates of Rome, were swept away or destroyed; and the
people arraigned Rienzi as the author of the calamities which his
government had taught them to forget. In the camp, Rienzi appeared to
less advantage than in the rostrum; and he neglected the progress of
the rebel barons till their numbers were strong, and their castles
impregnable. From the pages of Livy he had not imbibed the art, or even
the courage, of a general: an army of twenty thousand Romans returned
without honor or effect from the attack of Marino; and his vengeance was
amused by painting his enemies, their heads downwards, and drowning two
dogs (at least they should have been bears) as the representatives of
the Ursini. The belief of his incapacity encouraged their operations:
they were invited by their secret adherents; and the barons attempted,
with four thousand foot, and sixteen hundred horse, to enter Rome
by force or surprise. The city was prepared for their reception;
the alarm-bell rung all night; the gates were strictly guarded, or
insolently open; and after some hesitation they sounded a retreat. The
two first divisions had passed along the walls, but the prospect of a
free entrance tempted the headstrong valor of the nobles in the rear;
and after a successful skirmish, they were overthrown and massacred
without quarter by the crowds of the Roman people. Stephen Colonna the
younger, the noble spirit to whom Petrarch ascribed the restoration of
Italy, was preceded or accompanied in death by his son John, a gallant
youth, by his brother Peter, who might regret the ease and honors of
the church, by a nephew of legitimate birth, and by two bastards of
the Colonna race; and the number of seven, the seven crowns, as Rienzi
styled them, of the Holy Ghost, was completed by the agony of the
deplorable parent, and the veteran chief, who had survived the hope and
fortune of his house. The vision and prophecies of St. Martin and Pope
Boniface had been used by the tribune to animate his troops: [43] he
displayed, at least in the pursuit, the spirit of a hero; but he forgot
the maxims of the ancient Romans, who abhorred the triumphs of civil
war. The conqueror ascended the Capitol; deposited his crown and sceptre
on the altar; and boasted, with some truth, that he had cut off an ear,
which neither pope nor emperor had been able to amputate. [44] His base
and implacable revenge denied the honors of burial; and the bodies of
the Colonna, which he threatened to expose with those of the vilest
malefactors, were secretly interred by the holy virgins of their name
and family. [45] The people sympathized in their grief, repented of their
own fury, and detested the indecent joy of Rienzi, who visited the spot
where these illustrious victims had fallen. It was on that fatal spot
that he conferred on his son the honor of knighthood: and the ceremony
was accomplished by a slight blow from each of the horsemen of the
guard, and by a ridiculous and inhuman ablution from a pool of water,
which was yet polluted with patrician blood. [46]
[Footnote 43: Rienzi, in the above-mentioned letter, ascribes to St.
Martin the tribune, Boniface VIII. the enemy of Colonna, himself, and
the Roman people, the glory of the day, which Villani likewise (l. 12,
c. 104) describes as a regular battle. The disorderly skirmish, the
flight of the Romans, and the cowardice of Rienzi, are painted in the
simple and minute narrative of Fortifiocca, or the anonymous citizen,
(l. i. c. 34--37.)]
[Footnote 44: In describing the fall of the Colonna, I speak only of
the family of Stephen the elder, who is often confounded by the P. du
CerÁeau with his son. That family was extinguished, but the house has
been perpetuated in the collateral branches, of which I have not a very
accurate knowledge. Circumspice (says Petrarch) familiÊ tuÊ statum,
Columniensium _domos_: solito pauciores habeat columnas. Quid ad rem
modo fundamentum stabile, solidumque permaneat.]
[Footnote 45: The convent of St. Silvester was founded, endowed, and
protected by the Colonna cardinals, for the daughters of the family
who embraced a monastic life, and who, in the year 1318, were twelve
in number. The others were allowed to marry with their kinsmen in the
fourth degree, and the dispensation was justified by the small number
and close alliances of the noble families of Rome, (MÈmoires sur
PÈtrarque, tom. i. p. 110, tom. ii. p. 401.)]
[Footnote 46: Petrarch wrote a stiff and pedantic letter of consolation,
(Fam. l. vii. epist. 13, p. 682, 683.) The friend was lost in the
patriot. Nulla toto orbe principum familia carior; carior tamen
respublica, carior Roma, carior Italia.
----Je rends graces aux Dieux de n'Ítre pas Romain.]
A short delay would have saved the Colonna, the delay of a single month,
which elapsed between the triumph and the exile of Rienzi. In the pride
of victory, he forfeited what yet remained of his civil virtues, without
acquiring the fame of military prowess. A free and vigorous opposition
was formed in the city; and when the tribune proposed in the public
council [47] to impose a new tax, and to regulate the government of
Perugia, thirty-nine members voted against his measures; repelled the
injurious charge of treachery and corruption; and urged him to prove, by
their forcible exclusion, that if the populace adhered to his cause, it
was already disclaimed by the most respectable citizens. The pope and
the sacred college had never been dazzled by his specious professions;
they were justly offended by the insolence of his conduct; a cardinal
legate was sent to Italy, and after some fruitless treaty, and two
personal interviews, he fulminated a bull of excommunication, in which
the tribune is degraded from his office, and branded with the guilt of
rebellion, sacrilege, and heresy. [48] The surviving barons of Rome were
now humbled to a sense of allegiance; their interest and revenge engaged
them in the service of the church; but as the fate of the Colonna was
before their eyes, they abandoned to a private adventurer the peril
and glory of the revolution. John Pepin, count of Minorbino, [49] in the
kingdom of Naples, had been condemned for his crimes, or his riches,
to perpetual imprisonment; and Petrarch, by soliciting his release,
indirectly contributed to the ruin of his friend. At the head of one
hundred and fifty soldiers, the count of Minorbino introduced himself
into Rome; barricaded the quarter of the Colonna: and found the
enterprise as easy as it had seemed impossible. From the first alarm,
the bell of the Capitol incessantly tolled; but, instead of repairing
to the well-known sound, the people were silent and inactive; and the
pusillanimous Rienzi, deploring their ingratitude with sighs and tears,
abdicated the government and palace of the republic.
[Footnote 47: This council and opposition is obscurely mentioned by
Pollistore, a contemporary writer, who has preserved some curious and
original facts, (Rer. Italicarum, tom. xxv. c. 31, p. 798--804.)]
[Footnote 48: The briefs and bulls of Clement VI. against Rienzi are
translated by the P. du CerÁeau, (p. 196, 232,) from the Ecclesiastical
Annals of Odericus Raynaldus, (A.D. 1347, No. 15, 17, 21, &c.,) who
found them in the archives of the Vatican.]
[Footnote 49: Matteo Villani describes the origin, character, and death
of this count of Minorbino, a man da natura inconstante e senza fede,
whose grandfather, a crafty notary, was enriched and ennobled by
the spoils of the Saracens of Nocera, (l. vii. c. 102, 103.) See his
imprisonment, and the efforts of Petrarch, (tom. ii. p. 149--151.)]
Chapter LXX: Final Settlement Of The Ecclesiastical State.--Part III.
Without drawing his sword, count Pepin restored the aristocracy and the
church; three senators were chosen, and the legate, assuming the first
rank, accepted his two colleagues from the rival families of Colonna and
Ursini. The acts of the tribune were abolished, his head was proscribed;
yet such was the terror of his name, that the barons hesitated three
days before they would trust themselves in the city, and Rienzi was
left above a month in the castle of St. Angelo, from whence he peaceably
withdrew, after laboring, without effect, to revive the affection and
courage of the Romans. The vision of freedom and empire had vanished:
their fallen spirit would have acquiesced in servitude, had it been
smoothed by tranquillity and order; and it was scarcely observed, that
the new senators derived their authority from the Apostolic See; that
four cardinals were appointed to reform, with dictatorial power, the
state of the republic. Rome was again agitated by the bloody feuds of
the barons, who detested each other, and despised the commons: their
hostile fortresses, both in town and country, again rose, and were again
demolished: and the peaceful citizens, a flock of sheep, were devoured,
says the Florentine historian, by these rapacious wolves. But when
their pride and avarice had exhausted the patience of the Romans, a
confraternity of the Virgin Mary protected or avenged the republic: the
bell of the Capitol was again tolled, the nobles in arms trembled in
the presence of an unarmed multitude; and of the two senators, Colonna
escaped from the window of the palace, and Ursini was stoned at the foot
of the altar. The dangerous office of tribune was successively occupied
by two plebeians, Cerroni and Baroncelli. The mildness of Cerroni was
unequal to the times; and after a faint struggle, he retired with a fair
reputation and a decent fortune to the comforts of rural life. Devoid of
eloquence or genius, Baroncelli was distinguished by a resolute spirit:
he spoke the language of a patriot, and trod in the footsteps of
tyrants; his suspicion was a sentence of death, and his own death was
the reward of his cruelties. Amidst the public misfortunes, the faults
of Rienzi were forgotten; and the Romans sighed for the peace and
prosperity of their good estate. [50]
[Footnote 50: The troubles of Rome, from the departure to the return of
Rienzi, are related by Matteo Villani (l. ii. c. 47, l. iii. c. 33, 57,
78) and Thomas Fortifiocca, (l. iii. c. 1--4.) I have slightly passed
over these secondary characters, who imitated the original tribune.]
After an exile of seven years, the first deliverer was again restored to
his country. In the disguise of a monk or a pilgrim, he escaped from the
castle of St. Angelo, implored the friendship of the king of Hungary at
Naples, tempted the ambition of every bold adventurer, mingled at Rome
with the pilgrims of the jubilee, lay concealed among the hermits of
the Apennine, and wandered through the cities of Italy, Germany, and
Bohemia. His person was invisible, his name was yet formidable; and
the anxiety of the court of Avignon supposes, and even magnifies,
his personal merit. The emperor Charles the Fourth gave audience to a
stranger, who frankly revealed himself as the tribune of the republic;
and astonished an assembly of ambassadors and princes, by the eloquence
of a patriot and the visions of a prophet, the downfall of tyranny and
the kingdom of the Holy Ghost. [51] Whatever had been his hopes, Rienzi
found himself a captive; but he supported a character of independence
and dignity, and obeyed, as his own choice, the irresistible summons of
the supreme pontiff. The zeal of Petrarch, which had been cooled by the
unworthy conduct, was rekindled by the sufferings and the presence, of
his friend; and he boldly complains of the times, in which the savior of
Rome was delivered by her emperor into the hands of her bishop. Rienzi
was transported slowly, but in safe custody, from Prague to Avignon: his
entrance into the city was that of a malefactor; in his prison he was
chained by the leg; and four cardinals were named to inquire into the
crimes of heresy and rebellion. But his trial and condemnation would
have involved some questions, which it was more prudent to leave under
the veil of mystery: the temporal supremacy of the popes; the duty of
residence; the civil and ecclesiastical privileges of the clergy and
people of Rome. The reigning pontiff well deserved the appellation
of _Clement_: the strange vicissitudes and magnanimous spirit of the
captive excited his pity and esteem; and Petrarch believes that he
respected in the hero the name and sacred character of a poet. [52]
Rienzi was indulged with an easy confinement and the use of books; and
in the assiduous study of Livy and the Bible, he sought the cause and
the consolation of his misfortunes.
[Footnote 51: These visions, of which the friends and enemies of Rienzi
seem alike ignorant, are surely magnified by the zeal of Pollistore,
a Dominican inquisitor, (Rer. Ital. tom. xxv. c. 36, p. 819.) Had the
tribune taught, that Christ was succeeded by the Holy Ghost, that the
tyranny of the pope would be abolished, he might have been convicted of
heresy and treason, without offending the Roman people. * Note:
So far from having magnified these visions, Pollistore is more
than confirmed by the documents published by Papencordt. The adoption of
all the wild doctrines of the Fratricelli, the Spirituals, in which,
for the time at least, Rienzi appears to have been in earnest; his
magnificent offers to the emperor, and the whole history of his life,
from his first escape from Rome to his imprisonment at Avignon, are
among the most curious chapters of his eventful life.--M. 1845.]
[Footnote 52: The astonishment, the envy almost, of Petrarch is a
proof, if not of the truth of this incredible fact, at least of his own
veracity. The abbÈ de Sade (MÈmoires, tom. iii. p. 242) quotes the vith
epistle of the xiiith book of Petrarch, but it is of the royal MS.,
which he consulted, and not of the ordinary Basil edition, (p. 920.)]