The brief words of the Tribune to Stephen Colonna, though they sharpened
the rage of the proud old noble, were such as he did not on reflection
deem it prudent to disobey. Accordingly, at the appointed hour, he found
himself in one of the halls of the Capitol, with a gallant party of his
peers. Rienzi received them with more than his usual graciousness.
They sate down to the splendid board in secret uneasiness and alarm,
as they saw that, with the exception of Stephen Colonna, none, save the
conspirators, had been invited to the banquet. Rienzi, regardless
of their silence and abstraction, was more than usually gay--the old
Colonna more than usually sullen.
“We fear we have but ill pleased you, my Lord Colonna, by our summons.
Once, methinks, we might more easily provoke you to a smile.”
“Situations are changed, Tribune, since you were my guest.”
“Why, scarcely so. I have risen, but you have not fallen. Ye walk the
streets day and night in security and peace; your lives are safe from
the robber, and your palaces no longer need bars and battlements to
shield you from your fellow-citizens. I have risen, but we all have
risen--from barbarous disorder into civilized life! My Lord Gianni
Colonna, whom we have made Captain over Campagna, you will not refuse a
cup to the Buono Stato;--nor think we mistrust your valour, when we say,
that we rejoice Rome hath no enemies to attest your generalship.”
“Methinks,” quoth the old Colonna, bluntly, “we shall have enemies
enough from Bohemia and Bavaria, ere the next harvest be green.”
“And, if so,” replied the Tribune, calmly, “foreign foes are better than
civil strife.”
“Ay, if we have money in the treasury; which is but little likely, if we
have many more such holydays.”
“You are ungracious, my Lord,” said the Tribune; “and, besides, you are
more uncomplimentary to Rome than to ourselves. What citizen would not
part with gold to buy fame and liberty?”
“I know very few in Rome that would,” answered the Baron. “But tell
me, Tribune, you who are a notable casuist, which is the best for a
state--that its governor should be over-thrifty or over-lavish?”
“I refer the question to my friend, Luca di Savelli,” replied Rienzi.
“He is a grand philosopher, and I wot well could explain a much knottier
riddle, which we will presently submit to his acumen.”
The Barons, who had been much embarrassed by the bold speech of the
old Colonna, all turned their eyes to Savelli, who answered with more
composure than was anticipated.
“The question admits a double reply. He who is born a ruler, and
maintains a foreign army, governing by fear, should be penurious. He who
is made ruler, who courts the people, and would reign by love, must win
their affection by generosity, and dazzle their fancies by pomp. Such, I
believe, is the usual maxim in Italy, which is rife in all experience of
state wisdom.”
The Barons unanimously applauded the discreet reply of Savelli,
excepting only the old Colonna.
“Yet pardon me, Tribune,” said Stephen, “if I depart from the
courtier-like decision of our friend, and opine, though with all due
respect, that even a friar’s coarse serge, [‘Vestimenta da Bizoco,’
was the phrase used by Colonna; a phrase borrowed from certain heretics
(bizocchi) who affected extreme austerity; afterwards the word passed
into a proverb.--See the comments of Zerfirino Re, in ‘Vita di Cola di
Rienzi’.) the parade of humility, would better become thee, than this
gaudy pomp, the parade of pride!” So saying, he touched the large loose
sleeve fringed with gold, of the Tribune’s purple robe.
“Hush, father!” said Gianni, Colonna’s son, colouring at the unprovoked
rudeness and dangerous candour of the veteran.
“Nay, it matters not,” said the Tribune, with affected indifference,
though his lip quivered, and his eye shot fire; and then, after a pause,
he resumed with an awful smile--“If the Colonna love the serge of the
friar, he may see enough of it ere we part. And now, my Lord Savelli,
for my question, which I pray you listen to; it demands all your wit.
Is it best for a State’s Ruler to be over-forgiving, or over-just? Take
breath to answer: you look faint--you grow pale--you tremble--you cover
your face! Traitor and assassin, your conscience betrays you! My Lords,
relieve your accomplice, and take up the answer.”
“Nay, if we are discovered,” said the Orsini, rising in despair, “we
will not fall unavenged--die, tyrant!”
He rushed to the place where Rienzi stood--for the Tribune also
rose,--and made a thrust at his breast with his dagger; the steel
pierced the purple robe, yet glanced harmlessly away--and the Tribune
regarded the disappointed murtherer with a scornful smile.
“Till yesternight, I never dreamt that under the robe of state I should
need the secret corselet,” said he. “My Lords, you have taught me a dark
lesson, and I thank ye.”
So saying, he clapped his hands, and suddenly the folding doors at the
end of the hall flew open, and discovered the saloon of the Council
hung with silk of a blood-red, relieved by rays of white,--the emblem of
crime and death. At a long table sate the councillors in their robes; at
the bar stood a ruffian form, which the banqueters too well recognised.
“Bid Rodolf of Saxony approach!” said the Tribune.
And led by two guards, the robber entered the hall.
“Wretch, you then betrayed us!” said one of the Frangipani.
“Rodolph of Saxony goes ever to the highest bidder,” returned the
miscreant, with a horrid grin. “You gave me gold, and I would have slain
your foe; your foe defeated me; he gives me life, and life is a greater
boon than gold!”
“Ye confess your crime, my Lords! Silent! dumb! Where is your wit,
Savelli? Where your pride, Rinaldo di Orsini? Gianni Colonna, is your
chivalry come to this?”
“Oh!” continued Rienzi, with deep and passionate bitterness; “oh, my
Lords, will nothing conciliate you--not to me, but to Rome? What hath
been my sin against you and yours? Disbanded ruffians (such as your
accuser)--dismantled fortresses--impartial law--what man, in all the
wild revolutions of Italy, sprung from the people, ever yielded less to
their licence? Not a coin of your coffers touched by wanton power,--not
a hair of your heads harmed by private revenge. You, Gianni Colonna,
loaded with honours, intrusted with command--you, Alphonso di
Frangipani, endowed with new principalities,--did the Tribune remember
one insult he received from you as the Plebeian? You accuse
my pride;--was it my fault that ye cringed and fawned upon my
power,--flattery on your lips, poison at your hearts? No, I have not
offended you; let the world know, that in me you aimed at liberty,
justice, law, order, the restored grandeur, the renovated rights of
Rome! At these, the Abstract and the Immortal--not at this frail form,
ye struck;--by the divinity of these ye are defeated;--for the outraged
majesty of these,--criminals and victims,--ye must die!”
With these words, uttered with the tone and air that would have become
the loftiest spirit of the ancient city, Rienzi, with a majestic step,
swept from the chamber into the Hall of Council. (The guilt of the
Barons in their designed assassination of Rienzi, though hastily
slurred over by Gibbon, and other modern writers, is clearly attested
by Muratori, the Bolognese Chronicle &c.--They even confessed the crime.
(See Cron. Estens: Muratori, tom. xviii. page 442.))
All that night the conspirators remained within that room, the doors
locked and guarded; the banquet unremoved, and its splendour strangely
contrasting the mood of the guests.
The utter prostration and despair of these dastard criminals--so unlike
the knightly nobles of France and England, has been painted by the
historian in odious and withering colours. The old Colonna alone
sustained his impetuous and imperious character. He strode to and fro
the room like a lion in his cage, uttering loud threats of resentment
and defiance; and beating at the door with his clenched hands, demanding
egress, and proclaiming the vengeance of the Pontiff.
The dawn came, slow and grey upon that agonized assembly: and just as
the last star faded from the melancholy horizon, and by the wan and
comfortless heaven, they regarded each other’s faces, almost spectral
with anxiety and fear, the great bell of the Capitol sounded the notes
in which they well recognised the chime of death! It was then that the
door opened, and a drear and gloomy procession of cordeliers, one to
each Baron, entered the apartment! At that spectacle, we are told, the
terror of the conspirators was so great, that it froze up the very power
of speech. (“Diventarono si gelati, che non poteno favellare.”) The
greater part at length, deeming all hope over, resigned themselves
to their ghostly confessors. But when the friar appointed to Stephen
approached that passionate old man, he waved his hand impatiently, and
said--“Tease me not! Tease me not!”
“Nay, son, prepare for the awful hour.”
“Son, indeed!” quoth the Baron. “I am old enough to be thy grandsire;
and for the rest, tell him who sent thee, that I neither am prepared
for death, nor will prepare! I have made up my mind to live these twenty
years, and longer too;--if I catch not my death with the cold of this
accursed night.”
Just at that moment a cry that almost seemed to rend the Capitol asunder
was heard, as, with one voice, the multitude below yelled forth--
“Death to the conspirators!--death! death!”
While this the scene in that hall, the Tribune issued from his chamber,
in which he had been closeted with his wife and sister. The noble spirit
of the one, the tears and grief of the other (who saw at one fell stroke
perish the house of her betrothed,) had not worked without effect upon
a temper, stern and just indeed, but naturally averse from blood; and a
heart capable of the loftiest species of revenge.
He entered the Council, still sitting, with a calm brow, and even a
cheerful eye.
“Pandulfo di Guido,” he said, turning to that citizen, “you are right;
you spoke as a wise man and a patriot, when you said that to cut off
with one blow, however merited, the noblest heads of Rome would endanger
the State, sully our purple with an indelible stain, and unite the
nobility of Italy against us.”
“Such, Tribune, was my argument, though the Council have decided
otherwise.”
“Hearken to the shouts of the populace, you cannot appease their honest
warmth,” said the demagogue Baroncelli.
Many of the Council murmured applause.
“Friends,” said the Tribune, with a solemn and earnest aspect, “let
not Posterity say that Liberty loves blood; let us for once adopt
the example and imitate the mercy of our great Redeemer! We have
triumphed--let us forbear; we are saved--let us forgive!”
The speech of the Tribune was supported by Pandulfo, and others of the
more mild and moderate policy; and for a short but animated discussion,
the influence of Rienzi prevailed, and the sentence of death was
revoked, but by a small majority.
“And now,” said Rienzi, “let us be more than just; let us be generous.
Speak--and boldly. Do any of ye think that I have been over-hard,
over-haughty with these stubborn spirits?--I read your answer in your
brows!--I have! Do any of ye think this error of mind may have stirred
them to their dark revenge? Do any of you deem that they partake, as we
do, of human nature,--that they are sensible to kindness, that they are
softened by generosity,--that they can be tamed and disarmed by such
vengeance as is dictated to noble foes by Christian laws?”
“I think,” said Pandulfo, after a pause, “that it will not be in human
nature, if the men you pardon, thus offending and thus convicted, again
attempt your life!”
“Methinks,” said Rienzi, “we must do even more than pardon. The first
great Caesar, when he did not crush a foe, strove to convert him to a
friend--”
“And perished by the attempt,” said Baroncelli, abruptly.
Rienzi started and changed colour.
“If you would save these wretched prisoners, better not wait till the
fury of the mob become ungovernable,” whispered Pandulfo.
The Tribune roused himself from his revery.
“Pandulfo,” said he, in the same tone, “my heart misgives me--the brood
of serpents are in my hand--I do not strangle them--they may sting me to
death, in return for my mercy--it is their instinct! No matter: it shall
not be said that the Roman Tribune bought with so many lives his own
safety: nor shall it be written upon my grave-stone, ‘Here lies the
coward, who did not dare forgive.’ What, ho! there, officers, unclose
the doors! My masters, let us acquaint the prisoners with their
sentence.”
With that, Rienzi seated himself on the chair of state, at the head
of the table, and the sun, now risen, cast its rays over the blood-red
walls, in which the Barons, marshalled in order into the chamber,
thought to read their fate.
“My Lords,” said the Tribune, “ye have offended the laws of God and man;
but God teaches man the quality of mercy. Learn at last, that I bear a
charmed life. Nor is he whom, for high purposes, Heaven hath raised from
the cottage to the popular throne, without invisible aid and spiritual
protection. If hereditary monarchs are deemed sacred, how much more one
in whose power the divine hand hath writ its witness! Yes, over him who
lives but for his country, whose greatness is his country’s gift, whose
life is his country’s liberty, watch the souls of the just, and the
unsleeping eyes of the sworded seraphim! Taught by your late failure and
your present peril, bid your anger against me cease; respect the laws,
revere the freedom of your city, and think that no state presents a
nobler spectacle than men born as ye are--a patrician and illustrious
order--using your power to protect your city, your wealth to nurture its
arts, your chivalry to protect its laws! Take back your swords--and the
first man who strikes against the liberties of Rome, let him be your
victim; even though that victim be the Tribune. Your cause has been
tried--your sentence is pronounced. Renew your oath to forbear all
hostility, private or public, against the government and the magistrates
of Rome, and ye are pardoned--ye are free!”
Amazed, bewildered, the Barons mechanically bent the knee: the friars
who had received their confessions, administered the appointed oath; and
while, with white lips, they muttered the solemn words, they heard below
the roar of the multitude for their blood.
This ceremony ended, the Tribune passed into the banquet-hall, which
conducted to a balcony, whence he was accustomed to address the people;
and never, perhaps, was his wonderful mastery over the passions of an
audience (ad persuadendum efficax dictator, quoque dulcis ac lepidus)
(Petrarch of Rienzi.) more greatly needed or more eminently shown, than
on that day; for the fury of the people was at its height, and it was
long ere he succeeded in turning it aside. Before he concluded, however,
every wave of the wild sea lay hushed.--The orator lived to stand on the
same spot, to plead for a life nobler than those he now saved,--and to
plead unheard and in vain!
As soon as the Tribune saw the favourable moment had arrived, the Barons
were admitted into the balcony:--in the presence of the breathless
thousands, they solemnly pledged themselves to protect the Good Estate.
And thus the morning which seemed to dawn upon their execution witnessed
their reconciliation with the people.
The crowd dispersed, the majority soothed and pleased;--the more
sagacious, vexed and dissatisfied.
“He has but increased the smoke and the flame which he was not able
to extinguish,” growled Cecco del Vecchio; and the smith’s appropriate
saying passed into a proverb and a prophecy.
Meanwhile, the Tribune, conscious at least that he had taken the more
generous course, broke up the Council, and retired to the chamber
where Nina and his sister waited him. These beautiful young women had
conceived for each other the tenderest affection. And their differing
characters, both of mind and feature, seemed by contrast to heighten the
charms of both; as in a skilful jewellery, the pearl and diamond borrow
beauty from each other.
And as Irene now turned her pale countenance and streaming eyes from
the bosom to which she had clung for support, the timid sister, anxious,
doubtful, wistful;--the proud wife, sanguine and assured, as if never
diffident of the intentions nor of the power of her Rienzi:--the
contrast would have furnished to a painter no unworthy incarnation of
the Love that hopeth, and the Love that feareth, all things.
“Be cheered, my sweet sister,” said the Tribune, first caught by Irene’s
imploring look; “not a hair on the heads of those who boast the name of
him thou lovest so well is injured.--Thank Heaven,” as his sister,
with a low cry, rushed into his arms, “that it was against my life they
conspired! Had it been another Roman’s, mercy might have been a crime!
Dearest, may Adrian love thee half as well as I; and yet, my sister and
my child, none can know thy soft soul like he who watched over it since
its first blossom expanded to the sun. My poor brother! had he lived,
your counsel had been his; and methinks his gentle spirit often whispers
away the sternness which, otherwise, would harden over mine. Nina, my
queen, my inspirer, my monitor--ever thus let thy heart, masculine in my
distress, be woman’s in my power; and be to me, with Irene, upon earth,
what my brother is in heaven!”
The Tribune, exhausted by the trials of the night, retired for a few
hours to rest; and as Nina, encircling him within her arms, watched over
his noble countenance--care hushed, ambition laid at rest, its serenity
had something almost of sublime. And tears of that delicious pride,
which woman sheds for the hero of her dreams, stood heavy in the wife’s
eyes, as she rejoiced more, in the deep stillness of her heart, at the
prerogative, alone hers, of sharing his solitary hours, than in all the
rank to which his destiny had raised her, and which her nature fitted
her at once to adorn and to enjoy. In that calm and lonely hour she
beguiled her heart by waking dreams, vainer than the sleeper’s; and
pictured to herself the long career of glory, the august decline of
peace, which were to await her lord.
And while she thus watched and thus dreamed, the cloud, as yet no bigger
than a man’s hand, darkened the horizon of a fate whose sunshine was
well-nigh past!