The first voice heard in the midnight council was that of our
acquaintance, Attilio, who, notwithstanding his youth, had already been
appointed leader by the unanimous election his colleagues, on account of
his courage and high moral qualities, although unquestionably the
charm and refinement of his manners, joined to his kind disposition,
contributed not a little to his popularity among a people who never fail
to recognize and appreciate such characteristics. As for his personal
appearance, Attilio added the air and vigor of a lion to the masculine
loveliness of the Greek Antinous.
He first threw a glance around the assembly, to assure himself that all
present wore a black ribbon on the left arm, this being the badge of
their fraternity. It served them also as a sign of mourning for those
degenerate Romans who wish indeed for the liberation of their country,
but wait for its accomplishment by any hands rather than their own;
and this, although they know full well that her salvation can only be
obtained by the blood, the devotion, and the contributions, of their
fellow-citizens. Then Attilio spoke--
"Two months have elapsed, my brothers, since we were promised that the
foreign soldiery, the sole prop of the Papal rule, should be withdrawn;
yet they still continue to crowd our streets, and, under futile
pretenses, have even re-occupied the positions which they had previously
evacuated, in accordance with the Convention of September, 1864. To us,
then, thus betrayed, it remains to accomplish our liberty. We have
borne far too patiently for the last eighteen years a doubly execrated
rule--that of the stranger, and that of the priest. In these last years
we have been ever ready to spring to arms, but we have been withheld
by the advice of a hermaphrodite party in the State, styling themselves
'the Moderates,' in whom we can have no longer any confidence, because
they have used their power to accumulate wealth for themselves, from the
public treasury, which they are sucking dry, and they have invariably
proved themselves ready to bargain with the stranger, and to trade in
the national honor. Our friends outside are prepared, and blame us
for being negligent and tardy. The army, excepting those members of it
consecrated to base hopes, is with us. The arms which were expected
have arrived, and are lodged in safety. We have also an abundance
of ammunition. Further delay, under these circumstances, would be
unpardonable. To arms! then, to arms! and to arms!"
"To arms!" was the cry re-echoed by the three hundred conspirators
assembled in the chamber. Where their ancestors held councils how to
subjugate other nations, these modern voices made the old walls ring
again while they vowed their resolve to emancipate enslaved Rome or
perish in the attempt.
Three hundred only! Yes, three hundred; but such was the muster-roll
of the companions of Leonidas, and of the liberating family of Fabius.
These, too, were equally willing to become liberators, or to accept
martyrdom. For this they had high reason, because of what value is
the life of a slave, when compared with the sublime conceptions, the
imperious conscience, of a soul guided always by noble ideas?
God be with all such souls, and those also who despise the power of
tyrannizing in turn over their fellow-beings. Of what value can be the
life of a despot? His miserable remorse causes him to tremble at the
movement of every leaf. No outward grandeur can atone for the mental
sufferings he endures, and he finally becomes a sanguinary and brutal
coward. May the God of love hereafter extend to them the mercy they have
denied to their fellow-men, and pardon them for the rivers of innocent
blood they have caused to flow!
But Attilio continued, "Happy indeed are we to whom Providence has
reserved the redemption of Rome, the ancient mistress of the world,
after so many centuries of oppression and priestly tyranny! I have never
for a moment, my friends, ceased to confide in your patriotism, which
you are proving by the admirable instructions bestowed upon the men
committed to your charge in the different sections of the city. In the
day of battle, which will soon arrive, you will respectively command
your several companies, and to them we shall yet owe our freedom. The
priests have changed the first of nations into one of the most abject
and unhappy, and our beloved Italy has become the very lowest in the
social scale. The lesson given by our Papal rulers has ever been one
of servile humility, while they themselves expect emperors to stoop and
kiss their feet. This is the method by which they exhibit to the world
their own Christian humility; and though they have always preached to us
self-denial and austerity of life, these hypocrites surround themselves
with a profusion of luxury and voluptuousness. Gymnastic exercises,
under proper instruction, are doubtless beneficial to the physical
development of the body; but was it for this reason that the Romans are
called upon to bow to, and kiss the hand of every priest they meet?
to kneel also and go through a series of genuflections, so that it is
really no thanks to them if the half of them are not hunch-necked or
crook-backed from the absurd performances they have been made to execute
for the behoof of these tonsured masters?
"The time for the great struggle approaches, and it is a sacred one! Not
only do we aim at freeing our beloved Italy, but at freeing the entire
world also from the incubus of the Papacy, which everywhere opposes
education, protects ignorance, and is the nurse of vice!" The address of
Attilio had hitherto been pronounced in profound darkness, but was here
suddenly interrupted by a flash of lightning, which illumined the vast
_enciente_ of the Colosseum, as if it had 'suddenly been lighted by a
thousand lamps. This was succeeded by a darkness even more profound than
the first, when a terrific peal of thunder rolled over their heads and
shook to its foundations the ancient structure, silencing for a brief
space Attilio's voice. The conspirators were not men to tremble, each
being prepared to confront death in whatever form it might appear; but,
as a scream was heard issuing at this moment from the vestibule, they
involuntarily clutched their daggers. Immediately after, a young girl,
with dishevelled hair and clothes dripping with water, rushed into their
midst. "Camilla!" exclaimed Silvio, a wild boar-hunter of the Campagna,
who alone of those present recognized her. "Poor Camilla!" he cried; "to
what a fate have the miscreants who rule over us reduced you!" At this
instant one of the sentries on guard entered, reporting that they had
been discovered by a young woman during the moment of illumination, and
that she had fled with such speed no one had been able to capture her.
They had not liked to fire upon a female, and all other means of staying
her were useless. But, at the words of Silvio, the strange apparition
had fixed her eyes upon him as the torches closed about them, and, after
one long glance, had uttered a moan so piteous, and sunk down with such
a sigh of woe, that all present were moved. We will relate, however, in
the following chapter, the history of the unfortunate girl whose cries
thus effectually checked our hero's eloquence.