Chapter LXX: Final Settlement Of The Ecclesiastical State.—Part

I.

Character And Coronation Of Petrarch.—Restoration Of The Freedom
And Government Of Rome By The Tribune Rienzi.—His Virtues And
Vices, His Expulsion And Death.—Return Of The Popes From
Avignon.—Great Schism Of The West.—Reunion Of The Latin
Church.—Last Struggles Of Roman Liberty.— Statutes Of Rome.—Final
Settlement Of The Ecclesiastical State.

In the apprehension of modern times, Petrarch 1 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, 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 merits 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, 4 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 6 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 honors of the three faculties had
introduced a royal degree of master or doctor in the art of
poetry; 7 and the title of poet-laureate, which custom, rather
than vanity, perpetuates in the English court, 8 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 the success of his own _labors_; 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.

1 (return) [ The Mémoires sur la Vie de François Pétrarque,
(Amsterdam, 1764, 1767, 3 vols. in 4to.,) form a copious,
original, and entertaining work, a labor 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 (return) [ The allegorical interpretation prevailed in the xvth
century; but the wise commentators were not agreed whether they
should understand by Laura, religion, or virtue, or the blessed
virgin, or————. See the prefaces to the first and second volume.]

3 (return) [ 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 wife 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 (return) [ Corpus crebris partubus exhaustum: from one of these
is issued, in the tenth degree, the abbé de Sade, the fond and
grateful biographer of Petrarch; and this domestic motive most
probably suggested the idea of his work, and urged him to inquire
into every circumstance that could affect the history and
character of his grandmother, (see particularly tom. i. p.
122—133, notes, p. 7—58, tom. ii. p. 455—495 not. p. 76—82.)]

5 (return) [ 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. 340—359.) It was, in
truth, the retreat of a hermit; and the moderns are much
mistaken, if they place Laura and a happy lover in the grotto.]

6 (return) [ 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 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 (return) [ Consult Selden’s Titles of Honor, in his works,
(vol. iii. p. 457—466.) A hundred years before Petrarch, St.
Francis received the visit of a poet, qui ab imperatore fuerat
coronatus et exinde rex versuum dictus.]

8 (return) [ 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 at 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 (return) [ 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 alwnaV—kai ta aqla
megista—mh monon tacouV kai rwmhV, alla kai logwn kai gnwmhV. The
example of the Panathenæa 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, l. lxiii. p.
1032, 1041. Potter’s Greek Antiquities, vol. i. p. 445, 450.)]

10 (return) [ 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 lyræ, Sylv. l. iii. v. 31) may do
honor to the games of the Capitol; but the Latin poets who lived
before Domitian were crowned only in the public opinion.]

11 (return) [ Petrarch and the senators of Rome were ignorant
that the laurel was not the Capitoline, but the Delphic crown,
(Plin. Hist. Natur p. 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 eaves, (Martial, l. iv. epigram
54.)]

12 (return) [ The pious grandson of Laura has labored, 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 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 a 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 or diploma 14 which was
presented to Petrarch, the title and prerogatives of
poet-laureate 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
recompense of his affection for the Roman name. They did him
honor, but they did him justice. In the familiar society of
Cicero and Livy, he had imbibed the ideas of an ancient patriot;
and his ardent fancy kindled every idea to a sentiment, and every
sentiment to a passion. The aspect of the seven hills and their
majestic ruins confirmed these lively impressions; and he loved a
country by whose liberal spirit he had been crowned and adopted.
The poverty and debasement of Rome 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 hopes of the future, was pleased to forget the miseries of
the present time. Rome was still the lawful mistress of the
world: the pope and the emperor, the 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 enthusiasm and eloquence, 15 Petrarch, Italy, and
Europe, were astonished by a revolution which realized for a
moment his most splendid visions. The rise and fall of the
tribune Rienzi will occupy the following pages: 16 the subject is
interesting, the materials are rich, and the glance of a patriot
bard 17 will sometimes vivify the copious, but simple, narrative
of the Florentine, 18 and more especially of the Roman,
historian. 19

13 (return) [ 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 (return) [ The original act is printed among the Pieces
Justificatives in the Mémoires sur Pétrarque, tom. iii. p.
50—53.]

15 (return) [ 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 (return) [ It has been treated by the pen of a Jesuit, the P.
de Cerceau whose posthumous work (Conjuration de Nicolas Gabrini,
dit de Rienzi, Tyran de Rome, en 1347) was published at Paris,
1748, in 12mo. I am indebted to him for some facts and documents
in John Hocsemius, canon of Liege, a contemporary historian,
(Fabricius Bibliot. Lat. Med. Ævi, tom. iii. p. 273, tom. iv. p.
85.)]

17 (return) [ 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 Petrarch 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 (return) [ Giovanni Villani, l. xii. c. 89, 104, in Muratori,
Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, tom. xiii. p. 969, 970, 981—983.]

19 (return) [ In his third volume of Italian antiquities, (p.
249—548,) Muratori has inserted the Fragmenta Historiæ Romanæ ab
Anno 1327 usque ad Annum 1354, in the original dialect of Rome or
Naples in the xivth century, and a Latin version for the benefit
of strangers. It contains the most particular and authentic life
of Cola (Nicholas) di Rienzi; which had been printed at
Bracciano, 1627, in 4to., under the name of Tomaso Fortifiocca,
who is only mentioned in this work as having been punished by the
tribune for forgery. Human nature is scarcely capable of such
sublime or stupid impartiality: but whosoever in the author of
these Fragments, he wrote on the spot and at the time, and
paints, without design or art, the manners of Rome and the
character of the tribune. * Note: Since the publication of my
first edition of Gibbon, some new and very remarkable documents
have been brought to light in a life of Nicolas Rienzi,—Cola di
Rienzo und seine Zeit,—by Dr. Felix Papencordt. The most
important of these documents are letters from Rienzi to Charles
the Fourth, emperor and king of Bohemia, and to the archbishop of
Praque; they enter into the whole history of his adventurous
career during its first period, and throw a strong light upon his
extraordinary character. These documents were first discovered
and made use of, to a certain extent, by Pelzel, the historian of
Bohemia. The originals have disappeared, but a copy made by
Pelzel for his own use is now in the library of Count Thun at
Teschen. There seems no doubt of their authenticity. Dr.
Papencordt has printed the whole in his Urkunden, with the
exception of one long theological paper.—M. 1845.]

In a quarter of the city which was inhabited only by mechanics
and Jews, the marriage of an innkeeper and a washer woman
produced the future deliverer of Rome. 20 201 From such parents
Nicholas Rienzi Gabrini could inherit neither dignity nor
fortune; and the gift of a liberal education, which they
painfully bestowed, was 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 contemporaries the genius of the young plebeian: he
perused with indefatigable diligence the manuscripts 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 Rienzi recommended him to a place among the thirteen
deputies of the commons. The orator had the honor 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. 211 From this misery he
was relieved by the sense of merit or the smile of favor; and the
employment of apostolic notary afforded him a daily stipend of
five gold florins, a more honorable 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 dishonor of their wives and daughters: 22 they were equally
oppressed by the arrogance of the nobles and the corruption of
the magistrates; 221 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 incentive 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 numerous
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 favorite expression, was entertained among
the people as a desirable, a possible, and at length as an
approaching, event; and while all had the disposition to applaud,
some had the courage to assist, their promised deliverer.

20 (return) [ The first and splendid period of Rienzi, his
tribunitian government, is contained in the xviiith chapter of
the Fragments, (p. 399—479,) which, in the new division, forms
the iid book of the history in xxxviii. smaller chapters or
sections.]

201 (return) [ But see in Dr. Papencordt’s work, and in Rienzi’s
own words, his claim to be a bastard son of the emperor Henry the
Seventh, whose intrigue with his mother Rienzi relates with a
sort of proud shamelessness. Compare account by the editor of Dr.
Papencordt’s work in Quarterly Review vol. lxix.—M. 1845.]

21 (return) [ The reader may be pleased with a specimen of the
original idiom: Fò da soa juventutine nutricato di latte de
eloquentia, bono gramatico, megliore rettuorico, autorista bravo.
Deh como et quanto era veloce leitore! moito usava Tito Livio,
Seneca, et Tullio, et Balerio Massimo, moito li dilettava le
magnificentie di Julio Cesare raccontare. Tutta la die se
speculava negl’ intagli di marmo lequali iaccio intorno Roma. Non
era altri che esso, che sapesse lejere li antichi pataffii. Tutte
scritture antiche vulgarizzava; quesse fiure di marmo justamente
interpretava. On come spesso diceva, “Dove suono quelli buoni
Romani? dove ene loro somma justitia? poleramme trovare in tempo
che quessi fiuriano!”]

211 (return) [ Sir J. Hobhouse published (in his Illustrations of
Childe Harold) Rienzi’s joyful letter to the people of Rome on
the apparently favorable termination of this mission.—M. 1845.]

22 (return) [ Petrarch compares the jealousy of the Romans with
the easy temper of the husbands of Avignon, (Mémoires, tom. i. p.
330.)]

221 (return) [ All this Rienzi, writing at a later period to the
archbishop of Prague, attributed to the criminal abandonment of
his flock by the supreme pontiff. See Urkunde apud Papencordt, p.
xliv. Quarterly Review, p. 255.—M. 1845.]

23 (return) [ The fragments of the _Lex regia_ may be found in
the Inscriptions of Gruter, tom. i. p. 242, and at the end of the
Tacitus of Ernesti, with some learned notes of the editor, tom.
ii.]

24 (return) [ I cannot overlook a stupendous and laughable
blunder of Rienzi. The Lex regia empowers Vespasian to enlarge
the Pomrium, a word familiar to every antiquary. It was not so to
the tribune; he confounds it with pom_a_rium, 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 (return) [ Priori (_Bruto_) tamen similior, juvenis uterque,
longe ingenio quam cujus simulationem induerat, ut sub hoc
obtentû liberator ille P R. aperiretur tempore suo.... Ille
regibus, hic tyrannis contemptus, (Opp. p. 536.) * Note: Fatcor
attamen quod-nunc fatuum. nunc hystrionem, nunc gravem nunc
simplicem, nunc astutum, nunc fervidum, nunc timidum simulatorem,
et dissimulatorem ad hunc caritativum finem, quem dixi,
constitusepius memet ipsum. Writing to an archbishop, (of
Prague,) Rienzi alleges scriptural examples. Saltator coram archa
David et insanus apparuit coram Rege; blanda, astuta, et tecta
Judith astitit Holoferni; et astute Jacob meruit benedici,
Urkunde xlix.—M. 1845.]

A prophecy, or rather a summons, affixed on the church door of
St. George, was the first public evidence 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 nobles, 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
reestablishment of the good estate. The whole night was employed
in the celebration of thirty masses of the Holy Ghost; and in the
morning, Rienzi, bareheaded, but in complete armor, 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 labored 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 rumor, he returned to his
palace, affected to despise this plebeian tumult, and declared to
the messenger 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. Laurence: from thence, 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.

But such voluntary obedience evaporates 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; 251 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 of the republic. In this character, and with the
consent of the Roman, 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 harbor
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 public
defence, for the establishment of granaries, 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 salt-duty, and the customs,
were each of the annual produce of one hundred thousand florins;
26 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 appearance in the Capitol;
and imposed an oath of allegiance 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 confounded 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 disguise. The same oath was successively
pronounced by the several orders of society, the clergy and
gentlemen, the judges and notaries, the merchants and artisans,
and the gradual descent was marked by the increase of sincerity
and zeal. They swore to live and die with the republic and the
church, whose interest was artfully 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
supernatural mission from the Holy Ghost; enforced by a heavy
forfeiture the annual duty of confession and communion; and
strictly guarded the spiritual as well as temporal welfare of his
faithful people. 27

251 (return) [ Et ego, Deo semper auctore, ipsa die pristinâ
(leg. primâ) Tribunatus, quæ quidem dignitas a tempore deflorati
Imperii, et per annos Vo et ultra sub tyrannicà occupatione
vacavit, ipsos omnes potentes indifferenter Deum at justitiam
odientes, a meâ, ymo a Dei facie fugiendo vehementi Spiritu
dissipavi, et nullo effuso cruore trementes expuli, sine ictu
remanente Romane terre facie renovatâ. Libellus Tribuni ad
Cæsarem, p. xxxiv.—M. 1845.]

26 (return) [ In one MS. I read (l. ii. c. 4, p. 409) perfumante
quatro _solli_, in another, quatro _florini_, 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 250,000 families; and I much
fear, that the former is more consistent with the decay of Rome
and her territory.]

27 (return) [ Hocsemius, p. 498, apud du Cerçeau, Hist. de
Rienzi, p. 194. The fifteen tribunitian laws may be found in the
Roman historian (whom for brevity I shall name) Fortifiocca, l.
ii. c. 4.]