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$Title{History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
Part I.}
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$Author{Gibbon, Edward}
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$Subject{footnote
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petrarch
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$Date{1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised)}
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Title:       History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
Book:        Chapter LXX: Final Settlement Of The Ecclesiastical State.
Author:      Gibbon, Edward
Date:        1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised)

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 Caesars 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.

[Footnote 1: The Memoires sur la Vie de Francois Petrarque, (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.]

[Footnote 2: 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.]

[Footnote 3: 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.]

[Footnote 4: Corpus crebris partubus exhaustum: from one of these is issued,
in the tenth degree, the abbe 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.)]

[Footnote 5: Vaucluse, so familiar to our English travellers, is described
from the writings of Petrarch, and the local knowledge of his biographer,
(Memoires, 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.]

[Footnote 6: Of 1250 pages, in a close print, at Basil in the xvith century,
but without the date of the year.  The abbe 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.]

[Footnote 7: 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.]

[Footnote 8: 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.]

[Footnote 9: 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 example of the Panathenaea 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.)]

[Footnote 10: 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
nostrae inficiata lyrae, 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.]

[Footnote 11: 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 Republique 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.)]

[Footnote 12: 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 Rhone 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

[Footnote 13: The whole process of Petrarch's coronation is accurately
described by the abbe 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.]

[Footnote 14: The original act is printed among the Pieces Justificatives in
the Memoires sur Petrarque, tom. iii. p. 50 - 53.]

[Footnote 15: 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.]

[Footnote 16: 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. Aevi, tom. iii. p. 273, tom. iv. p.
85.)]

[Footnote 17: The abbe 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, (Memoires, 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.]

[Footnote 18: Giovanni Villani, l. xii. c. 89, 104, in Muratori, Rerum
Italicarum Scriptores, tom. xiii. p. 969, 970, 981 - 983.]

[Footnote 19: In his third volume of Italian antiquities, (p. 249 - 548,)
Muratori has inserted the Fragmenta Historiae Romanae 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
i: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 ^! 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, Caesar, 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. ^* 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; ^!! 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.

[Footnote 20: 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.]

[Footnote !: 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.]

[Footnote 21: The reader may be pleased with a specimen of the original idiom:
Fo 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!"]

[Footnote *: 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.]

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

[Footnote !!: 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.]

[Footnote 23: 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.]

[Footnote 24: I cannot overlook a stupendous and laughable blunder of Rienzi.
The Lex regia empowers Vespasian to enlarge the Pomoerium, a word familiar to
every antiquary.  It was not so to the tribune; he confounds it with pomarium,
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.]

[Footnote 25: Priori (Bruto) tamen similior, juvenis uterque, longe ingenic
quam cujus simulationem induerat, ut sub hoc obtentu liberator ille P R.
aperiretur tempore suo ....  Ille regibus, hic tyrannis contemptus, (Opp (Opp.
p. 536.)

     Note: Fatcor attamen quod - nunc fatuum. nunc hystrionem, nunc gravem
nunc simplicem, nunc astutum, nunc fervidum, nunc timidum simulato rem, 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 astate 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; ^* 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

[Footnote *: Et ego, Deo semper auctore, ipsa die pristina (leg. prima)
Tribunatus, quae quidem dignitas a tempore deflorati Imperii, et per annos Vo
et ultra sub tyrannica occupatione vacavit, ipsos omnes potentes indifferenter
Deum at justitiam odientes, a mea, ymo a Dei facie fugiendo vehementi Spiritu
dissipavi, et nullo effuso cruore trementes expuli, sine ictu remanents Romane
terre facie renovata.  Libellus Tribuni ad Caesarem, p. xxxiv - M. 1845.]

[Footnote 26: 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.]

[Footnote 27: Hocsemius, p. 498, apud du Cerceau, 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]