LXX.

CHA P. 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 foldier, who loft 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 facrilege, the revenues of the apostolic chamber: the three branches of hearthmoney, the falt-duty, and the customs, were each of the annual produce of one hundred thousand florins 26 ; and fcandalous were the abuses, if in four or five months the amount of the falt-duty could be trebled by his judicious oeconomy. After thus reftoring the forces and finances of the 'republic, the tribune recalled the nobles from their folitary independence; required their perfonal appearance in the Capitol; and imposed an oath, of allegiance to the new government, and of fubmiffion to the laws of the good eftate. Apprehenfive for their fafety, but ftill more apprehenfive of the danger of a refufal, the princes and barons returned to their houses at Rome in the garb of fimple and peaceful citizens: the Colonna and Urfini, the Savelli and Frangipani, were confounded before the tribunal of a plebeian, of the vile buffoon whom they had fo often derided, and

26 In one MS. I read (1. ii. c. 4. P. 409.) perfumante quatro folli, in another quatro fiorini, an important variety, fince the florin was worth ten Roman folidi (Muratori, differt. 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 confistent with the decay of Rome and her territory.

LXX.

their disgrace was aggravated by the indignation CHAP. which they vainly ftruggled to disguise. The fame oath was fucceffively pronounced by the feveral orders of fociety, the clergy and gentlemen, the judges and notaries, the merchants and artifans, and the gradual descent was marked by the increase of fincerity and zeal. They fwore to live and die with the republic and the church, whose interest was artfully united by the nominal affociation 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 ariftocracy; and Clement the fixth, who rejoiced in its fall, affected to believe the profeffions, to applaud the merits, and to confirm the title, of his trufty fervant. The speech, perhaps the mind, of the tribune, was infpired with a lively regard for the purity of the faith; he infinuated his claim to a fupernatural miffion from the Holy Ghoft: enforced by an heavy forfeiture the annual duty of confeffion and communion; and strictly guarded the fpiritual as well as temporal welfare of his faithful people "7.

Freedom and profperity of

the Ro

man re

Never perhaps has the energy and effect of a fingle mind been more remarkably felt than in the fudden, though transient, reformation of Rome by the tribune Rienzi. A den of robbers was public. converted to the difcipline of a camp or convent: patient to hear, fwift to redrefs, inexorable to

27 Hocfemius, p. 398. apud du Cerçeau, Hift. de Rienzi, p. 194. The fifteen tribunitian laws may be found in the Roman hiftorian (whom for brevity I fhall name) Fortifiocca, 1. ii. c. 4.

LXX.

CHAP. punish, his tribunal was always acceffible to the poor and stranger; nor could birth, or dignity, or the immunities of the church, protect the offender or his accomplices. The privileged houses, the private fanctuaries in Rome, on which no officer of justice would prefume to trefpafs, were abolished; and he applied the timber and iron of their barricades in the fortifications of the Capitol. The venerable father of the Colonna was exposed in his own palace to the double fhame of being defirous, and of being unable, to protect a criminal. A mule, with a jar of oil, had been ftolen near Capranica; and the lord, of the Urfini family, was condemned to reftore the damage, and to discharge a fine of four hundred florins for his negligence in guarding the highways. Nor were the perfons of the barons more inviolate than their lands or houses: and either from accident or defign, the fame impartial rigour was exercised against the heads of the adverse factions. Peter Agapet Colonna, who had himself been senator of Rome, was arrested in the ftreet for injury or debt; and juftice was appeafed by the tardy execution of Martin Urfini, who, among his various acts of violence and rapine, had pillaged a fhipwrecked veffel at the mouth of the Tyber 28. His name, the purple of two cardinals,

28 Fortifiocca, 1. ii. c. Ir. From the account of this fhipwreck, we learn fome circumftances of the trade and navigation of the age. 1. The fhip was built and freighted at Naples for the ports of Marseilles and Avignon. 2. The failors were of Naples and the ifle of naria, lefs fkilful than those of Sicily and Genoa. 3. The navigation from Marseilles was a coafting voyage to the mouth

LXX.

dinals, his uncles, a recent marriage, and a mòr- CHAP.
tal disease, were difregarded by the inflexible
tribune, who had chosen his victim. The public
officers dragged him from his palace and nuptial
bed his trial was fhort and fatisfactory: the
bell of the Capitol convened the people: stript of
his mantle, on his knees, with his hands bound,
behind his back, he heard the fentence of death;
and after a brief confeffion, Urfini was led away
to the gallows. After fuch an example, none
who were confcious of guilt could hope for im-
punity, and the flight of the wicked, the licentious,
and the idle, foon purified the city and territory
of Rome. In this time (fays the hiftorian) the
woods began to rejoice that they were no longer
infefted with robbers; the oxen began to plow;
the pilgrims visited the fanctuaries; the roads and
inns were replenished with travellers; trade,
plenty, and good faith were restored in the
markets; and a purse of gold might be exposed
without danger in the midst of the highway. As
foon as the life and property of the subject are
fecure, the labours and rewards of industry fpon-
taneously revive: Rome was ftill the metropolis
of the Christian world; and the fame and fortunes
of the tribune were diffufed in every country by
the strangers who had enjoyed the bleffings of his
government.

mouth of the Tyber, where they took shelter in a storm, but,
inftead of finding the current, unfortunately ran on a fhoal: the
veffel was ftranded, the mariners escaped. 4. The cargo, which
was pillaged, confifted of the revenue of Provence for the royal
treasury, many bags of pepper and cinnamon, and bales of
French cloth, to the value of 20,000 florins: a rich prize.

4

The deliverance of his country inspired Rienzi with a vaft, and perhaps vifionary, idea of uniting Italy in a great foederative republic, of which Rome should be the ancient and lawful head, and the free cities and princes the members and affociates. His pen was not lefs eloquent than his tongue; and his numerous epiftles were delivered to swift and trufty meffengers. On foot, with a white wand in their hand, they traversed the forests and mountains; enjoyed, in the most hoftile states, the facred fecurity of ambaffadors; and reported, in the ftyle of flattery or truth, that the highways along their paffage were lined with kneeling multitudes, who implored heaven for the fuccefs of their undertaking. Could paffion have liftened to reafon; could private interest have yielded to the public welfare; the fupreme tribunal and confederate union of the Italian republic might have healed their inteftine difcord, and clofed the Alps against the Barbarians of the North. But the propitious feafon had elapfed; and if Venice, Florence, Sienna, Perugia, and many inferior cities, offered their lives and fortunes to the good eftate, the tyrants of Lombardy and Tuscany muft defpife, or hate, the plebeian author of a free conftitution. From them, however, and from every part of Italy, the tribune received the most friendly and respectful answers: they were followed by the ambaffadors of the princes and republics; and in this foreign conflux, on all the occafions of pleasure or business, the low-born notary could affume the familiar

or