LXX. CHAP. indulgence of enthufiafm and eloquence", Petrarch, Italy, and Europe, were aftonifhed by a revolution which realized for a moment his most fplendid vifions. The rife and fall of the tribune Rienzi will occupy the following pages : the fubject is interefting, the materials are rich, and the glance of a patriot-bard" will fometimes vivify the copious, but fimple, narrative of the Florentine 18, and more especially of the Roman ", hiftorian. In 15 To find the proofs of his enthusiasm for Rome, I need only requeft 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 It has been treated by the pen of a Jefuit, the P. du Cerceau, whofe pofthumous work (Conjuration de Nicolas Gabrini, dit de Rienzi Tyran de Rome, en 1347) was published at Paris 1748, in 1200 I am indebted to him for some facts and documents in John Hocfemius, canon of Liege, a contemporary hiftorian (Fabricius, Bibliot. Lat. med. Evi, tom. iii. p: 273. tom. iv. p. 85.). 17 The abbé de Sade, who so freely expatiates on the hiftory of the xivth century, might treat, as his proper fubject, a revolution in which the heart of Petrarch was fo deeply engaged (Memoirs, tom. ii. p. 50, 51. 380-417. notes, p. 70–76. tom. iii. p. 221--243. 366375.). Not an idea or a fact in the writings of Petrarch has probably escaped him. 18 Giovanni Villani, 1. xii. c. 89. rc4. in Muratori, Rerum Itali carum Scriptores, tom. xiii. p. 969, 970. 981-983. 19 In his iijd volume of Italian Antiquities (p. 249-548.), Muratori has inferted the Fragmenta Hiftoriæ Romanæ ab Anno 1327 ufque ad Annum 1354, in the original dialect of Rome or Naples in the xivth century, and a Latin version for the benefit of ftrangers. It contains the moft particular and authentic life of Cola (Nicholas) di Rienzi; which had been printed at Bracciano 1627, in 4to, under the name of Tomafo Portifiocca, who is only mentioned in this work as having been punished by the tribune for forgery. Human nature LXX. Birth, and pa character, triotic de figns of In a quarter of the city which was inhabited CHAP. only by mechanics and Jews, the marriage of an innkeeper and a washerwoman produced the future deliverer of Rome 20. From fuch parents Nicholas Rienzi Gabrini could inherit neither dignity nor fortune; and the gift of a liberal education, which Rienzi. they painfully beftowed, was the caufe of his glory and untimely end. The ftudy of history and eloquence, the writings of Cicero, Seneca, Livy, Cæfar, and Valerius Maximus, elevated above his equals and contemporaries the genius of the young plebeian: he perufed with indefatigable diligence the manufcripts and marbles of antiquity; loved to difpenfe his knowledge in familiar language; and was often provoked to exclaim, "Where are now thefe Romans? their "virtue, their juftice, their power? why was I "not born in those happy times "!" When the nature is scarcely capable of fuch fublime or ftupid impartiality but whofoever is the author of thefe Fragments, he wrote on the spot and at the time, and paints, without defign or art, the manners of Rome and the character of the tribune. 20 The first and fplendid period of Rienzi, his tribunitian government, is contained in the xvijith chapter of the Fragments (p. 399— 479-), which, in the new divifion, forms the iid book of the history in xxxviii fmaller chapters or fections. 21 The reader may be pleafed with a fpecimen of the original idiom: Fò da foa juventutine nutricato di latte de eloquentia, bono gramatico, megliore rettuorico, autorifta bravo. Deh como et quanto era veloce leitore moito ufava Tito Livio, Seneca, et Tullio, et Balerio Maffimo, moito li dilettava le magnificentie di Julio Cefare raccontare. Tutta la die fe fpeculava negl' intagli di marmo lequali iaccio intorno Roma. Non era altri che effo, che fapeffe lejere li antichi pataffit. Tutte fcritture antiche vulgarizzava; queffe fiure di marmo juftamente interpretava. Oh come, fpeffo diceva," Dove fuoco quelli buoni Romani? dove ❝ene loro fomma juftitia? poleramme trovare in tempo che queffi ❝ fiuriano!" republic CHAP. republic addreffed to the throne of Avignon an LXX. embaffy of the three orders, the spirit and elo quence of Rienzi recommended him to a place among the thirteen deputies of the commons. The orator had the honour of haranguing pope Clement the fixth, and the fatisfaction of converfing with Petrarch, a congenial mind: but his afpiring hopes were chilled by difgrace and poverty; and the patriot was reduced to a fingle garment and the charity of the hofpital. From this mifery he was relieved by the sense of merit or the smile of favour; and the employment of apoftolic notary afforded him a daily ftipend of five gold florins, a more honourable and extenfive connection, and the right of contrafting, both in words and actions, his own integrity with the vices of the ftate. The eloquence of Rienzi was prompt and perfuafive: the multitude is always prone to envy and cenfure: he was ftimulated by the lofs of a brother and the impunity of the affaffins; nor was it poffible to excufe or exaggerate the public calamities. The bleffings of peace and juftice, for which civil fociety has been inftituted, were banished from Rome: the jealous citizens, who might have endured every perfonal or pecuniary injury, were moft deeply wounded in the dishonour of their wives and daughters": they were equally oppreffed by the arrogance of the nobles and the corruption of the magistrates; and the abufe of arms or of laws was the only circum 22 Petrarch compares the jealoufy of the Romans, with the ealy temper of the husbands of Avignon (Memoires, tom. i. P. 330.). ftance LXX. stance that distinguished the lions, from the dogs CHAP. and ferpents, 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 fatire, inflamed their paffions, and announced a diftant hope of comfort and deliverance. The privileges of Rome, her eternal fovereignty over her princes and provinces, was the theme of his public and private discourse; and a monument of fervitude became in his hands a title and incentive of liberty. The decree of the fenate, which granted the most ample prerogatives to the emperor Vefpafian, had been infcribed on a copper-plate still extant in the choir of the church of St. John Lateran 23. A numerous affembly 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 myfterious habit, explained the inscription by a verfion and commentary 4, and defcanted with eloquence and zeal on the ancient glories of the fenate and people, from whom all legal authority was derived. The supine igno *3 The fragments of the Lex Regia may be found in the Infcriptions of Gruter, tom. i. p. 242. and at the end of the Tacitus of Ernefti, with fome learned notes of the editor, tom. ii. 24 I cannot overlook a stupendous and laughable blunder of Rienzi. The Lex Regia empowers Vefpafian to enlarge the Pomærium, a word familiar to every antiquary. It was not fo to the tribune; he confounds it with pomarium an orchard, tranflates lo Jardino de Roma cioene Italia, and is copied by the lefs excufable ignorance of the Latin tranflator (p. 406.) and the French hiftorian (p. 33.). Even the learning of Muratori has fumbered over the paffage, LXX. 25 CHAP. rance of the nobles was incapable of difcerning the serious tendency of fuch representations: they might fometimes chaftife with words and blows the plebeian reformer; but he was often fuffered in the Colonna palace to amufe the company with his threats and predictions; and the modern Brutus was concealed under the mafk of folly and the character of a buffoon. While they indulged their contempt, the restoration of the good eftate, his favourite expreffion, was entertained among the people as a defirable, a poffible, and at length as an approaching, event; and while all had the difpofition to applaud, fome had the courage to affift, their promised deliverer. He af fumes the government of Rome, A. D. 1347. A prophecy, or rather a fummons, affixed on the church door of St. George, was the first public evidence of his defigns; a nocturnal affembly of an hundred citizens on mount Aventine, the first ftep to their execution. After an oath of fecrecy May 20; and aid, he reprefented to the confpirators the importance and facility of their enterprise; that the nobles, without union or refources, were strong only in the fear of their imaginary strength; that all power, as well as right, was in the hands of the people; that the revenues of the apoftolical chamber might relieve the publi⚫ distress; and that the pope himself would approve their victory over the common enemies of government and freedom. After fecuring a faithful band to protect his first declaration, he proclaimed through 25 Priori (Bruto) tamen fimilior, juvenis uterque, longe ingenio quam cujus fimulationem induerat, ut fub hoc obtentû liberator ille P. R. aperiretur tempore fuo.... Ille regibus, hic tyrannis contemptus (Opp. p. 536.). |