48 די LXX. treachery and corruption; and urged him to CHAP. prove, by their forcible exclufion, that, if the populace adhered to his caufe, it was already dif-) claimed by the moft refpectable citizens. The pope and the facred college had never been dazzled by his fpecious profeffions; they were juftly offended by the infolence of his conduct; a cardinal legate was fent to Italy, and after fome fruitless treaty, and two perfonal interviews, he fulminated a bull of excommunication, in which the tribune is degraded from his office, and branded with the guilt of rebellion, facrilege, and herefy 43. The furviving barons of Rome were now humbled to a fenfe of allegiance; their interest and revenge engaged them in the fervice of the church; but as the fate of the Colonna was before their eyes, they abandoned to a private adventurer the peril and glory of the revolution. John Pepin, count of Minorbino" in the kingdom of Naples, had been condemned for his crimes, or his riches, to perpetual imprisonment; and Petrarch, by foliciting his releafe, indirectly contributed to the ruin of his friend. At the head of one hundred and fifty foldiers, the count of Minorbino introduced himfelf into Rome; barricaded the quarter of the Colonna; and found 48 The briefs and bulls of Clement VI. against Rienzi, are translated by the P. du Cerçeau (p. 196. 232.) from the Ecclefiaftical Annals of Rodericus Raynaldus (A. D. 1347, N° 15. 17. 21, &c.), who found them in the archives of the Vatican. 49 Matteo Villani defcribes the origin, character, and death of this count of Minorbino, a man da natura inconftante e senza fede, whose grandfather, a crafty notary, was enriched and ennobled by the spoils of the Saracens of Nocera (1. vii. c. 102, 103.). See' his imprisonment, and the efforts of Petrarch, tom. ii. p. 149–› 151. CHAP. the enterprise as easy as it had feemed impoffible. LXX. Revolu tions of Rome, A.D. 1347 3354. From the firft alarm, the bell of the Capitol inceffantly tolled; but, instead of repairing to the well-known found, the people was filent and inactive; and the pufillanimous Rienzi, deploring their ingratitude with fighs and tears, abdicated the government and palace of the republic. Without drawing his fword, count Pepin restored the ariftocracy and the church; three fenators were chofen, and the legate affuming the first rank, accepted his two colleagues from the rival families of Colonna and Urfini. The acts of the tribune were abolished, his head was profcribed; yet fuch was the terror of his name, that the barons hefitated three days before they would truft themselves in the city, and Rienzi was left above a month in the caftle of St. Angelo, from whence he peaceably withdrew, after labouring, without effect, to revive the affection and courage of the Romans. The vifion of freedom and empire had vanished: their fallen fpirit would have acquiefced in fervitude, had it been fmoothed by tranquillity and order: and it was fcarcely obferved, that the new fenators derived their authority from the Apoftolic See, that four cardinals were appointed to reform with dictatorial power the ftate of the republic. Rome was again agitated by the bloody feuds of the barons, who detefted each other, and defpifed the commons: their hoftile fortreffes, both in town and country, again rofe, and were again demolished; and the peaceful citizens, a flock of sheep, were devoured, fays the Florentine hiftorian, by these rapacious wolves. But when their pride and avarice had had exhausted the patience of the Romans, a confraternity of the virgin Mary protected or avenged the republic: the bell of the Capitol was again tolled, the nobles in arms trembled in the prefence of an unarmed multitude; and of the two fenators, Colonna efcaped from the window of the palace, and Urfini was ftoned at the foot of the altar. The dangerous office, of tribune was fucceffively occupied by two plebeians, Cerroni and Baroncelli. The mildnefs of Cerroni was unequal to the times; and after a faint struggle, he retired with a fair reputation and a decent fortune to the comforts of rural life. Devoid of eloquence or genius, Baroncelli was distinguished by a refolute spirit: he spoke the language of a patriot, and trod in the footsteps of tyrants; his fufpicion was a fentence of death, and his own death was the reward of his cruelties. Amidft the public misfortunes, the faults of Rienzi were forgotten; and the Romans fighed for the peace and profperity of the good eftate so. CHAP. LXX. tures of After an exile of seven years, the first deliverer Advènwas again restored to his country. In the difguife Rienzi. of a monk or a pilgrim, he escaped from the caftle of St. Angelo, implored the friendship of the king of Hungary and Naples, tempted the ambition of every bold adventurer, mingled at Rome with the pilgrims of the jubilee, lay concealed among the hermits of the Apennine, and wandered through 50 The troubles of Rome, from the departure to the return of Rienzi, are related by Matteo Villani (l. ii. c. 47. l. iii. c. 33. 57. 78.) and Thomas Fortifiocca (1. iii. c. 1-4.). I have flightly paffed over these fecondary characters, who imitated the original tribune. A a 3 the LXX. CHAP. the cities of Italy, Germany, and Bohemia. His perfon was invifible, his name was yet formidable; and the anxiety of the court of Avignon fuppofes, and even magnifies, his perfonal merit. The emperor Charles the fourth gave audience to a ftranger, who frankly revealed himfelf as the tribune of the republic; and aftonished an affembly of ambaffadors and princes, by the eloquence of a patriot and the visions of a prophet, the downfal of tyranny and the kingdom of the Holy Ghost "4. Whatever had been his hopes, Rienzi found him→ felf a captive; but he supported a character of independence and dignity, and obeyed, as his own choice, the irrefiftible fummons of the fupreme pontiff. The zeal of Petrarch, which had been cooled by the unworthy conduct, was rekindled by the fufferings and the prefence, of his friend; and he boldly complains of the times, in which the faviour of Rome was delivered by her emperor into A prifoner the hands of her bifhop. Rienzi was tranfported at Avig non, A. D.. 1351. flowly, but in fafe cuftody, from Prague to Avig non his entrance into the city was that of a malefactor; in his prifon he was chained by the leg; and four cardinals were named to enquire into the crimes of herefy and rebellion. But his trial and condemnation would have involved fome queftions, which it was more prudent to leave under the veil of mystery: the temporal fupremacy of the popes; 51 Thefe vifions, of which the friends and enemies of Rienzi feem alike ignorant, are furely magnified by the zeal of Pollitore, a Dominican inquifitor (Rer. Ital. tom. xxv. c. 36. p. 819.). Had the tribune taught, that Chrift was fucceeded by the Holy Ghoft, that the tyranny of the pope would be abolished, he might have been convicted of herefy and treafon, without offending the Roman people. the LXX. the duty of refidence; the civil and ecclefiaftical CHAP. privileges of the clergy and people of Rome. The reigning pontiff well deferved the appellation of Clement the ftrange viciffitudes and magnanimous fpirit of the captive excited his pity and esteem; and Petrarch believes that he refpected in the hero the name and facred character of a poet ". Rienzi was indulged with an eafy confinement and the ufe of books; and in the affiduous study of Livy and the bible, he fought the cause and the confolation of his misfortunes. 52 The fucceeding pontificate of Innocent the fixth opened a new prospect of his deliverance and restoration; and the court of Avignon was perfuaded, that the fuccefsful rebel could alone appease and reform the anarchy of the metropolis. After a folemn profeffion of fidelity, the Roman tribune was fent into Italy, with the title of fenator; but the death of Baroncelli appeared to fuperfede the ufe of his miffion; and the legate, cardinal Albornoz ", a confummate ftatefman, allowed him with reluctance, and without aid, to undertake the perilous experiment. His firft reception was equal to his wishes the day of his entrance was a public feftival; and his eloquence and authority re 53 52 The astonishment, the envy almoft, of Petrarch is a proof, if not of the truth of this incredible fact, at leaft of his own veracity. The abbé de Sade (Memoires, tom. iii. p. 242.) quotes the vith epistle of the xiiith book of Petrarch, but it is of the royal MS. which he confulted, and not of the ordinary Bafil edition (p. 920.). 53 Ægidius, or Giles Albornoz, a noble Spaniard, archbishop of Toledo, and cardinal legate in Italy (A. D. 1353--1367), reftored, by his arms and counfels, the temporal dominion of the popes. His life has been feparately written by Sepulveda; but Dryden could not reasonably fuppofe, that his name, or that of Wolfey, had reached the ears of the Mufti in Don Sebaftian. Rienzi, feRome, nator of A.D. 1354: |