1000-1031.

him resolve

to erect an

my monkhood"), one of the company always spoke be-
fore nocturns about Crescentius, this custom being ob-
served that the edict which, after his death, consigned
him to oblivion-though it could not cancel the power
that hung about his vague name, powerful to stir up
men at any moment to aims like his might be counter-
acted, and his memory preserved. Within his brain
at least the dead forgotten Rome of the Republic lived
anew, though fortune had given the actual power of
the day to Pope John and King Otho, neither of whom
was worth a slave of Rome's. Happening to appear
one day arrayed in white, and being consequently called
Roman Consul for a jest, he took up the title in earnest,
and at once began to follow close in the footsteps of
Brutus. Standing fearlessly before the people, he bade
them make Rome what it once had been, even the
Rome of Brutus, of which kings had called themselves
the mere citizens, and by which they were so captivated
that, beguiled into great thoughts by such a form of
government, they would give the best jewel in their
crown in exchange for the senate's cypher. He flashes
forth like a beacon on the night, all men catching some-
thing of his light, and the model Rome is just accom-
plished, when back comes Otho with John, the pope
whom the Consul would have none of, and Hugo, Lord
of Este, to win back their lordly privileges. Crescentius
bent under the storm. "They crucified their Consul in
the forum," continued the watcher, "and we became
again such slaves at Rome that they could take away
from me both my wife and my convent-place.
us a song of Rome!"

Give

This tale immediately began to work upon Sordello's Which makes mind. The mother-city, which he had pictured fantastically enough during his Mantuan days, seemed now ideal govern- to him the model after which all cities might be fashioned, the one question being how they might most nearly approach what lay beyond rivalry. Even the Guelf and the Ghibellin party professed to seek the

ment.

best government, though they really sought only their own aggrandisement.

Rome, then, Sordello felt, as he pictured it in colours not seen in its actual history, is the true cause of the people. Let Rome be our model-the Rome of Justinian's Laws, fitted for all the world-the Rome of the old Capitol and the later Castle Angelo-the Rome that for so long had a great past behind a great present, -where that great past keeps men sane, the upstart churches preserved from conceit by the grand forlorn Theatre, from which they seem to have issued as a world from its shell. For Sordello Rome typifies the scheme by which men will once more be put in possession of their rights. "On me," he cries, "and on me alone, it rests to build up the model government: for this great work have I endured all the sorrow of my ineffective past."

Thus, in the grey of the morning, he sprang forth to execute his plan in accordance with the needs of the people as he beheld them for himself.

887. 'since.' The interpretation in the text seems the only one possible.

906. our conference.' See 1. 377. Palma and Sordello seem not to have entered the palace together (1. 180).

919. all I should have done.' See Bk. v., 1. 305, and Bk. vI., 11. 194-210 and 1. 839. From the time he entered the life of Mantua, Sordello's genius should have been devoted to the help of the people (1. 902 et passim). He will afterwards see that he should have aided them through supporting the Guelf cause. This, indeed, is the essential point in the interpretation of the poem. Dean Church missed it in his valuable study of Sordello (Dante and Other Essays), in which he says: But what Mr Browning's telling does not make plain is, wherein was the failure." The failure was not at the end of Sordello's life, the point at which Dean Church forces it in, but belonged to his career from the time he beheld the veritable business of mankind.' The end itself was triumph, but his craving for selfrevelation had kept him blind to the object he should have loved and served the people's cause, which at that stage of history could be best served by the Guelf cause-devotion to which would have made his life and joy.

It must be borne in mind that, as far as Sordello's history is concerned, the poem from Bk. II., 1. 260, deals with little more than the two last days of his life. See Bk. v., 1. 1.

926. 'She spoke.' Something in answer to Sordello.

933. 'were proved alike.' Sordello comes to see later that the Guelf cause is the one by which his age can be helped. See 1. 919.

960. 'Crescentius Nomentanus.' Crescentius explained to the Romans that the claim of the Popes to obedience rested on sanctity of character, of which they were eminently destitute. Persuading them to restore the Republic, he governed as Consul from 980 to 998. On the death of John XV. (977), who had been banished, but allowed to return on acknowledging the authority of the people, Otho III. appointed a German called Bruno to the Papal chair under the title of Gregory V. Crescentius, however, appointed John XVI., who was a Greek named Philagathus. The Emperor, returning to Rome with troops, put him to death with fearful tortures, and executed Crescentius, whom he had lured from his stronghold by pledging the royal word for his safety. Neander, Hallam, and other historians, do not unite with Sismondi in admiration of the Consul's character (Hist. des Rep. Ital., ch. iii.) It will be noticed that Browning has put Pope John on the wrong side (1. 991).

986. would choose the gem.' A better interpretation may be found. Is there any historical reference here? One of the Ptolemies was a great admirer of Rome.

989. 'phanal.' Fanal (Greek palveiv).

992. 'Hugo.' Hugo of Provence, undisputed King of Italy except at Rome. But he died in 953 (see Art. "Rome" in

Encyc. Brit.)

994. "They crucified." Different accounts are given of the manner of the Consul's death.

1001. 'at Goito.' Was this, then, an old dream come again? Along with the following line, it no doubt refers to his vision of men as grand and happy creatures, which attended him at the old castle and at the beginning of his Mantuan days.

1010. 'Guelf Rome or Ghibellin Rome.' The interpretation here is not satisfying.

1021. ‘as a mundane shell.' The Coliseum, rather than the Theatre of Marcellus, seems to be meant. "The Coliseum," says Lanciani (Pagan and Christian Rome, ch. iii.), was bristling with churches. There was one at the foot of the Colossus of the Sun. . . . There were four dedicated to the Saviour, a sixth to S. James, a seventh to S. Agatha, besides other chapels and oratories within the amphitheatre itself."

BOOK THE FIFTH.

Ll. 1-21.

A day's observation of the people in Ferrara suffices to show Sordello the impossibility of forming the ideal State out of the human material at his command.

1-21. Another fair dream fades:

ideal the ideal Yes,

State cannot be built

away from the

human

CAN it be the same Sordello we see in the dusk as we beheld at dawn? Now he is a perished husk: then he rose up as a power fit to frame the State. Is his great conception gone so soon? Sordello! watch this latest dream of thine fade like those of thine earlier years. Hast thou found material at to-day in Ferrara shining creatures meet for thy hand. Shining City ? Sooth to say, these people in Ferrara have their own peculiar little ways. They have strange notions of the conduct required of model citizens. One is drunk and slips on the smooth causey, and his moon-shaped sandal, suddenly thrust out, trips up his blinking boon-companion. Their manners are none of the best. They wish to fight within their homes, and, regardless of couches, squat anywhere, while things they should regard as sacred are put to the basest use. huddle up all the horrors thou hast seen in this day's study of actual human life! Begone, ye who are unworthy of being banded together in one grand community, and drop to pieces, Rome, arch by arch!

Oh,

1. 'in the dusk.' The chronology of Sordello's last days seems to be this:

1. At Verona, in the palace, he is with Palma up to mid-
night at least.

2. Next day he goes with her to Ferrara, pays his first visit to Taurello Salinguerra, and in the evening has his vision of Rome.

3. Next day he sees Rome fade away, pays his second visit to Taurello, and dies.

(By the time of his death another day may have dawned.) 6. 'to no Palatine.' A state without a king? or one that never actually existed? Cp. Bk. Iv., 1. 1000.

17. 'stibadium.' A semicircular couch.

21. ‘a whim.' The coming study of the gradual growth of great things is begun in an offhand manner. were, speaks within and to Sordello.

Browning, as it

21-59.

Through

slow develop-
ment, a set
of earth-

caves

Ll. 21-79.

Sordello should remember that a great work can be completed by no one man. The city grows gradually through toil of many hands, each builder improving upon the performance of his predecessor. But, since he is unable to make his ideal State a reality, Sordello's first impulse is to take credit for such a conception and decline the smallest step in bringing the actual government of men nearer perfection.

Let

But, ere this idea of forming an ideal State entirely pass away, let us bring to mind how a city must be built. Suppose we are the first to put to our hand. We try to devise something or other for mere shelter for this man and that man, down to the worst. us dig a hole for them to live in. This done, they ask for an outlook and some light; so we make a loophole in our earth wall. We die; but our son follows. He discovers how to make huts of woven hurdles, cuts down trees and makes rafters, conceives and executes door-posts, and has a narrow escape of hitting on the idea of hinges. Let us wait and behold a still later age. Lo! dwellings of brick and stone! When we dug out our earth houses, we were clad in rough skins; but the builder of this period wears a much finer garb, since it is porticoes he rears. Let