Chapter 2.VI. The Conspirator Becomes the Magistrate.
At midnight, when the rest of the city seemed hushed in rest, lights were
streaming from the windows of the Church of St. Angelo. Breaking from its
echoing aisles, the long and solemn notes of sacred music stole at frequent
intervals upon the air. Rienzi was praying within the church; thirty
masses consumed the hours from night till morn, and all the sanction of
religion was invoked to consecrate the enterprise of liberty. (In fact, I
apprehend that if ever the life of Cola di Rienzi shall be written by a
hand worthy of the task, it will be shown that a strong religious feeling
was blended with the political enthusiasm of the people, - the religious
feeling of a premature and crude reformation, the legacy of Arnold of
Brescia. It was not, however, one excited against the priests, but
favoured by them. The principal conventual orders declared for the
Revolution.) The sun had long risen, and the crowd had long been assembled
before the church door, and in vast streams along every street that led to
it, - when the bell of the church tolled out long and merrily; and as it
ceased, the voices of the choristers within chanted the following hymn, in
which were somewhat strikingly, though barbarously, blended, the spirit of
the classic patriotism with the fervour of religious zeal: -
The Roman Hymn of Liberty.
Let the mountains exult around!
("Exultent in circuito Vestro Montes," &c. - Let the mountains exult
around! So begins Rienzi's letter to the Senate and Roman people:
preserved by Hocsemius.)
On her seven-hill'd throne renown'd,
Once more old Rome is crown'd!
Jubilate!
Sing out, O Vale and Wave!
Look up from each laurell'd grave,
Bright dust of the deathless brave!
Jubilate!
Pale Vision, what art thou? - Lo,
From Time's dark deeps,
Like a Wind, It sweeps,
Like a Wind, when the tempests blow:
A shadowy form - as a giant ghost -
It stands in the midst of the armed host!
The dead man's shroud on Its awful limbs;
And the gloom of Its presence the daylight dims:
And the trembling world looks on aghast -
All hail to the SOUL OF THE MIGHTY PAST!
Hail! all hail!
As we speak - as we hallow - It moves, It breathes;
From its clouded crest bud the laurel wreaths -
As a Sun that leaps up from the arms of Night,
The shadow takes shape, and the gloom takes light.
Hail! all hail!
The Soul of the Past, again
To its ancient home,
In the hearts of Rome,
Hath come to resume its reign!
O Fame, with a prophet's voice,
Bid the ends of the Earth rejoice!
Wherever the Proud are Strong,
And Right is oppress'd by Wrong; -
Wherever the day dim shines
Through the cell where the captive pines; -
Go forth, with a trumpet's sound!
And tell to the Nations round -
On the Hills which the Heroes trod -
In the shrines of the Saints of God -
In the Caesars' hall, and the Martyrs' prison -
That the slumber is broke, and the Sleeper arisen!
That the reign of the Goth and the Vandal is o'er:
And Earth feels the tread of THE ROMAN once more!
As the hymn ended, the gate of the church opened; the crowd gave way on
either side, and, preceded by three of the young nobles of the inferior
order, bearing standards of allegorical design, depicting the triumph of
Liberty, Justice, and Concord, forth issued Rienzi, clad in complete
armour, the helmet alone excepted. His face was pale with watching and
intense excitement - but stern, grave, and solemnly composed; and its
expression so repelled any vociferous and vulgar burst of feeling, that
those who beheld it hushed the shout on their lips, and stilled, by a
simultaneous cry of reproof, the gratulations of the crowd behind. Side by
side with Rienzi moved Raimond, Bishop of Orvietto: and behind, marching
two by two, followed a hundred men-at-arms. In complete silence the
procession began its way, until, as it approached the Capitol, the awe of
the crowd gradually vanished, and thousands upon thousands of voices rent
the air with shouts of exultation and joy.
Arrived at the foot of the great staircase, which then made the principal
ascent to the square of the Capitol, the procession halted; and as the
crowd filled up that vast space in front - adorned and hallowed by many of
the most majestic columns of the temples of old - Rienzi addressed the
Populace, whom he had suddenly elevated into a People.
He depicted forcibly the servitude and misery of the citizens - the utter
absence of all law - the want even of common security to life and property.
He declared that, undaunted by the peril he incurred, he devoted his life
to the regeneration of their common country; and he solemnly appealed to
the people to assist the enterprise, and at once to sanction and
consolidate the Revolution by an established code of law and a
Constitutional Assembly. He then ordered the chart and outline of the
Constitution he proposed, to be read by the Herald to the multitude.
It created, - or rather revived, with new privileges and powers, - a
Representative Assembly of Councillors. It proclaimed, as its first law,
one that seems simple enough to our happier times, but never hitherto
executed at Rome: Every wilful homicide, of whatever rank, was to be
punished by death. It enacted, that no private noble or citizen should be
suffered to maintain fortifications and garrisons in the city or the
country; that the gates and bridges of the State should be under the
control of whomsoever should be elected Chief Magistrate. It forbade all
harbour of brigands, mercenaries, and robbers, on payment of a thousand
marks of silver; and it made the Barons who possessed the neighbouring
territories responsible for the safety of the roads, and the transport of
merchandise. It took under the protection of the State the widow and the
orphan. It appointed, in each of the quarters of the city, an armed
militia, whom the tolling of the bell of the Capitol, at any hour, was to
assemble to the protection of the State. It ordained, that in each harbour
of the coast, a vessel should be stationed, for the safeguard of commerce.
It decreed the sum of one hundred florins to the heirs of every man who
died in the defence of Rome; and it devoted the public revenues to the
service and protection of the State.
Such, moderate at once and effectual, was the outline of the New
Constitution; and it may amuse the reader to consider how great must have
been the previous disorders of the city, when the common and elementary
provisions of civilisation and security made the character of the code
proposed, and the limit of a popular revolution.
The most rapturous shouts followed this sketch of the New Constitution:
and, amidst the clamour, up rose the huge form of Cecco del Vecchio.
Despite his condition, he was a man of great importance at the present
crisis: his zeal and his courage, and, perhaps, still more, his brute
passion and stubborn prejudice, had made him popular. The lower order of
mechanics looked to him as their head and representative; out, then, he
spake loud and fearlessly, - speaking well, because his mind was full of
what he had to say.
"Countrymen and Citizens! - This New Constitution meets with your
approbation - so it ought. But what are good laws, if we do not have good
men to execute them? Who can execute a law so well as the man who designs
it? If you ask me to give you a notion how to make a good shield, and my
notion pleases you, would you ask me, or another smith, to make it for you?
If you ask another, he may make a good shield, but it would not be the same
as that which I should have made, and the description of which contented
you. Cola di Rienzi has proposed a Code of Law that shall be our shield.
Who should see that the shield become what he proposes, but Cola di Rienzi?
Romans! I suggest that Cola di Rienzi be intrusted by the people with the
authority, by whatsoever name he pleases, of carrying the New Constitution
into effect; - and whatever be the means, we, the People, will bear him
harmless."
"Long life to Rienzi! - long live Cecco del Vecchio! He hath spoken well!
- none but the Law-maker shall be the Governor!"
Such were the acclamations which greeted the ambitious heart of the
Scholar. The voice of the people invested him with the supreme power. He
had created a Commonwealth - to become, if he desired it, a Despot!
