After a moment's reflection, he went towards the table and sought among the parchments.
"Here is a document," he said, "written by Pope Adrian. It will show you that our predecessor was gravely annoyed by the Emperor's conduct which always was hostile to the independence of the Church. 'God be thanked,' he writes to the German bishops, 'that you have remained faithful! God be thanked for giving you the ability to judge, dispassionately, between Frederic and the Holy See! This schism which he has instigated will recoil upon his own head; it is like a dragon, which, wishing to fly to heaven, has fallen to the earth, and has been swallowed up. He who would exalt himself, shall be abased. This fox seeks to lay waste the Lord's vineyard; this guilty son forgets all gratitude and all fear. He has fulfilled none of his promises, he has deceived us in everything; he deserves then to be treated as a rebel to his God, as a heathen, as an outlaw.' You see then, my children, how severely Adrian judged the Emperor. What would this saintly Pontiff write now; what sentence would he pass upon Frederic at the time when he is persecuting with still more virulence the Church of God?"
A savage yell, which seemed to approach the castle, interrupted Alexander, and Frangipani appeared.
"Holy Father," said the soldier, "I can no longer endure the presence of these bandits; allow me to drive them away by force."
"By no means; let no blood be spilled! Tell them," he said, turning to Guerrazzi, "that there can be no alliance between Christians and the enemies of God; tell them, distinctly, that Rome has naught to fear, so long as she fights against the foes of the Church!"
He withdrew, and a few moments later, Guerrazzi was again upon his column, haranguing the rabble which pressed eagerly around him. The tailor inveighed bitterly against the harshness of Alexander, who, he asserted, had no pity for the sufferings of the people, and was disposed to resist the Emperor at any cost.
"I represented everything to him," he said, "I reminded him of Milan, of your inevitable destruction if you rejected the proffered mercy! I reminded him of our captive brothers who will certainly be hung, unless we stretch out our hand to Barbarossa. With tears in my eyes, I besought him to have pity upon us, upon our wives, upon our helpless children; my words would have touched a heart of stone, but they were powerless to move this barbarian. Do you call such a one a holy man, a father?--He is a tyrant, a destroyer!"
Guerrazzi at last had carried his point; the crowd was rampant with sedition.
"Death to Alexander! Down with the tyrant!"
"Forward!" resumed the tailor, violently,--"brave people, rise in your might, break your chains, and go to meet your Augustus!"