Now the idea of the empire and the republic dazzled the eyes of the new tribune. He wrote letters to the pope at Avignon, and to the cities of Tuscany, Lombardy, and Romagna, to Lucchino Visconti, lord of Milan, to the marquis of Ferrara, and to Ludwig the Bavarian at Naples.
He who called himself “Nicolaus severus et clemens, sancte romane reipublice liberator illustris,” reported himself to the territories of Italy as having assumed the title of tribune to repair the evils which oppressed Rome, and requested that on the 1st of August all should send two orators to treat on the welfare of the whole of Italy (della salute di tutta Italia). The fame of the ardent dreamer who sought to reinstate the Roman Empire, with Rome at the head and the Italian territories dependent upon it, and united almost in confederation, ran throughout Italy. The courier sent to Avignon said that thousands of people pressed upon Rienzi as he passed by to kiss the wand he bore. The pope gave a favourable reply.
The tribune, moreover, wishing to revive the pomp of old imperialism, made a triumphal course through the city, and visiting the church of St. Peter he was received by the clergy singing: “Veni Creator Spiritus.” He ordered the barons to concede to the restoration of the palace of the Campidoglio, the seat of the tribunate, and instituted the trained bands of cavalry and foot-soldiers according to the wards of the city, so that thirteen hundred infantry and three hundred and sixty cavalry were enrolled. All the barons had obeyed, with the exception of Giovanni da Vico, who by direct inheritance maintained the title of prefect of the city, in which dignity he had succeeded his father. He was descended from a family of German origin and of the imperial party which several times gave Rome reason for war. He had been vicar in Viterbo during the pontificate, and during its absence he had been tyrant; and he was not inclined to submit now to the tribune. But Cola, with the aid of Tuscany, the Campania, and the maritime provinces, forced him to obey the people of Rome. Cola then reinvested him with the prefecture and left him Viterbo; Cività Vecchia, Anagni, and the other territories submitted.
August approached, and the ambassadors arrived from Florence, Siena, Teramo, Spoleto, Rieti, Amelia, Tivoli, Velletri, Foligno, Assisi; the Venetians showed themselves favourable. The majority of the tyrants of Lombardy made light of embassies (like Taddeo, Pepoli of Bologna, Francesco Ordelaffi of Forlì, and Malatesta of Rimini) although many almost repented later of having treated the invitation so disrespectfully. It seems that Ludwig the Bavarian himself sent secret envoys to Rome because the tribune wished to conciliate him with the church. Also Louis of Hungary, who, by the murder of Andrea was Robert’s successor to the kingdom of Naples, aspired to that kingdom, and, accusing Joanna of complicity in the death of her husband, sent orators to demand justice; and he wrote letters to the tribune, as also did Joanna. Letters, moreover, arrived from Philip of France; but they came too late—when Cola had fallen.
Cola, wishing to unite the glamour of pomp with the honour of the tribune of Rome, was dressed as a cavaliere. In the presence of the orators of the various Italian cities and amid a great concourse of people he proceeded in triumph towards the Lateran. Cavaliere Vico Scotto presented him with the sword and order of a cavaliere, and he had the vanity to bathe in Constantine’s bath, in which it was said that Constantine washed after being cured of leprosy by St. Silvester. Much was said by the people at this seeming act of profanation, and Cola was unconscious of the grave error that he made. His vanity began to be his ruin. Made a cavaliere, he addressed a speech to the people on the dignities lost by the citizens of Rome, he spoke of the empire and the popedom, and finally summoned before his presence the imperial electors and Ludwig the Bavarian and Charles IV of Bohemia who were pretendants to the empire under the ancient law of the election of the future emperor by the Roman people.[d]
Turning for the moment from the calm narrative of the historian, let us listen to the eloquent account in which Lord Lytton describes this remarkable scene.
LORD LYTTON ON THE SPEECH OF RIENZI
The bell of the great Lateran church sounded shrill and loud, as the mighty multitude, greater even than that of the preceding night, swept on. The appointed officers made way with difficulty for the barons and ambassadors, and scarcely were those noble visitors admitted ere the crowd closed in their ranks, poured headlong into the church, and took the way to the chapel of Boniface VIII. There, filling every cranny, and blocking up the entrance, the more fortunate of the press beheld the tribune surrounded by the splendid court his genius had collected, and his fortune had subdued. At length, as the solemn and holy music began to swell through the edifice, preluding the celebration of the mass, the tribune stepped forth, and the hush of the music was increased by the universal and dead silence of the audience. His height, his air, his countenance, were such as always commanded the attention of crowds; and at this time they received every adjunct from the interest of the occasion, and that peculiar look of intent yet suppressed fervour, which is, perhaps, the sole gift of the eloquent that nature alone can give.
“Be it known,” said he, slowly and deliberately, “in virtue of that authority, power, and jurisdiction, which the Roman people, in general parliament, have assigned to us, and which the sovereign pontiff hath confirmed, that we, not ungrateful of the gift and grace of the Holy Spirit—whose soldier we now are—nor of the favour of the Roman people, declare that Rome, capital of the world, and base of the Christian church, and that every city, state, and people of Italy, are henceforth free. By that freedom, and in the same consecrated authority, we proclaim that the election, jurisdiction, and monarchy of the Roman Empire appertain to Rome and Rome’s people, and the whole of Italy. We cite, then, and summon personally, the illustrious princes, Ludwig duke of Bavaria, and Charles king of Bohemia, who would style themselves emperors of Italy, to appear before us, or the other magistrates of Rome, to plead and to prove their claim between this day and the Day of Pentecost. We cite also, and within the same term, the duke of Saxony, the prince of Brandenburg, and whosoever else, potentate, prince, or prelate, asserts the right of elector to the imperial throne—a right that, we find it chronicled from ancient and immemorial time, appertaineth only to the Roman people—and this in vindication of our civil liberties, without derogation of the spiritual power of the church, the pontiff, and the sacred college.[15] Herald, proclaim the citation, at the greater and more formal length, as written and entrusted to your hands, without the Lateran.”
As Rienzi concluded this bold proclamation of the liberties of Italy, the Tuscan ambassadors, and those of some other of the free states, murmured low approbation. The ambassadors of those states that affected the party of the emperor looked at each other in silent amaze and consternation. The Roman barons remained with mute lips and downcast eyes; only over the aged face of Stefano Colonna settled a smile, half of scorn, half of exultation. But the great mass of the citizens were caught by words that opened so grand a prospect as the emancipation of all Italy; and the reverence of the tribune’s power and fortune was almost that due to a supernatural being; so that they did not pause to calculate the means which were to correspond with the boast.