 chapter 70 part 2 of the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire volume 6 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Philippa Jevons the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire volume 6 chapter 70 final settlement of the ecclesiastical state part 2 never perhaps has the energy and effect of a single mind been more remarkably felt than in the sudden though transient reformation of Rome by the Tribune Rienzi a den of robbers was converted to the discipline of a camp or convent patience to hear swift to redress inexorable to punish his tribunal was always accessible to the poor and stranger nor could birth or dignity or the immunities of the church protect the offender or his accomplices the privileged houses the private sanctuaries in Rome on which no officer of justice would presume to trespass were abolished and he applied the timber and iron of their barricades in the fortifications of the capital the venerable father of the colonel was exposed in his own palace to the double shame of being desirous and of being unable to protect a criminal a mule with a jar of oil had been stolen near Capronica and the Lord of the Orsini family was condemned to restore the damage and to discharge a fine of 400 Florence for his negligence in guarding the highways nor were the persons of the barons more inviolate than their lands or houses and either from accident or design the same impartial rigor was exercised against the heads of the adverse factions Peter Agapet Colonna who had himself been senator of Rome was arrested in the street for injury or debt and justice was appeased by the Tardy execution of Martin Orsini who among his various acts of violence and rapping had pillaged a shipwrecked vessel at the mouth of the Tiber his name the purple of two cardinals his uncles a recent marriage and a mortal disease were disregarded by the inflexible Tribune who had chosen his victim the public officers dragged him from his palace and nuptial bed his trial was short and satisfactory the bell of the capital convened the people stripped of his mantle on his knees with his hands bound behind his back he heard the sentence of death and after a brief confession Orsini was led away to the gallows after such an example none who were conscious of guilt could hope for impunity and the flight of the wicked the licentious and the idle soon purified the city and territory of Rome in this time says the historian the woods began to rejoice that they were no longer infested with robbers the oxen began to plow the pilgrims visited the sanctuaries the roads and inns were replenished with travelers trade plenty and good faith were restored in the markets and a purse of gold might be exposed without danger in the midst of the highway as soon as the life and property of the subject are secure the labors and rewards of industry spontaneously revive Rome was still the metropolis of the Christian world and the fame and fortunes of the Tribune were diffused in every country by the strangers who had enjoyed the blessings of his government the deliverance of his country inspired Rianzi with a vast and perhaps visionary idea of uniting Italy in a great federative republic of which Rome should be the ancient and lawful head and the free cities and princes the members and associates his pen was not less eloquent than his tongue and his numerous epistles were delivered to swift and trusty messengers on foot with a white wand in their hand they traversed the forest and mountains enjoyed in the most hostile states the sacred security of ambassadors and reported in the style of flattery or truth that the highways along their passage were lined with kneeling multitudes who implored heaven for the success of their undertaking could passion have listened to reason could private interest have yielded to the public welfare the supreme tribunal and confederate union of the Italian Republic might have healed their intestine discord and closed the Alps against the barbarians of the north but the propitious season had elapsed and if Venice Florence Siena Perugia and many inferior cities offered their lives and fortunes to the good estate the tyrants of Lombardy and Tuscany must despise or hate the plebeian author of a free constitution from them however and from every part of Italy the Tribune received the most friendly and respectful answers they were followed by the ambassadors of the princes and republics and in this foreign conflux on all the occasions of pleasure or business the low born notary could assume the familiar or majestic courtesy of a sovereign the most glorious circumstance of his reign was an appeal to his justice from Lewis King of Hungary who complained that his brother and her husband had been perfidiously strangled by Jane Queen of Naples her guilt or innocence was pleaded in a solemn trial at Rome but after hearing the advocates the Tribune adjourned this weighty and invidious cause which was soon determined by the sword of the Hungarian beyond the Alps more especially at Avignon the revolution was the theme of curiosity wonder and applause Petrarch had been the private friend perhaps the secret counselor of Rienzi his writings breathed the most ardent spirit of patriotism and joy and all respect for the pope all gratitude for the colonel was lost in the superior duties of a roman citizen the poet laureate of the capital maintains the act applause the hero and mingles with some apprehension and advice the most lofty hopes of the permanent and rising greatness of the republic while Petrarch indulged these prophetic visions the roman hero was fast declining from the meridian of fame and power and the people who had gazed with astonishment on the ascending meteor began to mark the irregularity of its course and the vicissitudes of light and obscurity more eloquent than judicious more enterprising than resolute the faculties of Rienzi were not balanced by cool and commanding reason he magnified in a tenfold proportion the objects of hope and fear and prudence which could not have erected did not presume to fortify his throne in the blaze of prosperity his virtues were insensibly tinctured with the adjacent vices justice with cruelty liberality with profusion and the desire of fame with purile and ostentatious vanity he might have learned that the ancient tribunes so strong and sacred in the public opinion were not distinguished in style habit or appearance from an ordinary plebeian and that as often as they visited the city on foot a single viator or beetle attended the exercise of their office the grack I would have frowned or smiled could they have read the sonorous titles and epithets of their successor Nicholas severe and merciful deliverer of Rome defender of Italy friend of mankind and of liberty peace and justice tribune or gust his theatrical pageants had prepared the revolution but Rienzi abused in luxury and pride the political maxim of speaking to the eyes as well as the understanding of the multitude from nature he had received the gift of a handsome person till it was swelled and disfigured by intemperance and his propensity to laughter was corrected in the magistrate by the affectation of gravity and sternness he was clothed at least on public occasions in a party-colored robe of velvet or satin lined with fur and embroidered with gold the rod of justice which he carried in his hand was a scepter of polished steel crowned with a globe and a cross of gold and enclosing a small fragment of the true and holy wood in his civil and religious processions through the city he rode on a white steed the symbol of royalty the great banner of the republic a sun with a circle of stars a dove with an olive branch was displayed over his head a shower of gold and silver was scattered among the populace fifty guards with halberds encompassed his person a troop of horse preceded his march and their timbles and trumpets were of massy silver the ambition of the honors of chivalry betrayed the meanness of his birth and degraded the importance of his office and the equestrian tribune was not less odious to the nobles whom he adopted than to the plebeians whom he deserted all that yet remained of treasure or luxury or art was exhausted on that solemn day renci led the procession from the capital to the lateran the tediousness of the way was relieved with decorations and games the ecclesiastical civil and military orders marched under their various banners the roman ladies attended his wife and the ambassadors of italy might loudly applaud or secretly deride the novelty of the pomp in the evening when they had reached the church and palace of constantine he thanked and dismissed the numerous assembly with an invitation to the festival of the ensuing day from the hands of a venerable knight he received the order of the holy ghost the purification of the bath was a previous ceremony but in no step of his life did renci excite such scandal and censure as by the profane use of the pauvre revas in which constantine a foolish legend had been healed of his leprosy by pope silvestre with equal presumption the tribune watched or reposed within the consecrated precincts of the baptistery and the failure of his state bed was interpreted as an omen of his approaching downfall at the hour of worship he showed himself to the returning crowds in a majestic attitude with a robe of purple his sword and guilt spurs but the holy rites were soon interrupted by his levity and insolence rising from his throne and advancing towards the congregation he proclaimed in a loud voice we summoned to our tribunal pope clement and command him to reside in his diocese of rome we also summoned the sacred college of cardinals we again summoned the two pretenders charles of bohemia and louis of bavaria who style themselves emperors we likewise summon all the electors of germany to inform us on what pretense they have usurped the inalienable right of the roman people the ancient and lawful sovereigns of the empire unsheathing his maiden sword he thrice brandished it to the three parts of the world and thrice repeated the extravagant declaration and this too is mine the pope's vicar the bishop of orvieto attempted to check this career of folly but his feeble protest was silenced by martial music and instead of withdrawing from the assembly he consented to dine with his brother tribune at a table which had hitherto been reserved for the supreme pontiff a banquet such as the caesars had given was prepared for the romans the apartments porticoes and courts of the lateran were spread with innumerable tables for either sex and every condition a stream of wine flowed from the nostrils of constantine's brazen horse no complaint except of the scarcity of water could be heard and the licentiousness of the multitude was curbed by discipline and fear a subsequent day was appointed for the coronation of renzi seven crowns of different leaves or metals was excessively placed on his head by the most eminent of the roman clergy they represented the seven gifts of the holy ghost and he still professed to imitate the example of the ancient tribunes these extraordinary spectacles might deceive or flatter the people and their own vanity was gratified in the vanity of their leader but in his private life he soon deviated from the strict rule of frugality and abstinence and the plebeians who were awed by the splendor of the nobles were provoked by the luxury of their equal his wife his son his uncle a barber in name and profession exposed the contrast of vulgar manners and princely expense and without acquiring the majesty renzi degenerated into the vices of a king a simple citizen describes with pity or perhaps with pleasure the humiliation of the barons of rome bareheaded their hands crossed on their breast they stood with downcast looks in the presence of the tribune and they trembled good god how they trembled as long as the yoke of renzi was that of justice and their country their conscience forced them to esteem the man whom pride and interest provoked them to hate his extravagant conduct soon fortified their hatred by contempt and they conceived the hope of subverting a power which was no longer so deeply rooted in the public confidence the old animosity of the colonna and ursini was suspended for a moment by their common disgrace they associated their wishes and perhaps their designs an assassin was seized and tortured he accused the nobles and as soon as renzi deserved the fate he adopted the suspicions and maxims of a tyrant on the same day under various pretenses he invited to the capital his principal enemies among whom were five members of the ursini and three of the colonna name but instead of a council or a banquet they found themselves prisoners under the sword of despotism or justice and the consciousness of innocence or guilt might inspire them with equal apprehensions of danger at the sound of the great bell the people assembled they were arraigned for a conspiracy against the tribune's life and though some might sympathize in their distress not a hand nor a voice was raised to rescue the first of the nobility from their impending doom their apparent boldness was prompted by despair they passed in separate chambers a sleepless and painful night and the venerable hero steven colonna striking against the door of his prison repeatedly urged his guards to deliver him by a speedy death from such ignominious servitude in the morning they understood their sentence from the visit of a confessor and the tolling of the bell the great hall of the capital had been decorated for the bloody scene with red and white hangings the countenance of the tribune was dark and severe the swords of the executioners were unsheathed and the barons were interrupted in their dying speeches by the sound of trumpets but in this decisive moment reendacy was not less anxious or apprehensive than his captives he dreaded the splendor of their names their surviving kinsmen the inconstancy of the people the reproaches of the world and after rashly offering a mortal injury he vainly presumed that if he could forgive he might himself be forgiven his elaborate aeration was that of a christian and a supliant and as the humble minister of the commons he entreated his masters to pardon these noble criminals for whose repentance and future service he pledged his faith and authority if you are spared said the tribune by the mercy of the romans will you not promise to support the good estate with your lives and fortunes astonished by this marvellous clemency the barons bowed their heads and while they devoutly repeated the oath of allegiance might whisper a secret and more sincere assurance of revenge a priest in the name of the people pronounced their absolution they received the communion with the tribune assisted at the banquet followed the procession and after every spiritual and temporal sign of reconciliation were dismissed in safety to their respective homes with the new honors and titles of generals consuls and patricians during some weeks they were checked by the memory of their danger rather than of their deliverance till the most powerful of the ursini escaping with the calana from the city erected at marino the standard of rebellion the fortifications of the castle were instantly restored the vassals attended their lord the outlaws armed against the magistrate the flocks and herds the harvests and vineyards from marino to the gates of Rome were swept away or destroyed and the people arranged riancy as the author of the calamities which his government had taught them to forget in the camp riancy appeared to less advantage than in the rostrum and he neglected the progress of the rebel barons till their numbers were strong and their castles impregnable from the pages of livy he had not imbibed the art or even the courage of a general an army of 20 000 romans returned without honor or effect from the attack of marino and his vengeance was amused by painting his enemies their heads downwards and drowning two dogs at least they should have been bears as the representatives of the ursini the belief of his incapacity encouraged their operations they were invited by their secret adherents and the barons attempted with 4 000 foot and 1600 horse to enter Rome by force or surprise the city was prepared for their reception the alarm bell rung all night the gates were strictly guarded or instantly open and after some hesitation they sounded a retreat the two first divisions had passed along the walls but the prospect of a free entrance tempted the headstrong valour of the nobles in the rear and after a successful skirmish they were overthrown and massacred without quarter by the crowds of the roman people steven cologne are the younger the noble spirit to whom petrarch ascribed the restoration of italy was preceded or accompanied in death by his son john a gallant youth by his brother peter who might regret the ease and honors of the church by a nephew of legitimate birth and by two bastards of the colonel race and the number of seven the seven crowns as renzi styled them of the holy ghost was completed by the agony of the deplorable parent and the veteran chief who had survived the hope and fortune of his house the vision and prophecies of st martin and pope boniface had been used by the tribune to animate his troops he displayed at least in the pursuit the spirit of a hero but he forgot the maxims of the ancient romans who abhorred the triumphs of civil war the conqueror ascended the capital deposited his crown and scepter on the altar and boasted with some truth that he had cut off an ear which neither pope nor emperor had been able to amputate his base and implacable revenge denied the honors of burial and the bodies of the colonel which he threatened to expose with those of the vilest malefactors were secretly interred by the holy virgins of their name and family the people sympathized in their grief repented of their own fury and detested the indecent joy of renzi who visited the spot where these illustrious victims had fallen it was on that fatal spot that he conferred on his son the honor of knighthood and the ceremony was accomplished by a slight blow from each of the horsemen of the guard and by a ridiculous and inhuman ablution from a pool of water which was yet polluted with patrician blood a short delay would have saved the colonel the delay of a single month which elapsed between the triumph and the exile of renzi in the pride of victory he forfeited what yet remained of his civil virtues without acquiring the fame of military prowess a free and vigorous opposition was formed in the city and when the tribune proposed in the public council to impose a new tax and to regulate the government of perugia 39 members voted against his measures repelled the injurious charge of treachery and corruption and urged him to prove by their forcible exclusion that if the populace adhered to his cause it was already disclaimed by the most respectable citizens the pope and the sacred college had never been dazzled by his specious professions they were justly offended by the insolence of his conduct a cardinal legate was sent to italy and after some fruitless treaty and two personal interviews he fulminated a bull of excommunication in which the tribune is degraded from his office and branded with the guilt of rebellion sacrilege and heresy the surviving barons of rome were now humbled to a sense of allegiance their interest and revenge engaged them in the service of the church but as the fate of the colonel was before their eyes they abandoned to a private adventurer the peril and glory of the revolution john peppin count of minolbino in the kingdom of naples had been condemned for his crimes or his riches to perpetual imprisonment and pet truck by soliciting his release indirectly contributed to the ruin of his friend at the head of 150 soldiers the count of minolbino introduced himself into rome barricaded the quarter of the colonel and found the enterprise as easy as it had seemed impossible from the first alarm the bell of the capital incessantly told but instead of repairing to the well-known sound the people were silent and inactive and the pusillanimous reency deploring their ingratitude with sighs and tears abdicated the government and palace of the republic end of chapter seventy part two chapter seventy part three of the history of the decline and fall of the roman empire volume six this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by filipa jevons the history of the decline and fall of the roman empire volume six by edward gibbon chapter seventy final settlement of the ecclesiastical state part three without drawing his sword count pepon restored the aristocracy and the church three senators were chosen and the legate assuming the first rank accepted his two colleagues from the rival families of colonna and osini the acts of the tribune were abolished his head was prescribed yet such was the terror of his name that the barons hesitated three days before they would trust themselves in the city and reency was left above a month in the castle of st angelo from whence he peaceably withdrew after laboring without effect to revive the affection and courage of the romans the vision of freedom and empire had vanished their fallen spirit would have acquiesced in servitude had it been smoothed by tranquility and order and it was scarcely observed that the new senators derived the authority from the apostolic sea that four cardinals were appointed to reform with dictatorial power the state of the republic roam was again agitated by the bloody feuds of the barons who detested each other and despised the commons their hostile fortresses both in town and country again rose and were again demolished and the peaceful citizens a flock of sheep were devoured says the florentine historian by these rapacious wolves but when their pride and avarice had exhausted the patience of the romans a confraternity of the virgin mary protected or avenged the republic the bail of the capital was again told the nobles in arms trembled in the presence of an unarmed multitude and of the two senators colonna escaped from the window of the palace and ursini was stoned at the foot of the altar the dangerous office of tribune was successively occupied by two plebeians cero ni and baron celli the mildness of cero ni 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 baron celli was distinguished by a resolute spirit he spoke the language of a patriot and trod in the footsteps of tyrants his suspicion was a sentence of death and his own death was the reward of his cruelties amidst the public misfortunes the faults of renzi were forgotten and the romans sighed for the peace and prosperity of their good estate after an exile of seven years the first deliverer was again restored to his country in the disguise of a monk or a pilgrim he escaped from the castle of st. angelo implored the friendship of the king of hungary at naples tempted the ambition of every bold adventurer mingled at roam with the pilgrims of the jubilee lay concealed among the hermits of the apennine and wandered through the cities of italy germany and behemia his person was invisible his name was yet formidable and the anxiety of the court of avignon supposes and even magnifies his personal merit the emperor charles the fourth gave audience to a stranger who frankly revealed himself as the tribune of the republic and astonished an assembly of ambassadors and princes by the eloquence of a patriot and the visions of a prophet the downfall of tyranny and the kingdom of the holy ghost whatever had been his hopes renzi found himself a captive but he supported a character of independence and dignity and obeyed as his own choice the irresistible summons of the supreme pontiff the zeal of petrarch which had been cooled by the unworthy conduct was rekindled by the sufferings and the presence of his friend and he boldly complains of the times in which the saviour of roam was delivered by her emperor into the hands of her bishop renzi was transported slowly but in safe custody from prague to avignon his entrance into the city was that of a malefactor in his prison he was chained by the leg and four cardinals were named to inquire into the crimes of heresy and rebellion but his trial and condemnation would have involved some questions which it was more prudent to leave under the veil of mystery the temporal supremacy of the popes the duty of residents the civil and ecclesiastical privileges of the clergy and people of roam the reigning pontiff well deserved the appellation of clement the strange vicissitudes and magnanimous spirit of the captive excited his pity and esteem and petrarch believes that he respected in the hero the name and sacred character of a poet renzi was indulged with an easy confinement and the use of books and in a siguous study of livi and the bible he sought the cause and the consolation of his misfortunes the succeeding pontificate of innocent the sixth opened a new prospect of his deliverance and restoration and the court of avignon was persuaded that the successful rebel could alone appease and reform the anarchy of the metropolis after a solemn profession of fidelity the roman tribune was sent into issy with the title of senator but the death of baroncelli appeared to supersede the use of his mission and the legate cardinal albornos a consummate statesman allowed him with reluctance and without aid to undertake the perilous experiment his first reception was equal to his wishes the day of his entrance was a public festival and his eloquence and authority revived the laws of the good estate but this momentary sunshine was soon clouded by his own vices and those of the people in the capital he might often regret the prison of avignon and after a second administration of four months renzi was massacred in a tumult which had been fermented by the roman barons in the society of the germans and behemians he is said to have contracted the habits of intemperance and cruelty adversity had chilled his enthusiasm without fortifying his reason or virtue and that youthful hope that lively assurance which is the pledge of success was now succeeded by the cold impotence of distrust and despair the tribune had reigned with absolute dominion by the choice and in the hearts of the romans the senator was the servile minister of a foreign court and while he was suspected by the people he was abandoned by the prince the legate albornos who seemed desirous of his ruin inflexibly refused all supplies of men and money a faithful subject could no longer presume to touch the revenues of the apostolical chamber and the first idea of a tax was the signal of clamour and sedition even his justice was tainted with the guilt or reproach of selfish cruelty the most virtuous citizen of rome was sacrificed to his jealousy and in the execution of a public robber from whose purse he had been assisted the magistrate too much forgot or too much remembered the obligations of the debtor a civil war exhausted his treasures and the patience of the city the colonel maintained their hostile station at palestrina and his mercenaries soon despised a leader whose ignorance and fear were envious of all subordinate merit in the death as in the life of renzi the hero and the coward were strangely mingled when the capital was invested by a furious multitude when he was basically deserted by his civil and military servants the intrepid senator waving the banner of liberty presented himself on the balcony addressed his eloquence to the various passions of the romans and labored to persuade them that in the same cause himself and the republic must either stand or fall his oration was interrupted by a volley of implications and stones and after an arrow had transposed his hand he sunk into abject despair and fled weeping to the inner chambers from whence he was let down by a sheet before the windows of the prison destitute of aid or hope he was besieged till the evening the doors of the capital were destroyed with axes and fire and while the senator attempted to escape in a plebeian habit he was discovered and dragged to the platform of the palace the fatal scene of his judgments and executions a whole hour without voice or motion he stood amidst the multitude half naked and half dead their rage was hushed into curiosity and wonder the last feelings of reverence and compassion yet struggled in his favor and they might have prevailed if a bold assassin had not plunged a dagger in his breast he fell senseless with the first stroke the impotent revenge of his enemies inflicted a thousand wounds and the senator's body was abandoned to the dogs to the jews and to the flames posterity will compare the virtues and failings of this extraordinary man but in a long period of anarchy and servitude the name of renzi has often been celebrated as the deliverer of his country and the last of the roman patriots the first and most generous wish of petrarch was the restoration of a free republic but after the exile and death of his plebeian hero he turned his eyes from the tribune to the king of the romans the capital was yet stained with the blood of renzi when charles the fourth descended from the alps to obtain the italian and imperial crowns in his passage through milan he received the visit and repaid the flattery of the poet laureate accepted a medal of augustus and promised without a smile to imitate the founder of the roman monarchy a false application of the name and maxims of antiquity was the source of the hopes and disappointments of petrarch yet he could not overlook the difference of times and characters the immeasurable distance between the first ceasars and a bohemian prince who by the favor of the clergy had been elected the titular head of the german aristocracy instead of restoring to roam her glory and her provinces he had bound himself by a secret treaty with the pope to evacuate the city on the day of his coronation and his shameful retreat was pursued by the reproaches of the patriot bard after the loss of liberty and empire his third and more humble wish was to reconcile the shepherd with his flock to recall the roman bishop to his ancient and peculiar diocese in the fervor of youth with the authority of age petrarch addressed his exhortations to five successive popes and his eloquence was always inspired by the enthusiasm of sentiment and the freedom of language the son of a citizen of florans invariably preferred the country of his birth to that of his education and italy in his eyes was the queen and garden of the world amidst her domestic factions she was doubtless superior to france both in art and science in wealth and politeness but the difference could scarcely support the epithet of barbarous which he promiscuously bestows on the countries beyond the alps avignon the mystic Babylon the sink of vice and corruption was the object of hatred and contempt but he forgets that her scandalous vices were not the growth of the soil and that in every residence they would adhere to the power and luxury of the papal court he confesses that the successor of st. peter is the bishop of the universal church yet it was not on the banks of the rhone but of the tiber that the apostle had fixed his everlasting throne and while every city in the christian world was blessed with the bishop the metropolis alone was desolate and forlorn since the removal of the holy sea the sacred buildings of the lateran and the Vatican their altars and their saints were left in a state of poverty and decay and rome was often painted under the image of a disconsolate matron as if the wandering husband could be reclaimed by the homely portrait of the age and infirmities of his weeping spouse but the cloud which hung over the seven hills would be dispelled by the presence of their lawful sovereign eternal fame the prosperity of rome and the peace of italy would be the recompense of the pope who should dare to embrace this generous resolution of the five whom petrarch exhorted the three first john the 22nd benedict the 12th and clement the sixth were importuned or amused by the boldness of the orator but the memorable change which had been attempted by urban the fifth was finally accomplished by gregarie the 11th the execution of their design was opposed by weighty and almost insuperable obstacles a king of france who has deserved the epithet of wise was unwilling to release them from a local dependence the cardinals for the most part his subjects were attached to the language manners and climate of avignon to their stately palaces above all to the wines of burgundy in their eyes italy was foreign or hostile and they reluctantly embarked at marseille as if they'd been sold or banished into the land of the saracens urban the fifth resided three years in the Vatican with safety and honor his sanctity was protected by a guard of two thousand horse and the king of cyprus the queen of naples and the emperors of the east and west devoutly saluted their common father in the chair of st peter but the joy of petrarch and the italians were soon turned into grief and indignation some reasons of public or private moment his own impatience all the prayers of the cardinals recalled urban to france and the approaching election was saved from the tyrannic patriotism of the romans the powers of heaven were interested in their cause bridget of sweden a saint and pilgrim disapproved the return and foretold the death of urban the fifth the migration of gregarie the eleventh was encouraged by st catherine of sienna the spouse of christ and ambassadors of the florantines and the popes themselves the great masters of human credulity appear to have listened to these visionary females yet those celestial admonitions were supported by some arguments of temporal policy the residents of avignon had been invaded by hostile violence at the head of thirty thousand robbers a hero had extorted ransom and absolution from the vicar of christ and the sacred college and the maxim of the french warriors to spare the people and plunder the church was a new heresy of the most dangerous import while the pope was driven from avignon he was strenuously invited to roam the senate and people acknowledged him as their lawful sovereign and laid at his feet the keys of the gates the bridges and the fortresses of the quarter at least beyond the tiber but this loyal offer was accompanied by a declaration that they could no longer suffer the scandal and calamity of his absence and that his obstinacy would finally provoke them to revive and assert the primitive right of election the abbot of mount cassin had been consulted whether he would accept the triple crown from the clergy and people i am a citizen of rome replied the venerable ecclesiastic and my first law is the voice of my country if superstition will interpret an untimely death if the merit of councils be judged from the event the heavens may seem to frown on a measure of such apparent season and propriety gregarly the eleventh did not survive above fourteen months his return to the vatican and his decease was followed by the great schism of the west which distracted the latin church above forty years the sacred college was then composed of twenty two cardinals six of these had remained at avignon eleven frenchmen one spaniard and four italians entered the conclave in their usual form their choice was not yet limited to the purple and their unanimous votes acquiesced in the archbishop of barry a subject of naples conspicuous for his zeal and learning who ascended the throne of st. peter under the name of urban the sixth the epistle of the sacred college affirms his free and regular election which had been inspired as usual by the holy ghost he was adored invested and crowned with the customary rights his temporal authority was obeyed at rome and avignon and his ecclesiastical supremacy was acknowledged in the latin world during several weeks the cardinals attended their new master with the fairest professions of attachment and loyalty till the summer heats permitted a decent escape from the city but as soon as they were united at an avignon fundy in a place of security they cast aside the mask accused their own falsehood and hypocrisy excommunicated the upper state and antichrist of rome and proceeded to a new election of robert of geniva clement the seventh whom they announced to the nations as the true and rightful vicar of christ their first choice an involuntary and illegal act was annulled by fear of death and the menaces of the romans and their complaint is justified by the strong evidence of probability and fact the twelve french cardinals above two-thirds of the votes were masters of the election and whatever might be their provincial jealousies it cannot fairly be presumed that they would have sacrificed their right and interest to a foreign candidate who would never restore them to their native country in the various and often inconsistent narratives the shades of popular violence are more darkly or faintly colored but the licentiousness of the seditious romans was inflamed by a sense of their privileges and the danger of a second emigration the conclave was intimidated by the shouts and encompassed by the arms of thirty thousand rebels the bells of the capital and st. peters rang an alarm death or an italian pope was the universal cry the same threat was repeated by the twelve bannerettes or chiefs of the quarters in the form of charitable advice some preparations were made for burning the obstinate cardinals and had they chosen a transalpine subject it is probable that they would never have departed alive from the Vatican the same constraint imposed the necessity of dissembling in the eyes of Rome and of the world the pride and cruelty of urban presented a more inevitable danger and they soon discovered the features of the tyrant who could walk in his garden and recite his brevury while he heard from an adjacent chamber six cardinals groaning on the rack his inflexible zeal which loudly censured their luxury and vice would have attached them to the stations and duties of their parishes at Rome and had he not fatally delayed a new promotion the French cardinals would have been reduced to a helpless minority in the sacred college for these reasons and the hope of repassing the Alps they rashly violated the peace and unity of the church and the merits of their double choice are yet agitated in the Catholic schools the vanity rather than the interest of the nation determined the court and the clergy of France the states of Savoy Sicily Cyprus Arrogan Castile Navarre and Scotland were inclined by their example and authority to the obedience of Clement the seventh and after his decease of Benedict the thirteenth Rome and the principal states of Italy Germany Portugal England the low countries and the kingdoms of the north adhered to the prior election of urban the sixth who was succeeded by Boniface the ninth innocent the seventh and Gregory the twelfth from the banks of the Tiber and the Rhone the hostile pontiffs encountered each other with the pen and the sword the civil and ecclesiastical order of society was disturbed and the Romans had their full share of the mischiefs of which they may be arraigned as the primary authors they had vainly flattered themselves with the hope of restoring the seat of the ecclesiastical monarchy and of relieving their poverty with the tributes and offerings of the nations but the separation of France and Spain diverted the stream of lucrative devotion nor could the loss be compensated by the two jubilees which were crowded into the space of ten years by the avocations of the schism by foreign arms and popular tumults urban the sixth and his three successors were often compelled to interrupt their residence in the Vatican. The Colonna and Orsini still exercised their deadly feuds the bannerettes of Rome asserted and abused the privileges of a republic the vicars of Christ who had levied a military force chastised their rebellion with the jubit the sword and the dagger and in a friendly conference eleven deputies of the people were perfidiously murdered and cast into the street since the invasion of Robert the Norman the Romans had pursued the domestic quarrels without the dangerous interposition of a stranger but in the disorders of the schism an aspiring neighbor Ladislaus king of Naples alternately supported and betrayed the pope and the people by the former he was declared gon falogne or general of the church while the latter submitted to his choice the nomination of their magistrates besieging Rome by land and water he thrice entered the gates as a barbarian conqueror profane the altars violated the virgins pillaged the merchants performed his devotions at st. Peter's and left a garrison in the castle of st. Angelo his arms were sometimes unfortunate and to a delay of three days he was indebted for his life and crown but Ladislaus triumphed in his turn and it was only his premature death that could save the metropolis and the ecclesiastical state from the ambitious conqueror who had assumed the title or at least the powers of king of Rome I have not undertaken the ecclesiastical history of the schism but Rome the object of these last chapters is deeply interested in the disputed succession of her sovereigns the first councils for the peace and union of Christendom arose from the University of Paris from the faculty of the Sorbonne whose doctors were esteemed at least in the Gallican church as the most consummate masters of theological science prudently waving all invidious inquiry into the origin and merits of the dispute they proposed as a healing measure that the two pretenders of Rome and Avignon should abdicate at the same time after qualifying the cardinals of the adverse factions to join in a legitimate election and that the nations should subtract their obedience if either of the competitor preferred his own interest to that of the public at each vacancy these physicians of the church deprecated the mischiefs of a hasty choice but the policy of the conclave and the ambition of its members were deaf to reason and entreaties and whatsoever promises were made the pope could never be bound by the oaths of the cardinal during fifteen years the pacific designs of the university were eluded by the arts of the rival pontiffs the scruples or passions of their adherents and the vicissitudes of French factions that ruled the insanity of Charles VI at length the vigorous resolution was embraced and a solemn embassy of the titular patriarch of Alexandria two archbishops five bishops five abbots three knights and twenty doctors were sent to the courts of Avignon and Rome to require in the name of the church and king the abdication of the two pretenders of Peter de Luna who styled himself Benedict the 13th and of Angelo Corario who assumed the name of Gregory the 12th for the ancient honor of Rome and the success of their commission the ambassadors solicited a conference with the magistrates of the city whom they gratified by a positive declaration that the most christian king did not entertain a wish of transporting the holy sea from the Vatican which he considered as the genuine and proper seat of the successor of St. Peter in the name of the Senate and the people an eloquent Roman asserted their desire to cooperate in the union of the church deplored the temporal and spiritual calamities of the long schism and requested the protection of France against the arms of the king of Naples the answers of Benedict and Gregory were alike edifying and alike deceitful and invading the demand of their abdication the two rivals were animated by a common spirit they agreed on the necessity of a previous interview but the time the place and the manner could never be ascertained by mutual consent if the one advances says a servant of Gregory the other retreats the one appears an animal fearful of the land the other a creature apprehensive of the water and thus for a short remnant of life and power will these aged priests in danger the peace and salvation of the christian world the christian world was at length provoked by their obstinacy and fraud they were deserted by their cardinals who embraced each other as friends and colleagues and their revolt was supported by a numerous assembly of prelates and ambassadors with equal justice the Council of Pisa deposed the popes of Rome and Avignon the conclave was unanimous in the choice of Alexander the fifth and his vacant seat was soon filled by a similar election of John the 23rd the most profligate of mankind but instead of extinguishing the schism the rashness of the French and Italians had given a third pretender to the chair of st. Peter such new claims of the synod and conclave were disputed three kings of Germany Hungary and Naples adhered to the cause of Gregory the 12th and Benedict the 13th himself aspaniad was acknowledged by the devotion and patriotism of that powerful nation the rash proceedings of Pisa were corrected by the Council of Constance the Emperor Sigismund acted a conspicuous path as the advocate or protector of the Catholic Church and the number and weight of civil and ecclesiastical members might seem to constitute the state's general of Europe of the three popes John the 23rd was the first victim he fled and was brought back a prisoner the most scandalous charges were suppressed the vicar of Christ was only accused of piracy murder rape sodomy and incest and after subscribing his own condemnation he expiated in prison the imprudence of trusting his person to a free city beyond the Alps Gregory the 12th whose obedience was reduced to the narrow precincts of Rimini descended with more honor from the throne and his ambassador convened the session in which he renounced the title and authority of lawful pope to vanquish the obstinacy of Benedict the 13th or his adherence the emperor in person undertook a journey from Constance to Perpignan the kings of Castile Aragon Navarre and Scotland obtained an equal and honorable treaty with the concurrence of the Spaniards Benedict was deposed by the council but the harmless old man was left in a solitary castle to excommunicate twice each day the rebel kingdoms which had deserted his cause after thus eradicating the remains of the schism the Synod of Constance proceeded with slow and cautious steps to elect the sovereign of Rome and the head of the church on this momentous occasion the College of 23 Cardinals was fortified with 30 deputies six of whom were chosen in each of the five great nations of Christendom the Italian the German the French Spanish and the English the interference of strangers was softened by their generous preference of an Italian and a Roman and the hereditary as well as personal merit of Otto Colonna recommended him to the conclave Rome accepted with joy and obedience the noblest of her sons the ecclesiastical state was defended by his powerful family and the elevation of Martin the 5th is the era of the restoration and establishment of the popes in the Vatican end of chapter 70 part 3 chapter 70 part 4 of the declined fall of the Roman Empire volume 6 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Philippa Jevons the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire volume 6 by Edward Gibbon chapter 70 final settlement of the ecclesiastical state part 4 the royal prerogative of coining money which had been exercised near 300 years by the senate was first resumed by Martin the 5th and his image and superscription introduced the series of the papal medals of his two immediate successors Eugenius the 4th was the last pope expelled by the tumults of the Roman people and Nicholas the 5th the last who was importuned by the presence of a Roman emperor one the conflict of Eugenius with the fathers of Basil and the weight or apprehension of a new excise emboldened and provoked the Romans to usurp the temporal government of the city they rose in arms elected seven governors of the republic and a constable of the capital imprisoned the pope's nephew besieged his person in the palace and shot volleys of arrows into his bark as he escaped down the tiber in the habit of a monk but he still possessed in the castle of st. angelo a faithful garrison and a train of artillery their batteries incessantly thundered on the city and a bullet more dexterously pointed broke down the barricade of the bridge and scattered with the single shot the heroes of the republic their constancy was exhausted by a rebellion of five months under the tyranny of the gibbaline nobles the wisest patriots regretted the dominion of the church and their repentance was unanimous and effectual the troops of st. peter again occupied the capital the magistrates departed to their homes the most guilty were executed or exiled and the legate at the head of two thousand foot and four thousand horse was saluted as the father of the city the synods of Ferrara and Florence the fear or resentment of Eugenius prolonged his absence he was received by a submissive people but the pontiff understood from the acclamations of his triumphal entry that to secure their loyalty and his own repose he must grant without delay the abolition of the odious excise two Rome was restored adorned and enlightened by the peaceful reign of nicholas the fifth in the midst of these laudable occupations the pope was alarmed by the approach of Frederick the Third of Austria though his fears could not be justified by the character or the power of the imperial candidate after drawing his military force to the metropolis and imposing the best security of oaths and treaties nicholas received with the smiling countenance the faithful advocate and vassal of the church so tame were the times so feeble was the Austrian that the pomp of his coronation was accomplished with order and harmony but the superfluous honor was so disgraceful to an independent nation that his successors have excused themselves from the toilsome pilgrimage to the Vatican and rest their imperial title on the choice of the electles of Germany a citizen has remarked with pride and pleasure that the king of the Romans after passing with a slight salute the cardinals and prelates who met him at the gate distinguished the dress and person of the senator of Rome and in this last farewell the pageants of the empire and the republic were clasped in a friendly embrace according to the laws of Rome her first magistrate was required to be a doctor of laws an alien of a place at least 40 miles from the city with whose inhabitants he must not be connected in the third canonical degree of blood or alliance the election was annual a severe scrutiny was instituted into the conduct of the departing senator nor could he be recalled to the same office till after the expiration of two years a liberal salary of three thousand florins was assigned for his expense and reward and his public appearance represented the majesty of the republic his robes were of gold brocade or crimson velvet or in the summer season of a lighter silk he bore in his hand an ivory scepter the sound of trumpets announced his approach and his solemn steps were preceded at least by four lictor's or attendants whose red wands were enveloped with bands or streamers of the golden color or livery of the city his oath in the capital proclaims his right and duty to observe and assert the laws to control the proud to protect the poor and to exercise justice and mercy within the extent of his jurisdiction in these useful functions he was assisted by three learned strangers the two collateral's and the judge of criminal appeals their frequent trials of robberies rapes and murders are attested by the laws and the weakness of these laws connives at the licentiousness of private feuds and armed associations for mutual defense but the senator was confined to the administration of justice the capital the treasury and the government of the city and its territory were entrusted to the three conservators who were changed four times in each year the militia of the 13 regions assembled under the banners of their respective chiefs or caporioni and the first of these was distinguished by the name and dignity of the prior the popular legislature consisted of the secret and the common councils of the romans the former was composed of the magistrates and their immediate predecessors with some fiscal and legal officers and three classes of 13 26 and 40 counselors amounting in the whole to about 120 persons in the common council all male citizens had a right to vote and the value of their privilege was enhanced by the care with which any foreigners were prevented from usurping the title and character of romans the tumult of a democracy was checked by wise and jealous precautions except the magistrates none could propose a question none were permitted to speak except from an open pulpit or tribunal all disorderly acclimations was oppressed the sense of the majority was decided by a secret ballot and their decrees were promulgated in the venerable name of the roman senate and people it would not be easy to assign a period in which this theory of government has been reduced to accurate and constant practice since the establishment of order has been gradually connected with the decay of liberty but in the year 1580 the ancient statutes were collected methodized in three books and adapted to present use under the pontificate and with the approbation of gregory the 13th this civil and criminal code is the modern law of the city and if the popular assemblies have been abolished a foreign senator with the three conservators still resides in the palace of the capital the policy of the caesars has been repeated by the popes and the bishop of Rome affected to maintain the form of a republic while he reigned with the absolute powers of a temporal as well as the spiritual monarch it is an obvious truth that the times must be suited to extraordinary characters and that the genius of Cromwell or Rhett's might now expire in obscurity the political enthusiasm of Rienzi had exalted him to a throne the same enthusiasm in the next century conducted his imitator to the gallows the birth of Steven Porcaro was noble his reputation spotless his tongue was armed with eloquence his mind was enlightened with learning and he aspired beyond the aim of vulgar ambition to free his country and immortalize his name the dominion of priests is most odious to a liberal spirit every scruple was removed by the recent knowledge of the fable and forgery of Constantine's donation Petra was now the oracle of the Italians and as often as Porcaro revolved the ode which describes the patriot and hero of Rome he applied to himself the visions of the prophetic bard his first trial of the popular feelings was at the funeral of Eugenius the fourth in an elaborate speech he called the Romans to liberty and arms and they listened with apparent pleasure till Porcaro was interrupted and answered by grave advocate who pleaded for the church and state by every law the seditious orator was guilty of treason but the benevolence of the new Pontiff who viewed his character with pity and esteem attempted by an honorable office to convert the patriot into a friend the inflexible Roman returned from Annanie with an increase of reputation and zeal and on the first opportunity the games of the Plas Navona he tried to inflame the casual dispute of some boys and mechanics into a general rising of the people yet the humane Nicholas was still a verse to accept the forfeit of his life and the traitor was removed from the scene of temptation to Bologna with the liberal allowance for his support and the easy obligation of presenting himself each day before the governor of the city but Porcaro had learned from the younger Brutus that with tyrants no faith or gratitude should be observed the exile declaimed against the arbitrary sentence a party and a conspiracy were gradually formed his nephew a daring youth assembled a band of volunteers and on the appointed evening a feast was prepared at his house for the friends of the republic their leader who had escaped from Bologna appeared among them in a robe of purple and gold his voice his countenance his gestures bespoke the man who had devoted his life or death to the glorious cause in a studied oration he expiated on the motives and the means of their enterprise the name and liberties of Rome the sloth and pride of their ecclesiastical tyrants the active or passive consent of their fellow citizens three hundred soldiers and four hundred exiles long exercised in arms or in wrongs the license of revenge to edge their swords and a million of duckets to reward their victory it would be easy he said on the next day the festival of the epiphany to seize the pope and his cardinals before the doors or at the altar of st. peters to lead them in chains under the walls of st. angelo to extort by the threat of their instant death a surrender of the castle to ascend the vacant capital to ring the alarm bell and to restore in a popular assembly the ancient republic of Rome while he triumphed he was already betrayed the senator with a strong guard invested the house the nephew of porcaro cut his way through the crowd but the unfortunate steven was drawn from a chest lamenting that his enemies had anticipated by three hours the execution of his design after such manifest and repeated guilt even the mercy of nicholas was silent porcaro and nine of his accomplices were hanged without the benefit of the sacraments and amidst the fears and invectives of the papal court the romans pitied and almost applauded these martyrs of their country but their applause was mute their pity ineffectual their liberty forever extinct and if they have since risen in a vacancy of the throne or a scarcity of bread such accidental tumults may be found in the bosom of the most abject servitude but the independence of the nobles which was fermented by discord survived the freedom of the commons which must be founded in union a privilege of wrapping and oppression was long maintained by the barons of Rome their houses were a fortress and a sanctuary and the ferocious train of bandit and criminals whom they protected from the law repaid the hospitality with the service of their swords and daggers the private interest of the pontiffs or their nephews sometimes involved them in these domestic feuds under the reign of Sixtus the fourth Rome was distracted by the battles and seizures of the rival houses after the conflagration of his palace the proper notary colonna was tortured and beheaded and severely his captive friend was murdered on the spot for refusing to join in the acclamations of the victorious usini but the popes no longer trembled in the Vatican they had strength to command if they had resolution to claim the obedience of their subjects and the strangers who observed these partial disorders admired the easy taxes and wise administration of the ecclesiastical state the spiritual funders of the Vatican depend on the force of opinion and if that opinion be supplanted by reason or passion the sound may idly waste itself in the air and the helpless priest is exposed to the brutal violence of a noble aura plebeian adversary but after their return from Avignon the keys of st. Peter were guarded by the sword of st. Paul Rome was commanded by an impregnable citadel the use of canon is a powerful engine against popular seditions a regular force of cavalry and infantry was enlisted under the banners of the pope his ample revenues supplied the resources of war and from the extent of his domain he could bring down on a rebellious city an army of hostile neighbors and loyal subjects since the union of the duchies of Ferrara and Albino the ecclesiastical state extends from the Mediterranean to the Eduatic and from the confines of Naples to the banks of the Poe and as early as the 16th century the greater part of that spacious and fruitful country acknowledged the lawful claims and temporal sovereignty of the Roman pontiffs their claims were readily deduced from the genuine or fabulous donations of the darker ages the successive steps of their final settlement would engage us too far in the transactions of Italy and even of Europe the crimes of Alexander the 6th the martial operations of Julius II and the liberal policy of Leo the 10th a theme which has been adorned by the pens of the noblest historians of the times in the first period of their conquests till the expedition of Charles the 8th the popes might successfully wrestle with the adjacent princes and states whose military force was equal or inferior to their own but as soon as the monarchs of France Germany and Spain contended with gigantic arms for the dominion of Italy they supplied with art the deficiency of strength and concealed in a labyrinth of wars and treaties their aspiring views and the immortal hope of chasing the barbarians beyond the Alps the nice balance of the Vatican was often subverted by the soldiers of the north and west who were united under the standard of Charles the 5th the feeble and fluctuating policy of Clement the 7th exposed his person and dominions to the conqueror and Rome was abandoned seven months to a lawless army more cruel and rapacious than the goths and vandals after this severe lesson the popes contracted their ambition which was almost satisfied resumed the character of a common parent and abstained from all offensive hostilities except in a hasty quarrel when the vicar of Christ and the Turkish Sultan were armed at the same time against the kingdom of Naples the French and Germans at length withdrew from the field of battle Milan Naples Sicily Sardinia and the sea coast of Tuscany were firmly possessed by the Spaniards and it became their interest to maintain the peace and dependence of Italy which continued almost without disturbance from the middle of the 16th to the opening of the 18th century the Vatican was swayed and protected by the religious policy of the Catholic king his prejudice and interest disposed him in every dispute to support the prince against the people and instead of the encouragement the aid and the asylum which they obtained from the adjacent states the friends of liberty or the enemies of law were enclosed on all sides within the iron circle of despotism the long habits of obedience and education subdued the turbulent spirits of the nobles and commons of Rome the barons forgot the arms and factions of their ancestors and insensibly became the servants of luxury and government instead of maintaining a crowd of tenants and followers the produce of their estates was consumed in the private expenses which multiply the pleasures and diminish the power of the lord the colonna and orcini ride with each other in the decoration of their palaces and chapels and their antique splendor was rivaled or surpassed by the sudden opulence of the papal families in Rome the voice of freedom and discord is no longer heard and instead of the foaming torrent a smooth and stagnant lake reflects the image of idleness and servitude a christian a philosopher and a patriot will be equally scandalized by the temporal kingdom of the clergy and the local majesty of Rome the remembrance of her consuls and triumph may seem to embitter the sense and aggravate the shame of her slavery if we calmly weigh the merits and defects of the ecclesiastical government it may be praised in its present state as a mild decent and tranquil system exempt from the dangers of minority the sallies of youth the expenses of luxury and the calamities of war but these advantages are overbalanced by a frequent perhaps a septennial election of a sovereign who is seldom a native of the country the reign of a young statesman of three school in the decline of his life and abilities without hope to accomplish and without children to inherit the labors of his transitory reign the successful candidate is drawn from the church and even the convent from the mode of education and life the most adverse to reason humanity and freedom in the trammels of servile faith he has learned to believe because it is absurd to revere all that is contemptible and to despise whatever might deserve the esteem of a rational being to punish error as a crime to reward mortification and celibacy as the first of virtues to place the saints of the calendar above the heroes of Rome and the sages of Athens and to consider the missile or the crucifix as more useful instruments than the plow or the loom in the office of noncio or the rank of cardinal he may acquire some knowledge of the world but the primitive stain will adhere to his mind and manners from study and experience he may suspect the mystery of his profession but the sagadotal artist will imbibe some portion of the bigotry which he inculcates the genius of sixties the fifth burst from the gloom of a franciscan cloister in a reign of five years he exterminated the outlaws and banditi abolished the profane sanctuaries of Rome formed a naval and military force restored and emulated the monuments of antiquity and after a liberal use and large increase of the revenue left five millions of crowns in the castle of st. angelo but his justice was sullied with cruelty his activity was prompted by the ambition of conquest after his decease the abuses revived the treasure was dissipated he entailed on posterity thirty-five new taxes and the venality of offices and after his death his statue was demolished by an ungrateful or an injured people the wild and original character of Sixtus the fifth stands alone in the series of the pontiffs the maxims and effects of their temporal government may be collected from the positive and comparative view of the arts and philosophy the agriculture and trade the wealth and population of the ecclesiastical state for myself it is my wish to depart in charity with all mankind nor am i willing in these last moments to offend even the pope and clergy of Rome end of chapter 70 chapter 71 part one of the decline and fall of the roman empire part one volume six this is a libervox recording all libervox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libervox.org the history of the decline and fall of the roman empire volume six by edward gibbon chapter 71 part one prospect of the ruins of Rome in the 15th century four causes of decay and destruction example of the coliseum renovation of the city conclusion of the whole work in the last days of pope eugenius the fourth two of his servants the learned pogeus and a friend ascended the capitoline hill repose themselves among the ruins of columns and temples and viewed from that commanding spot the wide and various prospect of desolation the place in the object gave ample scope for moralizing on the vicissitudes of fortune which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works which buries empires and cities in a common grave and it was agreed that in proportion to her former greatness the fall of Rome was the more awful and deplorable her primeval state such as she might appear in a remote age when avander entertained the stranger of Troy has been delineated by the fancy of virgil this tarpaian rock was then a savage and solitary thicket in the time of the poet it was crowned with the golden roofs of a temple the temple is overthrown the gold has been pillaged the wheel of fortune has accomplished her revolution and the sacred ground is again disfigured with thorns and brambles the hill of the capitol on which we sit was formerly the head of the roman empire the citadel of the earth the terror of kings illustrated by the footsteps of so many triumphs enriched with the spoils and tributes of so many nations this spectacle of the world how is fallen how changed how defaced the path of victory is obliterated by vines and the benches of the senators are concealed by a dung hill cast your eyes on the palatine hill and seek among the shapeless and enormous fragments the marble theater the obelisks this colossal statues the portico of nero's palace survey the other hills of the city the vacant space is interrupted only by ruins and gardens the forum of the roman people where they assemble to enact their laws and elect their magistrates is now enclosed for the cultivation of pot herbs or thrown open for the reception of swine and buffaloes the public and private edifices that were founded for eternity lie prostrate naked and broken like limbs of a mighty giant and the ruin is more visible from the stupendous relics that have survived the injuries of time and fortune these relics are minutely described by pogeus one of the first who raised his eyes from the monuments of legendary to those of classic superstition one besides a bridge and arch as sepulchre and the pyramid of cestius he could discern of the age of the republic a double row of vaults in the salt office of the capital which were inscribed with the name and magnificence of katullus two eleven temples were visible in some degree from the perfect form of the pantheon to the three arches and a marble column of the temple of peace which vespasian erected after the civil wars and the jewish triumph three of the number which he rashly defines of seven thermae or public baths none were sufficiently entire to represent the use and distribution of the several parts but those of diocletian and antoninus caracola still retain the titles of their founders and astonished the curious spectator who in observing their solidity and extent the variety of marbles the size and multitude of the columns compared the labor and expense with the use and importance of the baths of constantine of alexander of domitian or rather of titus some vestige might yet be found for the triumphal arches of titus severus and constantine were entire both the structure and the inscriptions a falling fragment was honored with the name of trajan and two arches then extant in the flaminian way have been inscribed to the base memory of falstina in galleanus five after the wonder of the coliseum bogius might have overlooked a small amphitheater of brick most probably for the use of the praetorian camp the theaters of marcellus and pompe were occupied in a great measure by the public and private buildings and in the circus agonilus and maximus little more than the situation in the form could be investigated six the columns of trajan and antonine were still erect but the egyptian obelisks were broken or buried a people of gods and heroes the workmanship of art was reduced to one equestrian figure of gilt brass and to five marble statues of which the two most conspicuous were the two horses aphidias and praxitalis the two mausoleums or sepulchres of augustus and hadrian could not totally be lost but the former was only visible as a mound of earth in the latter the castle of saint angelo had acquired the name and appearance of a modern fortress with the addition of some separate and nameless columns such were the remains of the ancient city for the marks of a more recent structure might be detected in the walls which form the circumference of 10 miles included 379 turrets and opened into the country by 13 gates this melancholy picture was drawn above 900 years after the fall of the western empire and even of the gothic kingdom of italy a long period of distress and anarchy in which empire and arts and riches had migrated from the banks of the tiber was incapable of restoring or adorning the city and as all that is human must retrograde if it do not advance every successive age must have hastened the ruin of the works of antiquity to measure the progress of decay and to a certain at each era the state of each edifice would be an endless and a useless labor and i shall contempt myself with two observations which will introduce a short inquiry into the general causes and effects 200 years before the eloquent complaint of pogeus an anonymous writer composed a description of roam his ignorance may repeat the same objects under strange and fabulous names yet this barbarous topographer had ears and eyes he could observe the visible remains he could listen to the tradition of the people and he distinctly enumerates seven theaters 11 baths 12 arches and 18 palaces of which many had disappeared before the time of pogeus it is apparent that many stately monuments of antiquity survived till a late period and that the principles of destruction acted with vigorous and increasing energy in the 13th and 14th centuries two the same reflection may be applied to the last three ages and we should vainly seek the septizonium of severus which is celebrated by petrarch and the antiquarians of the 16th century while the roman edifices are still in tire the first blows however weighty and impetuous were resisted by the solidity of the mass and the harmony of the parts but the slightest touch would precipitate the fragments of arches and columns that already nodded to their fall after a diligent inquiry i can discern four principal causes of the ruin of roam which continue to operate in a period of more than a thousand years one the injuries of time and nature two the hostile acts of the barbarians and christians three the use and abuse of the materials and four the domestic quarrels of the romans one the art of man is able to construct monuments far more permanent than the narrow span of his own existence yet these monuments like himself are perishable and frail and in the boundless annals of time his life and his labors must equally be measured as a fleeting moment of the simple and solid edifice it is not easy to circumscribe the duration as the wonder of ancient days the pyramids attracted the curiosity of the ancients a hundred generations the leaves of autumn have dropped into the grave and after the fall of the pharaohs and the ptolemies and the caesars and caliphs the same pyramids stand erect and unshaken above the floods of the nile a complex figure of various and minute parts is more accessible to injury and decay and the silent lapse of time is often accelerated by hurricanes and earthquakes by fires and indentations the air and earth have doubtless been shaken and the lofty turrets of Rome have tottered from their foundations yet the seven hills do not appear to be placed on the great cavities of the globe nor has the city in any age been exposed to convulsions of nature which in the climate of lisbon anteok or lima have crumbled in a few moments the work of ages into dust fire is the more powerful agent of life and death the rapid mischief may be kindled and propagated by the industry or negligence of mankind and every period of the roman annals is marked by the repetition of similar calamities a memorable conflagration the guilt or misfortune of nero's reign continued though with unequal fury either six or nine days innumerable buildings crowded in close and crooked streets supplied perpetual fuel for the flames and when they ceased four only of the fourteen regions were left entire three were totally destroyed and seven were deformed by the relics of smoking and lacerated edifices in the full meridian of empire the metropolis arose with fresh beauty from her ashes yet the memory of the old deplored their irreparable losses the arts of Greece the trophies of victory the monuments of primitive or fabulous antiquity in the days of distress and anarchy every wound is mortal every fall irretrievable nor can the damage be restored either by the public care of government or the activity of private interest yet two causes may be alleged which render the calamity of fire more destructive to a flourishing than a decayed city one the more combustible materials of brick timber and metals are first melted or consumed but the flames may play without injury or effect on the naked walls and massy arches that have been despoiled of their ornaments to it is among the common and plebeian habitations that a mischievous spark is most easily blown to a conflagration but as soon as they are devoured the greater edifices which have resisted or escaped are left as so many islands in a state of solitude and safety from her situation roam is exposed to the danger of frequent inundations without accepting the tiber the rivers that descend from either side of the apennine have a short and irregular course a shallow stream in the summer heats and impetuous torrent when it is swelled in the spring or winter by the fall of rain or the melting of snows when the current is repelled from the sea by adverse winds when the ordinary bed is inadequate to the weight of waters they rise above the banks and overspread without limits or control the plains and cities of the adjacent country soon after the triumph of the first punic war the tiber was increased by unusual rains and the inundation surpassing all former measure of time and place destroyed all the buildings that were situate below the hills of rome according to the variety of ground the same mischief was produced by different means and the edifices were either swept away by the sudden impulse or dissolved and undermined by the long continuance of the flood under the reign of augustus the same calamity was renewed the lawless river overturned the palaces and temples on its banks and after the labors of the emperor in cleansing and widening the bed that was encumbered with ruins the vigilance of his successors was exercised by similar dangers and designs the project of diverting into new channels the tiber itself or some of the dependent streams was long opposed by superstition and local interests nor did the use compensate the toil and cost of the tardy and imperfect execution the servitude of rivers is the noblest and most important victory which man has obtained over the licentiousness of nature and if such were the ravages of the tiber under a firm and active government what could oppose or who could enumerate the injuries of the city after the fall of the western empire a remedy was at length produced by the evil itself the accumulation of rubbish and the earth that has been washed down from the hills is supposed to have elevated the plane of rome 14 or 15 feet perhaps above the ancient level and the modern city is less accessible to the attacks of the river to the crowd of writers of every nation who impute the destruction of the roman monuments to the goths and the christians have neglected to inquire how far they were animated by a hostile principle and how far they possessed the means and leisure to satiate their enmity in the preceding volumes of this history i have described the triumph of barbarism and religion i can only resume in a few words their real or imaginary connection with the ruin of ancient rome our fancy may create or adopt a pleasing romance that the goths and vandals sallied from scandinavia ardent to avenge the flight of odin to break the chains and to chastise the oppressors of mankind that they wish to burn the records of classic literature and to found their national architecture on the broken remains of the tuscan and corinthian orders but in simple truth the northern conquerors were neither sufficiently savage nor sufficiently refined to entertain such aspiring ideas of destruction and revenge the shepherds of sydia and germany had been educated in the armies of empire whose discipline they acquired and whose weakness they invaded with the familiar use of the latin tongue they had learned to reverence the names and titles of rome and though incapable of emulating they were more inclined to admire than to abolish the arts and studies of a brighter period in the transient possession of a rich and unresisting capital the soldiers of alaric and genceric were stimulated by the passions of a victorious army amidst the wanton indulgence of lust or cruelty portable wealth was the object of their search nor could they derive either pride or pleasure from the unprofitable reflection that they had battered to the ground the works of the councils and caesars their monuments were indeed precious the goths evacuated rome on the sixth the vandals on the fifteenth day and though it be far more difficult to build than to destroy their hasty assault would have made a slight impression on the solid piles of antiquity we may remember that both alaric and genceric affected to spare the buildings of the city that they subsisted in strength and beauty under the auspicious government of the autoric and that the momentary resentment of totila was disarmed by his own temper and the advice of his friends and enemies from these innocent barbarians the reproach may be transferred to the catholics of rome the statues altars and houses of the demons were an abomination in their eyes and in the absolute command of the city they might labor with zeal and perseverance to erase the idolatry of their ancestors the demolition of the temples in the east affords to them an example of conduct and to us an argument of belief and it is probable that a portion of guilt or merit may be imputed with justice to the roman proselytes yet their abhorrence was confined to the monuments of heathen superstition and the civil structures that were dedicated to the business or pleasure of society might be preserved without injury or scandal the change of religion was accomplished not by a popular tumult but by the decrees of the emperors of the senate and of time the bishops of rome were commonly the most prudent and least fanatic nor can any positive charge be opposed to the meritorious act of saving and converting the majestic structure of the pantheon three the value of any object that supplies the once or pleasures of mankind is compounded of its substance and its form of the materials and the manufacturer its price must depend on the number of persons by which it may be acquired and used on the extent of the market and consequently on the ease or difficulty of remote exportation according to the nature of the commodity its local situation and the temporary circumstances of the world the barbarian conquerors of rome usurped in a moment the toil and treasures of successive ages but except the luxuries of immediate consumption they must view without desire all that cannot be removed from the city in the gothic wagons or in the fleet of the vandals gold and silver were the first objects of their avarice as in every country and in the smallest compass they represent the most ample command of the industry and possessions of mankind a vase or a statue of those precious metals might tempt the vanity of some barbarian chief but the grosser multitude regardless of the form was tenacious only of the substance and the melted ingots might be readily divided and stamped into the current coin of the empire the less active or less fortunate robbers were reduced to the baser plunder of brass lead iron and copper whatever had escaped the goths and vandals were pillaged by the greek tyrants and the emperor constants in his rapacious visit stripped the bronze tiles from the roof of the pantheon the edifices of rome might be considered as a vast and various mine the first labor of extracting the materials was already performed the metals were purified and cast the marbles were hewn and polished and after foreign or domestic rapine had been satiated the remains of the city could a purchaser had been found were still venal the monuments of antiquity had been left naked of their precious ornaments but the romans would demolish with their own hands the arches and walls if the hope of profit could surpass the cost of the labor and exportation if charlemagne had fixed in italy the seat of the western empire his genius would have aspired to restore rather than to violate the works of the caesars but policy confined the french monarch to the forests of germany his taste could be gratified only by destruction and the new palace of ex la chapelle was decorated with the marbles of revena and rome 500 years after charlemagne a king of sicily robert the wisest and most liberal sovereign of the age was supplied with the same materials by the easy navigation of the tiber and the sea and petrarch sighs an indignant complaint that the ancient capital of the world should adorn from her own bowels the slothful luxury of naples but these examples of plunder or purchase were rare in the darker ages and the romans alone and unenvied might have applied to their private or public use the remaining structures of antiquity if in their present form and situation they had not been useless in a great measure to the city and its inhabitants the walls still described the old circumference but the city had descended from the seven hills into the campus marshes and some of the most noblest monuments which have braved the injuries of time were left in the desert far remote from the habitations of mankind the palaces of the senators were no longer adapted to the manners or fortunes of their indigent successors the use of baths and porticoes was forgotten in the sixth century the games of the theater amphitheater and circus had been interrupted some temples were devoted to the prevailing worship but the christian churches preferred the holy figure of the cross and fashion or reason had distributed after a peculiar model the cells and offices of the cloister under the ecclesiastical reign the number of these pious foundations was enormously multiplied and the city was crowned with 40 monasteries of men 20 of women and 60 chapters and colleges of cannons and priests who aggravated instead of relieving the depopulation of the 10th century but if the forms of ancient architecture were disregarded by a people insensible of their use and beauty the plentiful materials were applied to every call of necessity or superstition till the ferris columns of the ionic and Corinthian orders the richest marbles of paros and Numidia were degraded perhaps to the support of a convent or a stable the daily havoc which is perpetuated by the Turks in the cities of Greece and Asia may afford a melancholy example and in the gradual destruction of the monuments of Rome Sixtus the fifth may alone be excused for employing the stones of the septizonium in the glorious edifice of St. Peter's a fragment a ruin how so ever mangled or profaned may be viewed with pleasure and regret but the greater part of the marble was deprived of substance as well as a place in proportion it was burnt to lime for the purpose of cement since the arrival of Pogius the temple of concord and many capital structures had vanished from his eyes in an epigram of the same age expresses a just and pious fear that the continuance of this practice would finally annihilate all the monuments of antiquity the smallness of their numbers was the sole check on the demands and depredations of the romans the imagination of petrarch might create the presence of a mighty people but I hesitate to believe that even in the 14th century they could be reduced to a contemptible list of 33,000 inhabitants from that period to the reign of Leo the 10th if they multiply to the amount of 85,000 the increase of citizens was in some degree pernicious to the ancient city end of chapter 71 part 1