282

THE DECLINE AND FALL

chap, dred and forty towers, the strong shelters of ra-pine and mischief. The bishop, as a simplebishop, was compelled to reside in his diocese;and the standard of Brancaleone was displayedin the field with terror and effect. His serviceswere repaid by the ingratitude of a people un-worthy of a happiness which they enjoyed. Bythe public robbers, whom he had provoked fortheir sake, the Romans were excited to deposeand imprison their benefactor; nor would his lifehave been spared, if Bologna had not possesseda pledge for his safety. Before his departure,the prudent senator had required the exchangeof thirty hostages of the noblest families of Rome ;on the news of his danger, and at the prayer ofhis wife, they were more strictly guarded; andBologna, in the cause of honour, sustained thethunders of a papal interdict. This generousresistance allowed the Romans to compare thepresent with the past; and Brancaleone wasconducted from the prison to the capitol amidstthe acclamations of a repentant people. Theremainder of his government was firm and for-tunate; and as soon as envy was appeased bydeath, his head, enclosed in a precious vase, wasdeposited on a lofty column of marble.*

The impotence of reason and virtue recom-

c Matthew Paris thus ends his account: Caput veto ipsius Bran*caleonis in vase prctioso super marmoream coltimnam coilocatum, inlignum sui valoris et probita'is, quasheliqnias, superstitiose nimis etpompose sustulerunt Fuerat cniin superborum potentuni et malefac-torum urbis malleus et exstirpator, ct populi protector et defensor, ve-ritatis et justitiae imitator et aniator (p. 840). A biographtr of Inno-cent IV (Muratori, Script, tom iii, p. i, p. 591, 592) draws a less fa*vourable portrait of this Glnbclline senator.