THE DECLINE AND FALL
322
CHAP.
LXX.
cency and suspense, preferred the summons ofthe metropolis of the world.
The ceremony of his coronation” was perform-ed in the capitol by his friend and patron thesupreme magistrate of the republic. Twelvepatrician youths were arrayed in scarlet; six re-presentatives of the most illustrious families, ingreen robes, with garlands of flowers, accom-panied the procession: in the midst of the princesand nobles, the senator, count of Anguillara , akinsman of the Colonna, assumed his throne;and at the voice of an herald Petrarch arose.After discoursing on a text of Virgil , and thricerepeating his vows for the prosperity of Rome ,he knelt before the throne, and received from thesenator a laurel crown, with a more precious de-claration, “ This is the reward of merit.” Thepeople shouted “ long life to the capitol and the“ poet!” A sonnet in praise of Rome was ac-cepted as the effusion of genius and gratitude;and after the whole procession had visited theVatican , the profane wreath was suspended be-fore the shrine of St. Peter. In the act or dip-loma,* which was presented to Petrarch , the titleand prerogatives of poet laureat are revived inthe capitol, after the lapse of thirteen hundredyears; and he receives the perpetual privilege ofwearing, at his choice, a crown of laurel, ivy, or
* The whole process of Petrarch 's coronatiou is accurately describ-ed by the abb6 de Sade (tom. i, p. 425-435, tom. ii, p. 1*6, notes, p. 1-13) from his own writings, and the Roman diary of Ludovico Monal-deachi, without mixing in this authentic narrative the more recentfables of Sanuuccio Delbene,
• The original act is printed among the Pieces Justificative* in theIrlemoires sur Petrarque, tom, iii, p. 50-63.