OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 32S

Nicholas Rienzi Gabrini could inherit neither chap.dignity nor fortune; and the gift of a liberal LXX ~education, which they painfully bestowed, wasthe cause of his glory and untimely end. Thestudy of history and eloquence, the writings ofCicero, Seneca, Livy, Csesar, and Valerius Maxi-mus , elevated above his equals and contempo-raries the genius of the young plebeian: he pe-rused with indefatigable diligence the manu-scripts and marbles of antiquity; loved to dis-pense his knowledge in familiar language; andwas often provoked to exclaim, “ Where are“ now these Romaus? their virtue, their justice,

“ their power? why was I not born in those“ happy times!' ,x When the republic addressedto the throne of Avignon an embassy of the threeorders, the spirit and eloquence of Rienzi re-commended him to a place among the thirteendeputies of the commons. The orator had thehonour of haranguing pope Clement the sixth,and the satisfaction of conversing with Petrarch ,a congenial mind; but his aspiring hopes werechilled by disgrace and poverty; and the patriotwas reduced to a single garment and the charity

479), which, in the new division, forms the second book of the historyin 38 smaller chapters 01 sections.

1 The reader may be pleased with a specimen of the original idiom ;

Fo da soa jnventutine nutricato di latte de eloquentia, bono grama-tico, megliore rettuorico, autorista bravo. Deh como et quanto eraveloce leirore ! moito usava Tito Livio , Seneca, ct TuUio, et BalerioMassimo, moito li dilettava le niagnificenfie di Julio Cesare racoonfare#

Tutta la die se speculava negP intagli di marino lequaii iaccio intornoRoma Non era altri che esso, che sapesse lejere li antichi patatfii*

Tutte scritture antiche vulgarizzava; quesse finre di marmo justa-mente interpretava. OU come spesso diceva, “ Dove suoco quell!

“ buoni Romani ? dove eneloro fomma justitia? poleramme trovare iutempo che quessi fiuriano V*