OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE,

333

that he had delivered the throne and patrimony chap.of St. Peter from a rebellious aristocracy; and Lxx 'Clement the sixth, who rejoiced in its fall, affect-ed to believe the professions, to applaud themerits, and to confirm the title, of his trusty ser-vant. The speech, perhaps the mind, of the tri-bune was inspired with a lively regard for thepurity of the faith; he insinuated his claim to asupernatural mission from the Holy Ghost; en-forced, by an heavy forfeiture, the annual dutyof confession and communion; and strictlyguarded the spiritual as well as temporal wel-fare of his faithful people/

Never perhaps has the energy and effect of a Freedomsingle mind been more remarkably felt than in perity ofthe sudden, though transient reformation of^p^w™.*"Rome by the tribune Rieuzi. A den of rob-bers was converted to the discipline of a campor convent: patient to hear, swift to redress, in-exorable to punish, his tribunal was always ac-cessible to the poor and stranger; nor couldbirth, or dignity, or the immunities of the church,protect the offender or his accomplices. Theprivileged houses, the private sanctuaries, inRome , on which no officer of justice would pre-sume to trespass, were abolished; and he ap-plied the timber and iron of their barricades inthe fortifications of the capitol. The venerablefather of the Colonna was exposed in his ownpalace to the double shame of being desirous,and of being unable, to protect a criminal. A

d Hocsemius, p. 398, apud du Cerseau, Hist, de Rienzi, p. 194.

The fifteen tribnnitian laws may be found in the Roman historian(whom for brevity I shall name) Fortifiocca, 1. ii, c. 4.