OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

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the gift of an handsome person, m till it was chap.swelled and disfigured by intemperance; and LXX 'his propensity to laughter was corrected in themagistrate by the affectation of gravity andsternness. He was clothed, at least on publicoccasions, in a party-coloured robe of velvetor satin, lined with fur, and embroidered withgold : the rod of justice, which he carried in hishand, was a sceptre of polished steel, crownedwith a globe and cross of gold, and inclosing asmall fragment of the true and holy wood. Inhis civil and religious processions through thecity, he rode on a white steed, the symbol ofroyalty : the great banner of the republic, a sunwith a circle of stars, a dove with an olive branch,was displayed over his head; a shower of goldand silver was scattered among the populace;fifty guards with halberds encompassed his per-son ; a troop of horse preceded his march; andtheir tymbals and trumpets were of massysilver.

The ambition of the honours of chivalry" be-trayed the meanness of his birth, and degraded

m Era bell’ homo 0 - c. i> P- 399). It is remarkable (hat tireriso sarcastico of the Bracciano edition is wanting in the Roman MS.from which Muratori has given the text. In his second reign, whenhe is painted almost as a monster, Rienzi travea una ventresca tonnatrionfale, a modo de nno Abbate Asiano, or Asinino (1. iii, c. 18,p. 623).

" Strange as it may seem, this festival was not without a precedent.

In the year 1327, two barons, a Colonna and an Ursini, the usual ba-lance, were created knights by the Roman people : their bath was ofrose water, their beds were decked with royal magnificence, and theywere served at St. Maria of Araceli, iu the capitol, by the twenty-eight6uoni huomini. They afterwards received from Robert king of Naplesthe sword of chivalry (Hist. Rom. 1. i, c. 2, p. 269).