352

THE DECLINE AND FALL

chap, of the republic; and astonished an assembly of

.ambassadors and princes, by the eloquence of a

patriot, and the visions of a prophet, the down-fal of tyranny, and the kingdom of the HolyGhost.' Whatever had been his hopes, Rienzifound himself a captive; but he supported a cha-racter of independence and dignity, and obeyed,as his own choice, the irresistible summons ofthe supreme pontiff. The zeal of Petrarch ,which had been cooled by the unworthy con-duct, was rekindled by the sufferings and thepresence of his friend; and he boldly complainsof the times, in which the saviour of Rome wasdelivered by her emperor into the hands of heratAviKn"" bishop. Rienzi was transported slowly, but ina. d. 13.ii! safe custody, from Prague to Avignon ; his en-trance into the city was that of a malefactor; inhis prison he was chained by the leg; and fourcardinals were named to inquire into the crimesof heresy and rebellion. But his trial and con-demnation would have involved some questions,which it was more prudent to leave under theveil of mystery: the temporal supremacy of thepopes; the duty of residence; the civil and ec-clesiastical privileges of the clergy and people ofRome . The reigning pontiff well deserved theappellation of Clement: the strange vicissitudesand magnanimous spirit of the captive excited

* These visions, of which the friends and the enemies of Rienzi seemalike ignorant, are surely magnified by the zeal of Pollistore, a Domi-nican inquisitor (Rer. Iial. tom. xxv, c. 36, p. 8X9) Had the tribuuetaught, that Christ was succeeded by the Holy Ghost, that the tyrannyof the pope would be abolished, he might have been convicted ofheresy and treason, without offending the Roman people