THE DECLINE AND FALL

380

chap. Stephen was drawn from a chest, lamenting that

LXX ' his enemies had anticipated by three hours theexecution of his design. After such manifestand repeated guilt, even the mercy of Nicholaswas silent. Porcaro, and nine of his accom-plices, were hanged, without the benefit of thesacraments; and amidst the fears and invectivesof the papal court, the Romans pitied, and al-most applauded, these martyrs of their country. qBut their applause was inute, their pity ineffec-tual, their liberty for ever extinct; and, if theyhave since risen in a vacancy of the throne or ascarcity of bread, such accidental tumults maybe found in the bosom of the most abject ser-vitude.

ders ofthe ^ ie independence of the nobles, which was

noble* of fomented by discord, survived the freedom ofthe commons, which must be founded in union.A privilege of rapine and oppression was longmaintained by the barons of Rome ; their houseswere a fortress and a sanctuary; and the fero-cious train of banditti and criminals whom theyprotected from the law, repaid the hospitalitywith the service of their swords and daggers.The private interest of the pontiffs, or their

' ’ Besides the curious though concise narrative of Machiavel (Isto-ria Florentina, 1. vi, Opere, tom. i, p. 210, 211, edit. Londra , 1747, in4to), the Porcarian conspiracy is related in the Diary of Stephen In-fessura (Rer. Ital. tom. iii., p. ii, p. 1134, 1135), and in a separate tractby Leo Baptista Alberti (Rer. Ital. tom. xxv, p. 609-014). It isamusing to compare the style and sentiments of the courtier andcitiaen. Facinus profecto quo • ■ • • neque periculo horribilius, ncqneaudacia detestabilins, neque crudelitate tetrius, a quoquam perditis-simo uspiam excogitatum sit • • • • Perdette la vita quell’ huomo dabene, e amatore dello bene et liberta di Roma.