an
to swell through the edifice, preluding the celebration of the mass, the
Tribune stepped forth, and the hush of the music was increased by the
universal and dead silence of the audience. His height, his air, his
countenance, were such as always command the attention of crowds; and at
this time they received every adjunct from the interest of the occasion,
and that peculiar look of intent yet suppressed fervour, which is,
perhaps, the sole gift of the eloquent that Nature alone can give.

"Be it known," said he, slowly and deliberately, "in virtue of that
authority, power, and jurisdiction, which the Roman people, in general
parliament, have assigned to us, and which the Sovereign Pontiff hath
confirmed, that we, not ungrateful of the gift and grace of the Holy
Spirit--whose soldier we now are--nor of the favour of the Roman people,
declare, that Rome, capital of the world, and base of the Christian
church; and that every City, State, and People of Italy, are henceforth
free. By that freedom, and in the same consecrated authority, we
proclaim, that the election, jurisdiction, and monarchy of the Roman
empire appertain to Rome and Rome's people, and the whole of Italy. We
cite, then, and summon personally, the illustrious princes, Louis Duke
of Bavaria, and Charles king of Bohemia, who would style themselves
Emperors of Italy, to appear before us, or the other magistrates of
Rome, to plead and to prove their claim between this day and the Day of
Pentecost. We cite also, and within the same term, the Duke of Saxony,
the Prince of Brandenburg, and whosoever else, potentate, prince, or
prelate, asserts the right of Elector to the imperial throne--a
right that, we find it chronicled from ancient and immemorial time,
appertaineth only to the Roman people--and this in vindication of
our civil liberties, without derogation of the spiritual power of
the Church, the Pontiff, and the Sacred College. Herald, proclaim
the citation, at the greater and more formal length, as written and
intrusted to your hands, without the Lateran."

("Il tutto senza derogare all' autorita della Chiesa, del
Papa e del Sacro Collegio." So concludes this extraordinary
citation, this bold and wonderful assertion of the classic
independence of Italy, in the most feudal time of the
fourteenth century. The anonymous biographer of Rienzi
declares that the Tribune cited also the Pope and the
Cardinals to reside in Rome.