nquet-hall, which
conducted to a balcony, whence he was accustomed to address the people;
and never, perhaps, was his wonderful mastery over the passions of an
audience (ad persuadendum efficax dictator, quoque dulcis ac lepidus)
(Petrarch of Rienzi.) more greatly needed or more eminently shown, than
on that day; for the fury of the people was at its height, and it was
long ere he succeeded in turning it aside. Before he concluded, however,
every wave of the wild sea lay hushed.--The orator lived to stand on the
same spot, to plead for a life nobler than those he now saved,--and to
plead unheard and in vain!

As soon as the Tribune saw the favourable moment had arrived, the Barons
were admitted into the balcony:--in the presence of the breathless
thousands, they solemnly pledged themselves to protect the Good Estate.
And thus the morning which seemed to dawn upon their execution witnessed
their reconciliation with the people.

The crowd dispersed, the majority soothed and pleased;--the more
sagacious, vexed and dissatisfied.

"He has but increased the smoke and the flame which he was not able
to extinguish," growled Cecco del Vecchio; and the smith's appropriate
saying passed into a proverb and a prophecy.

Meanwhile, the Tribune, conscious at least that he had taken the more
generous course, broke up the Council, and retired to the chamber
where Nina and his sister waited him. These beautiful young women had
conceived for each other the tenderest affection. And their differing
characters, both of mind and feature, seemed by contrast to heighten the
charms of both; as in a skilful jewellery, the pearl and diamond borrow
beauty from each other.

And as Irene now turned her pale countenance and streaming eyes from
the bosom to which she had clung for support, the timid sister, anxious,
doubtful, wistful;--the proud wife, sanguine and assured, as if never
diffident of the intentions nor of the power of her Rienzi:--the
contrast would have furnished to a painter no unworthy incarnation of
the Love that hopeth, and the Love that feareth, all things.

"Be cheered, my sweet sister," said the Tribune, first caught by Irene's
imploring look; "not a hair on the heads of those who boast the name of
him thou lovest so well is injured.--Thank Heaven," as his sister,
with a low cry, rushed into his arms, "that it was against my life they
conspired! Had it been another Roman's, mercy might have been a crime!
Dearest, may Adrian