otion; "you are a lettered man, and you have seemed to share my
projects for the regeneration of our common kind. You ought not to
betray me. There is something in unison between us. But, chide me not, I
am surrounded by treason, and the very air I breathe seems poison to my
lips."

There was a pathos mingled with Rienzi's words which touched the milder
brother of Montreal. He bowed in silence. Rienzi surveyed him wistfully,
and sighed. Then, changing the conversation, he spoke of their intended
siege of Palestrina, and shortly afterwards retired to rest.

Left alone, the brothers regarded each other for some moments in
silence. "Brettone," said Arimbaldo at length, in a whispered voice, "my
heart misgives me. I like not Walter's ambitious schemes. With our
own countrymen we are frank and loyal, why play the traitor with this
high-souled Roman?" (The anonymous biographer of Rienzi makes the
following just remark: "Sono li tedeschi, come discendon de la Alemagna,
semplici, puri, senza fraude, come si allocano tra' taliani, diventano
mastri coduti, viziosi, che sentono ogni malizia."--"Vita di Cola di
Rienzi", lib. ii. cap. 16.)

"Tush!" said Brettone. "Our brother's hand of iron alone can sway this
turbulent people; and if Rienzi be betrayed, so also are his enemies,
the Barons. No more of this! I have tidings from Montreal; he will be in
Rome in a few days."

"And then?"

"Rienzi, weakened by the Barons (for he must not conquer)--the Barons,
weakened by Rienzi--our Northmen seize the Capitol, and the soldiery,
now scattered throughout Italy, will fly to the standard of the Great
Captain. Montreal must be first Podesta, then King, of Rome."

Arimbaldo moved restlessly in his seat, and the brethren conferred no
more on their projects.

The situation of Rienzi was precisely that which tends the most to
sour and to harden the fairest nature. With an intellect capable of the
grandest designs, a heart that beat with the loftiest emotions, elevated
to the sunny pinnacle of power and surrounded by loud-tongued adulators,
he knew not among men a single breast in which he could confide. He was
as one on a steep ascent, whose footing crumbles, while every bough at
which he grasps seems to rot at his touch. He found the people more
than ever eloquent in his favour, but while they shouted raptures as he
passed, not a man was capable of making a sacrifice for him! The
liberty of a state is never achieved by a single individua