l; if not the
people--if not the greater number--a zealous and fervent minority, at
least must go hand in hand with him. Rome demanded sacrifices in all who
sought the Roman regeneration--sacrifices of time, ease, and money. The
crowd followed the procession of the Senator, but not a single Roman
devoted his life, unpaid, to his standard; not a single coin was
subscribed in the defence of freedom. Against him were arrayed the most
powerful and the most ferocious Barons of Italy; each of whom could
maintain, at his own cost, a little army of practised warriors. With
Rienzi were traders and artificers, who were willing to enjoy the fruits
of liberty, but not to labour at the soil; who demanded, in return for
empty shouts, peace and riches; and who expected that one man was to
effect in a day what would be cheaply purchased by the struggle of a
generation. All their dark and rude notion of a reformed state was to
live unbutchered by the Barons and untaxed by their governors. Rome, I
say, gave to her Senator not a free arm, nor a voluntary florin. (This
plain fact is thoroughly borne out by every authority.) Well aware of
the danger which surrounds the ruler who defends his state by foreign
swords, the fondest wish, and the most visionary dream of Rienzi, was to
revive amongst the Romans, in their first enthusiasm at his return, an
organised and voluntary force, who, in protecting him, would protect
themselves:--not, as before, in his first power, a nominal force of
twenty thousand men, who at any hour might yield (as they did yield) to
one hundred and fifty; but a regular, well disciplined, and trusty body,
numerous enough to resist aggression, not numerous enough to become
themselves the aggressors.

Hitherto all his private endeavours, his public exhortations, had
failed; the crowd listened--shouted--saw him quit the city to meet their
tyrants, and returned to their shops, saying to each other, "What a
great man!"

The character of Rienzi has chiefly received for its judges men of the
closet, who speculate upon human beings as if they were machines; who
gauge the great, not by their merit, but their success; and who have
censured or sneered at the Tribune, where they should have condemned the
People! Had but one-half the spirit been found in Rome which ran
through a single vein of Cola di Rienzi, the august Republic, if not
the majestic empire, of Rome, might be existing now! Turning from the
people, the Senator saw hi