My friendship for you dictated my offer. The League may stand without the Colonna,beware a time when the Colonna cannot stand without the League. My Lord, look well around you; there are more freemenay, bold and stirring ones, tooin Rome, than you imagine. Beware Rienzi! Adieu, we meet soon again.
Thus saying, Montreal departed, soliloquising as he passed with his careless step through the crowded ante-room:
I shall fail here!these caitiff nobles have neither the courage to be great, nor the wisdom to be honest. Let them fall!I may find an adventurer from the people, an adventurer like myself, worth them all.
No sooner had Stephen returned to Adrian than he flung his arms affectionately round his ward, who was preparing his pride for some sharp rebuke for his petulance.
Nobly feigned,admirable, admirable! cried the Baron; you have learned the true art of a statesman at the Emperors court. I always thought you wouldalways said it. You saw the dilemma I was in, thus taken by surprise by that barbarians mad scheme; afraid to refuse,more afraid to accept. You extricated me with consummate address: that passion,so natural to your age,was a famous feint; drew off the attack; gave me time to breathe; allowed me to play with the savage. But we must not offend him, you know: all my retainers would desert me, or sell me to the Orsini, or cut my throat, if he but held up his finger. Oh! it was admirably managed, Adrianadmirably!
Thank Heaven! said Adrian, with some difficulty recovering the breath which his astonishment had taken away, you do not think of embracing that black proposition?
Think of it! no, indeed! said Stephen, throwing himself back on his chair. Why, do you not know my age, boy? Hard on my ninetieth year, I should be a fool indeed to throw myself into such a whirl of turbulence and agitation. I want to keep what I have, not risk it by grasping more. Am I not the beloved of the pope? shall I hazard his excommunication? Am I not the most powerful of the nobles? should I be more if I were king? At my age, to talk to me of such stuff!the mans an idiot. Besides, added the old man, sinking his voice, and looking fearfully round, if I were a king, my sons might poison me for the succession. They are good lads, Adrian, very! But such a temptation!I would not throw it in their way; these grey hairs have experience! Tyrants dont die a natural death; no, no! Plague on the Knight, say I; he has already cast me into a cold sweat.
Adrian gazed on the working features of the old man, whose selfishness thus preserved him from crime. He listened to his concluding wordsfull of the dark truth of the times; and as the high and pure ambition of Rienzi flashed upon him in contrast, he felt that he could not blame its fervour, or wonder at its excess.
And then, too, resumed the Baron, speaking more deliberately as he recovered his self-possession, this man, by way of a warning, shows me, at a glance, his whole ignorance of the state. What think you? he has mingled with the mob, and taken their rank breath for power; yes, he thinks words are soldiers, and bade meme, Stephen Colonnabewareof whom, think you? No, you will never guess!of that speech-maker, Rienzi! my own old jesting guest! Ha! ha! ha!the ignorance of these barbarians! Ha! ha! ha! and the old man laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks.
Yet many of the nobles fear that same Rienzi, said Adrian, gravely.
Ah! let them, let them!they have not our experienceour knowledge of the world, Adrian. Tut, man,when did declamation ever overthrow castles, and conquer soldiery? I like Rienzi to harangue the mob about old Rome, and such stuff; it gives them something to think of and prate about, and so all their fierceness evaporates in words; they might burn a house if they did not hear a speech. But, now I am on that score, I must own the pedant has grown impudent in his new office; here, here,I received this paper ere I rose today. I hear a similar insolence has been shown to all the nobles. Read it, will you, and the Colonna put a scroll into his kinsmans hand.
I have received the like, said Adrian, glancing at it. It is a request of Rienzis to attend at the Church of St. John of Lateran, to hear explained the inscription on a Table just discovered. It bears, he saith, the most intimate connexion with the welfare and state of Rome.
Very entertaining, I dare to say, to professors and bookmen. Pardon me, kinsman; I forgot your taste for these things; and my son, Gianni, too, shares your fantasy. Well, well! it is innocent enough! Gothe man talks well.
Will you not attend, too?
Imy dear boyI! said the old Colonna, opening his eyes in such astonishment that Adrian could not help laughing at the simplicity of his own question.
Chapter 2.II. The Interview, and the Doubt
As Adrian turned from the palace of his guardian, and bent his way in the direction of the Forum, he came somewhat unexpectedly upon Raimond, bishop of Orvietto, who, mounted upon a low palfrey, and accompanied by some three or four of his waiting-men, halted abruptly when he recognised the young noble.
Ah, my son! it is seldom that I see thee: how fares it with thee?well? So, so! I rejoice to hear it. Alas! what a state of society is ours, when compared to the tranquil pleasures of Avignon! There, all men who, like us, are fond of the same pursuits, the same studies, deliciae musarum, hum! hum! (the Bishop was proud of an occasional quotation, right or wrong), are brought easily and naturally together. But here we scarcely dare stir out of our houses, save upon great occasions. But, talking of great occasions, and the Muses, reminds me of our good Rienzis invitation to the Lateran: of course you will attend; tis a mighty knotty piece of Latin he proposes to solveso I hear, at least; very interesting to us, my son,very!
It is tomorrow, answered Adrian. Yes, assuredly; I will be there.
And, harkye, my son, said the Bishop, resting his hand affectionately on Adrians shoulder, I have reason to hope that he will remind our poor citizens of the Jubilee for the year Fifty, and stir them towards clearing the road of the brigands: a necessary injunction, and one to be heeded timeously; for who will come here for absolution when he stands a chance of rushing unannealed upon purgatory by the way? You have heard Rienzi,ay? quite a Ciceroquite! Well, Heaven bless you, my son! You will not fail?
Nay, not I.
Yet, staya word with you: just suggest to all whom you may meet the advisability of a full meeting; it looks well for the city to show respect to letters.
To say nothing of the Jubilee, added Adrian, smiling.
Ah, to say nothing of the Jubileevery good! Adieu for the present! And the Bishop, resettling himself on his saddle, ambled solemnly on to visit his various friends, and press them to the meeting.
Meanwhile, Adrian continued his course till he had passed the Capitol, the Arch of Severus, the crumbling columns of the fane of Jupiter, and found himself amidst the long grass, the whispering reeds, and the neglected vines, that wave over the now-vanished pomp of the Golden House of Nero. Seating himself on a fallen pillarby that spot where the traveller descends to the (so called) Baths of Liviahe looked impatiently to the sun, as to blame it for the slowness of its march.
Not long, however, had he to wait before a light step was heard crushing the fragrant grass; and presently through the arching vines gleamed a face that might well have seemed the nymph, the goddess of the scene.