Barbarossa; An Historical Novel Of The XII Century Part 59

Until then, Pandolfo had spoken in a calm and measured tone, and he observed with great satisfaction the favorable impression which had been produced by his report on the progress of the league. But soon, to arouse still more the minds of his audience, he began to paint the unhappy condition of Italy, and his language and manner became more pa.s.sionate.

"Dear brothers," he said; "you have all seen at Milan, of what Frederic is capable, and what is the fate which threatens you. Perhaps you think that your misfortunes have reached their furthest limit, but you are mistaken. You are robbed, you are beaten, the fruit of your toil is torn from you, your horses and your oxen are stolen before your eyes, but as yet they have not carried away your wives and your children. You are treated with harshness, but they have not yet pillaged your churches; they have not profaned and desecrated your sanctuaries."

"Yes they have!" cried a voice, trembling with anger; "yes they have!

Our bailiff--may G.o.d curse him!--has carried off everything of value which was in our church; he tried to force our old priest to pray for Barbarossa and the high-priest Caiphas (the Antipope Pascal). Our good priest protested, and was shamefully beaten, and we ourselves, for refusing to pray for our oppressors, were driven from the church with blows and curses."

"All this is but a drop in the bucket," resumed Pandolfo. "Do you not know, brothers, that the Church, the Pope and the Clergy, are slaves like ourselves? Is it not right and proper that the Pope and the Clergy teach, pray, and preach in conformity with the Emperor's orders? Since you are Frederic's property," he added with bitter irony, "it is only reasonable that he should watch over your minds and your bodies; of course always in accordance with his own personal interests. You seem astonished! Perhaps you think that I exaggerate? If so, it is because you do not know what an Emperor is, and what ideas he has of his own importance. Are we not told that the ancient Romans wors.h.i.+pped their sovereigns? Go to Rome, you will still see there the statue of the divine Augustus. Aye, the Pagan emperors called themselves G.o.ds, and their subjects were compelled to pay them divine honors."

"What infamy! what impiety!" exclaimed the audience.

"Has not Barbarossa already a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Augustus? As he affects to imitate the Roman emperors in all things, he will finally oblige us to adore him as a divinity."

A derisive laugh interrupted the speaker for a moment.

"You laugh, brothers, you imagine that I am jesting? I speak in sober earnest. The tyrant's pride will not stop short of the abomination of idolatry. You shake your heads; it appears impossible? Let me only ask, did it not seem impossible ten years ago, that you would become slaves; that the time would come when you would no longer have possessions, or rights, or liberty? Is not the Emperor to-day Pope? Is not the pretended Pope the Emperor's humble slave? Does not the Emperor pretend to an authority over the Church which is wellnigh divine? Is it not he who lays down the forms of preaching and prayer? Thanks to him, our bishops have been replaced by the minions of tyranny, and our good shepherds by ravening wolves who tear the flock."

"He is right! all that is only too true; Pandolfo is right!"

"Barbarossa is the Antichrist!"

"He is a child of Satan!"

"A worthy successor of Nero!"

"An infamous tyrant!"

"Curses upon him! may he die unabsolved!"

"Long live our Holy Father the Pope! May G.o.d save Alexander!"

"Yes, long live the Pope! may G.o.d protect him!" resumed Pandolfo, who was charmed with the enthusiasm which he had excited. "The sovereign Pontiff is the rampart of liberty, the only real defence against Imperial despotism. Why is it that Barbarossa has turned all his rage against Alexander? It is because he knows that he can never accomplish his perfidious ends so long as the Christian world shall retain him whom G.o.d himself has appointed to be the guardian of right, and morality, and liberty. The Pope suffers and struggles in our cause; let us unite with him, let us bravely flock to freedom's standard. Raise your right hands, and swear allegiance to the Lombard league."

Instantly a hundred hands were stretched forth in breathless silence. A heavy cloud overshadowed the sun and seemed to threaten the roofless cloister. A violent wind rushed through the dismantled windows and shook the parasitic plants upon the crumbling walls.

"As it is better to die gloriously than live in shameful slavery,"

cried Pandolfo, whose clear voice rang through the ruined building, "we promise obedience and fidelity to the principles of the Lombard league.

We swear to devote our property and our lives to our faith and our country, to the Church, and to liberty. We take G.o.d as witness to our loyalty; may He doom us to eternal torments if we violate our oath!"

"We swear it;" and the oath unhesitatingly p.r.o.nounced by a hundred voices was repeated by the echoes of the surrounding hills. The a.s.sembly then broke up, and the conspirators separated; on their features might be read the thoughts which filled their minds, and the n.o.ble resolutions to which they had subscribed. Less than a quarter of an hour afterwards the ruins had become once more silent and deserted.

_CHAPTER LI_.

_THE TRIBUNE_.

Whilst the deputies of the Lombard cities were travelling through the province and working at the organization of the league, Frederic and his army were encamped before the walls of Rome. Informed of the storm which threatened from the North, he would have raised the siege and marched at once against the rebels, but Da.s.sel dissuaded him. It was first necessary, the statesman urged, to expel Alexander from Rome, and place Pascal upon the throne of Saint Peter.

Henry the Lion, the Duke of Austria, and nearly all the princes of note had refused to send their contingents against Rome, and remained quietly in their homes, for they had begun to foresee the designs of the Emperor.

The German and Italian bishops, however, eagerly took part in the siege, and, clothed in armor, prepared to use the sword and lance to overthrow the successor of St. Peter. For the monarch had at last humbled the pride of the prelates, who, for the most part, were his mere tools, whose consciences were fettered with golden shackles. Rich and powerful, their ambition urged them to further the projects of the Emperor, which in abasing the Papacy lessened the power of the temporal princes.

Frederic's army was numerous, brave, and accustomed to victory. A division commanded by the Archbishop of Mayence and Cologne, had already achieved some successes, but Rome still held out, and her fall seemed yet uncertain. Everything presaged a long struggle, much to the dissatisfaction of the Emperor, who had just learned the increasing development of the Lombard league and the advance of William of Naples, who was marching to the a.s.sistance of the eternal city.

"Your advice is replete with danger," said Barbarossa to his Chancellor; "the Lombards are rising _en ma.s.se_; they have decapitated or hung my lieutenants, and are working diligently upon the fortifications of Milan, whilst we stand here idle. It is a mistake, an evident mistake."

Rinaldo merely smiled with the air of one who feels certain of success.

"When we can strike at the heart of our enemy it would be folly to try only to wound his foot," said he. "Rome is the heart; Alexander is the life of the confederation. Let Alexander fall, the rest must die of necessity."

"Your arguments are good, but mere argument will not harm a hair of Roland's head."

"Every precaution has been taken against contingencies," continued Da.s.sel, without replying to the Emperor's observation. "The Pisan fleet guards the mouth of the Tiber, our Brabancon troops scour the country; in short, Roland's escape is impossible."

"It is most probable that he will not put your precautions to the test."

"Within three days at the latest, my Emperor and Lord will hear in the Church of St. Peter the solemn ma.s.s which I myself will celebrate as a thanksgiving," said Da.s.sel, calmly.

Frederic gazed at him in astonishment.

"My captains watch most diligently," resumed the statesman, "and Roland would need wings to get away again! If I had a hundred more gold pieces to spend, perhaps the worthy Romans would open their gates to us to-morrow. My promises, too, have a good deal of weight: abolition of all taxes, re-establishment of the Senate, privilege of electing the Pope!"

"Ah! you have promised all that?" said Frederic.

"Certainly! but when you are in the city, you can only keep as many promises as it suits you; for, personally, you are pledged to nothing.

I a.s.sure your Majesty that I have never seen a city which can be so easily deceived as Rome: all that is necessary is to promise.

Everything is false among the brave Romans."

"I know and appreciate them as they deserve," replied Frederic. "All that remains of their ancient glory is an overweening pride, which I mean to humble."

"Hark!" cried Da.s.sel, "what is that noise?"

An extraordinary clamor was heard in the direction of the square of St.

Peter, where an immense mob shouted and howled in such confusion that it was impossible to understand their meaning.

A marble column stood in the centre of the square, but in place of the image of the Holy Virgin, which it usually supported, it now served as a pedestal for the tailor Guerrazzi, while the sacred statue was laid upon the ground beside it, and a dense crowd pressed forward to listen to the excited orator. The tailor laughed and wept alternately, waved his hands, beat his breast, and tore his hair, while his voice a.s.sumed, by turns, an expression of menace or of flattery, as the occasion required. Guerrazzi was a paid agent of the Chancellor, and it was his pockets which received the gold pieces of which the latter had spoken, and which were to be distributed among the conspirators. The Romans were sharing the common lot of all those nations who are mad enough to suppose that schemers have any other object in view than self-interest; they were deceived and sold by the very men whom they considered to be their most devoted champions.

The orator pointed proudly towards a circular tower, which stood in front of him, commanding the square, with which it communicated by a bridge and a wide street. This building, whose lofty walls overlooked the whole city, was the mausoleum of Adrian, afterwards called the castle of Saint Angelo, and at present the Pope's last refuge.

"Look there!" cried the tailor, who was trying to flatter the national pride of his audience by recalling the mighty deeds of their ancestors; "look there at Adrian's mausoleum! there stands a memento of Roman grandeur. How magnificent it still is! I see before me the sons of the Gracchi, of the Scipios, of Brutus, the descendants of the masters of the world. But what are we to-day? We are mere pigmies in comparison with our progenitors. Ah!" said he, weeping, "there was a time when Rome dictated laws to the world, and all nations paid tribute to her majesty. Then our Senate, like a council of G.o.ds, sat in the Capitol!--And now?--But who has robbed us of this greatness? Who governs the universe after despoiling the Roman people of its power?--The Pope!"--and the angry tailor paused.

"It is true!--It is true!"

"Well said!"

"What wisdom!"