Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunes

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Эдвард Бульвер-Литтон. Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunes

Preface to The First Edition of Rienzi

Preface to the Present Edition, 1848

BOOK I. – THE TIME, THE PLACE, AND THE MEN

Chapter 1.I. The Brothers

Chapter 1.II. An Historical Survey—not to Be Passed Over, Except by

Chapter 1.III. The Brawl

Chapter 1.IV. An Adventure

Chapter 1.V. The Description of a Conspirator, and the Dawn of the

Chapter 1.VI. Irene in the Palace of Adrian di Castello

Chapter 1.VII. Upon Love and Lovers

Chapter 1.VIII. The Enthusiastic Man Judged by the Discreet Man

Chapter 1.IX. “When the People Saw this Picture, Every One Marvelled.”

Chapter 1.X. A Rough Spirit Raised, Which May Hereafter Rend the Wizard

Chapter 1.XI. Nina di Raselli

Chapter 1.XII. The Strange Adventures that Befel Walter de Montreal

BOOK II. THE REVOLUTION

Chapter 2.I. The Knight of Provence, and his Proposal

Chapter 2.II. The Interview, and the Doubt

Chapter 2.III. The Situation of a Popular Patrician in Times of Popular

Chapter 2.IV. The Ambitious Citizen, and the Ambitious Soldier

Chapter 2.V. The Procession of the Barons.—The Beginning of the End

Chapter 2.VI. The Conspirator Becomes the Magistrate

Chapter 2.VII. Looking after the Halter when the Mare is Stolen

Chapter 2.VIII. The Attack—the Retreat—the Election—and the Adhesion

BOOK III. THE FREEDOM WITHOUT LAW

Chapter 3.I. The Return of Walter de Montreal to his Fortress

Chapter 3.II. The Life of Love and War—the Messenger of Peace—the

Chapter 3.III. The Conversation between the Roman and the

BOOK IV. THE TRIUMPH AND THE POMP

Chapter 4.I. The Boy Angelo—the Dream of Nina Fulfilled

Chapter 4.II. The Blessing of A Councillor Whose Interests and Heart Are

Chapter 4.III. The Actor Unmasked

Chapter 4.IV. The Enemy’s Camp

Chapter 4.V. The Night and its Incidents

Chapter 4.VI. The Celebrated Citation

Chapter 4.VII. The Festival

BOOK V. THE CRISIS

Chapter 5.I. The Judgment of the Tribune

Chapter 5.II. The Flight

Chapter 5.III. The Battle

Chapter 5.IV. The Hollowness of the Base

Chapter 5.V. The Rottenness of the Edifice

Chapter 5.VI. The Fall of the Temple

Chapter 5.VII. The Successors of an Unsuccessful Revolution—Who is to

BOOK VI. THE PLAGUE

Chapter 6.1. The Retreat of the Lover

Chapter 6.II. The Seeker

Chapter 6.III. The Flowers Amidst the Tombs

Chapter 6.IV. We Obtain What We Seek, and Know it Not

Chapter 6.V. The Error

BOOK VII. THE PRISON

Chapter 7.I. Avignon.—The Two Pages.—The Stranger Beauty

Chapter 7.II. The Character of a Warrior Priest—an Interview—the

Chapter 7.III. Holy Men.—Sagacious Deliberations.—Just Resolves.—And

Chapter 7.IV. The Lady and the Page

Chapter 7.V. The Inmate of the Tower

Chapter 7.VI. The Scent Does Not Lie.—The Priest and the Soldier

Chapter 7.VII. Vaucluse and its Genius Loci.—Old Acquaintance Renewed

Chapter 7.VIII. The Crowd.—The Trial.—The Verdict.—The Soldier and

Chapter 7.IX. Albornoz and Nina

BOOK VIII. THE GRAND COMPANY

Chapter 8.I. The Encampment

Chapter 8.II. Adrian Once More the Guest of Montreal

Chapter 8.III. Faithful and Ill-fated Love.—The Aspirations Survive the

BOOK IX. THE RETURN

Chapter 9.I. The Triumphal Entrance

Chapter 9.II. The Masquerade

Chapter 9.III. Adrian’s Adventures at Palestrina

Chapter 9.IV. The Position of the Senator.—The Work of Years.—The

Chapter 9.V. The Biter Bit

Chapter 9.VI. The Events Gather to the End

BOOK X. THE LION Of BASALT

Chapter 10.I. The Conjunction of Hostile Planets in the House of Death

Chapter 10.II. Montreal at Rome.—His Reception of Angelo Villani

Chapter 10.III. Montreal’s Banquet

Chapter 10.IV. The Sentence of Walter de Montreal

Chapter 10.V. The Discovery

Chapter 10.VI. The Suspense

Chapter 10.VII. The Tax

Chapter 10.VIII. The Threshold of the Event

Chapter The Last. The Close of the Chase

Appendix I. Some Remarks on the Life and Character of Rienzi

Appendix II. A Word Upon the Work by Pere du Cerceau and Pere Brumoy,

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I began this tale two years ago at Rome. On removing to Naples, I threw it aside for “The Last Days of Pompeii,” which required more than “Rienzi” the advantage of residence within reach of the scenes described. The fate of the Roman Tribune continued, however, to haunt and impress me, and, some time after “Pompeii” was published, I renewed my earlier undertaking. I regarded the completion of these volumes, indeed, as a kind of duty;—for having had occasion to read the original authorities from which modern historians have drawn their accounts of the life of Rienzi, I was led to believe that a very remarkable man had been superficially judged, and a very important period crudely examined. (See Appendix, Nos. I and II.) And this belief was sufficiently strong to induce me at first to meditate a more serious work upon the life and times of Rienzi. (I have adopted the termination of Rienzi instead of Rienzo, as being more familiar to the general reader.—But the latter is perhaps the more accurate reading, since the name was a popular corruption from Lorenzo.) Various reasons concurred against this project—and I renounced the biography to commence the fiction. I have still, however, adhered, with a greater fidelity than is customary in Romance, to all the leading events of the public life of the Roman Tribune; and the Reader will perhaps find in these pages a more full and detailed account of the rise and fall of Rienzi, than in any English work of which I am aware. I have, it is true, taken a view of his character different in some respects from that of Gibbon or Sismondi. But it is a view, in all its main features, which I believe (and think I could prove) myself to be warranted in taking, not less by the facts of History than the laws of Fiction. In the meanwhile, as I have given the facts from which I have drawn my interpretation of the principal agent, the reader has sufficient data for his own judgment. In the picture of the Roman Populace, as in that of the Roman Nobles of the fourteenth century, I follow literally the descriptions left to us;—they are not flattering, but they are faithful, likenesses.

Preserving generally the real chronology of Rienzi’s life, the plot of this work extends over a space of some years, and embraces the variety of characters necessary to a true delineation of events. The story, therefore, cannot have precisely that order of interest found in fictions strictly and genuinely dramatic, in which (to my judgment at least) the time ought to be as limited as possible, and the characters as few;—no new character of importance to the catastrophe being admissible towards the end of the work. If I may use the word Epic in its most modest and unassuming acceptation, this Fiction, in short, though indulging in dramatic situations, belongs, as a whole, rather to the Epic than the Dramatic school.

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The great secret of eloquence is to be in earnest—the great secret of Rienzi’s eloquence was in the mightiness of his enthusiasm. He never spoke as one who doubted of success. Perhaps, like most men who undertake high and great actions, he himself was never thoroughly aware of the obstacles in his way. He saw the end, bright and clear, and overleaped, in the vision of his soul, the crosses and the length of the path; thus the deep convictions of his own mind stamped themselves irresistibly upon others. He seemed less to promise than to prophesy.

The Bishop of Orvietto, not over wise, yet a man of cool temperament and much worldly experience, was forcibly impressed by the energy of his companion; perhaps, indeed, the more so, inasmuch as his own pride and his own passions were also enlisted against the arrogance and licence of the nobles. He paused ere he replied to Rienzi.

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