t, exceeding the laws of nature. For Pope
Boniface had presented the Commonwealth of Florence with a young and
handsome lion, which was chained up and kept in the court of the palace
aforesaid. A donkey laden with firewood was driven in, and 'either from
fear, or by a miracle,' as the chronicle says, at once assailed the lion
with the utmost ferocity, and kicked him to death, in spite of the
efforts of a number of men to drag the beast of burden off. Of the two
hypotheses, the wise men of the day preferred the supernatural
explanation, and one of them found an ancient Sibylline prophecy to the
effect that 'when the tame beast should kill the king of beasts, the
dissolution of the Church should begin.' Which saying, adds Villani, was
presently fulfilled in Pope Boniface.

For the Pope had a mortal quarrel with Philip the Fair of France whom he
had promised to make Emperor, and had then passed over in favour of
Albert, son of Rudolph of Hapsburg; and Philip made a friend and ally of
Stephen Colonna, the head of the great house, who was then in France,
and drove Boniface's legate out of his kingdom, and allowed the Count of
Artois to burn the papal letters. The Pope retorted by a Major
Excommunication, and the quarrel became furious. The Colonna being under
his hand, Boniface vented his anger upon them, drove them from Rome,
destroyed their houses, levelled Palestrina to the ground, and ploughed
up the land where it had stood. The six brothers of the house were
exiles and wanderers. Old Stephen, the idol of Petrarch, alone and
wretched, was surrounded by highwaymen, who asked who he was. 'Stephen
Colonna,' he answered, 'a Roman citizen.' And the thieves fell back at
the sound of the great name. Again, someone asked him with a sneer where
all his strongholds were, since Palestrina was gone. 'Here,' he
answered, unmoved, and laying his hand upon his heart. Of such stuff
were the Pope's enemies.

Nor could he crush them. Boniface was of Anagni, a city of prehistoric
walls and ancient memories which belonged to the Caetani; and there, in
the late summer, he was sojourning for rest and country air, with his
cardinals and his court and his kinsmen about him. Among the cardinals
was Napoleon Orsini.

[Illustration: GRAND HALL OF THE COLONNA PALACE]

Then came William of Nogaret, sent by the King of France, and Sciarra
Colonna, the boldest man of his day, and many other nobles, with three
hundred knights and many footmen. For