hardness and energy with each stepping-stone
to power. There was a circumstance attendant on his birth which had,
probably, exercised great and early influence on his ambition. Though
his parents were in humble circumstances, and of lowly calling, his
father was the natural son of the Emperor, Henry VII.; (De Sade supposes
that the mother of Rienzi was the daughter of an illegitimate son of
Henry VII., supporting his opinion from a MS. in the Vatican. But,
according to the contemporaneous biographer, Rienzi, in addressing
Charles, king of Bohemia claims the relationship from his father "Di
vostro legnaggio sono--figlio di bastardo d'Enrico imperatore," &c. A
more recent writer, il Padre Gabrini, cites an inscription in support of
this descent: "Nicolaus Tribunus...Laurentii Teutonici Filius," &c.)
and it was the pride of the parents that probably gave to Rienzi
the unwonted advantages of education. This pride transmitted to
himself,--his descent from royalty dinned into his ear, infused into his
thoughts, from his cradle,--made him, even in his earliest youth, deem
himself the equal of the Roman signors, and half unconsciously aspire
to be their superior. But, as the literature of Rome was unfolded to
his eager eye and ambitious heart, he became imbued with that pride of
country which is nobler than the pride of birth; and, save when stung by
allusions to his origin, he unaffectedly valued himself more on being
a Roman plebeian than the descendant of a Teuton king. His brother's
death, and the vicissitudes he himself had already undergone, deepened
the earnest and solemn qualities of his character; and, at length, all
the faculties of a very uncommon intellect were concentrated into one
object--which borrowed from a mind strongly and mystically religious,
as well as patriotic, a sacred aspect, and grew at once a duty and a
passion.

"Yes," said Rienzi, breaking suddenly from his revery, "yes, the day
is at hand when Rome shall rise again from her ashes; Justice shall
dethrone Oppression; men shall walk safe in their ancient Forum. We will
rouse from his forgotten tomb the indomitable soul of Cato! There shall
be a people once more in Rome! And I--I shall be the instrument of that
triumph--the restorer of my race! mine shall be the first voice to swell
the battle-cry of freedom--mine the first hand to rear her banner--yes,
from the height of my own soul as from a mountain, I see already rising
the liberties and the grand