of the highest window."

These messages the envoy failed not to deliver.

The captain of the Romans was equally stern in his reply.

"Declare to your Lord," said he, "that Rome holds him and his as rebels
and traitors; and that the moment you regain your troop, our archers
receive our command to draw their bows--in the name of the Pope, the
City, and the Liberator."

This threat was executed to the letter; and ere the old Baron had time
to draw up his men in the best array, the gates were thrown open, and
a well-armed, if undisciplined, multitude poured forth, with fierce
shouts, clashing their arms, and advancing the azure banners of the
Roman State. So desperate their charge, and so great their numbers, that
the Barons, after a short and tumultuous conflict, were driven back,
and chased by their pursuers for more than a mile from the walls of the
city.

As soon as the Barons recovered their disorder and dismay, a hasty
council was held, at which various and contradictory opinions were
loudly urged. Some were for departing on the instant to Palestrina,
which belonged to the Colonna, and possessed an almost inaccessible
fortress. Others were for dispersing, and entering peaceably, and in
detached parties, through the other gates. Stephen Colonna--himself
incensed and disturbed from his usual self-command--was unable to
preserve his authority; Luca di Savelli, (The more correct orthography
were Luca di Savello, but the one in the text is preserved as more
familiar to the English reader.) a timid, though treacherous and subtle
man, already turned his horse's head, and summoned his men to follow him
to his castle in Romagna, when the old Colonna bethought himself of a
method by which to keep his band from a disunion that he had the sense
to perceive would prove fatal to the common cause. He proposed that they
should at once repair to Palestrina, and there fortify themselves; while
one of the chiefs should be selected to enter Rome alone, and
apparently submissive, to examine the strength of Rienzi; and with the
discretionary power to resist if possible,--or to make the best terms he
could for the admission of the rest.

"And who," asked Savelli, sneeringly, "will undertake this dangerous
mission? Who, unarmed and alone, will expose himself to the rage of the
fiercest populace of Italy, and the caprice of a demagogue in the first
flush of his power?"

The Barons and the Captains looked at each other in silence. Save