Arrived at the foot of the great staircase, which then made the principal ascent to the square of the Capitol, the procession halted; and as the crowd filled up that vast space in front—­adorned and hallowed by many of the most majestic columns of the temples of old—­Rienzi addressed the Populace, whom he had suddenly elevated into a People.

He depicted forcibly the servitude and misery of the citizens—­the utter absence of all law—­the want even of common security to life and property.  He declared that, undaunted by the peril he incurred, he devoted his life to the regeneration of their common country; and he solemnly appealed to the people to assist the enterprise, and at once to sanction and consolidate the Revolution by an established code of law and a Constitutional Assembly.  He then ordered the chart and outline of the Constitution he proposed, to be read by the Herald to the multitude.

It created,—­or rather revived, with new privileges and powers,—­a Representative Assembly of Councillors.  It proclaimed, as its first law, one that seems simple enough to our happier times, but never hitherto executed at Rome:  Every wilful homicide, of whatever rank, was to be punished by death.  It enacted, that no private noble or citizen should be suffered to maintain fortifications and garrisons in the city or the country; that the gates and bridges of the State should be under the control of whomsoever should be elected Chief Magistrate.  It forbade all harbour of brigands, mercenaries, and robbers, on payment of a thousand marks of silver; and it made the Barons who possessed the neighbouring territories responsible for the safety of the roads, and the transport of merchandise.  It took under the protection of the State the widow and the orphan.  It appointed, in each of the quarters of the city, an armed militia, whom the tolling of the bell of the Capitol, at any hour, was to assemble to the protection of the State.  It ordained, that in each harbour of the coast, a vessel should be stationed, for the safeguard of commerce.  It decreed the sum of one hundred florins to the heirs of every man who died in the defence of Rome; and it devoted the public revenues to the service and protection of the State.

Such, moderate at once and effectual, was the outline of the New Constitution; and it may amuse the reader to consider how great must have been the previous disorders of the city, when the common and elementary provisions of civilisation and security made the character of the code proposed, and the limit of a popular revolution.

The most rapturous shouts followed this sketch of the New Constitution:  and, amidst the clamour, up rose the huge form of Cecco del Vecchio.  Despite his condition, he was a man of great importance at the present crisis:  his zeal and his courage, and, perhaps, still more, his brute passion and stubborn prejudice, had made him popular.  The lower order of mechanics looked to him as their head and representative; out, then, he spake loud and fearlessly,—­speaking well, because his mind was full of what he had to say.