“You see before you in the picture” (he began again) “a mighty and tempestuous sea:  upon its waves you behold five ships; four of them are already wrecks,—­their masts are broken, the waves are dashing through the rent planks, they are past all aid and hope:  on each of these ships lies the corpse of a woman.  See you not, in the wan face and livid limbs, how faithfully the limner hath painted the hues and loathsomeness of death?  Below each of these ships is a word that applies the metaphor to truth.  Yonder, you see the name of Carthage; the other three are Troy, Jerusalem, and Babylon.  To these four is one common inscription.  ‘To exhaustion were we brought by injustice!’ Turn now your eyes to the middle of the sea,—­there you behold the fifth ship, tossed amidst the waves, her mast broken, her rudder gone, her sails shivered, but not yet a wreck like the rest, though she soon may be.  On her deck kneels a female, clothed in mourning; mark the wo upon her countenance,—­how cunningly the artist has conveyed its depth and desolation; she stretches out her arms in prayer, she implores your and Heaven’s assistance.  Mark now the superscription—­’This is Rome!’—­Yes, it is your country that addresses you in this emblem!”

The crowd waved to and fro, and a deep murmur crept gathering over the silence which they had hitherto kept.

“Now,” continued Pandulfo, “turn your gaze to the right of the picture, and you will behold the cause of the tempest,—­you will see why the fifth vessel is thus perilled, and her sisters are thus wrecked.  Mark, four different kinds of animals, who, from their horrid jaws, send forth the winds and storms which torture and rack the sea.  The first are the lions, the wolves, the bears.  These, the inscription tells you, are the lawless and savage signors of the state.  The next are the dogs and swine,—­these are the evil counsellors and parasites.  Thirdly, you behold the dragons and the foxes,—­and these are false judges and notaries, and they who sell justice.  Fourthly, in the hares, the goats, the apes, that assist in creating the storm, you perceive, by the inscription, the emblems of the popular thieves and homicides, ravishers and spoliators.  Are ye bewildered still, O Romans! or have ye mastered the riddle of the picture?”

Far in their massive palaces the Savelli and Orsini heard the echo of the shouts that answered the question of Pandulfo.

“Are ye, then, without hope!” resumed the scholar, as the shout ceased, and hushing, with the first sound of his voice, the ejaculations and speeches which each man had turned to utter to his neighbour.  “Are ye without hope?  Doth the picture, which shows your tribulation, promise you no redemption?  Behold, above that angry sea, the heavens open, and the majesty of God descends gloriously, as to judgment:  and, from the rays that surround the Spirit of God extend two flaming swords, and on those swords stand, in wrath, but in