Colonna

“ Let him consent to Roman freedom, and ‘Madre Natura’ will guarantee him against Lutetian barricades.”
“It is only the offer of Mary-Anne in another form,” said Colonna.
“Guarantee the dynasty,” said Theodora. “There is the point. He can trust us. Emperors and kings break treaties without remorse, but he knows that what is registered by the most ancient power in the world is sacred.”
“Can republicans guarantee dynasties?” said Colonna, shaking his head.
“Why, what is a dynasty, when we are dealing with eternal things? The casualties of life compared with infinite space? Rome is eternal. ”

“ I have risen, but we all have risen—from barbarous disorder into civilized life! My Lord Gianni Colonna, whom we have made Captain over Campagna, you will not refuse a cup to the Buono Stato;—nor think we mistrust your valour, when we say, that we rejoice Rome hath no enemies to attest your generalship.”
“Methinks,” quoth the old Colonna, bluntly, “we shall have enemies enough from Bohemia and Bavaria, ere the next harvest be green.”
“And, if so,” replied the Tribune, calmly, “foreign foes are better than civil strife.” ”

“ Fra Colonna cannot be corrected; his family is all-powerful in Rome. Pray we the saints he blasphemes to enlighten him. 'Twill not be the first time they have returned good for evil. Meantime thou art forbidden to consort with him. From this day go alone through the city! Confess and absolve sinners! exorcise demons! comfort the sick! terrify the impenitent! preach wherever men are gathered and occasion serves! and hold no converse with the Fra Colonna!"
Clement bowed his head.
Then the prior, at Jerome's request, had the young friar watched. ”

“ The third, or Colonna-Romano line, is descended from Federigo Colonna (1223) . In the 12th century we find the Colonna as counts of Tusculum, and the family was then famous as one of the most powerful and turbulent of the great Roman clans; its feuds with the Orsini and the Gaetani are a characteristic feature of medieval Rome and the Campagna; like the other great nobles of the Campagna the Colonna plundered travellers and cities, and did not even spare the pope himself if they felt themselves injured by him. ”

“ Does he look among the Colonna for a wife?”
“Sir Knight, the Tribune is already married; within three days after his ascension to power, he won and bore home the daughter of the Baron di Raselli.”
“Raselli! no great name; he might have done better.”
“But it is said,” resumed the youth, smiling, “that the Tribune will shortly be allied to the Colonna, through his fair sister the Signora Irene. The Baron di Castello woos her.”
“What, Adrian Colonna! Enough! you have convinced me that a man who contents the people and awes or conciliates the nobles is born for empire. ”

“ But among, perhaps above, the peers and princes of the city, I distinguish the rival houses of Colonna and Ursini, whose private story is an essential part of the annals of modern Rome. I. The name and arms of Colonna 97 have been the theme of much doubtful etymology; nor have the orators and antiquarians overlooked either Trajan’s pillar, or the columns of Hercules, or the pillar of Christ’s flagellation, or the luminous column that guided the Israelites in the desert. ”

“ In the mean time Colonna, with folded arms and eyes fixed on the ground, was listening to Theodora.
“Thus you see,” she continued, “it comes to this—Rome can only be freed by the Romans. He looks upon the secret societies of his own country as he does upon universal suffrage—a wild beast, and dangerous, but which may be watched and tamed and managed by the police. He listens, but he plays with them. He temporizes. At the bottom of his heart, his Italian blood despises the Gauls. ”

“ It is a peaceful and vine-clad country, now. South of it rise the low heights of Tusculum, and it is more than probable that the Colonna were originally descended from the great counts who tyrannized over Rome from that strong point of vantage and, through them, from Theodora Senatrix. Be that as it may, their arms consist of a simple column, used on a shield, or as a crest, or as the badge of the family, and it is found in many a threadbare tapestry, in many a painting, in the frescos and carved ornaments of many a dim old church in Rome. ”

“ Soon, however, his noble features brightened with a fervent look of blended filial piety and exultation. He wiped his reeking blade upon the remnants of Barozzo’s mantle, and we retraced our steps. Colonna ascended a sheep-path, and crossed the mountain to regain his boat, while I returned by a circuitous road to the villa, leaving the governor of Candia and his retinue to the vultures of the Apennine, which, with unerring ken, had espied the dead Greeks, and were already sailing in wide eddies high above the scene of blood. ”

“ In popular commotions, each man is whirled along with the herd, often half against his own approbation or assent. The few words of peace by which Adrian di Castello commenced an address to his friends were drowned amidst their shouts. Proud to find in their ranks one of the most beloved, and one of the noblest of that name, the partisans of the Colonna placed him in their front, and charged impetuously on their foes. ”

“ There may have been a connection, too, in the minds of the people, between the 'Column of Piazza Colonna' and the Column of the Colonna family, since a great part of this Region had fallen under the domination of the noble house, and was held by them with a chain of towers and fortifications ”

“ With renewed shouts, those on foot pushed forward, till, as they had nearly gained the copse referred to by the German, a small compact body of horsemen, armed cap-a-pie, dashed from amidst the trees, and, with spears in their rests, charged into the ranks of the pursuers.
“A Colonna! a Colonna!” “An Orsini! an Orsini!” were shouts loudly and fiercely interchanged. Martino di Porto, a man of great bulk and ferocity, and his cavaliers, who were chiefly German Mercenaries, met the encounter unshaken. ”

“ Our excursions were alternately separate, and in company, and Colonna was often absent from the villa for one or more days and nights, without exciting observation or surprise.
He delighted in ranging over the green pastures of Lombardy, hedged in by lofty trees, festooned with vines, and irrigated by transparent streams innumerable. The young Tuscan had never before seen nature in a garb so lovely and inviting; he wandered through the picturesque villages which margin or overhang the lake of Garda, sojourned with the peasantry, and sketched their figures and costume. ”

“ When Colonna landed, he was joined by many of the inhabitants, who, during the struggle which had been subsisting so long, and with such violence, had again and again endeavoured to maintain themselves in a state of freedom, and had elected a certain number of chiefs, to whom they gave the title of caporali.
These caporali gave all the aid in their power to Colonna; and, by their influence over the people, they soon brought together such a body of men, that Colonna was enabled totally to rout the Saracens, and to dispossess them for ever. ”

“ A bloody froth now gathered round his lips, which worked with agony and rage; the life-blood ebbed apace, and soon the trunk and limbs of the colossal chieftain were stiffened in death. But even in death the dominant passions of his soul were strongly written in his livid features. His glazed and sunken eyes still glared with fiend-like malice on his conqueror, and every lineament was inwrought with reckless and insatiable ferocity.
Colonna gazed a while in solemn and impressive silence upon the foe he had destroyed. ”

“ One side of the massive colonnade casts a grateful shadow over the crowd beneath, that fill up the intervals of its columns; but elsewhere the sun burns down and flashes everywhere. Mounted on the colonnade are crowds of people leaning over, beside the colossal statues. Through all the heat is heard the constant plash of the sun-lit fountains, that wave to and fro their veils of white spray. ”

“ A great deal has been written about Vittoria Colonna, but perhaps the best account of her life is A. Luzio’s Vittoria Colonna (Modena, 1885) ; A. von Reumont’s Vita di Vittoria Colonna (Italian corrected edit., Turin, 1883) is also excellent; F. le Fèvre’s Vittoria Colonna (Paris, 1856) is somewhat inaccurate, but T. Roscoe’s Vittoria Colonna (London, 1868) may be recommended to English readers; P. E. Visconti’s Le Rime di Vittoria Colonna (Rome, 1846) deals with her poems. ”

“ During the 14th and 15th centuries their feuds with the Colonna caused frequent disturbances in Rome and the Campagna, sometimes amounting to civil war. They also played an important rôle as Neapolitan nobles. ”

“ A pleasant glimpse into Vittoria's life at Rome is given by the Portuguese artist, Francesco d'Olanda, who visited her about the year 1548. "Madonna Vittoria Colonna," he says, "Marchioness of Pescara and sister to the Lord Antonio Colonna, is one of the most excellent and famous women of Europe,—that is, of the whole civilized world. Not less chaste than beautiful, learned in Latin literature and full of genius, she possesses all the qualities and virtues that are praiseworthy in woman. After the death of her hero husband, she now leads a modest and retired life. ”

“ Encouraged by the welcome sound, Barozzo attempted to draw his sword, but before the plunging of his horse would allow him to reach the hilt, the vigilant Colonna smote him on the cheek with his sheathed weapon. Then relinquishing the bridle, and stepping lightly sideways, he struck the horse’s flank, and the startled animal, straining every sinew, bounded away like a ball, and quickly disappeared round the second angle of the cliff, followed by the loud laugh of the exulting Colonna, whose fierce ha! ”

“ No one can be surprised at the grim irony of the new pontiff in orderingmasses to be said for the soul of Gregory XIII I
Looking at the tranquil loveliness of the Colonnafountain so white and shining in the sunlight it isdifficult to picture it as a part of the turbulent life of the period in which it was erected. Yet many a timeits waters must have restored consciousness, stanchedwounds, stifled cries for mercy or succor, and washedaway the stains of blood. It has always been a Pilgrims'Fountain. ”

“ It is the nineteenth, I think, Lord Colonna, on which you propose to repair to Corneto, with your friends and retainers, and on which you have invited my attendance?”
“It is on that day, Sir Knight,” replied the Baron, evidently much relieved by the turn the conversation had assumed. “The fact is, that we have been so charged with indifference to the interests of the good people, that I strain a point in this expedition to contradict the assertion; and we propose, therefore, to escort and protect, against the robbers of the road, a convoy of corn to Corneto. ”

“ And for a moment they stood there in the sunlight before the long colonnade that occupied the lower story of the citadel; while from beneath that colonnade issued a dozen or fifteen of the black, muscular Maghrabi men, two of whom—in the rôle of official stranglers—they had already seen. These powerful half-savages took the horses away, the hoofs clacking hollowly on the golden pavement. ”

“ Everything is right with Herus. In your Manilian property I came across Diphilus outdoing himself in dilatoriness. Still, he had nothing left to construct, except baths, and a promenade, and an aviary. I liked that villa very much, because its paved colonnade gives it an air of very great dignity. I never appreciated this till now that the colonnade [2] itself has been all laid open, and the columns have been polished. ”

“ During the frequent absence of Colonna, I had occasionally joined the governor in his equestrian excursions, and, from neighbourly feeling to the senator Foscari, had escorted his guest to the most picturesque scenery of this [Pg 86] romantic district. His rides were daily, and at the same hour. I proposed to join him as usual, and to lead him into a narrow and unfrequented defile in the mountains, which rise from the lake about three leagues from Peschiera. ”

“ So early as the 1200, mention is made of Pietro Colonna, the eight of the name. The branch which settled in Corsica, continued long in great splendour, enjoying the noble fief of Istria; but, by the confusions and troubles which the island has been thrown into, by the bloody contests between the Genoese and the patriotick Corsicans, that family hath suffered prodigiously, and its possessions are reduced to a very narrow compass. The present head of the family, is a worthy, sensible man, and very zealous in the great cause. I was lodged in his house at Sollacaro, where I found Pascal Paoli. ”

“ An open colonnade, with statues and a fountain in front of it. To the left, under the colonnade, a flight of steps leads up to the Imperial Palace.
A company of Courtiers, Teachers, Poets, and Orators—among them the court-physician, Oribases, and the poet, Heraclius—are assembled, some in the colonnade, some around the fountain; most of them are dressed in ragged cloaks, with matted hair and beards.
Heraclius. I can endure this life no longer. To rise with the sun, plunge into a cold bath, run or fence oneself weary——
Oribases. ”

“ Colonna alone seemed born to associate with him, as he did after the death of his favourite Curti. An intimacy ensued, which was like the second act of Angiol Michele's life; an intimacy which, strengthened by mutual esteem and interest, and cherished by habit and kind offices, continued during twenty-four years, until terminated by the death of Mitelli. ”