Rienzi by Edward Bulwer-lytton — Read

The bell of the great Lateran church sounded shrill and loud, as the / mighty multitude, greater even than that of the preceding night, swept / on. The appointed officers made way with difficulty for the barons and / ambassadors, and scarcely were those noble visitors admitted ere the / crowd closed in their ranks, poured headlong into the church, and took / the way to the chapel of Boniface VIII. There, filling every cranny, / and blocking up the entrance, the more fortunate of the press beheld the / Tribune surrounded by the splendid court his genius had collected, and / his fortune had subdued. At length, as the solemn and holy music began / to swell through the edifice, preluding the celebration of the mass, the / Tribune stepped forth, and the hush of the music was increased by the / universal and dead silence of the audience. His height, his air, his / countenance, were such as always command the attention of crowds; and at / this time they received every adjunct from the interest of the occasion, / and that peculiar look of intent yet suppressed fervour, which is, / perhaps, the sole gift of the eloquent that Nature alone can give.

"Be it known," said he, slowly and deliberately, "in virtue of that / authority, power, and jurisdiction, which the Roman people, in general / parliament, have assigned to us, and which the Sovereign Pontiff hath / confirmed, that we, not ungrateful of the gift and grace of the Holy / Spirit -- whose soldier we now are -- nor of the favour of the Roman people, / declare, that Rome, capital of the world, and base of the Christian / church; and that every City, State, and People of Italy, are henceforth / free. By that freedom, and in the same consecrated authority, we / proclaim, that the election, jurisdiction, and monarchy of the Roman / empire appertain to Rome and Rome's people, and the whole of Italy. We / cite, then, and summon personally, the illustrious princes, Louis Duke / of Bavaria, and Charles king of Bohemia, who would style themselves / Emperors of Italy, to appear before us, or the other magistrates of / Rome, to plead and to prove their claim between this day and the Day of / Pentecost. We cite also, and within the same term, the Duke of Saxony, / the Prince of Brandenburg, and whosoever else, potentate, prince, or / prelate, asserts the right of Elector to the imperial throne -- a / right that, we find it chronicled from ancient and immemorial time, / appertaineth only to the Roman people -- and this in vindication of / our civil liberties, without derogation of the spiritual power of / the Church, the Pontiff, and the Sacred College. Herald, proclaim / the citation, at the greater and more formal length, as written and / intrusted to your hands, without the Lateran."