CHAPTER 4.II.The Blessing of A Councillor Whose Interests and Heart Are.
Our Own .-- the Straws Thrown Upward,--Do They Portend A Storm.
It was later that day than usual, when Rienzi returned from his tribunal to the apartments of the palace.

As he traversed the reception hall, his countenance was much flushed; his teeth were set firmly, like a man who has taken a strong resolution from which he will not be moved; and his brow was dark with that settled and fearful frown which the describers of his personal appearance have not failed to notice as the characteristic of an anger the more deadly because invariably just.
Close as his heels followed the Bishop of Orvietto and the aged Stephen Colonna.

"I tell you, my Lords," said Rienzi, "that ye plead in vain.
Rome knows no distinction between ranks.

The law is blind to the agent--lynx-eyed to the deed." "Yet," said Raimond, hesitatingly, "bethink thee, Tribune; the nephew of two cardinals, and himself once a senator." Rienzi halted abruptly, and faced his companions.

"My Lord Bishop," said he, "does not this make the crime more inexcusable?
Look you, thus it reads:--A vessel from Avignon to Naples, charged with the revenues of Provence to Queen Joanna, on whose cause, mark you, we now hold solemn council, is wrecked at the mouth of the Tiber; with that, Martino di Porto--a noble, as you say--the holder of that fortress whence he derives his title,--doubly bound by gentle blood and by immediate neighbourhood to succour the oppressed--falls upon the vessel with his troops (what hath the rebel with armed troops ?)--and pillages the vessel like a common robber.