RIETI
27
RIGBY
thusiastic supporter — while at Avignon, and he there received the appointment of papal nutary. After his return to Kome he devoted himself to the work of in- flaming the passions of the people through the means of popular and patriotic addresses, and with such suc- cess that he was proclaimed tribune of Kome and clothed with dictatorial powers in INIay, 13-17. The pope at first confirmed Rlenzi's elevation in the hope of securing the people and humbling the nobility, and the tribune's good fortune, power, and just administration recom- mended him even to princes, e. g. the emperor Lewis and the king of Hungary, who sought his friendship; but the height he had attained made him dizzy. He knighted himself; declared Kome the sovereign of the world ; commanded the pope and cardinals to return to Rome; cited the emperor and the king of Bohemia be- fore him in order to restore peace between them ; or- dered the electors to furnish evidence of their right to elect the emperors, etc. Warnings and outbreaks of discontented factions failed to restrain him, and pope Clement interfered with what was rapidly becoming a reign of terror by issuing (Dec. 3, 1347) a bull against the tribune. The people immediately forsook Kienzi, and he was compelled to flee in disguise from Rome in January, 1348. He subsequently returned secretly to Rome, but soon went to Prague, where he was appre- hended by the emperor Charles IV, who delivered him to the pope at Avignon in 1351. Innocent IV soon af- terwards became pope, and Rienzi succeeded in disprov- ing the charges raised against him of heresy and tyran- ny, and even in securing the pope's favor and confidence. In the meantime the conflict of factions had broken out again with fresh fury at Rome, and a papal notary named Baroncelli (or Baracelli) had assumed the role of tribune. It was seen at Avignon that Rienzi might defeat the projects of tliat agitator, and he was accord- ingly attached to the suite of the cardinal iEgidius Al- bornoz, to whom was intrusted the pacification of Italy. The vacillating populace received him with enthusiasm ; but no sooner was he in the possession of power than he began once more to abuse it. He disregarded the hatred of the house of Colonna, imposed unwise taxes, and left his bodj'-guard unpaid ; and when it became apparent that his firmness had departed and that his administra- tion was undecided and fluctuating, a popular outbreak was brought about by some means, Rienzi's house was burned, and Rienzi hinjself was slain by the people who just before had almost worshipped him. The date of his death is Oct. 4, 1354 (others, Oct. 7 or 8). The es- timates of Rienzi's life and services differ greatly, some (as Schlosser, Weltgesch.) representing him as a fantas- tical charlatan, and others flnding in him noble traits, especially an enthusiasm for republican institutions and for justice. Still others deny to him all greatness of character, but find an explanation of his career in the extraordinary conditions of his time and the circum- stances of his life. Nationalism, based on the renewed familiarity with the conditions of antiquity, was certain- ly the leading element in the rapid drama of his life. See Baluzii Vitm Pap. A venion. ; Bzovius, A mial. Eccl. ad A itii. 1353, No. 2 ; Villani, Col. di Rienzo ; Schlosser, Weltf/esc/i. vol. iv, pt. i; Hisf.-j)olit. IJlatter, vol. xx; Papencordt, Col. di Rienzo u. seine Zeit (Hamb. and (iotha, 1841) ; and others ; also Bulwer's novel, Rienzi, the Lust of the Tribunes. — Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchen- Lex. s. V.
Rieti, IMosES ben-Isaac di, of Pentfjia, a noted Jewish writer, was born in 1388 and died after 1451. He was a physician and philosopher of some renown, and wrote very elegant verses in Hebrew and Italian. He is the author of l3"T3 WlpO D, a Great Paradiso in Terza Rima, with literary and historical notes. It consists of two parts, viz. the D?1X!l p?n and pbn bD'^nn, which again are separated into divisions. The first part contains in the first division a prayer to God, and speaks of the plan, name, division, and grouping of
the work ; in the second the author treats of theology, revelation, tlie tliirteen articles of faith, tlie phases of plii- losophy among (ireeks and Hebrews, of the Cabala and its study; in the tliird he treats of the other sciences, tlie liberal arts, etc. ; in the fourtii he speaks of the intro- duction of Forpliyry, the ten categories, the commentary of Ibn-Roshil, anil the i)hilosophical labors of Levi ben- Gershon, or Ralbag; in the fifth he continues to speak of pliilosophy. The second part, which is composed of eight divisions, speaks in the first of Paradise, with its patriarchs, prophets. Sanhedrim, the wise and pious; the second, wliich is also entitled PiSSn il'IJ^P, is a grand confcssioiutl, penitential, and admon- itory prayer; in the third, which is called C^nPX "i"*?, The City of God, the bright abode of Ezra, Daniel, Ze- rubbabel, Zechariah, etc., is described; in the fourth, called lyS-H m^SN, the author of the Mishna and his work in the domain of the blessed are described; the fifth speaks of the cliapters of the six orders of the Mishna and their contents; the sixth treats of the writings of the Tanaim, Amoraim, Saboraim, Geonim, etc., down to the author's own time; the seventh descants upon the teachers of the Talmud, the theology of the Midrashim, etc.; and, finallv, the eighth narrates the exiles of the Jews and their sufferings. lu the Paradiso, Di Rieti excludes Immanuel of Rome (q. v.) from the re- gions of the blessed, and he is also said to have repented of his own poetry as a waste of time. "This would show that he possessed more judgment than those who have published this unattractive work as the production of the • Hebrew Dante' " (Steinsclineider). Tliis Dirina Commedia was first edited after three MSS., by Jacob Goldenthal, with an Italian and Hebrew introduction (Vienna, 1851). Di Rieti wrote some other works, which, ho^vever, are yet in MS. See Flirst, Bibl. Jud. iii, 158 sq. ; Bartolocci, Bibl. Rabb. iii, 945 a ; Griitz, Gesch. d. Jtuku (Leips. 1875), viii, 143-145; Delitzsch, Ge.ock. d.jiidischen Poesie, p. 54, 145; Moses Rieti, in the Jew- ish Messenrjer (N. Y.), May 18, 1876. (B. P.)