Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunes
1835
In 14th century Rome, where the papacy has fled to Avignon and the city drowns under the feuding tyranny of the Orsini and Colonna families, a young scholar named Cola di Rienzi dreams of restoring the ancient Roman Republic. When his brother is murdered by a nobleman's retinue, the dream becomes a mandate. What follows is Cola\'s ascension from idealist to Tribune of the People, a galvanizing leader who temporarily breaks the stranglehold of the barons and gives the common people of Rome a voice in their own governance. But power is a treacherous current, and Bulwer-Lytton traces with unsettling prescience how revolutionary fervor can curdle into autocracy, how the people who cheer your rise may stone you at your fall. Written in 1835, this is both a rousing adventure and a sobering meditation on the price of political idealism. It captures the romance of classical republicanism and the tragedy of a man who became the very thing he set out to destroy. For readers who love political history, dramatic tales of doomed visionaries, or the romantics\' eternal fascination with ancient Rome.
