[Footnote 19: In his third volume of Italian antiquities,
(p. 249- 548,) Muratori has inserted the Fragmenta Historiae
Romanae ab Anno 1327 usque ad Annum 1354, in the original
dialect of Rome or Naples in the xivth century, and a Latin
version for the benefit of strangers. It contains the most
particular and authentic life of Cola (Nicholas) di Rienzi;
which had been printed at Bracciano, 1627, in 4to., under
the name of Tomaso Fortifiocca, who is only mentioned in
this work as having been punished by the tribune for
forgery. Human nature is scarcely capable of such sublime
or stupid impartiality: but whosoever in the author of these
Fragments, he wrote on the spot and at the time, and paints,
without design or art, the manners of Rome and the character
of the tribune.
Note: Since the publication of my first edition of Gibbon,
some new and very remarkable documents have been brought to
light in a life of Nicolas Rienzi, - Cola di Rienzo und
seine Zeit, by Dr. Felix Papencordt. The most important of
these documents are letters from Rienzi to Charles the
Fourth, emperor and king of Bohemia, and to the archbishop
of Praque; they enter into the whole history of his
adventurous career during its first period, and throw a
strong light upon his extraordinary character. These
documents were first discovered and made use of, to a
certain extent, by Pelzel, the historian of Bohemia. The
originals have disappeared, but a copy made by Pelzel for
his own use is now in the library of Count Thun at Teschen.
There seems no doubt of their authenticity. Dr. Papencordt
has printed the whole in his i:Urkunden, with the exception
of one long theological paper. M. 1845.]