DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36839#0077
MELLINI'S ORATION
57
Venetian, he will not be safe in Rome—and yet these
people call me a barbarian !' ^
Finally, in the second week of June, a solemn
assembly was held in the great hall of the Capitol,
which was tilled to its utmost capacity, and young
Celso Mellini, a Roman youth of noble birth, boldly
accused Longolio of high treason, and demanded his
punishment in the presence of the Pope and Car-
dinals. The tumult of mingled rage and enthusiasm
which his speech aroused is described both by
Castiglione and the Venetian envoy. Fortunately
for Longolio s safety, he had left Rome before the
meeting and returned to Louvain, where he found
consolation in the company of Erasmus, while Celso
Mellini received the congratulations of his partisans,
at a splendid entertainment in his father s villa on
Monte Mario.
The expected oration which Longolio had prepared
in his defence, and which was to have been delivered
by Marc Antonio Flaminio, was withdrawn by Sado-
leto s advice, and printed instead, on August 9. By
this time the fury of his enemies had subsided. The
Pope himself confessed that, however eloquent Celso
Mellini might be, Longolio had the better case. He
rewarded the clever young orator with a post in his
household, which Mellini, however, did not live to
enjoy, being drowned a few months later on a dark
November night as he was riding back to Rome from
La Magliana. By the Pope's order, a bridge was
built over the torrent in which he lost his life, and
was inscribed with Latin verse in his memory com-
posed by His Holiness himself. In the following
spring his rival Longolio returned to Italy, but
refused the Latin chair at Florence which Cardinal
i Sanuto, xxviii. 274; Gnoli, 43-50.
57
Venetian, he will not be safe in Rome—and yet these
people call me a barbarian !' ^
Finally, in the second week of June, a solemn
assembly was held in the great hall of the Capitol,
which was tilled to its utmost capacity, and young
Celso Mellini, a Roman youth of noble birth, boldly
accused Longolio of high treason, and demanded his
punishment in the presence of the Pope and Car-
dinals. The tumult of mingled rage and enthusiasm
which his speech aroused is described both by
Castiglione and the Venetian envoy. Fortunately
for Longolio s safety, he had left Rome before the
meeting and returned to Louvain, where he found
consolation in the company of Erasmus, while Celso
Mellini received the congratulations of his partisans,
at a splendid entertainment in his father s villa on
Monte Mario.
The expected oration which Longolio had prepared
in his defence, and which was to have been delivered
by Marc Antonio Flaminio, was withdrawn by Sado-
leto s advice, and printed instead, on August 9. By
this time the fury of his enemies had subsided. The
Pope himself confessed that, however eloquent Celso
Mellini might be, Longolio had the better case. He
rewarded the clever young orator with a post in his
household, which Mellini, however, did not live to
enjoy, being drowned a few months later on a dark
November night as he was riding back to Rome from
La Magliana. By the Pope's order, a bridge was
built over the torrent in which he lost his life, and
was inscribed with Latin verse in his memory com-
posed by His Holiness himself. In the following
spring his rival Longolio returned to Italy, but
refused the Latin chair at Florence which Cardinal
i Sanuto, xxviii. 274; Gnoli, 43-50.