Note 049
Matthew Paris thus ends his account:
Caput vero ipsius Branca leonis in vase pretioso super
marmoream columnam collocatum, in signum sui valoris et probitatis,
quasi reliquias, superstitiose nimis et pompose sustulerunt.
Fuerat enim superborum potentum et malefactorum urbis
malleus et extirpator, et populi protector et defensor
veritatis et justitiae imitator et amator
(p. 840.)
A biographer of Innocent IV. (Muratori, Script. tom. iii. P.
i. p. 591, 592) draws a less favorable portrait of this
Ghibelline senator.
The History Of The Decline And
Fall Of The Roman Empire
—Fall In The East
—Chapter 69