Emperor and his insurgent subjects, the burghs obtained an assured
position as a third power between the Empire and the Church. The most
remarkable point in the history of this contention is the unanimous
submission of the Communes to what they regarded as the just suzerainty
of Cæsar's representative. Though they were omnipotent in Lombardy, they
took no measures for closing the gates of the Alps against the Germans.
The Emperor was free to come and go as he listed; and when peace was
signed, he reckoned the burghers who had beaten him by arms and policy,
among his loyal vassals. Still the spirit of independence in Italy had
been amply asserted. This is notably displayed in the address presented
to Frederick, before his coronation, by the senate of Rome. Regenerated
by Arnold of Brescia's revolutionary mission, the Roman people assumed
its antique majesty in these remarkable words: 'Thou wast a stranger; I
have made thee citizen; thou camest from regions from beyond the Alps; I
have conferred on thee the principality.'[1] Presumptuous boast as this
sounded in the ears of Frederick, it proved that the Italic nation had
now sharply defined itself against the Church and the barbarians. It
still accepted the Empire because the Empire was the glory of Italy, the
crown that gave to her people the presidency of civilization. It still
recognized the authority of the Church because the Church was the eldest
daughter of Italy emergent from the wrecks of Roman society. But the
nation had become conscious of its right to stand apart from either.

[1]: 'Hospes eras, civem feci. Advena fuisti ex transalpinis
partibus, principem constitui. Quod meum jure fuit, tibi dedi.' See
_Ottonis Episcopi Frisingensis Chronicon_, De Rebus Gestis Frid. i.
Imp. Lib. ii. cap. 21. Basileæ, 1569. The Legates appointed by the
Senate met the Emperor at Sutri, and delivered the oration of which
the sentence just quoted was part. It began: 'Urbis legati nos, rex
optime, ad tuam a Senatu, populoque Romano destinati sumus