During one of his absences, the old Roman spirit had revived, and the high-born senator Crescentius had set up himself as Tribune of the people, freed Rome from the Germans, driven away Pope Gregory V, and installed John XVI in his place. The Emperor returned quickly to Rome, took Crescentius and his Pope prisoner, and then presented the Romans with a vivid spectacle, the like of which they had not seen, though their fathers had. The Leonine quarter, which embraced the Vatican Hill, with the oldest St. Peter’s Church and a papal palace, was connected with the town by the Pons Aelius or Bridge of Hadrian. At the head of the bridge, on the right side, was the sepulchre of Hadrian, a tower-shaped building in which the Emperors up to the time of Caracalla had been buried. When the Goths took Rome, the sepulchre became a fortress, and remained so for a long time. When the Romans woke up on that memorable morning of the year 998 A.D., they saw twelve wooden crosses erected on Hadrian’s Tower terrace. Right above them was to be seen the image of the Archangel Michael, with his drawn sword, which had been erected by Gregory the Great. Many people were assembled on the Aelian Bridge to see the spectacle, and among them were a French merchant and a Gothic pilgrim who had come from the west across the Leonine quarter. The sword of the Archangel flamed in the beams of the sun, which was now high. “What are those crosses for?” asked the pilgrim, shading his eyes. “There are twelve! Perhaps they are intended to represent the twelve Apostles.” “No, they have finished their sufferings, and the pious Emperor does not crucify the disciples of the Lord anew.” “Yes, the Emperor! The Saxon! Neither the Goth, nor the Longobard, nor the Frank were to have Rome, but the Saxon--one of the cursed nation whom Charles the Great thought that he had extirpated. He sent ten thousand to Gaul, in order to make a present of these savages to the enemy, and he beheaded four thousand five hundred in a single day, without its costing him a sleepless night. Wonderful are the ways of the Lord!” “The last are often the first.” “O Lord Jesus, Redeemer of the world! there is something moving on the crosses! Do you see?” “Yes, by heaven! No, I cannot look! They are crucified men!” Two Romans stood by the strangers: “Hermann, you are avenged,” said one. “Was Hermann a Saxon?” objected the other. “Probably, since he lived in the Harz district.” “A thousand years ago Thusnelda passed through the streets in the triumph-train of Germanicus, and carried the unborn Thumelicus under her heart! To think that a thousand years had to pass before she was avenged!” “A thousand years are as a day! But are not these our Roman brothers on the cross martyrs for Rome’s freedom?” “Martyrs for our cause! But this time they were wrong, because the gods so willed it.”