CH. VIII.

VICTORY IN DEATH.

241

hate, and are guilty of all filthy and unmentionable crimes, and so openly commit all these things, that heaven and earth cry for vengeance!'

Savonarola employed the liberty which was now accorded him, to preaching on the book of Job-and avoided as much as possible giving occasion to new accusations. He therefore forbore at the commencement of the course from all political and polemical digressions; confining himself within the limits of his subject, not however without reference to the publicly understood fundamental principle of all his discourses-Reform of the public and civil life in godly fear, and the restoration of a mutual understanding and general peace. Frequently, however, had he to complain that his Florence, ungrateful towards God, would not follow the warning voice, and blindly resisted to her ruin. And yet he sought only her advantage, unceasingly and at every sacrifice, while he feared neither danger, nor the displeasure of the great, nor the hate of the crowd. Therefore he was willing to persevere till the end, and prayed all who followed, to pray for him, that God would endow him with a full measure of power, to speak only for the welfare of the city, and the general good; warning them that they might never give due attention to his words, if they proceeded on passion, and not on the highest motives. The lukewarm in the Church he spared not-and turned from them to God. 'Yes, Lord!' he exclaimed, 'I turn to Thee; let me be thy sacrifice. Give me strength that I may willingly bear all insults, all disgraces, and all calamities, that on thy account I may be blamed by all as a fool. We stand on the battlefield, but doubt not that we shall conquer at last, and in every way, even dying; and in death shall fight more successfully than in life.'

We need not wonder that the powers of this world

Y

242

THE POPE AND THE PRELATE.

B. III.

were troubled by the assertion of such principles, seeing that these are the very spell-words by which they shall be eventually shaken, that the way may be prepared for the reign of Christ upon earth. Annoyed as Alexander VI. was by Savonarola's temerity, prudence suggested that he should avoid proceeding to extremities against a man so learned, pious, eloquent, and influential. Indeed, might he not make of him a friend instead of an enemy ?-or might not other means be devised which, without implicating the papal chair, would suffice to silence or remove him? These must be tried.

One day, accordingly, the Pope sent for a bishop of the Dominican order, and said, 'I desire, that as a brother of the same order, you will answer the sermons of Savonarola, and controvert effectually their arguments.'

The caution of the prelate was equal to that of the pontiff, and he seems also to have had an advantage in possessing what the latter wanted-a conscience.

Holy father!' (responded the bishop,) I am prepared to fulfil your commands; yet permit me to remark, that if I am to vanquish him, I must be supplied with arms.'

'Arms!-what arms?'-exclaimed the astonished

pontiff.

'This monk,'-continued the bishop, says we ought not to keep concubines, commit simony, or be guilty of licentiousness. If in this he speaks truly, what shall I reply?'

'What then must we do with him?' enquired his holiness.

'Reward him,' answered the prelate; 'give him a red hat-make of him a cardinal and a friend at Send to him Ludovico, a man equally learned with himself, and let him argue with Savonarola, not forgetting, as his strongest argument, this offer-to

once.

CH. VIII.

TEMPTATION PROJECTED.

243

be promised, on condition that he abstains from prophesying, and retracts what he has said and written.' With this advice, Alexander VI. was well pleased, and gave directions for carrying the same into immediate execution.

CHAPTER IX.

CITATION TO ROME.

Florence and Pisa-Domestic policy of former-Savonarola's letter to Charles VIII. betrayed to Alexander VI.-Pope's citation-Savonarola's sickness-Suspends and resumes his pastoral duties-Social Reforms-Increasing reputationSingular Carnival-Auto da fe' of works of art, &c.—Injurious consequences-Self-examination-The troubler of

Italy?-Ludovico.

CHARLES VIII. having taken Naples, the Florentines naturally expected the restoration of Pisa, which the French, however, still continued to besiege. The Pisans, on the contrary, wroth at their dependency on Florence, and groaning under oppression, still iterated the promise of the king that, after his withdrawal, they should be free. This doubleminded conduct of the French monarch, which even his historian and, in part, companion, Philip de Comines, openly censures, and cannot excuse except on the score of pity to the Pisans, occasioned in Florence much disaffection, which grew to indignation, when the Pisans, at the commencement of the year 1495, obtained the assistance of the French in opposition to some warlike undertakings of the Florentines. At one time, accordingly, they refused, except

CH. IX. SAVONAROLA RESISTS CHARLES VIII.

245

conditionally, the subsidies they had promised; and assuredly would have been followed by the other states and powers of Italy, in an insurrection against France, had they not been deterred by hate of the Duke of Milan, and the persuasion of Savonarola,— who, in the constant hope that Charles would securely proceed as God's powerful instrument for the Reformation of the Church, sought to tranquillize the people with the repeated assurance that the king must triumph, and that Florence by remaining true to him, would in that case regain all her lost possessions.

Savonarola had, indeed, maintained a correspondence with the conqueror. When Naples prepared to make head against the unbridled, headlong, contagious progress of the French, he wrote to the king, maintaining that this revolt was the first penal consequence of his having violated his word with Florence,' and reminding him afresh, that God would by him overthrow all the tyrants of Italy, and afterwards conduct the Turk into Christendom.' He afterwards complained that this letter, with many errors, was circulated, and had reason to dread its reaction upon himself, inasmuch as therein he had declared, that the Church at that time was without any true visible head, Alexander VI. having purchased his election by scandalous bribery, and having exhibited, as a man, such a degree of turpitude as was inconsistent with the Christian character, and virtually deprived him of all ecclesiastical authority. Charles VIII., whether moved thereto by this letter or not, actually in a manifesto which he afterwards published against Naples, proposed the calling of a general council. On his return from that place, he came into the neighbourhood of Florence, and was visited by Savonarola with an embassy in Poggibonsi, for the purpose of impressing upon him em