University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

Piazza of the Signoria.
[Three Tribunals or Galleries, with their back to the Palazzo Pubblico. In one is the Bishop of Vasona, in his Episcopal robes; in the second, the Papal Commissioners, Gioacchino Turriano, General of the Dominicans, and Francesco Romolino, Bishop of Ilerda; in the third, the Signory. From these to the middle of the Piazza runs an elevated wooden way, at the end of which rises a tall strong stake, with a cross-beam near the top of it. From this cross-beam hang three halters and three chains. Round the stake is a heap of inflammable material. Footsoldiers of the Signory prevent the people from approaching it. The Piazza is crowded with persons of all ranks, ages, and conditions.]
FIRST CITIZEN.
How like a cross that looks.

SECOND CITIZEN.
And looked more like,
Until the Signory, perceiving it,
Sawed off the top.

THIRD CITIZEN.
It still looks like a cross.

A WOMAN.
It looks like what it is.

FIRST ARRABBIATO.
I almost think
They might have spared his life. It had sufficed
To lodge him in close durance.

SECOND ARRABBIATO.
For how long?
For aught we know, another Signory
Had set him free, and then we should have had
This pother o'er again.

THIRD ARRABBIATO.
Best as it is.
An enemy that's dead makes war no more.

FIRST PIAGNONE.
Why, even now, men scatter through the streets
His Commentary on the Psalms, “In Te
Domine, speravi,” writ by him in prison.

SECOND PIAGNONE.
And a long Meditation late conceived,
Upon the Miserere; and 'tis said
He has again been prophesying ill
That is to fall on Florence when there reigns
A Pope called Clement.

FIRST ARRABBIATO.
Borgia had the wit
To avoid that name, which would have lent a foil
Too glaring 'gainst his nature. Are not those
The Pope's Commissioners?

SECOND ARRABBIATO.
Hush! Here they come.

[Enter Savonarola, Frà Domenico, and Frà Silvestro, barefoot. A Crier steps forward.]
CRIER.
The Gonfaloniere and the Eight,
Having the Processes considered well
Of the three Friars, and the grievous crimes
Therein contained, and having, most of all,
Considered the Pope's sentence, which condemns
And so consigns them to the secular arm,
That they be punished, hereby do pronounce:
That each of these three Friars do first be hanged,
Then burnt, until their souls be utterly
Dissevered from their bodies.

[Savonarola and his companions are led forward to the front of the Tribunal where the Bishop of Vasona sits, and are stripped of their outer habit, and left standing in long linen tunics.]
SAVONAROLA.
O sacred habit! how I cherished thee!
Thou unto me wast given by grace of God,
And spotless have I kept thee to the end.
Now do I not relinquish thee, but thou
Art taken from me!

FRÀ SILVESTRO.
Into Thy hands, O Lord,
I commend my spirit.

FRÀ DOMENICO.
Bear this well in mind,
The prophecies of Frà Girolamo
Will all be verified. For us, we die
Innocent.

[The Bishop, who has descended from the Tribunal, takes hold of the arm of Savonarola.]
BISHOP.
I separate thee from the Church
Militant and triumphant!

SAVONAROLA.
There, you trip!
Militant, yes! Triumphant? 'Tis not yours!

[He turns and walks along the platform to the place of execution, with Frà Domenico on his right, and Frà Silvestro on the left. Cei and Soderini emerge from the crowd.]
CEI.
Nay, come away! 'Twill be a loathsome sight.
There is a plaguing voice within my heart,
Whispers me we were wrong to plug our ears
Against the heavenly thunders of this Friar.

SODERINI.
A melancholy end!

CEI.
What end is not?
Yet different means breed different ends, be sure.
His name will live while life and death endure;
But as for these, his executioners,
Their very memory with their bones will rot,
And only slimy worms remember them!

[The Curtain falls.]