694 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
with himself. In vain did the physician, Lazzaro of Pavia, resort to the last medical measure, a potion of distilled gems. Farewell was said to Pico della Mirandola and other literary friends, and Lorenzo gave his final counsels to his son, Piero. The solemn rites of absolution and extreme unction were all that remained for man to receive from man. Lorenzo's confessor was within reach but the prince looked to St. Mark's. " I know of no honest friar save this one," he exclaimed. And so Savonarola was summoned to the bedside iii^the villa CareggiTlwolmTesTrora the city. Tlie dying man wanted tQ make confession_oFthi-ee misdeeds : the sack of Volterra, the roBBery of Monte delle Fanciulle and the merciless reprisals after the Pazzi conspiracy. The spiritual messenger then proceeded to present three conditions on which his absolution depended. The first was a strong faith in God's mercy. The dying man gave assent. The second was that he restore his ill-gotten wealth, or charge his sons to do it. To this assent was also given. The third demand rg!jC|jiimd_tl^-^t, hf> give bg^k to Florence her libgrties. To this Lorenzo gave JiQ ^response and turned his face to the wall. The priest withdrew and, IrTa few hours, April 8, 1492, the ruler of Floreiirc passed injp £he presence of the omnipotent Judg£ who judgeth not accordfng to the appearance but according to the heart and whose mercy is everlasting.
The surmisal has been made that, if Savonarola had been less rigid, he might have exercised an incalculable influence for good upon the dying prince who was still susceptible of religious impressions. i But who can with probability conjecture the secrets of the divine purpose in such cases ? Per-
1 So Pastor, III. 141. The account given of Lorenzo's interview with Savonarola is based upon Burlamacchi and Mirandola. Tolitian, in a letter to Jacopo Antiquario, gave a different account of tlie three demands and made no mention of Savonarola's demand that Florence be restored her liberties. He also added that Savonarola left the room pronouncing upon the dying man a blessing. Politian's version is accepted by Roscoe, ch, X., Creighton, III. 296-299 and Lucas, 8.3 sq. The version given above is accepted by Villari, 168 sqq., W. Clark, p. 116, and the rigid critic Hase, p. 20. Ranke did not see his way clear to deny its truth and Reumont, II, 443, who denied it in the 1st ed. of his Lorenzo de' Medici, hesitates in the 2d ed. Pastor proceeds upon the basis of its truth but expresses doubt in a note.
§ 76. GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 695
haps, Savonarola's relentless demands awakened in Lorenzo a serious impression showing itself in a cry to God for absolution, while the extreme unction of the priest might have lulled the dying man's conscience to sleep with a false sense of security. At any rate, the influence of the friar of St. Mark's with the people increased.
During the years, beginning with 1494, Savonarola's ascendancy was at its height and so cold a witness as Guicciardini reports his influence as extraordinary. These years included the invasion of Charles VIII., the banishment of the Medici from Florence and the establishment of a theocratic government in the city.
" He will come across the Alps against Italy like Cyrus," Savonarola had prophesied of the French king, Charles VIII. And, when the French army was approaching the confines of Florence, he exclaimed, " Behold, the sword has come upon you. The prophecies are fulfilled, the scourge begun! Behold these hosts are led of the Lord ! O Florence, the time of singing and dancing is at an end. Now is the time to shed floods of tears for thy sins."
Florence listened eagerly. Piero de' Medici went tq^ the French camp and_yielded to the king's ^eniand for 200,000 florins, and the cession of Pisa, Leghorn and Sarzana. But Savonarola thundered and pled from the pulpit against the Medicean house. The city decreed its banishment and sent commissioners to Charles, with Savonarola among them. In his address, which is preserved, the friar reminded his Majesty that he was an instrument sent by the Lord to relieve Italy of its woes and to reform the Church. Charles entered Florence but, moved by Savonarola's intercession, reduced the tribute to 120,000 florins and restrained the depredations of the French soldiery. The king also seems to have listened to the friar's stern words when he said to him, " Hearken unto the voice of God's servant and pursue thy journey onward without delay."
When Charles, after sacking Rome and occupying Naples, returned to Northern Italy, Savonarola wrote him five letters threatening that, if he did not do for Florence the things about which he had spoken to him, God's wrath would be poured out