DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61902#0304
284
THE MAKERS OF FLORENCE.
“ stupefied ” by this continual resistance. But still he was
not wroth. He sent presents to the convent; he dropped
gold pieces in the box—evidently a very unusual liberality
—when he came to San Marco ; but Savonarola resisted
still. When the box was opened and the golden scudos
seen, the prior carefully laid them aside, and sent them
to the Buonuomini di San Martino to be distributed to the
poor, to the intense disappointment of certain good frati,
who had already in their minds destined this unlooked-for
wealth to the repairs and larger needs of the convent.
“ The silver and copper are enough for us,” said Savona-
rola ; “we do not want so much money.” Lorenzo’s
disappointment and mortification at this most marked
rejection of his overtures were naturally great. He had
taken so much trouble, and shown so great an eagerness to
conciliate Savonarola, that one feels disposed to think that
the prior was somewhat churlish, and to be sorry for the
magnate thus constantly repulsed in his efforts.
The next step which Lorenzo took seems singularly
simple, if he had any real hope of still winning over the
preacher, and was directed rather to the task of influencing
his public work than of gaining his private friendship. He
sent five noble citizens of Florence, all men of note and
weight, directing them to make pretense of having gone
of their own accord, out of regard to the peace of the city
and the good of the convent, to beg Savonarola to moderate
the tone of his sermons, and to cease his denunciation
of the general corruption. These men were Domenico
Bonsio (afterward the envoy of the signoria to the pope),
Guid’ Antonio Vespucci, Paolo Soderini, Francesco Valori
(a citizen of the greatest influence in Florence), and Ber-
nardo Rucellai, the cousin of Lorenzo. How these magnifi-
cent mediaeval figures, in their scarlet mantles, must have
crowded the little cell with its one chair and commodious
desk, in which the prior lived 1 or perhaps he received
THE MAKERS OF FLORENCE.
“ stupefied ” by this continual resistance. But still he was
not wroth. He sent presents to the convent; he dropped
gold pieces in the box—evidently a very unusual liberality
—when he came to San Marco ; but Savonarola resisted
still. When the box was opened and the golden scudos
seen, the prior carefully laid them aside, and sent them
to the Buonuomini di San Martino to be distributed to the
poor, to the intense disappointment of certain good frati,
who had already in their minds destined this unlooked-for
wealth to the repairs and larger needs of the convent.
“ The silver and copper are enough for us,” said Savona-
rola ; “we do not want so much money.” Lorenzo’s
disappointment and mortification at this most marked
rejection of his overtures were naturally great. He had
taken so much trouble, and shown so great an eagerness to
conciliate Savonarola, that one feels disposed to think that
the prior was somewhat churlish, and to be sorry for the
magnate thus constantly repulsed in his efforts.
The next step which Lorenzo took seems singularly
simple, if he had any real hope of still winning over the
preacher, and was directed rather to the task of influencing
his public work than of gaining his private friendship. He
sent five noble citizens of Florence, all men of note and
weight, directing them to make pretense of having gone
of their own accord, out of regard to the peace of the city
and the good of the convent, to beg Savonarola to moderate
the tone of his sermons, and to cease his denunciation
of the general corruption. These men were Domenico
Bonsio (afterward the envoy of the signoria to the pope),
Guid’ Antonio Vespucci, Paolo Soderini, Francesco Valori
(a citizen of the greatest influence in Florence), and Ber-
nardo Rucellai, the cousin of Lorenzo. How these magnifi-
cent mediaeval figures, in their scarlet mantles, must have
crowded the little cell with its one chair and commodious
desk, in which the prior lived 1 or perhaps he received