'
The unhappy transgressor here referred to--the same Pierpaolo Boscoli
who has been already mentioned--who in 1513 took part in an attempt
against the newly restored family of the Medici, is a faithful mirror
of the religious confusion then prevalent. Beginning as a partisan of
Savonarola, he became afterwards possessed with an enthusiasm for the
ancient ideals of liberty, and for paganism in general; but when he was
in prison his early friends regained the control of his mind, and
secured for him what they considered a pious ending. The tender witness
and narrator of his last hours is one of the artistic family of the
Della Robbia, the learned philologist Luca. 'Ah,' sighs Boscoli, 'get
Brutus out of my head for me, that I may go my way as a Christian.' 'If
you will,' answers Luca, 'the thing is not difficult; for you know that
these deeds of the Romans are not handed down to us as they were, but
idealized (con arte accresciute).' The penitent now forces his
understanding to believe, and bewails his inability to believe
voluntarily. If he could only live for a month with pious monks he
would truly become spiritually minded. It comes out that these
partisans of Savonarola knew their Bible very imperfectly; Boscoli can
only say the Paternoster and Ave Maria, and earnestly begs Luca to
exhort his friends to study the sacred writings, for only what a man
has learned in life does he possess in death.
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