‘Shall I cut your cords for you? I have heard how you were made prisoner.’
Baldassarre did not reply immediately; he glanced suspiciously at the officious stranger. At last he said, ‘If you will.’
‘Better come outside,’ said Piero.
Baldassarre again looked at him suspiciously; and Piero, partly guessing his thought, smiled, took out a knife, and cut the cords. He began to think that the idea of the prisoner’s madness was not improbable, there was something so peculiar7 in the expression of his face. ‘Well,’ he thought, ‘if he does any mischief8, he’ll soon get tied up again. The poor devil shall have a chance, at least.’
‘You are afraid of me,’ he said again, in an undertone; ‘you don’t want to tell me anything about yourself.’
Baldassarre was folding his arms in enjoyment9 of the long-absent muscular sensation. He answered Piero with a less suspicious look and a tone which had some quiet decision in it.
‘No, I have nothing to tell.’
‘As you please,’ said Piero, ‘but perhaps you want shelter, and may not know how hospitable10 we Florentines are to visitors with torn doublets and empty stomachs. There’s an hospital for poor travellers outside all our gates, and, if you liked, I could put you in the way to one. There’s no danger from your French soldier. He has been sent off.’
Baldassarre nodded, and turned in silent acceptance of the offer, and he and Piero left the church together.
‘You wouldn’t like to sit to me for your portrait, should you?’ said Piero, as they went along the Via dell’ Oriuolo, on the way to the gate of Santa Croce. ‘I am a painter: I would give you money to get your portrait.’
The suspicion returned into Baldassarre’s glance, as he looked at Piero, and said decidedly, ‘No.’
‘Ah!’ said the painter, curtly11. ‘Well, go straight on, and you’ll find the Porta Santa Croce, and outside it there’s an hospital for travellers. So you’ll not accept any service from me?’
‘I give you thanks for what you have done already. I need no more.’
‘It is well,’ said Piero, with a shrug12, and they turned away from each other.
‘A mysterious old tiger’ thought the artist, ‘well worth painting. Ugly — with deep lines — looking as if the plough and the harrow had gone over his heart. A fine contrast to my bland13 and smiling Messer Greco — my Bacco trionfante,’ who has married the fair Antigone in contradiction to all history and fitness. Aha! his scholar’s blood curdled14 uncomfortably at the old fellow’s clutch! ’
When Piero re-entered the Piazza15 del Duomo the multitude who had been listening to Fra Girolamo were pouring out from all the doors, and the haste they made to go on their several ways was a proof how important they held the preaching which had detained them from the other occupations of the day. The artist leaned against an angle of the Baptistery and watched the departing crowd, delighting in the variety of the garb16 and of the keen characteristic faces — faces such as Masaccio had painted more than fifty years before: such as Domenico Ghirlandajo had not yet quite left off painting.
This morning was a peculiar occasion, and the Frate’s audience, always multifarious, had represented even more completely than usual the various classes and political parties of Florence. There were men of high birth, accustomed to public charges at home and abroad, who had become newly conspicuous17 not only as enemies of the Medici and friends of popular government, but as thorough Piagnoni, espousing18 to the utmost the doctrines19 and practical teaching of the Frate, and frequenting San Marco as the seat of another Samuel: some of them men of authoritati6e and handsome presence, like Francesco Valori, and perhaps also of a hot and arrogant20 temper, very much gratified by an immediate6 divine authority for bringing about freedom in their own way; others, like Soderini, with less of the ardent21 Piagnone, and more of the wise politician. There were men, also of family, like Piero Capponi, simply brave undoctrinal lovers of a sober republican liberty, who preferred fighting to arguing, and had no particular reasons for thinking any ideas false that kept out the Medici and made room for public spirit. At their elbows were doctors of law whose studies of Accursius and his brethren had not so entirely22 consumed their ardour as to prevent them from becoming enthusiastic Piagnoni: Messer Luca Corsini himself, for example, who on a memorable23 occasion yet to come was to raise his learned arms in street stone-throwing for the cause of religion, freedom, and the Frate. And among the dignities who carried their black lucco or furred mantle24 with an air of habitual25 authority, there was an abundant sprinkling of men with more contemplative and sensitive faces: scholars inheriting such high names as Strozzi and Acciajoli, who were already minded to take the cowl and join the community of San Marco; artists, wrought26 to a new and higher ambition by the teaching of Savonarola, like that young painter who had lately surpassed himself in his fresco27 of the divine child on the wall of the Frate’s bare cell — unconscious yet that he would one day himself wear the tonsure28 and the cowl, and be called Fra Bartolommeo. There was the mystic poet Girolamo Benevieni hastening, perhaps, to carry tidings of the beloved Frate’s speedy coming to his friend Pico della Mirandola, who was never to see the light of another morning. There were well-born women attired29 with such scrupulous30 plainness that their more refined grace was the chief distinction between them and their less aristocratic sisters. There was a predominant proportion of the genuine popolani or middle class, belonging both to the Major and Minor31 Arts, conscious of purses threatened by war-taxes. And more striking and various, perhaps, than all the other classes of the Frate’s disciples32, there was the long stream of poorer tradesmen and artisans, whose faith and hope in his Divine message varied33 from the rude and undiscriminating trust in him as the friend of the poor and the enemy of the luxurious34 oppressive rich, to that eager tasting of all the subtleties35 of biblical interpretation36 which takes a peculiarly strong hold on the sedentary artisan, illuminating37 the long dim spaces beyond the board where he stitches, with a pale flame that seems to him the light of Divine science.
But among these various disciples of the Frate were scattered38 many who were not in the least his disciples. Some were Mediceans who had already, from motives39 of fear and policy, begun to show the presiding spirit of the popular party a feigned40 deference41. Others were sincere advocates of a free government, but regarded Savonarola simply as an ambitious monk42 — half sagacious, half fanatical — who had made himself a powerful instrument with the people, and must be accepted as an important social fact. There were even some of his bitter enemies: members of the old aristocratic anti-Medicean party — determined43 to try and get the reins44 once more tight in the hands of certain chief families; or else licentious45 young men, who detested46 him as the killjoy of Florence. For the sermons in the Duomo had already become political incidents, attracting the ears of curiosity and malice47, as well as of faith. The men of ideas, like young Niccolo Macchiavelli, went to observe and write reports to friends away in country villas48; the men of appetites, like Dolfo Spini, bent49 on hunting down the Frate, as a public nuisance who made game scarce, went to feed their hatred50 and lie in wait for grounds of accusation51.
Perhaps, while no preacher ever had a more massive influence than Savonarola, no preacher ever had more heterogeneous52 materials to work upon. And one secret of the massive influence lay in the highly mixed character of his preaching. Baldassarre, wrought into an ecstasy53 of self-martyring revenge, was only an extreme case among the partial and narrow sympathies of that audience. In Savonarola’s preaching there were strains that appealed to the very finest susceptibilities of men’s natures, and there were elements that gratified low egoism, tickled54 gossiping curiosity, and fascinated timorous55 superstition56. His need of personal predominance, his labyrinthine57 allegorical interpretations58 of the Scriptures59, his enigmatic visions, and his false certitude about the Divine intentions, never ceased, in his own large soul, to be ennobled by that fervid60 piety61, that passionate62 sense of the infinite, that active sympathy, that clear-sighted demand for the subjection of selfish interests to the general good, which he had in common with the greatest of mankind. But for the mass of his audience all the pregnancy63 of his preaching lay in his strong assertion of supernatural claims, in his denunciatory visions, in the false certitude which gave his sermons the interest of a political bulletin; and having once held that audience in his mastery, it was necessary to his nature — it was necessary for their welfare — that he should keep the mastery. The effect was inevitable64. No man ever struggled to retain power over a mixed multitude without suffering vitiation; his standard must be their lower needs and not his own best insight.
The mysteries of human character have seldom been presented in a way more fitted to check the judgments65 of facile knowingness than in Girolamo Savonarola; but we can give him a reverence66 that needs no shutting of the eyes to fact, if we regard his life as a drama in which there were great inward modifications67 accompanying the outward changes. And up to this period, when his more direct action on political affairs had only just begun, it is probable that his imperious need of ascendancy68 had burned undiscernibly in the strong flame of his zeal69 for God and man.
It was the fashion of old, when an ox was led out for sacrifice to Jupiter, to chalk the dark spots, and give the offering a false show of unblemished whiteness. Let us fling away the chalk, and boldly say, — the victim is spotted70, but it is not therefore in vain that his mighty71 heart is laid on the altar of men’s highest hopes.
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1 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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2 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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3 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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4 solely | |
adv.仅仅,唯一地 | |
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5 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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6 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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7 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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8 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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9 enjoyment | |
n.乐趣;享有;享用 | |
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10 hospitable | |
adj.好客的;宽容的;有利的,适宜的 | |
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11 curtly | |
adv.简短地 | |
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12 shrug | |
v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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13 bland | |
adj.淡而无味的,温和的,无刺激性的 | |
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14 curdled | |
v.(使)凝结( curdle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15 piazza | |
n.广场;走廊 | |
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16 garb | |
n.服装,装束 | |
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17 conspicuous | |
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的 | |
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18 espousing | |
v.(决定)支持,拥护(目标、主张等)( espouse的现在分词 ) | |
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19 doctrines | |
n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 );教义;学说;(政府政策的)正式声明 | |
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20 arrogant | |
adj.傲慢的,自大的 | |
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21 ardent | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的 | |
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22 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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23 memorable | |
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的 | |
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24 mantle | |
n.斗篷,覆罩之物,罩子;v.罩住,覆盖,脸红 | |
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25 habitual | |
adj.习惯性的;通常的,惯常的 | |
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26 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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27 fresco | |
n.壁画;vt.作壁画于 | |
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28 tonsure | |
n.削发;v.剃 | |
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29 attired | |
adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服,使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30 scrupulous | |
adj.审慎的,小心翼翼的,完全的,纯粹的 | |
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31 minor | |
adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修 | |
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32 disciples | |
n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 );门徒;耶稣的信徒;(尤指)耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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33 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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34 luxurious | |
adj.精美而昂贵的;豪华的 | |
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35 subtleties | |
细微( subtlety的名词复数 ); 精细; 巧妙; 细微的差别等 | |
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36 interpretation | |
n.解释,说明,描述;艺术处理 | |
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37 illuminating | |
a.富于启发性的,有助阐明的 | |
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38 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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39 motives | |
n.动机,目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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40 feigned | |
a.假装的,不真诚的 | |
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41 deference | |
n.尊重,顺从;敬意 | |
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42 monk | |
n.和尚,僧侣,修道士 | |
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43 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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44 reins | |
感情,激情; 缰( rein的名词复数 ); 控制手段; 掌管; (成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的)保护带 | |
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45 licentious | |
adj.放纵的,淫乱的 | |
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46 detested | |
v.憎恶,嫌恶,痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47 malice | |
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
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48 villas | |
别墅,公馆( villa的名词复数 ); (城郊)住宅 | |
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49 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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50 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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51 accusation | |
n.控告,指责,谴责 | |
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52 heterogeneous | |
adj.庞杂的;异类的 | |
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53 ecstasy | |
n.狂喜,心醉神怡,入迷 | |
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54 tickled | |
(使)发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)愉快,逗乐 | |
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55 timorous | |
adj.胆怯的,胆小的 | |
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56 superstition | |
n.迷信,迷信行为 | |
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57 labyrinthine | |
adj.如迷宫的;复杂的 | |
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58 interpretations | |
n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 );表演;演绎;理解 | |
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59 scriptures | |
经文,圣典( scripture的名词复数 ); 经典 | |
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60 fervid | |
adj.热情的;炽热的 | |
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61 piety | |
n.虔诚,虔敬 | |
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62 passionate | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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63 pregnancy | |
n.怀孕,怀孕期 | |
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64 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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65 judgments | |
判断( judgment的名词复数 ); 鉴定; 评价; 审判 | |
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66 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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67 modifications | |
n.缓和( modification的名词复数 );限制;更改;改变 | |
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68 ascendancy | |
n.统治权,支配力量 | |
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69 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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70 spotted | |
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的 | |
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71 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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