justice began to be done. The Archbishop was handed at once, just as
he was, from a window of the Palazzo Vecchio. Francesco de' Pazzi,
who had got home to bed, was dragged to the Palazzo and hanged too. The
mob meanwhile were not idle, and most of the Pazzi were accounted for,
together with many followers--although Lorenzo publicly implored them
to be merciful. Poliziano, the scholar-poet and friend of Lorenzo,
has left a vivid account of the day. With his own eyes he saw the
hanging Salviati, in his last throes, bite the hanging Francesco de
Pazzi. Old Jacopo succeeded in escaping, but not for long, and a day
or so later he too was hanged. Bandini got as far as Constantinople,
but was brought back in chains and hanged. The two priests hid in
the Benedictine abbey in the city and for a while evaded search,
but being found they were torn to pieces by the crowd. Montesecco,
having confessed, was beheaded in the courtyard of the Bargello.

The hanging of the chief conspirators was kept in the minds of the
short-memoried Florentines by a representation outside the Palazzo
Vecchio, by none other than the wistful, spiritual Botticelli; while
three effigies, life size, of Lorenzo--one of them with his bandaged
neck--were made by Verrocchio in coloured wax and set up in places
where prayers might be offered. Commemorative medals which may be
seen in the Bargello, were also struck, and the family of Pazzi was
banished and its name removed by decree from the city's archives. Poor
Giuliano, who was generally beloved for his charm and youthful spirits,
was buried at S. Lorenzo in great state.

I have often attended High Mass in this Duomo choir--the theatre of
the Pazzi tragedy--but never without thinking of that scene.

Luca della Robbia's doors to the new sacristy, which gave the young