was inside the Cathedral that dread April morning, but remained on watch
to see what transpired. On the defeat of the conspiracy he fled, with
many more, right out of Tuscany. Agents of the Medici, however, pursued
him and, having captured him, dragged him back to Florence. Before the
Lords of the _Signoria_ he made confession of what he knew of the
conspiracy and of his own part therein. On 4th May, just seven days
after the tragedy, he paid the penalty of his misplaced devotion, and he
was hanged within the Palace of the Podesta.

Two arch-conspirators are still to be accounted for, Pope Sixtus IV. and
Count Girolamo de' Riari! The former never expressed the least regret or
concern at the tragic occurrences in Florence, but openly deplored the
failure of his scheme to replace Lorenzo by Girolamo. Furthermore, he
issued a "Bull," which began: "Iniquitatis filius et perditionis
alumnus," and ended by anathema of Lorenzo, whereby he was
excommunicated, and all Florence placed under an Interdict!

Moreover, he laid violent hands upon Donato Acciaiuolo, the Florentine
ambassador, and, but for the prompt intervention of the envoys of Venice
and Milan, would have cast him, uncharged, into the dungeons of the
castle of Sant Angelo. The majority of the Florentine merchants in Rome
were arrested, their property confiscated, and, to add insult to
injury, Sixtus demanded from the _Signoria_ the immediate banishment of
Lorenzo. He expressed his keen sorrow for the deaths of the Pazzi and
Salviati, his "devoted sons and trusty counsellors." He spoke of the
execution of the Archbishop as "a foul murder caused by the tyranny of
the Medici," and he put a price upon the head of Cesare de' Petrucci,
the _Gonfaloniere di Giustizia_!

As for Count Girolamo, who had, coward-like, kept in the background--he