out:--

"The sin is committed; nothing further remains but to save our souls by
repentance, undergo death courageously, and not suffer you to be thus
tortured."

Then said Beatrice, shaking her head as if to cast off grief--

"Do you then wish to die? Since you wish it, be it so."

Then turning to the officers:--

"Untie me," said she, "read the examination to me; and what I have to
confess, I will confess; what I have to deny, I will deny."

Beatrice was then lowered and untied; a barber reduced the dislocation
of her arms in the usual manner; the examination was read over to her,
and, as she had promised, she made a full confession.

After this confession, at the request of the two brothers, they were all
confined in the same prison; but the next day Giacomo and Bernardo were
taken to the cells of Tordinona; as for the women, they remained where
they were.

The pope was so horrified on reading the particulars of the crime
contained in the confessions, that he ordered the culprits to be dragged
by wild horses through the streets of Rome. But so barbarous a sentence
shocked the public mind, so much so that many persons of princely rank
petitioned the Holy Father on their knees, imploring him to reconsider
his decree, or at least allow the accused to be heard in their defence.