atened harm to "true religion." Savonarola should be silenced, said
the aristocrats, and that speedily.

A letter came from Pope Alexander, couched in most gentle and gracious
words, requesting Savonarola to come to Rome, and there give exhibition
of his wondrous gifts.

Savonarola knew that he was dealing with a Borgia--a man who cajoled,
bought and bribed, and when these failed there were noose, knife and
poison close at hand. The Prior of Saint Mark's could deal with Lorenzo
in Florence, but with Alexander at Rome he would be undone. The
iniquities of the Borgia family far exceeded the sins of the Medici, and
in his impassioned moments Savonarola had said as much.

At Rome he would have to explain these things--and to explain them would
be to repeat them. Alexander stood for nepotism, which is the sugared
essence of that time-honored maxim, "To the victor belong the spoils."
The world has never seen so little religion and so much pretense as
during the reign of the Borgias.

At this time when offenders were called to Rome, it sometimes happened
that they were never again heard from. Beneath the Castle Saint Angelo
were dungeons--no records were kept--and the stories told of human bones
found in walled-up cells are no idle tales. An iron collar circling the
neck of a skeleton that was once a man is a sight these eyes have seen.

Prison records open to the public are a comparatively new thing, and the
practise of "doctoring" a record has, until recently, been quite in
vogue.

Savonarola acknowledged the receipt of the Pope's request, but made
excuses, and asked for time.

Alexander certainly did all he could to avoid an open rupture with the
Prior of Saint Mark's. He was inwardly pleased when Savonarola affronted
the Medici--it was a thing he dared not do--and if the religious
revival could be localized and kept within bounds, all would have been
well. It had now gone far enough; if continued, and Rome should behold
such scenes as Florence had witnessed, the Holy See itself would not be
safe.

Alexander accepted the excuses of Savonarola with much courtesy. Soon
word came that the Prior of Saint Mark's was to be made a cardinal, but
the gentle hint went with the message that the red hat was to be in the
nature of a reward for bringing about peace at Florence.

Peace! Peace! How could there be peace unless Savonarola bowed his head
to the rule of the aristocrats?

His sermons were often interrupted--stones w