ul preacher and reformer. His eloquent and burning
declarations were hurled both at Florence and Rome: at the apathy and
greed of the Church as a whole, and at the sinfulness and luxury of
this city, while Lorenzo the Magnificent, who was then at the height
of his influence, surrounded by accomplished and witty hedonists,
and happiest when adding to his collection of pictures, jewels,
and sculpture, in particular did the priest rebuke. Savonarola stood
for the spiritual ideals and asceticism of the Baptist, Christ, and
S. Paul; Lorenzo, in his eyes, made only for sensuality and decadence.

The two men, however, recognized each other's genius, and Lorenzo,
with the tolerance which was as much a mark of the first three
Medici rulers as its absence was notable in most of the later ones,
rather encouraged Savonarola in his crusade than not. He visited him
in the monastery and did not resent being kept waiting; and he went
to hear him preach. In 1492 Lorenzo died, sending for Savonarola on
his death-bed, which was watched by the two closest of his scholarly
friends, Pico della Mirandola and Politian. The story of what happened
has been variously told. According to the account of Politian, Lorenzo
met his end with fortitude, and Savonarola prayed with the dying man
and gave him his blessing; according to another account, Lorenzo was
called upon by Savonarola to make three undertakings before he died,
and, Lorenzo declining, Savonarola left him unabsolved. These promises
were (1) to repent of all his sins, and in particular of the sack
of Volterra, of the alleged theft of public dowry funds and of the
implacable punishment of the Pazzi conspirators; (2) to restore all
property of which he had become possessed by unjust means; and (3)
to give back to Florence her liberty. But the probabilities are in
favour of Politian's account being the true one, and the later story
a political invention.

Lorenzo dead and Piero his son so incapable, Savonarola came to his
own. He had long foreseen a revolution following on the death of
Lorenzo, and in one of his most powerful sermons he had suggested
that the "Flagellum Dei" to punish the wicked Florentines might be
a foreign invader. When therefore in 1493 the French king Charles
VIII arrived in Italy with his army, Savonarola was recognized not
only as a teacher but as a prophet; and when the Medici had been
again banished and Charles, having asked too much, had retreated
from Florence,