ASSASSINATIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17033, 5 May 1923, Page 14

ASSASSINATIONS.

1 TWO NOTABLE CRIMES. The city of Florence was, in 1478, mder the rule of Lorenzo do’ Medici—ho Magnificent—and his brother Guilano. These two had had the misforuno to incur the hatred of Pope Sixtus V., the ferocious Pontiff who. it was aid, was killed by a general peace. r rom this hatred a conspiracy originat'd. Francesco Salvati, Archbishop of , > isa. deprived of his see by the Medici, .he Papal nephews (if not the Pope limself) joined with an ambitious Florentine family, the Pazzi, to “ remove ” Loreneo and Guiliano. This was but n the fashions of the time and would lardly be remarkable but for the derails of the plot. The Medici being cautious, it was lifficult to make certain of killing them both, while the survival of one vould ruin the plot. At last the devout nephew of the Pope and the pious Arcli>ishop concluded that the assassination lad better take place in the cathedral luring the celebration of High Mass, is they could not secure two experienced avssassins sufficiently free from ‘superstition ” they were compelled to j mtrust the work to two priests, amatmrs in assassination but completely fee from religious scruples. A CATHEDRAL DRAMA. / The scene in the cathedral can( well >e imagined ; the gorgeous music toning lown almost to silence as the sacred nomont of consecration draws near, rhe genuflexion of the three brilliantly vested figures at the High Altar. 7'he tinkling of a bell to call the faithful to adore the Body of Jesus Christ, the clinking of a censer sending up to the altar a cloud of incense. The congregation bowed in adoration. Then shoute, noise, death. Guiliano was killed, but the prißts were not expert enough to kill Lorenzo. They stabbed with “ fixed resolve and blind fury,” but he escaped. The people of Florence took vengeance upon the conspirators. Perhaps iheir action is best described in the Bull of Pope Sixtus IV., in which he excommunicated them for “ an unheard-of crime, they have laid violent hands on an Archbishop, and hnnged him publicly from the windows of the palace on the Lord’s own day!” END OF A TYRANT. In 1476, two years before the Pazzi plot, Milan was being ruled, or rather misruled, by Galeazzo Maria Sforza—a tyrant whose avarice, lust, and cruelty would have driven to rebellion any other State. But the Milanese were enervated by long years of tyranny, and moreover were dominated by the huge citadel which rose above the town. Accordingly men were buried alive, their wives were outraged, their property seized. Three men only had the courage to resist. Inspired by the classics with a passionate love of liberty, Girolamo Olgiati, Giannandreß Lampugnani, and Carlo Visconti resolved to stab the tyrant in the Church of St Stephen. The choice of a church is reminiscent of the Pazzi plot, but the spirit of the conspirators was very different. Galeazzo Maria was killed, and two of the conspirators fell, as they had expected. with him. Olgiati was saved for long and exerutiating tortures. A youth of twenty-two, he yet met tor ture and death with heroic fortitude.