He whom
we listened to in the Duomo as the fervid proclaimer of God's justice,
stands now before us as the perverter of even human justice and human
law. The very nobleness of Bernardo del Nero strengthens the necessity
that he should die, that the Mediceans may be thus deprived of the
support of his stainless honour and high repute; though to compass this
death the law of mercy which Savonarola himself has instituted must be
put aside. As we listen to the miserable sophistries by which he strives
to justify himself--far less to Romola than before his own accusing
soul--we feel that the greatness of his strength has departed from him.
All thenceforth is deepening confusion without and within. Less and less
can he control the violences of his party, till these provoke all but
universal revolt, and the "Masque of the Furies" ends his public career.
The uncertainties and vacillations of the "Trial by Fire," the long
series of confessions and retractations, historically true, are still
more morally and spiritually significant. They tell of inward confusion
and perplexity, generated through that partial "self-pleasing" which,
under guise so insidious, had stolen into the inner life; of faith and
trust perturbed and obscured thereby; of dark doubts engendered whether
God had indeed ever spoken by him.
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