[5] Giovanni Sanzi’s chronicle, quoted by Dennistoun, vol. i.
    p. 223, describes the conspirators rehearsing on a wooden
    puppet.

In the interval which elapsed between the rack and the pincers, Olgiati had time to address this memorable speech to the priest who urged him to repent:  ’As for the noble action for which I am about to die, it is this which gives my conscience peace; to this I trust for pardon from the Judge of all.  Far from repenting, if I had to come ten times to life in order ten times to die by these same torments, I should not hesitate to dedicate my blood and all my powers to an object so sublime.’  When the hangman stood above him, ready to begin the work of mutilation, he is said to have exclaimed:  Mors acerba, fama perpetua, stabit vetus memora facti—­my death is untimely, my fame eternal, the memory of the deed will last for aye.’  He was only twenty-two years of age.[1] There is an antique grandeur about the outlines of this story, strangely mingled with mediaeval Catholicism in the details, which makes it typical of the Renaissance.  Conspiracies against rulers were common at the time in Italy; but none were so pure and honorable as this.  Of the Pazzi Conjuration (1478) which Sixtus IV. directed to his everlasting infamy against the Medici, I shall have to speak in another place.  It is enough to mention here in passing the patriotic attempt of Girolamo Gentile against Galeazzo Sforza at Genoa in 1476, and the more selfish plot of Nicolo d’ Este, in the same year, against his uncle Ercole, who held the Marquisate of Ferrara to the prejudice of his own claim.  The latter tragedy was rendered memorable by the vengeance taken by Ercole.  He beheaded Nicolo and his cousin Azzo together with twenty-five of his comrades, effectually preventing by this bloodshed any future attempt to set aside his title.  Falling as these four conspiracies do within the space of two years, and displaying varied features of antique heroism, simple patriotism, dynastic dissension, and ecclesiastical perfidy, they present examples of the different forms and causes of political tragedies with a noteworthy and significant conciseness.[2]

[1] The whole story may be read in Ripamonti, under the head of ‘Confessio Olgiati;’ in Corio, who was a page of the Duke’s and an eye-witness of the murder; and in the seventh book of Machiavelli’s ‘History.’  Sismondi’s summary and references, vol. vii. pp. 86-90, are very full.

[2] It is worthy of notice that very many tyrannicides took place in Church—­for example, the murders of Francesco Vico dei Prefetti, of the Varani, the Chiavelli, Giuliano de’ Medici, and Galeazzo Maria Sforza.  The choice of public service, as the best occasion for the commission of these crimes, points to the guarded watchfulness maintained by tyrants in their palaces and on the streets.  Banquets and festivities offered another kind of opportunity; and it was on such