Walks in Rome

by Augustus J. C. Hare

"Such, however, was not the case with the young and beautiful Beatrice. Full of spirit and courage, neither the persuasions nor threats of Moscati the judge could extort from her the smallest confession. She endured the torture of the cord with all the firmness which the purity of her heart inspired. The judge failed to extort from her lips a single word which could throw a shade over her innocence, and at length, believing it useless to pursue the torture further, he suspended the proceedings, and reported them to the pope. But Clement VIII, suspecting that the unwillingness of Moscati to believe Beatrice guilty was induced by her extreme beauty, only replied by consigning the prosecution to another judge, and Beatrice was left in the hands of Luciani, 'a man whose heart was a stranger to every feeling of humanity.' Upon her renewed protestations of innocence, he ordered the torture of the Vigilia.

"The torture of the Vigilia was as follows:—Upon a high joint-stool, the seat about a span large, and instead of being flat, cut in the form of pointed diamonds, the victim was seated: the legs were fastened together and without support; the hands bound behind the back, and with a running knot attached to a cord descending from the ceiling: the body was loosely attached to the back of the chair, cut also into angular points. A wretch stood near, pushing the victim from side to side, and now and then, by pulling the rope from the ceiling, gave the arms most painful jerks. In this horrible position the sufferer remained forty hours, the assistants being changed every fifth hour. At the expiration of this time, Beatrice was carried into the prison more dead than alive. The judge was annoyed at the account he received of the fortitude of Beatrice, and, in a rage, he exclaimed, 'Never shall it be said that a weak girl can escape from my hands, while not one of those condemned have been able to resist my power!'

"On the third day the examination was renewed, and Beatrice was condemned to the tortura capillorum. 'At a given signal, the satellites of the tribunal carried Beatrice under a rope suspended from the ceiling, and twisting into a cord her long and beautiful hair, they attached it, with diabolical art, to the rope, so that the whole body could by this means be raised from the ground. The frightful preparations over, and her protestations of innocence again disregarded, she was elevated from the ground by the hair of her head; at the same time was added another torture, consisting of a mesh of small cords twined about the fingers, twisting them nearly out of joint and dragging the hand almost from the bone of the arm. The wretched girl screamed with agony, while the judge stood by, commanding the suspended rope to be tightened, and raising the body by the hair from the ground gave it a sudden jerk, exhorting her to confess. She cried out in a convulsion for water, rolling her eyes in agony, and exclaiming, 'I am innocent.' The torture being repeated with still greater cruelty, and the fortitude of the young girl remaining unshaken, the judge, believing it impossible that a young female could resist such torments, concluded, with the superstition of the times, that she carried about with her some witchcraft; he ordered her to be examined, and finding no cause of suspicion, was about to have her hair cut off, when it was suggested the torment of the tortura capillorum could not then be renewed; her hair was again fastened to the rope, and for a whole hour she was subjected to such a succession of cruelties as the heart shrinks from narrating: but not a word escaped from her lips, that could compromise her innocence.

"In the mean time Lucrezia, Giacomo, and Bernardo were taken into the hall Erculeo, and in their presence a repetition of the torture was ordered, to so awful an extent, that she fainted and lay senseless. A new cruelty was devised—the taxilla,—her feet were bared, and to the soles was applied a block of heated wood, prepared in such a way as to retain the scorching heat; then did the unhappy girl utter piercing shrieks, and remained some minutes apparently dead. These accumulated tortures were repeated, until her relations, who were handcuffed lest they should render her any assistance, began to implore her with heart-rending tears and entreaties to yield. To this the judge mingled threats and the application of further torments, and enforced them with such rigour, that the victim shrieked in agony, and exclaimed, 'Oh! cease this martyrdom, and I will confess anything.'

"The tortures were at once suspended and restoratives applied, while her family on their knees implored Beatrice to adhere to her promise, urging that the unnatural cruelties of her father would be a just defence for the crime imputed to her, and that by agreeing to their deposition, she might give them a hope of common liberation. The unhappy girl replied, 'Be it as you wish. I am content to die if I can preserve you'—and to each interrogatory of the judge she replied, 'E vero,' until asked whether she did not urge the assassins to kill her father, and, on their refusal, propose to commit the crime herself, when she involuntarily exclaimed, 'Impossible, impossible! a tiger could not do it; how much less a daughter!' Threatened anew with the torture, she answered not, but, raising her eyes to Heaven, and moving her lips in prayer, she said, 'Oh my God, Thou knowest if this be true!' Thus did the judge force from Beatrice an assent to a deed at which her very nature revolted.

"Luciani hastened to the pope with the news that Beatrice had confessed. Clement VIII. was seized with one of those fits of anger to which he was subject, and exclaimed—'Let them all be immediately bound to the tails of wild horses, and dragged through the streets until life is extinct.' The horror evinced by all classes at this sentence induced him to grant a respite of twenty-five days, at the end of which a trial took place, and the advocate Farinacci boldly pleaded the defence of the prisoners. But while their fate was hanging in the balance, the Marchesa Santa-Croce was murdered by her own son, which caused Clement to order the immediate execution of the whole Cenci family, and the entreaties of their friends only induced him to spare the life of Bernardo, with the horrible proviso that he was to remain upon the scaffold and witness the execution of his relations.

" ... During the fearful and protracted transit to the scaffold, it was the custom of the satellites of the inquisition, at regular intervals, to tear from the body pieces of flesh with heated pincers, but in this instance the pope dispensed with this torture, but ordered that Giacomo should be beaten to death and then quartered. As the procession passed the piazza of the Palazzo Cenci, Giacomo, who had appeared resigned, became dreadfully agitated, and uttered heart-rending cries of, 'My children! my children!' The people shouted, 'Dogs, give him his children!' The procession was proceeding, when the multitude assumed such a threatening aspect, that two of the Compagnia dei Confortati thought themselves authorised to pause, the unhappy man imploring them in accents of despair, to suffer him once more to behold his children. The crowd became pacified on seeing Giacomo descend from the cart and conducted to the vestibule of his palace, where they brought to him his children and his wife. The latter fainted on the last step.

"The scene that followed was the most affecting and painful that the imagination can picture. His three children clung around his legs, uttering cries that rent the hearts of all present The unhappy man embraced them, telling them that in Bernardo they would find a father; then, fixing his eyes on his unconscious wife, he said, 'Let us go!' Reascending the cart, the procession stopped before the prison of the Corte Savella.

"Here Beatrice and Lucrezia appeared before the gates, conducted by the Confortati. They knelt down and prayed for some time before the crucifix, and then walked on foot behind the carriage. Lucrezia wore a robe of black, and a long black veil covered her head and shoulders; Beatrice in a dark robe and veil, a handkerchief of cloth of silver on her head, and slippers of white velvet, ornamented with crimson sandals and rosettes, followed.... Twice during the passage, an attempt was made to rescue Beatrice, but each failed, and she reached the chapel, where all the condemned were to receive the blessing of the Sacrament before execution.

"The first brought out to ascend the scaffold was Bernardo, who, according to the conditions of his reprieve, was to witness the death of his relatives. The poor boy, before he had reached the summit, fell down in a swoon, and was obliged to be supported to his seat of torture. Preceded by the standard and the brethren of the Misericordia, the executioner next entered the chapel to convey Lucrezia. Binding her hands behind her back, and removing the veil that covered her head and shoulders, he led her to the foot of the scaffold. Here she stopped, prayed devoutly, kissed the crucifix, and taking off her shoes, mounted the ladder barefoot. From confusion and terror, she with difficulty ascended, crying out, 'Oh, my God! oh, holy brethren, pray for my soul, oh, God, pardon me!' The principal executioner beckoned to her to place herself on the block; the unhappy woman, from her unwieldy figure, being unable to do so, some violence was used, the executioner raised his axe, and with one stroke severed the head from the body! Catching it by the hair, he exposed it, still quivering, to the gaze of the populace; then wrapping it in the veil, he laid it on a bier in the corner of the scaffold, the body falling into a coffin placed underneath. The violence used towards the sufferer had so excited the multitude, that a universal uproar commenced. Forty young men rushed forward to the chapel to rescue Beatrice, but were again defeated, after a short struggle....