I
A REPORT ON HIS EMBASSY TO THE KING[1]
(1495)
Born in 1452, died in 1498; became a Monk in Bologna in 1475; Prior of St. Mark's in Florence in 1491; secured the overthrow of the Medici, and the restoration of the Republic in 1494, being virtually Dictator; excommunicated in 1497; strangled and burned at the stake in 1498.
Here I am once more among you. You ask me: "Father, have you brought us some good news?" Yes, good news; I bring nothing but good news. You know that in time of prosperity I brought you bad news, and now, in your tribulation, I bring nothing but good news. Good news for Florence! Bad news for other places! "Oh, but we want to know more, Father. Can you give us particulars?" Well, do you not think that it is a good piece of news that Florence has begun to return to a Christian way of living? For a good life is the truest happiness; and happiness is only to be found where men live well and fear God.
- ↑ Delivered in Florence in 1495 on his return from Poggibonsi, whence he had gone on an informal embassy to Charles VIII., king of France. These translations from Savonarola appear in the "Life of Savonarola," by Herbert Lucas, S. J., published in London in 1905, by Messrs. Sands & Co., by whose kind permission these passages are printed here.
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