those of the
family; and when they still refused, she said: "If you are afraid to put
to death a man in his sleep, I myself will kill my father; but your own
lives shall not have long to run." So, in they went, and the deed was
done in a terrible manner: a long, pointed nail was thrust through one
of the eyes and into the brain and then withdrawn, and the body was
tossed from an upper balcony into the branches of an elder tree below,
that it might seem that he had fallen while walking about in the night.
The murderers were given the reward agreed upon, and, in addition,
Beatrice bestowed upon the one who had been least reluctant a mantle
laced with gold, which had formerly belonged to her father. The next
day, when Francesco Cenci's body was discovered, there was pretence of
great grief in the household, and the dead man was given most elaborate
burial. After a short time, the family went back to Rome and lived there
in tranquillity, until they were startled one day by accusations which
charged them with the death of the father. Indignant denials were made
by all, and especially by Beatrice, but in vain; they were submitted to
torture, and the shameful truth was finally confessed. The pope at first
ordered them to be beheaded; but so great was the interest taken in the
case by cardinals and members of the nobility, that a respite of
twenty-five days was granted in which to prepare a defence. The ablest
advocates in Rome interested themselves in the matter, and, when the
case was called, the pope listened to the arguments for four hours. The
plan of defence was to compare the wrongs of the father with those of
the children, and to see which had suffered the more. The larger share
of responsibility was put upon Beatrice; but she, it appeared, had been
the one most sinned against, and certain unmentionable villainies in her
father's conduct, which were darkly hinted at, aroused the pity of the
Holy Father to such an extent that he gave them all comparative liberty,
with the hope of ultimate acquittal. At this juncture of affairs, a
certain nobleman, Paolo Santa Croce, killed his mother as the result of
a family quarrel; and the pope, newly angered against the Cenci family
because he considered it to have set the example for this parricidal
mania, ordered them all to be executed according to the terms of the
original judgment, with the exception of the youngest son, Bernardo, who
was given a free pardon. The sentence was exec