Parenti was a magistrate, a clever, thinking man, who lived in the
neighbourhood of Florence. He had long been very careless about his
soul, and what little religion he ever had had was fast slipping out
of his careless hold. He had heard of Francis, and the reformation
that was taking place in Umbria, and meditated long and deeply on all
that he heard, wondering, no doubt, if there was really "anything in
it," or was it not "all mere excitement." Still, he was more than ever
convinced that he himself had very little religion to boast of.

[Sidenote: _The Swine-herd and his Pigs._]

One evening he was taking a walk in the country when he met a
swine-herd. This youth was in great difficulty over his contrary
flock. As is the nature of pigs, mediaeval or otherwise, they went in
every direction except that in which they were wanted to go! Parenti
stood looking on amused at the boy's efforts. With much labor at last
he got them towards the stable door, and as they were rushing in he
cried--

"Go in, you beasts, go in as the magistrates and judges go into hell!"

It was only the uncouth speech of an equally uncouth swine-herd, but
God used it to the salvation of his soul. He began to think about the
dangers of his profession, and the state in which he was living, and
where he should really go to if he died. The business of salvation
looked to him that evening as the only one worth taking up, and the
straight and narrow road the only safe place.

He went home and confided all his hopes and fears to his son. Together
they decided that they would go and find Francis, and tell him they
wanted to change their life. They saw Francis, and before they left
him, they had made up their minds to become friars. They came back,
sold all their goods, and then put on the garment of the Order.
Parenti was a valuable acquisition to the Order, and rose to
considerable eminence in after days.

[Sidenote: _The Prince of Poets._]

Perhaps one of the most remarkable of Francis' converts was Pacificus,
as he was known in the Order. This man was a noted poet and musician.
He was known throughout Italy as "The King of the Verses," and was
considered to be the very prince of poets. He excelled in songs, and
was greatly appreciated everywhere. His supremacy was so undoubted
that several times he had received the poet's crown from the hands of
the Emperor of Germany, that very same crown that afterwards adorned
the brows of Petrarch and Tasso