his confederates--"_Abbasso il
Lorenzo_," they yelled.

Escaping through the doorway, Luca della Robbia's great bronze gates
were slammed to, by Angelo Poliziano, almost crushing Antonio
Cavalcanti, who fell with a deep wound in his shoulder, and actually
flinging to the ground, outside in the aisle, the raging, baffled
Bandino. "Then arose," wrote Filippo Strozzi, in his family
_Ricordi_--he was an eye-witness of the tragedy--"a great tumult in the
church. Messer Bongiano and other knights, with whom I was conversing,
were stupefied, one fled hither and another thither, loud shouts filled
the building, and the hands of friends of the Pazzi and Salviati all
held gleaming weapons.... The young Cardinal remained alone, crouching
by the high altar, until he was led away by some priests into the Old
Sacristy, whence he was escorted by two of the 'Eight,' with a strong
bodyguard, to the Palazzo del Podesta."

Inside the New Sacristy it was discovered that Lorenzo's wound was
serious enough to call for immediate treatment, and one of his devoted
pages, young Antonio de' Ridolfi, sucked it for fear of poison. The
great heavy metal doors were incessantly battered from without, but no
one dared to open them, and Lorenzo remained where he was until the
hubbub in the Duomo appeared to be abating. Then another page, Sismondo
della Stufa, climbed up into the organ gallery, whence he could look
into the church, and reported that none but friends of the Medici
remained, and they were crying out for Lorenzo to accept their escort to
the palace. So the Magnifico departed.

All the while the great bell of the Palazzo Vecchio was booming out its
dread summons for the city trained bands and the armed members of the
Guilds to assemble for the defence of the city and the maintenance of
their liberties. Loud cries of "_Liberta!_" "_Liberta!_" rolled up the
street, drowned by a great chorus of "_Evviva le Palle!_" "_Abasso i
Traditori!_" The whole city was in an uproar and blood was being spilt
on every side.

What had happened was tragically this. Whilst one half of the
conspirators was told off to strike the fatal blow, the other half was
directed to rally round Archbishop Salviati, who, by the way, made some
excuse for not assisting ministerially at the Mass, but took up his
station close to the north door of the Duomo. Directly they saw Giuliano
struck to the ground, they made all haste to the Palazzo Vecchio, and
demanded an intervie