y have been
responsible for its formation, the new government was carried in
1495, and a large hall for the assembly of the Grand Council was
opened in the Public Palace.

Savonarola, meanwhile, had become the ruling spirit of Florence. He
gained his great power as a preacher: he used it like a monk. The
motive principle of his action was the passion for reform. To bring
the Church back to its pristine state of purity, without altering its
doctrine or suggesting any new form of creed; to purge Italy of
ungodly customs; to overthrow the tyrants who encouraged evil living,
and to place the power of the State in the hands of sober citizens:
these were his objects. Though he set himself in bold opposition to
the reigning Pope, he had no desire to destroy the spiritual supremacy
of S. Peter's see. Though he burned with an enthusiastic zeal for
liberty, and displayed rare genius for administration, he had no
ambition to rule Florence like a dictator. Savonarola was neither a
reformer in the northern sense of the word, nor yet a political
demagogue. His sole wish was to see purity of manners and freedom of
self-government re-established. With this end in view he bade the
Florentines elect Christ as their supreme chief; and they did so. For
the same end he abstained from appearing in the State Councils, and
left the Constitution to work by its own laws. His personal influence
he reserved for the pulpit; and here he was omnipotent. The people
believed in him as a prophet. They turned to him as the man who knew
what he wanted--as the voice of liberty, the soul of the new regime,
the genius who could breathe into the commonwealth a breath of fresh
vitality. When, therefore, Savonarola preached a reform of manners, he
was at once obeyed. Strict laws were passed enforcing sobriety,
condemning trades of pleasure, reducing the gay customs of Florence to
puritanical austerity.

Great stress has been laid upon this reaction of the monk-led populace
against the vices of the past. Yet the historian is bound to pronounce
that the reform effected by Savonarola was rather picturesque than
vital. Like all violent revivals of pietism, it produced a no less
violent reaction. The parties within the city who resented the
interference of a preaching friar, joined with the Pope in Rome, who
hated a contumacious schismatic in Savonarola. Assailed by these two
forces at the same moment, and driven upon perilous ground by his own
febrile enthusiasm