and the other was pardoned. But when they had mounted the
platform, Bernardo fainted a second time; and as the executioner was
approaching to his assistance, some of the crowd, supposing that his
object was to decapitate him, cried loudly, "He is pardoned!" The
executioner reassured them by seating Bernardo near the block, Giacomo
kneeling on the other side.

Then the executioner descended, entered the chapel, and reappeared
leading Lucrezia, who was the first to suffer. At the foot of the
scaffold he tied her hands behind her back, tore open the top of her
corsage so as to uncover her shoulders, gave her the crucifix to kiss,
and led her to the step ladder, which she ascended with great difficulty,
on account of her extreme stoutness; then, on her reaching the platform,
he removed the veil which covered her head. On this exposure of her
features to the immense crowd, Lucrezia shuddered from head to foot;
then, her eyes full of tears, she cried with a loud voice--

"O my God, have mercy upon me; and do you, brethren, pray for my soul!"

Having uttered these words, not knowing what was required of her, she
turned to Alessandro, the chief executioner, and asked what she was to
do; he told her to bestride the plank and lie prone upon it; which she
did with great trouble and timidity; but as she was unable, on account of
the fullness of her bust, to lay her neck upon the block, this had to be
raised by placing a billet of wood underneath it; all this time the poor
woman, suffering even more from shame than from fear, was kept in
suspense; at length, when she was properly adjusted, the executioner
touched the spring, the knife fell, and the decapitated head, falling on
the platform of the scaffold, bounded two or three times in the air, to
the general horror; the executioner then seized it, showed it to the
multitude, and wrapping it in black taffetas, placed it with the body on
a bier at the foot of the scaffold.

Whilst arrangements were being made for the decapitation of Beatrice,
several stands, full of spectators, broke down; some people were killed
by this accident, and still more lamed and injured.

The machine being now rearranged and washed, the executioner returned to
the chapel to take charge of Beatrice, who, on seeing the sacred
crucifix, said some prayers for her soul, and on her hands being tied,
cried out, "God grant that you be binding this body unto corruption, and
loosing this soul unto life eternal!