He bethought him of Giuliana. Had not Cosimo seen her in
intimate talk with me on the morning of my arrest, and would he not have
reported it to his master?
So to the handsome mansion in which he housed her, and to which at all
hours he had access, the Duke went instantly. He must have taxed her with
it; and knowing her nature, I can imagine that she not only admitted that
his thwarting was due to her, but admitted it mockingly, exultingly,
jeering as only a jealous woman can jeer, until in his rage he seized her
by the throat.
How bitterly must she not have repented that she had not kept a better
guard upon her tongue, during those moments of her agony, brief in
themselves, yet horribly long to her, until her poor wanton spirit went
forth from the weak clay that she had loved too well.
When I heard of the end of that unfortunate, all my bitterness against her
went out of me, and in my heart I set myself to find excuses for her.
Witty and cultured in much; in much else she had been as stupid as the dumb
beast. She was irreligious as were many because what she saw of religion
did not inspire respect in her, and whilst one of her lovers had been a
prince of the Church another had been the son of the Pope. She was by
nature sensuous, and her sensuousness stifled in her all perception of
right or wrong.
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