And although Francesca Pompilia, in her cross-examination, tried to conceal a longer stay at the said inn by asserting that they had arrived there at dawn, yet no proof of adultery may be drawn from the said lie, for she made that assertion to avoid the suspicion of violated modesty, which might be conceived from a longer delay and more convenient opportunity. And so, inasmuch as her confession would have done her no harm, even if she had acknowledged it with circumstances leading to belief in the preservation of her sense of honour, neither can this lie injure her. [Citations.]
Since, for these reasons, the proof of the pretended adultery is excluded and almost utterly destroyed, no attention should be paid to the fact that Count Guido, in his confession, claims the mitigating circumstance of injured honour, as regards both his wife and his parents-in-law; and that this confession cannot be divided for the purpose of inflicting the ordinary penalty. For authorities of great name are not lacking who affirm that a qualification to this end added to a confession, ought to be rejected; and above the others, is Bartolo [Citation], who proves this conclusion by many reasons, and responds to those given contrary [Citation], where it is said that a judge should not admit such qualified confession. [Citations.]
Nor is such a plea of injured honour always in one's favour in avoiding the capital penalty, but only when vengeance is taken immediately; or after an interval, according to more lenient opinion, when the adultery is proved by condemnatory sentence or by confession.
But the reins of private vengeance would be relaxed far too much to the detriment of the state if, when proof of adultery were lacking, a stand could be made for the purpose of diminishing the penalty upon some qualification added by the defendant to his confession. Because in this way a witness might make a way of escape in his own cause, which is not permitted to any one. [Citations.] And nothing more absurd can be thoughtof than that the burden of proof incumbent upon him for escaping the ordinary penalty might be discharged by the mere assertion of the defendant.
Nor should we admit the opinion that, even when the adultery is proved, a husband may kill, after an interval, an adulterous wife without incurring the capital penalty, since the weightiest authorities deny that. [Citations.] Bartolo, in distinguishing between real and personal injury, affirms that when injury is personal, it should be resented immediately; but if it be real it may be resented after an interval. [Citations.] And Gomez declares: "I hold the contrary opinion, indeed, that a husband may be punished with the ordinary penalty of such a crime as murder; and for this reason he may not by any means be excused, because murder cannot be committed to compensate for a crime or for its past essence, unless one kill in the act of flagrant crime," etc. And in subsequent numbers he responds to reasons given to the contrary. [Citation.] Gaillard, after he says that murder committed for honour's sake is permissible, states that this exception should be understood to hold good if the injury be resented immediately, but that it is otherwise if done after an interval. In this case the retort is more like vengeance than the defence of honour, and the offender is held to account for the injuries. [Citation.]
Much less can it be claimed that the vengeance was taken immediately because the husband executed it as soon as possible, according to the authorities adduced by my Lord Advocate of the Poor [Citation], where he tries to show that since Guido was unarmed, or insufficiently armed (that is, he was girded only with a traveller's sword), he could not attack the wife accompanied by the Canon; for Caponsacchi, as he claims, is strong and bold, and accustomed to sin in that way, and was carrying firearms. And the wife showed herself ready to die in the defence of her lover; for it is said still further that the wife rushed upon Guido with drawn sword, and was about to kill him, if she had not been checked by the police officers. But the opportunity to kill an adulteress is not to be so taken that a violent death may be visited upon her with all security and without any risk. For every legal opinion giving excuse for diminishing the penalty shrinks from this. For such diminution of the capital penalty follows because of the violence of sudden anger, which compels the husband to neglect the risk to his own life, that he may avenge the injury done him by the adultery. And so this first opportunity, as spoken of by the authorities,in order that murder may be said to be committed immediately, should be understood to be whenever an occasion first offers itself, in excusing the delay in taking vengeance either because of absence or for some other just reason. Such is the fact in the case about which Matthæus Sanfelix writes,contr.12. For in that case, the adultery was committed in the absence of the husband, and the wife had run away, so that he could not have avenged himself earlier, as is evident from the narrative of fact, given in No. 1, and No. 28 established this conclusion: "So they are excused if they take vengeance as soon as possible, since it then seems that they killed incontinently."
But who can say in our case that the husband took the first chance, since when he found his wife in the very act of flight, at the tavern of Castelnuovo, he abstained from vengeance with his own hand, and turned to legal vengeance, to which he had always clung. And indeed he charges himself with the worst baseness when he asserts that he was unequal to the task of taking vengeance because of the fierce nature of the Canon; since, when the latter had been arrested, Guido could have rushed upon his wife. Nor ought the kind of arms they carried to have alarmed him, because, according to the description made in the prosecution, it is apparent that the Canon was wearing only a sword. And so they were provided with like arms. He would not have taken such care of his own safety if he had been driven to taking vengeance by the stings of his honour that needed reparation, even at some risk to himself. For just anger knows no moderation. And he should lay the blame on himself if, alone and insufficiently armed, he had followed up his wife, who was fleeing, as he might fear, with a strong and better-armed lover. His very manner of following her proves the more strongly that his mind had turned toward legal vengeance, for the purpose of winning the coveted dowry, rather than to vengeance with his own hand for recovering his honour. For facts well show that such was his thought. [Citations.]
Likewise the delay of the vengeance after the return of the wife to her father's home excludes the pretended qualification that the vengeance was taken "immediately," because he could not put it into execution sooner. For the return home took place on October 12 of last year, and the murder was not committed till the second of January of this year. And we should rather assert that he was waiting for her confinement, which took place on December 18, in order that he might make safe the succession to the property, for which he was eagerlygaping; because he immediately put into effect his depraved plan by destroying his wife and her parents with an awful murder. Hence, from a comparison of these dates it will be easy to see this, and it is evident with what purpose he committed the murders, and whether this vengeance for the asserted reparation of his injured honour may be said to have been undertaken "immediately," that is, as soon as opportunity was given, according to the authorities adduced on the other side.
Then when he had chosen legal vengeance by the imprisonment of the wife and of the pretended lover, and by the prosecution of the criminal cause, it was not permissible for him to go back to vengeance with his own hand; and in taking that he cannot be said to have taken vengeance immediately. He also violated public justice and the majesty of the Prince himself. This single circumstance greatly exasperates the penalty and increases the crime. [Citations.]
[But the above is true] in spite of the fact that the conclusions adduced by the Advocate of the Poor, in §Et tantum abest, may be applicable, and likewise the authorities approving those conclusions, on the ground that it is not presumable that the husband has remitted the injury, but rather that his desire to avenge himself has continued; and that this excludes the charge of treachery, even though the husband use trickery in taking vengeance. Because in the present case the question is not as to the nature of the murder, from which it might be claimed to have been treacherous. The husband indeed did not conceal his injury, but rather laid it bare by turning to legal vengeance. Although this is possibly less honourable, yet since it was pleasing to him, for the purpose of gaining the dowry, he could not when frustrated in this hope, because the adultery was unproved, take up again the vengeance with his own hand. And this is true even though he pretends as an excuse for his delay that he could not accomplish it sooner. For since the delay and hindrance arose from his own act he could not take therefrom the protection of an excuse. [Citations.]
But, however he might find excuse for the barbarous slaughter of his wife while under the authority of the judge at the instance and delivery of her husband, certainly the murder of Pietro and Violante should be considered utterly inexcusable. In his confession he has tried to apply to them also his plea of injured honour, because of their pretended complicity in urging the flight of his wife and in her asserted dishonour. Yet no proofof this qualification can be brought, nor did the slightest shadow of it result from the prosecution for flight. And this is proved to be improbable, and utterly incredible, from merely considering the fact that Abate Franceschini, brother of the accused and confessed defendant, would not have consented that she be committed to their custody if he had had even the slightest suspicion of their complicity, since he so keenly desired the reparation of their honour. This fact, which was plainly confessed in an instrument prepared in the statement of fact in the Italian language [Pamphlet 10] and very stoutly denied by the Procurator of the Poor, was admitted by his own wonderful ingenuity in denying merely that notice had reached the husband, or in claiming that the Fisc could pretend to no more than mere presumptive knowledge in Guido.
But, still further, such knowledge is quite probable and is drawn from strong proof. For it is very probable that Guido was informed by his brother of his wife's departure from the Monastery, of her establishment in the said home, of the obligation assumed by her parents to provide her with food, and especially of her detected pregnancy. [Citation.] But we are not now arguing to prove the husband's knowledge thereof, but to draw from that consent of Abate Paolo a proof which would exclude the pretended complicity of Pietro and Violante in the dishonour of the wife, which latter is by no means proved.
So far is such complicity from being proved as regards Pietro, that the very contrary is quite evident from his will, made in 1695, after litigation had been instituted about Pompilia's pretended birth. In this will, notwithstanding the litigation, in the first place he leaves as his usufructuary heir Violante his wife, and after her death Francesca Pompilia, laying upon her the obligation to dwell in the City and to live honourably. This is evident from the details of the said will given in our present Summary,No. 5. In this he also asserts that she had thus far conducted herself honourably, and he claimed to leave the annuity to her because of her good manner of life. And so it becomes still further incredible that he, while alive, was willing to conspire in her dishonour, from which he shrank even when dead. For the income was to be taken from her if she should live a dishonest life, and he urged her in case her marriage were dissolved to assume a religious dress, and he left her a fat legacy to that end.
Nor can it afford any proof of this pretended complicity that when Guido had made pretence of delivering a letter sent tothem from the Canon, the doors were immediately opened by Violante to the assassins. The attorneys for the Defence try to argue from this ready credulity that the name of the lover was not hateful to Violante, and that hence his intimacy with Francesca was not displeasing. But since the Canon was the author of her liberation from deadly peril by bringing her from her husband's home to her father's hearth at the neglect of his own risk, it should not seem wonderful that Violante should give proof of a grateful mind for the help given her daughter and should open the door. Nor can one infer therefrom consent in unchastity, from which their past acquaintance had been entirely free. Much more is this so at a time when he himself was absent and in banishment at Civita Vecchia.
Therefore the true cause, on account of which the Comparini also were murdered, could be no other than the hatred with which the husband had been aflame; [and this first of all was] because of the lawsuit concerning the supposed birth, which they had brought, and which had deceived him in his hope of gaining a fat dowry and inheritance; [and second] his desire for vengeance because of the pamphlets distributed at the time of the said lawsuit, and which had exposed the meagreness of the home comforts and the wretched treatment they had received in the home of the husband. These two do not excuse Guido from the penalty for premeditated murder, and indeed increase it, even raising it to the crime oflæsa majestas, according to the well-known order of the Constitution of Alexander, as was proved in our past information, §Accedit ad exasperandam.
To escape the penalty assigned thereto by the disposition of this decree, in vain does he turn to an excuse drawn from supervening provocation. [Citation.] But so far as it is claimed that this crime resulted from the counsel they gave toward her flight, and their complicity in the same, the proof of such complicity is entirely drawn from the asserted letter, written by Francesca Pompilia to Abate Franceschini. But this letter has been completely rejected, and even spurned by Guido himself, since in the prosecution for flight we find no insistence was made that action should be entered against Pietro and Violante for their pretended instigation. Pietro, moreover, had long ago broken off the lawsuit brought as regards the pretended birth and the revocation of the dowry contract, and so this complicity cannot be made to seem the sole provoking cause, which would excludecausa litis. For such a cause should be true and not pretended, and should be in accord with the crime committed. [Citations.]These excuses, indeed, which are claimed to be drawn from complicity in the asserted dishonour, are still further excluded by lack of proof, both of the impurity and of their connivance therein; and so the provocation implied therefrom is shown to be entirely irrelevant, and possibly fraudulent.
The other suit for divorce, brought in the name of Francesca Pompilia, it is vainly claimed is made void because of the asserted invalidity of the summons; for this summons was executed against Abate Franceschini, who lacked the authority of a proxy. Yet his authorisation was quite full enough for a lawsuit, as is evident from its tenor as given in our present Summary,No. 6, and accordingly when a suit was brought it was ample for receiving a summons. [Citation.] We are also dealing with the conditions of the Constitution of Alexander and of the order of the Banns given against those who commit offence on account of lawsuits. Hence the reply is not relevant, which is given by the Procurator of the Poor in §Quae etiam aptantur, that when the dishonesty of the wife is established her impunity from the wrath of her husband, who would take vengeance, should not be permitted by the introduction of a divorce suit. Nor can such murder be said to be committed for the reparation of honour when committed in anger at a lawsuit. For he takes for granted as proved, what is in question, namely, the dishonour of the wife, the proof of which is quite lacking. And Guido might have proceeded to such an extreme if, as soon as the adultery was committed, his wife brought a suit for divorce; but it is otherwise since he tried that revenge after the way of legal vengeance had been chosen by bringing criminal charge for the pretended adultery and for the purpose of winning the dowry. For after he was frustrated in this hope (since no proofs of adultery resulted from the prosecution), and after her husband's mind had been exasperated, she ought to be permitted to provide for her own safety by begging for the remedy of divorce. And while such judgment is pending any murder inflicted upon her ought surely to be expiated by the penalties inflicted under the sanction of the Alexandrian Constitution and of the Banns. For the provision of this decree is applicable, since the murder was committed while the criminal cause, brought against her for pretended adultery by her husband, was still pending. And this decree includes both civil and criminal suits, as is evident from reading it.
Likewise the assembling of armed men, and their introduction into the City for accomplishing more safely the murder of theentire family, increases the crime tolæsa majestas, and also necessitates the increasing of the punishment, as was affirmed in our former information. Nor is this avoided by the replies given, or rather repeated, by the Defence, and especially by the response that since the principal offence was committed for honour's sake (and hence the ordinary penalty of theLex Cornelia de Sicariishas no application for that reason), so likewise the penalty for assembling men, imposed by the Apostolic Constitutions and the general Banns, cannot be inflicted; for the latter is included with the penalty for the principal offence, which alone is to be attended, since the spirit and purpose make differences in crimes. [Citations.] Because the order of the said Constitution and Banns would prove utterly vain if the penalty for assemblage should cease, whenever the assembly were made for the purpose of committing some crime that is punishable with a milder penalty. [Citation.] This Bull indeed is applicable even when men are called to arms in a permissible cause and for a good end; because by it the Supreme Pontiff wished to provide for the public security and to restrain the audacity of those laying down the law for themselves. Hence all the more shall it have place when the assembly may be made for an evil end, namely for committing crime, even though the crime may not deserve the ordinary death penalty, and when the crime actually follows. [Citation.] Spada gives this reason, that the Pontiff in establishing this Constitution considered only the uproar and other ills which are accustomed to arise from the assembling of armed men to the injury of the public peace. And although his opinion was rejected by the authorities adduced by his Honour, the Advocate of the Poor, in §non refragante, this refutation does not apply to the assembling of armed men to an evil end (even though this end is not so criminal that the death penalty may be inflicted), but to their assemblage for a permitted cause of regaining possession immediately, by meeting force with force. Even in this latter case Spada holds that there is place for the order of the Bull. Hence the refutation given above does not prevent the application of the provision of the abovesaid Constitution to our case, since the assembling was prearranged for the murder of an entire family, which was put into execution with reckless daring.
Nor may the opinions of the said judges of the Sacred Rota, requiring that the assemblage be directed against the Prince or the State, and not to commit some other crime, stand in the way; because if this qualification were accepted as true thedecree would be vain which had raised the act to the crime oflæsa majestasand rebellion; for this crime would result plainly enough from the deed itself, and from the intent to disturb the peace of the Prince and the State. And so far as the opinion affirmed by these authorities does have foundation, it can be applied when we investigate the order of the Constitution, and not of the Banns issued later. For this decree would prove vain and useless if the capital penalty, imposed thereby against those assembling armed men, could be applied only when the crime for which the assembly was made was punishable with the same penalty. And even if this necessity be admitted, the application of the Constitution cannot be avoided, because no plea of injured honour can be alleged in excuse for the murder of Pietro and Violante, and it had not at all been proved as regards Francesca Pompilia.
Likewise the preparation and use of prohibited arms is also punishable with the capital penalty, if we investigate the order of the Banns and Constitutions of Alexander VIII., of sacred memory. Nor is this sufficiently avoided by the response given by the Defence that it is included in the main offence; so that no greater penalty can be inflicted for it than the main crime itself deserves. For what we have said above as regards "an assembling" is opposed to such a confusing of the punishment of the Banns, and the authorities adduced in our past response, §nec delationis, affirm the contrary. And those authorities cited for the contrary opinion should be understood to apply only when one is dealing with an insult, or with murder committed in a quarrel, or in self-defence, or for the sake of immediate reparation of honour. [Citation.] The difficulty is at an end in our case, because of the clear disposition of the Banns, which expressly declare and command that the penalty for the carrying of arms is not to be confounded with the penalty of the crime committed therewith. Nor does the response given by the Procurator of the Poor seem strong enough to avoid this; namely that when, under the common law, the Banns receive only a passive interpretation, merely the crime of preparing and bearing arms for committing murder is considered; but that it is otherwise if the arms are borne, for no ill end, and then a crime is committed with them. Because it would be too harsh for one bearing arms for no ill end and then sinning with them, to suffer a greater penalty than one preparing arms to commit crime, and carrying his purpose into effect. Hence these Banns never can receive such an interpretation. For since by themthe carrying of arms is forbidden as pernicious and as affording occasion to commit crime, much more should the bearing of them when purposed for committing crime be considered prohibited and punishable with a rigorous penalty. This is especially true when we consider the declaration that the crimes are not to be confounded with one another.
There is left, finally, one other qualification, which greatly aggravates the crime, namely the violating of the home assigned as a prison with the consent of Abate Franceschini. And this is so in spite of what can be alleged as to Guido's ignorance of this circumstance. Because in the said writing prepared in Italian for giving true notice of the fact [Pamphlet 10], it is asserted that the entire management of the cause was left and committed to this same brother, since Guido had left the City. Hence it is quite incredible that Guido was not informed by him of so important a matter. And as concerning the distinction between violating a public prison and mere custody in a home under bond, and as to offence permitted therein for honour's sake, we have given sufficient response in our past argument, §Quibus acceditand those following. For the same reasoning is applicable in both cases, since in both the person detained is under the protection of the Prince whose majesty is accordingly insulted. And the excuse would hold good if we were arguing about the resenting of an injury offered in prison. Under these very circumstances do those authorities adduced by the Defence speak, as is evident from their recognition of them.
Therefore, in the present case many grave qualifications are present, which increase the crime, and on account of these his Honour, the Advocate of the Poor, admits in §Agnoscit Fiscusthat the penalty should be increased. Nor can such increase of penalty be made good except by death. For even if the adultery were proved, as it is not proved in our case, the mere murder of the wife, when committed after an interval, could demand only a diminution of penalty, according to the more lenient opinion. Hence the justice of the decree for the torment of the vigil should be said to be sufficiently asserted and vindicated against opposing reasons. And now that confession has followed, there remains only that condign punishment be inflicted in expiation of this awful crime.
Giovanni Battista Bottini,Advocate of the Fisc, and of the ReverendApostolic Chamber.
[File-title of Pamphlet 14.]By the Most Illustrious and MostReverend Lord Governor inCriminal Cases:ROMAN MURDER-CASEwith qualifying circumstance.For the Fisc, against Count Guido Franceschiniand the others.Response of the Lord Advocate of the Fisc.At Rome, in the type of the Reverend Apostolic Chamber,1698.
[File-title of Pamphlet 14.]
By the Most Illustrious and MostReverend Lord Governor inCriminal Cases:
ROMAN MURDER-CASEwith qualifying circumstance.
For the Fisc, against Count Guido Franceschiniand the others.
Response of the Lord Advocate of the Fisc.
At Rome, in the type of the Reverend Apostolic Chamber,1698.
ROMANA HOMICIDIORUM CUM QUALITATE
[Pamphlet 14.]
Most Illustrious Lord:
The matters deduced by his Honour, the Advocate of the Poor, for the defence of Guido Franceschini, who is accused of three murders with very grave qualifications which magnify the same, are of no real force in proving [first] that he should not be punished with the ordinary penalty of theLex Cornelia de Sicariis, inasmuch as he had confessed these crimes, and [secondly] that simple torture only should be demanded for gaining the truth as to these, and that the torment of the vigil should be omitted. I will attempt to show this, in responding to these points singly, so far as the excessive scantiness of time admits, and will keep my eyes on the rights of the Fisc, as the duty of my office and the dire atrocity and inhumanity of the crime demand.
The chief ground taken by my Lord consists in placing on an equality [first] a case of vengeance taken immediately by the husband with the death of the adulteress found in her sin, and [second] that of one slain after an interval when the wife is plainly convicted of adultery (as he claims is proven in our case). But this falls to the ground both in fact and in law; and hence the inference for the moderation of the penalty drawn from this same parity is likewise shown to be without foundation.
In fact, the proof of the pretended adultery is quite deficient according to what I deduced fully in my other information. In that, I have confuted singly his proofs, or rather suspicions, resulting from the prosecution, to which his Honour attaches himself. I have shown that the wife's flight in company with Canon Caponsacchi, the pretended lover, was for a legitimate reason (namely the imminent and deadly peril, which she feared), and not from the illicit impulse of lust. The participation and complicity of the Canon Conti and Signor Gregorio Guillichini, relatives of the Accused, in forwarding the same, ought to prove this. For they would not have furnished aid if she were running away for the evil purpose of violating her conjugal faith, even totheir own dishonour. But they well knew the necessity of the remedy, and that it was to free her from peril. And a witness for the prosecution in the same trial for flight swore to having heard this from Signor Gregorio. And they gave their aid in carrying this out.
Nor is it at all relevant that, in the decree in condemnation of the same Canon to banishment in Civita Vecchia, the title of "carnal cognition" was written down; because, as was formerly responded, the alteration of that was demanded, and likewise the substitution of a general title relative to the trial. And since no proofs of it resulted either from the prosecution or from the defences which the unfortunate wife (who was dismissed with the mere precaution of keeping her home as a prison) could have made, if she had not been so horribly murdered, and since the said decree, issued without her having been summoned or heard, would be void, the inscription made by the judge in the records as a title could not convict her of that crime; but only the truth of the fact resulting from the proofs should be considered. [Citations.]
I acknowledge that the Accused should have been considered worthy of some excuse if he had slain his wife in the act of taking her in flight with the pretended lover; since for this purpose, not merely the absolute proof, but the mere suspicion of adultery committed, would be enough. [Citation.] But when, after neglecting the pretended right of private vengeance, he sought out with entreaty public vengeance, by having her arrested, he could not thereafter, while she was under the public authority of the judge, take private vengeance by butchering her who had no fear of such a thing. The suspicion of a just grievance, which is difficult to restrain when aroused, excuses the husband in part, if not entirely, whenever he takes vengeance immediately under the headlong impetus of anger. But when the vengeance is after an interval, and while the cause is in the hands of the judge, and the victim is imprisoned at his own instance, this does not hold good, as will be proved further on, by showing the irrelevance of the principle assumed.
Nor does the glossa in the alleged text, in the law of Emperor Hadrian, stand in the way; because it speaks of a son taken by his father in flagrant adultery with his step-mother, and killed by the father immediately. [Citation.] And there is a wide difference between a father and a husband killing after an interval; because, as Farinacci adds, a father has the greatest authority over his son, and by ancient law could even kill him.And certainly the husband does not have this. The law also more readily excuses a father, because he is always supposed to take good counsel for his child, from the mere instinct of paternal love. But one does not have this same confidence as regards a husband, who is accustomed to conceive unjust suspicion of his wife more readily. Hence it is not permitted that he kill her on mere suspicion after an interval. Nor is he in any way to be excused on this account, according to the text. [Citation.] "The devotion of a father's love usually takes good counsel for his own children, but the hot precipitancy of a furious husband should readily be restrained." [Citation.]
This is so far true that a father is not excused unless he kill, or at least severely wound, his daughter along with the adulterer; so that it should be attributed to fate, rather than to paternal indulgence, that she escape death. And this has been passed by law-makers for no other reason than that such a grievance, provoking to rash anger, is required for excusing a father, so that he may not spare his own daughter. But since this statute is not to be found among the laws about husbands, the manifest difference between the two, because of the husband's excessive readiness to seize a suspicion and fly into a rage against his wife, is plainly revealed.
Nor is mere suspicion a sufficient ground to diminish the penalty for a husband who kills his wife after an interval. This is evident from the very authorities excusing him in such a case, whenever the adultery is proved either by the confession of the wife or by other proofs, so that she can be said to be convicted of it. [Citations.] Bertazzolus says: "I have seen the matter so regarded in the contingency of such a fact, and the husband has been excused who had killed an adulterous wife, not found in the very act, but whose adultery was really and truly existent and was quite plainly proved." Hence it is plain, from those very authorities adduced by his Honour, that the husband who kills his wife after an interval is not excused because of mere suspicion, or because of an adultery case which is still pending judgment, and which he himself had brought.
In law, also, is his assumption proved to be without foundation, which places on an equality [first] vengeance taken immediately, that is, in the very act of taking the wife in adultery, or in acts immediately preparatory, which lead him to such a legitimate belief; and [secondly] vengeance taken after an interval, even when the adultery is evident from such proofs as render it perfectly clear. There are many authorities who urgethe diminution of the penalty for the following reason which they give—that the sense of injured honour always keeps urging and provoking to vengeance, and that a wife may be well enough said to be taken in adultery, when she has either confessed it or been convicted of it. And these authorities have been collected with a full hand by his Honour, and I myself recently pointed out one of them. But the contrary opinion is the true one, and is accepted in practice. To this fact the most distinguished and most skilful practitioners of our time in criminal law bear witness. These are [first] Farinacci, where, after he has first learnedly answered the reasons and authorities adduced to the contrary, he concludes that he undoubtedly believes so as to the law in the case, and counsels that it be so held, unless we wish to err; and [second] Canon Rainaldi, who also filled the office of Procurator of the Poor with the highest praise, and so it may well be believed that he was very strongly inclined toward mercy and commiseration, and that he therefore adhered to this opinion in the mere zeal for the truth. And he declared it to be the truer and the more advantageous to the State, and said that one should not depart from it in giving judgment. [Citations.]
But even if the conflict of authorities might in some manner favour the diminishing of the penalty for the Accused, if there had been excess merely in the matter of time; yet he is still to be considered as inexcusable, so that he cannot escape the ordinary penalty, since so many qualifying circumstances are present which increase the crime; and any one of these is punishable with death.
To this end we should first consider the assembling of armed men, which is so very injurious to the public peace, and constitutes the crime of "conventicle." In the Banns, chapter 82, this is punishable with the death of its author. It is also declared that it is enough to establish this crime if four armed men are assembled. This had been formerly prohibited under the same penalty by the seventy-fifth Constitution of Sixtus V. of blessed memory, which had raised it to the crime of rebellion, for whatever reason it might be done. Spada proves this fully, asserting that it should generally be so understood in all cases in which the assembling of men has been prohibited.
To escape or evade this capital penalty, it is not a relevant excuse that a husband may kill an adulterous wife by armed men brought together. For, however it may be when a husband wishes to kill his wife taken in adultery, and is afraid that the armed adulterer can resist him, and that he may have servantsfor his aid (in which case he himself cannot take vengeance otherwise than by calling together helpers, as Caballus advises), yet in the case of vengeance taken after an interval, and while the wife is under the power of the judge, and on the mere suspicion of adultery, such convocation of armed men cannot be said to be at all permissible. For the seventy-fifth Constitution of Sixtus V. of blessed memory, prohibits such assembling even on lawful occasion, as a disturbance of the public peace. [Citation.] And so it is much more to be prohibited and much the rather to be expiated with the ordinary penalty both of the Constitution and of the Banns, since it was made for an illegal and damnable end, namely to kill his wife, and his father-in-law and mother-in-law along with her. This is rendered plain by the assertion of the very authorities who excuse from the ordinary penalty a husband who takes vengeance after an interval. And indeed the path of private vengeance, which is hateful to the law, would be strewn all too broadly if, after the husband had chosen legal vengeance and had neglected to avenge his pretended injury in the act of seizing his wife in flight with the pretended lover, he should be excusable in taking vengeance after an interval with all security, by means of armed men, and in killing her while entirely off her guard, and under the power of the judge, without the slightest risk to himself.
This is true in spite of the response which might favour him, that he neglected to take private vengeance because he was unarmed, and the wife was found in the company of the Canon, who was a bold, sturdy man. The husband should impute it to himself if alone and unarmed he was pursuing his wife, fleeing with the lover. For then he could take associates with better right, and fully armed could pursue her; and in such a case his assembling of men would be somewhat excusable. But this is not so when he takes such awful vengeance after an interval. For if we consider the reason why a husband killing an adulterer or his wife is punished with a milder penalty according to the quality of the persons, if the vengeance follow in the very act—namely, rash anger, which cannot be restrained—the assembling of armed men to do that after an interval is plainly revealed to be illegal. For rash anger would cause him to expose himself to the risk of resistance by the adulterer, who is not accustomed to approach unarmed. Because of this risk the penalty is diminished, since it shows that the husband carelessly exposed himself thereto, because of the violence of the anger which blinded him. This is [not] the case in vengeance taken after aninterval, taken with all forethought and by means of armed men, so that the husband cannot be afraid that any evil will befall himself in carrying it out. Such preparation is quite repugnant to rash anger, which cannot be restrained, and from which excuse is drawn. [Citation.]
The second qualification that increases the crime results from the kind of arms with which the murder was committed, for these were prohibited by the well-known decree of Alexander VIII. of sacred memory. This was not merely for the carrying, but even for the keeping, introduction, or manufacture of them for any cause whatever, even under the pretext of military service or the execution of justice. Hence they would be all the more prohibited [when carried] for the purpose of taking such impious and awful vengeance by the destruction of an entire family.
Nor is the carrying of arms in such a case to be confused with the main crime of murder; because when a greater penalty might be imposed for the former, as when excuse for the killing is drawn from injured honour, the carrying of the prohibited arms comes to be punished with the ordinary penalty. [Citations.] Nor are the authorities adduced to the contrary worthy of attention, for they hold good in the circumstance of murder done in self-defence or because of provocation in a quarrel. [Citation.] Still further, these are not applicable because they do not speak within the bounds of the Constitution, which so distinctly prohibits such arms. For Policardus speaks of theRegula Pragmaticawhich takes for granted the qualifying circumstance of the crime of treachery from the kind of arms, and he asserts that this order ceases in murder for self-defence, or on provocation in a quarrel, when committed with the said arms. But this judgment differs by the whole heaven from the sanction of our Constitution; because the latter was issued for the very purpose of entirely exterminating so pernicious a kind of arms.
The third qualification likewise increasing the crime is murder committed because of a lawsuit; for by the well-known decree of Alexander VII. of blessed memory, this was increased to the crime of rebellion andlæsa majestas, punishable with death and the confiscation of goods. This qualifying circumstance as regards the slaughter of Pietro and Violante cannot be denied; because the Accused had won a victory in the lawsuit. And hence the offence should [not] be said to have been committed because of just anger for injury inflicted upon him; [first] by the pretence of birth, which was revealed after the marriage hadbeen celebrated, in order that they might break the marriage contract; [second] by the publication of pamphlets greatly to his injury; and [third] by their conspiracy in the flight of his wife to the injury of the honour of the Accused and of his entire family. They claim that since this cause for avenging the injury is graver than that arising from the lawsuit, the murder should be attributed to it, as more proportionate thereto.
But the victory he obtained had regard only to the actual possession of the property while the lawsuit was under appeal. And the parents were still pursuing this suit, so that that cause continued and could not be said to be extinct. The injury, indeed, from whatever different causes it may be claimed to have arisen, really came from this same lawsuit. And this had regard both to the pretence of birth revealed, and to the insults contained in those pamphlets concerning the meagreness of the family affairs (which was quite the contrary of the boasted riches, in the hope of which the marriage had been made), and concerning the ill-treatment which the parents of the wife had suffered in the home of the Accused. For by this marriage agreement food was to be furnished them. Still further, as to any conspiracy in her flight, much less as to any complicity in her pretended adultery, we have no proof at all. And so the cause of hatred conceived because of the lawsuit kept always urging him, and it does not redeem the criminal from the penalty inflicted by the decree of Alexander, because the suit might have been injurious to the Accused, either in his substance or in the manner. For this indeed presents such a cause as is always required in premeditated murders. Nor does it exclude the qualifying circumstance of the lawsuit, and indeed confirms it; since it is explicitly presupposed that injustice had been committed. Otherwise an opportunity to take private vengeance would be permitted, which in all law is forbidden, especially when a lawsuit is going on; because then the majesty of the Prince is insulted, as was proved in my other information, §Accedit ad exasperandum.
The fourth and, indeed, a very grave qualifying circumstance is drawn from the place in which the crime was committed, namely in the home of those slain. It was also in an insidious manner, by pretending the delivery of a letter sent by Canon Caponsacchi. For one's home should be the safest of refuges to himself, as was proved in our other information, §plurimum quoque. The manner indeed savours of treachery, as is proved not merely by committing murder under the show of friendship,but also at a time when the power and obligation of special caution in the one slain had ceased. [Citation.] And this is far from doubtful in our case, for the wretched parents could have had no such apprehension from the Accused, who was staying in his own country.
To these is added a fifth very grave qualifying circumstance, drawn from the place with respect to the very wretched wife. For she had been imprisoned at the instance of the Accused, and was detained in the home of her parents as a prison with the consent of the Abate, his brother; and hence she was under public safekeeping, which it were wrong for the Accused to violate without incurring the penalty oflæsa majestas. [Citation.]
This very grave qualifying circumstance, which increases the crime, cannot be avoided by the dual response given by his Honour; first, that we are dealing with no prison properly speaking; second, that one giving offence, or killing in prison, is excused on a just plea of injured honour. Neither of these excludes this qualifying crime; for the unsuitability of a prison would be considerable if we could defend a violation of it made by one in prison and so to avoid his own injury, but if it were otherwise when we were arguing in his favour for avenging an injury to himself in a home assigned as a prison. The plea of injured honour can help one only if the offence in prison follow in self-defence under the very impulse of rash anger. In such circumstances the authorities adduced by his honour would hold good. But this is not so in excusing vengeance taken after an interval upon one imprisoned even at the instance of the slayer. For then the qualifying circumstance of the place greatly aggravates the crime, as it is indeed injurious to the public safekeeping and involves treachery, etc.
It is therefore very evident that the murders committed by the Accused have many qualifications mingled with them, which greatly magnify them. And however far the opinion has weight, which urges the diminution of punishment for one killing an adulteress after an interval, and however much the pretended adultery may be declared to have been proved in the manner required to gain such diminution, even by all those in favour of the milder judgment, still this penalty, because of these qualifications, would have to be increased and the ordinary penalty of theLex Cornelia de Sicariisin its entirety would have to be demanded. And therefore it seems superfluous to argue about the kind of torture, since in view of these very urgent proofs, of which I understand there is no doubt, and in view of the well-knownpowers granted to the Most Illustrious Governor, it is quite within limits that the crime should be punished with the ordinary penalty, even if the qualifying circumstance of special atrocity were not present, so that the penalty should not be increased on that account.
But such a qualifying circumstance is not wanting here, as it results indeed from the treacherous manner and from the charge oflæsa majestas, which is provable in our case on three grounds; namely offence committed during a lawsuit, the assembling of armed men, and the violation of public safekeeping, because of the home assigned as a prison. For according to the Apostolic Constitutions, the crime would be raised to that degree upon the basis of the first and the second; and there should be no doubt as to the power of the Prince to do so. [Citation.] Spada asserts that in such a case, so far as all the effects of law are concerned, it should not be considered a matter of controversy that the qualification of special atrocity, which is in agreement with such a crime, is to be revoked. And in our very circumstances Spada gives this opinion in demanding the torment of the vigil.
Nor can that qualifying circumstance of the person concerned, so far as it is proved, stand in the way of such infliction of the torment of the vigil, which does not allow the death penalty upon a nobleman to be made worse, as is accustomed to happen in very atrocious crimes (because noble blood should not be degraded by such increase of penalty which adds infamy). But for this purpose merely the nature of the crime is considered, and not the quality of the person, which would hinder the execution of a penalty carrying with it such infamy. Otherwise the torture of the vigil never could be inflicted upon noblemen, priests, and men in religious office upon whom an infamous penalty cannot be inflicted. But nobility affords no privilege in the manner of torment, especially in very atrocious crimes [Citation], etc.
Giovanni Battista Bottini,Advocate of the Fisc and of the Apostolic Chamber.
RESPONSE
To the Account of the Fact, and Grounds in the Franceschini Case.
[Pamphlet 15.]
The splendid statue of Nebuchadnezzar fell because it was not firm on its feet. So fall to ground those imagined and forced suppositions concerning the origin of the present execrable murder, which the Anonymous Writer in his printed pages [Pamphlet 10]has tried to insinuate into the dull heads of the crowd. This murder was committed here in Rome upon three wretched and innocent persons, by Guido Franceschini, assisted by four men who were armed with prohibited arms, who were brought together for that purpose by the influence of money, and who were kept insidiously for many days at his expense. [These pages claim that] the crime arose from justly conceived anger: [first] because eight months earlier Guido had discovered Francesca Pompilia, his wife, sinning against him in his own house at Arezzo, and [then] because she had fled in company with Canon Caponsacchi of the same city back to Rome to place herself again under the protection of Pietro and Violante Comparini, who had raised her as their daughter; and [thirdly] that the suspicion had also grown upon Guido that in her precipitate journey she might have broken with the Canon her marriage obligations, since certain love-letters were found upon her, from which he unreasonably deduced her adultery, and he supposed that the said Caponsacchi was condemned as an adulterer to a three years' banishment at Civita Vecchia. And these pages try, under the pretence of injured honour, to render Guido's crime less grave and to excite compassion, no less in foolish persons than in the hearts of our most religious judges, for the purpose of disposing them toward a milder penalty and one out of keeping, according to the laws, with the quality, form, and circumstances of this crime. And this in substance is all that is claimed by the author of the pamphlet entitledNotizie di fatto, e di ragione nella Causa Franceschini. But they are indeed very much at fault in their account of that tragic history, whichhad a different beginning and an occasion independent of the imagined ground of honour. In that pamphlet it was presupposed all too bitterly, that Guido's honour had been injured by his wife; whereas she always preserved her sense of shame and had well observed the laws of conjugal honour, as is plainly shown in this present article.
That this sad catastrophe, this slaughter of an entire family, did not proceed (as the Anonymous Author claims in his pages) from the pretended sense of injured honour, but from damnable greed, one can very clearly see by considering the fact that for this very object the unfortunate marriage with Francesca Pompilia was entered into by Franceschini. For it was taken for granted that after the death of her supposed parents she would surely fall heir to a considerable property. All the more ought we believe that the crime was committed because of hatred arising from the three lawsuits then pending; that is, two in the civil courts and a third in the criminal courts. One of these was as to the legitimacy of the parentage of Francesca Pompilia, the wife, and the nullification of the dowry-agreement, and was brought by Pietro in the Tribunal of the Sacred Rota. The second suit was for divorce, and was brought by the said Francesca Pompilia before the Vice-Governor. The third is a criminal suit, as to the pretended adultery, which is still pending in the Tribunal of his Excellency the Governor; this latter was brought under the very impulse of greed, to gain the entire dowry. Since this fact was conclusively evident in the case introduced by the said Franceschini, he was deceived in this hope of gain by the failure of the proofs, which the defence caused to vanish utterly, as they could do by means of the wife. Hence he broke into an excess so tragic and so deplorable as to reveal clearly the tricks and frauds practised for the purpose of bringing about that marriage. Here then are the plain proofs that this is the truth.
Guido Franceschini was staying at Rome in idleness, out of the service of a certain Cardinal, without a soldo, by which service he had provided for himself up to that time. His usual loafing-place was in the shop of certain women-hairdressers, where he often announced his intention of setting up his house with some good dowry. He also boasted of the grandeur of his country, his birth, and his property. By his promises he induced this woman to find him a chance for such a marriage, and she informed him of the opportunity in the said Francesca Pompilia. The latter was then esteemed to be the true and legitimatedaughter of Pietro and Violante Comparini. He set about this enterprise with the aid of his brother, Abate Paolo, using the astute prudence with which the malign serpent advanced his designs in Paradise to subvert Adam into disobeying God's precept and into eating the forbidden fruit; for [Satan] considered the matter in this way: "If I wish to assault the man directly, who is so strong and so resolute, he will turn and give me a sure repulse. It is therefore better that I first tempt the woman, who is of a fickle nature and soft-hearted." And he made his first attack upon Eve; because when he had gained his point that he might have her, by her means it would be easier for him to win over Adam. "For he first attacked the mind of the weaker sex," are the ingenious words of St. Hilary.
And so for this purpose did the said Guido devise the marriage with the knowledge of his brother, Abate Paolo, and likewise to this point he succeeded in it. For he avoided talking with Signor Pietro about the marriage, by whom it would probably have been refused, and wished first to tempt Violante, his wife. Because by gaining her he would the more easily overpersuade her husband to give his consent. Nor was it difficult for him to astound the woman, because he knew how to impress her very well with the thought of the grandeur of his country, of the first-rate nobility of his birth, and of the great income from his patrimony, amounting to 1700 scudi. And he gave her an itemised account of it written with his own hand. She was enchanted thereby and, without getting any further information about the matter, she was able to persuade her husband and to extract from him his consent to it. This proves what we read written in Proverbs: "A wife takes captive the soul of her husband." He speaks this of Mordecai who availed himself of Esther, when he wished to placate the anger of Ahasuerus against his people; of Joab, who used the services of the woman of Tekoah when he wished to soften the anger of David against his son; and of the Philistines of Timnath, when they wished to gain from Samson the secret of the riddle proposed to them at the marriage feast.
The credulous but deceived woman so cajoled her husband that she at last induced him to sign the marriage agreement providing for a dowry of 26 bonds and, at the death of the said Comparini, for all their possession, amounting, as the Anonymous Writer acknowledges, to the sum of 12,000 scudi. And, for the purpose of making the said Franceschini guardians of the said property even during the life of the Comparini, they had to giveup even the income of it. This property consisted of numbers of profitable and well-situated houses, and of bonds. The Franceschini also assumed the obligation to take the said Comparini to the city of Arezzo, and there to feed, clothe, and provide them such service as they would need. This promise was made not without the hope that on account of the insults and sufferings which they would have to bear their death would be hastened. And thus Guido would become the absolute master of their property.
After having signed the said agreement Pietro absolutely refused to go on with the effectuation of the marriage of the said Francesca Pompilia, with the abovesaid Guido, of whom he had had few good reports; and these were far different from the pretended riches and vaunted nobility. Hence one may well say of him what Persius concludes in his fourth Satire: "See what has no real existence; let the rabble carry off their presents elsewhere. Dwell with yourself, and you will know how meagre your furnishing may be."
At any rate, the said Guido joined the said Violante, whom he had imbued with his flatteries and endearments, spurning any further consent of Pietro by keeping him in ignorance of it. And without the knowledge of the latter, Guido contracted the marriage with the said Francesca Pompilia in the face of the Church. And he evermore discloses by this act, which shows so little reverence to the promiser of the dowry, his own greed, not merely for the amount which had been assigned to him in the marriage agreement, but also for the rest of Pietro's property. For he felt sure that after Pietro's death the property, by the entail of the ancestors, would necessarily fall to the said Francesca Pompilia, who was already his wife.
When, after a few days, Pietro found out that the marriage had taken place, though he reproved the deed vigorously, yet because what is done cannot be undone, and by means of the cajoleries of Violante his wife, and the interposition of another Cardinal, whom the Abate, Guido's brother, served, the poor old fellow was constrained to drink the cup of his bitterness. And he came, as it were by force, after many months to the stipulations of the dowry agreement. He quickly began to feel the effects of Franceschini's trick, since Guido had scarcely a single soldo of his own to pay the first expenses of that marriage agreement. Hence, to supply these, he was obliged, against the wish of Pietro, to free from entail five of the bonds, or more, by the authority of the Auditor of the Most Illustrious Governor, andto sell them for meeting these expenses. Hence one may see clearly that the primary object of Franceschini in this proceeding was to trick Pietro, and Violante his wife, and their poor child, to enrich himself with the property of others.
He can no longer deny the fraudulent pretence of vaunted riches of the Franceschini in the note written in his own hand and given to the Comparini. And indeed the Anonymous Writer confesses it openly. For, in order to free Abate Paolo from complicity in that trick, the latter pretended that he took Guido his brother to task roundly for the alteration of the said note. The said Comparini very quickly found this out. For as soon as they had gone to Arezzo they learned that the property of the Franceschini family was very slight. And such were the miseries and abuses that the Comparini had to suffer in victuals and in harsh treatment that they were obliged to return to Rome after a few months; for they were locked out of the home and had to go to the tavern to lodge; and these abuses were for the purpose of shortening their lives, either by their sufferings, or the fury caused thereby. And this fact is very evidently proved by the rent-rolls taken from the public records of the city of Arezzo. From these it is shown that the said Guido did not possess a single dollar's worth of the settled property mentioned in the said note. It is also untrue that he and his family enjoyed the highest rank of nobility in the city, because, from other extracts drawn from the public records of the city, it is evident that his family is of only secondary rank.
The abovesaid crafty and fraudulent methods of dealing, which came to light long before the murder had followed, and which became known in this Court and in Arezzo, can well show that greed was the origin of this premeditated slaughter (which was put in execution in such a horrible manner, as is notorious) and not the pretended ground of injured honour. For, according to common opinion, Abate Paolo, no less than Guido his brother, had worked the tricks exposed as above. And by men they were suspected of subterfuge and craft, so that this made them more sensible of injury than anything else. Hence they could no longer boast the grandeur of their nobility and the affluence of their riches, which they had spread abroad on the lips of the crowd. And every one avoided having anything to do with them, as persons of bad faith and as usurping a glory to which they had no real right.
The greediness of this self-interest became greatly inflamed; so that in these Franceschini brethren one may see the commonaxiom verified: "Craft is deluded by craft." That is to say, Violante was urged on by remorse of conscience and by the abuses and injuries received in their house, and was constrained by her confessor at the time of the Jubilee to reveal to Pietro, her husband, that the said Francesca Pompilia was not their daughter, but was of a false birth. And this seems very probable in view of the age of 48, which Violante had reached, when she pretended to be pregnant with her; because in the fourteen years, during which she had lived in lawful matrimony with Pietro, she had never had children. Also, by witnesses then living, she could afford conclusive proof of the pretence of the birth. And when notice of that had been given to Abate Paolo, that he might come to some compromise over the annulling of the dowry contract for the entire patrimonial property, he spurned the kind offers made to him through the meditation of friendly persons and refused every means of peace. Then a warning (as to the falsity of the said birth and the illegality of the dowry contract) was served on him by Pietro before Monsignor Tomati. And conclusive proof of the birth was given by six witnesses, who were examined before the judge with questions offered in behalf of the said Franceschini. Yet the same judge saw best to forward the case during the mere immediate possession, by continuing to the said Francesca Pompilia the quasi-possession of her parenthood. Nevertheless, an appeal was taken from his sentence, and it was committed to the Sacred Rota, before Monsignor Molines, where it still hangs undecided as to the principal point of the pretended parentage and the nullity of the dowry contract. For righteous judgment in such a tribunal the judge doubtless awaited for conclusive proofs of the said pretence of birth. The nullity of the dowry contract would none the less be decided, because it had made declaration that the said Francesca Pompilia was their daughter. And with this falsehood the advantage which the Franceschini had obtained for their own selfish gain by such tricks would cease.
All this is proved by the reflection that the trick of Franceschini was made public, not merely in Rome, but in Arezzo, and that he also was deluded by a similar artifice because of the proofs already made, while judgment was pending, that the said Francesca Pompilia was not the real and legitimate daughter of the said Comparini. On the ground of these far-fetched suspicions Guido made pretence of a reason for maltreating her with insults and blows, and more than once he provided himself with a swordand fire-arms to take her life. He did this to take vengeance upon her for his own trick, by which he had been deluded. Therefore it was quite right for the poor wife, who was of the tender age of sixteen years and a stranger in the place, to avoid the rage of her husband at different times by fleeing for protection to Monsignor the Bishop, and to the Governor, or Commissioner of the City, that they might put some check upon the cruelties she was suffering. And although these persons by their interest in the matter succeeded for the time in putting a stop to the threats, yet the poor intimidated wife always passed her days shut in a room. And her fear was greatly increased because she saw that the said Guido had made a mixture of poison, with which he threatened he would take her life without the uproar attendant on the use of arms; and thus he would be the surer of his crime going unpunished. Now if, even at a time when no shadow of suspicion of dishonour had fallen, the husband was contriving the death of his wife, the Anonymous Writer might well abstain from soiling his pages for the purpose of proving that the slaughter of those murdered had had its origin in the impulse to repair offended honour. For his pages would have had much better foundation if he had consulted the truth, namely that these crimes had arisen from deluded self-interest.
The poor wife in her agitation over these difficulties that we have told, had nothing else to do but think of finding refuge from the death she feared. And when her mind was somewhat sharpened by its vexations, she intrusted herself to the Canon Conti, who is closely related to the Franceschini, and declared to him her miseries, her perils, and her just fears (although they were not unknown to him), in order that he might try to give her consolation by placing her life in safety. He was touched with living compassion and was moved to free her therefrom by pity for the grievous state in which she was. And he well knew that there was no other escape than flight from the home of her husband, according to the saying of the poet [Virg. A. III. 44]: "Alas, flee the cruel earth, flee the greedy shore." But not being able to give her aid in this affair, he suggested to her that for putting the matter into execution, there was no better person to the purpose than Canon Giuseppe Caponsacchi, his friend and intimate, whose spirit had stood every test. And when Conti had spoken of it to him, although Caponsacchi saw difficulty in aiding the desire of the young woman, because he did not wish to incur the anger of the Franceschini, yet at last the impulse ofcharity and pity prevailed upon him to free this innocent woman from death. And when his readiness for the attempt was reported to her by Conti, she did not fail to inflame him with more messages and letters, even containing alluring endearments, for the effecting of her escape. Yet she also kept during all this time her constant desire of not violating her marriage-vow, since in some of these letters she praises the Canon for his chastity, and in others reproves him for having sent her some rather improper octaves. She also warned him against degenerating from the good behaviour, on which she had congratulated herself and had planned with him the flight.
While her husband and the whole household were asleep, both of them, with the assistance of the Canon Conti, set out upon a headlong journey by post, without losing a moment's time, except for changing horses; and they arrived by night at Castelnuovo. And although the host had prepared a bed for rest, nevertheless they did not avail themselves of it. For Caponsacchi was always solicitously watching to see that the driver prepared other horses, to continue the journey to its end. Nor did the host of that tavern, when cross-examined in the prosecution for flight, ever dream of bearing witness that the wife and Caponsacchi had slept together in the bed that was prepared, even though Franceschini, to his own dishonour, had published the contrary, that he might, by the pretence of injured honour, throw a false light upon the true grounds of the murders committed by him.
In the meantime her husband arrived. When his wife saw him, did she, timid as she was, shrink back? Did she acknowledge herself guilty of any sin, or of any wrong done to him in guarding her purity and modesty? No! But all on fire, though she was at the tender age of sixteen years, as I have already said, the constancy of her own honour rebuked him for the tricks and abuses which he had employed, and for the threats and blows he had very often given her, and for the poisonous drugs he had prepared to take her life. And [she declared] that she had been obliged to do as she had done, to find an escape by flight from graver peril, and to return to the parental love of the Comparini, who had raised her as their daughter; and that she had always been careful to keep her wifely honour intact. The same rebuke was made by Caponsacchi, who during the flight had religiously observed the limits of due modesty.
What did Franceschini answer? What did he try to do, although he was armed with a sword against his defenceless wifeand against Caponsacchi, who had with him only a little dagger? Nothing, indeed! according to what the witnesses who were present deposed; because he stood convicted by the just remonstrances of his wife. But what did he do? He gave up all vengeance, which by right of natural law, or much more by civil law, he might have taken for that; and, as the Anonymous Writer goes on to boast in justifying him for this execrable crime, he implored the arm of the Law and had his wife and Caponsacchi arrested by the authorities of the place. And at his own instance they were conducted as prisoners to the prisons of the Most Illustrious Governor of Rome, before whom Guido charged them with flight. Then, not content with this, he brought forward that other charge of supposed adultery committed with the said Caponsacchi. He also outdid himself greatly by making noisy petition to the Supreme Pontiff for their punishment, and the latter sent back his entreaties to Monsignor the Governor. He was brazen enough to demand, with a new complaint, that his wife should be declared an adulteress and that to him, according to law, should pass all the gain of the dowry. This in substance clearly proves that he did not insist on vengeance for the reparation of his honour, which he himself had passed by, but he did all this for the sole object of gain, that is to win the dowry.
What efforts, what exclamations, what diligence did Franceschini and Abate Paolo, his brother, not use to have the wife declared an adulteress and to gain the desired lucre? Monsignor the Most Illustrious Governor knows it, who endured with all forbearance their passionate pressure upon him. Signor Venturini, judge in the case, knows it. And all the other judges and notaries of the Court, who were nauseated by their importunity, know this very well. Then since judgment could not in any event fall according to the designs of the Franceschini, as there was no proof in the trial of any offence, either in the wife or in the said Caponsacchi, the most Religious Judges, who in prudence were judging rigorously (for the purpose of giving some satisfaction to the Franceschini brothers in their strong insistence, rather than because of the obligations of justice), banished the said Caponsacchi to Civita Vecchia for three years. Caponsacchi straightway obeyed this sentence, and has never left the place assigned him. The case was left undecided as regards the wife, who was placed in the Nunnery of the Scalette as a prison. Then when there was some question as to her pregnancy, with equal prudence, she was removed from the nunnery by the order of the Most Illustrious Governor; for it wasnot decorous that she should give birth to a child there. And with the consent of the said Abate Paolo she was placed in the home of the said Comparini under security of 300 scudi to keep it as a secure prison.
On this point the Anonymous Writer disputes too bitterly what was written learnedly by the Fisc, and claims that the consent of the said Abate Paolo had not been given. But the great and incorruptible integrity of the Fisc is known to every one; because of which he would be unwilling to give his word in writing for what was not evident on the surest proof. Yet the fact of Abate Paolo's consent is plainly proved, since he in person so agreed with Monsignor the Most Illustrious Governor and with Signor Venturini, the judge, jointly. And he exacted from Pietro Comparini the obligation to supply her with food without any hope of recompense. And this was so carried out, although the quality of the Comparini did not deserve so indecent a rebuke on account of having been too indulgent with them.
With like bitterness it is denied that the said Abate Paolo had power of attorney from Guido, his brother, enough to give such consent; because, in making such a provision, Monsignor the Governor had no need of the consent of the parties. And, even if he had wished to show Abate Paolo such courtesy and urbanity, the Author should not reply thereto with such incivility, in criticising the judge for having done wrong because of the lack of that power of attorney. For by such procedure [Abate Paolo] proves that he wished to trick also Monsignor the Governor into consenting to a thing beyond his power. And he rests convicted of this, because the said Abate Paolo was the manipulator of all they did, nor was a straw moved without his assistance. And he was well provided with abundant power of attorney by his brother, wherefrom he had the fullest authority to do as if he were the very person of his brother, with a proviso of after confirmation, the efficacy of which every one knows. And this is confessed even by the Anonymous Author, since he asserts that Guido at his departure left the entire conduct of his case to the Abate, his brother. But one may well see with what object he denies the said consent, that is, in order that he may more bitterly make pretence of the complicity of the Comparini in the pretended dishonesty of Francesca, who had been guarded by them as a daughter. This would seem very improbable if he should once admit the consent of the Abate.
No less rancorous is the assertion made by the Anonymous Writer that Lamparelli laid out the money to provide Pompiliawith food while she was in safekeeping. Nor was Lamparelli reimbursed by the deposit in the Office, which had come from the money found on her and on Caponsacchi, when they were arrested at Castelnuovo, which was supposed to have been stolen from the husband. But the 48 scudi, which the wife confessed to have taken away from him, were fully restored to the said Abate Paolo, as is proved by his receipt, made during the trial. The rest of the money was conclusively proved to belong to Caponsacchi. And as soon as Abate Paolo received the money, for which he continually clamoured, he left Rome to take part in the planning of that notorious murder, which followed a little while later.