Rome.
Thefts and crimes which are not capital are punished at Rome, and some
other towns of Italy, by imprisonment, or by what is called the Cord.
This last is performed in the street. The culprit’s hands are bound
behind by a cord, which runs on a pully; he is then drawn up twenty or
thirty feet from the ground, and, if lenity is intended, he is let down
smoothly in the same manner he was drawn up. In this operation the whole
weight of the criminal’s body is sustained by his hands, and a strong
man can bear the punishment inflicted in this manner without future
inconveniency; for the strength of the muscles of his arms enables him to
keep his hands pressed on the middle of his back, and his body hangs in
a kind of horizontal position. But when they intend to be severe, the
criminal is allowed to fall from the greatest height to which he had been
raised, and the fall is abruptly checked in the middle; by which means
the hands and arms are immediately pulled above the head, both shoulders
are dislocated, and the body swings, powerless, in a perpendicular line.
It is a cruel and injudicious punishment, and left too much in the power
of those who superintend the execution, to make it severe or not, as they
are inclined.
Breaking on the wheel is never used in Rome for any crime; but they
sometimes put in practice another mode of execution, which is much more
shocking in appearance than cruel in reality. The criminal being seated
on a scaffold, the executioner, who stands behind, strikes him on the
head with a hammer of a particular construction, which deprives him, at
once, of all sensation. When it is certain that he is completely dead,
the executioner, with a large knife, cuts his throat from ear to ear.
This last part of the ceremony is thought to make a stronger impression
on the minds of the spectators, than the bloodless blow which deprives
the criminal of life. Whether the advantages resulting from this are
sufficient to compensate for shocking the public eye with such abominable
sights, I very much question.
Executions are not frequent at Rome, for the reasons already given:
there has been only one since our arrival; and those who are of the
most forgiving disposition will acknowledge, that this criminal was not
put to death till the measure of his iniquity was sufficiently full;
he was condemned to be hanged for his fifth murder. I shall give you
some account of his execution, and the ceremonies which accompanied it,
because they throw some light on the sentiments and character of the
people.
First of all, there was a procession of priests, one of whom carried a
crucifix on a pole hung with black; they were followed by a number of
people in long gowns which covered them from head to foot, with holes
immediately before the face, through which those in this disguise could
see every thing perfectly, while they could not be recognized by the
spectators. They are of the Company della Misericordia, which is a
society of persons who, from motives of piety, think it a duty to visit
criminals under sentence of death, endeavour to bring them to a proper
sense of their guilt, assist them in making the best use of the short
time they have to live, and who never forsake them till the moment of
their execution. People of the first rank are of this society, and
devoutly perform the most laborious functions of it. All of them carried
lighted torches, and a few shook tin boxes, into which the multitude
put money to defray the expence of masses for the soul of the criminal.
This is considered by many as the most meritorious kind of charity; and
some, whose circumstances do not permit them to bestow much, confine
all the expence they can afford in charity, to the single article of
purchasing masses to be said in behalf of those who have died without
leaving a _farthing to save their souls_. The rich, say they, who have
much superfluous wealth, may throw away part of it in acts of _temporal_
charity; but it is, in a more particular manner, the duty of those who
have little to give, to take care that this little shall be applied to
the most beneficial purposes. What is the relieving a few poor families
from the frivolous distresses of cold and hunger, in comparison of
freeing them from many years burning in fire and brimstone? People are
reminded of this essential kind of charity, not only by the preachers,
but also by inscriptions upon the walls of particular churches and
convents; and sometimes the aid of the pencil is called in to awaken the
compunction of the unfeeling and hard-hearted. On the external walls of
some convents, immediately above the box into which you are directed
to put your money, views of purgatory are painted in the most flaming
colours, where people are seen in all the agonies of burning, raising
their indignant eyes to those unmindful relations and acquaintances,
who, rather than part with a little money, allow them to remain in those
abodes of torment. One can hardly conceive how any mortal can pass such
a picture without emptying his purse into the box, if, by so doing, he
believed he could redeem, I will not say a human creature, but even a
poor incorrigible dog, or vicious horse, from such a dreadful situation.
As the Italians in general seem to have more sensibility than any people
I am acquainted with, and as I see some, who cannot be supposed totally
in want of money, pass by those pictures every day without putting a
farthing into the box, I must impute this stinginess to a lack of faith
rather than of sensibility. Such unmindful passengers are probably of the
number of those who begin to suspect that the money of the living can
be of little use to the dead. Being absolutely certain that it gives
themselves much pain to part with it in this world, and doubtful whether
it will have any efficacy in abridging the pains of their friends in the
other, they hesitate for some time between the two risks, that of losing
their own money, and that of allowing their neighbour’s soul to continue
in torture; and it would appear that those sceptics generally decide the
dispute in favour of the money.
But in such a case as that which I have been describing, where a poor
wretch is just going to be thrust by violence out of one world, and
solicits a little money to secure him a tolerable reception in another,
the passions of the spectators are too much agitated for cold reasoning,
and the most niggardly sceptic throws his mite into the boxes of the
Compagnia della Misericordia. Immediately after them came the malefactor
himself, seated in a cart, with a Capucin Friar on each side of him.
The hangman, with two assistants, dressed in scarlet jackets, walked
by the cart. This procession having moved slowly round the gallows,
which was erected in the Piazza del Populo, the culprit descended from
the cart, and was led to a house in the neighbourhood, attended by the
two Capucins. He remained there about half an hour, was confessed, and
received absolution; after which he came out, exclaiming to the populace
to join in prayers for his soul, and walked with a hurried pace to the
gallows; the hangman and his assistants having hold of his arms, they
supported him up the ladder, the unhappy man repeating prayers as fast
as he could utter till he was turned off. He was not left a moment to
himself. The executioner stepped from the ladder, and stood with a foot
on each of his shoulders, supporting himself in that situation with his
hands on the top of the gallows, the assistants at the same time pulling
down the malefactor’s legs, so that he must have died in an instant. The
executioner, in a short time, slid to the ground along the dead body,
as a sailor slides on a rope. They then removed the cloth which covered
his face, and twirled the body round with great rapidity, as if their
intention had been to divert the mob; who, however, did not shew any
disposition to be amused in that manner. The multitude beheld the scene
with silent awe and compassion. During the time appointed by law for the
body to hang, all the members of the procession, with the whole apparatus
of torches, crucifixes, and Capucins, went into a neighbouring church,
at the corner of the Strada del Babbuino, and remained there till a mass
was said for the soul of the deceased; and when that was concluded, they
returned in procession to the gallows, with a coffin covered with black
cloth. On their approach, the executioner, with his assistants, hastily
retired among the crowd, and were no more allowed to come near the body.
The condemned person having now paid the forfeit due to his crimes, was
no longer considered as an object of hatred; his dead body was therefore
rescued from the contaminating touch of those who are held by the
populace in the greatest abhorrence. Two persons in masks, and with black
gowns, mounted the ladder and cut the rope, while others below, of the
same society, received the body, and put it carefully into the coffin. An
old woman then said, with an exalted voice, “Adesso spero che l’anima sua
sia in paradiso;” “Now I hope his soul is in heaven;” and the multitude
around seemed all inclined to hope the same.
The serious and compassionate manner in which the Roman populace
beheld this execution, forms a presumption of the gentleness of their
dispositions. The crimes of which this man had been guilty must naturally
have raised their indignation, and his profession had a tendency to
increase and keep it up; for he was one of the Sbirri, all of whom are
held in the most perfect detestation by the common people; yet the
moment they saw this object of their hatred in the character of a poor
condemned man, about to suffer for his crimes, all their animosity
ceased; no rancour was displayed, nor the least insult offered, which
could disturb him in his last moments. They viewed him with the eyes of
pity and forgiveness, and joined, with earnestness, in prayers for his
future welfare.
The manner in which this man was put to death was, no doubt, uncommonly
mild, when compared with the atrocity of his guilt; yet I am convinced,
that the solemn circumstances which accompanied his execution, made a
greater impression on the minds of the populace, and would as effectually
deter them from the crimes for which he was condemned, as if he had been
broken alive on the wheel, and the execution performed in a less solemn
manner.
Convinced as I am that all horrid and refined cruelty in the execution of
criminals is, at best, unnecessary, I never heard of any thing of that
nature without horror and indignation. Other methods, no way connected
with the sufferings of the prisoner, equally deter from the crime, and,
in all other respects, have a better influence on the minds of the
multitude. The procession described above, I plainly perceived, made a
very deep impression. I thought I saw more people affected by it than I
have formerly observed among a much greater crowd, who were gathered to
see a dozen or fourteen of their fellow-creatures dragged to the same
death for house breaking and highway robbery, mere venial offences, in
companion of what this Italian had perpetrated. The attendance of the
Capucins, the crucifixes, the Society of Misericordia, the ceremony of
confession, all have a tendency to strike the mind with awe, and keep
up the belief of a future state; and when the multitude behold so many
people employed, and so much pains taken, to save the soul of one of the
most worthless of mankind, they must think, that the saving of a soul
is a matter of great importance, and therefore naturally infer, that
the sooner they begin to take care of their own, the better. But when
criminals are carried to execution with little or no solemnity, amidst
the shouts of an unconcerned rabble, who applaud them in proportion to
the degree of indifference and impenitence they display, and consider
the whole scene as a source of amusement; how can such exhibitions make
any useful impression, or terrify the thoughtless and desperate from
any wicked propensity? If there is a country in which great numbers
of young inconsiderate creatures are, six or eight times every year,
carried to execution in this tumultuous, unaffecting manner, might not a
stranger conclude, that the view of the legislature was to cut off guilty
individuals in the least alarming way possible, that others might _not_
be deterred from following their example?