_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 entitled _Notizie
di fatto, e di ragione nella Causa Franceschini_. But they are indeed
very much at fault in their account of that tragic history, which had
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
legitimate daughter 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 give up 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, and to
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 common axiom 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 sword and 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 of charity 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 wife and 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 was not 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 Pompilia with 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.
But there had previously been given notice, at the instance of
Francesca Pompilia before Monsignor the Vice-Governor, of a suit for
divorce and for the recovery of the dowry, which had been spent. This
was very bitter to the Franceschini, because in that lawsuit
conclusive proof would be made of their subterfuges, their cruelties,
their threats of poisonous drugs that had been prepared; of which the
Canon Conti, who was the mediator in that flight, had not been
ignorant. And it is public talk and report throughout Arezzo that he
died about a month ago under similar suspicious circumstances. Hereby
ceased all hope, which the Franceschini had had from the beginning, of
gaining the entire property of the Comparini. And from this, every
sane mind may see and know what is the true root of such rash and
pitiable murders; whether it is injured honour, or scandalous and
detestable greed and cupidity. From this arose the hatred in the
lawsuits brought and still undecided, which drew even greater
dishonour upon the said Franceschini, and when decided would be for
their ruin.
In vain therefore this Anonymous Writer and his other defenders wear
themselves out in exaggerating the plea of injured honour. For then
that which had no true existence would have been taken from Guido by
his wife. This was fully proved in the arguments made for the Fisc, in
answering those letters, from which Guido drew his strongest proof. On
the contrary, Franceschini has by his own deed renounced all right to
repair his honour, since he did not avenge it at the time of
overtaking her in the said inn of Castelnuovo. Nor does his excuse
really help him--that he was unarmed, because he had with him indeed a
sword, and possibly other concealed arms. For it is not probable that
he would have been willing to go on following his wife accompanied by
Caponsacchi, without being provided with arms. And this all the more
because the fugitives also were unarmed and were provided merely with
a little dagger. But Guido preferred to choose the judicial road and
had them arrested by the police, and he demanded that the charge
against them be pushed through to their punishment, even imploring the
rescript of the Supreme Pontiff. He also laid his entreaties again
before the judges in the case (this very well discloses his purpose,
which was the unconquerable motive of all his acts) and made special
insistence before them for the payment of the price of the honour,
which he pretended had been taken from him. And would he not even have
had his wife declared an adulteress for the sake of gaining the dowry?
If then he has, as one may say, demanded the price of his honour in
the Courts, how can he be permitted to commit such awful murders for
honour's sake?
For whenever a husband is permitted by reason of natural law, or even
by the civil law, to kill his wife for honour's sake, this power and
faculty ceases whenever the husband has renounced it by imploring, as
above, the arm of the law. And these complaints that he made, and his
recourse to the Pope, show the price he put upon his honour. And with
these judicial proceedings he lost, without doubt, his right of
private vengeance for his injured honour, which he might have carried
out. And by this one tacit renunciation, this right is extinct.
[Citation.] For the writer cannot claim that the judicial action
brought by Franceschini would not effect the renunciation of private
vengeance for his honour, but that he could still employ the one or
the other, and avail himself of whichever might seem better to him.
For this is contrary to the text [Citation] which is stated as follows
by the celebrated Canonist, Giovanni Andrea: "A choice cannot gain
both alternatives in seeking confirmation therefrom; even if the one
is claimed to include that by which the man can attain the end of his
intention. Therefore a man must choose one, and when it is chosen he
cannot turn to the other." And still clearer are the following words
of the same authority: "The right to return to a second alternative
shall not at all be allowed, when one seems to have renounced to
choose the first and to profess that his rights cannot arise
therefrom."
But although this exception from every miscarried law might be judged
permissible, every foundation of it would be destroyed by the utter
lack of proof of an offence received in his honour; for there was no
proof of it in the prosecution for flight. The Anonymous Writer
strives to deduce that from the pretended love-letters written to
Caponsacchi, which were denied by Francesca and were not proved to be
her handwriting, either by her own acknowledgment or by her signature.
One cannot claim that she was convicted of it, nor that any legitimate
proof of it resulted, as all judicial practice shows.
And even if without reason we were obliged to acknowledge that they
were written by her, would it not be too bitter and too unreasonable
an inference that from them arose the husband's motive for killing her
because she had written them? No one of sound mind will be persuaded
to pity the husband who has gone on to kill his wife for the sole
reason that she had written love-letters. For conjugal honour is
offended neither by note, nor by pen, but only by acts of impure
dishonour; and of this, in our case, every shadow of proof is lacking.
This is all the more true because the mere suspicion of dishonour
ceases with a thought of the true motive, for which the letters were
written; namely, by pretended demonstration of affection to allure
this Caponsacchi to rescue her from imminent peril of death. Nor from
this could she find any other escape than by flight; for she was
always terrorised by the anger and hatred conceived by her husband for
feigned reasons. And therefore, as the love-letters arose from that
occasion they ought to be referred to it, and not to a dishonourable
wish to smirch her conjugal faith to her husband. To the same cause,
likewise, should certain conversations be referred, which she had had
from the window with the said Caponsacchi in order to arrange the
manner of saving her life, and not to give offence, nor to hazard her
own modesty, nor the honour of her husband. Even the most chaste of
women have used like artifices. We find in the Sacred Scriptures that
Judith entrapped Holofernes in the same way, for the purpose of
winning the liberty of her native land. And so it may be no less
permissible for this poor woman, who was solely intent upon the
security of her life, to allure Caponsacchi by amatory letters to be a
safe companion for her in her flight, and this without any stigma of
immodesty.
Much less can an offence of his honour be inferred from the flight;
because, as I noted above, this flight resulted from the cause
declared. And one may see clearly that it was not for doing any injury
to her husband. For the fugitives did not turn aside into unknown
places, but they journeyed precipitately along the consular road by
post, without spending the night anywhere. And their journey was
toward Rome, where the poor wife hoped that the Comparini, who had
raised her as their daughter, would continue toward her those acts of
love with which they had brought her up, even till the said marriage
was contracted with Franceschini.
And all that is being reported that a driver testifies he had seen
them kissing along the road has no legal foundation. For it rests
merely on the word of a single witness of the lowest class, and he
swears to matters that are quite improbable, because he had to drive
the carriage with such rapidity as that with which the fugitives were
following their journey. Hence it was almost impossible for him to
look backward, or to see what they were doing inside of that covered
carriage. And this is all the more so because his deposition is vague,
nor does it specify whether the kisses were given at night or by day.
But his deposition is rendered much more doubtful and improbable
because, in such a swift journey as the carriage was making, it might
chance during the jolting of it that the accident of their faces
meeting casually would arise, and to him this might seem the act of
kissing. This happens very commonly, even when one is making no such
journey, according to the quality of the road and the rough ways which
one finds. This makes his testimony insufficient and doubtful enough
or, even further, it is audacious and incredible.
Then as to the other point which the Anonymous Writer asserts too
bitterly, namely, that when they arrived at Castelnuovo the innkeeper
was ordered to make up only one bed for the repose of the fugitives,
and that they slept together. The host however did not have the
hardihood to swear, in his cross-examination, that they had slept
together in it. This circumstance is excluded by the deposition of the
wife as well as by that of Caponsacchi. Because their affidavits
constantly affirm that neither of them went to bed for rest, but that
merely the wife, who was worn out by the discomfort and suffering of
so precipitate a journey, rested for a few hours seated in a chair;
and that the bed was left arranged as the host had adjusted it; and it
would have been found mussed, if they had slept in it. It is also
proved that when Franceschini arrived at the said place he found
Caponsacchi urging that the horses be harnessed for continuing the
journey, and no proof is given to the contrary. Nor can one justly
pity Franceschini for his injured honour, which had been kept intact
by the fugitives.
Likewise the title, to which the same Writer appeals--that the decree
of condemnation for Caponsacchi's banishment had been inflicted
because of criminal knowledge, to the injury of Guido's honour--has
no real foundation; because this title was corrected as untrue, and
not in accord with the proofs. Of this fact we may have as legitimate
witnesses the very Governor himself, and all the judges and notaries
of the tribunal who have any part in the criminal court. And if one
will only give it due thought, the title of that case was placed
there, just as a wine bush hangs outside the door of an inn, which
very well shows that they sell wine there, but does not prove whether
what they sell is good, and saleable, and agreeable. Oh! by no means.
For one may find the wine there to be sharp, and muddy, and of other
inferior qualities. If therefore we read the documents and the proofs
registered during the prosecution, by which the crime is proved, and
not by the erroneous title, which cannot offer a shadow of proof for
the pretended criminal commerce, there is even less suspicion of
immodesty. And one can well understand that all proof was lacking
during the prosecution from the mildness of the penalty inflicted,
which does not at all correspond with the gravity of the crime
charged. One can also see the impropriety of condemning Caponsacchi as
an adulterer while the cause against the wife was still pending;
because she could not be condemned while undefended.
But to remove every suspicion of this pretended adultery, I beg any
dispassionate reader to reflect that the adultery could not have been
committed in Arezzo, because to the guardianship of her husband was
added that of the brothers, of their common mother, of the servant, of
the relatives, and of the neighbours; yea, the voluntary imprisonment
of the unfortunate child, who was always shut in a small room to guard
her honour. Much less could adultery have been committed during the
journey, as has been proved to be utterly unlikely, improbable,
unproved, and far from the truth. Nor could it have been committed at
Rome; for it is well known that Pompilia was taken from Castelnuovo to
prison, and from there was removed to the Nunnery of the Scalette, and
then because of her pregnancy was consigned to the said Comparini,
under the form of keeping their house as a prison with security of 300
scudi. Caponsacchi also was staying then at his place of banishment in
Civita Vecchia. In this fact all suspicion ceases, since the consent
of Abate Franceschini, who is so zealous for his brother's honour, as
well as his own, concurred therein.
Nor can one restrain himself without strong exertion when he hears
such exaggeration from the Anonymous Writer as that Caponsacchi left
his prison to go in banishment to Civita Vecchia at a time when the
wife was staying in the house of the said couple, as a prison, and
that he lodged in their house. But he cannot speak a more barefaced
lie than that, because Caponsacchi has never been their guest, and as
soon as he left the prison he went to the place of his exile; and he
has faithfully observed his banishment without ever returning to Rome.
Nor did the wife leave the nunnery before it was proved to Monsignor
the Governor that Caponsacchi was staying in Civita Vecchia, as was
established by the authentic testimony of the Chancellor of that
district.
The said Writer, however, gives me even more room to blame his
excessive boldness in stigmatising the honour of Franceschini as
sullied by his wife, by saying that as soon as Guido had ascended the
stairs in company with his fellows, armed to commit this execrable
murder, he looked about upon those walls, which were all full of his
insults, as if the said silent stones had known how to make
contrivances of foolish thoughts to foment his inhumanity for so
horrible a murder. Because for this he can give no other proof than
that he was writing fancifully without any foundation. For Guido was
indeed willingly dishonoured; because to his other dishonours he added
these disgraces also, even by his own wrongdoing. For it is made very
clear above that the cause for which he committed the crime was not to
repair his honour, which had been injured by his wife. But it was his
unmasked tricks, the hoped-for lucre, which had vanished, and the
lawsuits still pending.
And why can he not bring some other no less convincing proof, if
honour urged Franceschini thereto? And was not that honour
sufficiently avenged by the death of his wife? Why imbrue himself
straightway with the blood of Violante and Pietro, who were not
accomplices in the pretended dishonour? And why should he lay such
plots through many days to procure the death of that kindly
benefactor, because the latter had been moved by pity and had
ministered to their aid in the said lawsuits? Upon that one there has
never fallen a suspicion prejudicial to Guido's honour. For while the
wife was in Arezzo he was staying at Rome. And when she was first
married she was not fully thirteen years old, and after her flight,
when she had returned to Rome, we know that she continued under guard
in prison, or in the nunnery, and then in the home of her parents, and
at this time she was very near her confinement. Hence one can conclude
truly that the motive of this murder was other than that of honour,
and that it was his greed, as was said, and the lawsuits, as
Franceschini himself confesses in his cross-examination.
Nor ought the declaration made by the said wife in the face of death
be despised, since in the presence of many priests and persons who are
quite trustworthy, even while she was constantly suffering from such
severe wounds, she maintained and professed with greatest frankness
that she had always lived chaste and faithful to her husband. And with
a heart in fullest resignation to the Divine Mercy, she prayed pardon
for every mistake she had committed to the disgrace of her husband.
Nor in such a matter is it to be presumed that the one dying lies, at
the risk of the eternal safety of her soul. A person should also
reflect that in this deed there occurs a special favour from the hand
of the very Omnipotent, who caused the wife to survive for a few days,
in order that she might make clear her own innocence and throw light
upon the murderers; for without this the crimes would have gone
unpunished. For during the same crime Franceschini had repeatedly
commanded his companions to see if she were quite dead. And when they
had taken her by the tresses and had lifted her from the ground where
she lay, they believed she was dead; because the poor wife, by natural
instinct, knew how to feign it by her relaxation, as the delinquents
confessed. And this mark of divine favour all the more verifies the
declaration of the wife, which has been proved by the confession of
those guilty of the crime.
I have left it for the last to discuss and refute what the said Writer
pretends concerning Abate Paolo. But if he had to speak the truth, he
might reasonably affirm that the Abate had been the whole foundation
of this scandal. For he had urged Guido on to the murders, and he had
woven the whole plot, inasmuch as it was he who, from the beginning,
wished to attain, by dint of industry and trickiness, the marriage of
the said Francesca Pompilia. It was he who had sustained the suits,
both civil and criminal, and he who, under the name of a grandee, and
by boasting of their word of honour, had tried to extort a judgment by
means of fine insinuations, by subterfuge, and by trickery; which was
not right. It was he, who was very sensible of having been proved to
be the man of guile, who had been deluded by his own trick. Therefore
this Writer had good reason to say that the faces of others served the
Abate as mirrors by which to read his own evil courses, and not the
lost honour of his brother.
I forbear to respond to what the Anonymous Writer has tried to have
believed to the praise of Abate Paolo Franceschini, to excite greatly
our pity; since the intention of the author of the present response is
no other than to make clear the falsity of the suppositions against
the honour of the poor wife and against the Comparini, and to serve
the cause of justice. And he leaves the judgment of it to those who
have full knowledge of it. From the same consideration I pass over
responding to many another impropriety, which has been advanced
uselessly and without any point by the said Writer.
And I close my response with the example of Samson, alleged by him.
When he saw himself exposed to the public scoffs of the people, he
gave a shove to the pillars of the palace, causing it to fall that he
might die with the rest under its ruins, and might cease to be longer
the scorn of that people. So lest the said Franceschini may be
ridiculed for his tricks, it is fitting that he and his companions pay
the penalty merited by their crime. For these are pernicious to the
State and to that peace and security which litigants in the Courts of
Rome ought to enjoy, if we would maintain what the vigilance of the
Supreme Pontiff Alexander VII., and his successors, has provided. For
they have published a Constitution as to that, and with it Banns,
successively promulgated. The sacred order of such laws should be
observed all the more willingly, inasmuch as Guido had chosen the
judicial way to vengeance, and the appeals made to the Supreme
Pontiff, who is most eager to do what is just, were sent back to his
judges. Nor could Guido grieve for this without some pretended injury,
as is evident; hence the Anonymous Writer wished to ascribe it to the
aggravation by which the anger of Franceschini had been exasperated.
This clearly shows with what intent he had broken into such detestable
excesses.
[File-title of Pamphlet 16.]
_By the Most Illustrious and Most
Reverend Lord Governor of the
City in Criminal Cases_:
_ROMAN MURDER-CASE._
_For Count Guido Franceschini and his Associates,
Prisoners, against the Fisc._
_Reply as to law, by the Honourable Advocate
of the Poor._
_At Rome, in the type of the Reverend Apostolic Chamber,
1698._