i BRUNO'S DEATH 95 



Ventimiglia "to follow in his glorious footsteps, to 

 avoid prejudices and errors." 



In the Avvisi and Ritorni of Rome, which repre- 

 sented, however meagrely, the newspapers of the time, 

 two references to Bruno appeared, with short garbled 

 accounts of him. In one he was spoken of as a Friar 

 of S. Dominic, of Nola, burnt alive in the Campo di 

 Fiori, an obstinate heretic, with his tongue tied, owing 

 to the brutish words he uttered, refusing to listen to 

 the comforters or others : in another he was reported 

 as saying that he died a martyr, and willingly, and that 

 his soul would ascend with the smoke to Paradise, " but 

 now he knows whether he spoke the truth ! " The 

 fullest account, however, of his death, and one which 

 should put to rest all doubts on the subject, is in the 

 reports of the Company of St. John the Beheaded. 

 This company called also the Company of Mercy or 

 Pity (jiella misericordia) was instituted for the pur- 

 pose of accompanying condemned heretics to the place 

 of death, encouraging them to repent, to die with con- 

 trition for their sins. The priests bore tablets painted 

 with images, which were presented to the condemned 

 to kiss, from time to time, till the faggots were lit. 

 Even the executioner was called to their aid occasion- 

 ally, and the cruellest methods adopted to produce at 

 least the appearance of kissing, and so of repentance. 

 In obstinate cases, on the other hand, the tongue was 

 tied, so that the heretic could not speak to the people. 

 When the sufferers repented before death the Company 

 took note of their last wishes, and they were buried in 

 the tombs of the Cloister donated for that purpose by 

 Innocent VIII., but if they were impenitent no will was 

 allowed, and the ashes were abandoned to the winds of 



1 Berti, p. 3z6, n. i. 



