Fra Filippo Lippi . ippo had recourse to a base forged Giovannis receipt underneath the con-tract, and then exhibiting this document swore thathe had already paid his assistant. But Giovanniprotested so vigorously and with such evident sin-cerity that the Archbishops Vicar-General, MesserRaffaello de Primaticci of Bologna, suspecting afraud, caused both plaintiff and defendant to be im-prisoned pending further inquiries. An investiga-tion into the friars precedents and mode of livingfully confirmed the magistrates suspicion, and asFra Filippo persisted in his false assertions, he
Fra Filippo Lippi . ippo had recourse to a base forged Giovannis receipt underneath the con-tract, and then exhibiting this document swore thathe had already paid his assistant. But Giovanniprotested so vigorously and with such evident sin-cerity that the Archbishops Vicar-General, MesserRaffaello de Primaticci of Bologna, suspecting afraud, caused both plaintiff and defendant to be im-prisoned pending further inquiries. An investiga-tion into the friars precedents and mode of livingfully confirmed the magistrates suspicion, and asFra Filippo persisted in his false assertions, he wasfinally submitted to the ttltijua ratio of mediaevaljustice—torture—which an inhuman or inexperiencedexecutioner applied so ruthlessly as to cause anabdominal lesion from which the friar never re-covered, and which may even indirectly have ledto his death ^. There is something pitiful and at ^ A contemporary document states that in consequence of therough handling he underwent on this occasion Fra Filippo was. Aliiiari /•holo.] 26 \_Accadcviia, Ilortme. ST. JEROME. # ,N\l#^ VA^^^ XV^^ ^ ov \v>^ \o^- SECOND FLORENTINE PERIOD 8r the same time revolting, in the idea of the jovial,pleasure-loving monk undergoing the hideous tor-ments of the rack, but it appears that he wentthrough the appalling ordeal bravely, and only gaveup the struggle and confessed his guilt when he sawthat he was seriously injured. The consequences of this scandalous affair werenot so disastrous as might have been , with characteristic levity, he appears tohave attached very little importance to an ignominywhich would have bowed down a more sensitiveman with shame. Instead of mending his ways andattending to his clerical duties as Rector of SanQuirico in Legnaja, Fra Filippo never gave athought to his parishioners, keeping away from thechurch for months together, and serenely disregard-ing the repeated warnings and injunctions of theArchiepiscopal Curia. At last, all other steps havi
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