But such sport as that would have satisfied but ill the deep-seated malice of his soul.
The man whom his cruel mockery crucified for their entertainment was Lazzaro Biancomonte, whom he revealed to them, relating in his own fashion the tale I have told you.
"At that I rebelled, and I said such things to him in that hour, before all his Court, as a man may not say to a prince and live.

Passion surged up in him, and he ordered his castellan to flog me to the bone--in short, to slay me with a whip.
"From that punishment I was saved by the intercessions of Madonna Lucrezia.

But I was driven out of Pesaro that very night, and so it happens that I am a wanderer now." At that I left it.

I had no mind to tell her what motives had impelled Lucrezia Borgia to rescue me, nor on what errand I had gone to Rome and was from Rome returning.
She had heard me in silence, and now that I had done, she heaved a sigh, for which gentle expression of pity out of my heart I thanked her.

We were silent, thereafter, for a little while.