Clear-sighted as he was, he could not discern the flame of liberty which burned in Savonarola's soul.
Savonarola, the democratic party leader, was a force in politics as incalculable beforehand as Ferrucci the hero.

On August 1, 1490, the monk ascended the pulpit of S.Mark's, and delivered a tremendous sermon on a passage from the Apocalypse.

On the eve of this commencement he is reported to have said: 'Tomorrow I shall begin to preach, and I shall preach for eight years.' The Florentines were greatly moved.

Savonarola had to remove from the Church of S.Mark to the Duomo; and thus began the spiritual dictatorship which he exercised thenceforth without intermission till his death.
Lorenzo soon began to resent the influence of this uncompromising monk, who, not content with moral exhortations, confidently predicted the coming of a foreign conqueror, the fall of the Magnificent, the peril of the Pope, and the ruin of the King of Naples.

Yet it was no longer easy to suppress the preacher.