Savonarola took no notice of him, and handed his florins over to the poor of the city.

Then Lorenzo stirred up Fra Mariano da Genezzano, Savonarola's old rival, against him; but the clever rhetorician was no longer a match for the full-grown athlete of inspired eloquence.

Da Genezzano was forced to leave Florence in angry discomfiture.

With such unbending haughtiness did Savonarola already dare to brave the powers that be.

He had recognized the oppressor of liberty, the corrupter of morality, the opponent of true religion, in Lorenzo.