The Cenci | Page 8

Raffaelle, moved to and fro in
these apartments, seeming full of joy and happiness: these were the
ministers to the pleasures of Francesco, who, rich as a king, every night
revelled in the orgies of Alexander, the wedding revels of Lucrezia, and
the excesses of Tiberius at Capri. After an hour, the door closed, and
the seductive vision vanished, leaving Beatrice full of trouble and
amazement.
The night following, the same apparition again presented itself, only,
on this occasion, Francesco Cenci, undressed, entered his daughter's
roam and invited her to join the fete. Hardly knowing what she did,
Beatrice yet perceived the impropriety of yielding to her father's wishes:
she replied that, not seeing her stepmother, Lucrezia Petroni, among all
these women, she dared not leave her bed to mix with persons who

were unknown to her. Francesco threatened and prayed, but threats and
prayers were of no avail. Beatrice wrapped herself up in the bedclothes,
and obstinately refused to obey.
The next night she threw herself on her bed without undressing. At the
accustomed hour the door opened, and the nocturnal spectacle
reappeared. This time, Lucrezia Petroni was among the women who
passed before Beatrice's door; violence had compelled her to undergo
this humiliation. Beatrice was too far off to see her blushes and her
tears. Francesco pointed out her stepmother, whom she had lacked for
in vain the previous evening; and as she could no longer make any
opposition, he led her, covered with blushes and confusion, into the
middle of this orgy.
Beatrice there saw incredible and infamous things....
Nevertheless, she resisted a long time: an inward voice told her that this
was horrible; but Francesco had the slaw persistence of a demon. To
these sights, calculated to stimulate her passions, he added heresies
designed to warp her mind; he told her that the greatest saints venerated
by the Church were the issue of fathers and daughters, and in the end
Beatrice committed a crime without even knowing it to be a sin.
His brutality then knew no bounds. He forced Lucrezia and Beatrice to
share the same bed, threatening his wife to kill her if she disclosed to
his daughter by a single word that there was anything odious in such an
intercourse. So matters went on for about three years.
At this time Francesco was obliged to make a journey, and leave the
women alone and free. The first thing Lucrezia did was to enlighten
Beatrice an the infamy of the life they were leading; they then together
prepared a memorial to the pope, in which they laid before him a
statement of all the blows and outrages they had suffered. But, before
leaving, Francesco Cenci had taken precautions; every person about the
pope was in his pay, or hoped to be. The petition never reached His
Holiness, and the two poor women, remembering that Clement VIII
had on a farmer occasion driven Giacomo, Cristaforo, and Rocco from
his presence, thought they were included in the same proscription, and
looked upon themselves as abandoned to their fate.
When matters were in this state, Giacomo, taking advantage of his
father's absence, came to pay them a visit with a friend of his, an abbe
named Guerra: he was a young man of twenty-five or twenty-six,

belonging to one of the most noble families in Rome, of a bold,
resolute, and courageous character, and idolised by all the Roman
ladies for his beauty. To classical features he added blue eyes
swimming in poetic sentiment; his hair was long and fair, with chestnut
beard and eyebrows; add to these attractions a highly educated mind,
natural eloquence expressed by a musical and penetrating voice, and
the reader may form some idea of Monsignor the Abbe Guerra.
No sooner had he seen Beatrice than he fell in love with her. On her
side, she was not slow to return the sympathy of the young priest. The
Council of Trent had not been held at that time, consequently
ecclesiastics were not precluded from marriage. It was therefore
decided that on the return of Francesco the Abbe Guerra should
demand the hand of Beatrice from her father, and the women, happy in
the absence of their master, continued to live on, hoping for better
things to come.
After three or four months, during which no one knew where he was,
Francesco returned. The very first night, he wished to resume his
intercourse with Beatrice; but she was no longer the same person, the
timid and submissive child had become a girl of decided will; strong in
her love for the abbe, she resisted alike prayers, threats, and blows.
The wrath of Francesco fell upon his wife, whom he accused of
betraying him; he gave her a violent thrashing. Lucrezia Petroni was a
veritable Roman