SAV. Too late! My pride of manhood Is wounded irremediably. I’ll To the Piazza, where my flock awaits me. Thus do we see that men make great mistakes But may amend them when the conscience wakes. [Exit.] LUC. I’m half avenged now, but only half: ‘Tis with the ring I’ll have the final laugh! Tho’ love be sweet, revenge is sweeter far. To the Piazza! Ha, ha, ha, ha, har! [Seizes ring, and exit. Through open door are heard, as the Curtain falls, sounds of a terrific hubbub in the Piazza.] ACT III SCENE: The Piazza. TIME: A few minutes anterior to close of preceding Act. The Piazza is filled from end to end with a vast seething crowd that is drawn entirely from the lower orders. There is a sprinkling of wild-eyed and dishevelled women in it. The men are lantern-jawed, with several days’ growth of beard. Most of them carry rude weapons-- staves, bill-hooks, crow-bars, and the like--and are in as excited a condition as the women. Some of them are bare-headed, others affect a kind of Phrygian cap. Cobblers predominate. Enter LORENZO DE MEDICI and COSIMO DE MEDICI. They wear cloaks of scarlet brocade, and, to avoid notice, hold masks to their faces. COS. What purpose doth the foul and greasy plebs Ensue to-day here? LOR. I nor know nor care. COS. How thrall’d thou art to the philosophy Of Epicurus! Naught that’s human I Deem alien from myself. [To a COBBLER.] Make answer, fellow! What empty hope hath drawn thee by a thread Forth from the OBscene hovel where thou starvest? COB. No empty hope, your Honour, but the full Assurance that to-day, as yesterday, Savonarola will let loose his thunder Against the vices of the idle rich And from the brimming cornucopia Of his immense vocabulary pour Scorn on the lamentable heresies Of the New Learning and on all the art Later than Giotto. COS. Mark how absolute The knave is!