"The virus of power"

Ralph Roeder, The Man of the Renaissance: Reading Notes Part V

In expelling French from Italy, Venetians enlist the mercenary Stradiouts: "the savage, head-hunting Albanian cavalry who had been promised a gold coin and a kiss from the lips of their commander for every French head."

In power vacuum following French invasion and expulsion, Savaranola grasps political power: "the virus of power had entered his veins and in its most insidious form, as an inalienable responsibility."

Another Maoist (or Taliban) resonance in Savaronarola's program of organizing Florentine youth into squads of moral enforcement teams as part of his campaign to suppress Carnival.

Savaronarola's young moral enforcers even more active during Lent: "they attacked the pastry sellers, they remonstrated with richly-dressed women, and when the remonstrance failed, stripped them of their veils and vanities."

Here the resonance is with Hitler's Nazi youth or Stalin's Communist Youth Brigades: "with the zeal of converts and the ardor of minors, they spied on and reported the sins of their parents" and patrolled the taverns and streets, causing dice games to break-up.


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