Roeder describes Savaronarola's transformation from scourge of the clergy to social critic -- "from mystigogue to demagogue" -- and, thus threat to Lorenzo di Medici's "invisible dictatorship."
The Medici acquire political power to protect their fortune, perceiving that: "wealth without power is insecure"
Lorenzo believes that "man is moved by self-interest" and thus, for him, Savaronarola is "a moral anomaly."
Lorenzo "lived by flair, by shrewdness, always alert to the promptings of life, improvising his conduct with every occasion, consistent to nothing but continual variety."
Lorenzo practically stalks Savaronarola, trying to bring him into his orbit. Only on his deathbed does Lorenzo succeed, but the intractable monk places conditions on hearing his confession. Upon Savaranola delivering the last, that he restore the freedom of Florence, Lorenzo "stares at him incredulously" then "slowly rolls over and dies."
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