21. Exacting Confessions Through Torture
Although most Romans approved of the killing of Count Cenci, Pope Clement VIII, ruler of Rome and the Papal States where the crime had taken place, had other ideas. Viewing patricide as a heinous crime, and worried that leniency might encourage other children to murder their parents, the pope authorized the torture of the accused. They began with Olimpio, the lowest socially ranked of the conspirators. However, he kept mum, refusing to confess or implicate his lover Beatrice, until he died during the harsh interrogation.
Beatrice was also made of stern stuff, and withstood the torture, including getting stretched on the rack, without admitting to anything. Her brother Giacomo was not as tough, however. He had not been at the Cenci castle on the night of the murder, but under torture, he spilled out that his younger sister had been the chief culprit, and that she had planned everything. The rest of her family also broke under torture, and Lucrezia and young Bernardo pinned the blame on Beatrice as the ringleader.
