XXVII 
  
AN HEROIC DEATH 
  
  
FANCIULLO was an admirable buffoon, and, 
what was more, on terms of something like 
friendship with the Prince. But for people who 
are devoted by profession to comedy serious 
affairs have a fatal attraction, and strange as it 
may seem that ideas of patriotism and free-
dom should possess themselves masterfully of 
the brain of an actor, one day Fanciullo joined 
a conspiracy which had been got up by some 
discontented noblemen. 
There are everywhere good people ready to 
denounce those atrabilious individuals who 
want to depose princes and reconstitute soci-
ety without consulting it. The nobles in ques-
tion were arrested, and with them Fanciullo; 
there was no doubt that one and all would be 
condemned to death. 
I would gladly believe that the Prince was 
annoyed at finding his favourite comedian 
amongst the rebels. The Prince was neither 
better nor worse than another man, but his ex-
cessive sensitiveness made him in many cases