Death of Tito

Grayscale illustration of an old man strangling a young man near a river. The city of Florence rises in the background.

Near the end of Romola, political unrest grips Florence as the Compagnacci turn on Tito and Baldassarre waits by the river for revenge. A mob throws Tito into the Arno, but he escapes only to have Baldassarre seize and strangle him, ending his betrayals in a final reckoning. “The next instant a man's body was cast violently on the grass two yards from him, and he started forward like a panther, clutching the velvet tunic as he fell forward on the body and flashed a look in the man's face. Was he dead ? The eyes were rigid. But no, it could not be — justice had brought him. Men looked dead sometimes, arid yet the life came back into them. Baldassarre did not feel feeble in that moment. He knew just what he could do. He got his large fingers within the neck of the tunic and held them there, kneeling on one knee beside the body and watching the face" ("Waiting by the River", Chapter 67).

Dudley, Ambrose (1867-1951)

George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org

1908

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Dudley, Ambrose (1867-1951), Death of Tito, George Eliot Illustrations Gallery, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/83492