Romola Chapter 49 - The Pyramid of Vanities

In which Romola, with a heart weighed by foreboding, witnesses the solemn transformation of Florence’s Carnival into a spectacle of piety and reform, marked by the burning of worldly vanities in a great pyramid constructed for the occasion. Amidst the fervent zeal of youthful devotees and the conflicted sentiments of her friend Piero di Cosimo, she reflects quietly on the tension between sacred austerity and the innocent pleasures of art and poetry.