The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Part 11

Note 3. Paul III., elected October 13, 1534.

Note 4. Latino Giovenale de? Manetti was a Latin poet and a man of humane learning, much esteemed by his contemporaries.

Note 5. Ambrogio Recalcati. He was for many years the trusted secretary and diplomatic agent of Paul III.

LXXV

MESSER LATINO JUVINALE came to call on me, and gave me orders to strike the coins of the Pope. This roused up all my enemies, who began to look about how they should hinder me; but the Pope, perceiving their drift, scolded them, and insisted that I should go on working. I took the dies in hand, designing a S. Paul, surrounded with this inscription: 'Vas electionis.' This piece of money gave far more satisfaction than the models of my compet.i.tors; so that the Pope forbade any one else to speak to him of coins, since he wished me only to have to do with them. This encouraged me to apply myself with untroubled spirit to the task; and Messer Latino Juvinale, who had received such orders from the Pope, used to introduce me to his Holiness. I had it much at heart to recover the post of stamper to the Mint; but on this point the Pope took advice, and then told me I must first obtain pardon for the homicide, and this I should get at the holy Maries? day in August through the Caporioni of Rome. [1] I may say that it is usual every year on this solemn festival to grant the freedom of twelve outlaws to these officers. Meanwhile he promised to give me another safe-conduct, which should keep me in security until that time.

When my enemies perceived that they were quite unable to devise the means of keeping me out of the Mint, they resorted to another expedient.

The deceased Pompeo had left three thousand ducats as dowry to an illegitimate daughter of his; and they contrived that a certain favourite of Signor Pier Luigi, the Pope?s son, should ask her hand in marriage through the medium of his master. [2] Accordingly the match came off; but this fellow was an insignificant country lad, who had been brought up by his lords.h.i.+p; and, as folk said, he got but little of the money, since his lords.h.i.+p laid his hands on it and had the mind to use it. Now the husband of the girl, to please his wife, begged the prince to have me taken up; and he promised to do so when the first flush of my favour with the Pope had pa.s.sed away. Things stood so about two months, the servant always suing for his wife?s dower, the master putting him off with pretexts, but a.s.suring the woman that he would certainly revenge her father?s murder. I obtained an inkling of these designs; yet I did not omit to present myself pretty frequently to his lords.h.i.+p, who made show of treating me with great distinction. He had, however, decided to do one or other of two things-either to have me a.s.sa.s.sinated, or to have me taken up by the Bargello. Accordingly he commissioned a certain little devil of a Corsican soldier in his service to do the trick as cleverly as he could; [3] and my other enemies, with Messer Traiano at the head of them, promised the fellow a reward of one hundred crowns. He a.s.sured them that the job would be as easy as sucking a fresh egg. Seeing into their plot, I went about with my eyes open and with good attendance, wearing an under-coat and armlets of mail, for which I had obtained permission.

The Corsican, influenced by avarice, hoped to gain the whole sum of money without risk, and imagined himself capable of carrying the matter through alone. Consequently, one day after dinner, he had me sent for in the name of Signor Pier Luigi. I went off at once, because his lords.h.i.+p had spoken of wanting to order several big silver vases. Leaving my home in a hurry, armed, however, as usual, I walked rapidly through Strada Giulia toward the Palazzo Farnese, not expecting to meet anybody at that hour of day. I had reached the end of the street and was making toward the palace, when, my habit being always to turn the corners wide, I observed the Corsican get up and take his station in the middle of the road. Being prepared, I was not in the least disconcerted; but kept upon my guard, and slackening pace a little, drew nearer toward the wall, in order to give the fellow a wide berth. He on his side came closer to the wall, and when we were now within a short distance of each other, I perceived by his gestures that he had it in his mind to do me mischief, and seeing me alone thus, thought he should succeed. Accordingly, I began to speak and said: ?Brave soldier, if it had been night, you might have said you had mistaken me, but since it is full day, you know well enough who I am. I never had anything to do with you, and never injured you, but should be well disposed to do you service.? He replied in a high-spirited way, without, however, making room for me to pa.s.s, that he did not know what I was saying. Then I answered. ?I know very well indeed what you want and what you are saying; but the job which you have taken in hand is more dangerous and difficult than you imagine, and may peradventure turn out the wrong way for you. Remember that you have to do with a man who would defend himself against a hundred; and the adventure you are on is not esteemed by men of courage like yourself.?

Meanwhile I also was looking black as thunder, and each of us had changed colour. Folk too gathered round us, for it had become clear that our words meant swords and daggers. He then, not having the spirit to lay hands on me, cried out: ?We shall meet another time.? I answered: ?I am always glad to meet honest men and those who show themselves as such.?

When we parted, I went to his lords.h.i.+p?s palace, and found he had not sent for me. When I returned to my shop, the Corsican informed me, through an intimate friend of his and mine, that I need not be on my guard against him, since he wished to be my good brother; but that I ought to be much upon my guard against others, seeing I was in the greatest peril, for folk of much consequence had sworn to have my life.

I sent to thank him, and kept the best look-out I could. Not many days after, a friend of mine informed me that Signor Pier Luigi had given strict orders that I should be taken that very evening. They told me this at twenty; whereupon I spoke with some of my friends, who advised me to be off at once. The order had been given for one hour after sunset; accordingly at twenty-three I left in the post for Florence. It seems that when the Corsican showed that he had not pluck enough to do the business as he promised, Signor Pier Luigi on his own authority gave orders to have me taken, merely to stop the mouth of Pompeo?s daughter, who was always clamouring to know where her dower had gone to. When he was unable to gratify her in this matter of revenge on either of the two plans he had formed, he bethought him of another, which shall be related in its proper place.

Note 1. 'Le sante Marie.' So the Feast of the a.s.sumption is called at Florence, because devotion is paid on that day to the various images of the Virgin scattered through the town. The 'Caporioni' of Rome were, like aldermen, wardens of the districts into which the city was divided.

Note 2. Pier Luigi Farnese, Paul III?s b.a.s.t.a.r.d, was successively created Gonfaloniere of the Church, Duke of Castro, Marquis of Novara, and finally Duke of Parma and Piacenza in 1545. He was murdered at Parma by his own courtiers in 1547. He was a man of infamous habits, quite unfit for the high dignities conferred on him.

Note 3. 'Che la facessi piu netta che poteva.'

LXXVI

I REACHED Florence in due course, and paid my respects to the Duke Alessandro, who greeted me with extraordinary kindness and pressed me to remain in his service. There was then at Florence a sculptor called Il Tribolino, and we were gossips, for I had stood G.o.dfather to his son.

[1] In course of conversation he told me that a certain Giacopo del Sansovino, his first master, had sent for him; and whereas he had never seen Venice, and because of the gains he expected, he was very glad to go there. [2] On his asking me if I had ever been at Venice, I said no; this made him invite me to accompany him, and I agreed. So then I told Duke Alessandro that I wanted first to go to Venice, and that afterwards I would return to serve him. He exacted a formal promise to this effect, and bade me present myself before I left the city. Next day, having made my preparations, I went to take leave of the Duke, whom I found in the palace of the Pazzi, at that time inhabited by the wife and daughters of Signor Lorenzo Cibo. [3] Having sent word to his Excellency that I wished to set off for Venice with his good leave, Signor Cosimino de?

Medici, now Duke of Florence, returned with the answer that I must go to Niccol de Monte Aguto, who would give me fifty golden crowns, which his Excellency bestowed on me in sign of his good-will, and afterwards I must return to serve him.

I got the money from Niccol, and then went to fetch Tribolo, whom I found ready to start; and he asked me whether I had bound my sword. I answered that a man on horseback about to take a journey ought not to bind his sword. He said that the custom was so in Florence, since a certain Ser Maurizio then held office, who was capable of putting S.

John the Baptist to the rack for any trifling peccadillo. [4]

Accordingly one had to carry one?s sword bound till the gates were pa.s.sed. I laughed at this, and so we set off, joining the courier to Venice, who was nicknamed Il Lamentone. In his company we travelled through Bologna, and arrived one evening at Ferrara. There we halted at the inn of the Piazza, which Lamentone went in search of some Florentine exiles, to take them letters and messages from their wives. The Duke had given orders that only the courier might talk to them, and no one else, under penalty of incurring the same banishment as they had. Meanwhile, since it was a little past the hour of twenty-two, Tribolo and I went to see the Duke of Ferrara come back from Belfiore, where he had been at a jousting match. There we met a number of exiles, who stared at us as though they wished to make us speak with them. Tribolo, who was the most timorous man that I have ever known, kept on saying: ?Do not look at them or talk to them, if you care to go back to Florence.? So we stayed, and saw the Duke return; afterwards, when we regained our inn, we found Lamentone there. After nightfall there appeared Niccol Benintendi, and his brother Piero, and another old man, whom I believe to have been Jacopo Nardi, [5] together with some young fellows, who began immediately to ask the courier news, each man of his own family in Florence. [6] Tribolo and I kept at a distance, in order to avoid speaking with them. After they had talked a while with Lamentone, Niccol Benintendi [7] said: ?I know those two men there very well; what?s the reason they give themselves such beastly airs, and will not talk to us?? Tribolo kept begging me to hold my tongue, while Lamentone told them that we had not the same permission as he had. Benintendi retorted it was idiotic nonsense, adding ?Pox take them,? and other pretty flowers of speech. Then I raised my head as gently as I could, and said: ?Dear gentlemen, you are able to do us serious injury, while we cannot render you any a.s.sistance; and though you have flung words at us which we are far from deserving, we do not mean on that account to get into a rage with you.? Thereupon old Nardi said that I had spoken like a worthy young man as I was. But Niccol Benintendi shouted: ?I snap my fingers at them and the Duke.? [8] I replied that he was in the wrong toward us, since we had nothing to do with him or his affairs. Old Nardi took our part, telling Benintendi plainly that he was in the wrong, which made him go on muttering insults. On this I bade him know that I could say and do things to him which he would not like, and therefore he had better mind his business, and let us alone. Once more he cried out that he snapped his fingers at the Duke and us, and that we were all of us a heap of donkeys. [9] I replied by giving him the lie direct and drawing my sword. The old man wanting to be first upon the staircase, tumbled down some steps, and all the rest of them came huddling after him. I rushed onward, brandis.h.i.+ng my sword along the walls with fury, and shouting: ?I will kill you all!? but I took good care not to do them any harm, as I might too easily have done. In the midst of this tumult the innkeeper screamed out; Lamentone cried, ?For G.o.d?s sake, hold!? some of them exclaimed, ?Oh me, my head!? others, ?Let me get out from here.? In short, it was an indescribable confusion; they looked like a herd of swine. Then the host came with a light, while I withdrew upstairs and put my sword back in its scabbard. Lamentone told Niccol Benintendi that he had behaved very ill. The host said to him: ?It is as much as one?s life is worth to draw swords here; and if the Duke were to know of your brawling, he would have you hanged. I will not do to you what you deserve; but take care you never show yourself again in my inn, or it will be the worse for you.? Our host then came up to me, and when I began to make him my excuses, he would not suffer me to say a word, but told me that he knew I was entirely in the right, and bade me be upon my guard against those men upon my journey.

Note 1. Niccol de? Pericoli, a Florentine, who got the nickname of Tribolo in his boyhood, was a sculptor of some distinction. He worked on the bas-reliefs of San Petronio at Bologna, and helped Michel Agnolo da Siena to execute the tomb of Adrian VI. at Rome. Afterwards he was employed upon the sculpture of the Santa Casa at Loreto. He also made some excellent bronzework for the Medicean villas at Cestello and Petraja. All through his life Tribolo served the Medici, and during the siege of Florence in 1530 he constructed a cork model of the town for Clement VII. Born 1485, died 1550.

Note 2. This is the famous Giacopo Tatti, who took his artist?s surname from his master, Andrea da Monte a Sansovino. His works at Florence, Rome, and Venice are justly famous. He died in 1570, aged ninety-three.

Note 3. A brother of the Cardinal, and himself Marquis of Ma.s.sa.

Note 4. Ser Maurizio was ent.i.tled Chancellor, but really superintended the criminal magistracy of Florence. Varchi and Segni both speak of him as harsh and cruel in the discharge of his office.

Note 5. Jacopo Nardi was the excellent historian of Florence, a strong anti-Medicean partisan, who was exiled in 1530.

Note 6. I have translated the word 'brigata' by 'family' above, because I find Cellini in one of his letters alluding to his family as 'la mia brigatina.'

Note 7. Niccol Benintendi, who had been a member of the Eight in 1529, was exiled by the Medici in 1530.

Note 8. The Florentine slang is 'Io ho in culo loro e il duca.'

Note 9. 'Un monte di asini.'

LXXVII

AFTER we had supped, a barge-man appeared, and offered to take us to Venice. I asked if he would let us have the boat to ourselves; he was willing, and so we made our bargain. In the morning we rose early, and mounted our horses for the port, which is a few miles distant from Ferrara. On arriving there, we found Niccol Benintendi?s brother, with three comrades, waiting for me. They had among them two lances, and I had bought a stout pike in Ferrara. Being very well armed to boot, I was not at all frightened, as Tribolo was, who cried: ?G.o.d help us! those fellows are waiting here to murder us.? Lamentone turned to me and said: ?The best that you can do is to go back to Ferrara, for I see that the affair is likely to be ugly; for Heaven?s sake, Benvenuto, do not risk the fury of these mad beasts.? To which I replied: ?Let us go forward, for G.o.d helps those who have the right on their side; and you shall see how I will help myself. Is not this boat engaged for us?? ?Yes,? said Lamentone. ?Then we will stay in it without them, unless my manhood has deserted me.? I put spurs to my horse, and when I was within fifty paces, dismounted and marched boldly forward with my pike. Tribolo stopped behind, all huddled up upon his horse, looking the very image of frost. Lamentone, the courier, meanwhile, was swelling and snorting like the wind. That was his usual habit; but now he did so more than he was wont, being in doubt how this devilish affair would terminate. When I reached the boat, the master presented himself and said that those Florentine gentlemen wanted to embark in it with us, if I was willing. I answered: ?The boat is engaged for us and no one else, and it grieves me to the heart that I am not able to have their company.? At these words a brave young man of the Magalotti family spoke out: ?Benvenuto, we will make you able to have it.? To which I answered: ?If G.o.d and my good cause, together with my own strength of body and mind, possess the will and the power, you shall not make me able to have what you say.? So saying I leapt into the boat, and turning my pike?s point against them, added: ?I?ll show you with this weapon that I am not able.? Wis.h.i.+ng to prove he was in earnest, Magalotti then seized his own and came toward me. I sprang upon the gunwale and hit him such a blow, that, if he had not tumbled backward, I must have pierced his body. His comrades, in lieu of helping him, turned to fly; and when I saw that I could kill him, instead of striking, I said: ?Get up, brother; take your arms and go away. I have shown you that I cannot do what I do not want, and what I had the power to do I have not chosen to do.? Then I called for Tribolo, the boatman, and Lamentone to embark; and so we got under way for Venice. When we had gone ten miles on the Po, we sighted those young men, who had got into a skiff and caught us up; and when they were alongside, that idiot Piero Benintendi sang out to me: ?Go thy ways this time, Benvenuto; we shall meet in Venice.? ?Set out betimes then,? I shouted, ?for I am coming, and any man can meet me where he lists.? In due course we arrived at Venice, when I applied to a brother of Cardinal Cornaro, begging him to procure for me the favour of being allowed to carry arms. He advised me to do so without hesitation, saying that the worst risk I ran was that I might lose my sword.

LXXVIII

ACCORDINGLY I girded on my sword, and went to visit Jacopo del Sansovino, the sculptor, who had sent for Tribolo. He received me most kindly, and invited us to dinner, and we stayed with him. In course of conversation with Tribolo, he told him that he had no work to give him at the moment, but that he might call again. Hearing this, I burst out laughing, and said pleasantly to Sansovino: ?Your house is too far off from his, if he must call again.? Poor Tribolo, all in dismay, exclaimed: ?I have got your letter here, which you wrote to bid me come.? Sansovino rejoined that men of his sort, men of worth and genius, were free to do that and greater things besides. Tribolo shrugged up his shoulders and muttered: ?Patience, patience,? several times. Thereupon, without regarding the copious dinner which Sansovino had given me, I took the part of my comrade Tribolo, for he was in the right. All the while at table Sansovino had never stopped chattering about his great achievements, abusing Michel Agnolo and the rest of his fellow-sculptors, while he bragged and vaunted himself to the skies.

This had so annoyed me that not a single mouthful which I ate had tasted well; but I refrained from saying more than these two words: ?Messer Jacopo, men of worth act like men of worth, and men of genius, who produce things beautiful and excellent, s.h.i.+ne forth far better when other people praise them than when they boast so confidently of their own achievements.? Upon this he and I rose from table blowing off the steam of our choler. The same day, happening to pa.s.s near the Rialto, I met Piero Benintendi in the company of some men; and perceiving that they were going to pick a quarrel with me, I turned into an apothecary?s shop till the storm blew over. Afterwards I learned that the young Magalotti, to whom I showed that courtesy, had scolded them roundly; and thus the affair ended.

LXXIX

A FEW days afterwards we set out on our return to Florence. We lay one night at a place on this side Chioggia, on the left hand as you go toward Ferrara. Here the host insisted upon being paid before we went to bed, and in his own way; and when I observed that it was the custom everywhere else to pay in the morning, he answered: ?I insist on being paid overnight, and in my own way.? I retorted that men who wanted everything their own way ought to make a world after their own fas.h.i.+on, since things were differently managed here. Our host told me not to go on bothering his brains, because he was determined to do as he had said.

Tribolo stood trembling with fear, and nudged me to keep quiet, lest they should do something worse to us; so we paid them in the way they wanted, and afterwards we retired to rest. We had, I must admit, the most capital beds, new in every particular, and as clean as they could be. Nevertheless I did not get one wink of sleep, because I kept on thinking how I could revenge myself. At one time it came into my head to set fire to his house; at another to cut the throats of four fine horses which he had in the stable; I saw well enough that it was easy for me to do all this; but I could not see how it was easy to secure myself and my companion. At last I resolved to put my things and my comrade?s on board the boat; and so I did. When the towing-horses had been harnessed to the cable, I ordered the people not to stir before I returned, for I had left a pair of slippers in my bedroom. Accordingly I went back to the inn and called our host, who told me he had nothing to do with us, and that we might go to Jericho. [1] There was a ragged stable-boy about, half a sleep, who cried out to me: ?The master would not move to please the Pope, because he has got a wench in bed with him, whom he has been wanting this long while.? Then he asked me for a tip, and I gave him a few Venetian coppers, and told him to make the barge-man wait till I had found my slippers and returned. I went upstairs, took out a little knife as sharp as a razor, and cut the four beds that I found there into ribbons. I had the satisfaction of knowing I had done a damage of more than fifty crowns. Then I ran down to the boat with some pieces of the bed-covers [2] in my pouch, and bade the bargee start at once without delay. We had not gone far before my gossip Tribolo said that he had left behind some little straps belonging to his carpet-bag, and that he must be allowed to go back for them. I answered that he need not take thought for a pair of little straps, since I could make him as many big ones as he liked. [3] He told me I was always joking, but that he must really go back for his straps. Then he began ordering the bargee to stop, while I kept ordering him to go on. Meanwhile I informed my friend what kind of trick I had played our host, and showed him specimens of the bed-covers and other things, which threw him into such a quaking fright that he roared out to the bargee: ?On with you, on with you, as quick as you can!? and never thought himself quite safe until we reached the gates of Florence.

When we arrived there, Tribolo said: ?Let us bind our swords up, for the love of G.o.d; and play me no more of your games, I beg; for all this while I?ve felt as though my guts were in the saucepan.? I made answer: ?Gossip Tribolo, you need not tie your sword up, for you have never loosed it;? and this I said at random, because I never once had seen him act the man upon that journey. When he heard the remark, he looked at his sword and cried out: ?In G.o.d?s name, you speak true! Here it is tied, just as I arranged it before I left my house.? My gossip deemed that I had been a bad travelling companion to him, because I resented affronts and defended myself against folk who would have done us injury.

But I deemed that he had acted a far worse part with regard to me by never coming to my a.s.sistance at such pinches. Let him judge between us who stands by and has no personal interest in our adventures.

Note 1. 'E che noi anda.s.simo al bordello.'

Note 2. 'Sarge. Sargia' is interpreted 'sopraccoperta del letto.'

Note 3. The Italian for straps, 'coregge,' has a double meaning, upon which Cellini plays.

Lx.x.x

NO sooner had I dismounted that I went to visit Duke Alessandro, and thanked him greatly for his present of the fifty crowns, telling his Excellency that I was always ready to serve him according to my abilities. He gave me orders at once to strike dies for his coinage; and the first I made was a piece of forty soldi, with the Duke?s head on one side and San Cosimo and San Damiano on the other. [1] This was in silver, and it gave so much satisfaction that the Duke did not hesitate to say they were the best pieces of money in Christendom. The same said all Florence and every one who saw them. Consequently I asked his Excellency to make me appointments, [2] and to grant me the lodgings of the Mint. He bade me remain in his service, and promised he would give me more than I demanded. Meanwhile he said he had commissioned the Master of the Mint, a certain Carlo Acciaiuoli, and that I might go to him for all the money that I wanted. This I found to be true; but I drew my monies so discreetly, that I had always something to my credit, according to my account.

I then made dies for a giulio; [3] it had San Giovanni in profile, seated with a book in his hand, finer in my judgment than anything which I had done; and on the other side were the armorial bearings of Duke Alessandro. Next I made dies for half-giulios on which I struck the full face of San Giovanni in small. This was the first coin with a head in full face on so thin a piece of silver that had yet been seen. The difficulty of executing it is apparent only to the eyes of such as are past-masters in these crafts. Afterwards I made dies for the golden crowns; this crown had a cross upon one side with some little cherubim, and on the other side his Excellency?s arms.

When I had struck these four sorts, I begged the Duke to make out my appointments and to a.s.sign me the lodgings I have mentioned, if he was contented with my service. He told me very graciously that he was quite satisfied, and that he would grant me my request. While we were thus talking, his Excellency was in his wardrobe, looking at a remarkable little gun that had been sent him out of Germany. [4] When he noticed that I too paid particular attention to this pretty instrument, he put it in my hands, saying that he knew how much pleasure I took in such things, and adding that I might choose for earnest of his promises an arquebuse to my own liking from the armoury, excepting only this one piece; he was well aware that I should find things of greater beauty, and not less excellent, there. Upon this invitation, I accepted with thanks; and when he saw me looking round, he ordered his Master of the Wardrobe, a certain Pretino of Lucca, to let me take whatever I liked.

[5] Then he went away with the most pleasant words at parting, while I remained, and chose the finest and best arquebuse I ever saw, or ever had, and took it back with me to home.

Two days afterward I brought some drawings which his Excellency had commissioned for gold-work he wanted to give his wife, who was at that time still in Naples. [6] I again asked him to settle my affairs. Then his Excellency told me that he should like me first to execute the die of his portrait in fine style, as I had done for Pope Clement. I began it in wax; and the Duke gave orders, while I was at work upon it, that whenever I went to take his portrait, I should be admitted. Perceiving that I had a lengthy piece of business on my hands, I sent for a certain Pietro Pagolo from Monte Ritondo, in the Roman district, who had been with me from his boyhood in Rome. [7] I found him with one Bernardonaccio, [8] a goldsmith, who did not treat him well; so I brought him away from there, and taught him minutely how to strike coins from those dies. Meanwhile, I went on making the Duke?s portrait; and oftentimes I found him napping after dinner with that Lorenzino of his, who afterwards murdered him, and no other company; and much I marvelled that a Duke of that sort showed such confidence about his safety. 9

Note 1. These were the special patrons of the Medicean family, being physician-saints.

Note 2. 'Che mi ferma.s.si una provvisione.'

Note 3. The 'giulio' was a coin of 56 Italian centimes or 8 Tuscan 'crazie,' which in Florence was also called 'barile' or 'gabellotto,'

because the sum had to be paid as duty on a barrel of wine.

Note 4. See above, p. 120, for the right meaning of wardrobe.

Note 5. Messer Francesco of Lucca, surnamed Il Pretino.

Note 6. Margaret of Austria, natural daughter of Charles V., was eventually married in 1536 to Alessandro de? Medici.