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Book FirstPart LIV
Part LIV
On that very day, as I was passing through the Piazza Navona, and had my
fine retriever with me, just when we came opposite the gate of the Bargello,
my dog flew barking loudly inside the door upon a youth, who had been arrested
at the suit of a man called Donnino (a goldsmith from Parma, and a former
pupil of Caradosso), on the charge of having robbed him. The dog strove so
violently to tear the fellow to pieces, that the constables were moved to
pity. It so happened that he was pleading his own cause with boldness, and
Donnino had not evidence enough to support the accusation; and what was more,
one of the corporals of the guard, a Genoese, was a friend of the young man`s
father. The upshot was that, what with the dog and with those other
circumstances, they were on the point of releasing their prisoner. When I came
up, the dog had lost all fear of sword or staves, and was flying once more at
the young man; so they told me if I did not call the brute off they would kill
him. I held him back as well as I was able; but just then the fellow, in the
act of readjusting his cape, let fall some paper packets from the hood, which
Donnino recognised as his property. I too recognised a little ring; whereupon
I called out. "This is the thief who broke into my shop and robbed it; and
therefore my dog knows him;" then I loosed the dog, who flew again upon the
robber. On this the fellow craved for mercy, promising to give back whatever
he possessed of mine. When I had secured the dog, he proceeded to restore the
gold and silver and the rings which he had stolen from me, and twenty-five
crowns in addition. Then he cried once more to me for pity. I told him to make
his peace with God, for I should do him neither good nor evil. So I returned
to my business; and a few days afterwards, Cesare Macherone, the false coiner,
was hanged in the Banchi opposite the Mint; his accomplice was sent to the
galleys; the Genoese thief was hanged in the Campo di Fiore, while I remained
in better repute as an honest man than I had enjoyed before.
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