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Book FirstPart LXVII
Part LXVII
While he was still lying on the ground, and people were preparing to
carry him away, Pompeo the jeweller passed by. The Pope had sent for him to
give orders about some jewels. Seeing the fellow in such a miserable plight,
he asked who had struck him; on which they told him: "Benvenuto did it, but
the stupid creature brought it down upon himself." No sooner had Pompeo
reached the Pope than he began to speak: "Most blessed Father, Benvenuto has
this very moment murdered Tobbia; I saw it with my own eyes." On this the Pope
in a fury ordered the Governor, who was in the presence, to take and hang me
at once in the place where the homicide had been committed, adding that he
must do all he could to catch me, and not appear again before him until he had
hanged me.
When I saw the unfortunate Benedetto stretched upon the ground, I thought
at once of the peril I was in, considering the power of my enemies, and what
might ensue from this disaster. Making off, I took refuge in the house of
Messer Giovanni Gaddi, clerk of the Camera, with the intention of preparing as
soon as possible to escape from Rome. He, however, advised me not to be in
such a hurry, for it might turn out perhaps that the evil was not so great as
I imagined; and calling Messer Annibal Caro, who lived with him, bade him go
for information.
While these arrangements were being made, A Roman gentleman appeared, who
belonged to the household of Cardinal de` Medici, and had been sent by him. ^1
Taking Messer Giovanni and me apart, he told us that the Cardinal had reported
to him what the Pope said, and that there was no way of helping me out of the
scrape; it would be best for me to shun the first fury of the storm by flight,
and not to risk myself in any house in Rome. Upon this gentleman`s departure,
Messer Giovanni looked me in the face as though he were about to cry, and
said: "Ah me! Ah woe is me! There is nothing I can do to aid you!" I replied:
"By God`s means, I shall aid myself alone; only I request you to put one of
your horses at my disposition." They had already saddled a black Turkish
horse, the finest and the best in Rome. I mounted with an arquebuse upon the
saddle-bow, wound up in readiness to fire, if need were. ^2 When I reached
Ponte Sisto, I found the whole of the Bargello`s guard there, both horse and
foot. So, making a virtue of necessity, I put my horse boldly to a sharp trot,
and with God`s grace, being somehow unperceived by them, passed freely
through. Then, with all the speed I could, I took the road to Palombara, a
fief of my lord Giovanbatista Savello, whence I sent the horse back to Messer
Giovanni, without, however, thinking it well to inform him where I was. ^3
Lord Giovanbatista, after very kindly entertaining me two days, advised me to
remove and go toward Naples till the storm blew over. So, providing me with
company, he set me on the way to Naples.
[Footnote 1: Ippolito de` Medici was a Cardinal, much against his natural
inclination. When he went as Papal Legate to Hungary in 1532, he assumed the
airs and style of a Condottiere. His jealousy of his cousin Alessandro led to
his untimely death by poison in 1535.]
[Footnote 2: The gun was an arquebuso a ruola, which had a wheel to cock it.]
[Footnote 3: A village in the Sabina, north of Tivoli. Giov. Battista Savelli,
of a great Roman house, was a captain of cavalry in the Papal service after
1530. In 1540 he entered the service of Duke Cosimo, and died in 1553.]
While travelling, I met a sculptor of my acquaintance, who was going to
San Germano to finish the tomb of Piero de` Medici at Monte Cassino. ^4 His
name was Solosmeo, and he gave me the news that on the very evening of the
fray, Pope Clement sent one of his chamberlains to inquire how Tobbia was
getting on. Finding him at work, unharmed, and without even knowing anything
about the matter, the messenger went back and told the Pope, who turned round
to Pompeo and said: "You are a good-for-nothing rascal; but I promise you
well that you have stirred a snake up which will sting you, and serve you
right!" Then he addressed himself to Cardinal de` Medici, and commissioned him
to look after me, adding that he should be very sorry to let me slip through
his fingers. And so Solosmeo and I went on our way singing toward Monte
Cassino, intending to pursue our journey thence in company toward Naples.
[Footnote 4: This sculptor was Antonio Solosmeo of Settignano. The monument
erected to Piero de` Medici (drowned in the Garigliano, 1504) at Monte Cassino
is by no means a brilliant piece of Florentine art. Piero was the exiled son
of Lorenzo the Magnificent; and the Medici, when they regained their
principality, erected this monument to his memory, employing Antonio da San
Gallo, Francesco da San Gallo and a Neapolitan, Matteo de` Quaranta. The work
was begun in 1532. Solosmeo appears from this passage in Cellini to have taken
the execution of it over.]
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