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Book FirstPart LXXXVII
Part LXXXVII
During this while I had sent my devoted comrade Felice back to Rome, to
look after our business there. When I could raise my head a little from the
bolster, which was at the end of fifteen days, although I was unable to walk
upon my feet, I had myself carried to the palace of the Medici, and placed
upon the little upper terrace. There they seated me to wait until the Duke
went by. Many of my friends at court came up to greet me, and expressed
surprise that I had undergone the inconvenience of being carried in that way,
while so shattered by illness; they said that I ought to have waited till I
was well, and then to have visited the Duke. A crowd of them collected, all
looking at me as a sort of miracle; not merely because they had heard that I
was dead, but far more because I had the look of a dead man. Then publicly,
before them all, I said how some wicked scoundrel had told my lord the Duke
that I had bragged I meant to be the first to scale his Excellency`s walls,
and also that I had abused him personally; wherefore I had not the heart to
live or die till I had purged myself of that infamy, and found out who the
audacious rascal was who had uttered such calumnies against me. At these words
a large number of those gentlemen came round, expressing great compassion for
me; one said one thing, one another, and I told them I would never go thence
before I knew who had accused me. At these words Maestro Agostino, the Duke`s
tailor, made his way through all those gentlemen, and said: "If that is all
you want to know, you shall know, it at this very moment."
Giorgio the painter, whom I have mentioned, happened just then to pass,
and Maestro Agostino exclaimed: "There is the man who accused you; now you
know yourself if it be true or not." As fiercely as I could, not being able to
leave my seat, I asked Giorgio if it was true that he had accused me. He
denied that it was so, and that he had ever said anything of the sort. Maestro
Agostino retorted: "You gallows-bird! don`t you know that I know it for most
certain?" Giorgio made off as quickly as he could, repeating that he had not
accused me. Then, after a short while, the Duke came by; whereupon I had
myself raised up before his Excellency, and he halted. I told him that I had
come therein that way solely in order to clear my character. The Duke gazed at
me, and marvelled I was still alive; afterwards he bade me take heed to be an
honest man and regain my health.
When I reached home, Niccolo da Monte Aguto came to visit me, and told me
that I had escaped one of the most dreadful perils in the world, quite
contrary to all his expectations, for he had seen my ruin written with
indelible ink; now I must make haste to get well, and afterwards take French
leave, because my jeopardy came from a quarter and a man who was able to
destroy me. He then said, "Beware," and added: "What displeasure have you
given to that rascal Ottaviano de` Medici?" I answered that I had done nothing
to displease him, but that he had injured me; and told him all the affair
about the Mint. He repeated: "Get hence as quickly as you can, and be of good
courage, for you will see your vengeance executed sooner than you expect." I
the best attention to my health, gave Pietro Pagolo advice about stamping the
coins, and then went off upon my way to Rome without saying a word to the Duke
or anybody else.
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