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Book FirstPart VIII
Part VIII
At that time I had a brother, younger by two years, a youth of extreme
boldness and fierce temper. He afterwards became one of the great soldiers in
the school of that marvellous general Giovannino de` Medici, father of Duke
Cosimo. ^1 The boy was about fourteen, and I two years older. One Sunday
evening, just before nightfall, he happened to find himself between the gate
San Gallo and the Porta a Pinti; in this quarter he came to duel with a young
fellow of twenty or thereabouts. They both had swords; and my brother dealt so
valiantly that, after having badly wounded him, he was upon the point of
following up his advantage. There was a great crowd of people present, among
whom were many of the adversary`s kinsfolk. Seeing that the thing was going
ill for their own man, they put hand to their slings, a stone from one of
which hit my poor brother in the head. He fell to the ground at once in a dead
faint. It so chanced that I had been upon the spot alone, and without arms;
and I had done my best to get my brother out of the fray by calling to him:
"Make off; you have done enough." Meanwhile, as luck would have it, he fell,
as I have said, half dead to earth. I ran up at once, seized his sword, and
stood in front of him, bearing the brunt of several rapiers and a shower of
stones. I never left his side until some brave soldiers came from the gate San
Gallo and rescued me from the raging crowd; they marvelled much, the while, to
find such valour in so young a boy.
[See Cosimo De Medici: Cosimo De Medici with Cellini and other artists and
architects.]
[See Bust Of Cosimo De Medici: Bust of Cosimo De Medici, Florence.]
[Footnote 1: Cellini refers to the famous Giovanni delle Bande Nere, who was
killed in an engagement in Lombardy in November 1526, by the Imperialist
troops marching to the sack of Rome. His son Cosimo, after the murder of Duke
Alessandro, established the second Medicean dynasty in Florence.]
[See Alessandro De`Medici: Alessandro De`Medici, Vasari.]
Then I carried my brother home for dead, and it was only with great
difficulty that he came to himself again. When he was cured, the Eight, who
had already condemned out adversaries and banished them for a term of years,
sent us also into exile for six months at a distance of ten miles from
Florence. ^2 I said to my brother: "Come along with me;" and so we took leave
of our poor father; and instead of giving us money, for he had none, he
bestowed on us his blessing. I went to Siena, wishing to look up a certain
worthy man called Maestro Francesco Castoro. On another occasion, when I had
run away from my father, I went to this good man, and stayed some time with
him, working at the goldsmith`s trade until my father sent for me back.
Francesco, when I reached him, recognised me at once, and gave me work to do
While thus occupied, he placed a house at my disposal for the whole time of my
sojourn in Siena. Into this I moved, together with my brother, and applied
myself to labour for the space of several months. My brother had acquired the
rudiments of Latin, but was still so young that he could not yet relish the
taste of virtuous employment, but passed his time in dissipation,
[Footnote 2: The Eight, or Gli Otto, were a magistracy in Florence with
cognizance of matters affecting the internal peace of the city.]
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