THE CASTELLAN was subject to a certain sickness, which came upon him
every year and deprived him of his wits. The sign of its, approach was
that he kept continually talking, or rather jabbering, to no purpose.
These humours took a different shape each year; one time he thought he
was an oiljar; another time he thought he was a frog, and hopped about
as frogs do; another time he thought he was dead, and then they had to
bury him; not a year passed but he got some such hypochondriac notions
into his head. At this season he imagined that he was a bat, and when he
went abroad to take the air, he used to scream like bats in a high thin
tone; and then he would flap his hands and body as though he were about
to fly. The doctors, when they saw the fit coming on him, and his old
servants, gave him all the distractions they could think of; and since
they had noticed that he derived much pleasure from my conversation,
they were always fetching me to keep him company. At times the poor man
detained me for four or five stricken hours without ever letting me
cease talking. He used to keep me at his table, eating opposite to him,
and never stopped chatting and making me chat; but during those
discourses I contrived to make a good meal. He, poor man, could neither
eat nor sleep; so that at last he wore me out. I was at the end of my
strength; and sometimes when I looked at him, I noticed that his
eyeballs were rolling in a frightful manner, one looking one way and the
other in another.
He took it into his head to ask me whether I had ever had a fancy to
fly. I answered that it had always been my ambition to do those things
which offer the greatest difficulties to men, and that I had done them;
as to flying, the God of Nature had gifted me with a body well suited
for running and leaping far beyond the common average, and that with the
talents I possessed for manual art I felt sure I had the courage to try
flying. He then inquired what methods I should use; to which I answered
that, taking into consideration all flying creatures, and wishing to
imitate by art what they derived from nature, none was so apt a model as
the bat. No sooner had the poor man heard the name bat, which recalled
the humour he was suffering under, than he cried out at the top of his
voice: “He says true-he says true; the bat’s the thing-the bat’s the
thing!” Then he turned to me and said: “Benvenuto, if one gave you the
opportunity, should you have the heart to fly?” I said if he would set
me at liberty, I felt quite up to flying down to Prati, after making
myself a pair of wings out of waxed linen. Thereupon he replied: “I too
should be prepared to take flight; but since the Pope has bidden me
guard you as though you were his own eyes, and I know you a clever devil
who would certainly escape, I shall now have you locked up with a
hundred keys in order to prevent you slipping through my fingers.” I
then began to implore him, and remind him that I might have fled, but
that on account of the word which I had given him I would never have
betrayed his trust: therefore I begged him for the love of God, and by
the kindness he had always shown me, not to add greater evils to the
misery of my present situation. While I was pouring out these
entreaties, he gave strict orders to have me bound and taken and locked
up in prison. On seeing that it could not be helped, I told him before
all his servants: “Lock me well up, and keep good watch on me; for I
shall certainly contrive to escape.” So they took and confined me with
the utmost care.
CVIII
I THEN began to deliberate upon the best way of making my escape. No
sooner had I been locked in, than I went about exploring my prison; and
when I thought I had discovered how to get out of it, I pondered the
means of descending from the lofty keep, for so the great round central
tower is called. I took those new sheets of mine, which, as I have said
already, I had cut in strips and sewn together; then I reckoned up the
quantity which would be sufficient for my purpose. Having made this
estimate and put all things in order, I looked out a pair of pincers
which I had abstracted from a Savoyard belonging to the guard of the
castle. This man superintended the casks and cisterns; he also amused
himself with carpentering. Now he possessed several pairs of pincers,
among which was one both big and heavy. I then, thinking it would suit
my purpose, took it and hid it in my straw mattress. The time had now
come for me to use it; so I began to try the nails which kept the hinges
of my door in place. [1] The door was double, and the clinching of the
nails could not be seen; so that when I attempted to draw one out, I met
with the greatest trouble; in the end, however, I succeeded. When I had
drawn the first nail, I bethought me how to prevent its being noticed.
For this purpose I mixed some rust, which I had scraped from old iron,
with a little wax, obtaining exactly the same colour as the heads of the
long nails which I had extracted. Then I set myself to counterfeit these
heads and place them on the holdfasts; for each nail I extracted I made
a counterfeit in wax. I left the hinges attached to their door-posts at
top and bottom by means of some of the same nails that I had drawn; but
I took care to cut these and replace them lightly, so that they only
just supported the irons of the hinges.
All this I performed with the greatest difficulty, because the castellan
kept dreaming every night that I had escaped, which made him send from
time to time to inspect my prison. The man who came had the title and
behaviour of a catch-poll. He was called Bozza, and used always to bring
with him another of the same sort, named Giovanni and nicknamed
Pedignone; the latter was a soldier, and Bozza a serving-man. Giovanni
never entered my prison without saying something offensive to me. He
came from the district of Prato, and had been an apothecary in the town
there. Every evening he minutely examined the holdfasts of the hinges
and the whole chamber, and I used to say: “Keep a good watch over me,
for I am resolved by all means to escape.” These words bred a great
enmity between him and me, so that I was obliged to use precautions to
conceal my tools, that is to say, my pincers and a great big poniard and
other appurtenances. All these I put away together in my mattress, where
I also kept the strips of linen I had made. When day broke, I used
immediately to sweep my room out; and though I am by nature a lover of
cleanliness, at that time I kept myself unusually spick and span. After
sweeping up, I made my bed as daintily as I could, laying flowers upon
it, which a Savoyard used to bring me nearly every morning. He had the
care of the cistern and the casks, and also amused himself with
carpentering; it was from him I stole the pincers which I used in order
to draw out the nails from the holdfasts of the hinges.
Note 1. The door seems to have been hung upon hinges with plates nailed
into the posts. Cellini calls these plates 'bandelle.'
CIX
WELL, to return to the subject of my bed; when Bozza and Pedignone came,
I always told them to give it a wide berth, so as not to dirty and spoil
it for me. Now and then, just to irritate me, they would touch it
lightly, upon which I cried: “Ah, dirty cowards! I’ll lay my hand on one
of your swords there, and will do you a mischief that will make you
wonder. Do you think you are fit to touch the bed of a man like me? When
I chastise you I shall not heed my own life, for I am certain to take
yours. Let me alone then with my troubles and my tribulations, and don’t
give me more annoyance than I have already; if not, I shall make you see
what a desperate man is able to do.” These words they reported to the
castellan, who gave them express orders never to go near my bed, and
when they came to me, to come without swords, but for the rest to keep a
watchful guard upon me.
Having thus secured my bed from meddlers, I felt as though the main
point was gained; for there lay all things needful to my venture. It
happened on the evening of a certain feast-day that the castellan was
seriously indisposed; his humours grew extravagant; he kept repeating
that he was a bat, and if they heard that Benvenuto had flown away, they
must let him go to catch me up, since he could fly by night most
certainly as well or better than myself; for it was thus he argued:
“Benvenuto is a counterfeit bat, but I am a real one; and since he is
committed to my care, leave me to act; I shall be sure to catch him.” He
had passed several nights in this frenzy, and had worn out all his
servants, whereof I received full information through divers channels,
but especially from the Savoyard, who was my friend at heart.
On the evening of that feast-day, then, I made my mind up to escape,
come what might; and first I prayed most devoutly to God, imploring His
Divine Majesty to protect and succour me in that so perilous a venture.
Afterwards I set to work at all the things I needed, and laboured the
whole of the night. It was two hours before daybreak when at last I
removed those hinges with the greatest toil; but the wooden panel itself
and the bolt too offered such resistance that I could not open the door;
so I had to cut into the wood; yet in the end I got it open, and
shouldering the strips of linen which I had rolled up like bundles of
flax upon two sticks, I went forth and directed my steps towards the
latrines of the keep. Spying from within two tiles upon the roof, I was
able at once to clamber up with ease. I wore a white doublet with a pair
of white hose and a pair of half boots, into which I had stuck the
poniard I have mentioned.
After scaling the roof, I took one end of my linen roll and attached it
to a piece of antique tile which was built into the fortress wall; it
happened to jut out scarcely four fingers. In order to fix the band, I
gave it the form of a stirrup. When I had attached it to that piece of
tile, I turned to God and said: “Lord God, give aid to my good cause;
you know that it is good; you see that I am aiding myself.” Then I let
myself go gently by degrees, supporting myself with the sinews of my
arms, until I touched the ground. There was no moonshine, but the light
of a fair open heaven. When I stood upon my feet on solid earth, I
looked up at the vast height which I had descended with such spirit, and
went gladly away, thinking I was free. But this was not the case; for
the castellan on that side of the fortress had built two lofty walls,
the space between which he used for stable and henyard; the place was
barred with thick iron bolts outside. I was terribly disgusted to find
there was no exit from this trap; but while I paced up and down debating
what to do, I stumbled on a long pole which was covered up with straw.
Not without great trouble I succeeded in placing it against the wall,
and then swarmed up it by the force of my arms until I reached the top.
But since the wall ended in a sharp ridge, I had not strength enough to
drag the pole up after me. Accordingly I made my mind up to use a
portion of the second roll of linen which I had there; the other was
left hanging from the keep of the castle. So I cut a piece off, tied it
to the pole, and clambered down the wall, enduring the utmost toil and
fatigue. I was quite exhausted, and had, moreover, flayed the inside of
my hands, which bled freely. This compelled me to rest awhile, and I
bathed my hands in my own urine. When I thought that my strength was
recovered, I advanced quickly toward the last rampart, which faces
toward Prati. There I put my bundle of linen lines down upon the ground,
meaning to fasten them round a battlement, and descend the lesser as I
had the greater height. But no sooner had I placed the linen, than I
became aware behind me of a sentinel, who was going the rounds. Seeing
my designs interrupted and my life in peril, I resolved to face the
guard. This fellow, when he noticed my bold front, and that I was
marching on him with weapon in hand, quickened his pace and gave me a
wide berth. I had left my lines some little way behind; so I turned with
hasty steps to regain them; and though I came within sight of another
sentinel, he seemed as though he did not choose to take notice of me.
Having found my lines and attached them to the battlement, I let myself
go. On the descent, whether it was that I thought I had really come to
earth and relaxed my grasp to jump, or whether my hands were so tired
that they could not keep their hold, at any rate I fell, struck my head
in falling, and lay stunned for more than an hour and a half, so far as
I could judge.
It was just upon daybreak, when the fresh breeze which blows an hour
before the sun revived me; yet I did not immediately recover my senses,
for I thought my head had been cut off and fancied that I was in
purgatory. With time, little by little, my faculties returned, and I
perceived that I was outside the castle, and in a flash remembered all
my adventures. I was aware of the wound in my head before I knew my leg
was broken; for I put my hands up, and withdrew them covered with blood.
Then I searched the spot well, and judged and ascertained that I had
sustained no injury of consequence there; but when I wanted to stand up,
I discovered that my right leg was broken three inches above the heel.
Not even this dismayed me: I drew forth my poniard with its scabbard;
the latter had a metal point ending in a large ball, which had caused
the fracture of my leg; for the bone, coming into violent contact with
the ball, and not being able to bend, had snapped at that point. I threw
the sheath away, and with the poniard cut a piece of the linen which I
had left. Then I bound my leg up as well as I could, and crawled on all
fours with the poniard in my hand toward the city gate. When I reached
it, I found it shut; but I noticed a stone just beneath the door which
did not appear to be very firmly fixed. This I attempted to dislodge;
after setting my hands to it, and feeling it move, it easily gave way,
and I drew it out. Through the gap thus made I crept into the town.
CX
I HAD crawled more than five hundred paces from the place where I fell,
to the gate by which I entered. No sooner had I got inside than some
mastiff dogs set upon me and bit me badly. When they returned to the
attack and worried me, I drew my poniard and wounded one of them so
sharply that he howled aloud, and all the dogs, according to their
nature, ran after him. I meanwhile made the best way I could on all
fours toward the church of the Trespontina.
On arriving at the opening of the street which leads to Sant’ Agnolo, I
turned off in the direction of San Piero; and now the dawn had risen
over me, and I felt myself in danger. When therefore I chanced to meet a
water-carrier driving his donkey laden with full buckets, I called the
fellow, and begged him to carry me upon his back to the terrace by the
steps of San Piero, adding: “I am an unfortunate young man, who, while
escaping from a window in a love-adventure, have fallen and broken my
leg. The place from which I made my exit is one of great importance; and
if I am discovered, I run risk of being cut to pieces; so for heaven’s
sake lift me quickly, and I will give you a crown of gold.” Saying this,
I clapped my hand to my purse, where I had a good quantity. He took me
up at once, hitched me on his back, and carried me to the raised terrace
by the steps to San Piero. There I bade him leave me, saying he must run
back to his donkey.
I resumed my march, crawling always on all fours, and making for the
palace of the Duchess, wife of Duke Ottavio and daughter of the Emperor.
[1] She was his natural child, and had been married to Duke Alessandro.
I chose her house for refuge, because I was quite certain that many of
my friends, who had come with that great princess from Florence, were
tarrying there; also because she had taken me into favour through
something which the castellan had said in my behalf. Wishing to be of
service to me, he told the Pope that I had saved the city more than a
thousand crowns of damage, caused by heavy rain on the occasion when the
Duchess made her entrance into Rome. He related how he was in despair,
and how I put heart into him, and went on to describe how I had pointed
several large pieces of artillery in the direction where the clouds were
thickest, and whence a deluge of water was already pouring; then, when I
began to fire, the rain stopped, and at the fourth discharge the sun
shone out; and so I was the sole cause of the festival succeeding, to
the joy of everybody. On hearing this narration the Duchess said: “That
Benvenuto is one of the artists of merit, who enjoyed the goodwill of my
late husband, Duke Alessandro, and I shall always hold them in mind if
an opportunity comes of doing such men service.” She also talked of me
to Duke Ottavio. For these reasons I meant to go straight to the house
of her Excellency, which was a very fine palace situated in Borgio
Vecchio.
I should have been quite safe from recapture by the Pope if I could have
stayed there; but my exploits up to this point had been too marvellous
for a human being, and God was unwilling to encourage my vainglory;
accordingly, for my own good, He chastised me a second time worse even
than the first. The cause of this was that while I was crawling on all
fours up those steps, a servant of Cardinal Cornaro recognized me. His
master was then lodging in the palace; so the servant ran up to his room
and woke him, crying: “Most reverend Monsignor, your friend Benvenuto is
down there; he has escaped from the castle, and is crawling on all
fours, streaming with blood; to all appearances he has broken a leg, and
we don’t know whether he is going.” The Cardinal exclaimed at once: “Run
and carry him upon your back into my room here.” When I arrived, he told
me to be under no apprehension, and sent for the first physicians of
Rome to take my case in hand. Among them was Maestro Jacomo of Perugia,
a most excellent and able surgeon. He set the bone with dexterity, then
bound the limb up, and bled me with his own hand. It happened that my
veins were swollen far beyond their usual size, and he too wished to
make a pretty wide incision; accordingly the blood sprang forth so
copiously, and spurted with such force into his face, that he had to
abandon the operation. He regarded this as a very bad omen, and could
hardly be prevailed upon to undertake my cure. Indeed, he often
expressed a wish to leave me, remembering that he ran no little risk of
punishment for having treated my case, or rather for having proceeded to
the end with it. The Cardinal had me placed in a secret chamber, and
went off immediately to beg me from the Pope.
Note 1. Margaret of Austria, who married Ottavio Farnese in November
1538, after Alessandro’s murder.
CXI
DURING this while all Rome was in an uproar; for they had observed the
bands of linen fastened to the great keep of the castle, and folk were
running in crowds to behold so extraordinary a thing. The castellan had
gone off into one of his worst fits of frenzy; in spite of all his
servants, he insisted upon taking his flight also from the tower, saying
that no one could recapture me except himself if he were to fly after
me. Messer Ruberto Pucci, the father of Messer Pandolfo, [1] having
heard of the great event, went in person to inspect the place;
afterwards he came to the palace, where he met with Cardinal Cornaro,
who told him exactly what had happened, and how I was lodged in one of
his own chambers, and already in the doctor’s hands. These two worthy
men went together, and threw themselves upon their knees before the
Pope; but he, before they could get a word out, cried aloud: “I know all
that you want of me.” Messer Ruberto Pucci then began: “Most blessed
Father, we beg you for Heaven’s grace to give us up that unfortunate
man; surely his great talents entitle him to exceptional treatment;
moreover, he has displayed such audacity, blent with so much ingenuity,
that his exploit might seem superhuman. We know not for what crimes you
Holiness has kept him so long in prison; however, if those crimes are
too exorbitant, your Holiness is wise and holy, and may your will be
done unquestioned; still, if they are such as can be condoned, we
entreat you to pardon him for our sake.” The Pope, when he heard this,
felt shame, and answered: “I have kept him in prison at the request of
some of my people, since he is a little too violent in his behaviour;
but recognising his talents, and wishing to keep him near our person, we
had intended to treat him so well that he should have no reason to
return to France. I am very sorry to hear of his bad accident; tell him
to mind his health, and when he is recovered, we will make it up to him
for all his troubles.”
Those two excellent men returned and told me the good news they were
bringing from the Pope. Meanwhile the nobility of Rome, young, old, and
all sorts, came to visit me. The castellan, out of his mind as he was,
had himself carried to the Pope; and when he was in the presence of his
Holiness, began to cry out, and to say that if he did not send me back
to prison, he would do him a great wrong. “He escaped under parole which
he gave me; woe is me that he has flown away when he promised not to
fly!” The Pope said, laughing: “Go, go; for I will give him back to you
without fail.” The castellan then added, speaking to the Pope: “Send the
Governor to him to find out who helped him to escape; for if it is one
of my men, I will hang him from the battlement whence Benvenuto leaped.”
On his departure the Pope called the Governor, and said, smiling: “That
is a brave fellow, and his exploit is something marvellous; all the
same, when I was a young man, I also descended from the fortress at that
very spot.” In so saying the Pope spoke the truth: for he had been
imprisoned in the castle for forging a brief at the time when he was
abbreviator 'di Parco Majoris.' [2] Pope Alexander kept him confined for
some length of time; and afterwards, his offence being of too ugly a
nature, had resolved on cutting off his head. He postponed the
execution, however, till after Corpus Domini; and Farnese, getting wind
of the Pope’s will, summoned Pietro Chiavelluzi with a lot of horses,
and managed to corrupt some of the castle guards with money.
Accordingly, upon the day of Corpus Domini, while the Pope was going in
procession, Farnese got into a basket and was let down by a rope to the
ground. At that time the outer walls had not been built around the
castle; only the great central tower existed; so that he had not the
same enormous difficulty that I met with in escaping; moreover, he had
been imprisoned justly, and I against all equity. What he wanted was to
brag before the Governor of having in his youth been spirited and brave;
and it did not occur to him that he was calling attention to his own
huge rogueries. He said then: “Go and tell him to reveal his accomplice
without apprehension to you, be the man who he may be, since I have
pardoned him; and this you may assure him without reservation.”
Note 1. See above, p. 114.
Note 2. The Collegium Abbreviatorum di Parco Majori consisted of
seventy-two members. It was established by Pius II. Onofrio Panvinio
tells this story of Paul III.’s imprisonment and escape, but places it
in the Papacy of Innocent VIII. See 'Vita Pauli' III., in continuation
of Platina.
CXII
SO the Governor came to see me. Two days before he had been made Bishop
of Jesi; [1] and when he entered he said: “Friend Benvenuto, although my
office is wont to frighten men, I come to set your mind at rest, and to
do this I have full authority from his holiness’ own lips, who told me
how he also escaped from Sant’ Angelo, but had many aids and much
company, else he would not have been able to accomplish it. I swear by
the sacraments which I carry on my person (for I was consecrated Bishop
two days since) that the Pope has set you free and pardoned you, and is
very sorry for your accident. Attend to your health, and take all things
for the best; for your imprisonment, which you certainly underwent
without a shadow of guilt, will have been for your perpetual welfare.
Henceforward you will tread down poverty, and will have to go back to
France, wearing out your life in this place and in that. Tell me then
frankly how the matter went, and who rendered you assistance; afterwards
take comfort, repose, and recover.” I began at the beginning, and
related the whole story exactly as it had happened, giving him the most
minute countersigns, down to the water-carrier who bore me on his back.
When the Governor had heard the whole, he said: “Of a surety these are
too great exploits for one man alone; no one but you could have
performed them.” So he made me reach my hand forth, and said: “Be of
good courage and comfort your heart, for by this hand which I am holding
you are free, and if you live, shall live in happiness.” While thus
conversing with me, he had kept a whole heap of great lords and noblemen
waiting, who were come to visit me, saying one to the other: “Let us go
to see this man who works miracles.” So, when he departed, they stayed
by me, and one made me offers of kindness, and another made me presents.
While I was being entertained in this way, the Governor returned to the
Pope, and reported all that I had said. As chance would have it, Signor
Pier Luigi, the Pope’s son, happened to be present, and all the company
gave signs of great astonishment. His Holiness remarked: “Of a truth
this is a marvellous exploit.” Then Pier Luigi began to speak as
follows: “Most blessed Father, if you set that man free, he will do
something still more marvellous, because he has by far too bold a
spirit. I will tell you another story about him which you do not know.
That Benvenuto of yours, before he was imprisoned, came to words with a
gentleman of Cardinal Santa Fiore, [2] about some trifle which the
latter had said to him. Now Benvenuto’s retort was so swaggeringly
insolent that it amounted to throwing down a cartel. The gentleman
referred the matter to the Cardinal, who said that if he once laid hands
on Benvenuto he would soon clear his head of such folly. When the fellow
heard this, he got a little fowling-piece of his ready, with which he is
accustomed to hit a penny in the middle; accordingly, one day when the
Cardinal was looking out of a window, Benvenuto’s shop being under the
palace of the Cardinal, he took his gun and pointed it upon the
Cardinal. The Cardinal, however, had been warned, and presently
withdrew. Benvenuto, in order that his intention might escape notice,
aimed at a pigeon which was brooding high up in a hole of the palace,
and hit it exactly in the head-a feat one would have thought incredible.
Now let your Holiness do what you think best about him; I have
discharged my duty by saying what I have. It might even come into his
head, imagining that he had been wrongly imprisoned, to fire upon your
Holiness. Indeed he is too truculent, by far too confident in his own
powers. When he killed Pompeo, he gave him two stabs with a poniard in
the throat, in the midst of ten men who were guarding him; then he
escaped, to their great shame, and yet they were no inconsiderable
persons.”
Note 1. Cellini confuses Jesi with Forlimpopoli. See above, p. 203, note.
Note 2. Ascanio Sforza, son of Bosio, Count of Santa Fiore, and grandson
of Paul III. He got the hat in 1534, at the age of sixteen.
CXIII
WHILE these words were being spoken, the gentleman of Santa Fiore with
whom I had that quarrel was present, and confirmed to the Pope what had
been spoken by his son. The Pope swelled with rage, but said nothing. I
shall now proceed to give my own version of the affair, truly and
honestly.
This gentleman came to me one day, and showed me a little gold ring
which had been discoloured by quicksilver, saying at the same time:
“Polish up this ring for me, and be quick about it.” I was engaged at
the moment upon jewel-work of gold and gems of great importance:
besides, I did not care to be ordered about so haughtily by a man I had
never seen or spoken to; so I replied that I did not happen to have by
me the proper tool for cleaning up his ring, [1] and that he had better
go to another goldsmith. Without further provocation he retorted that I
was a donkey; whereupon I said that he was not speaking the truth; that
I was a better man than he in every respect, but that if he kept on
irritating me I would give him harder kicks than any donkey could. He
related the matter to the Cardinal, and painted me as black as the devil
in hell. Two days afterwards I shot a wild pigeon in a cleft high up
behind the palace. The bird was brooding in that cleft, and I had often
seen a goldsmith named Giovan Francesco della Tacca, from Milan, fire at
it; but he never hit it. On the day when I shot it, the pigeon scarcely
showed its head, being suspicious because it had been so often fired at.
Now this Giovan Francesco and I were rivals in shooting wildfowl; and
some gentlemen of my acquaintance, who happened to be at my shop, called
my attention, saying: “Up there is Giovan Francesco della Tacca’s
pigeon, at which he has so often fired; look now, the poor creature is
so frightened that it hardly ventures to put its head out.” I raised my
eyes, and said: “That morsel of its head is quite enough for me to shoot
it by, if it only stays till I can point my gun.” The gentlemen
protested that even the man who invented firearms could not hit it. I
replied: “I bet a bottle of that excellent Greek wine Palombo the host
keeps, that if it keeps quiet long enough for me to point my good
Broccardo (so I used to call my gun), I will hit it in that portion of
its head which it is showing.” So I aimed my gun, elevating my arms, and
using no other rest, and did what I had promised, without thinking of
the Cardinal or any other person; on the contrary, I held the Cardinal
for my very good patron. Let the world, then, take notice, when Fortune
has the will to ruin a man, how many divers ways she takes! The Pope,
swelling with rage and grumbling, remained revolving what his son had
told him.
Note 1. Cellini calls it 'isvivatoio.' It is properly 'avvivatoio,' a
sort of brass rod with a wooden handle.
CXIV
TWO days afterwards the Cardinal Cornaro went to beg a bishopric from
the Pope for a gentleman of his called Messer Andrea Centano. The Pope,
in truth, had promised him a bishopric; and this being now vacant, the
Cardinal reminded him of his word. The Pope acknowledged his obligation,
but said that he too wanted a favour from his most reverend lordship,
which was that he would give up Benvenuto to him. On this the Cardinal
replied: “Oh, if your Holiness has pardoned him and set him free at my
disposal, what will the world say of you and me?” The Pope answered: “I
want Benvenuto, you want the bishopric; let the world say what it
chooses.” The good Cardinal entreated his Holiness to give him the
bishopric, and for the rest to think the matter over, and then to act
according as his Holiness decided. The Pope, feeling a certain amount of
shame at so wickedly breaking his word, took what seemed a middle
course: “I will send for Benvenuto, and in order to gratify the whim I
have, will put him in those rooms which open on my private garden; there
he can attend to his recovery, and I will not prevent any of his friends
from coming to visit him. Moreover, I will defray his expenses until his
caprice of mine has left me.”
The Cardinal came home, and sent the candidate for this bishopric on the
spot to inform me that the Pope was resolved to have me back, but that
he meant to keep me in a ground-floor room in his private garden, where
I could receive the visits of my friends, as I had done in his own
house. I implored this Messer Andrea to ask the Cardinal not to give me
up to the Pope, but to let me act on my own account. I would have myself
wrapped up in a mattress, and carried to a safe place outside Rome; for
if he gave me up to the Pope, he would certainly be sending me to death.
It is believed that when the Cardinal heard my petition he was not
ill-disposed to grant it; but Messer Andrea, wanting to secure the
bishopric, denounced me to the Pope, who sent at once and had me lodged
in the ground-floor chamber of his private garden. The Cardinal sent me
word not to eat the food provided for me by the Pope; he would supply me
with provisions; meanwhile I was to keep my spirits up, for he would
work in my cause till I was set free. Matters being thus arranged, I
received daily visits and generous offers from many great lords and
gentlemen. Food came from the Pope, which I refused to touch, only
eating that which came from Cardinal Cornaro; and thus I remained awhile.
I had among my friends a young Greek of the age of twenty-five years. He
was extremely active in all physical exercises, and the best swordsman
in Rome; rather poor-spirited, however, but loyal to the backbone;
honest, and ready to believe what people told him. He had heard it said
that the Pope made known his intention of compensating me for all I had
gone through. It is true that the Pope began by saying so, but he ended
by saying quite the opposite. I then determined to confide in the young
Greek, and said to him: “Dearest brother, they are plotting my ruin; so
now the time has come to help me. Do they imagine, when they heap those
extraordinary favours on me, that I am not aware they are done to betray
me?” The worthy young man answered: “My Benvenuto, they say in Rome that
the Pope has bestowed on you an office with an income of five hundred
crowns; I beseech you therefore not to let those suspicions deprive you
of so great a windfall.” All the same I begged him with clasped hands to
aid me in escaping from that place, saying I knew well that a Pope of
that sort, though he could do me much good if he chose, was really
studying secretly, and to save appearances, how he might best destroy
me; therefore we must be quick and try to save me from his clutches. If
my friend would get me out of that place by the means I meant to tell
him, I should always regard him as the saviour of my life, and when
occasion came would lay it down for him with gladness. The poor young
man shed tears, and cried: “Oh, my dear brother, though you are bringing
destruction on your head, I cannot but fulfil your wishes; so explain
your plan, and I will do whatever you may order, albeit much against my
will.” Accordingly we came to an agreement, and I disclosed to him the
details of my scheme, which was certain to have succeeded without
difficulty. When I hoped that he was coming to execute it, he came and
told me that for my own good he meant to disobey me, being convinced of
the truth of what he had heard from men close to the Pope’s person, who
understood the real state of my affairs. Having nothing else to rely
upon, I remained in despair and misery. This passed on the day of Corpus
Domini 1539.
CXV
AFTER my conversation with the Greek, the whole day wore away, and at
night there came abundant provisions from the kitchen of the Pope; the
Cardinal Cornaro also sent good store of viands from his kitchen; and
some friends of mine being present when they arrived, I made them stay
to supper, and enjoyed their society, keeping my leg in splints beneath
the bed-clothes. An hour after nightfall they left me; and two of my
servants, having made me comfortable for the night, went to sleep in the
antechamber. I had a dog, black as a mulberry, one of those hairy ones,
who followed me admirably when I went out shooting, and never left my
side. During the night he lay beneath my bed, and I had to call out at
least three times to my servant to turn him out, because he howled so
fearfully. When the servants entered, the dog flew at them and tried to
bite them. They were frightened, and thought he must be mad, because he
went on howling. In this way we passed the first four hours of the
night. At the stroke of four the Bargello came into my room with a band
of constables. Then the dog sprang forth and flew at them with such
fury, tearing their capes and hose, that in their fright they fancied he
was mad. But the Bargello, like an experienced person, told them: “It is
the nature of good dogs to divine and foretell the mischance coming on
their masters. Two of you take sticks and beat the dog off; while the
others strap Benvenuto on this chair; then carry him to the place you
wot of.” It was, as I have said, the night after Corpus Domini, and
about four o’clock.
The officers carried me, well shut up and covered, and four of them went
in front, making the few passengers who were still abroad get out of the
way. So they bore me to Torre di Nona, such is the name of the place,
and put me in the condemned cell. I was left upon a wretched mattress
under the care of a guard, who kept all night mourning over my bad luck,
and saying to me: “Alas! poor Benvenuto, what have you done to those
great folk?” I could now form a very good opinion of what was going to
happen to me, partly by the place in which I found myself, and also by
what the man had told me. [1] During a portion of that night I kept
racking my brains what the cause could be why God thought fit to try me
so, and not being able to discover it, I was violently agitated in my
soul. The guard did the best he could to comfort me; but I begged him
for the love of God to stop talking, seeing I should be better able to
compose myself alone in quiet. He promised to do as I asked; and then I
turned my whole heart to God, devoutly entreating Him to deign to take
me into His kingdom. I had, it is true, murmured against my lot, because
it seemed to me that, so far as human laws go, my departure from the
world in this way would be too unjust; it is true also that I had
committed homicides, but His Vicar had called me from my native city and
pardoned me by the authority he had from Him and from the laws; and what
I had done had all been done in defence of the body which His Majesty
had lent me; so I could not admit that I deserved death according to the
dispensation under which man dwells here; but it seemed that what was
happening to me was the same as what happens to unlucky people in the
street, when a stone falls from some great height upon their head and
kills them; this we see clearly to be the influence of the stars; not
indeed that the stars conspire to do us good or evil, but the effect
results from their conjunctions, to which we are subordinated. At the
same time I know that I am possessed of free-will, and if I could exert
the faith of a saint, I am sure that the angels of heaven would bear me
from this dungeon and relieve me of all my afflictions, yet inasmuch as
God has not deemed me worthy of such miracles, I conclude that those
celestial influences must be wreaking their malignity upon me. In this
long struggle of the soul I spent some time; then I found comfort, and
fell presently asleep.
Note 1. Cellini thought he was going to have his throat cut. And indeed
the Torre di Nona was a suspicious place, it being one of the worst
criminal prisons in Rome.
CXVI
WHEN the day dawned, the guard woke me up and said: “Oh, unfortunate but
worthy man, you have no more time to go on sleeping, for one is waiting
here to give you evil news.” I answered: “The sooner I escape from this
earthly prison, the happier shall I be; especially as I am sure my soul
is saved, and that I am going to an undeserved death. Christ, the
glorious and divine, elects me to the company of His disciples and
friends, who, like Himself, were condemned to die unjustly. I too am
sentenced to an unjust death, and I thank God with humility for this
sign of grace. Why does not the man come forward who has to pronounce my
doom?” The guard replied: “He is too grieved for you, and sheds tears.”
Then I called him by his name of Messer Benedetto da Cagli, [1] and
cried: “Come forward, Messer Benedetto, my friend, for now, I am
resolved and in good frame of mind; far greater glory is it for me to
die unjustly than if I had deserved this fate. Come forward, I beg, and
let me have a priest, in order that I may speak a couple of words with
him. I do not indeed stand in need of this, for I have already made my
heart’s confession to my Lord God; yet I should like to observe the
ordinances of our Holy Mother Church; for though she has done me this
abominable wrong, I pardon her with all my soul. So come, friend Messer
Benedetto, and despatch my business before I lose control over my better
instincts.”
After I had uttered these words, the worthy man told the guard to lock
the door, because nothing could be done without his presence. He then
repaired to the house of Signor Pier Luigi’s wife, who happened to be in
company with the Duchess of whom I spoke above. [2] Presenting himself
before them both, he spoke as follows: “My most illustrious mistress, I
entreat you for the love of God to tell the Pope, that he must send some
one else to pronounce sentence upon Benvenuto and perform my office; I
renounce the task, and am quite decided not to carry it through.” Then,
sighing, he departed with the strongest signs of inward sorrow. The
Duchess, who was present, frowned and said: “So this is the fine justice
dealt out here in Rome by God’s Vicar! The Duke, my late husband,
particularly esteemed this man for his good qualities and eminent
abilities; he was unwilling to let him return to Rome, and would gladly
have kept him close to his own person.” Upon this she retired, muttering
words of indignation and displeasure. Signor Pier Luigi’s wife, who was
called Signora Jerolima, betook herself to the Pope, and threw herself
upon her knees before him in the presence of several cardinals. She
pleaded my cause so warmly that she woke the Pope to shame; whereupon he
said: “For your sake we will leave him quiet; yet you must know that we
had no ill-will against him.” These words he spoke because of the
cardinals who were around him, and had listened to the eloquence of that
brave-spirited lady.
Meanwhile I abode in extreme discomfort, and my heart kept thumping
against my ribs. Not less was the discomfort of the men appointed to
discharge the evil business of my execution; but when the hour for
dinner was already past, they betook themselves to their several
affairs, and my meal was also served me. This filled me with a glad
astonishment, and I exclaimed: “For once truth has been stronger than
the malice of the stars! I pray God, therefore, that, if it be His
pleasure, He will save me from this fearful peril. Then I fell to eating
with the same stout heart for my salvation as I had previously prepared
for my perdition. I dined well, and afterwards remained without seeing
or hearing any one until an hour after nightfall. At that time the
Bargello arrived with a large part of his guard, and had me replaced in
the chair which brought me on the previous evening to the prison. He
spoke very kindly to me, bidding me be under no apprehension; and bade
his constables take good care not to strike against my broken leg, but
to treat me as though I were the apple of their eye. The men obeyed, and
brought me to the castle whence I had escaped; then, when we had mounted
to the keep, they left me shut up in a dungeon opening upon a little
court there is there.
Note 1. It will be remembered that Benedetto da Cagli was one of
Cellini’s three examiners during his first imprisonment in S. Angelo.
Note 2. The wife of Pier Luigi Farnese was Jeronima, daughter of Luigi
Orsini, Count of Pitigliano.
CXVII
THE CASTELLAN, meanwhile, ill and afflicted as he was, had himself
transported to my prison, and exclaimed: “You see that I have recaptured
you!” “Yes,” said I, “but you see that I escaped, as I told you I would.
And if I had not been sold by a Venetian Cardinal, under Papal
guarantee, for the price of a bishopric, the Pope a Roman and a Farnese
(and both of them have scratched with impious hands the face of the most
sacred laws), you would not have recovered me. But now that they have
opened this vile way of dealing, do you the worst you can in your turn;
I care for nothing in the world.” The wretched man began shouting at the
top of his voice: “Ah, woe is me! woe is me! It is all the same to this
fellow whether he lives or dies, and behold, he is more fiery than when
he was in health. Put him down there below the garden, and do not speak
to me of him again, for he is the destined cause of my death.”
So I was taken into a gloomy dungeon below the level of a garden, which
swam with water, and was full of big spiders and many venomous worms.
They flung me a wretched mattress of course hemp, gave me no supper, and
locked four doors upon me. In that condition I abode until the
nineteenth hour of the following day. Then I received food, and I
requested my jailers to give me some of my books to read. None of them
spoke a word, but they referred my prayer to the unfortunate castellan,
who had made inquiries concerning what I said. Next morning they brought
me an Italian Bible which belonged to me, and a copy of the Chronicles
of Giovanni Villani. [1] When I asked for certain other of my books, I
was told that I could have no more, and that I had got too many already.
Thus, then, I continued to exist in misery upon that rotten mattress,
which in three days soaked up water like a sponge. I could hardly stir
because of my broken leg; and when I had to get out of bed to obey a
call of nature, I crawled on all fours with extreme distress, in order
not to foul the place I slept in. For one hour and a half each day I got
a little glimmering of light, which penetrated that unhappy cavern
through a very narrow aperture. Only for so short a space of time could
I read; the rest of the day and night I abode in darkness, enduring my
lot, nor ever without meditations upon God and on our human frailty. I
thought it certain that a few more days would put an end of my unlucky
life in that sad place and in that miserable manner. Nevertheless, as
well as I was able, I comforted my soul by calling to mind how much more
painful it would have been, on passing from this life, to have suffered
that unimaginable horror of the hangman’s knife. Now, being as I was, I
should depart with the anodyne of sleepiness, which robbed death of half
its former terrors. Little by little I felt my vital forces waning,
until at last my vigorous temperament had become adapted to that
purgatory. When I felt it quite acclimatised, I resolved to put up with
all those indescribable discomforts so long as it held out.
Note 1. This mention of an Italian Bible shows that we are still in the
days before the Council of Trent.
CXVIII
I BEGAN the Bible from the commencement, reading and reflecting on it so
devoutly, and finding in it such deep treasures of delight, that, if I
had been able, I should have done naught else but study it. However,
light was wanting; and the thought of all my troubles kept recurring and
gnawing at me in the darkness, until I often made my mind up to put an
end somehow to my own life. They did not allow me a knife, however, and
so it was no easy matter to commit suicide. Once, notwithstanding, I
took and propped a wooden pole I found there, in position like a trap. I
meant to make it topple over on my head, and it would certainly have
dashed my brains out; but when I had arranged the whole machine, and was
approaching to put it in motion, just at the moment of my setting my
hand to it, I was seized by an invisible power and flung four cubits
from the spot, in such a terror that I lay half dead. Like that I
remained from dawn until the nineteenth hour, when they brought my food.
The jailers must have visited my cell several times without my taking
notice of them; for when at last I heard them, Captain Sandrino Monaldi
[1] had entered, and I heard him saying: “Ah, unhappy man! behold the
end to which so rare a genius has come!” Roused by these words, I opened
my eyes, and caught sight of priests with long gowns on their backs, who
were saying: “Oh, you told us he was dead!” Bozza replied: “Dead I found
him, and therefore I told you so.” Then they lifted me from where I lay,
and after shaking up the mattress, which was now as soppy as a dish of
maccaroni, they flung it outside the dungeon. The castellan, when these
things were reported to him, sent me another mattress. Thereafter, when
I searched my memory to find what could have diverted me from that
design of suicide, I came to the conclusion that it must have been some
power divine and my good guardian angel.
Note 1. A Florentine, banished in 1530 for having been in arms against
the Medici.
CXIX
DURING the following night there appeared to me in dreams a marvellous
being in the form of a most lovely youth, who cried, as though he wanted
to reprove me: “Knowest thou who lent thee that body, which thou wouldst
have spoiled before its time?” I seemed to answer that I recognized all
things pertaining to me as gifts from the God of nature. “So, then,” he
said, “thou hast contempt for His handiwork, through this thy will to
spoil it? Commit thyself unto His guidance, and lose not hope in His
great goodness!” Much more he added, in words of marvellous efficacy,
the thousandth part of which I cannot now remember.
I began to consider that the angel of my vision spoke the truth. So I
cast my eyes around the prison, and saw some scraps of rotten brick,
with the fragments of which, rubbing one against the other, I composed a
paste. Then, creeping on all fours, as I was compelled to go, I crawled
up to an angle of my dungeon door, and gnawed a splinter from it with my
teeth. Having achieved this feat, I waited till the light came on my
prison; that was from the hour of twenty and a half to twenty-one and a
half. When it arrived, I began to write, the best I could, on some blank
pages in my Bible, and rebuked the regents of my intellectual self for
being too impatient to endure this life; they replied to my body with
excuses drawn from all that they had suffered; and the body gave them
hope of better fortune. To this effect, then, by way of dialogue, I wrote as follows:- |
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