Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Vol 1 — Chapters 100-103

C

LEAVING Ferrara in the morning, I went to Santa Maria at Loreto; and thence, having performed my devotions, pursued the journey to Rome.

There I found my most faithful Felice, to whom I abandoned my old shop with all its furniture and appurtenances, and opened another, much larger and roomier, next to Sugherello, the perfumer.

I thought for certain that the great King Francis would not have remembered me.

Therefore I accepted commissions from several noblemen; and in the meanwhile began the bason and jug ordered by the Cardinal Ferrara.

I had a crowd of workmen, and many large affairs on hand in gold and silver.

Now the arrangement I had made with that Perugian workman [1] was that he should write down all the monies which had been disbursed on his account, chiefly for clothes and divers other sundries; and these, together with the costs of travelling, amounted to about seventy crowns.

We agreed that he should discharge the debt by monthly payments of three crowns; and this he was well able to do, since he gained more than eight through me.

At the end of two months the rascal decamped from my shop, leaving me in the lurch with a mass of business on my hands, and saying that he did not mean to pay me a farthing more.

I was resolved to seek redress, but allowed myself to be persuaded to do so by the way of justice.

At first I thought of lopping off an arm of his; and assuredly I should have done so, if my friends had not told me that it was a mistake, seeing I should lose my money and perhaps Rome too a second time, forasmuch as blows cannot be measured, and that with the agreement I held of his I could at any moment have him taken up.

I listened to their advice, though I should have liked to conduct the affair more freely.

As a matter of fact, I sued him before the auditor of the Camera, and gained by suit; in consequence of that decree, for which I waited several months, I had him thrown into prison.

At the same time I was overwhelmed with large commissions; among others, I had to supply all the ornaments of gold and jewels for the wife of Signor Gierolimo Orsino, father of Signor Paolo, who is now the son-in-law of our Duke Cosimo.

[2] These things I had nearly finished; yet others of the greatest consequence were always coming in.

I employed eight work-people, and worked day and night together with them, for the sake alike of honour and of gain.

Note 1. In his 'Ricordi' Cellini calls the man Girolamo Pascucci.

Note 2. He was Duke of Bracciano, father of Duke Paolo, who married Isabella de’ Medici, and murdered her before his second marriage with Vittoria Accoramboni.

See my 'Renaissance in Italy,' vol. vi. CI

WHILE I was engaged in prosecuting my affairs with so much vigour, there arrived a letter sent post-haste to me by the Cardinal of Ferrara, which ran as follows:- '“Benvenuto, our dear friend,-During these last days the most Christian King here made mention of you, and said that he should like to have you in his service.

Whereto I answered that you had promised me, whenever I sent for you to serve his Majesty, that you would come at once.

His Majesty then answered:’It is my will that provision for his journey, according to his merits, should be sent him;’ and immediately ordered his Admiral to make me out an order for one thousand golden crowns upon the treasurer of the Exchequer.

The Cardinal de’ Gaddi, who was present at this conversation, advanced immediately, and told his Majesty that it was not necessary to make these dispositions, seeing that he had sent you money enough, and that you were already on the journey.

If then, as I think probable, the facts are quite contrary to those assertions of Cardinal Gaddi, reply to me without delay upon the receipt of this letter; for I will undertake to gather up the fallen thread, and have the promised money given you by this magnanimous King.

”' Now let the world take notice, and all the folk that dwell on it, what power malignant stars with adverse fortune exercise upon us human beings!

I had not spoken twice in my lifetime to that little simpleton of a Cardinal de’ Gaddi; nor do I think that he meant by this bumptiousness of his to do me any harm, but only, through lightheadedness and senseless folly, to make it seem as though he also held the affairs of artists, whom the King was wanting, under his own personal supervision, just as the Cardinal of Ferrara did.

But afterwards he was so stupid as not to tell me anything at all about the matter; elsewise, it is certain that my wish to shield a silly mannikin from reproach, if only for our country’s sake, would have made me find out some excuse to mend the bungling of his foolish self-conceit.

Immediately upon the receipt of Cardinal Ferrara’s letter, I answered that about Cardinal de’ Gaddi I knew absolutely nothing, and that even if he had made overtures of that kind to me, I should not have left Italy without informing his most reverend lordship.

I also said that I had more to do in Rome than at any previous time; but that if his most Christian Majesty made sign of wanting me, one word of his, communicated by so great a prince as his most reverend lordship, would suffice to make me set off upon the spot, leaving all other concerns to take their chance.

After I had sent my letter, that traitor, the Perugian workman, devised a piece of malice against me, which succeeded at once, owing to the avarice of Pope Paolo da Farnese, but also far more to that of his bastard, who was then called Duke of Castro.

[1] The fellow in question informed one of Signor Pier Luigi’s secretaries that, having been with me as workman several years, he was acquainted with all my affairs, on the strength of which he gave his word to Signor Pier Luigi that I was worth more than eighty thousand ducats, and that the greater part of this property consisted in jewels, which jewels belonged to the Church, and that I had stolen them in Castel Sant’ Angelo during the sack of Rome, and that all they had to do was to catch me on the spot with secrecy.

It so happened that I had been at work one morning, more than three hours before daybreak, upon the trousseau of the bride I mentioned;

then, while my shop was being opened and swept out, I put my cape on to go abroad and take the air.

Directing my steps along the Strada Giulia, I turned into Chiavica, and at this corner Crespino, the Bargello, with all his constables, made up to me, and said: “You are the Pope’s prisoner.

” I answered: “Crespino, you have mistaken your man.

” “No,” said Crespino, “you are the artist Benvenuto, and I know you well, and I have to take you to the Castle of Sant’ Angelo, where lords go, and men of accomplishments, your peers.

” Upon that four of his under-officers rushed on me, and would have seized by force a dagger which I wore, and some rings I carried on my finger; but Crespino rebuked them: “Not a man of you shall touch him: it is quite enough if you perform your duty, and see that he does not escape me.

” Then he came up, and begged me with words of courtesy to surrender my arms.

While I was engaged in doing this, it crossed my mind that exactly on that very spot I had assassinated Pompeo.

They took me straightway to castle, and locked me in an upper chamber in the keep.

This was the first time that I ever smelt a prison up to the age I then had of thirty-seven years.

Note 1. He had been invested with the Duchy of Castro in 1537. CII

SIGNOR PIER LUIGI, the Pope’s son, had well considered the large sum for which I stood accused; so he begged the reversion of it from his most holy father, and asked that he might have the money made out to himself.

The Pope granted this willingly, adding that he would assist in its recovery.

Consequently, after having kept me eight whole days in prison, they sent me up for examination, in order to put an end if possible to the affair.

I was summoned into one of the great halls of the papal castle, a place of much dignity.

My examiners were, first, the Governor of Rome, called Messer Benedetto Conversini of Pistoja, [1] who afterwards became Bishop of Jesi; secondly, the Procurator-Fiscal, whose name I have forgotten; [2] and, thirdly, the judge in criminal cases, Messer Benedetto da Cagli.

These three men began at first to question me in gentle terms, which afterwards they changed to words of considerable harshness and menace, apparently because I said to them: “My lords, it is more than half-an-hour now since you have been pestering me with questions about fables and such things, so that one may truly say you are chattering or prattling; by chattering I mean talking without reason, by prattling I mean talking nonsense: therefore I beg you to tell me what it really is you want of me, and to let me hear from your lips reasonable speech, and not jabberings or nonsense.

” In reply to these words of mine, the Governor, who was a Pistojan, could no longer disguise his furious temper, and began: “You talk very confidently, or rather far too arrogantly; but let me tell you that I will bring your pride down lower than a spaniel by the words of reason you shall hear from me; these will be neither jabberings nor nonsense, as you have it, but shall form a chain of arguments to answer which you will be forced to tax the utmost of your wits.

Then he began to speak as follows: “We know for certain that you were in Rome at the time when this unhappy city was subject to the calamity of the sack; at that time you were in this Castle of Sant’ Angelo, and were employed as bombardier.

Now since you are a jeweller and goldsmith by trade, Pope Clement, being previously acquainted with you, and having by him no one else of your profession, called you into his secret counsels, and made you unset all the jewels of his tiaras, mitres, and rings; afterwards, having confidence in you, he ordered you to sew them into his clothes.

While thus engaged, you sequestered, unknown to his Holiness, a portion of them, to the value of eighty thousand crowns.

This has been told us by one of your workmen, to whom you disclosed the matter in your braggadocio way.

Now, we tell you frankly that you must find the jewels, or their value in money; after that we will release you.

” Note 1. Bishop of Forlimpopoli in 1537, and of Jesi in 1540. Note 2. Benedetto Valenti.

CIII

WHEN I heard these words, I could not hold from bursting into a great roar of laughter; then, having laughed a while, I said: “Thanks be to that God on this first occasion, when it has pleased His Divine Majesty to imprison me, I should not be imprisoned for some folly, as the wont is usually with young men.

If what you say were the truth, I run no risk of having to submit to corporal punishment, since the authority of the law was suspended during that season.

Indeed, I could excuse myself by saying that, like a faithful servant, I had kept back treasure to that amount for the sacred and Holy Apostolic Church, waiting till I could restore it to a good Pope, or else to those who might require it of me;

as, for instance, you might, if this were verily the case.

” When I had spoken so far, the furious Governor would not let me conclude my argument, but exclaimed in a burst of rage: “Interpret the affair as you like best, Benvenuto; it is enough for us to have found the property which we had lost; be quick about it, if you do not want us to use other measures than words.

” Then they began to rise and leave the chamber; but I stopped them, crying out: “My lords, my examination is not over; bring that to an end, and go then where you choose.

” They resumed their seats in a very angry temper, making as though they did not mean to listen to a word I said, and at the same time half relieved, [1] as though they had discovered all they wanted to know.

I then began my speech, to this effect: “You are to know, my lords, that it is now some twenty years since I first came to Rome, and I have never been sent to prison here or elsewhere.

” On this that catchpole of a Governor called out: “And yet you have killed men enough here!

” I replied: “It is you that say it, and not I; but if some one came to kill you, priest as you are, you would defend yourself, and if you killed him, the sanctity of law would hold you justified.

Therefore let me continue my defence, if you wish to report the case to the Pope, and to judge me fairly.

Once more I tell you that I have been a sojourner in this marvellous city Rome for nigh on twenty years, and here I have exercised my art in matters of vast importance.

Knowing that this is the seat of Christ, I entertained the reasonable belief that when some temporal prince sought to inflict on me a mortal injury, I might have recourse to this holy chair and to this Vicar of Christ, in confidence that he would surely uphold my cause.

Ah me!

whither am I now to go?

What prince is there who will protect me from this infamous assassination?

Was it not your business, before you took me up, to find out what I had done with those eighty thousand ducats?

Was it not your duty to inspect the record of the jewels, which have been carefully inscribed by this Apostolic Camera through the last five hundred years?

If you had discovered anything missing on that record, then you ought to have seized all my books together with myself.

I tell you for a certainty that the registers, on which are written all the jewels of the Pope and the regalia, must be perfectly in order; you will not find there missing a single article of value which belonged to Pope Clement that has not been minutely noted.

The one thing of the kind which occurs to me is this: When that poor man Pope Clement wanted to make terms with those thieves of the Imperial army, who had robbed Rome and insulted the Church, a certain Cesare Iscatinaro, if I rightly remember his name, came to negotiate with him; [2] and having nearly concluded the agreement, the Pope in his extremity, to show the man some mark of favour, let fall a diamond from his finger, which was worth about four thousand crowns, and when Iscatinaro stooped to pick it up, the Pope told him to keep it for his sake.

I was present at these transactions: and if the diamond of which I speak be missing, I have told you where it went; but I have the firmest conviction that you will find even this noted upon the register.

After this you may blush at your leisure for having done such cruel injustice to a man like me, who has performed so many honourable services for the apostolic chair.

I would have you know that, but for me, the morning when the Imperial troops entered the Borgo, they would without let or hindrance have forced their way into the castle.

It was I who, unrewarded for this act, betook myself with vigour to the guns which had been abandoned by the cannoneers and soldiers of the ordnance.

I put spirit into my comrade Raffaello da Montelupo, the sculptor, who had also left his post and hid himself all frightened in a corner, without stirring foot or finger; I woke his courage up, and he and I alone together slew so many of the enemies that the soldiers took another road.

I it was who shot at Iscatinaro when I saw him talking to Pope Clement without the slightest mark of reverence, nay, with the most revolting insolence, like the Lutheran and infidel he was.

Pope Clement upon this had the castle searched to find and hang the man who did it.

I it was who wounded the Prince of Orange in the head down there below the trenches of the castle.

Then, too, how many ornaments of silver, gold, and jewels, how many models and coins, so beautiful and so esteemed, have I not made for Holy Church!

Is this then the presumptuous priestly recompense you give a man who has served and loved you with such loyalty, with such mastery of art?

Oh, go and report the whole that I have spoken to the Pope; go and tell him that his jewels are all in his possession; that I never received from the Church anything but wounds and stonings at that epoch of the sack; that I never reckoned upon any gain beyond some small remuneration from Pope Paolo, which he had promised me.

Now at last I know what to think of his Holiness and you his Ministers.

” While I was delivering this speech, they sat and listened in astonishment.

Then exchanging glances one with the other, and making signs of much surprise, they left me.

All three went together to report what I had spoken to the Pope.

The Pope felt some shame, and gave orders that all the records of the jewels should be diligently searched.

When they had ascertained that none were missing, they left me in the castle without saying a word more about it.

Signor Pier Luigi felt also that he had acted ill; and to end the affair, they set about to contrive my death.

Note 1. 'Sollevati.'

It may mean 'half-risen from their seats.'

Note 2. Gio.

Bartolommeo di Gattinara.

Raffaello da Montelupo, in his Autobiography, calls him Cattinaro, and relates how “when he came one day into the castle to negotiate a treaty, he was wounded in the arm by one of our arquebusiers.

” This confirms what follows above.