Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Vol 1 — Chapters 34-37

XXXIV

THE WHOLE world was now in warfare.

[1] Pope Clement had sent to get some troops from Giovanni de’ Medici, and when they came, they made such disturbances in Rome, that it was ill living in open shops.

[2] On this account I retired to a good snug house behind the Banchi, where I worked for all the friends I had acquired.

Since I produced few things of much importance at that period, I need not waste time in talking about them.

I took much pleasure in music and amusements of the kind.

On the death of Giovanni de’ Medici in Lombardy, the Pope, at the advice of Messer Jacopo Salviati, dismissed the five bands he had engaged; and when the Constable of Bourbon knew there were no troops in Rome, he pushed his army with the utmost energy up to the city.

The whole of Rome upon this flew to arms.

I happened to be intimate with Alessandro, the son of Piero del Bene, who, at the time when the Colonnesi entered Rome, had requested me to guard his palace.

[3] On this more serious occasion, therefore, he prayed me to enlist fifty comrades for the protection of the said house, appointing me their captain, as I had been when the Colonnesi came.

So I collected fifty young men of the highest courage, and we took up our quarters in his palace, with good pay and excellent appointments.

Bourbon’s army had now arrived before the walls of Rome, and Alessandro begged me to go with him to reconnoitre.

So we went with one of the stoutest fellows in our Company; and on the way a youth called Cecchino della Casa joined himself to us.

On reaching the walls by the Campo Santo, we could see that famous army, which was making every effort to enter the town.

Upon the ramparts where we took our station several young men were lying killed by the besiegers; the battle raged there desperately, and there was the densest fog imaginable.

I turned to Alessandro and said: “Let us go home as soon as we can, for there is nothing to be done here; you see the enemies are mounting, and our men are in flight.

” Alessandro, in a panic, cried: “Would God that we had never come here!

” and turned in maddest haste to fly.

I took him up somewhat sharply with these words: “Since you have brought me here, I must perform some action worthy of a man;” and directing my arquebuse where I saw the thickest and most serried troop of fighting men, I aimed exactly at one whom I remarked to be higher than the rest; the fog prevented me from being certain whether he was on horseback or on foot.

Then I turned to Alessandro and Cecchino, and bade them discharge their arquebuses, showing them how to avoid being hit by the besiegers.

When we had fired two rounds apiece, I crept cautiously up to the wall, and observing among the enemy a most extraordinary confusion, I discovered afterwards that one of our shots had killed the Constable of Bourbon;

and from what I subsequently learned, he was the man whom I had first noticed above the heads of the rest.

[4] Quitting our position on the ramparts, we crossed the Campo Santo, and entered the city by St. Peter’s; then coming out exactly at the church of Santo Agnolo, we got with the greatest difficulty to the great gate of the castle; for the generals Renzo di Ceri and Orazio Baglioni were wounding and slaughtering everybody who abandoned the defence of the walls.

[5] By the time we had reached the great gate, part of the foemen had already entered Rome, and we had them in our rear.

The castellan had ordered the portcullis to be lowered, in order to do which they cleared a little space, and this enabled us four to get inside.

On the instant that I entered, the captain Pallone de’ Medici claimed me as being of the Papal household, and forced me to abandon Alessandro, which I had to do, much against my will.

I ascended to the keep, and at the same instant Pope Clement came in through the corridors into the castle; he had refused to leave the palace of St. Peter earlier, being unable to believe that his enemies would effect their entrance into Rome.

[6] Having got into the castle in this way, I attached myself to certain pieces of artillery, which were under the command of a bombardier called Giuliano Fiorentino.

Leaning there against the battlements, the unhappy man could see his poor house being sacked, and his wife and children outraged; fearing to strike his own folk, he dared not discharge the cannon, and flinging the burning fuse upon the ground, he wept as though his heart would break, and tore his cheeks with both his hands.

[7] Some of the other bombardiers were behaving in like manner; seeing which, I took one of the matches, and got the assistance of a few men who were not overcome by their emotions.

I aimed some swivels and falconets at points where I saw it would be useful, and killed with them a good number of the enemy.

Had it not been for this, the troops who poured into Rome that morning, and were marching straight upon the castle, might possibly have entered it with ease, because the artillery was doing them no damage.

I went on firing under the eyes of several cardinals and lords, who kept blessing me and giving me the heartiest encouragement.

In my enthusiasm I strove to achieve the impossible; let it suffice that it was I who saved the castle that morning, and brought the other bombardiers back to their duty.

[8] I worked hard the whole of that day; and when the evening came, while the army was marching into Rome through the Trastevere, Pope Clement appointed a great Roman nobleman named Antonio Santacroce to be captain of all the gunners.

The first thing this man did was to come to me, and having greeted me with the utmost kindness, he stationed me with five fine pieces of artillery on the highest point of the castle, to which the name of the Angel specially belongs.

This circular eminence goes round the castle, and surveys both Prati and the town of Rome.

The captain put under my orders enough men to help in managing my guns, and having seen me paid in advance, he gave me rations of bread and a little wine, and begged me to go forward as I had begun.

I was perhaps more inclined by nature to the profession of arms than to the one I had adopted, and I took such pleasure in its duties that I discharged them better than those of my own art.

Night came, the enemy had entered Rome, and we who were in the castle (especially myself, who have always taken pleasure in extraordinary sights) stayed gazing on the indescribable scene of tumult and conflagration in the streets below.

People who were anywhere else but where we were, could not have formed the least imagination of what it was.

I will not, however, set myself to describe that tragedy, but will content myself with continuing the history of my own life and the circumstances which properly belong to it.

Note 1. War had broken out in 1521 between Charles V and Francis I, which disturbed all Europe and involved the States of Italy in serious complications.

At the moment when this chapter opens, the Imperialist army under the Constable of Bourbon was marching upon Rome in 1527. Note 2. These troops entered Rome in October 1526. They were disbanded in March, 1527. Note 3. Cellini here refers to the attack made upon Rome by the great Ghibelline house of Colonna, led by their chief captain, Pompeo, in September 1526. They took possession of the city and drove Clement into the Castle of S. Angelo, where they forced him to agree to terms favouring the Imperial cause.

It was customary for Roman gentlemen to hire bravi for the defence of their palaces when any extraordinary disturbance was expected, as, for example, upon the vacation of the Papal Chair.

Note 4. All historians of the sack of Rome agree in saying that Bourbon was shot dead while placing ladders against the outworks near the shop Cellini mentions.

But the honour of firing the arquebuse which brought him down cannot be assigned to any one in particular.

Very different stories were current on the subject.

See Gregorovius, 'Stadt Rom.

,' vol. viii.

p. 522. Note 5. For Renzo di Ceri see above.

Orazio Baglioni, of the semi-princely Perugian family, was a distinguished Condottiere.

He subsequently obtained the captaincy of the Bande Nere, and died fighting near Naples in 1528. Orazio murdered several of his cousins in order to acquire the lordship of Perugia.

His brother Malatesta undertook to defend Florence in the siege of 1530, and sold the city by treason to Clement.

Note 6. Giovio, in his Life of the Cardinal Prospero Colonna, relates how he accompanied Clement in his flight from the Vatican to the castle.

While passing some open portions of the gallery, he threw his violent mantle and cap of a Monsignore over the white stole of the Pontiff, for fear he might be shot at by the soldiers in the streets below.

Note 7. The short autobiography of Raffaello da Montelupo, a man in many respects resembling Cellini, confirms this part of our author’s narrative.

It is one of the most interesting pieces of evidence regarding what went on inside the castle during the sack of Rome.

Montelupo was also a gunner, and commanded two pieces.

Note 8. This is an instance of Cellini’s exaggeration.

He did more than yeoman’s service, no doubt.

But we cannot believe that, without him, the castle would have been taken.

XXXV

DURING the course of my artillery practice, which I never intermitted through the whole month passed by us beleaguered in the castle, I met with a great many very striking accidents, all of them worthy to be related.

But since I do not care to be too prolix, or to exhibit myself outside the sphere of my profession, I will omit the larger part of them, only touching upon those I cannot well neglect, which shall be the fewest in number and the most remarkable.

The first which comes to hand is this: Messer Antonio Santacroce had made me come down from the Angel, in order to fire on some houses in the neighbourhood, where certain of our besiegers had been seen to enter.

While I was firing, a cannon shot reached me, which hit the angle of a battlement, and carried off enough of it to be the cause why I sustained no injury.

The whole mass struck me in the chest and took my breath away.

I lay stretched upon the ground like a dead man, and could hear what the bystanders were saying.

Among them all, Messer Antonio Santacroce lamented greatly, exclaiming: “Alas, alas!

we have lost the best defender that we had.

” Attracted by the uproar, one of my comrades ran up; he was called Gianfrancesco, and was a bandsman, but was far more naturally given to medicine than to music.

On the spot he flew off, crying for a stoop of the very best Greek wine.

Then he made a tile red-hot, and cast upon it a good handful of wormwood; after which he sprinkled the Greek wine; and when the wormwood was well soaked, he laid it on my breast, just where the bruise was visible to all.

Such was the virtue of the wormwood that I immediately regained my scattered faculties.

I wanted to begin to speak; but could not; for some stupid soldiers had filled my mouth with earth, imagining that by so doing they were giving me the sacrament; and indeed they were more like to have excommunicated me, since I could with difficulty come to myself again, the earth doing me more mischief than the blow.

However, I escaped that danger, and returned to the rage and fury of the guns, pursuing my work there with all the ability and eagerness that I could summon.

Pope Clement, by this, had sent to demand assistance from the Duke of Urbino, who was with the troops of Venice; he commissioned the envoy to tell his Excellency that the Castle of S. Angelo would send up every evening three beacons from its summit accompanied by three discharges of the cannon thrice repeated, and that so long as this signal was continued, he might take for granted that the castle had not yielded.

I

was charged with lighting the beacons and firing the guns for this purpose; and all this while I pointed my artillery by day upon the places where mischief could be done.

The Pope, in consequence, began to regard me with still greater favour, because he saw that I discharged my functions as intelligently as the task demanded.

Aid from the Duke of Urbino [1] never came; on which, as it is not my business, I will make no further comment.

Note 1. Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, commanded a considerable army as general of the Church, and was now acting for Venice.

Why he effected no diversion while the Imperial troops were marching upon Rome, and why he delayed to relieve the city, was never properly explained.

Folk attributed his impotent conduct partly to a natural sluggishness in warfare, and partly to his hatred for the house of Medici.

Leo X had deprived him of his dukedom, and given it to a Medicean prince.

It is to this that Cellini probably refers in the cautious phrase which ends the chapter.

XXXVI

WHILE I was at work upon that diabolical task of mine, there came from time to time to watch me some of the cardinals who were invested in the castle; and most frequently the Cardinal of Ravenna and the Cardinal de’ Gaddi.

[1] I often told them not to show themselves, since their nasty red caps gave a fair mark to our enemies.

From neighbouring buildings, such as the Torre de’ Bini, we ran great peril when they were there; and at last I had them locked off, and gained thereby their deep ill-will.

I

frequently received visits also from the general, Orazio Baglioni, who was very well affected toward me.

One day while he was talking with me, he noticed something going forward in a drinking-place outside the Porta di Castello, which bore the name of Baccanello.

This tavern had for sign a sun painted between two windows, of a bright red colour.

The windows being closed, Signor Orazio concluded that a band of soldiers were carousing at table just between them and behind the sun.

So he said to me “Benvenuto, if you think that you could hit that wall an ell’s breadth from the sun with your demi-cannon here, I believe you would be doing a good stroke of business, for there is a great commotion there, and men of much importance must probably be inside the house.

” I answered that I felt quite capable of hitting the sun in its centre, but that a barrel full of stones, which was standing close to the muzzle of the gun, might be knocked down by the shock of the discharge and the blast of the artillery.

He rejoined: “Don’t waste time, Benvenuto.

In the first place, it is not possible, where it is standing, that the cannon’s blast should bring it down; and even if it were to fall, and the Pope himself was underneath, the mischief would not be so great as you imagine.

Fire, then, only fire!

” Taking no more thought about it, I struck the sun in the centre, exactly as I said I should.

The cask was dislodged, as I predicted, and fell precisely between Cardinal Farnese and Messer Jacopo Salviati.

[2] It might very well have dashed out the brains of both of them, except that just at that very moment Farnese was reproaching Salviati with having caused the sack of Rome, and while they stood apart from one another to exchange opprobrious remarks, my gabion fell without destroying them.

When he heard the uproar in the court below, good Signor Orazio dashed off in a hurry; and I, thrusting my neck forward where the cask had fallen, heard some people saying; “It would not be a bad job to kill that gunner!

” Upon this I turned two falconets toward the staircase, with mind resolved to let blaze on the first man who attempted to come up.

The household of Cardinal Farnese must have received orders to go and do me some injury; accordingly I prepared to receive them, with a lighted match in hand.

Recognising some who were approaching, I called out: “You lazy lubbers, if you don’t pack off from there, and if but a man’s child among you dares to touch the staircase, I have got two cannon loaded, which will blow you into powder.

Go and tell the Cardinal that I was acting at the order of superior officers, and that what we have done and are doing is in defence of them priests, [3] and not to hurt them.

” They made away; and then came Signor Orazio Baglioni, running.

I bade him stand back, else I’d murder him; for I knew very well who he was.

He drew back a little, not without a certain show of fear, and called out: “Benvenuto, I am your friend!

” To this I answered: “Sir, come up, but come alone, and then come as you like.

” The general, who was a man of mighty pride, stood still a moment, and then said angrily: “I have a good mind not to come up again, and to do quite the opposite of that which I intended toward you.

” I replied that just as I was put there to defend my neighbours, I was equally well able to defend myself too.

He said that he was coming alone; and when he arrived at the top of the stairs, his features were more discomposed that I thought reasonable.

So I kept my hand upon my sword, and stood eyeing him askance.

Upon this he began to laugh, and the colour coming back into his face, he said to me with the most pleasant manner: “Friend Benvenuto, I bear you as great love as I have it in my heart to give; and in God’s good time I will render you proof of this.

Would to God that you had killed those two rascals; for one of them is the cause of all this trouble, and the day perchance will come when the other will be found the cause of something even worse.

” He then begged me, if I should be asked, not to say that he was with me when I fired the gun; and for the rest bade me be of good cheer.

The commotion which the affair made was enormous, and lasted a long while.

However, I will not enlarge upon it further, only adding that I was within an inch of revenging my father on Messer Jacopo Salviati, who had grievously injured him, according to my father’s complaints.

As it was, unwittingly I gave the fellow a great fright.

Of Farnese I shall say nothing here, because it will appear in its proper place how well it would have been if I had killed him.

Note 1. Benedetto Accolti of Arezzo, Archbishop of Ravenna in 1524, obtained the hat in 1527, three days before the sack of Rome.

He was a distinguished man of letters.

Niccolò Gaddi was created Cardinal on the same day as Accolti.

We shall hear more of him in Cellini’s pages.

Note 2. Alessandro Farnese, Dean of the Sacred College, and afterwards Pope Paul III.

Of Giacopo Salviati we have already heard, p. 14. Note 3. 'Loro preti.'

Perhaps 'their priests.'

XXXVII

I PURSUED my business of artilleryman, and every day performed some extraordinary feat, whereby the credit and the favour I acquired with the Pope was something indescribable.

There never passed a day but what I killed one or another of our enemies in the besieging army.

On one occasion the Pope was walking round the circular keep, [1] when he observed a Spanish Colonel in the Prati; he recognised the man by certain indications, seeing that this officer had formerly been in his service; and while he fixed his eyes on him, he kept talking about him.

I, above by the Angel, knew nothing of all this, but spied a fellow down there, busying himself about the trenches with a javelin in his hand; he was dressed entirely in rose-colour; and so, studying the worst that I could do against him, I selected a gerfalcon which I had at hand; it is a piece of ordnance larger and longer than a swivel, and about the size of a demiculverin.

This I emptied, and loaded it again with a good charge of fine powder mixed with the coarser sort; then I aimed it exactly at the man in red, elevating prodigiously, because a piece of that calibre could hardly be expected to carry true at such a distance.

I fired, and hit my man exactly in the middle.

He had trussed his sword in front, [2] for swagger, after a way those Spaniards have; and my ball, when it struck him, broke upon the blade, and one could see the fellow cut in two fair halves.

The Pope, who was expecting nothing of this kind, derived great pleasure and amazement from the sight, both because it seemed to him impossible that one should aim and hit the mark at such a distance, and also because the man was cut in two, and he could not comprehend how this should happen.

He sent for me, and asked about it.

I explained all the devices I had used in firing; but told him that why the man was cut in halves, neither he nor I could know.

Upon my bended knees I then besought him to give me the pardon of his blessing for that homicide; and for all the others I had committed in the castle in the service of the Church.

Thereat the Pope, raising his hand, and making a large open sign of the cross upon my face, told me that he blessed me, and that he gave me pardon for all murders I had ever perpetrated, or should ever perpetrate, in the service of the Apostolic Church.

When I felt him, I went aloft, and never stayed from firing to the utmost of my power; and few were the shots of mine that missed their mark.

My drawing, and my fine studies in my craft, and my charming art of music, all were swallowed up in the din of that artillery; and if I were to relate in detail all the splendid things I did in that infernal work of cruelty, I should make the world stand by and wonder.

But, not to be too prolix, I will pass them over.

Only I must tell a few of the most remarkable, which are, as it were, forced in upon me.

To begin then: pondering day and night what I could render for my own part in defence of Holy Church, and having noticed that the enemy changed guard and marched past through the great gate of Santo Spirito, which was within a reasonable range, I thereupon directed my attention to that spot; but, having to shoot sideways, I could not do the damage that I wished, although I killed a fair percentage every day.

This induced our adversaries, when they saw their passage covered by my guns, to load the roof of a certain house one night with thirty gabions, which obstructed the view I formerly enjoyed.

Taking better thought than I had done of the whole situation, I now turned all my five pieces of artillery directly on the gabions, and waited till the evening hour, when they changed guard.

Our enemies, thinking they were safe, came on at greater ease and in a closer body than usual; whereupon I set fire to my blow-pipes, [3] Not merely did I dash to pieces the gabions which stood in my way; but, what was better, by that one blast I slaughtered more than thirty men.

In consequence of this manœuvre, which I repeated twice, the soldiers were thrown into such disorder, that being, moreover, encumbered with the spoils of that great sack, and some of them desirous of enjoying the fruits of their labour, they oftentimes showed a mind to mutiny and take themselves away from Rome.

However, after coming to terms with their valiant captain, Gian di Urbino, [4] they were ultimately compelled, at their excessive inconvenience, to take another road when they changed guard.

It cost them three miles of march, whereas before they had but half a mile.

Having achieved this feat, I was entreated with prodigious favours by all the men of quality who were invested in the castle.

This incident was so important that I thought it well to relate it, before finishing the history of things outside my art, the which is the real object of my writing: forsooth, if I wanted to ornament my biography with such matters, I should have far too much to tell.

There is only one more circumstance which, now that the occasion offers, I propose to record.

Note 1. The Mastio or main body of Hadrian’s Mausoleum, which was converted into a fortress during the Middle Ages.

Note 2. 'S’aveva messo la spada dinanzi.'

Perhaps 'was bearing his sword in front of him.'

Note 3. 'Soffioni,' the cannon being like tubes to blow a fire up.

Note 4. This captain was a Spaniard, who played a very considerable figure in the war, distinguishing himself at the capture of Genoa and the battle of Lodi in 1522, and afterwards acting as Lieutenant-General to the Prince of Orange.

He held Naples against Orazio Baglioni in 1528, and died before Spello in 1529.