AFTER I had melted down the gold, I took it to the Pope, who thanked me
cordially for what I had done, and ordered the Cavalierino to give me
twenty-five crowns, apologising to me for his inability to give me more.
A few days afterwards the articles of peace were signed. I went with
three hundred comrades in the train of Signor Orazio Baglioni toward
Perugia; and there he wished to make me captain of the company, but I
was unwilling at the moment, saying that I wanted first to go and see my
father, and to redeem the ban which was still in force against me at
Florence. Signor Orazio told me that he had been appointed general of
the Florentines; and Sir Pier Maria del Lotto, the envoy from Florence,
was with him, to whom he specially recommended me as his man. 1
In course of time I came to Florence in the company of several comrades.
The plague was raging with indescribable fury. When I reached home, I
found my good father, who thought either that I must have been killed in
the sack of Rome, or else that I should come back to him a beggar.
However, I entirely defeated both these expectations; for I was alive,
with plenty of money, a fellow to wait on me, and a good horse. My joy
on greeting the old man was so intense, that, while he embraced and
kissed me, I thought that I must die upon the spot. After I had narrated
all the devilries of that dreadful sack, and had given him a good
quantity of crowns which I had gained by my soldiering, and when we had
exchanged our tokens of affection, he went off to the Eight to redeem my
ban. It so happened that one of those magistrates who sentenced me, was
now again a member of the board. It was the very man who had so
inconsiderately told my father he meant to march me out into the country
with the lances. My father took this opportunity of addressing him with
some meaning words, in order to mark his revenge, relying on the favour
which Orazio Baglioni showed me.
Matters standing thus, I told my father how Signor Orazio had appointed
me captain, and that I ought to begin to think of enlisting my company.
At these words the poor old man was greatly disturbed, and begged me for
God’s sake not to turn my thoughts to such an enterprise, although he
knew I should be fit for this or yet a greater business, adding that his
other son, my brother, was already a most valiant soldier, and that I
ought to pursue the noble art in which I had laboured so many years and
with such diligence of study. Although I promised to obey him, he
reflected, like a man of sense, that if Signor Orazio came to Florence,
I could not withdraw myself from military service, partly because I had
passed my word, as well as for other reasons; He therefore thought of a
good expedient for sending me away, and spoke to me as follows: “Oh, my
dear son, the plague in this town is raging with immitigable violence,
and I am always fancying you will come home infected with it. I
remember, when I was a young man, that I went to Mantua, where I was
very kindly received, and stayed there several years. I pray and command
you, for the love of me, to pack off and go thither; and I would have
you do this to-day rather than to-morrow.”
Note 1. Pier Maria di Lotto of S. Miniato was notary to the Florentine
Signoria. He collected the remnants of the Bandle Nere, and gave them
over to Orazio Baglioni, who contrived to escape from S. Angelo in
safety to Perugia.