NO sooner had the Governor returned, together with the Procurator, from
the palace, than he sent for me, and spoke to this effect: “Benvenuto, I
am certainly sorry to come back from the Pope with such commands as I
have received; you must either produce the chalice on the instant, or
look to your affairs.” Then I replied that “inasmuch as I had never to
that hour believed a holy Vicar of Christ could commit an unjust act, so
I should like to see it before I did believe it; therefore do the utmost
that you can.” The Governor rejoined: “I have to report a couple of
words more from the Pope to you, and then I will execute the orders
given me. He says that you must bring your work to me here, and that
after I have seen it put into a box and sealed, I must take it to him.
He engages his word not to break the seal, and to return the piece to
you untouched. But this much he wants to have done, in order to preserve
his own honour in the affair.” In return to this speech, I answered,
laughing, that I would very willingly give up my work in the way he
mentioned, because I should be glad to know for certain what a Pope’s
word was really worth.
Accordingly, I sent for my piece, and having had it sealed as described,
gave it up to him. The Governor repaired again to the Pope, who took the
box, according to what the Governor himself told me, and turned it
several times about. Then he asked the Governor if he had seen the work;
and he replied that he had, and that it had been sealed up in his
presence, and added that it had struck him as a very admirable piece.
Thereupon the Pope said: “You shall tell Benvenuto that Popes have
authority to bind and loose things of far greater consequence than
this;” and while thus speaking he opened the box with some show of
anger, taking off the string and seals with which it was done up.
Afterwards he paid it prolonged attention; and, as I subsequently heard,
showed it to Tobbia the gold-smith, who bestowed much praise upon it.
Then the Pope asked him if he felt equal to producing a piece in that
style. On his saying yes, the Pope told him to follow it out exactly;
then turned to the Governor and said: “See whether Benvenuto will give
it up; for if he does, he shall be paid the value fixed on it by men of
knowledge in this art; but if he is really bent on finishing it himself,
let him name a certain time; and if you are convinced that he means to
do it, let him have all the reasonable accommodations he may ask for.”
The Governor replied: “Most blessed Father, I know the violent temper of
this young man; so let me have authority to give him a sound rating
after my own fashion.” The Pope told him to do what he liked with words,
though he was sure he would make matters worse; and if at last he could
do nothing else, he must order me to take the five hundred crowns to his
jeweller, Pompeo.
The Governor returned, sent for me into his cabinet, and casting one of
his catchpole’s glances, began to speak as follows: “Popes have
authority to loose and bind the whole world, and what they do is
immediately ratified in heaven. Behold your box, then, which has been
opened and inspected by his Holiness.” I lifted up my voice at once, and
said: “I thank God that now I have learned and can report what the faith
of Popes is made of.” Then the Governor launched out into brutal
bullying words and gestures; but perceiving that they came to nothing,
he gave up his attempt as desperate, and spoke in somewhat milder tones
after this wise: “Benvenuto, I am very sorry that you are so blind to
your own interest; but since it is so, go and take the five hundred
crowns, when you think fit, to Pompeo.” I took my piece up, went away,
and carried the crowns to Pompeo on the instant. It is most likely that
the Pope had counted on some want of money or other opportunity
preventing me from bringing so considerable a sum at once, and was
anxious in this way to repiece the broken thread of my obedience. When
then he saw Pompeo coming to him with a smile upon his lips and the
money in his hand, he soundly rated him, and lamented that the affair
had turned out so. Then he said: “Go find Benvenuto in his shop, and
treat him with all the courtesies of which your ignorant and brutal
nature is capable, and tell him that if he is willing to finish that
piece for a reliquary to hold the Corpus Domini when I walk in
procession, I will allow him the conveniences he wants in order to
complete it; provided only that he goes on working.” Pompeo came to me,
called me outside the shop, and heaped on me the most mawkish caresses
of a donkey, [1] reporting everything the Pope had ordered. I lost no
time in answering that “the greatest treasure I could wish for in the
world was to regain the favour of so great a Pope, which had been lost
to me, not indeed by my fault, but by the fault of my overwhelming
illness and the wickedness of those envious men who take pleasure in
making mischief; and since the Pope has plenty of servants, do not let
him send you round again, if you value your life... nay, look well to
your safety. I shall not fail, by night or day, to think and do
everything I can in the Pope’s service; and bear this well in mind, that
when you have reported these words to his Holiness, you never in any way
whatever meddle with the least of my affairs, for I will make you
recognise your errors by the punishment they merit.” The fellow related
everything to the Pope, but in far more brutal terms than I had used;
and thus the matter rested for a time while I again attended to my shop
and business.