CARDINAL CORNARO, on hearing of the affair, despatched thirty soldiers,
with as many partisans, pikes, and arquebuses, to bring me with all due
respect to his quarters. [1] This he did unasked; whereupon I accepted
the invitation, and went off with them, while more than as many of the
young men bore me company. Meanwhile, Messer Traiano, Pompeo’s relative
and first chamberlain to the Pope, sent a Milanese of high rank to
Cardinal de’ Medici, giving him news of the great crime I had committed,
and calling on his most reverend lordship to chastise me. The Cardinal
retorted on the spot: “His crime would indeed have been great if he had
not committed this lesser one; thank Messer Traiano from me for giving
me this information of a fact of which I had not heard before.” Then he
turned and in presence of the nobleman said to the Bishop of Frulli, [2]
his gentleman and intimate acquaintance: “Search diligently after my
friend Benvenuto; I want to help and defend him; and whoso acts against
thyself acts against myself.” The Milanese nobleman went back, much
disconcerted, while the Bishop of Frulli come to visit me at Cardinal
Cornaro’s palace. Presenting himself to the Cardinal, he related how
Cardinal de’ Medici had sent for Benvenuto, and wanted to be his
protector. Now Cardinal Cornaro who had the touchy temper of a bear,
flew into a rage, and told the Bishop he was quite as well able to
defend me as Cardinal de’ Medici. The Bishop, in reply, entreated to be
allowed to speak with me on some matters of his patron which had nothing
to do with the affair. Cornaro bade him for that day make as though he
had already talked with me.
Cardinal de’ Medici was very angry. However, I went the following night,
without Cornaro’s knowledge, and under good escort, to pay him my
respects. Then I begged him to grant me the favour of leaving me where I
was, and told him of the great courtesy which Cornaro had shown me;
adding that if his most reverend lordship suffered me to stay, I should
gain one friend the more in my hour of need; otherwise his lordship
might dispose of me exactly as he thought best. He told me to do as I
liked; so I returned to Cornaro’s palace, and a few days afterwards the
Cardinal Farnese was elected Pope. 3
After he had put affairs of greater consequence in order, the new Pope
sent for me, saying that he did not wish any one else to strike his
coins. To these words of his Holiness a gentleman very privately
acquainted with him, named Messer Latino Juvinale, made answer that I
was in hiding for a murder committed on the person of one Pompeo of
Milan, and set forth what could be argued for my justification in the
most favourable terms. [4] The Pope replied: “I knew nothing of Pompeo’s
death, but plenty of Benvenuto’s provocation; so let a safe-conduct be
at once made out for him, in order that he may be placed in perfect
security.” A great friend of Pompeo’s, who was also intimate with the
Pope, happened to be there; he was a Milanese, called Messer Ambrogio.
[5] This man said: “In the first days of your papacy it were not well to
grant-pardons of this kind.” The Pope turned to him and answered: “You
know less about such matters than I do. Know then that men like
Benvenuto, unique in their profession, stand above the law; and how far
more he, then, who received the provocation I have heard of?” When my
safe conduct had been drawn out, I began at once to serve him, and was
treated with the utmost favour.
Note 1. This was Francesco, brother to Cardinal Marco Cornaro. He
received the hat in 1528, while yet a layman, and the Bishopric of
Brescia in 1531.
Note 2. This was Francesco, brother to Cardinal Marco Cornaro. He
received the hat in 1528, while yet a layman, and the Bishopric of
Brescia in 1531.
Note 3. Paul III., elected October 13, 1534.
Note 4. Latino Giovenale de’ Manetti was a Latin poet and a man of
humane learning, much esteemed by his contemporaries.
Note 5. Ambrogio Recalcati. He was for many years the trusted secretary
and diplomatic agent of Paul III.