THE AFFRONTS and insults I received made me have recourse to the King,
begging his Majesty to establish me in some other place. He answered:
“Who are you, and what is your name?” I remained in great confusion, and
could not comprehend what he meant. Holding my tongue thus, the King
repeated the same words a second time angrily. Then I said my name was
Benvenuto. “If, then, you are the Benvenuto of whom I have heard,”
replied the King, “act according to your wont, for you have my full
leave to do so.” I told his Majesty that all I wanted was to keep his
favour; for the rest, I knew of nothing that could harm me. He gave a
little laugh, and said: “Go your ways, then; you shall never want my
favour.” Upon this he told his first secretary, Monsignor di Villerois,
to see me provided and accommodated with all I needed. 1
This Villerois was an intimate friend of the Provost, to whom the castle
had been given. It was built in a triangle, right up against the city
walls, and was of some antiquity, but had no garrison. The building was
of considerable size. Monsignor di Villerois counselled me to look about
for something else, and by all means to leave this place alone, seeing
that its owner was a man of vast power, who would most assuredly have me
killed. I answered that I had come from Italy to France only in order to
serve that illustrious King; and as for dying, I knew for certain that
die I must; a little earlier or a little later was a matter of supreme
indifference to me.
Now Villerois was a man of the highest talent, exceptionally
distinguished in all points, and possessed of vast wealth. There was
nothing he would not gladly have done to harm me, but he made no open
demonstration of his mind. He was grave, and of a noble presence, and
spoke slowly, at his ease. To another gentleman, Monsignor di Marmagna,
the treasurer of Languedoc, he left the duty of molesting me. [2] The
first thing which this man did was to look out the best apartments in
the castle, and to have them fitted up for himself. I told him that the
King had given me the place to serve him in, and that I did not choose
it should be occupied by any but myself and my attendants. The fellow,
who was haughty, bold, and spirited, replied that he meant to do just
what he liked; that I should run my head against a wall if I presumed to
oppose him, and that Villerois had given him authority to do what he was
doing. I told him that, by the King’s authority given to me, neither he
nor Villerois could do it. When I said that he gave vent to offensive
language in French, whereat I retorted in my own tongue that he lied.
Stung with rage, he clapped his hand upon a little dagger which he had;
then I set my hand also to a large dirk which I always wore for my
defence, and cried out: “If you dare to draw, I’ll kill you on the
spot.” He had two servants to back him, and I had my two lads. For a
moment or two Marmagna stood in doubt, not knowing exactly what to do,
but rather inclined to mischief, and muttering: “I will never put up
with such insults.” Seeing then that the affair was taking a bad turn, I
took a sudden resolution, and cried to Pagolo and Ascanio: “When you see
me draw my dirk, throw yourselves upon those serving-men, and kill them
if you can; I mean to kill this fellow at the first stroke, and then we
will decamp together, with God’s grace.” Marmagna, when he understood my
purpose, was glad enough to get alive out of the castle.
All these things, toning them down a trifle, I wrote to the Cardinal of
Ferrara, who related them at once to the King. The King, deeply
irritated, committed me to the care of another officer of his bodyguard
who was named Monsignor lo Iscontro d’Orbech. [3] By him I was
accommodated with all that I required in the most gracious way
imaginable.
Note 1. M. Nicholas de Neufville, lord of Villeroy.
Note 2. François l’Allemand, Seigneur de Marmagne.
Note 3. Le Vicomte d’Orbec. It seems that by 'Iscontro' Cellini meant
Viscount.