WHEN I reflected on the roguery and power of that evil-minded pedant, I
judged it best to give a wide berth to his infernal machinations; so
early next morning I mounted my horse and took the road for Venice,
leaving in my sister’s hands jewels and articles to the value of nearly
two thousand crowns. I took with me my servant Bernardino of Mugello;
and when I reached Ferrara, I wrote word to his Excellency the Duke,
that though I had gone off without being sent, I should come back again
without being called for.
On arriving at Venice, and pondering upon the divers ways my cruel
fortune took to torment me, yet at the same time feeling myself none the
less sound in health and hearty, I made up my mind to fence with her
according to my wont. While thus engrossed in thoughts about my own
affairs, I went abroad for pastime through that beautiful and sumptuous
city, and paid visits to the admirable painter Titian, and to Jacopo del
Sansovino, our able sculptor and architect from Florence. The latter
enjoyed an excellent appointment under the Signoria of Venice; and we
had been acquainted during our youth in Rome and Florence. These two men
of genius received me with marked kindness. The day afterwards I met
Messer Lorenzo de’ Medici, [1] who took me by the hand at once, giving
me the warmest welcome which could be imagined, because we had known
each other in Florence when I was coining for Duke Alessandro, and
afterwards in Paris while I was in the King’s service. At that time he
sojourned in the house of Messer Giuliano Buonaccorsi, and having
nowhere else to go for pastime without the greatest peril of his life,
he used to spend a large part of the day in my house, watching me
working at the great pieces I produced there. As I was saying, our
former acquaintance led him to take me by the hand and bring me to his
dwelling, where I found the Prior degli Strozzi, brother of my lord
Peiro. While making good cheer together, they asked me how long I
intended to remain in Venice, thinking that I was on my return journey
into France. To these gentlemen I replied that I had left Florence on
account of the events I have described above, and that I meant to go
back after two or three days, in order to resume my service with the
Duke. On hearing this, the Prior and Messer Lorenzo turned round on me
with such sternness that I felt extremely uneasy; then they said to me:
“You would do far better to return to France, where you are rich and
well known; for if you go back to Florence, you will lose all that you
have gained in France, and will earn nothing there but annoyances.
I made no answer to these words, and departed the next day as secretly
as I was able, turning my face again towards Florence. In the meanwhile
that infernal plot had come to a head and broken, for I had written to
my great master, the Duke, giving him a full account of the causes of my
escapade to Venice. I went to visit him without any ceremony, and was
received with his usual reserve and austerity. Having maintained this
attitude awhile, he turned toward me pleasantly, and asked where I had
been. I answered that my heart had never moved one inch from his most
illustrious Excellency, although some weighty reasons had forced me to
go a roaming for a little while. Then softening still more in manner, he
began to question me concerning Venice, and after this wise we conversed
some space of time. At last he bade me apply myself to business, and
complete his Perseus. So I returned home glad and light-hearted, and
comforted my family, that is to say, my sister and her six daughters.
Then I resumed my work, and pushed it forward as briskly as I could.
Note 1. This is Lorenzino de’ Medici, the murderer of Alessandro, who
was himself assassinated by two Tuscan bravi in 1548. See 'Renaissance
in Italy,' vol. vi. chap. 6.