My sleep was troubled, and when I woke the next morning the sun had only
just risen.
It was Saturday, the 14th of April 1488.
I went to my window and saw a cloudless sky, brilliantly yellow over in
the east, and elsewhere liquid and white, hardening gradually into blue.
The rays came dancing into my room, and in them incessantly whirled
countless atoms of dust. Through the open window blew the spring wind,
laden with the scents of the country, the blossoms of the fruit trees,
the primroses and violets. I had never felt so young and strong and
healthy. What could one not do on such a day as this! I went into
Matteo's room, and found him sleeping as calmly as if this were an
ordinary day like any other.
'Rise, thou sluggard!' I cried.
In a few minutes we were both ready, and we went to Checco. We found him
seated at a table polishing a dagger.
'Do you remember in Tacitus,' he said, smiling pleasantly, 'how the plot
against Nero was discovered by one of the conspirators giving his
dagger to his freedman to sharpen? Whereupon the freedman became
suspicious, and warned the Emperor.'
'The philosophers tell us to rise on the mistakes of others,' I remarked
in the same tone.
'One reason for my affection towards you, Filippo,' he answered, 'is
that you have nice moral sentiments, and a pleasant moral way of looking
at things.'
He held out his dagger and looked at it. The blade was beautifully
damaskeened, the hilt bejewelled.
'Look,' he said, showing me the excellence of the steel, and pointing
out the maker's name. Then, meditatively, 'I have been wondering what
sort of blow would be most effective if one wanted to kill a man.'
'You can get most force,' said Matteo, 'by bringing the dagger down from
above your head--thus.'
'Yes; but then you may strike the ribs, in which case you would not
seriously injure your friend.'
'You can hit him in the neck.'
'The space is too small, and the chin may get in the way. On the other
hand, a wound in the large vessels of that region is almost immediately
fatal.'
'It is an interesting subject,' I said. 'My opinion is that the best of
all blows is an underhand one, ripping up the stomach.'