Then we swallowed the Pontiff's excommunications like water. I know not
whether Manfred had learned to read destiny in the stars, but true
it is that he made much of his Saracen horsemen. He was as prudent as
he was brave, a sagacious prince, careful of the blood of his men and
of the gold in his coffers. He replied to the Siennese that he would
grant them succour. He made great promises in order to inspire great
gratitude. He gave them but meagre fulfilment through craft and fear
of diminishing his own power. He sent his banner with one hundred
German horsemen. Disappointed and incensed, the Siennese spoke of
rejecting this contemptible aid. I gave them better counsel and taught
them the art of passing a cloth through a ring. One day, having gorged
the Germans with wine and meat, I induced them to make a sortie at so
unlucky a moment that they fell into an ambuscade and were all slain
by the Guelfs of Florence, who took Manfred's white banner and trailed
it in the dust at the end of an ass's tail. Straightway I informed the
Sicilian of the insult. He felt it, as I had foreseen, and, to execute
vengeance, he sent eight hundred horsemen, with a goodly number of
infantry, under the command of Count Giordano, who was reputed to be
the equal of Hector of Troy. Meanwhile Sienna and her allies assembled
their militia. Before long our strength was thirteen thousand fighting
men. We were fewer than were the Guelfs of Florence. But among them
were false Guelfs who merely awaited the hour to declare themselves
Ghibellines, while among our Ghibellines there were no Guelfs. Thus
having on my side, not all the advantage (one never has all), but
advantages which were great and unhoped for, I was impatient to engage
in a battle, which, if won, would destroy my enemies, and, if lost,
would only crush my allies. I hungered and thirsted after this battle.
To make the Florentine army engage in it I used every means of which I
could conceive. I sent to Florence two minor friars charged secretly
to inform the Council that, seized with repentance and desiring to
buy my fellow-citizens' pardon by rendering some signal service, I
was ready for ten thousand florins to deliver up into their hands one
of the gates of Sienna; but that for the success of the enterprise it
would be necessary for the Florentine army, in as great strength as was
possible, to advance to the banks of the Arbia, under the pretence of
coming to the aid of the Guelfs of Montacino. When my two friars had
departed, my mouth spat out the pardon it had asked, and, perturbed by
a terrible anxiety, I waited. I feared lest the nobles of the Council
should realize the folly of sending an army to the Arbia. But I hoped
that the project, by its very extravagance, would please the plebeians
and that they would adopt it all the more eagerly because of the
opposition of the nobles, whom they mistrusted. And so it happened:
the nobility discerned the snare, but the artisans fell into it. They
were in the majority on the Council. At their command the Florentine
army set forth and carried out the plan which I had formed for its
destruction. How beautiful was that dawn, when, riding into a little
band of exiles, I saw the sun pierce the white morning mist and shine
on the forest of Guelf lances which covered the slopes of La Malena!
I had put my hand on my enemies. But a little more artfulness and I
was sure of destroying them. By my advice, Count Giordano caused the
infantry of the commune of Sienna to defile three times before their
eyes, changing their helmets after their first and second appearances,
in order that they might seem more numerous than they actually were;
and thus he showed them to the Guelfs, first red, as an omen of blood;
then green, as an omen of death; then half-black, half-white, as an
omen of captivity. True omens! O what delight! when, charging the
Florentine horse, I beheld it waver and wheel in circles like a flight
of crows, when I saw the man in my pay, him whose name I may not
utter for fear of defiling my lips, strike down with one blow of his
sword the standard which he had come to defend, and all the horsemen,
looking vainly henceforth for their rallying point, the white and blue
colours, flee panic-stricken, trampling one another down, while we in
their pursuit slaughtered them like pigs brought to market. Only the
artisans of the commune stood their ground. Then we had to slay round
the bleeding quarry. Finally, there remained before us naught save
corpses and cowards, who joined hands to come to us and on their knees
to beg for mercy. And I, content with my work, stood apart.