No More Learning

Benvenuto Cellini was born at Florence in 1500. The father, Gio-
vanni Cellini, a musician and maker of musical instruments, intended
that the boy should likewise become a musician; but young Ben-
venuto very early showed strong leaning toward the plastic art, and
detested the flute he was forced to practice. The first chapters of
the 'Memoirs' are a most lively description of the struggles between
the wishes of the father and those of the son, until the latter finally
prevailed, and at fifteen years of age he was apprenticed to a gold-
smith of Florence. He made rapid progress, and soon attracted
notice as a skilled craftsman. At the same time, to please his father,
toward whom he everywhere professes the most filial feeling, he
continued "that confounded flute-playing" as a side issue. This
accomplishment, however, did him a good turn at the Papal court
later on. After various youthful escapades, street broils, and quarrels
with his father, he fled in monk's disguise to Rome in 1521.
A vase
made for the Bishop of Salamanca drew upon him the notice of
Pope Clement VII. , who appointed him court musician and also
employed him in his proper profession of goldsmith. When the
Constable de Bourbon attacked Rome, in 1527, Cellini was of great


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3372
BENVENUTO CELLINI
service to the Pope in defending the city. He boasts of having from
the ramparts shot the Bourbon; and indeed, if one were to take him
strictly at his word, his valor and skill as an engineer saved the
castle of San Angelo and the Pope. However his lively imagination
may have overrated his own importance, yet it is certain that his
military exploit paved the way for his return to Florence, where for
a time he devoted himself to the execution of bronze medals and
coins. The most famous of the former are Hercules and the Nemean
Lion, and Atlas supporting the world.
On the elevation of Paul III. to the Papacy we again find Cellini at
Rome, working for the Pope and other eminent people. His extraor-
dinary abilities brought him not only into the notice of the courts,
but also drew him into the brilliant literary and artistic society of
the Eternal City. With unrivaled vividness he flashes before us in a
few bold strokes the artists of the decadent Renaissance, the pupils
of Raphael, led by Giulio Romano, with their worship of every form
of physical beauty and their lack of elevation of thought. In conse-
quence of the plottings of his implacable enemy, Pier Luigi, natural
son of Paul III. , he was arrested on the charge of having during the
sack of Rome embezzled Pontifical gold and jewels to the amount of
eighty thousand ducats. Though the charge was groundless, he was
committed to the castle of San Angelo. His escape is narrated in
one of the most thrilling chapters of the 'Memoirs. ' He went in hid-
ing to the Cardinal Cornaro, but was delivered up again to the Pope
by an act of most characteristic sixteenth-century Italian policy, and
was cast into a loathsome underground dungeon of the castle. It
was damp, swarming with vermin, and for two hours of the day only
received light through a little aperture. Here he languished for
many months, with only the chronicles of Giovanni Billani and an
Italian Bible to solace him. Now at last his recklessness and bravado
forsook him. He took on the airs of a saint, gave himself up to
mysticism, grew delirious and had his famous visions-angels visit-
ing him, who talked with him about religion.
In 1539 he was finally released at the intercession of the cardinal
Ippolito d'Este, who came from France to invite him to enter the
King's service. Cellini's account of his residence in France has great
historic value as throwing vivid side-lights on that interesting period
in the development of French social life, when Francis I. was laying
the foundation of the court society which was later on brought to
perfection by Louis XIV.
Cellini was one among that crowd of
Italian artists gathered at the court in Paris and Versailles, whose
culture was to refine the manners of the French warrior barons. He
worked for five years at Fontainebleau and in Paris. Among his
works there, still extant, are a pair of huge silver candelabra, the


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BENVENUTO CELLINI
3373
gates of Fontainebleau, and a nymph in bronze, reposing among
trophies of the chase, now in the Louvre. Among other marks of
royal favor he was presented with a castle, Le Petit Nesle. His
efforts to gain possession of this grant are among the amusing epi-
sodes of his narrative.
He had as usual numerous quarrels, and falling into disfavor with
Madame d'Estampes, the King's favorite, he suddenly left Paris and
returned alone to Florence. The remainder of his life he passed
mainly in the service of Duke Cosimo de' Medici. The chapters of
his narrative dealing with this portion give a most vivid picture of
artist life at an Italian court in the sixteenth century. To this third
and last period belongs the work on which his fame as sculptor
rests, the bronze Perseus holding the head of Medusa, completed in
1554 and still standing in the Loggia de' Lanzi in Florence. It is a
typical monument of the Renaissance, and was received with univer-
sal applause by all Italy. Odes and sonnets in Italian, Greek, and
Latin were written in its praise. His minute description of its cast-
ing, and of his many trials during that process, are among the most
interesting passages of the narrative.
In 1558 he began to write his memoirs, dictating them for the
greater part to an amanuensis; and he carried them down to the
year 1562. The events of the remaining nine years of his life are to
be gathered from contemporary documents. In 1558 he received the
tonsure and first ecclesiastical orders, but married two years later,
and died in 1571. He was buried with great pomp in the Church of
the Annunciata in Florence.
Besides his 'Memoirs' he also wrote treatises on the goldsmith's
art and on sculpture, with especial reference to bronze-founding.
They are of great value as manuals of the craftsmanship of the
Renaissance, and excellent specimens of good Italian style as applied
to technical exposition. And like all cultivated artists of his time
Cellini also tried his hand at poetry; but his lack of technical train-
ing as a writer comes out even more in his verse than in his prose.
The life of Benvenuto was one of incessant activity, laying hold of the
whole domain of the plastic arts: of restless wanderings from place
to place; and of rash deeds of violence. He lived to the full the life
of his age, in all its glory and all its recklessness. As the most
famous goldsmith of his time, he worked for all the great personages
of the day, and put himself on a footing of familiar acquaintance.
with popes and princes. As an artist he came into contact with all
the phases of Italian society, since a passion for external beauty was
at that time the heritage of the Italian people, and art bodied forth
the innermost life of the period. Furniture, plate, and personal
adornments were not turned out wholesale by machinery as they are


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3374
BENVENUTO CELLINI
!
to-day, but engaged the individual attention of the most skilled
craftsmen. The memory and the traditions of Raphael Sanzio were
still cherished by his pupils when Cellini first came to Rome into the
brilliant circle of Giulio Romano and his friends; Michelangelo's fres-
coes were studied with rapturous admiration by the young Benvenuto,
and later on he proudly recorded some words of praise of the mighty
genius whom he worshiped; and at this time, too, Titian and Tinto-
retto set the heart of Venice aglow with the splendor and color of
their marvelous canvases. The contemporary though not the peer
of those masters of the brush and the chisel, Cellini, endowed with
a keen feeling for beauty, a dexterous hand, and a lively imagination,
in his versatility reached out toward a wider sphere of activity, and
laid hold of life at more points, than they.
He reflected the Renaissance, not merely on its higher artistic
aspect, but he touched it also on its lower darker levels of brute pas-
sion, coarseness, and vindictiveness. He had more than one murder to
his account, and he did not slur over them in his narrative, for in his
make-up the bravo was equally prominent with the artist.
Yet we
must remember that homicides were of common occurrence in those
days, defended by casuists and condoned by the Church. Avenging
one's honor, or punishing an insult with the dagger, were as much a
social custom as the adornment of the body with exquisitely wrought
fabrics and jewelry. But just because Cellini was so thoroughly
awake to all the influences about him, and so entirely bent on living
his life, his 'Memoirs' are perennially fresh and attractive. They
are the plain unvarnished annals of a career extraordinary even in
that age of uncommon experiences; they were written, as he says,
because "all men of whatever quality they be, who have done any-
thing of excellence, or which may properly resemble excellence,
ought, if they are persons of truth and honesty, to describe their life
with their own hand; but they ought not to attempt so fine an enter-
prise till they have passed the age of forty. "
Cellini was past fifty-eight when he began writing, and going back
to his earliest boyhood, he set down the facts of his long career as
he remembered them. Of course he is the hero who recounts his
own story, and like all heroes of romance he plays the leading part,
is always in the right, and comes out handsomely in the end. Carp-
ing critics who tax him with lack of truth in dealing with his
enemies, and with pleading his own cause too well, are apt to forget
that he wrote long after the events were past, and that to an ever-
active imagination ruminating over bygone happenings, facts become
unconsciously colored to assume the hue the mind wishes them to
have. Yet the fidelity and accuracy of his memory are remarkable,
and his faculty for seeing, combined with his dramatic way of putting


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BENVENUTO CELLINI
3375
things most vividly, flashes before our eyes the scenes he recounts.
He does not describe much; he indicates a characteristic feature,
habit, or attitude; as for example, in referring to a man he disliked,
as having "long spidery hands and a shrill gnat-like voice" - all
that is needed to make us see the man from Cellini's point of view.
Again, he adds much to the vivacity of the narrative by reporting
conversation as a dialogue, even if he has it himself at second-hand.
So in his trenchant, nervous manner this keen observer, while aiming
to recount only the facts of his own life and to set himself on a
becoming pedestal in the eyes of posterity, gives us at the same time
flash-lights of the whole period in which he played a part. Popes
Clement VII. and Paul III. , Cosimo de' Medici and his Duchess, the
King of France and Madame d' Estampes, cardinals, nobles, princes,
and courtiers, artists of every description, burghers and the common
folk, — all with whom he came in contact,- are brought before us in a
living pageant. Looking back over his checkered career, he lives his
intense life over again, and because he himself saw so vividly at the
time, he makes us see now. We have here invaluable pictures, by
an eye-witness and actor, of the sack of Rome, the plague and siege
of Florence, the pomp of Charles V. at Rome. He withdraws the
curtains from the Papal policies and court intrigues, not with a
view to writing history, but because he happened to have some rela-
tions with those princes and wished to tell us about them. Again,
he was no critic of the manners of his time, yet he presents most
faithful pictures of artist life in Rome, Paris, and Florence.
He was
not given to introspection and self-criticism, but he describes himself
as well as others, not by analysis but by deeds and words. He had
no literary training; he wrote as he talked, and gained his effect by
simplicity.
-
He was recognized as the first goldsmith of his time; yet as a
man also his contemporaries speak well of him, for he embodied the
virtues of his age, while his morals did not fall below the average
code of the Renaissance. Vasari says:-"He always showed himself
a man of great spirit and veracity; bold, active, enterprising, and
formidable to his enemies; a man, in short, who knew as well how
to speak with princes as to exert himself in his art. "
J. A. Symonds, that inspiring student of the Italian Renaissance,
sums up his impressions of the book and the man as follows:
"I am confident that every one who may have curiously studied Italian
history and letters will pronounce this book to be at one and the same time
the most perfect extant monument of vernacular Tuscan prose, and also the
most complete and lively source of information we possess regarding man-
ners, customs, ways of feeling, and modes of acting, in the Court. Those who
have made themselves thoroughly familiar with Cellini's Memoirs possess the


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3376
BENVENUTO CELLINI
substance of that many-sided epoch in the form of an epitome. It is the first
book which a student of the Italian Renaissance should handle in order to
obtain the right direction for his more minute researches. It is the last book
to which he should return at the close of his exploratory voyages. At the
commencement he will find it invaluable for placing him at the exactly proper
point of view. At the end he will find it no less invaluable for testing and
verifying the conclusion he has drawn from various sources and a wide cir-
cumference of learning. From the pages of this book the genius of the
Renaissance, incarnate in a single personality, leans forth and speaks to us.
Nowhere else, to my mind, do we find the full character of the epoch so
authentically stamped. That is because this is no work of art or of reflection,
but the plain utterance of a man who lived the whole life of his age, who felt
its thirst for glory, who shared its adoration of the beautiful, who blent its
paganism and its superstition, who represented its two main aspects of exqui-
site sensibility to form and almost brutal ruffianism. We must not expect
from Cellini the finest, highest, purest accents of the Renaissance.
For students of that age he is at once more and less than his contemporaries:
less, inasmuch as he distinguished himself by no stupendous intellectual qual-
ities; more, inasmuch as he occupied a larger sphere than each of them
singly. He was the first goldsmith of his time, an adequate sculptor, a rest-
less traveler, an indefatigable workman, a Bohemian of the purest water, a
turbulent bravo, a courtier and companion of princes; finally, a Florentine
who used his native idiom with incomparable vivacity of style. "
THE ESCAPE FROM PRISON
From the 'Memoirs': Symonds's Translation
THE
HE castellan was subject to a certain sickness, which came
upon him every year and deprived him of his wits. The
sign of its approach was that he kept continually talking,
or rather jabbering, to no purpose. These humors took a dif-
ferent shape each year; one time he thought he was an oil-jar;
another time he thought he was a frog, and hopped about as
frogs do; another time he thought he was dead, and then they
had to bury him; not a year passed but he got some such hypo-
chondriac notions into his head. At this season he imagined
that he was a bat, and when he went abroad to take the air he
used to scream like bats in a high thin tone; and then he would
flap his hands and body as though he were about to fly. The
doctors, when they saw the fit was coming on him, and his old
servants, gave him all the distractions they could think of; and
since they had noticed that he derived much pleasure from my
conversation, they were always fetching me to keep him com-
pany. At times the poor man detained me for four or five


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BENVENUTO CELLINI
3377
stricken hours without ever letting me cease talking. He used
to keep me at his table, eating opposite to him, and never
stopped chatting and making me chat; but during those dis-
courses I contrived to make a good meal. He, poor man, could
neither eat nor sleep; so that at last he wore me out. I was at
the end of my strength; and sometimes when I looked at him,
I noticed that his eyeballs were rolling in a frightful manner,
one looking one way and the other in another.
He took it into his head to ask me whether I had ever had
a fancy to fly. I answered that it had always been my ambi-
tion to do those things which offer the greatest difficulties to
men, and that I had done them; as to flying, the God of Nature
had gifted me with a body well suited for running and leaping
far beyond the common average, and that with the talents I
possessed for manual art I felt sure I had the courage to try
flying. He then inquired what methods I should use; to which
I answered that, taking into consideration all flying creatures,
and wishing to imitate by art what they derived from nature,
none was so apt a model as the bat.
No sooner had the poor man heard the name bat, which
recalled the humor he was suffering under, than he cried out at
the top of his voice:-" He says true. - he says true; the bat's
the thing - the bat's the thing! " Then he turned to me and
said, "Benvenuto, if one gave you the opportunity, should you
have the heart to fly? " I said that if he would set me at
liberty, I felt quite up to flying down to Prato, after making
myself a pair of wings out of waxed linen. Thereupon he
replied: "I too should be prepared to take flight; but since the
Pope has bidden me guard you as though you were his own
eyes, and I know you a clever devil who would certainly escape,
I shall now have you locked up with a hundred keys in order
to prevent you slipping through my fingers. " I then began to
implore him, and remind him that I might have fled, but that
on account of the word which I had given him I would never
have betrayed his trust; therefore I begged him for the love of
God, and by the kindness he had always shown me, not to add
greater evils to the misery of my present situation. While I
was pouring out these entreaties, he gave strict orders to have
me bound and taken and locked up in prison. On seeing that
it could not be helped, I told him before all his servants: "Lock
me well up, and keep good watch on me; for I shall certainly
VI-212


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3378
BENVENUTO CELLINI
contrive to escape. " So they took me and confined me with the
utmost care. I then began to deliberate upon the best way of
making my escape. No sooner had I been locked in, than I
went about exploring my prison; and when I thought I had dis-
covered how to get out of it, I pondered the means of descend-
ing from the lofty keep, for so the great round central tower is
called. I took those new sheets of mine, which, as I have said
already, I had cut in strips and sewn together; then I reckoned
up the quantity which would be sufficient for my purpose.
Having made this estimate and put all things in order, I took
out a pair of pincers which I had abstracted from a Savoyard
belonging to the guard of the castle. This man superintended
the casks and cisterns; he also amused himself with carpenter-
ing. Now he possessed several pairs of pincers, among which
was one both big and heavy. I then, thinking it would suit my
purpose, took it and hid it in my straw mattress. The time had
now come for me to use it; so I began to try the nails which
kept the hinges of my door in place. The door was double, and
the clinching of the nails could not be seen; so that when I at-
tempted to draw one out, I met with the greatest trouble; in
the end however I succeeded. When I had drawn the first nail,
I bethought me how to prevent its being noticed. For this pur-
pose I mixed some rust, which I had scraped from old iron,
with a little wax, obtaining exactly the same color as the heads
of the long nails which I had extracted. Then I set myself to
counterfeit these heads and place them on the holdfasts; for each
nail I extracted I made counterfeit in wax. I left the hinges
attached to their door-posts at top and bottom by means of some
of the same nails that I had drawn; but I took care to cut these
and replace them lightly, so that they only just supported the
irons of the hinges.
All this I performed with the greatest difficulty, because the
castellan kept dreaming every night that I had escaped, which
made him send from time to time to inspect my prison. The
man who came had the title and behavior of a catchpoll. He
was called Bozza, a serving-man. Giovanni never entered my
prison without saying something offensive to me. He came from
the district of Prato, and had been an apothecary in the town
there. Every evening he minutely examined the holdfasts of the
hinges and the whole chamber, and I used to say: "Keep a
good watch over me, for I am resolved by all means to escape. "


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BENVENUTO CELLINI
3379
These words bred a great enmity between him and me, so
that I was obliged to use precautions to conceal my tools; that
is to say, my pincers and a great big poniard and other appur-
tenances. All these I put away together in my mattress, where I
also kept the strips of linen I had made. When day broke,
I used immediately to sweep my room out; and though I am by
nature a lover of cleanliness, at that time I kept myself unusually
spick and span. After sweeping up, I made my bed as daintily
as I could, laying flowers upon it, which a Savoyard used to
bring me nearly every morning. He had the care of the cistern
and the casks, and also amused himself with carpentering; it was
from him I stole the pincers which I used in order to draw out
the nails from the holdfasts of the hinges.
Well, to return to the subject of my bed; when Bozza and
Pedignone came, I always told them to give it a wide berth, so
as not to dirty and spoil it for me. Now and then, just to irri-
tate me, they would touch it lightly, upon which I cried: "Ah,
dirty cowards! I'll lay my hand on one of your swords there,
and will do you a mischief that will make you wonder.
Do you
think you are fit to touch the bed of a man like me? When I
chastise you I shall not heed my own life, for I am certain to
take yours.
Let me alone then with my troubles and my tribu-
lations, and don't give me more annoyance than I have already;
if not, I shall make you see what a desperate man is able to
do. " These words they reported to the castellan, who gave them
express orders never to go near my bed, and when they came to
me, to come without swords; but for the rest to keep a watchful
guard upon me.
Having thus secured my bed from meddlers, I felt as though
the main point was gained; for there lay all things useful to my
venture. It happened on the evening of a certain feast-day that
the castellan was seriously indisposed; his humors grew extrava-
gant; he kept repeating that he was a bat, and if they heard
that Benvenuto had flown away, they must let him go to catch
me up, since he could fly by night most certainly "as well or
better than myself"; for it was thus he argued:-"Benvenuto is
a counterfeit bat, but I am a real one; and since he is committed
to my care, leave me to act; I shall be sure to catch him. " He
had passed several nights in this frenzy, and had worn out all
his servants; whereof I received full information through divers
channels, but especially from the Savoyard, who was my friend at
heart.


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BENVENUTO CELLINI
On the evening of that feast-day, then, I made up my mind
to escape, come what might; and first I prayed most devoutly to
God, imploring his Divine Majesty to protect and succor me in
that so perilous a venture. Afterwards I set to work at all the
things I needed, and labored the whole of the night. It was two
hours before daybreak when at last I removed those hinges with
the greatest toil; but the wooden panel itself, and the bolt too,
offered such resistance that I could not open the door; so I had
to cut into the wood; yet in the end I got it open, and shoulder-
ing the strips of linen which I had rolled up like bundles of flax
upon two sticks, I went forth and directed my steps toward the
latrines of the keep. Spying from within two tiles upon the
roof, I was able at once to clamber up with ease. I wore a
white doublet with a pair of white hose and a pair of half-boots,
into which I had stuck the poniard I have mentioned.
After scaling the roof, I took one end of my linen roll and
attached it to a piece of antique tile which was built into the
fortress wall; it happened to jut out scarcely four fingers. In
order to fix the band, I gave it the form of a stirrup. When I
had attached it to that piece of tile, I turned to God and said:
"Lord God, give aid to my good cause; you know that it is
good; you see that I am aiding myself. " Then I let myself go
gently by degrees, supporting myself with the sinews of my
arms, until I touched the ground. There was no moonshine, but
the light of a fair open heaven. When I stood upon my feet on
solid earth, I looked up at the vast height which I had descended
with such spirit; and went gladly away, thinking I was free. But
this was not the case; for the castellan on the side of the fortress
had built two lofty walls, the space between which he used for
stable and hen-yard; the place was barred with thick iron bolts
outside. I was terribly disgusted to find there was no exit from
this trap; but while I paced up and down debating what to
do, I stumbled on a long pole which was covered up with
straw. Not without great trouble, I succeeded in placing it
against the wall, and then swarmed up it by the force of my
arms until I reached the top. But since the wall ended in a
sharp ridge, I had not strength enough to drag the pole up
after me. Accordingly I made my mind up to use a portion of
the second roll of linen which I had there; the other was left
hanging from the keep of the castle. So I cut a piece off, tied
it to the pole, and clambered down the wall, enduring the
utmost toil and fatigue. I was quite exhausted, and moreover


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BENVENUTO CELLINI
3381
had flayed the inside of my hands, which bled freely. This
compelled me to rest awhile, and I bathed my hands in my own
urine.
When I thought that my strength was recovered, I advanced
quickly toward the last rampart, which faces toward Prato.
There I put my bundle of linen lines down upon the ground,
meaning to fasten them round a battlement, and descend the
lesser as I had the greater height. But no sooner had I placed
the linen than I became aware behind me of a sentinel, who
was going the rounds. Seeing my designs interrupted and my
life in peril, I resolved to face the guard. This fellow, when he
noticed my bold front, and that I was marching on him with
weapon in hand, quickened his pace and gave me a wide berth.
I had left my lines some little way behind, so I turned with
hasty steps to regain them; and though I came within sight of
another sentinel, he seemed as though he did not choose to take
notice of me. Having found my lines and attached them to the
battlement, I let myself go. On the descent, whether it was
that I thought I had really come to earth and relaxed my grasp
to jump, or whether my hands were so tired that they could not
keep their hold, at any rate I fell, struck my head in falling,
and lay stunned for more than an hour and a half, so far as I
could judge.
·
It was just upon daybreak, when the fresh breeze which
blows an hour before the sun revived me; yet I did not imme-
diately recover my senses, for I thought my head had been cut
off, and fancied that I was in purgatory. With time, little by
little my faculties returned, and I perceived that I was outside
the castle, and in a flash remembered all my adventures. I was
aware of the wound in my head before I knew my leg was
broken; for I put my hands up and withdrew them covered
with blood. Then I searched the spot well, and judged and
ascertained that I had sustained no injury of consequence there;
but when I wanted to stand up, I discovered that my right leg
was broken three inches above the heel. Not even this dismayed
me: I drew forth my poniard with its scabbard; the latter had
a metal point ending in a large ball, which had caused the
fracture of my leg; for the bone coming into violent contact
with the ball, and not being able to bend, had snapped at that
point. I threw the sheath away, and with the poniard cut a
piece of the linen which I had left. Then I bound my leg up


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3382
BENVENUTO CELLINI
as well as I could, and crawled on all fours with the poniard in
my hand toward the city gate. When I reached it, I found it
shut; but I noticed a stone just beneath the door which did not
appear to be very firmly fixed. This I attempted to dislodge;
after setting my hands to it, and feeling it move, it easily gave
way, and I drew it out. Through the gap thus made I crept
into the town.
THE CASTING OF PERSEUS
From the Memoirs: Symonds's Translation
A
BANDONED thus to my own resources, I took new courage and
banished the sad thoughts which kept recurring to my
mind, making me often weep bitter tears of repentance for
having left France; for though I did so only to revisit Florence,
my sweet birthplace, in order that I might charitably succor my
six nieces, this good action, as I well perceived, had been the
beginning of my great misfortune.
Nevertheless I felt convinced.
that when my Perseus was accomplished, all these trials would be
turned to high felicity and glorious well-being.
Accordingly I strengthened my heart, and with all the forces
of my body and my purse, employing what little money still
remained to me, I set to work. First I provided myself with
several loads of pine-wood from the forests of Serristori, in the
neighborhood of Montelupo. While these were on their way, I
clothed my Perseus with the clay which I had prepared many
months beforehand, in order that it might be duly seasoned.
After making its clay tunic (for that is the term used in this
art) and properly arming it and fencing it with iron girders, I
began to draw the wax out by means of a slow fire. This
melted and issued through numerous air-vents I had made; for
the more there are of these the better will the mold fill. When
I had finished drawing off the wax, I constructed a funnel-
shaped furnace all round the model of my Perseus. It was built
of bricks, so interlaced, the one above the other, that numerous
apertures were left for the fire to exhale it. Then I began to
lay on wood by degrees, and kept it burning two whole days
and nights.
At length when all the wax was gone and the mold was
well baked, I set to work at digging the pit in which to sink it.


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BENVENUTO CELLINI
3383
This I performed with scrupulous regard to all the rules of art.
When I had finished that part of my work, I raised the mold
by windlasses and stout ropes to a perpendicular position, and
suspending it with the greatest care one cubit above the level of
the furnace, so that it hung exactly above the middle of the pit,
I next lowered it gently down into the very bottom of the
furnace, and had it firmly placed with every possible precaution
for its safety. When this delicate operation was accomplished, I
began to bank it up with the earth I had excavated; and ever
as the earth grew higher I introduced its proper air-vents, which
were little tubes of earthenware, such as folks use for drains
and suchlike purposes. At length I felt sure that it was admi-
rably fixed, and that the filling in of the pit and the placing of
the air-vents had been properly performed. I also could see that
my workpeople understood my method, which differed very con-
siderably from that of all the other masters in the trade. Feel-
ing confident then that I could rely upon them, I next turned
to my furnace, which I had filled with numerous pigs of copper
and other bronze stuff. The pieces were piled according to the
laws of art; that is to say, so resting one upon the other that
the flames could play freely through them, in order that the
metal might heat and liquefy the sooner.
At last I called out heartily to set the furnace going. The
logs of pine were heaped in, and what with the unctuous resin
of the wood and the good draught I had given, my furnace
worked so well that I was obliged to rush from side to side to
keep it going. The labor was more than I could stand; yet I
forced myself to strain every nerve and muscle. To increase my
anxieties, the workshop took fire, and we were afraid lest the
roofs should fall upon our heads; while from the garden such a
storm of wind and rain kept blowing in that it perceptibly cooled
the furnace.
Battling thus with all these untoward circumstances for several
hours, and exerting myself beyond even the measure of my
powerful constitution, I could at last bear up no longer, and a
sudden fever of the utmost possible intensity attacked me. I
felt absolutely obliged to go and fling myself upon my bed.
Sorely against my will, having to drag myself away from the
spot, I turned to my assistants,-- about ten or more in all, what
with master-founders, hand-workers, country fellows, and my own
special journeymen; among whom was Bernandino Mannellini of


## p. 3384 (#358) ###########################################

3384
BENVENUTO CELLINI
Mugello, my apprentice through several years. To him in partic-
ular I spoke:-"Look, my dear Bernandino, that you observe the
rules which I have taught you; do your best with all dispatch,
for the metal will soon be fused. You cannot go wrong; these
honest men will get the channels ready; you will easily be able
to drive back the two plugs with this pair of iron crooks; and I
am sure that my mold will fill miraculously. I feel more ill than I
ever did in all my life, and verily believe it will kill me before
a few hours are over. " Thus with despair at heart I left them
and betook myself to bed.
No sooner had I got to bed than I ordered my serving-maids
to carry food and wine for all the men into the workshop; at
the same time I cried, "I shall not be alive to-morrow. " They
tried to encourage me, arguing that my illness would pass over,
since it came from excessive fatigue. In this way I spent two
hours battling with the fever, which steadily increased, and call-
ing out continually, "I feel that I am dying. " My house-
keeper, who was named Mona Fiore da Castel del Rio, a very
notable manager and no less warm-hearted, kept chiding me for
my discouragement; but on the other hand, she paid me every
kind attention which was possible. However, the sight of my
physical pain and moral dejection so affected her that in spite of
that brave heart of hers, she could not refrain from shedding
tears; and yet, so far as she was able, she took care I should
not see them.
While I was thus terribly afflicted, I beheld the figure of a
man enter my chamber, twisted in his body into the form of a
capital S. He raised a lamentable, doleful voice, like one who
announces their last hour to men condemned to die upon the
scaffold, and spoke these words: "O Benvenuto! your statue
is spoiled, and there is no hope whatever of saving it. " No
sooner had I heard the shriek of that wretch than I gave a
howl which might have been heard from the sphere of flame.
Jumping from my bed, I seized my clothes and began to dress.
The maids, and my lad, and every one who came around to help
me, got kicks or blows of the fist, while I kept crying out in
lamentation, "Ah! traitors! enviers! This is an act of treason,
done by malice prepense! But I swear by God that I will sift
it to the bottom, and before I die will leave such witness to
the world of what I can do as shall make a score of mortals
marvel. "


## p. 3385 (#359) ###########################################

BENVENUTO CELLINI
3385
When I had got my clothes on, I strode with soul bent on
mischief toward the workshop; there I beheld the men whom I
had left erewhile in such high spirits, standing stupefied and
downcast. I began at once and spoke:-"Up with you! Attend
to me! Since you have not been able or willing to obey the
directions I gave you, obey me now that I am with you to con-
duct my work in person. Let no one contradict me, for in cases
like this we need the aid of hand and hearing, not of advice. "
When I had uttered these words, a certain Maestro Alessandro
Lastricati broke silence and said, "Look you, Benvenuto, you are
going to attempt an enterprise which the laws of art do not
sanction, and which cannot succeed. "
I turned upon him with such fury and so full of mischief,
that he and all the rest of them exclaimed with one voice, "On
then! Give orders! We will obey your last commands, so long
as life is left in us. " I believe they spoke thus feelingly be-
cause they thought I must fall shortly dead upon the ground. I
went immediately to inspect the furnace, and found that the
metal was all curdled; an accident which we express by "being
caked. " I told two of the hands to cross the road, and fetch
from the house of the butcher Capretta a load of young oak-
wood, which had lain dry for above a year; this wood had been
previously offered me by Madame Ginevra, wife of the said Ca
pretta.
So soon as the first armfuls arrived, I began to fill the
grate beneath the furnace. Now oak-wood of that kind heats
more powerfully than any other sort of tree; and for this rea-
son, where a slow fire is wanted, as in the case of gun-foundry,
alder or pine is preferred. Accordingly, when the logs took
fire, oh! how the cake began to stir beneath that awful heat, to
glow and sparkle in a blaze! At the same time I kept stirring
up the channels, and sent men upon the roof to stop the con-
flagration, which had gathered force from the increased combus-
tion in the furnace; also I caused boards, carpets, and other
hangings to be set up against the garden, in order to protect us
from the violence of the rain.
When I had thus provided against these several disasters, I
roared out first to one man and then to another, "Bring this
thing here! Take that thing there! " At this crisis, when the
whole gang saw the cake was on the point of melting, they did
my bidding, each fellow working with the strength of three. I
then ordered half a pig of pewter to be brought, which weighed


## p. 3386 (#360) ###########################################

3386
BENVENUTO CELLINI
about sixty pounds, and flung it into the middle of the cake
inside the furnace. By this means, and by piling on wood and
stirring now with pokers and now with iron rods, the curdled
mass rapidly began to liquefy. Then, knowing I had brought
the dead to life again, against the firm opinion of those igno-
ramuses, I felt such vigor fill my veins that all those pains of
fever, all those fears of death, were quite forgotten.
All of a sudden an explosion took place, attended by a tre-
mendous flash of flame, as though a thunderbolt had formed
and been discharged among us. Unwonted and appalling terror
astonied every one, and me more even than the rest. When the
din was over and the dazzling light extinguished, we began to
look each other in the face. Then I discovered that the cap
of the furnace had blown up, and the bronze was bubbling
over from its source beneath. So I had the mouths of my mold
immediately opened, and at the same time drove in the two
plugs which kept back the molten metal. But I noticed that it
did not flow as rapidly as usual, the reason being probably that
the fierce heat of the fire we kindled had consumed its base
alloy. Accordingly I sent for all my pewter platters, porringers,
and dishes, to the number of some two hundred pieces, and had
a portion of them cast, one by one, into the channels, the rest
into the furnace. This expedient succeeded, and every one could
now perceive that my bronze was in most perfect liquefac-
tion, and my mold was filling; whereupon they all with hearti-
ness and happy cheer assisted and obeyed my bidding, while I,
now here, now there, gave orders, helped with my own hands,
and cried aloud, "O God! thou that by thy immeasurable power
didst rise from the dead, and in thy glory didst ascend to
heaven! "
Even thus in a moment my mold was filled;
and seeing my work finished, I fell upon my knees, and with all
my heart gave thanks to God.
After all was over, I turned to a plate of salad on a bench
there, and ate with hearty appetite, and drank together with the
whole crew.
Afterwards I retired to bed, healthy and happy, for it was
now two hours before morning, and slept as sweetly as though I
had never felt a touch of illness. My good housekeeper, without
my giving any orders, had prepared a fat capon for my repast.
So that when I rose, about the hour for breaking fast, she pre-
sented herself with a smiling countenance and said, "Oh, is that


## p. 3387 (#361) ###########################################

BENVENUTO CELLINI
3387
the man who felt that he was dying? Upon my word, I think
the blows and kicks you dealt us last night, when you were
so enraged, and had that demon in your body as it seemed, must
have frightened away your mortal fever! The fever feared that
it might catch it too, as we did! » All my poor household,
relieved in like measure from anxiety and overwhelming labor,
went at once to buy earthen vessels in order to replace the
pewter I had cast away. Then we dined together joyfully; nay,
I cannot remember a day in my whole life when I dined with
greater gladness or a better appetite.
After our meal I received visits from the several men who
had assisted me. They exchanged congratulations and thanked
God for our success, saying they had learned and seen things
done which other masters judged impossible. I too grew some-
what glorious; and deeming I had shown myself a man of tal-
ent, indulged a boastful humor. So I thrust my hand into my
purse and paid them all to their full satisfaction.
That evil fellow, my mortal foe, Messer Pier Francesco Ricci,
major-domo of the Duke, took great pains to find out how the
affair had gone. In answer to his questions, the two men whom
I suspected of having caked my metal for me said I was no
man, but of a certainty some powerful devil, since I had accom-
plished what no craft of the art could do; indeed, they did not
believe a mere ordinary fiend could work such miracles as I in
other ways had shown. They exaggerated the whole affair so
much, possibly in order to excuse their own part in it, that the.
major-domo wrote an account to the Duke, who was then in
Pisa, far more marvelous and full of thrilling incidents than
what they had narrated.
After I had let my statue cool for two whole days, I began
to uncover it by slow degrees. The first thing I found was that
the head of Medusa had come out most admirably, thanks to the
air-vents; for as I had told the Duke, it is the nature of fire to
ascend. Upon advancing farther, I discovered that the other
head, that, namely, of Perseus, had succeeded no less admirably;
and this astonished me far more, because it is at a considerably
lower level than that of the Medusa. Now the mouths of the
mold were placed above the head of Perseus and behind his
shoulders; and I found that all the bronze my furnace contained
had been exhausted in the head of this figure. It was a miracle
to observe that not one fragment remained in the orifice of the


## p. 3388 (#362) ###########################################

3388
BENVENUTO CELLINI
In my
channel, and that nothing was wanting to the statue.
great astonishment I seemed to see in this the hand of God
arranging and controlling all.
I went on uncovering the statue with success, and ascertained
that everything had come out in perfect order, until I reached
the foot of the right leg on which the statue rests. There the
heel itself was formed, and going further, I found the foot
apparently complete. This gave me great joy on the one side,
but was half unwelcome to me on the other, merely because I
had told the Duke that it could not come out. However, when
I reached the end, it appeared that the toes and a little piece
above them were unfinished, so that about half the foot was
wanting. Although I knew that this would add a trifle to my
labor, I was very well pleased, because I could now prove to
the Duke how well I understood my business. It is true that
far more of the foot than I expected had been perfectly formed;
the reason of this was that, from causes I have recently de-
scribed, the bronze was hotter than our rules of art prescribe;
also that I had been obliged to supplement the alloy with my
pewter cups and platters, which no one else, I think, had ever
done before.
Having now ascertained how successfully my work had been
accomplished, I lost no time in hurrying to Pisa, where I found
the Duke. He gave me a most gracious reception, as did also
the Duchess; and although the major-domo had informed them
of the whole proceedings, their Excellencies deemed my perform-
ance far more stupendous and astonishing when they heard the
tale from my own mouth. When I arrived at the foot of Per-
seus, and said it had not come out perfect, just as I previously
warned his Excellency, I saw an expression of wonder pass over
his face, while he related to the Duchess how I had predicted
this beforehand.
Observing the Princess to be so well disposed towards me, I
begged leave from the Duke to go to Rome. He granted it in
most obliging terms, and bade me return as soon as possible to
complete his Perseus; giving me letters of recommendation mean-
while to his ambassador, Averardo Serristori. We were then
in the first years of Pope Giulio de Monti.


## p. 3389 (#363) ###########################################

BENVENUTO CELLINI
3389
A NECKLACE OF PEARLS
From the 'Memoirs': Symonds's Translation
-
I
MUST beg your attention now, most gracious reader, for a very
terrible event which happened.
I used the utmost diligence and industry to complete my
statue, and went to spend my evenings in the Duke's wardrobe,
assisting there the goldsmiths who were working for his Excel-
lency. Indeed, they labored mainly on designs which I had
given them. Noticing that the Duke took pleasure in seeing me
at work and talking with me, I took it into my head to go there
sometimes also by day. It happened upon one of those days
that his Excellency came as usual to the room where I was
occupied, and more particularly because he heard of my arrival.
His Excellency entered at once into conversation, raising several
interesting topics, upon which I gave my views so much to his
entertainment that he showed more cheerfulness than I had ever
seen in him before. All of a sudden one of his secretaries
appeared, and whispered something of importance in his ear;
whereupon the Duke rose, and retired with the official into
another chamber.
Now the Duchess had sent to see what his Excellency was
doing, and her page brought back this answer: "The Duke is
talking and laughing with Benvenuto, and is in excellent good
humor. " When the Duchess heard this, she came immediately
to the wardrobe, and not finding the Duke there, took a seat
beside us. After watching us at work a while, she turned to me
with the utmost graciousness, and showed me a necklace of large
and really very fine pearls. On being asked by her what I
thought of them, I said it was in truth a very handsome orna-
ment. Then she spoke as follows: "I should like the Duke to
buy them for me; so I beg you, my dear Benvenuto, to praise
them to him as highly as you can. ” At these words, I disclosed
my mind to the Duchess with all the respect I could, and
answered: "My lady, I thought this necklace of pearls be-
longed already to your illustrious Excellency. Now that I am
aware you have not yet acquired them, it is right, nay more, it
is my duty, to utter what I might otherwise have refrained from
saying; namely, that my mature professional experience enables
me to detect very grave faults in the pearls, and for this reason
I could never advise your Excellency to purchase them. "


## p. 3390 (#364) ###########################################

3390
BENVENUTO CELLINI
She replied: "The merchant offers them for six thousand
crowns; and were it not for some of those trifling defects you
speak of, the rope would be worth over twelve thousand. "
―――
To this I replied that, even were the necklace of quite flaw.
less quality, I could not advise any one to bid up to five thousand
crowns for it: for pearls are not gems; pearls are but fishes'
bones, which in the course of time must lose their freshness.
Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, on the contrary,
never grow old; these four are precious stones, and these it is
right to purchase. When I had thus spoken, the Duchess
showed some signs of irritation, and exclaimed, "I have a mind
to possess these pearls; so prithee, take them to the Duke and
praise them up to the skies; even if you have to use some words
beyond the bounds of truth, speak them to do me service; it
will be well for you! "
I have always been the greatest friend of truth and foe of
lies; yet compelled by necessity, unwilling to lose the favor of
so great a princess, I took those confounded pearls sorely against
my inclination, and went with them over to the other room,
whither the Duke had withdrawn. No sooner did he set eyes
upon me than he cried, "O Benvenuto, what are you about
here? " I uncovered the pearls and said, "My lord, I am come
to show you a most splendid necklace of pearls, of the rarest
quality, and truly worthy of your Excellency; I do not believe
it would be possible to put together eighty pearls which could
show better than these do in a necklace. My counsel therefore
is that you should buy them, for they are in good sooth miracu-
lous. " He responded on the instant, "I do not choose to buy
them; they are not pearls of the quality and goodness you
affirm; I have seen the necklace, and they do not please me. "
Then I added, "Pardon me, Prince! These pearls exceed in
rarity and beauty any which were ever brought together for a
necklace. " The Duchess had risen, and was standing behind a
door listening to all I said. Well, when I had praised the pearls
a thousandfold more warmly than I have described above, the
Duke turned toward me with a kindly look, and said, “O my
dear Benvenuto, I know that you have an excellent judgment
in all these matters. If the pearls are as rare as you certify, I
should not hesitate about their purchase; partly to gratify the
Duchess and partly to possess them, seeing I have always need
of such things, not so much for her Grace as for the various


## p. 3391 (#365) ###########################################

BENVENUTO CELLINI
3391
uses of my sons and daughters. " When I heard him speak thus,
having once begun to tell fibs, I stuck to them with even greater
boldness; I gave all the color of truth I could to my lies, con-
fiding in the promise of the Duchess to help me at the time of
need. More than two hundred crowns were to be my commis-
sion on the bargain, and the Duchess had intimated that I
should receive so much; but I was firmly resolved not to touch
a farthing, in order to secure my credit, and convince the Duke
I was not prompted by avarice. Once more his Excellency
began to address me with the greatest courtesy: "I know that
you are a consummate judge of these things; therefore, if you
are the honest man I always thought you, tell me now the
truth. " Thereat I flushed up to my eyes, which at the same
time filled with tears, and said to him, "My lord, if I tell your
most illustrious Excellency the truth, I shall make a mortal foe
of the Duchess; this will oblige me to depart from Florence,
and my enemies will begin at once to pour contempt upon my
Perseus, which I have announced as a masterpiece to the most
noble school of your illustrious Excellency. Such being the case,
I recommend myself to your most illustrious Excellency. "
The Duke was now aware that all my previous speeches had
been, as it were, forced out of me. So he rejoined, "If you
have confidence in me, you need not stand in fear of anything
whatever. " I recommenced, "Alas! my lord, what can prevent
this coming to the ears of the Duchess? » The Duke lifted his
hand in sign of troth-pledge and exclaimed, "Be assured that
what you say will be buried in a diamond casket. " To this
engagement upon honor I replied by telling the truth according
to my judgment, namely, that the pearls were not worth above
two thousand crowns. The Duchess, thinking we had stopped
talking, for we now were speaking in as low a voice as possible,
came forward and began as follows:-"My lord, do me the
favor to purchase this necklace, because I have set my heart on
them, and your Benvenuto here has said he never saw a finer
row of pearls. " The Duke replied, "I do not choose to buy
them. " "Why, my lord, will not your Excellency gratify me by
buying them? "-"Because I do not care to throw my money
out of the window. " The Duchess recommenced, "What do
you mean by throwing your money away, when Benvenuto, in
whom you place such well-merited confidence, has told me that
they would be cheap at over three thousand crowns? " Then the
―――――


## p. 3392 (#366) ###########################################

BENVENUTO CELLINI
3392
Duke said, "My lady! my Benvenuto here has told me that if I
purchase this necklace I shall be throwing my money away,
inasmuch as the pearls are neither round nor well-matched, and
some of them are quite faded. To prove that this is so, look
here! look there! consider this one and then that. The necklace
is not the sort of thing for me. " At these words the Duchess
cast a glance of bitter spite at me, and retired with a threatening
nod of her head in my direction. I felt tempted to pack off at
once and bid farewell to Italy. Yet my Perseus being all but
finished, I did not like to leave without exposing it to public
view. But I ask every one to consider in what a grievous plight
I found myself!
HOW BENVENUTO LOST HIS BROTHER
From the Memoirs: Symonds's Translation
Μ'
Y BROTHER at this period was also in Rome, serving Duke
Alessandro, on whom the Pope had recently conferred the
duchy of Penna. This prince kept in his service a multi-
tude of soldiers, worthy fellows, brought up to valor in the school
of that famous general Giovanni de' Medici; and among these
was my brother, whom the Duke esteemed as highly as the
bravest of them. One day my brother went after dinner to the
shop of a man called Baccino della Croce, in the Banchi, which
all those men-at-arms frequented. He had flung himself upon
a settee and was sleeping. Just then the guard of the Bargello
passed by; they were taking to prison a certain Captain Cisti, a
Lombard, who had also been a member of Giovanni's troop, but
was not in the service of the Duke. The captain, Cattivanza
degli Strozzi, chanced to be in the same shop; and when Cisti
caught sight of him he whispered, "I was bringing you those
crowns I owed; if you want them, come for them before they go
with me to prison. " Now Cattivanza had a way of putting his
neighbors to the push, not caring to hazard his own person. So,
finding there around him several young fellows of the highest
daring, more eager than apt for so serious an enterprise, he bade
them catch up Captain Cisti and get the money from him, and
if the guard resisted, overpower the men, provided they had pluck
enough to do so.


## p. 3393 (#367) ###########################################

BENVENUTO CELLINI
3393
The young men were but four, and all four of them without
a beard. The first was called Bertino Aldobrandi, another
Anguillotto of Lucca; I cannot recall the names of the rest.
Bertino had been trained like a pupil by my brother, and my
brother felt the most unbounded love for him. So then off
dashed the four brave lads and came up with the guard of the
Bargello,- upwards of fifty constables, counting pikes, arquebuses,
and two-handed swords. After a few words they drew their
weapons, and the four boys so harried the guard that if Captain
Cattivanza had but shown his face, without so much as drawing,
they would certainly have put the whole pack to flight. But
delay spoiled all: for Bertino received some ugly wounds and
fell; at the same time Anguillotto was also hit in the right arm,
and being unable to use his sword, got out of the fray as well
as he was able. The others did the same. Bertino Aldobrandi
was lifted from the ground seriously injured.
While these things were happening we were all at table; for
that morning we had dined more than an hour later than usual.
On hearing the commotion one of the old man's sons, the elder,
rose from table to go and look at the scuffle. He was called
Giovanni; and I said to him, "For Heaven's sake, don't go!
In such matters one is always certain to lose, while there is
nothing to be gained. " His father spoke to like purpose, "Pray,
my son, don't go! " But the lad, without heeding any one, ran
down the stairs. Reaching the Banchi, where the great scrim-
mage was, and seeing Bertino lifted from the ground, he ran
towards home, and met my brother Cecchino on the way, who
asked what was the matter. Though some of the bystanders
signed to Giovanni not to tell Cecchino, he cried out like a mad-
man how it was that Bertino Aldobrandi had been killed by the
guard.