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And the next day Fra Paolo is commanded before the Signoria to meet the Provveditor of the Mint being the only man who hath dared speak his mind before the Signoria had proved the worthlessness of Bragadin's promise. And our fine gold-maker exchangeth his palace for a prison; for the test of the crucible is all too easy for Fra Paolo, who speaketh naught that he knoweth not."
But there were things; in my young life very apt to sharpen my wits. We Schoppers are nearly allied with every worshipful family in the town, or of a rank to sit in the council and bear a coat of arms; these being, in fact, in Nuremberg, the class answering to the families of the Signoria in Venice, whose names are enrolled in the Libro d'Oro.
Their route was the Piazza del Limbo, along the Borgo SS. Apostoli to the Via Por S. Maria and through the Vacchereccia to the Piazza della Signoria, the Via Condotta, the Via del Proconsolo, to the Duomo, through whose central doors they passed, depositing the sacred burden at the high altar.
And what happened? The signoria asked where he was; nobody from Murano was allowed to practice his craft abroad, so that the tricks of the trade wouldn't be copied; I was told to write him, that he should return or face the death penalty. He laughed about the letter; but the gentlemen of the tribunal didn't think that this was funny.
Suspended around his neck by a slender chain was a bronze medal, presented by vote of the Signoria when the great picture of "The Transfiguration" was unveiled.
These were the conditions: The Signoria were to pay to Charles VIII, as subsidy, the sum of 120,000 florins, in three instalments; The Signoria were to remove the sequestration imposed upon the property of the Medici, and to recall the decree that set a price on their heads; The Signoria were to engage to pardon the Pisans, on condition of their again submitting to the rule of Florence;
He is haughty and ill-mannered, and when we were together, he has more than once left me alone in the room like a beast, to go and dine with his friends." And he proceeded to remind the Venetian envoys how he had sent his wife, Duchess Beatrice, to warn the Signoria of the critical state of affairs, and how his advice had been neglected, and nothing had been done.
Whatever of good there remained for Caterina to do in this petty domain which the munificence of the Signoria had bestowed in exchange for Cyprus, she did with a gracious and queenly hand, so that her realm was wider than her territory, for she had won the love of the people wherever she had passed, and in the years of her tried and chequered life, no evil was ever spoken of her.
‘And what may have been your motive for coming to this place?’ said I. ‘Per far visita a sua signoria, ecco il motivo.’ ‘Why do you speak to me in that gibberish,’ said I; ‘do you think I understand it?’ ‘It is not Armenian,’ said the man in black; ‘but it might serve, in a place like this, for the breathing of a little secret communication, were any common roadster near at hand.
Tell him by no means to lend them his ears; and if you want to know about them go to Messer Agnolo, the Herald of the Signoria, for I have written all the story to him, and he, out of his kindness, will relate it to you. Of Giovansimone I have heard.
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