When I got to Rome, I dismounted at the palace of Cardinal de’ Medici, and having obtained an audience of his most reverend lordship, paid my respects, and thanked him warmly for my recall. I then entreated him to secure me from imprisonment, and even from a fine if that were possible. The Cardinal was very glad to see me; told me to stand in no fear; then turned to one of his gentlemen, called Messer Pier Antonio Pecci of Siena, ordering him to tell the Bargello not to touch me. [4] He then asked him how the man was going on whose head I had broken with the stone. Messer Pier Antonio replied that he was very ill, and that he would probably be even worse; for when he heard that I was coming back to Rome, he swore he would die to serve me an ill turn. When the Cardinal heard that, he burst into a fit of laughter, and cried: “The fellow could not have taken a better way than this to make us know that he was born a Sienese.” After that he turned to me and said: “For our reputation and your own, refrain these four or five days from going about in the Banchi; after that go where you like, and let fools die at their own pleasure.” I went home and set myself to finishing the medal which I had begun, with the head of Pope Clement and a figure of Peace on the reverse. The figure was a slender woman, dressed in very thin drapery, gathered at the waist, with a little torch in her hand, which was burning a heap of arms bound together like a trophy. In the background I had shown part of a temple, where was Discord chained with a load of fetters. Round about it ran a legend in these words: 'Clauduntur belli portæ.' [5] During the time that I was finishing this medal, the man whom I had wounded recovered, and the Pope kept incessantly asking for me. I, however, avoided visiting Cardinal de’ Medici; for whenever I showed my face before him, his lordship gave me some commission of importance, which hindered me from working at my medal to the end. Consequently Messer Pier Carnesecchi, who was a great favourite of the Pope’s, undertook to keep me in sight, and let me adroitly understand how much the Pope desired my services. [6] I told him that in a few days I would prove to his Holiness that his service had never been neglected by me. Note 1. Ponte a Selice, between Capua and Aversa. Note 2. Anagni, where Boniface VIII. was outraged to the death by the French partisans of Philip le Bel. Note 3. 'I. e.,' private and sentimental. Note 4. This Pecci passed into the service of Caterina de’ Medici. In 1551 he schemed to withdraw Siena from the Spanish to the French cause, and was declared a rebel. Note 5. The medal was struck to celebrate the peace in Christendom between 1530 and 1536. Note 6. Pietro Carnesecchi was one of the martyrs of free-thought in Italy. He adopted Protestant opinions, and was beheaded and burned in Rome, August 1567. LXXI