During the journey, at a time they had slowed their pace, the swordsman came up beside Tristano and, being careful never to let the muzzle of his horse go in front of that of his new lord, he dared ask:
Will you allow me, a question Your Excellency?
Of course Pietro, ask me, replied the distinguished official, turning his head a few degrees towards his daring assistant.
How did you get that ring, sir? Is it really the Magnificents ring?
Tristano was silent for a few moments giving a half smile but then, certain that he could trust this man, whom he had known for a few days but who he valued already, let go of his reserve and began his story:
Seven years have passed since Cardinal Orsini took me with him to Florence for the first time, following a medical delegation that had been created specifically to provide assistance to His Most Reverend Excellency, Rinaldo Orsini, archbishop of Florence, he had been ill for two weeks with no sign of remission. Once I arrived in the city, while the physicus with his apprentices among whom was my friend Jacopo were immediately sent to the diocese to be at the bedside of the suffering prelate, the cardinal took me with him to Madonna Clarice, his granddaughter and wife of Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent.
I still remember the sweet and maternal gaze with which Donna Clarice welcomed me, holding out her hand. She introduced me to her family and friends and immediately put every comfort in the edifice at my disposal. Every evening the banquets were attended by writers, humanists, artists, superfine courtiers and most of all by beautiful women.
The most beautiful of all, the one who still today is unable to match and oust from the throne of my ideal, was Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci.
The evening I saw her for the first time, she was wearing a brocade lined in red velvet, which left a generous neckline clearly visible, preciously bordered by a black gamurra, which clung perfectly to her turgid breast and fell to her feet holding the soft form of that admired and desired body. She let most of her blond curls fall lose on her shoulders, while only a small part was expertly gathered in a long braid enriched with cords and very small pearls. A few rebellious locks framed that harmonious, fresh, radiant, ethereal face. Her eyes were large and melancholy, very sensual, at least as far as could be seen from the faint smile on her velvety, parted red lips, highlighted by the a small dimple on her chin, the same red color as the day.
If I had not had the disastrous news of her death shortly after, I would still believe she was a goddess embodied in a perfect feminine shell.
Everyone held that she had only one flaw: she already had a husband rightly jealous. At only sixteen she had married the banker Marco Vespucci, in Genoa in the presence of the doge and all the aristocracy of the maritime republic.
She was very much loved by society (and at the same time envied); in those years she had become the favorite muse of many writers and artists, among them the painter Sandro Botticelli, a longtime friend of the Medici family, who had fallen in love with her platonically and painted her portraits everywhere: even on the banner that he had made for the carousel of that year, epically won by Giuliano de' Medici, portrayed her ethereal face.
The following day we were invited to a banquet at the Villa di Careggi that the Magnificent had organized in honor of the Borromeo family with the implicit intent of introducing their daughter to his brother Giuliano, who, however, like and perhaps more than many, had clearly lost his head for Cattaneo. After the first pleasantries, in fact, Giuliano left the room and the guests, secluding himself in the garden, where Vespucci's wife was waiting for him, took advantage of the absence of her husband, who had been traveling on business since that morning.
Between one course and the next, Lorenzo delighted his guests by proclaiming precious sonnets that he had composed. On the other hand, if necessary, some of the distinguished guests answered in rhyme, pleasantly enlivening the symposium. In addition to noble friends and family, esteemed neo-Platonic academics were seated at the table such as Marsilio Ficino, Agnolo Ambrogini and Pico della Mirandola, as well as several members of the Florentine Council.
Although he was the affirmed head of the richest and most powerful family in Florence and was increasingly becoming the undisputed arbiter of the political balance on the peninsula, Lorenzo was only twenty-six years old and had the undoubted merit of having been able to build a young court around him, brilliant but at the same time wise and capable. In a few days of knowing him, he had become my model to strive for, a concentration of values to which I should aspire. However, what made us objectively different and that I could have never equaled, apart from the eleven years of age, was his being able to count on a solid and closely-knit family: his mother, Donna Lucrezia, was, even more so since the death of her relative Piero, his omnipresent accomplice and councilor; Bianca, sweet and beloved sister, doted on her elder brother, never missed a chance to praise him and every time she publicly pronounced his name her eyes shone; Giuliano, a disorderly younger brother, despite his venial disagreements and impertinences, however, was always at his side and involved in every political success or failure; Clarice, despite having learned of a few marital betrayals, had never ceased to love her husband and would always have supported him against anyone, even against, if necessary, her own family of origin. It was pleasant to watch that family court around which the city, clustered, elegantly subservient and reverent, at every celebration, every banquet. And it was a typical occasion, which like others I was privileged to attend.
Before, however, the confectioner made his scenograpic entrance into the dining room, I heard a dog barking repeatedly outside the villa and instinctively decided to go and see why the animal wanted to attract the attention of the owners. Entering the garden I discovered incredulously Giuliano and Simonetta rolling on the ground without being able to control their limbs: Vespucci, red in the face, with eyes and mouth wide open, trembled like a leaf; her lover, on the other hand, tried to tear his clothes off, alternating spasmodic laughter with hallucinations I returned to the house without delay and, taking advantage of a break, with utmost discretion asked Lorenzo to follow me.
Rushing to the spot, we saw the two lifeless bodies. Lorenzo ordered me to call the doctor immediately; although he tried to shake his younger brother's head and torso, he did not react in the slightest, neither to slaps or to his voice. After a while seizures began.
The situation was critical and very delicate. After a few moments, excitement and bewilderment on the Magnificents face turned to panic and helplessness. Although he wanted to ask anyone present at his home for help, he knew well that the public discovery of the two young people in such conditions, in addition to creating an enormous scandal would certainly mean, for himself and his family, the loss of the significant political support of Marco Vespucci, at that moment a needle in the balance of a Council that was already mined by de Pazzi (the noble Jacopo de' Pazzi, without a shadow of a doubt, would have taken advantage of the situation to claim control of the city).
Lorenzo was not reassured even by the sudden arrival of the doctor and the apothecary, who kept asking me what I had seen before he came. The great doctors in fact, immediately theorized a case of poisoning, they were unable to identify the substance responsible and consequently indicated a possible remedy. In the meantime, Agnolo Ambrogini arrived on the spot, the only one, besides his mother, whom Lorenzo blindly trusted; he was entrusted with the task of fabricating a necessary excuse for the guests, who rightly began to discern and accuse the absence of the landlord. With the help of Agnolo the bodies were quickly and secretly transported to a nearby shelter.
Lorenzo was not reassured even by the sudden arrival of the doctor and the apothecary, who kept asking me what I had seen before he came. The great doctors in fact, immediately theorized a case of poisoning, they were unable to identify the substance responsible and consequently indicated a possible remedy. In the meantime, Agnolo Ambrogini arrived on the spot, the only one, besides his mother, whom Lorenzo blindly trusted; he was entrusted with the task of fabricating a necessary excuse for the guests, who rightly began to discern and accuse the absence of the landlord. With the help of Agnolo the bodies were quickly and secretly transported to a nearby shelter.
I noticed then that where Simonetta's body had recently lain there was a small basket of apples and berries, all apparently edible and harmless. I grabbed a blueberry between two fingers and crushed it. In a flash I remembered that a few months earlier Jacopo in Rome had shown me a very poisonous plant, called atropa, also known as Satans cherry, the fruits of which were easily confused with the berries of the common blueberry but unlike this the latter could be lethal in small quantities. Young women often used a marinate of atropa leaves to cause their eyes to shine and to dilate the pupil so as to appear more seductive. The doctor accepted my theory as possible and confirmed that both the young people dying had bluish spots on their lips. However, the scientist ruled that if that were the case there was no known cure, throwing the landlord into the most desperate resignation.
The dynamic was clarified days later: someone, in the pay of Francesco de' Pazzi, had not replaced the blueberries accidentally with the atropa in that fruit basket that Donna Vespucci had then shared with her lover. Giuliano had therefore poisoned himself by tearing the poisonous berries, in an erotic game, directly from the mouth of the beautiful Simonetta. And so, after a few minutes, the powerful drug took effect.
Still stunned at what had taken place in such a short time, I dared to intrude a second time and proposed to the Honorable Lorenzo to make an extreme attempt, and to consult the pontifical delegation hosted in the diocese. The Magnificent, making me promise maximum reserve, consented and hurriedly made me escort him to Jacopo, with whom I returned shortly thereafter. My Benedictine analyzed the fruits of the solanaceous and administered an antidote to the sufferers from the unknown lands of Africa. After about an hour the symptoms subsided, their body temperature began to fall and within eight days the two young people recovered completely.
Together with fate any suspicion was removed, inside and outside the walls. In fact, when Marco Vespucci returned to the city with his bankers, he didn't notice anything: he was even richer, Simonetta was even more beautiful, Giuliano even more in love but, most of all, Florence was even more Medici.
Even the archbishop, slowly, seemed to recover; therefore we prepared to return to Rome. First, however, the Magnificent, in sign of his affection and esteem as well as thanks and gratitude, wanted to pay homage to me for what everyone considered to be one of the highest awards of the republic: the gold ring bearing six balls, a universal pass within the city territories and not only.
Since then I carry it with me always, as a precious testimony to Lorenzo's friendship and to the imperishable memory of those two unfortunate lovers who, like Paris and Helen, who had several times risked turning Florence into Ilium.
Throughout the narration, Pietro, fascinated and enraptured by the extraordinary nature of the facts, by the skilled narration of the speaker and by the abundance of details, dared not speak.
He waited a few seconds after the happy ending to be sure not to desecrate that incredible story and, giving a tight squeeze on his bandage, finally said proudly:
Thank you sir. Serving you will not only be just an honor for me, it will be a pleasure.
After two days of further journey, the Via Cassia revealed the magnificence of Rome and although men and animals were very tired, at the mere sight spirits regained their force and bodies their strength. Tristano urged on his horse and increased the speed.
V
The countess of Forlì
Girolamo Riario and Caterina SforzaHe didnt find Giovanni Battista waiting for him in the rooms of the protonotary but a plump cleric who invited him to go directly to the busy monsignor who was in the basilica of San Pietro, where he had been urgently summoned by the pontiff. There he found both in the midst of a serious meeting in front of the funeral monument for Roberto Malatesta, the hero of the battle of Campomorto.
Standing beside Sixtus IV was his nephew, the sinister captain general Girolamo Riario, whom Tristano already knew as having been one of the main protagonists of the failed conspiracy in Florence four years earlier, hatched against his friends Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici, which had cost the life of the latter.
Not satisfied with having received the Lordships of Imola and Forlì from his uncle, after failing to take possession of Florence and having failed to conquer Urbino, the insatiable Riario was now in danger of seeing his ambitions for Ferrara also fail definitively.
The Republic of Venezia, as has already been said, continued to be deaf to the pontiff's warnings and excommunications; indeed, after having withdrawn its ambassadors from Rome, every day it increasingly threatened the Milanese border and the territories of the Church in Romagna. And now the old Sixtus IV worried about this more than anything else.
Before it was hopelessly too late, it was then thought to play the Aragonese card: it was decided to send Tristano to Naples to King Ferdinando in an attempt to convince him, after Campomorto, to enter into a new coalition agreement (in which Florence and Milan would also participate) against the Serenissima. In truth, Giovanni Battista was not enthusiastic about this solution and had instead proposed dealing directly with the doge, but given the firm determination of the Holy Father, he finally had to put a good face on it and accept the assignment.
The one who was the most satisfied with the deliberate solution was obviously Girolamo, who saw in this move the last glimmer of hope for his being able to sit as a protagonist at the winners table and finally get his hands on the Este city.
Monsignor Orsini appealed to the latter before the Holy Father dismissed those present, Please do me the courtesy, Your Magnitude and Our honorable ambassador, to accept the invitation to a sober banquet that my lady and I will hold tomorrow evening at my humble palace at Sant'Apollinare to inaugurate the period of Holy Christmas.
Giovanni Battista accepted and thanked him with deference.
Tristano, who deliberately had not made a statement before the captain, after the meeting, at a separate venue, was also persuaded by his protector to accept the invitation without hesitation. Going down the staircase at the Constantine basilica, Orsini intimated:
Tomorrow morning at the third hour I will be waiting for you in my office for details about Mantua, but first send a quick confirmation to the Riario. You may also decline the invitation from the pope's nephew but not that of his son!
Soon after he climbed into the carriage and disappeared into the crowded streets of the city.
The young diplomat was exhausted and that last indiscretion, besides his extreme strength, had also caused him to lose his ability to speak; he entered the first inn that was open and, after having a bite to eat, sent Pietro and the two horses to a temporary shelter; he walked home as the sun went down.