The kingdoms which Schiller conquered were not for one nation at the expense of suffering to another; they are kingdoms conquered from the barren realms of Darkness, to increase the happiness, and dignity, and power, of all men; new forms of Truth, new maxims of Wisdom, new images and scenes of Beauty, won from the “void and formless Infinite”; a “possession for ever,” to all the generations of the earth.

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BENVENUTO CELLINI

Autobiography

Benvenuto Cellini was born in Florence in the year 1500, and died in the same city on December 13, 1569.  He was the greatest of the craftsmen during the height of the Renaissance period.  Kings and popes vied with each other in trying to secure his services.  His claims to be the king of craftsmen were admitted by his fellow-artificers, and at the zenith of his career he had no rivals.  Trophies of his skill and artistic genius remain to confirm the verdict of his own time.  His great bronze statue of Perseus in Florence; the Nymph of Fontainebleau, now in the Louvre; his golden salt-cellar, made for Francis I., and now in Vienna—­these are a few of his masterpieces, and any one of them is of a quality to stamp its maker as a master craftsman of imaginative genius and extraordinary manual skill.  A goldsmith and sculptor, he was also a soldier, and did service as a fighter and engineer in the wars of his time.  Of high personal courage, he was a braggart and a ruffian, who used the dagger as freely as the tools of his craft.  His many qualities and complex personality are revealed in his “Autobiography”—­one of the most vivid and remarkable records ever penned.  He began the work in 1558.  In its history his account is accurate, but his testimony regarding his martial exploits is untrustworthy.

I.—­The Making of a Craftsman

It is a duty incumbent on upright and credible men of all ranks, who have performed anything noble or praiseworthy, to record the events of their lives.  Looking back on some delightful and happy events, and on many misfortunes so truly overwhelming that the appalling retrospect makes me wonder how I have reached my fifty-eighth year in vigour and prosperity, through God’s goodness, I have resolved to publish an account of my life.

My name is Benvenuto, the son of Maestro Giovanni Cellini; my mother was Maria Lisabetta, daughter to Stefano Granacci; and both my parents were citizens of Florence.  My ancestors lived in the valley of Ambra, where they were lords of considerable domains; they were all trained to arms, and distinguished for military prowess.  Andrea Cellini, my grandfather, was tolerably well versed in the architecture of those days; and made it his profession.  Giovanni, my father, acquired great proficiency in the art of designing.