During the plague in Rome I was seized with the disease, but to my own great surprise survived that terrific attack.  When better, I made some vases of silver for the eminent surgeon, Giacomo Carti, who afterwards showed them to the Duke of Ferrara and several other princes, assuring them that they were antiques, and had been presented to him by a great nobleman.  Others were assured that there had not been a man these 3,000 years able to make such figures.  Encouraged by these declarations, I confessed that they were my performances, and by this work I made considerable gain.

II.—­A Soldier and Goldsmith

All Europe was now (1527) up in arms, involved in the wars between Charles V. of Germany and Francis I. of France.  Pope Clement VII. alternately declared in favour of Charles and Francis, hoping to preserve the balance of political power in Europe, and disbanded the troops which had garrisoned Rome.  Learning this, Charles, Duke of Bourbon, Constable of France, advanced with a large army of Germans and Spaniards through Italy, carrying terror and desolation, and appeared before the walls of Rome.

I raised a company of fifty brave young men, whom I led to the Campo Santo.  When the enemy was scaling the walls I determined to perform some manly action, and, levelling my arquebuse where I saw the thickest crowd, I discharged it with a deliberate aim at a person who seemed to be lifted above the rest, and he fell wounded.  He was, as I understood afterwards, the Duke of Bourbon.  On another day I shot at and wounded the Prince of Orange.  Leaving the Campo Santo I made for the Castle of St. Angelo, just as the castellan was letting down the portcullis.  When I found myself on the castle walls, the artillery was deserted by the bombardiers, and I took direction of the fire of the artillery and falcons, and killed a considerable number of the enemy.  This made some cardinals and others bless me, and extol my activity to the skies.  Emboldened by this, I used my utmost exertions; let it suffice that it was I who preserved the castle that morning.  I continued to direct the artillery with such signal execution as to acquire the favour and good graces of his holiness the Pope.

One day the Pope happened to walk upon the ramparts, when he saw me fire a swivel at a Spanish colonel who had formerly been in his service, and split the man into two pieces.  Falling upon my knees, I entreated his holiness to absolve me from the guilt of homicide and other crimes I had committed in the castle in the service of the Church.  The Pope, lifting up his hands and making the Sign of the Cross over me, blessed me, and gave his absolution for all the homicides I had ever committed, or ever should commit, in the service of the Apostolic Church.  After that I kept up a constant fire, and scarcely once missed all the time.  Later, Pope Clement sent for me to a private apartment, and with his master of the horse placed before me his regalia, with all