"I tell you my name is both noble and formidable, and you shall find me as formidable as I am noble.
Diavolo! Seems it incredible ?" "Said I so ?" protested Gonzaga.
"You had been dead by now if you had, Messer Gonzaga.

But you thought so, and I may take leave to show you how bold a man it needs to think so without suffering." Ruffled as a turkey-cock, wounded in his pride and in his vanity, Ercole hastened to enlighten Gonzaga on his personality.
"Learn, sir," he announced, "that I am Captain Ercole Fortemani.

I held that rank in the army of the Pope.

I have served the Pisans and the noble Baglioni of Perugia with honour and distinction.

I have commanded a hundred lances of Gianinoni's famous free-company.