CHAPTER IX.
LIFE OF BENVENUTO CELLINI His Fame--His Autobiography--Its Value for the Student of History, Manners, and Character in the Renaissance--Birth, Parentage, and Boyhood--Flute-playing--Apprenticeship to Marcone--Wanderjahr--The Goldsmith's Trade at Florence--Torrigiani and England--Cellini leaves Florence for Rome--Quarrel with the Guasconti--Homicidal Fury--Cellini a Law to Himself--Three Periods in his Manhood--Life in Rome--Diego at the Banquet--Renaissance Feeling for Physical Beauty--Sack of Rome--Miracles in Cellini's Life--His Affections--Murder of his Brother's Assassin--Sanctuary--Pardon and Absolution--Incantation in the Colosseum--First Visit to France--Adventures on the Way--Accused of stealing Crown Jewels in Rome--Imprisonment in the Castle of S.
Angelo--The Governor--Cellini's Escape--His Visions--The Nature of his Religion--Second Visit to France--The Wandering Court--Le Petit Nesle--Cellini in the French Law Courts--Scene at Fontainebleau--Return to Florence--Cosimo de' Medici as a Patron--Intrigues of a Petty Court--Bandinelli--The Duchess--Statue of Perseus--End of Cellini's Life--Cellini and Machiavelli..