DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32873#0135
CH. iv] LIFE OF BENVENUTO CELLINI 67
for me the old gold in which it is set at present."
The Roman gentlewoman then said: "If I were that
young man, I would gladly run away (with what I'd
got)."* Madonna Portia rejoined, that virtues rarely
stand alongside vices, and that if I did such a thing, I
should very greatly belie that open look of an honest man
that I exhibited: and turning away, taking the hand of
the Roman gentlewoman, with a most charming smile
she said to me: "Adieu, Benvenuto." I stayed on a
while longer, engaged upon the drawing that I was
making, copying a certain figure of Jove ^ by the hand of
the said Raffaello da Urbino. When I had finished I went
away and set myself to the fashioning of a little model in
wax, whereby to show how the finished work ought sub-
sequently to turn out; and having carried this to the said
Madonna Portia to see, that same Roman gentlewoman,
of whom I spoke before, being also present, being greatly
satisfied both of them with my labours, they paid me so
many compliments that, impelled by some small amount
of boldness, I promised them that the completed work
should be half as good again as the model. So I set to
it and in twelve days I finished the said jewel in the
form of a lily, as I have said above, adorned with little
masks, cupids, animals, etc., and very beautifully enam-
elled; in such a manner that the diamonds of which the
lily was composed were improved in appearance by
more than half. Whilst I was labouring upon this work,
1 <r;772 zfzA An odd expression equivalent to "to run
away", with the jewel and the cash.
2 In the FaM? by Raphael, the King of the
Gods is represented a number of times and in a variety of atti-
tudes.
for me the old gold in which it is set at present."
The Roman gentlewoman then said: "If I were that
young man, I would gladly run away (with what I'd
got)."* Madonna Portia rejoined, that virtues rarely
stand alongside vices, and that if I did such a thing, I
should very greatly belie that open look of an honest man
that I exhibited: and turning away, taking the hand of
the Roman gentlewoman, with a most charming smile
she said to me: "Adieu, Benvenuto." I stayed on a
while longer, engaged upon the drawing that I was
making, copying a certain figure of Jove ^ by the hand of
the said Raffaello da Urbino. When I had finished I went
away and set myself to the fashioning of a little model in
wax, whereby to show how the finished work ought sub-
sequently to turn out; and having carried this to the said
Madonna Portia to see, that same Roman gentlewoman,
of whom I spoke before, being also present, being greatly
satisfied both of them with my labours, they paid me so
many compliments that, impelled by some small amount
of boldness, I promised them that the completed work
should be half as good again as the model. So I set to
it and in twelve days I finished the said jewel in the
form of a lily, as I have said above, adorned with little
masks, cupids, animals, etc., and very beautifully enam-
elled; in such a manner that the diamonds of which the
lily was composed were improved in appearance by
more than half. Whilst I was labouring upon this work,
1 <r;772 zfzA An odd expression equivalent to "to run
away", with the jewel and the cash.
2 In the FaM? by Raphael, the King of the
Gods is represented a number of times and in a variety of atti-
tudes.