obtained one upon which was a head of Jupiter. It was the largest that
had ever been seen; the head of the most perfect execution; and it had
on the reverse side a very fine design of some little figures in the
same style. I might enlarge at great length on this curiosity; but I
will refrain for fear of being prolix.

Note 1. 'Stavano alle velette.' Perhaps 'lay in wait for.'



XXVIII

AS I have said above, the plague had broken out in Rome; but though I
must return a little way upon my steps, I shall not therefore abandon
the main path of my history. There arrived in Rome a surgeon of the
highest renown, who was called Maestro Giacomo da Carpi. [1] This able
man, in the course of his other practice, undertook the most desperate
cases of the so-called French disease. In Rome this kind of illness is
very partial to the priests, and especially to the richest of them.
When, therefore, Maestro Giacomo had made his talents known, he
professed to work miracles in the treatment of such cases by means of
certain fumigations; but he only undertook a cure after stipulating for
his fees, which he reckoned not by tens, but by hundreds of crowns. He
was a great connoisseur in the arts of design. Chancing to pass one day
before my shop, he saw a lot of drawings which I had laid upon the
counter, and among these were several designs for little vases in a
capricious style, which I had sketched for my amusement. These vases
were in quite a different fashion from any which had been seen up to
that date. He was anxious that I should finish one or two of them for
him in silver; and this I did with the fullest satisfaction, seeing they