the sores are so new, and have not yet begun to stink, and that the
remedies will be taken in time, you need not be too much afraid, for I
have good hopes of curing you." When he had prescribed for me and gone
away, a very dear friend of mine, called Giovanni Rigogli, came in, who
fell to commiserating my great suffering and also my desertion by my
comrade, and said: "Be of good cheer, my Benvenuto, for I will never
leave your side until I see you restored to health." I told him not to
come too close, since it was all over with me. Only I besought him to be
so kind as to take a considerable quantity of crowns, which were lying
in a little box near my bed, and when God had thought fit to remove me
from this world, to send them to my poor father, writing pleasantly to
him, in the way I too had done, so far as that appalling season of the
plague permitted. [4] My beloved friend declared that he had no
intention whatsoever of leaving me, and that come what might, in life or
death, he knew very well what was his duty toward a friend. And so we
went on by the help of God: and the admirable remedies which I had used
began to work a great improvement, and I soon came well out of that
dreadful sickness.

The sore was still open, with a plug of lint inside it and a plaster
above, when I went out riding on a little wild pony. He was covered with
hair four fingers long, and was exactly as big as a well-grown bear;
indeed he looked just like a bear. I rode out on him to visit the
painter Rosso, who was then living in the country, toward Civita
Vecchia, at a place of Count Anguillara's called Cervetera. I found my
friend, and he was very glad to see me; whereupon I said: "I am come to
do to you that which you did to me so many months ago." He burst out
laughing, embraced and kissed me, and begged me for the Count's sake to
keep quiet. I stayed in that place about a month, with much content and
gladness, enjoying good wines and excellent food, and treated with the