st illustrious lord, Don
Garzia di Toledo, to Monte Alcino, where, having made some trenches,
he mined under a bastion and so shattered it, that he threw down the
breastwork; but as it was falling to the ground a harquebus-ball
struck San Marino in the thigh. Not long afterwards, his wound being
healed, he went secretly to Siena and took the ground-plan of that
city, and of the earthworks that the people of Siena had made at the
Porta Camollia; which plan of fortifications he then showed to the
Lord Duke and to the Marchese di Marignano, making it clear to them
that the work was not difficult to capture or to secure afterwards on
the side towards Siena. That this was true was proved by the fact, the
night that it was taken by the above-named Marquis, with whom Giovan
Battista had gone by order and commission of the Duke. On that
account, then, the Marquis, having conceived an affection for him and
knowing that he had need of his judgment and ability in the field
(that is, in the war against Siena), so went to work with the Duke,
that his Excellency sent Giovan Battista off as captain of a strong
company of foot-soldiers; whereupon he served from that day onward in
the field, as a valiant soldier and an ingenious architect. Finally,
having been sent by the Marquis to Aiuola, a fortress in the Chianti,
while disposing the artillery he was wounded in the head by a
harquebus-ball; wherefore he was taken by his soldiers to the Pieve di
S. Paolo, which belongs to Bishop da Ricasoli, and died in a few days,
and was carried to San Marino, where he received honourable burial
from his children.

Giovan Battista deserves to be highly extolled, for the reason that,
besides having been excellent in his profession, it is a marvellous
thing that, having set himself to give attention to it late in life,
at the age of thirty-five, he should have made in it the proficience
that he did make; and it may be believed that if he had begun younger,
he would have become a very rare master. Giovan Battista was something
obstinate, so that it was a serious undertaking to move him from any
opinion. He took extraordinary pleasure in reading stories, and turned
them to very great advantage, writing down with great pains the most
notable things in them. His death much grieved the Duke and his
innumerable friends; wherefore his son Gian Andrea, coming to kiss his
Excellency's hands, was received kindly by him and welcomed most
warmly with very genero