in bronze: it is not in the power of your art to
compass it." Hearing him express himself in that manner, I discovered
great vexation, and said, "My lord, I know that your excellency places
very little confidence in me, and that you have but too good an
opinion of those who speak ill of me; or else you do not understand
things of this nature." Scarce did he suffer me to utter these words
when he answered, "I profess to understand them, and I do understand
them perfectly." I replied, "You may understand them as a prince, but
not as an artist; for if you had that skill in these matters which you
think you have, you would believe me on account of that fine bronze
head which I cast for your excellency, and which was sent to the Elbe;
as also for having restored the beautiful figure of Ganymede, a work
that gave me infinite trouble, insomuch that it would have been easier
for me to have made a new one; likewise for having cast the Medusa,
which stands here before your excellency, a performance of immense
difficulty, in which I have done what no other man has done before me
in this most laborious art."...

[Footnote 31: From the "Autobiography," as translated in 1822 by
William Roscoe, the Liverpool banker and man of letters, who wrote a
well-known "Life of Leo X," and of whom Irving, in his "Sketch Book,"
has left a pathetic personal account. The earliest English translation
of Cellini appears to have been made by Thomas Nugent and published in
1771. The latest is by John Addington Symonds.]

[Footnote 32: The reference is to Cosmo dei Medici, then ruler of
Florence.]

The duke scarcely had patience to hear me out, but sometimes turned
one way, sometimes another; and I was quite in despair when I
recollected the circumstances in which I had lived in France. At last
he all of a sudden said, "Tell me, Benvenuto, how is it possible that
this fine head of Medusa, which Perseus holds aloft in his hand,
should ever come out cleverly?" I immediately answered, "It is clear,
my lord, that you are no connoisseur in statuary, as your excellency
boasts yourself; for if you had any skill in the art, you would not be
afraid of that fine head not coming out, but would express your
apprehensions concerning that right foot, which is at such a distance
below." The duke, half-angry, addressing himself to some noblemen who
were with him, said, "I really believe it is a practise of Benvenuto's
to contradict and oppose everything he hears adva