w with Messer Cesare de' Petrucci, the _Gonfaloniere
di Giustizia_, who had been detained by urgent matters in the Courts.

When Messer Petruccio enquired the nature of their business, the
Archbishop replied: "We are come, all the family of Salviati, to pay our
respects to the _Gonfaloniere_, as in duty bound." Messer Cesare was at
lunch, but, rising from table, he welcomed the Archbishop, who entered
the apartment alone. He asked him to be speedy, as he had to join the
banquet to the Cardinal di San Giorgio almost immediately.

Salviati said he was the bearer of his family's greetings to the
_Gonfaloniere_, and also of a private Brief to him from the Pope. His
manner seemed so strange, and his errand so irregular, that Petruccio's
suspicions were aroused, and raising the arras, he saw the passage was
filled with armed men. At once he called the palace guard to arrest the
intruders, and caused every door of exit to be locked.

The object, of course, of the Archbishop and those with him was to seize
the person of the _Gonfaloniere_ and possess themselves of the Banner of
Justice--that they might rouse the citizens to fight in its defence.

On the contrary, the people were for the Medici, and "_Palle!_"
"_Palle!_" prevailed. Noting that the Salviati did not leave the palace,
and that the guards had been withdrawn from the gate and every door was
bolted, the populace broke into the building, rescued the
_Gonfaloniere_, and the _Signori_ with him, and seized the persons of
the intruders.

Without more ado they ran the miscreants, Francesco, Giacopo, and
Giacopo di Giacopo de' Salviati, Giacopo de' Bracciolini, and Giovanni
da Perugia, up to the lantern of the Campanile, and, thrusting their
bodies through the machicolations, hung them head downwards! Others of
the party and some of the Cardinal's servants, who had accompanied the
Archbishop, were flung from the windows.

Cavaliere Giacopo de' Pazzi was neither at the Duomo, nor did he
accompany the Archbishop to the Palazzo Vecchio. His part was to await
news from Salviati that he had seized the _Gonfaloniere_ and the
palace, and then to ride fully armed with a retinue of mercenaries and
Montesicco's bodyguard of the Cardinal to the Piazza della Signoria.
Without awaiting the signal he advanced, raising the cry "_Liberta!_"
"_Liberta!_" but none rallied to his side.

Instead, he and his escort were pelted with stones and, on arriving in
the Piazza, he beheld the grue