Chapter 8 chapter eight

Having done this, Bartolomeo left them.Machiavelli and Pierrot went again to dinner at the Golden Lion Hotel.When they were almost done eating, two servants arrived from Scarperia with horses and luggage.Machiavelli asked Piero to take them to the monastery, bringing along the saddlebags that were left there. "Send that piece of fine linen to Monsieur Bartolomeo, and have the maid give it directly to the ladies. She is not an ugly servant, and may be worth a word with her. When this is done, return to the Serafina's house, waiting for me there." He paused for a moment. "She's a talkative woman, and a gossip for sure. Go and sit with her in the kitchen for a while. She'll be glad to have her company. Let her talk to you about her children, and you can talk to her Talk about your mother. Then try to learn as much as you can about Bartolomeo and his wife and his mother-in-law. Seraphina has been greatly favored by Bartolomeo, so she will probably feel bad for it. He is disgruntled; you have an honest, open face, and you are a teenager, and if you can gain her confidence, she will pour out all she knows to you. For you, learning how to It is good practice to lead a man to pour out his hatred to you with words and beautiful speech."

"But, Master Niccolo, why are you so sure that she hates him?" "I'm not at all sure. Maybe she's just a stupid, talkative woman. The reality is, she's poor, he's rich, and she's dependent on his handouts, and that kind of debt is hard to bear. .Believe me, it is easier to forgive your enemies for their offenses than your friends for their favors." He smiled sourly and walked away.He had an appointment with the Florentine envoy at Imola to meet a man named Giacomo Ferinelli.The man was exiled here by the Medici.As a clever accountant, this person is now working under the Duke.This man, though serving the duke, was anxious to return to Florence in order to recover his confiscated property.So it is certain that he will cooperate with Florence.He confirmed what Bartolomeo had told Machiavelli this morning.The duke's new subjects were satisfied with his rule.The government is strict, but very competent.Those who groaned under the tyranny of their respective emperors enjoyed a freedom from oppression that they had not enjoyed in a century.Through compulsory military service from every household, the duke created a more reliable army than those organized by conscription.The French and Gascon troops may be dispatched at any time after receiving the order of the French king; the Swiss troops are ready to defect at any time as long as the conditions offered by a certain political force are favorable enough; It is the catastrophe for the people to turn pale when they talk about it.The duke's soldiers were very proud of the red and yellow uniforms the duke issued them, they were well paid, well trained and well equipped, and the duke was very successful in evoking and cultivating a high sense of loyalty among them.

"What news from the generals, Vitellozzo and Orsini?" asked Machiavelli. "There is no news about these people. No one knows what they are doing." "How's the atmosphere in the palace?" "You can say that nothing happened," Ferinelli replied. "The Duke is a secretive man, generally reclusive. The secretaries show no signs of anxiety-inducing. Monsieur Agapito, on the other hand, is more humorous and relaxed than ever." Machiavelli frowned.He was a little confused.Various signs clearly show that something is brewing and fermenting.The accountant, though perfectly willing to disclose the situation, was totally missing the point.Machiavelli finally had to decide that the accountant was no wiser than he had been.He returned to the apartment, where Piero was waiting for him.

"Have you sent the linen?" he asked. "Yes. Lord Bartolomeo was in the palace at the time. The maid asked me to wait downstairs, then she brought the fabric to the ladies upstairs, and when she came down, she told me that the ladies wanted to thank me in person Bringing fabric for them. So I went upstairs." "So you didn't make friends with that maid as I told you to." "There was no such opportunity." "You could give her a pinch, or at least tell her she's beautiful. There's always an opportunity for that." "The ladies were very kind to me. They served me fruit, cakes and wine. They asked me a lot of questions about you."

"What questions did they ask?" "They want to know how long you've been married, who you married, and what Lady Marietta looked like." "Did you speak to Serafina afterwards?" "You were quite right about her, my lord. If you hadn't come back, she would still be talking to me at this moment. I thought at the time, she probably couldn't stop." "Tell me about it." When Piero finished speaking, Machiavelli gave him a friendly smile. "You did a very good job. I knew I couldn't be wrong. I knew your youth would attract an old woman, and your innocent appearance would make it easier for her to confide in you."

Piero did have a lot of information.Bartholomew was very much in the Duke's favour.He was one of the first people in the city to surrender to the duke.He is an honest, kind, generous and religious man.The current marriage is his third.His first marriage was concluded by the order of his parents. Eight years after marriage, his wife died of typhoid fever.After a respectable interval he remarried, but eleven years later his second wife also died.Both wives brought him generous dowries, and neither of them left him a man and a woman.He was a widower for three years and then quickly married Aurelia.She comes from a port city called Senigallia on the Adriatic Sea, and her father is the owner and captain of an offshore freighter, which mainly transports goods to cities along the Dalmatia coast.He and his freighter were swallowed by the raging sea during a storm, and his widow was suddenly plunged into poverty, subsisting on needlework for others.She had three daughters, and another son who unfortunately drowned with his father in the storm.The two daughters were already married, and after the accident, Bartolomeo noticed Aurelia, who was only sixteen at the time.He was impressed by her virginal beauty, but neither her background nor her wealth could match a man of status like him.Yet, though young, there was a mature beauty about her that foreshadowed that she would be very fertile.This was an important thing to Bartolomeo, because there was nothing in the world he wanted more than a son.During his first two marriages he had also maintained relationships with lowly, but young and beautiful girls like Aurelia, but these infrequent liaisons failed to produce any offspring.The fact that Lady Caterina had six children in her lifetime (two who died in infancy) showed her family was fertile, and, through careful investigation, he learned that Aurelia's two older sisters each Everyone had three or four children.In fact, they are having children on a yearly basis, which is completely normal for a young, healthy woman.But Bartholomew was cautious.He had already married two women who were barren, and he really didn't want to marry a third woman who couldn't bear children.So he proposed to Katerina through an intermediary that he could place her and her daughter in a villa on the outskirts of Imola, and give a generous living allowance at regular intervals, and promised that once a child was born, he would definitely Will adopt it.He even allowed the intermediary to suggest that he might consider marrying Aurelia if the baby was a boy.But Mrs. Caterina, either because of Christian precepts or because of some basic wisdom she had acquired in the world, angrily rejected this suggestion.Her late husband, though the owner of a small coastal freighter, was a respectable man.Although her two daughters did not marry wealthy families, they were also married with dignity.She would rather send her daughter to a convent to be a nun than agree to let her be adopted by a rich man.Bartolomeo looked at all the young girls in Imola, and none of them attracted him as much as Aurelia, and none seemed more likely than Aurelia to bear him a fat son.He is a businessman and a rational man.He understood that if you wanted something badly, but you couldn't get it for the price you offered, there was only one way to get it, and that was to pay the seller's price.He proposed marriage very politely, and the woman quickly agreed.

Bartholomew was not only a businessman, but a shrewd one.Aurelia was nearly twenty years younger than him, and he thought she should have someone watching her a little.So he invited Mrs. Caterina to come and live with himself and his bride. Serafina snickered and said: "That old fool trusted her. But look at her, she's not at all the kind of woman who would be faithful to her husband. When her husband was sailing, she wasn't a woman at all." "She obviously doesn't like Madame Caterina," said Machiavelli. "I was wondering why. Maybe she herself wanted to marry Bartolomeo and make Bartolomeo her child's stepfather. Maybe it was out of jealousy. It doesn't matter what the reason is, but it's always good to know of."

The marriage was happy, and Bartolomeo was very fond of his young wife.He bought her many fine clothes and jewellery.She is dutiful, gentle and courteous, possessing everything a good wife should have.However, despite three years of marriage, she has not been able to conceive once, and there is no possibility of pregnancy.This incident became a great shortcoming in Bartolomeo's life.Now that he has a title of nobility, he wants to have a son even more. "Has Madame Serafina hinted that this beautiful Aurelia might also be unfaithful to her old husband?" Machiavelli asked with a smile.

"No. She rarely goes out except to attend mass. Whenever she goes out, she is accompanied by her mother or a maid. According to Ms. Serafina, Aurelia is very religious. She will take care of her husband. Infidelity is considered a capital offense." Machiavelli mused. "When you were talking about me to the ladies, did you happen to mention that Mrs. Marietta was pregnant?" The boy's face turned red all of a sudden. "I thought it wouldn't do any harm for them to know about it." "It doesn't matter at all. I don't mind at all if they know about it."

Machiavelli smiled meaningfully.But Pierrot did not understand the meaning of his smile.We have already said that Machiavelli did not marry Marietta out of love.He respected her very much, he loved her good qualities very much, and Machiavelli admired her unswerving loyalty to her.She was a thrifty housewife, which was important for a man of his modest income.She never wastes a penny.She would also be a mother to his children, and would be a good one.Machiavelli had every reason to be affectionate and affectionate towards his wife, but it never occurred to him that he should be devoted to her.Aurelia's beauty took his soul away.And not only her beauty moved him, more importantly, there had never been a woman who stimulated his senses so quickly and strongly.His craving made his stomach ache.

"I have to get that woman if I die," he said to himself. He knows women very well, so it's not too often that he doesn't get what he wants.He had no illusions about his own appearance, and he knew that other men were much more handsome than he, and many of them had more money and social status than he did.But he is very confident in his own charm.He could amuse women, he knew how to flatter them, he had a knack for making women accept him very easily.And, most importantly, he has a strong desire to conquer these women, women are all strongly aware of this, and this turns them on. "When every nerve in a woman's body tells her that you want her, she cannot resist. Unless she is deeply in love with another man," he once said to Biagio. It was quite impossible for Aurelia to love her fat husband, a man so much older than she was.She accepted the marriage at her mother's disposal simply because it was a good deal.But Bartolomeo should be aware that there are young people in the city, and some dissolute young men raised by the Duke's court must have taken a fancy to Aurelia's beauty, so Bartolomeo must have raised his vigilance in this regard.The manservant looked suspicious and suspicious, a dark-faced fellow with prominent bushy eyebrows, a large bony nose, and a cruel mouth.It is very likely that he was placed at home to monitor his mistress.And then there was the hostess's mother, Serafina, who said that she had had a good time when she was young, and that was probably true.The woman had the bold, wandering eyes of a woman who has been in love.Although she wouldn't be angry if her daughter found a lover, but this woman still needs to be handled with care.Machiavelli decided that Bartolomeo was a man of face.There is nothing more vengeful in the world than a man who takes a great deal of face and finds he has been fooled.What Machiavelli was about to do now was not easy, but that did not disturb him.He had a lot of confidence in himself, and the difficulty of it made it all the more interesting in itself.It was obvious that he had to have a good relationship with Bartolomeo to make him feel safe, and maybe it was also necessary to have a good relationship with Katerina.It proved to be a good idea for Piero to go to Serafina's place to inquire about the situation, and this reconnaissance gave him a general idea of ​​the situation.But he still had to know more, and then some plans might naturally arise in his resourceful mind.He knew it was useless to rack his brains in the present situation.He has to wait for an inspiration. "Let's go to dinner," he said to Pierrot. They walked to the Golden Lion Hotel and returned to their apartment after eating.Serafina had put the children to bed and was mending a pair of socks in the kitchen.Machiavelli sent Pierrot upstairs to the room he shared with Serafina's son, and politely asked Serafina if he could have a little fire in the kitchen, and sat down. .He already sensed that Katerina would come over soon and ask Serafina about him, so he hoped that Serafina would say as good a word as possible for him.He can be liked if he wants to.He's doing it now.He told her about his missions to the French court, partly because he knew it would interest her, but more to show his own importance.He speaks of the king and his cardinal as minister, in such a way as to give the impression that he was casual and intimate friends with the king and his ministers. He also told the notorious but fascinating stories of the bold ladies.Then he changed the subject.He told her about Marietta, about how hard it had been for him to leave her pregnant in Florence, about how eager he was to be back in Florence and his happy little family.Serafina would have to be a very shrewd woman to make Serafina suspect that Machiavelli was not the faithful and kind husband he made out to be, an ordinary but honest man.He listened with sympathy and interest to her account of her husband's illness and death, the good old days she had experienced and the hardships of traveling with her two young children.It was evident that she saw him as a delightful, distinguished and kind man.When he told her that he was weak, with a tormenting stomach problem, and that the food at the Golden Lion was too much for him, Serafina naturally suggested that if he didn't mind condescending to be with her and her child For meals, she would be more than happy to feed him and Pierrot.This played into Machiavelli's hands.Because in this way he can not only save some money, but also make it more convenient.When he said goodbye to her, he made a good impression on her.He went upstairs to his room, and read a passage of Livy by candlelight until he fell asleep.