said:—“Giotto, would e’er a
stranger that met us, and had not seen thee before,
believe, thinkst thou, that thou wert, as thou art,
the greatest painter in the world.” Whereto
Giotto answered promptly:—“Methinks,
Sir, he might, if, scanning you, he gave you credit
for knowing the A B C.” Which hearing, Messer
Forese recognized his error, and perceived that he
had gotten as good as he brought.
(1) The name of a Florentine family famous for the
extraordinary ugliness of its men: whereby it
came to pass that any grotesque or extremely ugly
man was called a Baroncio. Fanfani, Vocab. della
Lingua Italiana, 1891.
— Michele Scalza proves to certain young
men that the Baronci are the best gentlemen in the
world and the Maremma, and wins a supper. —
The ladies were still laughing over Giotto’s
ready retort, when the queen charged Fiammetta to
follow suit; wherefore thus Fiammetta began:—Pamfilo’s
mention of the Baronci, who to you, Damsels, are perchance
not so well known as to him, has brought to my mind
a story in which ’tis shewn how great is their
nobility; and, for that it involves no deviation from
our rule of discourse, I am minded to tell it you.
’Tis no long time since there dwelt in our city
a young man, Michele Scalza by name, the pleasantest
and merriest fellow in the world, and the best furnished
with quaint stories: for which reason the Florentine
youth set great store on having him with them when
they forgathered in company. Now it so befell
that one day, he being with a party of them at Mont’
Ughi, they fell a disputing together on this wise;
to wit, who were the best gentlemen and of the longest
descent in Florence. One said, the Uberti, another,
the Lamberti, or some other family, according to the
predilection of the speaker. Whereat Scalza began
to smile, and said:—“Now out upon
you, out upon you, blockheads that ye are: ye
know not what ye say. The best gentlemen and
of longest descent in all the world and the Maremma
(let alone Florence) are the Baronci by the common
consent of all phisopholers,(1) and all that know them
as I do; and lest you should otherwise conceive me,
I say that ’tis of your neighbours the Baronci(2)
of Santa Maria Maggiore that I speak.” Whereupon
the young men, who had looked for somewhat else from
him, said derisively:—“Thou dost
but jest with us; as if we did not know the Baronci
as well as thou!” Quoth Scalza:—“By
the Gospels I jest not, but speak sooth; and if there
is any of you will wager a supper to be given to the
winner and six good fellows whom he shall choose,
I will gladly do the like, and—what is
more—I will abide by the decision of such
one of you as you may choose.” Then said
one of them whose name was Neri Mannini:—“I
am ready to adventure this supper;” and so they
agreed together that Piero di Fiorentino, in whose
house they were, should be judge, and hied them to
