Giorgio.
“Truly I will not swear that this is a story of the Bargello, for I am very particular as to truth, Signore, but I will swear that ’tis of a prison in Florence, and that when it happened the Bargello was the only prison there. And it runs thus: Giorgio, whoever he was, had killed a man, and as the law ran in his case, in those strange days, he could not be executed till he had confessed or owned the deed. And he would not confess.
“Now there was a lawyer, un notaio, ò chi che si fosse (or whoever he was), who declared that he would bring to pass with a trick what justice had not been able to do with torture. So going to the prison, he called for wine, and when they had drunk deep he cried heartily:
“‘Orsú, Giorgio, stiamo un poco allegri, cantiam qualche cosa’—‘Come now, Giorgio, let’s be merry and sing something!’
“‘Come ti piace’—‘As you please,’ quoth Master Giorgio. ‘You sing one line.’
“So the notary began, touching a lute:
“‘Giorgi hà morto l’huomo.’
“‘Giorgio once killed a man.’
“To which Giorgio, who was sharp as a razor, added:
“‘Così non canta Giorgio.’
“‘But it was not thus that Giorgio sang.’
“So it passed into a proverb, meaning as much as Così non dico io—I don’t say that; or Così non l’intendo io—I don’t see