There is a story out
of some Italian city-state, probably
Siena, but easily could've been another,
it doesn't matter
—in the time of Frederick III;
in the time of Imperial authority—
about a condottiere who
freed the city from occupation
by foreigners.
And so the citizens,
grateful for the deed,
clamored to reward the man, but,
finding he was of ignoble birth
could not
(as a matter of course)
grant him lordship or
dukedom or
what have you,
and so appeared the idea
from, one can imagine,
a burgher or a magistrate
or what have you,
“ We shall kill him
“ and then,
“ having killed him,
“ we shall revere him
“ as a saint
“ and dear patron
“ of our fair city.
This they did.
πολυφλοίσβοιος 