23. Brunelleschi Seems to Have Gotten Just About the Whole City to Participate in an Intricate Deceit
Things got worse for Manetto when a bailiff passed by, and addressed him as Matteo. Despite Manetto’s protestations that he had the wrong man, the bailiff promptly arrested the cabinet maker for debt. The now thoroughly bewildered Manetto was taken to prison, where his name was entered into the register as Matteo. Thrown into lockup, his fellow prisoners – all of whom were also in on the hilariously cruel deceit – addressed him as Matteo. Discombobulated, the cabinet maker spent a sleepless night in jail.
While behind bars, he solaced himself with the notion that it was all a case of mistaken identity that would soon get cleared up. Unfortunately, he was mistaken. After a night in jail, things got worse for Manetto’s mental health when the morning brought two “relatives” – the real Matteo’s brothers – to the prison, who claimed him as their kin. They paid his debt and freed him, even as they berated him for his gambling and wastrel ways. More bewildered now than ever, Manetto was escorted to Matteo’s home on the other side of Florence.