three o'clock in the afternoon
The half-fledged tyrants were fairly out of their splendid nest in the Via Larga , and the Republic had recovered the use of its will again . But now , a week later , the great palace in the Via Larga had been prepared for the reception of another tenant ; and if drapery roofing the streets with unwonted colour , if banners and hangings pouring out of the windows , if carpets and tapestry stretched over all steps and pavement on which exceptional feet might tread , were an unquestionable proof of joy , Florence was very joyful in the expectation of its new guest . The stream of colour flowed from the palace in the Via Larga round by the Cathedral , then by the great Piazza della Signoria , and across the Ponte Vecchio to the Porta San Frediano -- the gate that looks towards Pisa . There , near the gate , a platform and canopy had been erected for the Signoria ; and Messer Luca Corsini , doctor of law , felt his heart palpitating a little with the sense that he had a Latin oration to read ; and every chief elder in Florence had to make himself ready , with smooth chin and well-lined silk lucco , to walk in procession ; and the well-born youths were looking at their rich new tunics after the French mode which was to impress the stranger as having a peculiar grace when worn by Florentines ; and a large body of the clergy , from the archbishop in his effulgence to the train of monks , black , white , and grey , were consulting betimes in the morning how they should marshal themselves , with their burden of relics and sacred banners and consecrated jewels , that their movements might be adjusted to the expected arrival of the illustrious visitor , at three o'clock in the afternoon . An unexampled visitor ! For he had come through the passes of the Alps with such an army as Italy had not seen before : with thousands of terrible Swiss , well used to fight for love and hatred as well as for hire ; with a host of gallant cavaliers proud of a name ; with an unprecedented infantry , in which every man in a hundred carried an arquebus ; nay , with cannon of bronze , shooting not stones but iron balls , drawn not by bullocks but by horses , and capable of firing a second time before a city could mend the breach made by the first ball . Some compared the new-comer to Charlemagne , reputed rebuilder of Florence , welcome conqueror of degenerate kings , regulator and benefactor of the Church ; some preferred the comparison to Cyrus , liberator of the chosen people , restorer of the Temple .