at pile of arms which she had at her feet; and
these arms, the statue of Peace, and all the other figures that made
this structure one of great beauty, were made of pasteboard, clay, and
cloth steeped in glue, put together with extraordinary art. They were,
I say, of these materials, to the end that the whole work might be the
lighter, since it was to be suspended at a great height from the
ground by a double rope that crossed the Piazza high in the air. It is
true, indeed, that the fireworks having been placed in it too thickly,
and the fuses of tow being too near one to another, when they were set
alight, such was the fury of the conflagration, and so great and so
violent the blaze, that everything caught fire all at once, and was
burned in a flash, whereas it should have continued to burn for an
hour at least; and what was worse, the fire seizing on the woodwork
and on all that should have been preserved, the ropes and every other
thing were consumed in a moment, which was no small loss, and gave
little pleasure to the people. But with regard to workmanship, it was
more beautiful than any other girandola that had ever been made up to
that time.

The Duke, then, resolving to erect the Loggia of the Mercato Nuovo for
the convenience of his citizens and merchants, did not wish to lay a
greater burden than he could bear on Tribolo, who, as chief engineer
to the Capitani di Parte and the commissioners of the rivers and the
sewers of the city, was always riding through the Florentine
dominions, engaged in bringing back to their proper beds many rivers
that did damage by breaking away from them, in repairing bridges, and
in other suchlike works; and he gave the charge of this enterprise to
Tasso, at the advice of the above-mentioned Messer Pier Francesco, his
major-domo, in order to change that Tasso from a carpenter into an
architect. This was certainly against the wishes of Tribolo, although
he did not show it, and even acted as the close friend of Tasso; and a
proof that this is true is that Tribolo perceived many errors in
Tasso's model, but, so it is believed, would by no means tell him of
them. Such an error, for example, was that of the capitals of the
columns that are beside the pilasters, whereby, the columns not
leaving enough space, when everything had been drawn up, and the
capitals had to be set into position, the corona above those capitals
would not go in, so that it was found necessary to cut away so much
t