the effect of any detail of their
adornment and beauty. There stood in the same manner, as it were as
wings to those two main arches, on the one side and on the other, two
other arches, one of which, attached to the Palace of the Strozzi, and
leading to the above-mentioned Tower of the Tornaquinci, gave passage to
those who wished to turn towards the Mercato Vecchio, even as the other,
placed on the other side, did the same service to those who might desire
to go towards the street called La Vigna; wherefore the Via di S.
Trinita, which, as has been told, is so broad, terminating thus in the
four arches described, came to present such loveliness and a view so
beautiful and so heroic, that it appeared impossible to afford greater
satisfaction to the eyes of the spectators. And this was the front part,
composed, as has been described, of four arches; of two main arches,
namely, one false, and one real, which led into the Via de' Tornabuoni,
and of two others at the sides, in the manner of wings, which were
turned towards the two cross-streets. Now since, entering into the said
street of the Tornabuoni on the left side, beside the Vigna, there
debouches (as everyone knows) the Strada di S. Sisto, which likewise of
necessity strikes the flank of the same Tower of the Tornaquinci, it was
made to appear, in order to hide the same ugliness in a similar manner
with the same illusion of a similar prospect-scene, that that side also
passed into a similar street of various houses placed in the same way,
with an ingenious view of a very ornate fountain overflowing with
crystal-clear waters, from which a woman with a child was represented as
drawing some, so that one who was at no great distance would certainly
have declared that she was real and by no means simulated. Now these
four arches--to return to those in front--were supported and divided by
five columns adorned in the manner described, forming as it were a
rectangular piazza; and in a line with each of those columns, above the
final cornice and the summit of the edifice, there was a most beautiful
seat, while in the same manner four others were placed over the centre
of each arch, which in all came to the number of nine. In eight of these
was seen seated in each a statue of most imposing appearance, some shown
in armour, some in the garb of peace, and others in the imperator's
paludament, according to the characters of those who were portrayed in
them; and in place of the ni