that most useful and handsome building wherein
the greater part of the most noble magistrates are to be accommodated,
which is being erected by his command opposite to the Mint, and which
may be seen already carried near completion; and over it stretches that
long and convenient corridor of which mention has been made above, built
with extraordinary rapidity in these days by order of the same Duke;
likewise with a motto that said: PUBLICAE COMMODITATI. And so, also, in
the third was seen Concord, with the usual horn of plenty in the left
hand, and with an ancient military ensign in the right, at whose feet a
Lion and a She-Wolf, the well-known emblems of Florence and Siena, were
shown lying in peaceful tranquillity; with a motto suited to the matter,
and saying: ETRURIA PACATA. In the fourth was seen depicted the
above-described oriental column of granite, with Justice on the summit,
which under his happy sceptre may well be said to be preserved inviolate
and impartial; with a motto saying: JUSTITIA VICTRIX. Even as in the
fifth was seen a ferocious bull with both the horns broken, intended to
signify, as has been told already of the Achelous, the straightening of
the River Arno in many places, carried out with such advantage by the
Duke; with the motto: IMMINUTUS CREVIT. In the sixth, then, was seen
that most superb palace which was begun formerly by M. Luca Pitti with a
magnificence so marvellous in a private citizen, and with truly regal
spirit and grandeur, and which at the present day our most magnanimous
Duke is causing with incomparable artistry and care to be not only
carried to completion, but also to be increased and beautified in a
glorious and marvellous manner, with architecture heroic and stupendous,
and also with very large and very choice gardens full of most abundant
fountains, and with a vast quantity of most noble statues, ancient and
modern, which he has caused to be collected from all over the world;
which was explained by the motto, saying: PULCHRIORA LATENT. In the
seventh, within a great door, were seen many books arranged in various
manners, with a motto in the scroll, saying, PUBLICAE UTILITATI; intended
to signify the glorious solicitude shown by many of the Medici family,
and particularly by our most liberal Duke, in collecting and preserving
with such diligence a marvellous quantity of the rarest books in every
tongue, recently placed in the beautiful Library of S. Lorenzo, which
was begun by