those others had not first been
such as they were before us. In short, let it be believed that what I
have done in praising or censuring I have done not with any ulterior
object, but only to speak the truth or what I have believed to be the
truth. But one cannot always have the goldsmith's balance in the hand,
and he who has experienced what writing is, and particularly when one
has to make comparisons, which are by their very nature odious, or to
pronounce judgments, will hold me excused; and I know only too well how
great have been the labours, hardships, and moneys that I have devoted
over many years to this work. Such, indeed, and so many, have been the
difficulties that I have experienced therein, that many a time I would
have abandoned it in despair, if the succour of many true and good
friends, to whom I shall always be deeply indebted, had not given me
courage and persuaded me to persevere, they lending me all the loving
aids that have been in their power, of notices, advices, and comparisons
of various things, about which, although I had seen them, I was not a
little perplexed and dubious. Those aids, indeed, have been such, that I
have been able to lay bare the pure truth and bring this work into the
light of day, in order to revive the memory of so many rare and
extraordinary intellects, which was almost entirely buried, for the
benefit of those who shall come after us. In doing which I have found no
little assistance, as has been told elsewhere, in the writings of
Lorenzo Ghiberti, Domenico Ghirlandajo, and Raffaello da Urbino; but
although I have lent them willing faith, nevertheless I have always
sought to verify their statements by a sight of the works, for the
reason that long practice teaches a diligent painter to be able to
recognize the various manners of craftsmen not otherwise than a learned
and well-practised chancellor knows the various and diverse writings of
his equals, or anyone the characters of his nearest and most familiar
friends and relatives.

Now, if I have achieved the end that I have desired, which has been to
benefit and at the same time to delight, that will be a supreme
satisfaction to me, and, even if it be otherwise, it will be a
contentment for me, or at least an alleviation of pain, to have endured
fatigue in an honourable work such as should make me worthy of pity
among all choice spirits, if not of pardon. But to come at last to the
end of this long discourse; I have written