oy that they had raised their country to such a height, auguring
for her, in the coming of that new Lady, increase, felicity, and
greatness; which was expressed excellently well in the four verses that
were to be seen written on the architrave above:

Hanc peperere suo patriam qui sanguine nobis
Aspice magnanimos heroas; nunc et ovantes
Et laeti incedant, felicem terque quaterque
Certatimque vocent tali sub Principe Floram.

Not less gladness could be seen in the beautiful statue of one of the
nine Muses, which was placed as a complement opposite to that of Mars,
nor less, again, in the figures of the men of science in the painted
canvas that was to be seen at her feet, of the same size and likewise as
the complement of the men of Mars opposite, by which it was sought to
signify that even as the men of war, so also the men of learning, of
whom Florence had always a great abundance and in no way less renowned
(in that, as all men admit, it was there that learning began to revive),
had likewise been brought by Florence under the guidance of their Muse
to receive and honour the noble bride. Which Muse, clad in a womanly,
graceful, and seemly habit, with a book in the right hand and a flute in
the left, seemed with a certain loving expression to wish to invite all
beholders to apply their minds to true virtue; and on the canvas beneath
her, executed, like all the others, in chiaroscuro, could be seen
painted a great and rich Temple of Minerva, whose statue crowned with
olive, with the shield of the Gorgon (as is customary), was placed
without; and before the temple and at the sides, within an enclosure of
balusters made as it were for a promenade, could be seen a great throng
of grave and solemn men, who, although all rejoicing and making merry,
yet retained in their aspect a certain something of the venerable, and
these, also, were portrayed from life. For Theology and Sanctity there
was the famous Fra Antonino, Archbishop of Florence, for whom a little
Angel was holding the episcopal mitre, and with him was seen Giovanni
Domenici, first Friar and then Cardinal; and with them Don Ambrogio,
General of Camaldoli, and M. Ruberto de' Bardi, Maestro Luigi Marsili,
Maestro Leonardo Dati, and many others. Even so, in another part--and
these were the Philosophers--were seen the Platonist M. Marsilio Ficino,
M. Francesco Cattani da Diacceto, M. Francesco Verini the elder, and M.
Donato Acciaiuoli; and for Law t