others, made it clearly manifest,
saying:

Artibus egregiis Latiae Graiaeque Minervae
Florentes semper quis non miretur Etruscos?
Sed magis hoc illos aevo florere necesse est
Et Cosmo genitore et Cosmi prole favente.

Next, beside the statue of Mars, and somewhat nearer to that of
Florence--and here it must be noted with what singular art and judgment
every least thing was distributed, in that, the intention being to
accompany Florence with six Deities, so to speak, for the potency of
whom she could right well vaunt herself, the two hitherto described,
Mars and the Muse, because other cities could perhaps no less than she
lay claim to them, as being the least peculiar to her, were placed less
near to her than the others; and so for the spacious vestibule or
passage, as it were, formed before the gate by the four statues to
follow, the two already described were used as wings or head-pieces,
being placed at the entrance, one turned towards the Castle and the
other towards the Arno, but the next two, which formed the beginning of
the vestibule, for the reason that they are shared by her with few other
cities, came to be placed somewhat nearer to her, even as the last two,
because they are entirely peculiar to her and shared with no other city,
or, to speak more exactly, because no other can compare with her in them
(and may this be said without offence to any other Tuscan people, which,
when it shall have a Dante, a Petrarca, and a Boccaccio to put forward,
may perchance be able to come into dispute with her), were placed in
close proximity to her, and nearer than any of the others--now, to go
back, I say that beside the statue of Mars had been placed a Ceres,
Goddess of Cultivation and of the fields, not less beautiful and good to
look upon than the others; which pursuit, how useful it is and how
worthy of honour for a well-ordered city, was taught in ancient times by
Rome, who had enrolled all her nobility among the rustic tribes, as Cato
testifies, besides many others, calling it the nerve of that most
puissant Republic, and as Pliny affirms no less strongly when he says
that the fields had been tilled by the hands of Imperatores, and that it
may be believed that earth rejoiced to be ploughed by the laureate share
and by the triumphant ploughman. That Ceres was crowned, as is
customary, with ears of various kinds of corn, having in the right hand
a sickle and in the left a bunch of similar ears.