ans, but
Germans, French, and of every other nation; and to propose this work to
them, to the end that, after discussing and deciding among so many
masters, it may be begun, being entrusted to him who shall give the most
direct proof of ability or possess the best method and judgment for
such an undertaking. Nor could I give you other counsel or a better plan
than this."

The plan and the counsel of Filippo pleased the Consuls and the Wardens
of Works, but they would have liked him in the meanwhile to have made a
model and to have given thought to the matter. But he showed that he
cared nothing for it; nay, taking leave of them, he said that he had
received letters soliciting him to return to Rome. Whereupon the
Consuls, perceiving that their prayers and those of the Wardens did not
avail to detain him, caused many of his friends to entreat him; but
Filippo would not give way, and one morning (on May 26, 1417) the
Wardens decreed him a present of money, which is found entered to the
credit of Filippo in the books of the Office of Works; and all this was
to conciliate him. But he, steadfast in his resolution, took his
departure none the less from Florence and returned to Rome, where he
studied continuously for that undertaking, making arrangements and
preparing himself for the completion of the work, thinking, as was true,
that no other than himself could carry it out. And as for his counsel
that new architects should be summoned, Filippo had advanced it for no
other reason but that they might serve to prove the greatness of his own
intellect, and not because he thought that they would be able to vault
that tribune or to undertake such a charge, which was too difficult for
them. And thus much time was consumed before those architects arrived
from their countries, whom they had caused to be summoned from afar by
means of orders given to Florentine merchants who dwelt in France, in
Germany, in England, and in Spain, and who were commissioned to spend
any sum of money, if only they could obtain the most experienced and
able intellects that there were in those regions from the Princes of
those countries, and send them to Florence.

By the year 1420, all these ultramontane masters were finally assembled
in Florence, and likewise those of Tuscany and all the ingenious
craftsmen of design in Florence; and so Filippo returned from Rome. They
all assembled, therefore, in the Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore,
in the presenc