the beautiful attitudes of the two boys that
are about her. Nor may any man think with all his imaginings to be
able to attain to the excellence of the figure of a youth representing
Daniel, who, writing in a great book, is taking certain things from
other writings and copying them with extraordinary attention; and as
a support for the weight of the book Michelagnolo painted a boy
between his legs, who is upholding it while he writes, all which no
brush held by a human hand, however skilful, will ever be able to
equal. And so, also, with the beautiful figure of the Libyan Sibyl,
who, having written a great volume drawn from many books, is in an
attitude of womanly grace, as if about to rise to her feet; and in one
and the same movement she makes as if to rise and to close the book--a
thing most difficult, not to say impossible, for any other but the
master of the work.

And what can be said of the four scenes at the corners, on the
spandrels of that vaulting; in one of which David, with all the boyish
strength that he can exert in the conquest of a giant, is cutting off
his head, bringing marvel to the faces of some soldiers who are about
the camp. And so, also, do men marvel at the beautiful attitudes that
Michelagnolo depicted in the story of Judith, at the opposite corner,
in which may be seen the trunk of Holofernes, robbed of life but still
quivering, while Judith is placing the lifeless head in a basket on
the head of her old serving-woman, who, being tall in stature, is
stooping to the end that Judith may be able to reach up to her and
adjust the weight well; and the servant, while upholding the burden
with her hands, seeks to conceal it, and, turning her head towards the
trunk, which, although dead, draws up an arm and a leg and makes a
noise in the tent, she shows in her expression fear of the camp and
terror of the dead body--a picture truly full of thought. But more
beautiful and more divine than this or any of the others is the story
of the Serpents of Moses, which is above the left-hand corner of the
altar; for the reason that in it is seen the havoc wrought by death,
the rain of serpents, their stings and their bites, and there may also
be perceived the serpent of brass that Moses placed upon a pole. In
this scene are shown vividly the various deaths that those die who are
robbed of all hope by the bite of the serpents, and one sees the
deadly venom causing vast numbers to die in terror and convulsions, to