the following
discourse to the wardens (Operai) Lorenzo being present:--'Signori
Operai, if the time we have to live were as well secured to us as is the
certainty that we may very quickly die, there is no doubt whatever that
many works would be completed, which are now commenced and left
imperfect. The malady with which I have had the misfortune to be
attacked, might have deprived me of life, and put a stop to this work;
wherefore, lest I should again fall sick, or Lorenzo either, which God
forbid, I have considered that it would be better for each to execute
his own portion of the work: as your worships have divided the salary,
let us also divide the labor, to the end that each, being incited to
show what he knows and is capable of performing, may proceed with
confidence, to his own honor and benefit, as well as to that of the
republic. Now there are two difficult operations which must at this time
be put into course of execution--the one is the erection of scaffoldings
for enabling the builders to work in safety, and which must be prepared
both for the inside and outside of the fabric, where they will be
required to sustain the weight of the men, the stones and the mortar,
with space also for the crane to draw up the different materials, and
for other machines and tools of various kinds. The other difficulty is
the chain-work, which has to be constructed upon the twelve braccia
already erected, this being requisite to bind and secure the eight sides
of the cupola, and which must surround the fabric, enchaining the whole,
in such a manner that the weight which has hereafter to be laid on it
shall press equally on all sides, the parts mutually supporting each
other, so that no part of the edifice shall be too heavily pressed on or
overweighed, but that all shall rest firmly on its own basis. Let
Lorenzo then take one of these works, whichever he may think he can most
easily execute; I will take the other, and answer for bringing it to a
successful issue, that we may lose no more time.' Lorenzo having heard
this, was compelled, for the sake of his honor, to accept one or other
of these undertakings; and although he did it very unwillingly, he
resolved to take the chain work, thinking that he might rely on the
counsels of the builders, and remembering also that there was a
chain-work of stone in the vaulting of San Giovanni di Fiorenza, from
which he might take a part, if not the whole, of the arrangement. One
took the s