thy following
Never more canst hope for rescue.'

"Then she sang again:

"'Confino i tuoi servitori,
Quelli che ti aiut avanno
A discacciar sui, o
Diventare della forma,
Mezze bestie, mezzi uomini,
E tu o Biancone,
Che tanto grande siei,
Ti confino a stare sempre,
Sempre ritto e non potrete
Mai ragionare, ne camminare
Solo quando sara luna,
Luna piena, passero io
Ti vedro, e mi vedrai,
Ma parlarmi non potrai.

"'Quando sara luna piena,
E che sara una notte,
Che sara mezza nuvola,
E mezza serena s'enderai,
Della tua carozza nei,
Nei momenti che la Luna
Resta sotto le nuvole,
E cosi potrei favellare,
Con tutte le statue, che ai
Attorno, allor tua carozza,
E col mio permesso potrai
Andare anche dai tuoi amici!'

"'I hereby compel thy servants,
Those who aided thee, to vanish,
Or take forms half brute, half human. {158}
As for thee, O Biancone!
Thou who art so tall and stately,
Thou shalt stand erect for ever,
Without power to speak or wander,
Only when the full moon shining
Falls upon thee, I will pass thee,
I shall see thee; thou will see me,
Without power to address me!

"'When the moon in full is shining,
Yet when clouds begin to gather;
Half in light and half in darkness,
Thou may'st only in the moment
When the moon is overclouded,
Leave thy chariot, and have converse
With the statues who are round thee,
Then thou may'st, by my permission,
Go among thy friends, then only.'"

* * * * *

I may here explain to the reader that this tale with its elaborate
invocations is not current as here given among the _people_. Such forms
and formulas are confined to the witches, who, as in all countries, are
the keepers of mysterious traditions. All that is generally heard as
regards this subject is, that when the full moon shines on Biancone at
midnight, he becomes animated, and walks about the Signoria conversing
with the other statues.

The Neptune was, with horses and all, produced by Bartolommeo Ammanati
between 1564 and 1565. It has a certain merit of grandeur, but in lesser
degree is like its neighbour Cacus, by Baccio Bandinelli, which Benvenuto
Cellini justly regarded as resembling a mere bag of fat. When Michael
Angelo saw the Neptune he exclaimed: "Ammanato! Ammanato! che