dell' ombrosa
Notte figlio, pietosa
E sacra schiera noi
Di Sogni, o belle donne, mostra a voi;
Perche il folle pensiero
Uman si scorga, che seguendo fiso
Amor, Fama, Narciso
E Bellona e Ricchezza il van sentiero
La notte e il giorno intero
S' aggira, al fine insieme
Per frutto ha la Pazzia del suo bel seme.
Accorte or dunque, il vostro
Tempo miglior spendete in cio che chiede
Natura, e non mai fede
Aggiate all' arte, che quasi aspro mostro
Cinto di perle e d' ostro
Dolce v' invita, e pure
Son le promesse Sogni e Larve scure.

OF THE CASTLE.

By way of having yet another different spectacle, there was built with
singular mastery on the vast Piazza di S. Maria Novella a most beautiful
castle, with all the proper appurtenances of ramparts, cavaliers,
casemates, curtains, ditches and counterditches, secret and public
gates, and, finally, all those considerations that are required in good
and strong fortifications; and in it was placed a good number of
valorous soldiers, with one of the principal and most noble lords of the
Court as their captain, a man determined on no account ever to be
captured. That magnificent spectacle being divided into two days, on the
first day there was seen appearing in most beautiful order from one side
a fine and most ornate squadron of horsemen all in armour and in
battle-array, as if about to meet real enemies in combat, and from the
other side, with the aspect of a massive and well-ordered army, some
companies of infantry with their baggage, waggons of munitions, and
artillery, and with their pioneers and sutlers, all drawn close
together, as is customary amid the dangers of real wars; these likewise
having a similar lord of great experience and valour as captain, who was
seen urging them on from every side, and fulfilling his office most
nobly. And after the attackers had been reconnoitred several times and
in various ways, with valour and artifice, by those within the castle,
and various skirmishes had been fought, now by the horsemen and now by
the infantry, with a great roar of musketry and artillery, and charges
had been delivered and received, and several ambuscades and other
suchlike stratagems of war had been planned with astuteness and
ingenuity; finally the defenders were seen, as if overcome by the
superior force, to begin little by little to retire, and in the end it
seemed th