such a long and troublesome undertaking; and afterwards he
caused the tomb to be erected in S. Pietro in Vincola in the following
manner. He erected the lower base, which was all carved, with four
pedestals which projected outwards as much as was necessary to give
space for the captive that was originally intended to stand on each of
them, instead of which there was left a terminal figure; and since the
lower part had thus a poor effect, he placed at the feet of each
terminal figure a reversed console resting on the pedestal. Those four
terminal figures had between them three niches, two of which (those at
the sides) were round, and were to have contained the Victories.
Instead of the Victories, he placed in one Leah, the daughter of
Laban, to represent the Active Life, with a mirror in her hand to
signify the consideration that we should give to our actions, and in
the other hand a garland of flowers, to denote the virtues that adorn
our life during its duration, and make it glorious after death; and
the other figure was her sister Rachel, representing the Contemplative
Life, with the hands clasped and one knee bent, and on the countenance
a look as of ecstasy of spirit. These statues Michelagnolo executed
with his own hand in less than a year. In the centre is the other
niche, rectangular in shape, which in the original design was to have
been one of the doors that were to lead into the little oval temple of
the rectangular tomb; this having become a niche, there is placed in
it, upon a dado of marble, the gigantic and most beautiful statue of
Moses, of which we have already said enough. Above the heads of the
terminal figures, which form capitals, are architrave, frieze, and
cornice, which project beyond those figures and are carved with rich
ornaments, foliage, ovoli, dentils, and other rich members,
distributed over the whole work. Over that cornice rises another
course, smooth and without carvings, but with different terminal
figures standing directly above those below, after the manner of
pilasters, with a variety of cornice-members; and since this course
accompanies that below and resembles it in every part, there is in it
a space similar to the other, forming a niche like that in which there
is now the Moses, and in the niche, resting on projections of the
cornice, is a sarcophagus of marble with the recumbent statue of Pope
Julius, executed by the sculptor Maso dal Bosco, while in that niche,
also, there stand