rough the city, and
such a multitude of young people flocked thither to see the corpse,
that there was great difficulty in contriving to close the tomb; and
if it had been day, instead of night, we would have been forced to
leave it open many hours in order to satisfy the public. The following
morning, while the painters and sculptors were commencing to make
arrangements for the memorial of honour, many choice spirits, such as
have always abounded in Florence, began to attach above the aforesaid
sepulchre verses both Latin and in the vulgar tongue, and so it was
continued for some time; but those compositions that were printed at
that time were but a small part with respect to the many that were
written.

Now to come to the obsequies, which were not held the day after the
day of S. John, as had been intended, but were postponed until the
14th of July. The three deputies (for Benvenuto Cellini, having felt
somewhat indisposed from the beginning, had never taken any part in
the matter), having appointed the sculptor Zanobi Lastricati as their
proveditor, resolved that they would do something ingenious and worthy
of their arts rather than costly and full of pomp. And, in truth,
since honour was to be paid (said those deputies and their proveditor)
to such a man as Michelagnolo, and by men of the profession that he
had practised, men rich rather in talents than in excess of means,
that must be done not with regal pomp or superfluous vanities, but
with inventions and works abounding in spirit and loveliness, such as
issue from the knowledge and readiness of hand of our craftsmen; thus
honouring art with art. For although, they said, we may expect from
his Excellency the Lord Duke any sum of money that may be necessary,
and we have already received such amounts as we have demanded,
nevertheless we must hold it as certain that from us there is expected
something ingenious and pleasing in invention and art, rather than
rich through vast expense or grand by reason of superb appurtenances.
But, notwithstanding this, it was seen in the end that the work was
equal in magnificence to any that ever issued from the hands of those
Academicians, and that this memorial of honour was no less truly
magnificent than it was ingenious and full of fanciful and
praiseworthy inventions.

Finally, then, it was arranged that in the central nave of S. Lorenzo,
between the two lateral doors, of which one leads out of the church
and the other into