, the soul of Michelagnolo, and the Fame; and each of those two
figures had another beneath it. That which was on the right hand of
the Rivers, representing Vulcan, had a torch in the hand; and the
figure representing Hatred, which had the neck under Vulcan's feet in
an attitude of great constraint, and as it were struggling to writhe
free, had as symbol a vulture, with this verse:

SURGERE QUID PROPERAS ODIUM CRUDELE? JACETO.

And that because things superhuman, and almost divine, should in no
way be regarded with envy or hatred. The other, representing Aglaia,
one of the Three Graces and wife of Vulcan, to signify Proportion, had
in her hand a lily, both because flowers are dedicated to the Graces,
and also because the lily is held to be not inappropriate to the rites
of death. The figure which was lying beneath Aglaia, and which was
painted to represent Disproportion, had as symbol a monkey, or rather,
ape, and above her this verse:

VIVUS ET EXTINCTUS DOCUIT SIC STERNERE TURPE.

And under the Rivers were these two other verses:

VENIMUS, ARNE, TUO CONFIXA IN VULNERE MOESTA
FLUMINA, UT EREPTUM MUNDO PLOREMUS HONOREM.

This picture was held to be very beautiful in the invention, in the
composition of the whole scene and the loveliness of the figures, and
in the beauty of the verses, and because the painter honoured
Michelagnolo with this his labour, not by commission, but
spontaneously and with such assistance as his own merit enabled him to
obtain from his courteous and honourable friends; and for this reason
he deserved to be even more highly commended.

In another picture, six braccia in length and four in height, near the
lateral door that leads out of the church, Tommaso da San Friano, a
young painter of much ability, had painted Michelagnolo as Ambassador
of his country at the Court of Pope Julius II; as we have related that
he went, and for what reasons, sent by Soderini. Not far distant from
the above-named picture (namely, a little below that lateral door
which leads out of the church), in another picture of the same size,
Stefano Pieri, a pupil of Bronzino and a young man of great diligence
and industry, had painted a scene that had in truth happened several
times in Rome not long before--namely, Michelagnolo seated in a room
by the side of the most illustrious Lord Duke Cosimo, who stood
conversing with him; of all which enough has been said above.

Over the said black draperies with which,