ds, as was also,
not long after that, another equally beautiful oration, likewise in
praise of Michelagnolo and of painting, composed by the most noble and
most learned M. Leonardo Salviati, at that time a young man of about
twenty-two years of age, and of a rare and happy genius in all manner
of compositions, both Latin and Tuscan, as is known even now, and will
be better known in the future, to all the world. And what shall I say,
what can I say, that would not be too little, of the capacity,
goodness, and wisdom of the very reverend Lord Lieutenant, the
above-named Don Vincenzio Borghini? Save that it was with him as their
chief, their guide, and their counsellor, that the eminent men of the
Academy and Company of Design celebrated those obsequies; for the
reason that, although each of them was competent to do much more in
his art than he did, nevertheless no enterprise is ever carried to a
perfect and praiseworthy end save when one single man, in the manner
of an experienced pilot and captain, has authority and power over all
others. And since it was not possible that the whole city should see
that funeral pomp in one day, by order of the Duke it was all left
standing many weeks, for the satisfaction of his people and of the
strangers who came from neighbouring places to see it.

We shall not give in this place the great multitude of epitaphs and
verses, both Latin and Tuscan, composed by many able men in honour of
Michelagnolo; both because they would require a work to themselves,
and because they have been written down and published by other writers
elsewhere. But I will not omit to say in this last part, that after
all the honours described above the Duke ordained that an honourable
place should be given to Michelagnolo for his tomb in S. Croce, in
which church he had purposed in his lifetime to be buried, because the
sepulchre of his ancestors was there. And to Leonardo, the nephew of
Michelagnolo, his Excellency gave all the marbles, both white and
variegated, for that tomb, which was allotted to Battista Lorenzi, an
able sculptor, to execute after the design of Giorgio Vasari, together
with the head of Michelagnolo. And since there are to be three statues
there, Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, one of these was
allotted to the above-named Battista, one to Giovanni dell'Opera, and
the last to Valerio Cioli, Florentine sculptors; which statues are in
process of being fashioned together with the tomb, and s