ts of his design; he thus brought them at length to resolve on
confiding the conduct of this work, either to him or to one of the
foreign architects. Hereupon, the syndics, the wardens, and the
citizens, selected to be judges in the matter, having regained courage,
gathered together once again, and the architects disputed respecting the
matter before them; but all were put down and vanquished on sufficient
grounds by Filippo, and here it is said that the dispute of the egg
arose, in the manner following. The other architects desired that
Filippo should explain his purpose minutely, and show his model, as they
had shown theirs. This he would not do, but proposed to all the masters,
foreigners and compatriots, that he who could make an egg stand upright
on a piece of smooth marble, should be appointed to build the cupola,
since in doing that, his genius would be made manifest. They took an egg
accordingly, and all those masters did their best to make it stand
upright, but none discovered the method of doing so. Wherefore, Filippo,
being told that he might make it stand himself, took it daintily into
his hand, gave the end of it a blow on the plane of the marble, and made
it stand upright.[2] Beholding this, the artists loudly protested,
exclaiming that they could all have done the same; but Filippo replied,
laughing, that they might also know how to construct the cupola, if they
had seen the model and design. It was thus at length resolved that
Filippo should receive the charge of conducting the work, but was told
that he must furnish the syndics and wardens with more exact
information.

"He returned, therefore, to his house, and stated his whole purpose on a
sheet of paper, as clearly as he could possibly express it, when it was
given to the tribunal in the following terms:--'The difficulties of this
erection being well considered, magnificent signors and wardens, I find
that it cannot by any means be constructed in a perfect circle, since
the extent of the upper part, where the lantern has to be placed, would
be so vast, that when a weight was laid thereon, it would soon give way.
Now it appears to me that those architects who do not aim at giving
perpetual duration to their fabrics, cannot have any regard for the
durability of the memorial, nor do they even know what they are doing. I
have therefore determined to turn the inner part of this vault in
angles, according to the form of the walls, adopting the proportions an