work to bring me to the end of the description given above, but the
abundance of the inventions, the magnificence of the things done, and
the desire to satisfy the curiosity of craftsmen, for whose particular
benefit, as has been told, this description is written, have in some
way, I know not how, carried me to a length which might perchance appear
to some to be excessive, but which is nevertheless necessary for one who
proposes to render everything distinct and clear. But now that I find
myself past the first part of my labours, although I hope to treat with
more brevity, and with perhaps no less pleasure for my readers, the
remainder of the description of the spectacles that were held, in which,
no less than the liberality of our magnanimous Lords, and no less than
the lively dexterity of the ingenious inventors, there appeared rare and
excellent the industry and art of the same craftsmen, yet it should not
be thought a thing beside the mark or altogether unworthy of
consideration, if, before going any further, we say something of the
aspect of the city while the festivities for the nuptials were being
prepared and after they were finished, for the reason that in the city,
to the infinite entertainment of all beholders, were seen many streets
redecorated both within and without, the Ducal Palace (as will be
described) embellished with extraordinary rapidity, the fabric of the
long corridor (which leads from that Palace to that of the Pitti)
flying, as it were, with wings, the column, the fountain, and all the
arches described above springing in a certain sense out of the ground,
and all the other festive preparations in progress, but in particular
the comedy, which was to appear first, and the two grand masquerades,
which had need of most labour, and, finally, all the other things being
prepared according to the time at which they were to be represented,
some quickly and others more slowly; the two Lords, Duke and Prince,
after the manner of the ancient AEdiles, having distributed them between
themselves, and having undertaken to execute each his part in generous
emulation. Nor was less solicitude or less rivalry seen among the
gentlemen and ladies of the city, and among the strangers, of whom a
vast number had flocked thither from all Italy, vying one with another
in the pomp of vestments, and not less in their own than in the liveries
of their attendants, male and female, in festivals private and public,
and in the sumptuous banquets that were given in constant succession,
now in one place and now in another; so that there could be seen at one
and the same moment leisure, festivity, delight, spending, and pomp, and
also commerce, industry, patience, labour, and grateful gain, with which
all the craftsmen named above were filled, all working their effect in
liberal measure.
Now, to come to the court of the Ducal Palace, into which one entered by
the door already described; in order not to pass it by without saying
anything about it, we must relate that, although it seemed dark and
inconvenient, and almost incapable of receiving any kind of
ornamentation, nevertheless with marvellous novelty and with incredible
rapidity it was carried to that perfection of beauty and loveliness in
which it may be seen by everyone at the present day. In addition to the
graceful fountain of hardest porphyry that is placed in the centre, and
the lovely boy that pours water into it from the dolphin held in his
arms, in an instant the nine columns were fluted and shaped in a most
beautiful manner in the Corinthian Order, which surround the square
court named above, and which support on one side the encircling loggie
constructed very roughly of hard-stone, according to the custom of those
times; overlaying the ground of those columns almost entirely with gold,
and filling them with most graceful foliage over the flutings, and
shaping their bases and capitals together according to the good ancient
custom. Within the loggie, the vaults of which were all filled and
adorned with most bizarre and extravagant grotesques, there were seen
represented, as in many medallions made for the same purpose, some of
the glorious deeds of the magnanimous Duke, which--if smaller things may
be compared with greater--I have considered often in my own mind to be
so similar to those of the first Octavianus Augustus, that it would be
difficult to find any greater resemblance; for the reason that--not to
mention that both the one and the other were born under one and the same
ascendant of Capricorn, and not to mention that both were raised almost
unexpectedly to the sovereignty at the same immature age, and not to
speak of the most important victories gained both by the one and by the
other in the first days of August, and of their having similar
constitutions and natures in their private and intimate lives, and of
their singular affection for their wives, save that in his children, in
the election to the principality, and perhaps in many other things, I
believe that our fortunate Duke might be esteemed more blessed than
Augustus--is there not seen both in the one and in the other a most
ardent and most extraordinary desire to build and embellish, and to
contrive that others should build and embellish? Insomuch that, if the
first said that he found Rome built of bricks and left her built of
solid stone, the second will be able to say not less truthfully that he
received Florence already of stone, indeed, ornate and beautiful, but
leaves her to his successors by a great measure more ornate and more
beautiful, increased and magnified by every kind of convenient, lovely,
and magnificent adornment.
To represent these matters, in each lunette of the above-named loggie
there was seen an oval accommodated with suitable ornaments, and with
singular grace; in one of which there could be seen the fortification of
Porto Ferrajo in Elba, a work of such importance, with many ships and
galleys that were shown lying there in safety, and the glorious building
of the city in the same place, called after its founder Cosmopolis; with
a motto within the oval, saying: ILVA RENASCENS; and another in the
encircling scroll, which said: TUSCORUM ET LIGURUM SECURITATI. Even as
in the second was seen that most useful and handsome building wherein
the greater part of the most noble magistrates are to be accommodated,
which is being erected by his command opposite to the Mint, and which
may be seen already carried near completion; and over it stretches that
long and convenient corridor of which mention has been made above, built
with extraordinary rapidity in these days by order of the same Duke;
likewise with a motto that said: PUBLICAE COMMODITATI. And so, also, in
the third was seen Concord, with the usual horn of plenty in the left
hand, and with an ancient military ensign in the right, at whose feet a
Lion and a She-Wolf, the well-known emblems of Florence and Siena, were
shown lying in peaceful tranquillity; with a motto suited to the matter,
and saying: ETRURIA PACATA. In the fourth was seen depicted the
above-described oriental column of granite, with Justice on the summit,
which under his happy sceptre may well be said to be preserved inviolate
and impartial; with a motto saying: JUSTITIA VICTRIX. Even as in the
fifth was seen a ferocious bull with both the horns broken, intended to
signify, as has been told already of the Achelous, the straightening of
the River Arno in many places, carried out with such advantage by the
Duke; with the motto: IMMINUTUS CREVIT. In the sixth, then, was seen
that most superb palace which was begun formerly by M. Luca Pitti with a
magnificence so marvellous in a private citizen, and with truly regal
spirit and grandeur, and which at the present day our most magnanimous
Duke is causing with incomparable artistry and care to be not only
carried to completion, but also to be increased and beautified in a
glorious and marvellous manner, with architecture heroic and stupendous,
and also with very large and very choice gardens full of most abundant
fountains, and with a vast quantity of most noble statues, ancient and
modern, which he has caused to be collected from all over the world;
which was explained by the motto, saying: PULCHRIORA LATENT. In the
seventh, within a great door, were seen many books arranged in various
manners, with a motto in the scroll, saying, PUBLICAE UTILITATI; intended
to signify the glorious solicitude shown by many of the Medici family,
and particularly by our most liberal Duke, in collecting and preserving
with such diligence a marvellous quantity of the rarest books in every
tongue, recently placed in the beautiful Library of S. Lorenzo, which
was begun by Clement VII and finished by his Excellency. Even as in the
eighth, under the figure of two hands that appeared to become more
firmly bound together the more they strove to undo a certain knot, there
was denoted the abdication lovingly performed by him in favour of the
most amiable Prince, and how difficult, or, we should rather say, how
impossible it is for one who has once set himself to the government of a
State, to disengage himself; which was explained by the motto, saying:
EXPLICANDO IMPLICATUR. In the ninth was seen the above-described
Fountain of the Piazza, with that rare statue of Neptune, and with the
motto, OPTABILIOR QUO MELIOR; signifying not only the adornment of the
immense statue and fountain named above, but also the profit and
advantage that will accrue in a short time to the city from the waters
that the Duke is constantly engaged in bringing to her. In the tenth,
then, was seen the magnanimous creation of the new Order of S. Stephen,
represented by the figure of the same Duke in armour, who was shown
offering a sword with one hand over an altar to an armed knight, and
with the other one of their crosses; with a motto saying: VICTOR
VINCITUR. And in the eleventh, likewise under the figure of the same
Duke, who was addressing many soldiers according to the ancient custom,
there was represented the militia so well ordained and preserved by him
in his valorous companies; with a motto that explained it, saying: RES
MILITARIS CONSTITUTA. In the twelfth, with the sole words, MUNITA
TUSCIA, and without any further representation, were demonstrated the
many fortifications made by our most prudent Duke in the most important
places in the State; adding in the scroll, with fine morality: SINE
JUSTITIA IMMUNITA. Even as in the thirteenth, in like manner without
any other representation, there could be read, SICCATIS MARITIMIS
PALUDIBUS; as may be seen to his infinite glory in many places, but
above all in the fertile country of Pisa. And in order not to pass over
completely in silence the praise due to him for having brought back and
restored so gloriously to his native Florence the artillery and the
ensigns lost at other times, in the fourteenth and last were seen some
soldiers returning to him laden with these, all dancing and joyful; with
a motto in explanation, which said: SIGNIS RECEPTIS. And then, for the
satisfaction of the strangers, and particularly the many German lords
who had come thither in vast numbers in honour of her Highness, with the
most excellent Duke of Bavaria, the younger, her kinsman, there were
seen under the above-described lunettes, beautifully distributed in
compartments and depicted with all the appearance of reality, many of
the principal cities of Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, the Tyrol, and the
other States subject to her august brother.
OF THE HALL, AND OF THE COMEDY.
Now, ascending by the most commodious staircase to the Great Hall, where
the principal and most important festivities and the principal banquet
of the nuptials were celebrated (forbearing to speak of the magnificent
and stupendous ceiling, marvellous in the variety and multitude of the
rare historical paintings, and marvellous also in the ingenuity of the
inventions, in the richness of the partitions, and in the infinite
quantity of gold with which the whole is seen to shine, but most
marvellous in that it has been executed in an incredibly short time by
the industry of a single painter; and treating of the other things
pertaining only to this place), I must say that truly I do not believe
that in these our parts we have any information of any other hall that
is larger or more lofty; but to find one more beautiful, more rich, more
ornate, or arranged with more convenience than that hall as it was seen
on the day when the comedy was performed, that I believe would be
absolutely impossible. For, in addition to the immense walls, on which
with graceful partitions, and not without poetical invention, were seen
portrayed from the reality the principal squares of the most noble
cities of Tuscany, and in addition to the vast and most lovely canvas
painted with various animals hunted and taken in various ways, which,
upheld by a great cornice, and concealing the prospect-scene, served so
well as one of the end-walls, that the Great Hall appeared to have its
due proportions, such, in addition, and so well arranged, were the tiers
of seats that ran right round, and so lovely on that day the sight of
the handsome ladies who had been invited there in great numbers from
among the most beautiful, the most noble, and the richest, and of the
many lords, chevaliers, and other gentlemen who had been accommodated
above them and throughout the rest of the room, that without a doubt,
when the fantastic lights were lit, at the fall of the canvas described
above, the luminous prospect-scene being revealed, it appeared in truth
as if Paradise with all the Choirs of the Angels had been thrown open at
that instant; which illusion was increased marvellously by a very soft,
full, and masterly concert of instruments and voices, which very soon
afterwards was heard to come forth from that direction. In that
prospect-scene the most distant part was made to recede most ingeniously
along the line of the bridge, terminating in the end of the street that
is called the Via Maggio, and in the nearest part was represented the
beautiful street of S. Trinita; and when the eyes of the spectators had
been allowed to sate themselves for some time with that and the many
other marvellous things, the desired and welcome beginning was made with
the first interlude of the comedy, which was taken, like all the others,
from that touching story of Psyche and Cupid so delicately narrated by
Apuleius in his Golden Ass. From it were taken the parts that appeared
the most important, and these were accommodated with the greatest
possible dexterity to the comedy, so that, having made, as it were, an
ingenious composition from the one fable and the other, it might appear
that what the Gods did in the fable of the interludes was done also by
mankind in the fable of the comedy, as if constrained by a superior
power. In the hollow sky of the above-named prospect-scene, which opened
out all of a sudden, there was seen to appear another sky contrived with
great artifice, from which was seen issuing little by little a white and
very naturally counterfeited cloud, upon which, with an effect of
singular beauty, a gilded and jewelled car appeared to be resting,
recognized as that of Venus, because it was drawn by two snow-white
swans, and in it, as its mistress and guide, could be perceived likewise
that most beautiful Goddess, wholly nude and crowned with roses and
myrtle, seated with great majesty and holding the reins. She had in her
company the three Graces, likewise recognized by their being shown
wholly nude, by their blonde tresses, which fell all loose over their
shoulders, and even more by the manner in which they were standing
linked hand to hand; and also the four Hours, who had the wings all
painted after the likeness of butterflies, and, not without reason, were
distinguished in certain particulars according to the four seasons of
the year. Thus one of them, who had the head and the buskins all adorned
with various little flowers, and the dress of changing colours, was
intended to represent the varied and flowering Spring; even as the
second, with the garland and the buskins woven of pale ears of corn, and
the yellow draperies wherewith she was adorned, was intended to signify
the heat of Summer, and the third, representing Autumn, and all clothed
in red draperies, signifying the maturity of fruits, was seen likewise
all covered and adorned with those same fruits, vine-leaves, and grapes;
and the fourth and last, who represented the white and snowy Winter,
besides her dress of turquoise-blue all sprinkled with flakes of snow,
had the hair and the buskins likewise covered with similar snow,
hoar-frost, and ice. And all, as followers and handmaidens of Venus,
being grouped around the car on the same cloud with singular artistry
and most beautiful composition, were seen--leaving behind them Jove,
Juno, Saturn, Mars, Mercury, and the other Gods, from whom appeared to
be issuing the soft harmony described above--to sink gradually with most
beautiful grace towards the earth, and by their coming to fill the scene
and the whole hall with a thousand sweet and precious odours; while from
another part, with an aspect no less gracious, but appearing to walk on
earth, was seen to come the nude and winged Cupid, likewise accompanied
by those four Passions that seem so often to be wont to disturb his
unrestful kingdom; Hope, namely, all clothed in green, with a little
flowering branch on the head; Fear, recognized, in addition to his pale
garment, by the rabbits that he had on his hair and his buskins; Joy,
likewise clothed in white and orange and a thousand glad colours, and
with a plant of flowering borage on the hair, and Sorrow, all in black
and in aspect all weeping and sad; of whom, as his ministers, one
carried the bow, another the quiver and the arrows, another the nets,
and yet another the lighted torch. And while the above-described Hours
and Graces, having descended from the cloud, went slowly towards their
mother's car, now arrived on earth, and, having grouped themselves
reverently in a most graceful choir around the lovely Venus, seemed all
intent on singing in harmony with her, she, turning towards her son with
rare and infinite grace, and making manifest to him the cause of her
displeasure, when those in Heaven were silent, sang the two following
stanzas, the first of the ballad, saying:
A me, che fatta son negletta e sola,
Non piu gli altar ne i voti,
Ma di Psiche devoti
A lei sola si danno, ella gl' invola;
Dunque, se mai di me ti calse o cale,
Figlio, l' armi tue prendi,
E questa folle accendi
Di vilissimo amor d' uomo mortale.
Which being finished, and each of her handmaidens having returned to her
own place, while they kept continually throwing down various delicate
and lovely garlands of flowers upon the assembled spectators, the cloud
and the car, as if the beautiful guide had satisfied her desire, were
seen to move slowly and to go back towards the heaven; and when they had
arrived there, and the heaven was closed again in an instant, without a
single sign remaining from which one might have guessed by which part
the cloud and so many other things had come forth and returned,
everyone, it appeared, was left all amazed with a sort of novel and
pleasing marvel. But the obedient Cupid, while that was being done,
making a sign, as it were, to his mother that her command would be
fulfilled, and crossing the stage, continued--with his companions, who
were presenting him his arms, and who, likewise singing, kept in harmony
with him--the following stanza, the last, saying:
Ecco madre, andiam noi; chi l' arco dammi?
Chi le saette? ond' io
Con l' alto valor mio
Tutti i cor vinca, leghi, apra, ed infiammi.
And he, also, as he sang this, kept shooting arrows, many and various,
at those listening to him, whereby he gave reason to believe that the
lovers who were about to perform their parts, stung, as it were, by
them, were giving birth to the comedy about to follow.
SECOND INTERLUDE.
The first act being finished, and Cupid having been taken in his own
snare--at the moment when he thought to take the lovely Psyche--by
reason of her infinite beauty, it became necessary to represent those
mysterious voices which, as may be read in the fable, had been intended
by him to serve her; and so there was seen to issue by one of the four
passages that had been left on the stage for the use of the performers,
first a little Cupid who was carrying in his arms what seemed to be a
graceful swan, with which, since it concealed an excellent bass-viol,
while he appeared to be diverting himself with a wand of marsh-grass
that served him as a bow, he proceeded to play most sweet airs. After
him, four others were seen to come at one and the same moment by the
four passages of the stage already described; by one the amorous Zephyr,
all merry and smiling, who had wings, garments, and buskins woven of
various flowers; by another Music, known by the tuning instrument that
she had on the head, by her rich dress covered with her various
instruments and with various scrolls wherein were marked all her notes
and all her times, and even more because she likewise was seen playing
with most sweet harmony upon a great and beautiful lyra-viol; and by the
other two, also, Play and Laughter were seen to appear in the form of
two little Cupids, playing and laughing. After these, while they were
going on their way to their destined places, four other Cupids were seen
to issue by the same passages, in the same guise, and at the same time,
and to proceed likewise to play most graciously on four most ornate
lutes; and after them four other similar little Cupids, two of whom,
with fruits in their hands, were seen playing together, and two seemed
to be seeking to shoot one another in the breast with their bows and
arrows, in a quaint and playful fashion. All these gathered in a
graceful circle, and, singing in most harmonious concert the following
madrigal, with the lutes and with many other instruments concealed
within the scenery accompanying the voices, they appeared to make this
whole conception manifest enough, saying:
O altero miracolo novello!
Visto l' abbiam! ma chi sia che cel creda?
Ch' amor, d' amor ribello,
Di se stesso e di Psiche oggi sia preda?
Dunque a Psiche conceda
Di belta pur la palma e di valore
Ogn' altra bella, ancor che pel timore
Ch' ha del suo prigionier dogliosa stia;
Ma seguiam noi l' incominciata via,
Andiam Gioco, andiam Riso,
Andiam dolce armonia di Paradiso,
E facciam che i tormenti
Suoi dolci sien co' tuoi dolci concenti.
THIRD INTERLUDE.
Not less festive was the third Interlude, because, as is narrated in the
fable, Cupid being occupied with the love of his beautiful Psyche, and
not caring any more to kindle the customary flames in the hearts of
mortals, and using with others, as others with him, fraud and deceit, it
was inevitable that among those same mortals, who were living without
love, there should arise at the same time a thousand frauds and a
thousand deceits. And therefore it was made to appear that the floor of
the stage swelled up, and finally that it was changed into seven little
mounds from which there were seen to issue, as things evil and hurtful,
first seven Deceits, and then seven others, which could be recognized as
such with ease, for the reason that not only the bust of each was all
spotted, after the likeness of a leopard, and the thighs and legs like
serpents, but their locks were seen all composed of malicious foxes in
most fantastic forms and very beautiful attitudes; and in their hands,
not without laughter from the bystanders, some were holding traps, some
hooks, and others guileful crooks and grapnels, under which had been
concealed with singular dexterity some musical serpents, for the sake of
the music that they had to make. These, expressing thus the conception
described above, after they had first most sweetly sung, and then sung
and played, the following madrigal, went with very beautiful order
(providing material for the deceptions of the comedy) their several ways
along the four above-mentioned passages of the stage:
S' amor vinto e prigion, posto in oblio
L' arco e l' ardente face,
Della madre ingannar nuovo desio
Lo punge, e s' a lui Psiche inganno face,
E se l' empia e fallace
Coppia d' invide suore inganno e froda
Sol pensa, or chi nel mondo oggi piu sia
Che 'l regno a noi non dia?
D' inganni dunque goda
Ogni saggio, e se speme altra l' invita
Ben la strada ha smarrita.
FOURTH INTERLUDE.