DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32874#0468
388 LIFE OF BENVENUTO CELLINI [BK. 11
the painter, this man has gone to work, and has written
upon me four sonnets, using the most well-chosen and
glorious words that it is possible to employ; and on
account of this wondrous man almost the whole city is
moved to so great an excitement (?^773<77T). And I say
well that, if he had devoted himself to sculpture as he
does to painting, he would have understood well how to
do it. And I say moreover to Your Most Illustrious
Excellency that my master Michelagniolo Buonaroti,
although he would have executed such a thing when he
was younger, would not have endured less labour than I
have done; but now that he is very old' he could cer-
tainly not have done it at all. So that I do not believe
that at the present day we have knowledge of a man, who
would understand how to accomplish it. So that my work
has achieved the greatest reward that I could desire
upon earth. And more than all that Your Most Illustrious
Excellency, not only expresses yourself content with my
work, but rather that you have praised it more than any
other man. Oh! What greater or more honourable re-
ward could a man desire? I say for very surety that
Your Excellency could not have paid me more in more
glorious coin: nor could he with any wealth whatsoever
equal this. Therefore I am over paid and I thank Your
Most Illustrious Excellency with all my heart." To
these words the Duke replied and said: " Rather you
think that I have not sufficient to be able to pay you.
But I tell you that I will pay you much more than it is
worth." Thereupon I said: "I did not expect to have
any other reward from Your Excellency; but I call my-
* Buonarroti was eighty years old in 1555.
the painter, this man has gone to work, and has written
upon me four sonnets, using the most well-chosen and
glorious words that it is possible to employ; and on
account of this wondrous man almost the whole city is
moved to so great an excitement (?^773<77T). And I say
well that, if he had devoted himself to sculpture as he
does to painting, he would have understood well how to
do it. And I say moreover to Your Most Illustrious
Excellency that my master Michelagniolo Buonaroti,
although he would have executed such a thing when he
was younger, would not have endured less labour than I
have done; but now that he is very old' he could cer-
tainly not have done it at all. So that I do not believe
that at the present day we have knowledge of a man, who
would understand how to accomplish it. So that my work
has achieved the greatest reward that I could desire
upon earth. And more than all that Your Most Illustrious
Excellency, not only expresses yourself content with my
work, but rather that you have praised it more than any
other man. Oh! What greater or more honourable re-
ward could a man desire? I say for very surety that
Your Excellency could not have paid me more in more
glorious coin: nor could he with any wealth whatsoever
equal this. Therefore I am over paid and I thank Your
Most Illustrious Excellency with all my heart." To
these words the Duke replied and said: " Rather you
think that I have not sufficient to be able to pay you.
But I tell you that I will pay you much more than it is
worth." Thereupon I said: "I did not expect to have
any other reward from Your Excellency; but I call my-
* Buonarroti was eighty years old in 1555.