DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57409#0036
20 INTRODUCTION TO THE LIVES.
ting the mention of many others, the church built beyond the
walls of Arezzo,* in honour of St. Donatus, bishop of that
city, who suffered martyrdom, together with the monk Hila-
rin, under this Julian the Apostate, was in no respect of
better architecture than those before mentioned. Nor is
this to be attributed to any other cause than the want of bet-
ter masters in those times; since this octagonal church, as may
be still seen in our own day, built from the spoils of the
Theatre, the Colosseum, and other edifices, which had been
erected in Arezzo before that city was converted to the faith
of Christ, was constructed without any restriction as to the
cost, which was very great; the church was, besides, fur-
ther adorned with columns of granite, porphyry, and vari-
coloured marbles, which had belonged to the antique buildings
above named. And, for my own part, I make no doubt but
that the people of Arezzo—to judge from the expense to
which we see that they went for this church—would have
produced something marvellous in that work, if they had
been able to procure better architects; for we perceive, by
what they have done, that they spared nothing to render it
as rich and in as good style as they possibly could make it:
and since architecture had lost less of its perfection than the
other arts, as we have said more than once, there is exhibited
a certain degree of beauty in this building. The church of
Santa Maria in Grado, was at the same time enlarged, in
honour of St. Hilarian, who had been long a resident in that
church, when he received with St. Donatus the palm of
martyrdom.
But as fortune, when she has raised either persons or
things to the summit of her wheel, very frequently casts them
to the lowest point, whether in repentance or for her sport,
so it chanced that, after these things, the barbarous nations
of the world arose, in divers places, in rebellion against the
Romans; whence there ensued, in no long time, not only the
decline of that great empire, but the utter ruin of the whole,
and more especially of Rome herself, when all the best artists,
* This church, called the Duomo Vecchio, was not built in the
time of Julian the apostate,—that is, the fourth century,—but in the
eleventh, by Alberto, Bishop of Arezzo. It was destroyed, by the
orders of Cosmo I, and in the lifetime of Vasari himself, to make way
for the fortifications of the city. See Muratori Ant. Ital. vol. iv, p. 428 ;
also Rondinelli, Stato antico e moderno di Arezzo, 1755. Ed. Flor. 1767
ting the mention of many others, the church built beyond the
walls of Arezzo,* in honour of St. Donatus, bishop of that
city, who suffered martyrdom, together with the monk Hila-
rin, under this Julian the Apostate, was in no respect of
better architecture than those before mentioned. Nor is
this to be attributed to any other cause than the want of bet-
ter masters in those times; since this octagonal church, as may
be still seen in our own day, built from the spoils of the
Theatre, the Colosseum, and other edifices, which had been
erected in Arezzo before that city was converted to the faith
of Christ, was constructed without any restriction as to the
cost, which was very great; the church was, besides, fur-
ther adorned with columns of granite, porphyry, and vari-
coloured marbles, which had belonged to the antique buildings
above named. And, for my own part, I make no doubt but
that the people of Arezzo—to judge from the expense to
which we see that they went for this church—would have
produced something marvellous in that work, if they had
been able to procure better architects; for we perceive, by
what they have done, that they spared nothing to render it
as rich and in as good style as they possibly could make it:
and since architecture had lost less of its perfection than the
other arts, as we have said more than once, there is exhibited
a certain degree of beauty in this building. The church of
Santa Maria in Grado, was at the same time enlarged, in
honour of St. Hilarian, who had been long a resident in that
church, when he received with St. Donatus the palm of
martyrdom.
But as fortune, when she has raised either persons or
things to the summit of her wheel, very frequently casts them
to the lowest point, whether in repentance or for her sport,
so it chanced that, after these things, the barbarous nations
of the world arose, in divers places, in rebellion against the
Romans; whence there ensued, in no long time, not only the
decline of that great empire, but the utter ruin of the whole,
and more especially of Rome herself, when all the best artists,
* This church, called the Duomo Vecchio, was not built in the
time of Julian the apostate,—that is, the fourth century,—but in the
eleventh, by Alberto, Bishop of Arezzo. It was destroyed, by the
orders of Cosmo I, and in the lifetime of Vasari himself, to make way
for the fortifications of the city. See Muratori Ant. Ital. vol. iv, p. 428 ;
also Rondinelli, Stato antico e moderno di Arezzo, 1755. Ed. Flor. 1767