Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/354

346 him to the skies by their works; but to the end that they might be the more certainly known, each bore on his forehead a band, in the manner of a diadem, on which was inscribed his name.

On the sixth chariot, which had been very beautifully painted by Puntormo, and was drawn by four pairs of oxen richly arrayed, was the just and good Emperor Trajan; he was seated, and before him, on handsome and well caparisoned horses, went six couples of doctors of laws, wearing the toga reaching to the feet, and with capes of grey miniver, as it was the ancient custom for doctors of the law to be apparelled. The servants who bore their torches' and who were in vast numbers, were writers, copyists, and notaries, with books or writings in their hands.

After these six cars came the chariot or triumphal car of the period represented, the Age of Grold namely: it was constructed with the best and richest powers of art, Baccio Bandinelli having adorned it with beautiful figures in relief, while Puntormo had decorated the same with exquisite paintings, between which were figures of the four Cardinal virtues in relief, and these were more particularly extolled. In the midst of the car was a large sphere or ball, as it were the globe of the world, and on this was the prostrate figure of a man lying dead with his face to the earth, and wearing armour covered with rust. This armour was cleft, and from the fissure there proceeded the figure of a child entirely naked, and gilded all over, to represent the age of gold reviving, as the dead man represented that of iron come to an end; all which, the resuscitation and the restoration namely, it was hereby intimated would result from the elevation of Pope Leo X. to the papal chair, and the same thing was signified by the dry branch putting forth new leaves, although there are some who affirm that the dry branch reviving, alluded rather to Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino.

But I will not omit to mention that the gilded child, who was a baker’s boy, and who had been hired to perform the part for ten scudi, obtained that reward as the payment for his life, seeing that the sufferings which he endured in the course of the festival were so severe as to cause his death, and he expired shortly after the conclusion thereof.