Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/433

Rh wherefore, having been furnished by those Signori with all that he required, San Michele prepared himself to obey their orders. The materials for filling in the foundations were first laid ready for use, and a large number of piles being fixed in a double row, the architect assembled a vast company of assistants, well acquainted with those waters, and betook himself to the excavation of the basement; but the more he laboured to exhaust the waters by means of pumps and other machines, the more they were seen to rise up from below, the place being fairly in the sea.

One morning, however, that the master had appointed for making his utmost effort to secure a commencement, he got together all the men capable of lending him assistance, on whom he could lay his hands, adding to these all the porters of Venice, and in the presence of many Signori, at length suddenly succeeded, by the use of indescribable promptitude and care, in mastering the waters for a moment to such an extent as to permit him instantly to throw in the first stones of the foundations on the piles which he had driven. These stones being of vast immensity, occupied a very large space, and formed an excellent foundation; when, continuing the exhaustion of the waters without loss of a moment, the architect did finally secure himself a firm basis for his work, much against the opinion and contrary to the expectation of many, who had considered the undertaking to be one in which success was totally impossible.

The foundations thus made, were suffered to remain for the purpose of settling, during a sufficient space of time, and that having been done, San Michele built upon them a mighty and most admirable fortress, constructing the external walls of rustic masonry formed of large stones of extreme hardness brought from Istria, and capable of resisting the frost, wind, and every extremity of weather. Not only is this fortress astonishing from the site on which it has been erected, but it is besides admirable for its extraordinary beauty, to say nothing of its incalculable cost, in respect to which it is among the most remarkable in Europe, and may bear comparison with the most renowned edifices constructed by the greatness of the Romans.

Among other beauties of this fabric is one well worthy of notice, namely, that the whole appears to have been formed