Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/485

Rh thereby, and the floor of the stage was at the same time disencumbered of the musicians. There was, however, one thing which did not please him, namely, that the principal support of the roof, now left without the wall on which it had been sustained at that part, was not to be formed, as was fitting, of a large double arch, the strength of which would be very great, but by the wish of Lorenzo the security of the same was to depend entirely on a few props, so that the roof was to receive no support that could in any way interfere writh the sound of the instruments; to the end, as he averred, that no interruption might be given to the music.

But Aristotile clearly perceived that in this plan there was a danger by which many lives might be destroyed, since the fall of this construction must involve a large number of persons in its ruin; he could, therefore, by no means be brought to agree with Lorenzo on that point, and it is certain that the intention of the latter was no other than the destruction of the Duke, by means of that contrivance.

Aristotile therefore, not being able to get the good reasons which he offered into the head of Lorenzo, had resolved to withdraw himself from that undertaking, and with the blessing of God to depart from the place, when Giorgio Vasari, who, though then but a youth, was in the service of the Duke Alessandro, and much favoured by Ottaviano de’ Medici, chanced to hear the contention between Lorenzo and Aristotile, as he was painting certain of the decorations for the proscenium. Throwing himself dexterously between them, therefore, he then heard what each had to say, and perceiving clearly the danger threatened by the method which Lorenzo would have adopted, he proposed a plan by which the place might be rendered sufficiently secure without constructing an arch or in any way impeding the effect of the music. He proposed to lay two double beams namely, of fifteen braccia each, the whole length of the wall, and to fasten these with iron clamps to the main timbers of the roof in such sort that the central beams could then repose thereon, which they might do as securely as on an arch, neither more nor less.

Lorenzo would, nevertheless, not listen either to Giorgio who proposed, or to Aristotile who approved this plan; he would have nothing done, in short, but what he had from the