Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/233

Rh foot of this is to be a deep cavity, through which must pass water, as it were dead and without movement, to show that it does not murmur; or you can make it of a dark colour, because we mean it to signify an arm of the River Lethe. Within this cavity let there be a bed, which, as it is feigned to be of ebony, shall be black, and covered with black draperies. In this bed there shall be laid Sleep or Somnus, a youth of the most perfect beauty; and let this figure be most placid as well as most beautiful. Some will have him nude, others give him two vestments, a black above and a white below. Under his arm he has a horn, from which a dark liquid appears to be poured over the bed, and this denotes Oblivion, although there are who would make it full of fruits. In one hand let him have a wand, in the other three heads of poppies. Let him sleep like one who is sick, with the head and hands falling listlessly, wholly abandoned to a deep slumber. Around his bed let there be Morpheus, Icelus, and Phantasy, with a large number of dreams, for all these are his sons; and these dreams may be minute figures, some of fair aspect, and others hideous, as being things that are in part pleasing and in part afflictive. Let them have wings and turn their feet backward to mark their instability, and to show how inconstant they are. Let these phantoms hover around the bed, making a species of representation or drama, by transforming themselves into things possible and impossible. Morpheus is called by Ovid the artist and inventor of figures, and therefore I would make him in the act of forming masks with all kinds of strange faces, some of which he sets on feet. Icelus is said to transmute himself into various shapes; and him I would represent in such sort that while in the whole he should seem a man, yet should he also exhibit the parts of a wild beast, a bird, and a serpent, as Ovid describes him. Phantasy is also declared to transform himself into all sorts of insensate objects; he too may therefore be depicted as described by Ovid, partly of stone namely, partly of water, and partly of wood. There shall, furthermore, appear to be two doors in this concavity; one of ivory, whence proceed the false dreams; and one of horn, from which issue true ones: the true shall be more distinct, more lucid, and of more correct forms; the false shall be confused, dark, and imperfect or indistinct of outline.