first who wrought really well. But after he had fallen in love with the
woman who was destined to become my mother-perhaps what brought them
together was that little flute, to which indeed he paid more attention
than was proper-he was entreated by the fifers of the Signory to play in
their company. Accordingly he did so for some time to amuse himself,
until by constant importunity they induced him to become a member of
their band. Lorenzo de' Medici and Pietro his son, who had a great
liking for him, perceived later on that he was devoting himself wholly
to the fife, and was neglecting his fine engineering talent and his
beautiful art. [1] So they had him removed from that post. My father
took this very ill, and it seemed to him that they had done him a great
despite. Yet he immediately resumed his art, and fashioned a mirror,
about a cubit in diameter, out of bone and ivory, with figures and
foliage of great finish and grand design. The mirror was in the form of
a wheel. In the middle was the looking-glass; around it were seven
circular pieces, on which were the Seven Virtues, carved and joined of
ivory and black bone. The whole mirror, together with the Virtues, was
placed in equilibrium, so that when the wheel turned, all the Virtues
moved, and they had weights at their feet which kept them upright.
Possessing some acquaintance with the Latin tongue, he put a legend in
Latin round his looking-glass, to this effect-"Whithersoever the wheel
of Fortune turns, Virtue stands firm upon her feet:"

Rota sum: semper, quoquo me verto, stat Virtus.

A little while after this he obtained his place again among the fifers.
Although some of these things happened before I was born, my familiarity
with them has moved me to set them down here. In those days the
musicians of the Signory were all of them members of the most honourable
trades, and some of them belonged to the greater guilds of silk and