cular and authentick description". "The village C H A P. "of Cajano," says he, "is built on the easy VIII. "slope of a hill, and is at the distance of about "ten miles from Florence. The road to it from "the city is very spacious, and excellent even in "winter, and is in every respect suitable for all "kinds of carriages. The river Ombrone winds "round it with a smooth deep stream, affording

great plenty of fish. The villa of Lorenzo is "denominated Ambra, either from the name "of the river, or on account of its extraordinary "beauty. His fields are occasionally refreshed "with streams of fine and wholesome water, "which Lorenzo, with that magnificence which "characterizes all his undertakings, has con"veyed by an aqueduct over mountains and "precipices for many miles 2. The house is "not

z Mic. Verini Ep. xvi. ap. Band. Cat. Bib. Laur. v. iii. 1.483.

a This aqueduct is frequently celebrated in the poemsof Politiano.

In fontem Laurentii Medicis Ambram. "Ut lasciva suo furtim daret oscula Lauro, "Ipsa sibi occultas repperit Ambra vias.”

And again

In eumdem.

"Traxit amatrices hæc usque ad limina Nymphas,
“Dum jactat Laurum sæpius Ambra suum.”

VIII.

CHAP. "not yet built, but the foundations are laid. Its "situation is midway between Florence and "Pistoia. Towards the north, a spacious plain "extends to the river, and is protected from the floods, which sudden rains sometimes occa"sion, by an immense embankment. From the

66

On

facility with which it is watered in summer, "it is so fertile, that three crops of hay are cut "in each year; but it is manured every other 66 year lest the soil should be exhausted. an eminence about the middle of the farm are "very extensive stables, the floors of which, "for the sake of cleanliness, are laid with stone. "These buildings are surrounded with high "walls and a deep moat, and have four towers "like a castle. Here are kept a great number "of most fertile and productive cows, which "afford a quantity of cheese, equal to the "supply of the city and vicinity of Florence; "so that it is now no longer necessary to pro"cure it as formerly from Lombardy. A "brood of hogs fed by the whey grow to a "remarkable size. The villa abounds with "quails, and other birds, particularly water "fowl, so that the diversion of fowling is "enjoyed here without fatigue. Lorenzo has "also furnished the woods with pheasants and "with peacocks, which he procured from

66

Sicily. His orchards and gardens are most "luxuriant,

"river.

"luxuriant, extending along the banks of the CHAP. His plantation of mulberry trees is VIII. "of such extent, that we may hope ere long " to have a diminution in the price of silk. But "why should I proceed in my description? "come and see the place yourself; and you will " acknowledge, like the queen of Sheba when "she visited Solomon, that the report is not adequate to the truth."

Like the gardens of Alcinous, the farm of Lorenzo has frequently been celebrated in the language of poetry. To his own poem, on the destruction of his labours by the violence of the river, we have before adverted". Politiano thus

concludes his Sylva devoted to the praises of Homer, to which, on account of its having been written at this place, he has given the name of Ambra:

Macte

b Vol. I. p. 376. and v. the poem of Ambra in the third volume.

c Politiano addressed this poem to Lorenzo Tornabuoni, the cousin of Lorenzo de' Medici, of whom a very favourable character may be found in the letters of Politiano (Lib. xii. Ep. 6.) "Debetur hæc silva tibi, "vel argumento, vel titulo, nam et Homeri studiosus "es, quasique noster consectaneus, et propinquus Lau"renti Medicis, summi præcellentisque viri, qui scilicet "Ambram

CHAP.
VIII.

Macte opibus, macte ingenio, mea gloria LAURENS,
Gloria musarum LAURENS! montesque propinquos
Perfodis, et longo suspensos excipis arcu,
Prægelidas ducturus aquas, qua prata supinum
Lata videt podium, riguis uberrima lymphis;
Aggere tuta novo, piscosisque undique septa
Limitibus, per quæ multo servante molosso
Plena Tarentinis succrescunt ubera vaccis ;
Atque aliud nigris missum (quis credat) ab Indis,
Ruminat ignotas armentum discolor herbas.

At vituli tepidis clausi fœnilibus intus,
Expectant tota sugendas nocte parentes.

Interea magnis lac densum bullit ahenis,
Brachiaque exertus senior, tunicataque pubes
Comprimit, et longa siccandum ponit in umbra.
Utque piæ pascuntur oves, ita vastus obeso
Corpore, sus calaber cavea stat clausus olenti,
Atque aliam ex alia poscit grunnitibus escam.
Celtiber ecce sibi latebrosa cuniculus antra
Perforat; innumerus net serica vellera bombyx;
At vaga floriferos errant dispersa per hortos,
Multiforumque replent operosa examina suber ;
Et genus omne avium captivis instrepit alis.
Dumque Antenorei volucris cristata Timavi
Parturit, et custos capitoli gramina tondet,
Multa lacu se mersat anas, subitaque volantes.
Nube diem fuscant Veneris tutela columbæ.

Go

"Ambram ipsam Cajanam, prædium (ut ita dixerim) ❝omniferum, quasi pro laxamento sibi delegit civilium "laborum. Tibi ergo poemation hoc qualecunque est, "nuncupamus," &c. Pridie nonas Nov. MCCCCLXXXV.

Go on, LORENZO, thou the muse's pride,
Pierce the hard rock and scoop the mountain's side;
The distant streams shall hear thy potent call,
And the proud arch receive them as they fall.
Thence o'er thy fields the genial waters lead,
That with luxuriant verdure crown the mead.
There rise thy mounds th' opposing flood that ward,
There thy domains thy faithful mastives guard.
Tarentum there her horned cattle sends,

Whose swelling teats the milky rill distends;
There India's breed of various colours range,
Pleas'd with the novel scene and pastures strange,
Whilst nightly clos'd within their shelter'd stall
For the due treat their lowing offspring call.
Mean time the milk in spacious coppers boils,
With arms unstript the elder rustick toils,
The young assist the curdled mass to squeeze,
And place in cooling shades the recent cheese.
Wide o'er thy downs extends thy fleecy charge;
There the Calabrian hog obese and large,

Loud from his sty demands his constant food;
And Spain supplies thee with thy rabbit brood.
Where mulberry groves their length of shadow spread,
Secure the silkworm spins his lustrous thread;
And cull'd from every flower the plunderer meets,
The bee regales thee with her rifled sweets.
There birds of various plume, and various note,
Flutter their captive wings; with cackling throat
The Paduan fowl betrays her future breed,

And there the geese, once Rome's preservers, feed,
And ducks amusive sport amidst thy floods,
And doves, the pride of Venus, throng thy woods.

СНАР.

VIII.

When