The Fourth ADVERTISEMENT.
Whilst Michel Angelo Buonaroti was coppying forth the ilfavoured fore-front of Anneus Seneca's House, he was asked by Pierius Valeriano, wherefore he did so? And Buonaroti gives him this reason,
ALthough the habitation of Anneus Seneca, for pleasantness of situa∣tion, beautiful Gardens, abundance of fresh and clear waters, mul∣titude of Lodgings, good both for Summer and Winter, and for all other exquisite delights which may be imagined for humane accommodation, may compare in all points to Neros famous house of Gold, yet the fore∣front thereof is like the rotten rack of a Carriers Stable: Yet did the famous Michel Angelo Buonaroti draw out the designe thereof the o∣ther day; which when Pierius Valeriano, as he was passing by, saw, he wondred very much, that so famous an Architecter should mispend his time in drawing so loathsome a thing; which made him ask Buonaroti, what singular thing he could see in that Frontispiece, which deserved the Pensil of so famous a man as himself? To which, as the same Pieri∣us told me, he answered in these words; Sir, The skilful do so clear∣ly discern in this Front which appears to you so ugly, all the rules of Do∣rick, Tomick, Corinthian Architecture, and of Composts which are, and yet appear not, as by the opinion of Vitruvius himself, it ought to be ad∣ded as the eight, to the seven Wonders of the world. My most ver∣tuous Iohnghirollimo Aquaviva, Duke of Atri, commanded me to draw this copy which you see, and told me, he intends to send it to Naples, to some of the Barons there, who are his good friends, and who being besotted with the vanity of seeming to be more then what they are, have very much need ocularly to discover in the workmanship of this fore-front, how wise men govern their affairs, who are, and doe not ap∣pear.