Catherine_ for his church, which he
completed, and then left Rome at once. Nothing is known of the
impressions made on him by the works of the two great masters, and
unfortunately his death occurred too soon after for his own style to
have given any evidence of their influence.
A Giostra, at Viterbo, proved a very strong attraction to his pleasure-
loving mind. This "Giostra," which the translators of Vasari seem to
find so "obscure," [Footnote: Vasari's _Lives_, vol. ii. p. 470.]
was no doubt one of those festivals revived by the Medici, in which
mounted cavaliers ride with a lance at a suspended Saracen's head,
striking it at full gallop. Desirous of appearing to advantage before
the eyes of her whom he had elected his queen, he forgot his mature
age, and rushed into the jousts with all the energies of a youth, but
alas! fell ill from over-exertion. Fearing the malarious air was not
good for him, he had a litter made, and was taken to Florence, where
Fra Bartolommeo placed himself at his bedside, soothing his last
moments, and leading him as far heavenward as he could.
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