Between the fingers of that hand escape long waves of his beard--a very
beautiful thing to see. And his face is full of life and thought, and
capable of inspiring love and terror, which, perhaps, was the truth. It
has, according to the usual descriptions, the two horns on his head a
little way from the top of the forehead. He is robed and shod in the
manner of the antique, with his arms bare. A work most marvellous and full
of art, and much more so because all the form is apparent beneath the
beautiful garments with which it is covered. The dress does not hide the
shape and beauty of the body, as, in a word, may be seen in all Michael
Angelo's clothed figures, whether in painting or sculpture. The statue is
more than twice the size of life. At the right hand of this statue, under
a niche, is one that represents Contemplative Life--a woman, larger than
life and of rare beauty, with bent knee, not to the ground but on a
plinth, with her face and both her hands raised to heaven, so that she
seems to breathe love in every part. On the other side, that is to say on
the left of Moses, is Active Life, with a mirror in her right hand, into
which she gazes attentively, meaning by this that our actions should be
governed by forethought; and in her left hand a garland of flowers. In
this Michael Angelo followed Dante, of whom he was always a great student,
for in his Purgatorio he feigns to have the Countess Matilda, whom he
takes to represent Active Life, in a field full of flowers.
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