. The builders of Florence . ce has dictated the choice of which he com-plains. History and architecture, let him remember, are the twindeterminants here, and that not separately but together, inwovenin this book as they surely are in fact and in life. But so, it willbe understood how choice has been at once limited and directed,fixed on certain buildings as possessing both architectural andhistoric interest, and such as lend themselves readily as illustra-tions of the citys life, whether commercial, ideal, or , even in Florence, such buildings are not innumerable. His purpose thu
. The builders of Florence . ce has dictated the choice of which he com-plains. History and architecture, let him remember, are the twindeterminants here, and that not separately but together, inwovenin this book as they surely are in fact and in life. But so, it willbe understood how choice has been at once limited and directed,fixed on certain buildings as possessing both architectural andhistoric interest, and such as lend themselves readily as illustra-tions of the citys life, whether commercial, ideal, or , even in Florence, such buildings are not innumerable. His purpose thus cleared and defined, with some of the con-sequences to which it has led in the minor yet important mattersof selection and arrangement, the author, as he commits his workto the press, takes this welcome occasion to thank all those privateand public persons and authorities whose kind help has assistedand encouraged its appearance. Florence, 29 March, 1906 THE BUILDERS OF FLORENCE PART IINTRODUCTORY CHAPTER ITHE SUBSTANCE *t. w E grow every day more familiar withthe fact that men bring- their des-tinies with them into the world, andthat at least the larger lines ofindividual life are shaped by long ante-cedent conditions. Now this is true ofthe group and the community as well asof the single life. Cities then, as thehomes of such communities, have theirdestinies from which it is hard to fancyany escape, and, if we have wit to hearthem, the fates of Florence speak fromthe folded hills to which she looks. Erea stone was laid in her foundations, herfuture rise and fall lay bound in the sandsof Arno, which cannot choose but moveor rest at the bidding of the watersjicie^^onteVecchio which have brought them where theyare. Exactly in what sense Florenceowes her first being and original character to the Arno it shouldnot be difficult to discover. At Cortona in the Val di Chiana, orCertaldo in the Val dElsa, to mention only Tuscan examples, the n|>le/undiaPJ^fr 2 THE BUILDERS OF FLOR
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