ly be said to live, far less to work.
There is no other way of putting an end to the affair more safe for
myself, nor more agreeable, nor more certain to ease my mind. It can
be done amicably without a lawsuit. I pray to God that the Pope may be
willing to accept the mediation, for I cannot see that any one else is
fit to do it."

Giorgio Vasari says that he came in the year 1525 for a short time as
pupil to Michelangelo. In his own biography he gives the date, more
correctly, 1524. At any rate, the period of Vasari's brief
apprenticeship was closed by a journey which the master made to Rome,
and Buonarroti placed the lad in Andrea del Sarto's workshop. "He left
for Rome in haste. Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, was again
molesting him, asserting that he had received 16,000 ducats to
complete the tomb, while he stayed idling at Florence for his own
amusement. He threatened that, if he did not attend to the work, he
would make him suffer. So, when he arrived there, Pope Clement, who
wanted to command his services, advised him to reckon with the Duke's
agents, believing that, for what he had already done, he was rather
creditor than debtor. The matter remained thus." We do not know when
this journey to Rome took place. From a hint in the letter of December
24, 1524, to Fattucci, where Michelangelo observes that only he in
person would be able to arrange matters, it is possible that we may
refer it to the beginning of 1525. Probably he was able to convince,
not only the Pope, but also the Duke's agents that he had acted with
scrupulous honesty, and that his neglect of the tomb was due to
circumstances over which he had no control, and which he regretted as
acutely as anybody. There is no shadow of doubt that this was really
the case. Every word written by Michelangelo upon the subject shows
that he was heart-broken at having to abandon the long-cherished
project.

Some sort of arrangement must have been arrived at. Clement took the
matter into his own hands, and during the summer of 1525 amicable
negotiations were in progress. On the 4th of September Michelangelo
writes again to Fattucci, saying that he is quite willing to complete
the tomb upon the same plan as that of the Pope Pius (now in the
Church of S. Andrea della Valle)--that is, to adopt a mural system
instead of the vast detached monument. This would take less time. He
again urges his friend not to stay at Rome for the sake of these
affairs. He hears that the