be placed at the corner of the loggia in the Medicean garden, opposite
the corner of Messer Luigi della Stufa, I have meditated not a little,
as you bade me. In my opinion that is not the proper place for it,
since it would take up too much room on the roadway. I should prefer
to put it at the other, where the barber's shop is. This would be far
better in my judgment, since it has the square in front, and would not
encumber the street. There might be some difficulty about pulling down
the shop, because of the rent. So it has occurred to me that the
statue might be carved in a sitting position; the Colossus would be so
lofty that if we made it hollow inside, as indeed is the proper method
for a thing which has to be put together from pieces, the shop might
be enclosed within it, and the rent be saved. And inasmuch as the shop
has a chimney in its present state, I thought of placing a cornucopia
in the statue's hand, hollowed out for the smoke to pass through. The
head too would be hollow, like all the other members of the figure.
This might be turned to a useful purpose, according to the suggestion
made me by a huckster on the square, who is my good friend. He privily
confided to me that it would make an excellent dovecote. Then another
fancy came into my head, which is still better, though the statue
would have to be considerably heightened. That, however, is quite
feasible, since towers are built up of blocks; and then the head might
serve as bell-tower to San Lorenzo, which is much in need of one.
Setting up the bells inside, and the sound booming through the mouth,
it would seem as though the Colossus were crying mercy, and mostly
upon feast-days, when peals are rung most often and with bigger
bells."

Nothing more is heard of this fantastic project; whence we may
conclude that the irony of Michelangelo's epistle drove it out of the
Pope's head.

CHAPTER IX

I

It lies outside the scope of this work to describe the series of
events which led up to the sack of Rome in 1527. Clement, by his
tortuous policy, and by the avarice of his administration, had
alienated every friend and exasperated all his foes. The Eternal City
was in a state of chronic discontent and anarchy. The Colonna princes
drove the Pope to take refuge in the Castle of S. Angelo; and when the
Lutheran rabble raised by Frundsberg poured into Lombardy, the Duke of
Ferrara assisted them to cross the Po, and the Duke of Urbino made no
effort to