asked for leave, but did not get it. Nevertheless I was quite
resolved, and without any sort of fear, to see the end of the war out
first. But on Tuesday morning, September 21, a certain person came out
by the gate at S. Niccolo, where I was attending to the bastions, and
whispered in my ear that, if I meant to save my life, I must not stay
at Florence. He accompanied me home, dined there, brought me horses,
and never left my side till he got me outside the city, declaring that
this was my salvation. Whether God or the devil was the man, I do not
know.

"Pray answer the questions in this letter as soon as possible, because
I am burning with impatience to set out. If you have changed your
mind, and do not care to go, still let me know, so that I may provide
as best I can for my own journey."

What appears manifest from this document is that Michelangelo was
decoyed away from Florence by some one, who, acting on his sensitive
nervous temperament, persuaded him that his life was in danger. Who
the man was we do not know, but he must have been a person delegated
by those who had a direct interest in removing Buonarroti from the
place. If the controller-general of the defences already scented
treason in the air, and was communicating his suspicions to the
Signory, Malatesta Baglioni, the archtraitor, who afterwards delivered
Florence over for a price to Clement, could not but have wished to
frighten him away.

From another of Michelangelo's letters we learn that he carried 3000
ducats in specie with him on the journey. It is unlikely that he could
have disposed so much cash upon his person. He must have had
companions.

Talking with Michelangelo in 1549--that is, twenty years after the
event--Busini heard from his lips this account of the flight. "I asked
Michelangelo what was the reason of his departure from Florence. He
spoke as follows: 'I was one of the Nine when the Florentine troops
mustered within our lines under Malatesta Baglioni and Mario Orsini
and the other generals: whereupon the Ten distributed the men along
the walls and bastions, assigning to each captain his own post, with
victuals and provisions; and among the rest, they gave eight pieces of
artillery to Malatesta for the defence of part of the bastions at S.
Miniato. He did not, however, mount these guns within the bastions,
but below them, and set no guard.' Michelangelo, as architect and
magistrate, having to inspect the lines at S. Miniato, asked