consults Quarantesi about the possibility of raising that sum, with
1000 ducats in addition. "It was in my mind, in order that I might not
be left naked, to sell houses and possessions, and to let the lira go
for ten soldi." As the contract was never carried out, the fraudulent
passages inserted in the deed did not prove of practical importance.
Delia Porta, on his part, wrote in high spirits to his master:
"Yesterday we executed the new contract with Michelangelo, for the
ratification of which by your Lordship we have fixed a limit of two
months. It is of a nature to satisfy all Rome, and reflects great
credit on your Lordship for the trouble you have taken in concluding
it. Michelangelo, who shows a very proper respect for your Lordship,
has promised to make and send you a design. Among other items, I have
bound him to furnish six statues by his own hand, which will be a
world in themselves, because they are sure to be incomparable. The
rest he may have finished by some sculptor at his own choice, provided
the work is done under his direction. The Pope allows him to come
twice a year to Rome, for periods of two months each, in order to push
the work forward. And he is to execute the whole at his own costs." He
proceeds to say, that since the tomb cannot be put up in S. Peter's,
S. Pietro in Vincoli has been selected as the most suitable church. It
appears that the Duke's ratification was sent upon the 5th of June and
placed in the hands of Clement, so that Michelangelo probably did not
see it for some months. Della Porta, writing to the Duke again upon
the 19th of June, says that Clement promised to allow Michelangelo to
come to Rome in the winter, and to reside there working at the tomb.
But we have no direct information concerning his doings after the
return to Florence at the end of April 1532.

It will be worth while to introduce Condivi's account of these
transactions relating to the tomb of Julius, since it throws some
light upon the sculptor's private feelings and motives, as well as
upon the falsification of the contract as finally engrossed.

"When Michelangelo had been called to Rome by Pope Clement, he began
to be harassed by the agents of the Duke of Urbino about the sepulchre
of Julius. Clement, who wished to employ him in Florence, did all he
could to set him free, and gave him for his attorney in this matter
Messer Tommaso da Prato, who was afterwards datary. Michelangelo,
however, knowing the devil d