as about eight in the evening, and the Florentine
ambassador was present. The Pope then ordered the ambassador to write
immediately to the Duke; and this he did with such vehemence and
passion as I do not think he has displayed on four other occasions
concerning the affairs of Florence. His rage and fury were tremendous,
and the words he used to the ambassador would stupefy you, could you
hear them. Indeed, they are not fit to be written down, and I must
reserve them for _viva voce_. I burn to have half an hour's
conversation with you, for now I know our good and holy master to the
ground. Enough, I think you must have already seen something of the
sort. In brief, he has resolved that you are to be repaid the 400
ducats of the guardianship and the 500 ducats lent to the old
Government." It may be readily imagined that this restitution of a
debt incurred by Florence when she was fighting for her liberties, to
which act of justice her victorious tyrant was compelled by his Papal
kinsman, did not soften Alessandro's bad feeling for the creditor.

Several of Sebastiano's letters during the summer and autumn of 1533
refer to an edition of some madrigals by Michelangelo, which had been
set to music by Bartolommeo Tromboncino, Giacomo Archadelt, and
Costanzo Festa. We have every reason to suppose that the period we
have now reached was the richest in poetical compositions. It was also
in 1532 or 1533 that he formed the most passionate attachment of which
we have any knowledge in his life; for he became acquainted about this
time with Tommaso Cavalieri. A few years later he was destined to meet
with Vittoria Colonna. The details of these two celebrated friendships
will be discussed in another chapter.

Clement VII. journeyed from Rome in September, intending to take ship
at Leghorn for Nice and afterwards Marseilles, where his young cousin,
Caterina de' Medici, was married to the Dauphin. He had to pass
through S. Miniato al Tedesco, and thither Michelangelo went to wait
upon him on the 22nd. This was the last, and not the least imposing,
public act of the old Pope, who, six years after his imprisonment and
outrage in the Castle of S. Angelo, was now wedding a daughter of his
plebeian family to the heir of the French crown. What passed between
Michelangelo and his master on this occasion is not certain.

The years 1532-1534 form a period of considerable chronological
perplexity in Michelangelo's life. This is in great measure