ntract.

"In the meanwhile," writes Condivi, "Pope Clement died, and Paul III.
sent for him, and requested him to enter his service. Michelangelo saw
at once that he would be interrupted in his work upon the Tomb of
Julius. So he told Paul that he was not his own master, being bound to
the Duke of Urbino until the monument was finished. The Pope grew
angry, and exclaimed: 'It is thirty years that I have cherished this
desire, and now that I am Pope, may I not indulge it? Where is the
contract? I mean to tear it up.' Michelangelo, finding himself reduced
to these straits, almost resolved to leave Rome and take refuge in the
Genoese, at an abbey held by the Bishop of Aleria, who had been a
creature of Julius, and was much attached to him. He hoped that the
neighbourhood of the Carrara quarries, and the facility of
transporting marbles by sea, would help him to complete his
engagements. He also thought of settling at Urbino, which he had
previously selected as a tranquil retreat, and where he expected to be
well received for the sake of Pope Julius. Some months earlier, he
even sent a man of his to buy a house and land there. Still he dreaded
the greatness of the Pontiff, as indeed he had good cause to do; and
for this reason he abandoned the idea of quitting Rome, hoping to
pacify his Holiness with fair words.

"The Pope, however, stuck to his opinion; and one day he visited
Michelangelo at his house, attended by eight or ten Cardinals. He
first of all inspected the cartoon prepared in Clement's reign for the
great work of the Sistine; then the statues for the tomb, and
everything in detail. The most reverend Cardinal of Mantua, standing
before the statue of Moses, cried out: 'That piece alone is sufficient
to do honour to the monument of Julius.' Pope Paul, having gone
through the whole workshop, renewed his request that Michelangelo
should enter his service; and when the latter still resisted, he
clinched the matter by saying: 'I will provide that the Duke of Urbino
shall be satisfied with three statues from your hand, and the
remaining three shall be assigned to some other sculptor.'
Accordingly, he settled on the terms of a new contract with the agents
of the Duke, which were confirmed by his Excellency, who did not care
to displeasure the Pope. Michelangelo, albeit he was now relieved from
the obligation of paying for the three statues, preferred to take this
cost upon himself, and deposited 1580 ducats for the pur