d into a Jove."

And so the messengers and messages were in vain, and even when the Pope
sent an order to the Gonfaloniere Soderini, the actual ruler of Florence,
to return the artist on pain of displeasure, the matter still
rested--Michelangelo said he was neither culprit nor slave, and would
live where he wished.

At length the matter got so serious that it threatened the political
peace of Florence, and in the goodly company of cardinals, bishops and
chief citizens, Michelangelo was induced to go to Bologna and make peace
with the Pope.

His first task now was a bronze statue of Julius, made, it is stated, as
a partial reproduction of the "Moses." Descriptions of it declare it was
even finer than the "Moses," but alas! it only endured four years, for a
mob evolved it into a cannon to shoot stones, and at the same time ousted
Julius from Bologna.

Michelangelo very naturally seconded the anathematization of the
Bolognese by Julius, not so much for the insult to the Pope as for the
wretched lack of taste they had shown in destroying a work of art. Had
they left the beautiful statue there on its pedestal, Bologna would now
on that account alone be a place of pilgrimage. The cannon they made is
lost and forgotten--buried deep in the sand by its own weight--for Mein
Herr Krupp can make cannon; but, woe betide us! who can make a statue
such as Michelangelo made?

Michelangelo now followed the Pope to Rome and began a work that none
other dare attempt, but which today excites the jealous admiration of
every artist soul who views it--the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Ghirlandajo, Perugino, Botticelli and Luca Signorelli had worked on the
walls with good effect, but to lie on one's back and paint overhead so as
to bring out a masterly effect when viewed from seventy feet below was
something they dare not attempt. Michelangelo put up his scaffolds, drew
designs, and employed the best fresco artists in Italy to fill in the
color. But as they used their brushes he saw that the designs became
enfeebled under their attempts--they did not grasp the conception--and in
wrath he discharged them all. He then obliterated all they had done, and
shutting out the ceiling from every one but himself, worked alone. Often
for days he would not leave the building, for fear some one would meddle
with the work. He drew up food by a string and slept on the scaffold
without changing his clothes.

After a year of intense application, no one