the
expense of Michelangelo, Raphael was petted, feted and advanced. Hence
arose that envious rivalry between these two great men, which reveals
each in a light far from pleasant--just as if Rome were not big enough
for both. The pontificate of Leo the Tenth lasted just ten years. On
account of the lack of encouragement Michelangelo received, it seems the
most fruitless season of his whole life.

Clement the Seventh, another member of the Medici family, succeeded Leo.
Clement was too sensible of Michelangelo's merit to allow him to rust out
his powers in petty tasks. He conceived the idea of erecting a chapel to
be attached to the church of San Lorenzo, at Florence, to be the final
resting-place of the great members of the Medici family. Michelangelo
planned and built the chapel and for it wrought six great pieces of art.
These are the statues of Lorenzo de Medici, father of Catherine de Medici
(who was such a large, black blot on the page of history); a statue of
Giuliano de Medici (whose name lives now principally because Michelangelo
made this statue); and the four colossal reclining figures known as
"Night," "Morning," "Dawn" and "Twilight." This chapel is now open to the
public, and no visitor at Florence should miss seeing it.

The statue of Lorenzo must ever rank as one of the world's masterpieces.
The Italians call it "Il Pensiero." The sullen strength of the attitude
gives one a vague ominous impulse to get away. Some one has said that it
fulfils Milton's conception of Satan brooding over his plans for the ruin
of mankind.

In Fifteen Hundred Twenty-seven, while Michelangelo was working on the
chapel, Florence was attacked and sacked by the Constable de Bourbon. The
Medici family was again expelled, and from the leisurely decoration of a
church in honor of the gentle Christ, the artist was called upon to build
barricades to protect his native city. His ingenuity as an engineer was
as consummate as his exquisite idea of harmony, and for nine months the
city was defended.

Through treachery the enemy was then allowed to enter and Michelangelo
fled. Riots and wars seem as natural as thunderstorms to the Latin
people; but after a year the clouds rolled by, Michelangelo was pardoned,
and went back to his work of beautifying the chapel of San Lorenzo.

In Fifteen Hundred Thirty-four, Pope Clement was succeeded by Paul the
Third. Paul was seventy years old, but the vigor of his mind was very
much like that of the