the new church, beneath the tribune, which
obstructed the floor of the church, and was, in truth, not the proper
place. Michelagnolo advised, most judiciously, that it could not and
should not stand there, and the Frate, believing that he was doing
this out of envy, became filled with hatred against him; but
afterwards he recognized that Michelagnolo had spoken the truth, and
that the fault was his, in that he had had the opportunity and had not
finished the work, as will be related in another place. And to this I
can bear witness, for the reason that in the year 1550 I had gone by
order of Pope Julius III to Rome to serve him (and very willingly, for
love of Michelagnolo), and I took part in that discussion.
Michelagnolo desired that the tomb should be erected in one of the
niches, where there is now the Column of the Possessed, which was the
proper place, and I had so gone to work that Julius III was resolving
to have his own tomb made in the other niche with the same design as
that of Pope Paul, in order to balance that work; but the Frate, who
set himself against this, brought it about that his own was never
finished after all, and that the tomb of the other Pontiff was also
not made; which had all been predicted by Michelagnolo.

In the same year Pope Julius turned his attention to having a chapel
of marble with two tombs constructed in the Church of S. Pietro a
Montorio for Cardinal Antonio di Monte, his uncle, and Messer Fabiano,
his grandfather, the first founder of the greatness of that
illustrious house. For this work Vasari having made designs and
models, Pope Julius, who always esteemed the genius of Michelagnolo
and loved Vasari, desired that Michelagnolo should fix the price
between them; and Vasari besought the Pope that he should prevail upon
him to take it under his protection. Now Vasari had proposed Simone
Mosca for the carvings of this work, and Raffaello da Montelupo for
the statues; but Michelagnolo advised that no carvings of foliage
should be made in it, not even in the architectural parts of the work,
saying that where there are to be figures of marble there must not be
any other thing. On which account Vasari feared that the work should
be abandoned, because it would look poor; but in fact, when he saw it
finished, he confessed that Michelagnolo had shown great judgment.
Michelagnolo would not have Montelupo make the statues, remembering
how badly he had acquitted himself in those of his own t