old person, and as could be
proved by Maestro Realdo, his physician, from whom he congratulated
himself on having his life, after God; that for these reasons he was
not able to leave Rome, and, finally, that he had no heart for
anything but death. He besought Vasari, as he did in several other
letters that Giorgio has by his hand, that he should recommend him to
the Duke for pardon, in addition to what he wrote to the Duke, as I
have said, to excuse himself. If Michelagnolo had been able to ride,
he would have gone straightway to Florence, whence, I believe, he
would never have consented to depart in order to return to Rome, so
much was he influenced by the tenderness and love that he felt for the
Duke; but meanwhile he gave his attention to working at many parts of
the above-named fabric, in order so to fix the form that it might
never again be changed. During this time certain persons had informed
him that Pope Paul IV was minded to make him alter the facade of the
chapel where the Last Judgment is, because, he said, those figures
showed their nakedness too shamelessly. When, therefore, the mind of
the Pope was made known to Michelagnolo, he answered: "Tell the Pope
that it is no great affair, and that it can be altered with ease. Let
him put the world right, and every picture will be put right in a
moment." The office of the Chancellery of Rimini was taken away from
Michelagnolo, but he would never speak of this to the Pope, who did
not know it; and it was taken away from him by the Pope's Cup-bearer,
who sought to have a hundred crowns a month given to him in respect of
the fabric of S. Pietro, and caused a month's payment to be taken to
his house, but Michelagnolo would not accept it. In the same year took
place the death of Urbino, his servant, or rather, as he may be
called, and as he had been, his companion. This man came to live with
Michelagnolo in Florence in the year 1530, after the siege was
finished, when his disciple Antonio Mini went to France; and he
rendered very faithful service to Michelagnolo, insomuch that in
twenty-six years that faithful and intimate service brought it about
that Michelagnolo made him rich and so loved him, that in this,
Urbino's last illness, old as he was, he nursed him and slept in his
clothes at night to watch over him. Wherefore, after he was dead,
Vasari wrote to Michelagnolo to console him, and he answered in these
words:

"MY DEAR MESSER GIORGIO,

"I am scarce able to