e.

I lingered on aimlessly at Rome, watching him at his work, fascinated by
the superb conceptions with which he glorified the walls of the Vatican,
and admiring the daring which enthroned Apollo and his attendant muses
there in the very sanctuary of Christendom.

It was his homage to the old worship, his endeavour to bring back
Apollo, and that he thought then of Maria Dovizio's promise that he
should find her when this was accomplished I had one day convincing
proof; for, turning over his sketches, I found scribbled upon the back
of a study for the _Disputa_ this sonnet:

"LOVE'S BONDAGE"

"Love, thou hast bound me with a cruel force,
The light of her two tender starry eyes,
A face like snow flushed rose 'neath sunset skies,
With gentle bearing and with chaste discourse.
But I would make no plaint, so great my bliss.
The more I love, I long to love again.
How light the yoke, how sweet the circling chain
Of her arms round my neck! And 'neath her kiss
Leaps forth the embodied soul in ecstacy.
Unloosed those bonds I suffer ceaseless pain,
For great joy kills whom it doth wholly move.
Though throbbing still with tender thought of thee,
My heart is heavy and I speak in vain,
But be my silence eloquent of love."[3]

[Illustration: _Alinari_

Raphael and Sodoma

Fragment of School of Athens, in the Vatican--Raphael]

I knew that the poem was addressed to Maria, for it was at this time
that Bernardo Dovizio, dazzled by the change in Raphael's fortunes and
repenting of his hasty action at Cetinale, offered my friend the hand of
his niece.

Raphael had told me of this, begging my congratulations. "She is at
Urbino," he said, "but has written me confirming our betrothal. She
tells me, too, that she has loved me all these years. Such constancy is
miraculous, and I am the happiest of men."

It was with a sore heart that I wished my friend joy. He knew not of my
trouble, or I think it would have poisoned his happiness, for he
sympathised so deeply with all his friends that their sorrows were his
own. I mind me that we met Agostino Chigi that day, and that he told us
of his prosperity; how he was sole owner of five score banking houses
outrivalling those of the Medici and, indeed, every other firm in the
world; how he monopolised not alone the alum, but also the wheat and
salt industries; how his lakes alone supplied Rome with fish and