ore certain men,
lying in wait for him at a pass, robbed him, but at his earnest
entreaty they spared his life for the love of God; and afterwards,
by means of the services of his friends, who were numerous enough,
he also recovered a great part of the money that had been taken from
him; but none the less he came near dying of vexation. Pietro was a
man of very little religion, and he could never be made to believe
in the immortality of the soul--nay, with words in keeping with his
head of granite, he rejected most obstinately every good suggestion.
He placed all his hopes in the goods of fortune, and he would have
sold his soul for money. He earned great riches; and he both bought
and built houses in Florence, and acquired much settled property
both at Perugia and at Castello della Pieve. He took a most
beautiful young woman to wife, and had children by her; and he
delighted so greatly in seeing her wearing beautiful head-dresses,
both abroad and at home, that it is said that he would often tire
her head with his own hand. Finally, having reached the age of
seventy-eight, Pietro finished the course of his life at Castello
della Pieve, where he was honourably buried, in the year 1524.

Pietro made many masters in his own manner, and one among them, who
was truly most excellent, devoted himself heart and soul to the
honourable studies of painting, and surpassed his master by a great
measure; and this was the miraculous Raffaello Sanzio of Urbino, who
worked for many years under Pietro in company with his father,
Giovanni de' Santi. Another disciple of this man was Pinturicchio, a
painter of Perugia, who, as it has been said in his Life, ever held
to Pietro's manner. His disciple, likewise, was Rocco Zoppo, a
painter of Florence, by whose hand is a very beautiful Madonna in a
round picture, which is in the possession of Filippo Salviati;
although it is true that it was brought to completion by Pietro
himself. The same Rocco painted many pictures of Our Lady, and made
many portraits, of which there is no need to speak; I will only say
that in the Sistine Chapel in Rome he painted portraits of Girolamo
Riario and of F. Pietro, Cardinal of San Sisto. Another disciple of
Pietro was Montevarchi, who painted many pictures in San Giovanni di
Valdarno; more particularly, in the Madonna, the stories of the
Miracle of the Milk. He also left many works in Montevarchi, his
birth-place. Likewise a pupil of Pietro's, working with him