perform the conditions he
was under with regard to me, I would return; but otherwise he must not
expect to have me again. Later on, while I was at Florence, Julius
sent three briefs to the Signory. At last the latter sent for me and
said: 'We do not want to go to war with Pope Julius because of you.
You must return; and if you do so, we will write you letters of such
authority that, should he do you harm, he will be doing it to this
Signory.' Accordingly I took the letters, and went back to the Pope,
and what followed would be long to tell."

These passages from Michelangelo's correspondence confirm Condivi's
narrative of the flight from Rome, showing that he had gathered his
information from the sculptor's lips. Condivi differs only in making
Michelangelo send a verbal message, and not a written letter, to the
Pope. "Enraged by this repulse, he exclaimed to the groom: 'Tell the
Pope that if henceforth he wants me, he must look for me elsewhere.'"

It is worth observing that only the first of these letters, written
shortly after the event, and intended for the Pope's ear, contains a
hint of Michelangelo's dread of personal violence if he remained in
Rome. His words seem to point at poison or the dagger. Cellini's
autobiography yields sufficient proof that such fears were not
unjustified by practical experience; and Bramante, though he preferred
to work by treachery of tongue, may have commanded the services of
assassins, _uomini arditi e facinorosi_, as they were somewhat
euphemistically called. At any rate, it is clear that Michelangelo's
precipitate departure and vehement refusal to return were occasioned
by more pungent motives than the Pope's frigidity. This has to be
noticed, because we learn from several incidents of the same kind in
the master's life that he was constitutionally subject to sudden
fancies and fears of imminent danger to his person from an enemy. He
had already quitted Bologna in haste from dread of assassination or
maltreatment at the hands of native sculptors.

VI

The negotiations which passed between the Pope and the Signory of
Florence about what may be called the extradition of Michelangelo form
a curious episode in his biography, throwing into powerful relief the
importance he had already acquired among the princes of Italy. I
propose to leave these for the commencement of my next chapter, and to
conclude the present with an account of his occupations during the
summer months at Flor