rusted with negotiations for the settlement of the Duke's claims.
The correspondence which passed between them forms, therefore, our
best source of information for this period. On Christmas Eve in 1524
Michelangelo writes from Florence to his friend, begging him not to
postpone a journey he had in view, if the only business which detained
him was the trouble about the tomb. A pleasant air of manly affection
breathes through this document, showing Michelangelo to have been
unselfish in a matter which weighed heavily and daily on his spirits.
How greatly he was affected can be inferred from a letter written to
Giovanni Spina on the 19th of April 1525. While reading this, it must
be remembered that the Duke laid his action for the recovery of a
considerable balance, which he alleged to be due to him upon
disbursements made for the monument. Michelangelo, on the contrary,
asserted that he was out of pocket, as we gather from the lengthy
report he forwarded in 1524 to Fattucci. The difficulty in the
accounts seems to have arisen from the fact that payments for the
Sistine Chapel and the tomb had been mixed up. The letter to Spina
runs as follows: "There is no reason for sending a power of attorney
about the tomb of Pope Julius, because I do not want to plead. They
cannot bring a suit if I admit that I am in the wrong; so I assume
that I have sued and lost, and have to pay; and this I am disposed to
do, if I am able. Therefore, if the Pope will help me in the
matter--and this would be the greatest satisfaction to me, seeing I am
too old and ill to finish the work--he might, as intermediary, express
his pleasure that I should repay what I have received for its
performance, so as to release me from this burden, and to enable the
relatives of Pope Julius to carry out the undertaking by any master
whom they may choose to employ. In this way his Holiness could be of
very great assistance to me. Of course I desire to reimburse as little
as possible, always consistently with justice. His Holiness might
employ some of my arguments, as, for instance, the time spent for the
Pope at Bologna, and other times wasted without any compensation,
according to the statements I have made in full to Ser Giovan
Francesco (Fattucci). Directly the terms of restitution have been
settled, I will engage my property, sell, and put myself in a position
to repay the money. I shall then be able to think of the Pope's orders
and to work; as it is, I can hard