fountain of his villa at Castello, and that fountain was to have
at the top, as a crowning ornament, a Hercules in the act of crushing
Antaeus, from whose mouth there was to issue, in place of breath, a jet
of water rising to some height, the Frate was commissioned to make for
this a model of considerable size; which pleasing his Excellency, it was
ordained that he should execute it and should go to Carrara to quarry
the marble.

To Carrara the Frate went very willingly, hoping with that opportunity
to carry forward the above-mentioned tomb of Sannazzaro, and in
particular a scene with figures in half-relief. While Fra Giovanni
Agnolo was there, then, Cardinal Doria wrote from Genoa to Cardinal
Cibo, who happened to be at Carrara, saying that, since Bandinelli had
not finished the statue of Prince Doria, and would now never finish it,
he should contrive to obtain for him some able man, a sculptor, who
might do it, for the reason that he had the charge of pressing on that
work. Which letter having been received by Cibo, who had long had
knowledge of the Frate, he did his utmost to send him to Genoa; but he
steadfastly declared that he could not and would not serve his most
reverend Highness until he had fulfilled the promise and obligation by
which he was bound to Duke Cosimo.

While these matters were being discussed, he had carried the tomb of
Sannazzaro well forward, and had blocked out the marble for the
Hercules; and he then went with the latter to Florence. There he brought
it with much promptitude and study to such a condition, that it would
have been but little toil for him to finish it completely if he had
continued to work at it. But a rumour having arisen that the marble was
not proving to be by any means as perfect a work as the model, and that
the Frate was likely to find difficulty in fitting together the legs of
the Hercules, which did not correspond with the torso, Messer Pier
Francesco Riccio, the majordomo, who was paying the Frate his
allowance, let himself be swayed by that more than a serious man should
have done, and began to proceed very cautiously with his payments,
trusting too much to Bandinelli, who was leaning with all his weight
against Fra Giovanni Agnolo, in order to avenge himself for the wrong
which it appeared to him that master had done to him by promising that
he would make the statue of Doria when once free of his obligation to
the Duke. It was also thought that the favour of Tribol