then, partly to see Rome, so much be praised
by the gentleman as the widest field for a man to show his genius in, went
with him and lodged in his house near the palace of the Cardinal, who,
advised by letter in the meantime how the matter stood, laid hands on the
merchant who had sold the Cupid to him as an antique, returned the statue
to him, and got his money back; it afterwards came, I know not how, into
the hands of the Duke Valentino, and was presented to the Marchesana of
Mantua. She sent it to Mantua, where it is still to be found in the house
of the lords of that city.(23) The Cardinal di San Giorgio was blamed in
this affair by many, for the work was seen by all the craftsmen of Rome,
and all, equally, considered it most beautiful; they thought that he ought
not to have deprived himself of it for the sake of two hundred scudi,
although it was modern, as he was a very rich man. But he, smarting under
the deceit, being able to punish the man, made him disburse the remainder
of the payment. But nobody suffered more than Michael Angelo, who never
received anything more for it than the money paid him in Florence.
Cardinal di San Giorgio understood little and was no judge of sculpture,
as is shown clearly enough by the fact that all the time Michael Angelo
remained with him, which was about a year, he did not give him a single
commission.(24)

XIX. All the same, others were not wanting who understood such things and
who made use of Michael Angelo. For Messer Iacopo Galli, a Roman gentleman
of good understanding, made him carve a marble Bacchus, ten palms in
height, in his house; this work in form and bearing in every part
corresponds to the description of the ancient writers--his aspect, merry;
the eyes, squinting and lascivious, like those of people excessively given
to the love of wine. He holds a cup in his right hand, like one about to
drink, and looks at it lovingly, taking pleasure in the liquor of which he
was the inventor; for this reason he is crowned with a garland of vine
leaves. On his left arm he has a tiger's skin, the animal dedicated to
him, as one that lives on grapes; and the skin was represented rather than
the animal, as Michael Angelo desired to signify that he who allows his
senses to be overcome by the appetite for that fruit, and the liquor
pressed from it, ultimately loses his life. In his left hand he holds a
bunch of grapes, which a merry and alert little satyr at his feet
furtively enjoys