shape of the rock from which it could
have been conveniently carved, and by emulation of the ancients, who,
perhaps with the same object as Michael Angelo not to be idle, or for some
other end, left several records unfinished and sketched out, which give a
good idea of their powers. And of a surety he would have done it if he had
had time enough, or the business upon which he had come had allowed him.
He afterwards much regretted not having carried it out. Enough marbles
quarried and chosen, he took them to the sea coast and left one of his men
to have them embarked. He himself returned to Rome, and because he stopped
some days in Florence on the way, when he arrived at Rome he found the
first boat already at the Ripa(34) unloading. He had the blocks carried to
the piazza of St. Peter's, behind Santa Caterina, where he had his
workshop near the Corridore.(35) The quantity of marble was immense, so
that, spread over the piazza, they were the admiration of all and a joy to
the Pope, who heaped immeasurable favours upon Michael Angelo; and when he
began to work upon them again and again went to see him at his house, and
talked with him of monuments and other matters as with his own brother;
and in order that he might more easily go to him, the Pope ordered that a
drawbridge should be thrown across from the Corridore to the rooms of
Michael Angelo, by which he might visit him in private.

XXV. These many and frequent favours were the cause (as often is the case
at Court) of much envy, and, after the envy, of endless persecution, since
Bramante, the architect, who was much loved by the Pope, made him change
his mind as to the monument by telling him, as is said by the vulgar, that
it is unlucky to build one's tomb in one's lifetime. Fear as well as envy
stimulated Bramante, for the judgment of Michael Angelo had exposed many
of his errors. Bramante, as every one knows, was given to all kinds of
pleasures and a great spendthrift. The pension allotted to him by the
Pope, however rich it might be, was not enough for him; he tried to make
money out of the works, building the walls of bad materials, which,
notwithstanding their greatness and width, are not very firm or solid. As
is manifest to every one in the works of Saint Peter's, the Corridore di
Belvedere, the Convents di San Pietro ad Vincula, and other fabrics built
by him, it has been necessary to put new foundations and to strengthen all
of them by props and buttresses, li