gh he
sought most humbly to excuse himself; thus always honouring his genius
as much as lay in his power.

The Pope caused him to make the model of a facade for a palace that
his Holiness desired to build beside S. Rocco, intending to avail
himself of the Mausoleum of Augustus for the rest of the masonry; and,
as a design for a facade, there is nothing to be seen that is more
varied, more ornate, or more novel in manner and arrangement, for the
reason that, as has been seen in all his works, he never consented to
be bound by any law, whether ancient or modern, in matters of
architecture, as one who had a brain always able to discover things
new and well-varied, and in no way less beautiful. That model is now
in the possession of Duke Cosimo de' Medici, who had it as a present
from Pope Pius IV when he went to Rome; and he holds it among his
dearest treasures. That Pope had such respect for Michelagnolo, that
he was constantly taking up his defence against Cardinals and others
who sought to calumniate him, and he desired that other craftsmen,
however able and renowned they might be, should always go to seek him
at his house; such, indeed, were the regard and reverence that he felt
for him, that his Holiness did not venture, lest he might annoy him,
to call upon Michelagnolo for many works which, although he was old,
he could have executed.

As far back as the time of Paul III Michelagnolo had made a beginning
with the work of refounding, under his own direction, the Ponte S.
Maria at Rome, which had been weakened by the constant flow of water
and by age, and was falling into ruin. The refounding was contrived by
Michelagnolo by means of caissons, and by making stout reinforcements
against the piers; and already he had carried a great part of it to
completion, and had spent large sums on wood and travertine on behalf
of the work, when, in the time of Julius III, an assembly was held by
the Clerks of the Chamber with a view to making an end of it, and a
proposal was made among them by the architect Nanni di Baccio Bigio,
saying that if it were allotted by contract to him it would be
finished in a short time and without much expense; and this they
suggested on the pretext, as it were, of doing a favour to
Michelagnolo and relieving him of a burden, because he was old,
alleging that he gave no thought to it, and that if matters remained
as they were the end would never be seen. The Pope, who little liked
being troubled, n