then roused again. "But thou, young Michael Angelo,
dost know what a time I had to make thy father let thee be a painter,
and now thou addest to thy sins and cuttest in marble. Where will be the
end of thy infamy?"

The boy caught the gleam in his friend's eyes, and his serious face
broke into smiles.

"In Rome, Signor Lorenzo, in the Holy Father's house. There I shall go
some day."

"And why to Rome?"

"Every one goes to Rome; thy marvelous pageants are Roman; art lives
there."

"Yes," mused Lorenzo, "Rome on its hills is still the Eternal City. And
yet in those far days to come I doubt if thou wilt be as happy as in
Lorenzo's gardens. How sayest thou, boy?"

"I know not," was the answer. "Only I know that I shall go."

The laughter of the other boys came to their ears, and Lorenzo turned.
"Thy faun is done; to-morrow will I speak with Poliziano of our new
sculptor. What is Granacci saying over there? Come with me and listen."
So, the prince's arm resting affectionately on the boy's shoulder, they
crossed the garden to the noisy group.

Life was gay then in Florence. Lorenzo de' Medici was ruling the
turbulent city by keeping it occupied with merrymaking, by beautifying
its squares with priceless treasures, by helping its poor but ambitious
children to win their heart's desires, by mingling with the citizens at
all times, and writing them ballads to sing, and giving them masques to
act. His house was open to the great men of Italy; on his entertainments
he lavished his wealth, set no bounds to the means he gave Granacci and
the others to make the pageants gorgeous, and superintended everything
with his own wonderfully keen eye for beauty.

The triumphal procession of Paulus AEmilius on the morrow after the
little scene in the gardens was an all-day revel. The good folk of
Florence left their shops and homes and lined the streets, and for hours
floats drawn by prancing horses and picturing great scenes in Roman
history passed before the delighted people's eyes. Among the warriors,
the heroes, the nymphs and fauns, they recognized their neighbors'
children or their own sons and daughters; they were all parcel of it; it
was their own triumph as well as Rome's. Girls sang and danced and
smiled, boys posed and cheered and played heroic parts, the whole youth
of the city spent the day in fairy-land.

Chief among the boys was the little group of artists who were studying
in Lorenzo's mansion, and chief among thes