The courtesy shown by Michelangelo on this occasion to Cellini may be illustrated by an inedited letter addressed to him from Vicenza.  The writer was Valerio Belli, who describes himself as a cornelian-cutter.  He reminds the sculptor of a promise once made to him in Florence of a design for an engraved gem.  A remarkably fine stone has just come into his hands, and he should much like to begin to work upon it.  These proofs of Buonarroti’s liberality to brother artists are not unimportant, since he was unjustly accused during his lifetime of stinginess and churlishness.

II

At the end of the year 1528 it became clear to the Florentines that they would have to reckon with Clement VII.  As early as August 18, 1527, France and England leagued together, and brought pressure upon Charles V., in whose name Rome had been sacked.  Negotiations were proceeding, which eventually ended in the peace of Barcelona (June 20, 1529), whereby the Emperor engaged to sacrifice the Republic to the Pope’s vengeance.  It was expected that the remnant of the Prince of Orange’s army would be marched up to besiege the town.  Under the anxiety caused by these events, the citizens raised a strong body of militia, enlisted Malatesta Baglioni and Stefano Colonna as generals, and began to take measures for strengthening the defences.  What may be called the War Office of the Florentine Republic bore the title of Dieci della Guerra, or the Ten.  It was their duty to watch over and provide for all the interests of the commonwealth in military matters, and now at this juncture serious measures had to be taken for putting the city in a state of defence.  Already in the year 1527, after the expulsion of the Medici, a subordinate board had been created, to whom very considerable executive and administrative faculties were delegated.  This board, called the Nove della Milizia, or the Nine, were empowered to enrol all the burghers under arms, and to take charge of the walls, towers, bastions, and other fortifications.  It was also within their competence to cause the destruction of buildings, and to compensate the evicted proprietors at a valuation which they fixed themselves.  In the spring of 1529 the War Office decided to gain the services of Michelangelo, not only because he was the most eminent architect of his age in Florence, but also because the Buonarroti family had always been adherents of the Medicean party, and the Ten judged that his appointment to a place on the Nove di Milizia would be popular with the democracy.  The patent conferring this office upon him, together with full authority over the work of fortification, was issued on the 6th of April.  Its terms were highly complimentary.  “Considering the genius and practical attainments of Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti, our citizen, and knowing how excellent he is in architecture, beside his other most singular talents in the liberal arts, by virtue whereof