the common consent of men regards him as unsurpassed by any masters of our times; and, moreover, being assured that in love and affection toward the country he is the equal of any other good and loyal burgher; bearing in mind, too, the labour he has undergone and the diligence he has displayed, gratis and of his free will, in the said work (of fortification) up to this day; and wishing to employ his industry and energies to the like effect in future; we, of our motion and initiative, do appoint him to be governor and procurator-general over the construction and fortification of the city walls, as well as every other sort of defensive operation and munition for the town of Florence, for one year certain, beginning with the present date; adding thereto full authority over all persons in respect to the said work of reparation or pertaining to it.”  From this preamble it appears that Michelangelo had been already engaged in volunteer service connected with the defence of Florence.  A stipend of one golden florin per diem was fixed by the same deed; and upon the 22nd of April following a payment of thirty florins was decreed, for one month’s salary, dating from the 6th of April.

If the Government thought to gain popular sympathy by Michelangelo’s appointment, they made the mistake of alienating the aristocracy.  It was the weakness of Florence at this momentous crisis in her fate, to be divided into parties, political, religious, social; whose internal jealousies deprived her of the strength which comes alone from unity.  When Giambattista Busini wrote that interesting series of letters to Benedetto Varchi from which the latter drew important materials for his annals of the siege, he noted this fact.  “Envy must always be reckoned as of some account in republics, especially when the nobles form a considerable element, as in ours:  for they were angry, among other matters, to see a Carducci made Gonfalonier, Michelangelo a member of the Nine, a Cei or a Giugni elected to the Ten.”

Michelangelo had scarcely been chosen to control the general scheme for fortifying Florence, when the Signory began to consider the advisability of strengthening the citadels of Pisa and Livorno, and erecting lines along the Arno.  Their commissary at Pisa wrote urging the necessity of Buonarroti’s presence on the spot.  In addition to other pressing needs, the Arno, when in flood, threatened the ancient fortress of the city.  Accordingly we find that Michelangelo went to Pisa on the 5th of June, and that he stayed there over the 13th, returning to Florence perhaps upon the 17th of the month.  The commissary, who spent several days in conferring with him and in visiting the banks of the Arno, was perturbed in mind because Michelangelo refused to exchange the inn where he alighted for an apartment in the official residence.  This is very characteristic of the artist.  We shall soon find him, at Ferrara, refusing to quit his hostelry for the Duke’s palace, and, at Venice, hiring a remote lodging on the Giudecca in order to avoid the hospitality of S. Mark.