so I think that he is sure to return.’  Upon this I up and gave the man a sound rating in the Pope’s presence, and spoke as I believe you would have spoken for me; and for the time he was struck dumb, as though he felt that he had made a mistake in talking as he did.  I proceeded as follows:  ’Holy Father, that man never exchanged a word with Michelangelo, and if what he has just said is the truth, I beg you to cut my head off, for he never spoke to Michelangelo; also I feel sure that he is certain to return, if your Holiness requires it.’”

This altercation throws doubt on the statement that Bramante originally suggested Michelangelo as painter of the Sistine.  He could hardly have turned round against his own recommendation; and, moreover, it is likely that he would have wished to keep so great a work in the hands of his own set, Raffaello, Peruzzi, Sodoma, and others.

Meanwhile, Michelangelo’s friends in Rome wrote, encouraging him to come back.  They clearly thought that he was hazarding both profit and honour if he stayed away.  But Michelangelo, whether the constitutional timidity of which I have spoken, or other reasons damped his courage, felt that he could not trust to the Pope’s mercies.  What effect San Gallo may have had upon him, supposing this architect arrived in Florence at the middle of May, can only be conjectured.  The fact remains that he continued stubborn for a time.  In the lengthy autobiographical letter written to some prelate in 1542, Michelangelo relates what followed:  “Later on, while I was at Florence, Julius sent three briefs to the Signory.  At last the latter sent for me and said:  ’We do not want to go to war with Pope Julius because of you.  You must return; and if you do so, we will write you letters of such authority that, should he do you harm, he will be doing it to this Signory.’  Accordingly I took the letters, and went back to the Pope.”

Condivi gives a graphic account of the transaction which ensued.  “During the months he stayed in Florence three papal briefs were sent to the Signory, full of threats, commanding that he should be sent back by fair means or by force.  Piero Soderini, who was Gonfalonier for life at that time, had sent him against his own inclination to Rome when Julius first asked for him.  Accordingly, when the first of these briefs arrived, he did not compel Michelangelo to go, trusting that the Pope’s anger would calm down.  But when the second and the third were sent, he called Michelangelo and said:  ’You have tried a bout with the Pope on which the King of France would not have ventured; therefore you must not go on letting yourself be prayed for.  We do not wish to go to war on your account with him, and put our state in peril.  Make your mind up to return.’  Michelangelo, seeing himself brought to this pass, and still fearing the anger of the Pope, bethought him of taking refuge in the East.  The Sultan indeed besought him with most liberal promises,