MICHAEL ANGELO. 
The work is nearly done.  But this Last Judgment
Has been the cause of more vexation to me
Than it will be of honor.  Ser Biagio,
Master of ceremonies at the Papal court,
A man punctilious and over nice,
Calls it improper; says that those nude forms,
Showing their nakedness in such shameless fashion,
Are better suited to a common bagnio,
Or wayside wine-shop, than a Papal Chapel. 
To punish him I painted him as Minos
And leave him there as master of ceremonies
In the Infernal Regions.  What would you
Have done to such a man?

BENVENUTO. 
             I would have killed him. 
When any one insults me, if I can
I kill him, kill him.

MICHAEL ANGELO. 
                     Oh, you gentlemen,
Who dress in silks and velvets, and wear swords,
Are ready with your weapon; and have all
A taste for homicide.

BENVENUTO. 
                  I learned that lesson
Under Pope Clement at the siege of Rome,
Some twenty years ago.  As I was standing
Upon the ramparts of the Campo Santo
With Alessandro Bene, I beheld
A sea of fog, that covered all the plain,
And hid from us the foe; when suddenly,
A misty figure, like an apparition,
Rose up above the fog, as if on horseback. 
At this I aimed my arquebus, and fired. 
The figure vanished; and there rose a cry
Out of the darkness, long and fierce and loud,
With imprecations in all languages. 
It was the Constable of France, the Bourbon,
That I had slain.

MICHAEL ANGELO. 
       Rome should be grateful to you.

BENVENUTO. 
But has not been; you shall hear presently. 
During the siege I served as bombardier,
There in St. Angelo.  His Holiness,
One day, was walking with his Cardinals
On the round bastion, while I stood above
Among my falconets.  All thought and feeling,
All skill in art and all desire of fame,
Were swallowed up in the delightful music
Of that artillery.  I saw far off,
Within the enemy’s trenches on the Prati,
A Spanish cavalier in scarlet cloak;
And firing at him with due aim and range,
I cut the gay Hidalgo in two pieces. 
The eyes are dry that wept for him in Spain. 
His Holiness, delighted beyond measure
With such display of gunnery, and amazed
To see the man in scarlet cut in two,
Gave me his benediction, and absolved me
From all the homicides I had committed
In service of the Apostolic Church,
Or should commit thereafter.  From that day
I have not held in very high esteem
The life of man.

MICHAEL ANGELO. 
     And who absolved Pope Clement? 
Now let us speak of Art.

BENVENUTO. 
                    Of what you will.

MICHAEL ANGELO. 
Say, have you seen our friend Fra Bastian lately,
Since by a turn of fortune he became
Friar of the Signet?