The letter of the Pope was
of this tenour: "At sight of this return immediately to Rome, under pain
of my displeasure." Michael Angelo replied briefly: "That he was never
going to return, and that his good and faithful service had not deserved
this change, to be hunted away from his presence like a rogue; and as his
Holiness did not wish to have anything more to do with the tomb, he was
free and did not wish to bind himself again." So dating the letter as has
been said he let the messengers go, he himself went on to Florence, where,
during the three months he remained there, three Briefs were sent to the
Signoria, full of menaces, demanding that he should be sent back either by
fair means or force.
XXX. Pier Soderini, who was then Gonfaloniere of the Republic for life,
having formerly let him go to Rome much against his will, wished him to
work for him by painting in the Sala del Consiglio. On receipt of the
first Brief he did not oblige Michael Angelo to return, hoping that the
anger of the Pope would abate; but when a second and a third arrived, he
called Michael Angelo to him and said: "_You have braved the Pope as the
King of France would not have done, therefore prayer is unavailing. We do
not wish to go to war with him on your __account and risk the State, so
prepare yourself to return_."(37) Michael Angelo, seeing it had come to
this, and fearing the wrath of the Pope, thought of going to the Levant,
principally because he had been sought after by the Turk with rich
promises, through the agency of certain Franciscan Friars, to throw a
bridge from Constantinople to Pera, and for other works.
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