AS AN ENGINEER-THE LEDA-SAN LORENZO-RETURN TO
ROME THE LAST JUDGMENT-APPOINTED ARCHITECT OF
ST. PETER'S.

ULIUS II. died without completely attaining his double aim, the expulsion of foreigners from Italy and the absorption of the different States of the Peninsula by the Papal power. He increased his sway by diminishing the power of Venice, but destroyed for ever one of the strongest bulwarks of Italian independence. The crafty policy of Leo upheld the supremacy of the Church, but the indecision of Clement VII. was not long in compromising the results which had been obtained by the courage and skill of his two illustrious predecessors.

Francis I. laid claim to Naples, the Emperor to Milan, and Italy was once more a prey to all the devastating agents of the most terrible of wars. The Constable of Bourbon did not stop at Florence; it was the sack of Rome which the Spanish and German hordes demanded, of Rome defenceless

E

and more brilliant than she had ever been. The republican party in Florence took advantage of the downfall and captivity of Clement VII. to drive out the Medici again. The name of Michelangelo is closely bound up with this supreme effort which his country made for the recovery of her independence, and to have been among her most useful and active defenders is not one of his least titles to

renown.

When the events of 1527 occurred, Michelangelo had been in Florence for several years, employed on the works of San Lorenzo and the tomb of the Medici. He was then more than fifty years old. His character, which had always been impetuous, was not softened by age. Carrying his love of solitude almost to a mania, caring little for most of the men among whom he lived, as the sarcastic and offensive words which are attributed to him abundantly prove, he was never mixed up in party conflicts. There were reasons for his abstaining, apart from his character. His republican convictions made him detest the tyrannical and impotent rule of the later Medici; but his attachment to Lorenzo and the gentle remembrance which he had retained of him as a patron and friend made it difficult for him to enter the lists against his degenerate successors.

However, in the midst of his advancing career, and just as he had determined to devote himself more than ever to his art, events occurred which imperatively demanded a change in his resolves, and which gave a peculiar character to the second part of his life, by throwing him headlong into political struggles. The captivity of Clement VII. did not last long. Charles V. had just become reconciled to the Pope, and the re-establishment of the Medici was one of the principal stipulations of the Treaty of Barcelona. The

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Florence government did not wait for the Pope to lay siege to the city before taking steps for its defence. The fortifications were inadequate and in a bad state. All eyes turned to Michelangelo. He was named Director and CommissionerGeneral of the Fortifications. His sympathy with the movement which gave liberty to Florence was perfect. Whatever his repugnance might be on personal grounds he did not think that genius absolved him from being an honest man, and he accepted.

The activity which he displayed on this occasion seems to have been prodigious. "He fortified the city at many points," says Vasari, "and surrounded San Miniato with stout bastions of chestnut and oak, not of the ordinary turf and brushwood. He even substituted bricks of animal hair and dung for the turf." In April and May he was at Leghorn, in June at Pisa, engaged in the citadel works and the Arno fortifications. The following month he was off to Ferrara, whither the Signory of Florence sent him to study the new style of fortification employed by Duke Alfonso. Again, in September, he was at Arezzo, directing the defences there.

The fortifications of Michelangelo, which Vauban studied and admired, still enclose the lovely church and the cypress trees of San Miniato; they encircle the most charming of hills with a dark and sombre belt. I am not competent to judge of these ramparts as military works, but I have never seen them without thinking of the great man who constructed them, and who, when he might have been content with his reputation as an artist, determined to take part in his country's last struggle for liberty.

According to Vasari, Michelangelo remained almost continually in the fortress for the six months which preceded

the siege, directing everything in person, and trusting in no one else. "When he did come down into the city it was to work stealthily on the San Lorenzo statues." This casual word of his biographer depicts the mental perplexities of Michelangelo better than the longest dissertation. He was compelled to fight against a Medici to satisfy his conscience and his judgment, and dared not allow the feelings to be seen which brought upon him an accusation of treason from an excited and suspicious people. So by a sort of compromise and to reassure his heart which protested against his actions, he only gave over the fight with Clement to push on the tombs of Lorenzo and Giuliano in secret.

Then sprung up disunion between the defenders of the city. The condottiere, Malatesta Baglioni, was appointed Commander-in-Chief. Rumours of treason were about among the soldiers. Some officers came to give Michelangelo warning. He went to the Signory, and laid bare the danger of the city;-Malatesta was a traitor, there was still time to put everything right, but steps must be taken without delay. "Instead of thanks," says Condivi, "he only received insults from the Gonfaloniere Carduccio, who treated him like a man who was afraid and over-suspicious." He was disgusted at the injustice of Carduccio, and saw that the advice of the perfidious Malatesta was preferred to his own. Under such circumstances he could do nothing for the defence of the city. In the simple discharge of his duties he was exposing himself to the madness of the people, without advantage to any one. He left Florence with his pupil Mimi and his friend Ridolfo Corsini. He withdrew first to Ferrara and then to Venice, where he stayed for a short time.

The works for the defence of Florence had been carried on with so much skill and energy that the journey of Michel

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angelo was nothing but a series of ovations, which, do what he would, he could not check. People saw in him not the artist only but the defender of the independence of the Republic of Florence. It was the manly character which he had displayed, far more than his frescos and his statues, which won for him that swift popularity and enthusiastic admiration which follow upon public services. The Duke of Ferrara, who found him out, despite all his pains to hide himself, carried him off almost by main force to his palace, overwhelmed him with attentions and with presents, showed him his pictures, and, among others, his own portrait by Titian. "Immediately after his arrival," says Varchi, "Michelangelo withdrew quietly to Giudecca, to escape from visits of ceremony which he detested, and to enjoy his customary solitude." But the presence of such a man in the city could not remain unknown. The Signory sent two of their principal gentlemen to pay him a formal visit, and to entreat his acceptance of everything which either he or his friends might require. "This is a proof," says the historian, "of Michelangelo's eminence, and of the admiration in which these illustrious men held such virtues."

His precipitate flight has been attributed to an excessive and culpable prudence, without any consideration of his character and circumstances. This accusation will not bear examination; but, as it has been brought up again of late, it must not be passed over in silence. There is no doubt something unusual in this abrupt decision of Michelangelo; but he acted consistently with that character which is familiar to us. Irritable, impetuous, quick in resolution, he took counsel with no one but himself. His conduct in the midst of the events which succeeded his departure and return, at a moment of supreme peril, leaves no doubt as to the motives of his action. The Signory had declared Buonarroti and his companions