ordered him to paint the great wall of the Sistine, and that Paul desires this work to be carried forward with all possible despatch.

He therefore lets it be publicly known that Michelangelo has not failed to perform his engagements in the matter of the tomb through any fault or action of his own, but by the express command of his Holiness.

Finally, he discharges him and his heirs from all liabilities, pecuniary or other, to which he may appear exposed by the unfulfilled contracts.
III While thus engaged upon his fresco, Michelangelo received a letter, dated Venice, September 15, 1537, from that rogue of genius, Pietro Aretino.

It opens in the strain of hyperbolical compliment and florid rhetoric which Aretino affected when he chose to flatter.

The man, however, was an admirable stylist, the inventor of a new epistolary manner.