Michelangelo appears to have anticipated the catastrophe which was about to overwhelm his patron.

He was by nature timid, suspicious, and apt to foresee disaster.

Possibly he may have judged that the haughty citizens of Florence would not long put up with Piero's aristocratical insolence.

But Condivi tells a story on the subject which is too curious to be omitted, and which he probably set down from Michelangelo's own lips.

"In the palace of Piero a man called Cardiere was a frequent inmate.