The tomb of Julius empoisoned Michelangelo's manhood, hampered his energy, and brought but small if any profit to his purse.

In one way or another it is always cropping up, and may be said to vex his biographers and the students of his life as much as it annoyed himself.

We may now return to those early days in Rome, when the project had still a fascination both for the sculptor and his patron.
The old Basilica of S.Peter on the Vatican is said to have been built during the reign of Constantine, and to have been consecrated in 324 A.D.It was one of the largest of those Roman buildings, measuring 435 feet in length from the great door to the end of the tribune.

A spacious open square or atrium, surrounded by a cloister-portico, gave access to the church.

This, in the Middle Ages, gained the name of the Paradiso.