It runs thus: "I beg your most reverend Lordship, not as a friend or servant, for I am not worthy to be either, but as a low fellow, poor and brainless, that you will cause Sebastian, the Venetian painter, now that Rafael is dead, to have some share in the works, at the Palace.

If it should seem to your Lordship that kind offices are thrown away upon a man like me, I might suggest that on some rare occasions a certain sweetness may be found in being kind even to fools, as onions taste well, for a change of food, to one who is tired of capons.

You oblige men of mark every day.
I beg your Lordship to try what obliging me is like.

The obligation will be a very great one, and Sebastian is a worthy man.

If, then, your kind offers are thrown away on me, they will not be so on Sebastian, for I am certain he will prove a credit to your Lordship." In his following missives Sebastiano flatters Michelangelo upon the excellent effect produced by the letter.