Leave the matter of the tomb to those who wish you well, and who are able to set you free without the least encumbrance, and take care you do not come short in the Pope's work.

Die first.

And take the pension, for they give it with a willing heart." How long he remained in contumacy is not quite certain; apparently until the 29th of August.

We have a letter written on that day to Giovanni Spina: "After I left you yesterday, I went back thinking over my affairs; and, seeing that the Pope has set his heart on S.Lorenzo, and how he urgently requires my service, and has appointed me a good provision in order that I may serve him with more convenience and speed; seeing also that not to accept it keeps me back, and that I have no good excuse for not serving his Holiness; I have changed my mind, and whereas I hitherto refused, I now demand it (_i.e._, the salary), considering this far wiser, and for more reasons than I care to write; and, more especially, I mean to return to the house you took for me at S.Lorenzo, and settle down there like an honest man: inasmuch as it sets gossip going, and does me great damage not to go back there." From a _Ricordo_ dated October 19, 1524, we learn in fact that he then drew his full pay for eight months.
IV Since Michelangelo was now engaged upon the Medicean tombs at S.
Lorenzo, it will be well to give some account of the several plans he made before deciding on the final scheme, which he partially executed.
We may assume, I think, that the sacristy, as regards its general form and dimensions, faithfully represents the first plan approved by Clement.

This follows from the rapidity and regularity with which the structure was completed.