So that I should not have to give to them, I mean to the heirs of Julius, in order to be quit of the Tomb contract, anything of what I have received hitherto, except the said Tomb, completed, like that of Pius in Saint Peter's.

Moreover, I undertake to perform the work within a reasonable time, and to finish the statues with my own hand." He now turns to his annoyances at San Lorenzo: "And given my pension as was said, I will never stop working for Pope Clement with what strength I have, though that be little, for I am old.

At the same time I must not be slighted and affronted as I am now, for it weighs greatly on my spirits, and has prevented me from doing what I wished to do these many months; one cannot work at one thing with the hands, and at another with the brain, and especially in marble.

'Tis said here that these annoyances are meant to spur me on; but I maintain that those are scurvy spurs that make a good steed jib.

I have not touched my pension during the last year, and struggle with poverty.