Mini, but these were afterwards restored by the intervention of the Council of Eight, and the master himself had employed the intercession of his friend Messer Griovanni Norchiati, canon of San Lorenzo,[1] to save the boys from any further punishment. Michelagnolo was once talking to Vasari about this matter when the latter told him laughingly, that he did not consider the young men so very blameable, and would himself have taken, not some drawings only, but all that he could have laid hands on, acting from the love of art and in the hope of improvement only, seeing that those who would make progress must proceed with force of will, and should be rewarded for their zeal rather than punished as are those who steal money or property of that kind. The matter was thus turned into a jest, and the work being commenced that year, Ammannato went with Vasari to Carrara, to prepare the marbles.
Vasari was at this time in the company of Michelagnolo daily, and one morning in the Jubilee year, the Pope in his kindness gave them both a holiday, to the effect that they might accompany a cavalcade which was riding forth to visit the Seven Churches, and might thus receive the absolution together. In doing this they had much useful and pleasing discourse, while going from one church to another, respecting the arts and other vocations, and Vasari wrote the whole dialogue, which he intends to publish at some future day, with other matters concerning art.[2] In the same year. Pope Julius confirmed the Motu-proprio of Paul III. in respect to the fabric of San Pietro, and although the Sangallican faction found great fault with what Michelagnolo had ordered for the building, the Pontiff would at that time hear nothing of all they could say; Vasari having assured him that Michelagnolo had given life to the edifice (as was the truth), and persuading His Holiness to do nothing in respect to his design for San Pietro, without the full concurrence of the master, a promise to which Pope Julius, having once given it, constantly adhered. Nor would he suffer anything to be done without Michelagnolo’s advice either at the Yigna Julia or the Belvedere. The flight of steps now used was at that time constructed at the last-mentioned palace, in
