Page:The Life of Michael Angelo.djvu/181

 Last Judgment.” The one who cried the loudest was Aretino. This master of pornographic literature undertook to give lessons in decency to the chaste Michael Angelo! He wrote him an impudent Tartuffe-like letter, accusing him of having represented “things which would have made a house of debauchery blush,” and denouncing him to the rising Inquisition for ungodliness, “for unbelief,” he said, “would be a less crime than this of attacking the faith of others.” He advised the Pope to destroy the fresco. In addition to his denunciation of Lutheranism, he made ignoble insinuations regarding Michael Angelo’s morals, and, in conclusion, he accused him of having robbed Julius II. To this infamous blackmailing letter, in which everything that was most