Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/403

1564] farthing. At home his brothers were quarrelsome and wasteful, and treated their old father unkindly. On all sides people seemed to conspire to vex and thwart him.

And, the following January, in a letter to his father, he says:

On the Feast of All Saints, 1509, a portion of the vault was uncovered to satisfy the Pope's impatience, and excited general admiration. But the work was still far from being complete, and the great master had still many difficulties to overcome.

A few weeks later he preached patience to his father, who was grumbling at the over-heavy taxes which the Florentines had to pay:

"If you are treated worse than others, refuse to pay. Let them seize your goods and tell me. But if you are treated the same as others, be patient and hope in God. It is enough to have bread and to live, as I do, in the faith