The nurse of fell mischance; for sign take this,

That ever to the best she deals more scorn:

Among a thousand proofs let one remain;

Though ne'er was fortune more unjust than his,

His equal or his better ne'er was born.

About the date of the two next sonnets there is less doubt. The first was clearly written when Michael Angelo was smarting under a sense of the ill-treatment he received from Julius. The second, composed at Rome, is interesting as the only proof we possess of the impression made upon his mind by the anomalies of the Papal rule. Here, in the capital of Christendom, he writes, holy things are sold for money to be used in warfare, and the pontiff, quel nel manto, paralyses the powers of the sculptor by refusing him employment.[[419]]

SIGNOR, SE VERO È

My Lord! if ever ancient saw spake sooth,

Hear this which saith: Who can, doth never will.

Lo! thou hast lent thine ear to fables still,