St. 17. “O!”: Boniface VIII. (not Benedict IX., as Vasari has it), wishing to employ Giotto, sent a courtier to obtain some proof of his skill. The latter requesting a drawing to send to his Holiness, Giotto took a sheet of paper and a pencil dipped in red color; then resting his elbow on his side, to form a compass, with one turn of his hand he drew a circle so perfect and exact, that it was a marvel to behold. This done, he turned to the courtier, saying, “Here is your drawing.” The courtier seems to have thought that Giotto was fooling him; but the pope was easily convinced, by the roundness of the O, of the greatness of Giotto’s skill. This incident gave rise to the proverb, “Tu sei piu tondo che l’ O di Giotto”, the point of which lies in the word ‘tondo’, signifying slowness of intellect, as well as a circle. --Adapted from Vasari and Heaton. 18. Is it true that we are now, and shall be hereafter, But what and where depend on life’s minute? Hails heavenly cheer or infernal laughter Our first step out of the gulf or in it? Shall Man, such step within his endeavor, Man’s face, have no more play and action Than joy which is crystallized forever, Or grief, an eternal petrifaction? -- St. 18. life’s minute: life’s short span. 19. On which I conclude, that the early painters, To cries of “Greek Art and what more wish you?”-- Replied, “To become now self-acquainters, And paint man, man, whatever the issue! Make new hopes shine through the flesh they fray, New fears aggrandize the rags and tatters: To bring the invisible full into play, Let the visible go to the dogs--what matters?” 20. Give these, I exhort you, their guerdon and glory For daring so much, before they well did it. The first of the new, in our race’s story, Beats the last of the old; ‘tis no idle quiddit. The worthies began a revolution, Which if on earth you intend to acknowledge, Why, honor them now! (ends my allocution) Nor confer your degree when the folks leave college. 21. There’s a fancy some lean to and others hate-- That, when this life is ended, begins New work for the soul in another state, Where it strives and gets weary, loses and wins: Where the strong and the weak, this world’s congeries, Repeat in large what they practised in small, Through life after life in unlimited series; Only the scale’s to be changed, that’s all. 22.