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A Chapel in the Church of San Silvestro on Monte Cavallo.VITTORIA COLONNA, CLAUDIO TOLOMMEI, and others.
VITTORIA. H ERE let us rest awhile, until the crowd | |
| Has left the church. I have already sent | |
| For Michael Angelo to join us here. | |
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MESSER CLAUDIO. After Fra Bernardino’s wise discourse | |
| On the Pauline Epistles, certainly | 5 |
| Some words of Michael Angelo on Art | |
| Were not amiss, to bring us back to earth. | |
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MICHAEL ANGELO, at the door. How like a Saint or Goddess she appears! | |
| Diana or Madonna, which I know not, | |
| In attitude and aspect formed to be | 10 |
| At once the artist’s worship and despair! | |
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VITTORIA. Welcome, Maestro. We were waiting for you. | |
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MICHAEL ANGELO. I met your messenger upon the way, | |
And hastened hither.
VITTORIA. It is kind of you | |
| To come to us, who linger here like gossips | 15 |
| Wasting the afternoon in idle talk. | |
| These are all friends of mine and friends of yours. | |
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MICHAEL ANGELO. If friends of yours, then are they friends of mine. | |
| Pardon me, gentlemen. But when I entered | |
I saw but the Marchesa.
VITTORIA. Take this seat | 20 |
| Between me and Ser Claudio Tolommei, | |
| Who still maintains that our Italian tongue | |
| Should be called Tuscan. But for that offence | |
We will not quarrel with him.
MICHAEL ANGELO. Eccellenza— | |
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VITTORIA. Ser Claudio has banished Eccellenza | 25 |
| And all such titles from the Tuscan tongue. | |
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MESSER CLAUDIO. ’T is the abuse of them, and not the use, | |
I deprecate.
MICHAEL ANGELO. The use or the abuse, | |
| It matters not. Let them all go together, | |
| As empty phrases and frivolities, | 30 |
| And common as gold-lace upon the collar | |
Of an obsequious lackey.
VITTORIA. That may be, | |
| But something of politeness would go with them; | |
| We should lose something of the stately manners | |
Of the old school.
MESSER CLAUDIO. Undoubtedly.
VITTORIA. But that | 35 |
| Is not what occupies my thoughts at present, | |
| Nor why I sent for you, Messer Michele. | |
| It was to counsel me. His Holiness | |
| Has granted me permission, long desired, | |
| To build a convent in this neighborhood, | 40 |
| Where the old tower is standing, from whose top | |
| Nero looked down upon the burning city. | |
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MICHAEL ANGELO. It is an inspiration!
VITTORIA. I am doubtful | |
| How I shall build; how large to make the convent, | |
And which way fronting.
MICHAEL ANGELO. Ah, to build, to build! | 45 |
| That is the noblest art of all the arts. | |
| Painting and sculpture are but images, | |
| Are merely shadows cast by outward things | |
| On stone or canvas, having in themselves | |
| No separate existence. Architecture, | 50 |
| Existing in itself, and not in seeming | |
| A something it is not, surpasses them | |
| As substance shadow. Long, long year ago, | |
| Standing one morning near the Baths of Titus, | |
| I saw the statue of Laocoön | 55 |
| Rise from its grave of centuries, like a ghost | |
| Writhing in pain; and as it tore away | |
| The knotted serpents from its limbs, I heard, | |
| Or seemed to hear, the cry of agony | |
| From its white, parted lips. And still I marvel | 60 |
| At the three Rhodian artists, by whose hands | |
| This miracle was wrought. Yet he beholds | |
| Far nobler works who looks upon the ruins | |
| Of temples in the Forum here in Rome. | |
| If God should give me power in my old age | 65 |
| To build for Him a temple half as grand | |
| As those were in their glory, I should count | |
| My age more excellent than youth itself, | |
| And all that I have hitherto accomplished | |
As only vanity.
VITTORIA. I understand you. | 70 |
| Art is the gift of God, and must be used | |
| Unto His glory. That in art is highest | |
| Which aims at this. When St. Hilarion blessed | |
| The horses of Italicus, they won | |
| The race at Gaza, for his benediction | 75 |
| O’erpowered all magic; and the people shouted | |
| That Christ had conquered Marnas. So that art | |
| Which bears the consecration and the seal | |
| Of holiness upon it will prevail | |
| Over all others. Those few words of yours | 80 |
| Inspire me with new confidence to build. | |
| What think you? The old walls might serve, perhaps, | |
| Some purpose still. The tower can hold the bells. | |
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MICHAEL ANGELO. If strong enough.
VITTORIA. If not, it can be strengthened. | |
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MICHAEL ANGELO. I see no bar nor drawback to this building, | 85 |
| And on our homeward way, if it shall please you, | |
We may together view the site.
VITTORIA. I thank you. | |
| I did not venture to request so much. | |
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MICHAEL ANGELO. Let us now go to the old walls you spake of, | |
Vossignoria—
VITTORIA. What, again, Maestro? | 90 |
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MICHAEL ANGELO. Pardon me, Messer Claudio, if once more | |
| I use the ancient courtesies of speech. | |
| I am too old to change. | |
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