The jewellers Say I've surpassed Targhetta.
MICHAEL ANGELO.
Let me see it.
A pretty jewel.
BENVENUTO.
That is not the expression.
Pretty is not a very pretty word To be applied to such a precious stone, Given by an Emperor to a Pope, and set By Benvenuto! MICHAEL ANGELO.
Messer Benvenuto, I lose all patience with you; for the gifts That God hath given you are of such a kind, They should be put to far more noble uses Than setting diamonds for the Pope of Rome.
You can do greater things.
BENVENUTO.
The God who made me Knows why he made me what I am,--a goldsmith, A mere artificer.
MICHAEL ANGELO.
Oh no; an artist Richly endowed by nature, but who wraps His talent in a napkin, and consumes His life in vanities.
BENVENUTO.
Michael Angelo May say what Benvenuto would not bear From any other man.

He speaks the truth.
I know my life is wasted and consumed In vanities; but I have better hours And higher aspirations than you think.
Once, when a prisoner at St.Angelo, Fasting and praying in the midnight darkness, In a celestial vision I beheld A crucifix in the sun, of the same substance As is the sun itself.

And since that hour There is a splendor round about my head, That may be seen at sunrise and at sunset Above my shadow on the grass.

And now I know that I am in the grace of God, And none henceforth can harm me.
MICHAEL ANGELO.
None but one,-- None but yourself, who are your greatest foe.
He that respects himself is safe from others; He wears a coat of mail that none can pierce.
BENVENUTO.
I always wear one.
MICHAEL ANGELO.
O incorrigible! At least, forget not the celestial vision.
Man must have something higher than himself To think of.
BENVENUTO.
That I know full well.

Now listen.
I have been sent for into France, where grow The Lilies that illumine heaven and earth, And carry in mine equipage the model Of a most marvellous golden salt-cellar For the king's table; and here in my brain A statue of Mars Armipotent for the fountain Of Fontainebleau, colossal, wonderful.
I go a goldsmith, to return a sculptor.
And so farewell, great Master.