Joc. Good Christ! what transparent window panes these are and how artistically painted they are in shaded outlines! What colours! How life-like! What pictures, what statues, what wainscoting! What is the story pourtrayed on the panes?
Vitr. The fall of Griselda, which John Boccaccio wrote so aptly and skilfully; but my master has decided to add a true story to this fiction, which excels the story of Griselda, viz., that of Godelina of Flanders and the English Queen Catharine of Aragon. The first of the statues is the Apostle Paul.
Joc. What is the inscription of the sculpture?
Vitr. “How much we owe thee, O Christ.”
Joc. What does he say himself?
Vitr. “By the grace of God I am what I am and His grace which was bestowed on me, was not in vain.” The other statue is Mutius Scaevola.
Joc. But he is not mute even if he is called Mutius. What is the inscription on his statue?
Vitr. “This fire will not burn me up because another greater one burns in me.” The third statue is Helen; the writing states: “Oh, would that I always had been such a statue, then should I have wrought less harm.”
Joc. What is the meaning of the old blind bald-headed man who points his finger at Helen?
Vitr. That is Homer, who says to Helen: “Thy ill deed has been well sung by me.”