nd
that he will incite men to take arms, and describe the heavens, the
stars, nature, and the arts and everything.

To which we reply that none of these things of which he speaks is his
true profession; but if he wishes to speak and make orations, it can be
shown that he is surpassed by the orator in this province; and if he
speaks of astrology, that he has stolen the subject of the astrologer;
and in the case of philosophy, of the philosopher; and that in reality
poetry has no true position and merits no more consideration than a
shopkeeper {77} who collects goods made by various workmen. As soon as
the poet ceases to represent by means of words the phenomena of nature,
he then ceases to act as a painter, because if the poet leaves such
representation and describes the flowery and persuasive speech of him
to whom he wishes to give speech, he then becomes an orator, and
neither a poet nor a painter; and if he speaks of the heavens he
becomes an astrologer, and a philosopher and a theologian if he
discourses of nature or God; but if he returns to the description of
any object he would rival the painter, if with words he could satisfy
the eye as the painter does.

But the spirit of the science of painting deals with all works, human
as well as divine, which are terminated by their surfaces, that is, the
lines of the limits of bodies by means of which the sculptor is
required to achieve perfection in his art. She with her fundamental
rules, i.e. drawing, teaches the architect how to work so that his
building may be pleasant to the eye; she teaches the makers of diverse
vases, the goldsmiths, weavers, embroiderers; she has found the
characters with which diverse languages find expression; she has given
symbols to the mathematicians; she has taught geometry its figures, and
instructed the astrologers, the makers of machines and engineers.

[Sidenote: Poet and Painter]

19.

The poet says that his science consists of {78} invention and rhythm,
and this is the simple body of poetry, invention as regards the subject
matter and rhythm as regards the verse, which he afterwards clothes
with all the sciences. To which the painter rejoins that he is
governed by the same necessities in the science of painting, that is to
say, invention and measure (fancy as regards the subject matter which
he must invent, and measure as regards the matters painted), so that
they may be in proportion, but that he does not make use of three