and stopping, I said: "Shall we be allowed to enter here, for they admit only geometricians?" "Go on, none the less," said Impudence, and we entered; and behold, there were many there who drew lines, hooks, crosses, circles, squares, and points, each one quietly and apart from the others. Then one walked up to another, and showed what he had drawn. One said that it should be different, and another that it was well done; and they disputed about this. But if one found some new line or hook, he exulted with joy, and calling the others together, showed it them. These then wondered, turned their fingers and heads round, and each returning to his own corner endeavoured to fashion something similar. One succeeded, but another did not, so that the whole hall, the floor, the walls, and the ceiling were full of lines, and they did not allow anyone to tread on them or to touch them.
10. Those who were the most learned among them assembled in the middle of the hall and strove at something with great labour; and then I saw that all the others waited with open mouths; and there was much talk as to this being more won-
- ↑ Besides his better-known philological work, John Justus Scaliger studied mathematics and algebra.
- ↑ Clavius—a Jesuit—was famous as a mathematician and astronomer. He was consulted by Pope Gregory XIII., when that pope established the calendar that bears his name.
