To Archimedes once a scholar came, br "Teach me," he said, "the art that won thy fame;-- br The godlike art which gives such boons to toil, br And showers such fruit upon thy native soil;-- br The godlike art that girt the town when all br Rome's vengeance burst in thunder on the wall!" br "Thou call'st art godlike--it is so, in truth, br And was," replied the master to the youth, br "Ere yet its secrets were applied to use-- br Ere yet it served beleaguered Syracuse:-- br Ask'st thou from art, but what the art is worth? br The fruit?--for fruit go cultivate the earth.