XXIV/2 These four images of transience as exemplified by the elements reflect Dante's opening pastoral simile and Virgil's recapitulations of its meaning in both his change of mood and his exhortation to Dante to beware of slothfulness which produces the ephemeral life. Air, Fire, Snow and Water are illustrated from Boy's Own Paper fragments (Virgil's is a very BOP message here). Earth is only hinted at in the gritty mezzotint border. At the centre (from La Mode Illustree) are reminiscences of 'blankets and soft dawn'. In Dante's day (as throughout Europe until as late as the nineteenth century) Fame was an honourable goal that could be acknowledged without equivocation. The shapes of the compartments of the picture resemble those of playing cards as if to continue the imagery of chance. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.