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29 Imaginary Conversation. 29 / must defend it. In few icords theri^ since I think tve are none of its disposed for many^ hemlock does not hurt goats^ nor luooiiry philosophers. Thelymnia had risen more beautiful from her confusion ; iDut her colour soon went away, and, if any slight trace of it were remaining on her cheeks, the modest moonlight and the severer stars would let none shew itself. She looked as the statue of Pygmalion would have looked, had she been destined the hour after animation to return into her inani- mate state. Offering no excuse, she was the worthier of pardon : but there is one hour in which pardon never en- tered the human heart, and that hour was this. Critolaus, who always had ridiculed the philosophers, now hated them from the bottom of his heart. Every sect was detestable to him; the Stoic, the Platonic, the Epicurean, the Eclectic; all equally ; but one above the rest, which he would not designate to his most intimate friend, and this sect is deno- minated, not from portico or grove or garden, but from a single plant, and we know it by the name of the Robust. PANETIUS. We do not desire to hear what such foolish men think of philosophers, true or false, but pray tell us how he acted on his own notable discovery ; for I opine he was the un- likeliest of the three to grow quite calm on a sudden. POLYBIUS. He went away ; not without some fierce glances at the stars, some reproaches to the gods themselves, and serious and sad reflexions upon destiny. Being however a pious man, by constitution and education, he thought he had spoken of the omens unadvisedly, and found other interpre- tations for the stones we had thrown down with the ivy. And ah I said he sighing, the bird'^s nest of last year too ! I now know what that is! PANETIUS. Polybius, I considered you too grave a man to report such idle stories. The manner is not yours: I rather think you have torn out a page or two from some love-feast (not generally known) of Plato.