Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/434

254 lies before it. And don't you see another Pile of Building in the middle of this Field? I do, what do you call it, and who does it belong to? This is the Seat of the Fortunate, said he, here all the Moral Virtues keep their Court, and Happiness, is always in their Train. Say you so? This must needs be a delicate Place then. Right. But to carry you farther: Don’t you perceive a handsome, middle aged, Matronly Woman by the Gate in a plain Dress? And if you observe her, she stands upon a square Stone, and not tottering upon a Globe; there are likewise two young Women on each side of her which look as if they were her Daughters, yes, said I, by their Features and Complexion; one would think so. To expound them to you then, the Matron in the middle, is Knowledge, or Learning, the two others are one of them Truth, and the other Perswasion? But what makes the Elder Lady stand upon a Stone like a Die? To shew the steadiness of her Posture, that People may know where to have her, and that her Favours are safe and significant. Well explain’d, but pray what does she present People with? Why, says he, she gives them Assurance, and the Faculty of fearing nothing. And how do these Qualities operate? They Rh