to heaven and then dragged down to hell by
you? Was it right for you to slander my flourishing and vigorous years
and land me in the shadows and lassitude of decrepit old age? Give me
some sign, however faint, I beg of you, that you have returned to life!"
I vented my anger in words such as these.

His eyes were fixed, and with averted look
He stood, less moved by any word of mine
Than weeping willows bending o'er a brook
Or drooping poppies as at noon they pine.

When I had made an end of this invective, so out of keeping with good
taste, I began to do penance for my soliloquy and blushed furtively
because I had so far forgotten my modesty as to invoke in words that part
of my body which men of dignity do not even recognize. Then, rubbing my
forehead for a long time, "Why have I committed an indiscretion in
relieving my resentment by natural abuse," I mused, "what does it amount
to? Are we not accustomed to swear at every member of the human body,
the belly, throat, or even the head when it aches, as it often does? Did
not Ulysses wrangle with his own heart? Do not the tragedians 'Damn
their eyes' just as if they could hear?

"Gouty patients swear at their feet, rheumatics at their hands,
blear-eyed
people at their eyes, and do not those who often stub their toes blame
their feet for all their pain?

"Why will our Catos with their frowning brows
Condemn a work of fresh simplicity'?
A cheerful kindness my pure speech endows;
What people do, I write, to my capacity.
For who knows not the pleasures Venus gives?
Who will not in a warm bed tease his members?
Great Epicurus taught a truth that lives;
Love and enjoy life! All the rest is embers.

"Nothing can be more insincere than the silly prejudices of mankind, and
nothing sillier than the morality of bigotry,"

CHAPTER THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THIRD.

I called Giton when I had finished my meditation: "Tell me, little
brother," I demanded, "tell me, on your honor: Did Ascyltos stay awake
until he had exacted his will of you, the night he stole you away from
me? Or was he content to spend the night like a chaste widow?" Wiping
his eyes the lad, in carefully chosen words took oath that Ascyltos had
used no force against him. (The truth of the matter is, that I was so
dis