ns, covered with lion and panther-skins, tempted fatigue or
indolence; and when the hero of the hour joined his guests, after his
progress through the precincts, every couch was occupied. To his
right lay Helladius, the famous grammarian and high-priest of Zeus;
Porphyrius, the benefactor of the Serapeum, was on his left; even Karnis
had been allotted a place in his old friend's social circle, and greatly
appreciated the noble juice of the grape, that was passed round, as well
as the eager and intelligent friction of minds, from which he had long
been cut off.

Olympius himself was unanimously chosen Symposiarch, and he invited the
company to discuss, in the first instance, the time-honored question:
Which was the highest good?

One and all, he said, they were standing on a threshold, as it were;
and as travellers, quitting an old and beloved home to seek a new and
unknown one in a distant land, pause to consider what particular joy
that they have known under the shelter of the old Penates has been the
dearest, so it would beseem them to reflect, at this supreme moment,
what had been the highest good of their life in this world. They were
on the eve, perhaps, of a splendid victory; but, perchance, on the other
hand, their foot was already on the plank that led from the shore of
life to Charon's bark.

The subject was a familiar one and a warm discussion was immediately
started. The talk was more flowery and brilliant, no doubt, than in old
Athens, but it led to no deeper views and threw no clearer light on the
well-worn question. The wranglers could only quote what had been said
long since as to the highest Good, and when presently Helladius called
upon them to bring their minds to bear on the nature of humanity, a
vehement disputation arose as to whether man were the best or the worst
of created beings. This led to various utterances as to the mystical
connection of the spiritual and material worlds, and nothing could
be more amazing than the power of imagination which had enabled these
mystical thinkers to people with spirits and daemons every circle of
the ladder-like structure which connected the incomprehensible and
self-sufficing One with the divine manifestation known as Man. It became
quite intelligible that many Alexandrians should fear to fling a stone
lest it might hit one of the good daemons of which the air was full--a
spirit of light perhaps, or a protecting spirit. The more obscure their
theories, the