lready brought the basin, the phials, and the
metal mirror. But Paphnutius stopped them with an imperious gesture, and
lowered his eyes that he might not look upon them, for they were naked.
Nicias brought cushions for him, and offered him various meats and
drinks, which Paphnutius scornfully refused.

"Nicias," he said, "I have not renounced what you falsely call the
Christian superstition, which is the truth of truths. 'In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All
things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was
made. In Him was the life, and the life was the light of men.'"

"My dear Paphnutius," replied Nicias, who had now put on a perfumed
tunic, "do you expect to astonish me by reciting a lot of words jumbled
together without skill, which are no more than a vain murmur? Have you
forgotten that I am a bit of a philosopher myself? And do you think to
satisfy me with some rags, torn by ignorant men from the purple garment
of AEmilius, when AEmilius, Porphyry, and Plato, in all their glory, did
not satisfy me! The systems devised by the sages are but tales imagined
to amuse the eternal childishness of men. We divert ourselves with them,
as we do with the stories of _The Ass_, _The Tub_, and _The Ephesian
Matron_, or any other Milesian fable."

And, taking his guest by the arm, he led him into a room where thousands
of papyri were rolled up and lay in baskets.

"This is my library," he said. "It contains a small part of the various
systems which the philosophers have constructed to explain the world.
The Serapeium itself, with all its riches, does not contain them all.
Alas! they are but the dreams of sick men."

He compelled his guest to sit down in an ivory chair, and sat down
himself. Paphnutius scowled gloomily at all the books in the library,
and said--

"They ought all to be burned."

"Oh, my dear guest, that would be a pity!" replied Nicias. "For the
dreams of sick men are sometimes amusing. Besides, if we should destroy
all the dreams and visions of men, the earth would lose its form and
colours, and we should all sleep in a dull stupidity."

Paphnutius continued in the same strain as before--

"It is certain that the doctrines of the pagans are but vain lies. But
God, who is the truth, revealed Himself to men by miracles, and He was
made flesh, and lived among us."

Nicias replied--

"You speak well, my dear Paphnutius, when you say tha