Amphis  continued :  "  But  what  /think  is  of  small
consequence.  The  same  cannot  be  said  of  my  friend,
Dio ;  and  I  am  really  quite  anxious  to  know  how
the  Garden  has  struck  him.  That  it  Aas  struck  him
I  am  convinced;  for  I  see  that  he  is  a  little  blue,
though  not  black.  Cheer  up,  my  friend !  You  have
seen  far  more  of  the  world  than  I  have,  and  ought
to  rise  more  easily  above  the  prejudices  of  educa-
tion."

"  I  have  to  confess,'*  said  Dio,  "  sharing  to  a  cer-
tain  extent  what  my  friend  calls  his  prejudices.  I
also  share  with  him  the  feeling  that  Epicurus  in  our
day  presents  us  a  very  symmetrical  and  coherent
and  naturally-colored  system  of  thought.  Perhaps
our  master  regards  these  features  as  being  in  them-
selves a  proof  of  the  truth  of  the  system?  "

"  Certainly,"  answered  the  Epicurean.  **  My  idea
IS  that  when  one  has  so  fashioned  his  conception
that  it  is  complete,  symmetrical,  and  self-consistent,
it  always  expresses  the  outward  fact.  Clear  and
self-consistent  ideas  are  always  true."

"  What  you  say,"  proceeded   Dio,  "  reminds  me

of  a  visit  I  made  a  few  days  ago  to  a  collection  of

paintings.     I  do  not  think  a  single  one  of  them  is  a

copy  from  nature,  or  has  its  exact  counterpart  among

the  actual  landscapes  of  the  world.     They  are  pure
16


Digitized  by


Google


248  Dio  THE  Athenian.
