They, therefore,
adopted Aristotle and the Peripatetics. Plato interfered with their
heavenly knowledge, and Epicurus, who maintained the rights of man to
pleasure and happiness, would have afforded a dangerous and seducing
contrast to their dark and miserable code of morals.'
'I think, of the ancients,' said Cadurcis; 'Alcibiades and Alexander
the Great are my favourites. They were young, beautiful, and
conquerors; a great combination.'
'And among the moderns?' inquired Herbert.
'They don't touch my fancy,' said Cadurcis. 'Who are your heroes?'
'Oh! I have many; but I confess I should like to pass a day with
Milton, or Sir Philip Sidney.'
'Among mere literary men,' said Cadurcis; 'I should say Bayle.'
'And old Montaigne for me,' said Herbert.
'Well, I would fain visit him in his feudal chateau,' said Cadurcis.
'His is one of the books which give a spring to the mind. Of modern
times, the feudal ages of Italy most interest me. I think that was a
springtide of civilisation, all the fine arts nourished at the same
moment.'
'They ever will,' said Herbert. 'All the inventive arts maintain a
sympathetic connection between each other, for, after all, they are
only various expressions of one internal power, modified by different
circumstances either of the individual or of society.
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