Sir, they would exterminate the human race in a single generation, by a voluntary suicide! Secondly, as a porter; for if all men turned monks, nobody would be idle, and the profession of portering would be annihilated.

Thirdly, sir, as a philosopher; for as the false coin is odious to the true, so is the irrational and animal asceticism of the monk, to the logical and methodic self-restraint of one who, like your humblest of philosophers, aspires to a life according to the pure reason.' 'And pray,' asked Philammon, half laughing, 'who has been your tutor in philosophy ?' 'The fountain of classic wisdom, Hypatia herself.

As the ancient sage--the name is unimportant to a monk--pumped water nightly that he might study by day, so I, the guardian of cloaks and parasols, at the sacred doors of her lecture-room, imbibe celestial knowledge.

From my youth I felt in me a soul above the matter-entangled herd.

She revealed to me the glorious fact, that I am a spark of Divinity itself.