"But if I feel them to be real enjoyments, it is enough to prove that
they are truly so."

"Granted; but if you would take the trouble of analyzing them after you
have tasted them, you would not find them unalloyed."

"It may be so, but why should I take a trouble which would only lessen my
enjoyment."

"A time will come when you will feel pleasure in that very trouble."

"It strikes me, dear father, that you prefer mature age to youth."

"You may boldly say old age."

"You surprise me. Must I believe that your early life has been unhappy?"

"Far from it. It was always fortunate in good health, and the master of
my own passions; but all I saw in my equals was for me a good school in
which I have acquired the knowledge of man, and learned the real road to
happiness. The happiest of men is not the most voluptuous, but the one
who knows how to choose the highest standards of voluptuousness, which
can be found, I say again, not in the pleasures which excite our senses,
but in those which give greater repose to the soul."

"That is the voluptuousness which you consider unalloyed."

"Yes, and such is the sight of a vast prairie all covered with grass. The
green colour, so strongly recommended by our divine prophet, strikes my
eyes, and at the same moment I feel that my soul is wrapped up in a calm