thoughtfully, but Barine, remembering Archibius's tale, said modestly,
"You are thinking of the chief good mentioned by Epicurus--perfect peace
of mind."

Cleopatra's eyes sparkled with a brighter light as she asked eagerly,
"Do you, the granddaughter of a philosopher, know the system of the
master?"

"Very superficially, your Majesty. My intellect is far inferior to
yours. It is difficult for me thoroughly to comprehend all the details
of any system of philosophy."

"Yet you have attempted it?"

"Others endeavoured to introduce me into the doctrines of the Stoics.
I have forgotten most of what I learned; only one thing lingered in my
memory, and I know why--because it pleased me."

"And that?"

"Was the wise law of living according to the dictates of our own natures.
The command to shun everything contradictory to the simple fundamental
traits of our own characters pleased me, and wherever I saw affectation,
artificiality, and mannerism I was repelled, while from my grandfather's
teaching I drew the principle that I could do nothing better than to
remain, so far as life would permit, what I had been as a child ere I had
heard the first word of philosophy, or felt the constraint which society
and its forms impose."

"So the system of the Stoics leads to this end also!" cried the Queen