gaily, and, turning to the companion of her own studies, she added:
"Did you hear, Charmian? If we had only succeeded in perceiving the
wisdom and calm, purposeful order of existence which the Stoics, amid so
much that is perverse, unhealthy, and provocative of contradiction,
nevertheless set above everything else! How can I, in order to live
wisely, imitate Nature, when in her being and action I encounter so much
that is contradictory to my human reason, which is a part of the divine?"

Here she hesitated, and the expression of her face suddenly changed.

She had advanced close to Barine and, while standing directly in front of
her, her eyes had rested on the gem which adorned her arm above the
elbow.

Was it this which agitated Cleopatra so violently that her voice lost its
bewitching melody, as she went on in a harsh, angry tone?--"So that is
the source of all this misfortune. Even as a child I detested that sort
of arbitrary judgment which passes under the mask of stern morality.
There is an example! Do you hear the howling of the storm? In human
nature, as well as in the material world, there are tempests and
volcanoes which bring destruction, and, if the original character of any
individual is full of such devastating forces, like the neighbourhood of
Vesuvius or Etna, the goal to which his impulses would lead him is
clearly visible. Ay, the Stoic is not allowed to destroy the harmony and
order of things in existence, any more than to disturb those which are
established by the state. But to follow our natural impulses wherever
they lead us is so perilous a venture, that whoever has the power to fix
a limit to it betimes is in duty bound to do so. This power is mine, and
I will use it!"