ded Euphronius.

"To speak only," said the Indians, "of such of his doings as may fitly be
recited to modest ears, we find him declaring war against Nature, and
delighting in nothing that is not the contrary of what Heaven meant it to
be. We see him bathing in perfumes, sailing ships in wine, feeding horses
on grapes and lions on parrots, peppering fish with pearls, wearing gems on
the soles of his feet, strewing his floor with gold-dust, paving the public
streets with precious marbles, driving teams of stags, scorning to eat fish
by the seaside, deploring his lot that he has never yet been able to dine
on a phoenix. Enormous must have been the folly and wickedness which has
incarnated itself in such a sovereign, and should his reign be prolonged,
discouraging is the prospect for the morals of the next generation.

"According to you, then," said Euphronius, "the fates of men are not spun
for them by Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, but by their predecessors?"

"So it is," said they, "always remembering that man can rid himself of his
Karma by philosophic meditation, combined with religious austerities, and
that if all walked in this path, existence with all its evils would come to
an end. Insomuch that the most bloodthirsty conqueror that ever devastated
the earth hath not destroyed one thousandth part as many existences as the
Lord Buddha."

"These are abstruse matters," said Euphronius, "and I lament that your stay
in Berytus will not be long enough to instruct me adequately therein."

"Accompany us to India," said they, "and thou shalt receive instruction at
the fountain head."

"I am old and feeble," apologised Euphronius, "and adjusted by long habit
to my present environment. Nevertheless I will propound the enterprise to
my pupils, only somewhat repressing their ardour, lest the volunteers
should be inconveniently numerous."

When, however, the proposition was made not a soul responded; though
Euphronius reproached his disciples severely, and desired them to compare
their want of spirit with his own thirst for knowledge, which, when he was
a young man, had taken him as far as Alexandria to hear a celebrated
rhetorician. In the evening, however, two disciples came to him together,
and professed their readiness to undertake the expedition, if promised a
reward commensurate with its danger and difficulty.

"Ye would learn the secret of my celebrated dilemma," said he, "which no
sophist can elude? 'Tis much; 't