rog at the end of fifteen transmigrations,"
said the youths, "doth not in any respect commend itself to us. Are there
no means by which the course of study may be accelerated?"

"Undoubtedly," said the Indians, "by the practice of religious
austerities."

"Of what nature are these?" inquired the young men.

"The intrepid disciple," said the sages, "may chain himself to a tree, and
gaze upon the sun until he is deprived of the faculty of vision. He may
drive an iron bar through his cheeks and tongue, thus preventing all misuse
of the gift of speech. It is open to him to bury himself in the earth up to
his waist, relying for his maintenance on the alms of pious donors. He may
recline upon a couch studded with spikes, until from the induration of his
skin he shall have merited the title of a rhinoceros among sages. As,
however, these latter practices interfere with locomotion, and thus prevent
his close attendance on his spiritual guide, it is rather recommended to
him to elevate his arms above his head, and retain them in that position
until, by the withering of the sinews, it is impossible for him to bring
them down again."

"In that case," cried Rufus, "farewell philosophy! farewell Euphronia!"

There is reason to believe that Mnesitheus would have made exactly the same
observation if Rufus had not been beforehand with him. The spirit of
contradiction and the affectation of superiority, however, led him to
reproach his rival with pusillanimity, and he went so far that at length he
found himself committed to undergo the ordeal: merely stipulating that, in
consideration of his being a foreigner, he should be permitted to elevate
the right arm only.

The king of the country most graciously came to his assistance by causing
him to be fastened to a tree, with his uplifted arm secured by iron bands
above his head, a fan being put in his other hand to protect him against
the molestations of gnats and mosquitoes. By this means, and with the
assistance of the monks who continually recited and expounded the Buddhist
scriptures in his ears, some time even before his arm had stiffened for
ever, the doctrine of the misery of existence had become perfectly clear to
him.

Released from his captivity, he hastened back to Europe to claim the
guerdon of his sufferings. History is silent respecting his adventures
until his arrival at Berytus, where the strange wild-looking man with the
uplifted arm found himself the centre of a tu