which I adorned my lover's existence were
childish dreams to which I gave tangible form. This garden is an image
of the life to which I intended to rise; in reality, fell. We collected
within the limits of this bit of earth everything which can delight the
senses; not a single one is omitted in this narrow space, whose crowded
maze of pleasures fairly impede freedom of movement. Yet in your home,
and guided by your wise father, I had learned to be content with so
little, and commenced the struggle to attain peace. That painless
peace--our chief good--whence came it? Through me it was lost to you
both But the children--I made them begin their lives in an arena of
every disturbing influence; and now I see how their own healthy natures
yearn to escape from the dazzling wealth of colour, the stupefying
fragrance, the bewildering songs and twittering. They long to return to
the untilled earth, where the life of struggling mortals began.

"The boy casts away the baubles, to test his own creative powers. The
girl follows his example, and clings fast only to the doll in which she
sees the living child, in order to do justice to the maternal instinct,
the token of her sex. But what they so eagerly desire is right, and
shall be granted. When I was ten years old, like the twins, my life and
efforts were already directed towards one fixed goal. They are still
blindly following the objects set before them. Let them return to the
place whence their mother started, where she received everything good
which is still hers. They shall go to the garden of Epicurus, no matter
whether it is the old one in Kanopus or elsewhere. All that their mother
beheld in vivid dreams, which she often strove with wanton extravagance
to realize, has surrounded them from their birth and early satiated
them. When they enter life, they will scorn what merely stirs and
dazzles the senses, and cling to the aspiration for painless peace of
mind, if a wise guide directs them and protects them from the dangers
which the teachings of Epicurus contain for youth. I have found this
guide, and you, too, will trust him--I mean your brother Archibius."

"Archibius?" asked Charmian in surprise. "Yes, he who grew up in the
garden of Epicurus, and in life and philosophy found the support
which has preserved his peace of mind during all the conflicts of
existence--he who loves the mother, and to whom the children are also
dear--he to whom the boys and girls cling with affect