d put them under
foot. 'I trample with contempt,' said he, 'upon the pride of Plato.'"

"But you have not told all," said Saffredent, "for Plato retorted that
he did so from pride of another kind."

"In truth," said Parlamente, "it is impossible to accomplish the
conquest of ourselves without extraordinary pride. And this is the
vice that we should fear most of all, for it springs from the death and
destruction of all the virtues."

"Did I not read to you this morning," said Oisille, "that those who
thought themselves wiser than other men, since by the sole light of
reason they had come to recognise a God, creator of all things, were
made more ignorant and irrational not only than other men, but than the
very brutes, and this because they did not ascribe the glory to Him to
whom it was due, but thought that they had gained the knowledge they
possessed by their own endeavours? For having erred in their minds
by ascribing to themselves that which pertains to God alone, they
manifested their errors by disorder of body, forgetting and perverting
their natural sex, as St. Paul to-day doth tell us in the Epistle that
he wrote to the Romans." (6)

5 The French word here is _curieux_, which in Margaret's
time implied one fond of rare and precious things.--B. J

6 _Romans_ i. 26, 27.--Ed.

"There is none among us," said Parlamente, "but will confess, on reading
that Epistle, that outward sin is but the fruit of infelicity dwelling
within, which, the more it is hidden by virtue and marvels, is the more
difficult to pluck out."

"We men," said Hircan, "are nearer to salvation than you are, for we do
not conceal our fruits, and so the root is readily known; whereas you,
who dare not display the fruit, and who do so many seemingly fair deeds,
are hardly aware of the root of pride that is growing beneath so brave a
surface."

"I acknowledge," said Longarine, "that if the Word of God does not show
us by faith the leprosy of unbelief that lurks in the heart, yet God
is very merciful to us when He allows us to fall into some visible
wrongdoing whereby the hidden plague may be made manifest. Happy are
they whom faith has so humbled that they have no need to test their
sinful nature by outward acts."

"But just look where we are now," said Simontault. "We started from a
foolish tale, and we are now fallen into philosophy and theology. Let
us leave these disputes to such as are more fitted for such speculation,