also other divine influences, that lie midway 'twixt earth
and heaven, influences that we may feel but not see, such as the power
of Love and the like, whose force we feel, though we have never seen
their form. So too on earth 'tis this force that, in accordance with
the wise behests of providence, here bids the lofty peaks of mountains
rise, there has spread forth the low flat levels of the plain, has
marked out the streams of rivers and the greensward of the meadows,
has given birds the power to fly, reptiles to crawl, wild beasts to
run, and men to walk.

_A comparison between those who lack wealth and those who lack
virtue._

11. He whose soul is barren of virtue is like those poor wretches that
till a barren inheritance of stony fields, mere heaps of rocks and
thorns. Since they may win no harvest from their own wildernesses, and
find no fruit in a soil where only

_Wild oats and darnel rank have mastery_,

conscious of their own poverty they go forth to steal the fruits of
others and rifle their gardens, that they may mingle their neighbours'
flowers with their own thistles.

_On the Parrot._

12. The parrot is an Indian bird, in size very slightly smaller than a
dove. But there is nothing dovelike in its hue. For it has nothing of
the milky whiteness or dull blue, blended or distinct, nor yet of the
pale yellow or iridescence that characterize the dove. The parrot is
green from the roots of its feathers to their very tips, save only for
the markings on the neck. For its tiny neck is girdled and crowned
with a slender band of crimson like a collar of gold, which is of
equal brilliance through all its extent. Its beak is extraordinarily
hard. If after it has soared to a great height it swoops headlong on
to some rock, it breaks the force of its fall with its beak, which it
uses as an anchor. Its head is not less hard than its beak. When it is
being taught to imitate human speech, it is beaten over the head with
an iron wand, that it may recognize its master's command. This is the
rod of its school-days. It can be taught to speak from the day of its
birth to its second year, while its mouth is still easily formed and
its tongue sufficiently soft to learn the requisite modulations. On
the other hand, if caught when it is old, it is hard to teach and
forgets what it has learned. The parrot which is most easily taught
the language of man is one that feeds on acorns and manlike has five
toes on each fo