“What have you got to tell me?”

“Nothing, except to speak of the profession I am going to adopt. I am going to practice virtue in order to find a man who loves it only to destroy it.”

“Quite true; but almost everything is like that in this life. Man always refers everything to himself, and everyone is a tyrant in his own way. I am pleased to see you becoming a philosopher.”

“How can one become a philosopher?”

“By thinking.”

“Must one think a long while?”

“Throughout life.”

“Then it is never over?”

“Never; but one improves as much as possible, and obtains the sum of happiness which one is susceptible of enjoying.”

“And how can that happiness be felt?”