"She knows that, I think. She says why the Romans are ashamed of it is what she can't fathom."
"She pays us the compliment of comparing us to the Romans?"
"She says we are the Romans."
"In a re-incarnation, I presume?"
"I suppose she means that—she is so awfully odd. And for the Romans to give themselves airs is too ridiculous."
"Has she no opinion of the Cæsars?"
"The Cæsars don't amount to much, in her opinion. We are going to have another lesson before long, she says, and it will be a very good thing for the world."
"If by that she means that materialism leads to a cul-de-sac, and that it takes a better creed than that to raise a reptile out of the mud, perhaps we might do worse than agree with her."
"She certainly never said anything about any 'isms.' But I don't understand you anyway."
"It seems to me, mon enfant, she has had a good deal to say about the 'isms.' But then, as you say, she's so foreign. Was there anything else about her that engaged your attention?"