“Look how the light sprinkles the plain!—Here is Faustus.”
A grey-headed man leaning upon a staff came to meet them. It was Faustus the philosopher to whom Valerian gave house-room.
“Hail, Valerian and Valeria! Good is the city, but good indeed is the country! How beautiful are the olive trees and the sea of gold!”
They paced the terrace up and down, by the marble statues and the flowering trees. “Faustus, I have read that Zeno said, ‘All men are by nature equal. In degree of virtue alone are they different.’”
“He said so, Valeria. And so do all Stoics, his followers.”
“And slaves and captives and strangers—”
“They also. Underneath and above they are one with the master and the victor and the Roman.”
“And women—and women, Faustus?”
Faustus leaned upon his staff. “They also, Valeria.”
Valerian made a movement of impatience. “O Faustus, where is that last said?”