She smiled in derision. “Your art and thought have both borrowed from us—parasites of our dead bodies. Descartes and Kant borrowed from our Parmenides. Euclid, Archimedes, Aristotle, Democritus, Heraclitus ... you have discovered nothing that they had not dreamt. You have discovered nothing, not even America. Aristotle said the earth was round, and indicated the path that Columbus finally took. But, oh! if only you had discovered one new pleasure; only one.”
I sighed. I could not combat her arguments any more than I could resist her beauty. Instead, I simply said, “Will you take a cigarette? Doubtless Aristotle taught you that——”
“No,” Callisto answered; “but do you offer me that as a new pleasure?”
She consented to take one, and I taught her the best method of getting joy from those tubes of white and gold. There followed a long silence. She held in her hand my packet of cigarettes, and seemed to be deep in the enjoyment of an emotion she would not share. Another cigarette was lit for her, and slowly smoked. Callisto, at last, had found a new pleasure!
BYBLIS
Amaryllis told to the three young women and the three philosophers, as if they were little children, this fable.