“I will not speak to him. I know beforehand what he will say.”
“He will give you excellent advice, he is hired to do it.”
“O yes—to bear everything with equanimity. That is the sum and substance of his doctrine. Then not to be too wise about the Gods; to aim to sit on the fulcrum of a see-saw, when I prefer an end of the plank.”
“Equanimity! I desire it with my whole soul.”
“But why so, mother? It is not running thought, but stagnation.”
“Because, my dear, it keeps off wrinkles.”
“Mother, you and I will never understand each other.”
“As the Gods love me, I sincerely hope not. Send me Plancus, Lucilla. I must scold him so as to soothe my ruffled spirits.”
“And, Euphrosyne, go, send the Chaldæan to me in the garden,” said the girl.
The slave obeyed and departed.