Page:Lucian, Vol 3.djvu/239

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THE DREAM, OR LUCIAN’S CAREER

with you; for though you yourself depart from life, you will never cease associating with men of education and conversing with men of eminence. You know whose son Demosthenes was, and how great I made him. You know that Aeschines was the son of a tambourine girl, but for all that, Philip paid court to him for my sake. And Socrates himself was brought up under the tutelage of our friend Sculpture, but as soon as he understood what was better he ran away from her and joined my colours; and you have heard how his praises are sung by everyone.

“On the other hand, if you turn your back upon these men so great and noble, upon glorious deeds and sublime words, upon a dignified appearance, upon honour, esteem, praise, precedence, power and offices, upon fame for eloquence and felicitations for wit, then you will put on a filthy tunic, assume a servile appearance, and hold bars and gravers and sledges and chisels in your hands, with your back bent over your work; you will be a groundling, with groundling ambitions, altogether humble; you will never lift your head, or conceive a single manly or liberal thought, and although you will plan to make your works well-balanced and well-shapen, you will not show any concern to make yourself well-balanced and sightly; on the contrary, you will make yourself a thing of less value than a block of stone.”

While these words were still on her lips, without waiting for her to finish what she was saying, I stood up and declared myself. Abandoning the ugly

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