Sale of Creeds (26)

Zeus Don’t waste time. Next lot,—the Peripatetic!

Heraclitus Now, my beauty, now, Affluence! Gentlemen, if you want Wisdom for your money, here is a creed that comprises all knowledge.:

Eighth Dealer What is he like?

Heraclitus He is temperate, good-natured, easy to get on with; and his strong point is, that he is twins,

Eighth Dealer How can that be?

Heraclitus Why, he is one creed outside, and another inside. So remember, if you buy him, one of him is called Esoteric, and the other Exoteric.

Eighth Dealer And what has he to say for himself?

Heraclitus He has to say that there are three kinds of good: spiritual, corporeal, circumstantial,

Eighth Dealer There’s something a man can understand. How much is he?

Heraclitus Eighty pounds.

Eighth Dealer Eighty pounds is a long price.

Heraclitus Not at all, my dear sir, not at all. You see, there is some money with him, to all appearance. Snap him up before it is too late. Why, from him you will find out in no time how long a gnat lives, to how many fathoms’ depth the sunlight penetrates the sea, and what an oyster’s soul is like.

Eighth Dealer Heracles! Nothing escapes him.

Heraclitus Ah, these are trifles. You should hear some of his more abstruse speculations, concerning generation and birth and the development of the embryo; and his distinction between man, the laughing creature, and the ass, which is neither a laughing nor a carpentering nor a shipping creature.

Eighth Dealer Such knowledge is as useful as it is ornamental. Eighty pounds be it, then.