_Arm._ It is insulting our sex too grossly to limit our intelligence to the power of judging of a skirt, of the make of a garment, of the beauties of lace, or of a new brocade. _Bel._ We must rise above this shameful condition, and bravely proclaim our emancipation. _Triss._ Every one knows my respect for the fairer sex, and that, if I render homage to the brightness of their eyes, I also honor the splendor of their intellect. _Phil._ And our sex does you justice in this respect; but we will show to certain minds who treat us with proud contempt, that women also have knowledge; that, like men, they can hold learned meetings--regulated, too, by better rules; that they wish to unite what elsewhere is kept apart, join noble language to deep learning, reveal nature's laws by a thousand experiments; and, on all questions proposed, admit every party, and ally themselves to none. _Triss._ For order, I prefer peripateticism. _Phil._ For abstractions, I love platonism. _Arm._ Epicurus pleases me, for his tenets are solid. _Bel._ I agree with the doctrine of atoms; but I find it difficult to understand a vacuum, and I much prefer subtile matter. _Triss._ I quite agree with Descartes about magnetism. _Arm._ I like his vortices. _Phil._ And I, his falling worlds. _Arm._ I long to see our assembly opened, and to distinguish ourselves by some great discovery. _Triss._ Much is expected from your enlightened knowledge, for nature has hidden few things from you. _Phil._ For my part, I have, without boasting, already made one discovery; I have plainly seen men in the moon. _Bel._ I have not, I believe as yet, quite distinguished men, but I have seen steeples as plainly as I see you. _Arm._ In addition to natural philosophy, we will dive into grammar, history, verse, ethics, and politics. _Phil._ I find in ethics charms which delight my heart; it was formerly the admiration of great geniuses; but I give the preference to the Stoics, and I think nothing so grand as their founder.