Friendship is the marriage of the soul; and this marriage is subject to divorce. It is a tacit contract between two sensitive and virtuous persons. I say "sensitive," because a monk, a recluse can be not wicked and live without knowing what friendship is. I say "virtuous," because the wicked have only accomplices; voluptuaries have companions in debauch, self-seekers have partners, politicians get partisans; the generality of idle men have attachments; princes have courtiers; virtuous men alone have friends. Cethegus was the accomplice of Catilina, and Maecenas the courtier of Octavius; but Cicero was the friend of Atticus. _GOD_ During the reign of Arcadius, Logomacos, lecturer in theology of Constantinople, went to Scythia and halted at the foot of the Caucasus, in the fertile plains of Zephirim, on the frontier of Colchis. That good old man Dondindac was in his great lower hall, between his sheepfold and his vast barn; he was kneeling with his wife, his five sons and five daughters, his kindred and his servants, and after a light meal they were all singing God's praises. "What do you there, idolator?" said Logomacos to him. "I am not an idolator," answered Dondindac. "You must be an idolator," said Logomacos, "seeing that you are not Greek. Tell me, what was that you were singing in your barbarous Scythian jargon?" "All tongues are equal in the ears of God," answered the Scythian. "We were singing His praises." "That's very extraordinary," returned the theologian. "A Scythian family who pray God without having been taught by us!" He soon engaged Dondindac the Scythian in conversation, for he knew a little Scythian, and the other a little Greek. The following conversation was found in a manuscript preserved in the library of Constantinople. LOGOMACOS: Let us see if you know your catechism. Why do you pray God? DONDINDAC: Because it is right to worship the Supreme Being from whom we hold everything. LOGOMACOS: Not bad for a barbarian! And what do you ask of Him? DONDINDAC: I thank Him for the benefits I enjoy, and even for the ills with which He tries me; but I take good care not to ask Him for anything; He knows better than us what we need, and besides, I am afraid to ask Him for good weather when my neighbour is asking for rain. LOGOMACOS: Ah! I thought he was going to say something silly. Let us start again farther back. Barbarian, who has told you there is a God? DONDINDAC: The whole of nature. LOGOMACOS: That does not suffice. What idea have you of God? DONDINDAC: The idea of my creator, of my master, who will reward me if I do good, and who will punish me if I do ill. LOGOMACOS: Trash, nonsense all that! Let us come to essentials. Is God infinite _secundum quid_, or in essence? DONDINDAC: I don't understand you. LOGOMACOS: Brutish fool! Is God in one place, beyond all places, or in all places? DONDINDAC: I have no idea ... just as you please. LOGOMACOS: