 to visit me the
eighth time, when, being acquainted that I was just dead, they shook their heads
and departed.«
    »When I came to Minos he asked me with a smile whether I had brought my
fiddle with me; and, receiving an answer in the negative, he bid me get about my
business, saying it was well for me that the devil was no lover of music.«
 

                                Chapter Sixteen

                          The history of the wise man.

I now returned to Rome, but in a very different character. Fortune had now
allotted me a serious part to act. I had even in my infancy a grave disposition,
nor was I ever seen to smile, which infused an opinion into all about me that I
was a child of great solidity; some foreseeing that I should be a judge, and
others a bishop. At two years old my father presented me with a rattle, which I
broke to pieces with great indignation. This the good parent, being extremely
wise, regarded as an eminent symptom of my wisdom, and cried out in a kind of
extasy, Well said, boy! I warrant thou makest a great man.
    »At school I could never be persuaded to play with my mates; not that I
spent my hours in learning, to which I was not in the least addicted, nor indeed
had I any talents for it. However, the solemnity of my carriage won so much on
my master, who was a most sagacious person, that I was his chief favourite, and
my example on all occasions was recommended to the other boys, which filled them
with envy, and me with pleasure; but, though they envied me, they all paid me
that involuntary respect which it is the curse attending this passion to bear
towards its object.«
    »I had now obtained universally the character of a very wise young man,
which I did not altogether purchase without pains; for the restraint I laid on
myself in abstaining from the several diversions adapted to my years cost me
many a yearning; but the pride which I inwardly enjoyed in the fancied dignity
of my character made me some amends.«
    »Thus I past on, without anything very memorable happening to me, till I
arrived at the age of twenty-three, when unfortunately I fell acquainted with a
young Neapolitan lady whose name was Ariadne. Her beauty was so exquisite that
her first sight made a violent impression on me; this was again improved by her
behaviour, which was most genteel, easy, and affable: lastly, her conversation
compleated the conquest. In this she discovered a strong
