42 CAUTIONS REGARDING 



bloodvessels of the brain. A youth of seventeen 

 accompanied me : his pulse also I counted when 

 we reached the top, and found it to be 120. 

 This I mention to show that the great accele- 

 ration of mine was not peculiar to me. No, 

 my friend, let us confine ourselves to these 

 middle heights, give up those ambitious aspi- 

 rings, or, what may be better still, keep to our 

 low and safe levels, the river, and the lake, and 

 our gentle art. 



AMICUS. Are you not pointing a moral ? I 

 dare say you are right, and that men of our 

 standing would do well to leave to their juniors 

 those labours, whether they be official, tasking 

 the intellect, or pursuits tasking both mind and 

 body, to the undertaking of which, a restless 

 ambition too frequently increasing with years 

 is the prompter. 



PISCATOR. There is no harm in the moral 

 application which was casual, and, in our case, 

 little danger of being exposed to temptation, as 

 we are neither general officers nor statesmen. 

 Let me, however, modify my advice as to shun- 

 ning altogether mountain heights. There are 

 mountainous districts of easy reach, some two 

 or three thousand feet above the level of the 



