Paris had only robbed women of their grace
and dignity. He preferred the young girls in their costume of the
fourteenth dynasty. Progress, he thought, had tended only to complicate
life and render it less enjoyable. All the essentials of happiness--love,
courtship, marriage, the home, children, friendship, social intercourse,
and play, were independent of it; had always been there for the asking.
Joan thought his mistake lay in regarding man's happiness as more
important to him than his self-development. It was not what we got out
of civilization but what we put into it that was our gain. Its luxuries
and ostentations were, in themselves, perhaps bad for us. But the
pursuit of them was good. It called forth thought and effort, sharpened
our wits, strengthened our brains. Primitive man, content with his
necessities, would never have produced genius. Art, literature, science
would have been stillborn.
He hesitated before replying, glancing at her furtively while crumbling
his bread. When he did, it was in the tone that one of her younger
disciples might have ventured into a discussion with Hypatia.
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