Voltaire's Romances, Complete in One Volume · Voltaire
CONVERSATION WITH A GEOMETRICIAN.
THE GEOMETRICIAN.--_Iliacos intra muros peccatur et extra. Est modus in retus. Caveas fine quidnimie._ THE MAN OF FORTY CROWNS.--I have learned a little of history, and something of geometry; but I do not understand a word of Latin. THE GEOMETRICIAN.--The sense is, pretty nearly, as follows. _There is wrong on both sides. Keep to a medium in every thing. Nothing too much._ THE MAN OF FORTY CROWNS.--I say, nothing too much; that is really my situation; but the worst of it is, I have not enough. THE GEOMETRICIAN.--I allow that you must perish of want, and I too, and the state too, if the new administration should continue only two years longer; but it is to be hoped heaven will have mercy on us. THE MAN OF FORTY CROWNS.--We pass our lives in hope, and die hoping to the last. Adieu, sir, you have enlightened me, but my heart is grieved. THE GEOMETRICIAN.--This is, indeed, often the fruit of knowledge.
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