26–27
Heraclitus
He is temperate, good-natured, easy to get on with; and his strong point is, that he is twins,
Eighth Dealer
How can that be?
5
Heraclitus
Why, he is one creed outside, and another inside. So remember, if you buy him, one of him is called Esoteric, and the other Exoteric.
Eighth Dealer
And what has he to say for himself?
Heraclitus
He has to say that there are three kinds of good: spiritual, corporeal, circumstantial,
Eighth Dealer
There’s something a man can understand. How much is he?
Heraclitus
Eighty pounds.
10
Eighth Dealer
Eighty pounds is a long price.
Heraclitus
Not at all, my dear sir, not at all. You see, there is some money with him, to all appearance. Snap him up before it is too late. Why, from him you will find out in no time how long a gnat lives, to how many fathoms’ depth the sunlight penetrates the sea, and what an oyster’s soul is like.
Eighth Dealer
Heracles! Nothing escapes him.
Heraclitus
Ah, these are trifles. You should hear some of his more abstruse speculations, concerning generation and birth and the development of the embryo; and his distinction between man, the laughing creature, and the ass, which is neither a laughing nor a carpentering nor a shipping creature.
Eighth Dealer
Such knowledge is as useful as it is ornamental. Eighty pounds be it, then.
15
Heraclitus
There is Scepticism. Come along, Pyrrhias, and be put up. Quick’s the word. The attendance is dwindling; there will be small competition. Well, who buys Lot 9?
Ninth Dealer
I. Tell me first, though, what do you know?
Ninth Dealer
But how’s that?
Scepticism
There does not appear to me to de anything.
Ninth Dealer
Are not we something?
