“I saw one, whose shoulders were half covered with pieces so well fitted together, that the seams were not to be seen. He walk’d forward and backward in the crowd, with very little concern for what they were doing. He had an affable air, a smiling mouth, a noble gait, a mild look; and I went directly to him, and asked him without ceremony: ‘Who are you? Where am I? And who are all these folks?’

“He answered, ‘I am Plato. You are in the region of hypotheses, and these folks are systematics.’

“ ‘But by what chance,’ replied I, ‘is the divine Plato here, and what does he do among these madmen?’

“ ‘Raising recruits,’ said he. ‘At a distance from this Portico I have a sanctuary, whither I conduct those who abandon systems.’

“ ‘And how do you employ them?’

“ ‘In knowing man, practising virtue, and sacrificing to the graces.’