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RELIGION. 165
they went to loggerheads about the shape of the happy island. From words they almost came to blows, and finally the philosophers parted in anger. One portion set off in one direction,, another portion in the opposite direction, while a large number, unable to make up their minds amid such contending views, furled their sails and left their vessels to drift with the wind. The two squadrons stretched away, the one east, the other west, and, so long as they kept in sight of each other, their activity seemed stimulated by a desire to be as far from each other as possible. After sailing for many days in an easterly course, and having encountered innumerable dangers and hardships, one of the squadrons approached the happy isle. A lovelier light than that of summer shone over it, and sweeter landscapes than those of Syria spread along its coast. The inhabitants received them with the kindest welcome, and such happiness thrilled in the bosoms of the philosophers, that all feelings but those of benevolence subsided, and, forgetting their anger, they wished that their antagonists might be partakers of their joy. Scarcely had they expressed these feelings, when, in the eastern horizon, they discovered the other squadron, under full sail, coming down upon the island in a direction opposite |
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