" I am not an idolator," answered Dondindac.
" You must be an idolator," said Logomacos, " seeing that you are not Greek. Tell me, what was that you were singing in your barbarous Scythian jargon? "
" All tongues are equal in the ears of God," answered the Scythian. " We were singing His praises."
" That's very extraordinary," returned the theologian. " A Scythian family who pray God without having been taught by us! " He soon engaged Dondindac the Scythian in conversation, for he knew a little Scythian, and the other a little Greek. The following conversation was found in a manuscript preserved in the library of Constantinople.
LOGOMACOS:
Let us see if you know your catechism. Why do you pray Cod?
DONDINDAC:
Because it is right to worship the Supreme Being from whom we hold everything.
LOGOMACOS:
Not bad for a barbarian! And what do you ask of him?
DONDINDAC :
I thank Him for the benefits I enjoy, and even for the ills with which he tries me; but I take good care not to ask Him for anything; He knows better than us what we need, and besides, I am afraid to ask Him for good weather when my neighbour is asking for rain.
LOCOMACOS:
Ah! I thought he was going to say something silly. Let us start again farther back. Barbarian, who has told you there is a God?
DONDINDAC:
The whole of nature.
LOGOMACOS:
That does not suffice. What idea have you of God?
DONDINDAC:
The idea of my creator, of my master, who will reward me if I do good, and who will punish me if I do ill.
LOGOMACOS :
Trash, nonsense all that! Let us come to essentials. Is God infinite secundum quid, or in essence?
DONDINDAC:
I don't understand you.
LOGOMACOS:
Brutish fool ! Is God in one place, beyond all places, or in all places?
DONDINDAC:
I have no idea . . . just as you please.
LOGOMACOS:
Dolt ! Is it possible for what has been not to have been, and can a stick not have two ends? Does He see the future as future or as present? how does He draw the being out of non-existence, and how annihilate the being?
DONDINDAC:
I have never examined these things.
LOGOMACOS:
What a blockhead! Come, one must humble oneself, see things in proportion. Tell me, my friend, do you think that matter can be eternal?
DONDINDAC:
What does it matter to me whether it exists from all eternity or not? I do not exist from all eternity. God is always my master; He has given me the notion of justice, I must follow it; I do not want to be a philosopher, I want to be a man.
LOGOMACOS:
These blockheads are troublesome. Let us go step by step. What is God?
DONDINDAC:
My sovereign, my judge, my father.
LOGOMACOS:
That's not what I'm asking you. What is His nature?
DONDINDAC:
To be potent and good.
LOGOMACOS:
But, is He corporeal or spiritual?
DONDINDAC:
How should I know?
LOGOMACOS:
What! you don't know what a spirit is?
DONDINDAC:
Not in the least: of what use would it be to me? should I be more lust? should I be a better husband, a better father, a better master, a better citizen ?
LOGOMACOS:
It is absolutely essential you should learn what a spirit is. It is, it is, it is . . . I will tell you another time.
DONDINDAC:
I'm very much afraid that you may tell me less what it is than what it is not. Allow me to put a question to you in my turn. I once saw one of your temples; why do you depict God with a long beard?
LOGOMACOS :
That's a very difficult question which needs preliminary instruction.
DONDINDAC:
Before receiving your instruction, I must tell you what happened to me one day. I had just built a closet at the end of my garden; I heard a mole arguing with a cockchafer. " That's a fine building," Said the mole. " It must have been a very powerful mole who did that piece of work." " You're joking," said the cockchafer. " It was a cock-chafer bubbling over with genius who is the architect of this building." From that time I resolved never to argue.