MEGASTHENES ON THE BRAHMAN CASTE 49 course and in imparting it to those who wish to listen to them; but the hearer is not permitted to speak or cough, or even to spit on the ground; otherwise, he is expelled that very day from their society, because of his lack of self-control. After living thirty-seven years in this manner, each individual retires to his own possessions and lives with less circumspection and re- straint, wearing robes of fine linen and rings of gold upon the hands and in the ears, but without profuse- ness. They eat the flesh of animals that do not assist man in his labour, and they abstain from sharp and seasoned food. They have as many wives as they please with a view to numerous offspring, for from many wives greater advantages are derived. As they have no slaves, they require more the immediate services of their children. The Brachmanes do not communicate their philos- ophy to their wives, for fear they should divulge to the profane, if they became depraved, anything which ought to be concealed; or lest they should abandon their husbands in case they became good (philosophers) themselves. For no one who despises alike pleasure and pain, life and death, is willing to be subject to the authority of another; and such is the character of a virtuous man and a virtuous woman. They discourse much on death, for it is their opinion that the present life is the state of one just conceived, and that to philosophers death is birth to the true and happy life. They therefore discipline themselves much to prepare for death, and maintain that nothing
