第58章

"Somewhat; I know Lavoisier, and was the intimate friend of Cabanis.""But for such a work you must have needed books -- had you any?""I had nearly five thousand volumes in my library at Rome;but after reading them over many times, I found out that with one hundred and fifty well-chosen books a man possesses, if not a complete summary of all human knowledge, at least all that a man need really know.I devoted three years of my life to reading and studying these one hundred and fifty volumes, till I knew them nearly by heart; so that since I have been in prison, a very slight effort of memory has enabled me to recall their contents as readily as though the pages were open before me.I could recite you the whole of Thucydides, Xenophon, Plutarch, Titus Livius, Tacitus, Strada, Jornandes, Dante, Montaigne, Shakspeare, Spinoza, Machiavelli, and Bossuet.I name only the most important.""You are, doubtless, acquainted with a variety of languages, so as to have been able to read all these?""Yes, I speak five of the modern tongues -- that is to say, German, French, Italian, English, and Spanish; by the aid of ancient Greek I learned modern Greek -- I don't speak it so well as I could wish, but I am still trying to improve myself.""Improve yourself!" repeated Dantes; "why, how can you manage to do so?""Why, I made a vocabulary of the words I knew; turned, returned, and arranged them, so as to enable me to express my thoughts through their medium.I know nearly one thousand words, which is all that is absolutely necessary, although Ibelieve there are nearly one hundred thousand in the dictionaries.I cannot hope to be very fluent, but Icertainly should have no difficulty in explaining my wants and wishes; and that would be quite as much as I should ever require."Stronger grew the wonder of Dantes, who almost fancied he had to do with one gifted with supernatural powers; still hoping to find some imperfection which might bring him down to a level with human beings, he added, "Then if you were not furnished with pens, how did you manage to write the work you speak of?""I made myself some excellent ones, which would be universally preferred to all others if once known.You are aware what huge whitings are served to us on maigre days.

Well, I selected the cartilages of the heads of these fishes, and you can scarcely imagine the delight with which I welcomed the arrival of each Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, as affording me the means of increasing my stock of pens; for I will freely confess that my historical labors have been my greatest solace and relief.While retracing the past, I forget the present; and traversing at will the path of history I cease to remember that I am myself a prisoner.""But the ink," said Dantes; "of what did you make your ink?""There was formerly a fireplace in my dungeon," replied Faria, "but it was closed up long ere I became an occupant of this prison.Still, it must have been many years in use, for it was thickly covered with a coating of soot; this soot I dissolved in a portion of the wine brought to me every Sunday, and I assure you a better ink cannot be desired.For very important notes, for which closer attention is required, I pricked one of my fingers, and wrote with my own blood.""And when," asked Dantes, "may I see all this?""Whenever you please," replied the abbe.

"Oh, then let it be directly!" exclaimed the young man.

"Follow me, then," said the abbe, as he re-entered the subterranean passage, in which he soon disappeared, followed by Dantes.