"
I. Then is omnividence the attribute of others besides Gods?
SPHERE. I do not know. But, if a pick-pocket or a cut-throat
of our country can see everything that is in your country,
surely that is no reason why the pick-pocket or cut-throat should be
accepted by you as a God. This omnividence, as you call it --
it is not a common word in Spaceland -- does it make you more just,
more merciful, less selfish, more loving? Not in the least.
Then how does it make you more divine?
I. "More merciful, more loving!" But these are the qualities
of women! And we know that a Circle is a higher Being
than a Straight Line, in so far as knowledge and wisdom
are more to be esteemed than mere affection.
SPHERE. It is not for me to classify human faculties according
to merit. Yet many of the best and wisest in Spaceland think more
of the affections than of the understanding, more of your despised
Straight Lines than of your belauded Circles. But enough of this.
Look yonder. Do you know that building?
I looked, and afar off I saw an immense Polygonal structure, in which
I recognized the General Assembly Hall of the States of Flatland,
surrounded by dense lines of Pentagonal buildings at right angles
to each other, which I knew to be streets; and I perceived that
I was approaching the great Metropolis.
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