saw Eupolia the other day troubling her self at the news of the death of a man who had liv'd neer an Age. For my particular said Theramenes I have seen her lose an excellent Collation for that it thundered For my part said Hiparetta I know very well she refused to come one day to a very agreeable walk onely because she must have crossed a River Pray you resumed she agreeably do not take so much pains to sift your Memory for all that I fear since I know it much better than you And now I find you have a mind the Princess and all the persons here who are but little acquainted with me should know my weakness I will confess to you all I am afraid of I fear all Diseases in general great and small I fear Thunder I fear the Sea and Rivers I fear Fire and Water Cold and Heat the Sereens or Blasts and Mists or Fogs and I am afraid the Earth should happen to tremble here as well as in Sicily Moreover I know to my misfortune all that has ever been said of Presages and I know it to my torment And to say all in few words I fear all that can directly or indirectly occasion Death But cannot you call to mind said Alcibiades that fear of Death does alter Health and may make one die the sooner for the curing your self of so many Fears Cannot you think added Melicrita all those Fears are useless that if the Earth is to tremble it will tremble in spight of you that if the Thunder is to fall it will perhaps rather fall in the place you shall chuse for your asyle than in that you quit And cannot you in short submit your mind to the will of the Gods But cannot you your self conceive retorted Eupolia that if I could do otherwise I would Do you think I am bereft of all Reason And do you think I do not sometimes see I am to blame But after all at the same time my Reason condemns me my Imagination is Mistress of my Heart and makes it act all it pleases What I finde admirable is said Therameâ—… that most people give a handsome Preâ—… to the Fear they have of dying For they boldly say they are not so weak as to fear the pain that is suffered in dying but are afraid they have not spent their Lives so well as they ought to have done And this is extraordinary that without becoming better for the putting a period to the fear they say they have they onely think of preserving their Healths and avoiding all Dangers without any thoughts of reforming their Principles and Manners Ha! as for those people said Alcibiades all the world is full of 'em and there is nothing else every where to be seen than those persons who fear the Punishments of the other Life without growing better and who by all their actions bely all their words and shew they onely fear Death since they onely precaution ' emselves against it For my part said Eupolia as I am not over-wicked and that I confide in the goodness of the Gods I do not so much fear what will happen to me when I am dead as what will happen to me before I die For I am very much afraid of grief and pain and then I have a horrour for that obscurity of the Grave But after all said Areta all your Fears are useless you must die as well as those who fear nothing and the surest way is to live the most virtuously we can wait for Death without desiring and without fearing it and receive it as a thing we had expected all our lives and which is not to be avoided For my share added the Princess I think there is more constancy required for the supporting old Age when it is attended with the inconveniencies wherewith it is usually followed than for the receiving Death with a good grace True it is said Hiparetta agreeably that when one is accustomed to be young beautiful and healthful it is a cruel thing to be Old Ugly and Sick And I know not over-well though I hate Death sufficiently if I should not rather chuse it than to see my self in that condition Ha! as for what concerns me said Eupolia though I had been as beautiful as Venus in my life-time who should offer to raise me up again to Life if I was dead and to raise me up ugly old diseased and unhappy I would take her at her word and should rather chuse to live horrible ugly than to be dead because I reckon Life for a great blessing But you do not think of what you say replied Hiparetta smiling and you are less afraid of Death than you imagine for I sancied you were going to declare you would not for any thing in the world be raised again to Life for fear of dying once again and yet you talk after this rate My acquaintance are so used to rally me for my weakness said Eupelia that I am never displeased at the drolling War they make upon me But the mischief is you are not the better by it replied Melicrita and are incurable For after all as a brave man cannot become cowardly and fearful so a timerous person cannot become valiant Since Fear does sometimes make some contemn Dangers said Lysander I know not why Reason may not do as much Those who contemn Danger through the excess of Fear which renders 'em valiant replied Xenophon can never give greater Proofs of their timidity than by doing a thing so contrary to their Temperament Thus one may say they are brave without ceasing to be Cowards and without laying by their true Nature It is not so with those who would employ their Reason for to drive Fear away from their Hearts since it cannot be done but by engaging them and making 'em act against their own inclinations Xenophon had certainly reason for his assertion said Eupolia But to comfort me for my weakness added she I could wish all the Ladies of the Company were obliged to say particularly what they think of Death I assure you said Hiparetta after having once seriously thought of Death for the regulating ones Life it is pretty convenient to think of it no more or very seldom When against my will I hear of the death of any one soever I suddenly seek for some cause for that persons death which cannot sute with me For example If it was a person in years I plainly say that he or she had been long in the World and I think in secret I am far from that Age. If the person was young I say that he or she were of an unhealthy Constitution At another time they did not take care of themselves in another Encounter that he or she had done something that had occasioned their Disease And whatsoever I say I flatter my self I shall live as long as one can live I know the Names of all those who have lived an Age and diverting my mind from that fatal thought
assoon as I can I abandon my Heart to Joy and find my self beyond comparison better than Eupolia does in abandoning hers to Fear For my part said the Princess I am not like you seeing I think of death when occasion is offered for so doing but I think of it without fear For as I must infallibly see it one day nearer than I do at present I take it to be convenient it should not be altogether a Stranger to me It is evident Madam said Alcibiades you have a Soul much greater than that of Xerxes who nevertheless had a grandeur of Courage since you think of death without any great disturbance Now for Eupolia's comfort continued he I am willing to put her in mind that this Prince being desirous to see from a high Hill his Fleet and Land-army he caused 'em to be put in battle-array for that purpose and then seeing above Five Millions of men which composed those two formidable Armies he could not forbear Weeping bitterly when he thought not one man of 'em would be left alive a hundred years after Methinks said Thrasybulus who had not yet spoken and who was then something out of humour that an instance of so great a weakness is no Consolation to the fair Eupolia But that she may know Xerxes Tears were not found to be over-just I must tell her that one of his Relations called Artabanus and of a firmer Heart than himself seeing him weep with that weakness told him Death was not so great an Evil nor Life so great a Blessing because though Life is very short there could not perhaps one man be found in those two great Armies but had found it too long by the evils wherewith it is attended And indeed pursued Thrasybulus with a haughty and melancholy Air if Life was prun'd of all that is vain frivolous troublesome laborious and bitter the remainder would be so small a thing it would not deserve the pains of regretting the loss of it I could rather have wished resum'd Eupolia laughing you had not spoken at all than that you should with such injustice fall a decrying the sweetness of Life For I find nothing in it bitter but the cruel thoughts of losing it How said Thrasybulus Do you reckon Childhood for a great happiness or extream Old Age when it is infirm And for the Middle Age it is so mingled with Crosses whereof the several Passions are the cause that it may be said we have but moments of happiness And the dissolution of humane Minds is such that what often serves to Pleasures is what often causes Grief to follow without excepting Love it self Insomuch as without deviating from the truth we may assert that all things trouble the joy of this Life which the beautiful Eupolia is so much in love with and that Sleep it self does almost bereave her of the half of it Ah! as for that Robbery said Eupolia laughing I could wish with all my heart that one could be without it For as I have unhappily heard one say that Sleep is the Image of Death that fatal Comparison when I remember at my going to bed it hinders me sometimes from sleeping for fear I should not wake again But pray said she let us speak no more of Death I conjure you if you have not a â—…ind to make me die But what course do you take said Areta when any one of your acquaintance dies For still you do not renounce all manner of Decency and Civility You must visit your Friends or at least write to ' em I assure you said Eupolia I never write Letters of Consolation without falling sick and I carefully avoid that terrible word which frightens me I onely say that I share in the grief of my Friends and partake in all that happens to 'em and never write that harsh word Death which I can hardly utter But Madam said Alcibiades how haâ—… you been able to suffer so many fine Verses and so many pretty Songs which your Beauty has given occasion to the making and wherein the expressions of Death are the principal and most melting terms For they often say they dye expire and a thousand suchlike things Ah! as for those Deaths who onely die in Verse replied Eupolia with a smile I am not at all afraid of 'em For we see plain enough they are in good health at the same time they are dying Not but that if my advice was followed they should content ' emselves with saying that they suffer languish grow impatient and should never say they die The word Destiny interrupted Hiparetta laughing puts you in as much pain as that of Death No no replied Eupolia but I am not much in love with the signification of it And in short whether directly or indirectly all that gives an Idea of the last moment of Life does render me uneasie And Melicriâ—… knows very well I could never pardon one of her Friends who as we were diverting our selves changed on a sudden the last Verses of a Song and ended it by these two Verses looking upon me after a malicious manner In spight of all Sports of all Love and all Play Without thinking of Dying you die every day True it is said Melicrita that Eupolia has ever had a peck since that time to the person who had play'd her this malicious Frank. The charming Eupolia said then Alcibiades is not of a Ladies humour whom all the world esteems who would needs know by heart certain Verses of another Lady a Friend of mine Are not they the Verses upon the Leaves which fall and upon the Leaves which bud said Melicrita The very same answered Alcibiades And as they pleased me extreamly seeing the Lady would not bestow 'em upon me I stole ' em The Princess and all the Company who had heard talk of 'em desired Alcibiades to recite 'em except Eupolia who feared those Verses would be too sad I imagine said that charming timerous person those Leaves which fall have some very fatal Moral and that it is a malice of Alcibiades to joyn with Hiparetta in drolling upon my weakness Not at all resumed he have you but patience to hear to the last of the Leaves before you judge thereof Which Eupolia promised him to do and the Princess pressing him to shew 'em Alcibiades began to read 'em After having said that the first were made in a little pretty Grove at the Fall of the Leaf and that they were but a â—…ifle in the opinion of her who made 'em as she was walking and that she would not have suffer'd 'em to be read in such good Company and especially before Euripides The Princess imposed silence on those who would have made answer and Alcibiades read the following Verses Down down you fading Leaves your duty pay You must your Mother Natures Laws obey A cold dark melancholy Winter now draws nigh And gloomy Clouds obscure our once-bright skie Our Hills and Meadows all with flowers adorn'd With
there were some distinction to be made in case of acknowledgement For otherwise I should be in despair were I obliged not to be ungrateful to three or four men who pretend to love me There is without doubt great distinction to be made in such things repli'd Herminius and indeed except in Love we may never receive a good office without having an heart capable of returning it and without thinking our selves obliged But 't is not so in Love and a good acknowledgement ought never to be either against Justice or against Virtue However it would be contrary to them both if a Lady acknowledged the affection equally of four or five Lovers for in short Love can never be divided But what will become then of the Services of unhappy Lovers replied AEmilius And why shall not that woman be accused of Ingratitude who shall receive 'em without acknowledging them Impossibility replied Herminius gives bounds to all things and 't is easie to understand it A Lady does not love when she pleases and when she loves any one she can make no other acknowledgement for those she does not love and who serve her than that which obliges her to pity 'em to be desirous they were cured of their Passion and to serve them as true Friends if she finds an occasion so to do The Virtues never destroy one another and a person could not be truely grateful if he committed an injustice in being so We are not allowed to prejudice one Friend for the serving another And when I said we ought to acknowledge all the good offices we receive That is to say so as can reasonably be done Thus a Lady may not return Love for Love without being ungrateful and properly speaking 't is onely reciprocal Love that can have that black Ingratitude which I think so horrible and which terrifies me so much the more in that it can never be addressed but to the person in the world by whom we are the most beloved and whom we ought most to love And then to speak of Ingratitude in general it can never be good for any thing Ambition may have good effects Love often spurs people on to great Actions Anger serves sometimes to support Justice Cruelty as hideous as it is may be in some sort useful in the heart of those who for the saving of a mans life are obliged to cut off his Arm And Ingratitude is almost the only thing that is onely good to do mischief Gratitude on the contrary which is a Virtue that does not make so much noise as many others is notwithstanding altogether Heroical in the heart of those who truely know it And for ought I know there may be sometimes as much glory in acknowledging a Benefit with a good grace as there is in rendring ones self a good Office Of the way to Invent A FABLE AMilcar having done reading the Story of Hesiod perceived that all the Ladies Hearts were moved with Compassion and he had afflicted instead of having diverted the Company I must confess said Claelia the death of Clymene very sensibly touches me For my part said Valeria I have more pity for Hâ—…siod than I can express I have the same for Lysicrates added Clidamira I am not of your mind rejoyn'd Berilisa for I have never any Compassion for those who have once ceas'd loving though Love is renew'd in their Hearts My Compassion proceeds much further than yours said Salonnia for I also pity the poor Troilus Mine is still much greater than that you boast of replied Plotina smiling for at the moment I speak I die for fear that poor Dog so faithful to his Master after having caused his Murderers to be discovered was lost in the crowd of People or that he died of grief after the loss of his Master and Mistress All the Company laugh'd at Plotina's pity and went a walking in several Companies except Claelia Valeria Plotina Anacreon Herminius and Amilcar who began to rally Plotina for the pity she bore to Hesiod's Dog No no interrupted Anacreon be not so severe upon her for this reason Perhaps the pity she had for that poor Dog has a more substantial foundation than the pity we have for the death of Clymene For to speak to you sincerely though I am a Greek and moreover a Poet yet I am of opinion that the History you have now read is almost all invented Nevertheless it is pretty ingeniously done added he For I not onely find it more beautiful than Truth but more probable too And indeed the History says nothing else of Hesiod but that he dwelt in the Burrough of Asera in Baotia near Helicon that he was inblown by the Muses that an Oracle uttered upon his account obliged him to remove farther from the Temple of Nemaea which is in Peloponnesus that he travelled into several places obtained the golden Tripus and won the advantage over Hâ—…mer by the judgement of Paris Yet some say that these two great men were not contemporaries But at least all those who have written of Hesiod agree that he was at Locris and content themselves with saying in three words that he lodged at Antiphanes and Ganictors house who had a Sister and that having suspected him of being the Confident of an Amour of hers they killed him with his Slave that the Slave'sBody was found at a Cape to which was since given the name of Trailus by reason of him That that of Hesiod was carried by Dolphins near to a Temple of Neptune where a great Sacrifice was made that Hesiod's Dog made his Murderers known who were torn to pieces by the People and that for fear the Orcomenians shou d have taken away his Body they conceal'd his Sepulchre As for his Works he who hath invented that History has supposed nothing of it but the Song those four Verses he makes Hesiod say and that Hymn which he supposes him to have made for the Sacrifice of Neptune After this will not you grant me that Fiction in this Encounter is more probable than Truth When an Author causes extraordinary events to happen 't is without doubt better to introduce Love therein than any other cause This has been practised by the person who invented this Story For by supposing the love of the Prince of Locris that of Lisicrates and that of Hesiod for Clymene he has made you acqualnted with all those several persons and has obliged you to love them who were to be the most unhappy Then he made that probable which had little likelihood in it For there is much more appearance that two ambitious and wicked Brothers should be led away to kill a man whom they thought an obstacle to their Fortune by hindring their Sister to be favourable to a Prince from whom they expected their advancement than not to kill him as the Confident of a Lover of their Sister Now Crime for Crime 't would be much better to kill the Lover than the Confident There would likewise have been reason
any good success in the things that are expected or in those they have undertaken But why do not you tell her said Hiparetta that those Fears Eupolia has newly mentioned and which seem to her so well gounded are most commonly useless The infallibility of Death ought to have banished from her the excessive fear of it and for my part I hate it more than I fear it As to Old Age it is much the same and I fancy I may say that the aversion I have ever had to Death makes me the less apprehend all the mischiefs that declining Age can be attended with But as for Poverty when it is extream I confess I allow the fearing it as well as Pain and Grief The first puts Virtue to the trial after a hundred different ways and the second is the Master-piece of Patience Yet it must be confessed said the Princess that there are such unhappy persons that it is difficult for them to entertain the least glimpse of hopes For all seems to them so contrary that what would make the happiness of another proves their misfortune For to have always hopes resum'd Alcibiades it is not onely necessary to consider the detaile of things in hand you must once in your life have made reflection upon the World in general You must have observed the instability of Fortune the caprice of Events the precipitate falls of some the great advancement of others the variety of mens humours which change when least expected One must I say have taken notice that most commonly the events of Life depend on Love Hatred Ambition Interest of Persons you are not acquainted with Peace or War do produce a thousand changes in the Fortune of People who have not the least share in the Government Thus we ought at least once to be perswaded a thousand things may happen whether good or evil that cannot be foreseen and by consequence never despair of any thing and on the contrary be always in hopes And to speak equitably there is often reason in hoping without reason because most of the great Events I say even the most happy do sometimes happen against all appearance For what the Winds do at Sea Fortune does at Land And I have heard an extraordinary Wise man say that it is convenient to do in Life what a good Pilot does in a Ship when the Wind is contrary This does not make him abandon the Helm On the contrary he does as it were wrestle with the Tempest and when all appearances are against him when the Sails are torn away the Masts broken and that he floats at the mercy of the Winds and Rocks he is still in hopes either that the Storm or a puff of Wind will carry him into the Haven This Discourse said Lysander is very becoming Alcibiades and a man must have been acquainted both with good and ill Fortune to speak in this manner All the World knows said Alcibiades that my Enemies or my Envyers accused me of having thrown down the Statues of Minerva and of Ceres Never was any thing equal to the Peoples fury excited by those I mentioned yet I was in hopes the truth would be known And it was the pleasure of the Gods that a man saying he had known me by the Moon-shine was confounded and known for a false Witness for the Moon did not then shine And the generous Theano who is now at the Bath when she was ordered and all her Companions to make imprecations against me made answer that she had not listed her self amongst Minerva's Virgins for to curse Men but to praise the Gods If she had had such a fearful Soul as the beautiful Eupolia added he smiling she would have obeyed that unjust command I know not what I should have done said that lovely person But after all the Fear which disturbs my Repose is the justest of all Fears Since to speak exactly it is the fear of Death which deprives me of all the sweetness of Life Give me leave Madam said Alcibiades to relate to you what I have heard Socrates say several times Which is that who fears Death seems to be Wise and is not so because he fears what he cannot avoid And that Fear is onely excusable when it excites the seeking out Remedies to the Evils that are feared But by what I perceive said Eupolia to Alcibiades you then fear nothing in the World Pardon me Madam replied he suddenly I fear Sociates when I do any thing I can reproach my self for But as for Death and all that Fortune can do I do not it in the least For my part said Hiparetta I hate Death to such a degree that for fear of making it come too soon I have taken a resolution not to dread it For there is certainly nothing so bad for health as the fearing it too much I am still more happy than you said Alcibiades for I neither fear it nor do I hate it Ah! as for hating it resum'd Hiparetta I hate it horribly and I think I have reason in so doing For it is a rash indiscreet sort of thing which ever comes too soon comes always unseasonably disturbs all the sweetness of Life separates Friends and Lovers respects nothing destroys Beauty laughs at Youth and is never to be prevailed with You say true answered Xenophon But it has likewise this advantage that it equals all men cures all Evils is the end and term of all Misfortunes and puts those it attacks in a state of suffering no more It cures the Ambitious puts a period to Love and Hatred appeases all the Passions and this so great and horrible Evil is an Evil of an instant and which by reason of its infallibility ought not to be called an Evil On the contrary said Eupolia it is for that reason that Death is the more formidable to me For if it was uncertain Hopes would cure me of part of the Fear I have of it But when I think one may die every moment and that we may die after a thousand different manners I find my Heart as it were struck with Lightning and I am bereft of my Reason You are then very unhappy replied the Princess She is much more so than you can imagine said Areta Principally having a lively Imagination she sees dangers where there never were any In good earnest said Hiparetta I fancy there is more prudence than people do imagine in being rash and unthinking For when we proceed to dive so far into things we do our selves more hurt than good But added she speaking to Eupolia you are not always in fear For when people are well are neither upon a River nor at Sea not even in a Chariot but in one's Chamber in good Company and good health we ought not methinks to be under such apprehensions Ha! Hiparetta resumed Eupolia you know not what it is to be afraid of dying if you imagine there are none but present dangers which are tormenting And indeed said Euripides I