other inferiour by the fame which still remains of the one which the others have not And indeed not one of our Sex is ignorant of Alexander Scipio or of Cicero himself But we hardly know what is the meaning of Hephestion Laelius and Atticus tho we have lately seen the life of the last in Print in our own Tongue For my part added Philocrita pleasantly having not had the honour to know any of 'em I promise you to call them only henceforward without truobling my self with their names the three Friends of Alexander Scipio and Cicero But in short said Cleander I boldly maintain that Friendship can never be firm and stedfast unless it has been able to level the great space there is between one friend and another and surmount that first difficulty which seem'd to hinder any reliance to be made upon it A Prince in stooping to his Subjects gives the greatest mark of goodness and friendship that can ever be shewn and a Subject is very miserable if he does not recompence the Magnanimity of that Friendship by the Ardency and Excess of his own At the worst if you will needs have that this acceptation of Friendship is improper I agree to 't But 't is certainly something that has all which the most steddy and most tender friendship can have and that suffices me I have been long expecting resum'd Philocrita you would say somewhat of Love 'T is so ample a Subject said Alcinor that it would furnish us abundantly with matter to discourse upon Alcinor is in the right said Iphiâ—…tes But in my Opinion he is in the wrong said Celanira For I believe it the hardest thing in the World to speak properly upon that Subject Let us then see how Cleander will speak on 't as to the point we have before us As I never seek to speak thereof but only to speak what I think replied Cleander I say without more ado that the Essential Differences betwixt Love and Friendship are fervency disquiet suspicion obedience submission jealousie injustice vexation discontents reconciliations change of an Opinion in an instant and sometimes divers changes in one and the same hour For in truth Friendship has only the shadow of all those Motions and moreover that too is when Friendship is so strong as to râ—…mble Love But there is no Courtier wedded to the Prince but seels all those Motions almost as violent as the most perfect Lover Whatsoever Equality the Prince should make between 'em thro Friendship Always Submission Respect and Obedience on their side as from a Lover to a Mistress their disquiet is extream their diffidence eternal Incessantly they are in fear of losing the favour of their Master even when they are most assured of it They all look upon one another as Rivals They are only possessed with that Passion Who could represent how half a word a smile a look penetrates and Charmes 'em to the very bottom of their Souls were it not for what occurs in Lovers Their injustice is beyond all comparison and is the true mark of a violent Passion for tho they understand well enough the Prince owes his Caresses to all the World one would say he stole from 'em all the favours he bestows upon others If by Chance he casts not his Eyes upon them it is sufficient to put 'em out of humour for a whole day together One and the same hour sees 'em contented and discontented charmed and dissatlsfied with the Court swearing to quit all and ready to give their Lives for the Service of their Master In a word all that is capricious in Love cannot be sound methinks in any other Passion than that of Courtiers for their Prince You are in the right said Alcaeâ—… and for my part when I see People who are naturally of great understanding and whom a long Experience has polished and rendred very able sometimes suffer ' emselves to be lur'd and decoy'd to the very end of their Lives by the vain hopes of the Court nay though they are very sensible they delude 'em Methinks I see that Lover of the Ancient and Modern Theater who says Ingrate I find her yet I love My Love and Death with equal steps do move I am resolv'd to Love and Die Since besides This That has no Remedy Beating Death at 's own Arms I Fear Lest now the King of Terrours fail me here So much does Love my Heart possess That not to die would be Vnhappiness But to hear you speak of Love said Philocrita to Cleander one would say you are almost as much in Love as you 're Ambitious Celanira blush'd and Cleander was in pain how he should make answer without discovering what he was willing to conceal and without Celaniraes accusing him likewise of want of Love and using too much dissimulation but resolving at length I was ever perswaded said he to Philocrita that People ought hardly ever to explain themselves upon this Subjâ—…ct by reason they are hardly believed whether they say they are in Love or say they are not And as to my particular if I had any Passion of that nature I would love so as it should be rather judged by my Actions than by my words You are in the right said I to him and Actions are more sincere than Words But after all Cleander there is a great distinction to be made between sincere Courtiers who love their Prince and interested Courtiers who only love their Fortune OF COMPLAISANCE AS Adherbal was speaking in this manner Valeria and Flavia came into the Room Clearchus came thither a moment after and were presently followed by Caesonia and Plotina whom Amilcar very seldom leaving arrived before all the Company were seated but as he seem'd more than usually out of Humour Claelia ask'd him the reason of it Tho 't is not easie for me to refuse any thing to a Person of your Merit yet am not over willing replied he to give you the satisfaction you request For you would laugh at me if I should tell you what you ask You are so seldom expos'd to such an Adventure rejoyn'd Plotina that tho it were out of Curiosity I should advise you to run this Risque Be assured replied Amilcar you will not believe me tho I tell you what I complain of As it will not be perhaps the first time that Credit has not been given to your words answer'd Plotina smiling you need not be so much in fear of not being believed Know then said he that in my Life I was never so much tired as I was to day for three hours together I was with a Man whom I have discours'd withal upon a hundred several subjects It must then be some Man of no great Sence said the Prince of Numidia That is not the business Sir reply'd Amilcar and I do not complain of his Stupidity It must then be one of those Men who dispute upon all matters said Clearchus who must be opiniatively contested with in regard they always
Melicrita was constrained to return upon condition that when Theramenes should have discours'd her we should give out she was sick and no body should see us Assoon as we were in her Chamber I sent for Theramenes whom I had left in mine with orders not to shew himself until I had given him a summons not knowing whether I could obtain of Melicrita that he should speak to her Assoon as he saw her he knew by her looks with how much grief she was possessed and was so concerned he could hardly express his thoughts Permit me Madam said he to her with the most passionate Air imaginable to complain of the excess of your grief For it perswades me you know me not if you believe I can obey the Decree of a people whose false Reason abolishes the most holy of our Laws for the introducing of one which authorizes Libertynisme No no Madam do not do me that injury as to suspect I can take a second Wife For if you were capable of consenting to such a thing I should complain of you and think I had just reason for so doing What you tell me resumed Melicrita is very noble and generous But after all added she it is a Decree of a furious people who will be obeyed And since Socrates has shewn the Example to others what reasons can you make use of to justifie your disobedience All the Estate you have is at Athens What my Father can give me is there likewise and I see nothing but misfortunes both for you and me Wherefore Theramenes added she it would be much better I put my self among Minerva's Virgins But Madam said he to her after a mournful manner though I could consent to it which I will never do I am perswaded that the same people who will have all men to have two Wives would not consent you should be without a Husband But Madam added Theramenes this is not the thing in question You belong to Aristocrates and Stenobia They have done me the honour to promise me your sate and mine should be inseparable You have â—…sed me with a confirmation of their Promise and your grief tells me methinks I am not indifferent to you Alas resumed she sighing I confirm it to you again But at the same time I cannot forbear declaring to you that â—…nnot be yours unless your Heart be â—…ly mine Nor can I resolve to expose yâ—… to the sury of a people without season Neither can I oblige you to wander through the world without Estate and without Fortune nor wander my self with you without the consent of those to whom I owe my Life So that I see nothing but death can put me in repose I attest the Gods Madam cried out Theramenes in a doleful transport you are to me instead of Country Parents and Fortune And if you could surmount the trouble of renouncing 'em for my sake as I am ready to renounce 'em all for the love of you chuse in what part of the Earth you will seek an asyle When one has some name in the world it is easie to be found And I am moreover perswaded that while this whimsical Law shall be rigorously put in execution and that I can find out a place for a settlement worthy of you the Princess of Sicyon will joyfully receive you into her Court and will allow me a retreat there likewise As I had prepared my self for a long Voyage added he I had disposed two of my Friends whom the Pestilence has spared to send me whithersoever I went wherewith to subsist on So that Madam provided you will take no rash Resolutions I hope we shall be less unhappy than you expect I approved very much of what Theramenes said But Melicrita's mind was so penetrated with grief that she found nothing which gave her any assurance and cou'd not resolve what course to take But as we were at this pass comes in Theano with joy in her looks and embracing Melicrita Thanks be to Heaven said she to her you will not give your self to the Gods out of motives unworthy of 'em and full of imperfection No no interrupted Melicrita generous Theano do not come to abuse me by treacherous hopes For though I have spoken against Fear I will not hope without a reason See said Theano to her turning toward the Chamber-door see the man who will put you in repose At that very moment in came Iphicrates Theano's Cousin Stenobia's Brother and by consequence Melicrita's Uncle He is a man of known probity has passed through all the honours of the Republick having made enquiry at his arrival at the Bath where the Virgins of Minerva lodged he had been to see Theano before he came to see us For though she did not receive men at her house as he was her Relation she admitted of his visit and spoke to him of that Law which so much afflicted Melicrita and had brought him to us Iphicrates delivered Melicrita a letter from Aristocrates But as it was onely a command to hear Iphicrates and to do what he should say to her she looked upon him and listned to him with an Air of incertainty as going to hear a thing on which depended her Life or her death Theramenes after having embraced him as well as I hearkned to him with great attention caused by a great impatience but as Iphicrates was thinking for a moment of what he was going to say Melicrita egg'd on by her uneasiness For Heavens sake Iphicrates said she to him do not keep me in suspence tell me what 's my Father's will and pleasure and especially if the Decree of the people of Athens is the same with what Androcles has proclaimed it here Not at all replied Iphicrates for meeting him at my arrival at the Bath he did all he could to perswade me he knew better what passed at Athens than I who came from thence and we had like to have quarrelled upon the business How resumed Theramenes can it be possible the Decree of the people touching marriages is different from what Androcles has affirmed it and that the news of Socrates's second Nuptials which has been sent to a Lady of Sicyon and to Theolinda is not true The second Nuptials of Socrates resumed Iphicrates are true but the Dâ—…ree of the People is onely a permission to have two Wives and not an absolute command as Androcles will have it and has buzzed it about and there is no punishment ordained against those who shall adhere to the first Law and shall not submit to the second Melicrita was under without doubt a very sensible Joy at this distinction yet she was ashamed of having shewed her self so much concerned But as for Theramenes his Joy was all pure as appeared in his Eyes and by his Words But said Theano I beseech you let us to know after what manner all this passed and what could move Socrates so wise a man to make such haste to take a second Wife I 'll satisfie you
Cleorante said Cephisa to her what would become of the love of my own repose No no added she let us not deceive our selves therein our own particular Concerns do always take place of the General Interest and all those Zealots for their Country are often only so for their own good So I declare I should choose a thousand and a thousand times rather that Pisistratus were the Tyrant of Athens than mine I am so far from being so replied he looking upon her after a passionate manner that I am perswaded there is nothing more impossible If you have not a care said then Cephisa smiling and turning towards Cleorante by forbidding Pisistratus to talk of Politicks you will perhaps oblige him to entertain you with love Tho I am not very fond of such entertainments replied Cleorante I think if one talk'd of love to me after a gallant manner and that but little and seldom I should better comply with it than be obliged to hear Affairs of State thrumn'd for a whole day together principally by certain People there are in the World And yet we daily see such Persons whom it does not concern who governs being they have no interest in the State torment ' emselves about it just as if they had as much right to pretend to all as Pisistratus But is there any one interrupted he who has no interest in the Government and the very Slaves can they be happy when their Masters are not so I know not truly said she to him in the most agreeable fret imaginable whether they can be so or not But I know very well there is no great happiness in seeing you when you have got your Politick Humour in your Head If you please said he to her then you shall never hear more of it as long as I live If your forbearance would not be mortal to you replied she smiling I should take it for a very great favour But added he I engage my self only upon this Condition that I shall say of you and my self all I shall think fitting Pisistratus had no sooner said those words than that Cephisa and I pass'd Sentence upon her to accept of Pisistratus his offer However she excused her self for some time very agreeably for after all said she what can he tell me of himself and me If he tells me of my imperfections he will put me out of humour and if he praises me it will be as little to my Diversion for I do not love Praises that are given me in my presence Moreover if he commends himself I shall esteem him the less for it and if he blames himself I shall still think 't is a disguised Pride So as not foreseeing what pleasure I can have in admitting him to talk often of himself and me it must be concluded I am a great Enemy to Politicks if I accept the Proposition he makes me But in short Madam this pleasant Treaty was concluded Pisistratus engaged to speak no more of Affairs of State to Cleorante and Cleorante promis'd likewise to Pisistratus to allow him to say of her and himself all that he thought convenient Yet giving him this liberty only when he should be in one of his Politic Humours Of the Passions which Men have invented AFter the Princess was departed the Company fell a talking of the multitude of Passions which Men have invented And truly said Celâ—…nira the Passion of Gaming in proper Terms is not a natural Passion but was invented and produc'd by the Wit and Industry of Men. This Passion replied Alcaeus has nevertheless its Source as well as all others in the Heart of Man and what makes up the Passion of Gaming in particular is the Passion of Pleasure in general which varies according to our divers genius's and several Constitutions All Men have a secret Passion for Diversion which attracts 'em to what does suit with their humour Some love Gaming others Hunting Some the Sciences others the Arts and some all these things together and that secret Passion which inclines to Pleasure serves as much to make a Learned Man love Study as to make a Beautiful Person love Dancing Glory all dazzling as it is is attended and the most difficult Vertues are followed by it Alcaeus is in the right said Philocrita and many People would dispence ' emselves from their duty if they found no pleasure in doing it But do we not see many People said I who shun Pleasure and make as I may say a kind of Passion of that pettish humour which possesses 'em all their lives they condemn the Pleasures of others they cannot agree ' emselves in what they have a mind to they murmur against the Custom of their Country and their Age they complain of the Prince and Government they equally blame Covetousness and Liberality and find no thing but what they judge worthy of their censure Those People said Celanira have certainly no Passion they have only a peevish disposition which makes them judge wrong of all things in the World I should have Curiosity enough said Philocrita to know of all those who are here present which is their strongest Passion I except Love added she for the Men here are Courtiers enough to choose that speaking in the presence of Ladies So that my meaning is every one should say which is the ruling Passion of his heart with exception to that As for mine said Celanira it is constant Friendship My Darling said Philocrita is an innocent joy wheresoever I find it For my share said Alcinor 't is I know not what that's glittering in all I do which makes People every where distinguished and all which is in order for it does sensibly touch my heart That Passion said Iphicrates is hard to be contented Mine is not of so great a lustre for it consists in complying with times things persons and the pleasure of doing it with success But that which you say replied I is Prudence and no Passion I call Passion replied Iphicrates what People love to do most and which regulates almost all our actions For my part said I then my most sensible Passion is the love of Truth But as for Cleander added I 't is unnecessary to ask him which is his greatest Passion What I said perplex'd Cleander and Celanira for a while But Cleander having made me explain my self I told him that his ruling Passion was the love he had for his Prince And indeed said I to him I have not yet been able to distinguish whether you have Ambition because you love your Prince or whether you love your Prince out of Ambition And after having observed you carefully I have concluded you have a kind of Passion without name wherewith you are more taken up and possessed than all those who have one of another sort can do But this Passion replied Cleander is or ought to be in all rational Peoples minds tho much stronger in some than in others through the divers circumstances of their condition and life
least with Sincerity for without that their Dissimulation would be ineffectual True it is said Mathilda we hear nothing talk'd of but Sincerity all Conversations are stufft with it all Letters are full of it People Crack of it in Love in Friendship in Affairs in the Commerce of the World in Compliments and yet I maintain that Sincerity which seems so general is the scarcest thing in the World and very often those who speak of it the best are those who have and practice it the least For my part said Padilla I would know very exactly what Sincerity is and whether there be any difference betwixt being true and being sincere Do not doubt of itin the least reply'd Mathilda for tho Truth be as I may say the Soul of Sincerity there is howevera distinction to be made between the one and the other People can never be sincere unless they be true But one may on some occasions not deserve to be called sincere Tho a Man is not a Lyar he may be of a close temper and hate Lying But Sincerity must of necessity carry along with it all the Beauty of Truth all the Charms of Freedom all the Sweetness of Confidence It commonly produces a certain openness of heart which appears in the Eyes and renders the Physiognomy agreeable Sincerity does not like Truth turn upon Words All our Actions must also be sincere It is ever an Enemy to Artifice and all Dissimulation excessive Prudence is not in use with it In a word it is a beauty without paint which fears not to be seen in the truest light nor to be nearly observed On the contrary 't is for its advantage that it be carefully examined for fear of being taken for a false sincerity which sometimes deceive those who are not acquainted with the real one Nevertheless there 's a great difference between 'em the one is ever contriving to seem what it is not and the other does not so much as think of seeming what it is false sincerity studys it self views it self and proportions it self to others but the real without reflecting upon others or it self is always the same Yet if a Man was so excessively sincere interrupted Don Pedro would he not be sometimes either imprudent or troublesome Not at all replied Mathilda For I do not mean that People should have an uncivil and rude sincerity which causes 'em to reproach the imperfections of the Person they converse with nor that they should say all they know I mean not I say that to appear sincere they should lose their Judgment 'T is by it that all Vertues may have a good use and without it Justice and Clâ—…cy which two are the greatest of allHeroiâ—…k Veâ—…s would not always be in their place Theâ—…e are two Vertues which can never cease being so But this does not hinder but there are occasions wherein Justice is more necessary than Clemency And others wherein Clemency is more Noble than Justice Sincerity it self ought to be attended with a just discretion which fets bounds to it and regulates its use We ought never to be Hypocrites nor cease being sincere But when we meet with cunning and treacherous People we are allowed not to open our hearts and it is very convenient to reproach them with their imperfections by a quite contrary procedure and to have Sincerity and Generosity both together to shew we do not approve of ' em But if we carry Sincerity so far said Padilla we must renounce Society Consider I beseech you after what manner People live at Court and then you will judge if I am in the right The Ambitious can they be sincere without renouncing Fortune Would Lovers be belov'd if they were always downright Do not they say they sigh perpetually they burn they die and of all this there is hardly any thing true Ah! Madam said then Alphonso You speak like a Person who does not well understand Sincerity You make it a Slave whereas ' tisa Queen You use it as a trifle and it ought to possess the hearts of all Persons of Honour There is a certain flattering Language introduced into the World which deceives no body added Mathilda and does not destroy sincerity The Lovers who burn and die in Songs don't delude their Mistresses if they are endued with Reason But the Man who should act the Lover without being so should seem to act very seriously and at the bottom aim at nothing but deluding her he Courted would certainly be a Cheat And I am perswaded a Man of Honour except in certain Gallantrys full of Civility which Custom has established and by which as I have already said no body is deluded ought neither to speak nor to act against the Sentiments of his heart in Love or business Besides we ought not to fancy that Sincerity says all it knows to all the World But it never says what it does not know Once again said Padilla See now your People perfectly sincere Take my word Mathilda they ever say more or less than they think and when I examine my self I am very sensible that Sincerity often quits me I have said a hundred times to Women of my Acquaintance that I thought 'em beautiful well dress'd well made that they danced admirably and yet I believ'd nothing of all this We conceal Love Hatred Ambition and we only shew what we believe may please or be useful The World has ever took this course and ever will And that you may be convinc'd of the truth of what I say recall into your mind Persons of all Conditions Kings themselves can they and ought they to be always sincere and if there be any who have sincerity it must undoubtedly have its source in their own hearts for they hardly ever see it either in the looks or words of those about ' em All the World is careful to hide their Sentiments and Ambition from all those who are able to bestow Favours They would have People believe that they hate all they hate that they only aim at their Glory and not at all at their own Interest Then the Courtiers conceal ' emselves from one another they make a Mystery of their Pretensions their Engagements and Intrigues They are merry with the Facetious grave with the Melancholy They have Love or Hatred according as their Interest requires When two Men of Quality have a Quarrel if they do not go to both their Houses they have their Service offered to him with whom they have not been by a third person if he may be made use of in any matter and so commonly they choose the most powerful side I shan't descend into a lower Rank But we do not now adays find more Sincerityin other Conditions without excepting the very Slaves I know a certain sort of People among others said Don felix who have no sincerity who are Authors both in Prose or Verse for if they commend the Works that are shewn 'em they praise 'em more than they believe
they deserve and if they blame them when the Author is not present they exceed their own Sentiments At least you 'll admit me to assert said Mathilda that there 's sincerity between real Friends When you shall have shewn the Friends you speak of replied Don Pedro we shall see what I shall have to say It would be a strange thing rejoyn'd Mathilda if there was no sincere Friendship in the World I do not say said Lucinda there is no sincerity nor friendship But I hold there is no perfect sincerity for to be such it must always be equal betwixt two Persons who love one another perfectly well However I maintain that between those who love one another best there are sometimes certain disgusts whereof they do not unbosome themselves at least while they last This likewise happens oftner in the hearts of persons who love perfectly than in those of others because they are more nice and sensible and know better the tenderness of their assection than those they love can do This being so you may easily judge that during those secret pets exact Sincerity is wounded That I grant reply'd Mathilda But 't is the fault of the Person who gives occasion to those Vexations if they are well grounded and not of him who has them for in a tender and faithful Affection we are almost obliged to divine the fault that is committed A strange thing is this same Love said Alphonso he is always Master wheresoever he comes Do not you take notice how we abandon Sincerity to speak of him Right said Mathilda For 't is not commonly under his Empire we are to seek it Friendship is much more proper for Sincerity than Love There is certainly something more strong that is required to oblige a Person to be sincere at all times and in all things There must be Sentiments above Reason without which that Sincerity which is so much talk'd of is a Quality that has nothing fix'd which complys with Times Occasions and those to whom we speak No without doubt added he that exact Sincerity so full of Confidence can only be found in a violent Love which makes a Man as sincere to the Person he loves as he is to himself as I may say Insomuch as said Padâ—… smiling to have that perfect Sincerity which Mathilda so much esteems we must necessarily have Love Ah! Padilla interrupted Mathilda do not wrest my words so contrary to my meaning But usually added she looking upon her it is not requisite to be young beautiful to love for to be belov'd and to love ones self much to be very sincere for one has too many interests to manage and 't is necessary to be as I am a good natur'd Person who prizes Friendship beyond all things and should count it for nothing if it were without Sincerity You have too much interest in Youth and Beauty reply'd Padilla to speak as you do and I something doubt that a person who so well knows the Art of making her self beloved can be much displeased at Votaries of that kind But without examining this any further I desire to know whether there is commonly more Sincerity between Men than between Women or from one Sex to the other Ah! as for the Ladys said Don Felix they never use it to one another at least to all those who pretend to any thing in the World They are all born as I may say in different Interests All the excellent Qualities which render 'em Amiable set them at Dissention The Fair put the Brown in the second Rank the Brown tho with less Lustre think to make more assured Conquests than the Fair. The Beautiful make no account of Wit Those who have more Wit than Beauty weaken as much as they can this powerful Charm which attracts so many hearts They undesignedly make each an Antagonist and that secret desire they have in their hearts permits 'em not to have ever any real sincerity for one another Yet this Rule is not so general There are Mathildaes Lucindaes and some others who are exceptions to it But in short according to my Sentiments there is little sincerity among Ladys If the Interests you attribute to Ladys reply'd Mathilda do so divide 'em as to be an Obstacle to Sincerity how can there be any among Men who have much greater Interests to set 'em at Dissention They have Honour to manage for which reason many of the Brave cannot allow of Valour in their Enemys nay not in their very friends Ambition Love Envy Affairs Intrigues of the World and a thousand other things still put more and more obstacles to true Sincerity among them than among Women In short interrupted Padilla I perceive we must conclude there is ordinarily more Sincerity between an honest Man and an honest Woman than between two friends of the same Sex That I grant said Don Alphonso without giving the exclusion of Sincerity to any Body and I declare I should esteem my self the most happy Man in the World if a beautiful and charming Person I know could resolve to admit of my Sincerity I fancy said Padilla the greatest advantage we shall draw from this Conversation is that Don Alphonso will have found a new way to make a Declaration of Love which no Body will dare to be offended at for who can be so unjust as to refuse the Sincerity of a Man of so much Honour The End of the First Tome CONVERSATIONS UPON Several Subjects Written in FRENCH By Mademoiselle de SCVDERT And done into ENGLISH By Mr. FERRAND SPENCE The Second TOME LONDON Printed for H. Rhodes next door to the Bear-Tavern near Bride-lane in Fleetstreet 1683. OF IDLENESS AND INGRATITUDE AS the Conversations of choice Persons whose number is not very great are of all the most agreeable Caesoniae Amilcar AEmilius and Herminius being one day in the charming Plotina's Chamber they fell into a Discourse that proved very diverting though the occasion of it was somewhat sorrowful For coming to speak of Claelia and Arontius they pitied them with much tenderness and foreseeing all the Misortunes which they seemed to be threatned withal the beginning of their entertainment was something sad and melancholy But as Amilcar could not talk long on such dismal things without fitting 'em to his humour It must be confessed cried he all on a suddain those who are capable of great Passions are much more miserable than others and it is much better in the general to love all that pleases than to make our Pleasure consist in one-sole Object And indeed added he I think that to love but one thing in the whole Universe is to act after a manner injurious to Nature But do not you remember replied Plotina smiling you would fain make me believe I am the Mistress of your Heart and yet what you say is not altogether proper for the gaining my Love You have your self forgotten rejoyn'd he that your Maximes are not very different from mine and it is rather Joy than
would if they were in action Let us then leave them in their blessed idleness resum'd Caesonia and in truth I repent my having had the curiosity of knowing exactly the different degrees of Contempt which I ought to allow them in my mind 'T is impossible for me to abandon them yet return'd Herminius and I cannot forbear saying that the most criminal of all that are idle are those that employ themselves in nothing when they are obliged to be in action through the necessity of an Employment which Fortune has bestowed upon ' em For though all Idleness is blamable when a man is engaged in nothing though he has chosen no Profession and through Choice through Laziness Incapacity or some other reason spends his Life in so great an Idleness he could almost die without any bodies losing thereby either Pleasure or Profit and even without its being taken notice of we must content our selves with the affording such a man as this our Pity and not our Esteem But when we see a man who by his Birth or Choice is intrusted with a great employ which demands his being active and yet he is not so he deserves to be despised and hated For my part said Amilcar I find you have reason in what you say but yet there are other people worse than those you speak of And pray said Caesonia tell us who they are for I must confess I do not at all apprehend who they can be They are such replied Amilear who having a great Employment are not diverted from the thoughts of acquitting themselves well of it for the enjoying a certain Repose which has ever in it something sweet but who having a capriciousness in their head of which I have no conception do not the things which they are obliged to do and wholly busie themselves in matters which they might be without all their Life-time and wherein they have not any engagement And truly when I see a Sacrificer neglect the care of the Temple whereof he is a Minister who has no knowledge in Victimes hardly knows the Ceremonies of a Sacrifice but speaks well of War Musick and Hunting I am in the most diverting wrath imaginable For contemning him I take very great delight in ridiculing such a man When I see a Senator with his grave Mien and sometimes a little forc'd ignorant of the Laws of his Country and pretending to court a Lady who raillies him for his Gallantry I think 't would be much better for him to remain in his Closet than to act a part he is not proper for Nay he ought not so much as to act his own On the other side when I see a man whose Age and Profession allows him to be gallant affecting too much Gravity and a Senator who plunges himself into the Doctrine of Pythagoras and speaks no smaller a word than that of Transmigration or Metempsycosis I cry out sighing Oh Gods Why is not this man idle Moreover when I see a Captain who is obliged to be brave and to know his Profession not so much as know the terms of the Art he undertakes and yet knows too well all that belongs to Dancing I could also wish he would never do any thing as long as he lived When I see on the contrary a man who by the baseness of his true Birth and Extraction and his little wit ought not to meddle with any business and yet will be meddling with all I still strangely regret that this man is not idle After this added Amilcar shall people dare to tell me that Idleness is good for nothing At least I may boldly say that by it self it harms no one And there is no comparison between Idleness and Ingratitude Ah! as for Ingratitude replied Herminius it is the basest of all Vices and the most opposite to natural equity And indeed 't is never to be met with amongst bruit Beasts not even among the most cruel and most salvage Kindnesses and Caresses tame Lyons and none but men are capable of Ingratitude What is remarkable in this Vice is that 't is directly opposite to Justice and it subverts all the Laws of Society which amongst rational Beings ought to be nothing else than a continual commerce of good Offices According to the Laws of Humanity we ought to do good to all that stand in need Judge then if it be not just that we do good to those who have done good to us Yet some Peoples Hearts are so base that assoon as they are too much obliged they fly from those they are bound to and by little and little come to that pass as not to be able to endure them What is most fantastical said Plotina is that I know such persons as do nothing for those who have done all for them and who will render considerable Services to such people as never did them any good turn These are of the humour of them who love rather to make Presents than pay Debts And this good there is that all the world murmurs against this horrible Vice so that there is not any one ungrateful person but speaks against Ingratitude The reason of this is said Herminius for that no body does himself Justice and the most part of men would willingly appear what they are not But what does most amuse me added he is to see that this crime should be so general though it be the only one absolutely deprived of all Pleasure For a man who usurps anothers Goods and Estate enriches himself by that Usurpation A Slanderer hath the pleasure of prejudicing others and always meeting with easie credit A Cheat has the satisfaction of attaining the end he proposes to himself A person of a Vindicative nature hath the pleasure of being revenged by committing acts of Cruelty But an ungrateful man can never think of what has been done for him without some sort of Shame and Vexation I assure you said Plotina those who have attained the highest degree of Ingratitude never think of what people have done for them But if they do not think of it at all resumed Herminius they have not at least any pleasure in not thinking on 't So that you must allow of what I have urged I do so in good earnest said she for I do not love to contest but fully to content my Curiosity Tell me then I beseech you which of all Ingratitudes is the blackest 'T is that replied Amilcar where the obligation is the greatest That is not just what I ask answer'd Plotina And what is it then you ask said Caesonia I ask said that excellent Creature in what persons Ingratitude is the most odious either in the Soul of a King or in that of his Subjects or in that of a Master or that of a Slave or among Friends or betwixt a Father and Children or between a Lover and a Mistriss Ingratitude is so horrible a thing answered Herminius that it never found any one that had the boldness to defend it nor even
the boldness to confess he was culpable of it Men sometimes own that they are Ambitious are Cholerick are Revengeful There are also such people as boast of their being Cheats and think it commendable they have circumvented others But men never confess they are ungrateful Thus we must absolutely condemn Ingratitude wheresoever we meet with it But still it has different degrees said Plotina and I believe I may boldly maintain that it has nothing equal under the Sun In my opinion said Amilcar then we must divide the Ungrateful into three Orders For there are those that are ungrateful in Duty in Friendship and in Love The ungrateful in Duty are Kings Subjects Fathers Children Masters Slaves Husbands and Wives The ungrateful in Friendship are Friends of both Sexes And the ungrateful in Love are Lovers and Mistresses Amilcar is in the right said Herminius Not but that amid those who are called ungrateful in Duty there may be sometimes such as may be reckoned amongst the ungrateful in Friendship But generally speaking he has very well distinguished the Ungrateful and it onely remains to be examined who are the most culpable For my part said Amilcar I believe the ungrateful in Duty are the most criminal For my particular said Caesonia I should almost think the ungrateful in Friendship so And said AEmilius I am perswaded 't is the ungrateful in Love That I imagine as well as you replied Herminius and you have onely got the start of me in speaking that truth If there was a fourth side to be taken said Plotina I would willingly take it but as there is not I will first hear all your Reasons before I come to a Resolution As for mine said Amilcar smiling I shall quickly have done since I have nothing else to say than that Love cannot be brought into comparison with that kind of Duty we speak of For men who have made Laws to teach Kings to govern and People to obey have made none for the teaching 'em to acknowledge Love And all the Morals of the Goddess that is ador'd in Cyprus is onely to be met with in Songs The same reason resum'd Herminius which obliged the wise Numa to make no Laws against Parricides has without doubt obliged all those who have made Laws to say hardly any thing of Love in regard as Numa presupposed that there could not be any Parricide they have presupposed there could not be any ingratitude in Love Let it be how it will said Amilcar laughing I did not undertake to lay before you the whole state of that business but onely what I think of it I say then that considering Love as a Gallantry I do not hold that the ungrateful who are of that Order are the blackest and I think the ungrateful in Friendship are worse than them though they are not so bad as the ungrateful in Duty of whom I am speaking And truly if it be necessary to consider the consequence of Ingratitude to know the greatness of it it must be Confessed that Ingratitude in Love is so very far from troubling civil Society that it diverts the world For commonly Amorous Ingratitude gives occasion to very fine Verses As for that which happens between two Friends though it be horrible does but at the most cause Hatred to succeed Friendship and does but divide some Families But the Ingratitude of ill Kings towards their Subjects if the respect we owe to them will allow me to speak in that manner makes a thousand Injustices to be committed And that of the People towards Kings raises Seditions Revolts and eternal Wars The Ingratitude of Parents to Children and Children to Parents stifles all sentiments of Nature That of Husbands to Wives and Wives to Husbands causes almost all the Criminal Amours and all the Heroick Actions Judge then if I was mistaken when I said that the Ungrateful in Duty were the most dangerous I know not whether or no they are the most dangerous replied Caesonia but I maintain that an ungrateful person in Friendship can never be a real honest man and that it is not sometimes impossible but an ungrateful person in Duty may be so For Kings there may be who shall have no acknowledgement for the particular Services that are done them who think more of their People and yet are very great Princes And indeed if all Kings did positively love their Subjects as a good Father ought to love his Children and would acknowledge exactly the Services that are done them they would never make War but in their defence and they would leave them peaceably to cultivate their Lands without ever undertaking to make Conquests There may likewise be Ingratitudes of Ambition which are not so black as the Ingratitudes of Friendship All those who first began to raign and laid the first foundation of Soveraignty have been ungrateful to their Country However when it was brought to pass that maen Citizens became great Kings and Fortune has justified their ingratitude they have been set in the rank of Heroes But as for an ungrateful Friend he has ever been set in the Form of the base and unworthy As to Parents and Children Husbands and Wives 't is prâ—…ncipally onely because they ought to love one another that Ingratitude is most odious when it happens amongst them And truly though I am perswaded that Children must always respect those to whom they owe their Lives and obey them yet I hold that when they have to do with one of those Fathers who strain the Fatherly part too high and acting continually with authority never do any thing out of tenderness they may be in some sort excusable when they have not for him all the acknowledgement imaginable though I agree they ought ever to honour and serve them But in short there is a certain decent respect and reasonable Obedience which is very different from those that are caused by a true acknowledgement What I say of Parents and Children may likewise be said of Husbands and Wives Besides there is still a reason which renders Ingratitude more horrible betwixt Friends than between those I have now spoken of And indeed Kings do not chuse their Subjects all Subjects do not chuse their Kings Neither do Parents chuse their Children nor Children their Parents Interest commonly makes all Marriages rather than Reason or Love Thus when all these persons are wanting in acknowledgement though they be ever very culpable yet they are less faulty than ungrateful Friends Chiefly because not loving they lessen the value of the Obligations they have to one another for thinking they owe less 't is not so strange that they dispence themselves from part of what they owe. As for Lovers though their Ingratitude is to be abhor'd we may 〈◊〉 say that since people do not love whom they please they cannot be obliged to it against their will We may likewise adde that Love prepossessing alâ—… those 〈◊〉 has in hold when the prepâ—…ss ssion ceases on one side it begins on
the other For that a Lover whose Love diminishes does not think himself so obliged as he is to the person he is beloved by But as for Friends we chuse them we are willing they should oblige us we engage them so to do we willingly receive their Services we are not forced thereto either by Laws or an irregular Passion And by consequence Nature Reason Justice Vertue and Glory require that we should always return benefits for benefits and that when we can do so we should at least never forget the Obligation we have to a Friend but proclaim it even with pleasure For my part I do not well apprehend how there can be ungrateful Friends nor how there can be people who can suffer those that are so What surety can there be in the heart of a man who fails his Friend and fails himself By what Sentiment can he be retained who despises Friendship Justice and Glory and makes it likewise be confessed that he is as imprudent as he is false For one that is ungrateful ruines his own Reputation among all persons of Honour and does himself thereby more mischief than he does others though perhaps he is not sensible of it 'T would not be impossible for a man to be ungrateful to his Prince and yet full of acknowledgement to his Friend and his Mistriss And the like of all the other persons we have spoken of But for one ungrateful in Friendship I maintain he may be ungrateful to his King to his Parents to his Children to his Wife and to his Mistriss For Friendship is a thing so sacred that who despises it is capable of despising all things Thus I think I have more reason on my side in this case than Amilcar You have at least a great deal of Wit resumed Herminius And I must confess too that all you say to the advantage of Friendship is admirably well said and it is so much the more so in that it serves to prove that the most horrible of all Ingratitudes is Ingratitude in Love But before that is done I declare there is no Ingratitude excusable and every ungrateful person is worthy of Hatred and Contempt And truly the business is not to examine what 't is we love or hate for to know if we love or if we ought to have acknowledgement For assoon as we have received a good turn we are indispensably obliged not only to be acknowledging for it to our Friends but even to our Enemies when we accept a good Office from them Nay and for ought I know we are obliged to be full of acknowledgement when we even refuse the Services they are willing to do us The word Acknowledgement does so well shew the necessary obligation of the person who receives a favour from any other that none can be ignorant of it And indeed to acknowledge a good office is to be always in a readiness to do all that has been done for us And whoever does not find in his Heart a continual desire of doing for others what has been done to serve him is without doubt a concealed ungrateful man who will discover himself on the first occasion he shall have to serve those by whom he has been served But to come to the particular designe I have of making appear that Ingratitude in Love is the most horrible of all I have no need of many words For though there cannot be any small Ingratitude it is however certain that 't is more or less great according as the party has been more or less obliged For if a man owes his life to a friend he is more obliged than if he was onely indebted to him for his Fortune and will be still more ungrateful than if he were less his Debtor This being so can the Question in hand be brought into doubt And is there any thing that can enter into comparison with Love A man serves his King his Parents his Master his Friend and a Husband and Wife one another But a Lover gives himself to his Mistress and a Mistress to her Lover Nothing but Love a one of two Hearts can make one I know very well that Friendship may boast of this as well as Love but it bâ—…atis of it without reason Two Friends I say two intimate Friends may each have a Mistress who will divide them or at the least will render their Friendship less sensible since it will be no longer their greatest pleasure But for Heroick Love though it strongly unites two persons whose Hearts are tender and Minds rational I defie all the power of Friendship to divide them It is then methinks very easie to conclude that since Love is an Union incomparably more strong and more perfect than Friendship and nothing can be compared to the Obligation we have to a person who gives his Heart entirely up There is no blacker Ingratitude than that of a Lover for a Mistress or a Mistress for a Lover Besides when I speak of Love I do not mean those frivolous and criminal Amours which bear a name they do not merit For they who love one another after that manner onely give one another the time which they equally lose in trifling it away They engage in nothing but to divert themselves as well as they can as long as they shall have the fancy of seeing and loving one another But I mean a certain ardent and sincere love grounded upon Esteem and Virtue wherein there is made a true exchange of Hearts wherein the Wills are mingled and which seem as if they were to last eternally For as there is nothing more precious in the world than an affection of that nature whosoever is capable of Ingratitude after having received one of that sort is the most perfidious and the basest of all the Ungrateful Nevertheless there is a certain self-interessed Spirit which almost obliges all men to despise more an ungrateful person that shall forget a good office which has been done him in order to his Fortune than one ungrateful in Love who shall forget all the marks of tenderness he has received However to speak rationally there is nothing more unjust nor even more Inhumane than to be capable of Ingratitude for a person who in giving his Heart has given all he can give For in Love we ought not to reckon the Services we receive as we reckon them in Friendship because two persons loving perfectly it must be supposed that they are capable of doing for one another all that Virtue allows of even to the losing their Lives Thus from that time they love one another they owe all the good offices that love can cause to be rendred and they ought to keep an account of them as Services already done since they need no more than the occasion which dependsâ—… only on Fortune But to hear you speak resum'd AEmilius coldly it seems that acknowledgement in Love does only regard happy Lovers I should be very glad this were so said Plotina laughing and
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
Letters and making Speeches He must likewise as I may say know the Secrets of all Hearts and not be ignorant of one of all the sine Arts whereof occasion may be sometimes found to speak by the by But it is mainly necessary he know how to prune Morality of all it has dry harsh and severe and Varnish it with something so natural and so agreeable as it may divert those to whom it gives Lessons insomuch that as Ladies do not break their Glasses for shewing 'em their Imperfections which they mend when they are once come to their knowledge neither would they hate a Book wherein they very often see things which people would not dare to tell them and which they would never tell themselves Thus 't is ealier for you to judge that it is much more difficult to compose well a Work of this quality than to make an History well What you have now said is admirable well spoken resum'd Anacreon That I grant replied Amilcar but what I think very strange is that if it were possible to meet with a man who should have composed a Fable of that nature yet there would be a great number of People found who would speak of it as of a mere Trifle and as an useless Amusement And I know several old Senators here and likewise several Roman Matrons whom Love would make so much afraid that they would even forbid their Children to read a Fable after that manner That Sentiment replied Herminius would be very unjust For Love is not learnt in Books Nature teaches it to Mankind and I have met with Love in all places where I have travelled But I have found it more buitish gross and criminal among people who have no Politeness and are altogether ignorant of the Gentile Gallantry than amongst people well educated And besides if those Books were not to be read that have Love in them we should not read Histories wherein we find Examples of all Crimes and wherein very often the Criminals are so happy as they raise a desire in some to imitate them History shews the horrible Action of Sixtus the lamentable Death of Servius Tullus the unjust Amours of Tarquin and Tullia and a thousand other things of a very dangerous example which would not be in a Fable after the manner I understand it On the other side Modesty should always therein be joyned with Love and there would never any criminal Amours be seen but what were unhappy For my part said Claelia then I find it of much more importance than some people may imagine to shew that there may be both innocent and agreeable Amours at the same time for there are but too many men who believe that this can hardly ever be Claelia has undoubtedly reason for what she says replied Herminius So those good Senators and those severe Matrons would do very ill to hinder their Children from reading a thing wherein they would find wherewith to learn the use of all Virtues and whereby they might spare themselves the trouble of Travelling for the becoming Well-bred persons Since so exact a Picture of the world might be drawn as they might see it in an Abridgement without going out of their Closets And as for the Ladies I likewise maintain that the reading of such a Piece as I imagine would rather hinder than incline them to the having Gallants For if they would but make comparison of the Love they bare them with that they should see represented in a Book of that nature they would find therein so much difference that they would never suffer ' emselves to be touch'd with their Passion I also firmly maintain that such a Book would not onely teach all Virtues lash all Vices and reprehend all those little imperfections which the World is full of but it might likewise teach men to adore the Gods by the Example that might be given thereof in the person of the Heroes who are proposed for Patterns And of what Nation and Religion soever a person was advantage might be drawn from it For when I see a Persian who worships the Gods of his Country he gives me a good Example though I am a Roman and teaches me I ought to reverence the Deity of my Nation Do not tell me then that there would be people so irrational as to blame a Book of that kind For I could wish I had made such an one at the hazard of meeting with that Injustice In fine as I should be satisfied with my intention I should comfort my self for the severity of a small number of persons by the general applause of the World and by the proper knowledge I should have of the usefulness of that kind of Work wherein Experience might be found without the help of Age Lessons without severity Pleasures without crime innocent Satyrs Judgement that would cost nothing and the means of learning that Art of the world without which one can never be agreeable AGAINST INDIFFERENCE I Perceive Madam it is but too true that you take a Pride in your Indifference though it be the onely imperfection you have As Thrasylus was uttering these last words which I very distinctly heard I entred into Cleocrites Chamber Insomuch as taking 'em up to begin the Conversation I do not ask said I to that beautiful person what that Imperfection is that Thrasylus reproaches you withal for since you have but one 't is easie to divine it Principally being so great as it is and so generally known by all the World In good earnest Lysiana said she to me laughing you have an excessive sincerity And I do not think there is any body on Earth who is so frankly reproached with their Imperfections as I am with mine As you take a vanity in the onely one you have replied I people tell you of it without fearing to displease you and also without hopes of ever having you mend it Then why should People tell me of it said she You take so much delight in their telling you of it resum'd Thrasylus that 't is the least Complaisance that can be had for you to tell you of it Why I am not displeased at it said Cleocrita is by the same reason that Beautiful persons are not angry when they are called Ugly For to speak with the same sincerity as Lysiana if I have no other Imperfection than this I am reproached with I am the most accomplish'd person in the world And indeed said I then to her 't is a little too much boldness in you to perswade us that Indifference is a good Quality Perhaps answered Cleocrita you call Indifference something I am not acquainted with and which is not in my Heart But I maintain that all my Sentiments are just and that of Amity whereof I am capable is the most commodious and the most rational of all I agree with you that 't is the most commodious for you replied Thrasylus but as for its being the most rational I think that is a point to
If I had known it my self replied he agreeably with a smile I should have spoke it before now But to tell you sincerely I know it not yet my self For as I am sufficiently sensible of Love I would willingly at least retain that Passion But besides as I am naturally very lazy methinks I should not be over-forry though no Passions were in the World because I imagine that if there were none at all Mankind would be continually in a certain languishment of Spirit and a pleasant kind of Laziness that would have something altogether charming Ah! as for Laziness you speak the truth resum'd Amilcar For true it is if there were no Passions all well-bred people would have nothing to do And indeed pursued he if there was no Ambition we see a hundred thousand people come and go through the world who would do nothing of what they do and would onely Enter Rest a while and then Return If a Lover was deprived of the Passion which poffesses him he would become very Idle If Kings were without that Ambition which makes 'em desire to surpass all their Equals they would never be distinguished by themselvs but onely by their rank And the Brave having no passion for Glory would remain content to be jumbled among the Base and Esseminate without having any thing to employ themselves in I also believe that the Fields would not be cultivated neither Cities nor Houses would be built and Mankind would remain scattered up and down the Country without seeking any other Lodging than that of Grotto's which Nature has made And for the greatest part of Ladies if there were no Passions in the World I know not what they would do For as they are the weakest if their Beauty did not produce Love in the Hearts of men and if it did not serve them instead of Force I should rather chuse I fancy to be a pretty Fly than a pretty Woman For they would certainly not onely be Slaves but would also be in a very irksome Idleness since they would not know what to do all the time they spend in decking themselves And truly you need but see a fair Lady in a place where she thinks no body will come to believe that if the Ladies knew they could never give Love they would not take the pains to be half a day doing a thing which must necessarily be undone every Evening I except however from this rule a small number of Ladies as those who are here whos 's Wi and Virtue raise them above all men But to return to the Passions judge ye if it would not be a great pity if there were none since then all the Ladies would be less amiable and would not be beloved But if they were not beloved rejoyn'd Arontius agreeably neither would they be hated since seldom any thing but Love makes them hated by those who are so unjust as to do so For commonly misused Lovers or Jealous Husbands are the onely persons who have an aversion to Ladies True resum'd Amilcar they would not be hated But if they were not beloved they would think the time strangely tedious And there are very few Women I am sure who have Youth and Beauty but would rather chuse to be hated by a hundred unjust Lovers and an hundred Jealous Husbands provided they were beloved than not to be hated by whomsoever it was upon condition of not being beloved by any body and of not loving any thing Let us not complain then of the Passions since they alone afford all the Occupations and Pleasures of Mankind Yet 't is a very difficult thing resumed Artemidorus to overcome them That 's true resumed Amilcar with his usual sweetness but since 't is so difficult do not struggle with them abandon your self to 'em and instead of amusing your self with endeavours to conquer them seek rather to satisfie 'em and then they will not so much torment you For my part added he I am not at all amazed that the Passions tyrannize over the Hearts of men for we do nothing else than preach up this Doctrine that we must struggle with 'em and subject them We find it written in Verse and in Prose The Philosophers have it the Wise men order it Fathers teach it their Children Husbands their Wives and Mothers their Daughters Insomuch as those poor Passions seeing they have so many Enemies make a great effort that they may not sink under them and to reign in all Hearts from which endeavours are used to banish 'em with a world of injustice And truly 't is the place of their birth they cannot subsist elsewhere They give infinite Pleasures to those who seek to satisfie 'em they hardly ever do any mischief but to those who would destroy them For my part resumed Zenocrates they never torment me after that manner For as I am perswaded there would be too much trouble to vanquish them I love rather to submit my self to ' em Thus my Reason and my Passions are never at War together for when my Passions are stronger than my Reason my Reason subjects it self to them And when my Reason is more powerful than my Passions it flatters 'em without undertaking to destroy ' em You so little understand what the great Passions are replied Arontius smiling that it does not belong to you to speak upon this Subject But if you had had any violent or obstinate Love or if your own Desires had made you suffer a thousand punishments and even if hope it self had given you a thousand disquiets you might be allowed to speak of the force of Passion For when we have once tried one of them we may easily imagine the Tyranny of all the rest True it is said then Orontes that who knows all the force of Love may easily comprehend that of Ambition and all the other Passions Yet I am perswaded replied Artemidorus we can never judge equitably of other peoples Passions and we ought never to judge but of our own For though every where they be equally Passions and Love is Love in Greece as well as in Italy 't is however true that it has different operations in the Hearts of all Mankind And the diversity of Temperament does likewise produce many different effects of one and the same Passion For Love in Tarquin's Heart made him commit a thousand Crimes And the same thing in the Heart of Aruntius makes him perform a thousand Heroick Actions Very true resumed Thrasylus but I still maintain that in what Heart soever the Passions reign they give that person trouble enough to satisfie them And I still maintain on the contrary resumed Amilcar that without the Passions we should not be happy If you take away all Passions said Aruntius Indifference must of necessity reign in all Hearts and by consequence there can be no more Heroes I do not speak pursued he of the Indifference which the fair Cleocrita is reproached with because a person may neither have a tender Heart nor Love
but one Harvest but he found therein several Campaigns The Winter which finishes those of others often began his One would have said that he commanded the Scasons or rather that by his Example he made all those he commanded to act like whole Armies and do things above humane Forces because that as he took to himself all the glory of such extraordinary and such laborious Expeditions he likewise took upon himself the greatest part of the labour Amidst all this the least intervals of rest had in his Court the advantages of a profound Peace He made those mighty Pyramids you just now mentioned for the observing the motion of the Heavens as likewise Obelisques Triumphant Arches Palaces Gardens almost like those of Romances But these were the Recreations of his Mind and the least of his cares His Feasts and publick Sights were answerable to this same Grandeur But the constant magnificence of his Family of his Court of the Forces maintained for his Guard and his immense Riches which were sufficient for all his designs The prodigious mass of rare and precious things of all sorts that were shown in his Treasures were a continual Spectacle which charmed Strangers and attracted them from all sides of the World and those who could see more nearly the Master of so many blessings found them still much below him himself Every one in proportion to his understanding discovered in him greater and more surprising Talents The saying upon Rallery which the l adies have so much commended he said it carelesly to a Lady of an infinite Merit of a very elevated Wit and Judgement whom he had chosen out of all his Court to form the first years of the Prince that was to succeed him She said that it was an admirable instruction for her self and that she should esteem her self very happy if she could have taught the Son what she learnt every moment from the Father They say he left this same Prince his Son other Instructions in Writing which the Egyptians kept amongst sacred things and which they caused their new Kings to read solemnly upon the Throne it self before their Coronation All this is very charming said Clarice methinks it is the Character of twenty Kings in one alone But at what Age did he do so many great things He began them said Antigenes at four and twenty years old and was not forty when he said them and wrote them himself He succeeded to the Crown at the age of five years And it was observed as a presage of his Conquests that the first days of his Reign were signalized by the gaining of a Battle But Heaven which often forms Great Men and Great Princes by adversity thought fit to showre it upon him at an Age when no body could impute it to his Conduct His Minority as is usual in Egypt was troubled by Civil and Forreign Wars and the State saw it self upon the point of being subverted The Civil War disappeared by the same degrees he grew up The Forreign ended by new Conquests and by his Marriage Then he began himself to steer the Ship wherein he was before and contrary to the inveterate custom of Princes of that time who were but the Instruments of their Ministers he made all his Ministers his Instruments He would see all and know all and did himself look all ways to the Helm He hearkned to all his Subjects who hitherto had hardly had any access to their lovely Master He made no other use of Pleasures than as a support and help to Labour He regulated hours in each day for all the Royal Functions and days for each sort of Affairs and what was marvelous suffering his Reason to govern more than his Inclination all impatient that he was in that age of extending his Reputation by Arms he applied himself as a King of Sixty years to regulate and reform the Bowels of his State wherein that application was absolutely necessary and as the foundation of all the great things he could do in the future He was happy in not waiting long for a just and natural occasion to make War Then he flew like Thunder into his Enemies Countries and made them see by the rapidity of his Conquests that they gave him all that was theirs in refusing him what was his Right by a legitimate Succession His moderation restored them by the first Peace what he might with Justice have kept Envy followed so great a lustre all the rest of Africa and part of Asia confederated against him The number of his Enemies did but augment that of his Triumphs and onely out of the love he had to his People and the general Good he did not offer truly speaking but gave once again to the world a Peace such as he had resolved on it himself So as in Egypt they took for a Prophet an ingenious man of that time who from a ghastly solitude wherein he was when that King began to govern his State foreseeing by the two or three first years what the others should produce and describing in a kind of elevated Poetry his future Conquests concluded with these Verses Through all the Vniverse this glorious Prince More happy Halcyon days will so dispence His Goodness with his Justice will combine And in one League all Nations firmly joyn Yield Romans yield I as a Prophet say This is the dawn of a much vaster Sway. Ah! Antigenes cried Alvarez then there were Romans Fifteen or Twenty thousand years ago That is not the business said Melinta but it is as the Proverb says A Lyer had need of a good Memory and Antigenes has forgotten without thinking of it the agreeable Fiction which I fancy we all understand and which the pleasure we take therein hindred us from interrupting when he gave us this King of Egypt instead of ours That I avow said Antigenes but if I had not spoken of the Consul of Alexandria of the Patriarch of Mount Libanus of the Arabick Manuscript of Sesostris the first and of Fifteen thousand years ago Clarice would not have listned to me You 're mistaken said Clarice for I listened to you still with more attention when I understood the Discourse was meant of Lewis the Fourteenth and there is not a person hears his Praise with more attention than my self You must at least confess said Antigenes that herein onely you prefer things present and near before ancient and remote I am too downright said Clarice to deny it And we too downright said Antigenes not to acknowledge that the humour in this is almost your humour of all the world And indeed we admire with a great deal of Justice the Dialogues of Plato and of Xenophon But if they returned into the world and published Conversations it would be to little purpose for them to couch therein all their Wit and all the Wisdom of their Socrates it is a great question to know if they would be read And I am at least much deceived if one part of the people
lived in that State but two or three years But she was not afraid of loving him because she knew he was capable of having more than one Mistress at a time and though he promised her she should ever be the first in his Heart she with case rejected his Passion Thrasylus loved her likewise but he had a Mistress and it was an obstacle for her Besides he is something too arrogant and a little fantastical As for Androcles he had two and had too little Virtue There was not one besides Theramenes who seemed to have no other Passion But she was perswaded in general there was not a man who would love but one person all his Life and she would not expose her self to the not being beloved any more or to the being less beloved But said I to her one day in favour of Theramenes whom I infinitely esteemed Do not you see that Socrates the wisest man that ever was is married But can you be ignorant answered she that he is unhappy in being so And do not you know what he has said to one of his Friends That whether we Marry or do not Marry we always repent and Repentance for Repentance I love rather not to marry at all You know added she that when Alcibiades was first married he was very much in love with his Wife You know she was Beautiful and Virtuous of great Quality and abounding in Wit For though I was very young I remember her well enough to know she was very Charming yet he gave her so much Jealousie that she parted from him and left him I know it very well said I to her but notwithstanding her Jealousies he loved her still and to such a degree that he seiz'd on her by force and brought her back to his House That I grant answered Melicrita but she quickly died there of grief and assoon as she was dead he fell in love with me or pretended to be so I know it very well said I but Alcibiades and Theramenes are of a very different humour You know added I that since you have seen the World you have constantly been beloved by Theramenes He has shewn you his Love by a thousand Cares All that can please and divert he has done for you He has never been wanting in any thing Why then my dear Melicrita will not you render him happy Shall I said the embracing me and blushing at the same time discover to you my Secret upon condition you will never reveal it I do solemnly engage it said I to her and I will not fail my word Well then replied she I will confess to you ingenuously that if Theramenes had no passion for me if I had not a great esteem a great inclination for him and that I could resolve to marry I would accept him for my Husband For in short a man of honor does always live well with a rational person And when it is so a Woman of good Sense who loves her Repose and her Reputation ought not to make a hurry though her Husband should have some Gallantry For her own sake she ought to be ignorant of it as much as she can and when she can no longer doubt of it not so much as forment her own Husband But when there has been a mutual Love before Marriage it is not possible to suffer an infidelity with patience And nothing seems to me more insupportable than to be jealous of a Husband whom we must love and respect be he what he will When we are jealous before marrying a man we complain we hate or despise But a Husband with whom we are to live until the very last moment and live in peace if he should no longer love what he is always obliged to love is I must confess what I cannot suffer the thoughts of nor expose my self to that misfortune and I should prefer the being Theano's Companion amongst the Virgins of Minerva before being the Wife of Theramenes if I was necessarily bound to chuse one of the two Cease then Theolinda said she to me speaking to me in favour of Theramenes I know but too well his Merit and the Passion he has for me And would to the Gods I knew neither the one nor the other And for the discovering to you all the delicacy of my Sentiments which perhaps you will find capricious know that the tenderness of Theramenes his heart is what most allarms me For my dear Theolinda he has naturally a passionate Soul and I am likewise something afraid that I am as much indebted for his Love to his Temperament as to my own pretended Merit His looks his words his Letters all is full of Passion And when I think what my grief would be if I saw him have for another the same tenderness he has for me I confirm my self so strongly in the resolution of not marrying him that nothing can make me change But can you marry another said I to her In no wise answered she and it is for that reason I am making a strict Friendship with Theano For if I had the misfortune to lose those I owe my life to I would go demand the vail of her In fine Theolinda this is all the Secret of my Heart which I pray you not to reveal to any body without exception according to your promise For I would not have Theramenes know the inclination I have for him You raise my pity said I to her seeing you so disquiet your self and upon such ill-grounded fears Ah! I beseech you replied she observe but the Conduct of all those you are acquainted with You know there is a Miss here whose extraordinary Beauty attracts all the men in general married or unmarried Aspasia with her Wit has done no less than Diodota with her Beauty The greatest men have had a weakness for these two Women without Virtue principally the former And would not you have me fear that Theramenes should be weak as well as a thousand others have been No no pursued she whether Capriciousness or Reason you shall not change my Heart As she was saying these last words Theramenes Alcibiades and Androcles came into my Chamber And as the last is a great lover of telling all the news of Athens he told us that Socrates all-wise as he is had had the curiosity to go with three or four of his Friends to see the Beauty of Diodota while an excellent Painter was drawing her Picture Androcles said this with a malicious smile as not finding this curiosity worthy of Socrates Melicrita looked upon me then with an Air which suited with her secret Sentiments And Alcibiades following his facetious humour said he was something surprized at this for that Socrates had told him a hundred times he was to fly from Beauty But Theramenes perceiving that Androcles would have made a poyson of that Curiosity broke silence and said he just came from seeing a Friend of Socrates who had been at the Visit he had made and that he
Secret he knew well enough I blam'd her carriage towards him But in short he departed I delivered his Letter Melicrita would not read it but I read it to her She blushed she sighed and I perceived she could hardly conceal the trouble of her Heart We were interrupted and she avoided during several days to speak to me in particular But this was extraordinary in this occasion that she treated those who were in love with her much worse since Theramenes was absent revenging her self upon them for the torment she suffered in not daring to abandon her Heart to the inclination she had for him But in a short time after Athens was exposed to two the greatest Calamities in the World War and Pestilence wherewith it had long before been menaced by an Oracle I shall say nothing to you of that War since you are perfectly informed of all its Events And I have already told you that Alcibiades and Socrates signalized and distinguished themselves therein after such a manner as that they were not to be equalled by any other These two misfortunes together put Athens into a great Consternation all those persons who had Country-houses retired to them But the Air being infected they met with the Pestilence in all places The Contagion was brought into the Camp before Potidaea where many died of it Almost all those died who had any understanding in Physick so as people died without help And this had so much the Air of a Divine Punishment that publick Prayers were made in all the Temples but the Mortality was so great that few people were seen there It was not as formerly a popular Malady persons of the highest Quality were attacked by it as well as others Thucydides had that terrible Disease but recovered My Husband died of it in the Army being very young so that I retired with Stebonia Melicrita's Mother into the Country Socrates was almost the onely man of all those who were at the Army who was spared by the Infection and this was attributed to the protection of the Gods and his great Sobriety Melicrita has confessed to me since that sometimes she was very glad her cruelty had banished Theramenes from a place where he might have perished either by War or by Pestilence but she knew not that the same Passion which had sent Theramenes away recalled him and exposed him to the same dangers which she thought to have made him avoid And indeed Madam assoon as Theramenes had notice his Country was in War and his Mistress exposed to the Pestilence he changed his Course and Design how far off soever he was and retuned with much more diligence than he weâ—…t away But to shew that the Love of Melicrita had more share in his Return than the love of Glory instead of going directly to the Army he approached Athens to know where she was But he found there a hideous Solitude and more dead Corps than living Bodies They told him I was with Melicrita in the Country that Stenobia was very sick though not of the Contageous Disease And that Melicrita having had news her Father was taken with the Pestilence in his return from the Army his Domesticks all dead of it except a young Slave and that knowing the lamentable condition her Father was in she would have left me with Stenobia and gone to Aristocrates iâ—… I had not hindred her from so doing Theramenes hearing all this forced as I may say by great Presents the onely Physician who remained at Athens to go with him and wrote to Melicrita in these terms Love Madam banish'd me from my Country the same Passion calls me home that I might have the Consolation to see my self near you and endeavour to succour him to whom you owe your Life Continue with Stenobia Madam I am carrying to Aristocrates a very able Physician I steal him from a great City but I value you above all the World If I can by my cares save Aristocrates's life and that his Disease does not prove Contageous to my self I will go seek Death in the Army too happy in having rendred you a Service which perhaps will be the onely one of all my life that will be acceptable to you Theramenes used all possible precaution in writing to us He came from a good 〈◊〉 took a Table-book out of such things as had not been in Athens He sent them by a Slave he had brought with him from the Country he came and went directly to the place where he knew Aristocrates lay ill I forgot to tell you that I received Theramenes's Packet as I was weeping with Melicrita who underwent a mortal Grief knowing that her Father whom she tenderly loved had so terrible a Disease without having any help All his Servants were dead at the Army and not a man could be found to be sent to him we had onely Women except an old Domestick who was not in a condition to undertake a Journey All the others were sted away and I could not divert her from going without knowing however how she should get to Aristocrates In that condition we received Theramenes's Messenger as a Messenger from Heaven And when she knew the care this generous Lover had taken to procure her Father a Physician and that he was going to expose himself to the Pestilence for the love of her It must be confessed said she that this action is admirable and without saying a word more she went to acquaint Stenobia her Husband would not die without help and that Theramenes was going to him This News gave so much joy to that virtuous Woman that her Fever diminished two hours after 〈◊〉 then represented to Melicrita all I thought capable of moving her but she was ingenious in tormenting her self Do not you see said she to me that it is not now a fitting time to speak to me of Theramenes's Passion Perhaps he came too late perhaps it lies not in his power to save Aristocrates And perhaps alas added she sighing he will meet with his own death in endeavouring to render me a great Service which would be to me a greater misfortune than I can express In fine notwithstanding the severity of my Conduct added she blushing I love Theramenes and it is onely the tenderness of my Heart which has made me treat him so as I have done What touch'd her still more is that I knew from the Messenger Theramenes had sent us and who had Wit enough that his Master had been under a mortal Melancholy during his Travels not having had the least curiosity wandring almost here and there at hazard yet still going farther off In the mean while we knew not what course to take for to hear from Aristocrates and Theramenes But the Slave he had sent us offered his service which we accepted and Melicrita after having twenty times changed her Resolution wrote these few Lines to Theramenes by Stenobia's Command I obey a Mother whom your generous action does restore to life again
not jealous of Theramenes's happiness Androcles who still loved her and hated all those who looked upon her was very much troubled at his Rivals return Euripides finding no happiness in being married did but faintly rejoyce at the Marriage of his Friends Besides his gloomy humour made him seldom rejoyce at any thing But Xenophon having a very tender Heart did with delight espoufe the Sentiments of those two persons and contributed very much to all the Parties of Divertisement that were made at the Bath Several Balls there were at the Princess of Sicyon's House Theramenes gave several Feasts as well as Aloibiades Thrasybulus appeared there very indifferent Lisander to follow the moderation of Sparta contented himself with being at 'em without giving any Androcles criticiz'd them all very malignly and the diversity which was to be met with amongst all those persons rendred the Conversation the more agreeable One would also have said that Chance did every day furnish us with some new and extraordinary Scene And indeed as we were one day a walking we saw Enripides surrounded with eight or ten Souldiers upon their Knees who seem'd to thank him for some considerable matter He listened to them with great gravity according to his humour and made 'em a sign to rise We had the curiosity to know what was the business but were quickly informed of the truth by the principal among those Souldiers who knowing Theramenes for that he is an Athenian came and desir'd him to help them thank Euripides But what Obligations have you to him answered he him We all owe him our Liberty replied this Souldier For we were Prisoners of War in Sicily and so ill used that we had lost all hopes of ever coming out of Captivity But how can he have steed you at so great a distance inturreupted I. For that Madam replied he his admirable Verses are the ruling Pastion of the Prince whose Slaves we were And as one of those men you see and my self know many of 'em and that we recited them pretty well that Prince having heard of this would needs see us and commanded us to rehearse 'em in his hearing We obeyed him and he was so charmed that crying out generously The Gods forbid said he I should load any longer with Chains persons whose Memories are filled with so many fine things Go said he you are free and tell Euripides from me that if he will come to my Court he shall reign there more than my self While this Athenian was saying this Euripides came near almost out of Countenance at so great an honour And we had further information that these Souldiers had been loaded with Presents That in consideration of those who had recited the Verses that Prince had delivered all their Compinions and that Euripides would find at his returnto Athens many more who had taken another way thither Arera Thucydides's Daughter who was with us would needs know what those Verses were they had recited They made answer they knew almost entirely that admirable Tragedy of the Phenisses which passes for the Master-piece of Euripides All the Company admired this generous action of that Prince of Sicily and concluded men were capable of Passion for many very different Objects Some love Poetry others Painting others Musick and a hundred other things For my part said Alcibiades I have lov'd all these in their turns even to the committing Injustice For all the world knows I confin'd an excellent Painter in my house at Athens constrain'd him to paint it from one end to the other against his will And as he was the most Libertine of all men so was he the most unhappy But giving him to understand that he should not be paid until he had finish'd his work he worught with an unparallel'd diligence demanding no other recompence for his labour than his liberty You do ill to stop there said Theramenes seeing Alcibiades held his peace For after having begun this Adventure by a violence you finished it by such a liberality as that you gave four times more to the Painter than his labour was worth I assure you resum'd Alcibiades that the same Passion which made me commit an Injustice in confining him made me liberal in rewarding him by reason I was charmed with his work During this Euripides was discoursing those Souldiers who were delivered But the Princess of Sicyon coming to walk in thaâ—… place joyned the Company who went to seat themselves in a large green Bower which that Princess had caus'd to be made for reposing in the shade There we saw the Sea pretty near Trees on the right and the left and in short a wonderful Prospect Seats there were all around and a finer place could not have been chosen for entertainment It seemed likewise as if Chance had made an agreeable choice of the persons which composed the Company The Princess of Sicyon had with her that lovely Lady of Corinth called Eupolia whom I have already mentioned who with a thousand great Qualities which render her admirable is to excess afraid of Death She was also accompanied by Areta Daughter of Thucydides and by Hiparetta whose humour is charming and I had Melicrita with me who that day appeared in all her Beauty For as she was at length cured of part of her Fear Joy sparkled in her Eyes and she was not to be seen without being admired As for the Men Alcibiades Theramenes Xenophon Lisander Thrasybulus Euripides are those who were at this Conversation At first the Discourse was upon those Souldiers who were set at liberty Whereupon said the Princess of Sicyon it must be confessed that Athens is fruitful in extraordinary men But not to speak of those who are here I must own I cannot sufficiently admire all I have heard say of Socrates You have reason for what you say Madam resumed Xenophon For Socrates is incomparable in Virtue and in Knowledge But as I remember said she again I have heard he does not over-much approve of all those Sciences which have taken up all the Lives of the Learned who have gone before him True it is said Theramenes that the knowledge of the Secrets of Nature is not his ruling Passion though he has a great understanding therein too and he is the first who has preferred Morality before any other part of Philosophy He says the search of natural things is full of doubts and followed with errours That the true Science of Morality is indubitable in its Maximes and that the knowledge of Virtue is certain solid useful and pleasant This seems to me very fine said the Princess But who are the principal Friends of this man The principal Men of all Greece Madam replied Alcibiades For besides Xenophon Theramenes and Euripides who are here the famous Cebes is one and Simias of Thebes Criton Clerephon Phendon Cherecrates all excellent men But amongst all these Madam I find my place in his esteem and such as I am I may boast of having a share in
Byas in all they say or do The Fear you speak of resumed Xenophon is sometimes met with in the minds of persons of Merit who can never take a wrong Byass in any thing they do And who nevertheless whether in Writing in Speaking or in Acting are fearful they do not fill the Idea they have of things they would write say or do Ah! as for those People resumed Alcibiades I may assure you it is the Idea they have of ' emselves which prepossesses 'em and their Fear most commonly is not Modesty but Pride because all seems below ' em And I would willingly ask 'em if they would do better than they are able But for my part I find there is courage in despising Reputation to a certain point and not to believe all is lost when one has once committed a faults as if there was any one person in the World that is not subject to failing In a word I find it much more just to have some confidence in one's self You have reason in what you say re-assumed Areta For I have a Friend whom all the World esteems yet never could be satisfied with himself And he does not esteem himself unless it be when he knows from others that the World is satisfied with what he writes or with what he does I assure you said Alcibiades if I had not some esteem for my self never should I say or do any thing of value But yet methinks said Hiparetta there is less danger in distrusting our selves a little and in fearing not to do well enough what we undertake than to esteem our selves too much and confide rashly in our own Capacity and always take our own first Thoughts for the best For I believe one may very often be not onely one 's first but one's onely admirer What Hiparetta says resumed Theramenes is well remarked Yet I believe to speak rationally a man of Honour who has solid Merit may esteem himself with reason and confide in himself since after all the Master-piece of Humane Wit consists in knowing one's self well I do not onely say in knowing our Imperfections to amend 'em but likewise our good Qualities upon condition that whatsoever advantageous knowledge a man may have of his own Merit he does not admire himself For I maintain the greateâ—…t Wit in the World must ever see something beyond what he does And I am sure the famous Phidias whose Reputation goes through all the Earth did never make a Statue that fill'd the Idea he had conceived of it no not even that Ivory-Minerva so renowned that it is the admiration of all those who see it But Phidias has nevertheless proceeded boldly on in his Work and has surpassed all others yet without surpassing himself So as I conclude there must be an intention to do well without always fearing to do less well For Fear disturbs and dejects the Mind of whosoever is possessed by it Nevertheless said Alcibiades this Fear so decried and so worthy of being so has met with such fearful men as to build it Temples and with allusion to it to build the same to Paleness That is pleasantly remarked said Euripides but I am perswaded this had a moral and hidden Sence which those who built 'em might have explained I should have some desire to know said the Pxincess if the Fear which causes Blushing is more excusable than that which causes Paleness Do not doubt it Madam said Theramenes For commonly that which causes blushing does proceed from bashfulness and a modest shame Whereas that which causes Paleness shews that all the Bloud is retired to the Heart for the supporting its weakness But in a word added he there is no better Preservative against Fear than to prepare one's self for all events For my particular said Eupolia Anger does hearten me more than Reason and People are undoubtedly more susceptible of Fear in some occasions than in others Truly said Alcibiades Fear is more or less powerful in one and the same person according to Ages and even according to Occasions Childhood and extream Old Age are proper to Timidity One is less fearful in health than when one is sick the temperament does contribute very much thereto And there is a natural Valour one of Ambition one of Experience and Habit one of Reason one of little Wit and Brutality There is likewise a diversified Fear according to what I just now said This is to be admired said Xenophon that this Fear against which we speak produces the finest effects imaginable for Eloquence when one has the art of inspiring it to the purpose That I grant said Euripides for when a good Citizen can by the force of his art fill the Hearts of the People with the fear of Skivery he disposes them to accept of a Master That I have had but too much experience of said Alcibiades But when likewise a General of an Army knows how to inspire Courage into his Souldiers by the contempt of their Enemies he takes a directer course to Victory than if he made 'em afraid of ' em And this shews there is no general Rule but has an Exception But after all said the Princess you must allow there are rational apprehensions provided they be limited That has been already said Madam replied Xenophon But rational Apprehension is very different from Fear But interrupted Hiparetta may not we say that Hope is a kind of Preservative against Fear in ordinary occasions For if we are sick we hope to recover They who plead a Cause are in hopes to gain the Process I assure you interrupted Eupolia that Hopes without reason are little better than an ill grounded Fear and I can hardly believe but that in affairs of the World Fear is the better Byass For my part said Theramenes I agree that in Love Fear has sometimes more tenderness than Hopes But in affairs of the World I take Hope to be more reasonable and more necessary than great Fear But Fear said Eupolia makes us foresee misfortunes and may make us avoid ' em A too fearful foresight replied Alcibiades is on the contrary the occasion that People thinking all lost do nothing for their safety Whereas he who knows the Danger and has some hopes of escaping it is contriving in his mind the means of ridding himself out of it He acts goes comes and by much hoping he escapes the Peril Whereas those people who despair of all fall asleep as I may say in their misfortune and never get out of it For my part said Eupolia I must confess I am born with Fear and that it is onely by the effort of my Reason that I resist it For first of all I fear Death in all kinds I fear Old Age Poverty and Grief I sufficiently comprehend all those Fears resumed Alcibiades but those are not what I meant in my Discourse I mean those which make People too much afraid of what is to come and which will never allow 'em to hope for
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
as to that said Iphicrates and tell you in few words all that has been done before I acquaint Melicrita with her Fathers Command All the Company being very willing to know so extraordinary an occurrence Iphicrates satisfied their curiosity in these terms As you have not been at Athens since the desolation of the Pestilence for that you came from the Country to the Bath said he to Melicrita and to me and that Theramenes at his delivery out of Prison came directly hither after having seen Aristocrates at his Country-house you cannot comprehend to what a degree is the solitude of that City So as that at the first Assembly which was held for the renewing the Senate of Five hundred they were terrified to see the diminution of the people For as you know being divided into ten Tribes it is the more easily remarkable And as you are not ignorant that no Proposition is made to the People but what has been examined by the Senate after that by the Lot of White Beans and Black the Senators were elected and that they had regulared the Prytanes who as you know have all the authority during five Weeks There was one of 'em who had six Daughters to marry and another three or four Sisters Those two Prytanes caused notice to be taken that the War having swept away great numbers of Men as well as the Pestilence there was a great number of Maidens who could not be married and that it was nevertheless necessary for the repeopling their City to to marry 'em all This Proposition was contested by some but he who had six Daughters to marry and the other who had three or four Sisters urged and maintained this point so strongly that it was concluded by those ten Prytanes that the matter should be proposed to the people in a general Assembly And this having been performed accordingly the people with an unparallel'd precipitation would needs make a Law which should absolutely constrain all the Men to take two Wives But a man of good sence having made a vigorous and eloquent Remonstrance it was agreed this Decree should merely bear a permission of having two adding great praises for those who out of zeal to their Country should take two accordingly So that Socrates who makes the Publick good his darling Passion though cruelly tormented by Xantippa his first Wife has wedded Mirton Grand-Daughter of Aristides the just for the shewing an Example to others And it is evident this action of his was neither out of Voluptuousness nor Interest since he chose a Woman who had nothing of Beauty and was in such a condition as not to know what would become of her if Socrates had not married her as he did And indeed this Example of Socrates has been so powerful that there has been made several double Marriages in imitation of him I have certainly for Socrates resumed Theramenes all the respect his Virtue merits but I boldly declare I will never imitate him in this business Aristocrates does expect you will not reassumed Iphicrates and it is for that reason he has given me in charge to order Melicrita whom he tenderly loves to engage you to promise her not to make use of the permission of the Decree for having adopted you for his Son and being desirous to live and die with you he is willing to be assured you would not bring any Stranger into his Family I promise it solemnly said Theramenes and I am ready to swear it at the Feet of the Image of Minerva Protectrice of Athens and in the mean while I swear it before Theano who serves that great Goddess This being so added Iphicrates Theolinda when the Baths are ended must bring Melicrita to Aristocrates his Country-house where you are to marry her before you return to Athens to let pass during some time the fancy which the people have for these double Marriages Iphicrates had hardly done speaking but Theramenes gave him a thousand thanks And Melicrita though so reserved made appear in her Eyes a modest Joy which rendred 'em their Brightness and their Charms and re-established her so well she was in a condition to receive Company So as that in the Afternoon all the Illustrious persons at the Bath having known by those to whom Androcles had with regret told that this pretended Law was onely a permission to have two Wives and not a Command came to see us without excepting the Princess of Sicyon Theano returned with her Companions and Alcibiades Euripides Lysander Xenophon Philocles and Polemon spent the rest of the day at our Lodgings You must at least confess said Eupolia agreeably speaking to Melicrita that this Fantastical Law put you into a terrible fright Truly Eupolia replied she blushing you are very cruel in reproaching me with so just a Fear You I say who have daily such as are so ill-grounded I do not blame you for it resumed Eupolia I onely put you in mind of it Alcibiades interposed after a pleasant manner in this Conversation not being able to forbear admiring the resolution of Socrates For in short said he if he was in love I should not wonder at it at all But that the Publick good should so influence a man as to make him take a second Wife both ugly and poor when he has a very sad peevish and troublesom one already I must confess I do not conceive it Euripides spoke in much sharper terms against Marriage for a private reason he had for so doing And yet said Alcibiadoes Euripides is no Enemy to love as appears by the Verses he made yesterday That is true said he but the reason is Love and Marriage do seldom jump and it is this rarity which is going to make the happiness of Theramenes and Melicrita As I knew this Discourse did but make 'em uneasie I asked Alcibiades what the Verses were they talked of and he told us that having discoursed together the day before of Xenophon's Knowledge and Politeness joyned to the tenderness of his Heart He had made a Copy upon that Subject which he had still in his Memory The Princess of Sicyon desired him to rehearse 'em and Euripides without further pressing told us 'em himself They are as follows These Verses are out of Euripides The School of Love that 's all beset with charms Quickens Old Age and yet fierce Youth disarms Love too does render Learning more polite Loves Divine Flame makes Vertue dazling bright Love fills all humane breasts with hopes joy Love grief does banish which would us anoy Yet not the least of innocence destroy Though all Mankind should fall to censure me I 'll have no Friend who can't a Lover be He must be Salvage who lives without Love Love does the Beauties of the world improve Love the whole Vniverse does new adorn Without Love's aid all things would droop and mourn The God of Love does nought but mirth inspire The God of Love does what we all admire Right reason then your priviledge maintain But do not Loves Prerogative disclaim It must be confessed said the Princess that these Verses are worthy of Euripides and of their Subject Xenophon made a very modest defence and the Conversation was very pleasant all the rest of the day On the morrow in the Evening Theramenes made a very agreeable Feast during which all the Tents at the Bath were lighted by marvellous Illuminations which Theramenes had caused to be prepared before the bad news This shew'd the finest object imaginable These Illuminations were accompanied with several Consorts of Instruments There was a Ball at the Princess's house where Androcles durst not appear and all the Company at the Bath did partake in Theramenes and Melicrita's joy Iphicrates went to Corinth upon some business he had there but obliged us to depart two days after Theano and her Companions went away on the morrow Melicrita out of modesty would not suffer Theramenes to come along with us but he departed the same day and made haste before to thank Aristocrates for the care he had taken of his happiness I dare say all the illustrious persons at the Bath regretted the loss of our Company Alcibiades Xenophon and Euripides conducted us half a days Journy and would have came further if we would have suffered ' em But in short we arrived safely at Aristocrates his House And as Theramenes was got thither with extraordinary expedition we found all things ready for the Wedding so as that he married Melicrita three days after with an inconceivable Joy which I am perswaded will last all their lives This is Madam what you ordered me to acquaint you with if I had had more Wit and more Art you would have found this Relation more agreeable and entertaining FINIS BOOKS lately Printed and Sold by Henry Rhodes 1682. THe History of the Glorious Life Reign and Death of the Illustrious Queen Elizabeth By S. Clark Price bound 1 s. The History of the Victorious Life Reigh and Death of King Henry VIII with the Life of King Edward VI. Price bound 1 s. Pastime Royal or the Gallantries of the French Court A new Novel Price bound 1 s. Female Prince or Frederick of Sicily A new Novel Price bound 1 s. Round-heads or the Good Old Cause A Play by Mrs. A. Behn City Heiress or Sir Timothy Treat-all A Play by Mrs. A. Behn With all sorts of new Plays A new Voyage to the East-Indies and more particularly of the Kingdom of Bantam The second Edition with Additions Price bound 1 s. Conversations on several Subjects Written in French by Madamoiselle Scudery and done into English by Mr. Ferrand Spence