a will to gratify all was absorbed in you i call to witness � in the name of w j there may be something more holy something more imposing but the name of mistress was ever to me a more charming sound � the more i myself before you the greater right i thought i should have to your favour and thus also i hoped the less to injure the splendid reputation you had acquired this circumstance on your own account you did not quite forget to mention in the letter to your friend you related also some of die arguments i then urged to you from that fatal marriage but you the greater part by which i was induced to prefer love to matrimony and liberty to chains i call heaven to witness should master of the world me his hand in marriage and secure to me the command of the universe i should deem it at once more eligible and more honourable to be called the mistress of than the wife of caesar f the source of merit is not in riches or in power these are the gifts of fortune but virtue only gives worth and excellence the woman who prefers a rich to a poor man shows she has a soul in a husband it is his wealth and not himself which she and to her who with this view some reward may be due but no gratitude it is clear that i have not t how oft when press d to marriage have i said curse on all loves but those who love has made love free as air c hm t should at my feet the world s great master fall o line s of mid her intentions propose but a richer match and if not too late she will embrace it with the truth of my opinion die learned has confirmed in a with and his wife as related by the of when to effect a reconciliation them she had proposed this � thus when you have got so far as to be convinced that there lives not a better man and a more fortunate all your thoughts will be directed to produce ae greatest will be happy in the reflection that ho is married to the best of women and she on her side that her band is the best of men these sentiments are beautiful they seem the production rather of wisdom herself than of philosophy but in the married state should this favourable opinion be even on error how charming is it to be thus deceived it produces love and on this rests the pledge of mutual fidelity while purity of mind far more than her sister virtue but that happiness which in others is sometimes the effect of fancy in me was the child of evidence they might think their husbands perfect and were happy in the idea but i that you were such and the verse knew the same thus the more my affection was secured from all possible error the more steady be came its flame where was found the king or the philosopher that had your reputation was there a village a city a king that did not wish even to see you when you in public who did not run to behold you and when you withdrew every neck was stretched every eye sprang forward to � you the married and the unmarried women when was away longed for his company and when he was present every bosom was on fire no lady of distinction no princess that did not envy the possession of her you possessed indeed two a tone of voice and a grace in singing which gave you the control over every female heart these powers were peculiarly yours for i do not know that they ever fell to the share of any other philosopher to soften by playful amusement the stem labours of philosophy you composed several on love and on similar subjects these you were often heard to sing when the harmony of your voice gave new charms to the expression in all circles nothing was talked of but even the most ignorant who could not judge of composition were enchanted by the melody of your voice male hearts were unable to resist tiie impression thus was my name soon carried to distant nations for the loves of and were the constant theme of all your songs what wonder if i became the subject of general envy again she reproaches him for his neglect the of and st having as i said complied with all your i thought indeed i had great pretensions to your esteem even at this moment i am a victim to your will it was not religion that called me to the of the i was then in the bloom of youth but you ordered it and i obeyed for this sacrifice if i have no merit in your eyes vain indeed is all my labour from god i can look for no reward for whose sake it is plain i have as yet done nothing when you had resolved to quit the world i followed you rather i ran before you it seems you had the image of the s wife before your eyes you feared i might and therefore before you could surrender your own li i was to be devoted in that one instance i confess your of me tore my heart i blushed for you for my part heaven knows had i seen you hastening to at a single nod i should not have hesitated to have preceded or to have followed you my soul was no longer in my own possession it was in yours even now if it is not with you it is now here it cannot exist without you but do receive it kindly there it will be happy if it find you indulgent if you only return 