The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1905-02-03

battle OF ACtIuIn, Cleopatra, Tor some
unknown reason, was seen leaving with
for Antony to abandon the battle and
follow his sorceres5. For strength, she
gave him weakness. For infatuation. she
gave him deceit. For the sweets Of love- she
gave him the eggs of scorpions. For idol
airy, she gave him death. The Egyptian
Delilah had clipped t,,e locks of this Ro-
man Samson and he visit not that his
strength was departed from him.
So far this bewildering woman has only
toyed with strong men. This child Of the
palace has held the golden bit of destiny
between her teeth of pearl and her gods
have not reined her in. But her end Is
coming After betraying Antony, she re
tired within a castle, which had been built
for just such an emergency. She then sent
her paramour word that she had killed
herself and his grief was such hat he fell
hpon his own sword But he lived long
enough to discover that she had deceived
him again Dying and soaked in his own
blood, he ordered his servants to carry
him to her mausoleum. As the only en-
trance to her retreat left unbarred was
window, he was drawn up by ropes into
her presence and died, And what became
of her--this actor from the palace? You
know the story. How she tried her charms
upon Octavius Caesar and failed. How the
Rome stared her in the face and how,
rather than be lied a captive princess up
the Capitoline Hill" she died by her own
hand. Lacking moral sense. she wore
face of brass to the end Of the tragedy.
Unlike the sweet-souled Vashti, Cleopatra
had no veil of modesty for her face, and
she asked none for her soul. Darker than
Egyptian night, she has left a dark stain
upon the brow of universal womanhood!
Whittier than the wilderness of the dawn,
Vashti, like Shelley's heroine, clothed in
virtues adamantine eloquence, pavcs her
path with human hearts!"
Consider, also, that in studying the trag-
edy of Vashti. we have to reckon with
her beauty, "for she was fair to look on.
When some genius equal to the task OF
writing history of beauty appears, men
and women will find perpetual charm in
it's glowing pages. 1t will contain a page
of JOY, a page OF sorrow. a page or peace:
a page OF war. q page OF love, page OF
hate, page OF noetry and q page OF art.
But it will contain many pages developing
this thought-tbe tragedy Of beauty.
But along with her beauty, Vashtj pos
sessed that other quality which lends
beauty an enduring freshness and charm
modcsty. Vashti owes her place in history
not SO much to her beauty as to her mod
esty If beauty made her queen modes
ty made her a woman, which IS far better.
As queen, Xerxes could Danish her; as
woman, he was defed by her. AS queen,
he could and did dethrone; as women,
she sits upon throne that has hearts for
it's cushions and centuries for its pillars.
The Dubarrys, the Pompadours, the Mon
tespans have their day and cease to be;
but the Vashtis go on forever. The ely
temnestres, the Aspasias, the Cleopatras
are meteors flashing through the darkness
Of eternal night; the Vashtis are golden
suns burning through womanhood's end
less day!
Indeed, molesty is so inherent an ele.
ment in the great essentials making genu-
inc beauty that without modesty beauty
is impossible. We are indebted to no hui
man law for this truth-God has woven
it into the fabric of our natures. Art
critics tell us that the eighteenth century
was pre-eminently the century Of women.
Then, we are tod; "Her grace possessed
the most prestige, her coquetry the most
disquieting elegance and her beauty the
most triumphant authority. 1t was the
age in which Nine. de Pompodour relgned
in the court of Louis XIV. The brushes Of
Latour and Boucher have pleaded with all
the eloquence Of their genius and art to
defy this daring woman. She appointed
ministers she e--iled those who incurred
her i'll will, she sentenced to the Bastiie
those who ran counter to her imperious
wish. She was the patroness OF philoso-
ply, art and song. Through her magic
wand Versailles was touched into dream
of splendor, which has not yet vanished.
Her collection of pictures. crystals, cam
eos, antiques and gems was unparalleled IN
the kingdom. She squaudered fortunes on
her palaces, fetes and ball; and then
other fortunes on her toilet. Tor twenty
years this butchers daughter held her i'm
perial sway, which was broken only by
death But when the historian tells lis
that it was the dream of her girlhood to
seduce the king; that her shameless prodi-
gality makes the cheek of decency burn;
that modesty found no hospitality among
her sensual charms, we may well repeat
the question of another, "Was La Pom
padour beautiful, or merely pretty?" In
stinctively drawing back as we would IN
the presence of a snake, we answer, She
was neither. She was royal harlot, pa
raded in gilded shame, lacking most OF all
that jewel of modesty which sparkles. in
the crown of true beauty" Alas for that
land whose women forsake their wells of
modesty to show the people and princes
their beauty!
Consider, finally, the price Vashti paid
for her modesty. For her refusal to come
at the kings command was the immediate
cause of her dethronement. Surely there
arc few finer exhibitions of sacrifice IN the
history of womenhood. We love to read
of Telesila, who united courage with the
gift of song, and saved Argos; of Octavia,
shielding the children of Cleopatra, her
shameless rival; of Sulpicia, renouncing
the pleasures of Rome to go into exile
with her husband; of Lucretia, who killed
herself rather than live in dishonor; of
Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, urg-
ing them to deeds of patriotism; of Paula,
leaving her palace on Mount ,Aventine, to
walk as an angel of charity through the
slums of Rome, but not one of them out
shines Vashti.
Nor has history given this lovely queen
her dues. We read much of Lais, who
lived in the same century as Vashti, and
who was a notorious courtesan; of the
immoral Aspasia, who counted Socrates
and Pericles amc1g her .ong list of adj
mirers; of the treacherous Lucilla, who
ruled the court Of Marcus Aurelius; Of
A ..,.;....;.,a +La raothc,. of still