登陆注册
5362600000288

第288章

I find by experience, that there is a good deal to be said betwixt the flights and emotions of the soul or a resolute and constant habit; and very well perceive that there is nothing we may not do, nay, even to the surpassing the Divinity itself, says a certain person, forasmuch as it is more to render a man's self impassible by his own study and industry, than to be so by his natural condition; and even to be able to conjoin to man's imbecility and frailty a God-like resolution and assurance; but it is by fits and starts; and in the lives of those heroes of times past there are sometimes miraculous impulses, and that seem infinitely to exceed our natural force; but they are indeed only impulses: and 'tis hard to believe, that these so elevated qualities in a man can so thoroughly tinct and imbue the soul that they should become ordinary, and, as it were, natural in him. It accidentally happens even to us, who are but abortive births of men, sometimes to launch our souls, when roused by the discourses or examples of others, much beyond their ordinary stretch; but 'tis a kind of passion which pushes and agitates them, and in some sort ravishes them from themselves: but, this perturbation once overcome, we see that they insensibly flag and slacken of themselves, if not to the lowest degree, at least so as to be no more the same; insomuch as that upon every trivial occasion, the losing of a bird, or the breaking, of a glass, we suffer ourselves to be moved little less than one of the common people. I am of opinion, that order, moderation, and constancy excepted, all things are to be done by a man that is very imperfect and defective in general. Therefore it is, say the Sages, that to make a right judgment of a man, you are chiefly to pry into his common actions, and surprise him in his everyday habit.

Pyrrho, he who erected so pleasant a knowledge upon ignorance, endeavoured, as all the rest who were really philosophers did, to make his life correspond with his doctrine. And because he maintained the imbecility of human judgment to be so extreme as to be incapable of any choice or inclination, and would have it perpetually wavering and suspended, considering and receiving all things as indifferent, 'tis said, that he always comforted himself after the same manner and countenance: if he had begun a discourse, he would always end what he had to say, though the person he was speaking to had gone away: if he walked, he never stopped for any impediment that stood in his way, being preserved from precipices, collision with carts, and other like accidents, by the care of his friends: for, to fear or to avoid anything, had been to shock his own propositions, which deprived the senses themselves of all election and certainty. Sometimes he suffered incision and cauteries with so great constancy as never to be seen so much as to wince. 'Tis something to bring the soul to these imaginations; 'tis more to join the effects, and yet not impossible; but to conjoin them with such perseverance and constancy as to make them habitual, is certainly, in attempts so remote from the common usage, almost incredible to be done. Therefore it was, that being sometime taken in his house sharply scolding with his sister, and being reproached that he therein transgressed his own rules of indifference: "What!" said he, "must this bit of a woman also serve for a testimony to my rules?" Another time, being seen to defend himself against a dog: "It is," said he, "very hard totally to put off man; and we must endeavour and force ourselves to resist and encounter things, first by effects, but at least by reason and argument."

About seven or eight years since, a husbandman yet living, but two leagues from my house, having long been tormented with his wife's jealousy, coming one day home from his work, and she welcoming him with her accustomed railing, entered into so great fury that with a sickle he had yet in his hand, he totally cut off all those parts that she was jealous of and threw them in her face. And, 'tis said that a young gentleman of our nation, brisk and amorous, having by his perseverance at last mollified the heart of a fair mistress, enraged, that upon the point of fruition he found himself unable to perform, and that, "Nec viriliter Iners senile penis extulit caput."

[(The 19th or 20th century translators leave this phrase untranslated and with no explanation. D.W.)--Tibullus, Priap. Carm., 84.] as soon as ever he came home he deprived himself of the rebellious member, and sent it to his mistress, a cruel and bloody victim for the expiation of his offence. If this had been done upon mature consideration, and upon the account of religion, as the priests of Cybele did, what should we say of so high an action?

A few days since, at Bergerac, five leagues from my house, up the river Dordogne, a woman having overnight been beaten and abused by her husband, a choleric ill-conditioned fellow, resolved to escape from his ill-usage at the price of her life; and going so soon as she was up the next morning to visit her neighbours, as she was wont to do, and having let some words fall in recommendation of her affairs, she took a sister of hers by the hand, and led her to the bridge; whither being come, and having taken leave of her, in jest as it were, without any manner of alteration in her countenance, she threw herself headlong from the top into the river, and was there drowned. That which is the most remarkable in this is, that this resolution was a whole night forming in her head.

It is quite another thing with the Indian women for it being the custom there for the men to have many wives, and the best beloved of them to kill herself at her husband's decease, every one of them makes it the business of her whole life to obtain this privilege and gain this advantage over her companions; and the good offices they do their husbands aim at no other recompense but to be preferred in accompanying him in death:

同类推荐
  • 医经国小

    医经国小

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 新收一切藏经音义

    新收一切藏经音义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 阴符经讲义

    阴符经讲义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 兜率不磷坚禅师语录

    兜率不磷坚禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 广嗣五种备要

    广嗣五种备要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 风月天唐

    风月天唐

    两坛男儿烈酒,丰塑乱世铁骨柔情;三分历史笔墨,书尽别样世事沧桑;QQ群:179648838新书《江山权色》,新笔名:倦孤心,已发布。在创世中文网,以及qq阅读app都可以搜到。有兴趣的朋友,可以一看。
  • 我的物质爱情

    我的物质爱情

    我喜欢富足有安全感的生活,喜欢任意地挥霍自己的时间,喜欢没有任何的负担就能决定一些事情,而这些都需要钱,所以,我最喜欢钱。可是,如果你以为我是那种美艳不可方物可以靠身材长相一辈子吃穿不愁的女人,那么很遗憾,你错了,你将听到的不是那种俗鄙了的故事,我没那本钱也没那兴趣成为那些故事的女主角。
  • 女主冷艳高贵

    女主冷艳高贵

    同为小说女主,她尤其与众不同,拥有明艳的外貌傲人的身世。但是,女主是一朵彻彻底底的小白花!小白花也没关系,女主的光环和作者赋予她的外在资本,她注定会有无数美男的痴情守候。悲催的是唐宁发现,她不在原著,她在女配逆袭上位的小说中!--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 万兽世界

    万兽世界

    平静之下的暗潮,波涛中的崛起!是听天由命,还是立帆前行?是使命的召唤,还是家族的责任一个少年,一群兄弟携闯万兽世界,灭魔道,顶天不倒
  • 寄刘少府

    寄刘少府

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 新时期中国戏曲创作概论(中国艺术研究院学术文库)

    新时期中国戏曲创作概论(中国艺术研究院学术文库)

    本书在对新时期以来全国戏曲创作做宏观把握的同时,重点选择了一批在全国产生一定影响的作品,并对这些作品的创作成就,以及在思想内容和艺术表达方式上的基本走向进行了系统介绍和理论阐述。书中还对新时期以来以热情和勇气为这个时代奉献出智慧和心血的多位剧作家的创作风格和其独特的艺术表达方式进行了理论概括。作者从审美理想的视角选择,审美价值的意趣判断,审美感受的形象摹写等方面,论述了从审美理想到审美表达的创作过程。作者还用具体地区的实例,对新时期戏曲创作的成因进行了考论。特别是本书对新时期以来革命历史题材戏曲创作、少数民族戏剧创作和儿童题材戏曲创作做了较为系统论述和理论总结。
  • 我和闺蜜是仇敌

    我和闺蜜是仇敌

    明明很好很好的闺蜜,为什么一夜之间会成为仇人呢?
  • 迟到魔王的奶爸人生

    迟到魔王的奶爸人生

    身为顶级魔法师的迟小厉,却是个无可救药一心想要成为剑圣的白痴。总会因为各种奇葩理由在讨伐boss的路上迟到,boss没打成,反而收了好几个萝莉回家?看到又一把爱剑被忽闪大眼睛的可爱幼女当点心吃掉,迟小厉崩溃地大吼道:“我讨厌小孩子——”无敌大魔导师兼三流剑客的奶爸之路,就此展开!
  • 家有医生

    家有医生

    疾病的威胁是十分普遍的,有些人能够免于疾病,有些人却不能幸免,这是因为前者能够对疾病早预防、早治疗,而后者因为无法读懂自己身体早期发出的疾病信号,因此饱受病痛的折磨。《家有医生》从多种常见病的防治入手,全面系统地介绍了预防策略和治疗方法,是一本专业性与实用性融于一体的健康宝典。
  • 挫骨成灰君可知

    挫骨成灰君可知

    殇:本以为你依旧属于我,却不曾想你早已爱上他人。陌:本以为,你是我的良人,却不曾想在危难时刻你却弃我而去。皓:本以为,你已属于我,却不曾想,只是我一厢情愿。思:本以为我得到了幸福,却不曾想,只是一场骗局。很多时候,我们都输给了以为。。。。。。。清:如果有来生,我定不负你对我的一番痴情。夙:如果有来生,我一定会早日回想起你我之间的点点滴滴,并与你携手前行。可惜。。。没有如果。(大型虐文现场,不喜慎入)