Page images
PDF
EPUB

sents a scene of tranquil enjoyments, of obedient appetites, of well-regulated affections, of maturity in knowledge, and of calm preparation for immortality. In this serene and digni fied state, placed, as it were, on the confines of two worlds, the mind of a good man reviews what is past with the complacency of an approving conscience; and looks forward with humble confidence in the mercy of God, and with devout aspirations towards his eternal and ever increasing favor."

LESSON VII.

Real Virtue can love Nothing but Virtue.

DIONYSIUS, PYTHIAS, AND DAMON.

FENELON.

Dionysius. YE gods!, what do I see? 'Tis Pythias arriving here! —'T is Pythias himself! I never could have thought it. Hah! it is he he is come to die, and to redeem his friend.

Pythias. Yes; it is I. I went away for no other end but to pay to the gods what I had vowed them; to settle my family affairs according to the rules of justice; and to bid adieu to my children, in order to die the more peaceably.

Diony. But what makes you come back? How now! hast thou no fear of death? Comest thou to seek it like a

desperado, a madman?

Pyth. I come to suffer it, though I have not deserved it I cannot find it in my heart to let my friend die in my stead Diony. Thou lovest him better than thyself, then?

Pyth. No: I love him as myself; but I think I ought to die rather than he, since it was I thou didst intend to put to death it were not just that he should suffer, to deliver me from death, the punishment thou preparedst for me.

Diony. But thou pretendest to deserve death no more than he.

Pyth. It is true, we are both equally innocent; and it is no juster to put me to death than him.

Diony. Why sayest thou, then, that it were not just he should die instead of thee?

Pyth. It is equally unjust in thee to put Damon or me to death: but Pythias were unjust did he let Damon suffer a death that the tyrant prepared only for Pythias.

Diony. Thou comest, then, on the day appointed, with no other view than to save the life of a friend, by losing thy own ?

Pyth. I come, with regard to thee, to suffer an act of injustice which is common with tyrants; and, with respect to Damon, to do a piece of justice, by rescuing him from a danger which he incurred out of generosity to me.

Diony. And thou, Damon, wert thou not really afraid that Pythias would never come back, and that thou shouldst have to pay for him?

Damon. I knew but too well that Pythias would return punctually, and that he would be much more afraid to break his word than to lose his life. Would to the gods that his relations and friends had forcibly detained him, so he would now be the comfort of good men, and I should have that of dying for him!

Diony. What does life displease thee?

Damon. Yes; it displeases me when I see a tyrant.

Diony. Well, thou shalt see him no more: I'll have thee put to death immediately.

Pyth. Pardon the transports of a man who regrets his dying friend! But remember that it was I only thou devotedst to death: I come to suffer it, in order to redeem my friend: refuse me not this consolation in my last hour.

Diony. I cannot bear two men who despise their lives and my power.

Damon. Then thou canst not bear virtue.

Diony. No: I cannot bear that proud, disdainful virtue.

which contemns life, which dreads no punishment, and which

is not sensible to riches and pleasures.

Damon. However, thou seest that it is not insensible to honor, justice, and friendship.

Diony. Guards! take Pythias away to execution: we shall see whether Damon will continue to despise my power.

Damon. Pythias, by returning to submit himself to thy pleasure, has merited his life at thy hand; and I, by giving myself up to thy indignation for him, have enraged thee: be content, and put me to death.

Pyth. No, no, Dionysius; remember that it was I alone who displeased thee: Damon could not

Diony. Alas! what do I see? Where am I? How unhappy am I, and how worthy to be so! No, I have hitherto known nothing: I have spent my days in darkness and error: all my power avails me nothing towards making myself beloved: I cannot boast of having acquired, in above thirty years of tyranny, one single friend upon earth: these two men, in a private condition, love each other tenderly; unreservedly confide in each other; are happy in a mutual love, and content to die for each other!

Pyth. How should you have friends, you who never loved anybody? Had you loved men, they would love you. You have feared them: they fear you, they detest you.

Diony. Damon! Pythias! vouchsafe to admit me between you, to be the third friend of so perfect a society! I give you your lives, and will load you with riches.

Damon. We have no occasion for thy riches; and as for thy friendship, we cannot accept of it until thou be good and just; till that time, thou canst have only trembling slaves and base flatterers. Thou must be virtuous, beneficent, sociable, susceptible of friendship, ready to hear the truth, and must know how to live in a sort of equality with real friends, in order to be beloved by free men.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

THE evening was glorious, and light through the trees
Played the sunshine and rain-drops, the birds and the breeze;
The landscape, outstretching in loveliness, lay

On the lap of the year, in the beauty of May.

For the Queen of the Spring, as she passed down the vale,
Left her robe on the trees, and her breath on the gale;
And the smile of her promise gave joy to the hours,
And flush in her footsteps sprang herbage and flowers.
The skies, like a banner in sunset unrolled,

O'er the west threw their splendor of azure and gold;
But one cloud at a distance rose dense and increased,
Till its margin of black touched the zenith, and east.

We gazed on the scenes, while around us they glowed,
When a vision of beauty appeared on the cloud;
"T was not like the Sun, as at mid-day we view,
Nor the Moon, that rolls nightly through star-light and blue

Like a spirit, it came in the van of a storm!

And the eye and the heart hailed its beautiful form;
For it looked not severe, like an angel of wrath,
But its garment of brightness illumed its dark path.

In the hues of its grandeur, sublimely it stood,
O'er the river, the village, the field and the wood;
And river, field, village and woodlands, grew bright,
As conscious they gave and afforded delight.

'Twas the bow of Omnipotence, bent in His hand
Whose grăsp at Creation the universe spanned;
'Twas the presence of God, in a symbol sublime,
His vow from the flood to the exit of Time!

Not dreadful, as when in the whirlwind he pleads,
When storms are his chariot, and lightnings his steeds,
The black clouds his banner of vengeance unfurled,
And thunder his voice to a guilt-stricken world; -

In the breath of his presence when thousands expire,
And seas boil with fury, and rocks burn with fire,

And the sword and the plague-spot with death strew* the

plain,

And.vultures and wolves are the graves of the slain :

Not such was the Rainbow, that beautiful one,
Whose arch was refraction, its key-stone the Sun;
A pavilion it seemed which the Deity graced,
And Justice and Mercy met there and embraced.

7

Awhile, and it sweetly bent over the gloom,

Like Love o'er a death-couch, or Hope o'er the tomb,
Then left the dark scene; whence it slowly retired,
As Love had just vanished, or Hope had expired.

I gazed not alone on that source of my song;
To all who beheld it these verses belong;
Its presence to all was the path of the Lord!
Each full heart expanded, grew warm and adored.

Like a visit, the converse of friends, or a day,
That bow from my sight passed forever away;
Like that visit, that converse, that day, to my heart,
That bow from remembrance can never depart.

'Tis a picture in memory distinctly defined,
With the strong and unperishing colors of mind:
A part of my being beyond my control,

Beheld on that cloud, and trănscribed on my soul.

*Pronounced strow.

« PreviousContinue »