-
Articles/Ads
Article SINGULAR INSTANCE OF GENEROSITY. Page 1 of 1
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Singular Instance Of Generosity.
SINGULAR INSTANCE OF GENEROSITY .
HP HOUGH little detached pieces of history cannot be supposed to - " - give us any important idea of the rise and fall of empires , the religion , customs , and manners , of great and powerful states ; yet , in periodical publications , they perhaps answer , if . properly selected , a more noble purpose : they improve the heart , regulate the passions , and , by exposing to our view p ictures drawn from real nature , make us . more inclinableeither to imitate ^ the virtueor despise the vice .
, , One example will go further than an hundred precepts ; and , in proportion as the examples of virtue and vice are predominant , in any age , among the great , so will the morals of the vulgar be . While Rome was a growing state , her Generals were brave and virtuous , and they were imitated by the meanest citizens ; but , when luxury , grandeur , and the thirst of power and partial distinction
crept into . the senate , men were held in consideration , only in proportion to-the magnificence of their buildings , the luxury of their tables , and their external rarade . When time has established facts , when the corroborating testimony of succeeding ages has fixed its seal on them , and when they afford examples which ci me home to the bosom of , every individual , we pay more respect to them , than we do to those fleeting objects , which daily present themselves to our view- in our own times . From the
ancients , we learn wisdom ; from our own times to imitate the prevailing vices and fashions . " During the war between the Portuguese and the inhabitants of the island of Ceylon , Thomas de Snsa , who commanded the European forces , took-prisoner a beautiful Indian , who had promised herself in marriage to an amiable youth . The . lover was no sooner info : med of this misfortune ^ than he hastened to thi ow himself at the feet of
his-adorable nymph , who with transport-caught him in her aims . Their sighs and their tears were mingled ; ancl it was some time before their words could find utterance to express their grief . At last , when they had a . little recovered , they agreed , since their misfortunes left them no hopes of living together in freedom , to partake with each , other all the horrors of a civil war .
" Susa , who had a soul truly susceptible of tender emotions , was movechat the sight . ' It is enough ( said he to them ) ' that you wear the chains of love ; you shall not wear the chains of slayery . Go , and be happy in the lawful embraces of wedlock . ' " . ' . The two lovers fell on their knees . They could not persuade themselves to quit so generous a hero , ; ancl . thought themselves happy in being permitted to live under the laws of a nation , who so nobly knew how to make use of victory , and so generously to soften the calamities of war . ''
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Singular Instance Of Generosity.
SINGULAR INSTANCE OF GENEROSITY .
HP HOUGH little detached pieces of history cannot be supposed to - " - give us any important idea of the rise and fall of empires , the religion , customs , and manners , of great and powerful states ; yet , in periodical publications , they perhaps answer , if . properly selected , a more noble purpose : they improve the heart , regulate the passions , and , by exposing to our view p ictures drawn from real nature , make us . more inclinableeither to imitate ^ the virtueor despise the vice .
, , One example will go further than an hundred precepts ; and , in proportion as the examples of virtue and vice are predominant , in any age , among the great , so will the morals of the vulgar be . While Rome was a growing state , her Generals were brave and virtuous , and they were imitated by the meanest citizens ; but , when luxury , grandeur , and the thirst of power and partial distinction
crept into . the senate , men were held in consideration , only in proportion to-the magnificence of their buildings , the luxury of their tables , and their external rarade . When time has established facts , when the corroborating testimony of succeeding ages has fixed its seal on them , and when they afford examples which ci me home to the bosom of , every individual , we pay more respect to them , than we do to those fleeting objects , which daily present themselves to our view- in our own times . From the
ancients , we learn wisdom ; from our own times to imitate the prevailing vices and fashions . " During the war between the Portuguese and the inhabitants of the island of Ceylon , Thomas de Snsa , who commanded the European forces , took-prisoner a beautiful Indian , who had promised herself in marriage to an amiable youth . The . lover was no sooner info : med of this misfortune ^ than he hastened to thi ow himself at the feet of
his-adorable nymph , who with transport-caught him in her aims . Their sighs and their tears were mingled ; ancl it was some time before their words could find utterance to express their grief . At last , when they had a . little recovered , they agreed , since their misfortunes left them no hopes of living together in freedom , to partake with each , other all the horrors of a civil war .
" Susa , who had a soul truly susceptible of tender emotions , was movechat the sight . ' It is enough ( said he to them ) ' that you wear the chains of love ; you shall not wear the chains of slayery . Go , and be happy in the lawful embraces of wedlock . ' " . ' . The two lovers fell on their knees . They could not persuade themselves to quit so generous a hero , ; ancl . thought themselves happy in being permitted to live under the laws of a nation , who so nobly knew how to make use of victory , and so generously to soften the calamities of war . ''