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Article COVETOUSNESS; A VISION. ← Page 4 of 5 →
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Covetousness; A Vision.
quarter ; we nevertheless bring- down our man : but scandal must be avoided with the greatest care . Such is the art of « courtier . " My heart was too full to utter a single word in reply . I was stupified to consider I was still fastened to him . I dreaded every minute he would take it into his head to prove upon me that he was right in acting thus ; for he had a great many examples that seemed
favourable to him . What a spectacle ! What a tumult ! What scenes , all variously frightful ! All manner of passions came to bargain with all manner of crimes . Those who had virtues came to dispose of them , and without this traffic they were looked on as ridiculous . A black p hantom had put on the mask of Justice , and filled her scales with mercenary weights . There were menalso
, , who were still covered with the mud from whence they sprang , who were honoured , and who insulted public misery . Others rubbed their bodies with those balls of quicksilver , and strutted with lofty heads , pride in their looks , and debauchery in their hearts . They fancied themselves superior to others , and despised those who were not whitened like themselves . If they did
not always g ive a box on the ear to those they met , yet their gestures were offensive , and even their smiles insulting : but this quicksilver ofte ' ii . wore off ; in which case those haughty , hardhearted men became mean , submissive , and groveling . Then the contempt of which they were so lavish was retaliated on them with usury . They were inwardly devoured by rage , and they _ stopped at no criminality to regain their former situation . Indeedit appearedthat this fatal
, , quicksilver had got into their heads , so that they were deprived of reason . I saw one who was descending from the summit of the hill , oppressed with his weig ht , and motionless , and , as if in ecstacy , he admired his silver body , and would neither eat nor drink . I wished to assist him . He thought I intended to rob him . He opposed me with all his miht to guard his quicksilverat the same time that he
g , held out his hands in a supplicating manner , with a piteous look , begging I would help him to another small ball , and he would die contented . A little higher , forty insatiable men , with eager looks , carried off a prodigious quantity of this metal in hogsheads .
It was not drawn from the fountain head ; it had been wrenched from the feeble grasp of women , children , old men , husbandmen , and the poor ; it was tinctured with their blood , and sprinkled with their tears . Those extortioners had an army in their pay , who plundered by retail , and pillaged the indigent habitations . I observed those who possessed large quantities . of this matter were never satiated ; the more they had of itthe more hardened and the more
, untraceable they appeared . Yet my conductor only found in all these things still stronger motives for emulation . " Come , come , " said he , " I believe thou art dreaming , with tli 3 fist and observant eye ; let us go on . Dost thou observe what an enchanting sight through those rocks ? Dost thou see that dazzling spring , with what strength it flows ? How it falls in
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Covetousness; A Vision.
quarter ; we nevertheless bring- down our man : but scandal must be avoided with the greatest care . Such is the art of « courtier . " My heart was too full to utter a single word in reply . I was stupified to consider I was still fastened to him . I dreaded every minute he would take it into his head to prove upon me that he was right in acting thus ; for he had a great many examples that seemed
favourable to him . What a spectacle ! What a tumult ! What scenes , all variously frightful ! All manner of passions came to bargain with all manner of crimes . Those who had virtues came to dispose of them , and without this traffic they were looked on as ridiculous . A black p hantom had put on the mask of Justice , and filled her scales with mercenary weights . There were menalso
, , who were still covered with the mud from whence they sprang , who were honoured , and who insulted public misery . Others rubbed their bodies with those balls of quicksilver , and strutted with lofty heads , pride in their looks , and debauchery in their hearts . They fancied themselves superior to others , and despised those who were not whitened like themselves . If they did
not always g ive a box on the ear to those they met , yet their gestures were offensive , and even their smiles insulting : but this quicksilver ofte ' ii . wore off ; in which case those haughty , hardhearted men became mean , submissive , and groveling . Then the contempt of which they were so lavish was retaliated on them with usury . They were inwardly devoured by rage , and they _ stopped at no criminality to regain their former situation . Indeedit appearedthat this fatal
, , quicksilver had got into their heads , so that they were deprived of reason . I saw one who was descending from the summit of the hill , oppressed with his weig ht , and motionless , and , as if in ecstacy , he admired his silver body , and would neither eat nor drink . I wished to assist him . He thought I intended to rob him . He opposed me with all his miht to guard his quicksilverat the same time that he
g , held out his hands in a supplicating manner , with a piteous look , begging I would help him to another small ball , and he would die contented . A little higher , forty insatiable men , with eager looks , carried off a prodigious quantity of this metal in hogsheads .
It was not drawn from the fountain head ; it had been wrenched from the feeble grasp of women , children , old men , husbandmen , and the poor ; it was tinctured with their blood , and sprinkled with their tears . Those extortioners had an army in their pay , who plundered by retail , and pillaged the indigent habitations . I observed those who possessed large quantities . of this matter were never satiated ; the more they had of itthe more hardened and the more
, untraceable they appeared . Yet my conductor only found in all these things still stronger motives for emulation . " Come , come , " said he , " I believe thou art dreaming , with tli 3 fist and observant eye ; let us go on . Dost thou observe what an enchanting sight through those rocks ? Dost thou see that dazzling spring , with what strength it flows ? How it falls in