FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153  
154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   >>   >|  
the summer insects in his agony, had wearied his flaccid arm, hanging down beside him. _Ternissa._ Do you imagine, then, I thought him a living man? _Epicurus._ The sentiment was both more delicate and more august from being indistinct. You would have done it, even if he _had_ been a living man; even if he could have clasped you in his arms, imploring the deities to resemble you in gentleness, you would have done it. _Ternissa._ He looked so abandoned by all, and so heroic, yet so feeble and so helpless! I did not think of turning around to see if any one was near me; or else, perhaps---- _Epicurus._ If you could have thought of looking around, you would no longer have been Ternissa. The gods would have transformed you for it into some tree. _Leontion._ And Epicurus had been walking under it this day, perhaps. _Epicurus._ With Leontion, the partner of his sentiments. But the walk would have been earlier or later than the present hour; since the middle of the day, like the middle of certain fruits, is good for nothing. _Leontion._ For dinner, surely? _Epicurus._ Dinner is a less gratification to me than to many: I dine alone. _Ternissa._ Why? _Epicurus._ To avoid the noise, the heat, and the intermixture both of odours and of occupations. I cannot bear the indecency of speaking with a mouth in which there is food. I careen my body (since it is always in want of repair) in as unobstructed a space as I can, and I lie down and sleep awhile when the work is over. _Leontion._ Epicurus! although it would be very interesting, no doubt, to hear more of what you do after dinner--[_Aside to him._] now don't smile: I shall never forgive you if you say a single word--yet I would rather hear a little about the theatre, and whether you think at last that women should frequent it; for you have often said the contrary. _Epicurus._ I think they should visit it rarely; not because it excites their affections, but because it deadens them. To me nothing is so odious as to be at once among the rabble and among the heroes, and, while I am receiving into my heart the most exquisite of human sensations, to feel upon my shoulder the hand of some inattentive and insensible young officer. _Leontion._ Oh, very bad indeed! horrible! _Ternissa._ You quite fire at the idea. _Leontion._ Not I: I don't care about it. _Ternissa._ Not about what is very bad indeed? quite horrible? _Leontion._ I seldom go thither.
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153  
154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Epicurus
 

Leontion

 

Ternissa

 

middle

 

dinner

 
living
 
thought
 

horrible

 
theatre
 

unobstructed


repair

 

interesting

 
awhile
 

single

 
forgive
 

shoulder

 
sensations
 
exquisite
 

inattentive

 

insensible


seldom

 

thither

 

officer

 

receiving

 

contrary

 

rarely

 

frequent

 

excites

 

rabble

 

heroes


odious

 
affections
 

deadens

 

surely

 

heroic

 
feeble
 

helpless

 
gentleness
 

looked

 
abandoned

turning
 

longer

 
transformed
 
resemble
 

deities

 

hanging

 
flaccid
 

wearied

 
summer
 

insects