Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

every body's kindness: nay, what's more than all, of your most divine Soul, which onely thing I flatter'd my felf wou'd continue ftedfaft to me, in fpite of the injuries of fortune and the forms of fate. One wou'd think that he cou'd not better exprefs in fo few lines, the good opinion he had of his Teacher: yet he's ftill more pathetical in other Letters, which, because ferving to give us the fuller view of HYPATIA'S character, I fhall produce as effential to my subject.

C

X.

ONTINUING therfore to grieve for the death of his children, he fell into an ill ftate of health, which he fignifics to his Miftrifs (whom in all his Letters he ftiles the Philosopher) and to the belov'd Companions of his ftudies, in these words. Being confin'd to my bed I have dicta Epist. 16. ted this Letter, which may you receive in good health, my mother, my fifter, and my inftructrefs! in all which refpects you have been my benefactress, or if there be any other, either name or thing, that is more bonorable. The weakness of my body procedes from the anguifh of my foul. The remembrance of my deceas'd children confumes me by little and little. SyNESIUS ought onely to have liv'd fo long, as the evils of life were unknown to him. Afterwards it bas happen'd to him as to a ftream that is ftopt: it rufbes over its dam on a fudden, and forces all the pleasure of life before it. Let me ceafe to live, or to remember the burial of my children. May you injoy health your self, and falute in my name the hap

[ocr errors]

py Companions, beginning with father THEOTEC2 NUS and brother ATHANASIUS, and so proceding to the reft. Or if any other be fince affociated to them, who is agreable to you (and to whom, for this very reason of pleafing you, I ought to stand oblig'd) falute him alfo from me, as one of my dearest friends: If what relates to me be of any concern to you, tis well done: tho, even then, I shall be infenfible to this favor. What can be more affectionate, what can be more tender, what can be more benevolent or candid? The foul speaks here in every line. A while after the calamities of warr being added to all his other forrows, he writes Epift. 124. her this Letter beginning with a couple of lines out of HOMER, changing onely a word or two.

Se&t. ult.

Tho 'mong the dead profound oblivion reigns,
E'en there my dear HYPATIA I'll remember!

I, who am furrounded with the miferies of my coun
try, and who am thoroly weary of it, fince I daily
fee hoftile arms, and men flaughter'd like beafts;
that I breath air infected with the corruption of dead
bodies, and that I hourly expect the like fate my felf:
for who can hope well, where the very face of the
sky is moft lamentable, being darken'd by the fhadow
of carnivorous birds? Yet, notwithstanding all this,
I retain an affection for the country: nay, how can
I do otherwife? being a Libyan by nation, and born
in this place, where I behold no ignoble fepulchers of
my ancestors. For your fake alone I fancy I can fet
light by my country, and, as foon as leifure offers,
will banish my felf out of it. In Chidophorus I fhow'd
the like refolutions out of fome of his Letters to
others but whether he ever executed them, or
how long he liv'd, or where or in what manner
he dy'd, is not recorded by any author that I re-
member.
XI. ALL

A

XI.

LL this, fome will fay, we readily grant, that HYPATIA was a Lady of most eminent Learning, and that SYNESIUS, with probably not a few of her other difciples, efteem'd her to be a miracle of virtue and prudence: but what did the rest of the world think of her conduct, what marks of approbation or favor did the receive from the public? To this inquiry, which is very natural in this place, we anfwer; that never woman was more carefs'd by the public, and yet that never woman had a more unfpotted character. She was held an Oracle for her wisdom, which made her be confulted by the Magiftrates in all important cafes; and this frequently drew her among the greatest concourfe of men, without the leaft cenfure of her manners. The proof of fo rare a felicity we chufe to give in the words of the hiftorian SOCRATES. By reafon of the Hift. lib. 7. confidence and authority (fays he) which he had ac- cap. 15. quir'd by her Learning, The fomtimes came to the Judges with fingular modefty; nor was fhe any thing abafb'd, to appear thus among a croud of men: for all perfons, on the Score of her extraordinary difcretion, did at the fame time both reverence and admire ber. The fame things are confirm'd by NICE- Vide duos PHORUS CALLISTUS, SUIDAS, HESY CHI- priores in us Illuftris, and indeed by whom not? So farr citatis, terwas the from that blameable timidity, which is tium verò contracted from a wrong education; or from that in ‘Tπαconfcious backwardness, which is infpir'd by guilt. Ta. I 3

That

locis antea

τια.

Apud

PHOT. in

cod. 242. Ὑπα

[ocr errors]

That the Governors and Magistrates of Alexandria regularly vifited her, that all the city (as DAMASCIUS and SUIDAS relate) paid court to her, is a diftinction with which no woman was ever honor'd before. And to fay all in a word, when NICEPHORUS Gregoras, above quoted, intended to pass the highest compliment on the Princess Hift. lib. 8. EU DOCIA, he thought he cou'd not better hit, than by calling her another HY PATIA.

cap. 5.

I

XII.

T was during this profperous gale of public favor, that HYPATIA's devoted friend SYNESIUS fent her this recommendatory Letter on the behalf of two young gentlemen, that had a Epift. 81. claim depending at Alexandria. Altho fortune cannot take every thing from me, yet he has a mind to Arip me of all fhe can; fhe that

Of many fons, and good, has me bereft.

But to be ambitious of doing the best things, and to affift the unjustly oppreft, is what she shall never take from me: for farr be it from me, that he fhou'd ever be able to conquer my mind. Therfore I hate injustice, fince this I may do ftill: and am alfo defireous to reprefs it, but that is one of the things taken out of my power, and which I loft before my children.

Once the Milefians valiant were.

Time

Time alfo was, when I cou'd be useful to my friends, and when you were wont to call me Others good; as turning to the profit of other men my intereft with perfons in great authority, whom I made to ferve me as fo many bands. Now I am left deftitute of all, unless you have any power: for you, together with virtue, I reckon a good of which none will be able to rob me. But you have and will always bave power, by reason of the excellent ufe you make of your credit. Wherfore let NICEUS and PHILO LAUS, virtuous youths and relations, return mafers of their own, thro the care of all who bonor you, whether private men or magiftrates. Thus, as a neceffary part of her hiftory, I have inferted at length, all the Letters written to HyPATIA by SYNESIUS, except the 17th Sect. V. wherof I have given the fubftance; and the 33d in the Collection of his Letters, which is too short to contain any inftruction: as likewife the 154th, which, being too long, I have abridg'd Sect. VIII. above.

I

XIII.

T wou'd be as great a prodigy in nature as HYPATIA was her self, if a Lady of fuch beauty, modefty, wifdom, and virtue, were not by many eagerly fought in marriage: and, in effect, we find that he was actually marry'd to the Philofopher ISIDORUS, tho SUIDAS In 'Tαfays fhe dy'd a maid; which is not fo irreconcile- Ta ble a thing, as people may be apt to imagine on first thoughts, but, as we fhall fhow, very likely

« EdellinenJatka »