dearly bought.....which he said was the only thing that could have restored a mind like mine to reason..... But my good host started when he found I was far from being awakened to common sense.....that the fascination of my evil genius still retained its authority.....and that I was as distant as ever from possessing the talisman that could free me from its power. There was something so innocent .....simple.....and rational in my project of spending my remaining days in the family of the amiable Johannes, I could not comprehend how any one ......even the cold-blooded Dionysius .......could find an argument to oppose it. I began to fancy I had too hastily sketched my portrait of these good people......I therefore began a more finished drawing of their virtues..... the content and happiness that awaited me among them.....and left no effort unessayed to perfect my design. My eagerness produced an effect directly contrary to my wishes. "It is a doubt with me,"....replied Dionysius,......" whether I ought to "attempt curing you of so harmless "and agreeable an illusion as this appears to be.....but it is too evident, fancy has once more got up 66 permost in your heart..... Yet you may depend.....when the deception " is over.....it will be a less easy task "to free yourself from these good 66 souls, than from the impostors you "have hitherto herded with.......Be " content, my dear Proteus, with your good fortune.....You have al 66 ready been so lucky as to get your "neck out of the noose......do not "tempt fate any more. "You have hitherto suffered your 66 "self to be blinded by two objects, .....Sentiment and Imagination..... "Pleasant companions, I confess..... "but dangerous guides through the "intricacies of life....All who accompany them on the journey, are cer"tain of being led astray. “This is a truth experience might "have taught you.....but you resist "its precepts......Take my advice..... follow my example.......You have escaped from the snares of Ke"rinthus by one leap....do not, by "another......stumble on new diffi"culties..............or persist in your "communion with the tribe.....That "which you seek.....my dear Pere grine......is not to be found either "here or there.....It does not exist in any party or sect...It is in THYSELF ".....or it is no where.' Such were the reflections of my friend Dionysius.....but very different would have been those of Agathon, had he indulged them aloud.....I could perceive the interest with which he listened to my adventures...the warmth of his admiration....and a coincidence of mind and sentiment appeared in all his gestures. Agathon being now reminded by Dionysius of his promise, recounted as follows: 66 66 "I cannot sufficiently admire the chance which directed me in my voyage from Smyrna to the same "vessel in which you, my dear Dionysius, had taken your passage...To "meet a friend in a stranger,...one,... "with whom I could relieve my surcharged heart of many painful "recollections.....was a blessing Aga"thon can never learn sufficiently to appreciate......and the tender con"cern you partook in my fate...... " which you have very partially un 66 "derstood.....leads me to gratify you "with the following detail of my "adventures. "I was eighteen"...continued * Agathon.....before I knew who my parents were....and was placed from my earliest infancy in the temple of Delphos, where I imbibed......as might naturally be expected.....all the ideas of the priests, under whose tuition I was educated.....When very young, I assumed the sacred vest....worn by the votaries of Apollo......and commenced my duty in the Holy Fane. "All who have been at Delphos,.... or are acquainted with the services of the Temple......will readily conceive that a heart full of sensibility......so fostered.......must acquire a peculiar mode of thinking. * Vide Wieland's Agathon........These Memoirs are introduced to supply passages (necessarily omitted) in Peregrine Proteus. |