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"This led to many disputes......but "I found Kerinthus predetermined

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against all I could advance....Indeed

"the Prophet had taken it into his

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head, that your enthusiasm would

most essentially serve his cause....in "the character of an apostle.....or..... "if necessary......that of a martyr............ "and that it would be impolitic to "reveal to you more than would "assist his views.

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My brother must forgive it, if my conduct bears the semblance "of treachery towards him.......But dear Peregrine! will your friend Theoclea stand by,.....an un"concerned spectator,......while your glowing zeal is leading you imperceptibly to the sacrifice.......No!..... "if Kerinthus wants martyrs......let "him find them, without doing vio"lence to the tenderest emotions of my heart.

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"To suffer the mind.....at times....

"to float in a visionary world, pro"duces an harmless and a transient "pleasure;.....but to suffer it blindly "to pursue an enthusiastic dream for "life.....to be the passive agent of de

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ception........is to become a despi"cable slave......At the villa Mamilia "Theoclea blinded your eyes to make you happy.....She now opens them "to produce the same effect."

My fair companion continued her discourse........and fancying she had gained her point.......by removing the veil which had deceived me.....and by surmounting my natural abhorrence to deceive others.....looked up to meet my smile of approbation.

I confess that the ingenuity of her arguments........confirmed by her eloquently-pleading eyes.......the seduction of her voice......and the bewitching charms of her whole person..... transiently overcame me.....She hailed

the auspicious moment.......and anticipated the pleasures of her triumph.

The Viceroy...dearest Proteus...." she continued, "is one of my best "friends.....Do not be angry.......My "claims upon him commenced at the

baths of Daphne.......I cannot con"ceal any thing from you, even at the

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expence of my blushes..... Your de"liverance is at hand.....I have called you my near relation.......and the Prince's order will release you in "the morning.......I have represented you to him, as an harmless visionary......possessing very shining "talents to counterbalance that foible ".....and intreating indulgence for the errors of your flighty imagination."

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She then gave me some instructions how to behave when the Roman satraps made their appearance in the morning ..............appointed a place where we should meet after my

......and left me.

liberation......embraced

It is wonderful.......yet true......that the charm by which this uncommon woman held me enslaved.....dissolved always when she disappeared.......The instant I found myself alone, I was like the lover who has fancied, for the whole night that his arms circled the dear object of his fondest wishes, and who,......waking.......discovers himself within the embraces of a loathsome hag.

The conduct of Kerinthus had fascinated me....The whole ardour of my soul followed his doctrine....But, when I perceived the plot required a consummate Actress to support it......all the magnificence of the scenery vanished... Delusion was at an end.....and I plainly saw the traps which lay artfully concealed beneath the stage.

It was enough to know, it was a cloud I held within my arms..and not a Juno ...The sooner, therefore, I could disengage from the deception......the better;

.......the only difficulty, was how to escape from Theoclea...whose penetration was so quick-sighted, and whom I must see when liberated.......Besides, I was aware of the weakness of my own heart, and her absolute ascendency over it....To see her would be death to all my resolutions.....Who could resist the wiles of Thcoclea?.....When argument failed,...persuasion sued....When I hesitated,....the tenderest and most seducing caresses summoned me to surrender....and, when I continued still a Stoic,...the system of artifice was enforced by tears.

Precipitate flight appeared to me the only safe method I could adopt, to get out of the magic circle, before this enchantress bound me by additional spells....The immense sums which had issued from my estates into the treasury of this community could not withhold ́me a moment.......I was a second time precipitated from the heights of my

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