T N° 90. Wednesday, June 13. Magnus fine viribus ignis Incaffum furit Virg HERE is not, in my opinion, a confideration more effe&tual to extinguish inordinate defires in the Soul of man, than the notions of Plato and his followers upon that fubject. They tell us, that every paffion which has been contracted by the Soul during her refidence in the body, remains with her in a separate state; and that the Soul in the body, or out of the body, differs no more than the man does from himfelf when he is in his houfe, or in open air. When therefore the obfcene paffions in particular have once taken root, and fpread themselves in the Soul, they cleave to her infeparably, and remain in her for ever after the body is caft off and thrown afide. As an argument to confirm this their doctrine they obferve, that a lewd youth who goes on in a continued course of voluptuousness, advances by degrees into a libidinous old man; and that the paffion furvives in the mind when it is altogether dead in the body; nay, that the defire grows more violent, and (like all other habits) gathers ftrength by age, at the fame time that it has no power of executing its own purposes. If, fay they, the. Soul is the most subject to thefe paffions at a time when he has the leaft instigation from the body, we may well fuppofe fhe will fill retain them when she is entirely divefted of it. The very fubftance of the Soul is feftered with them; the gangrene is gone too far to be ever cured; the inflammation will rage to all eternity. In this therefore (fay the Platonists) confifts the punishment of a voluptuous man after death: He is tormented with defires which it is impoffible for him to gratifie, follicited by a paffion that has neither objects nor organs adapted to it: he lives in a ftate of invincible defire and impotence, and always burns in the pursuit of what he always defpairs to poffefs. It is for this reason (fays Plato) that the Souls of the dead appear frequently in comiteries, and hover about the places where their bodies A 2 bodies are buried, as ftill hankering after their old brutal pleasures, and defiring again to enter the body that gave them an opportunity of fulfilling them. Some of our most eminent Divines have made ufe of this Platonick notion, so far as it regards the fubfiftence of our paffions after death, with great beauty and strength of reafon. Plato indeed carries his thought very far, when he grafts upon it his opinion of Ghosts appearing in places of burial. Though, I must confefs, if one did believe that the departed Souls of men and women wandered up and down these lower regions, and entertained themselves with the fight of their fpecies, one could not devise a more proper Hell for an impure Spirit than that which Plato has touched upon. The Ancients feem to have drawn fuch a state of torments in the defcription of Tantalus, who was punished with the rage of an eternal thirst, and set up to the chin in water that fled from his lips whenever he attempted to drink it. Virgil, who has caft the whole fyftem of Platonick Philofophy, so far as it relates to the Soul of man, into beautiful allegories, in the fixth book of his Eneid gives us the punishment of a voluptuary after death, not unlike that which we are here speaking of. Lucent genialibus altis Aurea fulcra toris, epulaque ante ora parate And Patches from their mouths th' untafted meat; Dryd. That I may a little alleviate the severity of this my Speculation (which otherwife may lofe me feveral of my polite Readers) I fhall translate a story that has been quoted upon another occafion by one of the most learned men of the prefent age, as I find it in the original. The Reader will fee it is not foreign to my present subject, and I dare fay will think it a lively representation of a perfon lying under the torments of fuch a kind of Tantalism, or Platonick Hell, as that which we have now under confideration. Monfieur Pontignan, speaking of a love-adventure that happened to him in the country, gives the following account of it. "When I was in the country laft fummer, I was often in company " with a couple of charming women, who had all the wit and beauty "one could defire in female companions, with a dash of coquettry, that "from time to time gave me a great many agreeable torments. I was, "after my way, in love with both of them, and had fuch frequent op"portunities of pleading my paffion to them when they were afunder, "that I had reason to hope for particular favours from each of them. "As I was walking one evening in my chamber with nothing about me "but my Night-gown, they both came into my room and told me, they "had a very pleasant trick to put upon a Gentleman that was in the fame "house, provided I would bear a part in it. Upon this they told me "fuch a plausible story, that I laughed at their contrivance, and agreed "to do whatever they should require of me. They immediately began to "fwaddle me up in my Night-gown with long pieces of linnen, which "they folded about me till they had wrapt me in above an hundred yards of fwathe: my arms were preffed to my fides, and my legs clo" fed together by fo many wrappers one over another, that I looked like "an Egyptian mummy. As I ftood bolt upright upon one end in this "antique figure, one of the Ladies burft out a laughing. And now Pontignan, fays fhe, we intend to perform the promise that we find you "have extorted from each of us. You have often asked the favour of "us, and I dare fay you are a better bred Cavalier than to refuse to go ❝ to bed to Ladies that defire it of you. After having stood a fit of laughter, I begged them to uncafe me, and do with me what they plea"fed. No, no, fay they, we like you very well as you are; and upon "that ordered me to be carried to one of their houfes, and put to bed " in all my fwaddles. The room was lighted up on all fides; and I was "laid very decently between a pair of theets, with my head (which was " indeed the only part I could move) upon a very high pillow: this was no fooner done, but my two female friends came into bed to me in "their finest Night-cloaths. You may easily guess at the condition of a man that faw a couple of the most beautiful women in the world un"drest and abed with him, without being able to ftir hand or foot.. I begged them to release me, and struggled all I could to get loofe, which "I did with fo much violence, that about mid-night they both leaped out "of the bed, crying out they were undone. But feeing me fafe, they 66 took "took their posts again, and renewed their raillery. Finding all my prayers and endeavours were loft, I compofed my felf as well as I "could; and told them, that if they would not unbind me, I would fall "afleep between them, and by that means difgrace them for ever: But, "alas! this was impoffible, could I have been disposed to it, they would "have prevented me by feveral little ill-natured careffes and endear"ments which they bestowed upon me. As much devoted as I am to ❝ womankind, I would not pass such another night to be master of the "whole fex. My Reader will doubtless be curious to know what be" came of me the next morning: why truly my bed-fellows left me a"bout an hour before day, and told me if I would be good and lie still, they would fend fome body to take me up as foon as it was time for me to rife: accordingly about nine-a-clock in the morning an old woman came to unfwathe me. I bore all this very patiently, being re"folved to take my revenge of my tormentors, and to keep no meafures "with them as foon as I was at liberty; but upon asking my old wo"man what was become of the two Ladies, fhe told me the believed they were by that time within fight of Paris, for that they went a66 way in a coach and fix before five-a-clock in the morning. N° 92. Friday, June 15. Convive prope diffentire videntur, Pofcentes, vario mutium diverfa palato; Quid dem? quid, won dem ?--- Hor. OKING over the late packets of letters which have been fent to LOOKING over the late packets of letters which have been sent to me, found the following one. Mr. SPECTATOR, ❝ YOUR paper is a part of my Tea-equipage; and my fervant knows my humour fo well, that calling for my breakfast this morning (it being past my ufual hour) the answered the SPECTATOR was not "yet come in; but that the Tea-kettle boiled, and the expected it every "moment. |