I would not name to thee so salutary an advice as to dismiss
thy innocent and unsuspicious prize, did not I know thee too obstinate
and headstrong to listen to the voice of wisdom. Essay then thy base and
low-minded temptations, thy corrupt and sophistical reasonings, to
tarnish the unsullied purity of her mind, and it is well. If by such a
wretch as thee she can be seduced from the obedience of virtue and the
Gods, then let her fall. She were then a victim worthy of thee. But if
thou essayest the means of tyranny and force, the attempt will be fatal
to thee. I will in that case enjoy my vengeance; I will triumph in thy
desolation. In the hour then of action and enterprise, remember me!"
With these words the spectre vanished from his sight. Roderic was
inflamed with anger and disgust; but he had none, upon whom to wreak his
revenge. His heart boiled with the impotence of malice. "What," cried
he, "am I to be bounded and hedged in, in all my exploits? Am I to be
curbed and thwarted in every wish of my heart? This, this was nearest to
me. This was the first pursuit of my life in which my whole heart was
engaged; the first time I ever felt a passion that deserved the name of
love. But be it so: I was born with wild and impetuous passions only to
have them frustrated; I was endowed with supernatural powers, and
inherited all my mother's skill, only to be the more signally
disappointed.
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