He now proceeded
to take back everything good he had said about her and made fun of her
love, her friendship, and her attainments. He ridiculed her in every
possible manner, even charging up against her beauty, her age. A verse
or so will enable the reader to understand his methods:
"Il ne faut pas qu'on s'etonne,
Si souvent elle raisonne
De la sublime vertu
Dont Platon fut revetu:
Car a bien compter son age,
Elle peut avoir vecu
Avec ce grand personnage."
Or, substantially in the English language:
Let no one be surprised,
If she should be advised
Of the virtue most renowned
In Plato to be found:
For, counting up her age,
She lived, 'tis reason sound,
With that great personage.
Ninon had no rancor in her heart toward any one, much less against an
unsuccessful suitor, hence she only laughed at Chapelle's effusions
and all Paris laughed with her. The truth is, la Rochefoucauld had
impressed her mind with that famous saying of his: "Old age is the
hell of women," and not fearing any hell, reference to her age neither
alarmed her, nor caused the slightest flurry in her peaceful life.
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