468 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF POPE PIUS II. 



That man, indeed, is strictly unhappy who, nevef having experienced the 

 grace of God, never questions his heart, enters within himself, amends his 

 life, in short, who does not reflect after this life what may befal him in ano- 

 ther. As for me, my dear John, I have erred enough, and far more than 

 enough. At present I know myself, and would to God that this had not 

 come to pass so late. Now is my time for fasting, salvation, and mercy, 

 Put this girl out of your head. Imagine her dead. You would still live, I 

 presume. What enjoyment is there you could have had with her that is not 

 fleeting. What pleasure is there that man can taste with woman that is not 

 fugitive and momentary! And is he not [a fool who forgets what is eternal 

 for what is but temporary, nay, but momentary. I borrow the language 

 of the theologians, because you will not listen to what the poets say, &c." 



" Tell us not of a successor: after having abandoned one woman to fall 

 in love with another, what is that but leaping out of one fire into another. 

 Fly, I beseech you, the whole race of womankind; give that plague up alto- 

 gether, and when you meet a woman, believe that it is the devil that faces 

 you. But why do I hold this language to you, when I know I am speaking 

 to no purpose, and that you put no faith in what I say. For you will tell us 

 that I am preaching up fasting with my own belly full. I confess, my dear 

 brother, that I am full fed, nay, surfeited with love. It is also true that my 

 strength languishes ; my head is sprinkled with grey hairs, my nerves are 

 drying up, my bones grow carious, and my body is ploughed with wrinkles. 

 To no woman can I offer charms, and no woman offers charms to me. I much 

 rather yield to wine than to love. Wine nourishes me, strengthens me, 

 delights me, blesses me : that draught will be sweet to my lips until death. 

 But even in wine there is sin when we drink for pleasure more than for health. 

 As for you, my dear John, strong as you are, and full of blood aad juice, I am 

 not surprised that you should love. Still it will become you to reject the 

 tempter before he flies you. For my own part, I claim little or no merit for 

 being chaste. To tell the truth, Venus shuns me even more than I dislike her. 

 Thanks be to God the appetite is not stronger than the ability. But you 

 will tell me that no one would think of leaving the battle-field before the 

 enemy had won the victory. But will this hold good in those engagements 

 in which the victor is really the beaten party. He who wages most war 

 with Venus is sure to come off with the greatest slaughter. But why am I 

 thus hard with you. We, all of us, when we happen to be in good "health, 

 give the best advice to the sick, and you may tell me with Terence, if you 

 were in my place you would think differently. But 1 have felt as you feel 

 now, and sooner or later you too will think as I do now. If you take my 

 advice at present, the praise you will deserve will be in proportion to the 

 labour of the undertaking : your motto should be from Cicero " the 

 greater the difficulty, the brighter the renown, &c." 



As a farther proof that JEneas could practice in these matters as he 

 preached, \ve had marked for insertion an extract form another letter, 

 in which he gives an account of how he himself broke off an attach- 

 ment of the same kind. The reasons, by which he vindicates the 

 coldness of his heart, are not without interest ; but it is time to put 

 an end to our extracts which have already extended this article to a 

 greater length than was originally allotted to it. 



Of all our author's works, two in particular deserve notice, on 

 account of the popularity they attained. These, it must be admitted, 

 are somewhat unpapal, as their titles will pointedly indicate, for the 

 first is called, " Amoris Illiciti Medela," and the other the Novel, 

 known by the name of " The Loves of Euryalus and Lucretia." 



Both have been frequently translated from the Latin in which they 



