66 STUDIES OF NATURE* 



Artift, with a reprefentation of thefe fame female 

 Sabines, after they had become wives and mo- 

 thers, rufhing in between the two contending ar- 

 mies of the Sabines and Romans, " Running,'* 

 as Plutarch tells us, *' fome on this fide, others 

 ** on that, in tears, fhrieking, exclaiming; thruft- 

 '' ing themfelves through the clafliing of arms, 

 " and heaps of the dead llrewed along the ground, 

 *' like perfons frantic, or polTefled with a fpirit, 

 ** carrying their fucking infants in their arms, 

 *' with hair dilhevelled, appealing now to Romans, 

 *' now to Sabines, by every tender adjuration that 

 " can reach the heart of Man *." 



The moft powerful effefts of love, as has been 

 faid, arife out of contradiflory feelings, melting 

 into each other, juft as thofe of hatred, frequently, 

 are produced from fimilar fentiments which hap- 

 pen to clafli. Hence it is that no feeling can 

 be more agreeable than to find a friend in a 

 man whom we confidered as an enemy ; and no 

 mortification fo poignant as meeting an enemy in 

 the man whom we depended upon as a friend. 

 Thefe harmonic effeds frequently render a flight 

 and tranfient kindnefs more eftimable than a con- 

 tinued feries of good offices ; and a momentary 

 offence more outrageous than the declared enmity 



* Plutarch''^ Life of Romulus, 



of 



