ESSAYS. 



803 



prevailed upon him to introduce Hypatia to 

 his fellow-student; winch he did with all the 

 gayety of a man who found himself equally 

 happy in friendship and love. But this was 

 an interview fatal to the future peace of both: 

 for Septimius no sooner saw her, but he was 

 smitten with an involuntary passion ; and, 

 though he used every effort to suppress de- 

 sires at once so imprudent and unjust, the 

 emotions of his mind in a short time became 

 so strong, that they brought on a fever, which 

 the physicians judged incurable. 



During this illness, Alcander watched him 

 with all the anxiety of fondness, and brought 

 his mistress to join in those amiable offices of 

 friendship. The sagacity of the physicians, 

 by these means, soon discovered that the 

 cause of their patient's disorder was love ; 

 and Alcander being apprized of their dis- 

 coverv, at length extorted a confession from 

 the reluctant dying lover. 



It would but delay the narrative to de- 

 scribe the conilict between love and friend- 

 ship in the breast of Alcander on this occa- 

 sion ; it is enough to say, that the Athenians 

 were at that time arrived at such refinement 

 in morals, that every virtue was carried to 

 excess. In short, forgetful of his own felicity, 

 he gave up his intended bride, in all her 

 charms, to the young Roman. They were 

 married privately by his connivance, and this 

 unlocked for change of fortune wrought as 

 unexpected a change in the constitution of 

 the now happy Septimjus, In a few days he 

 was perfectly recovered, and set out with his 

 fair partner for Rome. Here, by an exertion 

 of those talents which he was so eminently 

 possessed of, Septimius in a few years arrived 

 at the highest dignities of the state, and was 

 constituted the city-judge or praetor. 



In the mean time Alcander not only felt 

 the pain of being separated from his friend 

 and his mistress, but a prosecution was also 

 commenced against him by the relations of 

 Hypatia, for having basely given up his bride, 

 as was suggested, for money. Hi& innocence 

 of the crime laid to his charge, and even his 

 eloquence irj his own defence, were not able 

 to withstand the influence of a powerful parly. 

 He was cast and condemned to pay an 

 enormous fine. However, being unable to 

 raise so large a sum at the time appointed, 



his possessions were confiscated, he himself 

 was stripped of the habit of freedom, exposed 

 as a slave in the market-place, and sold to 

 the highest bidder. 



A merchant of Thrace becoming his pur- 

 chaser, Alcander, with some other compa- 

 nions of distress, was carried into that region 

 of desolation and sterility. His stated em- 

 ployment was to follow the herds of an impe- 

 rious master, and his success in hunting was, 

 all that was allowed him to supply his pre- 

 carious subsistence. Every morning waked 

 him to a renewal of famine or toil, and everv 

 change of season served hut to aggravate his 

 unsheltered distress. After some years of 

 bondage, however, an opportunity of escap- 

 ing offered; he embraced it with ardour; so 

 that travelling by night, andlodgingin caverns 

 by day, to shorten a long story, he at last ar- 

 rived in Rome. The same day on which 

 Alcander arrived, Septimius sate administer- 

 ing justice in the forum, whither our wanderer 

 came, expecting to be instantly known, and 

 publicly acknowledged, by his former friend. 

 Here he stood the whole day among the 

 crowd, watching the eyes of the judge, and 

 expecting to be taken notice of; but he was 

 so much altered by a long succession of hard- 

 ships, that he continued unnoted among the 

 rest ; and in the evening, when he was going 

 up to the praetor's chair, he was brutally re- 

 pulsed by the attending lictors. The atten- 

 tion of the poor is generally driven from one 

 ungrateful object to another; for night coming 

 on, he now found himself under a necessity 

 of seeking a place to lie in, and yet knew not 

 where to apply. All emaciated, and in rags 

 as he was, none of the citizens would harbour 

 so much wretchedness; and sleeping in the 

 streets might be attended with interruption 

 and danger: in short, he was obliged to take 

 up his lodging in one of the tombs without 

 the city, the usual retreat of guilt, poverty, 

 and despair. In this mansion of horror, lay. 

 ing his head upon an inverted urn, he forgot 

 his miseries for awhile in sleep: and found, 

 on his flinty couch, more ease than beds of 

 down can supply to the guilly. 



As he continued here, about midnight, two 

 robbers came to make this their retreat; but 

 happening to disagree aLout the division ot* 

 their plunder, one of them stabbed the other 



