Leonardo Philara Atheniensi. Cum sim à pueritiâ totius Græci nominis, tuarumque in primis Athenarum cultor, si quis alius, tum unà hoc semper mihi per suasissimum habebam, fore ut illa urbs præclaram aliquando redditura vicem esset benevolentiæ erga se meæ. Neque defuit sane tuæ patriæ nobilissimæ antiquus ille genius augurio meo; deditque te nobis et germanum Atticum et nostri amantissimum: qui me, scriptis duntuxat notum, et locis ipse disjunctus, humanissimè per literas compel laveris, et Londinum postea inopinatus adveniens, visensque non videntem, etiam in eâ calamitate, propter quam conspectior nemini despectior multis fortasse sim, eâdem benevolentiâ prosequaris. Cum itaque auctor mihi sis, ut visas recuperandi spem om nem ne abjiciam, habere te amicum ac ne cessarium tuum Parisiis Tevenotum medicum, in curandis præsertim oculis præstantissi mum, quem sis de meis luminibus consulturus, si modo acceperis à me unde is causas morbi et symptomata possit intelligere; faciam equidem quod hortaris, ne oblatam undecunque divinitus fortassis opem repudiare videar. Decennium, opinor, plus mi nus est, ex quo debilitari atque hebescere visum sensi, eodémque tempore lienem visceraque omnia gravari flatibusque vexari: et mane quidem, siquid pro more legere cœpissem, oculi statim penitus dolere lectionemque refugere, post mediocrem deinde corporis exercitationem recreari; quam aspexissem lucernam, iris quædam visa est redimere: haud ita multò post sinistrâ in parte oculi sinistri (is enim oculus aliquot annis prius alterâ nubilavit) caligo oborta, quæ ad latus illud sita erant, omnia eripiebat. Anteriora quoque, si dexterum forte oculum clausissem, minora visa sunt. Deficiente per hoc ferè triennium sensim atque paulatim altero quoque lumine, aliquot ante mensibus quam visus omnis aboleretur, quæ immotus ipse cernerem visa sunt omnia nunc dextrorsum, nunc sinistrorsum natare; frontem totam atque tempora inveterati quidem vapores videntur insedisse; qui somnolentâ quâdam gravitate oculos, à cibo præsertim usque ad vesperam, plerunque urgent atque deprimunt; ut mihi haud raro veniat in mentem Salmydessii vatis Phinei in Argonauticis, -κάρος δέ μιν αμφεκάλυψεν πορφύρεος γαῖαν δε πέριξ εδόκησε φέρεσθαι Sed neque illud omiserim, dum adhuc visus aliquantum supererat, ut primum in lecto decubuissem meque in alterutrum latus reclinassem, consuevisse copiosum lumen clausis oculis emicare; deinde, imminuto indies visu, colores perinde obscuriores cum impetu et fragore quodam intimo exilire; nunc autem, quasi extincto lucido, merus nigror, aut cineraceo distinctus et quasi intextus solet se affundere: caligo tamen, quæ perpetuo obversatur tam noctu quam interdiu, albenti semper quam nigricanti propior videtur; et volvente se oculo aliquantillum lucis quasi per rimulam admittit. Ex quo tametsi medico tantundem quoque spéi possit elucere, tamen ut in re plane insanabili ita me paro atque compono; illudque sæpe cogito, cum destinati cuique dies tenebrarum, quod monet sapiens, multi sint, meas adhuc tenebras, singulari Numinis benignitate, inter otium et studia, vocesque amicorum et salutationes, illis lethalibus multo esse mitiores. Quod si, ut scriptum est, non solo pane vivet homo sed omni verbo prodeunte per os Dei, quid est, cur quis in hoc itidem non acquiescat, non solis sc oculis, sed Dei ductu an providentiâ satis oculatum esse. Sane dummodo ipse mihi prospicit, ipse mihi providet quod facit, meque per omnem vitam quasi manu ducit atque deducit, ne ego meos oculos, quandoquidem ipsi sic visum est, libens feriari jussero. Teque, mi Philara, quocunque res ceciderit, non minus forti et confirmato animo, quam si Lynceus essem, valere jubeo. Westmonast. Septemb. 28, 4654. To the most illustrious Leonard Philaras, Embassador from the Duke of Parma to the Court of France. "Your kind feelings toward me, most accomplished Philaras, as well as your flattering opinion of my "Defence of the English People," I first learned from your letter written partly upon that subject to Mr. Auger, a man eminent among us for his fidelity in the discharge of various embassies: through his hands I subsequently received your compliments with your picture, and a panegyric most worthy of your virtues; and lastly a very polite letter. Accustomed as I am not to think slightly of German, or even of Danish and Swedish genius, it is impossible that I should not most highly value approbation from you, who were born in attic Athens, and, after successfully completing your studies in Italy, have since by your extensive experience attained the most distin guished honours. For as Alexander the Great, when warring at the extremity of the world, affirmed that he encountered all his toils to win the esteem of the Athenians, why may not I felicitate myself and account it my greatest ornament to be commended by him, in whom alone the celebrated arts and virtues of old Athens, after their long extinction, seem again to live and to flourish-of Athens the mother of so many eloquent men, to the careful study of whose writings, from my early youth, I willingly acknowledge myself to be chiefly indebted for whatever proficiency I have made in letters. If, then, I had acquired from them, as it were by transfusion, such energies of speech as could rouse our fleets and armies to rescue Greece, the native soil of eloquence, from the Turkish yoke, a glorious achievement for which you seem almost to implore my exertions, I would instantly accomplish it as the first and dearest object of my wishes. For what were the men of old, most illustrious for eloquence or for valour, deemed greater and more worthy of themselves, than to restore by their power, either of persuasion or of action, freedom and independence to Greece? But another, and in my judgment the most important object remains to be attempted-namely, to rouse and re |