Condescend to listen to me, person to
person. When you had accepted the secret testament of my father, wise
and generous Socrates, you told me that it would leave me an honest
fortune with which I could establish myself. From that time, I formed
the plan of giving this fortune to your dear disciple, Sophronine, who
has only your support and for his entire wealth possessed only his
virtue. You entirely approved my resolution. You conceived that it was
my good fortune to make the fortune of an Athenian that I regard as
your son. Full of my happiness, carried away by a sweet joy, that my
heart could not contain, I confided this delirious state my soul was
in to your wife, Xantippe, and just as soon that condition
disappeared. She treated me as a dreamer. She showed me the will of my
father who died in poverty, who left me nothing, and who confided me
to the friendship which united you. At that moment, awakened from my
dream, I felt only sadness at being unable to make the fortune of
Sophronine; I don't wish to overwhelm him with the weight of my
misery.
SOPHRONINE:
Indeed, I told you Socrates that her reasons were valueless; if she
loves me am I not rich enough? I've subsisted, it's true through your
charity, but it's not a guilty employment that I embrace only to
support my dear Aglaea.
Pages:
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33