Volume I Part 116 (1/2)

If both these Methods fail, the best way will be to let him see you are much cast down and afflicted for the ill Opinion he entertains of you, and the Disquietudes he himself suffers for your Sake. There are many who take a kind of barbarous Pleasure in the Jealousy of those [who [2]]

love them, that insult over an aking Heart, and triumph in their Charms which are able to excite so much Uneasiness.

'Ardeat ipsa licet tormentis gaudet amantis'.

Juv.

But these often carry the Humour so far, till their affected Coldness and Indifference quite kills all the Fondness of a Lover, and are then sure to meet in their Turn with all the Contempt and Scorn that is due to so insolent a Behaviour. On the contrary, it is very probable a melancholy, dejected Carriage, the usual effects of injured Innocence, may soften the jealous Husband into Pity, make him sensible of the Wrong he does you, and work out of his Mind all those Fears and Suspicions that make you both unhappy. At least it will have this good Effect, that he will keep his Jealousy to himself, and repine in private, either because he is sensible it is a Weakness, and will therefore hide it from your Knowledge, or because he will be apt to fear some ill Effect it may produce, in cooling your Love towards him, or diverting it to another.

There is still another Secret that can never fail, if you can once get it believ'd, and what is often practis'd by Women of greater Cunning than Virtue: This is to change Sides for a while with the jealous Man, and to turn his own Pa.s.sion upon himself; to take some Occasion of growing Jealous of him, and to follow the Example he himself hath set you. This Counterfeited Jealousy will bring him a great deal of Pleasure, if he thinks it real; for he knows experimentally how much Love goes along with [this Pa.s.sion, [3]] and will [besides feel [4]]

something like the Satisfaction of a Revenge, in seeing you undergo all his own Tortures. But this, indeed, is an Artifice so difficult, and at the same time so dis-ingenuous, that it ought never to be put in Practice, but by such as have Skill enough to cover the Deceit, and Innocence to render it excusable.

I shall conclude this Essay with the Story of _Herod_ and _Mariamne_, as I have collected it out of _Josephus_; [5] which may serve almost as an Example to whatever can be said on this Subject.

_Mariamne_ had all the Charms that Beauty, Birth, Wit and Youth could give a Woman, and _Herod_ all the Love that such Charms are able to raise in a warm and amorous Disposition. In the midst of this his Fondness for _Mariamne_, he put her Brother to Death, as he did her Father not many Years after. The Barbarity of the Action was represented to _Mark Antony_, who immediately summoned _Herod_ into _Egypt_, to answer for the Crime that was there laid to his Charge. _Herod_ attributed the Summons to _Antony's_ Desire of _Mariamne_, whom therefore, before his Departure, he gave into the Custody of his Uncle _Joseph_, with private Orders to put her to Death, if any such Violence was offered to himself. This _Joseph_ was much delighted with _Mariamne's_ Conversation, and endeavoured, with all his Art and Rhetorick, to set out the Excess of _Herod's_ Pa.s.sion for her; but when he still found her Cold and Incredulous, he inconsiderately told her, as a certain Instance of her Lord's Affection, the private Orders he had left behind him, which plainly shewed, according to _Joseph's_ Interpretation, that he could neither Live nor Die without her. This Barbarous Instance of a wild unreasonable Pa.s.sion quite put out, for a time, those little Remains of Affection she still had for her Lord: Her Thoughts were so wholly taken up with the Cruelty of his Orders, that she could not consider the Kindness that produced them, and therefore represented him in her Imagination, rather under the frightful Idea of a Murderer than a Lover. _Herod_ was at length acquitted and dismissed by _Mark Antony_, when his Soul was all in Flames for his _Mariamne_; but before their Meeting, he was not a little alarm'd at the Report he had heard of his Uncle's Conversation and Familiarity with her in his Absence. This therefore was the first Discourse he entertained her with, in which she found it no easy matter to quiet his Suspicions. But at last he appeared so well satisfied of her Innocence, that from Reproaches and Wranglings he fell to Tears and Embraces. Both of them wept very tenderly at their Reconciliation, and _Herod_ poured out his whole Soul to her in the warmest Protestations of Love and Constancy: when amidst all his Sighs and Languis.h.i.+ngs she asked him, whether the private Orders he left with his Uncle _Joseph_ were an Instance of such an inflamed Affection. The Jealous King was immediately roused at so unexpected a Question, and concluded his Uncle must have been too Familiar with her, before he would have discovered such a Secret. In short, he put his Uncle to Death, and very difficultly prevailed upon himself to spare _Mariamne_.

After this he was forced on a second Journey into _Egypt_, when he committed his Lady to the Care of _Sohemus_, with the same private Orders he had before given his Uncle, if any Mischief befel himself. In the mean while _Mariamne_ so won upon _Sohemus_ by her Presents and obliging Conversation, that she drew all the Secret from him, with which _Herod_ had intrusted him; so that after his Return, when he flew to her with all the Transports of Joy and Love, she received him coldly with Sighs and Tears, and all the Marks of Indifference and Aversion. This Reception so stirred up his Indignation, that he had certainly slain her with his own Hands, had not he feared he himself should have become the greater Sufferer by it. It was not long after this, when he had another violent Return of Love upon him; _Mariamne_ was therefore sent for to him, whom he endeavoured to soften and reconcile with all possible conjugal Caresses and Endearments; but she declined his Embraces, and answered all his Fondness with bitter Invectives for the Death of her Father and her Brother. This Behaviour so incensed _Herod_, that he very hardly refrained from striking her; when in the Heat of their Quarrel there came in a Witness, suborn'd by some of _Mariamne's_ Enemies, who accused her to the King of a Design to poison him. _Herod_ was now prepared to hear any thing in her Prejudice, and immediately ordered her Servant to be stretch'd upon the Rack; who in the Extremity of his Tortures confest, that his Mistress's Aversion to the King arose from [something [6]] _Sohemus_ had told her; but as for any Design of poisoning, he utterly disowned the least Knowledge of it. This Confession quickly proved fatal to _Sohemus_, who now lay under the same Suspicions and Sentence that _Joseph_ had before him on the like Occasion. Nor would _Herod_ rest here; but accused her with great Vehemence of a Design upon his Life, and by his Authority with the Judges had her publickly Condemned and Executed. _Herod_ soon after her Death grew melancholy and dejected, retiring from the Publick Administration of Affairs into a solitary Forest, and there abandoning himself to all the black Considerations, which naturally arise from a Pa.s.sion made up of Love, Remorse, Pity and Despair, he used to rave for his _Mariamne_, and to call upon her in his distracted Fits; and in all probability would soon have followed her, had not his Thoughts been seasonably called off from so sad an Object by Publick Storms, which at that Time very nearly threatned him.

L.

[Footnote 1: ”, part of which I find Translated to my Hand.”]

[Footnote 2: that]

[Footnote 3: it]

[Footnote 4: receive]

[Footnote 5: 'Antiquities of the Jews', Bk. xv. ch. iii. -- 5, 6, 9; ch.

vii. -- 1, 2, &c.]

[Footnote 6: some thing that]

No. 172. Monday, September 17, 1711. Steele.