XII
вЄЇвБ†But to return to my mother.
My uncle TobyвАЩs opinion, Madam, вАЬthat there could be no harm in Cornelius Gallus, the Roman pr√¶torвАЩs lying with his wife;вАЭвБ†вЄЇвБ†or rather the last word of that opinion,вБ†вАФ(for it was all my mother heard of it) caught hold of her by the weak part of the whole sex:вБ†вЄЇвБ†You shall not mistake me,вБ†вАФI mean her curiosity,вБ†вАФshe instantly concluded herself the subject of the conversation, and with that prepossession upon her fancy, you will readily conceive every word my father said, was accommodated either to herself, or her family concerns.
вЄЇвБ†Pray, Madam, in what street does the lady live, who would not have done the same?
From the strange mode of CorneliusвАЩs death, my father had made a transition to that of Socrates, and was giving my uncle Toby an abstract of his pleading before his judges;вБ†вЄЇвАЩtwas irresistible:вБ†вЄЇвБ†not the oration of Socrates,вБ†вАФbut my fatherвАЩs temptation to it.вБ†вЄЇвБ†He had wrote the Life of Socrates himself the year before he left off trade, which, I fear, was the means of hastening him out of it;вБ†вЄЇвБ†so that no one was able to set out with so full a sail, and in so swelling a tide of heroic loftiness upon the occasion, as my father was. Not a period in SocratesвАЩs oration, which closed with a shorter word than transmigration, or annihilation,вБ†вАФor a worse thought in the middle of it than to beвБ†вАФor not to be,вБ†вАФthe entering upon a new and untried state of things,вБ†вАФor, upon a long, a profound and peaceful sleep, without dreams, without disturbance?вБ†вЄЇвБ†That we and our children were born to die,вБ†вАФbut neither of us born to be slaves.вБ†вЄЇвБ†NoвБ†вАФthere I mistake; that was part of EleazerвАЩs oration, as recorded by Josephus (De Bell. Judaic.)вБ†вЄЇвБ†Eleazer owns he had it from the philosophers of India; in all likelihood Alexander the Great, in his irruption into India, after he had overrun Persia, amongst the many things he stole,вБ†вАФstole that sentiment also; by which means it was carried, if not all the way by himself (for we all know he died at Babylon), at least by some of his maroders, into Greece,вБ†вАФfrom Greece it got to Rome,вБ†вАФfrom Rome to France,вБ†вАФand from France to England:вБ†вЄЇвБ†So things come round.вБ†вЄЇвБ†
By land carriage, I can conceive no other way.вБ†вЄЇвБ†
By water the sentiment might easily have come down the Ganges into the Sinus Gangeticus, or Bay of Bengal, and so into the Indian Sea; and following the course of trade (the way from India by the Cape of Good Hope being then unknown), might be carried with other drugs and spices up the Red Sea to Joddah, the port of Mekka, or else to Tor or Sues, towns at the bottom of the gulf; and from thence by karrawans to Coptos, but three daysвАЩ journey distant, so down the Nile directly to Alexandria, where the sentiment would be landed at the very foot of the great staircase of the Alexandrian library,вБ†вЄЇвБ†and from that storehouse it would be fetched.вБ†вЄїBless me! what a trade was driven by the learned in those days!