Confess all your passions to make your virtues of greater worth; however, you do not expose but the one-half of your character; there is nothing better than what regards your friends, nothing more unsatisfactory than what you have bestowed upon your lovers.
In a few verses, I will draw your entire character. Here they are, giving you the qualities you now have and those you have had:
Dans vos amours on vous trouvait legère,
En amitié toujours sûre et sincère;
Pour vos amants, les humeurs de Vénus,
Pour vos amis les solides vertus:
Quand les premiers vous nommaient infidèle,
Et qu'asservis encore à votre loi,
Ils reprochaient une flamme nouvelle,
Les autres se louaient de votre bonne foi.
Tantôt c'était le naturel d'Hélène,
Ses appétits comme tous ses appas;
Tantôt c'était la probité romaine?
C'était d'honneur la règle et le compas.
Dans un couvent en soeur dépositaire,
Vous auriez bien ménagé quelque affaire,
Et dans le monde à garder les dépôts,
On vous eût justement préférée aux dévots.
(In your love affairs you were never severe,
But your friendship was always sure and sincere;
The humors of Venus for those who desired,
For your friends, in your heart, solid virtues conspired;
When the first, infidelity laid at your door,
Though not yet exempt from the law of your will,
And every new flame never failed to deplore,
The others rejoiced that you trusted them still.
Ingenuous Helen was sometimes your role,
With her appetites, charms, and all else beside;
Sometimes Roman probity wielded your soul,
In honor becoming your rule and your guide.
And though in a convent as guardian nun,
You might have well managed some sprightly fun,
In the world, as a keeper of treasures untold,
Preferred you would be to a lamb of the fold.)
Here is a little variety, which I trust will not surprise you:
L'indulgente et sage Nature
A formé l'âme de Ninon
De la volupté d'Epicure
Et de la vertu de Caton.
IX
Ninon de l'Enclos to Saint-Evremond
Stomachs Demand More Attention than Minds
The Abbé Dubois has just handed me your letter, and personally told me as much good news about your stomach as about your mind. There are times when we give more attention to our stomachs than to our minds, and I confess, to my sorrow, that I find you happier in the enjoyment of the one than of the other. I have always believed that your mind would last as long as yourself, but we are not so sure of the health of the body, without which nothing is left but sorrowful reflections. I insensibly begin making them on all occasions.