But, granting that woman ought to be beautiful, innocent, and
silly, to render her a more alluring and indulgent companion--what
is her understanding sacrificed for? And why is all this
preparation necessary only, according to Rousseau's own account, to
make her the mistress of her husband, a very short time? For no
man ever insisted more on the transient nature of love. Thus
speaks the philosopher. "Sensual pleasures are transient. The
habitual state of the affections always loses by their
gratification. The imagination, which decks the object of our
desires, is lost in fruition. Excepting the Supreme Being, who is
self-existent, there is nothing beautiful but what is ideal."
But he returns to his unintelligible paradoxes again, when he thus
addresses Sophia. "Emilius, in becoming your husband, is become
your master, and claims your obedience. Such is the order of
nature. When a man is married, however, to such a wife as Sophia,
it is proper he should be directed by her: this is also agreeable
to the order of nature: it is, therefore, to give you as much
authority over his heart as his sex gives him over your person,
that I have made you the arbiter of his pleasures. It may cost
you, perhaps, some disagreeable self-denial; but you will be
certain of maintaining your empire over him, if you can preserve it
over yourself; what I have already observed, also shows me, that
this difficult attempt does not surpass your courage.
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