gold to wisdom, I should have loved him less; nor would his instructions
have made me such a wife as Paralus deserves; yet Pericles would have
better liked the union. He has obtained from his son a solemn promise
never to speak to me of marriage. The precaution was unnecessary; for
since this new law has passed, I would not marry Paralus, even with his
father's consent. I would never be the means of bringing degradation and
losses upon him."

"If you still love Paralus, I wonder you can be so quiet and cheerful,"
said Eudora.

"I wished him to make the required promise, because obedience to parents
is our first duty," replied Philothea; "and had I thought otherwise, the
laws compel it. But the liberty of loving Paralus, no power can take
from me; and in that I find sufficient happiness. I am bound to him by
ties stronger than usually bind the hearts of women. My kind grandfather
has given me an education seldom bestowed on daughters; and from our
childhood, Paralus and I have shared the same books, the same music, and
the same thoughts, until our souls seem to be one. When I am very happy,
I always see a peculiar brightness on his countenance; and when I am
powerfully impressed by any of the fair sights of this beautiful world,
or by those radiant deities who live among the stars, often, before I
can speak my thoughts, he utters my very words. I sometimes think the
gods have united human beings by some mysterious principle, like the
according notes of music. Or is it as Plato has supposed, that souls
originally one have been divided, and each seeks the half it has lost?
Eudora, if you consider how generally maidens are bestowed in marriage
without consulting their affections, you must confess that you have
reason to feel deeply grateful for your own lot."