But I see you consider me as a deserter from the republic, and
an apologist for a tyrant. I, therefore, leave you to the company of
those ancient Romans, for whose society you were always much fitter than
for that of your contemporaries. Cato should have lived with Fabricius
and Curius, not with Pompey and Caesar.
DIALOGUE X.
CHRISTINA, Queen Of Sweden--Chancellor OXENSTIERN.
_Christina_.--You seem to avoid me, Oxenstiern; and, now we are met, you
don't pay me the reverence that is due to your queen! Have you forgotten
that I was your sovereign?
_Oxenstiern_.--I am not your subject here, madam; but you have forgotten
that you yourself broke that bond, and freed me from my allegiance, many
years before you died, by abdicating the crown, against my advice and the
inclination of your people. Reverence here is paid only to virtue.
_Christina_.--I see you would mortify me if it were in your power for
acting against your advice. But my fame does not depend upon your
judgment. All Europe admired the greatness of my mind in resigning a
crown to dedicate myself entirely to the love of the sciences and the
fine arts; things of which you had no taste in barbarous Sweden, the
realm of Goths and Vandals.
Pages:
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73