way captive the
daughters of Laomedon then king. One of these, named Euthira, being left
with several other Trojan captives on board the Grecian fleet, while the
sailors went on shore to take in fresh provisions, had the resolution to
propose, and the power to persuade her companions, to set the ships on
fire, and to perish themselves amid the devouring flames. The women of
Phoenicia met together before an engagement which was to decide the fate
of their city, and having agreed to bury themselves in the flames, if
their husbands and relations were defeated, in the enthusiasm of their
courage and resolution, they crowned her with flowers who first made the
proposal. Many instances occur in the history of the Romans of the Gauls
and Germans, and of other nations in subsequent periods; where women
being driven to despair by their enemies, have bravely defended their
walls, or waded through fields of blood to assist their countrymen, and
free themselves from slavery or from ravishment. Such heroic efforts are
beauties, even in the character of the softer sex, when they proceed
from necessity: when from choice, they are blemishes of the most
unnatural kind, indicating a heart of cruelty, lodged in a form which
has the appearance of gentleness and peace.

It has been alleged by some of the writers on human nature, that to the
fair sex the loss of beauty is more alarming and insupportable than the
loss of life; but even this loss, however opposite to the feelings of
their nature, they have voluntarily consented to sustain, that they
might not be the objects of temptation to the lawless ravisher. The nuns
of a convent in France, fearing they should be violated by a ruffian
army, which had taken by storm the town in which their convent was
situated, at the recommendation of their abbess, mutually agreed to cut
off all their noses, that they might save their chastity by becoming
objects of disgust instead of desire. Were we to descend to particulars,
we could give innumerable instances of women, who from Semiramis down to
the present time, have distinguished themselves by their courage. Such
was Penthesilea, who, if we may credit ancient story, led her army of
viragoes to the assistance of Priam, king of Troy; Thomyris, who
encountered Cyrus, king of Persia; and Thalestris, famous for her
fighting, as well as for her amours with Alexander the Great. Such was
the brave but ill-fated Boadicea, queen of the Britons, who led on that