freedom will avoid them, but that fools and men of
intelligence cultivate them. That is true, but the fools take to them
because they do not perceive the difficulty in their way, and men of
intelligence do not avoid them, because they aspire to surmount it.

Now, ought not you, who are a military man, to appreciate everything I
say to you about talent? I will suppose a campaign upon which you have
entered; you have been given charge of conducting the siege of a city.
Would you be satisfied if the governor, persuaded that the city is not
impregnable, should open to you the gates without having given you the
least occasion to distinguish yourself? I venture to say not; he
should resist, and the more he seeks to cover himself with glory, the
more glory he gives you. Well, Marquis, in love as in war, the
pleasure of obtaining a victory is measured according to the obstacles
in the way of it. Shall I say it? I am tempted to push the parallel
farther. See what it is to take a first step. The true glory of a
woman consists less, perhaps, in yielding, than in putting in a good
defense, so that she will merit the honors of war.

I shall go still farther. Let a woman become feeble enough to be at
the point of yielding, what is left her to retain a satisfactory
lover, if her intelligence and talents do not come to her aid? I am
well aware that they do not give themselves these advantages, but if
we investigate the matter, we shall find that there are very few women
who may not acquire a few accomplishments if they really set about it;
the difference would only be the more, at least. But women are
generally born too indolent to be able to make such an effort. They
have discovered that there is nothing so convenient as being pretty.
This manner of pleasing does not require any labor; they would be glad
not to have any other. Blind that they are, they do not see that
beauty and talents equally attract the attention of men, but, beauty
merely exposes her who possesses it, whereas talents furnish her with
the means of defending it.

In a word, to appreciate it at its full value, beauty stores up
regrets and a mortal weariness for the day when it shall cease to
exist. Would you know the reason? It is because it drowns out all
other resources. As long as beauty lasts, a woman is regarded as
something, she is celebrated, a crowd sighs at her feet. She flatters
herself that this will go on forever. What a desolate solitude when
age come