She thus concedes to human frailty the relief of a lament, such a lament as can issue from her lips, full of strength and charged with resolution in passion, but at the same time noble, measured and dignified. After this, she follows the direction of her will with inexorable firmness. Léon shall not be her spouse, because her choice must be and seem to be dictated by the sole good of the State, and fall upon a man whom she will not love with love, but who will be for Rome an emperor to be feared and respected. A conflict had been engaged between one part of herself and another, between the whole and a part, and she has again subjected the part to the whole and has assigned to it its duty, that of obedience. Je suis impératrice et j'étais Pulchérie. De ce trône, ennemi de mes plus doux souhaits, Je regarde l'amour comme un de mes sujets; Je veux que le respect qu'il doit à ma couronne Repousse l'attentat qu'il fait sur ma personne; Je veux qu'il m'obéisse, au lieu de me trahir; Je veux qu'il donne à tous l'exemple d'obéir; Et, jalouse déjà de mon pouvoir suprême, Pour l'affermir sur tous, je le prends sur moi-même. Thus love is subjected to the mind, or as it used to be expressed in the language of the time, which was of Stoic origin, to the "hegemonic potency." She would desire to raise her youthful beloved to the lofty level of her intent, by removing him from the sphere of weak lamentations and assuring his union with herself in a mystic marriage of superior wills. What contempt is hers for sentimentalism, which wishes to insinuate itself where it is not wanted, for "tears," for "the shame of tears"! La plus ferme couronne est bientôt ébranlée Quand un effort d'amour semble l'avoir volée; Et pour garder un rang si cher à nos désirs Il faut un plus grand art que celui des soupirs. Ne vous abaissez pas à la honte des larmes; Contre un devoir si fort ce sont de faibles armes; Et si de tels secours vous couronnaient ailleurs, J'aurais pitié d'un sceptre acheté par des pleurs. When we read such verses as these, our breast expands, as it does when we are in the company of men whose gravity of word and deed induce gravity, whose superiority over the crowd makes you forget the existence of the crowd, transporting you to a sphere where the non-accomplishment of duty would appear, not only vile, but incomprehensible. On another occasion our admiration is about to shroud itself in pity, but soon shines forth again and displays itself triumphant, as in the young princess Hiedion of the _Attila,_ who is accorded to the abhorred king of the Huns by a treaty of peace--were she to refuse the union, immeasurable calamities would fall upon her family and people. She too observes a sorrowful attitude but hers is an erect and combative sorrow: