"I received her as she had hoped I should, and the beauty and solitude of this place, instead of increasing those wishes and thoughts I had once indulged, had now a contrary effect. Thanks to Heaven, and to her purity and goodness, we consider ourselves as lawfully husband and wife, and in peace and love; like two living statues, have we dwelt here for ten years, during which time, not one has passed without a visit from my servants, bringing us the necessaries which in this desert place we require; and sometimes they are accompanied by a priest, who confesses us. We have in our hermitage everything proper for celebrating the holy offices; we sleep apart, take our meals together, and converse upon heavenly things, despise the world, and, trusting in God's mercy, we look forward with hope to life eternal." Here Renato ended his discourse, and all his hearers expressed their pleasure and admiration at the incidents he had related, not because it seemed a new thing that Heaven should send chastisements contrary to human expectations, since they knew that these are sent frequently for two causes;--to the wicked as punishment, and to improve and try the good, amongst whom they considered Renato, and bestowed on him many kind and consolatory words, nor did they omit to do the same by Eusebia. "O life of solitude!" here exclaimed Rutilio, (who had listened to the hermit's story with most profound attention,) "O solitary life; holy, free, and safe, are they who embrace thee, choose thee, and enjoy thee!" "True, friend Rutilio," said Maurice, "but only in certain cases, for there is no great marvel if a humble shepherd retires into the solitude of the country; nor when a poor wretch, who is half starved in a town, takes refuge in a retreat where he knows he shall find sustenance. These ways of living are often only a means of fostering idleness and sloth, and it is no small idleness if a man leaves his troubles to be remedied by others. If I were to see a Carthaginian Hannibal leave the world to shut himself up in a hermitage, as we have seen a Charles the Fifth retire into a monastery, I should feel astonishment and admiration; but if a plebeian goes into obscurity, or a poor unknown being retires from society, I neither wonder nor admire. However, Renato is not one of these, since it was neither poverty nor necessity that led him into these solitudes, but his own good feelings; here he finds in scarcity, abundance, and in solitude, society, and lives the more securely, having but little to lose." "And," added Periander, "if I was old instead of very young, so many perils and dangers have been my share, that I should look upon a peaceful hermitage as the extreme of felicity, and in the tomb of silence to bury my name; but I cannot relinquish the object for which I have hitherto lived, nor change the mode of life I was following at the time when the horse of King Cratilius appeared, where my history left off last."