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The golden ass of Lucius Apuleius, of Medaura
The golden ass of Lucius Apuleius of Medaura Author:Apuleius Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER V. The history of Tarquinia Lachetti of Florence, her mean birth, her rise, the several tricks she played her husbands, and her death. The young lady'... more »s doubts about marrying removed by an old widow, in the history of Lauretta. An invective against man, which concludes the widow's visiting day. This great heroine was like Tamerlane and Arsaces, the offspring of a shepherd; and being at fourteen advanced into the family of her father's master, she soon, from the lowest menial, found admission to his bed. Though she had beauty and cunning enough, yet she was not on a bottom to capitulate, but surrendered on his summons at discretion. She had so much cunning as never to propose marriage, since in all probability, that would have abated the edge of her master's appetite, being without it sufficiently secure of her expectations by her artful address, and her sedulous care of finding out, and soothing his homor with so agreeable a flattery, as bound him in surer chains to her will, than those of the priest ever proves in Italy. He was old and a widower, and therefore a professed enemy of wedlock ; the very name of it had been sufficient to disgust him in the height ofhis desires and enjoyment. But Tarquinia took care not to give him any disquiet on that article, by which means she insinuated herself into his affections so strongly, that her sway in all things was far more absolute than that of any wife, so that on his death she had in her possession, not only his plate and money, which was considerable, but great numbers of rich jewels, which yet his heirs and relations pretended to wrest from her: to which end, immediately after his death, they clapped her up in prison for the theft, and got from her the plate by way of composition ; the whole being marked with his arms, a...« less