I
have, without going further than my own history, a strong proof of
this maxim in Grimm, and in Tronchin; both become my implacable
enemies from inclination, pleasure and fancy, without having been able
to charge me with having done either of them the most trifling
injury,* and whose rage, like that of tigers, becomes daily more
fierce by the facility of satiating it.
* I did not give the surname of Jongleur only to the latter until
a long time alter his enmity had been declared, and the persecutions
he brought upon me at Geneva and elsewhere. I soon suppressed the name
the moment I perceived I was entirely his victim. Mean vengeance is
unworthy of my heart, and hatred never takes the least root in it.
I expected that Grimm, confused by my condescension and advances,
would receive me with open arms, and the most tender friendship. He
received me as a Roman Emperor would have done, and with a haughtiness
I never saw in any person but himself. I was by no means prepared
for such a reception. When, in the embarrassment of the part I had
to act, and which was so unworthy of me, I had, in a few words and
with a timid air, fulfilled the object which had brought me to him;
before he received me into favor, he pronounced, with a deal of
majesty, an harangue he had prepared, and which contained a long
enumeration of his rare virtues, and especially those connected with
friendship. He laid great stress upon a thing which at first struck me
a good deal: this was his having always preserved the same friends.
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