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Table of Contents
Part I
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
Part II
Prologue
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
Part III
Prologue
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Epilogue
Part IV
Prologue
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Epilogue
Part V
Prologue
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Epilogue
THEFEMININEMESQUITE
SABLE SYLVAN
www.sablesylvan.com
Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue
Prologue
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Spicy Beauty
Prologue
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Epilogue
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Epilogue
Prologue
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
for eating take out and taking me out of my office when I needed to
go home and sleep, and
for convincing me that I’m more than just three egg salad
sandwiches in a trench coat
Foreword
Dear readers,
You can buy all the hot sauces and sweet teas featured in this series
online. You
company called Adagio Teas through their website. All teas can be
enjoyed hot or cold, with or
sweetener as you want/can, and then, chill the tea in the fridge or
with ice.
Spicy Beauty:
Yours truly,
Sable Sylvan
PART I
THECINDERELLACOOK-OFF
Chapter One
The Quincy Sisters sat on the couch inside the law firm. While some
places in the
Northeast would kick their clients out after a meeting, things were
different down
they compose themselves before they headed out. The hot Texas
sun shone down on them
through the large stained glass window, and because all five sisters
were wearing all black, they
felt even hotter. Even though these five were used to the heat, they
still weren’t used to the loss
“He wouldn’t want you to be sad,” said Alice, the eldest, offering
Savina a tissue from her
purse. “After all, you’ll be going off to college this week. You’ve gotta
keep your chin up. That
“At least the four of us will have our studies to keep us occupied,”
said Abigail, the second
eldest. “I’ve got my senior thesis to work on, but you’re going to be
here, alone.”
“Oh, I won’t be that alone,” said Alice. “After all, I have the kitchen
and the shop to run now.
The four of you have got to focus on your studies, and yes, Addy
and Kai, that goes for you too.”
“You’ll see Dad often, won’t you, Allie?” asked Cayenne, a.k.a. ‘Kai,’
the second youngest.
“Yeah, I’ll visit Dad,” promised Alice. “Pop-Pop lived a long life, a
good life. We have to
“You sure you want to share his gift to you with us?” asked Cayenne.
“After all, you are the
didn’t bring it up at the time because I didn’t want to worry the four
of you. This was when he
was first diagnosed with lung cancer, and we were hoping the chemo
would work. He told me
that he had intended to leave the company to all five of us, given
that we are his only grandkids,
after all. But, the lawyer said that, because the four of you are still in
college, owning part of the
company would interfere with your financial aid.”
“Yeah, by the time Mom and Dad were helping you with your forms,
they had already done
“The more you own, the less aid you qualify for,” explained Abigail.
“That’s why it makes
sense for Alice to be the sole heir. She’s graduated, so she doesn’t
have to worry about financial
aid.”
“Don’t worry,” said Alice. “As soon as each of you graduates, you’ll
get a share of the
company, so that we end up with twenty percent each, one fifth per
sister. That’s what Pop-Pop
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay running the company on your
own?” asked Abigail. “I
could take the year off, help you get into the groove.”
“No, you need to graduate,” insisted Alice. “After all, how hard can
running a hot sauce
company be?”
Five men entered the room. Tall, blond, they were all wearing suits,
and Alice didn’t
recognize them. She knew everyone in this small town. After all,
there were only a few thousand
pale. When was the last time she had seen a guy that pale? It was
hard to avoid the sun in Texas.
The men walked towards the front desk, and the tall, toned man
spoke for all of them. The
other four were standing by quietly, but their presence was still
intimidating. Alice heard their
voices raise. Who the heck did these guys think they were, coming
in here and treating the
paralegal so rudely?
“I’m about to give these men a piece of my mind,” said Alice, a hand
on her hip, as she
over.
Alice felt the man’s eyes eating her up. He felt predatory, but at the
same time, he wasn’t
“Who do you think you are, talking to her that way?” asked Alice.
She looked at the man.
where they didn’t have sunny days all the time? His designer suit
made him look sophisticated,
like one of those Yankees from upstate who passed through town
and stopped for gas or the New
Yorkers she’d met during a New Year’s Eve party in Times Square
she’d gone to back in college
when staying with a friend from New England over a winter break.
slimmer cut designer European suit that only served to make him
look even sexier. Alice had
this one. Why did she want nothing more than to lean into his body,
which was strangely familiar
to her?
“Again, it’s absolutely none of your business,” said the man, turning
to face the secretary
again.
“Alice Quincy?” said the man, turning to face her. “Well, speak of the
devil. I was expecting
the heir to his family’s fortune, he used those senses in the hunt,
whether he was hunting fine
women or finer business deals. This woman wasn’t what he’d been
hunting…but her scent
seemed familiar. His polar roared and told him to pursue her, but he
shut his animal up. After all,
the polar could take over when it was allowed to take over, and right
now, it was to remain quiet
woman with curves and sass, especially given how his hunt for a
woman with those same curves
had turned out the last time. Even if this woman was, as he had to
admit, the most beautiful
woman he’d set eyes on, she was off-limits. Of course, his
grandfather’s rival’s heir had to be
be friends,” said Herbert. “I came here looking for an ‘Al Quincy,’ and
assumed that they’d be
an Albert, not─”
“Well, what do you want with me? Spit it out,” demanded Alice.
“Again, I’m Herbert Scoville, you must’ve heard of me,” said Herbert.
“Your grandfather
“Scoville?” said Alice, then, it hit her. Scoville. The rat bastards. “You
mean your
rather, one very important recipe. It’s the recipe for the sauce that
your grandfather sold as his
grandfather, but─”
“But you have no evidence other than hearsay,” said Alice. “Who do
you think you are,
“Well, you’re in Texas now, and we don’t play that game here,” said
Alice. “Now get out of
here before I have to take you out of here by that pretty blond hair
of yours.”
“Any other day, an offer to be taken out by you would be an offer I’d
take you up on, but I’m
war you want, well, I’ve got an army of lawyers waiting to take you
down.”
“No, and there are two things you’re wrong about,” said Herbert.
“First off, we’re not men.
We’re polars. Polar bears. Shifters. You know what that means?
We’re hunters who can handle
any situation and keep a cool head. They’re not my lawyers. They’re
my brothers. Basil. Clove.
Mason. Sage. And they’re not about to leave my side. You’d think we
were wolf shifters by the
Herbert leaned down to whisper that last sentence into Alice’s ear.
Her cheeks blushed with
arousal and frustration. Who the heck did he think he was to treat
her like this, to whisper in her
ear as if he were her lover, and to turn her on like no man ever had
before? He was the man who
in the last few minutes had established himself as her arch nemesis,
but he was making her
wetter than she’d ever been before. It had to be that dang shifter
animal magnetism at work. It
something else into Alice’s ear, about what he wanted to do with her,
and how hard. He couldn’t
help but take in her scent. Underneath the light scents of soap and
floral shampoo was her natural
in need of a good pounding. His cock twitched. It only did that when
he was on the prowl, either
Herbert wild. He could feel his polar wanting to burst from his skin,
and he heard his inner bear
tell him to take this woman back to his cave, or any cave at all, and
breed her with his seed.
“I’ll be seeing you again shortly,” said Herbert, trying to get the
boner to go away. What the
heck was happening? He usually had fine control of his body, but
around Alice, it was obvious
that all bets were off. Yes, she was the most attractive woman that
he’d seen since stepping foot
in America. But he knew that she was forbidden, for two reasons.
First off, she was his grandpa’s
arch rival’s heir. Secondly, well…he shook that thought out of his
head. It was no use thinking
about her while he was here, especially when he had no clue where
she was…or who she was.
“Brothers, let’s go,” said Herbert. He turned and walked off with his
entourage of tall hot
Norwegian blonds.
“Uh, what the heck was that?” asked Abigail, who had been
comforting her sisters in Alice’s
absence.
“Do you remember the stories Pop-Pop told about the war?” said
Alice. “About the
Norwegian polar bear shifter he was stuck with in a POW camp?”
has been telling people that he owns the rights to the hot sauce
recipes that Pop-Pop uses. One of
“Pop-Pop wasn’t the only one with a gaggle of five grandkids,” said
Alice. “Apparently,
Morten had five of his own, grandsons, all polar bears, who are here
to get the recipes.”
“Are you kidding me?” asked Addison rhetorically. “I thought for sure
that you and that tall
“I’ll tell you what’s gonna happen,” said Alice. “I’m going to handle
this. This Friday, we’ll
all go out to the county fair and have a great time, and you’ll fly out
to your colleges in a few
weeks. Things are gonna be okay, I promise. Don’t worry. I’ll handle
everything.”
Alice drove them all home, to the house that their parents had left
them in Fallowedirt before
they had moved to Florida to retire. As Alice drove, she couldn’t help
but wonder how she’d
solve the two new problems that had popped up in her life: the
problem of the hot sauce recipes,
and the problem of her attraction to the man that was there to steal
them, and who might just
Chapter Two
L ights. Neon lights, car lights, the lights of glow sticks and light up
novelty headbands.
It was like she was looking down into a reflecting pool underneath
the cosmos. It was
like the cosmos was a reflecting pool, and with a swish of her hand,
she could mix
everything up. She reached out, and of course, the lights didn’t
move.
“Huh?” said Alice, turning. In the doorway to the balcony was a man
in a tailored suit,
concealed all his features save his steely gray-blue eyes which
pierced hers with a depth which
made her wish that there was more of her for him to pierce.
“Don’t do it,” said the man in front of her. “I know this party’s bad,
but there’s so much to
live for.”
“Ha-ha, very funny,” said Alice. “I’m just getting some air.”
“Really? There wasn’t enough air in there for you, even with all the
pretentious
blowhards?” asked the man, walking over to look out over the
balcony. He inhaled.
“So I’m not the only one that thinks this party is for─” started Alice.
“Stuffed shirts and short skirts?” asked the man. “Yeah, I get what
you mean. That’s why I
came out for some air too. Imagine that, willingly going out in New
York City to get some
“After all, you are here to get some air, right?” joked Alice.
“Exactly,” said the man. “You get me. What’s your name?”
“My name?” said Alice. She was suddenly very aware of the fact she
was wearing a mask, a
He held out his hand, and Alice took it. She expected him to shake
it, but no. He lifted it up to
his mouth and kissed it. Alice blushed. His lips were so soft. She had
never had a man kiss her
hand before. She took a deep breath. New York City smelled awful,
especially on New Years. She
could smell cheap vodka and cheaper beer. She could breathe in the
smog, scented so strongly
one could cut it with a knife. There was another scent, a scent that
made her honeypot wet, and it
When he pulled his hand away, Alice realized he was no man. His
hands had the marks, the
marks of a shifter.
“I’m a shifter,” said the man. “Bear. But it’s not important.” He turned
his hands so Alice
could see the palms of his hands. There were four small marks, one
on the base of each of his
finely manicured hands, and one large mark on the palm of his
hands. Alice had seen bear
shifter hands before, but they were usually callused and worn. These
were the hands of someone
who must not have done a day of hard work in his life. Alice couldn’t
imagine what one would do
Alice woke up with a start. Why was she having this dream again?
Even though she tried
to forget the man, she had kept dreaming about him, as if her body
wanted her to keep
remembering every last detail about him. The last thing she needed
was to think about
some mystery man while she dealt with the current disaster. At least
today was going to be a
she’d have some fun with her best friends, her sisters.
same car that their parents had taken them to elementary school in
when they were younger.
Their parents had left it to Alice, along with the house, when they
moved into their Florida condo
and bought a little sedan. Although the car was by now rather small
for the five curvy gals, what
The county fair was only about thirty minutes away, and there was
light traffic, as this was
the third weekend that the fair had been open. They found parking
near the entrance and headed
in.
The sun was hot, and all five sisters were wearing clothing that
would keep them cool in the
heat. They had bags with fans, bottles of water, and personal water
misting devices. Alice was in
a pair of white linen shorts that fell to just above her knee and was
wearing a loose pale blue tank
top. She had the largest tote bag of the five sisters because she was
now the ‘Mom’ of the group.
She was the only one who was done with college, who knew how to
live as an adult. She’d been
opportunities for her, and she had spent the summer babysitting her
sisters, who were old enough
The first stop was the animal section. All the animals had their own
charm, from the soft
sheep who smelled like hand lotion and felt like fleecy blankets to
the cows whose deep lowing
reminded Alice of a video she’d seen of Buddhist monks meditating.
The chickens ran around as
if they didn’t have heads, and the pigs lay in the mud.
“Oh, yeah. I was talking about going back to college, but you…Oh,
you’re worried about the
“Yeah frikkin’ way,” said Alice. “Grandpa told me that the Scovilles
made their money way
back in the day. You saw what those guys were wearing. They come
from money, and their
family still has their fortunes, fortunes our family never even made.
Heck, the fact Mom and Dad
retired at fifty was only possible because they inherited from Mom’s
side of the family.”
“So they’re rich and handsome?” asked Cayenne. “It’s too bad
they’re our rivals. They’re
ears as if he was the opposite of her rival. It made her feel hotter
than the Texas sun did, so she
pulled out her mister bottle and spritzed her face to cool down.
Don’t fool around, especially with boys. That’s what the guys are at
your college: boys.”
“Let me rephrase. All guys at that age are boys,” said Alice. “They
won’t treat you right, and
the last thing I wanna see is a guy doing you wrong. If you wanna
mess around, go for it, but
“No, Kai, because I was worried about the risks,” said Alice. “You
know how many girls
from our town go to see the great wide world and come back with a
belly full of baby and no
“It’s silly,” said Alice. “There was one guy who caught my eye.”
“Come on, don’t leave me hanging,” said Cayenne. “Who was it?”
“That’s the thing, I don’t know,” said Alice. “I met him when I was
staying with Stacy, at her
parent’s house over my winter junior year. That was, what, a year
and a half ago? Anyways.
Year’s Eve. She had connections via friends who were at one of the
fashion schools, and she got
“Real nice,” said Alice. “I definitely felt out of place. Heck, I had to
borrow one of Stacy’s
fancy dresses. I’m lucky we were the same size. She lent me some
fancy jewelry, but we didn’t
have the same size feet. Mine were a bit bigger. So, I had to wear
my lace up sneakers
thumb, like I didn’t belong. I talked with Stacy and her friends for a
while but then wandered off
to look at the view. After all, it’s not every day that you get to see
New York on New Year’s
“I’m getting to that part,” said Alice. “Anyways, I was outside on the
balcony, and, a guy
that he also felt like he didn’t belong. And then, well, things
escalated.”
“You can fill in the blanks. The party was held in a fancy hotel. A
whole floor was rented
out, and there were rooms people could use if they wanted to get…
amorous,” said Alice. “I’d
never had sex with a shifter before, and of course, the hottest part
was, neither of us took off our
“Did you get to see it?” asked Cayenne. “Y’know, the mark?”
“Yeah, I saw it,” said Alice. “But that’s not the only thing that makes
shifters different.
They’re way more skilled than human guys, especially ones our age.
It’s because they’ve got that
animal in them that makes them, well, primal. There’s nothing more
primal than what we did. I
can tell you that. I’ve never had a man like that before, and I
haven’t had one like that since.”
“So what does this have to do with the Scovilles?” asked Cayenne.
“My point is not to go after pretty boys,” said Alice. “At least, not to
pursue them just
“Nope, and now I’m stuck thinking about a person who I’ll never
meet again,” said Alice
“Fine, fine, I’ll study,” promised Cayenne. “Do you think they’re
ready to go to the next
The five sisters went off to explore the rest of the carnival. They
went on rides that would’ve
made them sick if they’d already eaten that day, and afterward, it
was off to the food court.
stands. There was a stand selling standard American food, hot dogs,
and burgers with fries, onion
rings, and freshly battered corn dogs. There was a place selling
meat kebabs, smothered in spicy
fried desserts, from vanilla ice cream flecked with black vanilla
beans, drowned in hot oil, to
candy bars that turned into sticky gooey messes of caramel, nuts,
and chocolate once they’d been
cooked. There was even a Greek food stand, with spinach pies and
frozen Greek yogurt.
Alice got the quintet a table while the siblings ran off to get food
from the various stands.
The lines weren’t too long, but Alice wanted to make sure they could
sit in the shade. She sat
who it was.
and this time, he wasn’t wearing a suit. No, instead, he was in twill
shorts, black flip-flops, and a
European superiority.
“Funny running into you here,” said Herbert. “May I?” He motioned
to the hay bales.
“My sisters are sitting there, so no, you may not,” said Alice, turning
back to her book.
“Hey, what happened to that southern hospitality?” asked Herbert.
Alice looked at him crossly. Did this guy not know how to take a hint,
or was he willfully
ignoring her? She’d put her money on the later. And why did that
voice of his sound so dang
“You what?” asked Alice. “I’m sorry, did you just say you want to
apologize?”
“Yes,” said Herbert. “I’m not going to stop pursuing the matter of the
hot sauce recipes.”
“I know as much about your family as you know about mine,” said
Alice. “You’re a bunch of
stuck up billionaires, right?”
“Right,” said Herbert. “And you know what that means? It means
that we’re part of the
hunt down are the things I want. And what I want from you is my
grandfather’s recipes.”
“Why the heck would a Norwegian billionaire care about hot sauce
recipes?” asked Alice.
launched in the pursuit of the precious herbs that can make our
bland European food taste like
said Herbert. His polar roared, and for a second, Alice swore she saw
his blue eyes flash a hot
white. “My Viking ancestors sailed the seas to plunder the land and
find brides to heat their beds
and their tongues. My shifter elders hunted down their mates and
continued that Nordic legacy.
The Scovilles have been a spice trading family since, well, spices
were ‘discovered’ by
VII.
I.
III.
IV.
Gli storici moderni non sono potuti essere, nè sono stati, più
imparziali o più benevoli degli antichi. Per inevitabile caso, la
maggior parte di coloro, che hanno studiato l’opera del grande
Apostata, sono stati dei cristiani; taluni, dei ferventi cristiani. Questa
condizione vietava loro di essere imparziali, e li sospingeva a
precipitare là, dove conduce la più triste delle cecità, la cecità di
parte religiosa. Ma sarebbe ciò stato possibile anche nel caso, non
dirò di un opposto indirizzo, ma di una maggiore remissività di
tendenze? È pur troppo da disperarne! La Chiesa, il Cristianesimo
sono cose troppo intime, troppo connesse con la civiltà di cui
viviamo, occupano troppa parte nella nostra vita d’ogni giorno,
perchè con tutto il buon volere possiamo giudicare all’infuori delle
nostre passioni e delle nostre prevenzioni. Specie poi in argomento
come questo, che, con facile equivoco, tende a risuscitare le
preoccupazioni di tutta la civiltà moderna pro o contro
l’insegnamento così detto confessionale, pro o contro
l’insegnamento così detto laico. In tali condizioni, la vantata
imparzialità dello storico si riduce a ben piccola cosa: alla sua onestà
nel servirsi delle fonti, alla cautela e al valore delle sue personali
opinioni. Questo è tutto quanto gli si può richiedere. Ma è di questo,
pur troppo, che gli storici di Giuliano hanno, nella grande
maggioranza, mancato!
Spigolando infatti tra i giudizii meno remoti e più autorevoli, troviamo
anzitutto che gli ortodossi espositori delle relazioni fra la Chiesa e lo
Stato, nel IV. secolo di C., hanno definito con frasi durissime l’atto
legislativo di Giuliano. L’editto, le cui parole apparirebbero imbevute
di fiele e di vanità letteraria, rappresenta per loro, addirittura, il
denudarsi sfacciato del suo odio anticristiano. [600] L’editto,
ciecamente intollerante, sarebbe un misto di violenza e di astuzia
settaria [601], il cui fine era soltanto quello di precipitare
nell’ignoranza e nel disprezzo i Cristiani [602]. C’erano state
persecuzioni più brutali, non mai persecuzione più irritante [603].
I tiepidi hanno scritto che l’editto fu un’iniquità, una misura insidiosa,
illegale (??), intollerante, ben meritevole dell’aspra censura ch’ebbe
a colpirla; che il moralista vi si appalesa un cavilloso
azzeccagarbugli, e che il lettore non può non associarsi alla giusta
ira di Gregorio Nazianzeno. [604] Hanno scritto che le vedute
pedagogiche dell’editto di Giuliano sono da condannarsi da un punto
di vista semplicemente umano, e che il diritto alla cultura ellenica è
diritto sulla lingua e sull’eloquio greco, ma che esso è indipendente
da qualsiasi più intima connessione con quella civiltà.... [605] Giuliano
avrebbe detto brutalmente, sia pure in veste filosofica: «O la mia
scuola, o l’ignoranza», e avrebbe dato il primo crudo esempio di
ulteriori dilemmi, coi quali altri Stati cercheranno di imporre la propria
scuola ed i propri maestri. [606]
Finalmente, i più benevoli nel giudicare l’opera di Giuliano, quando
non si sono accodati alle due categorie precedenti di censori, [607]
non hanno sempre osato giudicare l’editto, e giustificarlo, senza
reticenze, senza ambagi, parlando come forse pensavano. Hanno
detto invece che l’opinione di Giuliano sul diritto degli studiosi e dei
maestri a servirsi della cultura greca era, per il suo tempo, tanto
giustificata quanto l’opinione degli avversarii; ma che oggi noi
possiamo dire che la ragione stava dalla parte di questi ultimi, e che
il giudizio di Ammiano Marcellino può ben meritare di essere a cuor
tranquillo confermato. [608] Hanno spiegato che Giuliano concepiva la
lotta fra la civiltà greca e la cristiana così come i cristiani più
intransigenti, sicchè per lui nessuna conciliazione poteva supporsi
fra l’una e l’altra, e bisognava che, in quel duello, ciascuna si
avvalesse delle risorse e dei mezzi proprii e non tentasse trionfare
con le armi dell’avversaria. [609] Ma hanno al tempo stesso avuto
cura di premettere che, solo da tale punto di vista, tutto sociale
dell’imperatore, e nel cui merito essi si sono ben guardati di entrare, i
suoi provvedimenti potevano dirsi logici e giustificabili. Hanno
soggiunto che Giuliano era più chiaroveggente dei suoi censori,
giudicando impossibile l’uso equo e rispettoso degli autori pagani
nelle scuole tenute da Cristiani, ma che sarebbe stato ancor più
chiaroveggente, qualora avesse compresa, e non già respinta, la
inevitabile, graduale infiltrazione di elementi ellenici nel
cristianesimo. Che, ad ogni modo, si può disapprovare la sua
politica, ma non disapprovare la sua indignazione contro i tentativi
operati dai Cristiani a danno delle letterature classiche [610].
Solo fra i moderni, quasi ricollegandosi, non nel tenore dei giudizii,
ma nelle audacie dell’indipendenza, agli Enciclopedisti e ai filosofi
del secolo XVIII., i quali si erano sforzati di rivendicare il pensiero e
la figura dell’imperatore Apostata, un italiano, Gaetano Negri, non
storico di professione, ma fine osservatore ed uomo politico, ha
discusso la non difficile questione con maggiore originalità e senno
di ogni altro; e, movendo da considerazioni indubbiamente più
elevate, ha giudicato che Giuliano era nel suo pieno diritto, allorchè
esigeva il consenso dei maestri alle opinioni degli autori classici,
oggetto del loro insegnamento. E poichè, dopo questo, egli
rimandava i Cristiani ai libri genuini del Cristianesimo e i Pagani, ai
libri del Paganesimo, egli non veniva con ciò — menomamente —
ad infirmare la libertà religiosa dei suoi sudditi, nè tanto meno ad
offendere quella che suol dirsi la libertà dell’insegnamento. Giuliano
avrebbe, nella sua legislazione scolastica, applicato quella stessa
teorica, che, nel grave dibattito dei diritti e dei doveri dello Stato, il
Negri sceglie e fa, per suo conto, propria, la teorica, la quale
riconosce che, in fatto di disciplina sociale, lo Stato è un interessato,
il quale, come ha il diritto di difendere la propria organizzazione, ha
anche il dovere di imporre — ai docenti che esso istituisce — una
propria dottrina morale. [611]
Come avremo a vedere, le giustificazioni del Negri non sono sempre
esattissime, ma egli è certo, fra i moderni, l’unico che abbia cercato
di giudicare con criteri, che non fossero nè frutto di volgare
empirismo, nè stereotipe ripetizioni di perifrasi altrui.
V.