had been of his Party and was then a Companion of his Fortune at the end of their repast regarding him with a visage that breathed nought but Death Petreius said he 't is fit we dye to preserve our liberty for if we stay on earth but a few days we shall have no power left to put by the shame is prepared us I demand no other proof of thy affection but Death from thy hands and as my Fortune is now stated I cannot receive a greater from thy Friendship Here stab this breast pursu'd he presenting his naked bosom pierce this heart which the Arms of our Enemies have unluckily spared and make a KING fall by thy friendly hand whose courage scorned to bow under the fortune of a puissant Enemy He mingled these words with some others so pressing that Petreius could not refuse the fatal courtesie but without farther delay ran him through with his own sword the King not so much as turning his eye aside nor letting fall the least action unbecomming the grandeur of his spirit Petreius when he had seen him breath his last turned the same point against his own breast and throwing himself upon it with all his force fell dead at his feet thus were the festival Ornaments discoloured with Royal blood and thus did this great King catch up the shield of of death to defend himself from ignominy A few days after the victorious Caesar rendered himself Master of both the Realms and with them of the Queen his spouses liberty whom he designed for one of the principal Ornaments of his Triumph she was gone some months with child when the King her Husband lost his life and was brought to bed of the Prince my Master two days after her arrival at Rome whither Caesar sent her two months before he made his triumphal entry Thus was my Prince begotten free and the Son of a King but born a slave and between his Conception and Birth happen'd that deplorable revolution of his Fortune Some days after his Birth he was carried along as one of the most remarkable Ornaments of Caesar's Triumph happy in his misfortune that as yet he understood not the shame they made him suffer being then of an age incapable of resenting the loss of his Crowns his brave Father or the death of the Queen his Mother who resigned her life a few days after she had disclosed the little Heir of her misfortunes to the World But there wanted not persons that took care of his bringing up for the great Caesar from whom the disastrous fate of his Parents had drawn some compassion caus'd him to be brought up at Rome in the garb of a Kings Son and bestowed such a particular care upon him that scarce any of his neerest kindred in that high swoln prosperity was trained to a braver Education I will yet say further and believe I shall not injure truth in affirming that the losses of his estate were in part repaired by the gallant Education he receiv'd among the Romans wherein that tender age escaping the impression of the Affrican customs and the Company of such persons which falling far short of the Romans politeness might have given him a taste of the Barbarian his excellent nature contributed such marvellous assistance to the care of those that were ordained to form him that before his age could promise it he became as accomplished in all requisites of a Prince as wish could fancy and rarely skil'd in every undertaking to which his vertuous inclination carried him In his earliest Infancy Caesar would often cause him to be brought into his presence and observing that someehing Majestick and Heroical was already risen with that morning of his excellent beauty he let him get ground in his affections to that degree as one day he broke into an earnest protestation that if the little Juba for at his birth they gave him his Father's name seconded those hopes he had already begun he would restore him the Crowns of his Ancestors but he took special care to mould him to the Roman fashion and deface all such unpolished manners as his inclinations might possibly borrow from his Affrican blood Besides to fortifie the friendship he would have him bear to the Republick he gave him a Roman name and because he was brought up in the Martian Family illustrious among the Patricians and derived from the famous Coriolanus whose valour survived him in so glorious a reputation he would have the young Prince called by his name that the appellation of Juba which sounded harsh and barbarous to a Roman ear might be covered with that of Coriolanus In all likelyhood the affection and bounty of that great Dictator would not here have stopped and doubtless the Prince had gathered the fruits of those promises if Death had not robbed him of that Protector or rather that Father before he attained to his fourth year an age that hardly rendered him capable to dream of those hopes were given him That man the greatest that ever liv'd was murder'd in the Senate-house by the ingrateful conspiracy of those that his own generosity and nobleness had rais'd from their knees all the world knew it self interessed in the loss of him who had made himself Master of it with his Sword yet held it in so gentle a subjection After Caesar's death the little Coriolanus for so was always called wanted no protection for the Senate succeeding Caesar in his Patronage took up that care of him which his death had let fall and trained him up with the Sons of divers Kings that were Friends and Alleys to Rome without making the least difference in their Expence or Equipage though their Fathers had still their Crowns in possession Divers children of noble Exteaction and an equal age descended from the families of Roman Knights were placed in his Service of which number I was appointed one and as I was always brought up near his person so his affection did me the honour to take me nearest to his heart During those cruel and dismal disorders of my Country that bloody Civil War which revenge kindled for Caesars murder the prodigious effects of that horrible Triumvirat which overflowed Rome with the blood of her noblest Citizens and that famous contest betwixt Antony and Octavius Coesar the young Prince grew up with a success miraculous Never did Eye behold a youth of those years handle his Arms with so great a grace or perform any Bodily Exercise his Tutors taught him with a dexterity comparable to his his propension led him with so much advantage to the study of Sciences as he became so learnedly vers'd in Astrology and Philosophy so critically skilled in all kind of History as the World could scarce afford another to match him and for Eloquence that famous Orator that lost his life in the heat of the Triumvirat by the cruel command of Antony could hardly challenge preheminence nor had he qualities disproportioned to these rare endowments of body and mind so that
The belief I have that Fame has made you acquainted with this pitiful History the importance of which spread it over the Earth makes me contract it in a small Volume A few dayes after Ptolomee understanding that Caesar was come into Aegypt and hearing he disapprov'd the cruel War he made against his Sister rais'd his Siege from Pelusium and bent his course towards Alexandria where he staid his coming up Cleopatra no sooner saw her City ungirt and her self at liberty but by the counsel of her faithfullest Servants and especially of my Father Apollodorus who had ever much credit with her she resolv'd to throw her self at the feet of Caesar and demand his protection before he arriv'd at Alexandria This design was presently executed and she and her Train wafted over with a winged diligence to the Isle of Farion where Caesar had made some small abode I was of that number that attended her and because of the faithful service which my Father ever render'd her none had freer access nor greater credit than my self The great Caesar being advertiz'd of her arrival came to meet her with much Civility and because I was present at that interview 't is fit I should recount some of the particulars Cleopatra the better to advance her design had that day call'd both Art and Glory to wait upon her Natural Beauty that it might sparkle at the best advantage and though in her habit she had affected a Modesty conform'd to her present estate and therefore concluded Mourning more becoming than Pomp in an action wherein she was to appear a Suppliant yet both her Mourning and her Modesty were set off with what was more great and pompous than the dazling Luxury of Gold Jewels could boast Her Eyes darted Beams more Glorious than the richest Diamond could sparkle and the Majesty of her Port and Visage did more loftily express her quality than could be done by a magnifick and a numerous train of Seruitors If her view put Caesar and his Followers to their wonder I confess too the visage of that brave man the greatest not only of his own but of all the Ages that preceded it stampt a respect in all our Souls that made us regard him as if he had been a God That prodigious reputation he had gained in a hundred Battels against the most valiant people of the World and his last Victory upon the Romans themselves which he came from subduing with a far less number than theirs gave us an astonishment full of veneration Indeed his face did not belie the dignity and grandeur of his actions And though there was something missing there that must needs go away with his vigorous youth yet there appear'd all the marks of a perfect Greatness his Looks so imperious and yet so full of sweetness that it was not easie to take him for less than the Master of the Universe Caesar and Cleopatra before they spake spent some time in gazing at one another making their looks and silence express their mutual admiration but at last Cleopatra considering she was in his presence that had her repose and fortunes in his hands or rather was the Master of her Destiny bowed her haughty Disposition and forcing a more than ordinary humility from the dexterity of her spirit threw her self at the feet of Caesar and resisting his earnest and vehement entreaties to rise You see Great Emperonr said she you see at your feet the Daughter of the Ptolomees that is here to demand that of you against a cruel Brother which from his Arm she might expect against other Enemies Oppressed Innocence and Imbecillity implore your assistance and do proffer a brave employment to your Generous Bounty that cannot shew it self in a more becoming garb than in protecting a Princess persecuted by unnatural Cruelty in her Fortune Repose and Life in the same estate my Ancestors commanded part of which is my Legitimate Inheritance I have now no other Retreat but your Favour and if that be denied me I must render up my self to a Brothers Cruelty in whom neither my Bloud Sex nor Youth can ever ingender pity Let me not embrace your victorious Knees in vain before which all that is great on Earth must learn Obedience and confess thee as great and as much Caesar in generosity as in that triumphant bravery that has made thee Master of Rome and with her of all the World beside The fair Princess had doubtless said more if Caesar no longer able to hear or suffer her upon her Knees though accustom'd to see Kings whole dayes in the same posture had not employ'd after the trial of entreaty the force of Arms to raise her and having placed her in an estate better conform'd to what her Beauty might claim Fear not Cleopatra said he the Roman Arms shall defend thee from thy Brothers threatnings and if he contemns our Prayer we will not leave Aegypt till we have provided for thy Repose and Fortune He pronounc'd these words with a Roman gravity and a Majesty that equall'd his condition but a while after seconding his parlie with the Princess his temper was so softned with the charms he there encountred as he lost all his Gravity and in his following discourses put a submissive behaviour in the place After he had re-assur'd her fears by repeating his promise not to abandon her he told her he would conduct her to Alexandria present her to her Brother and put her in possession of her partage in the Realm Cleopatra's experience of her Brothers ill Nature gave her some difficulty to resolve it but at last she was constrain'd to obey the absolute will of Caesar who presently dispatched one of his chief Commanders to let Ptolomee know that he could not see him as a Friend nor as an Allie to the People of Rome if he refus'd to receive Cleopatra whom he intended to present him with all assurance of Reconciliation Ptolomee entertain'd this imperious Order with a most sensible despight and had much ado to hinder the escape of some passionate folly but he stood in too much awe of the Roman puissance to profess his indignation which made him resolve to dissemble till time should offer him an occasion to shew it at the best advantage He therefore unwillingly forc'd himself to submit to the impos'd Command and in the mean time to render Caesar more favourable he sent him by the wicked Theodorus the head of mighty Pompey but his expectation prov'd so erroneous as that Generous Conquerour instead of bidding the Present welcome refus'd to see it and commanded the wretch that brought it to be chased from his Presence after he had express'd how much he detested his Masters Treachery in terms full of contempt and Choler nevertheless he enter'd Alexandria where Ptolomee receiv'd him with great respect and many feigned demonstrations of good will Cleopatra upon this score was likewise entertain'd with kind embraces Ptolomee protesting before Caesar that he was ready to resign up
over-joy'd at this promise of his Princess as it put a large part of that grief to flight which he took to leave her but after he had tendered a thousand thanks at her feet in the most passionate language that love could utter rising from his knee in a deep succession of sighs that witnessed the return of his woes to their old possession and a face overflowed with tears which rise in rebellion against his Courage he disposed himself to take his leave the Princess wept excessively and my Prince and she felt the pangs of their affliction rise to that height of fortune as they both drew an unluckly Augury from that separation Cleopatra kept him a long time close Prisoner in her arms but having at last unlock'd those dear chains and let him go after she had left him her last adieu she retired to her lodgings in so woful a posture and so enfeebled with grief as it had scarce left her strength enough to guide her foot-steps young Ptolomee and the Princess her Sisters were sad to extreams but I think the parting of Marcellus and my Master would have sostned all the souls upon Earth that were most incapable of amity a hundred times did they part and a hundred times came back again into each others arms mingling such passionate and tender language which the repetition of every embrace as I that quitted my Country my Friends and the neerest of my blood with a moderate regret could not look upon them and not melt at the eyes with a feminine weakness at last necessity rent them asunder and they deem'd it not safe for Marcellus either to go himself or send any company with Coriolanus to bring him part of his way for fear the courtesie should make too much noise and lest there should be found so cheap and sordid a soul among Marcellus followers to sell his fidelity for the Emperours reward in revealing our departure and the way we bent at After this cruel adieu we went to meet the two Deputies who with Strato and our Horses stai'd for us in Mars's field where my Prince having armed himself we marched out at the neerest gate and following the track of our Equipage which Marcellus sent away the night before we found them at the Port of Brindes with such of our servants as our Order commanded thither and there finding some vessels that accustomed to traffick upon the Coasts of Africk Hippias and Lisippus hired one with the Merchants in it to whom they gave their desires and we presently imbarqu'd with a favourable wind and pat off to Sea Ah how many sad looks and deep sighs did Coriolanus send back to the Italian shoar how sensibly did he feel himself torn from the precious pawn he left behind him Winds would he sometimes cry the more kindly you breath upon our designs the further you remove me from Cleopatra nor can you be propitious to our voyage unless you divorce me by a large distance from the noblest part of my self he still inlarged his discourse upon that subject undisguising the marks of all those cruel quietudes wherewith his passion shook him In the mean time our Sails were filled and guilded with the breath and beauty of heaven nor did ever any voyage of that length begin and end with a Calm more agreeable the Horison was not sullied with a Cloud and we felt not so much as a blast that was not requisite to swell our Canvas and drive on our Barque to the African shoar At last after a happy Navigation we passed Hercules Pillars and a few days after entered the Cape of Ampelusa the chiefest Promontory upon all the Coast of Africk where disembarquing our selves we mounted on Horseback and lay the next night at the City of Lissa seated upon the River Lixus the Metropolis of all Mauritania from thence we marched to the City Babba and then succeeded to Banasa where the popular credit of Hippias and Lisippus had greatest influence and there it was they thought fit my Master should first begin to own himself they caus'd the report of his arrival to be sown among their friends with the design that brought him thither to dis-inthral them from the Roman Tyranny if they had Courage enough to draw their Swords with his in the Quarrel and prefer the Government of their natural Prince to the intollerable yoak the Roman had impos'd the reputation of those great things my Master had done as well of late against the Cantabrians as in the Tyrociny of his arms in Germany had travelled through all Africa and his Fathers Subjects who deeply concerned themselves in the Fortune had listened to the story that Fame told them of their lawful Princes Heroick acts with a joy full of affection and tenderness a thousand and a thousand times had they sigh'd for the same happiness that then offered it self to their acceptance and those of Banassa no sooner understood that he was within their Walls but they flew into a throng to see him at the first sight meeting with that in his face which promised more than report had spoke of they threw themselves at his feet called him their King and beg'd he would bring them on to redeem his Fathers Subjects from slavery but by little and little the press was swollen to such a bulk as the tenth part of those that run thither could not get neer to Coriolanus lodging and while Hippias staid neer his person Lisippus ranging through the City and claiming the arrival of Juba's Son the people rose so universally as the very Women and Children loudly cryed out in the streets to be shown their Prince to let them see the Son of Juba you will not think this strange when I have told you that the Romans having exerciz'd an untroubled authority in Mauritania for three or four and twenty years and believing their horrible exactions had aw'd that people with too servile a fear to attempt the removal of any pressure had neglected the care of such things as necessity required to preserve it in so much as the places of the greatest importance excepted they kept no Garrisons in the rest that were not too weak for the inhabitants besides the Souldiers had ingrafted themselves into their families by Conjugal alliance and lived among them with a fearless security through the cruelty of their Companions that held the stronger holds and the rigour of their Governour and Vice-roy had run them into desperate apprehensions The Garrison of Banasa no sooner saw the tumult of which they learned the cause as soon as the Citizens but finding themselves too feeble to face the storm they quitted the City and with all the hast they could make retired to a Neighbouring Garrison while some that followed too slowly were torn in pieces by the first fury of the multitude The Prince perceiving he had now no longer time to dissemble openly pull'd off the Mask and the second day mounting on Horse-back rid through the whole City shewing
it be so when you shall remember that we passed together the beginnings of your exile and that it was in the Court of the King of Armenia my Father where you took your first retreat you are then added Tyridates the Son of Artibasus King of Armenia I am replyed the Unknown Artaxus his eldest Son and the successor of his Crown At this knowledge of the King of Armenia Tyridates rising from his Chair to consider him a little nearer and remembring by little and little the ancient Ideas which time had blotted out of his memory Ah Sir said he what Fortune have I to have given you this poor retreat in exchange of that which I found in your house and how I am obliged to my Fortune since she hath given me-occasion to render some service to a King with whom in our youth I had framed so dear acquaintance It is a great comfort to me added the Armenian affectionately embracing him and I shall now with an entire confidence acquaint you with the particulars of my life and the secret of my affairs which have brought me hither and retain me here in this Country From these words they passed to an entertainment full of civility and mutual offers wherein the King of Armenia obliged Tyridates to give him a relation of his transactions which he did without speaking of his love which was the most important thing of his life and when Artaxus was satisfied in what he desired to know of him It is just said he I should make you a recital of those things which obliged me to quit my Kingdom to pass unknown into strange Countries I will do it after a short recapitulation of my life and though by some things which too just a resentment hath made me do possibly I expose my self to some reproach from a spirit whose inclinations have been all to sweetness yet I will pass over this difficulty to declare my self wholly to you and I will acquaint you with the pure truth without disguise or artifice The History of ARTAXUS King of ARMENIA I Will not speak to you at all concerning the first years of my life the beginnings whereof are passed away without any memorable event and you have learned the particulars of my education during the time you sojourned with us when flying from the cruelty of the King your Brother you took your first retreat at Artaxata You know the deplorable accident of our house and how by the cruel surprize of Anthony the unfortunate Artibasus together with the Prince Ariobarzanes my Brother and the two Princesses Arsinoe and Artemisa my Sisters was taken prisoner and led to Alexandria where after two years captivity he lost his head by the solicitation of the King of the Medes and the command of Cleopatra I was seventeen years of age when the King my Father was taken and during his Imprisomnent the Armenians having acknowledged me for their lawful Prince I employed all my power for the liberty of the King my Father and I forgot neither the solicitations of the Friends of Anthony to free him by fair means nor the way of arms wherein I joyned my self with Caesar his enemy to deliver him by open force In fine it was the will of the Gods and our unlucky destiny that this deplorable Prince against all manner of example and against all Law divine and humane died publickly by an infamous hand and left in his family not only grief and desolation but also too just subjects of eternal resentments for so bloody an injury and for an injury whereby the dignity of all Kings was unworthily violated I no sooner received the Crown which the Armenians presently after set upon my head but I received therewith most natural and most lawful desires of vengeance and upon the very day of my Coronation I engaged my self by a solemn oath to employ all my power even to the last drop of my blood to repair our disgrace and not to spare for any consideration either age or sex in any that should fall into my hands of the blood or alliance of Cleopatra or the King of the Medes A little after the Gods did in part revenge me and the satisfaction I received by the last misfortunes of Anthony and Cleopatra is so well known to you and to all the world that I need not speak of it to you The cruel persons perish by a just indignation of Heaven which sacrificed them to the Manes of the two Kings and to the complaints of so many persons upon whose ruine their power was established A little while after the wicked King of the Medes died miserably Tygranes his Son a young Prince of my age succeeded to his Crown and I saw my self without any other object of my revenge than the children of the horrible murtherers of Artibasus The misfortune of their Fathers which possibly might have satisfied me if it had happened unto them by my means alone being befallen them by other hands was not capable of contenting me and I continued in a most firm resolution to revenge my self of the outrage they had done me upon their children and whatsoever had any relation to them either of alliance or amity As for the children of Cleopatra I lost the means of my revenge by their retreat with Caesar and by the support they found with the Emperor the Senate and the people of Rome they had no Provinces left which I might waste with fire and sword for my satisfaction and to take it upon their persons I must force them in Rome it self and overturn the powers of the Empire and the Emperour which protected them with whom I had made an alliance very necessary for the conservation of my estate I was then constrained to turn my thoughts against the Son of the unfaithful Median and when I saw my self confirmed in my Kingdom I dreamed of nothing but War upon him and after very great preparations I entred into his Country with a considerable power where I began my vengeance by all manner of acts of hostility I will not entertain you with the particulars of this War the events thereof were a long time doubtful and two years past wherein much blood was shed on either side Fortune not absolutely declaring for either party The third year I had very great advantages which made me expect some part of that success I had desired I took Towns I gained Battels and the fourth year I hoped with all appearance for the entire ruine of my Enemy when the Gods fortified him with great succours and weakned me by the loss of single Man which was more hurtful to me than the loss of a good part of my Troops would have been The King of Cilicia and his Son with a great Army came into Media in defence of Tygranes their near Kinsman and a little after upon some effect of my revenge which I intended following my resolution upon all my Enemies having had some jar with Britomarus who at that time
fatal to Ariamenes as to Merodates and consider once more that it will be in thine own power without injuring thy Reputation to be the Friend of Merodates revenger upon Adallas and possessor of Olympia This was Merodates's Letter which Ariobarzanes readd with some astonishment and found it very different from what he expected It was written with a great deal of Artifice and likelihood of Truth and Merodates had forgotten nothing which probably might move a man very much injured and very amorous All the reason in the World seemed to be upon his side and certainly there were but few men whom this hope of becoming possessor of a person beloved by such wayes as his just resentment might in some sort save his honour would not have caused to waver and it may be have absolutely convinced but the vertue of Ariobarzanes was very remote from this Proposition and neither all his resentment against the Brother nor all his love to the Sister kept him one moment unresolved what in point of Duty to do He gave the Letter smiling to some of his Officers which were near him See said he what opinion they have of us and with what Arms they would encounter with us In the mean time he returned an Answer to Merodates which as I take it was in these Terms Prince Ariamenes to Merodates Prince of Chersonesus IF thou hadst really valued my Courage thou would'st not have ventured upon the Proposion which thou hast made me and 't is but a bad Testimony of thy Amity and Esteem to counsel me to baseness When thou didst detest Ingratitude and bemoan my Disgrace thou didst follow the motions of thy Vertue but without doubt thou wert not guided by that when thou didst propose to me to betray a People who have absolutely committed themselves and their destiny to my Conduct If I would be revenged upon Adallas it should not be whil'st he is a Prisoner and if I would pretend to the possession of Olympia it should not be by unworthy meaus if it please the gods that I shall obtain her she will be much more gloriously acquired by me when I shall have restored to her Family the Crown of her Ancestors when I shall have chased her Enemies out of her Countrey and when I shall have brought back her Brother with Freedom and Victory than when by a base Treason I shall have dishonoured all the Actions of my life and rendred my self unworthy of her Esteem I thank thee for the Dignities which thou offerest me but if thou knewest me thou wouldst possibly understand that the Prince of Chersonesus hath no Dignities in his power that are worth Ariamenes 's acceptance Yet I will not disdain thy Amity when I may receive it without Reproach and possibly thou wilt judge me more worthy of it than thou didst before when thou shalt have seen me in the Field near enough to take an exact knowledge of me This was the use that Ariobarzanes made of Merodates's offers and the next day according to the deliberation which he had formerly taken he dislodged his Troops to march towards the Town where the King was kept Prisoner As he had no design to conceal his march so it was presently taken notice of by Merodates and being it was not Merodates's intention to suffer that place to be taken which he knew was not strong enough to endure the first Assault he discamped his Army and marched to meet Ariamenes His Troops were stronger still than ours and composed of men better versed in War than those which we had drawn out from amongst the Citizens of Bizantium and this was that which easily diposed him to a Battel not believing that Ariamenes as valiant as he was could stop the course of his Victories and Fortune The Armies having not far to march before they met were quickly one in sight of another and then it was that their valiant Generals employed their utmost cares to facilitate the Victory Neither of them forgot any thing that might conduce thereunto and I understood afterwards that Ariamenes having ranged his men in such an order as my incapacity doth not permit me to describe made a speech to them with so much Eloquence and Gallantry that he inspired them with a more than natural ardor and animated them by his Discourse and Example to attempts beyond his expectation I cannot inform you of the particulars of that Battel which possibly was the most bloody and the best disputed that was ever fought between two Armies of their strength Above eight long hours the Success continued doubtful and uncertain and in that time the Troops on either side were almost absolutely defeated The Generals were extreamly valiant and their Souldiers seconded them with all their power Merodates's men had an advantage over ours by reason of the Number of those who were drawn out of Bizantium who being a great deal less used to War than the rest much weakned our Party But the brave Ariamenes did so well supply their default and did so encourage them both by his words and his great Actions that he made them do that which could hardly have been expected from Veteran Souldiers and in fine confirmed them in the resolution to suffer themselves to be cut in pieces or to purchase that day the peace and repose of their Countrey Alas how much blood did these gallant resolutions of both Parties cause to be shed on either side and how many deaths made that day famous in the memory of the Thracians A great part of the day was spent when at last that Fortune which had so inseparably accompanied Merodates against Adallas and Eurimedes began to give ground before Ariamenes and by the prodigious efforts of that young Prince the remainder of the Troops of Chersonesus began by little and little to give way to ours and looked as if they were about to quit the Victory Merodates perceiving â—t and being filled with despair at the knowledge of it did things above beleife to recover the advantage we had gotten and to preserve that which the precedent Battels had acquired him He rode from rank to rank with a Martial countenance and by his ardent endeavours turned his Forces more than once upon ours with such an impetuosity as made the event of Battel a long time doubtful Ariamenes who had fought for him all that day as much as the Functions of his charge could permit him having percieved him and taken notice of him by several marks charged up to him with an exclamation and an action which discovered him to his Enemy and when he was near enough to be understood by him Merodates cryed he there is blood enough shed spare that which remains of thy Party if thou can st possibly and let us finish the destiny of this day in our own persons Thou shalt see by that proof whether I be worthy of thy Amity or not and thou wilt not dishonour thy Arms in employing them against a Prince whose Birth is
up to us nor indeed have you lost it for your being brought among persons whom you may as freely command as the most inconsiderable of your own subjects Be pleased to pardon the discourse my Uncle hath entertained you with as proceeding meerly out of the compassion he hath for my misfortune and since you cannot be mov'd thereat follow your own inclinations without any fear that the advantage the chance of the war hath given us shall any way prejudice your liberty Nor is it out of that consideration that I would make any Proposal to you or press you at a time when you thought your self not free to a thing which at any other I should not with much more confidence have demanded You shall this day return among your own people if your health will permit it and from what hath happened in this War I derive not any power over your person or pretension to your Countrey but for what I have to Ismenia I am so far from being resolved to quit it that I will dispute her with those whom you have designed her for nay with all the world to the last drop of my bloud Segestes though exasperated as he was yet could not forbear a certain confusion at the generosity of Arminius but he persisted in his resolutions thinking it enough to tell him that if Fortune should in the sequel of the War declare her self of his side he would acknowledge upon a like occasion the honourable treatment he had received After this Arminius would not have any thing said to him but what related to his departure and as soon as he had dined causing Horses to be brought for him and all the prisoners taken with him he garded him in person till they came in sight of Amasia which was one of his Cities whither he was willing to retreat as having ordered his Lieutenants to rally all his broken Forces near that place As he took leave of him he begged his pardon for the affliction he might conceive at his being taken whereof he had been as sensible as himself told him resolute enough that as for his person he should ever consider it as sacred but that excepted he would not spare any thing in the world and would carry War Fire and Sword where-ever he came or become possessor of Ismenia Though this procedure of Arminius was the effect of more generosity then policy yet me thought it argued so much gallantry that I could not condemn it notwithstanding his precipitation into things which his Father might haply disapprove such as the setting at liberty of a man who at that time was an Enemy to us upon other accounts then the Love of Arminius and whose person while in our custody might prove very dangerous to our party Yet could not Arminius repent him of it as hoping his Father would pardon what he had done out of the affection he bore him and the compliance he had for his Loves especially seeing he had impowered him to do any thing conducing to his design and was content he should marry Ismenia though Segestes continued his Alliance with our Enemies Some days after he received a recompence for that action by a Letter of Ismenia's which was delivered him by a man who suffered himself to be taken by our Scouts and desired to be brought before him He open'd it with certain eruptions of joy and found the Tenour of it to be this The Princess Ismenia to Prince ARMINIUS OUght I to love you Arminius because you love me and persist in your fidelity to me or should I hate you because you are in Arms against us and spread terrour and death through my Father's Dominions I was in suspence or at least I ought to have suspended between these two contrarieties when news was brought me both of your Victory and of the generous treatment you have afforded my Father 'T is worthy you and I find it so far worthy my affection that to satisfie so great an obligation I can do no less then assure you of my remembrance of it which the condition we are in may haply make criminal in me and confirm to you the promise I have made you never to be man's if I cannot be yours Arminius read it thousands of times and as often kissed all the characters of it with such transports as his Love and Youth only could plead excusable in him He afterwards fell into discourses the most Passionate amorous imaginable and made so considerable presents to the Messenger that he will have reason while he lives to be satisfied with his condition The next day he sent him back to the Princess with this Answer Prince Arminius to the Princess Ismenia THat you are obliged to love me is because I have your promise to do it because Segestes hath enjoined you and that I shall love you while I live beyond what any other possibly may do and if there be a necessity you should hate me 't is because I am unfortunate But I am satisfied your respect to Justice is greater then to cast your hatred on that which deserves your compassion I should have feared the taking of Segestes might have displeased you had I not presumed you satisfied that the affliction I conceived there at was equal to his and that I would have been glad with the loss of much of my bloud to have spared him the confusion it put him into Pardon my dearest Princess these sad effects of my misfortune and give me leave ever to hope that if Fortune favours you will not oppose my designs Mean time we were advanced a days march beyond the place where the Battel was fought but we went forward but slowly expecting a supply of seven or eight thousand men which Clearchus was to send us and by the strict orders were issued out our Forces behaved themselves very civilly in the Countrey of the Ingriones as being unwilling to ruine an innocent people for the unjustice of their Governour Many places submitted to us without resulance while Segestes was fortifying himself at Bogadium whether he had retreated so that we became Masters of all the Countrey of the Casuares except some few Cities those not very strong which could not hold out against us the Countrey all about being at our devotion Having brought things to this pass our designs received a sudden check by the intelligence we received at the same time from the Cherusci by a man whom Clearchus had sent from the Ingriones by certain persons about Segestes whom the noble treatment they had receiv'd from us had made our Friends By the Envoy from Clearchus we understood that the King of Suevi who was the nearest and most powerful Neighbour of the Cherusci one that not long before had engaged in the party of the Romanes made an Alliance with Segestes instead of sending into the Province of the Ingriones the supply we spoke of before to make a diversion that might restore peace to the Ingriones had made
have for Elisa This desire of the Queens is so just added the Princess that I cannot imagine you will make any difficulty to satisfie it and my confidence in the affection you have for me is such as I dare hope greater demonstrations of it Artahan all submission for the commands of Elisa immediately smothered all the repugnances he had to conceal the glorious name of Pompey And though his thoughts were already upon such designs as would make it more known in the world than haply it had been in the triumphs of his Father nay to make it a terrour even to those who had ruin'd him yet finding much reason and likelihood in the Queens discourse and reflecting how highly he had been obliged by the Princesses who had not slighted him for a husband and son in law while he was yet but son to Briton he thought he could not without ingratitude but comply with their desires and thereupon assured them that how glorious soever it were to him to make the world sensible of his being son to Pompey yet all gave way to the obedience he had for the advice of a Queen and Princess to whom he both was and would be obliged for all things and that what condition soever they might out of their goodness raise him to he should never forget the generosity they had exprest towards a person who had received nothing from Fortune but his sword nor to the last gasp quit that happy name of Artaban under which he had the glory to serve the Princess Elisa After such expressions of himself and that resolution taken the Queen dismiss'd him to the caresses of Briton who was so transported with joy that he could hardly contain himself Artaban on the other side satisfying him that though he ceased to be his son yet was the affection he had for him no less than if he had been his true father as finding greater reasons to love him upon the account of his education and his faithful and generous deportment towards him then upon the obligation of birth The Queen and Princess entertained him with great demonstrations of their esteem and all put him into hopes that his last days should be more happy and more glorious then all the precedent part of his life had been Mean time Sempronius had acquainted Caesar with Cleopatra's resolution concerning the way proposed to her to save Coriolanus's life by a marriage with Tiberius upon an assurance from Coriolanus's own mouth that he would accept of his life upon those terms Augustus Livia nay Tiberius himself conceived little hope from that answer of Cleopatra's as concluding from the knowledge they had of the great courage of Juba's son that questionless he would prefer death before the loss of Cleopatra and so they imagined it was only to have the opportunity to see the Prince that she had sent Sempronus back with that message They were a good while in consulting whether they should permit that interview it being Tiberius's fear it might destroy all that had been done in order to his satisfaction but at last they thought it should be granted though but to oblige Cleopatra to make an absolute discovery of her intentions that it could not be prejudicial as things stood with her and the Prince nay that it was not impossible but that the fear of present death and that such as appears with a much different face from that which it hath in combats might shake Coriolanus's constancy It was therefore resolved that Cleopatra should visit Coriolanus in the Castle where he was in restraint that Sempronius should attend her thither and that she should not speak to the Prince but in the presence of Sempronius and Levinus Sempronius was the person employed to bring her this order She received him in her chamber where she was with her brothers Queen Candace Antonia and Artemisa She hearkned to Sempronius with much patience and moderation And when he had delivered his message I am content Sempronius said she to him to go along with you to the Prison where Coriolanus is I shall speak to him in your presence as having nothing in my thoughts which I dare not discover and do any thing he shall desire me to save a life which I value much beyond my own With those words she immediately prepared for her departure inflamed with impatience to see her beloved Prince whom she had so little seen since the discovery of his fidelity had set him right in her thoughts The Princesses her Brothers would have accompanied her and Antonia and Artemisa would have gone along but Sempronius told them the Emperour had given him order to the contrary The two Princesses were extremely troubled at it and the three Princesses loudly exprest their sentiment of the rigorous treatment they received in a City which brought into their memory all the old injuries and might put them upon a design to shake off the unjust yoke imposed upon them Candace who was no less desirous to see Caesario then Cleopatra was to see Coriolanus sent to the Emperour to desire his permission to do it but it would not be granted upon which cruel refusal almost out of her self with grief after she had detested the inflexibility and injustice of Augustus she out of the greatness of her courage sought out the means to oppose his Tyrannie and deliver her Caesario out of the captivity and danger he was in by other ways than intreaties and tears The incomparable daughter of Anthony went out of the Palace alone attended by her women and Sempronius with some of the Emperours Guard and taking leave of her Brothers and the Princesses she left in her chamber she embraced them and bid them adieu as if she had been to go a long and dangerous journey The old Castle of Alexandria where the Princes were secured was at an extremity of the City that had on one side the sea and was fortified towards the City with a deep and broad moat having been the seat of the ancient Kings of Egypt before the late Ptolomies built the sumptuous Palace which Queen Cleopatra had finished it was commodious enough to serve for other uses than what it was then put to there being in it some Lodgings not only convenient but magnificent There were the sons of Juba and Caesar in restraint both with little hope of deliverance thence other than that of death as having learnt either by experience or the reputation spread abroad of him that Augustus was no less implacable towards his enemies and those whom upon consideration of policy he was jealous of then kinde and obliging towards his friends and those whom no concernment of State put him into any fear of Upon this reflection they both had present death in their thoughts yet how cruel soever it might be to persons in the height of blood and youth all its terrours troubled not their mindes so much as the remembrance of their Princesses Notwithstanding the danger they were in the lively
him That time is past with you said the insolent Eurilochus and since fortune hath now submitted you to those who heretofore attended upon you you must do by them as they did once by you and expect your destiny from their will as they expected and received from Anthony's These words full of Pride and reproach put me into such choler against him that spake them that I could not dissemble but looking upon him with an eye full of disdain and indignation both together 'T is thy interest said I to him to oppose my liberty and if it pleased the Gods that we were in another condition assure thy self thy life should pay for thy insolence Eurilochus though he was in a condition not to fear my threatnings looked pale at this discourse and seeing something in my face which in spight of the condition wherein I then was forced him to some respect he held down his head and turned himself another way without reply After that day I had no more conversation either with him or his companion but I entertained my self only with my two faithful servants who were acquainted with the whole secret of my life and sometimes when I could by stealth with the Keeper that brought me the Princesse's Letters In fine after some scurvy formalities that Artaxus made use of in his proceedings by his cruel orders I was condemned to lose my head upon a scaffold in the great place of Artaxata the rumour of it presently spread it self through the whole City but I assure my self that the most pitiless of the inhabitants did not approve that cruelty Cepio by whose imprudence I was reduced to this condition who since that time had not stirred from Artaxata was one of the first that heard that news He almost died with grief when he considered himself as the cause of my misfortune and the only cause of his stay in the Armenian Court was to seek some occasion to make some reparation for the fault he had committed When he understood the cruel sentence passed against me he went boldly to present himself before Artaxus and without fear of the danger he might incur by provoking him King of Armenia said he I understand that you have condemned the Son of Antony to a shameful death but take good heed how you execute that sentence which will be your ruine and give no way to the death of that Prince except you desire to see the destruction of your People and the absolute desolation of your Dominions And who shall lay desolate my Dominions replyed the King of Armenia with a scornful look who shall ruine my people and execute thy threats Augustus answered Cepio and all the principal persons of Rome who either by blood or friendship have interest in Alexander the whole Empire the whole World will arm with them for the revenge of that Prince and you will see such powers fall upon you upon this quarrel as will infallibly ruine you Augustus replyed Artaxus ought rather to be a friend to me than to the son of his enemy and the remainders of the blood of Anthony will not be more considerable to him than the Kings of Armenia his most ancient Allies Iâ— Augustus be dis-interessed as without doubt he is I do not much value the rest and to those powers thou talkest of I shall oppose others that shall protect me from the effect of thy menaces but let what will happen the Son of Cleopatra shall die to morrow and thou shalt have thy part in the spectacle if thou hast a mind to it in the publique place Yes bluntly replyed Cepio I will have my share in the Spectacle and seeing the young Prince is fallen into this misfortune by my imprudence I will hazard my dearest blood in endeavouring the reparation of my fault With these words he went from the King who had left hearkning to him before and would not have suffered him to have said so much if those about him had not perswaded him to give way a little to the humour of this hair-brain'd man In the mean while the Princess no sooner understood that the sentence of my death was passed and that I was to die the next day without delay but she flew out of her chamber transported with grief with an intention to make use of the last remedies that were left her As she was going to the King she found him upon the top of the stairs and she no sooner saw him but running to him with an action full of the marks of her grief and casting her self at his knees which she embraced and moistened with her tears Sir said she once my brother full of tenderness and affection and now a King inaccessible to pity either command my life to be taken away in your presence or give me Alexander ' s. The barbarous King was not at all moved to compassion at this spectacle but rudely snatching himself out of his Sisters arms Die if thou wilt said he woman without resentment or honour and believe that in the dis-esteem thou hast caused me to have of thee I shall be so far from giving thee Alexander 's life that I would not give the life of the least of my enemies to save thine With these words he flung away without so much as looking upon her more and the Princess rising up full of grief and despair Yes Monster cryed she I will die and death will be a thousand times more sweet to me than the life I can lead with a Tiger and a Barbarian I will die seeing thou wouldest have it so but by my death I will furnish thee with revenging furies which shall eternally torment thee At these expressions breaking out a fresh into tears and being in a condition that imprinted a tender compassion in all that were present at this action she ran to her appartment where she threw her self between the arms of Leucippe and the rest of her women and was ready to expire there through the violence of her grief What Alexander said she shalt thou die and shall this unfortunate creature for whom thou hast exposed thy self with so much love not have the credit with a brother to divert the inhumane instrument of death from thy head Doth this day onely remain to thee of that life which thou hadst so generously bestowed upon me and shall I behold the bloody preparatives of thy death without preventing it Ah no Alexander hope better of my courage and do not suspect me of a baseness whereof I am not capable I might possibly have lived or lingred out a few days in grief if any other kind of death had separated us but dying here and dying only for my sake who wert always faithful to me since our first acquaintance I am engaged both by my affection and by my honor to bear thee company it shall never be laid as a reproach upon me that I drew thee hither by the command I did once lay upon thee to sacrifice thee in our Country
to the passion of an inhumane brother and Cleopatra that Cleopatra which by her cruelty authorized Artaxu 's shall never accuse me amongst the shades below for approving against her blood of the revenging of the injury which she did to our family She spake some other words besides after which having employed all the rest of the day almost in seeking unprofitably for some expedients for my assistance at last she abandoned her self to desperate resolutions All this while I was in prison where about the end of the day my sentence was pronounced to me and I was advertised to prepare my self for death the terrible countenances of those that brought me this news could not refrain from shewing some signs of compassion and according to their report they found something extraordinary in my face which made them regret my destiny I will not tell you that I received this sad intelligence without being troubled at it and whatsoever courage Heaven bestows upon a man when his mind is not prepossessed with despair it is a difficult thing for him to endure the face of an horrible and shameful death without astonishment and trouble I was young and more happy in the affection of Artemisa than I had confidence to wish and in a likelyhood to improve my life to the best advantages these reasons without doubt made me find death of a more hard digestion than usually it is to those whose misfortunes smooth the face of it I confess I was troubled and that I had a combat with nature wherein reason at first did not prevail without some difficulty and I could not dispose my self without regret to abandon my hopes but yet after I had yielded a little to humane frailty I was sooner resolved than many persons very timorous would have been and at last I made use of my courage to let my enemies know that all the ill they could do me was not capable to cast me down After I began to speak O Cleopatra said I 't is just that since I have received my life from you I should render it back for the reparation of your faults And afterwards turning my self towards them that had brought me news of my death Artaxus said I doth very vigorously revenge the death of his father and hath taken a great deal of pains and run a great many hazards for his own satisfaction but tell him that he should have taken his course by way of arms both against Anthony and the deceased King of the Medes for the liberty or the revenge of his Father and that this which he now takes upon me can neither repair the baseness he hath committed in suffering this injury for the time past nor give me so much regret for my death as to oblige me to be beholding to him for my life if he should be in the humour to give it me yet let him know that his cruelty shall not remain unpunished and that I shall leave persons behind me who shall more nobly and more generously call him to accompt for this offence I sent them back with these words and staying with those of my ordinary guard I began by little to surmount all the difficulties that I found in this passage Night was come on when the Keeper that was wont to give me Artemisa's Letters by the means he was accustomed to use presented me with the last which she had written an hour before and with the Letter he gave me a little Vessel wrapped up in a paper the little necessity I had at that time to dissemble my affairs made be presently open the Letter and at the sight of those dear Characters which I immediately kissed not being able to forbear some tears O Artemisa said I 't is just that your goodness should continue as long as my life but after my death wish you a repose which may never be crossed by any remembrance of Alexander and after I had given some kisses more to this precious writing I read these words The Princess Artemisa to Prince Alexander YOu must die my dear Alexander and I would not send you this news but that I am resolved to die with you all my hopes are extinguished Artaxus is inexorable and I see my self at last reduced to that deplorable condition I so much feared Let us die since Heaven hath so decreed it but let us not suffer Artaxus and the People of Armenia to glut their eyes with the cruel spectacle By this poison that I send you you may avoid the shame they intend you and I have kept as much for my self to avoid the shame I should have to survive you Adieu my dear Alexander and if by my death I do not acquit my self of what I owe to yours let your affection supply that defect and believe that if my life were far more precious I should have given it you with all my heart There was hardly any need either of dagger or poison to take away my life at the reading of this Letter and I was so struck to the heart that grief alone wanted but a little of immediately contenting the rage of my Enemies these last testimonies of Artemisa's unmoveable affection rendred me the most happy of men but they made me find some regret too in my death which without doubt I should not have done if she had not loved me and seeing her as she sent me word in a resolution to die I was seased with so violent a displeasure at it that there was no room for comfort in my soul I took the Vessel wherein the poison she sent me was and delivered it to Tideus to prepare it in a potion receiving this present from Artemisa with a great deal of satisfaction as likely to free me from the shame wherein a great part of the punishment to which I was destinied did consist After I had sufficiently tormented my self at the Princesses design wherein I found sufficient reason to die desperate if I should not divert her from it I desired to give her the last assurances of my fidelity in a Letter which I wrote unto her in these terms Prince Alexander to the Princess Artemisa I Am ready to die my dear Princess and I part from this life without any other regret than of quitting you for ever I shall die but half if you preserve that part of me which I leave you and death it self cannot take from you but I shall die twice and the most cruel death that can be imagined if you suffer me to part in that fear whereinto your fatal resolution hath put me I have dearly received the present you sent me but I conjure to employ the remainder for other uses than for the destruction of the most perfect Master piece of the Gods a loss so inconsiderable as mine should not give a Princess of your quality occasions of despair and you cannot conceive a thought of it without rendring my end full of horrour and giving me greater resentments against your cruelty than against
puffed up with the glory of his gallant actions had the boldness to raise his eyes to me and the same whom as I told you I repulsed with choler and disdain only for the meanness of his birth not finding any thing else in his person which might not make him aspire to the highest fortunes I have heard much talk of Britomarus said Prince Philadelph upon this passage of the Princesses relation and besides the esteem which the same of his great actions hath given me for him the obligation I have to him for this last adds to it an acknowledgement and an affection which will render him dear and considerable to me as long as I live but why must it needs fall out that the punishment of the perfidious Antigenes should be reserved for any other hand than mine and how could it be just that any other but Philadelph should free his Princess from the danger whereinto she was fallen by the imprudence of the King my Father It was not necessary replyed Arsinoe that you should add that obligation to so many others for which I am reduable to you and I had received sufficient proofs of your affection without having need of this last which without doubt your vertue only would have prompted you to upon the score of an unknown person reduced to the same extremity I doubted still that my eyes did abuse me in the knowledge of Britomarus but he cleared my doubts in desiring to satisfie his own and after he had looked upon me a long time with an attention that signified the surprize of his Spirit O Gods cryed he upon a sudden can it be possible that you should be the Princess Arsinoe I am Arsinoe answered I but is it true that you are Britomarus Yes Madam replyed he I am Britomarus and Britomarus much more happy than he durst hope to be in the deplorable condition whereunto he is now reduced since he is permitted to see a Princess living whose death is published all over Asia and since he hath had the fortune to render you a service which may partly repair the offence by which I formerly merited your indignation These wordâ—s recalling what was past to my remembrance made a blush mount up into my face but did not hinder me from returning him an answer in these terms The offence you did me might be repaired by repentance and discontinuation and the service which you have rendred me is of such a value that it may not only repair such an injury but command all the acknowledgement that is due to the generous defender of my life and honour I spake these words with a real resentment as without doubt was due to the importance of so great a service and yet I was not without some displeasure to see my self fallen again into the hands of a man that had made love to me and though by the knowledge which I had of his vertue I thought my self secure from those violences and dangers which I had lately escaped I was affraid of the company of a man whom I could not look upon with a particular affection without being ungrateful to Philadelph's love and betraying my own courage which made me formerly so much disdain his presumption I believed too as we are apt to flatter our selves in the good opinion we have of our selves that I might have partly caused either by my disdain or by the report of my death his sadness and solitude and I did not make a sudden reflection upon the words which I had heard him speak a few moments before which might partly have freed me from that suspition I know not whether my countenance did any way express the thought wherewith my Spirit was at that time disquieted or whether Britomarus observed any thing by it but howsoever it was he spake to me as if he had seen my very heart and resuming the discourse after he had been a while silent If the discontinuation of my fault said he may make me hope for pardon I hope Madam that you will look upon me without anger and though such impressions as are received from such divine powers as yours can hardly be arased out of a soul yet 't is certain that mine hath repented of its boldness and the fear of your displeasure and other adventures wherein my life hath been since employed have wrought that change upon me that I need not to be any longer odious to you Do not make any difficulty then to receive those services of me which I am able to render you and which may be necessary to you in the condition wherein I meet you and be fully assured that during the time that I shall be obliged to bear you company either to compleat your delivery from your Enemies power if you have any yet left or to re-conduct you to the place whither you designed to retire you shall see nothing in my actions that may importune you or at least make you fear the return of that passion which you justly condemned These words of Britomarus made me very joyful and having a good opinion of him as all those had who were acquainted with his vertue I presently gave absolute credit to them and made no difficulty to commit my self to his discretion in the urgent necessity wherein I was at that present but speaking to him with a more assured countenance than before I shall never doubt said I to him but that vertue will be your guide in all your actions and you are so habituated in the practise of it that I should be much too blame if I should be affraid to find any thing troublesome or disagreeable in you The change you have received in that passion which I condemned out of a natural repugnance I had against it rather than out of any disdain of your person adds a new obligation to the service which you have rendred me and in this condition you may believe that I shall esteem and respect you as long as I live as the merit of your person and the importance of the assistance I have received from you do oblige me I do not refuse the generous offers which you make me and though I have suffered much for having committed my self to the conduct of men I will not be affraid to trust my self with you because of the knowledge I have of you After these words which he received with a great deal of respect he asked me what my intention was and I having told him that I would return no more to my Enemies house where I had been a long time captive and in the danger out of which he had rescued me by his valour he told me that he was lodged but a few furlongs from that place at a friends house who was a native of that Country where he had been staid by a sickness which detained him there some days and that if it pleased me to take my retreat there I should be secured from all manner of Enemies to the last drop
of his blood and in the mean time he would give order to accommodate us with a vessel and other necessaries to conduct me into Armenia or any other part of the world whither it should please me to retire I thanked him very much for his good intentions and did not refuse the effects of them making the extremity whereunto I was reduc'd my excuse for the incivility which I was constrained to commit in suffering him to quit his own interests for mine and to interrupt the designs he might have to protect me in Cyprus and to conduct me into Armenia After I had desired his pardon I made no difficulty to follow him but permitted him to lead me to the house where he had taken up his abode It was distant from that place about a quarter of an hours walk for softly goers and Britomarus seeking after nothing so much as solitude avoyded the company of his servants and all persons that might interrupt him in the entertainment of his sad thoughts We found there some number of his domesticks who durst not follow their Master in the walks though they would not part from him in his voyages what change of fortune soever might befall him Though the house was not very great yet I had a very convenient lodging there for my self and my women and I was served with all the respect that I could desire of so vertuous a man as Britomarus The Master of the house who was one of the Officers had the care of procuring from the next Town all things that were necessary for us for the stay we were to make in that house and another of his servants went the second day after to go seek and stay a Vessel at the next port upon the way to Armenia In the time of our tarrying there I received from Britomarus as much as his sadness would permit him all the consolation he could give me in my displeasure and I did all that possibly I could upon my part to mitigate the mortal grief that appeared in all his actions but in that I laboured in vain and though he constrained himself very much to make his company supportable to me I think that during all the time of our continuance together I did not see him laugh so much as once or any way express to me that his affliction had been eased for so much as a moment His sighs made continual sallies out of his breast accompanied with sobs and sometimes with some complaints which with all his moderation he could not refrain and at those hours when he did not think himself obliged to keep me company he went abroad in the morning to seek for solitude in those places which were least frequented by the society of men He kept his promise very exactly with me which he had made not to give me any mark of the return of his former passion either by his discourse or actions and instead of making me fear any such thing he made me judge with a great deal of probability that passion had given place to a second wherewith his Spirit was at that time disquieted and which in my thoughts made up the greatest part of his displeasures and inquietudes As I saw no design in him to discover himself any farther to me so I did not desire to press him to it and I expected that only from his own will which I could not ask him without indiscretion yet one day having expressed a little more curiosity than ordinary yet not so much as to make him judge that I desired to know more of him than he was willing I should forcing some sighs which commonly brake off the thread of his discourse and hardly retaining some tears which were ready to overflow his eyes Madam said he if there were any thing of divertisement in my life I would have given you a relation of it to pass away the tediousness of your solitude but of all that I have to tell you there is nothing worthy of your attention I will only tell you that Fortune hath diversely sported her self with my destiny she hath given me in all places where I have worn a sword all the glory and reputation that I could desire amongst men by a little valour which she hath well seconded she hath sometimes put me into a condition that the most considerable Kings Daughters in the world would have endured the declaration and progress of my love without being offended at it and she hath sometimes puffed me up with such a pride that I could hardly look upon the most puissant Kings upon earth as my superiors but if she hath served me in my glory she hath abandoned me in the repose of my life and hath left me nothing of all the good I received from her or my self but the regret of having lost all and the cruel remembrance of those fair hopes which possibly I had unjustly conceived Since this hard change or rather since this deplorable fall I wander like a Ghost amongst men finding nothing amongst them but ingratitude and infidelity and I spin out a languishing life by an absolute command which hath not permitted me to dispose of my destiny as without doubt I should have done if an obedience which ought to continue as long as my life had left me at liberty Britomarus spake in this manner and I perceived that he was not willing that I should know any more so that I expressed no desire that way I only let him know that I sympathized with him in his displeasures and I did all that possibly I could by such reasons and examples as I alledged to him to make him hope for some happy change in his condition I was not so reserved towards him as he was to me but the second day I spent in his company I told him plainly all that had befallen me since his departure from Armenia believing my self obliged to put that confidence in a man to whom I was so much reduable and not seeing after the change of his affections any reason which engaged me not to acquaint him with the truth I may truly say that by the relation which I made to him of your generous and sincere carriage towards me I rendred him very affectionate to you and he often testified to me by his discourse that he should be much satisfied in the opportunities of serving a Prince whose vertue he infinitely esteemed upon my narration In the mean time I know not Philadelph whether I am obliged to tell you what place you possessed at that time in my memory and whether modesty will permit me to confess that my thoughts were daily upon you as a person whose Idea did pleasingly flatter me and as a Prince whom without ingratitude I could not forget 'T is certain Philadelph and I will tell you as much without any fear that you should abuse it or make any ill construction of it that during the time I continued captive with Antigenes and at liberty with Britomarus