so neither was I touched with that alteration and I resolv'd for the worst events a Captive could expect except the losse of my honour for the defence whereof I determined to suffer death if any body should go about to assault it The fair Queen was in this part of her Story when she was interrupted by Amintas who came to see her wound Thalestris put forth her arm and after he had dressed it and assured her of a speedy cure she set her self in her former posture and went on thus with her Discourse The end of the Third Book The Continuation of the second Part of CASSANDRA The fourth Book THe usage I had received from Neobarzanes at the beginning of my captivitie began quickly to alter for the better and the women that were appointed to wait upon mee began to serv mee with verie great diligence and respect Neobarzanes sent often to see how I did and when my wounds permitted mee to leav my bed hee came himself into my Chamber I was surprised at that unexspected visite and if I would have followed my first motions I had given him a reception which without question would have kept him from coming any more but considering the power hee had over mee and how much his former behaviour might bee excused by the death of his Brother and the loss of his Armie I believ'd it fit for mee to receiv him as a man that repented his having used mee ill though his pretences for it were specious enough and as a man whom I ought not to exasperate if I had desired to secure what it was in his power to take from mee by violence These Reasons obliged mee to use him reasonable civilly which without doubt confirm'd his evil intentions and that passion which had mollified him and which brought him then into my Chamber When hee had enquired after my health and was set down by mee Madam said hee I doubt not but you are much offended with mee for my first usage of you and that you still keep some resentment of your ill welcom and of the threats which my grief made mee utter against so fair a Queen and one worthie of a better fortune and of a better reception but your goodness will pardon those transports in a person who by your hands hath lost a Brother who was extremely dear to him and whom his virtue made verie considerable to the whole world and by the hands of your Souldiers an Armie of fourtie thousand men the Relicks whereof can hardly bee perceived within this Citie you will without question have som regard to so lawful an anger and will judg of the caus that suppresse's it by my forgetting so great and so late offences 'T is true the bloud of my Brother and of all my Souldiers demand's som satisfaction from mee but a force more powerful then nature or reason of State forbid's mee to give them any to your disadvantage and disarm's my rage after having disarm'd my heart of all that could defend it against you I think this knowledg is sufficient to make you understand my inclinations and I cannot declare them better then by representing to you that they devest mee of those of nature and of my most tender affections nor can I more truly testifie that I love you then in loosing for your sake the remembrance of what I lov'd most dearly Think not this Declaration strange I know it is a Discours to which you have not been accustomed but wee daily see greater changes and if you had suffer'd the access of men you would doubtless have engaged them in that passion which hath made mee absolutely yours you hate them only becaus you know them not and 't was an irregular caprichio of your Predecessors that deprive's you of the societie the gods have established and by which and for which the world subsist's You may if you pleas make som reflection upon what I have said and if among men whom you have alwaies shunn'd you can finde any one worthie of your affections bee pleas'd to cast your eies upon mee who have given you mine first with an exceeding great respect and a most absolute Empire I am not able Sir to express how much I was incensed at this Discours and how much I resented that Captivitie which constrain'd mee to suffer it if I had been at libertie I would have punished that insolent fellow with mine own hands and would have made him feel that force to the purpose of which hee had twice had experience to his shame but I had too many reasons to moderate my furie so that I suffer'd it not to rise to that extremitie and I at that time had prudence enough to dissemble part of it but not power enough over my face to keep it from beeing inflamed with a color like fire nor over my tongue to hinder it from replying sharply Remember Neobarzanes that I am a Queen though I bee your Prisoner and that if the chance of war hath given you som power over my bodie my minde is still in its former libertie and doe's no way partake in the changes of my fortune This first knowledg you give mee of men confirm's mee in my intention of hating them if you persevere in yours and this freedom you take to a Queen whom her disaster hath brought into your hands is a strong obstacle against that esteem of them you desire to work in mee therefore give over an unprofitable care and a more unprofitable affection and believ I shall value you as much if you use your fortune generously as I shall dispise you if it encourage you to unjust liberties and such as you cannot give your self without unworthiness Though Neobarzanes was stung with this answer yet did hee not show himself much moved at it and after having continued a while silent hee onely replyed I doubted you would not receiv this first overture of my love without som displeasure but I also hoped that time might sweeten the sharpness of your first motions and make you finde that I may without offending you or abusing the power I have over you make you an offer of my affections Time said I shall never make mee loos my first resolutions nor can it do any thing to your advantage but by such usage as is due to Prisoners of war of my qualitie If you are my Prisoner of war answered Neobarzanes I am your prisoner of love and if you use mee with any favor I shall no longer consider you as a Captive but as the sovereign Mrs of my heart Use mee replied I tartly as Thalestris who within these few daies hath conquered you in two set battels and who by the defeating of your Forces hath shewed her self capable of another entertainment then that of your loves Neobarzanes was touch'd with these words and answered mee with a smile mingled with som sharpness You are capable both of war and of love and will make both if you follow the cours of your
resemblance our misfortunes have to one another and how much you will afflict me by the recital of your disasters I shall be too much concerned in them to hearken to them with curiosity but 't is no matter let 's break through these dangerous passages and since the remainder of our lives is destined only to miseries let us not henceforth entertain each other with any thing but matters of affliction Oroondates holding his peace after these words and disposing himself to lend attention Lysimachus went on with his Discourse on this manner The end of the first Book CASSANDRA BOOK II. WHich way shall I be able great Prince to describe the excesse of my affliction after the cruel sentence of Sysigambis Imagine to your self all that love jealousie grief anger and despair can produce in a soul mortally agitated with all these passions and you may go near to conceive the motions that tormented mine I pass'd the rest of the day in transports of a man distracted which caused a fear in Ptolomeus who forsook me not in my misfortunes that I was in some danger of losing my senses But for his hindrance I should not have deferred my resentments longer but he perswaded me to try yet the Kings favour thereby to free my self from those reproaches I might receive one day of having offended him injustly To satisfie him I went to the Palace next morning and getting the King moved to grant me leave to speak with him in private he sent for me alone into his Closet I drew near to a window upon which he was leaning and having made my obeisance to him with a countenance quite changed he in my eyes found marks of my despair I think he doubted what was the cause that brought me but he dissembled it and having asked me very coldly I come Sir said â— to beg of your Majesty what a Prince who hath the honour to be of your blood hopes he may obtain and what a most just King may lawfully grant to one that hath most faithfully served him I require of you neither Treasures nor Provinces for the price of the blood I have lost in your service my ambition is more noble and more legitimate and if it be blameable in having made me raise my eyes to the Princesse Parisatis I have prescribed just limits to those desires it hath bred in me since it is not that Princesse I demand for the recompence of my services but onely the power to serve her with an advantage equal to that of my rivals let your Majesty be pleas'd but to restrain your authority and not to declare your self for Hephestion against a person who hath the happinesse to be neer you leave but Parisatis the liberty of her choice and those that serve her the hope of being recompenced according to the merit of their services Iustice speaks in favour of my interests and its consideration alone may move a King who hath always followed it exactly to grant what he would refuse to my birth and services The King would not suffer me to say more but interrupting me tartly Lysimachus said he my intentions were sufficiently known to you to keep you from asking me a thing which I neither can nor will grant you I am not ignorant of your birth and services neither are you ignorant of the friendship I bear Hephestion nor of the promise J have made to assist him in an affection which he discovered to me before you did yours and in which J strengthned him my self by the hopes J have given him This knowledge ought not onely to have disswaded you from a most unjust request but ought also to have curbed those designes which you have nourished to the prejudice of my intentions and of the command I gave you to the contrary These words went so near me that it was impossible for me to suffer the continuation of them without interruption and though the death of Clytus had banished liberty of speech from Court my rage blinded me so far that I could not forbear to make this reply I never failed of my obedience to your Majesty while you required no other proofs of it but such as were within my power and Hephestion never obeyed you more readily then I whensoe're you commanded us to assault a wall or charge into a Battalion but when you forbad me to love Parisatis I confesse I disobeyed you as I should have done the Gods themselves if they had imposed the same command upon me I love her and serve her and I must love her and serve her to my grave my passion for her never withdrew me from any occasion whether your interests call'd me I bear the marks of it all over my body and such as this happy Favourite cannot shew the like If by the number of my wounds I cannot dispute with him for Alexanders favour I will dispute with him to the last drop of my blood for the possession of Parisatis let your Majesty be but pleas'd to give us leave to decide our pretensions with our swords let Parisatis be his who is the more valiant or the more happy and let death be the portion of him that is the weaker or the more unfortunate The King could hardly contain himself at the hearing of these words and his anger breaking out through his eyes and in the changes of his countenance would without doubt have terrified a person from whom his disasters had not taken away that affection which we naturally bear to life But J beheld him without fear as likewise without fear I heard him make this answer This is not the first time Lysimachus that you have given proofs of your irreverence and contempt of him to whom you are born a subject I remember it still very well and I shall be able to bring you again within the limits of your duty whensoever you shall take the boldness to go beyond them In the mean time I forbid you not only to cross Hephestion in his love but so much as ever to look upon Parisatis and I protest to you by Iupiter Hammon and by the soul of King Philip that if you disobey what I command by all the authority I have over you J will have no respect at all unto your birth but will submit you to the severity of our Laws as the meanest Macedonian He brought forth these last words with such a thundring voice that they easily were heard by them in the next Chamber and not giving me any leisure to reply he opened the Closet door himself and went out to the Company who quickly observed in his face the ill humour J had put him in I came out after him and pass'd through the Chamber so blinded with grief and rage that J hardly knew my dearest friends as J went by them Ptolomeus followed me and Antigonus Polypercon Craterus Eumenes Meleager and many others whom favour did not basely make to forsake their friends came presently after to my Lodging and offered me
visit the Court of the King your father where I believed I might hear news of him I staied there in a vain expectation three whole months and it was at that time when you were in prison and that a valiant Commander named Arsaves was gon with the armie of the King your father to the frontiers of Scythia against Arimbas who had invaded them I was so deeply buried in my passion that it hindred mee from informing my self of your adventures and I onely heard what the meanest of the people could not bee ignorant of I somtimes saw the Princess Berenice your sister whom I thought fair beyond imagination but the resolution I had taken to keep my self alwaies unknown was the caus I neither waited upon her nor discovered my self to any bodie the instructions I had received from Orontes gave mee knowledg enough in the language of his countrie to make my self bee understood of all the world When I had staied at Issedon as long as I have told you I departed full of grief and went towards Arsaces his armie where I thought desire of glorie might perchance have stop'd him before his coming to Court I got thither within a few daies and was one of the first at that bloudie battel which was fought upon the confines of your Kingdom where I saw that valiant General do actions of so rare a courage that I shall ever preserv the memorie of them as of a prodigie I continued in that armie without making my self known for other then a young voluntier till it began to march back towards Issedon and then seeing my self as unsuccessful in my last hopes as I had been in my first I returned into Asia which I visited almost all in a years time I spent in travelling up and down there in the end after long wandrings to no purpose I came into this countrie with som hope that among so many Princes whereof Alexanders Court was composed I might learn som news of my faithless Orontes against whom I have preserved my indignation so strongly that time shall never bee able to wear it out of my minde Behold continued Thalestris ending her narration the abstract of a life full of misfortunes pardon mee if in som places I have too much enlarged my self and if I have passed over others too succinctly since onely the motions of my passion made that difference See now if my anger bee not just and if I have not a lawful caus to hate that Prince who by his infidelitie hath rendered himself unworthie of the honor hee hath to bee allied to you The Queen ended her storie on this manner and Oroondates having hearkened to it attentively Madam said hee I cannot choose but bee Orontes his enemie after the knowledg you have given mee of an infidelitie without example yet when I remember the proofs which without Intermission hee shewed you of so real a passion after which wee see him fall into a baseness without any probable ground and when I call to minde what subtiltie and calumnie have heretofore don against mine innocence I am forced to suspend my judgment and believ that either you have been deceived by others then Orontes or that Orontes hath been deceiv'd himself by very strong appearances for indeed so sudden and so unexspected a change is contrarie to common sence and passe's my imagination and I am fully perswaded that there is more innocence in Orontes his intentions then there hath been in the effects either of his grief or of his inconstancie The Queen would have replied but Oroödates seeing it was extreamly late and that so long a discours might impair her health took leav of her till the next day and having bidden her good night retired into his Chamber CASSANDRA The fifth Book ORoöndates passed that night as hee had don many others and the day following was spent in those sad imploiments which his deadly griefs had alreadie made habitual to him yet did hee afford part of it to the entertainment of the fair Amazon and discoursed a great while with her touching the causes of Orontes his infidelitie which hee could neither comprehend nor excuse the friendship hee had born that Prince made him seek out reasons to justifie him but the Queens spirit grew so incensed against him that hee was fain to give over his defence and condemn him with her The conversation of that Princess diverted his sorrows for som few moments yet no sooner was hee out of her presence but hee plunged himself so deeply in his afflictions that without a most particular assistance of the gods or rather without an apparent miracle his life could not have subsisted in such violent assaults Ah! my dear Princess said hee somtimes how great is my patience and how great proofs do I now give you of the truth of my affection certainly the most happie persons never found more difficultie in resolving to die then I do in enduring to live receiv this last testimonie of my love as the greatest I ever shewed you and by this severe constraint judg how dear the desire of satisfying you is to mee even after your death it self In such like discourses and in such like thoughts hee lingred out five or six daies at the end of which his wound was almost perfectly healed but his strength was not so soon returned and his sadness had brought him so low that a longer time was requisite for the recoverie of it Hee walked every day in the wood where hee sought out those places that were most gloomie and most conformable to the estate of his minde all objects of pleasure to him were fatal and those that represented any thing of wo gave him the most real satisfaction Thalestris's wound was quickly in a good condition and permitted her to leav her bed within a few daies The eight after Lysimachus his departure which was the same hee had made them hope for his return was almost quite expired and the Prince of Scythia began to bee troubled to see him fail of his promise when his Squire Cleantes arrived Oroöndates presently running to him enquired news of his Master Hee is in Ptolomeus his armie Sir answered Cleantes and you will see the caus of his stay in this letter hee hath written to you saying so hee presented him a paper and Oroöndates having opened it read these words Lysimachus to Prince Oroondates OVr common affairs hinder mee from seeing you again so soon as I intended but the caus of it will procure your pardon for a delay which trouble 's mee very much Those Princes my friends whose assistance was needful for our revenge were all dispersed and som of them were alreadie upon their way to those Provinces which are fallen to their lot Ptolomeus and I labor to get them together again and that care will neither bee unprofitable nor unnecessarie Perdiccas and Roxana whom our proceedings and the remors of their crime have made suspicious draw forces towards them again and by our
cours of the vexations I received I made my complaints to the King of his insolent persecution in terms that made him see I was deeply incensed Hee had alreadie som suspicion of it upon light appearances whereon hee had grounded no assurance but at that time hee seemed surprised with the news and made show to disapprove Arsacomes his boldness I do not intend said hee that Arsacomes shall thus abuse my goodness to him and if I have considered him hitherto as one of the first men of my kingdom and as one for whom I have a particular friendship I will not have my favors hinder him from knowing himself nor am I so blinded with my esteem of him but that I can abase him as much below what hee is as hee would rais himself above what hee ought to bee I will make him know that I am not ignorant of his fault and if I had not particular considerations of him I would let him see by an exemplarie punishment how much his presumption hath offended mee The King spoke to this effect at that time and by manie of his actions made mee finde that Arsacomes his boldness had displeased him but the power his sister and hee had usurped over him was the caus hee slackned much of his first motions and becaus either less sensible of my interests or more fearful to declare his minde in effect hee said nothing to him concerning it whether it were that hee doubted hee should fall into passion against a man whom hee considered and was not willing to lose or that hee was afraid to offend his sister to whom his passion was then risen to the extremitie and without inflicting other punishment upon him hee onely complained to Stratonice and prai'd her to represent his fault to him and to bring him gently to a knowledg of himself That craftie woman put on wonder at the King's discours and in show for a while disapproved her brother's boldness shee protested to the King that shee never knew any thing of it and when shee saw hee was appeased by her compliance It is true Sir continued shee that Arsacomes hath don amiss nor will I allege unto your Majestie for his justification that if the Princess might bee served by any one below a King Arsacomes might with justice dispute that advantage against all those who do not wear a crown since hee is born a Prince and that by your goodness and by his birth hee hardly see 's any but your Majestie above him within the limits of your Empire This consideration Sir cannot exempt him from blame since it is true that hee is born your subject but Sir the offence hee hath committed is not a wilful one and the Princesse's beautie hath not left him reason enough to consider the inequalitie there is between them In short Sir if your Majestie will give mee leav to speak freely to you Arsacomes his faults have taken president from yours and 't is perchance by yours hee believed hee might authorize his since the disproportion is no greater between Arsacomes and the Princess your daughter then between your Majestie and Arsacomes his sister and that Arsacomes doth not exalt himself more in serving the daughter of his King then his King abase's himself in honoring the sister of Arsacomes with his affection I know that this comparison make's nothing for him and that Arsacomes his sister receiv's as great a favor by your Majestie 's abasement as his Kings daughter receiv's injurie by Arsacomes his elevation Since Sovereigns cannot look upon their Subjects without honoring them nor Subjects lift up their eies unto their Sovereigns without offending them But what shall becom then of this guiltie man and what punishment shall wee appoint since your Majestie leave 's mee the disposing of it for this brother who hath ever been the better part of mee and whom your Majestie hath honored with a particular esteem If wee banish him I must accompanie him in his exile since our friendship hath made us inseparable and if hee continue still at Court I do not believ hee will recover his wound Onely your Majestie can teach him by your example to becom master of his passions and show him by ceasing to abase your thoughts unto your Subject that hee ought and may ceas to rais his unto his Princess Stratonice had not said thus to the King but that shee was certain hee would not take her at her word and that his passion was no longer in terms of being disengaged nor of so much as suffring any opposition to his desires To these words full of cunning and flatterie shee added so manie others and used her power over the King so dexterously that if shee could not make him approve Arsacomes his passion shee at least disposed him to tolerate it or rather to connive at it and feign that hee perceived it not expecting till time and reason should give him more fitting thoughts This patience of the King 's caused the continuation of my misfortunes and Arsacomes believing hee had broak through one of the most dangerous passages that could bee met withall in his design nourished his hopes more then ever and redoubled his prosecutions with an insupportable insolence having no bodie left to whom I might utter my complaints after the King 's sleighting of them I made my addresses to Stratonice her self and desired her by all the remainders of our friendship to deliver mee from her brother's importunities and to put a thought out of his minde whereby hee would reap but little satisfaction but shee craftily used the same discours to mee shee had don to the King my Father and gave mee a perfect knowledg that all assistance beeing denied mee I was destined to those miseries I since have felt My affairs and those of the Court were in this condition when the valiant Arsaces first appeared there Arsaces the deliverer and the support of Scythia Arsaces who to the advantage of our Countrie hath acquired an immortal reputation amongst men and Arsaces briefly who appeased not more troubles in Scythia then hee hath raised within my soul O my remembrance thou cruel enemy to my repose must thou here in the arms of my brother where I thought I had found a sanctuarie com to afflict mee again and must thou represent the cours of my misfortunes to mee with such a sens of them as hardly leav's mee strength to relate them yet will I howëver do my endeavors to proceed since what I have hitherto told you is but a little prelude to my adventures or a preparation to the recital of those that are greater and of more importance CASSANDRA The sixth Book THE fair Princess of Scythia was preparing her self to go on with her Narration when shee saw her Brother's face grow pale and in it found som marks of an extraordinarie indisposition Shee in a great trouble asked him how hee did and the Prince confessed that hee felt himself extremely weak Amintas was presently
and that I could not possibly wait upon her I never staid to see the issue of the fight the beginning whereof was very glorious for the stranger and running after the chariot like one in despair I quickly was gotten a good way from that place but my pursuit was as vain as my cries and I grew so tired with running and tormenting my self that after having lost sight of the chariot I fell down quite out of breath and so extremely weak that I was not able to get up again It would bee to no purpose Sir to repeat the lamentations I made after such a loss my sorrow was so great that it would bee very hard for mee to express it but I continued there more dead then alive till the Sun was almost readie to set before I so much as thought of rising from the place where I lay and I know not what would have becom of mee if a good honest countrie-man and his wife who passed by that way and saw mee in that condition had not taken mee up after they had wiped away my tears and endeavored to give mee som comfort they praied mee to go with them to their hous for that night My fear of beeing left without help in the dark which came on apace made mee accept their offer but I was so wearie and so weak that without their assistance it was impossible for mee to go Their little hous was not far from thence and as soon as wee were com thither I entreated them to put mee to bed which they did with a great deal of charitie but the labor heat and sorrow I had endured cast mee into feaver and I was so ill all night that without the help of those good people I verily believ I should have died All the day following which was yesterday I continued in the same estate and though I remembred you and would have striven to com and bring you this unwelcom news I found my self not able to leav my bed The next night my feaver abated and this morning finding it was almost quite gon and that my strength was a little recovered I arose and having made the goodwoman acquainted with my intention to go to Polemon's hous shee told mee it was not above twentie or thirtie furlongs from hers and that shee and her husband would guide mee thither as soon as hee returned from the Town whither hee was gon to get som provisions I staid for his coming back and presently after his wife making my desire known to him hee offer'd himself with her to accompanie mee so by their assistance I came hither where I presently met Araxes who was not a little surprised at that encounter and from whom I learned your last combate and the condition of your health Behold continued Cleone the life the Queen hath led since your separation and the estate I left her in I have made you the true recital of it upon your complaints against her and though indeed by your misfortune and hers you have not received the recompence which was due unto your services yet do I not believ shee is so faultie toward you as that you should flie to reproches which have somthing of crueltie in them and I am most assured that you have too much generositie to refuse her your assistance in the distasters shee is fallen into and perchance partly through her love to you THE THIRD PART OF CASSANDRA The second Book CLeone ended her relation on this manner and the Prince who had hearkned to her with great attention finding the conclusion of it less conformable to his belief then to his desire could not forbear by shaking his head to shew how little credit hee gave to part of her discours and having look'd awhile upon her without speaking Cleone said hee you do ill to flatter my misfortunes or to deceiv mee cunningly your self I believ you have told mee the truth in your Mistresses disasters but in mine you have totally concealed it from mee in this Cleone you are to blame and if you know mee as well as perhaps you may you cannot doubt but that I will serv the Queen as inconstant as shee is unto the last minute of my life but O Cleone you know I am a thousand times more unfortunate then you have expressed in your discours and if I had no other causes of complaint then those you have mentioned I should have no new occasion at all I had alreadie given over murmuring at the advantages Alexander had above mee but those of a stranger those of a new commer are insupportable you have not spoken so much as a word of that in your recital though you avowed it to mee sufficiently in our first conversation and that 's the thing Cleone wherein I accuse you of little freedom and of holding a blamable intelligence with that faithless Princess which hath so unworthily forsaken mee Cleone was extremely surprised at this discours and after shee had continued a while without replying Sir said shee lifting up her hands to heaven if I know any thing more of the Queens fortune and yours then what I have told you I beseech the gods to add all sorts of miseries to those I alreadie suffer Ah! Cleone replied the Prince with an action wbich testified his incredulitie it is not possible you should bee ignorant of the Queens loves and of that new champion who freed her out of Perdiccas his hands never seem astonished at this discours I was so as much as you feign to bee at that cruel proof I received of it and I should have accused my own eies of falshood which saw her in his arms giving him kisses and shewing him kindnesses unworthie of her qualitie and former virtue if that truth had not been confirm'd to mee by the mouth of Perdiccas With that hee succinctly related the encounters hee had with the Cavalier who carried the Queen behinde him and with Perdiccas wounded who with the news of his Princesses beeing alive gave him also the news of her infidelitie and seeing that Cleone continued silent at the hearing of them and onely called the heavens to witness her innocence protesting shee was ignorant of all hee told her and that shee had avowed all those things which had confirmed his suspicions out of a belief that his complaints were onely against Alexander No no Cleone pursued hee it is not possible that so strong an affection and which by the proofs I have received of it goe's far beyond that which shee formerly bore to mee should have escaped your knowledg The birth and progress of it ha's not been so sudden and but for it the Queen would not so cruelly have banished mee at Susa and since the death of her husband shee would not have concealed her self from mee as shee did upon vain weak considerations you have alleged nothing that can justifie her for it and if shee had not been prepossessed with that new passion shee would not have avoided my
could learn from those two men whose imprisonment had deprived them of a more particular knowledg of things Part of the day was spent in this conversation and the remainder of it was given to the wounded Prince his repose but scarce was hee awake the next morning when hee saw Lysimachus com into his Chamber with a certain herb in his hand and with an extraordinarie joy in his countenance Oroöndates after hee had received and returned the good morrow ask'd him the caus of it and Lysimachus sitting down by his bed-side I believ said hee that I bring you a speedie cure and if I am not the most deceiv'd in the world I shall see you in perfect health within this week and to make you give credit to my words Know that in our voiage to the Indies Ptolomeus our dear friend having been dangerously wounded in a fight wee had against the Barbarians Alexander who loved and considered him verie much was so extremely grieved at it that hee could receiv no consolation hee caused him to bee put in his own bed and lying there with him saw his wound dressed with strange disquiets The Chirurgians were in despair of his life when the gods to whom it was dear sâ—nt the King a miraculous dream in favor of that Prince for hee was no sooner asleep but dreamed that hee saw a Dragon holding an herb in his mouth which was to serv for Ptolomeus his cure When the King awaked hee told his dream to those that were present and described the form of that herb whereof hee had preserved the remembrance and som of the inhabitants of that place having assured him that there grew such a one in that Countrie hee caused it to bee sought for everie where and those that were sent about it imploied their time so successfully that they brought him that wonderful herb he had seen in his dream it was presently applied to Ptolomeus his wound and by an unheard of prodigie the pain was instantly asswaged and the wound quite healed up within three daies The mervellous effect of this herb made us all observ it carefully that wee might bee able to know it again to make use of it in the like occasions but I never found any of it in this Countrie till this morning when as I was walking the wood I thought I saw somthing verie like it growing by the side of the brook I gathered it with an excess of contentment and I am the most deceived of all men living if it bee not the very same which produces those miraculous effects Amintas came into the Chamber as they were talking and Lysimachus having shewed it him hee cried out joyfully confirmed his Master in that opinion Hee straightway took the herb and having prepared it hee applied it to Oroöndates his wounds That new remedie quickly drew sleep upon his eie-lids and Lysimachus retiring went to tell the Queen of his happie encounter and of the hope hee had conceived Thalestris was extremely joied at it and coming into the Princes Chamber som hours after hee told them at his awaking that hee felt himself strangely eased and that hee hoped his remedie would bee as successful as hee had promised Ptolomeus came in within a little after and having presently heard that well-com news hee by his testimonie redoubled the Princes hopes Oroöndates his fear of beeing kept in bed by his wounds while others were fighting made him sensible of this good fortune and 't was that rather then any love of his life that made him with joy expect his cure without which hee could not second hit generous friends in his own quarrel The Sun was beginning to decline when Lysimachus looking out at Thalestrises Chamber window observed a dust which rose from under the feet of the Cavalerie which Eumenes brought within awhile after they discerned the Troops and saw Eumenes himself arrive accompanied with som Commanders of the Armie Thalestris Lysimachus and Ptolomeus went out of the hous to meet him and having received him according to the friendship that was among them they went forward towards certain Chariots that came after him wherein were the two Princesses Apamia and Arsinoé the daughters of Artabasus and Wives of Ptolomeus and Eumenes with many other Ladies whose husbands were in the Armie Thalestris who was instructed in the qualitie of those Princesses welcomed them with much kindness and civilitie and Cleone who was com out with her no sooner saw them but shee ran to them with open arms and receiving them with an excess of joy by her encounter gave them a mervellous consolation They had heard by Eumenes that the two Princesses were alive to whom they had a verie near relation and to whom they had ever been most dear and their gladness at that news was easily to bee observed in their faces While the Princes gave order for the encamping of the Armie which began to arrive the Princesses under the conduct of Thalestris went into the hous and so up into Oroöndates his Chamber The Prince who was advertised of their coming and who considered them extremely both for the sake of Barsina their sister and for that of their illustrious husbands gave them a reception full of respect and by all manner of waies testified how great a sens hee had of the honor they did him After the first complements their discours was of Barsina whose goodness the Prince commended in terms which made her sisters see hee was not ingrateful for the good offices hee had received from her They told the Prince who asked where shee was that shee had been detained at Susa by som small indisposition and by the nois of those cruel revolutions that had happened at Babylon that shee had lately sent them word shee would ere-long set forward on her journie toward them where by reason of the autoritie of their husbands shee believed her retreat would bee more assured They were in this conversation with Oroöndates when the other Princes after having disposed the Camp and taken such order in all things as was necessarie came into the Chamber and mingled altogether in a verie pleasing entertainment It was resolved by Oroöndates his advice that as soon as hee was recovered and the other Ladies arrived who were to com with their husbands to the general rendezvous the men should leav Polemon's hous to the Ladies and retire to lie in far commodious Tents which the Princes had caused to bee brought along with the Armie since the hous could not bee bigg enough for so great a companie and that the Princes had a great deal of convenient room in their Tents When they had spent part of the night in these discourses the companie withdrew to their several Chambers where they were accommodated as well as possibly they might and where they all rested with much tranquilitie THE THIRD PART OF CASSANDRA The third Book POlemon's hous was seated at the foot of a little hill about five or six hundred paces from
I obey'd her punctually and in the sad passages of my Narration I saw her so nearly touch'd that I thereby receiv'd no light marks of that affection which from thence forward was to make up my whole fortune and be to me in the stead of Parents of Empires and of whatsoever the Anger of Heaven had taken from me Arsaces was in this part of his story when the Princess Berenice accompanied with Apamia and Cleone came into the chamber They that kept the door of the Tent knew very well that Princess was not comprehended in the Order which had been given them and of those three persons there was not one that could be thought unfit to hear Arsaces his discourse As soon as they entred the Princes who were sitting by Arsaces his bed-side rose up to salute them and the two wounded ones receiv'd them with a great deal of joy the motions wherof nevertheless were a little different Arsaces could not see his Princess without some inward alteration or rather without some kinde of transport and Berenice could not behold Arsaces in a much better state of health than she had hoped for in so short a time without shewing some signs of such a contentment as a bare good will is not able to produce When she had likewise receiv'd an assurance from the Princes mouths of the amendment of their wounds she sate down and Apamia and Cleone with her upon seats that were brought them Berenice was going to fall into some discourse when the Prince her brother not being willing to be diverted from their former entertainment opposed her intention Sister said he content your self that the troublesom passage you so much apprehended has been related in your absence and that we have heard you have lov'd without your being put to the pain to tell it us Fear not sister continued he seeing Berenices face ore-spread at these words with a glowing colour you would have more cause to blush if one could reproach you with having been so blinde as not to know the admirable qualities of this Prince with having been ingratefull for the obligations we have to him and in short with having been able to see and know Artaxerxes without loving him Do not hinder us from hearing the rest of his Adventures and hearken to the share you have in them without interrupting us Arsaces accompanied these words of Oroondates with a most humble and beseeching look which seem'd to beg pardon of his Princess for the confession he had made to the company of the affection she bore him and seeing that they were all settled again in silence and that they disposed themselves to attention he went on thus with his discourse The end of the second Book CASSANDRA The fourth Part. The third Book IT is true my fairest Princess that being oblig'd to this Recital by the command of my dear Brother I have declared to this illustrious company the testimonies you gave me of your affection but they are not ignorant that 't was to the remembrance of Oroondates you granted what could never be due to the services or person of Artaxerxes and that your inclination to a Brother so worthy of your love made you look upon the passion of his dear friend and brother more advantageously than you would have done upon that of the Prince of Persia The signs I receiv'd of the continuance of my Princesses good will pursued Arsaces turning toward Oroondates and the rest of the company were so precious to me that I really believ'd I had no reason to complain against heaven which did so fully recompence me for the loss of those Empires it had depriv'd me of and being by my Princesses orders retired with this knowledge to the lodgings that were appointed for me in the Palace I imploy'd the rest of that day considering in that the greatness from whence I was fallen had not in its most pompous lustre had any thing comparable to my present felicity It belongs to none but the Gods said I to do miraculous Actions and as great and powerfull as they are they could not make me amends for the greatness of my losses but by the greatness of that fortune to which they now have raised me having taken from me whatsoever they could take away they give me whatsoever they could give me of most great and of most beautifull and in short they give me all that I could desire and more than I could lawfully hope for let them bestow the Empires of Asia and of Europe on whom they please provided they leave but Berenice to fortunate Arsaces he never will accuse them of injustice but will without envy behold the absolute Authority of those Masters of the whole Earth These really were my thoughts and Fortune who by such glorious tokens made me believe she meant to declare her self in my favour forsook me not in those beginnings but made all things contribute to the happiness she had procured me That service I had done the King finding him prepossessed with some good opinion of me and with some affection to me wrought presently the most powerfull effect one could have hoped for by it from the most gratefull Prince in the world and if at my former Voyage I had been held in some consideration at Court this last Action added to the inclination which the King had already toward me raised me there to such a credit that to represent it to you in a few words I may truly say that within one moneth Arsacomes had no advantage over me and had it not been for the power of the Queen I should without dispute have held the first place in the Kings esteem and affection 'T is true I labour'd not to make my self great by Offices and imployments for having thoughts very far distant from those I was satisfied with causing that to be given to others as much as I could without abusing the Kings favour towards me which men who had been slaves to an Ambition different from mine would perchance have kept for their own selves This manner of carriage added to the good fortune I had at that time gain'd me a reasonable good number of friends in the Court and I did so little trespass upon their friendship or upon the compliance which the estate of my condition oblig'd them to render me that amongst them all I never observ'd any one to grow cold toward me or discontented Arsacomes envied my fortune but he durst not cross it openly remembring that he was indebted to me for his life and the Queen his sister who had the same obligation and who was an extreme cunning and politick Princess would not thwart the Kings inclinations which she knew to be very potent toward me As Arsacomes his envy of me was nourish'd in him by certain considerations so my aversion to him was increased by divers others and though I could not love him because he was my Rival and a Rival very troublesome to my Princess yet durst I not
'le demand that assistance from my hand which it owes me against the fortune of my rivall and peradventure may make tears be shed for a real death by them whom a feigned one had so sensibly afflicted That 's the shortest way added Cassander and the most reasonable one we both can follow and I neither can nor will make my self amends for Roxana's contempt of me by any other meanes but the death of Oroondates The Queen who was touch'd to the heart with that discourse lost all consideration of Cassander and looking at him with an eye kindled with a just indignation I doubt not said she but by the same arms thou madest use of for the death of the King thy master thou mayest likewise compasse the death of a prisoner but I also know very well that if he were at liberty thou wouldest fly before him as thou hast shamefully done many times already At these words refusing any longer conversation with them she took her sister by the hand and entring her closet with her shut the dore They remained together in the chamber mad with rage at the Queens replies especially Cassander whom the reproach of having poysoned his King drove into extremities of fury that brake forth into transported words which Alcetas could not hinder him from uttering They are the Persians said he and the race of Darius not the Princes of Macedon that are guilty of the death of the Macedonian King They are the Barbarians unworthy of his rule and of his alliance that have taken away the life of their Conquerour and of their master and perhaps it was Oroondates his rivall and his enemy that made him perish to facilitate his possession of the daughter of Darius but I will prevent you both well enough from reaping the fruit you pretend to by it and you shall be punished with Roxana by the death of that Barbarian whom you both unworthily prefer before the Macedonian Princes He would have said more to this effect if Alcetas and Pucestas more moderate than he had not carried him out of the room almost by force After their departure the two Princesses continued yet some hours together and when they had spent the beginning of them in complaining of that visite of Cassander and Alcetas they imployed the rest in discoursing of Oroondates whose last accident took up all their thoughts they reasoned a long while upon what they ought to fear or hope for concerning him and were not able to judge whether they had more cause to be pleased or displeased with their fortune in that last adventure In the end it being grown late they parted the Princesse retiring to her lodging and the Queen going to bed where she passed the night in disquiets which already were become habituall to her The end of the Fourth Book CASSANDRA The last Part. The fifth Book BUT if the fayr Queen and the Princesse her sister if the Prince of Scithia if Roxana if Perdiccas Alcetas and Cassander passed the night in Babylon with a great deal of care and restlesnes Oroondates his friends in the Camp were tossed with the most cruell disquiets they had ever felt under that name of Oroondates his friends one might comprehend all the Commanders of the Army and as many of the Soldiers as did but know him among which there were none whom the admirable vertue of that Prince had not gayned even to the utmost proofes Artaxerxes saw day appear without having bestowed one minute of the night in sleep and as soon as he was out of bed he sent a Trumpet with Araxes to the Gates of the City to learn the destiny of his dear Brother Araxes all whose thoughts had tended to nothing but death since the losse of his Master undertook that imployment with a mortall apprehension and with a most firm resolution if hee were slain not to survive the hearing of that fatall newes He advanced toward the Gate and having by a Parley which he made his Trumpet sound disposed the Enemies to suffer his approach and hear his businesse he that commanded their Corps de garde came upon the Gate to speak to him and having bidden him propose his desires poor Araxes trembling for the answer he expected opened his mouth twice bâ—fore he had the confidence to get out a word but in the end being pressed to tell his Message I come said he to ask whether the Prince of Scithia that got upon your walls yesterday bee dead or living The Officer who had no order to disguise the truth told it to Araxes without dissimulation and when he had â—et him know that his Master was alive without wounds and used according to the greatnesse of his quality and of his vertue it caused a joy in him very little different from his former affliction He made it appear by a loud acclamation and having thanked the Officer of whom hee at that time desired nothing else hee returned to the Princes and restored them life with that good newes Not but that Oroondates his being a prisoner was to them one of the greatest misfortunes they could have apprehended but the feare they had been in of his death made them consider it as ablessing and it seemed as if it had been necessary to make them find consolation in an accident that would have excessively afflicted them Since my brother is alive sayd Artaxerxes I doe not despair of our fortune and the Gods to whom his vertue is too considerable to let it perish have delivered him from many dangers as great as this T is a very favourable encounter added Lysimachus that he is fallen into Roxanaes hands whose love and power will without doubt secure him from all maner of perill besides the friendship and the agreement she ha's made with Perdiccas doe put him yet in greater safety but though Perdiccas his jealousie should incite him to attempt any thing against him Roxana as potent enough to defend him by open force T was by this consideration the Princes endevoured to comfort themselves but desiring to labour without delay for the liberty of their friend they went all together to Seleucus his tent Seleucus was already cured of his wounds Nearchus also and Leonatus were in the same condition but the last had taken part with the Princes in good earnest and had only stayd for the recovery of his strength that hee might be able to serve them against Perdiccas After the first complements Prince Artaxerxes addressing himselfe to Seleucus by the consent of all his companions Noble Seleucus said he we now have need of your assistance for the liberty of Prince Oroondates if the Enemies into whose power he is fallen were as generous as you are we should not be in any feare for him but because their inclinations and the interest they have in his ruine may suggest thoughts into them very different from yours we cannot beare his captivity with a minutes rest we come not to offer you your liberty and with