but she quickly setled it and breaking her silence with a most pleasing smile I shall never be angry sayd she to the Prince at any knowledge you shall have in my Affairs in which nothing but your goodnesse makes you take an interest and if I never entertain'd you with what passed between Prince Oxyatres and me before I had the honour to know you 't was because you never asked me of it and that the occasion never offred it selfe I know not continued she with the same action whether these miserable remnants of beauty have been able to rekindle an affection which I thought had been extiguished ten whole years but how ever it be I have no intention to make a secret of it to you nor to refuse the punishment you will in joyn me It is easie for you to guesse it sayd the Prince and you well may judge we desire nothing else of you now but the recitall of what we have been ignorant of and of both the old and new passions of Prince Oxyatres I will hearken to you with a more then ordinary attension and shall not be lesse touched with the discourse of your Adventures then with those of Statira and Oroondates You are going replyed Barsina to waken remembrances by your curiosity of which I am extreamly sensible but what can I refuse to two so dear and confiderable Persons Barsina made a stop at these words and fixing her eyes upon the Ground kept silence a while which she broke at last in these tearms The History of BARSINA I Will not entertain you with the first years of my life nor with the first testimonies I received of the love of my dear Memnon Prince Oroondates has learnt part of them formerly and the divertisement the Princesse his Sister would find in them could not equall the wearisomnesse she would receive by the length of my Narration I will content my selfe with telling you Madam that Memnon was considerable by the greatnesse of his Birth which made him hold one of the first Ranks in Persia by the lovely Qualities of his Person and by that high Reputation which in very early years he had acquired in Arms having made himselfe famous above the other Persians in a thousand glorious Encounters he also was raised to the highest Military Charges in an Age when others do but begin to make themselves be taken notice of and before he was three and twenty he had commanded the Kings Armies in Person This high Renown making all Asia set their eyes upon him and rendring him dear to Prince Artabasus my Father and to all those persons that had any power over me was the cause that he found great facilities in his design of serving me but if by Publick Vertues he had merited the generall esteem he in particular had Qualities that wrought a greater effect upon me then the glorious successe of his Armies or his high Reputation in War and to say the truth he never fought with so much dexterity against his Enemies as he shewed in making himselfe Master of my heart and all that the most expert and the most passionate persons ever used to make themselves be lov'd was put in practice so gracefully by that Prince that perhaps a more obdurate heart then mine would have been woon by his addresses I 'le make no difficulty to confesse that I yielded to them nor is this confession shamefull to me since that affection which a due acknowledgement made me give was authorized by the will of all my Friends and by that of the King himselfe who was pleased to interresse himselfe particularly in the Affairs of our House as being nearest to the Crown and that which then held the first Ranke in all Persia Memnon having gained the affâ—ctions of the whole Court the King upheld him in it openly and Prince Oxyatres himselfe before he was blinded by this indifferent Beauty did him very good offices in the beginning he was one of the forwardest in recommending his person to me by the recitall of his gallant actions and in that design he had the favour of him found better successe then he would afterward have wished I know not why the Gods would have that Prince to cast his eyes upon me among so great a number of persons much more lovely but what ever it were he began to love me when I was no longer in a condition to requite his affection when by the will of my Friends and by mine own inclination Memnon was already Master of the place he assaulted had it not been for that preengagement Prince Oxyatres without doubt had qualities capable to make him be considered by the greatest Princesses of the Earth and besides the greatnesse of his Birth and the price of his Valour which had made it selfe known through all Asia there could no excellent parts be wished either for the minde or body wherewith he was not very abundantly stored I should say more if you had not a perfect knowledge of him this Prince when he began to love me or at least to let me see it was about five or six and twenty I was ten years yonger and came into the World the same year and almost the same day with Prince Artaxerxes Oxyatres continued some time without discovering his affection to me not being able to find a handsome way to destroy what he had built himselfe nor to fall off fairly from what he had done in the behalfe of Memnon Being he was vertuous he could not but consider the Vertue of his Rivall who at his Age had by force of Arms added Provinces to the Persian Empire and being he was prudent he fear'd to crosse the Kings intentions who had declared himselfe in his favour These considerations with-held him a few Months and would perchance have done so longer if Memnon's absence had not given him both opportunity and confidence to discover himselfe Memnon was sent about that time with a flying Camp into Susiana where certain Cities had bred some jealousies of a Revolt and I remained at Persepolis with a great deale of trouble for his departure Prince Oxyatres began then to make his thoughts appear to me by many of his actions if I had carefully observ'd them and reflecting upon them since I judg'd that if I had not been taken up with other Cards I might have guessed at part of his intentions without putting to the trouble of declaring them more plainly He rendred me all petty services with a great deale of watchfulnesse and took such cares in all things that concern'd me as nothing but love alone could be the cause of but I ascribed them to another motive and received them as proceeding from that civility he had ever used and from the good will which the nearnesse wherewith I had the honour to be allyed to him might breed in him toward me or even from the esteem he had of Memnon whom he loved and honoured in my person while he was fighting for the service
little that Warlike dame to whose cheekes shame and anger had given a collour which encreas'd her beauty flew at him more fiercely then before and thrusting her sword at his very eyes with a threatning cry Fly not said she neither be ashamed to have usd thy armes against a Woman who hath often died the feilds in the bloud of such as thou art I am not so weake that thou should'st need to despise me and there is more honour to be wonne with me then thou thinkest for Shee accompanied these words with a storme of blowes and enraged by the contempt she thought Lysimachus showed of her ran upon him with so much fury and so little caution that he was often affraid shee would give herselfe a death with those armes which he no more would turne against her he retired still warding her blowes which the wound in her arm allready made but faint ones and when he saw he was out of their reach and that the faire Amazone was forced to give him some respite to the end shee might take breath Madam said he I will rather turn the point of my sword against my own heart then make use of it against you I know too well what is due to your sexe and to your beauty and I should be glad if I could with a good part of my own bloud repaire the losse of that which my sacrilegious hands have drawn from your fair body if this satisfaction content you not pierce this brest which J offer to you I will take off my cuirasse that you may the more easily doe it and in the sad estate of my fortune which makes me wish for death I cannot hope for a more glorious one then that I shall receive from so faire a hand How excessive soever the anger of this valiant Lady was she could not but abate part of it at so great reparations and so profound submissions and beholding Lysimachus with eyes wherein even through the rage that enflamed them one might observe some gentlenesse I cannot said shee ghesse at the cause why thou slightest me thus thou hast not yet had so much advantage over me as to find reason to contemn me I will never pretend to any greater replied Lysimachus then the occasions of serving you and you are armed so many several wayes to conquer men that the victory will always be yours infallibly I desire none answered the Amazone but what I can winne with the point of my sword and though I be a woman my profession is to fight with men nor have I gained so little reputation in that excercise that you should need to be ashamed of our Combat it shall end here since you will have it so and that it would be ignoble in me to persist in it but I could wish also you would quit the interests of a traytour who never deserved the affection of so vertuous a person as your selfe These words were enough to have renewed the quarrell if a man had spoken them but Lysimachus who had not been able to endure them from one of another sexe and who would have taken up the defence of his friend against the most valiant living thought fit to combat the resentments of a woman with mildnesse and was content with answering thus as he put up his sword I know not what injury you can have receiv'd from him who is really the most generous and the most respective to Ladies of all the men in the world I have ever seen him most averse from such crimes as those you taxe him with and in the recitall which has been made me of his life I did not heare that ever he had any businesse with you but if he be so unfortunate as to have offended you I will engage my selfe that he shall give you all the satisfaction you can desire of him For that I passe my word to you and in the mean time Madam be pleased to accept the offer I make you of a place hard by where your wounds may be dressed I have servants there who are skillfull in that art you may be there more privately and also more conveniently then at Babylon and in that place it is you shall receive all manner of duty and submission from Orontes At these words the Ladies countenance was dyed with a colour which Lysimachus knew not vvhether he should attribute to joy or anger And after having wavered a long time in the consideration of what answer she should return I believe Orontes so far from hence said she and so different from what you report of him that I know not what satisfaction you can make him give me but yet your offers are so civil that I cannot refuse them and since you desire to have it so I will go along with you to get remedy for the wound I have received from you Saying thus she put forth her hand to him and calling her Squires she leaned upon the arm of Hyppolita the person with whom she had talked and who also was a woman and went with Lysimachus too toward the hous it was so near that they got not on Horseback and Lysimachus sending his servant who had been spectator of the Combat before to prepare a Chamber led her thither softly by the Garden Gate They found Polemon there who was come out to meet them and to use the civilities he was obliged to in his house his wife caried the fair Amazone to her Chamber and offered her all the service she could expect from those of her own sex While the women undress'd her to put her to bed Lysimachus withdrawing out of respect went into Oroondates his Chamber That was the first day he had left his bed since his wound and Lysimachus giving him an exact accompt of all that had hapned surprised him with a marvellous astonishment After having lent him a very quiet attention I finde said he two things in this adventure very remarkable Lysimachus his friendship and this womans hatred I believe I have deserved neither of them and as I never obliged Lysimachus so much as to afford me a bare good will so likewise I doe not think that ever I by any of my actions gave this woman cause to hate me these are the effects of chance which blindly sends us both good and evil fortune but since after having so generously defended my quarrel you have also engaged your self for me I will free you from that obligation and if this fair Lady be capable of receiving a reparation for those wrongs she pretends J have done her I will give it her so fully that you shall have nothing more to desire for the dis-engaging of your word I will go into her Chamber with you assoon as she is in a condition to receive our visit and I will submit my self to suffer whatsoever her resentment shall enjoyn me While they discoursed on this manner Lysimachus his Chirurgian waited upon the Amazone Lady and having search'd her wound he found there was
mee then ceas to live and 't is enough that my jealousie arms my hands against my rivals without arming my wishes against my Princess let us satisfie our selvs with having displeased her in the death of her favorite and if my love demanded reparation from her inconstancie let us believ that that wee have received is no light one since with our own eies wee have seen him fall dead whom shee loved more then her life beeing for him shee in so short a time had lost the memorie of our services and of her illustrious husband But miserable man said hee again what doest thou rejoice at canst thou bee pleased to have offended thy Princess and canst thou have sent him out of the world whom shee loved without becoming her mortal enemie and canst thou becom her enemie without becoming a more cruel enemie to thy self But added hee for his justification 't was that rival himself that defied mee and assaulted mee upon that quarrel I can suspect no other caus of it and hee without question knew mee for Statira's servant and for him that had heretofore obliged her to som good will perchance also hee is not dead but may have received from his friends alike assistance to that which ha's brought mee back from the grave if it bee so O Rival in spite of all my repentance and in spite of all Statira's interests prepare thy self for a second combat and dispose thy self to lose thy pretensions with thy life or to tear away these remainders of mine there is no part of the world able to conceal thee from the pursuit of a desperate lover and thou art too brave a man to hide thy self from him against whom thou so valiantly hast defended thy advantages This thought having drawn on another hee opened the curtain of his bed and calling for Araxes commanded him to send to the place where they had fought and if his enemie were found there capable of any assistance hee charged him to give it him as to his own person and to use his utmost indeavors to recover him into a condition of terminating their quarrel Hee took care also for Arsacomes his burial and having given these orders in a few words and obeyed the command hee received from Amintas to keep silence all that day The two Princesses left it him wholly free and beeing got up late they contented themselvs at the Chirurgians desire with going but once into his chamber to give him the good day and to enquire how hee did Hee had alreadie told them his encounter with Perdiccas and had as much astonished them with those last effects of his generositie as hee joied them with the news of Statira's safetie whose loss they had deplored as well as hee In the mean time Araxes beeing returned from the place whither his Master had sent him brought backward that hee had vainly sought the bodies of the stranger and of Arsacomes and that som one having taken them away had hindred him from rendring them the last offices of burial Oroöndates expressed som trouble at it and the next day the Princesses obtained permission of Amintas to stay with him and keep him companie upon condition they should not make him speak too much As soon as Oroöndates saw them by his bedside addressing himself to the Princess Berenice Sister said hee wee have not yet had time to entertain one another since our meeting I burn with an impatiencie to learn your adventures and the caus of your coming into this countrie I beseech you to satisfie it in the presence of this fair Queen who need not bee suspected to us Brother replied the Princess provided your health may receiv no prejudice by your attention nor by the nois of my speaking I am readie to content you and to tell you wonders that are unknown to you and wherewith as you may remember I never had the libertie to entertain you during your imprisonment The Princess then turning towards Amintas to ask his approbation and hee having assured her that Oroöndates might hearken to her for som time without danger shee began the relation of her adventures thus The Historie of Berenice HOw shall I bee able dear Brother to avow my faults and weaknesses to you and what account shall I give you of a life which you must needs think criminal if you judg of my actions with severitie and if you have not som regard to a dear memorie to reasons that are specious enough and to the frailtie of our nature Indeed this consideration abashe's mee and make's mee fear as many changes of my countenance in this relation as you will finde changes in my fortune but Brother to reassure mee I will remember not onely that you have loved since decencie prescribe's us different rules but that this fair Queen who hear's mee hath not been exempt from this passion and that by the height of yours and the qualities of your person you obliged a great Princess whose virtue was without blemish and whose example may authorize part of my faults to slacken somthing of her severitie for your sake and to conceiv inclinations full of a real affection After this preparation to my discours I will make you a naked confession of the accidents of my life whereof you have till now been ignorant and with part whereof I had entertained you in Scythia but for the strictness of those spies which were set over you in prison and the order that was taken about your departure I will therefore begin my recital from the time of the first voiage you made into Persia and will neither tell this fair Queen my birth which shee cannot bee ignorant of after the knowledg of yours nor the particulars of my infancie which have nothing considerable and whereof the remembrance is but too deeply drowned in that of my more important adventures You know I was but in the thirteenth year of my age when you marched against Darius with the King our father and all the forces of Scythia and I hardly began to enter upon the fourteenth when the King returned to Issedon with his armie and yet even when I was so young I did not escape the assaults of Fortune nor of those sorrows wherewith I have since been overwhelmed The first I received of weight enough to make it self bee felt was that of your going away and though I saw marks of your remembrance in a letter which was given mee from you that testimonie of your affection served onely to make mee more sensible of your departure and I with my particular affliction accompanied that general excessive sadness which seized upon the whole court for that occasion The King expressed an extraordinarie grief and condemned the lightness of your youth by words which sufficiently made known how really hee loved you at that time That kinde of mourning took off much from the divertisements of that winter and moderated those rejoicings which were prepared for the Kings return and for the success
in the desire I have by declaring my trade to finde excuse for many faults which perhaps would not bee pardonable in a Doctor nor in a man of another profession THE THIRD PART OF CASSANDRA The first Book THe Princess Berenice and the fair Queen of the Amazones having given a part of the night to the relation of the sorrowful Alcione passed the last hours thereof and the first of the day following in a reasonable quiet sleep Berenice whose thoughts though more tender and whole cares though less violent then those of Thalestris had yet a fresher caus awaken'd first and opening the curtain of her bed shee saw Alcione in the chamber who with Hippolita waited till the Princesses were awake that shee might give them the good morrow The countenance and humor of that woman having begot a great deal of good will in her moved her also to som desire of interessing her in her fortune and of putting her into the place of those persons whom shee had lost and to whom alone shee had formerly trusted her most secret and most important thoughts As soon as shee saw her shee called her to her bedside and began to testifie her affection to her by words full of sweetness and by kindnesses which carried a charm along with them against which it was impossible for even the most savage hearts to defend themselvs Thalestris waken'd while they were talking and Berenice finding shee could bee content to sleep a little longer would not disturb her but getting her self readie by the help of Alcione and Hippolita shee went out of the chamber with them Her first care was to call for Araxes to enquire after the health of the Prince her Brother and having heard by him that hee had passed the night indifferent well and that hee was not yet awake shee would not interrupt his rest but going down the stairs with those two women shee let them lead her into the wood and from thence to the river side to take her morning walk There shee ask'd Hippolita divers questions concerning her Mistresses adventures and learn'd whatsoëver the Queen had forgotten in her relation There likewise shee confirm'd the first assurances of her friendship to Alcione and gain'd her absolutely both by the advantage of her offers and by the inevitable allurements which were naturally in the least of her actions They were in this entertainment when they saw a litter com out of the wood conveied by certain men on hors-back which keeping the great high-way toward the Citie were of necessitie to pass close by them Berenice's present condition making her apprehend all manner of encounters shee was alreadie turning her back when the other two who had more curiositie reassured her and alledging that those persons went in an equipage which shewed no evil intention they perswaded her to stay till they were gon by having onely put down avail which without hindring her from the sight of any object serv'd to deâ—end her face a little from the eies of those passengers shee nevertheless retired under certain trees fifteen or twentie paces from the road but by reason the litter went very softly and that it was open on their side that distance hindred her not from observing the person that was in it 'T was a man of so good presence that the like was hardly to bee found and though his sickness or his wounds had diminished part of his fresher looks and caused som alteration in his face Berenice had the image of it too present in her memorie to bee mistaken Shee was so extremely surprised at that sight that her color going and coming twice or thrice in a moment shee sunk down upon Alcione and remained almost without knowledg in her arms Shee and Hippolita seeing her faint turned up the vail which covered her face and there reading the marks of a powerful change they asked her the caus of it Berenice was so troubled that shee was som time in recovering her self and when shee was a little settled before shee answered them shee cast her eie upon the way the litter had taken and seeing it was not yet far off and that it went slowly enough to give her hopes of overtaking it shee turned toward them I must said shee I must necessarily see the man again who is in yonder litter if you pleas to com along with mee Alcione you Hippolita may return unto your Mistress I pray you tell the Prince my brother that this encounter draw's mee from him for a few moments and that I desire him not to bee troubled at my departure for I will quickly return to him with so good news as shall make him excuse it With these words shee walked after the horses leaning upon Alcione who esteemed her self most happie to serv and accompanie her Hippolita would have gon with them but Berenice refused it in such manner that shee believing her self suspected to her in that design pressed it no further but to obey her returned unto 〈◊〉 hous Oroöndates and Thalestris were awake when shee came in but shee went to wait upon her Mistress before shee perform'd her commission to the Prince The Queen was in a great wonder at the recital of Berenice's departure who beeing alreadie very dear to her shee was exceedingly concerned in what might befall her by that encounter Shee was no sooner readie but shee carried the news of it her self to Prince Oroöndates and making Hippolita tell the particulars of that adventure again in his presence put him into a strange astonishment and into as strange a perplexitie This precipitate departure of a sister whom hee loved most tenderly at a time when hee was unable to follow her and to give her any assistance afflicted him very sensibly but hee drew som consolation from her words to Hippolita and hoped for somthing at her return which might make him bear her absence the more patiently when hee had mused a while upon the noveltie of that encounter and having vainly studied to finde out the truth of it hee by the alterations of his countenance and by a silence full of confusion had expressed the diversitie of his thoughts at last by lifting up his eies toward the Queen I give over the care said hee to the immortal gods of whatsoëver from henceforth shall concern mee and in the condition to which my own affairs are reduced I should bee too blame if I remitted the conduct of Berenice's to any other providence but theirs They wrought a miracle in her favor when they sent mee to rescue her and neither their power nor their goodness I trust will bee shortned to her I 'le go hasten after her replied the Amazone Queen and will never give over that pursuit till I have used my endevors to give her that assistance which your present estate forbid's her to hope for from you At these words shee called for two horses and arms and though Oroöndates out of civilitie would have spared her the trouble it was
little less astonied than himself Cyllenia said he I am undone and I read my destiny too plainly in your face in the Princesses action and in the sight of that you hold in your hand My crime is now discover'd but I have at least this satisfaction that 't is onely my misfortune and not my mouth that has done me this ill office I have never fail'd by want of respect to the Princess and how little power soever I had over my self I had yet enough over my tongue to binde it to an everlasting silence I alleadge not this Excuse to justifie my self towards her for as respectfull as innocent and as secret as my passion was 't is yet criminal without doubt since it has mov'd her indignation and the Gods would not have discovered it thus if it had not been punishable you see me therefore most willingly disposed to receive that sentence you are to pronounce I le hearken to it without murmuring and though perhaps you have contributed something towards my unhappiness I le lend an ear to my condemnation without any resentment against you Cyllenia has sworn to me since that she was not able to hear these words of Arsaces without being sensible of pity and that it was with great repugnancy she executed the commission I had given her but being she knew not how to avoid it she strove to take a Resolution and sweetning her words and countenance as much as possibly she could Sir said she I bear a share in your affliction and I could wish with all my heart that the Princess had made use of some other body to acquaint you with her intentions 't is true she has discovered your passion and is so much offended at it that she thinks her self bound to intreat you never to see her more Arsaces at first was touched with this command but being his courage was great and that he had certain thoughts whereupon his hopes were grounded he suffered not himself to be dejected but settling his countenance as it was before he spake thus to Cyllenia with a great deal of moderation This sentence is most just Cyllenia and I should not be so my self if I complained of it and the most equitable punishment this great Princess could ordain him whom her sight hath caused to offend her is to forbid it him for ever I protest to you by her fair Eyes and by the sacred respect I bear her that I will obey her Decree without murmuring and that if I could do so without deserving her I would demand no longer a delay of my banishment than this very moment wherein it is ordain'd me but Cyllenia I am staid here by an important necessity and unless I will betray the King the State and the Princess herself particularly I cannot go away till she hath given me an hours audience I must needs obtain it by your mediation I say I must needs for the Princesses service for her satisfaction and for her repose and I will ingage my self both to you and to her by all the most religious Oaths were ever taken that in all my discourse I will not mingle so much as one word of my passion Procure me this favour I beseech you which you shall see I will not abuse and if I break the promise I make you hold me for the most ingratefull and the most unworthy of all men living Cyllenia was mute at this Proposition and doubting she should not be able to obtain what he desired of me she knew not which way she should free her self from that Request Arsaces added so many other words to his former perswasions and pressed her so earnestly that she was constrained to promise him she would imploy all her credit with me to effect what he desired and leaving him with that hope she came back to me who was already retired into my Closset I was so troubled at this adventure that I was not able to resettle my self and so displeased with Arsaces his temerity that I could not pardon my self the fault I had committed in having by my excessive civilities given him the boldness to offend me What said I is it then Berenices destiny never to cause love in any but those that are beneath her was not the presumption of one of her fathers subjects enough for her misfortune without making her be lov'd also by a man who perchance is hardly so much as of noble Bloud Has this Beauty then wherewith some have so unjustly flatter'd me no power but upon persons of mean condition Ah mine Eyes if you must never gain other Victories devest your selves of all your lustre and lose all your forces since they are so vilely and so unworthily imployed Scarce had I uttered these words when I felt some remorse for the contempt I shewed of Arsaces me thought though he was not born a Prince his excellent qualities did so fully recompence that defect that without injustice I could not put him in the rank of meaner persons I then call'd to minde all that was great and lovely in him and found so much cause of esteem and admiration that I could not remain in sensible at that remembrance I confess the charms of his gracefull fashion the sweetness of his conversation and his merit in general had wrought in me a good will towards him which had something in it more than ordinary and my reflecting upon that abated much of the violence of my former thoughts Would it pleased the Gods said I again by some secret constraint would it pleased the Gods he were born a Prince and that his too bold passion were authorised by a less unequal birth I should not then reckon this conquest shamefull and if he onely wanted Kingdoms his virtue would either supply that defect or quickly put them in a way to get them No sooner had I given way unto this thought in favour of Arsaces but my anger stifled it again and made me asham'd of my compliance with his crime Let him go said I recalling my disdain that presumptuous man by whom my favourable usage has been so ill receiv'd let him carry his audacious affections somewhither else and those desires which are too ambitious for one of common rank I am mercifull enough in concealing his crime from the King my father and I punish him too gently in ordaining nothing but banishment for such a fault as his I was taken up with these different thoughts when Cyllenia came in to me and gave me presently an exact account of the success of her Commission I hearken'd to her relation with some kind of tenderness and was a little touch'd with Arsaces his words but for all the intreaties Cyllenia could use I was not to be won to grant him the audience he demanded I have seen him and heard him but too much already said I he has abused my indulgence he has abused my innocent goodness the Gods forbid I should fall into that errour any more and that
to the inclinations he had already towards him and to the incitements of his own vertue made him resolve not to forsake him but to suspend the remembrance of his own unhappinesse that he might give him assistance to the uttermost Afterwards coming to make reflexion upon the cause of that accident and how powerfully the Stranger was concerned in the death of the Princesses of Persia he could not divine the cause of it and expecting till he could learn it either from himself or from his Squire he confirmed himself in the friendship he had vowed to him guessing by the proofs he had that they were companions in fortune and that the despair of both proceeded from the same cause He was taken off from these thoughts by the return of old Polemon and his Physitian Amintas accompanyed with some Chirurgians and other servants he â—had sent for Lysimachus praised their diligence and having recommended the Strangers health to his Physitian would needs see his wound searched assoon as Amintas had proab'd it he judged it not dangerous and assuring his Master of his recovery filled him with as much joy as hee was capable to receive The faithfull Squire was quite transported at it and waited upon those that endeavoured his Masters cure with such a zeal as did visibly demonstrate his affection towards him The Chirurgians having applyed the first remedies to his wound poured a certain cordial into his mouth which within a while after made him recover his spirits sight and knowledge When he was come out of his swoun he fixed his eyes upon the first objects that presented themselvs unto him and seeing himself encompassed by Lysimachus his Squire and those that had dressed him hee for some time considered both the place where hee was and the persons that were present and doubting of the truth of the businesse he turned his eyes slowly upon those that were nearest him and having lookt upon them awhile without speaking Cruel Enemies said he with a weak voice what I have done to you that you should persecute me with so much inhumanity Then feeling the paine of his wound he laid his hands upon it and would have torn off the Swathes if Lysimachus knowing his design had not seized upon them easily holding him by reason of his weaknesse The Stranger seeing himself hindred from his Resolution lookt first upon him with a threatning eye and then finding himself too weak to execute what he had in his minde he strove to move him by some tears which ran down his cheeks and might have obtained any thing else of him except what they demanded Lysimachus nearly touched with compassion alledged all the Reasons that might disswade him from his despair and seeing hee vouchsafed not to hear them and that in the end it would be impossible to force him to live he resolved to try if point of Honour could work him to his own preservation Sir said he with a more resolute voice then before till now I believed you vertuous but at last you force me to tell you you injurâ— the proofs you have given of it by a manifest unworthinesse and I conjure you by all the Gods continued he and by the memory of the Princesses of Persia if it bee true that you did love them to assist me in the revenge I must take of their deaths desiring you to live but so long as to tear away the lives of their Murtherers for whom I finde my self too weak without your help both they and I doe beg it of you and if you be as much concerned in their losse as you would have it believed know that you cannot die but ignominiously if you do not at least endeavour it as well for your own honour as their satisfaction I have as much cause to die as you can have and since in this extremity it is no longer time to conceal it know that I would not have out-lived the Princesse Parisatis if I had not believed my self obliged to satisfie her Ghost by the blood of those that ravished her from me This Discourse had so much power over the mind of this desperate Stranger that having maturely weighed it he was ashamed of the desire hee had before to die without revenge and witnessed his repentance to LYSIMACHVS by these words You have overcome LYSIMACHVS but remember the time you have demanded and never desire me to lengthen it In the interim Araxes shall tell you the cause of my despair and neither conceal from you the name nor life of the miserable companion of your misfortunes After these words he no longer opposed the will of the Chirurgions and being forbidden to speak for som few days LYSIMACHVS resolved to spend that time in learning the whole History of a Life which he judged to be full of very remarkable accidents But because the night was already a good way advanced after having taken a light supper and recommended the hurt Stranger to those that had the care of him he went to bed and till it was day rested as much as his griefs would suffer him The next morning assoon as he was up he enquired after the health of the wounded Stranger and being told he was asleep he led his Squire into a Garden which the Master of the House kept trimm'd with very great care the beauty whereof was extraordinary for one of his condition being fitted with all things that could make a place delightful When they were come into it they walk'd a while in the shade of a pleasant Alley and after they had taken a few turns LYSIMACHVS through a Hedge which parted two Walks heard the voice of two persons discoursing together and having lent an ear with some attention he discern'd that of old Polemon their Landlord who spoke on this manner I am not able to clear your doubts CASSANDRA but time and the abode you will make in this place may easily resolve them for my part I will labour in it all that I can possibly and protest to you by all the Gods I will spare neither my endeavours no nor my life it self for your contentment In the mean time strive to settle your minde both from your frights and your afflictions and believe that CASSANDRA'S vertue is too considerable to the Gods to let it lie any longer under those misfortunes that persecute it Polemon making a stop at these words the other with whom hee talked after two or three sighs which were over-heard by LYSIMACHVS was in probability ready to make answer when both being come to the ends of their several Allies met at the entry into another which went crosse them This encounter made Lysimachus see that it was a Woman of very fair stature cloathed almost in a meer Country habit who was discoursing with Polemon This was all he could discern and she who desired no witnesses of her conversation seeing her self surprised by that Company turned her back to him as suddenly as well she could and walking hastily away went
evident a danger of his life which yet he would have hazarded without difficulty if he had seen but never so little probability in his designe These considerations which he often did me the honour to communicate to me made him resolve to keep himself still undiscovered And in the interim endeavour to win the Princesses favour under the name of Orontes till being assured of it by some proofs and having made himself yet more powerfull with the King by some important service he might see more incouragement and less danger to declare himself In the mean time he continued his visits but he entertain'd the Princess with so much respect and wariness and with discourses so far from the inclinations he had to her that unless by his ardent sighs he gave some knowledge of his passion it was no easie matter for her to perceive it Not but that he sought all occasions to please her and to do her all kind of little services with such care and watchfulness as is not to be found in one indifferent his looks also spoke sufficiently to make him be understood by an interessed person but his mouth was always silent and his tongue tyed up by so profound a respect that it left it's whole business to his eyes and to his heart all the pain it suffer'd for the temerity he accused it of He continued upon these termes two or three days and his disquiets so charged his humour that growing daily more melancholique and less sociable he at last was hardly to be known When I undertook to comfort him and to condemn the weakness he shewed he answer'd me with nothing but sighs and sobs which piercing my very soul with grief made me detest his ruinous passion His body grew quickly sencible of his mindes affliction and his former good looks gave place to a fallow complexion which left almost no mark of that excelling comelyness that was wont to work an astonishment in the Persians Artaxerxes who from day to day observ'd so wonderfull an alteration took a great deal of pains to finde the cause but Oroondates still put him off with some fain'd excuse and disguised the truth from him by all the pretences he could invent He tryed to divert him by all manner of passe-times and exercises but seeing all his cares were vain he bore a part of his trouble with very much discontent and was so excessively griev'd that my Master knowing his affection by those visible proofs constrain'd himself in his presence and forced his countenance to express a pleasantness of which his heart was utterly uncapable The King who lov'd him dearly used his endeavours to infuse mirth into him nor did the Queens and Princesses forget any kinde of divertisement to withdraw him from a sadness which infected the whole Court One Evening the King being with the Queen his Mother where the Queen his wife the Princesses his daughters and the fairest Ladies of the Court were likewise the Company having long entertain'd it self with the change of my Masters looks and humor and every one diversly alledging the cause the King giving his opinion Without doubt 't is Love said he that hath robb'd us of the Prince of the Massagetes and he hath infallibly left som beauty in Scythia which persecutes him here in Persia and so revenges her Country for the injury we doe it in depriving it of a Prince who is one of its chiefest ornaments Artabasus who was near the King replyed Doe you think Sir that among so many Ladies as are here there may not one be found whose beauty might have produced an effect so disadvantageous to our contentment For my part I believe 't is among the Persians Orontes has lost that liberty he preserv'd among the Scythians since he hath left that pleasing humour and those fresh looks here which he brought with him out of his own Country If it be so cryed the King and that among our Ladies there be any one so cruel as to let him continue longer in a condition so worthy of pity I declare my self her mortal enemy and swear by the Sun I will receive all the harsh usage she shall shew him as done to mine own person Artaxerxes to second the King his Father conjured all the Ladies one after another to have compassion of his dear Orontes and the Queen his Mother added I do not believe that among all our Ladies there is any so flinty as to reject Orontes affections nor that the credit of a King or intercession of a friend can obtain much where his merits have been able to do nothing Oroondates who was touched to the heart with all these discourses would often have answered such obliging speeches but fearing hee should not have power enough over his passion to keep himself from giving some knowledge of it either by his words or action he went to joyn Discourse with the Princesse Roxana Barsina and Memnon who were conversing together near a window and left them not till the King retired but during their entertainment he had his eyes so fix'd upon the Princesse and shewed so much distraction in all his talk that Roxana was like to have suspected something of the truth After that time seeing how concern'd the whole Court was in his sad or pleasing humour and in what manner his least actions were observ'd he strove to dissemble part of his discontent and to give those that were most curious lesse occasion of inquiry after the cause of it not being willing to discover that by his imprudence which he hid with so much care even to the loss of all his repose and quietnesse But alas the disease was already too violent and his soul was too full of passion to afford a room for any other thing This constraint made him still grow worse and he would have wasted away insensibly to nothing if that which happen'd to him shortly after had not made some change or rather alteration in his fortune The fairness of a day extraordinary clear and temperate for the season it then was invited the Princesses to walk in the Gardens of the Palace the greatest Gallants waited on them thither and at their alighting out of their Chariots Oroondates took Statira by the hand Hydaspes Parisatis Artaxerxes Roxana and Memnon his dear Barsina Rhesaces Ariobarsanes Orsines and some others led Arsinoe Cleone and other fair Ladies whereof the Persian Court was exceedingly well stored It is not necessary for me to describe the beauty of those Gardens to you you have seen them in their greatest glory before the insolency of some loose women carried on your Great King to the ruine of the bravest Palace and fairest City of the world After that the whole Company had walked together awhile it divided it self according to the several inclinations of the Ladies one part ran to the Fountains another sought for shade in Arbours some sate down upon the grass and the rest visited the fair and spâ—cious Allies Statira being her self
liberty he had to entertain his Princess every day did facilitate the means unto him To that purpose having met her one day in the same Grot where he had found her asleep there being no body with her but Cleone to whom their love was not unknown he kneeled down before her and seeing that she kept her eyes fixt upon the ground without regarding him he said to her with strange inward motions accompanied by a deep sigh It is exceeding hard for me Madam to imagine the cause of your coldnesse toward mee but it is much harder for mee to beare it without dying pardon me I beseech you if I take the liberty to tell you that I think this alteration very strange and that the manner of your carriage to me for some few days of late has put me into torments which I cannot possibly expresse if I have trangressed sentence me to death since the least faults I can commit against you deserve not any lighter punishment if you have found in this miserable man any new defects that were unknown to you discover them to me for charities sake to the end I may either correct them or for ever banish from your sight a person too defective to be loved by you but if I be neither more guilty nor more defective then I was before this fatal change make me not die with so much injustice and so little knowledge of my crime He spoke these words with much action and vehemence and the Princess answering only by some tears which it was not possible for her to withhold after having in vain expected her reply What Madam continued he are these then the tears you give unto my death after having resolv'd upon it Have you charity enough to bewail my losse and yet not goodnesse enough to let me know the cause The Princesse at last lifting up her head and looking upon him with an eye which though full of tears inflamed him more then ever made answer without being moved Orontes Orontes neither I am capable of change nor you of transgressing your inconstancy is not to be blamed since it makes you forsake a Captive for the Mistress of her Conqueror and of her Master My Prince understood not the meaning of these words and replyed in great distraction I beseech you Madam explain your self better and draw a man that is already besides himself out of the confusion into which you have put him whatsoever you intend to accuse me of the Gods know that I am most innocent and I expose my head to their loudest thunder if I be guilty to you in the least thought To love Barsina answered she is not to be guilty she is truly fair and lovely yet all her good qualities cannot give you a dispensation for your Oaths to me nor absolve you from the infidelity you commit against the daughter of Darius and the sister of Artaxerxes for one of their subjects Doe not change your countenance Orontes continued she turning toward my Master who was quite surprised and confounded at so unexpected a Discourse the truth is discovered at last the caus of your Journey to Damascus and of your stay amongst us is no longer hid and I have found at last against my will that I served for nothing but a pretence and cloak of your new affection but well pursued she with tears in her eyes follow this last inclination I oppose not the advantage you find in this your change and though I cannot see it without grief unto my self yet will I see it without any resentment that may be prejudicial to you My Prince quite amazed at this adventure and not knowing where to finde words that could justifie the constancy of his affection was able to doe nothing at first but embrace her knees and shed so many tears upon them that by his sighs and the vehemency of his action she began already to believe him partly innocent and to lose something of her former opinion But when he lift up his head and that showing her a face all drowned in tears wherein his real passion was too lively painted he was preparing to say somthing in his own defence he saw Barsina all alone passing close by the Grot and of a sudden without considering that his action might displease his Princess he ran distractedly to her and drawing her by the robe unto the entry of the Grot he fell down upon his knees before her and taking her hands with an action that marvellously surprised her Barsina said he I conjure you by the light of the Sun and by the power of Orosmades and of all the Gods that hear us by the head of Darius and by the memory of Memnon to draw me out of the Gulf into which you have precipitated me and to declare before the face of Heaven and of those Gods I have invoked if ever by any of my words or by any of my actions I have express'd any affection to you and if ever either here or at Damascus or at Persepolis I have liv'd with you in any other fashion then I might have done with mine own sister These words pronounced with a tone quite extraordinary did so surprise Barsina that of a long time she could not answer and when she had a little recovered that deep astonishmennt Prince Oroondates said she I know not why you require such a declaration from me but whatsoever you may suffer for my consideration I protest to you by the same Gods you mentioned that I am most innocent and declare before the Princess that I never received nor pretended to any of those things from you which are due to her alone and which I desire to yeild her while I live Although Statira by her countenance witnessed the amazement this action caused in her yet was she very well satisfied with it and not being able to attribute that indiscretion in a man whom she had always known most discreet to any thing but the violence of his passion she began to fall a little from her jealousie and to suffer Oroondates who was now a little settled to perfect the undeceiving of her by the assistance of Barsina who representing unto her the little probability there was in her suspitions and the advantages the Gods had given her above her as well in beauty as in descent left not any mark at all of the impressions she had received and when she found she was cured of them and that she learn'd from her mouth how much Roxana had contributed to them It must necessarily be continued she that this malicious woman either loves Oroondates or hates us but Madam lend her your ear no more and believe that 't is not without some interest she takes so great care to make a difference between you My Master blush'd at those words but he discovered nothing of Roxana 's affection and importunities and addressing himself to Statira Madam said he the Gods without doubt have rais'd her up to keep me from losing the
her She spent the most part of her life in these different thoughts and seem'd so loosned from all other cares and all other divertisements that the Queen the Princess her sister and her best friends had with the hope given over also the endeavor of making her forget her sadness It is not necessary for me Sir to tell you all the lesse important particulars of her life during Alexanders absence there hapned nothing remarkable at Susa but in the end two years after his departure we heard he was returning thither having subdued the Indies and all the people that inhabit on this side of the River Ganges The Princesses receiv'd this news with their ordinary moderation and to shorten this Discourse within some days after they saw him come back with a Triumphant Army laden with the Spoils of the greater part of the world Assoon as hee was arrived he went to visit them and rendred them all the civilities and honors they could have expected from those whom the Gods had made to be born their subjects He entertain'd the Princess with Discourses full of respect and remembring the resolution he had taken at his departure the affection he had promised to his Queen Roxana he continued a few days in a very great coldness and conversed with her in terms full of indifferency But in the end the sight of her waken'd his passion which was but laid asleep and the charms of that fair Princess working their usual effects wiped out of his minde both all his resolutions and all the impressions which the beauty and subtilty of Roxana had made in it That new Queen had staid behind at Pasargada by reason of a sickness that hindred her from accompanying the King to Susa and it was her absence that gave him a fuller liberty to fall again into his old affection He began his Courtship afresh with more earnestness then before and confirming himself by the custome of Persia which permits the marrying of many wives he return'd unto the service of Statira with that design and labored to gain her consent by all the proofs it was possible to give her of his love He found her the same he had left her when he went away and received answers from her that would a thousand times have repulsed or a thousand times made desperate another man whose courage had been lesse firm and constant But that great Prince being invincible in all things persevered with so 〈◊〉 a resolution and combated her minde with so much patience that the Princess considering with what submission and respect he served her being in a condition that gave him all manner of authority over her began to lose some part of her aversion or of the resentment she had against him and accustomed her self to receive him and suffer him with more mildness and compliance then she was wont before not that she could dispose her self to love him and sway her minde into a second passion after having been so unhappy in the former for having been so ill dealt withal by the first man she had ever lov'd she had conceiv'd a general indignation against all others but at least she brought her self to look upon him as the greatest Prince in the world and as he who of all men living did at that time express most affection to her Alexander was contented for a while with this alteration which he thought very advantageous to him hoping that he might win her insensibly and that having obliged her to some compliance and esteem he might at last engage her in the affection hee so much desired but when he found that all his hopes were vain and that she continued still in the same terms he thought best to beg the assistance of her friends and of those that had any authority over her and having vainly employed the credit of Cleone Apamia and of the Princess Parisatis her self he addressed himself to Queen Sysigambis and discovered his heart and passion unto her in such moving and obliging words that meeting with a mind already full of esteem of him he wrought in it also a great willingness and desire to procure his satisfaction in that design When she was retired she sent for the Princess into her Chamber and having commanded all to withdraw she spoke to her Grand-child to this purpose I always believ'd my Statira that this resistance you have shown against Alexanders affection had been an effect of that great courage which you drew from the illustriousnesse of your birth from the example of your Ancestors and from the resentment you still had for the losses of our Family against him that is the Author of them and truly I have hitherto found so much justice in those thoughts that I have not condemn'd you for them But nâ—w that fortune has wholly rejected us and absolutely submitted us to him who submits himself absolutely to us me thinks we should part with a little of our severer resolutions for him that parts with much of the rights he hath over us and no longer seek our own utter ruine in an unseemly and unseasonable generosity Alexander our Conquerour and our Master wooes you with the submissions of a slave to a thing whereof all the glory and all the advantage will be yours and he who by all manner of rights may obtain all that he can desire of you upon terms that are most shameful and very different from those he offers you devests himself of all his power to present you the Empire of the whole world with respects and humilities which are very extraordinary Consider it Statira and do not still persist in a rigor which would prove destructive to you and which is no longer consistent with reason no nor with generosity it self if some of his actions have given us cause of tears and of complaints against him let us believe that the Gods who had destined him to an universal Monarchy and to the ruine of our family could not have made the Reliques of it fall into the hands of a more gentle and indulgent Conqueror and let us consider that the evils he has done us and which by the will of the Gods he was decreed to do us if they can be counterpoised by obligations are so by those he voluntarily hath laid upon us In short Statira fear or rather let us all fear he may change his humor and grow weary at last of intreating her whom without punishment he may constrain This is the counsel I give you both for your own interest and ours and since that by the death of my dear children there remains none but my self who hath any lawful power over you I command you as much as I can do now not to resist his affection any more so long as he shall sue for yours by means that are so glorious to you and by offers of a Crown which raises our house again to a much greater splendor then that from whence it is fallen Having ended these words she
least never to appear before her till she be in a condition to receive you I make you judge Sir what effect these words wrought upon my poor Prince he had hearken'd to them with changings of his countenance and alterations able to melt the most frozen hearts with pitty and when he heard the conclusion of them and saw them end in an eternal banishment notwithstanding all the succor he required of his courage he could not get enough from it to make him proof against so violent an assault he broke not forth into cries nor into tears those shewes of grief were too weak for the greatness of his but he had not power enough over his sences nor over his forces to keep them from forsaking him his eyes closed themselves his head sunk gently upon his shoulder and by little and little his whole body fell cold and immovable upon the bed where he was sitting The Queen who had prepared her self for all the worst events that could happen could not see him in that condition without a most sensible affliction not without making war with her fair hair and lovely face which grief had altered almost to an impossibility of being known she spoke the most compassionate words that ever sorrow made those persons utter who have been the most deeply touch'd with it and did some actions which if they had not been excusable by their cause would have been a little unbeseeming her modesty and quality but yet she never stirr'd from her last resolution and disposed her self rather to die then retract the sentence she had pronounced Barsina Cleone and I were about my Prince and laboured to fetch him again by all the remedies that can be made use of in such an occasion but he was in so deep a swoun that it was above an hour ere we could observe the least signe of life in him Though the Queen was once resolv'd not to stay for his complaints and reproaches yet could she not leave him in that estate but assoon as ever she saw him open his eyes she rose up from beside him and wiping away her tears composed her countenance as well as possibly she could and prepared her self to give him the last farwell My Prince having recovered his sences and seeing us all busie about him turn'd his sight slowly on all sides and seeking her out with his eyes when he was come to himself enough to remember the command she had newly imposed upon him he said only these words to her with a feeble dying voice I will obey you Madam never fear it I will obey you The Queen not permitting him to go on I hope so my dear Oroondates said she and with this assurance I give you the last farewell and the last kiss With these words coming close to him she kiss'd him for the last time indeed and getting loose from him without staying for any other answer she went out of the chamber so besides her self that I believe she hardly knew how she got unto her Chariot My poor Master accompanied her with his eyes as far as he could without stirring from his place and cryed out after her with a voice that shewed how weak he was Farewell the most beloved and the most ingratefull of all women living farewell for ever inhuman Statira Farewell since you fear to be present at my death and yet feared not to give it me He uttered many other complaints and was presently seized with a most violent feaver Barsina would not leave him in that condition and though she had purposed to have gone along with the Queen Sysigambis and Parisatis who all departed that very day she made her excuses to them promising the Queen to wait upon her at Babylon assoon as my Prince was recovered thus the Queens went away from Susa and Barsina returning to her house began to take care of my Masters health We had already got him to bed and that good Princess knowing the violence of his Feaver sent for all the most skilful Physitians and imployed them in his cure with a diligence that cannot be imagined she was so handsomely industrious and so affectionately careful about it that she visibly express'd the reality of her friendship to him but the poor Prince vvas so ill handled by his sickness that within a few days the Physitians began to despair of his recovery Do but judge Sir of my affliction and of Barsina's to see a person that vvas so dear to us and whose excellent qualities we were so well acquainted with die in her house and in our arms Certainly it is very hard to represent it to you and when vve reflected upon all the accidents of so marvellous a life and that we saw the admirable events of it end all in so sad so tragical a conclusion vvee appeared to bee more touched with his sicknesse then he himself In the mean time he lay in a continual study and for many days was deprived of all manner of knowledge his frenzy made him speak many extravagant things and the Physitians ascribing all to that made nothing of them though they were able to have discovered some passages of his life They continued many days in a belief that he would die and the Gods are my witnesses that not being able to think of seeing Scythia again without him nor of living after him I took a resolution to accompany him in the grave But when wee least expected it a favourable crisis gave some glimpse of hope to those that had him in hand and to make short that I may not keep you longer in a narration which already exceeds a reasonable length his youth and vigorous constitution saved him and in the end lessened the danger wherein he had lien for many days Assoon as the Physitians began to give me assurance of his recovery and that by the diminution of his feaver my confidence of it was increased I turn'd my thoughts to the settling of his minde in quiet but not seeing the least hope of it while his fortune was such I took a resolution something strange but worthy of the affection I bore my Master and after having a while digested it I came to his bedside and knowing that no body over-heard me Sir said I since the Gods have so visibly delivered you from a death which without their particular assistance was infallibly very near you they have without doubt thought of the establishment of your life and do not restore it you beyond the hopes of all those that have look'd to you in your sickness to make you languish it out in misfortunes and disasters You must live but you must live happy and to that end you must banish all scruples that detain you in your present misery Since Alexanders life is incompatible with yours he must die and you must lose all those considerations that may disswade you from a thought in which alone your safety is to be found if the Queen loves you her desire to be intirely
addressing my self to Sysigambis Madam said I pardon I beseech you a rashnesse full of irreverence in a man who saw himself wounded in the most sensible part of his soul and believe that if this rude fellows fault had been of another nature we would not have ended the quarrel in your presence Those good Queens and those fair Princesses were so troubled at this accident that they had much adoe to settle themselves and after a good while Sysigambis answered me thus Sir your generosity is great but our injury was not consider able enough to require such violent remedies and the offence we receiv'd was too light to be repaired with the blood and perhaps with the life of such a person Though she said thus to me and that their goodness made them sorry for Cleanders mischance whom all believ'd to be most dangerously wounded yet did I nevertheless perceive by their faces they were not displeased with that action and I found cause to hope that proof I had given them of my respect and of the part I took in their interest would not be unprofitable to me In the mean time Cleander was caried away and the noise of this accident being come to the Kings ear and to all my friends Ptolomeus Craterus Philotas Antigonus Seleucus Meleager Polypercon and all those who had shewed any affection to me came and offered me all the assistances I could expect from their friendship Some of them thought it best for me to absent my self and avoid the Kings anger for a time while they laboured to make my peace and that we saw what would become of Cleanders wound But the rest whose opinion I resolv'd upon believ'd it better for me not to stir from the Camp and that my action not being ill I ought not to fear any thing from so just and generous a Prince as Alexander It hapned according to their hopes and the King being informed of the truth though Cleanders friends endeavoured to disguise it instead of blaming what I had done condemned Cleander in such a way as might have made his friends afraid for him if he had not been punished enough for his fault already The King excused it to the Queens himself and satisfied them absolutely by words which shewed how much he disapproved that action In the mean time we arrived at Sidon and notwithstanding my slight wound for which I never kept my Chamber I had the happiness to see the Princesses every day When they saw me alone and that they knew Cleanders recovery was not despaired of the remembrance of what I had done for their sakes coming into their minde made them full of acknowledgement and moved them to return me such civil obliging thanks that thereby I knew well ingratitude findes no place in souls that are truly noble But this acknowledgement was general amongst them and Parisatis whom I was desirous to oblige to a particular good will and to whom I every day gave particular marks of my affection caried her self to me as the Princesse her sister and not taking notice with how great diligence I tyed my self to her service kept her self still within the limits of civility and esteem I cannot better represent unto you the condition I was in then by the description Araxes made to me of yours when you were in the same tearms I became sad and melancholy like you I avoided company◠and the society of my friends like you and like you I lost a good part of my health and better looks I came to my Princesse an hundred times with a firm resolution to discover my self and to dye by her command and for the punishment of my temerity rather then perish languishing or in the violence of a torment which without being known would infallibly bring me to my grave But as often as I purposed that design so often my respect made it vanish and the presence of Parisatis dissipating all the courage I had left settled me again in my intention to die in silence rather then offend her by a presumptuous declaration On this manner I pass'd all the time we were at Sidon and all that we staid at the siege of Tyre Judge of my sufferance by the length of my silence and of the greatnesse of my respect by the violence I used upon my self during a whole year The King and all my friends wondred at the alteration of my humor and countenance they often ask'd me the reason of it and I laid it upon some bodily indisposition without discovering the true cause Ptolomeus the dearest of all my friends us'd his utmost endeavors to finde it out but though my most secret thoughts had never been conceal'd from him I then disguis'd the truth to him as well as to others and of a long time he could not draw a true confession from my mouth After the siege of Tyre the Ladies as you know were caried to the siege of Gaza there it was that my wounds grew worse by the continual presence of Parisatis and my despair alone made me resolve to bear the worst events J could apprehend from declaring my self It was not without great contestations and great difficulties J obtain'd that effect from my courage but considering the miserable condition of my life J determin'd to hazard the remainder of it to establish a better or lose that which J only lingred out in pains and torments that were insupportable With this design coming one day into her Chamber and finding her alone employed in the reading of Homers Iliads which she understood as well as her own language the fear of disturbing her made me retire a little but she perceiv'd me and laying down her Book upon the Table call'd me back and at the same time wiped her eyes by reason of some tears which ran down along her cheeks my apprehension of any thing that concern'd her moved me to ask the cause of her trouble but she instantly composed her countenance and making a pleasing smile succeed her tears I cannot conceal my weaknesse from you said she but must confesse I was not able to read Andromache's lamentations for the loss of her dear husband without being touch'd with compassion nor without accompanying with mïne those tears which probably she shed upon that occasion This discourse drawing a sigh from the bottom of my heart obliged me after a great conflict in my self to speak to her on this manner J cannot think Madam of the different causes different effects of pity without reflecting upon my own misfortunes which ought to draw from me for mine own interests a greater abundance of tears then you have bestowed upon those of the sad Andromache nor without blaming the injustice of Nature which gives you a sense of compassion for persons you never knew and yet would without doubt refuse it you for those that are most affectionate to your service you bewail the losse of Hector who died in the quarrel of his own Country and not of yours who
had appointed him vvas sufficiently known it was there the King us'd often to exercise his Troups being a Field not above ten or twelve furlongs from the City He gallopt his Horse full speed through the streets of Susa and carried by an impatiency like mine went out of the Town and came to me much sooner then I expected When I saw him appear all my blood was moved and all my passions stirr'd up with so much vehemence that they deprived me of the judgement I was wont to make use of in such like encounters I ran to meet him with my Sword ready drawn and with a threatning cry not having modesty enough to forbear saying Here it is thou unjust ravisher of my happiness that we will decide our pretensions otherwise then by the favour of thy Master and thou shalt either lose Parisatis with thy life or win her with mine Hee staid not to answer me neither indeed did I give him the leisure but rushing upon him with more fury then judgement I was received so vigorously that at that first encounter our swords having met without effect our horses were like to have touch'd the ground with their haunches we rais'd them up again with the spur and having taken a little career to make them recover the shock we turn'd about and closed up to one another with the same impetuosity as before but with a different success I wounded Hephestion with the point of my Sword in the shoulder and Hephestion striking at me with his gave me a very sleight touch on the head but his Sword coming down upon the poll of my Horse he received a wound wherewith I was much more incommodated then with my own That vigorous beast feeling himself hurt fell a leaping and bounding and in spite of all I could doe to stop him ran away with me above an hundred paces Hephestion followed exceeding fiercely and holding his Sword almost at my reins Ah! Lysimachus said he is it thus thou fightest for Parisatis These words kindled such rage in me as I cannot possibly represent and having tamed that first fury of my Horse I turn'd his head at last against Hephestion who had overtaken me and pressing violently upon him his Sword slipt along my ribs without entring into my body and I thrusting mine under his arm ran him through the thigh and nailed it to the cantle of his Saddle the difficulty was to get my Sword out again and judging that J could not have time enough without giving a great deal to my enemy I quitted it and flew to the hilts of his which he had lifted up and catch'd fast hold of it with a design to wrest it out of his hand Hephestion had not foreseen my intent and therefore it was not hard for me to effect it I seised upon the guard so to my advantage that spurring my Horse at the same time Hephestion was constrain'd to let it goe but he neither lost heart nor judgement for pulling mine out of his thigh with an unparallel'd courage he had already got it in his hand before I could turn about and came back to me more furious then at the beginning of the fight At that third encounter our designes were both the same but our precipitation made them vain and fortunate to one another instead of tilting the points into each others bodies as we had resolv'd we ran both into the saddle bowes but with such a force that my Sword broke into three pieces and Hephestion's bending to the very hilts sprung out of his hand and fell amongst our Horses feet With that seeing our selves deprived of our Swords we began another kind of combat and clasping one another fast about the body and at the same instant clapping spurs to our Horses wee pull'd each other out of our saddles and fell down together upon the grasse where we began to struggle for the upper hand we strove a great while for that advantage and won it and lost it many times but after a long contestation we grew weak and I may say without vanity that Hephestion's wound and the abundance of blood that ran from it made the victory incline already to my side and gave me probable hopes of obtaining it when we were surrounded by a great many Horsemen who had environed and parted us before we ever perceived them so much were we transported with rage and blinded with the desire of victory They were our common friends who having been advertised by our servants of our departure had taken horse in all haste and run after us with all the diligence that was necessary to hinder the success of our combat Amongst mine I saw Ptolomeus Meleager Antigonus Craterus and many others and Hephestion among his saw Perdiccas Seleucus Leonatus Cassander Nearchus and divers more whom either the consideration of his power or that of his vertue had engaged to him but at that time they none of them took sides but were contented with separting us not expressing any animosity at all Hephestions friends carried him back to Susa and mine staid with me not thinking in that state of my affairs there was any safety for me at Court Alexanders oath and threatnings made them apprehensive with much reason and they all believed I could not without manifest danger of my life appear till the Kings anger were over I was in such a rage at the issue of our Combat and at the knowledge that my condition was but made worse and my hopes the more weakned that J shut my ears along time against all they proposed for my safety I would have return'd boldly into the Town and have exposed my self to Alexanders fury since by his injustice he had destined me to a death which I judged a thousand times more cruel then any hee could have made me suffer The Gods forbid said J that I should fly for Hephestion and that that happy Favourite should triumph over me in Susa all manner of Ways while I hide my self shamefully to save my life neither my birth nor courage will permit me to yeild to him and if the wrath of a King be to be avoided 't is onely by those who have drawn it upon themselves by evil actions or who love their lives so dearly that they are afraid to lose them for my part I have ever despised mine and have so many causes to hate it that the care of its preservation shall never make me doe any thing contrary to my inclinations nor to that generosity you have inspired into me by your examples It is for cowardly souls to fear like slaves I am born a Free man and a Prince and will never do a baseness that might make you blush for me and render me unworthy of the glory of my Ancestors I said these things and divers others but on the other side they alledged so many reasons to me and used the power they had over me so imperiously that J was constrain'd to obey and go whither it pleased them to
whom she was very dear as she ought to be in consideration of her good qualities and of the services she had done her was extreamly concerned in her trouble and every day offer'd her what soever she was able to contribute to her contentment The chiefe of our Ladies whose hearts she had wonderfully gaind strove in emulation of each other to chear her up but all their cares were to no purpose and all of them having in vain attempted it at last the fatall hower came wherein I was to be undeceived Neer to the gardens of our Palace there is an exceeding high wood one of the fairest in all Capadocia which seprading it selfe to the very banke of the river Iris is one of the most pleasant places to walk in that Asia affords there are a great number of faire spacious alleys and in litle by-turnings where one may insensibly loose ones selfe are private arbours with seats of green turfe and little bankes of the same where one may lie down shelterd from the heat of the sunn and not be interrupted in their retired thoughts I was one day in this wood with my maids and having walked a while upon the banke of the river I went aside with Hippolita the dearest of them all and the very same you see now here with me I entred by chance into one of those pathes that led to the secret arbour and having followed it a while when I was neer one of them I heard a voice interrupted with sighes and sobs and drawing a little nearer I discern'd it to be Orithia's who thinking her self not overheard by any body in such a private place complained in a very pittyfull manner I was glad of that encounter and beleeving I should thereby learne the true cause of her affliction I forbad Hippolita to come any further not being willing shee should hear the secrets of that dear freind though I had never concealed my own from her When I was alone I went forward gently and without making any noise till I came close to the arbour and peeping through the boughs that grew about it I saw my dear Orithia laid a long upon one of those green bankes holding a hankerchief to her eyes wherewith she wiped away the teares that fell in great abundance This object touched me deeply with compassion but much more when after having continued a wile silent she began to speake again in these termes Why doest thou deferre any longer miserable wretch and what doest thou hope for yet from heaven but that death for which thy mind ought already to be prepared lose that life really which thou yet hast only lost in the opinion of the world and be no longer obstinate to strive against thy destiny thou mayest yet die with the freindship of her thou lovest and if thou defer thy death till after the knowledge of thy deceits thou wil't certainely die with her anger and her hatred and insted of the teares which she now would give unto thy grave thou wilt carry nothing with thee thither but her imprecations While Orithia spoke these words her back was toward the entrance of the arbour and not being able to marke her actions well enough in the place where I was I stole insensibly to the dore where in the posture she then lay she could not discover me There I observ'd her more heedfully and after many sighes I heard her go on thus Was it necessary O Gods was it necessary you should raise so many impossiblities against my happynesse and that you should oppose the Lawes and powers of a whole Monarchy against the preservation of my life for in short what can I expect what vain hope soever I flatter my felfe withall that which I love is too pure and too perfect to make use to my advantage of the immodest customes of her country and besides I love her too well to seek my fortune by those wayes and she I love loves her self too well to overturn for my sake the constitutions of a Monarchy which has subsisted so many years and to forsake a scepter for an unknown and a deciptfull Orithia Die then miserable wretch die and make Thalestris see that thou embracest death rather then the occasions of offending her any more thy bloud shall wash away part of the crimes thou hast committed against her and she without doubt will pardon them when she remembers thou dyedst to give her reparation I understood almost nothing by these words though they put me into strange suspicions and yet I was so troubled at them that contrary to my resolution I could not forbeare making a little noise I know not whither it were that which with drew Orithia from that dialogue with her thoughts but she turn'd about and casting her eyes toward the doore discovered me I am not able to represent her confusion to you being got up she began to look upon me and observing in my countenance as much amazement as appear'd in hers she beleev'd I had heard all that she had said before I came and that she had infallibly discovered herselfe This beleef made her grow pale and tremble from head to foot which actions of a person quite beside her selfe she neither durst look me in the face nor stir from the place where she stood and keeping her eyes fast upon the ground remain'd a long time in a posture that testified her surprise and her irresolution At last she broak her silence and unmoveablenesse and casting her selfe of a sudden at my feet redoubled my astonishment by that action I was already set down upon one of the seates and beholding her in that condition I had neither strength to raise her up nor courage to aske the cause of what I saw but she drew me out of that perplexity when without lifting up her eyes to me Madam said she it has pleas'd the Gods that my deceipt should be at last discovered and my happynesse though but an imperfect one has in the end begot an envy in them This miserable man whom they saved from the waters was to perish by a more noble destiny and that death was too common for a person whom they reserved to such extraordinary fortunes I am an Impostor I am a Deceiver I have abused your goodnesse with an impudence that deserves no mercy and I submit my self to the rigour of those Laws which your sex hath established against ours you may take revenge upon the brother for the sisters Treacheries and punish the true Orontes for the crimes of the false Orithia I am that Prince equally happy and unfortunate saved from shipwrack to end his life more gloriously at your feet and too proud of his fate since hee revived from an ordinary death only that â—e may die for love and that of the fairest and most lovely Princesse in the world I implore not your goodnesse here to obtain a pardon which I have not deserved the Gods are my witnesses that I no longer love a life which
true the nature of the offence hee hath received may well excuse his revenge which way soëver hee execute it and that now hee no longer ha's to do with that glorious enemie for whom so many illustrious actions and more lawful jnjuries had heretofore given him more generous resentments and more particular considerations but with this Tygre who violating all divine and humane laws had newly stabb'd his dagger into the bosom of his lovely Statira of the Queen of his soul nay of his own Queen too that abominable murderer of the widow of his King and the greatest of all the Kings that ever were and with him in short into whose brest hee ought to send a thousand deaths if hee were capable of suffring so many without any respect to his weakness and without regarding a generositie which was no longer seasonable nor decent in those terms to which so just a despair had reduced him Indeed any other soul but his would have run headlong to that revenge without pondering the fitness of it and any other Lover but hee would have embraced that occasion to satisfie so lawful an anger without having any consideration of honor for him that had extinguished them all in the horror of so dreadful a crime but Oroöndates his minde was of another temper and though hee was a man though hee was a Lover though hee was desperate hee was not capable of killing a wounded person nor of taking away a life which hee was not able to defend against him yet would hee not pardon him neither but how firmly soëver hee was resolved upon Perdiccas his death hee could not resolv to take so shameful a time to give it him and in those deadly trances wherewith hee was cruelly combated the motions of his eies and the alterations of his countenance discovered his perplexitie Perdiccas was not so far spent but that hee perceived his change and would have forced himself to ask the caus of it when Oroöndates broke his mortal silence and stepping back som few paces from him crossing his arms upon his brest and lifting up his eies to heaven O gods cried hee what strange inhuâ—anitie or rather what strange injustice do you use against mee you have a thousand times disarmed this hand which I had armed against the first ravisher of my happiness and now you take from mee the libertie of punishing the infamous butcher of my life and of the most perfect creature you ever sent into this world you will have mee see this cruel man but see him in a condition which forbid's mee to give him that death I was preparing for him and which could not but bee too gentle for the expiation of his crimes How said hee again am I then forbidden to give him his death what shall not Statira then bee revenged shall that pure bloud which crie's against this barbarous villain and that dearly beloved spirit which wander's incessantly about mee have no satisfaction and shall this monster by the justice of heaven fall into my hands onely to receiv assistance Ah! no my virtue no my generositie I no longer know you you were noble toward Alexander but toward this Tyger you would bee base you would bee condemnable hee must die and I must die with him but this sword that ought to cut the thread of our two lives must begin with the more guiltie and end with the more innocent At these words hee put his hand upon the hilt of his sword and advanced a step or two towards his enemie but seeing him stretched out at the foot of a tree and almost fainting hee stopp'd full of grief and confusion Ah! miserable man pursued hee what wilt thou do and by what an action wilt thou dishonor all those of thy life thine enemie lie's all along sorely wounded and perhaps readie to expire his baseness cannot excuse nor authorize thine and if Perdiccas bee still Perdiccas remember that Oroöndates is still Oroöndates if the Traitour escape these wounds hee shall not escape thy lawful furie and if hee die of them thou oughtest to expect that from them which thou canst not give him without cowardise thou shalt take away his life with more glorie when thou shalt take it in the midst of his guards and when hee shall bee able to dispute it with thee let him live then the infamous wretch let him live since the gods and my cruel destinie do so ordain it I do not pardon him a crime which is not of a nature to hope for any but I defer his punishment to the end I may give it him without shame and that I may die without repentance When Oroöndates spoke these last words hee was so near unto Perdiccas that hee could easily hear them and hee was not so far gon but that hee understood part of them and had observed part of his actions Hee was ignorant of their caus and desiring to know what it might bee hee strove to rais his voice and looking upon Oroöndates I know not said hee what injurie I have don thee that thou shouldest so soon change thy former goodness into bloudie reproches and designs against my life I never saw thee that I remember and this first sight had wrought in mee a desire to requite thy good offices which should not oblige thee to hate mee Ah! Monster cried the Prince turning away his eies through horror butcherer of the fairest Princesses in the world doest thou believ there is yet a man that can know Statira's Murtherer and not bee his enemie must thou escape mee thou barbarous fellow mee I say who am more concerned in her loss then all the earth together Oroöndates would have continued his reproches against Perdiccas when hee interrupted him and stretching out his hand Friend said hee let us make peace I pray thee the assistance thou hast given mee make's mee desire it with thee and I declare unto thee truly that if thy hatred bee grounded onely upon Statira's death thou oughtest to ceas to bee my enemie Statira is not dead and would it pleased the gods that ungrateful Oroöndates suffred not Perdiccas to proceed further and if his first words had surprised him this second astonishment which his lust caused in him was infinitely above the former How Perdiccas cried hee retiring two or three steps is not Queen Statira dead Ah! trie not to prolong thy daies by that deceit the estate thou art in secure's thee from my just indignation and thou needest not invent lies to save thy self Perdiccas making an utmost attempt against his weakness I do not lie said hee and I protest to thee by all the gods not onely that Statira is living but that shee is living onely by my means ask the inconstant Cassandra news of the ungrateful Statira thou shalt know that I saved her to the prejudice of my own fortune and of my establishment and thou shalt know also that for a recompence of that good service shee ha's cast her self into the arms of
grief that hee almost trod upon him in his haste to finde him When by the light of the moon which began to shoot forth reasonable clear beams hee saw his dear Master in so woful an estate hee was seized with such a violent sorrow that hee was like to have kept him companie hee was going to fall into bewailing complaints when hee remembred that his help was more necessarie for him then those unprofitable testimonies of his affection and summoning all his courage to make himself capable of doing somthing in an affliction that put him besides himself hee stood up and while Berenice and Polemon having quite disarmed him applied handkerchiefs to his wounds to stop the bloud hee had yet left in his bodie hee busied himself with the rest in cutting branches and making a kinde of hand-barrow to carrie him away Lysimachus his two servants less possest with grief wrought so fast that they quickly made one fit to serv their turn and having spread their cloaks laid the Prince upon it and began to bear him gently towards Polemon's hous Although Araxes was generous and charitable his beeing so powerfully prepossessed hindred him from taking any care of the stranger who by the absence of his Squire was left alone and stretched out upon the place without sens or appearance of life and thinking onely upon his Master's safetie in all his actions hee did not ill second the mourning of the afflicted Berenice They had not gon above half way when either through that stirring of him or som other caus Oroöndates came out of his swoun and by som little moving accompanied with a weak sigh hee raised their almost quite dejected hopes and restored som serenitie to Berenice's countenance shee stept close to him in a suspence between joy and grief and having called him twice or thrice shee saw him turn his head toward her and give her that token hee had som understanding left Ah! my dear brother said shee you shall not die your virtue is too dear unto the gods to lose hopes of somthing to your advantage In the mean time Polemon was gon before to get readie all things necessarie and before they arrived at his hous they met the Amazon Queen attended by Hippolita and Amintas who came toward them in a fright at the news shee had heard of that accident having vowed a real friendship to Prince Oroöndates her grief was not slight for his disaster and drawing near him shee gave all the proofs of it hee could desire from the Princess his Sister they went into the hous together and having put him presently to bed Amintas look'd upon his wounds hee had two in his bodie two in his thighs and one in his left arm All that were present exspected the Chyrurgion's opinion with apprehensions which were easie to bee observed in their countenances but O gods how great was their joy when having searched them hee gave assurance that none were mortal that onely loss of bloud and weariness had caused his sounding and that if hee would but bee more tractable then hee was of his former wound hee promised them an infallible cure within a short time This judgment brought joy again amongst persons so affectionate to him and they altogether shewed marks of it proportionable to the friendship which nearness of bloud obligations and the consideration of merit had established in their hearts color returned into their faces and Queen Thalestris who in her first trouble had not considered the Princess Berenice attentively cast her eies upon her with more curiositie and hearing her call Oroöndates by the name of Brother shee called to minde som lineaments of that beautie shee had seen in Scythia but desiring a more perfect assurance of it shee drew it from the mouth of Araxes As soon as hee had fully informed her shee used complements to the Princess full of respect and civilitie and Berenice who at the same time learned Thalestris's qualitie from Araxes repaied them with all manner of submission the disquiet they yet were in for Oroöndates would not suffer them to hold any long discours and they concluded with protestations of a perfect friendship and mutual promises to tell their adventures and let each other know the caus of their arrival in that countrie as soon as they should have a more convenient time In the interim Oroöndates was so far com to himself that hee spoke and knew every bodie and seeing Berenice at his bed side I am wounded sister said hee but my rival is slain and the ingrateful Cassandra shall have but little satisfaction by her infidelitie These words the caus whereof was unknown to all that were present made them believ hee was lightheaded but after them hee spoke others of so good sens that they partly lost that opinion Madam said hee to Queen Thalestris see there the Princess my sister I know it Sir answered Thalestris and since that knowledg have vowed my affections to her with a great deal of respect and desire to merit hers by my services That offer replied the Princess is too advantageous to mee to receiv it as other then a meer favor and since with so much goodness you grant mee what I could not justly hope for I will not abuse it further then to beg the continuance of it Their civilities had not ended so soon if they had not been in another place but Amintas who alreadie had dressed the Prince imposed them silence and having more expresly enjoined it to his patient hee perswaded them to retire The two Princesses whose friendship was quickly grown went into Thalestris's chamber where having given each other new confirmations of it resolved not to part beds while they continued together After supper they mutually expressed their desires to know one another more particularly and Berenice having told Thalestris shee desired to make her the relation of her life in the presence of the Prince her brother Thalestris offered to begin with hers and for that purpose going to bed together within a while after they spent a good part of the night in the recital shee before had made to Oroöndates Berenice infinitely taken with the wonders of her life with her detested Orontes his infidelitie and having promised to requite that favor as soon as her brother should bee able to hear her those two great Ladies fell asleep when it was almost day and rose not till it was very late In the mean time Oroöndates whose thoughts returned to him with his forces was in a condition different from that wherein hee had passed many daies hee rested all night reasonable quietly and the next morning hee reflected upon his fortune and after long contestation judged it to bee rather better then it was before Statira is inconstant said hee to himself but yet at least shee is alive and unless in my affection I considered onely mine own interests I cannot equally consider her death and her infidelitie I had rather shee should ceas to love
manner of submission and modest respect without letting her self loos to blameable liberties and such as might have stopt her passage to that greatness which shee hath since attained I believ indeed that in this discreet and virtuous way of proceeding shee followed the incitements of her own nature but it is also true that shee was confirmed in it by the counsels of her mother who was one of the most politick women in the world and who often represented to her that by that manner of carriage shee might change the nature of the King's passion and engage him in an affection full of esteem and respect which might rais her to the highest dignities Stratonice hearkened to these instructions and practised them with so much prudence that the King whose thoughts at that time perchance were different from those hee hath had since began to fear the success of his love and to despair of possessing her by any other then lawful means which yet hee was not resolved to make use of for notwithstanding the excess of his affection to that Princess hee was too great a Politician to prefer the motions of his love before the consideration of his State and to run on to a marriage that would bee condemned by his neighbors and murmured at by his people Behold in what condition were the affairs between the King and Stratonice and I thought fit to tell it you in a few words before I engaged my self in a recital which hath a great dependance upon that I have made you Now I must acquaint you that while the Sister stood upon these terms the Brother I know not by what blindness found somthing lovely in mee and whether it were by the rigor of my destinie or the crueltie of his engaged himself presumptuously in that affection for which I have suffred so much and for which hee himself hath suffred a death which by his last actions hee deserved Arsacomes was then about two or three and twentie years old and I may tell you Madam that hee was of a fair stature a handsom person expert in all manner of exercises and had the reputation of a valiant man Hee by birth held the rank of a Prince amongst the Scythians but by the King's favor hee was raised above all dignities and considered by the absence of the Prince my brother as the second person of the Kingdom The King who besides that hee loved his sister had observed a great many recommendable qualities in him had placed him in the highest degree of Fortune that any Favorite had yet been seen to rise to and every day redoubled his favors toward him with so many demonstrations of friendship that his happiness quickly drew the envie of the Courtiers It is true that Arsacomes carried it with pride enough and beeing of a very haughtie nature hee found matter enough in his fortune to becom insolent and insupportable by his vanitie Hee was liberal but hee gave with ostentation and when hee had don any one a courtesie to the King hee would set so high a value upon it as took away part of the obligation I repent mee that I said hee found somthing lovely in mee since now I think better on it I believ it was onely his pride that made him rais his eies to the daughter of his King and that seeing nothing in Scythia which according to the vanitie of his conceit was not below him hee believed that without abasing himself hee could not address his thoughts to one of meaner qualitie It was a long time e're I discovered them but the reflexion I have made since put 's mee in minde of many actions I saw him do in the beginning of his love which were sufficient to have made mee observ it if I had been so much concerned at that time in the Temples in all assemblies and in the visits hee made mee his eies were alwaies fixt upon my face hee sigh'd hee chang'd color and by all his actions gave mee caus to suspect him of having particular thoughts of mee hee sought out and affected occasions of beeing near mee and when hee met with any of doing mee service hee embraced them with cares which his high ambitious humor would not have permitted him to take for any other Princess except her to whom hee had given his affections I valued my self enough to receiv all his services as the duties to which my birth obliged him and seeing in him every day new marks of complacencie and civilitie towards mee I witnessed my sens of them by all manner of good usages and accompanying the King's esteem of him with the proofs of mine I by the innocent testimonies of my acknowledgment fortified him in her thoughts and in those hopes hee had unjustly conceived Certain it is I continued a long time without suspecting him to have any design I could condemn and that I should have considered his actions a great while longer in the same manner if in the end hee had not lost his respect to acquaint mee with what I should and would have been ignorant of His qualitie the King's favor and his many good parts gave him a very familiar access amongst us and a free entrance into our chambers and into our conversations Having one day attended the King into my lodgings with many others while the companie staied in my chamber where I entertained the King hee passed on into my closet where were som of my maids and having talked with them a while hee saw a standish and paper upon the table and finding that opportunitie to his imagination hee resolved to make use of it for a thought that came into his minde upon the sudden and sitting down by the table hee began to write My maids who respected him for many considerations not daring to interrupt him Hee had been so imploied a good while when the King went out of my chamber leaving him behinde After the King was gon I went into my closet where I found Arsacomes leaning still upon the table with a pen in his hand As soon as hee saw mee com in hee start up and hastily hiding the paper hee had written hee seem'd to bee in a great confusion for having been surprised in that action and stepping back a little hee beseech'd mee to pardon his imprudence in having taken a libertie in my closet which hee did not think should have been known to mee I easily excused it but knowing hee had a very good wit I out of curiositie desired to see what hee had written and making use of his accusation of himself If you will have that pardon you demand said I you must buy it with an obedience I desire from you and must shew mee what you have written upon my table and upon my paper The subtil Arsacomes counterfeiting modestie Ah! Madam answered hee do not desire to see these marks of my follie and bee pleased to require som proof of my respects that may bee more advantageous to mee This unwillingness
used mee with kindnesses suitable to the love hee had ever shown mee but though I was deeply afflicted at his departure I found som consolation in that of Arsacomes who made the voiage with him They went from Issedon and marched toward the Araxis with Forces that had drained a good part of the kingdom and which in probabilitie were like to defeat his Enemies you know better then I brother the progress they made and the circumstances of their first actions when they entred upon Darius his territories This part of the Princesses Discours bringing into Oroâ—ndates his minde the remembrance of Artaxerxes his death drew sighs from the bottom of his brest and tears from his eies in great abundance and the Princess not knowing the caus of them asked him if hee felt not som new indisposition but the Prince having wiped his eies and settled himself a little prayed her to continue her recital which shee did in these terms After the King's departure wee remained at Issedon very melancholie and pass'd all the time of his absence very sadly most of the principal men of Scythia beeing with him amongst whom all the Ladies of the Court had som bodie to griev for Stratonice visited mee often and paid mee great civilities but wee lived no more together with our former freedom and the interests of that ambitious Ladie had taken away part of the friendship shee had born mee Shee received many Letters from the King and Arsacomeâ— was so impudent as to write som to mee but they that delivered them from him were so ill received that they had no more the boldness to com to mee with such like messages As I have excused my self from the discours of the war so I hope you will excuse mee from the recital of what passed amongst us during the King's absence which is indeed of no great consequence and will bee pleased I may pass it over to tell you that having long wished for him wee saw him return to Issedon four Months after his departure the condition hee came home in put all Scythia in doubt what they should think touching the success of that war of that great and flourishing Armie wee had seen march away a short time before with such gallant hopes hee brought back nothing but pitiful reliques laden with wounds and which hardly made up the tenth part of what hee carried with him but these few shattered Forces boasted that they had cut all Darius his Army in pieces and slain his own son and all his chief Commanders upon the field which they had won However it were the King was received as if hee had returned with his whole Army victorious over all Persia and those that had accompanied him in the danger and hardship of his voiage had their part also in his reception Hee shewed as much kindness to mee as I exâ—pected but without doubt I had received more from him if Stratonice had not possessed his thoughts and if hee had not believed hee owed part of that time to her which in another season hee would have given to mee alone I will not lengthen my discours with relating his new expressions of affection to her they went beyond the exspectation of the whole Court and they for many daies were the whole entertainment of it but I was the less troubled becaus by the visites hee made her hee freed mee from those of Arsacomes who never came into my Chamber but with him Hee as they said had made himself remarkable in that war by many valiant actions and that reputation hee had gained had raised his pride to a greater height I had but too much knowledg of it by the continuation of his importunities and in all manner of encounterâ— hee lost no occasion of letting mee see hee persisted in the design of vexing mee all his life I took not more care to avoid his companie then hee did to seek for mine and the assurance hee had that it displeased mee was never strong enough to divert him from it I was one day in the Temple of Mars in the place appointed for mee when the King passing by mee followed by Arsacomes Theodates Cidaris and many others after hee had spake som few words to mee went on to Stratonice who was with her mother on the other side of the Temple and all those that accompanied him going thither also only Arsacomes staid behind with mee This action kindled mee with spite and anger which might have been observed in my countenance if any bodie had taken the care to look upon mee I turned not my eies towards him but keeping them fixt upon a praier book I held in my hand I used him with such a scorn as I was not wont to show to any bodie els yet was hee not repulsed with it but bowing down his head that hee might bee heard by none but mee hee said softly I dare not Madam ask justice for your usage of mee in any other place then before the god's since onely they are not below you and that onely they know with how much injustice you have condemned my zeal to serv you Hee had said more without question if I would have suffred him to proceed but though the consideration of the place where wee were and of the assembly kept mee from breaking forth as I should have don if hee had spoke to mee otherwhere yet did it not hinder mee from replying with a look of resentment and indignation Arsacomes if you continue to offend mee I will require justice my self of the King my father for the insolencie of his subject and since my own consideration is not strong enough to bring you into the respect you ow mee I will know from him whether hee approve's this carriage which so much displease's mee Arsacomes appeared a little strucken with these words but within a while after hee answered The King is so just Madam that I cannot fear his condemnation nor believ that my zeal to serv you will pass in his opinion for an offence These words redoubled my anger and made mee reply I account every thing an offence that com's from you since you have forc'd mee to it and I cannot receiv a more sensible one then that you do mee in interrupting my devotions to entertain mee with your follies Arsacomes who had not utterly lost all respect would not importune mee further and bowing down to the very ground hee went to wait upon the King who was discoursing with Stratonice In many other encounters wee had conversations of this nature and as hee persisted in the design of displeasing mee I persevered in the resolution I had taken to despise him all my life In the end his obstinacie tired but my patience and seeing with how much presumption hee continued to give mee marks of his love by all his discourses and by all his actions I determined to do what I had long deâ—err'd for fear of enraging him and knowing no other remedie to cut off the
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
not hope for pardon from me Upon this belief reply'd Cyllenia smiling as before I will take the boldness to tell you that if Arsaces be in love I believe it is onely with the Princess Berenice With me fool said I putting her back with my hand Yes added Cyllenia even with your self and if you have taken the pains to observe his discourse and his actions your thoughts will be but little different from mine In what place soever you are his Eyes are continually upon you he comes not near you without sighing trembling and changing colour and he speaks of the person he loves with such a submission and such a respect as can be due to no body but the Princess Berenice This discourse of Cyllenia's made me reflect upon Arsaces his Actions in which truly I found something that agreed with her opinion and I have not told you that I had formerly had some such fancy which I had banish'd as an effect of my vanity but then examining many words he had spoken and particularly those in the presence of Theomiris I began to give some credit to Cyllenia's suspicion yet did I make a difficulty of confessing it to her and after I had continued a good while without Reply I do not believe said I that Arsaces ever had a thought of me and indeed it would trouble me very much if I should be oblig'd to banish a man for ever from my sight whom his virtue makes me infinitly to esteem I saw by Cyllenia's action that she was vext she had said so much and looking upon me with a face less confident than before What Madam said she if Arsaces were guilty of no other crime but of having adored you without letting you know it would you banish him for ever Would I banish him reply'd I why do you doubt of it Cyllenia I was of opinion that thoughts had been free answered Cyllenia and that all the offence had been onely in declaring them but since they are criminal though conceal'd I le alter my conceit of poor Arsaces and believe he never mingled any thing of love with the design he has to honour you I will believe so with you added I very seriously and I had a great deal rather be of that opinion than suffer another which would make me force the inclination I have to wish him very well and instead of that begin to hate him We were in this part of our discourse when being come to the end of an Alley just as we were going into another we saw that Arsaces whom we were talking of close by us lay'd along upon the grass I was wonderously surprised at that Encounter and fear'd he might have over-heard something of what we had said concerning him but I was quickly delivered out of that apprehension and Cyllenia being gone a little nearer him saw that his Eyes were shut and by many tokens knew him to be asleep I would have passed by without awaking him but Cyllenia had a curiosity which opposed that intention and seeing that on the ground near Arsaces his mouth there lay a little picture case upon which it seem'd that he was fallen asleep she went softly toward him without letting me know her intent and taking up the Case she brought it to me without looking in it Madam said she as she came up to me here 's something without doubt that will be able to satisfie your curiosity and I hope we here shall see the face of her Arsaces loves with so much respect The discourse we had newly had upon that subject made me condemn that curiosity and fearing to meet with some confirmation of Cyllenia's suspicions I was going to command her to lay the Box again in the place from whence she had taken it when she open'd it and made me cast my Eyes upon it Why should I hold you longer in suspence in short my adventure was such as I apprehended and in that Box I saw the very face which my Glass represented to me every day I should not be able to tell you whither my grief my astonishment or my anger was greatest and though the last be little predominate in my nature I confess that in this Encounter I was seized with them all three 'T is certain that I had a very particular esteem of Arsaces and that I found no other defect in him save that of his quality that could discourage him from raising his thoughts to the greatest and most accomplish'd Princess upon earth but that obscurity of his birth made me receive those testimonies of his affection as mortal injuries and look upon his presumption as a blemish able to destroy all that was good and considerable in him the favourable opinion I had of him made me really sorry for his fault and as I had plainly confessed to Cyllenia 't was not without trouble that I saw my self constrain'd to punish it Cyllenia seeing me so much moved would have opened her mouth to speak to me but I clapp'd my hand upon it and preventing what she was about to say Hold thy peace said I Cyllenia and since thou hast contributed so much to this unlucky discovery which we now have made labour also for my satisfaction and take you care of warning this presumptuous man that he never present himself before me I know not whither I spake these words with too loud a voice and whither it was that that waken'd Arsaces but he presently rose up and seeing himself surprised in a posture which he thought not decent before me he seemed to be quite out of countenance and had not the confidence to come toward us without putting his hand to his face to hide his blushing at last he would have made his address to us but as he was coming toward me with a very low obeysance and was going to say something to me I turned on the other side without regarding him and having made sign to Cyllenia to stay and perform the charge I had given her I went hastily away and returned straight to my lodging Arsaces as I have learned since was so stricken with this action that in Cyllenias eye he seemed little different from a Marble statue and not remembring he had ever seen me do the like he believed the cause was extraordinary and presently guessed at something of the truth but he continued not much longer in doubt when he saw his picture-case in Cyllenias hand he had stood unmoveable from the time I went away his hands crossed upon his breast and his Eyes fix'd upon me till I was out of sight but as soon as he had turn'd them upon Cyllenia and that he saw the Picture which had betray'd him he was fully perswaded of the truth of that adventure and fell into a confusion which it would be extreamly difficult to represent he stood a long time without speech or motion his very look touching Cyllenia with compassion in the end he recover'd a little courage and going nearer to her who was
effects of his virtue that in the condition thou now art he will not accept this kinde of Combat against thee and as jealous as transported and as desperat as thou art thou canst never be so base as to think of stabbing him in his bed No do better Arsaces leave him Berenice since he deserves her his virtue and the good offices he has done thee oblige thee to quit her to him and thou mayst abandon her without meaness of spirit provided thou also abandon thy life with her he will not believe thou yield'st her to him for fear of a death which thou shalt give thy self in his presence and thou shalt not then be compell'd to prolong thy pains in prolonging thy life for a revenge which perchance thou mayst never be allow'd to take This last thought fix'd Arsaces his resolution more than the rest and he was still of the same minde when day began to break The Princess Berenice and Thalestris saw it appear without having hardly closed their Eyes all night they lay together as before at Polemon's house and if the discontents of Oroondates and Arsaces tormented them so cruelly theirs suffer'd them to rest but very little better Thalestris had no sooner given Berenice part of the satisfaction she had receiv'd by the clearing of matters between Orontes and her and of the trouble she began to feel for the banishment she had condemn'd him to but Berenice with a like confidence imparted her disquiets she remembred the words her brother had spoken touching Arsaces his infidelity and they were so deeply ingraven in her memory that from the first moment she had heard them she was not capable of any rest she would have had much ado to believe that report if it had come from any other body but the Prince her brother but she gave so perfect a credit to what he said that she durst not question what had been told her by so authentick a Witness that cruell opinion having begun to creep into her minde tormented her already very violently and not being able to dissemble her thoughts from that fair Queen she disburthen'd part of her griefs into her bosom The Princess was exceeding moderate and of a wondrous milde disposition nor was she transported with any fury but satisfied her self with weeping and complaining of Arsaces his inconstancy without falling into any rage or making any imprecations against him If Arsaces has deceiv'd me said she there is no more fidelity to be hoped for in mankinde and I can hardly believe he should have forsaken me without powerfull Reasons to perswade him to it without doubt I was not lovely enough to keep his affections longer but he had done too much and I dare say he had suffer'd too much for me to open his Eyes so suddenly to the knowledge of my defects I for his sake had committed faults which perhaps will never be forgiven me by severer persons and I may truly say that I never by any of my actions gave him just cause to repent of his affection Though the Princess brought forth these words very calmly yet did she accompany them with sighs and tears which made Thalestris judge she was much more deeply touch'd than she was willing to make shew of she strove to comfort her in a Disease whereof she her self was already cured and being very loath to redouble her affliction she fain'd to be ignorant of the cause of Oroondates his words and told her nothing at all of what she with him believ'd touching the Loves of Arsaces and of Queen Statira As she was thus reserv'd in consideration of Berenice Berenice was no less so in regard of her and would not reveal a secret which she had not yet discover'd to the Prince her brother The desire she had to clear her doubts perfectly with him made her get out of bed when the Sun was scarcely risen and as soon as ever she was ready she went out of her Chamber to go to Oroondates his Tent. She came thither and gave him the good morrow when Arsaces was yet in those cruell agitations which had distracted him all the night He was still full of irresolution when Oroondates his servants came into his Chamber and drawing near to his bed-side told him their Master had sent them to inquire after his health by this redoubling of obligations Arsaces his griefs were redoubled and it fretted him to the heart to see that every moment he became indebted to his Enemy he ask'd them something briskly what company was with him and they without diving into his intention told him that they left the Princess Berenice by his bed-side Arsaces at that answer could not forbear to cry out which they attributed onely to the pain of his wounds and being come close to him to learn the cause more particularly Go said he and tell your Master I shall be quickly cured With these words he turn'd his head on the other side and reflecting upon this last confirmation of his misfortune he no more doubted but that he ought to dye without deferring a minute longer Thou hast liv'd too long Arsaces said he thou hast liv'd too long Thy griefs are too intolerable to languish in them any longer and if thou no more canst give two lives to thy resentment appease it by sacrificing the more unfortunate but offer this sacrifice before the Eyes of ungratefull Berenice let thy Rivall live since he defends his life so well and that thou art twice indebted to him for thine in the condition thou now art thou canst no more attempt any thing lawfully against him and in the extremity of those miseries thou sufferest thou couldst never have the patience to stay for the recovery of thy strength as he talk'd thus to himself he open'd one of the Curtains of his Bed and seeing his Armour which they had laid upon the seats close by his bed-side he pull'd one of his arms out of bed and putting his hand upon his Cuirasse felt for a Dagger which he commonly wore there and having drawn it out of the sheath he hid it in his bed to make use of it in the resolution he had taken He then raised himself to sit up though with much pain and trouble and judging that with some help he might be able to stand he call'd one of Oroondates his servants which waited in the Chamber and when he was come to his bed-side he pray'd him to reach his Cloaths and to help him on with them The man who saw in what condition he was made some difficulty to obey him but Arsaces redoubled his intreaties with so absolute a look and so imperious a voice that he no longer had the boldness to refuse what he demanded He put on his Cloaths with much ado and with much incommodiousness to Arsaces who when he was ready convey'd the Dagger so that the man perceiv'd it not into one of the slieves of his Cassack after which he desired his assistance to get into
you sav'd them from the violence of the Scythians I told her the birth of your affection the Encounter you had with Prince Artaxerxes in the same occasion your generous usage of him and the discourse that passed between you your parting and your particular thoughts till you dis-incamped and re-passed the Araxis Having instructed her in the cause of your departure which till then she had been ignorant of I related your Voyage into Persia your gallant entry into the Court how you made your self remarkable in the courses by dismounting so many of the most noted Persians and how under the name of Orontes you were known again by all Darius his family for their valiant Deliverer but I inlarg'd my self more particularly than in all the rest upon the passages between you and Prince Artaxerxes and desiring to work some esteem and some affection in Berenice toward that Prince I forgot modesty to speak things to his advantage the recital whereof would have been very unseemly in my mouth if love had not excused me I heigthen'd the proofs he gave you of his friendship in terms that might make him far more amiable than he is and which caused the Princess to interrupt me saying What Arsaces was he whom you describe to be so obliging and so perfect a friend to my brother the same Prince that was slain in the Battel of Selena Even he himself replied I but make no reckoning of these his first Actions since in his last you without doubt will have more cause to think well of him or at least to abate part of that hatred you bear his family Ah! said the Princess how much am I afflicted for him and how much you would have oblig'd me Arsaces if you had spared me the grief I feel for his untimely death After these words I prosecuted my Narration but I did so exaggerate the affection wherewith Artaxerxes receiv'd the discovery of Orontes to be Oroondates the passion wherewith he sollicited his sister in his behalf the care he took to favour him in his love all manner of ways and in short the last proofs he gave him of his affection as well in contesting with him about chusing sides as in what he did and suffer'd for his consideration at the Battel that when I came to make the Relation of his Death the Princess prepossessed with the impressions I had given her could not forbear to shew how sensible she was of it and looking upon me with Eyes all drown'd in tears which a generous compassion made her shed Ah! Arsaces said she how cruell you are in having given me so great an affection fora Prince whom you meant to kill I would it pleased the Gods he were alive and that Oroondates by a good part of his Dominions and even by a good part of my bloud were able to requite his obligations to him He was resolv'd Madam replied I coldly to give him a more glorious recompence and if you will give me leave I le tell you Madam 't was by the glory of serving the Princess Berenice he intended to repay Artaxerxes for the good offices he had done him to Statira 'T was Artaxerxes Madam whom Oroondates had destin'd for you and if that poor Prince had been so happy to make himself worthy of you 't was by the hope of that double Alliance he aim'd to settle peace between your fathers How often did that Prince flatter'd by the hopes he gave him and in love with you already by the description Araxes made press Oroondates to seek some way with him for the attaining of that happiness he had propounded and would have resolv'd to come disguised into your Country if he could have forsaken Oroondates in affairs wherein he believ'd himself necessary to him Oroondates is now with Darius belov'd of his Princess and in a condition which would not be miserable if he were not mortally afflicted for the loss of his dear friend and brother He was slain poor Prince but his fate is too happy and too glorious since the recital of his Death has drawn tears from your fair Eyes in spite of the hatred between your families he was slain because the Gods knew that perhaps he was not worthy to live for you and that you would have condemn'd both the intention of the Prince your brother and the presumption of Artaxerxes His Estate is a thousand times more fortunate by being dead in such a condition as makes you to esteem his memory and to bestow those tears out of your compassion for his loss than if he had died guilty in your opinion or if he had died for the expiation of such a fault as that of Arsaces Let 's not talk of the fault of Arsaces said the Princess interrupting me it has nothing to do with the fortune of Artaxerxes for if that lovely Prince had had those thoughts for me which my brother would have infused into him he had been guilty of no other fault but of having had too great a compliance for a friend and of having blindly given his affections to a Princess that had not deserv'd them If I believ'd Madam replied I very glad to see her brought to the point I desir'd that you really had those inclinations towards Artaxerxes which you express without doubt I should comfort the trouble his death hath caused in you and should make his destiny so fortunate that the most happy persons in the world should have reason to envy it What consolation can you give said the Princess for losses that are irreparable and if you should tell me that my brothers fortune is at the highest point he ever could have hoped what will that alter this poor Princes condition since in fine he is dead and that our wishes cannot call him back into the world again At these words I took courage and raising the tone of my voice which my passion did extremely animate But if Artaxerxes should be alive said I if he should be in Scythia if he should have seen you if he should have adored you and did adore you still with passions a thousand times more violent than those the Prince your brother indeavoured to inspire him with to what punishment would you condemn his presumption Berenice astonish'd at this discourse look'd upon me without being able to reply but I had not the power to conceal my self any longer and taking my time to fall at her feet while she was in that trouble Behold him Madam continued I behold him that happy and that miserable Prince whose death has touch'd you and whose life has displeased you either cease to hate Arsaces or else cease to love Artaxerxes the one cannot be innocent so long as the other is guilty and sure the Gods did not save an innocent Artaxerxes to make of him a guilty Arsaces If Arsaces his passion has offended you that of Artaxerxes is supported with the friendship with the assistance and with the inspirations of Oroondates repay me some
and more lawfully grounded 't is not to be thought strange if it be of longer continuance I was infinitely afflicted to see the King so obdurate but I thought it not fit to press him further so having walk'd half a score steps without speaking Sir added I since your Majesties indignation will not suffer me to say any thing more in behalf of the Prince your Son be pleased to do me a favour that cannot be hurtfull to your service and give me leave to have the honour to make him a visit that which I have heard spoken of him may excuse this curiosity and there are few persons in whom the reputation of that Prince hath not begot a just desire to see him If I were not bound by oath reply'd the King I should easily grant your request but I have engag'd my self before 〈◊〉 Gods to refuse it to all the World These last words utterly stopp'd my mouth nor had I the confidence to entertain him further upon that subject I left him within a while after but I was so ill satisfied with that discourse that it was easie for my friends to observe it in my face I gave an account of it to Theodates who was afflicted with me at the little propensity we found in the King to love them that were of the bloud of Darius I misdoubted before said I that Fortune the pittyless Enemy of our house did but feign a reconciliation with me to make me the more sensible of her utmost cruelties and I perceive by this renewing of my misfortunes that she is preparing something against me worse if it be possible than all she has made me feel already The hopes she had given me by Oroondates his return find themselves most cruelly deceiv'd and that which they 〈◊〉 him suffer in his person is a presage of what I e'relong shall suffer in mine Take not an allarm so soon said Theodates to comfort me but hope for better usage from your fortune than that you apprehend It is true the King hated the person and is still an Enemy to the memory of Darius but when he shall know that 't is to his Son he is indebted for his life for the peace of his Kingdom you shall see all his resentments give place more due acknowledgement By such like discourse Theodates strove to allay my discontents and the same day having communicated them to my Princess she by all manner of expressions gave me to understand how great a part she bore in them I laid aside the resolution I had taken to make my self known to the King so suddenly as I intended and to demand the assistance that was necessary for me to revenge Darius to procure the liberty of those that were remaining of his poor family to recover my dominions to repair my honour finding that yet I had not power enough over him and that it was necessary to dispose him by new and more considerable services than those I had done him to forget the animosity he still kept against our house In the interim I endeavoured by the means of Theodates and by all kind of inventions to corrupt the guards of the Castle of Serey to obtain a sight of the Prince but they were alwayes inexorable to my entreaties and immoveable to the offers I caused to be made them The King still look'd upon me with his wonted eye and my Princess was as favourable to me as I could wish but I could not so well disguise my inclinations to her but that Arsacomes his interest made him find occasion by my frequent visites and by our long conversations to suspect something and to redouble his envy toward me Yet durst he not openly show it knowing my credit in the Court was not inferiour to his and fearing to exasperate the Princess more and more against him but at that time there happen'd a very strange alteration in my fortune and now it is that I begin to enter into the discourse of my most important adventures Ten or twelve dayes were hardly passed since my return when one morning as I was going out of my Chamber I saw some of the Kings guards at my dore who forbad me to stir forth I turned toward their Captain who was come into my Chamber and whom I had received as one that came to visite me and as I was going to ask him the reason of what I saw he clapt his hand upon the hilt of my sword and demanded it of me in the Kings name I was so surprised at that encounter that he had taken it from my side before I observed what he was about and that astonishment did without doubt prevent a resistance wherein perchance I might have perished No sooner was I disarm'd but I looked upon the Captain with a countenance and with an action that struck a terrour in him and made him know it was no trivial enterprise he had performed in seizing upon me on that manner what Cleobis said I am I a prisoner then to day in the same place where yesterday I was Tryumphant Sir answered he the King has commanded me to secure your person nor have I executed his order without being very sorry for it Do you not know the cause of your commission reply'd I and will you not tell me for what crime the Scythians can accuse him whom but th' other day they called their defender and preserver No Sir said the Captain neither is the King wont to declare his intentions to us in imployments of this nature I can onely tell you that yesternight after he was in bed he gave a long audience to a stranger who of late has been a follower of Arsacomes and that as soon as he was come out of the Chamber I received this command Well added I I am bravely rewarded by the King of Scythia and the services I have done him deserv'd this recompence Though I was stirred with a most violent anger I would not let it break forth to any sharper expressions against the Father of Oroondates and Berenice and in the just sence I had of that usage I preserv'd a respect which such moving reasons gave me toward him Thus did I see my self a prisoner where but the day before I had appear'd with so great renown and though this kind of usage was something hard to a Prince who knew no condition in the World above his own and who by actions considerable enough had deserved nothing less yet was I fain to bear that affliction without murmuring and to bless what I began to suffer for Berenice I studied at first to find what might be the cause of my imprisonment but when Cleobis had told me of the Kings discourse with that stranger I immediately believed Arsaces was discovered to be Artaxerxes This did not seem at all strange to me and I knew very well I should have had much ado to be so long in Scythia without having my face taken notice of by some person or other
into her closet Closset with Cyllenia after she had entertained her a while with the grief which her goodnesse made her sensible of for my sufferings she call'd for her Cabinet and sought to comfort her self in her discontents by her reading of my letters She sate leaning upon a table where she read them over one after another but before she had done she was surprised in that tedious imployment by sleep which insensibly stole into her eyes Cyllenia not taking notice that her Mistresse was fallen asleep and being calld away by some other businesse went very imprudently out of the Closset shutting the door but half way after her While she was absent and the Princesse asleep that perfidious creature who serv'd Stratonice in her intention and had set her mind upon nothing but her treachery came either by chance or out of design into the chamber where she neither found the Princesse nor any of her companions and then drawing near the closset door which she saw half open after she had pull'd it a little further she thrust in her head and saw the Princesse asleep upon the last letter she was reading and by her all the rest whereof some were open That sight made her guesse instantly part of the truth and taking courage by hope of the recompence she expected she grew so bold as to go into the closset and to steal softly to the table where seeing that her Mistriss waken'd not she took four of my letters from among a score of others and putting them up in hast went out again not making any noise and passed through the chamber without meeting any body that could discover her Within a while after Cyllenia being return'd and Berenice awake she gave her the cabinet to set away not perceiving the theft by reason of the number of letters The wench was no sooner in a place where she could look upon her prey but she presently cast her eyes upon it and in the first words she read found all that was desired of her She delayed not a minute to go to Sratonice's lodgings and having easily obtained a particular audience deliver'd her the letters she had stollen As soon as Stratonice had read one of them she saw her self but too much confirm'd in her opinion and having in the rest found more then she wished for her brothers satisfaction was transported with anger and went full of resentment into the Kings chamber where she made her cruell accusation to him and gave him those witnesses that were to convince us The King having formerly receiv'd many letters from me and was so well acquainted with my hand that it was easy for him to know it at the first sight The astonishment of Actaeon at the sudden alteration of his shape was not to be equall'd to that of the King of Scythia at the sight of my letters nor can I represent what a confusion seiz'd on him when in the first he open'd he found these words Arsaces To the Princess Berenice I should have been dead Fair Princess but for the sweet consolations you afford my miseries and my enemies had tryumphed over my life as soon as my libertie if they could have tryumphed over your constancy But can I have any reason to complain of them since in the design of ruining me they raise my fortune and since they seem to have depriv'd me of my Princesses sight only to give me the occasions of knowing her affection this happiness is infinitely above all my misfortunes and for again of so great importance my greatest losses are but inconsiderable O Gods cryed the King as he made an end of reading this letter with what kind of affection will you overwhelm me and by what actions have I so highly incensed you that you should arm my ingratefull family against my repose and against my reputation Ah! Berenice foolish Berenice whom I never suspected of such lightness and of such a perfidiousness by what usage have I given thee cause to betray me and by what punishments canst thou be able to blot out the offence thou hast committed against me Having said thus he open'd another letter in which with a like astonishment he read these words Arsaces To the Princess Berenice My sorrows are redoubled by the knowledge of yours and I am lesse sensible of my own miseries then of the persecutions you suffer from that insolent Brother and his cruell Sister but pardon me Dear Princesse if I cannot be totally afflicted at them nor think with trouble of the assaults you receive without looking with joy upon the generous resistance you make in favour of me my advantages thereby are too great to loose the remembrance of them utterly and if I had not had an indiscreet rivall and a troublesome enemy I should not so soon have known the constancy of my adored Princesse The King was so transported at the reading of these that he had not patience to read the other letters but the Queen open'd them in his presence and made him also hear these words in the next Arsaces To the Princess Berenice I have been told what pass'd last night in your Chamber and what cruell words the King spoak in favour of my rivall you heard them most lovely Princess without changing your resolution and being all made up of goodness and generosity are still willing to suffer for him whose most cruell sufferings cannot at all merit the least of yours There is no justice in it fair Princess but though there were a great deal lesse it is impossible for me to condemn you I confess I love my self too well since I desire my own advantage to the prejudice of your repose but I do it only because I am yours and if I should cease to be so I protest to you I would also cease to love my self Ah! suborner cryed the King art thou not content with having imployed thy subtilty in broaching thy faithlesse practises in my Kingdome without making use of it to seduce my own House against me and could'st thou not satisfie thy self with spreading thy poison among the Scythians without infecting also the royall family Let 's see continued he taking the last letter out of the Queens hand let 's see the rest of his perfidious designs and let us in the continuation of his crimes find evident matter for our revenge Saying thus he cast his eyes upon it and saw that it was written in these termes Arsaces To the Princess Berenice I am not able to represent with what an accesse of joy I heard the Kings intention to set our dear Brother at liberty This contentment Dearest Princess is both beyond expression and imagination and though by the end of his captivity I hope for that of my afflictions I protest that our interests make the smallest part of my joy and that as that Brother is infinitely dearer to me then my self I look upon his happinesse and his advantages with a great deal more satisfaction then mine own Not that I
down for yours We occompanied these words and many others of the same stile with an infinite number of most dear embraces and when we had given truce to them a little we began to ask one onother concerning our mutuall affairs I presently questioned Theodates about the Prince my Brother and about the occasion of his own coming to Issedon but he would tell me nothing till he had heard my last adventures and the cause of the condition he had found me in I told him all I knew and he at that relation trembled and detested the Kings cruelty and ingratitude in terms which gave me new assurances of his hatred to vice and of the affection he bore me When I had given him that account he satisfied me in what I desired to know of him and made me the recitall of the battel you had wonn aganst Zopirio with some other of your particular actions which fill'd me with joy and admiration and then coming to the cause of his departure from the army My impatiency to see you again continued he and the perpetuall apprehensions I was in for you made me return toward Issedon but I wanted not another pretence and some contestations that passed between Arsacomes and me in matter of Command furnished me with one specious enough to ask the Princes leave to come away Not but that I was very much troubled to leave him and had desire to share in the glory of what he had yet to do but as often as I remembred that I had left you a prisoner and exposed to the anger of a Prince whose humour was well enough known to me I fell into disquiets that would not suffer me to take any rest I even repented me that I had obey'd the Kings orders and that I had forsaken you in a condition wherein my services were most necessary to you I also found a great deal of constraint in the oath you had exacted from me and not being able to tell the Prince the truth till the end of the warre I on the other side could not endure to leave him in that ignorance at my departure I therefore found out a middle way and resolv'd to deliver him that in writing which it was forbidden me to tell him yet observing what you had enjoyned me and tying him to the same promise I had given you For this purpose the day of my departure I wrote these words Theodates To Prince Oroondates An inviolable Oath ha's kept me hitherto from declaring what it is necessary you should know but since I now have the liberty I will acquaint you Sir that the Great Arsaces to whom the King your Father is indebted for his life and your Countrey for the quietnesse it hath enjoyed is Prince Artaxerxes the sonne of Darius your Dear Friend your dear Brother and he on whom you have bestowed so many tears The Gods sav'd him miraculously from that battell where you thought he had been slain and since that time his passion for the Princess Berenice and the occasions of doing service to your friends have kept him in Scythia He is now a prisoner to the King your Father who without doubt ha's discover'd him to be the sonne of Darius Judge of his danger by your knowledge of the Kings humour and by the friendship that was between you think what hope he ought to have in your assistance O Gods cryed Prince Oroondates when Arsaces had repeated that letter how many misfortunes would the fight of these words have sav'd me if you had suffer'd me to cast my eyes upon them but you had otherwise decreed and that knowledge would certainly have overturn'd all the order of those adventures that have since befallen me My voyage to Susa had been diverted or at least deferr'd and I should have thrown of all consideration of my own interest and run to the succour of my dear Artaxerxes Ah! Brother how I blame your unjust cautiousness in concealing from me the onely happiness from whence in the sad condition I then was I could draw any consolation and how I should hate Theodates for being so scrupulous if I had not so many occasions to love him for the good offices he has done you It is true Brother continued Oroondates and I will say this to spare you something of your discourse Theodates the day of his departure having drawn me aside deliver'd me a letter fast sealed up and before he gave it me Sir said he in this paper which I present you you shall find the most pleasing news and the most important advertisement you can receive doubt not at all of the truth of those things you shall find written in it it will be very easie for you to certifie your self but before I put it into your hands be pleased to give me your word that you will not open it till the end of this warre I was surpris'd at this discourse of Theodates and being desirous to perswade him to satisfie my curiosity sooner If this news reply'd I will be so pleasing to me why do you so long deferr my knowledge of it and why do you delay a joy which it is in your power to give me Sir answered he I am bound up by one of those oaths which you know the Scythians can never violate and because I am injoyned this silence no longer then for the time I have demanded you may then see in this paper what my absence will not suffer me to tell you by word of mouth but Sir I beseech you keep it carefully and if you love your self forget not to look upon it assoon as the warre is at an end I was constrain'd to make Theodates the promise he desir'd and I lock'd up that paper amongst those things which I esteem'd most precious Theodates went away the same day leaving me much troubled for his departure but he had alledged such specious reasons to me touching the disputes he had had with Arsacomes and the important affairs which recall'd him to the Court that I could not deny him the leave he demanded I kept his writing with a great deal of care and with as much impatience to read it assoon as I should be free of my engagement but the strange revolution that happen'd in my soul and in my affairs by the arrivall of Tyreus and by the news of Statira put it quite out of my head at my sudden departure from Orchilachia and till I was at sea I never remembred the box I had left it in which the new trouble of my mind had made me utterly to forget with many other things that were very dear to me The Gods would have it so replied Arsaces to bring our affairs to the issue they had ordain'd and to make us know the power they reserve unto themselves over all our proposalls It is true Brother Theodates told me almost the very same words we have now heard from you and then in a few more he inform'd me of the condition he had left
I stood there for a while musing upon my strange misfortunes but scarce had the first beams of the approaching light discover'd the prospect of the Field when that sight made me think upon my liberty That window was low enough to slip down into the garden by tying my sheets to the bar of it and I knew there was a gate which gave passage out of the garden into the next wood and which was fasten'd onely with a bolt on the inside Then I believed that if by that means I could get forth I should find some way to get to Babylon where I might address my self to Queen Statyra at whose feet I hoped to meet a sanctuary This thought was hardly come into my mind when I resolved to put it in execution knowing that if I should be taken again my condition could not be worse than it was already The woman that came out of Scythia with me lay in my Chamber but she was then asleep and used alwayes to sleep so soundly that one could not waken her without a very great noise that assurance made me much the bolder and so going to my bed-side as softly as possibly I could I got me ready in hast and taking my sheets tied them to one another and having fasten'd them to the window the desire of liberty shut up my eyes to all manner of danger I skip'd down into the garden as happily as I had contriv'd and being gotten out I put my self though not without extream fear into the first path I met hoping I should quickly find some body or other that might direct me the way to Babylon I had thrown my vail over my face and though I trembled exceedingly for the danger I was in of making some ill encounter yet did I go so fast that I presently got a good way from the house and my legs little accustomed to such journeys were extreamly tyred and stood in need of rest to carry me further I was constrain'd therefore to sit down under certain trees where while I endeavoured to unweary my body my mind was perplext with terrible disquiets my fear then began to make me see the greatness and difficulty of the business I had undertaken I considered the dangers into which a maid all alone and a maid apparrell'd in a habit rich enough to be observ'd might fall as well in the remainder of the way I had to go as at my entring into the Town before I could get unto the Queen But all the evils my fear could represent seem'd less to me than that I fled from nor did I know any peril so great into which I would not have cast my self to escape the hands of my cruel Enemy That desire renew'd my strength and I rose up again with a design to think no more of resting till I came to Babylon I had met with no body to learn the way but I saw the Euphrates within a hundred paces and knowing it stood upon that River I resolved to follow the bank of it at a little distance nor had I walk'd very long when I discovered the Towers of that stately Citie My hopes were redoubled by that sight but alas they were cruelly deceived for when I had not above eight or ten furlongs more to go I heard a noise behind me and turning my head in a mervellous fright I saw Arsacomes riding after me as fast as ever he could it was the day he killed Arsaces his horse and 't was after me he was running when he met Arsaces and Lysimachus by the River side and by that encounter interrupted their conversation Judge if you please of the excess of my grief at that cruel loss of the hope I had conceiv'd and exempt me from repeating the complaints I made and the reproaches of Arsacomes He took me in his arms without alighting and lifting me with a great deal of strength set me before him upon his horse and gallop'd back toward the house from whence I was flying but he followed not the bank of the River for fear of some encounter that might stop him and presently after having met Astiages who was riding after him he did not want a guide to find the way My ungratefull fugitive said he to me you see the Gods have not approved your flight since they have so little favour'd it and you may judge by the little care they have taken to deliver you out of my hands how much they blame and condemne your cruelties I was so dejected with my grief and so tired with my journey that I had hardly strength to give him any answer and if I reply'd sometimes to what he said 't was onely with a few interrupted words whereby my resentments expressed themselves better than by any other kind of discourse In short I was brought again to that house or rather to that cruel prison where I since have passed so many wretched dayes Arsacomes being exasperated by this accident and by the unlucky mischance of Alexanders death which deprived him of the hope of that retreat and protection he had expected from him but more by the pernicious counsels of Astiages who incited him continually to make use of his power and who could not forbear even in my presence to blame the remainder of that respect he still had toward me began to use me otherwise than he had done formerly and made me see by all his actions that I had cause to fear the highest outrages from him if the Gods suffered me to be much longer in his hands This fear compell'd me to dissemble with him and I often disarm'd his fury by a feigned compliance But Astiages who being less prepossessed than he discovered my intention better pressed him every day to seek wayes to satisfie himself and by his sollicitations corrupted him so far that in the end Arsacomes forgot who I was and no longer knowing me to be Berenice whom he was wont to behold with so much submission ran on to that cruel resolution which was diverted by the assistance of the Gods and by the valour of the Prince my Brother whom they miraculously sent to my relief The Princess made a pause at these words and left the Princes matter enough to entertain themselves with the events she had related Lysimachus told her the discourse he had heard in the wood between Arsacomes and Astiages but scarce had she taken a little breath when she was sollicited by the Princes and by the Amazon Queen to let them also hear her last adventures and being willing to give them that satisfaction she went on thus You have been informed by Hippolita that it was the encounter of a litter that made me leave her but she could not tell you that he whom I saw lying in it was Arsaces who according to what I guess by his Narration was then removing to Babylon his paleness could not hinder me from knowing him and after what you now have heard of his life you cannot be ignorant of the
love he ty'd himself up strictly in a very narrow constraint In these terms he stood when the whole Army was ready to try the success of a second day and Arsaces being then well enough cured to ride on hors-back and to fight approv'd of the resolution which he knew all his Companions had to send and present their Enemies Battel within three dayes They had intelligence by spies that were return'd out of their Camp that their Army was no less recruited than theirs and that from Media Lydia Pamphilia Caria and Parthia there was a re-inforcement of five and thirty or fourty thousand men come to them and not being willing to afford them time to make themselves stronger they with a general opinion determined to send them a chalenge and to agree with them both upon the day and Field for deciding of their quarrel Cleomenes and Aristides were chosen for that commission but before they went Arsaces taking them aside inform'd them of what he desired and gave them charge to demand an entervenience of Perdiccas and Seleucus the next day between the two Camps for him and one of his friends withall necessary securities The Deputies departed having received their instructions and the Princes remained with the Ladies who began already to tremble and grow pale at the approach of the Battel Berenice was like to die with fear for her dear Artaxerxes and for the Prince her Brother who she saw escaped out of so many dangers onely to precipitate themselves into a new one and to try the hazard of a day the events whereof were very doubtfull Apamia and Arsionoe grew wan for their dear and Noble husbands Deidamia for all she was exempt from loving any body that was alive was not without fear for her worthy friends and among all the Princes from whom she hoped for support she bestowed her particular wishes for young Demetrius Onely Thalestris appeared fearless among so many timorous Princesses and making some attempts to banish out of her mind the remembrance of Orontes which afflicted her she show'd her self at the head of her fair Amazons both fairer and cheerfuller than ordinary her satisfaction was caused by their arrival and she could not dissemble the contentment she receiv'd by being able to assist those Princes with her Forces whom till then she had onely served in her single person The two Camps being not far asunder Cleomenes and Aristides were not long ere they return'd whereupon the Souldiers ran thronging to the Tent of Antigonus who commanded that day and where the Princes were then assembled The answer they heard was such as they desired for Cleomenes told them that the Enemies had gladly received their proposition and that Perdiccas had promised to expect them the third day with a hundred thousand men in the next Field All the Company welcom'd this news with joyfull cries and the rumour of it going out of the Tent ran presently from one to another into all parts of the Camp Afterwards Cleomenes turning toward Arsaces to give him an account of his whole negotiation Sir said he I have followed your orders and having declared your intention to Seleucus he appear'd so astonish'd to hear you were in our party that of a great while he was not able to answer me In the end after he had made some complaints of your change he conferr'd with Perdiccas and they both together promised me that to morrow as soon as the Sun is risen they will be upon that little hill which you see on the right hand and which is just half way between their Army and ours Arsaces was very well pleased with this answer and hoping for a good success of that parley he imparted his thoughts to Prince Oroondates with whom he walked a while upon the bank of the River The rest of that day was spent in their ordinary imployments and the next morning as soon as day appear'd the Princes of Scythia and Persia called for their cloaths and Arms and no sooner had they got them on but they took horse and rode directly toward the place Cleomenes had told them of They arrived there first but presently after they saw them coming whom they expected and Arsaces no sooner knew Seleucus but he gallop'd up toward him and the same did Oroondates by his example When they were near they saluted one another in a fashion that had nothing of enmity in it though Oroondates were unknown to Perdiccas whose weakness had not suffered him to observe his face whē he had been succourd by him his gracefull presence working the effect that was usual to it mov'd Perdiccas to nothing but respect After the first salutation Arsaces preventing Seleucus who open'd his mouth probably to use some reproaches against him You wonder brave Seleucus said he to see me in your Enemies party but when once you know me you will wonder more that ever you saw me in yours I know I am indebted to you for my life but you shall also know that I have fought for you against nature against justice against my nearest friends and even against my self and that perhaps few men in the World would have preferred the obligation I have to you before the interest which now has pull'd me from you yet as great as it is it is not able to make me forget a friend so worthy of esteem as is Seleucus and I was very desirous to see him to justifie my self in his opinion and to beg the continuation of a friendship which I no longer can hope for from those of his party I never thought reply'd Seleucus it could be out of inconstancy that Arsaces had forsaken us and I have found courage and gratitude enough in you for a service of small importance to believe they must needs be very weighty considerations that had made you to become our Enemy Yet could I not hear it without trouble nor if I may say so to you without resentment since by the promises of friendship you had made me I believed such a man as you are sufficiently engag'd Say added Perdiccas who had not spoken till than that no party can loose a man like Arsaces without being very much weakned that the great actions we have seen him do in favour of us will not suffer us to bear his loss without complaining of it and that in short if we may use such a reproach we had given him no cause by the usage he received from us to carry his assistance to our Enemies That I gave to you reply'd Arsaces as it is my greatest crime so would it also be my greatest remorse if it were not excused by what I ow'd to Seleucus and by the transports of a passion to which I had then given my self over In brief Perdiccas since you know what I have done for you learn what I ought to have done against you by learning that I am the Son of Darius Those Princesses whom you brought to the very brink of death and whom
in favor of me there is no consideration in the World that can separate me from her service and that I will spend my Blood to the last drop for her quarrel with more passion then for my own He sent me back with this answer and presently after being visited by Alcetas he gave him the order he desired to have observed for the service of the two Princesses From that very day Alcetas left them the whole House caused the Lodgings to be furnished according to their quality gave them a great many Women to wait upon them with Officers little different from what they had had in former times and setled their Houshold in such a maner That Queen Statira was attended in all points as Alexander's Widow and the Princess Parisatis as the Daughter of Darius Nothing but liberty was refused them the passage out of the House being forbidden by a great number of Soldiers who kept Guards there as at the Palace of a Queen and who detained them as prisoners They have their Chambers free but the Guard lie at the door they continually have Sentinels under their Windows and when they walk in the Garden which they have the liberty to do they follow them always but in such a maner That they seem rather to be there to do them honor then to restrain them Perdiccas did not resolve to use them on that fashion without being well assured That all the Forces of Babylon were at his devotion and Roxana's and that those in whom the love of their natural Princesses might stir up a desire to give them liberty or a sorrow for their captivity were too weak in the City to dare to show themselves or to undertake any thing against his Authority In the mean time though he was forced to keep his Bed he provided with a great deal of care and diligence for all businesses and for the defence of the Town Alcetas who never staid within doors for his wounds assisted by Andiagoras Antigenes Iolas and many other Commanders who by practise have attained an exact knowledge in matters of War forgot none of the duties of a perfect Captain for the defence of the City He lodged the Soldiers according to the Quarters that were assigned them and according to the order of the Assaults you might make disposed the Guards as well for the Out-works as for the Walls over-looked the Arms visited the Stores of Victual that were in the Town and caused Provisions to be put into the Magazins set men at work to make Arrows employed others about Boats to make sallies upon the River if it were necessary and to oppose the Works you should make there and sent Messengers into all the Provinces of their Allies to hasten relief Perdiccas and Cassander left their Beds the same day and I think this is the third day since but Peucestas and Neoptolemus lie by it still and are not yet so near their cures Neither did the two first stay for theirs but out of impatience to see the Princesses whom they loved would needs go abroad contrary to the will of their Physitians What respect soever Perdiccas meant to pay Roxana in his first visit he followed his own inclinations and with one Arm in a Skarf went to the House and Lodging of Queen Staâ—ira I learned the discourse he had with her from one of his Servants with whom I have a particuliar friendship and by that means am able to tell you something of it He found that beauteous Queen a little less sad then ordinary whether it were by reason of the happy success of your Forces or of the order that had been given to settle her Houshold and taking an occasion from thence to entertain her after the first civilities Madam said he I should think you rejoyced at our late loss if I were not acquainted with the excellence of your Nature that cannot with pleasure look upon the death of so many thousand persons and if I did not also believe you begin to know that among those whom you account your friends there are none more affectionate to you then those to whom you give the title of your Enemies If the passion I have for you hath carried me on to any action from which you have received discontent and if my fear of loosing you forced me to keep you in a condition very different from that in which you ought to be I will make amends for what is past by a maner of life wherein without doubt you will finde less cause of complaint Hitherto the apprehension I have been in for your life hath obliged me to conceal you from Queen Roxana whom her Interests have made your enemy but since her inclinations are changed since she repents of what she once attempted against you and since you are here with all the safety I can desire you shall be better attended then you have been till now and in your House you shall finde all the marks of your former Dignity Onely Madam be not offended I beseech you If I cannot dispose my self to loose you and if I do all I possibly can to shun a death which I cannot avoid by restoring you to my Enemies If I could live in giving you that satisfaction the gods are my witnesses I would content you to my own prejudice but since in letting you go I should utterly extinguish all my hopes and since I have a rival at our Gates whose advantages would establish themselves upon my ruine Think it not strange if I defend you against him and if by all maner of Reasons I endeavor to make you understand the difference there is between a barbarous Prince and the cheif of Alexanders Successors Perdiccas held his peace at these words and the Queen who had hearkned to him with impatience replied very tartly Think not Perdiccas that I finde any change in my condition either by this new order you have taken in settling my House or by that safety you promise me from Roxana since my last losses I have so little cared for this state you cause me to be served with or for this life you assure me of That I can finde but a very mean consolation in either nor do I rejoyce for the death of so many men whom you have made to loose their lives in too injust a quarrel And though I see the justice of the gods in your all success I could wish nevertheless they would be contented with a smaller reparation for your faults and that they would restore me the liberty which you unworthily have robbed me of and which you unjustly refuse me by less cruel and less bloody means That affection you bear me discovers it self by very disobliging signs and that barbarian Prince whom you reproach me with and who now fights my quarrel hath expressed his to me by effects very contrary to yours and by actions which without doubt may equal him with any of Alexanders Successors Yet did I shun the sight of him both
of the King his Brother In briefe he was fain to explain himselfe openly to make me comprehend the truth and a declaration from his own mouth was necessary to give me an opinion which I was very far from having at that time I was one Evening on the Queens side with the Princesses and a good number of the Court Ladies when the Prince seeing me at a Window a good distance from the rest and with something of sadnesse in my countenance came thither to me and Asparia and Rhaesaces with whom I was talking having left him their place out of respect when he saw he was neither over-heard nor observed by any body Cousin sayd he may I ask you if it be Memnon's absence that makes you so sad and so solitary Sir answered I I know not what sadnesse you can have observ'd in my face but how ever it be perhaps I should not be condemn'd by you though Memnon's absence should have been able to give me some discontent In the tearms I then stood with Memnon by my Fathers expresse command I well might take the liberty to speak on that maner without fearing that my freedome would be blamed by Oxyatres neither had it been so if he had not taken an interest in it He looked upon me with an eye in which I perceived something extraordinary and pressing one of my hands which he held between his Memnon sayd he is worthy of a very good fortune but that you have now rais'd him to is above all he could lawfully hope for I should account my selfe most happy answered I with my former innocence if I could contribute to the fortune of a man whom the King whom your selfe and whom the whole Court judges worthy of affection and esteem If you could contribute to it replyed the Prince Ah! Cousin never doubt but that you may make the whole Fortune not only of Memnon but of all persons that see you I say of all and if I should except any it must be none but those that are either blind or insensible I thought this discourse very strange from the mouth of a Prince who had been wont to entertain me in other tearms and when I was going to testifie my astonishment I see well pursued he that my last words have surprised you I spoke them rather before I was aware then with a set intention and I should have continued to conceale that of my reall thoughts which you wonder at if I could have kept power enough over my selfe to do it you would not understand the language whereby by my eyes have long expressed themselves and you have at last reduc'd me to the necessity of declaring to you with my mouth that Memnon indeed is the most happy and the most favour'd but not the most zealous and the most passionate of Barsina's servants I confesse to you Madam that in all my life I had never heard words that were more unwelcome to me then these and that they put me into a confusion which my silence and my blushing made manifest to Prince Oxyatres my being out of countenance made him partly so too and for all his confidence he cast down his eyes by my example and dispos'd himselfe to hear what I was going to reply That was it that caus'd my greatest trouble and though perchance I should not have stood considering whether I should follow what my resentment wou'd have inspired against another I could not judge suddainly enough which way I should proceed with the Brother of my King and with a Prince to whom our whole Family bore very particular respects I was in the disquiets which this irresolution gave me when I was eased or to say better relieved by Prince Artaxerxes and the yong Princesse Parisatis who coming near us with a chearful action broke off our conversation for that time When I was retired into my Chamber and that I was at liberty to reflect upon that Adventure I found in it great causes of affliction and that which would have made some others glad of this new Conquest was that which moved me to detest it If Oxyatres had been lesse great and lâ—sse potent in the Court the Authority of Memnon and of my Friends might have maintained us against the power of a Rivall and our Fortune seemed then to be crossed by the sole person that could possibly crosse it The best consolation I found in this displeasure was in the beliefe I had that peradventure the Prince had only had a minde to divert himselfe or that if he had felt some moments of affection to me 't was nothing but a passing affection and a complacency which I should hear no more of I remained some few dayes in this opinion but within a while after I was constrained to lose it and Prince Oxyatres having conquered the first difficulties was easily carryed on to continue what he had begun He came to visit me one day in my Chamber where he found me taken up in the reading of a Letter I had newly received from Memnon his comeing in was so suddain that I had not time to put it up and when I would have done it he would not suffer me but laying his hand upon it prayd me to give him leave to see it in such tearms that I could not civilly refuse a thing of so small importance especially being that I was not unwilling he should be confirmed in the opinion he had that I loved Memnon and that I believed that confirmation would serve to disswade him from the design I apprehended he took the Letter then out of my hand and casting his eyes upon it found these Words MEMNON to the Princesse BARSINA THE marks of your remembrance my fair Princess make my absence too glorious to have any cause to complain of it and all the pains it makes me suffer are too fully recompenced by that goodness which lets fortunate Memnon know you have not forgotten him But yet these happinesses though they might satisfie a reasonable ambition cannot oppose the desire I have to see you again and this impatience would perhaps bee prejudiciall to the service of the King my Master if it were not fatall to his enemies and if it did not make me hasten their defeat therby to hasten my return I will see you again my adored Princess with the hope you give mee that my absence shall not have changed my fortune and that after the combats I have sought far from you I shall have nothing to combat with when I am neer you I knew that Oxyatres read these words with discontent and when hee had ended them he could not so well contain himself but that lifting up his eyes to Heaven hee cryed out O Memnon Must I in your good fortune find the ruine of Oxyatres These words troubled me very sensibly but I was so a great deal more when turning toward me after he had given me my Letter Cousin sayd he Memnon has reason to be satisfied and I know no
the Kings Authority nor by that I may have my selfe in his Dominions but only by my services and by the proofs of my affection You have yet an absolute advantage over me and you see me undertake that with very little hope which you have justly and happily obtained The Victory is yours when I do but begin to fight and Barsina's heart which I assault with feeble forces is quite o'recome already by the merit and by the love of Memnon 't is in this poynt that my condition is as much to be implored as yours is glorious and that if you ought to look upon a Rivall who ever was your Friend 't is rather with compassion then with resentment Memnon was a little flattred with these words but they were not able to satisfie him and he was going to reply with a countenance discontented enough when the King who was gotten ready while they were talking broke off their conversation by coming into the Gallery with a great deale of company Memnon who was seized with an extraordinary sadnesse and who felt himselfe uncapable of any pleasing entertainment would not stay near the King in that humour but finding means to slip away in the crowd went out of the Palace and came into my Chamber just as I was dressed to make me acquainted with his trouble I presently saw it in his face and guested the cause when he declared it to me himselfe in such passionate tearms that he exceedingly redoubled my affliction by the knowledge of his he at first made some complaints for my having concealed a thing of such importance from him but I contented him by saying that my care of his quiet had obliged me to it and that since it was an unwelcome Newes I had desired he should hear it rather from the mouth of another then from mine He could not keep himselfe that day from going a little beyond the limits of that moderation which was very naturall to him and after having complained of his Fortune and of Prince Oxyatres who came to crosse him so unjustly Madam sayd he if Prince Oxyatres will contest with me only by his love and by his services ought I to fear he can deprive me by those wayes of what I hold from your goodnesse alone and ought I to fear that you will look upon the advantages he has over me to my destruction Ah! if this fear be lawfull as you desire the favour of the Gods give me some knowledge of it and suffer me not to conserve my life a minute after the losse of my hopes In another reason replyed I I would not easily have pardoned this discourse nor do I think that by any of my actions I have given you any just cause to suspect me of inconstancy I shall know how to render unto Prince Oxyatres what I ow to the Kings Brother without forgetting that I ow all to Memnon and though with his love and services he should also imploy his Authority and that of the King his Brother he should not be able to deprive you of what you have so lawfully acquired If it prove so sayd Memnon better satisfied then before as without doubt it will since my fair Princesse promises it me I will no more lament my destiny but shall account Prince Oxyatres his love rather an effect of Barsina's merit then of my ill fortune He was comforted on this maner by the promises I reitterated to prefer him while I liv'd before all the persons in the World He was many times upon the poynt to hasten our Marriage thereby to break Oxyatres his pretensions but then he beliv'd he could not do it handsomely after he himselfe had declared to the King that he would stay till the return of that Voyage for which all the Court was making preparations and he judged that by that precipitation contrary to his former design he should exasperate Prince Oxyatres whom he infinitely considered and incite him to go beyond the tearms he had proposed these Reasons retarded it and in the mean time he suffred the visits Prince Oxyatres made me by the assurances I gave him every day that he could not draw any lawfull cause of fear from them they often met in my company and I used Oxyatres still with great respect and Memnon as I had been wont to do before Oxyatres was concerned Oxyatres shewed very much discontent at it and expressed it in most passionate complaints when he was alone with me but his resentments never made him flie out against Memnon nor against me he kept still in the resolution he had taken to imploy nothing to his advantage but his love and his services In the Interim he carried not his passion so secretly but that it was quickly taken notice of by the whole Court and came also to the Kings Knowledge That great Prince who cherished Memnon both through a strong inclination and through a just acknowledgement of his services who had particularly favoured him in his design upon me and who had moreover engaged himself to support him in it to the uttermost heard this news with some displeasure and as soon as hee saw Prince Oxyatres testified to him by reasonable sharp words that he had disobliged him by by crossing the affections of a person that was so dear and so considerable to him as Memnon Prince Oxyatres who had prepared himself for that event hearkned to the Kings reproof without interruption and when he had done speaking Sir sayd he if my love to Barsina were an effect of my will I should be faulty in thwarting the intentions you have in favour of Memnon but since it is by constraint I yeeld you can only accuse Barsina's charâ—es for their violence upon me If I could cease to love her I would do so to please you but since that effect of the complacency I ow to your Majesties desires can never be in my power permit me Sir to suffer a pain for which I will use no remedy that Memnon himself can justly disapprove You will therby be better served then you were formerly Memnon to maintain himself in your affection and in your esteem to the prejudice of Oxyatres will second the first actions hee hath done for your service by others greater and of more importance and Prince Oxyatres whom the glory and fortune of Memnon have prickt with emulation will seek the occasions of making himself as considerable by his valour as hee is by the honour of being brother to Darius we shall strive who can be forwardest to fight for you in the war to which we are going to march and if Barsina can yet bee disputed against Memnon wee shall both of us endeavour to purchase her with our bloud and with that of your Majesties enemies You have no need of that motive replied the King to actions of valour which are ordinary to you and the Persians consider you no lesse for your vertues then for your birth but neither of them can dispense with mee for what
tearms of war hinders mee from speaking of the march of our Army and of our first successes After a great many of dayes we came to the bank of the Araxis and upon Bridges of Boats that were prepared our Forces passed that River and encamped in the Territories that obeyed the King of Scithia The King and the chief Commanders would have had the Ladies stay on this side the River but they all together opposed that motion and the Queens protested that since the King had brought them so far they would follow him whither so ever he went You know Sir all that passed of any consequence at that time and I will only tell you and the Princess your sister who is much lesse instructed in them those matters wherein I have some interest We hardly were beyond the River when we heard that the King your Father with all the forces of Scithia was comming to meet us and the next day after our Scouts discovered your foremost Troups who came to encamp within half a dayes march of ours You are not ignorant Sir of all the skirmishes that happened in those beginnings and as you made your self renowned by a thousand gallant actions on your side on ours yong Artaxerxes in those first trialls of his Arms acquired a marvellous reputation but Oxyatres and Memnon prickt with emulation and engaged by the propositions they had made ran on mutually to extraordinary exploits and by the report of those that came off those services did actions that were altogether wonderfull Perchance you may remember one encounter which was the most bloudy of all that passed beyond the Araxis and which might deserve the name of a Battell though the whole Armies fought not in it since on both sides there were above twenty thousand men left dead upon the place I remember it very well sayd Oroontes interrupting Barsina it was to gain a rising ground which was of advantage to each party that the Cavalry was insensibly engaged we contested for it with a great deal of bloud and there it was I received my first wound The Troups went on Barsina were already mingled and slaughter had brought disorder amongst them when Prince Oxyatres seeing Memnon who bloudy all over hewed open his passage with his sword amongst your men came up to him with a loud cry and placing himself by his side Memnon sayd he do you see yon'd red Standard about which the greatest force of the Scithians appears and where without doubt their most considerable Captains fight in person Memnon having cast his eye that way where Oxyatres pointed I see it answered he and if I be not deceived 't is the King of Scithia's own Standard since there are so great a number of men that defend it There it is replied Oxyatres that we must seek for Barsina or for death we must either perish or bring off that glorious mark of valour Le ts on Memnon and see to which of us Fortune will give that advantage Saying these words hee flew with his sword in his hand into the midst of the Scithians and Memnon excited with some resentment for seeing himself prickt with honour in such an occasion in stead of answering ran whither glory calld him with an impetuousness like his I have heard them say who were present at this action that never two men fought more generously that emulation had like to have been fatall to both of them and they rushed headlong into dangers where in all probability they should have met with death but Fortune was more favourable to them and those that followed them were so animated by their example that they broâ—k the Scithian Squadron in that place and the thrung of those that environâ—d the Standard upon which they had set their aim being opened by their fury they that defended it neerer were either routed or cut in peeces and he that bore it was beaten down with two blows given him at the same time by Memnon and Oxyatres they both ceaz'd upon it at the same instant but as soon as Memnon cast his eye upon Oxyatres he puld back his hand which he had thrust forth and being willing to yeeld him the glory of that action The Standard Sir sayd he is yours and mine the honour of having seconded you No Memnon replyed Oxyatres I will not rob you of your part in a glory which is equall between us and I am not ill satisfied to divide it with you With these words he gave the Standard into the hand of those that followed them and turning another way carryed new markes of his Valour thither Here Oroondates interrupting Barsina That which you tell me sayd he is very true 't was indeed the Kings Standard which we lost in that encounter and 't was a Nephew of Arsacomes that carryed it but the King my Father was not in the field that day and he comforted himselfe for the losse of his Standard by the gaining of that piece of ground for which we had fought In all other occasions pursued Barsina Prince Oxyatres did almost on the same fashion and he hardly ever saw any danger into which he invited not Memnon and into which he did not precipitate himselfe with him Memnon sought not those occasions but being stung to the quick neither did he avoyd them and though in his discourse he yielded all to Oxyatres yet he disputed all with him by his actions this maner of proceeding had like often to have been their destruction and was the cause that they sometimes committed faults in poynt of their commands by fixing themselves too eagerly upon particular actions The King himselfe blamed them for it many times but it was hard to convert Oxyatres who had undertaken either to eclipse the glory of Memnon by the lustre of his own or make him perish in the dangers to which he exposed him dayly or force him to quit his pretensions to me by the difficulties he raised him up In the mean while they both saw me every day and Prince Oxyatres expressed his passion to me by such obliging and such pleasing markes that if indeed I had not been prepossessed and prepossessed with a great deale of justice I should not have been unsensible of it He chanced to be one day alone with me and taking his time to entertain me with more liberty then he did in company Shall I never bend you sayd he to me and will you see me languish eternally at your feet without testifying at least that my pains are not unpleasing to you Any other body but your selfe if they were not sensible of love would yet be touch'd with compassion and not let her selfe be so far dazled with a first affection but that she would still have eyes to judge of those that love and serve her Is my passion or my person the more despicable because another lov'd you before me and may I not repair for the time to come what I lost in times past by having imployed some years of my
those considerations said Oxyatres interrupting him both by the equality I resolved to keep with you in the birth of my affection and by the declaration I make that 't was not with any design to oblige you or to serve you that I succoured you against the Scithians the King will not be displeased with you for this action when he shall know the truth of it you owe more to your honour and to the defence of your life then to your respect for him and 't is in short by no other way that can be repayd for the obligation you believe you have to me Then I will be eternally in your debt replyed Memnon and 't is by my own bloud I acquit my self and not by a bloud which is sacred to Memnon and a bloud for the conservation whereof I will shed mine own to the very last drop If neither the love of life added furious Oxyatres nor that of honour touches you any longer and if you fear not to die by my hands or to live with infamy among the Persians at least indeavour to defend Barsina whom I am resolved to take away from you or dispose your self to yeeld her to me if you dare not dispute her against me I yeeld you Barsina said Memnon in yeelding you my life but if my life be left me I 'le never leave my Love nor my pretensions to Barsina O Gods cried Prince Oxyatres quite transported with what an unworthy Rivall and with what an unworthy Enemy do you oppose me And dost thou not fear continued he turning toward Memnon dost thou not fear I should dishonour thee among the Persians whom thou hast abused with a false gloss of valour and that this cowardise should make thee lose that fame thou hast unjustly got and which thou holdest from fortune rather then thy courage I should fear it answered patient Memnon and I should beleeve I were guilty of cowardise if in the injuries you do me I did not find better then in all the combats I have fought for him an occasion to testifie my true respects unto my King and the true affection I bear him this is the highest proof of it he could ever desire and with what cowardise soever you would blemish me you know me well enough your self to think that the fear of a single man can ever make mee avoid the combat you often in as dangerous occasions have seen mee outbrave death without terrour and give my bloud liberally enough for you and yours 't was by that remembrance I had hoped for an usage from you very different from this you make me suffer and that I had expected any thing else from Prince Oxyatres rather then these cruell threatnings in a love whose beginnings he himself upheld rather then bloudy outrages against my reputation and rather then a cruell and violent design against a life which was never spared for the interests of his House While Memnon spake on this manner Oxyatres looked upon him intentively and in these last words found somthing that sofâ—â—ed him and made him repent his design the more he reflected upon it the more he found it violent and in the end after having well examined it he absolutely condemned it I have done too much perhaps said he to Memnon but I have not been Master of my passions and for the time to come I will endevour to regulate them better if it be possible As hee brought forth these words he put up his sword and turning his back to Memnon went from him and â—eturned to the Tents Memnon agitated with cruell disquiets retired to his not meaning to visit me in that condition lest I should take notice of his ill humour Yet had he so much discretion and so much respect to Prince Oxyatres that hee would not discover his proceeding to any body for fear the King should take it amisse and testifie some displeasure against him for it hee would not speak of it so much as to mee doubting I might find some matter of affliction in it and I never heard any thing of it till a long while after In the mean time Prince Oxyatres whether it were by the anger wherwith he had been transported to see a man preferd before him whose birth was inferiour to his and who surpassed him not in good parts or by the love which he blindly bore to me was no sooner at his Tent but he was seaz'd with a violent Feaver and it increased with so much vehemence that within three dayes the Physitians began to doubt of his recovery Being that Prince was infinitely esteemed by the whole Court his sickness caused a generall sorrow and the King to whom his vertue made him dearer then neerness of bloud fell into a sensible grief I was particularly afflicted at it and Memnon took it not ill that I expressed my trouble to him In the fits of his Feaver he sometimes fell into ravings and while reason was dispossessed of her government hee talked of nothing but Barsina and by all his actions made those that were about him judge that nothing but his love had caused his sickness This knowledge redoubled the Kings affliction and he gave him self over to his sorrow in an excessive manner when he beleeved he could not succour his Brother without destroying Memnon whom he loved very dearly and to whose services he beleeved himself as much indebted as to his own word whereby hee was engaged to him Yet was hee not so dear to him as to have that affection ruine that he bore his Brother and he could have desired if it had been possible that Memnon of his own good will should contribute to his cure but he would never speak to him of it and would rather have run to any other extreamity then that of imploying his authority to oblige him I was one of the first that visited him with my Mother but as soon as I came neer his bed hee was moved in such maner as confirmed all that were present in the beleef they had of the cause of his sickness Till then he had lived with me in a discretion that had hindred him from entertayning me in company with a passion which he knew I disapproved but seeing himselfe then in a condition that seemed to afford him a greater liberty he made no difficulty to take it and looking upon mee with languishing eyes Fair Barsina said he I die for you and by my death I abandon a happiness to Memnon which by the greatness of my love I peradventure had deserved as well as he Saying these words he turned away his eyes from my face and by his action touched mee so that I hardly was able to retain my tears Sir answered I you shall not die for Barsina and it had been better she had never come into the world then to cause so great a dammage to her Country My death is little considerable replied the Prince and I receive it willingly since it is favourable to you in delivering
you from my importunities I never received any from you sayd I which I would bee delivered of by the least of your discontents and if your life depended on my wishes I would make as many for your health as for mine own You have more goodness in appearance replied he then in effect and when you saw me in another condition you contributed nothing to hinder me from falling into this in which you see me for the love of you Yet 't is not continued he with a sigh to reproach you that I tell you this you are too just in all your actions to find any reason to condemn them and being I punish no body but my self of the faults I have committed I ought also to accuse no body but my self of the advantages you give my rivall He had said more without doubt if the Physitians had not entreated him to keep silence and if the Queen 's accompanied by the two Princesses and Prince Artaxerxes their Brother had not entred then into the Chamber and comming to his bed side had not broken off that conversation If I omitted not to visit him Memnon for all he was his rivall and for all he was so ill satisfied with him was not one of the last in offering to perform that duty but the Prince express'd a repugnance for his visits and when he was told that he meant to come and see him he made known that he should do him a pleasure to forbear It sufficeth that I am vanquished said he without shewing me the face of my Conquerour and if Memnon be generous he ought to content himself with his victory without insulting over me in my misfortune These words of the Princes which were told Memnon again hindred him from comming into the Chamber but not from going every day to the door to enquire how he did that very care displeased the jealous Prince and he said to those that brought him word of it tell Memnon that I have but a few dayes to live that he has but a while to exercise his patience and that he should not labour so much to learn the news of my death These words struck Memnon very deeply whose intent was far from Oxyatres suspitions and in the mean time his sickness grew so dangerous that the Physitians could no longer dissemble their appehensions Their did the Kings affection to him break forth into greater signs of sorrow then he yet had shewed and then did that good Prince abandon himself unto his grief with more excess then was expected from the greatness of his courage Memnon who saw him in that estate who as I have told you had the strongest love to him that ever subject bore his Prince and who besides took notice of the admirable goodness he had towards him in letting a Brother perish whom he lov'd more dearly then himself rather then seek his safety to his prejudice fell into a grief wherein he was like to have been overwhelmed and considering that he ought no longer to suffer those proofs of his Kings affection without shewing the utmost he could hope from his hee resolved rather to die then to abuse his goodness in an unhandsome manner and finding him one day deeply buried in his sadness Sir sayd hee to him if I can contribute to the life of Prince Oxyatres be not in fear of his recovery 'T is true I love Barsina but I love my King as I ought to do and to preserve him a Brother worthy of his affection I shall know how to overcome my passion and to yeeld that to Prince Oxyatres which perhaps I have too much disputed against him The King life up his head at these words and after having a while looked upon Memnon without speaking he cast his armes of a suddain about his neck and embracing him with an extraordinary tendernesse My dear Memnonhe sayd I should have let Oxyatres die and should have dyed my selfe before I would have asked you what you offer me with so much generosity but if really you can contribute to my Brothers safety without hazarding your own I shall be indebted to you for all my quiet and shall never find any recompence worthy of you Memnon o'recharg'd with griefe made no reply but only taking his leave of the King with a low obeysance went straight to Oxyatres Chamber and notwithstanding all that they who were at the doore could say to hinder him from seeing the Prince he entred into the Chamber and came to his bed-side Assoon as the Prince knew him he turned his head the other way and by some sighs which he could not retain made appear that he was touched with his sight and that he hardly could endure it but Memnon meant to put him out of that ill humour and drawing near to him with confidence Sir sayd he for the love of the Gods and for the love of Barsina receive me no longer as an Enemy I come not here to tryumph over you by the advantages Fortune has blindly given me but I come to deliver them up to you to abandon all my pretensions and in short to yield you Barsina of whom you are more worthy then I. Oxyatres his resentment against Memnon was not so great but that a good part of it was presently dissipated by these words and he scarce had heard them when turning towards him with more suddainesse then his weake estate could probably have suffred What cryed he Memnon is it to give me Barsina that you come to visit me Yes Sir replyed Memnon 't is Barsina I resigne to you and you may recover upon the assurance that she shall no more be disputed with you And what will Memnon do added the Prince if he lose Barsina He 'l dye answered Memnon and it is more just that he should dye then that the life of Prince Oxyatres should be longer in danger Ah! cryed the Prince if one must dye I know how to dye as well as you and my spirit will be no more daunted then yours with the Image of Death I fear it perchance as little as you can do and if you have no other remedy for my health I account that worse then the disease you would save me from If I had e're a gentler sayd Memnon I would make use of it to content you without amusing your selfe about considerations that are too triviall to oppose the safety of such a Prince as Oxyatres your death would draw the imprecations of all Persia upon me and Darius would have just occasion to detest the ingratitude of a man who by the losse of a thousand lives like his cannot repay the smallest part of what he owes him At these words without staying for a reply he went out of the roome in so strange a condition that he could hardly have been known by his most familiar Friends As he had done that action without making me acquainted and believed that I would find just cause of complaint against him for seeing him so lightly quit
as he had been at his former visit but hee had hardly set his foot within it when he saw Roxana and Perdiccas come in at other doors attended by so great a Guard as almost fild the Room Cassandra looked upon her enemies with very little disturbance and though thought of Roxana after what shee had attempted and executed against her was enough to have toucht her yet did she behold her accompanied as she was without any trouble that could be taken notice of but as soon as shee cast her eyes upon Oroondates and that she saw him bound and led as a sacrifice to the Altar shee could not obtain so much assistance from her constancy as shee would have desired in such an encounter and though they had resolved to use her that day as they meant to do him yet had they had so much consideration of her sex and of her quality that they had not bound her tender hands neither did they fear that opposition from them which they dreaded from Oroondates if his had been at liberty She went to meet him infinitely transported and not caring to constrain her self for enemies whom she neither valued nor feared enough to dissemble her inclinations in their presence Ah! my dear Prince cried she what barbarous hearts can have used you so unworthily and by what injustice can they bind those hands that were destined to bear a Scepter and those hands that with so much glory have done so many gallant actions Why do not these Tygres turn their rage against me alone since only I am cause of the greatest part of their discontents If Roxana loves you how can she consent to this inhumanity and if I be loved by Perdiccas why will hee afflict mee with this killing spectacle Neither Perdiccas nor Roxana answered the Prince can make my destiny more glorious then in making me to suffer these bonds for my love to you Those noble bonds wherwith you keep my heart fast tied for ever make me despise all theirs and if they could have broken them they would not have shewed this Empire over my body which neither force nor gentlenesse have been able to extend over my mind The Queen was going to reply when Roxana who in their first Discourse found new occasion to exasperate her anger broke off their conversation and looking upon Statira with a countenance which her passion had enflamed Madam said she I will make no excuses to you for what is past nor will I seek out reasons to justifie my present actions I 'le only tell you that for all the double interest I have in your death I have let you live to the prejudice of my repose both to satisfie Perdiccas and to follow the incitements of the compassion I have of you but now that Oroondates by his ingratitude ha's driven me to the last extremities and that by your obstinacy to keep him you your selfe have labourd for your own destruction I am forced to let you know that in the end you have arm'd all my resentments against you and that you have no other way of safety but to quit Oroondates to me and to oblige him by all the considerations he ought to have of your life to obtain it of mee by his repentance and by the affection I desire from him And I added Perdiccas addressing himselfe to Oroondates declare to you O Prince of Scithia that you cannot escape the fury of a Rivall whom his ill fortune hath cast into despair but in yeelding up the pretensions you have to Cassandra and in disposing her your self to requite my passion The gallant Queen and the courageous Prince of Scithia were equally touched with their Enemies words and if they feared their threats they both feared them for the person beloved and not for their own danger yet did there appear an equall scorn in both their faces and Oroondates his sex gave him no advantage then above that generous Princesse they both were opening their mouths to expresse their thoughts at the same time but the Prince who saw the Queen was about to speak kept silence out of respect and yeelded that liberty first to her I did not doubt said she to Roxana but that after having been stained with crimes wherwith you have dishonoured your sex and the rank you have held and after having joyned in a confederacy against the bloud of your Princes and against the true friends of the King your Husband with their murtherers and poysoners you would give your selfe over to the extreamest cruelties 't is a worthy end of your glorious beginnings and 't were not fit you should suffer her to continue longer in the world whom you could never look upon without shame nor without remorse but you have been much mistaken if you beleeved that by your menaces you could make me lose what I hold a thousand times more dear then all that you can take away from me your subtilties heertofore succeeded but too prosperously but your cruelties shall not now have the same effect and by your former actions you have made my life too little dear to me to think I can be terrified by your threatning to deprive mee of it The Prince of Scithia as soon as the Queen had ended these words took his time to speak and looking upon Perdiccas with disdain These waies said he wherby thou wouldst rob me of my Princesse are worthy of the greatnesse of thy courage and without doubt it had not been glorious for thee to dispute her against a Rivall by thy bloud and by thy services thou wilt now acquire her far more nobly and thou makest thy self worthy of her in setting forth thy valour against a Prisoner against a man alone and bound yet a man who twice already ha's made thee flie and to whom thou art twice indebted for thy life These words stung Perdiccas in such maner that he scarce had power to contain himselfe but the resolution he had taken to comply with Roxana yet a little longer made him delay the effects of his indignation They that know me answered he will never believe that I fled before a Barbarian and I disown those good Offices for which thou wouldst have me be indebted to thee but this is not a place to decide that question and thou hast now no time but to think of the proposition I have made thee If Statira love thy life she must now resolve upon it either by thy advice or of her own accord And if Oroondates love Statira's added Roxana he has but a few moments to determine about the losse or the preservation of it At these cruel words these illustrious and unfortunate Lovers saw themselves reduced to most miserable tearms and all the constancy wherewith they had fortified themselves was not able to defend them against too just a sorrow they both were absolutely resolved to die and the love of their own lives was not capable to touch them but neither could consent to the losse of what they loved