those persons who saw him in that condition but looked upon him with admiration and took him for a man far different from the ordinary sort Hee was of a taller size than ordinary but so straight so clean and so well-proportioned his gate so noble and the aire of his countenance composed of so natural and so excellent a grace that 't was impossible to see any thing more compleat in every part The good opinion I had of him and the advantagious judgments I made of his exquisite parts obliged me to receive him with all the civility I could have rendred to a great Prince and he accosted me with all the marks of the most profound submission Yet I observed or at least I thought I did so that before he opened his mouth to speak to me he continued some moments in a maze and looked upon me with marks of some astonishment and confusion He had some trouble as I thought to recompose himself upon a suddain but having done it at last with a boldness that is very natural to him Madam said he I come to beg your pardon for the faults I committed yesterday in a condition when I was not capable of rendring what I owed to your person and the benefit of life which I have received from your bounty If the Gods would please that I might employ the remains of it in your service the preservation of it would be much more dear to me than it is out of the natural desire we have of it and I should be farther engaged to your self if you would admit me to the opportunities of testifying my acknowledgments to you than I can be to those generous assistances to which I owe my safety He uttered these words in such a noble and such a charming fashion that I continued a while in an incapacity of giving him an answer and 't was not without trouble that I began at last to speak I am very much satisfied said I to see you in a condition so different from that wherein you appeared to me yesterday and that succour upon which you set too high an esteem produces in you an acknowledgment which exceeds the benefit I could wish it had been rendred to you to greater purpose and that you had received that from us for many years which neither you nor we are like to enjoy but for a few dayes Those few dayes replied the unknown with a sigh and an action wherein there appeared something of an interessed person will be very different to me from those I have passed hitherto and I do not believe that the Gods by your assistance would have saved me from a cōmon or single death to make me perish by a death which wil give me great cause to accuse them of cruelty I would not suddenly penetrate into the sence of these words though the action of him that uttered them and mine own inclination made me partly suspect what they meant I answered him likewise in such terms as might make him judge that I did not understand them We entred into a conversation full of civility the handsomness of his person and the marks of as high birth which appeared in his countenance having wrought in me as much consideration as I could have had for a great Prince The day being clear and fair and very much different from those which had preceded it we went out of our lodging and walked up and down the little Island which in some places we should have found agreeable enough if we could have looked upon it otherwise than upon the place of our Sepulture Eurilus caused some to stand Centinels upon the top of the Rock to discover some favourable Vessel sent by Heaven for our succour and our little company did incessantly make vowes to Heaven to obtain assistances from thence of which they had little hope This day being passed the succeeding night filled mind with importunate thoughts the Idea of the fair unknown presented it self and fixed it self there more pertinatiously than I would have desired his gallant mind and the sweetness of his countenance intermingled with Majesty his noble deportment and the admirable grace which attended his discourse and action came again into my memory in a very advantageous form and made good their possession maugre the endeavour to expell them thence Leave me said I leave me troublesom Idea which presentest thy self to my imagination so inconveniently and unseasonably it must be in some other Spirit than mine that thou mayst find part of that complacency which thou seekest for but in Olympia's thou shalt never produce any effect if the Gods do not forsake her If this unknown be handsom if he be amiable if he be admirable in all parts what doth it concern the unfortunate Olympia And what interest can she take in a man with whom her acquaintance is but of a days standing whom she cannot know but for a few days more and whom she would not know at all if that knowledge must disturb her repose Let him serve himself against some other heart than mine with all the advantages that he hath received from Heaven and Nature and let him work admiration and love every where else but let him leave a mind in peace to which neither nature hath given nor her fortune left any dispositions to receive the thoughts which he would introduce there By this reasoning with my self I put off for some moments this persecuting remembrance and embraced as I thought very strongly a resolution never to think upon him more But a little after maugre my resolution this importunate Image came again into my memory and made me fix my thoughts in spite of my teeth upon the consideration of those marvails which I had found in the person of the unknown This agitation of my Spirit permitted no access to sleep and seeing the greatest part of the night was passed and I had not been able to close my eyes I began to be really angry both with these thoughts till then unknown to my spirit and with him that caused them What said I shall this unknown usurp that already with authority which possibly he would not have sufficiently purchased all his life time Have I scarcely seen him and must he oppose my sleep encroach upon my repose and liberty In a condition of life when I ought to think upon nothing but death shall he alone be capable to with-hold my thoughts and shall he possess them so that I should lose my sleep my repose and liberty Ah! my liberty Ah! my repose ye are but weakly grounded in my soul if the first sight of a man can so easily overthrow you and if ye abandon me for having seen a man a few moments in whom possibly all appearances are deceitfull a man that possibly hath nothing amiable but that outside which blinded me at first sight a man it may be of no birth or vertue a man which loves me not nor possibly ever will whilst he lives Wilt
to her she saw upon the Shore her dear Artaban stretching out his arms to her and calling her to him with gestures all composed of passion This sight having produced a violent effect upon Elisa's spirit she would have cried out with transport and by the effoort she used in that action she wakened her self with a start When she was awake he had her arms stretched out to the Image which was presented to her eyes when they were shut and not being able by awakening presently to drive that dear Idea out of her immagination she felt about the bed and sought after that Artaban which had appeared before her pronouncing his name two or three times But when her sleepiness was perfectly over and she saw her self abused by sleep her grief renewed with violence and seeing that object that was so agreeable to her eyes and dear to her memory no longer appear she abandoned her self to regrets and recalled her tears which had hardly stopped their course whilst she was asleep Ah! Artaban said she melting into tears thou deceivest me and fliest from me and thou dost not present thy self to me during these moments of sleep which thou leavest me but to render the losse more present to me and to renew my griefs thou callest to me from the shore or rather from the port whereunto thou art arrived by thy death after thou hadst been so long tossed upon the tempestuous Sea of miseries and crosses wherein thou leavest the deplorable Elisa thou callest me Artaban by thy action reproachest me for this weakness which hath not permitted me to go and seek with thee that tranquillity which thou enjoyest but if thou beest not cruel do not accuse me for having abandoned thee out of any remainders of love of life but beleeve that I am so little in love with it since I lost thee that I am ready to give willingly the remains of it to be reunited to thee Upon this thought divers Tragical resolutions presented themselves to her spirit and passing from this remembrance to the former part of her dream where the God of the Sea promised her that she should see her Artaban again at the Tomb of a Faithfull Lover Yet continued she 't is no small comfort to Elisa that she may see again at the Tomb him whom she beleeved was buried in the entrals of the Fishes I do not doubt but that my Artaban hath been faithfull to his Elisa and since I have not been permitted to close his eyes and to receive his last breath I could not God of the Seas receive from thee in reparation of the cruel outrage thou hast done a dearer favour than thou dost me in bringing this beloved body to the shore and in giving me the means to enclose my self in the same Tomb with my faithfull lover I willingly fly to the Tomb that is consecrated for Elisa and as Artaban himself is the grave wherein all my affections are buried so I will not avoid the occasion of enclosing my self with him in the same Tomb upon the shore of Alexandria Whilst Elisa uttered these sad words in a condition which might move the most insensble hearts to pity the brightness of the approaching day began to spread it self about her Chamber and at the noise of some words which she pronounced aloud and some sobs that accompanied them a young Slave whom with divers others Cornelius had given to her to serve her as he had given many likewise to the Qu. of Ethiopia drawing near her bed asked her with a great deal of care if she were not well and if she had need of any thing Elisa being quite buried in the sad thoughts which possessed her heard not the Slaves words and instead of dreaming of her resuming her discourse with many sighs Ah dear Image of that I love continued she return again to me for a few moments and since that by the cruelty of my destiny I am condemned never to see thee more but by illusion make these illusions last as long as the deplorable life thou hast left me These words pronounced with a tone of voice which might have made a passage into the most obdurate souls pierced deep into the mind of the Slave who heard them and she possibly being not ignorant of the effects of that passion which was the cause of Elisa's greatest misfortunes her compassion made her presently interesse her self in the grief of a person whom her admirable parts made her serve already with a great deal of inclination Ah! said she with a sigh as profound as Elisa's could be as far as I can judge both Love and Fortune exercise their powers every where and those which till now complained of their Tyranny may find companions throughout the whole world She had possibly enlarged her self in this meditation if Elisa not being able to take repose in any posture had not turned here self that way and seen her by her Bed side whereof the Curtain was a little drawn The Princess was a little surprized to see her there so early and having taken notice that it was neither Urione nor Cephisa she asked her with a great deal of sweetness what occasion had brought her thither 'T is my desire to serve you Madam answered the Slave and I have heard some complaints from your mouth which made me fear that you were indisposed Alas replyed the desolate Princess how can you apply any remedy to my indisposition and how unprofitably are your officious cares imployed in the comfort of so unfortunate a person As for the diseases of the mind answered the Slave reason time and the assistance of Heaven may remedy them and there are possibly Madam some as unfortunate at your self who make their reason act for their consolation and expect from Time and Heaven the sweetning of their miseries Since the time that Cornelius had bestowed this Slave upon the Princess she had taken no notice of her but hearing her speak in this manner with an accent which relished something of a more than vulgar sweetness she cast her eyes upon her face and viewed her with some attention Elisa's eyes were troubled with the tears which she had shed and there was not yet light enough in that part of the Chamber that she might discern particular objects but if Elisa could not particularly observe the features of the Slave's countenance she saw that she was of a very handsom proportion and that in her eyes as dull and languishing as they were there sparkled something very lively and very bright she was moved with some greater consideration for her than people ordinarily have for Slaves and answering her discourse with more attention than could probably be expected from the excess of her grief They which can make use of their reason in calamities of the same nature with mine said she to her have left it a command over their spitit which such disasters as mine are wont to destroy and I doubt very much that reason hath
up both together and coming neerer to her with an action full of civility and deference What Madam cryed they out both at once are you a Kings Daughter I am replyed the Princess and in the present condition of my affairs I should have reason enough to conceal it rather than publish it if I had not received a command to do it from two persons whom I wil obey being a Princess as I ought to obey them being a Slave Elisa the more confounded of the two as remembring that she had received services from that Princess that are not usually received but from persons of the meanest birth spake first and expressing her shame by a blush that mounted into her cheeks Ah Madam said she in whas manner shall I repair the faults I have committed against a Princess of an equal birth to mine I have no regret replyed the Princely Slave for the services I have rendred you and I will willingly continue out of inclination that which I have begun in respect to my fortune which hath made me fall into servitude I have received from you but too many marks of goodness for a Slave and in the condition wherein I appeared to your eyes I could not have hoped from you the graces you have done me Ah Madam answered Elisa I am not excusable or at least I must make my grief my Apology which deprives me of all manner of knowledge and hath hindred me from observing in your countenance the marks of grandeur which discover your bi th If I have not taken notice of the absolute truth added Candace I have at least conjectured a part of it and if I have not taken this Princess for what she is yet 't is very certain that since the first conversation we had together I have judg'd her birth to be very disproportionable to her present fortune After these words Candace and Elisa embraced the Princely Slave who making no difficulty after the discovery she had made to receive their caresses with more equality than she had done a few moments before stretched out her arms too and received their imbraces with tears of tenderness which trickled down the eyes of the three Princesses out of the consideration which they made at the same time upon that fortune which treated three persons of so high a dignity with an equal rigor and brought into the same place from divers parts of the earth three King's daughters in an estate so different from their condition O humane grandeurs and felicities cryed Candace how are they abused that lay any foundation upon your stability and how much inconstancy and weakness have ye to blot out all the charms that blinded spirits find in you After these words and some others which they added upon this Subject they desired the Princely Slave to sit between them and relate the Story of her life the knowledge of her condition having much augmented their curiosity She made some difficulty to take that place in the habit she then wore for fear she might be surprized in a place which would have made her discover a truth which she desired to conceal But the Princesses would not permit her to sit elsewhere and to remedy the fear she had of being surprized they made one of their Maids stay at the entrance of the Arbor to give them notice when she saw any one approach The Princesses being thus placed the Slave was intreated again by the two others with all manner of civilities and caresses to discover them the events ofher life wherein they already took a great deal of interest and she being willing to give them that satisfaction without being any further pressed to it After she had meditated a few moments to recall into her memory a great many accidents wherewith her life was crossed she began her discourse in these terms The History of Olympia NOthing doth more strongly perswade me to beeeve the immortality of the Soul and the passage from this life to another more happy and more quiet than the miseries of the good and the prosperity of the bad and seeing the Gods are just there is little probability that they should suffer lives altogether innocent to pass away in misfortunes and lives highly criminal in happiness and impunity if we were not reserved to another life wherein vice shall receive it's punishments and vertue it's recompences If it were not so I should have great cause to complain of that providence which hath the Sovereign rule over our destinies having experimented in such a condition as mine and in an age which hath made no great progress miseries under which a long life would have groaned and an ordinary constancy possibly have sunk Adallus King of Thrace who was a great friend to Anthony and served him with his forces and his person in the famous battail of Actium was my Father and his Son who bears the same name and reigns at this day over that people is my only Brother I was but a very young Girl when the Queen my Mother died and her death was to me an irreparable loss for had she continued longer in the world she might possibly have secured me from a great part of those disasters wherewith I have been since overwhelmed The King my Father caused me to be educated with the greatest care and tenderness and the persons to whom he committed my education forgot nothing that might frame my spirit to all things agreeable to my birth I was brought up in good manners in the fear of the Gods and the love of Vertue and all means was used to work in me from my very Infancy an aversion and horror to Vice I passed my first years without the arrival of any remarkable accident or any thing that is worth the relating to you having a relation to make to you of such a great number of adventures so strange and possibly so little correspondent to what you expect of me that I should beleeve I lost time if I employed it in discoursing of things of small importance The change which the sorrows and the toyl of my mind and body have wrought upon my countenance will leave little credit for the report I can make of what it formerly was and not having preserved any footstep of beauty it would ill become me to go about to perswade you that I was once handsom yet 't is certain that this was the received opinion in the Country where I was born and that this beauty such as it was produced effects prejudicial to my repose whereby I have been reduced to the miseries wherein I have passed my wandring and unfortunate life I do not doubt said the Queen Candace interrupting the Princess I do not doubt but that your beauty hath been more accomplished than your modesty permits you to represent 〈◊〉 to us and if your grief could be but dissipated by the change of your fortune there is nothing so ruined and so defaced in your countenance but that in a person of
of that person and though I was already cast down at my owm misfortune incommodated by the wetness of my garments I conquered mine own inconvenience by the compassion I had upon a person faln into the like disaster with my self and I staid to see his face and to behold with some attention the event of the office which my servants went to render him His legs were still in the water his body lay along upon the plank which he held fast and his face was turned towards the ground and almost buried in the sand They drew him quite out of the water and turned his face upwards but it was so covered with some and sand that they could not at first perceive the figure of it they presently threw water upon him and when hee was cleansed from the filth which covered him they perceived as well as the pale wan colour of his face would permit all the lineaments of an admirable beauty in a person of his sex His age seemed not to be above nineteen years his person was the most compleat and best proportioned in the world and his long black hair which the moysture of the water could not deprive of their natural Curles hung about his cheeks and added an extraordinary grace to the whiteness of them but a great part of his beauties was clouded his eyes were fast closed his lips were discoloured and a deadly paleness being spread all over his visage had banished thence that vivacity of complexion which doeth so advantageously set off the lineaments and proportion of a handsome face Yet in this languishing form he appeared more comely to me than all that had been represented to my eyes till then and out of a presage whereof the cause was unknown to me at that time I felt a throbbing of my heart which seemed to me to foretel part of that which this adventure hath made me suffer since There appeared but little shew of life in this person but Eurilas having laid his hand upon his heart found there some motion and some heat This man is not dead said he Then we must succour him added I presently and give him all the assistance we can to endeavour to save his life Immediately all the persons that were with us employed themselves about it and two or three men having taken him up by the feet and holding his head downwards the salt water with which his belly was all swelled up began to run out of his mouth in such great abundance that we were struck with wonder how the body of a man could contain so much After he had cast it all up he continued some moments longer without shewing any other signes of life than those they had already observed and though I was in an incommodious condition my self I had the patience to wait a while longer to see if he would recover his sences The Gods were pleased that my expectation should not be long and the fair unknown began by his motion to shew the effect of the assistance which had been rendred him a little after he opened his eyes and recovered his sences and knowledge I was very joyful to see him return into that condition and out of an unknown principle I already interested my self in his preservation so as I partly suspended the memory of my own danger He turned his eyes for a while round about him to observe the place where he was and the persons which had succoured him and his astonishment discovered it's self in his countenance where the colour began to come again and with that the exact perfection of beauty in a person of his sex At the first he was troubled to discern things and what to judge of his adventure but when the vapours that clouded his understanding were a little dissipated hee recalled to memory what had passed he remembred his shipwrack and began to guess at part of the truth When he had a little reflected upon it he sate up with a little pain and looking upon us with eyes which expressed the remains of his astonishment I know not said he whether it be by Heavens assistance or by yours that I have recovered my life but I think it is not very long since I was exposed to the mercy of the waves and I am ignorant in what place I am by what means I came hither and to whom I am beholding for my safety You owe it replyed Eurilas to the assistance of the Gods and next to them to persons whose fortune is little different from yours and who by a Shipwrack like you have been driven upon this little I stand with very little hope or means to get out of it without the extraordinary helping-hand of Heaven The fair unknown whose memory and understanding recovered more and more and whose eyes resumed a vivacity and sparkling light which gave an unusual Luster and Majesty to his countenance looked upon the preservers of his life with more affection than before and having cast his eyes upon my face he found something there which gave him a particular respect for me I was not clad then in man's apparel with which I disguised my self to get out of Bizantium with the more facility but after we came within sight of Cilicia out of the repugnance I had to this disguise so little sorting with modesty as I thought I had together with my women resumed the habit of my sex to enter in a more decent manner into the Country where I went to seek for refuge The uuknown had no sooner taken notice of me amongst the other persons that stood about me of whom by the respect they gave me he judged me to bee Mistresse but all his acknowledgement turned towards me and striving with his feebleness to crawl to my feet Madam said he in the Roman tongue which was the same wherein Eurilas had spoken to him and which we all understood as well as our own language 't is to you I think that I ought to render thanks confo mable to the benefit I have received of your goodnesse Though I were not obliged to it by the preservation of this life for which I am indebted to you I would render you that by way of adoration which acknowledgement orders me to and from persons lesse capable of knowledge your face will alwayes receive those homages which are due to divinities I know not what I can offer you for the succour I have received of you and yours and this life which I owe to your assistances is now of too mean a value to satisfie my resentments but if such as it is I durst offer it at your feel I would protest to you with the highest truth that the preservation of it shall not be so dear to me as the occasions of parting with it for your interests The fair unknown spake in this manner but it was with so uncommon a grace that in the most happy condition of my life I could not have hearkned to him with a more
could not render that good office to a slave without making that suspected which she desired to conceal They contented themselves for that time to send Cephisa to her to know how she did and to make their excuses because they did not visit her out of fear of displeasing her Cephisa went to do her message and a little while after she returned to the Princesses with some astonishment in her countenance Candace having presently asked her the cause Madam said she the Princesse of Thrace is not in a condition to give you a visit to day and I have left her upon her bed in a violent feaver with greater troubles in her mind than there appears disturbance in her body The Princesses at this report had no regard of their former circumspection and made no doubt but that in this case they ought to go and visit Olympia Let us go see her Madam said Elisa to Candace for I have such an esteem and affection for her that I can not hear of her being ill without being afflicted at it I will bear you company very willingly replyed Candace and as far as I can judge that Princess is so worthy of the affection and esteem of those persons that know her that I should be very sorry that you should go beyond me upon that account Having spoken these words they went together to the chamber of the Princelie slave which was hard by theirs and as they came in they were ashamed to find her in a place so unconformable to her condition She was upon the bed just as Cephisa had told them and only Ericia with her who had shut the windows and left but little light in the chamber As soon as the Princesses were come near Candace sitting down upon the side of the bed and leaving Elisa a chair at the beds head What is the matter my fair Princesse said she and what alteration have you received since yesterdaie in your health which is verie dear to all the persons that know you The alteration replyed Olympia is verie great both in my health and my condition and you see me now as it pleases the Gods and Fortune in a verie different estate from that wherein I was this morning And what is bef l en you of so great importance added Elisa presently be pleased to tell us that we may take our share in it as we have hitherto done out of inclination and knowledg in every thing that concerned you I am so discomposed answered Olympia that I know not whether I shall be able to express my self and all the passions are confused in my soul with so much violence that my bodie is not able to resist them and I have hardlie so much as my speech at libertie I know not whether it be joy that puts me into this condition or whether is be grief that works this effect both upon my bodie and my Spirit but however it be I will tell you if I can seeing you have the goodnesse to interesse your selves thus in my fortune that the man of whom I formerlie spake to you with so much passion the fair unknown to whom by a strange fatalitie I gave my heart at the first sight he who afterwards by diverse great actions and great proofs of his love took the absolute possession of my soul he for whose sake onlie I have survived such long sorrows and for whom I preserved this unfortunate life with a little hope of seeing him again is now in Alexandria O Gods cryed Candace what do you tell us Olympia and what assurance have you of his arrival That replyed Olympia which my eyes gave me and being with Ericia and some other persons upon that Balconie which lookes into the street when Agrippa and Cornelius returned I saw him with his face uncovered I saw him so plainly that I could not be mistaken and I could not see him but with so great a trouble and emotion that my sences failed me and I fell in a swoon betwixt Ericia's arms Ah! without doubt added Candace 't is the fair unknown of whom Agrippa speke to us with so many Elogies he whom he found in the wood with a Lady whose admirable beauty hee represented to us 'T is the very same answered Olympia and Agrippa could not speak to you of him with so many praises but he must forget some admirable qualities in his person he for whom I have breathed out so many sighs is at last returned to me and hee for whose sake I lingred out my dayes in slavery and misery comes to be a witness of my captivity and servitude which I supported with patience through the love I had for him Well said the sad Elisa interrupting her Well my dear Olympia see you have the greatest occasion of joy that ever you could desire and in the mean time it produces in you such effects as do not ordinarily proceed from any thing but grief Alas you recover all that you had lost and Elisa only remains without hope of ever seeing again that which the pitylesse destinies have taken from her 'T is indeed to me replyed Olympia with two or three sighs the only occasion of joy that I could wish for to see him again whom I so dearly loved and the Gods bear me witness that had it not been for the hope I had of it my unfortunate dayes had not been of so long a continuance but 't is indeed to me a greater occasion of grief if I see him again unfaithful than if I had never seen him again nor outlived so many miseries only to bee a witnesse of his infidelity It had been more acceptable and much better for me to have lost this deplorable life either amongst the waves or in those miseries wherewith hitherto it hath been turmoiled You have some reason said Candace much troubled but what knowledg or rather what suspicion have you that this man from whom you have received so many restimonies of love is now unfaithful to you I have answered Olympia the same that you your self gave me when you told me that he was found in the wood by Agrippa with a Ladie of admirable beautie those few words you spake of it exasperated my wound with a violent pain but besides that I will tell you that being come again to my self out of my swoon whereinto so unexpected a sight had cast me and being hardly able to give credit to my eyes upon the report they had made to my heart nor believe that this object of my life had appeared to my sight anie otherwise than by illusion or the effect of my imagination I desired Ericia to go presentlie to make a farther discoverie and having enquired out the house where Cornelius had lodged those strangers I commanded her to mingle her self amongst the other slaves which were employed in their service and to go into the house with her face covered to take notice of him who had put me into the trouble I was in She punctually executed
away with sweetness and tranquillitie enough and the time of our tender infancie was spent in a flourishing Court and a peaceable and fortunate Kingdom but I hardlie began to have the use of reason or any knowledg of our condition of life when by the cruel surprize of Anthony the unfortunate Artabazus our Father was carried prisoner to Alexandria and all his familie with him except Artaxus our elder brother who succeeded him in the enjoyment of the Crown My brother Ariobarzanes my sister Artemisa and my self lived in a captivitie in a pompous Court till I was about eight or nine years old and this loss of our libertie the sorrow whereof was so cruellie redoubled by the deplorable death of the King our Father which I believe no person is ignorant of was not repaired till after the defeat and the last misfortunes of Anthony and Cleopatra at which time Cesar being master of Alexandria and the Empire too by the fall of his competitour freed us from captivity and sent us back with an honourable convoy to the King of Armenia our brother whom he received into the number of his Friends and Allies Prelate this to you in a few words as a thing sufficientlie divnlged and I will not entertain you with the reception which Artaxus gave us who looked upon the wrack of our familie with great resentments for our common mis-fortune We lived in his Court with all the splendor we had lost and we recovered there together with our libertie our former rank and dignitie We were brought up my brother my sister and my self with great care and it was not the fault of those persons who were put about me that the slight advantages which I might have received from nature were not favourablie seconded by good education There was nothing forgotten which might frame my Spirit to the horror of vices and to the love of vertue and I will say if I may do it without offending against modestie that I had my inclinations naturallie carried to esteem that which seemed good and to avoid that which appeared to me to be vicious I had a good Governess the verie same you saw in Cilicia whom I made to pass for my Aunt who took a great deal of pains to cultivate whatsoever she thought she observed of good in me and contributed as much as possiblie she could to form me according to her desires vertuous inclinations About this time as you know the King my brother prompted by a verie just desire of revenge made war upon the King of the Medes your Allie and in the first year he had some advantages which made him hope the absolute ruine of his enemies 'T is true by what we could understand he dis-honoured them by his crueltie and the Gods likewise to punish him for it stopt the course of his good fortune by the succours you gave Tigranes which changed his fortune and forced him to be gone out of the Dominions of your Allies 'T was at that time that hee committed that action which hath been so much condemned by all vertuous persons to cut the throats of two Princes of your blood prisoners in a just war and against whom he could have no lawful resentment This was that which made him lose the valiant Britomarns whose valour had been so favourable to him in the first years of the war and upon the relation which was made me of the generous quarrel he had with the King for the safetie of his prisoners what cause so ever I had otherwise to blame the presumption of that young warriour I could not but have his vertue and greatness of courage in admiration and that esteem made me forget some part of the resentment I had against him Ariobarzanes who by the Kings command continued at Artaxata as well because of his youth which as yet was not capable of bearing armes as to keep the Armenians in obedience whilest their King made warre in forein Countries wept for regret and grief at the relation of this cruelâ—ie and made all those judge who saw him at that time that his inclinations would be verie different from those of the King his brother I enlarge my self particularlie upon this action of Artaxus because it was upon this account that the hatred of the King your Father was so violentlie exasperated both against him and his and it was upon the resentment of this action that he made an oath never to pardon anie person of the blood or Alliance of Artaxus whom fortune should cause to fall into his hands and it was upon this knowledg and out of the fear of this choler that I obstinatelie resolved upon so long a disguise in Cilicia You know better than I what were the last successes of that war and how at last it was ended by Augustus's authoritie who by the terror of his power made these Kings who were cruellie bent to ruin each other to lay down their armes and forced them to peace when the weakness of them both might sufficientlie have disposed them to it if their hatred had not maintained the war rather than their forces 'T is true said Philadelph interrupting the Princesses discourse that the King my Father retired with so much grief and resentment against Artaxus for the death of Ariston and Theomedes his Nephews that to revenge himself of that cruelty there was no cruelty but he would have exercised and I believe if fortune had made you your self fall into his hands with this miraculous beauty and these divine graces which might have disarmed the rage of a hunger starved Tyger he would have made you to have felt the effects of his indignation without any respect Do not think it strange then if I was affraid of him replied Arsinoe and do me the favour to believe still that the consideration of my life was not the cause of my greatest fears and I had not used so much care for the preservation of it if I had not thought it due to my honour which in his indignation an implacable enemy might possibly have exposed to ignominy to take the more severe revenge upon Artaxus's his cruelty I should not possibly have had this fear of a man born of a Royal blood and of one that was your Father if it had not been confirmed in my Spirit by the knowledge he gave me of it as you shall understand in the sequels of my discourse You know that a little while after this forced peace Augustus sent to demand Ariobarzanes and my self to be brought up at Rome near him with diverse Kings children which were educated there in the same manner and were kept by Augustus near himself either to testifie his affection to their Parents or to have a greater assurance of their sidelitie by means of those hostages Artaxus knew not presentlie what to judge of it but he durst not disobey Augustus's will of which in all probability this was an obliging effect on his part and having communicated to us the