Byzantium without any hindrance Eurimedon was Lieutenant there for Alexander under Prince Lysimachus who was Vice roy of Thrace but he being absent with the King Eurimedon was absolute in Thrace and in the Bosporus Assoon as he heard of Arsacomes his arrivall he received him in a very obliging manner and by word of mouth confirm'd whatsoever he had promised to his messenger I was ever well log'd and Eurimedon having taken care to furnish me with other women I was serv'd as well as I could have desired if it had not been by enemies Arsacomes dayly imploy'd all his eloquence and all his cunning to work upon me he be thought himself of all the submissions whereby an exasperated mind could be appeased and made no difficulty of suffering any thing except the proposition of my return and of my liberty The impudent Astiages Sollicited me every day to favour him and perswaded me that in the condition I then was nothing could be of greater advantage to me than to marry Arsacomes he told me it was not my best course to drive a Prince into dispair who had power to do what he pleased himself and that a lover reduc'd to the last extremities was capable of doing any thing but I repulsed that perfidious man with such words as if he had had any shame in him would have serv'd his turn for ever Eurimedon himself at first spake for Arsacomes with a great deal of earnestness and strove to win me to an opinion that I should not be unfortunate with a Prince that adored me and in whose favour he offred me his protection against all Enemies whatsoever and part of Alexanders Forces against Arsaces and against the King my father if he disapprov'd my change He indeavovr'd also to comfort me in my sorrow by all manner of civility but when he found me inflexible and not to be comforted he ceased to trouble me any more I for a while believ'd that the compassion he had of my misfortune or the respect he had of my person had made him cooler towards Arsacomes and with that conceit I indur'd his company more willingly than before but within a little after I perceiv'd that alteration proceeded from another cause and by his looks and by all his actions I found that his own interests had made him forget those of Arsacomes In brief by an effect of my destiny either good or bad Eurimedon fell in love with me and I saw my self exposed by my cruell fortune to suffer the affection of a man of meaner birth and of meaner quality than Arsacomes He for some days spoke nothing to me of his passion but in ambiguous terms yet within a while after the power he saw he had made him grow insolent and not onely took away all the respect he had born to my quality but also the consideration he had of Arsacomes and the promise he had given him The first time he explain'd himself to me was after a discourse we had of my misfortunes and having quietly hearken'd to the complaints I made Madam said he you are not so unfortunate as you believe and if you were but of an humour to discern those persons that have an ambition to serve you from those that have offended you your miseries would not be of any long continuance These words into the meaning whereof I did not dive at first gave me some glimpse of hope and being desirous to keep the good will of a man who had power to oblige me Do not doubt Eurimedon said I but that I am as sensible of courtesies as I can be of injuries nor but that I would fully acknowledge those I should receive from virtuous persons If it be so replied he Eurimedon will be the happiest man in the world and you shall not be the most unfortunate Princess I know what I ow to Arsacomes and to the laws of hospitality but I also know what I ow to Berenice and to my self and though I should commit a fault that passion wherewith Arsacomes covers his may more reasonably excuse those of Eurimedon These words wherein there no longer was any ambiguity caused a disdain in me which I cannot express and if Eurimedon look'd then upon my face I am confident he saw it overspread with a colour that was not ordinary Go Eurimedon said I go declare your passion to others than the daughter of the King of Scythia and redouble not by your insolence the afflictions of a Princess whom you ought not to behold but with respect Though Eurimedon was dash'd at this Reply yet would he have spoken again but I gave him not the leisure for going away without so much as casting an Eye toward him I shut my self up into my Closset Imagine the complaints I made after this last effect of my misfortune and spare me the pains of repeating them 't was not without a very sensible discontent that I consider'd that new Conquest nor was it without a great many tears that I look'd upon the misery of my condition which forc'd me to receive declarations of love from a man of Eurimedon's birth Ah! Artaxerxes said I what an unworthy Rival has my hard fate procur'd thee and how much thou wouldst be asham'd if thou knew'st my misery to have a petty Lieutenant of a Province thy Competitour in affection thou to whom a hundred Provinces and ten thousand Subjects more considerable than this Rival ought to yield obedience This remembrance made Eurimedon more odious to me than Arsacomes and though according to the Rules of Prudence I ought perchance to have dissembled with him to get by his means out of the power of Arsacomes my fear of falling into worse hands than his opposed that subtilty or rather I had not command enough over my self to make my Resentments give way to that consideration I therefore avoided all discourse with Eurimedon as carefully as with Arsacomes yet for all I shunn'd him I could not keep him off but growing more inflam'd by that resistance he omitted nothing that could advantage his Design and having found me one day alone at my Closset-window whither he came to me so suddenly that I had not time to get away Madam said he it is in your own power to be at liberty and Sovereign in Byzantium and if you did not disdain my services and my person I would quickly revenge and free you from the tyranny of Arsacomes Although I hated Arsacomes as you well may judge I confess I abhorr'd the falseness of Eurimedon who voluntarily offred to betray a man that had trusted him with his life and with that which was dearest to him This knowledge made me hate him and depise him the more but thinking I should be unwise to neglect the means of recovering my liberty If you will serve Berenice said I as virtue obliges you to do the Gods will recompence so good an Action and the King my Father will neither want power nor will to acknowledge it I desire nothing
of the Combat and detesting such excessive odds cryed out Thy incivility shall not make me fail to doe what becomes me and since thou hast more valour then courtesie I for thee will hazard that life which thou wouldst have taken from me And at these words falling in with a marvellous readinesse among those that were newly come he laid two of them at his feet with the two first blowes he made and gave him that was dismounted leisure to leap upon one of their Horses and to come up to him which he did with a wonderful dexterity This Cavalier seeing himself relieved with so much generosity by a man whom he had used so ill at first admired his vertue but he became an Idolater of it when he saw him lay two more of his Enemies dead upon the ground and charge the rest with so marvellous a courage that he seemed not to have any need of his help to defeat them all but in conclusion having vigorously seconded him and he that accompanyed the Stranger being joyned to his Master they fought all three with so great valour and so good fortune that in a short time they forced those who could escape to seek their safety in the speed of their Horses They staid upon the place without pursuing them and the Stranger feeling his Horse fail by reason of some wound he had received forsook his back and leapt lightly to the ground which he whom he had relieved perceiving he alighted also from his and putting up the Beaver of his Helmet went to salute him with a civility very different from his first reception The Stranger was much taken with his graceful fashion and when he saw his face at a nearer distance observ'd something in it that was not utterly unknown to him so forgetting all manner of enmity he embraced him with a very great affection Generous Stranger said the other or rather the most vertuous of men if my life were dear to me I should be obliged to him that had preserved it but how great occasion soever I have to hate it and what designe soever I had to lose it I will forget both to satisfie my engagment and will no more dispose of a thing which you have so gloriously acquired and which I ought to employ onely for your service My love to your vertue ties me much more strongly then the obligation I have to you and the knowledge you have given me of it makes me hope for pardon of an incivility to which my just anger and despair transported me You will without doubt excuse it when you shall hear the cause and will judge you have not more obliged me by mine own safety then you have injur'd me in that of the Traitor Perdiccas The Stanger by this Discourse and by the name of Perdiccas judging of that persons quality repaid his civilities with interest and striving to recall the old Idea's which time had almost blotted out of his remembrance he shewed so much the desire he had to know him that the other marking his impatience I should be ingrateful said he If I should hide his name whose heart shall never be hidden from you I am the unfortunate Lysimachus and now more unfortunate then ever since I am constrained to prolong my miserable life to acquit my self of what I owe to you This name of Lysimachus did absolutely open the Strangers eyes and looking intentively upon him he no longer doubted but that he was the same whom he had seen appear with so much splendor in the Court of Alexander the Great he prais'd the Gods in his heart for the opportunity they had given him to serve so vertuous a person but not being willing to discover himself yet unto him he only replyed The name of Lysimachus is so famous as that of Alexander the Great is hardly more and one must never have heard speak of his life to be ignoranâ— of the wonders of yours I did not expect unto my self so glorious an event of this encounter and the satisfaction I receive thereby makes me forget the rest of my misfortunes Lysimachus answered so obliging words with all the kindness that can be used in a most perfect friendship whereof having made reciprocal promises and confirming their promises with an infinite number of protestations Lysimachus considered that Stranger with the same admiration he had done during the fight and truly his astonishment was not without a very just cause since the Gods had endowed him with all the most excellent parts that can render a person accomplished his face was marvellously handsome and through a beauty which had nothing of effeminate one might observe something so Martial so sparkling and so Majestick as might in all hearts make an impression of Love Fear and Respect at once his stature exceeded that of the tallest men but the proportion of it was wonderfully exact and all the motions of his body had a grace and liberty that was nothing common his age seemed to be then about six or seven and twenty the Sun-burn and toil of a long Journey had a little taken off the lustre of his former beauty and the length and negligence of his hair sufficiently testified the little care he had to preserve himself But this forgetfulnesse of a thing which the importance of his affairs and the accidents of his life had constrained him to despise hindred not Lysimachus from observing so fair remainders of beauty that he considered him as an extraordinary person and the union of so many excellent parts added to the obligation he had to him imprinted so true an affection in his heart as neither length of years nor the accidents which after happen'd to them were ever able to diminish All things contributed unto it they were alike in age the graceful behaviour of Lysimachus yeilded little to that of the Stranger and if an exceeding deep sadness had not something impaired it there would have been but little difference The Stranger who by common fame and by what he had seen of it himself was already well acquainted with his vertue discovering with more heedfulnesse as with more interest then before so many rare qualities in him conceived a very high esteem of his person and made no resistance against the powerful inclination which he felt take birth in him toward a man so considerable After their astonishment was past over and that they were come to themselves out of the extasie in which the merits of each other had mutually held them the Stranger beginning to speak If I feared not said he to Lysimachus that my curiosity might displease you I would ask the cause of that hatred which you shew you bear against Perdiccas since knowing the reputation of you both I never heard but that you lived in the Court of Alexander the Great with very good correspondence and I but now saw you so furiously exasperated against him that the knowledge I have of your moderation makes me judge so great an
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
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
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
spirits he said to Oroondates with a more settled countenance Great Prince the errour your disguise ha's made me live in causes in me as much trouble as the honour of seeing you in this place does joy for so unexpected a happinesse I have failed infinitlie in my behaviour toward you and if I were not assured of your goodnesse I should have no hope of pardon as you if I may say such a thing shall be a good while before you obtain it for an opinion that ha's mortally offended me Cruel Oroondates could you believe that the change of your condition and the hatred of our Families could change my affection to you and that Artaxerxes was so cowardlie to lay hold of such a base occasion to revenge himself of an Enemie from whom he ha's receiv'd both his life and libertie No no generous Prince Posteritie shall not blush for a crime the stain whereof would remain eternallie in the blood Royal of Persia and it shall never be reproach'd to me that the knowledge of Oroondates blotted out my remembrance of our Obligations to Orontes I lov'd you as Orontes but I will honour you as Oroondates and if the alteration of your qualitie allow me any remainder of your former libertie I will love you alwaies more then my self since it is impossible for me to live without your affection receive great Prince these new assurances I give you of mine and refuse me not the confirmation of those I have received from you If Statira who is too much honoured by your love have not the same inclinations and same sense of the pains you have taken for her I will disown her and declare my self her most most bitter enemie I hope nevertheless that the knowledge of your merits and of your birth added to the force of my perswasions will be able to do much with her against whom I take your part with so strong a passion that you shall soon perceive how dear your interests are to me All the recompence I pretend to by it is nothing but to change your discontented manner of life since I can take no pleasure in mine while you are so afflicted and that from henceforth you ought to relie upon my care in whatsoever shall concern you It is not possible for me to relate Oroondates joy and wonder his hope raising it self by such sweet promises he became quite changed in a moment and these testimonies of a friendship which was so dear and so advantageous to him produced very sudden and marvelous effects both in regard of the health of his body and of the quiet of his minde and indeed he so forgot his sickness to answer Artaxerxes freedom and engaged himself so far in protestations of service and friendship that he would not have given over of a long time if that Prince who forsook not the care of his health had not in a manner by force made him go to bed refusing to hear any more till he was there again When he had yeilded to his desires Artaxerxes sate down by his bed side and there being no body but I left in the Chamber he commanded me to recount to him my Masters adventures which till that day he was ignorant of My Prince notwithstanding all Artaxerxes endeavours to hinder him by reason of his feaver would needs make the recitall of them himself not thinking any body else was able to express the least part of his passion he took up the Story therefore from the beginning of his love not hiding from him the smallest particularities even to the Princesses last words which had caused his falling into the swoune the occasion whereof Artaxerxes till then was ignorant of and he related it so feelingly that the very remembrance of it would have put him into the same condition if the Prince who had hearkn'd to him without interruption had not comforted him with these words Though your distrust and obstinacy in concealing your self from the most faithfull Friend you ever had touches me very sensibly I will not call to minde that injury since you have forgotten greater and of more importance and without considering the offence I commit against him by whom I came into this world I will employ my endeavours for you with such care that they shall not be unprofitable Statira loves me exceedingly and you are exceeding lovely these two points make me hope for all manner of good fortune if yours depend only upon her since while I entreat her as your friend I will counsel her as her brother I assure my self she will hearken to us and I already believe she hates you not considering that besides the obligations for which she is indebted to you I dare sweare there are few Ladies in the Court that have not some inclination to you lose not this opinion for the words she spoke they are no signe of aversion and it were very strange if so unexpected an encounter with a discourse so unlook'd for from a man whom she ever thought her inferiour should not have extreamly surprised her you know the customs of her sex and especially of those of her quality consider them I beseech you and instead of casting your self into a despair unworthy of your courage recover your former health your former humour and expect all manner of satisfaction from your own merit and my assistance And do you reply'd Oroondates expect from me all that you ought to look for from a Prince whom you have drawn out of the grave and who will not with less passion embrace the occasions of sacrificing himself for you then he would that excess of happiness you promise him After these passages and some others Artaxerxes took leave of him to go labour for his contentment and to give him liberty to take a little rest I say rest since indeed he now began to taste some in such sweet hopes and that he forsook the desire of death upon which he had so firmly fixt his resolution though the disorder he had committed in rising that day had something moved him yet was not his feaver the more violent for it and within two hours after the Prince of Persia's departure the Physitians found less distemper in his pulse and more signes of recovery in his voice and countenance In the mean time Prince Artaxerxes giving the Gods thanks for their favour in affording him the means to requite part of his engagements to my Master resolv'd to lay hold of the occasion with so much care that he might never be accused of ingratitude and not being willing to delay it longer assoon as he was out of my Masters Chamber he went as I have learn'd since from Oroondates to Princess Statira's Lodging He found her without any other company but her maids and not desiring witnesses of what he had to say he pray'd her to go into her Closset When they were there together and had shut the dore the Prince making her sit down by him after he had a while
made him not only forget the nearest engagements of kindred but also what he owed unto himself and to the consideration of Statira from whom he could not absent himself without most violent sorrows But she poor Princesse was not to be comforted for seeing the two persons that were dearer to her then the whole world ready to depart from her to expose themselves to howerly dangers she had not strength of minde enough to dissemble her affliction In the mean time the besieged pressing the King to send them relief He commanded Artabasus to march away with the body of the Army but the Princes who needed not to move so slowly staid some days behind him to take their leaves they made almost all their visits together and especially that to Roxana to whom my Master would not pay that ceremonie alone least he should afford her an occasion and conveniencie to prosecute what she had begun She was very sensibly troubled to finde how industriously he shun'd what she desired and expressed so much grief to him at that separation that he could not hinder himself from bearing part of it The night before they went away after having taken their leave of the Queens and the Princesse Parisatis they went to Princess Statira's lodgings whom they found in her Closset so extraordinarily grieved that they despair'd of comforting her yet did they their endeavours though she gave but little eare unto them and presaging some sinister accident by her tears they were forced to shed some with her both to give their sorrows vent and to bear her company in her affliction Artaxerxes to oblige my Master went out of the Closset and going into the Chamber pass'd the time with his sisters women while Oroondates kneeling upon a cushion which was at his Princesses feet and taking her fair hands whereon he passionatly imprinted many lasting kisses Madam said he you would do me wrong if you were not most assured that your griefs are at least as sensible to me as to your self but if in the unhappiness which separates me from you I might yet hope for any good fortune O Gods how infinit a one it would be to me if I could pretend to any share in the tears I see you shed and if the departure of a brother whom next to you I love above all the world were not the sole occasion of them You were ungratefull answered the Princess if you should any way doubt of my friendship after the proofs I have given you of it and but dim-sighted if you did not perceive that your going away does very sensibly afflict me 't is true I love Artaxerxes better then my self but my affection to Oroondates does not at all give place to that I bear to him the tears I shed at your departure are indeed for both but if they can suffer a difference without injuring my kindnesse to my brother you may make a judgement of them to your advantage and draw comfort from it in our common affliction if you can take any in so small a matter But is it possible reply'd Oroondates that this disturbance your quietness receives from those so near me should not in some sort alter your first intentions and dispence with you for the promise you made to the Prince your brother No Madam I see your noble soul ha's more regard to a most sacred affection then to the troubles our enemies are preparing for us I say our enemies since I will never acknowledge them but for such and that the consideration of blood is too weak a thing to oppose a passion like this of mine This excesse of goodnesse would win my heart extreamly if it could be more yours then it is already but if I can yet obtain any thing more of you give some respit to those tears that kill me and make me not die by your sorrow since mine own is enough of it self to take away my life and that the cruel separation I am constrain'd to resolve upon puts me rather in a condition to beg comfort from you then to give you any all which I can receive consists in the hope I have this absence will never be able to do any thing to my prejudice and that you will preserve some remembrance of him who adores you with all the Zeal the Gods themselves can desire from you Dear Princess may I keep this belief without presumption true it is if I consider you and then cast mine eys upon my self this hope is strangled in it's very birth and turns to a fear that some more worthy person Cruel Oroondates said she interrupting him the grief I feel already should have been sufficient to content you without giving it any new encrease by your disobliging suspicions your own thoughts must needs tell you these jealousies are but feigned and yet the afflictions they cause in me are real Ah! Orontes or rather now Oroondates how much more reason have I to fear that absence will wipe these light Idea's out of your memory and make you repent the pains you have taken for one whom you had only seen by night and in a sudden passage and in whom since time and long frequentation have made you observe defects which that darkness had concealed from you There is so little probabilitie in that answered he coldly that I will not make you any new protestations to put you out of an opinion which I am confident you are very far from believing and then having paused a while Well Madam continued he since your fair mouth assures me of a happiness which I never ought to have hoped for I beseech the Gods to keep you still in the same minde and that they would never open your eyes to let you finde how little I deserve so great a blessing And I added the Princess beseech them to preserve you from all dangers and command you with all the power I have not to hazard that but to very good purpose which is no longer yours unless you will revoke the gift you have made me of it and if you love my life have so much care of yours that you may be able to give me an account of it when I please Nothing engages you to rush headlong into dangers and though your friendship to my brother and that you bear to me have perswaded you to take our party you have no animositie that can incite you to seek your ruine in that of your own Nation I have vowed you so much obedience repli'd he that I will never erre from your commands and will preserve my self in hope to see you again with as great a desire as I would have forborn this voyage if mine honour and the departure of Artaxerxes whom I neither can nor ought to leave could have suffered me But O Gods pursu'd he kissing her hand again with incredible extasies What do not I ow to the care you have of fortunate Orontes and what can he do to acknowledge the smallest part of it Keep what
he ha's promis'd me repli'd the Princess and in his disobedience foresee the utter ruine of his happiness if so be he ground it upon Statira's friendship But alas continued she weeping and raising her voice a little I know not what it is that my sadness presages and though I strive to put it off because I see you participate in it yet can I not overcome my self so far as to forbear it At these words Artaxerxes being come in again and seeing her all in tears Sister said he you should be ashamed to show so little courage to them whom your grief touches infinitely what could you doe more if you saw one of us carried in a Coffin to receive the last duties of affection from you Ah! cruel Brother cryed Statira with what do you threaten me and with what unfortunate presages doe you redouble my sorrows will you not pardon these small testimonies of them to the friendship I bear you and to that you have given birth to I am very much obliged to you for both replyed the Prince but I should be glad to see you bear this parting with more moderation so excessive a sadnesse besides that it encreases ours may make it be believ'd that in this separation you lament more then a Brother not but that the proofs of affection you give my Oroondates are as pleasing to me as to himself but dear sister these tears were more excusable if you were depriv'd of all hope to see him again and if they were not prejudicial to what we have hitherto so carefully concealed Well then answered she I will endeavor to bear what it is impossible for me to shun but however Oroondates I recommend Artaxerxes to you and you brother have a care of Oroondates since you have commanded me to love him After this Discourse and many others seeing the day draw near they took their last leave of her when she had given my Master a bracelet of her hair which she tied about his arm and which he wore there a long time after notwithstanding all the accidents that happen'd to him At break of day they went to receive the Kings commands who embraced them a thousand times and could not let them depart without much trouble then getting on horseback wee marched after the track of the Army which wee overtook within three days During the whole Voiage they were inseparable yet Prince Artaxerxes who undertook it against his will was commonly so sad that hee had but very little of his good humour left and Oroondates considering to what extremities his passion had carried him and against what enemies he had taken arms was sometimes little lesse then desperate but the remembrance of Statira coming again into his mind blotted out all these considerations and overwhelm'd all his griefs in those which her absence caused in him The Reasons I have already alledged will hinder me from entertaining you with the particulars of this Expedition and from drawing out a War in length which was quickly brought to a conclusion I will content my self with telling you that the Inhabitants of Selena being advertised of our coming to relieve them armed themselves with a valiant resolution and defended themselves so stoutly that they gave us as much time as was necessary for us to come up to their Relief and it was very lucky that that Siege amused so potent an Army which without that obstacle would doubtlesly have much indamaged Persia In the mean time we advanced with great diligence and being within a days march of Selena a Councel of War was call'd and there was a long debate what resolution should be taken but in the end the general opinion was that they should attempt to raise the Siege though with the hazard of a Battel which they thought they might the better venture since the courage of their Soldiers was not yet abated but that with loud cryes they still call'd to be led on straight unto the Enemy Artabasus encouraged by their eagernesse and perswaded by the advice of all the Commanders prepared his Forces for that bloody day and dividing the Army into three Bodies hee gave the Van to his Brother Tiribasus a very valiant man and one who by the long exercise of arms was grown to great experience He left the Rere-guard to Narbazanes and kept the Battel for himself having besides these three given his son Hydaspes the command of five hundred Chariots of War arm'd with sharp Sithes and fill'd with Median Archers who that day did much mischief to the Enemy and to Prince Artaxerxes four thousand horse which being loose from the rest of the Army were to succour those that should have most need of it this was all the imployment he would take though Artabasus with much submission offered to resign what he thought due to his birth and courage Oroondates who desired to bee free from care and to be as little faulty as was possible for him refused all command and placed himself with the Prince that he might fight near his person This order having been taken in our Camp we advanced into a great Plain some thirty or forty Furlongs from Selena free from all kind of Trees and very proper for a place of Battel The Enemy advertised of our coming was already incamped and expected us in very good order for this praise must be given to King Matheus that there are few Princes in the world but must yeild to him in experience and conduct Night being near when we came thither Artabasus gave it wholly to the Army to take their rest and to prepare for the day that was to follow and in the mean time we incamped within sight of the Scythians whose fires we discovered in great abundance but not being ignorant of their custome we set forth strong out-guards that wee might not bee surprised and pass'd almost the whole night in arms Assoon as day appear'd and that the two Armies faced one another they cast forth terrible shouts which witnessing their marvellous desire to fight joyed the Commanders with the hope of Victory yet Artabasus having adored the Sun and causing sacrifices to be made through the whole Camp himself viewed most part of the beasts that were offered whose intrails were all found defective either in the liver or the heart and the fire they were burnt with look'd all blewish accompanied with a black thick smoak and which instead of rising up straight to heaven spread it self in great Clouds through the whole Army Some Victims having received the stroak escaped out of the Priests hands and ran through the Camp with horrible roarings which was the cause of a very great disorder Besides these unlucky Omens which Artabasus and the other Commanders understood very well and which not to strike a terrour into the Soldier they yet feigned not to take any notice of the day was so extraordinarily dark that we had much adoe to see one another and seemed all ready to have put on mourning for
his ambition and who on the contrarie have made me linger out my miserable youth in love in irons in unknown Countries without name without glorie and without fortune though you had given me both as eminent a qualitie as his as high a spirit and perhaps a Soul capable of as great designes If you abhorr'd her for being lov'd by me whom you have ever frowned on why did you not at least protect her for being so dear to that great man upon whom you showred down all your Favours Was it so great a crime in Princess Statira to have bin lov'd by Oroondates that the glorie of having maried Alexander could not blot it out Were you not satisfied with having tormented afflicted and persecuted me from my childhood by the violence of my passion by the death of my dear Artaxerxes by long and insupportable absences by the captivitie of my Princesse by an infinite number of wounds by long imprisonments by the losse of Darius and his Empires by the marriage of Statira by her anger by the persecutions of Roxana by my banishment by such toilsome and dangerous voiages and briefly by so manie hazards by so manie pains and by so manie crosses as the courage of your Alexander would infallibly have fainted under unlesse with my life you also rob'd me in the verie haven of that Prize which I was upon the point of receiving and which I had so gloriouslie deserv'd Blind Divinities by what offences have I drawn your hatred so visibly upon me He spoke many other things of this nature till at last with tormenting himself so extreamly his senses were a little dull'd which made him fall into a slumber burying the thoughts that afflicted him in some repose But she that was eternally in his imagination while awake appeared to him likewise in his sleep and having entertain'd himself with her the rest of the night at break of day he verily thought he heard her voice at his beds head which having often pronounc'd his name went on saying Ah! 't is hee Orontes my dear Orontes These words which he did effectually believe he heard waken'd him in a start and drawing the Curtain of his Bed which was a little open he fancied that he saw in his Chamber the very face of his dear Statira This belief having marvelously surpris'd him made him cast forth a loud cry and thrusting his head out of bed to see her more distinctly her image suddenly vanish'd from his eyes The poor Prince troubled with this vision and not being able to distinguish whether the force of his imagination had represented a shape unto his fancy which had not appear'd indeed or whether the Ghost of his dear Princess had really presented it self unto his sight remained in a strange perplexity but the last perswasion being the stronger he absolutely believ'd that Statira came either to comfort him in his affliction or to animate him by her presence to the vengeance she desired of him In this conceit he cry'd out Whether flie you fair Princesse whether flie you vanish not so soon from him that dies for you dead as you are you appear no lesse charming to me then when you were alive and I ought not to be more hatefull to you now then when I was your dear Orontes He had said more but that he saw Lysimachus enter who coming to his bed side to bid him good morrow and seeing him all in a cold sweat asked him the cause of that distemper The Prince extreamly moved and crossing his arms upon his breast said to him with a very deep sigh Ah! Lysimachus what have I seen Ah! what have I seen Lysimachus and stopping at those few words appear'd so much amazed that Lysimachus his desire encreased to learn what was the cause of it and having conjur'd him to tell him Why do we delay Lysimachus reply'd the Prince why do we longer defer this revenge to which we have obliged our selves Our Princesses come to summon us to it themselves and at the verie moment you came in Statira vanished from my eyes my eyes my own eyes have seen her without illusion and my ears heard that same voice which while she liv'd was wont to pronounce my Oracles I tell you seriously and in my right senses I saw her fairer taller and more animal then ever and though I saw her but as a flash of lightning yet had I no difficultie to know the features which I have so deeply engraven in my heart Lysimachus at this discourse joyning his hands together and shrinking up his shoulders Great Gods said he since you have bin pleas'd our destinies should be link'd together never separate them but give an end quickly to these miseries which have lasted too long already I do not doubt at all continued he turning toward the Prince of the truth of what you say since I my self had just such another adventure for passing through a long Entry near this Chamber the Ghost of the Princess Parisatis appeared to me she had her very fashion and her very countenance I would have cast my self at her feet but she vanished away so suddenly that were it not for what you tell me hapned to you also I should beleive my fancy abused me and that I had only seen in imagination what I indeed saw really and without deceit Oroondates hearing Lysimachus his confidence Let 's doubt no more on 't Lysimachus said he Let 's doubt no more on 't Our Princesses did without question come to visit us to comfort us and to sollicite us to that revenge which we have promised them perchance they likewise demand the last duties of us and that their fair bodies which have yet had no other Tomb but a heap of stones expect Funeral honours from us more suitable to their qualitie that 's it which makes their spirits wander still amongst us and makes the churlish Ferriman denie them passage as long as they are deprived of the Rites of Burial Come Lysimachus let 's go make them a gallant Monument of the ruins of Babylon and appease their Ghosts by the Sacrifices we owe unto them we know the obligations they require let 's go and offer them and mingle our own innocent blood with that of those barbarous people that ravish'd them from us Lysimachus answer'd him coldly Assoon as you are in a better condition to execute your just resolutions I 'll bear you company in all things and will instruct you in what estate are the affairs of Perdiccas Roxana and of all the successors of Alexander In the mean time I will employ this day in some particular sacrifices and in visiting a Temple of Apollo which is but a little distant from this house there I may pay some part of what we owe to the memory of our Princesses and there I may consult the pleasure of the Gods both for you and for my self our fortunes being so chain'd together that we have need but of one Oracle for us both At my
him what do the Gods ordain us They have explain'd themselves very ill answered Lysimachus for their will is exceeding difficult to be understood I know not whither you will be a better interpreter then I and whither you can penetrate into the meaning of the most obscure Oracle that ever was At these words after having recounted his Journey and his Encounter with the Stranger he told him the words of the Oracle which he had most carefully remembred Oroondates considered a while what explication might be given them and after he had mused a little I know not said hee what obscurity you finde in it but me thinks there was never a clearer one pronounced and that the Gods never discovered their wills more openly nor more intelligibly Let the dead says the Oracle wait for the duties of the living These words are all expounded of themselves the sense without question is that those fair souls expect the last duties from us and that the Gods reproach us for our slacknesse and delay And let the living hope for the assistance of the dead There is no doubt but that in what we have yet to doe for the satisfaction of those dear spirits their assistance is necessary for us and if wee bee weak against such powerful enemies the remembrance of those we lov'd will infallibly redouble our Forces This is that they come to offer us and is certainly the cause of the Visions we saw this morning It is by this assistance that the dead shall build the fortunes of the living and the living shall establish the râ—pose of the dead All our fortune from henceforth consists in the death we seek and the revenge we hope for and by this revenge and by the duties of burial we shall establish the repose of these poor spirits which wander yet about while their bodies are deprived of Funeral rites In the mean time I will have the living live and the dead rest and both the living and the dead expect my pleasure upon the banks of Euphrates I see more impossibility in the execution of this command then difficulty in the interpretation of it If the Gods will have me to live they must restore me my Princess as for the dead they may easily rest and expect their pleasure either upon the Banks of Euphrates or those of Cocytus and see deare Lysimacbus how these poor souls obey them and how though devested of their bodies they dare not forsake this place carefully rendring to the Divinity that duty which it yet exacteth from them Lysimachus confirm'd him in this belief and after some discourse they had upon that subject he told him the several encounters he had in the Wood. He repeated part of the words which with the name of Cassandra were ingraven upon the Trees and upon the Rock and then he related the conference of the two persons whom he had not been able to hinder from their evil design They detested their wickednesse together and Lysimachus seeing it was very late wish'd good rest to Oroondates and retired into his Chamber where after having eaten moderately he went to bed passing the rest of the night as he was accustomed to doe The next morning Araxes came to give him the good morrow and Lysimachus after having enquired how his Master did I fear he is yet so ill added he that I shall not dare to beg the Continuation of that Recital from him which you began to mee such a long-winded Discourse would doe him a great deal of harm but if you have still the same desire to oblige me you have expressed I beseech you to go on with it and to tell me the rest of a life which is more dear to me and more considerable then mine own Araxes expected not to be more intreated but sittting down in a chair which was near his bed after having thought a little what he had to say he began to pursue his Relation on this manner THE CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF OROONDATES AND STATIRA IF you were touch'd by the beginning of my Discourse I doubt not but you will be so much more by that which yet remains to be told you we are now going to launch into the open sea and you will judge by the rest of this recital that the small misfortunes wherewith my Master had hitherto been assaulted were but the Lightnings of that Thunder which threatned him and the mists which fore-ran that storm which was to fall upon his head You might spare mee part of the things I have to tell you since without doubt you know them already but I will passe them sleightly over and will tell those more at length which are unknown to you Assoon as my Prince with the death of valiant Memnon and the other ill newes told you had heard also of the diligence the two Kings us'd to meet that they might decide the Empire of Asia by a second battel he was much afraid he should not bee present at that memorable day and shewed his impatience so much by straining his horses and making them travel such long Journeys that he kill'd them within a few days but having gotten others for money and others again after them wee hasted on with so much speed resting almost neither night nor day that vve came up to Darius his Army the Evening befor that Bloudy battel of Issus My Master neverthelesse resolv'd not to make himself known till after the fight and to doe Darius such service first as might make his Discovery more dear and welcome to him We arrived in a great Plain near the River Pindarus time enough to see the Army passe by in Battalia and because their order in marching appear'd to me extraordinary and magnificent I observed it very heedfully and vvill tell it you in a few vvords if you have not heard it already from some body else Darius his Army was composed of the most part of those several Nations that vvere under his subjection at least of those that vvere nearest to him for the more remote as the Arrachosians Zogdians and Indians vvere not summoned because of the haste vvherewith the King rais'd his Forces in that pressing necessity Of natural Persians he had thirty thousand horse and threescore and ten thousand foot all proper handsome men gallantly mounted and richly armed The Medes had brought ten thousand horse and fifty thousand foot The Bactrians two thousand horse arm'd vvith Battleaxes and little light bucklers and ten thousand foot arm'd in the same manner The Armenians forty thousand foot followed by seven thousand Hircanian horse the bravest of the vvhole Army The Dervices a barbarous people subject also to the King of Persia had no more then two thousand horse but forty thousand foot the greatest part whereof by reason of the scarcity of Iron in their Country were arm'd onely with Pikes and Javelins all of wood having harden'd the points of them in the fire From the Caspian Sea and other Provinces of Asia there were
me fickle enough to yeild to any of those considerations you esteem me but little and by consequence cannot love me much if it be true that perfect love is grounded upon the esteem of the person beloved I love you Oroondates both because you deserve it very well and because I believe you love me and my affection cannot cease so long as those two causes continue and though they should both fail I know not whether I should have reason enough left to wean my self from it Fear not Alexander therefore any longer since neither that fortune nor that merit which you alledg no nor the power he hath over me will ever be able to shake the resolution I have taken and the promise I make to be never but yours unlesse you change your humour first and unlesse you repent your having lov'd a Captive the Daughter of a Prince dispossessed of his Estates and one who hath nothing of her former quality left except her courage My Prince ravish'd with the beginning and deeply touch'd with the end of her discourse Ah! Madam said he do not accuse me of a baseness which I never can be guilty of he that feared not the difficulties that opposed his first designe of serving you will never consider the changes of fortune and if for mine own Interest I might have been permitted to make prayers that were prejudicial to you I should always have wish'd that the Gods had made you be born without that greatness which I would have rais'd you to that I might not have obliged you to abase your self to me nor to believe that the height of your quality gave the least increase to a passion which I conceiv'd for your person alone but since that notwithstanding you are all divine you yet vouchsafe to stoop so low as to me and that this great disproportion hinders you not from giving me such lofty hopes the Gods are my witnesses that I envy not their condition and that I would not change my fortune with Alexander no nor with the Gods themselves Besides these discourses they had many others whose length keeps me from repeating them and when they were fully satisfied by the mutual assurances they gave of an eternal affection they thought it time to returne unto the Queens So they went out of the Arbour where they were and having call'd us joyn'd company with them again in one of the Alleys and continued with them till they departed After that day they pass'd many others in the same tranquility and my Master for that time was so satisfied with the condition of his love that it almost made him forget that of Darius his affairs and of his Princesses Captivity but within a very little after that calm of Fortune was something troubled and it was by the arrivall of the Ladies that had been taken at Damascus who being brought to Sidon were put among the rest My Prince was glad indeed at the coming of Barsina and in shew for that of Roxana and that Princess to whom then both the true affection and true quality of Oroondates were no longer unknown for some days forbore her importunities but she fell into them again a while after in such a manner that she made him lose much of the good will and esteem he had for her yet did he conceal her love with so much care as well to follow the incitements of his own vertue which obliged him to hide the faults of a person who committed them only for his sake as because he knew her wit was able to cross him in his affection and percance utterly to ruin it if he should absolutely have offended her In the mean time Alexander fell in love with Barsina and as you know that new passion made him see the Ladies often whom before he visited not at all through an affected continence which many times had made him say that the Persian Ladies troubled the eyesight One day when they were in our Garden and my Prince with them in his ordinary entertainment the desire of seeing Barsina brought him thither your self was with him and Hephestion Perdiccas Leonatus and divers others Assoon as ever my Prince saw him come in he slunk away from the Ladies and retired into a corner of the Garden where he feign'd to busie himself in a Trade wherein he was not very skilfull not giving over that imployment of all the time the King continued in the Garden and every time he took the like walks he hid himself so carefully that he suspected not any body could observe him In all other occasions we kept our selves exactly upon our guards but within a few days after we had a terrible fright whereof you know the cause well enough though I believe not the effect it wrought in us We were with Abdolominus in his house two or three days after the King had been there when we saw a great number of his Guards come in and a man at the head of them who seem'd their Captain I began presently to tremble but my fear was infinitly increased when Abdolominus advancing toward them and asking them the cause that brought them thither he that was the chief of them made answer we come to seek for a Prince that lies hid here disguised in a habit nothing suitable to his quality he must come before Alexander to whom he is not unknown and receive from so just a King the recompence that is due to him Judge Sir of my Masters astonishment then it was that he thought himself absolutely lost and no longer doubting but that some of Alexanders attendants had discovered him in the Garden his minde was pestered with severall thoughts suitable to the condition in which he was but he was quickly eased of his apprehension by the same man who had already spoken and who addressing himself still to Abdolominus Prince Abdolominus said he be not struck with wonder but come and receive from Alexander the Crown of your Countrey your vertue cannot continue longer hid and great Hephestion to whom the King ha's left the desposing of it chuses you among all the Sydonians to command a people that gives an universal testimony of your wisdom and integrity Leave off therefore these clothes unworthy of your present condition and putting on those that are appointed for you come and give thanks to Alexander and Hephestion for the present which they make you and for the esteem they have of your merit Our astonishment was dissipated by these words but that of Abdolominus was such as you may imagin he could not believe of a long time but that they mocked him and when he saw them persevere he received that change of his condition as a misfortune sent him from heaven and behaved himself before them and before Alexander as you know and as all Asia to whom this Story is so well know ha's highly published Lysimachus interrupting Araxes at these words I was with Alexander said he when he was brought before him
and the King after having considered him awhile Let us hear said he since we destine thee to a Crown in what manner thou hast supported thy poverty I beseech the Gods reply'd Abdolominus without being moved that I may support the Crown with the very same mind This answer pleased the King so much and he found it so conformable to the relation he had heard of him that he confirmed Hepestions choice and added to the Territories which Stato was wont to possess some other neighbouring Provinces of which that good man remained peaceable King with a general approbation My Prince reply'd Araxes was extream glad of his good fortune and prais'd the Gods for a success so marvelous and so full of Justice This new King expressed great kindness to us and made us many advantageous offers favouring us in our designe as much as he could possibly but within a few days after Alexander resolv'd to remove from Sydon to go unto the siege of Tyre My Prince was much troubled at that resolution which put him besides all his conveniencies and reduced him to a necessity of seeking new intentions to see his Princess The day before they were to go away he consulted a long time with the Queens and their last conclusion was to make use of Barsina's friendship and of the power she had over Alexander to obtain from him that during the Siege of Tyre he would leave them in that Town which was but a small days Journeys from thence Barsina was glad of that occasion to serve them and to free her self from the discommodities of the Army and that very Evening being visited by the King she so well represented to him how the tendernesse of the Queens and Princesses and her own likewise was such that they were not able to endure the want of accommodation which they must suffer necessarily in that Siege besides how the unwholesomeness of the aire it being a Sea-Town might prejudice their healths especially that of Darius his Queen who was not very well already and of Sisigambis whose constitution was weakned with years that the King who truly loved her and who likewise considered how their being there would incommode his Army granted all she desired and gave them all permission to remain at Sidon during the Siege leaving a strong party there to guard them The joy of the Princesses was incredible at this news but my Masters was far greater seeing his happinesse continue when hee expected nothing but the end of it Alexander departed on this manner and Oroondates remain'd in his former satisfaction and to compleat his good fortune the Ladies having desired to lodge at Abdolominus his house that they might with more liberty make use of the Garden it was willingly granted them by Nicanor and Seleucus in whose custody they were left Thus my Master who under the habit that disguised him had free entrance thither was for the most part with them and then he was in an high degree of contentment the proofs he daily receiv'd of Statira's affection having rais'd him to such a point of felicity that except the liberty of his Princess and the satisfaction of Darius he had nothing more to wish for true it is that hee often blush'd for shame to see himself idle and obscured in a habit so unworthy of his birth while all Asia was in arms and considering himself in that estate Araxes said he often to me art thou not sorry for my miserable condition and for that hard necessity which forces me to act a part so contrary to my courage and to the beginnings of my life must I remain with my arms acrosse and languish under this mean apparel using nothing but a pruning hook while Alexander sweats under his Curasse and wins Empires with the edge of his Sword O Gods what a shame or rather what an unjust constraint is this and yet Araxes pursued he it is impossible for me to conquer it and these considerations of mine honour cannot draw me from a place where those of mine affection have tyed me fast He often made these reflexions and was most sensibly afflicted with them all his designs were for the liberty of the Ladies but though he attempted many not any of them could be effected and they were so carefully guarded that he lost all hope of delivering them any other way then by Darius his getting some Victory or by the generosity of Alexander In that time he was exceedingly persecuted by Roxana and that Princess not being taken off by the little success she saw in her love press'd him with so much obstinacy that in the end she forced him to an aversion true it is that she brought him to it by a thousand malicious tricks and by as many little inventions she strove to make some breach between him and his Princess and yet though he thereby felt most killing discontents his discretion was always such that he would never discover the cause of them and that at the price of his own repose he preserved a consideration of her which afterward proved very hurtful to him He often saw the fair Barsina and lived with her in a modest liberty having found so much vertue in that Lady and so much freedome to him that he thought himself obliged to honour the one and to acknowledg the other by all manner of proofs of his good will It was upon these foundations that Roxana built her treachery she first cunningly and without seeming to have any design made the Princess take notice of their familiarity she made her observe the care he took to entertain her particularly their kind looking at one another and that confidence which they had not in others and bethought her self of so many little subtilties all grounded upon some probability that in the end she made some impression in Statira's minde and began to perswade her that she who at first sight had captivated the heart of Alexander the Great might by a long frequentation have gain'd something upon that of Oroondates To these thoughts she added the remembrance of the Journey he had made to Damascus whither he had been careful to retire to no other purpose but to see Barsina and from whence he would not have stirr'd if he had not been forced having been carried to Alexanders Camp with her and having staid there only for her consideration All these things which malicious Roxana blew into Statira's ears whensoever she found opportunities began to move her and touch'd her in the end so sensibly that the grief of her soul appeared quickly in her face she receiv'd my Prince more coldly then she was wont and by little and little grew to live with him in such a way that not knowing what to impute that change unto he was even ready to die with excesse of sorrow and desiring to finde what it was assoon as might be he laid hold of the first occasion that offered it self nor was it hard for him to find one for the
of my affection be taken notice of nor did I let passe any occasion to set before her eyes the greatnesse and purity of my zeal with all the respect and discretion she desired The King who already was passionately taken with the Princesse Statira gave her many testimonies of his love and which was more hurtful and more insupportable to me having perceiv'd that of Hephestion to Parisatis he swell'd his courage by the assistances he promised him and gave him the boldnesse to serve her openly These difficulties did not dishearten me but fortifying my self against the obstacles I foresaw I resolv'd not to abandon so glorious a design but with my life In the mean time the King departed from Memphis to visit the Temple of Jupiter Hammon and not being willing to take the Princesses along in so painful and so dangerous a Voyage left them at Memphis under the guard of part of his Forces My duty and my honour obliged mee to wait upon him and carried it against my inclination which made all places hateful to me where my Princesse was not Hephestion who stirr'd not from the Kings person went the Voiage also which was no small consolation to me Before our departure having watch'd my opportunity when my rival was with the King and that the Princesses were in the Gardens near their Lodging I found means to addresse my self to Parisatis who was in an Alley with Apamia Arsinoe and some of her maids having given her my hand to help her in her Walk the Gentleman Usher that led her withdrew and yeilding me that honour left me the liberty to entertain her when we were far enough from the other Ladies not to be overheard and that I saw them busied in a particular conversation I took occasion to speak unto my Princesse Madam said J it is not to trouble you with the remembrance of a passion which you disapprove nor to call into your minde a fault which you have condemned that I open my mouth yet once again before you but it is to protest to you at this rigorous departure that in being separated from you I am really separated from my self and that the most sensible grief I feel is that absence will deprive me of the occasions of doing you some small service not but that you have imprinted a great deal of respect in the souls of those that stay behind with you but the duties of a person tyed by a most powerful inclination are very different from those which are paid onely to your quality and to your merit and moreover which way soever they serve you I shall envy their happinesse so much that the remembrance of their good fortune will most sensibly aggravate the discontents of this tedious and cruel Voiage to which I see my self condemned I doe not represent my sufferings to you to oblige you to an affection which with justice I can never hope for but to draw from your goodnesse some mark of compassion for this glorious unfortunate man who without murmuring endures the gallantest and the most cruel of all torments The Princess seeing I held my peace at these words replyed I should be very ingrateful Lysimachus if I did not acknowledge my self obliged to the good will you express to me with so much discretion and respect but I should also be a dissemblet if J could hide the trouble you cause in me by your perseverance in a design which J opposed in its birth not through any aversion or undervaluing of your person but through the knowledge of the difficulties you would meet withal in my humour and of those which the Heavens do so many ways produce against your intentions J know your birth is illustrious and J have eyes as well as others to discern the advantages of your person This consideration hath indeed given me all the esteem you can with reason desire from a Princess who knows you and is obliged to you but J am not thereby exempted from what J owe to my own quality and to those persons to whom my birth hath submitted me it is from them alone J will receive thoughts beyond that esteem I have of you and if you should see me engaged to it for some other body accuse only my obedience and not an inclination which shall never declare it self in favour of another rather then of Lysimachus J doe not think you have any reason to complain of a confession I make to you with a great deal of freedome neither do J believe that without a designe to offend me you can desire any more She blush'd at these words as ashamed to have favoured me so much and though being well explain'd J found very little change in my condition J received them as a most advantageous obligation and not being in a place where J could cast my self at her feet to give her thanks for it J bowed down with much respect and answered I never hoped Madam that my fortune should attain that pitch you have rais'd it to and having adored as soon as lov'd you I always believ'd that for the accomplishment of my glory and happinesse it was sufficient my vows and adorations were not unpleasing to you without pretending to any acknowledgement which I could not aspire to without much presumption I see too well the obstacles that oppose my more perfect felicity and I will expect from Heaven and from your self both the alteration of our fortunes and what you shall ordain concerning my life In the mean time Madam be pleas'd that at this rigorous departure I may for my consolation make use of that hope you give me and that to save me from despair I may believe that Hephestion not being more zealous nor more passionate shall neither be more happy then Lysimachus J ended these words with some fear of having displeased her but that Princesse who had no weaknesse at all in her minde was but little moved at them and having staid a while before shee made answer Lysimachus said shee I pardon this liberty for the same cause that made me pardon the others you have taken and I not only excuse it but to let you see I am not cruel I will also confirm the promise I have made you It is true I suffer Hephestion both for his merit and by the command of the Queens and because it is from their will only next to that of Darius that I will receive the rule of my whole life but be certain that if my inclination alone can establish the happiness of both Hephestion by it shall never have advantage over you I was going to reply and it was likely our conversation would have lasted longer if the King had not come into the Garden and with him Hephestion Perdiccas Seleucus Antigonus and many others who interrupted us The King drew near to the Princess Statira and Hephestion coming up to Parisatis took that hand which hee found free and being an obstacle to me all the rest of the day had
misfortune that they almost lost hope of ever setling me while J liv'd Jt would be hard for me to tell you Ptolomeus his kindnesses and the proofes I receiv'd of his affection after the time that he had been set at liberty he might have marryed Apamia for he had her consent as likewise Artabasus and the Kings and if he had pleas'd his marriage might have been celebrated with the Kings Hephestions and many other Lords who matchd themselves with the Persian Ladies but he was not able to resolve upon actions of rejoycing while I was in danger and captivity and therefore would needs defer his happynesse till the alteration of my fortune Arsinoe had kept her sister company and had retarded her wedding with Eumenes out of the same consideration I gave Ptolomeus thankes for that last testimony of his freindship as well as J was able in a condition which made me incapable of all things Before J went out of Prison J learn'd from him more at large that after my victory over the Lyon the Queen and the two Princesses her daughters had been upon their knees to the King to begge my pardon that Parisatis made Statira employ all the power shee had with him and that shee her selfe had made Hephestion despaire of possessing her otherwise then by my safety and liberty That Hephestion either set on by that consideration or by his own generosity nobly embraced that occasion of serving them and that wounded as he was he waited upon them to the King and fell down with them at his feet and never stird from thence till he had obtaind that J should be set at liberty and restored to the same favour I was in before my disgrace That the King granted them their request with this reservation that J should continue in prison till his marriage and Hephestions were accomplished fearing least I should trouble their weddings by some new folly That after this assurance of my life order was given J should be better used then before but that my keepers were forbidden upon pain of death to tell me any thing that passed at Court or to let in any body who could give me the least notice of it that this was the cause why I was ignorant of those fatall mariages which were celebrated with much pompe and magnificence presently after Hephestion was cured He added for my consolation that the Princesse Parisatis was like to have died with griefe upon her wedding day and that all they who had seen her in that condition were affraid her marriage bed would have been her grave that she had fainting fits in the Temple and that by her sadnesse shee had abated much of the publique rejoycing After all this discourse which I hearkend to without being moved and as a person who no longer had any interest in the world the Princesses would needs have me out with them and accompany them to the King whom they intended to present me to that very day J suffered my selfe to be guided by their wil as a man who had none left of my own nor any other motion then what was given him They causd me come up into their Chariot and carried me with them as a victim to the Altar or at least as a man deprived of sence and knowledge all those wee met as we went in renewed their protestations of frendship to me and followed in a croud to Sysigambises chamber where the King was atended by the chiefe of his Court except Hephestion who would not redouble my griefes by his presence without having caused me to be prepared to see him Assoon as we entred into the chamber the King came forward to meet the Queen who held me by the hand and without giving her time to speake or me hardly to kneel down he gave me his hand and lifting me up said Let 's not talke of what is past Lysimachus wee have both done amisse and our faults are mutuall but my will is that from this time forward we hold a better correspondence and drown the remembrance both of my rigour and of your disobedience in better usages With these words he embraced me tenderly and though my sorrow seem'd to have extinguishd in me all sence of any thing the veneration J had still remayning to the person of my King made me sensible of his favour and obliged me to answer Sir I confesse my self as guilty as a man can be but your Majesty has not been unsensible your selfe of that passion which has been the cause of all my faults nor can J alledge any thing but love for the justification of my crimes Le ts speak no more of it replied the King Love me as Alexander and I will alwayes remember you are Lysimachus saying thus he embraced me a second time and having expressed a great deal of kindnesse to me he exalted my combat against the Lyon with prayses which made the whole company know he esteemd that action infinitely and that it had touchd him more then all the prayers which had been made to him in favour of me After these discourses and some other to which I was not able to make answer so exceedingly was I cast down with the violence of my affliction the King ask'd me if for his sake and Parisatises I would not see Hephestion This question made me tremble and change colour and if the King had observed my countenance he might have found the alteration he had caused in it yet J forced my self to answer That I would neither disobey him nor the Princesses Parisatis while I liv'd Consider a little I beseech you and with all admire the wonderfull change of my humour see how mild J was grown and how different from that furious Lysimachus who but a few dayes before ran with his sword drawn unto Hephestions house to kill him in the middest of all his followers and who to satisfy his passion had blindly precipitated himselfe into a most evident death who had despised the Kings threats out-braved the punishmemts prepared for him and shut his eyes against all manner of considerations to content his rage Certainly when I make reflexion upon this sudden Metamorphosis I cannot sufficiently admire the power of Parisatis whose will had in a moment carried mine from one extremity to the other nor forbear concluding by this proof that never man equalled me in the perfection of Love It is a small matter to undertake Combats to run headlong into dangers for a person that one loves glory alone can inspire us with these designes but to devest ones self of the most pressing and most violent thoughts a soul is able to conceive or suffer to cast off the interests of a mans own life to establish the repose of his enemy by the losse of his own and to pass from an excess of rage to such submissive resignations is that which we see in very few persons and if in what you did at Susa for the safety of Alexander you had not shown an
to that house of his where J had been dress'd and had lien concealed for some time after my combat with Hephestion the situation of it was very pleasing and suitable to my solitary thinking humour it stood in an exceeding high Wood near the River Hydaspes and was beautified with Fountains Grots Allies Arbours and all manner of such like ornaments I spent some time there in an entertainment conformable to my present condition sometimes I sought out the gloomiest shades in all the wood and lying down at the foot of some Oak J recall'd into my memory the past accidents of my life and making a mixtture of sad and delightful thoughts I was so ingenious in tormenting my self that I drown'd all the pleasures and contentments I had felt in the remembrance of my last misfortunes Other while sitting by the River side and fixing my eyes upon the waters which rolled impetuously away I compared the lasting of the delights I had enjoyed unto the swiftness of their stream and Parisatis's coldness to the coldness of that element That Princess had at least this cause to praise the fidelity of my love that in all my deepest melancholy I never accused her in the smallest thought nor spent one moment in the desire of shaking off the yoak she had imposed upon me for the remainder of my days I never complained of her J never made any wishes against the pleasures she enjoyed with Hephestion nor did I ever repine at the years I had spent in her service with so little fruit I kept my self always without wavering in my first inclinations and never repented that I had given my life to her who had given her self to another The place of my retreat was known to very few and not being willing to be troubled in my solitude by the visits of my friends I hardly discovered it so much as to Ptolomeus Yet could I not hinder many others from learning where I was nor my self from being often visited by those that were most affectionate to mee They attempted in vain to bring me back to Court and instead of working that desire in me by their discourse they made me think of seeking a farther retreat that might be unknown to all men living I was not only visited by my friends but in my solitariness I received also a Letter from Parisatis which she wrote to me as I have learned since by Hephestions consent Although I seem'd unsensible of any happiness yet was I sufficiently touch'd with one of that nature and the inward motions wherwith I read her Letter were very far from that indifferency I showed to all things else The words of it I think were these or to this purpose PARISATIS to LYSIMACHUS THough I have not at all contributed to Lysimachus his exile the whole Court asks me what is become of him and they accuse none but me for his voluntary banishment I envy not the delights you taste in your solitarinesse but I pity your friends whom this retirement hath deprived of your company and particularly Parisatis to whom it shall ever be very dear If this Letter had commanded me expresly to return to Court there is no question but how great an aversion soever I had to it the perfect obedience wherewith I had resign'd my self wholly to the will of Parisatis would have made me forsake my desart but seeing it left me still the liberty of that abode I stirr'd not from thence but spent some moneths in my melancholy thoughts and in reading the works of good Callisthenes which he had bequeathed to me alone as to the dearest of all his scholars and he who had the most perfectly honoured him during his life In that Philosophy J sought for some consolation in my misfortunes and doubtlesse J found a great deale more in it then in the conversation of my freinds the solidity of his reasonings affording me wherewithall to â—ull my afflictions asleep for some few moments In the mean time this languishing decayed me insensibly and had wonderfully altered me when my fortune receiv'd a strange revolution I heard by Ptolomeus that Hephestion was sicke and that Parisatis tended him in his sicknesse with a care that visibly testified her affection to him I desired Ptolomeus to visite her from me and assure her that if his sicknesse lasted or grew more dangerous I would forsake my retirement to wait upon him and repay part of his civilities J beleiv'd nevertheless he would not be much pleas'd to see one that had so great interest in his death and so great cause to desire it according to all the appearances in the world This consideration together with my hatred of the Court hindred me from leaving my solitude But within a few dayes after Ptolomeus came to me again and assoon as ever he saw me Cheare up Lysimachus said he take courage and change your manner of life in changing your condition Hephestion is dead and has left Parisatis for Lysimachus I am not able to tell you the astonishment these words caused in me nor to expresse the motions that agitated my soul J was struck mute and unmoveable and Ptolomeus had talked to me a good while before I thought of welcoming or answering him When J was come a little to my self Oh Ptolomeus cried J what doe you tell me is Hephestion dead He is replied Ptolomeus and that above two howers before I came from Susa At this confirmation I remained more surprised then before and in the greatest confusion of thoughts my mind was ever intangled in I protest truly to you J was sorry for Hephestion as well by reason of the fresh obligations J had to him as of the esteem which the merit of his person had wrought in me as well as others and because J knew Parisatis would be most sensibly afflicted Yet will J not dissemble to you that in this encounter J could not forget my interests and that J had not generosity enough to make my sorrow for his loss drown the hopes it revived in me J lov'd my selfe so wel as to â—ind comfort for his death in the advantages it brought me and J was modest enough to dissemble the satisfaction which in probability it was like to give me But not being able to conceale any thing from Ptolomeus J could not long disguise my thoughts to him nor the divers alterations that news produced in me His thoughts were conformable to mine but being really my freind and tying himselfe inseparably to my fortune the remembrance of my interests was stronger then the griefe J might else have had for so great a Man and made him passe over a death which alone seem'd to establish his freinds life When we had discoursed long upon that accident and that he had told me the particulars of his death which were no other then what are ordinary in naturall sicknesse he perswaded me to returne to Susa as well to pay my respects to that Jllustrious widdow as to wait upon the King
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
avoiding those mistake's that might have discovered us The first time I saw you was at the Temple but I found your beautie such that my eyes were dazled with it and my heart not onely confirm'd in its inclinations towards you but mortally wounded or rather utterly lost in that passion which till then had spared it The changes of my countenance were almost like to have given som knowledg of my inward pain to those that stood near mee and when passing by mee as you went out of the Temple you afforded mee a nearer view of those admirable features which the painter had but imperfectly represented I was not far from casting my self at your feet and discovering the nature of my love by som strange effect of it yet I contented my self with kissing your robe as I saw others do as you pass'd by and retired to my lodging as much confounded at that sight as I was satisfied with my voiage I saw you again many other times yet without giving you any occasion to take notice of mee not beeing willing to make my self known to you but by som considerable service I will not tell you at large what my thoughts were then the events have since given you sufficient knowledg of them and that recital would engage mee in a tedious length In the mean time the Queen your Mother went forth with her armie against the Cilicians and though I could not absent my self from your sight without an extream trouble yet would I needs bee one in that expedition believing that in the war I might finde som occasion to make my self remarkable and to endear my acquaintance to you I put my self in among the forces without any command and the gods favored my good intentions so far that in the first encounters I did the Queen services of som importance which obliged her to take mee near her person to keep mee there with a great deal of goodness and to present mee to you at our return Behold Madam all that happened to mee before the glorious hour wherein you received mee into your service which I will call the first of my life since I never lived indeed till I had the honor to bee yours It was in these terms that Orontes told mee the beginnings of his life and I lent him a marvellous attention to the end of his discours but after I had talked a while with him and Hippolita concerning the things hee had related eaten a light meal and suffred my wounds to bee dressed I desired to know what had befallen him since the time of his banishment from mee hoping for no less satisfaction thereby then I had received by his first adventures and having sent all suspected persons out of my chamber I praied him to give mee that relation and Orontes without staying for a more express command began again in these terms My fault was so great Madam that as well as you I judg'd my punishment to bee just and when you pronounced my fatal sentence I had neither caus nor desire to murmur against it you saw with what tranquillitie of minde I received it and the heavens that beheld my stay in the arbor after you were gon were witnesses that your severe decree made mee neither accuse you of inhumanitie nor complain of my destinie yet having a heart which was not impossible which beeing capable of all the torments of sorrow could not bee more deeply nor more justly afflicted with them then in this encounter it sunk under so violent an assault and gave no longer ear to constancie nor to Philosophie my first motion tended toward death and I judg'd that even out of self-love I ought to die thereby to deliver my self from a thousand miseries more cruel then death it self and that in reason I ought to give you satisfaction for the fault I had committed all my thoughts agreed in this resolution and I believed my love could not have a nobler conclusion then in giving you the remainder of a life which I desired not to preserv after I had made it unworthie to pleas you and to bee owned by you It is most just cried I of a sudden it is most just Thalestris that you should bee satisfied and though you have not commanded mee to die that sparing of my life is an effect of your goodness which I ought not to abuse you bad mee live that I might bee sensible of remors for my offence but you forbad mee not to die that I might free my self from so great a torment and you will pardon mee this small disobedience which punishe's and satisfie's mee both together I am unworthie to live for you and 't is impossible I should live without you consent therefore to the loss of a life which cannot bee odious to you without beeing insupportable to mee and condemn mee not to a great many lingring deaths since one alone and a short one is able to deliver mee from them all I spoke many other words full of a just and a quiet despair and rising up from the earth where I had continued unmoveable after your going away I alreadie had put my hand upon the hilt of my sword to execute my last resolution when the Gods sent the officious Lascaris to prevent it 't was that young man Araspes his son whom I still kept with mee and who under the name of Lascaria had all that while liv'd among the women the Queen your Mother gave mee and to whom alone I had trusted the secret of my love and indeed his discretion was exceeding great and though his years were hardly more then mine yet was hee little inferior in prudence to those of ripest age As soon as hee came into the arbor hee observ'd an alteration in my countenance and considering my eies which had a wilde fatal look and the suddenness wherewith I started up and had begun to draw my sword hee suspected my intention and catching fast hold of my arm Ah! Sir said hee what will you do I 'le die Lascaris answered I since Thalestris will not have mee live Die Sir replied Lascaris the gods forbid I should ever consent to that while I have any life and what so weightie caus have you to desire death and to give it your self with your own hands The anger of Thalestris said I and the impossibilitie of living after having offended her Ah! Sir replied Lascaris pulling my hand with all his force from the hilt of my sword and constraining mee to sit down upon the seats of green turf which were in the arbor com to your self again and consider how much this despair is unâ—itting your courage and how much it thwart's the authoritie of the gods Hee continued making mee a long discours to the same purpose to which I answered onely by a few sighs and seeing mee insensible of his arguments and but little diverted from my resolution At least Sir said hee grant this favor to your faithful Lascaris to let him know the
visit the Court of the King your father where I believed I might hear news of him I staied there in a vain expectation three whole months and it was at that time when you were in prison and that a valiant Commander named Arsaves was gon with the armie of the King your father to the frontiers of Scythia against Arimbas who had invaded them I was so deeply buried in my passion that it hindred mee from informing my self of your adventures and I onely heard what the meanest of the people could not bee ignorant of I somtimes saw the Princess Berenice your sister whom I thought fair beyond imagination but the resolution I had taken to keep my self alwaies unknown was the caus I neither waited upon her nor discovered my self to any bodie the instructions I had received from Orontes gave mee knowledg enough in the language of his countrie to make my self bee understood of all the world When I had staied at Issedon as long as I have told you I departed full of grief and went towards Arsaces his armie where I thought desire of glorie might perchance have stop'd him before his coming to Court I got thither within a few daies and was one of the first at that bloudie battel which was fought upon the confines of your Kingdom where I saw that valiant General do actions of so rare a courage that I shall ever preserv the memorie of them as of a prodigie I continued in that armie without making my self known for other then a young voluntier till it began to march back towards Issedon and then seeing my self as unsuccessful in my last hopes as I had been in my first I returned into Asia which I visited almost all in a years time I spent in travelling up and down there in the end after long wandrings to no purpose I came into this countrie with som hope that among so many Princes whereof Alexanders Court was composed I might learn som news of my faithless Orontes against whom I have preserved my indignation so strongly that time shall never bee able to wear it out of my minde Behold continued Thalestris ending her narration the abstract of a life full of misfortunes pardon mee if in som places I have too much enlarged my self and if I have passed over others too succinctly since onely the motions of my passion made that difference See now if my anger bee not just and if I have not a lawful caus to hate that Prince who by his infidelitie hath rendered himself unworthie of the honor hee hath to bee allied to you The Queen ended her storie on this manner and Oroondates having hearkened to it attentively Madam said hee I cannot choose but bee Orontes his enemie after the knowledg you have given mee of an infidelitie without example yet when I remember the proofs which without Intermission hee shewed you of so real a passion after which wee see him fall into a baseness without any probable ground and when I call to minde what subtiltie and calumnie have heretofore don against mine innocence I am forced to suspend my judgment and believ that either you have been deceived by others then Orontes or that Orontes hath been deceiv'd himself by very strong appearances for indeed so sudden and so unexspected a change is contrarie to common sence and passe's my imagination and I am fully perswaded that there is more innocence in Orontes his intentions then there hath been in the effects either of his grief or of his inconstancie The Queen would have replied but Oroödates seeing it was extreamly late and that so long a discours might impair her health took leav of her till the next day and having bidden her good night retired into his Chamber CASSANDRA The fifth Book ORoöndates passed that night as hee had don many others and the day following was spent in those sad imploiments which his deadly griefs had alreadie made habitual to him yet did hee afford part of it to the entertainment of the fair Amazon and discoursed a great while with her touching the causes of Orontes his infidelitie which hee could neither comprehend nor excuse the friendship hee had born that Prince made him seek out reasons to justifie him but the Queens spirit grew so incensed against him that hee was fain to give over his defence and condemn him with her The conversation of that Princess diverted his sorrows for som few moments yet no sooner was hee out of her presence but hee plunged himself so deeply in his afflictions that without a most particular assistance of the gods or rather without an apparent miracle his life could not have subsisted in such violent assaults Ah! my dear Princess said hee somtimes how great is my patience and how great proofs do I now give you of the truth of my affection certainly the most happie persons never found more difficultie in resolving to die then I do in enduring to live receiv this last testimonie of my love as the greatest I ever shewed you and by this severe constraint judg how dear the desire of satisfying you is to mee even after your death it self In such like discourses and in such like thoughts hee lingred out five or six daies at the end of which his wound was almost perfectly healed but his strength was not so soon returned and his sadness had brought him so low that a longer time was requisite for the recoverie of it Hee walked every day in the wood where hee sought out those places that were most gloomie and most conformable to the estate of his minde all objects of pleasure to him were fatal and those that represented any thing of wo gave him the most real satisfaction Thalestris's wound was quickly in a good condition and permitted her to leav her bed within a few daies The eight after Lysimachus his departure which was the same hee had made them hope for his return was almost quite expired and the Prince of Scythia began to bee troubled to see him fail of his promise when his Squire Cleantes arrived Oroöndates presently running to him enquired news of his Master Hee is in Ptolomeus his armie Sir answered Cleantes and you will see the caus of his stay in this letter hee hath written to you saying so hee presented him a paper and Oroöndates having opened it read these words Lysimachus to Prince Oroondates OVr common affairs hinder mee from seeing you again so soon as I intended but the caus of it will procure your pardon for a delay which trouble 's mee very much Those Princes my friends whose assistance was needful for our revenge were all dispersed and som of them were alreadie upon their way to those Provinces which are fallen to their lot Ptolomeus and I labor to get them together again and that care will neither bee unprofitable nor unnecessarie Perdiccas and Roxana whom our proceedings and the remors of their crime have made suspicious draw forces towards them again and by our
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
onely in their words or that there were any really in mee if I may say so without blasphemie I am but little beholding to the gods for it since they gave mee that small portion I received of them onely for my ruine and that by the confession of my persecuters it ha's been the sole caus of all my misfortunes I in an early youth found many men that expressed affection to mee and divers amongst them whose alliance was advantageous to Polemon had alreadie sued in vain for his when the gods gave mee him to whom both for my happiness and my unhappiness I was destined by their supreme decree Bagistanes that treacherous Governor of the Cittadel of Babylon who since basely quitted the partie of his Prince and without resistance delivered up into Alexander's hands that Fortress of high importance and the treasure which had imprudently been trusted to his keeping briefly that Bagistanes of whom you have heard speak if Alexander's actions are not unknown to you had a nephew endowed by the heavens with qualities that obliged mee to an affection which dutie afterward established in my heart Theander so was hee called began to love mee when I was scarcely out of my infancie and witnessed his affection to mee by so many proofs that without blindness I could not bee ignorant of it nor without ingratitude refuse him the advantage over all those who had the like intentions yet I depended so wholly upon my Father and had left him so absolute a power over my will that I did nothing but by his nor gave Theander any hopes but by his injunction hee found no caus of complaint in my proceedings and having none but very lawful designs hee made no difficultie of discovering them to Polemon and of asking his daughter with submissions full of the testimonies of his love Polemon received him with all manner of civilitie and seeing manifest advantages in that match could not dissemble his satisfaction Theander was of a handsom person a man of courage and well bred and though wee were noble his Familie was of a rank somthing above ours and to say truth might have pretended to higher fortunes besides as I have told you hee was nephew to Bagistanes who next to Mazens was the most considerable man in all this Countrie indeed hee was a good while backward in granting his nephew the consent hee demanded for our marriage and Theander who honoured him exceedingly and who besides the consideration of bloud was tied to him likewise by that of fortune waited for his approbation with such respects as were due to none but his Father or his King in the end Bagistanes was mollified by his nephews patience and by other motives and after delaies which it would bee tedious to recount hee gave him that permission hee had long expected In all the time of his wooing there passed nothing considerable and I will onely tell you Theander having no more difficulties to overcom after the consent of those that had the disposing of us married mee publikely in Babylon before I was full fifteen years of age As soon as hee had mee in his possession hee took mee home with him to his hous where hee began to live with mee in a most kinde and loving manner besides his affection to mee hee had naturally a great deal of goodness nay even to an excess which his friends have often blamed I was not ingrateful to his love and receiving manifest proofs of it everie day I became so wholly his that I may safely swear before all the gods whom I have so often invoked in my adversities that never woman loved her husband with a more ardent nor a more entire affection I gave him a thousand innocent testimonies of it which inflamed him still more and more and in the first year after our marriage wee tasted all the delights that a perfect union can produce in two souls knit together in a lawful love whithersoëver Theander went Alcione would alwaies accompanie him and if the necessitie of his affairs or the service of his friends parted us for som few moments that separation was born with much disquiet or rather with most sensible discontents In this mutual felicitie a whole year ran out but when hee had given that time to his affection Theander was likewise desirous to give som to his dutie and remembring that hee was a subject to Darius whose Territories Alexander after his victorie at the Granicus over-ran with a prodigious success hee for som time buried the consideration of his love in those of his honor and of the service of his King and Countrie and taking an imploiment suitable to his qualitie among those Forces that were raised by Mazens hee left mee a prey to grief and to those miseries which his absence prepapared mee I made use of my praiers my tears and of all the credit our affection gave mee with him to keep him with mee but hee defended himself against all my importunities with such just and powerful reasons that without offending him I could no longer persist to require proofs of his love to the prejudice of his honor Hee marched from Babylon with those Forces but before his departure recommended mee to the care of his Brother Astiages who under som pretence exempted himself from that voiage and to his Unkle Bagistanes whom hee considered as a Father and to whom hee submitted himself with a dependencie which many persons have condemned True it is that the respect Theander bore him was to bee excused by many reasons that were not to bee slighted Bagistanes who was extreamly rich had no children that were legitimate and being then of an age which forbad him to hope for any onely Theander as his nearest kinsman could lawfully pretend to bee his heir and though hee was generous enough to bee little tied by such a motive yet was a plentiful fortune necessarie to maintain the expences into which hee was carried by his liberal nature and his Unkles wealth was not so inconsiderable but that it might oblige to an observance and the dignitie of Bagistanes were sufficient to autorise After Theander's departure his good Unkle and his good Brother strove who should bee forwardest in showing mee their mindfulness of the charge hee had left them and by all manner of kindness and good usage they endeavored to drive away som of my melancholy hours they made meetings and invented sports to divert mee but I was long insensible of all the divertiâ—ements they gave mee and during my husbands absence I spent part of my time at my Fathers and in this hous whither wee came often to take the aër when I was at Babylon I saw Bagistanes every day and though hee lodged in the Cittadel there passed but very few that hee came not to see mee and when hee failed Astiages to satisfie him and as hee told mee to perform his Brothers desires carried mee to his lodgings where I was welcomed with infinite demonstrations of
use of his power with Theander that hee had perswaded him to bee reconciled to Astiages and though that disloial man lodged still with his unckle yet came hee often to visite his brother but hee never spoke word of Bagistanes and carried himself toward mee with a very great coldness hee still avoided meeting with Cleonimus and Cleonimus shunn'd him and Bagistanes so carefully that hee never met either of them at our hous These two wicked wretches united together labored jointly to destroy mee and when they thought they had recovered all the credit they were wont to have with my husband they forgot nothing that could ruine us and strove to make Theander observ our familiarities with such an industrie as might without much difficultie have perplext any other husband but his friendship to Cleominus and his goodness to mee were so great that for a long time hee either laught at what they said or els received it as from suspected persons These traitors seeing themselvs deceived in their expectation resolved to prosecute their crime yet further to leav nothing unattempted to take revenge of a man that hindred their designs though with the loss of my honor and that of our hous For this purpose having well contrived their treacherie and given instructions to the person they were to imploy and whom they had bribed a long time before they made use of the plot I now will tell you to deceiv Theander As hee came back one night from the Palace where hee had spent part of the day and from whence hee returned not till after the King was in bed hee had an encounter hard by our door which hath since cost mee so many tears and which without doubt will make mee pour them forth all the rest of my miserable life When hee was close by his own hous hee by the light of a torch which one of his servants carried before him saw one of my maids com out who was the very same my enemies by their presents had corrupted The wench came forth without a light and seemed to go in great deal of fear when the footman holding his to her face help'd his master to discover her Theander wondring to see a maid com out of his hous at midnight and without a candle called her by her name but shee beeing thus known first by crying out made shew to bee much surprised and then having made as if shee would have run away O Gods said shee I am undon and at the same time shee tore a paper which shee had in her hand and thrust the pieces of it hastily into her mouth This action which was but too heedfully observed by the abused Theander caused a chilness to run through all his bodie and gave him apprehensions which hee had never felt before Hee came close to the wench in an extreme trouble and stopping her by the arm whither goest thou said hee and whither wert thou carrying that paper which I saw thee tear just now The maid faining a deadly fear sunk down at his feet and embracing his knees Ah! Sir said shee I beseech you pardon mee and repeating those words twice or thrice shee appeared to bee strucken with so great an astonishment that Theander's was redoubled by it Speak said hee and if thou wilt have mee pardon thee confess thy fault to mee presently That subtil wench wiping her eies and seeming to tremble Ah! Sir replied shee my obedience is very guiltie but yet both my Ladie and I are more innocent in effect then in appearance and if I tore this letter it was my fear that made mee imprudently commit that fault But from whom and to whom wert thou carrying it demanded Theander hastily My Ladie answered shee sent it to Cleonimus Theander quite confounded or rather quite besides himself eying the wench from head to foot Did Alcione said hee send thee to Cleonimus at this time of the night and in the dark as I meet thee Ah! Sir replied that wicked wench I wish to the gods that I were dead since my imprudence is so hurtful to my Mistress and perchance cause's suspicions in you against her which you ought not to conceiv Theander who began alreadie to swallow the poison that was prepared for him would not talk longer with her in the street but commanded her to bee gon to her chamber and to bee silent as shee loved her life Hee neither threatned her nor asked her any thing more fearing to make his servants acquainted with the caus of his trouble and to learn news himself which his growing jealousie made him alreadie to apprehend and coming up into my chamber where I was alreadie in bed hee bad mee good night but 't was in a way very different from his ordinarie manner and with a countenance so changed that presently I believ'd hee was not well Having ask'd him hastily how he did hee told mee hee found himself a little indisposed and beeing undressed hee came to bed in so deep a sadness that if the caus of it had been known it would have moved pitie even in those that had been most insensible the disquiet I was in for fear of his health having kept mee awake a good part of the night made mee know likewise how hee rested and made mee hear the sighs hee drew from the bottom of his heart in so great abundance that I believed his bodie had less part in that indisposition then his minde I asked him often how hee did but hee hardly answered mee letting mee know I should oblige him if I left him at quiet As soon as it was day hee arose and going out of my chamber hee came not home again till evening I found him as sad as the night before and pressing him to tell mee the caus Madam said hee I pray you pardon my ill humor it will pass over if it pleas the gods I my self am ignorant of the caus in the mean time I need onely a little rest and I beseech you to grant it mee Having said so hee expressed a desire to lie in his own Chamber for som few nights and when I had given order to have it made readie hee bade mee good night and left mee in a greater confusion then I am able to represent Hee was so little accustomed to speak to mee in a style like that of his last words and to conceal the caus of his afflictions from mee that by this unexpected change I was like to have guessed part of my misfortunes True it is that I had ever seen him so far from the thoughts that then tormented him that I had much ado to suspect him of them and I knew my self so innocent that I did not believ hee in my most faultie actions could finde any reasonable pretence for his ill humor In this confusion of thoughts I passed the night and as soon as I was up I went into his chamber where I found him walking with his arms across upon his breast and
beeing in the hous true it is that Polemon and his family showed a most discreet fidelitie and the Princess represented the importance of the secret to them with such a charge that they kept it inviolably on both sides nor was the danger small for if those of Perdiccas his partie had known where Lysimachus was they would have taken arms to revenge themselvs upon him and if Lysimachus had not been ignorant of Alcetas his coming hither hee would have discharged part of the hatred upon him which hee bore unto his brother but the order the Princess took in it and Polemon by her command prevented all the mischiefs that might have hapned by those encounters if the business had not been managed with a marvellous care The Queen assisted her sickness as much as possibly shee could that it might have strength enough to make an end of her yet did shee recover whether shee would or no and left her bed the same day that you did her feaver having neither been long nor violent shee lost not much of her strength and within a few daies after her beeing up again shee had no need to keep her Chamber But as that was the time of her recoverie and of yours so was it likewise of Perdiccas and that same evening hee came to visit her accompanied onely by his Brother the Princesses received him very civilly and after som ordinarie discours Perdiccas represented to the Queen that this place of retreat was too near to Babylon and that shee had made a longer stay here then was fitting for her safetie but that the Queen's sickness and his wounds had been the caus of it and that it was necessarie to think of retiring to som other hous that was both stronger and further from Roxana The Queen trembled at this proposition and though shee had not resolved to let you see her yet could shee not without grief think of going away from you but becaus shee saw a great deal of reason in it and that shee had but little power to contradict Perdiccas shee opposed it not and onely told him that her life was too full of miseries to take so great a care of it and that whither soëver shee retired shee still should carry her unfortunate destinie along with her Perdiccas went away presently after and the Queen more disquieted then shee was wont to bee passed the rest of the night without speaking hardly so much as a word to us I heard her sigh in her bed with a more then usual vehemence and the next morning as soon as I was up shee called mee to her and taking one of my hands which shee pressed between hers Cleone said â—hee thou seest mee now both in the greatest troubles of minde and in the greatest weaknesses that ever I was in since I was born In short Cleone my constancie is at an end and do I what I can to draw it out a few daies longer it is impossible for mee to conceal my self from poor Oroöndates besides the incitements of mine own inclination which are powerful enough to make mee break through verie great difficulties when I remember what that poor Prince hath done and suffered for mee and the condition to which hee is yet reduced by his love to mee I feel a remors which tele mee I am to blame which robs mee of my rest and which deprive's mee of the meanes of resisting my inclination yet will I not let it carrie mee beyond what I ought to do and I shall bee enough Mistress of it to persevere in the design I have taken to shut up all my love within Alexander's tombe but O! Cleone I can no longer conceal from him that I am alive the news of my death ha's alreadie drawn much of his bloud and if hee continue in that belief hee will at last breathe out a soul from which mine cannot bee separated by any reason nor by any violence I would have him know I am still in the world but in telling him that news I would dispose him never to hope any thing more from mee this knowledg shall make mee loos nothing of the Empire I alwaies have had over him and I am certain hee is obedient and submissive enough to regulate his will by mine hee love's mee too well and my reputation is too dear to him to desire any thing of mee that may blast it and if I can do nothing in favor of him but actions of lightness and inconstancie hee is too generous himself to perswade mee to them Before wee go away from this place whence Perdiccas thinks it necessarie wee should remove I will leav him som assurance of my life and of my remembrance of him but I will not have him conceiv unjust hope by that mark of my affection and I will use such caution in it as shall declare my want of power without giving him occasion to complain of mee When shee had ended this discours which I hearkned to without interrupting it the Queen called for her cloaths and withdrawing into a little closet shee began to write part of her minde to you within awhile after shee came forth and commanding mee to follow her though shee was yet but weak shee went down the stairs and leaning upon my hand shee took her walk into the wood where shee sought those places that were most remote from the aboad of men when shee had walked awhile shee sate down upon a green bank by the side of a little brook and having commanded mee to sit down by her shee drew forth the paper wherein shee had begun to write but before shee read it Cleone said shee I have left my Letter unperfect becaus I had not the courage to finish it and I had begun it in a style which is little sutable to the resolution I have taken although I make som mention of it mee think's it is in terms which seems to slacken much of its strictness I write to Oroöndates under the name of Cassandra which you have given mee again but I will give charge to Alcione who shall deliver it to him after our departure to clear all those doubts this alteration of my name may work in him Having said thus shee gave mee the paper whereby her command I began to reade these words THe unfortunate and happie Cassandra unfortunate by the change of her fortune and happie by the fidelitie of her dear Orontes to her too faithful Orontes Ah Cleone cried Oroöndates interrupting her 't is enough I know everie word of that Letter which fell miraculously into my hands and which I have dearly preserved by reason of the resemblance the style and characters bore to those of my Princess my belief of her death opposed that I might els have had that it came from her and yet it left doubts in my minde accompanied with som beams of hope which I could never clear till now With that hee told her how that Letter fell into Araxes his hands how hee
him their services and to satisfie the desire they had to know a man of so infinite merit After this conversation they fell upon the discours of their affairs and Lysimachus giving Oroöndates an account of what hee had don since his departure from him made him acquainted that Ptolomeus Eumenes and hee had sent to make levies in the territories that were fallen to their shares that they had advertised all their friends who were gon away to retire to theirs that at the first sending they all had voluntarily joined themselvs with them in a league offensive and defensive and that within a fortnight all their forces were to meet at a little Town but half a daies journie from Babylon that Perdiccas and Roxana made no less preparations on their side that all their allies met daily at Babylon and that the bodie of their armie was formed on the other side of the Euphrates whereof they had the passage free by a great many bridges there were within the citie Oroöndates trembled with a generous impatiencie at this discours and expressed to Lysimachus his fear of beeing kept by his wounds from making one in the first occasions to which hee wish'd for som delay lest there should bee any thing don without him But Lysimachus satisfied him with an assurance that before his recoverie all the forces could not bee com up and in a condition to attempt any thing and that on the other side Perdiccas his wounds were a great obstacle to their enemies designs and that if they did not ruine their affairs they would at least retard them and give a great deal of facilitie and furtherance to theirs They would have conversed longer if Amintas had not put his Master in minde that Oroöndates had disordered himself very much that day for a man so wounded as hee was and that so long talking was very prejudicial to his health Lysimachus beeing in fear for a friend of that importance carried the rest out of his chamber though Oroöndates did his endevors to retain them and going down into the garden they began to walk there with an intention not to see Oroöndates again till the next day In the mean time the impatient Thalestris who guided by Hippolita was gon in quest of Berenice had vainly imploied part of the day in seeking her shee overran all the plain near to Babylon and there was not a place either upon the bank of the river or in the neighboring woods whither her affection had not made her direct her steps shee met no bodie of whom shee did not inform her self and shee had been at the very gates of Babylon to enquire for her but seeing her search was unprofitable on that side shee had turned back the same way towards Polemons hous and leaving it upon the left hand shee kept still along by the river side The separation from such a friend was so sensible to her that shee could finde no consolation O gods said shee did you give the acquaintance of so lovely a Princess to take her from mee so suddenly and must you needs deprive mee of a happiness which sweetned part of my sorrows and which I had hardly begun to taste were you not satisfied with the pains I have taken in prosecution of my faithless Orontes without exposing my bodie to new toils and my minde to new discontents In uttering these and such like words shee came into the walk which beginning at the temple of Apollo reached unto the river side and turning her head upon the left hand shee saw the gate of the Temple at the end of the alley Shee had often heard speak of those Oracles and lately of that which Lysimachus had received there that remembrance gave her a desire to consult the god as well concerning the present design which had brought her abroad as the success of her own fortune and shee believ'd shee ought not to neglect that encounter since it was not without som care of her interests that contrarie to her intention the gods had guided her steps unto that place In this thought shee turned her and went to alight at the gate of the Temple beeing it was not any curiositie that led her thither shee spent no time in viewing the beauties of it but making her praier unto the god both for the recoverie of Berenice and for her own interests shee expected his answer awhile which at last was delivered to her by the mouth of the Priest in these terms The Oracle Heaven to thy rest no more avers will bee To it refer the sisters Destinie Since thine back to the brother summon's thee Where thou thy heart and fortune chang'd shalt see This answer pleasingly surprised the fair Amazon and finding in it more caus of consolation then shee had looked for shee humbly return'd her thanks unto the god for the hopes hee gave her and rising from the place where shee had prostrated her self shee went out of the Temple much more satisfied then shee was before Hippolita observ'd som alteration in her face and having asked her the caus of it the Queen repeated the words of the Oracle to her and getting on hors-back took her way towards Polemon's hous Shee by the command of the god saw her search at an end and since heaven reserved the care of Berenice expresly to it self shee could not without incensing it persevere in her intended prosecution wherefore in obedience to it shee gave over that thought and was confirmed in the design of returning to Oroöndates since that besides the desire shee had to serv him in his affairs 't was there shee was to expect the change of her fortune Shee made a long reflection upon that promiss of the gods and having mused on it a great while what change said shee can I hope for in my condition Is it the forgetting the repentance or the death of my faithless Orontes Ah! for forgetting him I should look for that but in vain and I ought never to think that my soul can lose the remembrance either of its first passion or of the offence I have received both of them are ingraven in everlasting characters and except I ceas to live I can neither ceas to hate nor to remember Orontes Shall it bee from the repentance of that disloial man that I shall draw my satisfaction Ah! I ought much less to hope for that and the offences I have received from him are not of a nature to bee repaired Though hee should begin again to love mee with as much violence as hee expressed in his first passion I should lose nothing of that hatred I bear him and my soul is so harden'd against that ingrateful man that it could never bee touch'd by all the marks hee could shew of his repentance 'T is then in his death alone that I ought to ground my hopes and 't is that infallibly which the gods do promiss mee it is the greatest of all the favors I can receiv from them and when I
death and that the Persians who submitted but by force to the Macedonian yoke will not take arms now for their lawful Princes and use their endevors to restore the bloud of their first Masters to the Throne If the crueltie of this enterprize strike horror in you remember Perdiccas that it is not without example in all Monarchies and that both amongst us and amongst our Neighbors wee have no Age that cannot furnish us with a good number of presidents Did not Artaxerxes whom the whole world held for a verie good Prince and his Successor Occhus both Predecessors to Darius secure their Estates by the bloud of their children and of their brothers and if you would have fresher ones even in your own Countrie did not Queen Olimpias who is yet alive the Mother of our deceased King after King Philip was dead caus her rival Cleopatra to bee put to death having first made a daughter shee had by him to bee killed in her presence becaus shee might possibly have one day raised som trouble in her dominions And did not Alexander himself our dear husband and most honored King whose memorie is most sacred to us and all whose actions ought to bee the rules of our life begin his so glorious Reign by the death of those that were nearest to him and when hee came out of Macedonia did hee leav one of them alive who could disturb the calm hee left there Consider now Perdiccas whether these persons whom I have alleged had so important reasons as ours are and whether they upon light surmises occasions of small weight did not execute that which wee do out of pure necessitie and for the conservation of our lives and of the Empire of the world Those persons replied Perdiccas have by those actions left blemishes upon their lives which all the most gallant ones they ever performed will never bee able to wipe out and all the blackest deeds they ever did can no way parallel the infidelitie you enjoin mee to mee I say who am not onely a kinsman and a subject of Alexander's but who amongst all about him received the last glorious marks of his affection and of beeing preferred before so many other Princes worthy of the kingdoms hee hath left In this action added Roxana you will bee so far from offending Alexander's memorie that you will give him proofs of your fidelitie since it is onely to secure the Empire to his son that you take them out of the world who might dispute it with him And if to this consideration it bee permitted to add that of your own interests Perdiccas remember what you do for your self since the least recompence proposed to you is the soveraign authoritie which you will have over this son whose Guardian you shall bee and which you shall share with his Mother whom you will have established in it Perdiccas demurred awhile before hee answered to this last discours of Roxana's and they walked almost a whole turn in the Allie without speaking but in the end Perdiccas breaking silence I wish to the gods Madam said hee that you could content and secure your self by milder waies these methinks are such strange ones that I cannot dispose my self to follow them but I desire this nights respite to finish the overcoming of those difficulties I finde in my self to morrow as soon as you are stirring I will let your Majestie know my last resolution and I will rather die then give you occasion to repent the trust you repose in mee and the favors you do mee Well Perdiccas replied Roxana I grant you the time you demand and I hope that by your last resolution wee shall both have caus to bee satisfied After these words Perdiccas bade the Queen good-night and retiring to his followers went out of the Garden I might have gon away with him but I was so surprised and astonished at the things I had heard that I thought not of my departure and seeing that the Queen without stirring out of that Allie call'd Hesione whom shee lov'd best of all her women and commanded the rest to stay where they were I had a minde to hear that second conversation whereby I believed I might fully instruct my self touching that detestable design which was in agitation against those poor Princesses Roxana sate down upon a green sodded bank and as soon as Hesione came near her I have much ado said shee to perswade Perdiccas to what I desire for our common securitie and hee sticks at considerations which the ambition of reigning ought to have extinguished in his minde I do not think it strange replied Hesione and that which your Majestie requires hath somthing so cruel in it that I cannot remember it without horror nor without wondring as at a prodigie how the thirst of reigning can have choked in you that pitie which is natural to women and have carried you to such bloudie resolutions against Princesses who have a near relation to you whom heretofore you accounted dear and who have no way offended you Pardon mee Madam if I speak with too much libertie I am so affrighted at this horrible change of your humor that I have not understanding enough left to approve these inhumane reasons of state which demand such violent executions Roxana hearkned to these words of Hesione without interrupting her and having remained awhile without answering otherwise then by two or three sighes Ah! Hesione said shee at last how just would thy wonder bee if thou wert not well instructed in my most secret thoughts and with how much reason might'st thou appear affrighted at this change of my humor if I had not trusted thee with the caus of it a thousand times thou knowest O dissembling Hesione that my inclinations to crueltie are not strong enough to move mee to such bloudie tragedies meerly out of maxime of state and out of a desire to reign that onely servs for a pretext to more powerful incitements and to cover a passion more violent then ambition nor do I love the crown enough to violate both divine and humane Laws for it alone Alas Hesione thou art not ignorant of this truth thou knowest that love hath blotted out of my soul all that was good and reasonable in it heretofore and that my jealousie arms my hand more potently against my rival then ambition doth against my competitor for the Empire the remembrance of ungrateful Oroöndates kindles my indignation against her that took him from mee and his image never com's into my memorie without enflaming my anger against that proud beautie which triumphed over mee in the soul of that inhumane Prince While the hope of her lawful possessing him was forbidden her by the life of the King her husband I bore my misfortune patiently but now that by the death of Alexander the way to it lies open for her and that I see them upon the very brink of that felicitie which I have vainly opposed I had rather shee should perish and that
could learn from those two men whose imprisonment had deprived them of a more particular knowledg of things Part of the day was spent in this conversation and the remainder of it was given to the wounded Prince his repose but scarce was hee awake the next morning when hee saw Lysimachus com into his Chamber with a certain herb in his hand and with an extraordinarie joy in his countenance Oroöndates after hee had received and returned the good morrow ask'd him the caus of it and Lysimachus sitting down by his bed-side I believ said hee that I bring you a speedie cure and if I am not the most deceiv'd in the world I shall see you in perfect health within this week and to make you give credit to my words Know that in our voiage to the Indies Ptolomeus our dear friend having been dangerously wounded in a fight wee had against the Barbarians Alexander who loved and considered him verie much was so extremely grieved at it that hee could receiv no consolation hee caused him to bee put in his own bed and lying there with him saw his wound dressed with strange disquiets The Chirurgians were in despair of his life when the gods to whom it was dear sâ—nt the King a miraculous dream in favor of that Prince for hee was no sooner asleep but dreamed that hee saw a Dragon holding an herb in his mouth which was to serv for Ptolomeus his cure When the King awaked hee told his dream to those that were present and described the form of that herb whereof hee had preserved the remembrance and som of the inhabitants of that place having assured him that there grew such a one in that Countrie hee caused it to bee sought for everie where and those that were sent about it imploied their time so successfully that they brought him that wonderful herb he had seen in his dream it was presently applied to Ptolomeus his wound and by an unheard of prodigie the pain was instantly asswaged and the wound quite healed up within three daies The mervellous effect of this herb made us all observ it carefully that wee might bee able to know it again to make use of it in the like occasions but I never found any of it in this Countrie till this morning when as I was walking the wood I thought I saw somthing verie like it growing by the side of the brook I gathered it with an excess of contentment and I am the most deceived of all men living if it bee not the very same which produces those miraculous effects Amintas came into the Chamber as they were talking and Lysimachus having shewed it him hee cried out joyfully confirmed his Master in that opinion Hee straightway took the herb and having prepared it hee applied it to Oroöndates his wounds That new remedie quickly drew sleep upon his eie-lids and Lysimachus retiring went to tell the Queen of his happie encounter and of the hope hee had conceived Thalestris was extremely joied at it and coming into the Princes Chamber som hours after hee told them at his awaking that hee felt himself strangely eased and that hee hoped his remedie would bee as successful as hee had promised Ptolomeus came in within a little after and having presently heard that well-com news hee by his testimonie redoubled the Princes hopes Oroöndates his fear of beeing kept in bed by his wounds while others were fighting made him sensible of this good fortune and 't was that rather then any love of his life that made him with joy expect his cure without which hee could not second hit generous friends in his own quarrel The Sun was beginning to decline when Lysimachus looking out at Thalestrises Chamber window observed a dust which rose from under the feet of the Cavalerie which Eumenes brought within awhile after they discerned the Troops and saw Eumenes himself arrive accompanied with som Commanders of the Armie Thalestris Lysimachus and Ptolomeus went out of the hous to meet him and having received him according to the friendship that was among them they went forward towards certain Chariots that came after him wherein were the two Princesses Apamia and Arsinoé the daughters of Artabasus and Wives of Ptolomeus and Eumenes with many other Ladies whose husbands were in the Armie Thalestris who was instructed in the qualitie of those Princesses welcomed them with much kindness and civilitie and Cleone who was com out with her no sooner saw them but shee ran to them with open arms and receiving them with an excess of joy by her encounter gave them a mervellous consolation They had heard by Eumenes that the two Princesses were alive to whom they had a verie near relation and to whom they had ever been most dear and their gladness at that news was easily to bee observed in their faces While the Princes gave order for the encamping of the Armie which began to arrive the Princesses under the conduct of Thalestris went into the hous and so up into Oroöndates his Chamber The Prince who was advertised of their coming and who considered them extremely both for the sake of Barsina their sister and for that of their illustrious husbands gave them a reception full of respect and by all manner of waies testified how great a sens hee had of the honor they did him After the first complements their discours was of Barsina whose goodness the Prince commended in terms which made her sisters see hee was not ingrateful for the good offices hee had received from her They told the Prince who asked where shee was that shee had been detained at Susa by som small indisposition and by the nois of those cruel revolutions that had happened at Babylon that shee had lately sent them word shee would ere-long set forward on her journie toward them where by reason of the autoritie of their husbands shee believed her retreat would bee more assured They were in this conversation with Oroöndates when the other Princes after having disposed the Camp and taken such order in all things as was necessarie came into the Chamber and mingled altogether in a verie pleasing entertainment It was resolved by Oroöndates his advice that as soon as hee was recovered and the other Ladies arrived who were to com with their husbands to the general rendezvous the men should leav Polemon's hous to the Ladies and retire to lie in far commodious Tents which the Princes had caused to bee brought along with the Armie since the hous could not bee bigg enough for so great a companie and that the Princes had a great deal of convenient room in their Tents When they had spent part of the night in these discourses the companie withdrew to their several Chambers where they were accommodated as well as possibly they might and where they all rested with much tranquilitie THE THIRD PART OF CASSANDRA The third Book POlemon's hous was seated at the foot of a little hill about five or six hundred paces from
Demochares the son of Laomedon young Alexander the son of Polypercon Trasillus the brother of Menander the valiant Tyridates Cambyses and Araspes the sons of Mazeus Cleobulus son to the unfortunate Orsines Listander the son of Phrataphernes Philistratus the son of Archesiläus and many others who in virtue and greatness of courage were no way inferior to those whose fortune was more advantageous then theirs both in the savor of the late King and in the sharing of the Provinces This stately review beeing ended all these famous warriers alighted and under the conduct of Lysimachus drew near to Oroöndates his litter That gallant Prince received them with civilities worthie both of him and them and paied them such respects as were onely due to the chiefest and most illustrious persons upon earth hee gave a most courteous and submissive reception to Antigonus and his son to Craterus to Polypercon to Laomedon and the rest whose reputation had produced in him a high esteem of their merit but as soon as hee saw Oxiartes and Artabasus com toward him hee did his endeavor to have gotten out of his litter and embraced them with tremblings of heart and sighs which stopt the cours of his speech Prince Oxiartes and old Artabasus expressed the same tenderness to him and remembring together their first acquaintance the fall of Darius his hous and the change of their fortunes they solemnized that enterview with many tears in which a good part of the by-standers were interessed The number of so many considerable persons hindred Oroöndates at that time from saluting every one of them particularly but that hindred not all the Princes from looking upon him with the admiration which had alreadie seized them at the recital of his gallant actions Craterus put him in minde of the encounter hee had with him at the battel of Issus and of the disadvantage the gods had sent him for offring to oppose that valor to which all humane valor ought to yield Oroödates received Craterus's discours with a great deal of humilitie and excused his fall by the disorder of a throng wherein valiant men and cowards com down together These words drew on a noble and a pleasing conversation among so many persons of note from whom the fair Amazone Queen who was known to many of the companie that had retained the Idea of her from the time of her voiage to Alexander received the honors that were due unto her merit and to her qualitie all the eminent persons in that great armie desired to partake in that acquaintance and the press which began to incommode the Princes obliged them to think of retiring when from mouth to mouth there came a rumor among them that there was som disorder at one end of the Camp Lysimachus Eumenes Demetrius Laomedon and many others with them turned toward that side and caused room to bee made for them to go and appeas that tumult while the rest with Oroöndates and Thalestris went toward Polemon's hous The caus of the nois that had been heard was this five or six Troupers beeing three or four hundred paces from their bodie and following the bank of the river either by order from their captain or for som particular intention saw coming softly toward them a Cavalier attended onely by one Squire his garb and the pace hee rode shewed that hee was either very wearie or deeply buried in his thoughts but whatsoëver his posture was one might see hee was of a very fair stature the color of his arms was near to that of withered leavs but they were scattered over with black spots and with som sparks of fire in many places his coat of arms was of wrought steel and his cask was covered with plumes of the same color and with a long black hors tail which waved upon his shoulders with his left hand hee carried a shield where in hee also bore fables a mans heart torn by many vultures and these words in Greek Or ceas to tear mee or make mee ceas to live In his right hand hee held a strong javelin whereof having set the end of the shaft upon his foot hee seemed to lean upon it with all his weight These horsmen having looked awhile upon him and seeing him com still nearer to their camp in that melancholly fashion whether it were that they took him for a spie or that they had a minde to know who hee was advanced toward him uncivilly enough and asked him bluntly What hee was and whither hee went The stranger lift up his head at the nois they made in coming to him and seeing himself encompassed and examined by those fellows Friends said hee I follow my way I know not who you are and you have nothing to do to know who I am The forwardest of the Troupers nettled with this disdainful answer Whosoëver you are replied hee you shall com before our Generals to give them an account of what I have asked you and what business bring 's you so near unto our camp Saying these words hee seized upon his bridle and presenting the point of his javelin at him commanded him to follow him The stranger who naturally was none of the most patient could not suffer the violence that was offred him and without considering the number of his enemies hee rushed against him that had laid hold of his rein with his shield and with the breast of his hors so impetuously that hee sent him and his tumbling breathless to the ground the rest stirred up by the fall of their companion ran all furiously to revenge him and the stranger who had alreadie prepared himself to receiv them made at the first so unfortunately for him that hee struck his javelin in at his throat laid him dead among the horses feet After this action letting go his javelin hee drew his sword and falling in among them with an incomparable fierceness hee made them quickly know that they had vainly hoped to get the advantage over him by their number the third of his enemies was alreadie gnawing the earth having received a thrust which ran him quite through the bodie and those that were left began to think of running away when the nois of the fight so near the camp was heard by the nearest Troops som of the Troopers ran presently thither who seeing their companions dead and wounded betook themselvs to their side and without considering the laws of honor fell all together upon the stranger who received them with an assuredness able to strike that terror into them whereof hee himself was incapable Com base cowards cried hee com and believ that though I care but little for my life I 'le sell it you at as dear a rate as if I loved it very much Speaking these words hee flew amongst them like a thunderbolt and covering himself with his shield with an admirable dexteritie hee dealt his blows to the boldest of them with so great a force that every one of them carried either death or an incurable
there were fifteen or sixteen hundred slain upon the place and on the side of our Princes above a thousand yet won they the field and the whole advantage and from that glorious beginning drew most happy presages for the continuation of that Warr nor did they neglect to shew their thankfulness to the Gods by sacrifices which they made throughout the Camp both to the Gods of Greece and the Divinities of Persia presently a hundred Altars were seen to smoak and a hundred Victimes slain whose intrails were observ'd and gave no cause of apprehension to the Priests The fair Amazon receiv'd a thousand praises from the whole Camp and most particular endearments from those with whom she had more familiarity they who had seen her that day in the thickest of the fight made reports so much to her advantage that they had some difficulty to gain belief and when they went about to seek Comparisons to express her could finde nothing so proper as Thunder and Lightning Croondates imbracing her all armed as she was Pardon me said he Madam if I cannot hate Croontes since his infidelity has brought us so powerfull an assistance Nor can I added Lysimachus repent the sacriledge I committed in lifting my sword against you since from that crime we have drawn advantages which can never be sufficiently valued The fair Queen replied to these discourses exceeding gracefully and the Princes themselves would needs disburthen her of her Arms and look upon some slight hurts from whence they saw the bloud trickle down she had two upon her body but such inconsiderable ones that they had much ado to perswade her to keep her bed for two or three days By the recitall she made to Prince Croondates of the strangers valour she gave him an ardent desire to try his forces and to revenge the two brave sons of Mazaeus whom both for the consideration of their father and for their own he had always particularly esteemed and indeed they were lamented through the whole Camp their loss much abating the joy for that fortunate beginning As the Amazon Queen receiv'd great praises the whole Army was not sparing of them to young Demetrius and all the World extolled the Actions which in so early a youth he had been seen to perform against men of great experience in Warr and known reputation in terms able to have stirr'd up joy in him if at that time he had been capable of it That poor Prince was then in no condition to taste his Victory and though his Tent was full of Princes and Commanders who were come to visit him he had forgotten all his civility and left all the care of receiving the company to his father while he stirr'd not from the feet of her he had wounded and by whom he was likewise wounded himself in a most sensible place When the Chirurgians were searching her Wound he kept his eyes fixt upon their faces to draw an Omen thence of what he ought to fear or of what he ought to hope and when after they had done he saw them look upon one another with something a dolefull countenance O Gods cried he she 's a dead Woman and your faces promise me no good Well Philip continued he turning towards his fathers Chirurgian no life no safety neither for her nor for Demetrius Sir said the Chirurgian we cannot so soon settle an assured judgement but to morrow at the second dressing we shall speak with more certainty let her rest for four and twenty hours if you have any care of her health and come not into her Chamber till that time be expired Poor Demetrius nearer death than life at this discourse kneeled down by her and taking her by the hand which he bedewed with his tears Madam said he I protest to you by all the Gods that if you die I le live no longer and that you cannot take a more cruell revenge upon your Murtherer than in neglecting your Cure the shame of having kill'd a Woman as you are were enough alone to send me to my Grave but since that to so lawfull a grief the Gods to punish my crime have added the passion I have for you know that now your life is mine that by all my bloud I cannot recompense that which I have drawn from your fair body and that no man shall ever see me out-live the grief of having deprived the World of that which now is dearest to me of all the things that are in it Demetrius brought forth these passionate words so movingly and his beauty added so great an advantage to what he said that the Lady as great an Enemy as she was unto her safety and as much prepossess'd as she was with another passion could not keep her self from being nearly touch'd with them Sir said she you make me receive a death with grief for which I had prepared my self with joy and I protest to you by those same Gods you have invoked that your sorrow does most sensibly aggravate my former afflictions and that if they left the disposing of it unto me I to cure you of your grief would still endure this life which my remorse and my misfortunes make me to abhorr Afflict not your self any longer for me who am unworthy of these marks of your goodness and suffer me to die without other sorrows than those which have brought me to a just despair Demetrius would have replied if the Chirurgians had not perswaded him to retire after having imprinted a fiery kiss upon her hand and used some other blindly transported actions As he went out of her Chamber he gave order that Women should be fetched to serve her and presently some were sent for to Polemons house who came readily to do their best endeavours Antigonus who was acquainted with his Sons nature and who according to the report of all those that have spoken of his life was the most tenderly affectionate and the most perfectly indulgent that ever father was to a son instead of reproving him and blaming his passion was really afflicted with him and gave him the gentlest consolations he could desire then having gotten him to suffer two light wounds he had received to be searched and dressed he at his intreaty left him to his rest and dismissed his friends who came thronging to visit him When Demetrius saw himself alone and that in that solitariness he made reflexion upon the strange caprichiousness of his fortune he fell into such violent thoughts that he was like either to lose his senses or suddenly to end his days Men have been often seen to love said he and Lovers have often been seen to lose by death the person whom they loved but that a Lover should in the same day love see die nay and with his own hand kill her whom he loved is a thing which never happened to any body but Demetrius It was shame enough to Demetrius to dishonour his first attempts by the death of a Woman without adding this bloudy
me and asking me if I were not Spitamenes Wife gave me to understand that they had already notice of my coming After I had told him that I was she he took me by the hand and led me to the Kings Chamber between two long Rowes of souldiers I had no sooner cast my eyes upon him but my passions were violently awaken'd and my love making me bold drove away part of my fears and weaknesses He was attended by a great number of Princes and perhaps my Lords by some of you which makes me believe I shall tell you no new thing and that this Recital will be tedious to those who are not unacquainted with this Adventure Ptolomeus answering to this part of her Discourse It is true Madam said he I was then at Court and present at your coming to the King your beauty ravish'd all the beholders and we began to flock about you with admiration when Alexander being willing to give you a more particular audience commanded us to retire we heard not what you said to him and some of these that hearken to you have never heard speak of this Adventure I will tell you then continued Hermione that I drew a good Omen from that courtious particular audience it pleased the King to afford me and seeing I had all the liberty to entertain him that I could have wish'd I forc'd my self to recover a little courage Before I spoke to the King I cast my self at his feet but he rais'd me up very civily and and with gentle words prayed me to tell the cause of my coming to him I saw well that he had utterly forgotten my face and that he did not so much as know that I was Cradates his Daughter but his kinde Reception having perfectly re-assured me Sir said I behold your slave who comes to lay her life and fortune at your feet This is not the first day I am subject to your Empire and I make it my glory that I have been yours ever since I was capable of understanding Spitamenes his tyranny has not been able to disingage my affections from that sublime pitch to which I had raised them and though I was his by the violence of my Friends I was always Great Alexanders both by a just knowledge and by a most powerfull inclination and to say truth that noble prepossession of my heart made the Vices of Spitamenes in supportable to me and that difference of our manners caused an incompatibility between us which left us no other thoughts save those of destroying one another Spitamenes is at last sacrificed to your just indignation and your Captive was unwilling to come before you without a considerable Present With that of her prayers and homages she brings you Victory she presents all Bactria to you and with it the Head of faithless Spitamenes At these words Theano drew it out of the Bagg and presented it to the King all bloudy and gastly He lent me a favourable attention till that part of my Discourse but he had no sooner heard those last words and seen the cruell Present I offered him when of a sudden he turned away his eyes from me and from Spitamenes his Head and flying away to the other end of the Room testified by all his Actions that he could not endure the sight of me without horrour What said he are you Spitamenes his Wife and do you bring me Spitamenes his Head He spoke the words twice or thrice over without ever looking toward me and struck me into a strange confusion by that cruell revolution of my fortune I strove nevertheless to resettle my self and was preparing to tell him the Causes I had to hate Spitamenes by which perhaps I might have justified my self to him but he would not give me the leisure and turning at last toward me with a furious look Go said he get thee gone thou wicked and detestable Woman and pollute not Alexanders ears with the Relation of thy Paricides I have till now defended my self from any such shame as this thou wouldst fix upon my Reputation and I have conquered my Enemies by open War without destroying them by the treachery of their Wives carry thy horrible affections other where and hope not to finde Monsters amongst us that will approve of thy Disloyalties 't is onely in consideration of thy sex that I spare thy life but lead it so far from me that the glory of mine may never be troubled by thy detestable remembrance When he had ended these words which were to me like Thunder or something yet more dreadfull he commanded me to be put out of his Tent and carried out of the Camp without suffering me to stay there any longer Leonatus executed his Command and making me get up again into my Chariot caused me to be conducted out of the Macedonian Trenches Judge my Lords of the condition I was in at this utmost of my misfortunes and supply my weakness which will not suffer me to express it then it was that I saw my self cast headlong into the greatest of all my disasters and that I fell into my extreamest despair Till then though I had lived miserable I had yet liv'd innocent and though my life had been persecuted I had at least preserv'd my hands and my conscience clean but then I saw them defiled by the murther of my husband and my shame divulged amongst those persons from whom I ought most carefully to have conceal'd it I had dishonoured my self by a crime which notwithstanding the excuses it might have was still exceeding great both before the gods and before men and I saw my self ignominiously driven away from him in favour of whom I had committed it and in whom I had grounded all my hopes I was without any retreat or support in the hands of a few men in whom by reason of the fresh proof they had given me of their infidelity toward their master I was no way induced to have any confidence These considerations were so bitter to me that they were like presently to have put a period to my life and but for the hinderance of Strato and Theano I had cut off the course of my miseries with my own hand I caus'd my self to be helped out of the Chariot when we were got a little from the Camp and casting my self upon the ground I said words and did actions which could not proceed from other than a Soul given over to despair my remorse began to accompany my love and they both joyn'd together to make a pittyless war against me Then I remembered Spitamenes his predictions and the knowledge he had given me of Alexander's humour All that was terrible in his death came then before my eyes and though I could not bewail him yet could I not comfort my self because I had been accessary to the taking away of his life Ah! Spitamenes cried I thou hadst deserv'd death by thy crimes but thou oughtest to have received it from the justice of the gods and
not from the cruelty of thy wife and she ought to have suffer'd that which thou intendedst her rather than let any thing be attempted against the life of her husband but complain not of thy destiny I shall not make sport of it with that Lover concerning whom thou didst so justly reproach me and mine will be so miserable that even in Hell it self thou wilt not envy it that beauty wherein thou sometimes foundest charms able to soften thy Barbarous humour found nothing from thy proud rival but disdain and scorn he whom thou betrayedst takes care thou shouldst be revenged and so thou art much more severely for thy death than I am for the death of Cradates After this discourse Alexanders cruel words came into my rememberance and I in them found so many causes to seek for death that Theano and Strato never could divert me from that resolution my passion nevertheless was so full of respect that I spake not one word nor had so much as a thought of resentment against him and though I knew it with grief I believed it was with justice that he thought none but monsters would approve of my horrible affection At the importunity of those that were with me I got up again into the Chariot and they resolv'd to go toward a Town in which a near Kinsman of my Fathers did still command I suffer'd my self to be guided by their will having no other thought save that of deploring my miserable fortune Our horses travailed at a good rate but it pleased the gods that in the evening we were met and taken by some of Catenes his Scouts Catenes was Spitamenes his nearest friend and the companion of his revolt Haustenes and he had an Army within two dayes march of Spitamenes from whence they made excursions upon Alexanders Camp Strato and Theano knowing into what hands we were fallen began to tremble and make large offers for our liberty but 't was impossible for them to obtain it and having been carefully kept that night we were brought before Catenes the next evening my face was not unknown to him and if I had then had any remainder of desire to live I should have had cause enough to fall into mortal apprehensions When I was presented to him he had newly heard of his friends death and scarce had he begun to lament it when he saw his murtherers delivered into his power He was not a little joy'd at that encounter and resolved to make us end our lives in torments I was indifferent to all that could happen to me but Strato would needs prevent the punishments to which he was destined and seeing his hands at liberty he seized upon the sword of one of those that brought us and striking it up to the hilts in his own breast fell presently dead at Catenes his feet By this speedy vengeance for Spitamenes his death I saw that the gods cannot approve of treacheries of what nature so ever they be and that infidelity even to the wickedst men is never pardonable but I also found new occasions in it to detest this life for which I had seen so much bloud unfortunately spilt Catenes commanded that Strato's companions should be â—lea'd alive and he was ready to have pronounced some cruel sentence against me when looking undauntedly upon him Revenge the death of thy friend said I Catenes as I have reveng'd the deaths of my Father and of my Brothers Catenes found something in these words that expressed a courage and in my face saw something of beauty that check'd his indignation wherefore he was satisfied with making me be strictly guarded and for my sake Theano received the same favour Within some few dayes after he talk'd to me of love and told me he would marrie me but he found me so little plyant to that proposition that he despaired of effecting it by gentle means he caus'd me to be well enough attended by some women he put about me and in that manner of life I continued above three moneths without being able to withdraw my thoughts from Alexander hardly for a moment That Tyrannical passion was so deeply rooted in my heart that it left no care nor no remembrance in it of my other miseries and being become indifferent or insensible of all other things I passed three or four moneths in Catenes his power as a person that knew not what condition she was in Catenes in the mean while began to press me and to threaten me with the power he had over me but one day when he mentioned the violence he could use to me Do revenge thy friend if thou wilt said I but learn by his example not to desire the alliance of Hermione These words cooled him for a few dayes but I think at last he would have come to extreamities if he had not been prevented by his destiny You know that Alexander sent a flying Camp against Haustenes and him under the command of Craterus and Lysimachus and that in the Battel which was given Hastenes was taken and Catenes slain by Lysimachus At this discourse all the Company cast their eyes upon Lysimachus whose modesty made him blush but they would not interrupt Hermione's storie which she continued on this manner I tell you the last accidents of my life succinctly because the recital of them affords little matter of diversion and that the wasting of my strength will not suffer me to enlarge my self further in this narration you shall know therefore that after Catenes his death my condition was altered and that Craterus having had a command from Alexander to bring all the prisoners before him sorrowfull Hermione was one of that number Alas with what sudden transports did I receive that occasion of seeing my pittyless Master once again and of justifying my self before him touching some part of my crime Perhaps said I the gods may have mollified his heart and that the knowledge of those provocations I received from Spitamenes may have abated some of his cruelty toward me Heaven does not alwayes look upon us with anger and perchance Hermione shall not be the onely person of the world whose fortune is subject to no revolutions In this hope I was carried along with the prisoners and we were presented to Alexander just at the time when he was going into the Indies I did not much observe his usage of the rest but casting my self at his feet and looking upon him with eyes drowned in tears Sir said I either hear me or command me to be put to death The King having looked earnestly upon me thought he knew me yet desiring to be certified of the truth Is not this Spitamenes his wife said he to those that were about him who having confirmed his belief Give her her liberty said he and take her away for fear her conversation teach the Macedonians crimes which are yet unknown to them This was all the satisfaction I received by my last sight of Alexander and I was so dejected at that
my heart all the acknowledgment I ow him for it heretofore I should have passed Seas to acquit my self of a less Obligation and now I would go down as far as Hell to sacrifice him to my just Resentments to whom I have so great an ingagement This misery of my life Lysimachus ought to move pity in you and obtain pardon for a choice which my love which my jealousie which my rage forced me to make against my former inclinations and against my affection to you Arsaces uttered these passionate words with an action which fetch'd tears into Lysimachus his eyes but his astonishment was redoubled by them and considering that Arsaces could not justly use those Reproaches to Oroondates who better than all the men in the world had deserved the possession of Statira in whose service Arsaces could not have spent more than some short moments of his life he was in a marvellous confusion and being desirous to draw more particular light from Arsaces his mouth I am as sensibly touch'd with your displeasures said he as with my own but either I cannot comprehend their cause or else I can see but little justice in them This Rival against whom you have so violent an indignation complains of you with more appearance of Reason than you can have unless there be some mistake in your affairs and there are few persons but know that he hath spent his whole life in the service of that Princess whom you have won from him in an hour his despair is much better grounded than yours when he remembers the admirable Actions he hath done for her and that being just upon the point of receiving the recompence which was due to him he sees her by a prodigious inconstancy in your arms and findes himself ingratefully forsaken for you who have done her but very little service and who are hardly so much as known to her How cried the impatient Arsaces have I done my Princess but little service and am I hardly so much as known to her Lysimachus was going to reply and they were like to have come to a more perfect clearing of businesses if an unexpected accident had not interrupted their conversation the cause thereof was this The Amazon Queen when she had stood a while at a distance listening to their discourse at last resolved to go up to them and Arsaces his companion by her example moved from the place where he made his stand when they were come a little nearer to one another than they had been before Thalestris casting her eyes upon that Cavalier saw upon his shield the dreadfull Impress of the Vultures the reputation whereof was already as much known by the valour of him that bore it as his name was unknown by his so late coming into those parts and his having been ever since in the Enemies Quarters The Queen presently remembered her Combat with him and with what generosity he had defended her from the soul play offered by Cassander being glad of this Encounter she had a minde to make a more particular acquaintance with him with that intent she spurr'd on her Horse and putting forth her hand as she came up to him Valiant Sir cried she since I have tried your force in fight I desire to be better known to you and to make a friendship if it be possible with so brave and so generous an Enemy The stranger who for civility yielded to no man in the world advanced toward the Queen at this discourse and seeing that she put her hand toward the Beaver of her Cask to discover her face he thrust up his and let her see his face at the same time The aspect of the dreadfull Gorgon never wrought more strange effects than this sight produced mutually in these two persons and if the stranger was surprised to see the Queen the Queen was strucken with the height of amazement when in the strangers face she beheld all the Lineaments of her faithless Orontes They instantly were seized with so strange a confusion that they seemed like two Marble statues being neither able to speak nor stir they continued a great while looking upon each other with inward motions very different from their ancient tendernesses and by the fiery glances of their eyes gave one another knowledge of the violent thoughts that stirr'd them up They could not absolutely believe their sight and that uncertainty kept them for some time irresolute silent and unmoveable In the end they no longer doubted of the truth of this Encounter and the Queen less Mistris of her furious Resentments than Orontes took hold of the handle of her sword and casting a look up toward Heaven with a most terrible action O Gods cried she at last you have brought me that disloyal man who hath so impiously invoked you in the falsness of his Oaths and drawing her sword after she had often call'd Orontes Traitour she flew upon him with a fury like that of a Tygress when she is robb'd of her young Orontes at last came to himself and flying both the looks and approach of Thalestris O! my eyes cried he must you then behold this faithless Woman again Yet though he was no less moved than she he was more moderate and having still a respect to the sex and even to the person of her whom he had so dearly loved he left his sword still in the scabberd and onely held forth his shield retiring from the blows she made Leave me cried he leave me false ingratefull Woman and discharge not thy rage against a man who is innocent of the loss thou hast sustained The Queen replied not with any distinct words but rushing upon him with confused cries and redoubled abuses made him quickly see she either meant to give him his death or receive hers from him Arsaces and Lysimachus turning about at this noise were quite surprised at so unfore-seen an adventure and Arsaces observing the manner of that combat was something ashamed and troubled to see his Valiant Companion who had so brave a reputation retire or rather fly before an Enemy He leaped upon his horse and advanced toward him by Lysimachus his example who ran presently to the Queen when Orontes seeking sanctuary by him deliver me O! Arsaces cried he deliver me from the sight of this perfidious woman who is much more cruel to me than that death she strives to give me Ah! monster of infidelity replied Thalestris quite besides her self hope not that the assistance of Arsaces nor of all the men in the world shall save thee from my just indignation As she spake these words she made her self passage between Arsaces and Lysimachus with such a fury that those two Valiant men were too weak to withhold her Both of them because they had heard something of their adventures began to suspect the truth and being desirous to trie some remedy against so sudden and so violent a mischief they used all their strength and all their perswasions to stop and pacifie
among the slain who not yet quite dead lay with groans begging the assistance of their dearest friends by whom they saw themselves forsaken in the night and in their utmost extremities Our Princes were no sooner come into the Camp but they saw the Ladies in great perplexity coming forth to meet them Apamia Arsinoe and the rest having past the day full of deadly apprehensions receiv'd their Husbands with open arms and scarce would suffer them to get into their Tents before they begun to pull off their Armour and look upon their wounds By good fortune none of the Princes had any that were mortal Oroondates Lysimachus Ptolomeus and Demetrius had some few but such light ones that they could hardly be perswaded to keep their beds for them the next day Antigonus was run through the shoulder and brave Craterus through the thigh Polyperchon was wounded in the head and in the right arm the Amazon Queen Oxyartes and Eumenes had no hurt at all but of all the other Commanders very few were free part of the night was spent in dressing them and the remainder was given to rest and in many quarters of the Army to the cries and complaints of those who had lost their near Friends or Kinsmen in the Battel The next day there came Messengers from Perdiccas who demanded a Truce of the Princes for six days to bury the dead and dress those that were wounded of both parties It presently was granted and they on either side sent without delay to view the field There it was they met with objects worthy of compassion and then their losses began to be known by the computation of the dead and by the remainder of the living the Princes found they had lost above fifty thousand men and on Perdiccas his side there were slain above threescore and ten thousand among which divers were very considerable on each party on that of the Princes were Philotas Archeselaus and his son Pisistratus Pharnabasus Trasillus Tyridates the two sons of Mentor and many others who for their quality and virtue were lamented by the whole Army On the other Amintas Nicanor Axiarchus Philippus the brother of Cassander Acropates with his son the sons of Erigius Python and Stratanor the brothers of Peucestas and Andiagoras Perdiccas his nephew and a great number more whose loss was no small affliction to their party All that day was imployed in carrying them off which their friends did with grievous lamentations and of the bodies of common souldiers they made great heaps with their Arms to burn them since by reason of their excessive number they could not give the honour of Burial to every one in particular That order was executed the day following and many of the Commanders were present at that Ceremony the rest knowing their Forces to be much diminish'd were busie in setting men on work to fortifie their Camp to make their Lines deeper and draw new ones in places which they had before neglected These were the general imployments but those of Oroondates Lysimachus and Thalestris were very different and they had particular afflictions besides those they suffer'd with the rest for the death of their men and for seeing themselves deceiv'd in their expectation of an absolute Victory Lysimachus saw his hopes further off than before and his Princess a Captive till the conclusion of a War which he thought to have made an end of in one day Oroondates with the same cause of grief had others also which violently tormented him and was not more afflicted for the Queens captivity or for the uncertaintainty of her condition than to see that Arsaces had escaped his Revenge and was triumphant over his ill fortune he had learn'd by many who yet bore his marks how after their separation he return'd into the fight where he did a thousand Actions which ran with admiration over all the Camp this knowledge added an emulation to his former jealousie which did not a little aggravate his sorrows and sometimes cast him into such strange Resolutions that had he not been hindred by Aranes Lysimachus and many others he would instantly have gone to seek Arsaces or Death in the middle of his Camp Ah! hand said he thou which in occasions of less importance hast often serv'd me with success feeble hand why didst thou fail me at this time of need and lose thy strength against my chiefest Enemy Heretofore thou wouldst have made my Sword finde passage through that daring heart where Statira is seated or if thou hadst born any reverence to her image thou certainly wouldst have thrust it through all those other parts where death can possibly enter He spake many other such like words and after having rowl'd a thousand several imaginations in his fancy the last Resolution was to challenge Arsaces to a single Combat as soon as the Truce was expired and to decide his Differences with him once for all in sight of both Armies If Oroondates was thus tormented Thalestris was rack'd with a far greater violence and the perseverance she found in Orontes to use her ill had brought so great a rage that she was utterly uncapable of any rest all that her first resentments had made her think or say in former times was full of gentleness and moderation in comparison of these last motions of her fury wherewith she was impetuously transported I le seek thee said she Monster of ingratitude I le seek thee in the middest of a hundred thousand swords and spite of all the obstacles that can oppose my lawfull indignation I with a thousand blows will stab that black perfidious heart of thine thou shalt but vainly fortifie thy self with Guards and with Entrenchments against the rage of an incensed Lover and the passion that guides me shall make way through all the powers of earth to thy destruction These wilde thoughts made her of so unsociable an humour that she could no longer abide the company of those persons whom she considered most and knowing it was hard for her to avoid it by keeping within doors she put on her Arms and forbidding even Hyppolita to follow her she mounted on horse-back to go entertain her cruell melancholly out of the reach of all humane conversation and not to return again till darkness had overspread the earth She had been gone but a little while when Oroondates who was made sensibly concern'd in her afflictions came into her Chamber to visit her and to intermix his Discontents with hers Lysimachus and Ptolomeus came in presently after him and all of them together having learn'd of Hyppolita in what manner she went away fear'd least the violence of her Resentments might have carried her to some strange Resolution and desiring to prevent the effect of it if they could possibly they sent for their Arms and Horses went with Hyppolita the same way she had been seen to go At that very time sorrowfull Demetrius whose grief made him as much an Enemy to company as Thalestris was got
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
compassion of an unfortunate Lover whom your ingratitude precipitates into utter despair nor the remembrance of this Crown which is the cause of all my misfortunes and which you ow to none but me nor the consideration of honour which is interessed in the violation of your word can disswade you from the cruell resolution you have taken against me Remember King of Epirus remember that I shall be able to do as much for my own Quarrel as I have done already for yours and that this unjust Cassander shall either sink under my lawfull indignation or make Agis fall with the better part of Greece That 's the first Expedition I le prepare for and if the Gods grant me the success which is due to the justice of my cause you shall quickly see those Arms Aeacidas glittering in Epirus in a hostile manner which once you look'd upon with so much joy when they came to bring you safety they know already how to conquer the Epirotes and shall overflow their fields with that same bloud which heretofore they unluckily have preserv'd At these words the King could no longer contain himself within the limits of moderation and seeing all those that stood about him murmur at Agis his declaration Hitherto said he in regard of your resentment and in remembrance of what you have done for us I have passed by all your provocations but since you openly declare War against me I accept it and charge you within three days to depart this Countrey where you cannot be look'd upon as other than an Enemy 'T is as an Enemy replyed Agis hastily 't is as an Enemy you shall see me return into 't and all the most cruell and most horrible effects that Fire and Sword can bring along with them shall be the sure Rewards of perjury and ingratitude These words were not well over-heard by the King who already was retiring another way and furious Agis going out of the Room at the same time took his way directly towards his lodging The noise of this disorder was immediately spread through the whole Court and there was no other talk in all Ambracia but of this unexpected change and of the Events it might produce Opinions were divided and if those that were concern'd found or indeavour'd to make others finde reason in the Kings proceeding they that judg'd of it without passion or interest condemn'd him of a high ingratitude but the number of the base-minded men and flatterers was greater than that of generous persons and the same Agis who a few days before was follow'd and adored by the whole Court saw himself generally forsaken in a moment and attended onely by those he had brought out of his Countrey When this news was told me I was like instantly to have died for grief and though the Queen my Mother labour'd to give me some consolation and to cover the Kings action with some pretences I found nothing in her discourses but new occasions of affliction Let not the King hope said I no let him never hope that my heart can be chang'd and since he needs would have me love King Agis let him prepare himself to see me love him in the grave an affection which such express commands such important obligations and such admirable qualities have kindled is not so easily to be quench'd and the King my father ought not to think it strange though I ow my life to him that my soul nevertheless is different from his I must love Agis Madam for ever and although I have power enough over that passion to keep it within the limits which my birth hath prescrib'd it will have power enough over me to make my heart incapable of a second Ah! my dear Agis rather let Death accompanied with the most rigorous Tortures separate me from thee for ever than that I should afford room to a successour in this heart which never was nor ever shall be any bodies but thine I accompanied these words with such a floud of tears that the Queen was deeply touch'd with them she esteem'd Agis infinitely and did no way approve my fathers maximes but he govern'd not his affairs by her advice and she was much too weak to oppose his determinations I passed the rest of that day and all the night in sighs in sobs and in half desperate actions and the next morning my poor Agis being resolv'd to go away that very day came to receive his last farewell of me The King who could neither forbear to consider him nor think upon him without remorse denied him not that small satisfaction and his entrance into my chamber was as freely permitted as before He came in with a countenance which had almost nothing of its wonted features whose looks had something so fatal in them that Death appear'd there most naturally painted and I beheld him with Eyes which sufficiently testified the part I bore in his misfortunes Of a long time he was not able to get out one word and for a long time also I was in no condition to begin that sad Entertainment Our Eyes talk'd a great while for us and when fainting Agis thought himself strong enough to help them to express his minde after having begun with many sighs Madam said he behold this disgrac'd behold this banish'd man behold this Enemy of Epyrus and he who in this Court has appear'd with such a lustre and with so high a fortune departs now from it without any other consolation than that of being able to take his leave of you 't is the onely favour that 's not refused me and 't is in it alone I have establish'd my latest hopes you are too generous my fair Princess to square your thoughts by those of the King your father and though I be hated by your friends I hope that you will not consider me as the Enemy of your House I consider you said I interrupting him and will consider you all my life as that which I love most dearly in this world and as that onely which I can and will love in it The Gods be praised reply'd Agis lifting up his hands and eyes to Heaven since my Princess is not chang'd neither is my fortune and since she still will love me I out-brave the tyrannical power of a Father and all the oppositions of unthankfull Epirus Well then my Princess if you love me if you love me said he again within a little after and made a stop at these words as not having the confidence to proceed I perceiv'd his inward disturbance and being willing to ease him in it Yes Agis added I I love you and I will give all the proofs you can demand of my affection If it be so replied he I no longer have any reason to complain of my destiny but dearest Princess how extremely do I fear you 'l change your resolution and how I tremble at the proposition I am going to make you In a less extremity I should not have attempted it but since 't is
I obey'd her punctually and in the sad passages of my Narration I saw her so nearly touch'd that I thereby receiv'd no light marks of that affection which from thence forward was to make up my whole fortune and be to me in the stead of Parents of Empires and of whatsoever the Anger of Heaven had taken from me Arsaces was in this part of his story when the Princess Berenice accompanied with Apamia and Cleone came into the chamber They that kept the door of the Tent knew very well that Princess was not comprehended in the Order which had been given them and of those three persons there was not one that could be thought unfit to hear Arsaces his discourse As soon as they entred the Princes who were sitting by Arsaces his bed-side rose up to salute them and the two wounded ones receiv'd them with a great deal of joy the motions wherof nevertheless were a little different Arsaces could not see his Princess without some inward alteration or rather without some kinde of transport and Berenice could not behold Arsaces in a much better state of health than she had hoped for in so short a time without shewing some signs of such a contentment as a bare good will is not able to produce When she had likewise receiv'd an assurance from the Princes mouths of the amendment of their wounds she sate down and Apamia and Cleone with her upon seats that were brought them Berenice was going to fall into some discourse when the Prince her brother not being willing to be diverted from their former entertainment opposed her intention Sister said he content your self that the troublesom passage you so much apprehended has been related in your absence and that we have heard you have lov'd without your being put to the pain to tell it us Fear not sister continued he seeing Berenices face ore-spread at these words with a glowing colour you would have more cause to blush if one could reproach you with having been so blinde as not to know the admirable qualities of this Prince with having been ingratefull for the obligations we have to him and in short with having been able to see and know Artaxerxes without loving him Do not hinder us from hearing the rest of his Adventures and hearken to the share you have in them without interrupting us Arsaces accompanied these words of Oroondates with a most humble and beseeching look which seem'd to beg pardon of his Princess for the confession he had made to the company of the affection she bore him and seeing that they were all settled again in silence and that they disposed themselves to attention he went on thus with his discourse The end of the second Book CASSANDRA The fourth Part. The third Book IT is true my fairest Princess that being oblig'd to this Recital by the command of my dear Brother I have declared to this illustrious company the testimonies you gave me of your affection but they are not ignorant that 't was to the remembrance of Oroondates you granted what could never be due to the services or person of Artaxerxes and that your inclination to a Brother so worthy of your love made you look upon the passion of his dear friend and brother more advantageously than you would have done upon that of the Prince of Persia The signs I receiv'd of the continuance of my Princesses good will pursued Arsaces turning toward Oroondates and the rest of the company were so precious to me that I really believ'd I had no reason to complain against heaven which did so fully recompence me for the loss of those Empires it had depriv'd me of and being by my Princesses orders retired with this knowledge to the lodgings that were appointed for me in the Palace I imploy'd the rest of that day considering in that the greatness from whence I was fallen had not in its most pompous lustre had any thing comparable to my present felicity It belongs to none but the Gods said I to do miraculous Actions and as great and powerfull as they are they could not make me amends for the greatness of my losses but by the greatness of that fortune to which they now have raised me having taken from me whatsoever they could take away they give me whatsoever they could give me of most great and of most beautifull and in short they give me all that I could desire and more than I could lawfully hope for let them bestow the Empires of Asia and of Europe on whom they please provided they leave but Berenice to fortunate Arsaces he never will accuse them of injustice but will without envy behold the absolute Authority of those Masters of the whole Earth These really were my thoughts and Fortune who by such glorious tokens made me believe she meant to declare her self in my favour forsook me not in those beginnings but made all things contribute to the happiness she had procured me That service I had done the King finding him prepossessed with some good opinion of me and with some affection to me wrought presently the most powerfull effect one could have hoped for by it from the most gratefull Prince in the world and if at my former Voyage I had been held in some consideration at Court this last Action added to the inclination which the King had already toward me raised me there to such a credit that to represent it to you in a few words I may truly say that within one moneth Arsacomes had no advantage over me and had it not been for the power of the Queen I should without dispute have held the first place in the Kings esteem and affection 'T is true I labour'd not to make my self great by Offices and imployments for having thoughts very far distant from those I was satisfied with causing that to be given to others as much as I could without abusing the Kings favour towards me which men who had been slaves to an Ambition different from mine would perchance have kept for their own selves This manner of carriage added to the good fortune I had at that time gain'd me a reasonable good number of friends in the Court and I did so little trespass upon their friendship or upon the compliance which the estate of my condition oblig'd them to render me that amongst them all I never observ'd any one to grow cold toward me or discontented Arsacomes envied my fortune but he durst not cross it openly remembring that he was indebted to me for his life and the Queen his sister who had the same obligation and who was an extreme cunning and politick Princess would not thwart the Kings inclinations which she knew to be very potent toward me As Arsacomes his envy of me was nourish'd in him by certain considerations so my aversion to him was increased by divers others and though I could not love him because he was my Rival and a Rival very troublesome to my Princess yet durst I not
who might have been in the Court of Persia if the rumour of my death had not facilitated my disguise and crossed the opinion of those who else might have believed they had seen me there I underwent this change of my fortune patiently enough and onely begg'd of the Gods that my Princess might not be entangled in my ruin the Kings severity giving me some cause of fear for her by the example I had before my eyes of his usage of the Prince his Son scarce had I had the leasure to consider what resolution I should take when I saw him come into my Chamber attended by those in whom he had greatest confidence and to whom he declared his most important secrets having left his guards at the door that they might not be witnesses of the discourse he desired to have with me I found not that cheerfulness in his face which he was wont to have when he saw me and instead of that kind reception I usually had from him there was nothing in his eyes and countenance but marks of his anger and new animosity I went to meet him at his coming in with an action but very little troubled and with my ordinary respect and having given him a salute not much different from what he was wont to receive of me he looking upon me with a fiery eye and with a face kindled by a passion which he was not well able to master I come to visite you said he Sir Artaxerxes and this respect is a beginning of what is due to the knowledge of your quality The ignorance of it has made me faulty toward you but when I shall once have it confirm'd by your own mouth I will repair the errours I have committed by usage more suitable to what I owe to the Prince of Persia After these words I no longer had any reason to doubt the cause of my imprisonment and though in them I observed an extraordinary sharpness I was not terrified enough to disown the bloud of Darius I judged that such a baseness would render me unworthy of the honour I had to be descended from him and that all the dangers I could apprehend after that discovery ought not to be sufficient to make me stoop to so shamefull a dissimulation In this belief looking upon the King with confidence enough They that endeavour to ruin me in your Majesties thoughts said I have but small knowledge of your generosity and of the little love I bear to life but if it were a thousand times more dear to me than it is and that I manifestly saw the loss of it in this confession there is no fear so powerfull as to make me disavow the honour I have to be of the race of Darius His misfortunes which ought to serve all Kings for an example have not taken any thing from him of his dignity nor from his of the glory to be born of the first Monarch of all the earth If I did not declare it sooner 't was because I waited till fortune should present me with occasions to do you services that might be considerable enough to blot that hatred out of your mind which you have born my family and to make me discover that more handsomely which I now onely confirm to your Majesty after the knowledge you have of it already Yes Sir I am Darius his Son Fortune brought me into your territories after she had made me to be taken from among the dead bodies at the battel of Selena Your vertue your favourable usage and the remembrance of what I ow'd to the friendship of Oroondates staid me here and the hope I had in your generosity and in the support of my dear Brother brought me back again after the loss of my nearest friends and of my dominions I believed that by my services I might merite from you a part of that affection Oroondates had received from Darius and that against our general Enemy I could not hope for a more fitting sanctuary than in the Court of my friends Father and of a King who had honoured me himself with his affection Nor did I onely hope that King and that friend would afford me a secure retreat but also their assistance to raise my self to the throne again to revenge the death and captivity of my Father Mother and Sisters and to recover my reputation If this confidence in your generosity be my crime I cannot deny Sir but I am truely criminal and if this knowledge has made me lose my liberty and caused the change I observe in your Majesty I will not disavow it nor hide him from your indignation who hath voluntarily exposed himself to it I uttered these words with an assuredness which as I believe hindred the King from interrupting me before I had ended them but when I had done speaking he turned his flaming eyes upon those that were with him and then setting them upon my face with a furious action Is it true than said he that you are Darius his Son and that you are bold enough to make a confession in my presence which cannot but be fatal to you amongst the Scythians Is it true that you are the Son of my mortal and irreconcileable Enemy of him who hath often dyed our Fields red with the bloud of our subjects and with mine own and who many times brought fire sword and desolation into my Kingdom and instead of considering that the Gods have delivered you into my hands to give me some satisfaction for the injuries I have receiv'd from you and yours do you pretend to be protected and assisted by me I was mov'd with this cruel discourse but I yet considered the Father of Berenice and Oroondates and struggling against my resentments to keep my self within the respect I ow'd him It is true Sir reply'd I I am the Son of him who was heretofore your Enemy but that which I have done for you and yours the marks whereof are still fresh in the heart of your Kingdom and in the limites of your territories and which I also bear in many parts of my body may sufficiently tell you that you have few friends have done you services like those you have received from the Son of your Enemy No Sir I do not believe you can yet hold him for your Enemy who abandoned his own interests for yours and who to the prejudice of his Dominions to the prejudice of his bloud nay and even to the prejudice of his honour fought for you and yours while his Countrey was on fire and while his nearest friends became a prey to the fury of his Enemies I know not whither the Kings anger was then risen of it self to the height or that these words accompanied with some reproaches drew him to extremity of rage but howsoever it were he then went beyond the bounds of that moderation which was befitting a person of his quality and breaking forth with a violence which put a fear into all those that attended him Ah! imposter cried
was not groundless could not settle it self in her heart without a most sensible affliction and though she had cause enough to lament for her own captivity seeing she was a prisoner her self and confin'd to the limits of her chamber yet did she to that consideration adde also that of Arsaces his ruine and was excessively grieved for fear of seeing a Prince perish and perish by her occasion who had given himself wholly to her and who by the endeavours of his services had merited some part in her affection These indeed were lawfull apprehensions but they would have been much greater if she had been of the Kings counsell and had perfectly known his finall resolution Truely it was a stranger one then I expected and you will not onely disapprove it Brother but will also be astonished at it and if you please will pardon me all those words which a just sence thereof may make me utter in the prosecution of my discourse I was in my chamber with Criton where were also Theocles and Hyander my two faithfull Scythian servants when I saw one of those that commanded my guards come in followed by five or sixe of his men in a manner that was something extraordinary He brought a cup in his right hand and a dagger in his left His countenance was altered by the business he had undertaken and all things about him contributed to make me know his errand I was surprised at this encounter and guess'd though with some repugnance the truth of his commission Yet did I give him time to tell me what it was and he trembling and stammering at last got out these words Sir said he the King is resolv'd that you must die but the consideration he ha's of your person and of the services you have done this State will not suffer him to imploy the hands of any of his subjects to doe that office therefore he leaves it to your own and to your choice to take either this ponyard or this poyson for the execution of his will Ah! Brother cried out Prince Oroöndates at this part of Arsaces his discourse what prodigies are these you tell me and what shame will you have me suffer for being born if a more cruell and a more barbarous Monster then any that Affricke ever bred Oh thou inhumane Tygre I disavow thee and since thou dost so little consider both the chiefest bloud in all the world and the person that ought to be most dear and most considerable to thee I account my birth more vile and shamefull then if I had receiv'd it from the basest dregs of the people Oroöndates transported by his resentment would have gon on with his invective if Arsaces had not hindred him by prosecuting his story on this manner I confess Brother I was as much surpris'd as you are at this cruell proposition for though I began to be acquainted with the Kings humour and that I had some reason to look for some ill usage I could never have believed he would have run to that extremity against a Prince of my quality and a Prince who had serv'd him both in his affairs and in his own person And indeed I testified my astonishment by a silence which perchance made these guards think it was caus'd by the fear of death True it is I had ceas'd to desire it as well by reason of the proofs I received of my Princesses affection as of the hopes I had in your assistance and that if my life which the sweetness of these hopes began to make much dearer to me then it was before could be preserv'd without doing an unworthy action I did not disdain to lay hold of the occasion Yet was it not so much the fear of losing it as the horrour of that usage together with despite and amazement that caus'd the greatness of my confusion But as great as it was I quickly recovered my self and looking upon that fatall messenger with an action that utterly took away the little courage he had left Is it possible said I the King should have given you this comission against a Prince whose birth is known to him and against a Prince to whom he ows his life and the peace of his dominions 'T was he himself that gave it me replyed the man but I took it not without repugnance yet am I oblig'd to obey his orders and punctually to execute his commands What said I you who are one of the very Scythians that have often seen me at the head of your armies securing your quietness by the losse of my own bloud are you resolved to obey his Orders and to execute his commands Yes Sir answered that barbarous fellow and if after the choice I have offer'd you your hand refuse to perform his sentence mine must become the instrument to supply that defect I 'le save it that labour reply'd I with a countenance farr more resolute then his and death is too familiar to me to borrow that from thy hands which I can easily compasse with mine own give me that dagger continued I putting forth my hand the other kind of death would little become the life of Arsaces and he ha's been prodigall enough of his bloud for thee and all thy country-men to make thee believe he can himself pour forth the remainder of it to satisfie the ingratitude of the King of Scythia As I ended these words I took the dagger from his hand but 't was with an intention very different from his and as soon as ever I had hold of it I lift up my arm and instead of striking my own breast stab'd it up to the hilt in his Scarce had I pull'd it out again all hot and bloudy but instantly I plung'd it into the body of his nearest companion who by reason of the suddenness of my action had not time to prevent it and then immediately taking away his sword I began to dispute my life against the rest I might perchance have perished being unarmed as I was but I was furiously seconded by Criton who had gotten up the sword of the first and by my two Scythians who being resolved to dy with me laid hold of the swords and javelins of those they saw fall and plac'd themselves by my side with a marvellous courage By their assistance I was quickly deliver'd from my enemies who were no better arm'd then we and the last of them was turning his back to save himself in the hall where he had left more of his companions when he saw them come to his relief I was so heated that the number of my enemies frighted me but little but they were so terrified themselves by the death of their fellows and by the resoluteness wherewith we came upon them that they did not what they might have done to revenge their companions and to oppose my passage True it is the knowledge I had that this was the only way for my safety and for my revenge and my desire to sell a life at the
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
words with such a flood of teares and expressed my sorrow by such moving actions that not onely Theomiris Cyllenia but even people of the harshest natures would have been touch'd with compassion I spent the remainder of that day in this imployment and would needs have my Cousen lie with me to help to passe away the cruellest night I had ever known in all my life She alledg'd all the arguments she could think of to cure me of my fears and often perswaded me it was not likely the King wonld fly to extremities against a Prince of Artaxexerxes his quality and against a Prince to whom besides that of his life he had other such important obligations that the whole Kingdome so powerfully indebted to his valour would oppose the Kings rigorous intentions and that he was too prudent and too politick to suffer himself to be transported by his passion to such a violence as was without example I found so much reason in this discourse of Theomiris that if my affection had been more moderate I should without question have drawn some comfort from it but it was by her inspirations and by those of Cyllenia that I tooke a little courage and resolv'd to suffer the Kings presence and to receive his words with more spirit then I had done before Having spent the night on this manner and likewise part of the day following I saw the King when I least expected him come all alone into my chamber I rose up and went to meet him trembling but he disdaind my reception and sitting down upon a chair from whence he darted nothing but furious looks at me I come not to visite thee said he ungratefull and disloyall girle I owe not so much civility to the daughter in Law of Darius and from hence forward I cannot desire thy sight otherwise then as that of my most mortall enemy I come onely to reproach thee with thy ingratitude and infidelitie or to examine thee as a criminall convicted of treason against her King Speak wicked creature continued he seeing me daunted and strucken half dead with these cruell words open thy mouth to excuse thy self and justifie thy infidelities if it be possible Didst thou then think the sonne of my implacable enemy more lovely then a Prince whom I had chosen for thee and whose affections I had expresly commanded thee to receive and if thou hadst eyes to judge of the difference there was between Arsacomes and thee hadst thou none to consider that without betraying thy father and shamefully betraying thy self thou couldst not match thy self to the enemy of thy House and to him who had basely abandoned his father and his Countrey to their new enemies to compasse his treacherous practices against their old ones and to seeke that revenge by his secret conspiracies which neither he nor his could ever find in open war While the King brought forth these words with many others of the same kind I summond all my courage to answer him as he commanded me and though I had mâ—ch adoe to recollect my self at last my affection my sence of the ill usage I receiv'd and the resolution I had taken gave me a boldnesse that was not naturall to me and when the King had made an end of speaking charging me expresly to reply Sir said I I would not open my mouth for my justification if your Majestie had not absolutely commanded me but in my prefâ—rring Arâ—aces before Arsacomes I can find no cause at all to repent my self Arsacomes is born my Fathers subject Arsacomes never did me nor mine any considerable service nor have I ever seen any thing either in the actions or person of Arsacomes which ought not to have oblig'd me to hate him Arsaces is born the greatest Prince in the world and born Prince of a thousand subjects more considerable then Arsacomes I owe to Arsaces the life of the King my Father and my own the Queen and Arsacomes himself are indebted to him for theirs and all Scythia for the better part of its tranquilitie and in the actions and person of Arsaces I never saw any thing that ought not to oblige me to love him If he be the sonne of your enemy Sir the services he ha's done you makes you sufficiently to know how farre he is from any of those thoughts you suspect him of if he had desired the ruine of your Kingdome he would not have labour'd with the losse of his bloud for its conservation and if your Maâ—esties life had been odious to him he would not so visibly have hazarded his own fâ—â— its defence I alledge not to your Majestie the ingagements we had to him in the person of the Prince my brother the good offices he did to him passe not in your opinion for obligations and though I were indebted to him for none but those which are common to me and to your self for the losse of his dominions which he perchance might have avoided if your service had not taken him up and for the particular proofes of affection he ha's shown me I thinke that those he ha's receiv'd from mine will not passe for shamefull crimes and that I have confin'd them within such limits that the want of your allowance is all the fault can be objected against me I have lov'd him enough to preferre him before a subject before whom he would have been most worthy to be preferr'd though their qualities and obligations had been equall I have lov'd him enough to approve of his services waiting till such time as those he dayly rendred you should dissipate the hatred you bore his family by the example of the King his father in whom lesse important services in spite of your inveterate enmities begot such tender affections to the Prince my Brother and in short I have lov'd him enough to hope with contentment that after that reconciliation you would make choice of him rather then of Arsacomes and rather then of any other body that should have an ambition like that of his but I have not lov'd him enough to grant him any favours that can make me blush nor to give him either promises or hopes to the prejudice of what I owe unto your Majestie Though Arsaces and I were both at liberty I should be so much Mistresse of my affection to him as to die rather then marry him or goe along with him without your consent but if your will would agree with my inclination I confesse Sir that as much forsaken by Fortune and as much dispossessed of his dominions as he is I would preferre him before all the Princes upon the face of the earth At these last words the King was so enflamed with anger that it was easie to observe it in his face and stamping with his foot as he rose up from his chair with a furious action And I swear by all the Gods said he that I will quickly deprive thee of the libertie of preferring him before any body and thy indiscreet and
disloyall affection shall be more fatall to my enemy then all those ill designes he ha's had against me prepare thy self for his death which I tell thee of my self as thou tellest me of thy perfidious tricks and believe that the onely choice I will leave thee from hence forward shall be that of Arsacomes living or of Arsaces in his grave If the beginning of the Kings discouâ—se had not prepared me for these cruell words they were enough to have made me loose my sences but as well resolv'd as I was I had much adoe to keep my self from falling into a swone and sinking into Cylleni ' as armes who stretched them forth to receive me seeing me change colour I look'd upon the King with a pittifull eye though it were animated with some resentment and struggling against my faintnesse The ashes of Arsaces said I shall ever be dearer to me then the person of Arsacomes and if I must shut up my hopes and my life it self within his tomb I shall esteem my condition happier then if I were possessour of all Europe with Arsacomes These last words absolutely took away all the reason the King had left and though my chiefest desires were bounded in Artaxerxes his safety I innocently procur'd his ruine by these extraordinary marks of my affection The King could hardly retain himself in the violence of his wrath but moderating it by the thought of that revenge he was preparing he was content with expressing his intention by furious looks and went out of my chamber with a face which sufficiently declar'd the action he was going to do I remain'd in an excesse of greif or rather in a mortall agony and all the apprehension I had had for Arsaces before was nothing in comparison of the fears which then assaulted me I knew the Kings relentless nature and his persistance in his cruell resolulutions and that put me into the most sorrowfull condition you can possible imagine Theomiris and Cyllenia knew not which way to comfort me and I think without their assistance I should have been reduc'd to very great extremities I every moment fancied poor Arsaces either dead or dying and the Kings harsh threats had made such an impression in my minde that 't was impossible for me to withdraw my thoughts one minute from that fatall remembrance Oh! King of Scythia said I if thou accomplish thy horrible resolutions thou may'st well prepare thy self for the funeralls of thine own children Berenice will not survive poor Artaxerxes and Oroondates will without question dy for grief when he shall hear that the life of his Brother for the losse whereof he had shed so many tears was preserv'd only to fall under the hands of the King his father I said many other things whose length makes me forbear to entertain you with them and I tormented my self on that fashion from the morning when the King had visited me till it was almost night I did not beleeve he would so soon have gon on to the execution of his threatnings and I thought that to put a man of Arsaces his quality to death there had been need of longer deliberationâ— but I was deceiv'd in my opinion and though my feares were violent they were not of so long continuance as I expected It began already to grow late when there was a great noise in the next Court and amidst a great confusion of voices I heard the name of Arsaces pronounced severall times At that reiterated name my mortall fears were redoubled and I sell immediately into the most fatall apprehension Arsaces is dead cri'd I throwing my self off from my bed Arsaces is dead Cousen and without doubt this confused noise is caus'd by the news of his death As I spoak these words I ran to the window which look'd into the next Cout where I saw a great many people got together who in talking of Arsaces clap'd their hands and did actions that sufficiently express'd their astonishment I then heard a calling for armes and saw a great many of the guard go out of the Palace in hast and in confusion All these things confirm'd me in my fears and I was so affrighted that I had not the heart to open my mouth to ask what the matter was In the end the court remain'd almost quite empty and for a time there was a silence as great as the noise had been before it Theomiris and Cyllenia laid me upon my bed againe in a condition little different from that of persons without life I had not the leisure to expresse my sorrow by any long complaints for before I had been a quarter of an hour upon my bed I heard a second noise in the Palace much greater then the former It wrought the same effect upon me the other had done I ran quite transported to the window where I heard the Officers of the Guard and many others calling for horses with a precipitateness which testified their disorder After I had remain'd a while in a perplexity that cannot be expressed I saw Prince Carthasis my Uncle come into the Court by good fortune he presently cast up his eyes to our window and I no sooner saw that he look'd upon me but I by signs and by a beseeching gesture begg'd a visit from him As soon as he understood my meaning he came up the stairs and finding no hindrance at my chamber door by reason of his quality he entred immediately after He was acquainted with all matters that pass'd both by what he had heard from the King and what I had confess'd to him my self nor had I any cause to repent that he was privy to them seing there were no proofs of affection I could desire of him which he did not give me in all manner of encounters to his utmost power He had a particular esteem and a strong affection for Arsaces and I receiv'd no small assurance of it by his action in coming toward me I cast my self all in tears into his armes but I had not open'd my mouth to ask him the cruel news I apprehended when to put me out of pain he broak silence first Madame said he the King would have put Arsaces to death but his Genius is more powerfull then that of the Scythians and 't is not under such armes as theirs that such a man as he can fall These words began to produce their effect upon me when my Uncle not willling to let me suffer any longer Arsaces is escap'd said he but he ha's made his escape like Arsaces and he ha's appear'd to the ingratefull Scythians the same gallant man that he appear'd to the affectionate Scythians when he fought so valliantly at the head of them They have found him as invincible against them against Armibas and the Tauro-Scithians and if they formerly have seen him winne battels by his sole courage in the front of their armies they to day have seen him alone and unarmed make rivers of bloud run through the streets of their
Kings messenger had made very great hast and had been arriv'd there many dayes and Arsacomes who with such lofty hopes had receiv'd so pleasing an order had rais'd his camp from the banks of Boristhenes and was returning straight to Issedon with as long marches as he could He by order from the King had left five or six thousand men upon the frontier which he had put in garrison in some of those Towns that had been recover'd and the rest of the army was about eighteen or twenty thousand It was along the bank of the river Hypanis that we saw the first battalions march and riding with our beavers down we passed without doubt among the first that saw us for horsmen of their army we wore nothing upon our Arms that could discover our quality they were very good but not enriched with any ornament that could make them be taken notice of and we had made choice of such that we might have the liberty of passing every where with lesse danger of being known I had taken no particular order about my design but had only resolv'd to lay hold of the first occasion Fortune should offer me to fight with Arsacomes or kill him if I could do it upon even terms and without any basenesse but see how she behav'd her self in that adventure and admire her capriciousnesse in one of the strangest events you ever heard One part of the army was already pass'd when I saw Arsacomes appear at the head of a good number of Commanders among which I knew the good old Cleorestes Leotaris and some other of those friends I had greatest confidence in He was compleatly arm'd as you know it is the custome among the Scythians never to go without there arms upon a march or in passing upon any duty of their Command but his beaver was up and he was easie to be known by many other marks Assoon as ever I saw 't was he my resentments awaken'd in such manner that I no longer was master of them and though in appearance I could not take a more unseasonable time for my satisfaction I was not capable of all necessary considerations and moreover I beleiv'd that in the extreamity I was reduc'd to and in the nature of the cause that mov'd me I could not stand considering nor seek wayes to facilitate my enterprise and be cautious of my safety without cowardise In this conceit turning toward Theodates Dear Theodates said I I can no longer deferr the execution of my design stir not till you see I have need of your assistance and then do what you shall think convenient I harken'd not to what Theodates alledg'd to disswade me from my rash intent but advancing toward Arsacomes I drew near him without any difficulty I saluted him bowing to my saddle bow and speaking to him without putting up my beaver Sir said I may I have a word or two with you in private to inform you of a thing of great importance for the Kings service Arsacomes acâ—us'd me of unmannerliness or folly for having spoken to him without discov'ring my face and looking upon me with an arrogant fashion he ask'd me who I was You shall know Sir answer'd I and with my name shall also learn the business I have to impart to you if you please to withdraw about an hundred paces from this company that is about you With these words I tur'nd my horse and rode toward the place whither I desir'd to draw him and though they that were present would have perswaded him not to follow me and told him that by so doing he should injure his dignity yet being as indeed he was valiant and desirous of glory he beleiv'd that distrust would show a want of spirit In that opinion he commanded them to march on and forbidding them to follow him he came galloping after me and passing by the place where I had stopt went five or six hundred paces from his men I overtook him in an instant and he turning toward me assoon as I drew near Speak now said he at liberty and since no body overhears thee tell me who thou art and what thou hast to communicate to me for the Kings service I thought I might satisfie part of his demand by letting him see my face and for that purpose thrusting up my bever of my cask I am Arsaces answer'd I and and that name alone thou may'st learn all I have to say to thee Arsacomes was so surpris'd at these words and at the unexpected sight of my face that for all he had a great deal of courage he chang'd colour and appear'd as unmoveable as a statue I would not take advantage of his amazement but to give him leasure to recouer it Come to thy self again Arsacomes said I and know him whom neither the King of Scythia's ingratitude nor thine hath been able to ruine I live still in spite of his orders and in spite of thine I live to dispute Berenice with thee endeavour to defend thy pretensions with thy life make thy selfe worthy by that action of what neither thy birth nor thy services have been able to merit Thou canst never hope to possess her quietly while Arsaces is alive and though oughtest to dispatch him out of the world if thou wilt free thy self of a more fortunate rivall and of an irreconcileable enemy My birth is now well enough known to thee to believe thou shalt not wrong thy dignity by this combat nor is there so little honour to be gotten with Arsaces but that thou may'st reckon this encounter as one of the most glorious of thy whole life By these words I strove to draw him to a greater distance from his troups yet he would go but very little further and having settled himself while I was speaking after he had look'd upon me with a more resolute countenance then before Yes said he I am ready to dispute Berenice with thee and since thou hast escap'd the justice of the King her father I shall be glad to revenge his quarrell and make my sword the instrument of that death which thou oughtest to have suffer'd for the defence of thy countrey This cruell reproach to which I saw my self unhappily exspos'd rais'd my anger to the highest pitch and seeing that Arsacomes put his hand to the hilt of his sword without moving any further I drew mine with all the hast I could and making it glitter in his eyes quickly show'd him that to give me my death was not so easy a matter as he imagin'd I beleiv'd I had not much time to satisfie my revenge and that I should soon have part of the army upon me wherefore desiring to shorten that combat with an extraordinary hast I flew at Arsacomes with more fury then judgment and with two fortunate blows gave him two wounds one in the body the other in the right arme which disabled him to fight and put him in such disorder that rushing fiercely against him at the same
he perhaps abuse his liberty to take her from me All my friends and Theodates himself oppos'd my intention and judg'd it contrary to all the Laws of prudence but they were not able to shake my resolution and after having pray'd them to give me leave in this encounter which concern'd no body but my self to make use of the power they had given me I went to Arsacomes whom I had not seene since he was wounded Although the power I had over him stifled all my anger I could not see him without being mov'd and I observ'd he changed colour at my coming in but not desiring any long conversation with him I quickly told him the cause of my visite and tooke away all those apprehensious he might have had Arsacomes said I I come not hither to reproach you with the injuryes you have done me I endeavour'd to revenge them by away which you have escaped and all others were too dishonourable for me to use I will not take any advantage against you by what the army hath done in favour of me and when you are well enough to endure a journey you shall be free to goe away at your own time I know I give my self death in giving you liberty and that you will make no other use of it then to deprive me of that Princesse who is the cause of all our differences but that knowledge is not able to alter my designe go see Berenice againe when you please but remember that a generous man ought to winn her affection rather by his services then by her fathers authority and that the recompence you owe to what I now do for you is not to suffer Berenice to be forc'd Arsacomes was going to reply but I hearken'd not to his answer not desiring to hold any long discourse with him wherefore going out of his tent I commanded the Soldiers that guarded him to retire He without any further delay made use of the favour I had done him and the next morning causing himself to be put into a litter which Prince Oroondates had left at the army and which he had us'd during the cure of those wounds he had receiv'd in the Battell he went on his way toward Issedon but went full of threats and full of resentment not of the favour but of the injury he had receiv'd from me I stayd a few dayes after his departure upon the bankes of the River Hypanis not being willing to fly to extreamityes against the father of Berenice and Oroondates without having well deliberated the matter and without having us'd all the caution that might free me from blame in the opinions of my Princesse and of my freinds For this purpose retarding the motion of the army and making but very short marches toward Issedon before I engaged myself in a warr to which I was instigated by my love I desired to let the King see I was Master of my resentments how just soever they were and therefore I dispatched away a messenger with a letter to him the words whereof were these Arsaces To the King of Scythia I will not put you in mind Sir what I have done for you and what you have done against me It suffices that you remember you are beholding to me for your life and for the security of your Kingdome and that for my recompence you sent me a dagger and a draught of poyson you have prosecuted me as the basest of all malefacters and set my head at a price as that of a traytour and of an infamous person This usage must needs be very sensible to a Prince whose quality is not inferiour to your own but it is supportable to Arsaces from the father of Berenice and Oroondates and if yet you stop the course of your crueltyes I will lay down the authority I have found in the place where I onely sought for Sanctuary against your persecutions I demand no Satisfaction for the wrongs you have done me and though perhaps I am in a condition to right my self I will forget them all as you have forgot my services provided you remember that the Princesse Berenice is your Daughter and that you force not her inclinations in favour of a man whom if I would I could have made to loose his pretensions with his life She is of a birth not fit to be used with violence for a subject and mine is not so despicable as to make her blush for having preferr'd me before Arsacomes Perchance you may have some consideration of it and if all generosity be not utterly extinguish'd in the heart of a King you will remember I am still that same Arsaces who ha's lost your freindship onley by his mis-fortune but who gaind it by his blood and by his services The man I sent to the King with this letter arrivid at Issedon two dayes after Arsacomes and found the King in troubles and in passions which it would be impossible to describe He partly shew'd them by his usage of my messenger whom he caused to be hang'd assoon as he had read my letter And not doubting but this last offence and his cruell obstinacy would utterly take away that remainder of respect I yet bore toward him he gave order to rayse men and endeavour'd to gather such forces as might enable him to defend himself He had receiv'd Arsacomes as his sonne and after having comforted him for the disgrace he had receiv'd by all the sweetest hopes he could possibly give him he had presented him to the Princesse as her husband and had given her no longer time to resolve upon that marriage then till he were perfectly recovered of his wounds which they hop'd he would be within a very few dayes Let not thy Artaxerxes think sayd he to her to terrify me by the infidelity of my subjects the traytours that serve him shall perish with him and thou shallt see his destruction as he shall see thy marriage The sorrowfull Princesse answered those threatinings onely with her teares and when she was forced to reply It is not my desire Sir sayd she that Arsaces should return in armes to take Satisfaction for the injuries you have done him and though I should be freed by those wayes I know well enough what I owe to you never to give my self to him without your consent but it shall never be with mine that Arsacomes shall be my husband nor can you give me to him without giving me to my grave You are unworthy replyed the King I say you are unworthy of his constancy toward you and if he were not blinded with affection for all you are a Kings Daughter he would despise you for your indiscreet and obstinate fondnesse of his rivall If he were generous himself added the Princesse he would remember the favour he received from his enemy and would consider that if Arsaces his vertue had not carryed it above his interests and above his anger he would have sacrificed a life so fatall to his own and a
tormented himself about me went to seek help either for my recovery or buriall When he had gon a little way he by good chance met a company of horsemen who were riding towards Babilon and having told them my misfortune in a few words found some among them so generous as to be sensible of it and to offer him their assistance They were the brave Seleucus and certain horsemen that attended him who no sooner were come to the place where I lay where I had died the earth about me red with my bloud but they were touch'd with compassion and making me be taken up in some of their cloaks they caus'd me to be carri'd to a poor mans house aboutâ— ten or twelve furlongs from the place where we had fought Seleucus was so carefull as to have my clothes pull'd off and to see my wounds himself but he thought them so great that he conceiv'd very little hope of my recovery yet would he not leave me knowing by many signs that I was still alive and therefore sent away a man instantly to the City to fetch Chirurgions with all possible speed Before they came having found something in my face that made him desirous to know who I was he enquir'd oâ— Criton who thinking he should thereby oblige him to succour me with the more affection contented himself with concealing that I was Artaxerxes the son of Darius and told him I was that Arsaces who had conquer'd Armibas and gain'd some victories in Scythia Seleucus had heard of Arsaces and of the first things I had done in the King of Scythia's service wherefore being indeed virtuous himself he was perswaded by some report of virtue that had run to my advantage and no sooner knew that I was Arsaces but instead of the compassion which had mov'd him to lend me that first assistance he thought himself oblig'd by all manner of considerations to neglect nothing for my safety and expressing a very great trouble for the estate he saw me in he at the Chirurgions coming promised them excessive recompences if they could contribute any thing toward my cure When they had search'd my wounds they saw small hope of life though according to what they said my loss of bloud was cause of their greatest apprehensions Yet did they do their office very carefully and implor'd all their skill in dressing my hurts and in fetching me to my sences Part of the night was pas'd when I came to my self again but with very little memory and very little understanding and the day appear'd before I was able to discern any object or recaâ—l to mind any thing that had pass'd As soon as I began to haue a little knowledge I turn'd my eyes on every side and seeing Criton by me I ask'd him where I was he told me the truth in a few words and presently after Seleucus coming to me Courage said he valliant Arsaces you have persons about you who are very affectionate to your virtue and who labour for your health as passionately as for their own He said no more nor staid any longer with me for fear of obliging me to answer him and Criton having only told me that it was Seleucus and entreated me not to speak went also out of the chamber with him who was recall'd to Babilon by very pressing occasions and who neverthelesse would not go away till he saw me in that degree of amendment When they had left me alone I was more accompanyed then I had been before You easily guesse that the remembrance of my last encounter came not into my mind without driving me into an extreamity of grief and that I could not call to memory the condition I had found Berenice in without falling into another a thousand times worse then that out of which the Chirurgions endeavour'd to recover me by their assistance O Gods how shall I be able to expresse my violent thoughts or rather how will you supply the defect of my discourse by fancying part of them in your imagination I cannot represent them better to you brother then by your own but yet my sorrow wanted one consolation which you receiv'd in yours for you could not believe Statira to be inconstant without having your affliction counterbalanc'd by a joy at the assurance that Statira was a live Yes I remembred that I had found Berenice but I had found her so unworthy and so shamefully chang'd that I had seen her give my rivall favours the smallest part whereof had never been graunted unto me I remembred likewise that I had fallen under the forces of my rivall and that remembrance made me doubt whither it was Arsacomes He wore his armes he was with Berenice whom Arsacomes had carried away and with whom Criton had seen her a few dayes before but I had found the valour of that enemy so different from that of Arsacomes that I had much a doe to perswade my self it could be hee unlesse the Gods to compleat their anger against me had so augmented his strength to hinder the Satisfaction my revenge might have given me I remain'd uncertain what to believe but whither it were Arsacomes or some new servant I found so great cause of grief and of despaire in that abominable change that all I have told you hitherto of my former afflictions had touch'd me but lightly in comparison of this last I could not fancy Berenice in the posture I had seen her holding a man in her armes and kissing him with that mouth which had been so niggardly to me even then when her fathers consent might have authorised the permission of such favours without loosing that little reason I had recovered and then yeilding to the rage that transported me Ah! light inconstant woman cry'd I by what horrid change hast thou lost the remembrance of what thou wert heretofore and the remnants of that vertue which made thee leave a lover to put thy self into the hands of thine enemies Ah! if thou wert to give thy self to Arsacomes thou should'st have done it when thou might'st with lesse unworthynesse and when thy infidelity might have been justified by thy fathers command Thy crime had been lesse shamefull by that pretence and by the reproach of thy inconstancy thou might'st have avoyded that of thy disobedience After these words follow'd whole troups of cruell thoughts and my jealousy giving such shaps to all things as were most suitable to it put conceits into my head which I should never have fall'n into if I had been in my right mind Ah! without doubt said I againe thy infidelity is not so new a thing as I believed that action of thine before Issedon was an effect of thy change and not of thy vertue nor would'st thou ever have forsaken me to cast thy self into the armes of that rivall from whence I had pull'd thee with the perill of my life if the lover to whom thou ran'st had not been dearer to thee then he whom thou forsookest Thou hast dissembled since by
by my despaire I reflected as much as it would suffer me upon many things that confirmed me in the designe of serving the party contrary to that of my enemy and though I had very just causes of resentment against Roxana I smother'd part of those I had against Perdiccas and could not remember that his love had thrust him upon actions that were displeasing to the Queen my sister without remembring also â—hat both she and Parisatis were indebted to him for their lives and that but for the assistance he had given them I should have been the onely person remaining of the bloud of Darius Moreover I believ'd that the love which he and his brother bore my sisters would engage them still in their defence and that if they were at that time in their hands they were safer there against Roxana's hatred then in any other retreat whatsoever I communicated none of these thoughts to Seleucus though his vertue might have given me a great deale of confidence in him not thinking it convenient for the little time I had resolv'd to â—â—ve and in the condition I then was to make any further discovery of my self I said not a word to him of my combat against Perdiccas nor of with I knew of the Princesses being a live whom for all your declaration every body believ'd dead or at least faign'd to believe so Perdiccas had never see ne my face and though we have often met and talked together since he still continued ignorant that I had ever hâ—d any encounter with him Yet you easily imagine that so were Roxana and him and in the middest of so many men whom their interest was sure to make my enemies I could not be without a great deale of danger but you also know that as I car'd but little for my life I took but little care of its conservation Yet did I desire ayming at nothing lesse then my safety to avoy'd the sight of Roxana and of all others that could know me and Seleucus of whom I dayly requested that favour being willing to satisfie me ordered the matter so that I was visited by none but his particular friends The report neverthelesse of my lying wounded at Seleucus his house began to spread about the Town and that small reputation I had gaind was cause that many had a mind to see me Roxana her self who out of cunning flatters those with great civility whom she ha's a desire to engage in her party had often-times a thought to visite me but Seleucus at my earnest intreaty diswaded her from it saying I was not yet so well as to receive her visites without in conveniency In the mean time Brother your Medecine had wrought its usuall effect upon me and within ten or twelve dayes after the applying of that Herbe I was well enough to leave my bed Perdiccas who was cur'd almost about that time was the first that visited me and came into my chamber with Seleucus Alcetas Cassander and some other of the most considerable among them He entertain'd me with the civillest and most obliging discourses in the world and told me that my reputation had come to the ears of Alexander and had not onely gaind me the esteem of that Great King but of all vertuous persons whatsoever that he receiv'd the assistance I made him hope for as the chiefest step to victory that he would resigne me all the authority he held over those of his party and that there was none among them who would not voluntarily submit to me I answer'd that excesse of civility with all that I had left in the sorrowfull condition of my heart and assur'd him in a few words that I would serve him without any command and without other ambition then that of fighting by Seleucus his side After that visite I receiv'd many others from him but assoon as the forces were come up finding my self able to leave my chamber I pray'd Seleucus I might go out of the Town to encampe with them and to lye in his tent which with those of the other Princes were pitch'd along the bank of the Euphrates there I pass'd many tedious dayes or rather many weary some nights since my soule was nothing but in darkenesse or at the best enlightned only by some hope of revenge Criton who had already told me that my enemie was not Arsacomes confirm'd it to me after he had seen him againe with Clitophon when he carri'd him thanks for the favour he had done me and I was already perswaded of it by the tryall I had made of his forces and by the admirable generosity of that rivall who in all his actions me thought was very different from Arsacomes yet though I doubted not of what Criton said I knew not what to believe when the report came into our Campe that a Scythian Prince nam'd Arsacomes was with our enemies and very much consider'd amongst them This news which came to us many several wayes put me at first into great disquiets to learn the truth of it but in the end I banish'd them all sticking close to my former resolutions Let him be Arsacomes said I or let him be a stranger 't is still he that takes Berenice from me and he whom I ought to prosecute to death In the person of Arsacomes I shall kill my ancient enemy and in that of a stranger I shall punish the cruell man who unjustly robs me of what he ha's not purchased by his bloud and services as I have dore and who makes Berenice a thousand times more faulty by such a horrible lightnesse then if she had given her self to Arsacomes who ha's lov'd and serv'd her many years These were my thoughts till the time of my conference with Lysimachus the day before the battel Seleucus had told me the History of that Prince and besides the esteem which was caused in me by the recitall of his gallant actions the affection he had testified to my sister and to all our family made me value him exceedingly but when I found by his letter that it was he with whom I had contracted a friendship at the Temple of Apollo and afterward by the River-side I recieved the occasion of seing him withall the joy I could then be capable of You from him have heard what passed between us and how our conversation was interrupted and from me you shall heare that after we parted the remembrance of hâ—s words put me again into my former confusion and I could not call to mind what he had said of the long services my rivall had done my Princesse without believing it was Arsacomes The last actions said I to my self which I did in Scythia till which my passion was never openly declared were done too lately to be come to the knowledge of Lysimachus and Arsacomes his passion which ha's been discover'd these seaven or eight years can be unknowne to no body but those that know not him 't is Arsacomes without doubt Criton ha's forgotten his
reparation for part of the sorrows she had undergone and that long deprivation of those joys which were then afforded them made them far more precious to one another than if they had not been interrupted a thousand times did lovely Berenice use little Reproaches to her dear Arsaces for the injuries he had done her in the transports of his cruel jealousie and a thousand times did happy Arsaces reading in her Eyes that her Anger was neither disobliging nor dangerous excuse himself by a silence accompanied with flaming glances and fixing his lips upon one of her fair hands seem'd as if he would breath out his soul there for the expiation of his faults Oroondates was joy'd to see the satisfaction of these two persons whom he lov'd so well and the happiness of Artaxerxes was so dear to him that he could not look upon his contentments with less delight than if they had been his own but he could have wish'd a fortune like that of his and that sight awakening the remembrance of his old felicities drew sighs from his breast a thousand times a day In the interim he busied himself with the other Commanders in the duties of his charge and all of them labour'd to put the Army in a condition to fight another Battel they caused their wounded men to be carefully look'd to their Arms to be mended and also the Chariots that had been broken they recruited their Troops with fresh men that came up daily to the Army and in short all things tended to the cruel preparation for a bloudy day Philonides brought a re-inforcement of ten thousand men out of Aegypt to Ptolomeus Antistenes six thousand to Antigonus out of Phrygia Lamachus four thousand Syrians to Laomedon and within a few days after with six thousand Cappadocians and Paphlagonians which Aristides brought for Eumenes they saw the valiant Menalippa arrive with ten thousand Amazons Thalestris was not a little joy'd when she saw her supplies were come and most part of the Princes would needs wait upon that fair Queen to meet them and with admiration beheld the march and discipline of those warlike women Their Queen receiv'd them with a great deal of sweetness and affection and Menalippa with the chief of her companions long imbracing her knees express'd what an infinite trouble her loss or her tedious absence had imprinted in the hearts of all her subjects The whole Army welcom'd these succours very respectfully and the Troops that were already quartered willingly yielded them the most commodious place to incamp in They were in this condition when Arsaces left his bed and that same day his satisfaction was increased by the sight of his faithfull Criton whom certain Souldiers brought in having taken him about the Camp where he was seeking after his Master Arsaces when he had imbrac'd him many times with a most particular affection heard by him that the Commanders of the Enemies Army especially Seleucus had shew'd a great deal of trouble for his departure and that not having been able to guess the cause they had imploy'd several persons to seek for him This confirm'd Arsaces in the design of seeing Seleucus and Perdiccas before the battel and with that intent he impatiently waited for a more perfect cure In the mean time all the Princes being met together in his Chamber by Oroondates his counsel would have deliver'd up the sole Authority of the Army into his hands and press'd him to accept of it with the most earnest intreaties they could invent to win him to it But all their perswasions would not serve and after he had long refus'd all manner of command all they could obtain of him at last was that he would come in for the seventh man to take his turn among the six other Princes to whom the Army had already submitted They all receiv'd that companion joyfully and while he was recovering strength they often sent out parties for knowing that the Enemies Army increas'd as well as theirs they strove to diminish their number by frequent skirmishes in which there was much bloud shed every day on either side Among those that got greatest renown in those Encounters was the young Demetrius who gain'd an extraordinary Reputation and being of an age to seek occasions to shew his worth he suffer'd none to escape without giving proofs of a Valour that was far from common Yet was it no longer despair that thrust him headlong into danger for his heart had allay'd part of its sorrow by the birth of another passion the sad remembrance of Hermione had by little and little given place to the charms of Deidamia and that love of Ashes and of Tombs had yielded to a more lawfull affection the current of his tears were stopp'd and his words were no longer interrupted with so many sobs but his sighs continued still though they had chang'd their object and though this last were less deplorable than the former it was so powerfull and so imperious that those timorous messengers of his love durst hardly venture to make their passage out of his breast Yet did he resist the birth of this latter passion and oppos'd the force of it with all the remembrances of Hermione but though those sorrowfull Idea's served his intention for a few moments the sight of Deidamia conquer'd all those obstacles and dissipated all his resolutions That fair Princess wept dayly for a loss which was still fresh in her memory and at first Demetrius had contented himself with weeping with her confirming her in the design of loving the remembrance of her dear Agis eternally and if in the beginning he had found some consolation in the humour and in the destiny of that Princess he now desired an alteration in them both He had insensibly dry'd up his tears to become her comforter whose companion in affliction he had been before and in short as he had before lamented onely his own misfortunes so now he seem'd to have forgot them to become sensible of Deidamia's She who had observ'd the winning qualities of Demetrius who knew his birth and who besides found herself oblig'd to his civilities and to the care he took for her consolation and for her Fortune show'd him a great deal of acknowledgement and beheld him with more good will than all the rest but being her grief was very lively and very real and that her heart in that condition was little capable of a second affection all her inclinations to Demetrius went not beyond the limits of esteem and gratitude and he whose passion settled it self with a most profound respect and who was more afraid of Agis for all he was dead than of all his living Enemies knowing Deidamia's mind durst neither complain of his condition nor desire one more advantageous He thought it not enough to forbid his tongue the use of speech but would also keep even his eyes and sighs from discovering his passion and equally fearing to offend both what he began and what he ceased to
wretch Arbates At the name of Arbates Oroondates perfectly remembred him and at the â—ight of that man who by his perfidiousness had destroyed his Fortune and who alone had plunged him into the bottomless Sea of his miseries a chilness ran through all his Veins and his Countenance was so changed that all the company observed the great disturbance of his minde After this shivering and this paleness followed an extraordinary colour which his anger brought into his face and not being able in those first motions to master his lawful indignation or to keep himself within the bounds of his usual moderation You have brought him me just gods cried he you have delivered into my hands this cruel Torturer of my days this Traiterous servant who sacrificed his Master to so many painful deaths and in short This Monster by whom I suffer and by whom I have suffered the whole weight of my afflictions He made a stop at these first words and not being able to express himself well enough in the impetuousness of his choller he fixt his eyes sparkling with rage upon the face of that perfidious wretch who in a mortal terror and confusion kept his fast upon the ground with an action fully prepared for that death which in his own conscience he had but too well deserved Thou shalt die pursued the furious Prince thou shalt die in most exquisit torments and though thy death cannot restore me what thou hast robbed me of nor make amends in the finallest degree for those infinite miseries thou hast made me endure I will at least give this satisfaction to my grief and to my love to sacrifice the cursed instrument of all my misfortunes and the true cause of the death of so many thousand persons From these words the transported Prince fell into the remembrance of that happiness which Arbates his treachery had taken from him and that reflexion touched him so deeply That all the company saw his face immediately bathed in Tears and were such partakers in his grief That they seemed but little different from him either in the sadness that appeared in their Countenances or in their Resentments against the disloyal Arbates His treachery was known to them and they all instantly judged him worthy of the most rigorous torments that could be invented and of a destiny at least like that of Bessus Till then Oroondates had continued in the thoughts of an ordinary man and not being able in those first motions utterly to devest himself of what he held from humane Nature he had let himself be carried away to inclinations that were not unreasonable but presently after he from meer man came back again to Oroondates all whose thoughts had nothing common with those of other men when they had power to work at liberty And looking upon trembling Arbates with a scorn that a few minutes before had anger in it he judged That the revenge he could take upon him was too unworthy of himself and that it was against more noble Enemies then a vile servant he ought to pour forth his indignation wherefore putting on a milder Countenance he turned toward those that had taken him Why did you not kill this Traitor said he as soon as you discovered him to be an Enemy instead of bringing him before us Do you not know that the sight of Princes is favorable to Criminals and that Artaxerxes Lysimachus and Ptolomeus are too generous to approve a base and a shameful revenge The Soldiers had reasons enough to alledge for themselves and they were not unknown to him but he gave them not the leasure and looking upon Arbates who at these last words began to resettle his fears Live disloyal Wretch said he live since thou art unworthy of the death which I could give thee and that without doubt thou art destined to a more ignominious end then that thou shouldst receive from Oroondates Live but go live among our Enemies and tell Roxana and Cassander I envy them not the service of a man fit for none but such a Mistress and such a Master With these words he turned away his eyes not being able to behold him longer without repugnance and Arbates not knowing where to finde words to excuse his crime nor to thank the Prince for the mercy he shewed him onely fell upon his Knees testifying by his gestures and by his Tears some kinde of Acknowledgement and some kinde of Repentance If the Princes that were present at this action had not been generous enough themselves to do the same in a like encounter they without doubt would have admired it But being they had Souls made up all of nobleness and that they were accustomed to the gallant deeds of Oroondates they did not wonder at this last onely Prince Lysimachus turning to Arbates who was going to make use of the liberty that was given him Think not to escape so said he for though the Prince have pardoned thee his particular offence thou oughtest at least to give us account of the design that brought thee into our Camp Tell us truly in what condition our Princesses are the intentions of Roxana whose Governor and whose confident thou art and the continuation of Cassanders loves which thou began'st to Toxaris and Loncates But disguise not the truth in this recital and endeavor by some light effect of freedom to deserve the mercy thou hast received Arbates who by that time had taken heart I would it pleased the gods Sir said he that for the expiation of my crimes you desired something of greater importance that were but in my power and you should finde I would little consider the loss of my life if thereby I could but hope for pardon But since I am not able to do you greater service then that you now demand of me I will be more faithful in obeying you then I was in serving my Master and will give you an exact account of such things as are come unto my knowledge Arbates making a stop at these words the Princes prepared to give him attention but Oroondates who was not able to endure him found it so much against his stomach That he desired his Friends to dismiss him and not suffer him to stay any longer amongst them yet Artaxerxes and Lysimachus did so represent the interest he had in the relation they had demanded of him and he understood it so well himself that in the end he yeilded to give him audience with them After they were set down Arbates who had had time to recover confidence of Speech since his fears were dissipated when he had recalled those things into his memory which he had to relate began on this maner The Continuation of the History of ROXANA MY LORDS TO tell the things you desire to know in order it is necessary I begin with Cassanders Love the first effects whereof I related to Toxaris and Loncates from whom without doubt you have heard them and then I will freely give you an account of those
glad to have sent Letters by him to their Princesses but they easily judged that Perdiccas would not give him permission to see them and they intended not to ask him Cleonimus very well pleased that he had found an occasion to serve those gallant Princes to whom he had so much devoted himself after he had protested That he would faithfully perform the Commiâ—sion they had given him took his leave of them and getting on Horse-back advanced toward the Gates of his Native City which the remembrance of former times and of the deplorable death of his dear Theander would not suffer him to behold without tears In the interim the Princes were gone out of Seleucus his Tent and were thinking to go wait upon the Princess Berenice when they heard that she with Deidamia and Cleone was gone to visit Apamia and Arsinoe who were with Prince Artabasus their Father Although his Quarter was a good way off the Princes took that walk without unwillingness and Arsaces thought all ways ease that led him to his Princess They found very good company with that venerable old man but it was increased presently after by one of the most welcome additions it could have received Scarce had they begun to fall into discourse when there was seen coming toward the Tent a Chariot drawn by ten white Horses guarded by certain Horsemen and followed by a good number of servants The equipage shewing the quality of the person to whom it appertained caused those that were most curious and least employed as Oroondates Lysimachus and Ptolomeus to break off their Conversation and go toward the door of the Tent whither they were no sooner come but they saw the Chariot stop there full of Ladies and Prince Oroondates advancing first to help them to alight and offering his hand to her that appeared the chief knew her to be his good and generous friend the fair Princess Barsina But once in his whole life had that Prince been touched with a more pleasing surprise and hardly had he given greater testimonies of it when from the mouth of Perdiccas he had heard that his Princess was alive Of all the persons in the World onely Statira and Artaxerxes had any advantage over Barsina in his affection and the Princess Berenice did but hardly possess an equal place to that of hers in his friendship neither could he see her without an extraordinary tenderness nor without melting into tears which his Affection his Joy and very moving Remembrances drew from his eyes at that fortunate meeting Barsina to whom by a good will whereof the vertue of them both had made the strongest engagements that Prince was dearer then all the rest of mankinde seemed no less touched nor less transported then he at that encounter and when she saw her self in his Arms she made no difficulty to press him between hers and feared not to offend her modesty by giving him testimonies of an Affection not inferior to his Honored Barsina said the Prince my Protectress and my Tutelary deity Are you come to take away the remainder of my Afflictions by your presence and to bring me a Fortune again whereof your goodness hath ever made one of the cheifest parts Ah! without doubt continued he begining his endearments afresh which she could not oppose without doubt this felicity was to fore-run the last I now can hope for and the gods after having preserved my Princess and regiven me my dear Artaxerxes have thought it necessary to restore me Barsina also without whom I could not relish any perfect happiness He brought forth these words with interruption and Barsina after having a while given place to their impetuousness Sir said she at last The gods bring me to you again that I may share in those blessings they have restored you and in those felicities they are preparing for you They know that I am too much interessed in your Fortune to be separated from it and they should do me an injustice if in those good successes that wait for you and in those that have already befaln you they should not give me as great a part as I have had in your afflictions They had gone further into that discourse if the throng of those who at the name of Barsina were run out of the Tent had not taken them off and if as ardent as Oroondates was he had not been constrained to yeild her for a while to those other friends Her two dear Sisters Apamia and Arsinoe her two Illustrious Brothers-in-law Ptolomeus and Eumenes and even her Father himself whose affection had given him a nimbleness to go out to meet her demanded to possess her in their turns but all were fain to leave her to Prince Artaxerxes and Barsina no sooner saw him appear but geting loose from the Arms of all she ran to him with an action that made the company know what love and what veneration she bore to the remnants of the Blood of Darius O my Lord said she casting her self into his Arms which he stretched forth to her O my Lord Is it possible that Barsina should yet be so happy as to receive the favor of her revived Prince and of a Prince to whose death she had given so many tears Artaxerxes who dearly loved and particularly esteemed her appeared sensible of her Affection by all the signs he could express of his I was alive dear Cousin answered he while you believed that I was dead as peradventure I ought to have been but if my life have something of shameful in it after the death of my Friends behold my excuse Cousin and pardon my being alive by considering for whom I have lived He said these words shewing her the Princess Berenice whom Oroondates was bringing toward her and who being informed of the vertues of that Princess and of the good offices she had done her Brother ran to her with a spirit of acknowledgement and esteem Barsina who already had learned some part of the truth knew her by many marks but more then all the rest by that admirable beauty which the whole World could hardly parallel And advancing to her with an action full of astonishment and submiâ—â—on would have kissed her Hands with great respect but the Princess pulled them back to present her Mouth and to let her see That in the esteem and affection she already had conceived toward her she desired a greater equality in their salutations After a familiarity very different from that of a first enterview Barsina looking still upon Berenice with admiration O most worthy Sister said she of such a Brother as Oroondates and most worthy cause of the life and passions of Prince Artaxerxes How easie are you to be known among whatsoever of great and beautiful our eyes can see and how infinitely is Barsina satisfied that she now can pay her homage to the worthy Mistress and worthy Sister of the greatest Princes in the World The Princess out of countenance at so obliging a discourse replied with a
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
his duty to fight for the preservation of a life which was opposite to the repose and to the felicity of his he dissembled not his thoughts to any body and when I would have praysed him for it as well as others and have testified that I had some part in the obligation hee received my discourse with a great deal of coldness I did not hope said he to have thanks from you which are not advantageous to me nor did I think to do you a service worthy of these brave acknowledgements in exposing the life of Oxyatres for the defence of Memnons I had no other intention but that I fighting against the Scithians our Enemies and if in the execution of that design I have been so happy as to do you a good office in the preservation of my Rivall I wish with all my heart I had done it you to the full in losing for his greater security and for his repose that life wherof you make so little reckoning Ah Sir replied I lose that opinion if you have it and do not beleeve I can make little reckoning of your life nor of your person I consider them both as I ought to do and I have thoughts of you which nothing but my ill fortune hinders you from being contented with I will content my self answered the Prince when my passion shall be the thing you consider most in me and when in Barsina's heart which can establish all my felicity I shall see no body more happy nor more favoured then my self If that could be said I you should have no cause of complaint against a person who is every way disposed to honour you That may bee added hee with an extraordinary tone that may be perhaps by means we have not yet made triall of and in the despair into which you cast me and the shame of seeing my Rivall triumph over me so easily I shall be capable of all things I can attempt without exceeding the tearms I proposed unto my self when I began to serve you As he ended these words he went out of my Chamber with an action that had many signs of anger in it and was hardly gone twenty or thirty paces from the Tent when hee chanced to meet with Memnon he changed colour at that encounter as Memnon told me afterward but he quickly recovered himself and having returned Memnons salute he put forth his hand to him with a more open countenance then for some time before he had been wont to shew him Will you give me leave said he to have a little discourse with you to ask your counsell and assistance about a business I lately had notice of Memnon was surprised at this demand but he dissembled his astonishment and receiving the Princes words with a cheerfull countenance Could I be so happy replied he as to believe my Prince would imploy for his service this life which I hold from him and saying these words he followed him that way he led after having by Oxyatres example commanded his attendants to leave him they walk't together awhile without speaking or if they spoke 't was only of indifferent matters but when they were a good way from their servants and that by the interposition of a little hill they were out of sight of the Tents Prince Oxyatres made a stand and turning toward Memnon after he had look'd awhile silently upon him You shall know now sayd he the subject of the discourse I desired to have with you and shall learn to what use I reserv'd that life for which I fought to the prejudice of mine own when I undertook to serve Barsina with you or rather when I was forc'd to it by a passion which for your sake I had long resisted I promised you I would never help my self against you by the authority of the King my Brother nor by that which my rank might give me amongst the Persians and that I would dispute Barsina with you only by my services I think I have kept my self exactly enough within these limits I have used no kind of credit nor power to hurt you and in the imployments we have had to make our selves worthy of her esteem I have ever sought for an equality between us I will continue to the end in this manner of carriage toward you and since I have lov'd Barsina unprofitably and that by the victory you bear away from me my hopes are quite extinguished as you triumph over my repose you must also triumph over my life or defend your owne with armes equall to mine I flie not to this resolution against you but at the extremity wherein my life has no other foundation but the loss of yours and wherein the repose of yours depends on nothing but my death alone this is the last action we will do for Barsina she shall be the Prize of the Conquerour and the victory shall give that to the more valiant or to the more fortunate which during the life of his Rival his services never could secure him of In ending these words Oxyatres drew his sword and presented himself before Memnon in the posture of a man ready to fight but Memnon did not the same but after having hearkened to his discourse and beheld his action without shewing any sign of astonishment or of being moved he answered him with a setled countenance and with an absolute coldness you have reason Sir to go to take away a life which I hold from you and a life hurtfull to your pretensions but I should not have reason if I went about to defend it against you who have acquired it by its preservation and who are the brother of my King neither shall it be sayd I drew my sword against him to whom I owe my safety or against the brother of Darius to whom I owe all and I would rather turn it against my own brest then against a Prince whom those two considerations shall ever make me reverence If my life be odious to you and if by the obstacle I have been to your pretensions I deserve to dye by your hand content your desire pierce this heart proud of Barsina's image and this heart which draws your hatred by its ambition but do not strive to blast me at my death with an ingratitude whereof I never can be capable What replied Oxyatres does Memnon see his mortall enemy defie him to fight and if he be that same Memnon who passes for valiant among the Persians has he not the heart to defend his life against him I never wanted heart answered Memnon in dangers that perhaps were greater then this I have now before my eyes and my reputation is well enough established not to fear the fall of it by this action I should not have been prevented if fortune had given me other enemies and I had already received offences from you which any other man but Prince Oxyatres and the Brother of Darius should perchance have washed away with his bloud You are dispenced with for all
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
to that degree you now possesse nor did I ever arrive at the perfection of my love till now think not these years which are run out since I ceased to importune you to yield you up to Memnon think not that the miserable fall of our house or that the multiplicity of great Affaires in which I have been almost alwayes imployâ—d did ever seperate you from my thoughts you have alwayes raigned in my heart with your former Empire and what occasions soever I have had for the establishment of my fortune I never have been able to lodge any remembrance there but years I with an indifferent eye have beheld all the Beauties of Asia and disdained very advantagious Matches to which poor Darius and Alexander after him did often times sollicite me not but that through some resentment I have laboured to forget a person in whom I had found so little inclination toward me but all was to no purpose against my Love and though my strivings by the help of a long absence did something moderate the violences of it your sight has wakened them again with far greater power then ever Now therefore fair Princesse that you are in a condition which will not permit you to defend your selfe against my love by those reasons wherewith you were wont to oppose it and that with an absolute liberty you by considering my late actions can make reflection upon my former ones suffer me to aspire unto that fortune after which I have sigh'd above ten years and give me leave to hope that your goodnesse and your acknowledgement will own these services to which I am recalled by my former destiny and in which I mean to spend the whole remainder of my dayes Oxyatres brought forth these words in such a passionate maner that Barsina was a little touched with them and having all her life time had a great inclination to esteem him she had not any repugnance against his discourse yet did she not know which way she should reply for as she had much freedome and too little affection in her to seeke excuses upon the thought of what she ow'd unto the memory of Memnon which in probability might have been moderated in a Widowhood of six or seven years she had also some difficulty to find tearms wherewith she might expresse her selfe without giving Oxyatres cause of complaint and without favouring him beyond the limits of decency This uncertainty made her continue silent and the Prince having for some time vainly waited for her answer I see well pursued he that I shall be no happier in this second Tryall of my fortune then I was in my first and that which heretofore was found in the merit of Memnon will be found now in the defects of Oxyatres Hee raysd his voice so loud at these last words that they were overheard by Artaxerxes and that Prince being much concerned in his Unkles contentment was desirous to lend him assistance and having gotten the Princesse Berenice to second him in that designe they both drew neer with that intention By doing so they much obliged Barsina who was in some confusion and who was glad to see her selfe eased by their approach but Prince Oxyatres would have been next at that interruption if it had befallen him by other persons Unkle said Artaxerxes you would not pardon me the discourtesie I doe you if you did not know we come to second you And you Cosin said he to Barsina would perhaps oppose the design I have to serve my Unkle in his love to you if you did not remember that heertofore I served Memnon in a like occasion to his prejudice and that it was from me you received him after that banishment to which he generously had condemned himself I have received my whole life from the favours of your goodness replyed Barsina and the memory of that good Office you did poor Memnon shall never perish in my thoughts By that remembrance added the Princess Berenice Prince Artaxerxes his right to pretend to some credit with you and to imploy it for the Prince his Unkle as he heertofore did for his rivall Prince Oxyatres answered Barsina growing serious stands in no need of any recommendation to obtain from me all the esteem and all the acknowledgement he in reason can desire and yours have so much power that they might draw my mind to greater difficulties Oxyatres was going to reply and their conversation had inlarg'd it self further if it had not been broke off by a servant that came into the Chamber to tell them that Lysimachus Ptolomeus and many other of the Commanders were at the door of the Tent and with them a stranger of a very gracefull presence who was newly arrived at the Camp with the Equipage of a man of quality and that he asked for Prince Artaxerxes The Prince was going toward the door when he saw his friends come in and in the midst of them the stranger that enquired after him but the Princess Berenice and he had no sooner cast their eyes upon his face but they knew him to be Prince Theodates their faithfull and their generous friend In the grief Artaxerxes had felt for the taking of his dear Brother he could not receive a greater consolation then the sight of so dear a friend he solemninized it at the first with a transported cry and running to him with open arms he held him long in a strict embrace without being able through his excess of joy to find the liberty of expressing it by words My dear Theodates sayd he at last the greatest and the most faithfull of all my friends by what good fortune is it possible that I hold you now between mine arms By mine Sir answered Theodates since I have established my highest felicities in the honour of your friendship They were interrupted in this discourse by the Princess Berenice whom the remembrance of the good Offices she had received from Theodates had fill'd with acknowledgement and affection toward him nor did she dissemble it in that noble company for all her modesty could not hinder her from embracing him and giving him all the testimonies of good will she could have granted to her nearest Kinsman Orontes Queen Thalestris Demetrius and many others entred about that time and amongst them all those to whom by the hearing of Artaxerxes adventures the name of Theodates was already known look'd upon him with a great deale of affection and esteem and the Prince desiring to confirm them in it Behold sayd he this gallant Prince and this generous friend to whom I am so many wayes indebted both for my happiness and for my life he to whom I owe no less then to Darius and he whom I ought to love more then my self if I will not be the basest and most ingratefull man in the world He spake these words beginning his endearments afresh but the Princes who all took interest in his fortune would needs immitate him in his actions and drawing near to
each others faces and being they were accustomed mutually to impart the progresse they made in their affections they gave one another account of the successe of the visits they had newly made Roxana was exceeding angry when Perdiccas told her he had promised the Queen that she should see Oroondates and protested often that she would never give her consent but Perdiccas pacified her by many reasons hee alleadged representing to her that that enterview could not hurt them since it should be in the presence of many witnesses which would tell them all the passages of their conversation and that if it could not serve to their advantage however it could be no obstacle to their intentions and praying her to trust it to his managing since his interest was equall to hers he brought her in the end to yeeld to his perswasions after they had conferred together about the order they should observe for the making of that Visit Perdiccas bad her good night and the Queen before she went to bed having a mind to let Oroondates know her purpose to oblige him in what he had desired and the conditions upon which she granted him that favour called for pen and inck and wrote to him in these words Queene Roxana to Prince Oroondates YOU are permitted to see my Rivall since you have desired it but it is not meant you should make use of that favour to the ruine of those that grant it you 't is in your power to turn it to your advantage if you use it as prudence would advise you and in counselling Statira not to think of you any more you ought to receive the counsell shee will give you to lose all thought of her This is the way you ought to follow if you love her life since it shall depend meerly upon the successe of this enterview Oroondates received this Letter that very night before he went to bed and in spite of all Roxana's threatnings found causes of joy in it that made him forget his present miseries he could not fancy that he should shortly see his Princesse without being transported with an excesse of contentment and he formed an Idea of that happiness in his imagination which placed it above all those that ever hee had enjoied What said he shall I see my Princess once again Death hath not then deprived mee of her sight for ever nor captivity robd me of that blessing for the whole remainder of my daies I shall behold her with these very eyes which the first time they saw her found the glorious losse of my repose and of my liberty I shall speak to her with this very mouth which hath so often made her the true protestations of my fidelity and I shall hear that very voice which hath many times pronounced the sentences of my life and of my death Ah my soul wilt thou be able to resist those violent motions of thy joy which must in probability put thee besides thy selfe After these raptures of delight followed some effects of his fear nor could hee without trembling remember her parting from him at Susa and the humour he had left her in at that cruell separation his joy neverthelesse got the better of his fear and possessed him then so absolutely that it hardly suffered him to bestow one hour of the night in sleep Perdiccas passed it not in such pleasant thoughts as his and hee was so perplexed with the cares of love and with those of the war that he had hardly a minute free from the persecutions of the one or of the other Yet did he give Orders for the defence of the Town with a great deale of understanding and as much in love as he was he forgot but few of the Duties of a very expert Generall and of a man whom his passion could not make to neglect any thing He was tormented neverthelesse with an anxiety caused by the ill successe of his Affaires and as he had been afflicted at the losse of the last battle and at the defeat of Nabarsanes he also knew with an extraordinary discontent the danger of the takeing of Babylon and of the utter ruine of his Party which did most visibly threaten him he was weakned by the losse of part of his men he was but ill assured of the affections of the rest and in every thing he found occasions of fear which he thought too important to be slighted That was it that made him so hot in the prosecution of his design upon Cassandra when in likelyhood it should have been interrupted by cares of so great consequence but his haste was grounded upon some reason and his fear of being quickly reduced to some capitulation or to some disadvantagious Treaty made him presse the Queen so much as he had done and as he did more eagerly afterward to engage her while she was in his power so that after the change of his Affaires his Rivals might no more pretend to any thing with her knowing that if he layd not hold of his advantages while she was in his hands he was never to hope for any thing after If he passed the Night in such troublesome disquiets Seleucus was little better at rest with his and the day appeared before he had fully taken his resolution Araxes being come at that time to receive his Commands renewed his discontents but not being willing to detain him longer and having drawn him aside so that no body could over-hear him Araxes sayd he you may return to the Camp when you please after having succeeded so ill with my faithfull Companions in what concerns mine own interests I will not undertake to speak of yours and I have considered that your Masters Enemies fear your fidelity too much to suffer you to be near him I would return along with you and would not abuse the favour I have received from my generous Friends if I did not know that I shall be more usefull to them heer then in their Camp In briefe Araxes I am resolved to do that by the way of Arms which I have not been able to compasse by my perswasions and I 'le recover your Masters liberty as I undertook to do or else I 'le perish in that design give Prince Artaxerxes and his Friends this assurance from me and because I have reason to distrust my Forces here which are not great enough to oppose those of our Enemies tell them that when I shall have need of their assistance I 'le set up red flags upon the wals assoon as they see them appear they may fall on at the Gate which is opposite to Craterus his approach and I 'le facilitate their entrance with my utmost power but it shall be in the open day by open force and by wayes which ingratefull Perdiccas shall not be able to accuse of treachery After he had given him this instruction he sent him away and appoynted Officers to accompany him to the Gate who caused it to be opened by their Authority Araxes went out
Gods forbid Monsters sayd she that I should give a Prince into your hands whose life is worth more then a thousand such as yours Saying thus she ran immediatly to Oroondates his Quarter which was yet made good by some of those she had set to guard him and calling for the Arms he had on when he was taken which then were in his ante-Chamber she took some of them her selfe and giving the rest to Hesione with a sword which she commanded from one of her Souldiers she went into her Prisoners Chamber He at that time had his hands at liberty for they were unbound as soon as he came back unto his Lodging but he was in great trouble at the noyse he heard and partly guessing the cause was like to die with griefe and anger to see himselfe in a condition that permitted him not to do any thing for the defence of his life While he was in the middest of these violent disquiets Roxana came into his Chamber Oroondates sayd she as ingratefull as thou art I have defended thee hitherto against thine Enemies with the perill of my life but since my defence is not able to secure thee go fight thy selfe for thine own safety see there thine Armour which I restore thee march on against these cruell men that would assassinate thee in my protection and remember that I have made the consideration of my interests stoope to the care I have of thy life This act of Roxana's gave Oroondates occasion to lose some part of his resentments against her nor would he have sayled to testifie as much to her by words if she her selfe would have given him leasure and if she had not let him know that all the time he had was necessary for the putting on of his Arms. He therefore contented himselfe with protesting as he received them from her hand that he would not be unthankfull for that obligation and putting his Cuirasse on his back with the help of Hesione and even of Roxana her selfe who needs would share in that imployment he was quickly in the same estate wherein not many dayes before he had struck so great a fear into his Enemies Then did he think himselfe invincible and going from Roxana with an action that caused a terrour even in her he ran followed by those of his Guard whither he was guided by the noyse of the fight After he had crossed the Gallery he found those on the top of the stairs who yet were making good that passage and who neverthelesse began to yield by little and little to the fury of their Enemies Before he could get to them he encouraged them with an exceeding fierce cry and at the same instant flying in amongst them like a whirle-wind he showed himselfe at the head of them in a posture which froze the stoutest of their Enemies hearts with feare Courage my Friends cryed he I 'le fight with you as you have fought for me and if I must die amongst you I 'le die like a man that will not give you cause to repent what you have done for his safety These words made him presently known to both Parties but his first Actions gave much better markes to assure them who it was and to strike the greater terrour in his Enemies he left the Beaver of his Cask halfe open that they might see his face Cassander had no sooner cast his eye upon it but a deadly shivering ran through all his Veins and Perdiccas himselfe though he was Valiant could not look upon him without growing pale but their fears were redoubled in them when at his two first blows they saw two men fall dead who tumbled down the stairs to their very feet and that at the same time the Prince knowing who they were threw himselfe upon them through the middest of all their men with a furry which nothing was able to oppose Behold Oroondates cryed he to them behold Oroondates whom you have such a minde to kill come on valiant men behold him now unbound coming himselfe to offer you this life you seek Cassander not daring to stay for him was gotten a good way into the throng amongst his Souldiers and Perdiccas who knew that as valiant as he was he could not escape him and that in a more open and lesse advantagious place he would not be able to defend himselfe long against the great number of his men thought best to imploy some of them to receive the first fury of his blows The Prince flying into the thickest of them like a man that contemned his life dispatched them with the greater facility because he fought upon the higher ground having the advantage of the place and he was so couragiously seconded by those that fell on with him and by those that had begun the fight that after having washed the stairs in a stream of bloud he by little and little made his Enemies quit them They fly the Cowards cryed he to those of his own Party they fly from a small handfull of men but their flight shall not serve their turn for if you follow me like valiant Souldiers they shall loâ—e their lives in this Palace of their Queen where they have slaughtred your Companions Saying these words he ran upon Antigenes the Chiefe Commander of the Argiraspides whom he observed among the eagerest of them and brought down his sword upon his head with such a mighty force that although the Cask could not be cleft by the edge it was beaten into his skull by the weight thereof Antigenes as strucken with a thunderbolt fell without sence or motion at the feet of his Companions where he lay bleeding at all the passages of his head his fall took away the courage of his men and the Prince followed them so close that after having made them forsake the last steps of the stairs he drove them on before him into the very Court His fury did precipitate him so that he rushed on thither like a Lyon but there it was Perdiccas desired to have him and having imprudently engaged himselfe in a place too spacious to keep his advantage in it the Enemies began to â—ay hold of theirs and at the same time Iolas and Tentamus appearing in the Court with the rest of the Argiraspides he with a small number of those that stuck to him was presently environed by that multitude Roxana who from the Gallery beheld that spectacle found new matter in the Princes admirable actions to redouble the love she already bore him but she could not see him in that extreamity of danger without giving her selfe over to her sorrow nor without repenting that she had so long deferred to give him the means to defend himselfe In the interim she by her cries declared the interest she had in his preservation and by her words encouraged those few that were left with him to persist in his defence to the last man expecting the arrivall of Neoptolemus and Andiagoras upon whom she had grounded her latest hopes and
knowing who he was flew so suddenly at him that his fatall sword finding passage through his body in a place ill defended by his Arms appeared all bloudy on the other side and layd Cassanders brother dead at the foot of his companions Behold cryed the Prince seeing him fall behold a victime which I offer to the Ghost of Alexander and a just execution of one of his perfidious poysoners These words and the death of Iolas pierced so deeply into Cassander that despiâ—ng the danger there was in comming neer his enemy he would have run to meet a certain destiny in the point of his Arms if many of his men had not interposed who all falling at once upon the Prince reduced him to the greatest extreamities in which he had ever been Many of those that fought for him had already lost their lives and the rest forced by the abundance of their enemies gave ground apace defending themselves and compeld their valiant leaders either to retire with them or let their enemies have the satisfaction of taking away their lives too easily Seleucus who had yet some hope in Nearchus counselled the Prince to yeeld a little to the multitude and by that advice obliged him to retreat before a world of enemies that hotly prosecuted him he quitted the place to them with a great deal of trouble but still shewing them a fearlesse countenance and keeping them at a distance from him by the greatnes of his blows they drove him back on that maner to the end of a street that brought them to the Key and there having more liberty to enlarge their front they put them in greater danger then before He still retired from them with Seleucus and still the small number of his men made opposition till they came to the great stone Bridge that divides the Town into two equall parts that place was something favourable to them for spreading their soldiers the whole breadth of the Bridge they put themselves in such a posture that they could not be charged any where except in front but wearinesse began to lessen their strength though they had yet been so fortunate as to have received but very little hurts and it was evident that without some speedy succour they could not protract their fate much longer In the mean while Roxana had no sooner seen her Pallace clear of enemies but she went down into the Court where she had rallied all the men she could see in a condition to fight shee yet found three or four hundred and at the same time saw seven or eight hundred Draches and Argeans who were comming up with great affection to serve her and who among all other Nations were they on whom she had the greatest power she then resolved to make use of it to requite Perdiccas in his own kind and in taking revenge upon a man that had offended her take also the life of her Rivall deprive her of the means of drawing benefit from the liberty she had given to Oroondates I have saved my ungratefull Scithian said shee from the cruelty of Perdiccas but I do not mean Statira shall be the better for his safety and if I had not saved him for my selfe I will bee sure not to have saved him for my Rivall With these words she placed her selfe at the head of those men and after they had loudly protested to her that they would follow her any whither without consideration shee marched in fury toward the house where the two Princesses were kept Alcetas had staid to guard it for some time but when he thought there was nothing more to be feared from Roxana and that he had heard Seleucus with his men were fighting with Perdiccas and that Nearchus was gone to set the gates open to the enemy hee beleeved hee could no longer stay with honour in that house while all his Companions were engaged in fight wherfore leaving three hundred of his men to defend It hee was marched away with the rest to seek in what place his assistance would be most necessary No sooner was he gone but furious Roxana came and presently seeing the gate was guarded shee commanded her soldiers to break in and put all to the sword that made resistance They found a great deal more then they expected from the small number of their enemies for being valiant men and faithfull to Alcetas they with successe did long make use of the advantage of the place to supply the difference in number they shot arrows exceeding fast from the top of the gate and from the windows and kept their enemies a great while in play by that defence but they at last were so encouraged by Roxana's cries that in spite of all opposition they got up to the gates and having beaten them open entred the Court and drove Alcetas his soldiers as far as the stairs there they made head again to win time for the comming of relief and there they slew a great many of Roxana's men and stopt their progresse a good while longer The fair Queen Statira and the Princesse her sister having heard that noise and partly guessed the cause of it ran to a window that looked into the Court and there they saw cruell Roxana who was come in thither after her men had made themselves masters of it and who by inciting words pressed them still forward to an absolute victory That sight begot not so much fear in those great Princesses as to make them stoop to any thing unworthy of their great courage and the illustrious Widow of Alexander beholding her cruell Rivall with disdain Compleat thy crimes Roxana cried shee carry them on to the highest degree and if thou hast abandoned Oroondates to the rage of Perdiccas wreak thy malice without further delay upon her whom hee abandons unto thine thou never oughtest to hope that Oroondates if he be alive can love a Monster black with so many horrid crimes and if thou canst reap no other advantage by my death thou at least maiest thereby revenge the contempt hee ha's of thee Roxana heard these words distinctly enough but being they put her to confusion by the knowledge of her faults she made no answer and heartned up her men in such a maner that in the end their enemies were constrained to quit the stairs and retire disorderly into the Hall Thither they pursued them with such haste that they had not time to shut the door and there despair made them fight a little longer which was a means to retard but not divert Roxana's intentions Then did these two great Princesses no longer doubt but that the end of their life was come yet in that fear they did not any thing that misbecame their greatnesse and if they made shew of any griefe 't was only out of a sence wherwith neernesse of bloud and affection inspired them mutually The Queen embracing the Princesse her sister and bathing her face with tears shed out of love to her Dear sister said she if it
about Lysimachus his neck 'T was from you said she 't was from you indeed we were to hope for our deliverance and 't was also in your vertue and in the assistance of the Prince our Brother that we had grounded our expectations we ow our lives to you Lysimachus but besides the generall obligation Parisatis ought to adde this last service to those many others wherby you have so well deserved her affection She pulld him up as she spake these words which made the Princesse blush but yet her modesty could not keep her then from testifying her acknowledgement and she believed that an ingagement of such importance might well dispence with her for her severer rules she did it by a salute and an embrace full of affection which she then bestow'd upon that Prince whom she had never favoured so much before and opposing the intent he had to cast himselfe once more at her feet that hee might receive her favours with greater respect Generous Lysimachus said she I am totally your debtor since besides my own life I ow you that of the Queen my sister and this last action is of the same nature with many others which you have done to my advantage I most dearly preserve the memory of them and have as great a sence of this last as you can desire I am then replied Lysimachus with a sigh a great deal more happy then I had hoped to be and the care you took to conceal your selfe from me and to keep me from the occasions of serving you in a season when the services of all those that had any fidelity toward you were no more then necessary had put me into a very ill opinion of my fortune I had reasons answered the Princesse which would perchance be well approved by any other but your selfe but if â— did amisse in your opinion I 'le make amends for my fault by all the reparations that so vertuous and so reasonable a Prince as Lysimachus will demand The glad Lysimachus not being able to expresse his joy by words contented himselfe to testifie it by his actions and putting one knee unto the ground he kissed the Princesses hand with raptures suitable to all those gallant proofs he formerly had given her of his passion Ptolomeus came then into the Chamber and as he took a very great share in the contentment of his friend he received as great a one himself in the acknowledgement of the two Princesses and they both assured him with affectionate speeches that they were extreamly sensible of what he had done in favour of them After that first discourse the Princesses enquired concerning Artaxerxes Oroondates and the generall state of their affairs Lysimachus told them in a few words and though by the knowledge of that happy event he confirmed them in the joy they had conceived for their own liberty he left them in some apprehension for the uncertainty of Oroondates his safety and for the danger of their Brother Let 's go said the Queen to Lysimachus let 's go and take our part in the danger which those dear persons still are in for our sake and let 's no longer stay in a house where we have suffred so much and which we have so much reason to detest At these words she gave her hand to Ptolomeus and leaving her sisters to Lysimachus went out of the Chamber and passed into the Hall which shee found full of dead and dying bodies and where shee quaked with horrour at the sight of so dismall a spectacle The Princesses turned away their eyes but they met with the same objects upon the stairs and in the Court and in all places found new occasions to abhor Roxana's cruelty In the mean time that unfortunate Princess was in a condition very different from theirs and when Lysimachus and Ptolomeus came to relieve the Princesses her fear had made her go up the stairs where she then was to the highest story of the house from thence she had heard the noyse from thence she had sometimes look'd into the Court and from thence by the words of the victorious Soldiers she had learn'd that it was by â—ysimachus her enemies were rescued that the Town was taken and that she was upon the point of falling quickly her self into the power of those persons shee had so cruelly injured She received not that assurance without being cast into despair and horrour and the solitariness of the place where she was joyned to the remorse of her guilty conscience inspired her with the most furious thoughts a heart is able to conceive She could not call to mind the cruelties she had executed upon the Queen without justly fearing those punishments that were her due nor could she dispose her selfe to losâ— Oroondates for ever without desiring the death she was afraid of What shall I do said she in these â—â—â—â—solutions shall I give my enemies the satisfaction to make me suffer a death I have so well deserved and shall I undergo the shame they are preparing to reward my cruelties Shall I implore the mercy of those I have so unworthily abused and shall I beg my life of my Rivall after having assaulted hers with so much inhumanity Ah! no Roxana think not upon that utmost basenesse after so many others that dâ—shonour thee if thy Rivall should be generous enough to grant thee a pardon which thou hast so little merited wouldst thou receive it from her by giving up Oroondates Wouldst thou live wiâ—hout that ingratefull cause of all thy crimes and couldst thou see them both conquerors over those crimes that have so little profited thee Ah Roxana this thought 's unworthy of the wife of Alexander and if thou hast made thy self unworthy of that quality by thy shamefull actions blot out the shame of thy life by a death full of resolution Die miserable woman but die by thine own assistance without standing in need to beg that of thy enemies She then began to consider which way she might kill her self not having any weapon that could serve her for that purpose shee was in a high Gallery that look'd into the Court which she saw full of men slain for her quarrell and 't was from thence she thought she might easily find her death by throwing her self headlong into the Court where in regard of the heigth and the hardnesse of the pavement she must needs in probability be dasht in pieces Already had she given her self over to that resolution and was preparing to execute it when she remembred her great belly and the Child of so great a Father which she carried in her womb That consideration staid her at the first and drew tears immediatly after from her eyes Ah! wretched mother cried she wilt thou destroy a son of Alexanders and shall this only pledge thou hast left of the affection of the greatest man that ever was perish for the expiation of thy offences This unfortunate Child of so glorious a Father is innocent of all thy
had gayned much upon the heart of Deidamia yet had he not been able to banish the memory of Agis which was too deeply rooted in it Though in the hopes of all these illustrious Lovers there was some difference their sufferings yet were equall and all of them sigh'd equally either through fear or through desire Chance brought them all together one day in the Queens Chamber with their Princesses and it seemed as if it had been for the decision of their fortunes Oroondates who could no longer live in his cruell uncertainties resolved to put them to a period and trusting with very good reason to the greatness of his services and to the marks of acknowledgement he discovered every day in the Queens actions he had a mind to draw a finall assurance from her Artaxerxes and he were by the Bed side with the Queen and the Princess Berenice Lysimachus Oxyatres Orontes and Demetrius were at the other end of the Room conversing with their Princesses when the King of Scithia not being longer able to master his passion fell suddenly upon his knees before the Queen His action was very unconfident and never in all the greatest dangers had that fear appeared in his countenance which then was easily to be seen in it by whosoever observed him At length he strove to conquer it and dispelling all shew of it by the greatness of his courage he began to speak fixing his eyes upon her face but in so submissive and so dependent a manner that the Queen did not lesse discover the force of his love by that last action then by the most important ones of his whole life I Goe about a business Madam sayd he which truly I cannot venture upon without trembling and that which I have now to beg of you it so infinitely above my services that the memory of them is not able to secure mee against my fears and my distrusts yet am I forced to make use of them having nothing else so powerfull to strengthen my pretensions and if you will pardon me for it I 'le call to your remembrance that after some light actions which my fortune in Persia the Prince your Brother layd the first foundations of it by his goodnesse you approved of them by yours and the deceased King your Father established my highest felicity by his Hee was pleased to suffer that Oroondates should bee yours and if I may be permitted to use that tearm hee engaged himself by his word to give you to Prince Oroondates you were afterward taken from mee by the treachery of our enemies and by the violence of a Conquerour I had not if I may say so pulld that misfortune upon my self by any of my actions and if I bore it without dying 't was because the Gods had destined me to live still for you I consented without complaining to the banishment you ordained mee and if I since returned to you 't was not â—ill according to your own tearms you were in a condition to receive me Before you were so I desired nothing from you nor did I so much as murmur against that duty the Enemy you opposed against my happiness But Madam may I not now bee suffered to rayse my thoughts to what I lost by nothing but my ill fortune and may I not look upon my Queen as she whom the Prince her Brother and whom the King her Father had given me nay as shee who had given her self unto my love Though I cannot bee worthy to succeed in the place of Alexander by greatness of power by victories nor by the qualities of my person may I not supply all these defects by the greatness of my love and by my services May I not beleeve with some shew of reason that never man lov'd better then my self and if in my own interest I may speak it with modesty that never Princess was better served then Queen Statira ha's been by Prince Oroondates All my life is known to you all my thoughts are clearly discovered and it is needless for me to put you in mind of what the accidents of your life cannot have suffered you to forget I have endured all that a man could possiblie undergo and by those sufferings which have not been the lesse sensible for being glorious have I not some reason to aspire unto the highest pitch of my felicity Have I not cause to seek the haven after so many storms wherwith you have seen mee tossed for the space of ten whole yeers And is there any thing left for mee to do or to suffer for my Princess As you desire the favour of the Gods continued he embracing her knees consider the miseries of my life with pity deliver mee out of so many torments which I bore with patience while they depended upon fortune and not upon your will and dispose with compassion of a life which is now in no other hands but yours alone and which now no longer depends upon any thing but what you shall ordain for its preservation or destruction The Prince as he ended these words to which all the Company lent an attention that diverted them from their own affairs fixed his eyes upon the ground fearing to behold some presage of his misfortune in the Queens face She remayned for a good while in the like posture and then if Oroondates was tortured by his fears Artaxerxes was not lesse disquieted then he and looking upon his sister with eyes that condemned her irresolution he sufficiently made appear how great an interest hee took in the happiness of his friend At last the Queen lifted up her head and with a very serious countenance spake on this maner I Ow too much Sir to your services to lose their remembrance or ever to diminish the value of them if I were capable of such an ingratitude I were too worthy of those miseries wherein I have spent my life I know I am often indebted to you for my friends my liberty my life and my honour and that all that ever the most generous men and the most faithfull the most passionate Lovers have undertaken for the persons they have loved comes infinitely short of what you have done for me It is also true that I was yours both by the will of my Brother by that of my Father and by my own I indeed was yours by inclination and by a most lawfull acknowledgement and when to my misfortune I ceased to be so 't was not out of any inconstancy or change of humour Treachery and sovereign power took me from you and when your innocence was known to me 't was only duty that opposed the affection I had for you 'T is that alone dear Prince that represents unto me now that I was Wife to the greatest and most fortunate man in the world I say most fortunate because I very well know that nothing but fortune could give any man an advantage over you In fine I was the Wife and am the Widow of him who but a few months
Barsina by Leonatus The six Princes having left that glory to their Friends were gone altogether to the Temple before and had themselves forgotten nothing in their cloaths that without effeminacy or a too affected curiosity could please the eyes of their admired Princesses After having expected them there a few moments which to their impatience seem'd as many houres they saw them enter with a Pompe that brought new light into the Temple Berenice Deidamia and Thalestris as valiant as she was walked with more fear and bashfulnesse then their Companions but the Queen the Princesse her Sister and Barsina who had already been in the same condition went up toward the Altar with more confidence Why should this Narration be drawn out to a greater length There it was that in the sight of many thousand people and in the presence of the Gods who by Prayers and Sacrifices were called to behold that action the greatest Persons in the World of either Sex were by the usual Ceremonies joyn'd together with Bonds which could not be untyed which never were broken but by death and which through the whole course of their lives kept them as closely united as they were that day There it was that by such famous and important Nuptials Vertue saw it selfe tryumphant over so many misfortunes that had vainly fought against it and that seemed to have crossed it for no other end but that it might shine forth with more lustre and glory Those glad and fortunate Bridegrooms having delivered back their Brides into the hands of those that had led them thither followed them home again to the Palace where all things were most stately and magnificent O! how tedious did that day seem to them and how little pleasure did they find in the Games Courses and Combats which the yong Princes made with infinite Pompe to honour so solemn an Action The Son of Polyperchon Menelaus and brave Ilyoneus made themselves remarkeable in them by their dexterity but after long contestation 't was yong Alexander that bore away the Prize After the Courses and Combats followed most gracefull Dances and admirable Musick and after all those entertainments came the most delightfull and most glorious Night that ever was Never had the brightest day shewed any thing comparable to it in the judgement of Oâ—oondates and his Companions and those that might boast to be most memorable by the winning of battles and by the conquest of Empires were obscure and gloomy in respect of that pleasing darknesse which tryumphed over light with so great an advantage Then were the greatest Beauties in the World delivered as a Prey to the passions of the mercilesse Conquerors who revenged themselves for the torments they had made them to endure with resentments which for all they were so violent they could not justly disapprove To say the truth they were in some sort pardonable and it was but reason that they whose suffrings had been so long and cruell should make themselves equivalent reparations Never had the God of Love been present at so solemn a Festival and in all the Sacrifices that had been offred to him at Paphos or at Cythera he never had received such honour as he did that Night in Babylon But I am afraid to say too much of it and to go beyond the bounds of respect and modesty with my Princes who exceeded them a little that night of liberty They without all question thought it a great deale too short and one might perchance have doubted in what imployments they had passed it if the blushes that appeared next morning in the cheekes of Berenice Thalestris and Deidamia had not given the Company great suspicions Yet did they pardon their Lovers the offences they had committed by the example of their Companions who had born them with more moderation Those constant fires were not extinguished of many years and the love of those vertuous Persons was placed upon too sure foundations to find any thing in possession that could abate it on the contrary it grew far more ardent by a more perfect knowledge of those Beauties and rare qualities that had given it birth and time which ruines all things had never power to slacken the first violence of their flames Many dayes were spent in these contentments which cannot possibly be imagined and the happy Princes took plentifull draughts of thâ—se delights after which they had so long impatiently thirsted When they had nothing more to wish they began to think of retiring King Oroondates was recalled into Scithia by his Subjects and he himselfe had a desire to go thither that he might give his Queen the Crown of his Dominions Arsaces also had a mind to see those Countries again where he had passed some years and where he had so powerfully gained the peoples hearts All the other Princes were obliged to return into their severall Provinces to be crowned themselves in the Kingdoms which their valour had woon and which Arsaces freely left them in consideration of the good Offices they had done for him and his and in the hope he had to recover others from them that had not merited his friendship They all prepared themselves for that seperation but not without a great deale of trouble to every one of them Before they went away they thought fit to take order in what remained to be done and because Babylon and all Assyria belonged to them by the right of Arms they all offred it to Seleucus as to their valiant Deliverer and Benefactor but he refused it and protested openly that not having had any other aym in what he had done then to succour Vertue unworthyly oppressed he would not give his Enemies cause to make an ill interpretation of his intent and to judge that he had quitted his Party out of a shamefull interest and vile hope of recompence All the World esteem'd that thought to be worthy of Seleucus his Generosity and when they saw him so firm in his resolution that it was impossible to shake him they altogether cast their eyes upon Oxyatres who did not then possesse a Territory suitable to the greatnesse of his Quality and pressed it so urgently upon him that in the end he was constrained to accept the Soveraignty of Babylon and there to setle his abode Seleucus had Armenia Mesopotamia which the death of Phrataphernes and Archesilaus had left vacant and because Cylicia was so likewise by the death of Philotas all the Princes would needs have Eumenes take it and give that part of Cappadocia he possessed in exchange to Queen Thalestris leaving that Kingdome entire to Prince Orontes who also quitted the Province of the Massagetes because it was one of those that composed the Asiatick Scithia which King Oroondates had destined for Artaxerxes After having ordred the Provinces on this maner they all prepared for their departure and when they had bestowed a few dayes more in the confirmation of their Allyance and in the tears that were shed at that seperation
and since I must give you account of those accidents of my life whereof you are ignorant and which are of much greater consequence than the last 't is best for me to relate them according to the order of time wherein they happen'd to me this reason makes me forbear the telling of you those things at first the recitall whereof must needs surprise you and that surprise will be no way the less pleasing by making them known to you in their due place in the story of my life Oroondates and the Amazon Queen were equally satisfied with this motion and being they had ardently desired the Continuation of Berenices recital the beginning whereof had been interrupted they prepared themselves to hearken to her with a marvellous attention Sister said the Prince you prevent the request I was about to make to you I assure my self it will not be tedious to this fair Queen and I have so great an interest in your affairs that it is not just I should be ignorant of them longer At these words they sate down all three upon a bed and the Princess of Scythia after having thought a while of what she had to say and indeavoured with her hand to cover a little blushing that came up into her face began her discourse in these terms The Continuation of the History of Berenice IN the first actions of my life which I recounted to you when I began my discourse before perchance you found nothing criminal but in these which I now am going to tell you you will finde something not altogether so innocent and 't is that confession I must make which calls blushes into my cheeks and which strikes me indeed with some shame and confusion not but that with a little indulgence they may be excused nor are they so black as to give you any occasion brother to disown me nor you fair Queen to repent of that affection wherewith you have honour'd me I have already acquainted you with the beginning of the King my father's love to the Princess Stratonice and of the persecutions I suffred from troublesom Arsacomes I believe you have not forgot the condition I left them in nor that wherein I was my self by the vexation I received from that insolent Prince of the Issedons The brother and the sister had made a very unequal progress in their designes and the Empire Stratonice had obtain'd over the King was not much less than my aversion to her brother We were upon these terms and liv'd with very different hopes and intentions when the Nomades and the Hyleans having taken Arms upon some slight pretences rose up in rebellion against the King slew all their Governours and arming all their Forces broke out into an open War and into the utmost Extremities The King who desired to stifle those Disorders in their birth sent Theodates Prince of the Sarmates against them with an Army of thirty thousand men judging that strength sufficient to stop their proceedings and chastise their temerity having a perfect knowledge of Theodates his valour prudence and fidelity Nor was he deceived in his opinion for within a short time after his departure he received news of the beginnings of his progress which certified him that in many encounters the rebels had all manner of disadvantages and 't was not long before he heard that they were absolutely defeated in a pitch'd battel and that the Army being victorious had lay'd siege already to some of their Towns but in the report of these things which came to Court they much extoll'd a certain stranger who having ingaged himself in that service out of affection to Theodates had shewn proofs of an admirable valour and had with his single person contributed more to our successes than whole Troops joyn'd together Theodates writ of him to the King with such praises as raised that man above humanity and his character of him was confirm'd by some Eye-witnesses who gain'd him a wondrous high place in the Kings esteem They told how in the battel he had twice sav'd Theodates his life and that having seen some of our Squadrons give ground which example struck a fear into those that follow'd them and like to have put them in a general Rout he ran to the head of them and snatching the formost Standard out of his hands that carry'd it spake to those affrighted Troops with so much Eloquence and efficacy that he got them to make a stand and having re-incourag'd them a little charg'd headlong into the middest of their Enemies with so great valour and success that he chang'd their fortune and brought the Victory alone to that side of the Battel That after that important day Theodates acknowledging how much he was indebted to him and how great service such a man was capable to do his Master had given him the command of some of his Forces which was void by the death of one of the principal Officers That within some days after being gone with those men to view a place of the Enemies he had found it in an ill condition to make defence and that laying hold of that opportunity with as much prudence as courage he had storm'd and taken it by force with a very inconsiderable loss that by these Actions and some others of this nature he had won such a Reputation among the Souldiers that they call'd every day for new occasions to fight provided they might be lead on by Arsaces At this name of Arsaces Oroondates sig'd and chang'd colour but he would not interrupt his sisters narration which she went on with in these words That war was ended in a short time with an entire glory to Theodates and those that had accompanied him but the valour of Arsaces had hasten'd the end of it with all the success that could be desired and we heard that that Valiant stranger having received eight thousand horse from Theodates had assaulted the Relicks of the Enemies Armies near the lake of Buges and had cut them in pieces with a general defeat and with a moderate loss on his side This fame of that strangers actions made the King extreamly desirous to see him and to tie him to his service by rewards equal to his deserts the whole Court longed not much less to have a sight of him and we were all satisfied quickly after when Theodates having settled those Provinces in good order reurned to Issedon by the Kings command and brought along with him that gallant man who was so much desired and whose fame had already produced very different effects in the Court I was with the King when Theodates came to kiss his hands and after that he had showed him such favours as were due to his quality and the merit of those services he had newly done Theodates presented Arsaces to him I had cast mine eyes upon him as soon as he was come into the room and quickly found cause enough in his person to fix them there without looking upon other objects I confess
I was surprised at his gracefull fashion and that if the Idea of the Prince my brother had not been present to my remembrance I should have believed I had never seen any body in the world that could dispute that advantage with him His stature was little different from yours and in the garb and liberty of your bodies there was a great resemblance he was a little browner than our Scythians who by reason of the coldness of their climate are fairer than other men yet had he a fresh smooth complexion all the lineaments of his face were merveilously well proportioned his eyes sparkling yet full of sweetness his hair black naturally curl'd and falling in great rings upon his shoulders his aspect noble and full of Majesty and all the motions of his body had an extraordinary comeliness He was then hardly twenty years old and 't was that early youth that wrought an admiration in all those that knew his prudence and that had seen him lead men to fight with such an experience as had not yet been found among the oldest Commanders I know not whither this little description will make me to be suspected of any thing but I am sure that before the end of my discourse you will confess this report of Arsaces may be made by the most indifferent persons The King who was already prepossessed with an exceeding high opinion of him beheld him with admiration and having given his eyes liberty to view a person so exactly handsome while Arsaces kissed his hands with much respect he embraced him with a kindness far above what a stranger as he was could probably have hop'd for When by most obliging words he had testified the knowledge he had of his vertue and the esteem he had of his person he asked him touching his Countrey and his fortune and then Arsaces after having pawsed a little to consult with his modesty Sir said he I was born in Bactria which is now under the Dominion of the Persians my Parents were of reasonable good birth but I left them as soon as I was able to ride on hors-back and seeking glory in the Wars and in forreign parts I have hitherto made those places my Countrey where I believed I might best find it Prince Theodates his goodness stay'd me in your Majesties service and the knowledge I since have had of the honour it is to serve you hath engaged me yet more powerfully in it You could not have light into any Countrey replied the King where your vertue should have been more cherish'd and valued than amongst us you have already found that glory you seek for and with it a Prince who will alwayes be ready to acknowledge the greatness of your deserts and the important services you have done him Arsaces made an answer full of submission and modesty and the King giving him occasion to speak gave him also an opportunity to let the Company see the quickness of his wit and the grace wherewith he expressed himself He spoke not the Scythian tongue perfectly but so well that there was nothing harsh in his pronunciation and was so ready in the Greek and many other Languages which are in use amongst us that his conversation was merveilously pleasing From that day the King began to be very liberal to him and gave him pensions able to maintain him in handsom equipage he received them without either greediness or disdain and if his growing fortune met some that envied it at first his vertue suffered them not to do so long Indeed he had not been many moneths in Court but he was both the admiration and the delight of it and his excellent qualities in a short time won him the love even of the roughest natures All the world was ravish'd with the gracefulness of his behaviour all the world was charm'd with the sweetnes of his wit and conversation all hearkened as to so many prodigies when there was any story of his warlike actions told by those that had seen him do them and generally every one considered as wonders the marks that appeared in him every day of the greatness of his courage of his goodness and of his natural generosity He was quickly in a condition to show them for the King who look'd upon him and admired him as the rest became in love with his vertue and desired to tie him to his service by all manner of obligations he observed something in his face and in all his actions that was so great and so far above other men that he felt himself forc'd by unknown reasons to set an extraordinary value on him and indeed he in a short time raised him to such imployments and Offices as other could neither obtain by birth nor by long services without a great deal of difficulty Arsaces abased not this good fortune and those dignities to which he saw himself called without suing for them puffed him not up nor made him prouder than before on the contrary his humour seem'd to be more sociable he served all those with freeness and humbleness that stood in any need of his power and credit and ran to meet those occasions they had to make use of him with such an eager desire to effect them as made the obligation a thousand times the more considerable his liberality was boundless and being far from enriching himself with what the King gave him he distributed it so profusely that his friends blamed him for it and the King himself was fain to complain of the contempt he show'd of his presents and of the little care he took to keep what came from him This reproach could not moderate Arsaces his liberality but it made him more circumspect in husbanding his favour and in avoiding noise or ostentation in his bounty Though none of his actions were guilty of the least blemish of pride yet as humble and submissive as he was to others he could never bend his mind to make any applications to Arsacomes who at that time next to the King was most considered of any man in the Kingdom and who was in a condition to build what fortunes he pleased and to overthrow those which were not yet well confirmed and but beginning to be establish'd as that of Arsaces Not but that Arsaces paid him civilly whatsoever he thought due to a man that was esteemed by the King and that was Arsacomes his quality but he could not consider him as did those slaves of favour who having an aim very distant and thoughts very different from his sought their advancement of him by base servile compliances to which he would never stoop and besides these reasons he had particular and more powerfull ones which opposed his giving him that observance he expected from all others Arsacomes who saw that scorn in him and who besides feared least that budding fortune should at last o're-top his and become powerfull enough to ruine it strove to hinder its groweth and often told the King that it was something dangerous so
considerations but 't was with so much discretion and reservedness that the â—everest persons could not have found any thing to condemn in her affection The window at which we talk'd was so low that the two Princes being on horsback could easily reach it with their hand and though it were grated the barrs stood so farr without that we could hear one another though we spoak but softly and also see one another as well as the light of the starrs would suffer us After I had â—estifi'd to Arsaces how sensible I had been of the dangers he had run and with what joy I had receiv'd the news of his escape I told him all that had happen'd to me since the time I had not been able to write to him and recounted all that you have heard as well about the taking of my letters as the Kings cruell threats the Queens visits and all that I had suffer'd for his sake He was so passionate at that discourse that he had hardly patience to let me finish it and in the answers I had made to the King and Queen to his advantage as likewise in the constancy I had shown to favour him he found so much reason to be satisfi'd with me and with his fortune that he knew not how to express the least part of his acknowledgements Is it possible said he that what I hear should be a truth and that Arsaces should be so happy as to attain this high degree of felicity Ah! losse of my Dominions Ah! dangers that I have run Ah! pains that I have suffer'd how gloriously are you all rewarded aâ—d how unable is the King of Scythia to shake so firm a fortune as mine is Since my Princesse judges me worthy of her affection and that in spite of such cruell rigours and persecutions she perseveres to keep it for me I henceforth apprehend nothing from the power of men and my happiness is above the reach of all they can attempt against me From this he fell into such tender and such affectionate expressions of thanks that it was hard to hear them and to repent whan one had done for him and I redoubled his contentment by all the confirmations he could desire of my friendship We then began all together to consult what was best to bee done and when we had severally deliver'd our opinions My design added he if it be permitted for a person that is subject and dependent to have a design is for some dayes to enjoy the happiness which now is granted me if I can do it without troubling and disquieting my Princess and when I shall have obtain'd leave of my Love to be able to part from her for some time and that by the settling of the Kings anger I may think my passage will be a little freer I 'le go away to the Prince my Brother to show him the face of him he hath so dearly lov'd and to take sanctuary with him against the indignation of his Father I hope for all things from his friendship and he commands an Army which after him would be at my devotion against the rest of all mankind I shall have no other enemy there but Arsacomes and if the consideration of Oroondates make me deferr the effect of my resentments against him I am most certain I shall be preferr'd before him in Oroondates his friendship but if without â—ffending my dear Brother I may be sufferr'd to let them loose I shall find wayes enough to free my self of a rivall who hath made and who perhaps would yet make the greatest part of all my miseries neither ought he to hope that he can enjoy his life with his ambition of serving Berenice and though I fear not he should be able to shake the constancy of my Princess I ought however to punish him for the pains and persecutions he hath made her suffer This was Arsaces his intention part whereof I approv'd and labouring to divert the violence of the rest I would needs moderate his spleen against Arsacomes by the promise I made him that all his indeavours should never serve for any thing but to make him the more odious to me I will not trouble you Brother with all the particulars of our conversation that discourse would be too long since it was not much shorter then the night In brief judging that the day began to draw near I dismiss'd Arsaces after having confirm'd him by all manner of protestations in the hope he had of my constancy and after having given him leave to take the same opportunities for a like entertainment while he could stay at Issedon with any safety This design was put in execution and I saw him many times in the same manner without either being surpris'd or troubled by any encounter and Arsaces at my urgent entreaties was so carefull to keep himself conceal'd that his being in Issedon was never so much as suspected In the interim the King was so extremely vext at the shame he thought he had receiv'd that his discontent mode rated or rather stifled all the joy he ought to have receiv'd for the happy proceedings of my Brothers Army He had heard of his victory over Zopirio and afterwards of the taking of many Towns which either by force or gentlenesse he had brought under his obedience but he hardly appear'd any way sensible of those successes which in another season would have found him very ready to bear a part in the publick joy But he receiv'd no small surcharge to his affliction when by an expresse that came from Arsacomes he heard how Prince Oroondates had lest the Army the cause of his departure being unknown to every body as likewise the place whether he was gon He deliver'd him a letter which my Brother had written to Arsacomes whereby he resign'd the army into his command and gave up into his hand the charge the King had impos'd upon him This news cast the King into furious redoublings of his anger but it was raised to the extremity when that Messenger deliver'd him a Cabinet which my Brother had forgotten in which amongst many other papers there had been found the information Theodates gave him of the life fortune and imprisonment of Artaxerxes The reading of that letter produced many severall effects in him for if it made him judge that Oroondates had till then been innocent of the treacherous designs whereof he accus'd Artaxerxes it made him also beleive that it was that advertisement that made him leave his army to go to that dear friend and to joyn with him against his fathers service Neither was he without some suspicion that Oroondates had cunningly left that letter to make it be beleiv'd that the designs and person of Arsaces had been unknown to him and to gain the more facility by that device to effect the plotts they had continu'd together But howsoever it were the King could not fix upon any of these opinions without finding cause to redouble his wrath and hatred against
Artaxerxes nor did he neglect any thing that could serve toward his revenge and seeing that the Gods or his ill fortune had made him ' scape out of his hands he sought out all the wayes to mischief him that could fall into his imagination He caus'd many manifests to be drawn and sent into all the quarters of his Kingdome wherein he accus'd him of treason and of a conspiracy against his life exhorted all his subjects to endeavour his destruction and the more strongly to invite them to it promised fiue hundred talents to whosoever should bring him his head The news of this cruelty and malice of the Kings drave Arsaces into resentments which were like to have made him go beyond those considerations which till then he had preserv'd towards his person Ah! said he why must this barbarous man be the father of Berenice and Oroondates and why is it not permitted me to revenge with the bloud of so cruell an enemy the ingratefull designs he ha's against my life and the wrong he would do my reputation After these words he return'd again to himself and repenting that he had spoken to them ask'd me pardon and protested he never would fall any more into those violent thoughts against my father And indeed till then he indeavour'd to force himself to patience but he utterly lost it at the last effects of the Kings indignation How great compliance soever the King had till then shewed to Stratonice yet had he never resolv'd to marry me to Arsacomes and though he was driven to it by the considerations of his love and by the Queens eternall persecutions his ambition and some remainder of his affection to me made him repugnant to that alliance but when once he began to loose the hope of taking revenge upon Arsaces by any other way he overcame the remnant of his love to me and beleeving he could not afflict his enemy more sensibly then by giving me to his rivall he resolv'd absolutely upon the marriage He had heard was nothing more to do in the Countrey where Arsacomes was with his army and having determined that he should return with his forces he sent an express to him with orders to bring him back and with a letter which he wrote to him the words whereof were to this purpose The King of Scythia to Prince Arsacomes Since you are the onely man worthy of my friendship and of my alliance I intend that you shall have them both come therefore Arsacomes to receive the recompence that expects you as well for the services I have receiv'd from you as for those you have render'd Berenice from hence forward she shall be yours and all the difficulties you have found in winning her shall yeild to the authority of her Father and of her King He show'd this letter to divers of the Court and published his resolution to every body to the end Arsaces might come to hear of it and feel the sorrow he prepared for him He would needs also give me my share of it and the next day after the departure of that fatall messenger he came into my chamber and bearing the markes of his cruell intention in his forehead put me into as great a fear as I could possibly be capable of He took not so much leisure as to sit down for the short visit he meant to make me but looking upon me with a severer eye then ever he had done before Berenice said he hitherto I have been too favourable to you but you too unworthily abused my indulgence therefore now know my last intentions and dispose your self once for all to marry Arsacomes I give you as much time to resolve upon it as will be necessary for his voyage hither but I declare to you that he shall be your husband from the very day of his arrivall Though I was infinitely surpris'd at this strange discourse yet did I call up all the courage I had to make reply to that severe proposition of the Kings and looking upon him with an eye that was more animated then ordinary I will obey you Sir said I to the last minute of my life but my death I hope shall free me from the obedience I owe you You shall have leave to dy repli'd the King if you prefer death before Arsacomes but you shall never obtain a more favourable election He stai'd not for my answer but going out of the room left me in the condition you may judge I was reduc'd to by that cruell threat Truly it was a very lamentable one and Theomiris and Cyllenia had never been more sorrowfully imployed about me then they were all the rest of that day I would have dissembled my grief to Arsaces whom I was to see that night and I prayed my Cousen not to tell him of that visite of the Kings but 't was impossible for me to hold my resolution and as soon as ever I saw him my tears broak forth in such abundance that before I was able to speak he was but two well instructed in my misfortune wherefore I was forc'd to confesse it to him after the tears that had betrai'd me and seeing he suspected something more fatall I was fain to tell him all I knew both of the Kings message to Arsacomes and of the cruell command I had receiv'd from his own mouth Arsaces never appear'd so terrible to me as at that killing news and I do not wonder his enemies should think him so dreadfull in fight since in the anger I saw him at that time I could not but be affraid of him my self Yet did he all that possibly he could to master it before me and when he had a little conquer'd that first fury which made him fly into an extremity of rage against the Kings violent proceeding and that he had kept silence for a few moments 'T is too long deferr'd added he Arsacomes must dy and the bloud of that unworthy favourite must pay for the Kings tyranny and for his own Oppose not this just resolution Madam with unjust commands my obedience in this encounter would be cowardise and in the extremity we are now reduc'd to I ought to be exempted from it The King doth but vainly prepare a marriage for him to which he ha's unworthily pretended neither am I so forsaken of the Gods or men no nor of my own courage which hitherto hath serv'd me faithfully enough but that I can make that rivall fall at the head of his army The King of Scythia perhaps shall find that the remembrance of Arsaces is not yet extinguish'd in the Court of Scythia and I hope it shall be with his own forces that I 'le oppose his unjust and tyrannicall designs These were Arsaces his words and I saw him so fix'd upon that resolution that I had not the confidence to oppose it with all the power I had over him Yet did I strive to pacifie him as much as possibly I could and alledg'd all the reasons I thought capable