not sithence seene by whom they beleeved the Prince to bee betraied and so by the helpe of the rest murthered by the Admirall They sent suddenly to the gates where they understood that the Admirall with eight Companons all well horsed went out at the gate of Castlemuni They resolved to send after him and having to that end sent for the Count of Montereale Generall of the horse and shewed him the body of the Prince they committed to his charge what he was to doe The Count who adored him living and now being dead could not satisfie himselfe in bemoaning him considering that the present state of the businesse required somewhat else than teares went on his way most resolute to use all possible diligence to revenge his death The Lords of the Councell in the meane time after they had taken such order as was requisite touching the bodies of the Prince and of the guiltie Traitors returned to the Palace But the Citizens having I know not how understood of the accident and telling it one unto another were seene to shut up all their shops in an instant with lamentations so manifest that the King perceiving it asked the Marquesse what was the matter who answered him that he knew not but the King seeing it more and more increase bade him goe call the Prince and learne what the matter was Wherein whilst the Marquesse tooke on him to obey him there appeared in his presence the Privie Counsellors who when the King saw come thronging so many together he imagined that some great disaster had hapned for all of them pitifully lamented insomuch as the President who was to be the Speaker could not utter a word whereat the King impatient turning towards the Marquesse and seeing him make greater moane than any of the rest asked him angerly if the King of Corsica were in Caleri or if the Kingdome were lost My Soveraigne Leige answered then the President would to God I could bring you that newes in exchange of this other a thousand times more wofull for there might be hope to recover againe the Realme whereas the losse that both you and the Kingdome have now sustained is irrecoverable What can it then be replied the King Is Perosfilo dead At which demand all of them kneeling downe and pitifully lamenting him with grieuous sobs and mornefull cries answered that he was The King hereat astonished would have runne towards the Lodgings of the Prince thinking to see him there Whene the Queene comming out thence accompanied with Eromena with their heire hanging disorderly about their eares more like Bacchanals or mad women than themselves met him at a doore full-but The Queene strangely gazing on the standers by with reiterated words cried out Perosfilo Where is hee where is my Sonne Come give him mee withhold him not rom mee for I will have him This incounter was to the King even as a fire which come neere a dry tow-like matter fuming and halfe consumed puffs it up in a flame in an instant for seeing his wife and daughter in so strange a fashion his spirits and courage so failed him as he sunke downe to the ground But the Queene without taking any notice of him running about while here while there continued in calling out for her Sonne till become all hoarse with crying she held her eyes immoveably fixt where once she let fall her sight without shedding a teare Eromena the mirrour of beauty and Prudence stood in that instant with her faire eyes concentrated pale and wan She wept not and yet she wept for her weeping were exclamations and sighes she called on the beloved name of her brother she sought for him all over his Lodgings and hehind the Tapistrie as if she had hoped to have found him there hidden The King was raised up from the ground and laid in his bed so would the Ladies have likewise disposed of the Queene but she become frantike ran up and downe the Palace and round about the Lodgings complaining of the heavens and cursing men till she brought her selfe to that passe as she was not able any more either to move or crie The numerous companie of Ladies that pittifully wept about her had not beene able to re-conduct her to her Lodgings if Eromena fearing with her brother to lose also her mother had not with her presence and teares importuned and perswaded her to retire her selfe It boots me not to tell you of the revolt of the Citie when the corpes of the Prince were about midnight brought to the Palace The dolefull Eromena considering how her father was by reason of his great griefe fallen sicke of a Feaver and her mother growne distracted of her senses was not therefore willing to let them know any thing but went her selfe with a few others to veiw the body but then although all her vitall powers ran unto her heart although all her force and vertues whereof the heavens were unto her so graciously liberall united themselves together to fortifie her courage yet could not all this save or sustaine her spirits and almost her life from failing her at that instant she grew pale shee swounded she fell dead at least in all likelihood and died she had indeed if a spirit more feeble had given shape and being to a lesse generous heart In the end come to her selfe and sitting by the corps as she watered his breath-losse face with a fountaine of her teares she said Are these then the joyes Brother which we expected of thee Are these the hopes that the world had of thee which with all reason is expected of thy valour Is this the flourishing age by so short a space of life so cruelly cut off to bring therewithall to an end with no lesse crueltie the lives of those that brought thee into the world why did not thy resplendent vertues dazle the eyes of him that slew thee maugre the spectacles of envie O cruell starres To what end served such and so great influences of beautie and exquisite feature in a body peerlesse for prowesse and adorned with so divine a soule seeing a little blemish an error in youth so tender so excusable hath caused and proâ—ured the corruption and ruine of all those excellent perfections to give the whole world cause to lament the losse of them yet are they not lost for what ascends from above must returne to whence it came so as we have no cause to grieve for thy generous soule but yet can we not chuse as we are mortall but lament the dissolution of the perfectest composure that ever nature put together neither can we without death chuse but bewaile thy death depriving us of the life which from thy sweet life we received for in thee were indivisible all those graces which the Graces participate not to others but in such measure as is requisite for the delight of humane kind We cannot chuse but mourne seeing our selves threatned at home and abroad being since we are deprived of thee without
her than that of the Mauritanian Infante and that the Marquesse should treat therof by way of proposition as proceeding from himselfe giving thereby rather way and encouragement to the Infante to demand her than cause to beleeve that they were already resolved to give her him The joy that Eromena thereof conceived as it was exceeding great so was it neverthelesse exceeded with an incomparable prudence whereby she well knew how to conceale it answering the Councell that they should finde her conformable to their deliberation The Count of Bona after hee had delivered his Lords letters and discharged himself of the troopes and Galleys being licenced to go on his Embassage wafted off as soone as he had received the Princes letters with a prosperous gale for Maiorica where he and the other Embassadours were received with all such solemnities as befitted the Embassadours of so great a King And because the businesse was before resolved of and this solemne office done meerely for publike satisfaction it was easily concluded on and Eromilia promised to Metaneone Prince of Mauritania upon the sole condition that shee would ever marrie at all The End of the Fourth Booke CAVALIER GIO FRANCESCO BIONDI HIS EROMENA The Fifth Booke IF great was the fame of Eromilia's beauty whilst abiding in Maiorica shee was promised in marriage to the Prince of Sardegna far greater was it when as soone as his death was published her retiring also was instantly divulged abroade the resolution and occasion whereof with a reasonable indifferency wrought a generall amazement so as such as before had her heard commended for the extraordinary industries of nature observed in her now rapt with new partly curious and partly amorous affections deemed that man happy whose fortune it were to winne her in this losse of her selfe being it seemed not so inconvenient for any other to finde inventions to steale her away as for her to invent her selfe the meanes of depriving her selfe of the world And albeit the businesse in it selfe stood not founded on reason that a Princesse especially of so great a merit should be constrained to alter her upon what occasion soever grounded indeede rather compassionable than blame-worthy resolution Neverthelesse some discoursing by way of argument approved it as an act lawfull to search after and finding to gather up such Iewels which throwne away by an unwise and as it were a prodigall owner were exposed to the hazard of being stolne away by the unworthy and so to become subject to light into their base and abject hands neither could such an attempt so it were confined to the bounds of honour be for all that stiled rapine the intention of the act being to restore the thing so seazed on to themselves and though it be true that its maine scope and ends tended to gaine yet doth every kinde of labour deserve its hire nor is that kinde of usury unlawfull which in recompence of its paines desires but the simple lone of the thing found Suchlike were the reasonings of sundry young Princes of divers Countries who like sphericall lines came to meete all in one and the same center nor is it any wonder that a cause remote should produce and bring forth the selfesame respects in persons remote each from other seeing the universall soule that moves and inspires the vaste world is even one and the same But those among the rest that gave themselves most to these imaginations were the Prince of Tingitana and one of his brothers with the Princes of Andaluzia and Granada The King of Tingitana in those dayes commanded as Soveraigne all that part of Afsrike that lies on the Ocea sea as farre as six degrees beyond our Tropike growne to be great there by fortune and reach of wit if wicked subtiles may be stiled the effects of wit This King had foure sonnes that were ever at discord among themselves who having together with their breast-milke sucked ambition and desire of rule could never quiet themselves with other thought than in being every of them left sole without competitors The King old of yeares but elder in wickednesse growne expert in knowing the pravitie of his sonnes by his owne moved rather by a jealous zeale of himselfe than any affection he bore them had severed them asunder by assigning to each of them the governement of a kingdome with the revenewes whereof they maintained themselves in an honourable and splendide fashion without ever abandoning the precepts of soothing dissembling being a maxime placed in the frontispice of the schoole of those therein so accomplished Princes wherein every of them so exceedingly profited as the fathers selfe though a great experientist in that art was for all his cunning deceived for beleeving those affectionate-seeming demonstrations to be really true that were indeede but counterfait which neverthelesse served for nothing else than for gins and traps to ruine and overthrow one the other Argilo the first borne who bare the title of Prince aboade in Fessa a kingdome assigned him for his share Anterasto the second in the fortunate Ilands The other two possessed two kingdomes in the Meridian parts the one on this side the lesser the other on the other side of the greater Atlas purposely placed so distant each frō other to the end that their neighbourhood might not occasion or give them any subject of enmity The King himselfe resided at Morocco the heart of his Dominions thinking hee could more easily bridle the evill inclinations of his sonnes by keeping them thus severed at so large distances especially the two eldest who troubled him more than the rest but humane prudence is wont to light on oftentimes by shunning what but for shunning it had not encountred for Orgilo having understood by the Lord of Velez of the comming of the Princesse Eromilia grew suddenly desirous of enjoying her guided thereto rather by his beastly appetite than any kinde of true love for being unapt to receive those flames which shine but in gentle breasts stored with noble thoughts where-from his was so far alienated as for having never harboured a gentle qualitie he gave himselfe over to be a sordid receptacle of all kinde of foule and mischievous enterprises onely one sole thing in him seemed to looke with a face of vertue which was a bodily force inconsiderately used and a generous seeming spirit the abundance of his vices straightning him too much from being able to lodge either true magnanimitie or reall bounty With such and the like qualities purposed Orgilo to work his own ends on the noble person of Eromilia But Anterasto who with the ambition to reign and with impatience to be longer bridled lived unfortunate in the fortunate Ilands having understood by the spies he kept in his brothers Court all his designes and how hee had caused to be calked and rigged a Galley in Mamora for the stealing away of the Princesse of Maiorica thinking hee might better bring his project to passe by sea ariving unawares than by
mountaine and comming towards us was without spying us discovered by us When I straight knowing him to be Calaplo was thereof exceeding joyfull deeming it the happiest encounter that could possibly betide me for I knowing the cause of his going away being my selfe the man that hatch'd the invention of sending him packing in that manner hoped to bring the Prince good newes of his being slaine for we having at first concluded to deale so with him did not execute it for not multiplying of too many Ministers in the fact and by consequence of dangers in discovering him the rather in that we hoped that he would for feare have kept himselfe secret Imparting the businesse unto my companions they resolved to murther him not so much to serve and please thereby the Prince as for love of the Iewels and coine which I told them hee had about him Wherefore as soone as we got to the path we dogg'd him without being able to overtake him almost all the day long In the end passing downe a deepe steepy bottome and getting up another mountaine he held not on his way one houres space till he stood still so as we might at our pleasure overtake him and comming stealing-wise upon him for feare of being espied we might perceived him talke with some body afarre off and in his speech heare him say Your Highnesse which gave us cause to imagine it was the Princesse he spake to there we set upon him unawares but found him so valiant that what by retiring and defending himselfe were could never come once to fasten a blow on him the difficulty of the mountaines steepinesse serving him for a great advantange And I in the meane while seeing how he had with a maine downeright blow cloven the head of one of my two companions thought it my best course to leave him hand to hand with the other their death little importing my ends which was the life of the Princesse or rather my owne which without her death could not subsist it grieving me too much to leave in an instant the fortunes of the Court by me only assayed but not fully tasked Thus was I flattered by ambition which prevailes more in an upstart than in one that being borne there hath it hereditarie from his ancestors and from the noblenesse of bloud Being freed then from that pittie which was instill'd in me by my companions I got me to the place where I had before seene Calaplo to assure my selfe whether the same was indeed the Princesse or that I was deceived where I saw it was she indeede and she also might well have seene me if hindred by her weeping shee had not in drying her eyes covered them with the sleeve of her gowne her good husband not having left her any thing else to drie them withall The seeing her then in such a plight bred in me such a compassion as made me quite contrarie to my intended resolution desire to comfort her but remembring how she would never have either beleeved or trusted me and that it was better to goe and finde her out crave her pardon bring her backe to her father in safetie and there leave her I descended the hill but could by no meanes possible for all my rambling about ever finde her out so as at length having also sought her the day following to no purpose I resolved to set my selfe on the way of my returne The Prince in the meane time had in this tragedie plaid his part with exceeding great artifice for returning to the Temple dropping wet with sweat making a shew of being as he was indeede though for a different cause profoundly afflicted sent folkes to search all there about for his wise taking on him to feare that shee losing her way were devoured of some wilde beast he sent first of all to the Inne to know if shee were retired thither But the Knight that was left there with the sicke woman comming thereupon up to the Temple and acquainting him how that Calaplo had bin there to fetch away the waller he began to display and ground on that act of his some token of suspition but when such as were sent aboade returned without any newes of her then told he them openly that he could beleeve no lesse than that she were runne away with Calaplo which he knew how to represent so feelingly with such naturall affects both of griefe and disdaine that the Knight whose imagination never dived to the depth of so foule a treason could not otherwise chuse than be of the same opinion nor could it indeede be otherwise conceived of any except of such as lighted pat on the very truth seeing that neither bloud nor any relique of any limbe of hers could possibly be found any where albeit the mountaine was for three dayes continuance search'd all over with most exquisite diligence Besides that in that part so well frequented was never seene any savage beast much lesse was it ever heard that any one was ever slaine or hur there The Prince with this occasion came to be discovered for so would he have it to the end that the fame of the accident might forerunne his arrivall in Barcelona and so for being afterwards conformably confirmed by him be the better credited whcih indeede succeeded him every way answerable to his expectation The King well deeming that his heavy-hearted sonne had neede of comfort sent of the gravest and wisest of the Realme to meete him when he taking on him to be uncapable of any comfort spake and did things with such an extreme compassion-meriting passion as there was not any that grieved not for his griefe For albeit by the qualities of the Princesse there was no reason to beleeve that any such a resolution could ever be fostered in her yet could he so cunningly dissemble that for some while he blinded the best sighted and most penetrating eyes My returne was neere about the same time as his though a little sooner for so had we before agreed on When I in taking on me at Court to have never heard any thing of these passages in wondring at such an accident in making as though I could not beleeve it and in such other circumstances wanted little of going beyond my Master himselfe yet to him told I that we had buried her a pikes depth under ground satisfying withall the rest of his demands at full I having studied by the way how to make answer to all whatsoever he could aske me but he that now could finde no more in his heart to fix his eyes on me my very presence upbrayding him of the foulenesse of his fault never spake to me more one word thereof Soone went I about preparing my selfe for my flight when hee faining to have heard some inckling of the Princesse went suddenly a-boord a Galley so as I was faine to doe the same where we were scarce setled a-boord her whenamong the Knights and Ghing was spread a rumor that we were bound for Affrique
in his royal estate nor were all those dangers that were proposed to be likely to spring from the keeping of him alive able to remove Eromena from her innate clemencie who onely kept him secure under the charge of a faithfull guarde whereof there was no great neede for he having understood of the losse of his kingdome and of the resolution taken touching his person growne furiously mad thereat and wanting wherewithall to kill himselfe ranne his head at the wall with such a horrible force as he therewith dash'd out his braines for the others were prepared new wayes of torture as pinsers sheares hot irons and fires but the Princesse thereto consented not leaving such inventions for hellish furies contenting her selfe that they though worthy of all torments paid the law its due and satisfied by example the necessitie and publike desire of justice which was executed with so great a concourse of spectators as that the field was not capable to containe so great a throng The Traytors dying all of them penitent of the offence except the obstinate Admirall In the meane time was the Count of Bona held in suspence almost two montehs space without receiving any publike answer being neverthelesse well informed of its occasion and sumptuously entertained The newes being afterwards come of the totall possession of Corsica and Polimero desiring there should be sent thither a Vice-Roy to governe it a generall assembling of the states of the kingdome was resolved of to which end came together the feodatories deputies of every one of the Cities and Provinces The first thing in that Parliament decreed was the Prince's funerall exequies which were celebrated with such an orderly pompe as that they might with more reason bee termed triumphs there not appearing other lugubrous object than the habit and affection to the deceased Prince There were to be seene the representations and modells of sacked cities battells won people tamed and vanquished of Kings and Giants taken and led captives of wilde beasts trampled downe and monsters slaine the liberalitie used towards the vanquished the giving of cities and whole kingdomes not for avaritious but for honourable ends the Virgins preserved and the women cared for the dangers of the land and sea voyages and discovering of new regions In summe all whatsoever could in such a subject bee imagined for the expression of his a thousand-fold happinesse if there had not among so many ornaments of glorie violently beene inserted in the minds of the beholders the occasion of his death At the second sitting was in solemne forme established the incorporation of Corsica to the kingdome of Sardegna with a law of never alienating it more for any occasion whatsoever Some there were that would have their lawes and priviledges quite abolished but thereto would not the Princesse abosolutely consent thinking it best to see first how they demeaned themselves who though conquered by force should not be for that respect worse used than before being fallen not through their owne but through their Prince's faultinesse whose remembrance shold bee defaced out of the peoples hearts by good vsage and continuation of favours rather than by harsh usage and withdrawing of favours to give them cause of endeavouring to regaine their former freedome As for the lawes she well knew their abolishing to be necessarie being that a body cannot be formed of two soules and those different and would therefore have the Sardan lawes serve for and be common to both kingdomes nominating the Marquesse of Oristagnio Vice-roy of Corsica with generall applause of the universall assembly There being propounded afterwards at the third sitting the demand of Mauritania not for obtaining of consent thereto but to have it confirmed by counsell upon recitall of Polimero's merits and of the conquest of Corsica there was not so much as one that gainesaid it The Marquesse of Oristagnio parted suddely to the end Polimero might come to celebrate the marriage Now he had received daily intelligence from his Eromena the Marquesse and the Count of Bona of all that was done in Sardegna wherefore though he were desirous to dispatch himselfe thence yet waited he with all patience the orderly proceeding of his affaires conformable to the necessitie of the times setling in the meane time the places he had gotten in such order as they might be easily conserved fortifying every place whose site or necessitie required it having a speciall eye to the assuring of the ports but chiefely to the remotest from Sardegna in the face of Liguria So as when the Marquesse came and found all things so well setled he said that Corsica might well be kept without his government it being so well ordered as it was impossible for it for a long time to fall into any disorder Arrived in Sardegna and as its Prince reverenced of every one he came to Caleri met with great pompe and extraordinary applause where having kissed the Kings hands he would needes doe no lesse to Eromena's also the presence of the multitude prohibiting them to embrace one another according to their internall amorous affects so as they greeted each other with outward apparances according to the stile of convenient ceremonies The King for all these rejoycings never once joyed at all but the more he observed his sonne-in-law in his actions resemble his sonne the more he felt his heart rent with the memorie therof which he so loved as for it he disloved every thing else not excepting himselfe Polimero's first resolution was to licence the Mauritanian forces wherewith he well pleased the whole kingdome he re-sent them enriched with the pillage or Corsica and therefore passing well contented sending backe also with them all the Fleet except the Galleyes which he sent for Metaneone to come to his marriage and he by entreatie of his father and mother-in-law got leave to bring also along with him Eromilia Having then ship'd themselves after they had by a Fleet-Galley sent their brother word of their comming they sayled the two first daies with prosperous windes but were the two following greatly troubled with Southerly windes so as they had much ado to keep in the maine from crossing over to the Gaulan cost But the winde increasing and blowing with extraordinary furie they having lost their direct course were driven into the Lygustike sea without being able to touch the Iland of Corsica The sweet Eromilia found her selfe heart-sicke being unable to taste any sustenance sore was she troubled with vomiting so as having nothing in her stomack she cast up the very pure bloud to the extreme griefe of her husband who would willingly have died rather than have seene her so languish He had once hoped to come by some meanes or other to strike on the Corsan shore but seeing himselfe transported beyond Capo-Corso he commanded to take the winde in poop and to runne a-shore on the neerest place of landing North-ward from that Cape stood a little disinhabited Isolet where having with much adoe cast anchor
world The noblenesse of a minde so divine as exceeded all Royall state requiring a qualitie more sublime to content it selfe so as he for being not able to reach with the lownesse of his services to the hight of her perfections would have utterly dispaired thereof if he desire to serve her more than the service it selfe eternally inferior to his duty had not made the way of her favour easie to his merits Little else could Polimiro ponder in his minde the greenenesse of his yeares not affording him as yet other effectuall affections than the lesse secret and his want of experience depriving him of the light of nature which is wont to beare a great sway even in childhood it selfe unlesse a true love interposing it selfe engender a vertuous eclipse his speculations were altogether of abstractions for in not knowing he knew and though he knew not how yet well knew he what he would faine have and what he would faine not have Full little was he as yet aware of that the negative might have place in a courteous Lady he being not ever so little acquainted with those things which though sued for might be without discourtesie denied Much was he troubled and vexed for his hurts thinking that the time spent in healing his wounds wounded him in losing so much time in her service his heart perswading him that with the ardent desire he had to deserve her he found himselfe sufficiently encouraged to chase away not onely from his trenches but even from Sardegna both Epicamedo and Mars himselfe Whilst Polimero stood thus feeding his amorous melancholy in came the Princesse who accustomed to come every day to visite him and the better to shadow her affection held her councell of warre about his bed under pretext for the honour due to his valour to receive also his opinions Where after thanking her for the trouble and paines she vouchsafed to take in comming to visite him he besought her to give him leave to goe out to the field for that hee well saw that that aire agreed not with her constitution and that therefore she being unaccustomed to hardnesse and disasters should doe well to take some course to avoide them Whereunto the Princesse that well knew the cause of her alterations made answer My Lord you would faine governe your selfe according to the greatnesse of your stout spirit which at this present ought to resigne its government to your person that may not be otherwise ruled than according to your present indisposition you well know and feele what prejudice you have got thereby already I pray you thinke on it that it may serve you for a warning to dehort you from incurring againe into the like inconvenience My indisposition is not such as you take it for neither doth any toile prevaile over any tendernesse or ease that I have beene formerly used unto Have but a little patience and when the Chirurgians condescend that you may without danger get up then will I also bee therewith contented Whilst thus with reiterated supplications Polimero endevored to obtaine his request there entred into the tent Carasio with a Currier come from Porto di Torra who kneeling downe before the Princesse delivered her a letter which opened she found to be the Vice-Admirals and contained the newes of the victory obtained against the enemies with the conquest of fifteene Galleyes which chanced him by the aid of one Galley commanded by a most noble Knight And that now he was resolved having arm'd foure Galleyes of those fifteene he had taken and reinforced the rest to assaile with the assistance of that other Galley Epicamedo's Armado at Terranuova whereof hee would render an account to her Highnesse whom hee besought to charge the enemie by land in the selfesame time if it seemed good to her Highnesse so to doe The Princesse having read this letter gave it Polimero and sending for the Councell of warre caused it to be reade unto them who approved of the opinion of the Vice-Admirall And because the sea was about two and twenty miles thence distant there were placed many Centrees along the mountaine towards Castrodesen who as soone as they saw the Fleete appeare and assaile the Corsan Armado were to give a signall with smoke in severall places which was performed with such secrecie that no man knew it except the Councell and him that standing Centree at the sea might serve to give all the rest directions nor was there any danger of his falling into the hands of the enemie because the Sardan horse was Commander of the field Polimero when the Councell was gone turned towards the Princesse saying Alas and will your Highnesse doe me this shame to let me lie lulled here amongst the feathers in such an occasion of service when others toile themselves abroad in the field Not I by any meanes answered the Princesse so that the Chirurgians permit you but to goe abroad and as she would have spoken on in came the Chirurgians to dresse him who were so favourable towards him in their opinions that the Princesse was contented hee should get him up Much was Polimero troubled in minde ever fithence he had reade the Vice-Admirals letter wondering with himselfe what or who might be that most noble Knight therein mentioned On this jealousie already crept into his imagination began full cruelly to sting him making him beleeve that it was some Prince who moved with the fame of Eromena was come thither of purpose to serve her And because his heart was tortured with the passion he felt therefore he resolved rather to die than endure to have any rivall so easily is humane wit altered when it is once ravished with its affections seeing that he who before breath'd forth nought else but vertue now stung with the Serpent of amorous envy for such was his though unreasonable being that he neither saw his favours participated nor any person partakeable of them he suffered himselfe to be guided with the false imagination of having a rivall till the day wherein he was cleared of that doubt with no small amazement and griefe of Eromena who on the other side raved therefore beleeving that his minde surprised by some new thought had fully alienated from her his affection And so indeede seemed it to be he wanting art to dissemble his passions which concealed though not disguised deceived the judgement that tooke the one for the other so as if Eromena were therein mistaken yet was she not to be therefore blamed because Polimero an experienced youth reasoned with himselfe on this businesse as if she had beene faultie and as if her beauties and good parts ought not to have had the force of attracting other than him alone in so much as he became fretfull and pettish never beholding her but with troubled browes manifest expressers of more troubled thoughts whilst shee that passionately loved him knowing what little reckoning he made of his wounds could by no meanes imagine what might be the cause of so
suddaine an alteration whereof she conceived such a griefe as pierc'd through her verie soule She therefore desirous to be resolved thereof conducted him aside towards the trenches under pretext of finding out a convenient place to assaile the forts where after a short discourse of what might there be done and seeing him possessed with his accustomed desire of combating she said unto him My Lord I would not by any meanes that the greatnesse of your courage should any way prejudice your health I well perceive you much altered sithence you left your bed the reason whereof cannot possibly be other than the feeling of your self not well which if it be so I pray you let me know it assuring you that I have a greater share than you beleeve in your sufferings And I protest unto you that if your wounds endanger you by reason of a re-lapse as some dayes sithence they did I shall be therewith displeased and shal judge it a displeasure done me by you Polimero who well understood what it was to be a sharer in his sufferings and what signified the declaration of her displeasure dying his cheeks with a faire vermilion and become fully consolated returned her this answer I yeeld your highnes humble thanks for vouchsafing to take care of my health which among many other your noble favours manifests how deepely I am engaged unto you and could I but fully assure your Highnesse of what is unknowne unto you I assure my selfe that your Highnesse would rest satisfied with my reverent gratitude As for my hurts your Highnesse needes not doubt of them my wounds being now growne to a good passe but if you see me malecontent I think I have good cause so to be for to tel you the truth it liks me not wel that any other come to rob us of the glory of this war and had your Highnes but given me leave when first I besought you for it I assure my selfe that we had constrain'd Epicamedo either to returne or die ere any other came to deprive him of his army and mee of the honour of doeing my obliged duty Eromena by her acutenesse of apprehension soone conceived Polimero's drift whereof she was very joyfull well knowing that jelousie in its limits is a daughter of love wherefore she said unto him Let not I pray you what hath hapned displease you which shall I assure you be for your greater consolation and honour the comming of any other shal neither deprive you of that honour which your valorous actions deserve nor me of the obligation which I shall ever owe you therefore more than to any Knight of the world how great or worthy soever he be whereof assure your selfe and live contentedly if the being therof assur'd have any power to make you such Hereupon Polimero gently took her by the hand which she liberally reached out unto him affectionately kissing it remained the joyfullest man living with great desire stood he expecting the signall of smoak which the day following appearing made the Sardans give an all-arme though few of them understood the meaning therof which Epicamedo seeing knew not what to thinke but perceiving them divided into three squadrons and advancing forwards to come and assault his forts he also caused for their defence an allarme to be beaten But Polimero who was of opinion that to assaile the forts was lost labour and that it wold prove the better course to make on become masters of thetents if they could for the forts left alone unsuccour'd would afterwards fall of themselves wheeld about a large compasse and then causing all his troope to alight hee assaulted the trenches on the reare parts thereof suddenly and with such a furie that he forced the guard thereof and was himselfe the first man that entred where leaving to make good the front a strong squadron of horsemen though a-foote he with the rest remounted on horsebacke beating downe all hee met wherein hee found no great difficultie because there were no horse to withstand him they being issued forth with the King together with the greatest part of the armie to defend that part where the assault was most likely to be given and so in lesse than an houres space became master of all the Tents The Princesse on the other side as soone as by the cries she perceived the troopes to bee in a hot conflict spurr'd on-wards till passing betweene Fort and Fort followed by her force she affronted Epicamedo who making head with those few horses he had not able to hold out long was forc'd to retire himselfe causing a squadron of pikes to set forwards in firme battell-array By whom the Princesse seeing her selfe opposed caused hers to advance who after a small resistance put the enemie to rout for want of horse Then Eromena disdaining to besmeare her hands with the bloud of the vulgar went searching for Epicamedo who having understood how the Tents were set upon was runne to their succour leaving in his stead the Marquesse of Sagona Whereupon she having selected a troope of the choisest horse and left the rest to the charge of the Marquesse of Oristagno pursuing him eagerly found that Polimero after he had taken the Tents was come forth to charge Epicamedo who had with him but a small Battalion of horse not amounting to six hundred but all of them of the prime Nobilitie of Corsica his greatest confidence being in his foote that failed him for when they saw the Tents taken the enemie victorious in the front and now come to charge them in the flancke themselves being therewithal disordered and the greatest part without any pikes for having burst them in the former incounter growne quite heartlesse they sought to save themselves by flight so as being for their better way of escape divided they were for the most part slaine whilst the King skirmifhing with Polimero and hurt in the hand and flancke was forc'd to yeeld himselfe Of the six hundred horse escaped but a few who flying towards the Fleete with hope to save themselves were met by those that were comming to bring newes of its losse and then being all scattered abroad some in in one place and some in another they were by the Peasants rob'd and killed Polimero having laid the King in sure hold ran under the Forts where the fight was yet maintained but the Corses not able to withstand any longer nor having any place of retreite throwing downe their armes yeelded themselves the greatest part of them being already slaine in the first hot skirmish and the Forts after they had stood as spectators of the slaughter of their men and imprisonment of their King yeelded themselves over into the mercy of the vanquishers Thus were the Tents taken the Forts rendred assaulted and won in lesse than two houres space And now Eromena desirous to see what fortune had done with the Fleete at sea leaving all the foote to repose themselves taking along with het Polimero and two thousand horse set