world is guided by opinion and many a one hath beene rewarded commended by some noble man for his great seruice that hath but helpe him off with his hose when hee went to bed at night or peraduenture a ruffesetter a bottel carier a newes bringer a parricite a slaterer or som other such like minister of his pleasure and it may be a bribe giuer for a hundred aungelles of gold in such a matter are of greater vertue then all the aungelles that be in heauen yet as I haue saide such a one vpon some noble mans commendations shall receiue greater recompence then the man of good deserte indéede of any condition or qualitie what soeuer so that in the courte pleasinge of humours is found to be most profitable where a foole shal glorie of more sauour then a wise man of acceptance But I pray you sir aunswered Corynus why did you not make your request to the king himselfe who as it shold séem by your owne wordes is forwarde enoughe to recompence wel doing Very true answered Martianus and to the king himselfe I presented my sute who with most gratious promises and comfortable speeches willed mee to commit my cause to some noble man that might commende it to his maiestie and get my disspatche but alas our daintie nobles are soe dangerous to bee spoke with 〈…〉 that it is wel if in a monthes waiting you may attaine to three words speaking for some times if I met them in merry talke with my betters my petitions came then out of season to interrupt their pleasures an other time if I met anye of them solitarie by himselfe my lord was then in some melancolly moode and out of time to be spoken with all thus betwéene mirth and melancolly poore sutors maye longe inough watch their seasons yet neuer finde them in season to do them any good but could I once againe haue come to the presence of the kinge I woulde haue made no doubt of that recompence that now I neuer looke after And why so answered Corynus if Dorestus be the man that he is taken for good deserte canne neuer goe vnrewarded god for bid hee shoulde sit in his fathers seate if he should neglect his fathers vertues The eleuenth Chapter Corynus Martianus and Castus are arrested of treason and brought to the court to the young prince Dorestus there to be tried GLoriosus who had ouer heard all and by their spéeches did thinke himselfe to be well furnished with suffitient matter to picke a thanke when he came to the courte but specially of these last words spoken by Corynus god forbid that Dorestus should sit in his fathers seate went presently to the criminall iudge of the citie charginge him in the behalfe of the younge prince Dorestus to apprehend both Corynus Martianus and Castus and to see them brought to the court as traitors where he himselfe would be ready to auouch against them treson to the king slaunder to his courte and infamie to his whole gouernment this saide without any longer stay he tooke his iorney towardes the prince with greate expedition intending to aggrauate the matter as much as might be the rather to win himselfe reputation in performing soe notable a peece of seruice as he supposed this would fall out to be the maiestrates vnderstanding Gloriosus to be a courtier hearing his words to importe a matter of treson and as it was thought the king being so long missing was brought to some casualtie by the practise of treson accompanied therefore with some conuenient number he came to the Inne where he arested the foresaid three of treason and although the apprehension in this manner was some amasement to their mindes yet it was most strange to Corynus to be thus taken for a traytor to the king but after that he had a while deliberated what mighte be the matter hee requested the Offycer to let him vnderstande whether it were by direction information or what other instruction he had thus to apprehende them the other aunsweared sir you shall finde mine owne authority suffycient to arrest a traytor for the rest what there is farther to charge you withall you shall vnderstand at your comming to the younge Prince Dorestus before whome I mind presently to bring you and hauing a suffycient company to guard them forwards they go the prisoners euery one comforting himself knowing his own cōscience to be clere Brusanus that had giuen good héede to euery accidente and perceiuing by the former circumstances that Corynus Martianus and Castus were méere strangers the one to the other thought it therfore impossible that there should be any compact of treason betweene them and hauinge a speciall likinge to Corynus desirous to see what might fal out against him he followed him who when he had ouertaken he proffered any courtesy wherein a stranger might stéede him whether with his traueil or his purse they were both at his commaundemente Corynus againe in as greate a league of likinge towardes Brusanus and desirous to do him some honor before he should leaue the country requested him to accept of a prisoners thankes and that he woulde not leaue his company till it was determined what should become of him to which request Brusanus very willingly agréed vnto they traueil so long that they come to the courte where Gloriosus was attending and had quickely certified the Prince of their arriuall who commaunded that the prisoners should be safely kept vntill the next morninge when himselfe would be ready to heare their cause The twelfth Chapter Dorestus sitteth in iudgement Gloriosus accuseth Castus THe next day hee beeing accompanied with the nobles that were in the court came into the common place of Iustice vsually called by the name of The house of reformation This house of reformation was a very large roome wher the kings of Epirus in the auncient time were accustomed personally to sit at the least thrée times euery wéeke to heare suters and to dispatch all manner of causes and controuersies that were betwéene their subiectes and to minister Iustice to as many as were to demaund it and in this house of reformation it was euer accustomed that if there wer many suters the complaints of the poore were euer heard before the requestes of the rich The Prince being come to this place after that hee had geuen reuerence to the throne of maiesty wherin his father had bene accustomed to sit then sitting himselfe downe in the next seat the noblemen likewise euery one takinge his place the prisoners were brought to the bar where Gloriosus was likewise ready to informe but before they did procéede to the hearing of the matter the younge Prince deliuered these wordes They make themselues guilty of great iniustice who béeing appointed of God to persecute the wicked with the swoorde drawne will yet keepe their handes cleane from bloude whereas the wicked in the meane time commits all manner of sin and that vncontrouled and it is no lesse cruelty to punishe no
to his person I will not tell you heere into what a pelting chafe Gloriosus was driuen into vpon these speaches I pray you imagin that he was wonderfully angry and kept such a stur vpon the matter that there was no rule with him till in the end the prince himselfe willed him to holde his peace like a foole Wel quoth Gloriosus sith your Grace speakes so gently vnto mee I am contented at your intreatie to bear with the matter otherwise I protest by Iupiter himselfe he goes not vpon two legs if he beare the name of a souldier but I would haue made him to haue repented this presumption nine hundred yeares hence The fifteenth Chapter Gloriosus accuseth Corynus of treason against Dorestus the circumstances wherof are briefly laid open by Brusanus AFter the gentleman had bene in this sort qualified he was willed to infourme what hee had against Corynus and in this wise hee beganne to tell his tale Your Grace hath alreadye heard by that is past howe infamous the first hath beene vnto the Countrey Magistrate The second hath not feared to slander the court but this third in plain tearmes hath presumed to touch your owne person The circumstances are but short and thus followeth the wordes God forbid that Dorestus should sit in his fathers seat the sence is plaine and I will once againe repeat the wordes God forbid that Dorestus should sit in his fathers seat Let mee see now what glose can they set to this text what ifs or ands can they patch to these speaches to alter the sence from high Treason The whole company that stood by beganne altogether to crie treason treason treason but silence being commaunded Corynus was willed to speake for himselfe who in this sort aunswered Prince Dorestus Sophocles the Tragedian being accused before the magistrates of dotage repeated vnto them his Tragedy of Oedipus Coloneus which at that instant he had made so that his accusers confounded in their owne ouerwéening departed with a shameful repulse So I am likewise accused of treason and I am willed to make mine answere see héere worthy Prince this wrinckled face which many yeares hath withered should betoken staidnes beholde these hoarie hairs whose color time hath changed should cary some experience and although by experience I could answer in other circumstances yet I hope this shal aswel find grace to cléer me of treason as the Tragedy of Sophocles to acquite him of dotage This answere séemed confused to the multitude but the prince Dorestus who had marked the graue aspectes of this antient man Corynus gathered a further meaning of his wordes then the rest could wel conceiue and whether it were by som secret instincte of nature or what other motion it was that moued him he fell into a most affection at liking of Corynus but Brusanus that had stand by all this while pressing forth said as followeth Let not a strangers presumption breed offence worthy prince Dorestus that opposseth himselfe vncald for to testifie a truth and although the matter that I pretende might craue long discourse aduised purpose and seemely conueyaunce yet the rare vertues which I see to accompany your calling the singuler iustice that I sée to carry your procéedinges shall make me be the lesse tedious My selfe noble prince being led with delight to behold strange Cities to discouer vnknown places to better mine own experience haue left my natiue country and betaken my selfe to pretenced trauell and bycause I will leaue nothing which the necessity of the cause inforceth me to open though peraduenture in a curtous conceit my wordes might smel of flattery true it is that the renowne I haue hard of this country of Epirus the wisdome of the Prince that gouerned it the wise men that inhabite it the true Iustice that ruleth it though one of them were sufficient to moue admiration yet the most of them haue directed my trauell into this country and bendinge my iourney towardes this place by the way I ouertooke this merchant Corynus After salutations passed betweene vs wee had not rid far but wee were likewise ouertaken by this Gloriosus what speaches past between vs bicause they are neither fitting to our purpose nor necessary for the place I will therefore omit them but on we rid all together to the Citie of Vtica where determining to rest our selues in our lodging we met these other two Martianus and Castus Martianus being new come from the court as himselfe reported was the first that gaue vs to vnderstand of the king your fathers missing Castus on the other side was traueling towardes the court and as it should seeme to seeke for iustice but now discouraged by these late newes Martianus againe relating his cause as euen nowe before this presence concluded likewise his little hope to attaine recompence for longs seruice marke nowe vertuous prince for heere is the point of all this treason Corynus that had ouer hard all comforted the poore man in these speeches It were pitie my frend said Corynus that good desert should goe vnrewarded and god forbid that Dorestus should sit in his fathers seat and neglect his fathers vertues I could farther enlearg touching the premisses but what should I néed when I finde your owne vertue worthy Prince more sufficient to consider of euery necessary circumstance then mine own little skill is able to deliuer it The sixteenth Chapter Brusanus is discouered to be the Prince of Hungaria a combination of freendship betweene Dorestus and him IN this meane time that Brusanus was thus discoursinge a gentleman in the company that sometimes had beene in the courte of Hungaria whisperinge in the Princes eare assured him that the party which presented that spéech was Brusanus the onely sonne of Myletto king of Hungaria the which when Dorestus vnderstood taking the better suruay of the man and listening more attentiuely to his spéeches although hee were wonderfully delighted with his woordes yet hee was a greate deale better pleased with his personage and hauinge finished his tale Dorestus requested Brusanus to tell his name and what countreyman he was Brusanus aunsweared sir I was borne in Hungaria a gentleman by birth and by name Brusanus It is not vnlikely quoth Dorestus that Brusanus the Prince of Hungaria should be any lesse then a gentleman and if there be no other occasion then I can imagine Brusanus can be no lesse then welcome to Dorestus Brusanus séeing himselfe to be thus discouered briefly made aunsweare and Brusanus desireth no greater contentment then to be an assured frend to Dorestus Dorestus then arisinge from his seate and incountring with Brusanus saide and in token of perpetuall amitye with Brusanus Dorestus heere giueth his hande and biddeth Brusanus most hartely welcome the one of them then imbracinge the other with more then ordinary affection the whole company wer delighted to sée the courteous demeanure of these two gallant yong Princes but aboue the rest Corynus especially reioyced at the sighte
brought from the country so now they be helplesse by that I hear from the court when we be depriued as I perceiue from our good king the only anker-holde of al my hope that should haue ministred right to my infinite wronges And are your wronges such aunswered Corynus that they are not other wise to be remedied then by the king himselfe if I be not deceiued there be lawes in the countrie to determine your right you haue likewise maiestrates to administer the lawe in mine opinion your cause wer very strange if it should not be relieued by one or both Very true sir aunswered Castus my cause is strange indéede and yet if I were'aswell stored with coyne wherwith to corrupt as I am furnished with sorrowe whereof to complaine I néeded not haue trauelled to the courte for redresse neither haue I omitted so farre as my poore abillitye woulde stretche both to atempt lawe and to fée aturnies but mine aduersary is wealthy and therefore worshipfulll whose loftye countenance is enoughe to cary out his lewd conscience and although the lawe in it selfe intendeth nothing but right yet as it is ordered by some that hath the handeling of it it is made the very instrument of wronge yea the most of them framing their plea therafter as they be féede not according to the truth and for priuat aduantage or how many delaies can they forge from court to court from day to day from time to time yea from yeare to year then haue they such distinctions such errours such demurs suche quillites suche shiftes and so many deceites that the plaintife shal passe a thousand troubles before he may procéede to one tryall Oh these golden dumbe shewes are soe mightie in working that hee that hath them to giue they will make iudges them selues to become both deafe and blinde Thus riche men néede speake but a word and all wil hear them when poore men may shead their teares but no man pitie them But after that I had thus tried my selfe in the lawe I indeuoured by petition to present my cause before the pitilesse maiestrates but alas ther began my greater miserie For first euen amongst their base and seely porters I found a peuish pride and such a scorneful demeanure that I might not be suffered to stand nere muchlesse to enter their gates without a bribe but then againe amongst their clarkes O what gaping for greater gyftes and what loking after costly rewardes the which my pouerty not able to searche vnto what found I then but coy countenances currish language other like disdainful demeanure thus leauing their comfortlesse houses I was dryuen to giue attendance in the colde streates where after longe and tedious waiting the very horsekéepers would shoulder me from their maister who if perhaps through my pitious exclamations hee chaunced to cast his head aside it was either to afright me with his terrible lookes or vtterly to dismaye mée with his churlish checkes Thus hauing tryed all but finding none to pitie or comforte my distresse I determined with my selfe to trauell to the court hoping there to find some gentleman attendant about his maiesty that might preferre my sute to the king him selfe who is accustomed to heare sutors with more expedition and to kéepe them with lesse expences but alas I perceiue my purpose is preuented and I left destitute of all hope for euer to be happy The tenth Chaper The aunswere of Martianus whether it be better for a suter the courte or country IT is but a bare comfort answered Martianus wherthe best choice hath yet assurance of doubtful end you haue ceast your playnt in the country to become a sutor in the court and herein you may be compared to him that goes out of gods blessing into the warme sunne do you thinke to finde suche curtisie amongst courtiers you say you go to complaine of a wronge and peraduenture to him that will giue no man his right you say you are poore and vnable to giue a fee but you shall hardly finde him in the courte that will do any thinge for gods sake in the country if you found such churlishe regardes in the courte you shall find as proude lookes yea the very doore-keepers to these greate men in the courte will looke for more cappes and curtesies then I aunswere you haue bin accustomed vnto and yet still receiue your obaysance without any regarde of your busines but do you complaine of bribing in the country and would you come empty handed to the courte where ther is no grace without gold nor no friend without a fee and if your aduersarie be wealthy as you haue saide and that he be able to sende fiue hundred duccattes on his message do you not thinke them able to worke wonders in the court as the golden dumbe showes you speake of could euer do in the country yes be sure they are not onely able to make men blind and deafe but they wil open his lippes that was dumbe to present al manner of â—easinges yea for a néed before the king himselfe I am sorie my experience should serue me so well to display the court of Epirus but he that himselfe hath béene surely prickt can bid others take héede how they run amongst thorns and I that haue sped so ill with my courting can wishe others to beware how they come thither a sewing if they be not able to maintaine bribing It is now thirtie yeares sith I became a souldier from which time I haue serued the king in all occations against his enimies in the fielde the rest of the time I haue continued in his garrisons in this meane space I haue spent what my friendes left me which was some thing I haue lost part of my bloud which was more and I haue consumed my prime of youth and florishing yeeres which was most and comforting my selfe with some hope of happy rewarde for my better helpe now in my declining years with this resolution I came to the courte what mony I was able to make I put it in my pursse to bear my charges I haue ther continued these six monthes with cappes and curtisies downe to the ground and some time may it please your honour otherwhiles I beseche your worship but neither honorable nor worshipful that I could find to better my state but I haue spent my mony am come away as you see And yet I muste confesse that for the king himsef ther was neuer prince y t was more bountiful nor liberall nor that hath giuen oftiner or greater rewards But alas poore king if without arrogancy I may pitie a king he hath beene nothing more deceiued then in bestowing his rewards for being driuen to sée with other mens eies to heare with other mens eares and to reward by other mens commendations it is seene that promotion is determined in suche fort as fancy rather confirmeth the election then discretion in so much that desert may now go a begging when al the
for so small a time the which in deed I might the better haue done if he had paid me the rent he promist but I had no sooner giuen him place voiding my selfe into a little roome not far of but mine orchard was inclosed with a mighty ditch seueralde into his owne ground but for the rent that was promised although his thrée yeares are more then thrée times expired the day is yet to come that euer I could receiue groat to conclude he not onely with holdeth my rent but hee likewise holdeth me out of my house and against all right hath kept me out of my owne these tenne yeares I cannot denie but in this meane time I haue attempted lawe but I must confesse it is to my great charge for his great store of crownes so ouer weied my right amongst the lawiers that in foure yeares suing I could not bring my cause to one daies hearing but should I say nowe after I had bine thus cosined amongst the lawiers o no I perceiue it is offenciue let me then say thus after I had bine consumed amongst them and that I was not longer able to sée them I made my complaint to the maiestrates but if it bee a fault to say I found them pitilesse I humbly craue pardon most gratious prince for this is all that Signior Gloriosus is able to charge me with The fourteenth Chapter Gloriosus accuseth Martian us who answereth his accusation THe poore man hauing thus finished his speache was willed to stand by and Gloriosus was now to inferre against Martianus who procéeded in this wise Although I haue founde by the art of Logique learned by the rules of Rethorique and gathered by the preceptes of philosophy what vnnecessarie members these souldiers are in a well gouerned state in so much that many wise men déemeth them worthy of nothing then not to be yet with all the learning I haue gathered out of my libraries with al the examples I haue séene in my perigrinations with all the experiments I haue founde in the courte nor with all the art that is in my head the verye stoore-house of wisdome and from whence whole fountaines nay huge flouds of eloquence doth continually abounde yet as I haue saide al this will not serue me to reiterate the wordes pronounced in disgrace of the whole courte of Epirus by this man of little reputation I meane this souldier His sentences althoughe not artificially couched yet strained after a fulsome manner to the very full sea marks of reproche his phrases very harshe but more spitefull his wordes vnaptly placed yet according to the literall sence all applied to a malitious purpose I could heare distinguish vpon euery sillable and I giue god thankes for it I could according to art make diuision of his whole speeches into seuerall partes so examine the maior and minor of al his arguments as I might refell his propositions and vtterly deny his allegations But this is inoughe for Signior Gloriosus to conclud Martianus hath distained the courte with slaunder and must clense it againe with the price of his bloud The young gallantes of the courte that stoode by and had ouer-hearde all wonderfully commended Gloriosus protesting that he had spoken very wisely thinking him a very méet mā to be a counceller but y e yong prince Dorestus said as followeth So farre as I can perceiue Gloriosus your learning is more then the matter where-with you haue charged Martianus the some of all your eloquence concerneth a slaunder to y e court but how or in what manner there it stil resteth but say Martianus what occation hath led thée to speake ill of the place Martianus aunswered thus Most gratious prince if in my words I shall not obserue that reuerence that I know is apertinente to this presence I most humbly craue pardon and the rather for that my bringing vp hath not beene so muche to directe my speeches to princes in their pallaces as to souldiers in the fieldes to aunswere then to the matter where-with Gloriosus hath charged me the begining of whose tale is so spiced with such a deale of learning that I know not what to say to it wherby I perceiue many courtiers to be much more fruitefull then haares for as it is saide when they haue beene at bucke within fortie daies after they lytter there leuerites then againe they goe proude are conceiued and all at an instant but these goe proude euery day in the wéeke waxe great with learning before they conceiue it and are deliuered of the full burthen of their wit at the least fortie weekes before it is begotten Many wise men saith Gloriosus soe condemneth souldiers as they forbid him to haue place in a well gouerned state and I neuer hearde yet but an honest souldier was a more profitable member to his country then any vaine headed courtier whose gentry as it is written comes from their parentes whose wealth is the haruest of their flattery whose victories are the fruits of their souldiers for the first them selues blot with their vices the second they consume with their vanitie the last is attributed to more then them selues I can compare a courtier to nothing better then an ape which no man would kéepe but to procure laughter and the vse of the courtier is all for pleasure nought for profite It is further inferred againste me by this man of little wit this courtier I meane how slaunderous I haue béene to the whole courte of Epirus I can not make so learned a demonstration of the matter as Gloriosus hath done but according to a souldiers capacitie I will shewe you by example suppose I should say as I trust I shal neuer haue cause to thinke y e Gloriosus the courtier wer a very wise man now you must vnderstande this according to the interpretation of Gloriosus to bee spoken in y e cōmendation of the whole court wher my propositiō includeth but a perticuler person he wold infer a general cōclusion May it please your Grace nowe to vnderstand I haue serued your most renowmed Father these thirtie years as a Souldier and comforting my self with some hope of reward to help me now in mine elder yeares I came to the Court where I became a suter but those eies that looke into all procéedings and are watchfull onely to their owne profites and loath that any fat should bee licked from their owne fingers will suffer no good turne to passe which they can hinder neither can I denie most gracious Prince but in lamenting mine owne misfortune that haue bene so long a suter that I am now become a begger I haue complained that so many drones grating on the princes purse shold eat vp the hony from those that best deserue it For the punishment of mine trespasse I humbly appeale to your gracious clemency for I perceiue if Gloriosus were my Iudge no lesse would content him then the price of the bloud in my belly for a peniworth of slander
bite at them when princes them selues are so farre deceiued for where they are thought to haue open liberty they are kept in secrete prison when it is thoughte they haue al things alas they haue nothing when they ar thought in greatest safetie then are they sonest assaulted with perill so that truly we may bouldly say that he alone that is shut in the graue is in safegarde from the vnconstancy of fortune consider I beseche you my cause of griefe and if you shal find my complaintes to be more then ordinarie you shall see the occasion to be no lesse then extreame but haue your selues forgotten whome you haue lost remember remember Leonarchus your king what he was towardes you how mercifully he gouerned you how fatherly he loued you how carefully he preserued you and how cherely he cherished you and woulde you now with such speede establishe an other in his place till it bee assuredly knowen what is become of himselfe O god forbid that either you should be so vngratfull or that Dorestus should be so vnnaturall and if you should thus forget your Prince it might be thought you were more in loue with his fortune then with himselfe and a small showe of hearty good will whome you séemed so much to honour in his presence that you shoulde so sodainely forget in his absence But if euer you loued your Prince now publishe your gratfulnesse that it may bee séene to the worlde and leaue off to make further request in a matter that so much concerneth your owne reproch my dishonor Corynus who onely adressed himselfe to answere said as followeth Although it might be deemed a signe of little wit and great folly for a man to answere sudainely to euery proposition yet for as much as it hath pleased your grace to admit me to speake and remembring with what deuotion you requested me to doe it I am bound in like affection with all humility to obay you It is not vnknowne vnto vs the cause you haue of griefe but if you may lament the losse of a louing father we haue no lesse reason to sorrowe for the want of a gratious soueraigne yet seeing the chaunces of mortall creatures do shewe that all men are subiect to the lawe of nature and fortune and albeit there is no doubt but that your father might be a worthy prince and there with al replenished with euery condition appertaining to the vertue and condition of a king yet since in his creation he brought with him a subiection to worldly casualtyes I thinke your wisedome is too much to make that greuous to you which nature ordaineth common to all when there is nothing happened to your father otherwise then god hath determined who no sooner had created his body but he both directed the course of his life and ordained the time of his death for god hauing made all mortall things hath authority to dispose them euen with the same power wherewith hee hath created them reseruing onely to himselfe imortality so that we must confesse that all thinges are guided and gourned by the prouidence of god who knoweth and ordereth casuall thinges necessaryly and although in your father there was fully filled the patterne of a good prince you can not in better sort expresse your zeale then to suffer god to haue his will without grudge let my wordes therefore but intimate thus much that as you cannot recall againe those that be absent so you must not bee carelesse of those that be present and as no man is bound to those that are dead yet euery man must giue succours to them that are aliue you are left heere the right inheritour to the crowne of Epirus and by no other meanes then god himselfe hath appointed refuse not then Dorestus that intercession of thy subiectes which is so much desired for their comfortes and thine honour The nineteenth Chapter Dorestus what he replied Corynus the merchant is become Leonarchus the king the ioy that was made for his recouery DOrestus that was little stirred in the winding vppe of this discourse briefly made this answere dost thou call it honour Corynus to put my father from his crowne he is vnworthy to haue honour that by infamous meanes will seeke after it and the child that will vniustly take his fathers honor ought to loose his life but if thou hadest so great regard to those vaine prehemineces or honorable dignities lookd after by ambitious mindes o how much shouldest thou haue respected mine honesty which is the very first step indeed to win honour and without the which wee can attaine to no better then vaine glory which is but a false shadowe of true vertue the liberty I gaue thée to speake contained things indifferent neither vnmete to be required nor worthy to be denaid perswading altogether to beare more respecte to my frendshipe then remembraunce to my calling the which sith thou hast neglected I doe once againe admonish thee heereafter to be more circumspect and as thou tenderest my good will to be better aduised what thou speakest Corynus immediately answered thus Well Dorestus if Leonarchus hath left thée a sorrowfull sonne thou hast made Leonarchus a most ioyfull father then sitting himselfe downe in the seat of maiestie he further said it were but in vaine longer to conceale that the knowledge whereof I perceiue would turne to so great comfort Sée héere Dorestus the instabilitie of fortune I was euen now a prisoner then a Counsailer nowe a king and all at an instaunt Dorestus who by this time had taken a better surnay of this counterfeit marchaunt and hauing nowe gathered assured knowledge who it was falling down on both his knées before him he cried aloud God saue Leonarchus my most redoubted king and father The rest of the Nobility with the whole assembly there present altogether cried out God saue the king God saue the king Doe you not thinke this sodaine alteration bred as great admiration yes I can assure you and it likewise broght with it no lesse contentation for euery man reioyced in the recouery againe of their good king but Brusanus both wondred and triumphed in his owne imagination to sée the accident how strangly it fell out Gloriosus amongest the rest séeing the marchant whome hee had accused of treason sitting vnder the cloath of estate and remembring otherwise howe hée had handled him in speeches was halfe out of loue with his owne wit but after a conuenient pause that silence was commaunded the king in this wise beganne to discourse The twentith Chapter Leonarchus discourseth what experience he hath gathered in his late traueiles and first of the infections of his owne Court AS it is the nature of vice to put on a vizard to disguise and couer it selfe with those shewes that belong only vnto vertue and being thus clothed with the helpe of corruptible pleasures it yoaketh base minded men whose care is 〈…〉 set vpon the desire of earthly thinges which it presenteth before their
should accuse Eriphila the Queene as accessary to the murthering of her owne daughter the yoong Princesse Valeria and that the matter might carrie the more credit a cause was put downe what might so much inrage the Queene against her daughter and thus it was deuised about ten yeares forepassed in the warres holden betweene Astulpho king of Illeria father to Antipholus and Canace king of Boeria brother to Eriphila Valdus being then generall of the Boetian army vnder his brother Canace incountering in the plaine field with Astulpho was himselfe slaine his armie put to flight and the whole forces of the Boetians so infeebled and discouraged that Canace to purchase a peace was driuen to surrender to the king of Illeria the famous Citie of Auarra besides other great sommes of money in satisfaction of certain demaunds challenged by Astulpho Eriphila being yet gauled with these griefes but especially desirous to reueng the death of her brother Valdus vppon Antipholus practised first with her daughter to poison him who refusing her for the intire loue she bare to Antipholus to whome she rather desired to be linked in mariage then to wish him any misfortune the least that might befall whereat Eriphila beeing wonderfully discontented and fearing her daughter should bewrae her intent she posted ouer the matter to Arcadyus himselfe and hauing first acquainted him with all former circumstaunces shee laboured him so much as in her lay both by curtious intreaties and liberall promises that hee would vndertake priuily to murther the Prince Antipholus but he loathing so detestable an enterprise both vtterly refused it and with all dutie and faithfullnes willed the queene to desist the farther attempt of such odible practises so much vnbeseeming a lady of her estate but her choler so much the more kindeled and the rather for that she was preuented from farther attempts by reason Antipholus so sudainely departed on his pretended iourney she therefore turned the furie of her reueng contrary to nature against her owne daughter and thinking to preuent Antipholus of his greatest felicitie which he especially accounted to be in the loue of Valeria and minding to reueng her conceiued displeasure against her daughter for denieng to poison Antipholus and for the accomplishment of altogether hauing found a cupple of companions fitte for her purpose the stratageme of her owne deuising was accordingly performed while they were hunting in the forrest where the innocent princesse by the appointment of her vnnaturall mother was creuelly murthered and the actors fled into Boetia where the queene her selfe intended to haue met them seeking her saftie by hasty flight fearing that her deuilysh deuises shoulde haue broken out This accusation thus cleanely coined betweene them the duke intended the very next day to make riddaunce of his wife and the rather for the desire he had to his new bride which was a persell of the couenantes agreed on betweene the duke and Arcadyus that Lucina shoulde bee a dutches at the least but they rested in hope to crowne her a queene The next day very early in the morning the duke crauing the assistaunce of diuerse noble men such as hee knewe to bee neerest adicted to his owne disposition consulting with them of many causes touching the state then making semblaunce of great sorrow for the losse of the princesse Valeria and the rather when they knewe not what account they might render to the world what shoulde become of her yet seeming to carry a hope of her recouery beeing fully perswaded in his mind that she was but straied out of the waye hauing loste themselues in the forrest and did therefore thinke it very conuenient to send out great search into euery quarter to sée it they could find her either aliue or dead While these causes were in discoursing Arcadyus presenting himselfe before them crauing their patience in hearing a matter of such remorse as to reueale was grieuous vnto him bycause it touched such persons as he had euer highly reuerenced and to conceall it he durst not for that it would proue a scourg to his own conscience he was willed bréefely to deliuer his doubt if he were by any meanes wronged they were ther ready to render him right Arcadyus here as before it was deuised betwen the duke and him accused Eriphila with the murthering of her owne daughter the manner whereof bicause it is before specified I may therefore heere omit but the circumstaunces were not betweene them so cunningly counterfeited but the matter by Arcadyus was as artificially auowed and although the discourse were smoothed to the purpose yet there was nothing so much confirmed his tale to be true as the quéenes own flight in that she sought so priuily to steal away no man could immagine any cause wherefore But the duke hauing giuen attentiue eare to the whole spéeches of Arcadyus seemed to the beholders to be wonderfully troubled in his mind breathing forth a pitious sighe as if his very soule had bin passionate with anguish and griefe he said Arcadyus dost thou knowe what thou hast said and whome thou hast accused assure thy selfe if thou art not able sufficiently to proue as much as thou hast heere presented that besides the asperity and rigour of the lawes in these causes prouided ther is neither torture nor any torment that may be deuised but they shal fal al to thyshare I craue no fauour aunswered Arcadyus and I am heere ready according to the lawes to maintain my right by way of combat against any man that dare auowe the contrary I take thy word aunswered the duke and for that it shall not be said I will smoother vppe a matter so hatefull to all eares for any loue or fauour to the peruerting of iustice I doe heere award though with a sorrowfull spirite that to morrowe by tenne of the clocke in the morning Eriphila whome till this houre I haue so tenderly loued shall without all remorse be burned as a most vnnaturall woman that would conspire the death of her owne child and if by that houre in her defence she be not prouided of a champion who by triall of battaile shall aquite her of all accusations wherewith thou hast heere charged her The ordinaunce of the duke being thus set downe Arcadyus who altogether presumed of his owne strengeth although he thought no man so hardy to incounter him yet he prouided himselfe against the time the duke on the other side thinking his paine now altogether past was deuising of his mariag day immagining himselfe alredy to be a widower and indeed by generall opinion they all accounted the queene to be but as a dead woman in these cogitations the time runnes on and the nexte morning without the walles of the Citie on a very fair green was the place appointed for y e execution the clock stroke 9 there was no mā hard off that durst appose himselfe in y e queenes defence she was led forth to y e place wher she should suffer