't to passe This onely now remaines for me my life is in thy hand If I shall liue or die the power as now within thee stands By thee alone I hold this life for thee I die as now That hope I haue thou nourishest my feare engendrest thou Sweete then take pittie of this Loue like Caos so confuse And graunt my hearts request who there his aduocate doth chuse Mine i st not any more thine eyes from me the same did take Then being thine doe pittie it and much of it doe make Destroy not what is in thy power but rather it preserue In man great wisedome t is what is his owne for to conserue I craue not that thou me my captiue heart againe restore To liue with so braue conquerour as thou t is happier more My wils if any interest longes to me in the same As much I doubt since it I lost no more I may it claime It still within thy louely bands as prisoner true be bound Nor in my brest his wonted place no more henceforth be found Then since it is thine owne and that an amorous sweete desire To haue respect vnto his health and life doth thee require Vnlesse thou on his fortune hard dost take some kinde remorse In thy chast amities pure heate he needes must die of force Ah then relent be pittifull in fauourable wise And daine for to accept from him this dutious sacrifice For what can I offer more deare to thee then my deere heart Which nere would yeelde to Loue before he felt this bitter smart Which scornd his vtmost force and lawes did vtterly reiect And of his manly stomack stout did showe full many effect Then of so braue a vanquisht Foe ore-come by beautie thine Take pittie and him gently vse in this his captiue time Such gallant souldiers as be tooke in field by chaunce of warre A Similie Be much respected kindly vsde and honoured much they are And whilst as prisoners they remaine and till their ransome come All friendly courtesie to them in louing sort is done Then to my humble heart faire Dame who thee doth honour deere Not cruell be as if thy foe whome thou should'st hate he were Ah gently vse him or without thus suffering him to lie Still languishing giue verdit strait and he shall willing die For if thy grace he may not gaine he cannot liue on earth Whose wounds are deadly happie he if ease he finds by death A Sentence Speake then Floretta faire to me nor by thine answere sower Be thou the cruell cause to force me leaue my life this hower SWEET speake for by their Oracles contented are the Gods To answere men yet greater farre then men they are by ods So said the Shepheard who in feare the summons did attend Offortune good or bad if he should liue or life should end Like to the guiltie criminall who is of hope depriu'd A Comparision Whilst iudgement with great terror he expects to be disliu'd His heart did paint full sore and fast his face for feare did sweat Mistrust did show in his sad eyes feare in his soule was set Disgrace and shame to be denide his bodie gauld throughout Who doth attend for what he longes and languisheth in doubt Thus wandred too and fro his vitall spirits in this state Whilst that his life did seeme to him as ouer desperate Tide was his tongue and now it irke him that he ought had said Wishing that he his secret wound to her had not bewraide So doth a braue and gallant mind by famine forct to beg Repent him after that an almes demanded thus he had But at the last the Shepheardesse dissolu'd these doubts confuse Chearing somewhat the Shepheard by these words which she did vse The time hath bin that Venus though Loues mothers she hath lou'd Whilst selfe same plagues which she inflicts on others she hath prou'd Great Ioue the President and chiefe of all the Gods aboue Did thinke it no disparagement at all to be in loue Both Gods and Goddesse haue lou'd then why should I be blam'd Since but with selfesame spot I am as they haue all bin staind Ioue life hath giuen vnto vs that we should follow him To erre as Gods A Sentence is no offence so praise not blame we winne Then may I without scandall loue as they before haue done So as my loue in chastest path of loyaltie doe come With such loue Plaindor thee I like and hope this loue so strong Shall be of force thy constancie to make endure more long I loue thee yet no power thou hast ore body mine at all If once presume vnmodestly A Sentence ought to request thou shall For no loue is that loue indeed but rather furious rage That seekes our honour with disgrace or infamie t' engage Then I will loue thee yet of me thy selfe nought else assure But my chast faith which I le reserue to thee vnspotted pure Vntill that happie time shall chance to hap to vs at last When we by sacred marriage rights may coupled be more fast And with this Plaindor be content for what more canst require Then of my loue to be assur'd which is thy chiefe desire The loyall wish of Louers true is loue reciprocall For where good meaning is and plaine there none is mockt at all But for to 〈◊〉 for plâ—â—â—ure send alone in sensuall wise Is brutish 〈◊〉 to beâ—stâ—s who show all reason to despise Did I but thinks Shepheard thy Loue not sober were or chast Or that within thy brest blaâ—k thoughts staine to my state were plast That from thy heart all honour thou and credit didst reiect And more of 〈◊〉 mâ—â—t â—nlike then vertue didst respect Assure thy selfe I will â—râ—uâ—ng myself on thee so sore As for thy boldnes thou shouldst diâ— although I dide therefore And I soone pâ—â—ish would my 〈◊〉 for that I was so vaine To loue a friend so small of worth a my chast minde to staine My blood shed by my hands should wash my fault and error baed Since I to maker hoyce of my Loue no better foresight had Floretta nere shall liue to morne by taking such disgrace Floretta sooner flourish shall by death which I le imbrace Then Plaindor liue and thinke thy selfe thrise happie for to be Since of a vertuous Loue thy selfe assured thou dost see Mâ—aâ—â— time looke to thy selfe attending that same blessed day The haruâ—st of our â—hastest Loue when Hymen gather may To die or say ought that vnto discredit mine may turne For which death purging me too late thou then for me shalt mourne He that is wise seekes to be Lord ore his affections And he a conquerour is right that conquers his passions Be thou such one deare friend for who with prudencie doth cope Findes his desires soone riâ—in dare and nourished his hope Thus wisely spake Floretta faire whose golden speech so graue Made Plaindor in his entrailes hot a greater burning haue Her sage discretion
meane while by reason of that litle space of time I haue to breath thou wilt doe me the fauour to embrace me kindly if it shall please thee to thinke me worthie of such a kindnes this being the last request and latest fauour I shall craue at thy hands Ah let me kisse those faire cheekes which were sometimes mine and those sweet sparkling eyes which had not the blacke foulnes of my fault dimmed them they had still stood me in steed of two glorious Sunnie lights Although I cannot denie but thus to die in thy armes doth much lighten and ease me of my torments I endure within my minde yet had it pleased God to haue but giuen me the grace to haue suruiued but some fewe yeares that I might haue made some amends vnto my faithfull Spouse whom I haue so wickedly abused I then would haue thought my selfe to haue bene the happiest creature vnder the heauens Thinke deare heart that I make no account neither care any thing at all to die but onely for this cause and for that I shall be forced to leaue thee a Widow whom I loue more then my owne soule Iust and great reason hast thou to complaine and find fault with me and farre vnworthie am I that thou shouldest shed these salt teares for my sake For why shouldest thou waile his death who hath bene thy chiefe aduersarie why doest thou sorrow for the losse of thy mortall enemie and lamentest thou the death of him who sought thy vtter ouerthrow Drie vp these teares for I desire them not Leaue these thy sighes for I not merit them and giue ouer these thy bitter wailings for I am no way worthie of them Onely pardon me close vp these my dying eyes when they shall lèaue their wonted light which done if it shall please thee to honour this miserable carkasse of mine with thy presence vnto my Tombe and now and then to thinke on me although thou hast small reason so to doe then then I say shall I be euery way contented and satisfied vnto the full Weepe not I pray thee then for me who descrues no teares at thy hands but rather ill thoughts for otherwise I shall sustaine a double death thy sorrow being nigher setled vnto my heart then my deperture hence can be any way dolefull vnto me So saying the fainting knight kisseth his wife wiping her blubbered eyes and embracing her as straitly as the Iuie doth the wall If the poore Ladie could not answere him it was no great wonder when as those that were but spectators in this heauie sight although they felt not as much as she yet were they mouelesse and much amazed for verie pure pittie In the end the disconsolate Izabella began to recouer her speech answering him in this sort Cruell and hard-harted husband let my pittifull paine my easelesse griefes and my insupportable sorrowes satisfie thee without gaulling me any further with this word pardon vnto her who neuer desired to liue but to doe thee seruice Ah deare Horatio thinkest thou I can liue after thy departure hence and that I can ioy in this world being bereaued of thy companie Whilest thou did dest liue I was thine by the lawes of marriage and when thou art dead I will be thine also resolued to follow thee wheresoeuer thou goest thinking my selfe happie that I am so luckily come as to die with thee Then if I may or thou wouldest haue me to giue any credit vnto thy speeches then in requitall of them all let me againe intreate thee this one thing which is that I may leaue this world with thee But why should I aske leaue of thee when I am at libertie my selfe to dispose of my life as I shall thinke good of and when with ending of one life I may rid my selfe of a lingring death which doth continually haunt me Thankes therefore to thee kind Thethis who didst driue my shippe into this Port where I may passe to heauen with him who was the onely life and maintainer of my life and who being dead I can no longer remaine allue Pittilesse husband to debarre me from my teares whē as I see my countrie depriued of a braue defender of his libertie and find my selfe forsaken of the onely loyall and most louing friend I had here vpon this earth No no I will weepe and shed teares as long as any drop of moysture shall remaine within this bodie for should I not waile for thee for whom then should I reserue these teares Whose losse should I lament but thine and for whom should I take thought or care for but for thine owne sweet selfe who was so neare to mee as thou who so deare as thy selfe and who is to haue interest in mee but my best and sweetest Horatio Then hinder not her from lamenting who liueth onely to shead teares and doe not enure the happines she findeth in that she hath time to bewaile her vnhappie Fortunes How wide is my best Lord from mine intention and meaning and how slenderly doth he conceit of my loue towards him when hee imagineth that although I see him dye yet should not I waile and that his death and destruction should not be the ende and date of my life this beeing the least thing that I can doe for him the least dutie that I doe owe vnto him and the smallest testimony of my great affection which I haue euer borne him Gush forth then my brinish teares and streame downe along my pale cheekes washing away the bloud of my wounded Spouse mingling your selues together as my soule hath alwayes bene with his most perfectly mixed and conioyned the one with the other My dearest Lord if euer thou hast thought well of mee speake neuer more of this word pardon it becommeth me to intreate rather then you I hauing bene shee that hath so often offended you let vs forgiue forget all vnkindnesses whatsoeuer that our soules as most loyall friends may die and liue together in eternall felicitie for euer O how like an Angell replyed Horatio doth my Izabella speake and how pleasing doth shee cause my death to be vnto mee would she but promise to suruiue and liue after my death For sweet Lady it is thy sorrows and not my death that shortens my lifes and I die not for griefe but for sorrow to see thee lament for my cause Wilt thou die and doest not descrue death No it is I that haue offended and therfore merit to be punished for my fault Liue thou happilie still and safely returne thou home into thy Countrey againe where thou shalt not want new husbands who will deserue at thy handes far better then I haue done had I not so much forgot my selfe towards thee as I confesse I haue my ioyes had bene at the highest and I had departed hence the happiest man aliue But now mine houre approcheth I feele death ready to arrest mee with his yron mace my heart fainteth and my soule beginneth to flie from
poasting towards Alphonsos Castle where he and his companie being disguised lay in waite for the Spaniard not daring for his life to set vpon him nigh the Kings Court lest his villanre should be descried and he well punished for the same About some sixe daies after he was gone Alphonso leaueth the Court highly commended and much praised of euery one little suspecting any treason with a small traine following him when being now within two leagues of his Castle behold the vngratefull Dane and his attendants to come out of a little wood well armed at all points and to rush sodeÌ„ly vpon Alphonso who being of an excelleÌ„t spirit courage carried himselfe so brauely as before he caught his deaths wound the Prince was turned off from his horse starke dead vpon the ground by him who being the first that set vpon him But in the ende What can the valiant Hercules gainst oremuch force preuaile Couragious mindes will sooner die then yeeld themselues or quaile So our worthie Spaniard had rather be killed manfully then saue his life by base and ignoble flying away But after he had fought a long time hauing giuen vnto many their death wounds and receiuing many himselfe his enemies still hemming him in round about setting vpoÌ„ him with a fresh assault at the last he falleth downe dead from his horse which the villaines perceiuing and doubting lest they should be followed by the countrie they tooke vp the dead course of their Prince in hast lamenting this hard aduenture and setting spurres to their horse away they flew as fast as the winde being neuer heard of after Behold here one of Loues feâ—sts of a contrarie fashion vnto other bankets For his first dishes presented at the table are pleasant sweet and delightsome but his last course is bitter cruell wofull bloodie and full of murther His chiefest companion is quarrelling Mars neither doth he euer march without hauing with him either Rage Furie or Follie. Meane space some of Alphonsos men who as crauens retired apart when the skirmish was at the hottest seeing their enemies fled came backe againe where all the broile had bin longing to know how their Maister had sped whom they found with a thousand wounds well nigh bleeding through euery part of his bodie and lying amongst the thickest of his enemies which were slaine by his owne hand whereat they making most pittious mone began to search if there were yet any one sparke of life in in him or no At the last they hauing done their best indeuour to recouer him he began to come a little vnto himselfe againe when scarce being able to open his eyes dimd and damd vp with death his soule readie to flit from hence vnto a better world with a hollow voice he thratled forth these few words My dearest friends let me intreat you to shew me this fauour it being the last which I will euer hope or looke for at your hands to conuey this my martyred body vnto my faithfull spouse to the ende I may be so happie as once to see her and to bid her farewell More would I say but I am so faint I cannot His sorrowfull seruants yerning for very griefe and dissoluing themselues into salt teares cursing now though too late their cowardly running away carried his dying carkasse faire and softly towards his house To Cleopatra so Marke Anthònies dead coarse Was brought which she drew vp to her with wofull force O what a spectacle what a tragicke present and what a bitter encounter was this for miserable Iustina to meete withall who not long before had heard how happily and how valiantly her kind husband had conquered his enemie in the sight of all Spaine which good newes had filled all her spirits with an exceeding kind of pleasing ioy and comfort But alas what a change and alteration was this from the first matter Ah how much more is that misfortune liuely toucheth vs to the quicke which when we least thinke of it surprizeth vs altogether vnexpected we passing our time in iollitie and pleasure then such as we are prouided for when it commeth it being long since we looked for the same and therefore the better prepared to beare the burthen thereof Meane time the poore Ladie must needs tast this bitter potion beare as well as shee can this terrible clap of dismall thunder No sooner had she a sight of this dying coarse which she thought to be starke dead But that she tooke on as one distraught and quite out of their wits O faire haire before daintily curled how cruelly were you then torne But farre fairer face how wert thou bescratched and thou beautious brest how wert thou be bloodied So great was her anquish as she fell downe in a sowne vpon that bodie whom she so dearely loued embracing the same most tenderly it being that which she more accounted of then of any thing else in the world Thrise happie had she bin and not a little beholding vnto death if at that houre he had bereft her of life but her fortune was not so good for she was compelled to liue the longer because her paine should be the greater And now she being come vnto her selfe againe although it was a woful mirrour to behold his pale bloodlesse face his mangled flesh all to be sprinkled washed in his owne gore yet did she not sticke to kisse his wan and cold lips a thousand times and more whilst her teares serued her in steed of water to make cleane his wounds to wash away the blood and to solemnize his drerie Funerall with the same Carelesse of her health she lay long time vpon the wet ground whilst she held the coarse as pittifully in her lap as the kind nurse doth her little Infant in her armes neither did she remoue her sweet mouth from his but kept it still close thereon desirous to die as he had done Out alas alas cried she where am I who am I what do I see is it possible that I should yet breath hauing lost the onely life of my soule And you mine eyes are you so cruell vnto my health that you will abide to behold that which will force you to be more miserable and yet mine eyes my wofull eyes it is no shame to behold your best benefactor looke then on him your fill although pittilesse death hath closed vp his sight with an eternall sleepe But thou art dead for me my deare husband for my cause hast thou lost thy life and for no other O wretched iourney and most vnhappie that euer thou tookest in hand yet was it not death that slew thee No no death durst But it was I and euen I t' was I and none but I and I alone whome thou diddest thinke to be thy louing wife Ah sweete sweet Husband shall I be guiltie of this fault by murthering of my selfe which I haue committed against thee No no for my death cannot counteruaile thine Shall it be said that
much and much to thy renowne Be thou content to see her breathe who by thy Grace doth liue And who to view thy hurts in soule more then thy selfe would grieue No Treasure like a faihfull Friend so rich you can denise Who to himselfe gets foes in minde much diseontented dies Friendship from Heauen first come and as a gift diuine is held A Sentence And mortall men from ouerthrowes it saued hath not seld Then Deare vouchsafe for to appease the torments I endure Appease my sorrowes and my wounds nigh mortall daine to cure Nor force me not lest dying I when life from me shall part Doe call vpon thee in my death as if chiefe cause thou wert Ah speake then my Delight and cleare from me this bitter storme By comforting my deadly woes which I too long haue borne To th' end thy kindnesse milde to helpe my sicknesse may be seene As hitherto the Author of my troubles thou hast beene But why doest thou so long delay to answere vnto mee Hard harted more then flintie rocks which in the mountains bee Ah cruell man I well perceiue my loue thou doest disdaine Nor wilt vouchsafe in cheerfull wise to staunch my bleeding vaine I see thou meanst with those thine eyes prides dartes still me to pierce To close me in my fatall Tombe through rigor thine so fierce Well be it so I am content For happie I them gesse Who dying A Sentence see to dye with them their griefes which then doe cease And since I finde that sauadge-like thou wilt not rue my state I am well pleasde to end my dayes because thou doest me hate Then yet but daine to speake to me say if thou wilt asswage Or still increase these plagues of mine which doe within me rage Cruell dispatch my loyaltie which nere from thee did swerue Say in thy conscience doeth it not one word of thee deserue Alas A Sentence answere but I or no what lesse thing can one finde Or baser priz'de then is a word which is but sound of winde Thus said she sighing ceast whilst teares from cheekes like showres did fall Yet nor her selfe nor teares nor speech Armanda mou'd at all Nay more so cruell was he growne as he disdaind to looke Vpon her face her beautious face which hardly he could brooke Her passionate words could not perswade they made him hate her more That he so long had giuen her eare himselfe he blamed sore In th' end forc't by the vrgings oft and importunitie Of sad Sicambra who like Ghost did haunt him with her crie With furious lookes and frowning brow these words at last he spoke Which like a dismall Oracle her heart in sunder broke Foolish Sicambra thus in vaine to vexe me what doest meane From these fond fittes of idle Loue thy minde why doest not weane T' is thou that makst Armanda die in worse then wofull wise Armanda who thy speech and loue contemnes as worthlesse prise Thy tedious tale told to no end to heare he little ioyes He dies tormented tir'de and gaul'd to heare thee make such noyse Now prie thee prie thee let alone Armanda miserable Who for to take his wonted rest is not through thee scarce able He at thy follies doeth but smile his chiefe delight and loue Is for to chase wild beasts of prey his strength gainst them to prooue He cannot like of any thing except his flocke of sheepe With which to pleasure his not small he in the fields doth keepe To force one loue against his will is what can neuer be Neuer the same hath bene as yet nor shall you find 't in me For loyall Loue that it may dure and neuer prooue to faint Doth of himselfe A Sentence seaze on the heart without force or constraint Where being forc't t' is alwayes bad vnperfect and vnsound For nothing's goodly but what 's built on Friendships firmest ground Then why fond Gyrle art thou so mad to loue me to constraine By this thy earnest vrging speech which thou too well canst faine I tell thee I in those false eyes nor face of thine delight Nor doe I pittie ought at all thy hard and heauy plight I laugh to see thee heauie weepe to heare thee sigh I smile And in thy martyring much doe ioy whilst thou complainst the while Poore wretch thou doest but loosethy time nor euer shalt thou finde Armanda will his fancie change to thee for to be kinde He 'le neuer loue thee For before his heart should so conspire To quench so worthlesse flames a death most strange he would desire For neuer greater mischiefe vile can any himselfe bring Then when he tries the lawes of Loue and feeles his poysonous sting Vnhappie they that know the same and wise I him account That with this bedlem passion mad will not at all confrount My yeares are too too young mine age not ripe enough as yet My selfe to subiect as a slaue to Loue his furious fit Nor haue I time enough to be a scholler in his schoole And I am wilde enough although I play not so the foole Then leaue me to my selfe that I may of my selfe dispose Whose pleasure hunting is whose sport is quiet soft repose And come not thus to trouble me with these thy bawling cries Which I assure thee I disdaine in most contemptuous wise Be gone nor looke here any more thou come this text to preach For for such sicknesse as these I am no pleasing leach And therewith all the Shepheard sterne departs and all alone Sicambra leanes vncomforted Sanus pittying of her mone Alacke what should she doe as now She could doe nought but waile Which rather did encrease her griefe then cause the same to quaile No teares our passions can represse which from the heart arise A signe they are of woe but want the perfect remedie It is but lost time to lament whil'st weeping we reuiue Afresh these cruell torments which doe martire vs aliue Now as she wofully thus tooke on in this her desperate plight Kinde Zerphir who had sought her much on her by chance did light And seeing her afflicted thus all desolate and sole He sighing weepes to view her weepe and with her doth condole So suffereth the Louer chast for his sweet Ladies sake If she but grieued be the same he at his soule doth take He of the paine participates which in her minde is growne And more her hurt doth trouble him then that which is his owne Zerphir then did endure as much as did the Shepheardesse Her teares were his his pensiue plight then his was nothing lesse But after much lamentings sad with many a bitter sob He sweetly thus gan comfort her whil'st fast her heart did throb Sicambra who thus miserable thy life hath made to me Who hath thy fortune brought as mine thus pittious for to be Whence comes these sighes true witnesses of thine in interuall troubles Whence slow these teares apparant showes that care within thee double I st
still in such base and abiect seruitude and bondage These speeches did the cunning Curtezan vse sepatheticallie sending forth so manie sighes and teares to accompanie the same that as I gesse the rightfull God to reuenge poore Izabellas wrongs did so much animate the strength and courage of the Moore her husband that as one desperate with rage and iealousie hee most furiouslie runneth with all his Troupes vpon the Portugall Armie whome as a Thunder or Lightning hee ouerturneth so that the Christians doe what they could were ouerthrowne and had the worse Which when Horatio percelued he as a wise and politike Capitaine beganne with aduantage to retire vntill such time as the foresaid diuellish Moore came where hee was who with his wife set vpon him where Horatio slue them both whilst in this conflict ouer pressed with numbers of Souldiers hee was strucken downe and thrust through with a Iaueline where he lost both force and life together So died the companions of Machabeus An example being slaine by the fword who were found charged with Thefts and Robberies So by the decree of God those chiefe men and heads ouer the people of the lewes were hanged vp because they caused the other to commit Idolatrie and leaue their Creator So was the periurde Zedechias forced to die in prison hauing his eves pulled our and his children slaine before his face And so perished Ioconias and diuers others iustlie punished by the holie one of Israel For Iustice diuine neuer giueth ouer from doing right And if it be slowe in comming yet doth the crueltie of the punishment make amends for the deferring of the same Meane time the Portingales gathered themselues againe into battaile array and followed their enemies with so hote a pursuite as they at the last recouered and brought backe againe the bodie of their Capitaine ouer which the Moores meant to haue triumphed So for the bodie of Achilles deere friend slaine The Greekes and Troyans hand to hand doe fight amaine Hardly did these Infidels let the bodie goe skirmishing oftentimes with their foes for the same yet neuerthelesse in despite of them all the Portingales gote it away and brought it with them which as yet breathed and had some little life within it But sorrowfull newes were these vnto heauy Izabella who hoped that at the ioyfull returne of her husband all should be well as shee her selfe could wish But man purposeth and God disposeth man hopeth of one thing but God doth quite contrarie to that which he supposeth So Senacherib thinking to conquer was himselfe conquered and the Iewes who thought themselues to be quite ouerthrowne came in the end to be victors So proud Goliah was slaine contratie vnto his owne conceit and to the opinion of all men So Amon was hanged neuer any thinking he should haue died such a shamefull death And Mardocheus who was condemned to be slaine was honoured deliuered And so it fell out with this vncomfortable Ladie who hoping to see her husband to come home well and safe vnto her and to repent him of his former follies found him to be slaughtered and dead without life or soule O cruell mutation change truth it is that she before had heard by certaine of her husbands Souldiours that had escaped out of the field that the Portugalls had lost the day but yet knew she nothing of his death And yet euen then a cold feare ran all about her heart whilest she sore suspecting the worst prophesied within her selfe that it was true and that she had lost her husband and not not long after her doubt was confirmed but with too too true a proofe when the rest of his band brought his coarse into the citie vnto her where she was and when so denly at the sight thereof she sounded it being long before they could get life in her againe whilest in the meane space Horatios mangled carkasse was laid in a bed God giuing him so much time of repentance as he craued mercie of him and of all the world for his bad life whilest all that small time as he so lamēted his sinnes his faithfull Souldiours with sad teares wonderfully lamented the losse of so noble a Generall vnder whom they had alwaies remained vanquishers So Greckes did waile Achilles death of great renowne So Troyans Hector moande chiefe Fortresse of their towne Great Machabeus one of the Nine WORTHIES was neuer more lamented amongst his men of warre than he was amongst the Portugalls whom he had so often brought home victorious ladē with forraigne spoyles into their countrie Who then perceiuing himselfe to drawe nigh vnto his end desired to talke with his wife that he might take his latest leaue of her But now what is he that can lend mea Sea of Inke to set downe the grieuous passions and the insupportable sorrowes of his pittifull wife Where shall I find a pen of Iron to paint forth her lamentable speeches And what paper is sufficient to receiue in writing the number of her more then sad and heauie complaints To hers was the woes of Niobe nothing at all Nothing the griefes of Hecuba nothing those of Portia nor those of chast Lucretia compared vnto hers With much adoe was she brought vnto the bed for goe she could not for very faintnes weakenes where her repētant husband was giuing vp the Ghost who so soone as he beheld her O griefe O loue O pittie O heauie spectacle that it was to see this heauie meeting such as like was neuer seene before the poore dying soule beginning in his death to affect and loue her more entirely then euer he had hated her before whilest thrusting forth his dying armes with seeble force to embrace her and laying his cold lips vpon hers with a hollow faultring voyce he began thus to speake as well as he could O fortunate day in which poore Horatio dieth reposing himselfe at ease in the bosome of his Izabella O my chaste and sweet Ladie must I needs die leauing after my death so foule a fault as thou shalt haue cause to complaine of me as the authour of all thy griefes whatsoeuer No way am I able to make thee any reasonable satisfaction neither know I how sufficiently to make amends for so hainous and so detestable an offence as I haue committed against thee which the iust God hath reuenged vpon me for thy sake and according as I deserued But sweet wife if as yet there remaineth any one small sparke of that rare and loyall Loue thou hast heretofore borne me and if iust griefe and rightfull disdaine hath not quenched it all and quite put it out then by the selfesame affection and fancie I pray desire and beseech thee most humbly to pardon me this once and not to be the cause that miserable Horatio should goe into his graue with great anguish and exceeding bitternes of his soule This pardon as I hope for of thee so doe I expect it at thy hands crauing in the
an other mans vice but on the contrarie our neighbours error must serue vs in steed of a darke night wherein during the same to kindle our owne vertue must shine bright instructing our selues by his famous example as the ancient Spartaines caused their slaues to be made drunke to the end that their children might hate wine by the brutish and dishonest actions they sawe these base creatures commit being possessed with this liquor It is a foolish conclusion to say that if my neighbour be a foole I must therefore become insensate and set fire on my owne house because I see my neighbours on a burning flame It is rather requisite that an other mans doing be beneficiall vnto vs and that the vice of our neighbour reforme our owne and not make vs to offend like himselfe For vertue would be imitated and vice auoided To maintaine that no man can be constant and resist Loue were to erre grosely For Alexander amidst his great victories delights and conquests performed it Demosthenes refused the Loue of Lais louing ten crownes better then the enioyance of her This wise and graue Philosopher I say whom she could neuer set on fire either by her wanton enticements amorous lookes or her beautie so renowmed so that she thought him an insensible stone and not a man You should in this doe iniurie to modest Scipio who being conquerour of all Affricke religiously abstained from the loue of a woman And a thousand others haue liued free from this misfortune which you may not rightly place in the number of offenders For their fault obscure not the excellent glorie of the vertuoâ—â— and drawe not from their offence matter of opprobrietie against the wise It will be greater honour vnto you to see wise men in name offend and your selfe free from fault then if you erred after the example of some simple creatures Oh Shepheard replied Arcas I denie the foundation of your argument for I will not confesse that it is a fault or crime to loue and iudge Louers no lesse wise then those that haue not loued at all for he may iustly be said to be peruerse and an offender whose offence procureth publike dammage but so farre of is a Louer from preiudicing men that quite contrarie he profiteth them greatly The Louer like the prodigall man iniureth none but himselfe he onely beareth he onely endureth he onely suffereth but from his torment ariseth mortall glorie to the subiect he loueth for was there euer Ladie faithfully by her seruant beloued that did not both honour and sing forth according to the abilitie of his inuention her excellent and rare vertues What can mortall men desire more deare and precious then to see themselues honoured and made immortall to future ages the which Louers fauoured by the Muses may make their Ladies and Mistresses That great King of Macedon thought he not Achilles happie to haue bene set forth and commended by Homor and all great personages haue they not desired the like honour Not to be moued with the passion of glorie is to be brutish and without feeling or not to be stirred vp with a desire to make ones name liuing after death is a signe of a base and boorish minde They to whom the heauens haue not imitated either Art or Learning to attaine to this glorie by writing seeke after it in buildings or other rare workes of great charge and expence which continue for some time but not so long as bookes But it is certaine that the Muses hauing taken Loue in a snare of flowers would say nothing else but crowne this God with greene garlands acknowledging that they should be nothing without him who giueth them vttrance power breath to set forth their verses in despite of time it selfe For neither the greatnes of gifts nor of feare nor the hope of rewards nor threatnings could neuer make a learned Poet write well of any one if he doe not loue and affect him but on the contrarie onely Loue will make him speake better of those whom he shall loue simply without hope of reward then of those whom he loueth not and yet expecteth from them some recompence Questionlesse without Loue many excellent bookes which are made in the honour of men would be yet to doe a thousand other noble Acts which now through him be apparant to the eies of men Commendable therefore are Louers and more then any other sort of men at least they loose not time nor consume it not in doing nothing Oh Godhead replied Coribant but on the contrarie a thousand euils haue proceeded from Loue The ruine of Troy may verifie this and a thousand other testimonies I but quite otherwise replied Arcas Loue stood the Troyans in steed for he sent them the meane to kill Achilles reuenging the death of their Princes he being dead they in such a sort weakened the enemies Campe that without Treason Troy had neuer bene subiect to the Greekes But what hath Loue to doe with the Treason of men as long as he is not the cause thereof And yet the selfelame Loue replied Coribant was it not the cause of the death of modest Hipâ—olitus who was pittifully slaine by the vniust dealings of his wicked Stepmother Nay rather quice contrarie aunswered Arcas he was the occasion that he was made immortall he being raised from death vnto life againe by the cunning of that learned Esculapius who could neuer haue done him so great a good turne vnlesse he had first tasted of death through Loue. But what say you then quoth Coribant vnto Loue which forced Tarquin to offer violence vnto the castitie of Lucres being the cause of so great a mischiefe It was an occasion replied Arcas rather of a maruellous good turne by reason it was the cause of libertie of the Romances with the vtter ruine ouerthrow of their TyraÌ„ts and Lucretia dying in that order as she did was she not most fortunate and happie For doth not such a one die happily who as Codrus by his death preserueth his countrie making the same through his losse to be fortunate afterward And yet the verie same Loue said Coribant was the Author of the cruell perishing of Piramus and Thisby they hauing but a sorie guerdon for their so constant affection which the one bare vnto the other Is he not then bloodie minded and cruell No truely replied Arcas for what more sweet and pleasing kinde of death could they suffer than they did And had it not bene a thousand times better that one of them should die with the other thaÌ„ to be separated diuided seeing the Louer that loseth his Mistris or that Ladie that hath lost her seruant liue not at all but rather languish And yet still the same Loue was it said Coribant which vrged the daughters of Minos to betray their aged Father giuing instructions vnto Theseus how to slay the monster and to get out of the Labyrinth when he had done Why and the same Loue answered
honour thee in as much as my loue is neither dishouest beastly nor viticus but rather sacred vertuous and chaste and therefore not subiect to any reprehension Why doest thou thus oppose thy selfe against that faire glorie which thy worthy carriage doth permit why doest thou reiect that praise which euery one would render vnto thy peerlesse beautie why doest thou disdaine that honour which the heauens haue ordained for thy matchlesse perfection And why doest thou refuse the seruice of the most loyallest Louer that euer breathed In times past those beautifull Ladies counted themselues happie that could vant themselues of the faithfulnes of their Louers Hero thought her selfe fortunate in that she had Leander for her faithfull friend and why then doest thou denie to be most faithfully serued of thy deuoted and true hearted Arcas Suffer him suffer him hard-harted as thou art to honour thee for the Gods themselues forbid not men although vitious to adore them because friendship is not to be scorned from whence soeuer it commeth in that it proceedeth from a willing and well-wishing minde Thus said the Shepheard when the Nymph hearing him to make this straunge kinde of Tale pursued her former complaint in this manner Ah barbarous and disdainfull man why doest thou stop thine eares against my pralers Take heed take heed least the heauens iustly punishing thee harden not the hart of her whom thou honourest against thee as thou most vnkindly hast done vnto me for oftentimes we fall into the snare which we haue laid to intrappe straungers we being scourged with the same plague wherewith we haue afflicted others Is it not enough for thee to be contented with these my sorrowes but that thou must mocke mee therewithall making a shew as if thou sawest another and not me vnto whom thou framest thy speech But the Gods be iust and therefore thanked be they seeing thy Mistris maketh thee know and that vnto thy cost if thou so much louest as thou makest vs beleeue how insupportable the torments are which thy Sauadge rigor maketh me to feele for he onely can talke rightly of griefe that hath felt the same and daily experience maketh vs perfect in the knowledge of such things as we practise If thou feelest this euill and if thou knowest how full of anguish it is then permit not me to abide the same any longer which if thou doest thou wilt then force me to call for aide vnto the heauens that they assist me to take reuengement vpon thee for he ought and that iustly to be punished who knoweth the euell that he doth is acquainted with the greatnes of the fault he committeth and yet neuertheleâ—le will not giue it ouer for onely ignorance excuseth the offence which knowledge condemneth because such as did perpetrate the same were not vnacquainted with it Open then those deafe eares of thine and shew me some pittie to the intent I may commend thee for kindnes as long as the world shall flourish The Shepheard notwithstanding these her earnest perswasions seemed not to heare one word but as he did at the first so still he continued making solemne intercession vnto his good Angell Diana in this wise Alas must the distance of place hinder thee faire Virgin so much as thou canst not aunswere me and must I be so miserable as I may say I am farre exiled from thee Can my soule breathe and not behold thee O wonderfull miracle that wretched Arcas can liue without the chaste and prudent Diana for she is his soule and the bodie without soule how is it possible that it should ioy at all Certainely I should thinke my selfe much blessed if I might but onely see thy face without speaking as much as one word vnto thee for then would I most willingly yeeld vnto death but I see it is my destinie to die and not so much as before my death to see thee Vnfortunate my Tombe to be so farre off from thee my deare and accursed mine eies to sleepe in any other resting place than where thou abidest But alas art thou the cause of my distresse no no it is the heauens who are ouer iealous of my glorie and who would faine loue thee themselues they knowing thy like is not to be found in the whole world and therefore are the more vnwilling to haue any Corriuals in their Loue. But in despite of them will I loue thee nothing being of force to quench this outragious heate of mine no not death it selfe Thus wailed the sad Shepheard thinking verily that he had bene before the presence of his diuine Diana and more would he haue lamented but that Coribant plucking him by the sleeue and wearied with hearing him and the amorous Orythia put him out of this amorous dreame in this sort Enougn man enough no teares nor sighes make a man the wiser after the fault committed but rather more miserable and wretched Cease I say cease both of you to lament and rather seeke some remedie how to redresse your sorrowes And because I would be glad to perswade you to giue ouer this dangerous Loue which maketh you thus to torment and massacre your selfe continually I will account vnto you a most lamentable Historie by which you may gather how cruell and damned a plague Loue is for we cannot come from out this Rocke as long as this tempest lasteth and which is but scarcely new begun Arcas and Orythia seeing there was no remedie considering the foulnes of the weather sat them downe when Coribant sitting betwixt them and they lending a listning eare vnto him began his dolorous discourse in this manner Yee hollow Rocks be witnesses what here by me is sed Within whose gloom it horror darke the night is shadowed Yee stately Rocks to powder burnt of times most cruelly When Ioue your tops with thunderbolts doth scortch and bruse from skie Ah be your witnesses of this my sad discourseile tell You which of late the loues of these two Shepheards ouerwell Conceiude of these two louing wights whose lucklesse hapile show Vndone by Loue by Loue who dares the Gods to ouerthrow Aâ—dye broad Beeches in your shade that often hane themseene When they reposing of themselues under the same haue beene You which a thousand letters caru'd within your tender rinde Knots and deuises in their loue and such like Toyes may finde You dark 〈◊〉 Caues where whilst the day did last in bright some wise They blushing of theor chastest Loues did mongst themselues deuise Yee pretrie Foordes and christall springs yee Riuers murmerous Whoat the sigh of them became for to be amorous Yee vncorh Desarts witnesses what they in secret did Importunde by their often plaints which from you were not hid And thou thicke priuate shadowing groue that knowest most of all To thee and all the rest to heare what I will speake I call Vnto you all beare witnesse then I to you all appeale Since t is as true as pittifull what I shall now reueale In that same time
bills and then on Champions plaine Another whilst alongst corne fields with swiftie pace amaine And in the end wearied with griefe her selfe flings on the ground Resolu'd to die through hunger staru'd since they will not be found So such a part our Shepheard plaide when he did see with eie His Mistris he no where could finde he faints resolu'd to die But weladay before his death he sawe his Flora faire Flora for whom so oft he calde the cause of all his care The coarse of that faire Nymph for whom he thought himselfe forlorus He found a Sauadge beast had all in pieces cruell torne For whilst through madding iealousie she vp and downe did fret In thickest woods as she desirde a Lion there her met Which seazing on her with his pawes did teare her in a trise The goodliest creature that did liue he slewe in furious wise Yet as she died on Nunidor she calde as he might heare For helpe though all in vaine and though as then he was too neere Too neere to her so pittious sound too farre to helpe her tho Which was the reason that the more it did encrease his woe She slaine away the Lion runnes when as from mountaine hie He might perceiue her breathlesse trunke in peeces torne to lie Which when he sawe he thither ranne as if he had bene mad So fast he ranne as running then nor strength nor breath he had Downe falls he sounding for pure griefe vpon the linelesse corse So long as he did seeme indeed as dead without remorse At last though long he once more comes vnto himselfe againe Calling his vitall spirits to him although with grieuous paine Whilst for to vtter these fewe words words grieuous he do 〈◊〉 Words such so pittifull as well both heauen and earth might moue And art thou dead faire natures worke the Mirrour of thy time Art thou disliu'de whom all admirde as sacred and diuine Art thou a prey to enuious Death could Death thee thus annoy Who whilst thou liu'dst my comfort wast my selace and my ioy O Death vniust damnd ennious vnto my chiefest ease Durst thou so much ore insolent my Flora faire displease Woes mee th' art dead and with thee dead are those thine Eyes so bright Thine Eyes which men for to reuiue had power enough and might Ah thouart dead where whilom lodg'd mine hart and inward soule Thou now art dead whose onely lookes the proudest did controule But thou art dead and can I liue to see a sight so sore Is Flora gone and likely i st that liue should Numidore Prodigious Planets me to make ore-liue my Ladie deare Since shee the Essence of my life was whilst I tiued here Heauens most vniust to giue to mee of life so long a scope Since I behold destroyed her in whom was all my hope But yee mine eyes why feare you not so foule a sight to marke And looking on it afterwards become not blinde and darke Most cruelly destned as I was thrice happie had I beene If I had neuer had these eyes and neuer could haue seeâ—â— Thrice happie I if some wilde beast in pieces had me tore So I this murther nere had spide which I so much abhore I was not beautious Nymph no way to be compar'd to thee If so why then should any way Death hinder be to meeâ— Accursed soule of mine and thou mine euer restlesse hart Canst thou abide to breath so long to taste such vncoth smart I am a Man and of more strength then she was why then first Since I could better death endure died I not most accurst Reason it was and conscience that I die before thee should Since as my Faith and dutie was not saue thy life I would Cruell Lyon that hast deuourd my ioy come doe thy will On mee who for to liue on earth count it a haynous ill Come come and from this miserie let him I pray be rid Who doth desire to end his dayes as his poore Flora did Doe vs this pleasure for to kill vs both at once together That dying so thou both maist please as well contenting either Why com'st not cruell then since that for thee I doe attend And stay thy leisure that thou mightst my wretched bodie rend I see thou art no Lyon right but of a Bastard kinde Else sooner mee then Ladie mine ere this time thou wouldst finde A Lyon generous indeed disdaineth for to prey On silly Virgins harmles Maides but lets them goe their way Hee onely seazeth on stout men or such as be his Foes And spoyleth them that chaseth him tearing in pieces those Where forth tyrannize vpon a Nymph a murthers such As neuer like was heard before and is detested much But I perceiue thou dar'st not come yet in despite of thee I le spoyle my selfe that so I may with my deare Mistris bee I le die that I may follow for to serue my Misteris Who seckes his Lady to suruiue of life not worthie is Faire thee the heauens haue reft to make themselues more faire to show Whilst here vpon the earth with vs they nought haue left but woe Faire they haue taken thee away to beautifie more faire Themselues whilst here instead of thee they leaue eternall care Meane time I liue still languishing thy heauy losse to rue Vnworthy to haue bidden thee farewell or once Adieu Yet Flora in despite of Death thou flourish shalt for euer Thy praise shall shew Acanthus like still flowring dying neuer The sweet Cloue Gilliflower and Rose of Spring it shall put downe Thy beautie was more beautifull and of more fresh renowue My daintie Flora being dead shall be such kinde of Flower As she shall be eternall aye and flourish euery hower Death may our liues abridge through Spite bating our youthfull dayes But Vertue it can nere subdue nor subingate her praise But why liue I it may be sayd that I in life remains Who liuing feele the torments of damn'd Ghosts sternall point No no I liue no more my dayes are turn'd to darkest nights Already I am registred amongst the liuelesse Sprighâ—s That I should liue and Flora dead a thing 's impossible To stay bâ—hinde her she being gone I loued her too well Sweet I must satisfaction make to thee for mine offence Although I shame when I doe thinke on my vile negligence Had I bene carefull ouer thee as but my part it was Thou then hadst bene aliue as now to ioy with me alas I did deserue the punishment for thou didst nere â—ffend Ah woe is mee thou not through Foes hast died has through thy Friend For which my â—respasse I resigne my life most millingly Neuer so much desiring life as now I wish to die But yet before I breathe my laft let me obtaine thy grace That I may kisse those Diamon eyes that quondanâ— beautions face Which said the Shepheard taketh vp her liâ—â—â—es so seatered Whilst them embracing floods of teares vpon them swife he shad So much and oft so
speake vnto her For said he vnto him selfe what should hinder me that I should not bewray how much I affect her What though shee be the Daughter of my King is it reason therefore that I should die for her and yet not make her acquainied with my death and the cause thereof What know I whether Loue hath infected her as well as it hath poysoned mee Fot as great Princes as shee haue felt his force and haue bene brought vnder by him which if it were so I would not then doubt but that shee would be so gratious vnto me as to take some pittie vpon mee For Loue makes the hearts of great Monarks to stoope as well as those of poore peasants forcing as well the brauest minds to be subiect vnto his lawes as such as are baser persons Did not he make soft and gentle the hart of proud and haughtie Achilles compelling him to yeeld vnto his prisoner Briseis to like her so well as hee quarrelled with all the Princes of Greece to haue her good will And the selfe same Loue did it not take downe the stubborne stomacke of high minded Angelica who although she were a Princesse and sought vnto by all the chiefest Paladines and men of renowne in the world yet did she cast her liking vpon sillie Medor a simple Page or Lackey Nothing can withstand his mightie power neither King nor Queene Royaltie nor Nobilitie all are alike vnto him and all must doe as he pleaseth Onely with surlie and proud mindes doth he most commonly adorne his triumphant Chariot disdaining as it were the spoyles of the meanest Againe did not Venus doate on a Shepheard and Phoebus vpon a plaine Countrey Lasse Yes yes and therefore nothing is impossible vnto Loue. And seeing it is so I will endeuour to see if I can learne whether hee hath tamed the great heart of this louely Princesse which if he hath done I hope then that it is strucken with a golden Dart as mine is and not with one of lead Might I but once finde that she affecteth mee I would doe well enough with the rest hoping in time to bring euery thing to a most prosperous end and happie issue Thus said my Maister being resolute to sound the depth of the Princesse thoughts and yet hee thought it was hard to wade through such a Foord much doubting the entrance therein but farre more how to get out thereof againe And as a Generall of an Armie after hee hath had manie parleyes with the Fort which is enemie vnto him pitcheth his Tentes round about the same but seeing his Souldiers to be beatten backe againe with losse of many of his men dispaireth that he shall not be able to surprize it doubting sore of some bad issue in this his enterprise Euen so many doubts ran into Don Iohns head which much troubled him as well he knew not what to doe One while he feareth lest he should offend his Mistris and loth he is to displease her yet in the end Fortune who fauoreth such as be venturous egged him forward making the way plain for him that he might the better bewray his affection vnto his Ladie For one day the King being willing highly to grace him commanded him to sit downe with him at his owne Royall table where his daughter fat right ouer against him Neuer can Vertue be honoured too much whilst shee doeth credit vnto them that thus seeke to doe her reuerence and dutie I leaue vnto your aduised considerations to iudge whether whilest the Princesse sate so nigh the Knight he lost anie time or no And whether hee tooke his occasion finding the opportunitie so fitte if hee had done otherwise he had done fondlie But hee seeing his Saint so nigh vnto him watching fitte time after many troubled conceits running in his minde with a blushing countenance and a low trembling voyee hee thus beganne to Court her What would you say most excellent Princes to heare that your owne knight vpon the selfesame day in which he receiued from your royall selfe the prize for Tilting became both victorious and vanquisht and all at once Victor ouer so many braue Caualiers but vanquisht through your most beautious eyes And although euery Conquerour is proud of his conquest and he that is conquered lamenteth for his losse yet I quite contrarie vnto them esteeme lesse of my victorie then I doe to be ouercome for it is far more honourable to be ouerthrowne by a diuine puyssance then to be Conquerour ouer a weeke and feeble force And what greater renowme or brauer fame may so much beautifie and adorne my daies as to be called the vassall and slaue of her and to be vanquisht by her who by the same force is able to ouercome euen the Gods themselues No other glorie will I seeke then this which is to be accounted your Captiue I know good Madame you may count me ouer arragant and without discretion in that I dare presume to vse such speeches vnto you who are both my naturall Princes and my Ladie purchased through your too beautious eyes yet though the Gods be sacred and immortall they for all that refuse not the seruice of worldly men their creatures because nothing can hinder vertue from doing her duetie inasmuch as she is without fault and the rather in that she is of force to make the fierce and wildest hearts that are to be in loue with her I speake not this that I would looke for any recompence for my paines of you neither that you should make any account of me at all onely I would most humble entreat you that you would vouchsafe to belieue that all my desires all my studies and all my endeuours are wholy vowed vnto your secret seruice and that no person shall command ouer my soule but onely your sweet selfe Thinke not then gratious Princes that I am ouer-rash and too too bold to deliuer such words as these vnto you For it is impossible that any right generous minde or braue heroicall thought should see so rare and matchlesse a beautie as yours is but that he needs must be in loue therewith and louing it deuote himselfe vnto the honour of the same for euer Did not so many diuine vertues abound within you and were you not euery way indued with so rare and exquisite qualities as you are we then should not so earnestly seeke to serue you neither should we be so curious to follow you with so great affection and respect as we doe Sooner shall the Sunne be without light and the earth without verdure and greenes for as the heauens whether we will or no giueth vnto vs light Euen so despite of your selfe shall you be honoured and admired as long as you are so excellent and perfect a creature Then if I place my selfe in the order of such as reuerence your rare qualities good Madam pardon me neither thinke that any person can bare more loyall seruice vnto you then I my selfe doe for might my
strong for him who although he had so often giuen the foile vnto the Romans yet when he lost his pretious libertie through lying in Capua and making Loue vnto a woman there was ouercome by that temperate Romane Scipio Demetrius likewise was so bewitched with the faire Curtezan of Athens as he stood in awe of her as if he had bene her bond-slaue And if we should leaue the earth and flie vp into the heauens wee shall finde the Gods themselues haue bene schollers in Cupids schoole For did not Ioue loue Europa Lida Alcumena and diuers others Phoebus Cassandra Daphne and many moe Mars Venus Venus Adonis Diana Endimion and I know not whome besides Why then if it be so I must needs say that thy power extendeth farre and neere thou being as mightie in the heauens as thou art here vpon the earth Fortunio seeing mee in this humour beganne thus How now man but euen now thou shewedst thy selfe to be conquerour ouer thy passions setting a good face on the matter whilest thou didst bare out the brunt thereof And now againe thou seemest as a recreant to yeeld vnto thy anguish and sorrow crying out and vexing thy selfe as if thou wouldest die vpon the suddaine what is the reason of this alteration and change It is a credit for a man to change from vice to vertue and of bad to become good but not to goe on still growing worse and worse Dauid is praised for amending his wicked life and for becomming a new man where his Sonne Salomon is condemned in that he forgot himselfe in his latter daies becomming an Idolater and a whoremonger amongst his concubines Thinkest thou that it is enough for thee to say thou art not able to resist the force of Loue and that other mens faults are sufficient to excuse and defend thine That thiefe is not exempted from punishment who excuseth himselfe hauing robbed from others that he hath but done as an other hath done before him for though it be lawfull to imitate such actions as are commendable and vertuous yet is it not tollerable to doe what is wicked and villainous This colour then will not serue thee and therefore if as thou not long since diddest affirme thou louest the inward qualities of the minde without coueting that fleshly pleasure which Louers so much studie to obtaine although with great labour and losse but what is the reason thou takest on thus And why shouldest thou seeme to dispaire being readie euery houre almost to goe about to giue ouer the world For louing the soule onely the bodie which is but a closet for the same cannot hinder thy affection neither canst thou hope to receiue any other contentment or pleasure of thy loue then in conceit whereas thou doing thus as thou doest thou wilt make the world belieue that thy loue is of another manner of nature then thou wouldest perswade vs it being the common fashion of sottish Louers and such as desire sensuall delights to crie out and lament as if they were readie to die when they cannot taste the sweetnes of the same as the sicke Patient dieth for want of physicke that should expell such superfluous humours as hurt him Now if thy Loue be such as thou saiest that it neither demandeth nor expecteth in any sort this pleasure what maketh thee for want of enioying the same to run still vnto death wringing thy hands and making such pittious moane as is strange to behold Therefore are such men farre more furious and mad then those senselesse Bedlems are who without cause seeke to offer violence vnto themselues imitating the heathen people of Aegypt who vsed to burne themselues without any cause at all but onely when the toy tooke them in the head for most deare ought we to hold our life because it is vnrecouerable neither must we forgoe it vnlesse for some great occasion as either for the benefit of our common-wealth or for speciall good and aduancement of all our friends I seeing Fortunto to be so earnest replied thus O Fortunio I cannot see how a man can lose a lesser losse then the shortning of his daies for loosing them he lighteth vpon a path that leadeth him into eternall rest and therefore he is not hindered at all resembling that marchant who exchangeth bad marchandise for such as are most pretious and rich For a smaller matter then mine thousands of wise men haue shortned their liues A witnes whereof is that wise man who following Alexander the great and much fauoured of him gaue not ouer for all that to erect a great pile of wood which he setting a fire most cheerfully leapt therein without sturring once and so was there buried But perhaps you will aske me what was the cause that vrged him thereunto truely none but onely because he would leaue this mortall life to inherit a life euerlasting But say that no liuely apprehention of intollerable griefe did force a man to this desire yet are the very defects of Nature and the desire to become immortall sufficient enough to imprint most deeply this conceit in his soule especially if after death we shall be free from feeling of any paine according vnto the grosse errour of the voluptuous Epicure For is it not farre better neuer to be borne then to liue and endure miserie But we flie higher in our thoughts thē those Phylosophers for we by this meanes set not onely an end vnto our wretchednes but we change them into glorie contentment and our fraile and fleshly bodie into an immortall state free from all corruption Therefore my conclusion is that seesing the onely maimes of Nature without any other accident of euill are of force enough to imprint within vs this desire of death we are not to be reprehēded if we die in as much as we are stirred vp vnto death as well because of these imperfections as also by reason of such a subiect of deadly griefe as can no way be remedied nor holpen but by the fatall Destinies and those that doe contrariwise cannot be compared for constancie and vertue vnto those women who one striuing with another leaped into the flaming fire wherein their dead spouses were burned a deepe passion of true sorrow and a vehement desire to follow their husband being that which did animate them vnto this death Besides such as are in dispaire for euer seeing ioyfull daies in this world haue not they the greatest reason of all to die which if any such shall refuse they are of a more base and timerous disposition then those women afore said seeing that in death onely a man incountreth with quiet rest as whilest we liue we are yoaked and tyed vnto troubles The sage Hebrew King praiseth in his prouerbes the dead more then he doth the liuing death being the securest harbor of all other where when we are arriued we are exempted from rowing any more in the dangerous barge of this turbulent world Fond is that Pilot who through the fauour of the
passeth through the pikes of all difficulties A Sentence yet it descendeth downe into the Tombs of the dead sounding like a Trumpet the due praises of manie when they are buryed who whilst they liued would not accept of any such matter For as the Cloudes although they shew thicke darke and gloomie cannot for all that hinder the brightnes of the Sunne but for all their foggie vapours hee will breake out and appeare in his splendent Maiestie Euen so maugre the cruell times yea and in despite of their owne selues the vertuous are euer honoured whom glorie it selfe doeth neuer abandon or forsake And therefore gratious Nymph reiect not what my Muse in most humble manner bestoweth vpon thee seeing she doth the best she can For the good will of the giuer not the richnes of the gift doth perfect make better the present Poore folke giue as much althogh it be of little value considering their abilitie as the mightier sort doe A Sentence although they bestow neuer so much and the sillie widowes Mite was as well accepted as the richest mens golde which in the Temple was offered Dainethen to make me so fortunate as to vouchsafe to accept of me to chaunt forth thy praises And doubt not but so earnest a desire shall so much animate and incourage my Muse as she will think nothing can see me to be too hard for her For this cause onely do I liue nothing so much keeping life within my bodie as a zealous desire Herald-like to blazon forth thy vertues which If I thought I might not obtaine I would chuse rather to die then liue My gifts are but small and yet more commendable shalt thou be for accepting of them then if they had bene richer because the world shall see that not anie couetous humor of gaine nor any worth of the present moued mee to make a tender of the same but only an humble mind the right noblenes of thy more then curteous own nature Thus did I argue for my selfe when my faire Saint who tooke some pleasure in my speech beganne to answer me in this manner Neuer ought any honest praise to be reiected because it proceedeth from good will The Gods themselues taking in good part the praises of the simple as well as of those that are more mightie I therefore accept of thine if thou thinkest there be any thing in mee as I doubt me there is not worthy of thy studie but yet with this condition that like a faithfull Hystoriographer and not as a fawning Poet thou set downe the truth For as that Crowe An Example when she was despoyled of her feathers which shee had borrowed of the other Byrds became naked and bare as that face is found to be more fowle and fuller of wrinkles which is vsed to be dawbed with paintings then that which neuer hath any other then her naturall beautie So when one is praised afterwards his defects and vitious life commeth to be knowne abroad he is more disgraced with infaâ—â—ie discredit then if he had not bene spoken of before only because of his owne imperfections Be then iust and true in thy writings and then no doubt but the labour which thou shalt take shal be much lessened abated and small shal be the paine thou puttest thy pen too because thou shalt finde little or nothing in mee worthy to be commended But aboue all I would wish thee to haue speciall regard vnto this that thy works if by chaunce thou shalt find I be worthy of thy Inuention breed neither iealousie of me nor malicious enuie against me the two common plagues amongst all men For it were farre better to liue bare and poorely and without beeing made famous abroad then to be rich and be enuied of all and so to purchase the ill will of euery one This onely desire was Casars death his enemies bearing malice at his vertues and this was the losse of the life of Alexander the great who was hated for his exceeding great victories So said the beautious Nymph and that with so good a grace as although shee seemed to make a shewe that shee was vnwilling to accept of the praises of my Muse yet did she so wittilie order the matter as I found by the circumstance of her discourse she did not altogether reiect mine offer A Sentence Quickly did I find her meaning for who marketh so narrowly the manner fashion the gesture and the countenance of his Mistris as doeth the Louer seeing he findeth either good or hurt in the least glaunce of her eyes Soone did I conceiue that she did not differ much from my minde and I made my selfe ready to answer her when behold we might suddenly heare a great noise a far off as if it had bene of fome wilde Beast that brake through bushes past through hedges and forced the very trees to stoope and shake with his furious running against them This noise made my Ladie and all her company maruellously afraid for it was most terrible in their cares wherevpon they began to take their flight and that they might runne the swifter the feare of this straunge accident lent them wings I seeing this tooke my worthie Diana vnder the arme the greatest fauour that euer I had before receiued of her and yet was it not willingly graunted by her For neuer would shee haue suffered me to haue done so much but that the danger and her present necessitie was such I helping her the better to get vp vnto the toppe of the foresaid high Rocke at the foote of which was as I tolde you before a most faire and cleare Christiall Fountaine When beeing there wee thought our selues to be quite out of all perill and danger and that if it were a Beare or a Lyon or any Tyger it could not ouer easily get vp to the top of the same or at least that we could not be discouered in so high a place but yet neuerthelesse my Ladie still quaking trembling as one that could not abandon her pensiuenes vpon the suddaine She endured that I should holde her vnder the arme whilest in the meane time I ventured to touch her white and daintie hand which was to me as if I had bene in Paradise for so much did feare possesse her as she neuer thought of any such matter O what a happie time had I as then and how much was I beholding vnto that wilde beast although the terror thereof did make me to shake A right holy day was that day vnto me and the happiest that euer I had in all my life Great was the pleasure my poore heart felt as then when I had that libertie to touch those rare and victorious hands as long since these desperate Pirates had An Example who came from farre onely to kisse the fist of Scipio surnamed Affrican after he had taken his farewell of vngratefull Rome Neuer was there so lillie a white hand neuer one
to what ende doest thou shew thy selfe to be like vnto the fire that burneth that that nourisheth her or to the viper that knaweth her mother in pieces or to the vngratefull churle that murdereth his best benefactor Darest thou so impudently speake again st her that is the Mother the Queene and the Nurse of all things Most mortall enemie of the Gods who acknowledge her for their vaiuersall Mother whom thou blamest with so great blasphemie Who giueth their essence and Being vnto liuing creatures but she who maketh them to liue and moue but she Should not this great obscure Caos but for her turne againe into his confused forme the Elements be confusedly mingled one with another Who hath giuen Soule and life vnto man but she When the expert Physition hath done all he can to the vttermost of his Art to heale the sicke patients if he then casteth away his medicine and refuseth wilfully his owne health is it the Doctors fault if he be taken away by death If thou hast receiued both a soule and sufficient vigor and force of Nature and for default of vsing the same wisely ill fortune hath seazed and taken hold vpon thee canst thou iustly lay the cause of thy mishap vpon Nature O foole as thou art know thou that our Spirits and our bodies haue receiued all perfection that may be and the very best of euery vertue that is in any other liuing creature A Sentence is bestowed vpon vs. Vnto a wise man nothing is vnpossible neither can the stars themselues preuaile ought against him But if he will needes lose himselfe if he will imploy his good gifts against his owne selfe as the surious man who woundeth his heart with his ownesword can the blame thereof be attributed vnto Nature That vassall that hath receiued all good and kinde entertainement and vsage of his Lord and yet afterward will faile of his duetic A Similie doth he bring his Maister to be guiltie of his offence or can he make him to be the Author of this his so grosse tollie I think not If so why hast thou then suffered thy selfe so foolishly to be deceiued cheated and depriued of that force and vertue that Nature hath lent thee laying vpon her all the blame for the losse of the same Thou affirmest that man is miserable and therefore little beholding vnto Nature but vpon what Foundation vpon what Rocke or vpon what sure ground canst thou proue her to be the cause of his miserie Doth he want any thing that is conuenient and fit for him hath he not the forme and shape of the Gods Is not his Soule diuine and doth it not participate with wisedome knowledge and vnderstanding and if thou wilt not allow Wisedome Knowledge and Science to be in the number of the best things then dost thou deface euery vertue and by this meanes thou makest men to be no better then brute and senselesse beastes But knowledge saiest thou bringeth vnto man care and vexation of mind which like a worme eateth and knaweth him continually and yet doth the same vnderstanding make him to approach nigh vnto the Gods bringing him to be farre more perfect then when he knew nothing O what an vnspeakable ioy doth he conceiue in his soule when he is once able to attaine vnto the discouerie of those admirable effects of God being able through his knowledge to preuent such mischiefes as are at hand and to deliuer others from present shipwracks of imminent misfortunes Thou addest that these things encrease and ingender sad thoughts in his minde but what paine what griefe what molestation or trouble is there found be it neuer so sharpe stinging which can once counteruaile or compare with the ambrosiall sweetnes of that renowned glory which that man swalloweth downe along time who rightly and perfectly doth but iudge conceiue of celestiall actioÌ„s by his prudencie skill maketh himselfe most profitable and necessarie vnto his common-wealth All those other bad conceites passe and vanish away as a sudden storme but most durable and for euerlasting is that glory which man buildeth and establisheth vpon the rockie ground of neuer failing vertue Great Hercules as now An example feeleth no more the paine of all those hugie labors which he once endured in this world for that is dead and gone but his glorious renowne his worthy name and fame endureth still and shall for euermore But thou castest thine eyes vpon such things onely as are present which are flitting and not durable fortifying thy complaint vpon a vaine and light shadow without bethinking thee once of that substance of Eternitie that is to come hereafter A Sentence True glorie is neuer gotten but by great labour and trauaile and vertue best shineth through deadliest dangers as the Sunne showeth clearest amongst the darkest cloudes Hadst thou but any high courage in thee or wert thou brauely pricked forward with the spur of honour thou wouldst neuer regard so much as thou dost this present time but wouldst rather haue respect to what is like to come hereafter for right wretched is he that with his dying body encloseth and burieth his name his glory and all his exploytes all within one obscure tombe Blame not Nature then who hath made man perfect in all parts and compliments and hath giuen him the direct meanes to enter into the right way which leadeth him vnto the place of Eternitie And if thou canst not vnderstand these Arâ—bique letters the fault is thine owne and not Natures who hath giuen thee a mind to conceiue and a tongue to learne to practise and speake But there is no reason that without labour and taking of paine we should come to purchase our desires since through this trauaile the perfection of Nature is the better knowne producing many faire effects within our soules first formed and inuented by her which without industrie would remaine quite extinguisht and of no force not vnlike vnto senselesse stones The Shepheard wakened with this biting discourse began to take heart at grasse replying vpon the old man in this sort Whatsoeuer thou art that shewest thy selfe so charitable and deuout in thy deuoyre and dutie towards Nature christning her with the name of perfect I must needes tell thee thou art wonderfull wide from the truth and not a little deceiued in this matter For if such perfection were found in her as thou speakest why then doth she not make euery man perfect alike whereas quite contrarie from some she taketh away their health through long and strange Maladies which by her owne name are tearmed naturall from others she curtalleth and loppeth off their best members whereby they growe deformed and misshapen some others she abridgeth and taketh away from them their right wits and senses making them become innocents and fooles and from others againe she withdraweth her liberall hand of plentie forcing them to liue in great want and beggerie Now what perfection is here found in these so
stand well pleas'd in it No pleasing obiect likes their eyes but what doth threat them ill What euill is that loue they best their ruine fostring still They blowe the glowing coales that burnes them with ore what desire As doth the foolish slie that spoyles himselfe within the fiâ—e Poore soules bewitcht a thousand times each man in carefull wise Doth seeke to shunne what may him hurt and from the same he flies Each one doth deadly poyson hate which doth abridge his life And being pained strait doth hunt with speede for succour rife * The true disposition of a right Louer Onely the peruerse Louer doth all hope of helpe refuse He likes his pining griefe and what doth hurt him still doth chuse He blest himselfe accounteth that not heald is his disease His sicknes he doth honour and to die it doth him please Hard fortune is this to him yet his haps farre harder more He waileth his mischance and yet his griefe he doth adore His woes nere die but still reuiue Then happier liue you faire You that be dead in better case then Louers plag'd you are LOVE then our Shepheards courage stout did weaken with his rage And reapt the sprouting fruit scarse ripe of his first happie age Rauisht his senses and to thousand dangerous harmes him drew And after these disasters all most cruellie him slew This Shepheard Plaindor called was no creature like to him For force of arm s for beautious shape or vertues halfe so trim But heare I pray how Cupid proud in most malitious wise Transformes himselfe to poyson strong for to deceiue our eyes Who though he seemeth vnto vs as courteous meeke and kinde Yet but a poysoned wine though sweete in tast you shall him finde Which we no sooner drinke but that it doth vs mickle harme Bereaues vs of our vitall spirits and doth our Reason charme This deadly draft who doth but tast to die is certaine sure And yet before his death longtime he must strange griefes endure Hara by this darkesome desart sad there was a place most daintie Where Autumne in his season brought forth fruits great store and plentiâ— Rich was it of all worldly things but yet amongst the rest For richest good a Damsell faire surpassing it possest Most famous for this beautious maid was registred this place Though at that time fewe men had had the hap to see her face Her stature tall made her in shewe like to a Princely Queene Rather then one that in the woods and groues brought vp had beene Her flaxen haire which calmiâ— windes did gently blow full soft A description of a beautifull maide Hung dangling downe more fine then golde in thousand curlings wrought Oft when she any leisure had she twisted in the shade Those haires as nets which mâ—ry soules to bow vnto her made Her forhead of faire Iuorie was euen pure and large No furrow there dâ—grace to forme the flesh dia frowning charge No bending wrinkle there was seene nor painting to deface The snowy whitenes which is vsde to make more faire the face Her eyebrowes purest Ebonie kept their proportion right No plâ—asing show so prettily the fancie did delight Sweete shadowes for her sphere-like eyes which with their twincklings calme From sunnâ—â— beames did them defend which burned ouerwarme Her diamond sparkling â—yâ—s were such and did so brightly shine As those two lamps â—hâ— Sunne and Moone most glorious and diuine Her piercing glaunces full of power like to swift lightning were When as the slash inslam'd from heauen it selfe on th' earth both beare So rolde they in her head as greatest hearts they forct decay And valiant spirits of men as slaues did bring vnto their bay Dan Cupids darts they were with which he vsed men to crosse Who being vassels made most bate did glorie in their losse Dire Comets were they like to such that danger do portend And such were hers for death they gaue to her and to her friend Yet they of shame fastnâ—s did show to be the bashfull Call Where chast delight did dâ—â—ly vse for his disport to dwell Her pure vermilion shâ—â—ts when she did smile had force and power To show more perfect faire by odds then daintiest gilliflower How sweet and cruell wast at once to touch so holy thing What mortall griefe was it that tooke but once asay to him Poore Plaindor can true witnes be one kisse vnto his cost Was cause that he his pretious life and all his good daies lost Her châ—rrie lipps did closely hidâ— right Grient Pearle of Inde No pretious â—â—â—lls hâ—lfe so rich you in that land can finde From which Pâ—rculâ—â—s vaiulâ—s a pleasing sent did come More sweet then Muske more daintie sarre then rightest Sinamum Her louely cheekes Suâ—nes blemish were as Alablaster faire Whose roseall colour mixt with creame did show beyond compare Her dimpled chinne was full and round her brest the milkie way Where Cupid when that he was hot a bathing often lay Two Apples faire thereby was seene as sprung from paradise The Graces in that garden vsde to sport in wanton-wise Her matchlesse hand was long and strait her fingers white and small The mountaine snow refin'd to them was nothing white at all Such was this peerlesse virgins faire and she FLORETTA hight Blest perfectly but onely that bad destnie ded her spight One day as in the warming sunne with mickle curious care She did diuide and tide in knots her shining bright gold haire The harts of worthiest Demigods here on the earth to trap As Plaindor came from woods to view her thus t' was his hard hap And being wearie thought a while to rest him by her side But this reposing afterward be dearely did abide For vading pleasure ouer small he too too deere did pay But t' was his fortune bad and downe along by her he lay Where he such poyson suckt as t' was within a while his bane And where he rest did thinke to find he found recurelesse paine Thrise happie he had he not laid himselfe vpon that greene Or if that forward he had gone or her he had not seene For though his wearie coarse did rest his mind did trauaile sore Whilst his bewitched eyes apace downe swallowed venim store His gazing eyes nâ—re from her face one iot at all did stir His eyes made onely to behold and gaze on none but her He markes with more then curious view her for head and her cheeke Her haire her brest and other parts which hee too well did leeke So rests atteniuely and still leaping as t' were for ioy The conqueror proud when he beholds his prey which him did noy So standeth still the greedie Iewe to marke with heedfull eye Such pretious lewells passing rare which he doth long to buy Then then the haplesse Shepheard first perceiu'd the flame begin To spred alongst his heart and to consume his soule within He then perceiu'd of libertie he was depriu'd and sence By those bright beames of that
did wholly run on thee my bodie aye was thine Thy will as t' were a penalt Lawe to thee did me combine To please thee not my selfe I liu'd nor did I thinke at all That ere my credit had receiu'd a foyle much more a fall Nav more I could haue bene content that thou shouldst tasted haue That sweetest sweet that Louers seeke and still is that they craue But that mine Honor did ore me with greater puissance seaze Then my desire ore senses had as sensuall them to please This selfe-same honor now although some wrongfully haue toucht Because it too much honor'd thee and suffered thee too much Demaunds my bodie offered be to him my fault to purge And for to haue it sacrifiz'de most bloodie doth it vrge And so it shall Floretta then courage take heart at grace And this vile blot of hatefull shame let 's wipe from off our face For though I through this poyson strong of life depriued be Yet my good Fame taxt wrongfully it shall restore to me Adiew my dearest Plaindor but must I my selfe absent From thee and from thy presence needs must I alack be sent I I Ah hellish griefe yet me my heart againe restore That I may liue below this earth with quiet minde the more Ah render me my heart againe which I le in pieces teare Nor for to see the same to die be thou abasht with feare Sweete Plaindor if that ere thou lou'dst Floretta thou mayst vaunt Vouchsafe this one request to her now dying for to graunt Which is me to suruiue that thou as Testis witnesse may How wrongfully some thought too much my Glories pride to slay I call thee for to speake the truth of my chaste Innocence And to the Heauens I doe appeale who knows my true pretence Then Friend if euer in that sight of thine this body haue Bene gratious when it dead shall be prouide for it a graue Close these mine eyes cashirde from light shut fast this mouth so pale And this my Coarse below in ground to burie do not faile Deare this is all I craue of thee since now my course is runne That kindnes is but worth small praise that by the halues is done But how now Plaindor what do'st weepe thou sigh'st amaine me thinke Nay then thy grieuous Martyrdome I soone will ease and stint Le ts dye le ts dye more then high time t' is I were gone from hence And saying so she swalloweth downe that hatefull poysonous drench That done vppon the greeny grasse her selfe she softly throwes And holding of her armes acrosse her prettie mouth doth close When lifting vp her last seene eyes she Plaindor might behold How he his manly brest for griefe did beate with courage bold Whereat she weeps afresh so great a Corsie to her t' is And dying now she striues to giue to him her latest kisse That done she yeeldeth vp the Ghost Ah heauie spectakell But now the dire Catastrophe of this sad tale I le tell When Plaindor saw his Mistres dead with lookes most furious He draweth his sword which gainst himselfe he bends as barbarous And raging like a bedlem mad distraught of wit through wroth Minding himselfe to massacre these words he sigheth forth Floretta ah Floretta speake speake fairest of all Faire Where 's now thy faith that did protest of me to haue such care Where 's now thy oaths and promises They now haue me deceiu'd And my greene youth long fed with hope they haue of ioy bereau'd Cruell Floretta and yet cruell to none except vnto Thy selfe when for anothers fault thy selfe thou didst vndo To bring me to my dismall ende no way couldst thou deuise But for to slaughter thus thy selfe in such a monstrous guise O faire but chaster Coarse by farre what hast thou done or sed To be vntimely fore thy time consorted with the dead And thou pure soule within that Coarse what sinne didst thou commit That thou so soone from that faire Inne away shouldst passe and flit Thine Honor th' ast kept vndefil'd then if you this doe call A fault how then hast thou offended Else hast thou not at all Faire beauties spotlesse Temple thou doest dye for mine effence And I the essence of thy ill to liue seeke to dispence Ah wretched me and which is worse white liuered soppe I am Vnworthie of such calling as to beare thy Seruants name No no I needs must dye my blood pardon for fault shall win And I will satisfaction make for this my cruell sin Yet fore I die I humbly grace and pardon begge of thee Who hast the power that this my soule remaineth thus in me Ah pardon me what i st I say this pardon which I craue Argues my fault more monsterous that worse I sinned haue I see the Murtherer I haue bin of thy fresh flowring youth Thy healths chiefe Homicide and foe vnto thy faith some ruth For me not for thy selfe thou dyest and shall I then be cause To see those eyes mouth clos'd vp which Death vnto them drawes O of all vertue golden meane of loyaltie bright sonne Whome as my Saint I haue ador'd must thou for me be vndone O hell O black dispaire of Starres most spitefull in such wise To incense so many boysterous stormes gainst my small barke to rise Ay me why dy'de I not when first I saw this face of hern Then lyke an exile from all ioy to be exposde and driuen But soft my Toung runs too too fast and words be nought but winde I know not where I am nor am I now in my right minde Yet at the least let me once bid my deerest Dame adieu And let me of her take my leaue Ah speake what will not you No no I am vnworthy I vnworthy of her grace I not deserue that haue destroyd such fauour so suire face And hast thou then the heart to see that beautie be disliu'de The onely cause that thou long since of life wort not depriu'de And canst thou breathe without her sight thou canst not I doe know Vnto Th'Elizian golden fieldes thou needes with her must goe My selfe my young yeares cutting off will rid me of annoy Since such a blacke tempestious storme hath shipwrackt all my ioy I le die I le diâ— but yet what kind of death might I inuent Cruell enough for my vile fact me iustly to torment Since that the fait falst mâ—â—de aliue through me her death hath found To whome more then to all the world I was obligde and bound Diuinest beautie thou through me doest perish and doest die Whose chiefe delight was to restore my nie lost libertie Plaindor thy deaths wound hath thee giuen whilst he forgot himselfe To whome he owed his life and goods and more then all his wealth Ah haplesse man ah louely Nymphe great reason sure thou hast To giue mâ— ore since ouer thee so small care I haue plaâ—'te And misely didst thou gesse that I vnto thy glorious fame Should be small credit rather
one that thee and thine should shame But woe is me thou wrongest me if so of me thou iudge Since for thy sake nought to attempt as yet I â—re did grudge Faire thou shalt know that since my heart a widower is through thee He can no ioy what euer take nor longer liuing bee Much lesse that I can like againe I am no Louer such If so thou thinkst thou art deceiu'd and wrongest me oremuch Thy seruant whilst I liu'd I was dying I le be thy slaue To make some mends for mine offence thou readie me shalt haue I le die as thou hast done as one of thy praise enuious Because thou purchast hast for me thy rest from sorrow thus I will not beg that I may touch that prettie cherrie lip Whilst I am dying I confesse my selfe deserue not it Yet gratious Goddesse of my thoughs if those thine eyes so bright Haue not alreadie quite forsooke their wonted clâ—eerfull light Ah then doe but once open them and Plaindor thine regard With one small glaunce who now doth leaue his life through fortune hard Bright starres your Plaindor you shall see loow quickly he will die If you so much doe grace him as to ope but halfe an eye And now in leiu of recompence for wrong that done I haue This blood accept my hainous crime to purifie and laue Sweete Ladie now at last receiue this blood this blood of mine And suffer my dead coarse repose and rest it selfe by thine Thus said with courage great his sword he thrusts into his side And being dead vpon the ground his bodie faint doth glide Which with his lukewarme struaming blood the ground did make to faâ—â—â— Of colour whilst it flowing ratine and dide it ouer all Floretta all this while was not starke dead the poyson strong Was not enough which was the cause her life it did prolong Her he auie eyes she casteth vp and rolleth here and there Whilst in her face a show of death halfe smiling doth appeare And seeing Plaindor falne by her she him doth fast imbrace And with her feeble force doth wipe the blood from off his face His head with dying hand she doth hold vp to ease his paine And hauing giuen to him a kisse rekisseth him againe Wherewith he gaspeth yet once more and thinkes himselfe the most Blessed that in his Mistris armes he yeeldeth vp his ghost Thrise happie Plaindor fortunate eternall is thy glorie For thou hast gained ouer death a pretious victorie Thou diest in the clasped armes of faire Floretta thine Whilst with her eyes thine eyes thy face with hers doe close conioyne She striuing for to die that she amaine might thee pursue Whom thou doest see though gainst her will thee to suruiue so true And now death had alreadie tane her speech nor could she speake Yet these few words she sighthed forth with hollow voice most weake O Plaindor sweet friend Shepheard mine our Loues though miserable To ages that hereafter come to liue shall aie be able Since through the vertuous paths they trod vntainted chastitie Serues vnto them to be the ground to their Eternitie And though we now die yet our selues thus let vs comfort rife Thou diest forme and I for thee am pleasde to end my life Like faithfull friends we die the one forth ' other 's well apaid And in one Tombe our bodies both shall be enterd and laid Thou goest my Loue before me and I follow thee most blithe As fast as fast I can for thee I meane not to suruiue Yet happie we in dying thus since kissing we embrace Which liuing we durst not attempt for feâ—re to haue disgrace But now I come to thee Thus said she on the face doth fall Of her blest Plaindor whilst her soule doth â—lit away withall Their coarses be within one graue where the â— doe quiet sleepe And in this Rocke vnto their fame this verse was grauen deepe ARCAS hauing heard this pittioâ—s Tragedie could not chuse but weepe dreaming a fresh vpon his auncient Loues when the old man thus awaked him Shepheard Shepheard loue is neuer satisfied nor appeased with teares which is an or dinarie vse with him being alwaies a child as he is In the teares of Louers doth he temper his Arrowes the harder to freese the hearts of their Ladies against them The more he findeth vs to waile and want courage the more he doth taunt and reuile vs Not vnlike vnto that Generall of a field A Similie who more hostly pursueth his enemies when they begin to shrinke backe and recoyle then when they â—valiantly and stoutly stand to beare out the brunt If Cupid hath not yeelded vnto the teares of his Mother much lesse will he be moued at thine True Louers sildome or neuer weepe because their heate consumeth the moysture which is within them A Sentence no more then drie wood can yeeld forth wet water Cease then to waile and in steed of these teares take courage against this fierce enemie If the Gods themselues replied the Shepheard could not resist him how then shall any man be able to encounter with him And what other thing can such miserable wretches doe as be out of all hope but bewaile and lament their vntimely misfortunes It is for hearts of steele resembling blades ouer hardly tempred which rather breake then bowe not to be moued with griefe at all Teares are signes of a pitifull Nature whereas such as are cruell neuer weepe because they are quite voyd of all compassion Though Loue hereat will not be moued yet will gentleâ— hearts relent at the same I knowe he maketh no account hereof neither doe I pretend to sacrifice vnto him with them but rather with mine owne decrest blood How wonderfully art thou deceiued quoth the old man The Alters of Loue as those of the Gods â—ere vpon the earth neuer distill nor drop with blood for can Loue be encountered and met withall amongst braules quarrels and bloodshed No no but where amitie and friendship is there doth he frequent and keepe companie An excellent discourse of the mightines and power of Loue. such onely being to be counted right Louers indeed and worthy to enioy Loue it selfe who beare no malice nor seeke one anothers death O how sweete and pleasing a thing is this kind of amitie which keepeth the Gods in perfect vnitie and vnder whose puissance is the hollow giuing vault of heauen guided Men after the example of the Gods by the aduise of Loue first assem bled themselues together vniting and incorporating themselues within Cities and walled Townes leauing the sauadge wildernesses vnto wilde beasts wherein they before did inhabit Why then doest thou offer blood vnto him O Father of these nocturnall Desarts answered the Shepheard I know thou thinkest otherwise then thou speakest Canst thou compose and frame a gentle and milde Nature An example of nothing but murther and crueltie How many massacres loue hath commenced Troy can witnesse How many cruell griefes
thought but this his happines because it was hatefull vnto his owne natiue countrie ought rather to haue bin counted vnhappines then any felicitie at all for where the publique good is extended not any man there should seeke his owne particular quiet but rather most cheerfully endure the selfesame torment with which his countrie is afflicted But O how worthy of all praise are such who as resolute Saylors shew like courage and cheere as well in aduersitie as in prosperitie being euery way throughly armed and resolued to abide the very shocke push of fortune not loosing their spirits or stomacks any thing at all at the first arriuall of the same but rather are the more strengthened and animated thereby yeelding through their inuincible patience infinit rich testimonies of a most perfect and obsolute vertue indeed Amongst which number wel may Louers be admitted who being at libertie to kill themselues as infamous and degenerate mindes doe and hauing the selfe same meanes and excuses that they haue yet will not perpetrate nor put in practise so vile and horrible a fact to the ende they may the better shew the fruites of their constancie and perptuall vertue in all places wheresoeuer they shall chaunce to come For as he is not excuseable from blame who because he cannot be good therefore giueth himselfe to what is bad inasmuch as herein it is our parts to force our nature it selfe No more is he to be commended who for that he can no longer bandie with his afflictions and with the painefull labours of this world maketh away his owne selfe because we being the creatures of God are bound to take part of all such sinister accidents as it shall please him to send vpon vs without shaking off the same from vs by destroying our selues which the diuine lawe forbiddeth vs to doe As that of the ciuill prohibiteth Bondslaues to flie from the hands of their Lords and Maisters A Sentence They therefore are more to be commended who suffer and sigh forth their griefes then those who because they want force to resist the violence therof slay themselues For vertue shineth most amidst hard and difficult matters no glory at all harbouring amongst base and abiect spirits What 's that you say answered the old man Tell me I pray you is there any thing more sweet or deerer vnto man then life What can make him more renowmed thē to loose that which he holdeth most dearest to follow vertue and to doe nothing vnworthy of his owne honour And if your speech were true then O yee braue martiall spirits and Captaines of warre most miserable and far from glory are you who for the publique benefit and good amongst thousand battailes haue yeelded forth your blood and soules together What worthy exploytes had men shewed abroad what generous acts what valiant deeds and what workes of Eternitie If they had bin such diligent preseruers of their liues when for feare of loosing the same they should haue left behind them millions of vertuous stratagems being the children of praise Fathers of common-wealths in the enterprising of which they stand in perill of their most pretious liues A great credit is it for a man to giue ouer all desire of riches of greatnesse of all pompe and estate and to depriue himselfe of all delicate and delitious kind of liuing but far greater commendation is it vnto him to abandon all these foresaid pleasures to follow vertue in quest and to giue ouer that which is more neare vnto vs then all these worldly felicities I meane our sweet life for not to be borne at all is the greatest ill fortune that can commonly happen vnto men as to haue life is the sweetest and most comfortablest thing A Sentence that can be imagined That it is happines to be borne and to liue in this world I denie said the Shepheard for how blessed had it bin and far better for many a one neuer to haue tasted of this life at all as by their lucklesse endes hath well appeared Life is good and pleasant to such as know how to vse it well but most miserable vnto others for the ende of euery action doth crowne and make perfect the same and no man is said rightly to be fortunate vntill his death be come What happie good or vertuous ende can such make who haue alwaies liued most vngodly when by being so borne they become most wicked sinners being continually troubled in their conscience which like a worme still gnaweth their soules whereas those that liue well and iustly and whose behauiour is holy and vnspotted make most happie endes I say therefore euery mans birth is not happie but rather that it is oft times more miserable vnto some men then pleasant or fortunate for better were it for such a one neuer to be at all then to be borne and so to loose his soule and glory his name and memorie through his leaude and wretched misdemenor An example The Spartans far wiser then we were of mine aduise who made so light account of life as the least naturall imperfection that their children brought with them into this world was the cause they threw them into their common shore or priuies thereby taking from them their humane essence and their liues How many miserable wretches shall a man find in this world to liue in such extremitie and want as they wish they neuer had bin borne desiring nothing so much as to haue their daies abridged and out off and to lie full low in their quiet graues Therefore to be borne and to liue in this world are not such pretious things as you account them but rather most grieuous and troublesome so as a man comming to loose the same looseth no great matter Vertue being his pledge for so small a losse Neither will I denie the worthy deedes which the vertuous bring to passe they not standing any thing at all in feare to loose their liues and yet the very selfe-same consideration which maketh them esteme so little of their health witnesse sufficiently enough that it is not prized by them at any high rate seeing they are content to exchange it for death If the good Iob before he had suffered what he did had ended his life he then had bene depriued of that prayse which his rare patience purchased vnto him An Example as we finde in the sacred Scriptures And yet quoth the old man what good did all these complaints vnto Iob which he so often repeated in his miseries they not being any thing lessened or asswaged by the same And so to begin where we first left What auaileth the miserable to lament For more is he to be commended that with discretion concealeth his greife and with milde constancie beareth out the same then he that maketh proclamation of it by wailing bewraieth it by sighing and by his condoling maketh it more apparant euery way Not so neither replied the Shepheard but rather it is quite contrarie
bestowe it cheerfully on her For in giuing her that which is thine owne thou shalt deserue as well at her hands as those who are farre mightier then thy selfe vnto whome the heauens haue giuen better meanes to succour their Countryes then they haue vnto thee For euery one is discharged after he hath payd what he doeth owe and hauing performed what he can to the vtmost of his power But it is not a sufficient discharge for the bad debtor An example to say he hath nothing and yet in the meane time can find wealth enough to supplie his own need Change then thy mind take thy iourney with me and I will thinke my selfe fortunate if I may restore thee vnto thy Countrey againe because of the great want she hath of such of her children as are good naturall faithfull and valiant Amongst which number I account thee as one of the chiefe To this speech Arcas was about to replie when the sound of a most pittious voyce ouerdrowned his so that to vnderstand the same he was husht and silent This voyce sighed forth this Sonnet following Accursed wretch and shall my blubbered teares Nere mollifie my Mystris flintie heart O no for these strange heats my bodie beares My teares to fire doe change to breede my smart Shall I no more behold her beautie bright Which wonted was alone me so to please No no for now I liue withouten light Since her I see not cause of my disease In double wise alas I finde my griefe Whilst trebble still surmounteth my disgrace First cause I am a Thrall without reliefe And next for that I see not her faire face Thrise blest the dead far happier then my selfe Death makes an ende of all their martyring paine But I still toyling keepe on sorrowes shelfe Then is my life the worser of the twaine Halfe dead halfe liue I languishing doe lie Vnder the beautious eyes of my proud FAIRF Whilst I more cruell finde my destinie Exilde from her the essence of my care Oh what colde passions in strange vncoth wise Thy wofull absence breeds through woes dispences Since that thy sight made smile my weeping eyes The losse whereof depriues me of my sences DEARE what am I poore I withouten thee But like a coarse quite void of vitall breath Accursed Fate that such a Law should bee To force men liue against their wills on earth Of thousand griefes the least and smallest crosse A Louer louing doth in Loue indure Is worse by ods then is of life the losse Which we by gentle death our friend procure Compar'd vnto the passions which I feele O happie Fate that so would'st ende my life To rid me of my troubles euery deele A Cordiall wore and comfort passing rife What shall I not from these plagues be releasde Neuer before expir'd be my lifes date Of blessings all t is not t is not the least To die whom Heauens whilsts that the liues doth hate O heauens when will you gainst me quiet cease And for a while take truce to doe me spight No no I see with me you 'l haue no peace Yet vertue after stormes doth shew most bright You then doe meane thus still my heart to racke On tenters yours to sound my constancie But to what ende doe you the same alacke When I it know and beare it patiently Then cease yee Gods to grieue me still with plagues Ah whither carrie you my vexed soule But t is no matter shew your vtmost rage Not you my dame alone can it controule As long as she to accept it please in shewe You cannot hau 't nor for you shall it care For dutie lesse to heauens and Gods I owe Then to my lifes sweet death my cruell FAIRE He that sung this was the Shepheard Coridon whome as Arcas wilfull banishment had brought by chance into this Desart and who calling to mind his Loue sung this dolefull Dittie which being ended and perceiuing Philistell Arcas and the old man together he runneth strait vnto them and most ioyfully saluteth them praying them to heare a certaine wofull historie of the truth of which his owne eyes had bin witnesses in this his traualie Wherupon they graunted his request and euery one of them taking their places to sit downe they began to listen vnto him most attentiuely when the Shepheard spake as followeth The Tragicall ende of chast Floretta Although the Almightie through his diuine prouidence hath most prodigally bestowed vpon the soule of man many faire and goodly perfections making him capable to know and vnderstand euery thing Neuerthelesse if there be not some striking motion to awake him or some strange accident to pricke him forward he remaineth oftentimes as senselesse without shewing any effects of his power and might at all For a horse although he be by nature quicke light and full of life yet if he be not spurred forward well he will neither runne orderly nor yet keepe any pace rightly at all Now the sharpest spurres of the soule are Glory and Loue being the first deuisers of his actions and the chiefest causes of all his enterprises A braue Generall or Commaunder of a field egged forward with desire of glory will with the price of his blood amidst thousand of dangers in despite of all hazards venture to shew a proofe and signe of the brauenes of his minde A witnes wherof is Themisticles who was enuious of the glory of Milliades So likewise a Louer will make shew of a thousand proofes of a gallāt spirit deuising all the best meanes he can to bring himselfe in credit with his Mistresse to the ende he may thereby obtaine the sooner his desire And of such inuentious Iupiter is found to be the first inuenter Warre then and Loue are the two most necessarie spurres for the minde although they are sharpe and violent as a comfortable potion though bitter to heale the sickelie body And when by chaunce the spirit of man is toucht vnto the quicke with these two hot spurres together thē is the time whē we shal see the same to discouer all her perfectiōs worthy qualities at the full For when the valiant champions begin once to loue then doe they become most rare and admirable in their actions as well by their valiantnes to get the good will of their Ladies as also because they lesse esteeme of their liues then they haue done heretofore Of which number were Hercules Troylus Achilles infinities of other more And if the Romane writers speake truely we find not any braue caualier without a Ladie or Mistris This being the occasion that I haue vsed this little preamble before I come vnto my historie which is a mixt discourse both of Mars and Venus For you shall vnderstand that a certaine Duke of Banier had not long since a most faire and vertuous daughter but yet most vnfortunate as most commonly the vertuous are because they being enuied for the same alwaies find a number of enemies to conspire and worke
a darke and gloomie cloud no more was now seene the comfortable day whilst the vnwelcome night brought with him his obscure frightfulnesse desperate danger his dispairing feare and iueuitable death his cruell amazement presenting these Tragicall shewes before the eyes of the poore distressed passengers No sweet Musicke was now heard nor no signe of ioy or pleasure was amongst them Only the Seas and the windes spake made a noyse and roared most horribly which was the cause that cold feare began as then to take possession of their soules and death to seaze vpon them whilst salt teares fell downe like swinging showers vpon their shaking hands held vp to heauen for mercie Most wofull were their cries most heauie their sobbing and groaning and most mournfull and pittifull the complaints which they made in this their extremities Their leaking ships were tossed and tumbled here and there some in one place and some in another as pleased the vncertaine windes not vnlike the conquerour who deuiseth and separateth his prisoners as he thinkes best according vnto his owne minde some of them were carried vnto one strange cost and some vnto another euery one of them hauing a contrarie fortune most of them in the ende being drowned and fewe or none of them saued and safely come to land That vessell in which the poore Princes remained was by chance cast vpon the cost of Spaine Alas how were her eyes swolne with teares her heart broken with griefe and her very soule galled with sorrow to see what hard fortune was hapned vnto her and vnto all her companie and traine 〈…〉 â—â—â—es were all falne into the bottome of the Sea whither she looked 〈…〉 follow after complaining most heauilie of her partiall destinies that had brought her to be a prey vnto the watrie Monsters The wearied Marriners and tired Sailers had wrought all the meanes they could both by cunning and force to withstand the rage of this storme but all in vaine for the pumpe was not able to deliuer forth one quarter of the water which the billowes of the Sea continually beate in in the ende the windes drew this ship vpon the coasts of Spaine as I said before and in such a case as was most daungerous by reason of the Rockes that were there all about which was the cause in despite of all the Sailers it ranne vpon a hard shelfe being with the blowe broken and splitted all in sunder A wofull spectacle was this to behold and as drerie a Tragedie for to report What eyes could see this and not weepe what eares can heare this and not tingle And what tonge can reade this dolefull storie and not faulter in his speech Then then euery one cried out for mercie from aboue one catching a boord an other a chest this one thing and that another and all to saue their liues their sweete liues which all doe hold so deare but yet for all that all of them in a manner notwithstanding were cast away and perished onely Iustina by the grace of God and assistance of Fortune hapned vpon a casket in which were her Iewels which she grasping fast within her armes the vnmercifull windes wearie of their cruelties through the helpe of a great waue of the Sea threw her vpon the sandie shore but yet in so miserable estate as most pitifuall it ws to behold her she being pale heauie and more then halfe dead through feare and sorrow insomuch as she moues no more then a senselesse stone representing the forme of a dead coarse rather then of a liuing creature in which dreadfulnes was found as yet some small sparke of life Thus long time did she liue as one breathlesse and liuelesse not being able to call or to recouer her vitall spirits againe In the ende though it were first long she came vnto her selfe beholding with a pittious eye so many drowned coarses to flote vpon the water and so much costly stuffe and rich treasure to be cast here and there vpon the shore and how hauing somewhat recouered her former senses lifting vp her moistned eyes and trembling hands vnto heauen she began thus O Sage Romane that rightly diddest blame such who when they might take their iournie by land will foolishlie commit themselues vnto the mercie of the waters And thou prudent Philosopher who wert of opinion that a man sailing in a boate had but two fingers as it were of life Alacke alacke too true were your words I hauing prooued the same not a little vnto my cost and misfortune O God what vice what fault or what sinne hath brought me vnto this remedilesse mischiefe into which I now see my selfe plunged ouer head and eares was this my doing or did I euer goe about to labour or seeke for this vnfortunate alliance which hath cost me and my companie so deare No no I rather sought how to resist the same to the vttermost of my poore power and to shun and auoyd as much as lay in me this fatall and ominous marriage Ah vnfortunte children from whom the respect and duetie they owe vnto their parents taketh away all the power and authoritie they haue to dispose of their owne persons as themselues doe chiefely couet and desire my minde did prognosticate this misfortune vnto me yet could not I auoyd it and as another vnluckie Cassandra I aduertised my selfe before hand of a mischiefe to come vnto me yet would I not giue credite vnto the same Woe is me woe is me because I see my selfe deliuered now from one daunger and for that I am exempt and freed from the malice of the spightfull Seas Am I therefore more happie then these breathlesse trunkes which lying before me are depriued of life by these vnmercifull Surges No no for they by this meanes are cleared from all debts and whereas I am yet to pay mine and that perhaps with greater miseries and mischiefes and after a worse manner farre by oddes then they haue any waies done For what can I hope for in this strange Countrey where I finde my selfe comfortles and alone but either to starue and die for hunger either to be dishonored by the rude inhabitants and people heere remaining or else to be deuoured with the iawes of some one wilde beast or another Yet Heauens I pray to graunt me rather that I may satisfie the famlne of these sauadge monsters then to be rauished and to loose mine Honour it being the chiefe and onely Iewell which I desire to conserue in this world O haplesse Ariadne and yet farre more fortunate then I An example for thou being left in an vncouth Iland all alone diddest doubt nothing but death being throughly assured as concerning the preseruation of thy virginitie and good fame whereas I alack feare greatly both the one and the other To whom may I vtter my complaints of whom may I intreat for comfort whom may I craue to assist me and from whom may I purchase to obtaine remedie for my so great griefe and anguish
the losse of his Mistris for that was the generall brute that ranne for currant throughout all the Countrey One while he condemned his ouerrash fondnes as wánting aduise and discretion in that through the same he had hazarded vpon the vngentle waues so faire and sweete a Creature as she was Another while he acknowledged and confessed himselfe to be the author of her death and the cause of her destruction Whilest this opinion of his drewe whole floods of teares from his eyes thousands of sighes from his heart and millions of heauie complaints from his soule Two cruell conceits did alwayes afflict him the one was the losse of his Loue the other the constant beliefe that he had bene the occasion of her vtter ouerthrow Commonly we beare with more patience the misfortune which hapneth vntovs A Sentence by the despitefull malice of the angrie Stars then we doe that which through our owne default doth fall vpon vs. For the one we can no way remedie because we cannot resist against the heauens but the other wee imagine we might by some deuise haue preuented if in due time we would with discretion haue looked vnto the same All the Court as well the highest as lowest endeuored what they could to comfort him but he esteemed that as a double griefe to be perswaded to be comforted by anie hauing lost her which was his chiefest comfort In the ende he deuised these dolefull Ditties in which kinde of exercise hee spent most part of his wearisome time This then was the wofull Song which he vsed oftentimes to sigh forth when hee was in his Chamber all alone or walking amidst the vncouth Forrests or when he was retired vnto some priuate place along the solitary Sea-shore Now I haue lost the deare light of mine eyes What should I doe but end my wearie dayes That Louer which with Mistris his doeth die A Sentence Dyeth not Alas but rather liues alwayes So Pyramus and Thysbe did disliue Themselues and liu'd together like two Doues That seruant which his Louer doth suruiue No faithfull Louer by loyaltie prooues So great a losse teares cannot counteruaile The rate hereof at so high price is set Base mindes it fittes for life to weepe and waile That so at length their griefes they may forget Not death it selfe though stung with his sharp sting Their loyall hearts can parted make remaine Th' one dying doth death to the other bring Making but one for to become of twaine As sweet that happie life of Louers was When th' one the other ioyfullie did prooue So seemes it sweete to them from life to passe When they together ende their Life and Loue. Loue doth renew and so like Phoenix shall In the Elizian fieldes below the earth Chaste Amitie not mortall t' is at all As is our fatall ende and flitting breath Ah how can one liue in this world of woe A Sentence When he hath lost the best part of himselfe Who seekes not after Mistris his to goe In Friendships Checquer hath but little wealth Diuorse me then from life yee Destinies To rid me from this labyrinth of noy The FAIREST shall not plaine in righfullwise Of mee since I haue lost her my chiefe ioy Ay mee I see Death no remorse will take On me whilst slowe hee hearkneth to my crie The Heauens our plagues the greater for to make Will not permit Death should approach vs nie Shall I then liue in griefe my selfe to banne Euen in despite and gainst my soules owne will Alas I must for I vnworthy am To bee where bides my Ladie freed from ill Am I not wretched then more then the rest To cause her death for whom I ought t' haue dide Then why should I imagine me so blest As for to looke for comfort at this tide No no I must and I deserue to finde Thousands of crosses ere I ende this life Who ill hath done deserues no vsage kinde A Sentence No gentle death but direfull sorrowes rife My hope is this that after thousand plagues A lingring death shall seaze vpon my Coarse Whilst thousand griefs throughout my vaines shall rage The more to punish him without remorse Then let none comfort or once counsell mee Since this my wound is mortall sans recure A mad man neuer will perswaded be By reason what is best for him t' endure Vnhappy I and trebble curst my state Wherein I liue a death ore desperate Thus wailed this sadde Prince continually and to say truth iust were his waylings and but rightfull his complaints considering how great his loyaltie was and yet if he loued Iustina well our Loue-sick Caualier honored her as much if not more for as he liked her for her beautie so did he as much admire her for her vertue To seeke to obtaine her in hope to carrie away that which many a Louer proposeth as a guerdon for his trauaile and paine which he hath taken hee knewe full well that it was in vaine and against his word and promise and to espouse and marrie her being altogether ignorant of her byrth and estate euery one knowing in what wretched taking he found her vpon the Sea-shore all alone hee durst not both for feare lest hee should doe iniurie vnto his house from whence he descended and also lest he should prouoke the iust displeasure of his best friendes and nighest kindred in attempting so rash an enterprise without their consent Thus was he troubled with many doubtes still running in his head not knowing what way to take or which course to resolue vpon No more then the Pilgrime who being vnskilfull in his iourney A comparison and comming to a foure crosse-path-way knoweth not which of them all rightly to chuse Meane space Loue got the aduantage of him daily yea and in that sort as in the end he became absolute maister of the Fort and chiefe Lord and Conqueror ouer the soule of the poore Gentleman In so much as hee could no longer now conceale this hidden fire any more The burning coale couered with hot cinders is more fresh ardent and full of heate then the fiery flame it selfe Very willing and faine was he to haue bewrayed his sicknesse but he knewe not to whom he being not ignorant that none could ease him of his paine but onely shee who was the cause thereof of whom he looked to reape but small or no comfort at all The day and night was all one with him for hee slept no more when the Moone gaue light then when the Sunne shined his greatest contentment being to be alwayes in the companie of his deere Mistris not remembring how the more he resorted vnto her the more his heart was inthralled and caught in the nettes of Loues pleasing seruitude and bondage The often and dutifull deuoires hee alwayes vsed to doe her seruice his stealing glaunces and pittifull lookes he cast vpon her beautious countenance and his continuall burning sighes comming like smoakie exhalations from his brest were
be knowne for feare least being discourered she should be conueied vnto the Prince of Danes and so by that meanes forced to leaue the companie of the Spanish Knight whome now she dearely loued although she somewhat dissembled the same most earnestly desired him not to bewray what she was vnto any man vntill she should finde a fit time to be knowne Which he most willingly promised giuing her more honour from that time forward and vsing her with greater respect then he had done before verie much discondemning his owne iudgement in that he could not perceiue this Ladie to be noblie discended seeing so many rich proofes and apparant signes of the same as her courtly demeanure her rare vertue her stately Maiestie her learned discourse and excellent beautie gaue forth sufficient testimonie which euery one did admire at Meane time these vertuous Louers twaine did burne in oneselfe fire And languishing did pine away for want of their desire But alas no remedie could be found to ease their passiōs for the gentleman knowing the Princes descent to be so great and worthie durst not as much as once presume to thinke she would vouchsafe to accept him for her husband chusing rather to die a thousand times then to be very troublesome vnto her or to receiue so bitter a pill from her as a sharpe repulse which he knew he should neuer be able to disiest but onely by death This conceit bred such a melancolie apprehension in him as by little and little he began to languish away his blood was dried vp his colour gone and his strength decaied so as he seemed rather a dead coarse readie to be laid in his graue then a man likelie to liue This sudden accident troubled euery one all lamenting the misfortune of this gentle Knight especiallie wofull Iustina who knew her selfe to be the onely cause of this sorrow and which was worse knew no meanes how to remedie the same without disparagement vnto her credit yet in the ende she resolued with her selfe if otherwise then well should happen vnto Alphonso to die for his sake so dearely did she loue him who now was growne to be in such a pittifull taking as he could neither rest sleepe eate nor drinke so as he was forced although sore against his will to keepe his loathed bed where he thought neuer to haue seene his Mistris more A strange thing Louers resemble the Basiliske who desireth to see that within a cristall glasse which is the cause of his owne death So these poore wretches couet nothing so much as the presence of that thing which doth shorten their liues soonest thinking themselues most miserable when they are depriued of the same They account no time happie but when they feele death and nothing is more agreeable vnto them then that Subiect which taketh away their life from them Verilie if the law doth most iustly condemne such for wilfull murtherers as destroy and make away themselues then ought Louers to be placed amongst the ranke of these her selfe-wild murtherers for their onely follie hastneth the ende of their liues making them to die before their time This poore knight lieth grieuously sicke without hope of recouerie and Iustina resolueth for companie to take the like course she thinking it to be no reason that she should liue ioyfully when her friend should be dead through her onely occasion O how bitterly did she curse her cruell fortune seeing her selfe inuironed with two such violent extremities either to permit him to die whom she loued more then her selfe or else to suffer her honour to be crazed which she loathed more then death In the ende she resolued rather to ende her daies then to scandalise her good fame with soule reproach and to leaue the bodies both of her selfe and her friend breathlesse then to deface her chastitie which she preferred before all things else in the world Hauing set vp her rest thus she goeth to visit her sickly friend who seeing her come began to open his eyes to mooue his bodie and to change his colour and countenance which soden alteration she presently perceiued by reason she knew better then any other the cause of his sicknes comming to his bed side she sits her downe by him and taking him by the hand with a soft and pittious voice she began thus to speake vnto him What cheare sweet Gouernor and how fare you what will you with this your sicknes make so many of your good friends ill who so much loue you and desire your welfare If you will not liue for your owne sake at the least yet seeke to recouer for theirs for what pleasure or delight can they take seeing you brought into this low estate in which now you are fallen We ought more to respect the good of our friends then our selues because we are borne for them your vertues your youth and your valour are to be profitable vnto your countrie kindred and friends neither can they as yet well spare them that death should enioy them Liue my good Lord liue and let not your priuate losse be a generall hinderance vnto all your countrie For vnhappie is that man who standeth in steed of a fire to burn his owne proper realme You that haue so often discomfited your enemies wonne so many braue victories and subdued and brought vnder so many valiant aduersaries will you suffer your selfe to be ouercome with a little sickenes which you may if you so please easilie driue away from you Courage man courage and like a good Physition heale your selfe be not the occasion lest for want of helping your selfe it be thought that you haue bene a wilful murtherer of your owne bodie A Sentence For he may well be tearmed a murtherer of his owne life who shunneth the meanes for to conserue the same and who entertaineth for his friends the executioners thereof Comfort your selfe thē I beseech you and with your recouerie make your friends recouer their former ioy againe banishing away all their sorrow with your abandoned sicknes And as for my selfe I offer vnto you all honest seruices as farre as honour permits to helpe you vnto your health againe which I esteeme as dearely of as mine owne life for the many courtesies I haue receiued most gratiously of you which I know and acknowledge so worthie of recompence as if I thought my life might buy and redeeme yours I would thinke my selfe most fortunate to haue it bestowed vpon so rare and worthie a Subiect The poore Gentleman beholding his cruell mistresse the onely pretious Balme for his sicknes with a heauie eye who neuerthelesse Thrise happie thought himselfe to see that beautious face Although she had brought him into so pittious a case Clasping her faire white hand hard within his forcing the very walles themselues to yearne and grieue at his pittious languishing with a hollow voice interrupted with many sobs and sighes perceiuing death to approach he faintly replied thus Ah my sweet Charge what
two Knights presented themselues before the Iudges who gaue them their oath vpon the holy Bible that they entered into this combat vpon a iust cause that done they vewed their armour and weapons and lastly conducted them vnto the listes making proclamation that vpon paine of life no person whatsoeuer should as much as once presume either by shew or signe looke or countenance word or deed to fauour either the the one or the other but to let their valour fortune trie who shall be conquerour A Comparison As two young Bucks burning in loue of a faire Doe take delight to trie their strength before her and being both furious pierce through their bodies and heads with their sharpe and rough hornes Euen so these two gallant Champions longing to encounter and either of them desirous to enioy that pretious prize which armeth the one against the other being in place where they may trie the vtmost of their force most furiously discharge one against the other and as two terrible Thunder-claps meeting together in a cloud breake at the cracke fall both downe vpon the earth So these two Knights at the first shecke and meeting tumble both downe vpon the ground but their launces being broken they draw forth their swords beginning to charge themselues a fresh As did Achilles once and Hector valiant stout When fore the walles of stately Troy they fought it out The Dane animated more with furie then with force laid on load without ceasing flinging forth his fire so furiously as if his strength had not failed more then his courage A Similie Alphonso had bene vanquisht but a great fire of strawe is quickly extinguished In like manner the blowes that despite and rage giueth are assoone ended Meane-while our Spaniard fought coldly but yet with great aduisement neuer striking but to the purpose so still kept himselfe in breath with great aduantage The Prince redoubling his strokes supposing his foe was growen feeble both in force courage laid on loade hurting him vpon the left arme This wound from which the blood issued apace the remembrance of her who was the cause of this warre the presence of the King and the flower of Chiualrie of all his countrie did stirre vp the Spaniard so much as now he would combat no more soberly and with discretion but as a desperate Souldiour against his deadly enemie letting driue at him so lustily with such quicknes and such dexteritie as the Dane found he was not a little deceiued in him But as he was chasing of him thus by chaunce Alphonsoes sword fell out of his hand he hauing nothing now but his dagger to defend himselfe withall which was the reason euery one thought as then that he was but a dead man his enemie promising vnto himselfe the victorie the desire of which made him pursue the Spaniard hotly who knew not which way to furnish himselfe of a Target nor how to warrantise his honour and his life but onely by running in vpon the Dane and so by maine force to get him downe which deuise of his the other fearing looked more warily vnto himselfe lest he should get within him whilst in the meane time he gaue him many a sore wound which he could not well escape because he wanted his weapon In the ende such was the good fortune of the Spaniard that the Dane thinking to runne full but at him with all his force which the other auoyded by mouing his body from that place lightly his sword also slipt out of his hand so as they were now weapond alike when comming to handie gripes and to grappell together Alphonso proued to be the stronger of the twaine flinging his enemie downe and giuing him so terrible a knocke withall as both speech and senses failed him That done he vnbuckled his head-peece and setting his poniard to his bare throat willeth him henceforward to renounce all such claime as he before had laid vnto his Ladie and wife and to acknowledge himselfe to be vanquisht or else he should die presently But the Prince choosing rather death than shame and vtter destruction then the depriuation of his Mistris disdained to answere him looking still when the other would stabbe him quite through which neuerthelesse as a right Noble minde he would not but leauing the Dane wallowing in his owne blood and sore bruised with his fall he commeth vnto the Iudges demaunding of them if he had done sufficient to be counted the vanguisher and to haue obtained the glory of the victorie or no. Who much commending him for his clemencie in that he had so cutreously pardoned his aduersarie told him he had performed his duetie euery way that done he was conducted vnto the place where the King sat who highly praised him for his valour and greatly honouring him for his vertue gaue him leaue to depart his Royall presence From thence he rode vnto the Court accōpanied with thousands of braue Knights where with great ioy the faire Ladies as the custome was disarmed him whilst the Chirurgians prouided for the dressing of his wounds that done he was had vnto his lodging keeping his bed vntill such time as he recouered whilst in the meane space he was euery day visited by all the Barrons and great Lords of the Realme who did congratulate with him for so famous a victorie Not long after the Danish Prince was carried out of the field sore wounded and wel nigh dead for griefe and shame cursing his bad fortune that he had not bene kild out right who although he was highly beholding vnto Alphonso for his life yet did he most tratierously conspire in his minde to murther him one way or other suffering himselfe rather to be transported with base reuenge then with sage reason or with honestie of the cause So Paris dastard-like surp isde with feruile feare Sware stout Achilles death to whom he hate did beare But the gallant Spaniard that ment nothing but well neuer suspected any such treacherie but rather that he had surely bound the Prince his enemie vnto him in good will seeing he had shewed him so great a kindnes as to gratifie him with his life A Sentence For so the right valiant man indeed iudgeth by his selfe that others are valiant like vnto him and he that is honest thinketh other men to beare as honest a minde as himselfe doth But all creatures are not framed of one kind of mettall or condition their passions and desires in louing being contrarie and diuers Nature greatly delighting and making proofe of her mightines and power by this diuersitie of humours Alphonso being recouered of his late wounds and very much longing to see his faire wife determined to take his iourney homewards of which his minde the malicious Dane hauing an inckling he taketh his leaue of the King in most dutifull manner making a shew as if he would take his iourney towards Denmarke riding a day or two onwards on his way and then turneth backe
him and so to make flower thereof which he had rather should be done then to be ouer long kept for many times it groweth mustie lying in garners This Riddle being thus expounded the harmlesse Shepheards retired themselues for that night as also did melancholie Arcas Where we will leaue them vntill the next morning The end of the first daies meeting of Iuliettaes Shepheards THE SECOND DAIES MEETING OF THE FIFT BOOKE OF IVLIETTAES SHEPHEARDS WHAT Frostie Night neuer so bitter were of power sufficient to coole the outragious and burning heate of the Shepheard Arcas What obscure horror could bring a sleepe the watchfull thoughts of his waking euills And what deepe slumber take from him the continuall remembrance of his diuine Diana his spirit being alwaies troubled as well in the night as in the day and therefore far more miserable then the bruite beastes For whereas they repose themselues sometimes from their trauell he alwaies laboured and was still in paine he plainely perceiued the day beginning to lighten the hollow giering vault of heauen he viewed the glorious Sunne to gild and adorne the Roseall skie and he beheld beautious Anrora to weepe drerie teares for the death of her deare swarthie child yet all these brought no comfort vnto his griefes For such mindes as are ouer-cruellie afflicted with cares A Sentence are neither suâ— iect to the coolie rest of the night nor take pleasure at the glistering lampe of All-seeing Phoebus because they receiue no contentment neither in the one nor in the other Scarse did the breake of day appeare when this Swaine ariseth from his bed running vp and downe the Desart and searching for some fit place where he might bewaile his sorrowes at the full At length he entreth into a huge deepe Caue enuironed round about with sharpe brambles and pricking bryars able to terrifie and affright any excepting onely such as seeke for death whom wretched and wofull Caitiues feare not at all because euery houre they feele farre worse plagues then death it selfe and for that it is rather a pleasure then a torment vnto them to exchange their euill for good and to leaue a sowre and seuere Maister to follow and serue one that is milde and debonaire Arcas then being gotten into the bottome of this darkesome Dungion after he had for a certaine time bene mute and as one falne into a sound in the end breaking as it were out of a dead sleepe he began thus to complaine Ay me Alas What might I thinke to be the reason or cause of the miserie and vnhappines of man Is it the heauens that iealous of their good fortune scourgeth them with so great cruelties Or is it their sinnes which prouoketh the anger of God forcing him to stretch out his threatning hand against them No doubt it is this last for sinne onely and wickednes first opened the gate to death that he might come in amongst vs and so ouerthrow vs. It is for the punishment of such offences as we commit against the holy One that we are persecuted with pestilence famine and with warre So was Dauid plagued for his fault and Sodome and Gomorrhâ— with fire ouerthrowen So were the Niniuites threatned so was Ezechias admonished to repent O thrise happie the Godly who prosper like the fruitfull Lawrell and possesse in peace that land which is taken away from the wicked with tempestious lightning and thunder For so was the good Abraham blessed and so after his imprisonment was the righteous Ioseph with many moe besides But coÌ„trariwise most vnfortunate are the wretched wicked ones because they grudge and repine in that they suffer for the faults they haue committed whilst they are stung with Serpents from the heauens as were the Hebrewes heretofore when they began to murmure in the wildernes Beware how thou repinest against the Almightie Ichoua And saith the wise man for no good nor profit can come thereof We cannot then tearme the heauens to be the authours of our euils but it is the onely transgressing of the diuine commandemeÌ„ts which we cannot truely say be hath giuen vnto vs to breake them or that he hath giuen vs so hard a law as that it is vnpossible for vs to sulfill the same For it should be a most rediculous and vaine part of a Prince to establish and appoynt such ordinances vnto his Subiects as they cannot any way performe as to defelid or foâ—â—id them to grow to wax taller or bigger or other such fond and vnreasonable impossibilities as these be And therefore O how gentle and easie are the commaundement of God be himselfe affirming the same when he tearmeth his yoke easie and â—ight his burthen little and gentle to beare For Is it not as easie a thing for a man to doe good as euill when as in doing good he enioyeth the happie and blessed content of the quietnes of his minde without being troubled either with the feare of the lawes or the doubt of reproach or slaunder Besides he doth not dread death for he withdraweth himselfe from other hazards whilst he meditateth vpon the same whereas Theeues and Murtherers in robbing and killing euery houre incounter therewith before they are aware But say it hapneth vnto them yet doe they receiue it most meekely for sweet and blessed is the death of the iust that die in the Lord where that of the wicked is hatefull and abhommable Curtious then and gentle are the commaundements of the highest which his Apostle Saint Iohn approueth in these words Keepe his commaundements and you shall find them to be neither troublesome hard nor difficult to obserue They chase away hot boyling Auarice which burneth men with her vncharitable coldnes they banish all mortall ambition which weareth away the yeares of man before his time is come they take from them all murther and robbing which stifleth the necke of the wicked with an infamous corde they smother and kill adulterie which laieth hold as well vpon the health of man as on his honour and to conclude they extirpe and roote out all those vices which are deadly enemies as well to the bodie as to the soule By which we see his lawes are easie and sweet yea and most profitable and necessarie for the health and contentment of mankind which was the cause the other Apostle Saint Paul calleth the commaundement of the Eternall Iehona a godly iust and sacred commaundement it being the preseruer of Iustice the puritie of our liues and the very essence as it were of all equitie peace and goodnes For what crosses ouerthwart the soules of the godly who delight in no other thing then in the law of the Lord And what great and grieuous courses doe trouble and disturbe the consciences of the wicked who take a pride as it were as did Remus sometime in leaping ouer the walles of Rome to exceed goe beyond the bounds of the diuine ordinances of God which because they are not hard to be accomplished are not
vnto him narrowlie and sharpely keepeth him in For nothing increaseth vice and leaudenesse so much as doeth wanton libertie The vnbrideled Colte runneth galloping heere and there committing manie foule disorders The priuiledge of Euill taketh away all Vertue be cause it stifleth the recompence of good deedes and hindreth the punishment due vnto offences The auncient Princes who would haue their Children learne how to obey well before they should commaund sent them to studie amongst the Lacedcmonians to the intent they might be restrained and depriued of this enchaunting libertie through which men draw forth vice as if it were at a full vessell LOVE therefore must be gouernour and protector ouer youthfulnesse which he will purge from badde qualities as the Physition doth the sicke man from corrupt humours replenishing him againe with manie excellent and commendable Vertues Is not then Loue very necessarie The winde carryeth the chaffe from the Corne leauing onely that that is good and fanned cleerly So doth Loue A Similie croppe off vice cutting it away as the husbandman doeth the superfluous braunches of his vine leauing the inward minde neat and quite clensed from all filthinesse of vice Loue can doe more then all knowledge yea then the Muses themselues can doe For he teacheth learned men who hauing a confused masse and heape of thousand Sciences in their braines not knowing in what good manner to deliuer their mindes ar full as concerning these matters how to set downe their meaning orderly and to discourse of euery thing with good method and iudgement imitating the cunning Gold-smith who of a great wedge of Gold forgeth and frameth a great sort of good peeces of plate right profitable for men Or resembling the Sun which breaketh and diuideth in sunder the gloomy clouds which darkē the brightnes of heauē He is the luke-warme blood of the Goate mollifying and sotfning these rocks of Diamonds turning them to the vse of all sorts of people The greatest Doctors are but Dunces vntill Loue hath refined them and that they haue felt what his power is they after that becomming wittie and Courtly enditers through the sweete vaine of Loue. For necessitie findeth out the Art and the perill sought forth by the Soldior vrgeth him to finde the means to saue himselfe And so is the Louer compelled to please his Mistris which he doeth either discoursing vnto her his true and loyall affection in smoothe and pleasing tearms or else couching them sweetly and daintily in writing curiously and with a Courtlike phrase And of this perfection is Loue also the author shall he then be called a Paine and not rather the father of all science and vertue It is reported that the Muses lighted one day vpon Cupid keeping him within a border of flowers but what could that border bring but pleasure and contentment vnto them who had enclosed him within the same The Muses then honored Loue as Conquerors are wont to be vsed placing vpon his head a Crowne of greene flowers as also the most wisest in the world haue offered scrifices vnto him and to his celestiall Godhead he being the greatest power amongst the Gods that are in Heauen Therefore as I will not dispute against him so dare I not maintaine the cause of anie that should not pleade in his behalfe Herewithall the noble Knight held his peace daunting very much the other Nymph that had written against LOVE with these his liuely and excellent reasons which she thought were of such efficacie and force that they could hardly be refelled by anie other But the olde man who found himselfe to be ouercome in the argument hee had with Philistell as concerning Inchauntment and Sorcerie willing to recouer his lost honor and to winne the spurres againe in this second disputation replied against Loue in this wise I cannot denie but must needs confesse that neither the ordinary trauailes that men vse nor the day lie labours which they vsually take ought to be called Paine for they are not alwayes of one force and nature they passing away quiet rest comming in their place as the Bowe that cannot alwaies remaine stiffe and bent wheras Loue onely and that most iustly deserueth well this name of Paine An example The Laborer being payed for his worke is contented and taketh his rest the Husbandman reaping his corne taketh his ease and liueth merilie after but in Loue what quietnes can be found The poore drudge being wearie reposeth himselfe in the night so doth the tyred Traueller and euery beast whatsoeuer but the Louer what rest receiueth he either in the night or day As the day is tedious vnto him so is the night irksome and sadde are they then freed of paine The hungrie desire neuer taketh quiet ease but is in continuall paine the greedie couetous wretch crauing still golde can neuer so much as slumber one winke but the tormented Louers leadeth a wotse life farre then both these twaine because that good which he so much wisheth for and yet cannot obtaine it seemeth more pretious vnto him then all the Treasures in the world This doctrine to KNOW HIMSELFE doeth him no good at all for it cannot bridle his passions keep in his hed strong will nor curb or constraine his ardent affections and hee that cannot so doe can neuer be quiet in his minde Now the Louer coueteth alwayes and couetousnes is the child of paine Is not then Loue the author of paine and is it any thing else then meere griefe Nay although the Louer obtaineth that which he desireth yet for all that his torments cease not because he wisheth still to cōtinue the same for that the sore doubt he hath to lose that which he hath obtained with so much trauell increaseth the paine still in him The more golde the couetous myzer possesseth the more continually he wisheth A Sentence by reason the contentmēt of man is without any limit for being glutted with one kind of meat he is greedy and hungry after an other Diogines gaue out that he was contented in his pouertie but yet he was not for he did hunt after vaine-glory What shall wee then say of Louers who not onely desire to enioy their Loues but also a continuation still to gather them And when that length of much time hath quenched this fire of loue yet is there still remaining some hote cinders which presently is set on fire with the wind of desire as a flame when it is out is reuiued againe with the breath of the Ayre the selfe-same Loue beeing of this propertie that after it hath a long space troubled and tormented ouerthrowne and ruinated a man with continuall paine and anguish of minde in the ende it taketh away his life whether he will or no. Achilles knoweth this to be true who died for louing Polixena being slaine most miserablie amongst his enemies So doth Priam An Example the foolish loue of incestuous Paris being the cause he lost his life And so
the Flower which trodden downe within the Medowe greene By bastie foote of trampling steed or plodding Oxe is seene Such one this dying Shephardesse did seeme quite changde and faint Her quondam louely face the teares with blubbring foule did taint Her faire eyes darke and heauie shewd as when the skies we see With thickned storme of winde and raine ore shadowed for to bee Those shooting Glaunces which of late were in her rolling Spheares Controllers in Dan Cupids Court no more as now appeares No more as Diamonds glister they nor Sun-like doe they shine But looke like Phoebus when his place to night he doth resigne And now death which did heretofore long linger comes apace And gently seemes by many signes her offer to embrace Her for head faire whose verie frowne of all did fauour winne Was now become deepe furrowed with sharpe and wrinkled skinne Her sallow visage pale and thin and hunger-staru'd did seeme One of th'in fernall hellish hagges for shape you would her deeme Her brests too pretious Iuerie mounts were fallen lanke and bare Her body that rich shop had lost her wonted pretious ware Her feeble armes and shoulders weake supporters of her coarse Were nought but ioynts of skin and bone withouten strength and force So short and thicke she drew her breath sighing so deepe and sore As one might easilie gesse she was not far off from deaths dore And had not bene but for her teares which on her cheekes she shed You would haue iudgd she had not bene aliue but stonie dead Had she not throbs and sighes sent forth from fainting brest like storme That all her sences had bene past you would haue vowd and sworne Ah too too haplesse Louers chaunce like her no wretches such So Dido dide the Troyan Duke for louing ouer much Enon so for Paris died so Hero for her friend When him she could not saue from death her life did willing end Meane while Zerphir most haplesse wight on whom fortune did frowne This dying Shepheardesse echewhere doth search for vp and downe And as we oftentimes the Hart with furious raging moode Doe see to seeke his mate the Hinde with eger pace in wood Who is retir'd alone for nonce into some priuate way Or running through the forrests wilde wandring perchance a stray He scales the matchlesse mountaine tops the hugie hilles most bold And then he rangeth longst the bankes of streaming waters cold Now through the thickest quickesedge thicke he venters far to gee And now the Caues he visiteth in hollow dales below So Zerphir franticke like doth runne to seeke that beautie which Did long before vnto his paine forespeake him and bewitch One while he wandereth by the Sea the sandie shore along An other while he skales high hills through Loue enforst so strong And then againe most desperately with courage he doth creepe And diueth into'the bottomes lowe of rockie Caues most deepe He scoures the vallies and the plaine through medowes he doth runne Gainst Gods and man he murmureth as one that 's quite vndonne He calls Sycambra still the same Sycambra he doth sound Whilst Ecco pittying him againe Sycambra backe doth bound In th' end so long he searcheth that at last he findes her out When now his voyce was almost lost with hollowing all about A Ghost he findes no lining coarse her haire about her eare Which blustring blasts of froward windes abroad dispearst did beare Her brow did pale and earthly show whose colour naturall Death chased had away as now and ceazed ouer all Her obbone eyes were dull and dimme suncke deepely in her head Ore whom the Fatall sisters three too much tyrannized Her bloodlesse lippes like ashes showde her sweet alluring lip From which a iuyce did come which Loue being ill at ease did sip Those Cherries Roses Rubies which you once might there haue spide Were vanished and in their steed worse colours were descride No fauour was within her face no cheerfulnes of looke For some dead coarse not liuing wight you might her then haue tooke This heauie sight and spectacle did stop his fainting breath And forct his inward powers to be as cold as any earth Withouten mouing he did stand and seemd to be one Of those which fierce Medusa chaung'd into aworthlesse stone But lucklesse she the Touchstone true of Loue to trie all wrongs Who onely to bewaile her griefes exceedingly still longs Perceiu'd him not when first he came appearing to her nigh Whilst with her passions she partakes which makes her peece-meale die Which when the Shepheard throughly vewed awakt from out his sound He wondred that for very woe he died not on that ground He draweth neerer vnto her yet loth to offend the faire And though her fault he blames yet he not to reproach her dare Vpon the sudden backe he startes and from her doth recoyle And then with stealing pace returnes to her another while Nor for his life dares he to speake For where Loue loyall is There no respect nor due regard at any time doth misse He seeth how she doth sigh and sob and how she teares doth shed Apparant signes and witnesses that yet she is not dead This makes him sigh and sob as she and weepe with pittious dirme Yet all this pittious stir could not once moue her looke on him So much the wretch was rauished and earnest in conceit About resignement of her life which sorrow did her threat Whilst she doth leane her aking-head vpon her hand belowe Giuing scalding teares passage into her panting brest to flowe Teares that not quencht but did encrease the flames that burnt her heart Teares that euen to her inward soule did pearce like glauncing dart In th' end the Shepheard cloyd with noy with griefe hardued and bolde In pittious voyce and low to her his mind did thus vnfolde Woe is me Sycambra is it thou I see so miserable And haue I liude so long to view a sight so lamentable I st thou whem death by vncoth Fate and Fortune ouer strange Doth force vntimelesse thus into thy darkesome Tombe torange I st thou which nothing hast but teares and cries to entertaine The sharpe assault of death the which thou couetest ore faine I st thou I see to runne vnto thy end ore desperate By cruell Planets hatefull doome to ill predestinate I st thou Sycambra whom thy Fates and fatall Destinie As iealous of thy praise thy daies to shorten doe agree I st thou that hast that colour faire no more vpon thy face Which as the colour of my griefes in heart I did embrace I st thou that hast no more those flames within thine eyes now dead Through which before with brightest fire my soule was daily fed I st thou that hast no more that shew of more then beantie rare The prison of my libertie the cause of all my care I st thou i st thou whom partiall Gods inforce vnwilling me Of thy departure from this life a witnesse for to be This thou I
goddesse Diana and neuer to loue any man Cupid himselfe not being able to ouerthrow or remoue her firme and loyall determination and intent Thus did the amorous intreatings of foolish Phodra displease chast Hippolitus So did licentious Myrrha anger her father she being ouer importunate in her lawlesse loue And so did my vnwelcome speeches make her frowne euen through anger disdaines Vertue forcing her faire face to blush with shame and despite which shee like as with a pensill to temper with the vermillion of her bashfull modesty Me thought I felt my selfe condemned with that controlling looke of hers and the changing of her colour seemed to execute me euen aliue as I was Loue being of that nature that one onely countenance or gesture increaseth or diminisheth the hope of Louers as in a sick Patient a little good or ill dyet killeth or reuiueth the health of his life And now though too late A Sentence I repented me that I had spoken any thing Often is a man blamed for speaking but seldome or neuer for holding of his peace I confessed now that I had done a fault yet knew I not thereof vntill I had committed the same The Marriner ouertaken with stormes and wel-nigh sunke with surging Billowea hath leisure to repent him that he tooke Sea in such foule weather and must endure the pennance for the same Too late did the Troyans perceiue their owne ouersight An example in hauing permitted the Grecians to bring in their horse within their Citie walles and so was it with me But alack what people be there liuing in the world that are so much subiect vnto repentance as Louers be in as much as the more their losse is the greater is their repentance for that they kept the same no better Nothing is so pretious vnto the Louer as is the affection of his Ladie because it is the chiefe nourishment both of his body and minde Oft did I wish that I had brideled my tongue within my mouth but the byrd flying in the Ayre cannot flie but must be seene and a word once spoken cannot be recalled back againe being no more able to be recouered then the Time which is most vainely and sondly lost A Similie The 〈◊〉 once shot cannot returne backe to the bowe but must flie to the mark at which it was aimed Neither can the stone that is flung vp into the aire come againe into the hadde of the stinger before it hath mounted vp aloft What to doe I knew not only I hung downe my head and as one vnworthy to fee that face which was most iustly offended with my foolish temeritie I held mine eyea fixed vpon the ground Wherein I resembled him that playeth at Tennice who looketh vpon his Racket after he hath made a fault not knowing whom to blame for the same The louely Virgin not any thing at all moued in mind as I was for though the Fellon that hath offended A Similie is troubled before the Iudge we must not therefore say that the Iudge himselfe being innocent and the father of the Law should be astonisht at all tooke courage brauely againe and as it were in disdaine thus began to iest at me How now man what cheare all amort still Tell me thou rash and vnconsiderate Swaine doest thou not feare the paines of Ixion or to be plagued as that amorous Hunter was by Diana for his ouermuch sawcie boldnes I well perceiue thou findest that I am more curteous and gentle then thou art bolde and ouer-foolish-hardie farre more then any way becommeth thee indeed thy fault deseruing as great punishment as the others did But it may be thou art one of that accursed race of the Titans whom Iupiter blasted with Lightning for their notorious pride taking downe their proud glorie with the horrible dartes of his all-daunting fierie Thunder Doest thou not know my nature my calling my birth In going about to mocke me thou wouldst seeme to make me belieue that I am otherwise then I am making Loue to be author of thy follie and my beautie the mother of thine error But thou playest as almost euery one doeth For who euer hath done a fault that layeth not the blame thereof rather on another then vpon himselfe You Louers are happie in one thing for that you haue this Loue alwayes at command vpon whome as vpon a Rocke you founde and build all the buildings of your faults when it is a meere grosse Error to thinke that there is any such Loue at all Man if hee list may keepe himselfe from Louing For brideling his appetites with the snaffle of Reason and holding them in their right places they can no way offend and they no way offending he can neuer be forced to loue A Sentence Thou art the first that like bold Bayard durst be so audatious as to trouble me with such speeches as thou euen now hast done For to what purpose seemeth it the Husbandman to goe about to remoue a huge stone or Rocke from one place to another whose blacke and cold shade spoyleth his Corne Or what profite is it for the Pilot to seeke to tarrie the course of the flood because it hindereth his Nauigation I am vowed vnto the Goddesse Diana and am one of her Virgins which onely I will serue Hence then all loue from mee and thou that hast presumed as the first to speake vnto me therof shalt be him that shalt be first refused protesting vnto thee that if thou returne againe vnto thine olde Error I will so punish thee as thou shalt be a warning vnto all other whatsoeuer Ah good Father I yet stayed for a more hard and cruell answere of this angrie Nymph resembling the guiltie person who not fearing the arrest of death contrarie to his feare is onely condemned to pay a Fine Which was the cause that hope and assurance came vnto me againe Whilst with an humble reuerence I thus began to excuse my selfe vnto her Glorious and resplendent Lampe the purest Golde in the world hath sometimes bene dispraised of men and counted as base because they knew not the value and worth thereof Euen so if not any before my selfe haue not attributed glorie vnto thy beautie the reason is because they were not acquainted with the excellencie of the same Say what it best pleaseth youre sweet selfe yet shall you neuer keepe me from worshipping admiring and adoring that which is so precious and rate as it approcheth neere vnto the Gods because it is not in the power of man to hinder the same no more then the bond-slaue can contradict whatsoeuer pleaseth his Maister If the diuine Goddesse Diana hath entertained you for her owne doe you admire and wonder that mortall creatures after the example of the Gods doe vnto you honour and reuerence Too bold I must needs confesse I am to trouble you with these my harsh and tedious importunities But O worthie Diana what famous deedes and memorable acts
heare any tidings either of that treacherous villaine or of his wife In the end he lighteth vpon a great thicke gloomie Forrest through which as he rode he found a dead carkasse of a man and a woman lying by him being in little better case then he was But leauing Leander and his companions seeking their aduenture we will come vnto wofull Cynthia his wife and when fit time shall serue we will discouer who was that creature dead and who that woman being almost in as bad a taking as he vpon whom Loander so strongly hapned Cynthia being carried away from her husband so sodenly and by such barbarous treacherie was for a great while as one in a traunce hardly comming vnto her selfe againe And certainlie I thinke that if women were subiect by nature to die for sorrow then no doubt but she had died for neuer was there woman in this world more sad or heauie than she was no not Niobe Hecuba Oenone Porcia Cornelia nor any other Ladie were she neuer so ouerwhelmed with miseries But this kinde of death seldome or neuer is incident vnto the Female kinde as that of sodaine ioy is Long lay she in this Extasie or sound and long was she before she recouered her right sences againe and so much was she astonisht in her minde with the same as the passage of her speech was kept close and shut from her yet at the last her vitall spirits recouered force within her and her tongue had libertie to speake But alas she could not as much as pronounce one word neither was she able once to open her mouth so wofully did she weepe and so pittâ—fully did she sob and sigh Diuers sorts of colours and that in great number must a cunning Painter haue to draw a faire and great Picture Euen so thousands of teares and millions of sighes had this wretched Gentlewoman need of if she meant liuely to set forth and bewaile her Disaster at the fall For neuer was any Ladies sorrowes to be compared vnto hers Hellena was rauished but with her owne consent Neither did her rauishment bereaue her husbands life as hers did Penelope was dailie and hourely sollicited and importuned by a number of tedious and impudent suters but yet she was suffered to liue chastly and to attend the returne of her Vlisses Hecuba after shee had seene her husband murthered and all her sonnes slaine was led away as a captiue or slaue into Greece and yet had shee more reason to haue borne with patience these her misfortunes though in a higher degree of miserie rather then Cynthia in hers For Hecubas mischaunces proceeded from her enemies to whom the law of Nations giueth leaue to doe what mischiefe they can whereas haplesse Cymhias vnhappines came from him whome she esteemed as the dearest and most faithfull friend her Husband had Lucrctia for losse of chastitie slewe her owne selfe but her death was the death of her aduersarie and the life and libertie of all her Romane Citizens And theresore no woman can be said to haue bene more wretched then hopelesse Cynthia for she saw her Leander murthered as she thought whilst she remained as prisoner in the power of him that was his bloodie Butcher looking euerie houre to be forced of her honour and good name Infinit were the occasions that she had to complaine and the reasons without number that compelled her to exclaime against the most partiall Destinies For what could she loose more pretious and deare then her sweet Spouse whom she esteemed more then her honor and her owne life Needs therefore must her complaints be greeuous and her lamentings heauie and bitter as one that dispaired of all comfort to come Ah woe is me cried shee out why was I borne and why did my mother bring me into this world since there is no person liuing so vnfortunate as I am for I doe not count those miserable who haue liberty to shorten their owne dayes by death but onely such as faine would die and yet cannot Is it possible that one should be borne vnder so hard a Planet as not to be able to die when most fainest he would O how great is that euill when it forceth vs to require ayde of the Fatall sisters to ridde vs of the same whom men detest and loath as their mortall enemies And yet can none but they relieue and ease such wretched creatures The healthie man whilst he is well loatheth and abhorreth to take or taste anie potion or medicine but when he is sicke he is glad and faine to swallowe it downe be it neuer so bitter and sower So we whilst we liue merilie and at harts ease we contemne death but when our griefes are so great as wee are not able to endure them then we account our selues as happie to haue him O God is it possible for me to be able in words to deliuer my losses for my sighes to deplore them for mine eyes to bewaile them or for my heart to be of force to endure them If the losse of paltrie goods maketh men outragious in their passions and if the death of our kinsfolks or friends be sufficient to engender afflictions in vs how much more then haue I cause of insupportable sorrowes Alas I haue lost my kinde husband but am I able to say so and not my soule to flie forth of this miserable bodie or is my condition so miserable that I may say I haue lost him indeed No no I will neuer belieue it rather will I die then perswade my selfe of any such vnwelcome matter vnto me But say I die yet haue I lost him yea I haue lost him and onely through mine occation I haue bene the homicide of my husband and I alone haue slaine him but why then alacke doeth not the rigour of the Lawe passe vpon mee which condemneth such murtherers vnto death Was it not enough for mee to be brought into the most wretchedst estate of all others to be depriued of my deare Leander but that I must be the cause of his vtter ouerthrow also Damned and accursed Beautie how wise was that young Romane Gentleman Spurius who most cruelly mangled and defaced his louely face because hee would haue none to like him And so thrice happie had I bene if I had spoyled and made foule this my wicked countenance which was the first motiue of all these euils and mischiefes following O faire soule of my deare Spouse and Bedfellow great reason hast thou now to complaine of mee iust are thy accusations and most right thy greeuances against me yet since the Gods are appeased with the sacrifices of men I hope that my life shall be a sufficient satisfaction for the offence I haue done vnto thee Thou liuest in the heauens where nothing is hid from thee and seeing thou knowest all things thou needest not to doubt of mine innocencie herein But what is this vnto thee seeing now thou liuest no more and that thou art cut off before thy
the foresaid people most miraculously Manna from heauen when they were almost dead for very hunger Thou diddest make cleare water to flowe from the hard and frozen Rocke to staunch their drinesse and thou Lord didst free them from the power of Senacherib by thy holie Angell Thou diddest deliuer Daniel from out the Lyons denne and the modest Susanna out of the bloodie hands of the two olde Palliards the Elders And so sweete Sauiour hast thou protected mine honour which without thee had bene ouerthrowne vtterlie Thrice happie I that through thy sacred guiding of me haue escaped this misfortune but far more blessed in that I shall leaue this world in this bad and wretched time where nothing doth raigne and dominiere but vice Treason and violence I most humblie thanke thee most mercifull Father for so great a benefite bestowed vpon me For what could happen more acceptable vnto me then to follow my deare Husband into heauen thereto continue with him and to enioy euerlasting glorie with thy Saintes Let vs die willingly then Cynthia with a braue minde and constant resolution leauing a rich testimony of our loyall loue and affection vnto the posteritie that shall come hereafter And although a faithfull Christian ought not as hee is dying either to desire or to wish anie vengeance for to light vpon his aduersaries and enemies yet must I needs confesse that it is a great solace and contentment vnto mee to die in the middest of such as were foes vnto my Leander land mine honour and the rather because they are dead as well as I to make satisfaction for their faults O GOD how sacred are thy decrees how iust thy iudgements and how rightfull thy proceedings Thou hast not permitted the murtherers of my Husband to liue long after they had done so horrible a deed and contrarie to all expectation thou hast defended mee from their most furious and vnchast lust and therefore I will take this my crosse most patiently and will be contented to die as willinglie as when I was first ioyned by the holie Church vnto my deare Husband in sacred marriage bandes most religiously And yet my Soueraigne Sauiour I greatly feare thy Iustice the number of my faults weighing farre more heauie then my good deeds but thou canst if thou so please deface them all Thou art the God of all mercie and art mercifull vnto all men for the consolation and saluation of whome thou thy selfe of thy great compassion hast bene willing to die O then let this innocent blood of mine shed by the aduersaries of thy glorie be sufficient to wash my sinnes away through thy grace and let my modest and stainelesse minde be as a fire to consume the number of mine offences O yee mine eyes the Authors of my disasters cruell and proud eyes first motiues of these our common miseries calamities soone shall you loose your wanton lights and soone shall you be closed vp with an yron sleepe of death for euer But ô gentle Death when commest thou come I beseech thee come away vnto mee who art so courteous so apte so fit and so profitable for my sorrowes Often haue I desired thee a thousand times haue I called for thee and with thousands of intreaties and prayers perswaded thee to come to assist mee and now thou art come I salute thee and thanke thee entertaining thee as one who can saue mee from a great losse thou being able to withdraw me from shipwracke and of power sufficient to bring me safely into the Hauen where I long so much to be O how foolish is that Marriner who being miraculouslie arriued in the Port will backe againe into the Sea whilst the storme playeth his part and not stay vntill the weather be cleare and calme Euen so how madde were I if hauing cast Anker at the Hauen of my well-fare I should now begin to wish to liue once more returning backe into this miserable life in which we encounter so many dangerous Rocks and perilous stumbling blocks as we can neuer be quiet Then let vs die what say I die Nay rather let vs liue for hee onely liueth happily that changeth this fraile and transitorie life after an immortall and an euerlasting estate That Farmer may be saide to be right fortunate who leaueth his Farme which hee holdeth of his Lord to enioy a faire Mannor in Fee simple to him his heires for euer This was the cause that so manie holie and graue persons haue wished for death thinking that being dissolued from life they should become farre better by this alteratation and change Elias liuing in the wildernes did often couet it Old Symeon demanded it and Saint Andrew refused to liue to make his choyce of death Who then can hinder mee but that I should desire it imitating so many worthy personages No it is that I onely require and looke for For the griefe thereof is lesse then the least paine we feele when we are aliue That debtor that is still vexed haunted and abused by his Creditor because hee should pay what he oweth is he not happie when he hath made euen with all men that he may after liue in quiet If so why then farre more blessed are they who pay their due vnto Nature vnto whome they are indebted and who by tendering the same vnto her which they must once doe are quited and freed from all worldly calamities afterwards to come My onely desire is to see and stand before the presence of my most gracious Lord and GOD and to behold the face of my louing Husband wayting and attending vpon him Dispose thee then once more Cynthia to goe this pleasant voiage resoluing to giue ouer this mortall life to enioy an immortall felicitie Lord then receiue my soule and deliuer it out of the hands of mine ancient and sworne enemie the diuel So said the dolorous or rather ioyfull Cynthia who hauing laide her selfe downe in a comely manner expecting euery minute when she should die tooke thought for nothing but how she might be buried orderly But God tooke order for that matter For no sooner had she made an end of her Praier but Leander by chaunce came that way who perceiuing farre of these dead bodies and desirous to know what they were set spurs to his horse to ride towards them and when being come neare them by little and little he found what he so much sought for As the young amorous Bull seeing a farre of a young Haifer to brouse vpon the bankes of a cleare Riuer approacheth neerer neerer to know the better if it be his Loue or no and as he marcheth forward holdeth vp his head for ioy because he findeth her by certaine markes to be the same So Leander euery step he goeth reioyceth greatly in his minde as assuring himselfe that he hath now found that which with so great labour he had made search for But as that Marchant is not throughly ioyfull who after he hath made a long and dangerous
voyage findeth but the halfe part of his Marchandise in his ship the gaine of which drew him to aduenture abroad and to leaue his countrie and friends Euen so Leander found himselfe but halfe contented and pleased when he perceiued those to be dead whom he so much coueted in his minde to haue encombred them aliue neuerthelesse he drew neerer vnto the place where they lay marking very wistly both his dead enemies and his wife As he stood thus gazing vpon them diuers conceits ran in his head not knowing well what to thinke of the matter one while he thinketh that his wife loued Antonio so dearely as she would needes die with him an other while he iudgeth rightly of the fact imagining that ciuill discention had caused one to kill an other now he iudgeth that some foe of Antonios had stabd him and then againe he gesseth that some of his friends had offered him this cruell outrage for doing so great villainie against him But Loue crossed all these contrarie conceits dispearsing them heere and there as the cracke of the thunder forceth the cloud to giue way when it breaketh through the same and falleth vpon the ground below he thought he had many iust occasions to hate his wife meaning if she had bene aliue to haue inflicted vpon her that punishment which he had alreadie found her to endure and yet when he had a little better considered thereof in his minde seeing her to be brought vnto so pittifull a straight he could not chuse but must needes lament and bewaile her hard mishap Whilest she liued he loathed her nor will he by any meanes be induced to beleeue that she is culpable of that fault of which he before accused her seeing that now she is dead A friend is neuer knowne so well as when he is mist He commeth neerer and neerer vnto her which wofull Cynthia perceiuing and not knowing who it was but rather supposing that the villaines were come backe againe although she were not quite dead yet did she faine her selfe to be so fearing least they would offer some violence vnto her bodie if she should haue made shew that she had bene still aliue Leander lighting of his horse kneeleth downe by his wife weepeth bitterly and then kisseth her which the poore soule perceiuing maruelling much what this should meane openeth her dying eies a little when after she had a good while wistly looked vpon him she sawe and knew him to be liuing whom she held and accounted to be dead That Romane woman who died with sodaine ioy seeing her sonne returne safe and whole from that bloodie battaile of Cannas and whom she esteemed to be dead was not halfe so much rauished with true delight and amazemēt in viewing him as Cynthia was when she saw her spouse aliue and well And now she striueth as much as in her feeble strength lieth to open wide her languishing eies that she might the better gaze and looke vpon her husband But alas mortall and deadly were the glaunces she cast vpon him mortall were they vnto her to Leander she now began to wende away as mildly as a lambe whilest her wofull husband what sinister conceit soeuer he had before of her died for very anguish to see her in this wofull taking He was aliue and not wounded at all his wife readie to giue vp the ghost all to be mangled with gorie blood and yet had not he his tongue so readie to command as his poore Cynthia had for so great was his griefe as he could not speake as much as one word which she perceiuing and now knowing throughly who he was with a kind of hollow and broken voice she spake thus vnto him Ah my deare husband art thou then come from heauen to assist and helpe thy faithfull wife she being readie to giue vp the ghost and hast thou dained so much as to remember her and to honour her at her end with thy welcome presence Ah say is it thine owne selfe whom I see or is it some euill spirit that hath taken thy shape vpon him to mocke and delude me If it be thee and that thou liuest as yet then thrise fortunate is Cynthia to see thee before she giueth ouer this wretched life And yet if thou be that Leander who sometimes wert the kind husband of vnhappie Cynthia how then canst thou abide to approach neere vnto her she hauing bene the occasion of so many euils lightned vpon thee thou knowing not whether she be cleare from them or no But I see well that Loue draweth all such doubts in thee and will not suffer thee to beleeue any thing that is not good for me And yet Leander hast thou reason to conceiue the worst of me because I haue bene the occasion of many troubles that haue hapned vnto thee notwithstanding I sweare vnto thee by that God before whom I hope to be iudged who reuengeth euery periurie that I am meerely innocent of what ill so euer is done I hauing not bene defiled either in bodie or in minde the Almightie hauing most miraculosly preserued me from all such harme Whereupon she began to discouer vnto him all that had hapned since she last sawe him and withall how she had not made him acquainted with the affection which Antonio bare vnto her the cause of all this mischiefe and the reason that it might haue bene preuent if he had knowne thereof But said she I was in good hope he would haue become a new man being loth to bewray his soilie vnto you because you made so great account of him thinking he would neuer haue borre so bad a minde towards you But now I see this sore to be vnrecurable I know not what to say but onely to craue pardon of you for the same and withall to take some order for my buriall Then sweet husband weepe no more for what reason hast thou to bewaile her death who hath brought thee so many losses and vncurable dammages whilest she liued with thee rather haue you cause to reioyce and be glad to see her finall end and therefore I most humbly beseech you if you doe loue me indeed as you seeme at this time to make some shew that you doe drie vp your teares cease these lamentings giue ouer this sighing and sobbing and suffer me to finish this small rest of my life in some pleasure for my sorrow proceedeth not from my death but for that I see thee thus to take on Trouble not then I pray thee that contentment which I haue to view and behold thee before I shut vp my dazeling eies through thy too much lamenting for my death If thou hast loued me then call to minde this thy good will towards me and let the remembrance thereof now I die perswade thee to doe so much for me It is the last office of friendship which thou must doe for me for now I shall trouble thee no more my glasse being runne and the date of my life in
thinke my victorie vpon The wise of dangers past will were so much as once thinke on Then leaue off for to sorrow thus and seeme not to disdaine Through too much passion honour this which I through thee doe gaine So said he gently helpes her vp and sets her on her feete Whilst with a thousand hunnie words he sweetly her doth greete The Nymph now come vnto herselfe begins to gather hart To chase away all feare from her which fore did breed her smart Her former colour now doth come into her cheekes afresh Whilst she in humble sort with thankes vnto him doth expresse Her gratefull minde acknowledging in courteous manner trim How that her honour and her life preserued were by him With blushing looke and smiling cheare she crownes with flowers his head And vowes in modest wise to be at his deuotion led But weladay who ere would thinke that thanks for his reward Should be the cause a recompence he should receiue so hard This kindnesse which the Nymph on him bestowd deseruing worth Th' vntimely end of him and of his FLORA deare brought forth For doing good the fillie Swaine his harmelesse life must lose A slender hire for praise when at so high a rate it growes Things taken well are still done well a sinne t is to mistruct Vpon surmises false and vaine and proofes not to haue iust Ah had the Shepheards Mistris bene as wise as she was faire She had not heapt vpon her selfe nor him such dismall care Meane-time braue Numidor through his exploit most famous grew And through the Nymphs gratefull report each one this matter knew Which FLORA made for to misdoubt for long time she before Had markt the Virgin to be faire the cause she feard the more She sawe as she did thinke that or'e familiar he was With her and how oft them betwixt great kindnesses did passe She well remembred how they daunct together and which most Did gaul her how in hast away he after her did post When as the Satire snatch her vp her to haue ramshed And how to saue her he againe his life had ventured All these compar'd together made her gesse all was not well So that her bodie quite throughout an vncoth cold sweat fell And now she gan to loue so much as iealous she did grow Of him that nere the same deseru'd nor had off ended so She sighes and sobs and frantick like now here now there doth runne Thinking her dearest Loue of friend an exemie was become Nor dares she in her soule him call her faithfull seruant true Nor worthie of a Mistris kind since he hath got anew Against him say she doth exclaime and still gainst him doth crie Cals him vniust deceitfull false of right an enemie And as if he committed had some monstrous sinne on earth She counts him worthie for to die vnsit to draw his breath And now she throughly is assur'd that he is giuen to range And that of his first plighted Loue he hath made an exchange This forceth her with face one while as pale and wan to looke Another while to be as red as fire from furnace tooke Now doth she burne and then againe she suddenly doth freese Whilst through these passions contrarie her sences she doth leese And now to kill her NVMIDOR she vowes most resolute Since him a periur'd wretch and not better she doth repute That done she meanes to end her daies and slay her selfe him by The more her constant Loue vnto the world to testifie But now Loue makes her change her thought although against her will And forceth her although despite of her to loue him still She weepes and wailes and pearly drops fall from her like small teares Whilst as a bedlem she doth rent her face and golden heares She flings her self vpon the ground her head thereon she knocks Whilst griefe so much in her beares sway as it tongues passage locks With armes a crosse vnto the heauens she lifteth vp her hands Whilst she of Venus and her Sonne reuenge of him demaunds Yet after of the matter she better bethinkes her selfe And then vnto him she doth wish all happines and health Grieuing that she so much hath spoke gainst him she doth repent And from her former cruell minde most willing doth relent But nerethelesse she is resolu'd her selfe to end her life Thereby to ease her of her pangs and rid her from this strife So much she doth disdaine to liue as death she meanes to chuse Since Numidor a Mistris new hath tooke her to refuse Ah cruell Shepheard doth she say lamenting pittiously Hast thou the hart who thee so deare hath lou'd to force to die Well well most vnkind man I for thy sake my selfe will slay And goe into my graue I will vntimely fore my day To please thee not my selfe I sought whilst I on th' earth did liue Nor to prolong my daies tle seeke since thee I see I grieue But at this fault of thine so foule vngratefull dost thou thinke The Gods aboue true Iusticers will seeme at all to winke Thinkst thou vnkind the heauens will ere vnto thee be kinde When how thou fowly hast profan'd their Altars they shall finde No no th' immortall powers sharpe foes vnto thy periurie Shall doe me right and wreake my wrong for this my iniurie Such punishment with tortors huge they shall on thee bestow As they doe on Danaides in Limbo lake below And as they Theseus plagu'd because he wreched was forsworne Or Iason who Medea left all comfortlesse forlorne With many other Louers false which like are vnto thee There as thou rightly dost deserue afflicted thou shalt bee For Iupiter though for a while he men permits to rome And fickle changings proue yet in the end he paieth them home So Paris died and well deseru'd Enone that abusde Who in her life time better him than he deseru'd had vsde Then dost thou thinke fond-man that thou shalt scape this scourage alone Who art the sowrse of all my griefe and motiue of my mone Perhaps thou dreamest because that they awhile their plagues doe spare They slowe are vnto punishment nor of the same haue care What is deferd is not vnpaid the time shall come ere long That thou shalt make amends for misse acknowledging this wrong The more to chastise any fault the Gods gently forbeare The more at last they are rigorous more cruell and seuere Then thinke not wrech most treacherous but that the day shall come That thou shalt smart for what thou hast to wofull Flora done My cause to the heauens I doe commit to them I doe appeale They know the secrets of all hearts nor ought will they conceale And yet sweet Numidor forgiue and pardon what I say Since t is my griefe not I that thus against thee doth enuay For should'st thou neuer so much wrong doe vnto me each houre Yet angrie for to be with thee nere shall I haue the power Loue which is of more force in
me than is this thy offence Command me louing thee with thee and with thy fault dispence Iudge then of this strange crueltie that it should me constraine To loue and honour him who is the Author of my baine So we the feeble sicke man see through senselesse fond desire What is th' occasion of his death to couet and require So I arrested by proud Loue am forst iniuriously Alack the while to honour thee who laughst to see me die Thee must I like and follow still despite of my poore hart Although void of all honestie and friendly Loue thou art Still for thy sake I languish must in death with great disease Yet I my selfe count happie since I doe it thee to please The Gods forget as I forgiue thee from mine inward soule And neuer may they for my death as faultie thee controule As willingly I thee forgiue as to my death I goe For being dead thou then too late my constancie shalt knowe Well maist thou haue a fairer friend but faithfuller was neuer Who as she seru'd thee whilst she liu'd in death shee 'le loue thee euer But thou great Cupid rightfull Iudge reuenge my cause aboue On her who traiterously hath stolne from me my heart and loue Plague her that makes me pine away example let her bee To Louers all how they take heede to vse such treacherie Plague her that hath my Louer stolen my louely NVMIDOR And let her feele like punishment as I haue felt ore sore Ah let her not who loyall Faith so shamefully doth soile Raise Trophees of my ouerthrow nor triumph in my spoile Thus Flora prated and sigh't thus wailde the heauie Shepheardesse Was neuer Nymph or Maiden borne that felt such deepe distresse In wailing and in weeping she did spend the day and night And the remainder of her life in sorrow sans delight And now she wearie is of life life doth her vex and grieue A greater Corsie hath she not than that she thus doth liue She doth resolue to die forthwith and yet she faine would chuse The gentlest and the easiest way her soule from corpse to loose For to dispatch her selfe with sword it was too fierce and fell The fire displeased her and the rope to her was horrible To fling her selfe downe from some Rocks high top she had desire But being there the height thereof did make her to retire Vpon the Seaish banke she stood minding therein to lep But raging waues did her afright from drowning they her kept As we behold amaz'd to stand the doubtfull traueller Not knowing which way for to take by reason of great feare Vnskilfull which path for to trace beset most dangerously Which he alreadie seemeth in his minde to view with eie On euery side with Theeus who all the passages about Haue laid so as he knoweth not how from thence to get him out So Flora doubtfull and yet full of corsiues and of paine Knoweth not what death were best to chuse though she would die full faine She musing lookes now here now there she runneth euery houre About the woods and wisheth that some beast might her deuour O that we should ill wish our selues oftentimes we wishing woe Vnto our selues it lights on vs poore Flora found it so No wisedome t is the Gods to punish vs to put in minde Too soone they can if so they please to plague vs iust cause finde Meane time Loue at this Shepheardesse doth smile and at her griefe Who more she doth her woes bewaile the more she wants reliefe His glorie he embellisheth by reason of her care And his victorious Chariot with the same doth make more faire But leauing her still languishing we will againe returne To Numidor who missing her doth waile as fast and mourne He seekes and searcheth euery where for Flora he doth call But yet no voice but Ecco shrill doth answere him at all Ecco doth onely answere him with wast and fruitlesse sound He heares her name but Floras selfe can no where yet be found Like as the Hart that louing Deare when he his prettie Hinde Runnes round about in euery place with flying pace to finde Now seeketh her amongst the Rocks and then the woods among Then in the Forrests there by Foords and Riuers all along And finding still to misse her then seekes in some hollow Caue To see if there her companie as fortunate he may haue And wearie now with seeking her he downe lieth in some place Sighing full sore for want of her whom he longs to embrace So doth our Shepheard who was now with seeking her being tirde Wailes his hard hap not her to finde whom he so much desirde So much he wailes as hardest Rocks grieue that so much he seekes And pittious Ecco when he sighes in recompence now weepes Each thing seemd to their power as though they succour to him brought Onely did Flora want alas for whom so much he sought Flora for whom he sought whom yet he could not once entreate That she vouchsafe would to his cries to answere and to speake Flora who power had ouer him him to commaund alone Whose death and life lay in her hands for her thus did he mone And now into his troubled braine did many fancies come One while he thinkes some God of woods with her away is runne Or that some other Satire ruffe hath drawne her to some cane And there against her will doth minde his will on her to haue Another while he doubteth sore lest in this vncoth wood Some sauadge beast hath seazde on her and spilt her harmlesse blood Or else he feares she him will haue no more vnto her mate But rather meanes some Louer now into her grace to take Thus doth he languish comfortlesse to see his hard estate And in a manner doth begin to grow as desperate What hopefull is that he reiects no ioy he entertaines But as a man carelesse of helpe he wretchedly remaines As is a guiltie person brought before the Iudge seuere Conuicted fore him for his fault which proued is most cleare His conscience telling him of his offence and his amisse And for to proue the same before him his sharpe witnesse is Which when he findeth shame and griefe doth so his sinnes confound As he his life not to respect nor to regard is found So wofull full of heauie care this haplesse Shepheard was And so he Flora had not lost for life he did not passe But hauing lost her he did thinke his heart and soule was gone And therefore comforted he would not he of any one Yet he no sooner breath had tooke but that he nerethelesse For all his toyling gan to seeke and search for her afresh He prieth into euery bush through groues he looketh all Andrunnes so fast as oftentimes through hast he downe doth fall Trough brambles sharpe through bushes and through hedges he doth passe Through thicke and thinne and all to finde his long sought dearest I asse Like to the Deare that chased is
secret ceremonies were forbidden to be solemnized by men whilst she in the meane space carried away my hart with her to stand her in steed of a sacrifice which she might offer vnto her Goddesse Long did I expect her comming back againe and grieuous was it vnto me to stay so long her returne but there was no other remedie wherefore I laid me downe vnder a broade Beech Tree where if I had heard neuer so small a noyse I presently started vp thinking I should haue beheld the sweet face and comely countenance of my glorious Sunne If but a small leafe had moued I thought straightwayes she was come Then would I count in my minde how many paces it was from that place vnto the Temple and me thought that now she was comming from thence that by my account she was so farre onward of the way and and yet I was deceiued in my conceit For I reckoned as they say without mine Hoast One while I doubted least she had altered her iourney and that she determined to walke some other way Another while I feared least she stayed the longer because she was loth to come where I was O most weetched is the condition and estate of Louers from whome doubtfull feare and fearefull doubt can neuer be abandoned Although men owe reuerence vnto the Gods and that they ought to respect that Seruice as they should their owne proper liues Yet neuerthelesse I could as then haue bene very well contented that Diaxa had bene spared from doing that Sacrifice O miserable lawe of LOVE which spoyleth all other and which so that itselfe may restaliue and goe for currant careth not although all other considerations be made voyde and disanulled how iust soeuer they be The Louer so hee may enioy what he coueteth he forgetteth all that is to come not so much as once thinking of the dutie which is due vnto the Gods nor regarding the feare of men nor respecting sacred Religion at all Great is the Furie no doubt that haunteth them else would not amorous Phoedra haue sought the death of innocent Hyppolitus neither the wife of Putiphar gone about to haue made the vertuous Ioseph endure so great miserie Now whilst I expected her whom I could not see I might heare not farre from mee a certaine voyce singing this Dittie following Lucklesse and luckie both at once am I With feare and hope I trembled as a Reed Lucklesse by Beautie thine by Destinie Luckie because I am thy slaue indeed For then thy face there nothing is more faire Then thy sweet Eyes nought more diuine or rare One while I hope another while I feare Nor can there any thing my fancie please It greeues me for to see the heauens though cleare So much I doubt thy fauour to displease Then thy faire face there nothing is more faire Then thy sweet Eyes nought more diuine or rare Then sweet sower Foe vonchsafe me for to loue Or once for all abridge my time of life Nor suffer me such torments more to prâ—â—â— Since I must die lest thou appease this strife For then thy face there nothing is more faire Than thy sweet Eyes nought more diuine or rare Although thine Eyes my paines encreaseth more Yet more I see them more I them admire Thy beautious feature I so much adore As for to die for it I still desire For then thy Face there nothing is more faire Then thy sweet Eyes nought more diuine or rare For louing thee my greefes I happie deeme Though cruell and vnsuffrable they bee Whilst at the same as enuioue I doe seeme Though for thy sake how I still die I see Then thy faire face there nothing is more faire Than thy sweet eies nought more diuine and rare Then whether death my life shall take away Or whether I shall laid be in my graue Yet will I loue and honour thee for aie Both dead and liue my seruice thou shalt haue For then thy face there nothing is more faire Than thy sweet eies nought more diuine or rare This Song was dolefull enough and yet more dolorous was the voice of him that sung it which was small remedie vnto my sorrowes but rather a fresh beginning vnto them whilst I lanquished being oppressed with a double martyr and my griefe encreased more and more the first was because I loued and the other was because I perceiued that I was seconded in my louing So violent was the affection which I bare vnto my Ladie as it began to breed in me a certaine kind of iealousie I beginning to imagine that this other my companion in Loue because he was better liked of then I was might be as an ouerthwart barre to crosse my happie successe making Diana more hard-harted vnto me then she would haue bene if she had had no more Sutors then my selfe onely This second wound gauled me more than the first I maruailing much how it was possible for me to resist so sharpe an assault This was the cause I could not take any rest quietly my minde still running that I was not so much fauoured nor affected as this new commer was Not vnlike vnto him who lying in a wood cannot sleepe all that night long as well because he feareth the rauenous teeth of the wild beastes as also the cruell spoyling of fierce and murthering theeues Neuerthelesse I began to comfort me at the last thinking that if this new come guest had bene so well entertained by my Saint he would not then haue lamented so much as he did for one cheerfull looke one louely glaunce or one pleasant word proceeding from his Mistris is enough to make a Louer reuiue againe although he were before at deaths doore This then was the reason that for a while I was pacified and contented but then by and by I began to doubt againe remembring that it was an ordinarie course of Louers to complaine without cause whether it is because still they haue one thing or another in their heads that maketh the alwaies feare the worse or whether it be for that they take a kind of pleasure in complaining and lamenting after they haue glutted themselues with delight no otherwise than such as being extreame and hot fling themselues into cold water or as vnto staruen and famisht men victuals and food are most sweet and delectable This was the perplexitie in which I was in I being so troubled in my minde as I was halfe out of my wits yet in the end I resolued to drawe neere vnto this Shepheard to behold him wistly hoping that when I had throughly marked his contenance I might quickly coniecture of his disgrace or contentment and whether he were in fauour with my Mistris or no. Whereupon I stole faire and softly vnto him as with slowe and secret pace Mirrha approached the bed of her father when being hard by him who lay along at the foote of a shadowing Rocke I might here him demaund his fortune of God Pan who vsed to aunswere
traine that the Princesse laide who knewe her faithfull Seruant would not misse his day before whome the straunge Knight repeated the former wordes Which the other hearing was so incenst with rage and furie as presently hee called for his Horse and Armour beeing readie in a trice and so went into the Listes to meete with his enemie The King was wonderfullie astonished at this straunge aduenture and yet reioyced much in his minde wishing in his heart and praying vnto God that this new come Knight might haue the vpper hand of his proud and insolent aduersarie But if hee so much reioyced then must you thinke that the Princesse his Daughter was much more pleased and contented seeing her valiant Knight to be so true of his word and so readie to aduenture his life for her sake therefore thought him most worthy to be beloued And now euerie thing beeing in a readinesse the two Combattants entered the field both of them prouoked with one and the selfe-same desire and both forced therevnto through extreame Loue. The Trumpets sounding they set spurres to their horses meeting with such a terrible encounter as their Speares flewe all into shiuers and both of them fell vppon the ground but quicklie got they vp againe drawing their naked swords and the one most desperately seeking to assaile the other As the Cyclops in Aetna beating continuallie vppon the Iron Forge fill all the bordering mountaines thereabouts with Thundering noyse Euen so the blowes that fell vpon the Armours of these two Champions made such frightfull noyse as the sound thereof was heard farre and neere Don Iohn is minded there to die or to ouercome since hee fighteth in the houour of his Ladie so great is his courage And yet thee that was the occasion of the weakening of his forces cannot restore the same vnto him againe when hee hath most need of them for her sake On the other side the young Prince madde for anger that one should take his Mistris away from him and against his will whome he beheld to be in place redoubled his strength and courage in this Combat But yet it had stood him in small stead and to little or no purpose at all if his enemie had bene as strong and lustie in bodie as he was before LOVE had so much weakened and taken him downe Little oddes seemed there to be betwixt these two Caualiers so valiantly did both of them carry themselues as euery one wondred at them No running tricks in their fighting was forgotten no Stockado nor Reuerschio no giuing place for aduantage nor no fast following to serue their owne purpose was missing each of them striuing as now to shewe the vemost skill they had in this their dangerous play Don Iohn hurt the Prince in the shoulder and the Prince wounded him in the thigh which was the cause that the Battaile began to beginne a newe betweene them whilst the lookers on were euen wearie to behold them onely they which fought were so fresh and liuely as if they had but as then entred into the field The Lists with their trauersing vp and downe the ground are made deepe like furrowes and strewed all along with the splinters pieces of their Armours Vpon part of which Don Iohn by ill fortune stumbling fell downe the Prince presently vpon him ready to haue stabde him with his dagger into his throte which he put in practise to the vtmost of his force but his Corslet was of so good proofe as he could not doe him much hurt Thus as they tumbled one vpon an other my Maister plaide his part so well as at length he got vp againe on his legges when as then he began to find feele how much his former sorrow griefe of mind had weakned him besides calling to mind his fault of which he was so ashamed hee with such a fresh courage assailed his furious Foe that he made amends for his fault before although the Prince had the aduantage of him For where he was but hurt in the shoulder only our Arragonian Knight was wounded both in the Thigh in his inward minde too and yet neuertheles he stood stoutly to his tackling grieued at the heart that he could not rid his enemy out of the way in so long time especiallie fighting for his Ladie and now although too late often wishing hee had taken a longer time to recouer his former health In the end the blood ran so fast downe from Don Iohns thigh as euery one iudged he would be ouercome For which all the Assemblie were maruellously sorie When vpon the sudden and contrarie to all their expectations he began so furiously to follow the Prince as with the often blowes which he doubled and redoubled vpon him hee made him kneele vpon the ground where when he had him at the aduantage he lost no time at all For perceiuing that his enemie was in a manner astonisht with the manie strokes he had giuen him without suffering him to haue any leisure or time to breath he aimed so rightly at his head and that with so mightie a violence as at one blow he cleft it quite asunder the sencelesse bodie falling downe vpon the ground and quite bereft of soule of pride and of valour At what time also and with him iust at that instant fell Don Iohn himselfe likewise by reason he was wonderfully weakened through the losse of his blood which issued forth from his wounds Wherevpon euerie one supposed that hee was dead as well as the other which the Princesse imagining to be true and heauie aboue all the rest for the same returned home vnto her Chamber to bewaile his hard fortune with her owne To tell you what pittifull mone this poore Ladie made and what bitter teares shee shead being retired into her priuie Closet would but moue you to greater remorse No comfort would she receiue any way neither would she now reioyce although she had seen her enemie slaine considering her valiant Knight had run the same course She is determined not to liue after him any longer since she had bin the occasion of his vndoing Neither cared shee although euery one had seene her thus to lament because she hoped Death would ridde her from all such doubts Neuerthelesse her Gentlewomen much wondred thereat maruelling what the cause should be most of them thinking it was for the death of the Prince of Lions whom it was supposed she should haue married and not for the blacke Knight although they were all deceiued that thought so Thus lay shee mourning vnto her selfe neither would shee take ioy at any thing vntill at the last newes was brought vnto the Court that Don Iohn was found to bee that black Knight that had bene her Champion who was not as it was before iudged dead Wherevpon she began to giue ouer her lamenting but yet in such wise and so cunningly as none of all her Attendants could perceiue it was for his sake that shee had taken on
so before although God he knoweth not anie in all the whole world was more ioyfull then shee to heare of so comfortable tidings and newes Wherevpon shee called for her Coach and went vnto the Knight to visite him where when she was come she found a number of Ladies and Gentlewomen in the chamber who were comforting of him and reioycing with him for his happie victorie No sooner was shee entred into the Chamber where he lay but all the other giuing place she drew towards his beddes side when he poore soule no sooner had spied her but that he forthwith sounded the companie imagining that it was his wounds and not her sight that was the cause thereof whilst she in the mean space was not a little amazed to see him so mightily chaunged and to looke so meger pale and hollow whome not long before she had knowne to be the goodliest and properest man liuing But this misfortune and sicknes hapned vnto him shee laide no bodie in fault of but her owneselfe confessing in her conscience that she was the onely cause thereof and therefore resolued within her selfe to make him amends with the losse of her owne life if he should hap to miscarrie or doe otherwise then well And now my sadde Maister being come vnto himselfe againe and seeing his Mistris to looke so heauily vpon him and sighing he held downe his countenance not daring to behold her whilst the Chyrurgians that had him in Cure and others thought that it was the paine of his woundes that made him so ill And therefore desired euerie one to withdrawe themselues from thence for a while that he might the better take his rest Wherevpon faire Maria was forced though sore against her will to leaue him vowing vnto her selfe if it should please God that her Knight might recouer his former health to marrie with none but him Thinking shee could not be anie mans so rightly as his seeing he had so brauely reuenged her quarrell vpon her hatefull enemie and had engaged his life for her deare seruice Alas how shall I be able to make an ende of this pittious historie I knowe not I and therefore good Arcas let this suffice which I haue alreadie reported vnto thee Heere the wretched Fortunio powred forth whole fountaines of teares it being a long time before hee could speake as much as one word more but I pressed him so much and vrged him so often that in the ende hee went forward with his former discourse in this manner Don Ihon my Maister had all the cunning Physitions and Chyrurgions that could be gotten to looke vnto him whereby hee might recouer his former health and haue his wounds healed But all was in vaine for there was no Medicine or Balme that could doe him any good by reason of the great sorrow which hee had before conceiued in his minde And because the small vertue and strength of his radicall humour within him which griefe had ouermuch weakened was not of power sufficient to nourish his grieuous wounds and therefore they became both weaker and worser euerie day then other They were not ouer mortall or deadlie and yet because of diuers accidents and what through the badde disposition of his bodie they became incurable which they that looked vnto him perceiuing and finding that there was no way but one with him certified his friendes thereof who tooke on most pittrouslie when they heard such heauie newes And now the last day was come in which most happily hee must leaue this world at what time although as then too late his Mistrisse shewed her selfe most kinde vnto him For shee hauing vnderstood by her trustie Page of whome I talked of before that he was drawing towards his latest ende determined with her selfe not long to liue after him wherevpon she tooke a fitte time to steale secretly vnto his Chamber where being alone with him and causing the doore to be boulted she came vnto his beddes head But alas Father I am not able to proceed any further for verie anguish of minde my hart will burst if without weeping I goe onward with my Tale. But yet I will doe what I can to make an ende thereof although for euerie word I speake I shall be forced to shead a teare The kinde Knight perceiuing the young Princesse to stand by him whose eyes were turned into springs of teares whose heart was turned into another Montgibell with scalding sighes and whose amorous locks lay all rent and torne about her shoulders with a hollow voyce and throatling in his throate spake thus vnto her If it be sweete Mistrisse for mee your faithfull and wretched seruant that you lament so much then I beseech you giue ouer the same and reserue it for a better purpose and lessen not the glorie which hee feeleth for dying in your Royall seruice But alas what is this I say Is it likely that you can bewaile the losse of him who when hee was liuing you depriued of life through your too extreame rigour No no I know it is not for mee that you thus take on for I confesse I am not worthie thereof but it is for the Prince of Lyons who is slaine that you torment your selfe whome perhaps you made account of to haue had for your husband If so then cruell Lady know this that it was thy onely commaundement caused me to kill him and had it not bene thy will he had bene yet aliue Neuerthelesse if in this I haue done amisse I craue pardon of thee before I die as well for that as for anie errour else that I haue most vnwillingly done against thee I die beautious virgin yea I must die onely because I loue thee accounting my selfe most vnfortunate in that I haue not receiued one small fauour at thy hands before my death Neither am I willing to liue seeing it is contrarie vnto thy will and pleasure My dying lippes had neuer that blessed happe to touch those thy vermillion checkes No not so much as to kisse those thy Princely handes and all because I was thereof vnworthie Notwithstanding if thou most gratious Mistris doest thinke that this my death for louing thee deserueth anie recompence then I most humblie beseech you that you pardon all that is past graunting me to kisse not your louely lips but onely that your most victorious hand O my soule my soule how insupportable is your anguish not to loue this my bodie but to abandon the companie of my sweet Princes I die happily being rid from all my griefe and yet most miserably in that I lose thee whom I loue farre more then my owne selfe O fairest creature of all that euer were faire remember remember thy deare Don Iohn after he is dead and gone who now taketh his last farewell of thee Hauing so said he sinketh downe into his bed his faire Mistris falling hard by his side in a sound but in the end comming vnto her selfe againe she shed so many teares vpon the bloodlesse visage of
of this world farewell the faire Sunne of my soule farewell my ioy and onely comfort and if euer thou thoughtest me worthy of any fauour embrace me once before I die And thou sweet Iesu mine onely Sauiour haue mercie vpon me Scarce were these words forth of his mouth when the most disconsolate Ladie embracing her breathlesse Knight laied her mouth so close vnto his as his soule seemed to part out of his corpse into hers which with a sweet yet scalding sigh she drew in her owne And now he being without life and cold as any stone the Princes knew not what to doe faine would she haue murthered her selfe but that she had no weapon wherewithall to doe the deed besides she durst not stay alone in the chamber least she might perhaps be espied by one or other and yet againe she was most loth of all to leaue the coarse of her kinde friend so soone But in the end reason tooke place which perswaded her to conuey her selfe as secretly from thence as when she came thither which she did so cunningly through helpe of her old trustie and assured Page as she was not perceiued by any vntill such time as she recouered her owne lodging where after she had bene setled a while she locked the doore vnto her and so laying her selfe vpon her bed after she had for a certaine space wailed and lamented for the death of my Maister she held her breath so long within her bodie and closed her mouth so hard as at the length she stifled her selfe for want of taking winde and so was found dead not any doubting of any such matter nor any knowing what the cause should be of her death but onely my selfe and her foresaid trustie Page No sooner was she found thus dead and the bruite thereof noysed abroad but there was a generall lamentation and crying out throughout all the court not vnlike that which was heard in Troy the same night the Citie was set on fire vpon the suddaine by the subtill Greekes What great moane the King and the Queene made for their daughter the young Princes and how grieuously the friends of Don Iohn tooke the death of him being held to be one of the most valiants and brauest Knights of Spaine I hope I need not to report vnto you It shall suffice their Funerall obsequies were performed and set out in the most sumptuous and costliest manner that could be deuised which being past and done I tooke my leaue of that countrie minding to trie my fortune in some other place and so taking with me some fewe Iewels and certaine gold which my late Maister had bestowed vpon me I went my waies when as I trauailed on my iournie some of the foresaid Prince of Lions men by ill fortune met with me who knowing me to be a follower of Don Iohn that had ouerthrowne him in combat laid violent hands vpon me meaning to carrie me with them by sea into their countrie and there to put me vnto some cruell kinde of death But God knowing me to be innocent tooke compassion vpon me so as after I was shipped with them a suddaine Tempest arose in which our vessell was sunke all the passengers within her drowned and I onely escaped and was saued This reuerend sir was the wofull Tragedie which Fortunio reported vnto me of his hard aduentures But it now beginneth to waxe darke let vs be gon then said the old man and to morrow againe thou shalt begin where thou hast now left Agreed quoth Arcas and therewithall walked along with him to bring him on his way towards his lodging which as they were going they might see this riddle to be ingrauen within the barke of an auncient old Elme My fortun 's strange the whâ—le world holds me deare And though I nothing am of nothing made Yet I so spotlesse shew so faire and cleare As noblest states of me are well apaid What ere passeth by me I see the same Yet I no eyes haue and am formed so As smallest force doth bring to me my bane Breaking me peece-meale with a little blow My propertie most true is what doth breath I liuely that present in face and beautie And which is more I creature nere deceiue Great personages to me bowe as t' were of dutie Yet I them faithfull serue whilst loth they are To leaue me so well they my companie Doe like Say then who rightly can me barre From honour such as all giue vnto mee What thinke you of this Riddle said the olde man vnto Areas and how would you expound the same Marrie thus answered the Shepheard This Enigma signifieth nothing else but a right christall Mirrour which is a â—â—ettall of little or none account and is little or nothing accounted of in that they are common and subiect to breaking with euery small little fillip or touch of hand And yet neuerthelesse they are set by in euery place of the world especially by the better and nobler sort who lightly neuer passe by any of them but they looke and behold themselues in the same Not any one goeth by them but if he please he may view and discerne his owne liuely shape whilest the looking glasse it selfe seeth euery thing that passeth before it although it haue no eyes at all So brittle is it of Nature that as I said before it breaketh with any light fall all in peeces It sheweth the true counterfait of euery one that looketh in the same dwithout eceiuing any which is the reason they are in no small request amongst great states especially faire Ladies and Gentlewomen who therefore prise them very highly Well hast thou said quoth the old Magitian and thou hast hit the very naile vpon the head I commending thy sharpe conceit for the exposition thereof But now let vs be walking vnto our lodgings seeing the skie beginneth to waxe darke and the Sunne is readie to repose himselfe vpon his wet and deway coach And herewithall they departed euery one vnto their seuerall houses where we will leaue them vntill the next morning yet not leauing to conceale from your conceits an Ode which a certaine Nymph sung vnto them as they were going homewards And this it was Since that Loue is worse then death And suruies when coarse wants breath I will chase away the same Leust I vext be with that paine For she is fond that liues by Loue And many plagues is like to prone What would euery one report If I liue should in such sort Hope in vaine and to no end Marre myselfe rather then mend Since she is fond that liues by loue And many plagues is like to proue Yet I here protest though I Meane to leaue Loues crueltie Yet I Cupid honour still Whilst he worketh me none ill For she is fond that liues by loue And many plagues c. I confesse ther 's passions sweete In Loue for true Louers meete Such as doth them gently warme And their harts most sweetly charme Though she is fond
shall chance to be any hinderance vnto thee let me then entreate so much at thy hands that I depriuing my selfe of this loathed life may be rid of these corsiues which still torment me and thou be freed of this tedious charge which so much troubles thee Not so answered Orythia Let mee alone and I dare warrant thee all shall be well Castles besieged yeeld not at the first parley things that are brought to passe processe of time and with mature deliberation and aduise continue longer and seeme more sweet afterward for a man knoweth not the delightfulnes of pleasure aright if he haue not a tast of paine before and that which we haue most dearest bought and hardliest come by we alwaies hold most pretious and of most account Liue then in peace and suffer me to trie my fortune which I perswade my selfe shall proue most happie in thy behalfe So saying the Nymph leaueth me to take her iourney minding to helpe me although she hurt her selfe taking more care to heale my sore then to cure her owne wound I could not chuse but follow after her faire and softly yet aloofe when by chance I met Fortunnio in the way all to be blubbered with weeping who thought verily that I had bene dead he roming vp and downe the Forrest like a man distraught crying out and calling still vpon my name whom none saue an Ecco answered Much did he bewaile my losse making greater moane for me then I deserued whilest most vnwisely he blamed Loue as the Author of my death and enuied most bitterly against the stonie hart of my faire Mistris But no sooner had he a sight of me but that he came running most cheerfully vnto me and most tenderly embraced me changing his former sad and heauie countenance not vnlike to him who hauing found some pretious Iewell which he before accounted as lost beginneth to reuiue and to be merrie againe Then did he tell me how my Ladie had hard I was dead she belieuing the same for most certaine truth for Orythia had for my good spread abroad this report with as much speed as possible she could which comming vnto my Dianas eares was not a little vnpleasant vnto her as was found by the number of salt teares which she shed as a sure restimonie of her true griefe Which when I knew I began to take comfort againe and to reuiue my selfe with a fresh hope of some good successe to come and thereupon I compiled these verses following vpon the teares which my Mistris shed in my behalfe whilest I attended with great deuotion the often wished for returne of kinde Orythia Examitor and Pentamitor verses Sweet doe not thinke thy pearly teares my paines can asswage ought Not death but thy teares bring to my soule his adue For thy grieuous plaints in steed of one onely shert death Thousand deaths and more are to me paine to enerease I not deserue that thou for me shouldst wofully weepe thus T is not death but thy teares take from my selfe my delight Death alone this sillie corpse commands when it iskes him But thy griefes doeforce soule for to flie to the skie After so many paines in our loue leaue vnto me giue none Hence to depart in peace rest that I may in my graue Long enough haue I liu'd since that so gentle a liking Tide hath thy hart to mine and to thy soule ioyned miue Then this my exceeding torments Faire doe not enuie Since that I desire life then thy selfe for to leaue Farewell pleasd he dyes who dying findeth a fauour When that his Ladies hand close vp his eyes at his end What more sacred Tombe to be interd can I chuse me Then to die in thy armes where my desire euer liu'd If whilst I liu'd thou care didst take for my poore life At my happines then ah be not enuious now Leaue I beseech thee teares to shed since teares cannot helpe me For my soule once gone thou by thy teares cannot haue Cruell death to relent with sighes you neuer intreate can Blest that Louer dies who by his Loue makes an end Onely this I beg at thy hands before that I die here Those faire beautious eyes kisse that I might but a while Might I but finde this kindnes rare then blest would my soule be Nor would it are forget thanks to requite in his minde Faire too much it were for me to die in thy sweet armes He that dies content death neuer feeles or his dart Who to his Mistris doth deuote his hart as a present Leaues the same in his brest royally laide in a Tombe Gloomie night for to close mine eyes fast can neuer haue power Nor can I die as long as what I like I may see Then doe but thinke on me whose soule was onely deuoted Vnto thy selfe and which liu'd in thy brest that is chaste In the bottome of my darke graue shine shall thy bright eyes Whilst with a new fire death shall me reuiue once againe For if heretofore the same could into my soule peirce Who can hinder it now brightly to shine on my coarse Then deare Saint to leaue these wailings let me request thee I doe not sigh cause I die but thee to see to lament For since of thy grace I am not worthy but vnfit Then as much as a teare why for my sake shouldst thou shed Vnder the yoake of amorous seruice whilst that I liu'd What good once did I thee what haue I done for thee ere T is no sense to bewaile the losse of one that deserues not Who to none but himselfe whilst that he liu'd did he loue This is the cause my soule force my coarse to relinquish For that he seruice small did whilst he liu'd to my dame Yet since this my wisht for death most happily hapneth Since by my parting now I from my griefe now doe part T is my fortune for me too good ah faire doe not enuie Since that alone through death happily liue doth the soule Wipe then thy faire eyes and without shewe of a mourner This my breathlesse Trunke vnto the graue doe thou beare Thrise happie Tombe since he againe reuiues with a new life Who dead leaueth his Loue rauished him for to joy This was the mestfull Dittie I made I being then so troubled in my minde as I knew not well how to expresse my griefe although I vsed many scalding sighes and salt teares to make manifest the same I being of cōceit that it was impossible for me to blazon forth the crueltie of Loue in his right colours and yet did I seeke to comfort my selfe in that I had many cōpanions in my miserie heretofore O victorious Caesar for all thy valour thou wast conquered by louely Cleopatra who had a sonne by thee called Cesarion And thou graue Emperour and diuine Phylosopher diddest thou not doate vpon thy most vnhonest Faustina whilest thou thy selfe becamest Loues prisoner notwithstanding all thy wisedome and greatnes Hanniball found his force too
and as kinde vnto vs as euer he was before The weaker must alwaies yeeld somewhat vnto the stronger because the one is neuer distraught nor carryed away with our publike affaires where the other are drawne abroad with much businesse and diuers cares which hindereth them oftentimes to remember or thinke vpon their inferiours Let him then liue if he be as yet liuing For neuer let Diana wish to liue to see that day wherein she shall be reproached to haue bene the cause of his death who by his writings doth eternize the Vertuous especially when I may preserue his life and that he seeketh not to haue any thing of mee that is preiudiciall vnto mine honour This was the answere of wise Diana vnto faire Orythia who most kindely thanking her in my behalfe came merrilie away seeking to find me out Who no sooner saw me but that shee deliuered vnto me my Ladies minde and therewithall aduised me to goe presently vnto her and to present my selfe vnto her How to requite this curteous Nymphe for so exceeding a fauour done vnto mee I know not Whilst I was framing a set speech in my minde to shew my selfe in some sort gratefull vnto her How now quoth she it is no time now to studie away and get you gone vnto your Mistris As for thanks I looke for none at your handes I hauing done but what was my dutie seeing such as are bound must needs obey yet I beseech the goddesse of Loue to make thee once to pittie me who wish thee no worse fortune then I doe vnto mine owne soule although thy chiefe happines must needs be my bad ouerthrow And hauing so sayd casting a pittious eye towards me and sighing most heauilie as if her heart would haue burst she went away from me and so left me I could not chuse but weepe thinking vpon her When remembring my Ladies message I set forward speedilie to wend towards her carrying in my hand a certain Sonnet which I had made in her praise not long before meaning to present it vnto her Being arriued where she was I found her accompanied with other Nymphes sitting by the side of a Fountaine which issued forth from out the veines of a stately Rocke the water whereof was farre clearer then any Cristall in whose bottome was a dainty yealow Sand such as that of Pactolus intermixed with a number of precious stones of sundry colours had a man bene able to haue thrust his nimble hand deep enogh he might without wetting of his arme with exceeding great pleasure haue taken a number of little fishes running vp downe and playing most wantonly there one while hyding themselues within the entrailes of the grauell and another while in sundrie corners and holes of the Fountaine Whilst being slipperie and skipping too and fro they would most cunninglie get out of the fingers of him that had caught them From this Fountaine there came forth two sweet Riuers which growing into a great water ranne round about the whole Countrey loosing themselues as they fell into the Sea adioyning This Fountaine was shadowed ouer with beautious Cipresse and louely Orenge ttees the sweete buds and blossomes whereof was able to rauish the mindes euen of bruit Beasts within the Rock were many seates to rest on framed by nature so artificiallie as no cunning could any way come neare them they being alwaies couered with pleasing Camomell the more to delight the sense of man The ground all along was full of greene grasse and other pretie hearbes which the teeth of Cattell had neuer spoyled nor ouer-heate of the day scorched or burned Manie sweete Rose-trees sprung forth from out the sides of that Rocke in diuers places and that in so iustand seemly an order as you would haue thought they had bene planted and set by the handy-labour of some curious Gardiner whilst all sort of Roots sprouted out in their right colours the odoriferous sent whereof was such and the scituation of the place so delightfull as you would haue thoght your selfe in Paradice as long as you had continued there Neuer was there Pallace more beautifull That Fountaine which the warlike Horse caused to spring out of the ground An Example with the hoose of his foote was nothing so daintie although more commended by such as dranke of the water thereof they being inspired with the gift of Poetrie euer after In this so pleasant a seate then did I finde gratious Diana passing away her time one while with washing her beautifull face an other while her Diamond eyes and then againe her long and slender hands No care as then troubled her neither was she busied in canuasing in her braines A Similie any serious matter of weighty importance As that great Sacrificer who thinking to sacrifice to Iuno the goddesse of Riches finding her Image either bloodie or sweating suddainely withdraweth himselfe from thence consulting with his fellow-Priest about the strange chance before he beginne his Ceremonies againe Euen so I seeing so rare a beautie stood as one amazed without speech and as if I had bene in a sound And now I began to consider within my selfe whether I were best to goe forwards on my iourney and offer my Present vnto this Nymphe or whether without speaking vnto her I should turne backe againe and goe from whence I came For although such onely finde Fortune to fauour them who are venturous and of bold spirits yet thought I it were farre better not to trye all especially when a mans life or credit lyeth therevpon then like bold Bayard to runne bluntly onwards and so to take repulse and be denyed of his sute For more sure and certaine is the meane life and estate then is the richest and highest in authority wherin there is nothing but trouble and danger This was the cause I stood so long debating of the matter within my selfe whether I were best to pursue my first enterprise or no A Sentence For hardly dare a man speak to such a one as we feare respect but in the end the same thing that made mee most to doubt did rid me out of the same stifling my feare driuing away all sorrow from me For my Mistris hauing espied mee who was neare readie to goe back againe called me vnto her O how sweete and comfortable was that sound vnto mee I thinking I had bene called by some God there-abouts Gratious and full of courtesie was her speech insomuch as I counted my name most blessed because it was pronounced by my louelie Goddesse No longer will I maruell now although the voyces of Saintes heeretofore haue bene of power to call vp dead Coarses from out the bottome of their graues where they lay buried restoring them vnto life againe since that of my faire Mistrisse was able to driue away all sadnesse and sorrow from mee and to reuiue fresh hope within me This made me draw neare vnto her when after many dutious Ceremonies done by me vnto her I
pensiue humour from him What man be of good courage we must he ordered by the will of the Gods and without killing ourselues with these inward passions must attend the good houre vntill it shall please them to call vs For neither weeping nor wailing can alter our Destinies neither can they be mended thereby because it lieth not in our handes but in the heauenly Powers to amend what is amisse This is my aduise in that I wish thee well for wee are giuen by nature to wish well vnto those whom we know are our friends and wel-willers whereas otherwise we should be worse then bruit beasts who acknowledge curtesies which they haue receiued Then take this counsell from mee although I was borne rather to learne counsell then to giue counsell vnto others But the Gardiner sometimes can giue good hearbes for Phisicke and a wise man now and then may be aduised by one that is simple and without learning as Moses did who tooke the opinion of his Father in law being farre lesse skilfull then hee I doubt not but thou knowest by experience that this which I haue saide will be profitable vnto thee and that thou wilt hereafter remember mee for the good aduise which I haue giuen thee Thus spake the Nymph most kindely her curteous speeches putting life into my bodie againe making me blush with a vermillion colour which she seemed to like well of Wherevpon I taking hart at grasse although still crazed with inward heauinesse beganne thus to answere her Oh sacred Goddesse is it possible that hee that is stiffened and benommed in all his limmes and ioyntes with an extreame colde should be warme without Fire Euen so can hee comfort and delight himselfe who without hauing the least subiect of ioy in the world hath all his Bodie attached with a wonderfull strange and heauie sadnesse Amongst all the wise Sages of the world past there haue bene very fewe that haue bene able to haue dissembled and concealed their inwdard griefes and sorrowes Elias that great Prophet could neuer doe it but rather flying into a Desart to auoyd the furie of wicked Achab most pittiously desired to die Neither could Iob the patterne of all patience smother the same but rather weeping and taking on most lamentablie wished to be ridde from his miserable life And thinke you I that am so poore a wretch in respect of them am able to hide mine anguish and driue away these inward afflictions which so much torment mee especially when I haue so great reason to lament my Disasters Wonder not then gracious Nymph that I seeme thus to waile and weepe but rather suffer mee to goe through with the same to the ende I may the sooner be brought vnto my graue for that is the onely comfort of such forlorne and forsaken Caitiffes as my selfe yea Death sweete Death is the Port and Hauen of all such distressed mindes as I am O that I were blinde that I might not see the mischiefe that is ready to take holde vpon mee or that I were senslesse and voyde of all passions to the ende I might be exempted from such dangerous plagues as are alreadie ready to infect me Must I be well in bodie and yet deadly sicke in minde Must I be sicke in minde and yet not consume away And must I consume away and not yet die but languish thus in horror worse then in hell yea and that continually O vniust Heauens ô too vnkinde and barbarous LOVE what haue I done vnto thee Cupid that for all my loyall loue thou thus shouldest reward me Haue I euer defied or denyed thee as Apollo did after hee had slaine that huge Serpent Python when he mocked at thee and at thine Arrowes as thou flewest in the Ayre that thou shouldest thus wound mee with so vncurable rigour and exasperate thus thy worse then sauadge Tyrannie against mee Ah Mistris deare Mistris behold here before you the most wretchedst creature that euer liued vnder the Cope of heauen the very Anatomie of miserie and the true Mirrour of all misfortunes And belieue I beseech you that the terrours which euery minute of an houre affright his inward soule is farre worse then vglie Death it selfe But iustly am I punished seeing as ouer presumptuous I durst be bolde to flie so high like vnto another Phaeton presuming to adore your more then druine and sacred Beauties Yet sweet Ladie pardon me because LOVE is the cause who was assisted by your faire eyes to make me his base prisoner and abiect bond slaue for euer against whom no force neither heauenly nor humane is able to preuaile Thus was I bolde to pleade like an earnest suter for grace vnto my Ladie I knowing well that I was neuer like to finde so fitte an occasion againe as then I had because I saw she was resolute to enter into a kinde of life farre worse and harsher then anie Monasticall liuing whatsoeuer And therefore I thought with my selfe that seeing I was fully bent and purposed to die I knewe the worst and worse then Death I could not be adiudged Thus you see how desperate persons sometimes helpe themselues although quite contrarie vnto their owne expectation So fought that sicke and diseased Souldier being full of valour vnder his Generall king Antigonus onely because he would be ridde of his disease which did so much afflict him but no sooner was hee cured thereof then that he became a notable Coward as one that was desirous to sleepe in a whose skinne and neuer after would venture in the warres againe The faire Virgin hearing mee thus earnest were it either because shee was loth to leaue behind her she being now readie to depart from vs any cause to conceiue hardly of her or whether it were that my pittifull speeches had moued her vnto remorse and to haue compassion vpon me I know not but I found her nothing so austere nor sower towards me as she was wont to be which I gathered by her indifferent milde answere she replying thus If thy disease Arcas be incurable and that as thou thy selfe thinkest it will hardly be healed why then hast thou bene so obstinate as thou wouldest not in time seeke what thou mightest to haue bene rid of the same Very simple is he who vndertaketh to transport a huge Rocke from one place to an other when it is not by nature to be remoued So if thou seest that my loue can no way be profitable vnto thee why then wilt thou be so selfe-wild as to persist therein it being such an other piece of worke as those Giants tooke in hand when they went about to scale vp to heauen for say I were willing to shew thee what fauour I might yet could I doe thee no good because of my credit assuring my selfe that if thou louest me indeed and as thou so often hast protested thou wilt not desire any thing of me that might ouerthrow me in doing of thee good True loue is of this nature that it