from me as it came my eares by chaunce hearde certaine doolefull mutterings and sorrowfull bewaylings vttered forth by my best beloued Wherfore suddainly troubled in minde and my thoughts at warre within themselues for his welfare made mee almoste interrupt him wyth these words Swéete hart what doost thou ayle But countermanded by new counsell I kept them in and with a sharpe eye and subtile eares secretely beholding him turned nowe on the otherside of the bedde I lystened a good while to his sorowfull and silent words but mine eares did not apprehend anie of thē albeit I might perceiue him molested with great store of lamentable sobbes and sighes that hée cast forth and by séeing also hys breast bedewed all wyth teares What words alas canne sufficiently expresse wyth howe manie cares my poore soule all thys while beeing ignoraunt of the cause was afflicted A thousand thoughts in one moment did violentlie runne vppe and downe in my doubtfull mynde méeting all at the laste and concludinge in one thing which was that hee louing some other Woman remained wyth me héere and in this sorte against hys wyll My words were very often at the brinck of my mouth to examine the cause of his greefe but doubting least hee lamenting in this sorte and béeing suddainly espied and interrupted of me he might not bee greatly abashed thereat they retyred back and went downe again and oftentimes likewise I turned away mine eies from beholding him because least the hote teares distilling from them and falling vppon him might haue giuen him occasion and matter to knowe that I perceiued his wofull plight Oh how many impatient meanes did I imagine to practise because that he awaking me might coniecture that I hadde neither hearde his sighes nor séene his teares and yet agréed to none at all But ouercome at the last with eager desire to knowe the occasion of his complaint because hee shoulde turne him towards mee as those who in their déepest sléepe terryfied by dreaming of some great fall wylde beast or of some ghastlie thing giue a suddaine start and in most fearefull wise rouse vppe themselues affrighted out of theyr sléepe and wyttes at once euen so wyth a suddayne and timorous voice I skriked and lifting vppe my selfe I violently caste one of my armes ouer his shoulders And truly my deceit deceiued me not because closely wyping away his teares with infinite though counterfet ioy he quickly turned towardes mée againe and with a pittifull voice sayd My fayrest and swéetest soule of what wert thou afraid Whō without delay I answered thus My Loue I thought I had lost thée My words alas I knowe not by what spyrite vttered forth were most true presagers and foretellers of my future losse as nowe to true I find it But he replyed O déerest déere not hatefull death nor anie aduerse chaunce of vnstable Fortune whatsoeuer can worke such operations in my firme breast that thou my onlie ioy shalt leese me for euer And incontinently a greate and profound sighe folowed these pittiful words the cause of which not so soone demaunded of mee who was also moste desirous to knowe the ofspring of his first lamentations but sodainely two streames of teares from both his eyes as from two fountaines beganne to gushe out amaine and in great aboundance to drench his sorrowfull breast not yet thorowlie dryed vp by his former wéeping And holding mée poore soule plunged in a gulfe of gréefes ouercome with flooddes of brinish teares a longe time in a dolefull and doubtfull suspence before euen so did the violence of his sobbes and sighes stoppe the passage of his wordes he could aunswer any thing to my demaundes againe But after that he felt the tempest of his outragious passion somewhat calmed with a sorrowfull voyce yet still interrupted with many heauy sighes he sayde thus againe O déerest Lady and sole Mistresse of my afflicted hart and onely belooued of me aboue all other women in the worlde as these extraordinarie effectes are true recordes of the same If my plaintes deserue any credite at all thou mayst then beléeue that my eyes not without a gréeuous occasion shed earst such plenty of bitter teares when so euer that is obiected to my memory which remaininge nowe with thée in great ioye dooth cruelly torment my heart to thinke of that is when I remember with my selfe that thou mayest not alas faine would I that thou couldest make two Panphilowes of me because remaining héere and being also there whether vrgent and necessary affayres doo perforce compell me most vnwillingly to retire I might at one time fulfill the lawes of looue and my pittifull naturall and duetifull deuoyre O my aged and loouing father Being therefore not able to suffer any more my pensiue hart with remembrance of it is continually with great affliction galled more and more as one whom pitty drawing on the one side is taken out of thy armes and on the other side with great force of looue is still reteyned in them All these reasons are condemned of louers which perturbe their ioyes These wordes perced my miserable hart with such extréeme bitternesse as I neuer felt before And although my dusked wittes did not well vnderstand them notwithstanding as much as my eares and sences attentiue to theyr harmes did receiue and conceiue of them by so much more the very same conuerted into teares issued out of my eyes leauing behinde them their cruell malicious effects in my hart This was therefore good Ladies the fyrst hower in the which I felt such grudgīg gréefs enuious of my plesures this was that hower which made me power forth vnmesurable teares the like neuer spent of me before whose course and maine streames not any of his comforts consolatory words could stop stench one whit But after I had a long time together remained in woefull walinges enfolding him loouingly beetwéene my armes I praied him as much as I could to tell me more cléerely what pittie what due pyetie that was that did drawe him out of my armes and threaten me his absence wherupō not ceasing to lament he said thus vnto me Ineuitable death the finall ende of all thinges of manie other sonnes hath left me sole to suruiue with my aged and reuerent father who burdened with many yeres and liuing without the swéet companie of his deceased wife and louing brothers who might in his olde yéeres carefully comforte him and remaining now without any hope of more issue being determined not to marrie dooth recall me home to sée hym as the chéefest part of his consolation whome he hath not séene these many yéeres past For shifting of which iournie because I would not swéet Fiammetta leaue thée there are not a fewe monthes past when fyrst by diuers meanes I beganne to frame some iust and reasonable excuse But he in fyne not accepting of any did not cease to coniure me by the essence which I had by him and by my impotent childhoode tenderly
pray thée by tarying here stil to the comfort weale of both our liues My words encreased his teares in great aboundance of the which with intermingled and swéet kisses I drunke vp some But after many a heauy sigh that he fetched he answered me thus againe O chéefest and singuler felicitie of my soule I doubtlesse know thy words to be most true as by euery manifest daunger included in them thou hast plainly set down before my eyes But because since present and vrgent necessity doth require which I would it did not I may bréefely answer thée I tel thée that to paie and acquite with a short gréefe a long and great debt I thinke my Fiammetta thou wilt easilye graunt that I may and must iustly doo Thou must therefore think and rest assured that although I am sufficiently by the pitty of my sicke and aged Father duely obliged yet am I no lesse nay rather more straightly bounde by the same which I ought to haue of vs bothe which if it were lawfull to discouer it woulde of it selfe séeme excusable enough presupposing that what thou hast said shoulde bee iudged of my Father or of any other els for him I would then leaue and let my olde Father die without séeing him at all But since it behooueth that this pittie muste bee couert and kept close and accomplished also without manifesting the cause of it I sée not how without great infamy and reprehensiō I might anie way desist to performe the same To auoide which due slaunder in not discharge of my duetie frowning Fortune shall but thrée or foure monethes at the most interrupt suspend our woonted delights which no sooner expired but without all faile thou shalt sée me ioyfully return to thée againe and make both our harts as glad at our merry méeting as they are nowe dolefully daunted with their sorrowfull parting And if the place to which I goe is so vnpleasant as thou makest it and as it is indéede compared with this thy swéete selfe also béeing héere then this must greatly content thée thinking that if there were no other occasion that shoulde prouoke mee to departe from thence the qualities of the place moste contrarye to the disposition of my mind would bee forcible motiues to make me returne and come hither againe Graunt mee therefore swéete Mistresse this fauoure that I may goe thither and as thou hast béene héeretofore most carefull of my estate and honor so now likewise tender the same and arme thy mind with patience in this crosse of spightfull Fortune because knowing this accident to be most gréeuous vnto thée I may héere after make my selfe more assured that in anie chaunce of Fortune whatsoeuer my honor is as déere to thée as my selfe He had now saide and helde his peace when I be ganne thus to reioyne as foloweth Nowe doo I cléerely sée that which framed in thy inflexible mind thou dost beare inexorable And I scarcely thinke that in the same thou doost admit any thought at all of those great infinite cares with which thou leauest my distressed soule so heauily burdened deuiding thy selfe from me Things that are wont to hurt a louers mind which not one day night nor houre canne possiblie liue héere without a thousande feares And I shall remaine in continuall doubt of thy life which I pray the Gods may be prolonged aboue my daies to thine owne will and desire Alas what néede I with superfluous spéeche prolong the time in discoursing and reciting of them by one and one Dangers that hang daily ouer mortal mē thy selfe knowing well enough that the Sea hath not so manie sandes nor heauen so manie starres as there be doubtfull and dangerous perilles that are imminent and commonly incident to mortall men All the which if thou goest from hence as doubtles they will not a little feare mee so will they greatlie offend and hurt thée Woe is me for my sorrowful life I am ashamed to tell thée that which nowe commeth to my mind but because by that which I haue heard it séemeth a thing possible and likely constrained therfore I will tell it thée Now if in thy country in the which as the common fame is and as my selfe perticulerly haue hearde there is an infinite number of faire and daintie Ladies who spending their yong yeres in cunning loue solemne sports and feasts the first a passion especially incident to them and the second a common thing vsed there with wanton and aluring meanes are most expert to entise and procure loue again thy wandring eie should espie some one of these which might perhappes please thy absent hart and so for her loue shouldest neglect and forget mine ah what a miserable life should I then leade Wherefore if thou doost beare me such feruent affection as thou sayest and séemest to doo imagine howe thou wouldest take it if for exchaunge of an other which thinge shall neuer come to passe I should denye thée Panphilus my loue But before my true hart shoulde harbour one trecherous thought thereof these handes of myne should rent it from my brest and be the executioners of my iust death But let vs leaue these imaginations and that which wée desire may neuer happen let vs not with ominous auguries diuinate and tempt the Gods in vaine But if thy minde be resolutly bent to departe and forasmuch as there is nothing that can please mee which may anie wayes displease and discontent thée I must of necessity dispose my selfe to bee agréeable to thy wyll héerein Notwithstanding with earnest prayers I request thée that it would please thée in one thing to follow my minde in delaying I meane yet a little longer if possiblye it may bée thy suddaine and sorrowful iourney during which time imagining in the meane time thy departure with continuall thinking thereof presupposing thy absence I may with lesse gréefe of mind learne frame my selfe to liue without thee which is no straunge thing for mée to request nor harde for thée to graunt since that the weather which for this time of the yéere is most vnreasonable doth greatlie encline to the helpe and fauour of thys my desire and is most contrary to the drifte of thy determination Why doost not thou sée Virgill immitated in the 4. boke of Aeneas howe the skyes full of dark and blacke clowdes with tempests stormes and flooddes of powring rayne and Hylles of thicke snowes choaking vppe the waies with raging and boysterous windes and horrible thunders doo dailie threaten the earth and earthlie creatures with manifest daungers And as thou canst not otherwise know how euery little Riuer and Brooke is nowe by these continuall showers of rayne swelled into daungerous and myghtye flooddes What senceles man thē is hée pardon me good Panphilus who hauing so small regarde of his life would in this blustering stormy and yll weather take any voyage or iourney in hand Doo therfore my pleasure in this reasonable aduise which if
furie And call him the Sonne of Venus saying that he deriueth his omnipotent power from the third Heauen as though you woulde excuse your follyes with a néedlesse kind of necessitie O deceiued soules and vtterlie deuoide of all reason and most ignorant of that which you saie Sent from the infernall furies Wanton loue reproued with a suddain and swift flight he visiteth all the world bringing to him the dooth entertaine him not deitie but dispaire not fréendly felicitie but fendlie folly allighting on those whō he dooth know to a bounde in superfluitie of worldly goods and to enioye them with a vaine and prodigall mind and on him whom he thinketh fittest and most forwarde to make him place And thys is héere most manifest by thée Why doo we not sée holy Venus to dwell oftentimes in little cottages bothe profitable and necessarie for our procreation yes truly But this who by frensie is called Loue coueting euer dissolute thinges lodgeth in no other place but where happy Fortune dooth smyle and where her gyfts abound Thys dainty one disdayning no lesse sufficient foode to satis-fie nature then necessary clothing dooth frame all hys perswasions to delicate fare and sumptuous attyre and so entermingling his secrete swéete poyson with them doth deceiue and destroye vnwarie and ignoraunt soules Thys more willingly and often séene in high and princly Palaces is seldome or neuer séene in poore and Country cottages Because it is a certaine precise pestilence which dooth chuse out onely braue and stately lodginges as most agréeable in the ende to his wicked practises We sée in poore and simple people effects of good and quiet consequence but in the rich wallowing in pleasure and shyning in theyr aboundaunce of gold insatiable as well in this as in all thinges els that he is more then is requisite for the most part founde and that which he cannot doo who can doo most he dooth desire and especially endeuour to bring to passe Among whom I perceiue thée most vnhappy and vnfortunate Mistresse to be one who by too much wealth ease and idle pleasure hast entred into these newe and vnbeséeming cares Whom after I had a good while heard I aunswered thus again Holde thy peace thou olde and foolish dotarde and prate not thus against my God Thou speakest voluntarily against him thy self béeing no lesse impotent for these effects then iustly cast of all menne blaspheming hym nowe whom in time of thy yonger yeres thou diddest religiously adore If other Ladies more noble wiser and more famous thē my selfe haue heretofore thus entitled him and cease not yet to call him by the name of a mighty God how can I then alone giue him anie newe or deuised name To be plaine with thée I am become his Subiect but from whence the occasion of this allegance doth spring I neither know nor can tell thée And what can I doo more My feminine forces conioyned oftētimes wyth hys celestiall power are ouercome and constrained to retyre backe againe Wherefore there resteth no more for the end of my newe and mortall paynes but my néere death or els the enioying of my wished loue which woes I praye thée to mitigate if thou art so wise as I estéeme thée by thy sage coūsel and spéedie helpe which will perhaps lessen them at the least or els by thy bitter reprehensions surcease to exasperate and make them greater blaming that in mee which my soule not able to doo otherwise with all the power and force it hath is wholly disposed to follow She departed therfore out of my Chamber somewhat offended as she had indéede good cause at this my peremtorie answere not giuing mee one word againe but murmuring I know not what with her selfe leauing me all alone Nowe was my louing Nurce I say gone In this place one may see how contrarie sensualitie is to reason without speaking anie more to me whose counselles though vnaduisedly reiected of me yet I remaining all alone pondered all her wordes in my carefull breast And although my vnderstanding was obscured with mistie clowdes of senceles loue I founde in them neuerthelesse a swéete and relyshed taste which making my hart touched as it were with repētance with a wauering and vnconstant mind I did consider better of that which euen now I told her I had resolued to folow Wherfore beginning nowe to thinke to perswade my selfe to let this doubtfull and daungerous matter passe away I thought it good to call her backe againe for my néedeful comfort but this good motion was quickly countermaunded by a new and suddaine accident Venus doth appeare vnto her Because lying all alone in my secrete Chāber a most faire Lady not knowing frō whence she came appeared before mine eyes glittering with such shyning light that compassed her round about that my dazeled eies might scarce behold her who standing thus before mee without either mouing or speaking as much as by the golden light I might illuminate sharpen my eies so far foorth did I cast their beames vntill at laste her beautifull forme and formall feyture of her body was fully arriued to my perfect knowledge Whom whē I did cléerely sée to be all naked A fine description of a fayre woman sauing only a thine vaile of fine purple silk which although it couered some part of her snow white body did neuertheles abridge my sight in looking on her no more then if I had beheld some goodly figure or Image enclosed in cristal or cléere glasse Her maiestical head the haire wherof did so much excéede gold in brightnes as the golden colour of ours passeth the yellowest and softest in fairenes was crowned with a fine Garland of gréene Myrtils vnder the shadow of which I saw two eyes of incomparable beauty and passing louelie to behold did cast foorth a meruailous and splendant brightnes and all the rest of her faire face was in like proportion adorned with such diuine beautie that her like on earth myght not I think be found She spake not a word glorying perhaps in her self to sée me gaze on her so much or els to please and delight me perceiuing me so greatly content desirous to behold her yet at length by little and little in the transparant and shyning light more cléerely discouering to mee the fairest parts of her daintie body because shee knewe the with my vnable tongue I coulde not rehearse her excéeding beauties nor without euident sight of them imagine any such to liue amongst mortall men Which admirable beauties whē she perceiued that I had seuerally earnestly marked and to maruaile no lesse at the rare perfection of them as to wōder at her comming thither with a pleasant and mild countenaunce and with an angelicall voyce she began to speake thus vnto me Venus her speeche to Fiammetta Yong Lady and of all others most noble what dost thou intend to doo disturbed by the new coūsels of thy old Nurce knowst thou not that
so strongly perswaded of theyr trueth that I turned my breake brayne thoughts into pittifull prayers to the deuine powers that they would take the same from mée apprehending them so forciblie in my mynde and no more nor lesse then if before mine eyes I had séene his imminent daunger and instaunt death And sometimes I remember that with fyrme beléefe I bewayled hys woefull ende as if I hadde séene any of these intellectuall aduersyties indéede But afterwardes I sayd to my selfe Alas what straunge causes are these which my miserable thoughtes cast before my eyes The Goddes forbydde that any such may befall Let him stay still and as long as pleaseth hym and let hym rather then to content mee or to offer hym selfe to any daungerous ieopardie whych may chaunce indéede though nowe they doo but delude my troubled wyttes not returne nor sée mée at all All which perilles though they are indéede possible yet are they impossible to bée kept close béeing most lyke that the vntimely and violente death of so noble and famous a younge Gentleman as hée is cannot longe bée hydden and concealed especiallie from mée of whose estate and welfare I doo carefully cause and with secrete and subtyle inuestigations doo continually procure dillygent enquirie to bée made And who dooth doubte moreouer if that any of these supposed perrilles were true but that flying Fame Fame a swifte reporter of ill thinges the swift reporter of ill newes would haue long since brought the maner of hys death hether By meanes of whych fortune but my least freende in thys would haue giuen mée an open waie to haue made mee the most sadde and most sorrowfull woman that might be Wherefore I rather beléeue that he remaineth in as great gréefe as I am in if that his most willinge returne is forbidden onely by the heauy commaundementes of his father and therefore he will come quickly or else excusing hys staying so long will for my great comfort write to me the occasion thereof Truely the foresayd thoughts although they did fiercely assault mee yet were they easily enough ouercome and the hope which by the terme determined was enforced to flie from me with all my power I did retaine laying downe before it the long and feruent looue which he bare vnto me and I to him his pawned fayth the adiured and sacred Goddes and his infinite teares in which thinges I did affirme and thinke it impossible that any deceite or guile might be hidden But yet I could not so rule my sorrowfull minde but that this hope thus forcibly kept must néedes giue place to many vagrant and vaine thoughtes that were yet left béehinde which driuing hereby little and little out of my woefull brest did worke amayne to returne to theyr former places reducing eftsoones to my minde diuers prodigious signes and tokens and many other vnfortunate accidents And I did scarcely perceiue the peaceable hope being almost quite expelled out of my heart but I did immediately féele theyr mighty and new forces planted in her place But amongst all other murdering thoughtes that did most of all massacre my gréeuous soule hearing nothing at all in processe of manie dayes of my Panphilus his returne was sharpe and stinging iealousie Ah this spitefully galled and wounded my breast more then I was able to endure This did dissanull all excuses which I had made for him as knowing and consenting to the occasion of his absent déedes This did often times induce me to those spéeches condemned of me before saying Alas how art thou so foolishe to beléeue that eyther the looue of his father vrgent affayres or delightfull pleasures maie now kéepe Panphilus from comming hether if he did looue thée so as once he sayd he dyd Dost not thou know that Loue doth ouercome all thynges Loue doth ouercome all things for he hath feruently perhaps enamoured of some other Gentlewoman quite forgotten thée whose pleasures béeing as forcible as new doo hide and hold him there as somtimes thine did kéepe him here Those foresaid Ladies passing gracious in euery thing they doo and as thou saydst in euery poynt moste apt to loue and with braue allurements endeuouring to bee beloued againe hee himselfe béeing likewise by the delicate purenesse of his cléere complexion naturally inclined to such passions and for many rare and commendable qualities in him most worthy to be beloued applying their whole studyes to hys seruice theyr paynes to his pleasures and hee his desires to their deuotions haue made him become a new Innamorato Art thou so assotted with the fame and glory of thine owne beauty that thou doost not beléeue that other Women haue shyning eyes in theyr heads fayrnes in theyr faces and that they are not as full of courtly behauiour good graces and all things els that may commaunde yong mens mindes as well as thou art And dost thou thinke that they are not so skilfull who are alas a greate deale more then euer thou werte in these amorous attempts as thou art Why thou art deceiued And if this be thy beléefe it is false And dooste not likewise beléeue that he on the otherside can please more then one Woman But yet I thinke that if hee coulde but sée thée it would bee a harde thing for him to loue any other But since he cannot sée thée nor hath not séene thée these many monethes how canst thou déeme otherwise then so Thou must néedes knowe that no worldly accident is permanent and eternall for as he was enamored of thée as thou didst please him so is it possible that another may like him and he abandoning thy loue may affectionate some other New things alwaies please For newe things are euer wont to please a great deale more thē those which are daily séene And euery one dooth with greater affection desire that which hee hath not then that which he hath already in his owne possession Againe there is nothing be it neuer so delightful which by long time enioying vsing the same doth not ware yrkesome at last and of lesse if of none account at all Who wyll not moreouer sooner and more willingly loue a faire new Ladie at his owne house then one whom he hath long since serued in a forraine Countrey and vnknown place He did not also loue thée perhappes with so feruent and zealous affection as he made thée beléeue And neyther his teares nor any of his passions were to bee helde so déere and so sure a pledge of such great loue as he did still affyrme and as thou didst thinke that he did beare thée Many men also departing from their beloued are tormented with anguish gréefe of mind with bitter waylings taking their wofull congies swearing déepely and promising many things profoundlie which with a good and firme intent perhaps they meane to performe but some suddaine and newe chaunce controling the same is an occasion to make them forget al their former oathes and protestations The teares
wordes dyed presently in her mouth and by as much as I coulde perceiue with the greatest paine in the world she stayed her teares ascended already vppe into her eyes from trickling downe her chéekes But I especially desiring the same oppressed with sursaults of vnspeakable gréefe and suddainly after assailed with an other as forcible and as great ielosie I meane I scarcely staid my selfe with moste vile and scolding tearmes froÌ„ reprehending her altered countenaunce and disturbed sences as one greeued at the very hart that she should showe towardes Panphilus such manifest tokens of Loue greatly fearing thereby that she shad perhaps as well as I some iuste occasion to bee discontented with the report of these bitter newes But yet I moderated my selfe and with great paine and fretting anguish of mind the like I think was neuer heard of I bridled and kept still my troubled and irefull harte vnder a modest and vnchaunged countenaunce though more desirous to complaine bewaile then to harken any further after such heauie newes or to sée such apparant and wounding signes of corriuallitie But the yong Gentlewoman perhaps with that same forced courage and strength forcibly retayning her greefe within her like my selfe and passed it away as thoughe it had not béen shée who was before so much troubled in mind and in face and shewing a semblaunce that she beléeued hys words the more she asked the more she founde his answers contrary to her desires and alas most repugnaunt to myne Whereupon leauing the Merchant of whom so instantlye she had demaunded newes and disguising her sadnes with a vysard of fayned myrth we stayed longer together then I woulde talking diuersly of this that But after our talke began to grow to an ende euery one went away and I my selfe with a soule fraught full of anger and anguish fretting within my selfe no otherwise then the enraged Lyon of Libia after he hath discouered the Hunter and his toyles my face burning sometimes by the way as redde as fire and sometimes wexing suddainly pale againe somtimes with a slow pace and sometimes againe with a hastie gate and broade steps more then womanly modestie did require sorrowfully returned to my sorrowfull lodging Where after that it was lawfull for me béeing all alone to doo what I woulde and entred nowe into my Chamber Passions of ielosie I began moste bitterly to lament And when a good while together my infinite teares had washed away a good part of my gréefe my spéech beeing come to me more franckly then before with a faynt and féeble voice I began to lament saying Nowe doost thou know the occasion so greatly desired of thee of his vniust stay Nowe doost thou knowe miserable Fiammetta why thy Panphilus dooth not returne to thée againe Nowe hast thou founde out that which so seriouslye thou didst serche out What doost thou then desire to seeke more miserable wretch as thou art what dost thou demand more Let thys suffice thée Panphilus is no more thine Cast away nowe thy flattering hope for euer séeing hym againe and thy desires to haue him euer any more Abandon thy bootlesse teares lay downe thy feruent loue and leaue of all foolish and vaine thoughts Beléeue from henceforth diuine presages and credite hereafter thine owne diuining minde And nowe beginne to knowe though too late the periuries and deceits of yong men Thou art come iust to that miserable point whereto other sillie women trusting too much like thy selfe haue alreadie arriued And with these wordes I rekindled my incensed rage and reinforced my gréeuous lamentations And afterwards with most fierce words I began to speake thus Blasphemes of those that be ielâ—ous Oh ye Gods where are you now where doo your iuste eyes nowe behold where is nowe your due anger wherefore doth it not fal vppon the contemner and scorner of your myght O mightie Iupiter whose diuine Godheadde canne brooke no wicked periuries and yet is by an execrable impeforsworne what doo thy thunderbolts and where dooest thou nowe bestowe them who hath most iustly nowe deserued them Wherefore are they not cast vppon that most irreligious and perfidus man to terrifie others by his perpetuall fal not to forsweare thy holy name Oh illuminate Phaebus where are nowe thy Dartes with mortall steeles of which fierce Python in respect of him who so falslye called thée to witnes of his detested trecherie and déepe deceits did so yll deserue to be pricked Depriue him of the comfortable light of thy shyning beames and become his pursuing enemie no otherwise then thou shewedst thy selfe to myserable Oedipus O ye other Goddes and Goddesses whatsoeuer and thou mighty looue whose celestial power this false louer hath mocked why doo you not shew your force and power the condigne wrath vpon his guiltie head Why doo yée not turne heauen and earth and all the cruell fates and the infernall sisters against this newe bridegroome that in the world for a notable example of a detestable deceiuer and for a wicked violatour of your righteous lawes despiser of your might he may not suruiue any longer to laughe and flowte you to scorne Many lesse faultes then this haue procured your heauie indignatioÌ„ not to so iust a reuenge as this Wherfore then do you delay it you are not scarce able to be so cruell towardes him that he might for his heinous offence be duely punished Alas poore wretche wherefore is it not possible that your selues iniured also should not féele the effectes of his fraudulent dealinges as well as I so that the irefull heate of his deserued punition should be as well kindled in your reuenging brestes as in my iniured hart Oh Goddes throwe all those daungers downe or else turne some of those least plagues vpon his hateful heade of the which I did of late doubt Kill him with any cruell kinde of death that pleaseth you best because I might in one hower féele my totall and finall gréefe that I should euer after haue sustained for him and so reuenge your selues and me at once Doo not partially consent that I alone should bewaile the gréefe of his vile offences and that he hauing mocked bothe you and me shold merely reioyce and desport him selfe with his new spouse But incensed afterwardes with lesse anger and yet prouoked with more fierce and sharpe complaintes comming to Panphilus I remember that I beganne thus to saye O Panphilus nowe I knowe the cause of thy stayinge there Now are thy deceites most manifest vnto me Now doo I sée what kinde of looue dooth holde thée backe and what pittie dooth kéepe thée there Thou doost now celebrate the vnhallowed Himens and espousall rightes nay wronges and I poore soule enchaunted with the pittifull charmes of thy faire tongue and with thy Crocadile tears deceiued doo now consume and wast my selfe away with mourning and lamenting making with my floddes of teares an open way to my spéedy death which with ignominious titles of thy crueltie and
could doo none other visite or desire to goe to them My face béeing on the suddaine become leane and pale caused so many maruailes doubts and sadnes in my house that euery one talked diuersly of the same And looking and lyuing in thys pittifull case and making semblaunce that I knewe of nothinge I remayned the most pensiue and the most sorowfull woman that might be My doubtfull thoughts did draw on and waste most part of the day vncertaine whither I might resolue my selfe to myrth or moane But séeing the nights fitting best my vnpleasant humours and finding my selfe alone in my Chamber after hauing first lamented my woes and talked manie thinges with my selfe stirred vppe and inspired as it were with better counsell I turned my deuout prayers to Venus saying Fiammettas prayer to Venus O singuler beautie of the Heauens O moste pittifull Goddesse and most holy Venus who in likenesse of thy selfe in the beginning of my anxieties diddest appeare vnto mee in this Chamber Aforde me now some comfort for my great gréefes and by that reuerend and internall loue that thou diddest beare fayre Adonis mittigate my extreame paines Beholde what tribulations I suffer for thée Beholde howe manie times the terrible Image of death hath béene presented before mine eyes The Image of death terrible Behold if my pure faith hath deserued so much paine as I wrongfully sustaine Béeing but yong and not knowing thy darts I suffered my selfe at thy firste pleasures and without denyall to become thy subiect Thou knowest how much good thou didst promise me and I cannot truely denie but that I haue enioyed some part thereof but if thou wilt comprehend these sorrowes which thou diddest giue me as part also of that good then let Heauen and earth perrish in one howre and let all lawes like vnto these be adnihilated and made newe againe with the world But if they séeme vnequall in thy sight as I hope they doo then let O gracious Goddesse thy promise be fulfilled because thy holy mouth may not be thought or saide to haue learned to dissemble as mortall mens doo Sende forth thy Sonne wyth his golden arrowes and wyth thy firebrandes to my Panphilus where he doth nowe remaine so far distant from mee and enflame his hart in such sorte if peraduenture for not séeing me so long time it is waxen too colde in my loue or too hote with the present beauty of an other that burning as I doo none occasion whatsoeuer may with-hold him from comming backe againe Because taking againe some comfort and ease vnder the heauie burden of these calamities I may not so quickly die O most fayre Goddesse let my wordes sounde into thy eares and if thou wilt not sette him on fire pull out of my poore hart thy wounding Darts because I may as well as he spende my dayes without such great gréefe Wyth thys forme of prayers although I sawe theyr effects but vaine yet thinking that they were hearde I did with small hope somewhat lighten my torments beginning new thoughts I said Oh Panphilus where art thou nowe Ielious thoughts Alas what dooest thou hath now the silent night surprised thée without sléepe and with so many teares as it hath taken holde of mee Or doth thy yong spouse perhaps not hearde of me at all holde thée in her armes or yet without any remembraunce of me doost thou swéetly sléepe Alas how may it be that Loue can gouerne two Louers with so vnequall Lawes bothe louing so firmely as I am too assured that I doo and as perhaps thou doost I know not But if it be so that these thoughts do occupy thy minde as they doo ouercome mine what wycked prysons or mercilesse chaynes doo hold thée that in breaking of them thou doost not returne to mee I know not certes what might stay me from going to thée vnlesse my beautye which woulde without all doubt be an occasion of my vtter shame and a great impediment to me in all places did not onely kéepe me backe What busines soeuer and what other occasions of stay thou diddest there finde shoulde bee by thys ended and nowe thy Father shoulde haue glutted himselfe with thy daily companie who is I knowe and for whose death the Gods know I doo continually pray the onely occasion of thy stay there And if not of this at the least of robbing thée from me he was vndoubtedly the onely cause and means But I feare me poore soule that going about to pray for hys death thou dost prolong his life so contrary are the Goddes to thy requestes and so inexorable in euery thing I craue of them Ah let thy loue if it be such as it was once wont to be conquere their opposite force and come againe Dost not thou thinke that I lye sadlie all alone a great part of the tedious nightes in the which thou diddest once beare me faithfull company though accompanied I must néedes confesse with millions of martyring thoughts Alas howe manie long Winter nights lying a colde without thée in a great and sollitarie bedde haue I passed heauily away Ah call to thy forgetfull minde the sundry kindes of these pleasures which in manie thinges we were wont to take togeger remembring which I am then certain that there is no other Woman able to deuide thée from mee And this beléefe doth make me as it were more surer then any other thing that the newes of the new spouse are but false which if they were true yet she cannot I thinke take thée from mee but for a time Returne therefore and if swéete delights haue no force to draw thée back againe let the desire which thou hast to deliuer her whom aboue all other Women thou louest from suddaine and shamefull death perswaded thée to bee reclaimed Alas if thou wert now returned I hardly beleeue that thou couldest know me againe for so hath excéeding sorow and anguish of mind extenuated and altered my former and faire countenaunce But that which infinite teares hath taken from mee a short gladnesse in séeing thy swéete face shall quickly restore to me againe and I shall be once again that Fiammetta which I was before Ah come Panphilus come because my hart doth still call vpon thée suffer not the flower of my yong daies to perrish in dole altogether prest for thy delights and vowed to thy pleasures I knowe not alas with what modestie I could bridle my suddaine and excéeding ioy if thou werte here againe but that vnmoderatly it should be manifest to euery publicke personne Because I doubt and iustly that our loue with great wisedome and patience a long time concealed might not bee perhaps discouered to euery one But yet wert thou come to sée and to try whither ingenious lies could as well take place in prosperous euēts as in aduerse crooked accidents Alas I wold thou wert for all this come and if it could not be better then let euery one that would knowe it because I woulde thinke
with them I began to sitte mee downe incontinentlie againe entring still into newe and fantasticall imaginations Euery thīge refresheth the memory of the Louer of his sorpassed and happy life It came then to my minde howe solemne and glorious that feast was which like vnto this was once made in honor of my nuptiall ioy in the which béeing then but a simple soule in franticke loue matters and frée from melancholye passions as abounding in all ioy I sawe in my selfe wyth woorthy congratulations of euery one honourablye saluted and nobly entreated And cōparing those times with these and séeing them beyond all proportion altered I was wyth great desire if oportunitie of time and place had graunted prouoked to wéepe This swyft and suddaine thought didde runne also in my minde when I sawe the yong Gentlemen and Gentlewomen to reioyce equally together and to bee merry alike courting and deuising one with another sometimes with many pleasant and swéete discourses and sometimes with many singuler and prettie deuises fitte for such purposes howe that once I behelde my Panphilus in lyke places and howe in his company he and I all alone had passed the time there together and could not nowe doo the like And it gréeued me no lesse to sée my selfe depryued of the occasion of making such kind of ioy and enioying such content then I was sorrowfull for the pleasure which I loste by the not performance of the same But from thence applying my eares to amorous delights songs and sundry tunes and remembring those with my self that were passed I sighed and meruailous desirous to sée the ende of such tedious feastes béeing malecontent in the meane time and sorrowfull wyth my selfe I passed them away Notwithstanding beholding euery thing exactly the companies of yong Gentlemen béeing flocked about the Gentlewomen and Ladies that nowe were sette downe to rest them and retyred into diuers places to gaze on them I did perceiue well that many of them or almost all did sometimes ayme theyr beames at me and did talke secretly amongst themselues of diuers things touching my beautie brauery and behauiour but not so softlie but that by manifest hearing of my owne part or by imagination or hearesay of some others no smal part of their spéeches came to mine eares Some of them said one to another Diuers opinions and speeches of menne Alas behold that yong Gentlewoman who had not her paragon for beautie in our Cittie and sée nowe what an one she is become Dooest not thou sée how strangely she is altered and how appalled her once faire face is growne my selfe béeing as ignorant of the cause as amazed to sée the effects And hauing thus said looking on me with a most pittifull and milde eye as they who were greatly condolent of my gréefes going away left mee full of compassion and more pittious towards my selfe then I was wont to be Others didde enquire of one another amongst themselues saying Alas hath this Gentlewoman béene sicke And afterwards did answere themselues again saying It séemeth so because she is wexed so leane and pale Wherefore it is great pittie especiallye thinking of her former beautie that is nowe vaded quite away But there were some of a déeper reache then the reste whose true surmises greeued me very much after many gesses and spéeches amongst themselues saying The palenes of this yong Ladie is a manifest token of an enamored hart For what kind of infirmitie doth bring a Louer to a lower estate of bodie then the vnruly passions of feruent and hote affection She is vndoubtedly in loue And if it be so hée is too cruell and inhumaine that is the cause of such vnwoorthye consequences gréefe and cares I meane that make her looke with so pale and thinne chéekes When I had hearde these nipping wordes that rubbed vppe my festered wounde I coulde not with-holde my sighes perceiuing that others were more ready to pittie my miseries then he to preuent these mishaps who by greatest reason and most of all shoulde haue hadde compassion in his thanklesse harte And after I had fetcht manie déepe sighes with an humble and lowe voice I earnestlye besoughte the Gods that in lue of their kindnes towardes me they might haue better successe in their Loues And I remember again that the value of my honour and honestie was not small amongst some of them who in talking together did fauourably séeme to excuse the foresaide true surmises saying The Gods forbid that we should hatch such a thought in our minds to say that fonde Loue shoulde molest this wise modest yong Ladie or that blind affection could trouble her minde at all For she as she is endued with as great honestye as any other so was shee as it euer séemed neuer addicted to such vanities as many of her coequalles and hath not shewed at any time so much as a semblance of wanton boldnesse but continually arguments of wise and modest behauiour Nor amongst the diuers communications and companies of curious and inquisite Louers there could be neuer heard any spéech of her Loue Loue is a passion not supported any long time not once immagined amongst them which is so furious and forcible a passion that it will not bée anie long time concealed but will like restrained flames violently burst out vnawares Alas sayd I then to my selfe howe farre doo they roame from the truth not déeming me to be in loue because as it is the manner of fooles I make not my loue publicke to the view of euery one and preache it not openly abroade to bee secretely tossed from mouth to mouth as others vainly glorying in theirs are commonly wont to doo There came also sometimes oppositely before mee many yonge and noble Gentlemen proper men of personage of swéete and amiable countenaunces in euery thing gracious couragious and curteous and the chiefest flowers of our Cittie who often times before by many cunning meanes and drifts hadde to their vtmost of their power attempted and laboured to haue drawne but the deuotions of my eyes to the desires of theyr harts Who after that a certaine while they had séene mée so much deformed and altered from that I was wont to bée not wel pleased perhaps that I did not at the first frame my affections to their fancies disdayned now to looke at me and forsooke me saying The braue beautie of this Lady is gone and turned to a bleacke hew and the glory of her enflaming desires is nowe extincte Wherefore shall I hyde that from you fayre Ladies which dooth not onely gréeue mee to rehearse but generally all Women to heare I say therefore that although it was the greatest gréefe in the world to think that my Panphilus was not present for whose sake my then excellent beauty was most déere vnto me yet in such vpbraiding sort to heare that I had lost it it was no lesse then present death to my soule And besides all these things I remēber that béeing
gaue them a good president and patterne of better life It is a great gréefe you knowe for mee to tell a lye and with what an vnpatient and troubled minde I tell this forced and forged tale you knowe to well and I can doo no more Oh howe many times faire Ladies for this iniquitie haue I receiued pittifull prayses of the Gentlewomen sytting about me saying that of a most vaine woman I was become a most deuoute conuertite How hard a thing is it to iudg of anothers holines Truely I vnderstood many times that there were some of them of this opinion that I was so highly in the Gods fauour that there was nothing that I could craue at their hands but I might easily obtaine the same of them And therfore I was many times visited of holie women for a zealous and deuoute one also they béeing poore soules as much deceiued in that which with my sorrowfull and subtill countenaunce I did hide in my minde as ignorant how discrepant my feruent desires and my fayned deuotions were O deceitfull world how much can counterfet lookes preuaile in thée more then iust and well meaning mindes if that their works be hidden an secrete My selfe a greater sinner then anye other and sorrowfull for my dishonest loues yet couching them vnder the Vayle of honeste wordes am reputed holie But the iuste Goddes knowe that if I could without daunger of my honour and good name with true reports I would make satisfaction to euerie one whom in fictions spéeches and gesture I haue deluded and woulde not hide the headspringe from whēce such streames of teares did flow nor the course from whence the effects of my sorrowfull life are deriued But alas it may not bee When I had answered her who first demaunded of mée the cause of my melancholie an other sitting next vnto mee séeing my teares almost dried vp said Gracious Fiammetta whether is the shyning beautie of thy faire face gone and howe is the liuely colour of thy rosie chéekes extinct what is the cause of thy pale and wanne visage Thy twinckling eyes like to morning starres are dimmed nowe with blew and purple circles that compasse them about and are so déeply suncke into thy browes that scarcely they may bee discerned in thy forhead Thy golden tresses once so brauely adorned with curious hand heretofore why nowe tyed vppe diffusedlie and scarcely are they séene Tell mee Fiammetta Beauty is but a fraile thing For thou makest me too maruaile without ende And her I answered in fewe wordes thus It is a manifest thing that humaine beautie is but a vading flowre and that euery day and houre it waxeth lesse and lesse which if it hath any trust in it selfe at length doth perceiue it selfe to bee but nothing and to lie miserably prostrate He that gaue it me submitming me the occasion of expelling it againe with a dul pace hath taken it from me The vppermost attire of Italian Spanish Ladies and Gentlewomenne is a fine blacke mantle of silke or Saye vpon their other garments which couereth thē from the hand to the feete possibly perhaps to restore to mee againe whensoeuer it shall please him And this béeing sayd not able to with-hold my teares shrouded vnder my mantle I shed them aboundauntly And with these words I lamented with my selfe saying O beautye the vncertaine Iewell of mortall menne and the gyft of a lyttle time which dooth bothe come and goe sooner away then the pleasaunt Meddowes depainted with many flowres in the swéetest seasonnes of gladsome Springtide and the verdure of high Trées apparrelled with sundry leaues which are no sooner for a little time adorned with the vertue of Aries but immediatly with the hote exhalations and vapours of parching Sommer are consumed and taken away againe And if perhaps the burning season doth leaue any of them vntouched Autume dooth not spare to leaue them naked and bare Euen so thou beautie moste often in the middest of thy prime and best yéeres iniured by many accidents dost perrish which if perhaps they be pardoned thée in youth the riper age though with all thy force and meanes thou dooest oppose to preserue the same dooth take it quite away Oh beautie thou art but a flying and inconstant thing and not vnlike to the waters which neuer returne more to their first fountaines and no hope in changing and brittle goods and therefore lesse affiance should bee put Alas howe did I once loue thée and howe déere werte thou to mee miserable woman and with what care werte thou nourished and kept of me But nowe and deseruedly I curse thée beautie For thou art the first occasion of my lost libertie the first entrapper of my déere Panphilus his soule enioying him haste not sufficient force to kéepe him still And hee béeing nowe gone haste not the power or vertue to call him backe againe If thou haddest not béene I hadde not séemed pleasant to Panphilus his louely eies and not hauing pleased them he shoulde haue neuer sought to allure myne and not entysing and pleasing them as he did I shoulde not nowe sustaine these paines of minde Thou art therefore the onely occasion and beginning of all my hurt Oh thrise happy are those Women who without thée suffer the rebukefull checks of rude and rusticall behauiour and are contemned for their foule and ill fauoured hewe because they obseruing Dianas chaste and holy lawes and seldome troubled with pricking motions as well deuoide of péeuish passions of their owne parts as not fearing the forcible assaultes of fonde sutors may liue with their soules frée from the cruell signorie and tyrannie of loue But thou the onely occasion of receiuing continual molestation by them who neuer leaue to gaze on vs dooest by their importunacie of force entice vs to breake that which we should most déerely obserue O happy Spurina and worthy of eternall memory who knowing thy effects and vnlawfull affections in the flower of her youth with cruell hand did kill thée in her breaste rather choosing to be of the wyser beloued for her vertuous act then of wanton youthes for her concupiscible beauty Alas if I had doone so all these griefes all these thoughts these teares should haue neuer thus molested my tender hart and my nowe corrupted life shoulde haue yet remained within the compasse of her first laudable bonds Héereat the Gentlewomen pulled mee againe and blamed my superfluous teares saying Oh Fiammetta None must dispaire in Gods mercie what myserie is this doost thou despayre of the mercy of the Gods Doost not thou beléeue that they doo pittifully forgiue the greatest offences wtout shedding of so many teares This course which thou doost take in hand is rather the way to séeke thy owne death then pardon for thy faults Ryse vppe therefore and wipe thy face and beholde the sacrifice which the sacred Ministers of Iupiter are carrying to offer vp to his mightye Godhead At these wordes stopping my teares I
And vnlesse thy new looue make thée degresse to farre from the trueth thou wylt confesse and say no. What faulte of myne therefore what iust occasion of thy parte what greater beautie or more feruent looue haue taken thée from mée and giuen thée to an other Truely none And all the Gods be my recordes héerein that I neuer wrought any thing against thée but that beyond all termes of reason I looued thée And if this hath deserued such treachery as thou haste doone and workest against mée let thy owne selfe disloyall as thou art be iudge O ye Goddes the iust reuengers of our vniust defectes I cal vpon you for cruel and due vengeance I neyther wishe nor goe about to practise his death who by his vile escape from mée would haue wrought mine Nor do pray that any other punishmēt may befal to his deserued guilt but if he looue his new choice as I looue him that in casting him of and giuing her selfe to an other as he hath taken him selfe from mée she would leaue him in that kinde of lyfe that cruel as he is he causeth me to leade And so with vnséemely motions of my body turning me now this way now that way like a franticke woman I tumbled and tossed vp and downe in my bed All that day was not spent in other spéeches then in such of like tennour and in most bitter waylings But the night worser then the day and more apte for all kinde of sorrowe the melancholy darkenes being more conformable too meditating miseries then the light béeing now stolen on it came to passe that béeing in déede with my déere husband and lying a great while silent to my selfe and broade waking yet warring within my selfe with hostes of dollorous thoughts amongest which calling to memory all my passed times aswell my pleasaunt occurrences as sorrowfull passages and especially that I had lost my Panphilus by meanes of a new looue my gréefe grewe in such aboundaunce that vnable to keepe it any longer within with great lamentations dolefull complaints I burst it out albeit concealing the amorous occasion of it And my sighes were so forcible and my sobbes so profounde that my Husbande béeing nowe a goodwhile drowned in déepe sléepe by the great noise and molestation of them was awaked and turning himselfe to me who was spunged in mine owne teares and taking mee louingly in his armes with milde and pittiful words he said thus vnto mee O my swéete soule The loue of a good husband what sinister cause of so dolefull a plaint in the quiet night when thou shouldest take thy rest doth trouble thée thus What thing is it that this long time hath made thée so melancholicke and sad Nothing must bée concealed from mee that may any way displease or discontent thée Is there any thing that thy hart dooth desire and that my witt and substance may compasse for thée or that in demaunding of it thou mightest possibly haue Art not thou my onelie comfort my ioy and my good And doost not thou knowe that I loue thée aboue all worldly thinges yea more then my selfe Whereof not by shewe nor one proofe but by dailie experience thou maist liue assured Wherefore dooest thou therefore lament in such sort Wherfore doost thou afflict thy selfe in such extreame gréefe Doo I séeme vnpleasant ill fauoured or nothing gracious in thyne eyes or am I vnworthy of thy beauty or is not my birth parentage and estate agréeable to thy nobilitie or doost thou think mée culpable in any thing that I may amende Speake and tell me franckly and discouer to me the vale of thy desires There shal be nothing left vndoone or vnattempted for thy sake if it may possible bée Thou doost altered in visage and apparrel and extreamely sorowfull in all thy actions minister a doleful occasion and matter to me of an vnquiet life And though I haue before séene thée continually sadde pensiue yet thys day more then at any time I thought of late that some bodilie infirmitie was the cause of thy palenes but nowe I doo manifestly know that it is gréefe of mind that hath brought thée to this pittiful case wherin I sée thée wherfore I pray thée close to me the roote from whence all thy sorowes do grow Whom with a feminine and suddaine witte taking counsel of fained tales and lies which before hadde serued mee for a shyft I answered thus O swéete Husband déerer to me then all the worlde besides I lacke not anie thing wherein thy forward help may auaile mee and acknowledge thée without all doubt more worthy then my selfe but the death of my déere Brother of which thou art not ignorant hath long before and now since brought me to this extreame sorrow Which as often as I thinke of it with bitter wailings dooth rent my harte in péeces Sometimes the maner of ones death is more lamēted then the death it selfe And certes I bewaile not so much his cruell death a thing naturallie incident to vs all but the strange and pittifull manner of the same which thou diddest know to be violent infortunate and bloodie And besides this the straunge things and vglie sights that appeared to me after his death doo kill my fearefull soule to thinke of I can neuer so little shut vp mine eyeliddes or giue any slender sléepe to my sorrowfull eies but immediatly all pale trembling naked and full of goare shewing me his cruell woundes he appeareth quaking before me And euen then when thou diddest perceiue me to wéepe and lament hee came into the Chamber standing and staring before me as I was a sléepe in likenes of a horrible and fainting ghoste fearefully quaking wyth a breathles and panting brest in such sort that he could scarce vtter one word but at the last with extreame paine sayde O my déere Sister wipe that blotte of ignominie from me which with an appalled and troubled face looking euer for verie gréefe and shame thereof on the ground doth make my sorrowfull ghost wander with great disgrace and scorne amongst other haples sprites And although it was some comfort for me to sée him yet ouercome with terror which I had of his dreadfull habite and mooued with iust compassion of his words with starting on a suddaine I awaked out of my féeble sléepe and thus my teares the which thou dooest nowe goe about to comfort fulfilling the duetie of my conceiued pittie did at hand follow And so as the Gods know if weapons were fitte for Women I woulde ere this haue reuenged his miserable death and with a fierce countenaunce and couragious hart sent the gréedie gutton of his innocent blood amongst other damned soules But alas I can doo no more then I am able Therefore déere Husbande not without great occasion I am thus miserablie tormented in minde O with howe manie pittiful words did he then comfort me applying a salue to the wounde which was healed long inough before and howe did hee endeuour to
stratagems The sorrowfull teares of Licurgus I meane with the mortall exequies honoured of the seauen kinges and infinite sportes and spectacles made by them in solemnization of that glorious funerall and those of Atalanta made notable and beutified also with the laudable life and victorious death of her young Sonne But I haue not any thing nor any such cause to make my teares scarce well employed much lesse excellent and my selfe content because if it were so wheras I now estéeme my selfe more dolefull and vnfortunate then any other perhappes I should be perswaded to auerre the contrary Vilisses The long trauelles of Vlisses his mortall and imminent perrilles his wandering and weary perigrinations and all his déedes whatsoeuer are next of all shewed vnto mée who neuer tasted them but seasoned with most bitter and extreame anguishe of minde and redoubled many times in my imaginations they make me thinke mine to be farre greater and much more gréeuous and harken why Because first and principally he was a manner and therefore of nature more strong and better able to endure them then I being a tender and young woman and he béeing moreouer continuallie armed with a stoute couragious and feirce mynde and beaten to dailie daungers as one rypened amongest them when hee trauailed and turmoyled dyd séeme to haue but his ordinary repose nay his greatest ease and pleasure in them But I béeing continually in my Chamber and tenderlie serued with daintie and delicate thinges passing my times awaie in pleasures and dailie accustomod to dalliances of wanton looue euery little payne and feare thereof is most gréeuous vnto me He driuen and pricked on by Neptune and transported into diuers partes the of world and of Aeolus likewise receyued his troubles But with careful looue I am infected and with such a lord infested that troubled and conquered them that molested and tossed Vlisses And if daungerous casualties and daylie feares dyd séeme to threaten him of his proper accorde hée wandered continually in séeking of them out And who can with iust cause complaine or be agréeued for finding of that which he dooth so earnestly séeke for None can be sorrowfull for finding that they seeke But I séely wretche would faine liue in quiet if I could and would willingly fly from woes and gréefes if that so rigorously they dyd not rushe vpon me and if I were not my selfe so forcibly driuen vpon them Besides this he was not afrayd of death and therefore without feare did commit him selfe to her force and might But I liue in continuall dreade of it though compelled by extreame sorrowe I haue sometime not without feare of greater gréefe runne willingly vnto it He also by his long trauelles and ieopardies of Fortune dyd hope to get eternal glorie and neuer dying fame But I am afrayd of my escandilized name and infamous memory hereafter if it shoulde come to passe that these secrete looues should at any tyme come to lyght So that now his paynes are not greater and more then myne but are rather in number and quallitie farre lesse then mine and by so much the more as they are fabulated to be greater then euer they were indéede But mine alas are to true so many and more greater then I am able my selfe to recounte But after all these I sée me thinkes the sorrowes sobbes and heauie sighes the infinite woes and pittious plaints that Hipsiphile Medea and Oenone had and the pittifull teares of Ariadne which were more copious then all the rest all which I iudge most like vnto mine Because euery one of these lyke my selfe deceiued of their loouers watred the ground with teares cléeued the heauens with cōtinuall sighes sustained without any frute or hope of future content most bitter tormentes of mynde And admit as it is graunted that these dolours were cast vpon thē by their vngrateful loouers and by theyr iniurious and vndeserued ingratitude yet with iust reuenge of their wronges doone vnto them they sawe the ende of theyr teares which comfortes although I wishe it not my sorrowes also haue not Hipsiphile Hipsiphile admitte that she had greatly honoured Iason and had by due desertes obliged him vnto her perceiuing him to be taken away of Medea had with as great reason as my selfe iust occasion of complaint and sorrowe But such was the prouidence of the Goddes that with righteous eyes beholding euery thing but onely my harmes they restored to her a great portion of her desired ioye because she sawe Medea who had taked away Iason from her Iason forsaking Medea for the looue of Creusa quit dispossessed of her once enioyed praye Certes I doo not say that my gréefe should finishe if I should sée the same befall to her who hath deceiued me of my Panphilus vnlesse I were that she that should alure him from her againe but will francklie confesse that a great parte of my sorrow would for a time cease Medea dyd also reioyce for reuenge Medea that she had although she was no lesse cruell towardes her selfe then malicious against her vngratefull loouer in killing their common children in his owne presence and consuming the royall pallaces of king Creon and the new Lady with merciles flames Oenone also sorrowing along time in fine knewe Oenon that her disloyall loouer suffered due punishment for breaking and corrupting the sacred lawes of looue and sawe his countrie for the wicked rape and exchaung of her selfe for his newe adultersse miserably wasted and his owne Cittie sometimes the seate of demie Goddes and semy Goddesses but now an vncouth habitacle and a poore village of Sheppard swaines ouerthrowen razed cleane from the ground But truely I loue my gréefs a great deale more thē I wold eyther with tongue or hart wishe so sharpe a reuenge of my wrongfull Panphilus Ariadne also being Bacchus his wife Ariadne saw from heauen furious Phedra who was the cause that Theseus abandoning her and leauing her desolate in the Iland being newly enamoured of Phedra miserably bewitched with the incestuous looue of Hippolitus her husbande his sonne So that euery thing duely scanned I finde my selfe amongest the number of miserable and desastrous women to be tormented with more woes gréefes and with greater sorrowe then any of the rest and to haue the sole principallitie and onely name of all other distressed women whatsoeuer And I can doo no more But if perhappes good Ladies you accompt my framed arguments but friuolus assertions and repute all these former examples but weake proofes as forged in the simple conceite of an appassionated woman if you imagine them because procéeding from a blinde mind to be but blind also and of no conclusion estéeming the teres sighes and sorrowes of others more extreame then mine and thinking them to be more vnfortunate then my selfe let this onely and last proposition therefore supplie the defecte if any there be of all the rest before If he that beareth enuie is more miserable and
eyther one against another or many against many after the Morysco guise but generally in the moste braue and admirable sorte before the noble Ladies and Gentlewomen beginne theyr heroycall sports Commending him most Italians and Mores who with the point of his Launce caryed néerest to the grounde and closely couched vnder his shielde without any disordered motion of his body in the saddle did shewe himselfe in running on his fiery stéede To such kind of feastes and pleasaunt shewes as I was euer wont poore and miserable Fiammetta I was also inuited and certes not without great gréefe vnto mee because beholding these pastimes it came to my minde that I hadde whilome séene my Panphilus sitting amongst our more auncient and reuerende olde Gentlemenne to beholde such like spectacles whose sufficiencie according to the admirable grauitie of his youth deserued so high a place And somtimes standing as yong Pretextatus amongst the noble and graue Senators of Rome with the foresayde robed Knightes to iudge of these pastimes amongst whom one for his authority was like vnto Sceuola another for his grauitie to eyther of the Catos and some of so pleasant and delectable coūtenaunces that they séemed Pompey the great or Marcus Marcellus and others of so sterne and martiall lookes that they séemed liuely to represent the worthy Affricane Scipio or Quintus Cyncinnatus al the which equally and eagerlie beholding the running of euery one and calling to minde theyr yong and lusty passed yéeres pricked to the quick with glory of honour and courage and muttering and fretting to themselues sometimes commended one and sometimes another Panphilus affirming all their sayings and allowing theyr censures Of whom sometimes I heard howe he compared talking of this and that now with one and now with another and howe he resembled all those valiaunt Champions that did runne to the yong and old renowned Heroes of the other worlds O howe déere a thing was this to my eares as well for him that spake it as for them that attentiuely gaue eare vnto it and also for my Cittizens sake of whom it was spoken So much truly that the remembraunce thereof is yet verie gratefull vnto mee Of our yong Princes whose heroycall countenaunces bewraid their hardy and couragious minds he was wont to say that one was like to Arcadius of Parthenope of whom it is reported and firmely beléeued that none came better appointed and more resolute to the destruction of Thebes at what time his mother sent him thether béeing but a yong youth The next after he confessed to be like swéete Ascanius of whom Virgill a singuler recorde of so braue a youth wrot so many golden verses Comparing the third to Deiphobus and the fourth for beautye to Ganimedes Then comming to those of ryper age that folowed these he gaue them no lesse perfect and pleasant semblaunces For there might you sée one comming along with a ruddy colour and a red beard and with soft bushy and crysped locks falling downe vppon his strong and slightly shoulders and no otherwise then Hercules was wont to haue bounde vp with a fine little garland of gréene leaues apparrailed with costly garments of silke occupying no more roome then the iust quantitie of his bodye garnished with sundry braue workes wrought with skilfull hande with a Mantle vppon his right shoulder fastened together with a button of Gold and with a faire and rich shielde couering his left side and carrying in his ryght hand a light speare as was moste fitte for that sport whom he said that he was in gesture and coūtenaunce like to great Hector After whom an other cōming along adorned in like Habits and with as stoute a countenaunce as the other hauing caste vp the golden fringed border of his Mantle vppon his shoulder with his lefte hande cunningly managing his vnruly horse hee iudged an other Achilles Another folowing him shaking his threatninge Launce and carrying his targe behind his back hauing hys soft hayre tyed together with a fine vayle giuen him perhaps of his Ladie he called Protesilaus After whome another folowing with a fine Hatte on his head of a browne colour in his face and with a long bearde and of a fierce countenaunce he called Pyrrhus And another after him with a more milde looke and with a swéete and smooth face and more gorgiously adorned then the rest he thought to resemble Parris of Troy or king Menelaus What néede I prolong my narration about this royall ranck any further In briefe as they passed in that long and goodly company he shewed who was like to Agamemnon who to Aiax who to Vlisses who to Diomedes or to any other Grecian Troyan or Latine woorthy of eternall prayse and memory Neyther did he giue them these names méerely of his owne pleasure but conferring and confirming hys arguments with acceptable reasons about the manner of these paragoned Lords did shew that they were duely and woorthely compared vnto them Wherefore the hearing of these reasons was no lesse pleasant then to sée the very same personnes by whome and for whome hee spake and framed them The gallant troupe therefore of Horsemen after ryding thrée or foure times with easie pace vppe and down to shew themselues to the lookers on couragiously beganne theyr fierce courses and standing almost right vppe in theyr styrrops brauely couched vnder their Targets with the points of their Launces carryed so euen as they séemed to shaue the grounde The order of those that runne a Tylt swifter then the swiftest winde their horses carryed them away And the ayre resounding with the shootes of the people that stoode by and the iangling of the siluer and golden belles that euery horse was almost trapped withall the noyse also of Trumpets and of other martiall instruments the flapping and smyting of the caparisons against the horses sides and of their bases in the ayre and the flyttering of theyr Mantles also against the winde did prick on theyr fiery steedes to a more hote brauer swifter and more couragious course And thus euery one wyth greate delight and ioye continually beholding them and marking the order of theyr courses they made themselues to bee woorthely admyred and not vnwoorthely praysed in the secrete harts and open mouthes of all the spectators Howe many Ladies and Gentlewomen some one séeing her Husbande amongst these heere another her Louer and some their neere Kinsmen did I sée many time clappe their hands and most highly reioyce at the dexteritie courage of their fréendes Not a fewe truely And not onelye these but straungers also my selfe onely excepted who although I sawe my Husbande there and other of my kindred with him with sorrowfull chéere did beholde him not séeing my Panphilus there And when I remembred how farre off he was from me Alas good Ladyes is not this a meruailous thing that that which I sée should be the materiall cause and substance of my sorrow And that nothing may make me merry Alas what soule is
there in hell neuer so much tormented wyth endles payne that séeing these thinges coulde not but féele some respectiue ioy Why not one at all I think For they rauished with the swéetnesse of Orpheus his harpe forgotte for a time their cruell paines and torments But I sette in the mids of a thousand torments and placed amongst a thousande ioyes and continually exercised in many and sundrye kinds of sports cannot I say burie my gréefe in momentary obliuion nor asswage and lighten it be it neuer so little a while And put case that sometimes at those feastes such like I haue with an vnfained and true countenaunce hidde it and haue giuen respect to my tedious sighes in the night afterwards when I did finde my selfe all alone I did prolong not pardon any part of my teares but didde powre out rather so many of them as the day before I had spared and kept in scalding sighes And these thinges inducing mee to more pensiue and percing thoughts and especially in considering their vanities more apt and possible to hurte then to helpe as by proofe of them I doo manifestly knowe the feaste béeing finished and my selfe going from it and not wythout cause complayning and waxing angrye against these vayne shadowes and all other worldly showes I beganne thus to say Oh howe happy is that innocent man who dwelleth in the sollitarie village enioying onely the open ayre The prayse of a solitary life Who employing his sole care and labour to inuent subtill ginnes for simple beastes and to make nettes for vnwarie birdes with gréefe of mynde can neuer be wounded And if perhappes he suffer any great wearines in his body in casting him selfe downe vpon the gréene grasse incontinently he refresheth him selfe againe chaunging his place sometimes in the freshe riuer bankes and sometimes vnder the coole shadowe of some great woode where the chirping birdes with theyr prettie songes and the softe trembling of the greene leaues shaken by some pleasaunt and little wynde as staying themselues to harken to their siluer notes lull him swetlie a sléepe Ah Fortune haddest thou graunted me such a lyfe to whome thy desired giftes are but a cloging care and detriment it had béen better for me Alas how my high Palaces sumptuous beddes treasure and great familie any thing profitable and how little pleasaunt vnto me when my mind surcharged with ouer much anxyetie and wandring in vnknowen countries after Panphilus cannot haue any small rest nor when any comfortable respiration may be graūted to my wearied and breathlesse soule Oh howe delightfull and gratious a thing is it to presse the gréene and swéet bankes of the swift running riuers with a quiet and frée mind and vpon the naked turfes to fetche a sound and vnbroken sléepe which the glyding riuer with murmuringe bubles and pleasaunt noyse without feare dooth nourishe and maintaine These eases are without any grudge graunted to the poore inhabitaunt of the countrie village fréely to enioye and are a great deale more to bée desired then those toyes which with many flattering words I haue often times fawned on and haue with such dilligent and daily care embraced as the fine dames of the Citties vse commonly to doo and which at last with the carelesse coyle of the tumultuous familie or negligentlie broken His hunger if at any time perhappes it pricke him with geathering of Apples in the faythfull and secure woodes hée dooth driue away and manie young and tender herbes which the wyde Champaignes or little hilles of theyr owne frée will bring forth are also a most sauorie and swéete sustenaunce vnto him Oh in how many running brookes Christalyne fountaines and swéete waters lying downe all along may hee quench his thyrste and with the hollowe of his hande in cléere and streming riuers Ah wicked and pinching care of worldlings for whose sustentation nature dooth require but little dooth prepare light things We thinke with the infinite number and sundrie sorts of delicate vyandes to fill the gourmandise of our bodies and to please our queasie appetites not perceyuing at all that in them there lie hidden the very causes by meanes of which the ordinate humors and good bloode are euer more corrupted then nourished And how many times in cuppes of gold and siluer richlie garnished with gemmes and precious stones in stéede of swéete and delicious wines doo wée daily heare that colde and swelling poysonnes are tasted and doo howerly sée that in hotte wines and compound drinckes licentious vnbrideled and wicked lust is drunke and throwen headlong down Whereupon commonly they fall by meanes of these into a superfluous securitie which by wicked wordes or damned déedes dooth bringe to them a miserable lyfe or dooth paye them home with a most contemptible death seeing moreouer by daily proofe that these kinds of vnkinde beuerages make the drinkers bodies in a great deale worser Poeticall conceites and more miserable case then starke madde The Satires Faunes Driades Naiades and the Nimphes kéepe him faithfull and simple company Hée dooth not knowe what Venus dooth meane nor cannot skyll of her byformed Sonne And if hée dooth perhappes knowe her hee perceiueth her beautie to bee but base and little amyable Nowe alas would it had pleased the Goddes that I had lykewise neuer knowen it and that kéeping simple and playne company I had lyued a rusticall and rude lyfe to my selfe all alone Then should these vncurable gréefs haue béene far from me which I now sustaine and my soule The pompe of the world like to the winde together with my most holy name should not haue cared nor desired to see these worldly pompes and feastes lyke to the flying windes and vanishing smoke in the ayre nor if it had séene them should haue béene so full of anguishe and sorrowe as now it is The desire of hygh and princely towers of rich and sumptuous houses of great families and costly traynes of fayre and delicate beddes of shining cloathes of golde and siluer of pampered proude and swifte horses and of a thousand other superfluities of nature dooth neuer disturbe his temperate minde nor clogges his heart with buderning and burning care to kéepe them Not accompanied nor sought after of wicked men he dooth without feare liue in quiet and sequestred places and without séeking doubtfull rest in high and stately lodginges dooth demaunde onely the open ayre and light for his repose And of the manner of his lyfe the wyde firmament is a manyfest and continuall witnesse Oh how much is this life nowe a dayes vnknowen and lyke an enemie escheued and contemned of euery one whereas it should be rather as the déerest and swéetest content followed and embraced of all Truely I suppose that the fyrst age of the world lyued in this sorte which péese-meale brought foorth Goddes and men There is no lyfe alas more frée nor more deuoyde of vyce or better then this the which our first fathers enioyed and with which also he is this