more a do but tooke his knife and like a blouddy butcher cut her tounge foorth of her head This done hée caused her to bée locked fast in a chamber takyng euery thyng from her wherby she might vse violence towardes her selfe and so went home to the Quéene Progue his wife with this forged tale I am sory sweete wife it is my chaunce to bée the messenger of sutch sower newes vnto you but séeing of force you must heare it as good I now impart it as other here after report it vnto you And séeing it is an accident which ordinarily happeneth to mortall wightes I trust of your selfe you will giue sutch order to your sorowe that you will suffer it to sinke no depelier into your hearte then wisdome would it should caryinge this in your remembraunce that wée are borne to die and that euen in our swathe cloutes death may aske his due Alas saith shée and is Pandion departed No sayth hée Pandion liueth but his life is sutch that death would more delight him Then farewell my Philomela sayth shée thy death I know is cause of this desolation and thy death shall soone abridge my daies In déede sayth hée so it is the gods haue had her vp into heauen as one to good to remaine on earth Ah vniust goddes sayth shée shée is to good for them also what pity what pieti what right what reason is in them to depriue her of life now in the prime of her life béefore shée haue tasted the chiefe pleasures of life or any way deserued the paine of death Ah swéete wife sayth hée I béeséech you by the loue which you beare mée to moderate your martirdome asswage your sorrow only in mée to repose your felicitie for I protest by these hands teares which I shede to see your sorrow that I wil be to you in stéede of a father a sister yea if you had a thousand fathers a thousaÌ„d sisters al their goodwils together shuld not surmouÌ„t mine alone These louinge woordes caused her somewhat to cease from her sorrow and shée began to take the matter as paciently as her paine would permit her But to returne to Philomela who béeinge kept close prisoner determined to pine herselfe to death but the hope of reuenge altered that determination and shée began to cast in her head how she might open the iniury to her sister which that Tirant had offered them both at length shée went this way to worke shee wrought and imbrodred cunningly in cloath the whole discourse of her course and carefull case which being finished fortune so framed that a gentleman riding late in the night had lost his way and seeing a light in her chamber a far of drewe nere to the window and called to Philomela inquiringe the way to the next towne wherevpon Philomela opened the window séeing him to bèe a gentleman whom she thought would not sticke to put him selfe in some perill to redresse a Ladies wronge shewed him the cloath which shee so cunningly had wrought and in the first place thereof was plainly written to whom it should bée deliuered and from whom The gentleman tooke it at her handes and plighted to her his fayth safely and secretly to deliuer it to the quéene Sée the iust iudgement of god who will suffer no euill done secretly but it shalbée manifested openly as in times past hee made the infant Daniell an instrument to detecte the conspiracy of the two Iudas iudges who falsely accused the good Lady Susanna and other times other wayes but this tiranny of Tereus was so terrible that the very stones in the walles would haue béewrayed it if there had been no other meanes vsed Now Progne hauinge this cloath conuayed vnto her and fully vnderstandinge how the case stoode not withstandinge her greife were great in the highest degrée yet a meruailous thing a woman could do so shée â—oncealed y matter secretly hoping to be reuenged more spéedily But yet her husbands villany towards her caused her to inueigh against him in this vehement sort O diuelish déepe dissembling of men who would haue thought that hée which pretended so great goodwill towards mée would haue intended so great ill against mée Why if my person could not please him could none but my sister satisfie him and if hée thought her most méete for his mischeif yet was it not villany inough to vanquish her virginity but that hee must mangle and dismember her body also but what pity is to bée looked for of sutch Panthers which passe not of piety Hée sheweth his cursed carelesse kinde hée plainely proues him selfe to procéed of the progenie of that traitor Eneas who wrought the confusion of the good Quéene Dido who succoured him in his distres It is euident hée is ingendred of Iasons race who disâ—oyally forsooke Medea y made him win y golden â—léece Hée is discended of the stock of Demopheon who through his faithles dealing forced Phyllis to hange her selfe Hée séemes of the séede of Theseus who left Ariadne in the desertes to bée deuoured through whose helpe hée subdued the Monster Minotaur and escaped out of the intricate Labirinth Hée commeth of Nero his cruel kinde who carnally abused his owne mother Agrippina then caused her to bée slaine and ript open that hee might se the place wherin he lay béeing an infant in her belly So that what fruites but filthinesse is to bée gathered of sutch graftes What boughes but beastlines growe out of sutch stems no I will neuer make other account but that faith which a man professeth is nothing els but forgery truth which hée pretendeth nothing els but trifling loue lust woordes wyles déeds deceit vowes vanities faythfull promises faythlesse practises ernest othes errant artes to deceiue sorrows subtelties sighes slightes groanes guiles cries crafts teares treason yea all their doinges nothing but baytes to intice vs hookes to intangle vs ingins vtterly to vndoe vs O that my mouth could cause my woords to mount aboue the skies to make y gods bend downe their eyes to take vew of the vilany of this viper then no doubt but either the city would sinke wherin hee is or the earth would open swalow him vp or the at least some plague should bee thundred downe vpon him which might most painefully punish him Or why may not the gods vse mée as an instrumeÌ„t to execute their vengeance on him The wife of Dionisias the tirant wrought the will of the goddes on her husband and miserably murthered him and why is it not lawfull for mee to doo the like Yes I can and will deuise sutch exquisite punishment for this Tiraunt that it shall feare all that come after from the like filthinesse Now to further her furie shée had this oportunitie offred her it was the same time of the yeere that the sacrifices of Bacchus were to bée celebrated what time the vse was for the women to goe aboute the countrey disguised as if they had béen mad where
the maine shete of her minde and by the anckers of aduise so stayed her course that no wynde which my wilfull youthe could blow could cause her any thinge to bow or wauer and by assuringe her to a large ioynter hée was chosen to rule her sterne wher the other was kept stil vnder the hatches Who all this while that they were concluding the contracte was in his chaumber busily deuisinge verses in the praise of his Misteris but hearing of the sory successe of his sute by a handmaide of the Gentlewoman hée was so confounded in him selfe that his inuencion was cleane marred and his deuise vtterly dasht yea hée was so far from writinge that hée had not a woord to saye or a thought to thinke And surely in my iudgment hée reaped the right reward of his doatinge desire for there only grafts of greife must néedes grow where sutch raw conceite doth set and sutch rashe consent dooth sowe For neyther was his loue grounded vpon vertue wherwith shee was not indued neither vpon beauty wherwith shee was not adorned For neither can cruelty be cloaked vnder vertue neither the treason of vntruth couered vnder beuty for the disposition of the minde followeth the constitucion of the body so that it was his own selfe will and fond fancy that drewe him into sutch depth of affection and therefore with greife was faigne to gather the fruites of his folly And beeing come to him selfe hee began to rage in this sort And is my true loue thus triflyngly accounted of Shall hée with his trash more preuayle then I with my truth And will shée more respect gayne then good will O iniquitie of times O corruption of manners O waueryng of women Bée these the fruites of thy fayre lookes Is this the hap of the hope thou puttest mée in Is this the delight of the daliance thou vsedst with mee Here in truly thou mayst bée fitly resembled to the Cat whiche playeth with the Mouse whom straight shée meaneth to slay or to the Panther who with his gay colours swéet smell allureth other beastes vnto him and béeyng within his reache hée rauenously deuoureth them But if I should set thée foorth in thy colours I thinke the sauage beastes would bee lothe to bee likened vnto thee for crueltie thou mayest compare with Anaxarete who suffred Iphis to hange himself for her sake for inconstancie with Cressed who forsooke her trustie Troylus for pride with Angelica who contemned all men for treason with Helen who ran away with Paris from her husbande Menelaue But what rashnesse is this in mee to rage and rayle agaynst her whereas it is loue and the destines that haue decréed my distruction For Marriages are guided by destiny and God hath indued women with this propertie to bee wedded to their wils Neither doth loue learne of force the knots to knit shée serues but those which feele sweet fancies fit for as streames can not bée made to run against their course so vnwilling loue with teares nor truth cannot bée won So that this only choice is left for mée either to die desperately or to liue lothsomely and as the birde inclosed in cage the cage doare béeing set open and the Hauke her ennemy sitting without watching for her betwéene death and prison piteously oppressed standeth in doubt whether it bée better stil to remaine in prison or to goe forth to bee a pray for the hauke so stande I in doubt whether it bée better by loosing life to get liberty or by lyuinge to become thrall and bond and liue in continuall torment and vexation of minde For loue hath taken so déepe roote in mee that neither reason can rule neither wisdome wield my witched will. But as the bytinge of a mad dogge rageth and rankleth vntil it haue brought the body bitten to bane so the poyson of loue is so spread into euery part of mee that it will vndoubtedly bringe mee to death and distruction O cruell captaine cupid is this the pay thou giuest thy souldiours O vaine Venus is this the victory thou vouchsafest thy champions Wouldest thou haue bene content thy darlinge Adon should rigorously haue reiected thee when thou wert furiously inflamed with his loue But the parish priest forgetteth that euer hee was clarke and those that bée in happines themselues way not the heauinesse of other Yea perchaunce thou fauour the falshood of this woman the rather for that thou thy self playedst the false harlot with thy husband Vulcan the smith and madest him a forked toole more then before hée had in his shop but remember yet how hée tooke thee and the adultrour Mars tardie in your trechery and lechery together starke naked in an iron nette and then called all the goddes to take view of your victous conuersation to thy vtter shame and confusion And so it may fall out that this your pupill may so longe delight in deceit that shee may bee taken in the net which shee layeth to intangle other But what meane I to blaspheme against the gods who doe but punnish mee iustly for louing so lightly and ouely mine owne careles faut is the cause of this curelesse fate Wherefore O death to thee I make ernest request that thou wilt speedily send Atropos vnto mee to cut in sunder the twyst of my troublesome life and seing my loue doth loth mee good death doe thou desire mee I know thou sentst out processe for mee euen in my swath cloutes and now I beeseeche thee serue it on me when I am most willinge and ready to appeare beefore thy presence While this foreldrue gentleman continued in these carefull contemplations the mariage was consummated betweene the widdow and Amphiaraus who liued quietly together about a yeere or two shee shewinge a presentiall obedience towardes him and hee bearinge an ordinary affection towardes her but in short time it pleased god to giue occasion to try the trechery of the one to worke the distruction of the other For it fell so out that Adrastus king of y Argiues was vpon vrgent causes mooued to infer war vpon the Thebanes and in mustringe his men hee thought Amphiaraus a meete man to make one of his captaines and willed him to prepare him selfe for that voyage who beeing well seene in astronomy and other secret sciences knew if hee went to the warres hee should not returne aliue for which cause hee couertly hid himselfe in his owne house makeing only his wife priuy therto Now the kinge takinge muster of his men missed Amphiaraus and knowing the cause of his absence was in great rage sayinge hee thought hee had had no sutch cowardes in his kingdome and promised great rewardes to them that could bring tidings of him Eriphile hauinge intelligence of this riche reward promised was merueylously set on sier in the desire therof notwithstandinge she was plentifully indued with ritches yet was she in desire as greedy as if she had been in estate most needy and as dropsy pacients drink and still be
my marrying is turned to mourning my wedding to wéeping my wealth by warre is wasted my slowre of ioy by the cold frost of cankred fight is defaced Yea what flower can flourish where no Sun doth shine what Sun can shine inclosed close in earth My sun alas is dead and downe for euer rysinge againe and the worlde with mée is at an ende and done for euer ioying againe Wâ—e wâ—rth the cause the quarrell the conflict that brought my Curiatius to this cureles case O woulde to God my Citie had béene sacked my friends spoyled and my brothers brought to bane rather then my Curiatius should haue come to this careful ende O brother y hast not only slaine thy foes but thy friends thou hast not only killed Curiatius but thou hast wounded thine owne Sister to death Her brother passinge by her and hearing her heauy plaints beeing therwith rapt into great rage and with pride of the victory almost béesides hymselfe drew his sword and forgetting al lawes of nature and humanytie thrust his Sister therewith to the harte saying get thée hence to thy kinde spouse with thy vnkinde loue who forgettest thy brothers that are dead thy brother that is aliue and the conquest of thy country And so come it to euery Romaine that shall lament the death of an enemy to the Romaines You haue harde Gentlewomen that one harmefull hand made a hand of two harmelesse wightes and that hand had hangd himself to if his father by his pitiful peticion had not purchased his pardon Now I would heare your indgementes to whom you thinke this lamentable end of these louers ought to be imputed Surely I think Horatia cheifly in fault for holding of so longe béefore shée woulde accept and acknowledge the loue of her beloued For if she would by any reasonable sute haue béene wóon they had bene married longe time beefore this warre begunne They had dwelled quietly together in Albania and Curiatius béeing a married man should not haue béen prest to the warres but should haue beene suffered to trye his manhood at home with his wife So that her lingring loue hastened her and his death her selfe will wrought her selfe and hym wracke And for her Brother his offence was litle for in killing Curiatius hee procured conquest to his Country and commendation to himselfe and in killinge his Sister hee eased her of so mutch labour and saued her soule from damnation For hée knew shee would desperately doe her selfe to death and considering the miserie shée was in hée thought hée could not doe her a greater pleasure then to cause her to die for her Curiatius his cause Cephalus and Procris CEPHALVS a lustye younge gallant and PROCRIS a bewtifull girle both of the Duke of VENICE Courte beecum eche amorous of other and notwithstandinge delayes procured at length are matched in marriage Cephalus pretending a far iourney and long absence returneth beefore appointed time to trie his wiues trustinesse Procris falling into the folly of extreme ielousie ouer her Husband pursueth him priuely into the wooddes a hunting to see his beehauiour whom Cephalus heeringe to russhell in a bushe wherein shee was shrowded and thinking it had bin some game slayeth her vnwares and perceiuinge the deede consumeth hymselfe to death for sorowe IT is the prouident policy of the deuine power to the intent wée shoulde not bée to proudly puft vp with prosperitie most commonly to mix it with some sower sops of aduersitie and to appointe the riuer of our happinesse to runge in a streame of heauinesse as by all his benefites bountifully beestowed on vs may bée plainely perceiued whereof there is not any one so absolutely good and perfect but that there bée inconueniences as well as commodyties incurred thereby The golden glisteringe sun which gladdeth all earthly wightes parcheth the Sommers gréene and blasteth their bewtie which blaze their face therein The fire which is a most necessary element vnto vs consumeth most stately towres and sumptuous Cities the water which wée want in euery thing we do â–ª deuoureth infinit numbers of men and huge heapes of treasure and ritches the aire wherby we liue is death to the disceased or wounded man and béeinge infected it is y cause of all our plagues and pestilences the earth which yéeldeth foode to sustaine our bodies yéeldeth poison also to our bodies the goodes whiche doe vs good often times woorke our decay and ruine children which are our comforte are also our care marriage which is a meane to make vs immortall and by our renewing ofspring to reduce our name from death is accompanied with cares in number so endlesse and in cumber so curelesse that if the preseruation of mankinde and the propagation of our selues in our kinde did not prouoke vs therto wée should hardly be allured to enter into it And amongest all the miseries that march vnder the ensigne of marriage in my fancy there is none that more torments vs then that hatefull helhounde Ielousy as the history which you shall heare shall shew You shal vnderstand in the Dukes Courte of Venice spent his time one Cephalus a Gentleman of great calling and good qualities who at the first time hee insinuated himselfe into the societie of the Ladies and Gentlewomen made no speciall or curious court to any one but generally vsed a dutifull regarde towards them all and shewed hymselfe in sport so pleasaunt in talke so wittie in maners so modest and in all his conuersation so cumlye that though he were not specially loued of any yet was hée generally lyked of all and though hée himselfe were not specially vowed to any yet was hee speciallye vewed of one whose name was Procris a proper Gentlewoman discended of noble parentage And though at the first her fancy towardes him were not great yet shee séemed to receiue more contentation in his company then in any other Gentleman of the troupe But as materiall fyre in shorte time groweth from glowinge coales to flashing flames so the fyre of loue in her in shorte time grew from flytting fancy to firme affection and she beegan to settle so surely in goodwil towardes him that shee resolued with her selfe hée was the onely man she would be matched to if shee were euer married And béeinge alone in her lodginge shee entred with her selfe into this reasoning How vnequally is it prouided that those which worst may are driuen to holde the Candle That we which are in body tender in wit weake by reason of our youth vnskilfull and in all thinges without experience should bee constrained to beare the loadsome burthen of loue wheras ryper yéeres who haue wisdome to wyeld it and reason to represse it are seldome or neuer oppressed with it Good God what fiery flames of fancy doe frye within mée what desyre what lust what hope what trust what care what dispaire what feare what fury that for mée which haue alwaies lyued frée and in pleasure to be tormented therewith séemeth litle better then the bitter
able to requite good will the one belonginge to the minde the others incident to the body but from the equitie of my cause I appeale to your good grace and fauour and at the bar of your beauty I humbly holde vp my handes meaning to be tried by your courtesy and mine owne loyalty and minding to abide your sentence either of consent vnto life or of deniall vnto death Camma hearing this discourse assoâ—e loked red for shame as soone pale for anger neither would disdain let her make him answere neither would her greife giue her leaue to holde hir peace but standing a while in a maze betwéene silence and saying at length shee brake of the one and burst out into the other in this sort If Sir your banquet had bene no better then this your talke is pleasant to mée I am perswaded the dishes woulde haue béen taken whole from the Table without touchinge but as the one was far better then the company deserued so the other for a far worse woman might more fitly haue serued and if your swéete meate haue sutche sower sauce the next time you send for mée I will make you sutch answere as was made to Cratorus the Emperour by Diogenes when he sent for him to make his abode with him in his courte who answered he had rather be fed at Athens with salt theÌ„ liue with him in all delicacy so for my part I promise you I had rather be fed at home with bread and water then pay so derely for dainty dishes Touching the paines you haue indured for my sake I take your wordes to bee as false towardes mee as you would make my faith towards my husband but admit they were true seeing I haue not willingly been the cause of them I count not my self bound in conscience to counteruayle them only I am sory they were not bestowed on some more worthy your estate and lesse worthy an honest name then my selfe which beinge the cheife ritches I haue I meane most diligently to keepe The interest which cauilingly you cleime in me as it consisteth of false premises so though the premises were true yet the conclusion which you infer thereof followeth not necessarily for were it so that your loue were greater towardes me then my husbandes which you can not induce me to beléeue yet séeyng my husbande by order of law hath first taken possession of mée your title succéeding his your successe and sute must néedes bée cold naught for as your selfe say of lawes so of titles the first are euer of most force and the most ancient of most auctoritie Your Wolues example though it shew your Foxely brayne yet doth it inforce no sutch proofe to your purpose but that by my former reason it may bée refelled for y the Woulfe is frée from the proper possession of any but therin truly you obserue decoraÌ„ very duly in vsyng the example of a Beast in so beastly a cause for like purpose like proofe like man like matter Your manly marchyng vnder the ensigne of Iustice if reason bée your captayne generall to lead you I doubt not but soone to tourne to a retire for if it bée goodwill which you beare mée I must néedes graunt you duly deserue the like agayne but when you are able to prooue it goodwill to deflower my chastitie to béeréeue mée of my good name to despoyle mée of mine honour to cause mée to transgresse the boundes of honestie to infringe my faith towards my husband to violate the sacred Rytes of Matrimonie to pollute the Temple of the Lorde with other innumerable enormities when I say you are able to prooue these to procéed of good will then will I willingly yéelde consent to your request But sée the vnreasonablenesse of your suite would you haue mée in shewyng curtesie towards you commit cruelty towards my self should I in extendyng mercie to you bring my selfe to miserie should I place you in pleasure and displace my selfe of all ioy for what ioy can a woman inioy hauinge lost her chastitie which ought to bée the ioy Iewell and Gemme of al Gentilwomen of my callyng and countenance your appeale from your owne cause to my courtesie bewrayeth the naughtinesse therof for if it bée not ill why sticke you not to it if it bée good why appeale you from it but séeynge you haue constituted mée Iudge in this case you know it is not the part of a Iudge to deale partially or to respect the man more then y matter or to tender more mine owne case then your cause therefore indifferently this sentence definitiue I giue I condemne you hencefoorth to perpetuall scilence in this sute and that you neuer hereafter open your mouth herein beeing a matter moste vnséemely for your honour and most preiudiciall to my honestie and in abidyng this sentence if you can bee content with honest amitie for the curteâ—ie which I haue alwayes founde at your handes and for the good will which you pretend to beare mée I promise you you shall inioy the seconde place in my harte and you shall finde mée fréendly in all thinges which either you with reason can aske or I with honestie graunt Synorix hauing heard this angell thus amiably pronouncing these woords was so rapt in admiratioÌ„ of hir wisedom and rauished in contemplation of her beutie that though shée had not inioyned him to silence yet had hée not had a woorde to say and least his lookes might béewray his loue and his countenance discouer his case hée secretly and suddainly withdrew him selfe into his chamber to study what face to set on the matter casting him self vpon his bed after hée had dreamed a while vpon his dotinge deuises at length he awaked out of his wauering thoughtes and recouered the possession of his sences againe by which time the play was ended and his guestes ready to depart whervpon hee was driuen to come foorth of his chamber to take his leaue of them and bidding his Misteris good night 〈◊〉 gaue her sutch a looke that his very eyes séemed to plead for pity so that what his tongue durst not his eyes did His guestes beeinge gone he disposed him selfe to rest but loue which was then his good Maister willed him otherwise to imploy that night whiche was in examyning perticulerly euery point of her answere And though the first part seemed sumwhat sharpe and rigorous and the second contained the confutation of his cause yet the third and last part seemed to be mixt with mettell of more milde matter which he repeated to himselfe a thousand times and there vppon as vppon a firme foundacion determined to raise vp his building again with the two former partes of her answere had vtterly â—ansakt to the grounde But mistaking the nature of the ground wheron the foundation was layd his building as if it had been set in sandes soone came to ruine for by that promise of freendship which she freendly made him hee sinisterly conceiued hope of obtayning that
you to execute the rigour of the lawes vpon you yet to your vtter shame and reproche it can not but conuert Tush saith his master the case is light where counsayle can take place what talkest thou to mée of shame that am by iniurious and spitefull dealyng depriued the vse of reason and dispossessed of my wittes and sences Neither auâ— I the first that haue played the like parte did not Dauid the chosen seruant of God béeyng blasted with the beutie of Bersabe cause her husband Vrias to bée set in the forefront of the battayle to be slayne which doone hée married his wife And why is it not lawfull for mée to do the like But I know the worst of it if thou wilt not take it vpon thee I will either do it my selfe or get some other that shall The man séeyng how his Maister was bent bothe to satisfie his minde and to gaine so good a summe of money promised to perfourme his charge which with oportunity of time and place hée did And séeyng Synnatus on a time in ill time passyng thorow a blind lane of the Citie hée shrowded himselfe in a corner and as hée came by shot him thorow with a Pistol which doone hée foorthwith sled the countrey Camma hearyng of the cruell murther of her husbande and by the circumstances knowyng Synorix to bée the authour thereof tearynge her heyre scratching her face and beatyng her body agaynst the ground sâ— soone as the fluddes of teares had flowen so longe that the fountayne was drie so that her spéeche might haue passage whiche before the teares stopped shee began to crie out in this carefull manner O God what vniustice is this in thee to suffer the earth remayne polluted with the bloud of innocentes Diddest thou cursse Cain for killing his brother Abel and wilt thou not crucifie Synorix for sleayng Synnatus Is thy hart now hardned that thou wilt not or are thy hands now weakened that thou canst not preserue thy seruantes from the slaues of Sathan If there bee no safetie in innocencie wherin shall wee repose our selues If thou bee not our protectour who shall defend vs If the wicked vanquish the vertuous who shal set foorth thy honour and glory or who will so mutche as once call vpon thy name But what meane I wretched wight to exclayme agaynst God as the aucthour of my euill wheras it is only I my selfe that am guiltie of my husbandes death It is I that pampred vp my beutie to make it glister in the sight of euery gazynge eye in the thriftlesse threade wherof this Tirant was so intangled that to vnwinde himself thereout hee hath wrought all this mischeif It is I that would not detect his doynges to my husband wherby hee might haue preuented the perill which hung ouer his head And seeyng I haue been the cause of his death shall I beyng a murtherer remayne aliue Did Alcyone seeynge the dead carkas of her husbande Ceix cast on shore willingly cast her selfe into the Sea to accompany his death And shall I see my sweet Synnatus slayne and not drinke of the same cuppe Did true Thisbe goare her gorgious body with the same sworde wherwith princely Piramus had prickt him selfe to the hart and are not my handes stronge inough to do the like Did Iulietta die vpon the corps of her Romeo and shall my body remayne on earth Synnatus beyng buried No gentle death come with thy direfull dart and peirce my paynefull harte and with one death rid mee out of a thousande deathes at once For what thought do I thinke on my Synnatus which doth not procure mee double death What thing do I see belongyng to him which is not a treble torment vnto mee But it is cowardlinesse to wish for death and couragiousnesse valiantly to take it Yes I can and will bestow my lyfe for my Synnatus sweete sake but O God shall that Tyrant remayne aliue to triumphe in his trechery vaunt in his villanie Shall I not sée his fattall day béefore my finall end It is his bloud that wil be a most swéete sacrifice to the ghost of Sinnatus not mine and then can I ende my life contentedly when I haue offred vp this acceptable sacrifice and vntill sutch time as I haue oportunity hereto I will prolonge my dolefull dayes in direfull greefe and onely the hope of reuengment shall heauily holde my lothsome life and sorowfull soule together For other cause why I should desire life I haue not for that I am vtterly depriued of all ioyes of life For as the bird that is bruised with some blow lieth aloofe on the leaues and heares his felowes singe and is not able to vtter one warblinge note out of his mournfull voice but rather hates the harmony which other birdes doo make so I my heart beeing broosed and broken sit solitarily alone and sée some hange about their husbandes neckes some closely clepe them in their armes some trisle with them some talke with them all which sight redoubleth my paine to thinke my self depriued of those pleasures yea to a wretched wounded heart that dwels in dole euery pleasaunt sight turnes to bitter spight and the onely obiecte which shall euer content my eyes shall bee the distruction of that tyraunt which hath brought mee to this desolation Now Synorix thinking that time had taken away her teares and sorrow and supposinge that neither shée neither any other had suspected him for the murther of her husband began to enter into the listes of lust againe and with a new incountry of incontiuency to set vpon her But shée so mutch abhorred him that if shee but heard his name it caused her nature to fayle in her and all her sences to faint so that when hee saw no posibility to impell her to impiety hee ment to moue her in the way of mariage and caused her nere kinsfolke and friends to solicite his sute vnto her who partly for feare of his displeasure partly for that they knew it would bée greatly to her adâ—auncement laboured very ernestly in the matter and were so importunate vpon her that no answere would satisfie them Now Camma séeing shée could not be rid of her fréends and foreséeing that by this meanes shée might bée rid of her enemies agréed to take him to husband And the day of the solemnizing of the mariage béeinge come they went together to the temple of Diana wher al things according to custome beeing consummated the bride wife as the vse was dranke to her husband in drinke as hée thought but indéede in poyson which shée had prouided of purpose and when shée saw hée had drunke vp his death shée sayd vnto him goe now and in stéed of thy mariage bed get thée a graue for thy mariage is turnd to murther a punishment most iust for thy outragious lust and cruell tyranny ' for vengeance asketh vengeance bloud bloud and they y sowe slaughter shalbée sure to reape ruine and destruction Now Synorix hearing these
haste his request required stood not vpon the nice termes of her virginity but with a reuerence of maiesty made him this answere Most worthy prince whatsoeuer were the cause of your comming into this countrey the kinge my father hath to holde himselfe mutch beeholding to your maiestie that it would please you too do him the honour to visite him but touching the cause you pretend I doubt not but your wisdome knoweth that dreames are doubtfull and visions are altogether vaine and therfore I must craue pardon if I hardly beleeue y vpon so light a cause you would vndertake sutch heauy trauayle and I mutch muse that in your sleepe the goddes had no seemelier sight then my selfe to present vnto you but whether beefore you came hether the goddes moued your minde or whether beeing here your owne fancy forced your affection towards mee assure your selfe this if your loue bee as loyall as your wordes seeme wonderfull in shewing the originall therof you shal not finde mee either so discourteous as to contemne your goodwill either so vngratefull as not to requite it mary as I may which is for your harty goodwil to giue you my hart for any benefit of my body it is not in mee to bestow on you for if you do mee that iniury to exacte any thing at my handes lasciuiously honesty will not allow it whose boundes I meane not to transgresse and if you doe mee that honour to pursue my good will in the way of mariage perchance my parents will not permit it who onely haue power to place mee at their pleasuer So that as the one halfe and moytie of mee is not mine so the other part if your goodwill bee as greate as you pretend shal bee yours Presently vpon this he preferred his sute to her parentes who were no lesse glad of sutch a sonne in law then hee of sutch a wife And so out of hand y mariage with great solemnity was celebrated Which done hee ioyfully departed from his sorowfull father in law and in short time safely lande with his wife in his owne land where they liued together the space of fiue â–ª yéeres in sutch ioy as they commonly inioy who cary fortune as it were vpon their shoulders and abound in al thinges which they can wish or desire But see the frailty of our felicity marke the misery which mortall men are subiect to A man would haue thought this maried couple in loue so loyall in estate so high in all thinges so happy had bene placed in perpetuity of prosperity But alas what estate hath fortune euer made so inuencible which vice can not vanquish Who hath euer bene established in sutch felicity but that wickednesse can woorke his ouerthrow What loue hath euer beene so fast bound but by lust hath been loâ—sed Yea the most faithfull bond of frendship betwéene Tytus and Gysippus thorow luste was violated the most natural league of loue betweene Antiochus and his owne sonne through lust was broken and this moste loyall loue betweene Tereus and Progne through lust was turnd to lothsome hate For it fortuned that Progne after they had bene maried together a whyle entred into greate desire to see her sister Philomelia and lay very importunately vpon her husband to go to Athens and request her father Pandion to let her come vnto her Tereus loued his wife so intirely that hee would deny her nothinge but presently imbarkte him selfe and went to fetch Philomela vnto her And beeing arriued at Athens hée made Pandion priuy to y cause of his comming The olde man was assailed with great sorrowe to thinke hee must parte from his faire Philomela the only stay and comfort of his olde yeeres but Tereus intreated so ernestly that hee could not denie him easely and Philomela was so desirous to see her sister that had so louingely sent for her that shee hung about her fathers necke kist him and vsed al the flatteries shee could to force him to yeelde his consent to her departure wherwith hee béeinge vanquished with weeping eyes in great griefe and dolour delyuered his daughter to Tereus saying It is not my daughter onely I deliuer you but mine owne life for assure your selfe my life can not last one minute longer then I shall heare shee doth well and if her returne beâ— not with speede you shall heare of my speedy returne to the earth from whence I came Tereus desired him to bee of good chere promisinge to be as carefull of her well dooing as if shee were his owne sister or childe Where vpon the olde man blessinge his daughter gaue her vnto him But like a simple man hee committed the seely sheepe to the rauening Woulfe Nay there was neuer blouddy tiger that did so terribly teare the litle Lambe as this tiraunt did furiously fare with faire Philomela For beeing in ship together hee began filthily to fixe his fancy vpon her and castinge the feare of god front before his eies rootinge the loue of his wife out of his heart contemninge the holy rites of matrimony and the sacred state of virginity hée fell to fleshly daliance with her and attempted to win that point of her which shée held more dere and precious then her life and which ought to bée of curious regard to al women of honest behauiour But hauing no other weapon but wéepyng to defende her selfe by pitiful exclemations and cries shée kept him from satisfiyng his insaciable desire But as the rauenyng Woulfe hauing seazed in his tearyng clawes some seely Lambe séekes some den to hide him in that nothyng hinder him from quietly inioyinge his pray so hée was no sooner arriued on the coastes of his owne countrey but that hée secretly conuayed her to a graunge of his owne far from any towne or citie there by force filthily deâ—lowred her The poore mayde thus piteously spoyled so soone as her greif would giue her leaue to speake spit foorth her venome agaynst his villanie in this sort Ah most tirrannous Traytor hast thou thus betrayed my father and sister haddest thou no other to worke thy wickednesse on but mée who was the iewell of my father and the ioy of my sister and now by thy meanes shal be the distruction of the one and the desolation of the other O that my handes had strength to teare these starynge eyes out of thy hatefull head or that my mouth were able to sounde the trumpet of this thy trumpery either to the court of my sister or country of my father that thei might take reuenge on thy villanie O cursed bée the wombe from whence thou camst and the paps whiche gaue thee sucke O cursed bée the cause of thy conception and the Father that begat thée who if hée neuer otherwise in his life offended yet doth hée deserue to bée plonged in the most paynfull pit of Hell only for begetting so wicked a sunne Tereus not able to indure this talke and fearyng least her words might bewray his wickednesse made no
effect and séeyng the cause of this chaunce was good I doubt not but the effect wil folow accordyngly and if any euill do insue therof I trust it will light on my head through whose negligence it happened Agrip. answered As I know not the cause so I feare not the effect greatly and in deed as you say hethervnto you haue had the worst of it for that thereby you haue been put to double paynes If that bée all saith hée rather then it shalbée sayd any euill to haue insued of this chaunce I will perswade my selfe that euery payne whiche you shall put mee to shal be double delight and treble pleasure vnto mee You must vse sayth shee then great eloquence to your selfe to perswade you to sutch an impossibility Oh if it please you sayth hee there is an oratour which of late hath taken vp his dwelling within mee who hath eloquence to perswade mee to a far greater matter then this If sayth shee hee perswade you to thinges no more behouseful for your selfe then this if you follow my counsayle you shall not giue him house roome long Madame sayth hee it is an assured signe of a free and freendly minde to giue good counsayle but it is harde for one in bondage and out of his owne possession to followe it For what knoweth your honour whether hée haue already taken intire possession of the house wherin hée is which if it bee so what wit is able to deuise a writ to remoue him from thence If sir sayth shée hée entred by order of law and payd you truely for it it is reason hée inioy it marie your folly was greate to retaine sutch a tenant but if hée intruded himselfe by force you may lawfully extrude him by strength In déede sayth hée hée entred vi et armis forcibly but after vpon certaine parlance passed betwéene vs I was content hée should remaine in peacible possession marie hee hath payd mee nothinge yet but hee promiseth so frankely that if the perfourmance follow a house with beames of beaten golde and pillers of precious stones will not counteruaile the price of it yea if I were placed in quiet possession therof I would thinke my self ritcher I wil not say then the Emperour but which is most then god him selfe who possesseth heauen and earth and as the hope of obtayning the effecte of that promise heaueth mee vp to heauen so the doubt to bee deceiued therof driueth mee downe to hell And what ioyly fellow sayth shee is this that promiseth so frankely will hée not promise golden hils and perfourme durty dales Would to god sayth hee your semely selfe were so well acquainted with him as I am then would I make you iudge of the worthynesse of the thinge hee hath promised for that you know the goodnes thereof none better The lady smellinge the drift of his deuises and seeinge the ende of his talke seemed to tend to loue and that touching her owne selfe thought not good to draw on their discourse any longer but concluded with this answere As I am altogether ignorant what your obscure talke meaneth so care I not to bee acquainted with any sutch companion as your Landlord is for so methinkes by you I may more fitly call him then terme him your tenaunt and so departed away into her lodginge Germanicus likewise his Misteris beeing gone gat him to his chamber to entertaine his amarous conceites and béeing alone brake forth into these wordes O friendly fortune if continually hereafter thou furiously frowne vpon mée yet shall I all the dayes of my life count my selfe bound vnto thee for the onely pleasure which this day thou hast done mee in giuinge mee occasion of talke with her whose aungels voice made sutch heauenly harmony to my heauy heart that where before it was plunged in perplexity it is now placed in felicity and where before it was oppressed with care it is nowe refreshed with comfort Yea euery louely lookes of her is able to cure mee if I were in most deepe distres of moste daungerous disease euery sweete woord proceeding from her sugred lips is of force to fetch mee from death to life But alas how true do I trie that saying that euery commodity hath a discommodity annexed vnto it how dooth the remembraunce of this ioy put mee in minde of the annoy which the losse of this delight will procure mee Yea it maketh all my sences shake to thinke that some other shall inioy her more woorthy of her then my selfe and yet who in this court nay in all Christendome nay in the whole worlde is worthy of her No if shée neuer haue any vntill shée haue one worthy of her euery way shee shall neuer haue any And shall I then beeing but a poore gentleman seeke to insinuate my selfe in place so high Shall I by my rude attempt purchase at least the displeasure of her friendes and parentes and perchaunce hers also whom to displease would be no lesse displeasant vnto mée then death Alas and must loue needes bee rewarded with hate Must curtesy néedes bée counteruayled with crueltie Must goodwil needes be returned with displeasure Is it possible y bounti should not abide where beuty doth aboūd that curtesy should not accompany her comlinesse Yes I am sure at the least she wil suffer me to loue her though her younge yeeres high estate will not suffer her to loue mee though shée will not accept me for husband yet I am sure shee will not reiecte mée for seruaunt and though shee will not receiue my seruice yet I doubt not but shee will courteously take the tendringe therof vnto her And touchinge her parentes displeasure what care I to procure the ill will of the whole world so I may purchase her good will. Yea if I should spend the most precious bloud in my body in the pursuite of so pereles a péece I would count it as welbestowed as if it were shed in the quarrell of god my prince or country For shée is the goddesse whom I wil honour with deuotion shée is the prince whom I will obey with duty shee is the country in whose cause and quarrell I will spend life liuing and all that I haue Neither is there mutch cause why her friendes should storme much at the matter for though my lands reuenewes are not great yet am I of y bloud royall nere kinsman to themperour who wil not suffer me to want any thing pertayning to my estate degree Why Alerane a youth like my self practised the mightie emperour Otho his daughter darling Adalesia stole her away married her and do I sticke to attempt the like with one of far meaner estate though of far more worthinesse And though frowning fortune tossed him for a while in y tempestious seas of aduersiti yet at the length he arriued at the hauen of happy estate and was reconciled to the good grace and fauour of the Emperour againe And though at the first my
is the cause when they will lay on them selues heauier burdens then they are able to beare and refuse to beare those burthens whiche nature hath appointed them to beare which are but light What talke you sir sayth shee so mutch of nature and of creatures without reason as though wee ought to follow either the instinct of the one either the example of the other I haue bene alwayes taught that reason is the rule to direct our dooinges by and that wee ought to laye béefore vs the actions of creatures indued with reason to follow and imitate For if you sticke so strictly to the example of reasonles creatures you should vse the company of women but once or twice at the moste in the yeere as most of them doo with their females whereto I am sure you would bée loth to bée tied Madame sayth hee a gentlewoman of this citie hath answerd this obiction alredy for me Why then saith she wil you condemne their dooings in some poinctes place them for paternes to bée practised by in othersome Yea why not sayth hée otherwise you might generally take exception against the example of men for that some men in some matters do amisse The good euer is to bee vsed and the ill refused But to come to the dooings of men which you séeme to desire doth not euery man so soone as his daughter is arriued to ripe yeres trauell to bestow her in mariage wherby she may inioy the fruits of loue participate with the pleasures incident to that estate wherby they plainly shew that the cause why they begot them with pleasure and bring them vp with pain is to haue them enter into that trade of life wherin not only themselues may liue happily abounding in all pleasure but also by the fertill fruite of their body make their mortall parentes immortall that when they with age shalbée wasted and withered away the séede of their seede may begin gréenely to grow and flowrishingly to spring to the great comfort of both the father and daughter For what pleasure the graundfather takes in the sportinge pastime of his proper daughters prety children I thinke you partly vnderstaÌ„d and what delight the mother takes in the toyes of her litle sonne you soone shall perfectly perceiue if it please you friendly to followe the friendly counsayle which I frankely preache vnto you For do you thinke if virginity were of sutch vertue that parentes would not rather paine them selues to keepe their deare daughters modest maides then straine them selues and their substance to ioyne them in Iunos sacred bond Yes perswade your swéete selfe if your mother were so perswaded shée would rather locke you vp close in her closet then suffer any to inioy the soueraigne sight of your beuty or once aspire to your spéeche whereby you might bée perswaded to some other kinde of life But shée experienced by yéeres knoweth best what is best for your behouse and would you should followe her example and make no conscience to loose that which shée her self hath lost which except shée had lost wée had lost so rare a Iewell as your séemely selfe are with what a losse it had bene to my self I dare not say lest you count verity vanity and truth trifling and flattery But to our purpose you perceiue as I sayd your parentes pleased with the accesse of gentlemen vnto you wherby you may conceiue their minde is you should accept sutch seruice as they profer and pertake with those pleasures which they prefer vnto you Why sir sayth shée you altogether mistake the meaning of men in this matter for when fathers teÌ„der mariages to their daughters it is not for any minde they haue to haue them maried but onely for feare least they should fall to folly otherwayes for knowing the fickle frailenesse of youth and our procliuyty to prauity and wickednesse they prouide vs mariages to preuent mischiefes and séeinge of euils the least is to bée chosen they count mariage a lesse euill then lightnesse of our life and béehauiour Alas good Madame saith he why do you so mutch prophane the holy state of wedlocke as to count it in y number of euils wheras the goddes themselues haue entred into that state where as Princes pleasantly passe their time therin whereas by it only mankinde is preserued and amitie and loue amongst men conserued of the worthinesse wherof I am not worthy to open my lippes Sir saith she I speake it not of my self but according to the opinion of the most wise and learned Philosophers that euer liued amongest whom one Aminius so mutche misliked of Marriage that béeyng demaunded why hee would not marrie answered because there were so manie inconueniences incident to that estate that the least of them is able to slea a thousande men Why Madame saith hee you must consider there is nothyng in this mortall life so absolutely good and perfect but that there bée inconueniences as well as commodities incurred therby by that reason you may take the Sâ—une out of the world for that it parcheth the summers greene and blasteth away the beutie of those that blaze their face therin But to leaue naturall humaine lawes and come to the deuine precepts proceedyng from Gods owne mouth doth not God say it is not good for man to liue alone and therefore made Eue for an helper and comforter Likewise in diuers places of Scripture he doth not only commend Marriage to vs saying Marriage and the bed vndefiled are honourable but also commaundeth vs to it saying you shall forsake Father and Mother and follow your wiues Why sir saith shee and doth not God say it is good for man not to touche a woman and if thou bee vnmarried remayne so But why alleadge you not this text it is better to marrie then to burn wherby is playnly shewed that Marriage is but a meane to medicine the burnynge in concupiscence and lust and as I sayd béefore of two euils the least and therfore preferred But because wee bee entred into deuine misteries I could refer you to a place of scripture where it is reported that in Heauen Uirgins chéeifly serue God and set foorth his glorie And Mahamet the great Turke who was in heauen saith he saw there Uirgins who if they issued foorth of Heauen would lighten the whole worlde with their brightnesse and if they chaunced to spit into the sea they would make the whole water as sweet as Honie but here is no mention of married folke Belike saith hée those Uyrgins bee like your self and then no meruayle though God be delighted with the sight of them whiche perchaunce is the cause hee hath them in Heauen to attend vpon him as first Heue and after Ganymedes did vpon Iupiter But generally of women the scripture sayth that by bringinge forth of children they shalbée saued and inioy a place in heauen which must bée by mariage if honestly But bicause I am perswaded that it is onely for argument sake that you
disalow mariage and that you pretend otherwise in words then you intend to doo in workes I am content to giue you the honour of the fielde and thus far to yéelde my consent to your opinion that virginity considered of it owne nature simply without circumstance is better then Matrimony but bicause the one is full of perill the other full of pleasure the one full of iepardy the other full of security the one as rare as the blacke swan the other as common as the blacke crow of good thinges I thinke the more common the more commendable If sayth shée I haue gotten any conquest hereby I am to thanke mine own cause not your curtesy who yéeld when you are able to stand no longer in defence Nay Madame say not so sayth hée for in that very yelding to your opinion I proued mariage better then virginity for that is more common neither would I haue you turne my scilence in this matter into lacke of science and knowledge or reprehend mée if I spare to inforce further proufe in a matter sufficiently prooued already no more then you would rebuke a Spanniel which ceaseth to hunt when hée séeth the Hauke seazed on the Partridge But you may meruaile madame what is the cause that maketh mée perswade you thus earnestly to mariage which as mine owne vnworthinesse willeth mée to hide so your incomparable curtesy incourageth me to disclose which maketh mée thinke that it is no smal cause which can make you greately offended with him who beareth you great goodwil and that what sute soeuer I shal prefer vnto you you wil either graunt it or forgiue it pardon it or pitie it Therfore may it please you to vnderstand y since not long since I tooke large view of your vertue and beauty my hart hath beene so inflamed with the bright beames therof that nothing is able to quenche it but the water which floweth from the fountayne that first infected mée and if pity may so mutch preuaile with you as to accept mée I dare not say for your husband but for your slaue and seruaunt assure your selfe there shall no doubt of daunger driue mée from my duty towardes you neither shall any Lady whatsoeuer haue more cause to reioyce in the choice of her seruaunt then your selfe shall for that I shall account my life no longer pleasaunt vnto mée then it shall be imployed in your seruice Agrippina dying her lily chéekes with Vermilion red and castinge her eies on the grounde gaue him this answere As I am to yéeld you thankes for your goodwill so am I not to yéeld consent to your request for that I neither minde to marry neither thinke my self worthy to retain any sutch seruaunt but if I were dispoled to receiue you any way I thinke the best manner meane inough for your worthynesse Immediatly here vpon there came company vnto them which made them brake of their talke and Agrippina béeing got into her chamber began to thinke on the sute made vnto her by Germanicus and by this time Cupid had so cunningly carued and ingraued the Idoll of his person and béehauiour in her heart that shée thought him worthy of a far more worthy wife then her selfe and perswadinge her selfe hy his woordes and lookes that his loue was loyall without lust true without triflinge and faythfull without faygninge shée determined to accept it if her parentes would giue their consent therto Now Germanicus nothinge dismayed with her former deniall for that it had a curteous close so soone as oportunity serued set on her againe in this sort Now Madame you haue considered my case at leasure I trust it will stand with your good pleasure to make mee a more comfortable answere I béeseech you sir sayth shee to rest satisfied with my former answere for other as yet I am not able to make you Alas Madame sayth hée the extremity of my passion will not suffer long prolonginge of compassion wherfore I humbly beseech you presently to passe your sentence either of bale or blisse of saluation or damnation of life or death for if the heauens haue conspired my confusion and that you meane rigorously to reiecte my good will I meane not long to remaine aliue to trouble you with any tedious sute for I account it as good reason to honour you with the sacrifice of my death as I haue thought it conuenient to bestow vpon you the seruice of my life Alas sir sayth shée this iesting is nothing ioyfull vnto mée and I pray you vse no more of it for the rememberaunce of that which you speake of in sporte maketh mée séele the force therof in good ernest for a thousand deaths at once can not bée so dreadful vnto mée as once to thinke I should liue to procure the death of any sutch as you are If sayth hée you count my wordes sporte iest and daliance assure your selfe it is sport without pleasure ieste without ioy and daliance without delight as tract of time shall shortly try for true But if you loue not to heare of my death why like you not to giue mée life whiche you may do only by the consent of your good will. Why sir sayth shee you know my consent consisteth not in my selfe but in my parents to whom I owe both awe and honour therfore it bée hooueth you first to séeke their consent Why Madame sayth hée shall I make more account of the meaner partes then of the heade you are the heade and cheife in this choice and therfore let mée receiue one good worde of your good wil and then let heauen and earth doo their woorst It is not the coine countenance or credite of your parentes that I pursue for to winne sutch wealth as your good will. I could bée content to leade a poore life all the dayes of my life so that you bée maintayned according to your will and worthinesse Well saith shée séeing I am the only marke you shoot at assay by all the meanes you may to get my freindes good will and if you leuell any thinge strait you shall not misse mée Germanicus vpon this procured the Emperours letters to her father in his beehalfe who hauinge perused those letters sayd hée trusted the Emperour would giue him leaue to dispose of his owne accordinge to his owne pleasure and that his daughter was to nere and deere vnto him to see her cast away vpon one who for lacke of yéeres wanted wisdome to gouerne her and for lacke of landes liuyng to maintaine her and calling his daughter béefore him hée béegan to expostulate with her in this sorte Daughter I euer here tofore thought you would haue been a solace and comfort to my olde yéeres and the prolonger of my life but now I se you will increase my hoarie heares and bee the hastner of my death Doeth the tender care the careful charge and chargeable cost which I haue euer vsed in bringyng you vp deserue this at your handes that you should passe a
particularity concludeth no generality And as an Aethiopian is sayd generally to bée blacke though his téeth bée white for that for the most partes of him hee is black so I thinke loue may bee sayd generally to procéede of the similitude of manners for that for the most part it doth so And besides infinite other examples which I can alleage for proofe hereof the historie which you shal presently heare shall also confirme it In the renowmed citie of Rome made his abode one Icilius who though hée were a gentleman of a worshipful house yet by reason that his parentes were yet lyuinge his patrimony was not great neither his liuinge more then might suffice to maintaine the porte of the place and countenance hée caried in the citie by reason wherof hee remained vnmaried as béeing not able to maintayne a wife accordinge to the estate of his callinge It was his chaunce amongest other youthfull company to passe the time for the space of a sennight in feasting and makinge merry at the house of one L. Virginius a worshipful gentleman of the same citie who had to daughter a damsell named Virginia who as shée was of ripe yeres so was shée of ripe iudgement and discretion in euery point beelonginge to a vertuous virgin modest maide Her shape though it were not precise yet was it perfecte her face though it were not blasinge yet was it beautifull her corps though it were not curious yet was it comely and as nature plentifully planted perfection in her so God super aboundantly bestowed his benefits vpon her sutch grauity in gesture sutch modesty in manners sutch curtesy in conuersation sutch troth in talke sutch wit in reasoning that Minerua her selfe could not haue mended her that it was doutfull whether men were more rapte into admiration of her wisdome or rauished in contemplation of her beauty the one contayninge contentment for the body the other solace and delight for the minde Now Icilius being in the company and society of this saint vsed litle other behauiour towardes her aboue his common regard to all the Gentlewomen of the troupe but spent his time in dauncinge dysinge cardinge and other sutch pastimes And notwithstanding this while he often felt a certaine restraint of liberty in his affections an alteration of minde and as it were a ciuell assault and discord within him selfe yet by reason of his younge yeres and small practise in the pangues of loue hee could not coniecture the cause of his sodaine passions but this made him most to muse that when hee was in his most dumps if shee chaunced to present her selfe to his presence his heart was presently lightned of that which lay so heauy in his stomake and as when the sun shineth the cloudes vanish away so when her beauty blazed in place the cloudes of care were cleare consumed Likewise beeinge often desirous to talke with her inioy the present pleasure of her pleasant speeche his sences were so rauished with the sight of her y he could not vtter one word vnto her Sitting also at the table with her casting a gazinge glaunce round about him his sight was neuer satisfied vntill hee had lent her a looke and séemed only to resolue his fancy vpon her face But notwithstandinge all this hee did not thorowly perceiue the cause of his sodain trouble of minde and thought it as it was a toy lightly taken so would it bée lightly left againe and therfore departed from her fathers house without preferring any sute vnto her or adding execution to the aduantage of the time and place But beeinge gone home and gotten solitarily to his chamber good god what mountaines of smooke did scaldinge sighes send foorth of his mouth what drops of bloud did galdinge greife make his heart to bléed what flouddes of teares did flow from his eyes what carefull complaints did hée send vnto the skies saying O heauens why heape you my heauinesse O planets why plant you my paine O destines why decrée yée my distruction O Gods why depriue you mée of liberty nowe my younge yéeres chalenge to liue most fréely O fortune why doest thou mixe my swéete meate with sutch sower sauce y is more bitter then gall and nolesse pleasaunt then death vnto mée Must the litle delight which I tooke in the company of Virginia wherof I fully vnderstood not her to bée the cause neither bée counteruayled with sutch direfull dispight and for the pleasure which her presence procured mée must her absence purchase me sutch displeasure then to true doe I finde that euery dram of delight hath a pound of spight and euery inch of ioy an ell of annoy annexed vnto it then well may I curse the chaunce y cause and the company which caused mée to come to that place which hath caught mée in sutch bondage And may I terme it bondage to liue in the seruice and contemplation of my Virginia Is it slauery to bée thrall to vertue It is her bountie not her beutie that bindeth mée it is her curtesy not her comlinesse that I care for it is her perfection not her person that I passe of it is her condiditions not her colour that I acount of for beuty bideth not comelinesse continueth not personage perisheth coulour fadeth but bounty curtesie perfection and conditions remaine for euer So that if I liue in bondage it is to vertue if I bée a slaue I am vertues slaue But doth vertue vse to torment men thus béelike that is the cause there are so few honest and vertuous No I ought not to count my trouble a torment but the fine gold must bee purified in the flaming fire white siluer is wrought in blacke pitch glory must bee gotten thorow depth of daunger and pleasure must bée purchased with the price of paine And though absence now be some torment to try mee and though dolour now drowne mee in the seas of sorrow yet doubt I not but shortly to swim in the fluds of feliciti and take land there where my heart hath already pitcht his abode But O presumptuous foole whether doth folly force mec doo I hope to win her whom my vnworthynesse willeth me not so mutch as to wish for Yea which way soeuer I goe to worke I am sure to haue a colde sute of it for if I profer her my seruice dishonestly why her vertue abhorreth it if I make loue in way of mariage her estate and ritches refuseth it O god and shall goods bee more accounted of then goodwill lucre more then loue Is the counsayle of Themistocles altogether reiected who willeth men rather to marry their daughters to a man that wanteth mony then to mony y wanteth a man to vse it Is the world so blinded in couetousnesse to prefer liuinge before learning wealth before wit Then farewell true freindship if it bée not grounded vpon loue then farewell true loue if mariage bée not the end of it then farewell true mariage if mony make it then
more it is vncouered the sooner is it cured for as coales of fire couered cloase with ashes keepe their heate longe time but lying open soone waxe colde and blacke so the firy flames of loue raked vp in silence burne furiously within a man but béeinge by discourse disclosed they soone conuert from flame to fume and smoake Wherefore good freinde sticke not to imparte vnto mée this matter which doth import you so nere promising you by the inuiolable bond of freindship to trauaile so ernestly in your affaires that what wanteth in power you shall finde in the paines which I will take in your cause Alas swéet freind saith Icilius rather then you should thinke I haue any diffidence or distrust in you or thinke you vnwoorthy of credite in any cause whatsoeuer I will make you priuy to the cause of my paine what pange or perill so euer I incur therby Wherefore you shal vnderstand that since the time I was at the house of L. Virginius as you partly know the conditions of his daughter did so well content mée her nature agréed so well with mine her affections were so framed to my fancy that I am constrained to resigne my liberty captiue vnto her and to make her person the prison of my hart And the lesse hope I haue of obtayning her the more doo I loue and the more déepely I doo desire her the more deadly doo I dispaire of her which is the cause of all my care and summe of all my sorow yea this is it which hath made mee an enemie to my selfe a straunger to my freindes to abandon all good company to sit in solitarinesse and this is it which if it bée not in time prouided for will preuente by death all other mischeifs God forbid good freind sayth his freind that so light a cause should so déepely distres you what doo you thinke either so superstitiously of her either so abiectly of your selfe that you deeme this matter so impossible to bee brought to passe Why her person is not of sutch perfection but that yours may match it her freindes are not of sutch state but that yours may stand by them her portion is not so greate but your parentes are able to make yours equall vnto it No doubt not but your loue shall sort to lucky ende and haue sutch successe you seeke for and I am hartely glad that seeinge it was your chaunce to loose your liberty it is lodged in sutch a place which is rather to bée counted a Paradise of pleasure thē a prison of paine of whose worthynes I would somwhat say but that perchaunce you will thinke mee partiall to the party and besides that I should rather kindle newe coales in you then quench olde flames But bicause I perswade my selfe I may doe somewhat with the partie which putteth you to this paine doubt not to commit this charge to mee and I warrant you I will discharge it to your contentation Ah deare freind sayth Icilius if I thought you as well able to giue order to my sorrow and redresse my woe as I see you willing to comfort my carefulnesse and keepe mee from dispaire I should thinke my self the happiest wight in the world and I would account of you as the preseruer of my life but I can not tell what the matter is méethinkes the more feruent is my fire the more faint is my feare Phy sayth his freind you shew your selfe to very a coward fortune you knowe fauoureth not the faint hearted neither are they woorthy to win the pray you presse for and therefore for shame take a good heart vnto you and doe your indeuour and let mee alone with the rest there is no hauke soareth so highe but shee will stoupe to some praye neither any so rammishe and wilde but in time shee may bee reclaimed and made to the lure And if you follow my aduise I think good you solicite her by letters vntill sutch time you haue conuenient time to goe thither your selfe Which counsayle hee forthwith put in execution and indited a letter to his Mistris in this manner Good Mistris to set foorth in woordes the feruency of my affection vehemency of my passion I thinke would be both tedious to you and I am sure greeuous to my self for that the remembraunce of my passions would bee as it were a renewing of my paine and though I altogether vse silence therein yet the lothsome life which I leade may by report aduertise you of my lucklesse loue and my drousy lookes to all which see them are signes sufficient of my drouping heart Therfore may it please you plainly to vnderstand that beeinge at Mayster Virginius your fathers house I receiued sutch contentation in your company and sight that since I haue bene depriued therof I thinke my selfe depriued of all the pleasures of life And onlesse your curtesy surmounte my desertes and that you vouchsafe to pity my painfull estate I shal haue iust cause to say that at your fathers I receiued in stéede of meate misery for drinke dolour yea I may count my fare fire and my chéere very déere which must cost mee no lesse then the losse of my liberty at least But if yet at the last course it shall please you to send and serue in to the table of my troubled minde some confectes of comfort with the fruites of freindship I shall thinke my selfe to haue fared most daintily wheras otherwise I shall count my selfe intreated disdainfully Looke not good Mistris to my liuyng but to my loue way not my wealth but my will marke not my mony but my meaning in the way of honest and lawfull mariage and spéedily send the messenger of present consolation to him which pineth away in paine and is yours only and euer ICILIVs Virginia hauinge vewed this letter and likinge it neuer the worse for his sake that sent it replied vnto it in this short and sober sort Sir bicause I knowe in my selfe no sutch due desert any way to driue you to sutch déepe desire I am the hardlyer induced to beléeue your wordes and though I adhibited full credite vnto them yet perchaunce as yet my fancy is not fully framed to like so well of you as you eyther desire or deserue and though I coulde finde in my heart to like you aboue all other yet I know not whether my freindes will yeeld their consent therto So that it is in mée only to thanke you for your goodwil but not to satisfie your request Yours as shee may VIRGINIA This letter bringinge some comforte to his carefull mimde made him make hast to repaire in person to the place of her presence where hee presented her his sute with sutch assured signes of perfect loue and loyalty that shee thought with good conscience shée could not contemne his good will. But her parentes for that hee was not able his father béeing aliue to make her sutch ioynter as they inioyned him to deferred the consummation of the mariage from
her father Virginius Apius answered that hee thought it good the matter should hange in suspence vntill the returne of her supposed father but it was no reason but that hee who pretended yea and had prooued to haue sutch right to her should haue her in his custody vntill the matter were more examined and vpon his honour hée promised shee should bee foorth comminge to appeare at the time of her fathers approche The people hearinge this iniurious iudgment of Appius rather murmured at it then durst make resistance against it by reason wherof Marcus Cloudius béegan to draw the maid to bee defloured as the tiger in Hyrcane wooddes haleth the lambe to bée deuoured But god the righter of al wrongs and protector of all pure virgins preuented the perill which hong ouer her head sent home from the warres to succour her her vncle Numitorius and her spouse Icilius who hearinge the haynousnesse of the matter presently presed to the place where Appius sate in iudgement but hee commaunded his officers to kéepe Icilius backe whervpon Icilius inueighed against him in this sort Albeit O Appius by force you keepe mee from keepeinge mine owne out of your handes yet shall you not stay my toung from detecting the villany which you indeuour to doe For the truth is this virgin is betrothed to mée and my minde is to marrie her a chast maide therfore assure your selfe if it lie in mee to let shee shal not remaine one minute of an houre out of her fathers house Is it not sufficiente for you to depriue the people of the cheife pillors of their liberty but that our wiues and children also must liue in slauery to your tirranny Exercise your cruelty on our bodies at least let chastity bee in safety Ought princes to giue light of life to their people and wil you make your selfe a mirrour of mischeife to your posterity But if you minde to take her away from vs by force and from her her virginity neuer thinke to doe it while I haue any breath left in my body for in this iust cause and quarrell of my wife life shall sooner leaue mee then loyalty Appius thinkinge the power of Icilius would preuaile aboue his for that the multitude meruaylously inclined to his side sayd hée would haue another time to represse the rebellious rage of Icilius and touchinge the maide for her fathers sake hee was content to defer the pronouncinge of sentence against her vntill the nexte court day that her father might bee present in the meane while hée would intreate Marcus Cloudius to forbeare his right but if her father came not by the next court day hee would defer the execution of iustice for no mans plesure Presently vpon this hee dispatched letters to the captaine generall of the army that hee should not in any wise dismisse Virginius or suffer him to come home but Icilius had sent for him with such spéede that he had leaue to depart beefore those letters came to the captayne so it pleased god to preuent the pollicy and wicked purpose of Appius Now Virginius béeinge come to Rome went with his daughter to the iudgement place and did there lamentably implore the helpe of the people sayinge while I with the rest of the souldiours haue hazarded our liues in the defence of you and your children I am in daunger to haue mine owne daughter dispoyled wheras by my helpe our city is preserued from enemies I my selfe am brought to sutch misery as if it were taken by our enemies and vtterly razed to the ground For what greater villany can bée done to the vanquished then to sée béefore their eyes their wiues and children desloured and defiled But neighbours and freindes if you suffer mée to sustaine this iniury assure your selues your staffe standeth next to the dore and looke no longer to bée husbands ouer your wiues and parentes ouer your children then it shall please these tirantes to giue you leaue Any euill at the first entring in of it may easely bée auoyded but let one or two presidentes passe patiently without resisting and it will run into a custome and from thence to a law and you will neuer bée able after to rid your handes of it And if your owne safety driue you not to succour mée yet let my old yeeres my hoary heires the honest port which I haue euer maintained and the chast life of my daughter moue you to put to your handes to helpe redresse my wronge By this time Appius was come to the iudgement place with a great troupe of armed men and séeing Virginius there contrary to his expectation and perceyning no colour of law could cloud his dooings hée set down his owne will for a law and sayd hée would defraud Marcus Cloudius no longer of his right and séeinge the maide was conuicted by proufe and witnes to bée his bond maid he gaue sentence that he should presently haue her away not suffering her father to alleage any thing for her fréedome Virginius seeing this extreeme dealing of Appius threatningly shooke his hands at him saying I haue béetrothed my daughter to Icilius not to thee O Appius I haue brought her vp to bee an honest maried woman not thy harlot What doest thou thinke vnder the pretence of bondage to make her bound to thy beastlinesse Appius not regarding his rayling caused his officers to make the multitude giue place to Marcus Cloudius that hee might quietly cary away his bond mayd by reason wherof Virginia was left voide of helpe and rescue which her father perceiuing and séeing him self not able to deliuer her out of her enemies handes to defer the time hopinge still for helpe hée vsed this pollicy hée desired Appius hee might haue his daughter aside and betwéene her nurce and her examine the matter that if it were found hée were but her fained father hée might the more willingly depart with her Which béeing by Appius graunted they thrée went aside together where Virginia fell downe vpon her knees and made this ruthles request vnto her father I perceiue deare father it is not without great cause that the philosophers were of this opinion that the greatest felicity is neuer to bée borne and the second soone to die now séeing by your meanes I am depriued of the first I beseech you by your meanes let mee inioy the second and to counteruayle the lucklesse and lothsome life which you haue giuen mée vouchsafe to bestow on mee an honourable death And as by your fatherly care I haue continued a continent virgin hetherto so by your furthering aide I praye you let mee dye an honest mayde presently least my life hereafter contaminate y commendation of my life heretofore and seeing I can bee no longer suffred to liue honestly good father let mee die honourably For an honourable death is alwayes to bee preferred beefore an infamous life of euils the least is to bee chosen and death of body is to bee counted a lesse euill then distructiō
in as great rage as it had done the former time of their raygne But yet hate caused not sutch hoate skirmishes between the parentes but that loue forced as fierce assaultes between the children For it was so that Lycabas had a daughter named Alcest who what time Admetus was in her fathers court to intreate of peace chaunced out at her chaumber window to haue a sight of him and hee at the same time happened to incounter a vewe of her And as small drops of rayne ingender great flouddes and as of litle seedes grow greate trees so of this litle looke and sight grew sutch great loue and delight that death it selfe could not dissolue it For as women bee of delicate and fine mettall and therefore soone subiect to loue so Alcest after this first sight was so ouergone in goodwill towardes Admetus that shee fixed her only felicitie in framyng in her fancie the fourme of his face and printyng in her heart the perfection of his person And as nothyng breedeth bane to the body sooner then trouble of minde so shee perseuered so longe in sutch pensiue passyons and carefull cogitations that her body was brought so lo for lacke of the vse of sleepe and meate that shee was fayne to keepe her bed and by reason that shee couertly concealed her greife it burned so furiously within her that it had almost cleane consumed her away Her father seeinge her in this heauy case assembled all the learned phisitions hee could learne of in the country who hauinge seene her were all altogether ignorant of her disease and were at their wits ende what medicine to apply to her malady Some thought it a consumption some a burning feuer some a melancholy humor some one thing some another And her father examyning her how it held her and what disease shee thought it to bee shee answered that it was a sicknesse which it pleased god to sende her and that it was not in y helpe of Phisicke to heale her but her health was onely to bee had at gods handes Nowe Admetus on the other side hauinge the profer of many princes made him in the way of mariage made very carelesse account thereof and seemed in his minde to bee very angry with those offers and as the sight of meat is very lothsome to him whose stomacke is ill or hath already eaten his fill so that litle sight which hee had of Alcest had fed his fancy so full that to see or so mutch as think of any other woman was most greeuous vnto him And notwithstandinge the gripinge paine of loue caused some graftes of greife to begin to growe in his heart yet by reason that hée had the conducting of the army royall vnder his father hée was so busily occupied that he had no great leasure to lodge any louing thoughts within his breast But sée howe the destinies dealt to driue this bargaine thorow There aroase a quarrell béetwéene the two armies touchinge certaine pointes wherin the law of armes was thought to bée broken to decide which controuersy Admetus was sent post to Lycabas who sitting by his daughters bed side had woorde brought him that Admetus was come to the court to impart matters of importance vnto him Nowe at this instant there chaunced one of the Phisitions to hold Alcest by the arme and to féele her pulses and where before they beate very féebly as if shée had béene ready to yéelde to the sommance of death shée no sooner heard that message brought vp to her father but that her pulses began to beat with great force and liuelinesse which the phisition perceiuinge perswaded him selfe hée had found the cause of her calamity but for more assured proufe hée whistered the king in the eare desiring him that Admetus might bée sent for thither and there to make relation of his message vnto him which the kinge caused to bée done accordingly Admetus was no sooner admitted into the chamber but her pulses beegan to beate againe with wonderfull swiftnesse and so continued all the while hée was in the chaumber Who séeinge his loue in sutch daunger of her life though hée vnderstood not the cause therof yet hée cast sutch a carefull countenance towardes her that shee easely perceiued hée did participate in payne with her which made her cast sutch glaunces of goodwill towardes him that hée easely vnderstood it was for his sake shée sustained sutch sorow and sicknesse But the feare of her father who was his mortall foe and the vrgent necessity of his affaires forced him to depart without manifesting vnto her the manifolde good will hée bare her And though his departure were litle better then death to the damsell yet for that shée knew her loue to bée incountred with like affectiō wherof before shée stoode in doubt shee beegan to driue away the darke cloudes of dispaire and to suffer the bright light of hope to shine vpon her Admetus béeing gone the Phisition tooke the king a syde and tolde him his daughters disease was not deriued of any distemperature of the body but only of the disquietnesse of the minde and to tell you the truth plainely saith hee it is only the feruent affection shée beareth to that younge prince Admetus your enemy that forceth this féeblenesse and faintnes in her And told the kinge by what meanes hée tried the truth therof The kinge at these wordes was meruailously disquieted perswading himself that it was so in déede and that Admetus on the other side bare affection to his daughter for that all the time of his talke with him hée continually turned his eyes towards her bed and wold often times giue him answeres nothinge pertinent to the questions which hée proposed vnto him as hauing his cogitations conuersaunt in other matters Upon this the king went to his daughter as the phisition first ministreth to his patient bitter pilles and purgations to expell grose and ill humours and then applieth lenitiues and restoratiues to bréede and bringe againe good bloud so hée first vsed sharpe threatnings vnto her to expell the force and fury of her loue and then vsed gentle perswasions to restore her to her former helth and quiet of minde But neither the sowernesse of the one neither the swéetnesse of the other could preuayle for salues seldome helpe an ouerlong suffred sore it is to late to shut the stable dore when the stéede is stolen it booteth not to stop the breach when the towne is ouerflowen it is to late to dislodge loue out of ones breast when it hath infected béefore euery parte of the body For as sowninge mortifieth euery member as pestilence infecteth euery part as poyson pierseth euery vaine so loue if it bée not in time looked too will bringe both body and minde to vtter confusion For this virgin was so vanquished by loue that shée neither forced her fathers faire wordes neither feared his fierce threatninges but tolde him plainly shée would not deny the loue she bare Admetus neither could
couered And whereof springeth this errour that women may not first make loue but only of a precise and curious custome nay rather a preiudicall and carefull custome I may tearme it to vs women for wherof commeth it that so many of vs are so euill matcht in mariage but only hereof that wée are tyed to the hard chose of those that offer their loue vnto vs where as if it were lawfull for vs to make loue where we lyked best we woulde neuer marry but to our minde and contentation Lastly I am not the first that haue played the lyke parte and that whiche is done by alowable example is lawfully done For Venus her selfe yéelded her selfe to her darlinge Adonis withoute any sute made on his part Phaedra made sute to Hippolitus Oenone pleaded her right with Paris Dido dyd Aeneas to vnderstande how déepely she desired him Bryses besought the goodwill of Achilles Adalesia by her gouernesse made loue to Alerane the Dutchesse of Sauoy went on pilgrimage to y Knight Mendoza infinit lyke exampls I could alleage and why is it not lawfull for me to do the lyke and make loue to King Minos who perchance would first haue sued to mée if he had first séene mée yes let the world iudge what they will I wyll doe what I shal iudge best for my selfe and with as conuenient spéede as I may I will either by letters or déedes do Minos to vnderstand what minde I beare him And as she was busely beating her braines here about one of her most trusty and louing women came ▪ vnto her humbly requestinge her to make her priuy to the cause of her perplexitie Alas good misteris saith she yf you want any thing let your friends vnderstand it and it shal be prouided If my poore seruice may any way serue your turne assure your selfe neither respect of honour lyuing or lyfe shall let mee from doing any thing which may deliuer you out of distresse if you haue imprisoned your libertie any where and giued your selfe in the fetters of fansy I know a Gentlewoman my familier freind who can stand you in as much steed for y obtaininge of your purpose as any gentlewoman in this Courte The princes desirous of aid in her distres prayed her woman to procure the comminge of that Gentlewoman with all possible spéede Whervpon the wayting woman caused one of the princesses gentlemen to goe to this honest woman and in her name to desire her to come to the princesse You shall vnderstande this gentlewomans name who was sent for was Pandarina in her youth a seruinge woman and one which knewe more fashions then was fit for honest women But nowe married to an honest Gentleman shée entred into a newe religion seeming to renounce her olde fayth setling her selfe in sutch hipocrysy y she rather counterfaited cunningly thē liued cōtinētly But to paint her out more plainly she was more coy thē cumly more fine thē wel fauored more loftly thē louely more proud then proper more precise thē pure more superstitious then religious more of spighte then of the spirit and yet nothing but honesty would downe with her more Ielous then zelous either iudging her husband by her selfe or iudginge her selfe vnworthy the seuerall vse of so cōmodious a commen as her husband was Well sutch as shee was this younge gentleman of the younge princesse was sent for her at the first comming according to the fashion hee kist her and hauing done his message with frowning face shee told him shee could not goe to the princesse and though shee could yet would shee not goe with him The Gentleman somwhat abashed hereat returned to the gentlewoman that sent him and told her what answere this honest woman made Who meruailing mutch therat went presently her selfe vnto her desiring that gentleman to accompany her Béeinge come to her lodging after a few salutacions Pandarina prayed the gentlewoman either to send vnto her a more modest messenger then the gentleman shee sent or els to teache him to kisse more continently The gentlewoman blushinge for bashfulnes told her she had not the skill to teache men to kisse shee thought that cunning concerned cōmon harlots or at least married women rather then her but sayth shee I will tell him of it that of him selfe hee may amend his fault and callinge the gentleman aside vnto her shée asked him how hée had misused him selfe towards Misteris Pandarina in kissinge her No way sayth hee that I knowe for but if I kissed her boldly I trust shee wil attribute it to young mens bashfulnesse and if I kissed her kindly I trust she wyll impute it to good will. Yes mary sayth the gentlewoman it was more hindely then shee cared for or liked of Uerily sayth hee if it were ouer kinde it is more then I know or more then I ment for to speake my fancy freely I know neuer a gentlewoman in this lande that I like of worse and if shee bee aferde I bee to far in loue with her I will bee bound in what bond shee will to hate her no man more But gentlewoman if you adhibite any credite to my counsayle flie her familiarity eschew her company sutch sayntes in shewe are Satans in déede sutch fayned holinesse is double diue lishnesse sutch counterfayte continencye I count litle better then baudry For sure this is a most sure marke to knowe dissemblers by that they will alwayes far excéede the meane for feare of béeing found in their fayning As those that fayne to weepe houle out right those that fayne to bee freindly shew them selues plaine Parasites as those that fayne to bee valiant brag most gloriously and as shee counterfaytinge continency sheweth her selfe altogether curious and hipocritiall But notwithstandinge I haue had no knowledge of her life and conuersation yet dare I lay my life on it that either shee hath bene naught is naught or wil be naught whensoeuer shee can get any foule adultrour fit for so filthy an adultresse The Gentlewoman hearing him so ernest prayed him to put vp the matter patiently sayinge shee thought it was but a shift to excuse her not comminge to the princesse and so went to Pandarina telling her the Gentleman was sory hée had offended her and so away they went together to the princesse I haue wandred Gentlewomen somwhat béesides the path of my promised purpose but yet not cleane out of the way of mine owne will and intent For though this digressiō pertaine litle to the history I haue in hande yet it may serue to admonish you that you take not executions of curiosyty against kisses which are giuen you of curtesy and if there chaunce to bée any fault in them either modesty to conceale it or presently to returne the kisses againe to him which gaue them But in excusing my former digression I shall enter into another digression therefore to the matter and purpose proposed Pandarina beeinge preferred to the presence of the Princesse hauinge done dutifull
On her chéekes the Lilly and the Rose did striue for interchange of hew her haire cumly curld glistered lyke golde her pierceinge eies twinckled like starres her alabaster teeth stoode as a ranke of precious pearles her ruddy lippes were soft and sweete her handes fine and white yea all her partes so perfectly proportioned that nature sought to winne great commendation in caruing so cunningly so curious a carkas But as a rusty Rapier is no trusty Rampier to defende a man though the Scabbord bee of fine veluet so a woman with foule conditions is coursly to bee accounted of though her face bee faire and body bewtifull But destinies so draue that this King by chaunce cast a glaunce vpon this gorgious goddes and at the first view was so vanquished by vanitie that hee thought his life no longer pleasaunt vnto hym then hee was in her sight And fayled not dayly familierly to frequent the misteris company for the maides cause And hauing attempted her chastitie by shewing her his great goodwyll by beestowinge on her great giftes by large promises of preferment and many other meanes and neuerthelesse fayling of his purpose in pensiue perplexitie fell to parley with himselfe to this purpose I euer heretofore thought a Princes life to bee voyde of strife and that they had alwaies passed their time in pleasure without paine but now I sée wee are subiect to sorow so soone as the meanest subiect we haue Lykewise beefore this I was of opinion that number of frindes aboundinge in wealth abidinge in health and sutch lyke things which pertaine to the body were sufficient to attaine to a happy life in this lyfe but now I see it is the minde whiche maketh mirth and stirreth strife yea the contented minde is the onely ritches the onely quietnes the onely happinesse Good God how vnsauery seeme those sweete meats vnto mee wherein I was woont to delight how vnpleasāt are y sports wherin I was woont to take pleasure how cūbersome is y cōpany which was woont to content mee no game glads mee no daunsing delights mee no iusting ioyes mée no playes please me no triumphes no shewes no hauking no hunting no nothing vnder the Sunne doth solace mee And would I know the cause why I haue not a contented minde the perfect parts of Pasiphae do so diuersly distract my minde that only her sight is swéete onely her company is comfortable onely her presence is pleasaunt vnto mee And would I know the cause why in her y fates haue fixed my felicitie in her the heauens haue heaped my happinesse with her must I liue and without her must I die Why I haue pursued her goodwil with praiers and with presentes with loue and with liberalitie with gifts and with goodwill and yet am neuer the néere And would I know the cause why I sought not her goodwill in the way of marriage Only marriage is the meane only wedlock must locke and lincke vs together And shal I so much debase the height of my estate as to match in mariage with so meane a mate as though many princes haue not as meanely matcht themselues as though the Gods thēselues haue not maried with earthly creatures And for my Pasiphae though shee bee inferriour to me in parentage yet in personage shee is good inough for God himselfe And for her dowry or wealth what neede I way it who haue the most part of the world vnder my dominion no there shall no regard of honour or respecte of ritches detaine mee from that which doth only containe the contentment of my minde And in this minde ment to attempt her in the way of marriage but runninge frō Charibdis hee rusht vppon Scilla flying from one rocke hee fell vppon another thinkinge to quench the coales of his desyre hee fell into hot flames of burninge fier as hereafter you shall heare Now so soone as hee had oportunitie offered him hee made Pasiphae partaker of his purpose in these termes Séeing the onely touchstone to trie true and loyall loue from lothsome lust is marriage I meane if you bee content to consent therto to seale the sincere affectiō I beare you with the sacred ceremonyes and holly rites of matrimony and as I haue preferred your loue beefore all worldli respects so I trust you wil return my loue with such loyalty that I shall haue cause to count my selfe as well matcht as if I had married with the greatest princesse in the world Pasiphae hearing these wordes was so rauished with ioy that shée could not on the sodaine make the kinge an answere but hauing chaunged colour twice or thrise from red to white and from white to red in token of a minde mooued with hope assayled with feare and passioned with pleasure at length shée sayd vnto him As most worthy prince I euer thought my selfe far vnworthy of any sutch honour so if it please your highnes plainly to heare the truth I euer thought my selfe far to worthy to yéeld to your desire in the way of wickednesse which was the cause I made so course account of your curtesy heretofore But seeinge it hath pleased you to lodge your loue thu◠low and to thinke mée worthy the honour of wedlocke with so worthy a wight assure your selfe your maiesty shall finde mée in loue so loyall and in obedience so dutifull towardes you that in the one I wil supply the part of a louing wife and in the other satisfie the duty of a diligent handmayd Neither would I you should thinke that it is the name of a queene or estate of a prince y winneth mee thus willingly to your will for I know that name to bee vaine and that estate full of paine but it is your exceedinge loue towardes mee O noble prince that linketh my lykinge with yours it is your incomparable curtesy which forceth mee to yeelde the forte of my fayth and virginity into your handes For as the sunne the higher it doth ascende in the firmament the more heate it doth extend to the earth so vertue and curtesy in the more high and princely person it is placed the more force it hath to win the wils binde the heartes of people to imbrace it And as my loue is grounded vpon your vertue so I trust so to behaue my selfe that hereafter you shall haue as great lyking to my conditions and vertue as now you haue loue to my colour and beuty that when yéeres shal take away the pleasure of y one you may take delight solace in the other The king was so déepely delighted with this dutifull discourse that hee had not a woorde to reply but satisfiyng him selfe for the time with a few swéete kisses presently gaue commaundement to his officers to make preparation for the sumptuous celebrating of his mariage which shortly after was consummated with sutch royalty as is requisite in a matter of sutch maiesty So this married couple consumed two or three yeres in the highest degrée of happinesse But the sunne
deriued of our owne nature or discended from the heauens there is no reason I shoulde requier any proper or peculiar fortune to my selfe and séeke to be dispensed withal from that which is common to all and so mutche the rather I am induced to yeelde to the instinct of loue and to pursue my purpose for that I perceiue by the wanton lookes of the Quéene that she is determined to entertaine some secret friend béesides the King her husband and if I flatter not my selfe her very countinance towardes me imports some lykelyhood of loue shee beares mée therefore I think it wisdome to strike while the iron is hot and if it bée posible to ease my hart of the greif which her beuty hath bred mee And if shee be disposed to arme her husband with horned harnesse as good I be the instrument therof as some other of meaner calling and countenance After this hee sought all meanes possible to insinuate himselfe into her familiaritie courted her continually with dutiful seruice and secret signes of sincere affection hee so bribed her maides with benefits corrupted them with coyne that they made him a God vnto their misteris she could not looke out at her chamber window but that she saw him walke solitarily vnderneath casting vp countenances which séemed to containe humble praiers for pitie and compassion and throwing vp sutch sighes as might plainly signifie the sorrow of his thoughtes If she chaunced to walk abroade hee woulde méete her lyke a ghost in such ghastly maner with such a pale countenance and pined carkas that it woulde haue moued the stoany rocks to ruth But the Quéene séeing him so fast fettered in folly had that she desired and now she left her louinge lookes towardes him and the more painfully shee perceited him tormented the more disdainfully shee lokt vpon hym and would not by any signes which hee did shew of his affection séeme to know it to the intent hee should by writing make manifest his meaninge vnto her The yong GentlemaÌ„ séeing the hope which at the first he conceiued of her goodwill altogether without hap and in a manner dispairing of his purpose hee coulde take no longer dayes with his desire but that hee must know a final resolution one way or other And beeing driuen to carelesse desperatnesse hee feared not to commit his life to a tell tale péece of paper and beewrayed his miserie to his misteris in this manner Beecause most soueraigne Lady my duty and seruice heretofore hath béene nothinge acceptable to you I haue deuised a new way to woorke your contentation which is by writing to doe you to wit that since it liketh you not to geue mee lyfe I meane to beestowe vppon my selfe a desperate death the only thing I thinke which may procure you pleasure and so long as it may delight you I way not how mutch it spight mee Yea loue hath dealt so extreemly with mee that though I woulde my selfe I cannot keep my corps from confusion For as the frettinge Fistula past all cure runneth in the fleshe from place to place and maketh the sound flesh as rotten as the rest so y deadly poyson of loue first entred in at my eies and after spred into euery part of mee hath now dangerously infected my whole body vnto death But yet my death will bee nothing so gréeuous vnto me as to thinke what a blemish it wil bee to the brightnes of your beuty when your tiranny shal bee taken to bee the cause therof yea and when you shall haue no cloude at all to colour your crueltie For if you alleage for your selfe that you durst not make so deepe a wounde in your honour as to commit your body to any but to him who by marriage hath merited it why a louely looke onely would haue satisfied mee yea one glaunce of goodwill goyng from your eyes wil more content mee then all the actuall pleasure in the world receaued of any other woman in the worlde But séeing fortune doth wil and you do wish my destruction I am content to obey the decrée of the one and satisfie the desyre of the other beeseechinge you to take these witlesse wordes for a final fainting farewell wishing you continuance of beautie with increase of bountie Nether yours neither his owne VERâ—CVNDVS This Letter besprinckled with teares he gaue to one of her maides of honour to geue her But true the prouerbe is that fish bred vp in durtie pooles wil tast of mud one discended of meane race cannot bée endued with vertue fit for princely place set a begger on horsback and hée will neuer alight extoll one of base stock to degrée of dignitie and who is so haughtie who is so proude for this crafty coy Quéene hauing red his letter though she were right glad thereof for that thereby shee ment to purchase his vtter discredit with the Kinge yet shee seemed to bee in a great chafe calling him traytor that durst iniury her eyes with sutch leude letters with diuers other imputations of reproche and went presently to the Kinge and shewed him this letter who in a great rage seÌ„t his guard to apprehende him but hee hauing intelligence thereof was faine to flye the country See the force of fraude and the ende of lawles loue but marke moreouer the reward of her trechery and tiranny Her husbande euer after this was so ielous ouer her that hee woulde neuer suffer her to bee out of his sight and doatinge somewhat of her beauty but doubting more of her honesty he neuer rode forth any iourny but that hee set wary watche and warde ouer her at home yea this furious féende of hel did so torment him that hee could take no rest day nor night but his fancy still ran either vppon theÌ„ Gentleman that would haue done him that iniurie either vppon some other that shoulde be lyke to serue him in like sorte so that the pleasure which her proper person procured him was drowned with y doubt lest she would not remaine proper vnto him and that she would bee as common in possession as she was proper in personage Alas saith hee now my ioy is at an end y clouds of care haue quight couered my sun and light of solace delight yea the greater pleasure I take in practising with my Pasiphae y greater feare I haue that others déepely desyre to participate with y pleasure And the more free she is in sutch fréendship towards me y more franck I doubt she will be towards other Ah would to God I had neuer bene married rather then to bee thus martired or els would I had matcht with some sutch whose princely nature woulde haue participated only with Princes and whose royall bloude and birthe might haue feared the baser sorte to presume to practise her to their purposes but my chaunce was to chuse one who if as the sayinge is like like best of their likes is like to like better of any other then of my selfe
for that in nature and conditions there is sutche difference beetwéene vs But repentaunce now commeth to late this only resteth to bee foreséene that vnto the greate greife which mine owne conceite procureth me her abuse adde not infamy and dishonour And if the heauens haue assigned mee sutch heauy fate as due to my doatinge desyre yet this at least let mée take heede that with the losse of her owne honour shee procure not the losse of my lyfe And herevpon appointed certaine of his assured friends to haue the custody and kéeping of the queene who seeinge her selfe thus disloyally without cause abridged of her liberty béegan to curse the time that euer shée came to bee quéene wishing shee had continued in meaner callinge with fruition of liberty rather then to sit in chayre of dignity with suspicion of dishonesty What pleasure sayth shee doth my princely estate procure mee whiche must liue as a prisoner Who wil honour mee for queen which am suspected for a queane and harlot How shall I dare to shew my face in the Courte when the kinge doubteth of my dealinge towardes him My lookes haue not bene so light my curtesie hath not bene so common my glaunces haue not bene so garish wherby hee shoulde enter into this sinister suspicion of mee But loue they say is light of beeleefe and ielousy is grounded vpon loue Auant fond foolish loue God send my husbande rather to hate me then to beare mée any such loue which bereueth him of rest and mee of renowme which breaketh the bond of faythfull freindship and intire amity betwéen vs which causeth him to doubt mee and mee to dread him which maketh both our liues so lothsome that I wishe death to dispatch ether the one of vs or the other But this froward fate I must ascribe only to mine owne fault and fraud towardes Verecundus who hath now iust cause to triumph that I my selfe am fallen into the pit I digged for him Wel I must retire to patience perforce and hange in hope of some good hap to redresse my woe and misery But you shall vnderstand Gentlewomen this was not all her punnishment nay this was but a trifle in respecte of that which after followed a matter in haynousnesse so horrible in desire so detestable and in lust so lothsome that it is no lesse strange to bée tolde then hard to bée beléeued so that I thinke my wordes will rather carry wonder then credite with you For whether it were gods plague for y husbands ielousy or for her iolity pride and subtelty I know not but thus it pleased him to suffer the diuell to deale with her Beeing by her husbandes commaundement in his absence kept from company her cheife solace was to walke in a pleasaunt groue ioyned to her palaice where vsed to feed a heard of beasts amongest which was a goodly white bull I dare not say shee fell in loue with the bull least I should driue you rather to laughinge at my story then listninge to it but surely so it was Yea shee was not only in loue with the beast and went euery morninge and with her owne hands brake downe boughes for him to brouse vpon but which was more shee was ielous ouer him for what cow in all the herd shee saw hee liked best shee caused to bée had from the heard and killed as she pretended for sacrifice but in deed for fatisfiyng her ielous minde And as the beast was opening shee would take the inwardes in her hand saying now goe thy way and please my loue if thou canst And taking delight a while in this daliance at length her lust grew to sutch outrage that shee felt in her selfe an impossibility to continue her cursed life without the carnall company of the bull And notwithstandinge shee assayed the assistaunce of reason the pollicy of perswations the helpe of herbes and the meane of medicines to mortyfy her beastly desire to the beast yet nothinge would preuayle yea beeinge often in minde to make her selfe away her hart would not suffer her hands to doe it not that death feared her but that desyre forced her first to fulfil her filthy lust But GentlewomeÌ„ because you shal not enter into colorick conceites against me for publishing in this presence a hystorie whiche seemeth so mutch to sounde to the shame of your sexe I meane not to iustifie the truth of it but rather will proue it false by the opinioÌ„ of one Seruius who writeth that Pasiphae indéede played false with one Taurus which signifieth a Bul secretary to her husband in the house of Dedalus and after being delyuered had two sonnes the one lyke Minos the other lyke Taurus and therevpon the Poets faigned the fable aforesaide but whether béeing a woman shee vsed the carnall company of a beast or whether lyke a lewde wife shee gaue her husbande the badge of a beast her offence was sutch that I cannot though gladly I woulde excuse it Yet must I néedes say that in my fancy her husbande deserued some blame for no doubt his suspicion without cause caused her in sutche sorte to transgresse marriage lawes For seeing her honestie doubted of and her good name as good as losâ—e shee thought as good to bee naught for somewhat as to bee thought naught for nothing And surely the experience is to common y suspicion and slaunder maketh many to bee that which they neuer ment to bee But some are of this foolish opinion that it is simple and sottishe folly for a woman to deale truly with him whiche dealeth ielously and cruelly with her some againe lewdly thinke y if a woman cannot coÌ„ceiue by her husband y she may lawfully enter into coÌ„uer sation with some other some wickedly wéene that if the husbande bee not able to satisfie the insatiable desyre of his wife that to auoyde concupiscence shee may communicate with some other but surely Gentlewomen I am setled in this opinion that no suspicion or ielousie ought to cause a woman to transgresse the boundes of honesty that rhastitie is the only Iewell which women ought to bee chary of that women hauinge lost their chastitie are like broken glasses which are good for nothing that they make shipwrack of all if the cabels of constancie be once crakt the anchors of honestie slipt y it is better for theÌ„ to be fooles then false to be simple then subtil to be doues then diuels to be abused then abuse y it is better for theÌ„ to be barren then beastly to bée without fruite then faith children then chastitie that concupisence is only to desire other besides their husbandes that they which burne in sutch desire shall burne in hell fire y no adultresse shall inherite the kingdome of heauen that all women ought to bee like y matronesse of Rome which knew y sauour of no mans breath but of her husbandes like the wife of Fuluius Torquatus who died with longinge rather then shée would goe forth of her chaumber in
her husbandes absence to sée a wilde Aegiption with one eye in his forehead whom shee longed to see that women ought to spin with Penelope to spill with Camma to kill with Lucrece to bee slaundred with Susanna with Sauoy and with others to indure any torment rather then to lose one iote of their chastity and honesty Pigmalions friende and his Image PIGMALION a Gentleman of Piemount continuing the space of certaine yeares in honest affection and vertuous loue with PENTHEA wife to Luciano a noble gentleman of the same country is at length by her reiected in respect of a base stranger Pigmalion abandoning the company of all women and giuinge himselfe to the arte of Caruing burneth in loue with an Image whiche himselfe had fashioned whom at his earnest sute Venus transformeth into a faire Mayde and hee taketh her to Wife TO make the reckoning without the host is the way soone to bee â–ª ouershot in the shot to resolue certenly vpon incertenty is the way neuer to be in any certenty to looke for constancy of those y lyke of inconstancy or to determine of those things which are not in our powers to perfourme is nothing els but to bee deceiued of our expectation and to be driuen to alter our determination as the History whiche you shall heare shal yéelde example of both the one and the other In the country of Piemount had his beeinge one Pigmalion a gentleman discended of noble birth indued with perfection of person perfectly pourtraied forth with y lineameÌ„ts of learning so that it was dooubtful whether he were more indebted to fortune for his birth to nature for his beauty or to his parentes for his learninge But as beautie birth ritches and the rest must néedes geue place to learninge so no doubt but his parentes deserued the preheminence of prayse For the other are but dim starres where learninge giueth light And as when the sunne shineth the light of the stars is not séene so where learning appeareth all other giftes are nothing to be accounted of Besides that beeside his learning he was indued with a great dexteritie in all thinges in so mutch as nothing came amisse vnto him whiche was méete for a Gentleman in feates of armes no man more couragious in exercises of the body none more actiue in game or play none more politike amongst the auncient who more graue amongst the youthfull who more merrie so that there was no time no person no place wherto hee aptly applyed not him self By reson wherof he was acceptable to all good companies wel was he that might entertaine him in his hous But most of al he frequeÌ„ted y â—hous of one Luciano a noble Gentleman of the same countri in continuaunce of time grew so farre in familiaritie with his wife that he reposed his onely pleasure in her presence Yea shee had made sutch a stealth of his harts that neither Father nor Mother Sister nor Brother nor all the friends he had in the country beside could keepe him one wéeke together out of her compani Yea this faithful loue hée bare her séemed in a manner to extinguish all naturall loue towards his allies and kinsfolke Who beeinge as they were wont desirous of his company at hauking hunting and sutche like pastimes coulde not by any erauing or importunity obtayne it but being ignorant of the cause they thought it had proceded of this that his minde vpon some occasion had been alienated from them which caused them on the contrarie somewhat to withdrawe their goodwils from him But hee forced litle thereof he cared not whom hee displeased so he might worke her contentation shee was the starre by whose aspect he did direct his doynges she was the hauen wherein he sought to harborough shée was the heauen whyther he coueted to come shee was the saint to whom hée did lend sutch deuotion that hee could finde in his heart to bend no liking to any other whatsoeuer In so mutch y hauing the profer of many ritch maryages hee alway refused them as hauing his hart so replenished with the loue of her y there was no roomth for the loue of any other to remayn within him Now shee on the other side whose name was Penthea béeinge a curteous courtly wenche gaue him sutch freindly entertaynment and vsed him so well in all respectes that her husband excepted shee séemed to holde him most dere vnto her of any wight in the whole world Shée neuer made feast but hée must bee her guest shee neuer rode iourney but he must be her companion shee neuer daunced but hee must direct her shee neuer dised but hee must bee her partner shee in a manner dyd nothing wherin hee did not something Her Husbande all this while beeinge fully assured of her vertue and very well perswaded of the honesty of the Gentleman susspected no euill beetweene them but lyked very well of their loue and familiarity together neither in deede had hee any cause to the contrary For Pigmalion knew her to bee indued with sutch constant vertue that he thought it impossible to allure her to any folly and besides that his loue was so exceedinge great towardes her that hee would not by any meanes bee the cause to make her commit any thinge which might make her lesse worthy of loue then shee was And if at any time as the fleshe is frayle the vehemency of his affection forced him to perswade her to folly he did it so faintly that it might plainly bee perceiued hee was not willing to ouercome For hee deepely doubted that if by the force of her loue towardes him or of his perswasions towardes her shee should haue yeelded the forte of her fayth and chastity in to his handes his loue towards her with the sun beinge at the highest would haue declined and decreased which would haue bene the greatest greife to him in the world No hee liued with sutch delight in the contemplation of her chastity and vertue that hee was voyde not only of Libidinous lust towardes her but also towardes all other women whatsoeuer Yea hee receiued more pleasure of her by imagination then of any other woman by y acte of generation So that betweene these friends was no cause of suspicion no cause of iarre no cause of ielousie but they liued together the space of three or foure yeares in most heauenly hauen of most happie lyfe The floud of their felicity flowed from the fountaine of most faithful friendship the building of their bidinge together was raised on the rock of vertu so y it was to be thought no seas of subtiltie or floudes of fickelnesse coulde haue vndermined it But what perpetuitie is to bee looked for in mortall pretences What constancy is to bée hoped for in kytes of Cressids kinde may one gather Grapes of thornes Suger of Thistels or constancy of women Nay if a man sift the whole sexe thorowly hée shall finde their wordes to bee but winde their fayth forgery
haue heard of some that haue beene so possest with melancholy passions that they haue thought themselues to bee made of glasse and if they had gone in any streete they would not come neere any wall or house for feare of breaking them selues and so it may bee that this Pigmalion thought him selfe some stoane and knowinge that like agree best with their like hee thought he could make no better a match then to match him self to a stone Or it may bee hee was one of those whom after the generall floud as Ouid reporteth Ducalion his wife Pirraha made by casting stoanes at their backes and then no meruaile though hee beare meruaylous affectioÌ„ to stones beeing made of stoanes Or whether his religion were to loue images I know not neither is it any more to be meruayled at in him then in an infinite nuÌ„ber y liue at this day which loue images right well verely perswade theÌ„selues y images haue power to pray for them help them to heauen Or whether it proceeded of this that euery one is lightly in loue with that which is his owne I knowe not but this I read reported of him that when neither by the feelinge of his sences neither by the force of reason â–ª neither by the assistance of time neither by any other meane hee could rid his tender heart of this stoany loue hee tooke his image and layd it in his bed as if it had bene his birde which done hee went to the temple of Venus there sendinge vp sighes for sacrifices and vttering his passions in steed of prayers rufully repentinge his former rebellion against the maiesty of the Goddesse Venus for that hee had blasphemed wickedly against women and neglected the lawes and lore of loue and sought to lodge himselfe in liberty hee humbly requested her now to rue his ruthles case and hee would remaine her thrall all the dayes of his life after And that if it seemed good to her godhead to giue him a wife that shee might bee hee durst not say his image but like vnto his image Venus very wel knowing what he ment by this request remembring also the wrong which Penthea beefore had profred him for that hee loued her loyally the space of three or foure yeres with out any rewarde except it were double disseÌ„bling for his singuler affection therfore had some reason to rage against women as he did she thought her self bound in conscience to cure his calamity and seeinge how Idolatrously hee was addicted to his Image shée put life into it and made it a perfect woman The like miracles wée haue had many wrought within these fewe yeres when images haue béene made to bow their heads to holde out their handes to wéepe to speake c. But to Pigmalion who hauing done his deuotions returned to his lodging and there according to custome fell to kissing his Image which séemed vnto him to blush thereat and taking better taste of her lips they began to waxe very soft and sweete and entringe into deeper dalâ—aunce with her shée bad him leaue for shame and was presently turned to a perfecte proper maide Which hée séeinge magnified the might and power of Venus ioyfully tooke this maide vnto his wife And so they liued together long time in great ioy and felicitie You haue heard Gentlewomen what broad blasphemie y ficklenes of Penthea caused vnworthily to be blown forth against you all wherefore to auoide the like I am to admonish you that you prefer not new fangle freindes beèfore olde faythfull freindes that you neither lightly leaue the one neither lightly loue the other for it is great lightnesse to doe either the one or the other And beesides the incurring of the blot of inconstancy and wauering it is very perilous for you to commit your selues your secrets to those of whose trustines you haue made no trial For all is not golde which glistereth counterfayte coine sheweth more goodly then the good and it is most easy to deceiue vnder the name of a freind The common saying is the chaunge is seldome made for the better and your owne sayinge is that of your seruauntes you had rather kéepe those whom you know though with some faultes then take those whom you knowe not perchaunce with moe faultes How mutch more then ought faythfull freindes to bee kept and accounted of whom you know to bee perfectly good They are not surely for any chance to beè chaunged they are not for any respect to bee reiected they are the only Iewels to bee ioyed in the onely perles to bee preserued the only pillers to bee trusted to Wee like a picture made in marble better then in waxe bicause it will last longer wee like the ritch Diamonde chiefly bicause it lasteth longe and will not lightly lose it bright hew so likewise you ought to like those freindes best which last longest haue liued longest with you For you must coÌ„sider true freinds are not like new garmeÌ„ts which will be the worse for wearing they are rather like the stoane of Scilicia which the more it is beaten the harder it is or like spices which the more they are pounded the swéeter they are or like many wines whiche the older they are the better they are But to leaue true friendship and come to trifling friendship consisting in pleasant priuie practises I would wish those women which deale that way although they beé no sheepe of my flocke yet for their sexe sake I wish them wel I mould I say aduise them to vse wary héed in ridding away those freinds they are weary of It is a daungerous peece of worke and importeth as mutch as their good name commeth to for if they shall without discretion and great cause disclaime a mans freindship it is the next way onlesse his gouernment of himselfe bée very great to make him proclayme what freindship hee hath had of them in times past This was it whiche made Fausline so famous as shee was thiâ— is it which blazed the bruite of Blanch maria thorowe out the world And surely I know not well what counsayle to giue in this case it is a matter of harde digestion to a man to see her become straunge to him who was wonte to bee most familier with him to haue her his enemy who was wont to be his freind Therfore I would aduise them to sticke to their old freindes still but if they cannot frame their fickle nature to sutch firmenes the best way is by litle and litle to estraunge them selues from their freindes to pretend some ernest or honest cause to professe that neuer any other shall possesse that place with theÌ„ to promise that in hart they wil be theirs during life Alexius ALEXIVs giuen ernestly to follow the studie of his booke and the knowledge of the liberall Sciences is diligently exhorted by his father to take a wife whereunto though vnwillinge hee applyeth himselfe and is matched with sutch a one that in respect of
her good graces he vttereth great commendation of woman kinde But shortly after fallinge into lothinge of that which beefore hee most loued hee repenteth himselfe of his bargaine and forsaking both house wife and all worldly pleasures consumeth the remainder of his life in Pilgrimage and traueile CIcero was of this opinion that the greatest doubt which doth most déepely distresse a younge man is to determine with himselfe what life in this life it bee best to enter into wherein no doubt hee had reason for beesides the diuersitie of liues which are to bee chosen there is sutch a confused Chaos of conceits in yong mens heads that our wits are confounded with them are lost as it were in a Labyrinth not findinge any way out so that if we chaunce to enter into this deliberation we are assonâ— in one vaine as soone in another and so many vaines so many vanities if vertue draweth vs one way vice driueth vs another way if profite perswade one way pleasure prouoketh vs another way if wit way one way will wresteth another way if friends counsel one way fancy forceth vs another way yea some lyke Horace his guestes are so daintily disposed that no lyfe at al wil like them Kingdomes they say are but cares in honour is enuie no maiestie in meane estate penury in pouertie in single lyfe solitarinesse in marriage troubles and touching studies and faculties diuinitie is contemptuous Phisick filthy law laboursome touchinge other trades of life marchandise is but base the country life is clownish warfare is dangerous in trauaile is perrill liuinge at home is obscure yea what life so euer it bee they count it lothsome so that it is hard sor them to resolue vpon any one who can frame them selues to fancy none But for sutch as couét to bee of the corporation of the common wealth and to bee profitable members thereof I thinke these two points in this choice of our life chiefly to be coÌ„sidered First that we apply ourselues to that life wherto by nature we are chiefely inclined for it is not possible well to goe forward in any thing Inuita Minerua nature not consenting therto Then not so to addict our selues to any one lyfe but that wee may adopt our selues to another if néede shall require For no man is so surely setled in any estate but that fortune may frame alteration like as no ship sayleth so directly to the wisshed hauen but that some contrary winde may conuert her course against the wrackfull rocks Which may bee iustified by the example of a younge Gentleman named Alexius who béeing setled in a stedfast state of lyfe as was to bee thought yet was hee driuen to change and change againe For first béeing desirous to passe the pilgrimage of this short life in pleasure hee auoyded so néere as heé could al worldly vanities reposing his chiefe pleasure in serching out the sacred skill of learned books so that studie was his only pleasure in prosperitie his onely solaco in aduersitie his only exercise beeing freshe his only refreshing beeing wery his only sport his only play And notwithstanding hee had good skill in hauking huntinge diceing carding with sutch lyke and somtime for recroation sake vsed them yet hee counted all those pastimes a paine in the respect of the pleasure whiche study procured hym His Father séeinge him setled in this solitary life séemed to mislyke thereof and disswaded hym from it in this sorte I sée sonne there is nothinge so good but by il vsing may bée made naught and true that sayinge is that euery excesse is turned into vice I meane your study whiche of it selfe is lawdable yet the immoderate vse therof makeeth it rather to bee reprehended then commended and while you séeke your owne carelesse securitie you neglect your countries commoditie and liue lyke a drone by the hony of other mens handes and by the swéete of other mens swet For you must know al the praise of vertue consisteth in doing from the which to be withdrawn with the doubt of daunger or trouble is a signe of one which preferreth his owne priuate safetie beefore the common societie And yet he y wil not indeuour to defend other is commonly left destitute of help himselfe What wonne Archimedes by his earnest study who while Marcellus woonne his citie Syracusis was so busily drawing figures of Geometry in the ground that he knew not the citie was taken and Marcellus sendinge for him to come vnto him hee answered hee woulde not come vntill hee had finished his figures wherupon the messenger in a great rage finished his life An ende fit for all sutch who to satisfie their owne mindes wyll not satisfie their duties to their rulers Country and common wealth Therefore I thinke good you leaue this labourlesse life and to enter into the worlde and take a wife whereby you may beecome a profitable and fruitfull member of your country You knowe the law maker Lycurgus valued in a maner with manâ—ears those which would of set purpose abide barren saying that hee did in a maner depriue a man of lyfe which did not helpe to bringe a man into this life when hee might and the difference is litle beetwéene doynge an iniury and sufferinge an iniurie to bee done when one may prohibite it You know also the reproche which he suffered that ancient vnmaried captaine Dercillidas to receiue who passing by a yonge princocks had no reuerence done vnto him whiche amongst the Lacedemonians was the greatest dishonour that might be the Captaine complayning hereof the young man answered him why sir you haue got none which may do reuerence to mee when I come to age and therefore it is no reason you receiue that honour at my handes which answere Lycurgus allowed of thinkinge none worse Citizens then sutch as woulde not marry Wherefore if you will auoyde the like inconuenience and frame your selfe to enter into that honorable state I will depart with sutch part of my liuing vnto you that you shal be able to liue in good credit and countenance in your cuntry and haue cause to think your life as pleasaunt as this you now leade Alexius hauinge diligently giuen eare to his fathers wordes dutifully made answere in this sort Sir if it please you I am of this opinion that a good thinge can not bée to mutch vsed and that the more common it is the more commendable it is neither is it possible to séeke learning to mutch whereof there was neuer any man yet but had to litle and I thinke it shame to cease from séeking when the thinge sought is the onely thing worthy to bée thought For what toyle can séeme tedious to finde the way to wit and path to prudency the line of life and vaine of vertue And for the commodity of my country I doubt not but you know that the studious standithe common wealth in as great steed as the industrious otherwise Yea who first brought men within the compasse of a