could doo none other visite or desire to goe to them My face béeing on the suddaine become leane and pale caused so many maruailes doubts and sadnes in my house that euery one talked diuersly of the same And looking and lyuing in thys pittifull case and making semblaunce that I knewe of nothinge I remayned the most pensiue and the most sorowfull woman that might be My doubtfull thoughts did draw on and waste most part of the day vncertaine whither I might resolue my selfe to myrth or moane But séeing the nights fitting best my vnpleasant humours and finding my selfe alone in my Chamber after hauing first lamented my woes and talked manie thinges with my selfe stirred vppe and inspired as it were with better counsell I turned my deuout prayers to Venus saying Fiammettas prayer to Venus O singuler beautie of the Heauens O moste pittifull Goddesse and most holy Venus who in likenesse of thy selfe in the beginning of my anxieties diddest appeare vnto mee in this Chamber Aforde me now some comfort for my great gréefes and by that reuerend and internall loue that thou diddest beare fayre Adonis mittigate my extreame paines Beholde what tribulations I suffer for thée Beholde howe manie times the terrible Image of death hath béene presented before mine eyes The Image of death terrible Behold if my pure faith hath deserued so much paine as I wrongfully sustaine Béeing but yong and not knowing thy darts I suffered my selfe at thy firste pleasures and without denyall to become thy subiect Thou knowest how much good thou didst promise me and I cannot truely denie but that I haue enioyed some part thereof but if thou wilt comprehend these sorrowes which thou diddest giue me as part also of that good then let Heauen and earth perrish in one howre and let all lawes like vnto these be adnihilated and made newe againe with the world But if they séeme vnequall in thy sight as I hope they doo then let O gracious Goddesse thy promise be fulfilled because thy holy mouth may not be thought or saide to haue learned to dissemble as mortall mens doo Sende forth thy Sonne wyth his golden arrowes and wyth thy firebrandes to my Panphilus where he doth nowe remaine so far distant from mee and enflame his hart in such sorte if peraduenture for not séeing me so long time it is waxen too colde in my loue or too hote with the present beauty of an other that burning as I doo none occasion whatsoeuer may with-hold him from comming backe againe Because taking againe some comfort and ease vnder the heauie burden of these calamities I may not so quickly die O most fayre Goddesse let my wordes sounde into thy eares and if thou wilt not sette him on fire pull out of my poore hart thy wounding Darts because I may as well as he spende my dayes without such great gréefe Wyth thys forme of prayers although I sawe theyr effects but vaine yet thinking that they were hearde I did with small hope somewhat lighten my torments beginning new thoughts I said Oh Panphilus where art thou nowe Ielious thoughts Alas what dooest thou hath now the silent night surprised thée without sléepe and with so many teares as it hath taken holde of mee Or doth thy yong spouse perhaps not hearde of me at all holde thée in her armes or yet without any remembraunce of me doost thou swéetly sléepe Alas how may it be that Loue can gouerne two Louers with so vnequall Lawes bothe louing so firmely as I am too assured that I doo and as perhaps thou doost I know not But if it be so that these thoughts do occupy thy minde as they doo ouercome mine what wycked prysons or mercilesse chaynes doo hold thée that in breaking of them thou doost not returne to mee I know not certes what might stay me from going to thée vnlesse my beautye which woulde without all doubt be an occasion of my vtter shame and a great impediment to me in all places did not onely kéepe me backe What busines soeuer and what other occasions of stay thou diddest there finde shoulde bee by thys ended and nowe thy Father shoulde haue glutted himselfe with thy daily companie who is I knowe and for whose death the Gods know I doo continually pray the onely occasion of thy stay there And if not of this at the least of robbing thée from me he was vndoubtedly the onely cause and means But I feare me poore soule that going about to pray for hys death thou dost prolong his life so contrary are the Goddes to thy requestes and so inexorable in euery thing I craue of them Ah let thy loue if it be such as it was once wont to be conquere their opposite force and come againe Dost not thou thinke that I lye sadlie all alone a great part of the tedious nightes in the which thou diddest once beare me faithfull company though accompanied I must néedes confesse with millions of martyring thoughts Alas howe manie long Winter nights lying a colde without thée in a great and sollitarie bedde haue I passed heauily away Ah call to thy forgetfull minde the sundry kindes of these pleasures which in manie thinges we were wont to take togeger remembring which I am then certain that there is no other Woman able to deuide thée from mee And this beléefe doth make me as it were more surer then any other thing that the newes of the new spouse are but false which if they were true yet she cannot I thinke take thée from mee but for a time Returne therefore and if swéete delights haue no force to draw thée back againe let the desire which thou hast to deliuer her whom aboue all other Women thou louest from suddaine and shamefull death perswaded thée to bee reclaimed Alas if thou wert now returned I hardly beleeue that thou couldest know me againe for so hath excéeding sorow and anguish of mind extenuated and altered my former and faire countenaunce But that which infinite teares hath taken from mee a short gladnesse in séeing thy swéete face shall quickly restore to me againe and I shall be once again that Fiammetta which I was before Ah come Panphilus come because my hart doth still call vpon thée suffer not the flower of my yong daies to perrish in dole altogether prest for thy delights and vowed to thy pleasures I knowe not alas with what modestie I could bridle my suddaine and excéeding ioy if thou werte here againe but that vnmoderatly it should be manifest to euery publicke personne Because I doubt and iustly that our loue with great wisedome and patience a long time concealed might not bee perhaps discouered to euery one But yet wert thou come to sée and to try whither ingenious lies could as well take place in prosperous euēts as in aduerse crooked accidents Alas I wold thou wert for all this come and if it could not be better then let euery one that would knowe it because I woulde thinke
from me as it came my eares by chaunce hearde certaine doolefull mutterings and sorrowfull bewaylings vttered forth by my best beloued Wherfore suddainly troubled in minde and my thoughts at warre within themselues for his welfare made mee almoste interrupt him wyth these words Swéete hart what doost thou ayle But countermanded by new counsell I kept them in and with a sharpe eye and subtile eares secretely beholding him turned nowe on the otherside of the bedde I lystened a good while to his sorowfull and silent words but mine eares did not apprehend anie of thē albeit I might perceiue him molested with great store of lamentable sobbes and sighes that hée cast forth and by séeing also hys breast bedewed all wyth teares What words alas canne sufficiently expresse wyth howe manie cares my poore soule all thys while beeing ignoraunt of the cause was afflicted A thousand thoughts in one moment did violentlie runne vppe and downe in my doubtfull mynde méeting all at the laste and concludinge in one thing which was that hee louing some other Woman remained wyth me héere and in this sorte against hys wyll My words were very often at the brinck of my mouth to examine the cause of his greefe but doubting least hee lamenting in this sorte and béeing suddainly espied and interrupted of me he might not bee greatly abashed thereat they retyred back and went downe again and oftentimes likewise I turned away mine eies from beholding him because least the hote teares distilling from them and falling vppon him might haue giuen him occasion and matter to knowe that I perceiued his wofull plight Oh how many impatient meanes did I imagine to practise because that he awaking me might coniecture that I hadde neither hearde his sighes nor séene his teares and yet agréed to none at all But ouercome at the last with eager desire to knowe the occasion of his complaint because hee shoulde turne him towards mee as those who in their déepest sléepe terryfied by dreaming of some great fall wylde beast or of some ghastlie thing giue a suddaine start and in most fearefull wise rouse vppe themselues affrighted out of theyr sléepe and wyttes at once euen so wyth a suddayne and timorous voice I skriked and lifting vppe my selfe I violently caste one of my armes ouer his shoulders And truly my deceit deceiued me not because closely wyping away his teares with infinite though counterfet ioy he quickly turned towardes mée againe and with a pittifull voice sayd My fayrest and swéetest soule of what wert thou afraid Whō without delay I answered thus My Loue I thought I had lost thée My words alas I knowe not by what spyrite vttered forth were most true presagers and foretellers of my future losse as nowe to true I find it But he replyed O déerest déere not hatefull death nor anie aduerse chaunce of vnstable Fortune whatsoeuer can worke such operations in my firme breast that thou my onlie ioy shalt leese me for euer And incontinently a greate and profound sighe folowed these pittiful words the cause of which not so soone demaunded of mee who was also moste desirous to knowe the ofspring of his first lamentations but sodainely two streames of teares from both his eyes as from two fountaines beganne to gushe out amaine and in great aboundance to drench his sorrowfull breast not yet thorowlie dryed vp by his former wéeping And holding mée poore soule plunged in a gulfe of gréefes ouercome with flooddes of brinish teares a longe time in a dolefull and doubtfull suspence before euen so did the violence of his sobbes and sighes stoppe the passage of his wordes he could aunswer any thing to my demaundes againe But after that he felt the tempest of his outragious passion somewhat calmed with a sorrowfull voyce yet still interrupted with many heauy sighes he sayde thus againe O déerest Lady and sole Mistresse of my afflicted hart and onely belooued of me aboue all other women in the worlde as these extraordinarie effectes are true recordes of the same If my plaintes deserue any credite at all thou mayst then beléeue that my eyes not without a gréeuous occasion shed earst such plenty of bitter teares when so euer that is obiected to my memory which remaininge nowe with thée in great ioye dooth cruelly torment my heart to thinke of that is when I remember with my selfe that thou mayest not alas faine would I that thou couldest make two Panphilowes of me because remaining héere and being also there whether vrgent and necessary affayres doo perforce compell me most vnwillingly to retire I might at one time fulfill the lawes of looue and my pittifull naturall and duetifull deuoyre O my aged and loouing father Being therefore not able to suffer any more my pensiue hart with remembrance of it is continually with great affliction galled more and more as one whom pitty drawing on the one side is taken out of thy armes and on the other side with great force of looue is still reteyned in them All these reasons are condemned of louers which perturbe their ioyes These wordes perced my miserable hart with such extréeme bitternesse as I neuer felt before And although my dusked wittes did not well vnderstand them notwithstanding as much as my eares and sences attentiue to theyr harmes did receiue and conceiue of them by so much more the very same conuerted into teares issued out of my eyes leauing behinde them their cruell malicious effects in my hart This was therefore good Ladies the fyrst hower in the which I felt such grudgīg gréefs enuious of my plesures this was that hower which made me power forth vnmesurable teares the like neuer spent of me before whose course and maine streames not any of his comforts consolatory words could stop stench one whit But after I had a long time together remained in woefull walinges enfolding him loouingly beetwéene my armes I praied him as much as I could to tell me more cléerely what pittie what due pyetie that was that did drawe him out of my armes and threaten me his absence wherupō not ceasing to lament he said thus vnto me Ineuitable death the finall ende of all thinges of manie other sonnes hath left me sole to suruiue with my aged and reuerent father who burdened with many yeres and liuing without the swéet companie of his deceased wife and louing brothers who might in his olde yéeres carefully comforte him and remaining now without any hope of more issue being determined not to marrie dooth recall me home to sée hym as the chéefest part of his consolation whome he hath not séene these many yéeres past For shifting of which iournie because I would not swéet Fiammetta leaue thée there are not a fewe monthes past when fyrst by diuers meanes I beganne to frame some iust and reasonable excuse But he in fyne not accepting of any did not cease to coniure me by the essence which I had by him and by my impotent childhoode tenderly
so strongly perswaded of theyr trueth that I turned my breake brayne thoughts into pittifull prayers to the deuine powers that they would take the same from mée apprehending them so forciblie in my mynde and no more nor lesse then if before mine eyes I had séene his imminent daunger and instaunt death And sometimes I remember that with fyrme beléefe I bewayled hys woefull ende as if I hadde séene any of these intellectuall aduersyties indéede But afterwardes I sayd to my selfe Alas what straunge causes are these which my miserable thoughtes cast before my eyes The Goddes forbydde that any such may befall Let him stay still and as long as pleaseth hym and let hym rather then to content mee or to offer hym selfe to any daungerous ieopardie whych may chaunce indéede though nowe they doo but delude my troubled wyttes not returne nor sée mée at all All which perilles though they are indéede possible yet are they impossible to bée kept close béeing most lyke that the vntimely and violente death of so noble and famous a younge Gentleman as hée is cannot longe bée hydden and concealed especiallie from mée of whose estate and welfare I doo carefully cause and with secrete and subtyle inuestigations doo continually procure dillygent enquirie to bée made And who dooth doubte moreouer if that any of these supposed perrilles were true but that flying Fame Fame a swifte reporter of ill thinges the swift reporter of ill newes would haue long since brought the maner of hys death hether By meanes of whych fortune but my least freende in thys would haue giuen mée an open waie to haue made mee the most sadde and most sorrowfull woman that might be Wherefore I rather beléeue that he remaineth in as great gréefe as I am in if that his most willinge returne is forbidden onely by the heauy commaundementes of his father and therefore he will come quickly or else excusing hys staying so long will for my great comfort write to me the occasion thereof Truely the foresayd thoughts although they did fiercely assault mee yet were they easily enough ouercome and the hope which by the terme determined was enforced to flie from me with all my power I did retaine laying downe before it the long and feruent looue which he bare vnto me and I to him his pawned fayth the adiured and sacred Goddes and his infinite teares in which thinges I did affirme and thinke it impossible that any deceite or guile might be hidden But yet I could not so rule my sorrowfull minde but that this hope thus forcibly kept must néedes giue place to many vagrant and vaine thoughtes that were yet left béehinde which driuing hereby little and little out of my woefull brest did worke amayne to returne to theyr former places reducing eftsoones to my minde diuers prodigious signes and tokens and many other vnfortunate accidents And I did scarcely perceiue the peaceable hope being almost quite expelled out of my heart but I did immediately féele theyr mighty and new forces planted in her place But amongst all other murdering thoughtes that did most of all massacre my gréeuous soule hearing nothing at all in processe of manie dayes of my Panphilus his returne was sharpe and stinging iealousie Ah this spitefully galled and wounded my breast more then I was able to endure This did dissanull all excuses which I had made for him as knowing and consenting to the occasion of his absent déedes This did often times induce me to those spéeches condemned of me before saying Alas how art thou so foolishe to beléeue that eyther the looue of his father vrgent affayres or delightfull pleasures maie now kéepe Panphilus from comming hether if he did looue thée so as once he sayd he dyd Dost not thou know that Loue doth ouercome all thynges Loue doth ouercome all things for he hath feruently perhaps enamoured of some other Gentlewoman quite forgotten thée whose pleasures béeing as forcible as new doo hide and hold him there as somtimes thine did kéepe him here Those foresaid Ladies passing gracious in euery thing they doo and as thou saydst in euery poynt moste apt to loue and with braue allurements endeuouring to bee beloued againe hee himselfe béeing likewise by the delicate purenesse of his cléere complexion naturally inclined to such passions and for many rare and commendable qualities in him most worthy to be beloued applying their whole studyes to hys seruice theyr paynes to his pleasures and hee his desires to their deuotions haue made him become a new Innamorato Art thou so assotted with the fame and glory of thine owne beauty that thou doost not beléeue that other Women haue shyning eyes in theyr heads fayrnes in theyr faces and that they are not as full of courtly behauiour good graces and all things els that may commaunde yong mens mindes as well as thou art And dost thou thinke that they are not so skilfull who are alas a greate deale more then euer thou werte in these amorous attempts as thou art Why thou art deceiued And if this be thy beléefe it is false And dooste not likewise beléeue that he on the otherside can please more then one Woman But yet I thinke that if hee coulde but sée thée it would bee a harde thing for him to loue any other But since he cannot sée thée nor hath not séene thée these many monethes how canst thou déeme otherwise then so Thou must néedes knowe that no worldly accident is permanent and eternall for as he was enamored of thée as thou didst please him so is it possible that another may like him and he abandoning thy loue may affectionate some other New things alwaies please For newe things are euer wont to please a great deale more thē those which are daily séene And euery one dooth with greater affection desire that which hee hath not then that which he hath already in his owne possession Againe there is nothing be it neuer so delightful which by long time enioying vsing the same doth not ware yrkesome at last and of lesse if of none account at all Who wyll not moreouer sooner and more willingly loue a faire new Ladie at his owne house then one whom he hath long since serued in a forraine Countrey and vnknown place He did not also loue thée perhappes with so feruent and zealous affection as he made thée beléeue And neyther his teares nor any of his passions were to bee helde so déere and so sure a pledge of such great loue as he did still affyrme and as thou didst thinke that he did beare thée Many men also departing from their beloued are tormented with anguish gréefe of mind with bitter waylings taking their wofull congies swearing déepely and promising many things profoundlie which with a good and firme intent perhaps they meane to performe but some suddaine and newe chaunce controling the same is an occasion to make them forget al their former oathes and protestations The teares
there in hell neuer so much tormented wyth endles payne that séeing these thinges coulde not but féele some respectiue ioy Why not one at all I think For they rauished with the swéetnesse of Orpheus his harpe forgotte for a time their cruell paines and torments But I sette in the mids of a thousand torments and placed amongst a thousande ioyes and continually exercised in many and sundrye kinds of sports cannot I say burie my gréefe in momentary obliuion nor asswage and lighten it be it neuer so little a while And put case that sometimes at those feastes such like I haue with an vnfained and true countenaunce hidde it and haue giuen respect to my tedious sighes in the night afterwards when I did finde my selfe all alone I did prolong not pardon any part of my teares but didde powre out rather so many of them as the day before I had spared and kept in scalding sighes And these thinges inducing mee to more pensiue and percing thoughts and especially in considering their vanities more apt and possible to hurte then to helpe as by proofe of them I doo manifestly knowe the feaste béeing finished and my selfe going from it and not wythout cause complayning and waxing angrye against these vayne shadowes and all other worldly showes I beganne thus to say Oh howe happy is that innocent man who dwelleth in the sollitarie village enioying onely the open ayre The prayse of a solitary life Who employing his sole care and labour to inuent subtill ginnes for simple beastes and to make nettes for vnwarie birdes with gréefe of mynde can neuer be wounded And if perhappes he suffer any great wearines in his body in casting him selfe downe vpon the gréene grasse incontinently he refresheth him selfe againe chaunging his place sometimes in the freshe riuer bankes and sometimes vnder the coole shadowe of some great woode where the chirping birdes with theyr prettie songes and the softe trembling of the greene leaues shaken by some pleasaunt and little wynde as staying themselues to harken to their siluer notes lull him swetlie a sléepe Ah Fortune haddest thou graunted me such a lyfe to whome thy desired giftes are but a cloging care and detriment it had béen better for me Alas how my high Palaces sumptuous beddes treasure and great familie any thing profitable and how little pleasaunt vnto me when my mind surcharged with ouer much anxyetie and wandring in vnknowen countries after Panphilus cannot haue any small rest nor when any comfortable respiration may be graūted to my wearied and breathlesse soule Oh howe delightfull and gratious a thing is it to presse the gréene and swéet bankes of the swift running riuers with a quiet and frée mind and vpon the naked turfes to fetche a sound and vnbroken sléepe which the glyding riuer with murmuringe bubles and pleasaunt noyse without feare dooth nourishe and maintaine These eases are without any grudge graunted to the poore inhabitaunt of the countrie village fréely to enioye and are a great deale more to bée desired then those toyes which with many flattering words I haue often times fawned on and haue with such dilligent and daily care embraced as the fine dames of the Citties vse commonly to doo and which at last with the carelesse coyle of the tumultuous familie or negligentlie broken His hunger if at any time perhappes it pricke him with geathering of Apples in the faythfull and secure woodes hée dooth driue away and manie young and tender herbes which the wyde Champaignes or little hilles of theyr owne frée will bring forth are also a most sauorie and swéete sustenaunce vnto him Oh in how many running brookes Christalyne fountaines and swéete waters lying downe all along may hee quench his thyrste and with the hollowe of his hande in cléere and streming riuers Ah wicked and pinching care of worldlings for whose sustentation nature dooth require but little dooth prepare light things We thinke with the infinite number and sundrie sorts of delicate vyandes to fill the gourmandise of our bodies and to please our queasie appetites not perceyuing at all that in them there lie hidden the very causes by meanes of which the ordinate humors and good bloode are euer more corrupted then nourished And how many times in cuppes of gold and siluer richlie garnished with gemmes and precious stones in stéede of swéete and delicious wines doo wée daily heare that colde and swelling poysonnes are tasted and doo howerly sée that in hotte wines and compound drinckes licentious vnbrideled and wicked lust is drunke and throwen headlong down Whereupon commonly they fall by meanes of these into a superfluous securitie which by wicked wordes or damned déedes dooth bringe to them a miserable lyfe or dooth paye them home with a most contemptible death seeing moreouer by daily proofe that these kinds of vnkinde beuerages make the drinkers bodies in a great deale worser Poeticall conceites and more miserable case then starke madde The Satires Faunes Driades Naiades and the Nimphes kéepe him faithfull and simple company Hée dooth not knowe what Venus dooth meane nor cannot skyll of her byformed Sonne And if hée dooth perhappes knowe her hee perceiueth her beautie to bee but base and little amyable Nowe alas would it had pleased the Goddes that I had lykewise neuer knowen it and that kéeping simple and playne company I had lyued a rusticall and rude lyfe to my selfe all alone Then should these vncurable gréefs haue béene far from me which I now sustaine and my soule The pompe of the world like to the winde together with my most holy name should not haue cared nor desired to see these worldly pompes and feastes lyke to the flying windes and vanishing smoke in the ayre nor if it had séene them should haue béene so full of anguishe and sorrowe as now it is The desire of hygh and princely towers of rich and sumptuous houses of great families and costly traynes of fayre and delicate beddes of shining cloathes of golde and siluer of pampered proude and swifte horses and of a thousand other superfluities of nature dooth neuer disturbe his temperate minde nor clogges his heart with buderning and burning care to kéepe them Not accompanied nor sought after of wicked men he dooth without feare liue in quiet and sequestred places and without séeking doubtfull rest in high and stately lodginges dooth demaunde onely the open ayre and light for his repose And of the manner of his lyfe the wyde firmament is a manyfest and continuall witnesse Oh how much is this life nowe a dayes vnknowen and lyke an enemie escheued and contemned of euery one whereas it should be rather as the déerest and swéetest content followed and embraced of all Truely I suppose that the fyrst age of the world lyued in this sorte which péese-meale brought foorth Goddes and men There is no lyfe alas more frée nor more deuoyde of vyce or better then this the which our first fathers enioyed and with which also he is this
mollifie and diminishe my plaints with those true reasons which for fayned tales he so carefully made But after he thought that he had comforted me vp a little he fell a sléepe againe and then I thinking of the pittifull and tender loue he bare me with more cruell griefe secretly bewayling my vniust requitall of the same Prayers of a desperate Louer began againe my interrupted and péece-meale lamentations saying O most cruell Dennes inhabited of sauage and wylde beastes O hell the eternall pryson ordeyned for wicked companie O anie other exile whatsoeuer déeper then these open and swallowe me vppe and with iust paines torment my sinfull and deserued soule and plague mee of all others the vilest Woman O mightie Iupiter most iustly angry with me tumble downe thy thunder and with swift hande throwe down thy crushing bolts vpon my hatefull heade O holy Iuno whose most holy lawes thrise wicked Woman I haue infringed take vengeance of me nowe O ye fierce Caspian Serpents teare in péeces this polluted body of mine O yée hellish Rauens infernall Harpyes and cruell beastes deuoure and entombe me in your gréedie mawes And you most fierce vnruly Iades the cruell quarterers of Hippolitus his innocent members rende me impious and trothlesse Womanne in a thousand péeces And thou most pittifull Husbande sheathe thy reuenging sworde with due anger in my culpable brest and with plentious effusion of my blood sende forth my wicked soule that hath so vnworthily deceiued thée Vse no remorse of pittie loue nor moderate mercy towardes mee since that I haue preferred the loue of a straunger and of a perfidus Impe before the bounde faith and due reuerence which I owe to thy holy and vnspotted bedde O the worste of all womankinde most woorthy of great punishment for thys and for many other things what furie appeared before thy chaste eyes that daie when Panphilus first pleased thée Where didst thou abandon that loue and pyety which was due to the holy Lawes of matrimonie Whether didst thou banish thy reuerende chastitie the chiefest honour and ornament of women when for the blinde lyking of disloyal Panphilus thou didste forsake the loue of thy louing Husbande Where is nowe the pittie that thy beloued youth doth shew thée And where are the comforts that he should now gyue thée in thy perplexed miseries Lulled in the lappe of another Woman he merrily passeth away the weary time and and dooth not care for thée and yet in trueth hee hath reason therefore Wherefore it must worthily fall so to thée as to all others which embrace licentious luste neglecting lawfull loue Thy iniured Husbande who with rygour shoulde punish thée with great pittie goeth about to comfort thée and he that should performe this iust function careth not alas wrongfully to torment thée What is not he as fayre as Panphilus And are not his vertues courage nobilitie and especially his loue and constancie and all other good partes in him are they not farre aboue all and euery thing that Panphilus hath in him worthy of prayse and commendation Ah there is no doubt thereof Wherefore then didst thou forsake him for an other What blindnes rashnes sinne and what iniquitie hath brought thée to this Alas poore soule I know not Things freely possessed are estemed of slightly Onely that those thinges which are franckly and freely possessed are wont to bee accounted of no price and value although they bee indeede very deere and precious And that those which hardly and with hazard are gotten be they neuer so vile are esteemed and embraced as moste singuler and sweete things The daily fruition and glutting company of my Husbande which shoulde by great reason haue béene most déere vnto mee surfeited my queisie minde and so satiating my chaungable appetite deceiued mee and I mighty inough perhaps to haue resisted doo nowe miserably lament and bewayle that which I haue left vndoone nay rather I was without perhaps strong enough if I would my selfe if I had called to minde those signes and thought of that which the Gods in sléeping and waking had showen mee the night and day before my haples fall But nowe not able to retire though I would but constrayned by my appointed stars to combat still in these amorous conflicts I knewe too well what the Serpent was which stunge mee vnder my lefte side and swelling with my sucked bloode went away And likewyse I sée the euents that the prognosticating flower of my crowne falling from my adorned heade dooth manifestly declare But alas this vaine wisedome and aftersight commeth all too late The Gods perhaps to purge themselues of some conceiued wrath against me and repenting that they had shewed mee any signes tooke the knowledge of their future effects from me not béeing able to restore them to me againe as Apollo from his beloued Cassandra to whome after hee had graunted abooue of a Propheticall spyrite did take the vertue and effect of it in that she was not beleeued of anye whensoeuer she diuined Whereuppon placed in the mydst of all miseries not without great reason and iust cause I bewayle and consume my life in woe And sorrowing thus with my selfe and turning tumbling my selfe in my weary bedde almost al the night I passed it away without giuing mine eyes leaue once to shutte vppe their liddes But if any sléepe entred into my sorowfull breast it did so faintly remaine there that the least styrre or noyse was able enough to haue broken it And yet although it was but weake it did not tarry with mee without representing many fierce battayles in his kind of accustomary demonstrations to my affrighted minde And this did not happen to me that night onely of which I spake of alone but many times before and I was almost continually molested after with the same accidents Wherfore my soule both waking and sléeping hath and dooth féele equall and like tempestious stormes The complaints which I powred forth in the night time tooke not away theyr turne and place in the day but as excused nowe for sorrowing againe by reason of those lyes which I tolde my Husband from that nyght forward I did many times lament and did beginne to bee extreamely sad and sorrowful in open and publique company But the day béeing come on my trustie Nurce from whom the least part of my gréefes was not hid because she was the first that knewe the amorous signes in my face and had also imagined diuers future accidents in the same comming to visit mee when it was tolde her that Panphilus had chosen another Woman Oh how many times simple husbands are deceiued and doubting of me and most carefull for my neglected weale my Husband no sooner went out of the Chamber but shee immediatly entered in And séeing mee thorow the great anguish and gréefe of the last night to lie as one halfe dead with diuers comfortable words shee went about to asswage my furious euils feruent passions and taking me in
stratagems The sorrowfull teares of Licurgus I meane with the mortall exequies honoured of the seauen kinges and infinite sportes and spectacles made by them in solemnization of that glorious funerall and those of Atalanta made notable and beutified also with the laudable life and victorious death of her young Sonne But I haue not any thing nor any such cause to make my teares scarce well employed much lesse excellent and my selfe content because if it were so wheras I now estéeme my selfe more dolefull and vnfortunate then any other perhappes I should be perswaded to auerre the contrary Vilisses The long trauelles of Vlisses his mortall and imminent perrilles his wandering and weary perigrinations and all his déedes whatsoeuer are next of all shewed vnto mée who neuer tasted them but seasoned with most bitter and extreame anguishe of minde and redoubled many times in my imaginations they make me thinke mine to be farre greater and much more gréeuous and harken why Because first and principally he was a manner and therefore of nature more strong and better able to endure them then I being a tender and young woman and he béeing moreouer continuallie armed with a stoute couragious and feirce mynde and beaten to dailie daungers as one rypened amongest them when hee trauailed and turmoyled dyd séeme to haue but his ordinary repose nay his greatest ease and pleasure in them But I béeing continually in my Chamber and tenderlie serued with daintie and delicate thinges passing my times awaie in pleasures and dailie accustomod to dalliances of wanton looue euery little payne and feare thereof is most gréeuous vnto me He driuen and pricked on by Neptune and transported into diuers partes the of world and of Aeolus likewise receyued his troubles But with careful looue I am infected and with such a lord infested that troubled and conquered them that molested and tossed Vlisses And if daungerous casualties and daylie feares dyd séeme to threaten him of his proper accorde hée wandered continually in séeking of them out And who can with iust cause complaine or be agréeued for finding of that which he dooth so earnestly séeke for None can be sorrowfull for finding that they seeke But I séely wretche would faine liue in quiet if I could and would willingly fly from woes and gréefes if that so rigorously they dyd not rushe vpon me and if I were not my selfe so forcibly driuen vpon them Besides this he was not afrayd of death and therefore without feare did commit him selfe to her force and might But I liue in continuall dreade of it though compelled by extreame sorrowe I haue sometime not without feare of greater gréefe runne willingly vnto it He also by his long trauelles and ieopardies of Fortune dyd hope to get eternal glorie and neuer dying fame But I am afrayd of my escandilized name and infamous memory hereafter if it shoulde come to passe that these secrete looues should at any tyme come to lyght So that now his paynes are not greater and more then myne but are rather in number and quallitie farre lesse then mine and by so much the more as they are fabulated to be greater then euer they were indéede But mine alas are to true so many and more greater then I am able my selfe to recounte But after all these I sée me thinkes the sorrowes sobbes and heauie sighes the infinite woes and pittious plaints that Hipsiphile Medea and Oenone had and the pittifull teares of Ariadne which were more copious then all the rest all which I iudge most like vnto mine Because euery one of these lyke my selfe deceiued of their loouers watred the ground with teares cléeued the heauens with cōtinuall sighes sustained without any frute or hope of future content most bitter tormentes of mynde And admit as it is graunted that these dolours were cast vpon thē by their vngrateful loouers and by theyr iniurious and vndeserued ingratitude yet with iust reuenge of their wronges doone vnto them they sawe the ende of theyr teares which comfortes although I wishe it not my sorrowes also haue not Hipsiphile Hipsiphile admitte that she had greatly honoured Iason and had by due desertes obliged him vnto her perceiuing him to be taken away of Medea had with as great reason as my selfe iust occasion of complaint and sorrowe But such was the prouidence of the Goddes that with righteous eyes beholding euery thing but onely my harmes they restored to her a great portion of her desired ioye because she sawe Medea who had taked away Iason from her Iason forsaking Medea for the looue of Creusa quit dispossessed of her once enioyed praye Certes I doo not say that my gréefe should finishe if I should sée the same befall to her who hath deceiued me of my Panphilus vnlesse I were that she that should alure him from her againe but will francklie confesse that a great parte of my sorrow would for a time cease Medea dyd also reioyce for reuenge Medea that she had although she was no lesse cruell towardes her selfe then malicious against her vngratefull loouer in killing their common children in his owne presence and consuming the royall pallaces of king Creon and the new Lady with merciles flames Oenone also sorrowing along time in fine knewe Oenon that her disloyall loouer suffered due punishment for breaking and corrupting the sacred lawes of looue and sawe his countrie for the wicked rape and exchaung of her selfe for his newe adultersse miserably wasted and his owne Cittie sometimes the seate of demie Goddes and semy Goddesses but now an vncouth habitacle and a poore village of Sheppard swaines ouerthrowen razed cleane from the ground But truely I loue my gréefs a great deale more thē I wold eyther with tongue or hart wishe so sharpe a reuenge of my wrongfull Panphilus Ariadne also being Bacchus his wife Ariadne saw from heauen furious Phedra who was the cause that Theseus abandoning her and leauing her desolate in the Iland being newly enamoured of Phedra miserably bewitched with the incestuous looue of Hippolitus her husbande his sonne So that euery thing duely scanned I finde my selfe amongest the number of miserable and desastrous women to be tormented with more woes gréefes and with greater sorrowe then any of the rest and to haue the sole principallitie and onely name of all other distressed women whatsoeuer And I can doo no more But if perhappes good Ladies you accompt my framed arguments but friuolus assertions and repute all these former examples but weake proofes as forged in the simple conceite of an appassionated woman if you imagine them because procéeding from a blinde mind to be but blind also and of no conclusion estéeming the teres sighes and sorrowes of others more extreame then mine and thinking them to be more vnfortunate then my selfe let this onely and last proposition therefore supplie the defecte if any there be of all the rest before If he that beareth enuie is more miserable and