And vnlesse thy new looue make thée degresse to farre from the trueth thou wylt confesse and say no. What faulte of myne therefore what iust occasion of thy parte what greater beautie or more feruent looue haue taken thée from mée and giuen thée to an other Truely none And all the Gods be my recordes héerein that I neuer wrought any thing against thée but that beyond all termes of reason I looued thée And if this hath deserued such treachery as thou haste doone and workest against mée let thy owne selfe disloyall as thou art be iudge O ye Goddes the iust reuengers of our vniust defectes I cal vpon you for cruel and due vengeance I neyther wishe nor goe about to practise his death who by his vile escape from mée would haue wrought mine Nor do pray that any other punishmēt may befal to his deserued guilt but if he looue his new choice as I looue him that in casting him of and giuing her selfe to an other as he hath taken him selfe from mée she would leaue him in that kinde of lyfe that cruel as he is he causeth me to leade And so with vnséemely motions of my body turning me now this way now that way like a franticke woman I tumbled and tossed vp and downe in my bed All that day was not spent in other spéeches then in such of like tennour and in most bitter waylings But the night worser then the day and more apte for all kinde of sorrowe the melancholy darkenes being more conformable too meditating miseries then the light béeing now stolen on it came to passe that béeing in déede with my déere husband and lying a great while silent to my selfe and broade waking yet warring within my selfe with hostes of dollorous thoughts amongest which calling to memory all my passed times aswell my pleasaunt occurrences as sorrowfull passages and especially that I had lost my Panphilus by meanes of a new looue my gréefe grewe in such aboundaunce that vnable to keepe it any longer within with great lamentations dolefull complaints I burst it out albeit concealing the amorous occasion of it And my sighes were so forcible and my sobbes so profounde that my Husbande béeing nowe a goodwhile drowned in déepe sléepe by the great noise and molestation of them was awaked and turning himselfe to me who was spunged in mine owne teares and taking mee louingly in his armes with milde and pittiful words he said thus vnto mee O my swéete soule The loue of a good husband what sinister cause of so dolefull a plaint in the quiet night when thou shouldest take thy rest doth trouble thée thus What thing is it that this long time hath made thée so melancholicke and sad Nothing must bée concealed from mee that may any way displease or discontent thée Is there any thing that thy hart dooth desire and that my witt and substance may compasse for thée or that in demaunding of it thou mightest possibly haue Art not thou my onelie comfort my ioy and my good And doost not thou knowe that I loue thée aboue all worldly thinges yea more then my selfe Whereof not by shewe nor one proofe but by dailie experience thou maist liue assured Wherefore dooest thou therefore lament in such sort Wherfore doost thou afflict thy selfe in such extreame gréefe Doo I séeme vnpleasant ill fauoured or nothing gracious in thyne eyes or am I vnworthy of thy beauty or is not my birth parentage and estate agréeable to thy nobilitie or doost thou think mée culpable in any thing that I may amende Speake and tell me franckly and discouer to me the vale of thy desires There shal be nothing left vndoone or vnattempted for thy sake if it may possible bée Thou doost altered in visage and apparrel and extreamely sorowfull in all thy actions minister a doleful occasion and matter to me of an vnquiet life And though I haue before séene thée continually sadde pensiue yet thys day more then at any time I thought of late that some bodilie infirmitie was the cause of thy palenes but nowe I doo manifestly know that it is gréefe of mind that hath brought thée to this pittiful case wherin I sée thée wherfore I pray thée close to me the roote from whence all thy sorowes do grow Whom with a feminine and suddaine witte taking counsel of fained tales and lies which before hadde serued mee for a shyft I answered thus O swéete Husband déerer to me then all the worlde besides I lacke not anie thing wherein thy forward help may auaile mee and acknowledge thée without all doubt more worthy then my selfe but the death of my déere Brother of which thou art not ignorant hath long before and now since brought me to this extreame sorrow Which as often as I thinke of it with bitter wailings dooth rent my harte in péeces Sometimes the maner of ones death is more lamēted then the death it selfe And certes I bewaile not so much his cruell death a thing naturallie incident to vs all but the strange and pittifull manner of the same which thou diddest know to be violent infortunate and bloodie And besides this the straunge things and vglie sights that appeared to me after his death doo kill my fearefull soule to thinke of I can neuer so little shut vp mine eyeliddes or giue any slender sléepe to my sorrowfull eies but immediatly all pale trembling naked and full of goare shewing me his cruell woundes he appeareth quaking before me And euen then when thou diddest perceiue me to wéepe and lament hee came into the Chamber standing and staring before me as I was a sléepe in likenes of a horrible and fainting ghoste fearefully quaking wyth a breathles and panting brest in such sort that he could scarce vtter one word but at the last with extreame paine sayde O my déere Sister wipe that blotte of ignominie from me which with an appalled and troubled face looking euer for verie gréefe and shame thereof on the ground doth make my sorrowfull ghost wander with great disgrace and scorne amongst other haples sprites And although it was some comfort for me to sée him yet ouercome with terror which I had of his dreadfull habite and mooued with iust compassion of his words with starting on a suddaine I awaked out of my féeble sléepe and thus my teares the which thou dooest nowe goe about to comfort fulfilling the duetie of my conceiued pittie did at hand follow And so as the Gods know if weapons were fitte for Women I woulde ere this haue reuenged his miserable death and with a fierce countenaunce and couragious hart sent the gréedie gutton of his innocent blood amongst other damned soules But alas I can doo no more then I am able Therefore déere Husbande not without great occasion I am thus miserablie tormented in minde O with howe manie pittiful words did he then comfort me applying a salue to the wounde which was healed long inough before and howe did hee endeuour to
open company to make me therby more assured of his feruent looue calling me by the name of Fiammetta and hymselfe Pamphilus Alas howe many times in the presence of my selfe and of my déerest fréendes being prittely heated with feasting and looues eates did he deuise fayning Fiammetta and Pamphilus to be Grecians how I with him and he with me were first combyned in loouing bondes And afterwardes what accidentes did ensue of this Grecian looue collouring his forged nouell with fit and fayned names It made me truely many times to laughe not so much at the grauitie and conterfaite modestie in his discourse as at the simplicitie and good meaning of those who gaue eare and beléefe to his tale And yet I was sometimes afrayd least that both his disordinate heates might haue vnaduisedly perhappes transported his tongue thether whether it would afterwardes haue repented that it runned But as he was a more prudent perfect scholler then I tooke him to be so did he craftely take héede of speaking of false Latine O gentle and pittifull Ladies what dooth not looue teache his subiectes and whom dooth not he enable to learne wise discourses and acquainte him with braue and commendable fashione My selfe being but a young and simple woman in such pastimes Looue a cunning master and scarce able amōgst other gentlewomen my companions in plaine and common thinges to vntie my vnperfect tongue by giuing a willing and an affectioned eare to his spéeches did reape thereby so much fruite that in a short time in fayning and talking I thought I did excell euery famous Poet. For there were fewe or none of his presupposed positions but with a fictions and painted tale I woulde haue effectually argued and fitly aunswered to the same a very hard thing in my opinion for a young gentlewoman to learne so soone and more difficult to tel or put in practise But all these shiftes would séeme but shadowes and of no consequence if I did write and set downe if present matter shoulde require with what subtill slights I did experiment the faith of one of my most familiar and trusty womē to whom we bothe purposed to committe the secrecie of our hidden loue not as yet by spéeches manifested to anie one considering with my selfe that enclosed in my burning brest it coulde not bee kept there long without great trouble and gréefe and perhappes without some violent and suddaine issue vnlesse there were some meanes and remedies applyed to the contrarie It would be besides this a tedious labour to recount what counsell and how manie deuises were excogitated betwéene her and me perhaps in vain and foolish matters and neuer put in vre no not so much as imagined of anie before All which although I haue séene them putte in tryall to my great preiudice and hinderaunce I am not sorrie neuerthelesse that I haue knowne them If I doo not erre Gentlewomen in my opinion With what difficulty louers are contained in the bonds of reason the great firmenes of our yong yéeres was verie straunge to beholde if that with a due and perfecte consideration it is well weighed how hard a thing it is for the enamored mindes of two yong and rawe louers to continue any long time vnited together but that on the one or other side spurred on wyth superfluous and ouerruling desires they should alter wander out of reasons course But the bondes of our loues were so fast knit and of such rare tenour that the grauest wisest and strongest personages in like passages should haue gotte them high and worthy praises But now my stayned penne with an vnbridled and wanton desire dooth prepare it selfe to write of those finall termes of loue beyond that which none can passe furder with déede or desire whatsoeuer But before I come to this point as humbly as I may I implore gentle Ladyes your pietie and therewithall that amorous force which possessing your tender breastes dooth also draw your burning desires to such an end And pray you moreouer if my spéeches séeme offensiue vnto you I speake not of the déede because I know that if you haue not as yet attained to such felicity you haue in your minds a thousand times wished to haue felt the same that then moste prompt you would arise in my excuse and defence And thou séemelie and honest shamefastnes to late alas entred into my wilful minde pardon mee most earnestlie entreating thée to giue place a little while to timerous yong Gentlewomē because secure and frée from thy restraint and menaces they may reade that of me which in their feruent loues I know and hote desires they also wishe might handsomelie befall vnto them With hungry hope therfore and ful of feareful cares our longing desires The slack dealing in conducting amorous desires to their end is very bitter yet lingring delaies drew one eche daie after other which bothe of vs with painfull thoughts didde hourelie endure albeit that one did manifest the same in daily méeting and secrete talke together and the other did shewe her selfe in graunting of it verie coye and in shewe repugnant though against her will as you your selues in séeking that which perhaps most of all doth please your wanton appetites doo knowe well enough that enamoured yong gentlewomen are wont to doo He therfore giuing but little credit to my words in these denials attending fitt time place more audacious then aduised in that which he did and more fortunate then wise obtained that of me which I as wel as he though with a fained face and a little rigorous resisting to the contrarie did most gréedilie desire But if I shoulde for all this affirme that this was the occasion that made mée loue him more I must confesse that euery time that the remembraunce thereof touched my guiltie minde it brought with it an incomparable gréefe Wherefore let the Gods aboue the secrete serchers of our harts bee witnesses wyth me héerein that this ineuitable accident was then and yet is the least cause of that great loue which I beare him Albeit not denying but that this was thē and euermore since a most swéete wyshed and welcommed delight vnto mee And what simple and slender witted woman is shee who would not wish that thing which she déerely loued to bee rather néere vnto her then farre of from her and by how much she loued desired it by so much more to féele the same néerest of al vnto her I say therfore that after such a quickly passed chance not fallen in the cōpasse of my belly before thogh not seldome times tossed in my thoughts with excéeding ioy and fauourable fortune not once but manie times by meanes of our proper wits and new inuentions we recreated our selues with this maner of dainty disport although the pleasures of the same is now alas lighter then the windes flowne from me vnhappy womā But yet while these pleasant times passed on as loue it selfe can make true report and giue
furie And call him the Sonne of Venus saying that he deriueth his omnipotent power from the third Heauen as though you woulde excuse your follyes with a néedlesse kind of necessitie O deceiued soules and vtterlie deuoide of all reason and most ignorant of that which you saie Sent from the infernall furies Wanton loue reproued with a suddain and swift flight he visiteth all the world bringing to him the dooth entertaine him not deitie but dispaire not fréendly felicitie but fendlie folly allighting on those whō he dooth know to a bounde in superfluitie of worldly goods and to enioye them with a vaine and prodigall mind and on him whom he thinketh fittest and most forwarde to make him place And thys is héere most manifest by thée Why doo we not sée holy Venus to dwell oftentimes in little cottages bothe profitable and necessarie for our procreation yes truly But this who by frensie is called Loue coueting euer dissolute thinges lodgeth in no other place but where happy Fortune dooth smyle and where her gyfts abound Thys dainty one disdayning no lesse sufficient foode to satis-fie nature then necessary clothing dooth frame all hys perswasions to delicate fare and sumptuous attyre and so entermingling his secrete swéete poyson with them doth deceiue and destroye vnwarie and ignoraunt soules Thys more willingly and often séene in high and princly Palaces is seldome or neuer séene in poore and Country cottages Because it is a certaine precise pestilence which dooth chuse out onely braue and stately lodginges as most agréeable in the ende to his wicked practises We sée in poore and simple people effects of good and quiet consequence but in the rich wallowing in pleasure and shyning in theyr aboundaunce of gold insatiable as well in this as in all thinges els that he is more then is requisite for the most part founde and that which he cannot doo who can doo most he dooth desire and especially endeuour to bring to passe Among whom I perceiue thée most vnhappy and vnfortunate Mistresse to be one who by too much wealth ease and idle pleasure hast entred into these newe and vnbeséeming cares Whom after I had a good while heard I aunswered thus again Holde thy peace thou olde and foolish dotarde and prate not thus against my God Thou speakest voluntarily against him thy self béeing no lesse impotent for these effects then iustly cast of all menne blaspheming hym nowe whom in time of thy yonger yeres thou diddest religiously adore If other Ladies more noble wiser and more famous thē my selfe haue heretofore thus entitled him and cease not yet to call him by the name of a mighty God how can I then alone giue him anie newe or deuised name To be plaine with thée I am become his Subiect but from whence the occasion of this allegance doth spring I neither know nor can tell thée And what can I doo more My feminine forces conioyned oftētimes wyth hys celestiall power are ouercome and constrained to retyre backe againe Wherefore there resteth no more for the end of my newe and mortall paynes but my néere death or els the enioying of my wished loue which woes I praye thée to mitigate if thou art so wise as I estéeme thée by thy sage coūsel and spéedie helpe which will perhaps lessen them at the least or els by thy bitter reprehensions surcease to exasperate and make them greater blaming that in mee which my soule not able to doo otherwise with all the power and force it hath is wholly disposed to follow She departed therfore out of my Chamber somewhat offended as she had indéede good cause at this my peremtorie answere not giuing mee one word againe but murmuring I know not what with her selfe leauing me all alone Nowe was my louing Nurce I say gone In this place one may see how contrarie sensualitie is to reason without speaking anie more to me whose counselles though vnaduisedly reiected of me yet I remaining all alone pondered all her wordes in my carefull breast And although my vnderstanding was obscured with mistie clowdes of senceles loue I founde in them neuerthelesse a swéete and relyshed taste which making my hart touched as it were with repētance with a wauering and vnconstant mind I did consider better of that which euen now I told her I had resolued to folow Wherfore beginning nowe to thinke to perswade my selfe to let this doubtfull and daungerous matter passe away I thought it good to call her backe againe for my néedeful comfort but this good motion was quickly countermaunded by a new and suddaine accident Venus doth appeare vnto her Because lying all alone in my secrete Chāber a most faire Lady not knowing frō whence she came appeared before mine eyes glittering with such shyning light that compassed her round about that my dazeled eies might scarce behold her who standing thus before mee without either mouing or speaking as much as by the golden light I might illuminate sharpen my eies so far foorth did I cast their beames vntill at laste her beautifull forme and formall feyture of her body was fully arriued to my perfect knowledge Whom whē I did cléerely sée to be all naked A fine description of a fayre woman sauing only a thine vaile of fine purple silk which although it couered some part of her snow white body did neuertheles abridge my sight in looking on her no more then if I had beheld some goodly figure or Image enclosed in cristal or cléere glasse Her maiestical head the haire wherof did so much excéede gold in brightnes as the golden colour of ours passeth the yellowest and softest in fairenes was crowned with a fine Garland of gréene Myrtils vnder the shadow of which I saw two eyes of incomparable beauty and passing louelie to behold did cast foorth a meruailous and splendant brightnes and all the rest of her faire face was in like proportion adorned with such diuine beautie that her like on earth myght not I think be found She spake not a word glorying perhaps in her self to sée me gaze on her so much or els to please and delight me perceiuing me so greatly content desirous to behold her yet at length by little and little in the transparant and shyning light more cléerely discouering to mee the fairest parts of her daintie body because shee knewe the with my vnable tongue I coulde not rehearse her excéeding beauties nor without euident sight of them imagine any such to liue amongst mortall men Which admirable beauties whē she perceiued that I had seuerally earnestly marked and to maruaile no lesse at the rare perfection of them as to wōder at her comming thither with a pleasant and mild countenaunce and with an angelicall voyce she began to speake thus vnto me Venus her speeche to Fiammetta Yong Lady and of all others most noble what dost thou intend to doo disturbed by the new coūsels of thy old Nurce knowst thou not that
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
loueth thée So if he did returne thou maiest be assured that hee were come not for thy sake but for the looue of some other woman Let him therefore remaine still there and from hence forth being farre from thée let him rather hold thy looue in doubtfull suspence then lyuing héere by contrarie examples and by to apparaunt demonstrations shewe that he dooth not looue thée at all And content thy selfe at the least that thou doost not remaine alone in these consuming paines and forsake not that comfort that miserable and distressed women when they haue companions in their miseries are wont to take It were too harde a taske for me good Ladyes to shewe with what incensed ire with what quantity of teares wyth what burning sighes and choaking sobs with what gryping gréefes of my poore hart and with what vehement and dolefull passions I was almost euerie day wont to meditate on these thoughts and to thinke of these matters But because euery hard thing in time is mollified and chaunged Euery hard thing wexeth soft in time it happened that hauing manie daies together ledde this kinde of life and not able to sincke any further into the Gulfe of gréefe then I was already fallen by little and little it began somewhat to relent And the more it departed from my affected soule the more was my feruent loue and lukewarme hope kindled there againe both which remayning in the place of my surceasing sorrowes made me chaunge my present wyl and alter my first desires of hauing my Panphilus againe and to deskant somewhat of his returne to mee againe And as euen now the dispayre of neuer enioying him again was most contrary to me in this so much the more did my repugnant desire of the contrary encrease And as kindled flames tossed abroade and blowne about with boysterous wyndes doo grow into greater flakes so Loue by contrary thoughtes in mee was not onely nourished but made of greater force Wherefore I was mooued with repentance of these foresaid frantick passions and superfluous spéeches And nowe considering well of that in my minde which vnbridled anger had prouoked me to say I was as much ashamed as if they thēselues hadde heard me And therefore I gentlie blamed that sencelesse rage which in the first assaults of it with so great force and furie dooth take holde of our blinde mindes that it doth not permit any trueth be it neuer so much apparaunt to be manifest vnto them But notwithstanding the more it is kindled the more in space of time it waxeth colde againe and doth make that afterwards cléerely known which rashly before it condemned in words and déedes Wherefore hauing recouered my right mind againe and after my sences were better setled I beganne thus to say O moste foolishe yonge Womanne wherefore dooest thou thus molest thy sefe Louers som times blame and sometimes excuse their beloued againe Wherfore without any certain occasion or knowledge dooest thou consume thy selfe in the heate and rage of thyne owne anger Saie that this is true that the Merchant tolde which perhaps is not and admit that hee hath marryed a wife is this so great a matter An inopinate thing indéede I must confesse which thou diddest not thinke woulde so soone fall out And yet it is most requisite that yong men in these causes must please and obey theyr Fathers willes For if his Father woulde haue it so with what face or coloure could he deny it And thou must also beléeue that moste of them that take wyues may loue them well and yet estéeme of others more And that the copious plentie which busibodied wiues yéelde to their quiet Husbands is an occasion of suddain cloying although they did neuer so much please and delight them in the beginning And what dost thou knowe how much or whither she doth content him or not Perhaps Panphilus tooke her by méere compulsion and louing thee more then euer he did her it is perhappes no small gréefe vnto him and doth thinke the time too long and tedious in beeing with her And if she please him thou maiest yet hope that she will quickly séeme vnpleasaunt and yrkesome vnto him And of his promised faith and religious oathes thou canst not truely with any reason accuse him because comming to thée againe he shall in thy Chamber fulfill the one and the other and what els he hath auowed to our mutuall and great ioy Haue therefore recourse to the Gods with prayers that Loue which is able to doo more then pledged oathes or pawned faith may mooue and make him returne to thée againe And besides this why shouldest thou haue any suspition of his disloyaltie perswaded thereunto by the troubled mynde only and altered countenaunce of the yong Gentlewoman Doost not thou know howe many yong Gentlemenne loue thée in vaine who if they knewe thée to bee Panphilus hys Mistresse could not chuse but bee greatly agréeued So must thou think it possible and no strange thing that hee is beloued again of many women who would be as sorowful as heauy to heare that of him which gréeued thée so much although for diuers occasiōs euery one might be especially discontent And in this maner forging sundry fancies with my selfe I came as it were again to my first hope And whereas I had before thundred forth many blasphemous curses against his dealings now with humble and milde petitions I entreated him and perswaded my selfe to the contrary Thus hope recouered once againe my tormented hart had not for all that any force to be merry but there appeared rather in my countenaunce signes of sorrowe and I felt in my minde a continuall molestation so that I knew not what to doo or how to thinke of these perplexities My first cares were fled away and in the first furie of my suddaine anger The conditions of angry louers of those that are ouercome with theyr passions I had in rage cast away all the stones which were memoriall testimonies of the ouerpassed daies and had burned all the Letters I receiued from him broken all his fauours and rent in péeces all his other trash I tooke no pleasure now to gaze vpō the heauen as she who was vncertaine and doubtful of his returne béeing thorowly perswaded of it before The desire that once I hadde to heare amorous hystories and tales and to passe the night away in such exercises was quite dead and the present time which had abbreuiated nowe the Sommer nights didde not graunt these thinges of which oftentimes eyther all or some great part I passed away without sléepe continually spending them in pittiful plaints and in sad cogitations And if I enioyed sometimes the benefite of swéete sléepe my fancies were neuertheles troubled and tossed about sundry dreames some of them séeming very ioyfull vnto me and some full of sorrow and care The resorting to publique places temples and feastes was yrkesome nowe vnto me and I did neuer or els very seldome when I
eyther one against another or many against many after the Morysco guise but generally in the moste braue and admirable sorte before the noble Ladies and Gentlewomen beginne theyr heroycall sports Commending him most Italians and Mores who with the point of his Launce caryed néerest to the grounde and closely couched vnder his shielde without any disordered motion of his body in the saddle did shewe himselfe in running on his fiery stéede To such kind of feastes and pleasaunt shewes as I was euer wont poore and miserable Fiammetta I was also inuited and certes not without great gréefe vnto mee because beholding these pastimes it came to my minde that I hadde whilome séene my Panphilus sitting amongst our more auncient and reuerende olde Gentlemenne to beholde such like spectacles whose sufficiencie according to the admirable grauitie of his youth deserued so high a place And somtimes standing as yong Pretextatus amongst the noble and graue Senators of Rome with the foresayde robed Knightes to iudge of these pastimes amongst whom one for his authority was like vnto Sceuola another for his grauitie to eyther of the Catos and some of so pleasant and delectable coūtenaunces that they séemed Pompey the great or Marcus Marcellus and others of so sterne and martiall lookes that they séemed liuely to represent the worthy Affricane Scipio or Quintus Cyncinnatus al the which equally and eagerlie beholding the running of euery one and calling to minde theyr yong and lusty passed yéeres pricked to the quick with glory of honour and courage and muttering and fretting to themselues sometimes commended one and sometimes another Panphilus affirming all their sayings and allowing theyr censures Of whom sometimes I heard howe he compared talking of this and that now with one and now with another and howe he resembled all those valiaunt Champions that did runne to the yong and old renowned Heroes of the other worlds O howe déere a thing was this to my eares as well for him that spake it as for them that attentiuely gaue eare vnto it and also for my Cittizens sake of whom it was spoken So much truly that the remembraunce thereof is yet verie gratefull vnto mee Of our yong Princes whose heroycall countenaunces bewraid their hardy and couragious minds he was wont to say that one was like to Arcadius of Parthenope of whom it is reported and firmely beléeued that none came better appointed and more resolute to the destruction of Thebes at what time his mother sent him thether béeing but a yong youth The next after he confessed to be like swéete Ascanius of whom Virgill a singuler recorde of so braue a youth wrot so many golden verses Comparing the third to Deiphobus and the fourth for beautye to Ganimedes Then comming to those of ryper age that folowed these he gaue them no lesse perfect and pleasant semblaunces For there might you sée one comming along with a ruddy colour and a red beard and with soft bushy and crysped locks falling downe vppon his strong and slightly shoulders and no otherwise then Hercules was wont to haue bounde vp with a fine little garland of gréene leaues apparrailed with costly garments of silke occupying no more roome then the iust quantitie of his bodye garnished with sundry braue workes wrought with skilfull hande with a Mantle vppon his right shoulder fastened together with a button of Gold and with a faire and rich shielde couering his left side and carrying in his ryght hand a light speare as was moste fitte for that sport whom he said that he was in gesture and coūtenaunce like to great Hector After whom an other cōming along adorned in like Habits and with as stoute a countenaunce as the other hauing caste vp the golden fringed border of his Mantle vppon his shoulder with his lefte hande cunningly managing his vnruly horse hee iudged an other Achilles Another folowing him shaking his threatninge Launce and carrying his targe behind his back hauing hys soft hayre tyed together with a fine vayle giuen him perhaps of his Ladie he called Protesilaus After whome another folowing with a fine Hatte on his head of a browne colour in his face and with a long bearde and of a fierce countenaunce he called Pyrrhus And another after him with a more milde looke and with a swéete and smooth face and more gorgiously adorned then the rest he thought to resemble Parris of Troy or king Menelaus What néede I prolong my narration about this royall ranck any further In briefe as they passed in that long and goodly company he shewed who was like to Agamemnon who to Aiax who to Vlisses who to Diomedes or to any other Grecian Troyan or Latine woorthy of eternall prayse and memory Neyther did he giue them these names méerely of his owne pleasure but conferring and confirming hys arguments with acceptable reasons about the manner of these paragoned Lords did shew that they were duely and woorthely compared vnto them Wherefore the hearing of these reasons was no lesse pleasant then to sée the very same personnes by whome and for whome hee spake and framed them The gallant troupe therefore of Horsemen after ryding thrée or foure times with easie pace vppe and down to shew themselues to the lookers on couragiously beganne theyr fierce courses and standing almost right vppe in theyr styrrops brauely couched vnder their Targets with the points of their Launces carryed so euen as they séemed to shaue the grounde The order of those that runne a Tylt swifter then the swiftest winde their horses carryed them away And the ayre resounding with the shootes of the people that stoode by and the iangling of the siluer and golden belles that euery horse was almost trapped withall the noyse also of Trumpets and of other martiall instruments the flapping and smyting of the caparisons against the horses sides and of their bases in the ayre and the flyttering of theyr Mantles also against the winde did prick on theyr fiery steedes to a more hote brauer swifter and more couragious course And thus euery one wyth greate delight and ioye continually beholding them and marking the order of theyr courses they made themselues to bee woorthely admyred and not vnwoorthely praysed in the secrete harts and open mouthes of all the spectators Howe many Ladies and Gentlewomen some one séeing her Husbande amongst these heere another her Louer and some their neere Kinsmen did I sée many time clappe their hands and most highly reioyce at the dexteritie courage of their fréendes Not a fewe truely And not onelye these but straungers also my selfe onely excepted who although I sawe my Husbande there and other of my kindred with him with sorrowfull chéere did beholde him not séeing my Panphilus there And when I remembred how farre off he was from me Alas good Ladyes is not this a meruailous thing that that which I sée should be the materiall cause and substance of my sorrow And that nothing may make me merry Alas what soule is