the Guards that would have seized me I had a Sword by my side and I would not that it should be said that I would be the first that should at the first time unprofitably wear one I therefore took it in hand at Rovers as if I held my self capable to resist so many Men and having testified that I would not permit my self to be taken alive I wounded the first Souldiers which were hardy enough to approach me afterwards seeing my self ready to be taken I cast my self through a Window into the Sea wholly resolved there to perish rather then to be retaken and to fall into the hands of our Enemy But all my precaution proved of no utility some of the Guards had then seized my Governor and others of the Captain of the Ship I well divined that we had bin betray'd I knew immediately afterwards that the King having had notice of my issuing forth by the perfidy of a Domestick of my Mothers had sent these Guards to take me and ordered the hanging of the Captain of the Ship and my Governor by the Yards arm As for me they brought me to the Pallace Royal where I only expected Death for the means farther to disguise my Sex which I had betray'd my self by my Attire and my Courage in this imagination I supposed all lost for the King when I was before him coming to reproach my disguise I who believed he would have spoken of him whom they had made to pass for a Maiden I was ready to avow all and notwithstanding admire the effect of the prevention it appeared he would have spoken of the habit that I had taken to save my self and that as this Domestick had discover'd my departure knew nothing of the rest of our Secret the King believed that they had not counterfeited me in a Boy otherwise than to favour my flight after a multitude of Menaces he in conclusion caused me to be vested in my first Attire That being done he sent us my Mother and my self into Prison where we were straitly shut up and I can say it treated as Captives even to the hardest durance But the Prince of Crete having attained the Age of twenty two years and my self coming out of my sixteenth year the King his father believed deeming it high time to celebrate our Marriage he came to see the Queen my Mother even in the very Prison to discourse her I leave you to judge with what countenance she could hear this terrible Propositâ—on and what she could think in an occasion so strange where she saw her self constrain'd to marry a Boy instead of a Girl I saw constrain'd for in the state wherein we were the King's Will was it not as to us absolute necessity and was there any other remedy then exposing my self to death to discover that which I was She therefore dissembled her grief and feigning an apparent joy she only demanded time to sound me Never was the like surprize as that of mine when she brought me this piece of news I avow that I remain'd a little confused For what resolution to take in so fatal a Conjuncture To accept the Marriage that seemed not impossible to refuse also a Marriage so apparently advantageous for me and which seem'd the only means to recover our Liberty and Dignity altogether that could not be as I have said without giving the King cause of great suspicion In all cases it was to irritate him by this rejection it would be the prolonging of our Imprisonment and by consequence plunge us in another inevitable Peril to discover my self by time and by age We could not therefore do any other than condole my Mother and my self wholly ignorant by whom to determin In the interim the King pressed for her Answer and he pressed her with so much the more instancy because those of Chypre were already revolted the second time against him and he saw no other than this only way to reduce them After we had procrastinated the Affair a whole Month by continual fits and turns and always under different pretexts after I had essay'd a thousand times new means to avoid my self in conclusion there fell into my thoughts a Project which I discovered to the Queen very near these terms Madam said I we afflict our selves through an occasion which should rather reâ—oyce us and that the Gods had sent us without doubt to revenge the death of my Father and Brothers Our Tyrant will give me his Son for to espouse which is to say unless he will deliver me another himfelf into â—ands let us use our advantagae since he thereunto doth force us I accept of this fatal bridal since he constrains me but since he deprives me of the means further to dissemble that which I am let him know it in the dispence of his own proper bloud I will furnish my self with a Sword or a Dagger and hide it under the bolster of my Bed It 's with that within which I will receive his Son into my Arms and 't is so that I will revenge my Father my Brothers my Sisters and our selves Hah my Son interrupted she all in tears I will never permit that you cast your self in so unavoidable a danger that could not be that which would revenge me no otherwise then to loose you since 't is only to preserve you that I am reserved to so many evils To make short to you I perswaded the Queen because she saw no other means nor day for our deliverance She rendred the King an answer conformable to his desire who set us at apparent Liberty however still in effect held us in a strait captivity by the Guards that he set over us under pretence of doing us honor and that which is yet more marvellous the Prince of Crete gave me a visit even as to his Mistriss I must avow to you although I was well prepared for that sight she put me in much perplexity of mind the habit of a Maiden began to rack me after I had known my Sex I thereupon found my actions all in compulsion and it seem'd to me that by their observations it would be impossible but that they should divine who I was but this was another torment when I saw my self reduced to personate not only a Maiden but as they say a Lover in sight of an amorous young Prince and to counterfeit friendship and obsequiousness for a man whose birth was abominable and hateful unto me however there was no means of avoiding it He saw me he courted me amorously and on my part I sported so well or rather so unfortunately my Lot that I appeared to this young Prince not only to be a Maiden but also for a fair one so that he became marvellously amorous of me So that not only the Father but also the Son pressed even without measure this loathsome and vexatious Marriage As for me I used all the delays possible for whatever resolution I had taken I had always some repugnancy to
you a thing that I am much more desirous to let you know But I avow you I know not how to undertake it when I conceive that from the Moment that you shall learn it you will be angry with me and possibly will hate me Tarsis was much surprized at these words and could not divine what they meant For me to hate you replyed he O Zelie you must then tell me that you love me no more and although you should tell me so much I should rather dye in the Field but should never be able to hate you I am yet less capable not to love you more replyed Zelie There she stopped and Tarsis seeing that she did not unfold him the rest asked her what she had to say unto him And as she saw her Mouth opened twice or thrice ready to speak unto him and as often to shut it again and to utter nothing but Sighs behold him in the greatest trouble of the World What is it therefore fair Zelie said he unto her Make me not to languish any longer For in fine whilst I know not what it is I fear a hundred thousand Evils which I imagine and yet others which I imagine not It is true replyed she wiping her eyes that I am a Fool thus to alarm you and to believe you and to believe you could be angry for a thing that you undoubtedly would find just and even for the weal of our Friendship At the uttering these words she said unto him with the fairest Colour that she could there find that whatever Effort or Endeavour Leucippe had made upon her his Aversation against their Marriage still continued undoubtedly that it was assuredly that which had made him Sick and which held him and entertained him in such perplexity that his Life was in danger and that if he should dye she should never be exempted from that Conception but that she had bin the cause thereof that all the World would have the same thoughts after they should hear any mention made of his Disease and what he had therein saâ—d and of all that which had passed she therefore besought him to abstain a while from seeing her for some space of time to observe what would thereby be produced in relation to his cure and recovery Whatever proportion she had made to this discourse Tarsis was so Surprized that he remained all in confusion and amated His dart fell out of his hand and left goal so that of Zelie and judging by the cross of all the counterfeiting and dissembling which she had used that her resolution was to infringe the course of their friendship and amity and to sacrifice it to an imagination that to him appeared Fantastical and Frivolous he crossed his arms athwart his stomack and held himself a long time in that posture not being able to speak only casting his eyes on her where grief said a thousand things that his Tongue could not express In the mean time Zelie who divined the state of his Soul and mind not only by his countenance but yet much more by the affliction that she felt in her own heart was very willing to say something to him to consâ—late him for the evil she had done him and a hundred times she he sitated and stammered to retract the word she had spoken and let go But on the other side the Image of sick Leucippe and sick as she believed by the displeasure that she had caused him re-animated her vertue to combate against the tenderness of her affection So that after having held for some time her eyes down upon the ground remaining silent she thus re-assumed her discourse and said I very well see Tarsis that that which I have said hath much afflicted you and I am not much astonished at the effect it hath had on my self For in fine its requisit you should know that 't is through the rude and churlish combat between my duty and my friendship that I am reduced to those extremities you have found and seen me in But it s withal requisit Tarsis that you make this reflection with me You see the condition wherein my father is Will you that I be I tremble to speak it and only to think of it but in fine it 's that which possibly may arrive will you that I be the cause of his death and that I render my self the shame and horrour of my family Ah! Tarsis you would hate me your self if I were capable to suffer it and if you punish me not by your hatred the Gods would punish us both I very well know that you will make my thought pass for a vision and a Chimera but I have but one world to answer you Either it is true that Leucippe will have us married or it is true that he will not if he will he will suddainly recall you if he will not I ought not to think thereof any more my self Have you said enough cruel Zelie quoth Tarsis at that very passage where or what more remains for you yet to say to thrust on my dispair any farther Is it not yet enough that you have testified to me that you would defeat your self of me without giving so many reasons which serves no other than to shew me the premeditation with which you make me dispair and the care you have taken to heap up wherewith to combat my resistance and wherewith to ruin me Are these then the fair meditations of your Malady and is this the fruit of the vows that I made for your health you come to tell me and oppose me with the sickness of a father But is it by his own order at least that you make me this fair and Eloquent Oration No Tarsis replyed she but it is by the order of my duty which is yet more to me than my father Therefore cryed he out all Transported You oppose me with an Imaginary duty though you have nothing more of a father to oppose me withal and you come to make a pretext to betray my love when Leucippe hath approved and confirmed it You are born and carryed away Tarsis replyed the shepherdess with a thousand tears But I am taken only in my own Mischief and in a common disgrace wherein already I am undoubtedly the most unfortunate I will yet see my self overwhelmed with all reproaches O! Cruel one said she unto her these reproaches touch you but little and you very well prepare your self thereunto and are prepared to make me this discourse But believe not that I make you do it long I will put my self very suddainly in a state where I shall never be able to make you do it He became silent there and continued his eyes a long time fixed upon the ground sometime lifting them up towards heaven notwithstanding where he stretched out his arms also sometimes as demanding vengeance for the cruelty of Zelie On the other side these last words had also penetrated the heart of Zelie the shepherdess with so vigorous a pain
so much Honour in taking it up he will undoubtedly find more to wear it They could not all refrain from laughing at the pleasant imagination of Celemante Ergaste smiled himself and rejoin'd him Shepherd neither thou nor my self are worthy to wear that which hath been upon the head of Areliseâ— but if I deceive that Honour doubt not not only that I should esteem to have gained the first Prize but that I should make even a greater account thereof than of all the Crowns in the World during their contest all the Shepherds which were present at the Race were come to hear them and took so much pleasure in their dispute that they apprehended not any thing but that it would too soon be decided Arelise and Coris were very well pleased to let it continue and that is the cause why the Shepherds prayed them immediately to judg them they refused a long time to give or to declare their advice Arelise excused her self because the difference had not sprung but on the subject of the Service that had been rendred her by Ergaste she well saw that she was in some sort suspected by Celemante Coris defended her self handsomly on what she alledged that agitating her in so Importunate a matter as a Crown was of too great weight to be left to the judgment of one Shepherdess all the rest of the Company dispensed themselves also in referring the Honour to the judgment of Coris because she had chosen upon her to give the Prize However they agreed all together at last to give their Sentiments and after Celemante and Ergaste had yet added some reasons on their own parts respectively Coris having taken advice of the Company they judged that Celemante had gained the Prize of the Race but that it was not therefore Just but that Ergaste should have a recompence and Arelise because she had a Branch of Mirtle in her hands they appointed that she should therewith make a Crown to put it upon his head whilst Coris placed that of hers on the head of Celemante Whilst this Fair Assembly spent the day in these Diversions Telamon and Philiste Generously imployed all theirs to succour their Unfortunate and Illustrious Guests from time to time he went to know if the King of Lesbos wanted any thing they sent likwise to inform themselves of the state of that Fair Unknown one whom he had met in an equipage so astonishing and deplorable in the corner of the Forrest he stirred not the rest of the time to be neer Tarsis and went out yet one of the next succeeding days towards the evening when that self same man whom the unknown one had retained by her came to inform him that his Mistress desired to speak with him and besought him to ascâ—nd into her chamber He immediately repaired thither and she saw him no sooner enter but she drew one of her Arms out of the Bed and stretching forth her hand said unto him I well see Telamon that your Family is in possession of me and in preserving my Life and I begin to hope well since I have known I am fallen into your hands Telamon was much astonished at this discourse answered he I have reputed it a great Honour for me to have occasion to render service to a person the sole view of whom hath made me conceive so great an opinion and if this same Honour had formerly hapned unto me or to some one of mine the which I knew not I would have esteemed my self much more happy Then the unknown one made a sign to the servant maid to retire out of her chamber who was there to serve her and having also appointed the man whom she had sent to fetch Telamon to leave them alone she spake to the Shepherd in these terms If they have not deceived me in the Particularities that they have taught me from your Family you are the Brother of the Shepherd Tarsis and he might possibly have declared you the obligation that Amelicente had to him Telamon who had understood from his Brother the Adventure of Amalecinte not having doubted by these words but that it was he who spake so to him admired how Nature had given such a Beauty to the Countenance of that Young Prince as if it had made him expresly for that Personage whom Fortune alone made to sport and jest withal and as he was but eighteen years of Age he found in his youth so great a delicacy a hue and dye so little beseeming or becoming a man that he scarcely believed him to be he whom he was if what his Brother had not formerly spake of him had not prepared him to that credulity He then spake unto him with much astonishment and respect What my Lord is it possible that you are the Prince Amelecinte and that your Imbarking hath also had so mournful an Issue Ah it is indeed it is true that I should esteem my self happy to receive into my house a Prince for whom I have conceived such a Veneration and respect without knowing him if the estate and condition wherein I see you my Lord did not almost dissipate all my Joy Amalecinte replyed obligingly to this Civility and Testified him that he would Inlighten him in this last Adventure but before-hand added he I will demand from you news of your Brother Telamon told him the accident in few words and this Prince who had already known something from those who served him for it was by that which he heard of the name of Telamon and of the accident of Tarsis that he had Judged with whom he was signified unto him that he had received a very sensible displeasure The Shepherd would have retired himself after that for fear of giving him to long occasion to speak and some curiosity that he had to learn by what Course and Sequel of Adventures was found at Tempe with a Ship so soon after he had been parted a Fugitive and without a thought of returning there however he did all that he could to oblige him to conserve his rest representing to him the evil that the Emotion could cause him in the state wherein he was But Amalecinte to whom they had made or put the third preparation and who felt himself very much better replyed him That it was of importance to him to take Counsel of him upon the consideration of some affairs wherein he had need of his succour and it was for that which he sent to fetch him And as he was a young Prince of an active and lively Spirit and who tormented himself for the rest when it was necessary for him to defer the execution of things that he had projected all that the Shepherd could do it was to obtain of him only that he would attend till the morrow when having sent again to fetch him he spake unto him after this sort The Sequel of the History of Amalecinte YOu have understood by your Brother after what manner I Imbarked upon your River and by what
us cast me again into the Gulph and obliged me to come to refresh our selves in your Road. Whilst they repaired our Vessel which sprang a Leak by means of our Furious Fight and the late Tempest I would come to set foot on shore and walked without dreaming of the advice that had been given me by one of our Prisoners whom the Prince of Crete had yet left there amongst others to seek me out there in case that the advice of my Imbarkment was not true I went accompanied only with two of my men through this Wood where you met me when I was attacked by eight Souldiers who immediately fell upon me I put my Sword in hand which I still have carryed since the day of our Naval Combat and seconded by the two men that accompanied me I so well defended my self that we put our Assassines to Flight and six others out of a Condition to attack me But this could not be without feeing before my Face to dye my two Seconds nor without falling my self into a condition where you have so Generously Succoured me So Telamon if Cyprus hath some interest in my conservation I can safely say that it ought to look upon you your Brother and your Self as hath its two Titulary Originals and I protest unto you also that if I have ever there any power the names of Telamon and Tarsis shall be there also known as those of Aristogiton and Harmodisis are both in Athens In the mean while as it 's apparent these People who attacked me were not alone and that I am from elsewhere in the Government of Alcime an ally of mine Enemy you see how it imports me not to be known here but you judg also well Telamon that I ought to sleep there whilst that the Death of the Prince of Crete will apparently prove true and made great changes in Cyprus and in the States of the King his Father Which is the cause wherefore I will send with the first opportunity some of my People to Cyprus there to confirm the Truth of his Death and to dispose the People there to receive me I will even depart with the soonest to be there ready to profit by this occasion And there to second by my Presence and by my Courage that which shall be found of good disposition in their minds But as there is not a moment of time to be lost here that my Ship where I make account to Imbark cannot be repaid but in some days and that in the mean time it is of importance that those whom I send to prepare their minds should depart before me I have for that end present need of another Ship I had since yesterday sent to Gonnes to contract for a Ship in that Port but I have understood that since Alcime is returned there is prohibition made to let none depart without his express order signed with his hand and that there is a thousand difficulties to obtain Pass-Ports at least to be known Now you see the interest that I have ought not to be made known to a man in Alliance and Confederacy with my Enemy So I have need of your Credit and Generosity Telamon to indeavour to obtain one with the soonest and that is the request that I will make you Whilst he thus spake Telamon on one side admired the Courage wherewith this young Prince framed his designs for the Conquest of a Kingdom in a condition wherein he had not only the strength to rise from his bed and on the other he had not the Ability of Apprehension that the agitation wherewith he had spoken might enkindle some Feaver within his Body which naturally appeared to be in a temper all of fire He therefore besought him not to give himself any further trouble in any thing that he had commanded him and promised him that he would go there the same hour to give order Immediatly he took leave of him but at the instant he thought to go out Amalecinte recalled him and said unto him Generous Telamon the care of my affairs hath made me forget a thing which possibly may regard yours and which have made me call to mind the name of that Shepherdess of whom you have lately told me that her loss hath reduced Tarsis into that condition you have related me It 's from the first day that I imbarked here as I would have demanded of my Boat-man why he had so much desired to recoil in parting until he had even constrained him thereunto by force he told me for a reason that he expected a Shepherdess whom he named as seemed to me Zelie as you have done the Mistress of your Brother he added that he should by the same occasion conduct her I know not where and that it was to do service to a Shepherd named Alpide who I should also have come with her Ah my Lord cryed he Immediatly I mean Telamon it is the same Shepherdess whom we seek and thereupon as he saw that the Prince could not instruct him further he retired to make some reflection on this last news which more occupied his mind than all the rest In sum that which his Brother had related him the day following of the loss of Zelie of that Mariner whom he had taken in the night for Alpide and the Great Assiduity that the same Alpide had signified to her after that Tarsis had no more seen her had already given them much cause to suspect him however he could not make any certain Judgment thereupon because that Alpide had not disappeared with Zelie but otherwise was her Cousen German and moreover for that he was more concerned pressed for her more than any other and did much regret this Shepherdess But after he had learnt that from the Prince of Cyprus there was no place left for him to doubt but that Alpide was the Author or at least an Accomplice in this misfortune as so many others have followed It was almost night when Telamon went out from Amalecinte that Shepherd not being there gon but very late after dinner by the counsel of the Chirurgeon to leave always so much time with the Prince as to repose himself before engaging him in a discourse which he well Judged would be of some time In going out from thence he deliberated whether he should direct this piece of news to Tarsis He was presently tempted thereunto because he thought that it would still be some Joy to that unfortunate Lover to know at least a way by which he might be assured to be able to learn what should become of Zelie But he immediatly also well Judged afterwards that in thinking to regive him thence some hope he should not fail to renew his Inquietudes and to cause in him strange Alarms that it would be to hold him all the night in impatience which would be a means to hinder his rest and might possibly cause some seaver to seize upon him by so great a Commotion or Violent Inclination of the
but also forasmuch as we had not there any Skiff to carry us to the Land Two of my Men having been willing to attempt it by swimming perished there one after another by the following and rolling of the Billows which were not yet appeased So that one man alone being left with me and not seeing from whom possibly I might have succour or recourse but that a great Ship which the Tempest had cast upon that self-same Coast but who was too far distant to permit those who were therein to hear my cryes I almost dispaired of my safety when the Gods took care to send me to be succoured by Generous Telamon The Fair Princess having surceased speaking Philiste reassumed discourse to signify unto her all the respect the inequality of their condition and qualities obliged her unto how much she had been concerned and touched with Admiration and Grief by the recital of these Misfortunes and in telling her modestly that she knew well that it was not for a Shepherdess to undertake to consolate a Great Queen she omitted not however handsomly and becomingly to tell her things on the Subject of her disgrace whence she received all the consolation she was capable of in the mournful conjuncture of her Fortune It was so late when the Queen of Lesbos permitted Philiste to retire that there was some time that Telamon was layen down and gon to bed with a Design which he had the next day to surprize Alpide at his own house before day and that this Shepherdess being entred into her Chamber found that he was already fallen asleep The fear she had to awake or disturb him obliged her to slide into the Bed as softly as he could but forasmuch as her Imagination was still full of those Wonderful Accidents and Events which she had heard repeated she could not hinder her self from employing a part of the Night to pass them in her Memory and could not almost fall asleep but that it was neer break of day She had not but began to take her rest when Telamon finished his and that he awoke through the extream impatience he had to seek Alpide that design appeared to him of such importance for the enlightning him in the Adventure of Zelie and the rest of his dear Brother that he thought he could never execute it soon enough and although Alpide concealed not himself his affection made him take the same precautions to find him which he would have had need of if the other had sought to shun it and that he had held himself upon his Guard He had the same circumspection for Philiste as she had for him the preceeding Night he arose without making any noise and went out of his Chamber and even out of his House before any Person was there awakned Aurora had not yet appeared but that he was already far off distant from his Hamlet and the first Rays of the Morning began not to appear and peep cleer but that he arrived at the River He walked some paces along the River side going towards Gonnes until he had found a Boat wherein he entred to pass to the other side for the House of Alpide was far before on the other side and almost at the foot of Mount Ossa After he had crost the River he fastned his Boat to the Branches of one of the Trees which were by the water side that he might come there again and take to it and afterwards continued his way towards Ossa Fifty Paces from the House of Alpide he found a Domestick of that Shepherds of whom he enquired News That Shepherd answered him that his Master was not at home but that he was the precedent evening gon and departed to Gonnes whence he was not yet returned Telamon fearing that this Slave had not told him the truth went even to the House pretending to have some business with him which did oblige him to stay and expect him there But as he met no Person there he returned to find this Shepherd endeavouring to make him speak and to draw some demonstration from him He had soon known almost more than he would since that he had learnt things which had been advantageous to him to be ignorant of still In effect Telamon after some other discourse having pertinently asked him divers questions concerning the Places and Persons that frequented his Master after the time that Zelie disappeared that Man replyed I cannot resolve you nor yet declare where he goeth nor whom he seeth for I concern my self only with the care of his Flock and do other things which he appoints me without enforming my self of things that import me not It is not but that I begin to be in pain for that which is happened unto him For there is very neer fifteen days that he prepared all things to make a great Journey I know not where and I believed him departed one evening by reason he gave me divers Orders for the conduct of his House and management of his Affairs during his absence when I saw him returning the same Night but so sad and besides himself that I could hardly know him Since that time his affection hath only encreased he neither eateth nor doth he almost take any Rest and spends entire Days and Nights in walking and bemoaning himself amongst the Rocks of Mount Ossa I was wholly astonished there is not two or three days past but att the time that I kept towards these places there in a certain place where he believed me not to be I heard him in the Wood which is near where he bemoaned himself saying Ah! Miserable One that I am must it be so that my returning to Tempé but that 't is to be the cause of this Misfortune my Amiable Maiden cryed he afterwards must the pain of the Crime fall upon thee and that the Innocent suffereth the torment and execution of the Guilty I soon believed that there was some Maiden with him to whom he spake and that was the cause that I had the curiosity to advance me forward very softly to see who he was but I saw him layen along upon the Ground and as he had his Face turned towards the other side and that he saw me not that made me to continue a time long enough to contemplate and ruminate upon him I observed that from time to time he wiped his Eyes as if he had wept and I heard what he yet said but I am in the wrong Great Gods to accuse youre Justice in the punishment of a Criminal No no You are not therein despised And you Divine Zelie you are not to complain since that you have not without doubt lost this Miserable Life but to reassume another much more happy But what Torments are equal to the Anguishes which devour me the Gods can they deliver me or can they deliver me to Executioners more cruel than my Pain and Grief and if thy Fair Soul can be beaten and made flat by the sweetness of the Vengeance should
yield and give way the great Ariamene entred the City victoriously The Massacre was great within Chalcedoine and though Ariamene did all that might be possible to hinder its pillaging they revenged it more than they otherwise would have done for the indignity they had there received The Souldiers in theâ—r furious rage made no distinction neither of Age nor Sex and he who could not kill a Man would force himself upon Woman or Child whereby to dye his Sword The slaughter was so prodigious and the Streets were so strewed and covered over with so many dead Corps that those last that entred finding such great heaps to oppose and stop up their Passage were more incommoded by the dead than by the Living The day ended before the disorder and when the Shadows of the Night could conceal any one from the fury of the Souldiers they created a new day by the fire they put into the Houses and seeking their Enemies by the assistance of this dismal and fatal light they made the City to contribute its aid in the Massacre of its Inhabitants However Ariamene who would have preserved it dispatched such good Orders and Directions that the fire was extinguisht and wholly quenched The Water there served not all alone but the bloud which ran down the Streets was therein imployed the dead had at least this fruit of their decease to preserve their Countrey and the City by this blow drew an advantage from the Massacre of its Inhabitants As for Lysimachus as he was Master of the Sea it was easy for him to save himself and I imbarqued my self to retire to Bisance with him This ill success obliged and constrained him to treat of Peace with Ariamene but my Lord I will not entertain you with this negotiation for as your design is no other than to learn that which concerns our two Illustrious Brothers I ought to insist upon none but the Subject that imports them Agamée was in that certain part of his Book and he was thereunto fixed through such a marvellous attention when a Shepherd came to interrupt him and tell him from Telamon that he pray'd him to excuse him if he return'd not to find him and that he did inâ—ite him to go still to Hippiqué where he should meet him if he had not rather expect him where he left him and behold what obliged Telamon to send him to make this Complement We have seen that Telamon had abandoned Agamée to return to Ergaste and Celemante and to see the cause that retain'd them so long a time but he had scarcely walked two hundred Paces but he called for Ergaste so that following the sound of his voice he entred into the high way of a Wood where he found them in an occupation which surprized him no less than the meeting which he had had near the Pond Ergaste and Celemante assisted a Man who had mounted another who had bin sore wounded on horseback and in the same place he yet saw a third stretcht out upon the ground as dead Telamon immediately judged that he whom he and Agamée had met a little beneath in the like condition ought to be of the company of these here and he was not deceivâ—d He whom they remounted on horse-back was the self same Cavalier who had bin sometime before attacked by four others so as we have seen and who pursuing the fugitives even within the Wood there had found four new Enemies in Ambush who had put him in that condition but they were all fled having seen the third to fall who was of their company by blows which they also had received The Squire of the bravely unknown was without any Wounds although he had done all that was possible for the defence of his Master but it was not at him that they aimed and 't was he who having seen these Assassines turn in flight and not able alone to replace his Master on horse-back wounded as he was had disswaded Ergaste and Celemante whom he had accidentally met in seeking some one to aid him As it was not then time to think of satisfying their Curiosity on this Subject but rather to succour that unknown they dream'd of nothing but of remounting him on Horseback and seeing that there was no appearance that with facility he might go to Gonnes as he made account by reason of weakness and the loss of a considerable quantity of Blood by his wounds Telamon offered him the House of Alcidias his Father as being the nearest The unknown was not in a State of refusing it and he even besought him that he would take care of that Cavalier who had been laid along in the same place that they might see if he were yet in a condition to be succoured Ergaste and Celemante did officiously undertake that care and for Telamon having mounted the Squire behind his Master to uphold him he Conducted both the one and the other to the House of Alcidias walking on foot before them He returned not through the place where he had left Agamée because that from the place where they were there was another way shorter to go to the House of Alcidias and in that condition wherein the unknown was there was not any time to be lost The Shepherd repeated part of those things to Agamée with the Compliment that Telamon had sent him to make and they may judge of the pleasure and satisfaction which that Athenian had taken at its reading since that instead of being touched with some curiosity for that new adventure he chose rather to send to Telamon by this Shepherd that he would expect him in a certain Alley that he perceived one hundred paces from thence where he went to withdraw himself from the High-way and there continue more repos'd in the reading his book whereof he saw the sequel and consequence was such The peace of Lysimachus being concluded and Satyre with his Allies seeing themselves destitute of his Succors they were constrained to cast themselves under the protection of Prytanis one of the Kings of the Bosphore Cimmerien This Prince was then himself waging War against his own Brother named Eumele and the subject of their Discord was the partage or division of the Kingdom The Embassy whereon the King your Father had honored me with and this having given me some reputation amongst the People of the North I had bin called to assist in composing that difference and I should have bin sufficiently happy to succeed therein if Prytanis also had bin so religious as was Eumele in the performance of his Word But this league and confederacy with Satyre having made him entertain new hopes the War recommenced more earnest and furious than ever before Prytanis retired himself into Panticapee the capital City or Metropolis of the Bosphorus Cimerien Eumele laid siege thereunto and Ariamene having known that Prytanis had taken part with Satyre took that of Eumele and sent him Kion and Leonides with some part of his Troops These two
of losing himself once for all what he had understood alledged by the Shepherdess from her own Mouth a little before he cast himself into the River All these things I say seemed to â—im convincing proofs of a disaster which he could not imagine alone without trembling and shaking with horror After having finished the dissipating of these mournful and violent agitations of Spirit the small forces that the wearisom teadiousness of the preceding night and those which the day had left in conclusion sleep or rather lassitude and weakness had shut up in despight of him his eyes and he slept some moments only at the hour that the day light awakens others Telamon came a little afterwards to his Chamber to know how he had passed the Night but seeing it fast shut and having heard no noise he withdrew himself for fear of giving trouble to a repose that he much doubted had neither bin very long nor very quiet Then when Tarsis who slept but as we usually say dogs-sleep had heard him he lept out of his bed and inquired whether he had heard nothing of Zelie Telamon seeing that he was awake returned and came into the Chamber and asked of him how he did Ah my Brother answered the Shepherd make you any doubt of the estate wherein I am since you have learnt no news of Zelie And being almost already clothed he besought him to go with him to Callioure to know that which Leucippe and Melicerte had understood They had already entred into a Meddow which extended it self from the South from Cenome to the River Penée When he discerned an old Man on horse back which came towards them upon a hand or rather a wild gallop from the distance that he might spake unto them he demanded of them the way to the house of Alcidias Telamon and Tarsis presently believed that the sound of his voice was not unto them unknown and they had the same conceptions of his Phisiognomy but when this Cavalier who still approached them was near enough to give them opportunity and liberty well to consider him they believed him to be Straton the Philosopher the self same whom they had known at Panticapée and who had written their History to the Prince Philadelphé Straton was no less surprized than they when he had confronted them but the opinion he had of their death hindring him their knowledg he admired only the similitude and resemblance which he found of these two Persons with those two unfortunate Brothers whose memory were to him so dear and this resemblance renewing in him the regret he had had of their loss in bringing it to their remembrance and he could not avoid speaking with a sigh and lifting up his Eyes to heaven O Kion O Leonides Although he pronounced those words very low Tarsis and Telamon who attentively observed him well understood them and these words having finally decided some remaining staggering and wavering uncertainties which held them in suspence they made no further doubt but that he was the very self same Philosopher Straton So that Telamon first of all running to him O Straton cry'd he is it possible that 't is you Never was surprize so great as was that of Straton's when he had understood by Telamon and Tarsis that they were those two whom he had known He hastily alighted from his horse to imbrace them and demanded of them a hundred times one after another and chiefly of Tarsis how it was possible that he could be living Alas Straton reply'd Tarsis I am more astonisht than you although for different reasons for you are doubtless astonisht that I have escaped death by reason of the condition wherein you saw me at Panticapée and I am not astonished but that I have bin able to conserve my life at Tempé where Fortune persecutes me with much more rigor than ever it did else where These words were accompanied with a thousand Tears which made Straton believe that the disgrace of which Tarsis had was very strange since it seemed that it defaulked and abated from that great courage which so many other perils and dangers could not be able to move for which reason he inquired of him the cause But Tarsis not judging that time proper nor convenient to entertain him prayed him to defer that discourse to another season and besought him to tell him how he had bin brought to Tempé and above all what had caused him to inquire for the house of Alcidias his Father Straton understanding that Alcidias was father unto Telamon testifyed much joy and that news brought to mind some marks upon his face on which he had not seen more than signs of some extreme grief since he had inquired of him the subject which had brought him to Tempé O great Gods cryed he lifting up his eyes towards heaven I doubt not but that you have taken a resolution to save my Illustrious Prince since that in this disgrace you have taken the care to fall into the hands of Kion and Leonides Then addressing himself to them I believe not continued he but that the misfortune which constrain'd me to seek the dwelling place of Alcidias was capable of any consolation but it must be avow'd that the Gods sent me more than I could be able to hope in so dismal and mournful an occasion to cause me to meet you yet living and in a place where I have such great need of friends and where I find you so apt fit and seasonable to favour my design and that I may in consequence receive from you some marks of your Generosity For in fine I will not conceal from you that Fortune hath since a certain day put for so I may say the life of one of the greatest Princes of the World into the hands of Alcidias But are you willing that I should unridle you this obscure Mystery continued he seeing their surprize if it be convenient for you and your leisure will permit conduct me I beseech you to the house of your Father for although it was but yesterday in the Evening that I departed to go to Gonnes it is in that I went astray in returning or coming from thence and I will declare unto you in requital by the way the subject of all our mournful Adventures and Passages Although these two Shepherds penetrated not the sence and meaning of this discourse yet they judg that this meeting hath some dependance upon that of those Cavaliers whereof the most apparent had bin transported the preceding day in so ill a plight at the house of Alcidias and the advantageous Opinion that both the one and the other had immediately conceived not having bin able to leave them without a very great desire to know him they were ravished to find so favourable an occasion besides that which I invited them to another place However as it was not simply to satisfy their curiosity that Straton had besought them to go with him but that he signified to them also
publick Place where all the Souldiers were in Arms and all the People attentive and in expectation of what would follow such great preparatives he there made a long Oration upon the affections which he had alwayes had for his People and the cares he had taken to educate and bring up his Children in an inclination and disposition of Peace necessary for the better Government of his Subjects from thence he fell to discourse of the different Manners and Qualifications of his two Sons and putting again into the Mind and Memory of the Egyptians of the magnificent and famous Feates and honourable Actions of Philadelphe wherewith all his Subjects were very exceedingly satisfyed and well pleased he there afterwards those of miscontent and displeasure which he and they had received from Ceraune After he had aggravated the three fratercides wherewith this cruel Prince would have caused his Brother to perish and to be destroyed the violent ravishment and carrying away the two Princesses his Confederacy and Treaty even with the known Enemies of the State for they knew he made one with Lysimachus to assure himself a retreat into his Kingdom after he had amplified and laid open at large all the circumstances of his Crimes he at last publickly declared his Dissheirison and thereby declared his Son Philadelphe his sole and only Successor And that there might be no shadow nor ground nor cause of contest against his Title I say to impede or hinder what possibly might be questioned after his death and to take and deprive Ceraune from all means of imbarking the People in Civil-War and intestine jars and commotions he added that it was his Will and Declaration his Resolution of putting Philadelphe in present possession of the Crown and that he appointed and published him King of Egypt resigning into his hands all his Power Privileges and Prerogatives Royal reserving only unto himself the Degree of his Prime and Principal Subject and Captain of his Guards At the same Even the self same moment having caused Philadelphe to approach who had not followed him there but against his Will because he dreamt of nothing else but his departure in quest of Arsinoe and was importunate against all things that might delay or any wise frustrate his design the King repeated to him the precedent declaration and having constrained and obliged him to sit down upon a Royal Throne which he had purposely and expresly commanded to be prepared he with his own hands placed the Crown Royal upon his head the Scepter in his hand and then and there swore himself his faithful Subject and declared and owned him to be his Master his Leige Lord and Soveraign King If this Oration and memorable Action which immediately followed it caused an astonishment amongst the Egyptians it gave them ground cause and subject of much more incomparable joy and admiration for as much hatred and aversion as they had and conceived against Ceraune even so much love and respect had they for Philadelphe But Philadelphe for his own self in particular was so surprized and so confused in receiving such marks and signs of deference and submission from a Father for whom he had such obsequious and venerable respect that he could not possibly resolve to accept these rare and illustrious Testimonies of a Love so Royal and Paternal What wonderful Miracle was that not that the Land of Egypt beheld not on that day Certainly future Ages will scarcely have faith to believe it It saw a great King which was the delight of his People and the terror of his Enemies voluntarily descend from the Throne and there to cause his Son to ascend it and I there saw the Son refusing to mount into the Throne and use all his utmost indeavours there to retain and hold his Father In sum so it must be that Philadelphe yielded and gave place unto the absolute Will of Ptolomée but it was not by a deference and it may be said that he consented not to be King but to give a pregnant demonstration of obedience both as a Son and as a Subject In the interim do not in any wise believe that this great change and transmutation of the condition and state of my Prince made any kind of alteration in his love nor yet grief and dolour believe not that he judged the gift of a Kingdom was capable to consolate him to ballance the loss of Arsinoe Ambition had not power to suspend remove or discharge him one moment from the thoughts nor perplexing inquietudes of his Love and all that which Prince Philadelphe had resolved for the recovery of this Princess Philadelphe the King would also execute He had already sent to all Parts and Coasts to learn news of the two Princesses but that was a thing that appeared to him but little worthy of his Love to seek after them by the means of others only his passion defyed him the cares and diligence of all others He would therein imploy himself and in that very resolution and design he would depart the following Night without speaking any thing to Ptolomée knowing he would have opposed it Only he resolved to leave a Letter with some of his People to give unto the King after his departure and began one in these terms Philadelphe to King Ptolomée Health SIR I a thousand times beg pardon of your Majesty if I dare without his leave depart from being near her and if it appears that I acted the part of an ill Son it will soon make an Apology for me to so good a Father But Sir one so good as your Majesty is merits him the conservation of all his Children so that if I remove one from him for some few dayes I protest to your Majesty it 's not but to essay to return them to you very suddainly altogether I entred into his Chamber when he was there with his Letter and although he presently resolved not to discover his design unless it were to those that to him were necessary so it came to pass that my presence and the kindness he had for me tempted or prompted him to make me a participant I was not surprized with that resolution for I know the fervour and greatness of his Love But as it seemed to me on this occasion to be altogether blind I took the liberty to tell him my Sentiments I then represented to him that Philadelphe King of Egypt ought not hence forward to imagine himself yet to be Prince Philadelphe that in receiving the Crown he had well changed conditions and obligations Think you my Lord said I that you are now to your self as you then were to dispose of according to your passions and willing inclinations and to run about the World as a single and simple Adventurer and to expose your self to all the fantastical conceits humors and capricio's of Fortune Know my Lord that you now at present are united by very streight tyes and strong ligaments and by indispensable obligations to your Estate that
impatience that you see he hath to come out from thence Let 's reconduct him I pray you to Tempé and see only before a few Lines that his Impatience constrained him to make out You know undoubtedly Erasistrate the famous and so much renowned Physitian not only by the excellent Experiences which he hath manifested by his Art but by the profound and eloquent Meditations which he hath written above all that there is most concealed in the Nature of Man Yea assuredly interrupted Agamée and I have admired a Hundred times amongst his Works his Tract his rare Draft of the Passions where teaching us to know them he teacheth us also to combat with them and to cure our selves of those Diseases of the Mind whilst he prohibits us those of the Body That is the very same replyed Telamon you know the Friendship that the great President of the Areopagites hath for him My Brother who had need to hasten the Judgment of his process and litigious Suit which was the only Obstacle of his return to Zelie prayed Erasistrate to speak to him in his Favour and because he deferr'd it twice or thrice he thus pressed him I languish for some days of a Disease which according to appearance if I receive not some assistance must necessarily take a course bad enough This Disease is called Impatience which naturally still grows and increaseth and I see without speedy Succour my Cure apparently hopeless Famous Physitian of Souls and Bodies I ask not for those noble Efforts and Endeavours which render you famous from Gange even to the Gades Only vouchsafe to succour me with two words that I be not the first sick one whom you will have left to dye These words Telamon pursued produced two advantageous Effects to Tarsis The first that Erasistrate effectually made him have a very speedy Expedition The second that this illustrious Personage having tasted and sounded his Wit would contract Friendship with him Now behold another piece which makes me call to mind an occasion where this acquaintance was yet of more Utility to the Love of Tarsis But although they are both in the same Leaf by reason they are for the same Person behold the cause why others were made between them both it will be good therefore that we read them before-hand these here were made at another House in the Countrey that Alcidias hath a little off the other side of Gonnes Melicerte and Zelie were come there to spend some time and Tarsis was there with them After they were departed and returned to Calioure he sent them these Lines I was seiz'd near to you O divine Zelie with a thousand Transports of ravishing Joy but for these pleasant Moments I have sad and mournful days and so pass my Life did I think to recal your amiable Presence by the deceitful Charms of a sweet Memory all speak to me of your absence when I would think of you go I to walk in the Wood where Zelie came to take the fresh Air and the Shadow unfortunate one that I am all that I see there is that the fair one is departed Thou seekest her every where my Eye with Care and Fidelity following that of my Love the error which deceives thee thou â—eest a hundred places where the fair one was but there she is not Thou hast but the Pleasure there yet to see the green Turfe where Zelie leaned after her Paces thou knowest it by the bait of a hundred Flowers that she made there to disclose and open All the Grass hath taken a new Life in those certain places where the fair One walked thou seest Drought and Yellow with desire that which her Foot hath not touched In some places said they that she came to appear they see that of a fair Green the Earth is painted they saw the Trees through desire grow the Cherry to ripen was much more prompt and her Hands chusing the ripest of its Fruits made the others to blush with shame because they had not bin gathered they yet saw there things metamorphosed a thousand prodigious and surprizing Effects and of the Miracles which she hath done they yet see a thousand things but what serves that to the happiness of my Life all that 's of my Dolour I conceal and conclude that there I saw Zelie but in fine see her no more let 's now return to our Work But before it be read unto you it 's requisite to you to observe that a little after Tarsis was returned from Athens Erasistrate being fallen sick caused himself to be carried to Tempé there to take the benefit of our Waters whose Reputation you know is famous all over Greece There were then a considerable number of Persons of Quality that by the self same design had there bin conducted and there was not one but would have bin very willing to see and entertain Erasistrate As he was indisposed and not in a condition to pester and intangle his Spirits with the Maladies of others he had provided for that trouble in declaring at first that he would not only not make but would also receive nor accept of any Visits Leucippe who was also then sick a Bed had an unexpressible Passion to see him But he could not have that Priviledge Tarsis alone had Erasistrate who even in his Indisposition could not dwell Idle wrote at Tempé a Treatise upon the Nature of the Light and a little before he had finished it he shewed it to Tarsis with whom he took pleasure to communicate his Works Tarsis was so charmed that two hours after he had quitted him he sent him these Lines Finish the principal of the Work to which none is comparable make appear the day in it's Supreme degree give light even to light it self and from new Beams enlighten the Sun God drew out of the Chaos the bright shining Light Do with thy Pen what he did with his Voice and by the Divinity of thy learned Quill draw Light out of the confused Chaos a second time Until now it 's splendor scarce visible The day to us is dimmed and dazled the more are we sensible thereof and from it's proper and from its bright Glimps comes it's Obscurity But pursue thy Race and persist in thine Exercise and three of thy days Journeys goes throughout the whole universe to give more Light which the Sun hath not done since three thousand years Although these Lines speak of the Creation of the Light more according to the Opinion of Moses whose Books my Brother had read which followeth that of the Greeks who determin not that it was done with or by a Voice nor since what time the World hath bin made Howsoever Erasistrate unto whom this strange Doctrine was known so approved of this Piece found it so to his good liking and so much obliging that although he was at the even of his Departure he could not yet leave Tempé without sight of my Brother and went to seek him even to Callioure in
more astonished now at the strange Disquietudes of Tarsis to know what possibly may become of her for I see not in all that you have taught me any thing that can assist me in never so small a manner to divine what could have bin the Subject or Ground which should cause her to disappear for so long a time I cannot find any reason nor do I imagine why she should flee from her Fathers House nor be disposed to fear she should be carried a way by any Rivals since that by good Fortune particular enough in a Man who loves so fair a Person I apprehend not therein Tarsis hath bin crossed and thwarted I see well that it is the great stayedness wherein she hath bin brought up and educated the Prudence of Melicerte and the small hope that they also found to walk upon the Track of Tarsis which hath warranted her from so universal an Evil in Love But whatsoever it be the less I see the cause of the loss of this Shepherdess and the more I apprehend some mournful Accident whereof there is not yet any discovery made or distrusted They afterwards had some discourse on this Subject and as it grew exceeding late Agamée took leave of Telamon who promised to go and see him the next day The End of the Second Book of the Second Part. Tarsis and Zelie The Second Part. The Third BOOK THe amorous Tarsis continued in the mean time searching her out with all the diligence of a Man who saw his Salvation and Health fixed in the discovery of that whereof he was in pursuit He had soon crossed over a great part of the Forest and judging well that Women could not walk so many Steps in so short a time he returned upon his first Track and repassed twenty times by the same places without meeting that which he hoped and was in quest of In fine weary of so unprofitable a search and seeing the night began to increase and thicken it's obscurity and to take from him the means of discerning the Objects that presented themselves to his sight and view he had recourse to the Voice and made all the Forrest resound and eccho of the Name of Zelie But nothing made him an answer but the eccho of the Mount which he nearly approached unto so that after having unprofitably run on all sides he was in the end constrained as well through his Grief as Pain and by the want of Strength to betake himself to the foot of a Tree where he lay also smitten with displeasure whereas he was before animated with Joy there a thousand mournful Thoughts came crowding to dissipate those Beams of hope which had some Moments before bin re-given him in the day and fear succeeding this same hope it made in his Heart a new Combat between these two Passions in which his reason was a hundred times ready to leave him So that he addressed himself to things insensible unto whom he spake as if they had bin able to understand him and 't was only occasioned through the small effect of his Fear Sometimes he complained to the Trees accusing them by their thickness to have taken away the means of following the sight of his Shepherdess then he would address himself to the Sun to have too soon precipitated and hastned it's going down and reproached it to have formerly stopped it's Course for a less important Occasion and soon in returning to the Vail or Scarse of Zelie that he had gathered up and approached it to his Mouth with Transport he seemed to conjure it to tell him if it was not true that his Shepherdess was yet living and to demand of it the cause of her absence and the places of her retreat A profound Silence had succeeded these Complaints and his Grief shut up again in his Heart was no otherwise expressed than by Sighs which he was forced to burst forth time after time when he heard the Noise of some Persons speaking and having thereunto lent an ear he judged they advanced towards him Their Voices appeared to him to be those of Women and with the attention which he thereunto gave he understood that one said I am not come yet out of my right but it is time that we retire our selves to morrow we will come to seek your Vail These words made Tarsis to judge that these were the Women he was in quest of and indeed he soon understood the Person to continue after this sort Without lying or dissimulation yours is a sad Destiny to be reduced to take flight from your Parents to hide your self in the Forrests and know not which to fear either savage and bruit Beasts or Men. But is it possible that the Son of Alcidias hath not bin advertized that he hath not bin touched and that you have no News from him These words seeming to be marvellously relating to those of Tarsis and Zelie strangly alarmed the Heart of the Shepherd He knew not whether it were better for him to speak and make himself known or whether he should content himself and softly follow these Persons and attempt to learn the place whereunto they retired His Love growing Impatient pressed him to name himself and go to cast himself at the feet of her whom he took to be Zelie and to go and make her see the injustice of a doubt which seemed to him to be outragious but the fear that he saw them in to be known gave him apprehension that it would make them flye in his approaching them and as one of the precedent nights when he named himself to Zelie upon the River the design of making himself known had so ill succeeded he had a thousand Fears to be no more happy in a second Attempt and Probation In this perplexity he knew not what to determin yet notwithstanding he still rose up without making any noise when he understood her who had not yet spoken answer the other thus after sighing once or twice or thrice Ah! Cousen the Son of Alcidias shall always be the same that he hath bin as my Brother shall never be other than cruel and without Pity It 's therefore my Resolution having well thought thereupon I believe it is better for me to embrace the Condition which I refused and to give my self solely to the Gods since there is nothing but Inconstancy and cruelty in Men. These Terms all obscure as they were to Tarsis did not but too much enlighten him the entire doubt which held his mind in suspence He very perfectly knew by that Voice that the Person who so spake was not Zelâ—e and that Fortune had taken Pleasure to abuse him by some resemblance or similitude of Height and Habit and by an equivocation of words It is not possible to express or conceive how much Pain and Grief seized him at the same Instant he had before lifted up himself half he had then but one Knee upon the ground and his hand leaning against a Tree at the foot whereof he
the self same day when they said that a Shepherdess of the Country was lost Behold all that I have learnt and I would not have said any thing unto you because I much doubted my self would not any way assist nor add to your Consolation After that Coris had thus spoken there was not one of the Company that remained not perswaded that the Grief of Tarsis was not so blind as they had believed it and that he had bin more clear sighted than they to forsee even immediately all the truth of his Misfortune Telamon re-heaping together all the Circumstances of that which had passed in all this Adventure the Boat that fatal night wherein the Shepherdess had disappeared Tarsis having found none but one person after he had there seen two This roll of Papers met the next day in the bottom of the same Boat according as they could judge this vain and unprofitable search after so many Persons during so many days and after all that this last which he learnt from Choris Telamon said I making a reflection on all these things could not disavow that if it was not certain that Zelie were drowned there was at least great cause ground and subject to apprehend it After that he abandon'd the design that he had had to cause to be sought out these two unknown Women for what could he desire after that Coris had made him her report her discourse sufficiently enough unfolded him the same who was the Son of Alcidias whom Tarsis had heard them name because that Telamon had a Brother who had a long time resided at Thessalonica whence he learnt who was one of these unknown ones and that he could not doubt but that they would speak with him as for Philiste she was so troubled by the sole thought of the evil that she apprehended that she was no more able to shed Tears nor capable to give reasons Agamée Arelise nor Ergaste could avoid the same fears as had Telamon Celemante alone resisted the reasons they gave to create troubles to themselves and finding little to comfort them he represented them to that for the little that there was The least reason to conserve a good ought still prevail above all those which would force them away Agamée judging well that a long Visit would serve in such an Encounter or the like but to pester and molest Philiste and Telamon took leave of them soon afterwards and gave his hand to Arelise who also would retire and was followed by Coris Ergaste and Celemante As it was very late Ergaste whose House was the nearest invited the Areopagite to dinner and would also retain there Celemante and the two Shepherdesses Agamée and Celemante thereto consented but Arelise was too much animated against Ergaste to do him that Favour and it must be very likely that she had some prejudice against Coris to have served though innocently the occasion of her Jealousie She found that she did her Injustice in that by reason that Coris had bin very far from contributing willingly thereunto but her reason could not resist the natural propensity of her Humour and she must be constrained necessarily to use some indeavour to pray that Shepherdess to go and dine with her Ergaste who as we have said was willing to give her cause of Jealousie by Design and Project forgot not any thing which was necessary to augment it and as if he had not bin willing to fix the faction of the Dinner but because of Coris he used all his Efforts and Endeavours to retain her But Coris who had as much kindness for her Friends as she had Wit and Merriment knowing well the trouble that that would give to Arelise if she staid to dinner with Ergaste would never consent thereunto She therefore replyed to Ergaste after her ordinary pleasant merry manner Ergaste I have already lately told you that I would not have the leavings and offalls and remains of Arelise and as I would not have a Heart that she rendred and left to you so I will therefore not have nor accept of a Dinner which she hath refused My Mistress replyed Ergaste I well observe that you will try and prove me and I avow that it is not just that I receive Favours from you from the first day which I could not deserve nor merit but by years of Services Although that Celemante was not present nor had bin at the birth of the Jealousie of Arelise and that the Accident of Tarsis had occupied them in such sort that they had scarcely spoken of any other thing after they had learnt it however he soon knew the Anger and Vexation of his Sister and the design of his Friend by the discourse of the one and the Countenance of the other However he did not immediately seem or make any shew of perceiving it and staying himself only on Ergaste his calling Coris his Mistress he said unto him It is therefore by design Ergaste that thou wilt also carry away from me all my Mistresses Mine enemy replyed Ergaste expectest thou quarter from me after the War thou hast so openly declared against me Celemante would have replyed but Agamée resuming speech added And moreover Shepherd is it not you that would never remember Love more that would renounce all Mistresses and all Love I have truly renounced Love answered Celemante but remember your self Agamée that is passionate Love but not that which they call Gallantry and frankness of Humor without which one never saw a decent and honest Man Well said Celemante replyed Ergaste it is easie to accommodate us you shall be the Gallant and I the Lover of Coris Shepherds said the pleasant merry Coris unto them make out always your course and I will tell you afterwards if I will resolve to enter there at these words she quitted them to go to dine with Arelise whom Agamée would bring back to her dwelling Ergaste and Celemante ran also after Coris and presenting the Hand with desire to conduct and lead her told her they could not make out their course progress nor Treaty without her She placed her self between them both and giving each of them one hand Well said said she let us see whether we can agree First Celemante tell me a little the difference that you pretend there is between a Gallant and a Lover it is so great replyed he as the day is different from the night for a Lover is one that sleeps not that eats not laughs not who seems nothing but Tears and Sighs and the sight of a Mistress which will enrage him even from morning to night and a Gallant is a Man who sleeps eats laughs as others that sees nothing but Joy and Pleasure and who seeks not but to divert his Mistress in diverting himself They could not refrain laughing at the Picture that Celemante had drawn for them and Arelise who smiled as did the others and who essayed to dissemble her anger as much as she could replyed to him
penetrating and the most politick that ever was having had in his Life time even from the Queen some advice of what was projected after his Death was advised at my Birth to make me pass for a Boy which unto him was then easie the one and the other Sex being yet equally capable to succeed in the Kingdom For that end he even gave me the Name of a Man and made me be called Philitere as was he it is not but that he pretended still to dissemble that which I was He only thought that in the design that he had to oppose himself to that Decree his Opposition would be so much the more considerable then having apparently a Son he would appear disinterested and he dreamed that in all cases if he could not hinder it in the first Movements of the general Aversion that the People had against the Government of Ariane he could at least whilst he should have the Helm in hand find a day to cause it to be revoked His Stratagem had not neither the one nor the other the success which he imagined for he could neither hinder the decree nor being become King cause it to be broken It was then requisite to continue by necessity the disguising which had bin begun by Artifice and the better to succeed therein from the time I had a little Strength the King my Father caused me to learn all the exercises convenient for a Prince But as he judged well that the difference that Age hath accustomed to put between the Countenances of Boys and those of Maidens would not fail one day or other to betray his Intention and that the People would be astonished at the conclusion not to see born on my Cheeks the ordinary Marks which serve to discern betwixt both Sexes he feigned I know not what Accident by which he caused deafly and dumbly to sow a noise that they had bin obliged to abandon me to the hands of Chyrurgions and to reduce me to the condition of those People to whom the Persians do commit the Guard of their Wives and their Treasure The fair Queen could not speak this without using some violence to her Modesty and Pudicity and the redness which appeared in her Face finished the explaining to Philiste that which she would have her understood After that that Blushing had vanished away she thus continued her Discourse The King as I have told you did not however sow this Noise but confusedly and with some kind of uncertainty to sound and fathom only their Minds and Dispositions and to dispose them one day or other to receive it and believe it when it was needful for he was not ignorant that the major part of the Greeks have as much Misprision for or of these sort of People which I have spoken to you of as the Persians have them in Veneration They will have Kings which can be able to give them Successors and are ashamed to obey Persons whom they put in the rank of Monsters rather than among the number of Men so he would not hazard this noise with so much certainty but that he was still the Master to revoke or confirm it at his own Leisure Whatever it was the King my Father reigned peaceably enough during the first years and during the minority of a natural Son that a Brother of the deceased Queen had left but when the Son was grown greater some discontents were buzzed in his ears that the Kingdom appertain'd to him being Nephew of the Queen and my Father being but a Relation distant enough and as there was not a precise Law in the State by which Bastards were excluded from Succession he did so well that the Estates were convoked or assembled together to judge of this great difference The King my Father carried it but not by all Voices The Bastard Prince did not render himself to the Judgment of the States he would decide the question by force of Arms and as he had a very strong Party we saw our Army less than nothing at the Gates of Mitilene What say I he was Master almost as soon as he appeared there by the means of intelligences which he there practised and my Father who was not then mistrusted was reduced to fly from his Capital City It is true that it was not but to re-enter therein with more Honour afterwards for when he had had Leisure to Levy his Army he reconducted it before Mitilene in Person he there gave Battel to the Enemy and having vanquished them in the Combat he besieged him and took him in the same City After this manner all the War was ended in a very little time I pass over all these things lightly O Philiste not only by reason that that 's nothing but Wars which are not convenient for our Sex and where you could not take pleasure but also forasmuch as you undoubtedly know all that which passed there most memorable since that they were Telamon your Husband and Tarsis your Brother-in-Law which did them Philiste having replyed that she had heard them sometimes speak thereof but after a different manner I doubt not interrupted the Queen that their Modesty hath supplanted their Honour But it is however true wise Shepherdess that these two Brothers who travelled then being happy for us met in our Island and having offered their Service to the King bore up alone on a small Bridge the effort of a Battalion who had put a part of our Men in disorder and routed them and having given them time to rally themselves they were the cause of gaining the Battel This is not all in the Siege they were the first that ascended scaling and having cast themselves alone into the City as they say that Alexander the great formerly did at Tire they foiled the Troops destinated to the guarding and keeping of the Wall gave opportunity to ours to follow them and caused the taking of Mitilene Also there were not Honours enough by which the King attempted not to acknowledge due to their Valour and I remember for this Prince would that even at the Army I was always near him I remember I say to have heard him say that to pay well for such a signal Piece of Service it was requisite to offer them a part of his Kingdom He did all he could to oblige them to continue by him by the offer of the first dignities but all our Court had nothing capable to tempt them and I am not astonished for assuredly Telamon would have found nothing there in comparison with Philiste The Shepherdess not having replyed to this obliging Discourse than by a respectful Inclination of the head and by a modest Silence the Queen persisted thus the taking of Mitelene was soon followed by a â—reaty of Peace But alas the King did not long enjoy it for he dyed soon afterwards and left me in an Age young enough over burden'd and oppressed by the weight of all the Kingdom I was Crowned King of Lesbos without any