to the inclinations he had already towards him and to the incitements of his own vertue made him resolve not to forsake him but to suspend the remembrance of his own unhappinesse that he might give him assistance to the uttermost Afterwards coming to make reflexion upon the cause of that accident and how powerfully the Stranger was concerned in the death of the Princesses of Persia he could not divine the cause of it and expecting till he could learn it either from himself or from his Squire he confirmed himself in the friendship he had vowed to him guessing by the proofs he had that they were companions in fortune and that the despair of both proceeded from the same cause He was taken off from these thoughts by the return of old Polemon and his Physitian Amintas accompanyed with some Chirurgians and other servants he â—had sent for Lysimachus praised their diligence and having recommended the Strangers health to his Physitian would needs see his wound searched assoon as Amintas had proab'd it he judged it not dangerous and assuring his Master of his recovery filled him with as much joy as hee was capable to receive The faithfull Squire was quite transported at it and waited upon those that endeavoured his Masters cure with such a zeal as did visibly demonstrate his affection towards him The Chirurgians having applyed the first remedies to his wound poured a certain cordial into his mouth which within a while after made him recover his spirits sight and knowledge When he was come out of his swoun he fixed his eyes upon the first objects that presented themselvs unto him and seeing himself encompassed by Lysimachus his Squire and those that had dressed him hee for some time considered both the place where hee was and the persons that were present and doubting of the truth of the businesse he turned his eyes slowly upon those that were nearest him and having lookt upon them awhile without speaking Cruel Enemies said he with a weak voice what I have done to you that you should persecute me with so much inhumanity Then feeling the paine of his wound he laid his hands upon it and would have torn off the Swathes if Lysimachus knowing his design had not seized upon them easily holding him by reason of his weaknesse The Stranger seeing himself hindred from his Resolution lookt first upon him with a threatning eye and then finding himself too weak to execute what he had in his minde he strove to move him by some tears which ran down his cheeks and might have obtained any thing else of him except what they demanded Lysimachus nearly touched with compassion alledged all the Reasons that might disswade him from his despair and seeing hee vouchsafed not to hear them and that in the end it would be impossible to force him to live he resolved to try if point of Honour could work him to his own preservation Sir said he with a more resolute voice then before till now I believed you vertuous but at last you force me to tell you you injurâ— the proofs you have given of it by a manifest unworthinesse and I conjure you by all the Gods continued he and by the memory of the Princesses of Persia if it bee true that you did love them to assist me in the revenge I must take of their deaths desiring you to live but so long as to tear away the lives of their Murtherers for whom I finde my self too weak without your help both they and I doe beg it of you and if you be as much concerned in their losse as you would have it believed know that you cannot die but ignominiously if you do not at least endeavour it as well for your own honour as their satisfaction I have as much cause to die as you can have and since in this extremity it is no longer time to conceal it know that I would not have out-lived the Princesse Parisatis if I had not believed my self obliged to satisfie her Ghost by the blood of those that ravished her from me This Discourse had so much power over the mind of this desperate Stranger that having maturely weighed it he was ashamed of the desire hee had before to die without revenge and witnessed his repentance to LYSIMACHVS by these words You have overcome LYSIMACHVS but remember the time you have demanded and never desire me to lengthen it In the interim Araxes shall tell you the cause of my despair and neither conceal from you the name nor life of the miserable companion of your misfortunes After these words he no longer opposed the will of the Chirurgions and being forbidden to speak for som few days LYSIMACHVS resolved to spend that time in learning the whole History of a Life which he judged to be full of very remarkable accidents But because the night was already a good way advanced after having taken a light supper and recommended the hurt Stranger to those that had the care of him he went to bed and till it was day rested as much as his griefs would suffer him The next morning assoon as he was up he enquired after the health of the wounded Stranger and being told he was asleep he led his Squire into a Garden which the Master of the House kept trimm'd with very great care the beauty whereof was extraordinary for one of his condition being fitted with all things that could make a place delightful When they were come into it they walk'd a while in the shade of a pleasant Alley and after they had taken a few turns LYSIMACHVS through a Hedge which parted two Walks heard the voice of two persons discoursing together and having lent an ear with some attention he discern'd that of old Polemon their Landlord who spoke on this manner I am not able to clear your doubts CASSANDRA but time and the abode you will make in this place may easily resolve them for my part I will labour in it all that I can possibly and protest to you by all the Gods I will spare neither my endeavours no nor my life it self for your contentment In the mean time strive to settle your minde both from your frights and your afflictions and believe that CASSANDRA'S vertue is too considerable to the Gods to let it lie any longer under those misfortunes that persecute it Polemon making a stop at these words the other with whom hee talked after two or three sighs which were over-heard by LYSIMACHVS was in probability ready to make answer when both being come to the ends of their several Allies met at the entry into another which went crosse them This encounter made Lysimachus see that it was a Woman of very fair stature cloathed almost in a meer Country habit who was discoursing with Polemon This was all he could discern and she who desired no witnesses of her conversation seeing her self surprised by that Company turned her back to him as suddenly as well she could and walking hastily away went
could learn from those two men whose imprisonment had deprived them of a more particular knowledg of things Part of the day was spent in this conversation and the remainder of it was given to the wounded Prince his repose but scarce was hee awake the next morning when hee saw Lysimachus com into his Chamber with a certain herb in his hand and with an extraordinarie joy in his countenance Oroöndates after hee had received and returned the good morrow ask'd him the caus of it and Lysimachus sitting down by his bed-side I believ said hee that I bring you a speedie cure and if I am not the most deceiv'd in the world I shall see you in perfect health within this week and to make you give credit to my words Know that in our voiage to the Indies Ptolomeus our dear friend having been dangerously wounded in a fight wee had against the Barbarians Alexander who loved and considered him verie much was so extremely grieved at it that hee could receiv no consolation hee caused him to bee put in his own bed and lying there with him saw his wound dressed with strange disquiets The Chirurgians were in despair of his life when the gods to whom it was dear sâ—nt the King a miraculous dream in favor of that Prince for hee was no sooner asleep but dreamed that hee saw a Dragon holding an herb in his mouth which was to serv for Ptolomeus his cure When the King awaked hee told his dream to those that were present and described the form of that herb whereof hee had preserved the remembrance and som of the inhabitants of that place having assured him that there grew such a one in that Countrie hee caused it to bee sought for everie where and those that were sent about it imploied their time so successfully that they brought him that wonderful herb he had seen in his dream it was presently applied to Ptolomeus his wound and by an unheard of prodigie the pain was instantly asswaged and the wound quite healed up within three daies The mervellous effect of this herb made us all observ it carefully that wee might bee able to know it again to make use of it in the like occasions but I never found any of it in this Countrie till this morning when as I was walking the wood I thought I saw somthing verie like it growing by the side of the brook I gathered it with an excess of contentment and I am the most deceived of all men living if it bee not the very same which produces those miraculous effects Amintas came into the Chamber as they were talking and Lysimachus having shewed it him hee cried out joyfully confirmed his Master in that opinion Hee straightway took the herb and having prepared it hee applied it to Oroöndates his wounds That new remedie quickly drew sleep upon his eie-lids and Lysimachus retiring went to tell the Queen of his happie encounter and of the hope hee had conceived Thalestris was extremely joied at it and coming into the Princes Chamber som hours after hee told them at his awaking that hee felt himself strangely eased and that hee hoped his remedie would bee as successful as hee had promised Ptolomeus came in within a little after and having presently heard that well-com news hee by his testimonie redoubled the Princes hopes Oroöndates his fear of beeing kept in bed by his wounds while others were fighting made him sensible of this good fortune and 't was that rather then any love of his life that made him with joy expect his cure without which hee could not second hit generous friends in his own quarrel The Sun was beginning to decline when Lysimachus looking out at Thalestrises Chamber window observed a dust which rose from under the feet of the Cavalerie which Eumenes brought within awhile after they discerned the Troops and saw Eumenes himself arrive accompanied with som Commanders of the Armie Thalestris Lysimachus and Ptolomeus went out of the hous to meet him and having received him according to the friendship that was among them they went forward towards certain Chariots that came after him wherein were the two Princesses Apamia and Arsinoé the daughters of Artabasus and Wives of Ptolomeus and Eumenes with many other Ladies whose husbands were in the Armie Thalestris who was instructed in the qualitie of those Princesses welcomed them with much kindness and civilitie and Cleone who was com out with her no sooner saw them but shee ran to them with open arms and receiving them with an excess of joy by her encounter gave them a mervellous consolation They had heard by Eumenes that the two Princesses were alive to whom they had a verie near relation and to whom they had ever been most dear and their gladness at that news was easily to bee observed in their faces While the Princes gave order for the encamping of the Armie which began to arrive the Princesses under the conduct of Thalestris went into the hous and so up into Oroöndates his Chamber The Prince who was advertised of their coming and who considered them extremely both for the sake of Barsina their sister and for that of their illustrious husbands gave them a reception full of respect and by all manner of waies testified how great a sens hee had of the honor they did him After the first complements their discours was of Barsina whose goodness the Prince commended in terms which made her sisters see hee was not ingrateful for the good offices hee had received from her They told the Prince who asked where shee was that shee had been detained at Susa by som small indisposition and by the nois of those cruel revolutions that had happened at Babylon that shee had lately sent them word shee would ere-long set forward on her journie toward them where by reason of the autoritie of their husbands shee believed her retreat would bee more assured They were in this conversation with Oroöndates when the other Princes after having disposed the Camp and taken such order in all things as was necessarie came into the Chamber and mingled altogether in a verie pleasing entertainment It was resolved by Oroöndates his advice that as soon as hee was recovered and the other Ladies arrived who were to com with their husbands to the general rendezvous the men should leav Polemon's hous to the Ladies and retire to lie in far commodious Tents which the Princes had caused to bee brought along with the Armie since the hous could not bee bigg enough for so great a companie and that the Princes had a great deal of convenient room in their Tents When they had spent part of the night in these discourses the companie withdrew to their several Chambers where they were accommodated as well as possibly they might and where they all rested with much tranquilitie THE THIRD PART OF CASSANDRA The third Book POlemon's hous was seated at the foot of a little hill about five or six hundred paces from
then miserable Statira linger not out a life full of so many disaster full of so much shame and full of so much repentance doe not survive the scorn of that insolent Enemy but by a favorable death prevent the last misfortunes of thy family thou mayest yet die like a Princess and like the daughter of a King and if thou stay a few days longer thou maist perchance see the ruine of him and all his friends and die devested of all the marks of thy former quality Go thy way to that dear Brother who innocently precipitatted thee into those miseries that are the cause of thy destruction reproach him with the infidelity of his friend and shew him thy repentance for having out-liv'd a brother whom thou lovedst so dearly though his friendship has proved most fatal to thee She would continue for some time in this design of dying and then of a sudden changing her resolution and discourse What would she say shall I die for that Traitor who uses me with an indignity which is beyond example and which was never practised against Maids of the most vile and mean condition Shall I die for that ungrateful man who after having received a thousand proofs of my affection is not ashamed to tell me that he dissembled with me out of compliance that he sighs for one more lovely that he leaves our company onely to shun my importunities that he forsakes me without trouble that he slights my favors becaus he had obtain'd them too easily who sends me back my hair as a fatal present of his most cruel enemies and who will retain nothing of me that can trouble his repose and his new or real affections No no I scorn to die for him I have done enough without dying and that would be my utmost shame and his utmost vanity hee would bee too proud of that the Traitor and would brag with too much insolence that hee had made the Princess of Persia and the daughter of his Fathers Enemy die for love I will rather live to hate him and to despise him and though I begin too late and am onely wise to my own cost and to my own confusion it is no matter though I change last I change at least with justice and have the satisfaction to doe that without a crime which he has done with a baseness detested both by the Gods and Men. She many times would fall into these and such like speeches which it would be hard for me to repeat and in the end with time and the consolation of the Queens of her sister and of her other friends she arm'd her self so strongly with despite and resentment of the injury she had receiv'd from you that if she could not resolve to hate you she resolved at least to use all her endeavors to do so and to blot out of her minde as much as she could possibly a remembrance that could not but be most fatal to her This resolution made her receive those remedies that were given her for the curing of her sickness and it was laboured with so much care that within a while after she recovered and left her bed healthful in all appearance but in effect so ill and so much changed that she moved compassion in all them that frequented her and by her conversation engaged themselves in that affection which none that ever knew her could avoid She then strove to banish you quite out of her minde forbad Cleone ever to name you to her tore all your Letters and pray'd her Sister and her Friends not to bring any thing into her minde by any of their actions or discourses that might make her so much as think of you yet was it not without strange violences nor without feeling those bitter pangs which you may well imagine if you have truly lov'd her During our stay at Alexander's absence sheltred her from his persecutions but after his return from the Temple of Jupiter Hammon he found her so much altred that he was extreamly sensible of it he tried all the ways he could possibly to learn the cause and not being able to discover any thing he believ'd that her Captivity and the misfortunes of her house were the only reasons this consideration obliged him for some time to importune her lesse then he was wont and in the interim he made her and the Queens also be serv'd with respects and honours able to have partly abated the unhappiness of their condition About that time he gave order for the building of the new City of Alexandria and leaving Peucestas and Eschilus to command in Egipt he caus'd us to depart from Memphis to go toward Babylon whither he had heard Darius was retired and his diligence was so great that within eleven days we incamped upon the Bank of the Euphrates and having pass'd it with a Bridge of Boats within four days after we came unto the Tygris The courage of the King was indeed to be admired in the passing of that River he entred into the water first himself and inviting all his soldiers by his example made his whole Army wade through that Current which is the most rapid and impetuous in the whole world From thence after having defeated Stratopaces and some other of Darius his Troops he came up to him within an hundred Furlongs In the mean time Darius his Queen worn out with toilsome Journeys and her ordinary aâ—flictions fell sick and died within a few days after You may Judge Sir by your knowledge of the nature of the Princesses how sensible they were of so great a losse and with how many tears they deplored the death of a most vertuous Princess and a mother that had always most dearly lov'd them I will not enlarge my self upon that subject for besides that the Discourse would be troublesome to you you have already heard the particularities of it and likewise you know that then I left them to bring the sorrowful news unto Darius I saw in what manner you receiv'd it and within a few days after I with you saw the issue of the bloody Battel of Arbela I also conducted you if you remember unto the Queens Tents and having been witnesse of the wonders you did for their deliverance I was witness also of the usage you received from the Princess I at that time thought it very strange but having continued with them after you went out I since learn'd the cause of that unlook'd for reception and wondred no more as I had done at a fault which could not be excused by a lesser cause then that which I have faithfully related Tyreus having made a little stop at these words I do not marvel said my Prince wiping some tears which that remembrance drew from his eyes if that poor Princesse so maliciously abus'd could not endure the sight of him who with so much probability ought to passe in her opinion for the basest of all men living Alas how just was her displeasure and how cunningly
admirable example of a generosity of this nature I should say it were that which appertains to no body but Lysimachus alone In the mean time Hephestion to whom the King had sent to give notice came into the Chamber and though I had done all that possibly I could to dispose my self to that interview and to recall all the courage I had left for that action I could not keep my self from waxing pale nor from trembling and expressing thereby and by the trouble of my countenance into what a perplexity that sight had put me I was like to have faln in a swoun and if I had not been upheld by some of my friends who were near me I should without doubt have sunk to the ground and by that action have laid my self prostrate before my Conquerour and the possessor of Parisatis Hephestion without farther ceremony and without staying for the Kings command came toward me with open arms and though my confusion made me uncivil and kept me from going to meet him he was content to come the whole way and was so modest as to accommodate his countenance not to the happinesse of his condition but to the misfortune of mine Hee embraced me many times without being repulsed by the coldness of my reception and with much tendernesse made protestations of friendship to me which I had not constancy enough to answer The cause of my sadness and confusion was sufficiently known to procure pardon for my incivility from persons who knew that in another season and in another condition I should have behaved my self otherwise and Hephestion easily excusing it himself did not seem cooled by my silence but said to me with a very obliging fashion I would it pleas'd the Gods Lysimachus that I could buy your friendship with any other price except Parisatis they are my witnesses that J have nothing so precious but I would give it joyfully and that after that of my Princesse and of my King J should never account any so dear Notwithstanding the trouble or rather the distraction I was in I was not utterly insensible of this Discourse and drawing a sigh from the bottome of my heart O Hephestion said I how lawfully is Parisatis due to you and how well hath the King placed his affection enjoy both peaceably and forget what rage produced in him who was not capable of it for any thing but Parisatis After these words we embraced one another again many times and the King made mee promise him that I would bee Hephestions friend all the rest of my life Certainly he deserved that friendship very well from any other body except Lysimachus and his good qualities wrought as great an esteem in me as in those to whom he always had been dear Besides his manner of carriage obliged me to a good will towards him but if I was content to love him as Hephestion who was gallant noble generous and one who behaved himself toward me in a very winning fashion I could not look upon him as Parisatis's husband without considering him as the ravisher of my happinesse and the destroyer of my repose and of my life The King and the Queens but above all the Princesse Parisatis expressed a great deal of joy at this reconciliation and within two days after Ptolomeus seeing some change in the condition of my affairs married his dear Apamia and Eumenes the Princess Arsinoe her sister The whole Court interessed it self in this alliance and upon that occasion renewed the rejoycings of the former Weddings But though I was Ptolomeus his nearest friend and that I participated in his particular joy I had no share at all in the publick nor did I make one in any of those meetings wherewith his marriage was solemnized The next day after it Roxana came to Susa and within two more I sunk under the burthen of my afflictions and not being able to resist the violence of my sorrow any longer I fell sick Then it was I prais'd the Gods believing I might let them and nature work without disobeying Parisatis it sufficed me not to lay violent hands upon my self and to take the remedies prescribed me that J might not rebel against her commands but J was not Master of my grief and if it effected of it self what my hands had not the liberty to execute I was not to be condemned for that This was the account J gave her and that which I alledged for my justification when she complained of the little care I had to please her in the conservation of a life which she had recommended to me The King whose former hatred was changed into a real affection to me and who looked upon my sorrows with much compassion expressed a great deal for my sicknesse The Queens appeared afflicted at it and did me the honour to visit me often but Hephestion was he who behaved himself the handsomeliest in that occasion hee was not satisfied with being every day at my bedside nor with showing himself next Ptolomeus the most diligent of all my friends neither did he think it enough that the Princess his wife came many times to see me but he accused her himself of ill nature and sollicited her to visit me oftner he brought her divers times himself and going away without her gave me as much liberty to entertain her as I could wish True it is that by long conversing with that Princesse he had a perfect knowledge of her vertue and his assurance of it made him the lesse severe in guarding that which ran no hazard under so safe a custody So civil so free and so obliging a comportment gained very much upon me but it impaired my condition for Parisatis's affection to her husband was redoubled by the franknesse of his proceeding and by the confidence he had of her and it wrought a belief even in me that J could not without baseness undermine the affection she owed unto so generous a husband and to whom I was nearly obliged This consideration and that of her vertue kept my mouth almost always shut and hardly permitted me so much as to complain in her presence of those torments which brought me to my grave true it is that my looks spoke to her with eloquence enough and that through them shee easily might read all that my mouth could have made her comprehend Truly J have all the cause in the world to acknowledge her good nature whereof I could not desire any proofs which I received not from her every day and though shee no way abused the liberty Hephestion gave her but was rather obliged by his freedome to live with more reservednesse then she needed to have done if her husband had been lesse generous yet did shee forget nothing she could or ought to do that she might not be accused of ingratitude She was by my bedside with Arsinoe and Aspasia one day which was the most dangerous of all my sicknesse the Physitians being at that time almost in despair of my
to that house of his where J had been dress'd and had lien concealed for some time after my combat with Hephestion the situation of it was very pleasing and suitable to my solitary thinking humour it stood in an exceeding high Wood near the River Hydaspes and was beautified with Fountains Grots Allies Arbours and all manner of such like ornaments I spent some time there in an entertainment conformable to my present condition sometimes I sought out the gloomiest shades in all the wood and lying down at the foot of some Oak J recall'd into my memory the past accidents of my life and making a mixtture of sad and delightful thoughts I was so ingenious in tormenting my self that I drown'd all the pleasures and contentments I had felt in the remembrance of my last misfortunes Other while sitting by the River side and fixing my eyes upon the waters which rolled impetuously away I compared the lasting of the delights I had enjoyed unto the swiftness of their stream and Parisatis's coldness to the coldness of that element That Princess had at least this cause to praise the fidelity of my love that in all my deepest melancholy I never accused her in the smallest thought nor spent one moment in the desire of shaking off the yoak she had imposed upon me for the remainder of my days I never complained of her J never made any wishes against the pleasures she enjoyed with Hephestion nor did I ever repine at the years I had spent in her service with so little fruit I kept my self always without wavering in my first inclinations and never repented that I had given my life to her who had given her self to another The place of my retreat was known to very few and not being willing to be troubled in my solitude by the visits of my friends I hardly discovered it so much as to Ptolomeus Yet could I not hinder many others from learning where I was nor my self from being often visited by those that were most affectionate to mee They attempted in vain to bring me back to Court and instead of working that desire in me by their discourse they made me think of seeking a farther retreat that might be unknown to all men living I was not only visited by my friends but in my solitariness I received also a Letter from Parisatis which she wrote to me as I have learned since by Hephestions consent Although I seem'd unsensible of any happiness yet was I sufficiently touch'd with one of that nature and the inward motions wherwith I read her Letter were very far from that indifferency I showed to all things else The words of it I think were these or to this purpose PARISATIS to LYSIMACHUS THough I have not at all contributed to Lysimachus his exile the whole Court asks me what is become of him and they accuse none but me for his voluntary banishment I envy not the delights you taste in your solitarinesse but I pity your friends whom this retirement hath deprived of your company and particularly Parisatis to whom it shall ever be very dear If this Letter had commanded me expresly to return to Court there is no question but how great an aversion soever I had to it the perfect obedience wherewith I had resign'd my self wholly to the will of Parisatis would have made me forsake my desart but seeing it left me still the liberty of that abode I stirr'd not from thence but spent some moneths in my melancholy thoughts and in reading the works of good Callisthenes which he had bequeathed to me alone as to the dearest of all his scholars and he who had the most perfectly honoured him during his life In that Philosophy J sought for some consolation in my misfortunes and doubtlesse J found a great deale more in it then in the conversation of my freinds the solidity of his reasonings affording me wherewithall to â—ull my afflictions asleep for some few moments In the mean time this languishing decayed me insensibly and had wonderfully altered me when my fortune receiv'd a strange revolution I heard by Ptolomeus that Hephestion was sicke and that Parisatis tended him in his sicknesse with a care that visibly testified her affection to him I desired Ptolomeus to visite her from me and assure her that if his sicknesse lasted or grew more dangerous I would forsake my retirement to wait upon him and repay part of his civilities J beleiv'd nevertheless he would not be much pleas'd to see one that had so great interest in his death and so great cause to desire it according to all the appearances in the world This consideration together with my hatred of the Court hindred me from leaving my solitude But within a few dayes after Ptolomeus came to me again and assoon as ever he saw me Cheare up Lysimachus said he take courage and change your manner of life in changing your condition Hephestion is dead and has left Parisatis for Lysimachus I am not able to tell you the astonishment these words caused in me nor to expresse the motions that agitated my soul J was struck mute and unmoveable and Ptolomeus had talked to me a good while before I thought of welcoming or answering him When J was come a little to my self Oh Ptolomeus cried J what doe you tell me is Hephestion dead He is replied Ptolomeus and that above two howers before I came from Susa At this confirmation I remained more surprised then before and in the greatest confusion of thoughts my mind was ever intangled in I protest truly to you J was sorry for Hephestion as well by reason of the fresh obligations J had to him as of the esteem which the merit of his person had wrought in me as well as others and because J knew Parisatis would be most sensibly afflicted Yet will J not dissemble to you that in this encounter J could not forget my interests and that J had not generosity enough to make my sorrow for his loss drown the hopes it revived in me J lov'd my selfe so wel as to â—ind comfort for his death in the advantages it brought me and J was modest enough to dissemble the satisfaction which in probability it was like to give me But not being able to conceale any thing from Ptolomeus J could not long disguise my thoughts to him nor the divers alterations that news produced in me His thoughts were conformable to mine but being really my freind and tying himselfe inseparably to my fortune the remembrance of my interests was stronger then the griefe J might else have had for so great a Man and made him passe over a death which alone seem'd to establish his freinds life When we had discoursed long upon that accident and that he had told me the particulars of his death which were no other then what are ordinary in naturall sicknesse he perswaded me to returne to Susa as well to pay my respects to that Jllustrious widdow as to wait upon the King
expressions of kindeness and I confess moreover though your Majestie may blame mee for it that I could not forbear to repay her a part of them nor to use her as that Orithia who had been so dear to you and to whom you had so great obligations I was at last something ashamed at my easiness and withdrawing my self from her embraces Ah! Orithia cryed I is it your self yes answered Orontes 't is I my self and I know you to bee too dear unto my Princess to believ that you are now ignorant who I am 'T is true Orontes said I I know you the Queen hath concealed nothing from mee and I am indeed the onely bodie that can boast of that advantage The Gods bee praised added Orontes 't is with that belief I have sought you out and that I have addressed my self to you before I shewed my self to your companions and 't is upon the confidence I have in your goodness that I cast my self now into your arms that I may finde som opportunitie by your means of doing my Princess service or of dying for her as I have alwaies liv'd for her the Gods have preserv'd my life for that purpose and have not suffred mee to lose it knowing it might yet bee useful to her to whom I have given it entirely But O dear Hippolita what may I hope for from you will you consider mee as an enemie after the deceit I have used and after the owning of a sex against which you have so great an aversion or will you still preserv som remainder of that goodness to mee whereof I have received so many testimonies I was much troubled what answer I should make both by reason I was ashamed to bee so easily reconciled to a man and to promiss him my assistance after the marks you had shown him of your anger and by reason of my uncertaintie whether you would approve of what I did but when I remembred your last thoughts of him your sorrow for his loss and the affection you really bore him and when to that remembrance I added the consideration of those services wee might receiv from him in the design of procuring your liberty at a time when that valour hee had so often tried to your advantage was so necessarie for us I believed I should not disserv you in keeping him amongst us by the hope of those good offices I might do him This thought was the caus that after I had been long silent I at last replied I will never bee against you Orontes and though my knowledg of your sex might excuse mee if I should not do what you may desire from mee yet that of your virtue which make's you dear to the whole world and that of your ardent affection to the Queen whereof you ought to give her proofs in a season when shee hath so much need of them oblige mee particularly to serv you I would it pleased the Gods wee were in such a condition that I might do it but I hope wee shall quickly bee so by your assistance and my hopes are strongly raised by your return You may continue amongst us with the same assurance as you did before your departure you are known to no creature here but mee and if you show your self to my companions you will certainly bee received by them as Orithia whose memory is very dear to them and at whose loss they were so sensibly afflicted Orontes having return'd mee such thanks as hee thought due to the offers I made him was willing to follow my counsel and after many other discourses the length whereof hinder's mee from repeating them wee went together into the Camp As soon as hee appeared there the first that knew his face cried out that Orithia was com again and that report flying from one to another was in a little time spread through the whole army Wee went to Menalippa's tent and shee receiv'd her with demonstrations of friendship and respect which had never been rendred to any but to her and instantly after all the principal women of the army running by troops to see her received her as a Goddess sent from heaven for our assistance and for the safetie of our Queen there was hardly one but would needs kiss her hand and all cried out that their Queen was now as good as at liberty since the Gods had restored Orithia to them shee spent al that day in receiving welcoms and civilities and after Clytemnestra's arrival with her supplies Menalippa would have put the command of the armie into her hands but Orithia refused it very modestly and beeing urged to it by the general entreaties shee was contented to share it with her Presently they fell to consider what should bee attempted for your deliverance Menâ—lippa Clytemnestra and my self with all the rest were of opinion to besiege this Town having already sufficient forces to undertake it and knowing that the supplies Neobarzanes expected were not yet arrived wee believ'd this Town being ill fortified and ill provided might bee taken by force before their coming which according to the distance of places could not bee very sudden But when Orithia had hearkenâ—d to our propositions I do not doubt said shee my valiant Companions but that you will successfully perform what you shall undertake and I believ this Citie may bee as soon taken as view'd by persons of so great courage but friends you do not remember that the Queen is in our enemies hands and that when hee see 's himself brought to extremity hee will expose her first to the fury of your arrows either to save himself and stop the cours of your arms by that consideration or to revenge his losses upon a person whom wee so dearly value I beseech you let us think upon her conservation and since wee have taken up arms for her alone let us save her from a destruction which the rage of that cruel man would make inevitable Wee may more easily carry the Town by a surprise in the night then by a formed siege and wee may march in the dark so secretly and so warily that wee may bee upon the walls before the enemies so much as suspect it It is hard for them to have any spies amongst us they have no women adventrous enough to take that employment and 't will bee very difficult for men to conceal themselvs amongst our forces if all the Officers take care to look exactly amongst those under their command by that order wee shall bee secure I pray you let it bee observed and let the care of this enterprise bee left to mee who with the assistance of the Gods and of your valour promise you an infallible success in it All wee that were of the Counsel approved Orithia's design and admired her prudence wee instantly resolv'd to follow it and the Officers having received such Orders carefully overlooked all the women they commanded whose faces were never so little unknown to them After this precaution among fifteen or sixteen
visit the Court of the King your father where I believed I might hear news of him I staied there in a vain expectation three whole months and it was at that time when you were in prison and that a valiant Commander named Arsaves was gon with the armie of the King your father to the frontiers of Scythia against Arimbas who had invaded them I was so deeply buried in my passion that it hindred mee from informing my self of your adventures and I onely heard what the meanest of the people could not bee ignorant of I somtimes saw the Princess Berenice your sister whom I thought fair beyond imagination but the resolution I had taken to keep my self alwaies unknown was the caus I neither waited upon her nor discovered my self to any bodie the instructions I had received from Orontes gave mee knowledg enough in the language of his countrie to make my self bee understood of all the world When I had staied at Issedon as long as I have told you I departed full of grief and went towards Arsaces his armie where I thought desire of glorie might perchance have stop'd him before his coming to Court I got thither within a few daies and was one of the first at that bloudie battel which was fought upon the confines of your Kingdom where I saw that valiant General do actions of so rare a courage that I shall ever preserv the memorie of them as of a prodigie I continued in that armie without making my self known for other then a young voluntier till it began to march back towards Issedon and then seeing my self as unsuccessful in my last hopes as I had been in my first I returned into Asia which I visited almost all in a years time I spent in travelling up and down there in the end after long wandrings to no purpose I came into this countrie with som hope that among so many Princes whereof Alexanders Court was composed I might learn som news of my faithless Orontes against whom I have preserved my indignation so strongly that time shall never bee able to wear it out of my minde Behold continued Thalestris ending her narration the abstract of a life full of misfortunes pardon mee if in som places I have too much enlarged my self and if I have passed over others too succinctly since onely the motions of my passion made that difference See now if my anger bee not just and if I have not a lawful caus to hate that Prince who by his infidelitie hath rendered himself unworthie of the honor hee hath to bee allied to you The Queen ended her storie on this manner and Oroondates having hearkened to it attentively Madam said hee I cannot choose but bee Orontes his enemie after the knowledg you have given mee of an infidelitie without example yet when I remember the proofs which without Intermission hee shewed you of so real a passion after which wee see him fall into a baseness without any probable ground and when I call to minde what subtiltie and calumnie have heretofore don against mine innocence I am forced to suspend my judgment and believ that either you have been deceived by others then Orontes or that Orontes hath been deceiv'd himself by very strong appearances for indeed so sudden and so unexspected a change is contrarie to common sence and passe's my imagination and I am fully perswaded that there is more innocence in Orontes his intentions then there hath been in the effects either of his grief or of his inconstancie The Queen would have replied but Oroödates seeing it was extreamly late and that so long a discours might impair her health took leav of her till the next day and having bidden her good night retired into his Chamber CASSANDRA The fifth Book ORoöndates passed that night as hee had don many others and the day following was spent in those sad imploiments which his deadly griefs had alreadie made habitual to him yet did hee afford part of it to the entertainment of the fair Amazon and discoursed a great while with her touching the causes of Orontes his infidelitie which hee could neither comprehend nor excuse the friendship hee had born that Prince made him seek out reasons to justifie him but the Queens spirit grew so incensed against him that hee was fain to give over his defence and condemn him with her The conversation of that Princess diverted his sorrows for som few moments yet no sooner was hee out of her presence but hee plunged himself so deeply in his afflictions that without a most particular assistance of the gods or rather without an apparent miracle his life could not have subsisted in such violent assaults Ah! my dear Princess said hee somtimes how great is my patience and how great proofs do I now give you of the truth of my affection certainly the most happie persons never found more difficultie in resolving to die then I do in enduring to live receiv this last testimonie of my love as the greatest I ever shewed you and by this severe constraint judg how dear the desire of satisfying you is to mee even after your death it self In such like discourses and in such like thoughts hee lingred out five or six daies at the end of which his wound was almost perfectly healed but his strength was not so soon returned and his sadness had brought him so low that a longer time was requisite for the recoverie of it Hee walked every day in the wood where hee sought out those places that were most gloomie and most conformable to the estate of his minde all objects of pleasure to him were fatal and those that represented any thing of wo gave him the most real satisfaction Thalestris's wound was quickly in a good condition and permitted her to leav her bed within a few daies The eight after Lysimachus his departure which was the same hee had made them hope for his return was almost quite expired and the Prince of Scythia began to bee troubled to see him fail of his promise when his Squire Cleantes arrived Oroöndates presently running to him enquired news of his Master Hee is in Ptolomeus his armie Sir answered Cleantes and you will see the caus of his stay in this letter hee hath written to you saying so hee presented him a paper and Oroöndates having opened it read these words Lysimachus to Prince Oroondates OVr common affairs hinder mee from seeing you again so soon as I intended but the caus of it will procure your pardon for a delay which trouble 's mee very much Those Princes my friends whose assistance was needful for our revenge were all dispersed and som of them were alreadie upon their way to those Provinces which are fallen to their lot Ptolomeus and I labor to get them together again and that care will neither bee unprofitable nor unnecessarie Perdiccas and Roxana whom our proceedings and the remors of their crime have made suspicious draw forces towards them again and by our
newly made an end of writing their Letters and had given them to Araxes with most pressing recommendations when the Chamber was filled with Princes that came to visit Oroöndates and while they were drawing near unto his bed Araxes who had no further orders to receiv went out of the room and so directly about the executing of his Commission After that the Princes had paid their civivilities to Oroöndates and enquired concerning his health they entred into Counsel about their affairs and Antigonus having demanded audience to propose som thing of moment spake to them on this manner Besides the knowledg of your valor that of the justice of our quarrel gave mee verie good hopes of the issue of our enterprise and I believed that in prosecuting our enemies before as those that had murthered and now as those who unjustly detain the widow of our deceased King and their own lawful Queen wee had a pretext reasonable enough to arm all our forces against them but yet as if the gods had judged that caus too light to devide so manie Princes who heretofore were friends and make them turn those arms against one another which they have made use of for the conquest of the whole earth they have been pleased to bring to light the crimes of our enemies and compleat our taking arms against them by reasons able to arm all virtuous persons with us Amongst the fals murtherers of Statira and Parisatis wee assault the true murtherers of Alexander our suspicions are now but too much confirmed and I cannot aver that Perdiccas and Roxana have medled in this parricide yet are they criminal enough to bee detested both of the gods and men since they uphold the perfidious Cassander who ha's taken away the life not only of his King but of the greatest of all Kings Do not believ it is upon light conjectures that I discover this fact to you 't is not upon the jealousie wee had of it nor upon the knowledg many of us have had of his love unto Roxana and his aversion to Alexander from the time hee took him by the hair and beat his head against the walls in our presence no wee have a certain assurance of it and I can produce two men who very innocently served as instruments in this horrid treason they are two Macedonians who were bred up with Antipater and who by Cassanders command brought unto the Court that poison which put an end to the gallantest life that ever was 't was of the water of Nonacris a fountain in Macedonia which is of such an excessive coldness that it extinguishes all natural heat and cannot bee contained in any thing but a horses hoof These two Macedonians having brought it to Cassander hee found means to procure them places about the Kings cup-bord and within awhile after discovering himself to them as to two old servants of his hous hee by hope of extraordinarie recompences would have perswaded them to pour this water into the Kings drink 's but they affrighted at that horrible design refused to obey him and strove to divert him from that cruel resolution Cassander having vainly sollicited them again made use of his brother Iölas whom for that design hee got to bee made chief Cupbearer and for fear those two men should declare his wickedness hee caused them to bee taken by others of his dependents who under som pretence carried them out of the Town with a command to kill them The villaines followed the order they had received from their Master and having brought these miserable wretches into a by place they stabb'd them in many parts of their bodies but it so pleased the gods that they had not time to make an end of them and that seeing certain persons coming toward the place where they were they fled away leaving these poor men half dead they were taken from thence by Countrie people who carrying them to their houses caused them to bee dressed so carefully that they at last recovered and but yesterday beeing able to walk abroad they came to mee desiring I would protect them against Cassander making mee the relation more at large of what I have told you in a few words Antigonus had no sooner ended his discours but hee sent for the two Macedonians and in the mean time all the Princes began with imprecations to detest Cassanders wickedness and by so powerful a motive were more strongly animated in the hatred they bore his partie they had suspected Iölas before upon many conjectures but having noble and generous souls themselves they could hardly imagine that others were capable of a crime of that nature In the interim the two men came and having made a deposition every way conformable to what Antigonus had said and answered many questions which were asked them about that matter they left the whole companie â—ully confirmed in the belief of that Parricide All those great Princes whose hearts did most sacredly reverence the memorie of Alexander trembled at this confirmation and sent forth threat's against those monsters full of a true zeal and lawful anger Even Oroöndates himself who honored the remembrance of that mightie King as of a miraculous person was highly concerned in their resentment and with them swore to revenge the death of that illustrious rivall The Princes not beeing contented that the justice of their caus should serv for their own private satisfaction were desirous to manifest it to the whole world and to make all men know it was not for light occasions that they had taken arms against their Companions and ancient Allies With that intent after they had agreed upon it among themselvs they set forth a Declaration which Artabasus and Eumenes drew up in these words The Princes joined in League for the revenge of Alexander and for the libertie of the Queen his wife and of the Princess his Sister AS wee have ever believed that without very powerful reasons men could not with honor unloos themselves from the bonds of friendship and violate their ancient alliances so have wee also desired that all those to whom our actions shall bee known might bee made acquainted with our intentions and might have no occasion to expound them according to the sens our Enemies would give them Wee protest therefore both before the gods and before men that it is not any discontent about our shares in the lately divided Empire nor any design to make our selvs greater that hath put arms into our hands against those who heretofore were our friends and companions but much juster causes and such as ought to make all the generous persons upon earth to rise up with us It is for Alexander that wee have taken arms and wee have at last discovered that that demi-god who found none but adorers through the whole world hath found monsters amongst his own subjects who by an execrable parricide have deprived mankinde of the greatest Personage that ever lived Cassander whose name ought to bee abhorred by all
Demetrius had not patience enough to endure these words but running to lay hold of a sword was going to revenge Hermione with the bloud of indiscreet Tiridates if he partly of his own accord and partly by the perswasions of those that were present had not gotten suddenly out of the Chamber Doest thou think cried Demetrius seeing him go out doest thou think cruell man that I will suffer the injury thou doest me and canst thou not be satisfied with Hermiones Death and mine without abusing us also by thy words Ah! would it pleas'd the Gods that by a thousand such Lives as thine or as mine own I could restore her that which I have taken from her As he spake these words he drew near Hermiones bed again and leaning over it imbraced her Knees with so much tenderness and yet with so much violence that he forced all that were in the Chamber to weep and lament by his Example O Gods cried he must Hermione die then and will you not grant unto my tears and and prayers a little of that life which you cruelly cause to perish by my sword Shall Death seed upon that which to me seems the most lovely thing you ever sent into the world and will you grant no delay to the ardent supplication of a despairing Lover Can you not for my sake renew the destiny of Alceste and will you not be appeased if I sacrifice Demetrius for Hermiones safety While he spake on this manner Hermione though weak and dying suffered deeply with him in his afflictions and looking upon him with eyes that began to dazle and to lose part of their lustre by the approach of Death Demetrius said she you force me to confess to you that I die not so absolute a slave to Alexander but that I am very sensible of your affection and that I have certain motions in these last moments of my life whereof my whole life was never capable spare this dying mouth a more ample confession and if it be true that you love me moderate your sorrows by Reason and by my desire in this necessity that parts us 't is the onely proof of it I can or will beg of you for a recompence of the last protestation I make that I give you all the share in my heart which I now can possibly give you This was all that Hermione was able to bring forth distinctly and within a while after she grew so exceeding weak that she could hardly speak a few interrupted words she struggled yet some hours with Death but about the shutting in of the day her spirits departed and she remain'd pale and cold in the arms of Demetrius who in that accident appeared little different from her and who losing his senses and understanding with his strength was carried away to another bed making the Phisicians doubt whether those swownings proceeded from a bare fainting or from a real death The end of the fourth Book The Continuation of the third Part of CASSANDRA The fifth Book IN the mean time Araxes return'd from Babylon the fourth day after his departure as soon as Oroondates saw him come into his Chamber he ran to him with open arms Lysimachus who at that time was with him did the same and both with equal haste inquired news of their Princesses I am still as ignorant of their condition said Araxes as when I went from hence and yet I may truly swear I have not spared any kinde of indeavour to inform my self All the world at Babylon believes yet that they are dead or if they have heard any thing of their being alive 't was onely by your denouncing of war and by your Declaration The Princes were all afflicted at this discourse and looked upon one another with a confusion which was easie to be observed in their very faces O Lysimachus cried the Prince of Scythia we are not yet at the end of our disaster and you are extreme unhappy in having any intermixture with the fortune of Oroondates this communication will be no ways advantagious to you for I shall infallibly draw you into those eternal miseries to which the Gods have condemned me Fortune replied Lysimachus hath not been wont to use me more gently than your self and if our sufferings are contagious you will gain no more than I in this union of our interests Alas added Oroondates perhaps our Princesses may be dead indeed and that the Gods have onely flattered us to make us the more sensible of our Losses by the hopes they have given us The Loves of our Rivals replied Lymachus may secure us on that side they will perish without all question themselves rather than consent to their destruction yet I doubt not but they will do all they possibly can to conceal them a while longer from Roxana They were in this discourse when Ptolomeus Craterus Oxyartes Polyperchon Artabasus Eumenes and Queen Thalestris came into the Chamber the noise of Araxes his return had brought them thither and all of them together desiring to learn the success of his journey he gave them an account of it in these terms After I was departed from hence I got within a short time to Babylon and telling those that were upon the Guard at the Gates that I was come over to their party I found no difficulty to obtain entrance into the Town I had call'd to minde as I was upon the way that I had formerly had a particular friendship with Damocles one of the chief Citizens of Babylon who at my request had by my Masters favour gotten an Office in Darius his Court during the abode we made in that Town That good turn which he had received from my Prince and from my self in part had ingaged him to us with a strong affection and we had receiv'd some proofs of it which made me believe at that rememberance that I might trust him without fear of being betrayed As soon as I was in the Town I went straight to his house where I had been many times and having happily found him without company I made my self known to him he gave me an exceeding kinde welcome seconded with some tears in which joy and grief were equal sharers and at the first declaration I made of the cause of my Voyage he offered to do me all the service I could hope for from an affectionate friend I told him not in what place nor in what condition I had left the Prince my Master making as if I knew neither and onely confessed that I came to Babylon with a Design to learn news of Queen Statira that I might tell it my Prince in case I were so happy as to finde him Damocles told me he had heard nothing of her since the report of her death and that he had yet seen no body that doubted of it After this first Discourse I prayed him that I might remain a few days concealed in his house thereby to inform my self more certainly and letting him know I was in
glad to have sent Letters by him to their Princesses but they easily judged that Perdiccas would not give him permission to see them and they intended not to ask him Cleonimus very well pleased that he had found an occasion to serve those gallant Princes to whom he had so much devoted himself after he had protested That he would faithfully perform the Commiâ—sion they had given him took his leave of them and getting on Horse-back advanced toward the Gates of his Native City which the remembrance of former times and of the deplorable death of his dear Theander would not suffer him to behold without tears In the interim the Princes were gone out of Seleucus his Tent and were thinking to go wait upon the Princess Berenice when they heard that she with Deidamia and Cleone was gone to visit Apamia and Arsinoe who were with Prince Artabasus their Father Although his Quarter was a good way off the Princes took that walk without unwillingness and Arsaces thought all ways ease that led him to his Princess They found very good company with that venerable old man but it was increased presently after by one of the most welcome additions it could have received Scarce had they begun to fall into discourse when there was seen coming toward the Tent a Chariot drawn by ten white Horses guarded by certain Horsemen and followed by a good number of servants The equipage shewing the quality of the person to whom it appertained caused those that were most curious and least employed as Oroondates Lysimachus and Ptolomeus to break off their Conversation and go toward the door of the Tent whither they were no sooner come but they saw the Chariot stop there full of Ladies and Prince Oroondates advancing first to help them to alight and offering his hand to her that appeared the chief knew her to be his good and generous friend the fair Princess Barsina But once in his whole life had that Prince been touched with a more pleasing surprise and hardly had he given greater testimonies of it when from the mouth of Perdiccas he had heard that his Princess was alive Of all the persons in the World onely Statira and Artaxerxes had any advantage over Barsina in his affection and the Princess Berenice did but hardly possess an equal place to that of hers in his friendship neither could he see her without an extraordinary tenderness nor without melting into tears which his Affection his Joy and very moving Remembrances drew from his eyes at that fortunate meeting Barsina to whom by a good will whereof the vertue of them both had made the strongest engagements that Prince was dearer then all the rest of mankinde seemed no less touched nor less transported then he at that encounter and when she saw her self in his Arms she made no difficulty to press him between hers and feared not to offend her modesty by giving him testimonies of an Affection not inferior to his Honored Barsina said the Prince my Protectress and my Tutelary deity Are you come to take away the remainder of my Afflictions by your presence and to bring me a Fortune again whereof your goodness hath ever made one of the cheifest parts Ah! without doubt continued he begining his endearments afresh which she could not oppose without doubt this felicity was to fore-run the last I now can hope for and the gods after having preserved my Princess and regiven me my dear Artaxerxes have thought it necessary to restore me Barsina also without whom I could not relish any perfect happiness He brought forth these words with interruption and Barsina after having a while given place to their impetuousness Sir said she at last The gods bring me to you again that I may share in those blessings they have restored you and in those felicities they are preparing for you They know that I am too much interessed in your Fortune to be separated from it and they should do me an injustice if in those good successes that wait for you and in those that have already befaln you they should not give me as great a part as I have had in your afflictions They had gone further into that discourse if the throng of those who at the name of Barsina were run out of the Tent had not taken them off and if as ardent as Oroondates was he had not been constrained to yeild her for a while to those other friends Her two dear Sisters Apamia and Arsinoe her two Illustrious Brothers-in-law Ptolomeus and Eumenes and even her Father himself whose affection had given him a nimbleness to go out to meet her demanded to possess her in their turns but all were fain to leave her to Prince Artaxerxes and Barsina no sooner saw him appear but geting loose from the Arms of all she ran to him with an action that made the company know what love and what veneration she bore to the remnants of the Blood of Darius O my Lord said she casting her self into his Arms which he stretched forth to her O my Lord Is it possible that Barsina should yet be so happy as to receive the favor of her revived Prince and of a Prince to whose death she had given so many tears Artaxerxes who dearly loved and particularly esteemed her appeared sensible of her Affection by all the signs he could express of his I was alive dear Cousin answered he while you believed that I was dead as peradventure I ought to have been but if my life have something of shameful in it after the death of my Friends behold my excuse Cousin and pardon my being alive by considering for whom I have lived He said these words shewing her the Princess Berenice whom Oroondates was bringing toward her and who being informed of the vertues of that Princess and of the good offices she had done her Brother ran to her with a spirit of acknowledgement and esteem Barsina who already had learned some part of the truth knew her by many marks but more then all the rest by that admirable beauty which the whole World could hardly parallel And advancing to her with an action full of astonishment and submiâ—â—on would have kissed her Hands with great respect but the Princess pulled them back to present her Mouth and to let her see That in the esteem and affection she already had conceived toward her she desired a greater equality in their salutations After a familiarity very different from that of a first enterview Barsina looking still upon Berenice with admiration O most worthy Sister said she of such a Brother as Oroondates and most worthy cause of the life and passions of Prince Artaxerxes How easie are you to be known among whatsoever of great and beautiful our eyes can see and how infinitely is Barsina satisfied that she now can pay her homage to the worthy Mistress and worthy Sister of the greatest Princes in the World The Princess out of countenance at so obliging a discourse replied with a
please the Gods that you survive me as there is some likelyhood you may since Roxana ha's no cause at all to desire your death and if they also permit Oroondates to outlive me assure him dear sister that my last thought was that of keeping my selfe his by my death and that this death is dearer to me receiving it for his sake then the Empire of the whole World with any other than Give him this assurance dearest sister if you love me and for that of my friendship receive this latest kisse The fair Parisatis whom her own danger had but little affrighted was not able to hear the Queens words nor to behold her action without falling from her constancy of mind and receiving her embraces with a tendernesse which she testified by pressing her closely between her arms Madam sayd shee lay no command upon me to be performed after your death since the resolution I have taken not to survive you a moment dispences with mee for all the obedience I ow you As she had ended these words they both heard a greater noyse then the former and then it was they beleeved for certain that all those who had fought for their defence were utterly defeated and that they had nothing more to do but to offer up their brests to the enemies sword That which passed in the heart of the Town hath hindred us from relating what was done upon the skirts of it and what an alteration the affairs of Babylon then received Nearchus with his men was gone down to the gate which Craterus was to assault and at the same time had caused Ensigns to be set upon the Walls and by the sound of many Trumpets rouz'd the Camp which with marvellous impatiency expected so desired a signall The first that spied it had carried the news with loud cries to their Commanders and all those famous warriers had received it with an extraordinary joy The valiant Prince of Persia Lysimachus and all the rest of their Companions had in a moment put on their Arms and in almost as little time their forces who wayted for that command were in a readinesse to march Prince Artaxerxes followed by Lysimachus Ptolomeus Orontes the brave Thalestris yong Demetrius and Theodates was advanced with fifteen thousand Macedonians Thracians and Aegyptians to Craterus his gate where the signall was set up and to make a diversion to facilitate their design Oxyatres Antigonus Eumenes and Polyperchon fell on at other four Never did great Arsaces appear so fierce and terrible as that day at the gates of Babylon nor ever did Lysimachus employ his valour with greater satisfaction nor with greater hope then at that time for the liberty of Parisatis Nearchus fought on the inside against those that defended the gate and though their number was little different from his he pressed them in such maner as made them soon despair of victory Artaxerxes and his Companions batterd the gates in the mean time with their Rams and the small resistance they found by reason their enemies were so imployed within suffered them quickly to make a breach large enough to bee entred Lysimachus was the first that broke in at it and would needs expose himselfe to the first danger before Prince Artaxerxes who rush'd in next they two were presently followed by all the rest and Nearches no sooner saw them appear but discovering himselfe to them by a joyfull cry he drove the terror of their enemies to the utmost extreamity They that first opposed the fury of the Prince of Persia and his Companions lost their lives gloriously by the hands of those renowned men and in the mean while their Souldiers entred rushing after them and when they were absolute masters of the gate they let down the Bridge and opened a large passage to their squadrons All they that had opposed Nearchus were either killed or taken flight when Nâ—optolemus with his men came up to their reliefe but he came only to lead them on to slaughter for the conquering Princes falling furiously upon them covered the streets with mangled bodies and made the chanels run with bloud Neoptolemus was one of the first that charged Prince Artaxerxes but he found his strength to be far unequall and though he lost not his life by that unresistable hand he received so weighty a blow that not being able to sustain it he fell among the slain with all the signs of a dying person his men no longer made opposition and they that cou'd escape the Conquerors hands sought the preservation of their lives by flight The Son of Darius had no sooner gotten to joyn with Nearchus and testified his acknowledgements at that meeting but he learn'd from him the danger Oroondates was in and not being able then to give way to other thoughts save those of succouring his dear Brother he advanced with part of his Forces toward the Palace and left others the care of opening the Gates that were assaulted by Antigonus Oxyatres Eumenes and Polyperchon Such was the destiny of Babylon and the division of those that commanded in that stately City having drawn all the Souldiers to their Factions left almost none at all for the defence of the Gates and Walls and then the Conquerors roved all about with as much liberty as if they had had no Enemies to fight with Artaxerxes had marched part of the way which led toward the Palace when by some Souldiers that cast themselves at his feet he heard how Roxana was then imployed and in what danger the Queen and the Princesse her Sister were unlesse they had some speedy succour This Newes troubled the Prince extreamly but Lysimachus had no sooner heard it but transported with the fury which his passion inspired he parted from him taking some of his men along and marching with a marvelous haste to relieve his Princesse left him at liberty to assist his Brother He was not a little comforted by Lysimachus his resolution knowing the Valour of that Prince and judging well that his Sisters could not desire a more generous Champion and prosecuting his former design with a great deale of diligence he came to the end of the Bridge where the Prince of Scithia and brave Seleucus defended their lives with very little hope of safety They were already so exceeding weary that they were hardly able to lift their swords and their weaknesse having redoubled the courage of Perdiccas and Cassander made them a great deale bolder in assailing them They were going to summon their utmost Forces together that they might finish the combate with their death when casting an eye to the other end of the Bridge they heard the cryes of their Enemies and saw them appear at the same instant Artaxerxes running up toward Oroondates with an incomparable swiftnesse Courage cryed he dear Brother you are a Conquerour and your Enemies are defeated He had hardly ended these words when he was gotten to his side and with him Orontes Demetrius Thalestris and the faithfull Theodates
Barsina by Leonatus The six Princes having left that glory to their Friends were gone altogether to the Temple before and had themselves forgotten nothing in their cloaths that without effeminacy or a too affected curiosity could please the eyes of their admired Princesses After having expected them there a few moments which to their impatience seem'd as many houres they saw them enter with a Pompe that brought new light into the Temple Berenice Deidamia and Thalestris as valiant as she was walked with more fear and bashfulnesse then their Companions but the Queen the Princesse her Sister and Barsina who had already been in the same condition went up toward the Altar with more confidence Why should this Narration be drawn out to a greater length There it was that in the sight of many thousand people and in the presence of the Gods who by Prayers and Sacrifices were called to behold that action the greatest Persons in the World of either Sex were by the usual Ceremonies joyn'd together with Bonds which could not be untyed which never were broken but by death and which through the whole course of their lives kept them as closely united as they were that day There it was that by such famous and important Nuptials Vertue saw it selfe tryumphant over so many misfortunes that had vainly fought against it and that seemed to have crossed it for no other end but that it might shine forth with more lustre and glory Those glad and fortunate Bridegrooms having delivered back their Brides into the hands of those that had led them thither followed them home again to the Palace where all things were most stately and magnificent O! how tedious did that day seem to them and how little pleasure did they find in the Games Courses and Combats which the yong Princes made with infinite Pompe to honour so solemn an Action The Son of Polyperchon Menelaus and brave Ilyoneus made themselves remarkeable in them by their dexterity but after long contestation 't was yong Alexander that bore away the Prize After the Courses and Combats followed most gracefull Dances and admirable Musick and after all those entertainments came the most delightfull and most glorious Night that ever was Never had the brightest day shewed any thing comparable to it in the judgement of Oâ—oondates and his Companions and those that might boast to be most memorable by the winning of battles and by the conquest of Empires were obscure and gloomy in respect of that pleasing darknesse which tryumphed over light with so great an advantage Then were the greatest Beauties in the World delivered as a Prey to the passions of the mercilesse Conquerors who revenged themselves for the torments they had made them to endure with resentments which for all they were so violent they could not justly disapprove To say the truth they were in some sort pardonable and it was but reason that they whose suffrings had been so long and cruell should make themselves equivalent reparations Never had the God of Love been present at so solemn a Festival and in all the Sacrifices that had been offred to him at Paphos or at Cythera he never had received such honour as he did that Night in Babylon But I am afraid to say too much of it and to go beyond the bounds of respect and modesty with my Princes who exceeded them a little that night of liberty They without all question thought it a great deale too short and one might perchance have doubted in what imployments they had passed it if the blushes that appeared next morning in the cheekes of Berenice Thalestris and Deidamia had not given the Company great suspicions Yet did they pardon their Lovers the offences they had committed by the example of their Companions who had born them with more moderation Those constant fires were not extinguished of many years and the love of those vertuous Persons was placed upon too sure foundations to find any thing in possession that could abate it on the contrary it grew far more ardent by a more perfect knowledge of those Beauties and rare qualities that had given it birth and time which ruines all things had never power to slacken the first violence of their flames Many dayes were spent in these contentments which cannot possibly be imagined and the happy Princes took plentifull draughts of thâ—se delights after which they had so long impatiently thirsted When they had nothing more to wish they began to think of retiring King Oroondates was recalled into Scithia by his Subjects and he himselfe had a desire to go thither that he might give his Queen the Crown of his Dominions Arsaces also had a mind to see those Countries again where he had passed some years and where he had so powerfully gained the peoples hearts All the other Princes were obliged to return into their severall Provinces to be crowned themselves in the Kingdoms which their valour had woon and which Arsaces freely left them in consideration of the good Offices they had done for him and his and in the hope he had to recover others from them that had not merited his friendship They all prepared themselves for that seperation but not without a great deale of trouble to every one of them Before they went away they thought fit to take order in what remained to be done and because Babylon and all Assyria belonged to them by the right of Arms they all offred it to Seleucus as to their valiant Deliverer and Benefactor but he refused it and protested openly that not having had any other aym in what he had done then to succour Vertue unworthyly oppressed he would not give his Enemies cause to make an ill interpretation of his intent and to judge that he had quitted his Party out of a shamefull interest and vile hope of recompence All the World esteem'd that thought to be worthy of Seleucus his Generosity and when they saw him so firm in his resolution that it was impossible to shake him they altogether cast their eyes upon Oxyatres who did not then possesse a Territory suitable to the greatnesse of his Quality and pressed it so urgently upon him that in the end he was constrained to accept the Soveraignty of Babylon and there to setle his abode Seleucus had Armenia Mesopotamia which the death of Phrataphernes and Archesilaus had left vacant and because Cylicia was so likewise by the death of Philotas all the Princes would needs have Eumenes take it and give that part of Cappadocia he possessed in exchange to Queen Thalestris leaving that Kingdome entire to Prince Orontes who also quitted the Province of the Massagetes because it was one of those that composed the Asiatick Scithia which King Oroondates had destined for Artaxerxes After having ordred the Provinces on this maner they all prepared for their departure and when they had bestowed a few dayes more in the confirmation of their Allyance and in the tears that were shed at that seperation
and since I must give you account of those accidents of my life whereof you are ignorant and which are of much greater consequence than the last 't is best for me to relate them according to the order of time wherein they happen'd to me this reason makes me forbear the telling of you those things at first the recitall whereof must needs surprise you and that surprise will be no way the less pleasing by making them known to you in their due place in the story of my life Oroondates and the Amazon Queen were equally satisfied with this motion and being they had ardently desired the Continuation of Berenices recital the beginning whereof had been interrupted they prepared themselves to hearken to her with a marvellous attention Sister said the Prince you prevent the request I was about to make to you I assure my self it will not be tedious to this fair Queen and I have so great an interest in your affairs that it is not just I should be ignorant of them longer At these words they sate down all three upon a bed and the Princess of Scythia after having thought a while of what she had to say and indeavoured with her hand to cover a little blushing that came up into her face began her discourse in these terms The Continuation of the History of Berenice IN the first actions of my life which I recounted to you when I began my discourse before perchance you found nothing criminal but in these which I now am going to tell you you will finde something not altogether so innocent and 't is that confession I must make which calls blushes into my cheeks and which strikes me indeed with some shame and confusion not but that with a little indulgence they may be excused nor are they so black as to give you any occasion brother to disown me nor you fair Queen to repent of that affection wherewith you have honour'd me I have already acquainted you with the beginning of the King my father's love to the Princess Stratonice and of the persecutions I suffred from troublesom Arsacomes I believe you have not forgot the condition I left them in nor that wherein I was my self by the vexation I received from that insolent Prince of the Issedons The brother and the sister had made a very unequal progress in their designes and the Empire Stratonice had obtain'd over the King was not much less than my aversion to her brother We were upon these terms and liv'd with very different hopes and intentions when the Nomades and the Hyleans having taken Arms upon some slight pretences rose up in rebellion against the King slew all their Governours and arming all their Forces broke out into an open War and into the utmost Extremities The King who desired to stifle those Disorders in their birth sent Theodates Prince of the Sarmates against them with an Army of thirty thousand men judging that strength sufficient to stop their proceedings and chastise their temerity having a perfect knowledge of Theodates his valour prudence and fidelity Nor was he deceived in his opinion for within a short time after his departure he received news of the beginnings of his progress which certified him that in many encounters the rebels had all manner of disadvantages and 't was not long before he heard that they were absolutely defeated in a pitch'd battel and that the Army being victorious had lay'd siege already to some of their Towns but in the report of these things which came to Court they much extoll'd a certain stranger who having ingaged himself in that service out of affection to Theodates had shewn proofs of an admirable valour and had with his single person contributed more to our successes than whole Troops joyn'd together Theodates writ of him to the King with such praises as raised that man above humanity and his character of him was confirm'd by some Eye-witnesses who gain'd him a wondrous high place in the Kings esteem They told how in the battel he had twice sav'd Theodates his life and that having seen some of our Squadrons give ground which example struck a fear into those that follow'd them and like to have put them in a general Rout he ran to the head of them and snatching the formost Standard out of his hands that carry'd it spake to those affrighted Troops with so much Eloquence and efficacy that he got them to make a stand and having re-incourag'd them a little charg'd headlong into the middest of their Enemies with so great valour and success that he chang'd their fortune and brought the Victory alone to that side of the Battel That after that important day Theodates acknowledging how much he was indebted to him and how great service such a man was capable to do his Master had given him the command of some of his Forces which was void by the death of one of the principal Officers That within some days after being gone with those men to view a place of the Enemies he had found it in an ill condition to make defence and that laying hold of that opportunity with as much prudence as courage he had storm'd and taken it by force with a very inconsiderable loss that by these Actions and some others of this nature he had won such a Reputation among the Souldiers that they call'd every day for new occasions to fight provided they might be lead on by Arsaces At this name of Arsaces Oroondates sig'd and chang'd colour but he would not interrupt his sisters narration which she went on with in these words That war was ended in a short time with an entire glory to Theodates and those that had accompanied him but the valour of Arsaces had hasten'd the end of it with all the success that could be desired and we heard that that Valiant stranger having received eight thousand horse from Theodates had assaulted the Relicks of the Enemies Armies near the lake of Buges and had cut them in pieces with a general defeat and with a moderate loss on his side This fame of that strangers actions made the King extreamly desirous to see him and to tie him to his service by rewards equal to his deserts the whole Court longed not much less to have a sight of him and we were all satisfied quickly after when Theodates having settled those Provinces in good order reurned to Issedon by the Kings command and brought along with him that gallant man who was so much desired and whose fame had already produced very different effects in the Court I was with the King when Theodates came to kiss his hands and after that he had showed him such favours as were due to his quality and the merit of those services he had newly done Theodates presented Arsaces to him I had cast mine eyes upon him as soon as he was come into the room and quickly found cause enough in his person to fix them there without looking upon other objects I confess
I was surprised at his gracefull fashion and that if the Idea of the Prince my brother had not been present to my remembrance I should have believed I had never seen any body in the world that could dispute that advantage with him His stature was little different from yours and in the garb and liberty of your bodies there was a great resemblance he was a little browner than our Scythians who by reason of the coldness of their climate are fairer than other men yet had he a fresh smooth complexion all the lineaments of his face were merveilously well proportioned his eyes sparkling yet full of sweetness his hair black naturally curl'd and falling in great rings upon his shoulders his aspect noble and full of Majesty and all the motions of his body had an extraordinary comeliness He was then hardly twenty years old and 't was that early youth that wrought an admiration in all those that knew his prudence and that had seen him lead men to fight with such an experience as had not yet been found among the oldest Commanders I know not whither this little description will make me to be suspected of any thing but I am sure that before the end of my discourse you will confess this report of Arsaces may be made by the most indifferent persons The King who was already prepossessed with an exceeding high opinion of him beheld him with admiration and having given his eyes liberty to view a person so exactly handsome while Arsaces kissed his hands with much respect he embraced him with a kindness far above what a stranger as he was could probably have hop'd for When by most obliging words he had testified the knowledge he had of his vertue and the esteem he had of his person he asked him touching his Countrey and his fortune and then Arsaces after having pawsed a little to consult with his modesty Sir said he I was born in Bactria which is now under the Dominion of the Persians my Parents were of reasonable good birth but I left them as soon as I was able to ride on hors-back and seeking glory in the Wars and in forreign parts I have hitherto made those places my Countrey where I believed I might best find it Prince Theodates his goodness stay'd me in your Majesties service and the knowledge I since have had of the honour it is to serve you hath engaged me yet more powerfully in it You could not have light into any Countrey replied the King where your vertue should have been more cherish'd and valued than amongst us you have already found that glory you seek for and with it a Prince who will alwayes be ready to acknowledge the greatness of your deserts and the important services you have done him Arsaces made an answer full of submission and modesty and the King giving him occasion to speak gave him also an opportunity to let the Company see the quickness of his wit and the grace wherewith he expressed himself He spoke not the Scythian tongue perfectly but so well that there was nothing harsh in his pronunciation and was so ready in the Greek and many other Languages which are in use amongst us that his conversation was merveilously pleasing From that day the King began to be very liberal to him and gave him pensions able to maintain him in handsom equipage he received them without either greediness or disdain and if his growing fortune met some that envied it at first his vertue suffered them not to do so long Indeed he had not been many moneths in Court but he was both the admiration and the delight of it and his excellent qualities in a short time won him the love even of the roughest natures All the world was ravish'd with the gracefulness of his behaviour all the world was charm'd with the sweetnes of his wit and conversation all hearkened as to so many prodigies when there was any story of his warlike actions told by those that had seen him do them and generally every one considered as wonders the marks that appeared in him every day of the greatness of his courage of his goodness and of his natural generosity He was quickly in a condition to show them for the King who look'd upon him and admired him as the rest became in love with his vertue and desired to tie him to his service by all manner of obligations he observed something in his face and in all his actions that was so great and so far above other men that he felt himself forc'd by unknown reasons to set an extraordinary value on him and indeed he in a short time raised him to such imployments and Offices as other could neither obtain by birth nor by long services without a great deal of difficulty Arsaces abased not this good fortune and those dignities to which he saw himself called without suing for them puffed him not up nor made him prouder than before on the contrary his humour seem'd to be more sociable he served all those with freeness and humbleness that stood in any need of his power and credit and ran to meet those occasions they had to make use of him with such an eager desire to effect them as made the obligation a thousand times the more considerable his liberality was boundless and being far from enriching himself with what the King gave him he distributed it so profusely that his friends blamed him for it and the King himself was fain to complain of the contempt he show'd of his presents and of the little care he took to keep what came from him This reproach could not moderate Arsaces his liberality but it made him more circumspect in husbanding his favour and in avoiding noise or ostentation in his bounty Though none of his actions were guilty of the least blemish of pride yet as humble and submissive as he was to others he could never bend his mind to make any applications to Arsacomes who at that time next to the King was most considered of any man in the Kingdom and who was in a condition to build what fortunes he pleased and to overthrow those which were not yet well confirmed and but beginning to be establish'd as that of Arsaces Not but that Arsaces paid him civilly whatsoever he thought due to a man that was esteemed by the King and that was Arsacomes his quality but he could not consider him as did those slaves of favour who having an aim very distant and thoughts very different from his sought their advancement of him by base servile compliances to which he would never stoop and besides these reasons he had particular and more powerfull ones which opposed his giving him that observance he expected from all others Arsacomes who saw that scorn in him and who besides feared least that budding fortune should at last o're-top his and become powerfull enough to ruine it strove to hinder its groweth and often told the King that it was something dangerous so