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
given ear to what I said commanded us to be carried into his Tent and making us be gotten to bed caus'd our vvounds to be look'd to with much care The Physitians with many several experiments brought my Master at last unto himself and considering his vvounds very attentively they vvere long in doubt whether there was any hope of good success they believed that mine were curable and began to use their endeavours for both vvith a great deal of charity My Prince could hardly speak all that day nor the night following The next morning Eumenes being obliged to go after the King who was already a great way off in pursuit of Darius gave order to have us carried to Arbela his servants obeyed him carefully and having removed us gently to that little Town put us into a good house and recommending us unto the Master of it gave him money to get us looked to according to the command they had received from Eumenes After their departure our Host seeing me in a better condition then my Prince came and asked me his name but scarce had he learn'd it was the Prince of Scythia whom he had seen pass by two days before with Darius when lifting up his hands to heaven he prais'd the Gods for the occasion they offered him of doing his King yet some service in the help he might give to one that was so dear to him and from that time moved by a hearty zeal he ran to the Physitians and Chirurgions of the Town and besought them to take care of my Princes safety with words full of tenderness and affection Those good men wrought upon by his prayers and the knowledge they had of us employed all their art for our recovery and not being ignorant in their profession after having long consulted they agreed in opinion that if without incision they could get out the head of a Javelin which was in my Masters body their remedies with the assistance of the Gods might save his life Thereupon they presently fell to work about it and by the help of their Instruments which they handled very skilfully they in the end drew it out without any incision but with such excessive pain that my Prince swouned many times and was like to have died immediately Assoon as the Chirurgions had got it out they dressed us with more satisfaction then before and injoyned us rest and silence for many days I was so much obliged to my Master that assoon as he could speak he enquired after me and being told that I was in the same Chamber with him and that I was in better health then he he expressed much joy at it But assoon as his memory was come to him again and that he call'd to minde the cause of his wounds and the cruel usage he had received from Statira this grief assaulted him with so much violence that that remembrance was like to have made him lose a life whose preservation was laboured with so much dilligence yet did he appear more moderate then after the death of Artaxerxes whether it were that his heart accustomed to misfortunes had learn'd at last to support them with more patience or that with more age he had gotten more strength of reason and firmness of minde or that in effect he in a generous and just despite thought he ought not to die for one who after having received such remarkable services from him had us'd him so ingratefully and so unworthily True it is indeed he complained in tearms able to have cleft the most rocky hearts with pitty and shewed a wonderfull contempt of his life but he was not so obstinately bent to lose it as the other time he tore not off the plaisters from his wounds nor did he oppose the industry the Physitians used for his recovery It is certain that spite fortified him very much and that making reflexion upon all his services and upon Statira's ingratitude his resentment stifled part of his sorrow and of his love and made him almost repent of what he had done for her and of the designe he had had to die for so ingratefull a person for in the end after having examined all the actions of his life he found them so full of innocence and of the proofs of a real affection that he could not attribute her change to any thing but the inconstancy of her humour and to a meannesse unworthy of her birth which made her prefer an enemy because great and victorious before a Prince who had so faithfully served her and to whom she was engaged by so many oaths and so many obligations He repassed in his thoughts all the progresse of his love full of so many memorable events and of so many brave effects of his passion and seeing all conclude against all the likelyhood in the world in a perpetual banishment he stood in need of all his courage indeed not to sink under so powerfull an affliction sometimes when he was more sharply tormented with these cruel remembrances and that he call'd to minde the last words of Statira which were too deeply settled there to be forgotten Is it possible said he Statira that it should be you your self who pronounc'd this cruel sentence of my banishment you I say who had so many ways testified unto me that you loved me and had by so many protestations engaged your self that you would love me eternally you who had sworn a thousand times that you would never be but mine and who by a thousand proofs of my affection were most assured that I would never be but yours Are not you that same Statira whom I sav'd from the violence of the Scythians the same whose most deserving brother I preserv'd from death and imprisonment she for whom I forsook my Father and my Country for whom I disguised my quality and exposed my self to numberlesse dangers in the midst of my greatest enemies she for whom I fought against mine own Father and my King and receiv'd wounds that brought me so near unto my grave she whose Father I rescued from so great danger with the peril of my life she for whom I suffered the captivity of Artaban Parmenio and Alexander for whom I resisted the affections of the fair Roxana for whom I laid aside all consideration that I was the son of a great King to become a poor contemptible Gardner and she that very she whom but a moment before my ruine I with the price of my blood had ransom'd from the bondage of Alexander Yes you are the same nay more you are also the very same who after such powerful obligations has had the heart to say Get thee gone from before me disloyal man and deliver me for ever from the sight of my most mortal enemy Yes Statira I am your enemy and all these actions which I now reproach you with are indeed the actions of an enemy but if you give that name to me whom will you call your friends From which of your best and nearest friends
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
my threatnings that I kept them from it and gave the Lacedemonians leisure to fetch off their King and deliver him out of that throng from which hee was no longer able to free himself By his retreat the victorie declared it self absolutely for the Macedonians and Antipater prosecuted it so hotly that almost all the Lacedemonians were defeated but their valiant King beeing unwilling to survive that loss alighted out of a litter in which they had put him and though so weak that hee was hardly able to stand hee caused himself to bee carried back into the fight where after hee had don things that surpass belief and raised a breastwork of dead bodies round about him hee sunk at last as his predecessor Leonidas at the strait of Thermophiles and falling tired with conquering upon the heaps of those hee had slain received a death which ought to make him live for ever in the memorie of men I have enlarged my self contrarie to my design upon this passage becaus I was most sensibly grieved at it and that the memorable end of so great a Prince deserved a particular mention of him By that onely victorie Antipater settled Alexander's affairs again in that countrie and believing I had contributed somthing towards it hee did mee honors and shewed mee kindnesses which were considerable enough I continued with him till having no more enemies to fight withall hee began his march back into Macedonia Then I took my leav of him and of his son though they both were very earnest to keep mee with them and offered mee very advantageous conditions A year was alreadie expired since my departure from Themiscira and I had a desire to return into Asia but I travelled a different way from that I came and was willing to spend the time that still remained in seeing those provinces which were yet unknown to mee I went into Parthia and the countries of the Mardes and of the Bactrians whither the disloial Bessus was alreadie retired after the murther of his King from thence I entred into Hyrcania and in the end I came upon your frontiers There I put on womans apparel again and there the first news I heard was that of your captivitie I need not tell you Madam the greatness of my sorrow my passion is sufficiently known to you to give you som guess of it and you may well imagine that had it not been for the promise of the gods and my belief that in this encounter I might finde som occasion to serv you I should have sunk under that affliction I summoned all my courage together to employ it for your service and begging of the gods to grant mee extraordiuarie forces I went with som confidence toward the place where your armie was encamped Before I would discover my self to the other women I desired to learn of Hippolita whom I had ever known to bee most discreet in what estate my affairs were in this countrey and whether I might yet pass for Oritâ—ia I was so happie that I found a favorable occasion as you have heard and received comforts from her which raised my hopes again I learn'd of her and bee this spoken Madam without stirring up your anger that you had bestowed som tears on my departure and that my memorie was not indifferent to you all my afflictions were counterpoised by the joy this knowledg caused in mee and it so redoubled my courage that I accounted all things too weak to retard the design I had to deliver you You have heard from Hippolita all that passed from the time of my arrival to that of your deliverance and I will add to what shee hath told you that as wee marched toward this Town I praied Menalippa and the chief of those women that had access to you not to speak one word of my beeing return'd but to stay till I discovered my self before you heard that news from any bodie els This was it that favored the dissimulation which wee used so happilie for mee and retiring after the fight while the women did their duties to you I found means when you were in bed to speak with Hippolita and to plot that with her which shee so cunningly hath effected to my advantage Orontes ended his storie thus and by that conclusion of it made mee blush again and fetch'd back part of my shame and part of my anger but beeing no longer in terms to dissemble my affection I gave him all the modest proofs of it hee could desire From that day hee carried himself towards mee very differently from his former manner and cutting off all those liberties I had granted him as Orithia never gave mee any caus to blame him for want of respect or of discretion I am too tedious in my relation but I will shorten the rest of it and tell you that beeing carefully dressed and looked to my wounds were quickly cured and not beeing strong enough to keep the field in Cilicia against those supplies which in probabilitie would arrive within a while I contented my self with putting a garrison in that Town and as soon as I was able to endure a chariot I returned into my own territories and took my way toward Themiscira But before I was gotten to my chief citie hee that succeeded Neobarzanes sent to desire peace with mee and the misfortune I had suffered by war together with the counsels of Orontes whose thoughts were very avers from it perswaded mee to grant it him upon reasonable conditions and to establish an alliance with him which since hath not been violated I shall not stand to recount the welcoms I received from my subjects after a sharp and dangerous captivitie nor the honors they rendred to my valiant deliverer whom they beheld as the protecting Goddess of Themiscira shee took again her former lodgings in the Palace and her former servants and had a great deal more autoritie amongst all our women then in times past but shee abused it not and managed their respect to her so discreetly that shee inflamed them all with a violent affection for mine own part I must confess to my confusion that I found so many amiable qualities in her and had so many causes to bee pleased with her love to mee that I preserved not the least remainder of my former inclinations but gave my self to her as much as my virtue and the informations I had received from her self could permit mee wee had no more but one thought and if I may say so without blushing wee had no more but one soul and one will I made no longer any difficultie to open my heart to him and to confess that I loved him more then my self but what advantage soëver he drew from that confession hee never emboldened himself to take those liberties that were forbidden him My women often admired that they no longer saw that familiaritie between us they had formerly observed and though our conversation was more frequent then ever they found but knew not the
surcharge unto his shame to make him kill a Woman whom he was to love or to make him love a Woman whom he had kill'd My crime was before my love my love is the punishment of my crime and both my crime and love will have an equal destiny O Heavens did you ever see a fortune that could have any resemblance unto mine and could you not have made the face of it less strange less cruell If you had so decreed that I must love this Woman could I not have loved her without killing her and if you needs would have me kill her could I not have kill'd her without loving her Others may have kill'd others may have loved but never any except Demetrius lov'd and kill'd both together Love every where else begins and declares it self by Services onely mine begins and declares it self by death nay and by a death which fore-ran both its declaration and its birth Ah Demetrius How cruell are the marks of thy affection and how strange a revolution has thy condition suffered in a short time This morning thou wert both free from love and innocent of Murther this evening thou art guilty of the one and mortally wounded with the other there remains onely since thy love and thy crime are inseparable that thou prosecute both to the uttermost and that in this heart the seat of thy affection thou give the last blows to that unfortunate Image which is engraven in it by thy crime alone These were the discourses wherein the disconsolate Demetrius passed the whole night and if he interrupted them many times 't was onely to leap out of his bed run to the wounded Ladies chamber door and inquire how she did of those that waited on her she to whom they related his disquiets to oblige her to desire life and indeavour her recovery seem'd to be deeply touch'd with them and speaking with much moderation to those that were about her Intreat Demetrius said she to take his rest for my sake and if he will have me pardon him my death let him not redouble her griefs who wants not other causes of affliction These words being told Demetrius wrought some light effect in his minde and testified this to him at least that the marks of his love were not indifferent to her As soon as day began to appear he would have risen and run to her Chamber but the Chirurgians not having been able to hinder him by the consideration of his wounds which held him at last by that of the person whom he loved and made him with great impatience defer the sight of her till the hour her wound was to be dressed and that sentence pronounced which he waited for with mortal apprehensions During that tedious space the conversation of his father together with that of Lysimachus Ptolomeus and Oroondates himself who hazarded his health so far as to come and visit him were not able to divert him so much as a moment from his violent disquiets These Princes who from the Chirurgians had learned how little cause of hope there was in the strangers wound endeavoured to prepare him insensibly for the worst event but they found him so little disposed to hearken to them that they were fain to give over their design At last the hour he so much desired being come he caused himself to be made ready and going into her Chamber with all the company he came softly to her bed-side and kneel'd down against the opening of the curtain without being able to speak one word The wounded Lady who saw him in that posture and who could no longer be ignorant of his passion Demetrius said she if my life were as innocent as yours our fortunes would have some resemblance and if you will love me after my death there will be much conformity in our destinies I would love you after your death replied Demetrius if I could possibly survive you but I should be unworthy of life if I were of so mean a spirit as to preserve it after the loss of you These words struck Antigonus into a very great fear and upon this discourse the Chirurgians being come in began to go about their business Demetrius trembled all the while they were dressing her and looking upon the wound he had made O cursed and sacrilegious hand cried he why did not the Gods suffer the sword of Cassander or of Leonatus to take thee from my body before this fatal encounter Philip and Amintas having taken off the plaister and seen the wound knew presently that it was mortal but because they were forewarned by Antigonus would not deliver their opinion before him and onely said that the success was still doubtfull and that it was to be hoped for from the Gods and from the virtue of the remedies applied Their Patient asked them leave to entertain Demetrius and the Company and they told her she might do it without any danger which liberty so freely granted made her soon know that her cure was despaired of and Demetrius if he had not been so much blinded might easily have judged with the rest of those there present that that permission had not been given her but that rest and silence were no longer available for her recovery She intreated Demetrius to sit down by her bed-side and Oroondates Antigonus and the rest placed themselves round about which done addressing her speech to Demetrius she spake in this manner The History of Hermione I Know very well that I shall die but I feel I have yet strength enough both to live some few days and to make a long discourse which obliges me Demetrius to give you the recital of my life and in this you receive no small mark of the esteem I have of you since it is so guilty that I ought in reason to conceal it to all the world but I pass over that consideration because you from thence may draw the knowledge of many things which will be advantageous to you the first is that of the crimes of this unfortunate Woman whom you love which without doubt will cure you of this affection whereof she acknowledges her self most unworthy the second that of my hearts being prepossessed which though the gods should prolong my miserable life would not leave me any power to answer to this friendship you express to me and the last that of the disasters which make life odious to me and which making you see with how much reason I ought to detest it will comfort you as well as me for the loss of it Besides these considerations which concerns you O Demetrius I have others for my particular interest capable to oblige me to this relation before persons who having perchance known my crime are ignorant of the excuses it may have and who by this naked confession of my life will have a perfect knowledge of the one and of the other Although I have in arms received this favourable wound which by one death alone delivers me from many yet am
very short marches We came on this fashion into Scythia and arrived at Issedon but Theodates who for particular reasons desired to keep me conceal'd would not let me be carried into that Citie but to a house of his which was not above five or six hundred furlongs from thence I was already in a condition which gave the Chirurgians certain hopes of my recovery but my wounds were so great that long time and much patience were necessary for my cure nor did they fail to labour in it with such extraordinary care that I could not then imagine any other thing but that Theodates having had some knowledge of my quality was so industrious to procure my health out of hope to get a mighty ransom for me I wrong'd his vertue in that false opinon and I have since had very good reason to know that nothing but meer generosity inspired him with all those favourable inclinations to me He had visited me often during our march and he saw me divers times at that house of his where he forgot no kind of civility or good usage to sweeten the discontent I might have either for my wounds or for my captivity I had learn'd his name and quality of them that waited on me and that knowledge obliged me to pay him what I thought due to a Prince to whom I was so highly indebted He never had asked me any thing concerning my name or birth and I judg'd it not convenient to discover that I was Darius his Son knowing what a mortal hatred the King of Scythia bore our family But one day when he was by my bed-side he with a great deal of civility entreated me to tell him something of them assuring me that let me disguise it as much as I would I could not put him out of the opinion he had conceived of the greatness of my quality I all my life had a great aversion against lying and besides esteeming Theodates extreamly I desired to tell him truth without discovering my self and remembring the former names our family had born before my Father attain'd the Crown I am called Arsaces said I my Fathers name was Codoman and you were not deceived when you believed me to be something above the common rank of men for indeed I am born a Prince in one of those Contreys that obey Darius and I have the honour to appertain to him by some Alliances which are not very remote I make this confession to you upon the knowledge I have of your virtue and though captivity be hard to Princes I shall bear mine with patience and not think my condition miserable because I am fallen into the hands of so genererous a Prince as Theodates When you are once in such an estate reply'd Theodates that you can make use of the esteem I have of you you will find I have no intentions you can complain of nor shall the knowledge you give me of your quality be any way to your disadvantage Yet is it necessary it should be unknown to the Scythians for if the King should know I had a prisoner of such importance it would be hard for you to recover your liberty before the end of our wars You may lie here concealed till you are well and when you have recovered your health and strength I will certainly give you cause to continue your good opinion of me We had some other discourse upon this subject and during all the time my wounds kept me in bed I had a thousand new occasions to acknowledge his civility While I led that kind of life very tedious to a person of my humour I made my thoughts to travel as far as Persia and I may truly protest to you brother that nothing in my captivity troubled me so much as our separation I was uncertain whether you had escaped the Battel in which I fell and into which I had seen you rush headlong with so little regard of danger and really that apprehension was the greatest of my discontents Yet did I receive some consolation in that among so many bodies as were stript yours whereof the whole Court of Scythia had the Idaea most present to their memory had not been found which made me hope with a great deal of likely-hood that you were not slain in that dayes service Your consideration also gave me a desire to make some stay among the Scythians though I had had liberty to return and my dear Oroondates was too high in my esteem to leave his Countrey without seing the King his Father and that Sister whose admirable beauty was so loudly fam'd and whereof I had heard Araxes and many other persons in Scythia speak with some of those praises which are her due I heartily wish'd for some occasion wherein I might repay your house some small part of what you had done for ours and the Gods know I would have purchased it with the better part of my bloud In fine not to hold you longer in this tedious part of my life I recovered my health but I was not able to stir out of my Chamber of above three moneths after our arrival in Scythia I saw my self at liberty as soon as cur'd there were no Guards to hinder me from going away and generous Theodates did not so much as demand my promise for assurance I rather would have lost my life than abused that goodness nor would I have taken so much liberty as to have walked into the garden if he had not earnestly entreated me himself and if within a few dayes after he had not told me that I was a free man and that if I had a mind to retire into my Countrey he would furnish me with means to get out of Scythia This great civility of Theodates put me into a confusion which I cannot represent but I would by no means accept his offers and I let him see I knew too well how the rights of war engaged me towards him to make so ill an use of his noble favours I told him that I knew the Obligations I had to him were invaluable but also that with what wealth the Gods had left to my disposing I had a life which I held from none but him and which I with a perfect satisfaction would bestow on him that had so generously preserved it Theodates judging by my discourse that I was not of an humour to continue engaged in so great obligations redoubled his affection to me and protested that he never would receive any thing but my friendship for the price of my liberty and of what he had done to save my life And I reply'd I will never receive my liberty upon such conditions and if it be an offence to Prince Theodates to offer him riches for a reward of his generosity he cannot at the least refuse Arsaces himself who gives himself absolutely to him and who will not leave his preserver and his master Our conversation ended with a great many embraces and Theodates told me I should
to come up to his Relief He had his sword in his hand wherewith he defended himself with a great deal of courage but his servants put themselves between him and danger as likewise did those of Arsacomes and Theodates who being unarm'd as well as the King fought very valiantly to save his life I had hardly cast mine Eyes upon that Combat when knowing the party I ought to take I fell in among the Enemies with a fury which proceeded from a quite different cause than the little valour the Gods had given me And indeed it produc'd effects infinitely above my forces and at my first coming into the fight I scarce gave any blow that made not a mortal wound they that were with me seconded me with so much courage that the half vanquish'd Scythians recovered spirit by their example and began to make their Enemies doubt of the issue of the business It quickly grew more equal than it was at our arrival and the number of those murtherous Traitours was in a short time lessen'd by the death of some of the forwardest amongst them Their Head who perceiv'd that change would have animated them by his voice and by his example but he was able to do no great matter and I having known him by many tokens sought him in the middest of his men and in spite of all the obstacles wherewith they opposed my passage I got to him and to his misfortune my sword met so luckily with a place unguarded by his Arms that at the first thrust it ran clear through his body and made him tumble dead amongst the horses feet His fall did so discourage those of his party that they no longer thought of any thing but defending themselves and that they did so ill that the victory over them was not difficult for Arsacomes and Theodates though they were wounded closing up to me with shields wherewith they defended themselves for want of other Arms and being seconded by all the Scythians in whom that alteration had wrought a marvellous confidence we forc'd them in the end to quit the field and to seek for that safety by flight which they no longer could finde by their resistance I then turn'd me about toward the King uncertain whether I should prosecute our Victory or run to him but he put me quickly out of that irresolution by crying Valiant man you yet have conquered but in part and unless you also save the Queen and Princess you have done nothing for my safety These words went so near to me that I felt my strength almost redoubled by them and seeing that the King himself ran toward the place where he desir'd we should succour those dear persons I cast my eye upon the ablest of those Horses that walk'd about us without their Riders and feeling my own begin to fail as well through weariness as some wounds he had receiv'd I alighted hastily and leaping upon the other ran with such speed after the King that I had quickly overtaken him My love guided me so favourably that I soon discover'd the Chariot about which there had been a stout and bloudy Combat all they of the Guard were slain at the boots of it not having abandon'd their Princesses but with their lives and those barbarous Enemies were pulling them violently out of the Chariot O Gods how infinitely did Rage transport me when I saw my Princess in the power of a man who carrying her away in spite of her cries and her Resistances would have deliver'd her into the arms of another that was very well arm'd and bravely mounted certainly all the words in the world are not sufficient to represent my fury and I was so animated by that sight that all the Enemieâ— Forces were not able to resist me I flew most impetuously at those two men but having my sword up to strike at him that held my Princess the fear I had of wounding her made me withhold my blow and turning towards him that was ready to receive her I brought down my sword so forcibly upon his Arms which he had stretched forth towards her that they fell both together from his body to the ground his companion seeing him receive that stroak and fearing such another quitted the Princess but scarce had he disburthen'd himself of that glorious weight when he was also disburthen'd of his head which with a back blow I made cask to rowl and all between the Chariot wheels After this execution I fell in among the rest with a success but little different while the King coming to joyn with us as also Arsacomes and all the Scythians that were left of the former fight brought terrour to those Villains already half defeated by the death of their Leaders and by the loss of their companions They no longer made any considerable resistance and very few of them escaped our just Resentments As soon as we had no more Enemies to fight withall I turn'd to that illustrious Company all stain'd with bloud and in an equipage which as my Princess was pleased to say for all it was terrible had something in it not unpleasing to her I consulted a while with love and decency whether I should run first to the King or to my Princess but love though the more powerfull was content for its own interest to yield to decency and found its advantage more in concealing than in declaring it self so publickly Scarce had I turn'd my Horse to go toward the King when I saw him come forward to meet with all that were about him Whosoever thou art cried he O our valiant Protectour 't is to you we ow our Lives and you have won them to your self with so matchless a Valour and so great a generosity that though you should be born our subject you ought to be the Master of them for ever Instead of answering these words I leap'd from my Horse and cast my self at the Kings feet so suddenly that he could not possibly hinder me and had no sooner pull'd off my Cask but my face was known by the King and the whole Company The King was wonder-strucken that he went back a step or two and then presently coming to me again with open arms O Arsaces cried he O Arsaces and without saying any thing more at that time he imbrac'd me with such affection that I easily saw my absence had abated nothing of that he formerly had honoured me withall Berenice hath since confessed to me that she was fain to use a very violent constraint upon her self in that sudden surprise and that by my good fortune I had part enough in her favour to give her motions of joy in that Encounter which it was very hard for her to dissemble yet did she smother it with much ado and following the Queens example she contented her self with testifying her acknowledgements in the same manner But scarce was I got free of the King when Theodates making his passage through all the rest came to give me and to
from making any mention of it to Toxaris and Loncates when I told them of the journey I had made into Scythia It is certain That nothing stopt my mouth but the fear of destroying that great Prince And if you will do me the favor to believe My Lords That though I was so faithless as to do my Master ill offices in his love I was not so errant a Villain as to sell the Blood of my lawful Prince and to deliver him up to Enemies who had so great an interest in his ruine that they never would have spared him I will not relate any of those things that have passed in Babylon touching the War you have been informed of them both by Prince Artaxerxes and by others who knew more then I but will onely tell you what you are ignorant of and which cannot be come unto your knowledge being passed since the last Battel After that bloody defeat of our Army the remnants of it as you know retired into the Town and of above A hundred thousand men there scarce came back Eighteen or twenty thousand and even of them a great many sore wounded Among the Commanders there was hardly one that had escaped without hurt and scarce were there any of them in a condition to gather up the scattered reliques of our Forces and to present themselves at the Gates to oppose the pursuite of yours in case they should have prosecuted their Victory into the City Alcetas much less wounded then his Brother Antigenes Nearchus his Father and some others did all they possibly could to that purpose and while they were so imployed Perdiccas Cassander Neoptolemus and the rest who had not come off so well went to their Beds to seek repose and remedy for their wounds All things were then in a very lamentable form in Babylon the streets rung with the cryes of many thousands who then finding their losses enquired for their Sons their Fathers or their Husbands with tears and mournful groans the mangled Soldiers begged with cryes to have their wounds dressed To this grief and to this disorder was also added the fear of timorous women and feeble old men who being utterly dismayed by so great a defeat imagined every moment that they saw the Enemies within their Gates and who with mortall terrors expected the taking and sacking of their City Alcetas and his Companions took the best course they were able in that confusion they shewed a great deal of care in quartering the Soldiers who by reason of the vastness of the Town found all room enough they looked to set such Guards as were necessary within and to Man the Out-works which they meant to keep nor did they forget any thing belonging to their charge in so pressing an exigency You may guess at Roxana's sorrow by her interest it was so violent That of all the rest of that day she was not capable of any thing that was said to comfort her and the Physitians who had care of her health told her but in vain That being so far gone with childe she did her self a great deal of harm by such an excess of grief Her disquiets were augmented by the news she heard that day for she was told by those that had escaped from the Battel that Prince Oroondates thatâ—rtaxerxes â—rtaxerxes the son of Darius who had been thought dead so many years was alive in the same party and that it was he himself that had served on her side in the former Battel and who under the name of Arsaces had gained so high a reputation Roxana was as sensible of these news as one can possibly imagine there was no doubt but she was infinitely troubled to know that Artaxerxes was alive who thereby frustrated the cruelty she had used against his Sisters and who much more potently then those Princesses could disturb her in the possession of her Dominions but yet she was more sensible of Oroondates his return The knowledge of his hatred was a terrible discontent to her finding it so great that it had made him side with her Enemies and fight every day against her And though she was not ignorant how just cause he had nor could in reason condemn his resentments she could not choose but be much afflicted at them since they crossed the design she had of drawing him to her affection and that by those expressions of his hatred he shewed the small inclination he had to love her yet was it some comfort to her to know he was so neer her for all he was an Enemy and in this satisfaction and some remaining spark of hope not yet extinguished in her heart she found at last cause to be as much contented as if she had not heard of him at all She passed the night in distractions which according to Hesione's report would not suffer her to sleep a moment and the next morning as soon as she was ready she went to visit Perdiccas whose wounds kept him in his Bed Their first discourse was of the unsuccessful issue of the Battel and they both bewailed the loss of so many thousand men slain for their Interests especially of many brave Commanders who were either dead or prisoners among which Seleucus held the first place and then Leonatus Nearchus and their Companions of whom they had then heard no news at all After some talk upon that subject Perdiccas who either could not or would not any longer dissemble the truth which in the estate of his Affairs was not possible to be still kept secret seeing no body with Roxana but such persons as he suspected not spoke to her on this maner We might have reason Madam to complain of the ill success the gods have sent to our Affairs if we were not conscious by what crimes we have provoked them against us And if the blood of those great and innocent Princesses which you needs would shed for your own Interests did not call upon them for a revenge which they in justice cannot refuse In brief Madam That crime which makes us odious to all the World hath been as unprofitable to us as it is detestable in it self and you have vainly desired to secure the Throne to your self and to the childe you go withal by the death of Darius his Daughters since the gods have preserved the life of his Son Prince Artaxerxes It is he that may trouble your reign a great deal more powerfully then his Sisters and all the advantage we can reap by that horrid cruelty will be nothing but the stings of a guilty Conscience that will torture us for ever Perdiccas made a stop at these words and the Queen replied I was perswaded to that cruelty against mine own inclination by the example of many persons that have done the same in a like condition And though the advantages I desired to procure to Alexanders Son made me conquer my natural pity I have not nevertheless been without a great deal of Sorrow and Repentance for it It is true