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
began to grow late and fearing somebody might come in and surprise them together the good Princesses bad him farewell and getting up into their Chariots were carryed back unto their Lodgings We returned into Abdolominus his house and my Master having embraced him a thousand times conjured him more ardently then before to assist him and excuse him if he trespassed so far upon his goodness as to accept the offers he had made him and seeing the good man disposed to help him in his desires he discovered to him the designe he had to disguise his condition under the habit of a Gardiner and begg'd so earnestly of him for that employment that he consented to his request and furnish'd us with such clothes as we demanded laying ours up for us and allowing us to continue in his house while Alexander or the Princesses should stay at Sidon Toxaris and Loncates our two Scythian servants kept our armes and horses at the Town and took care to bring us meat though Abdolominus would not have suffered it but my Master to whom his poverty was not unknown would not put him to any expence and did all he could to perswade him to take his presents which he still refused with so much generosity and greatness of courage that we often judg'd him worthy of the fortune which befell him within a little after The next day Oroondates expected the Ladies arrival in the Garden with an impatience equall to that of the day before true it is that his minde was much more quiet and that having nothing more to overcome but Alexanders fortune he thought himself in a high degree of felicitie they came at the accustomed hour and found him apparelled in a plain grey suit yet not unhandsom and such as did not much diminish the gracefull fashion he had in his ordinary habit Their first discourse was of their affairs and of the means that might be found for their deliverance but after they had studied for that in vain and considered the impossibilities that thwarted it at that present they resolv'd to wait still for the occasions that heaven might offer them and not to use an unseasonable haste that would but ruine their designes and take away all the facility that might be found for the future their conversation was long upon that point but the Queens judging of my Masters impatience by their knowledge of his Love and not doubting but that after so long an absence he desired ardently to entertain his Princesse were willing to leave him alone with her and taking their walk in these pleasant allyes they obliged Parisatis and the other Ladies to do the like only Cleone remained with Statira but I taking her by the hand walked at a little distance with her who not opposing my Princes happiness was content to afford him an entire liberty Then it was that this passionate Prince threw himself before his Princesses feet and that cementing his lips to her fair hands he entertained her with the violence of his affection in tearms which it would be hard for me to repeat though I have learn'd part of them from his own mouth There by a deluge of tears they solemnized the death of Artaxerxes and endeavoured to comfort one another for a loss which was equally sensible to them After they had given some time to that remembrance Oroondates wiping his eyes Madam said he I should certainly have died to keep company with a person whom I lov'd better then my self if my faithfull Araxes being less possessed with grief had not put me in mind of what I owed to you I confesse Madam I yeilded to that consideration and my friendship to Artaxerxes not being to be overcome but by my love to you my love got the victory of my friendship and made me preserve that for you which I had resolv'd to lose with him and which I ought to have lost for him in acquitting my self better then I did of the charge you gave me The Princess who had a mind to divert him from so sorrowfull a remembrance You have put that life said she but in too much hazard which I so dearly recommended to you yet since you disobeyed me so soon I beseech you do so no more if I have the power of it I command it you and since it is impossible for us to fetch back my poor brother to life again let us take care that he never die in our remembrance where we will raise him an everlasting monument and in the mean time revive your spirits as much as you can and as our present condition will give you leave and knowing that all your griefs are as sensible to me as to your self recover your former looks if you will have me finde those features in your face that made me love it She pronounced these last words with so obliging a tone and looked upon my Prince with such a piercing eye that he fell out of one extream into another and passing from grief to joy in a moment suffered himself to be so transported with his passion that it made him lose part of his respect and drawing nearer his Princess he surpris'd her lips with his and seal'd them with so much ferventness or rather forgot himself with so much sweetness that he seem'd as if he never would have parted from them if the Princess had not gently thrust him back saying It is enough Oroondates abuse not the priviledge so soon which Darius his consent ha's given you and stir not up the Gods yet more against us by seeking pleasures while our Family is afflicted with so many losses you will not be less satisfied when you shall know I love you by other proofs nor shall I love you lesse though I urge you still to continue that respect which always pleased me and which becomes you so extreamly well My Prince alittle ashamed to see himself so reproved answered her Madam your goodness will pardon these transports in consideration of their cause which pleads excuse for them and I hope you will not think it strange that I pay my self in one moment for the pains of a whole year nor that a man grown insolent by the approbation of the King and of the Queens emboldens himself to a liberty which their consent seems to authorize Not that I will make use of it if my Princess be displeased for I fear much more to offend her then that I shall stir up the Gods against us by the effects of my passion and by my most innocent intentions But Madam ought I to trust my fortune and may I with some appearance of reason believe that your favour to me will continue ever firm ought I not to tremble at the remembrance of Alexander and fear that that Conqueror of men may prevail also with the other sex and overcome your minde either by his fortune by his merit or by the power he now hath over you That question disobliges me reply'd the Princess and if you think
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
had gayned much upon the heart of Deidamia yet had he not been able to banish the memory of Agis which was too deeply rooted in it Though in the hopes of all these illustrious Lovers there was some difference their sufferings yet were equall and all of them sigh'd equally either through fear or through desire Chance brought them all together one day in the Queens Chamber with their Princesses and it seemed as if it had been for the decision of their fortunes Oroondates who could no longer live in his cruell uncertainties resolved to put them to a period and trusting with very good reason to the greatness of his services and to the marks of acknowledgement he discovered every day in the Queens actions he had a mind to draw a finall assurance from her Artaxerxes and he were by the Bed side with the Queen and the Princess Berenice Lysimachus Oxyatres Orontes and Demetrius were at the other end of the Room conversing with their Princesses when the King of Scithia not being longer able to master his passion fell suddenly upon his knees before the Queen His action was very unconfident and never in all the greatest dangers had that fear appeared in his countenance which then was easily to be seen in it by whosoever observed him At length he strove to conquer it and dispelling all shew of it by the greatness of his courage he began to speak fixing his eyes upon her face but in so submissive and so dependent a manner that the Queen did not lesse discover the force of his love by that last action then by the most important ones of his whole life I Goe about a business Madam sayd he which truly I cannot venture upon without trembling and that which I have now to beg of you it so infinitely above my services that the memory of them is not able to secure mee against my fears and my distrusts yet am I forced to make use of them having nothing else so powerfull to strengthen my pretensions and if you will pardon me for it I 'le call to your remembrance that after some light actions which my fortune in Persia the Prince your Brother layd the first foundations of it by his goodnesse you approved of them by yours and the deceased King your Father established my highest felicity by his Hee was pleased to suffer that Oroondates should bee yours and if I may be permitted to use that tearm hee engaged himself by his word to give you to Prince Oroondates you were afterward taken from mee by the treachery of our enemies and by the violence of a Conquerour I had not if I may say so pulld that misfortune upon my self by any of my actions and if I bore it without dying 't was because the Gods had destined me to live still for you I consented without complaining to the banishment you ordained mee and if I since returned to you 't was not â—ill according to your own tearms you were in a condition to receive me Before you were so I desired nothing from you nor did I so much as murmur against that duty the Enemy you opposed against my happiness But Madam may I not now bee suffered to rayse my thoughts to what I lost by nothing but my ill fortune and may I not look upon my Queen as she whom the Prince her Brother and whom the King her Father had given me nay as shee who had given her self unto my love Though I cannot bee worthy to succeed in the place of Alexander by greatness of power by victories nor by the qualities of my person may I not supply all these defects by the greatness of my love and by my services May I not beleeve with some shew of reason that never man lov'd better then my self and if in my own interest I may speak it with modesty that never Princess was better served then Queen Statira ha's been by Prince Oroondates All my life is known to you all my thoughts are clearly discovered and it is needless for me to put you in mind of what the accidents of your life cannot have suffered you to forget I have endured all that a man could possiblie undergo and by those sufferings which have not been the lesse sensible for being glorious have I not some reason to aspire unto the highest pitch of my felicity Have I not cause to seek the haven after so many storms wherwith you have seen mee tossed for the space of ten whole yeers And is there any thing left for mee to do or to suffer for my Princess As you desire the favour of the Gods continued he embracing her knees consider the miseries of my life with pity deliver mee out of so many torments which I bore with patience while they depended upon fortune and not upon your will and dispose with compassion of a life which is now in no other hands but yours alone and which now no longer depends upon any thing but what you shall ordain for its preservation or destruction The Prince as he ended these words to which all the Company lent an attention that diverted them from their own affairs fixed his eyes upon the ground fearing to behold some presage of his misfortune in the Queens face She remayned for a good while in the like posture and then if Oroondates was tortured by his fears Artaxerxes was not lesse disquieted then he and looking upon his sister with eyes that condemned her irresolution he sufficiently made appear how great an interest hee took in the happiness of his friend At last the Queen lifted up her head and with a very serious countenance spake on this maner I Ow too much Sir to your services to lose their remembrance or ever to diminish the value of them if I were capable of such an ingratitude I were too worthy of those miseries wherein I have spent my life I know I am often indebted to you for my friends my liberty my life and my honour and that all that ever the most generous men and the most faithfull the most passionate Lovers have undertaken for the persons they have loved comes infinitely short of what you have done for me It is also true that I was yours both by the will of my Brother by that of my Father and by my own I indeed was yours by inclination and by a most lawfull acknowledgement and when to my misfortune I ceased to be so 't was not out of any inconstancy or change of humour Treachery and sovereign power took me from you and when your innocence was known to me 't was only duty that opposed the affection I had for you 'T is that alone dear Prince that represents unto me now that I was Wife to the greatest and most fortunate man in the world I say most fortunate because I very well know that nothing but fortune could give any man an advantage over you In fine I was the Wife and am the Widow of him who but a few months