that are On the Grove of the Spring Tho all the Trees be here as green as usual yet there is much lesse company than was wont not but that there are still a hundered thousand Birds which make the most delightfull melody that can be heard but the reason no doubt is for that the crowd of honorable persons who came to walk here the last year came not so much to hear the Nightingals sing as to behold the two fairest persons of the Earth who were seen there almost every day Now instead of them two melancholick Lovers are seen very frequently-there who came to sigh in the most solitary places of the Grove Sometimes they loose themselves in it their grief so possesses them and there are some also who assure they have made very amorous Verses which have been found carv'd upon the Trees by which it appears that one of them loves a handsom fair woman and the other a beautiful brown However this Wood appears so solitary that there is cause to believe there will be no more resorting to it if those two fair ones who are absent do not speedily return On the Ball upon the evening of Juno's Festivall All sorts of people are seen here some dance well others ill and many others do not dance at all There are seen also several Ladies who ought not to dance more because 't is too long agoe since they begun to dance There are young people too who begin to see the World by the Fall and are so out of countenance that they cannot dance according to the right cadence Here are also knots and factions tho the design oftentimes is onely to dance ill But what is most resented is that the fairest ornament of the Assemblies at Clusium is no longer seen here namely Terentia and Aurelisa And 't is for the same reason that Theanor and Aemilius are not seen here who like better to be in solitude by themselves than to be seen at the Ball where they cannot see the only persons that can please them On the Medow of Flora. All the World is much amaz'd not to see any longer here that abundance of Flowers which were wont to be seen every year Indeed they say the West-winds which serve to maintain the freshnesse of Flowers have follow'd those two fair ones that love them and that this is the cause the Medow has almost no Flowers this year They speak of sending to request them to return but very many beauties oppose it because they like better the Medow should be without Flowers than to see the admirable complexion of Aurelisa and Terentia outshine the lustre of their own On the Temple of Venus A great sacrifice is preparing here for two unfortunate Lovers who cannot be lov'd by their Mistresses tho they have the most ardent and faithful passion in their breasts that ever was There are some believe that if they do not resolve to reward their fidelity the Goddesse they adore will revenge their deaths after a strange manner for 't is the custom of this Goddesse when she is offended with Ladies rebellions against the Laws of her son to take away their beauty immaturely or cause them to love without being lov'd Therefore 't is to be wish'd those two fair persons would reward their Lovers for being so faithful If they do so they shall be happy in the highest degree nothing being more sweet than to love and be lov'd nor nothing so miserable as not to love at all Well said I to Aurelisa and Terentia after I had done reading this news What think you of that which you have heard Me thinks answer'd Terentia to my great discontent Aemilius has a great wit How reply'd Aurelisa roughly do not you know 't is Theanor that made this gallantry For my part said I to them if you ask me what I think I shall tell you I believe it belongs to them both in common that they have joyn'd their braines together that they have both contriv'd the design and afterwards caus'd it to be written by an unknown hand No no answer'd Terentia 't is not Theanor that writ these news no question he has much wit but it does not lye this way and 't is only Aemilius that could invent this folly On the contrary reply'd Aurelisa it looks so like Theanor's that I cannot be mistaken However it be said I to them if the Author of this Gallantry be doubtful the cause of it is not so too and you may easily judge that it was made for your sakes Alas answer'd Terentia what am I the better if this contrivance be ingenious and handsome if Love inspir'd Aemilius with it only to divert Aurelisa Good gods reply'd that fair Virgin what advantage is it to me that Theanor had a hand in this agreeable folly since you were the only occasion of it 'T is very strange said I to them that by these news it cannot be known whether Theanor intended it to Terentia or Aemilius to Aurelisa Alas answer'd Terentia the matter is not dubious for after what they have told us they conceive we easily make the application of what they write However all their wit is very ill bestow'd in the manner they employ it But wherefore said I do not you both strive to conform your minds to your fortunes and to love them that love you Ah! my dear Amiclea cry'd Terentia how happy are you in being ignorant of the power of a vehement inclination and how cruell added Aurelisa in thinking we do not do all we are able to love those that love us At least I know I have omitted nothing to effect it nor neglected any endeavours to love Aemilius and hate Theanor I have done more than you answer'd Terentia for I have attempted to bring my selfe to that passe as to be only indifferent for both and I could never effect it and notwithstanding all my endeavours I have still an inclination for Aemilius and aversion for Theanor However out of respect both to Vertue and Seemlinesse both the one and the other ought to be equally conceal'd for fear of offending Tolumnius and that which renders me more miserable is that I believe if Aemilius knew I did not hate him and you did it is possible he would love me I have believ'd as you do reply'd Terentia that if Aemilius were not ignorant of your aversion against him and the inclination I have to love him in all probability he would love me but at present I believe it lesse than I did Therefore that which pleases me most in this Gallantry of Theanor and Aemilius is that these two Lovers however suspect nothing of our weaknesse towards them and so I may see them without blushing for if they had had any such suspition they would not have said in this last Article of news that when Venus is offended she punishes the fair ones that have disobey'd her by causing them to love without being lov'd In truth answer'd Aurelisa our destiny is
to me it will be easie for him to seal my pardon for having a passion in my Soul which is unknown to him and to have loved more then all the rest of the World the most amiable person of the earth I must likewise see if Clelius is in the resolution to leave Clelia the liberty to dispose of her self for if he is so I dare hope she will prefer me before Horatius and that I shall not go to Perusia till after I have rendred my Rival unhappy but Madam whilst Aronces thus reasoned Horatius who saw a great change in his fortune since Clelius owed his Life to Aronces went to find that Illustrious Roman for to demand of him if he would change the hope he had given him to give him Clelia for an effective fruition but as Horatius hath a heart sensible and fierce and that he was nigh assured he demanded a thing he should not obtain spoke to Clelius in a manner which incensed him and seeing the difference there was between the proceedings of Aronces and Horatius it was the cause that he answered less favourably to the last I know well said Clelius to him after this Lover had alledged all the reasons he could imagine that I have given you hope to obtain my Daughter but I likewise know â—â—ever promised you her and that the least I can do after the last obligation I have to your Rival is no more to force Clelia to espouse you and to leave her the liberty to choose between Aronces and you and not to be unjust towards her by being favourable to you I thought fiercely replied Horatius that though 't is long since you resided at Rome that you had not forgot that the Romans never used to give their Daughters to their slaves and that Aronces might never pretend to Clelia with your consent Ah Horatius interrupted Clelius Aronces is not a slave and you and I should have yet been the Pyrates slaves if he had not delivered us by his valour You are now more acknowledging replied he coldly you are now more ingrateful replied Clelius and I cannot comprehend what obliges you so ill to requite the obligations you have to me for so ill treating Aronces for the love of you you treat him so well now replied he that I should think my thanks ill bestowed if I should thank you in a time when you think to render him happy and me miserable but Clelius fortune it may be will revenge me on your Injustice and you will one of these days know that you have given Clelia to the Son of some Roman Enemy and it may be likewise to some miserable stranger without Birth and Virtue yet once more Horatius replied Clelius speak not of Aronces as you do if you will not have me tell you you degenerate from a Roman I should too much Madam trespass on your patience if I should relate to you all the discourse of these two Men and it suffices that you know they separated ill satisfied one with another and this conversation made Clelius resolve not to give his Daughter to Horatius though he should not give her to Aronces as in effect he did not believe Aronces ought now to espouse her though he spake to Horatius as if he believed it but he soon changed those thoughts for after that Aronces had had conference with Sulpicia and that some passionate expressions had passed between him and Clelia he went to find Clelius to conjure him to give him his Daughter and to let him espouse her before his departure but he spoke to him in the presence of his Wife at first Clelius told him that he had too far extended his generosity and though he had resolved to give him Clelia when he last saved his life he believed to be obliged now he knew him to be a King's Son not to give her to him 't is not said he but Clelia is of an Illustrious blood sufficient to enter in alliance with all the Princes in the World but since you have a Father I ought not to give you my Daughter without his consent you must then let me kill Horatius replied Aronces with precipitation for I declare to you I cannot depart without doing that if you give her not to me therefore if you will not let me dye my hands in the blood of a Man which hath been my friend before he was my Rival and let me renounce all sentences of Nature and Honour give me Clelia I earnestly intreat you for if you do it not I shall be criminal towards all the World I shall be unworthy of my birth and that goodness you have had and have yet for me Horatius shall have reason to hate me and Clelia even shall have it may be cause to despise me commiserate therefore an unhappy Lover who feels Virtue will forsake him if you do not satisfie his love and think after that as Nicius hath recounted to you of the life of the King my Father and since he believed not to have done an unworthy action by engaging himself to espouse Galerita when he was the Prince of Perusia's Prisoner who was the King of Clusium's Enemy think I say that if I am so happy as to deliver him he will not easily pardon me for having espoused a Virgin which possessed my heart before I knew I was his Son In fine without deferring any longer to tell you the good hap of Aronces Clelius who had his spirit irritated against Horatius resolved to render him happy 't is true that Sulpicia who had an extreme joy to see things in this estate was she which finished them for she handsomely told Clelius that if Aronces espoused their Daughter it would be the means to see himself one day in power to give a redoubtable injury to Tarquin so that this puissant reason for the interest of revenge having fortified all those of Aronces he consented he should espouse Clelia before his departure but to the end it should be privately done he was resolved that the Nuptials should be kept at an house of pleasure I had nigh the River Vulturnus about half a days journey from Capua and as 't was necessary for Aronces speedily to depart and that Clelius was glad that this Marriage should be made before Horatius knew of it he was resolved it should be solemnized but with a small number of persons and this Voyage should be pretexted with a simple design to injoy the pleasures of the Countrey and in effect there was at this little feast but three or four of Clelia's friends and Herminius and two others who knew of it and who were invited to the Nuptials I shall not stay my self Madam to tell you the satisfaction of Aronces nor to recount unto you in what terms he expressed it for it would be needless but I shall only tell you that this little Troop whom joy conducted went where these Nuptials were to be kept they were no sooner there but
they imagined Tarquin would not have them to tell it but they spoke in ambiguous terms enough to make it known Mean while this cruel Murtherer stood by still and he had so much dissembling inhumanity as to feel the Pulse of this deplorable Princess that he might guess how long she had to live So as this languishing person did in a manner pull back her Arm and being out of all patience turned towards Tarquin with a languor able to inspire compassion into cruelty it self I ask you pardon Sir said she unto him and blusht for being so long a dying but it is not my fault said she and turned another way for I took all the poison that was given me and never looked for any remedy yet these words were not heard by any but Tarquin and that Lady who knew all the secrets of this deplorable Ladies heart But she was so full of sorrow as she could not speak and Tarquin who was as bold as wicked beginning to speak he said she began to swound and that she would never recover out of it And indeed losing her speech a little after she fell into a Trance which lasted four or five hours But as soon as Tarquin saw her swounded and thinking she would never speak again he sent to acquaint the King and Queen who coming in all hast were extreamly grieved to find the Princess in that condition yet they never thought her to be poisoned nor of any thing else but remedies but all in vain for she died some two hours after the Sun was up Afterwards the unjust Tarquin bethought himself how to render her all imaginable honours after death But whilst this inhumane Butcher was sacrificing this fair Princess unto his Love and Ambition the cruel Tullia was offering the same sad sacrifice that he was and as soon as the Prince of Ameriola was returned home and according to his custom went into a Bath he began to find himself ill for Tarquin had made up his Dose of such a Composition as when Tullia had put it into the Bath the very vapour of it did stifle him and took away the use of his reason as soon as he was in The two Servants who waited upon him being privy unto Tullia's Conspiracy they had Antidotes to keep this vapour from hurting them and Tullia had cunningly sent away all others that were not of the confederacy But after this poison had wrought its effect and the Prince in that condition the cruel Tullia her self took him out of the Bathe and put him into Bed causing those who were of this horrid plot to say that he desired to sleep and had forbidden any to enter into the Chamber She her self seeing he did not die so soon as she desired she would not go to Bed that night and going often into the Chamber of this unhappy Prince her impatience was such as she caused him to be strangled with two Handkerchiefs tyed together to the end there might be no signs of a violent death and that it might seem he was choked with a Fluxion of Humours However it was this Prince died the same night with the Princess whom he loved which made so great a noise in Rome rhat nothing else was talked of Yet Tarquin and Tullia were so terrible unto all the World that People durst only whisper what they thought concerning the sudden death of these two both at one time though none called the cause of their death by the name of any disease These most cruel and inhumane Barbarians did well enough forsee that causing them to die so both at one time people would think as they did but they foresaw more danger to themselves in causing them to die at several times for if the Princess had survived the Prince of Ameriola she would have told the King her Father what she knew concerning his death And Tulliia would not poison her Husband until she was sure that Tarquin would poyson his Wife lest after he was rid of him who might dispute with him about the Crown he should not go on in his business Tarquin for his part would not poison his Wife had he not been sure of his Brothers death for he was sure that if his Brother survived the Princess he would revenge her death so as seeing much less danger in the mutterings of the people they resolved to commit these two horrid Crimes both at once with as much boldness as cruelty And as Tarquin did render all imaginable honours unto the Princess as soon as she was dead so did Tullia unto the Prince of Ameriola as soon as he was expired This cruel person had the impudence to go and comfort Tarquin after the death of his Wife And Tarquin also sent this Complement unto her that he was more sorry for the Prince of Ameriola's death as he was her Husband than as his Brother All this while the wise and prudent Servius Tullus was strangely amazed for though at the first he did not suspect that the Princess his Daughter was poisoned yet he was of another mind after the Prince of Ameriola's death and knew that Tarquin and Tullia were they who sent them into another World which grieved this good King to the very heart These two virtuous Persons who were dead were extremely dear unto him and their deaths struck deep into his sorrowful Soul Tarquin and Tullia after this horrid Crime were a horror unto him but they were a terrour also and he feared the same treatment to himself which he saw used unto others Yet this Consideration had not kept him from publishing his resentment had not a reason of honour restrained him For said he unto one whom he trusted with all the secrets of his heart why should I stain my own glory by accusing my own Daughter for poysoning her Husband and her Sister Why should I accuse my Son in Law for murthering his Wife and his Brother When I have accused these two persons can I prove their Crime or am I assured that I can punish them for it is likely that Tarquin and Tullia would never have attempted a thing of this nature unless they were sure of some great party in the Senate Besides I know no further than by conjectures and say I had a certain knowledge it is hard for a Father to punish his own Children unless they be obliged unto it for conspiring against the Senate for in that case the general interest ought to be preferred before the particular and ones Country before Nature But this is only to be revenged for the death of a Daughter and a Son in Law Rome hath no interest in the business or if it have it is in a different manner For I conceive it is a shame unto all Romans to have a King that shall convict his Son in Law for poisoning his Wife and that shall convict his own daughter for poysoning her Husband I conceive it better to dissemble it and look upon Tarquin and Tullia as innocent This
he being harmlesly incapable of hurting any Tarquin was contented to take his estate which was very great without sacrificing him unto his cruelty I shall not insist any longer upon a particular relation of all his wickednesses nor his reasons which moved him to banish me for that would be to relate the whole History of my life which I will not mix with the story of so wicked a man Yet I must be so just as to confess that of four Children which he hath three of them deserve to have a Father less cruel and a Mother more virtuous for the second of his sons who by his first name is called Aruntius and afterwards named the Prince of Pometia because he did signalize himself at the taking of that Town is a Prince that is every way admirable the third who is called Titus is also a man of very noble inclinations and the Daughter of Tarquin who is married hath all the sweetness and modesty of a good woman But as for the Prince Sextus who is also called the young Tarquin he is much different from his Brothers though he be not so very bad as Tarquin the Proud for he is handsom of a good mind and a pleasant spirit he is naturally eloquent his Ambition is not unmeasurable he is merry frollick and of a quick fancy his inclination is to love all manner of pleasures without any distinguishing of the innocent from the Criminal and of the two he loves those of a Licentious Debauchery better than those who are not so So as having a smack of his Fathers fierceness and a little of his Mothers cruelty and mixing these two with his Libertinism and Debauchery it may well be said that he hath a hundred dangerous qualities for one good one This Sir is the Character of Tarquins Family at this day and this is the character of Tarquin himself who now intends to besiege Ardes and who maugre all his Crimes is so terrible and considerable unto all his Neighbours as no Prince in all Italy more and this Sir is the original of the famous City of Rome Herminius having ended his Relation was thanked by Artemidorus by Aronces by Amilcar and by Zenocrates for the pains he had taken and the pleasure they found in his History of the greatest City in the World and the greatest Tyrant that ever was After which reasoning upon all they had heard and considering that Love and Ambition were the chief causes of all these miseries Artemidorus wished that there were no passions in the hearts of men Oh for Heavens sake said Amilcar and smiled make no such dangerous wish since I conceive that if men had no passions in lieu of wishing to live they would wish to dye for nothing is more odious than to have a sluggish luke-warm life without either desires or fears a life that is no more sensible than that which we see in Flowers or Leaves I conceive indeed said Herminius that all pleasures have their rise from passions That is so true said Amilcar that if all the wise men of Greece should rise again I would make them all confess that all their wisdom were not worth a straw if there were no passions in the hearts of men and that wisdom were a treasure which they knew not what to do with I dare go further than so added Aronces for I am perswaded that all the heroick acts which have been done in all ages had never been done had there been no passions I do agree unto what you say replied Artemidorus but yet you must confess with me also that without the same passions few or none of all the great and abominable Crimes had been committed I do confess that replied Amilcar but I must tell you withal that as we do gather Roses though they have some sharp pricks admire the Sea though she causes many Shipwracks love the light of the Sun though sometimes it burns and love the earth though she produces dangerous as well as wholesome Plants so I say the same of Passions and all the evils of them that I should be sorry they were quite taken away from men for if they were all pleasures and delights would he taken away with them as Herminius well observed But yet I would gladly know added he and addressed himself to Zenocrates who had not spoke a word in this dispute what opinion you are of had I known what my self replied he very pleasantly and smiled I should ere this have told you but to be sincere I know not for since I am very sensible of Love I would gladly reserve that passion but otherwise I am so naturally lazy as I should not be sorry if there were no other passions in the World because I fancy that if there were none all would slumber in a continual languor of spirit and a pleasing phantasm of idleness which would be exceedingly charming As for matter of idleness you are in the right replied Amilcar for if there were no passions all brave men would have nothing to do if there were no Ambition millions of men would come and go in and out of the World without any thing they had to do in it Take the passion of Love from a Lover and he 's but an idle creature take from a brave man that which gets him honour and he will never go to the Wars Kings without Ambition might have subjects enough valiant men not having the passion of getting glory would all sit still undistinguished from Cowards I believe likewise that the fields would all lye fallow Cities and Houses would not be built men would remain dispersed in the Fields not seeking for any other lodgings than Grots such as nature shall make them And as for Ladies if there were no passions in the World I know not what they would do for they being the weaker Sex if their beauty did not cause Love in the hearts of men and that beauty hold them in obedience in lieu of force I had rather be a handsome Butterfly than a fair woman for besides their being certainly Slaves they would live in a most irksome idleness since they would not know how to spend away that time which now they employ in dressing themselves do but look upon a fair Woman in a place and at a time when she thinks none will see her nor she see any that would be enough to make one think that if Ladies did know they could never cause Love they would never take so much pains as to spend all the day in dressing themselves to be undressed again at night I once knew a Woman in Africa whom I never saw but twice yet I saw her very different for the first time I saw her she was so well drest and so handsom as she charmed me though she was but of a mean Beauty But a while after this Lady being gone into the Country in a place where she never thought to see any and being alone with her Husband I happened to come
which might give Tarquin some cause to think that Clelia was the daughter of Clelius but as good luck was the man had heretofore been servant to Amilcar who turning his eyes towards him he made such signs to hold his peace and in such a menacing manner as the poor fellow not knowing what to say or not to say he said just nothing Tarquin seeing him to be a stranger and ignorant in in what he desired to know he let him go amongst the rest of the prisoners at which Aronces was very glad but desiring to know a little more concerning the Prince of Numidia when Tarquin was gone to his quarters he went unto him who kept the prisoners to speak with this African who might satisfie his curiosity and he went with Amilcar who made the man to tell that the Prince of Numidia desiring to get into that party which was opposite unto that which Horace took he had a desire to know whether he was in Ardes as it was reported he was so as Aronces was likely to see his Rival arrive in the Camp of Tarquin and to arrive in such a manner as to be known who he was However he 〈◊〉 dissemble his resentments and for Clelia's sake comply with all the pleasures of the Prince Sextus because it was he above all the rest from whom he was to hope for Clelia's protection if Tarquin should hear by any ill fortune that she was Daughter unto Clelius for Sextus being not capable of that politique hatred which the King his father was it was to be hoped that Clelia being very fair and pleased him he would defend her in case Tarquin should offer either to hurt her or love her too much for Aronces saw she was in danger of these two extreams so as though he was very melancholy at the heart yet he was forced to seem merry in the face and though he was free from any licencious Debauchery yet he lived as if he were the greatest Libertine of all men upon earth And since Tarquins design was not to take Ardes by force but by hunger the time was likely to be long and Sextus brought into the Camp a way of life more voluptuous then in Rome for they did nothing but feast continually from Tent to Tent and from Quarter to Quarter However there was a necessity of complying with his humour though against the hair of ones own and sometimes is is wisdom not to seem wise Thus Aronces being both amorous and prudent did comply with the times and was at all these tumultuous feasts of which Sextus was the Ring-leader also he treated this Martial and merry crew in his own Tent and treated them in a manner so magnificent as did amaze the Romans and in such a neat fashion as made all the Grecians admire Artimedorus Amilcar and also Zenocrates did treat them in their turns as men that knew how to goe through any thing they undertook But Sextus mixing matters of love in all things the discourse in all these feasts was commonly either upon Beauty or the humours of women either in commending or blaming of them So as all this merry company was at Supper one night with the Prince Sextus he began to chide Collatine because his wife could never be seen though she had the reputation of the fairest woman in all Rome For inded said he unto Aronces Artimedorus Amilcar Zenocrates and Celeres though Collatine be Nephew unto the King my father and by consequence Lucrecia of quality to be known by all in Rome yet she is known by none but her Reputation which seems to be upheld by Enchantment for since she will not see the Queen because she was once ill treated by her she will not be seen in any place where her beauty may be judged of if she do pass through the streets unto the Temple her Head is always pulled down and she never frequents any other place If she do walk it is in places so solitary as none ever use to come at them and the truth is Lucrecia is never seen but by five or six people whom none ever sees And yet for all this she hath the reputation of being the fairest Woman that ever was seen in Rome But to tell you truly I do not believe it added he and laughed for if she were so fair as reported I am confident she would shew her beauty mauger all the Roman austerity in spite of all the vigilancy of Parents mauger Collatine himself and all his jealousie for I must certainly conclude that if she be fair he must needs be jealous since none ever sees his Wife Oh Sir said Collatine you are extreamly unjust in accusing me of any jealousie and I were the most unreasonable Man living were I jealous of Lucrecia I must tell you replied Amilcar that a beauty solitary and a solitude voluntary is one of the rarest things in the World and therefore though you be not jealous yet the Prince Sextus is very excusable in suspecting you to be so For my part said the Prince of Pometia I know Lucrecia a little better than you do and I am sure that the cause of her retiredness proceeds not from any jealousie in Collatine but only from her own modesty and from a fancy she hath that there ought to be a great difference between a fair Mistress and a fair Wife For my particular said Sextus I am not of her fancy for I think it fit a Wife should be the Mistress of her Husband and that a Mistress never ought to be the Wife of her Lover The truth is said Artimedorus a Wife ought not to give over her gallantry towards her Husband as soon as she is married and a Mistress should be so familiar with her Lover as to become his Wife by her little care she takes to please him And yet it often happens so replied Aronces I would have a Lady rule her Lover said Amilcar for if the Husband do cease loving as soon as she is married I would have the Wife cease being his Mistress and I would not have any such difference made betwixt Gallantry and Love as usually is I do confess it said the Prince Titus for I cannot endure that Men when they see any Ladies should say I could like such a Lady for my Mistress but not for my Wife and on the contrary I could affect such a one for my Wife but would not chuse her for my Mistress for I conceive what becomes a Wife becomes a Mistress and what becomes a Mistress renders her to be a charming Wife and I would have my Wife as charming as my Mistress and I would not have my Mistress more Cocket then I would have my Wife Then you would have her as austere as the Sibyls replied Sextus and that she be as solitary salvage imperious critical censuring others thinking ill upon the least conjectures and melancholy that she deprive her self of all pleasures to have this onely that she hath the
we to hate those who pretend to conquer the heart we are secretly possessed of that how confident soever Brutus was of Lucrecia's affection yet at certain times he could not endure Collatine But there were also other times wherein he thought himself so happy in the love and esteem of that admirable person that he easily pardoned the contempt of all others To advance his satisfaction it hapned that this discourse was such as suited excellently well with his humor for all the young people that were in the company being seated at one of the great beds of Jesimine I spoke of a young Aquilian began to speak of the glory which Lucrecia had received in having more Garlands of Flowers than all the rest who yet were such as deserved to be first in all places The truth is said Lucrecia to him those who bestowed them on me may more justly pretend to the praise than I unless they may not haply be blamed for not making a good choice But men are so accustomed added she to use the term Glory in every thing that they can hardly speak without it whereas that word in my opinion should be attributed to those only who have done some great exploit in War or to those who are eminent in some Vertue or Science But do you conceive said I to her that one may not say to a beautiful person that she is very glorious in conquering all hearts and establishing an Empire to it self without Arms without Injustice and without Violence This Empire is many times so ill established replyed Valeria that it were very weakly founded upon the glory which hath no other support than the inconstancy of most part of those who make it their business to love but after all I conceive that to be true glory which consists in deserving the esteem of vertuous persons and not in their love for this passion hath many times such a fantastical birth in the hearts of many persons that it were unjust to attribute much glory to those women that are loved though haply it were more unjust to blame those much who love them As for Glory said Mutius I am of opinion it principally pertains to Military actions and that the valiant may pretend to it more than others I agree with you replyed I that the valiant deserve it but withal the vertuous may lay claim to it as much as any For my part I am of Herminius's mind replyed the Prince of Pometia and I added Titus but it must be withal acknowledged that the gaining of a battel deserves a higher glory than the simple mastering of the passions To follow custom replyed I a victory of this nature makes more noise than that you speak of but I am yet to know whether the desert be so great as also whether it be not more glorious for a man to conquer himself than others But by this account said Hermilia we cannot pretend to much glory according to Mutius's sentence for women go not to the wars Ah Hermilia cryed I the Ladies have their victories and their triumphs and know so well how to wage war even in the time of peace that whatever Lucrecia may say they deserve much glory but to speak truly men have more than women in some occasions and I am perswaded it is much more glorious for a man to be loved by a vertuous woman than it is for her to be loved by a vertuous man For in my opinion the excess of beauty takes away from the honor of the conquest and an exceeding handsome woman that subdues a heart deserves no more glory than a Conqueror who having an Army of a hundred thousand men and intelligence within a small City should take it without resistence The glory therefore of women I take principally to consist in this that their endowments exceed their beauty and in a word their deserts be equal to the love men have for them though they lost all that rendred them handsom For my part replyed Mutius I am an adorer of the Ladies yet all considered I take it for granted that in the business of Love Glory is not much concerned How replyed the Prince of Pometia would you think it no glory to be loved The greatest pleasure in the world replyed he but methinks I should not think it that which ought truly to be called Glory For in fine if one be loved by a person of no vertue he hath nothing to boast of and if he be loved by a vertuous person she raises so many niceties that a man must always disguise himself he must hardly ever look on her he must strangely endeavor to conceal himself he must complain of her indifference when haply she hath not any a man must not say he loves her and must be obliged to so many artifices and so many mysteries such certainly as Glory hath no acquaintance with If you speak of vanity replyed I am of your mind but as to glory I must dissent For in the first place I conceive it pertains as much to Love as to War and that this relation is the more symbolical by reason of the combats the victories and the triumphs of it But I hold farther that the more secret a Love is the more glorious is it to the man beloved and if you will appeal to the Company to judge I shall undertake to maintain that there is nothing so pleasant nothing so glorious as for a man to be loved by a person of great merit and a great vertue though the world know it not nor haply never should As I spoke thus I observed that I much obliged Brutus and did not displease Lucrecia by defending a cause wherein they were so much concerned Besides that I was not sorry that I had engaged my Rival to maintain an opinion which besides its ill consequence must lose him in the esteem of Valeria and I pressed him so hard that conceiving himself bound in reputation obstinately to make good what he had advanced he undertook to do it He spoke the first thinking it an advantage to give in his reasons before I had mine so that the whole company favoring us with a silent audience Mutius began to state his opinion by a definition of love made to his own fancy To make you acknowledge that true which I maintain said he directing his speech to me it is only to be considered that Pleasure is the soul of Love as I may so say and that if Love had not in it an ingredient of something pleasant people would not be in love When we speak of love our minds are carried away only with the pleasures of it Hope it self is the mother of many sensible delights nay we find them even in our very afflictions so that grief and joy are only the effect of Love which admits not any thing of Glory For a man dares not boast of the least favor without dishonor and a Lover that divulges the indulgences of his Mistress does himself more
and not willing by generosity to acquaint Berelisa that her Sister yet loved him would have explained it otherwise than he had said but as he is naturally very sincere he could not frame himself to tell a lye Berelisa then knowing by the manner of his speech he had something he would not tell her had such a strong curiosity that she earnestly pressed him to tell her what had happened to him which made him desist from desiring to know the contents of the Letter So that both having a strong curiosity and this curiosity augmenting by their resistance in the end Berelisa's being the stronger it obliged her to tell Artemidorus that if he promised her not to be transported with any resentment against the party whom she imagined had wrote the Letter she received she would shew it him And he likewise told her that if she engaged her self not to speak of what he said to her she should see that she had much injured him in speaking to him of Clidimira in that manner as she had done In fine Berelisa gave to Artemidorus the Letter he had given her which so surprised him that the fountain of his utterance was a long time sealed before he could perform his Word to Berelisa for they at first so sympathized in their thoughts that there was doubtless a transmigration of their souls For he likewise believing Terillus had invented this fallacy he then began to exaggerate his misfortune for having a Rival to whom he had many obligations and to seek by what way Terillus had known what he had wrote in his Letter For said he to Berelisa if there was nothing there but my Love for you and your goodness for me I should say Jealousie had dictated it to him since there is no better spy than the spirit of a jealous Lover But Madam I am surprised of what he relates concerning Clidimira since that in fine if I must tell you all things it is true that this unfaithful person would without doubt once more deceive me Berelisa hearing Artemidorus speak in this manner pressed him to retail to her that which he had said and this Prince willing to obey her recounted unto her that which I had told him But though she might remain satisfied yet she was angry he had concealed that from her so long time Nevertheless added she by a motion of Jealousie do not you imagine Clidimira would reconquer your heart by a resentment of hatred for me and if another had deprived you of your Love she would have resigned to her a peaceable possession but as I am unhappy I would not swear you will not become unfaithful Ah Madam interrupted Artemidorus you are the injustest person in the world to use those words As they were on these terms the amiable Philonice entred acccompanied by the Prince of Messina who came to Agrigentum during a suspension of Arms I came likewise to Berelisa's house a little after and as I was taxed of inconstancy Lysicoris who was come with the Princess Philonice having something to tell me called me whilst Philonice spoke to Berelisa towards the windows But as I answered not I pray said she to a Lady which was nigh me tell that unfaithful person who is by you that I would entertain him Hardly had Lysicoris said this but turning towards her I pray said he to her call me not unfaithful yet for Inconstant pursued I I endure it but for unfaithful I cannot suffer it I have not such a delicate Spirit as you replied Lysicoris and I know not too well between Inconstancy and Infidelity As Lysicoris said that the Princess Philonice who had heard her turned and seated her self and making one in this discourse she demanded who could doubt there was no distinction to be made between an unfaithful and inconstant person In truth replied Lysicoris I think in case of Love these two things very much resemble For my part replied I I am not of that opinion that one cannot sometimes be inconstant without shame and that one cannot be unfaithful without baseness Berelisa seeing then such a fair occasion to insult over Clidimira and to darken her esteem with Artemidorus engaged so discreetly this conversation that she saw her self obliged to make the distinction and she did it more easily than any part of the Company and the Prince of Messina as others without exact examination said that inconstancy and infidelity might easily be confounded For my part said then the Princess Philonice I am of the opinion of Berelisa and Zenocrates for I believe one cannot say there is a kind of inconstancy without infidelity or fidelity without inconstancy and if it was not that I am now in a melancholy humour I might very well bring my thoughts to tryal bvt since Zenocrates and Berelisa are of my opinion I give them Commission to declare my resentments for I imagine they know them But said then Lysicoris smiling is he not an unfaithful man which changeth love And an inconstant Lover is he not likewise who changes his Mistress A liberal man who makes a present without choice replied Berelisa gives something which is to him and a prodigal man which casts without choice gives likewise that which appertains to him the one practiseth a virtue and the other makes to see he hath a vice this which is well more estranged the one from the other than inconstancy and infidelity for I say not that inconstancy should be a vertue but I say that an honest man when he is young may sometimes be inconstant without dishonouring himself and that in some times in some age and in pretext that this should be no person can be unfaithful without baseness and infamy I sustain likewise that infidelity and inconstancy are yet more horrible in women than men Berelisa said this with so much emotion that I knew well that I might do her the greatest pleasure in the world to remit my cause in her hands and that she was not sorry to speak on this subject finding likewise much more fit to oblige her to defend me than to defend her self I left her at least to begin this innocent war But then said the Prince of Messina I would know precisely what is that delicate distinction you make of inconstancy and infidelity I call inconstancy replied Berelisa a certain incertitude of heart and spirit where young men are more subject than others since there is without doubt two or three years of life where those which are naturally of an inconstant inclination find nothing which pleases them which attaches them not successively For by example if Zenocrates would say the truth he will confess that a great number of women have pleased him that he hath fair brown and fair yellow he hath many times felt in his heart enough disposition to have love he will even confess I assure you that he hath began to tell it to many fair persons and that there 's likewise some others for whom he hath changed
so general that they had only time to slee to Tullia who was now in such a condition as she was never in before Now as it happens that in all popular insurrections there is ever a third party that minds only Plunder and endeavours to enrich it self by anothers loss Herminius who much feared the disorder desired Valerius's leave to place a Guard at his house lest the excellent Valeria should be exposed to any affronts as also to dispose another at Sivelias where Racilia Hermilia and Collatina then were with the Prince of Pometia and Prince Titus who yet knew not any thing of the Tumult in regard this House was in a street somewhat distant from the place where it began But it happened that Mutius Herminius's Rival who had been one of the first that joyned with Brutus was come out of the same apprehension to Valerius's door with the same design as Herminius So that these two Rivals asking one the other what brought them thither they very roundly satisfied one another But Herminius being at the same time both generous and discreet though naturally of a fiery nature broke not forth into any violence upon this accident but speaking to Mutius I beseech you said he to him let our difference remain undecided till we have delivered Rome and if you will take my advice let us endeavour to deserve Valeria by the destruction of Tarquin for our valour this day is only due to our Country I am content replied Mutius but I think not fit to depart hence if you allow me not to leave here as many of my people as you do of yours which being accordingly done Mutius returned to Brutus and Herminius went to his vertuous Mothers to place also a Guard there But before he came the noise of what had hapned to Lucretia and the rising of the City was gotten thither so that the Prince of Pometia who was then entertaining his dear Hermilia and Titus who was talking with Collatina were extremely disordered for being both very vertuous Sextus's crime caused in them a certain horrour The Tumult in the mean time still encreased and they were not ignorant that Racilia and Sivelia loved not Tarquin and that they could not in honour forsake their Mother how wicked soever she might be wherefore there was a necessity they should part with Hermilia and Collatina but after the most cruel manner in the World since they had not the liberty to speak any thing to them in particular 'T is true their eyes bid them a sad and sensible adieu But the Prince of Pometia was somewhat happier than Titus for he had the time to tell his dear Hermilia in few words that he was extremely afflicted to leave her Alas Madam said he to her with a low voice if what is reported of Sextus be true I fear the Gods will henceforth forsake all the Tarquins and that I must take my last leave of you for I look on his crimes as so horrid that I think it but just to be punished for it for no other reason than that I am his Brother If this unhappiness befall me added he pity my sad destiny But though my Father lose his Kingdom for it I shall have some comfort if I lose not your affection Having said this he was forced to accompany the Prince his Brother and they were hardly come to the stair-foot but Herminius who had a great esteem for them meets them followed by those whom he intended to place as a Guard at Sivelias till the Tumult were over This meeting surprised them very much for the Prince of Pometia and Titus seeing Herminius followed by people in Arms easily apprehended from his being in Rome in that posture that the danger was greater than they had thought it Herminius on the other side who infinitely esteemed them and was indeed much obliged to them in that divers times they had opposed the King their Father in his behalf who knew that it was for his sake they affected not Mutius and met them thus in his Mothers house was extremely troubled what to do for it was unquestionably fit they should be secured had he only considered the design he was upon but thinking with himself that Honour Generosity and the very consideration of Hospitality permitted him not to do it he chose the more noble side and speaking to them How sorry am I for your sake my Lords saith he that you are Brothers to Sextus and are obliged to be entangled in his ruine and how sorrow am I for my own that I am forced to be of a party contrary to yours Yet to assure you that I have a respect for Vertue where-ever I find it and will do you all the favour lies in my power and haply somewhat more than I ought I offer you a Guard to the Gate of the City which is now nearest nor indeed can you take any other resolution You are without Arms you have none with you but slaves the whole City is risen there is nothing can oppose us and deliberate a minute longer I shall not haply be in a capacity to protect you The Prince of Pometia and Titus hearing Herminius speak in this manner were much surprised at it for they knew his reality and doubted not the certainty of what he said Notwithstanding they stuck a little at the resolution they were to take but hearing a great noise in the street opposite to that through which they were to pass and seeing there was no choice to be stood upon they accepted Herminius's proffer but with intention to go out of the City and to get into the Palace where Tullia was by a secret door that Herminius knew not of in regard it was built in his absence from Rome To be short having acknowledged Herminius's generosity and regretted their own misfortune they were brought to a Gate of the City which Brutus had not as yet possessed himself of conducted thither by Herminius himself who having upon his return placed a Guard at Sivelias drew up to Brutus who presently came to that Gate at which the Prince of Pometia and Titus went out It hapned in the mean time that this generous action of Herminius was so far from being prejudicial to the common cause that it advantaged it for these two Princes being gallant and withal vertuous persons their presence might haply have cooled the zeal of those who took up Arms against Tarquin He did not therefore conceal from Brutus what he had done assoon as he was come up to him But as it is impossible to preserve any Order amongst a multitude of people that takes up Arms on a sudden Rome was in a most deplorable condition for though the whole City were up yet every quarter not satisfied it was so busied it self in making Barricadoes against the others Those of the Capitol fortified themselves apart lest some one of the Tarquins should possess himself of the Asyle that was on that Hill Those of the Palatine hill
the love of the best husbands becomes amity But I know withal that there are few good wives but will confess that it were better to be the Mistresses of those they have married than to be no more than the friends of their husbands I mean such friends to whom their husbands impart no more of their secrets than domestick affairs and with whom they never hold any sweet conversation Yet there are some said Collutina who are both Lovers and Husbands all their lives and live so kindly with their wives that they do enjoy all the sweets both of love and friendship I assure you said Valeria it is a harder matter than you imagine to be both at once a good husband a respectful Lover and a very well accomplished man For to be a Lover is to be a slave to be a Husband is to be a Master and to be a well accomplisht man is to be neither a Tyrant nor a slave to his wife I affirm also That it is the honour of such wives as have good Husbands to let them have such an authority as may appear to the world though out of excess in love or some other cause they would not have it And a good wife will never desire it should be said that she is the Governor of her Husband but only that she has a good credit in his opinion that he esteems her believes her and loves her not that he obeys her as if he were not able to govern himself Nor do I allow that a Husband should be continually shewing himself a husband An imperious husband who looks upon his wife only as the first servant in the House who trusts her with nothing who never considers her and who treats her as if she had not the use of Reason as if he were not obliged to love her and as if it were his Prerogative to love a hundred others and she not to say Mum. Collatina hearing Valeria speak thus began to twit her and to say that doubtless she would make the best wife and the best husband in the world since she was able to discourse so well upon the Laws of Marriage After which it being very late the company parted As for Spurius he went home with a heartfull of jealousie As for Salonina though she was glad to observe that she was the cause of it yet sometimes this jealousie which she saw encreased did vex her because she saw plainly that Spurius had no affection at all unto her But for all that her hopes to take him off Valeria did flatter her As for Herminius he went away well satisfied But as for Valeria she being of a most delicate and nice spirit she took it much to heart that Herminius should so hotly affirm that Amity and Love together was requisite For from thence she argued that the first thoughts which he had of her were no thoughts of Love So as the first time she wrote unto him she debated it with him and for four or five days the subject of their Letters was upon nothing else Mean time Spurius was very unhappy For as jealousie encreased every moment in his mind so hope lessened and Fears grew more strong Is a few days therefore he was grown all melancholy fullen mistrustful pettish and easily angred He imployed himself in nothing but observing all the actions of Herminius and Valeria And the more he observed them the more jealous he grew Not that they lived any otherwise than they used together But it is the Nature and Quality of jealousie to prepossess to change the objects to seduce reason and to force an interpretation of all things to the disadvantage of the Interpreter It troubles the senses and whereas the eyes do sometimes deceive the imagination it happens very oft that the Imagination of a jealous man deceives his eyes and makes him believe he sees what he sees not So as Spurius being possessed with a most violent jealousie he imagined a thousand things that never were And as a jealous man always finds more than he seeks for and since Spurius sought continually how to afflict himself in seeking for some comfort he caused unto himself a fresh subject of inquietude by the way which I shall tell you Imagine then that to clear all his doubts he thought no better way would do it than to gain one of Valeria's Slaves who was witty subtle and naturally a lover of her self For he had heard that Valeria accused her of that fault So as Spurius neglected no way to win her unto himself when he met her he saluted her very kindly he commended her handsomness and always offered to give her money At first she refused and said that her Lady had charged her to take nothing of any person and seeing he offered to give her only to try if she would take and then tell her Lady she would not accept of anything Spurius hearing this woman speak thus and knowing that she tickled to be taking what he offered he told her she was mistaken and that he would not have Valeria know of any thing he gave her So as this young wench after some slight refusal she began to accept of several things from Spurius who after he had thus engaged her he got her wholly unto him However though she was very trusty yet she would not tell him any thing but that Valeria received letters very often from Herminius But as the mode of letters was in this Gallant Cabal this gave him no satisfaction This slave also told him that Valeria was not very careful of those letters which she received from Herminius and that till she put a great number of them together into her Cabinet she always either carried them in her pocket or left them upon the Table not caring who saw them So as Spurius pressing her to get one of them she promised to do it upon the first opportunity and accordingly about two days after she took from her Lady one of Herminius his letters and gave it unto Spurius who to have the better opportunity of speech with this slave he went unto Valeria's when he knew she was not at home which hapned then very often For since Salonina and Valeria were out of League there grew much Amity betwixt Valeria and Lucretia who seldom stirring abroad except to the Temple was more visited by her new friend than she returned visits Spurius then going to Valeria's one day when she was with Lucretia he asked to speak with the slave with whom he held intelligence under a pretence of delivering a message for her Lady So as this wench gave him the letter which she had taken but in giving it she began to laugh and told him that she had given him as good as nothing At first Spurius thought that though the wench was witty yet perhaps she could not understand the letter for he knew that Herminius could write but too well When the wench saw that he made no reckoning of what she said she laughed
Favourite He bestowed on him the most considerable employment in the State he enriched him and lodged him in the Palace nay all the favours of the Prince passed through his hands However Themistus was so good a Steward of his favour that envy it self had a respect for his virtue he did all the good he could he was a Protector of the unfortunate he was liberal his conversation with his antient friends was such as before he came into favour he was an eager assertor of his Master's authority he was not wedded to any interest and it was evident in all his actions that he loved the Prince and the State But none knew of his being in love but Lindamira Mericia and my self In the mean time at Perianthus's return all was full of divertisements besides that the Prince of Messena being a gallant and our proper person his presence added something to the gallantry of the Court Nay he fell so strangely in love with Lindamira that all the world soon after perceived his passion But among the rest Themistus was one of those that first discovered it and was so much troubled at it as if some great misfortune had happened to him 'T is certainly a thing not easily digestible by a Lover that dares not mention his love nor give the least expression thereof to see a Rival that discovers all his yet so as he is not to be called to account for it Yet did Themistus make his advantage of this adventure for Lindamira observing him very narrowly soon perceived the disturbance and melancholly which the Prince of Messena's love caused in him She spoke of it to Mericia who had also taken notice thereof Yet were there not any but these two persons and my self that observed it for as to the Prince of Messena he was so far from suspecting Themistus to be his Rival that he did all that lay in his power to court him to be one of his intimate friends But as Themistus found much ado to suffer it and that the Prince of Messena came at last to perceive that he avoided his company as much as he could with civility he endeavoured to find out the reason of it So that he imagined it proceeded from his two frequent discourses of Love and Gallantry For seeing him not particularly engaged to any Beauty he drew that consequence and was wont by way of raillery to call Themistus sometimes the indifferent sometimes the insensible Courtier and that became so general that Themistus was sometimes forced to answer to these two names which he so little deserved Demarata on the other side was somewhat satisfied to think that Themistus was not in love at all and Lindamira was not displeased to find that his passion was kept very secret for that having a very particular friendship for him she would have been troubled to be forced to forbid him coming to her In the mean time she did not any action nor scattered the least word whence Themistus might raise ever so little hope he might ever give her heart the least assault nay not so much as that he might oblige her to admit his passion though without making any return 'T was upon such an occasion that she had a very long discourse with him one day for it happening that Themistus was alone with her walking and that they leant over a rail that looked upon the Sea she saw him so much taken up with his own thoughts that forgetting at that time the love he had for her she immediately asked him whether there were any discontent between him and the Prince Alas Madam replied he sighing were I as much in favour with the Princess of Himera as I am with the Prince of Syracuse I should not be so much troubled in my thoughts or if I were it would be so much to my satisfaction that I should be nevertheless happy I assure you replies very courteously Lindamira you have received greater expressions of friendship from me than you could have from the Prince my Brother for in my judgement one cannot do those he loves a greater obligation than to forget the injuries they have done him Ah Madam replies Themistus if it be an injury to adore you and if my submissive passion be the affront you mean you cannot do any thing more unjust or more cruel than to forget it But alas added he sighing I daily and hourly perceive that you have not done me that kind of injustice for you make it so much your business to avoid even the meeting of our eyes you so obstinately shun my company and you take so great pleasure to persecute me that I am in no doubt but you remember the love I have for you Themistus said these words with so much resentment that the Princess who had an infinite esteem and withal a real friendship for him resolved not to stand out so against that unfortunate Lover to afford him some inward pitty and to endeavor to recover him by reason So that speaking to him with all the kindness that can proceed from friendship you are said she so virtuous a man that it would be the greatest trouble to me in the world to prove the only cause of your unhappiness Besides that being obliged to you for my Brothers life I think my self concern'd to be tender of yours Nay you are so considerable to the State that the interest of my Countrey requires further that I should not suffer you to run into an extravagance which might make you unserviceable to the Prince the State and your friends Give me leave then Themistus to discover my heart to you and tell you that though there were no disproportion between us you should not entertain any love for me because it is evident I cannot have ought beyond a friendship for you Ah Madam cries out Themistus is it not enough I know that being of the quality you are of you will not love me but you must withal tell me that though fortune had put no rub in my way to happiness yet I could never be happy I beseech you Madam be not so ingeniously cruel and give me leave to flatâ—es my self into this poor consolation as to think that if you had been born in a cottage I might presume to love you and that it were not impossible I might gain your affection Give me leave I say Madam to attribute some part of my unhappiness to Fortune and not all to your aversion For matter of aversion replies Lindamira I have not any for Themistus on the contrary I ingeniously declare that I esteem you and that I have a tender solid and sincere friendship for you But with this declaration I must also tell you that I neither have or ever shall have any love for you But Madam replies Themistus are you so particularly acquainted with what is to come I am replied she for it is my perswasion that when one is to entertain love it is never ushered in by friendship Besides my Humor
fair opportunity to render himself famous it was such an affliction to him as he was not well able to buckle with It must needs be acknowledged that I am very unfortunate said he to himself as he hath told me since for I have defeated the enemy to no other end but that the Prince of Messena may the more easily subdue them and that he should haply enjoy the fruits of my labours I have further the unhappiness to be more loved by Demarata than I would be who having so much power with the Prince as she hath will infallibly do me all the ill offices she can and make me as unfortunate in ambition as in love 'T is true I have this happiness that I am not slighted by the person I love but alas what will be the effect of the affection she hath for me but to make me more miserable than I am For when all is done she confines the expressions of her affection to such narrow limits that I dare not so much as hope ever to see my self absolutely happy She still is guided by considerations of Prudence State and Glory and because I am no Prince and that I have sometimes been unfortunate my Birth Love and Services shall signifie nothing and there 's a necessity I should ever be the object of misfortune However since the incomparable Lindamira ordains it should be so I must submit nay admire and reverence the virtue that makes me miserable You see Madam how Themistus entertained himself while Demarata was examining what resolution to take for she could not be at rest any where Nay she made it her complaint that ever since Themistus's return she past not an hour but she heard some discourse or other of him While he was in the Army the reputation of his great actions was the general discourse while he was in health at Syracuse either she could not or haply would not be without his visits and now that he lay hurt Perianthus spoke to her of him perpetually nay all that came to her thinking they did well were constantly bemoaning him How said she one morning to Amerintha being violently transported by that exasperated passion that made her abhor what she loved if I may so express my self Shall Demarata in whom the world finds something that may raise love undergo the shame of loving without being loved again nay be so base as to be troubled of a suddain at the pretended death of him who does her this affront Must I ever see him dividing Perianthus's heart with me and being the object of all his friendship No no said she it were too rigorous a punishment and the best course I can take is to banish him my presence since I cannot my heart who will not entertain me into his But this must be done by circumvention I must calumniate and impose false crimes upon Themistus and I must cease to be what I have ever been But Madam said Amerintha to her how shall this be effected in case you are resolved to do it for you cannot persuade the Prince that he holds any correspondence with the enemy since he hath defeated him You cannot accuse him of having inriched himself prejudicially to the Prince from whom he many times refuses new favours because of all men he is the most dis-interessed So that I see not what you can probably charge Themistus with That he loves me replies Demarata blushing This no doubt is the highest supposition in the world added this revengeful Princess but the easiest thing in the world for me to make Perianthus believe if I but undertake it and since it is the only way to remove Themistus from my presence and to be revenged of his insensibility I must needs embrace it Nor shall my revenge be cruel since he shall lose no more than what fortune would not haply have bestowed on him without me For had not I confirmed the Prince in the friendship he had for Themistus he would not have affected him so much But Madam replied Amerintha if Perianthus ever discovers the Truth you would ruine your self by endeavouring to ruine Themistus How said she do you imagine Friendship more powerful than Love That Perianthus can avoid jealousie whom I would have to be jealous and that imagining Themistus in love with me he can do it to my prejudice No no Amerintha that were to invert the order of things indeed it is impossible it should be so Besides the resolution I take is haply much more innocent than you conceive for if I should not banish Themistus my presence I could not forbear loving him as insensible as he is nay haply I should not be able to conceal my affection from him I must therefore so husband the hatred I have for him as to make it contribute to my reputation No question but I hate him at the present but I am not confident I shall do as much when I see him I must therefore while he is a prisoner to his wounds and cannot come to see me make the best use I can of such precious minutes I must flatter Perianthus I must invent I must forget all honesty and I must do all that is requisite to punish an insensible person that so I may no longer love a man that neither does or ever can love me Accordingly Madam Demarata being at that time absolutely resolved to have Themistus banished bethought her of what ever might further her design She therefore took very great care never to speak first of Themistus especially before Perianthus and to answer very coldly when ever he spoke of him to her She never sent to know how he did and avoided saying or doing any thing whence it might be inferr'd he was in any favour with her For some daies Perianthus minded not this change but Themistus recovering and very fit to admit discourse Perianthus perceived that Demarata concerned not her self so much in Themistus's welfare as she had done some time before when Themistus was like to die However he would not at first say any thing to her of it for being still extreamly fond of her he was afraid of having any contestation with a person that had all the power over him that Love could give her So that having observed this coldness for some daies without being able to discover whence it proceeded or knowing that Demarata had not sent to see how Themistus did he asked Themistus himself who was very much surprised at the question and therefore answered not precisely thereto for being the most reserved man in the world he would have dyed e're he had told Perianthus the true cause of Demarata's change He therefore told him he knew not but that he was in her favour that if he were not it proceeded from some artifice of those who envied his good fortune but this he told him with such an accent that the Prince could not but judge there was something more in his mind than he was willing to discover He for some
speak for a sluggard is properly a man either without virtue or without courage or without wit or without address But a gallant man idle is a Philosopher who does nothing because there is nothing in the world worthy to employ him or a man who seeking wisdom by a different way from the common sort of men pursues only pleasures without intermedling with the publick good and a thousand affairs which cause all the turmoil of life and finds himself happier in being gently seated upon a hillock by the side of a Rivolet and entertaining himself with some young Shepherdess than those ambitious heads which are always active and unquiet in the midst of all the honors which they attain by their continual labours And if you consider all things aright you will find as I said before that Rest is the end to which all actions of men are directed For men do not fight but to the intent they may not always fight nor aspire to glory but to enjoy it in quiet they do not learn but that they may make an end of learning nor travel but that they may arrive to the place whither they design and whosoever looks not upon Rest as the chief good is like a man that should undertake to travel eternally without ever arriving to any place wherein to abide Your argument is pleasantly set forth with advantage replyed Herminius but yet I hold there can be no true sweetness in Rest unless so far as it is judg'd a commodious estate of being able to do what a man best pleases For that I may borrow the very examples used by you do you think that those Philosophers who put themselves in the way of discovering that the world being wholly corrupted hath no employment worthy to take them up could be termed idle Call you that doing nothing to have learnt to be better contented with poverty than the ambitious are with victories to neglect all the delights which pleasure hath invented and to be satisfied with the converse of their Books the melody of Birds the purling of a Fountain and their own innocence As for other kind of idle people whom only softness posses I confess they deserve the name which you have given them and he that loves nothing but delights may be said to be in continual idleness Yet 't is at least an idleness sufficiently sweet replied Amilcar smiling But if it were allowable to be always idle replied Herminius all men would be so for it would be more convenient than to seek glory by difficult ways in which also the Heroes found it Had this opinion been always approv'd and idleness sloth and carelesness ranked with the virtues we should have had neither Cities nor Laws nor Monarchies nor Republicks but all the world would have been in confusion all men would have lived in the fields like the Herds which feed there the Arts would never have been invented and the same pleasure which induces you to defend the cause of idleness and sloth would want above half the charms which allure those to it who have the blindness to prefer it before virtue since it is true that men have by their pains invented or perfected very many things which serve for pleasure as Dancing Musick and several others So that if Idleness had been Mistress of the world the world would have been in a strange confusion and ignorance and Amilcar himself who knows a hundred things which he hath learnt with very much care would have known nothing of what he knows nor have been the same person in the world he is he could have scarce had any thing graceful nor even discoursed of idleness at the rate he now does whence I assure my self he does not speak according to his real thoughts 'T is true answered Amilcar what ever I have said I am neither sluggish nor idle yet to speak unfeignedly I could wish I had leisure to be so and were not all my life oblig'd to study to do things which afford me no advantage and little pleasure For to tell you freely most of the labours of men find nothing but ingratitude in the minds of those for whom they are undergone and every man from the King to the Slave hath at least met with one ungrateful in his life For when a Prince is just and gracious the people are apt to infer that he is oblig'd to be so that they are not at all oblig'd to him for it Most Kings because they are born Masters of others imagine they owe no reward to their faithful Subjects and that Tyranny is one of the Rights of their Soveraignty They that govern Republicks are expos'd to the ingratitude of the people as well as Kings and the persons of highest employment in States of this sort imagining those whom they govern can never obey them with blindness enough never trouble themselves to give them any testimonies of acknowledgement Masters believe their slaves born to do them service without reward and slaves on the other side think their Masters ought to recompence them for the least matters they perform and that they are indebted to them continually The friends which a man obliges knowing 't is the engagement of friendship to serve those we love make no esteem of any thing and they which oblige others require on the contrary that all should be ascribed to them A Father because he hath given life to his Children conceives that they ought to be always as dependent on him as they were while they were but in their Cradle and giving them no thanks for all their endeavours to please him does nothing at all for them and Children for their part knowing that their birth is not the greatest obligation they can owe to their Fathers repine even for the life which they gave them when they do not all for them which they think they are able to do Husbands whose authority is established by force and custom conceiving their wives are too happy in obeying them give them no thanks for their complacency and Wives who having either Beauty or Virtue imagining their Husbands too highly preferr'd by having married them are not oblig'd by any thing whatsoever but for the most part are impertinent when they are fair and insolent when they are wise Even Lovers are ungrateful and the most of any other For indeed added Amilcar smiling if you took notice of all the complaints they make you would think a thousand mighty injuries had been done them and never the least kindness And it oftentimes happens that a Lover after he has received a thousand and a thousand favours makes afterwards a thousand and a thousand repinings only because he is something less favourably regarded than ordinary so that forgetting all former kindnesses he murmures and threatens to change his affection and becomes perfectly ingrateful And as for the Ladies continued he I could cite an hundred Sonnets wherein the title of Ungrateful is given them For I remember one which begins with
in this manner with the less scruple was that he apprehended reasons of State might require Elismonda to marry Melanthus But though he acquitted himself with fidelity of whatsoever trust that Prince reposed in him in order to the success of his design yet he was glad to see that according to all appearances the Princess would never be brought to comply with his desires and he accounted himself happy in knowing she had both esteem and friendship for him and seeing himself equally endear'd to two Princesses so accomplish'd as Elismonda Andronice But when Eumenes after they were retir'd in private spoke to him of the adventure of the Picture he reprov'd him friendly And What intended you to your self said he to him seriously in exposing your self and me also to danger Had I believ'd I should have brought you into danger answer'd Hortensius I would never have committed this odd prank And since my dear Eumenes continued he you know the secret of my heart and have understood I lov'd Elismonda before my self having discover'd it before I knew I did so you may easily conjecture how unhappy I am who have taken so strange a course for my consolation But I beseech you do not suspect me of intending ever to betray my Master No Eumenes I will betray my own love for his interest and rather lose my life than commit an unworthiness If the War did not detain me here and I could with honor forsake my Prince so long as he has his sword in his hand I should undoubtedly do it rather than be engag'd in such a difficulty as doing service to a Rival with his Mistress But for that this cannot be I shall serve him faithfully in the pretensions he hath to Elismonda in spight of all the passion I have for her If this Princesses rigor towards Melanthus ceases I confess ingenuously I find not my soul firm enough to be a witness of his felicity but as soon as I should see him in a condition of being happy I should betake my self to wander about the world as the most unfortunate of men I should together forsake my Master and my Mistress and my Fortune and giving over all care of my Love go seek my death without discovering the cause of it to any other but your self But if Elismonda continue firm in her resolution of not marrying Melanthus I shall then endeavour to do the Princess service with him to the utmost of my power lest he changing his Love into hatred treat her rigorously and I shall adore her all my life in secret without knowing what course to take with my passion Thus my dear Eumenes continued he you see the naked sentiments of my Soul which I intreat you not to endeavour to alter for I well know your reason will not be able to do that to which my own has been ineffectual Whilst Hortensius was reasoning in this manner with Eumenes Elismonda being retir'd at night call'd Cleontine into her Closet and began to speak to her about the adventure of her Picture seeking to conjecture who might have had such boldness to detain it For my part said Cleontine to her I love not to seek that which I cannot find but I would only know Who you would be contented were the thief But Cleontine answer'd she smiling if I were to wish any thing I would wish this accident had never fallen out I have told you Madam already replyed Cleontine that I care not to have such an unprofitable curiosity and so you may judge I as little affect a wish or desire that serves to no purpose Therefore take matters in the state they are in and do me the favour to tell me whether you would have this prank committed by Melanthus or by the Prince of Cyparissa or by Hortensius or by some other I hate the first too much answer'd Elismonda and I have too great an aversion from the second to wish him guilty of this subtle deceit and perhaps I love the third too well to desire he were my Lover For indeed I would not that Hortensius were unhappy and he must assuredly be so in case he loves me If he could know what you say concerning him Madam reply'd Cleontine he were not much to be pittied I assure you said the Princess blushing that though I am not over well skill'd in love I believe that friendship is no great consolation to a Lover You speak so well what you are minded answer'd Cleontine smiling that I believe you understand more in Love than you imagine Alas Cleontine reply'd she smiling also who do you think should have taught me He that teaches Nightingals to sing so well in the Spring answer'd she may perhaps have taught you to speak after the manner you do However it be reply'd Elismonda I find it sufficient that I am Melanthus's prisoner without engaging my heart to be no longer free at all but I have a confidence 't is still my own and will be so for ever This Madam was the conversation of Elismonda and Cleontine But the next morning when the Prince of Messina and the Prince of Cyparissa were busied in the choice of Judges which were to preside at the Olympick Games Hortensius being desirous to gain a glory absolutely uninteressed would not concern himself in the affair And therefore he went to spend part of the afternoon with the Princess Elismonda who had then no other company but Cleontine the other Ladies being gone to the apartment of the Princess Andronice or that of the virtuous Elisante with intention to come back soon after to the Princess of Elis. Now the adventure of the preceding day being yet too fresh to be silenc'd Elismonda after the first civilities ask'd Hortensius Who he suspected to have taken away her picture and made those four Verses For in brief said she pleasantly retorting them upon the instant Knew I what Criminal hand it was Did this injurious part If he 'd restore my Picture back I 'd render him his heart Ah! Madam answer'd Hortensius did I know that unhappy person who loves you without daring to discover himself I think I should conceal him from you after what you have said for I look upon him as sufficiently punisht for the boldness he has to love you and to love you assuredly with very little hope without besides endangering him to be constrain'd to take back his heart and restore you your picture And moreover Madam continued he because there is no appearance this Lover can do any prejudice to the Prince whom I serve I conceive the compassion I have of him is not criminal I assure you answer'd she hastily Whoever that Unknown be he is more in favor with me than the Prince Melanthus can ever be in quality of a Lover But Madam said he would you be contented that Unknown knew what you say concerning him What I have said answer'd she being rather an effect of my hatred against Melanthus than kindness towards him I should
obligingly in all my concernments but that which I am able to swear to you with sincerity is this If Hortensius be a Lover of mine you are a thousand times more oblig'd to him than if he were not since 't is the greatest truth in the world that he has omitted to do nothing that might induce me to receive your affection in the way you desire And therefore my Lord if Hortensius be amorous of me it concerns me to take it ill and not you Leave me then the care of punishing him for this crime and if you have no other to charge him with be cautious how you dismiss him of your friendship For my Lord I swear it to you once more There is nothing which Hortensius has not done to oblige me to treat you better and to speak with the greatest sincerity I can possible 't is neither to your affection nor to my prudence that you owe the small complacency I have shewn towards you but to the perswasions of Hortensius Ah Madam reply'd he roughly I will owe nothing to Hortensius That perhaps would be sufficiently difficult answer'd she for being what is pass'd cannot be alter'd you will always owe too many things to him I understand you well Madam said he to her you would intimate that I owe part of my victories to him but to let you see I am able to overcome without him if he die not of the wounds he has receiv'd I will return him into the same condition he was in when he came to my Court that is I will send him to wander again about the world without fortune and subsistence provided you persuade me effectually that you do not love him For if you treat me so added this violent Prince that I have cause to believe you do nothing shall be able to restrain me from putting him to death I have already told you answer'd Elismonda in great amazement that I know nothing of Hortensius's love and that he alone induc'd me to treat you more respectfully than I should have done if I had follow'd my true sentiments but that which I shall tell you at present is that had you put Hortensius to death I should never look upon you but with horror Ah! Cruel person that you are cry'd Melanthus what is this that you make me hear For if you have known the Love of Hortensius which I scarce doubt of I am the the most unfortunate of men and he the most criminal and if you knew it not before why does not the discovery I now make to you of it incense you against him Is it a usual thing added he for a great Princess to take it well to be lov'd by such a man as Hortensius who dares not return into his own Countrey because 't is fear'd lest he one day become the Tyrant of it If Hortensins be not amorous of me answer'd she I should be very unjust in taking away any friendship from him and if he be as you say I ought to redouble my esteem towards him since he does the most generous heroical and difficult act in the world which is to serve his Rival and to have so much respect as to be in love and not declare it But though it were true Madam reply'd Melanthus that Hortensius has conceal'd his passion from you is it not enough to make him Criminal against me that he is enamour'd on you Why did he not oppose that passion when it first sprung up in his heart and if he could not do that why did he not betake himself to some place where he might never see you during his life But my Lord answer'd Elismonda coldly if Love be voluntary Why do not you cease to love a person that cannot love you or if you be unable to do so Why do you not remove her far from your sight for ever Ah! Madam cry'd he you love Hortensius and you would not speak as you do if he were indifferent to you I have without doubt answer'd she all the esteem for him imaginable and the most tender friendship that any heart is capable of therefore my Lord preserve his life if you love me Elismonda spake this after so passionate a manner though she did not design to do so that Melanthus well perceiv'd she had at least a very strong inclination to love Hortensius and being infinitely ingenious drew a consequence that gave him very great torment For after having spoken of the Predictions which occasion'd Hortensius to be banish'd from his Countrey and Elismonda not requiring of him the clearing up of a thing so extraordinary she thence conjectur'd that she had understood it from Hortensius So that his jealousie redoubling he became strangely transported against that generous Veientine Nevertheless there were some moments in which he spoke to Elismonda with an extream tenderness I beseech you Madam said he to her excuse my transport it is so difficult to have very much love and very much moderation at the same time that if you would consider the fury that possesses me as an effect of the greatness of my affection you would not condemn me for it but pity me But alas it is easie for you to oblige me to pardon Hortensius Yes Madam added he I have so high an opinion of your virtue that if you render me happy I will not banish Hortensius I will even do what I am able to restore him to my friendship at least I will change nothing in his fortune nor attempt any thing upon his life The destiny of Hortensius therefore is in your hands and if he has not discover'd to you his love and you have none for him resolve Madam to end the War and my miseries We are soon at the end of the Truce consider therefore seriously upon what I propound to you Your quiet is concern'd Hortensius s life and all my felicity Do not incense a Prince who is not master of his resentment when he is affronted who requires nothing of you but what is advantageous to you and who notwithstanding your being a prisoner is more subject to your pleasure than any other Lover ever was If it were so answer'd she you would not act as you do But in brief my Lord added the Princess I have long since given you to understand that so long as I continue a prisoner I would never think of marrying that it 's requisite first to make a peace and after that I shall consider what resolution I ought to take Persist if you please in these terms and in the mean time forget not what I told you that if you should put Hortensius to death I should never see you but with horror I shall remember it Madam I shall remember it reply'd Melanthus as he was rising up and since all I have now said to you does not oblige you to change your sentiments we shall see whether Melanthus incens'd will be more pleasing than Melanthus submiss and respectful You love Hortensius said he to her but
greater joy when they can satisfie them than they have whose desires are more moderate We see it happens that joy sometimes causes sighing when it is extreme whereas laughter is the perpetual effect of cheerfulness Joy can never arise of it self alone it must always have some extraneous cause 'T is not so with chearfulness which arises of it self and there needs nothing but health to such as are of a jolly and airy humour Joy is an infallible consequent of all passions when they are satisfi'd cheerfulness subsists without aid though it may be augmented by causes from without Indeed we may observe at this present I am speaking that the presence of these fair strangers and Anacreon redoubles the cheerfulness of the amiable Plotina and Amilcar as may at least be gather'd from their eyes But why do you not also add Zenocrates said Clelia 'T is certainly answer'd Plotina without giving Amilcar leasure to speak because Zenocrates is sometimes sad and sometimes jovial and giving himself frequently to musing as he does it cannot be easily determin'd whether he be serious though it may be assured that he is always agreeable But in brief if he take not some course to correct those little distractions his dear Friends reproach him with I foresee there will one day happen a War between the Pleasant and the Melancholists for being a person of Merit one side will claim him for theirs and the other challenge them wholly to themselves Yet I am not so much wander'd in my thoughts answer'd Zenocrates smiling but that I perceive you employ a very ingenious raillery against me and if I were as vindicative a person as you are a derider would reproach your pleasantness to you with as much mockery as you do my Musings to me After which Sulpitia who was entertaining her self with several Ladies of her friends led the Company to the place where the Feast was prepar'd where there wanted nothing that could render it agreeable The place was well furnish'd with lights the Tables magnificent and very decently serv'd and the Men were the Ladies Attendents at this entertainment there was an excellent consent of Musique and after the repast there came some women to dance and divert the Ladies whilst the Men went to their Collation in another place But when this was done the King of the Feast being counselled by Herminius and Amilcar who better understood the Roman customs than he propounded the above-mention'd Game of Chance to the company Anacreon excus'd himself as a stranger and for that he was not wealthy enough to render this pastime as magnificent as he understood it had sometimes been in the reign of Ancus Martius when an illustrious Roman whose Family was descended from the antient King of Sicily had the liberality to give three hundred magnificent presents and to choose three hundred persons to whom Fortune alone had given all the excellent things he parted with for his humor without reserving to himself any other right in them than to manifest to all that were chose that he judg'd them worthy to possess the most valuable presents since he empower'd them to obtain the same by hazard This magnificence continu'd Anacreon was no doubt worthy of a man who had all the qualities necessary to govern States gloriously and aggrandize them but as for me added he I find my self enforc'd to supply my defects by some shift of wit and to render the game as divertising otherwise as I am able To begin therefore said he according to the power my dignity gives me I require that all the hearts of the Men and the Ladies be put into tickets and that every one without distinction draw a ticket to see if Fortune who is blind as well as Love will haply match the success It will be requisite then said Horatius that the hearts of the Men be put apart by themselves and those of the Ladies in another place By no means answer'd Anacreon but observe how I intend the matter If a Lady happen to have the heart of a Man it signifies that she is lov'd by him if a man have the heart of a Lady it shall be free for him to hope that he shall one day be not ill-treated by her If the heart of a man falls to the lot of another man 't is a sign he is more inclinable to friendship than to Love and if it he returns to himself it denotes that he loves himself more than all the rest of the World and loves nothing else but for his own sake For as for my self added Anacreon slily who understood the cause of Clidamira and Berelisa's voyage I shall give as much credit to this Game as to the Lots of Praeneste Though you are much in favor with a certain god that empow'rs to divine of the most occult matters answer's Clidamira smiling and blushing yet I shall not be over-credulous to your pastime of Chance But though it were only to try what hazard may do I consent my Heart be put to the venture Which all the Ladies and the Men likewise doing every one was constrain'd to write his own ticket All the company therefore writ their names with what they pleas'd under them sutable to the occasion So that excepting Sulpitia and two other Ladies her Friends who were discoursing together in a Closet near the Chamber wherein the company then was there was none but writ their names Clelia Plotina Valeria Clidamira Berelisa Flavia Cesonia Salonina and some other Ladies writ their tickets so also did Horatins Artemidorus Telanus Herminius Amilcar Sicinius Acrisius Damon Spurius Anacreon and some others after which all the tickets were put into an Urn and Anacreon going round the company in order began at Clelia who trembled as she drew the ticket it behov'd her to take because she fear'd lest the heart of Horatius should fall to her Lot For though it was but a trifling pastime yet she perceiv'd an unwillingness in her self to give him that false joy Horatius on the contrary wish'd the heart of Clelia might come to his hands after this manner and though this sport was meerly frivolous without consequence yet every person that had any conceal'd interest could not contain from resenting some kind of light inquietude the vehemence of affection being apprehensive of what ever events But amongst the rest Clidamira and Berelisa had a curiosity to see to whose lot the heart of Artemidorus would happen But to proceed Clelia having drawn the first ticket unhappily lighted upon the name of Horatius with these words underneath I am ignorant what Fortune will do with my heart but I well know how Love has dispos'd of it Clelia blush'd after she had open'd this Ticket and refus'd to shew it but the order of the pastime requiring it to be seen by all the company Horatius had the joy to see Fortune had well guided his heart At which Artemidorus was not able to put off all fear lest his should not be so happy
and sixty Springs seen all the birds of my lovely desart making love to one another I was infinitely discontented and therefore continu'd he if there be any in the company who to their unhappiness have made a resolution not to love any thing let them hasten to change it for there is nothing more tormenting at the hour of death than the affliction of having not been able to love or be belov'd I assure you said Valeria I believe it is very troublesome too to call to mind an unsuccessful or impertinent love However it be said Damon who was unwilling Amilcar should be interrupted suffer the relation to be finisht which has been so delightfully begun for though Amilcar alwaies mingles some raillery in what he speaks yet credit ought to be given to his words since all the company knowes 't is his custome never to speak altogether seriously of the most serious things You have reason answer'd Plotina therefore I desire Amilcar to continue his relation After I had ceas'd being a Phoenix said Amilcar I chang'd my fortune and shape very much for I became one of the most ugly men in the World but in requiral one of the most valiant for I lov'd nothing so much as war which I follow'd continually not but that my heart was in some sort sensible of love though it was a kind of souldier-like Love which does not cause much sighing but has something of freedome and jollity in it but seldome any great matter of courtship and therefore I took more pleasure in relating a handsome field wherein I had fought a siege I had been present at or a particular combate of my own than in entertaining my self with the favours of my mistress But perhaps interrupted Plotina smiling it was because you had not any great matter to say upon that subject at least I know if any lov'd me after the military manner you have represented to me it should be easie to reckon the favours I would do him All women answer'd Herminius are not of your humor for some fancy those resolute gallants with fierce countenances who speak with boldness and have kill'd men more than polite and civiler persons who comport themselves with respect and tenderness No doubt Herminius has reason replyed Amilcar for I was not very ill treated and my stoutness caus'd me to obtain as many favours as my wit and courtship 'T is true I did not care over much for them and I remember one thing which makes good what I say One day I lost a picture which I had of my mistress as I was fighting with a man who had set upon me at an advantage and I was much more joyful for having taken his sword from him than troubled for having lost the picture Indeed when a fancy takes a man to pass for one of greater courage than others I assure you he is sufficiently employ'd for he is possess'd with envy jealousie and ambition all at a time danger is sought with eagerness though to speak sincerely 't is never delightful he alwayes desires to go beyond the rest and is altogether uncapable of quiet Then 't is sufficiently troublesome to be sometimes wounded and sometimes a prisoner for the Kings and Princes for whose service you hazard or lose your lives take little care of you However since 't is the mode it ought to be follow'd and I follow'd it so well that I was but twenty nine years old when I was slain 'T is true I had serv'd in fourteen companies with sufficient honour to be content with life were it not that it is alwaies sufficiently difficult to resolve to die But afterwards added he not giving leisure to any to interrupt him my adventure was strange enough for after having shewn much bravery the gods to punish me for being guilty of too much vanity in that respect were pleas'd the same soul which in another body had been so stout and hardy should animate that of one of the most pusillanimous men in the world At first I was not very sorry for it for I confess to you I was a little weary with the tumultuous life which I had led and those former impressions not being yet wholly blotted out I imagined that choosing a kind of calm life I might spend my daies with sufficient sweetness But alas I was deceiv'd for as soon as it was perceiv'd I was one of no courage I was expos'd to a hundred thousand troublesome occasions and I assure you the people of the world who suffer most are they who have the unhappiness to be cowards For I dare maintain it is a thousand times more pain to be void of valour than to be too couragious for a man who is valiant resolves upon death without fear at the beginning of the fight whereas a poor wretch who is not fears it in places where it is not to be met with For my part whilst I was a coward I fear'd both my friends and my enemies when I was forced to go to the war and shame engaged me to be present in any encounter the torment I suffer'd was above imagination Example did not animate me the noise of arrowes elashing together made my heart quake I was alwaies prepar'd for a retreat and alwaies observ'd to be last at the battle and the for most in the flight I went whither I was unwilling to go I did not go where I desir'd to be I was possess'd with fear and shame and amidst all this with a sottish pride which caused me to do things of which I repented a moment after But that which afflicted me most was that though at my return from the war I spoke as if I had been couragious yet I knew it was understood well enough that I was not Therefore I say once again there is nothing more painful than to want courage and a brave person that ingages in a hundred thousand dangers suffers much less than a man who continually fear things which are not to be fear'd Now therefore said Damon can what Amilcar saies be doubted of for could he invent an adventure of this nature were it not truth that forces him to speak Damon pronounc'd these words after a manner which surpriz'd all the company indeed he was a person not absolutely without wit but when a man is once capable to give himself up to believe a difficult extroardinary thing he maintains it more obstinately than if it were easie to be believ'd and is so prepossess'd with it that he is easily perswaded of any thing that may serve to authorize it Thus the poor Damon not perceiving that his Rival made sport with him conjur'd him that he would proceed Cesonia and Valeria did the same Anacreon Herminius Acrisius and Sicinius press'd him to it so that resuming his discourse I assure you said he that Life which they say is a thing very precious is notwithstanding more painful then 't is thought to be For tho I remember every thing that I have been
either concerning the Princess of the Leontines or the Court of the King of Hetruria Valeria also so well understood that she did a pleasure to Clelia by making a curious inquiry of all that past at Clusium that she ask't a hundred things of the amiable Amiclea which otherwise she would not have spoken of I beseech you said she to her after several things which directly concern'd the Princess of the Leontines tell us what Ladies Aronces has most frequently visited since his coming out of prison and whether it be true that there are abundance of amiable women at Clusium There are so many beauties there answer'd Amiclea that handsomeness is there scarce accounted of Yet that is not much the custome repli'd Plotina for amongst young persons Vertue is far less extol'd than Beauty 'T is true answer'd Amiclea but it must be spoken in the praise of our Court that a Woman who is no more than barely fair draws some gazers but does not acquire much esteem Beauty no doubt is lookt upon there but above all agreeableness wit excellent deportment and a kind of secret charm not consistent with stupidity are principally sought after But I beseech you said Valeria answer what I desired of you and tell me who those persons are Aronces visits most I assure you answer'd Amiclea tho that Prince be very civil and enforces himself to be so as much as he can yet it is well enough seen that his heart is at Rome that he takes not much notice of what he sees Nevertheless there are two persons which he visits very frequently and who are his principal Friends The Princess of the Leontines is certainly one said Clelia 'T is true anwser'd Amiclea and the second is a Lady of quality who has a very great interest in his esteem and is so highly consider'd at Court that there is none more admir'd Clelia being then very desirous to know a little more exactly who this friend of Aronces was made a sign to Valeria who understanding what she meant requested Amiclea that she would please to tell her what excellent qualities the Lady had of whom she spake You ask more things at once than you imagine answer'd Telanus for Melintha is a Lady of so great worth that there are few her equals I beseech you then said Plotina smiling make me acquainted with her forthwith in the best manner you can That is in a word added Valeria all the Company are desirous you would please to make a faithful description of that Friend of Aronces that we may know whether or no we ought to fear he loves her more than us I assure you answer'd Telanus if the lovely Amiclea draw her pourtrait exactly you will find she cannot be lov'd too much and all the Company will be perswaded she ought to be Aronces's Friend For my part said Herminius methinks I love her already I fancy her so rarely accomplisht Speak then I conjure you said Clelia and omit nothing which may serve to make us perfectly know this Friend of Aronces Since you desire it answer'd Amiclea I shall tell you that Melintha is a Lady of so rare a Vertue that she deserves to be propos'd for an example to all others there is something in her heart so noble so great so good so tender and so heroical that it may be said the gods have atcheiv'd their master-piece in making her For there is nothing more difficult to find than a Woman who possesses all the riches together which go to the making up of a Man of honour and which accomplish an excellent Woman The same temper which gives a great heart and high generosity is not alwaies well accommodated for modesty that which causes to love exact Justice does not very often consist with that sweet and sociable complacence which is so necessary for Ladies who converse in the World That which gives constancy in important affairs does not give mildness in less matters that which makes capable of great actions does not stoop to certain trifles which are nevertheless a piece of decency almost necesary to women in some occasions Now Melintha having really in her breast all the vertues of an honourable Man and all those of an excellent Woman deserves all the commendations that can be given severally to both sexes As for her person tho she be infinitely amiable of a handsome stature and slender has hair very bright eyes full of spirit and sweetness a sprightly modest and agreeable countenance a certain languor full of charms a peculiar kind of sweetness and tenderness in the tone of her voice which affects the hearts of those to whom she speaks and sings after the most passionate manner in the World yet I may say all this ought not to be mention'd and that Melintha's vertue wit deportment generosity and prudence ought to be oppos'd to all the other commendations she deserves 'T is not without cause that I am impatient to speak of that sweet insinuating agreeable and solid wit which renders her capable of pleasing all sorts of persons and which by its extent capacity and address deserves to be interested in affairs of highest importance which she is able to dispatch with prudence equal to the secresie and probity of which she makes profession Never was there a person more faithful more sincere or more generous than she And that which is admirable in this illustrious Woman is that together with that sweet and complacent air she has and a delicate constitution she notwithstanding has all imaginable greatness of heart and is continually as active as if the strength of her body equall'd that of her mind especially when she finds occasion to do a civilty to any of her Friends or only to some unfortunate person of whose merit she is inform'd She neglects even her own affairs for those of others she is incapable of ever failing of her word she expresses humanity towards all miserable persons her heart is the tenderest in the World she loves all that she ought to do and knows how to love both with choice and constancy She affects ingenious things and understands them as Musick Poetry Peinture and the like and tho she is of a temper something inclin'd to Melancholy yet she inspires a pleasing joy into those who converse with her and tho she seems not to intend it suddenly wins the hearts of such as have the happiness to approach her But not to suffer the tenderness her heart is capable of to be idle and to afford her innocent objects worthy of it the gods have given her an illustrious Husband illustrious Brothers illustrious Friends and lovely Children But to her unhappiness the valiant Belisantus was slain in the Wars when fortune was ready to reward him for an infinite number of glorious actions which gain'd him an immortal renown and render'd him worthy of the love of the vertuous Melintha In that illustrious Husband she found all that could be desir'd in a Man of honour He
unhappy of all men by wholly depriving me of hope and possibility of ever to become happy For what ground is there to retain the least hope after that which is arriv'd Clelia hath seen my Rival with her own eyes doing the greatest action that ever was and perhaps too she believes I was among those he fought with at the end of the Bridge and puts me in the number of those that could not overcome him But alas tho this should not be so yet Clelius will make use of Horatius's valour against me for what can be refus'd to him that has preserv'd Rome Therefore I must resolve to see Clelia unfaithful or Clelia persecuted and consequently I must prepare my self to be alwayes miserable The End of the Fourth Part of CLELIA THE Fifth and Last VOLUME OF CLELIA THAT EXCELLENT New Romance Being the CONCLUSION of the Whole WORK VVritten in FRENCH By the Exquisite Pen of Mounsieur de SCUDERY Governour of Nostredame de la Garde Render'd into English by G. H. LONDON Printed for Henry Herringman at the Anchor in the lower VValk of the New Exchange 1677. THE Fifth and Last VOLUME OF CLELIA THAT EXCELLENT New Romance Being the CONCLUSION of the Whole WORK VVritten in FRENCH By the Exquisite Pen of Mounsieur de SCUDERY Governour of Nostredame de la Garde Render'd into English by G. H. LONDON Printed for Henry Herringman at the Anchor in the lower Walk of the New Exchange 1677. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE ELIZABETH Countess of RIVERS MADAM The unfortunate CLELIA having since ber arrival in this Nation sought a patronage from many noble hands doth at length address her self to yours As if those various adventures which travers'd her illustrious life could not terminate in a compleat happiness before she were acknowledging to you for it and that her vertue had not been sufficiently try'd to merit that felicity which was preparing for her before it had receiv'd a testimony from you who are the perfect Patern of it That she is worthy your protection I cannot doubt at least if those excellent beauties of hers which are almost matchless in the original come not sullied from my unskilful hands And since it is reported it was not the illustrious Scudery but that celebrated Vertuosa his Sister who finish'd the Romance after his decease I could not make a more apt Dedication than the work of a Lady to the most Noble and accomplish'd Person of her own Sex That which may cause you to make some difficulty in the reception of CLELIA is the person of him that shall assume the boldness to present her to you Yet it cannot seem strange an unknown person should thus presume since an heroick vertue such as yours commands the addresses and devoyrs of all that honour it the sence of which I cannot better manifest in my self than by my humble desires to be admitted together with CLELIA in the quality of MADAM Your Honours most obedient and devoted Servant G. HAVERS CLELIA A New Romance The Fifth and Last PART The First BOOK WHilst Aronces was possest with an opinion that his present condition rendred him the most unhappy Man in the World Horatius sometimes enjoy'd all the delectation that glory together with hope is capable to excite in a heart truely amorous He tasted the joy of being satisfi'd with himself which is the highest pleasure possible for a rational person to resent He had perform'd a piece of singular service to his Country and altho Aronces had disarm'd him yet his last action afforded him satisfaction for that misfortune Besides Clelius being so favourable to him he had reason to conceive that the end of the War would prove the beginning of his felicity And indeed he perceiv'd so unanimous a Resolution in the Roman Citizens to defend themselves to the utmost that he would not so much as entertain in his thoughts a possibility for Porsenna to become Master of Rome What place soever he went into afforded him new cause of contentment saving when he repair'd to Clelia whom he alwaies found affected with the same aversion towards him When he pass'd along the streets the people attested his glory with a thousand acclamations when he went to the Temple he beheld Sacrifices offer'd there in thankfulness to the gods for the great action which he had perform'd when he went to the Senate he understood they had ordain'd a Statue to be erected to him as an eternal Monument of his valour to conclude only the fair eyes of Clelia depriv'd him of the hope which fortune every where else suggested to him And truly this was oftentimes sufficient to disturb all the pleasure that hope could give him The next morning after that great exploit which had rendr'd him so eminent in Rome Clelius bringing him to his house and presenting him to his Daughter he found cause to believe that what he had done had no influence to change the heart of that fair Lady At first Clelius having beheld her with a sufficiently cold air was immediately out of an excessive affection for his Country transported against her How said he to her with a low but angry Tone dare you appear sad when I bring the Deliverer of Rome to you and have you the boldness to discover in your eyes the tokens of that obstinate and unjust passion which you harbour in your mind Clelia hearing her Father speak in this manner blusht and cast down her eyes so that Horatius not doubting but that which Clelius spoke low to her displeas'd her was almost sorry for it tho he apprehended the discourse could not but be in his favour Wherefore advancing towards her he interrupting the private communication Permit me to ask you Madam said he perceiving Clelius retire whether the general fright yesterday did not reach you too and whether you had the resolution to behold from your windows that multitude of enemies which would have surpriz'd the City had not the bridge been broken down at which they endeavour'd to enter You speak very modestly of one of the fairest actions of the world answer'd she but to shew you that I am never unjust added this prudent Lady know that tho you seem'd appointed by Destiny for the cause of the greatest infelicities of my life nevertheless I did not cease to make vows in your behalf when I saw you alone in the middle of the Bridge sustaining the whole power of the Enemies For indeed I saw all that pass'd in that great occasion and I likewise beheld Aronces forbid his men to shoot at you when you were in the River Tyber I should my self have inform'd you Madam repli'd Horatius of that generosity of my Rival tho you had not seen it for I have heretofore often told you that I yield to his merit and his vertue 't is only in point of Love that I contend with him for superiority And to testifie to you at least Madam that I do all that I can know I did not
resolv'd to dye without giving you any testimonies of my affection but finding a necessity upon me to declare my self exactly I am too sincere Madam to offer to excuse my self of a crime which I esteem glorious to commit For in truth Madam the seemingly inconstant Zenocrates is the most faithful Lover that ever liv'd and moreover you might have observ'd that for some time ago I have chang'd my manner of acting But Zenocrates answer'd the Princess much surpriz'd you do not consider what you speak for if you perswade me that you are amorous of me you hazard the losing of my friendship Should you deprive me of your Friendship Madam reply'd he you would take nothing from me that could render me happy No Madam that friendship as precious as it is can no longer content me I am a rash person and have desires more ambitious Nevertheless I promise you to keep them secret for fear of offending you But is it possible Zenocrates interrupted the Princess that there should be any truth in your words and that you will force me to banish you I permit you still to contradict your self added she for I have so tender a friendship for you that I will do all things to preserve it Were I assur'd to dye at this very moment answer'd Zenocrates I could not resolve to contradict the most certain truth in the world But Madam I conjure you by that Friendship where with you have honor'd me have pity upon an unhappy Friend that has lov'd you in spight of himself that has receiv'd love into his heart under the appearances of friendship and do not destroy him for perhaps you would regret him after you had destroy'd him added he sighing But Zenocrates reply'd Lysimena what can I do for you in this case without acting against my self Is it not true Madam said he that if you had not discover'd I lov'd the Princess of Syracusa or some other person that probably could not render me happy you would have pity'd me comforted me and given me Counsel I confess it answer'd Lysimena Then I beseech you reply'd he comfort me and counsel the unhappy Zenocrates He desires no more of you he has really ceas'd being your Friend to become your Lover but being thereby more unhappy does not he deserve your compassion I know I have told you your friendship could render me happy no longer but however in the deplorable condition I am become at least my Friend tho I am no longer yours I promise you Madam to do exactly what ever you please you shall be Mistress of all my actions looks and words Suffer me therefore to love you as I am able to love you and love me also as you But what say I added he No no Madam I know not what I would say and should I have said it I should have repented of it the next moment Hate me then and banish me for I see but too well that I can never be happy No doubt you deserve never to be so said Lysimena but the interest of my Honour requires me not to make any stir in the world that might be to my disadvantage therefore Zenocrates since you desire me to act like a friend still I counsel you to cure your self to become inconstant again and to get a new Mistress to morrow to whom you may be so diligent a servant as to extinguish the unpleasing rumour Meleontus has told me of Moreover I forbid you ever to speak to me of your love as you tender the enjoying the liberty to see me But yet once more Zenocrates resume your accustomed manner of acting be a servant to all the Beauties one after another till you find your self perfectly cured Zenocrates endeavour'd at first to oppose this advice of Lysimena but the Princess becoming angry and speaking to him with an air that intimated there was no other course to be taken but obedience he crav'd her pardon for having resisted her he submitted absolutely to her pleasure and he engag'd never to speak to her of his passion to be cur'd of it and to appear a Lover of some fair one of the Court. And accordingly within a few daies after Zenocrates accustom'd himself to visit a Kinswoman of Clidamira who is sufficiently fair But for that he would not have the Princess suspect him of being become amourous of this Lady he shortly after deserted her for another and that other for a third And thus he seem'd inconstant in the eyes of all the Court that he might seem constant in those of Lysimena to whom he sufficiently testifi'd by his looks that his heart was not chang'd in reference to her and that his constancy was imputable to her as the cause In the mean time he suffer'd more than can be imagin'd for he talk'd eternally of love to women whom he did not affect and never spoke of it to the person whom alone he could love When he made Verses he avoyded putting any thing into them that might particularly sute to the person for whom he pretended to compose them because he would have the Princess attribute them all to her self And indeed he contriv'd them so ingeniously that without any ones observance he alwaies accommodated them to the Princess who having such a wit as she has understood well enough what Zenocrates desir'd she should But being very prudent too she took no notice to him of any thing In the mean time Amerintha who made poyson of all occurrences perceiving she had no longer any ground to tell Meleontus that Zenocrates was amourous of Lysimena made divers railleries upon her believing that Zenocrates had given over loving her as well as his other Mistresses 'T is true all the world had so great respect for Lysimena that her raillerios were ill taken and serv'd onely to manifest her malice As for Meleontus he no longer knew whom to accuse as the cause of Lysimena's aversion and continued to serve her out with much assiduousness omitting nothing that might please her His magnificence was conspicuous in all things she had more divertisement than she desir'd and he visited her continually but being of a violent and unequal temper he sometimes spoke to her with extroardinary submissiveness and sometimes imperiously relying upon the Prince's favour who still continued his Courtship to Amerintha tho she was not much more faithful to him than another for an humoursome woman can never be determin'd to any person how much soever it concerns her to be so But the Princess having honoured me already with a tender affection made me privy to all that befel her she declar'd to me her aversion for Meleontus and Zenocrates's love to her self with the new cause of his inconstancy About this time Zenocrates finding scarce any Lady in the Court to whom he had not made some professions of devotion was a little longer servant to a Kinswoman of Amerintha than he had been to all others Which Lysimena observing spoke to me one day concerning it
passionate glances which make things understood in a moment and yet they have in some occasions so jolly a smile that 't is apparent the heart of Lucilius may as well be capable of a sensible joy as of a violent grief His Complexion is good for a man and he has a little natural mark under his left Eye which would well sure with a Beauty and is graceful to his countenance Lucilius is neat he attires himself like a man of Quality and so as agrees well with his person and if so worthy a person as he may be commended for small accomplishments I say there are many fair Ladies who would wish they had hands as white as his But indeed I have too much to tell you of his Wit his Courage and his Virtue to detain you longer with the description of his person Know then that Nature has been liberal to Lucilius in giving him an extraordinary Wit a Fancie of unmeasurable extent and a judgment which so well governs both that he never speaks any thing in conversation of which he needs to repent But indeed his Wit is one of those which might well dispense with learning any thing because considering things in themselves their own reflections instruct them better than they can be by all the Books in the world For which cause Lucilius has spent no great number of years in study but Travel War the Court and his own Reason have been his Masters Nevertheless he has read very much and there are few excellent pieces of knowledge which he does not understand but he has read out of inclination and not out of obedience as ordinarily all young persons do that are design'd to be well educated However the Court War Travel and his own Reason have so well instructed him that 't is believ'd he owes all his accomplishments to learning so well he understands all things and speaks so rationally of every thing that can be offer'd to discourse Lucilius's particular virtue is an incomparable fortitude free from all the defects which are incident to the Valiant for he is a stranger to vanity He is gentle civil and moderate nor did ever any other hate false glory and love true so much as he Moreover Lucilius is of an admirable equal temper for his Friends always find him the same and though he appears serious and his constitution inclines a little to melancholy yet he loves all allowable pleasures The jollity and mirth of his Friends please and divert him to which he himself also contributes as much as they desire and is never refractory towards them Lucilius has a sense of honour and generosity and he is constant in Love and Friendship He has a firm Soul in adversity and whereas his Fortune has not been always happy but he has met with several difficult encounters been wounded and taken Prisoner in War travel'd both by Sea and Land his virtue has been seen to the proof and 't is known that he hath come off with honour in all occasions to which Fortune led him In brief Lucilius is valiant amongst the valiant learned amongst the learned gallant amongst the Gallants and equally prudent towards all His Natural inclination has always carried him to Poetry and Love and these two sentiments are so much the more ingrafted in his heart for that they subsist there one by another for if Love has caus'd him to make Verses in the beginning of his life I account it not impossible but that in case he lives to that age in which love is no longer in season his inclination towards Verses may also induce him to write of Love because Poetry and Love have such a sympathy that they can seldom be divided one from the other But I beseech you do not imagine that Lucilius makes such Verses as favour a little of the condition of the Authors which may perhaps be call'd Gentile Verses because for the most part persons of that Quality are not skill'd enough in such things to make them well More intelligent persons therein than my self profess that Lucilius composes Verses which might deserve Homer or Hesiod for their Author For there is a good Fancie Wit Strength and so charming a Harmony in them that all the world is ravish'd with them His descriptions are so handsome so Poetical and so Natural that you would think you verily beheld all that he represent If he paints the shadow of a Forest he deludes the imagination if he represents the Sea in a Tempest the Rocks and a Shipwrack the hearts of the Readers tremble at what he describes If he builds a stately Temple you would think Apollo himself had been the Architect of it and if he represents an unfortunate Lover his unhappinesses excite pity and sighs from his relation and because Sadness and Love together have a wonderful operation in Verse he very rarely separates them not but that when he is minded his Muse is agreeably debonair One of the most curious Wits of his age having made a very ingenious and gallant Dialogue after the example of Anacreon who made one between a Dove and a Passenger wherein he introduces a little Bird which returns every year in the Garden of one of his She-Friends this work afterward occasion'd Lucilius and Theomenes to compose the most delightful Verses in the world whose natural pleasant and sprightly Stile argues that nothing is impossible to them As for Love Lucilius understands all the exquisiteness of it and never was a Lover seen whose sentiments have been more tender than his He can love constantly even without being lov'd absence rather augments than diminishes Love in his Soul and 't is not easie for infidelity itself to extinguish a passion in his breast He loves with ardour and respect he makes himself pleasures and torments which other Lovers would not think of and he has sentiments so full of Love that no other ever had the like I have heard him say that one day being at Sea a terrible Tempest arose which almost sunk the Ship he was in in view of a Castle which stands upon a Rock at the foot of which there was great likelihood it would be wrack'd for the wind violently drive it on that side and the Rudder was broken In this condition knowing that his Mistress was in that Castle instead of abandoning his mind to fear like the rest or so much as minding what course the Marriners took to preserve themselves from perishing he lean'd against the foot of the Mast and took pleasure in thinking that if he were Shipwrackt in that place the waves might carry his body to the foot of the Rock where his Mistress going oftentimes to walk might see it and bedew it with her tears and this thought so wholly possest him that he observ'd nothing at all that was done to resist the tempest But through excess of love he slighted the danger and death it self But in fine 't is enough to tell you that Lucilius can be as
subtie Princess feigning to pity him craftily confirm'd him in the resoluion which he took that so he might exasperare the Prince against himself Which being done he went to his own house where the Prince had newly been on purpose to tell Lysonice what he had caus'd to be propos'd to Cloranisbes 'T is certain she very ill receiv'd him in spight of all her own ambition and told him peremptorily she would never be his Wife though she much regretted that she was not As soon as Cloranisbes enter'd he understood Lysonice knew of the proposition which was made to him and as soon as Lysonice saw Cloranisbes she perceiv'd he had been spoken to about the Prince's design So that being both sufficiently perplex'd they remain'd some time without speaking but at length Cloranisbes breaking the sad silence Well Madam said he to her will you be so generous as not to be offended if I desire that you continue in the enjoyment of the unhappy Cloranisbes all your life and if I cannot consent that you be Princess of Carthage You are so accustom'd not to love me but for your own sake answer'd she that 't is easie for me to conjecture what answer you would have me give you 'T is as easie too reply'd he for me to guess what you would have me say to you but I confess it ambitious Lysonice my love for you is still as great as your ambition and therefore do not think it strange if I cannot resolve to part with you to the Prince I know I destroy both my own fortune and yours but I know I cannot resolve to lose you 'T is true added he perhaps I endanger displeasing you by not resigning you and losing your heart by desiring to retain your person but though you should hate me I cannot cease to love you nor consent that the Prince be happy with my loss and enrich himself with my own treasure But alas whence is it that your love is not equal to mine if it were you would suffer banishment and the subversion of your fortune would not trouble you but to speak sincerely you lov'd the Favorite of the Prince of Carthage when you lov'd me without confiding in the person of Cloranisbes and so 't is no wonder if you love the Prince better than the Favorite I hear all which you say answer'd Lysonice coldly as so many new signs of a self-interested love however to assure you that I will not marry the Prince know I have this day depriv'd him of all manner of hope Ha! how happy am I interrupted Cloranisbes if you speak truth Do not be so forward to thank me answer'd she for I do it more out of honour than affection for in fine I confess to you Cloranisbes I am not satisfied with yours You have been diffident of me and could not resolve to tell me that I might recover the fortune which you caus'd me to lose by your fraud However content your self that I refuse an advantage which would certainly have affected my heart and do not pretend I have any obligation to you for a deed which is likely to render both of us unhappy The worst is the mischief has no remedy and our strange destiny will have us prove infallibly miserable For being you love me only for your own sake when time shall have a little chang'd me you will likewise be chang'd towards me and so I shall see my self without your affection and you perhaps with repentance for having lov'd me But be it how it will I must resolve to seek my consolation in my self If you lov'd me as well as I love you and shall love you as long as I live reply'd Cloranisbes you would speak after another manner but I am not so happy and 't is left only to my choice to be more or less miserable You would certainly have been more happy answer'd Lysonice if you had less studied to be so As Cloranisbes was going to answer one of his Friends came to inquire for him to give him notice that the Prince of Carthage was extremely incens'd against him and that his love of Lysonice was so violent that it was capable to carry him to any kind of injustice If he take away my life answer'd he without being mov'd he will oblige me but to pretend to deprive me of Lysonice is that which I will never endure But you must know the Princess of Carthage who design'd only to ruine Cloranisbes and would not that her Brother should marry Lysonice caus'd it to be told this fair person that the Prince intended to take her away by force not doubting but this would oblige her to withdraw her self from Utica For though she well understood she was ambitious yet she knew too that she tender'd honour above all things And accordingly Lysonice no sooner receiv'd this information but shutting her self into her Closet with Pasilia and Delisia she told them she absolutely resolv'd to go and return to her Father and Mother in that fortified place which they held without imparting her purpose to any person not even to Cloranisbes himself And then telling them what intelligence had been given her I shall be so secret said she to them in my flight because if the Prince should violently seise upon me all the World would believe I was the cause of it my self and nothing but death could manifest my innocence 'T is the best course therefore not to venture the having need of so violent a remedy Not that flight and solitude are of more value to me but I shall at least have the advantage of making it apparent that I know how to over-rule my inclinations when I please Pasilia and Delisia would have perswaded her to tell Cloranisbes of her purpose but she was inflexible No no said she to them 't is best that he be able to say with truth that he knew not of my departure that so the Prince may not accuse him of it Wherefore without further delay she pretended the next morning she would go spend the day at the house of a Lady which was her friend standing without the City but instead of doing so she took a by-way which led towards the place where she chose her retreat At night a slave came to tell Cloranisbes that she would lye at her Friend's house but Cloranisbes said nothing to it though it was not her custom and the Prince being indispos'd that day did not go to seek her The next morning indeed he sent a complement to her to know her health and when it was told him she lay out of the City he took a resolution to go visit her in the afternoon But he was much astonisht to receive a Letter from Lysonice in which he found these words Lysonice to the Prince of Carthage ACcuse me not Cloranisbes of my departure for I protest to you my Lord he knows not that I am gone 't is a design which I have put in execution without imparting it to him
me too as well as the rest Thereupon I laught heartily at the choler I had put Plotina into unawares for indeed she never lov'd that kind of commendation which regarded only the time to come You may judge by what I tell you that Plotina had a forward wit and was already very agreeable But in a little time she made it appear sufficiently and most of those that had made such advantageous predictions were in a condition to speak to her only of the present time and of the torments her beauty caus'd them to suffer This passage said Amilcar interrupting her puts me into the greatest fear in the world for I am ready to dye out of conceit that you are going to tell me Plotina has been lov'd by many more deserving persons than my self and I am afraid too you will inform me she has lov'd some one of my Rivals more than she loves me Do not fear so much as you pretend answer'd Cesonia lest I tell you Plotina has had more worthy Lovers than your self and for the rest you may judge what you ought to believe of it when I come to the end of my relation I shall therefore proceed to tell you added she that the merit of Plotina soon made a great report and she saw all those makers of predictions speak to her only of the time present Yet it must be said to the honour of Plotina that she did not suffer her self to be dazled with the applause of the World but with very great modesty receiv'd the first praises that were given her And indeed she was very debonair without folly pleasant without extravagance young without imprudence witty without pride and handsome without affectation Then it was that I began to converse with her as with a true Friend I first intrusted little trifling secrets to her and perceiving she us'd them discreetly I imparted to her the greatest secrets I had in my heart Whereby our friendship became so great and intimate that in speaking of us people were many times pleas'd to mention us by the name of the two Friends At that time there were very many worthy persons at Ardea for besides Turnus Periander and divers others there were three of undoubted merit The first was named Martius the second Lycastes and the third Clorantus This last has a noble but very sweet and civil aspect though sometimes his air seem a little cold and careless He has brown hair a very handsome head somewhat a long visage a pale complexion black and small eyes but nevertheless his looks are very ingenious and even his silence speaks him such for in discourse he hears like one who admirably well understands that which is spoken to him and who could speak more than he does All his deportments are such as become a man of his quality and his mind is perfectly fram'd for converse with the world he loves ingenious composures and their Authors he has a melancholy aspect and nevertheless loves all pleasures His Soul is naturally passionate and though the outside of his person and his mind speak him one of those faithful Lovers which the world so rarely affords yet he is always a serious wanton or if you will a tolerable inconstant for no doubt some are not such However he maintains confidently that he is faithful because he says he never deserted any woman who gave him not cause of complaint He is one of those who account it no infidelity to make little affections occasionally by the by which arise in their heart during their greater passions But this is constantly true where he loves he loves ardently he minds nothing but his passion he is very inclinable to jealousie he resents the least unpleasing things with a strange vehemence and in fine is acquainted with the greatest delights and the extremest rigours of love As for Martius he was a man who lov'd very passionately was incapable of relinquishing one Mistress to love another but whose affections could only abate by time He was very handsome infinitely ingenious and endu'd with a pleasing kind of wit And then for Lycastes he was a very agreeable person but he was naturally so inconstant that it was reckon'd amongst the wonders of Love if any one could engage him to love constantly once in his life Being we were known to all the virtuoso's of Ardea and there were few in the City more consider'd than Plotina and I we were present at all the Gallant Feasts which were made One was made at that time in honour of Circe who is termed Goodess in Homer in which were represented divers of those prodigious transformations which are attributed to her and in which Plotina appear'd so charming that her beauty and debonarity made the discourse of all persons That day she made two remarkable conquests which caus'd her to be call'd for some time after the new Circe For she who sometimes wrought such extraordinary changes by the vertue of simples whose proprieties she so admirably understood never did any more deserving wonder But to manifest this you must know that till that time Lycastes had made publick profession of being inconstant and that Martius had formerly been very amorous of a very fair Lady by whom he was also lov'd yet afterwards according to the general course of the world it was believ'd this passion was grown so temperate that it could be call'd love no longer without doing him a favour So that when she was dead he appear'd very much afflicted first but suffer'd himself to be comforted by time and his Friends and indeed it was thought he lamented her rather like a Friend than a Lover 'T is true after her death he had not appear'd amorous yea he seem'd very indifferent but at length on the day of this famous Feast of Circe Lycastes and Martius ceas'd to be what they had been before that is the first learnt to love constantly and the other ceas'd to be insensible and began to love again But such beginnings of love being usually not so discernible as to be known the first moment they attacque the heart Lycastes and Martius did not believe they could be very amorous of Plotina and their Friends perceiv'd it before themselves Now Plotina being of a free and merry humor these two Lovers were sufficiently at a loss for an occasion to give her seriously to understand they lov'd her when they perceiv'd it for she so handsomly put off all that they said to her that it might seem their love was nothing but a piece of Gallantry in which their hearts were unconcern'd But at length they found that they lov'd ardently For their passion began to manifest it self by jealousie they could no longer endure one another but with trouble they minded nothing but Plotina and how to please her They frequented none but her abandon'd all their acquaintances and in brief had nothing but their passions in their heads On the otherside Plotina having always been averse to Marriage and now
is not much to be wonder'd at for you do not give your Mistresses leisure to love you Ha! As for you amiable Plotina cry'd he I promise to give you all the leisure you can desire for I perceive I shall love you as long as I live If it be so answer'd she smiling I shall not be much displeas'd because it will give me occasion to revenge all those that you have deserted and to manifest that there may be eternal rigour as well as eternal love Plotina spoke this with a certain deriding air which sensibly afflicted Lycastes so that he could speak to her no more all the rest of the day because she joyn'd and continued with the rest of the company After that time Martius and Lycastes neglected nothing which they thought fit to do to please Plotina yet they continu'd a civil respect one towards another because they knew she desir'd it and nevertheless us'd all artifices to their mutual disadvantage Lycastes knowing Lucia had several Letters of Martius to his first Mistress and from her to him importun'd her to shew them to Plotina as she had the Elegy before And accordingly Lucia going to visit her one afternoon and finding her alone acted so cunningly that she made her curious to see the Letters she pretended to have I will shew you them said Lucia to Plotina but if you profit no better by them than by the Elegy which you have seen already no doubt I shall repent of it For is there any thing more ignoble than after the death of a person infinitely amiable and infinitely vertuous to see the most secret testimonies of her affection become publick through his negligence who receiv'd them I confess said Plotina if people could always think of being liable to this danger they would never write any thing but what might be seen by all the World but the mischief at the time such obliging Letters are pen'd they have so good an opinion of them to whom they are written that they fear not the falling out of such a misadventure There are some women no doubt who write all that they think through the reason you mention answer'd Lucia but there are others who out of natural imprudence and the desire to have flattering and courting Letters write not to one alone but to many men and spend one half of their lives in writing Love-letters and the other in receiving those of their gallants There are some too that know how to disguise their hands several ways and others who never write in their own that so they may deny all when they please As for these women said Plotina I allow that their Letters be shewn to all the World for certainly they are not worthy to be discreetly dealt withal But as for a vertuous person in whose heart is nothing but an innocent affection 't is inhumanity to publish such things of theirs as may be ill interpreted Yet this comes to pass so frequently that I think to refrain from writing any thing too kind 't is best to forbear to love for prudence is not much listened to by such as love and distrust is so contrary to perfect love that scarce any thing which is not criminal can be refus'd to a person that is lov'd I believe also that the more an affection is innocent the more the Letters are obliging for they that rely on their own innocence write with more liberty therefore to avoid being expos'd to such a great unhappiness and to forbear writing it is requisite for me as I said before to keep my self from loving But that I may be confirm'd in this sentiment added she shew me in what manner Martius writ to Lysimira and how Lysimira writ to Martius I will Madam said Lucia and the better to manifest to you how deceitful or inconstant men are I will shew you Letters written at divers times from Martius to Lysimira See here then a Letter which Martius writ to Lysimira some time after she had permitted him to love her and he had requested some slight favour of her which she refus'd him at which he seem'd angry and left her rudely And so Lucia read to Plotina that which I am going to read to you for I kept copies of all Martius's Letters because they appear'd to me very amorous Martius to Lysimira I Do not defer Madam to acknowledge repent of and beseech your pardon for my fault till you reproach me for it I have offended I confess I am culpable I cannot plead any thing in excuse of my capricio but excess of love For who am I Madam that I should not be contented that the divine Lysimira knows I love her though she give me no testimony of an affection equal to my own Have I deserv'd the other kindnesses you have had for me would not a thousand persons of greater merit than I be satisfied with the condition you permit me to enjoy Alas I cannot deny it But I beseech you Madam be not offended with me and add not more rigorous and cruel punishments to those I cause to my self If ever person lov'd more tenderly more respectfully and more ardently than I I am willing that you refuse the pardon to me which I desire of you but since that cannot be grant it me Madam and believe I shall with eternal fidelity own the command you have laid upon me to be faithful Yet I cannot divine wherefore you recommended it more to me the other day than at any time before but can you divine that I am more so this day than ever I was in my life when you tell me your secret I will tell you mine But alas whe shall I have the joy to speak to you I know I shall this day have the honour to see you but in a place where I can do nothing less than entertain you with my love Pity me therefore Madam pity me and imagine how great a torment it would be to you if you were oblig'd to hide the most violent and innocent passion in the World I confess said Plotina Martius's Letter is very amorous and 't is hard to conceive how a man that writ in this manner could cease to love without cause See this other Letter answer'd Lucia for 't is something more passionate than the first and accordingly Plotina read this following Martius to Lysimira HOw I love you Madam what an amiable person you are and from how great pains has your Letter of this morning deliver'd me What can I do to repay you as much joy as it has given me Tell me Madam for if no more but dying for your service be requisite I will not refuse it Nothing can equal the delight of being lov'd by the most excellent person of the World and being I love you as I do I am sometimes extremely sorry you cannot receive a pleasure equal to mine But I beseech you Madam let this pleasure accompany me to the grave let Fortune never ravish it from me but make
manifested his innocency For Celius himself who was not over-valiant fearing to be treated like Lycastes and being at feud with his Sister justifi'd him whom he had accus'd for his love for Plotina was one of those young peoples affections who believe their honour lost unless they counterfeit themselves Lovers Nevertheless though Plotina perceiv'd well enough that Martius was innocent her heart was not affected towards him as it had been But wherefore Madam said he to her one day do you not restore me that beginning of affection you had for me before Because I will not and cannot answer'd she As for my esteem I give it you entire again but that kind of affection full of I know not what disquieting tenderness I cannot recal into my heart if I would Anger expell'd it thence and my reason being become more strong will hinder it from returning Ah! unjust person that you are cry'd Martius you cause me to undergo the most cruel adventure that ever was and Lysimira's death was not more grievous to me She dy'd loving me she commanded me to love you she took nothing from me I cannot but commend her constancy her memory is still dear to me but as for you I lose you without any fault of mine I see you more amiable than ever but I see you without hope of being lov'd Yet if I had never had hope I should be patient but you have confess'd your self you have had some kindness for me I confess it again answer'd Plotina and if I had had less perhaps I should have had it still but to speak truth after I found my heart so near engag'd that I should have been no longer Mistress of it if I had continu'd but a little longer to love you I am beholding to my anger which has cur'd me But Madam that anger was ill grounded reply'd he But Martius excepted she we are not bound to love all those that have not betray'd us 'T is true answer'd he but I conceive they that have begun to love any person ought always to love him If I had promis'd you so reply'd Plotina I would have kept my word but I never acknowledg'd to you that I lov'd you till now I lov'd you no longer and resolve not to do so Ha! Madam cry'd he you carry your cruelty too far and I believe never any adventure was like mine In good earnest said Plotina nothing prejudices you in my heart but your merit and the tenderness which I have had for you and I confess to you ingenuously you are the only man I have seen whom I have judg'd worthy of my affection But I assure you at the same time I was so much asham'd to understand my own weakness when I believ'd you lov'd another that I am not resolv'd to return ever into the like condition But in acknowledgment of the affection you have had for me as far as I can I assure you also that I am resolv'd to defend my heart as long as I live therefore never to marry for to marry and not love those we marry is in my judgment the most foolish and mischievous thing in the world and to assure ones self of the affection of any one is the greatest rashness possible Therefore Liberty is the safest course and if you believe me my example will be of use to you Besides 't is very just that you be faithful to the Ashes of Lysimira Alas answer'd Martius 't is easie for an indifferent person to advise indifference But how comes it that having not hated me before you hate me now If I hated you reply'd she I could love you again but Martius I esteem you and I can have a certain solid friendship for you which may engage my mind but not much more my heart Ah! Madam I desire not that friendship answer'd Martius and I like hatred a thousand times better 'T is in vain that you would be hated reply'd Plotina for I esteem you too much How Madam said he hastily is it an equal impossibility for me to obtain your hatred and your love Yes answer'd Plotina and as I love my self too much to love you I esteem you too much to hate you But to discover the bottom of my heart to you know I have the greatest Obligation to you in the world for that you will be the cause that I shall without difficulty resist the affection of all those who perhaps may hereafter have a design to please me for after the danger whereto you have expos'd my Liberty I shall provide so timely for it that it will be no more in hazard What Madam cry'd the afflicted Martius will you deprive me of hope for ever Ah! Madam added he you do not know your self well and perhaps your heart will do me justice even against your will No no Martius answer'd she with a very serious air you will never see me engag'd in an affection of that nature I love joy quiet and glory and I will preserve them as long as I live After this say no more to me for I shall not answer you Martius would have disobey'd her but she hindred him from speaking and from thenceforward so carefully avoided to give him occasion to entertain her apart that he could not find any He knew well she spoke her mind and when she shun'd him she told him smilingly that she fear'd him so that he was an hundred times more miserable For it was true that at that time Plotina more countenanced Damon Sicinius and Acrisius who were become amorous of her though she neither lov'd nor esteem'd them than she did Martius for whom she had a very great esteem And this was matter of no small joy to Lucia But wherefore do you not shun Acrisius said I to her one day Because he is too great a talker answer'd she and so I cannot fear that he will ever please me Why then do not you decline Sicinius reply'd I. Because he speaks so little added she that I cannot apprehend he is likely to perswade me and as for Damon I have as little reason to fear that he will cause me to change my sentiments towards him But how comes it said I that you heretofore so much resisted those that endeavour'd to divert you from following the inclination you had for Martius and now you have more reason to love him you love him no longer Because at that time answer'd she my inclination was strong and my reason weak but anger having cur'd me of my pre-conceiv'd opinion I have taken a wise resolution to spend all my life in liberty I will indeed entertain a certain free friendship added she which shall not perplex but divert me no less than love but as for great affections I will not admit of any at all for they cannot be entertain'd without disquiet The way you intend to take said I to her is perhaps as dangerous as that you would avoid for many of those friendships of gallantry approach very easily to
passionate he is very apt both to be sensible of and to excite great passions for he knows all the violence delicacy and Mystery of Loves better than Vulgar Lovers But to pass from agreeable to Heroical Qualities he is Honorable sincere generous and as good a friend as is possible to be and whoso has oblig'd him to promise his friendship may be assur'd he will never fail in it Moreover his heart is fill'd with the most true and solid glory in the World So that in occasions where it is to be obtain'd or that which he has already gotten is to be upheld this man whom I have represented to you so gentle so facile and so complacent is the most fierce and resolute in the World As for his courage he has as much as any man so that this being joyn'd to his wit and other accomplishments makes it apparent that there is no imployment how great soever of which he is not capable and worthy and he gives cause to believe that if there be any man in the world who would not alter his deportment towards his Friends in an extraordinary advancement of fortune it is certainly himself His conversation is not only agreeable but charming for he enters into the sentiments of those to whom he speaks without any affectation and conforms thereto with address by which means he insensibly insinuates into the hearts of people and such a person as sometimes believ'd he was only an acquaintance has sound soon after that he had a great interest in his affection He is courteous even in the least concernments and his gentleness pity and gratitude extend even to the smallest Animals For he loves to observe their natures goodness and agreeableness and industry he admires that rational instinct which guides them so accurately he is delighted with their kindness he has compassion of those that are miserable because whatever suffers excites his pity He is alike fit for the conversation of Ladies and men and he writes so admirably well and in so elegant and gallant a strain and so much becoming a man of Quality that his Letters cause such as see them to wish they could write the like In fine his merit is so great that the charming Clarista niece of the admirable Amalthea whose name you cannot but know minding to use railery with him and to disparage his conversation could only reproach him that he sometimes lov'd to recount things past rather than to speak of things present Thus I have given you such an account as I could of this illustrious Friend of Amalthea whom I could have lov'd if he had lov'd me However having affairs in Sicily and a brother who after several adventures is come to live at Praeneste I took a journey to see him and I am resoly'd to demand Whether I shall never be lov'd but by people whom I cannot love Aretaphile spoke this so gracefully that if at the same moment one had not call'd her to go know what she desir'd to understand Amilcar could scarce have contain'd from speaking some kind of blandishments to her though he had resolv'd to love Plotina eternally But Aretaphile left him and went to inquire her Destiny of him who perform'd the Ceremony and expounded the Lots who said to her Thank the Gods Daughter for if you were lov'd by one whom you could love you would be the most miserable person in the World because you would always love more than you would be lov'd again Therefore prepare your self to love nothing but liberty if you desire to be happy Anacreon was call'd next and askt Fortune whether he should live always in joy The Soothsayer having consider'd the several Tablets answer'd him And accordingly the event verifi'd the prediction of the Lots for Anacreon dy'd afterward at a Feast where he was choak'd by the grain of a Grape After Anacreon Scaurus was caus'd to enter with his Machine who with an air serious and mocking together askt if there were any means for him to become such a person as his Picture and to resemble his Picture once again Being the Priests were oblig'd to answer to all Questions the Lots were drawn and the old Soothsayer interpreting them answer'd him in these terms You know not what you ask when you desire to become again what you have been Which if you were you would be young and handsome you would dance well you would be an excellent Painter you would be active and agreeable but withal you would be nothing but a Gallant wanton who had only made Sonnets upon Iris or Clymene and your Reputation would be circumscrib'd in the number of your Friends But by the change hapned in your person your mind being excited to make amends for the loss of your beauty is become such as you now enjoy and has now so exalted you above the common sort of men that you are the Phoenix of your Species Your Works please the whole World by their ingenious mirth and elegancy Desire therefore only to be such as you are and be contented that the Gods in giving you Lyriana have given you a thousand times more than they have taken from you even though you had been more amiable than Paris After this Scaurus retir'd saying the Lots of Praeneste taught him nothing and he knew before all that they told him Then the fair Lyriana was call'd who would propound no Question though her name was written For having well consider'd said she to the Priest If it be decreed for me to be happy I shall be so infallibly and if any infelicity is to befall me I will not know it before it happen What you say is so well reason'd answer'd the sage Soothsayer that I doubt not but you will always be as happy as you deserve to be Next came Amilcar's turn who demanded whether he should dye in Africk or in Italy and the Soothsayer answer'd him In Italy Whereupon he was very joyful imagining that the voyage which he design'd to make into Africk would not be long After this Acrisius askt whether he should ever possess Plotina and the Soothsayer having consider'd the Tablets told him Such as speak too much never perswade Then Damon the constant Pythagorean propos'd two questions One whether his Mistress would always slight him and the other what he should become first of all when he dy'd But after the Child had drawn the Tablets the Soothsayer expounded them in this sort Your Mistress will always do you justice you shall dye but once and you shall be as all other men are when they depart this life for the Disciples of Pythagoras have no particular priviledge Damon seem'd so offended with this answer that he said aloud as he went forth of the Temple Amilcar had brib'd the Soothsayer and the Lots of Praeneste were nothing but a cheat Amilcar laugh'd at his choler and made pleasant railery upon the discontent which Damon resented for that it was told him he should dye but once Yet he went