two lovely Creatures who like the twin kids in the Canticles did feed among the Lillies Hee that would be scandalized to see two hen-doves join their bills the union of the blooming Rose with the Morning dew or the beams of the Sun when he licks the Chrystall of the Waters might knit his brow at this innocent conjunction and exercise the malicious severity of his peevish melancholly like a snaile that sullieth with is slimy train the delightfull enamell of the most curious flowers If the agreeable Iphigenes bare much Love to his no less loving wife Nature by waies as secret as unknown to him bred in him as much affection towards his brother in-law Liante and although his sullen and discontented humor rendred him very unsociable and by consequent less amiable it cannot be said how hee delighted in his conversation how much hee endeavoured to divert him On the other side Liante who looked upon Iphigenes not as his Sister's Husband but as his enemie's Son as the usurper of his Fortunes and one whose greatness was established upon him ruines Notwithstanding all these thoughts whereby hee excited himself to Choller and Hatred like a Lyon that whets his fury by scourging his sides with his own tail could not conceive any aversion against him whether the sweetness of his disposition charmed him whether his kindness his complements and his compliance to his humor won his heart whether his beauty joyned with his gracefull deportment ravished him or whether which is most probable the Sense bent his inclinations naturally towards this Object for reasons which I had rather leave to conjecture than consign to this writing Hee could not choose but love Iphigenes although in appearance hee seemed much remiss and rather sensible of his injuries than susceptible of affection This cold reservedness increased Iphigenes heat according to the disposition of that sex who are commonly most passionate for those who do care least for them insomuch that the more Linate seemed to sight him the more hee redoubled his affection and courtesies as if hee had undertaken by the vigour of an ardent flame to dissolve the Isicles that environed his frozen Heart At first Liante whom Melanchollie had made mistrustfull fancied that those marks of friendship were but feined and proceeded from some artificiall Counsell or Plot to make him consent willingly to the donation of his Estate in favour of his Sister Modestina's marriage But having perceived by the perseverance that pur Inclination not Interest or Pretensions moved Iphigenes to affect him Hee opened his heart more to him complaining of the Rigour and Injustice of Mieslas who forced him to embrace a vocation whereunto hee was no way disposed This just discontent found in the soul of Iphigenes an humour so sweetly compassionate that although in all his discourse hee observed the respect which hee owed his Father yet hee freely condemned his violence protesting to Linate what design soever Mieslas had in marrying him with Modestina that hee would never take of his inheritance any other Portion than what hee would please to give his Sister judging it very unreasonable that a younger Sister should not only make as she listed a Portion for her elder and only Brother but deprive him absolutely of his Patrimony in obedience to a superior Power that would carry all away by main force That if the condition of an Ecclesiastick was not conformable to his humour there was a possibility to satisfie him and content likewise the greedy pretensions of the Palatine by making a double alliance and giving to him in marriage his Sister Clemencia with so much of the Estate as belonged to him by his Father's death being more willing for his own part to live a private Gentleman remitting his Fortune to his personall valour and the point of his Sword reserving to himself only Hope which was Alexander's portion than to possess unjustly another's means with continuall Remorses and internall Reproaches These Reasons so conquered Liante's heart that thence-forwards all his affections hee thought too little for Iphigenes whom hee began to consider as his Redeemer as one who breaking his Iron bonds was to release him out of the hands of Pharaoh and free him from the house of Bondage Covetousness is a disease which reigns but little among young unexperienced People who think as the Proverb goes that the World will never be at an end with them The desire of pleasures liberty and vanity torments them infinitely more All that opposes this Torrent seems to turn the course of their Nature and reduce them to despair This made Liante building an entire confidence on his Brother-in-law Iphigenes declare unto him that the Regret which undermined him and led him insensibly to the grave was not so much for the loss of his Estate which hee esteemed well bestowed seeing it fell into so beloved hands as to see himself bound up in a Cassock and ingaged in a manner of life which denyed him the use of Arms whereunto his inclination called him and whither all his Ambition tended for War was his Element where hee would rather choose to meet an honorable death then lead a sweet plentifull and peaceable life in the most rich and eminent Dignities of the Church to the honors whereof hee never would pretend not perceiving himself called thereunto like Aaron that is by a good and Royall way Brother replyed Iphigenes take courage suffer not Melanchollie to or'e-master or distemper you preserve your self for generous enterprises If you have a mind to take wing and leave this nest of sluggishness I have no less desire than you to seek in Militarie adventures the Laurells that grow in Mars ' s field therefore let 's goe together let 's steale away some favourable Night and enter into the harvest of glorie in those places where Cowards dare not appear These words revived the afflicted Liante who was so overcome by the inevitable charms of Iphigenes's Countenance and Conversation that hee could live no more without him being in his absence like a Marigold when the Sun hath left its Horizon For as that flower doth close its leaves when it is deprived of the aspect of that glorious Planet so Liante when seperated from Iphigenes was overwhelmed with sadness in such sort that Hee seemed to bee rather a fensless Statue than a living Creature Oh how it grieved him to bee divided in his exercises from him to whom his heart was so united by inclination To bee called to his studie was death to him but if for divertisement his Master permitted him to see the riding of the great Horse fencing dancing vaulting and other exercises which Iphigenes learned with as much care on his Parent 's part as dexteritie and aptness on his own hee applyed his Spirits with such attention to them that for a good while after hee could think on nothing else if hee handled a foile hee did it with such a grace if hee Jumped it was with such activeness that
hinder Iphigenes and Modestina's private communication and so handsomly did Liante with his ordinarie sadness hide from his Over-seer his affectionate pretensions Only Boleslaüs who watching like a Dragon that never shuts his eyes to preserve the secret of Iphigenes observed that the great familiarity 'twixt him and Liante put in evident danger of beeing revealed all the Mysterie which hee had till then concealed with so much care and fearing lest Liante rather than Modestina should discover what kind of man Iphigenes was had a serious conference thereupon with Aretuza who jumping with his opinion thought it most expedient to single out Iphigenes and declare unto her all the passages of her birth and education to the end that seeing her self obliged under pain of losing her life which punishment shee could not escape by discovering her self no more than Aretuza to keep this secret and so to demean her self that living with the libertie of Males Shee might no way blemish the honour of her sex Necessity which is a very harsh Mistres made them embrace his resolution and it was no sooner concluded than put in execution To tell you the astonishment that seized Iphigenes at the recitall of his own storie would bee too difficult an enterprise Hee thought that hee either dreamt or was inchanted and hardly could give credit to his ears and eyes The joy that the Maydens had or might have received being transformed into Men as some Histories make mention may make us conceive some shadow of that sadness which struck Iphigenes heart when hee saw himself fallen from that degree of glorie whereunto hee fancied the condition of being a Man might have raised him Hee could hardly refrain from falling out with those that had unseeled his eyes with the Medicine of their advertisement and who had dispossessed him like Trasimenes cured of his follie of that sweet errour which contented him Hee apprehended to be reduced to that almost servile Subjection of the female Sex having by Custome made Nature of the libertie which Men enjoy What shall this Amazon change her Sword and Lance for a Needle and a Distaff shall shee leave so many noble Exercises wherein her generous Spirit took such pleasure to sit constantly in a Chamber tricking up her self and consulting with her looking-glasses how to ensnare inflame lover ' s hearts What in stead of having the Empire and command over Men shall she be reformed to the submission and obedience that is the only portion and propertie of Women No such a resolution is less supportable than death Having been bred the beginning of her daies like a Man shee will end them like a Souldier and seek in the bed of Honor an heroick Death since shee hath lost the hope of a happy life But this resolution is too extream there 's a remedie for every thing but dying Aretuza flattered and as a Mother conjured her shee-Son not to disclose himself Boleslaüs to second her beseeched him to have pittie on his gray hairs and not to hasten his journie to the grave by paying with too unworthy an ingratitude his faithfull services representing that upon him who had been the Manager and Concealer of that Deceipt Mieslas would chiefly discharge the burthen of his furie if that Mysterie should come to his knowledg Moreover that the advertisement they gave him was not to oblige him to change neither manner of life nor habit or to leave the exercises of Chivalrie wherein his Courage and Activity gained the admiration of everie one But quite contrarie they desired him to continue them with more eagerness and to feine himself to bee a Man the more the less hee knew it That Time might produce some expedient means to gain his father's heart wihtout hazarding the lives of so manie persons and in stead of Modestina who could not bee his wife by reason of those obstacles which nature had interposed hee might lawfully injoy Liante as a Husband so that some one of their Children bare the Name and Arms of Mieslas whereby his intention would not bee altogether frustrated in the Alliance which hee projected with the house of Rosuald Judg how great the advnatages of Love are above the Sense of Friendship This last Clause which ingendred some Hope in Iphigenes to see herself united by marriage to the beloved Liante effaced almost in an instant that incomparable sorrow that dejected her at first seeing her self fallen from a quality so honourable and advnatagious as that of Man Insomuch that immediately changing the Love shee bare Modestina into a pure Friendship and the entire Friendship shee had contracted with Liante into a fervent Love but vertuous since that it justified it self by the design of a chast Matrimony shee personated a Man better then ever betook her self to her Military execises again with more eagerness looking upon Liante with other eyes than of a Brother-in-law Shee treated him with more reservedness deducting somewhat from the liberty of a Man to add to the moderation of a Virgin to whom Pudicity ought to be more precious than Life O how much did shee repent her possessing Clemencia with so much Love for Liante whereby shee had made her Sister her Rival and kindled a fire which shee ought rather to have quencht and which thence-forwards shee promised her self to smother by all the industrie her invention could suggest As for Modestina whose friendship obliged her to a reciprocall affection shee feined to be more passionate for her than ever and the better to act the Husband Shee made a shew of desiring with much ardour the possession of her wife being by that time neer fifteen years of age Perpetua wrote to Mieslas then at Court that shee should be constreined to suffer what shee could no longer hinder and that if Iphigenes would make use of Modestina as her Husband Modestina had no less desire to serve him as his Wife Mieslas who had desired nothing more than the accomplishment of that marriage out of an odd fantasticall humor would not consent to the Consummation but delayed it from day to day untill his return into Podolia But being not able to obtein leave from the King who finding him very fit for the managing great affairs had every day some new imployment for him Hee bethought himself to send for his Son to the Court which is the Theater of young Nobility where hee would present him to the King and make him appear according to his quality This Command somewhat troubled Aretuza at the first but Boleslaüs quickly perswaded her to condescend to that which shee could not oppose promising her to watch so carefully over the deportments of his Nursling that shee should receive neither reproach nor discontentment This news was diversly received among our yuong Lovers all their four hearts did feele at the same instant very different assualts For Modestina pressed with the just impatiences of a marriageable Virgin that expects till the maturity of a too-tender husband makes
upon the beautifull Podolian shee fancied that beeing watched now no more by that Dragon shee should have better opportunity to disclose her intentions and conduct them to the desired end The same Death raised Iphigenes to the degree of Palatine which is the highest step of honour amongst the Grandees of Polonia for the King requited his innocence with the inheritance of his unjust Adversaire's Authority Thus the Weights which seem to depresse the Palms do make them grow up higher Thus the Knife that cut 's the Vines maketh them flourish and is cause of their producing new Leaves whose Bredth and Beauty do efface the luster of the antient stock As great Tempests are preceded by little Winds which curl the smooth-faced Waters and make the Tree's Leaves tremble As many little stones do tumble from an House-top before the whole building falls And as extreme Sicknesses are fore-run bymany slight indispositions So in great Prince's Favorites the declining of their Fortune hath it's presages and although oftentimes they feel the Thunder-bolt before they see the Lightning yet to those that have but indifferent judgements it is easie to prejudicate that some sinister accident doth threaten them When Pamphlets Songs Advertisements Satyres Poems and Diffamatory Libells are dispersed abroad it is as when those white Birds are seen flying upon the Sea coast which are infalilible fore-runners of foulweather The beautifull Face of Iphigenes which betrayed and almost accused his Heart was the Rock whereon equally those that loved and those that hated him were Shipwrackt It 's strange that Hatred and Love should deduce their Origine from the same Principle That which ravished his Lovers made the Jealous burst with Spight and when some praised exceedingly those perfections which charmed so many Eyes the Envious would take occasion thence to blame him as being Effeminate But as Iniquity commonly stop 's its own Mouth and give 's it self the Lye the two incounters of Augustus and Stanislas shewed evidently enough the nullity os that reproach and compelled those that called Iphigenes a cowardly Paris to acknowledge that Hee was rather to be honoured as a brave Hippolytus who could joyn Valor with Beauty Some others who knew that hee had been Married very yong and that hee had not proceeded to Consummation and besides although the Ladies generally were inamored of him seeing that hee repayed their flames with such indifferency accused him of Impotency For Courtiers have that base quality not onely to make little esteem of Continency themselves but blame it in others Besides Envy is a False Glass which changeth the Face of Objects which makes the handsomest things seem ugly and chargeth Vertue with the same defects that render Vices blameable It is true Iphigenes the better to conceal what really hee was would sometimes play the Courtier amongst the Ladies taking pleasure to foster in their Brests a Disease whereunto hee was incapable of applying a remedy and perceiving that divers amongst them layed Snares to intrap his Liberty hee delighted in cutting them out Work and paying them in the same Coyn. What Jealousies Quips and petty Quarrels did hee raise amongst that Sex who are naturally inclined to Self-conceit and Envy Their hearts were all as Brimstone to the fire of his Eyes all as Heliotropes or Turn-sols to the Luster of his Presence For besides the advantage of being the King's Favorite which is the North-Star of those whose hearts are touched with the Loadstone of the Court hee was possessor of so many amiable qualities that as soon as hee fixed his Eyes upon any Lady shee presently imagined shee had caught him when hee had taken her and this Opinion raising her Fancy to the skies shee thought to triumph over all her Competitors and be Queen of the Bean although shee had no part of the Cake For Iphigenes changed his discourse so often and knew how to amuse them all with such dexterity that although hee loved none hee seemed to consume at every fire hee approached This gave Occasion to some malicious Spirits Jealous of his Glory to blast with their Satyricall invectives the blossome of his Reputation Whilest these snarling Curs who cannot bite Iphigenes do bark after him casting stones at him without discovering their Arms and making Libells flie about which the Authors durst not own but to their surest friends Others more dangerous like to the worm that eat 's into the Root of the green Ivie did set their wedges to the Root of his Fortune to make the Tree fall down and sturck their Pick axes into the Foundation to undermine the Edifice Hee that hath been an Homicide from the beginning hath in all times been busie in forging Calumnies and indeavoured to establish Lyes in the place of Truth Hee hath alwaies sowed Darnell amongst the good grain and mingled in the pure Gold of the most generous Actions the Rust and Skum of false Reports and Detraction The wheel of Fortune like the Potter's is in perpetuall Motion alwaies framing new Vessells sometimes of Ignominy sometimes of Honour and seem's to raise those on whom Shee confer's Dignities meerly to dash them in pieces by their fall as Eagles deal with Tortoises This fickle Step-dame constant in nothing but Inconstancy and who hath nothing certain but her Incertainty favoring the designs of the malicious Enemies of the innocent Iphigenes whom shee had till then been elevating to the highest point of her Circle suggested to their Envie the Invention if not to work his utter Ruine at least to make him bee discarded from the Court and so by a Disgrace to precipitate him down the hill of his declining Greatness Thus was their Plot which they so cunningly contrived that those who were surprised in the same snare never did perceive it Some Divellish Spirits by means of certain Women good workers of such wicked Stratagems buzzed into the Queen's ears Imaginations that ought not to enter into the thoughts of so discreet and so vertuous a Princess perswading her that the King in his friendship to Iphigenes by an Orientall Licentiousness did passe the terms of Honour and his Devoir This was to touch the Queen on the Apple of the Eye and wound her in the most sensible place about her Insomuch that as those Meats which most delight our appetites in health are the most loathsome to us being Sick so the very name of Iphigenes on whom shee looked so favorably beofre this false report hereupon became odious unto her and his presence insupportable The matchless Civilitie Modestie and chast Demeanure which formerly shee had with leisure remarked in this beautifull Youth vanished all in one moment out of her Mind and the place of Truth was presently usurped by false Reports and vain surmises How easie it is in a Woman's heart to supplant the Innocent They had a fairer game to play with the King For the familiarity and free access which Iphigenes had to the Queen and the other Ladies more than ever was permitted
benefits upon mee that in despight of my Gratitude I must die Ingratefull to your exceeding Munisicence but that spot can be no blemish to mee seeing that it is the will which acknowledgeth Obligations and payeth in some kind by Desire what it cannot in Effect Sir you know how often I have beseeched you to moderate the Favours and Grace wherewith your Liberality over-loaded mee not to offend the malevolent Eye of Envy who not measuring Presents by the Greatness of the Giver but by the Meanness of the Receiver cannot endure that Kings should exalt those who have the happiness to gain their Favour to the prejudice of their Capricious Humours which make them find nothing to their minds As Envy is displeasing to all the World so all the World displeaseth it all hands are against it and it's hand is against the most innocent I should take glory in its Malice for thence I might derive an occasion to presume of having some vertue since that is the common Object of its malign practises But I must confess that in separating mee from the presence of Your Majesty it hath found the means to wound me in the most tender part and discovered the secret to put my Patience to the harshest triall that I could imagine For there is no Grandeur no Riches that I would not trample under my feet as Dung. So that I might but remain neer Your Majesty and all is but Dirt and Ashes to me in your absence The Colours which they have chosen to banish me from your Court are very specious This is to pursue me with Roses and Flowers to persecute mee in casting Oranges and Vialls of sweet Waters at mee It is to cut off my Head with a Blade of Gold or strangle mee with a Silken Halter I do not question Sir the reason of my Exile it suffiseth that it is your Pleasure to perswade mee that it is Just if you would command mee to go meet Death you should see mee run head-long to obey you although I were most certain that I had not deserved it Were it in my choyce I should freely say to your Greatness Bee pleased to take from mee what your immense Liberality hath hitherto powred upon my head But since your Ordinance is otherwise and that burthened with Benefits I must leave the Source for the Rivulets and bee removed hence for the advancement of your affairs and service without considering the disadvantage to my Honour or the joy I will not say of my enemies for I have indeavoured as much as in mee lay not to purchase any but of those that are jealous of the Graces I have received from your Goodness I am willing to deprive my self as long as your Majesty shall please of the glory of your presence in testimony of my extream Obedience and Fidelity protesting that I had rather Die at your feet than Live far from you in all the honours and delights Imaginable This discourse interrupted sometimes with Sobs and accompanyed with Tears as pittifull as the Grief which produced them was reall so moved the King's generous Spirit that hee was almost in the mind to repeal Iphigenes Banishment But humane Prudence for the reasons already declared prevailed above his Affection shewing therein his great vertue by subduing himself Iphigenes after this with the King's permission went to take leave of the Queen who like a woman knew better how to dissemble her regret but not retein her tears whose flowing betrayed her Countenance which shee had framed to Gravity and Disdain So that at length shee was inforced to leave off that borrowed Visard and shew openly enough to Iphigenes that shee lost in him not without resentment the richest Ornament of her Court but that the King making her hope that his absence should not bee long shee comforted her self with the expectation of his return wishing him all happiness in his Journey and recommending him to continue in the fidelity which hee had alwaies exprest in his Majestie 's service who had obliged him thereunto by so many gracious favours Whereunto Iphigenes with a cheerfull and confident look replyed MADAM Since after so many glorious dayes spent under the heaven of your Court in the presence of your Favour I must plunge or rather bury my self alive in the obscurity of a tedious absence my Reason more powerfull than my Senses forbid's mee to complain and denying utterance to my Sorrow rendreth it so much the more miserable the less it dare's disclose it's Agonie Since afer so many graces received and so many others that I hoped to receive from your Royall Beneficence there is a necessity of my experimenting the Rain after the fair weather and Thorns after the Roses I can do no less than extoll the high Providence of Heaven which destinying mee to Misfortune after so many humane Felicities hath ordeined that my Chastisement proceed's from the same hands that have made mee what I am and from whom I have received greater benefits than I was ever able to deserve If my Affection to serve your Majesties supply not the place of Merit Indeed the Excellency of the Cause make 's mee rather applaud than condemn the Rigor of the Effect If the extremity of Sorrow may be allowed to utter words rather free than desperate permit mee MADAM to say with all due respect to your Majesty that if I have any way failed in the Honour or Fidelity that can be required from the most humble subjection and servitude If I have deviated in the least from my Devoir after the reception of so many Gratifications there is no torment cruell enough to inflict upon such a Monster of Ingratitude Banishment is too Mild such a one as is procured mee too Honourable for a Punishment which ought to bee more Exemplary But why do I speak having protested to suffer in Silence I belye my own proposition and fly into complaints which cannot appear just without doing injury to your Prudence and Equity Excuse MADAM the vehemencie of my sorrow since seeing my self torn from the King my Master whose presence and favour I esteem more than my life I feel my Heart rend in pieces and my Soul seperate from my Body What Trophies will my Enviers raise to their Malignity seeing their designs which aym at nothing but my ruine take effect What Vanity will puffe up their poisonous Minds that they have had the power to infect such clear Judgements as your Majestie 's making their Calumnies prevail against my Innocencie But if suffiseth that it is your Will I most humbly submit to the absolute Power you have over my Life my Death my Honour and my Fortune for being your Creature you may dispose of mee as the Potter of his Clay forming mee according to your own pleasure into a Vessell of Magnificence or Ignominie I am ready to condemn my Innocency whensoever you shall pronounce it guilty and to subscribe my accusation without replying And if you please to dictate the
time kept hidden under the Ashes of Discretion Indeed there are some Productions of Nature so admirable which all the Art in the World can never reach with imitation At Court they talk of nothing but Despair poure our such deep Protestations as make the Hearers tremble and Death whom one of the Antients called the Diety of Lovers is invoked every Moment There it is ordinary to threaten to cast themselves away to thrust their Souls out of their Bodies at a Sword 's Point they exclaim against Rigours call Honour Cruelty and the Impatience of Desires an insupportable Torment their Tears are feined their Tearms Specious But all that is but vain babbling a motion of the Lips not of the Heart an idle Resignment no reall Resentment They say enough but see who perform's Fidelity is onely in their words Infidelity in their Actions Loyalty in their professions Treason in the Execution Purity in their Tongues and base Designs in their thoughts In summe Fraud and Duplicity are the Pastimes of Courtiers but their end is the ruin of Hearts and the Poyson of Souls Amongst Country People it is clean otherwise their Cloaths Diet Lodgings Industries all are plain and simple So are their sayings and their meanings what they have upon their Lips come's from the profoundest of their thoughts not belying by their proceedings the Union which Nature hath made of the Root of the Tongue with the Heart So that Almeria easily perceiving the reality of Merinda's Passion and being moved with Compassion to see that Shee fruitlesly aymed at an Object beyond her Port and that her Desires were supported more by the Wings of Love than of Ambition thought herself obliged to esteem her Courage and repay her Affection with this Answer Dear Merinda I fear I shall never bee able to do any thing for you that can countervail the Obligations I have to you already without adding this incomparable Testimony of your Affection offering to expose your Life for the defence of the Shadow of my Honour It would bee too sensible a displeasure to mee that you should employ your Body for a Fantome for so I call the Execution of an Image or rather imaginary Revenge which the Rigour of Justice may exercise against mee in my absence as for my true Honour it is out of all danger in regard it was rather to defend than offend that I did kill my Enemy But his Kindred are so powerfull that they will weigh down the Scale of Justice and reduce mee to the greatest extremity that disasters can compell an unfortunate Man to undergoe Therefore I pretend to nothing now in my Country nor to my Estate but shall think my self happy enough if with preservation of my Life I can secure my Person from those ignominious Torments which my Adversaries would make mee suffer if I fell into their Hands who seek to glut their revengefull Spirits with my Blood This is the Reason which made mee have recourse to the Fidelity of your Father and you not contenting my self to embrace a Condition so much below that unto which by the Favour of Heaven I have hitherto been educated but by changing my Habit to render my self under this Disguise less Subject to the strokes of Fortune As for the service you proposed to do mee in tearing down my Effigies from an infamous place I believe that indeavour will bee needless for my own Kindred interessed by that dishonour to their Family have doubtless e're this used means to take away that disgracefull Remembrance But wherefore do I call it disgracefull since the Infamy is in the Fact not in the Punishment So that not feeling any remorse in my Soul for that I ought not to esteem this any Disparagement quite contrary when I recall to my memory with what valour I prevented the Assassinate which was intended to my Person and how I behaved my self in the Combat the Gibet whereon they have hung mee in Effigies Seemeth to mee as an Obelisk or Pyramide erected to the Glory of my Vertue Nevertheless I cannot but acknowledge a singular Obligation to you for that worthy Office which your Friendship perswaded you to render mee and I will indeavour by all possible devoirs to ascertain you that Ingratitude hath no harbour within my Brest Merinda who was not so well acquainted with the Art of placing her words but who had very reall Resentments of Affection for Almeria replied after her manner That what shee had proposed was to let him see by the little esteem shee made of her Life that thence forwards shee never would imploy it but to Honour and Love him to the end that if her mean Birth did render her unworthy of possessing his Favours her Humility and perfect Submission might supply the place of Desert But why do I stand to disguise the Language of a simple Shepherdess in whose Mouth polite words would sute as ill as Painting upon her Cheeks I might have onely said That Shee freely disclosed the Design shee had to Marry him if he pleased and follow him to the World's end imagining as the Helmet of a Valiant Warrier is sometimes changed into a Bee-Hive and Chambers that have been hung with the costliest Tapistries become Work-houses for Spiders the beautiful Adolescent disgusted with the trouble in Cities and glutted with the Grandeurs of the World like that Antient Emperour who resigned his Scepter for a Gardner's Spade would perchance bee glad to reduce himself to a Pastorall Life and endure some hardship after his sweet Delights But Almeria was far from any such thought her Ambition which aymed at nothing but Governing Provinces commanding Armies could not descend to follow silly Sheep Her dear Iphigenes who had put a Flea in her Ear and by his large Promises had left a thousand strange imaginations in her Brain gave her other Ideas than this poor Shepherdess did conceive Shee harboured The Fifth Book ARGUMENT The Rustick's Labyrinth and their generall mistake of Almeria Manile Celian's second son thinking Liante in a Shepherdesse's habit to be really a Woman fall's in Love with Him Lupicin Eldest Son to Celian and Husband to Belida seeme's to be taken likewise with the Beauty of Almeria Fleurial Brother to Belida and Antalcas Suitor to Merinda become Rivalls to Manile Remonda younger sister to Merinda is inraged with Jealosie against Almeria because her Lover Polemas left her to make his Addresses to the gracefull stranger Belida no less incensed because her Husband made shew of Affection to Almeria Iphigenes returns to his Shepherdess who inform's him of all the Passages of her Country Lovers Their Plot to increase the Country-People's Errors Merinda is brought into some suspition of Almeria's condition by Iphigenes ambiguous speeches Almeria at Merinda's importunity to discover her Sex make's her believe that shee was really a Woman Merinda's distemper at this Relation Her spight in accusing Almeria to her Father and Brothers to bee a lewd Woman to Belida and Remonda shee affirmed
to make against Iphis. Sir replied Serife I believe our disasters are arrived to such an height that there can bee nothing added to their extremity and if every thing which hath attained to its just plenitude is accustomed to diminish according to the course of Nature me-think's in our Despair this glimpse of Hope is yet remaining that henceforwards wee ought to look for the Decreasing of our Miseries since they cannot increase without augmenting to infinitie Your seeking and mine tend both to the same end though by different wayes wee aim at the same Blank from severall Stations You lament the loss of your Honour wounded by the lightness of your Sister and I bemoan the Levitie of my Husband who by a cruell Change doth unworthily abuse my Loyalty I am confident if without Passion you could compare one affliction with the other you would bee constrained to judge in my favour ah wretched favour and acknowledge that I am the most miserable But it is hard especially in matters of Misfortune for a Man to be an equitable Judge in his own cause in regard a Straw in our own Eyes or a scratch upon our Bodies is more painfull to us than a Beam in the sight or a great wound in the Body of another Madam answered Calliante if all did run in the Race of Infelicity every one would think hee were first at the End For there is no one living but esteem's his own Misfortunes the greatest in the World and thence proceeds so many lamentable Complaints wherewith the distressed fill the Aire But this is a miserable contestation wherein it is more advantagious to bee the Conquered than Conquerour Nevertheless since in all things wee strive to overcome by an innate desire which wee cannot leave but with our Lives give mee leave to tell you that if those who lose their means as it passeth in some places for a Proverb do lose their Senses with what fury ought they to bee transported who are robb'd of their Honour which all well-tempered Minds will alwayes prefer not onely before the favours of Fortune but their own Lives This make's mee run in this inraged manner through the World seeking my Sister either to dip this Weapon in her Blood if shee hath forgotten herself so far as to dishonour our Family by an irreparable fault or to venture my own life with her Ravisher who I am informed is your Husband At these words pronounced with an angry Tone and an haughty Countenance Serife began to Stagger and as if one had plunged a Dagger in her Heart Shee let her self sink down betwixt the beloved Arms of Calliante who never received so acceptable a burthen as shee never swounded with so much delight This Fainting was beyond Jest proceeding not from Sorrow but the excess of Contentment which transported her at the Presence of an Object dearer to her than the whole Vniverse besides yet the aspersion of a little cool Water upon her Face recalled her Spirits from that amorous traunce As an Infant sleeping betwixt it's Nurse's Arms doth open leisurely it's little Eyes when shee spurts out of her Brests some drops of Milk upon its Face so gracefully did Serife unclose her's feeling her Cheeks bedewed with some Tears which Apprehension and Tenderness had squeezed out of Calliante's Eyes beeing troubled at this unexpected Accident This tempest beeing past Calliante fell into another beeing assaulted on all sides with the Reproaches and Accusations of the Assistants for having raised that Storm which blasted all the Flowers that appeared so Lively and so Lovely in that Ladie 's Countenance Alas said hee carrying Compassion in his Looks persecute mee no more for a fault which hath brought it's Repentance with it and for which I crave this vertuous Ladie 's and the whole Companie 's Pardon I confess that my indiscreet Expressions did hurry her even to the threshold of Death but I am so sorry for having reduced her to that extremity that I protest by the Beauty of her Eyes whose light I shall ever hereafter most inviolably honour to belie those audacious Words by contrary Effects turning the fury of my Passion against my Sister and my own Blood and re-gain Her the possession of that Husband whose disloyalty rendereth him unworthy of her Merits and whom notwithstanding shee seem's so passionately to affect Courteous Sir replied Serife as your first speeches precipitated mee into the pit of Death this second give 's mee a desire to Live But have a care to verifie your words if you will have mee esteem you a Gentleman of Honour Madam said Calliante if Death prevent mee not in the attempt I will exactly perform my Promise For I had rather lose my Life than stain my Honour with the breach of my Word A more sensible affront cannot be done to any Man than that which our Family receiveth from your Husband but I remit the Vengeance to Heaven and lay my interest at your Feet resolving to exercise my Indignation onely against that unadvised Girle who hath suffered herself to be abused by him and who by her indiscretion hath blemished the honour of our House If you forgive my Husband for Heaven's sake and my consideration with all my Heart I pardon Almeria th' offence which shee hath committed against mee But if Courtesie the Queen of gentile Spirits like your's hath any ascendant over your Heart I conjure you to let it plead for Mee and obtain the Favour which I shall demand of you Demand not Madam answered Calliante but Command For I esteem it as great a glory to obey you as I should bee sensible of shame to refuse you any thing were it to the hazard not onely of my Fortunes but of my Life and Honour I do not use to make any such Reservations when I tender my services to Ladies of your Quality especially when they are accompained with such Vertue and Graces as you possess Sir replied Serife I am so far from desiring any thing prejudiciall to your Fortunes Honour or Life that clean-contrary I Study the preservation of them all together beseeching you to pardon your Sister and not to execute any Vengeance upon Her Person Shee is your own Flesh and Blood and as it were another self Why do I say another Self These Shepherdesses who have seen you both tell mee that one drop of Water is less like another than you two so that you seem not onely to bee Twins but the same Person there beeing none living able to distinguish the one from the other and that would not take Her for Calliante if shee were in your Cloathes and you for Almeria if you were in Her 's For which Heavens forbid if in the heat of your Passion you should dip your Hands in the Blood of that miserable Creature who could exempt you from expiating that Parricide by the loss of your Honour Life and Fortunes I say by the prosecution of humane Justice which though you should finde means to escape would
Marriage with Modestina Therefore not to dive any further into the business before so many hearers he left Liante under the Guard of two of his company telling them that he must first see the Palatine or speak with Boleslaus So going forth hee seized upon the Judge and told him that hee must shew him where the PALATINE was What Palatine said hee Ha replied Humbertus roughly there 's no jesting nor trifling with mee I ask for IPHIGENES Governour of this Palatinate who is Prisoner here Sir answered the Judge if I were to die immediately I am not able to tell you where hee is nor what hee is For hee is one whom I never saw At least said Humbertus you shall let mee see Him that wrote mee this Letter hee is an old Man The Judge having demanded to see the Letter and having read it Ah! treacherous old Man cried hee are these the Mountaines of Gold which thou wer't to bring forth Then without farther intreaty his Messenger desiring him to release him out of his pain hee conducted Humbertus with his attendants to Boleslaüs Chamber who in few words gave him the full Relation of their Comicall Chace their severall disguises and their imprisonment which had like to have had a Tragicall conclusion Then resigning his place to the Judge Sir said Boleslaüs to Humbertus Let us now go directly to the Palatine For although for his pastime hee hath been Author of all this I fear his own trouble is not the least and when hee is free wee shall easily release the rest This said the Judge beeing Manacled was forced to go before to shew them where hee had put Madam Serife For Boleslaüs who knew the secret told him that shee was the Palatine whom they sought and that now hee should make him believe by good tokens those verities which hee before so much slighted and laughed at When Serife saw Boleslaüs entring into her room Ah! Father said shee what good Angell hath brought you hither to release mee out of this Captivity where I was in the greatest perplexity imaginable Whereupon Boleslaüs told her his Stratagem in sending for that Troop which was commanded by Humbertus who attended her pleasure at the dore O Father said Iphigenes suffer him not to come in For I should bee yet more afflicted if hee should see mee in Woman's Cloaths bid him command one of the Guards to give mee his and let him take one of the Peasant's habits that I may quickly get out of this Dungeon where I have indured so much unworthiness This command was presently performed and Iphigenes appeared in the form of Iphis not of Serife before her Guards Shee was no sooner out but Passion made her ask for Liante Alas Sir said Humbertus I left him in the Prison with two Souldiers to guard him but hee is in a pittifull condition I cannot but grieve at his disaster yet it concerne's not us to contradict our Master's will How in a pittifull condition Sir said Humbertus your Grandeur knowe's better than I the whole story Tell mee Humbertus replied Iphigenes what story Then the Captain related to him what hee had heard of Mieslas order in Plocens which hee believed his Father would not have commanded without communicating it to him This so troubled Iphigenes that hee could not bee satisfied without going to see him notwithstanding Humbertus diswaded him all hee could beeing come to Liante's Prison where hee found a multitude of Clowns crouding in hee commanded his Souldiers to seize upon them all and advancing neer Liante who lay upon the ground all covered with blood and dust and loaden with Irons What is the matter Brother said hee in what equipage do I see you These are your sports replied Liante angerly you may end them when you please but I am sure they have almost ended mee How ended said Iphigenes It was this infamous Generation of Clownish Rascalls answered Liante that hath put mee in the pickle you see mee and if my paines are a pleasure to you you may let mee alone in my misery Death it self will bee welcom to mee if it proceed from your Hand or Order But you would oblige mee very much to send mee into the Wars where I might lose my Life with Honour and not bee butchered by these Ox-drivers All this was a Riddle to Iphigenes and Boleslaüs for having been kept every one in a severall room they knew nothing of each other's sufferings And it beeing then no time to stand long in Discourse Iphigenes contented himself to protest to Liante that hee was innocently the cause of that imprisonment whereof hee was not then to repent but that hee was in no wise consenting to the treacherous design of Mieslas which hee would most evidently make appear What do you talke to mee of Mieslas Replied Liante whilest they were loosing his bands I think that Sorcerer Arcade hath inchanted you as well as mee and hath made you believe I know not what story of your Father concerning mee which is the most ridiculous Tale that e're I heard Is it not so then said Iphigenes What Brother have you not been in the hands of Mieslas his servants I have neither seen Mieslas nor any that have relation to him onely Arcade whom they brought hither to mee th' other day told mee that hee was at Plocens and that hee had caused me to be apprehended there with severall other idle circumstances which cannot proceed but from a distracted Brain You have then no other harm than what these Peasants have done you said Iphigenes Or than you have made them do mee continued Liante but if I get once free of these bonds I 'le make them feel the weight of my Fingers Have you no other wounds than what wee see said Iphigenes No other answered hee but if I had not been succoured in time and if Humbertus had not appeared when hee did but you gave him his just time that your Game might bee compleat they threatned to do mee the greatest affront that ever was offered to any Man and expose my Body naked to the view of every Passenger and not satisfied with that shame which I hold worse than Death they purposed to make mee die publickly by the authority of the Justice against which they taxed mee for having committed a Rebellion in defending my self against their insolences which they said could be no otherwise washed away than in my own Blood but all this I believe was but to fright mee Hereupon Humbertus said softly to Iphigenes Sir there is nothing more certain than that Mieslas servants have delivered him into these Peasant's hands to execute that shamefull Commandement which hee had imposed on them If it bee so replied Iphigenes aloud I will make them bee hanged immediately in my own presence If you do not answered Calliante I shall say that you had a hand in it and though I were to bee hewed in a thousand pieces there is not one of them but
bee surprised in double-dealing The best way therefore in my opinion is to expect the certainty of this Event and take it as from the hand of Providence what e're it bee If shee bee Dead consider that your Sorrow will not recall her to Life and besides shee is a Creature the privation of whom ought to bee the less grievous to you in regard Nature hath forbidden you the injoyment of her Person But for the preservation of Liante whom you cherish above all the rest of Mortalls you ought in time to apply your Care Diligence and Authority Yet as the deepest Waters make the least noise in their course so the solidest Judgements conduct their affaires with more temper and less rumour more Effects and less shew The surest guards you can give Liante are Secrecy and Silence Make as if you knew not where hee is and let Pisides Argal and Pomeran remain in the error which possesseth them that hee is Almeria Close with the Seal of Authority Arcade's lips by a severe prohibition to reveale this Mystery and command Humbertus and his Souldiers under pain of Death not to declare what they know concerning him If notwithstanding all these veiles Mieslas should chance to discover the place of his retreat wee shall easily make him escape out of this Country or by Night convey him into some private Corner which shall bee known but to very few However wee must advertise him of what particulars wee have learn't since our arrivall said Iphigenes and who shall wee appoint to carry him this message Do you think Arcade fit for this purpose I would not advise you answered Boleslaus to commit this secret which toucheth you in the Apple of the Eye neither to Arcade nor to paper For the one may miscarry the other be corrupted If you conceive mee worthy to serve you therein you may freely command mee For you are the onely Master whom I do or will ever serve Father said Iphigenes imbracing the old man's neck and washing his Face with tears you continue obliging mee in things that are more sensible and which I esteem more pretious than my Life do mee then the courtesie to go in my Name to him for whom I preserve my self and tell him that to preserve him there is no force but I will imploy it no respect of Father that I shall stick to violate since choosing him for my Spouse I ought to prefer him before Father and Mother You shall be a living Letter and I am sure you will represent to him the passages here much better then I can write onely in one thing I should surpass you that is in representing him my affections For there is none but that Tongue whose Heart is pierced with Love which is able to express to the Life the resentments of a passionate Soul Boleslaüs to satisfie the impatience of Iphigenes departed presently with this Commission and had hardly delivered his message to Liante when newes was brought to Mieslas his Son beeing then with him of the Discovery of the imaginary Liante the Story whereof was thus THE DISCOVERY OF MODESTINA THose who had taken upon them the charge of conducting Modestina disguised in Man's habit beeing arrived in a place where they thought they might securely execute their damnable design on the person of that innocent Creature having to that effect procured a Chirurgion for a great summe of Mony and masked him lest beeing afterwards known by him to whom they intended to do that horrible affront hee might bee liable to the Law or his Revenge The pitifull Prisoner suffered herself to bee bound like an harmeless sheep whom the rugged Butchers carry to the Slaughter-house without the least Replication And whether Modesty tied her Tongue or the horrour of the affront by a sodain apprehension deprived her of the use of Speech shee remained some time without so much as asking what they intended At length as if her Spirits had returned out of a deep trance and fearing more the loss of her Honour than of her Life shee screaked out like a Virgin calling for aid against the violence of some dissolute Ravisher For shee conceived that they having perceived what shee was would have sated their brutall appetites on her But shee learn't other newes by him that brought the Commission from Mieslas who speaking as if shee had been Liante told her that shee must resolve to imitate the Beaver when hee is chas'd or lose her Life that if shee were wise of those two evills shee should choose the least and save the whole by losing a part In a word hee Made her understand the Will and Command of Mieslas which was to make her an Eunuch against her Will since shee had refused to make herself such by a voluntary embracing of an Ecclesiastick Life Then Modestina seeing herself reduced to this extremity judged it time to declare her condition and disabuse them of their errour But it was after attempting this last means protesting that shee was ready to obey the Will of Mieslas in resigning herself wholly to the service of the Church beseeching to defer their Execution untill they had received his definitive answer For that the lot is already cast replyed the chief of the Band there is no other determination to be expected than your choice It concerns not us to interpret the commands of our Master wee have now no leisure to discourse time require's a speedy Expedition choose the hand of the Chirurgion or that which shall plunge a Poniard in your Brest Hereby Modestina perceiving that her last remedy was in vain and that shee must use other tearms Thou Barbarous Wretch said shee couldst thou have the Heart to sheath that murtherous blade in an innocent Woman's bosome who is capable of receiving Death but not the affront which thou proposest There is as much difference betwixt him to whom thou think'st to speak and mee as between Brother and Sister I am not Liante but Modestina the Daughter-in-Law to thy cruell and impious Master Wife to Iphigenes who will bee able to revenge my Death if thou killest mee or my honour if thou dost mee the least affront See said the inhumane villane what an invention this Gallant hath found upon a sodain to save himself in this storm how the oxtremity of danger doth subtilize men's Wits But wee are not come thus far to stop in so fair way wee must put him in a condition of never pretending to the possession of the Lady Clemencia shee is reserved for a person of more eminent quality than hee This said hee prepared himself to make a search much different from that which the Shepherdesses would have made of Liante in the Prison What resistance should this poor sheep have made in the midst of so many Wolves that chaste Andromeda had recourse to her tears whose tender drops were able to penetrate Marble and mollifie Hearts more rigide then the sensless Rocks Shee conjured them by all that shee thought might have
for no other Tongue but that of silence is capable of expressing you The words of this Letter were as Oyle upon his Fire and Wood in the flames of his disquiet Minde Well Iphigenes you complained that you had no news from your dear Liante nor what Region hee had chosen for his Retreat and now this knowledge is more afflicting than the torment of your ignorance Poor Mortalls let us cease to wish since our proper desires are contrary to us and that the inflamation of our wounds increaseth by the application of those remedies whereby wee think to refresh and lessen their anguish But for the perfect understanding of Liante's Letter and to give light to the sequele of this Narration I am inforced to make a little Digression in the History of those times to describe the condition wherein Polonia then was The Monarch of that Kingdom is accustomed to add to his Title of King of Polonia the style of great Duke of Lithuania Prusia and Russia although the Knights of the Teutonick Order possess a great part of Prusia and the Emperour or grand Knez of the Muscovites a great part of Russia but as for Lithuania hee injoyeth it intirely and hath reason to stile himself Grand Duke thereof in regard it is a Dutchy of a very large extent In the Sea the great Fishes devour the smaller In the Heavens the appearance of the Sun Eclipseth the Stars and in the World the strongest States swallow the weaker Divers Dukes of Lithuania were chosen by the Polonians to be their King by which means the Lithuanians having reigned in Polonia made Polonia reigne in Lithuania For from the time of Iagellon as yet an Idolater who beeing turned Christian received in Baptism the Name of Vladislaüs and married the Daughter of Lewis King of Hungaria and Polonia that Crown continued for many successions in the Family of the Jagellons untill the reign of Sigismond Augustus in whose time happened the event which I now relate All which by their birth rights beeing Dukes of Lithuania were elevated by Election to the Royall Throne of Polonia And although they joyntly held those two Sovereignties yet they were distinct and might bee separated Not that the Polonians omitted any indeavours to unite that Country to their State and add that pretious Pearl to their Diadem but the Lithuanians powerfully opposed them And this was their Reason There is no Nation nor Province so petty but the People would bee glad to have a Prince of their own Land though in this they know not what they ask For beeing received for a Maxime by the sagest Politicians that little Principalities are great Tyrannies and that a Soveraignty is the more just the greater it is Who see 's not that the pettiest Princes striving to imitate great Monarchs in their Pompous Trains and Magnificence to maintain that state are inforced to oppress their Subjects with extraordinary impositions Nevertheless the Lithuanians sick of this popular error desiring alwayes a particular Duke would never consent to an union with the Polonians Insomuch that during all the forementioned successions very few years passed without some insurrection and revolting in Lithuania to keep in breath the valour of the Polonian Gentry And at the same time Liante took this resolution to perish in the Wars the Palatines of Troc and Minsca beeing returned mal-content from the Court made a League offensive and defensive against the Polonians and hooked into their Confederacy besides those of Kiovia and Polocia divers Castellains of other Palatinates in a word the rising was in a manner universall through all Lithuania Liante had no sooner made his addresses to the Palatines of Troc and Minsoe chief instruments of this Commotion but hee was received by them with respects answerable to his Birth the Palatine of Minsce protesting that hee had alwayes made profession of a singular friendship to his Father They were presently Cozens and Liante intrusted with places of great command before hee had passed through the Military Discipline and Obedience Like Themistocles banished hee blessed his misfortune seeing himself raised on a sodain to those honours which hee so vehemently ambitioned Hee troubled not his thoughts to penetrate into the depth of the Cause it suffised him that hee had met with an employment wherein by the effects of his valor he might make appear the Greatness of his Courage Iphigenes beeing certified of Liante's beeing among the Rebells although his Love pleaded an excuse for the other's Despair could not comprehend how that generous Soul should fix upon that resolution of taking Arms against his Sovereign which hee held the unworthiest action any Gentleman well-born could bee guilty of For in effect the Sun-beams are not more inseparably concomitant of Titan's luster than the Nobility ought to bee of Royalty Mieslas had no sooner settled the private affairs of his Family with those which concerned his Publick Charge and remitted Modestina to the guard of his Wife Aretuza but upon a Summons from the King hee repaired speedily to the Court giving order that his Daughter Glemencia should bee brought shortly after him whom hee placed at her arrivall among the Queen's Maids of Honour The Lord Castellain of Cracovia who is above all the Palatines of that Kingdom and one of the principall persons of State was made Generall of the King's Army and Mieslas Lieut. Generall The Princess Rospicia lest her Iphigenes should bee diverted by the Functions of War from answering her pretensions after shee had obtained his Dispensation dealt so with the Queen by the intercession of some Ladies neer her person and her own perswasions that shee resolved to intreat the King to repeale the beautifull Palatine from his exile whereunto after some consideration hee condescended beeing informed besides that hee beeing much afflicted at his so long absence from Count was determined to seek a glorious Death in the Bed of Honour rather than train so obscure and discontented a Life And beeing overcome by the Ladie 's importunities hee dispatched a Messenger to him with Letters so favourable and full of such charms as had been capable not onely of drawing Diana out of the Woods but the Moon out of her Sphear But this kinde invitation which would have ravished Iphigenes with joy could hee have injoyed Liante's company without him seemed inconsiderable and irksome Therefore hee forthwith returned an answer full of respect and humility to the King with no less expressions of the Greatness and Gallantry of his Courage in these Words IPHIGENES Letter to the KING Most Gracious SOVEREIGN I Should esteem my self unworthy not onely of so many Favours which render mee your Creature but also of beholding the Sun who is the image of your Bounty as you are that of God if Fortune now presenting an occasion to make appear the devotion of my Heart to your Service and the zeal of my fidelity I should plunge my self in the Delights of your Court whilest others are mounted in the field
would please to demand for a Dowry Liante well contented with those triumphs and trophies which they erected to a Victory that cost him so little perceived thereby how vain the judgement of the World is and that as punishments are not alwayes inflicted on the most wicked persons but the least fortunate So Glory was an infamous Courtisan which cast herself not alwayes into the Arms of the most valiant but most successefull And to incite Olavius the more to press him to accept a Present which hee so passionately desired with an artificiall modesty hee pretended that he was unworthy of so much favour beeing at that time a distressed Gentleman banished from his Country and dismantled of all his Estate by an injust Confiscation Whereupon Olavius falling of himself into the Nets replied That the restitution of his inheritance would bee the least part of the brave Prisoner's ransom wherewith hee had inriched their City and that hee ought not to stick upon that consideration in regard hee had alwayes respected him more for his Vertues than his Fortune esteeming it more advantage for his Daughter to have a Man that wanted means than means that wanted a Man But Liante demanding time to deliberate more at leisure upon that business desired him to thinke of treating Iphigenes with such Civility that hee might have just occasion to commend rather than complain of Lithuania Which was performed in such honourable manner that if the gallant Iphigenes had been Governour and Master of that rebellious City hee could not have received greater respect Hee had no other Prison than his own Parolle Liante rendering himself pledge for his fidelity Since the beginning of the Siege the two Palatines of Troc and Minsce had secured their Wives Children and what they had of most considerable value in the Castle as the place of greatest safety there Liante likewise had his Quarters neer which they conducted Iphigenes into a Chamber so richly furnished that in the King's Pallace hee could not have been lodged more splendidly Good Cheer was no more wanting than all sorts of Games and honourable divertisements The company of Ladies was his ordinary attendance For they had no sooner tasted the inevitable charms of his conversation but they became more licourish and greedy of it than Bees are of Flowers or their Hony-combs If that beautifull Face which shewed to Mortalls the image of the Angells had infected with it's pleasing Poyson the Court-Ladie's hearts imagine you how those of Lithuania could be exempted from that delicious contagion you would have said that this new Sinon had been come to bring the Grecian fire to reduce that Ilion to ashes and that beeing a prisoner in Body his design was to inthrall and torture all their Mindes For that agreeable venim which is swallowed by the Eyes according to the variety of Spirits conveyed into their hearts such secret flames and those flames caused such torments that hee seem'd to have the same destiny as Sejanus Horse who put all places in disorder where hee was received Bogdales had a Wife so advanced in years that the blood of her veines which ought by the course of Nature to have been Icie seem'd exempted by the benefite of her Age from those ardours which are onely excusable in youth with her was retired into that Castle a Daughter which Hee had married to a gallant Nobleman of Lithuania who not delighting to bee inclosed within the walls of that besleged City kept a flying Army in the Field accompanied by the Palatine of Trod's Son his Brother-in-law His merit was sufficient to have made all the Affections of his Wife terminate in his Person but the Perfections of the beautifull Prisoner so perverted her Reason that as the Primum Mobile by a violent motion drawe's all the other sphears after it shee could not hinder her Heart from following her Eyes whose too inconsiderate looks betrayed the licentiousness of her thoughts So that the Mother and the Daughter were both taken in the same snare at once Neither could Olavius Wife as wise and reserved as shee was withhold the motions of her Minde from Dancing the same brawle And as if that rare Object had been formed on purpose to ruine the constancy of the most continent few saw him without taking pleasure to behold him and few beheld him without strange allarms and agitations of Spirit That fire must bee very fierce which presently take's in green Wood. Amiclea who never yet felt any resentments for Liante that deserved the mentioning was presently all inflamed with that Feaver whose fits are so agreeable that those who resent their Heats and Colds fear nothing more than to bee cured of that Disease On a sodain of ignorant shee became knowing in the Art of Love judging by the pains which shee indured that which shee had caused to Liante's Heart Oh Liante you will bee henceforwards but a difformed Esau this white Jacob will supplant you and you will see the ruine of your pretensions arise from the same ground whence you expected your establishment Onely the poor Oloria remained constant in her affection to him who despised her For her Soul beeing filled with the Idea of that first Object was insusceptible of any other impression If Iphigenes had been a Man what vanity would he have conceived in his thoughts seeing himself the blank of so many desires But beeing such as Nature had created him those Roses were to him but Thorns and those Adorations Importunities To relate the distemper which these new Passions bred in those weak Brains I dare not undertake much less to express the confusions that imbroyled their thoughts For Love Envy Despair Jealousie Shame Desire were as many Worms or rather Vultures that gnawed continually their Brests Even the Men that were too attentive in the contemplation of that Angelicall Face had not their minds free from disturbance For believing him a Man they wished him of the other Sex that they might in some kinde settle their complacency on his perfections And the Ladies who thought him not a Woman esteemed themselves as happy to have amongst them that beautifull Prisoner to whom they were all slaves as the Trojan youths were to injoy that samous Beauty of Greece within their walls Oh Iphigenes as those who cast artificiall Fire-balls are burn't oft-times themselves So among so many storms which thou excitest thou art not without some agitation With what Pencill shall I delineate the division of those Spirits The old Ladies were ready to die with Despair and Shame to see themselves in an Age which according to the Lawes of Nature protected them from the Tyranny of that little Boutte-feu which inflames Heaven and Earth become Subjects to unjust and infamous Desires whose sweet cruelty was more redoubtable to them than the pangs of Death and bee afflicted with a languishing Pain that could expect no other remedy than the Grave Bogdale's Daughter a Lady full of Honour and who would assoon have cast herself