Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	add_v	divine_a	great_a	71	3	2.1037	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01849	Endimion· An excellent fancy first composed in French by Monsieur Gombauld. And now elegantly interpreted, by Richard Hurst Gentleman.	Gombauld, Jean Ogier de, d. 1666.; Passe, Crispijn van de, ca. 1565-1637, ill.; Gaultier, Léonard, 1561-1641, engraver.; Picart, Jean, ill.; Hurst, Richard.	1639 (1639)	STC 11991; ESTC S103202	63,733	167

present on her Altar And this is the cause why we have alwaies so honored thee for which we shall be amply recompensed if thou but this day beare thy selfe constantly and not feare or seeme unwilling to shorten thy life to give so great and large an increase to thy fame Justifie then both thy selfe and us and if I may dare to say so justifie the goddesse her selfe in the choyse she hath made of thee and we shall be all oblieged to celebrate eternally the memory of thee as of one whose life and behaviour hath rendred so deare to the gods and his death so wholesome to men This day is to thee Endymion the most happy of all other as that wherein thou art to have so many witnesses of thy glory when thou shalt shew them that they doe not so much conduct thee to death as to immortality make it therefore appeare that thou art not onely a man but that thou hast a great resemblance of the gods themselves who will bereave men of thy Company At these words they all observed attentively what gesture I would use and tooke speciall notice of my first Motions which I laboured to overcome as much as lay in me for what man is able without some change to heare the report of my extraordinary and unthought of accident whether it concerne him or no and though hee neither gather thence any particular cause of joy or sorrow Besides Death is of it selfe alwayes hideous and terrible in what soothing forme soever it be represented yet I presently resolving thus answered them Is it then for Diana's sake that I must this day dye Yes sonne answered Timetes it is for her the fairest the greatest and the best of all the goddesses Whosoever replyed I hath beene judged worthy to dye for Diana hath lived but too happily it is the most gratefull tydings you could have brought me doubt not at all of mee for my resolution is already taken whet your knives and freely drench them in my blood powre it it out even to the last droppe for her sake and cover her Altar with the Crimson dye thereof for I am so farre from being troubled or amazed with the feare of it that I doe with longing expect the houre This day sayes he is yet wholly thine and howbeit the Sacrifices of the Celestiall Deities are usually celebrated in the presence of the Sunne yet we are by some secret Fate appoynted to attend the night to the end that this may be rendred more famous by the honour of the goddesses presence of which secret Fate we cannot ghesse the cause except it bee that thou art the most deare and most acceptable of all the Sacrifices that ever have beene offered to her Bee of good cheere then Sonne sayes Timetes kissing and embracing me for indeede wee held it fit to give thee knowledge of it to the end thou mightest be the better prepared Goe goe your wayes said I and provide for the rest as for me I will be sooner ready than you and the delay of my death will bee more tedious to me than the death it selfe Thus they left me looking one upon another letting loose some sighes and teares Ah Stenobea said I then to my selfe is it for this that thou hiddest thy selfe yesterday hast thou had the heart to refuse me thy presence onely on the last day as if I had some suite to begge at thy favour By this anticipated and untimely bereaving me of one of the sweetest contentments of my life thou art the first that beginnes to kill me And thou Ismena what is become of all thy promises is this the care thou wilt take of me It may be that thou esteemest not thy selfe oblieged to afford me succour since I demanded not any at thy hands But whatsoever thou owest not to my desire herein thou owest at least to thine owne promise whereof if thou labour not to render me performance thou remainest no lesse guilty Alas this savage and Barbarous people have pitty on my Fate those that are to kill me bemoane me and even he who is appoynted to give mee the sad stroake kisses me and embraces me with the same armes that are to plunge the knife deepe in my blood and open my Bowels and yet all these things will not procure me at the hands of Diana the least signe of Compassion she remaines unmoved and makes as slight account of my death as my life Is the Altar the place then Diana where I must be presented to thee to gaine thy favour and receive the effects of thy promises must they be sought in the Stygian waters and through the streames of blood and teares Is this the way to goe take possession of a place amongst the starres and can we not without forsaking the apparrell of this mortall and earthly body arrive at the honour of Heaven or share in the glory of the gods Oh no I perceive the mystery of thy designe thou hast onely given me verball promises whereof I in vaine retaine thy memory since thou art resolved to take away my hope and life together to the end to drowne all those particulars in everlasting oblivion Thou repentest thee for having favoured me with too much affection but although thou killest me thou shalt not have power to make me repent my over-loyall adoring thee And although thine affection to mee bee wholly blotted out of thine heart yet thou shalt not be able to banish it thy memory which against thy will will satisfie mee with a continuall reproaching and remonstrance of thy ficklenesse and ingratitude Adde yet some new torture to my death so it be pleasing to thee be sure I will embrace it as a peculiar felicity At least how great soever thou be amongst the goddesses I shall have just ground to boast my selfe of having something more great and divine than thou when I shall have witnessed a greater constancy Whilst I uttered those words with a low voyce and a resolved but grieved minde the sighes and sobs of Stenobea piercing the walls betwixt my Chamber and hers came to mine eares suddainly imposing silence upon me that I might give eare to a lamentation which was to prove so deare to me and which more deplored my calamity than my selfe How is it possible that I can this day behold with drye eyes so tragicke and lamentable a spectacle and that I must assist and as it were consent to an action so so cruell and so averse to my life and tranquility and that I must beare a part in the execution O Endymion Endymion pardon mee I beseech thee and know that in the designe I had of delivering thee I have a great while forgotten my duty both to my Countrey and my selfe that I might render thee that which I never owed thee for who ever saw any love so loyally as I having utterly nothing to expect of my love should I onely have turned mine eyes on a person pensive solitary and possessed with

hand where with thou maist cut downe all things that hinders thee and make thine owne way through the thickest forrests This gift was infinitely gratefull to the Goddesse the more because it was neatly made light and fit for her hand but through a mischance she had no sooner taken it but going to feele the edge of it with the thumbe of her left hand she could not so gently touch it by reason of the sharpe and subtile edge of it but that she cut her finger that some drops of blood followed which he perceiving said Alas Goddesse I gave it thee not for that use I beleeve it well said shee but since it is so greedy of blood I will for thy sake have it employed in the most pleasing and acceptable Sacrifice that ever was made to me herewith said Ismene she gave it me with command to bring it hither and present it as I have done to the mayden that serves at the Altar Doubt not then to obey the message of the Goddesse and then you shall perceive that obedience joyned with sacrifice is of force even to draw the Gods from Heaven for you shall presently see her come downe if ye be not blinded to gratifie with a gracious acceptance the Oblation you offer her of this yong man She had no sooner said this but there was presently heard a confused murmur of different voyces through the whole assembly the greater part whereof were rejoyced at this alteration as supposed it tended to my delivery but seeing me appoynted for death they re-entred into their former fashion of pitty and compassion Now I leave thee to judge whether I were a little amazed or no to see her from whom onely I was to expect life and delivery carrying the Knife wherewith I was to be killed Then said Timetes with a loud voyce O ye people of Albania lift up your eyes and hearts to Heaven and give thankes to the Goddesse who this day is so carefull of you your Sacrifices And then turning towards me said Endymion whether thou hast beene chosen for the offence thou hast committed or for the generosity that is in thee thou thy selfe plainly seest what confirmation the Goddesse gives to the election we have made of thee It is thy part now to carry thy selfe with such resolution as that we may have no cause to repent us of having offered thee nor the Goddesse of having desired thee I whom the feare of death touched farre lesse than the offence and suspition I had conceived of Stenobeas change as in those extreames the least signe of disloyalty we discover in those who have professed love to us is farre more irksome to us than whatsoever else can crosse us I could not containe my selfe from speaking thus to him Diddest thou not observe said I Timetes that the Goddesse gave expresse command that the Knife should be given to the Virgin that served at the Altar wherefore then dost thou take it out of her hand and hinder her from killing me who of her selfe hath more desire to doe it than thou hast and who appeares so resolute She will doubtlesse acquit her selfe better than thee and the Sacrifice will thereby be much bettered This is not carryed as thou imaginest saies Timetes neither is it the intention of the Goddesse or our custome The stroke must be given Endimon by that person who of all the assembly either doth or should love thee best Ah me said I then it must not be done by Stenobea But she beholding me with the eye of innocence and amazement was mightily surprized at my uttering of these words and her receiving unjustly so great an injury from one whom she had alwayes so highly oblieged and to receive it in such a manner as that the opportunity of justifying her selfe was for ever taken away by my going to death with this opinion which so vively touched her heart that I did more and more perceive in her the extreame griefe she had hereupon contracted which also made her retire behind Timetes whether it were that she would not see me any more or that she desired to cover the alteration which appeared in her looke In the meane time Timetes perceiving that there was nothing wanting but my death to the accomplishment of the sacrifice lifting up his hand wherewith he held the Knife said to me Now is the time Endymion wherein thou must give a notable proofe of that excellent nature which hath beene cause thou hast beene chosen by the gods He had no sooner uttered these words but that suddainly there arose a great murmuring amongst the people that were behind him chiefly amongst the Damosells who were about Stenobea some of which hastened to receive her in their armes seeing her falling downe either dead or in a swone griefe despight and choler all at once seized her and in such a furious and violent manner suffocated her spirits that she became suddainly unable either to speake or breath What sacrifice have we here saies poore Timetes who was utterly lost and desperate Doe the Gods on a suddaine require two in stead of one Endymion for the Moone and perchance Stenobea for the Sunne Why then am not I wretched and miserable man as acceptable to Iupiter to the end that every one of our Gods may have a particular Oblation What became of me Pyzander at the sight of this dying beauty when I discerned the flower and ornament of the whole assembly lying on the ground Woe is me Stenobea said I art thou then indeed so sensible of mine unjust calumnies and am I so little touched with thy good offices Although I have not had just cause to beleeve thy mutability yet I have at least had ground for my suspition of it But in vaine doe I confesse a fault whereof I demand no pardon I just now desired death at thy Hands and have since given it thee How shall I alone be able to suffice to the expiation of so many crimes Alas I have neede to have two lives the one to offer for Diana the other to powre out for Stenobea O Stenobea thou teachest me to dye and I long to follow thee and my spirit in these vaine lamentations loses the opportunity of accompanying thine Then I became incensed against my selfe and mine owne Fate and being growne wholly weary and impatient of life I thrice called upon Timetes but he heard me not being on the other side as busie in the incessant calling upon her as his daughter who indeed was onely his Neece and who by what name soever hee called her was not able to make him any manner of answer At length having by continuall pulling him by the garment gotten him to turne towards me Wherefore said I dost thou lose any more time about her on whom thou gainest nothing or what can thy care adde to her life or contentment Dost not thou know that it is unlawfull to interrupt the sacrifices of the gods for vaine and unprofitable respects

wilt thou keepe those alive whose death Diana requires what knowest thou but this may be a stroke of her owne hand seest thou not that shee requires nothing but death on every side use then the knife shee hath sent thee and keepe me no longer in languishing who am like to dye with a desire and longing for death Timetes pressed with time and mine importunity making a signe with his hand to the whole assembly to impose silence upon the murmur was risen by reason of Stenobea's accident and to obliege every one to the attention and respect he owed to the Sacrifice tooke the Knife by the Ebon-haft and presented it to me Which when I beheld with amazement not knowing what he meant and imagining that his mind was exceedingly distempered in the occasion How now Endymion sayes hee hast thou not yet learned our Lawes and Customes knowest thou not that our Sacrifices are most happy chiefly when the person sacrificed dyes cheerefully Now wee who by the commandement of the Oracle are to offer men to the Goddesse doe use no other triall of their resolution and constance to assure us of their willing acceptance of death than in engaging them to bee themselves the actors of it This likes me well Timetes said I taking the Knife I shall my selfe farre better know where my life lyes hidden and shall not misse my heart at first stroke And so addressing my last words to the Moone O Goddesse said I I have erred I confesse but my firme beleefe that the gods are alwaies true and not subject to change hath beene the cause of all mine errors This heart the most true guardian of that affection and loyalty which hath brought me where I now am shall presently expiate the offence I have thereby committed Content thy selfe O Goddesse to see that having forgone all things for thy sake I yet willingly lay downe my life for testimony that I am thine even unto the Altar and further if it were possible Having finished these discourses I strooke the Knife profoundly into my bosome and gave my selfe a stroke which so suddainly cut in sunder the thred of my life that I had onely so much sence left me as to heare a pittifull lamentation of many thousand confused voyces just in the instant as I fell downe upon the Altar What is this thou tellest me Endymion sayes Pyzander taking him by the hand if from the beginning I had not embraced thee and did not still touch thee I should rather thinke it were a Ghost than a man that now speakes to me I doe not my selfe know sayes Endymion what I am and therefore thou shalt doe me a great pleasure if thou seest farther into my adventures than my selfe to give me some light there is yet something more sad and tragicall therein there is yet another sacrifice another Priest for I do beleeve that the gods observing the smal esteem I have made of death of whatsoever is therein most terrible are againe resolved to inforce me to live intending to be more cruell to me and keepe me in a continuall torment with the sorrow and anguish wherewith I am possessed for having bin the cause of another more strange lamentable sacrifice What sacrifice can that be saies Pyzander or what more strange accident canst thou recount unto me O Endymion there are many thousand and broad waies to goe out of this life but scarce any one for return How then sayes Endymion have I found it without seeking and how am I returned to my selfe that so little desired it O sweet but too short death who or what hindred me from seeing the Kingdome of the Ghosts was it the sad and drowsie Lord or the inexorable Judges and that from thence I attained not the Elisian fields which are perpetually watered with the streames of milke and honey flowing and running through the meadowes wholly enameled with flowers which no winter is either able to annoy or wither What hindred me that I could not participate in the delightfull banquets revellings and dances of the Children and favourites of the gods I was at the bankes of Acheron with an extreame desire to passe it but that old uncivil boat-man would not receive me into his Barke whether it were that I brought not my passage mony in my mouth like the rest or that my body had not yet bin interred I had the patience to see him crosse and returne often and as often to offer my selfe to him out of a hope that one time might have rendred me more acceptable than another but all my hope was vaine and I could never gaine any thing of him At length as I stood still observing the multitude of soules which repaired thither from al sides in no lesse number than the leaves in Autumne use after the first frost to fal from the trees the sad and unfortunate soule of poore Stenobea presented it selfe to me with the selfe same lineaments and feature which I had usually seene in her save onely that she seemed farre greater which did so surprise both mine eyes thoughts that I knew not what to thinke of it untill she began to enter into this Discourse What strange adventure Endymion makes thee wander in these obscure and solitary places whereunto thy Fate hath not yet called thee For to the end thou maist not trouble thy selfe to aske me the same question I tell thee that it is not the will of Heaven that thou shalt dye yet or that I should live any longer perchance the gods being now at length tyred with crossing me doe send thee hither to give me opportunity of justifying my selfe of the crime thou hast unjustly laid to the charge of mine innocence the onely sorrow which had power to annoy me even after death Thou diddest me wrong in the interpreting of the resolution wherewith I beheld thee dye and that I had so soone forgot thy losse All the resolution I tooke proceeded from the hope Ismene gave me that the Knife would do thee no harme that thy life was in far lesse danger than mine owne But thou esteemedst my joy for thy deliverance as a crime and thine exclamations were so highly injurious to mine affection and so sensible to me that at length they bereaved me of sence making me fall downe in thy presence as the true and reall Sacrifice of Love first and then of Diana All the care which the maydens that were about me tooke to remove me out of the throng into the grasse produced no other effect than a transporting me from one death to another and under colour of giving me more aire and liberty of breath and seeking a cure for my present disease they gave me a generall cure for all my diseases at once for Diana who for a while before held me in a continuall pursuit had laid a Serpent in ambush which with his sting and mortall venome had wholly infected me before I could either come to my selfe or give any