might well happen that the Princesse and the Prince her Brother could not upon the first sight discover the face of their Brother in that of Cleomedon whose speech proportionably to the rest was altered by growing bigger since their separation Yet was not all this alteration so great nor their memories so weak but that after what Cleomedon had said and the particular observation which he had obliged them to make they would have known the Prince had they not been carried away with the general opinion that he had departed this World Nay after they had well considered his face they in a manner knew him but that discovery had no further effect on them then to force out certain sighes whereupon the Princesse Cleopatra assuming the discourse after she had looked on Alexander to see whether he was of the same opinion I must needs acknowledge said she to the Prince that I find abundance of resemblance between your countenance and that of a Prince with whom my Brother and my self were brought up and one that might have been much about your age if the gods had thought fit to have continued him in life and health and to preserve him against those powers by which he received an untimely death I am also very much satisfied added Prince Alexander that if out Brother Caesario were living he might be very like the brave Cleomedon And thought that from the age of fourteen years which was that of Caesario when he dyed to that of Cleomedon which seems to be greater by nine or ten years there happens more alteration both in the bulk and countenances of men then in all mans life besides and that it might be withal granted that time may in some measure have worn away out of our memories those Idaeas which cannot be expected otherwise then imperfect in the minds of children such as we were then yet can I not call them to my remembrance without a certain conceit that I find them again in Cleomedon and imagining to my self that if Caesario were now alive there would be a very great resemblance between them Nay I am much inclined to believe from the great hopes that were conceived of him and the glorious bloud that ran in his veines derived from illustrious ancestors that this resemblance might have reached to the greatnesse of courage and that he would have thought it a dishonour to come too far short of that stupendous man whom it was his glory to imitate in all things The modesty of the son of Caesario made him blush at these obliging expressions of the son of Anthony whereupon looking on him with a smiling countenance It is but just indeed I should suffer any thing said he to him from a Prince to whom I am obliged for an assistance that preserved my life But since you and the Princesse Cleopatra are pleased to flatter me so pleasantly with so advantageous a resemblance I must in requittal assure you that it is yet greater in all things then you imagine it and that I am not onely as to my inclinations comparable to Prince Caesario but also that my fortunes have been absolutely suitable to his I should put you to some astonishment should I tell you that as he so I was dearly loved by Alexander and Cleopatra in their younger years That I was loved as tenderly as he was by the Queen your mother and that her indulgence towards me was as great as what she expressed towards him that as he so I also left you to seek out my safty in Ethiopia after the downfall of your house That I was born as well as he of an unfortunate Queen and am son to the greatest that ever was of mankind and in a word I am so extreamly like him that I might even in Alexandria presume to own the name of Caesario if by such an acknowledegment I should not put you to the hazard of loosing him once again These words of Caesario raised such a distraction in the souls of Cleopatra and Alexander that neither of them being able to comprehend any thing of it could do no more then look on him that had spoke them with a silence which argued their astonishment much more then any verbal expressions could have done The sonne of Caesar had suffered them to coninue a while in that posture when he sees Eteocles coming in whom he had caused Clitia to call from the Terrace where he had left him Whereupon reassuming the discourse with an action which held the Brother and the Sister equally in suspence That you may be absolutely satisfied said he to them that my fortunes have been in all things conformable to those of Caesario behold the man that brought me up and who presumes that he hath been of the same name was of the same Birth same Country and same countenance as the Governour of Caesario If you look on him with more earnestness then you have done for some daies past when he was with you in that very house where I received your assistances you will easily observe that resemblance and he is a person of such an age as wherein ten years cannot make so great an alteration as they may in that wherein one passes from infancy to a more advanced age While he thus spoke the eies of Cleopatra and Alexander were fixed on the countenance of Eteocles and it being very certain that it had undergone much lesse alteration then that of the Prince they immediately found therein all the features of that of Eteocles with whom they had sometime been so familiar as having been one that had carryed them thousands of times in his arms and had been brought up in the house as son to the faithfull Apollodorus the dear favorite and confident of Queen Cleopatra Whereupon both the Prince and Princesse cryed out that it was really Eteocles and immediately turning to the Prince with an astonishment much greater then what they were in before by reason of this last circumstance Cleomedon said the Princesse to him for heavens sake keep us not any longer in the disturbance which you have raised in us and let us know that Caesario is living to tell us so much himself T is onely his death that abates that confidence which we raise from all the other circumstances and if Caesario were living I should be immediately satiefied that you were he Should he discover himself to be Caesario in any place that is under the jurisdiction of Augustus replyed the Princesse there is so little expectation of any Fortune thereby that it were hard to suspect such a confession subject to any imposture but it is withall a thing so glorious to be born of Caesar and Cleopatra thaâ— without an excesse of basenesse a man cannot disclaime it and there is so much satisfaction to Caesario to meet with a Brother and Sister great and amiable as Alexander and Cleopatra that no consideration in the World can oblige him any longer to conceale from them a brother they have
that he needed not envy the fortunes of any Roman whatsoever and though he had not those Kingdoms at his disposal which had been at his Fathers yet did he keep up our house in the greatest lustre it ever was in before the death of Julius Caesar and before Anthony and Augustus made themselves Masters of the Empire He was elder then Alexander and my self by seaven or eight years insomuch that within a short time after our misfortune and while we were yet brought up as children by Octavia he was numbred among the young Princes that pretended to employments and opportunities of acquiring fame He was certainly born to all the noblest and greatest endowments and though he were not so fair as Alexander yet had he a high and majestick look was of a proper stature and wanted not any of those advantages either of body or mind which could rationally be wished in him With this his inclinations were absolutely noble he was wholly disposed to the acquisition of vertue and an earnest suitor to those opportunities which lead a man to glory We cannot indeed complain but that he expressed as great affection towards us as we could expect from a Brother and him a vertuous one but in regard we were of several venter's lived in several houses nay that ours was in some sort divided between him and us and that even among the kindred of Fulvia there was no small aversion for the name of Cleopatra certain it is that our familiarity was so much the lesse with him and that he concerned himself lesse in our Affairs then if our family had not been disunited which is the reason that you have had so little mention made of him in the first beginnings of the life of Alexander and mine Whence yet I would not have it thought as I told you that we can reproach Julius Antonius with any backwardnesse to do all the civilities and good offices we could expect from his friendship but that when any great emergencies interven'd he was no longer among us and it is upon that account that I have been destitute of his assistances in all those occasions which the love of Coriolanus hath furnished me with to make use of them of which I have already made you a relation You have I question not understood from Alexander as also from me all the particularities of our younger years but to give you an account of Julius Antonius I am to tell you that after he had attained perfection in all those exercises that are proper to persons of his birth he was no sooner arrived to an age fit to bear arms but he sought out the wars with much earnestnesse and engaging himself in the armies of Dalmatia Pannonia as also that which Marcus Crassus conducted against the Basternae and having gone through all employments and charges suitable to his age with all the good successe imaginable he acquired a noble fame and gave the World ground to conceave as glorious hopes of him as of any other whatsoever Being after several years spent in travel returned to Rome he setled there and was honoured by all nay wanted not from Caesar himself more then ordinary expressions of esteem and affection He was at first established at the Court among persons of the highest rank so far that onely Marcellus and the children of Livia particularly favoured by Caesar seemed by reason of the advantage of their fortune to aim at higher pretences His expence was noble and magnificent his disposition inclined to do civilities and to oblige and his whole deportment such as all the World approved and were satisfied with Accordingly he soon got him a great number of friends and those onely excepted whom the divisions of Rome and the distractions of the Triumvirate had made irreconcileable enemies to our house there were very few of the Roman Nobility who had not a particular esteem for him and courted not his friendship When he went to Augustus's Palace he was attended by a gallant retinue of young Gentlemen In all publick shews and all Assemblies that met either at the Empresses or at the young Princesse Julia's he alwayes had the general acclamations and it was already the ordinary talk in Rome that if Fortune were any thing favourable to him he would raise the house of Anthony to the height of lustre it had been in some few years before But it was not the pleasure of the gods he should continue long in that condition and the quiet that he himself lost after a very strange manner proved the occasion of our losing of him to our no small grief Now Sister shall you hear something which you will haply be astonished at as to the parallel you will find there is between the fate of Alexander and that of Antonius whence you will haply imagine that Fortune treating them as Brothers would needs have some conformity between their adventures Among those exercises of the body he was most addicted to Antonius was the greatest lover of hunting and used it very often To that end being gone a dayes journy from Rome on the Tusculum side where the Country is very pleasant and very fit for that kind of divertisement he passed away certain dayes there with abundance of satisfaction The last of those he intended to bestow on that exercise being as he was hunting a Stagge forced to crosse certain woods in the pursuit he came into a very pleasant valley where putting on his Horse very negligently down a little descent and along the slippery grasse he stumbled but so of a sudden that he could not get his feet out of the stirrops nor prevent the horse from falling upon him so violently that having knocked his head against the root of a tree he was not onely sense-lesse for the time but receaved also a very considerable wound A further misfortune was that none of his fellow-huntsmen being mounted comparably to him or having taken other wayes there was not any one of his people neer him to afford him any assistance in that condition so that he lay groveling on the ground senselesse loosing bloud and being much in need of help when certain persons that passed by in a Chariot in a way not far off drew neerer and came out of the Chariot to relieve him They were in number three and they women without any man with them but he that drove the Chariot and certain slaves that followed it She of the women that seemed to be of the greatest quality perceaving my Brother to be in the sad condition I told you of was extreamly troubled for him and concluding otherwise by his countenance and the sumptuousnesse of his cloaths though he had onely a riding-suit on that he was of no mean condition she seemed very much inclined to do him all the good she could She first looked on the wound in his head which she found not to be very dangerous yet did she not think it amisse to put some linnen to it which
angry with him for it and having withal observed Martia's affliction thereat I was so much the more earnest to look further into the businesse out of the desires I had to serve and oblige her if it lay in my power To which effect reiterating the caresses and intreaties I had made to her some few minutes before I conjured her by all the friendship that was between us not to conceale from me any longer what her heart was so much burthened with assuring her that that curiosity in me proceeded not from any thing but the desires I had to serve her in that conjuncture proportionably to the affection I had for her But I could not get a word from her instead of some answer there fell from her eyes some few tears which she could not possibly keep in any longer and which she would have concealed from me by turning her head to the other side That discovery raised in me all the compassion I could conceave at such an accident and thereupon putting my cheek to hers with an action that argued the tendernesse I had for her What Sister said I to her can you be so cruel as to conceale from me the cause of a grief wherein I concern my self so much or have I so poorly deserved your affection that you have so little confidence of mine I durst trust my life in your hands replies Martia nay any thing else that I thought more precious But why will you engage me into a discourse whence you will infer nothing but my foudnesse and extravagance Or if you have any opinion of my prudence why will you not rather advise me to do all that lies in my power to preserve it I am so well satisfied as to that particular replyed I that I shall never conceave otherwise of you and that is the reason I am so importunate with you as knowing that I shall not understand any thing from you which must not confirm me in the confidence I have thereof It argues the greatnesse of my obligations to you replyed the Princesse but be what will the issue of it I cannot have the courage to acquaint you with my weaknesse and I think I satisfie the duty of our mutual friendship when I promise you to acknowledge it if you guesse the cause thereof Since you afford me that freedom said I to her and consequently give me some ground to believe you will approve that of my discourse may I not ask you whether the young Prince who now left the room be not in some measure the occasion of your melancholy and whether his being awanting in the service he owes you may be some cause of your being dissatisfied with him Upon these words Martia being not any longer able to smother the confusion she was in nor the blushes that spread through her countenance leaned her self against my shoulder and wringing one of my hands between both her own with the greatest discovery of passion that could be Sister said she to me with much difficulty I am not worthy the services of Ptolomey nay it is not unlikely he conceaves it so and by his deportment towards me you may easily judge that I am not to statter my self with any great hopes of him I must confesse that having entertained the first addresses of his affection by the commands of those who have the disposal of my inclinations and that having possibly been too implicitely dutiful to Octavia I cannot quit the hopes I had conceaved thereof without some affliction and this is the confusion this is the fondnesse which I neither durst nor ought to have discovered but the relyance I have on your friendship perswades me that you will not let it go any further nay that you will conceale it even from Ptolomey himself who obliges me not to this tendernesse for him while he hath so little for me These words falling from her with that mildnesse which is absolutely natural in her gave my heart a more then ordinary assault whereupon embracing her with a certain excesse of affection Sister said I to her Ptolomey is happy inâ—iinitely beyond his deserts if I may measure his happinesse by these discoveries of your affection towards him nay I am confident that had be but the knowledge thereof he would cast himself at your feet begging your pardon for all the faults which through the inconsiderate sallies of youth he may have committed against you He were unworthy all countenance of fortune if he entertain not this as the greatest which Heaven could favour him with but I am to assure you as I have had it thousands of times from his own mouth and see it in his heart that he hath for you the greatest sentiments of passion and respect he can have and if that be awanting in the demonstrations he ought to give you thereof it is to be attributed to the impetuosity of his greener years which time will so settle as that you will be the onely object of his devotions for all the rest of his life I shall not acquaint him with any thing of what you have discovered to me but as from my self make him sensible of his omissions of duty and I dare promise you to bring him at your feet as penitent and as reformed in matter of inclination as he ought to be and your vertue deserves With these words and what else I said to her I appeased Martia and further representing to her that Ptolomey deserved not so great expressions of her good will and that it was but oitting he should not be acquainted therewith least it made him too insolent I by degrees so laid that mild nature that I brought her to a resolution of not grieving any longer after that manner and that she would reassume her former freedom and pleasantnesse of conversation In the mean time give me leave to acquaint you with the adventure which the same day happened to Ptolomey and prepare your self to hear a very strange accident He went to Sabina's as he told us he would where a great many Ladies met and among others besides those he had named to us Helvidia Sulpicia Emilia whom I made mention of in the adventures of Julius Antonius who was some years since married to Scipio and with her that inexorable Tullia who had been the cause of the losse of our Elder Brother After the death of Caecinna and the deplorable accident I have already related to you she retired to Tusculum where she continued six years without ever coming once to Rome during which time Cicero her Brother had made his abode in Africk where he was Proconsul but being not long before returned to Rome he had brought his Sister with him which to effect he had used all the authority he had over her otherwise she had still continued her solitude 'T was not above three dayes before that she came to Rome where she was thought as beautiful as when she left it though she were then about three or four
Love hath at least submitted to the commands laid on her by Octavia and Caesar in his behalf and hath satisfyed him by expressions worthy her solid vertue of the esteem she hath for him And so it hath continued ever since by the happy meeting of these two complyant dispositions who are not subject to any trouble because not to the weaknesse of a many others so that it is out of all question that the Emperour will have them marryed at the same time that the nuptialls of Marcellus and Julia shall be solemnised Drusus hath told us since how that he had heard from Mithridates's own mouth the discourse that had passed between him and Antonia when they walked together upon which he grounded his first letter as also what course he had taken to conceal himself from all the World as well that day that he bestowed on her the magnificent Galley as that of the publick shewes before which some few dayes he had pretended affairs of consequence in the Country because there should be no notice taken of his absence at an Assembly wherein he should in all likelihood be one of the first Some few dayes after Archelaus overcome with grief went to ease himself of it in the war whither he was called to assist the King of the Medes his kinsman against the Parthians and wherein as they say he hath gained abundance of reputation Mithridates was in the same posture uâ—â—aple of any consolation though his love had not made so much noise as the others but to satisfie him in some sort the Emperour having the Crowns of Pontus and Comagenes where there had happened very great revolutions to dispose of bestowed that of Pontus on Polemon and that of Comagenes on Mithridates and sent them to take possession thereof Ptolomey according to his ordinary way of courtship continued his addresses to Marcia that is with little earnestnesse and much esteem and respect but discovering little inclination to marriage He never minded Tullia who in requital was very violently courted by Lentulus but I shall not give you any account of their loves because they relate not much to the subject of my discourse though they may be said to be some consequences thereof I have already given you an account of all that happened to my self at that time as well as to the news I received of the infidelity of Coriolanus the departure of Marcellus and Tiberius and the Emperours voyage wherein we accompanied him so that you are fully acquainted with the affairs of our house and the better to satisfie and entertain you therewith I think and that truely that I have spoken more in three dayes then I had done all my life before Thus did the fair Princesse Cleopatra put a Period to her long relation which to do she had done a more than ordinary violence to her disposition and Artemisa had heard her with an attention which had suspended in her mind the memory of her misfortunes The end of the Second Book HYMENS PRAELUDIA Or Loves Master-Piece PART IX LIB III. ARGUMENT MEgacles discourses with the unknown person whose life he had saved about the constancy and inconstancy of Fortune Cleopatra and Artemisa of the fidelity and infidelity of Coriolanus The King of Armenia visits Cleopatra with a great deale of Courtship and Personated Affection She abhorring him for his cruelties and having resolved to be Coriolanus's slights him and looks on his addresses as the pure effects of insinuation and sycophancy However he forbears force because far from his own Kingdom whither he would make all the hast he could but is prevented by contrary winds Zenodorus the Pirate entertains Artaxus with the History of his Life He marries Elisena a beautiful Lady of Armenia and not long after grows jealous of her through the means of one Cleontes a young man with whom she was over-familiar His jealousie still increasing Cleontes is by Elisena desired to depart the Court The day before his departure he and Elisena taking their last leaves in an Arbour are surprized by Zenodorus who transported with rage and jealousie immediately kills Elisena in the midst of their embraces Cleontes gets away but afterwards hearing of the death of Elisena 〈◊〉 himself to Artoxus sword who 〈◊〉 him through As 〈◊〉 dying 〈◊〉 discoveryâ— his neck and breast and is found to be a Woman 〈…〉 to Phraates King of the Parthians to avoid whose addresses she had disgâ—ised her self Phrates to revenge her death comes with an Army and drives Zenodorus out of his Tetrarchy which is afterward begged of Augustus by Herod Zenodorus having lost all seizes some few ships and turns Pirate He follews Piracy with great successe for ten years at last takes Candace Queen of Aethiopia whom he falls in loves with but she firing his ships and casting her self over-board escapes Loosing her he takes Elisa sole Heiresse of the King of Parthia but going ashore to seek out Candace he loses both Elisa and all his ships hath most of his men killed and is himself wounded He is met with in a Country-mans house under the Surgeons hands by Aristus and by him brought along with the men he had left to the King of Armenia WHile the two Princesses were thus engaged in discourse Megacles whole eare was equally divided between that of having them in safe custody to obey the commands laid upon him by his Master and that of affording him the best attendance he could to satisfie in some sort his own inclinations which were ever directed to vertue omitted nothing of what he thought might be expected from him in order to either of these obligations And whereas on the one side it was some dissatisfaction to him to be employed to secure them out of the fear he was in to incense a Prince who was not wont to pardon any thing so on the other he with no lesse joy laid hold on those occasions which presented themselves to discover unto them the repugnance which he struggled with to displease them Being therefore obliged not to part from the ship he had sent Aristus betimes in the morning to see what news he could learn of the King of Armenia and this man being returned had brought him word that the King would infallibly come aboard the vessel that very day and that though he were in such a posture as topoint of health that he could not well undertake such a voyage without some danger yet had he absolutely resolved to venture it out of the great desire he had to see Cleopatra and the fear he was in of loosing so noble a prize Megacles having received this intelligence for certain began to dispose all things in the vessel in order to his entertainment and having understood that the Princesses were desirous to be alone he out of the great respect he had for them would not so much as come neer their Chamber and was content only to give notice to one of the women that belonged to Cleopatra that he
of crimes nay that by the constant practise of them I have contracted such a habit of evil as I shall haply find it no small difficulty to reform my self of But I would withall if possible gladly perswade your Majesty that a great part of the mischievous inclinations which are grown so powerful within me are rather the consequences of my crosse Fortune than the effects of my own nature and that if the misfortunes that have happened to me since my departure from Armenia had not exasperated my disposition and corrupted my manners I should as I had been born with great inclinations to vertue have continued in the same esteem and reputation that I was in when your Majesty was pleased to honour me with more than ordinary favours and kindnesses I shall contract the discourse of my misfortunes as much as I can as well because I am unwilling to abuse your attention as that considering the condition your Majestie is in it were very unseasonable for me to spin out any over-teadious relation Your Majesty hath hertofore understood that I was born in the Frontieres of Judaea where the Fortunes of my Father were such that through the affluence thereof he had the means to purchase the estate of Lisanias which was a smal portion of that Country endued with soveraign power and without appeal to any other Monark than the Emperour Lisanias had possessed it as such for a long time but at last having for certain weighty considerations exchanged it for some other estate which my Father had and some monies he had gotten together in the several employments he had gone through in the wars my Father became the peaceable Lord of it and I by that means came into a rank which rendred me the more considerable among my neighbours I spent the first sallyes of my youth in the Armies and through the natural inclination I ever had to the wars I gained therein some reputation I was in that of Anthony against the Parthians and being meerly a Souldier of Fortune and not minding Factions I followed the children of Pompey against Augustus Caesar and among other services I was at that famous sea-fight that happened between Menas and Menecrates That war receiving a Period by the ruine of young Pompey I sought out new emploiments elsewhere visited the Courts of divers Kings and at last came to yours You were then but about 15 or 16 years of age and it was not long after the taking of the King your Father He honoured me very much with his kindnesses but he being shortly after taken by Anthony I had in those attempts which young as you then were you made to procure his liberty and afterwards to revenge his death the honour to follow you in a very considerable employment in your Cavalry and I was so happy as to have it from your own mouth that you were satisfied with my services and accordingly received those presents and acknowledgement from your liberality which I have had reason to celebrate ever since But besides the inclinations I immediately conceived for a valiant and a grateful Prince which engaged my stay in your Court longer than in all the rest another thing that detained me there was the beauty of Elisena I shall not need tell your Majesty who remembers it well as having seen her that that Lady was one of the greatest ornaments of your Court that by her birth she was one of the most considerable and that in point of beauty and desert there was none comparable to her A man cannot well imagine any thing more amiable or more excellent than her face but the advantages of her mind were no lesse admirable and the reputation of her vertue was generally known through the whole Court of Armenia Thousands of persons sighed for that beauty of which number I had no sooner seen her but I became one My love encreased from day to day till at last that passion became as violent in my soul as ever it had been in any though the most possessed by it I entertained her with all the demonstrations I could of it with respect earnestnesse and assiduity but she seemed to be little moved thereat and discovered very little resentment for all those expressions of love which she received from all the rest who made their addresses to her She was endued with a vertue which nothing could shake and was subject to a modest kind of severiry which was proof against all passion Her inflexibility at that time drew dayly complaints from my mouth and sighs from my breast but if I was troubled at the small successe of my own sufferings I had still this comfort left me that the Fortune of my Rivals was in no better a posture than my own and that she seemed not to incline to any choice other than that which she should be advised to by those to whom she ought her birth But to be short my Lord why should I abuse your patience by acquainting you with things that you know your Majesty was pleased to employ your authority on my behalf you spoke your self for me both to Elisena and her Friends Insomuch that about the same time news being come that my Father was departed this life and that I was absolute Lord of that little estate which he had dyed possessed of as a soveraign Prince your Majesty was pleased to further my interests made appear the advantage of my allyance and to the confusion of all my Rivalls though they were your own subjects I carryed away the fair Elisena and married her The Nuptials were solemnly celebrated in Artaxata and I had gotten into my possession that beauty for whom I had suffered so much and in the possession whereof I found much more sweetnesse than I had imagined to my self Alasse can I reflect on these things without dying and though my mind be grown brawny by reason of the accidents I have run through and the barbarous employments wherein I have spent my life Can I resist the resentment they should produce in me I became possessor of Elisena and with her of all the excellencies both of body and mind that can be wished in one single person Nay what is contrarie to what ordinarilie happens the possession encreased my love and through the more particular knowledge that I had of my Elisena I discovered a many excellent qualities which I had not observed before in their full lustre After I had made some stay in Armenia I took leave of your Majesty I departed and carryed away my dearest Elisena that she might take possession with me of that little estate which my Father had left behind him I was there received as their soveraign and began to lead the most pleasant and delightful life that could be imagined Thus far my Lord hath my life been known to you thus far was it innocent Now may your Majesty be pleased to understand what hath happened to me since and to have so much goodnesse for me as to
and her being in that house to whom also he had not discovered himself and how that the next day she had been carried away again with Artemisa Caesario aggravated to the Queen the affliction he conceived at that misfortune as being not in a capacity to afford his Sister the assistances he ought and to go along with Alexander after those that had carried her away yet told her withal that it was his resolution to have done it and that he would have put on his armour if Alexander himself had not prevented him and if Eteocles had not taken such order that he could get neither arms nor horses for that day that the next day towards the evening finding himself a little stronger he got out of his bed with an intention at the same time to seek out both Candace and Cleopatra and was got to one of the windows whence casting his eye upon the adjoining wood he had seen a Chariot passing by wherein he had perceived the Queen with the fair Princesse of the Parthians whom he knew not that upon that happy sight joy taking its former place in his soul friendship had submitted to love and the losse of Cleopatra troubled him the lesse by reason of the recovery of Candace That he would immediately have run after her but not long after Eteocles coming into the room and having communicated that good news to him had intreated him to have a little patience and to give him leave to run alone after the Chariot to find out the truth of that adventure That accordingly Eteocles got on horseback and followed the track of the Chariot and those that conveyed it into Alexandria whither having got in undiscovered he had informed himself so well of all things that he understood how the Queen was in the Palace with the Princesse of the Parthians that she had been rescued out of their hands that had carried her away by the Praetor Cornelius and that she was attended with all manner of respect though she had discovered her self onely so far as thâ—â— she was a Lady of great quality born in Ethiopia that these tidings restoring him as it were to a new life had also restored him in some measure to his health and strength and that having that very day sent Eteocles into the City to speak with her if he possibly with any convenience could he returned some time after with news that he had seen her getting up into a Chariot wherein she went out of the City to take the air along the river side and would come within a smal distance of the house where he was That upon that news he was not able to keep in any longer and that notwithstanding the reasons alledged by Eteocles who would by all means have hindred him he got on horseback and rid forâ—h into the wood in hopes of some opportunity to see her out of a confidence he should not meet with any one that knew him That it was as he crossed the wood up and down upon that design that he first heard certain out-cries and afterward saw the Princeâ—s Elisa in the hands of Tigranes That though he knew not who she was he had done her that service which he ought her and that he had not forsaken her had he not seen Artaban and a company of men on horseback coming behind him That being unwilling to be discovered by them he withdrew but that he had taken particular notice of Artaban and that looking on him as the most concerned in the relief of the Princesse he was very glad that he had done him that good office as wel out of a consideration of the satisfaction a man takes in doing what he is in honour obliged to as out of a remembrance that in the engagement they had had together against the Pirate Zenodorus and his men Artaban had relieved him and helped him on horseback after his own had been killed under him That afterwards he had wandered up and down the wood in hopes to see the Queen but that having observed some appearance of Agrippa and Cornelius with their Troop he would not by any means be met with by them and thereupon retired till night at which time through the help of the darknesse he made a shift to get into the City and knowing what part of the Palace the Queen was lodged in he without any difficulty found her out having once gotten upon the terrace where he had met with Clitia Thus did Caesario put a period to his relation and when he had given over speaking the Queen looking on him with a countenance wherein her thoughts were in some measure legble Caesario said she to him you have had your traverses and extremities and we had ours which I shall not trouble you with any relation of because you have understood them already from Eteocles If I have suffered much for you I must yet confesse you have endured more for me besides that by your attempts and valour you have regained me a Kingdom which I gave over for lost It is but just it should be a present made to you as it were in some sort to reward your care and conduct and might it please the gods I had any thing to present you with that were more considerable and more precious that I might requite as I ought to do those so many noble demonstrations of your affection Madam replies Caesario it is beyond the merits of my blood nay indeed of my life to deserve the expressions I receive of your favours and goodnesse and I am very much ashamed to expect so many great things from my noblest Queen when I am able to offer her nothing but a miserable wretch discarded and dispoiled of that which now makes up so many Monarchies and a ............ T is enough saies Candace interrupting him let me hear no more of that discourse if you have not a set purpose to displease me and take it for granted that your person is of a value high enough to be preferred by the greatest Princesses in the universe before that of the usurper who is now possessed of your Fathers Palace Having by these words engaged him to silence she fell upon some other discourse wherein she discovered to him what trouble she was in for the danger whereto he exposed himself by coming into Alexandria where he must expect no lesse then death if he were once known as also her displeasure to see him so carelesse of his health as being not sufficiently recovered as might be seen in his countenance to venture on horseback and take such pains as he did The Prince after he had thanked her for the afflictions she was in for his sake as being the pure effects of the tendernesse she had for him For the hazard whereto I expose my self said he to her it is not so great as you imagine it and besides the difference there is between the face of a child of fourteen years of age and that of a man of
four and twenty the report that is scattered up and down the world of my death hath taken such root and is particularly so much credited by Augustus that it were no small difficulty to perswade people to the contrary and for my health I find that through the joy which the gods have been pleased to afford me by meeting with you again I have recovered my strength in such a measure that within three or four dayes I shall be in as good plight and condition as ever I was either to do any thing in point of arms or to waite on you by sea into Ethiopia Eteocles hath within these two daies found out our vessel which the Ethiopians that had followed me have gotten made fit for the sea again and rides at anchor within a hundred stadia of Alexandria Your faithful subjects that are aboard it have understood not without great transports of joy that you were in this City and expect your orders with that secrecy which Eteocles hath engaged them to I shall be content to remain either with them if you think it good or in the house where I have already made some abode and where by the appointment of Alexander I have hitherto been extreamly well entertained and at such houres as these you will give me leave to wait on you for some small time till the day that you shall have resolved to depart hence Alas for matter of departure saies Candace to him it shall be as soon as your recovery shall permit besides that there are some other reasons best known to my self which would force me to hasten my departure hence were it not that the company of this fair Princesse which I cannot without an infinite affliction ever quit doth prevail with me to wave all resolutions of that nature It was but just said Elisa to her that you gave me that little comfort after the cruel discourse you have entertained me with and I shall be very much troubled to consent to your departure if you do not take me along with you These last words fell from her with a certain smile whereupon the Queen looking with a more serious countenance Fairest Princess said she to her you speak that in jeast which with more reason you might do after another manner and were it the pleasure of the gods and that I might hope so much from your friendship as that till such time as you are reconciled to the King your Father or have setled your self by other waies you would make your residence in Ethiopia you shall be there attended with so much respect and affection that possibly it would be long ere you returned among the Parthiaus Two houres since I could not have made you this proposition but since that through the assistances of the gods and the valour and conduct of Caesario we have recovered the Kingdom of our Fathers I shall never derive any advantage thence that can be more acceptable to me then that which I may receive by this goodnesse of yours This discourse of Candace was accented with so much affection that Elisa could not forbear embracing her and kissing her many times together giving her withal many thanks for this demonstration of her friendship in terms wherein she fully expressed how extreamly sensible she was thereof At length turning to Caesario I should have feared said she to him that the difference there is between you and Artaban might have engaged you to employ the interrest you have with the Queen to oppose the sanctuary and entertainment she is pleased to prosser me as knowing the inclinations he hath for me and haply having understood the marks of a more then ordinary esteem which I have for him but since you have been so fortunately generous as to have done her with joy the greatest service she could have expected from the best of her friends I cannot but hope that through the assistance of the Queen who will make it very much her businesse to perswade you thereto you will not be so exasperated against him as to deny him your frienship if he desires it of you as he is obliged to do Madam replies Caesario I can make an unfained protestation to you that I never had any hatred against Artaban and from the esteem I have ever made of his admirable endowments it may easily be inferred how extreamly I was troubled to find in him so much aversion for me Insomuch that without engaging by this action the Queen or your self to a belief that it proceeds from the respect and complyance I have for your commands I shall gladly embrace his friendship and give him what assurances of mine you shall think fit Elisa seemed to be extreamly joyd at this discourse of Caesario's whereupon the Queen desirous to unite those two extraordinary persons by a friendship great as that which was between herself and Elisa knowing that Caesario had had some imperfect account of the great actions of Artaban as also of the affection he had for Elisa acquainted him in few words with what of most consequence he was yet ignorant of Insomuch that by that relation she gave him such a character of Artaban that he looked upon him as the greatest and most generous of men and representing to him the difference there is between those elevated souls in whom noble actions raise onely an impression of esteem and respect and those other reptile ones wherein they produce envy and enmity to desire with earnestnesse the acquisition of his friendship It is not to be doubted but that the sight of Caesario was an infinite satisfaction to Candace and Caesario on the other side could gladly have spent whole ages in her company and yet not be sensible of their length but yet besides the fear which upon his account Candace was perpetually in the night was in a manner spent and Caesario thought it too great a presumption to delay any longer the repose of those two great Princesses So that he was obliged to recommend them to their rest having first obtained the Queens leave to waite on her the next night at the same hour and promised that he would entertain Artaban with all friendly embraces if it should prove his fortune ever to meet him again Assoon as he was gone the two Princesses went to their beds and by reason of the alteration that had happened that day in their fortunes having dismissed those cruel disturbances which interrupted their repose thy fell into such a quiet sleep that it was very late the next day ere they awoke Thus was this night passed over by those many illustrious persons who were then at Alexandria and the next day assoon as Olympia and Arsinoe had notice brought them that Candace and Elisa were awake they left their own lodgings with an intention to give them a visit and to let Elisa understand how much they thought themselves concerned in what had happened to her the day before They would by no means give way that Ariobarzanes and