unworthie employment to the spirit to give it no other work all our life but such occupation it might likewaies be said that if things were ordained as they should the studie of learning should be rather permitted to Women then to Men For because they have the guiding of the universe Some being Kings others Governours of Provinces some Sacrificers others Magistrats and all in generall Masters of their Families And consequently taken up aither with publick affaires or with their own in particular They doubtless must have buâ— little time to bestow upon this kind of studie They must substract â—rom their subjects their freinds or from themselves But for us our leasure and our retirement gives us all the ease that we could wish We take nothing from the publick not from our selves in the contrare we enrich our selves without empowâ—â—â—ng others We Illustrate our countrey by maâ—n our selves famous And without wronging anie bâ—dâ—â—e we acquirâ— abundance of glorie It is but verie just me thinks since we quit the domination to men that at least they allow us the libertie of knowing all the things which our spirit is capable of The desire of righteousness should not be forbidden us And consequentlie it can be no crime to practise it The Gods have made no unprofitable thing in all nature Everie thing follows the order that has been given to it The Sun enlightens and warms the Universe the Earth gives us flowers and fruits every year The Sea gives us of all its riches the Rivers water our meadows The woods lend us their shades And in fine all things are useful forpublick Societie Wherefore then if it be so should it bedesired that we should the only rebels ungrateful creatures to the gods why I say should it be desired that our spirits should either be unworthilie employed or eternallie unprofitable What improvement can there be had by despising what is honest And how can it agree with reason that what is of it self infinitlie laudable doth become wicked and damnable when it is in our possession They who have slaves do causâ— instruct them for their own advantage And they whom Nature or custome has given to us for Masters would have us extinguish in our souls all these lights which heaven hath put there And that we should live in the thickest darkness of ignorance If this be for obtaining our admiration the more easilie they shall not come to their purpose Because we do not admire what we know not But if it be also to render us more subject to them that is not a generous sentiment And if it be true that they have any Empire over us it is the making of their Government the less glorious to reign over stupid and ignorants Perhaps you will say to me that all men are not so rigid to us And that some do consent to Womens imploying of their spirits in the knowledge of good learning Provided that they medle not with desire of making works themselves But let them who are of that opinion re member that if Mercurius and Apollo are of their Sex Minerva the Muses are of ours nevertheless I avouch that Having received so much from heaven as we have we should not slightlie engadge our selves in such things As for example it is no shame to make verse but to make them evil And if mine had not had the good fortune of pleasing I should never have shown them â—wice However this shame is not particular to â—s and who ever doth a thing evilie that he volutarlie undertakes Doubtless merits to be blamed of whatsoever Sex he is A perverse Orator an evil Philosopher an evil Poet do acquire no more glorie then a woman who with no good grace does acquit her self of all those things And of whatsorver Sex anie is they merit reproof when they do ill and great esteem when they do well But to give something to the custome and depravedness of the age leave Erinna all those thornie Sciences to them who love not to seek for glorie but in difficult pathes I will not lead you unto places where you shall see nothing agreeable I will not have you spend your life in importunate inquires after secrets which are not to be found I will not have you unprofitablie employ all your spirits to know the place whereto the winds retires after they have made shipwrackes And in fine I will not have you consume the rest of your dayes in divyning indisserently upon all things I love your repose your glorie and your beautie equallie I doe not wish to you such studies as make the complexion yellow the eyes hollow the countenance ghastlie which make wrinekles on the forehead and which make the humor melancholie and unquiet I will not have you flee societie nor light But I onlie will have you follow me to the banks of Parnassus It is there Erinna that I will conduct you it is there that you shall surpass me how soon you arrive at it It is there that you shall acquire beauty which time yeares seasones old Age nor Death it self can robb you of And in fine it is there that you shall know perfectlie that our Sex it capable of every thing that it would undertake It may be you will say to me that by my desiring to engadge you to poesie I do not keep my word to you Because in the descriptions which are given of them who make verses it seemes that beautie cannot correspond with the grimaces which itcauses them make But know Erinna that this is but ane invention of men who would make us belive that as we see them who give oracles troubled by the presence of the god that makes them speak The same way poesie being whollie divyn troubles them who practise it But though that were so your eyes shall not be lesse bright For how soon the Oracle is given the Preist is restored to his former tranquillity So shall you also no sooner quit the pen then you shall resind all your premire urbanities And moreover I doe not think that you will replenish your spirits with so dooleful images as may cause any forrowful thing result in your eyes You shall be absolute Mistriss of the subjects you wonld treat of And of the manic beauties which are in nature you may choise what pleases most your inclination the description of a wood or of a fountain the complaints of a lover and of a Mistris Or the Elogie of some vertue will give you ample enough subject to make the talents appear which heaven hath endued your person with You are born with such glorious advantages as that you will be ungrate to these who have given you them if you know not the good use of them Perhaps you will ask of me if it be not sufficiently glorious for a fine woman that all the brave spirits of her time make verses in praise of her without that she medle to make her own Pictur her self I say you may ask me
if her glorie be not better established this way then the other But I have this aâ—swer to give you that what ever Elogies can be given to you it will be more glorious for you to have made verses for all the Illustrious of your time if you doe them well then it can be to you when they have all been made for you Believe me Erinna it is much better to give immortalitie to others then to receive it from any other And to find ones own glorie with themselves them to hear of it elsewhere the pictures which shall be this way made of you perhaps shall not passe one day with posterity but as tablets made for pleasure The Poets imagination will be more admired then your beauty And the Copies in fine shall passe fore the original But if from your own hand you doe leave some signes of what you are you shall still live with honor in the memories of all men They of your age who have praised you shall then pâ—sâ—â— for true And they who have noâ— done it for stupid or envious Nevertheless doe â—ot pretend that you should make your own â—â—cture That you shonld speak of your beautie Oâ— your vertue And of all the â—â—re qualities that me in you No I will not impose such a hard thing upon your modestie Poesie has manic other priviledges you need not speak of yourself to make posterity know you You need but speakâ— legantlie and you shall be sufficiently known Yes Erinne when you make no other use of your pen but to blame the vices of your age your praise shall not be forgotten Consider also again I conjure you how feeble and undureable is the reputation that is founded upon beautie Of all the infinit numbers of beautiful women who doubtless have lived in these ages which preceded ours we have scarse heard two or three onlie spoken of And in these very ages we see the glorie of most men solidlie established by the wreatings which they have left behind them let not Erinna tyme old age and death robb you of any thing but Roses And not take away all your beautie Triumph over these enemies in everie good thing Put your self in condition to sustain the glorie of our Sex by your example make our common enemies avouch that it is as easie for us to conquer with the force of our spirits as with the beauty of our eyes Let your judgement appear by despiseing the sottisness that the vulgare will say of your resolution Let all the earth see such fine tablets of your imagination such noble efforts of your spirit Such brave effects of your memorie And such good testimonies of your judgement that you alone may have the advantage of having reestablished the glorie of all women Doe not contemn then what I say to you But if for a false shame you will not resolve to follow me And will make all your glorie consist in your Beautie you shall lament while you are alive the losse of that beautie You shall be spoken of as if you had been of ane other age And you shall then find that I had reason to say to you this day what I think I have said formerly in some of my verses Your looks and all that charming grace Of rose and lilies in your face Your heav'nly orbes so clear and bright Tho'emblems of Eternall light Must all decay your beauty wither Death makes you both forgot together But learning does immortality gaine Andvictory o'rdeath and the grave make obtain THE EFFECT OF THIS HARRANGUE IT cannot be said that this harrangue had no Effect If things be taken literally For it well appears that she to whom it was adrest let her self be caried where it was desired because a Greck Epigrame hath told us that by how much Sapho excelled Erinna in Lirick Poesie so much Erinna did surpass Sapho in hexami erverse But if any differ from the literall sense to come nearer my intentions I shal be verie happy if I can perswade our Ladies to what this fair Lesbian perswaded her freind But yet more if I could perswade all the earth that this beautifull Sex is worthie of our adorations That thereby Temples and Altars might be one day consecrated to them as I do now consecrate THIS TRIUMPHING ARCH WHICH I HAYE ELEVATED TO THEIR GLORIE FINIS
which come 〈…〉 never been It belongs then to you 〈…〉 〈◊〉 to give more sollid foundations to this structure It is you must animat these Marbles by magnificent Inscriptions It is you must revive Mausole it is you must make me live Eternally although I feel my Death verie near approaching I desire not Socrates that you make Elogies of Busire or that you give praises to Helen as you have done at other times I give you a more easie and more Illustrious Subject the vertues of Mausole and the lawfull love of Artemisa are a more Noble subject then the inhumanity of Busire or the slightness of Helen your Eloquence shall have no crime to disguise All the craft that Rhotorick teaches for Imposing of Fables rendering them seemingly true will but serve you to perswade to truth and without Printing any thing of Sophistes it shal suffice that you writ as an Orator as a Philosopher and as a Historian together Eloquence that rare priviledge which the gods have bestowed on men as a raie of their divinity should never be employed but for protecting innocencie or eternising vertue They who have made a godess of perswasion have not designed to render it a slave to the Capricioes of men and doubtless they know as well as I that Eloquence is a gift of Heaven which none ought to prophane the power it has of excitâ—ing or appeasing the 〈◊〉 violent passions of softening the hardest hearts of perswading the most incredulous of forcing the most obstinate of constraining even to our will and of 〈◊〉 us in opposition to our selves by quitting our 〈◊〉 opinions to follow these of others all these advantages I say have not been given him to serve himself with injustice On the contrary it is that which the gods have chosen to make the World see vertue as lovely as it is and to cause it every day make new conquests It is by possessing of it that men acquire Immortality by making others immortall It is it which in â—ight of Time and change of Things preserves the meâ—â—oâ—ie of brave actions It is it which maugre the destruction of Kingdoms and Empires does perpetuate the 〈…〉 of Kings and Emperours and when their â—â—tie 〈◊〉 are no more in their Tombs when their Paâ—ces are destroyed their most famous Towns desolated 〈◊〉 their verie Kingdoms have changed their Names 〈◊〉 the whole Earth see an image of their vertuâ—â— Yea many ages after their death they have lived among men they have still Friends and Subjects they are consulted for the Government of their lives their good qualities are imitated they have new Elogies made them envie finishes not their Glory they get all the Praises the merit there if so great veneration had for them that People go not to the places where they dwelt without some kind of fear and if there yet remain any old Ruines of their Buildings some do's respect that in them which time did not regaird they look upon them with pleasure and prefers them to all the Magnificence of the Modernes and the Limners also adorn their Tablets with their Illustrous Ruines and with eternising their memories After all this wonder not Socrates that I so passionately desire your Eloquence to make a Panegirick for my dear lord I know in what esteem it was through all Greece and I certainly foresee that Ages to come will render it Justice All the writtings that bear the Name of Socrates or of Theopompus shall be reverenced by time by fortune and by all men They shall pass among all Nations and in all Ages without having anie wrong done to them and shall carrie winâ— them the reputation of them whom they speak of Also there may be Famous Persons found who by the esteem they have of your work will make you speak of Languages which have not yet been invented who by the brightness of your Glory will believe they add sorn thing to their own by publishing of them Speak then 〈◊〉 speak then Socrates to the end that all men may speak after you But do not think that there are any thoughts of vanitiâ— mingled with the Prayer that I make to you No Socrates I will not have you search in my Person not Life whereof to me a Magnificent Elogie I will not have you speak of my Noble Birth I will not that you tell I was Born with the Crown of Hallicarnassus I will not have you tell that though a Woman I did know the the Act of Soveraigne Reigning I will not that you acquant Posterity with the Extraordinarie Esteem the great Xerxes had of me I will not have you tell that â— made a Voayage into Greece with him I will not have you make known that I had the first Place in his Coâ—◠〈◊〉 and that mine was ever followed I will not 〈◊〉 you speak of the Exploits I did in that War nor 〈◊〉 exceeding Price which the Athenians promised to any that would deliver me into their hands Only I Will have you tell that Artemisa was Queen of Caria Because she Married Mausole who was King of it That Artemisa above all Vertues did ever love that which is most Necessarie to her Sex That Artemisa never had any other Passion But that of perfectly loving Her Husband that Artemisa after losing him lost all desire of Life and in fine that Artemisa after that Misfortune had no other care but the Celebrating of his Memory But after you have said all those things and praised Mausole as much as he Merited after I say you have painted out my Grief or to speak better my despair as great as it is forget not to declaire to Posterity that after I hade Builded the most Sumptuous Monument that never was seen I could not find one Urne that I belived worthie to enclose his Ashes Cristall Alabaster and all the Precious Stones which Nature produces cannot me thinks abundantly testifie my affection It must needs be Noble and Liberall to give him an Urne of Gold covered with Diamonds but to give him the Heart for an Urne it must be Artemisa There it is Socrates where I shut up the Ashes of my dear lord there it is Theopompus where I lay to rest his dear Reliques waiting impatiently till his Tomb be in condition to receive the Urne a live which I have given him It is truely my Heart should serve for an Urne to the Ashes of my dear Mausole Me thinks I give them a new life by putting them there and again me thinks they Communicat that mortall coldness to me which I feel in them Moreover it is very just that since Mausole was alwayes in my heart while he lived he should also be there after his death May be if I had put his Ashes in this Urue of Gold all coverd with Jewels may be I say some unjust Conquerour should come to open his Tomb and with a Prophane and Sacralegious hand take away the Urne and cast his Ashes with the Wind and separate mine from
Valor to the oppressed Reipublick Nevertheless after he had done all these things these cowardlie and insensible People exiled him for whom they should have erected atues in all their publick places Yet this great ungratitude wearied not the vertue of Brutus you know O wise Volumnius All that he has done for his Countrey Nor do I tell it to make you learn But to employ that little life that remains in me to speak of his Heroick Actions and to conjure you to make them known to Posteritie Remember then Volumnius that though all the Romans were ungrate to him he desisted not to do all things for them And when these Sluggards in place of one Tyrran had suffered three He had more compassion for them then resentment of their ungratitude And without thinking of his own Preservation what did he not to make them happie Maugre what they had been But these enemies of Vertue are so well accustomed to slaverie that they hoard up their chaines as their deâ—â—est Treasures And all along after that Brutus had broken them they themselves renewed them with care And Rome which manie ages by-past commanded all the Earth now voluntarlie submits to Tyrranie O Cato O Brutus Who could ever have thought it And who could believe that the gods would protect crime and oppress innocence Yet I plainlie see what it is that provockes Heaven to pâ—mish us The death of Brutus is Romes chastisement and the greatest unhappiness that can ever besail it And certainlie it is for Romes punishment that the gods permitted him to end his dayes For Brutus his pains are his reward The Romans ungratitude contributes to his Glorie And his verie death doth so Illustrate his life that it is almost a shame for me to weep Moreover I assure you that I have weeped more for his absence then death I then looked upon my 〈◊〉 as being unlimited And my Soul being ballanced between hope and fear I solaced my self with weeping But to day when I have no more to loss and when I see an infallible way of ending my miserie My Soul is more tranquill And though my grief be greater then anie was ever felt I endure it with less impatience Because I know it shall be quicklie finished Do not then tell me that I ought to live for preserving the memorie of Brutus The action he did is so Heroick and Noble that it shall ever be remembered by all men He shall alwaies be regarded as the first and last of the Romans And the Tyrrans who shall reign after this we have now shall likewaies serve to preserve a Glorious remembrance of him So long as there shall be Kings seen in Rome it will be remembered that the Old Brutus chased them and that the last died in saving that libertie which the first had acquired For I doubt not but Rome shall be continuallie in slaverie Being undoubtable that if its freedom could have been recovered Brutus would have restored it But since he could not do it he had at least the Glorie of dying without being a slave Think it not strange then that being Daughter and Wife to two men who were even free to death I would partake of that Glorie with them And yet to speak truelie Brutus shall not be altogether at libertie If I were so base as to live a Captive There will be somewhat wanting to his Glorie if I forget mine The affection that he had alwayes to me makes our interests unseparable I was of the conspiracie because I knew it before it was executed It is but just then that I should follow Brutus his destinie And know Volumnius that she whose minde was resoluâ—e enough to stab her self with a Proigniard to endure and suppress the smart thereby to testifie to her husband that she could conceall a secret Will not easilie change her resolution of dying The images of Cato and of my dear Brutus do so fill my spirit that I see no other thing And me thinks their death is so worthie of envie that I took upon it as the cheifest good can ever befall me Remember Volumnius that the true zeall of Vertue consists in the desires of imitating it For they who praise Vertuous People without traceing them so much as they can deserves blame raither then praise because they know the good and do not follow it Cato is dead with this advantage to have had it said by Cesar that he envied his death because it deprived him of the Glorie of his Pardon And I wish that Octavius may envie Brutus for having chosen a Wife abundantlie couragious to follow him to the Tomb. It is there we shall enjoy a libertie which we can nomore loss While the Romans shall groan under the weight of their Irons But a day will come when the name of Brutus shall be in veneration among them When they shall desire that good which they refused And when the blood of Cato and Brutus shall confound and make them blush Yes these Roman Citizens who saw themselves Masters of the Earth Who had Kings for their Subjects whose Glorie was without tashe and whose power had no Authoritie above it but that of the Gods shall become infamous slaves And their Bondage shall be so rigid that they shall not be Masters of their own will They shall take from the Tyrrans all their vices And Rome which was a Seminarie of Vertue shall be a receptacle of vile Adulatores O Heavens That the Inclinatons of such mightie People should be thus altered in an instant All these millions of men who fought on the plains of Pharsalia under Pompeyes coulors were they all killed in that battle Or have they lost their hearts in losing it All these Kings who hold their Crowns of the Senats authoritie are they all ungrate And is there none who could suffer Brutus to unburthen them of their chains The desire of freedom which is so strong among all the creatures who live upon the Earth is it extinguished among men And is the bloud of a dead Tyrran so dear to the Romans that to honor his memorie and to wear mourning they must load themselves with chains all their life Yes all the Roman Legiones have lost their hearts All the Kings own Vassals are readie to lay their Crowns at their Tyrrans feet All the Romans do preferr servitude to libertie Cesars Ashes are in veneration among them And for their last misfortune Brutus hath abandoned them However do not think Volumnius that he desired to forsake me It is true when we parted in the Citie of Elea he would not let me go with him although I did all things possible for it Because said he the journey would be verie troublesome to me And because I might be of more profit to him at Rome Then in this armie But at that time it was not so I know Brutus minded me a dying He expects me in the place where he is And he doubts not but Porcia remembers that the Illustrious
What object to my eyes And what grief to my soul It is so great that I wonder it hath not alreadie deprived me of all sorrow everie thing I see Torments me and everie thing I think of makes me dispair for Cyrus when the unlawful passion of Araspes gave me cause to complain If I had then had my recourse to Death I had preserved Abdradates his life I had secured my honor And you should not have had cause to accuse a man who was beloved of you I should have altogether satisfied my husband my own glory and the great Cyrus I owed him that respect not to have complained of his favorite and if I had been rationall death should have hindred my complaints then And my tears to day But fate had otherwise resolved it Would t the Gods in so sad as adventure that as Abdradates showed himself a husband worthie of Panthea and worthy of Cyrus his friendship I may also manifest to posterity that Panthea was a wife worthy of Abdradates And that she was not unworthie of Cyrus his protection I well perceive O excellent Prince by the many sacrifices that are prepared and by the magnificent ornaments That are brought to me upon your account That you design to make the obsequies of my dear Abdradates such as are suitable to this Illustrious Conqueror But because his Glorie is the onlie thing that I ought to care most for O great Cyrus let Posteritie know by a Glorious Monument and by true Inscriptions what Abdradates was Eternise altogether your glorie his and my unhappiness The Gold and the Marble which you will make use of in it will not be unprofitable to you And the Tomb which you cause build to Immortalise Abdradates shall make your self immortall There are more People who can do a brave action then give account of it themselves Who can acknowledge and publish it as it ought to be Have not that Jealousie which Glorie gives to the most Illustrious And believe that if You take care of that of Abdradates the Gods will also take care of yours The blood which he has lost for you merits me thinks this gratitude Nor shall I doubt my obtaining what I desire of you I see that you consent to me And that I have no sooner thought of my request but your goodness oblidges me to thank you However I have another yet to ask of you It is O Illustrious Cyrus that without hastening the doolfull Pomp of my dear Abdradates I may be yet suffered a while to wash his wounds with my tears All the Victims that are necessare for appeasing his Ghost are not yet in that order they should be O Cyrus let them not then be pressed I shall not make them wait long my last fare-wells shall be quicklie said And moreover it is verie just that since he died for me I shed so manie tears as he did drops of blood And since I ought to see him no more in this World I may enjoy the sight of him so long as it is possible for me Yes Cyrus that lamentable and most pittifull object is the onlie good I have remaining It is both my despare and comfort I cannot see it without dying and perhaps I shall die how soon I am deprived of seeing it any more Wherefore I 〈◊〉 you that I be not pressed And because you â—â—tyed me to tell you into what place I would go I promise to you that you shall quickly know the place that I shall choose for my retirement THE EFFECT OF THIS HARRANGUE ALace This beautifull and sad Queen was but too true For scarcelie had she deceived Cyrus by making him believe that she was capable to live after the death of Abdradates And that Generous deceipt was the issue of her Harrangue but she choose her retiring place I mean her husbands Tomb. I say Cyrus was not well gone from her but she plunged a Poiniard in her heart and expired upon the dead body of Abdradates This Generous monarch was incredibly greived And to eternise the memorie of these two rare persons and his own gratitude with them He builded for them a Glorious Monument Where manie ages after his the Marble and the Brass declared the Vertues of Panthea and the Valor of Abdradates And the River Pactose which is there represented upon whose banks this Tom was builded seems to tell that she esteems their Reliques more precious then all the Gold that rolles on her sands AMALASONTHA TO THEODATES THE TENTH HARRANGUE ARGUMENT A Malasontha daughter of Theodorick the great Reigned after the death of Eutharick her Husband eight years in Italie with a marvollous Splendor dureing the minority of Athalarick her Son But this young Prince being dead whither it was that she would discharge her self partlie of state affairs Or that she believed the Goths were desirous of a King She placed upon the Throne Theodates Son of Amalfreda Sister to Theodorick her Father Yet with intention to partake of the Soveraign Authoritie with him But this ungrate man had the Scepter no sooner in his hand then he banished this great Princess Who immediatly upon her departure did express her self in these words AMALASONTHA TO THEODATES HAve you forgot Theodates which way you was conducted to the Throne Have you forgot how you received that Crown which you carrie Have you forgot of whom you hold that Scepter which I see in your hands And that absolute power which I so cruellie have triall of to day Did it come to you by your Valor Was it given you by the Laws of this Kingdome Or by the depopulation of all the Goths Have you conquered that great Extent of Earth which acknowledges your Authoritie Are you either Conqueror Usurper or Legittimate King Answer everie thing Theodates Or at least let me answer for you Because if I be not deceived you cannot make it for your advantage And I am more indulgent then to oblidge you to tell anie thing that would be irkesome to you They who desire not to acknowledge a benefit can have no greater punishment then to be forced to publish it Wherefore I will not constrain you to avouch from your own mouth that neither by right of Birth nor of a Conquerour nor by that of our Lawes could you while I am alive have anie pretensions to the Kingdom of the Gothes Because I was in possession of it as Daughter Wife and Mother of them whose in was And who left it to me after them as their lawfull Heiress Nor are you ignorant that you are born my Subject And that you would have still been so If by a verie extraordinare goodness I had not descended from the Throne to conduct you to it However after I had taken the Crown from off my own head to give it you After I had deposited my Scepter in your hands and was resolved to make a King of your Person After all that it was seen that I had much ado to make the Gothes obey you
I have lived longer then I ought because I have survived my chastitie Think not Collatinus that I will diminish my crime to appease your furie I see in your eies more splen against Tarquin then hatred to Lucretia Doubtless you rather pittie then accuse me and all the former actions of my life assist to vindicate me in your heart And moreover as I have said alreadie though I am unwillinglie guiltie yet I consent that Collatinus do love me no more I speak not this to flatter you But onlie to carrie you the more ardentlie on to revenge Me thinks in vindicateing my self I make the Tirran the more odious The more innocent I appear the more guiltie he seems The more unhappie I am the more he deserves to be and the more tears I shed the more blood you should make him shed Behold Collatinus the cause of my discourse of my tears and of my life Let me not be said to have lived infamous to no purpose Think of revenge Generous Collatine consider what you are and what your enemie is or to speak better the publick enemie You are a Roman you are Vertuous you are Noble And if I dare also say so you are Lucretias husband But for him he is of a strange race he is the son and Grand-Son of Tyrrans The Proud Tarquin you know mounted not the Throne but by pulling a Vertuous Prince from it whose Daughter he married The Scepter which he holds cost the life of him who formerlie carried it And to secure himself in his dominions he has committed more crimes then he hath subjects Behold Collatinus who is the Father of my ravisher If I be not deceived his mother does not make him more considerable For in fine I cannot be live that the son of the infamous Tullia who dared to drive her Chariot over her Fathers bodie that she might arrive at the Throne she aspired to Had not so manie enemies at Rome as there are Vertuous men in it And more over the Vertue of Sextus Tarquinius did not deface the crimes of his predecessors The best action that he did was the betraying a great manie People who trusted in him Behold Collatinus what an enemie you sis go then go and assault him couragiouslie You shall no sooner speak of the abuse he hath done to me but you shall have all the Romans on your side It shall be both a Generall and Particular quarell to them They will be feared for their Wives Their Daughters And their Sisters They shall all look upon the treacherous Tarquin as their enemie And if their yet remain anie who will follow him they will certainly be cowardly esteminate whom it wil be no hard matter to overcome The Senate waits but a pretext to declare themself The People are wearie of carrieing chaines They will seek a hand to unbind them And the equitie of the gods shall favour your partie You shall see that the Tirrans verie Relations shall tear the Crown from off his head Yes I see Brutus listening to me with intention to revenge my abuse Doubtless he will follow you in such a generous design And if the confidence whsch I have of Heaven deceive me not I alreadie see the Proud Tarquin chased out of Rome His infamous Son die by some unknown hand And all bloodie fall in the dust For I doubt if the gods will suffer him to die by so Illustrious a hand as yours Yes Collatinus the Victorie is yours I alreadie see all his Souldiers revolt and all the Citizens mutiny Hatred to the Tirran and desire of libertie shall equallie press them And would to the gods that I may be the Victime to obtain from their goodness my countreys libertie Yes Collatine all the Souldiers who are in his camp who fight to day under his colours shall become worse enemies to him then they of Ardea whom he now besidges Go then and make my misfortune known over all And believe Collatine that you shall not publish my crime but onlie that of Tarquin And moreover I am verie certain not to hear what the People will say For having been my own accuser my witness my partie and my defender I must be also my judge and Executioner Yes Collatinus I must die Do not tell tell me then that because my inclinations are innocent I ought to live that I might have the pleasure of seeing how you revenge my injuries It is enough that you promise me And therefore I can sweetlie die But I can have no pleasure in life There is a Lucretia within me whom I cannot endure I must separate from her she is insupportable to me I cannot see her I cannot suffer her I owe herblood to the others justification and to the revenge which you will take When the Roman people shall see Lucretia killed by her own hand because she would not survive her misfortune They will the more easilie believe that a Woman who loved glorie better then life was not capable willinglie to loss it That last action shall justifie all mine The blood which I shall shed will beget Souldiers to you to help your punishing the Tirran And in this manner I my self shall assist to my revenge My tears shall doubtless have some effect And moreover though I am unhappie I dare believe that my death will trouble you Yes Collatinus Yes my Father you shall be sensible of my death And finding your selves oblidged both together to revenge the honor and life of your Wife and Daughter You shall be the more irritated against the Tirran Say not to me that my death is use-less or that it will be evillie explicated No they who judge sincerlie of affairs will not take it for the effect of my crime Remorse doth ordinarlie shed more tears then blood And if I be not mistaken death is the remedie of the generous or desperat Repentance is alwaies a sign of weakness And whosoever is capable of having it may live after they have fâ—â—lled I have the Authoritie of all ages for me Which lets it appear that almost everie day they who have emploied their hands against their own life do it onlie to dissapoint Fortunes crueltie To shun a shamofull death Or to hinder themselves from being slaves and not for their punishment When we have erred we are alwaies favorable judges to our selves And there are few people who condemn themselves to death Let none tell me then that the blood which I shall shed will rather blemish my life then deface what the Tirran hath done to it No Collatin my intention is too pure and the gods are too just to suffer all men to be unjust to me I die not through remorse or despair I die with reason I have told you what causes I have do not then oppose my design for you cannot hinder it Think of vengeance and not of my preservation Because the one may be glorious to you and the other will be unprofitable Further Lucretias example shall perswade
The Religion Lawes Customes which we have common makes our interests be common But the first sentiment that nature gives to them who love their countrey Is to love it cheiflie because their Fathers their Mothers their Brothers their Sisters and their Relations are in it Yes I am verie certain that the most zealous of all the Romans returning to Rom after along journey will not so soon look to the Capitoll as to that place of the Town where his Mother or Wife dwelleth Wherefore then let neâ—e wonder anie more that Coriolanus would yeeld to none but to my tears For to whom among the Romans should he have been rendered All who were sent to him did abuse him He did not see in anie of them the mark of a true Roman They were all ungrate to him He could not in them acknowledge his countrey He onlie saw the walls of Rome but did not see his friends which he formerlie had there Fear made all them speak who were sent to him And it was onlie by me that he did know he had yet in Rome something that ought to be venerated by him We is me Is it possible That such extraordinar Pietie hath been so evillie rewarded that so couragious a man hath so lamentable ended his daies That he should be assasinated by them who had chosen him for their Captain and that the Place of his refuge should be that of his execution Alace I say that from my intentions which were so pure and innocent there should result so fatal an accident However Virgilia the Gods have permitted all these things And yet I see no other reason if not that Coriolanus and I have too much oblidged the Romans who have rendered themselves unworthie But in fine Coriolanus is dead And onlie dead for love of volumnia Yet his death hath this advantage that it hath made them shed tears who caused it For the Volsques after the overthrow of their Captain did honoâ—ble take him up They no sooner did see his blood but they saw their crime and elevated a Trophie to his glorie of these same armes which they employed against his life They gave him a Conquerours funerall His memorie is dear to them They hung above his Tomb numbers of Ensignes And all the glorious spoills which do usuallis signalise the valor of these Illustrious dead over whom they put them And Rome which owes her libertie to Coriolanus knows of his death without making publick mourning She remembers no more that she had been lost and in slaverie but for him All the Romans were ungrate to him while he lived they continue so after his death They look upon him rather as their enemie then their liberator They remember more the chains which he prepared for them then these he took away from them And that fear which formerlie possest them of seeing him enter Rome in a Triumphing Chariot makes them verie glad to know that he is to day in his coffin For me I avouch that though none should ever repent of â—aving doue well I have no great trouble to hinder me from wishing that Rome were in Captivitie and that Goriolanus were alive The vertue of Brutus who without greif saw his Children die is not of my knowledge That hard heartedness hath more ferocitie then Grandure of courage in it There are some tears just And compassion is not contrare to generositie When I told Coriolanus that I would love better to die then to see him Conqueror of Rome I said nothing against truth And when I also say that I wish to be dead and that my Son were alive I say nothing against naturall equitie nor against Rome I give to reason and nature what I cannot refuse them And I take nothing from the Reipublick I have sacrificed my Son for it and it may also suffer me to weep a little over the Victime which I have immolated for its preservation And that after I have done all that a true Roman could do I may likewaies do all that sorrow can exact from the tenderness of a Mother All they who loss their Children have constantly just subject of weeping yet they have for their comfort the libertie of making imprecations against them who take away their lives But for me I not onelie weep for the death of my Son but I also weep for being the cause of his death And to increase my sorrow there is ane austere vertue that will not let me repent for what I have done O my Son O my dear Coriolanus Can I pursue such a â—arbarous resolution No it is too contrare to nature and reason I must greive I must weep till death for the death that I was the cause of It is not Romes enemie I regrate It is he who was so manytimes prodigall of his blood in pursuit of glorie whohath served in the wars seventeen years with incomparable zeal And had no reward but the wounds which covered his bodie Further Illustrious Roman Ladies this mans birth doth not render him unworthie of your tears he came of one of your Kings and Ancus Martius his Predecessour having carried a Crown it might seem that he should have had more right to the honors of the Reipublick then anie other Because he was incapable of useing it ill But perhaps it was for that reason some may say to me that the Romans refused him the Consulship through fear that he would use it as a step to remount the Throne of his Fathers No this reason cannot be good And there needs no more but the remembrance of Coriolanus his whole life to make his intentions know In that Battle which was given against the proud Tarquin he made it verie well appear that his ambition aimed no further then to merit the Crown of Bayes which the Dictator did put upon his head without thinking of that of his Predecessors For having seen one of out Citizens fall to the ground he set himself before him to serve him for a Buckler And covering his bodie with his own he secured him from danger And so well congregated his forces and valor that he gave death to him who would have caused his If the Romans had dealt rationallie with Coriolanus â— at singlee action would have sufficed to hinder them from being desirous to have him pass for a Tirran Because it is not credible that he would have so much exposed himself to save so small a part of so great a bodie if he could have been capable of framing designs to destroy it intirelie on day But it is not in that encounter alone that he hath made his zeal for the Reipuslick appear Is it not to be seen in all occasions that offered Is it not signalised ill all the battles that have been given Hath he ever returned to Rome without bringing with him some of his enemies spoilles or without being all covered with theirs or his own blood Behold Virgilia what a husband yours was See Illustrious Romans what my dear
to embrace the houses of his murtherers The Senate changed none of the ordinances which he made They gave him new honours All his assasinates took the flight and by an universall consent he was ranked among the Gods Who ever faw a Tirran deified after his death Alexander himself who was the greatest Prince of all Antiquitie did not pass for Jupiters son but dureing his life But Cesar hath that advantage above this Illustrious Here 's that what Alexander freinds did while he was alive the witnesses of Cesars merit have done to him after he ceased to live The Gods also after they had given sinister presages of his death desired likewaies to testifie That it had infinitlie offended them That terrifying Comet which appeared seven whole days after his death was alreadie a sign of the vengeance they would take The Sun also that was a whole year without giving his accustomed hear and brightness has made it known to all the earth that by Cesars death the Republick had lost its greatest ornament and best lustre And also to testifie his innocence better the vengeance of Heaven hath pertinaciouslie pursued even to death all them who onlie by their Counsells had contributted anie thing to that unjust conspiration They all died violent deaths without so much as one escaping They found to Element where they could live quietlie The Sea was fatal to them as well as the land they who escaped the furie of their enemies killed themselves with their own hand Cassius peirced his own heart with that same sword wherewith he struck Cesar And in that manner he is punished with these same armes with which he committed the crime Brutus you know ended his dayes that same way And in fine I know that none of Cesars murtherers remains anie more in the World Judge from that Lepidus if he is not fullie justified If his death be not as Glorious to him as his life because it hath shown to us that all nature was interessed in it And to speak rationallie if Cesar was not 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 and Father of his countrey then the Romans Tyrran THE EFFECT OF THIS HARRANGUE IT belongs not to me to tell you the effect of this Hard range it belongs to you to let me know it For its object it has had the design of perswadeing you it belongs to you then to let me understand if you be It is you she hath spoken to under the name of Lepidus it belongs to you to tell me if it hath hits its aime For me I do assure you if I have seduced your reason it is but because my own is seduced And because I do not endeavour to make you believe but what I believe my self I have so great veneration for Cesar that I can have noevil thought of his intentions And Me thinks we owe that respect to all great men not to condemn them upon slight conjectures They are deceitful Great mens designs are fecret Let us then respect them and not onterprise to judge them LIVIA TO MECENAS THE SIXTEENTH HARRANGUE ARGUMENT IT is to the glorie of good learning that this Harrangue is consecrated But though this be its principall object it may be said that it doth not alienate me from the Generall design of my Book because Poesie being one of the most agreeable emploiments of Ladies and one of their dearest divertisments It vindicates their pleasure to make the merit be seen Beheld them what I have proposed to my self by this discourse which if I be not deceived is raâ—ier more reasonable then interessed At least I know if I defend this cause it is because I think it good and also because I do not contravert the oath of Orators which oblidges them not to defend any that they find evill Judge of it Reader and hear Livia speak to Mecenas upon his subject the famous Protector of the Muses But be not astonished to hear her speak to the depth of this matter Augustus loved verse too much 〈…〉 them too often not to haveinspired that same inclination in her who possessed his heart and she was too industriâ—â— not to be complacent So then if I have chosen I had reason and none shall have anie to blame me LIVIA TO MECENAS I Know Illustrious Mecenas that Augustus oweth the Em pire to your Conselles That the Romans owe to you the felicity they enjoy under a reigne so differing from Tyrranie And also that I owe to you that quality I have to day Yes Mecenas it was you who surmounted the powerful reasons of Agrippa in that day wherin Augustus becoming enemie of his own glory and of the Romans repose disputed with himself Whither he should preserve the supreame power or whither he should remit it into the disposition of the people That great Emperous would with his own hand have taken off the crown that was upon his head for saken the reines of the Empires descended from the throne whereon he was seated by so many toylings And by a retreat more shameful then Anthonies flight was from the battel of Actium Altogither lost the fruits of so many victories that he gained It might be said that at that time love caused Anthonies flight But in this encounter can Augustus be accused of any thing but imbecility It might have been said that his hand was not strong enough to carrie the scepter which it held and that he onlie abandoned what he could not keep However Mecanes you had no feeble enimes to fight with at that time Augustus and Agrippâ—â— that is to say the two first men of the world were they who opposed you their opinion seemed to be the juster as appearing the more generous And it hath been said that heshould have had more glory by destroying the Empire then by establishing of it And more advantage in obeying then in commanding Nevertheless you was conquerour in that famous battle And yet by a most extraordinar chance the conquered continued crowned And you contented your self with obeying him for whom you preserved the authority That obligation which the Emperour has to you doubtless is veric great But in my opinion he is more redeuable to you for the care you took to reconcile him to the good will of the Muses then for all the things which you have done for him It is truellie by that mean that you can give him immortality and also give it to your self It is for that that Augustus his age can call it self happy And I mantain it to be more glorious for the Emperour to be beloved of Virgill of Horace of Titus Livius and of the famous Mecenas who is protector of these favorites of Apollo then if he had bein feared of all the earth Fear by rendring him redoubtable to all nations doubtless would have made him obeyed while he was alive But the praises of Virgil and of Horace shal render him venerable to all ages to come Certainlie Mecenas if all Kings were truelie inspired with desire of glorie
and scorn her This famous Persons is what you have to say to them upon the subject â—â—hand but if they insist that I have observed no order of Chronologie heir how I have placed my 〈…〉 That they will see Câ—eâ—pas a before 〈…〉 after Zenobâ—a c. Tell them it is â—ue but this error is voluntar and if I dare say Judicious I have imitated at this time the Skill of their who make nosegayes who mixe by a regular confusion Roses and Jassamine the flower of Orange and the Pomgraned the Tulips and the junquille to the end that from this so pleasing mixture of coulors there appear ane agreable diversitie still to please the sight Just so heir I have chosen in historie the finest mater and the most different that I could And have so orderlie mixed and so fitlie concealed them that it is almost impossible but the reader shall be diverted But divyn persons if anie remark slightlie that among Heroines there are more afflicted then content Ansuer it is ane ordinarie thing that fortune and vertue are two old enemies that all beauties are not happie and that compassion and pittie are not the least agreeable and least touching resentments which this sort of reading can give You have yet to answer these who find it strange that the Title of my Book should be the Illustrious WOMEN or the HEROICK HARRANGUES And who will say that Women and Haâ—rangues are not the same thing you have I say to answer them that the example of Herodâ—â—es authorises me and condemns them And if it was not forbidden him to name the nine books of his historie Mâ—lpomene Erâ—stone Cleo Vnauia Terficor Eurerpe 〈◊〉 Calliâ—pâ—ia and Pilaâ—â—ea which are the names of the nine Muses these who are Gode esse and not Books this which I have doe may verie well be permitted me Moreover if it be observed that in part of my Harrangues there are some Meditations which have been seen in MODERN Tragedies Where these same Heroins are introduced I do conjure you to hinder 〈◊〉 from being so unjust as to suspect my having taken them from thence And for my vindication say if you please that there are certain Universall Notions which necessarlie occurres to all the World when they treat of the same Subjects Further if there be any strange thing in my work that hath not been taken from the Modernes But which they and I have taken from Antiquitie I believed it requisite to adorn those Harrangues with all that Historie had that was pleasant and remarkable concerning the Subject I treat of And I have made a curious enough search whereby to merit some Glorie However I was so scrupulous in it that I have marked with a different caracter all that it did furnish me with so much for Meditation to make slanderers silent as for envie I have no such esteem of my self as to dare believe that I can make it speak In fine to make an end of answering ali the objections that can be made against me if any does take the Medalles of those Heroines for Medailles made for pleasure and think them false because their inscriptions are French in stead of those which are true that are Greek or Latin Answer if you please that they who are curious to know will defend me from the ignorance of them who know not And that I have made these inscriptions in our Language in favours of them who do not understand Latin and who cannot read Greeck Behold Noble Ladies what you have to say for me or to speak more truly what I had to say to you for to end this dicourse by which I have begun if so be you are satisfyed I cannot faill to be contented And if this Triumphing Arch which I have set up to the Glorie of your Sex be not judged unworthie of you it shall not be the last work I shall undertake for you I meditat a second Volumn of Harrangues whose subject are no less great then the first They have also something more peireing and more proper for divertisement But you think it convenient after this first race that I withdraw to the end of the careire that before I make a second I behold the scaffolds and try to know in your eyes if my adress hath pleased you ARTEMISA TO SOCRATES THE FIRST HARRANGUE ARGUMENT AFter that Artemisa had employed the most knowing Architectures of her time to build a glorious Monument which was since one of the seven wonders of the World the love she had for her dear Mausole was not fully saâ—isfied she caused Socrates and Theopompus the two most famous Orators of antiquity come from Greece and by truely Royal Liberalitie she oblidged these great men to set their Eloquence at work in favours of the King her Husband that they might eternise his memorie it was in asking this Favour that this fair comfortless spoke to them in this manner when the excess of her love made her forget that she was speaking before the famous Socrates ARTEMISA to SOCRATES IT is from you O Famous Orator that expect the immortality of Mausole It is you must give a Soul to all the Statues I set up It is you must make 〈◊〉 a Tomb which the revolutions of Agâ—â— cannot destroy and which will eternise Mausole Socrates and Artemisa together Do not think that I believe Time or Fortune will respect the Gold the Marble the Jaspire the Porphire and the Orientall Alabaster which I employ to build Him a sumptuous Monument No I know that these three hundred Pillars in which all order is carefully observed whose foundations are so sollidliâ— fixed whose Chapiters are so magnifick and where Art surpasses the Matter shall one day be but pittifull Ruines and after a little Time shall be nothing at all those lowe Sculptures which are at the four Faces of the Sepulchre shall Successively be defaced by injurious Seasons and but with pain shall some imperfect figures be there perceived of all those things which we admire to day Those Obelisques which seem to defie Tempests may be one day beat down with Thunder and turned 〈◊〉 Dust these smoaking Vessals those extinguished Terches these trophies of Armes and all the Ornaments that Architecture is capable of shall not hinder the distruction of this Work In fine Socrates When I have wasted all my Treasures for this Tomb and that by the skilfull hands of Scopas of Briaxes of Timothie and of Leochares I have put it in condition to pass for one of the wonders of the World if after all this none take care to preserve his Memorie by writtings The statues which I have set up the Gold the Marble the Jaspire the Porphire the Alabaster the Pillars the low Sculpteâ—â— the Obelisques the smoaking Vessals the extinguished Torches all the Ornaments of Building 〈…〉 in the work shall not I say hinder 〈…〉 his Architectures his Sculptors and Artemisa her selfe from being buried in Oblivion and from be 〈…〉 known to the Ages