to death that can do all things indeed but what I most desire Here fair Izadora he continued drawing Perolla towards me dry up your Tears which else may hinder you from seeing your happiness and remember he which to save your life has run so hazardous a course to his own merits at least that you never give your self to another if you will not bestow your self on him These strange words and the as strange noise which somewhat preceded them made me turn about to understand their meaning but O gods what was my surprize when I saw Perolla in this world who I was making such haste to find out in the other truly 't was so transcendent that I fell into a deep swound and thereby those powers which have ever took delight to afflict me continued that practise for whilst I believed Perolla dead they kept me alive and now they shewed him me alive they flung me into a seeming death which too had like to have caused a real one in my generous friend Hannibal whose concern for me was not so great as his permitted his care to be greater who ran out to call my Women to my assistance and to whom he was constrained to make many oaths that it was really Perolla and not his Ghost before he could perswade them to come in to me but Callione the chiefest of them bo h in her extraction and my esteem knew so well the interest I had in Perolla that whilst others took up their employment about me she made him the object of hers and was so unhappily successful in it that she brought him out of his fainting before I was recovered of mine which raised in him so high despair that had not all those which were present assured him my disease and his were of the same quality and that only mine meeting with a Body disabled by a deep sickness was the cause of its longer continuance I believe he would have acted some such violence on himself as had made my recovery my highest misfortune but at length about an hour after by the help of strong Cordials my swounding abandoned me and I no sooner opened my Eyes than the first objects they saw were Hannibal and Perolla who were both kneeling by my bed-side but the joy of beholding the latter made me niether consider nor care how much the expressions of it would offend the formââ to confirm this truth I told the other Are the Gods then so just Perolla as to reward by this sight the fidelity of my Eyes which abhorr'd all objects but you and which having lost you have endeavour'd to weep themselves out as useless things or else is it an illusion and a mockery of Fate by making me in resenting the joy of your Resurrection the more exactly sensible of your real death Tell me I conjure you which of them ' t is for if it be the latter I will deceive her cruelty and convert what she intends for one into a summons to follow you which I thank the gods my weakness for you supposed a real Death makes me as able as my passion willing to perform Madam he reply'd kissing my hands I am really alive but 't is only your joy at it which makes me esteem my being so a happiness for how can I consider the persecutions I have rais'd you in being alive and those afflictions I have cast you into in not being thought so by you but I must be struck with a grief as great as my flame and perpetually deplore an experiment which convinces me that both my Life and my Death must be a trouble to you All this I heard Perolla speak yet I was so overjoy'd at his first words which were an assurance of what I only desired that not answering his last I raised my self up the best I could and imbracing him that spoke them I did that which on any other occasion and in that posture I should not have perform'd but the subject of my satisfaction was so legitimate that I could not suppress any extravagancy it produced It is true Madam said Perolla interupting his fair Mistriss your joy was obliging to Hannibal as well as to me for in your acting as he aftewards confest to Cristes he discovered Beauties which he protested sufficiently payd his Charity in preserving your life Izadora at these words was all covered with blushes and her servant perceiving it to repair her disorder told her But Madam as it was but just that Hannibal should receive a reward for his cure so it was as just his Eyes should receive the punishment of their presumption which were both perform'd for as their seeing those perfections effected the former so his seeing the little share he had in them did the latter Izadora said Simander was so confus'd in the remembrance of these particulars that without taking notice of Perolla's words she made haste to pass over the subject of them by thus re-assuming her relation Hannibal was so inrag'd that in my joy I had forgot my gratitude to him which furnisht me with the cause of it that rising up he told me Is then all the reward Madam you give my Love but a demonstration that you have given all yours to my Rival and is your flame so great that you cannot conceal it when the disclosure is both unwise and ungrateful Ah Izadora how much do you rely on the power you have over me when you care to offend mine by so sensible a provocation These words drew me from that employment my excess of joy had ingag'd me in and finding the Carthaginian was as just in his reproaches as I esteem'd I was in what caus'd them I thought fit to tell him You do place Sir a wrong construction on my actions since that which you term my ingratitude is rather an effect of my confidence in your Virtue for did I think you a Tyrant I would not add a Provocation to the Power of your Revenge but knowing you to be just I dare even in your presence manifest a flame whose virtue renders me confident rather of your protection than resentments Ah Madam said Hannibal why do you make me just to make me miserable and if what I have seen you act be in reliance on my Virtue I beseech you ascribe none unto me for mine will then be my punishment and make me rather implore the Gods to take from me that little I possess than to let it thus torment me We were in discourses of this quality when Blacius being inform'd of Hannibal's visit and of Perolla's Resurrection came into my Chamber where in terms as sharp as the remembrance of the Carthaginian's power permitted him to use he murmur'd at his bringing his mortal Enemy into his House and restoring his Daughter to a certainty of his being alive And though Hannibal represented that that was the only way to continue me so yet my Father never lessen'd his repining but added that since I was of so degenerate a disposition he had
retired to the Island of Scyros and left those five Galleys I had mentioned engaged against one single Egyptian Galley Which though it defended it self with much Resolution yet I saw at last those in it did not more deserve than need my assistance I therefore hastned to afford it them A young Gentlemen of that Nation and of the colour of those Inhabitants in splendid Arms so animated his both by words and by Example that in his Valour only the hopes and life of their Party consisted The Enemy observing my Approach offer'd him all honourable Quarter and though he was Courted by many Civilities to accept it yet he declined it in words which testified his Resolution as much as his Defence had done And by that time I had joyned his Galley I heard the end of the young Egyptian's Reply which he finisht in these words That it was an unavoidable Fate for every man once to Die but he did not think it was the like for Gallant Men once to yield This generous Answer in my judgment made him and his the more worthy of my assistance which I presented him with such Success that he was soon in a condition to afford his Enemies those Civilities which he had so lately refused to receive from them By that time I came into his Galley to congratulate his Success and give his Valour those Elogies it merited I found him weltring in abundance of Blood which he had drawn from others and lost himself The taking off his Helmet to give him Air discover'd a Face as remarkable for the noble features of it as any I ever saw and which though black and in the Arms of Death retained Charms enough to make me admire it I gave all my Chirurgeons express and repeated Orders concerning him and though I strictly examined all his Soldiers who he was yet none of them would or could satisfie my Curiosity protesting they had never seen him before that Morning in which by the Egyptian Vice-Admiral he was put to Command that Galley upon the Death of the late Captain of it But continued Callimachus I doubt generous Princes my concernment for this eminent Stranger has too long carried me away from the direct Sequel of my Relation which therefore having begg'd your pardons for I will re-assume by telling you That several of the Cyprian Commanders which had fled under my Flags to avoid the Cappadocian King 's Navy assur'd me that their own Prince was fallen dead on his Deck ere Ariobarzanes had taken him and that his last words were It more troubles me to lose my Flag than my Life His last consideration being so worthy of an Adorer of my Princess made me Celebrate his Fall with a grief as real as great and the abhorred Name of a prevailing Rival hinder'd not my paying his Merits the acknowledgments due to his Title and Unhappiness I offer'd all those Cyprian Commanders to employ my whole Fleet to recover his Body that those which could not Conquer him whilst alive might not possess him when dead But they all assur'd me he was past recovery as well out of the Enemies hands as out of the hands of Death for they had seen the Cappadocian Admiral carry under the Castle in the Island of Scyros the Cyprian Admiral 's Galley in which their dead King and General 's Body was This loss appearing past remedy I went to enquire how the generous Nicomedes was and how my Physician and Chirugeon's care of him had succeeded but alas I still found him in that swoon in which I had left him and in so little hopes of Life that hardly any misery had befaln me in the whole course of my own had been more intolerable or sensible to me But those about him either as it was their belief or else to lessen that grief which his condition so visibly invaded me with assuor'd me he was Alive and that none of those Wounds they had sounded appear'd mortal so that his Escaping was not only possible but hopeful And though these words were very welcome to me yet the gods were pleas'd to send me something else which was much more for even whilst I was under my fears of his Death by a deep Sigh and opening of his Eyes he manifested he had Life The eminent generosity of this Prince to all men and the particular effects of it to me which also were in some measure the Causes of his then Condition gave me as high a satisfaction as my sorrow for him had been before both which could not have been more sincere and eminent had I then known the Relation I had unto him And because the motion of the Sea and the small accommodations in a Galley were incommodious if not dangerous to him I forthwith sent a Trumpet on Shore to Ariobarzanes with this Letter Callimachus to the King of Cappadocia I Was till even now in no small apprehensions that I should have done that to you which now upon the score of your Generosity I will hope for from you and by sending to you the Body of Nicomedes have expected from you the Body of Ascanius But the gods having restor'd your great Friend to Life and my best Physicians and Chyrurgeons giving me more than hopes of his Recovery I was unwilling to keep so welcome an assurance from you I believe you will not esteem the Restauration of the Princess Statira and the Prince Pharnaces too disproportionate an exchange for him I have therefore sent this Letter to propound it to you And because 't is below the generous Ariobarzanes to detain the body of a dead Enemy or receive any exchange for it I will with Certainty wait for those effects therein that his Virtue will give me which cannot be greater than my esteem of it and confidence in it I was necessitated both to cloud my passion and not to appear too unworthy of Mithridates his trust to add Pharnaces to the exchange of Nicomedes and only to mention the name of my Princess without particularizing those inducements for her deliverance which her Innocence her Beauties and other admirable persections might have excessively furnishâ me with Whilst my Trumpet was going and returning I was visited by the Cilician and Phoenician Admirals who in such humble and moving Expressions evidenced their sorrow for coming some hours too late that I was more troubled to console them than I had been at their absence which was occasion'd by an unhappy Difference had fallen out between the Chiefs of both their Countreys which had already drawn some Blood and they doubted would draw more ere it was extinguished Nay they had not now come but that a religious Person who for being such was eminent to both their Nations represented to them That whilst they strove about what was doubtful they acted a Certain evil by employing those Forces against each other which were mutually engaged to serve Mithridates This being spoken from so reverend a Person produced this effect That they all unanimously
that it lay not in the power of any thing but a Miracle to recover him at this fatal declaration the King fetching a deep sigh fell speechless on the ground and Surena perceiving so high demonstrations of his favour made such excellent and passionate retributions for them and so admirably exclaim'd against Fate not for ending his life but for not permitting him to end it in so generous a Princes service that all which heard him found his impiety rather a justice than a crime Arsaces being by many remedies recovered from his fainting was before he had the strength to speak carried out of his Favourites Chamber who no sooner perceiv'd it empty of all but his Domesticks sent one of them for the Princess Zephalinda who being come was conjur'd by him to obtain from Parthenissa for him the honor of a visit to whom he protested he had some secrets of Importance to communicate which should he dye before they were reveal'd would leave too great a horror on his Conscience The fair Zephalinda immediately obey'd his injunction and came to wait on Paâthenissa when she and I were admiring at the occasion of your silence The sadness which so visibly appear'd in Zephalinda's Face was at first attributed by us both entirely to that unimitable Friendship that generous Princess paid you but we soon found that Nature had a large share in it When she had inform'd Parthenissa with the occasion of her visit your fair Mistriss was extreamly starl'd at it whether it proceeded from a Prophecy of what she afterwards learn'd out of sympathy with Zephalinda or from that sad banishment which would inevitably follow by your Rivals Death but to contract your suspension I will not inform you of all those pressing motives his generous Sister us'd to obtain her desires since 't is enough you know they were successful But Parthenissa was no sooner retir'd into her Chamber to make her self ready for the intended visit than one of her Servants came to inform me that a countrey-man which had sought me at my own house and mist of me there being acquainted where I was was come to speak with me having a Packet which he said was of some consequence zephalinda though she knew 't was you which had reduced her Brother to that extremity never lessen'd her friendship but was so generous as to profess she was confident 't was âurena not you that was the cause of her misfortune and was so earnest with me to satisfy her opinion which was that those letters were from you that to obey her I was uncivil and left her alone to go and receive them The superscription I scarcely lookt upon when I knew it to be your hand and transported with joy I ran up to Zephalinda and with her into Parthenissa's Chamber where I assur'd them that not only I should now know your condition but the cause of your Duel but alas assoon as I open'd my Pacquet I found a Letter for the King and another for Zephalinda but none for her which did most desire and most merit one I confess my disorder at it was not far short of hers but she attributing your silence to any subject rather than the true one and believing my Letter might discover the cause conjur'd me to peruse it But oh gods what astonishment was mine when I found what it contain'd it made me a long time continue silent and trembling and Zephalinda had no sooner ended hers but it ingender'd the same effect Parthenissa who could not fancy since you were living as appear'd by your Letters what strange accident could produce such an operation broke her own silence to learn the occasion of ours Alas Madam I reply'd you will be more happy in theignorance than the knowledge of it If said she I knew not Artabanes to be living your words would make me suspect he were dead No no Madam Zephalinda answer'd the certainty he is alive is not greater than having committed his Crime he is unworthy to continue so Is it possible said Parthenissa that he can commit a crime which may render him worthy of death in your judgement Yes Madam she reply'd and when you have read this Letter presenting him to Parthenissa I believe you will be of my judgement whilst he was the destroyer of Surena I excus'd the action upon the belief I had that he was invited to it by justice but now I have discover'd he can suspect your Constancy and convert a passion of Love unjustly into one of hatred he shall find I can from his Friend become his Judge and when his actions are ill not fear to term them so Whilst Zephalinda was thus speaking the unfortunate Parâhenissa read her Letter and no sooner found what was in it than fetching a languishing sigh from the botton of her heart she only said alas Artaâânes how ill do you reward the purest Flame and then fell down at our Feet without giving any signs of Life Zephalinda who thought the sight of her Letter would have rather inspir'd her with resentment than grief a thousand times condemn'd her own rashness and by an abundant weeping discover'd her repentance for it but at last what with her help and mine we brought Parthenissa to her self again but indeed she employ'd that life we restor'd her to to torment her self so excessively that we found our charity was a disobligation Yes Artabanes had you but seen how she deplor'd your inconstancy and how transeendent her passion was even when she thought you unworthy of it I am confident the knowldege how yor were lov'd would have sufficiently punish'd your belief that you were not Surena in the mean while finding his forces very much diminish'd and apprehending he should not have life enough left to disclose that which would make his death a less misfortune sent a servant of his to know the cause of Zephalinda's stay who finding Parthenissa so well recover'd as not to need her help went to give her brother an account of her employment but he hardly was inform'd of what had happen'd when he conjur'd his Sister with fresh impatiencies to beg Parthenissa to afford him the blessing of seeing her before he dy'd for he had something to reveal which might set a period to her grief and which he protested was of so high a concernment that she should never repent the visit With this message Zephalinda return'd and though Parthenissa was in extream disorder yet we both so effectually employ'd our Prayers that we obtain'd what they desir'd and were no sooner come into Surena's Chamber than he begg'd all but your fair Mistriss to go out of it which being perform'd he told her Madam I know the incivility of putting you to this trouble and of leaving you alone in this room is so great that nothing but my weakness could render it excusable I know too that as some expressions of my joy for this transcendent Honor I should cast my self at your Feet but Madam what is my
residence of the gods could doubt they inhabited in it The Virgin at the mouth of the Vault leaves those three which accompanied her thither and after her devotions were finished and that she had setled her self on the Tripos immediately the capacious Temple and sacred Grove were covered with obscure Clouds from whence strange Lightnings and Thunder derived their Birth a surious Earthquake shook suddenly the foundation of the Temple and Grove the Delphian Lawrel which crown'd the Virgins Head fell off it her Hair stood an end and star'd her Eyes roll'd wildly her Neck in a thousand turnings kept it self in uncessant motion â her Heart beat against her Breast as if it would have forced a passage there her Mouth foamed and in a word all the symptomes that the Deity inspir'd and possess'd her were visible but that which rendered it no longer capable of doubts was a shrill voice which filled the sacred Vault and delivered these words From Parthenissa's Ashes I will raise A Phoenix in whose Flames thou shalt be blest Wait then about this Temple a few Days And all thy Torments shall be crown'd with Rest. Then after a short silence the voice thus continued the Oracle Despair not Artavasdes since the time Predestin'd for thy Sufferings is but brief Fortune unto thy virtue shall resign And perfect joy succeed to equal Grief Go both and sacrifice to that fair Boy Who did inspire my highest Grief and Ioy. Callimmachus by a short but passionate ejaculation acknowledged his joy and concern in so favourable an Oracle and then in repeated Sacrifices did the like which being finished they returned from the Temple the same way they went unto it and in a deep silence which the virtuous Priest observed no more when they were entered in our Prince's Appartment For there by a Thousand embraces he congratulated so clear promises from the Goddess of their future felicities It seems said he they knew your despairs were too pregnant to give you dark and ambiguous answers they have now left themselves no power to continue your miseries but by giving men a full liberty to suspect their Justice so that next the being possess'd of your desires you have the bless'd security of being so The Oracle Artabbanes coldly replyed is very clear and 't is as much so that the Death the gods hitherto hindered me from acting they now promise me by saying Parthenissa is reduced to Ashes They would too have said that all my Torments shall be crown'd with joy not rest had they designed me any blessings in Life and the Phoenix they promise to raise from that dead ones Ashes is clearly the constancy of my Passion in which I shall be bless'd by being consum'd in the flames of it and you are not ignorant but so unalterable and efficacious a love is as rare as that Phoenix to which the Oracle alludes Callimmachus and Artavasdes both admired at so strange an interpretation but the first of them left their silence might seem to authorize it told him If he which serves the Deity can best interpret her meaning or rather her expressions I can find nothing in the Oracle but what is much advantageous for you before this answer you wrong'd but the mercy of the gods in doubting your Joys but now you must their Truth in any longer doing it for they promise a blessing to your waiting for it about this Temple If they meant your Death should be that Blessing they would have permitted you to act it and not have contradicted themselves by making your languishings the way unto it That word of Rest evidently implyes a cessation from sufferings and fears and that Phoenix for ought we know may be Parthenissa her self who perhaps is but dead to your Belief Great gods Artabbanes cryed out she is but too certainly dead Symander saw her so and therefore if you have no other interpretation of that Passage I cannot but determine mine to be the true one They cannot accomplish their promise of Rest but by Death 't is that only after the loss of Parthenissa can give it me they do not assure me rest as the way but as the end and Crown of my Torment so that they do not falsifie but perfect their Oracle in giving me no cessation from sufferings but by that which confers it upon every one Callimmachus who observed Artabbanes's despair did but increase by his attempting to qualifie it only replyed I have seen those who built their Faith on a more firm foundation than you do yours and yet have been as I hope you will be happily mistaken The Oracle I am convinced promises those blessings to you which we must leave to Time and the gods to disclose in the mean while I esteem it absolutely requisite that you both obey their orders by sacrificing in the Temple of Adonis They would not enjoyn you that performance were it not conducive to that end they have promised Artavasdes having given some additional Arguments to the silencing of his Friends despair and the creating of his Faith in the best construction of the Oracle at length extorted an engagement from him That without any prejudicate opinion of it he would expect the interpretation The generous Armenian extreamly satisfied with this assurance began to acquaint him that made it and Callimmachus That as soon as he had performed his devotions at Adonis Temple he was determined to make a voyage into Parthia for one of those Assassines which had been destroyed by Artabbanes's Courage had confessed as he expired that the Prince of Parthia had hired them to that attempt This he continued makes me confident Pacorus esteems Altezeera guilty when he esteems me fit to be so punished and believing her so she may have occasion to employ my Sword and Life both which I will go and offer her the gods too seem to invite me to it by not confining my residence about this Temple as they have done Artabbanes's who I am as much troubled to abandon as at that which makes me believe my doing so necessary but as soon as I have found whether my suspitions be rightly grounded I will not fail to return hither to be instructed in a Fate I am nothing less concerned in than in my own The gods replyed Artabbanes cannot but destine me some transcendent advantage by enjoyning my residence here if they but intend thereby to recompence the Misery of confining me from waiting on and serving Artavasdes in his intended voyage but I am so well vers'd in their inclinations for me that if he will permit it I will rather embrace the assured blessing of accompanying him than out of some ambiguous hopes decline so advantageous a certainty Artavasdes found this as civil as Callimmachus irreligious and Artabbanes found by their returns that these were both their beliefs The generous Friend having absolutely declined the offer and the generous Priest having induced him which made it to acknowledg he had been in it as uncivil to the gods
fairer Dwelling Here the faithful Symander was so vanquish'd with his own Relation that he had not the power to continue it neither had his generous Hearers that of desiring him to do it for they were so sensibly affected with this deplorable and fatal part of his Story that their Curiosity resign'd its room unto their sorrow to which they so justly and unconfinedly abandon'd themselves that they fully justified the vast grief of Artabbanes since they resenting so much only by their being Hearers of the Loss they could not but expect much more from him that was the sufferer of it At length they were so much friends to their Grief that they conjur'd the afflicted Symander by a continuance of his Story to divert them in some degree from being so intent on that sad part of it Symander to obey this Command by many struglings with his grief finally obtain'd so much the victory over it as thus to prosecute what he had brought so near to a conclusion This relation of the fair Parthenissa's death which invaded you with so high a sorrow had so resembling an operation on the unconsolable Emilia that it was above an hour before her tears and sighs would permit her to continue her relation which she did in these terms As soon as the Barbarous Arsaces saw the fair Parthenissa pale and breathless he became so too and continu'd so long in that condition that I began to think Grief had perform'd the Office of Justice and had alone pay'd that debt to the Tyrant which all the world does owe him But he soon return'd again from his seeming Death but it was to act such violences on himself that I thought his recovery was a more signal punishment than his dying could have prov'd In a word whoever had seen the demonstration of his sorrow would have concluded he was the sufferer not the Author of the Loss At length tir'd with the actings of his grief he continued quiet for a time and then ran to Zephalinda at whose feet prostrating himself he conjur'd her to tell him Whether the fears of his violence hast cast Parthenissa into a seeming or had made her cast her self into a real death But this fair Princess gave him an Answer by a Demonstration for in that moment of time the fatal Poyson had so far conquer'd her heart that she had only life enough left to recover the Pallet on which the dead Parthenissa lay and in embracing and kissing her to expire as if she ambition'd in the last act of her life to evince the perfect friendship she had pay'd her through the whole course of it At this second death Arsace's grief turn'd into Fury he began to believe himself so horrid a Murtherer that whoever he spake unto was instantly struck with Death which though true had been a punishment inferior to his Sin And in this belief he ran frantick up and down the Chamber crying in the perfect accent and voice of horror and despair Gods give me Parthenissa again give me Parthenissa again And after a thousand fruitless offers of seizing on the Swords of some of his Guards he at length ran his head with so much violence against the angle of that great Cabinet which stood by the Pallet on which the dead Parthenissa lay that he thereby not only receiv'd a large hurt but fell speechless and sensless at Parthenissa's feet where he continued grovelling in his blood till his Guards carried him into his own Appartment to have him drest Here said Symander to his generous Hearers the fair Emilia ended her Relation and began again her weeping in such excess that it even brought an accession of grief to that which invaded me by her fatal Relation Neither do I believe she would have ended her Tears but with her Life had not the care of Artabbanes been greater than any she had of her self For remembring one of her Princess's last injunctions to her was to let Artabbanes know her last to him was A passionate desire of pardoning her Murtherer and a more passionate one of surviving her Murther that as she carried into the other World the highest Model and Example of a perfect Love so that he would continue the like in this and that Parthia was miserable enough in suffering her Kings Sin without the addition of enduring the punishment of it she conjur'd me to assume that employment whilst she would pay the dead Princesses the duty of Funeral if her grief left her life enough to do it which she hoped yet fear'd it would Emilia further enjoyn'd me by an immediate return to Artabbanes to prevent the fame of Parthenissa's death and by my acquainting him with her last desires endeavour to prevent his This I esteem'd so necessary that after having at Parthenissa's and Zephalinda's feet pay'd the tribute of my Tears and as much as I was capable of attempted to lessen the fair Emilia's I went to Sillaces and after to Lyndadory's Appartment where alas I learn'd that in the confusion of the late disorders she had been carried away by some Arm'd and unknown persons and that the generous Sillaces with what friends he could assemble in so short a warning was gone after her Ravishers With these accessional griefs of the unhappiness of my Prince's sister and of my failing of so necessary and powerful Consolers as I was confident Lyndadory and Sillaces would have been to Artabbanes I directed my steps to him but with a heart so replenisht with sadness that nothing could in degrees equal it but the justice with which it was so You may generous Hearers in some proportion imagine the strangeness of my then employment when I knew not whether I ought more to apprehend that any other should give my Prince the fatal Intelligence of his Misery or that I should but the second day I came to the place of his residence where the horror which possest me by the perfect knowledg I had of what his sorrows would be at the information I was to give him so vanquish'd all those resolutions I had assum'd during my journey that not only I invok'd death as a pleasing expedient to have declin'd it but would have made use of it had not I fear'd that Artabbanes by my that way of avoiding telling him his loss might have receiv'd it worse than by a verbal doing it But though this faith tied up my hand yet by those sudden and various emotions which did agitate me I felt a burning shoot into my veins and that at first with such violence that I was in hope the Fever would confer that obligation on me which my affection to my Prince hinder'd me from conferring on my self or at least if his despair for the deprivation of Parthenissa were greater than his obedience to her my sickness would enable me to wait on him without the help of my resolution or duty At length generous Hearers at length I came into Artabbanes's Chamber and though it were in high tremblings
determined that the first of them should keep the field with half their Army to obstruct Scylla's supplies and the last should fling himself into Piraeus to obstruct his conquests and that the Grecians might see they had not invited them into dangers which they declined participating in Ariston who in person continued in Athens having a considerable Garison performed things with it which were so and never any Pyramid gave the builder of it more fame than the walls of Piraeus gave Piriclion an Athenian Captain who had raised them during the Peloponnesian War and which in this Roman War rendered all Scylla's assaults invalid and the battering Ram unworthy that name yet Scylla was not at all dejected hereat but elevated himself with the glory of besieging at once the greatest Army in Greece and the greatest City of it for by this time the gods had taken away the young Prince Arcathias by a sudden death as he was raising an Army to relieve his friends or not to have survived the unhappiness of having been unable to do it so that those forces wanting a Captain fit to employ them were by Archilaus orders come into Athens and Piraeus by Sea which they did safely by the help of the Mithridatick Gallies Scylla having none to dispute the Empire of that element with I must confess continued Callimmachus the first actions of War which ever gave me envy and a desire of imitation were those of this siege for never was there more Art and courage manifested in so small a compass as within the Athenian walls and the Roman Camp But famine put a period to the besiegers pains and the besiegeds glory But yet even famine it self for a time lengthned the siege the death of some continuing the life of others for the living fed upon the dead But in conclusion there was no hands to justifie the walls of Athens and then Ariston retired into the Castle glorying that the Athenians had left Athens rather than that the Romans had taken it but the same misery which had reigned in the Town soon did the like in the Castle where Ariston endured death with as much resolution as he had opposed it proud with the knowledg that Athens and his Dominion over it found their period in one day and that the noblest City of the world accompanied his fall Scylla being thus Master of Athens rewarded his Soldiers patience and courage with all things sacred and prophane and by the great severity he practised upon those Athenians which had escaped the War and the Famine made them know it had been an act of more honour and more ease to have expired with their Countrey than so to have out-liv'd it Archilaus burning with desires of revenge or else to evidence by some high performances after Arcathias death that his having been General had hindered many great actions drew all the Mithridatick Forces into one body determining therewith to place a period or bring an accession to Scylla's glory The Roman General received this Intelligence with Prophetick Raptures and in his high Joy before the Battel manifested his confidence of winning it The Country near Cherovia was the Scene of this Dispute from which City the Battel took its name Murena Galba and Hortensius for a time drew all the Romans admiration till Scylla jealous that those under him should act above him performed such prodigies of valour that the Romans esteemed it more unjust not to give all their wonder unto their General than to have deny'd before a part unto three such men Archilaus in this defeat lost upon the place One hundred and ten thousand men and the hopes of ever having so many together again in Greece which by an Express he advertised Mithridates of who to keep the War out of Asia forthwith sent Dorilaus and the Prince Diogenes with Eighty thousand Foot into Greece to re-inforce Archilaus and to enable him to make one other experiment of Fortune in the Field At the same time also he assembled all the Princes and Tetrarchs of Asia which he suspected or was not confident of and having them in his power put them their wives and children to death his past cruelty rendering this an act of wisdom for he had so offended all mankind that he could not kill any but such as were his enemies Many Noble Cities he used as ill by Zenobius a Lieutenant of his whose natural cruelty equalled his Kings this was the last place he acted his Massacres in and then went to Ephesus expecting like reception and designing the like Tyranny But the Ephesians finding that resistance could not be worse than submission resolved on the first though Philopomenes was Governor thereof and made so by Mithridates This example had so good success that the Cities of Thrales Hippapes and Mesopolites follow'd it which made Mithridates think that though cruelty was pleasant to him yet it was not wise I have not acquainted you with so many Tyrannies of his because he was my enemy but to let you see that 't was not only to punish the unhappy Nicomedes that this Mithridates was raised but to punish all the civilized world To these great revolts he received the certain advertisement that Archilaus and Dorilaus had been defeated in a furious Battel by Scylla who derived his victory from his personal courage for when his Army fled he ran to the first Eagle and taking it up flew with it into the midst of the Asiaticks crying out to his Soldiers If any ask O Romans where you have abandoned your General tell them you left him fighting in Orchomenia which expressions and action raised their shame above their fear and made them return to the Battel in which they did things that defaced the sin of their aflight and presented Scylla with the Victory which though that day far advanced yet it was not till next day perfected for then assaulting and entring Archilaus Camp few scaped out of it but himself But to qualifie the joys of such signal Victories Scylla received advertisement from Rome that Cornelius Cinna and Caius Marius having usurped the power of the City and over the Senate had declared him an enemy to the people of Rome had raz'd all his Houses and had proscribed all his Friends and Partizans Scylla at this so fatal intelligence loses not his courage but resolves by it to form himself as great an Empire in Greece and Asia as his enemies design'd in Europe and then in a fair Field to decide who should have both But Cinna and Marius who knew he had so high an ascendent over his Army that what they could do he could perswade them to do it for him and believing no other design could proportion Scylla's courage and judgment elected Flaccus one of the Consuls and sent him with two of the best Legions to supply Scylla's Office or to force it from him But Flaccus being no Soldier they sent for his Praetor Fimbria who had by many exploits in Arms rendred himself
and the Prince Atafernes's Wounds made me this Reply You have Callimachus employed that Power I gave you so much to my Honour and Satisfaction that your desiring a forgiveness is really a greater Offence than that for which you ask it and to evidence you have not only obliged me to the height but that I am sensible you have done so I promise before the gods and all these Witnesses that whatever you ask of me without any exception I will grant it you for you have given me more than you can ask of me And lest your Modesty might hinder you from asking I enjoyn you to ask nay by that Friendship you have for me I command you to do it but lest this Injunction might be a surprise I give you three days time to deliberate that you may think of something worthy your mentioning and worthy my giving To convince you too how fixed I am in this Resolution and how knowing I am in your Vertue I conjure you make me no Reply nor Excuses and grant me this Request as an Evidence you believe I will grant you yours All the while the King was speaking these charming words my Eyes were fixed on my Princess and her Blushes thereat told me her Apprehensions were I would fix my Request where I had fixed my Sight But Mithridates having done speaking to obey him I only bowed my self to his Feet as an evincement both of my Joy and Obedience The generous Atafernes diligently observed my Looks and his fair Sisters Blushes and had the goodness to whisper me these ravishing Words Your Eyes Callimachus have spoke your Request and Statira's readiness seems to be no Irreconcilable Enemy to it Leave the Management of your happiness to my care I whispered to him this Answer 'T is the Company Great Prince and not the want of resentment that hinders me from prostrating my self at your Feet as some sign of my acknowledgments My Fortune cannot be but glorious since you have undertaken the care of it And what I despair of on my own account I will presume of upon yours I will not generous Princes continued Callimachus particularize all the Discourses which then entertained the Company Only I observed the Princess Statira who in less Services had honoured me with her taking notice of them did not so much as speak to me of this which I durst not so flatter my self as to attribute to her intentions of giving me more lively and ambitioned Characters of her Resentment than Verbal acknowledgments could be But rather to her fear That I would by my request to the King owe that to her Obedience which I could not hope for from her Inclination or Justice and thereby punish my offence before I had committed it To remove therefore from the observation of others those disorders which such thoughts raised in me I told the King That all his Enemies having paid by their Death 's the last Crime of their Lives I came to receive his Commands for his return to Nicomedia and how the Enemies Galley and their dead Bodies should be disposed of begging him to remove into mine from the blood and noysomness of that he then was in He forthwith appointed all those dead Bodies to be flung over-Board That they might as he said receive their Burial where they had acted their Sin and suffered their Punishment and that if any one of them were alive he should be brought to him who should save him the sending of an Herauld to Nicomedes The Galley being diligently searched one Soldier was found who having bloodied himself all over lay amongst the Dead to avoid encreasing their number But when he found they were casting his Companions into the Sea he discovered himself hoping the fury of the Execution was over He was therefore brought to Mithridates who told him I thought thy King would have endeavoured to recover Bithynia only by such Arms and by such ways as he lost it but since with the loss of his Kingdom he has lost his Kingly Vertues and employs his Soldiers to surprize Women and murther his Enemies after they are his Prisoners Tell him from me That by all the gods and the Sacred Ashes of my glorious Ancestors if ever he comes into my hands he shall suffer that Death which it seems he had appointed for me I give thee he continued thy life and liberty to carry Nicomedes if living this Message and I shall appoint thee a Vessel to transport thee to him The trembling Prisoner who expected Death himself was so confounded with the assurance of life and liberty and at the rate at which he was to buy it that he could not speak and his silence being taken for his consent the King appointed the Captain of my Galley to see him sent away from Nicomedia The Obligation I so recently had received from Nicomedes and the high and just Value I paid his Gallantry made me abhor this Oath and Message And therefore I began to move the Pontick King to consider how much better it would be to stop than to send such a Denunciation I represented to him That if Nicomedes had given Orders to kill him he had not been made a Prisoner for it was easie to have acted the first Therefore that his having been taken alive whilst Enestes Commanded his Enemies and his being in danger of being Murthered but Enestes was killed evidenced that the first proceeded from Nicomedes's Orders the last from a Soldiers despair that the Noble usage the Princess Statira had received and the Prince Pharnaces does receive were sufficient Manifestations how much a friend he was ever to Civility and therefore could not be capable of a Sin so far below a King that it was below a Man Consider reply'd Mithridates Whether one of Nicomedes's Subjects durst kill a King that was his Prisoner had their Orders been only to have made me such and had he not known that performance intitled him rather to Rewards than Punishments To which I answered Consider also I beseech you Sir that when that Monster was about to kill you you were not likely to be his King's Prisoner nor he himself ever to see his King and therefore neither to receive Rewards or Punishments from him Even that said Mithridates evidences the Truth of my belief for 't is not probable that a Subject which endures Banishment for the Love and Duty he owes his Prince and daily in his Service ventures his Life would make the last Action of it a violation of his Commands If he thought you should be Victorious how durst he have rob'd his King of such a Prisoner as I was Nay and believing what you believe against his Kings Orders And if he thought you would be Victorious how drust he contrary also to those supposed Orders have taken away a Life which he could not but know you would revenge by the loss of his and all his parties No no Callimachus he was confined to what he did by Nicomedes and nothing but
ever confess you have any advantage over me and whilst I hold my Sword you shall find me a subject fitter to create your fear than your pity Thereupon he renew'd the Fight with much more strength than I thought he had left him yet for a while I onely defended my self but when I perceiv'd his blows were so brisk that my charity might prove my ruine and that he had so much vigor as I might kill him without a stain I cry'd out to him Since my civility cannot make you acknowledge what your justice should your death shall Finishing these words I made him soon feel the punishment of a fault which might have had a milder reparation if the continuance of his insolency had not render'd him unworthy of it But to conclude this Tragedy as soon as he fell he told me Whosoever thou art I forgive thee that death which by my being worsted is rather my joy than my trouble and though I scorn to beg my Life were it in thy power to save which I thank the gods it is not yet I do not to conjure thee to assure that Beauty which to have fought against does more afflict me than to be reduc'd to what I am that 't was her Eyes which inspir'd thy Arm and weighed down mine and that had not shame been more prevalent with me than truth I had been her Champion and not her Adversary Conjure her to pardon a crime which I expiate with my blood and which my hand should have punisht for her if thine had not He would have continu'd his recantation by which I perceiv'd I had not onely kill'd an Enemy but a Rival had he not found that his Tongue began to faulter which made him though with much difficulty turn himself towards the place where Parthenissa was and not having the strength to speak to her he lift up his hands to implore that pardon his hasty summons hinder'd him to express As soon as Ambixules was dead all his Pages came and presented me those Pictures which had been the rewards of their Princes former Combats and desir'd me that they might have his body to carry into Arabia which I yielded unto and then taking all the consequents of my Victory I went with them to Parthenissa's Scaffold where I found her by an excess of goodness weeping the death of her Enemy which made me envy what I had deplor'd and forc'd me to think my success a misfortune since it created the fair Parthenissa's tears who judging of my disorder by my silence wip'd them away and thereby gave me the confidence to present her with all those fair Captives and to tell her That the Originals of them could no more complain against their Servants unhappy defence since thereby they had the honor to be hers which was a felicity greater than any could have attended their success I then acquainted her with Ambixules last injunction which I said was a proof that not onely he but his reason was vanquisht and that if he had earlier confest a truth which he could not but be convinc'd of I would rather have elected to have employ'd my Sword against my self than him so great and just was the respect I paid all Adorers under which Title I implor'd a pardon for having brought that to a dispute which needed none and that her justice would acknowledge what that of the gods had by the event of our Combat To which Parthenissa reply'd I am convinc't of nothing by your Victory but of your Civility and Courage the last of which you are certainly very confident of when you durst undertake to employ it in so unjust a quarrel neither can I doubt by electing me for the subject of your difference you had an intention to manifest that your Sword needed no other assistance but what it receiv'd from your Arm and the concealing your self after a performance which the severest modesty might glory in confirms me that you injure your Courage to avoid doing the like unto your Judgment and find more shame in owning the object your Quarrel than satisfaction in the effect it has produc'd Ah! Madam I reply'd do not impute the concealing my self to any thing but the respect I pay you which is so great and just that I had rather decline what you are pleas'd to say I may glory in than hazard your anger by disclosing who I am the apprehension of the latter being far more prevalent with me than any advantage I can derive from the former But after some discourses of this quality observing that not onely all the Court but Arsaces himself was coming towards Parthenissa's Scaffold I thought it high time to retire and therefore made haste to tell her that I was resolv'd to a concealment of my name till by a succession of services I induced her to pardon the score upon which they were perform'd A little Blush which this declaration caused gave me a belief that she understood my meaning and the apprehension I had for her reply as well as being environ'd by the crowd made me take my leave but on an instant I found a certain coldness like the hand of Death seize on me and suddenly after I fell pale and speechless at Parthenissa's Feet This unexpected accident had a very powerfull influence on her whilst she knew me not but after she had discover'd who I was by some peoples pulling off my Helmet to give me a little air she abandon'd herself so much to excess of grief that many attributed the effects of her good nature to a more obliging cause and doubtless had I seen how happy I was in my misfortune I had blest those wounds which were the causes of it In brief as soon as those which stood by knew me they cry'd out Artabanes is dead which repeated noise coming at last to Moneses and Lyndadory's hearing they ran transported with admiration and grief to the place where I lay and where they found Parthenissa with one hand stopping a spring of blood which issued fâom a large wound Ambixules had given me with the other endeavouring to wipe away two springs of tears which ran from her fair Eyes That charity gave them as high a subject of acknowledgment as the occasion of it did of grief But at last a Litter being brought and my blood stancht I was carried to Moneses's Palace accompanied by the tears of those whose Acclamations I so lately had Arsaces did me the honor to walk a foot by my Litter and to see the first dressing of my wounds where he receiv'd an assurance from the Chirurgions that I had none which were dangerous that loss of blood was the greatest harm I had sustained and that rest was one of the best remedies they could prescribe Wherefore my Chamber was immediately emptied of all but my faithful Symander But this deep silence was so far from producing the effect which those that enjoyn'd it expected that it did a contrary one for then all my thoughts began to
the Vows of Love wrought so little on your belief as to think it possible I can be any man 's but yours And that which you even now stil'd Justice in me would be inconstancy and perjury besides these high things which you propound unto your self cannot be attain'd without resembling dangers and should you miscarry in them as the events of War are blind and uncertain how miserable would my condition be when the universal knowledge of your Virtue will so drown all men in Grief that those which should afford me any Consolation will need it themselves and every Man will be a fresh Object to renew my Sorrow Besides what you would so hazardously court and sollicite is of so speculative and airy a quality that neither the simplest nor the wisest Soldier in the Army would now exchange conditions with the famous Alexander the great ingrosser of it That Madam I reply'd would rather evinâe a want of Virtue in the Living than the Dead so perhaps many Women now would not change condition with the excellent Lucretia and yet that does not prove but hers is more to be ambition'd To contract my Relation I made use of so many arguments that at last she resign'd the Field but I perceiv'd it was with much reluctancy for she said How just a cause have I to complain that either my affection is not less which might render your departure supportable or that being so great I cannot have proportionate Arguments to divert your Design But believe me though my Judgement be convinc'd it is fit for you to undertake yet my Love will never be so Ah Madam said I how kind and how cruel are those words for your Love transcending your Judgement how vast an evincement is that of its being so and on the other side how cruel is the purchase of that Felicity by rendring your Love the greatest of my blessings now the greatest of my troubles After I had done speaking she lean'd her Cheek upon her Hand and having thought a while she lookt on me stedfastly with Tears running from her fair Eyes and told me with a languishing voice Artabanes since you are resolv'd to go I conjure you by your Passion remember that we have exchang'd our Hearts and that loving Parthenissa as you say more than your self evince it by having more care of her Heart than if it were your own And since you will allow nothing to surpass your Affection yet at least allow mine to be equal to it and then consider those Torments my death would be to you and be not too prodigal of that life which if lost must involve me in resembling ones These Words and Tears were so moving that I held it rather a Duty than a Weakness to accompany her in the latter which she perceiving began to ask me forgiveness by having made me erre by her example and then went to a little Cabinet in her Closet where she took out her Picture which she presented me and I vow'd to wear as long as that other I could not but carry about me whilst I did my Heart If you have ever resented the pleasing Flames of Love you may then partly guess how cruel this separation was otherwise your imagination will be as far short of apprehending as I am of expressing it But this being nothing essential to our story I will pass it over by telling you that Pacorus eldest Son to the King was General of the Army but my Father had the Superintendency of all his deep experience giving him that Honour with as little Dispute as Envy The Prince was accompany'd by his Brother Phraates and all other Great Men of the Empire amongst whom Surena was the chiefest either for Person Wit Estate or Power but of an Humour so uncontroulable that it clouded all his other Virtues These Troops were generally the gallantest and best fitted of any I ever yet beheld and in my opinion the Roman Legions were as far short of them as they excell'd all others After the Army was in a moving posture Moneses led the Body of it by easy marches towards Miramnes a strong Town which the Armenians had newly besieg'd with 50000 Foot and 10000 Horse the King being there in person Pacorus remain'd at Court ten days after to receive his Instructions and by that time Moneses was within three days march of the Enemy the Prince and all his Court overtook him where a Messenger from the âovernor of Miramnes assur'd Pacorus that if in three weeks he had no relief it would be too late to send him any The next morning therefore he took a view of his whole Army which consisted of near near 40000 Foot and 15000 Horse but so much of resolution appear'd in the Officers and Soldiers looks that he thought every hour of delay so much time stolen from the Glory of his Triumph The consequence of this place was such that immediately a Council of War was summon'd where after a long Debate the Result of it was That the Prince sent a Herald with a Letter to the King of Armenia to invite him on the large and adjoyning Plains of Arontes to decide their difference by a Battel which would end the War and the Miseries that inevitably would be a consequence of it Artabazus having consulted with the Chief Officers of his Army return'd this Answer ARTABAZVS King of Armenia to PACORVS Prince of the Parthians The same Consideration which invites you to decide our Quarrel by a Battel moves me to accept it and since the Gods are our Iudges we need not fear Partiality the justest Sword will be the sharpest and therefore the Conquer'd shall be esteemed guilty by ARTABAZVS This Answer was no sooner read but Orders were given to every Chief Officer to repair to his Charge and to exhort the Soldiers to perform their Duties with Courage and Vigilancy The next day we discamped and pitched our Tents in the Plains of Arontes the Scene of the intended Tragedy As soon as we were quarter'd we might perceive the Armenian Army marching down the Hills of Fenistia in exact Order and camped so some forty Furlongs from us By mutual agreement both Armies rested themselves two days that they might come the third unharrast to the Battel In the mean time Moneses appointed to every one his Command The Prince honor'd me with the leading of 2000 Horse all Voluntiers and composed of the Youth and Gallantry of Parthia with whom I resolv'd to act something worthy the high Title of Parthenissa's Servant At last the long desired day appear'd but so Black and Cloudy that it hardly deserv'd that name as if the Heavens had put on anticipated Mourning for so many succeeding Funerals Presently those vast Plains were cover'd with Armed Troops and the Generals having taken all the advantages the ground would permit gave the Signal of the Battel At the first shock the Field was strew'd with dead Bodies and such a show'r of Arrows were shot into the Air that the
God's were hinder'd from seeing or relieving either party There were a thousand things perform'd which did better merit the Sun for Spectator in all his Glory than those sad and gloomy Clouds But the Victory which was a long time in suspense at last seem'd to declare it self on the Armenians side by the valour of a young Gentleman who with near 3000 Horse carried Death to his Enemies and Victory to his Friends wheresoever he appear'd So much Gallantry I thought was a fit Object for our Swords and turning to my friends I told them so with this litle addition T is too low to imitate those that have done well Let us be examples to them to do better for you see the day is lost unless recover'd by our Valours and Victory will now be so precious it cannot be too dearly courted They all unanimously approv'd my resolution and presently I led them where Artavasdes was for so was this young Conqueror call'd who perceiving our design and guessing by our Countenance we were not Men to be slighted presently rallied all his Soldiers who were eagerly pursuing the Parthians By that time he had drawn them up I charg'd him telling my companions I would not invite them to that which I would not be a sharer in I was so well seconded by those which follow'd me that after a generous resistance we broke those victorious Troops and had the execution of them as long as they had had it of ours and I was so far engag'd in the pursuit of this Rout that at last I perceiv'd the Standard-Royal which was guarded by at least 8000 select Men which was to me rather an invitation to attempt it than the contrary but least many might have been of a different principle I told my Troop-Companions 't is true their number surpasses ours but you have just now learn'd that Victory is won by Virtue not by Multitudes you have done things which will not be believ'd but by some such powerful Witness for to our own Glory but to our Countreys shame we are not onely the Actors but almost the onely Spectators and as your Valours have no limits let your success be resembling By one general Acclamation they protested they would follow me to Death or Victory I gave them no time to cool but by a successful Charge I made a breach for them to enter they lost not the occasion but with Vigor and Resolution improv'd it As we had almost effected our design the same Artavasdes who had done such noble Actions in the beginning of the Battel and was beaten by his Mens Fears not his own for they had carried him away in the Throng rallied again some of his resolutest Troops and was come with them to relieve the King which he did with so great fury that my Men lost all the Glory of their former Actions by an ignominious flight I could not believe it at the first but seeing it was in earnest I cryed out 'T is your Swords not your Feet must save you which you may effect by almost your desiring it for the Enemy are not oblig'd to their Valours for this disorder but your Fears If you doubt this Truth do but turn your Faces and their Flight will assure you it But when I perceiv'd they were as deaf to me as to their Honors I told some which were running by me Is it thus then that you perform your engagement of following me to Death or Victory I will never live to see your shame nor to participate with you in it Assure the Prince and my Father I will sell my life so handsomely that it shall neither disgrace my Countrey nor my Bloud Having so said I thrust my self into the midst of the Enemy with a resolution to dye and invoking the fair Name of Parthenissa my Rage made me do things which my Courage onely could not have perform'd for I made a Lane through the thickest Troops and my blows were so happily directed that wheresoever they did light once they needed not to do so a second time Many of those which fled hearing my last words turn'd about to know what I would do but when they saw my resolution and the unexpected success which attended it many who were gallant found my designe so much so that they returned to share in it and others who perceiv'd that those which thought to preserve their Lives did lose them and that he which indeavour'd to lose his did preserve it the same cause which made them decline the Fight made them return to it I must confess I was as much surpriz'd as pleas'd when I found my self so well followed I imputed it to the invocation of Parthenissa and was assur'd that the same power which hath occasioned the greater change which was to make those that fled to fight again would also perform the lesser which was to make those that return'd to fight overcome an enemy they had so lately worsted Whilst this heat lasted we engag'd our selves so far that Fear produced the effects of Courage there being no safety but in Victory so that I had much ado to credit my Eyes the last testimony of my companions valour having quite defaced the former of their want of it At last I perceived one who by the care they all shew'd of his preservation I resolv'd was the King which made me cry out There fellow Soldiers there is that which will make the conclusion of the day more Glorious than the Progress and will both finish our dangers and reward them too They were so sensible of what I said that their valours gave an undeniable proof of their being so and the greedy desires I had to merit the Title of Parthenissa's Servant made me address my designs onely at the King concluding all consisted in the taking of him and though Nature had deny'd me a Crown yet by my Courage to present one to Parthenissa I knew would be more pleasing to her generous disposition which much more esteemed the effects of Virtue than those of Fortune or Birth To be short after I had received some Wounds which were rather marks of Honour than Danger and after Revolutions and Confusions which were deriv'd from the mingling amongst us of another King of Armenia at least one exceeding like the first in his Armour and Furniture as well as by the Horse he rid on and disresembling him in nothing but what more pregnantly confirm'd me he was the real Artabazus since the highest Valour was fittest for the highest Title I dismounted this second Commer whereby the first found and made opportunity of escaping which the last no sooner observed than he told me Generous Enemy though my Body is at your Mercy my Liberty is not this Sword more kind than Fortune will soon ease me of all the miseries this day hath involv'd me in unless you will grant me one condition which if you do not I will deprive you of all those advantages you do pretend unto by my Captivity It
excels all others so the Beauty which inspires it may abundantly find by Obedience the visibility of that distinction to be as great in the Effect as in the Cause But Madam I humbly conjure you if in the duty of preserving you I fail in that other of obeying you ascribe it to the real Cause and give my death that sensibility which you have deny'd my Life This is a Mercy which Compassion may obtain if not Cloak and though I should ambition the last yet I dare not hope it and implore your pardon for presuming to name it I shall know said Altezeera hastily how to distinguish between what seeks you and what you seek And therefore believe me if I find you guilty of the last I shall deny your death not onely the first of those two things you mention'd but both These last words she deliver'd going away into her Closet and her eyes were so cover'd with tears and her cheeks with blushes that I knew not whether compassion or a more obliging cause carried her so hastily away As soon I found I was alone which I had not for a good while so much my doubts my fears and my hopes were predominant I went to give the necessary orders for the reception of Celindus the certainty of whose intended assault next morning I had that night confirm'd unto me by repeated Intelligences Aurora did but begin to give the World notice of the days approach when the shrill Trumpets and other Warlike Instruments invited the Soldiers to draw out of their Camp and to march to the storming of Artaxata which if taken would end the War and satisfie both their avarice and ambition Celindus to animate his Army made them a short speech and therein acquainted them That their interests as well as courages invited them by one gallant Action to conclude that War which time would render more difficult and perhaps unfeasible That his happiness or misery depended upon their Swords as well as their reward and honour did upon his Fortune That since the ties were mutual the hazard would be so likewise That therefore he would be as well a Companion with them as a Commander over them and would have as great share in the danger as the glory which he doubted not was as certain as it would be great having those whose courages would court victory so handsomely that her Injustice must be as high as their Valors if she did not fling herself into their arms The Soldiers encouraged by so obliging words testifyed their Resolutions by a shout which was almost as loud as their guilt and Celindus with the generous Phanasder his Lieutenant-General having order'd the manner of the Storm the first Troops advanc'd and discharg'd a shower of Darts upon those which I had appointed to man the Walls and playing without intermission upon the Battlements they did under favour of their shot advance their Battering-Rams their Rolling-Bridges and their Scaling-Ladders which were all order'd with so much advantage that the Rams having made a breach Celindus in person at the head of Four thousand Men presented himself at the mouth of it with so assur'd a countenance that the dull Inhabitants and some Soldiers which had the guard of that quarter fled and left him the passage clear Whilst these things were acting on the North side of Artaxata I was disputing against Phanasder the weakest place of it which he had assaulted with so much fury that I atttibuted our Victory to the justice of the gods rather than to any humane means and I had but newly beaten him off when a Soldier that fled from the Breach which the Enemy had enter'd came running to me and told me that Celindus with near half his Army was within our Walls This news as you may easily imagine did not a little surprize me and having leisure to exclaim against Fate that thus endanger'd Altezeera I took most of those men with whom I had defeated Phanasder and ran with them to the place the Soldier guided me unto where I found that Celindus had possest himself of that Street which led directly from the Breach unto the Palace and was already beginning to force open the Gates of it when I cry'd out hold Celindus do not think the gods have so much abandon'd the innocent as to permit the King and Altezeera to fall into thy Power the ill success of Phanasders Forces shews that they are under the protection of Divinity and if that argument will not make thee credit it thy own defeat shall Finishing those words we thrust our selves into the thickest Squadrons where my valiant Friends so well acted their parts that we soon cloathed them with their own Livery despair But I must give Celindus that due that what Troops our Resolution disorder'd his rally'd again To be brief we were so tir'd with our former action and this too that we had been absolutely vanquish'd had not Amidor come to our Rescue who having defeated those Assailants that had storm'd his Quarter and learn'd the danger I was in came with 1000 Men to my relief so seasonably that it was when we fought not in hopes to avoid being defeated but to avoid deserving to be so This supply so disheartned Celindus that he began to think of a Retreat which almost as soon was put in practice but the Enemy were much astonish'd when they heard a hideous cry behind them which was occasioned by some 500 Men that Amidor had sent secretly out of a Salliport who unexpectedly falling upon those that guarded the Breach made them fly to Celindus for safety We so husbanded this disorder that we absolutely routed the Rebels and the slaughter had been much bloodier had not I been the occasion of hindring it for during the Fight I receiv'd some wounds out of which ran such abundance of Blood that in following the execution I fell down pale and speechless and suddenly a rumour being dispers'd that I was kill'd Amidor and all the rest were so much concern'd in my loss that they neglected increasing Celindus's who in our disorder found his safety When Amidor and the rest of my Friends came to me they saw me environ'd with dead Bodies and with as little sign of life as those I was amongst yet they carried me to my Chamber and lay'd me on a Bed The news of Celindus's defeat and my death came at the same time to the Palace and as two contraries of equal strength the one destroy'd what the other rais'd onely the King and Altezeera especially the latter seem'd to be more concern'd in my loss than their own safeties The former consider'd me as one whose past service had render'd me considerable and whose present condition made him think my help would have prov'd so which were the grounds whereon he built his grief But the latter besides those considerations added that of her Friendship and perhaps affection which drowned all the lesser ones as the Stars are not seen when the Sun
truth your eyes may give you that satisfaction which my words cannot by my waiting on you to his Chamber where your suspitions will soon vanish I accept your offer said the Princess abandoning her Bed and giving Amidor her hand to lead her thither for I can have no quiet whilst I have any doubts ut Madam said my Brother let me beg you to leave all your disdain behind you for the least quantity of that poyson kills all his hopes and consequently himself 't is not now with him as at other times where rigour did appear Justice his sufferings and services now stile it Ingratitude though he gives it still the former name and onely expects his felicity from your goodness not his condition So high a Modesty said Altezeera merits an equal Reward and I should be too unjust should I deny it him By this time they were come unto my Chamber and finding none in it but one of my Pages Amidor commanded him out and opening the Curtains told me the Princess was come to visit me The sight of so high a Beauty produc'd a proportionate effect for before she was come in I could not turn in my Bed but now I did towards her and with a firm voice told her At last Madam at last the gods have heard my Prayers and commiserating my condition have made my Enemies swords more pitiful than you they have given me that death you were pleas'd to deny me and in so blest away that 't is in defending and not disobeying you so that nothing could add unto this Felicity but that I had deferr'd receiving of these charitable Wounds till the last day of the War that you might have had no further use of my services and that your security and my quiet might have been establisht at one time But Madam since the gods do call me from you sooner I conjure you to remember I dy'd serving you and let that extinguish your resentments against an ambition which cannot be greater than was the impossibility of avoiding it Alas Artavasdes said Altezeera think not of dying the gods who have already rais'd you from Death to Life will perfect that good work They are too just to rob us of you They would be too cruel Madam said I did they restore me to my health Your Disdain prepares me torments so great that Death is a comparative happiness unto them But Madam I do beg your pardon you commanded me not to trouble you any more with my Passion and I 'll obey you onely let me beseech you to receive these importunities as my last Crimes and upon that score to forgive them for I vow never to offend you more Nor I said the fair Altezeera to receive your addresses as an offence No Artavasdes your Virtue has obtain'd the Victory and I command you now to live that I may shew you by my affection I know how to value and recompence yours Alas Madam I reply'd What do you do You may indeed by this art hinder my death awhile but as soon as I discover I am deluded by all that is most Sacred I will not live a minute Take heed fair Princess you may do like a merciful Judge who when the Delinquent's ripe for Death and made his peace with Heaven by giving him a pardon his future courses may be more criminal than his precedent ones and thereby make that which was intended for his good the occasion of his greater ill Banish those groundless fears said Altezeera for my intentions are as clear as you persuade me your Flame is and as a confirmation of it I engage my self before Amidor never to decline what I have promis'd Ah! Madam I reply'd Why am I not in a condition to fling my self at your feet as some expression of joy which certainly cannot kill since I am yet alive But my Princess give me leave not onely to call Amidor but the gods to witness that I will never decline the Passion that I pay you but will maintain my Flame alive even in the Grave for having vanquisht your Disdain it cannot be overcome and if ever I alter this profession make my future punishment equal to my present felicity As I had done speaking Lindesia came into the room and my Princess having commanded my Love to be as silent as constant withdrew herself and left me in such extasies of joy that they had like to have made me ever uncapable of any for all my wounds fell fresh a bleeding and I was so taken up with my present raptures that had not Lindesia been more careful of me than I was of my self I had dyed in and by them but having discover'd that my sheets were all bloody she came running to me and so timely that the least delay had render'd her care fruitless But my wounds being again bound up they enjoin'd me to take my rest as the best and easiest cure Thus my dear friend you see how at last my desires were crown'd and little obstacle remain'd to the perfection of my happiness but my health which by degrees I recover'd and that which contributed most unto it was the daily visits of the fair Altezeera whose conversation charm'd my ears as much as her Beauty did my eyes and every hour discovering new perfections I blest that suffering which had given me so high an interest in them My wounds which admitted of forty dayes for their cure did little afflict me because the Enemy never attempted any thing during that space against Artaxata which was occasion'd by those wounds Celindus had receiv'd in the Assault in which also he had lost so many Men and so many others were render'd useless that whilst he was recovering he sent Phanasder for a Recruit and had drawn his Aamy some twenty Furlongs from the Town contenting himself to block it up at so civil a distance But as if Fortune believ'd it necessary that nothing should be done whilst the chief Actor in either side was unable to appear she so order'd all things that at the same time I was perfectly cur'd Celindus was so too and Phanasder came to the Camp with a supply of near Ten thousand Horse and Foot So considerable an addition rais'd Celindus his hopes and being ambitious to recover his losses and to employ the fury of those new Men on some design where disadvantage of being repuls'd could not be so prejudicial as the honour of success would be glorious elected the storming again of Artaxata as most proportionate to his Revenge and Ambition and having made his chief Officers approve of his design he gave order that all things should be in a readiness for so bold an one But whilst Celindus was troubling himself to be Conqueror of a Town I was so in my affection and was more satisfyed in my Victory than he could have been in his had his pride and designes arriv'd at their ambition'd period O Gods what uninmaginable joys doe mutual fires create in Love at least mine
Evaxes after Falintus's misfortune still disputed the victory though his resistance proceeded more from his resolution than his numbers which were so diminish'd that he was just upon the point of being conquer'd when a Body of about Fourteen hundred Horse and Four thousand Foot sallied out of Artaxata and so opportunely on the Enemy that it restor'd the courage of our fainting friends Gods what prodigies of Valour did I see their Leader act He pierc'd the thickest Squadrons like Lightning and in a word so chang'd the face of affairs that Phanasder from conquering began to defend himself to effect which he had gotten near Eight thousand of those who had most resolution and having cast them into a square Body resolv'd to âell his Life so dearly that the Purchasers should repent the bargain In this posture stood affairs when I came from defeating Celindus with nine thousand Horse and all the Foot I could possibly rally I confes it pitty'd me to see so many Armenians expos'd to death whose courages deserv'd a fortune as good as the condition they were then in was the contrary I therefore commanded all the Soldiers of my Army to draw off that I might endeavour to save their Countrey-men So pleasing an Injunction obtain'd a ready obedience and advancing near enough to be heard I represented to them that the care I had to make my Victory as little stain'd with Bloud as the necessity of it would permit made me offer them in Artabazus name a general Pardon so they would lay down Arms and ingage by their future Loyalty to efface their present want of it They all answer'd me that they had vowed their Lives and Fortunes to Phanasder and what he thought good they would submit unto I then desir'd to speak with him which he no sooner understood than he came out unto me all hideous with Bloud and askt me what it was I would have I told him 't was his and the safety of those few the Sword had spar'd That he had practis'd so much gallantry to Falintus that it made me earnest to preserve the posessior of it and that the condition he was in was so unfit for resistance that the acting of his destruction was easier than the desire of it I am said Phanasder interrupting me as much above your Power as your Threatening for the gods which have been so cruel have yet left me a Heart to desire death and a Sword to act for that which I have done to Falintus 't was the self-same honour guided me unto it which makes me hate to owe my life unto my Enemy How willingly said I would I change that name and be esteem'd your Friend to purchase it I will confess Fortune and your want of it reduc'd you to what you are I will engage my self to obtain for you and those under you an Act of Oblivion from the King and I will onely beg that you will confer your friendship on me which I will value at a higher rate than all the other Glory I shall derive from this days success 'T is a strange thing how much civility works on a generous Mind what the advantage I had over him nor the fear of death cold act my kindness did which prov'd so prevalent that flinging away his Sword he came to me and embracing me said 'T is now indeed Artavasdes that I am vanquisht Your goodness makes me confess that which your Sword nor all the World besides could have perswaded me to I should be now as unjust as you are generous did I not with joy embrace a Friendship which I will ever value above all things but my Honour After a thousand Embraces and Assurances of an Eternal Friendship Phanasder led me to the reliques of his Army and commanded them to fling their Arms down at my Feet to whom he said they owed their lives and many other expressions of a quality too tedious to be related Things being brought to this happy period I left my Army in the Field in which they had gained so much Glory and taking Phanasder and some twenty of my intimatest Friends I gallopt to Artaxata to give Altezeera and the King an account of our success and to receive their Orders when we came to the Gates I found them shut and having told the Guards who I was they instantly admitted me and inform'd me the King and the Princess were Sacrificing for the Armies success I went directly thither and lighting at the door all arm'd sprinkled with Bloud gave so hot an Alarm to the people that they began with hideous cries to fly out of the Temple imagining we were Celindus's Soldiers who having got the Battel were come to seize upon the King and that which more confirm'd them in their fears was the sight of Phanasder whose Face by the loss of his Helmet was uncover'd and the great shouts those of the Garrison made when they were inform'd by some that came along with me of our Victory Artabazus all the while I was coming towards him was moveless as a Statue but the fair Altezeera no sooner saw me tread upon the first steps of the Altar but drawing forth a Ponyard which she had conceal'd for a last remedy was lifting up her hand to have plung'd it into her Breast but observing her design I prevented it by seizing that cruel weapon and pulling off my Halmet gods what a sudden alteration did that action cause it was so great that the King Altezeera and all the company hearing at the same time of Celindus's his defeat and death did not then relish that happiness with so high a contentment as they said it deserv'd But at last their joy having dissipated those Clouds which fear had ingender'd their contentment was proportionate to the change Artabazus gave me all the testimonies of his favour he was capable of but Altezeera did in such obliging terms express her contentment and affection that I was ravisht in the contemplation of both But after I had given the King and my fair Princess an Account of our success I presented Phanasder unto Artabazus and having acquainted him with my Engagements and magnified his Gallantry I not onely obtained what I had promis'd to him and his but also Celindus his Government for him That which made me so intent on Phanasders advantage was the high opinion I had conceived of him and the confidence I had that it was grounded on a proportionate Justice But amongst all those friends which came to congratulate my Victory I mist my dear Amidor and inquiring the cause of it I learn'd that the Forces which had sally'd out of the Town were under his Command that 't was he had done such miracles and that probably having follow'd the execution somewhat vigorously he was not return'd to the Camp before my departure from it I rested satisfied therewith and receiv'd the Kings Orders to quarter about Artaxata till he saw whether those Towns which had declared for Celindus would return to their
I want but lest your affection may prove a deceitful optick my Charity shall put you in the right way which is to decline your addresses to me for besides my great want of merit I am as rigid as the perfectest of my Sex therefore I beseech you owe this cure to your Reason and not to Time Madam he answer'd 't is Reason gave the wound and neither Time nor your Disdain shall ever make me alter the resolution I have so justly assum'd you may as easily hope to separate Light from the Sun as my Heart from that Passion which possesses it no fair Parthenissa I am resolv'd if I cannot be Loves Favourite I will be his Martyr and if your Scorns cannot extinguish my Desires the coldness of the Grave shall never triumph over them but the gods will preserve so pure a Flame a live to be a pattern for future Lovers to imitate Sir said I so much affection deserves all that I can return which is my Friendship and that again conjures you not to cast away so noble a Passion on one that must be necessarily ungrateful for that which you desire I have given to another and were it in my Power to recall it it is not in my Will I hope this will shew you with how much justice I intreat you not to ingage your self in so ruinous a design for should I now confer on you my Love and you receive it your indiscretion will be as great as you would perswade me your passion is for my constancy the cause of your contentment would be always the occasion of your fear Ah Madam he reply'd would to the gods you were but yet pleased to bless me with your Affection for then the joy would be so absolute that I should onely have the Power to contemplate it and not how I came to the fruition of it But Madam I am too bold to hope for any pleasing answer till my Services assure the vastness of my Passion I bless this hour that gave me opportunity of telling you of it and that your Rigor cannot be greater than my perseverance Thereupon without staâing for an answer he went away But I impute those words she continu'd to the first flame of Love which commonly is the most violent For my part I am resolv'd to wear so much coldness on those actions which relate to him that if he have that spirit men believe I am confident 't will change his love into resentment Madam my sister reply'd I foresee many sad accidents will oppose your loves if by a speedy overture unto your friends you do not consummate a Nuptial What should divert you from that election Your Flames are too virtuous and too just not to be owned and being so who will oppose them this declaration will silence all Rivals growing Loves and make your happiness as sure as 't will be great Ah Sister I answer'd 't is true our Passions are so pure they know not a comparison but yet my Father whose commands I receiv'd last night will I am fearful resist this vast felicity for as soon as I had left you he sent for me to wait on him which I did and after he had walked two or three turns without speaking one word he at last told me Artabanes The gods having given me the blessings of a son I have found so high an one in it that I shall enjoin you to endeavor to partake of the like contentment I should think my death as full of contentment as my life has been of honor could I see you matcht in a Family that might assure me you should have a successor worthy of ours To effect this has been long my care and never till now could accomplish it It is but lately I had a motion made me which I much approve 't is the Princess Zephalinda Surena's Sister whose Virtues Beauty Person and Blood assures me you will think your self highly satisfi'd with such a Marriage at least I shall be I must confess this declaration did infinitely surprize me but least he should guess the true cause of my astonishment I told him In the first place Sir as I cannot but return my humble thanks for your care so I must not but acquaint you that I am not ignorant of how high a concernment Marriage is being happiness or misery till death dissolves the knot and since Felicity is onely opinion there is none can prescribe positive rules for the making it but every man must be his own judge contentment something resembling mens tastes that which is pleasing to one to another may be poyson The consequence being so great and the choice not to be made by Proxy I shall beseech you give me leave to learn whether that Princess be possessor of such perfectious as may assure me of such happiness this nothing but time can do and if she appears not such to me as she does to you I will then acquaint you with it and hope you will not compel me to make her and my self miserable As I am said he Artabanes indulgent to you so I expect that you be obedient unto me and then he withdrew himself into his Closet This was the substance of his proposal and my return to it for I did not hold it fit to acquaint him with my Passion till first we had advis'd together for I perceiv'd by his last words how his inclination stood and I too well knew how difficult he is to be removed when he has once taken up a resolution not to be so Then I besought Parthenissa to honor me with her advice since I had put all that was dear unto me to her ordering To which she told me Moneses humor which I am absolutely ignorant of being the chief thing in this affair by which we are to be guided makes me as unfit to advise as your knowledge of it renders you most capable Madam I reply'd that my Father is resolv'd to be obey'd is not more certain than that I am determin'd the contrary for in this case obedience is a crime so that the end being now resolv'd we have nothing to advise upon but the means that may best conduce unto it Which in my opinion Madam said Lindadory is that Artabanes make some seeming addresses to Zephalinda for Moneses is sooner vanquish'd by yielding than resistance and doubtless she cannot be so perfect especially being compar'd with the fair Parthenissa but he may find some defect in her person or humour which may make his declining her appear an effect of his judgement not disobedience for if my Father find his refusal of serving her roceeds from his being possest with a Passion for another he will impute my Brothers deserting Zephalinda to his Pre-ingagement and then I am so well acquainted with his disposition that it will be impossible to alter it Thus by concealing your Flames a little longer you may attain that happiness which by a speedy declaring of them may receive many obstructions if not
the Rampire I had the honour to be the nearest to him in this action where he did so many noble exploits that Fortune must have been as unjust as they say she is unconstant had she refus'd him this Victory No sooner had our Army perceiv'd how easy a passage my Prince had made than above 6000 of them enter'd by that way and without shedding any more Bloud rendred themselves absolute Masters of the City but whilst Spartacus was taking order to preserve the Salapians as much as in such an occasion was possible and that he had dispers'd many of his Officers and I with them to do the like as I was going through one of the fairest streets I saw a great confluence of Soldiers about a House whose Structure sufficently spoke the magnificence of the owner and being come thither I inquir'd what was the cause of it one of the Officers soon inform'd me that a company of young Gentlemen onely considerable for their resolutions had made so generous a defence and so slighted all Quarter that they were necessitated to make use of numbers to suppress them and that now at last they had kill'd all the Defendants but one who having gain'd a narrow Stair-case was yet making of it good with so much courage that he deplor'd the destroying as much as the effects of it and that he understood this generous man's name was Perolla You may easily imagine the hearing of that name gave me an unexpressible desire to save the Master of it and having conjur'd the Officer to run and acquaint Spartacus with it I thrust my self into the croud and by many actions which shew'd my concernment and haste commanded them in Spartacus's name to forbear any further attempt against so generous an Enemy This Order found a ready obedience as well out of the knowledge they had of the affection my dear Master honor'd me with as out of a desire to preserve Perolla who they now fought against rather to shew that an Army might kill him than out of any design they had to doe so At last by the help of our Officers I came to the place where the gallant Perolla stood who appear'd to me to be less weary with conquering than our Soldiers were with assaulting him and spight of that Bloud which endeavour'd to disfigure his Face I perceiv'd a Countenance so Spiritual and so Lovely together that I knew not which most to admire but my wonder was quickly rais'd to a higher pitch by the sight of a Lady who possest the several Beauties of shape stature complexion and features in so inaccessional a degree that an affection for her could not so properly be called Passion as Reason The contemplation of so many perfections had almost made me forget the design I was come for which fault I soon repair'd by addressing my self to the generous Perolla and telling him The great Spartacus Sir who cherishes Virtue whereever it is plac'd has sent me hither to preserve so great a possessor of it as you are for he believes your Gallantry is a stronger obligation on him to serve you than your imploying of it against him is to make him your Enemy Since reply'd Perolla that is your Generals Principle the fair Izadora here is a worthy object to employ that generosity on which I believe you cannot doubt when I assure you that her exterior parts are as far short of the Beauties of her Mind as the Passion I pay her is unworthy the Object for her sake I can beg though not for my own and will acknowledge you civility as great as your courages if you will promise me she shall receive an usage as proportionate to her merit as you can possibly pay her this engagement will be more obliging farr than my own safety and make that death which my sad fate now renders necessary as full of happiness as such a deprivation is capable of As I was about to answer him I was hindered by a great noise which turning about to discover the cause of I perceiv'd it was my Prince who with incredible haste was breaking through the Croud and came time enough to see the perfect Izadora fling her self at her Lovers feet and tell him Alas Perolla can you talk of happiness in death and yet think of leaving me behind you did you ever find any felicity in separation that you beg it even of your very Enemies or have you so low an opinion of my passion as to think I can survive you Ah Madam said Perolla interrupting and putting himself in her posture if you will lessen my trouble give me rather marks of your disdain than of your love since the vastness of that score now creates my sufferings which are so great they cannot be increast but by new additions of your favour Judge then if it be not time to dye when my highest blessing that of your Affection proves my torment Then reply'd Izadora my condition will as much require death as yours for 't is as impossible for me not to augment your sufferings whilst I live as 't is to survive you which since my sorrow will not permit let my Love anticipate the effects of it this will be more proportionate to my vows and cut off the tortures of a lingring life so Death the enemy to other passions may prove the friend of ours and conferr that union on us in the other life which our Fates and cruel Parents have deny'd us in this Izadora said Perolla flatter not my hopes with an union in the other World the gods which held me unworthy of you here will have much more cause to continue that belief when instead of your mortality they shall cloath you with the reward of Virtue alas then you will be fitter for their adoration than mine Can there be she reply'd a felicity in the other World for Izadora if she be divided from Perolla do not by such suggestions fright me into a hatred of Elizium which if what you say be true will lose its quality and fancy not the gods unjust onely to make us miserable no Perolla we have walkt too exactly in the paths of Virtue to fear Death and as an argument of this truth that minute which separates your Soul from the fair Mansion it now inhabits shall give mine freedom for to dye is a Blessing or a Curse if the first I will not be deny'd it too if the latter I hope 't will hinder your despair when you know I will involve my self in it This noble dispute had continu'd longer had I not told Perolla that Spartacus was come who indeed was so ravished with the Virtue of these Lovers that his admiration made many who knew him not suspect that his suspense proceeded from his being as absolutely vanquisht by the Eies of one of his Enemies as his Sword had been victorious over all the rest But Parthânissa was too deeply fixt to be defac'd and her Beauty had got so absoluâe an Empire over
Artabanes Heart that since her inconstancy could not destroy it nothing else could have that power But the Lookers on who took his Affection to Vertue to be a Passion of another quality were not long in that error for Izadora who perceiv'd Perolla's great Heart could not make any desires to my Prince esteem'd it an action fitter for her Sex to undertake and addressing her self to him put him out of those raptures their gallantry onely had created by saying Generous Spartacus did not that Title assure me you will receive a greater contentment in giving Perolla his Life than he can resent by receiving it and that I furnish you with an occasion to oblige your self more than him I should now have been silent and joyfully participate in his Fate rather than be indebted for his preservation to a less noble Enemy but your Gallantry is such that the cause of his being conquer'd takes away all resentment from the Effect Izadora had continu'd speaking but that her gallant Lover interrupted her crying out Oh Madam Can you think Perolla will live after he has been so unworthy and miserable as to obtain your safety by his Prayers whilst he had a Sword to purchase it add not so much to my misfortunes as to make your Affection the cause of all those Torments I must hereafter suffer should I now live no Izadora my death shall shew that nothing but the desire of your safety could have induc'd me so long to survive my Honor. Finishing those words he had flung himself upon the point of his Sword had not my Prince guessing at what he meant ran to him and though it were time enough to hinder his fatal determination yet it could not prevent a slight wound which manifested his sad intention Izadora on the other side thinking Perolla had been his own Executioner resolv'd to bear him company and with a courage which disdain'd exclaiming against Fate drew out a Ponyard which she had conceal'd for some such desperate exigency and cry'd out this stroke Perolla shall prove more kind than you and give us that union you would so cruelly deprive me of then lifting that fatal weapon she had doubtless perform'd what she spoke but that by thrusting away her Hand I made that wound light upon her Arm which she intended for her Heart but having mist her aim she was going to double her stroke had not I forced the Ponyard from her Whilst I was thus imploy'd Spartacus obtain'd an easy conquest over Perolla who no sooner heard his fair Mistress cruel determination than the bare sound of her death banish'd all thoughts of his own and having perceiv'd the service I had render'd him he flung himself at her feet and told her I will live Madam since this wretched life is so dear unto you and on that score I shall cherish it as much as I should detest it upon any other Judge Izadora then how precious your life is to me since to continue it I can be content to live in infamy Live generous Perolla said my Prince and since the belief of your being vanquisht is the cause of your despair banish that groundless doubt for you are so far from that condition that you are the Conqueror your Vertue has made you invincible nor was it fit the fair Izadora should derive her safety from a less noble cause I renounce all right to her preservation and the wonders which your Sword has hitherto acted shall be increast by this addition of remaining victorious in a Triumphant Army Ah Sir reply'd Perolla whilst you endeavour to make me a Conqueror you are doubly so your civility acts now what your courage did before both which are so unresistable that when I consider who you are I shall excuse my self in my misfortune and since you attribute miracles to my Sword I will make it perform one which is to yield it self up Perolla had satisfy'd this ceremony had not Spartacus so absolutely declin'd it that all those which were present easily perceiv'd his denial proceeded as much from his justice as his civility Whilst these two great Persons were by a thousand embraces confirming that friendship which they vow'd to each other Perolla unfortunately espy'd some Bloud runing out of the fair Izadora's Arm alas how fatal was that object like to prove his passion made him act many extravagancies which nothing but Love could render legitimate but when he remember'd the cause of her wound how soon was that new created harmony dissolv'd and having again found that all his attempts against his life were fruitless he prostrated himself at his fair Mistresses feet and told her Must I then Madam must I theâsee that precious Bloud shed for my sake and at the same time be render'd uncapable of emptying all my veins to bear it company and expiate my crime must you spill your Bloud to preserve my life whilst I make use onely of Prayers to preserve yours Ah Izadora be merciful and permit me by one stroke to end the miseries which these thoughts will still create Alas said Izadora has your rage so much blinded your Judgement as to think that what is the cause of this slight hurt if continu'd will prove its reparation rise rise Perolla and believe me if these few drops have either manifested my Passion or sav'd your Life they are too gloriously spilt to be deplor'd and if they create any resentments in you they should be of a contrary nature to those which now appear I must confess continued Simander that my memory does not contain all the particular passages of so rare an entertainment and therefore I will not so much wrong such virtuous persons as to cloath their conceptions and expressions in any other language than their own I will therefore in expectation of your pardon for so high an omission continue my discourse by acquainting you that after a friendship was contracted which was as perfect as the friends themselves were that Perolla's despair was absolutely conquer'd and that his and his Izadora's wounds were drest my Prince invited them to his Quarters out of that Massacre and deluge of Bloud which his new friend had made and though his many wounds render'd the least motion both dangerous and painful yet he thought the greatest torments would be in his separation from the fair Izadora and therefore having made his pain appear the less to make his happiness really the greater he assur'd my Prince that without any inconveniency he would wait upon her and him to those Lodgings he had assign'd her whither as they were going they might perceive some barbarous Soldiers driving before them two Gentlemen whose Age and Countenance merited a different usage though their past actions did not and I dare avow though their sufferings were great and that the manner in which they were inflicted was as sensible as the pain yet they did bear them with much joy for each of them by the knowledge of his own usage guessing at that of
his Enemies found his satisfaction in his very torments But they were no sooner perceiv'd by Izadora and Perolla than both of them with many Tears and passionate actions begged my Prince that their Irons might be taken off which was no sooner motion'd than granted though those which kept them alledged that they were the Men which had spilt most of their companions bloud at the assault then my dear Master desir'd Perolla to acquaint him what high relation could produce such rare demonstrations of affection as he expret at their captivity to which he reply'd Sir I must acknowledge that Gentleman shewing Blacius to be the fair Izadora's Father and the other shewing Pacuvius to be mine though truly they have retain'd nothing but the name and the power of Parents they are those which we have reason to hate and yet cannot and though they have stifl'd all the dictates of nature and oppos'd the purest flame that ever burned yet we preserve out Duties to them so entire that we resent any affliction which befalls them with a grief proportionable to their joy if the self-same accidents had arriv'd to us Spartacus being inform'd of their qualities saluted them with much respect but he perceiv'd assoon as they had learn'd to whose intercession they owed that favour that the means of their deliverance supprest the contentment of it This action made him extreamly admire what strange causes they were which could have so unusual an operation and having found at last that each of them rely'd upon the justice of his cause he desir'd to hear their difference to which the Fathers willingly consented as being confident in their right and having heard a true character of my Prince's Justice as on the other side Izadora and Perolla willingly submitted to it on the same grounds The next morning then being appointed for this Audience my Prince having conducted our virtuous Lovers to his own Quarters which when he had surrender'd them and there as a mark of his confidence and friendship acquainted Perolla with the word he withdrew himself to settle and secure his new Conquest leaving them in as high an admiration of his Gallantry as he had conceived of theirs The next day was not many hours old but he was inform'd by the messenger he had sent to complement the generous Lovers That they expected with much impatiency the Judge of their Felicity or Misery to satisfie their longing he waited immediately on them bringing with him their Fathers where finding by the Chirurgeons that so long a disourse as their fortunes must amount unto might prejudice Perolla's health they prevail'd with Izadora to undertake the Relation which a general silence inviting her to perform she began it in these words PARTHENISSA THE FIRST PART BOOK IV. The Story of Izadora and Perolla I Must Sir as a friend to Truth as well as to our Fathers inform you That their hatred is not a purchas'd but an hereditary one and bears so antient a date that the original cause of it as absolutely forgotten as the sad effects it has produc'd are recent that what was but passion or resentment in the beginners of this fatal difference has turn'd to nature in their Children that our Parents have inherited their predecessors Malice as well as their Estates and as if fortune had hitherto affoded instruments to nourish this sad difference in seven descents successively our Ancestors have always left heirs male to perpetuate this quarrel whereby many of our Families have sacrific'd their lives to the blind rage of the authors of them but at last the gods having given Pacuvius no other heir than the generous Perolla and Blacius than the unfortunate Izadora all those which were concern'd in these domestick differences began to make it their hopes as well as 't was their prayers that by an union of us two this antient animosity might be extinguisht but alas the higher Powers it seems had otherwise decreed for Blacius more troubl'd that he wanted a Son to inherit his hatred than his estate imagin'd since my Sex exempted me from those violent resentments which he held so necessary to his blood he ought to collect in himself all the resentments of those which should have succeeded him and act some design suitable to his hatred and despair that the effects of it might be always recent enough in Perolla's Family to supply the expiration of his own Pardon me Sir said Izadora addressing herself to her Father if I speak those words which you have your self so often reiterated And on the other side Pacuvius seeing but one man of his Enemies alive reâolv'd to be reveng'd on him in such away that the manner of his death should be as deplorable to his friends as the very extinction of his Family I must beg your pardon to Sir said Izadora addressing herself to Pacuvius because you are the Father of my Perolla though what I say your professions as well as actions have endeavoured abundantly to justifie These Sir continu'd Izadora speaking to Spartacus were the reasons and resolutions of our Parents when Perolla and I were in an age as innocent as that we now are in is miserable and as a further evincement of their hatred I have been often told that Blacius was angry with nature for having given me this little Beauty least it might tempt Perolla and Pacuvius was the like at the inevitable charms of his virtuous son lest they should raise in me a Passion which might create that union they so abundantly fear'd therefore what education they thought fit to give us was in private in which if we made any progress Pacuvius and Blacius thought it as great an injury to have it publish'd as other Parents would to have had it conceal'd Judge Sir on the other side if ever there could be a higher hatred than that which subverted the dictates of Blood and Nature and on the other if there could be a greater affection than what conveted antipathy into sympathy I must before I proceed any further acquaint you That though Salapia and Capua be near thirty miles distant yet Pacuvius has a vast Estate there as well as here and as if all things had contributed to nourish the distraction of our Families Blacius has the like there too lest as I believe by being separated their rage might want that flame which the sight of each did inspire To hinder me therefore from the knowledge of Perolla's increasing excellencies Pacuvius sent him to Capuas and remov'd thither himself shortly after where whilst his gallant Son was making a large proficiency in all those realities and ornaments which have since made him the greatest glory of our Times Hanniball that victorius Captain who had made Spain his first Conquest for the Carthaginians undertook Italy should be the next and having past such dangers which to believe is almost as hard as to have overcome them and suffer'd miseries to invade the Romans which no Nation else would have undergone but
to have avoided them he at last scal'd the Walls of Italy the Alpes which indeed was a very strange thing most men believing it a task as difficult to enter this Countrey that way as to subdue it when gotten in and having with Fire and Sword made wayes where natures self had deny'd them in four set Battles at Ticinum Trebia Thasimene and Cannae vanquish'd the Consuls Puicus Cornelius Scipio Sempronius Longus Caius Flaminius Terentius Varro and Paulus Aemilius whose defeat invited the Attelanian the Calatinians the Samnites the Brutians the Lucanians and divers other people of Italy to submit to that yoke they esteem'd it impossible to resist and had the great Captain follow'd Maherball's the General of his Horse advice and marched directly to Rome he had without all dispute possest himself of that triumphant City which since has given Laws to those that might have impos'd theirs on her but having mist his opportunity and thereby the Romans having chang'd their fears into nobler Passions he apply'd himself wholly to the Conquest of Capua the second Rome where Pacuvius's hatred to Blacius soon furnish'd Hanniball with an opportunity proportionable to his desires For my Father has been always so inviolable a friend to the Romans that he almost rejoyc'd at heir defeats since they furnish'd him with an occasion to jâstifie he was ty'd to them not to their posterity and though Pacuvius were very much their friend yet he was much more his Revenges which Passion was so predominant that it made him act things both his reason and interest condemn'd and which no other consideration could have seduc'd him to To confirm this truth when he found that Blacius was unalterable to this Empire and that their probable ruine did rather confirm than shake him he resolv'd under an appearance of securing himself and Capua to ruine my Father to which action he was the apter to incline by Hanniball's Letters which assur'd him if by his power Capua were deliver'd into his the Citizens should find no alteration but the difference of their Protectors which small change should be recompenc'd sufficiently with many Immunities the Româns had deny'd them and that for his own particular he would make him no positive offers since that were to confine to certain Articles the recompence of his merit and put limits to those rewards which he resolv'd should have none I must do Pacuvius that right as to profess I believe though these glittering promises advanc'd the putting his design in execution yet his revenge was the onely cause of it which made him determine rather to ruine his Countrey and Enemy together than preserve both Alas What miserable events has that blind fury produc'd and How has it darken'd those many other virtues which would else so clearly shine in our Fathers The fair Izadora could not speak these words without shedding some Tears which did not onely abundantly manifest the goodness of her disposition but as much prov'd that grief it self when it dwelt in her face could not but relish of the place in which it resided but this disorder being vanquish'd she thus continu'd Pacuvius had no sooner recev'd Hanniball's Letters than he assembl'd the chiefest of Capua where Blacius then was and by too great an Eloquence for so ill a subject so represented the forlorn condition of the Romans the triumphant one of the Carthaginians the advantages of accepting the Conquerors offers and the miseries of declining them that at last the Capuans fears and Hanniballs Armies advancing to besiege them helping his destructive Oratory all the Citizens resolv'd to buy their safety by the loss of their Faiths and present their new Master with their Keyes and Liberty and though Blacius by a world of arguments endeavour'd to divert so fatal a determination yet all the advantage he deriv'd from it was to manifest his affection to the Romans and to make it evident that the Capuans submitting to the Carthagineans was an action as opposite to reason as honesty Magius also my Fathers Brother betwixt whom there was always as great a difference in humours as nearness in blood in this design join'd with Blacius but to no effect the Capuans having shut their ears to all motions but those of becoming slaves to Hanniball who being informed by Pacuvius that Capua was at his devotion made into it a triumphant Entry many thousands of people resorting thither to behold that Man in whom such virtue dwelt and upon whom fortune so constantly attended that whilst his courage was subduing his Enemies in one place his Fame effected the like in another But whilst these solemnities were performing Blacius withdrew himself into this city more out of apprehention that his death would be pleasing to Pacuvius than to decline sacrificing himself for the Roman Empire But Magius continu'd still at Capua and his Counsels being told to Hanniball by Perolla's Father so exasperated him that as a testimony of his fury and power he demanded Magius of the Senate whose fear clouding their justice deliver'd him up and who immediately he caus'd to be executed in the Market-place For this Death Hanniball's cruelty was not so much condemn'd as Pacuvius'S whose hatred to our blood was so exorbitant that though Magius did ever oppose Blacius and was always oppos'd by him yet the being my Fathers Enemy was so prevalent with Pacuvius to save him as being his Brother was to condemn him Thus by this sad tragedy the Capuans found sufficient cause to repent though not to repair their inconstancy But now Sir I shall tell you a passage which perhaps will be as much admir'd for the gallantry as the rareness of it Hanniball who indeed had contracted a real friendship with Pacuviâs either as esteeming his interest in the Capuans necessary to confirm and augment his Conquests or his virtues worthy that honor or both but as a mark of his esteem and trust he lodg'd in his house without the ordinary guards which attended his person In the mean time Perolla who always had a high inclination to the people of Rome and consequently detested his Fathers actions began to project the death of Hanniball in which nothing made him irresolute but the violating of the Laws of hospitality and since the consequence was of so generous a design it will not be amiss to acquaint you with some of his reasonings before he elected it What said he to himself shall I kill the upholder and revenger of our blood Shall his friendship to my Father be the cause of his ruine and Shall he receive his death from those with whom he trusts his life Shall I to revenge the Romans stain my own reputation with a Murther and ruine my own Family Who cannot 'scape being sacrific'd to the Carthagineans fury Shall Rome owe her safety to a cause which if she approv'd rendr'd her unworthy of it Shalt thou kill a Conqueror whom the gods have freed from their own immediate punishment Thunder by covering him with Laurel Shalt thou
the day following towards the evening beat up a Quarter of the Carthagineans and by the death of 700 Libyans made a Triumphant entry into the Town presenting Manitius the Governor and Friend to Perolla both with a Relief and a Victory which so rais'd his dejected Soldiers that they brake off the Treaty of surrender they had almost concluded 'T was in this memorable Siege that Perolla did such glorious things that as little as I am concern'd in affairs of that nature they reacht my Ears and I must with guilty blushes acknowledge that the hatred I had to his Bloud made me look upon those actions with Envy which I shold have consider'd with Admiration But after six months Siege the same fate which attended him at Pettely follow'd him at Cassilinum and though the Famine was extream pressing yet the Romans notwithstanding they were under the command of Marcellus called for his Courage the Sword of the Roman Empire by the Dictators going to Rome to take new Auspices yet he durst not hazard a battel for their preservation The Inhabitants and Soldiers of the Garrison for all Perolla scorn'd it finding their sad condition privately offer'd to surrender upon Quarter which would not so much as be listn'd unto by Hannibal for their abrupt breaking off their first Treaty when the Reliques of Perolla's Forces reliev'd them At last though they receiv'd some Provisions which Marcellus in Barrels sent them floating down the River Vulturnus yet that stratagem being too soon discover'd they were constrain'd to feed upon Mice Rats and such Roots as they could dig out of their Counterscarfs and Meadows under their Walls which being perceiv'd by the Carthagineans he caus'd all those Fields to be plow'd up but that was no sooner done than Perolla and his Pettelines by a Sally sowed Seed in their Enemies labour Hannibal being told it only spoke these few words Must then that which I design to strave the Romans with prove their Harvest and immediately sent Manitius and Perolla Blanks to write their Conditions in which they being as invincible in Civility as Courage return'd and immediately came out without making any His usage indeed was generous but he would not see Perolla lest as he said his Passion might force him to that violence which his Reason detested Hannibal thus became Master of Cassilinum yet at his entry into it he solemnly vowed he was more troubl'd to have Perolla for his Enemy than pleas'd with his Victory As for the Garrison they march'd directly to the Dictators Army where Pacuvius's Son was receiv'd both by him who was then return'd and by Marcellus with an entertainment which relisht nothing of the hatred they paid his Father The Senate too to gratify him order'd that all his Soldiers during their lives should have double pay and though they needed such courages yet they gave them five years vacation and for his own particular they order'd his Statue to be be erected in Preneste which was the next considerable Town but he with a Modesty great as his Merit refus'd it himself and had that Honour plac'd upon Manitius thereby declining the reward increasing his Title to it Perolla having by such memorable exploits run through his Prentiship in Arms was very desirous to wait upon his Father who he was confident had buried his disobedience in those generous Actions which had proceeded from it Pacuvius then liv'd in this City which was under the command of Hannibal and because his Sons Actions had been as fatal to the Carthagineans as advantageous to the Romans he resolv'd to perform that visit and duty with as much secrecy as was possible therefore he came late alone into the Town lest a Retinue might give some suspition of his quality and discover what he endeavour'd to conceal but as he crost a Street that was not far from Blacius his House he perceiv'd by the light of a couple of Torches which lay upon the ground by the death of two had carried them a Gentleman who with much courage oppos'd himself against four that assaulted him the inequality of the number and the courage of the Defendant made Perolla who never valu'd his life in the protection of the oppressed resolve to help him that so highly needed it and truly had he never so little longer delay'd his assistance he had been onely obliging in design for by that time he was lighted from his Horse and had drawn out his Sword one of the four Assailants had gotten the single Gentleman under him and was seeking out the defects of his Coat of Mail to have taken away his life But Perolla by a powerful stroke cleft the wretches Head in two and whilst his companions were amaz'd at so unexpected a relief and so fatal a blow Perolla gave my Father for it was he indeed leave to get up and then presenting him with the Sword which he had lost by his fall told him Here Sir the gods will defend your quarrel which I judge is good because your enemies relye onely on the number for their success Blacius had no time to make him any return of this civility for the three Murtherers having resign'd their admiration to take up their first resolution fell so vigorously upon my Father and his generous Second that had they not been under the protection of Divinity they had certainly miscarried But Perolla who had to deal with two of the three received some wounds which yet were so far from endangering his life that they did but hasten the loss of theirs which had bestow'd them on him for with a furious thrust he dispatched the most importunate of them and in a word after he had once again saved and reliev'd Blacius they made an end of the other too As soon as my Father found himself freed from his enemies he came to Perolla and told him Sir that I am indebted to you for my life is not a greater truth than that I shall never make any scruple to lose it in your service but lest my ignorance might when occasion serves render me uncapable of paying you that debt I shall beg to be acquainted with your name that by my future gratitude you may be convinc'd the obligations you have laid upon one that was unknown to you were not for all mis-plac'd Perolla though he knew not my Father yet not daring to discover himself reply'd The service I have paid you is so much the duty of one Gentleman to another that it merits not an acknowledgement and to assure you this is not a Compliment but a Truth I am resolved to conceal my Name least by acquainting you with it you might imagine I expected some further return then desiring to know if he had any other Commands to impose on him he began to take his leave but Blacius who admir'd his Civility as much as Courage could not satisfy himself with such an answer and therefore told him I must rather believe that some secret business draws you hither
and that not knowing who I am you apprehend my privacy if this be the true cause I beseech you remove it for you could not think me worthy your defence if after having sav'd my life you doubted I could disclose any thing which might be prejudicial to my Protector Perolla was about to reply when alas on a sudden the fresh colour in his Cheeks began to wear Deaths Livery his knees too to tremble and at last his Spirits failing he fell without speech or motion at my Fathers Feet this sudden change made him suspect some private hurts were the cause of it he therefore open'd his Doublet and immediately discover'd a Sea of Bloud which issued from a large wound that had pierc'd his Body through and through My Father instantly with what Linnen he could tear stop'd the bleeding as much as he could but having in vain attempted to bring him from the swound he was fallen into was running to his own House which as I told you was not far off to call for help but he was not many paces in the way to this Duty and Charity when he heard one of the four Mutherers fetch a deep groan The passionate desire he had to learn from whom he had so narrowly escap'd made him pluck off the Vizard of him that was yet alive for I forgot to tell you they were all disguis'd in Antick Cloaths and Faces who no sooner receiv'd the benefit of the fresh Air than he open'd his Eyes and gave some small symptoms of life which though they were false ones yet he lived long enough to beg my Fathers pardon and to acquaint him that Pacuvius had ingag'd them by excessive rewards to undertake their crime Blacius having receiv'd this information went instantly to his own house brought some Servants with him and by their help carried the generous Perolla home whose wounds he caus'd the Chirurgions to dress before he would take any care of a slight one he had receiv'd In the mean time the Alarm of my Fathers danger and return was brought to my Chamber as I was undressing my self which I no sooner heard than I came running up just as the Chirurgeons had by strong Cordials brought Perolla to himself My Father when I came in led me to his Bedside and told me if my life be any way considerable to you you are indebted to this Gentleman for it who by the hazard of his own has preserv'd mine Sir I reply'd I hope you have so just an opinion of my duty and affection as to think that question needs no answer but as for this Gentlemans Gallantry I believe he will have no cause to repent it if at least by the hazarding onely of one Life he thinks himself sufficiently recompensed by acquiring those of a whole Family I shall renounce any of mine said Blacius that ever decline what you have spoken and for your particular addressing himself to me I command you to be as concern'd in him as if I were in his condition for I shall judge of your respect to me by your care of my Friend Then embracing Perolla he told him some importunate affairs Sir draw me from you for a while for which I must beg your Pardon but till my return I have injoyn'd my Daughter to supply my place Madam said Perolla interrupting the fair Izadora I shall with your permission acquaint the generous Spartacus what happen'd whil'st I continu'd in your Fathers House which will not only ease you of some part of your Relation but inform you of particulars which which perhaps your Modesty might injure you by silencing Spartacus having made her the same request and obtain'd her leave Perolla thus continu'd Your may Sir justly wonder that to those high civilities of the perfect Izadora and her Father she acquainted you with none of my returns and truly if she had she must have made them her self for I was so ravisht with her Beauty that all I then was capable of was of admiring it for though she was not then in that advantagious dress which Rome so much commends yet the habit she then had on was order'd with such a pleasing negligence that no Art was able to equal it and if her Beauty had been of a nature which could admit of addition by Cloaths those she then wore one thought would have increast hers I must ingeniously confess that coming from Death into so much brightness I fancy'd my self in those Plains where our Learned Men make us believe we shall dwell after this Life and I dare boldly affirm if we believ'd so much real felicity there as I then resented that place would be better inhabited than it is I shall beseech you said Izadora interrupting him and speaking to Spartacus to remember the acknowledgement he makes of his judgement being troubl'd that what unmerited raptures he delivers of me you may attribute them to their true cause and not to that unto which he ascribes them Then addressing himself unto Perolla with a little smile she told him If the use you make of my permission to tell part of our Adventures be only thus to abuse your friend I shall immediately recall it and rather elect to injure our Story by my relation than suffer those blushes which your partiality will still create Madam said Spartacus you are so far above flattery that whilst your generous Lover praises you all he can you need apprehend nothing but that he will come short of Truth To which Perolla answer'd with a look that spoke his doubts whether what Spartacus had said proceeded from his Justice or a more dangerous Cause you have Sir in this as fully declar'd my opinion as if we had but one Heart and that too inspir'd with the same beauty which is so accomplisht that if Izadora will forgive me all faults which detract too much from her I shall not need her pardon for those of a contrary nature Spartacus by a little redness testified the construction he made of Perolla's first words but the apprehension of being deceiv'd in his opinion and the resolution he had taken up of soon suppressing all suspitions of that quality made him continue silent which invited Izadora's Servant to prosecute what he had begun Since said he my want of expressions for so transcendent an object and her commands do both bind me from giving you a character of that by words which your Eyes are better able to perform I will onely acquaint you That though I remain'd a while without speaking yet it proceeded not from any new fits of fainting but from having all my faculties employ'd to receive those flames she then shot into me and truly I found the fire so pleasing and so just that I made not any excuse for introducing it in the room of that Heart I had till then preserv'd for the fair Amazora the difference betwixt them being so great that could I have suspended my Election I should have concluded my Judgement as dead as the first
Magins was put to death to please Hannibal I made use of it in Pettely to raise him enemies If Blacius life was attempted I preserv'd it by the hazard of my own and if Capua was deliver'd up to the Carthagineans I became to him that did it from a Son an Enemy and so wedded my Countreys quarrel that thereby Hannibal lost more Men than perhaps the taking that great City would have cost him I must confess reply'd Blacius you have done much for me and for the Romans and upon both those scores you have receiv'd no unfruitful return since for those services you did our Empire I preserve you not without an eminent hazard from the knowledge of the enemies of it and for what you have done my particular I suspend those resentments which your Fathers treachery highly invites me to execute and because my debt to you is a Life as I think nothing can be a sufficient payment but an obligation of the same nature so after your receiving that satisfaction I can be no longer esteem'd indebted to you Sir I answer'd if you will tye your self to what your last words now profest I shall as highly approve of your proceeding as of my own happiness but your silencing of your own resentments and the concealing me from the Carthagineans is no preservation unless you permit me also to be a servant to the fair Izadora That is the onely means to save my life and without it all the other you can mention will be rather miseries than favours neither can a man say that he preserves his Enemies life because he exempts him from the Sword or Poyson if at last he makes him dyesome other way what you have promis'd only frees me from two ways of ruine to cast me into a third that is more certain and painful than either No no Sir I continu'd if you banish me from Izadora the highest effects of yours or Hannibal's hatred will be pleasing and cut me from those languishing torments your refusal will create I have already told you said Blacius that you must not expect Izadora who I will sooner marry to her Grave than to any enemy of your Family but because you shall have no occasion of condemning me of cruelty I will truly state those obligations you pretend to have conferr'd on me and those I have really plac'd on you I acknowledge you sav'd my life and `t is likely I deriv'd that obligation from your ignorance but I did preserve yours after my knowledge of you had you the invitations of oppressed innocency to procure me your assistance I had a just revenge to disswade me from pardoning you and yet did it The glory of your action was your reward but the mercy of mine may probably prove my punishment besides what you did for me was no more favour than to draw me out of a danger wherein you had cast me for I had not needed the assistance of one of your Family had not the treachery of the chief of it been the occasion so that you can never mention the obligation you did me without discovering your Fathers infamy As you sav'd me from murthering so you hindr'd Pacuvius from being a murtherer You preserv'd my life from being a sacrifice to violence but by it you hinder'd your Fathers from being one to Justice and whilst you onely defeated him of his revenge you exempted him both from the guilt and punishment of of it so that you have oblig'd Pacuvius more than me And since you pleaded that anothers crime ought not to be accounted yours so your Virtues ought not to be attributed to your Family to which I am so irreconcileable an Enemy that it lies not in the power of any one of it to reconcile me to it No young man he continu'd after what I have done you cannot condemn me of ingratitude without practising your self what you would blame in me Sir I reply'd though I believe I could answer all your objections yet the means I must take to clear those already mentioned will create a greater than any I shall confute which is my disputing against you but if all those arguments you use be to prove your denying me Izadora is not an effect of your ingratitude but your justice I will abundantly confess it and declare besides if you fancy otherwise you do as great a wrong to me as you do to my Felicity in refusing my passionate desires I had no sooner ended those words but that Blacius calling the fair Izadora who had been present at all this dispute and in whose face you might have known the several tempers of it told her I am glad Perolla acknowledges my depriving him of his happiness is an action of Justice I hope then no man can condemn my revenge when Justice concurs with my inclination to confer it on me I do therefore Izadora conjure thee by whose wrongs his Family has done ours by thy Uncle Magius Bloud which Pacuvius sacrific'd to his hatred by thy Fathers life which he would have destroyed upon the same score and by the glory of so sitting a revenge scorn his Flame and let him find in thy hatred the punishment of his Fathers to all thy Family At this cruel command the perfect Izadora became white as innocence and after her disorder was a little past casting down her eyes to the ground she thus reply'd Alas Sir your commands are come too late for before I knew who he was I gave him so large at Empire over me that 't is impossible to recall it neither when I consider him bath'd in bloud for your preservation rejoycing at his wounds because they hinder'd you from any that were dangerous losing his Father to preserve his Fathers enemy and when you assur'd me you would judge of my affection to you by that I should pay him I cannot repent what I have done my friendship for Perolla is deriv'd from my obedience to you and my gratitude to him who can then condemn a production from such noble causes beside he has nothing that 's enemy to us but his name his actions are not for by them I enjoy a Father Can you then have so low an opinion of my resentments as to believe any consideration can make me hate the giver of so great a blessing if then my affection for him be a sin you will I hope pardon it by the knowledge of what occasions it I do therefore Sir conjure you by that precious life you owe his gallantry by the Bloud of Magius he has so generously reveng'd by those services he has paid our Empire and by the glory you will purchase by vanquishing your Enemy as you term him without revenge permit Perolla to divest you of that prejudicate opinion you have for all his Family or to assume a confidence by his repeated services to remove that high aversion you have for his unfortunate extraction Though these words in themselves were strangely moving yet they were deliver'd with an action
liberty of going from their own they could thereby ruine or at least interrupt ours Oh How I did also inwardly exclaim against my Fathers Tyranny who pretended a power over me after that by death the Bond was cancel'd that that he would be so much an Enemy to my felicity as to deprive me of mine he would involve himself in the like Fate But whil'st I was preparing such an answer for this imanary Ghost as might render my disobedience a justice I was diverted by a noise so confused and loud that that death it seem'd to threaten had been rather to be elected than avoided since therein I had been exempted from hearing so much horror After half an hours suspence and fear a Servant of my Fathers came into my Chamber with a lighted Torch and to remove my doubts told me he believ'd that 't was some false alarum which Hannibal had given to try the readiness of his Soldiers for there was no Enemy near enough to give him a true one and whil'st he was fortifying this conjecture by some other allegations we heard a noise in the Garden and suddenly after I perceiv'd a Gentlemen all arm'd and cover'd with blood coming towards me and leading another whose hands were loaden with Irons As soon as the first was come to my Beds-side he kneel'd down and told me Your commands Madam have not onely given me the desire but the power to serve you and since my hazarding a life that I fear is but indifferent to you I have preserv'd one that you highly value I shall find in the action the Reward Then rising and turning towards the Prisouer he continu'd You are at liberty Sir and if I had had the power to free you from your Chains as well as from your Prison you had long ere now been eas'd of that burthen but that office I must leave to some happier hand lest by my continuance here the joy of your freedom might be extinguish'd by your knowledg of him that gave it you Then faluting us with a humility as great as his obligation without staying for any answer he went out of the house the same way he came in and left us in so deep an astonishment that for a long while we could not get out of it The first thing I perceiv'd after my amazement vanisht was that the fetter'd Prisoner was Blacius ah How pleasing was that surprize and how I detested my disorder which had so long suspended and separated me from my joy which wrought so powerfully on me that forgetting the posture I was in I flung my self out of my Bed and at my Fathers feet by a thousand irregular actions testified the greatness of my satisfaction which the more I reflected on the less cause I found to suppress any effects which proceeded from or illustrated it neither can my amazement for the greatness and suddeness of this alteration be attributed to the weakness of my Sex since Blacius whose courage had out-brav'd many dangers resented a resembling one And 't was a long while and by many extravagancies that I withdrew him from his which when I perceiv'd entirely vanisht I embrac'd his knees and cry'd out You are then alive Sir and the gods have heard my reiterated prayers and tears for your deliverance Yes Izadora he reply'd I am once again at liberty and doubtless owe that blessing immediately to those powers to whom thou hast address thy weepings for certainly those prodigies of valor acted for my relief were too much transcending a humane strength But alass he continu'd turning about and perceiving none in the Chamber but his unfortunate Daughter What is become of my Protector He is gone Sir I answer'd and his departure has left as high a testimony of his modesty here as even now he did of his valor in the Prison His modesty said Blacius is as injurions as his courage was obliging for in acquainting me with a new Gallantry he has depriv'd me of expressing my gratitude for the old If I reply'd he could but hear your resentments in his favour I am so well acquainted with his disposition that I dare assure you he would esteem not only too plentiful a reward for what he has already done but for those services he hopes to pay you in the future but the apprehension he had that the same fate which attended Perolla might wait on him and that what his valor did create your knowledge of his condition might destroy made him so suddenly vanish and rather elect to leave you a good opinion of him by not knowing his Name than hazard the contrary by a revealing of it I am then he reply'd still so unhappy that to know and not to know to whom I am indebted for my life must prove an equal misfortune No no Izadora he continu'd I conjure you by all the gods if you are acquainted with my Deliverer and would have me relish what he has given me inform me who he is and where he resides for rather than leave him so ill a character of my resentments I will repeat greater dangers than he has freed me from and to assure him of my Gratitude I will undertake it may be to perform actions of as transcendent a quality as those which created it This I command you as a duty and this I beg of you as a charity neither can you suspect in this discovery the same destiny which attended Perolla the difference of the action justly silencing those apprehensions For though it be true that the ends are the same yet the ways are extremely different Perolla perhaps was surpriz'd into his gallantry This acted it with premeditation that freed me onely from the hands of an apparent violence but this from a seeming Justice That did but the duty of every man in suppressing Murtherers who are the destroyers of humane Society and who knows whether his seeing my distress did not put him in mind of what his own might be as soon as my death had given those that were acting it in the liberty and the power and so that which you term his giving me life might be in order to preserve his own But this generous Stranger had no motive to invite his assistance but his gallantry which makes him attempt an action where the undertaking of it is as great a wonder as the performance and has thereby so bound me to gratitude that I believe were it Perolla that had thus obliged me I should almost suppress my just resentments for his Family and that performance which gave me my life and liberty might give him my affection and friendship Sir I reply'd Perolla's actions are of too high a quality to need any commendations but what they carry in themselves but were not my duty more prevalent with me than truth I should perhaps aver that your comments can no more diminish their natural luster than mine can add unto it but since you are pleas'd to place so right an esteem upon this Strangers services and
express as earnest a desire of knowing as of being grateful to him I will no longer conceal him 'T is Perolla Sir That same Perolla whose former obligations you have lessen'd but to increase the present 'T is he whose gallantry were it capable of being supprest had doubtless been so by your ingratitude Pardon me if dare say what you did act But he from your cruelty deduces arguments to convince you of his affection and friendship by not declining your preservation when dangers as great as your hatred threatned whosoever should attempt it 'T is then that he with an unimitable virtue exposes his own life to redeem yours which by a sad experiment he knew was the chiefest obstruction in his felicity Give me leave Sir too a little to repine that you could fancy any other could undertake and act so much for you and certainly were not your judgment clouded with a prejudicated opinion of him the gallantry of the performance and the modesty and humility of the Performer would have been a certainer information than my words that it was Perolla in whose behalf I beg you to practice now you know him what you promis'd when you only knew his services for all returns but that of your affection and friendship will be as short of his merit as both those will abundantly reward it Blacius when I had ended speaking after having fetcht two or three turns about the room with an angry look reply'd I should have âooner known 't was Perolla by the great rate you set upon his services than by the services themselves and if I plac'd a higher Character on them than they merited 't was only to draw a confession from you which I thought nothing else could perform My design has succeeded and in those very expressions which you intended should create my affection for your lover I perceive the continuation of yours to him and in so high a disobedience to my commands that that death I am freed from turns to a misfortune and forces me to tell you if you persevere in this criminal passion I shall embrace Hannibal's resentment rather as a cure than a punishment Alas Sir I answer'd exceedingly surpriz'd Must then Perolla's saving your life and my gratitude for it be look'd upon as Crimes And must an obligation from an enemy which should raise the greatness of it turn it to an offence Since these are the constructions you make of his actions 't is high time for him to despair since 't is as impossible for him not to offend you if obligations be an offence as for you with justice to give his performances that name If what he has done for me said Blacius be an obligation from thence you may derive a proof of my affection to you which had rather endure the name of ungrateful than by giving you away free my self from that aspersion But do not proceed in this disputing against my resolutions which may force me to hate what I desire to love You are too just I reply'd to hate without a cause and 't is on that assurance I dare become Perolla's Advocate since his fear of offending you makes him decline being his own do not then Sir employ that breath he has preserv'd to destroy him that gave it you his service merits an esteem if not a reward and it may be others will say you do as high an injustice in thus using your Deliverer as he did that put you in a condition to need his help To which Blacius told me That Life which is now I hope out of Hannibal's power and which you say I owe Perolla's Affection to me was rather an argument of his own to himself he knew the justice of those resentments I had for his could not be silenc'd but by actions as great as those which created them and that whilst they continu'd he could no more obtain my permission of possessing you than you without it so that my deliverance being the best way to that end he perform'd it and thereby no more oblig'd me than a Passenger does the Commander of a Ship by saving what could not perish without involving him in the common ruine so that his being a friend to himself only made him a friend to me Sir I reply'd he that sav'd your life once and could not by that obligation suppress your hatred had no reason by a repetition of that favour to expect a better return so that his experience convincing him your aversion was not to be taken away he might have sufffer'd your life to have been so by Hannibal who had both the power and will to do it especially that being the onely obstacle to his desires had not his affection to one of your family inclin'd him upon that score to love all of it This gallantry shews so handsomly that I hope 't will invite yours to an imitation especially too since by the effects of it you receive a benefit whose greatness cannot be equall'd but by that injustice which makes you endeavor his ruine that conferr'd it on you He that by saving my life said Blacius extremely mov'd found in that action a gratitude so extraordinary as to suppress a revenge where my power to perform it was not greater than the justice which invited me to it might reasonably hope that by a succession of services of that nature I might in time be induc'd as well to silence my hatred as I had my revenge so that what you attribute to my Enemies gallantry might be better ascrib'd to his reason and judgement My death too had been so far from freeing all his obstructions that it had but created greater for I had so order'd it in my Will that if you had married him you should have broke those Tyes and Conjurations which had render'd you unworthy of his Bed or if his Passion had attributed your want of duty to your Father to be a higher argument of your affection to your Lover yet you should have brought him nothing but the bare Izadora for apprehending by what you have done what you might do I had upon so transcendent a violation of those commands which I would have seal'd with my last breath given to another all my estate which I believe whatever advantageous and partial opinion you have of your self makes Perolla as much your Servant as your Beauty If no one I reply'd had a greater value of me than I have of my self Perolla would soon have as low an opinion of me as you have of his Services and truly when I consider the largeness of your Fortune and the little Title I have to any perfections which are capable of inviting so transcendent a happiness as his Affection I am apt enough to believe I derive that felicity from the first of those motives but on the other side when I reflect upon those sacred protestations he has made me that his passion was created and is nourish'd by my Beauty and Vertue and from no secondary causes I am
at least an hour which was not yet half expirâd I received this assurance with exceeding joy and immediately conjur'd him him to conduct me to the cruel Hannibal who he had told me was an assistant at Blacius Tragedy The good old man would have disswaded me from seeing an object which would but augment my grief but I begg'd that favour of him with such earnest words and expressions that at last he yielded to me but it was so long e're I could vanquish him that what he designed for a proof of his care had like to have produced a strange and contrary effect For just as I came under the Scaffold I perceived my poor Father preparing himself for the fatal stroak with a courage which render'd him unworthy of it so sad a spectacle made me hasten to Hannibal's seat where at last I came and with a countenance more suitable to my resentment than condition I presented my self unto him and told him Sir I beseech you command a suspension of Blacius's death till I have acquainted you with some things that may perhaps induce you to pardon him The Carthagineans who then consider'd nothing but my Sex and motion with a look as barbarous as his Countrey reply'd Woman the offences of that Traytor are too transcendent to expect a pardon for any thing thou canst reveal thou mayst well therefore spare thy self a labour which will proveal together fruitless Then turning about he commanded some of his Guards to carry me down again At that cruel order I flung my self at his Feet and embracing his Knees I thus continued I am Sir come to invoke that justice which has hitherto made you as famous as your success and will not stir from this posture till you assure me I shall not be denyed it Those few words I spoke so loud and so distinctly that most of those Salapians which were near the Scaffold heard them which putting them in hopes that it might be something that would conduce to Blacius advantage whom I told you they extreamly loved they cryed out to Hannibal Hear her hear her which voices as is common in the croud were seconded by those that neither understood the cause nor the approvers of that motion The Carthaginians finding the City so pressing and unanimous forbad his Guards to meddle with me who were already beginning to force my Hold and not only enjoyn'd the suspension of the execution till I had done speaking but told me I might be as consident of his doing me right as of Blacius's death than which nothing the Oracles did tell could be more certain Sir I continu'd you will soon find how great a confidence I have of your Justice since my relyance on it makes me offer my Life into your Power who am the unfortunate Daughter of this Blacius that it seems has offended you in such a degree as nothing but his Bloud can be your reparation in pursuance of which resolve you were pleas'd under sacred Oaths when his Prison was forc'd and thereby your revenge frustrated to publish That whosoever would reveal unto you who were the Contrivers Causers or Actors of his liberty should have granted any one thing the said party could ask that was in your power this Proclamation which I here present you is my witness and the assurance you are inviolate in your engagements has brought me to discover unto you who is the offender that has so exceedingly transgrest your Laws but before I disclose this secret I must beg a reiteration of that assurance which to induce you to with the less reluctancy be pleas'd to receive mine that the same minute you confirm your first engagement I will put into your power the crimital person which procur'd my unfortunate Father his short liberty so that the same action which makes you satisfy your word will give you the power to satisfy your revenge too All those which could hear my request gave their approbation to it by a loud shout for they car'd not upon whose ruines they built Blacius's deliverance and Hannibal who was always as ambitious of Glory as of Revenge repeated and confirm'd the Oaths and Promises of his Proclamation which being finisht I thus continued Since by a generosity which I ever expected from so great a Prince you have silenc'd all those doubts my own constant unhappiness and not any suspitions of your Virtue did create I shall boldly acquaint you that your justice receiv'd that affront from Izadora and though my Sex exempted me from actions of that nature yet by my Prayers and Letters to a young Roman Gentleman I rais'd that power which cast you into so great disorders and for the punishment of which you have made such unlimited promises Thus Sir I have satisfied my engagement not only by acquainting you who committed the offence but by putting the offender into your hands And now I shall expect as punctual a performance from you Then as I was beginning to make my request the Carthaginian who suspected by my resolution that it would be Blacius's Life wherein he was not deceiv'd suddenly started up and with a furious look told me If thou art so mad as to beg thy Fathers Life for this discovery in expectation afterwards that thy Sex will induce me to pitty thee know that thy Crime will make me pass by all considerations and raise a fury which by all the gods nothing but thy destruction will appease this I acquaint thee with that thou mayst owe thy death to thy wilfulness and not to my resentments which I tell thee once more will prove so severe thou wilt soon repent thou e'r didst raise them but if thou wilt yet decline that request thy Sex and Relations will invite me to pardon what I know I ought to punish Sir I reply'd nothing terrify'd at these threatenings I desire not to be oblig'd to your Mercy but your Justice neither can I lose my life more gloriously than for him that gave it me My duty in this case is most predominant and I know nothing can make me more worthy of death than how to avoid it therefore Sir I conjure you by those gods you have invok'd by that Empire which derives its gâeateât Glory from your Virtue and by that Father whose memory you ãâã to reverence were it onely for giving the world so gâeat a ãâã At the end of these words I heard a voice which stopt me from pâoceeding any farther by saying Hold hold Izadcra be not ãâã to be genârous not accuse your self of a fault which if it be one I by your own ãâã am only guilty of it This voice which I too soon knew was Pcrolla's made me turn about where â immediately saw my generous Friend breaking thâough Hannibals Guards that would have stopt him among whom he had staid awhile where he had heard all that had past and âlinging himself ât his Enemies feet told him Sir You have bound your self by obligations too strong to leave me any suspition
that you will not perform your engagement to him that shall reveal who was Blacius's Deliverer and therefore I shall make no scruple to acknowledge that it was I and the reward that I expect for this discovery is that you will suppress all thââe cruel thoughts you have taken up against the fair Izadora who through an excess of duty condemns her self to free her Father You that have been just Sir to your Enemies will not now I hope be the contrary to your self especially when the subject you are to employ your virtue on merits adoration sooner than Pardon and whose only crime is her Charity Instead then of so unfit a victim to appease your fury I offer that Perolla who had at Capua depriv'd you of life if his Sword had prov'd the more fortunate and had not his Fathers Tears and Dissimulation preserv'd you Who at Pettely rais'd his reputation by the destruction of 10000 Affricans who at Cassilinum made you send Blanks where you had denyed any conditions Who by the destroying of 25000 of Allies and Soldiers forc'd from you the Samnites Lucanians and Appulians who took that Cassilinum by storm which you only won by Famine in a word I present you that Perolla who was not only content to offend you in all these particulars but came even into your Head-Quarters and in the Center of your Army broke open your Prisons kill'd your Guards restor'd your Capital Enemy to his freedom and was now come to have stopt the progress of your revenge upon him by owning the action and by tying you unless you would violate your Faith to give me his life for the reward of this discovery which I had too effected had not his generous Daughter by her own confession necessitated me to imploy that Petition for her safety which I had designed for her Fathers Gods into what confusions did this resolute acknowledgement cast me into That death which I was prepared to suffer appeared far more supportable than this action of Perolla's for it reduced me either to imploy my request for my Fathers and so lose my friends Life or if I preserv'd Perolla's I must lose Blacius's and that which was an aggravation to this misery was that by what was done already I was necessitated to survive the loss of one of them unless I would prove my own executioner Alas how sad a conflict had I betwixt my Duty and my Affection Nature pleading for the one and Gratitude for the other What said I to my self wilt thou destroy thy Father to save his Enemy wilt thou not preserve that Life that gave thee thine wilt thou satisfy thy debts with thy Fathers Bloud and shall the tyes of Friendship be more prevalent than those of Nature But on the other side shall the name of Father make thee act that which will render thee unworthy that relation shall that breath which even now Perolla gave thee be employed to save anothers life by the ruine of his Unfortunate Izadora hast thou no way to perform thy duty but by a murther and hast thou no no way to perform thy gratitude but by a Paricide must the satisfaction of thy gratitude be the ruine of thy Father and must the satisfaction of thy duty be the loss of thy Friend must to be grateful and ungrateful prove an equal crime and must the paying of one debt render thee uncapable of paying the other I take the gods to witness that I would joyfully put an end to this fatal dispute but that of my life and have embrac'd that fate with a satisfaction equal to that of Martyrs who know their punishment is but the way unto their Glory but the time was so pressing that I was necessitated to spend what remained not in complaints but resolutions therefore I thus continu'd Perolla came to preserve Blacius though my unfortunate duty made him change his design and that generosity which once made my Father to esteem his life his misfortune because his Enemy conferr'd it on him though only by his courage will make a repetition of that favour create a higher trouble in him when the purchase of his safety is his Enemies voluntary death his Virtue doubtless will make him decline an obligation where what makes him receive it deprives him of all power to express his resentments for it 'T is but just too that that life which has so often preserv'd Blacius's should now be preserv'd by his Yes yes Izadora let Perolla find his safety from one of that Family in which he hath hitherto found his misery act now thy Fathers part and upon the score of his Virtue perform that for Perolla whose effects may demonstrate their cause and let him find now thou art in Blacius's room that that cruelty thou didst condemn in him thou wilt not practise for him and in this one action show what thy Fathers resentments should be and what thine own are Then when this debt is discharged satisfy thy own as generously and by ending thy life with his that gave it thee convince him and the World that as thou valu'st thy life short of thy duty which shouldst thou any longer enjoy would bring that truth in question and make that relish of self-interest which is of a contrary quality But alas I continued how will Perolla resent this proceeding he 'll alledge that what thou termest Gratitude is Cruelty that the way thou tak'st to save his life is the certainst means to lose it and that instead of repairing Blacius's injuries thou art more injurious far than he These and a world of such thy Friend will object against thee to which thou hast no reply but that thy Fate having invironed thee with excess of miseries thou electest those that to thy judgement are the least and that thou hadst rather dye by acting what may merit his esteem than live in a contrary unhappiness Whilst I was thus debating and had fixt upon this resolution Perolla was all the while conjuring Hannibal to observe his Promise and to make him the object of his Cruelty so he made me that of his Justice and in order to this told the Carthaginians such reasons that I apprehended nothing more than he would find his destruction in his Eloquence and so raise his enemies fury that he would sacrifice the violation of his Oaths and Faith to his revenge In this fear I interrupted him from proceeding by addressing my self in these terms to the Carthaginian Sir If I have been thus long silent you will I hope pardon it when you know that a dispute betwixt Gratitude and Nature was the occasion in the end the first has been victorious but to make it so I was necessitated to act my Fathers part who I know is too generous to let Perolla suffer for him when by his own sufferings he may hinder his and 't were too much wrong to the generosity of Perolla's action not to let it instruct my Fathers to an imitation of it These words too fully
well as safest for it produces Admiration where the other does Envy Alas said Oristes how ingenuous you are to invent Arguments to cousen your self and as if Izadora deluded you not fast enongh you contribute to her design Take heed reply'd Perolla of what you say for I can hardly believe him virtuous that thinks she is not This made Oristes perceive that to destroy my generous Friends good opinion of me he must decline arguments and employ demonstrations which made him say Though I find I shall create your anger by acquainting you with what I lately discover'd yet I had rather hazard the losing of your friendship by an action which will render me worthy of it than continue it by a silence which my own Couscience will more severely punish than you can Yes yes Perolla I am determin'd since to cure your disease I must shew you the deformity of it to instruct you with a truth that had not my sight been a witness of I should never have credited in a word 't is that with these Eyes I lately saw her give such large proofs of her passion to Hannibal that not only I suspect her Constancy but her Vertue At these barbarous words all Perolla's temper abandon'd him and in its room he entertain'd a rage so unresistable that forgetting all the formerties of friendship he flung himself upon the false Oristes and having cast him at his feet and there drawn out the wretches own Ponyard he held it to his breast and cry'd out to him Traytor that under the habit of a friend thinkst to shrowd thy self from the punishment of an Enemy and from a crime the Devils would tremble but to hear know that in accusing Izadora's Virtue thou hast justify'd her and by undertaking to make her guilty hast prov'd thy self so Do not think that because I have lost my Liberty I have lost my Courage nor that the apprehension of Hannibal's resentments shall hinder me from acting mine no no could he inflict on me torments as great as those thou merit'st I would endure them all rather than thy impiety should escape them unreveng'd for that Divine Justice which has made me from a Prisoner a Judge and hast furnish'd me with Power as well as Will to punish thee would not have so arm'd my Hand if it had not ordain'd thy death should appease that sacred Virtue thy life has so highly injur'd Whilst Perolla wai thus speaking the falfe Oristes lay as if he had already receiv'd the reward of his infidelity but when he perceiv'd his resolution and that he was going to act it he cry'd out Hold generous Perolla and if I beg this small suspension of Life 't is only to let you know who 't is you destroy 't is your faithful'st Friend and now I have told you that Truth act your resentments for since you have withdrawn your friendship they will be rather effects of your goodness than your revenge and the gods who know my innocency are so just as to render that which makes my life my misfortune the cure of the latter by the ending of the former Though I know well reply'd Perolla all thou now say'st is but a continuation of thy wickedness and that these words are spoken because thou hast found I am sooner vanquish'd with dissembling than resistance yet I give thee thy Life not as a mercy but a punishment for the horror of having injur'd so fair an Innocence will be a greater torment than that death from which I now exempt thee Rise then he continu'd and be gone but if ever again thou present'st thy self before me thou wilt kindle a fire which nothing but thy bloud can extinguish I will obey you said the perfiduous Oristes in hope that by so painful an obedience you will discover a friendship and innocency which your passion hinders you now from seeing and if by my sufferings I can shew you your error I shall never deplore them Then saluting Perolla with a great humility he went from him with a greater joy ' having escap'd a Death which he could not think he had more strangely avoided than he had justly deserved it I know said Izadora that 't were but just to decline a while the prosecuting the rest of my Story to declaim upon this generous part of it but I know too Perolla's virtue would be as much offended with such a gratitude as I was pleas'd with the cause of it Perolla who for so obliging a Civility esteem'd it necessary to make his fair Mistriss a return told her If you had a design Madam to have made this performance pass in the generous Spartacus opinion for an action of Merit you should not then have shew'd him the perfect Izadora for in her Beauty she carries her Justification and to suspect that Vice can dwell in so much brightness is to be ignorant of its Nature and to commit a folly as high as Oristes wickedness Izadora by a reply of the same quality repaid her Lovers Compliment and thus reassum'd her discourse As soon as the false Agent was gone from Perolla he went and acquainted the Carthaginian with his ill success from whose rage he had like to have receiv'd an usage as ill as that which Perolla's Justice had near imposed on him for he had rais'd his expectation to such a height that it made the fall the more insupportable but at last Hannibal perceiving that Oristes was unfortunate and not faulty at least as to him he was contented to tell him that he must not expect his favour till he had gain'd him mine that it was too the sensiblest way of obliging him as well as of revenging that so fresh and high affront that their Interest being now joyn'd he would not despair but that he wou'd project some new design for the obtaining of his desires which if it succeeded should make him acknowledge that whosoever made Hannibal happy could not doubt the being made so by him Thereupon Oristes having first assur'd him that no particular interest of his own could bring any accession to that zeal he had already for his satisfaction and that he would employ all his faculties to the settlement of it withdrew himself to meditate on what he determin'd to practice But it is high time to inform you that the Carthaginian though he constantly visited me had yet in reliance on Oristes promises declin'd making any overtures of his passion lest my replies might have provok'd him beyond his temper and made him disclose a fallacy which with admirable patience and sagacity he had so long continu'd but now seeing those hopes were vanisht he resolv'd to renew his addresses and to that end came to see me where finding me alone which my humour and condition made me often elect he without any of those civilities which he usually practis'd told me That long silence Madam which your Commands have made me observe the violence of my Passion makes me break which is arriv'd to such a height
rather have lost than preserv'd me at so high a rate Then he besought Hannibal to permit him to make use of his paternal and domestick power over his Daughter and in his own House which the Carthaginian granted that we might be separated and yet not derive that misfortune from him but though it was not immediately his act yet it was an effect of his permission which I so resented that seeing my Father going to send out Perolla with somewhat a less civility than I expected I made haste to tell him Since generous Perolla I know not whether we shall ever meet again I esteem it fit to give you an assurance before such memorable witnesses that the gods shall be mine I will never be any 's but yours that nothing but death shall dissolve this engagement and if yours happen before mine I will by the help of my grief or my resolution immediately follow you Perolla at this profession turn'd about though Blacius was leading him forth and told me And I Madam do beseech the same god's if ever I cherish my life but for your sake if ever I decline my passion or if ever I survive your loss a minute after I know it to make me the object of their fury and to throw on me as many miseries as they have bestowed perfections on the fair Izadora This profession I made him as well to reward his flame asto take from Blacius all the hopes of changing mine as also to punish Hannibal for giving my Father a power which he denyed him in all things but to torment me and truly the Carthaginian was in such a rage at this just and mutual ingagement that he commanded some of his Guards which waited at the door to take Perolla and keep him as their lives till his pleasure were known Then coming to my Bed-side he told me I see Madam that you trample on the goodness of my disposition and that you believe because I have not that I dare not revenge my self on my Rival but know if you persevere in that belief I will convince you of the contrary by so bloudy an experiment that you will find I am capable of as high a proportion of Revenge as Love and that by not rewarding the latter you will necessitate me to act the former He had no sooner done speaking than without staying for a reply he left me and at Oristes importunate intreaties he commited Perolla to his charge with horrid vows that he should answer for him with his life To which condition the Traitor condescended and having received his Charge he brought him to his House lodged him in a Chamber with grated Windows and placed at the coming in to it a strong Guard of Affricans which Hannibal furnisht him with who every day visited me and as his discourse so his reception was sometimes returning with hopes for I considered Perolla was in his power sometimes without any lest he might think him his only obstacle and so remove him But I omitted to tell you that the certainty of my generous Friends being alive made me court as much my recovery as formerly I had my death and with my health my little and unfortunate beauty being returned it increast so much the Carthaginians fire that under the pretence of the greatness of it one evening he became so indiscreet that I was not capable any longer to dissemble but gave him so just and sharp a reprehension that in the fury it produced upon his return to his own house he sent for Oristes and led him into his own Bed-chamber where having shut the door he acquainted that Traitor that he was able no longer to contain his resentments and that he could not bear two such powerful Passions as Revenge and Love The false Oristes readily laid hold of the motion and to satisfy his own revenge on Perolla whom he highly apprehended so husbanded Hannibal's fury that he inclined him at last really to make away his Rival concluding that his respect had been too long his torment that it was but just to take away so considerable an Enemy both to him and to Carthage and that if he could not thereby obtain his desires yet he should his revenge This Resolve being assumed Oristes as he had procured Perolla's death so he offered himself to act it and propounded for that performance to give him a lingering poyson which should be so slow in operation that the world should rather believe he dyed by his own melancholly than by Hannibals resentments This the Carthaginian having approved he and Oristes separated themselves the former to make some publick dispatches and the latter with a design instantly to execute the result of that meeting But the gods which detested so dark a sin prevented it by a way as strange as was the intended design it self for the gallant Maharbal General of the Carthaginian Horse who all the preceding night had been putting things in a posture for the Armies march came to Hannibals house the self-same evening and time in which he was visiting me where learning that his General was in an employment which commonly was of no small continuance and being somewhat sleepy flung himself upon Hannibals Bed which was not strange because of that great familiarity that was always betwixt them where he slept till the Carthaginians and Oristes coming in did wake him and before that he had time to rise they had lock'd the door and began this horrid consultation Maharbal whose Genius was only inclined to War detested the contrary humour in his General which by experiment he found had been already so destructive to the Carthaginian Common-wealth This made him listen attentively in hope to discover some of those contrivances which Hannibal kept so private and which by his knowledge of them might furnish him with a means to wean him from a passion he so much undervalued and detested but at length hearing so black a Resolve he determined to prevent what he condemned but did not think the best way to effect it was to discover what he knew which he believed would rather make his General ashamed than penitent therefore as soon as he and Oristes were gone he himself retired to his own house and not knowing how soon that Traitor would execute his resolution he immediately called for one of his own Liveries which being brought him and having enjoyn'd the bringer of it an inviolable secrecy he went immediately as his custom was to visit Perolla being attended by twenty of his Domesticks all in one Livery as is the Carthaginian fashion where finding Perolla alone he generously acquainted him with his danger and presenting him with his Livery advis'd him to put it on and at his going out to shuffle himself amongst his Servants which none of the Guards durst examine or would suspect For this transcendent favour Perolla made him as many returns as his gratitude could inspire him withal and the time permit and indeed he was so eloquent in his
retributions that not only Maharbal ingag'd himself to acquaint me with his escape but also to make Oristes receive from Hannibal himself the punishment of his Treachery and Wickedness Immediately therefore as soon as Perolla was drest Maharbal whose servants attended him at the door went out of Perolla's Chamber and amongst the rest was lighted down by him who no sooner got out of Oristes house who all this while was at a Physitians preparing his fatal poyson then with the help of the word Maharbal gave him he got too out of the Samnite Gate and his generous deliverer not only by a visit next day assur'd me of his escape but also so incens'd Hannibal against Oristes at it whose jealousie of his connivance at his flight he so increas'd by putting him in mind of his pressing importunities to have him his prisoner that in the heighth of that rage he gave order to put Oristes to death which he knowing was both unavoidable and just as being an effect of that contract which had past betwixt Hannibal and him when Perolla was committed to his charge to disburden his Conscience he sent me privately in writing a large relation of all those particulars which I was ignorant of and then receiv'd the stroke of death in his own Chamber by his Command for whom he had so wickedly employ'd his life 'T was in this sort that Perolla ' scap'd a treachery which fill'd him with so legitimate and high a resentment against him which had at least allowed it that from that time he contracted an implacable aversion for him and resolv'd the first Battel the Romans fought to tye himself so particularly to Hannibal that nothing but his own death should prevent his Rivals In order to this determination he went directly to Marcellus from whose active courage he expected an earlier opportunity to put his resolution in practice than from Crispinus his Colleague I need not tell you the great satisfaction the gallant Marcellus receiv'd at Perolla's arrival you may in some degree imagine it by his saying he esteem'd his single courage and conduct a greater re-inforcement to his Army than the addition of the best Roman Legion and he was confident Hannibal valu'd it at no less a rate After these Civilities the Consul offer'd him any preferment in his Army and conjur'd him not to decline the Command of General of his Horse which then was vacant by the death of Marcus Aulius but my generous friend who was more ambitious of revenge than preferment and who suspected that Office would confine him to a certain Duty and thereby frustrate his design upon Hannibal absolutely declin'd Marcellus offer by assuring him that he had better proportion'd his ambition to his desert and consequently desir'd no greater honor than to serve under him as a Volunteer The Consul was extreamly griev'd at this refusal for he would gladly have bound to him a person he justly admir'd but yet he us'd Perolla with the same respect as if he had taken so considerable an employment for in all attempts and in all counsels he would do nothing without his advice and assistance and if in things of action he was abundantly satisfied with his Courage in those of Counsel he was no less with his Judgement But Hannibal whose rage at Perolla's escape is fitter for imagination than description hearing that he had retir'd himself to Marcellus Army immediately put his into a posture to attempt the ruine of his publique and particular Enemy but before he quitted Salapia he came to visit me and perceiving my joy in my face it inflam'd his to such a degree that for a good while his choller was unlegible in any thing else but at length he told me Madam I see with what satisfaction you consider my trouble and that my misery is the subject of your contentment but I hope my patience at it will instruct yours or at least induce you not to condemn in another what you practise your self For know I am going to sacrifice a person which my Respect and your Tears hinder'd me hitherto from performing and which by his flight you think has escap'd for ever but you shall find if my ambition only inspir'd me with a resolution that has near subverted the Roman Empire my Revenge and my Passion will give me strength enough to destroy a Subject of it which being perform'd I will enjoy you legitimately or if your perverseness decline that honor I will satisfy my Flame by an easier though not so pleasing a way and believe me did not your coldness render my Revenge a greater Passion than my Love I would suspend the former to satisfy the latter besides having taken you first from Perolla to kill him would rather appear an obligation than a punishment These words deliver'd with an accent as barbarous as themselves were banish'd all my patience and made me tell him Thou Monster greater than thy Countrey Africk did ever yet produce know that the same gods which preserved Perolla from thy rage when thou hadst the power to act it will do the like now thou hast only the design he never feared any thing of thee but thy Treachery and if thou makest use but of thy own Arm to perform thy revenge thou wilt sooner furnish him with the means to effect his than create my fear of thine For my particular be assured that I will cast my self into the Arms of death far rather than into Hannibals that I have as great a detestation for being thy Wife as thou hast for Virtue and that the same minute in which thou attempst my chastity if nothing else will preserve me I will free my self from life to do the like from thee You shall see the Carthaginian replyed that 't is easier for Hannibal to act than to threaten and at his return he will make you know the greatness of his Passion by his resentments for your neglecting it He left me saying these words and the same day Salapia but in it a select Garrison of Lybians rather to keep me than it Their Commander was one of his trustiest Captains who he inviolably protested should answer for me in torments and death This Tyrant was no sooner on his march than some of my Servants having informed Blacius I was fallen into such abundant weepings that unless they were stopt they might extinguish my life his goodness for a while suppressing his aversion he came to visit me and being acquainted with those threatenings the Carthaginian had made against my chastity he only told me that he would prevent or not see my wrongs I knew not what interpretation to give that profession till not long after I heard one night a horrid noise in all the streets and the next morning saw them paved with the dead Carkasses of Hannibals Garrison my Father then coming again to see me all hideous with Bloud assured me that Hannibal now might threaten but had not the power to act his impiety and that he expected
Hannibal intended to enter at and though by his authority he might have hinder'd the Soldiers march yet he bore so great a respect to Blacius that he declin'd it and rather elected to hazard the ruine of Salapia by not stopping them than prevent it by intrenching on the seeming right my Father had who he was inform'd was at his own house where he lighted and coming in found him with some of his intimate friends and his unfortunate Daughter discoursing what might be the subject of Marcellus design But O gods what was my astonishment at the sight of Perolla truly it was so transcending that I observ'd neither Blacius's nor his but the latter being a little supprest he addrest himself to my Father acquainted him with the fatal news the cause of his coming and then presented him his Commission which whilst Blacius was viewing Perolla and I were doing the like to each other for we durst not express our thoughts but by our Eyes yet that silent language was as significant and legible as Perolla's Commission which Blacius had no sooner read than he whose it was told him Sir the Consul shall bear me witness that I declin'd this Authority when 't was offer'd me and all Salapia shall do the like now I have receiv'd it and if I expect to derive any advantage from it 't is only to shew you that I esteem it a greater justice to obey than command you thereupon without staying for Blacius's answer in all our sights he tore his Commission in pieces I cannot tell you how great an influence this generosity had on all of us But my Father who a good while ballanc'd betwixt his natural aversion and present cause for suppressing it told Perolla your generosity is not only greater than I could expect but than I could desire from an Enemy and you had more obliged me in using your Authority than in thus declining it but though you esteem it just that I should command in my own Government yet since the Consul does not I am rather inclined to conform my self to his opinion than yours Alas Sir Perolla reply'd must I be still so miserable as to bear a Name which I have no title to and which I detest and will you attribute that to your place which I pay to you No no Sir all the World shall be Salapia to me and the Senate cannot give you so absolute a power over me as my inclination does You are more civil to me said Blacius than the Consul is and I think 't is my Fate to be obliged where I desire it not and to be injured where I expect the contrary but since you are resolved not to Command in Chief I will imitate your example let us therefore divide our selves and the Garrison and each of us take his half of Salapia to defend I had rather Perolla reply'd be near your Person that you might see with how little fear to preserve your life I will expose mine own which I take the gods to witness is not dearer to me upon any score than out of a belief that it may be serviceable to you To convince you said Blacius that the tearing of your Commission has not taken away its power you shall as an effect of it chuse where and how you will fight but if my honor were not now engaged to defend this place the Romans should know that the same instant in which they thought me unfit to command Salapia that I esteemed my self so to live in it If the Romans answered Perolla are so unjust to themselves and you as to think you unworthy to govern what you so generously have conquered I shall think them so of my service and will embrace your interest with so just a passion that if the Senate send any to usurp upon your Valour 's Conquest I will oppose every Roman as if he were an Hannibal and either preserve you in your Command or not live to see you out of it Come said Blacius without seeming to hear this last civility let us go and make Hannibal know that at Salapia he shall have as little progress in glory as in love Blacius had no sooner said these words than he went away and Perolla who durst not but accompany him was necessitated to signify his discontent for not daring to speak to me by a deep sigh which was the language too I exprest mine in but as soon as my Father was informed that all the Garrison was without the Samnite Gate and that though Perolla had met them yet he had so dangerously declined making use of his authority he turned about to a familiar friend of his and told him softly I fear Pacuvius Son will force me to be an enemy to Virtue if I prove any longer so to him I need not tell you all the preparatives that were made to receive Hannibal who about an hour before day came to the Brutian Gate which was Blacius and Perolla's Post where the Forlorn-Hope of his Army consisting of six hundred Runnagate Romans the better to disguise the business were admitted in t the Gate and some three hundred Carthaginian Horse after them who were all no sooner enter'd than the Percullis was let down and my Father with Perolla breaking out of those Houses and Courts they had lodg'd themselves in gave the Enemy so brisk and unexpected a charge that above half of them were cut in pieces before the residue could put themselves in a posture to dispute their own lives or revenge their companions deaths I will not amuse my self to tell you the particulars of this action 't is sufficient you know that Crastinus who commanded the revolted Romans knew his crime was uncapable of mercy and therefore resolved to render his death famous enough to excuse the faults of his life This made him conjure his Companions so generously to dispute the business as to make the Salapians never mention their defeat but in as many Tears as if they themselves had dy'd what they were born This Traitor acted without his Companions what he desired of them by killing with his own hand five of the most considerable Salapians and then by assaulting Blacius where Fortune seconding Crastinus despair he had certainly ended my Fathers life had not Perolla preserved it by putting a period to that Traitors but yet Blacius received so deep a wound that fainting he was carried by Perolla and his other friends unto his own house where lest he might think the generous Perolla would take any advantage of visiting me by his weakness he immediately withdrew himâelf to the Brutian Gate and there found the Combat renewed by a Carthaginian Commander who performed exploits as far above belief as description This Enemy Perolla had the honour singly to fight with for most of the Garrison were searching those houses where any of Hannibals Soldiers had taken Sanctuary and others took upon them the same employment that it might be thought the following execution and not their fear
towards their Camp observing the same silence and diligence in their return to it that they had in their leaving of it for they serv'd Hannibal as we were informed you did Varinus and though he were a Captain as celebrated for his Policy as his Conquests yet in this expedition he never discover'd any light of Nero's march nor success till he sent two Numidian Prisoners to acquaint him with it and lest that Testimony might not be authentick he flung his Brothers the gallant Asdrubals head over his Trenches which Barbarism Perolla so much resented that not being able to hinder it he abandon'd his Uncle to manifest he detested the Action and indeed it was the blacker because Hannibal had alwayes given the bodies of his dead Enemies a Sepulture and usage proportionate to their qualities and virtue whil'st they were alive Yes Sir Perolla was so justly transported at this inhumanity that though the Consuls in their Triumph for this Victory besought him who they acknowledg'd under the Gods obtain'd it to bear a share in his own Acquisitions yet he absolutely declin'd it protesting that he was more asham'd at the use they had made of their Victory than pleas'd at the glory of it and that he declin'd participating in their Triumph lest it might be thought he did the like in their Crime After this generosity he came to Salapia where he vow'd had not the Consuls cruelty for Livius approv'd of what Nero had done to Asdrubal's Head render'd it an injustice to have shar'd in their glorious entry into Rome yet he had rather have declin'd the honour of it than purchas'd it at the price of a longer absence I must confess I never till that time thought it was possible for Perolla's visits to become my misfortune but my hard Fate then rendred his so and I believe my disclosing to him that which I could no longer conceal was the more sensible by his being unprepared to receive the stroke and by his belief that his new accession of glory would have rendred his company the more acceptable to Blacius Alas I cannot tell you his extravagancies at so fatal and unexpected an intelligence but I remember they were so exorbitant that I suspended awhile the reflection on my own griefs that I might the more justly deplore his Blacius being ignorant of his being with me came to visit me when my generous Friends resentments were in their highest operation and though my Father upon so unlookt for an Accident would have retired yet Perolla hindred him by casting himself on his knees and embracing of Blacius's His sorrows for awhile were silent which was no small proof of their vastness and reality but when they got a passage they were so eloquent that had he been guilty he had done enough to obtain his pardon and being innocent he did enough to evince he was so Yet alas my Father had so exquisitely fortified his heart against all assaults of this quality that what should have vanquish'd him turned to a testimony of his cruelty In brief Perolla observing that Blacius relisht no reasons for his innocency resolved to convince him of it by a demonstration and in the rage and grief of so unexpected a misery he rose up and with eyes in which death were evidently painted he cryed out Farewel fair Izadora I will go expect you in another world for I see 't is impossible to possess you in this and since there is nothing but the loss of this unfortunate life which can either appease your Fathers hatred or clear my innocency I am determined at that rate to satisfie both At the end of these fatal words he drew out his Sword and turning the Pomel to the ground he had cast his Body upon the point of it had not I struck the Hilt away time enough to prevent it and he not suspecting anything of that nature by falling all along gave me time to take up his Sword before he rose and to protest that if he abjur'd not all designs of so black a nature I would immediately make use of that Weapon for my own destruction which he had designed for his T was thus I preserved a Virtue so pure that if the higher Poweâs do not reward it in this world 't is certainly because they reserve their recompence for a place where all things are of a resembling quality and because I so sav'd Perolla's life Blacius considered that which was an evincement of his integrity as a premeditated design to palliate and disguise his guilt and though his words did not declare what I tell you yet his actions did for he instantly commanded my generous Friend to abandon his house or he would act what I had prevented Perolla at this cruel and barbarous command cryed out O Gods why do you render sufferings so necessary to my condition and make me uncapable to bear them then turning to me he continued But Madam if you are not of your Fathers opinion as well as of his blood I shall contemn as much his threatnings as he does my affection and alliance and shall find in the virtue of one of the Family charms enough to defend me from he cruelties of all the rest Alas I replied interrupting him arâ we come to that again of making fresh assurances of constancy And will you so highly injure the merit of my passion as to render it as much an effect of my promise as my inclination Ah Perolla be not so cruel as to think my Fathers change is contagious nor divest me of the consolation I have had in my past sufferings that they were undergone with resolution and patience enough to suppress all jealousies in you that I was capable of sinking in the future under any burden of that nature O Madam he replyed why do you so infinitely injure my intentions for my asking that question was not to resolve my doubts but to hear my joy repeated neither can you condemn my imploring so strong a Preservative when you see what misfortunes I am to struggle with Blacius who perceived what our entertainment was having repeated his threatnings to Perolla commanded me immediately to leave him which before I obeyed I told Perolla since your question proceeds from that cause I shall as willingly satisfie it as I should have been troubled to have done so on any other account Know then that if my Passion for you be a Preservative against your miseries you shall be for ever uncapable of any for your desires can give you so large a possession in my heart as my affection does and this justice is so far from being susceptible of change that the Gods while they give me life and reason are not able to alter it My Father at this assurance thrust me out of the Room but he to whom it was addrest observing he could not have time enough to make me in words a retribution of my engagement by lifting up his eyes and hands to those Powers I had mentioned
to intercept them which doubtless he had perform'd had not the Ambassadors in a swift Quinquereme-Gally avoided his stemming and run ashore to some Roman Companies which were sent for their rescue where though they sav'd themselves yet they lost many of their attendants followers which Aârican proceeding had so incens'd the Consul that he was gone to vindicate it with his Army which now breath'd nothing but blood and fury Lelius surpriz'd at this strange true information went to Scipio who he found acting a Revenge proportionate to the greatness of those Crimes that made it just but the Carthaginian Ambassadors he left in the Roman Camp which then was commanded by Bebius one of those that had so narrowly scap'd in his late Embassy and though by Lelius he beg'd the Consul by the death of the Carthaginian Ambassadors to let his Enemies know and suffer for their fault yet the generous Scipio commanded him not only to spare their Lives but immediately to give them their liberty For he esteem'd it a nobler way so to reprove their sin than to imitate it This great Conquest over himself was but a Prophecy of that over his Enemies which now was not far off for their great Hannibal about this time landed at Leptis an hundred miles from Carthage which he did to refresh his men after their Navigation and to get some additional Forces especially of Horse in which he was most defective Tycheus and Mezetullus two African Princes brought him 3000 with which reinforcement having received positive orders from Carthage without protraction to determine their destiny by Battel he march'd directly to Zama not far from the place where the Consul lay from whence he sent out Spies to discover the Romans countenance and strength some of them being taken were brought to Scipio who instead of crucitying them which was then the general practice commanded an Officer to carry them about the Camp and punctually to shew them whatever they desir'd this done he sent them back to their General who admir'd at the bravery of his Enemy and concluded his Army was deficient in nothing since he was so ready to shew the posture it was in Hannibal immediately after but I cannot tell from which of those two causes it proceeded sent to desire a Parly with Scipio who assur'd him shortly to satisfie his request The next day after Massanissa who upon that false Peace was sent into his own Kingdom came to the Camp at the Consuls reiterated requests with 4000 Horse and 6000 Foot and the same day I arriv'd there to satisfie my Engagement and Revenge Those additional Forces gave the Consul so great a certainty of Victory that the next morning with all his Army he removed to Nadagara where mindful of his Engagement to Hannibal he sent him word he was then ready to discharge it The time and place was immediately appointed and those two great Men went out of their Camps to meet one another each of them with 1000 Horse for their Guard and I being desirous to see my Rival had the command of Scipio's No sooner were they come to a convenient distance then all the rest making a stand the two Generals advanc'd and for a while did nothing but view one another with mutual admiration perhaps to find out where that virtue lay which had render'd them so equally famous over all the world At length Hannibal saluting Scipio first told him It had been generous Enemy more advantageous both for Carthage and Rome if they had confin'd their Ambitions within the shores of Aârick and Italy since the Kingdoms of Spain and Sicily about which our Fathers and we have so obstinately contended are not a sufficient recompence for that blood and treasure they have exhausted but though things past are irrevocable yet they may instruct us for the future and induce us by a serious reflection on those dangers we have expos'd our own Countries unto to conquer others to believe it necessary and just rather with safety to possess our own than run a hazard of that for an uncertainty of more To this temper my experience of the World and of Fortune has reduced me But I apprehend thy youth and heat will decline these thoughts till thou hast learn'd them in the same School but methinks thou may'st by my example be informed of a truth which if now unregarded thou may ' ât learn at a more troublesom rate For I am that Hannibal which after many bloody Battels brought my victorious Arms to the walls of Rome and now behold here I come to offer Peace unto thee that thou may'st not do the like to Carthage Consider too the Fate of Marcus Atilius who for declining so advantageous an overture received a ruine from the gods which perhaps attends all those that delight in shedding humane blood Canst thou be content Scipio that Spain Sicily Sardinia and whatever other Islands lie between Africk and Italy be eternally abandoned by the Carthaginians 'T is a glorious bargain for the Romans and for our parts our future quiet shall be our satisfaction and the contentment which from thence we shall derive will be an abundant obligation to tye us faithâully to observe the Peace that gives it But if thou esteemest all this too little reflect I beseech thee how great a hazard thou undergoest for the obtaining of a little more than thou may'st enjoy without any 'T is now in thy power to make thy Fate but if thou stayest till to morrow Night the gods will make it for thee let us therefore conclude on this universal blessing and reproach me not the late treachery of some false-hearted Citizens of ours it is Hannibal that now desires Peace which he would never do did he not find it expedient for his Countrey and knowing it so he will always maintain it as he did the War he began 'till the gods and Men did envy him To which Scipio reply'd 'T was not generous Hannibal the ambition of Rome which made them take up Arms but the defence of the Memertines and Saguntines their Confederates which action of theirs the gods by the issue of the War have and will declare was just For the mutability of Fortune I am not ignorant of it the condition which thou once didst reduce Rome unto and that which I have since Carthage does sufficiently evince it and therefore I would as willingly give Peace as thou desââest it if it were upon terms which might convince the world 't is the Roman magnanimity and not the Roman fear that grants it but by what thou offerest thou only givest what their Swords have given them already and whereas I expected that in recompence of thy Citizens perfidiousness thou wouldst enlarge the Articles of their late violated Peace thou dost exceedingly contract them and thereby wouldst have them gainers by their treachery No Hannibal those that will have Rome their friend must not do actions unworthy of that end and if the Carthaginians break an
Agreement as soon as they see a probability of building their Fortune by the ruine of their Faith they do thereby instruct the Romans to reduce them to a condition of not being able to violate a Peace before they grant them one But continued Scipio all this I speak to Carthage and not to Hannibal to whose desires I will give what I will deny my own judgment and that is Peace provided that my first Concessions be the Articles of it and that an equal satisfaction be made for those injuries we have sustained by their Infidelity I am not come Hannibal reply'd to cheapen a Peace I come to offer what I esteem just and as I have done it at first word so I will not recede from my first overture if thou esteemest it unreasonable the god of Battels must be our Judge 'T is to him then Scipio briskly reply'd I refer our difference who I believe thou wilt find more untractable than I am for he cannot be a god if he favor an Army which comes more loaden with Inâidelity than Arms and from whom Victory will flie lest she be thought as blind as Fortune Then the Consul laying by his serious looks told the Carthaginian smiling But if at my return to my Army every one be as well satisfied with this conclusion as a Gentleman that commands those Horse pointing to his Guards I shall find as general a joy at the assurance of a Battel as at the possession of a Victory and if every Soldier had his resolution and design Hannibal would not avoid his particular Fate whatever the Gods determined of the publick Who is this said the Carthaginian that is so great an Enemy to Peace and to Hannibal 'T is Perolla said the Consul Oh Gods the Aârican reply'd what strange accident makes him abandon his Izadora But may I not generous Scipio by your favor be satisfied from his own mouth Yes said the Consul I will send him to you but first I must exactan engagement from you and then the like from him that whatever your discourses be you shall pass no farther I do Hannibal answer'd faithfully promise it for since I am certain in so short a time to have so many thousand witnesses of my revenge I would not confine the sight of it to so few This confidence said Scipio I will leave Perolla to answer who immediately shall meet you then taking leave of Hannibal he told him Remember Carthage pulls down her own destiny by decliming a Peace which she implor'd with tears and when I ask no other satisfaction for their treachery but to restore what they took from us by it Remember said the Carthaginian 't was Citizens not Soldiers which beg'd made and broke the Peace and 't is Hannibal you have now to deal with who intending to keep his bargain will make it accordingly and has offered you what before next Sun does set you will repent you have declin'd The Consul would not hear this reply but came immediately where I waited for him and there told me the publick transactions and my Rivals desire which he gave me leave to satisfie but first engaged me to the same conditions Hannibal had submitted unto which having faithfully promis'd I gallopt to the place where he attended me and where truly I was receiv'd by that great man with a civility and countenance which had nothing of an Enemy and Rival I saluâed him with an high respect and with an humility proportionable to the difference of our qualities but I could not suspend that just hatred I had contracted against his barbarous usage to a perfection greater than that sin which the seeing him so infinitely increast that had I not remember'd my engagement to Scipio I had then either ended our differences or my life but whil'st I was in those thoughts they were interrupted by Hannibals telling me Is then Perolla your Hate greater than your Love that you abandon your Mistriss to prosecute your Rival Or has that high justice of Izadora's which esteem'd Hannibal unworthy of her taken up the same belief of you Sir I reply'd that affection which I confess is an injustice for the fair Izadora to confer on any man forces me to seek out the high interrupter of it which yet is no argument that my desire of revenge is greater than my flame for the cause being alwayes more noble than the effect my passion which makes me endeavor to vindicate the object of it cannot be esteem'd less great than that which it forces me unto neither could I by any one action render my self more unworthy the beatitude of Izadora's Love than in not declining my joys to revenge her wrongs which to effect I will fling my self into dangers as high as those pleasures I have lately abandonâd Ah young man said Hannibal thou art as little sensible of as worthy thy felicity Canst thou possess Izadora's Love and think of any thing besides Were I in thy blest condition nor Revenge Empire or Glory should one minute separate me from a felicity which I could not render my self more unworthy of than by abandoning nay I would quarrel with any thought which should interpose much more remove me from it but since thou âast left all to follow thy Revenge if thou hast the courage to act it to morrow I 'll present thee the occasion Oh Gods I cry'd out if I have the courage to act it Alas he that did not want it to vindicate an injur'd Empire will not certainly when 't is to right a perfection as far above an Empire as she is any thing else that 's mortal Yes Hannibal thou shalt find a heart that 's fill'd with so divine an image cannot be capable of so low a sin as Fear but on the contrary 't will inspire me with resolution enough to seek thee out even in the center of thy Troops I will said Hannibal spare thee that pains thou shalt find me at the head of them where I will more handsomly punish those miseries thy better stars have cast upon me and by thy death before 200000 witnesses evince thou hadst more Fortune than Merit in thy Love and by destroying the object of Izadora's flame punish her ingratitude to mine Do but I reply'd assault my life in so generous a way I will excuse thy attempt upon it by Oristes and never implore a greater certainty for the punishment of thy Crimes than to have thee defend them with thy Sword The apprehension I had continu'd Perolla that my passion might transport me beyond my promise made me after having again summon'd Hannibal of his engagement gallop away to the Consul who I found by an excess of civility was become the Captain of my Guards as I had been of his he made me too that generous Compliment and after I had by an humility resembling the cause of it exprest my gratitude I inform'd him as we were returning to the Camp what had past betwixt my Rival and me whilst he was
and then retir'd to his Lodging where what reasons he rais'd against his Passion I am ignorant of though not of the strange effects they produc'd for two or three days after he came to visit Izadora where he was hardly known and where constantly afterwards if she were alone he never mention'd any thing of his Passion but would only look fix'dly upon her fold his Arms and groan and say he was not yet Conqueror But if Blacius were there he would court Izadora with a countenance as full of joy as his heart was empty of it and if he admir'd at Flamminius pining away he protested 't was an inward disease but not one of the mind nor of Izadora's neglect This was his practice for twenty days the Night of the last he came again to visit Izadora and in Sighs and some Tears implor'd his Pardon for his Passion Importunities and so long disobedience and protested that he would shortly so vindicate her on himself that she should acknowledge her Interests and satisfaction were much dearer to him than his own Flamminius after those assurances without any more words immediately withdrew himself and the next intelligence we had of him was that he kept his Bed of a disease whose nature the Physitians were as ignorant of as of the cure and that though Blacius by many reiterated and passionate conjurations begg'd again to know whether Izadora's coldness were not the efficient cause of his sickness yet he could never receive any other answer but that she was not at least if the gods impos'd not that affliction on him for so aspiring a Passion Six days Flamminius Feaver was so violent that he despair'd not the Seventh which in that disease was the first critical day but to be able to obey Izadora Therefore calling to him a Page of his who was his Confident he commanded him to bring him some Paper on which though with much difficulty he writes these few lines FLAMMINIVS to the fair IZADORA HE that lov'd where he should have but ador'd to repair his Sin from your Lover makes himself your Martyr Let your resentments fair Izadora dye with the object of them and be so merciful as to believe I find more satisfaction in Death since 't is the effect of my obedience than I can in life having lost the hopes of what my ambition desir'd and your justice deny'd me THis Letter being seal'd he commanded the faithful Youth by all the strictest tyes he could invent to deliver it with his own hands and without any witness to her to whom it was addrest For if Blacius or any other discover'd what it contain'd he should spend those few hours he had to live inso much despair and horror that those torments would almost equal Izadora's hate Judge Perolla if ever Gallantry was rais'd to a greater height than to have so particular a care for the preservation of one 's own destruction and whether you have not cause to glory in possesing a Beauty which could produce such rare effects and in a Constancy that was not mov'd with them at least no further than Pity could extend I answer'd continu'd Perolla Callione's words only with a deep sigh that the reflection of having been cursed with one Rival too full of Power and another too full of Virtue drew from me which made her thus continue But though the circumspection of the Master and the Servant was great yet it was fruitless for having deliver'd Izadora the Letter as privately as he was directed Blacius who always suspected Flamminius denials proceeded rather from his goodness than his Truth and who observ'd an admirable vigilancy over Izadoras actions was no sooner advertis'd of the Pages coming to his House than he stole to his Daughters Chamber who had scarcely read her Lovers fatal generosity but she fell a deploring it with Tears and in so great disorders that in the heighth of them Blacius surpriz'd her with the cause in her hands which he violently snatcht from hers and having perus'd it contracted so transcendent a rage for her to whom it was sent that his Ponyard was twice out to have quench'd it in her Bloud but perhaps believing to kill her would be rather an obligation than a revenge he resolv'd as the most sensible one he could invent to carry her to Flamminius and force her to give him some such pregnant evincements of her conversion that he should not doubt it and which if afterwards she broke might render her as unworthy his Affections as Resentments Blacius being thus fixt commanded a Charriot to be made ready in which he took Izadora with him to Flamminius's to whom he commanded her to be askind as she had been cruel or as he merited which if she declin d he protested by Oaths that to be repeated would give one horror much more to have broken them that if he could hire no murtherers to destroy you he would do it with his own hand and that then he would force her to marry Flamminius or Diana's Nunnery The fear as she vow'd to me she had for you the pitty of Flamminius sufferings and virtue and the duty to a Father made her more incline to obedience than her own safety which the gods by the condition they had reduc'd her to had render'd the least of her cares As soon as they were come into Flamminius's Chamber the poor Gentleman seeing Blacius with Izadora began to exclaim against the Fates cruelty and not hers that had given him no obstacle but want of health to enjoy a Felicity as transcendent as her Beauty This discourse the generous Lover held for he was ignorant that Blacius knew the cause of his danger his Page not daring to acquaint him with it lest what was his misfortune might have been esteem'd his fault but he was soon put out of that Faith by Blacius shewing him his own Letter Oh gods who can tell you those sad words Flamminius utter'd at that discovery they were such that I as much admir'd as commended Izadoras Constancy not to have been shaken by them But her Father who had solemnly sworn that nothing but Flamminius's recovery should convince him of his Daughters change withdrew himself to a window lest the dying Lover might attribute Izadora's kindness to his presence and not her conversion Flamminius perceiving 't was with design instead of employing so kind an opportunity to implore his Mercy in receiving and cherishing so pure and bright a flame made use of it only to invoke her pardon that the assurance he had sent of his obedience had prov'd so unfortunate a Duty and then protested with Eyes and Hands elevated to Heaven that if her justice would not invite her to believe he intended not to make use of Blacius authority her reason should be convinc'd of it by the demonstration of his death and lest that might be consider'd as her act he would by a Letter and before witnesses seal with his last breath 't was not her disdain that
you is a real truth and is only in design to preserve you from a sin the very thought whereof doth make me tremble You must pardon me Perolla said Flamminius interrupting me if I cannot raise my Faith so far above my reason Alas I reply'd I must of necessity be oblig'd only to your Faith for your doubts are of so sad a nature that if reason and demonstration only must remove them the very performance which does it will render you uncapable of making any advantage by their suppression and the knowledge of your mistake No Perolla said Flamminius I have not been so rude an admirer of Izadora as not before now to have convinc'd her that I prefer my obedience before my death and when to manifest that reality I had almost made use of a demonstration I would not again return to life left her enjoyning me it might have proceeded from her Duty or her present pity till she had faithfully engag'd her self to permit my death when she would no longer my Passion so that having given her the power when she has the will to be free from my Flame I cannot consider you now but as your own and not Izador's Agent Alas Flamminius I answer'd that which you build upon the Cause of your Confidence will be of our Misery and her ruine for the engagement Izadora gave you the invitation to which was your virtue with the condition you were in when she gave it you and her fear of what you may do by what you have done makes her elect her own Death rather than avoid it by yours so that what you chose to evince your respect by turns to a Tyranny but let her generosity instruct yours and remember it can be but virtuous to imitate Izadora You make me said Flamminius happy whether I do or do not credit you for if the latter by my choice there is nothing since I spoke with you that troubles me and con-sequently I am in joyes of hopes till those of fruition converts them into greater and if the former I must be convinc'd that Izadora loves Flamminius better than her self but yet he continu'd were I assur'd so fatal a proof must certify that Truth I should be less unfortunate in her hate than her esteem besides he continu'd preparing himself to leave me Izadora knowing her death will be so far from preventing that it will but accellerate mine I must again Perolla beg your pardon for not crediting your vows which you may grant with the less reluctancy since my unbelief is with reason and against my self Then I reply'd staying him and drawing my Ponyard which was all the Arms I had then about me you must either oblige me so much as not to let me live to see you restor'd to a better opinion of me by so black an Experiment or you must not live to be Izadora's death which were I not certain your intended Nuptials would prove I had rather make use of my hand against my self than Flamminius Since said he unsheathing his Ponyard which was a Weapon all Gentlemen constantly wore in those times you will force me to dispute Izadora by my Arms as well as by my Services I make no question but to prove as successful in the first as I have been in the last We had no more words after those but ran furiously at each other my thrust was more fortunate than Flamminius's for though his entered my right side yet meeting with a Rib and glauncing on it it gave me but a large flesh wound whereas mine past through and through his body a little above his heart and our Weapons being not long we were constrain'd to close in which I had the fortune to fling him down and disarm him but perceiving by the great Spring of blood which issu'd from his wound that I had at least for awhile hinder'd his Marriage presenting him his Ponyard I implor'd his forgiveness for what I had done beg'd him to be satisfi'd by my being able to have success against him that I had the better cause and besought him not to implore that life I gave him and Izadora had preserved for his ruine and for mine since he would hereafter know how near she was to sacrifice her own for his and that I would ever be of a resembling resolution Flamminius made me some answer which I could not hear for having effected my design though in the most unfortunate way I thought it high time to retire lest a longer continuance in so dangerous a place might rob me of the fruits of my Victory I was but newly gone out of the Room when occasion'd by the curiosity of some that had listen'd at the door whil'st we were fighting I heard all the house in an alarm and was scarce half way out of it but that I found my self in a narrow Entry assaulted by four with Swords who cry'd out Kill Kill the Murtherer of Flamminius one of those was so hot in his fury that running at me he stumbled and fell at my feet and by his fall choaking up the passage I had time to take away his Sword with which for awhile I retreated safe against the rest but as soon as I was come into a more spacious place not only the other three came all upon me but most of that crowd which were invited to this Marriage and Blacius at the head of them so that I had certainly there receiv'd my Fate had not those two Friends I formerly specified with Strato relieved me who suspecting my design had continu'd about the house ready to answer all alarms and this they did so vigorously that having worsted some that oppos'd their entrance they join'd me in my greatest danger and crying out Courage Perolla by their voyces and their performances had restor'd me mine though I had lost it The name of Perolla made Blacius discover what my disguise had conceal'd and the affront but more the Actor of it so transported him that striking at me with all his force and I defending his blow with my Ponyard his Sword fell out of his hand which snatching up I presented it him by the hilt and beg'd him not to employ his Arms against a life that I was perpetually ready to sacrifice for his service Blacius was so extremely surpriz'd at the loss of his Sword and at the manner of his recovering it that I had time to leave him in his astonishment But I ow'd it to the Valor of the Gentleman with whom I had that discourse at my first coming into the Room where the Ball was dancing who learning by the publick noise that I was Perolla and pardoning my attempt on Flamminius as to my resentments did preserve my life by cutting off another Gentlemans hand that was coming behind me to have taken it away whil'st I was restoring Blacius his Arms. With this generous additional assistance I recover'd the Street-gate where I found by the care of my two Friends so powerful a recruit that had
sad servant I beseech you Sir observe in this example how much the present Romans do degenerate from their Ancestors those preserved their conquering Enemy from Poyson and these induce a King contrary to the Laws of Hospitality and Faith to betray his Guest Hannibals servant could speak no more for weeping and though I was sorry any but Perolla should revenge Izadora yet I was satisfi'd that the gods by making him become his own Executioner evinc'd his Crimes were great by their punishment and declared their justice to be so too in forcing him that had been her Enemy to become his own and her Revenger The next day this great Captain was buried and my anger dying with the cause of it I esteem'd it a duty to attend his body to the Tomb which had no other Inscription but HERE LIES HANNIBAL and indeed was not capable of a greater This Solemnity perform'd I began to return into Italy from whence my Revenge had too long detain'd me but the misfortunes I endur'd and the obstructions I met with were such that I arriv'd not in this City 'till the very day the Inhabitants of it sent to treat with the generous Spartacus which to do byfear and not by necessity I esteem'd so low a thing that making my self known I made their duty so to them which was to oppose their captivity in a way that if afterward it prov'd their destiny yet at least it would be esteem'd their misfortune and not their crime The first day our success was proportionate to our desires and the next where Canitius storm'd I had the fortune to oppose and worst him but whil'st a fresh Alarm drew me though not the Guard from that Post by your unresistable Sword you made a passage for your Army as easie for them as glorious for your self But I thank the gods Perolla continu'd that I was call'd away for perhaps my sacrilegious Arm might have been employ'd against a Virtue which to have fought against or resisted would have more troubled me than to be vanquisht by it and which to know is so great a felicity that I count my defeat an easie purchase of it The news of you possessing that quarter of the Town no sooner came to me in this than not knowing to what insolency the Soldiers heaâ authorized by a successful Asâault might raise them to abandoning all other cares but those for Izadora I ran to the Religious House she was in and carried her from thence to Pacuvius's there to preserve her Honour or not live to see it violated where all those friends I had about me were lost in so generous a defence and where when my resistance was no longer useful I deriv'd that from my Enemies virtue which the gods deny'd my endeavors and my sword 'T was thus said Symander to Callimmachus that Perolla finisht his Story on which if I have too long insisted 't was to publish what were a sin to conceal It remains now to acquaint you what period had our Lovers sufferings in which my Prince so justly sympathiz'd that he had doubtless made use of his power to settle them in their joyes had he not first esteem'd it requisite to hear what their fathers could object which having invited them to Pâcuvius addrest his discourse unto him in these terms If I thought your justice were not as great as your conquests I might apprehend after Izadora's Story that you would not have the patience to hear my defence but look upon that as an evincement of my being as highly guilty of cruelty as I am confident by that time I have ended speaking you will think me free from it for I will make it evident that all those Actions which she alledges proceed from his inclinations to her and to virtue are only testimonies of his hatred to his father His high generosity and a desire of freeing his Countrey was to kill Hannibal my greatest friend which was far worse than to have murther'd me my death had ended all miseries with it but to survive such a friend was to endure a torment which none but he that resented it can believe or if I thought death a greater contentment than life by that Action he reduc'd me to the sad extremity of being my own Executioner but that which was worse than all this he design'd to murther that great Conqueror in my own house where he would have no Guards but my Fidelity which to have violated had been a breach of Trust and Hospitality two of the most sacred Tyes and all this under a pretence of serving the Romans who had they not scorn'd to owe their safety to a sin that had render'd them unworthy of it night certainly have found spirits of a temper apt enough to sacrifice themselves to have preserv'd the Publick but the high esteem they yet pay Fabritius's memory for not permitting one of Pyrrhus's own Subjects upon as it were the eve of their ruine to poyson him does sufficiently demonstrate they had rather hazard their Empire than their Reputation and certainly if they thought it gallantry in Fabritius not to purchase their safeties by only permitting an ill Act in an Epyrote which he had no interest in but what his knowledge of it gave him how much would they then condemn a Roman when their State was not near in so great a hazard so that that which he would have appear an obligation to his Countrey would have been really a sin against it and his family But besides who knows if after having done the Fact he would not have fled for I can hardly believe he that would act a treacherous design would expose his life to justifie he intended it for a generous one and so have lest me a saârifiâe to the fury of Hannibal's Soldiers The next proof of his Affection to me was to preserve my greatest enemies Life when I might by so favourable an adventure have purchas'd that Death which I would a thousand times have bought by my own had not higher considerations plac'd limits to my just revenge He pretends indeed that he comes to see me but the event justifies 't is to preserve Blacius he is loaden with wounds for the defence of Izadora's Father and spends that bloud for his preservation which could not have been more generously spilt than for his destruction in a word he employs that Life I gave him to preserve his that he knew made mine my greatest torment and as if all those were not sufficient wrongs he makes his House his Sanctuary and thereby excludes me and his friends from affording him any demonstrations of our care but that I look upon as an argument of his guilt which was of a quality to make him esteem himself safer with his Enemies than with me But his most unpardonable crime was to become a Slave to one of that Family whose greatest ambition should have been to have made all of them his nay Courts her with Sighs and Tears to accept his Liberty
and by a thousand such unworthy submissions endeavours to make me question his Mothers Faith which I should have done did I not know one of the greatest vices is to suspect she hadany for in a long succession of years there were none legitimate of our Line till the degenerate Perolla but with their milk suck'd a hatred for that of Blacius's but he had no sooner gotten his health and lost his liberty but more joyful of the last than of the first he quits Salapia without paying me the duty of a visit which was the pretence of his coming thither and his impiety not being yet come to the height of attempting my Life with his own hand he endeavours it obliquely by taking up Arms for the Romans against the Carthaginians in whose party I was so engag'd that he could not prosecute their overthrow and effect it without involving me in their ruine and when the great Hannibal had justly censur'd Blacius to death for his pactice with the Romans Perolla that I might not suspect the first service he did him was by accident but design engages all such of his friends as he could seduce and with them employs his Sword and Life to redeem my greatest enemies in which attempt as you have heard he had a success proportionate to his desires and after that Blacius was found out and brought to the Scaffold there to receive the punishment of his offences lest I might yet doubt he lov'd his Enemies as much as he hated his Father he voluntarily embraces Death to justify that Truth Judge Sir if ever there were a higher injury than this and if by it my hatred be not as just as great for in this one action he destroys that Life he knew maugre all his ingratitude I yet lov'd best to preserve his whom I hated most but he was preserv'd from death by Izadora's Tears Izadora I say one of Blacius Family which had he had any generosity he should rather have suffer'd than ow'd his deliverance to such a Deliverer For my part the cause of his safety took away all my joyes for the effect and made me celebrate his preservation in Tears but though Hannibal pardon'd his life yet he kept him in prison where he had still retain'd him had not the generous Maharbal given him his liberty which he had no sooner obtain'd than he employes it by bearing Arms under the Romans for his destruction that gave it him but perhaps he will say he redeem'd that fault by giving Maharbal his life to which I answer that was no satisfaction for the old Crime but the acting of a new one for he was only treacherous to his friends to repair his ingratitude to his Enemies and thereby committed one sin to act another he makes the publique pay for his particular fault and redeems his own unworthiness by depriving the party he serv'd of so considerable a prisoner besides what happen'd was but an accident but his taking up Arms was a design Thus you see those actions he most glories in being diligently enquir'd into are found contrary to what they appear'd and if his best performances are crimes what are then his others He was an earnest persecutor of Hannibal my greatest friend while he continu'd in Italy all my perswasions and Prayers not being able to hinder him so much as from acting against him in his person and as if the knowledge of the affection I pay'd that great General were a sufficient cause to creat Perolla's hatred for him he left his own Countrey and his Izadora too to prosecute him under Scipio in Africk and at that famous Battel at Zama a thousand times ventur'd his own life to deprive Hannibal of his and though he alledges that he preserved him when he might have acted his destruction yet I shall beseech you to consider he is but his own Witness and whether it be likely he would have neglected that opportunity had it been offer'd which he has since sought out over all the world and never declin'd whilst there was any possibility of finding it He was not only content to injure me in my Friend but does it too in my Enemy and that I might not doubt his perseverance in his former courses by stealing away Izadora in which Sin every accessary is a principal he violates both Humane and Divine Laws and rather elects the committing of so high a crime than that I should want testimonies of so proportionate a Truth ây by his own confession would have Married her and joyn'd those two Blouds together that never till then were united but when they ran from Wounds and mingled on the ground and would thereby have ty'd my Hand from revenge or forâ'd me to act it thorough my only Son Lastly and that I hope will not prove in your judgement inferior to any when your victorious Arms had struck such a terror into our Citizens that we were going to present you our Keys and Liberties he by his unfortunate perswasion and example made them take up Arms and forâ'd you to purchase your Victory by Blood reduc'd his Countrey and Friends to a fatal subjection or death or to owe to their Deliverance to a Mercy they have so highly offended that they are unworthy of it but if you execute the rigor of War upon us and that your Justice involves Perolla in the publique Fate I shall then find my happiness in my destruction and more commend Fortune in revenging me upon him than be displeas'd at her for my own and Salapia's ruine Spartacus and all the assistants were infinitely surpriz'd at so strange a reasoning and request But my Prince put a silence to the general murmur by inviting Blacius to speak who thus obey'd him I attest the gods said he lifting his Eyes and his Hands to the place of their residence that from the time Perolla preserv'd my life it has been my misfortune for if ever since I deriv'd any joy from this Woman pointing at Izadora 't was only learning by my own sufferings in her want of Duty what Pacuvius's were in his Sons immitating her crime but because she has told her own story with so much Art that it may induce you to consider my resentments as an injustice I shall briefly give you a true Comment upon it I confess she had my Command to cherish and esteem him that preserv'd my life but she had it not to give those retributions to Perolla That ignorance which I believe procur'd my safety procur'd that injunction I found him my Friend when I gave him my affection but she knew him my Enemy when she gave him hers Observe too I beseech you how confident this young man was of having it when the argument he us'd to make her declare that Truth was only if she avow'd it not he would kill her Fathers Enemy that which was a just motive to silence her Flame was his inducement to invite her to disclose it in which one action she doubly injur'd me
in not only being content to save my mortal'st Enemy when too she contributed nothing to his ruine but the performing of her Duty but also in making the purchase of that safety the loss of my only Child she obey'd me whilst she knew I was ignorant of what I did and disobey'd me when she ignor'd not what I enjoyn'd but that also the injunction was just besides after I had preserv'd Perolla's life when I had both Power and Justice to extinguish it by her receiving his prohibited visits and by making a contract of passions with him she thereby endeavours to induce me to detest Charity by converting the effects of Mine into so sensible a gief and when for my successful endeavours and duty to the Roman Empire I became Hanniba'ls prisoner she invites an assistance for my Liberty which I had declar'd in her hearing was a greater misfortune than that execution I was menac'd with whereby she did offend either my professions or me the first by not crediting them or the last in acting against them if she believ'd their Truth nay she acknowledg'd she was apprehensive of losing her happiness in attempting to preserve a part intending her Lover by the former and her Father by the latter thereby becoming so impious as before Perolla was her Husband to give him a precedency only due unto that relation She is so earnest to disoblige me that she impudently confest she put her self in the highest perplexity she was capable of to involve me in a resembling one When I was got out of prison in the hurry of that change she endeavours to extort a declaration from me that in a setled temper of mind she knew my judgement would deny gives Perolla unjust praises to make me give him an unjust reward and would render that an act of Friendship for me which was but one of Friendship to himself as you may be pleas'd to remember I then largely evinc'd but when the second time I was taken whether it proceeded from their revenge or my own misfortune I will not positively determine Alas Sir how ungrateful was her carriage she says that she came to preserve my life but her actions say 't was to preserve Perolla's and when her Fathers and her Loverslife came in competition she gave up the first a Sacrifice to preserve the last from being one neither can she alledge this impious proceeding was an effect of a precipitate election upon a suddain emergency for after she had publish'd her Love was the god over her Duty Hannibal startled at a Declaration which was even a Monster in Nature gave her not only leasure to reflect on her crime but power to recall it yet she to demonstrate that the murthering her Father was a premeditated design and not a hasty choice perseveres in and repeats her impiety when he that was to receive the advantage of it condemn'd and detested it which action of Virtue her depraved reason makes a confirmative argument for her continuing in her vice This Sir which I alledge would be I believe the reasoning of a stranger which has any but now I beseech you let us take her own sence upon this way of proceeding she first alledg'd that I had not been gratefull enough to Perolla's Virtue and that now she was to act my part she would make him know what his performances were and what my gratitude should have been by her Retributions To this I answer that besides my former saving his life after his Father treacherously endeavour'd to take away mine the condition I then was in sufficiently confirm'd my Gratitude for the same Proclamation which gave her a rise to save my life by her declaring who 't was that fore'd the Prison for my deliverance gave me the same power for no one was excluded by the manifest which my Gratitude made me decline and rather elect to lose my own life than secure it by hazarding my preservers for I was confident the Guards were too strict to have admitted his going out of Salapia and though as in this action I evinc'd that I preferr'd my Gratitude before my life so I did too too that I preferr'd death before any alliance with Pacuvius's Bloud yet she persever'd in a passion which tended to that or a more unlegitimate end Hernext allegation is as vain as the first for to justify she murther'd me with a good intention she designs to murther her self as if one crime could expiate another or as if having kill'd one of the Family the destroying of the residue were a sufficient reparation No Sir she loves Pacuvius's Bloud so much that she has a hatred to her own for being the object of his and so weds his resentments that she executes her Father herself and consequently all her family to act them but my enemy wasmore merciful than my Daughter for I receiv'd that life from Hannibal which Izadora deny'd me and though those Crimes her Constancy in a forbidden Flame and her seeking Death because of a supposed loss which she knew was my satisfaction might have induc'd me to consider her sufferings as an immediate justice of the gods for her want of duty yet as soon as Hannibal threaten'd to be their instrument in it I not only hazarded my Life and Fortune to prevent it but also embrac'd her satisfaction with so much concern that rather than continue her languishings I intended to set a period to them by giving her to Perolla which I had effected had not he at the same time I was acting his felicity been robbing me of my Glory for though he attributed his immediate leaving of Salapia after Hannibal's repulse to a design of suppressing any jealousie his continuance in it might create yet I was perfectly inform'd 't was his Ambition not his Respect that caus'd it and his speedy return to the Camp was only to ingross an honor to himself which in a good proportion was built with my Bloud neither did his long abstaining from justifying himself to me proceed as his Mistriss said from his ignorance of my resentments but from his being conscious of the justice of them And though she magnifies Pacuvius's Sons gallantry in crediting my Change I must only his Reason since in that only by what I had already done he might well credit any thing I should doe But after that by Perolla's new affront I had alter'd my resolutions by esteeming him unworthy of my Allyance that esteem'd me unworthy of justice and after that by my former concessions I had manifested to her my present resentments were effects of my Reason and not of aversion for her Lover yet she was so far from sympathizing with me in my legitimate resolves that when I presented her Flamminius who wanted nothing but the being of Pacuvius Family she was notonly content to decline the Husband I approv'd but elected one I justly abhorr'd and when his being more intent in Affrick on her Revenge than his Love which might have something lessen'd hers
had like to have render'd her disobedience without excuse she determines to abandon her Father and the World rather than a negligent Lover and was satisfy'd with no way of being reliev'd from her Distress unless she increases her own Crime by making Perolla act another nay so much abhorrs any thing from her Fathers recommendation that Flamminius coming to her upon that score she will rather hazard her Lovers Bloud than spare his To conclude that her impiety might be uncapable of any accession and to resemble her Servant as perfectly in Sin as in Affection she like him by stealing away violates all Divine and Humane Laws and her not being Married which she alledges to qualify her Crime is an aggravation of it for flying from her Father to her Husband had been only an offence in giving Perolla that Title but flying from her Father to her Lover she must be more oblig'd to Mens Charities than to her actions if they have not thereby as bad a Character of her Chastity as I of her Duty These Sir said Blacius are my reasonings and as I believe they are not much dissonant from Truth which gives me a confidence that if your justice be proportionable to your power you will right an injur'd Father but if her Sex moves you to pitty Perolla's I hope will not your punishment of him will obliquely repair my wrongs for either his death will be the occasion of hers or if she revive him her torment or her cure will be my satisfaction This discourse did but increase that wonder Pacuvius had given a being unto And my Prince was preparing himself to declaim upon a Theme which would have furnish'd reasons to a Judgement as ill as his was excellent when he was diverted by a noise and suddainly perceiv'd the occasion of it was the coming in of Granius Furiles and some other Officers of his Army that presented him with two Salapians whose very sight almost depriv'd Pacuvius and Blacius both of theirs and of their Lives Spartacus observ'd it and so did our generous Lovers but being ignorant of the cause they expected with much patience to learn it which they soon did by one of the Salapians addressing himself to Spartacus in these words Sir we are come to beg Justice of you for you These two Gentlemen pointing at Pacuvius and Blacius whose guilt is as much in their Faces as in their Hearts observing in the Assault that my Companion and I employ'd our Lives somewhat prodigally for the defence of our City inferr'd from thence that we would hazard them to be reveng'd on the Conqueror of it and in this Faith came severally to us and by assurances of excessive rewards hir'd us by our treachery to destroy what we could not by our Swords This office we accepted were seemingly wicked but to be really the contrary and undertook to kill you that we might preserve you for we apprehended our declining their overture might have induc'd them to invite some others to embrace it where the greatness of the reward might have cover'd the greatness of the crime besides Sir for us to have undertook such a design had been a Sin against Gratitude as well as Honour for we are two of those that receiv'd our Liberties when we expected our Deaths and if we employ'd those Lives against you which we receiv'd from you 't was not only by your permission but by your command and since to obey you we durst draw our Swords against you you cannot suspect we will decline any other obedience The Salapian had no sooner done speaking than Blacius first and afterwards Pacuvius acknowledg'd by their words what their tremblings and disorders had confest and though they severally alledg'd that the ignorance they then were in of my Prince's virtue and their knowledge that in him only consisted the Life and Soul of his Army had induc'd them to that revenge yet all the Assistants but the generous Lovers were so enrag'd at them for their Tyranny to their Children and their intended treachery treachery to so mild a Conqueror that there was nothing heard in that great Assembly but Cryes that Spartacus should revenge himself that he should extirpate such Monsters out of the World and pay with their Lives those Crosses which they had given to Izadora and Perolla Granicus too and the other Officers that came with him inform'd Spartacus that they had been already condemn'd by a Court-Marshal upon that Article That whosoever endeavour'd the death of the General should receive his own for his punishment so that he had nothing to do but to give the Law its course which in that case to oppose was not to be merciful but unjust All this while the generous Lovers were so confounded that had not their innocence been known their disorders and trouble had been taken for their Guilt but my Prince having whisper'd something privately to Euriles he went to Izadora and her generous Servant begg'd them to excuse an execution which Blacius and Pacuvius merited had it been only for their cruelty to them that in their deaths they might read the justice of the gods by rendring their vices which had been the cause of their own troubles the occasion of their Parents punishment and of their own quiet that since for him to be just would make them happy he hoped they would pardon a revenge which he inflicted as much upon their score as his own Then my Prince bid Euriles carry away the Delinquents to receive the censure had been giventhem At that sad command both Izadora and Perolla cast themselves at Spartacus Feet which having a while wash'd with their Tears they begg'd him either to alter his sentence or permit them to participate in it that if the death of their Fathers must be the only way to their union they would be content with the being eternally deny'd it rather than purchase it at that rate that they should be more miserable in the loss of their Parents than in their cruelty and lastly they protested by inviolable Oaths if they suffer'd they would perpetually banish themselves from each others company and either by grief or resolution suddenly follow them Then rising up from my Prince they prostrated themselves at their Fathers Feet where they again reiterated those engagements and in such passionate terms and moving actions implor'd their pardons for those disobediences their Lovers not they had committed and which they would suddainly repair by embracing a resembling destiny to theirs that my Prince could not abstain from crying out Tyrants are you so much fortified against Virtue that so powerful an assault must remain fruitless can Fathers see that without pity which Strangers cannot can Nature be insensible against the attempts of Nature Whilst Spartacus was speaking many things of this quality Izadora and her generous Servant had by their weepings so laid their Fathers rage as showres do storms that those Clouds of hatred which had so long hinder'd Reason and Nature from shining began
sent thither who seeming to take him for one of yours desir'd him to tell Zianthe that you lay that night at my Lodgings with Zephalinda and that he was sent purposely to wait upon her thither You know Madam continu'd Surena that all that night you honor'd my Sister with your company for when you were returning late I caus'd one of the wheels of your Chariot to be so dexterously broken that upon the first motion it fell all to pieces so that you were necessitated to remain at my house which the deluded Artabanes attributed to a coâtrary cause and though that to put the greater Complement upon me you evaded allowing him the honor of taking leave for his being made General and his resolution of going next morning to his charge was so suddainly divulg'd that I am confident all Nineve except those of my house knew it in an hour but there I had taken such strict order that none should speak of it that it came not to your knowledge Artabanes therefore without so much as answering my Servant retir'd to his own house where had I seen the defects my delusion produc'd I had it may be repented it But Madam his Griefs had another operation than I expected for I believ'd the being so egregiously abus'd would have made him decline any resolutions but those of hating you and have induced him to vent his despair upon the revolted Tabienians in which time by the assistance of your resentments for his so abandoning you and my humility and constant passion I was not out of hopes to gain what he had lost but it seems he abandon'd himself so entirely to revenge that as he had lost the hopes of possessing you so he resolvd to endeavour I should wear his Livery in pursuance whereof he sent me a challenge which I could not decline for he that has the courage to adore you cannot want it to dispute you which I did but the gods who will not suffer infidelity to prosper in Love it self where 't is least unlawful gave him an advantage over me which perhaps upon a juster subject he could not so easily have gain'd Whilst Sillaces said Symander was making this relation my poor Master was in so many several disorders that in my life I never saw a subject fitter for pitty but no sooner had his generous friend disclos'd this fatal treachery than he cry'd out O gods Sillaces what is it you tell me I tell he reply'd that which if your unjust suspition had not been too predominant Paâthenissa would have inform'd you of and thereby exempted her self you and all your friends from that misery your precipitate and voluntary banishment has cast us into but be not so cruel to your self as to interrupt me in that which makes your wound and not permit me to apply the cure Alas said Artabanes 't is not in your power for though Parthenissa should by an excess of goodness pardon my crime yet that it self would but increase it by demonstrating I have offended the greatest Mercy as well as the greatest Beauty You are said Sillaces very ingenuous to persecute your self and your wilfulness is admirable you will run into a storm and then refuse the Harbor No generous friend Artabanes answer'd that which you call a wilfulness is a justice since for a Criminal to embrace Life when his Conscience will be more severe than his Judge can be is to become as much an ememy to himself as to Justice If said Silaces you will not permit me to finish my relation for the interest you have in it yet at least let me obtain that favour as a reward of those sufferings I have undergone to bring you news which I thought would not have been altogether unacceptable I beg a thousand times your pardon said my Prince if the effects of my despair have been so uncivil but as a pennace for it I will no more interrupt your Relation but listen to it with as much silence as my miseries will permit Surena said Sillaces had no sooner ended this discourse than perceiving how strange an influence it had over Parthenissa he thus continu'd Alas Madam all the hopes I had in my misfortunes I apprehend are groundless for I expected by disclosing my fault to obtain a pardon for it but I find by your disorder that you are more inclin'd to Justice than Mercy I confess said Parthenissa you have by your relation made your self very unworthy the latter for by your own acknowledgement you are no longer wicked but because you can live no longer and 't is not your repentance but your death which makes this discovery 'T is true Madam Surena answer'd and thereby learn the power of your Beauty which violently forces me to actions against my Inclinations and against Justice But Madam I have greater hopes of your forgiveness by submitting than disputing and the more to induce you to it consider that if I am the only actor in this fault 't is because I only had the means to act it that none would have declin'd my crime if he had had my hopes that it lay in my power to continue as well as to create your troubles for I understand Artabanes is too perfectly deluded ever to return of himself and discover the contrary consider too Madam that I have given you an ill opinion of me to restore you to a good one of my Rival that you will render my death as full of torment withour uour pardon as of quietness with it and excuse my fault upon the score that the purest flame was the creator of it and that as it was my first so 't is impossible but it must be my last All the while Surena was thus speaking his sighs accompany'd his words and had so efficacious power over the generous Parthenissa that she told him Yes Surena you have my forgiveness and I beseech the gods that it may render your death as full of satisfaction as that crime which made you need it will I fear âill my life with misery At the end of these words she went out of his Chamber and coming where Zephalinda and I were she told her passing by Ah Madam your Brother has forever ruin'd me That virtuous Princess was as much surpriz'd at this Declaration as Parthenissa had been when she learnt the cause of it But Zephalinda perceiving your fair Mistriss was too much possest with grief to desire an explanation of what she had said contented her self to suspend her curiosity till a fitter season and having waited on her to her Chariot return'd to Surena who she knew by the emotions of such a visit would remain in too sad a disorder to abandon him but assoon as Parthenissa was got home she learnt Zianthe had absented her self which so confirm'd Surena's relation that Parthenissa immediately fell into a violent Feaver and the distempers of her mind so well conspir'd with the malignity of the disease that for seven days together all the Physitians were
caâst give me of thy being mine The gods forbid the Stranger reply'd unlacing his Helmet that ever my Sword should be employ'd in so criminal an action for though my ignorance made my sacrelegious Arm offend 't is not the gods themselves that can command my knowledge of you to repeat my sin thereupon flinging off his Helmet he discover'd a Face which Spartacus no sooner saw than they both ran with as much willingness to embrace as they before did to destroy one another and for a while my Prince in the joy of such an encounter had laid aside the thoughts of those miseries which had caus'd it but alas they were too deep and too recent to be forgotten and the sad remembrance of them made him on a suddain cry out Oh gods why do you give me so new a subject to desire Life when you had so lately given me many to detest it and why if you design my ruine do you make him know and favour me that was only capable to act it These reasonings made him that only heard them admire what might be their cause and his wonder producing his silence made my dear Master thus to continue No no Artabanes when thou wert a Slave to Fortune and to the Romans and when thou sought'st Death and not Victory the gods gave thee the last and deny'd thee the first but now thou bear'st the glorious Title of Parthenissa's the gods having deny'd thee the laâter deny not thy self the former shew by so generous an experiment that he which for not obtaining the victory could act his own death did not lose the one out of an apprehension of the other Thereupon he had certainly extinguish'd the fairest life that ever was had not the generous Artavasdes for 't was he whom Spartacus had fought with and whose strange being in the Roman Army shall be told you in its due order observing my Prince's despair proceeded from his defeat first hinder'd the fatal effects of it and then to take away the cause assur'd him that he was betray'd and not vanquish'd Spartacus at this assurance for till then he was ignorant of it look'd upon his Friend with a Face which spoke his doubts and then begg'd him to deal clearly and inform him whether what he had said was not onely out of a design to hinder his violence towards himself But Artavasdes having by many protestations and particulars assur'd him of Canitius and Castus's persidiousness made Artabanes who saw that 't was not Crassus but Treachery that had beaten him to relinquish those sad designes he had upon his own life and to preserve it for a perfection who only merited so transcendent a blessing This resolve was no sooner taken up but the apprehension of Sillaces's safety began to afflict my Prince with such excess that Artavasdes for a while suspected a relapse into his former despair produced it but being inform'd of the occasion he immediately made Artabanes to fling away his own Arms to take those of a Servant of his which by accident was riding by and then assuring him the power he had with Crassus was so great that if Sillaces were not already lost he durst undertake his and my preservation for they were so generous as to give me a part in their care they both gallop'd away towards the Camp where they found that night and not victory had put an end to the Romans Assault whereby it was apparent if so unconsiderable a person as Symander could defend so large a Line with so few hands what then would Artabanes have done with so vast an Army had it been free from Treachery Artavasdes therefore joy'd at Crassus's repulse and having lodg'd Artabanes in his own Tent caus'd an inviolable secresie to be administer'd to his Servants and his generous friends wounds to be drest which were many and those much inflam'd by that violent agitation that his care to preserve Sillaces had occasion'd he went to Crassus who with eloquent Elogies gave his Valour a just Character and acquainted him that a Servant or rather a Friend of his for his unimitable fidelity merited that name was taken prisoner in the Enemies Camp dangerously wounded and had sent him word that he had obtain'd his own liberty if Crassus would engage himself to their Commander in Chief to release the first prisoner of his quality which he should take that whether or no this was granted he desir'd that a Chirurgeon might be sent him all those of the Enemies were so busy about their own Patients that none of them had the time or the charity to dress his wounds Artavasdes further told the Roman General that the Chirurgeon he meant to employ might serve also to bring intelligence in what posture the reliques of his Enemies were and added to those two so many further motives that Crassus willingly yielded to both his requests Artavasdes was no sooner return'd than he acquainted my Prince with what he had done and after a short consultation they immediately imploy'd the faithful Philanax who my Prince mention'd in his generous Friends adventures as a Chirurgeon to Sillaces who passing the Roman Guards by Crassus's direction came with a Letter of Credence under Artabanes's hand into our Camp and fill'd us both by the relation I have made you with a joy which nothing could equal but the greatness of our grief before his arrival but the time pressing us I gave all my Soldiers Orders by Philanaxes's advice to shift for themselves during the obscurity for we were not able next morning with so small numbers to receive that storm was intended therefore all of them that night by a way which the Romans thought inaccessable descended to a little River that issues from the Lake of Lucania where some that could swim helping others that could not what by that charity and some few Boats and Planks which were there and which had been employ'd to fetch Victuals to our Camp whilst the Floods were so violent all of them before day recover'd the Mountains of the Brutians where afterwards they renew'd the War and furnish'd Pompey with an occasion to tell the Senate that it was Crassus had defeated the Slaves in Battel but 't was he had pull'd up the War by the very root But our Soldiers were no sooner gone than Philanax and I prepar'd Sillaâââ's Litter and having put him into it we carried him out of the Camp and freely passing the Roman Guards brought him to Artavasdes's Tent where these three great Men manifested their joys and friendship in expressions which if not related in their own words were too great a wrong unto them and the better to palliate the business I writ a Letter to Crassus as Commander in Chief of his Enemies and deliver'd it with my own hands as a Messenger sent expresly with it from the Camp wherein I let him know that upon his promise of the like civility I had sent the Prisoner he desir'd and afterwards to favour the flight of that
hands which my Princess observing she told me what Artavasdes does a demonstration of my Affection fright you And had you rather I should be unconstant than dead Yes Madam I reply'd for I had rather dye than you should But said Altezeera had you rather have me live in vice than dye in innocency when too that vice would render me as unworthy as undesirous to live Ah Madam I reply'd let us I beseech you break off this discourse left perhaps the evincement how much I love you might induce you to suspect I do not You may said Altezeera smiling impose what Laws you please where you have made your Conquest which I will obey lest you might think it not so entire as it is We had in the Temple some discourses of this nature which at length were interrupted by the generous Phanasder who came to kiss the Princesâes hand and to tell her that now she had no more enemies in Artaxata than those which had lost their lives for having been so Have you then said to Phanasder after Altezeera had receiv'd him with a respect worthy his services and virtue given Crassolis the reward of his infidelity No Sir he answer'd Crassolis shall be if you please reserv'd for Artabazus's sentence which pronounc'd from that mouth will be more regular and perhaps more sensible we are too much his Enemies to be his Judges But he continu'd when I spoke of the Princesses Enemies I only intended those in Arms. I believe said I though Crassolis does more merit the name of Enemy than any that have been in Arms yet we shall find it a more difficult task to make the King think him his than we had this day to conquer all ours If he does not Phanasder answer'd he will find his punishment in his fault but were I of your faith I would immediately be just to Artabazus and Crassolis by having the latter executed No Phanasder I reply'd I beseech you leave off that thought for if we impos'd his death we might bring his guilt to be doubted by the way in which it is punish'd I tell you this said Artavasdes the more particularly that you might see how near I was to have avoided all my future miseries and how I my self contributed to the preservation of him which caus'd them for this Inchanter Crassolis made himself appear as innocent to Artabazus as he did faulty to us nay the loss of that life which discover'd his Treason he made a successful argument of his innocency and thereby obtain'd a power whose effects I shall eternally deplore with as much cause as violence but whether continu'd Artavasdes interrupting himself does the reflection on that Traytor transport me I must beg your pardon for a fault which I believe you will excuse when you know the cause and the sooner to acquaint you with it I will return to the fair Altezeera who I left in the Temple and who merited one with more reason perhaps than the Deity to whom that was consecrated She too was so merciful to Crassolis as to think it lust to have his King only his Judge Her opinion was our resolution which we had no sooner elected than we return'd to the Palace and meeting by the way Palisdes's Body carrying to the Grave it had the noble Solemnity of Altezeera's tears which afforded him a feââcity in death better than his life had merited but it may be she shed those for his crimes and not his fall Phanasder and I having waited on Altezeera to her Apartment withdrew our selves to make our dispatches to the King who in few dayes came to his old residence and new conquest where he receiv'd Crassolis into his former favor who made use of it according to his former practice You do perhaps think it strange that I found Altezeera so early in the Temple but I believe you will no longer when I acquaint you 't is the Armenian custom for the Bride to employ half the day of the Nuptials in Prayers and Divine Solemnities to render the gods propitious to the marriage Her first thus happily prevented I was a thousand times ready to implore her permission to beg her of her brother and when I had even supprest my fears and taken up a resolution for so transcendent a request I was diverted from it by the certain intelligence that Zenaxtus with an Army of 60000 men was marching towards Artaxata to recover or lose himself before it and that the Prince Tygranes was gone to Pompey the Great the Successor to Lucullus's Army and Fortune and by his prayers and assurances of a considerable Party's joining with him induced that great Captain for a time to suspend his prosecuting Mithridates to invade Armenia towards which the Roman Eagles were flying with great celerity Artabazus in this great exigency gave me the command of all the Armenian Militia and opening the publick Treasures left them to my dispose with which I immediately levy'd an Army to oppose Zenaxtus great enough to raise my hopes of relieving Anexander if living or of revenging him if dead I gave the gallant Phanasder Commission and Money to levy another to secure and defend the Passes on the Banks of Araxis where then Pompey was Campt till I had decided the dispute with Zenaxtus who was the nearest and the most pressing Enemy To be brief Phanasder who reign'd more in Artabazus's Subjects than he himself did over them so suddenly form'd his Forces that before I thought he had sent his inferior Officers to have rais'd them I learnt they were all ready and possest of the Armenian Frontiers For my particular with 6000 Horse and 24000 Foot I advanc'd to meet the Enemy he relying on his numbers and I on my quarrel and the virtue of those that fought in it we soon came to a Battel which lasted till night did the office of Trumpets and founded a retreat The advantages and the animosities of both Armies were so resembling that we soon found what call'd the Soldiers to rest was esteem'd by them an injury which the next morning was again evinc'd for they could no sooner see their enemies than they went to destroy them and though we omitted nothing of either side which might end the dispute before the day did yet I believe this had been the perfect Copy of the Precedent if an Accident as strange as the Battel had not put a period to it The Scene of this long Tragedy was at the foot of a great Hill which in our hottest dispute we saw cover'd with a great cloud of Cavalry that so terrifi'd both Armies not knowing to which of them the release was intended that whatever Zenaxtus and I could do all our Soldiers at first suspended their Swords as their thoughts then sheath'd them and by degrees return'd under their Ensigns thinking all dispute against so powerful a supply as vain as dangerous I was enrag'd to find that the faith of my Army for I was confident those Forces came to
ravish not contribute to my Victory and in that belief I prest my Army to return to the charge that if they were friends they might see and have no share in our success and if not to fight them before they were join'd But all my persuasions being fruitless I was taking some resolution of an honourable death alone since I was deny'd it in company but those designs instantly vanish'd and gave place to joyes as pleasing by those new Troops falling like a storm on Zenaxtus's Army who by it having lost their hopes soon after did their courages and lives My Army contributing nothing to the Conquerors glory but the not participating in it Zenaxtus's death accompany'd by 40000 of his companions was the end and expiation of their Rebellion all the rest having been kill'd the precedent way and taken in this After the execution was ended I rid up and down the Field to learn from whom Armenia and Artava'des had receiv'd so signal an obligation but I soon found the sight of my Preserver was a greater blessing than the preservation it self for 't was the generous Anexander I flung my self instantly at his feet acknowledg'd him twice my Father in giving me my life and in preserving it and by a million of other demonstrations endeavor'd to manifest a contentment as great exteriorly as it was in my heart That generous Princes extasies were not inferior to mine which being somewhat lessen'd to satisfie my impatient longing in knowing from what kind god he deriv'd his deliverance he told me after I was fallen into Zenaxtus's hands by his treachery to Artabazus which might as easily have been prevented by the King as it was foreseen by me the persidious Traytor had immediately executed me but that he thought a death without lingring rather a mercy than a revenge therefore I was kept alive till some torment as great as his cruelty or as he merited was found out which being at length I was carried out of a Prison that I believe could not be an inferior one to that he design'd me and as the Tormentors were beginning their office my Judge being one of the Spectators of his sentence a Post arriv'd who presented him a Packet which as I after learn'd brought the news of your success against Artaxata the death of Palisdes the flight of Tygranes and your being made Generalissimo of all Armenia this which in all probability should have increas'd his fury suspended the execution of it and return'd me to a less troublesom Prison but though he gave out that he preserv'd me only to make you whom he was then going against participate in my sufferings by imposing them in your sight yet I rather believe my reprieve proceeded from his apprehension of a turn in fortune and that his would be desperate if yours were successful did he extinguish his fury in my blood whatever was the cause I cannot determine yet he carry'd me Prisoner in his Army but as the gods ordain'd it Zenaxtus committed the care of my restraint to a Gentleman who was engag'd in his Cause more by his relation to those in it than his approbation of it This generous Keeper the first night of our march allow'd me half his Bed and taking the opportunity of our being without Auditors by a handsom discourse assur'd me of his pity for my miseries and of his intentions to relieve them that my patience in enduring my Torments was of a quality that convinc'd him it proceeded not from my Fortitude but my Innocence and concluded that he was thereby invited to be of a Cause which gave the Defenders of it power to conquer their Enemies by their very sufferings This proceeding was so free and so like a Gentleman that to have doubted it had been a Crime as great as his Virtue I therefore gave him assurances of my believing his professions and that if he would decline Zenaxtus for Artabazus he should thereby better his Fortunes as much as his Cause Sir said he I will take up Arms to evince that the Quarrel I approve I will defend but I will accept of no Command but an inferior one to what I have here left those that are Enemies to Truth and to me should alledge my interest was my conversion In brief said Anexander the next night he so judiciously order'd our Escape that leaving nothing to Fortune he left us nothing to fear so that without any encounter or interruption we reach'd in three dayes to Thospia from whence my Deliverer sent Zenaxtus the cause of his being there and where by Lindesia's power and care I found that Body of Horse ready for service with which I march'd after Zenaxtus but could not overtake his Army till you had so weaken'd and harrast it that I came rather to act an Execution than a Fight and instead of helping Artavasdes to a Victory I have rob'd him of one This flattery was so palpable that I did not esteem it fit by a Reply to evince it one but beg'd him by his permission to have the honour to be known to his generous Preserver He merits it said my Father for I have seen him this day do more against Zenaxtus than when he gave Anexander his liberty we went thereupon towards those new and victorious Troops to find him but alas we found him too soon for before we had gone half the way Anexander perceiv'd him pale and cold amongst the dead oh gods what did not my poor father at the fight of that fatal object But let us pass over those grateful extravagancies though they abundantly manifested how precious to him the life was whose death was so passionately deplored The next morning after our Victory by a general Muster we learn'd what it cost us which was 10000 men lost and as many unserviceable for the present with this Army we return'd to Artaxata whose littleness made some believe we had mist of success and others that we had dearly bought and deserv'd it Artabazus when my father kist his hand protested he had brought him two things he most ambitiously desir'd Victory and Anexander that he was as much oblig'd to him for the latter as the former and if he were capable of any grief whil'st he lookt upon him it proceeded from a reflection of what his Credulity had so much hazarded and for his having neglected an advice where the punishment of it could not have been greater than the fault My reception was much resembling my fathers so were my acknowledgments which finisht I presented the King my Commission which Anexander's Liberty made my Justice and my Duty to restore But said Artavasdes why do I amuse my self to give you my story by retail 'T is enough you know I kept my Commission because my King would not receive nor my father accept it and by that retension I found the duty of it and my promise oblig'd me to join with Phanasder whose courage all this while had kept the Romans from possessing what they daily saw
see under my Ensignes Forces that will give her by their Virtue those Kingdoms hers do merit and which my birth deny'd me for I will not presume to declare my self her Servant till I can wear Crowns of Laurel and present her with those of Empire Yes generous Artavasdes I now repent my self I declin'd that Army afterwards conferr'd on Crassus but now I have the ambition to Command I shall not long be without one I will make Glory my Advocate as well as you and 't is fit I should be miserable did I expect any other way to felicity To contract my narration after I had assur'd Ventidius I would so fill Udozia's Breast with the Character of his Virtue that she should be as much taken with his Fame as he was with her Picture and that he did injure her to talk of Kingdoms after she was Ventidius's he retir'd himself in such raptures of joy that in few days he return'd to his former health But alas I was no sooner to mine than the gods cast me into a relapse whose cause was worse than the disease 'T was the death of Annexander to which misfortune I paid so many Tears that I thought though falsly their storc had been exhausted never did any death more convince me there was another Life than his for had not he been satisfy'd of that truth he could not have yielded himself up to eternal Ashes with so absolute a resignation Great Gods continu'd Artavasdes why did you not then acquaint me how miserable I was that I might have left the World when Annexander did and have had so sure a way to eternal Felicity as the following of him and that in the effects of my Duty I might have found those of your Mercy But alas you had destin d me to be as unparallel'd in suffering as in Love and thereby I hope instructed me there is a reward in another world since my constancy is deny'd one in this These passionate words both Artabanes and Callimachus sympathiz'd in which made Artavasdes the sooner finish them which he did by thus resuming his discourse after he had begg'd their pardon for having interrupted Before Annexander's Funeral by passionate perswasions of one of his most confident Servants I caus'd his Body to be open'd wherein alas I too visibly found he was sent to the gods by the wickedness of Men which being not discover'd during his life made me not wonder that the Senate had once expell'd the Physitians out of Rome for in this experiment I found 't was their ignorance and not their profession which was banisht but this sad misfortune and discovery with my impossibility of disclosing the poysoner cast me into a violent Feaver wherein though those we adore were not so merciful as to end my Miseries and my Life yet they were so just as to discover who wickedly would have been so charitable for I had retain'd all my Fathers Domesticks and being prescrib'd after my Physick the drinking of some Broth as it stood warming by the fire one of those little Dogs which are so common and so much cherisht in Rome came and lapp'd it all up but no sooner had he been my Taster than he began to reel then to swell and at last fell dead by the Bed-side This happen'd whilst Ventidius was present who remembring how Annexander dy'd enquir'd of Philanax who had made the Broth and having learnt it was one of my Fathers Cooks he immediately went down seiz'd upon him and presented his naked Ponyard to his Brest in the apprehension of death he discover'd that which made him desire and think it a happiness but as he was ready to expire observing Ventidius and Philanax were spectators of his execution he begg'd and obtain'd leave to speak with them privately where he told them that to dis-burthen his Conscience of a load which might sink it into eternal darkness he acknowledge'd that 't was he by a lingring poyson had murther'd Annexander and that he had been hir'd to that sin by Crassolis This intelligence after Justice had past on the Criminal the only knowers of it told me I kept it private lest the Traytor by the knowledge of the discovery might avoid the punishment of it But though I had in one Moon cast off my sickness yet I did not recover my health and was told should not till I chang'd the Air. Ventidius immediately offer'd me a magnificent Palace of his which stood by the Sea side within the Gulph of Tarentum whither I went after having took leave of the generous Artabanes who I could not perswade to remove thither till his wounds were perfectly cur'd and unto whom I promis'd to return that I might enjoy the felicity of his company as far as Armenia but I never had the blessing to see him since till by his Presence I not only receiv'd my Life but the relish of it too Some ten days after my arrival at Ventidius's by that excellent Air I recover'd strength enough to walk abroad and as we were diverting our selves by the Sea-side we saw a Gally cast Anchor in the Road and mann out a Boat to land her Passengers where to my admiration I found one of them was the gallant Falintus who at first seeing me put on a joyful Look which his Face was so little accustom'd to that I observ'd it was soon expell'd as an intruder But oh gods why do I protract the disclosing my miseries since I complain their having given me no more is a misfortune because formerly they have given me so many Yes Artabanes 't was Falintus told me that Artabazus had displac'd Phanasder as soon as I was gone that by discontenting so gallant a Man he had lost the Hearts of all those which bore that Title That he had lost a great Battel to Arsaces and Pacorus his Army being led by one of Crassolis's creatures who the common Soliers had sacrific'd to their Fury to rob the Parthians of the Glory of an entire victory by acting of a part of it themselves That Artabazus Lindesia and Altezeera had been shut up in Thospia and oh gods that I live to tell it that the last Here the miserable Artavasdes had not fortitude enough to resist the remembrance of his loss but abandon'd himself to effeminacies which made both Artabanes and Callimachus more pity than condemn them The generous Armenian was above half an hour e'r he could dry up his Tears or silence his sighs but as soon as he had gotten the victory of those Passions which had so lately gotten it of him he made use of it to continue his Story which he thus did with the sorrow and attention of the Hearers PARTHENISSA THE THIRD PART BOOK II. IEndeavour'd to tell you said Artavasdes in Epitomy the effects of Falintus's intelligence because I thought the remembrance of those miseries would have deny'd me the possibility of their full relation but now I find that those gods which gave me the fortitude to bear my affictions
than the prisoner could Master of he commanded him to conduct him to his dying Rival whither they were no sooner come than the wounded Gentleman haftily ask'd for the satisfaction of his hopes but Pacorus permitted not his Guide to reply and enjoyn'd all which were present to retire and then presenting himself with much civility to the Picture begg'd him to tell him if he knew whose it was oh gods said the young Crassolis 't is mine and were but my Health as good as my Title who ever you are you should lose it or I would my life Truly said Pacorus I place as high a value on this excellent Copy as you are capable to do and would not be depriv'd of it at a lower price but that you may know I esteem and do not hate my Rivals for then I should all Men I will inform you my name is Pacorus and that I have both Force and Authority to punish your threatenings did not I excuse them upon the same account which I hope you will my detention of both our Conquerors Ah Sir said the prisoner if you deprive me of my Picture and not of my Life you are as cruel in the latter as in the former and will be as severe in your Mercy as in your Injustice for you must permit me so to call your making that Excellence your Prisoner Alas 't is I said Pacorus that am hers If you were reply'd the other you would not be her Besieger Oh gods said the Prince somewhat surpriz'd is she then within Tygranocerta and have they made me so miserable a creature as to endeavour to destroy what I should and do adore No continu'd Pacorus lifting up his Eyes and Hands I invoke the higher powers to manifest theirs in my confusion if the fair object of my flame be within those Walls if ever I shed any bloud near them but for their defence Great gods the Prisoner cry'd out could I believe this Profession how happy were my ruine and how full of satisfaction my death if it might contribute to the preservation of a Beauty whose perfections and cruelty cannot transcend my Passion Yes said the Prince falling upon his knees I do here repeat my former protestation and implore the gods to fill this Excellency as full of Ice as she has me with Fire and to make me hated as much as I do love if I do not consider my Father as an Enemy if he continues hers and leave him no way to act his revenge but through his Son I believe you Sir I believe you said the wounded Gentleman kissing Pacorus's Hands for joy since to doubt so strange a change were to doubt her power that causes it who has evinc'd upon me in particular that it is as much above being limited as resisted for she has inspir'd me with a Passion without hope the greatest miracle but that which created it I know said the impatient Pacorus interrupting him what her Beauty is more by the effects than I can by the description I will tell you the other reply'd that the goddess of it is the Princess Altezeera and though I look upon her as my future Queen yet I find she has a greater Soveraignty over me by her Eyes than her Birth and I resent more despair from the greatness of her perfections than from that of her quality This confession nothing but a certainty of death could have disclos'd and if I should have been so miserable as to be mistaken in my conjecture I am certain I shall not be in my resolution which will prove constant enough to punish the discovery of a secret which neither the tortures of a fruitless Love nor Flames as great as my presumption has or could extort from me Yes Sir I will tell you my short and unfortunate Story I saw the Princess Altezeera and consequently ador'd her but with a Silence as great as my Passion the heighth of my aspiring was to languish and consume in that devotion and because I suspected my Eyes might discover my Heart or my Actions what I knew my words should not having some skill in Limning by a thousand stolen opportunities and by an Idea which was always present I drew this Picture whose Eyes being disarm'd of their light by these faint Colours omitted me to contemplate without dazling what I could not in the Divine Original This is my highest crime and so much I adore what I love that I shall esteem her the highest Mercy if she pardons it But Sir if ever the gods so bless your Flame as to make the Princess Altezeera the reward of it and that your discourses lead you to remember the occasion which made you first a Lover do not mention my unfortunate fire with that scorn the ambition of it merits but with some resentment of that voluntary death I have embrac'd out of a sence of my presumption Let the remembrance too of that safety it will give her and of that blessing it will for you be instrumental in extinguish a Fault for which I extinguish my Life and though I am your Rival yet the way in which I am so being a sufficient punishment for having been so The poor Gentleman was able to proceed no further for either the enlarging his wounds upon the loss of Altezeera's Picture the despair of repossessing it the apprehension of out-living the discovery of his Passion or the joy of his Death being like to prove the preservation of his Princesses Life cast him into a swound from which all Pacorus's help nor the Chirurgeons could recall him any longer than to beg the Prince not to fight against his Conqueror which he had no sooner said than an eternal silence clos'd up his Lips Pacorus was so generous as to celebrate his death with some Tears and Sighs excusing his crime by the knowledge of what created it which by experiment he found was of a quality that to avoid was far more difficult than to imitate but the last summons of his dead Rival made him immediately go into his Fathers Camp where finding him busy about his approaches and all the assistants withdrawing themselves out of respect he told Arsaces after some other common discourses Would it had pleas'd the gods Sir to have given you an employment more suitable to your inclination and quality than this you are now upon for you only labour for that which is already effected and cannot be more successful than you are without rendring your self less worthy of it Your Sword Sir has made Artabazus confess he is vanquish'd let not therefore his ruine do it If he makes any resistance 't is you give him that power and by giving him despair you give him resolution you have conquer'd him already by force do it again by humanity make a King your friend by declining making him your Vassal to conquer your self is a greater victory than to conquer one you have already conquer'd and the Romans hereby will apprehend a power that has vanquish'd
the night and the day no sooner appear'd than Arsaces Army storm'd the breach and thereby gave so hot an Allarm that it came to his Sons hearing who hastily told Altezeera That Life Madam which has been employ'd against you shall now serve to preserve you or else shall be lost for having been too-active and too-impotent farwell fair Altezeera you shall find I will shed my Bloud for you with greater confidence than I dare tell you so Then saluting the King with much humility but his Sister with much more he put on his Helmet and follow'd by Labienus and some Armenians he ran where the noise and danger call'd him which was indeed great and had not his Courage and Fortune been so too we had lost Tygranocerta and he his Life but though he perform'd things as worthy wonder as relation yet all had been fruitless had he not by lifting up his Helmet and telling his Name struck such a reverence and damp into the Parthians that they made a general stand in the way of victory and suspended their bloody Arms in the Air which Pacorns observing though his wounds were many and dangerous yet leaning on his Sword in the mouth of the breach he forc'd himself to tell them These wounds valiant Parthians which I have hitherto receiv'd carry your excuse in your ignorance but those you hereafter give me must be sins of design and consequently pierce me deeper than your Swords neither can you avoid this crime but by retiring to your Camp for whoever makes his passage into Tygranocerta must do it thorough his Prince who commands you by that duty you owe him and which he will abundantly reward to return to Arsaces and to let him know that by becoming an enemy to the Princess Altezeera he has made Pacorus his That if he values his Sons safety he must demonstrate it by his care of hers which if by a repeated Assault he endeavours to endanger I will draw my Army in for to maintain it and esteem the crime of opposing my King and my Father a lesser than his which necessitates me to it and if at last I have not force to resist his I will not want it to end a Life upon a breach which it was so unfortunate as not to defend Do not believe he continu'd that this Declaration is dictated by heat or passion no it proceeds from a just and digested resolution and if either Arsaces or you do doubt the contrary and that these wounds do not sufficiently manifest this Truth I will by so bloudy an experiment convince both him and you of it that perhaps your griefs shall be as large as your doubts These words spoke with grace and vehemency and the great respect all the Parthians paid Pacorus wrought a proportionate effect many were willing to obey his Commands others which knew his disposition apprehended to prosecute a victory which could not succeed without losing more than they could win in it and some who thought to have seen their Prince at the head of their Troops killing the Armenians were so surpiz'd to find him at the head of his Enemies killing his Servants that their wonder made them obedient and observing Pacorus's Army had not storm'd contrary to their Orders for I omitted to tell you he had given them express commands not to draw out of their Camp whatsoever they heard till they did so either from himself or Labienus they began to suspect there was some intricacy in the business which their prosecuting any further might discover to their ruine or their Prince's all these inducements and as the gods would have it one Rysolis Pacorus's Creature commanding these Troops were the causes that they began by degrees to retire with several tones of murmurings which sufficiently manifested their retreat proceeded from divers apprehensions But the Enemy had no sooner abandon'd the breach than the Prince by the loss of a deluge of Bloud swounded in Labienus's Arms who by the assistance of some Soldiers which had defended it was carry'd to the Palace and lodg'd in a magnificent Appartment Artabazus had provided for him and where by force of Cordials he was restor'd to that life which but seemingly had left him His sences were no sooner return'd than the chiefest of them was entertain'd by the fair Altezeera who Artabazus had brought with him to acknowledge and reward that Gallantry which had been so advantageous to them both After the King had made his retributions he withdrew himself to the other side of the Chamber to resign his place to the Princess who Pacorus no sooner saw than he fell into tremblings and confusions which better exprest his acknowledgements than his words could but Altezeera esteeming his performances merited more than a silent visit told him You have Sir endanger'd your Life to preserve your Enemies and by that demonstration of your Virtue we find our safeties purchast at a rate which makes us esteem them a greater misfortune than our ruines could have prov'd Alas Madam said Pacorus you more endanger my life by giving those I have fought for that name than those have done which I fought against and were there any merit in my duty 't is too abundantly rewarded by your saying there is and by a visit which I would perpetually implore by repeating greater dangers and greater wounds but alas Madam can you so soon pardon a declaration I made when I thought I should repair it by my death which before now I had acted did not I find my life would at least contribute as much to your safety as the loss of it could to your revenge but Madam I told you a Truth which was of a quality which told it self and my words did acquaint you but with that which every perfection about you does so that what I presum'd to mention was as needless as presumptuous Altezeera who extreamly dis-relish'd entertainments of this sort reply'd if my expressions Sir have not acquainted you with my gratitude I believe my suffering of these discourses will but I give them to your actions and condition and will in the future acknowledge your abstaining from them as great a favour as any you have done or are capable to do unto me Ah Madam said Pacorus after a little silence and some sighs why do you inspire me with so much passion and command me to conceal it and why do you take from me the power of obedience and yet enjoyn me it would to the gods you had commanded me to suppress my Life instead of my Words you should have seen by an instant experiment that I prefer nothing before the honor of obeying you and in that performance be convinc'd if I am disobedient to your first Commands 't is because I am uncapable and not unwilling to be otherwise Yes fair Princess 't is as impossible for me not to tell you that I adore you as 't is not to do it my Passion would be less could my obedience be greater I
kill himself in it and that he was confident if they would retire either to restore his Father to his former affection in few days or himself to his Duty they began by little and little to draw off which when they were entirely Pacorus told Phanasder and me that he never had a higher Duty than that which he paid Altezeera and that he only mention'd that word to reduce the Parthians to theirs and to protract the time till he could draw in Labienus and some Forces Whilst we were in the admiration of this generous Prince and upon our return the Centinels upon the highest Towers gave us a fresh Allarm which we found was no false one for we immediately perceiv'd the Parthian Ensignes flying towards us and the foremost of them carry'd by one who Pacorus at last knew to be Arsaces who seeing his Soldiers retreat and learning the occasion of it in that fury both inspir'd he ran to the Ensign of the first Milliary and having forc'd it from him he cryed out to the rest I told you degenerate Parthians 't was your fear you disguis'd under a false Name for now that you fought for Glory and against your Enemies you resign your first to the last in which number I include the false Pacorus who is a Traitor to his King and to his Father and whose sight should rather inspire you with revenge that respect you fight not against your Prince but his crimes which being great enough to make me divest my self of all the dictates of Nature may well invite you to cast off those of respect neither can you avoid punishing his sin but by committing a greater remember from your Prince he is become your Enemy and that in taking Tygranocerta you subdue a Kingdom and a Rebel who is much more considerable neither will I command you to act what I will decline do but follow your King destroy you the Armenians and I will Pacorâs Let us go then valiant Parthians by your performances merit that Title which the more to induce you to I vow by the gods I will find in this assault my satisfaction or my death Finishing these words he marcht at the head of his Troops and through a storm of Arrows which were shot before Pacorus knew his Father he came to the foot of the breach somefollow'd him out of Duty some out of Fear but the most as I have been since told to oppose and divert him if affairs were reduc'd to exreams but the generous Pacorus no sooner knew Orodes than he commanded the Armenians to forbear all hostility for a little and that good conclusion of this difference or his death should render his Orders useless or dispence with their infringement of them this being obey'd he raises himself up and leaning on his Sword he cry'd out Arsaces cruel Arsaces here is that Son which thou prosecutest more than Armenia retire thy Forces out of the latter and I will deliver thee up the former and if thy fury has not so entirely divested thee of Nature as to become the executionr of thy Son he will in recompence become his own and thereby evince himself thine since nothing but so near an alliance could induce him by death to exempt thee from what if acted will make thee deserve it There is Divinity Arsaces within these Walls and if thou esteem'st my saying so no Truth thou wilt change thy opinion if thou reflectest on what her defence has made me undertake and what reverence thy Soldiers have paid her Defender or if both these will not invite thee to that belief the seeing of her will but if nothing can move thee to reason or pitty I attest that perfection I adore and which thou committest a sin if thou dost not that the first step thou mak'st towards her destruction I will act mine and perhaps when thy choller has resign'd what it has usurp'd over thy reason thou wilt find some in deploring a Son who thou didst once honor with thy affection and who has lost it in a performance which hereafter but when 't is too late thou wilt confess has given him a better Title to it Whilst Pacorus was thus speaking all the Parthians as their King did make a stand and in imitation of the Armenians had desisted from shooting with Looks in which a small Phisiognomist might have read their Hopes of not doing it again and in a silent eloquence seem'd to implore that Command from Arsaces whose answer they expected and heard with impatience for it was thus Traitor and degenerate Pacorus who to aggravate thy crimes canst mention the name of Son and yet be in Arms and Rebellion against me know that the same moment thou hast cast off the duty of a Son I have divested my self of the relation of a Father and consequently that death thou threatnest me with loses that operation with me which thou act it I shall in part excuse the sins of thy Life and consider it rather as an effect of the greatness of their horror than of thy affection Neither can I commit any higher crime than to pardon thine for thou hast robb'd me in one action of a Son of Glory and of Quiet which two last I must and will restore by the destruction of the first for that Divinity thou mention'st I am confident she is none were it only for inviting thee to sin but if she be one let her shew it in her defence for I am determin'd on so vigorous an Assault that nothing but a Divinity can render it unsuccessful Then turning to the Parthians with a furious look he commanded them to follow him and began in a hasty march to ascend the breach but he was stopt by Pacorus who cry'd out Stay Arsaces stay since thou art so greedy of my death behold I will act it and it the taking out of the World him that robb'd thee of a Son of Glory and of Quiet and if he that restores thee to the latter two can merit any favour from thee I conjure thee by those obligations which I will immediately confer on thee content thy self with the submission and seek not the ruine of Artabazus or if thy rage has stopt all ways to mercy for him yet a least let his excellent Sister be respected as near as you can extend your duties to her merit I conjure thee once again by the name of Father by the name of King by this bloud I shed for thy satisfaction and by my last breath grant me this request Then with a Look which entirely relish'd of Death turning the Pommel of his Sword to the ground and the Point to his Breast he said farewell eternally fair Princess I am capable of no more but to live your Adorer and to dye your Martyr and then cast himself so suddainly on the fatal Steel that though some endeavour'd to prevent it yet they could not so absolutely but that he made a large wound in his left side and fell on the ground
sweltering in a Sea of Bloud which the Parthians no sooner observ'd at the foot of the breach than in that rage the loss of their Prince inspir'd they were going to increase it by that of their King who was so struck with Pacorus's last words and actions that it dispell'd all his fury which had no sooner resign'd its place to Grief Reason and Nature than in those dictates they inspir'd without considering the mutiny of his own Soldiers or the danger of the Armenian he clamber'd up the breach and cast himself on the pale and bloudy Body of his generous Son and by Tears and a million of as pregnant testimonies of his conversion acquainted Pacorus with it so timely too that the least delay had render'd his change as fruitless as `twas real for Pacorus finding after the amazement of his Fall that he was prevented of his intent drew out a conceal'd Ponyard which he was going to sheath in his Heart had not Orodes by molifying his own preserv'd his Sons Great gods continu'd Falintus could I tell you these changes which then happen'd which were as great as suddain I might fill you with that wonder which did all that were present and truly when you consider this mutation the more you do it the stranger you will find it the Father and the Son came to take Tygranocerta the first instead of winning the Town looses both it and his Son and the last both his Father and his liberty and yet commands where he has lost it Artabazus and Altezeera find their Protector in their Enemy Arsaces loses his Army because he will lose his Son ye at last finds his satisfaction in their disobedience Pacorus does the like and learns this truth from thence that Affection is a stronger tye upon Soldiers than Duty and the unhappiness that all the Parthians lov'd another better than their King he finds Death the way to Life and Danger to Safety Th' Armenians who did fear to see Orides within their Walls see it now without any and that breach they intended he should never enter but by their deaths they see him do it with satisfaction Arsaces who had the Armenians at his mercy finds himself at theirs and finds himself so without any apprehension but for the death of him whose life was so lately his greatest The breach which was the Scene of the general dispute is now of the reconciliation and if the Armenians and Parthians had any desires they were mutual for Pacorus's recovery and against Arsaces's relapse So strange an alteration drew Artabazus and Altezeera thither whose presence contributed more to the generous Patients recovery than the Chirurgions Aât by which nevertheless they assur'd the impatient Kings if no new acceâs happen'd they would restore him to that health he had so meritoriously lost There 't was that Arsaces saw Altezeera and by that sight what Nature had pardon'd in his Son then reason did 'T was thought awhile by Orodes's silence and first contemplation that the influence of the Princesses Eyes would have run in a Bloud but it seems he was but so far in the way of Love as Admiration which he soon left by the reflection on a Beauty in Parthia who had so large an ascendant over him and so just a one too that his inconstancy could not be more a fault than a punishment These words made the poor Artabanes by a deep sigh acknowledge a truth which he determin'd eternally to deplore but his generous friend to make his attention divert his melancholly thus continu'd his Relation But the calm in Tygranocerta could hardly transcend the storm in Pacorus's Camp which Phraates affaulted with much resolution and found as much in his opposition but if in that day he gave proofs of a large courage he did of as large a cruelty shewing all those which submitted to his mercy that he had none The faithful Labienus endeavouring to force a passage to the relief of his Prince almost found his ruine in his Duty for being pierc'd with two Darts he was at length taken prisoner and the cruel Phraates to punish the fidelity of his Life had given Orders to deprive him of it which was happily prevented by an Express from Arsaces who sent to end those differences in the Camp which he had put a period to in the Town that being but a consequence of this The bloudy Phraates receiv'd the command of his being so no longer and the cause of it with amazement repenting he had shed so much Bloud only because he could shed no more for he esteem'd the difference between his Father and his Brother irreconcileable and by his actions evinc'd that was his Faith which when he found 't was an erroneous one he began by a thousand formal contritions to manifest a Repentance which he neither had nor was capable of and which he counterfeited so that he discover'd he did so But continu'd Falintus the apprehensions I had that Arsaces was guilty of a resembling Crime made me propound to Arbazus the detaining of him now we had the power which I said the gods gave us to raise in us the Will This proposal I fortify'd by never having engag'd our Faiths for the contrary that his change was rather from Passion than Virtue That not being the latter it would soon expire that by having him in our hands we had our safeties too and so good a tye upon the Parthians that we might derive it from our selves and not from their Mercy And that we had wherewithal upon their retiring to gratify the Son by restoring the Father I had too said Falintus to my self as strong a reason as all these together which yet I durst not mention I mean the apprehension that if Orodes were at liberty the Princess Altezeera would be the condition of the peace which being inform'd my King was intent upon though that should the rather have induc'd me to motion it yet it did to silence it since it might have render'd me suspected and that my former allegations were for you not him But Artabazus absolutely declin'd this overture either through Fear or Virtue but indeed all his Arguments for his so doing relish'd of the latter But continu'd Falintus why do I dwell so long upon this subject as if it were to one who were little enough concern'd in it to be delighted with it 'T is too much that you know after Arsaces and Pacorus had had some private discourse accompany'd with passionate gestures and that the Father had kist and embrac'd the Son he took leave of Artabazus and Altezeera in words which resented of nothing but Friendship and Peace and begg'd the last to give him good account of a Son which he entirely left to her dispose and from whom only they both expected his recovery After these civilities were finish'd he descended the same way he came up and was receiv'd with more shouts from his Army which attended him at the foot of the breach for leaving
Paper I durst almost bind my self to submit unto it Then presenting her Arsaces's Letter which was the cause of his visit she had no sooner read it than she coldly said 'T was not with those Arms she was to be vanquish'd it But Artabazus who knew there was a storm in that calm conjur'd her with fresh and powerful motives to make her self a Conqueror by yielding yet all was in vain for though in Tears he implor'd a more merciful answer yet the only he could extort from her was that if ever she were Pacorus's if should be as a Guift and not a Sacrifice The poor Artabazus almost frantick at this ill success went to visit Pacorus who all this while had labour'd under a belief that his Princess was in some extremity and that her being in no danger was rather his information than her condition these being his constant fancies 't was no wonder they were as much his dreams from one of which he was newly waken'd when the King came to see him whose disorder'd look and moist Eyes so abundantly confirm'd his fears that to remove or resolve them upon Artabazus's going away which he did without acquainting him with his Fathers desire and threatening either as thinking it impertinent if he were accessary to it and cruel if he were not Pacorus immediately caus'd himself to be drest and in spight of his Wounds or Servants train'd himself along to Alterzeera's Apartment where having begg'd and obtain'd a permission to visit her he prostrated himself on his knees by her Bed-side and after a short silence which his joy and pain made him keep he brake it to tell her I could not Madam so much as hope a pardon for this presumption did I not tell you the cause of it which proceeds from so high and just a concern in your health that I have endanger'd mine to come and learn the state of yours in which too I shall find for the future what to expect from the gods for if they grant not the fervent'st Prayers I am capable of I must expect they will never condescend to my others and so lay aside Devotion as a needless or at least a fruitless thing Altezeera who consider'd Pacorus as accessary to Arsaces's Crime told him coldly he could best give an accompt whether she were in any danger since her greatest proceeded from his Father and him Oh gods continu'd Falintus how these words struck the poor Pacorus you only can tell but I can that his disorder was such as she took it for his guilt and that astonishment which should have evinc'd his being innocent made her think he was not but after his confusion gave him leave to speak he cry'd out can I then be so near guilty of so horrid a sin as to be thought so by my Princess and is she so much my Enemy that she will wrong her perfections rather than not wrong Pacorus ah Madam if you desire my death for my presumption you might have taken some milder course than to send me out of the world as much hated by my self as you Great gods he continu'd lifting up his Eyes and his Hands why have you given this Excellence so many charms to inspire Love and so little Faith to believe it Yet Madam perhaps I have done already what might create your belief of mine by a more pregnant perswasion that Faith but alas Pacorus why dost thou so wrong thy actions as to believe thy words can create in her a knowledge of that truth when they could not shew her by thy death what thou wert during thy life for she would not use thee at this rate were it not for that end yes Madam he continu'd addressing his speech again to Altezeera I will now satisfy your suspitions or your desires then drawing out a Ponyard which he constantly wore he was about to increase the crime of that design by acting it when the Princess cry'd out hold Pacorus I command you hold if I have any desires they will be satisfy'd in your obedience not in your death and if I have any doubts you may be satisfy'd in this Paper if they were not legitimate Then she gave him the Letter Arsaces had sent Artabazus which he had left with her and which Pacorus had no sooner perus'd than fetching two or three profound sighs he told her Yes Madam I am criminal but I am only so in being the Son of such a Father who before a few hours are effluxt shall send you assurances of another quality or you shall be convinc'd I am a sufferer and not a sharer in his Guilt Thereupon rising up he took his leave with a countenance so well appropriated to his words that those could not more discover his innocency than the other did As soon as Pacorus was return'd to his Apartment the violence of his motion but much more that of his grief cast him into a new Feaver and set his wounds fresh ableeding with which he writ Arsaces a Letter so moving and so passionate that it obtain'd from him one which gave him as much satisfaction as that he had sent to Artaâazus did the contrary and another to the Princess Altezeera wherein he protested 't was to accellerate his Sons felicities that he was so rude as to make use of threatenings which though it were a strange crime yet it might serve to evince how infinitely he was concern'd in the honor of her alliance since only as a believ'd way unto that end he made no scruples to act it which he repented of and begg'd a pardon for and to put himself out of a capacity to repeat that guilt he would withdraw his Army if she commanded it into Parthia and till he knew with what Orders she would honor him he would in expectation of them retire a hundred Furlongs from Tygranocerta This Letter said Falintus contain'd many things of a resembling quality which my memory is not faithful enough to retain and which coming to Pacorus when Artabazus was with him he made him the Ambassador to carry it to his fair Sister who receiv'd that testimony of his innocency and power so well that in the dictates those resentments did inspire and in that lively representation Artabazus made her of Pacorus's passion and danger to obey the Kings importunity and perhaps her inclination she forc'd her weakness to write these few but powerful words Live Pacorus if you desire Altezeera should Never any remedy was more suddain nor efficacious than this and if there be any charms in words they sure inhabit in the obliging ones of Love Pacorus idolatriz'd Altezeera's and was a thousand times more satisfy'd with them than with that health they afterwards restor'd and if he had now any desires none were more violent than those of recovery to acknowledge at his Princesses Feet that he ow'd not only his but a more transcending Blessing to her goodness Altezeera too as if her sickness had proceeded entirely from her constancy no sooner
not love Altezeera in the very necessity of his fault besides by services and engagements she could not be more mine than upon both those scores she was Pacorus's and yet I had been so unjust as to sollicit her for Artavasdes and therefore 't were to be more so to punish that in another which I practic'd in my felf that she was only mine by the first grant and his by the last which in all concessions of Love is the bindingst Title and lastly that I ow'd a life unto him which till I had repaid I was his Debtor and therefore should not be his Murtherer Whil'st my Reason and my Passion were thus making War against each other Evaxes who still apprehended the last of them would fling me into some strange Crime and that my continuance where I was might into a proportionate danger all the Guards in the Castle being Parthians he conjur'd me so passionately to retire to an Apartment he had provided for me and there establilsh my resolutions when my resentments were so qualifi'd as not to silence the dictates of my reason that at last by following rather than by promise I obey'd him who led me by a stolen passage to my Chamber not meeting any one by the way which though we had I am confident I had not been discover'd if at least I had been as unknowable to all as I was to myââlf There I told Falintus and Philanax what had happen'd and there 't was that Evaxes repeating those reasons my rage hinder'd me from hearing which too were strengthen'd by many others as powerful from Falintus I determin'd the next morning as an evincement of their operation to retire into some solitude and there spend as much time as the banishing Altezeera from my heart would take up whose influence there was not already a little eclips'd since I could form a resolution of extinguishing it This Declaration prov'd as pleasing to them as that which created it was the contrary to me but they having retir'd themselves I past the night in such confused thoughts that it had been difficult to have collected any thing from them but that they were the productions of an exorbitant diââemper The day no sooner appear'd than telling Falintus and Evaxes whither I intended to go the next night and having commanded Philanax to follow me as soon as he had learnt from them whether my being in Armenia and my last Action were discover'd how they were both relish'd and whether I might safely demand justice of Artabazus for Anexander's Murther that in the certainty of being deny'd it I might thereby act it myself immediately before the Court was up I took Horse and was accompany'd out of the Castle by Evaxes who for a long while made no scruples to trust me alone being so newly recover'd from a despair whose effects were yet somewhat visible in my face but having secur'd his jealousies by many vows and by the improbability of my so much contributing to my Enemies triumphs I finally took leave of him and had not Travel'd above an hundred Furlongs when coming into a Wood at the extremity of a great Plain I was stop'd by a violent Cry behind me which turning about to learn the cause of I saw the man that utter'd it come running towards me as fast as his Horse could carry him as soon as he came near me he drew his Sword and bade me defend my self if my Crimes had not divested me of the Courage to justifie them This Declaration though it much surpriz'd me yet I did not near so much as the knowledge that 't was Phanasder which made it but being confident he mistook me I prepar'd my self for nothing but to embrace him and offer him my Sword and Life to join in his revenge but perceiving he esteem'd himself discharg'd of all other Ceremonies by having denounc'd the Combat I cry'd out to him hold Phanasder 't is Artavasdes speaks to you 'T is he Phanasder briskly reply'd that I seek and who to his other Triumphs must add that of my Life or in the loss of his I must repair my wrongs Oh gods I answer'd if my Death could be but as great a satisfaction to Phanasder as to me he would oblige us both in acting it but since such a satisfaction cannot be perfected without as great a Crime let me understand first wherein you esteem me guilty for if I do not so entirely vindicate Artavasdes that you must acknowledge Phanasder criminal for having thought him so I will employ my Sword not to resist but execute your Revenge If thy Crimes said Phanasder were not too-too-much apparent I should not have sought this opportunity which since they are I will not spend it to shew thee thy sins but to punish them Then having again bid me defend my self or my submission should not be my Sanctuary he charg'd me with such fury that I found by experiment the high character I alwayes had of his Courage was but too dangerous a truth But his rude Reply to an offer he could not have declin'd without seeking to be my Enemy and the certainty I found that I must derive my safety not from my innocence but resistance though they made me finally draw my Sword yet I made but use of it to keep him from acting a sin I know he would in a right understanding as much deplore as now he was sollicitous to perform and indeed he prest me so incessantly and vigorously that had not an unexpected Accident ended the Combat my death or his must have done it for making a furious blow at my head and I defending it with my Sword his flew out of his hand in two pieces At this Phanasder was not more astonish'd than I was satisfi'd which I exprest by telling him Phanasder Let that Life I give you convince you that I am still your Friend No no Artavasdes he hastily reply'd it convinces me thou art the contrary for if thou were not having loaden me with such sorrows thou wouldst not deny me their cure being it is in thy power therefore I declare if thou canst be yet concern'd in having me esteem thee my Friend nothing can be more contributory to it than to make use of thy Victory which the more to induce thee to I protest by all those wrongs thou hast done me I will leave no place unsearch'd nor no means unattempted for my revenge If said I my giving you your life after your first declaration has not convinc'd you that I am your Friend I hope the doing it after this latter will sufficiently effect it for were I concern'd in your death I have not only the power but the provocation to act it But Phanasder I had rather expose my life to your fury than secure it by the destruction of what I prefer a thousand times before it which not only my friendship for you but even your hatred to me makes me profess and which I still implore to learn the subject of that if
my being left in any of those small Towns which were adjacent to it so that I did more oblige the Parthians by having fought against them than the contrary in having done it And though Ventidius sate still so long yet he made his Army believe it proceeded from the impossibility of doing otherwise till the great number of the wounded were cur'd which if left behind that Guard that unavoidably must be so too for their security would endanger the marching Army Yet during my cure the Romans made a sharp war on the Parthians by frequent and successful incursions and I constantly sent to visit Pacorus but under the name of Pharasmanes which was that I intended to assume in my disguise but at length being perfectly recover'd the better to act my part by the same messenger which return'd with Udozia's answer to Ventidius which was as obliging as he could desire or perhaps expect I gave out I had advertisements of some stirrs in Armenia which Ventidius perswaded the Romans my Presence only would suppress so that taking a publick and formal leave I made all the Camp believe I was gone but the same night I return'd privately again sending all my Equipage to Udozia and reserving only Philanax with that Physitian and Chirurgion which attended Pacorus and to shew you my Disguise was really what the name imports I have but to acquaint you that though Ventidius expected me at a sett hour and knew I would wear one yet we not only saluted one another but I told him I was sent from Artavasdes to beg his pardon for not being able to wait on him till next morning without discovering of me which he did not till I told him who I was and which indeed was not strange for my Hair that naturally is of a dark brown I had colour'd of a bright Flaxen and by a certain composition strangely alter'd the colour of my Skin and to perfect all by the help of a certain Gold Wire fasten'd and conceal'd in my Mouth I had disguis'd my Voice as much as my Face in a word I had not known my self if it had not been for some internal griefs which nothing had the power either to disguise or mitigate and which but too well forc'd me to remember that I was still the unfortunate Artavasdes Ventidius was extreamly satisfy'd with my having so deluded him which he fancy'd an impossibility till by experiment he found his error The next morning therefore I went to visit Pacorus and to give him the Consolation his condition and the duty of a Gentleman requir'd I found him well advanc'd on his recovery but I found him perfect in all those charms of conversation which till then I never knew he so abundantly possest I will not scruple my generous friends continu'd Artavasdes to tell you I was not a little troubled at it and truly by my constant frequenting him I began to despair of my condition by having cause to believe 't was Altezeera's judgment only which had made me unfortunate To abbreviate my story I will let you know That at last Pacorus was so well recover'd as my Physitian told me within three dayes he might without danger make use of his Horse two of which were scarcely expired when Ventidius's Messenger from Rome came privately into the Camp and assured him his Express from the Senate would be with him within 48 hours That what had been propounded by him to the Senate had been largely debated in it and had been carry'd according to his desires had not Mark Anthony oppos'd it who suspected Pacorus's liberty would settle Asia in a perfect peace and consequently take away the occasion of his going into the East with an Army which he coveted only to palliate that Passion he had for Cleopatra the Queen of Egypt and which he durst not publickly manifest lest it might create any differences betwixt him and Octavius Caesar whose Sister the Princess Octavia he had married and who in all mens eyes but Anthony's transcended her as much in beauty as in virtue That therefore he had so manag'd the business in the Senate that they had sent a positive Order immediately to put Pacorus to death Ventidius was not dishearten'd at this Advertisement and to hinder me from being so he immediately but by wayes too prolix for a repetition put things in such a certain posture that I knew there would be no difficulty that night to steal away with my Friend and my Rival till when I spent the time in taking leave of my dear Ventidius but as soon as the hour came I went to Pacorus and having brought him into one of the most obscure corners of the Tent I told him I believe Sir you have already learnt that he by whose good fortune you were made a Prisoner hazarded as much himself for you as he did against you and thereby you were preserv'd from losing your life as absolutely as you have your liberty This Gentleman who was so much your Enemy and your Friend is in the latter quality so much mine that though he is call'd Pharasmenes as well as I yet there is an high equality between our minds as between our names in his success against you he received some such wounds that though they were not as dangerous as yours yet they were in such unfortunate and inconvenient places that he has not been able to pay you those visits which he knows is due to your virtue as much as to your quality 't was therefore that I being sooner recover'd of mine he enjoin'd me to supply his place But Sir that you may see his concern in you extends further than the formal parts of humanity he has now sent me to you not only to let you know there is an express Order come from Rome to put you to death but also to attempt all imaginable means I can to prevent it At this unexpected Advertisement Pacorus appear'd in some disorder and truly I should have wonder'd more at the contrary than I did at it having by Altezeera a far dearer blessing to lose than life I gave him a little time to reflect upon his condition which the more he did the more desperate it did appear Crassus barbarous death and the Romans as barbarous usage to all Princes who they esteem'd or at least term'd so made him tell me Your generous Friend I believe Pharasmenes by his desires has already as much oblig'd me as he will have the power for I know too well the condition of the Romans to be ignorant of my own I shall not yet but acknowledge my self extremely his Debtor and as much as if what he desir'd were acted I beseech you therefore tell him from me that having no other way to pay what I owe him I will do it in contributing to his glory by the resolution of my sufferings which perhaps I shall in some degree perform if I endure my death with as much resolution as I oppos'd it This generous Reply
gave me new invitations to serve him and confined me afresh to act against the dictates of my Love to follow those of my Honour which forc'd me to embrace Pacorus and to assure him before next morning I would participate in his intended punishment or free him from it To be brief I perform'd the latter by learning the woâd from Ventidius I brought him safe out of the Camp where I told him That having by that Action lost my Fortune with the Romans I must depend for it on him which if he approv'd I would wait on him into Parthia The generous Paecorus embrac'd me a thousand times for this assurance and gave me as many thanks for it as for his life and liberty We found some good and swift Horses in a little Grove which by my orders were brought thither by Philanax who I then sent to Udozia he being as perfectly known to Altezeera as the contrary to her husband I need not tell you the Alarm Pacorus escape gave unto the Roman Camp how seemingly diligent Ventidius was to recover him what formal Letters he sent to the Senate to excuse himself for a misfortune which was so much the more extenuated as to him because Pacorus was escap'd before he had receiv'd their commands for his execution nor the vast promises he made of taking him again or Parthia in his stead 't is enough you know that what he said was receiv'd as he desir'd for Anthony was satisfi'd Pacorus was at least deliver'd in such a way as would ascertain a War as much as his death Whil'st these things were thus transacting amongst the Romans the Parthian and I came safe to Seleutia where the Couât then resided Pacorus who perfectly knew the Palace led me to the Princesses Apartment where we found with her for then Parthenissa Lindadory and Zephalinda were in the Isle of Eden Arsaces and Phraates all in Mourning but alas Altezeera having more in her looks than cloaths I cannot if I would tell you the Raptures and Transports at so unexpected a return from Death or Captivity for they knew not which had been Pacorus's fate but after the first celebrations of this joy he led me by the hand to Arsaces and Altezeera and told them 'T was to me they ow'd his life and safety and then acquainted them with all with which I have you Arsaces made me so many Compliments and Thanks that in them I read his concern for his Son but alas Altezeera did the like too and wounded me a thousand times more with her gratitude than she could have done with a contrary usage manifesting by the esteem she plac'd upon the performance how much a higher one she had for him for whom 't was perform'd I must confess I was so confounded at it though I had arm'd my self against it by having prepar'd my self for it that had not the company been more intent on their joy than me they had discover'd me inspight of my disguise To pass over what would but trouble you to hear and me much more to remember or relate I will tell you after a magnificent Supper where the King and Princes constrain'd me to sit with them giving therein that honour to my services which they thought was not due to me the Princess Altezeera leaving Pacorus took me aside to reiterate her civilities for his deliverance Great gods you only know with how much difficulty 't was I abstained from telling her That her leaving Pacorus to come unto Artavasdes which she did in that way of Gratitude she should have done in another And that she had Reason to be Grateful for Pacorus's deliverance if she knew from whom she deriv'd it but I had then enough fortitude to suppress those risings and to tell her That had I but known so transcendent a reward as the satisfaction of so fair a Princess had attended that performance I had acted it as much out of the dictates of Interest as out of those of Honour or Friendship We entertain'd one another awhile with discourses of this quality but the time was not long for the impatient Pacorus came to ravish her from me and to place himself in those extasies and raptures which the cruel gods had eternally deny'd the as-unconstant as-unfortunate Artavasdes This separation was so operative that had not the Prince Phraates and the chiefest of the Court came to conduct me to my Apartment I had continu'd as fix'd to the place I was in as to my infelicity but their civilities drew me out of my thoughts which I suspended till they had left me in my Apartment whither they accompany'd me against all my resistance As soon as I was a Bed the remembrance of Altezeera's gratitude for having continu'd the impossibility of Artavasdes's being made happy came fresh into my thoughts and made me utter things as disjointed as my hopes but when I came to reflect that in that same instant I was deploring Altezeera's cruelty to me she was in my Rivals Arms and affording him those joyes which to be depriv'd of could not be so great Misery as to possess was a Felicity what did not my rage and resentments make me speak Ah said I Artavasdes was it not sufficient that the gods and Altezeera contributed to thy torments but that thou must do it thy self by bringing Pacorus not only to the embraces of thy Princess but thyself also to be the Spectator of them Never more Artavasdes never more complain of the gods they had given thy Rival into thy hands and when they began to declare themselves thy Friends thou didst declare thy self thine Enemy and by that performance hast not only divested thy self eternally of hope but also of the ease of complaining against all but thy self without becoming as unjust to them as thou hast been to thy Love whil'st my thoughts inclin'd me on this side they suggested to me many such reasonings but after a short calm they began to incline me to consider Altezeera arm'd with all those attractive charms and graces which formerly had conquer'd me and which by their yet retaining me in captivity too sufficiently prov'd their being infinite and confin'd me to believe all my sufferings for her were too much my duty to be my trouble No no Artavasdes said I in those dictates thou hast still the same quarrel to the gods for by the way in which they gave thee thine Enemy thou couldst not restore thy hopes but by becoming unworthy of them and those same gods which afforded thee the power of revenge made the acting it a greater sin than it could be a satisfaction and gave thee honour and virtue enough to suspend all the inspirations of resentment do not then destroy the merit of thy performance by repining against it 't is more noble to merit Altezeera without possessing her than to possess her without meriting her neither can what thou hast done but one day contribute to the disclosing of thine innocence and that which discovers
though Ventidius did much admire at it yet he had by much a juster cause to do so when after he had represented that by his Commission he was to give no quarter to any Parthian and that by Pacorus's death he might have the blessing of revenge and perhaps therein remove the highest obstruction to a more transcendent one Artavasdes was so far from approving the motion that he so absolutely disrelish'd Ventidius for making it as he protested nothing but the giving Pacorus his liberty could repair having assumed any thought against his life and then utter'd so many passionate expressions upon that duty which in spight of your cruelty he had still preserv'd for the fair Altezeera that perhaps if I told you all the truth I might invite you to suspect I did the contrary I was present Madam at this honourable conference and though my wounds were many and as dangerous as those of Artavasdes yet my friendship never made me abandon him and that very friendship and my ignorance of those Charms which I have since discover'd in the Princess Altezeera made me esteem his desires as strange as I now find them just and forc'd me to speak some things against that excellency which though infinite cannot transcend my crimes or his mercy if she pardons them Yes Madam upon Artavasdes's score I perfectly hated you and in those dictates I was often condescending to the death of what you loved nay I would have had Artavasdes done the like and when he represented he had no handsomer way to obtain your forgiveness for what he had done against Pacorus and to shew you the wrong you had done to Artavasdes than to ruine the hopes of the last to settle the joys of the first I reply'd That if you honour Pacorus with your affection he did in that performance but more certainly exclude himself eternally from so much as hope and if you did not That by obliging at least not injuring you he removed his highest Impediment Besides If that were the testimony he would give of his Passion it might bring in Question whether he had any which belief he would render a just one if he prefer'd his Rivals felicity above his own I told him besides It was better to repent if such an action needed it for having acted his Revenge than for the omission of it for besides the felicity of such a performance the first sort of Repentance was a Vertue but the last a Vice Ah! said Artavasdes how ill dost thou reason if the fair Altezeera loves Pacorus I had rather destroy my expectation than her happiness and if she does not I yet commit a sin which unavoidably will clothe me in a proportionate Misfortune and ruin my hopes in the same way by which I elect to establish them for by being the Murtherer or accessary to the death of Pacorus I leave her not the Power if she had the will to reward my Fidelity and Passion and by removing one Impediment I create a greater for 't is much more probable Pacorus will die soon enough by the course of Nature than that Altezeera should marry his Murtherer Above all this said Artavasdes I pay too-transcendent a respect not only to all which the fair Altezeera esteems but to what also belongs unto her to act any thing to the prejudice thereof and 't is upon that score I have hitherto attempted nothing against my own Life which evidently evinces she has still a power over me by being capable to make mine so great a Torment and by then restraining me from ending it without her permission Neither can I apprehend any trouble from repenting an omission which was dictated by Honour by Reason and which is more than both those by that Duty I owe my Princess which is the Name I must eternally give her as Kings though unjustly excluded from their Crowns cease not to call them so nor to have a right unto them which want of possession cannot prejudice He gave me Madam I continu'd as pregnant Arguments as these which I purposely omit not only because the less reason was in his performance the more it had of Merit but also because his actions will give you a better Character of his Heart than his words can But at last when the peremptory Command came from Rome for Pacorus's Death Great gods you only know how it struck Artavasdes but I do that his loving so much Altezeera and Altezeera so much hating him would have made him consider that fatal Order with less horror had it been sent for Artavasdes instead of his Rival But the former's unfortunate condition hindering him to visit Pacorus and to act publickly for his safety he sent for the generous Ventidius and conjur'd him to let Pacorus escape in terms so pressing that I can truly say I was as much affected with them as he which deliver'd them Ventidius represented to him how much the concession of his Request would turn to his own prejudice but finding that would not operate he let him then know how much it would be to Ventidius's own This mov'd Artavasdes much more than the former but nothing so much as did the fair Altezeera's satisfaction which to effect he afterwards sent for me and violently protested That if Pacorus lost his Life he would not survive him since that was the only evincement he had in his power that he was free from so horrid a Sin This resolution I read as visibly in his Heart as words and acquainted Ventidius with it who more concern'd in his Friend than in himself yielded to his desires Never Madam did I see Artavasdes so fill'd with Joy as at that assurance no not when he was in the blessing of your Affection which made me conclude he esteem'd it a more transcendent Felicity to make you happy than to be made so by you 'T was thus Madam that Pacorus was deliver'd both from Captivity and Death and Artavasdes to avoid the possibility of drawing his sacrilegious Sword against the object of your Passion did as absolutely abandon the Roman Army as the felicity of Life which for almost these four Years he has never relisht nor indeed any but what proceeded from this last Service he has pay'd you and which he earnestly enjoin'd me to conceal from your knowledg electing rather to be still thought Guilty than appear the contrary to cloud and suspend your Joys I had no sooner done speaking than the fair Altezeera with some Tears cry'd out Oh gods Parasmanes Is all this possible which you have told me I was going to reply and assure her it was not only possible but true when I might perceive Pacorus and the rest of the Company coming towards us I gave Altezeera notice of it who otherwise was so intent on her Thoughts that she had not minded the Prince's Arrival but as soon as she did pulling down her Vail she endeavour'd the best she could to conceal her Disorder I could not abstain from
repining at this cruel interruption for I was confident in the heat of Altezeera's confusions to have discover'd the quality and greatness of them which probably in a more setl'd Temper her Vertue or Judgment would invite her to conceal Assoon as Pacorus and the rest had join'd us he began by many Raileries to make a War against me for having so long ingross'd the Princess but I had too many sad and confus'd thoughts to make him any frequent returns of that nature which the sooner ended our Walk But alas I had afterwards much more occasion to be offended at Pacorus interrupting us than I then had since for above a quarter of a Year after I never had the opportunity of entertaining Altezeera without Witnesses Yet I observ'd from that day forwards she was more pensive and melancholly than she had been and if she avoided my conversation 't was more from a desire of being alone than from any aversion she seem'd to have unto it All this tedious âime I past in more tedious sufferings but at length there happen'd an accident by which if I had not been destin'd to have been my own Enemy as much as the Gods have been I might have discover'd my Fate and perhaps have found it as full of Felicity as now 't is of Torment The Prince Pacorus was extreamly addicted to hunting the wild Bore but commonly before the Huntsmen forc'd him out of the Forest he would place himself in a Stand to Shoot This Recreation he one day invited me to and plac'd me with a Javelin in a Stand within call of his The King the Princess and all the Court were in a large Plain which inviron'd the Forest but whilst we were in expectation of the Bore I hear a clashing of Swords and suddenly after my name repeated twice or thrice by Pacorus I instantly leapt out of my Stand and ran towards his where I found him assaulted by three men in Disguises one of whom he had pierc'd with his Arrow yet not so mortally but that with the help of the other two he himself was reduced to such extremity that apprehending I could not come time enough to his relief which truly I may say I embrac'd without balancing I cry'd out 't was Pacorus my voice was no sooner heard than one of the three came running to me with his Sword in his hand and told me 't was Pacorus they meant This Declaration made me meet him which made it half-way and darting my Javelin at him pierc'd him through and through and nail'd him to the ground immediately I seiz'd upon his Sword and came so timely to Pacorus that by the Wounds he had already receiv'd he was even sinking down under their burthen but I not only presented him with Relief but Victory for one of the remaining two I found so weakenâd to my hand that I esteem'd his condition unworthy my Sword if his Crime had not made him the contray and the other frighten'd by the Death of his Companions was kill'd almost as easily as he justly deserv'd it The generous Pacorus though he wanted strength to dispute his Life yet did not to come and acknowledg by words and Embraces that 't was from me he had now twice deriv'd it but in so gallant a Gratitude he had so overstrain'd himself that he fell speechless as he was performing it I durst not forsake him in that extremity lest by wanting my assistance his seeming Death might have turn'd into a real one and lest some further Complices in this fact might whilst I went to call for help have render'd him past any whilst I was in this perplexity the Boar by another way had quitted the Forest and a Gentleman which waited on the Plain came to advertise the Prince of it and to bring him his Horse but he was so frighten'd at the strange accident and at the stranger condition his Lord was in that turning about he ran full-speed and gave the Alarm of it to Arsaces Altezeera Phraates and all the Court and though they suddenly came to the place where this Tragedy had been acted yet by some fresh water which I fetch'd from a neighbouring Fountain I had brought him from his swound I cannot tell you the general regrets and mournings of all the Company especially those of the fair Altezeera which though they infinitely transcended all the others yet they could not Mine by observing they did so But after Pacorus's Wounds were bound up as well as the place did permit which he would not until three slight ones I had receiv'd were dress'd before his till he had told the particulars of this accident and the service I had render'd him all the Court and my Princess too came and made me retributions too long and too flattering to be repeated which were no sooner ended than Phraates taking some others with him went to pull off the Disguises of those dead Traytors to learn who they were but their Faces were as strong a disguise as their Vizards being both alike unknown This news being brought to Arsaces he had their Heads taken off and fix'd upon short Poles at the Gates of Seleutia where 100 Talents were proclaim'd for whosoever should discover who they were or who had employ'd them Whilst this was a-doing a Litter was brought to the Prince who was carry'd in it to Seleutia but my Wounds being less for number and danger by my Princesses command I rid with her thither in her Chariot and there being none in it besides after she had somewhat moderated her Tears she began a-fresh to give me new Torments by new expressions of her Gratitude but observing I took no relish in them which she attributed to my Modesty but which alas proceeded from another cause she told me If Pharasmanes your Friend have still those inclinations for me which he once had and which you would still perswade me he has I believe he will esteem you as little his in this days performance as I must by it acknowledg you infinitely Mine I am confident Madam I reply'd The Service I have paid you cannot more satisfie you than it will him who I know if he thought this were not really the fair Altezeera's Judgment would be thereby more dangerously wounded than Pacorus is 'T is now Madam I continu'd that I must conclude my Friends fortune desperate when that excellence which is to form it believes surmises against him more than Demonstrations for him and Madam if that which he did for you in the Roman Camp and that which I have this Day perform'd on his score are not pregnant Arguments enough for an Innocence which Ambitions no higher a Reward for being so than to be thought so I leave you to Judg whether my despair for Artavasdes be not too sufficient grounded Altezeera who observ'd I could not utter these words without sympathizing in their sadness and truth was so generous as to reply If Pharasmanes what you tell me of your Friend be what you
it there would be two inducements to it but since that which should revenge it would not only make it publick but indelible and that the highest good in such an ill was not to know it since there was no possibility of proving a Woman Chast he esteem'd it handsomer and better to tell Altezeera of her Faults that she might banish both me and them or by her doing neither render the disclosure of her offence so necessary that the necessity of it might render it a proportionate Justice But Labienus durst not use too many reasons to prove Silence was good lest that might have prov'd one to Phraates not to keep it Whilst they two were disputing of our Sin I came to my self again and discover'd that which gave a rise to one of them to call it and to the other to believe it one but the restauration to Life had been much worse than Death where at least my griefs had ceas'd as well as my hopes which had been an advantagious bargain had not immediately my Princess too recover'd for Nature finding none come to her assistance went to her own Oh gods How was I surpriz'd to find my self in a posture of Felicity and not in a rellish of it and how confounded was I as well as Altezeera to find how much more obliging the effects of my misfortune had been than those of my Constancy and Innocence but alas I had much more cause to be so when not only the Princesses Women came running in to her assistance but when they also found her in a high Fever that threaten'd to cast her into an eternal Death as soon as she was restor'd from a temporary one So many witnesses hinder'd her from speaking to me and they beginning to undress her hinder'd me from continuing longer in the Chamber which I left without receiving any other fruit of my being Innocent than the knowledg that it had been more for my quiet I had never been so Ah when I was retir'd to my appartment what did I not say against the cruel Destinies which had form'd mine so perversly that transcendent punishments attended as well my real Fidelity as my seeming want of it The next Morning I knew by the publick voice of the Court for I durst neither satisfie my apprehensions or duty by a personal Visit or by employing any of my Domesticks to do it that the Princess was in a Fever which by giving so little hopes in the beginning made the Physicians with tears apprehend the conclusion but it was too violent to continue long our suspensions and I was satisfied of her recovery before any symptoms of it by knowing the gods would not give me so certain a cure of my Misery as the Death of my Princess and consequently mine At last her Fever left her when the Physicians had done so and the generous Pacorus who had ty'd his Fate to Altezeera's began to cherish his own Life when he was assur'd of hers but till then he contributed all he could to accompany her and the more certainly to effect it he had seiz'd on a Poniard which he lay'd by him in expectation of the fatal News 'T was in this I disclos'd and perhaps Altezeera too the disproportion of our Passions for I needed but the bare knowledg of her Death to act my own whereas Pacorus to reach his must have been necessitated to make use of his Resolution as well as Love It may be this knowledg invited Phraates a while to a silence which his Virtue would not have kept Pacorus and I who were most concern'd in Altezeera's Health as if it had been by a sympathetical operation recover'd our own proportionately as she did hers This was the cause that the first day I went into the Palace-Garden upon which my Appartment answer'd Altezeera went thither also 't was the first time I had seen her since her sickness or recovery I will omit my confusions and my disorders whilst I congratulated the latter which as soon as I had as if it had been without design by degrees she separated her self from the Company and after having received some fresh convincements that I was Artavasdes she acknowledg'd no small joy that I was restored from a Sickness which she justly consider'd as a tribute to hers but being determin'd not to lose so happy an opportunity to learn my Fate which the Authors of it too presented me I told her If I consider Madam my recovery with any Joy 't is only because you seem to do so and out of a hope that that Life which has by twice preserving Pacorus's twice establish'd the felicity of yours is still continu'd by the gods for the same end though by the same way Yes Madam I am ready not only to employ my Life but to lay it down in so glorious an occasion though it were as full of Felicities as in those happy days wherein my Princess was as much mine by Promise as she is now my Rivals by possession But Madam Did I not conclude the gods restor'd my Health upon this or some resembling-score I should esteem it as transcendent a Misery as I shall a Blessing if they have done it for that end Neither need I for the only cure of my Miseries be oblig'd to my Resolution but Reason which convinces me 't were a less Misfortune to have Artavasdes in the Arms of Death than to have him see the fair Altezeera in Pacorus's The gods shall be my Witnesses she reply'd pulling down her Vail to cover her blushes that if I yielded not to my last Sickness 't was more upon Artavasdes's account than my own who had I known him still to be what he is neither the safety or satisfaction of Pacorus Artabazus or Armenia should have made me hazard his or recede in the least degree from those professions which his Person and Services but much more my inclinations induc'd me to make him but alas the gods contributed to my delusion You cannot doubt Artavasdes but 't was one and not a Design for 't is not rational that I should willingly act what turn'd most to my own Torment Yes Artavasdes I say my own Torment Judg then what that grief must be which makes my being the Wife of so generous a Prince as Pacorus be esteem'd one by me I have liv'd purposely to tell you this for perhaps you may resent some satisfaction by knowing she that has divested you of all your felicity has in that very performance done the like to her own These words and some Tears which accompanied them were so sensible to me that I could not abstain from saying in a higher tone than before Great gods Have not you already render'd Artavasdeâ sufficiently miserable by the loss of his Princess's affection but you must make him more so by the restoration of it And are you so inveterately bent to continue me so that rather than not act it you will make contraries produce the same effect 'T is now
Madam I find that the ending of my life will be the most considerable Service it can render you You had never been unfortunate had not the gods ty'd your Fate to mine remove the cause and the effect will cease That which restores your quiet will settle mine either of these inducements especially the former will give me resolution and invitation enough to end it Those powers can have no more any pretence to afflict you when you are as single in your Fortune as in your Perfections 'T is not Madam my despair but if it be permitted me to say it my Love which makes this Motion Nor can you give me a greater testimony that I am in the blessing of your esteem than to enjoyn or permit me to oblige both of us in one performance Can you then believe Altezeera reply'd with a Look which had something of resentment in it that because I have lost my Title to you I have lost my concern for you or that what will render my sorrow unconsolable will suppress it Cruel Artavasdes if neither of those are your Thoughts why by so strange a motion do you invite me to believe they are The Death of the Innocent Artavasdes would much more trouble me than when I esteem'd him the guilty That was a loss which my then belief would have render'd none But that which he now threatens me with is of a quality that if I can receive any consolation in it it proceeds from the impossibility of my surviving it If Madam said I the miserable Artavasdes's Death could either prove a misfortune to you or to him I am convinc'd by many experiments that the gods would have long since acted it and their having so miraculously kept me from it proves abundantly 't is a Blessing But my Princess What then will you determine of a Life which you would confine me from ending Do not you then believe that the horror of contemplating you in the embraces of my Rival will make my grief act that which you would tye my resolution from And having now manifested my Innocence which is not only the highest Blessing your condition permits me to aspire unto but the only which made me so long languish out my time Permit me my Princess to die in your esteem since I cannot in a nobler Felicity and since I can extend my Hopes no higher why will you let me any longer extend my Life He dies not amiss Madam that has nothing to expect or desire and your condition and your Virtue keeps me from both Ah Artavasdes she reply'd you are not what your words would make you one that considers âo one 's Felicity but his own have you then nothing to hope or desire when I have told you the continuation of your Life is dear and considerable to Altezeera I have almost as much cause to have spoke those words as you and if I declin'd them 't was upon the same score which I believ'd would have made you do the like We must Artavasdes attend the leisure of the gods if there be no cause to hope in Reason there is yet reason to hope in a Miracle for they will not give so pregnant an Argument against their Providence which is themselves as to let so perfect a Constancy as yours continue eternally fruitless I was upon replying when we found our selves at the end of a Walk which answer'd another where we perceiv'd Pacorus with Phraates coming towards us we therefore went to meet him where he again began to tax me of that in Railery which alas too soon lost that Name for the next day that Gayety which proceeded from his humour and which might have much more from his condition began to turn into so deep and obscure a Sadness and so constantly increas'd that to let you know how uncapable it was of intermission it receiv'd none in the fair Altezeera's Visits who so exactly sympathiz'd in his distempers that she even assum'd them by deploring them and the gods thereby made me know that the cause of Altezeera's Sicknesâ would prove as transcendent a Misfortune as the effect This visible declination of Pacorus's made what created it as visible to Labienus but his judgment had been so infinitely deluded by his Sight that what was a production of Altezeera's Love he imputed to one of her shame and in this Faith so long continu'd that Error that his Princess's Death had like to have prov'd the punishment of it But the gods who âere as much concern'd in the preserving the felicity of Pacorus's Life as the Torment of mine made the Princess one day send for Labienus who she thought knew Pacorus's heart as absolutely as she possess'd it she receiv'd him in her Cabinet which having lock'd she told him Labienus That my Lord and yours has some strange distemper is not more visible to me than I am certain the occasion of it is to you for whom I am resolv'd he has nothing of reserve My Reason would perswade me I am the cause of his Disorder did not my Innocence more powerfully do the contrary for as often as I have conjur'd him to tell it me he has only answer'd me in Sighs and groans and thereby increas'd instead of resolving my doubts 't is therefore that I apply my self to you for the latter and to invite you to it I attest the gods I can no longer be thought criminal than I am ignorant of my Crime the knowledg of my offence and of my innocence will be unseparable Yes Labienus you cannot more certainly absolve my guilt than to let me know it This I tell you presupposing I may be the innocent cause of his Disorder which only his Silence and the vastness of his grief make me conjecture but if it has another Creation I shall almost be satisfy'd in knowing he could grieve as much for something else as for Altezeera since in that knowledg I shall be convinc'd she is not the occasion of giving him so much trouble The Princess told Labienus much more of this quality who being thereby convinc'd that he attributed her sorrow to a wrong cause to obtain a pardon for that fault confess'd it and having acquainted her with what I have acquainted you added He was confident Phraates had disclos'd all to his Brother since nothing but a vast Distemper of the Mind could have so proportionate an influence on the Body and that it was something reflected on her honour that he could conceal it from her or did from him To undertake to decypher Altezeera's astonishment or grief were to engage my self in impossibilities but having a little collected her Thoughts and supprest her Resentments she told him I was not then mistaken Labienus when I judged such violent effects could hardly proceed from any other cause but his Love 't was his Silence told it me but I had much rather his kindness had that would have relish'd of confidence whereas this may of the contrary I must too Labienus somewhat
for your desires we must Artavasdes we must part I judg what a conflict you have in your self at this declaration by what I had when I resolv'd to make it and though in my sufferings I read yours yet in my Conquest I do the like if my Sex could overcome this difficulty yours will much more for besides the weakness of it I lose more by your Obedience than you can by acting it Alas Madam I answer'd all this proves your Resolution greater than mine but my incapability but one way to obey you proves my love is perfecter yes Madam I say I have but one way to obey you that is by Death my Obedience as well as Condition invites me to it I shall satisfie you as well as Artavasdes in it and shall demonstrate I merited not the Command of going from you by so well obeying it Is Artavasdes then she reply'd so much an Enemy to me as he will elect no way to save my honour but by losing that is almost as dear to me Oh gods she continued why do you reduce me to commit a Crime to hinder him from acting another Perhaps Artavasdes your Death cannot be more an offence to the gods than what I have now told you 't is an acknowledgment that considering my Condition is a sin which to have thought nothing can transcend but to publish but I hope this assurance will preserve a life which mine is ty'd unto which I enjoyn you to keep and which if you do deprive your self of I will not live to lament Oh gods I cry'd out I esteem'd you hitherto the greatest cruelty but now alas I find Altezeera is those that gave me the necessity of Death are less Tyrannical than she that after hinders it for they but impose on me a torment yet allow me the cure but she inflicts on me the former and refuses me too the latter you cannot Madam I continu'd condemn this Acclamation for you are not reduced to the necessity of Banishing me but reduce your self to it Alas 't is not much Artavasdes implores 't is but your permission to languish away in your sight an unfortunate life and a life which you have render'd so my sufferings will evince your Innocence and Pacorus can no more doubt I injure him than I desire to do it or you to permit it will you then my Princess having divested your self of all power to create my felicity preserve enough to make me miserable so miserable too that 't is as impossible for the gods to make any so much as to make me more Shall the unknown Pharasmanes have enjoy'd a blessing which is deny'd the innocent Artavasdes and the discovery of his being so must that invite you to punish what you should reward The gods forbid These words deliver'd with a Tone and Action not ill-suted to them had too violent an influence on her to whom they were addrest that for a good while she continued in silence and I flatter'd my self with a hope that it was a consent to my Petition But alas it proceeded from her not being capable of granting it and I kept that hope no longer than she did her silence Since she reply'd that I have divested my self of all Power to make you happy whether it were my fault or my misfortune I am resolved to punish it and it may be your Banishment is as much upon that Account as on that of my Honour If you have not hitherto judg'd of my Resentment by my loss you cannot now but do it by my Penance and you cannot doubt I acknowledg my self culpable when I voluntarily submit to such a punishment should you kill your self you rob me of the noblest part of my penance and would render the continuation of it as impossible as just If what I have told you formerly does not convince you how precious I esteem your Life this that I have now will certainly effect it for I plead for yours though in doing so I plead against my own Neither Artavasdes can you justly appropriate to your self what you now did of misery 't is I only that can for who makes Friend miserable is more so You for your Banishment have the consolation that 't is to preserve what you love worthy of that Honour and though I receive a resembling one yet 't is you confer the Obligation whilst I do but receive it Believe me Artavasdes my sufferings do at least equal yours but when I consider for whom I indure them it gives me the Ability to do it I cannot expect less from than I do for you I have too a firm belief that if the gods have render'd me uncapable to reward your Virtue it proceeds only from its being of too transcendent a quality for me to do it and therefore they reserve it for themselves since nothing but what is infinite can satisfie what is so and if all recompences fail they will gratifie your Desires by an extinction of them and perhaps 't is more fit for their pureness to have them supprest by Reason than Fruition Ah Madam said I interrupting her this is rather an Argument to fortifie than suppress my desire of dying 't is that only since yoâ are deny'd me can end my desires which though they were infinite as that goodness which esteems them so yet in the possession of my Princess they would find a plenary felicity for that which creates is still more great than what it does create and consequently you are more than my desires when the exquisite variety of my miseries make me so religious as to think the gods all-powerful their having but one way to make me blessed confounds that belief and at least renders it Reason if it be impiety no Madam since you assure me 't is upon my score you suffer and that you know 't is upon yours that I do which is also accessionally encreas'd by that assurance permit me to put a period to both our miseries by putting one to that wretched life which is the cause of them Since she reply'd you tell me The gods can only by Altezeera make you happy why will you seek a Death which makes her miserable But I see Artavasdes you will find Reasons to oppose mine and I hope you will find none to oppose my Commands which positively injoyn you to live which to invite you to the more certainly I protest I shall judg of your Friendship by your Obedience Madam I answer'd there is a vast disproportion between being happy and being no longer miserable The first is deny'd me by your Condition the last by your Commands which yet I will obey having given you irrevocably up the absolute dispose of my life this is a Truth you cannot question since after your determining of it I have as little the Will as the Power to recal my grant But Madam if by this cruel sentence my Obedience cannot prove capable of any long duration be yet so just as to ascribe it to my want of
any more life than what he could not destroy without a sin and what serv'd to punish his wanting the power of having concluded his with his friend This generous man had retir'd himself into a strong Castle of his own though the benefit he expected to derive from its strength was Not to defend against his Enemies a life he so much detested that he esteem'd his having none a Misfortune but to keep out such as might have so low an opinion of his sorrows as to think they were either capable or desirous of Consolation This honour so resembling mine the Gratitude I ow'd him as Annexander's Friend and the affection as Falintus's Father made me address my Journey thither where when I was arrived I had much ado to obtain admittance neither did I till I had told my Name after which the Draw-bridg was let down and the Virtuous Euphranor came with tears and embraces to receive me I return'd him his Civilities in the same payment and after by many assurances he had made me believe he could neither think Annexander dead or old so long as he consider'd me I enquir'd earnestly after his generous Son who he told me but three days before had been with him and was gone in continuance of his search after me I was not only troubled to miss him but also to do it in such a way I therefore begg'd Euphranors permission and attain'd it To imploy one of his Domesticks to seek Falintus and acquaint him I would wait his return where I then was Euphranor hearing this message told me I had taken the only course to make him wish for his Sons Civility He led me to a Magnificent Appartment where he conjur'd me to live in the same freedom as if I were in my Hermitage and not constrain my self for him since I could not possibly do him a higher satisfaction than to act my own Never man that was uncapable of contentment relish'd any thing so near it as I did whilst I continu'd there for when my Melancholly began to grow importunate to suppress that Miracle I went immediately to Euphranor from whose charming conversation I receiv'd a satisfaction which I thought no words had the power to act unless deliver'd from the fair Altezeera 'T was above two Moons that I continu'd there in expectation of some News from Falintus but at length my Messengers returning acquainted me That my inquisition after him was proportionately fruitless to his after me but though by his search he had learnt nothing of him for whom he made it yet he brought me certain intelligence that Ventidius in a great Battel had the second time defeated the Parthians that Labienus and Pharnabates the two Generals had lost their lives with their Armies That Ventidius's Eagles had past the Euphrates and that Mark Anthony had sent a vast Army hefore him into Asia he himself remaining as yet in Athens whither the Princess Octavia his Wife had accompany'd him and joyntly Celebrated Ventidius his Victories where he had not so long continu'd if some fresh jealousies betwixt Octavius Caesar and him had not necessitared him to compose them before his advance towards Parthia that they were now fully ended by the mediation of Octavia who either to continue what she had effected or to give the greater liberty to Antony's Amours with Cleopatra had been sent back to Rome by him and that Artabazus by several expresses made a scrutinous search after me to make me General of the War against Antiochus I can truly say continu'd Artavasdes I was almost as much troubl'd at the generous Labienus's Death as satisfied with that Victory which had caused it I know not whether my unintermissive sorrows the trouble of failing in any thing was I ambitious of which was besides in a more sad evincement manifested in that fresh one of missing Falintus or else a concurrence of natural causes was ti that cast me into a Sickness so full of mortal symptoms that I began to believe the gods would repair their cruelty during my Life by the Felicity of a hidden Death But alas I found I was more Charitable than they since they only shew'd me the Harbour to increase the miseries of not attaining it for I was miraculously sav'd when I had no more the hopes than desires of Life But though the danger of my Fever was vanish'd yet my weakness still continu'd which was either an effect of a Sickness so violent or of grief that it had not prov'd more so an excellent Physician which the officious Euphranor had sent for in the beginning of my indisposition attributed the continuance of mine to the former of those causes but so much time as is usually allotted for the recovery of strength after a sharp fit of Sickness being effluxt he plainly told Euphranor That he suspected mine did not only derive its beginning but its continuance from a distemper of the Mind As soon as Euphranor had by intent observations made this his Faith he not only came and told it me but by such pressing Conjurations implor'd to learn what created it that I obey'd him I cannot tell whether the strange Accidents I acquainted him with made him sympathize in my Affictions or whether he did it as believing it the best way to make his Counsels and Advice more resolutely follow'd but I can that after having told me a long Story of a Friends Amours of his so much a parallel to Mine that I receiv'd from it so much consolation as to know my self not the most miserable of Men he at length assur'd me he had deriv'd his Cure and Felicity from repairing to the Oracle of Venus at Hierapolis whither he advis'd me to address my self and then conjur'd me to believe he was not a little confident of my Success since he could as a conducive way unto it not only be content to lose my Company but to make that loss an effect of his own solicitation The miraculous Adventure which Euphranor told me had there arriv'd his Friend and the great Fame I had heard of this Temple made me to determine to repair hither as soon as my health would permit me which it did not for above three Moons after I omit purposely all those generous Civilities Euphranor made me at our separation and how pressing he was to have me take some Servants of his in the room of my Parthian who one Morning after my recovery and Resolution to come hither was gone out of the Castle and had never return'd thither again which Misfortune notwithstanding my diligent Enquiry I could never learn the cause of I will conclude all by letting you know That determining to live a Life suitable to my Condition I refus'd Euphranor's offers resolving since I could not either at Sattala or Thospia light upon the faithful Philanax who I forgot to tell you was gone disguis'd into Parthia to learn my Fate to perform this Voyage in no Company but that of my Thoughts of which I was as
unwilling as unable to divest my self This and the apprehension that if I went not alone Artabazus might discover and thereby necessitate me to disoblige him or my self was the cause that I left Euphranor's Castle unaccompani'd in which condition I travel'd till I came into that Wood where the generous Artabbanes found me so unequally assaulted that I began to fancy Euphranor's belief was true and that at the Temple of Hierapolis I should find my satisfaction But though his Sword suspended me from it one way yet it gave me another by saving me from a Death that would have secluded me from Artabbanes Conversation which in the condition Altezeera is now in is the highest Felicity the Cruel gods have made the miserable Artavasdes capable of The End of the Fourth and last Book of the Third Part of PARTHENISSA PARTHENISSA A ROMANCE THE FOURTH PART PARTHENISSA THE FOURTH PART The First BOOK THE generous Artavasdes had no sooner finish'd his Story which had produc'd no common operations in the hearers than Artabbanes told him If the sin of not-believing Artavasdes were not greater than the vanity of believing my Sword could contribute to a victory his was acting I should not make the last of those my faith which since to avoid the first I must do I shall to extenuate the necessity of that crime protest That I will no more exclaim against the gods for having so extraordinarily preserved me from death since now I find 't was to preserve Artavasdes from it for whom I am so justly concern'd that I shall cherish the continuation of my miseries if they contribute to the continuation of his life which though replenish'd with many sensible misfortunes yet are as far short of mine as an unhappiness that time and many accidents may cure is of one which the very gods themselves cannot If said Artavasdes my miseries till now were not equal to yours this assurance had made them so for the accession to my past misfortunes that yours transcend them gives mine the Precedency Callimmachus who apprehended this generous dispute would suspend him from learning what would enable him to determine of it acquainted them with his fears to which Artabbanes told him Alas Sir I shall by not obeying you do it for by not being able to tell you what should determine it you cannot but do it on my side I am also the more concern'd in this victory since by the loss of it I shall be depriv'd of this only consolation in my miseries that my generous friend's are not equal to them But the Night being already too far spent to begin a fresh relation he not only perswaded them to defer their curiosity till the next morning but also to permit Symander to satisfie it whose fidelity had render'd him an unsuspected hearer of Artavasdes's Adventures and whose interest in his Princes life and secrets render'd him a fit Relator of them Callimmachus and Artavasdes having exprest a greater sorrow that Artabbanes was not able to tell his own story than that he did it not and a little time being spent in discourses of that quality and of the different opinions they all had what could make the Prince of Parthia so intent upon Artavasdes's Death as to hire Assassinates to act it which he had told Callimmachus and Artabbanes one of them had confest with his last breath The generous Priest took leave of the two Friends not only to afford them a liberty which he apprehended his company something limited but also to perform some ceremonies of his office and to be the earlier ready to summon Symander of an eâgagement which he in part had already so well satisfied that it gave him a just impatience till he had done it entirely The night therefore had no sooner resign'd her Empire to the Sun than Callimmachus came to Artabbanes and Artavasdes Appartment where he found that his fear of Incivility proceeded from a different cause than from that he apprehended for the latter of them was so far from believing it too-early that he had already expected him above an hour with all the impatiencies of a concern'd friend and the former having left Symander to satisfie his promise was already retir'd into a Gallary contiguous to his Chamber to avoid the hearing of his unparallel'd miseries and of observing the influence they would necessarily have over his generous friends Smyander by Artavasdes's command seated himself between him and Callimmachus and there being summon'd by them both to continue the Relation of his Princes Fortunes having first remember'd the generous Armenian that by his arrival he had been interrupted from the prosecution of them at their entrance into Rome after the victory of Crassus from thence thus began his discourse addressing it to Artavasdes The sequel of Parthenissa's and Artabbane's Story AFter that for the recovery of your health and the extenuating your grief for the loss of a Father which but too justly merited it you had retir'd for a few days to Ventidius's Palace and that my Prince was assur'd by the Chyrurgeons his wounds were in such unfortunate places that for at least two Moons he should be unable to travel To oblige the generous Sillaces who was then perfectly recover'd and to silence those fears which so long an absence had doubtless contracted in the fair Parthenissa but especially in Lyndadorie he conjur'd him to begin his journey into Parthia and to leave his cure to the help of time and of the Chyrurgeons Sillaces though he were too much a Lover not to esteem a separation from his Mistress a misfortune yet he was also too much a friend to leave one that was so to him in so dangerous a place and condition and besides fearing Artabbanes had made him that request more to satisfie him than himself he absolutely declin'd it but when by many pressing protestations my Prince had remov'd those doubts it was not long after that Sillaces taking the benefit of a Roman Galley which was bound from Ostia to Tyre left Artabbanes having first concluded amongst themselves of what he should say and do in Parthia and having receiv'd from him a Letter to the fair Lyndadory so fill'd with approbations and extolments of her election and of implorings in his favour and advantage that had she but only lov'd her Brother she could not but have done the like to her Servant 'T was by my Princes command that I waited on the generous Sillaces to Ostia where having seen him aboard I return'd to Rome the same day and passing by the Capitol to go to Artabbane's lodging I perceiv'd at the gate of it a great confluence of people my curiosity led me to enquire the cause of it from one who told me it was from a Salapian Lord who had begg'd of the Senate the head of Spartacus which he was then taking down This information made me imagine 't was the generous Perolla who I soon after perceiv'd all in Mourning in a Chariot that was so and
Nuptial solemnities might have so long protracted the celebration of the Nuptial delights Artabbanes after he had by innumerable testimonies of his satisfaction convinced Parthenissa of it retir'd to his Appartment whither immediately he sent for Cloriman whom he acquainted with his joys and of whom he desired a Priest against the next day to put him in the way of consummating them Cloriman by an erection of his Eyes and Hands seemed to participate in my Prince's satisfaction which yet he somewhat clouded by telling him there was never a Priest in Arsacia to whose fidelity he durst trust so important a secret but that within two days he would procure one for whose secrecy he would answer Artabbanes was so transported with his desires that he not only esteemed the Trusting of any Priest could not prove so high a prejudice as a days protraction would amount unto But even would have sent for any one and have ventered on his fidelity had not both Cloriman and I by many allegations disswaded him from it But at length those two days expired which he continually spent in Parthenissa's company earnestly offering the gods as many years of his Life for the cutting off those two days The Night of the last he spent in as little sleep as he would have done the succeeding one and as he did the succeeding one during one half of which he was kept waking by his desires and the other by his fears and danger for some Three hours before day he heard all the City in an high Allarm which made him immediately dress and arm himself to go and learn the danger or prevent it but as he was running to his Princesse's Appartment which his Love and fear made him resolve to defend and made him resolve was the place would most need his Defence he heard the Palace Gates forced open and by that time he was come to the top of those great stairs which lead to the fair Parthenissa's Chamber he saw a Company of Arm'd Men which were hastily ascending them he was not near so much astonished thereat as to see at the head of them the perfidious Cloriman who lifting up his Helmet told my Prince 'T is not my Treachery Artabbanes but my Love has forced me to undertake what I should condemn on any other score The fair Emilia was not content to scorn my Passion but to receive Symander's and even to confer hers on him I had the heart to do any thing rather than to see this and my despair only has made me listen to Merinor and Surena's solicitations with whom I have agreed to deliver up this City and from whom I have received a solemn engagement that I shall have the fair Emilia and that your Life shall run no hazard unless by your own resistance you cause it Traytor said my Prince my life has not been so bred up in Crimes that whilst it has a Sword to defend it it should derive its preservation from Infidelity No I had rather lose it to punish thy sin than live by it and either by thy death and Surena's I will hinder both your designs or by my own your Triumphs My Prince's blows began where his words ended and finding my self obliged both by duty affection and revenge to become Artabbanes's Second I assumed that noble employment and being assisted with some of Zenophon's Domesticks we soon drove before us into the Court those which were come to assault us in the Palace 'T was in this retreat that the false Cloriman had the honour to fall by a hand which rather rewarded than punished his infidelity In my Life I never envied any of my Prince's actions but this for I esteemed it but just that being the Author of Cloriman's Crime I should have been of his punishment Never did Artabbanes purchase more glory by his personal courage than in this fatal Night and never the Sun beheld so admirable a sight as then he lost in not seeing the prodigious effects of it The name of Surena and the apprehensions he should again ravish from him the fair Parthenissa made him act things which if Surena had seen he could not but have as much admired as feared The place where my generous Master and his little Troop had already made that of his Enemies less was under Parthenissa's window which soon after was hastily opened by Emilia who cryed out they were forcing the Princesse's Appartment Artabbanes had scarcely heard that voice when he flew from a victory to a fresh danger with more celerity than the greatest Courages could to the former or the greatest fears from the latter I followed him as fast as my feet could carry me and yet before I could overtake him he had engaged himself in Parthenissa's out-Chamber amongst as many Enemies as he had already killed All the service I could do him was by defending the Door to hinder their increase which I did as long as I could use my Sword but I lost that and my senses together yet to hinder that with my Body which I could not with my strength I fell cross the Door and there lay as some little impediment In the mean while Parthenissa hearing a strange noise at her Door every moment expected when it would be broke open and having a while fruitlesly attended that misfortune she began to apprehend she was freed from it by a greater her fears gave her no time to consult her safety so that immediately opening it she discovered they were but too-too-well grounded For alas my Prince who thitherto defended it had received so many wounds and lost so much blood that he was constrained to lean his back against it so that missing his support he fell backwards into the Princesse's Chamber weltring in a Sea of blood Parthenissa lost not her judgment though she did almost her hopes at so fatal an object for in the twinkling of an Eye she thrust to the Chamber Door which by good fortune having a spring-Lock was as soon lock'd as shut our Enemies admired that their advantage was so soon turned to Artabbanes's but Parthenissa who apprehended they would immediately force so weak an impediment conjured Artabbanes to permit her to lead him down a back-stairs which at least would preserve his Life from the fury of those whom he had so extreamly incens'd till the arrival of some of their Superiours of whom as she said she made no question to obtain it when she implored it with Tears No Madam said my Prince sometimes reeling sometimes leaning on his Sword and all his Cloaths dropping with blood I can but suffer Death by fighting against your Enemies but I may deserve it by avoiding them Neither Madam shall you pay to Surena so precious a ransom as your Tears for a Life which by your being in his Power is far better lost than sav'd Do not fair Parthenissa deny me the glory of dying at your feet and for your defence since 't is the highest and pleasing'st I can by your present
and I had carri'd her in our Arms to those Stairs which lead to her Appartment her breath but not her words were come to her again so that Artabbanes by pressing and kissing her hands took as we all thought an eternal leave and in whispers conjur'd Emilia to hinder her Princess's despair from making her the sharer of his Fate as she had but too much been of his Misfortunes Emilia neither answer'd nor indeed heard his request for all the faculties of her Soul had resign'd themselves to grief My Prince having spoke those few words with a languishing look took a second farewel from his Princess who by being then insensible was more happy than if she had been otherwise and going to the Guard return'd them thanks for their Civility and desir'd them to do their Duty The Captain mov'd with so sad a separation told him Would to the gods Sir I durst for then I should carry you to Liberty not to Prison Whilst this little discourse past between them I had represented to Emilia that 't was fit I should wait on my Prince and had obtain'd not only her permission but commands to do it 'T was therefore that I came to the Captain and desir'd his leave for it which he more readily granted than my Prince and accompani'd his Civility with this Protestation That nothing which could be condusive to Artabbanes's satisfaction and which was not positively forbidden him but should still find the same return By this time we were come to the Garden-Gate where we found a Chariot ready into which my Prince made me follow him the same Officers and the same Guard brought us to the Castle which is a place as impregnable as Art and Nature can render any the Appartment allotted for my generous Master was very large and magnificent to supply his being deny'd the liberty of the Gardens and finding he was to be a close Prisoner he commanded me to get a Pallate and to lie in his Chamber where he resign'd himself to so transcendent a grief that I knew by the greatness of it 't was not for himself but Parthenissa who Emilia told me afterwards had assum'd a proportionate sorrow both for the quantity and the cause My Prince found nothing in his Imprisonment no not the very end in order to which it was so intollerable as the being deny'd the sending to and hearing from his Princess who as soon as she had learn'd she was under a resembling misfortune concluded Surena's design was exceeding criminal since rather than permit her to know his actions he elected to give an exact Lover the fears such a relation unavoidably inspires and thereby contracted a worse opinion of him than his very worst performance could almost create Ten days after Artabbanes's Imprisonment during which time he never saw or spake with any except the Captain of the Guards and me finding so long a suspence as bad as execution he earnestly conjur'd him to learn what Surena's intentions were and if possibly what his usage was to Parthenissa The Captain promised to endeavour both and about four hours after return'd but with a Countenance that spake his intelligence before his words did which acquainted my Prince That for the last of his Commands so strict a watch was kept in the Palace that thereby all his endeavours therein had been fruitless but as to the first of them he came into Surena's Chamber when some of Merinzor's Partizans were disputing with him not whether you should be put to Death but of the way of it he alledging that in regard of your quality especially in Media you ought to have so much respect as not to be a publick Spectacle on an infamous Scaffold and that to execute you in your Chamber would be of as much advantage less scandalous and more secure for the Captain continu'd the Inhabitants of this City are so great Reverencers of either the Arsacian blood or of Moneses's Family that Surena has sent for a thousand Parthian Horse out of his Brothers Army to keep Arsacia from Tumults which he apprehends it will fall into let the execution be never so private on the other side Merinzor's servants alledged that since you were the first Prince of the Blood the execution ought to be publick that the Medians might be convinc'd of the reality of your Death and thereby cut off their hopes with your Life for it has been no unusual thing from the obscure Death of Princes to set up Counterfeits which have prov'd as dangerous as the real ones could that it would look rather like a Murther than an execution were it done in private and that by so covert a proceeding it might give the Arsacians an opinion we want either Justice or Power the former will make them believe 't is honest to relieve him and the latter that it is safe Though said the Captain I heard the debate yet I was commanded to withdraw when they were to form the result but yet I learn'd that whatever it were it would not be put in execution 'till the arrival of the thousand Parthian Horse who are hourly expected Any continu'd Symander that had heard this Relation would have thought he that made it had spoken of himself not of my Prince who found more satisfaction in learning his destiny than trouble in learning 't was so fatal a one and doubtless had not his just apprehensions of the fair Parthenissa's despair or at least excessive grief ty'd his hands he had by one generous stroke exempted himself from the infamy of dâing on a Scaffold or composing a publick Trophy for his Enemies but that Parthenissa might be convinc'd his Life was dear to him since it was to her he determin'd if it were his fortune to be put to Death not to act it himself that she might not condemn but deplore his Fall To the Captain he gave such eloquent and admirable consolations that he went away full of satisfaction but I cannot say whether it proceeded from an assurance he thereby received of his going into a better world or that the brightness of his virtues render'd him any longer unfit for this We had not been two hours alone which we heard all the Streets of Arsacia eccho with Trumpets which we knew proceeded from the arrival of the Parthian Horse who were immediately distributed into several advantageous Posts in the City the better to suppress all disorders Artabbanes was advertis'd of this by his former Intelligencer who told him withal that a Scaffold was erected before the Palace-window and though some said it was for his execution and that Parthenissa might be a Witness of it yet he had been assur'd in private the execution should not be so and that the Scaffold being rais'd there was but the more artificially to delude the people and that Surena's opinion of doing the business obscurely had at length been assented to My Prince was a little surpriz'd at the first part of this intelligence not upon his own score
his Colours The other two parts were of such as had been drawn together by Zenophon's orders before his hasty depart The Body though small was not unconsiderable having my Prince at the head of it and this they were all so sensible of that Artabbanes found they were so by their very looks After a short speech rather to let them know he knew their resolution than to raise it he embraced the Governour whose age dispenc'd him from the field and began his March towards Ecbatan Three days with wonderful celerity he follow'd the traces of Zenophon's Army without overtaking it but the fourth from the high mountain of Dormus he discover'd afar off the Walls of Ecbatan that sight refresh'd his almost wearied Troops and made them so to accelerate their pace before the Sun was five hours from his set they were come near enough to perceive both Armies were join'd and were disputing their hopes and desires by the Sword on which they were so intent that his arrival nor his little Armies saluting their Friends by a shout and their Enemies by a menacing cry could not in the least measure so much as suspend or lessen the fury of either side My Prince was much more pleas'd with the resolution of his friends than with their number which with the addition of his Forces did not equal the one half of the Enemies whose multitudes he observ'd were so long hinder'd from prevailing by a Gentleman in blew Arms whose Helmet was shadowed with a Plume of Feathers of the same colour This generous Warrior carried victory to his side where ever he was but his friends lost it where ever he was not so that not being ubiquitary the Armenian Royal Army was giving ground before my Prince could join it I design'dly pass over the paâticulars of this great day to tell you the conclusion of it which was that though Artabbanes did like Artabbanes both in courage and conduct yet by the fall of the Gentleman in blew Armor and by being necessitated twice to save the King of Media's life and remount him it was almost dark before the gods had put a period to the Battle and he to the Execution in which the Traytor Merinzor fell and above Twenty thousand of his side so that my Prince's Revenge and his Victory were both concluded in one action such signal events could not but produce resembling joys in him who return'd from the pursuit with his victorious Troops to present them and himself to Tygranes whose Tent he found inviron'd with tears instead of acclamations which was occasion'd by a fatal wound the King at the conclusion of the day had receiv'd by an Arrow shot at random Artabbanes by an excess of generosity at the news assum'd a grief as real as great and learning the faithful Zenophon was by Tygranes he went without any interruption where he lay The King though extream ill no sooner saw my Prince's Arms then he cri'd out 'T is to that generous person that I owe twice a Life which the gods are resolv'd no longer to lend me but I desire that the last action of it may be to embrace and acknowledg my Deliverer Artabbanes at these obliging words pull'd off his Helmet and Zenophon no sooner saw his face then he cri'd out 'T is Artabbanes 't is Artabbanes Who prostrating himself before his King told him The gods Sir are my witnesses that I had long since the ambition to pay you those services which you are now pleased so much to overvalue had not the Traytor Merinzor by false suggestions brought you into so great a diffidence of that truth that the danger of coming to manifest it was almost as great as were my desires to do it but those Powers which vindicate Innocence have at length brought Merinzor to that Fate he would have impos'd on Moneses and have made one a Contributor to that Justice which has hitherto suffer'd by his having occasion'd the suspending of yours This free and generous declaration made Tygranes believe 't was my Prince as much as Zenophon's naming him for he had never known him but by that Character the faithful Zenophon had given of his Person and Mind Tygranes who found the hand of death upon him believ'd he could not more excuse the Crimes of his Life than to silence that hatred which had been the highest offence in it was beginning to manifest a Conversion which had nothing of imperfection in it but that it had not earlier shined when some Gentlemen brought in one into the Kings Tent for there was never a one set up but his neither had that been but for the danger of carrying him to Ecbatan who though almost cover'd with blood yet some internals disclos'd that his Arms before they had been so fatally stain'd were of Azure which made Artabbanes not only know 't was that gallant man the want of whose assistance had so long suspended his Victory but deplore his loss at a rate which even countervail'd his success These were the dictates his inclinations to generosity inspir'd him with but as soon as the wounded Gentleman's Helmet was taken off he saw in his dying-looks the charming features of the Prince Sillaces Oh gods what did not my afflicted Master utter at so sad a sight without so much as considering Tygranes whose tears were so obliging as a while to interpose between his sight and the object which created them he fell on his generous friend and exprest by groans when his words fail'd him such signal and pressing sorrows that it even divided those of the spectators and made them think him as just an object for their grief as he had esteem'd his friend for his I will not determine whether the air which Sillaces receiv'd by the opening of his Helmet or Artabbanes's tormenting him or the mercy of the gods who thought it unjust to separate two so exactly united that restor'd the generous Prince to life but this is most certain that before the Chyrurgeons had given him a Cordial he was almost in a condition not to need one and had been intirely so if after having a while faintly opened his Eyes and discover'd Artabbanes he had not embraced him so passionately fearing perhaps never to do it again that all his wounds opened and by a second flood of Blood cast him into a second fainting Tygranes whether out of sympathy or a precedent weakness fell into the same condition which so divided the care and tears of all that were present that never any Victory was esteem'd so dearly purchas'd or so ill celebrated It was about half an hour before the Chyrurgeons brought either the King or Sillaces to that life which had seemingly abandon'd them but the last of them return'd to it much sooner than the first for his wounds were of a far less dangerous nature and being bound up as also forbidden any more such unfortunate demonstrations of his friendship as his late embraces had prov'd he began to ask of Artabbanes his
sent me upon was to visit Surena who I found by resembling miracle to my Prince's had no one wound that was mortal and health enough recover'd to acknowledg that civility which sent to enquire after his When Artabbanes knew this happy truth he askt of his Chyrurgeons whether the removal of Surena to Arsacia might be effected without any hazard or inconvenience to this he was answer'd affirmatively whereupon commanding all but me out of his Tent he told me Go Symander from this step to Surena and tell him That his Liberty which the gods have given me as a punishment for having deni'd Parthenissa hers I do restore him and had not continu'd that Combat in which he lost it had not our dispute been so equal that any overture of ending it by words might have relisht more of a care of my self than of him but now that I can evince my solicitousness for him proceeds from a clearer principle I embrace this way of serving him with more joy than I assume at what gives me the power of doing it Tell him withal that he must now offend the gods if he offends any longer Parthenissa and that the former have so miraculously preserv'd his life to give him so large an occasion to repair the errors of it But I fear said Artabbanes I speak so much of this as it may invite him to believe I am grateful but in expectation that he will be more so therefore convey him to Arsacia and tell him only I am at least as much troubled that I cannot pay him that duty as at what hinders me from it I was continu'd Symander as much astonisht at this Command as Surena was when I went to obey it who in generous retributions accepted of an obligation he could neither have desir'd nor hoped Surena's being convey'd from the Army to Arsacia couldnot inspire the last with more joy than it did the first with wonder When he came to the gates which was the place where I took leave of him he made me many Appologies for not having been able to wait on my Prince to have acknowledg'd a Gallantry which nothing could proportion but the value he plac'd upon it and his ambition of repaying it Five days Artabbanes continu'd in more trouble from Surena's silence than from his own wounds which had clos'd themselves much faster if the distempers of the Mind had not hindred the cure of the Body I must acknowledg I did not only believe that Surena had conveyed both himself and Parthenissa into some more remote place but told my Prince so which thought of mine he resented as ill as he could have the performance and though I told him that by what Surena had formerly done my now conclusion was not irrational yet I could not make my opinion his but the sixth day all our suspitions and doubts were resolv'd by a Letter which Surena sent by a Trumpet The words to the best of my rememberance were these Surena to the generous Artabbanes Prince of Media THough I had written as soon as I had received my wounds they could not have prov'd a higher trouble to me than my friendship and gratitude now do for the clearness of what I ought to perform cannot be greater than the impossibility I have pleaded your cause with my self against my self and have said so much for you that could I but do half as much to you you would have admir'd what I fear you will condemn But alas I cannot resign up Parthenissa but with my Life The gods knowing this Truth have put me into a posture of evincing it and I shall conclude they never mean you her whilst they perform not that to me Come then generous Artabbanes to the assault and you shall see how willingly I will put my self in the only capacity by which I can present Parthenissa to you who perhaps the gods have not yet adjudg'd from me since I can dispute her in a way in which I may find my felicity or be incapable of resenting the loss of it My Prince read these lines with as much grief as they could be written in he found to have the reward of one Victory he must act another and yet the end of the last could not be more pleasing than the way was the contrary After the disorder these reflections infused were vanished he returned this answer to his Rival Artabbanes to the Prince Surena THat construction which you make of the gods preserving you is so mistaken a one that your repeated Crime will force them to a repeated Iudgment 't is not your Death but your Life which offends them and therefore they will not punish you in the first but the last which they have only lengthened that what committed the Sin should repair it and to evidence this is my Faith if the gods make me a second time the Master of it I shall use you at the former rate which you may be as confident of as I am that they will shortly put me into a capacity of manifesting and you of making that use of it Artabbanes having returned Surena's Trumpet with this Reply immediately ordered Arsacia to be invironed with his Army which was so numerously increas'd with the Nobility and Gentry which thronged to his Ensigns that his hopes had now no Cloud but the protraction of them I believe I need not tell you that my Prince when he was recovered performed hourly the part of a General an Engineer and a Pioneer leaving no function unpractised which might accelerate his approaches and put him into a felicity for which he had lost so much blood and fought so many Battels In brief one Moon had so far advanced our hopes that we had strong ones another would convert them into Certainties and though Artabbanes gave many an assault to taste the resolution of the Defendants yet he always returned with such pregnant evincements of their greatness that he concluded the reduction of Arsacia was not more a work of Courage than of Time And though this knowledg did often suspend his joys yet the remembrance that only a few days separated him from Parthenissa hindered them from being suppress'd But great gods continued Symander how fallacious are the Thoughts of Man and how often do you take delight to act things improbable and to destroy those which are not For my Prince who to hasten the Siege made the Soldiers work at the approaches so assiduously solicited their Labour that by the excess of it a raging Feaver invaded our Camp and at length the Pestilence and that in so fatal a way that it turned Epidemical and to add to this misery at length it seized on my Prince too and so dangerously that I apprehended the loss of his Life in that of his hopes Oh gods continued Symander what Prodigies did you perform in that poor Army and had you no way to manifest your Power but by your Cruelty Yes generous Hearers never was there a greater Mortality than that in which
that which so much contributed to this easie Victory was the deep consternation amongst those few friends of Surena's which were present who not fancying he would have put things to so precipitate and high an issue fell into an amazement which prov'd as fatal to him as if it had been their Treachery The pale and trembling Arsaces observing Surena was disarm'd and that some of his Guards were going to revenge his danger and their Captains death by the acting of Surena's cry'd out to them Hold I command you on your Lives not to touch him for the inflicting of a sudden Death will relish more of Passion than of Justice and his Crimes make him a fitter Sacrifice for the last than the first Then commanding a Gentleman who he made in that instant Captain of his Guards in the room of him that had freshly lost that Office with his Life to look to Surena as he would answer it with the loss of his own he forthwith gave order for a Scaffold to be erected before the Palace-Gates and solemnly protested That on it before the Sun-set Surena should lose his Life He heard these last words as he was carrying away and therefore turning about with a Countenance altogether quiet and serene he told Arsaces I thank you Sir and I conjure you to keep your vows for the next satisfaction to the prevention of Parthenissa's dishonour is not to survive it Arsaces only reply'd by a shaking of his head and by a second Command having made Surena to be carried away forthwith sent to the chief Tribunal of Justice in Selutia to sit and condemn him This Order was no sooner publish'd but a Proclamation was also That whosoever appear'd in the Streets with Arms except those of Guard should dye without Mercy and those that any way related to Surena which were found in Selutia after the expiration of one hour should be liable to the same penalty This so precipitate and brisk a proceeding with the securing of Surena's person and the placing of Soldiers in every convenicnt Post so terrified those Partizans of his already in the Town that wanting a Head to employ their Swords they pay'd an exact Obedience to the Proclamation and involv'd such of their Companions as they met coming to Selutia in the same Crime Surena therefore was tamely brought before his Judges before whom he only would say That all the ill he was guilty of was That he had not acted what they were condemning him for having attempted This short Reply made the Trial the like so that immediately he was adjudg'd to lose his Head and by Orodes's command who all the while was present was sent to the Scaffold to have the Sentence perform'd This advertisement being brought me I went to the cruel King not to beg Surena's Life but only the permission of seeing him lose it Arsaces granted my request either not to disoblige his pretended Solicitress or to punish my being so in the sight of so fatal a spectacle I found my poor Brother on the Scaffold who seeing me there assum'd a joy I thought his condition uncapable of but I soon observ'd from whence it proceeded for immediately he told me You see Sister I am now going to lose my Life for her to whom I had given it and if the now cause of my Death could but extinguish the just provocations she has had so often to wish it I should esteem it at a higher rate than she can deplore the loss of it Tell her I conjure you that with joy I embrace my present condition since I consider it as inflicted on me for having obstructed her desires and from thence I cannot but conclude That since the gods so exemplarily punish a Passion which never had any other design than to be voluntarily approv'd of and rewarded they will doubtlesly act much more to the magnifying of their Justice upon a Flame which already is burnt into desires of Lust and they will as certainly perform it while Arsaces's desires are but desires lest if once they were turned into action they might be as uncapable of a fit punishment as he of a resembling sin Conjure her Zephalinda to make this use of my Death that it may bring both her and me a satisfaction which it may be any other way will be deny'd to both I confess the gods have made me so miserable that all my performances have hitherto evidenc'd my adoration was not a debt to her but to my self I do therefore beg you by that Friendship and Relation which is between us and by my last Breath That upon my score you will pay her all the services you are any ways capable of that one of the Family may in some degree repair the Sins of him that was the chief of it that parthenissa may thereby know what my unfortunate performances have not clearly manifested that my Care of her was for her which I hope she will not doubt of while I lived since the effects of it will continue when I am dead My last Request is If ever you see the generous Artabbanes beg him when he remembers what I have done that he would also remember what 't was invited it and then he cannot judg the fault greater than the inducement of it he will be too generous to hate me in my Grave and I more than hope his resentments will dye with the object of them Surena having thus spoken embrac'd me and took his eternal leave Then going to the other extremity of the Scaffold he conjur'd the people to prevent their King's Sin since they could not but participate in the punishment of it for the gods would consider every Accessory as a Principal and esteem those as guilty which hinder'd not Parthenissa's dishonour as him that acted it This was all he said to them lest a longer discourse might have been interrupted His Soul after she had thus disburthen'd her self seem'd to have more than a knowledg of those happy Fields whither she was taking her eternal flight for when he was laying down his Life he did it with much more resolution than he had that took it from him who perform'd it by separating the Head from the Body at one stroak The Spectators at that fatal blow gave one common groan and by killing the Executioner shew'd how much they detested the Execution Their Grief too had not contented it self with so mean a Sacrifice had not Orodes in person at the head of a thousand of his Guards come and by killing some of the Multitude disperst the rest The poor Surena's Body I carry'd away with me in the same Chariot I came in and lay'd it in the Sepulcher of our Family Here said Emilia the fair Zephalinda's weepings put a period to her words in which just duty the sad Parthenissa kept her such faithful company that one might have concluded she reserved no Tears for her own misfortune she gave so many on Surena's Happy Surena that in one single performance couldst
so efface the Crimes of thy Life as to have the deprivation of it so nobly deplor'd and even by her which had most reason to rejoyce at it The first that interrupted the silence though not the weeping was Parthenissa who told Zephalinda I have Madam been so unfortunate to your Family that if you will not grant me on the score of Charity the means of that Death which I implor'd confer it on me at least on that of Revenge my Misfortune and my Condition do equally require it and you cannot in the performance more oblige your resentment than you will me It may be that the greatest misfortune Surena relish'd at his Death was that he left me behind and the eminent danger too he concluded I was involv'd in by Arsaces's Lust. The extinction of my Life will also redress those apprehensions in him and it may be afford him a proportionate joy when I shall carry him the news how faithfully you have observ'd his Desires 'T is not Madam said Zephalinda upon these invitations I am come to pay you my engagement 'T is upon your own and Artabbanes's account that I do it for I find your condition is uncapable of all remedy but by that which will in the future exempt you from needing any other Thereupon taking out a little vial she presented it to Parthenissa with more Tears than would have fill'd it and told her In this Madam you will find that Sanctuary the gods have deny'd your Virtue which I should have offer'd you sooner but that my Brother's Physician who compos'd it was so near death himself at the hearing of Surena's that he could not earlier give me this effect of his Art He assures me it is of a nature so subtil that it conquers the Vitals as soon as it touches them and will afford you as little pain in the operation as you will resent after it This is a Present said the fair Parthenissa wiping away her Tears and kissing it which I have too little time remaining to acknowledg sufficiently but if in the other World our Condition admits the paying of services I will present you with those there which mine here denies me the power of retributing and as a signal earnest of this Truth I leave you the generous Artabbanes as a Legacy she deserves him best that does most for him and you in this last performance have so clearly done so that the very Party is also the Judg and Acknowledger of it You that when the gods cannot preserve Parthenissa fit for him can do it do become more so your self and it may be those Powers had no other way but this to absolve Artabbanes's Constancy from becoming so much his punishment as to prefer Parthenissa before Zephalinda who in all perfections is as much my Superior as in a perfect Flame I am at least her Equal The fair Zephalinda was about to reply when one I had plac'd to discover when Arsaces was coming came running in to tell me so which set a period to the discourse they were engag'd in and made Parthenissa uncover the little Glass and say 'T is now no time to think of any thing but by Death to prevent what is much more to be fear'd With these words in a moment she drank the fatal Poyson with a Constancy great as our Grief I was continued Emilia so drowned in Tears and Sorrow that though the fair Parthenissa spake many things as remarkable as her very performance yet all I can remember she said was a deploring the invitation of her death which was such that her hate for the infamous Arsaces might seem to have an equal share in it to that of her Passion and Constancy for your Prince Zephalinda in the mean time went to a window as if it had been to discover how near Orodes was but alas it was more undisturbedly to pledg Parthenissa in a resembling Liquor which as soon as she had perform'd she return'd to her but with a serener countenance than that with which she had left her and holding up the empty Vial told her This Madam will be my witness that I serv'd not my self but you in acting what the gods had left you but one way to perform Your Virtues shine so clear that whilst I have them for my Guides I can neither be mistaken in the way to felicity nor the end and though this be a high Truth yet it cannot Transcend this other That the obliging Poyson I have drunk will not more certainly make me wait on you now than the beholding of Artabbanes's Grief would have made me do it hereafter when it may be the Then performance would have relish'd of what the Now will absolve me of I had looked like your Murtherer not your Friend had I not thus waited on you so that what my Inclination leads me unto my Reason and my Interest do which are Inducements that none can condemn with so much Justice as that with which I obey them The fair Parthenissa for a while only in Tears and in embraces acknowledged the disobligingness and gallantry of this performance in which latter Zephalinda held her company so strictly that I thought they would prove as unseparable to each other as misfortune had been to both She which last drank the Poyson was the first that spake and to the best of my remembrance these were her words Having now paid the Just and Antedated sacrifice of our Tears to Artabbanes's condition when he shall be informed of ours let us absolutely in the future silence them lest the Tyrant should ascribe ours to his being one and thereby though he be actually denyed the Triumph of his Love he imaginarily possesses that of his Revenge The Cruel Arsaces said Parthenissa cannot so Transcendently delude himself as to ascribe my Tears to his being so to me when he sees what the fair Zephalinda has done which is of such a Quality that he will find his Triumph though we are never so intent to cloud it for I am resolved he glories as much in the destruction of Virtue as of Feminine Honour so that what my resolution has denyed him in the Latter yours has conferred on him in the Former Had I been single in my suffering I should have retrench't from him that Victory for to have been denyed his hopes would have as much eclipsed his satisfaction as the Destroying of Innocence and Constancy would have created it I may said Zephalinda as justly alledge he is not the cause of my Tears since a Death which I esteem so transcendent a misfortune as to believe the acting of my own after it is a less one than to survive it may well peculiarize my Weepings to that solarie cause But whilst we continue ours he may at least have some shadow for Insulting whereas if we intirely silence them and in their Place assume an unclouded serenity he may consider the Way in which we evade his Power to be as sublime a Trouble as the End Here
with a pale look and in vast disorders yet they hardly equal'd my Prince's at the sight of mine That generous Courage which had so often outbrav'd Death in all its Horrors which had so often unmoved endur'd nay courted the highest Dangers was now conquer'd and yeelded unto the bare signs of sorrow in another but alas they were signs so clear and evident of the only way in which fortune and the gods had power to invade him that in my being uncapable to tell Him his Loss he did but too plainly read it But at last when Artabbanes perceiv'd that I had the power by words to acquaint him with what my emotions made him apprehend was the cause of them He told me Are not the gods yet Symander weary of persecuting the miserable Artabbanes by the punishments they have impos'd upon him but that they must also afflict him more cruelly and sensibly through Parthenissa For doubtless thy grief is too great for any misery which can wound me but through her Has any of my Rivals by force or delusion got her again into their power Or has her Justice now discover'd those defects in the over-valu'd Artabbanes which her mercy so long hinder'd her from seeing and punishing Speak I conjure thee for thy looks have as much of misery for me as my Fate can impose upon me Alas Sir I reply'd I must confess your Ryvals have at length got the success but 't is not your old ones have done it they have been but Instruments to convey her from themselves as well as you Your present Rivals are such that 't is as great a Sin as Impossibility to resist them In the infelicity of your Love the excellency of your choice is manifested and in the highest misery of Love you have the highest occasion of evidencing yours hath been the most pure and most excellent for if in your Passion you were only concern'd in the object of it she is now in joys which will be so far from clouding yours that they will be as uncapable of encrease as of change You have now Sir no more the occasion of repining for the unequal'd Parthenissa since the gods who deni'd her you but to possess her themselves have thereby taken from you the justice of such a proceeding and have confin'd you if you grieve to evidence 't is for your self not her who believing you were of a contrary principle and that her felicity would create yours staid not till your new Rivals called her but elected to go to them Thereupon I told him particularly all that I had seen and all that I heard from Emilia but I had no sooner ended this fatal relation what through the indisposition which then invaded me what through the horror and grief which I saw invade my generous Prince then I fell at his feet and though my senses at that instant did not abandon me yet it was but to be the more cruel and the more tormenting for I saw and heard that after Artabbanes had fetch'd a groan from the bottom of his heart which shewed the greatness of it by its being capable to contain so much he cri'd out You are dead fair Princess you are dead and you died for Artabbanes Ah too great and too ungrateful heart which canst know this and yet canst live after it but I will punish thee for needing any help but thy own to act thy duty yes ungrateful heart thy debt to my Princess shall be paid though not by thee My Resolution shall have the glory of that performance since thou hast declin'd it or at least art so long in acting it Thereupon he ran furiously to his sword and having drawn it resting the hilt upon the ground and leaning the point to his Breast he cri'd out Divine Parthenissa what you have done leaves the miserable Artabbanes nothing to do but to admire and follow you the first he has still perform'd and the last he now performs These words were no sooner utter'd than by falling on his sword I saw the fatal point of it having pierc'd his body appear all bloody as if it blush'd at the sin it had acted Oh Gods Symander cri'd out why did you give me life enough to see and not life enough to prevent it and yet it might be just in them that for my being griev'd they were happier than my Prince I should behold and not hinder his despair But Artabbanes who knew how requisite Death was to his condition and how opposite I would be to that only cure as if having opened two doors for his Soul to free her self from that dark Prison she had been confin'd unto were not enough he striv'd to employ that little life was left to take even that little totally away and doubtless had repeated his wounds if my horror thereat had not given me a supernatural strength and enabled me on my hands and knees to crawl to him and to seize upon the hilt of his Sword on which I took such sure hold that spight of all his struglings I kept him from additional wounds and by my loud and reiterated cries drew some of the people of the house to my assistance who with me by meer force wrested the fatal weapon out of his hands which being effected my Prince with a look in which a crowd of different passions were distinctly visible told me And is Symander too become my enemy ah if thou hast a hatred for Artabbanes canst thou more signally satisfie it than to see him send himself out of the World and if thou hast a Friendship for him why dost thou retard his following Parthenissa with that fair Name his Senses abandon'd him and left his Body inviron'd in that deluge of blood which had flow'd out of it This Swounding which at first made me tremble soon after made me rejoyce for thereby the Chyrurgeons who then came without resistance search'd and drest his Wounds and having laid him in his bed they there endeavour'd by powerful Cordials to recall that life which seemingly had forsaken him I caus'd them to lay me in a Pallet contiguous to my Prince's bed where in expectations which ravish'd from me all sense of my own condition I waited for the effects of the Chyrurgeons Art and Prescriptions But alas the fear I assum'd that death had eternally closed his Eyes could not transcend my grief when that apprehension vanquish'd for the first proof he gave of life was an action which sadly demonstrated how intent he was on the destroying of his for finding his wounds bound he tore away all things the Chyrurgeons had apply'd to them and endeavour'd to make his hands finish what his cruel Sword had but begun But those I had order'd to watch and hinder the effects of his despair by plain force and by my command held his hands at which he assum'd so high a rage that in words deliver'd with much more strength than I thought he had been Master of he told me Cruel Symander and much more
cruel than Fortune yea than Arsaces himself they but make the highest cure necessary but thou after it is so do'st deny it me I conjure thee by that love thou once did'st pay me by that adoration I pay my Divine Princess who I now behold cloathed with more Glory than she has been with misfortune and by those Tears unusual Advocates for me permit me to follow her with that he shed such a shower of them that I was for a time unable to answer him in any other language which my Prince perceiving he told me Canst thou then Symander give me the highest signs of pity and deny me the least Act of it and canst thou be sensible of my miseries and deny me their only Cure Ah Sir I reply'd what is become of that Fortitude which in all the strangest and intricatest Revolutions and vicissitudes of Fortune has always made you triumphant over her Has it abandon'd you or have you abandon'd it in a season where it was most necessary What will the World believe to your prejudice when you your self act so much to it your Virtue which now is the admiration of all will be believ'd the mistake of all for when any thing can befall it greater than it self 't will be thought it hath acquired its glory not from its own strength but from the weakness of its opposers Hold thy peace said my Prince interrupting me hold thy peace 't is no wonder thou hast lost thy concern for me when thou hast âost thy reason which if thou hadst not thou couldst not but see but that the fortitude thou so flatterest me with never aspir'd at so certain a felicity as thy cruelty hinders her from possessing That which thy madness terms despair my reason terms fortitude which high vertue is not given us to continue our miseries but to overcome them Mine are of so peculiar a quality that if my fortitude should continue my Life 't would act against it self as much as against me No Symander my Fortitude never so well deserved that Name as now that it has made me chearfully elect to act my own Death which certainly cannot be a sin since 't will reunite me to the Divine Parthenissa had the gods design'd me Life they would not have taken away hers and the duty of not killing my self by which I must be banish'd from my Princess cannot be so great as that of killing my self to be restor'd unto her But Sir I repli'd what Face can you present your self to your Princess with when to act your satisfaction you decline your duty and leave this world without revenging your self on him who sent her out of it and divested you of all felicity in it This said Symander I spake in expectation that such a duty might qualifie for the present the violence of his despair and that time might silence it in the future but alas I soon found the vanity of that hope by my King 's thus answering me If I were not certain 't were a higher Mercy to kill one of my Princess's Votaries after her death than not to do it I would not beg the blessing to become my own executioner and therefore I will not so much oblige the Tyrant as to become his The gods who know the greatest Crime merits the greatest punishment do now evince that truth on that Monster for the certainty that to be the fair Parthenissa's executioner is the greatest Sin cannot be a greater Truth than after having acted it 't is the greatest punishment to want fortitude to be his own and since Life is the torment of my Princess's Murtherer how can it be the satisfaction of her Adorer besides I am confined and I believe on this score of her last commands from embruing my hands in his Blood So you are I replyed from embruing your hands in your own and that request nay rather command imposed with much more earnestness than the other ah Sir consider how much your despair offences your Love and how unlike this proceeding is to any other of yours where your Princess's commands have acted you you can decline becoming the executioner of her Murtherer to obey her and you will not decline becoming your own when you have a higher confinement to it this is not to obey her but your self or rather your despair by going to her in the other world when she orders your continuance in this and when that order was pronounced with her last breath you shew you value something above her commands which is a crime you have hitherto declined with so much care and she has acknowledged with so many Elogies that your now running into it evinces nothing so pregnantly as that her Memory has not the same Ascendant over you which her Life had though she lost hers but to continue the more gloriously in yours consider too I beg you Sir that the more painful the obedience is the more meritorious 't is that common obeyings are not fit sacrifices for Artabbanes to offer or Parthenissa to receive and that the crime of disobedience cannot be the way to so admirable end as is your reunion with her Yes Sir I tremble to think how she will receive you when the last act of your Life is a violation of the last command of hers Thou dost delude thy self Symander thou dost delude thy self said my King interrupting me the Divine Parthenissa knew too well the greatness of her loss and the just sense I should have of it to enjoyn me the impossibility of surviving it I rather ascribe that to thy cruelty than her commands or if she imposed that on me which thou sayest she did it was but the better to illustrate the vastness of my Love which by contemning my own Life her Revenge and my duty to her commands manifests it is superiour to all those so that by my Death I shall but evince a truth I most ambition'd in my Life nay which at any time I would have laid down to witness which is that my Love was as much above all other concerns as the Beauty which inspir'd it was above all which ever inspir'd that Passion Let not then thy cruelty deny my Flame the most glorious manifestation of it nor let me derive that from Time and from Torments which my resolution is so obligingly ready to confer on me without any nor flatter thy self with believing Time can change a resolution which is as irrevocable as that misfortune which has made me so justly assume it no Symander thou mayst tye my hands thou mayst hinder them from acting my Death but thou canst not hinder me from dying for I here solemnly protest by the highest powers and by my Princess who has increased their number that I will neither eat nor drink nor sleep till the want of those confer that felicity on me which thou hast so barbarously deny'd me Then turning himself from me in a shower of Tears he seemed to continue those reproaches which they had interrupted I
courage proportioned his insolency this usage had no unfruitful return and though it deserved a signal punishment yet he received an honour that was so dying by the hand of Artabbanes By this time the Stranger had mounted himself upon the Horse of the first man that was killed and furiously thrusting into the midst of his enemies by two unresistable blows lessened as many of their number the rest amazed at our assistance and at those admirable deaths made so faint a defence that the Combat soon ended with their Lives The Stranger then lifting up his Helmet which was shaded with a great Plume of Feathers of Aurora colour as his Armour was of the like and garnish'd with such refulgent Stones as sufficiently manifested their Master was of no small Quality came to Artabbanes with so much Grace and Majesty that I was charm'd with it and told him Generous Stranger I owe you my Life and will at any time pay you that debt with as much satisfaction as I contracted it but I must beg your pardon if a consideration much higher than my Life does now force me from you which I should acquaint you with did I not justly fear the time it would take up would hinder me from paying a duty to a Princess who before the obligation you placed on me merited all mine and even yet does merit the most of it But that I may not hereafter be guilty of that ingratitude which my highest concern makes me seem guilty of now I must desire to know my Protector 's Name that when the Beauty I serve has no further employment for my Sword and Life I may know where to offer both to him to whom I acknowledg I owe them and for whom I will with much more joy employ them Artabbanes extreamly satisfied with this Gallantry and as much mov'd with the Cause of that haste the Stranger seem'd to be in repli'd My Name Generous Stranger is as inconsiderable as the little Service you are pleas'd to think I did you But were it as great as your acknowledgments I should yet conceal it lest you might thereby believe I pretended to a debt you have but too abundantly satisfi'd already You retribute so much for so little and you thereby appear so worthy to be oblig'd that I cannot but offer you my service in the relief of that Princess you are so intent upon the inequality of your late Combat makes me believe your Enemies are not acted by the Principles of Honour and therefore if not for your own sake yet for hers you so much value and who perhaps sets a greater value upon your Life than you do on your own refuse not the assistance of a Sword which has been fortunate enough against all but him that wears it This strange conclusion had doubtless given the Stranger a curiosity of desiring to know what occasion'd it if the great haste he was in had not supprest it which was such that it hardly gave him leisure to make this Reply You cannot be so unjust to your self and me as to conceal your Name upon the score you mention and therefore I believe some high Cause invites you to it which shall suspend my desire of learning it Your Virtue I am confident will guide me to you as certainly as your Name and upon better considerations that way of enquiring after you will be more noble and as sure I confess I have the high Felicity of being valued by the Beauty I adore and the misfortune of having an Enemy and Rival who cares not by what ways he reaches his ends but by your valour you have cut off his chiefest assistance and his Crimes are such that I should injure the Justice of the gods if I thought a single Sword which strikes with Justice were not able to act my Revenge and my Princess's Deliverance Besides I am so much your debtor both by act and offer that I should give my self a greater trouble by becoming more so than by undertaking alone the destruction of those few Enemies your Courage has left me That is a consideration said Artabbanes which your civility only has rais'd but your Valour is such that by those effects of it which I have seen I can hardly doubt of any other I wil therfore only beg your pardon for having done your Rival more service by delaying you than I have done you in endeavouring to assist you and that you will give me so obliging a Proof of your having granted it me as the acquainting me with your name I should obey you said the Stranger if it were not to make my self fruitlesly known unto you which would be a manifesting of my self too low both for the obligations and the sense I have of them Permit me therefore to decline that honour till I derive it from my services which I will seek you over all the world to pay you as soon as I am put into a capacity of doing it by having paid mine unto my Princess the necessity of whose condition I beg may appologize for my now leaving you which nothing else could make me hope for or invite me to Thereupon saluting my Prince with much humility and haste he turn'd about his Horse and followed the Tract of a Chariot with such celerity that we soon lost sight of him Artabbanes was so much taken with the good Meen and civility of the generous Stranger and so sympathized in his concerns that he suspended his usual melancholly to entertain me with them which yet he did but for a little time and then in his accustomed manner continued his journey hither where we arrived without meeting any thing else worthy your knowledg and where my King has received an Oracle which makes me hope what I considered as an invention of mine was an inspiration of the gods 'T was thus Symander ended the History of his King's Life and then beg'd Pardon from his generous Hearers for the length of his Relation and for all those faults he had been or those omissions he might be guilty of Artavasdes and Callimmachus having both took notice with much civility of Symander and acknowledged how well he had acquitted himself went to Artabbanes in the Gallery who though they found in an excess of sadness yet by the knowledg of its cause they were so far from condemning that they participated in it But the good Callimmachus who knew the gods promises to him and their power of performing them on those two Subjects endeavoured by the assistance of Artavasdes to change his sorrow into Faith which yet prov'd but a fruitless attempt For Artabbanes knew the utmost extension of Faith was to act above reason not against it and therefore found in his own condition two high a certainty of its admitting a change Several days were spent in such successless employments and to recover the two Princes out of a dangerous relapse into which they were fallen whose cure had retarded their intended Sacrifice ordain'd them by the Oracle
him but as believing it a Sanctuary which Prusias durst not violate for it was from the Romans he had received his Kingdom which he had forfeited to them by that assistance he had given Perseus King of Macedon whose Sister he had married But nothing being able to suppress the Tyrant's cruelty when the dictates of Nature could not he sent Minas to Rome to destroy that life there which the gods had so miraculously preserved in Bithynia But Minas when he was to act his treachery and had on purpose inveagled Nicomedes alone to walk on the banks of Tiber was so overcome with the Majesty of his Person and the charms of his Virtue that instead of executing his crime upon his Prince he revealed it to him and afterwards made him so clearly sensible of the great hazard he should constantly be in of losing his life if Prusias had power enough left to destroy it that he at length perswaded Nicomedes to go to Attalus and implore an Army able to bring Prusias to Reason Minas assuring him that as soon as he entred Bithynia he would bring him forces so considerable that Prusias should not be able to resist In brief all this was performed and after a long and intricate War Prusias scorning all accommodation was reduced to be King of nothing but the City of Nicomedia in which Minas had so good intelligence and so many friends that they admitted Nicomedes and his Army by night who before his entrance prohibited all violence or incivility to his Father upon pain of death But Prusias at the alarm fled in disguise towards the Temple of Iupiter for Sanctuary and being by the way met by some of Nicomede's Soldiers though he told them who he was was yet kill'd This news brought to Nicomedes he ran to the dead body embraced and wept over it punish'd exemplarily all the Soldiers which had had a hand in his death then gave him a Regal funeral and afterwards languished away his own life To him succeeded his Son Nicomedes sirnamed Philopater who no sooner came to the age of relishing a Scepter but his was forced from him by Socrates âirnamed Chrestus his only brother and thereby necessitated to seek protection in Cappadocia under Ariobarzanes the King of that Country whose daughter he married and when she had presented him with a Son also called Nicomedes she engaged her Father in the War against Chrestus who being a greater Soldier than either Philopater or Ariobarzanes not only after a ten years War drove them out of Bithynia which they had invaded but also out of Cappadocia and forced both the Kings with the young Nicomedes to fly to Rome where some years they continued imploring a Roman Army for their restauration which they at length obtained The Generals were Mannius Aquilius and Lucius Cassius whose Armies being small they were ordered to demand an additional force from Mithridates Eupater who having privately agreed with Socrates to have Cappadocia if he would not assist the Romans in recovering Bithynia deny'd Cassius and Mannius his assistance who yet by that influence the banished Kings had over their Subjects defeated and killed Socrates in a furious Battel and re-seated Ariobarzanes and Nicomedes in those Thrones of which they had been so long and so unjustly deprived But the poor Philopater had no sooner received his Son from Rome whose youth was as promising as either his Parents or the Bithynians could desire but that his Queen died and that loss had so strong an operation upon him that he soon accompanied her and left Bithynia to Nicomedes my Father I have given you this little account of my family the crimes whereof though but inherent to one yet the misfortunes were to all to let you see that such as are eminent in Title are often so in afflictions that the gods by ruining the highest earthly felicities teach us thereby that they are not too solicitously to be prosecuted by those that want them nor to be rely'd on by those which possess them but that they ought to be considered as things which will leave us or must be left by us that we should be no more moved with the fruition than with the deprivation of them and that these just considerations might instruct us to fix upon that place where Fortune has no Empire and to which Vertue only has the title The Kingdom of Bithynia knew few Superlours in extent in fertility in the beauty and greatness of Cities or in the multiplicity of warlike Inhabitants when Nicomedes my unfortunate Father came to govern it and though he were a person replenished with all the realities and ornaments which makes one worthy to ascend a Throne and to be setled in it yet those Powers who from occult causes raise some to a Crown that deserve it not and tare the Scepter from some who deserve to hold it esteemed the unhappy Nicomedes a fit Subject on which to manifest the last of these truths and it was in this manner that they acted their decree When he came to ascend the throne by his Father's death it was in so early an age that he had a higher desire to observe how other Kings did rule their Subjects than he then had to rule his own or else he believed by having a personal inspection into the advantages and defects of the Regiment of others he might the more perfectly know how to carry on his own but from whatever principle it proceeded and whatever danger he incurred yet he was unmoveably fixt to visit in a disguise the Courts of such Princes in Asia whom same had most celebrated and therefore having intrusted his affairs at home to the Prince Astyages his Uncle and then apparent Successor a Person as eminent for the honest as the politick part of Government but so strict a Justiciar that he put his only Son to death for having violated a Law whose infringement was to be accompanied with that penalty he began his travels in an equipage fit to cloud the greatness of his real quality and yet sufficient to manifest he was of no inconsiderable one In brief after he had fruitfully visited all places fit for his curiosity or benefit he at length came to Mithridates Court then the most considerable of all others in every respect for though as then the Prince pharnaces the Prince Ataphernes the Princess Statira and the Princess Roxana were not come into the world yet there was such a confluence of other illustrious persons and beauties which composed it that Nicomedes was often heard say That to be one of that Court was as good as to be the chief of any other But that which raised this opinion in my Father was that the Pontick King who all the world knew was as violent as inconstant in his loves had then newly assumed a passion for the Princess Fontamyris who was only Heir to Cephines a Tributary-Prince unto him yet very considerable for his power and wisdom This Amour joyn'd with
justly famous This new Roman Army being come to Brundusium part of it with the Fleet which carried them was taken by Mithridates Fleet part of them perished in a storm part that were landed in Thessaly went to Scylla not being able to endure Flaccus his insolenâies and the rest had done the like had not Fimbria by Reasons and Clemency hindred it which yet more incens'd Flaccus than if they had all abandoned him for by their so staying he found one that served under him had more power over his Army than he which engendred such animosities between them that Flaccus not only commanded Fimbria back to Rome but elected one Termus in his place which so enraged him that he took away the Fasces and Rods which were the Praetorian Ensigns as they were carried before Termus who fled to Flaccus for reparation The Consul hereupon commands his Soldiers to seize upon Fimbria who experimented their love was a better commission than the Senate without it could give for all the Army abandon'd Flaccus who was forced to fly to Chalcis whither Fimbria followed and at length found him hid in a Well from whence being taken out though he imploy'd Fimbria's pity even in tears yet he caused his head forthwith to be cut off and flung into the Sea though Flaccus was both Consul and General and Fimbria but a private Citizen But to repair so signal an affront to the Roman Empire he vigorously prosecuted Mithridate's friends which were the greatest enemies of it which he said was the end why the Army was sent out of Italy and which had thitherto been interrupted by the executed Consul's impertinency Amongst his many exploits one I cannot but mention which was his cruelty and treachery to the Illians for finding their strength might give his Romans as long a trouble as it once did the Grecians he left off force and flattered them so successfully under the name of Fathers of Rome that they admitted him into their City with his Army which he soon became Master of and destroyed all that was living in it thereby making crueltly silence many who would have otherwise reproached him with it nay the Images of the gods and the Temples in which they were adored participated of his fury which some thought they deserved for not better defending their votaries Only the Palladium which was sent the Trojans by Iupiter was preserved by miracle a Vault of the Temple giving it at once both a Tomb and safety so that Troy was more unhappy in her children than in her enemies Fimbria being worse unto her than Agamemnon or else her first death having given life to the greatest Empire in the World Fimbria would in gratitude thereunto make her still continue in that condition But Mithridates after the last signal defeat given Archilaus finding though Scylla and Fimbria were enemies to each other yet they were both so to him and believing the first of them wanted but an honourable pretence of leaving the Asian War to dispute the Empire of Rome with Marius and Cinna and to appease the manes of so many of his friends as had been murther'd by them as also fully convinced such a series of defeats had disenabled him from much longer continuing a War sent orders to Archilaus to endeavour a Peace with Scylla which after many a meeting at length at one between Scylla and Mithridates was concluded but on such advantagious conditions for the Romans that even the articles of the agreement were the manifestations of his conquest Scylla having so prosperously put a period to his Mithridatick War to leave all clear behind him went against Fimbria and summoned him to deliver up him his Armies being Proconsul of Asia to which Fimbria returning an high answer Scylla immediately besieged him and reduced him to so low a state that Fimbria hired a Slave to murther Scylla which being discovered all Fimbria's Army were so scandalized at it that many abandoned him and went to Scylla against whom Fimbria had done too much to expect his mercy and therefore contemning it when 't was offered upon the conditions of his departing into Italy and resigning up his Army he stole to Pergamus where in the Temple of Aesculapius he ran his Sword through his own body but finding the wound was not friendly enough to afford him a sudden death he commanded an infranchised Servant of his to dispatch him which he did and then with the same Sword followed him Thus Fimbria died whom the gods permitted to be as cruel to himself as he had been to others thereby manifesting to be so was as much his nature as it was his crime Immediately after his death all his Army yielded themselves to Scylla who received them with so much humanity that they found Fimbria in killing himself had obliged them as much as Scylla who having appointed Curio to resettle Nicomedes in Bithynia and Ariobarzanes in Cappadocia which was one of the Articles of the Peace and having the best he could calmed the differences in Asia and raised five years advance of tribute in all the Cities of it under his dominion which so impoverish'd them that they were necessitated to pawn their Amphitheatres their Town-houses and all their other publick places to enable them to pay it by the assistance of Mithridate's Galleys which also on the Peace were resigned to him he transported his Army first into Greece and thence into Italy which he filled with such confusions and with so many horrid murthers and proscriptions that to such as loved their Countrey death was no ill expedient to avoid beholding the miseries of it The Heavens by many Prodigies seemed to foretell those many others which men should act A Woman in Rome was delivered of a Serpent in stead of a Child The Earth by a furious shaking flung down many Statues and Temples of the gods And the Capitol that proud Fabrick built by so many Kings was consumed by lightning These and many others of the same nature were the actings and sufferings of that part of the World in which I spent my infancy and earliest youth which were the only times of all my life that I was free from the sense of misery which too I derived from Nature not from Fortune who had provided infelicities for me against my coming into the World sufficient to make me for ever detest it But having hitherto entertain'd you with accidents at large I shall now confine my relations to narrower limits being by this conjuncture of time arrived to an age capable of relishing happiness and misfortune to which latter only my stars had deâign'd me In Miletus the place of my then residence there were several young Gentlemen of my age and believed-quality for I past still in the opinion of the World as well as in my own for the Son of Telamon with whom I learnt all those exercises as well of the mind as the body which Greece and the lesser Asia placed any value upon in which I had
Mithridates and consequently of her Father who she assur'd me would acknowledg my obligation in a way much more proportionate to it self than she had the power to do The name of the Pontick Kings Court did so strangely surprize me that when she mention'd it I could not but repeat it but recollecting my self again with a deep sigh I said I would obey her though the place she had nam'd had in it horrors for me which nothing but her commands could perswade me to engage my self in She seem'd at this declaration to be as much surpriz'd as I had been at what constrain'd me to make it which made her conjure me to inform her what high cause of aversion I had for that place and since I had that I would but land her on any shore which obeyed Mithridates his Power Madam I reply'd the knowledg of what you desire will give me so deep a sadness and afford you so little satisfaction that if it may not displease you I should implore your revoking that command which yet if you do not I shall obey it but I must beg your pardon if I observe not your last orders for since they concern my particular I should be too unworthy your Care should I accept of it Then pausing a little and recollecting my self I thus continued No Madam upon more serious consideration I am now so far from being troubled at my going to the Pontick Court and at my detestation of it and perhaps of Mithridates person that I passionately wish if it were possible that the cause thereof were capable of accession that in that performance you might be convinc'd I have no consideration higher than to serve the fair Mithridatia I found her a little troubled at what I had spoken but finding I was unalterable in my resolution of waiting on her thither she at length assented to my doing so and we steer'd our course towards Nicomedia to which place we had arriv'd in two days had that obliging gale which then follow'd us continued so long But it was soon forc'd to give place to a raging North-East wind against which we strugled two days and one night but then it became so uncontroulable and furious that the Pilot forsook the Helm and we soon after our hopes this was about an hour before day During all the extremity of the storm I had declin'd giving the fair Mithridatia any full intimation of her danger that if the gods had deliver'd us out of it she might have been exempted in some measure from the apprehensions of it but now that the longer concealment of our condition might have proved a greater crime than civility I went trembling to the Stern-Cabbin and having desired and obtained the permission of coming in having first acquainted her of the danger with a dejected countenance I told her The gods are my witnesses Madam that the loss of my Life would be my satisfaction if thereby the eminent hazard yours is in might cease but we are now involved in a ruin where neither the actings of Courage nor the sacrificing my self for your safety can any way purchase the ambition'd end My grief at these words rudely disabled me from speaking more which gave the fair Mithridatia an invitation thus to answer me That death generous Callimachus which you are so sensible of merits not your sorrow which might upon a general account be more justly employ'd for your own loss than for mine the World will lose by me but a person who has hitherro given neither much hope nor any evincement of becoming considerable but by you it will be deprived of so much both by expectation and evidence that your private loss may truly be lamented as a publick one but when ever the gods do call us we ought to resign our selves as willingly to death as we would enjoy the felicities of life if they do assign us those for our portion else we follow not their will but ours and serve not them but our selves These words so obliging to me and religious in themselves made me resign all my fears to admiration from which I was soon recall'd by a hideous cry in the Galley by which I too soon and too clearly knew the Vessel was founder'd had struck or sprung some greedy Leak The horror of the noise and danger made me forget all respect so that taking Mithridatia in my arms from off a bed on which she lay in her clothes I carried her on the deck whither I was no sooner come but the conquer'd Galley open'd in the middle and left us to the mercy of an Enemy which she found had none I was unalterably determin'd to carry what I held on shore or dye in the attempting my highest inclination and duty Thrice by the fury of the Sea the fair Mithridatia was struck out of my arms and thrice I recover'd her again but at last my strength failed me and though I yeilded to few in the world in the art of swimming yet in such mountains of water so much obscurity and being confin'd to save another I was much more concern'd for than I was for my self my spirits were so diminish'd that I look'd for no more than to find my burial in that Enemy from whom I receive my death happy only in this That I should not outâ live a loss that I much more apprehended than death and that mine should be serving nay expiring in the arms of a person of as high a vertue as beauty But the gods who often delight to cast us into dangers the more to endear that mercy which relieves us out of them and to make us think upon a better place by seeing the uncertainties of this sent a plank of the broken Galley to me just in that moment of time upon which with very much difficulty I got and had by that help a little leisure to recover my breath and strength but finding both were too great a load for it I begg'd the fair Mithridatia having first acquainted her therewith not to quit her hold whilst I would swim by it and endeavour to shove it to land which then by the dawn of the morning I discover'd not a furlong from us But that generous person conjur'd me not out of a vain hope of saving two lives to forsake almost a certainty of saving one Ah Madam I repli'd I beseech you do not hope to invite me to save my life by an action which will render me unworthy of it nor think me capable of a performance which if you believ I am you must deny me that esteem which next to your safety I value above all things else no Madam I am unmovably resolv'd to bring you out of this danger or to share in that Fate I want power to alter Thereupon sliding from the Plank I began to thrust it toward the shore where at length through many hazards we arrived the sea and the wind which had brought us to that extremity now contributing to the freeing of us
that little blood I have spent in your service is too prodigally pay'd by what you now are pleased to act and speak and had I known my wounds had so sensibly touched you they would have been more painful to me upon that account than their own I should she answer'd blushing have believed those words had they been spoken to me at Miletus or were I a person not far from hence who though I must confess merits them better yet perhaps would not receive them with that satisfaction I should if I thought them not words of Civility rather than Truth Madam I replyed being somewhat moved to be still struck by her in so sensible a place and if possibly to make her think she was mistook permit me to say that had you never given me cause any more to doubt your words than I have given you to doubt mine you had been free from the trouble of such discourses and I from the unhappiness of your believing I deserved them Alas Callimachus said she interrupting me why do you delight so much to torment me as not only to mind me of my unhappiness but to acquaint me you think I was the Author of it No I attest the gods I would now even with joy descend from the Throne to be that to you which I am to Mithridates and rather be his who deserves the greatest Empire of the World than his who possesses it but she continued letting some few tears steal from her eyes since the gods have otherwise designed it I beg but this That you will esteem it a punishment sufficient for me to have lost you and do not augment it so much as to let me see another has got you this is all the unfortunate Monyma desires and if there be any unreasonableness therein ascribe it to a passion which makes me act more illegitimate things for you than I ask of you She went away at the end of these words without staying for an answer and telling the company a relapse of her indisposition was going to assault her she hastily retir'd to her apartment and not long after the hour of rest being come Atafernes enjoyning me to try if I could take any and endeavouring the like himself thereby gave me a licence to reflect upon some things past which so powerfully entertained my thoughts that I could not for some time so much suppress them as by sleep to enjoy that refreshment my mind and my body but too much wanted These last words of the Queen I soon concluded sprang from a passion which would not be easily quenched and which had a being would so much interrupt any progress in that I pay'd the fair Statira that it self would have been a sufficient impediment had I conquer'd the misfortune of many greater I was too proud at my insensibility when I saw a Queen weeping before me and one so full of youth and beauty that she could not be a greater wonder for her Charms than I was in resisting them I must confess I was a little grieved that so signal an evincement of my constancy should not be known to her who was the cause of it but then when I consider'd that the misfortune could not be greater than consequently the merit of it was I concluded she deserved all I could suffer and therefore I had more cause to rejoyce I had done so much than to be troubled that she knew no more Whilest I entertain'd these parts of my fate it was only with sorrow but when I thought upon those parts which related to Ascanius how he was come to rob me of my hopes which was all I had left or indeed ever had and how a few days would invest him in that felicity I was to lose Rage and Resentment so entirely govern'd all my faculties that if I did not follow the extreamest dictates of them 't was only because I thought them too low and disproportionate to their cause At last not having strength enough to persevere in such entertainments sleep by degrees began to conquer me and held me a Prisoner for some few hours which yet it could not have so long done but by letting Dreams continue what my waking had begun whereby and by the emotion of the precedent day the next Morning I found my wound was so inflamed and my Body so feaverish that the Chirurgeons doubted of my Life and informed Atafernes so much who easily imagining the cause having freed the Room of all which waited in it told me so many flattering things and then so reiterately vowed if I mended not he would tell Statira what caused my languishments that partly through hope but much more for fear of that I began patiently to receive those Medicines which the Physicians the Chirurgeons prescrib'd whereby in few days I was past all danger of Death as I wish'd I had been of Life I knew not with what design I liv'd and yet I could not oppose my doing so carried on by an internal motion whose cause I was as ignorant of as unable to resist its effects Mithridatia every day she visited her Brother had so much humility as to enquire of me of my own health and as my answers were of its impairing or mending so her looks put on melancholy or satisfaction Atafernes was so generous as constantly to enquire of the Princess what progress Ascanius had made in the acquisition of her esteem yet could never learn any thing from her but that her duty to Mithridates had left her nothing but obedience This strange perseverance and submissiveness that generous Prince acquainted me with and thereby prepared me to receive a stroak which soon after wounded me but alas not enough to relieve my pain but increase and continue it 'T was with the fatal News that at the expiration of fourteen days Mithridates had publickly declared the Nuptials between Statira and Ascanius should be celebrated who thereupon sent half of his Fleet into the Euxine Sea to conquer what that Element had saved of Nicomedes Ariobarzanes and Murena's ruins The revolt of Archilaus and Neoptolemus having depriv'd the Pontick King of most of his Naval-forces and his design'd Son-in-law's being so strong that he rather thought that proportion of the largest than the least reserving also the residue to carry back his Queen with more pomp into Cyprus which happy Countrey had been once destin'd to the Queen of Love and now to a Beauty which more justly merited that Title In the mean while Pharnaces returned with his Army more troubled that his Father had by Atafernes received his deliverance than if he had entirely failed of it and if he had any thoughts which refresh'd him they were only those which did rise from the speedy probability of Statira's removal and consequently of his Brother's being thereby deprived of his powerfullest Friend and therefore he so incessantly prest the speedy celebration of the Nuptials that thereby he gained as high an interest in Ascanius as a performance so acceptable
given the Princess helped by Nicomedes ascended into his Admiral and as soon as she was come into the noblest Room of it He acquainted her That her Brother and the Prince who was to have a happier and nearer relation to her were in the same Vessel with her and because he easily believed they would have longing impatiencies to wait on her he would retire the sooner to afford them that Honour Statira had scarce time enough to reflect upon the prodigious changes of that Day but she was interrupted first by the Arrival of Pharnaces who carried his Arm in a Scarf having received a Wound which had necessitated him thereto and he having condoled their common misfortune and magnified the high Gallantry of the King of Cyprus which he solemnly protested transcended his present misfortune for while he had been generously disputing in the Head of his Galley there had enter'd a throng of Soldiers which had Boarded her on her Quarter and had made him a Prisoner Ascanius himself immediately after came in but with Looks so dejected that Nerea told me afterwards she more pitied his so ill Entertaining his Misfortune than his having fallen into it and that Statira her self through all her reservedness seem'd to think much more of it than she would speak The Cyprian Prince having with all imaginable Humility paid his Respects to Mithridatia folding his Arms th' one within the other and breathing some Sighs told her I thought Madam to have been called one moment from the Temple considering the glorious occasion that carried me thither had been infelicity enough to punish all my Sins but those of daring to lift up my desires to the Princess Statira But it seems the gods have placed a higher punishment upon that noble and unavoidable offence for they have not only defeated my Fleet which had the great honour to fight for you but even before your Eyes and have made my Enemies surprise me into the infamy of out-living it But alas I sadly find they have reserved for me other miseries which make these hardly deserve that Name for these chiefly if not wholly relate to my self and so much duty and veneration I owe your Beauties that these infelicities I could suffer as a just punishment of my happy presumption and as an easie purchase of that blessing your extream mercy and condescension had rais'd me unto But when I find that to all these Sorrows I was reserved alive but to see my Princess in captivity and that that calamity is an undeniable effect of my unsuccessfulness in her Service for had I been victorious where could the treacherous Nicomedians have carried and where could Nicomedes have detained her That Madam wounds me above the Cure of Art Reason and Time and makes me esteem my Enemies saving my Life the highest torment could befall it Sir replied the Princess I am sensible of your misfortunes and of the grief with which you bear them but cannot upon any terms ascribe them to that cause to which you do Though sometimes we do not know what those Sins are for which we are punished yet we still know and should always confess The gods are just even in their punishments and oftentimes repining at what is done we provoke them to do more To do more Ascanius hastily replied interrupting her Ah Madam what can the gods do more than they have done And what can they make me suffer more than now I do When one endures a Torment which Death compared unto is an ease What can befall him worse than by Life to be denied it Oh gods he continued What has the wretched Ascanius done that you have made him feel in the compass of a few hours changes and miseries above whatever any other did in the whole course of his life What Triumphs and Glories was I destin'd unto in the Morning And what black deep Calamities am I plunged into in the Evening Pardon me Madam I humbly beg you that I do in your sight give vent unto a sorrow which your sight does animate and heighten and let your mercy so far indulge to my condition as to excuse me if in an extraordinary grief I give evincements of it which are not common Statira was going to reply when she was interrupted by Nicomedes his coming in to acquaint her that he paid so much obedience to her Commands that he was not contented only to order them to be observed but he even then came from seeing them obey'd That Rebadates's Wounds were not unpromising but that mine were not yet altogether so hopeful yet that by Cordials I was brought from my fainting But that when he came from me I had neither opened my eyes nor spoken Statira for those new Obligations gave Nicomedes new Acknowledgments But Pharnaces and Ascanius not having heard of my being in the Galley or wounded and the first of them expressing a desire to know how that misfortune was befallen me she gave them a relation of it in such advantageous terms for me that in it my Wounds and Sufferings were but too prodigally recompenced At the end of the Princess's Narrative one of Nicomedes his chiefest Officers came to advertise him That the Gentleman he had sent to Mithridates was return'd with an Answer from him which made him withdraw to receive it And not long after Pharnaces and Ascanius began to retire to leave Statira to that quiet which both her Mind and her Body but too much needed But before they had finished their parting-Ceremonies Nicomedes returned again and told Ascanius Sir You are at liberty at least you are no longer my Prisoner for as soon as you were made such I sent to Mithridates to offer you in exchange for the King of Cappadocia which he has accepted of Ariobarzanes will be immediately here and I have engaged my Faith to the Pontick King to send you to him Ascanius as Nerea afterwards told me from whom I had an account of those things at which I was not present my self seemed at this advertisement to have a look mingled with joy and astonishment but immediately after recollecting himself he told Nicomedes I am too much obliged both to the great Mithridates and you To you Sir for offering so advantageous an Exchange and to him for accepting it But you have now Prisoner a Princess who ought the first off all to cast off that unhappy condition and if you can esteem any nay all those in her Father's power an equal Ransom for her and accept of them you will thereby act a greater Victory over us than your Sword has this Day given you Do not generous Nicomedes esteem me so unworthy of liberty as to accept of it while my Princess has lost hers or to allow for my exchange of a part of that which I hope will purchase hers I confess repli'd the Bithynian King I propounded you for Ariobarzanes ere I knew of the Princess's misfortune but had I known of it earlier I should have made Mithridates no
being the noblest part of Friendship I had rather practise it though it might afflict you than the contrary though it might please you That I reply'd fetching a Sigh which you now have told me has been hitherto my highest Apprehension and by your telling it me it becomes as high a Certainty aâd since it is so How can Statirâ enjoyn me to Live If she says I have been too presumptuous in daring to lift up my Eyes to her I am so far from denying it that I would have Dyed that I would have Killed my self to have revenged her and to have punished my self And possibly a voluntary Death embrac'd by an Offender should be a sufficient expiation for an unavoidable Offence 'T is in this only obliging Nerea that I will now beg your Assistance and since so many invincible Impediments deny me the expectation of obtaining her Esteem I will not despair but by your Intercession to obtain her Mercy and that is her Permission to Dye Possibly said Nerea you could hardly ask any thing of her which she would not sooner grant you I say any thing whatever and even all those Obstructions I so lately particularized might be sooner vanquish'd than this one Request yielded unto No Callimachus she has a Value for you and such a one that had her Inclinations the Liberty of a free Acting possibly you would not have too much cause to complain Think not therefore to employ my Services in so fatal and ungrateful a Request for she that to save your Life so recently expos'd her own to an eminent Danger will not by a voluntary consent give that away which she has shewed is not indifferent to her I was strangely surprised at these words and therefore raising my self up hastily I begg'd her to explain what they meant She therefore told me what Tomsones had concealed from me and thereby fill'd me with so much Trouble Satisfaction and Amazement that for a while I remain'd as Moveless and Speechless as after I came to my self I found I had too much cause to wish I had eternally continued As soon as I could speak I cryed out Great gods Was I not miserable enough in the disability of not preserving Statira's Liberty and in surviving that Crime and Misfortune but that thereby I must also have been the occasion of hazarding even her Life Ah! Farewel those Griefs which hitherto tormented me Mithridates's Authority Statira's Obedience Ascanius's Felicity and my own concealed Extraction These deserve no longer that Name nor can any longer act their usual Effects compar'd to what now I have resented Those only related to me but this to my Princess for whom my Concerns are higher than any I can have for my self as much as she is above me or my Designs above my Birth or Merit Nerea who hoped what she had acquainted me with would have had a contrary Effect to that she now too late found it had produced in me left no Reasons unspoken to suppress that Despair she had so unexpectedly cast me into and though she did long insist upon the too great Right and Empire which Statira had over that Life she had saved for me to destroy it without nay against her Permission and how by that Action of hers I might be convinced my Preservation was not inconsiderable to her since even to preserve an unfortunate Life as I term'd it she eminently indanger'd her own Yet it was a long time ere she could reduce me to any moderate Thoughts neither had she ever brought me to that desired Condition but upon reiterated promises of her Assistance and of embracing my Concernments with her best Care and Affection which by that high and great esteem Mithridatia had for her gave me some hopes but such faint ones that though I could not but entertain them yet I could not tell why I did so Nerea having staid much longer than she had used or than she had designed no sooner found me fit to be trusted with my self but she left me to my self The only Company I could justly desire and the worst I could keep The End of the First Book of the Sixth Part of PARTHENISSA PARTHENISSA THE SIXTH PART The Second BOOK I Fear continued Callimachus thus retailing my Story I shall make the Relation of it as unsupportable to you as the Events in it are to me I will therefore acquaint you that after a few days I recovered Strength enough to walk the length of that Gallery which was between my Lodging and the Princess's Apartment and welcoming that dawning Health I then injoy'd only as 't was an effect of my Obedience to her Commands and in hope that I might by it be inabled to serve her I sent to beg her Permission to wait on her which she was pleased to send me and I soon after to make use of By accident there was none but Nerea with her when I came into her Chamber and therefore with the less constraint I had the opportunity of Kneeling before her and of telling her I am come Madam to lay that Life at your Feet which is yours upon so many Accounts that I durst not end it without your leave much less against your Commands though by its great unhappiness in having fail'd serving you and it s infinitely greater in thereby having engaged your Goodness to indanger yours it merited a thousand Deaths and if I can support its being unextinguished 't is only because thereby I suffer a more signal Punishment than by the most tormenting Death could be inflicted on me Statira having made me Rise by her repeated Commands was then pleas'd to answer me Since by your belief that I have a Right to your Life I have thereby obtained a power to preserve it I will not deny a Title which though no just one yet is very advantageous and obliging to me and though as yet I see no visible means for my deliverance yet I will not despair of it the gods having given me so powerful an earnest of it as your recovery of Health which when you injoy'd I have been freed from a more hopeless and more unpleasing Condition than now I am in Madam I reply'd That eminent Virtue and Innocence which has shined so bright in the whole course of your Life may well invite you to believe though the means of your speedy Releasment is not now visible yet it is certain But alas Madam my Crimes make me despair of the honour of contributing to it for he that could not rescue you at first from being a Prisoner and could afterwards survive that Infamy cannot I fear be reserved for a happiness even too great for a Person of the most unblemished Fortune But yet Madam this I do promise you if ever I am bless'd with the opportunity once more to draw my Sword for your deliverance if I be not so happy as to Act it I will avoid being so miserable as to out-live it and by a second Attempt repair You or punish
rich Jewels that even those had been of themselves too Prodigal a Ransom for me Atafernes soon after told me how he intended and had gotten Mithridates's leave to Imbarque his Army in Betuitus's Fleet not only to Strengthen it but if it were bless'd with a Victory immediately to Land and prosecute that End for which chiefly if not only 't would be a Blessing to him I was exceedingly joyed at this assurance because the Duty of my Office led me where the Duty of my Passion call'd me but the Prince who knew how much I should rejoyce his Father by waiting on him made me attend on him to Mithridates though it were very Late We found the King in his Night-gown ready to go to Bed But as soon as he saw me he ran and embraced me with this flattering Complement That he never had received more refreshment from Sleep than he now received in seeing me I will not Enumerate all the Questions he asked me concerning the Princess Statira the Prince Pharnaces their Usage What had made Nicomedes of late so unusually Unactive nor how inquisitive he was of the means of my Escape to all which I gave him the truest Answers I could and when I had mentioned to him the Obligation I had to Ostanes he sent for him into his Closet loaded him with rich Gifts and setled a plentiful Pension on him during his Life Mithridates by my Return had been so long interrupted from his intended Rest that I thought it a Duty to Retire which whilst I was ready to perform an Express came to him and Atafernes with the sad News of the Death of Betuitus the same Day of his Arrival at Miletus His Age and the excessive Diligence he had used in preparing a Fleet in so many Regions for his King's Service and the Deliverance of his Prince and Princess had cast him into a Fever which ended his Life just as he was come to that City where he hop'd to encrease his Navy considerably and before which he had appointed all his Ships and Galleys waged amongst the Cylicians and Phoenicians to Rendezvouz This sad Intelligence wounded sensibly the Pontick King for he had no Subject to whom he could intrust his Fleet and he fear'd lest those Auxiliaries engaged by Betuitus might esteem themselves absolved by his Death and the Miletians also wanting the presence and solicitations of the Pontick Admiral might decline that Assistance in which Mithridates had his Rationallest hopes I was not unmoved at the loss of so worthy a Person and in such a juncture of time and possibly those two Reasons gave the Prince opportunity to move his Father to employ my Service ere I could present him an Offer of it He told Mithridates That my longest practice in War had been by Sea that in several Actions I had gain'd some repute in the minds of those which frequent that Element and that by my Education and long Residence in Miletus my Interests there were likelier to contribute to his Service than any other he could employ He could have added with at least as much probability that my concernments for the relief of the fair Statira and succeeding my Rival in that Duty would add Wings to my haste as well as Courage to my hopes In brief Atafernes said so much and Mithridates believed so much that immediately he declared me Successor to Betuitus and gave Directions forthwith to dispatch my Commission and finish my Orders and Instructions I was a thousand times ready to have prostrated my self at the Pontiâk King's feet to evidence my Joy and Gratitude for an Employment which I valued more than all his Empires for by it I was inabled to dispute Statira on that Element on which she had been forced from me and in a possibility to recover that Glory which my Rival then had lost Never did Atafernes so sensibly oblige any as then he did me and never did Looks speak more acknowledgments than mine did to him The generous Craterus newly recover'd of his Wounds hearing of my Arrival came to Visit me and to give me new Assurances of an old Friendship I met him just as the Prince and I were coming out of the King's Appartment where in Embraces he celebrated my Return and the honour Mithridates had so freshly bestowed upon me which in a moment was dispersed about the Court So that the news of my Liberty and Succession to Betuitus went together I had only the next Day allowed me by the King to visit and take leave of all my Friends and though the time was short yet the Duty of my impatience made me esteem it too long My faithful Demetrius I found recover'd of his Wounds and ready to go my Journey When Atafernes retired to his Chamber I waited on him thither and in renew'd Repetitions of Gratitude I endeavour'd to let him see I was not unsensible though unworthy of his Favours The assurances I gave the Prince that I would not mis-imploy one moment in the relief of the Princess Statira made him give Craterus Orders to have his Army in a readiness to Ship on twelve hours notice when ever I came upon the South-west Coast of Bithynia that if the gods favour'd my Amâ by Sea the Land forces might be ready to be transported into the Island of Scyros to perfect that Deliverance which chiefly occasion'd the War in which Atafernes was resolved in Person to appear This Night when I retir'd Demetrius told me amongst many other things that he was exceedingly deceived if Monyma had not some sensible Reliques of that Affection she had once conferr'd on me at Miletus I wonder'd to hear a Discourse of this Nature from him who never had practised the like before and knowing of how dangerous a consequence the least vent of that belief might prove both to her and me I told him so much in terms which might let him understand how highly I was concerned in his Cautionsness therein and then as'd him What Rise that Apprehension of his had for possibly by my knowledg thereof I might be better instructed how to carry my self towards her and others for though those Beauties which had first conquer'd me at Miletus were still as Flourishing and Charming as ever and had received no small Accession by the noble Ornaments of a Crown yet I confess her inconstancy to me and the resistless and triumphant Graces both of the Princess Statira's outward and internal Beauties had so intirely possessed all my Affection and Admiration that Monyma's favour was so far from being my desire that it would have been my trouble Demetrius in Answer to my Question told me As soon Sir as the Queen had heard of my Wounds and Danger she sent her most experienced Physicians and Chirurgeons to me and commanded their constant attendance on me till I was inabled thereby to attend her which as soon as ever I was she sent for me to her and without permitting me to pay her my humble acknowledgments for that
to know of them what instructions they had in case of their King's death which now was happened and if they had none what resolutions they had Elected in which if any assistance of mine were necessary I might pay it them They told me their Instructions were in case that misery should befall them which now had happened never to stir from Mithridates's Service till the Princess Statira was at liberty and then to obey her Commands whilst his Successor allowed them that Honour This made me accompany them to the Princess who was not a little surprised at this assurance but having declined that power Ascanius had given her and they protesting a perfect Obedience to it She told them that she thought she could no way better use that unexpected Authority which their dead King had given her than imploying it in Orders which might evidence the Value and Honour she had for him that therefore they should keep about the Island till the Solemnites there of his Funeral were ended and then attend his Body to Cyprus and obey the Orders of their new King This they all declared they would punctually obey Having thus setled things that Fleet which was to wait on the Princess and transport her Brother's Army weighed Anchor and steer'd their Course towards the Bay of Nicomedia which the neerer we came unto the more I found my Joys clouded the âigh Honour of the Pontick King's Alliance and the higher of possessing the Princess Mithridatia would I knew to well draw all the Eastern Kings to his Court and thereby only alter my Rivals not suppress my Fears Whilst I was entertaining my self with these sad thoughts in my Cabbin which was under the Princesses they forced from me such loud and violent sighs that even Statira heard them which perswaded her to send Nerea to visit me lest some unexpected indisposition might have seized me I was ashamed when Nerea came with this message that my troubles had been so loud in their effects and therefore finding by her that Statira was not in any entertainment which my waiting on her might offensively interrupt I went to her Cabbin with Nerea to apologize for the rudeness of my Griefs which yet had obtained the honour of her sending to enquire after me I thought said Statira that the Glory you had this day acquired and the Obligations which you have laid upon me would have exempted you from troubles like unto those which you have often assured me my Captivity did only occasion I observed when the Princess was speaking these words to me that the motion of the Galley having disordered Nerea she retired to a small Cabbin at the door of the great one which made me to kneel at Mithridatia's feet and tell her I confess Madam in the Day of your Deliverance I ought to entertain nothing but raptures of Joy and that I ought not to admit of a grief whose troublesome productions have even reached your Ears Judg Madam what my Griefs must be when in such an occasion of Joy I cannot suppress them nay from coming to your Knowledg Had they been confined to my own Breast they would have acted that miracle of becoming at once the more great and the more supportable the giving of vent to Sorrow which to others is an ease in me is a sin For my afflictions are of such a Quality that they appear as great a Crime as a Punishment to me and could I tell the Cause of my Sorrows to any they could no more pity or advise me than I can pity or advise my self Yes Madam the knowledg of what I ought to do is not more evident than is the impossibility of doing it I am necessitated at the same time to condemn what I act and still to act what I condemn I thought and hoped replyed the Princess that since you could find by your own confession even my Captivity a mercy from the gods which at first you had considered as their sharpest Judgment you would in that past Event have found wherewith to have raised your Faith in any other in the future I rather expected you would have contributed to ease those Sorrows Ascanius's death hath rais'd in me than add unto them by acquainting me with your own I could bring Madam I answer'd but a few reasons to console you for the Death of one whose Condition has always had and now does deserve rather my Envy than my Sorrow That Generous Prince lived in your favour and died in your Service what life could be more happy and what Death could be more glorious Do not therefore Madam I humbly conjure you expect that I should console You for that Fate in another which I ambition for my self and if you are capable of such a condescention as to entertain a grief for either bestow yours upon him who aspires at no better a Destiny than that which even in another you think fit to lament If he deserves your weepings who had all that I wish what then do I who want all that he had and wish no more than what he possess'd You are said the Princess casting on me a languishing look too too ingenuous to torment me Ascanius's death which is my Sorrow you tell me is your Envy And Callimachus's life which is my contentment you tell me is his Trouble But O gods Callimachus What new afflictions can those be since I saw you last which can raise such a storm in you Madam I answer'd no new afflictions have befaln me But only a more clear contemplation of those I am already involved in whilst you were in troubles the duty I owed you and the care of ending them so intirely took me up that I neither had the time nor the will to reflect on my own as the greater Sorrow suspends the Actings and Effects of the lesser But now that the Justice of the gods have put a period to yours the same Justice revives mine For I have that sensible accession to my sufferings as to be convinced my Ambition does deserve them And I think by the rest they have had gathering new strength they assault me with the more unsupportable Violence possibly in revenge that having been so vast I could so long neglect them Alas Madam could you condescend to a thorough consideration of the causes of my Sorrow you could not but pity if not excuse their production for what is there now for the unhappy Callimachus to expect He has nothing which can be so much as acceptable by you but his Services to you and those the height of your condition and the lowness of his own renders his hopes of paying equal impossibilities I am so far from the expectancy of Happiness that I am not within the wishes of it for though by the Crime of Fate my Sword has been render'd serviceable to you yet I cannot be guilty of the Crime of wishing you may ever be reduced to a condition of repeating that misery though I were certain of repeating that
avoided it I omitted not to take leave of the generous Labienus and the next morning after those duties I left Seleucia only attended by one Parthian Servant of whose fidelity I was not a little confident having all the time of my residence in Parthia been so assiduously observant of my commands that I concluded it was as much upon the score of inclination as duty that he was so and to oblige him by a stricter tye than either of those to a continuance of his fidelity I trusted him with my true Name and Condition as soon as I was upon the confines of Armenia where I learnt that Ventidius with all his Army lay at Corinthia in which place he had past the Winter which was the time of my residence in Parthia on which he had made as sharp a Wall as a season that was so could permit The perfect Friendship I had for that generous Roman and the proportionate concern I knew he had for me made me determine before I did either wait on Lindesia or Vdosia to do it on him This I effected in my disguise only attended by my Parthian Servant I found Ventidius ready to forsake his Winter-quarters in which he receiv'd me with the raptures of a true Friend and though they were infinite yet they could not transcend his admiration and joy at his learning the miraculous discovery of my Innocence and the strange Arts which had been practic'd to conclude it You cannot doubt of his concern in my felicity when it even made him sin against the Laws of Honour and curse his Mercy to Pacorus which had hinder'd him from removing the greatest of my obstructions as the gods had the least And which by their having perform'd the latter made him conclude he had as much sin'd against them as my hopes in not having acted the former I had much more difficulty to make him decline those thoughts for the future than I had had formerly for now in his belief that there remained no impediment in my love but the death of Pacorus he told me that he would now prosecute the War as much upon that score as upon the score of Honour or Revenge I shall not lye if I tell you I was not only seemingly solicitous against this resolve but really so which I did out of a true dictate of Vertue though it may be the gods induced me to it to render my sufferings the more sensible by still making me contributary to them But to be short I did not cease importuning Ventidius till I extorted a declaration from him that he would not have any more particular aims against Pacorâs than any of his party and that if he fell it should not be by the design but by the chance of War Two days I continu'd with my generous Friend and the third beginning his march I found my self necessitated to leave him by an unalterable resolution I had assum'd not to put it in the power of Fortune to make me act directly or obliquely against whatsoever my Princess honour'd with her love though thereby I brought an unimaginable prejudice to my own I will not trouble you with those expressions Ventidius made me at our separation nor those vows he sent by me to Vdosia to whom I told him I would go to qualify a melancholy which I knew would be as transcendent as impossible for her to avoid by the misfortune of his absânce and of those fresh dangers he was going to involve himself in since to let you know how passionate they were I have but to tell you they were made by Ventidus of whom I took a final leave he directing his designs for Parthia and I mine for Sattala where Vdosia received me with a satisfaction which nothing could excel but that she would have relisht had I brought Ventidius with me 'T was there I told her all those admirable adventures had arriv'd me since our separation and by my sad example gave her an indelible instruction to believe nothing of her Lovers change till his verbal confession was the evincement of it At Sattala I cast off my disguise which made my Parthian think I had assum'd one and who thereby knew me to be his Master only because I assur'd him I was so But I continu'd not at Sattala by reason of a violent War kindled betwixt Artabazus and Antiochus King of Commagena who had not only Usurpt upon the Armenian Territories but had also entirely cast off that voluntary Subjection he had made uâto the Romans which former I was apprehensive might induce my King to invite me to the command of his Armies an honour I could not be more unworthy of than I indeed detested as indeed I did all things that suspended my melancholy and therefore I left Sattala but before I did so because of those fresh distempers I conjur'd the Governour of it to have a particular care of his Souldiers and of his duty to Udozia who having given me a Character of it very much to his advantage as an effect of my believing her and my being pleas'd with him I added to his former Commands that of the superintendency under Udozia of all Affairs civil and Martial within the Province of Sattala which the next day I got out of determining to lead so fluxible a life that if Artabzus had any Commands for me by the uncertainty of my residence he should not know where to make me receive them Therefore by unusual ways I went to Thospia and gave Lindesia an exact account of all that had arrived since our last separation That excellent Woman was as much perplext as I was satisfied with those Adventures apprehending that the discovery of that Affection which the Princess Altezeera honour'd me with after she had disclosed my Innocence would create in me new hopes and that in the expectation of them I would languish away and consume a life she was too much concern'd in to have it so much mis-spent After a thousand disputes upon this Subject the result of all was my acknowledgment that the justice of her fears could not be greater than the impossibility was to remove them and that she might not be by âight convinc'd of those sufferings to whose vastness her fancy could hardly attain I immediatly left Thospia having extorted the same promise from Lindesia that I had from Udozia which was not to inquire of me the places of my intended residence lest they might be necessitated by Artabazus importunity to disclose them to him Some four days Journey from Thospia there liv'd an old Gentleman who had had his Education with my Father and who in the progress of his life had so exactly evinc't the indelibleness of the impressions of Youth that to Annexanders very death his first contracted Friendship had continu'd in one constant height and the cause why it receiv'd no accession was that its first forming was uncapable of any Neither did Euphranor for so he was called after my Fathers decease enjoy