of such a pleasant prisoner exchanged loue for golde But note hereby what force the puritie of minde vnwilling of beastly 〈◊〉 doth carie in it self A simple woman voide of helpe not backed with defence of husbandes aide doeth bring a mightie captaine a strong and loftie lubber to enter into a caue and when she sawe hir best aduauntage thacked him with stones vntill he groned forth his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suche is the might and prowesse of chastitie No charge too burdenous or weightie for such a vertue no enterprise too harde for a mynde so pure and cleane Ariobarzanes ¶ ARIOBARZANES great Stuarde to 〈◊〉 king of Persia goth about to excede his soueraine Lord and maister in curtesie wherin be conteined many notable and pleasaunt chaunces besides the greate pacience and loyaltic naturally planted in the sayd ARIOBARZANES The fourth Nouell AQuestion is moued many times among learned men and Gentlemen addicted to the seruice of the Courte whether cōmendable déede or curteous and gentle fact done by the gentlemā or courtier towardes his soueraigne lord ought to be called Liberalitie Curtesie or rather Bād and Duetie Which question is not proponed without greate reason For so much as eche man doth know that a seruant doe what he can for his maister or lette him imploye the vttermoste of his indeuour all the labour and trauaile he bestoweth all trouble and daunger which he susteineth is too litle yea and the same his verie bounden duetie Haue wée not red of many and knowen the lyke that to gratifie their prince and maister haue into a thousand dangers and like numbre of deaths aduentured their owne proper liues Marcus Antonius that notable orator being accused of incest and brought to the iudgement seat his accusers required that his seruant shoulde be called for bicause he bare the candell before his maister when he went to do the dede who séeing his maisters life death to depend vpon his euidence vtterly denied the fact and notwithstanding that he was whipped racked suffred other cruel torments would rather haue lost his life than accuse betray his maister I could alleage and bryng forth in place the example of Mycithus the seruant of one Anaxilaus Messenius the fidelitie of the seruantes of Plotinus Plancus the faithful maiden called Pythias that waited vpon Octauia the chast Empresse and wife of that Monster Nero with diuers other but that I thinke they bée to the learned well knowen and of the simple the vertue of seruants fidelitie is greatly liked and commended But if the faithfull seruant knowe that his deserts do gain the grace and fauor of his maister 〈◊〉 trauailes what pains ought he to suffer to maintain his reputation and to increase the fauour obtained For as the common 〈◊〉 and wise saying reporteth That the vertue is no lesse to conserue Frendship gotten than the wisedome was great to get and winne the same Other there be which do contrarily contend and with very strong arguments do force to proue that al which the seruant doth besides his duetie and beyonde the obligation wherin he is bounde to his maister is and oughte to be termed Liberalitie whiche is a matter to prouoke his patrone and maister to deuise new benefites for his seruant And that at all times when a man doth his duetie and seruice appointed by his mayster executing the same with all diligence and industrie requisite ther vnto that then he 〈◊〉 to be rewarded Which is not to be discommended For no true and honest seruaunt will refuse any trauaile for commoditie of his maister 〈◊〉 yet discrete and wise maister will leaue the same 〈◊〉 according to that porcion of abilitie wherwith he is possessed But leauing questions and disputation aside procéede we to that which this Nouell purposeth I say then that there was in the kyngdome of Persia a kyng called Artaxerxes a man of moste noble minde and of great prowesse in armes This was he which first being a priuate man of armes not hauing as yet obteined any degrée in the field killed Artabanus the last king of the Arsacides whose souldier he was recouered the Persian kingdom which was then in the Macedonians 〈◊〉 on by the deth of Darius which was vanquished by Alexander the great the space of 538. yeares This noble gētleman hauing deliuered al Persia created King kept a princely court wherin were many magnificent facts and vertuous déedes exercised and done and he himself most noble in all his affaires besides the titles which he worthily wanne in many bloudie battels was estéemed thoroughout the east part of the worlde to be the most liberall and magnanimous prince that in any age euer raigned In feastes and bankets he was an other Lucullus royally intertaining strangers that repaired to his court This king had in his court a Senescall or stewarde named Ariobarzanes whose office was that when the king made any pompous or publike feast to mount vpon a white Courser with a Mace of golde in his hand and to ride before the Esquiers Sewers for the Kings owne mouthe and those that bare the Kings meate in vessell of golde couered with fine naperie wrought and purled with most beautiful workmanship of silk golde This office of Senescall was highly estemed and cōmonly wont to be giuen to one of the chiefest Barons of the Realme Wherfore this Ariobarzanes besides that he was of moste noble Lignage and incomparable riches was the most curteous and liberall knight that frequented the Court whose immoderate expence was such as leauing the mean wherin al vertue consisteth by reason of his outrage which many times he vsed he fell into the vice of prodigalitie Whereby he séemed not only in curteous déedes to compare with the King but also contended to excéede and surpasse him One day the King for his disport and recreation called for the Chesseborde requiring Ariobarzanes to kéepe him companie Which game in those days amongs the Persians was in greate vse and estimation in such wise as a cunning gamster at that pastime was no lesse commended and honored than among vs in these dayes an excellent Drator or famous learned man Yea and the very same game in cōmon vse in the Courte and noble mens houses of oure tune no doubt very commendable and mete to be practised by all states degrées The King and Ariobarzanes being set down at a table in the great hall of the Palace one right against an other accōpanied with a great number of noble personages and Gentlemen looking vpon them and marking their play with great silence they began to encountre one an other with the Chessemen Ariobarzanes whether it was that he played better than the king or whether the king 〈◊〉 no héede to his game or what soeuer the occasion was he coursed the King to such a narrow straight as he could not auoide but within ii or iij. draughts he muste be forced to receiue the Checkemate whiche the King perceiuing and considering
was authour of the enterprise or partaker of a treason so wicked Then the king incontinently caused the foure Gentlemen of his chamber 〈◊〉 be rewarded according to the worthinesse of their offense and wer put to death and Acharisto to be repriued in sharpe and cruell prison vntill with tormentes he should be forced to confesse that which he knew to be most certain and true by the euidēce of those that were done to death Euphimia for the imprisonment of Acharisto conceiued incredible sorrow and vneths coulde bée persuaded that he woulde imagine much lesse conspire that 〈◊〉 fact as well for the loue which Acharisto séemed to beare vnto hir as for the greate good will wherewith he was assured that shée bare vnto him and therfore the death of the 〈◊〉 to be no lesse griefe vnto him than the same would be to 〈◊〉 self the king being hir naturall and louyng father Acharisto thoughte on the other side that if he might speake with Euphimia a way woulde be founde eyther for his escape or else for his deliuerie Wherupon Acharisto being in this deliberation founde meanes to talke with the Iailors wife intreated hir to shewe him so much fauor as to procure Euphimia to come vnto him She accordingly broughte to passe that the yong gentlewoman in secret wise came to speake with this traiterous varlet who so sone as he sawe hir sheding from his eyes store of teares pitifully complaining sayde vnto hir I knowe Euphimia that the King your father doth not inclose me in this cruell prisō ne yet afflicteth me with these miserable tormēts for any suspicion hée conceiueth of me for any intended facte but onely for the loue which I beare you and for the like for which I rendre humble thankes that you do beare to me bicause that I am werie of this wretched state knowe that nothing else can 〈◊〉 me from this painful life but onely death I am determined wyth mine owne propre hands to cut the thréede of lyfe wherwith the destinies hitherto haue prolonged the same that this my brething ghost which breatheth forth 〈◊〉 dolefull plaintes maie flée into the Skies to rest it selfe amonges the restfull spirites aboue or wandre into 〈◊〉 pleasant hellish fieldes amongs the shadowes of Creusa Aeneas wife or else with the ghost of complaining Dido But ere I did the same I made myne humble prayer to the maiestie diuine that hée would vouchsafe to shewe me somuch grace as before I dye I might fulfyl my 〈◊〉 eyes with sight of you whose ymage still appereth before those gréedie Gates and 〈◊〉 representeth vnto my myndefull heart Which great desired thing sith God aboue hath graūted I yelde him infinit 〈◊〉 and sith my desteny is such that such must bée the end of loue I doe reioyce that I must dye for your sake which only is the cause that the King your father so laboureth for my death I néede not to molest you with the false euidence giuen against me vp those malicious vilaines that bée alreadie dead which onely hath thus incensed the Kyngs wrath and heauie rage against me whereof I am so frée as woorthily they bée executed for thesame For if it were so then true it is and as lightly you might beleue the I neuer knewe the loue you beare me and you likewise did neuer know what loue I bare to you and therfore you maye thinke that so impossible is the one as I did euer meane thinke or ymagine any harme or perill to your fathers person To bée short I humbly doe besech you to beleue that so faithfully as man is able to loue a womā so haue I loued you that it may please you to bée so myndfull of me in this fading life as I shal be of you in that life to com And in saying so with face all bathed in teares he clyped hir about the myddle and fast imbracing hir said Thus taking my last farewell of you myne onely life and ioye I commende you to the gouernment of the supernall God my selfe to death to be disposed as pleaseth him Euphimia which before was not persuaded the Acharisto was guiltie of that deuised treason now gaue ful beliefe and credite to his wordes and weping with him for company comforted him so wel as she coulde and bidding him to bée of good chere she sayde that she would seke such meanes as for hir sake and loue he should not dye And that before long time did passe she would help him out of prison Acharisto although hée vttered by ruful voice that 〈◊〉 talke for remedie to ridde him selfe from prison yet he didde but 〈◊〉 all that he spake addyng further Alas Euphimia doe not incurre your fathers wrath to please my minde suffer me quietly to take that death which sinister Fortune and cruell fate hath prouided to abridge my daies Euphimia vanquished with inspeakable griefe and burning passion of loue saide Ah Acharisto the onely ioye and comfort of my lyfe doe not perce my heart with such displeasant wordes For what should I doe in this wretched worlde yf you for my sake shold suffre death wherfore put awaie the cruel thought and be content to saue your life that hereafter in ioye myrth you may spend that same Trusting that yf meanes maye be founde for your dispatche from hence we shall liue the rest of our prolonged life together in swete and happie daies For my father is not made of stone of flint nor yet was nourced of Hircan Tigre he is not so malicious but that in tyme to come hée may 〈◊〉 made to know the true discourse of thyne innocent life and hope thou shalt atteyne his fauour more than euer thou 〈◊〉 before the care wherof onely leaue to me and take no thought thy self for I make promise vpon mine assured faith to bring the same to passe Wherefore giue ouer thy conceiued griefe and bende thy selfe to liue so merie a life as euer gentleman did trained vp in court as thou hast bene I am content sayd Acharisto thus to doe the Gods forbid that I should declyne my heart and mynde from thy behest who of thy wonted grace dost seke continuance of my life but rather swete Euphimia than thou shouldest suffre any daunger to performe thy promise I make request for the common loue betwene vs both to leaue me in this present dangerous state Rather wold I lose my life than 〈◊〉 shouldest hazard the least heare of thy heade for my reliefe We shal be both safe ynough answered Euphimia for my deuise proceding from a womans heade hath alreadie drawen the plotte of thy deliuerance and wyth those wordes they both did ende their talke whose trickling teares did rather finishe the same than willing myndes and eyther of them gyuing a kysse vnto the Tower walle wherein Acharisto was faste shutte Euphimia departed turmoiled with a thousand amorous prickes and ceased not but first of all to corrupte and wynne the Iaylers wife whose husband
purpose he was not able to remoue but rather the more difficult and daungerous his enterprise séemed to be the more grew desire to prosecute and obiect him selfe to all dangers If peraduenture the Quéenes for their disport and pastime were disposed to walke into the fieldes or gardens of the Citie of Hispurge he failed not in company of other Courtiers to make one of the troupe being no houre at rest and 〈◊〉 if he were not in the sight of Quéene Anne or néere that place where she was At that time there were many Gentlemen departed from Lombardie to Hispurge which for the most parte followed the Lord Francesco Sforza the second by whom they hoped when the Duchie of Milane was recouered to be restored to their Countrey There was also Chamberlain to the said Lord Francesco one master Girolamo Borgo of Verona betwene whome and master Philippo was very néere friendship familiaritie And bicause it chauncethvery seldome that seruent loue can be kept so secrete and couert but in some part it will discouer it selfe master Borgo easily did perceiue the passion wherwith master Philippo was inflamed And one master Philippo Baldo many times being in the company of master Borgo and Philippo did marke and perceiue his loue yet was ignorant of the truthe or voide of coniecture with what Gentlewoman he was inamored But séeing him contrary to wonted custome altered from vsual mirth transported fetching many sighes strainings from his stomake and marking how many times he wold steale from the cōpany he was in withdraw him self alone to muse vpon hys thoughts brought thereby into a melancholy and meane estate hauing lost his sléepe and 〈◊〉 of eating meat iudged that the amorous wormes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bitterly gnawe and teare his heart wyth the nebs of their forked heads They three then being vpon a time togither debating of diuers things amōgs them selues chaunced to fall in argument of loue and 〈◊〉 Baldo Borgo the other gentlemen said to master Philippo how they were well assured that he was straūgely attached with that passion by marking and considering the new life which lately he led contrary to former vse intreating him very earnestly that he would manifest his loue to them that were his déere and faithful frends telling him that as in weightie matters otherwise hée was alredy sure what they were euē so in this he might hardily repose his hope and confidence promising him all their helpe and fauoure if therein their indeuor and trauaile might minister ayde and comfort He then like one raised from a traunce or lately reuiued from an 〈◊〉 after he hadde composed his countenaunce and gesture with teares and multitude of sobbes began to say these woordes My welbeloued friendes and trusty companiens being right well assured that ye whose sidelitie I haue already proued whose secrete mouthes be recómmended amongs the wise and vertuous will kéepe close and couert the thing which you shall heare me vtter as of such importaunce that if the yong 〈◊〉 Gentleman Papyrius had bene héere for all hys silence of graue matters required by hys mother I would vnnethes haue disclosed the same vnto hym In déede I cannot deny but must néedes consesse that I am in loue and that very ardently which I cannot in suche wise conceale but that the blinde must néedes clearely and euidently perceiue And although my mouth would 〈◊〉 kéepe close in what plight my passions doe constraine my inwarde affections yet my face and straunge manner of life which for a certayne time and space I haue led doe witnesse that I am not the man I was 〈◊〉 to be So that if shortly I doe not amend I trust to arriue to that ende whereunto euery Creature is borne and that my bitter and paynefull life shall take ende if I may call it a life and not rather a liuyng death I was resolued and throughly determined neuer to discouer to any man the cause of my cruell torment being not able to manifest the same to hir whome I doe only loue thinking better by conceling it through loue to make humble sute to Lady Atropos that shée would cutte of the thréede of my dolorous lyfe Neuerthelesse to you from whome I ought to kéepe nothyng secrete I will disgarboile and 〈◊〉 the very secretes of my minde not for that I hope to finde comfort and reliefe or that my passions by declaration of them wil lessen and diminishe but that ye knowing the occasion of my death may make reporte thereof to hir that is the only mistresse of my life that she vnderstanding the extréeme panges of the truest louer that euer liued may mourne and waile his losse which thing if my séely ghost may know no doubt where so euer it doe wander shall receiue great ioy and comforte Be it knowne vnto you therefore the first daye that mine eyes beheld the diuine beautie and incomparable sauer of that superexcellent Lady Quéene Anne of Hungarie that I more than wisdom required did meditate and consider the singular behauior and notable 〈◊〉 and other innumerable gifts wherwith she is indued the same beyònde measure did so inflame my heart that impossible it was for me to quenche the feruent loue or extinguish the least parte of my conceiued torment I haue done what I can to macerate and mortifie my vnbridled desire but all in vayne My force and puissaunce is to weake to matche wyth so mightye an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I knowe what ye wyll obiecte against me ye will say that mine ignobilitie my birth and stocke be no méete matches for such a personage and that my loue is to highly placed to sucke relief And the same I do 〈◊〉 so well as you I doe acknowledge my condition state too base I confesse that my loue nay rather I may terme it folly doth presume beyond the bounds of order For the first time that I felt my selfe wrapped in those snares I knew hir to beare the port amōgs the chiefest Quéenes to be the 〈◊〉 princesse of Christendom Againe I knew my selfe the poorest Gentleman of the world and the most miserable exile I thought moreouer it to be very vnséemely for me to direct my minde vpon a wight so honorable and of so great estate But who can raine the bridle or prescribe lawes to loue What is he that in loue hath frée will and choyse Truely I beleue no man bicause loue the more it doth séeme to accord in pleasure and delight the further from the marke he shooteth his bolte hauing no respect to degrée or state Haue not many excellent and worthy personages yea Dukes Emperours and Kings bene inflamed wyth the loue of Ladies and women of base and vile degrée Haue not most honorable dames and women of greatest renoume despised the honor of their states abandoned the companie of their husbāds and neglected the loue of their children for the ardent loue that they haue borne to men of inferiour sort All Histories
sent for him vp into hir chamber as commonly she did for the affaires and matters of hir house and taking him a side vnto a 〈◊〉 hauing prospect into a garden she knew not how to begin hir talk for the heart being seased the minde troubled and the wittes out of course the tongue failed to doe his office in such wise as of long time she was vnable to 〈◊〉 one onely woord Hée surprised with like affection was more astōned by séeing the alteration of his Ladie So the two Louers stoode still like Images beholding one another without any meuing at all vntil the Ladie the hardiest of them bothe as féeling the most vehement and greatest grief tooke Bologna by the hād and dissembling what she thought vsed this or such like language If any other bisides your self Gentleman should vnderstand the secretes which now I purpose to disclose I doubt what spéeche were necessary to colour my woords But being assured of your discretion and wisdom and with what perfection nature hath indued you and Arte hauing accōplished that in you which nature did begin to work as one bred and brought vp in the royall Court of the second Alphonse of Ferdinando and Federick of Aragon my cousins I wil make no doubt at all to manifest to you the hidden secretes of my heart being well persuaded that when you shall both heare and 〈◊〉 my reasons and tast that light which I bring for the for me easily you may 〈◊〉 that mine 〈◊〉 cannot be other than iust and reasonable But if your conceits shall straye from that which I shal speak déeme not good of that which I determine I shall be forced to thinke say that they which estéeme you wise sage and to be a man of good and ready 〈◊〉 be maruelously deceiued Notwithstāding my heart foretelleth that it is impossible for maister Bologna to wandre so farre from equitie but that by and by he wil enter the lystes discerne the white from black and the wrong from that which is iust and right For so much as hitherto I neuer saw thing done by you which preposterated or peruerted the good iudgement that all the world estéemeth to shine in you the same well manifested declared by your tongue the right iudge of the mind you know and sée how I am a widow through the death of that noble Gentleman of good remembrance the Duke my Lord husband you be not ignoraunt also that I haue liued and gouerned my self in such wise in my widow state as there is no man so hard and seuere of iudgement that can blason reproche of me in that which appertaineth to the honesty reputation of such a Ladie as I am bearing my port so right as my conscience yeldeth no remorse supposing that no man hath where with to bite accuse me Louching the order of the goods of the Duke my sōne I haue vsed them with such diligence and discretion as bisides the dettes which I haue discharged sithens the death of my Lord I haue purchased a goodly Manor in Calabria and haue annexed the same to the Dukedom of his heire and at this day doe not owe one pennie to any creditor that lent mony to the Duke which he toke vp to furnish the charges in the warres which he sustained in the seruice of the Kings our soueraine Lords in the late warres for the kingdome of Naples I haue as I suppose by this meanes stopped the slaunderous mouth and giuen cause vnto my sonne during his life to accōpt himself bound vnto his mother Now hauing till this time liued for other and made my self subiect more than Nature could beare I am entended to chaunge both my life and condition I haue till thys time run trauailed remoued to the Castels Lordships of the Dukedome to Naples and other places being in mind to tary as I am a widow But what new affaires and new councel hath possest my mind I haue trauailed and pained my self inough I haue too long abidden a widowes life I am determined therefore to prouide a husband who by louing me shal honor cherish me according to the loue which I shal bear to him my desert For to loue a man without mariage God defend my heart should euer think shall rather die a hundred thousand deathes thā a desire so wicked shald soile my conscience knowing well that a woman which setteth hir honor to sale is lesse than nothing deserueth not that the cōmon aire shold breathe vpō hir for all the reuerence that men do beare or make them I accuse no person albeit that many noble women haue their forheds marked with the blame of dishonest life being honored of some be neuerthelesse the cōmon fable of the people To the intent then that such mishap happē not to me perceiuing my self vnable stil thus to liue being yong as I am God be thāked neither deformed nor yet painted I had rather be the louing wife of a simple féere than that Concubine of a king or great Prince And what is the mightie Monarche able to wash away the fault of his wife which hath abādoned him cōtrary to that duty honest which the vndefiled bed requireth no les thē Princesses that whilom trespassed with those which wer of baser stuffe than thēselues Messalina w e hir imperial robe could not so wel couer hir faults but that the Historiās do defame hir with that name title of a cōmon woman Faustina the wife of that sage Monarch Marcus Aurelius gained lyke report by rendring hir self to others pleasure bisides hir lawful spouse To mary my self to one that is mine equall it is impossible for so much as there is no Lord in all this Countrey méete for my degrée but is to olde of age that rest being dead in these later warres To mary a husband that yet is but a child is follie extréeme for the inconueniences which daily chaūce therby the euil intreatie that Ladies do receiue whē they come to age their nature waxe cold by reson wherof imbracements be not so fauorable their husbāds glutted with ordinary meat vse to rū in exchāge Wherefore I am resolued without respite or delay to choose some wel qualitied and renoumed Gentleman that hath more vertue than richesse of good Fame and brute to the intēt I may make him my Lord espouse and husband For I cannot imploy my loue vpon treasure which may be taken away where richesse of the minde do faile and shall be better content to sée an honest Gentleman with little reuenue to be praised and cōmended of euery man for his good déedes than a rich carle curssed and detested of all the world Thus much I say and it is the summe of all my secretes wherin I pray your Councell and aduise I know that some wil be offended wyth my choise the Lords my brothers specially the Cardinall will think it straunge and receiue
not néede to fear any hurt But if you do tary you wil be the cause of the ruine and ouerthrow of vs all receiue therby no profit or aduaūtage take this purse therfore saue your self attending better Fortune in time to come The poore gentleman Bologna knowing that his wife had pronounced reason perceiuing that it was impossible from that time forth that she or hir traine could escape their hāds taking leaue of hir kissing his childrē not forgetting the money which she offred vnto him willed his seruants to saue thēselues by such meanes as they thought best So giuing spurrs vnto his horse he began to flée amaine and his eldest sonne séeing his father gone began to followe in like sorte And so for that time they two were saued by breaking of the intended yll luck like to light vpon them And in a place to rescue himself at Venice hée turned another way in great iourneys arriued at Millan In the meane time the horsemē were approched 〈◊〉 the Duchesse who séeing that Bologna had saued himself very courteously began to speake vnto the Ladie were it that the Aragou brethren had giuen them that charge or feared that the Ladie wold trouble them with hir importunate cries lamentatiōs One therfore amongs them sayd vnto hir Madame we be commaunded by the Lordes your brethren to conducte you home vnto your house that you may receiue again the 〈◊〉 of the Duchie and the order of the Duke your sonne doe maruell very much at your folly for giuing your self thus to wander the Countrey after a man of so small reputation as Bologna is who whē he hath glutted his lusting lecherous mind with the comelinesse of your Noble personage wil despoil you of your goods honor and then take his legs into some strange countrey The simple Ladie albeit grieuous it was vnto hir to heare such spéech of hir husbād yet held hir peace and dissembled what she thought glad and well contēted with the curtesy done vnto hir fearing before that they came to kill hir and thought hir self already discharged hoping vpon their courteous dealings that she and hir Children from that time forth should liue in good assuraunce But she was greatly deceyued and knew within shorte space after the good will hir brethren bare vnto hir For so soone as these gallants had conducted hir into the kingdome of Naples to one of the Castels of hir sonne she was committed to prison with hir children and she also that was the secretarie of hir infortunate mariage Till this time Fortune was contented to procéede with indifferent quiet 〈◊〉 those Louers but benceforth ye shall heare the issue of their little prosperous loue and how pleasure hauing blinded them neuer forsoke them vntill it 〈◊〉 giuen them the 〈◊〉 It booteth not héere to recite fables or histories contiting my self that ladies do read without too many weping teares the pitiful end of that miserable princesse who séeing hir self a prisoner in the companie of hir litle children and welbeloued Maiden paciently liued in hope to see hir brethren appaised comforting hir self for the escape of hir husband out of that hands of his mortal foes But hir assurance was changed into an horrible feare hir hope to no expectation of suretie when certain dayes after hir 〈◊〉 hir Gaoler came in and sayd vnto hir Madame I do aduise you henceforth to consider vpon your conscience for so much as I suppose that euen this very day your life shall be taken from you I leaue for you to thinke what horrour and traunce assailed the feeble heart of this pore Lady and with what eares she receiued those cruell newes but hir cries and mones together with hir sighes and lamentations declared with what chéere she receiued that aduertisement Alas sayd she is it possible that my brethren should so farre forget themselues as for a fact nothing preiudiciall vnto them cruelly to put to death their innocent sister and to imbrue the memory of their fact in the bloud of one which neuer did offend them Must I against all right and equitie be put to death before the Judge or Magistrate haue made trial of my life known the vnright eousnesse of my cause Ah God most righteous and bountiful father beholde the malice of my brethren and the tyrannous crucltie of those which wrongfully doe séeke my bloud Is it a sinne to mary Is it a fault to flie and auoide the sinne of whoredome What lawes be these where mariage bed and ioyned matrimony is pursued with like seueritie as murder theft and aduoutrie And what Christianitie in a Cardinall to shed that bloud which he ought to 〈◊〉 What profession is this to assaile the innocent by the hie way side in place to punish théeues and murderers O Lord God thou art iust dost al things right cously I sée well that I haue trespassed against thy Maiestie in some other notorious crime than by mariage I most humbly therfore beséeche thée to haue compassion vpon me and to pardon mine 〈◊〉 accepting the confession and repentance of me thine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for satisfaction of my sinnes which it pleased thée to wash away in the precious bloud of thy sōne our Sauior that being so purified I might appere at the holy banket in thy glorious kingdome When she had thus 〈◊〉 hir prayer two or thrée of the ministers which had taken hir 〈◊〉 Forly came in and sayd vnto hir Now Madame make ready your self to goe to God for beholde your houre is come Praised be that God sayd she for the wealth and woe which it pleaseth him to send vs. But I beséeche you my friendes to haue pitie vpon these lyttle children and innocēt creatures Let thē not feele the smarte which I am assured my brethrē beare against their poore vnhappie father Well well Madame sayd they we will conuey them to such a place as they shal not want I also recōmend vnto you quod she this poore maiden and entreat hir wel in consideration of hir good seruice done to the infortunate Duchesse of 〈◊〉 As she had ended those woords that two Ruffians did 〈◊〉 a corde about hir neck and strangled hir The mayden 〈◊〉 the piteous tragedie commensed vpon hir 〈◊〉 cried out a main and cursed the cruell malice of those tormenters and besought God to be witnesse of that 〈◊〉 and crying 〈◊〉 vpon his diuine Maiestie she besought him to 〈◊〉 his iudgement against them which causelesse being no 〈◊〉 hadde killed such innocent creatures Reason it is said one of the tyrants that thou be partaker of the ioy of thy mistresse innocencie sith 〈◊〉 hast bene so faithfull a minister and messanger of hir follies And sodainly caught hir by the hair of the head in stead of a carcanet placed a roape about hir necke How now quod she is this the promised faith which you made vnto my Ladie But those woords flew into the air with hir soule in companie of the
his name was Delio one very well learned and of 〈◊〉 inuention and very excellently hath endited in the Iralion vulgar tongue Who knowing the Gentleman to be husbande to the deceased Duchesse of 〈◊〉 came vnto him taking him aside sayd Sir albeit I haue no great acquaintance with you this being the first time that euer I saw you to my remembrance so it is that vertue hath such force and maketh gentle mindes so amorous of their like as when they doe beholde 〈◊〉 other they féele thēselues coupled as it were in a bande of minds that impossible it is to diuide the same Now knowing what you be and the good and commendable qualities in you I compte it my duetie to reueale that which may chaunce to bréede you damage Know you then that I of late was in companie with a Noble man of Naples which is in this Citie banded with a certaine companie of horsemen who tolde me that hee had a speciall charge to kill you and therfore prayed me as he séemed to require you not to come in his sight to the intent hée might not be constrained to doe that which should offende his Conscience and grieue the same all the dayes of his life Moreouer I haue worse tidings to tell you which are that the Duchesse your wife is deade by violent hand in prison and the moste parte of them that were in hir companie Besides this assure your self that if you doe not take héede to that which this Neapolitane captaine hathe differred other will doe and execute the same This much I haue thought good to tell you bicause it woulde verie much grieue me that a Gentleman so excellent as you be should be murdered in that miserable wife and would déeme my selfe vnworthy of life if knowing these practises I should dissemble the same Wherunto Bologna answered Syr Delio I am greatly bounde vnto you and giue you heartie thankes for the good will you beare me But of the conspiracie of the brethren of Aragon and the death of my Ladie you be deceyued and some haue giuen you wrong intelligence For within these two dayes I receiued letters from Naples wherein I am aduertised that the right honorable and 〈◊〉 Cardinall and his brother be almost appeased and that my goodes shall be rendred againe and my deare wife restored Ah syr sayd Delio how you be beguiled and fedde with follies and nourished with sleights of Courte Assure your self that they which wryte these tristes make such shamefull sale of you as the Butcher doeth of his flesh in the shambles and so wickedly betray you as impossible it is to inuent a Treason more detestable but be thinke you well thereof When he had sayde so hée tooke his leaue and ioyned himself in companie of fiue and pregnant wittes there assembled togither In the meane tyme the cruell spryte of the Aragon brethren were not yet appeased with the former murders but néedes must finish the last acte of Bologna his Tragedie by losse of his life to kéepe his wife and Children companie so well in an other worlde as hée was vnited with them in Loue in this fraile and transitorie passage The Neapolitan gentleman before spoken of by Delio which had taken an enterprise to satisfie the barbarous Cardinal to bericue his Countreyman of life hauing changes his minde and differring from day to day to sorte the same to effect which hée had taken in hande it chaunced that a Lombarde of larger conscience than the other inuegled with Couetousnesse and hired for readie money practised the death of the Duchesse pore husband This bloudy beast was called Daniel de Bozola that had charge of a certaine bande of footemen in Millan This newe Iudas and assured manqueller within certaine dayes after knowing that Bologna oftentimes repaired to heare seruice at the Church and couent of S. Fraunces secretly conueyed himself in ambush hard bisides the church of S. Iames whether he came being accompanied with a certaine troupe of souldioures to assaile the infortunate Bologna who was sooner slaine than hée was able to thinke vpon defense whose mishap was such that he which killed him had good leisure to saue himself by reason of the little pursuite made after him Beholde héere the Noble facte of a Cardinall and what sauer it hath of Christian puritie to commit a slaughter for a facte done many yeares past vpon a poore Gentleman which neuer thought him hurte Is this the swéete obseruation of the Apostles of whom they vaunt themselues to be the successors and folowers And yet we cannot finde nor reade that the Apostles or those that slept in their trace hired Kuffians and Murderers to cut the throtes of them which did thē hurt But what It was in the time of Iulius the second who was more marshall than christian and loued better to shed bloud than giue blessing to the people Such ende had the infortunate mariage of him which ought to haue contēted himself with that degrée and honor that hée had acquired by his déedes and glory of his vertues so much by eche wight recōmended We ought neuer to clime higher than our force permitteth ne yet surmount the bounds of duety and lesse suffer our selues to be haled 〈◊〉 forth with desire of brutal sensualitie The sinne being of such nature that hée neuer giueth ouer that partie whome he mastereth vntil he hath brought him to the 〈◊〉 of some Notable follie You sée the miserable discourse of a Princesse loue that was not very wise and of a gentleman that had forgottē his estate which ought to serue for a loking glasse to them which be ouer hardie in making of enterprises and doe not measure their abilitie with the greatnesse of their attemptes where they ought to maintaine themselues in reputation and beare the title of wel aduised foreséeing their ruine to be example to all posteritie as may be séene by the death of Bologna and of all them which sprang of him and of his infortunate spouse his Ladie and mistresse But we haue discoursed inoughe hereof sith diuersitie of other Histories doe call vs to bring the same in place which were not much more happie than those whose Historie ye haue already tasted The Countesse of Celant ¶ The disordered life of the Countesse of CELANT and how she causing the Countie of MASINO to be murdered was beheaded at MILLAN The. xxiiij Nouel NOt withoute cause of long time haue wise discrete men prudently gouerned and giuen great héede ouer their Daughters and those whome they haue chosen to be their wiues not in vsing them like bōdwemen and slaues bereuing them of all libertie but rather to auoide the murmur and secrete slaunderous speache of the common people and occasiōs offred for infection and marring of youth specially circumspect of the assaults bent against maidens being yet in the first flames of fire kindled by nature in the hearts 〈◊〉 of those that be the wisest Some persones 〈◊〉 it to
vpon the Lute desired him to giue awake vnto his Ladie that then for iealousie was harkening at hir window both the sound of the instrument and the words of hir amorous Knight wher the gētleman soong this song THe death with trenchāt dart doth brede in brest such il As I cannot forget the smart that therby riseth stil. Yet ne erthelesse I am the ill it self in dede That death with daily dolours depe within my breast doth brede I am my mistresse thrall and yet I doe not kno If she beare me good will at all or if she loue or no. My wound is made so large with bitter wo in brest That still my heart prepares a place to lodge a careful guest O Dame that bath my life and death at thy desire Come 〈◊〉 my mind wher facies flames doth burn like Ethna fire For wanting thee my life is death and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And finding fauor in thy sight my dayes are happy heere Then he began to sighe so terribly as if already she had gyuen sentence and definitiue Judgement of his farewel disputed with his felow in such sort with opinion so assured of his contempt as if hée had bene in loue with some one of the infants of Sp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cause he begā again very pitifully to sing these verses THat God that made my soule knowes what I haue felt Who causeth sighes and sorowes oft the sely soule to swelt Doth see my torments now and what I suffer still And vnderstands I tast mo griefs than I can shew by skill He doth consent I wot to my ill hap and woe And hath accorded with the dame that is my pleasant foe To make my boyling brest abound in bitter blisse And so bereue me of my rest when heart his hope shall misse O what are not the songs and sighs that louers haue When night and day with swete desires they draw vnto their graue 〈◊〉 grief by friendship growes where ruth nor 〈◊〉 raines And so like snow against the sunne thei melt away with pains My dayes must finish so my destnie hath it set And as the candle out I goe before hir grace I get Before my sute be heard my seruice throughly knowne I shal be laid in tombe full lowe so colde as Marble stone To thee faire Dame I cry that makes my senses arre And plātest peace 〈◊〉 my brest then makes sodain war Yet at thy pleasure still thou must my sowre make sweete In graunting me the fauor due for faithfull louers meete Which fauor giue me now and to thy Noble minde I doe 〈◊〉 Galley slaue as thou by proofe shall finde And so thou shalt release my heart from cruell bandes And haue his fredome at thy wil that yelds into thy handes So rendring all to thee the Gods may ioyne vs both Within one lawe and league of loue through force of constant troth Then shalt thou mistresse be of life of limme and all My goodes my golde and honour loe shall so be at thy call This gentle order of loue greately pleased the Lady and therefore opened hir gate to let in the 〈◊〉 Lorde who séeyng himself fauoured beyond all hope of his Ladie and cherefully intertained and welcommed wyth greate curtesie stoode so stil astonnied as if he had bene fallen from the cloudes But shée whyche coulde teache hym good maner to make him the minister of hir mischiefe takyng him by the hande made him sitte downe vpon a gréene bedde besydes hir and séeing that he was not yet imboldened for all he was a souldier she she wed hir selfe more hardie than he and first assayled him wyth talke saying Syr I praye you thinke it not strange if at this houre of the night I am bolde to cause you enter my house béeyng of no greate acquaintaunce with you but by hearyng your curteous salutations And we of this countrey be somwhat more at libertie than they in those partes from whence you come Besides it liketh me well as I am able to honor strange gentlemen and to retaine them with right good willing heart sith it pleaseth them to honor me with repaire vnto my house so shall you be welcome stil when you please to knocke at my gate which at all times I will to be opened for you wyth no lesse good will than if ye were my natural brother the same with all the thinges therein it maye please you to dispose as if they were your owne Dom Pictro of Cardonne well satisfied and contented with this vnlooked for kyndnesse thanked hir very curteously humbly praying hir besides to dayne it in good parte if he were so bolde to make request of loue and that it was the onely thyng which hée aboue all other desyred moste so that if shée woulde receyue hym for hir friende and seruaunt shée shoulde vnderstand him to be a Gentleman whiche lyghtly woulde promise nothing excepte the accomplishment did followe she that sawe a greater onset than shée looked for answered hym smilyng with a very good grace Syr I haue knowne very many that haue vouched slipperie promyses and proffered lordly seruices vnto Ladies the effecte wherof if I myght once sée I would not thinke that they coulde vanishe so soone and consume lyke smoake Madame sayde the Scicilian yf I fayle in any thyng whichs you commaunde mée I praye to God neuer to receyue any fauour or grace of those Curtesies whyche I craue If then quod shée you wyll promyse to employe youre selfe aboute a businesse that I haue to doe when I make requeste I wyll also to accepte you for a friende and graunt such secrecie as a faythfull louer can desyre of hys Ladye Dom Pietro whyche woulde haue offered hym selfe in Sacrifice for hir not knowyng hir demaunde toke an othe and promysed hir so lightly as madly afterwardes he did put the same in proofe Beholde the preparatiues of the obsequies of their first loue the guages of a bloodie bedde the one was prodigal of hir honoure the other the tormenter of his reputation and neglected the duetie and honor of his state which the 〈◊〉 wherof he came commaunded hym to kepe Thus all the night he remained with Bianca Maria who made him so wel to like 〈◊〉 good entertainement and imbracementes as he neuer was out of hir companie And the warie Circes fained hir selfe so farre in loue with him and vsed so many toyes gametricks of hir filthie science as he not onely esteemed him selfe the happiest Gentleman of Scicilia but the most fortunate wight of al the world and by biubing of hir wine was so straungely charmed with the pleasures of his faire mistresse as for hir sake he wold haue taken vpon him the whole ouerthrow of Milan so well as 〈◊〉 of Cumes to set the Citie of Rome on fire if Tyberius Gracchus the sedicious woulde haue gyuen hir leaue Such is the maner of wilde and foolish youth as which suffreth it self to be caried beyond the boundes of
how the pore Gentleman was resolued to finish there in the desert vnknowen to his friends all the remnāt of his life And who aswell for the euill order and not 〈◊〉 nouriture as for assiduall plaints and wé 〈◊〉 was become so pale leane as he better resembled a dry chippe than a man hauing féeling or life His eyes were soonke into his head his beard 〈◊〉 his hair staring his skin ful of filth altogither more like a wilde and sauage creature such one as is depainted in brutall forme than faire Dom Diego so much commēded and estéemed through out the kingdome of Spaine Nowe leaue we this amorous Hermite to passionate plaine his misfortune to sée to what ende the Letters came that he wrote to his cruell Mistresse The day 〈◊〉 for deliuerie of his Letters his seruaunt did his charge and being come to the house of Gineura found hir in the Hall with hir mother where kissing his maisters letters he presēted them with very great reuerence to the Gentlewoman Who so soone as she knewe that they came from Dom Diego all chaunged into raging coloure and foolishe choler threw them incontinently vpon the ground saying Sufficeth it not thy maister that already twice I haue done him to vnderstand that I haue nothing to do with his letters nor Ambassades and yet goeth he about by such assaultes to encrease my displeasure and agonie by the only remembraunce of his follie The mother séeing that vnciuile order although she vnderstoode the cause and knew that there was some discorde betwéene the two Louers yet thought it to be but light sith the Comike Poet doeth say The louers often falling out And prety wrangling rage Of pleasant loue it is no dout The sure renewing gage She went vnto hir Daughter saying What great rage is this Let me sée that letter that I may read it For I haue no feare that Dom Diego can deceiue me with the swéetenesse of his hony words And truly daughter you néede not feare to touch them for if there were any poison in them it proceaded from your beautie that hath bitten and stong the Knight whereof if he assay to make you a partaker I sée no cause why he ought to be thus rigorously reiected deseruing by his honestie a better entertainement at your handes In the meane time one of the Seruing men tooke vp the letters and gaue them to the Lady who reading them found written as foloweth The letters of Dom Diego to Mistresse Gineura MY dearest and most wellbeloued Ladie sith that mine innocency can finde no resting place within your tendre corpse what honest excuse or true reasō so euer I do alleage and sith your heart declareth it selfe to be implacable and not pleased with him that neuer offēded you except it were for ouermuch loue which for guerdon of that rare and incomparable amitie I perceiue my self to be hated deadly of you and in such wise contemned as the only record of my name causeth in you an insupportable griefe and displeasure vnspeakeable To auoid I say your indignation and by my mishap to render vnto you some 〈◊〉 and contentment I haue meant to dislodge my selfe so far from this Countrey as neither you nor any other shal euer hear by fame or true report the place of my abode nor the graue wherin my bones shall rest And although it be an 〈◊〉 hearts sorow and torment which by way of pen can not be declared to be thus misprised of you whom alone I do loue and shal so long as mine afflicted soule shall hang vpon the féeble and brittle thréede of life yet for all that this griefe falling vpon me is not so 〈◊〉 as the punishment is grieuous by imagining the passion of youre minde when it is 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 and wrathe againste me who liueth not but to wander vpon the thoughtes of youre perfections And forsomuch as I doe féele for the debilitie that is in me that I am not able any longer to beare the sowre shockes of my bitter torments and martyrdome that I presently doe suffer yet before my life do faile and death doe sease vpon my senses I haue writen vnto you this present letter for a testimoniall of your rigour which is the marke that iustifieth my vngyltinesse And although I doe complain of mine vnhappie fortune yet I meane not to accuse you only contented that eche man doe know that firme affection and eternall thraldome do deserue other recompense than a farewell so cruell And I am well assured that when I am dead you will pitie our torment knowing then although to late that my loyaltie was so sincere as the report of those was false that made you beléeue that I was very farre in loue with the daughter of Dom Ferrande de la Serre Alas shall a noble Gentleman that hath bene wel trained vp be fordidden to receiue the gifts that come from a vertuous Gentlewoman Ought you to be so incapable and voide of humanitie that the sacrifice whiche I haue made of the poore birde the cause of your disdaine my repentance my lawfull excuses are not able to let you sée the contrary of you persuation Ah ah I sée that the darke and obscure vaile of vniust disdaine 〈◊〉 anger hath so blindfold your eyes and 〈◊〉 your minde as you can not iudge the truth of my cause and the vnrighteousnesse of your quarel I will render vnto you none other certificat of mine innocencie but my languishing heart whiche you clepe betwene your hands feling such rude intertainment there of whome he loked for reioyse of his trauels But for somuch then as you do hate me what resteth for me to do but to pro cure destruction to my selfe And sith your pleasure cōsisteth in mine ouerthrowe reason willeth that I obey you and by death to sacrifice my life in like maner as by life you wer the only mistresse of my heart 〈◊〉 only thing chereth vp my heart maketh my death more miserable which is that in dying so innocent as I am you shal remaine faultie the onely cause of my ruine My life will depart like a puffe soule shal vanish like a swéete sōmers blast wherby you shal be euer déemed for a cruell womā and bloodie murderer of your deuout and faithful seruants I pray to God mine owne swete Ladie to giue you such contentation ioy pleasure and gladnesse as you do cause through your rigor discōtentation grief displeasure to the poore lan guishing creature and who for euermore shall be Your most obedient and affected seruant Dom Diego The good Ladie hauyng redde the Letter was so astoonned as hir woordes for a long space stayed within hir mouth hir heart panted and spirite was full of confusion hir minde was filled with sorow to consider the anguishes of the poore vagabund and foster hermit In the ende before the houshold dissembling hir passion which moued hir sense she toke hir daughter aside whō very sharply she rebuked
those that be so fondly iealous as eche thing troubleth their minde and be afraide of the flies very shadowe that buzze about their faces For by paining molesting themselues with a thing that so little doeth please and content them vntill manifest and euident proofe appeare they display the folly of their minds imperfection and the weake stedfastnesse of their fantasy But where the fault is knowne the vice discouered where the husband séeth himselfe to receiue damage in the soundest part of his moueable goodes reason it is that he therein be aduised by timely deliberation and sage foresight rather than with headlōg fury raging rashnesse to hazard the losse of his honor and the ruin of his life and goodes And like as the faith and sidelitie of the vndefiled bed hath in all times worthily bene cōmended euen so he that polluteth it by infamie beareth the penaunce of the same Portia the daughter of Cato and wife of Brutus shall be praised for euer for the honest inuiolable loue which she bare vnto hir beloued husband almost like to lose hir life when she heard tell of his certaine death The pudicitie of Paulina the wife of Seneca appeared also when she assayed to die by the same kinde of death wherewith hir husband violently was tormented by the vniust commaundement of the most cruell and horrible Emperoure Nero. But whores and harlottes hauing honest husbandes and well allied in kinne and ligneage by abandoning their bodies doe prodigally consume their good renowme If they escape the Magistrates or auoide the wrath of offended husbandes for the wrong done vnto them yet they leaue an immortall slaunder of their wicked life and youth thereby may take example aswell to shun suche shamelesse women as to followe those Dames that be chaste and vertuous Now of this contempt which the wife beareth to hir husband doe rise very many times notorious slaunders and suche as are accompanyed with passing cruelties wherein the husband ought to moderate his heat and calme his choler and soberly to chastise the fault for so muche as excessiue wrath and anger doe Eclipse in man the light of reason and suche rages doe make them to be semblable vnto brute and reasonlesse beastes Méete it is to be angrie for things done cōtrary to right equitie but tēperance and modestie is necessary in all occurrentes be they with vs or against vs. But if to resist anger in those matters it be harde and difficulte it is also to be thought that the greater impossibilitie there is in the operation and effecte of any good thing the greater is the glory that banquisheth the affection and mastereth the first motion of the minde which is not so impossible to gouerne and subdue to reason as many doe estéeme A wise man then cannot so farre forget his duetie as to exceede the boundes and limites of reason and to suffer his minde to wander from the siege of Temperaunce which if he doe after he hath well mingled Water in his Wine hée may chaunce to finde cause of repentaunce and by desire to repaire his offense augment his fault sinne being so prompt and ready in man as the crime which might be couered with certain iustice and coloured by some lawe or righteous cause maketh him many times to fall into detestable 〈◊〉 and sinne so contrary to mildnesse and modesty as the very tyraunts themselues wold abhorre such wickednesse And to the end that I do not trouble you with allegation of infinite numbres of examples seruing to this purpose ne render occasion of tediousnesse for you to reuolue so many bokes I am cōtented for this present to bring in place an History so ouer cruell as the cause was reasonable if duety in the one had bene cōsidered and rage in the other bridled and forseene who madly murdred and offended those that were nothing guiltie of the facte which touched him so neare And although that these be matters of loue yet the reader ought not to be grieued nor take in euill part that we haue still that argument in hand For we doe not hereby go about to erect a scholehouse of loue or to teache youth the wanton toyes of the same but rather bring for the these examples to withdraw that pliant and tēder age of this our time from the pursute of like follies which may were they not in this sort warned ingender like effects that these our Histories doe recompt and wherof you shall be partakers by reading the discourse that followeth Ye must then vnderstand that in the time that Braccio Montane and Sforza Attendulo flourished in Italie and were the chiefest of that Italian men of warre there were thrée Lordes and brethren which helde vnder their authoritie and puissance Fcligno Nocera and Treuio parcell of the Dukedome of Spoleto who gouerned so louingly their landes togither as without diuision they mainteined themselues in their estate liued in brotherly concorde The name of the eldest of these thrée Lordes was Nicholas the second Caesar and the yongest Conrade gētle personages wise and welbeloued so wel of the Noble men their neighbors as also of the Citezens that were vnder their obeysaunce who in the end shewed greater loyaltie towards them than those that had sworne their faith and had giuen pledges for confirmation thereof as ye shall perceiue by reading that which foloweth It chaūced that the eldest oftentimes repairing from Foligno to Nocera and lodging still in the Castell behelde with a little too much wanton eye the wife of his lieuetenaunt which was placed there with a good number of dead payes to guard the forte kepe vnder the Citizens if by chaunce as it happeneth vpon the newe erection of estates they attempted some newe enterprise against their soueraigne Lords Now this Gentlewoman was faire and of better grace singularly delighting to be loked vpon which occasioned the Lord Nicholas by perceiuing the wantonnesse and good will of the mistresse of the Castell not to refuse so good occasion determining to prosecute the enioying of hir that was the bird after which he hunted whose beautie and good grace had déepely woūded his mind wherin if he forgotte his duetie I leaue for all men of good iudgement to consider For me thinke that this yong Lord ought rather singularly to loue and cherishe his Lieuetenaunt that faithfully and trustily had kept his Castell and Forte than to prepare against him so traiterous an attempt and ambushe And if so be his sayde Lieuetenaunt had bene accused of felony misprision or Treason yet to speake the trouth he might haue deliuered the charge of his Castel vnto an other rather thā to suborne his wife to follie And ought likewise to haue considered that the Lieuetenaunt by putting his trust in him had iust cause to complaine for rauishing his honoure from him in the person of his wife whome be ought to haue loued without any affection to infrindge the holy lawe of amitie the breaking
was sent forth on businesse of the kings The conclusion of which practise was that when she caried meate to Acharisto according to the ordre appointed she should faine hir selfe to bée violentlie dispoyled of the prison-key by Acharisto who taking the same from hir should shut hir in the prison and escape and wheÌ„ hir husband did returne she should make compl 〈…〉 of the violence done vnto hir according to which deuise the practise was accomplished And when hir husbande returned home hearing his wife crie out within the Tower was meruellously amazed and vnderstanding that Acharisto was deade ignorant of the pollicie betwene his wyfe and Euphimia hée fell into great rage speâ—delie repaired to the king and tolde him what had chauÌ„ced The King thinking that the breache of prison was rather through the womans simplicitie than purposed malice did mitigate his displeasure 〈◊〉 forthwith he sent out Scoutes to spie and watche in to what place Acharisto was gone whose secrete flight made all their trauell to be in vaine Then the King when he saw that hée coulde not be found made proclamation throughout his realme that who so would bring vnto him the hed of Acharisto should haue to wife his onely daughter and after his decease should possesse his Kingdome for dowrie of that mariage Many knightes did put themselues in redinesse to themselues that enterprise aboue al Philon was the chiefe not for gredinesse of the kingdome but for loue which hée bare vnto the Gentlewoman Wherof Acharisto hauing intelligence and perceuing that in no place of Europa he coulde be safe and sure froÌ„ daunger for the multitude of them which pursued hym vnto deth caused Euphimia to vnderstand the miserable estate wherin he was Euphimia which bent hir mind employed hir studie for his safegarde imparted hir loue which she bare to Acharisto to an aged Gentlewoman which was hir nurse gouernesse besought hir that she wold intreat hir sonne called Sinapus one very wel beloued of the King so reach his help vnto hir desire that Acharisto might return to the court again The Nurse like a wise woman lefte no persuasion vnspoken nor counsell vnremembred which she thought was able to dissuade the yong gentlewoman froÌ„ hir conceiued loue but the wounde was so déepely made and hir heart so greuously wounded with the thrée forked arrows of the litle blinde archer Cupide that despising all the reasons of hir beloued nurse she sayde howe shée was firmely bente eyther to runne from hir father and to séeke out Acharisto to sustaine with hym one equall fortune or else with hir owne handes to procure death if some remedie were not founde to recouer the Kynges good grace for the returne of Acharisto The Nurse vanquished with pitie of the yong mayden fearyng bothe the one and the sorte daunger that myght ensue sent for Sinapus and vpon their talke together Euphimia and hée concluded that Acharisto shoulde bée brought agayne vnto the Courte and that shée hir selfe should present him to the Kyng wherin should want no kinde of diligence vntill the Kyng did enterteyne him againe for his faithfull seruaunt as hée was woont to doe Upon which resolution Acharisto was sente for and being come Sinapus and Euphimia together wyth the Nurse tolde hym in what 〈◊〉 they thrée had concluded touching his health and safegarde Which of him being well lyked did giue 〈◊〉 humble thankes And then Sinapus went vnto the Kyng and tolde him that there was one newely arriued at Corinth to make a present vnto his grace of the hed of Acharisto At which newes the King shewed him selfe so ioyful as if he had gotten an other Kingdome and being placed vnder his cloath of state with his Counsell and Princely trayne about him telling them the 〈◊〉 of that assemblie coÌ„maunded hym that brought those newes to bring the partie forth newely come vnto the Citie to presente the head of Acharisto Then Sinapus broughte Acharisto before the presence of the King who no sooner looked vpon hym but fell into such a rage as the fire séemed to flame out of his angrie eyes and commaunded hym presentlye to bée taken and put to death But Acharisto fallyng 〈◊〉 vpon his knées humbly besoughte his Maiestie to gyue hym leaue 〈◊〉 speake But the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sufferyng hym to vtter one woorde 〈◊〉 him away Then the Counsellours and other Lordes of the Courte intreated his grace to heare him At whose requestes and supplications hée 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 contente Then Acharisto began to say Most sacred Prince and redoubted Soueraigne Lord the cause of thys my presumptuous repaire before your Maiestie is not to shew my selfe guiltie of the late beuised conspiracie ne yet to craue pardon for the same but to satisfie your Maiestie with that contented desire whiche by proclamation ye haue prondunced through your highnesse 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 whiche is to offer this heade for reuenge of the fault vniustly laid vnto my charge by those foure which woorthily haue tasted the deserued pame of their 〈◊〉 Whersore I am come hither of mine owne accorde to shewe the loue and greate desire whiche euer I had to serue and please your Maiestie And for that I would not coÌ„sume my lyfe in your displeasure I make offer of the same to your mercifull will and disposition chosing rather to die and leaue your maiestie satisfied contented than to lyue in happie state your princely minde displeased But desirous that hour maiestie shuld know myne innocencie I humbly besech your grace to heare what I can say that my fidelitie may bée throughly vnderstanded the wickednesse of the 〈◊〉 myne accusers wel wayed and considered Then hée began to rehearse all the things done by him for the seruice of his crowne and maiestie and finally into what daunger he did put himself when he killed the Lacedemonian king that went about by treason to murder him which enterprise might appere vnto him to be 〈◊〉 sure and euident testimonie that he ment nothing hurtfull or preindicial to his highnesse And that hée cstemed not his life when he aduentured for his seruice sauegarde to employ the same after these alleaged causes he added briefly that the loue which his maiestie knew to bée betwene him Euphimia his daughter ought to 〈◊〉 persuaded him that 〈◊〉 had rather haue suffered death himselfe than commit a thing displeasant to Euphimia And knowing that a more 〈◊〉 thing could not chauÌ„ce to hir than the 〈◊〉 death of hir father he might wel thinke that he wold haue deuised the death of a thousand other rather than that horrible 〈◊〉 déede such as his greatest enimie would neuer haue done much lesse 〈◊〉 which was bounde vnto him by so many receiued benefits for whose service preseruacion he had dedicated vowed his life and soule But if so be his maiesties rancor and displeasure could not bée mitigated but by doing hym to death hée desired that none of his alleaged reasons should bée accepted and
discharge of thy promise which peraduenture some other would not do moued thervnto for the feare I haue of the Necromancer who if he sée Maister Ansaldo to be offended bicause thou haste deluded him may doe vs some displeasure wherfore I will that thou go to maister Ansaldo and if thou canst by any meanes so vse thy selfe as thyne honour saued thou mayst discharge thy promise I shall commende thy witte but if there be no remedie otherwise for that onely time then lende forth thy body and not thy wil. The Gentlewoman hearing hir husband so wisely speake coulde doe nought else but wéepe and sayd that she would not agrée to his request Notwithstanding it pleased the husband for al the deniall which his wife did make that it shoulde be so by meanes wherof the next morning vpon the point of day the Gentlewoman in the homeliest attire she had with two of hir seruants before and hir maide behinde went to the lodging of maister Ansaldo who when he hearde tel that his louer was come to sée him maruelled much and rising vp called the Necromancer and sayde vnto him My wil is that thou sée how much thine arte hath preuailed and going vnto hir without any disordinate lust he saluted hir with reuerence and honestly receiued hir Then they entred into a faire chamber and sitting downe before a great fire he sayd vnto hir these words Madame I humbly beséeche you if the loue whiche I haue borne you of longtime and yet do beare deserue some recompence that it please you to tel me vnfainedly the cause whiche hath made you to come hither thus early and with such a companie The shamefast Gentle woman hir eyes full of teares made answere Sir the loue whiche I beare you nor any promised faith haue brought me hither but rather the onely cōmaundement of my husbande who hath greater respecte to the paine and trauaile of your disordinate loue than to his owne honour or my reputation who hath caused me to come hither and by his commaundement am readye for this once to satisfie youre pleasure If Mayster Ansaldo were abashed at the beginning he much more did maruell when he hearde the Gentlewoman thus to speake and moued with the liberalitie of hir husbande hée began to chaunge his heate into compassion and sayd Mistresse God defend if it be true that you doe say that I should soyle the honour of him whiche hath pitie vpon my loue and therfore you may tarrie here so long as it shall please you with such assurance of your honestie as if you were my naturall sister and frankly may depart when you be disposed vpon such condition that you render in my behalf those thanks vnto your husband which you shal think cōuenient for the great liberalitie which he hath imployed vpon me déeming my selfe henceforth somuch bound vnto him as if I were his brother or seruant The Gentlewoman hearing those words the best contented that euer was sayd vnto him Al the worlde coulde neuer make me beleue your great honestie considered that other thing coulde happen vnto me by my comming hither than that which presently I sée For which I recken my selfe perpetually bounde vnto you And taking hir leaue honorably returned in the aforsaid companie home to hir husband and tolde him what had chaunced which engendred perfect loue and amitie betwene him and maister Ansaldo The Necromancer to whome maister Ansaldo determined to gyue the price 〈◊〉 betwene them seyng the liberalitie which the husbande had vsed towardes maister Ansaldo and the like of master Ansaldo towards the Gentlewoman s ayd God defende that sith I haue séene the husbande liberall of his honour and you bountifull of your loue and curtesie but that I be likewise frāke in my reward For knowyng that it is well employed of you I purpose that you shall kéepe it still The Knighte was ashamed and woulde haue forced hym to take the whole or parte but in offering the same he lost his laboure And the Necromancer the thirde day after hauing vndone hys Garden and desirous to departe tooke his leaue Thus Ansaldo extinguishing the dishonest loue kindled in his hearte for inioying of his ladie vpon consideration of honest charitie and regarde of Curtesie repressed his wanton minde and absteined frō that which God graunte that others by like example may refraine Mithridanes and Nathan ¶ MITHRIDANES enuious of the liberalitie of NATHAN and going aboute to kill him spake vnto hym vnknowne and beyng infourmed by him selfe by what meanes he myght doe the same he founde hym in a little woodde accordingly as he had tolde him who knowyng him was ashamed and became his friende The. xviij Nouel STrange may séeme this folowing Historie and rare amonges those in whome the vertue of liberalitie euer florished Many we reade of that haue kepte Noble and bountiful houses entertainyng guestes bothe forreine and frée borne plētifully feasting them with varietie of chéere but to entertain a guest that aspireth the death of his host and to cherish him after he knew of it or liberally to offer his life seldome or neuer we reade or by experience knowe But what moued the 〈◊〉 to frowne at the state and life of Nathan Euen that 〈◊〉 pestilent passion Enuie the consumer and deadly monster of all humanitie who 〈◊〉 the like 〈◊〉 and port of his deuout hoste Nathan and séeking after equall glorie and same was thorough enuies force for not atteinyng to the like driuen to imagine how to kil a good innocent man For enuie commonly waiteth vpon the vertuous euen as the shadow doeth the bodie And as the Cantharides which similitude Plutarche vseth delight in ripe and prosperous wheate crawle in spreding roses so enuie chiefly them which in vertue richesse doe abound For had not Nathan bene famous for his goodnesse glorious for liberalitie Mithridanes would neuer haue prosecuted him by enuie nor gone about to berieue his life He that enuieth the vertuous and industrious person may bée compared to Dedalus whom the Poets faine to murder Telon his apprentice for deuisyng of the Potters whéele And Mithridanes disdainefull of Nathans hospitalitie would haue slayne him But howe liberall the good olde man was of his life and how ashamed Mithridanes was of his practise this example at large discourseth Uery true it is at lest wise it credite may be gyuen to the words of certaine Genoua merchantes and of others which haue trauailed that coūtrey that in Cataia there was sometimes a riche Gentleman without comparison named Nathan who hauyng a place or pallace ioyning vpon the high way by whiche the trauailers to and from the West and East were constrained to passe and hauing a noble and liberall heart desirous by experience to haue the same to be knowne and with what nature and qualitie it was affected be assembled diuers maister Masons Carpenters and in a short time erected there one of the stateliest palaces for greatnesse and riches that euer
Prince or Lord which in times passed did commaund or rule the Common wealthe in all the Countrey of Thuscan In this wise that modestie made him worthy of the Principalitie which almost against all right hée had vsurped and of a praise which shall no lesse continue than the memorie of man is able to extende the same from one generation to an other and which Couetous of the praise of a Prince so vertuous iust and modest shall not cease to illustrate and gloriously aduance him in open euidence to the end that hys like exercise the same in like things or of greater consequence for not sufferyng venemous and vnprofitable herbes to grow in their Common wealth Within the Garden wherof a little nuldew or vntimely raine is able to marre and corrupt all the good séedes plants sowen and grifted before Considering that wycked wéedes and daungerous impes take déeper roote than those that beare a good and sauorous frute for the conseruation whereof the diligent husbandman imployeth almost all the seasons of the yeare The Duchesse of Malfi ¶ The Infortunate mariage of a Gentleman called ANTONIO BOLOGNA with the Duchesse of MALFI and the pitifull death of them bothe The. xxiij Nouel THe greater Honor and authoritie men haue in this world the greater their estimation is the more sensible notorious are the faultes by them committed the greater is their 〈◊〉 In lyke manner more difficult it is for that man to tolerate and sustaine Fortune which all the dayes of his life hathe liued at his 〈◊〉 if 〈◊〉 chaunce hée fall into any great necessitie than for hym which ncuer felt but woe mishappe and aduersitie Dyonisius the Tyrant of Sicilia felte greater payne when hée was expelled his kingdome than Milo did being vanished from Rome For so muche as the one was a Soueraigne Lord the sonne of a King a Iusticiarie on earth and the other but a simple Citizen of a Citie wherein the people had Lawes and the lawes of Magistrates had in reuerence So likewyse the fall of a high and loftie Trée maketh a greater noyse than that whiche is lowe and little Highe Towers and stately Palaces of Princes be séene further off than the poore Cabans and hontely shephierds Shéepecotes The Walles of loftie Cities salute the viewers of the same farther of than the simple caues which the poore doe dig belowe the Mountaine rocks Wherefore it behoueth the Noble and such as haue charge of Common wealth to liue an honest lyfe and beare their port vpryght that none haue cause to take ill example vpon dyscourse of their déedes and naughtie life And aboue all that modestie ought to be kept by women whome as their race Noble birth authoritie and name maketh them more famous euē so their vertue honestie chastitie and continencie more praise worthy And behouefull it is that like as they wishe to be honoured aboue all other so their life do make them worthy of that honour without disgracing their name by déede or woorde or blemishing that brightnesse which may commende the same I greatly feare that all the Princely factes the exploits and conquests done by the Babylonian Quéene Semyramis neuer was recōmended with such praise as hir vice had shame in records by those which left remēbrāce of ancient acts Thus I say bicause a woman being as it were the Image of swéetenesse curtesie shame fastnesse so soone as she steppeth out of the right trade and leaueth the smel of hir duetie and modestie bisides the denigration of hir honor thrusteth hir self into infinite troubles and causeth the ruine of such which should be honored and praised if womens allurement solicited them not to follie I wil not here indeuor my self to séeke for examples of Samson Salomon or other which suffred thē selues fondly to be abused by women and who by meane of them be tumbled into great faults and haue incurred greater perils Contenting my self to recite a right pitifull Historie done almost in our time when the French vnder the leading of that notable 〈◊〉 Gaston de Foix vanquished the force of Spaine and Naples at the iourney of Rauenna in the time of the French king called Levves the twelfth who married the Lady Marie daughter to king Henry the seuenth and sister to the victorious Prince of worthy memory king Henry the eight wife after the death of the sayd Levves to the puissant Gentleman Charles late Duke of Suffolke In that very time then liued a Gentleman of Naples called Antonio Bologna who hauing bene Master of houshold to Federicke of Aragon sometime King of Naples after the French had expelled those of Aragon out of that Citie the sayde Bologna retired into Fraunce thereby recouered the goods which hée possessed in his countrey The Gentleman bisides that he was valiant of his persone a good man of warre wel estemed amongs the best had a passing numbre of good graces which made him to be beloued cherished of euery wight for riding managing of great horse he had not his fellow in Italy he could also play excéeding well and trim vpon the Lute whose faining voyce so well agréed therunto that the most melancholike persons wold forget their heauinesse vpon hearing of his heauenly noise and bisides these qualities hée was of personage comely and of good proportion To be short Nature hauing trauailed and dispoyled hir Treasure house for inriching of him he had by Arte gotten that which made him most happy worthy of praise which was the knowledge of good letters wherin hée was so well trained as by talke and dispute thereof he made those to blushe that were of that state and profession Antonio Bologna hauing left Federicke of Aragon in Fraunce who expulsed out of Naples was retired to king Levves went home to his house to liue at rest and to auoyd trouble forgetting the delicates of Courtes and houses of great men to be the only husband of his owne reuenue But what It is impossible to eschue that which the heauēs haue determined vpon vs and lesse the vnhappe whych séemeth to followe vs as it were naturally procéeding from our mothers wombe In such wise as many times he which séemeth the wisest man guided by misfortune hasteth himself wyth stouping head to fall headlong into his deathe ruine Euen so it chaūced to this Neapolitane Gentleman for in the very same place where he attained his aduācement he receiued also his diminution and decay and by that house which preferred hym to what he had he was depriued both of his estate and life the discourse whereof you shall vnderstand I haue tolde you already that this Gentleman was Maister of the King of Naples houshold being a gentle person a good Courtier wel trained vp and wise for gouernment of himself in the Court and in the seruice of Princes the Duchesse of Malfi thought to intreat him that hée would serue hir in that office which he serued the king This Duchesse
the same with ill digesture that muche a do shall I haue to be agréed with them and to remoue the grief which they shall conceiue against me for this mine enterprise wherefore I would the same should secretely be kept vntil without perill and daunger either of my self or of him whome I pretende to mary I may publish and manifest not my loue but the mariage which I hope in God shall soon be consummate and accomplished with one whome I doe loue better than my self and who as I full well do know doeth loue me better than his owne proper life Maister Bologna which till then harkned to the Dration of the Duchesse without mouing féeling himself touched so néere and hearing that his Ladie had made hir approche for mariage stode stil astonned his tongue not able to frame one word only fantasied a thousand 〈◊〉 in the aire and formed like numbre of imaginations in his minde not able to coniecture what hée was to whome the Duchesse had vowed hir loue the possession of hir beauty He could not thinke that this ioy was prepared for himself for that his Ladie spake no woord of him and he lesse durst opē his mouth and yet was wel assured that she loued him beyōd measure Not withstāding knowing the ficklenesse and vnstable heart of women he sayd vnto himself that she would chaunge hir minde for seing him to be so great a Cowarde as not to offer hys seruice to a Ladie by whome he saw himself so manie times bothe want only looked vpon intertained with some secresie more thā familiar The Duchesse which was a fine and subtile dame séeing hir friend rapt with the passion and standing stil vnmoueable through feare pale amazed as if hée had bene accused and condempned to die knew by that countenaunce astonishment of Bologna that she was perfectly beloued of him and so meaning not to suffer hym any longer to continue in that amaze ne yet to further fear him wyth hir dissembled and fained mariage of any other but with him she toke him by the hand and beholding him with a wāton and luring eye in such sort as the curious Philosophers themselues would awake if such a Lāpe and torch did shine within their studies she sayde thus vnto hym Seignor Anthonio I pray you be of good chéere torment not your self for any thing that I haue said I know well and of long time haue perceyued what good and faithfull loue you beare me with what affection you haue serued me sithens first you vsed my companie Thinke me not to be so ignorant but that I know ful wel by outward signes what secretes be hid in the inner heart and that coniectures many times doe giue me true and certaine knowledge of concealed things And am not so foolish to thinke you to be so vndiscrete but that you haue marked my countenaunce maner and therby haue knowen that I haue bene more affectioned to you than to any other For that cause sayd she straining him by the hād very louingly with cherefull coloure in hir face I sweare vnto you doe promise that if you so thinke méete it shall be none other but your self whom I wil haue desire to take to husband and lawfull spouse assuring my self so much of you as the loue which so long time hath ben hidden couered in our hearts shal appeare by so euident proofe as only death shal end vndoe the same The gentleman hearing such sodain talk the assurāce of that which he most wished for albeit he saw that daunger extréeme wherunto he laūched himself by espousing this great Ladie the enimies he shold get by entring such aliance notwithstanding building vpon vaine hope and thinking at length that the choler of the Aragon brother would passe away if they vnderstoode that mariage determined to pursue that purpose not to refuse that great preferment being so prodigally offred for which cause he answered his Lady in this maner If it were in my power madame to bring to passe that which I desire for your seruice by acknowledging of the benefits fauors which you depart vnto me as my mind presenteth thāks for the same I wold think my self the happiest Gentlemā that lyueth you the best serued Princesse of the world For one better beloued I dare presume to say and so long as I liue wil affirm is not to be found If til this time I delayed to opē that which now I discouer vnto you I beséeche you Madame to impute it to the greatnesse of your estate and to the duetie of my calling office in your house being not séemely for a seruant to talk of such secretes with his Ladie and mistresse And truely that pain which I haue indured to holde my peace and to hide my griefe hath bene more noysome to me than one hundred thousand like sorowes together although it had ben lawfull to haue reuealed thē to some trusty friend I do not deny madame but of long time you did perceiue my follie and presumption by addressing my minde so high as to the Aragon bloud and to such a Princesse as you be And who cā beguile the eye of a Louer specially of hir whose Paragon for good minde wisedom gentlenesse is not And I cōfesse to you bisides that I haue most euidently perceiued how certain loue hath lodged in your gracious heart wherwith you bare me greater affection thā you did to any other within the compasse of your familie But what Great Ladies hearts be fraught with secretes conceits of other effects than the minds of simple womē which caused me to hope for none other guerdon of my loyal faithfull affection than death the same very short Sith that litle hope accompanied with great nay rather extreme passion is not able to giue sufficiēt force both to suffer to stablish my heart with constancie Now for so much as of your motion grace curtesie liberalitie the same is offred that it pleaseth you to accept me for yours I hūbly beseche you to dispose of me not as husband but of one which is shal be your seruaunt for euer such as is more ready to obey thā you to cōmaund It resteth now Madame to consider how in what wise our affairs are to be directed that things being in assurāce you may so liue without peril and brute of slaunderous tongues as your good fame honest port may continue without spot or blemish Beholde the first Acte of the Tragedie and the prouision of the fare which afterwardes sent them bothe to their graue who immediately gaue their mutuall faith and the houre was assigned the next day that the fair Princesse shold be in hir chamber alone attended vpon with one only Gentlewoman which had ben brought vp with the Duchesse frō hir cradle was made priuie to the heauy mariage of those two louers which was consummate in hir presence And
miserable Duchesse But hearken now the most sorowfull scene of all that tragedie The litle children which had séene all the furious game done vpon their mother and hir maide as nature prouoked thē or as some presage of their mishap led them therunto kneled vpon their knées before those tyrants and embracing their legs wailed in such wise as I think that any other except a pitilesse heart spoiled of all humanitie wold haue had cōpassion And impossible it was for them to vnfold the embracemēts of those innocent creatures which séemed to forethink their death by the wilde lokes and countenāce of those roisters Wherby I think that néedes it must be cōfessed that nature hath in hir self and vpon vs imprinted some signe of diuination and specially at the hour and time of death in such wise as that very beasts féele some cōceits although they sée neither sword nor staffe and indeuor to auoyde the cruell passage of a thing so fearful as the separation of two things so néerely vnited euen the body and soule which for the motion that chaūceth at the very instant she weth how nature is constrained in that monstruous separation more than horrible ouerthrow But who can appease a heart determined to do euil hath sworn the death of another forced the runto by some special cōmaundement The Aragon brethrē ment hereby nothing else but to roote out that whole name race of Bologna And therfore the two ministers of iniquitie did like murder slaughter vpon those two tender babes as they committed vpon their mother not without some motion of horror for doing of an act so detestable Behold here how far the crueltie of man extēdeth whē it coueteth nothing else but vengeance and marke what excessiue choler the minde of thē produceth which suffer themselues to be forced ouerwhelmed with furie Leaue we apart the crueltie of Euchrates the sonne of the king of Bactria of Phraates the sōne of the Persian Prince of Timon of Athens of an infinite nūbre of those which were rulers and gouerners of the Empire of Rome and let vs match with these Aragon brethrē one Vitoldus Duke of Litudnia the crueltie of whom constrained his own subiects to hang thēselues for fear least they shold fall into his furious bloudy hands We may confesse also these brutal brethrē to be more butcherly thā euer Otho erle of Monferrato prince of Vrbin was who caused a yeoman of his chamber to be wrapped in a shéete poudred with sulpher brimstō afterwards kindled with a candle was scalded cōsumed to death bicause only he waked not at an hour by him apointed Let vs not excuse them also frō some affinity with Maufredus the sonne of Henry that second Emperor who smoldered his own father being an old mā betwene y. couerleds These former furies might haue some excuse to couer their crueltie but these had no other cause but a certain beastly madnesse which moued thē to kil those litle childrē their neuews who by no meanes could preiudice or anoy the duke of Malfi or his title in the successiō of his Duchie the mother hauing wtdrawn hir goods was assigned hir dowry but a wicked hart must néedes bring forth semblable works according to his malice In the time of these murders the infortunate 〈◊〉 kept himself at Millan wyth his sonne Federick and vowed himself to that Lord Siluio Sauello who that time belieged the Castell of Millan in the behalf of Maximilian Sforcia which in the end he conquered and recouered by composition with the French within But that charge being archieued the generall Sauello marched from thence to Cremona with his campe whither Bologna durst not folow but repaired to the Marquize of Bitonte in which time that Aragon brethren so wrought as his goods were confiscate at Naples and he driuē to his shifts to vse the golden Duckates which the Duchesse gaue him to relieue him self at Millan whose Death althoughe it was aduertised by many yet hée coulde not be persuaded to beleue the same for that diuers which went about to betray him and feared he should flie from Millan kept his beake in the water as the Prouerbe is and assured him both of the life welfare of his spouse and that shortly his brethren in law wold be reconciled bicause that many Noble mē fauored him well and desired his returne home to his Countrey Fed and filled with that vaine hope he remained more than a yeare at Millan frequenting the companie and well entertained of the richest Marchants and Gentlemen of the Citie and aboue all other he had familiar accesse to the house of the Ladie Hippolita Bentiuoglia where vpon a day after dinner taking his Lute in hand wheron he could exceedingly wel play he began to sing a certain Sonnet which he had composed vpon the discourse of his misfortune the tenor whereof is this The song of Antonio Bologna the husband of the Duchesse of Malfi If loue the death or tract of time haue measured my distresse Or if my beating sorrowes may my languor well expresse Then loue come sone to visit me which most my heart desires And so my dolor findes some ease through flames of fansies fires The time runnes out his rolling course for to prolong mine ease To th end I shall enioy my loue and heart himself appease A cruell Darte brings happy death my soule then rest shall finde And sleping body vnder tombe shall dreame time out of minde And yet the Loue the time nor Death lokes not how I decrease Nor giueth eare to any thing of this my wofull peace Full farre I am from my good happe or halfe the ioy I craue wherby I 〈◊〉 my state with teares draw full nere my graue The courteous Gods that giues me life nowe moues the Planets all For to arrest my groning ghost and hence my sprite to call Yet from them still I am separd by things vnequall here Not mēt the Gods may be vniust that bredes my chāging chere For they prouide by their foresight that none shall doe me harme But she whose blasing beuty bright hath brought me in a charm My mistresse hath the powre alone to rid me from this woe whose thrall I am for whome I die to whome my sprite shall goe Away my soule go from the griefs that thee oppresseth still And let thy dolor witnesse beare how much I want my will For since that loue and death himself delights in guiltlesse bloud Let time trāsport my troubled sprite where destny semeth good His song ended the poore Gentleman could not forbeare frō pouring forth his luke warme teares which aboundantly ran downe his heauie face and his panting sighes truely discouered that alteration of his mind which moued eche wight of that assembly to pitie his mournefull state and one specially of small acquaintaunce and yet knew the deuises which the Aragon brethren had trained and conspired against him that vnacquainted Gentleman
be ne more faithful more affectionate or otherwise moued than the rest yet I am contēt for respect of your honor somewhat to beleue you and to accept you for mine owne sith your discretion is such I trust as so Noble a Gentleman as you be will himself declare in those affairs and whē I sée the effect of my hope I can not be so vnkinde but with all honesty shall assay to satisfie that your loue The Counte seing hir alone and receiuing the Ladies language for his aduauntage and that hir countenance by alteration of hir minde did adde a certaine beautie to hir face and perceiuing a desire in hir that hée shold not vse delay or be too squeimish she demaūding naught else but execution tooke the present offred time forgetting all ceremonies and reuerence he embraced hir and kissed hir a hundred thousand times And albeit she made a certain simple and prouoking resistance yet the louer séeing thē to be but preparatiues for the sport of loue he strayed from the bounds of honestie and threw hir vpon a fielde bed within the Chambre where he solaced himselfe with his long desired sute And finding hir worthy to be beloued and she him a curteous gentleman consulted together for continuance of their amitie in such wise as the Lord Ardizzino spake no more but by the mouth of Bianca Maria and did nothing but what she commaunded being so bewrapped with the heauie mantell of beastly Loue as hée still above night and day in the house of his beloued whereby the brute was noised throughout the Citie and the songs of their Loue more common in eche Citizens mouthe than the Stanze or Sonnets of Petrarch played and sained vpon the Gittorne Lute or Harpe of these of Noble house more fine wittie than those vnsauery 〈◊〉 that be tuned and chaunted in the mouthes of the foolish common sort Behold an Earle well serued and dressed by enioying so false a woman which had already falsified the faith betrouthed to hir husbād who was more honest milde and vertuous than she deserued Beholde ye Noble Gentlemen the simplicitie of this good Earle how it was deceiued by a false and filthy strumpet whose stincking life and common vse of body woulde haue withdrawen each simple creature from mixture of their owne with such a Carrion A lesson to learne all youth to refraine the whoorishe lookes and light conditioned Dames a number the more to be pitied shewing forthe them selues to the portsale of euery cheapener that list demaunde the price the grosenesse whereof before considered were worthy to be defied and loathed This Ladie séeing hir Louer noussed in hir lust dandled him with a thousande trumperies and made hym holde the Mule while other enioyed the secrete sporte which earst hée vsed himself This acquaintance was so daungerous to the Counte as she hir self was shamelesse to the Counte of Celant For the one bare the armes of Cornwall and became a second Acteon and the other wickedly led his life lost the chiefest of that he loked for in the seruice of great princes by the treason of an arrant common 〈◊〉 Whiles this Loue continued in all pleasure and like contentation of either parts Fortune that was ready to mounte the stage and shew in sight that hir mobilitie was no more stable than a womans will For vnder such habite and sere Painters and Poets describe hir made Ardizzino suspecte what desire she had of chaunge and within a while after sawe himself so farre misliked of his Ladie as though he had neuer bene acquainted The cause of that recoile was for that the Countesse was not contented with one kinde of fare and whose eyes were more gredie than hir stomake able to digest and aboue all desired chaunge not séeking meanes to finde him that was worthy to be beloued and intertained of so great a Ladie as she estéemed hir selfe to be and as such women of their owne opinion thinke themselues who counterfaicte more grauitie and reputation than they doe whome nature and vertue for their maiestie and holinesse of life make Noble and praise worthie That desire deceiued hir nothing at all for a certaine time after that Ardizzino possessed the forte of this faire Countesse there came to Pauia one Roberto Sanseuerino Earle of Gaiazzo a yong faire and valiant Gentleman whose Countrey lieth on this side the Mountaines and very familiar with the Earle of Massino This vnfaithful Alcina and cruell Medea had no sonet cast hir eye vpon Signor di Gaiazzo but was pierced with his loue in such wise as if forthwith shée had not attained hir desires she would haue run mad bicause that Gentleman bare a certaine stately representation in his face promised such dexteritie in his déedes as sodainly she thought him to be that man that was able to staunch hir filthy thirst And therfore so gentlely as she could gaue ouer hir Ardizzino with whome she vtterly refused to speake and shunned his cōpanie when she saw him and by shutting the gates against him the Noble man was not able to forbeare from throwing forth some words of choler wherby she tooke occasion both to expell him and also to beare him such displeasure as then she cōspired his death as afterwards you shall perceiue This great hatred was the cause that she being fallen in Loue as you haue heard with the Counte of Gaiazzo shewed vnto him all signe of amitie and séeing that hée made no great sute vnto hir she wrote vnto him in this manner The Letter of Bianca Maria to the Counte of Gaiazzo SIr I doubt not by knowing the state of my degrée but that ye be abashed to sée the violēce of my mind when passing the limites of modestie which ought to guard such a Ladie as I am I am forced uncertain of the cause to doe you vnderstand the griefe that doeth torment me which is of such constraint as if of curtesie ye doe not vouchsafe to visite me you shall commit two faultes the one leauing the thing worthy for you to loue and regard and which deserueth not to be cast off the other in causing the death of hir that for Loue of you is bereft of rest And so loue hath very little in me to sease vpon either of heart or libertie but that ease of grief procéedeth from your only grace which is able to vanquishe hir whose victorious hap hath conquered all other and who attēding your resolut answer shall rest vnder the mercifull refuge of hope which deceiuing hir shall sée by that very meanes the wretched end of hir that is all your owne Bianca Maria Countesse of Celant The yong Lorde much maruelled at this message were it for that already hée was in loue with hir and that for loue of his friend Ardizzino wold not be known thereof or for that he feared she would be straught of wits if she were despised he determined to goe vnto hir yet stayed thought it not to be the
began somewhat to moderate that heat 〈◊〉 acknowledge all the exhortations which he had made to be 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 purpose And then determined to put them in proofe and to be present 〈◊〉 at all the feasts and assemblies of the citie without bearing affection more to one woman than to another And continued in this manner of life 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 months 〈◊〉 by that meanes to quench the sparks of auncient 〈◊〉 It chanced then within 〈◊〉 dayes after about the feast of Christmasse when feasts bankets most commonly be vsed and maskes according to the custome frequented And bicause that Anthome Capellet was the chief of that familie and one of the most principal Lords of the Citie he made a banket and for the better solempnization of the same inuited all the noble mē and dames at what time ther was the most partof that youth of Verona The family of the Capellets as we haue declared in that beginning of this History was at variance with the 〈◊〉 which was the cause that none of that family repaired to that banket but onely the yong Gentleman Rhomeo who came in a 〈◊〉 after supper with certain other yong Gentlemen And after they had remained a certaine space with their visards on at length they did put of the same and Rhomeo very shamefast withdrew himself into a corner of the Hall but by reason of the light of the torches which burned very bright he was by by known and loked vpon of the whole company but specially of the Ladies for bisides his natiue beautie wherewith nature had adorned him they maruelled at his audacitie how he durst presume to enter so secretly into that house of those which had litle cause to do him any good Notwithstanding the Capellets 〈◊〉 their malice either for the honor of the company or else for respect of his age did not misuse him either in word or déede By meanes whereof with frée liberty he behelde and viewed the ladies at his pleasure which he did so wel and with grace so good as there was 〈◊〉 but did very well like the presence of his person And after hée had particularly giuen iudgement vpon the excellency of each one according to his affection he saw one gentlewoman amongs the rest of surpassing beautie who although he had neuer séene hir tofore pleased him aboue the rest attributed vnto hir in heart the 〈◊〉 place for all perfection in beautie And feastyng hir incessantly with piteous lookes the loue which he bare to his first Gentlewoman was ouercomen with this new fire which tooke such norishement and vigor in his heart as he was able neuer to quench the same but by death onely as you may vnderstande by one of the strangest discourses that euer any mortal man deuised The yong Rhomeo then féelyng himselfe thus tossed with this new tempest could not tel what coūtenaunce to vse but was so surprised and chaunged with these last flames as he had almost forgotten him selfe in suche wise as he had not audacitie to enquire what shée was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bent hym selfe to féede his eyes wyth hir 〈◊〉 wherewyth he moystened the swéete amorous venom which dyd so empoyson him as hée ended his dayes with a kynde of moste cruell death The Gentlewoman that dydde put Rhomeo 〈◊〉 suche payne was called Iulietta and was the daughter of Capellet the maister of the house where that assemblie was who as hir eyes dydde roll and wander too and fro by chaunce espied Rhomeo whiche vnto hir séemed to be the goodliest Gentleman that euer shée sawe And Loue which lay in wayte neuer vntyl that tyme assailing the tender heart of that yong Gentlewoman touched hir so at the quicke as for any resistance she coulde make was not able to defende hys forces and then began to set at naught the royalties of the feast and felt no pleasure in hir hart but when she had a glimpse by throwing or receiuing some sight or looke of Rhomeo And after they had cōtented eche others troubled hart with millions of amorous lokes whiche oftentymes interchangeably encountred and met together the burning beames gaue sufficient testimonie of loues priuie onsettes Loue hauing made the heartes breach of those two louers as they two sought meanes to speake together Fortune offered them a very 〈◊〉 and apt occasion A certaine lorde of that troupe and company tooke Iulietta by the hande to daunce wherein shée behaued hir selfe so well and with so excellent grace as shée wanne that daye the price of honour from all the maidens of Verona Rhomeo hauyng foreséene the place wherevnto she minded to retire approched the same and so discretely vsed the matter as he found the meanes at hir returne to sit beside hir Iulietta when the daunce was finished returned to the very place where she was set before and was placed betwene Rhomeo 〈◊〉 other Gentlemā called Mercutio which was a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gentlemā very wel beloued of all men and by 〈◊〉 of his plesāt curteous behauior was in al 〈◊〉 wel intertained Mercutio that was of audacitie amōg maidēs as a lion is among lābes seased inçōtinently vpon the hande of Iulietta whose hands wontedly wer so cold bothe in winter sommer as the mountain yee although the fires heat did warme the same Rhomeo which sat vpon the left side of Iulietta seing that Mercutio held hir by the right hand toke hir by the other that he might not be deceiued of his purpose straining the same a litle he felt himself so prest with that newe fauor as he remained mute not able to answer But she perceiuing by his change of color that the fault proceded of very vehemēt loue desiring to speake vnto him turned hir selfe towards him with 〈◊〉 voice ioyned with virginal shamfastnesse intermedled with a certaine bashfulnesse sayd to him Blessid 〈◊〉 the hour of your nere aproche but minding to procéede in further talke loue had so closed vp hir mouth as she was not able to end hir tale Wherunto the yong gentleman all rauished with ioy and contentation sighing asked hir what was the cause of that right fortunate blessing Iulietta somwhat more emboldned with pitiful loke and smiling countenance said vnto him Syr do not maruell if I do blesse your comming hither bicause sir Mercutio a good time with frosty hand hath wholly frosen mine and you of your curtesie haue warmed the same again Wherunto immediatly Rhomeo replied Madame if the heauēs haue bene so fauorable to employ 〈◊〉 to do you some agreable seruice being repaired 〈◊〉 by chaunce amongs other Gentlemen I estéeme the same well bestowed crauing no greater benefite for satisfaction of all my contentations receiued in this worlde than to serue obey and honor you so long as my life doth last as experience shall yeld more ample proofe when it shall please you to giue further assay Moreouer if you haue receiued any heat by touche of my hand you may be well assured that those flames
of him which doth abuse it Thus much I haue thought good to tell you to the intent that neyther teares nor iron ne yet suspected houre are able to make me guiltie of the murder or make me otherwise than I am but onely the witnesse of mine owne conscience which alone if I were guilty should be the accuser the witnesse and the hangman which by reason of mine age and the reputation I haue had amongs you and the litle time that I haue to liue in this world should more torment me within than all the mortall paines that could be deuised But thankes be to mine eternall God I féele no worme that gnaweth nor any remorse that pricketh me touching that fact for which I sée you all troubled amazed And to set your hearts at rest and to remoue the doubts which hereafter may torment your consciences I sweare vnto you by al the heauenly parts wherein I hope to be that forth with I will disclose frō first to last the entire discourse of this pitifull tragedie which peraduenture shall driue you into no lesse wondre and amaze than those two pore passionate louers were strong and pacient to expone themselues to the mercy of death for the feruent and indissoluble loue betwene them Then the Fatherly Frier began to repeate the beginning of the loue betwene Iuhetta and Rhomeo which by certaine space of time confirmed was prosecuted by woordes at the first then by mutuall promise of mariage vnknowne to the world And as wythin fewe dayes after the two louers féeling themselues sharpned and incited with stronger onset repaired vnto him vnder colour of confession protesting by othe that they were both maried and that if he would not solempnize that mariage in the face of the Church they should be constrained to offend God to liue in disordred lust In consideration whereof and specially seeing their alliance to be good and conformable in dignitie richesse and Nobilitie on both sides hoping by that meanes perchance to reconcile the Montesches and Capcllets and that by doing such an acceptable worke to God he gaue them the Churches blessing in a certaine Chappell of the Friers Church whereof the night following they did consummate the mariage fruites in the Palace of the Capellets For testimony of which copulation the woman of Iuliettaes chamber was able to depose Adding moreouer the murder of Thibault which was cosin to Iulietta by reason whereof the banishment of Rhomeo did 〈◊〉 and how in the absence of the said Rhomeo the mariage being kept secrete betwene them a new Matrimonie was intreated wyth the Counte Paris which misliked by Iulietta she fell downe prostrate at his féete in a Chappell of S. Frauncis Church with full determination to haue killed hir selfe with hir owne hands if he gaue hir not councel how she should auoide the mariage agréed betwene hir father and the Counte Paris For conclusion he sayd that although he was resolued by reason of his age and nearenesse of death to 〈◊〉 all secrete Sciences wherein in his yonger yeares hée had delight notwithstanding pressed with importunitie and moued with pitie fearing least Iulietta should doe some crueltie against hir self he stained his conscience and chose rather with some little fault to grieue his minde than to suffer the yong Gentlewoman to destroy hir body and hazarde the daunger of hir soule And therefore he opened some part of his auncient cunning and gaue hir a certaine pouder to make hir sléepe by meanes wherof she was thought to be 〈◊〉 Then he tolde them how he had sent Frier Anselme to cary letters to Rhomeo of their enterprise whereof hitherto he had no answere Then briefly he concluded how hée founde Rhomeo deade within the graue who as it is most likely did impoison himselfe or was otherwise smothered or suffocated with 〈◊〉 by finding Iulietta in that state thinking she had bene dead Then he tolde them how Iulietta did kill hir selfe with the dagger of Rhomeo to beare him company after his death and howe it was impossible for them to saue hir for the noise of the watche which forced them to flée from thence And for more ample approbation of his saying he humbly besought the Lord of 〈◊〉 and the Magistrates to send to Mantua for Frier Anselme to know the cause of his 〈◊〉 returne that the content of the letter sent to Rhomeo might be séene To examine the woman of the chamber of Iulietta and and Pietro the seruaunt of Rhomeo who not attending for 〈◊〉 request sayd vnto them My Lordes when Rhomeo entred the graue he gaue me this 〈◊〉 written as I suppose with his owne hand who gaue me expresse commaundemēt to deliuer them to his father The pacquet opened they found the whole 〈◊〉 of this story specially the Apothecaries name which solde him the poyson the price and the cause wherfore he vsed it and all appeared to be so cleare and euident as there rested nothing for further verification of the same but their presence at the doing of the particulers therof for the whole was so wel declared in order as they were out of doubt that the same was true And then the Lord Bartholomew of 〈◊〉 after he had debated with that Magistrates of these euents decréed that the woman of Iulietta hir chamber should be 〈◊〉 bicause she did conceyle that priuie mariage from the father of Rhomeo which if it hadde bene knowne in time had bred to the whole Citie an vniuersal benefit Pietro bicause he obeyed his masters commaundemēt and kept close his lawful secrets according to the wel 〈◊〉 nature of a trusty 〈◊〉 was set at liberty The Poticarie taken rackt and founde guiltie was hanged The good olde man Frier Laurence as well for respect of his auncient seruice which he had done to the common wealth of Veronna as also for his 〈◊〉 lyfe for the which he was specially recōmended was let goe in peace withoute any note of infamie Notwithstandyng by reason of his age he voluntarily gaue ouer the worlde and closed him selfe in a hermitage two miles from Veronna where he liued v. or vj. yeares and spente his tyme in cōtinuall prayer vntil he was called out of this transitorie worlde into the blisfull state of euerlasting ioy And for the compassion of so straunge an infortune the Montesches and Capellettes poured forth such abundance of teares as with the same they did euacuate their auncient grudge and choler whereby they were then reconciled And they which coulde not bée broughte to attonement by any wisedome or humane councell were in the ende vanquished and made friendes by pitie And to immortalizate the memorie of so intier and perfect amitie the lorde of Veronna ordeined that the two bodies of those miraculous louers shold be 〈◊〉 intombed in the graue where they ended their 〈◊〉 where was erected a high marble 〈◊〉 honoured with an infinite numbre of excellent 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 this day be apparant with such noble memorie as amongs all
of 〈◊〉 bicause they lay lōg a bed in the mornings commonly seruice in that church was said somwhat late their pewes also somwhat distant one frō an other Whether their y. amorous husbāds cōtinually vsed to folow thē 〈◊〉 off to place themselues wher either of thē might 〈◊〉 view his beloued by which custome they seemed to the cōmon people to be iealous ouer their wiues But they prosecuted that matter in such wise as either of thē weout shipping sought to send other into Cornouale It came to passe then that these 〈◊〉 beloued gētlewomē one knowing nothing of another determined to cōsider better of this loue bicause the great good wil lōg time borne shold not be interrupted Upō a certain day when their 〈◊〉 were abrode resorting together to talk at their garden hedge according to their wōted maner they 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 mery and after louing salutations mistresse Lucia spake these words vnto hir companion Isotta my dear beloued sister I haue a tale to tel you of your husband that perchanuce wil seme stranger thā any newes that euer you heard And I answered mistresse Isotta haue a story to tel you that will make you no lesse to wōder thā I at that which you haue to say and it may be wil put you into some choler chafe What is that quod that one and other In the end either of thē told what 〈◊〉 loue their husbands wēt about Wherat although they were in great rage with their husbands yet for that time they laughed out the matter and thought that they were sufficient as in very déede they were a thing not to be doubted and able to satisfie their husbands hūger and therwithal began to blame them and to say that they deserued to learn to play of the Cornets if they had no greater feare of God and care of honesty thā their husbands had Then after much talke of this matter concluded that they shold do well to expect what their husbands would demaunde Hauing taken order as they thought méete they agréed daily to espie what shoulde chaunce and purposed first with swéete and pleasant lookes to baite and lure eche other féere to put them in hope there 〈◊〉 that they should satisfie their desires which done for that time they departed And when at the Church of Sanfantino or other place in Venice they 〈◊〉 to méete their louers they shewed vnto them chearefull and mery countenaunce which the louers well noting were the gladdest men of the worlde and séeing that it was impossible in speache to vtter their mindes they purposed by letters to signify the same And hauing founde Purciuaunts to goe betwene parties whereof this Citie was wont to be full either of them wrote an amorous letter to his beloued the content whereof was that they were very desirous secretely to talke with them thereby to expresse the burning affectiōs that inwardly they bare them which without declaration and vtterance by mouthe in their owne presence woulde bréede them torments more bitter than deathe And within fewe dayes after 〈◊〉 great difference of time betwéene they wrote their letters But Girolamo Bembo hauing a pregnant wit who coulde wel endite both in prose and 〈◊〉 wrote an excellent song in the praise of his darling in Italian Meter and with his letter sent the same vnto hir the effect wherof both folow ALiuely face and pearcing beautie bright Hath linkt in loue my sely sences all A comely porte a goodly shaped wight Hath made me slide that neuer thought to fall Hir eyes hir grace hir dedes and maners milde So straines my heart that loue hath wit begilde But not one darte of Cupide did me wounde A hundred shafts lights all on me at ones As though dame kinde some new deuise had founde To teare my flesh and crash a two my bones And yet I feele such ioy in these my woes That as I die my sprite to pleasure goes These new found fits such change in me doe breede I hate the day and draw to darknesse lo Yet by the lampe of beautie doe I feede In dimmest dayes and darkest nights also Thus altring state and changing diet still I feele and know the force of Venus will The best I finde is that I doe confesse I loue you dame whose beautie doth excell But yet a toy doth brede me some distresse For that I dread you will not loue me well That loue ye wot shall rest in me alone And fleshly brest shall beare a heart of slone O Goddesse mine yet heare my voyce of ruthe And pitie him that heart presents to thee And if thou want a witnesse for my truthe Let sighs and teares my iudge and record be Vnto the end a day may come in hast To make me thinke I spend no time in wast For nonght preuailes in loue to serue and sue If full effect ioyne not with words at nede What is desyre or any fansies newe More than the winde that spreades abrode in 〈◊〉 My words and works shall bothe in one agree To pleasure hir whose seruant would I bee The subtill dames receiuing those amorous letters and song disdainfully at the first 〈◊〉 to take them at the bringers hands as they had determined yet afterwardes they shewed better countenaunce These letters were tossed one from an other whereat they made great pastime and thought that the same would come to very good successe either of them keping styll their husbandes letter and agréeing withoute iniurie done one to an other trunly to deceiue their husbands The maner how you shal perceiue anone They deuised to sende worde to their louers that they were readie at all times to satisfie their sutes if the same might be secretely done and safely might make repaire vnto their houses when their husbands were absent which in any wise they sayde muste be done in the night for feare least in the day time they were discried Againe these prouident and subtill women had taken order with their maydes whome they made priuie to theyr practise that through their gardens they should enter into others house and be shut in their chambers without light there to tarie for their husbands and by any meanes not to be séene or knowne This order prescribed and giuen Mistresse Lucia first did hir louer to vnderstand that the night insuing at iiij of the clock at the posterne dore which should be left open he shoulde come vnto hir house where hir maide should be redy to bring him vp into the chaumbre bicause hir husbande maister Girolamo woulde that night imbarke himselfe to goe to Padoua The like mistresse Isotta did to maister Girolamo appointing him at v. of the clock which she sayd was a very conuenient time bicause maister Anselmo that night would sup and lie with certaine of his friendes at Murano a place besides Venice Upon these ne wes the two louers thought them selues the most valiant and fortunate of the world no enterprise now there was but séemed
presence of that honourable assemblie cōceiued courage and crauing licence of the Duke to speake with mery countenance and good vttrance began thus to say hir minde Most excellent Prince and ye right honorable lordes perceiuing how my deare husband vncomely and very dishonestly doth vse himselfe against mée in this noble companie I do thinke maister Girolamo Bembo to be affected with like rage minde against this gentlewoman mistresse Lucie his wife although more tēperate in wordes he do not expresse the same Against whom if no replie be made it may séeme that he hath spoken the trouthe and that we by silence should séeme to condemne our selues to be those moste wicked women whom he alleageth vs to be Wherfore by youre gracious pardon and licence moste honourable in the behalfe of mistresse Lucie and my selfe for our defense I purpose to declare the effect of my mind although my purpose be cleane altered from that I had thought to say beyng now iustly prouoked by the vnkinde behauiour of him whome I doe loue better than my selfe which had he bene silent and not so rashly runne to the ouerthrow of me and my good name I wold haue conceiled and onely touched that which shoulde haue concerned the purgation and sauegard of them both which was the onely intent meaning of vs by making our hūble supplication to your maiesties Neuerthelesse so so farre as my féeble force shall stretch I will assay to do both the one and the other although it be not appropriate to our kinde in publike place to declame or yet to open such bold attempts but that necessitie of matter and oportunitie of time and place dothe bolden vs to enter into these termes wherof we craue a thousād pardons for our vnkindely dealings and rēder double thanks to your honors for admitting vs to speake Be it knowne therfore vnto you that our husbandes against duetie of loue lawes of mariage and against all reason do make their heauie complaints which by by I wil make plaine and euident I am right well assured that their extreme rage bitter heartes sorow do procéede of y. occasions The one of the murder wherof they haue falsly accused thē selues the other of iealosy which grieuously doth gnawe their hearts thinking vs to be vile abhominable womē bicause they were surprised in eche others chāber Concerning the murder if they haue soiled their hāds therin it appertaineth vnto you my lords to rēder their desert But how can the same be layd to our charge for somuch as they if it wer done by thē cōmited the same without our knowlege our help coūsel And truly I sée no cause why any of vs ought to be burdened with that outrage and much lesse cause haue they to lay the same to our charge For méete it is that he that doth any vnlawful act or is accessarie to the same shold suffer that due penaltie seuere chastisement accordingly as the sacred lawes do prescribe as an example for other to abstein from wicked facts But herof what néede I to dispute wherin the blind may sée to be none offense bicause thanks be to God Maister Aloisio liueth which declareth the fond cōfession of our vngitle husbands to be cōtrary to trouth And if so be our husbāds in dede had done such an abhominable enterprise reason and duetie had moued vs to sorowe and lament them bicause they be borne of noble blood and be gentlemen of this noble citie which like a pure virgin inuiolably doth cōserue hir laws customs Great cause I say had we to lamēt them if like homicides murderers they had spotted their noble blood with such fowle 〈◊〉 therby deseruing death to leaue vs yong womē widowes in woful plight Now it behoueth mée to speake of the iealoufis they haue conceiued of vs for that they were in ech others chāber which truly is the doubtful knot scruple that forceth al their disdaine griefe This I knowe well is the naile that pierceth their heart other cause of offense they haue not who like men not well aduised without examination of vs and oure demeanour bée fallen into despaire and like men desperate 〈◊〉 wrongfully accused themselues But bicause I may not consume words in vain to stay you by my long discourse from matters of greater importāce I humbly beséech you right excellent prince to cōmaunde them to tel what thing it is which so bitterly doth tormēt them Then the Duke caused one of the noble men assistant there to demaund of them the question who answered that the chiefest occasion was bicause they knew their wiues to be harlots whō they supposed to be very honest for somuch as they knew them to be such they conceiued sorow and grief which with suche extremitie did gripe thē at that heart as not able to sustain that great infamy ashamed to be sene of mē wer induced through desire of deth to cōfesse that they neuer did Mistresse Isotta hering thē say so begā to speke againe turning hir self vnto them Were you offended then at a thing which ye thought incōueniēt not mete to be done We then haue greatest cause to cōplaine Why then 〈◊〉 husbande went you to the chamber of mistresse Lucie at that time of the night What had you to do there what thyng thought you to finde there more than was in your own house And you master Girolamo what cōstrained you to forsake your wiues bed to come to my husbands wher no man euer had or at this present hath to do but him self were not that shetes of the one so white so fine neat swéet as the other I am moste noble Prince sorie to declare my husbands folie and ashamed that he should forsake my bed to go to an other that did accompt my selfe so wel worthy to entertaine hym in myne owne as the best wife in Venice and now through his abuse I abstaine to shewe my selfe amongs the beautiful and noble dames of this Citie The like misliking of hir selfe is in mistresse Lucie who as you sée may bée numbred amongs the fairest Either of you ought to haue ben cōtented with your wiues not as wickedly you haue done to forsake them to séeke for better bread than is made of wheate or for purer golde than whereof the Angel is made O worthy dede of yours that haue the face to leaue your owne wiués that be comely faire honest to séeke after strange carrion O beastly order of men that can not content their lust within the boūdes of their owne house but must go hunt after other women as beasts do after the next of their kinde that they chaunce vpon What vile affection possessed your harts to lust after others wife You make complainte of vs but wée with you haue right good cause to bée offended you ought to be grieued with youre owne disorder and not with others offense and this youre affliction paciently to beare bycause you wente about
who thinke my self of 〈◊〉 born and sustained in my first yong age to be the 〈◊〉 man and 〈◊〉 seruaunt of you my 〈◊〉 deare 〈◊〉 whome alone I yelde my heart 〈◊〉 as it is and the ioy of 〈◊〉 thoughts 〈◊〉 in my 〈◊〉 by the contemplation and remembraunce of your excellent and perfect grace wherof if I be not fauored I 〈◊〉 for death from which euen presently I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feare of that which she can doe or of the vgly 〈◊〉 which I conceiue to be in hir but rather to confirme my life this body for instrument to exercise the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for doing of your commaundements where I shall proue that vnworthy cruelty both of your gentle 〈◊〉 and of the body fraught ful of that which dame Nature can departe of hir aboundant graces 〈◊〉 sure madame that you shall shortly sée the end of him which attendeth yet to beare so much as in him 〈◊〉 lie the vehement loue into an other world which maketh me to pray you to haue pitie on him who attending the rest and final sentence of his death or life doth humbly kisse your white and delicate hands 〈◊〉 god to giue to you like 〈◊〉 as his is who 〈◊〉 to be Wholy yours or not to be at all Philiberto of Virle The letter written closed and sealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 neighbour who promised him againe to 〈◊〉 him 〈◊〉 at night Thus thys 〈◊〉 went hir way leauing this poore languishing Gentleman hoping against his hope and faining by and by some ioy and pleasure wherin he 〈◊〉 himself with great contented minde Then sodainly he called againe vnto remembrance the crueltie 〈◊〉 of Zilia which shewed before his eyes so many kindes of deathe as times he thought vpon the same thinking that he saw the choler wherewith his little courteous mistresse furiously did intertaine the messanger who found Zilia comming forth of a gardein adioyning to hir house and hauing saluted hir and receiued like courteous salutation she would haue framed hir talke for honest excuse in that 〈◊〉 charge message for hir also vnto whome she was sent and for some ease to the pore getleman which aproched nearer death than life But Zilia brake of hir talke saying I maruell much gentle neighbor to sée you héere at this time of the day knowing your honest custome is to let passe no minute of the time except it be employed in some vertuous exercise Mistresse answered the messanger I thank you for the good opinion you haue of me and doe pray you to 〈◊〉 the same For I do assure you that nothing vaine of little effect hath made me slacke my businesse at this time which me think I do not 〈◊〉 when I inforce my self to take pitie and mercy vpon the afflicted sort and the cause therof I would disclose if I feared not to offend you and breake the loue which of long time betwene vs two hath bene frequented I know not sayd Zilia wherunto your words do tēd although my heart doth throbbe and minde doth moue to make me thinke your purposed talke to be of none other effecte than to say a 〈◊〉 which may redoūd to the preiudice of mine 〈◊〉 Wherfore I pray you doe not open any thing that 〈◊〉 be contrary be it neuer so little to the duetie of Dames of our degrée Mistresse sayd the neighboure I suppose that the little likelihoode which is in you with the thing for the helpe whereof I come to speake hath made you féele the passion contrary to the griefe of him that indures so much for your sake Unto whome not thinking therof I gaue my faith in pledge to beare this Letter In saying so she drew the same out of hir bosome and presenting them to cruell 〈◊〉 she sayde I beseeche you to thinke that I am not ignoraunt of the 〈◊〉 wherewith the Lorde of 〈◊〉 is affected who wrote these letters I promised him the duetie of a messanger towardes you and so constrained by promise I could doe no lesse than to deliuer you that which he doeth send with seruice such as shall 〈◊〉 for euer or if it shall please you to accept him for such a one as he desireth For my parte I pray you to reade the contents and accordingly to giue me answere for my faith is no further bound but faithfully to reporte to him the thing whereupon you shall be resolued Zilia which was not wont to receiue very ofte such embassades at the first was in minde to breake the letters and to returne the messanger to hir shame But in the end taking heart and chaunging hir affection she red the letters not without shewing some very great alteration outwardely which declared the meaning of hir thought that diuersly did striue within hir minde for sodainely the chaunged hir coloure twice or thrice now waring pale like the increasing 〈◊〉 Eclipsed by the Sunne when the féeleth a certaine darkening of hir borowed light then the Uermilion and coloured tainte came into hir face againe with no lesse hewe than the blomed Rose newly budded forth which encreased halfe so much againe the excellencie of that wherewith Nature 〈◊〉 indued hir And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 paused a while Notwithstanding after that shée had redde and redde againe hir louers letter not able to dissemble hir foolishe anger which vered hir hearte she sayd vnto the mistresse messanger I wold not haue thought that you being suche as eche man knoweth would by abusing your duetie haue bene the ambassador of a thing so vncomely for your estate and the house whereof you come and towardes me which neuer was such one ne yet pretend to be to whome sute should be made for doing of such follies And trust to it that it is the loue I beare you which shall make me dissemble that I thinke and holde my peace reseruing in silence that which had it come from an other than you I would haue published to the great dishonoure of hir which had made so little accompte of my chastitie Let it suffise therfore in time to come for you to thinke and beleue that I am chaste and honest and to aduertise the Lord of 〈◊〉 to procéede no further in his sute for rather will I die than agrée to the least point of that which he desires of me And that he may knowe the same be well assured that he shall take his leaue of that priuate talke which sometimes I vsed with him to my great dishonor as farre as I can sée Get you home therefore and if you loue your honoure so much as you sée me curious of my chastitie I beséeche you vse no further talke of him whome I hate so much as his 〈◊〉 is excessiue by louing hir which careth not for those amorous toyes and sained passions whereunto such louing fooles do suffer them selues to be caried headlong The messanger ashamed to heare hir selfe thus pinched to the quicke answered hir very quietly without mouing of hir pacience I pray to God mistresse that he
the fault to conceiue no sinister suspicion of thy running away crauing thyne acquaintaunce and is contented to sacrifice him self vnto thyne anger to appease and mitigate thy rage Nowe to speake no more hereof but to procede in that which I began to say I offer vnto thée then bothe death and loue choose whether thou liste For I sweare againe by hym that séeth and heareth al things that if thou play the foole thou shalt féele and proue me to be the cruellest enimie that euer thou hadst and such a one as shall not feare to imbrue 〈◊〉 handes with the bloode of hir that is the deathe of the chiefest of all my friendes Gineura hearing that resolute answere 〈◊〉 hir selfe to be nothing afraide nor declared any token of feare but rather 〈◊〉 to haue encouraged Roderico in braue and mannish sort farre diuers from the simplicitie of a yong and tender maidē as a man wold say such a one as had neuer felt the assault es and troubles of aduerse fortune Wherfore frouncing hir browes and grinning hir téeth with closed 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 very bolde she made hym aunswere Ah thou knight which once gauest assault to cōmit a villanie treason thinkest thou now without remorse of conseience to cōtinue thy mischief I speake it to thée villain which 〈◊〉 shed the blood of an honester mā thā thou art fearest not nowe to make mée a companion of his death Which thing spare not hardily to 〈◊〉 to the intent that I liuing may not be such a one as thou falsly iudgest me to be for neuer man hitherto 〈◊〉 and neuer shall that he hathe hadde the spoyle of my virginitie from the frute whereof lyke an arrant thiefe thou hast depriued my loyall spouse Nowe doe what thou list for I am farre better content to suffer death be it as cruel as thou art mischeuous borne for the 〈◊〉 vexation of honest maidēs not withstanding I humbly beséech almightie God to gyue 〈◊〉 so muche pleasure contentation and ioy in thy loue 〈◊〉 thou hast done to me by hastening the death of my dere husbande O God if thou be a iust God suche a one as from whome wée thy poore creatures do beleue all 〈◊〉 to procéede thou I say which art the rampire and refuge of all iustice poure downe thy vengeance and plague vpon these pestiferous thieues and murderers which haue prepared a worldely plague vpon me thine innocent damsell Ah wicked Roderico thinke not that death can be so fearefull vnto mée but that wyth good heart I am able to accept the same trusting verily that one daye it shall be the cause of thy ruine and ouerthrowe of hym for whom thou takest all these pains Dom Roderico maruellously rapte in sense imagined the woman to be fully bent against hym who then had puissaunce as he thought ouer hir owne hearte and thynkyng that he sawe hir moued with like rage against hym as she was against Dom Diego stode still so perplered and voyde of righte minde that hée was constrained to sitte downe so feeble he felt him self for the onely remembrance of hir euill demeanor And whilest this was a doing the handemayde of Gineura and hir Page inforced to persuade their mystresse to haue compassion vpon the knight that hadde suffered so muche for hir sake and that she would consente to the honest requestes and good counsell of Roderico But she which was stubbornly bente in hir foolishe persuasions sayd vnto them What fooles are you so much be witched either with that fained teares of this disloyal knight which colorably thus doth torment himself or els ar ye inchāted with the venomous honie tirānical brauerie of the thief which murdered my husband and your master Ah vnhappie caytife maiden is it my chaunce to endure the 〈◊〉 of suche Fortune when I thoughte to liue at my beste case and thus cruelly to tomble into the handes of hym whome I hate so much as he fayneth loue vnto me And morcouer my vnluckie fate is not herewith content but redoubleth my sorrowe euen by those that be of my frayn who ought rather to incourage me to die than consente to so vureasonable requests Ah loue loue how euil be they recompenced which faithfully do homage vnto thée why should not I forget al 〈◊〉 neuer hereafter to haue mind on mā to proue beginning of a pleasure which tasted and 〈◊〉 bringeth more displeasure than euer ioy engendred 〈◊〉 Alas I neuer knewe what was the frute of that which so straungely did attache me and thou O 〈◊〉 and thieuishe Loue haste ordeined a banket 〈◊〉 with such bitter dishes as forced I am perforce to taste of their egre swéetes Auaunt swéete foly auant I doe henceforth for euer let thée 〈◊〉 to imbrace the death wherein I hope to finde my greatest reste for in thée I fynde noughte else but heapes of straynyng 〈◊〉 Auoyde from me all my myssehap 〈◊〉 from me ye furious ghostes and 〈◊〉 most vnkynde whose gaudes and toyes dame loue hath wrought to kéepe occupied my louing minde and suffer me to take ende in thée that I may lyue in an other life without thée being now charged with cup of grief which I shal 〈◊〉 in venomous drink soaked in the soppes of 〈◊〉 Sharpen thou thy selfe O death vnkinde prepare thy darte to strike the corpse of hir that she may voyd the quarels shot against hir by hir aduersarie Ah pore hart strip thy self from hope and qualifie thy desires Cease henceforth to wishe thy lyfe séeing and féeling the appointed fight of loue and life combattyng within my minde elsewhere to séeke my peace in an other world with him to ioy which for my sake was sacrificed to the treason of varlets hands who for the persite 〈◊〉 of his desires nought else didde séeke but to soile his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the purest bloode of my loyall friend And I this abundance of teares do sheade to saciate his felonous moode which shall be the iuste shortenyng of my doleful dayes When she had thus complained she began horribly to torment hir selfe and in furious guise that the cruellest of the companie were moued wyth compassion séeing hir thus strangely straught of wits 〈◊〉 they did not discontinue by duetie to sollicite hir to haue regarde to that whiche poore fayntyng Dom Diego dyd endure Who so sone as with fresh 〈◊〉 water hée was reuiued 〈◊〉 stil the heauinesse of his Ladie and hir incresed disdain and choler against him vanished in diuers soundings which moued Roderico frō studie 〈◊〉 wherin he was to ryse wherevnto that rage of Gineura had cast him down bicause forgetting all imaginarie affection of his Ladie and proposing his dutie before his eyes which eche Gentleman oweth to gentle damsels and women kind stil beholdyng with honourable respect the griefe of the martyred wyldernesse Knight sighyng yet by reason of former thought he sayde vnto Gincura Alas is it possible that in the heart of so yong and delicate a maiden there
tourne but his greatest fame rose of his clemencie and curtesie In such wise as he shewed hym selfe to be gentle and fauourable euen to them whome he knewe not to loue him otherwise than if he had bene their mortal enimie His successors as Augustus Vespasianus Titus Marcus Aurelius Flauius were worthily noted for clemencie Notwithstandyng I sée not one drawe néere to great courage and gentlenesse ioyned with the singular curtesie of Dom Roderigo Viuario the Spaniarde surnamed Cid towarde Kyng Pietro of Aragon that hyndred his expedition againste the Mores at Grenadoe For hauyng vanquished the 〈◊〉 King and taken hym in battell not only remitted the reuenge of his wrong but also suffered hym to goe without raunsome and toke not from him so much as one forte estéeming it to be a better exploite to winne such a king with curtesie than beare the name of cruell in putting hym to death or seazing vpon his lande But bicause acknowledging of the poore and enriching the small is more cōmendable in a Prince than when he sheweth himselfe gentle to his like I haue collected thys discourse and facte of Kyng Mansor of Marocco whose children by subtile and fained religion Cherif succéeded the sonne of whome at this day inioyeth the kingdoms of Su Marocco and the most part of the 〈◊〉 confinyng vpon Aethiopia This historie was told by an Italian called Nicholoso Baciadonne who vpon this accident was in Affrica and in trafike of marchandise in the land of Oran situated vpon the coast of that South seas and where the Geneuois and Spaniards vse great entercourse bicause the countrey is faire wel peopled and where the inhabitaunts although the soile be barbarous lyue indifferent ciuilly vsing greate curtesie to straungers and largely departyng their goodes to the poore towards whome they be so earnestly bente and louing as for their liberalitie and pitifull alinesse they shame vs Christians They mainteyne a greate numbre of Hospitalls to receyue and intertaine the poore and néedie which they doe more charitably than they that be bounde by the lawe of Iesus Christe to vse charitie towardes their brethren wyth that curtesie and humaine myldnesse These Oraniens delight also to recorde in writing the successe of things that chaunce in their tyme and carefully reserue the same in memorie whiche was the cause that hauyng registred in theyr Chronicles which be in the Arabie letters as the moste parte of the Countreys do vse thys present historie they imparted the same to the Geneuois marchauntes of whome the Italian Author confesseth 〈◊〉 haue receyued the Copie The cause why that Geneuois marchaunt was so diligent to make that enquirie was by reason of a citie of that prouince built through the chaunce of this Historie and which was called in theyr tongue Caesar Elcabir so much to say as A great Palace And bycause I am assured that curteous mynds will delight in déedes of curtesie I haue amongs other the Nouells of Bandello chosen by Francois de Belleforest and my selfe discoursed thys albeit the matter be not of great importance and greater thyngs and more notorious curtesies haue bene done by our owne kings and Princes As of Henry the eyght a Prince of notable memorie in his progresse in to the Northe the xxxiij yeare of his raigne when he disdained not a pore Millers house being stragled from his traine busily pursuing the Hart and there vnknown of the Miller was welcomed with homely chere as his mealy house was able for the time to minister and afterwards for acknowledging his willing minde recompenced him with dainties of the Courte and a Princely rewarde Of Edward the thirde whose Royall nature was not displeased pleasauntly to vse a 〈◊〉 Tanner when deuided from his company he mette him by the way not farre from Tomworth in Staffordshire and by cheapening of his welfare stéede for stedinesse sure and able to cary him so farre as the stable dore grewe to a price and for exchaunge the Tanner craued 〈◊〉 shillings to boote betwene the Kings and his And whē the King satisfied with disport desired to shew himself by sounding his warning blast assembled al his train And to the great amaze of the pore Tanner when he was guarded with that 〈◊〉 he well guerdoned his good pastime and familiare dealing with the order of 〈◊〉 and reasonable reuenue for the maintenaunce of the same The like examples our Chronicles memory and report plentifully doe auouche and witnesse But what this History is the more rare and worthy of noting for respect of the people and Countrey where seldome or neuer curtesie haunteth or findeth harboroughe and where Nature doth bring forth greater store of monsters than things worthy of praise This great King Mansor then was not onely the temporall Lord of the Countrey of Oran and Moracco but also as is saide of Prete Iean Bishop of his law and the Mahomet priest as he is at this day that 〈◊〉 in Feze Sus and Marocco Now this Prince aboue all other pleasure 〈◊〉 the game of Hunting And he so muche delighted in that passetime as sometime he would cause his Tentes in the midde of the desertes to be erected to lie there all night to the ende that the next day he might renewe his game and 〈◊〉 his men of idlenesse and the wilde beastes of rest And this manner of life he vsed still after he had done iustice and hearkened the complaintes for which his subiectes came to disclose thereby their griefes Wherin also he toke so great pleasure as some of our Magistrates doe seke their profite whereof they be so squeymishe as they be desirous to satisfie the place whereunto they be called and render all men their right due vnto them For with their bribery and sacred golden hunger Kings and Princes in these dayes be yll serued the people wronged and the wicked out of feare There is none offense almost how villanous so euer it be but is washed in the water of bribery and clensed in the holly drop wherewith the Poetes faine Iupiter to corrupt the daughter of Acrisius faste closed within the brasen Toure And who is able to resist that which hath subdued the highest powers Now returne we from our wanderings This great King Mansor on a day 〈◊〉 his people to hunt in the not marish fenny Countrey which in elder age was farre off from the Citie of Asela which the Portugalles holde at this present to make the way more frée into the Isles of Molncca of the most parte whereof their King is Lord. As he was attentife in folowing a Bear his passe-time at the best the Elementes began to darke and a great tempest rose such as with the storme violent wind scattred the train far of from the King who not knowing what way to take nor into what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 retire to auiode the tempest the greatest the he felt in all his life would wyth a good wyl haue ben accōpanied as the Troiane 〈◊〉 was
when being in like pastyme and feare hée was constrayned to enter into a caue wyth his Quéene Dido where he perfourmed the ioyes of hys vnhappie mariage But Mansor béeyng withoute companie and withoute any Caue at hande wandered alongs the Champayne so carefull of his life for feare of wylde beastes which flocke together in those desertes as the Curtiers were 〈◊〉 for that they knewe not whether their Prince was gone And that which chiefly grieued Mansor was hys being alone without a guide And for all he was well mounted he durste passe no further for feare of drownyng and to be destroyed amiddes those Marshes whereof all the countrey was very full On the one side he was frighted with thunderclaps which rumbled in the aire very thicke terrible On the other side the lightning cōtinually flashed on his face the roring of the beastes appalled him the ignorāce of the way so astoonned him as he was afraid to fal into the running brookes which the outragious raines had caused to swel rise It is not to be doubted that orisons and prayers vnto his great prophet Mahomet were forgotten whether he were more deuout than when he went on pilgrimage to the Idolatrous Temple of Mosqua Hée complayned of yll lucke accusyng Fortune but chiefly hys owne follie for giuing himselfe so much to hunting for the desire whereof he was thus straggled into vnknowen Countreyes Sometimes he raued and vomyted his gall agaynst his gentlemen and houshold seruants and threatned death vnto his garde But afterwardes when reason ouershadowed his sense he sawe that the time and not their negligence or litle care caused that disgrace He thought that his Prophet had poured downe that tempest for some Notable sinne and had brought him into suche so daūgerous extremity for his faults For which cause he lifted vp his eyes and made a thousand Mahomet mowes and Apish mocks according to their manner And as he fixed his eyes a lost vp to the heauens a flashe of lightning glaunced on his face so violently as it made him to holde downe his head like a little childe reproued by his master But he was further daunted and amazed when he sawe the night approche which with the darknesse of his cloudy mantel stayed his pace from going any further brought him into such perplexitie as willingly he wold haue forsaken bothe his hunting and company of his seruauntes to be quitte of that daunger But God carefull of good minds with what law so euer they be trained vp and who maketh the sunne to shine vpon the iust and vniust prepared a meanes for his sauegarde as ye shall heare The Africane King being in this traunce and naked of all hope necessity which is the clearest thing of sight that is made him diligently to loke about whether he could sée any persone by whom he might attaine some securitie And as he thus bent himselfe to discry all the partes of the Countrey he saw not farre of from him the glimpse of a light which glimmered out at a little window whereunto he addressed himself perceiued that it was a simple cabane situate in the middest of the sennes to which he approched for his succor defense in the time of that 〈◊〉 He reioysed as you may think and whither his heart lept for ioy I leaue for them to iudge which haue assayed like daungers how be it I dare beleue that the sailers on the seas féele no greater ioy whē they ariue to harborough thā the king of Marocco did or when after a Tempest or other perill they disery vpon the prowe of their shippe the brightnesse of some cliffe or other land And this king hauing felt the tempest of winde raine haile lightening and Thunder claps compassed round about with Marshes and violent streames of little rieurs that ran along his way thought he had found a Paradise by chauncing vpon that rusticall lodge Now that Cotage was the refuge place of a pore Fisher man who liued and susteined his wife and children with Eeles which he toke alongs the diches of those déepe and huge Marshes Mansor when he was arriued to the dore of that great palace couered and thacked with Réede called to them within who at the first would make no answer to the Prince that taried their cōming at the gate Then he knocked again and with louder voice than before which caused this fisher man thinking that he had bene some Rippier to whom he was wont to sel his ware or else some straūger strayed out of his way spedily wēt out and séeing the King wel mounted and richly clothed and albeit he toke him not to be his soueraigne Lord yet he thought he was some one of his Courtly Gentlemen Wherefore he sayd what fortune hathe driuen yeu sir into these so desert and solitary places and such as I maruel that you were not drowned a hundred times in these streames and bottomes whereof this Marrish and 〈◊〉 Countrey are full It is the great God answered Mansor which hath had some care of me and will not suffer me to perish without doing greater good turnes better déedes than hitherto I haue done The kings cōming thither séemed to Prognosticate that which after chaunced and that God had poured downe the tempest for the wealth of the Fisher man and commodity of the Countrey And the straying of the King was a thing appoynted to make voyde those Marshes and to purge and clense the Countrey Semblable chaunces haue happened to other Princes as to Constantine that great besides his Citie called New Rome whē he caused certaine Marshes and Diches to be filled vp and dryed to build a faire and sumptuous Temple in the honor and memory of that blessed Uirgin that brought forth the Sauior of the world But tel me good mā replied Mansor cāst thou not shew me the way to the Court and whether the King is gone for gladly if it were possible would I ride thither Uerely sayd the Fisher man it will be almost day before ye can come there the same being x. leagues from hēce Forsamuch as thou knowest the way answered Mansor doe me so great pleasure to bring me thither be assured that besides the that good turne for which I shall be bound vnto thée I wil curteously content thée for thy paines Syr sayde the pore man you séeme to be an honest gentleman wherfore I pray you to light and to tary héere this night for that it is so late and the way to the Citie is very euill and combersome for you to passe No no said the King if it be possible I must repaire to the place whither the King is gone wherefore doe so muche for me as to be my guide and thou shalt sée whether I be vnthankefull to them that imploy their paines for me If King Mansor sayd the Fisher man were héere himselfe in person and made the like request I would not be so very a foole nor so presumptuous at