Murtherer he will become his own Have the gods been so miraculously your Preservers to make you become as miraculously your own Destroyer Have I endangered my life to save yours and is this the return you make me Are we not miserable enough by our Destinies but we must make our selves more by our Despair Cruel Artabbanes if Death only can give us ease was there ever any such disproportion in our Judgments as should induce you now to believe a disproportionate Fate shall create a resembling satisfaction Or do you detest my Constancy that you take so sudden and â—atal a Course to avoid beholding it Great gods she continued raising her voice and her hands if already my afflictions have not evidenced my fidelity give me Tryals of it as great as it self and let the residue of my Life be spent in such sufferings as may manifest that immutability which it seems my past ones could not My Prince said Symander more wounded with these words than he was with his Enemies Swords having first obtain'd from Parthenissa that she would sit upon his Bed with as many sighs as words told her It is time my Princess it is now time if it had not been before to act what you are come to interrupt Can I live but in a higher Crime than to become my own Murtherer after you interpret a production of my Flame and Care to be one of my hatred and jealousie Alas those are both equal and impossible Sins That I can hate the fair Parthenissa is so egregious a misbelief that but to name is to confute it and to doubt her Constancy is to doubt what by a sad and happy experiment I have found is as transcendent in perfection as to suspect it is the contrary in an opposite extream No Madam what I was doing proceeded absolutely from my love to my Princess and from my knowledg of her Constancy The first of these made me esteem it both just and rational to set a period to an unfortunate Life which experimentally I found had hitherto rendered hers so and the last made me esteem it as just and rational since her Constancy by what she had so often and so recently performed would confine her to a Fate which the gods had confined to eternal misfortunes to cut off the cause of their Cruelty and leave them thereby as little excuse for the continuation of it as while she so infinitely misplaces the blessing of her affection she affords them too much In brief Madam I was prectising but what you approved in Surena for I was but taking away a Life that had indanger'd yours which is so great a Duty that without a proportionate Injustice you cannot hinder it Are you then Artabbanes the Princess replyed so ignorant of my affection as to believe I can survive the object of it the gods by what they do but indanger our Lives but you by what you design will inevitably end them can an evincement that I love you more induce you to love me and your self the less We are not miserable enough to despair when we can make our selves more so and what you so fatally design will abundantly do it The gods as they have hitherto tryed our Constancies will in the future reward them if what you intend prevent it not Do not therefore my Artabbanes doubly injure them by doubting of their Mercy and by hindering them to act it I do not tell you this that I decline bearing you company no I am ready to do it By killing your self you cannot more certainly go before me to another life than I will the same moment follow you neither can you suspect that she who has been your Companion in the sufferings of Virtue will decline being so when you go to receive the reward of it I should never finish my Relation said Symander did I particularize all their discourses I will therefore only tell you their result which was That after many reasons Parthenissa's prevailed but then my Prince's retributions had almost proved as fatal as his Despair for forcing himself to make them in a posture fitting their condition not his a great wound he had received in the side unfortunately opened out of which there issued such a flux of blood that the Chyrurgeons could not be more troubled at it than they were to stop it and one of the remedies they prescribed for that end was that Parthenissa should leave the Chamber which she obeyed after she had received many reiterated protestations that Artabbanes did leave off all violent designs against his own Life and consequently against hers I will not continued Symander any longer usurp upon your patiences which I fear my just concerns in every particular action of my Prince's has already made me do too much you shall therefore only know that my wounds by the fair Emilia's care were recovered before my Princes wherby I was freed by being enabled to wait on him from a greater trouble than they themselves had been Surena not only knew what belonged to a Gentleman but practised it by a constant visiting of Artabbanes and by demonstrating as much care in his recovery as if it had been to have restored him to hopes and not to have deprived him of them And truly except his Crimes in love I never knew him guilty of any nor never act what was unworthy the noble Title of Zephalinda's Brother but in his Flame he was as criminal as unsuccessful though his Partizans alledged that only therein being so it was not his Nature but Passion which offended During my Prince's danger Surena permitted Parthenissa unrestrainedly to visit him either out of Civility or Revenge the first that he might be denyed nothing conducive to his health and the last that she might see that he wanted it but as soon as that was restored he lost a conversation which made him think it a misfortune but this was so handsomly carried that it was only in Surena's absence who went to the Frontiers to receive his Brother and his Army and perhaps he elected that course to induce Parthenissa to with for his return as also in his absence to hinder an union which had so narrowly been interrupted The fair Emilia and I were the constant Ambassadors between the generous Lovers and by the excellent example of their Passion learned to form our own Surena having met Vixores sent him and his Forces to joyn with Merinzor but being himself more concerned in Love than Glory returned to Arsacia where he received the intelligence that Tygranes before sillaces and Zenophon were joyned with him being impatient at Mâ—rinzor's in some manner besieging him had put his Fate to a Battel which he had lost and with exceeding difficulty recovered the walls of Eâ—batan under which it had been fought that when the king was reduced to the last extremity the Parthian Ambassador with 5000 of Zenophon's Army had forced the Guards of the Camp and flung himself into the City which he despaired
Launces yet there hapned an accident which wholly subverted the first intention of so innocent a meeting The exercises of it were to last three days and Fortune to evince her blindness had permitted me the two first to remain victorious But as I was coming out of the Lists attended by the acclamations and company of my friends we heard a great noise of Trumpets and Clarions which imposed on us a general stop and silence the King too and all the Court at so unexpected Musick return'd to their seats to learn the cause of it Their curiosity was soon satisfied by the appearing of Four and twenty Blackamoor Pages richly cloath'd and well horst who carried each of them at the end of an Ebony stick tipt with gold the several Picture of some excellent Beauty These were followed by their Master who was advantageously mounted and whose Helmet being open'd discover'd a Face more capable to create fear than any other Passion and yet even in those barbarous features there was an ample evidence of a resembling courage and magnanimity As soon as he was come near the highest Scaffold he sent one of the six Pages which followed him to enquire where the King was who having obey'd and satisfied his Lord he himself immediately advanc'd towards Arsaces and made him a salutation much after the rate of these ensuing words Sir said he I am of that Arabia which is called the Happy and am in some degree ally'd to the King of that Countrey I ador'd a Beauty there which had no defect but her cruelty and though that soon ended with her life yet my Passion instead of dying with the object of it did the contrary for it increast to such a height that it seemed all those flames with which she set so many hearts on fire flew into mine as the seat of the great'st and perfect'st Empire And though time be the common cure of most misfortunes yet it prov'd the increase of mine for the more I reflected on my loss the greater I always found it and at last the operation of so just a grief reduc'd me to so deep a melancholly that my King came to visit me and to cure my Passion spoke so many impious things against the perfection that had created it which he injuriously said was equall'd by many that not daring to expiate his offence with his life because of his character I publickly vow'd never to continue in his Dominions and that I would visit all the Courts of Asia to justifie that none but my own King durst say any Beauty was comparable to that of the fair Mizalinza's To effect this I instantly abandon'd the place of my birth and publisht my design and the conditions of the Combat if any were so vain as to undertake it which were That whosoever should defend the object of his Passion by equalling it to her that created mine in case I became victorious he should give me the Picture of his Mistris which I ever after carried with me and hung up as a Trophy These Four and twenty several Beauties had the ill fortune to be compar'd to Mizalinza's and by the Death or Conquest of those which ador'd them are now to wait upon her whom their deluded Lovers equall'd them to The fame of this great meeting has drawn me Sir to your Court where if any be so presumptuous as to justifie such folly I will not with my Lance alone which I understand is the onely Arms of this Tilting but with my Sword maintain a truth which Mizalinza's eyes more than the defeat of the greatest Courages in the World hath abundantly justified But perhaps he coutinued that the sight of this charming beauty will produce a confession which may exempt my Sword from that trouble Thereupon with a deep reverence he drew out the Copy of so glorified an Original and having exposed it to all our views he further added that if any durst undertake to lessen her perfection by a comparison that the next morning he would appear on the same place he was then on to manifest to the offender that nothing but his blood was capable to wash away his crime Then without staying for any answer he retir'd to his Lodgings and left us in as great an astonishment at his insolence as at his Passion But Arsaces who was a Prince that in his youth had been blest with a high valour did so exceedingly resent the impudence of Ambixules for so this Arabian Prince was called that he publickly profest if none in his Court had the courage to fight with him he would do it for the defence of an Imaginary Mistris rather than suffer an affront to be done unto the Parthians as great even as the insolency with which it was committed There is no doubt but that Orodes's Court was then replenisht with Men who apprehended nothing in dangers but that they were not great enough Yet at that instant the loves of the major part were so unhappy that they durst not acknowledge the Objects of them and 't was upon that score onely this Arabian had like to have engross'd an honour without drawing his Sword greater than ever he had obtained by it The same misfortune had then an influence over me and I dare truly profess if I had any uncertainty in the undertaking to punish Ambixules insolence it proceeded not from my apprehension of him but Parthenissa for whom I durst hardly acknowledge openly I had a Passion till she in private had approv'd it But I thought the crime of that presumption would not equal that of the tacite confession and beauty transcended hers and that I had a less Title to her anger by discovering my flame to defend her right than expose that to any apparent injury by a concealment of it Neither was it impossible but I might return from the Combat without receiving any such wounds whose cure might necessitate my discovery in which case I was resolv'd to conceal my self and not acknowledge my Passion till she to whom it was addrest would bless me with the reception of it 'T was with these and many such reasons that I assum'd a resolution to become the Protector of an Excellency which had no misfortune but that it needed one or that it had one so unworthy that honour as Artabanes I kept this determination exceeding private least if it had been discover'd my friends might have deny'd my first essay in Arms to have been against so known a Conqueror I had some difficulty too to fit my self with Armour for that I had made use of the two precedent days was too publickly known to have been used the third But I remember'd that the Prince Sillaces my most particular friend and who merited abundantly to be so had an excellent one which he had made for that solemnity but being unfortunately troubl'd with an Ague he was necessitated to decline shewing his skill and gallantry which indeed I apprehended more than any others These Arms I sent
that we concluded his design was virtuous and that if it were communicated to us we might do him service The Souldier who had a quick apprehension finding all was lost unless by some subtilty he remedy'd it answered us I guess the design is noble by the undertakers of it but my quality is so low that I onely act in obedience of my Officers commands and not being able to inform you of the enterprize I shall advise you to send with me some of your Party to Celindus who is not above twenty furlongs hence and I make no doubt if Virtue and Reward will engage you in his attempts you shall want neither We quickly found by his way of speaking that his condition was not so mean as he would have perswaded us and therefore concluding he had some design by so plausable a pretence to free himself out of our hands and that no fair wayes would prevail pulling off my Helmet I made my self known unto him and drawing out a Ponniard which I wore constantly I vow'd by all those Oaths which men have most reason not to violate That if he disclos'd not the whole design I would instantly kill him but if he would I 'd not onely engage my self for his pardon but to give him as high Rewards for his turning honest as he could pretend unto if his wickedness had its wisht success I added to those threatnings and promises all the arguments my judgement could furnish me to lay upon the deformity of his hopes The certainty of so sudden a Death and the horror of Conscience made him by many sighs acquaint us with his repentance and that he desir'd no greater reward than to have been kept from doing ill He then informed me that his name was Evaxes that he was one of the chiefest in this Conspiracy and that all those who were engag'd in it put on Common Soldiers habits that in case the design succeeded not they might remain undiscover'd That he had been drawn in by Celindus's charming Eloquence who having had some vent of Annexander's suspition of him had with-drawn himself into the Province of Saccasene where he was Prince and Governor as well by interest as Commission or Birth That Celindus was resolv'd to kill the King and to marry Altezeera to Tuminius's eldest son That the Prince Tigranes was privy to the Plot but would not appear openly till he saw what success it had but that Celindus had onely engag'd him in it to make his party the stronger and for an invitation thereunto he was promis'd to be continu'd in the Throne after Artabazus's Death he having in return engag'd himself to give the Princess Altezeera to Tuminius which should be no sooner effected than Celindus was resolved to make away Tigranes too and thereby settle the Crown upon his own Posterity the Laws of the Armenians not excluding the Female Sex That to effect this he had sent divers Troops out of his Government to lie in the places adjacent and that they might not be suspected the Troopers came in by two and three in a company disguis'd in the habits of Peasants and carried their Arms so privately that it was impossible to discover them that having learn'd by his intelligencers the King and Altezeera were to hunt that day he had sent Tuminius with Two hundred Horse which lay in Apollo's Grove who was to kill the King and those that followed him and to carry Altezeera to the ruines of an old Chappel where in a small bottom Celindus and some Three hundred Horse lay to secure his retreat to Artemita which is the first Town in his Government and but an hundred furlongs from hence That Palisdes Celindus's other son was appointed with 500 Horse more to continue upon the Hill we then were on least Annexander who to prevent any ill accidents had drawn 5000 Horse into Artaxata should relieve the King and the Princess before they came to Artemita where there was a considerable body of Foot and the rest of the Army with which he design'd to reduce all Forces or Places that should oppose him were quartered not above 20 furlongs off This Relation my dear Artabanes continu'd Artavasdes gave me as much Horror as Amazement and while I was enquiring what might be the cause that Palisdes was not come one of my Scouts came galloping and told me he discover'd a body of about 500 Horse not eight furlongs off that came on a round trot almost the same way we had marched This Troop we easily imagin'd was Palisdes whom I resolv'd to Charge but first of all dispatch'd away an Express to my Father to acquaint him with what I had learn'd and to conjure him to send out as many Horse as possibly he could spare under some good Commander but not lead them himself lest the Town might be betray'd in his absence Evaxes assur'd me thereupon that Artaxata would be lost if he were once out of the Walls for Celindus had many Partisans there that waited onely such an opportunity to betray it This being done I began to order my Troop which consisted of 150 but of so clear Valours and Resolutions that those virtues supply'd the defects of their numbers But Evaxes who perceiv'd my design begg'd me not to put all to the hazard having so few Men and having to deal with those whose Resolutions were as great as their Crimes that he had thought upon a stratagem which might effect my design without the hazarding it which was that he would go acquaint Palisdes that Celindus had sent him purposely to assure him that Artabazus and Altezeera were upon some intelligence return'd and that therefore he should immediately dispose those Five hundred Horse into their several quarters with orders to be in the same place the next morning if they receiv'd no fresh ones to the contrary That he with the chiefest of his friends should go into the little Valley near the ruines of that old Chappel where they would consult what was most expedient to be done upon the intelligence they had and could learn This said Evaxes you need not be diffident will have a wisht success for Palisdes knowing the power I have with Celindus will obey any Orders I shall bring him in his name But he continu'd You may suspect I will betray you and lay this design for the obtaining of my liberty which I would have you believe is for the securing of the Kings I must confess my former undertaking has been such that all the civil Man is capable of may be believed in me with some appearance of justice But I invoke the gods to be my witness and beg them to be my punishers if my heart and my words are not the same But I will not desire that obligation of you as to credit me send a couple of these Gentlemen along one at my right hand and the other on my left and if I fail in my engagement let them pierce me with their Javelins and let that
not give her the leisure of making it and therefore I hastily continued but Madam if I have cause to be satisfied with my Fortune I am certain I have not to be so with my condition for though the first gave me those ensignes yet the last necessitated me to present them to another when you stood by at whose feet I have prostrated them with much more joy than I took them but alas my condition forces me to performances against my inclination which yet would be something extenuated if as you are convinc'd of that truth in this particular you would pardon it in another Altezeera by not taking notice of what I desired and feared she would did it in my opinion sufficiently and obligingly But that I might make no sinister or advantageous construction of her silence she told me The victory you have so presently obtain'd could not have been more just than you be in so bestowing those signes of it so that I am more oblig'd to your intention than I should have been by your performance and yet in the first I discover how concern'd you are to oblige me since rather than not do it you would commit an injustice Would to the gods Madam I hastily reply'd with a deep sigh you had the same indulgence for me but Madam I continu'd will you permit me sometimes to believe you speak what you do not intend by being now convinc'd you do so for you cannot be so ignorant of your own power and the duty I owe it as to imagine I can owe more or so much to any other creature The fair Altezeera who apprehended the continuance of this dispute might prove a continuance of her trouble to put a period to it told me coldly I see Artavasdes you must be victorious in all you undertake and to be conquer'd by your civility is as unavoidable for your Friends as to be so by your Sword is for your Enemies Ah Madam I reply'd if you see me not what you say you do you may when you please and by permitting me to be victorious over your Disdain you may make me triumph over the Enemy I most apprehend and thereby render me as uncapable of losing as of needing any other Victory Whilst I was thus speaking the fair Altezeera assum'd a countenance so full of Severity and Majesty together that I understood her answer before she spoke it though it contain'd these cruel words Since Artavasdes you will force me to understand you unless I would acknowledge my self as insensible as I fear by your thus proceeding you believe me I must tell you with a plainness as great as yours that the first time you speak to me of your Passion it shall be the last and if you desire the continuance of my esteem you must neither sollicite my Love nor acquaint me with yours since if you do I shall not onely revoke that but try if my Brother will be more successful than I have been in teaching you the respect you owe and ought to pay me She had no sooner done speaking then she retir'd into her Closet in which she lock'd her self up and left me in confusions as great as their cause O gods what did not say or think against my Princess cruelty since it even proportion'd the vastness of that Passion which was the object of it I had longer continu'd in that fatal entertainment had not some of her Women come into the Chamber and lest they might guess at the occasion of my sadness by the visibility of it I forthwith went to my own Apartment where I spent the residue of the day and the succeeding night in all the Agonies and Tortures of a great and fruitless Passion Many days I struggl'd under that burthen to which doubtless I had yielded if Altezeera's safety and the honour of having it committed to my Sword had not been the most predominate Celindus in the mean time assum'd a Resolution of storming Artaxata in the open day in a confidence by so braving an attempt to efface his late affront knowing that in all Wars especially Domestick ones the people judge of the progress by the beginning and that whoever does lose his reputation will soon after that lose his Hopes and Army This intelligence was brought me by a faithful and intelligent Spy who came from Celindus's Camp and who had seen the scaling-Ladders the Faggots and the rouling Bridges all fitted This Advertisement I instantly communicated to Artabazus and the Council who were all astonisht at Celindus resolution and believ'd he durst not have assum'd it were he not favour'd by some of the Garrison the probability of which opinion made me have a care of securing all within as well as opposing those without The night before this intended assault not knowing whether I should out-live it and to render my death pleasing or necessary I went to Altezeera's Apartment where having begg'd and obtain'd the honour of a private conference with her after a small silence and great disorder I told her I should not Madam have presum'd to appear again before you to discover my repeated Disobedience had not I faithfully endeavour'd to the uttermost to have avoided it but having found that the Passions your Beauties do inspire are not to be cur'd but by you or death and that that Truth cannot be a greater one than that is that you are resolv'd to decline being my Restorer I am come Madam to conjure you by your own quiet and mine to permit me in this following occasion to seek out and embrace a cure your Justice or cruelty denies me Did not I conclude that the ending of my life now would be more advantageous to you than the continuance of it could prove during the Siege and Danger I would rather groan under my Miseries than ambition for them such a period 'T is not much fair Altezeera that the miserable Artavasdes implores for he begs not that you would make him happy but that you would permit him to be no longer miserable which will not onely act his cure but your revenge also for having needed it On which latter he is as intent as on the former and desires it as much on your score as his own These words deliver'd with a Look and Accent that were very moving prov'd so with her to whom they were addrest who with a countenance that told me so reply'd Though I confess your perseverance in your Passion and Disobedience does much trouble me yet I know not whether your death would do it more and till I have resolv'd that doubt I desire you not to do it and if that be not sufficient I command you it and shall judge of what you would perswade me by observing whether what I say can perswade you If Madam I reply'd my sufferings were with hope I might by my Reason raise my Fortitude to the requisite height and therefore I do now in some sort rejoyce at the unpromisingness of my condition that as my Flame
appears The first thing she imagin'd as she afterwards told me was that the gods had resolv'd to ruine her Family and as an earnest thereof had taken away the chief Supporter of it for that was the Title her Goodness gave me to the end she submitted with much less reluctancy than to the means But as her mind was never at rest she believ'd on the other side that my death was the effect of her Cruelty and my despair and then she abjur'd all those severe Laws which under the name of a great distance in Blood consines us to much greater from Felicity The horror which invaded all her Faculties was very great whilst she lookt upon herself as the cause of my death but it was suddenly rais'd to a higher pitch For when she was considering the sadness of her condition she had withdrawn herself to a Window that look'd into the Court where she had not been long when she might perceive Amidor and the rest of my Friends carrying me all pale and bloody towards my Chamber That object having rais'd her grief to an incapacity of being rais'd higher she suddenly accompany'd my loss with a flood of Tears and having fetch'd two or three deep Sighs fell into a swound Happy Artavasdes that by a suppos'd Death discover'dst that Truth which to have been certain of thou wouldâ—st have purchas'd with a real one But rather wretched Artivasdes that thy Fate should be so different from thy desires that whether living or dead thou should'st always torment the fair Altezeera But the noise of which the Princess made by her fall was the cause that some of her Servants ran to help her who having employ'd all the Arts they knew after an hour recover'd her again In the mean time whither by the motion whilst I was carrying to my Chamber or what other cause to ascribe it to I know not but I was no sooner laid upon my Bed than I began to give some signs of life which Lindesia who sat weeping by me perceiving began with raptures of joy to raise her hopes and to imagine that by the help of some able Chirurgions I might be recover'd which being sent for and come and having search'd my wounds and dressâ—d them found they were very dangerous yet to console my Mother told her they were â—urable and having given me some Cordials which brought me to my self again they withdrew themselves The first thing I askt was whither Altezeera was in the possession of Celindus To which Amidor who had not stirr'd from my Bed-side answer'd me she was not and that we had obtain'd so entire a Victory that nothing could could it but the condition I was in I lifted up my eyes and hands as my retribution to the gods and conjur'd Amidor that his Affection to me might not endanger the Town the preservation of which I now wholly left to his care and that he would go to Artabazus and receive his orders and assure Altezeera that nothing but the impossibility of not waiting upon her should have diverted me from that duty and happiness Amidor to satisfie me went unto the King and told him how miraculously the gods had restor'd me to life and that I had sent him to acquaint him with it and to receive his commands whilst my weakness render'd me uncapable of that honor Artabazus seem'd to be as much pleas'd as surpriz'd with this news and would needs have gone and visited me but Amidor told him that I was but newly come to my self and that the alteration which so great an honor would necessarily produce might be prejudicial to my health therefore humbly besought him to delay that high favour till I were in a condition fitter to receive it The King at last yielded to Amidor's request and committed the charge of Artaxata to him who immediately went to Altezeera's Chamber and sent in to desire the honor of speaking to her This message exceedingly perplext her for she imagin'd he came to accuse her of being my Murtherer for she had not yet heard I was alive and in a manner acknowledging herself guilty of it she knew not with what face to entertain him yet at last she sent him an admittance knowing that the sight of her grief would rather make him pity than condemn her But you may wonder generous Artabanes continu'd Artavasdes that Altezeera should believe my Brother knew my Passion To which I answer That Amidor and I had so perfect a Friendship that she believ'd I had nothing of reserve for him neither indeed had I. Altezeera who lay upon her Bed and who had sent all her Servants out that none might be witness of that freedom which she resolv'd to give her sorrows and entertain Amidor with no sooner saw him come but with Eyes full of Tears she told him Are the gods then Amidor so much declar'd our Enemies as to rob us of Artavasdes I say our Enemies for tyes of Friendship are as great as those of Blood and as you had the honor to be ally'd unto him by the latter quality so I had the satisfaction to possess him in the former Alas How dear have we bought our instant safety 'T is by a loss that nothing could augment but our outliving it She would have proceeded in this sad and pleasing language had not her Sighs and Tears hinder'd its continuance which speechless Orators so well acted their parts that though Amidor knew their cause was groundless yet it was impossible for him to abstain from keeping her company which she perceiving forced herself to tell him No no Amidor it is I that am onely guilty and should onely bear the punishment my cruelty is the source of all our miseries but I will take so severe revenge upon my self for it that you shall say though I knew not how to recompence Love yet I knew to punish Ingratitude But Amidor who was confident that this discovery of Altezeera's affection would be more powerfull towards my cure than all other remedies thought it high time to disabuse her and therefore told her Madam Artavasdes is too much your Servant to leave this World without your permission your commands exacted that at his hands and the gods who knew how how just it was for him not to disobey you have restor'd him to life but it will not onely last long enough to beg your leave to dye if you are resolv'd to neglect and scorn his Passion How said the Princess starting up does Artavasdes live This delusion Amidor this delusion cannot last do not flatter me into a Joy which if not real will make my misery the geater it cannot be I saw him dead Madam Amidor reply'd would he were as certain you would not scorn his Adoration as I am that he lives to pay it you his happiness would be then greater than your doubts My happiness said Altezeera would be as great as my torment could I but credit what you say Madam said Amidor if you suspect this
truth your eyes may give you that satisfaction which my words cannot by my waiting on you to his Chamber where your suspitions will soon vanish I accept your offer said the Princess abandoning her Bed and giving Amidor her hand to lead her thither for I can have no quiet whilst I have any doubts ut Madam said my Brother let me beg you to leave all your disdain behind you for the least quantity of that poyson kills all his hopes and consequently himself 't is not now with him as at other times where rigour did appear Justice his sufferings and services now stile it Ingratitude though he gives it still the former name and onely expects his felicity from your goodness not his condition So high a Modesty said Altezeera merits an equal Reward and I should be too unjust should I deny it him By this time they were come unto my Chamber and finding none in it but one of my Pages Amidor commanded him out and opening the Curtains told me the Princess was come to visit me The sight of so high a Beauty produc'd a proportionate effect for before she was come in I could not turn in my Bed but now I did towards her and with a firm voice told her At last Madam at last the gods have heard my Prayers and commiserating my condition have made my Enemies swords more pitiful than you they have given me that death you were pleas'd to deny me and in so blest away that 't is in defending and not disobeying you so that nothing could add unto this Felicity but that I had deferr'd receiving of these charitable Wounds till the last day of the War that you might have had no further use of my services and that your security and my quiet might have been establisht at one time But Madam since the gods do call me from you sooner I conjure you to remember I dy'd serving you and let that extinguish your resentments against an ambition which cannot be greater than was the impossibility of avoiding it Alas Artavasdes said Altezeera think not of dying the gods who have already rais'd you from Death to Life will perfect that good work They are too just to rob us of you They would be too cruel Madam said I did they restore me to my health Your Disdain prepares me torments so great that Death is a comparative happiness unto them But Madam I do beg your pardon you commanded me not to trouble you any more with my Passion and I 'll obey you onely let me beseech you to receive these importunities as my last Crimes and upon that score to forgive them for I vow never to offend you more Nor I said the fair Altezeera to receive your addresses as an offence No Artavasdes your Virtue has obtain'd the Victory and I command you now to live that I may shew you by my affection I know how to value and recompence yours Alas Madam I reply'd What do you do You may indeed by this art hinder my death awhile but as soon as I discover I am deluded by all that is most Sacred I will not live a minute Take heed fair Princess you may do like a merciful Judge who when the Delinquent's ripe for Death and made his peace with Heaven by giving him a pardon his future courses may be more criminal than his precedent ones and thereby make that which was intended for his good the occasion of his greater ill Banish those groundless fears said Altezeera for my intentions are as clear as you persuade me your Flame is and as a confirmation of it I engage my self before Amidor never to decline what I have promis'd Ah! Madam I reply'd Why am I not in a condition to fling my self at your feet as some expression of joy which certainly cannot kill since I am yet alive But my Princess give me leave not onely to call Amidor but the gods to witness that I will never decline the Passion that I pay you but will maintain my Flame alive even in the Grave for having vanquisht your Disdain it cannot be overcome and if ever I alter this profession make my future punishment equal to my present felicity As I had done speaking Lindesia came into the room and my Princess having commanded my Love to be as silent as constant withdrew herself and left me in such extasies of joy that they had like to have made me ever uncapable of any for all my wounds fell fresh a bleeding and I was so taken up with my present raptures that had not Lindesia been more careful of me than I was of my self I had dyed in and by them but having discover'd that my sheets were all bloody she came running to me and so timely that the least delay had render'd her care fruitless But my wounds being again bound up they enjoin'd me to take my rest as the best and easiest cure Thus my dear friend you see how at last my desires were crown'd and little obstacle remain'd to the perfection of my happiness but my health which by degrees I recover'd and that which contributed most unto it was the daily visits of the fair Altezeera whose conversation charm'd my ears as much as her Beauty did my eyes and every hour discovering new perfections I blest that suffering which had given me so high an interest in them My wounds which admitted of forty dayes for their cure did little afflict me because the Enemy never attempted any thing during that space against Artaxata which was occasion'd by those wounds Celindus had receiv'd in the Assault in which also he had lost so many Men and so many others were render'd useless that whilst he was recovering he sent Phanasder for a Recruit and had drawn his Aamy some twenty Furlongs from the Town contenting himself to block it up at so civil a distance But as if Fortune believ'd it necessary that nothing should be done whilst the chief Actor in either side was unable to appear she so order'd all things that at the same time I was perfectly cur'd Celindus was so too and Phanasder came to the Camp with a supply of near Ten thousand Horse and Foot So considerable an addition rais'd Celindus his hopes and being ambitious to recover his losses and to employ the fury of those new Men on some design where disadvantage of being repuls'd could not be so prejudicial as the honour of success would be glorious elected the storming again of Artaxata as most proportionate to his Revenge and Ambition and having made his chief Officers approve of his design he gave order that all things should be in a readiness for so bold an one But whilst Celindus was troubling himself to be Conqueror of a Town I was so in my affection and was more satisfyed in my Victory than he could have been in his had his pride and designes arriv'd at their ambition'd period O Gods what uninmaginable joys doe mutual fires create in Love at least mine
were so great that whereas in other affairs the ignorance of things hinders us from describing them here the knowledge of them produc'd the same effect In brief our Passions so increast that we thought all conversation but our own was as troublesome as that was pleasing and therefore studied how to be private without discovering that Flame which we at least as much endeavor'd to preserve so till a fit opportunity were offer'd to move Artabazus to unite our hearts by an Hymenaeal tye as firmly as they were already join'd by sympathy and inclination One morning whilst the Sun was yet but rising I waited upon my Princess into a Garden of Pleasure contiguous to the Palace and adorn'd with all that Nature and Art was capable of there the Company separating themselves to take that divertisement which was most agreeable to their fancies Altezeera and I by degres left those that waited on us and entring to an earnest discourse we engag'd our selves unawares into a little Wilderness in the center whereof was a spring whose water was receiv'd into a Cistern of Alabaster which was held by a statue of a Nymph cut in white Marble There we might perceive a Gentleman whose postures as well as actions exprest his troubles and though we could not discover his face yet we might his tears running down it into the Cistern and in such abundance as if the Fountain and his eies strove which should most load the fair Nymphs Arms. Such an unexpected accident had made us desire to learn the cause of it and fetching a small compass by the help of some Orange Trees we came so near that without being seen we might see him and hear him and as his mind was exceedingly agitated so we were not long in expectation till we heard him fetch a deep sigh and then casting up his eyes to Heaven cry'd out Miserable Amidor for 't was he indeed shall not the Divinity which dwells upon her face thy friendship nor his engagements suppress thy Passion Shall the highest Beauty make thee commit a resembling Crime O no rather than interrupt so pure a Love deprive thy self of Life and by a gloririous Death settle their quiet and confer on thy self thine own Then he paus'd awhile and suddenly striking his hand upon his breast he sigh'd and said O it cannot be her eyes inspire no Flames which reason can extinguish he knows their power is not to be resisted and being instructed with the cause if he be reasonable he cannot blame the effect and if he be not he is not worthy of thy friendship but alas thou talkest as if he were the onely obstacle when thy own defects will perhaps more fight against thee than thy fidelity unto thy friend or thy Mistresses to him Then weeping awhile he continu'd What shall the apprehension of ill make thee as miserable as the real ill Fie Amidor can a courage capable of loving her be capable of fear No 't is not in thy nature nor thy custom to apprehend but this timerousness is the effect of thy treachery to thy friend and since the gods so punish the thoughts of wickedness how much more will they the wickedness it self Cast away then so criminal a Passion or if that be impossible at least by concealing of it so torment thy self that if before or after thy death they discover it they may rather pity than condemn thee Having so said he borrow'd some of that water he had given the Nymph and having washt his eyes that they might not betray what he resolv'd to keep secret he went away but not in a greater trouble than he left Altezeera and I in for we found by his discourse that the object of his Love was to the object of his friends and that his friendship and affection were the causes of so noble and sad a conflict But we could not sufficiently admire his resolution which we esteem'd so generous that we assur'd our selves a reward equal to his virtue would crown it and being both much concern'd in him we determin'd by a curious inspection into all his actions to discover who they were that caus'd his disorder but if that course did not succeed then by acquainting him with what we knew engage him to tell us what we were ignorant of that we might employ our selves the better to serve him In this design we return'd to the Palace where we found that many of the Inhabitants of Artaxata had petition'd to Artabazus to commiserate their condition since by their wants they were reduc'd to such misery that if by some means a Peace were not concluded with Celindus or the Siege rais'd they must yield to him rather than to Famine The perusal of this Paper much perplext the King as well from the consideration of his Subjects wants as the knowledge of their impudence and the fear of their treachery but before he made them any return he consulted with those about him who were all except Crasolis of opinion that a mild answer should be given them and by kind usage and assurances of a speedy remedy to all their grievances endeavor to keep them within the limits of their duty But Crasolis whom we too apparently suspected was a friend to Celindus represented that under the formal humility of a Petition there might be treachery conceal'd that the not suppressing of such insolent demands in their very birth would authorize their growth that lenity insuch a case would appear fear and that would introduce a ruine That if on the other side a vigorous remedy were apply'd it would not onely extinguish the first sedition but deter the people from a second and therefore he was of opinion that some of the chiefest contrivers of the Petition should be instantly executed in the Court of the Palace Thus Crasolis would have rais'd the Kings Enemies within the Walls as well as without that Celindus might make use of the disorder yet he would have that pass for his courage and honesty which indeed was his treachery But the moderate advice took place and the people upon the Kings engagement of soon remedying their miseries return'd with blessings for him whose ruine was design'd by Crasolis in their petitioning The night which succeeded this day was not half spent when the advancing of Celindus's Army to Storm Artaxata the second time gave us a hot alarum but being advertis'd of his design he found us prepar'd to oppose it Perhaps he thought that darkness would be more favourable to his Arms than light that his Men not seeing the danger would go more resolutely on it or that the enterprize would be more formidable unto us when obscurity the ingenderer of confusion was join'd to the horror of an Assault But my dear Artabanes I will not so much trespass on your Civility as to particularize all the accidents which happen'd in that bloody Night it shall suffice to tell you that after the Town was won and lost three times we at last remained the
Loyalty without being forced unto it And least any disorder might happen in the Army by my absence I was going thither when alas I met my poor Brother mortally wounded carrying by to his Lodging so sad an object soon clouded all my joy and made me return with him to know what I might expect of his fate The ablest Chirurgeons being sent for searched his wounds and found they were incurable for their Art But the generous Amidor perceiving by their looks our fears seem'd to be as full of satisfaction as we were really the contrary and having conjur'd the Chirugeons to deal clearly with him whether there were any likelyhood of recovery he receiv'd from them a sad Negative Then turning towards Lindesia who abandon'd her self to an excessive Grief he begg'd her not to be more afflicted for his death than he was for to dye That it being a Tribute humane nature was to pay he was happy that it was in so good and glorious a Cause Then desiring all those that were in the room to leave it except Altezeera who was come to visit him and I he addrest himself to us with an accent capable to inspire pity into a fury and told us Since my own weakness as well as the Chirurgeons judgement assure me I must dye I have begg'd this opportunity to reveal a secret to you both which no torment should have made me disclose and which I am confident my Actions never did Know then to silence your sorrow that these mortal wounds are the effects of my desire and not my ill fortune for it was necessary for your quiet as well as mine that I should receive them since I could not resist the inevitable charms of Altezeera's Beauty start not Artavasdes for by that time I have finisht my discourse you shall have more cause to pity than condemn me the highest Powers shall bear me witness how much I did resist this criminal passion how it forc't not found an admittance and when 't was gotten in how I purchast its silence by my torments yet at last finding it would be conqueror I resolv'd to end my pain by death which I sought so many several ways that it must have been unjust had I not found it out You weep fair Princess is it for sorrow that by dying I shall be so soon freed from those sufferings my Crime deserves the compassionate Altezeera who all this while did melt away in Tears perceiving he was silent in expectation of her Answer told him alas Amidor what actions have I ever committed that you should judge me guilty of so high a cruelty 'T were more charitable as well as just to attribute these demonstrations of my grief unto my pity for your condition which so abundantly deserves it Why then Madam reply'd Amidor you can pity me after the knowledge of my fault Great gods to what misery do you reduce me thus to convert that which should be my greatest joy into my greatest torment and thereby render any satisfaction at my death as impossible as I do ill deserve it since not to receive her pardon makes my death as full of horrors as the cause of it is of Beauties and to obtain it makes my crime as great as the perfection against which I have committed it Ah Madam dry up those precious drops or else shed them to wash away my guilt for certainly they are powerful enough to perform whatsoever you employ them for And you my dear Brother addressing himself to me can you have so much goodness to forgive your Rival when 't was not in his power to avoid that fatal Name Look upon those bright Eyes which certainly will at the same time that they acquaint you with my fault acquaint you with the necessity of it and obtain your pardon for it You that know so well their influence must withal rather pity than condemn my submission to it But I find death seizing on me farewel happy Lovers may Joyes such as Raptures never reacht wait on your Flames may every thing contribute to make you as contented as I shall dye having obtained your forgiveness which I beg with Tears and if they find you inexorable I will with Bloud Alas Amidor I cry'd out would it were as absolutely in my Power to recover as 't is in my Will to forgive thee Ah said Amidor talk not of recovery I would rather be my own Executioner than by living interrupt so pure a Passion once again farewel my summons is so short I shall have onely time to beg you never to think upon Amidor cloath'd in his ambitious desires of possessing so Divine a Beauty nor with his unavoidable infidelity to his Friend and Brother But when you consider him let it be in his pennance for his crimes and let that voluntary death he has so resolutely expos'd himself unto obtain that mercy for him which he implores with his last breath and so indeed it was for having with one hand taken the Princesses and kist it and with the other embrac'd me his fair Soul fled away and left its noble dwelling in our Arms. Who can repeat the sad words so great a loss extorted from us which really we found of such a quality that we despair'd to find a cure even from time The King ' and all those that were not enemies to vertue did manifest a resembling sorrow for his Youth was as promising as it was unfortunate Here said Artabanes to Callimachus Artavasdes could not resfrain shedding some Tears and perceiving I took notice of it he begg'd my Pardon for so just an effeminacy and then hasten'd to a conclusion in these words Phanasder who did now without reserve embrace the Kings interest was so prevalent with the revolted Towns that Armauria Artemita and Tygranocerta it self came upon their knees and yielded up their Keys and Lives to the Kings Mercy and in a word all the upper Armenia from Niphates did the like But in the lower Armenia Zenaxtus a Brother of Celindus's kept entire the Provinces of Aerethica and Horzen and the Towns of Satala and Nicapolis who for all Artabazus threatenings and promises would not lay down Arms but was preparing a vast Army to revenge his Brothers death and to act his Brothers ambition which to effect he sent to Arsaces to invade the higher Armenia and assur'd him of a considerable Party appearing for him as soon as he should pass the River Tygris and offer'd him all the Upper Armenia for his share so that he might have the Lower for his own which nevertheless he would do homage for You know my dear friend that this overture was so listened unto by your King that instantly he rais'd that great Army which defeated ours more by our valour than by those that follow'd you Artabazus had some intelligence of Arsaces intentions and to prevent them thought fit to raise an Army and carry the War into your Countrey to keep his own quiet at least the Upper part of Armenia
I want but lest your affection may prove a deceitful optick my Charity shall put you in the right way which is to decline your addresses to me for besides my great want of merit I am as rigid as the perfectest of my Sex therefore I beseech you owe this cure to your Reason and not to Time Madam he answer'd 't is Reason gave the wound and neither Time nor your Disdain shall ever make me alter the resolution I have so justly assum'd you may as easily hope to separate Light from the Sun as my Heart from that Passion which possesses it no fair Parthenissa I am resolv'd if I cannot be Loves Favourite I will be his Martyr and if your Scorns cannot extinguish my Desires the coldness of the Grave shall never triumph over them but the gods will preserve so pure a Flame a live to be a pattern for future Lovers to imitate Sir said I so much affection deserves all that I can return which is my Friendship and that again conjures you not to cast away so noble a Passion on one that must be necessarily ungrateful for that which you desire I have given to another and were it in my Power to recall it it is not in my Will I hope this will shew you with how much justice I intreat you not to ingage your self in so ruinous a design for should I now confer on you my Love and you receive it your indiscretion will be as great as you would perswade me your passion is for my constancy the cause of your contentment would be always the occasion of your fear Ah Madam he reply'd would to the gods you were but yet pleased to bless me with your Affection for then the joy would be so absolute that I should onely have the Power to contemplate it and not how I came to the fruition of it But Madam I am too bold to hope for any pleasing answer till my Services assure the vastness of my Passion I bless this hour that gave me opportunity of telling you of it and that your Rigor cannot be greater than my perseverance Thereupon without staâ—ing for an answer he went away But I impute those words she continu'd to the first flame of Love which commonly is the most violent For my part I am resolv'd to wear so much coldness on those actions which relate to him that if he have that spirit men believe I am confident 't will change his love into resentment Madam my sister reply'd I foresee many sad accidents will oppose your loves if by a speedy overture unto your friends you do not consummate a Nuptial What should divert you from that election Your Flames are too virtuous and too just not to be owned and being so who will oppose them this declaration will silence all Rivals growing Loves and make your happiness as sure as 't will be great Ah Sister I answer'd 't is true our Passions are so pure they know not a comparison but yet my Father whose commands I receiv'd last night will I am fearful resist this vast felicity for as soon as I had left you he sent for me to wait on him which I did and after he had walked two or three turns without speaking one word he at last told me Artabanes The gods having given me the blessings of a son I have found so high an one in it that I shall enjoin you to endeavor to partake of the like contentment I should think my death as full of contentment as my life has been of honor could I see you matcht in a Family that might assure me you should have a successor worthy of ours To effect this has been long my care and never till now could accomplish it It is but lately I had a motion made me which I much approve 't is the Princess Zephalinda Surena's Sister whose Virtues Beauty Person and Blood assures me you will think your self highly satisfi'd with such a Marriage at least I shall be I must confess this declaration did infinitely surprize me but least he should guess the true cause of my astonishment I told him In the first place Sir as I cannot but return my humble thanks for your care so I must not but acquaint you that I am not ignorant of how high a concernment Marriage is being happiness or misery till death dissolves the knot and since Felicity is onely opinion there is none can prescribe positive rules for the making it but every man must be his own judge contentment something resembling mens tastes that which is pleasing to one to another may be poyson The consequence being so great and the choice not to be made by Proxy I shall beseech you give me leave to learn whether that Princess be possessor of such perfectious as may assure me of such happiness this nothing but time can do and if she appears not such to me as she does to you I will then acquaint you with it and hope you will not compel me to make her and my self miserable As I am said he Artabanes indulgent to you so I expect that you be obedient unto me and then he withdrew himself into his Closet This was the substance of his proposal and my return to it for I did not hold it fit to acquaint him with my Passion till first we had advis'd together for I perceiv'd by his last words how his inclination stood and I too well knew how difficult he is to be removed when he has once taken up a resolution not to be so Then I besought Parthenissa to honor me with her advice since I had put all that was dear unto me to her ordering To which she told me Moneses humor which I am absolutely ignorant of being the chief thing in this affair by which we are to be guided makes me as unfit to advise as your knowledge of it renders you most capable Madam I reply'd that my Father is resolv'd to be obey'd is not more certain than that I am determin'd the contrary for in this case obedience is a crime so that the end being now resolv'd we have nothing to advise upon but the means that may best conduce unto it Which in my opinion Madam said Lindadory is that Artabanes make some seeming addresses to Zephalinda for Moneses is sooner vanquish'd by yielding than resistance and doubtless she cannot be so perfect especially being compar'd with the fair Parthenissa but he may find some defect in her person or humour which may make his declining her appear an effect of his judgement not disobedience for if my Father find his refusal of serving her roceeds from his being possest with a Passion for another he will impute my Brothers deserting Zephalinda to his Pre-ingagement and then I am so well acquainted with his disposition that it will be impossible to alter it Thus by concealing your Flames a little longer you may attain that happiness which by a speedy declaring of them may receive many obstructions if not
rage of this defeat and the confidence Varinus had of not being reliev'd made him alter that cold resolution of protracting the War and by erecting a Scarlet Coat-Armour over his Tent which is the Romans signal of Battel gave us as much joy as our success did afterwards afford him discontent But his fury not having absolutely blinded his judgement he drew up his Army in so advantageous a place that he might retire safely into his Camp if he found the Victory inclin'd to our side which precaution he soon made use of and by it deferr'd his ruine for a few days which afterwards happen'd near Salapia a considerable Town in the East part of Italy where the success was so entire that not above fifteen hundred escaped in which number Varinus was having lost his Axes and Rods the badges of his Pretorship with the Officers that carried then to whom Spartacus soon restor'd them and them to their liberty but our Army commanded them to tell the Senate that their General would not make use of the Regalia's till he had the Empire too Amongst those Prisoners then taken there was some young Men of Salapia who thinking to have a share in Varinus Victory were the day before his defeat come into his Army and finding so different a fortune to that which they expected desir'd to speak with Spartaâ—us where they told him that Salapia was without any Garrison that the chiefest Citizens in it were their Friends and Kindred and such with whom they had much power which they would employ for the reducing of it into his hands if he would restore them their freedom and engage his faith that their Town and Townsmen should enjoy the same Immunities and Priviledges under him that they did under the Romans in a word they so represented the terror the Salapians were in and the interest they had in them that Spartacus granted unâ—o them whatsoever they desir'd and immediately march'd directly thither That which induc'd those Prisoners to make that overture was that some of our Officers in their dâ—scourse had not only assur'd them that the first design we should go upon was to take in their City but that they themselves must expect the last rigor of War if they did not contribute their assistance in the reducing of it which if they would undertake and perform might not onely be a singular advantage to Salapia but preserve their own lives which were so justly forfeited to the Law of Arms. These Men through such like infusions were so terrified that partly out of relation to themselves and partly out of care of their Town which without yielding by the greatness of our Army then indeed grown very considerable must become in few days a prey to the insolent Soldier inclin'd them to that motion which was the cause of furnishing my Prince with an occasion of serving two of the most virtuous Lovers that time did produce and in obliging them he receiv'd a far higher satisfaction than by taking of so important a place By this our Army having fac'd Salapia half those young Men were permitted to try their power the other half remaining as Hostages for them and truly they were so successful in the attempt having terrified the Salapians with the vastness of our Forces which impressions they were apt enough to receive by the bloody defeat of Varinus the Pretor that immediately they deputed some of the chiefest Citizens to treat with my Prince for the conditions of their surrender and had so far advanc'd the work that every thing was on the point of conclusion when a Messenger from the Town desiring and being admitted to speak with the Deputies whisper'd them something in the Ear after which they all begg'd leave of Spartacus to return for a while there being in their absence some tumults happen'd amongst their Salapians which nothing but their Presence could appease which being granted and they not a quarter of an hour return'd but those young Men that were imploy'd into Salapia were sent back into the Camp all the Walls Mann'd and bloody Colours hung up of which so sudden an alteration we could not imagine the cause till those Prisoners told us that during the Treaty a young Gentleman called Perolla who under the Romans had purchast much Glory had by an Oration so perswaded the Salapians that they were resolv'd rather to hazard their ruine by resistance than purchase the avoiding of it by a submission that the Citizens having taken up that determination would have detain'd them lest Spartacus incensed by their inconstancy might inflict the punishment of it on them Against which they represented the injustice of the action the certain death of their companions and how 't would give one that had the Power the Will to destroy Salapia but finding all their Reasons rejected they went to Perolla whose Gallantry they said was as great as his Courage and having acquainted him with the conditions on which they were sent into Salapia and their desires he not onely highly commended their honesty but gave strict order they should return to the Camp which no one durst oppose all of them having trusted him for the time being with the absolute Command We soon found by this relation the occasion of so sudden a change and that Salapia must be purchast with as much difficulty as a little before we were perswaded to have obtained it with ease But Spartacus having fac'd it found himself bound in Honour to make them repent the contemning of his Mercy and therefore instantly securing all the Avenues he gave directions for many sâ—aling Ladders Rowling Bridges and Faggots to be forthwith provided Then calling for all the Salapians who were fifty in number he told them That he was sorry their Citizens had deluded him but 't was onely in relation to themselves since it would render their destruction as just as it was inevitable that to conquer so considerable a place was more for his Honour than to have it given him That he had endeavour'd to make them yield by fair means because he preferr'd the saving of Blood before the Glory of his Army That for their own particulars their declining the temptations of their friends and returning to his Camp when they could not but doubt his resentment was a strong proof of their Gallantry or of the high opinion they had of his either of which causes were equally obliging that by the character they had given him of Perolla he was more ambitious to have him for a Friend than an Enemy but would not desire that happiness then left it might deprive him of a certain Victory That he so much valued Virtue though in his Enemies that lest Perolla's might not be well seconded he gave them all as well for his sake as for their own their liberty and leave to imploy it in his service for the defence of Salapia which he assur'd them would be all little enough against an Army on whom Victory did as constantly as justly
attend The Salapians who expected a quite contrary entertainment after many expressions of their joy and gratitude reply'd That if upon their return they could not perswade their Citizens to yield unto so generous a Conqueror that yet at least upon their Ramparts they would confirm the good opinion he had of their Courages and either make his Victory worthy that name or his defeat the more excusable by their resistance Spartacus extremely pleas'd with this promise assur'd them that he would in very few days summon them of their promise and observe if they would satisfy this last engagement as punctually as they had their first which if they did he would confess in giving them their freedom he had more oblig'd himself than them These young Men being come to Salapia so magnify'd my Prince unto Perolla that he knew not whether the misfortune was greater in having so much Virtue 〈◊〉 his Enemy or the happiness in having so ample an occasion of glory Two days were past in light skirmishes whilst our preparations for an Assault were perfected The third an hour before 't was light our Army advanc'd and every Division having receiv'd their Orders began a furious Storm which was receiv'd with an equal Resolution Six hours together the business was disputed without any apparent advantage on either side and every place fill'd with Horror and Blood Death being given and receiv'd in a thousand several ways at last Canitius who had the Command of all the Germans in the Army planted one of our Ensignes upon the Walls but was so suddainly repulst that before my Prince could have time to commend his courage he had cause to pity the misfortune of it Nine of our several Commanders had the same fate that day aswell in their resolutions as misfortunes and Spartacus perceiving that they at last fought rather by Duty than Inclination sounded a Retreat which was so readily obey'd that the Enemy found it rather proceeded from apprehension than discipline and therefore fell so briskly in our Rear that it had endanger'd all the Army had not my Prince in Person with 500 of the resolutest Men made head against them and though he stopt the execution and at last made them retire yet it was so leasurely and in such good order that their Retreat appear'd rather their Election than their Necessity Spartacus having doubl'd his Guards and taken strict Order for the rendring ineffectual of all Sallies return'd to his Tent more unsatisfy'd with the repulse than with the loss where all those Officers whose wound permitted them and who had that fatal day escap't Perolla's Sword came to justify themselves professing that they were not more troubl'd at their disgrace than desirous the next morning to repair it and manifest by their Victory that the suspension of it proceeded from their want of Fortune not of Courage or by their death shew whose Soldiers they were That their affront by a joynt concurrence of all their observations proceeded from Perolla who was ubiquitary and knew no certain Post but where there was the certain'st danger which he courted with an eagerness as great as his success Many other expressions they made to vindicate the affront and to shew how willing they were to repair it which would be too tedious to relate and to which my Prince reply'd that he was as much satisfy'd with the sence they had of their misfortune as troubled at the occasion of it that according to their desires the next morning he would again storm the Town and help them to vindicate their Credits or bear a share with them in their failer and in pursuance of that resolution commanded them back to their several charges with Orders as soon as the day dawn'd that they should begin again the Storm that the Enemy if overcome might acknowledge by the not altering the Assailants nor the order of the Assault that it was their Fortune onely had suspended their destructions The Officers by many expressions having thank'd Spartacus for so high a Compliment plac'd upon their Courages were retiring when there came in news that Granicus with most of those others which we thought had been kill'd by the Salapians were coming to my Prince who extreamly surpriz'd at the accident sent for them in Granicus therefore with Sixscore of his companions immediately presented himself and told him after the Assault Sir was ended Perolla commanded all the Prisoners to be brought unto him and having learn'd that I was of the most considerable quality amongst them addrest himself unto me and spoke to this effect That liberty which both you and your companions have lost by my fortune I here again restore you and for your Ransome I shall onely desire you to tell the generous Spartacus I am exceedingly troubled that he has so much cause to look upon this action as an expression of Gratitude and not of that Affection his Gallantry has created me and though his usage to the Salapians he sent me expects this as a just retribution yet the high opinion I have of his Vertue was no way an inferior motive tell him besides that those whose wounds will not permit them to go off with you shall receive an entertainment which shall speak the opinion I have of their General that their healths and Liberties shall be the same thing and that I almost think it a misfortune to defend my Countrey since by it I am necessitated to be his Enemy This high Generosity had so powerful an influence on my Prince that had not his Honor been so deeply engag'd he had rais'd the Siege and would have thought it more Glorious to decline fighting against so gallant and civil an Enemy than to have conquer'd him but that Tyrant which binds us to follow other Mens opinions more than our own forc't him to continue his former designe of storming Salapia next morning and I dare truly affirm the desire he had of taking so considerable a place was more prevalent with him out of an expectation that thereby he might evince himself worthy Perolla's friendship and find an occasion to oblige him than any other consideration whatsoever which lest the fury of his Soldiers might prevent he assur'd those that could save the generous Perolla's life should have a more considerable reward than his Ransome The day no sooner appear'd but Castus began the Assault on the East side of the City and Canitius with his Germans on the West where Spartacus himself was who perceiving many of his Men kill'd and the rest extreamly shaken to avoid the precedent days fate took up his own Colours and cryed out Those that love their Honour or their General let them follow me then marching a round pace thorough Canitius's Men that were flying he came against a cloud of Arrows to the foot of the Wall where erecting some Scaling-Ladders he resolutely and successfully climb'd up and after a bloudy dispute beat off the Defendants and planted that Colours he had in his hand upon
the Rampire I had the honour to be the nearest to him in this action where he did so many noble exploits that Fortune must have been as unjust as they say she is unconstant had she refus'd him this Victory No sooner had our Army perceiv'd how easy a passage my Prince had made than above 6000 of them enter'd by that way and without shedding any more Bloud rendred themselves absolute Masters of the City but whilst Spartacus was taking order to preserve the Salapians as much as in such an occasion was possible and that he had dispers'd many of his Officers and I with them to do the like as I was going through one of the fairest streets I saw a great confluence of Soldiers about a House whose Structure sufficently spoke the magnificence of the owner and being come thither I inquir'd what was the cause of it one of the Officers soon inform'd me that a company of young Gentlemen onely considerable for their resolutions had made so generous a defence and so slighted all Quarter that they were necessitated to make use of numbers to suppress them and that now at last they had kill'd all the Defendants but one who having gain'd a narrow Stair-case was yet making of it good with so much courage that he deplor'd the destroying as much as the effects of it and that he understood this generous man's name was Perolla You may easily imagine the hearing of that name gave me an unexpressible desire to save the Master of it and having conjur'd the Officer to run and acquaint Spartacus with it I thrust my self into the croud and by many actions which shew'd my concernment and haste commanded them in Spartacus's name to forbear any further attempt against so generous an Enemy This Order found a ready obedience as well out of the knowledge they had of the affection my dear Master honor'd me with as out of a desire to preserve Perolla who they now fought against rather to shew that an Army might kill him than out of any design they had to doe so At last by the help of our Officers I came to the place where the gallant Perolla stood who appear'd to me to be less weary with conquering than our Soldiers were with assaulting him and spight of that Bloud which endeavour'd to disfigure his Face I perceiv'd a Countenance so Spiritual and so Lovely together that I knew not which most to admire but my wonder was quickly rais'd to a higher pitch by the sight of a Lady who possest the several Beauties of shape stature complexion and features in so inaccessional a degree that an affection for her could not so properly be called Passion as Reason The contemplation of so many perfections had almost made me forget the design I was come for which fault I soon repair'd by addressing my self to the generous Perolla and telling him The great Spartacus Sir who cherishes Virtue whereever it is plac'd has sent me hither to preserve so great a possessor of it as you are for he believes your Gallantry is a stronger obligation on him to serve you than your imploying of it against him is to make him your Enemy Since reply'd Perolla that is your Generals Principle the fair Izadora here is a worthy object to employ that generosity on which I believe you cannot doubt when I assure you that her exterior parts are as far short of the Beauties of her Mind as the Passion I pay her is unworthy the Object for her sake I can beg though not for my own and will acknowledge you civility as great as your courages if you will promise me she shall receive an usage as proportionate to her merit as you can possibly pay her this engagement will be more obliging farr than my own safety and make that death which my sad fate now renders necessary as full of happiness as such a deprivation is capable of As I was about to answer him I was hindered by a great noise which turning about to discover the cause of I perceiv'd it was my Prince who with incredible haste was breaking through the Croud and came time enough to see the perfect Izadora fling her self at her Lovers feet and tell him Alas Perolla can you talk of happiness in death and yet think of leaving me behind you did you ever find any felicity in separation that you beg it even of your very Enemies or have you so low an opinion of my passion as to think I can survive you Ah Madam said Perolla interrupting and putting himself in her posture if you will lessen my trouble give me rather marks of your disdain than of your love since the vastness of that score now creates my sufferings which are so great they cannot be increast but by new additions of your favour Judge then if it be not time to dye when my highest blessing that of your Affection proves my torment Then reply'd Izadora my condition will as much require death as yours for 't is as impossible for me not to augment your sufferings whilst I live as 't is to survive you which since my sorrow will not permit let my Love anticipate the effects of it this will be more proportionate to my vows and cut off the tortures of a lingring life so Death the enemy to other passions may prove the friend of ours and conferr that union on us in the other life which our Fates and cruel Parents have deny'd us in this Izadora said Perolla flatter not my hopes with an union in the other World the gods which held me unworthy of you here will have much more cause to continue that belief when instead of your mortality they shall cloath you with the reward of Virtue alas then you will be fitter for their adoration than mine Can there be she reply'd a felicity in the other World for Izadora if she be divided from Perolla do not by such suggestions fright me into a hatred of Elizium which if what you say be true will lose its quality and fancy not the gods unjust onely to make us miserable no Perolla we have walkt too exactly in the paths of Virtue to fear Death and as an argument of this truth that minute which separates your Soul from the fair Mansion it now inhabits shall give mine freedom for to dye is a Blessing or a Curse if the first I will not be deny'd it too if the latter I hope 't will hinder your despair when you know I will involve my self in it This noble dispute had continu'd longer had I not told Perolla that Spartacus was come who indeed was so ravished with the Virtue of these Lovers that his admiration made many who knew him not suspect that his suspense proceeded from his being as absolutely vanquisht by the Eies of one of his Enemies as his Sword had been victorious over all the rest But Parthâ—nissa was too deeply fixt to be defac'd and her Beauty had got so absoluâ—e an Empire over
make away an Enemy who in thus giving thee the power to destroy him makes it a crime to do it besides he is one who owes his Conquests onely to his Courage and Conduct and if the Roman Empire be vanquisht with those Arms she deserves that Fate which to oppose were to contradict the justice of the gods and virtue it self Ah no Perolla leave off the thoughts of such a design than which nothing can be a greater Crime but the performing it He had certainly gone away alter'd though â—ot pleas'd with these reasons had not his good Genius inspir'd him with what you shall now hear 'T is true said he Hanniball is the upholder and revenger of our Family and therefore the performance will be more glorious What greater obligation can I put upon the Romans than to ruine our Family to maintain their Empire Had Magius been as much a friend as he was an enemy to our blood design might wear the name of revenge and an action of publick concernment might be stil'd the effect of a particular hatred so that all his favours should rather invite than dissuade the attempt which these circumstances will prove rather an impartial justice than ingratitude But remember Perolla how thy Countrymen branded with infamy Perpenna for having murther'd Sertorius though an enemy to the Commonwealth how much more will they detest thee for destroying one whose too much virtue and success are his only crimes But then he continu'd Why may not I suppose they did but counterfeit since States have the same arts as particular persons and it had been an unwise justice to commend that which they could not sufficiently reward This part of Perpenna's fate I hope will attend my attempt which is one invitaion more for to perform what any but the gods can reward is to sell gallantry besides my case will be nobler than his for I cannot doubt the higher Powers so much as to deny him the freedom of his Sword to defend his life that if he fall he may owe it to my courage not my treacchery and then I 'll expose my self unto his Army since to fly were to shun Martyrdom and to out-live the fact would shew as if I desir'd to enjoy that secuty I purchase onely for my Countrey These and many other arguments so fully confirm'd Perolla that he onely attended an opportunity to put his resolution in practice and though his green age being then but 18 years old might have made his change from this determination appear rather a thing incident to youth than a want of Valor yet he so much ador'd virtue that he could not be unconstant to whatsoever bore her Character After he had with incredible impatience expected an occasion Fortune seem'd one night to furnish him with one for having learn'd that Hanniball had withdrawn himself into his Chamber for a few hours to make a dispatch to his friends at Carthage and that all his followers were upon the like employment to theirs Perolla who had always free access unto him was going to execute his design but it seems the Fates would not let him by one generous action hinder himself from performing many for Pacuvius who had some intelligence then brought him of a design the Capuans had to revenge Magius's death and to recover the freedom which that execution sufficiently shew'd they had lost was then coming to acquaint Hanniball with it and in such a conjuncture of time that the Father and the generous Son met each other at his Chamber door where Pacuvius seeing Perolla arm'd was struck with so great an astonishment that nothing could increase it but the knowledge of the cause which Perolla acquainted him with in such ravishing terms that his reason though not his inclination was converted and finding the happy operation which his arguments produc'd he began to conjure his Father by all those motives he esteem'd most prevalent that he would by some high performance regain the Romans good opinion which it seem'd the gods invited him to perform by offering him so favourable an opportunity to kill Hanniball for said he the action is good or ill if the first it has invitation enough in it self if the latter the people of Rome cannot doubt your conversion since to assure them of it you perform what is as contrary to your nature and practice as your former Crime in delivering up Capua was repugnant to their interest I wiâ—â— not said Izadora trouble your patience by telling how Perolla offer'd to relinquish to his Father the glory of the attempt nor all those other things which you may imagine so rare a subject could furnish a judgement with that was so since this design by a seeming delay receiv'd an absolute suppression for Pacuvius who found that his generous sons reasons and resolutions were not to be vanquish'd counterfeiting to be so himself and promis'd him as soon as that great Conqueror was out of his protection he would join in the enterprize in the mean while he begg'd Perolla with tears and sighs to delay the execution of his attempt and not to violate the Laws of hospitaly which would be as great an offence unto the gods as the performing it might be an obligation to the Romans These and many such pressing motives vanquish'd my dear friend especially since the design was not supprest but suspended and that a small deferring would take away the seeming aspersion of breach of Trust and so involve his Father in the execution that he might thereby efface his former injuries to the Romans But Perolla was no sooner retir'd than Pacuvius went in to Hanniball and inform'd him that the Capuans were so highly incenst at the death of Magius that he befought his permission to leave him his whole house and that he would fill it with his Guards lest the World might lose its greatest glory and he his best friend At last Hanniball consented to Pacuvius's request who the next morning remov'd and whose house was immediately so throng'd with Soldiers that the impossibility of attempting against that famous Captains life was as great as the destroying it had been pleasing to Perolla who finding how much his Father had abus'd him resolv'd in himself to go to the Romans and by the gallantry of his Actions manifest that 't was Pacuvius and not Pacuvius's blood which was an enemy to their Empire with this further hope that his fortune in the many accidents of War might furnish him with an opportunity to assault and destroy that Life in the fight of both Armies which had been hitherto preserved by his Fathers Tears and Dissimulation And the Fates who have been as much his friends in actions of Glory as his Enemies in those of Love knowing what he was destin'd to perform was too great to delay any time caus'd Pacuvius who still apprehended the discovery of his fiction and the sad events it would inevitably produce to command his generous Son to go into this Town which then had
expressions can For in that Sally where they now were led on by Revenge as well as Honor they kill'd above 1500 Lybians and the execution had been far bloudier had not they spent the best part of their time in fetching off the Bodies of Amazora and those of best quality whose Names had no cause to wander if the destruction of their murtherers could hinder it Never victory had less joy in it than this and never Funeral was solemniz'd with more Tears than that of those admirable Women and indeed the Besieged's grief appear'd so just that their Reason rather continu'd than supprest them But it is high time to lead you out of so forlorn an entertainment which I will do by acquainting you that though Perolla now perswades me I possess his Heart intirely yet he cannot deny but that I have onely the reversion of it neither would I pass by though the truth of my story oblig'd me not to it the vertues of my Rival which indeed merit a particular Elogium and were I capable of describing them as they deserve I know none that would have declin'd her Fate to have had her Glory Her Fire was of so peculiar a quality that when it had reduc'd her to ashes those very Reliques retain'd heat enough to inflame him and perhaps there has been seldom heard of a love so strange in the Birth in the Life and in Death For it was created by an object that was dead the Effect remained when the Cause was taken away and having no material sustenance to preserve it self alive it liv'd upon speculation and to perfect the wonder 't was Izadora destroy'd it But I tell you too much of the end before I acquaint you of the beginning which fell out thus Perolla returning from that famous Burial one of those Men which had been ordered to take an Inventory of Amazora's Goods and preserve them presented him with a Letter he had found in her Closet and because the Superscription was TO THE Gallant PEROLLA He open'd it and found it contain'd these words T IS not Amazora but her death discovers she had a passion for you had she lived the impossibility of disclosing it had been as great as perhaps the obtaining of a reciprocal one Do not then condemn a confidence I wash away with my Bloud nor slight an Affection which is as perfect as the Object that created it neither am I onely a friend to your Passion but your Glory which I am resolv'd to raise upon my own ruine and the ruine of all those of my Sex within this City our deaths shall delay if not hinder yours and give you time enough to act such additional generous things that those which are acquainted with them and with my flame shall excuse the latter by the knowledge of the former If all this can procure your esteem I shall think my destiny too noble to be deplor'd and if for the life I loose I may live in your memory I shall esteem it a more happy being than that which the gods have promis'd in the other world to those which have been virtuous in this HE had no sooner ended Reading than he cry'd out Yes fair Amazora I will preserve you still in my memory and were it not to obey your Commands the World should know that your death is so far from delaying mine that it has but hasten'd it Then folding his Arms one within another he stood moveless as a Statue for a while raining from his Eyes whole showers of Tears but after a world of confus'd thoughts had past through his fancy he cry'd out again Would it had pleas'd the gods fair Amazora to have made you as concern'd in my happiness as in my glory Cruel Honor was there no expedient to build thy Trophies but by the ruine of my Felicity must the way to reach my Glory ruine my contentment Oh too hard Fates why did I not know my happiness whilst I possest it and why am I acquainted with it when 't is vanisht was I to be blest onely to be curst must the knowledge of more joy than I could expect create more grief than I can endure and must Amazora's passion for me be so order'd that the revealing of it must prove my Torment whilst Izadora was relating this sad reasoning her generous Servant was so struck with sorrow that she who sympathiz'd with him in all virtuous Resentments was constrain'd to break off her discourse which the company perceiving they did manifest by a general silence from all things but sighs how just an opinion they had of their grief and how highly they approv'd the cause of it A little time being so spent and Izadora having wip'd away her Tears thus continu'd her Story I will not tell you all the melancholly expressions Perolla us'd lest it might infect you with a grief I would willingly exempt you from I shall therefore inform you only that he contracted a Passion for her memory as great as any other could have had for her Beauty and that whilst the Siege continu'd twice a day he constantly water'd her Urne with such abundant weepings that had those Tears been inwardly imploy'd they had doubtless extinguisht his Grief his Flame or his Life At last gallant Spartacus the Famine so increast in Pettely that 't was impossible any longer to maintain the place and though Himilco offer'd him and all those with him conditions fit for Soldiers yet he scorn'd to stand indebted for his life to those which had taken away Amazora's but rather elected to force his passage with his Sword or perish in the attempt neither was this only his design but that which he infus'd into all the rest That day being then come the Town was on all quarters set on fire that the Carthagineans might neither use nor glory in their Conquest and Perolla at the head of 3000 Pettelines which were all that were left furiously charged the Affricans and by dint of Sword forced his passage and to animate his Soldiers he cry'd out nothing but remember Amazora and her followers And truly I am perswaded all the Eloquence the gods ever bestow'd on Man could not have been more powerful than were those few words 'T was in that great action Perolla did miracles and I have been told the slaughter was so bloudy that all those gallant unfortunate Women had each of them one of their dead Murtherers for a cover of their Graves the Fight happening in those very Fields where so horrid a Massacre had been committed On Perolla's side there fell 800. which number I believe he might have lessen'd had he stolen and not made his retreat but night coming ended their dispute and my gallant friend having rallied the reliques of his Forces propounded and perswaded them to force their passage into Cassilinum which was not above 200 Furlongs off and which was besieged then by Hannibal This resolve being taken the next night by unfrequented ways they began their march and
the Father on the Son of his mortallest Enemy especially since she has the power and that Pacuvius's affection for me as he has often declar'd is greater than that he has for himself and consequently to afflict Perolla is the most sensible way of being reveng'd on his Father neither can I expect a better Fate unless Izadora's Goodness be as great as my Passion I shall always she said know how to distinguish between the guilty and the innocent and therefore will not involve the Son in the Fathers Crime especially since the gallantry of the former hinder'd the acted sin of the latter Oh Madam I answer'd How great were my felicity would Blacius practice the same goodness You need not doubt she reply'd in this last action where your Blood testifies your innocence but for his antient hatred I fear his resentments Alass I cry'd out I never have those thoughts but I tremble and would it might please the gods as the blood I have spent already has purchast his esteem so that the remainder were shed to continue it after his knowledge of my condition For I should think my death glorious could it wipe away the infelicity of my Birth and count it a greater happiness to dye with the title of your Families Friend than to live in the contrary misfortune The fair Izadora perceiving how I afflicted my self with those sad impressions told me What I have already done may in some sort repress your fears neither is despair pardonable but where impossibilities turn it into reason a generous courage as Perolla's should not antedate his troubles for sometimes our apprehensions make us miserable when our Fates design the contrary Those I reply'd which did flatter me would often publish I had a courage above misfortunes and I may justly say in all those dangers I have yet undergone I never resented any thing of fear but what disasters my hard Stars impos'd on me I found my consolation and security in my resolution yet in my present condition whether my fears proceed from some prescience of my ruine or from a diffidence of so great a felicity I know not but this I am certain of that I find something within which never until now I entertain'd I confess said the fair Izadora when I think upon Blacius's hatred to your Family I have some little tremblings which I can hardly suppress but when I consider the services you have paid him and those eminent qualities you possess I find no other way for the questioning your content than by doing the like as well to my Fathers judgement as gratitude Madam I reply'd I have nothing in me nor have nothing for him which might so much raise my ambition but since you do not onely command me to silence my fears but alledge I have no cause to continue them I will obey you since 't is as impossible for me to erre whilst I do so as not to erre whilst I do not so 'T was with such pleasing discourses as these that I past some days and 't was well for the torment of my wounds for no other charm had been of sufficient force to moderate their pain At last Fortune began to cloud this little Sun-shine for Izadora understood from a friend of hers that a great disorder was in Pacuvius's house by the arrival of a servant of mine whom I would not permit to come into Salapia with me but had order'd him to follow lest I might be the likelier discover'd This servant assur'd my Father that I was come before him alone into the Town and that crossing a street upon the break of day he had found my Horse and observed much Bloud had been there spilt but as for his Master he could learn no news of him This Lady was one which had free access into both our Families and having then received some high disgust in Pacuvius's told this secret to the fair Izadora in expectation that it might come to Blacius's knowledge whose revenge she easily fancy'd would induce him to make it publick which would at least have ruin'd me if not my Father for entertaining and concealing me but she knew not that she told this news to one that was better acqainted with the particulars of it than her self and who was not a little concern'd in this unfortunate life But Izadora after her departure came and not onely acquainted me with this intelligence but advis'd me to make my self known to Blacius for since the business had already so much vent if he came to learn it any other way it might be lookt upon at a rate that would extreamly aggravate his former hatred I must truly confess had this advice proceeded from any other I should have found a strong opposal in my obedience but she had such an Ascendent over me that in all her commands how difficult soever they were in themselves I did not onely find Reason but Power to obey them and in this injunction of hers I had no sooner taken up my resolution than I was furnisht with an opportunity to put it in practice For Blacius who was always present at the dressing of my wounds was so sensible of the torment I endur'd that he could not retain some drops from stealing out of his Eyes and as soon as the Chirurgeons were gone he embrac'd me and said If the gods generous stranger would grant a power of transferring pain upon him that is most desirous of it you should quickly then resent none but what your goodness for my sufferings could produce Were that priviledge I answer'd bestow'd upon me my condition would not be at all improv'd for that rule would continue the sufferings where they are already neither could they be remov'd as you desire without doubling my trouble by afflicting me in that which I am more concern'd in than in my self You are reply'd Blacius so obliging both in action and expression that there is no way of increasing my debt but by acquainting how I may pay some part of it When you speak I reply'd of being indebted to me you do certainly mean to my Desires and not my Actions but because you are pleas'd to stile the effects of my Duty Obligations I will not oppose that belief since to have rais'd it is onely my ambition but is besides exceeding necessary towards the obtaining of a request I have to make to you a request of so strange a property that the denial of it once will make me uncapable of ever asking it again and the granting of it will never let me stand in need of asking any other If said Blacius with some impatiency the granting this desire be in my power why do you not name it since to confer on you a concession of this quality and operation will be a greater favour to the giver than it can be to the Receiver 'T is Sir I reply'd that you would pardon my unhappy extraction and not esteem that my fault which is my misfortune An Extraction Blacius answered
Signal not being given which was a lighted Torch our of a Turret Window he conceiv'd the design had vent and so leisurely a little before day retreated to his Camp But alass I was no sooner inform'd of Blacius's sad Fate then I lamented him as dead the knowledge of Hanniball's vindicative Nature justifying that prophetical way of grieving but after I had moderated which those tears my Sex and Relation render'd unavoidable and that thereby my Reason was less hinder'd from acting I resolv'd to write unto Perolla who I knew was in the Consuls Army The Letter I sent by a trusty Messenger and was to this purpose IZADORA to the generous PEROLLA BLacius has lost his life for his zeal to the Romans unless your power with Fabius preserve it by obtaining prisoners for his Ransom or suspend his Death by a high Message of making all the Affricans in his hands follow my Fathers destiny Do not now I beseech you consider Blacius as Perolla's Enemy but as Izadora's Father and by a second protecting him create his affection or else so justifie mine that want of duty may appear virtue and though his past insensibility would render your revenge very just yet your saving him will therefore render your Generosity more eminent Whilst with great impatience I expected a return of this Paper Hannibal to make his revenge appear rather the effect of justice than of passion proceeded against Blacius in the ordinary forms of Law by which he was condemn'd to lose his Head and to have his four Quarters fixt upon the Gates of Salapia for a future Terror to all others O gods when this fatal Sentence came to my hearing what did not I utter against Hannibal's Cruelty and Blacius's ill Fortune But whilst I was in the midst of my despair my Messenger return'd with this answer from my generous Friend PEROLLA to the fair IZADOR BLacius as he is a Friend to the Romans cannot without a high Injustice apprehend my not being his But as he is Izador's Father he cannot without a higher doubt of my exposing all that is most precious for him and though his severity has been somewhat great yet his admirable Daughter by a contrary extreme has so over-repair'd all his injuries that the service I intend to render him will relish as much of gratitude as obedience Fabius Madam will embrace your Fathers deliverance as he ought and if his endeavors prove unsuccessful I will either free him from so sad a destiny or my self from the misery of seeing you deplore it Oh! How pleasing and forlorn at once was this Letter I saw my Fathers deliverance promis'd but the way which conduc'd unto it was almost as great a misfortune as it exempted me from for I found I must hazard all my felicity in attempting to save but a large part of it Whilst I was thus perplext I was inform'd that the Consul had sent a Trumpet to Hannibal with an offer of all his Libian Prisoners for the redemption of Blacius and a deep protestation in case he executed him that he would give no Quarter to those he had already nor any others in the future To the first of which the Carthaginean reply'd That he valu'd the execution of Justice more than the Romans could the saving a Traytor and upon that score he would not pardon Blacius's life for a few Prisoners who being so merited to continue so And as to his latter threatning he believ'd it was sent when he remembred not Cannes Trebia Tissinum and Thrassimene and though Fabius by executing those he had then in his power would sooner free him from a trouble than give him any yet he would consider that action as 't was intended and vindicate himself at that rate In a word he sent him a positive answer That all the offers or threatnings of the Romans no not the saving his dear Brother Asdrubal's life were it in their power should tye up his hands from so just and necessary a Revenge I was further acquainted that Hanniball had given order before the Trumpet was withdrawn to have a Scafâ—old erected in the Alarm-place and had sworn by the glory of Carthage and his Fathers Memory Oaths which he held in greatest veneration That before two days were ended Blacius should receive the reward of his Infidelity I might appear too impertinent did I acquaint you what sad operations this cruel Sentence produc'd in me it shall suffice to tell you that my weeping in the apprehensions of my Fathers death had well-near caus'd my own and that I had shed so many antedated tears for it that had the cruel Hannibal seen them they would doubtless have quench'd his rage But whilst I abandon'd my self to a grief that was as just as great the Night arriv'd which was the Eve to that fatal Day and as the horror of darkness is always apt to raise in us dismal imaginations I fancy'd the unfortunate Blacius all pale and bloody coming to my Bed-side and after he had view'd me with a look which had almost reduc'd me to the condition he was in he told me Behold Izadora behold these several wounds which he open'd so wide that his Soul had it yet inhabited his Body might have come entire out of the least of them though they are full of torment yet I have forc'd my self to travel from the Elizium where I have receiv'd the reward of my fidelity to the Romans and of my Martyrdom under Hanniball to come and conjure thee by the duty thou owedst me before I was a Ghost by the joy I have left and the pain I shall suffer till thou grantest my request now thou art at thy own dispose never shew thou hast that power by giving thy self to Perolla but as thou art Heir to our Blood be so also to our generous resentments and let him find that revenge in thy beauty and disdain which he thought he had avoided by the extinction of our Family if thou grantest me this the blessed Plains cannot afford me equal satisfaction but if thou deny'st it all the felicity of that place will lose its quality and where others find their happiness I shall torment These words methought were spoken with Eyes swell'd with Tears and with an accent so moving that in my life I never was in a higher perplexity I began a thousand times to condemn those learned Men which taught us that the felicity of the other life is so perfect an extasie of joy that it needs no foyl to set it off and that they in it are no more sensible of any concern for us here than we are capable of conceiving their felicity there when alass to my cost I found one there not only retain'd an unjust desire of Revenge which poyson'd all other delights but also prosecuted a virtue here which was to possess the highest Empire there and I esteem'd it one great misfortune of the other World that those in it were confin'd to their happiness but by having a
express as earnest a desire of knowing as of being grateful to him I will no longer conceal him 'T is Perolla Sir That same Perolla whose former obligations you have lessen'd but to increase the present 'T is he whose gallantry were it capable of being supprest had doubtless been so by your ingratitude Pardon me if dare say what you did act But he from your cruelty deduces arguments to convince you of his affection and friendship by not declining your preservation when dangers as great as your hatred threatned whosoever should attempt it 'T is then that he with an unimitable virtue exposes his own life to redeem yours which by a sad experiment he knew was the chiefest obstruction in his felicity Give me leave Sir too a little to repine that you could fancy any other could undertake and act so much for you and certainly were not your judgment clouded with a prejudicated opinion of him the gallantry of the performance and the modesty and humility of the Performer would have been a certainer information than my words that it was Perolla in whose behalf I beg you to practice now you know him what you promis'd when you only knew his services for all returns but that of your affection and friendship will be as short of his merit as both those will abundantly reward it Blacius when I had ended speaking after having fetcht two or three turns about the room with an angry look reply'd I should have â—ooner known 't was Perolla by the great rate you set upon his services than by the services themselves and if I plac'd a higher Character on them than they merited 't was only to draw a confession from you which I thought nothing else could perform My design has succeeded and in those very expressions which you intended should create my affection for your lover I perceive the continuation of yours to him and in so high a disobedience to my commands that that death I am freed from turns to a misfortune and forces me to tell you if you persevere in this criminal passion I shall embrace Hannibal's resentment rather as a cure than a punishment Alas Sir I answer'd exceedingly surpriz'd Must then Perolla's saving your life and my gratitude for it be look'd upon as Crimes And must an obligation from an enemy which should raise the greatness of it turn it to an offence Since these are the constructions you make of his actions 't is high time for him to despair since 't is as impossible for him not to offend you if obligations be an offence as for you with justice to give his performances that name If what he has done for me said Blacius be an obligation from thence you may derive a proof of my affection to you which had rather endure the name of ungrateful than by giving you away free my self from that aspersion But do not proceed in this disputing against my resolutions which may force me to hate what I desire to love You are too just I reply'd to hate without a cause and 't is on that assurance I dare become Perolla's Advocate since his fear of offending you makes him decline being his own do not then Sir employ that breath he has preserv'd to destroy him that gave it you his service merits an esteem if not a reward and it may be others will say you do as high an injustice in thus using your Deliverer as he did that put you in a condition to need his help To which Blacius told me That Life which is now I hope out of Hannibal's power and which you say I owe Perolla's Affection to me was rather an argument of his own to himself he knew the justice of those resentments I had for his could not be silenc'd but by actions as great as those which created them and that whilst they continu'd he could no more obtain my permission of possessing you than you without it so that my deliverance being the best way to that end he perform'd it and thereby no more oblig'd me than a Passenger does the Commander of a Ship by saving what could not perish without involving him in the common ruine so that his being a friend to himself only made him a friend to me Sir I reply'd he that sav'd your life once and could not by that obligation suppress your hatred had no reason by a repetition of that favour to expect a better return so that his experience convincing him your aversion was not to be taken away he might have sufffer'd your life to have been so by Hannibal who had both the power and will to do it especially that being the onely obstacle to his desires had not his affection to one of your family inclin'd him upon that score to love all of it This gallantry shews so handsomly that I hope 't will invite yours to an imitation especially too since by the effects of it you receive a benefit whose greatness cannot be equall'd but by that injustice which makes you endeavor his ruine that conferr'd it on you He that by saving my life said Blacius extremely mov'd found in that action a gratitude so extraordinary as to suppress a revenge where my power to perform it was not greater than the justice which invited me to it might reasonably hope that by a succession of services of that nature I might in time be induc'd as well to silence my hatred as I had my revenge so that what you attribute to my Enemies gallantry might be better ascrib'd to his reason and judgement My death too had been so far from freeing all his obstructions that it had but created greater for I had so order'd it in my Will that if you had married him you should have broke those Tyes and Conjurations which had render'd you unworthy of his Bed or if his Passion had attributed your want of duty to your Father to be a higher argument of your affection to your Lover yet you should have brought him nothing but the bare Izadora for apprehending by what you have done what you might do I had upon so transcendent a violation of those commands which I would have seal'd with my last breath given to another all my estate which I believe whatever advantageous and partial opinion you have of your self makes Perolla as much your Servant as your Beauty If no one I reply'd had a greater value of me than I have of my self Perolla would soon have as low an opinion of me as you have of his Services and truly when I consider the largeness of your Fortune and the little Title I have to any perfections which are capable of inviting so transcendent a happiness as his Affection I am apt enough to believe I derive that felicity from the first of those motives but on the other side when I reflect upon those sacred protestations he has made me that his passion was created and is nourish'd by my Beauty and Vertue and from no secondary causes I am
at least an hour which was not yet half expirâ—d I received this assurance with exceeding joy and immediately conjur'd him him to conduct me to the cruel Hannibal who he had told me was an assistant at Blacius Tragedy The good old man would have disswaded me from seeing an object which would but augment my grief but I begg'd that favour of him with such earnest words and expressions that at last he yielded to me but it was so long e're I could vanquish him that what he designed for a proof of his care had like to have produced a strange and contrary effect For just as I came under the Scaffold I perceived my poor Father preparing himself for the fatal stroak with a courage which render'd him unworthy of it so sad a spectacle made me hasten to Hannibal's seat where at last I came and with a countenance more suitable to my resentment than condition I presented my self unto him and told him Sir I beseech you command a suspension of Blacius's death till I have acquainted you with some things that may perhaps induce you to pardon him The Carthagineans who then consider'd nothing but my Sex and motion with a look as barbarous as his Countrey reply'd Woman the offences of that Traytor are too transcendent to expect a pardon for any thing thou canst reveal thou mayst well therefore spare thy self a labour which will proveal together fruitless Then turning about he commanded some of his Guards to carry me down again At that cruel order I flung my self at his Feet and embracing his Knees I thus continued I am Sir come to invoke that justice which has hitherto made you as famous as your success and will not stir from this posture till you assure me I shall not be denyed it Those few words I spoke so loud and so distinctly that most of those Salapians which were near the Scaffold heard them which putting them in hopes that it might be something that would conduce to Blacius advantage whom I told you they extreamly loved they cryed out to Hannibal Hear her hear her which voices as is common in the croud were seconded by those that neither understood the cause nor the approvers of that motion The Carthaginians finding the City so pressing and unanimous forbad his Guards to meddle with me who were already beginning to force my Hold and not only enjoyn'd the suspension of the execution till I had done speaking but told me I might be as consident of his doing me right as of Blacius's death than which nothing the Oracles did tell could be more certain Sir I continu'd you will soon find how great a confidence I have of your Justice since my relyance on it makes me offer my Life into your Power who am the unfortunate Daughter of this Blacius that it seems has offended you in such a degree as nothing but his Bloud can be your reparation in pursuance of which resolve you were pleas'd under sacred Oaths when his Prison was forc'd and thereby your revenge frustrated to publish That whosoever would reveal unto you who were the Contrivers Causers or Actors of his liberty should have granted any one thing the said party could ask that was in your power this Proclamation which I here present you is my witness and the assurance you are inviolate in your engagements has brought me to discover unto you who is the offender that has so exceedingly transgrest your Laws but before I disclose this secret I must beg a reiteration of that assurance which to induce you to with the less reluctancy be pleas'd to receive mine that the same minute you confirm your first engagement I will put into your power the crimital person which procur'd my unfortunate Father his short liberty so that the same action which makes you satisfy your word will give you the power to satisfy your revenge too All those which could hear my request gave their approbation to it by a loud shout for they car'd not upon whose ruines they built Blacius's deliverance and Hannibal who was always as ambitious of Glory as of Revenge repeated and confirm'd the Oaths and Promises of his Proclamation which being finisht I thus continued Since by a generosity which I ever expected from so great a Prince you have silenc'd all those doubts my own constant unhappiness and not any suspitions of your Virtue did create I shall boldly acquaint you that your justice receiv'd that affront from Izadora and though my Sex exempted me from actions of that nature yet by my Prayers and Letters to a young Roman Gentleman I rais'd that power which cast you into so great disorders and for the punishment of which you have made such unlimited promises Thus Sir I have satisfied my engagement not only by acquainting you who committed the offence but by putting the offender into your hands And now I shall expect as punctual a performance from you Then as I was beginning to make my request the Carthaginian who suspected by my resolution that it would be Blacius's Life wherein he was not deceiv'd suddenly started up and with a furious look told me If thou art so mad as to beg thy Fathers Life for this discovery in expectation afterwards that thy Sex will induce me to pitty thee know that thy Crime will make me pass by all considerations and raise a fury which by all the gods nothing but thy destruction will appease this I acquaint thee with that thou mayst owe thy death to thy wilfulness and not to my resentments which I tell thee once more will prove so severe thou wilt soon repent thou e'r didst raise them but if thou wilt yet decline that request thy Sex and Relations will invite me to pardon what I know I ought to punish Sir I reply'd nothing terrify'd at these threatenings I desire not to be oblig'd to your Mercy but your Justice neither can I lose my life more gloriously than for him that gave it me My duty in this case is most predominant and I know nothing can make me more worthy of death than how to avoid it therefore Sir I conjure you by those gods you have invok'd by that Empire which derives its gâ—eateâ—t Glory from your Virtue and by that Father whose memory you 〈◊〉 to reverence were it onely for giving the world so gâ—eat a 〈◊〉 At the end of these words I heard a voice which stopt me from pâ—oceeding any farther by saying Hold hold Izadcra be not 〈◊〉 to be genâ—rous not accuse your self of a fault which if it be one I by your own 〈◊〉 am only guilty of it This voice which I too soon knew was Pcrolla's made me turn about where â— immediately saw my generous Friend breaking thâ—ough Hannibals Guards that would have stopt him among whom he had staid awhile where he had heard all that had past and â—linging himself â—t his Enemies feet told him Sir You have bound your self by obligations too strong to leave me any suspition
inform'd my friend of my intentions to let him permit my proceedings any further which he hinder'd by leaving Hannibal and by prostrating himself before me where as soon as his disorder would permit him he cry'd out Ah Madam do not I beseech you by so unjust a Victory blemish your Virtue nor make me so wretched as to find my misery in that which perhaps you intend as an argument of your Affection to preserve your Fathers and your Life nay your Fame too are cause too glorious to deplore any effects which may proceed from them do not then envy me a death by which I shall always live and by losing only an uncertain Being obtain an Eternal one If I had not I reply'd taken up this resolution that which you do to suppress would have created it and in this fresh proof of your Virtue I find a greater invitaion to continue than alter my intentions Blacius would live more miserable with such a debt than he can dye by paying it and I cannot deplore his destiny which makes that Life which even now was to be an oblation only to Hannibals fury to prove a sacrifice to Gratitude If said Perolla the payment of that Gratitude be addrest to me I take all that 's holy to witness I shall find in the design only a larger and more pleasing payment than in the action Alas Madam consider too I beseech you what all Mankind will say of you they will doubtless condemn that Virtue which has been hitherto their admiration and that which you think will raise their esteem will absolutely suppress it besides if you proceed in your design 't will be so far from hindering that it will but hasten my death do not then I beseech you force me through despair to spill that bloud which now may be shed for a Subject that out-weighs the loss I shall find I reply'd in your silence a stronger inducement to obey you than in your words espicially if they be of this nature and for your apprehension of my prejudicing in this action that little Virtue I possess I have fixt upon a resolve shall still preserve if not increase it and I have so order'd all things that your last Declaration is now my only trouble which forces me to make use of that power you have so often assur'd me I have over you to beg and if that be not sufficient to command you by our passions which have been as pure as great and by all other conjurations that are most powerful whatsoever happens to me use no violence upon your self nor leave this life till the gods do call you to a better this I implore with the more earnestness because posterity shall judge of your love by your obedience Then without staying for his answer whose quality I read in his amazement I went to Hannibal and having laid open all the most pressing terms I could compose to illustrate the unworthiness of a violated engagemeut I conjur'd him as a recompence of what I had reveal'd to give Perolla his life and liberty who having followed me and hearing my request detesting to derive his safety from the cause he esteem'd in me so unnatural thus spoke to the Carthaginian By a true confession Sir how Blacius was relieved I am confident you find no other had a hand in it but I at least Izadora had not who was so far from either contriving or knowing it that when I presented him to her she was weeping him for dead and admir'd as much at his deliverance as he himself did As for that Letter she alleadges which was the cause of his Liberty I protest by all the gods it commanded me only to make use of the Consuls favour for Blacius's redemption by offering some Lybian prisoners or for a suspension of his death by threatening all those he had to follow his destiny so that she was no more the cause then the effect of her Fathers freedom neither can she pretend any title to the benefit of your Proclamation by discovering who was the Actor for when I brought Blacius to her I was so covered with Armor that she could not possibly know me and as an argument of this truth she call'd me Roman when as yet I never saw Rome and had my birth in this City therefore Sir none but I has any interest in your manifest which obliges you no less to preserve inviolate your vows and promises than to punish those which have offended you Ah Sir said I flinging my self at his feet I hope you are too judicious not to distinguish betwixt an accusation which proceeds from Generosity and one which proceeds from guilt and consequently not to impute this of Perolla's to one of the first quality but yet lest you should want light to see so much Virtue I beseech you reflect upon whose Son he is and you will find in his extraction cause to invite him rather to destroy Blacius by the hazard of his own life than to save him by a certain loss of it Yes Sir I blush in his behalf to acknowledge that the little Beauty and Virtue which the gods have given me converted his inclinations and made him cherish what he would otherwise have destroyed so that I am apparently the cause of that freedom which created your resentments besides I have a title to my request discovering who was the Actor For as to that allegation that I was weeping my Fathers loss when he presented him to me I may truly answer my affection had as large a share in those Tears as my Duty for I could not reflect upon Blacius danger and Perolla's courage but it was impossible to retain them and though indeed at his coming into my Chamber he was covered with Arms and Bloud yet his Gallantry discover'd what his unkind Armor would have conceal'd and in his actions I found as great an assurance that it was Perolla as I could have had in seeing his Face so that my calling him Roman proceeded not from my ignorance but fears for I was informed after my Fathers rescue such strict Guards were plac'd about the City that I apprehended my generous friend was not gotten out of it so that if by any misfortune he fell into your power I would not by precisely acquainting you who he was have given you so great an accession to that hatred you had already contracted for him besides I might aptly enough call him a Roman his inclinations and actions having always been for that Empire Thus Sir have I clearly demonstrated the interest I have in your engagement which gives me the confidence to conjure you by these Tears and by that word which you have hitherto so religiously observed give Perolla that Life and Liberty he would so meritoriously have lost which is the Petition I humbly make for my discovery neither can you satisfy that request he has already made you without yielding to mine too for that life he has begg'd is so united to his that it
cannot admit of a different Fate To which Hannibal reply'd Madam Perolla may with reason be credited since 't is not likely he would disclaim a Truth which would save his life and therefore as I have been just to him in granting his desires for you so permit me now to be just to my self by sacrificing an offender who is not only contented to be so but glories in it and out-braves my Justice Yes Sir said Perolla since you have saved the fair Izadora inflict on me all the torments your Revenge and Fury can inspire you with and I will embrace them with more joy than they are imposed nay commend that justice which by my sufferings exempts the perfectest creature from induring any This generous reply so incen'sd the barbarous Hannibal that he commanded his Guards to bind Perolla and carry him to receive a death whose torments might be as great as his crime The Guards at those barbarous Orders advanc'd to seize upon Perolla who perceiving their intentions went half way to meet them and holding out his Arms told them Here here Soldiers obey your General and bind up those Arms which when they were at liberty were as much his fear as now they are his satisfaction and which yet were I disposed to â—ell my life might make him tremble in the midst of you but I will not impose that in which I find my Glory Those words he spoke with so furious a look that though unarmed and invironed with his Enemies yet it struck such a damp into their Hearts that their trembling was the greatest proof they were alive But Perolla instantly disarming himself of all his fury with an Humility great as my grief kneel'd at my feet and told me The gods shall be my witness Madam that the onely thing which made me cherish my life was out of a hope that it might prove serviceable to you and now it is so fortunate not only to save you but pardon me if I say so to keep you too from a stain which might blemish all your other Virtues I resign it with more joy than I kept it but yet I must confess when I reflect upon our separation I find a strong aversion to it and am forc'd to run for my Consolation to the necessary causes of it Must then I reply'd interrupting him with a shower of Tears must then the unequall'd Perolla have so hard a fate that he finds his Consolation in the destruction of my Felicity unjust Heaven who will ever adore friendship when it turns to be the ruine of him that possest it in the highest perfection Ah Madam said he call me rather your Votary than your Friend and then you need not fear this President will prejudice Posterity for Men sooner adore than decline a Deity by the example of a Martyrdom But Madam you may convert my trouble into my felicity by permitting this voluntary death to preserve me alive in your esteem which will be a nobler existence and render me an object fitter for your Joy than Tears You shall not only have my esteem I reply'd but my company since 't is a greater misery to out-live the loss of so much Virtue than to dye with it But Sir said Izadora speaking to Spartacus perhaps I make the relation only of these accidents as tedious and troublesom to you as they themselves were to us but I will repair that fault by contracting the sequel of our Adventures To which my Prince reply'd Madam if I am in any trouble it only proceeds from sympathizing in those disasters you were fallen into and the difficulties I find in your being delivered out of them of which I am so impatient and concern'd that I shall beg you henceforward to believe that as long as you prosecute your Story you will as much oblige me as by interrupting it you will do the contrary Izadora with an action which testified her acknowledgement thus continued her Relation I will obey you Sir and it may be in my following discourse you will find that our perplexities were cur'd by as strange an accident as that which created them For Hannibal all this while continu'd in a deep silence which I attributed to his being a Judge rather than a Lover but the gods who magnify their power by producing great Effects from small Causes made us find in this poor Beauty the redress of those disorders which it had occasioned for at the first when I presented my self unto the Carthaginian I was as my condition required all vail'd and continu'd so till Perolla's cruel Gallantry forc'd me to uncover my Face in which Hannibal fancy'd as many charms as it wanted and by the help of his own imagination so abundantly supply'd the unkindness of nature to me that in his wounds we found our remedy And truly for it to vanquish any Heart was strange but to captivate Hannibal's who hated our Sex as much as he did the Romans and to divest him too of his fury and revenge appear'd so great a Miracle that had not some visible effects been the witness of that Truth I had found in my imperfections too many Arguments to have doubted it and without question 't was such Passion as his that made Love be painted blind but many that stood by and were not so ingaged as I was observ'd at first that which I no way suspected or perceiv'd till Hannibal who found Perolla was as much his Rival in Love as in Glory after having laid down all those motives he esteemed most prevalent to induce me rather to employ my request for my Father than my Friend perceiving me so unshaken in my resolves and so pressing in my Tears and Prayers and guessing at my disposition by his own which hardened it self by opposition at last when the Guards were carrying away the generous Perolla he told me Madam If I have labour'd to prove you had no Title to my Proclamation 't was only to shew you that you had a power over me from yourself greater than you can derive from thence and that you may command upon the score of your Beauty that which you only beg by virtue of my manifest Alas Sir I reply'd I am too well acquainted with this unfortunate Beauty to believe it can have so high an influence on so great a Conqueror pardon me then if I dare tell you I shall be diffident of its power unless I am convinc'd of it by a demonstration If you suspect said he that which carries its authority with it and if you can doubt that Truth which Hannibal's Captivity does witness command me any other tryal and you shall find in my obedience how great a wrong you have done the fair Izadora So high a civility I answered merits a proportionate return and therefore I shall employ that power you give me for your own advantage and only beg you to be just unto your vows by giving Perolla his life Madam said Hannibal though in saving him I shall preserve by what
I have observed as great an opposer of my Felicity as of my Conquests and thereby too create as many Enemies as Soldiers in my Army yet I will observe your Orders Yes Madam I give Perolla's life to your commands and I give you Blacius's without them who for having bestowed so great a perfection on the World merits rather my esteem than revenge My zeal to your service stays not in that dull method of only obeying what you command it lays hold on that which it thinks is your Will without the revealing it I could not have the patience to let him proceed his Words and Actions were too generous to delay my acknowledgements for them which I exprest prostrate at his feet in the most moving and humble manner I was capable of I will not Sir said Izadora trouble you with the repetition of them though they were so satisfactory to him to whom they were addrest that as an acknowledgement of it he went immediately himself unbound both Blacius and Perolla and presented them to me with an humility so far beyond his practise that the standers by admir'd as much as I was pleas'd at it But to obscure this joy some of Pacuvius's friends seeing the danger his generous Son had been in went to his House to inform him of it for he out of gallantry would not be present at his Enemies death though he had Hannibal's example to authorize that action As soon as he had notice of it he went with so great haste to the place of Execution that those which saw it thought that his affection and not his hatred was the cause of it The croud about the Scaffold was so great that it was with much difficulty and with an often repeating of his name to which all paid a deep respect that he got at last to Hannibal and it was just at that instant that the Carthaginian had unbound Perolla and given him to me Pacuvius was suddenly informed of all that happened which every one assured themselves would render him a large sharer in the general joy but alas he soon put them out of that belief by thus speaking to Hannibal I were Sir unworthy the friendship of so great a Conqueror did I value any relation above it 't is upon that principle that I have detested Perolla who hates as much your Person as your Glory and if I hitherto conceal'd that horrid attempt against you which he himself has now publisht 't was not Because he was my Son but out of a belief that I might convert him for I knew a courage which was capable in so green an age to attempt so bold and high a design which was more advantageous to you to be gained than destroyed but since that valour the gods have given him has been imployed to ruine what it should have advanc'd I am come to implore your justice against one who is as much an Enemy to nature as to Carthage punish him for intending your destruction in a place where not to have sacrific'd himself for you had been as great a sin Yes Sir punish him for designing your death and punish me in him not onely for concealing but likewise for not revenging it and let one execution repair both our crimes you see generous Hâ—nnibal how I contemn my own interest when yours comes in competition with it which I imbrace with such a concern that I had rather extinguish my Family than continue it by leaving so great a stain upon your Justice and danger to your person as the saving of Perolla will amount unto Besides Sir shall that courage which hitherto found nothing so easie as to conquer leave the blemish behind it of having been vanquisht by the eyes only of one of our enemies shall the Romans derive their Triumph from a Sex which never merited higher than your pitty 〈◊〉 such a pleading Desire as Revenge and such a Virtue as Justice be supprest by an unworthy passion which like madness none believe they ever were possest with when they 'r cur'd of it Let not Sir I beseech you the cause of your disorders be worse than the effects but by a generous Conquest over your self shew you are capable to vanquish all obstacles and let your enemies in that very action which they esteemed would prove your shame find an argument that you are invincible so he that can overcome Hâ—nnibal cannot but be thought to do the like to Rome and all the World The Carthaginian who knew no other cause of Pacuvius's hatred to his Son than what he had alledged not only upon that account excus'd his passion and expressions but replyed had I not already given Perolla's life to the fair Izadora's commands I now had bestowed it on Pacuius's generosity and find in what he alledges more cause to suppress than to creat my Revenge He that could sacrifice the hopes of his posterity for my interest had too much misplac'd his friendship if for a return to it I would not silence a Revenge especially when the acting it will prove the destruction of so generous a Family in which my misfortune is the onely fault of any one of it for Perolla wants not Virtue but I the felicity to merit it and though he continued with a smile you upbraid me with being vanquisht yet I cannot but acknowledge I am more pleased in this defeat than with all my former victories I have too this satisfaction that I was never conquered but by a Sex which the gods themselves could not resist who if they can for their subjection produce thus much beauty they carry their justification in the cause of their fault if it be one so that I commit none unless it be one to imitate those we adore I will not particularize all the dispute betwixt them since it serves but to acquaint you that Hannibal remained unshaken in what he had done and then came to me and told me I should Madam with the lives of Blacius and Perolla have given you too their liberties were it not that the grant of the first of these has been too great an exasperation to my Army to increase it at the same time by the last I will therefore hope for your pardon if I obey you but by degrees since otherwise I might hazard the losing of a power which is not so dear to me upon any score as out of a confidence it may serve you yet still for your sake they shall have no other Prisons but their Lodgings and as soon as I have fashioned my Officers to approve of their liberty I shall restore it to them with as much joy as I have lost my own Though this hard Declaration however moderated both by reasons and civilities did extreamly perplex me yet I only begg'd him to shorten their sufferings as much as might be and to perfect what he had so generously begun for I durst not be too earnest on so tender a subject lest it might create his suspitions that my love as much
a great field some two furlongs from the Temple of Hercules lest Hannibals being before Rome should look like besieging it which none could truly say he did whilst there was a Roman betwixt him and the City But that which afflicted Hannibal as much as this miraculous separation which he then termed but a suspension of his victory was an advertisement he received by his Spies that the Senate had not only since his coming sent certain Companies with flying Ensigns to the recruit of their Legions in Spain but also had sold those very fields on which he Campt at a higher rate thau they were valu'd at before his being possest of them In revenge whereof he caus'd all the rich Shops in the Forum to be sold by a publique Cryer But sir said Izadora that which made the precedent storm so absolutely a wonder was that as soon as Flaccus and Hannibal were returned into their Camps the day prov'd so very fair and the night too that the Carthaginian was proud with a belief that thâ— next visit of the Sun would unavoidably decide his Fate but therein also he was deluded for the succeeding day was but a perfect repetition of the preceding as well for the Miracle as for the separation of the two Armies onely the Tyber was with those Cataracts of Rain so exceedingly swell'd that she overflow'd her Banks and had like to have reveng'd all the Romans losses by the ruine of Hannibals Army but he by a timely care remov'd his Tents to a higher ground and thereby avoided an Enemy which he could not resist I remember I have been told that several private persons in Rome for the Senate detested to seem to derive any advantage but from their Arms perform'd many sacrifices to the Nymphs and Nayades of Tyber for endeavouring their revenge and for making Hannibal fly out of his Camp which never any Romans thitherto had done I must now generous Spartacus acquaint you with a particular which few have heard and fewer have believ'd in which last number I perhaps include my self but yet I shall tell it you since it is a part of that story you seem so much concern'd in Blacius according to Hannibal's promise to me being set at liberty and understanding of Hannibal's design upon Rome and of the continuance of his passion commanded me to desire him by the pressingst conjuâ—ations a Letter was capable of to carry his Arms to any other place rather than to the destruction of that City where I had my Birth with this hope that if my Prayers were successful it would free Rome from an imminent ruine and if they were not 't would prove a good rise to free me from his addresses for he abhorr'd an allyance with Hannibal as highly as with Perolla and detested the Enemy of his Countrey as much as of his Family I immediately obey'd Blacius as much by inclination as by duty and sent a post away with a Letter to the Carthaginian which because 't was my own I did not think it worthy the remembring my Express came to him in the midst of his fury for these two unfortunate separations and of his Resolves the next morning if his Souldiers could not march they should swim to a Victory but as soon as he had read my Letter he divested himself of all his rage and gave immediate Orders to have his Army the next day ready to march away contenting himself as he gave it out that he had made Rome tremble and necessitated the gods to a double miracle for her safety that of the Inundations and that of his not taking her But yet to satisfy the Avarice and Sufferings of his Soldiers he led them the direct way to the Grove of Feroâ—â— where stood a Temple of inestimable Riches all which he expos'd to their pillage and from thence return'd me by my Messenger this Answer to my Letter HANNIBAL to the fair IZADORA HE that has already sacrific'd his revenge to your Commands does the like now with his Victory I should have said with his Glory did he not find more in his obedience than he could in his success Would to the gods fair Izadora you could but enjoy as high a contentment in the reception as I do in the payment of your Duty I might then have some hopes that my Passion might not prove eternally fruitless and that he who ambitions nothing but this satisfaction might by incessant impressions of that quality and production invite you by an imitation to reward what you cannot but approve AFter Hannibal's retreat from Rome Flaccus return'd to Capua to his Colleague Appius Clodius and the Capuans who had endur'd miseries almost sufficient for the punishment of their Rebelâ—ion observing the Consul was not follow'd by the Carthaginian Army found it high time to think upon their securities in order whereunto they assembled the Senate where after a serious debate Vibius Uncle to Perolla perceiving that the major part inclin'd to submit unto the Roman Mercy in an excellent Oration befought them rather to dye by their own hands and so rob their Enemies of the Glory of full Conquest by contributing to their own ruine and make Hannibal know by so noble a fall that the preserving of such generous friends had been more worthy his Arms than the taking of that which he but attempted that it was more resembling the antient splendor of Capua to perform what might rather create the Romans admiration than their pity that for his own particular he esteem'd no Fate so bad as to make up a part of Claudius and Flaccus's Triumph which was the best condition they could expect by a surrender therefore all those who were gallant enough to expire with their liberty he invited to go with him and take their share of a Cup which should exempt them for ever from the cruelties and vicissitudes of Fortune After he had finished these words he saluted the Senate with an admirable constancy and being follow'd by seven and twenty Senators he went directly home where they all hasted to pledge that fatal health which he began having no fears in their deaths but that the Romans should possess Capua before they were acted I have told you said Izadora this Tragedy not only because it was the discourse and admiration of the whole World but also because the chief Actor of it had so near a relation to my generous Friend the rest of the Senate immediately submitted to the Consuls and found from Flaccus that death with ignominy which they might have given themselves with Glory Hannibal to revenge his dead Friends perform'd many great exploits in the Countreys of the Brutians and Lucanians where he sacrific'd to appease their Manes above ten thousand Romans and then the season being unfit for action he return'd to this City and in a Complement to me declin'd a Triumphant Entry because the chiefest ornaments of it were to have been compos'd of the spoils of my Countrey When the faithful Symander
to me that he only hinder'd it hitherto then by your refusing me absolutely that felicity since that may appear rather an effect of your aversion for me than your respect to him I am Sir I reply'd of a contrary opinion for my passion and my resentments for his loss will be much more legible in their taking from me the ambition of being the object of so great a Conqueror's Love and in abandoning not only the pleasures of life but the desire of it too I conjure you therefore by the quiet of Perolla which you endeavour to distuâ—b torment me not by so fruitless a persecution which if you persevere in 't will induce me rather to suppress the respect I pay you than to create that affection you solicite and for me to believe that Hannibal and not the god's have taken away his Rival It may be continu'd Izadora you will believe so great a Prince merited a proportionate respect but I must acknowledge that I was not in an humour to afford it him neither do I believe I could give him a worse opinion of me by my replies than he seem'd to have of me by his desires but after by his looks he had exprest what his answer would be he told me You think Madam to silence my passion with reproaches to avoid ingratitude by becoming unjust â—nd by accusing my innocency to decline being a debtor to my Flame but know that your cruelty may induce me to revenge what I cannot obtain and though you have avoided any impressions of my Love some that you are concern'd in may not those of my resentments Tyrant I reply'd while Perolla was alive I consider'd thy threatenings because I fear'd them but now the subject of my apprehensions is remov'd I desire them for in becoming my Executioner thou wilt be more kind than in continuing my Lover Oh gods Hannibal cry'd out interrupting me Why do you give me so much Choller and so much Love together and why did you not give me a heart capable of enduring injuries when you give me a Mistriss apt to confer them on me then immediately flinging himself on his knees by my Bed-side for my weakness made me unable to receive his visits in another condition he continu'd Madam though my rage hath made me sin by menacing in a place where I should only adore yet do not so much mis-interpret my crime as to think my threatenings had you for their object You I say for whose safety had I as many Lives as you have Beauties I would sacrifice them all rather than employ one minute of them to a contrary thought No fair Izadora if my resentments at your cruelty forc'd my Passion to what my Reason condemns believe me 't was only against Blacius who for his injuries to you as well as Relations appear'd in my fury the fittest object for it Alas Sir I reply'd interrupting him you are more cruel in your interpretation than in your threatenings and are more injurious in having those designs against my Father then if against me for if they were onely intended against Izadora if my grief deceive me not 't will be so charitable as to exempt me from them or if it does not your resentments will prove an obligation for I consider every thing at that rate which hastens my union with Perolla but if neither my sorrow for my loss nor your fury for your furitless passion will prove my cure know that I will act it my self and to punish my coldness for Hannibal and reward my flame for his Rival I will untye my Soul from that Cley which invirons it and thereby also secure Blacius against your revenge by rendring the acting it an injustice Thereupon turning from him I fell so bitterly a weeping that though Hannibal made me a long answer to what I spoke yet I did not so much as listen to him being wholly intent in summoning all those thoughts which I fancyed would soonest make me perform what I told the Carthaginian I designed and indeed those sad resentments finding a body extreamly weakened and a mind as apt to receive their impressions were in one day so kind as to give me the hopes of not living another neither was this only my conjecture but the positive opinion of my Fathers Physitian who in a trembling haste acquainted Hannibal with it and conjured him since by so evidencing a demonstration it was impossible to separate us that he would contribute to what he law he could not hinder I will not tell you all the Carthaginians disputes with himself which could not on so plentiful a subject but be excellent let it be sufficient you learn that though the cause which was to create his pity might as justly his revenge I mean the sad extremity my Passion for his Rival had reduced me to yet he got the victory over the latter and generously told the Doctor Come let us shew Lzadora her Perolla for I had rather lose my hopes than the object of them but if this fresh experiment of my Passion create none in her it may reduce me to act what I have but hitherto counterfeited Thereupon immediately he sent the Captain of the Guards for Perolla who had till then been kept in the Dungeon of a little Castle some two miles from Salapia who was no sooner come though it was very late but the Carthaginian who had access into Blacius's house at his pleasure came with him into my Chamber where all those that watcht with me were weeping a death which according to their belief and my desire was not many hours distant But all of them no sooner saw my generous friend whose Funerals had been solemnized above a quarter of a year before than with horrid skreeks they fled out of the room Hannibal was not displeased at their absence and Perolla who till then thought he was drawn out of a Prison to end his life began now to fear a more transcendâ—nt misfortune for being ignorant of his own death the sad posture he found my Women in and those strange extravagancies of theirs made him attribute the first to my death and the last to their charity for that horror they knew would invade him as his seeing me dead which absolutely he was confirmed in by my not at so great a clamour looking out to discover or enquire the cause of it and he further believed that his Tyrant had only brought him thither to shew him so melancholly a Spectacle as a Revenge for being his Rival both in Love and Glory But then on the other side he could hardly believe the Carthaginian durst shew him so inraging an object and trust him unty'd to act his resentments Whilst the poor Perolla was in this labyrinth he was led out of it by Hannibal's opening my Curtains a little and telling me See Madam my power and my infelicity that can perform miracles for others and not for my self that can raise the dead to bring you to life and perhaps my self
to death that can do all things indeed but what I most desire Here fair Izadora he continued drawing Perolla towards me dry up your Tears which else may hinder you from seeing your happiness and remember he which to save your life has run so hazardous a course to his own merits at least that you never give your self to another if you will not bestow your self on him These strange words and the as strange noise which somewhat preceded them made me turn about to understand their meaning but O gods what was my surprize when I saw Perolla in this world who I was making such haste to find out in the other truly 't was so transcendent that I fell into a deep swound and thereby those powers which have ever took delight to afflict me continued that practise for whilst I believed Perolla dead they kept me alive and now they shewed him me alive they flung me into a seeming death which too had like to have caused a real one in my generous friend Hannibal whose concern for me was not so great as his permitted his care to be greater who ran out to call my Women to my assistance and to whom he was constrained to make many oaths that it was really Perolla and not his Ghost before he could perswade them to come in to me but Callione the chiefest of them bo h in her extraction and my esteem knew so well the interest I had in Perolla that whilst others took up their employment about me she made him the object of hers and was so unhappily successful in it that she brought him out of his fainting before I was recovered of mine which raised in him so high despair that had not all those which were present assured him my disease and his were of the same quality and that only mine meeting with a Body disabled by a deep sickness was the cause of its longer continuance I believe he would have acted some such violence on himself as had made my recovery my highest misfortune but at length about an hour after by the help of strong Cordials my swounding abandoned me and I no sooner opened my Eyes than the first objects they saw were Hannibal and Perolla who were both kneeling by my bed-side but the joy of beholding the latter made me niether consider nor care how much the expressions of it would offend the formâ—â— to confirm this truth I told the other Are the Gods then so just Perolla as to reward by this sight the fidelity of my Eyes which abhorr'd all objects but you and which having lost you have endeavour'd to weep themselves out as useless things or else is it an illusion and a mockery of Fate by making me in resenting the joy of your Resurrection the more exactly sensible of your real death Tell me I conjure you which of them ' t is for if it be the latter I will deceive her cruelty and convert what she intends for one into a summons to follow you which I thank the gods my weakness for you supposed a real Death makes me as able as my passion willing to perform Madam he reply'd kissing my hands I am really alive but 't is only your joy at it which makes me esteem my being so a happiness for how can I consider the persecutions I have rais'd you in being alive and those afflictions I have cast you into in not being thought so by you but I must be struck with a grief as great as my flame and perpetually deplore an experiment which convinces me that both my Life and my Death must be a trouble to you All this I heard Perolla speak yet I was so overjoy'd at his first words which were an assurance of what I only desired that not answering his last I raised my self up the best I could and imbracing him that spoke them I did that which on any other occasion and in that posture I should not have perform'd but the subject of my satisfaction was so legitimate that I could not suppress any extravagancy it produced It is true Madam said Perolla interupting his fair Mistriss your joy was obliging to Hannibal as well as to me for in your acting as he aftewards confest to Cristes he discovered Beauties which he protested sufficiently payd his Charity in preserving your life Izadora at these words was all covered with blushes and her servant perceiving it to repair her disorder told her But Madam as it was but just that Hannibal should receive a reward for his cure so it was as just his Eyes should receive the punishment of their presumption which were both perform'd for as their seeing those perfections effected the former so his seeing the little share he had in them did the latter Izadora said Simander was so confus'd in the remembrance of these particulars that without taking notice of Perolla's words she made haste to pass over the subject of them by thus re-assuming her relation Hannibal was so inrag'd that in my joy I had forgot my gratitude to him which furnisht me with the cause of it that rising up he told me Is then all the reward Madam you give my Love but a demonstration that you have given all yours to my Rival and is your flame so great that you cannot conceal it when the disclosure is both unwise and ungrateful Ah Izadora how much do you rely on the power you have over me when you care to offend mine by so sensible a provocation These words drew me from that employment my excess of joy had ingag'd me in and finding the Carthaginian was as just in his reproaches as I esteem'd I was in what caus'd them I thought fit to tell him You do place Sir a wrong construction on my actions since that which you term my ingratitude is rather an effect of my confidence in your Virtue for did I think you a Tyrant I would not add a Provocation to the Power of your Revenge but knowing you to be just I dare even in your presence manifest a flame whose virtue renders me confident rather of your protection than resentments Ah Madam said Hannibal why do you make me just to make me miserable and if what I have seen you act be in reliance on my Virtue I beseech you ascribe none unto me for mine will then be my punishment and make me rather implore the Gods to take from me that little I possess than to let it thus torment me We were in discourses of this quality when Blacius being inform'd of Hannibal's visit and of Perolla's Resurrection came into my Chamber where in terms as sharp as the remembrance of the Carthaginian's power permitted him to use he murmur'd at his bringing his mortal Enemy into his House and restoring his Daughter to a certainty of his being alive And though Hannibal represented that that was the only way to continue me so yet my Father never lessen'd his repining but added that since I was of so degenerate a disposition he had
retributions that not only Maharbal ingag'd himself to acquaint me with his escape but also to make Oristes receive from Hannibal himself the punishment of his Treachery and Wickedness Immediately therefore as soon as Perolla was drest Maharbal whose servants attended him at the door went out of Perolla's Chamber and amongst the rest was lighted down by him who no sooner got out of Oristes house who all this while was at a Physitians preparing his fatal poyson then with the help of the word Maharbal gave him he got too out of the Samnite Gate and his generous deliverer not only by a visit next day assur'd me of his escape but also so incens'd Hannibal against Oristes at it whose jealousie of his connivance at his flight he so increas'd by putting him in mind of his pressing importunities to have him his prisoner that in the heighth of that rage he gave order to put Oristes to death which he knowing was both unavoidable and just as being an effect of that contract which had past betwixt Hannibal and him when Perolla was committed to his charge to disburden his Conscience he sent me privately in writing a large relation of all those particulars which I was ignorant of and then receiv'd the stroke of death in his own Chamber by his Command for whom he had so wickedly employ'd his life 'T was in this sort that Perolla ' scap'd a treachery which fill'd him with so legitimate and high a resentment against him which had at least allowed it that from that time he contracted an implacable aversion for him and resolv'd the first Battel the Romans fought to tye himself so particularly to Hannibal that nothing but his own death should prevent his Rivals In order to this determination he went directly to Marcellus from whose active courage he expected an earlier opportunity to put his resolution in practice than from Crispinus his Colleague I need not tell you the great satisfaction the gallant Marcellus receiv'd at Perolla's arrival you may in some degree imagine it by his saying he esteem'd his single courage and conduct a greater re-inforcement to his Army than the addition of the best Roman Legion and he was confident Hannibal valu'd it at no less a rate After these Civilities the Consul offer'd him any preferment in his Army and conjur'd him not to decline the Command of General of his Horse which then was vacant by the death of Marcus Aulius but my generous friend who was more ambitious of revenge than preferment and who suspected that Office would confine him to a certain Duty and thereby frustrate his design upon Hannibal absolutely declin'd Marcellus offer by assuring him that he had better proportion'd his ambition to his desert and consequently desir'd no greater honor than to serve under him as a Volunteer The Consul was extreamly griev'd at this refusal for he would gladly have bound to him a person he justly admir'd but yet he us'd Perolla with the same respect as if he had taken so considerable an employment for in all attempts and in all counsels he would do nothing without his advice and assistance and if in things of action he was abundantly satisfied with his Courage in those of Counsel he was no less with his Judgement But Hannibal whose rage at Perolla's escape is fitter for imagination than description hearing that he had retir'd himself to Marcellus Army immediately put his into a posture to attempt the ruine of his publique and particular Enemy but before he quitted Salapia he came to visit me and perceiving my joy in my face it inflam'd his to such a degree that for a good while his choller was unlegible in any thing else but at length he told me Madam I see with what satisfaction you consider my trouble and that my misery is the subject of your contentment but I hope my patience at it will instruct yours or at least induce you not to condemn in another what you practise your self For know I am going to sacrifice a person which my Respect and your Tears hinder'd me hitherto from performing and which by his flight you think has escap'd for ever but you shall find if my ambition only inspir'd me with a resolution that has near subverted the Roman Empire my Revenge and my Passion will give me strength enough to destroy a Subject of it which being perform'd I will enjoy you legitimately or if your perverseness decline that honor I will satisfy my Flame by an easier though not so pleasing a way and believe me did not your coldness render my Revenge a greater Passion than my Love I would suspend the former to satisfy the latter besides having taken you first from Perolla to kill him would rather appear an obligation than a punishment These words deliver'd with an accent as barbarous as themselves were banish'd all my patience and made me tell him Thou Monster greater than thy Countrey Africk did ever yet produce know that the same gods which preserved Perolla from thy rage when thou hadst the power to act it will do the like now thou hast only the design he never feared any thing of thee but thy Treachery and if thou makest use but of thy own Arm to perform thy revenge thou wilt sooner furnish him with the means to effect his than create my fear of thine For my particular be assured that I will cast my self into the Arms of death far rather than into Hannibals that I have as great a detestation for being thy Wife as thou hast for Virtue and that the same minute in which thou attempst my chastity if nothing else will preserve me I will free my self from life to do the like from thee You shall see the Carthaginian replyed that 't is easier for Hannibal to act than to threaten and at his return he will make you know the greatness of his Passion by his resentments for your neglecting it He left me saying these words and the same day Salapia but in it a select Garrison of Lybians rather to keep me than it Their Commander was one of his trustiest Captains who he inviolably protested should answer for me in torments and death This Tyrant was no sooner on his march than some of my Servants having informed Blacius I was fallen into such abundant weepings that unless they were stopt they might extinguish my life his goodness for a while suppressing his aversion he came to visit me and being acquainted with those threatenings the Carthaginian had made against my chastity he only told me that he would prevent or not see my wrongs I knew not what interpretation to give that profession till not long after I heard one night a horrid noise in all the streets and the next morning saw them paved with the dead Carkasses of Hannibals Garrison my Father then coming again to see me all hideous with Bloud assured me that Hannibal now might threaten but had not the power to act his impiety and that he expected
since for my preservation he had undertaken so great a hazard that my duty would be resembling his care I too well knew those words related to my passion for Perolla which since the impossibility of declining was as great as the injustice I thought that as my silence was the best way of expresâ—ing my resentments for his affection so it was the civilest of assuring him of my legitimate obedience I know not whether he imputed it to my respect or my wilfulness for he went away without speaking one word which might be as pertinently attributed to his satisfaction as his aâ—ger Four days after the Senate sent a solemn Embassy to him to congratulate his success and to furnish him with a Garrison to secure it Though this soon came to Hannibals knowledge yet he was necessitated by the Pretor Cneius Fulvius besieging the City Herdonea to suspend a while his design upon Marcellus and Perolla but to appease so many Lybian Ghosts as were lost in Salapia and perhaps the loss of Izadora had some share in that fury he offered the unfortunate Pretor Battel whose courage being greater than his judgement accepted it and by that fault was rendred uncapable of ever committing any other being killed by Twelve of his Tribunes and the most of his Army That unhappy Plain near Herdonâ—a proved an unfortunate Theatre for the Fluvius's two of them in one year both Pretors and both Generals received the same fatâ— in the same place by the Carthaginian who raised by this accession of Glory march'd directly to Venusia where Marcellus and Crispinus were joyned the better to oppose their common Enemy But because I have not undertaken Hannibal's but Perolla's Story I will pass over all those memorable accidents which happened that active Summer by telling you that Hannibal knowing Asdrabal his Brother as well in Glory as in Bloud had crost France and was coming to him with neer 100000 men as a Torrent to throw down all opposition declined a Battel though often provok'd to it by Marcellus who being not ignorant of the danger of two such Men and Armies joyning thought himself always too far from his Enemy if not fighting with him resolved to remove his Camp to a Hill covered with Wood which lay betwixt his and Hannibals and not suspecting his Fate took Crispinus his fellow Consul with him 200 Hetrurian Horse for their Guard and went to view the commodiousness of the place where alas there lay in ambush above 1500 Numidian Horse who invironing those unfortunate Generals charged them with so much fury that all those false or timerous Hetrurians fled and left the two Consuls no hope but by a glorious death to justify how unworthy they were of so private a one and that Rome without losing a Battel might resent as high a grief as such a loss could inspire Perolla as the gods would have it had been that night upon a Party and was not returned when the Consuls went to perform so fatal a curiosity but he was no sooner come into his Tent than the Alarm of their danger was given by a timerous Hetrurean which Perolla understanding took the first horse he met with and ran full speed to the Theatre where this Tragedy was acting and where the first object he saw was a Numidian Officer that coming behind Marcellus ran that great Man through with his Launce but though my generous friend could not prevent yet he reveng'd his Death and by a furious blow sent that Affrican into the other world to see how great his Virtues were whom he had so treacherously kill'd in this Perolla having thus sacrific'd his Generals Murtherer to his Manes he rescued first the young Marcellus his Son and then perceiving that Crispinus was pierc'd with two Darts and thereby render'd uncapable any longer to defend himself he abandon'd his own Horse and vaulting up behind the Consuls upheld his tottering Body with one Arm and with the other forc'd his passage through a hundred Numidian Swords and brought him into the Roman Camp where their fears had so far clouded their judgements that they only remembred but did not relieve their Consuls danger Never Rome had at once a resembling misfortune and never was that Empire in worse condition to sustain it and though Hannibal was more satisfied at Marcellus death than he could have been at the cutting in pieces of the Roman Army without it yet he was so generous as to be content with the joy without giving any open demonstration of it For he first wept the fall of so eminent a person then in a military pomp burnt his Body and having put the Ashes in a Silver Urn and on it a Crown of Gold he sent it in great state with a condoling Letter to the young Marcellus and executed some Numidians for offering by the way to rob Marcellus Reliques of a Crown which his noble Life and valiant Death so justly merited Spartacus was extreamly satisfied to observe that Izadora's resentments did not silence her justice and that though she were an Enemy to Hannibal yet that she was not so to his Fame and Virtue But she continu'd though Crispinus was mortally wounded yet his care for the publique was as great as if he had been to live and enjoy the effects of it As an evincement of this Truth he sent certain Spies into the Affrican Camp to learn what advantage the Enemy propounded to himself by his success these perform'd their employment so happily that they brought the Consul word that Hannibal having an unextinguishable desire to be reveng'd on the Salapians and having too by the possession of Marcellus Seal which with his body remain'd in the Victors power found an expedient to effect it He had sent false Letters with the true Signet to Blacius in the dead Consuls name to let him know that that night he would come to Salapia and commanded all the Garrison to be in Arms without the Samnite Gate for some exploit he intended to employ them in Crispinus no sooner receiv'd this intelligence than he sent for Perolla to communicate it to him and knowing those concerns he had for the preservation of this place gave him Commission to command the Garrison till Hannibal had lost the hopes of taking it Perolla declin'd it because Blacius was Governor but the Consul told him that it was not to intrench on my Fathers authority but to strengthen him in it for he was confident Hannibals assault would be so vigorous that Blacius could not but think so powerful an assistant a blessing rather than an affront and that he was no true friend to Rome if for a temporary suspension of his power he hazarded so important a place Perolla finding Crispinus was unalterable took Horse and with that speed which Love and Revenge inspires came to Salapia where he soon found the truth of the Consuls intelligence and that all the Garrison were drawing out of the Samnite Gate which was the opposite one to that which
the very first day being impatient till he recoverd his honour by a Victory or by seeing the ruine of his unjust Countreymen satisfie himself with the joy of a great though not of an honest Revenge yet his intention was better than his words for at a place of advantage called Scaena-Gallica near the River of Metaurus he pitcht his Camp and by winning the Pass hindred Asdrubal's progress who by Letters advertised his Brother of it that then lay on the Banks of Aufidus near the same Plain of Cannes in which he had won his highest glory and that in few dayes he would storm the Roman Generals Camp rather than not join with him but these being intercepted by Nero's Scouts that Consul by the advice of Perolla to relieve Livius's danger took 6000 select Foot and 1000 Horse and having left the charge of his Army which Camp'd within 10 Furlongs of Hannibals to Veturius Philo his Lieutenant-General in six dayes by tedious Marches and with exceeding secresie he came to his Collegue and was received into his Camp by night without enlarging it or any loud demonstrations of joy where in a Council of War it was resolved next day to give Asdrubal Battel which Livius though provok'd unto had thitherto declined The next morning therefore a purple Coat was hung up over Livius's Pavilion and Perolla the better to delude Asdrubal desired the General that a Trumpet might sound in Nero's quarters as well as in Portius the Pretors to make the Enemy believe that either Hannibal was defeated by the Consuls being joined or that it was done in policy to supply the defects of their numbers the first if credited would invite them immediately to a Battel which next to a Victory was most in their desires This was much approved and readily practised and Asdrubal who was perfectly acquainted with the Roman Discipline was extremely surprized at it but yet attributing it to the latter and perceiving by the Signal the Consuls resolution he joyfully drew his Army in Battalia but then perceiving Livius's numbers to be increast and that some of his Enemies Horses look'd as if they had performed a long march this being an accident above his expectation he esteemed it rather a policy than a dishonour to defer an Engagement till he could discover the truth of that mystery and in order to this spent that day in slight skirmishes and by night retreated with all his Army towards the River of Metaurus from which the succeeding Battel took its name but he was followed by Nero and Perolla with all the Roman Cavalry and so vigorously prest that he resolved next morning to decide the difference by a pitch'd Battel lest if he gained any advantage by retiring it might be said a Victory was forc'd upon and not obtained by him and if he were defeated that at least he dyed like Amilcar's Son and Hannibal's Brother The day no sooner dawn'd which was the last that so many thousands were to see than those two great Bodies which consisted of about 150000 effective men were drawn up in a posture to determine all disputes The Carthaginian having the advantage of number and the Roman of resolution which was sufficiently â—vinc'd by their Enemies attending the Battel by necessity and not election Asdrubal placed his Gauls in whom he least rely'd in the Left Wing upon a Hill of impossible access in the Right were his Spaniards and Africans and himself at the Head of them his Lygurians formed the Battel and his Elephants he bestowed in the Front of his several Divisions The Right Wing of the Roman Army was led by Nero who was accompanied by Perolla that commanded those Thousand Horse his Uncle had brought with him the Left by Livius and the Battel by Porticus You cannot doubt the dispute was bloody if either you reflect upon the courage of the Soldiers the resolution and conduct of the Commanders or the glory and advantages which were to attend the Conquerors Livius found a generous resistance from the Africans and Spaniards Porticus from the Lygurians but Nero and Perolla found more difficulty to come to fight than I believe they would after it have found in obtaining a Victory but whil'st they were disputing against a Precipice the scaling of which was not much less difficult than to scale the Clouds the last of them perceiving what disorder Livius and Porticus were in besought Nero to leave those Gauls to a security which Nature and not their Courages had plac'd them in and who by the strange height they were upon were as uncapable of doing as receiving harm and that he would go to relieve the Consul and the Pretor Nero soon found the justness of this motion and imagining by the Precipice the Gauls were upon that Asdrubal had plac'd them there rather to amuse than oppose him yielded to his Nephews request and leaving some 3000 Foot and Horse to keep the Gauls at gaze followed him with all the rest but Perolla with admirable celerity having fetcht a compass behind all the Roman Army fell upon the Right Flank of the Carthaginian so opportunely that 't was when Livius was brought to the last exigency and so vigorously that by it he courted Victory so handsomly that though she were declaring for Carthage yet he won her absolutely for Rome The execution after the rout was excessive bloody the Romans remembring how freely the Africans had opened their veins were not ungrateful in their return The Gauls too found they had been more securely fortified by nature than by 80000 of their companions and though the Roman Swords were almost dull'd with blood before they came to them yet they 'scapt not absolutely that dayes Fate but that which brought a large accession to the honour of this success was the noble Asdrubal's fall who perceiving his glory fled resolv'd his life should accompany it and seeking some gallant Enemy to end his he found none which gave greater marks of that title than Perolla 't was therefore upon his Sword he resolv'd to receive it and 't was upon his Sword indeed that he found it I know continued Izadora that some alledge he had his death from many an Enemy and not from a single one but I know withall that that report had its rise from Perolla's modesty who learning afterwards how great a virtue he had kill'd rather deplored than gloried in the Action This Battel of Metaurus equal'd that of Cannes for in it were left 56000 upon the place 5400 taken Prisoners and 4000 Captive Romans releas'd But if in a Relation which my Sex renders me ignorant in I have failed in the former I have not in the truth for my concern in Perolla made me exactly learn it neither would I have so particularly inform'd you of it had it not so great a connexion to my generous Friends Story that in declining it I must have injured his Adventures as much as his Glory The day after this famous Battel Nero and Perolla march'd
to intercept them which doubtless he had perform'd had not the Ambassadors in a swift Quinquereme-Gally avoided his stemming and run ashore to some Roman Companies which were sent for their rescue where though they sav'd themselves yet they lost many of their attendants followers which Aâ—rican proceeding had so incens'd the Consul that he was gone to vindicate it with his Army which now breath'd nothing but blood and fury Lelius surpriz'd at this strange true information went to Scipio who he found acting a Revenge proportionate to the greatness of those Crimes that made it just but the Carthaginian Ambassadors he left in the Roman Camp which then was commanded by Bebius one of those that had so narrowly scap'd in his late Embassy and though by Lelius he beg'd the Consul by the death of the Carthaginian Ambassadors to let his Enemies know and suffer for their fault yet the generous Scipio commanded him not only to spare their Lives but immediately to give them their liberty For he esteem'd it a nobler way so to reprove their sin than to imitate it This great Conquest over himself was but a Prophecy of that over his Enemies which now was not far off for their great Hannibal about this time landed at Leptis an hundred miles from Carthage which he did to refresh his men after their Navigation and to get some additional Forces especially of Horse in which he was most defective Tycheus and Mezetullus two African Princes brought him 3000 with which reinforcement having received positive orders from Carthage without protraction to determine their destiny by Battel he march'd directly to Zama not far from the place where the Consul lay from whence he sent out Spies to discover the Romans countenance and strength some of them being taken were brought to Scipio who instead of crucitying them which was then the general practice commanded an Officer to carry them about the Camp and punctually to shew them whatever they desir'd this done he sent them back to their General who admir'd at the bravery of his Enemy and concluded his Army was deficient in nothing since he was so ready to shew the posture it was in Hannibal immediately after but I cannot tell from which of those two causes it proceeded sent to desire a Parly with Scipio who assur'd him shortly to satisfie his request The next day after Massanissa who upon that false Peace was sent into his own Kingdom came to the Camp at the Consuls reiterated requests with 4000 Horse and 6000 Foot and the same day I arriv'd there to satisfie my Engagement and Revenge Those additional Forces gave the Consul so great a certainty of Victory that the next morning with all his Army he removed to Nadagara where mindful of his Engagement to Hannibal he sent him word he was then ready to discharge it The time and place was immediately appointed and those two great Men went out of their Camps to meet one another each of them with 1000 Horse for their Guard and I being desirous to see my Rival had the command of Scipio's No sooner were they come to a convenient distance then all the rest making a stand the two Generals advanc'd and for a while did nothing but view one another with mutual admiration perhaps to find out where that virtue lay which had render'd them so equally famous over all the world At length Hannibal saluting Scipio first told him It had been generous Enemy more advantageous both for Carthage and Rome if they had confin'd their Ambitions within the shores of Aâ—rick and Italy since the Kingdoms of Spain and Sicily about which our Fathers and we have so obstinately contended are not a sufficient recompence for that blood and treasure they have exhausted but though things past are irrevocable yet they may instruct us for the future and induce us by a serious reflection on those dangers we have expos'd our own Countries unto to conquer others to believe it necessary and just rather with safety to possess our own than run a hazard of that for an uncertainty of more To this temper my experience of the World and of Fortune has reduced me But I apprehend thy youth and heat will decline these thoughts till thou hast learn'd them in the same School but methinks thou may'st by my example be informed of a truth which if now unregarded thou may ' â—t learn at a more troublesom rate For I am that Hannibal which after many bloody Battels brought my victorious Arms to the walls of Rome and now behold here I come to offer Peace unto thee that thou may'st not do the like to Carthage Consider too the Fate of Marcus Atilius who for declining so advantageous an overture received a ruine from the gods which perhaps attends all those that delight in shedding humane blood Canst thou be content Scipio that Spain Sicily Sardinia and whatever other Islands lie between Africk and Italy be eternally abandoned by the Carthaginians 'T is a glorious bargain for the Romans and for our parts our future quiet shall be our satisfaction and the contentment which from thence we shall derive will be an abundant obligation to tye us faithâ—ully to observe the Peace that gives it But if thou esteemest all this too little reflect I beseech thee how great a hazard thou undergoest for the obtaining of a little more than thou may'st enjoy without any 'T is now in thy power to make thy Fate but if thou stayest till to morrow Night the gods will make it for thee let us therefore conclude on this universal blessing and reproach me not the late treachery of some false-hearted Citizens of ours it is Hannibal that now desires Peace which he would never do did he not find it expedient for his Countrey and knowing it so he will always maintain it as he did the War he began 'till the gods and Men did envy him To which Scipio reply'd 'T was not generous Hannibal the ambition of Rome which made them take up Arms but the defence of the Memertines and Saguntines their Confederates which action of theirs the gods by the issue of the War have and will declare was just For the mutability of Fortune I am not ignorant of it the condition which thou once didst reduce Rome unto and that which I have since Carthage does sufficiently evince it and therefore I would as willingly give Peace as thou desâ—â—est it if it were upon terms which might convince the world 't is the Roman magnanimity and not the Roman fear that grants it but by what thou offerest thou only givest what their Swords have given them already and whereas I expected that in recompence of thy Citizens perfidiousness thou wouldst enlarge the Articles of their late violated Peace thou dost exceedingly contract them and thereby wouldst have them gainers by their treachery No Hannibal those that will have Rome their friend must not do actions unworthy of that end and if the Carthaginians break an
Agreement as soon as they see a probability of building their Fortune by the ruine of their Faith they do thereby instruct the Romans to reduce them to a condition of not being able to violate a Peace before they grant them one But continued Scipio all this I speak to Carthage and not to Hannibal to whose desires I will give what I will deny my own judgment and that is Peace provided that my first Concessions be the Articles of it and that an equal satisfaction be made for those injuries we have sustained by their Infidelity I am not come Hannibal reply'd to cheapen a Peace I come to offer what I esteem just and as I have done it at first word so I will not recede from my first overture if thou esteemest it unreasonable the god of Battels must be our Judge 'T is to him then Scipio briskly reply'd I refer our difference who I believe thou wilt find more untractable than I am for he cannot be a god if he favor an Army which comes more loaden with Inâ—idelity than Arms and from whom Victory will flie lest she be thought as blind as Fortune Then the Consul laying by his serious looks told the Carthaginian smiling But if at my return to my Army every one be as well satisfied with this conclusion as a Gentleman that commands those Horse pointing to his Guards I shall find as general a joy at the assurance of a Battel as at the possession of a Victory and if every Soldier had his resolution and design Hannibal would not avoid his particular Fate whatever the Gods determined of the publick Who is this said the Carthaginian that is so great an Enemy to Peace and to Hannibal 'T is Perolla said the Consul Oh Gods the Aâ—rican reply'd what strange accident makes him abandon his Izadora But may I not generous Scipio by your favor be satisfied from his own mouth Yes said the Consul I will send him to you but first I must exactan engagement from you and then the like from him that whatever your discourses be you shall pass no farther I do Hannibal answer'd faithfully promise it for since I am certain in so short a time to have so many thousand witnesses of my revenge I would not confine the sight of it to so few This confidence said Scipio I will leave Perolla to answer who immediately shall meet you then taking leave of Hannibal he told him Remember Carthage pulls down her own destiny by decliming a Peace which she implor'd with tears and when I ask no other satisfaction for their treachery but to restore what they took from us by it Remember said the Carthaginian 't was Citizens not Soldiers which beg'd made and broke the Peace and 't is Hannibal you have now to deal with who intending to keep his bargain will make it accordingly and has offered you what before next Sun does set you will repent you have declin'd The Consul would not hear this reply but came immediately where I waited for him and there told me the publick transactions and my Rivals desire which he gave me leave to satisfie but first engaged me to the same conditions Hannibal had submitted unto which having faithfully promis'd I gallopt to the place where he attended me and where truly I was receiv'd by that great man with a civility and countenance which had nothing of an Enemy and Rival I saluâ—ed him with an high respect and with an humility proportionable to the difference of our qualities but I could not suspend that just hatred I had contracted against his barbarous usage to a perfection greater than that sin which the seeing him so infinitely increast that had I not remember'd my engagement to Scipio I had then either ended our differences or my life but whil'st I was in those thoughts they were interrupted by Hannibals telling me Is then Perolla your Hate greater than your Love that you abandon your Mistriss to prosecute your Rival Or has that high justice of Izadora's which esteem'd Hannibal unworthy of her taken up the same belief of you Sir I reply'd that affection which I confess is an injustice for the fair Izadora to confer on any man forces me to seek out the high interrupter of it which yet is no argument that my desire of revenge is greater than my flame for the cause being alwayes more noble than the effect my passion which makes me endeavor to vindicate the object of it cannot be esteem'd less great than that which it forces me unto neither could I by any one action render my self more unworthy the beatitude of Izadora's Love than in not declining my joys to revenge her wrongs which to effect I will fling my self into dangers as high as those pleasures I have lately abandonâ—d Ah young man said Hannibal thou art as little sensible of as worthy thy felicity Canst thou possess Izadora's Love and think of any thing besides Were I in thy blest condition nor Revenge Empire or Glory should one minute separate me from a felicity which I could not render my self more unworthy of than by abandoning nay I would quarrel with any thought which should interpose much more remove me from it but since thou â—ast left all to follow thy Revenge if thou hast the courage to act it to morrow I 'll present thee the occasion Oh Gods I cry'd out if I have the courage to act it Alas he that did not want it to vindicate an injur'd Empire will not certainly when 't is to right a perfection as far above an Empire as she is any thing else that 's mortal Yes Hannibal thou shalt find a heart that 's fill'd with so divine an image cannot be capable of so low a sin as Fear but on the contrary 't will inspire me with resolution enough to seek thee out even in the center of thy Troops I will said Hannibal spare thee that pains thou shalt find me at the head of them where I will more handsomly punish those miseries thy better stars have cast upon me and by thy death before 200000 witnesses evince thou hadst more Fortune than Merit in thy Love and by destroying the object of Izadora's flame punish her ingratitude to mine Do but I reply'd assault my life in so generous a way I will excuse thy attempt upon it by Oristes and never implore a greater certainty for the punishment of thy Crimes than to have thee defend them with thy Sword The apprehension I had continu'd Perolla that my passion might transport me beyond my promise made me after having again summon'd Hannibal of his engagement gallop away to the Consul who I found by an excess of civility was become the Captain of my Guards as I had been of his he made me too that generous Compliment and after I had by an humility resembling the cause of it exprest my gratitude I inform'd him as we were returning to the Camp what had past betwixt my Rival and me whilst he was
doing so great an injury to his quality As soon as we were come within sight of it Massanissa Lelius and all the most considerable Officers came to meet Scipio who told them with a look which relisht of Victory that the Carthaginians would force the Romans to become their Lords and by denying them a part of their Empire give them a title to the whole which the next Sun should absolutely decide The Numidian King and all the rest were exceedingly satisfi'd with this News for they were confident their Swords would give them more than the Carthaginians The day therefore no sooner appear'd than the large Plains of Nadagara were cover'd with Soldiers from which place the ensuing Battel took its name though many but ignorantly term'd it that of Zama and though I had the honour to have been in most of the signal actions of my time yet there were none of them to beequal'd with this whether you reflect upon the Generals the Armies or the dispute which in effect was to decide the quarrel betwixt Rome and Carthage Scipio divided his Horse in two wings the right Massanissa had with his Numidians under whom I elected to serve because their manner of Fight gave me a greater probability of meeting with Hannibal though the Consul offer'd me the command of the flying Regiment which consisted of 1000 Roman and Sicilian Gentlemen the left Lelius commanded which was composed of the Italian Cavalry The first Maniples were the Hastati the next the Principes the third the Triarii who were mutually seconds to each other and only in this the Consul differ'd from the usual Roman Discipline for he plac'd not the Maniples of his Principes opposite to the Intervals betwixt the Hastati that so as was usual they might fall back between the Principes but plac'd them directly one behind the other as it were in File which was of singular advantage for those Elephants that charged the Romans finding a free passage through the Intervals never broke upon the Soldiers which it seem'd was rather their constraint than their choice The Consul having thus drawn up his Army made them this short Speech If Glory Revenge and the Empire of the world are capable generous Companions to bring any accession to your Valors in this Battel as in their centre they all meet you safeties too are included in it for in this barbarous Climate you have no retreat so that were there any Cowards amongst you they must find their security in their hands not in their feet For my own particular I bless the Gods that have made it my Fate to be after this day uncapable of misery for Death or Victory equally secures me from it and this Battel ended you may quietly possess the fruits of it since if your Swords conquer this Nation your Fame will all the others Remember your Enemies last action in Italy was the violating of Sanctuaries and their first in Africk was the violating of Peace so that their Crimes weigh down their Arms and by destroying them you sacrifice as well to the Gods as to your Revenge Let us then begin the Charge and let it be vigorous enough to make them acknowledge that their sin was not capable of transcending their punishment that by flying from that Peace which we granted them they have as much injur'd their interest as their honesty and force the Survivors to shed as many tears for having declin'd honesty and force the Survivors to shed as many tears for having declin'd our mercy as they did to obtain it Hannibal too was not unimploy'd for he knew this day was to perfect or ruine his glory His Elephants which were above Fourscore he plac'd in the Front of his Battalions behind these was his Vanguard all Mercenaries and compos'd of Lygurians Gaules Baleares and Moors his Battel then follow'd consisting of Carthaginians and other Africans more concern'd in the quarrel but not so valiant maintainers of it To these were added 4000 Macedonians under the command of Sopater their Captain lately sent him by Philip King of that Warlike people More than a Furlong behind these last Divisions came his Rearguard consisting of those brave Soldiers which had serv'd him in his Italian Wars in whose virtue only he was confident of victory His right wing of Horse all Carthaginians was led by Mircall and Barmocall for the generous Maharball was dead Two famous Captains Tycheus and Mezetullus commanded the left which was formed of Numidians Hannibal having thus order'd the Fate of Carthage endeavour'd by few but powerful words to elevate and increase his Soldiers courages to the Mercenaries he promis'd rewards as great as the quarrel that Battel was to decide To the Carthaginians perpetual slavery and chains if by death or victory they did not avoid those misfortunes But to his old Army he put them in mind of all that Glory they had won when their Courages effected greater wonders than would be necessary that day 'T is not he continu'd your General alone that now incites your Valors 't is Carthage liberty glory your wives children and friends that speak by my mouth they will think you valu'd Italy above all these if you had courage to conquer that and want it to preserve them no generous Companions shew the Senate by the defeat of these Romans what you had done to all the rest had your Supplies been equal to your Merit and convince them by so noble an Argument of your virtue and of their neglect of it Then turning towards our Army he told them Observe whether these numbers equal those at Cannes Trebia Tecinum or Thracimene alas these are so far from opposing you that their ruine will hardly bring any accession to your Glories Remember this Scipio's Father was the first Captain we beat in Europe let his Son be the first we beat in Africk make your Successes run in a blood his Soldiers will contribute to this design for they are the Sons of those Cowards you have so often vanquisht that you have entail'd fear upon their Posterity No sooner had Hannibal done speaking then he commanded his Numidian Horse to begin the Battel whereunto they were invited by a Thousand Trumpets Clairons and other Warlike Musick The Elephants too were commanded to Charge the Romans but those irrational Creatures seem'd to reprove the Carthaginians with their violation of Faith for the greatest part of them turn'd head and extremely disorder'd their own left wing Massanissa so well improv'd so unexpected an advantage that he perfected what they had but begun The rest of the Elephants which were faithful to their own side made a horrid execution on the Roman Velites whom they Chased through the Intervals of the Maniples yet did the Battalions no prejudice by that excellent prevention of the Consuls which I formerly mention'd but divers of those moving Castles being at length much wounded turn'd head and ran furiously upon their own right wing and thereby gave Lelius the same advantage which
they had presented Massanissa and which he as well improv'd as the Numidian King In the mean time the Battalions of Foot of either Army advanc'd with a slow and confident march till they came within shot but then giving a shout which made the Neighbouring hills to tremble they ran against each other with a fury worthy their dispute at first the barbarous strength of the Mercenaries prevail'd over the Roman virtue but at length the Roman discipline and resolution wrought its accustomed effect for the Principes by sustaining the Hastati reliev'd their fear and disorder but as soon as the Mercenaries retreated the new-rais'd Africans had not the courage to second them which the other sattributing as much to their treachery as fear began to flie but not being able to run away but through the Intervals of the Aâ—ricans those either to punish or hinder their Cowardize would not permit them that way of safety On the other side the Gaules and Lygurians by not being seconded and by then being oppos'd thought themselves betray'd and esteeming it a more pleasing Revenge to destroy their false Friends than their valiant Enemies made use of those Arms against the Carthaginians which they had taken up for them which disorder the Romans soon ended by involving both Parties almost in a general ruine I have said Perolla the more insisted on this part of the Battel to vindicate the justice of the Gods for these Forces were those only which had broke their Faith and Peace and they only were those against whom Fortune so visibly fought that the Romans were convinc'd Victory was on their side because Justice was and indeed they acted their success with so much ease that it appear'd the work of the gods and not of men But all this while Hannibal with his Italian Army stood firm and charged his Pikes and Launces against those Cowards which sought their safety in their feet so that they were necessitated to seek their deliverance in that by which they had thitherto found it Scipio perceiving those gallant Troops with as little fear in their looks as hearts Hannibal too at the head of them and the ground over which he was to march slippery with blood and incumber'd with dead carcasses was in a great apprehension whether marching such an obstructed way his Battalions might not be disorder'd before he came where he was confident they would most stand in need of their discipline and virtue but after a short debate with himself for he was blest with an excellent presence of mind not to lose the victorious heat his Soldiers were in he commanded the Hastati to wade slowly through that Sea of blood and as I may say as soon as they were Landed to draw up all in Front and if Hannibal offer'd to assault them before the Principes and the Triarii were come up immediately to retreat into that purple flood they had made where the Carthaginians might share the inconveniences of the ground and where the dead Africans would assume the quarrel of the gods and hinder the living But these directions though they abundantly manifested the Consuls Soldiery yet there was no use of them for Hannibal either disdaining all advantages from those dead that when living had afforded him none the better to set off the virtue of his old Army or the distance being too great to advance and charge the Hastati before their companions came made that great man decline it and so Scipio had time to draw his Principes and Triarii on the right and left Flank of his Hastati which was no sooner effected than he immediately advanc'd to charge an Army who never saw any defeats but those they had given the Romans and where he was so entertain'd that it made the precedent fight against the Mercenaries and Africans appear not worthy that name for the Romans encouraged with their numbers and success and their Enemies inflam'd with the loss of their companions the hazard of their Empire and perhaps with the glory of having the general safety left to their Swords so mutually fill'd all places with blood and horror that I may truly say the World was well disputed and Victory was so equally and generously courted that she knew not which side to elect whereby you may in some sort conjecture what hazard the Roman Empire was reduc'd unto by the too violent pursuit of Massanissa and Lelius which I may truly say I first discover'd and first made them sensible of for whilst we were following those whose low resistance made them unworthy our Arms we abandon'd those whose resolutions merited our assistance and whose condition needed it Massanissa and Lelius were so far from condemning my confidence that they acknowledg'd their fault and after the Battel confest unto the Consul that he deriv'd his relief from my care this I tell you not to acquaint you with my virtue but to shew you how secure they were in their own I will omit generous Spartacus informing you how that day I kill'd two Aâ—rican Captains that naming themselves Hannibal by deluding me into a false Revenge deluded themselves into a real death It is time to return to Scipio who perhaps we have too long abandon'd in our Story as well as in the Battel that great man at our arrival with all our Horse was upon the point of losing a Victory by our having prosecuted one too far To be brief our return was most happy and in a needful time for the Carthaginian had so well continu'd his practice that he had left Forces enough to prosecute his dawning success and drew a considerable Body as well for their number as virtue to oppose Massanissa and Lelius and that which made this little Army the more formidable was that Hannibal himself lead them the gallantry of the charge was proportionate to the Soldiers and Generals and we were no sooner mingled then I sought him amongst the press who had promis'd to be found at the head of his Troops but I was soon reliev'd from that employment by a voice which I heard often repeat my name I ran with excessive joy to the place where I was call'd in hope that it might be Hannibal I soon found 't was no third counterfeit as well by that majestick grace he had under his arms as by the fury of his blows which I imagined could not be inspir'd but from Revenge and Jealousie Our Javelins working no effect mine glancing upon his shield flew between his right Arm and his Body and his past hissing by my ears we soon made use of our Swords and were so equally animated that our rage for awhile hinder'd the actings of it but not to hold you long in a Combat which did not last so after we had almost cut in pieces those Armors whose goodness we mutually curst and that we had by light wounds drawn of each others blood Hannibal who apprehended that by playing too much the part of a Soldier he should as much
to all Causes rather than to her Infidelity which if by a miracle I should learn from Callione she was capable of I was determin'd to change the Marriage into a Funeral by killing the Bridegroom first and then his Murtherer at Izadora's feet But Madam continu'd Perolla with an humble gesture and accent though I have as often begg'd and obtain'd your pardon for this Crime as I have mention'd it yet I must still continue that practice for to think 't was in the power of a miracle for you to be one in any thing but Perfection is a sin greater than all things but the Mercy which has forgiven it In confidence that you have so again which I implore with an humility as transcendent as my offence I will prosecute my Relation which was so necessarily interrupted at my going to Callione's Chamber where finding the Door shut but not lock'd I gently open'd it and looking in perceiv'd there was no Light in the Chamber but that there was some in a Closset contiguous to it thither I softly went and looking through a Crevice of the Door I saw Callione leaning upon the Table with a Bole befor her over which she wept Tears enough to have fill'd it so high a melancholly in a House where nothing any where else was visible but joy extreamly surpriz'd me but I was much more when I heard her say to her self What Callione canst thou then be faithful to Izadora when thy Fidelity is a Crime and when she makes use of thy affection for so fatal an end as to become her Murtherer No no Perolla doubtless will be more satisfied to find her in the Arms of Flamminius than in those of Death especially since her being the former was her misfortune not her design He will too console himself in the knowledge of my Treachery and pardon it since 't was to preserve what his delay only ruin'd but alas she continu'd after a small silence thou speak'st Callione as if hind'ring her Fate in this Nuptial Bole would hinder it till the hand of Age impos'd it No she that has resolution enough to receive Poison into her Breast will not want it to plant a Ponyard there when the first has fail'd What wilt thou do then unfortunate Callione to obey thy Mistriss is to become her Executioner and not to do it is to make her become her own after the gods too by a Holy tye has left her no disposal of her self and thereby must act her murther by almost as high a Sin she must dye too Flamminius's and not Perolla's and must detest thee as much as she will Life Oh gods Callione continu'd you that have brought me into this Labyrinth lead me out of it and do not destroy a perfection which suppresses Atheism for nothing can create but must be more perfect than what it creates and to be more perfect than Izadora is to be without doubt a Deity The fair Calliones's Tears for a while interrupted her words but the confuâ—ion they wrought in me I attest the same gods she invok'd was so great that I was in hope what betwixt that and grief I should never more have been capable of any but those that form our Destinies made not mine so favourable for they render'd my Heart stronger than my Misery and by that time they had perfectly restor'd me my Senses I heard Callione thus assume her discourse Yes fair Izadora I will obey your Commands the Nuptial Cup shall be poison'd but you shall not take it for I will go and acquaint Blacius with your resolves who shall hinder them in such way that you will attribute his care rather to his doubts than knowledge perhaps your despair may more work on him than your Tears have done and when he finds you elect Death before Flamminius he may let Perolla supply his place No Callione I reply'd knocking at the door Perolla knows the gods and Izadora too well to believe the former have ordain'd me the latter if I am come 't is to contribute to not interrupt the Marriage Yes yes I am resolv'd to give Izadora up all her vows they have been too much her torment for me to continue their possession but if she be too generous to receive them by a resignation I will present them to her by my death Callione hearing my voice after a little trembling open'd the Door and her Eyes had no sooner confirm'd the Intelligence of her Ears than she cry'd out Is it you indeed Perolla alas what Tears has your absence cost us you cannot guess them but by the joy of your return which revives my hopes for the gods are not so cruel to send you to be a spectator but a reliever of our Miseries Thereupon after some other discourses of this quality to satisfy my intreaties she told me That Flamminius a Roman Gentleman who had no fault but too transcendent a Passion for Izadora had seen her one day in the Temple where from adoring an invisible Deity he ador'd a mortal of as much perfection and being as great in the Riches of Fortune as of Nature had by some Senators expresly come from Rome propounded his alliance to Blacius who meeting in him all things worthy it and your absence contributing a favourable opportunity greedily embrac'd the motion and Flamminius began his addresses with so charming a Grace and Humility that nothing transcended both but Izadora's Constancy which is not to be extinguish'd but with her Life I cannot tell you how diligent she was to discover an imperfection in her Servant that might have render'd her declining him an action of as much reason to her Father as it was to her 't is too much you know that though she had you for her pattern I tell you said Perolla her flattering expression yet she could find no fault in him but that in which he resembl'd you most I mean the greatness and unmoveableness of his Love in this misfortune to declare the good opinion she had of his Virtue and to be convinc'd of the reality of it by an experiment one day she freely acquainted him with all your Loves and how fully he might be satisfi'd of the fixtness of her Passion since he could not remove it that therefore she implor'd him to render that an effect of his Generosity which else would be one of her Constancy and that he would turn his Love into Friendship since she was as ambitious of that as uncapable of the other These words so mov'd the generous Flamminius that his Bloud ran all to preserve the seat of Life his Eyes were fix'd in his Head his Tongue was moveless and suddainly he fell so at Izador's feet who in a fright ran out and call'd me in to her assistance both ours prov'd so powerful that after a quarter of an hour Flamminius came to himself and having immediately begg'd Izadora's Pardon for the incivility of his indisposition he only told her That either He or Death would obey her Commands
my revenge been my design I might as easily have acted as desir'd it and indeed I found a greater difficulty to suppress the fury of those Swords which were drawn in my quarrel than I believe I should to have been victorious by them To be brief I retired to a private and secure Sanctuary though most of us received so many wounds that their being not dangerous made us acknowledge a high Providence Whil'st we were thus disputing our difference Izadora though she were but a hearer of it was as she has assured me in far greater fears than any that were Actors in it but being told that Flamminius was killed she ran with Callione where he lay and where she wept so many tears that he almost mistook her Pity for her Love but Blacius being after our retreat come thither also caused Flamminius to be carried into the next Chamber and as soon as the Chyrurgions had searcht and bound up his wound the impatient Father asked him Whether his Daughter had any share in this Tragedy Ah Sir said Flamminius be not so cruel to truth and to me as to suspect her guilty of such a Crime for had she intentions of that nature she needed not employ any to kill me since she knows she has not only the power to act it herself but by the honour of dying by her commands she has wherewithall abundantly to recompence my death No Sir he that has reduced me to this condition is some Stranger and Friend to Perolla who believing him too much injured by the loss of Izadora has so civilly endeavor'd to revenge his absent Friend that I can no more complain of his resentments than I should at the loss of so much blood had it been in Izadora's service for after he had by courage and not surprize disarmed me and that I had given him no slight hurt when the latter provok'd him to revenge and the former gave him power to execute it he restored me my Poniard and for that gift only besought me to excuse those resentments his Friends interest had created and so left me Take heed Flamminius said Blacius lest you make me question what you said of Izadora's innocency by seeming to be ignorant of Perolla's guilt when that he wounded you is so known a truth that there are as many Witnesses of it as People in this house It may be said Flamminius that it was Perolla but you cannot therefore conclude that I must know 't was he for if it were his disguise might have deceived one that had been better acquainted with him than I have the honour to be besides Sir 't would have been too much in me had I thought it had been my Rival to have given so large a character of his performances before my Mistriss Well reply'd Blacius the certainty that it is Perolla cannot be greater than that he shall never have Izadora who I will think innocent because you do and who upon your recovery shall be the reward of your passion and your wounds Blacius immediately after went away and Izadora to satisfie her Father and her goodness continued with Flamminius whose gallantry she admir'd as much as she esteem'd herself unfortunate in being uncapable of rewarding it But he as soon as Blacius was retir'd somewhat touch'd with my carriage to him but much more with what I had told him concerning Izadora's design upon herself besought her to permit him the honour of entertaining her without Witnesses which she granted and the Chamber being emptied Flamminius told her particularly all that had past betwixt us magnified my actions in terms as flattering as handsom and then conjured Izadora with passionate and moving words to acquaint him ingenuously Whether all I had delivered was true but she more perplex'd at this question than she would have been to drink the fatal Bole for a good while did nothing but fix her eyes upon him and cry'd out Oh gods Flamminius Oh gods Flamminius What is it you ask me And at length answered him only in a shower of tears which drew another from him and words so distracted yet so significant that Izadora found Rhetorick did not wholly consist in well speaking or in talking sence But Flamminius's disorder being somewhat mitigated he continu'd I perceive fair Izadora that your apprehensions I should destroy my life when you do my hopes hinders you from letting your words acknowledge what your tears have done but I beseech you believe that I shall be more tormented in continuing your misery than in knowing my own that I shall consider my affliction as my joy if it can build yours and if by the learning my own misfortunes I may put a period to Izadora's she will more oblige me by building her Happiness on the ruine of mine than if she continued my hopes by her sufferings Alas said Izadora what shall I answer for your virtue is such that it makes mine my pain and that constancy which I still gloried in is now a subject as fit for my tears as satisfaction Oh gods she continu'd after a short silence why do you make virtue so offensive to virtue why do you make Flamminius's virtue of such a quality that I am troubled to profess mine And why do you render perseverance in good a torment as great as the fault in declining it Alas Flamminius press me not to tell you what I elected to shun by death and guess at the nature of what I am to speak by what I would have performed to avoid it let it suffice you having tied me to approve of your passion or your death and that since my preingagement hindered me from cherishing the former to preserve you from the latter I was willing and am resolved to exchange our destines Great gods Flamminius cry'd out why did you teach me what retributions I ought to make so high a perfection and so long delayed giving me the power to perform them then turning to the excellency he had mention'd he continu'd Fair Izadora you have not only taught me what to practise but given me the power to act it Yes I am now ready to lose my hopes without my life and the joyes of having served you in a way that you can no more hereafter doubt of than reward my passion will recompence my loss and preserve a life which must be my contentment since it has establish'd yours and is esteem'd by you But why do I lengthen my discourse 'T is sufficient you learn generous Spartacus that the great Flamminius made a resignation of all his passions for Izadora but those of being serviceable to her and became as perfect a Friend as he had been a Lover This admirable change both he and Izadora acquainted me with by a servant of his to whom she had told my retreat To draw to a conclusion during Flamminius's weakness he so perfectly acted the Lover before Blacius and so perfectly the Friend when he was absent that Izadora was convinc'd by so painful a part
sad servant I beseech you Sir observe in this example how much the present Romans do degenerate from their Ancestors those preserved their conquering Enemy from Poyson and these induce a King contrary to the Laws of Hospitality and Faith to betray his Guest Hannibals servant could speak no more for weeping and though I was sorry any but Perolla should revenge Izadora yet I was satisfi'd that the gods by making him become his own Executioner evinc'd his Crimes were great by their punishment and declared their justice to be so too in forcing him that had been her Enemy to become his own and her Revenger The next day this great Captain was buried and my anger dying with the cause of it I esteem'd it a duty to attend his body to the Tomb which had no other Inscription but HERE LIES HANNIBAL and indeed was not capable of a greater This Solemnity perform'd I began to return into Italy from whence my Revenge had too long detain'd me but the misfortunes I endur'd and the obstructions I met with were such that I arriv'd not in this City 'till the very day the Inhabitants of it sent to treat with the generous Spartacus which to do byfear and not by necessity I esteem'd so low a thing that making my self known I made their duty so to them which was to oppose their captivity in a way that if afterward it prov'd their destiny yet at least it would be esteem'd their misfortune and not their crime The first day our success was proportionate to our desires and the next where Canitius storm'd I had the fortune to oppose and worst him but whil'st a fresh Alarm drew me though not the Guard from that Post by your unresistable Sword you made a passage for your Army as easie for them as glorious for your self But I thank the gods Perolla continu'd that I was call'd away for perhaps my sacrilegious Arm might have been employ'd against a Virtue which to have fought against or resisted would have more troubled me than to be vanquisht by it and which to know is so great a felicity that I count my defeat an easie purchase of it The news of you possessing that quarter of the Town no sooner came to me in this than not knowing to what insolency the Soldiers heaâ— authorized by a successful Asâ—ault might raise them to abandoning all other cares but those for Izadora I ran to the Religious House she was in and carried her from thence to Pacuvius's there to preserve her Honour or not live to see it violated where all those friends I had about me were lost in so generous a defence and where when my resistance was no longer useful I deriv'd that from my Enemies virtue which the gods deny'd my endeavors and my sword 'T was thus said Symander to Callimmachus that Perolla finisht his Story on which if I have too long insisted 't was to publish what were a sin to conceal It remains now to acquaint you what period had our Lovers sufferings in which my Prince so justly sympathiz'd that he had doubtless made use of his power to settle them in their joyes had he not first esteem'd it requisite to hear what their fathers could object which having invited them to Pâ—cuvius addrest his discourse unto him in these terms If I thought your justice were not as great as your conquests I might apprehend after Izadora's Story that you would not have the patience to hear my defence but look upon that as an evincement of my being as highly guilty of cruelty as I am confident by that time I have ended speaking you will think me free from it for I will make it evident that all those Actions which she alledges proceed from his inclinations to her and to virtue are only testimonies of his hatred to his father His high generosity and a desire of freeing his Countrey was to kill Hannibal my greatest friend which was far worse than to have murther'd me my death had ended all miseries with it but to survive such a friend was to endure a torment which none but he that resented it can believe or if I thought death a greater contentment than life by that Action he reduc'd me to the sad extremity of being my own Executioner but that which was worse than all this he design'd to murther that great Conqueror in my own house where he would have no Guards but my Fidelity which to have violated had been a breach of Trust and Hospitality two of the most sacred Tyes and all this under a pretence of serving the Romans who had they not scorn'd to owe their safety to a sin that had render'd them unworthy of it night certainly have found spirits of a temper apt enough to sacrifice themselves to have preserv'd the Publick but the high esteem they yet pay Fabritius's memory for not permitting one of Pyrrhus's own Subjects upon as it were the eve of their ruine to poyson him does sufficiently demonstrate they had rather hazard their Empire than their Reputation and certainly if they thought it gallantry in Fabritius not to purchase their safeties by only permitting an ill Act in an Epyrote which he had no interest in but what his knowledge of it gave him how much would they then condemn a Roman when their State was not near in so great a hazard so that that which he would have appear an obligation to his Countrey would have been really a sin against it and his family But besides who knows if after having done the Fact he would not have fled for I can hardly believe he that would act a treacherous design would expose his life to justifie he intended it for a generous one and so have lest me a saâ—rifiâ—e to the fury of Hannibal's Soldiers The next proof of his Affection to me was to preserve my greatest enemies Life when I might by so favourable an adventure have purchas'd that Death which I would a thousand times have bought by my own had not higher considerations plac'd limits to my just revenge He pretends indeed that he comes to see me but the event justifies 't is to preserve Blacius he is loaden with wounds for the defence of Izadora's Father and spends that bloud for his preservation which could not have been more generously spilt than for his destruction in a word he employs that Life I gave him to preserve his that he knew made mine my greatest torment and as if all those were not sufficient wrongs he makes his House his Sanctuary and thereby excludes me and his friends from affording him any demonstrations of our care but that I look upon as an argument of his guilt which was of a quality to make him esteem himself safer with his Enemies than with me But his most unpardonable crime was to become a Slave to one of that Family whose greatest ambition should have been to have made all of them his nay Courts her with Sighs and Tears to accept his Liberty
and by a thousand such unworthy submissions endeavours to make me question his Mothers Faith which I should have done did I not know one of the greatest vices is to suspect she hadany for in a long succession of years there were none legitimate of our Line till the degenerate Perolla but with their milk suck'd a hatred for that of Blacius's but he had no sooner gotten his health and lost his liberty but more joyful of the last than of the first he quits Salapia without paying me the duty of a visit which was the pretence of his coming thither and his impiety not being yet come to the height of attempting my Life with his own hand he endeavours it obliquely by taking up Arms for the Romans against the Carthaginians in whose party I was so engag'd that he could not prosecute their overthrow and effect it without involving me in their ruine and when the great Hannibal had justly censur'd Blacius to death for his pactice with the Romans Perolla that I might not suspect the first service he did him was by accident but design engages all such of his friends as he could seduce and with them employs his Sword and Life to redeem my greatest enemies in which attempt as you have heard he had a success proportionate to his desires and after that Blacius was found out and brought to the Scaffold there to receive the punishment of his offences lest I might yet doubt he lov'd his Enemies as much as he hated his Father he voluntarily embraces Death to justify that Truth Judge Sir if ever there were a higher injury than this and if by it my hatred be not as just as great for in this one action he destroys that Life he knew maugre all his ingratitude I yet lov'd best to preserve his whom I hated most but he was preserv'd from death by Izadora's Tears Izadora I say one of Blacius Family which had he had any generosity he should rather have suffer'd than ow'd his deliverance to such a Deliverer For my part the cause of his safety took away all my joyes for the effect and made me celebrate his preservation in Tears but though Hannibal pardon'd his life yet he kept him in prison where he had still retain'd him had not the generous Maharbal given him his liberty which he had no sooner obtain'd than he employes it by bearing Arms under the Romans for his destruction that gave it him but perhaps he will say he redeem'd that fault by giving Maharbal his life to which I answer that was no satisfaction for the old Crime but the acting of a new one for he was only treacherous to his friends to repair his ingratitude to his Enemies and thereby committed one sin to act another he makes the publique pay for his particular fault and redeems his own unworthiness by depriving the party he serv'd of so considerable a prisoner besides what happen'd was but an accident but his taking up Arms was a design Thus you see those actions he most glories in being diligently enquir'd into are found contrary to what they appear'd and if his best performances are crimes what are then his others He was an earnest persecutor of Hannibal my greatest friend while he continu'd in Italy all my perswasions and Prayers not being able to hinder him so much as from acting against him in his person and as if the knowledge of the affection I pay'd that great General were a sufficient cause to creat Perolla's hatred for him he left his own Countrey and his Izadora too to prosecute him under Scipio in Africk and at that famous Battel at Zama a thousand times ventur'd his own life to deprive Hannibal of his and though he alledges that he preserved him when he might have acted his destruction yet I shall beseech you to consider he is but his own Witness and whether it be likely he would have neglected that opportunity had it been offer'd which he has since sought out over all the world and never declin'd whilst there was any possibility of finding it He was not only content to injure me in my Friend but does it too in my Enemy and that I might not doubt his perseverance in his former courses by stealing away Izadora in which Sin every accessary is a principal he violates both Humane and Divine Laws and rather elects the committing of so high a crime than that I should want testimonies of so proportionate a Truth â—y by his own confession would have Married her and joyn'd those two Blouds together that never till then were united but when they ran from Wounds and mingled on the ground and would thereby have ty'd my Hand from revenge or forâ—'d me to act it thorough my only Son Lastly and that I hope will not prove in your judgement inferior to any when your victorious Arms had struck such a terror into our Citizens that we were going to present you our Keys and Liberties he by his unfortunate perswasion and example made them take up Arms and forâ—'d you to purchase your Victory by Blood reduc'd his Countrey and Friends to a fatal subjection or death or to owe to their Deliverance to a Mercy they have so highly offended that they are unworthy of it but if you execute the rigor of War upon us and that your Justice involves Perolla in the publique Fate I shall then find my happiness in my destruction and more commend Fortune in revenging me upon him than be displeas'd at her for my own and Salapia's ruine Spartacus and all the assistants were infinitely surpriz'd at so strange a reasoning and request But my Prince put a silence to the general murmur by inviting Blacius to speak who thus obey'd him I attest the gods said he lifting his Eyes and his Hands to the place of their residence that from the time Perolla preserv'd my life it has been my misfortune for if ever since I deriv'd any joy from this Woman pointing at Izadora 't was only learning by my own sufferings in her want of Duty what Pacuvius's were in his Sons immitating her crime but because she has told her own story with so much Art that it may induce you to consider my resentments as an injustice I shall briefly give you a true Comment upon it I confess she had my Command to cherish and esteem him that preserv'd my life but she had it not to give those retributions to Perolla That ignorance which I believe procur'd my safety procur'd that injunction I found him my Friend when I gave him my affection but she knew him my Enemy when she gave him hers Observe too I beseech you how confident this young man was of having it when the argument he us'd to make her declare that Truth was only if she avow'd it not he would kill her Fathers Enemy that which was a just motive to silence her Flame was his inducement to invite her to disclose it in which one action she doubly injur'd me
by little and little to dispell and they were no sooner absolutely vanish'd than Blacius first went to Perolla and Pacuvius afterwards to Izadora and in more Tears than Words acknowledg'd their repentance and conversion and when their several passions permitted them to speak they joyfully commanded them to consider their sentence but as a tribute to the Law of Nature and War and that they should in the joys of their union extinguish all the sorrow their Deaths could inspire which they protested was not so great a trouble to them as that they had so long and cruelly hinder'd it I am I confess continu'd Symander unable to tell you Spartacus's raptures at this change he first ran to the Fathers embracing them pardon'd them and gave them as many thanks for their conversion as if he had been to enjoy the effect of it then he went to our generous Lovers told them that his private Commands to Euriles were much different from his publique ones that he seem'd to be cruel but to make their Fathers just that he was glad an attempt against his life had setled the Felicity of theirs which he would have gladly bought by the attempts having been turn'd into an execution I should lose my self did I acquaint you with Perolla's and Izadora's extasies with Pacuvius and Blacius's embracings their beging mutual Pardons for a hate which then was converted into as great a friendship and with all their gratitudes to Spartacus To finish their Adventures 't is sufficient I tell you all things changed their Faces and those passions of Hatred Fear and Revenge resign'd their places unto Love Friendship and Kindness and as soon as those wounds Perolla had receiv'd from the Sword permitted him to heal those he had receiv'd from Love he was put in possession of his Izadora which was a felicity so far above needing a foyl to set it off that his past troubles and crosses were not consider'd but forgot And lest you should think I have the two Salapians or Spartacus I will tell you that the former had abundant cause given them of satisfaction and the latters Adventures I will now resume where I broke them off PARTHENISSA THE SECOND PART BOOK II. AFter my Prince had seen the Solemnities perform'd of so perfect an Union wherein he omitted nothing which might testify his satisfaction at it That the Salapians might for ever remember and be sharers in the joy Spartacus assembl'd the chiefest of them together and in terms as obliging as the action it self inform'd them That least they might alledge Perolla's Courage drew them into their misfortunes he protested the just esteem he had of it and of his virtue made him restore them to their former freedom That for his sake and the fair Izadora's he would immediately withdraw his Army from their City which should never approach it again but for their preservation for which he would at any time relinquish his own designs and repeat as great dangers to defend as he had done to take it This generous declaration as they all profest afforded them a satisfaction far transcending the grief they resented for that loss which gave my dear Master the power of thus obliging them and to publish their gratitude as well as contentment they deputed immediately from the body of the People certain select Citizens to the generous Lovers where after an Oration too tedious to be remembr'd they concluded that since their own sufferings had been the cause of their Felicity they were so far from deploring them that they would willingly undergo greater if they might produce a resembling effect These Ceremonies were no sooner finisht than Spartacus went to take his leave of Perolla and Izadora the last of which in both their Names conjur'd him to acquaint them who he was for they could not fancy so sublime a virtue had a disproportionable extraction Alas Madam said my Prince extreamly surpriz'd what is it that you ask of me then after some deep sighs which the reflection on his miseries forc'd from him he continu'd I take the gods for witnesses fair Izadora did not an inviolable Vow tye me to a concealment of myself I would have satisfy'd your curiosity as soon as I had known it but all that I dare inform you of is That I had my birth in Asâ—a that I am born a Prince of the greatest bloud of the World that an infelicity in Love has not made me abandon my Countrey onely but my hopes and forces me to languish in as high torments as you are now in joyes These sad words and the remembrance of the cause which produc'd them struck Spartacus with so black a melancholly that it prov'd contagious and communicated it self to the fair Izadora and her generous servant who judging what those misfortunes must be which could have so powerful an ascendent over so admirable a courage and judgment immediately converted those Prayers which they had used for the learning of his Adventures for his Pardon in having desir'd a knowledge of them After that Perolla in civility and sympathy had awhile continu'd in silence he at last interrupted it by saying to Spartacus Generous Prince for I should have given your Virtue that Title had I yet been ignorant of your Birth since you are resolv'd that we shall only know you by the felicities you have plac'd us in permit me to offer you that life you have preserv'd and made me relish perhaps it may serve you and help to build for you what you have perfected in me I know the fair Izadora will dispense with my absence when she considers the cause of it and will be as much satisfi'd with my Gratitude as with my Company This I implore continued Perolla as the only means to let you know my resentments whose greatness you cannot suspect since I beg even to forsake Izadora to acquaint you with them This offer said Spartacus embracing Perolla is far more obliging than if it were acted for I know no way which could render me more unworthy of it than the accepting it Neither could I embrace so generous a motion without being as much an enemy to my own happiness as to yours for the only consolation in my misfortunes is that they have put a period to yours and by your abandoning the excellent Izadora that also would be revisht from me I should never finish my relation did I acquaint you with all those noble tears and expressions which were shed and spoken at my Princes departure but in a word to describe the strange operation it had not only Pacuvius and Blacius but all the Salapians were unconsolable and so justly admir'd his Virtues that they almost accounted it a misfortune to return to their former liberty since the being deprived of his company was the rate of that purchase At last all the divisions and Squadrons of my Princes Army marched out of the City rather like Friends than Conquerors and received at the Gates so liberal a Largess that
an Army for him that the same of it coming to my Princes knowledge it kindled that fire of glory in him which had been so long cover'd and made him lead back his victorious Troops towards this new General lest if ever he were discover'd the world might think his abandoning Italy proceeded from the noise of those Forces and not from a premeditated intent Crassus attended by all the Gallantry of the Roman Empire joyfully understood that Spartacus was saving him the trouble of a march and the less to harrass his Army expected my Princes approach in the fertile Plains of Romania To be short the night before the design'd Battel Crassus sent Memmius his Lieutenant General with two select Legions to lie in Ambush on the Left Flank of our Army and strictly commanded him That upon no provocation he should discover himself till both Bodies were joined But my Prince who is the vigilantest Captain living and of whom no advantage is to be gotten but what is given by Fate sent two Soldiers in the habits of Italian women to a height which was unsecure for our Scouts and which look'd into the Roman Camp where under a pretence of Sacrificing for the safety of their Army they became the Intelligencers of ours and soon advertiz'd Spartacus of this stratagem but before he could engage them they had recover'd a fastness where 't was impossible to make use of force but yet next morning before the Battel was ready to begin he gave Mummius so seeming an advantage that thereby he himself gain'd a real one and by so sad an Argument as the cutting in pieces of 8000 Romans made both the Lieutenant and his General of an opinion that he was invincible Those that fled were again receiv'd by Crassus and having cast away their Arms to save their Lives he furnisht them with new ones but first made them give security that they should keep them better than they had the former and then reviv'd that strict Discipline of Decimation where every tenth Run-away was executed in the sight of the whole Army so that 500 ran to receive from their Friends that Death with shame which with less pain and with Honour they might have had from their Enemies But for Mummius his rebuke was so just and sharp that he withdrew himself from the Camp and by a lingering Death justifi'd that whosoever in War undertakes an Attempt without Order must either make Victory his Apology or render himself uncapable of making any other This Breakfast hinder'd the Feast for Crassus perceiving a pannick terror in all his Soldiers would not expose those to our Swords whose fears had already half conquer'd them but was so much more a Friend to his Countrey than his Ambition that he advis'd the Senate to send for Pompey back and rather endeavor to preserve than increase their Empire Three dayes successively my generous Prince presented the Romans Battel and the fourth day as he was going to take up his late design of marching over the Alpes and afterwards of confining himself eternally in their greatest horrors he received a solemn Embassy from those Sicilians which had cast off the Roman yoke wherein they protested That his Fame and not their Necessity made them choose him their Prince That though the latter was pressing yet the former was the only motive of their Election That he could not employ his Arms more gloriously nor more charitably than for their defence That the only hope that his Courage would protect them inflam'd theirs But if they were supprest before he came they would sell their ruine so dearly that he should not be asham'd to acknowledge them his and that they would all take up that consolation at their Deaths that they dy'd Subjects to the great Spartacâ—s The Sicilian Deputies accompany'd their Oration with so many tears that my generous Master though he declin'd the Title of their Prince yet he did not that of their Friend and having compos'd a considerable Body of Men as well for their Numbers as their Resolutions he Convoy'd them with all his Army to the Fare of Messina and from thence sent them over into Sicily where they renew'd the War with such success as at length that fertile Island was upon the point of changing their old Lords The daily intelligence of our Companions Victories and of the wealth which attended them so fixt all our Army upon participating of both that they unanimously beg'd Spartacus to finish their labours by setling them in so delicious a Countrey who willingly yielded to their requests perceiving that Crassus absolutely declin'd a Battel and that now he might with Honour profecute his old design having no Enemies that durst oppose him and having given his Soldiers for their Reward one of the pleasantest Kingdoms in the world Consider I beseech you how deep a root his Melancholy had when Triumphs nor the empire of Rome which he might almost as easily have possest as desir'd could neither tear it up or so much as shake it and truly to the best of my observation I never perceiv'd him pleas'd but in dangers and never so much troubled as when he had avoided them which I attributed to the height of his grief whose torment was so great a burden that he would even have joy'd if Death itself had eas'd him of it But to effect this determination understanding that Menas rid with a good Fleet in that small Channel which separates Italy from Sicily he employ'd an Express to him who by large promises and gifts receiv'd an assurance from him That if my Prince would march with his Army into a Pen-insule of the Reggians where there was good quarters for his Army and a good Road for his Fleet he would not fail within ten days there to receive and obey his commands Immediately the Messenger return'd with this dispatch and soon after Spartacus mov'd with his Army to the place assign'd where after twice ten dayes expectation instead of discovering a Fleet we only perceiv'd a single Gally which having cast Anchor Man'd a small Skiff and sent a Gentleman on shore attended only by two Slaves who informing the Guards that he desired to speak with Spartacus was immediately conducted to his Tent where he soon found it was that Gallipus who had made Pompey so just a character of him that it had like to have procured his liberty My Prince remembring it used him with exceeding civility and the first compliments being past Galippus thus spake to him Sir I am employ'd by Menas to acquaint you that as he was weighing Anchor for this Island we perceiv'd a Sail to the Windward of us and having immediately sent a swift Brigantine to bring us an account of her they both came to the Fleet where Domitius one of Pompey's greatest Favourites presented my Admiral with a Letter from the General all written with his own hand which was to conjure him as ever he valu'd his friendship that laying all other designs apart he
sent thither who seeming to take him for one of yours desir'd him to tell Zianthe that you lay that night at my Lodgings with Zephalinda and that he was sent purposely to wait upon her thither You know Madam continu'd Surena that all that night you honor'd my Sister with your company for when you were returning late I caus'd one of the wheels of your Chariot to be so dexterously broken that upon the first motion it fell all to pieces so that you were necessitated to remain at my house which the deluded Artabanes attributed to a coâ—trary cause and though that to put the greater Complement upon me you evaded allowing him the honor of taking leave for his being made General and his resolution of going next morning to his charge was so suddainly divulg'd that I am confident all Nineve except those of my house knew it in an hour but there I had taken such strict order that none should speak of it that it came not to your knowledge Artabanes therefore without so much as answering my Servant retir'd to his own house where had I seen the defects my delusion produc'd I had it may be repented it But Madam his Griefs had another operation than I expected for I believ'd the being so egregiously abus'd would have made him decline any resolutions but those of hating you and have induced him to vent his despair upon the revolted Tabienians in which time by the assistance of your resentments for his so abandoning you and my humility and constant passion I was not out of hopes to gain what he had lost but it seems he abandon'd himself so entirely to revenge that as he had lost the hopes of possessing you so he resolvd to endeavour I should wear his Livery in pursuance whereof he sent me a challenge which I could not decline for he that has the courage to adore you cannot want it to dispute you which I did but the gods who will not suffer infidelity to prosper in Love it self where 't is least unlawful gave him an advantage over me which perhaps upon a juster subject he could not so easily have gain'd Whilst Sillaces said Symander was making this relation my poor Master was in so many several disorders that in my life I never saw a subject fitter for pitty but no sooner had his generous friend disclos'd this fatal treachery than he cry'd out O gods Sillaces what is it you tell me I tell he reply'd that which if your unjust suspition had not been too predominant Paâ—thenissa would have inform'd you of and thereby exempted her self you and all your friends from that misery your precipitate and voluntary banishment has cast us into but be not so cruel to your self as to interrupt me in that which makes your wound and not permit me to apply the cure Alas said Artabanes 't is not in your power for though Parthenissa should by an excess of goodness pardon my crime yet that it self would but increase it by demonstrating I have offended the greatest Mercy as well as the greatest Beauty You are said Sillaces very ingenuous to persecute your self and your wilfulness is admirable you will run into a storm and then refuse the Harbor No generous friend Artabanes answer'd that which you call a wilfulness is a justice since for a Criminal to embrace Life when his Conscience will be more severe than his Judge can be is to become as much an ememy to himself as to Justice If said Silaces you will not permit me to finish my relation for the interest you have in it yet at least let me obtain that favour as a reward of those sufferings I have undergone to bring you news which I thought would not have been altogether unacceptable I beg a thousand times your pardon said my Prince if the effects of my despair have been so uncivil but as a pennace for it I will no more interrupt your Relation but listen to it with as much silence as my miseries will permit Surena said Sillaces had no sooner ended this discourse than perceiving how strange an influence it had over Parthenissa he thus continu'd Alas Madam all the hopes I had in my misfortunes I apprehend are groundless for I expected by disclosing my fault to obtain a pardon for it but I find by your disorder that you are more inclin'd to Justice than Mercy I confess said Parthenissa you have by your relation made your self very unworthy the latter for by your own acknowledgement you are no longer wicked but because you can live no longer and 't is not your repentance but your death which makes this discovery 'T is true Madam Surena answer'd and thereby learn the power of your Beauty which violently forces me to actions against my Inclinations and against Justice But Madam I have greater hopes of your forgiveness by submitting than disputing and the more to induce you to it consider that if I am the only actor in this fault 't is because I only had the means to act it that none would have declin'd my crime if he had had my hopes that it lay in my power to continue as well as to create your troubles for I understand Artabanes is too perfectly deluded ever to return of himself and discover the contrary consider too Madam that I have given you an ill opinion of me to restore you to a good one of my Rival that you will render my death as full of torment withour uour pardon as of quietness with it and excuse my fault upon the score that the purest flame was the creator of it and that as it was my first so 't is impossible but it must be my last All the while Surena was thus speaking his sighs accompany'd his words and had so efficacious power over the generous Parthenissa that she told him Yes Surena you have my forgiveness and I beseech the gods that it may render your death as full of satisfaction as that crime which made you need it will I fear â—ill my life with misery At the end of these words she went out of his Chamber and coming where Zephalinda and I were she told her passing by Ah Madam your Brother has forever ruin'd me That virtuous Princess was as much surpriz'd at this Declaration as Parthenissa had been when she learnt the cause of it But Zephalinda perceiving your fair Mistriss was too much possest with grief to desire an explanation of what she had said contented her self to suspend her curiosity till a fitter season and having waited on her to her Chariot return'd to Surena who she knew by the emotions of such a visit would remain in too sad a disorder to abandon him but assoon as Parthenissa was got home she learnt Zianthe had absented her self which so confirm'd Surena's relation that Parthenissa immediately fell into a violent Feaver and the distempers of her mind so well conspir'd with the malignity of the disease that for seven days together all the Physitians were
transcends it I hope a part of it will be manifested in forgiving a Confidenc which is impos'd and not sought and has indeed no title to your Mercy but that is great enough for it which though infinite cannot exceed the Ioy with which it will be receiv'd nor the Truth which presumes Madam to tell you that I am Your most Humble most Faithful And most obedient Servant PARTHENISSA THE THIRD PART BOOK I. THE News which the Priest of Venus brought to his Superior and Symander was very true for whilest the last was acquainting the first with his generous Princes Adventures he himself as has been related was retir'd into a solitude which that morning he had discover'd where by Fortunes giving him some ease the better to enable him to support her longer cruelties he was fallen into a slumber and though his cares were so unusually civil as not to interrupt it yet it was suddenly by a noise of Horses and clashing of Swords and Arms which reach'd his ear which invited him to take his Horse and gallop to the place from whence this Alarm came to learn the subject of it the continuance of the noise and the swiftness of his Horse faithfully and suddenly bâ—ought him to see a Combat which struck him both with admiration and anger the first was caus'd by a single Valor which could not be but transcendent since it had such an Admirer and the last was occasion'd by six armed men which endeavor'd to destroy the possessor of it who to sell his life at a rate worthy so high a purchase and to make his Enemies deplore the destruction of so great a Courage or the effects of it had already kill'd two of them with blows that struck as great a terror into the rest as the very example of those deaths but finding at last that his Courage might be worsted by though not yield to his Enemies numbers he was retir'd to a little Thicket that shelter'd him behind and his Horse being kill'd in the retreat defended his right side doing him service even after death 't was in this little fortification and posture Artabanes found him and there being no greater invitation to his generous mind for the relieving of virtue than to find it in distress he instantly took up one of the dead mens Helmets to join himself to the opprest stranger who as he was coming full speed towards him thinking the now wearer of the Helmet as much his Enemy as he that had so lately worn it cry'd out to Artabanes Make haste make haste and help those whose hearts are as ill as their cause and who need relie on their number since they cannot on their quarrel Our Hero esteem'd it more handsom and necessary to shew the generous Stranger his error by his actions than words and at his first strokes so abundantly did it that he which he reliev'd thought his mistake a greater misfortune than that which he had now more than hopes to be freed from and indeed Artabanes perform'd things so far above his strength though not himself that three of the surviving four left the Stranger to employ their Swords against an Enemy who they concluded would render the odds as needful as it was dispoportionate but the valiant Stranger finding he had to deal but with one and that his relief might endanger the Bestower of it suddenly abandon'd his intrenchment and as suddenly made his Adversary abandon his life but his Horse he made use of to assist his unknown Friends who was already in a condition not to need it for he had killed one of the three and the other two perceiving how powerful an addition was coming endeavor'd in their Horses feet to find a security they despaired of from their own hands Artabanes and the Stranger followed them awhile but finding more difficulty in the Chace than the Quarry merited and that the way they had taken to avoid their resentments rendered them unworthy of them they gave over the pursuit and then the Stranger having with as much grace as civility beg'd a Pardon from Artabanes for a mistake created by the Arms he had on told him Though my life is rather a misfortune than the contrary yet my obligation to my Deliverer is nothing inferior and what my miseries made me desirous to lose though not in so unhandsom a way my gratitude now obliges me to preserve since I esteem the giver of my lite has too great a share and title in it to dispole of it without him Aâ—tabanes extremely satisfied with so obligaing a civility told the maker of it I have generous Stranger as little title to your life as to your relief and if by drawing my Sword in your quarrel I have done any thing it deserves rather your resentment than your thanks since I have contributed but to a Victory that was certain without my assistance and under a pretence of serving you â—ob'd you in part of a glory which your courage only had won Were not your performance the Stranger reply'd of a quality that manifests you injure your actions when you decline their merit I might as easily evince that Truth as acknowledge it and if you refuse that Present I offer you as having receiv'd it from you I shall esteem your declining it as high a misfortune as any that has made me esteem my life so If said Artabanes there be any obligation in what I have done it wholly reflects upon me that have more obliged my self than you in serving so prodigal a gratitude but he continu'd perceiving some blood dropping from the Stangers wounds as well as from his own let us not lose the benefits of your safety by disputing who you deriv'd it from and though I am a Stranger in these Parts as well as you and as much your Equal in misery as you are my Superior in those virtues of which that ought not to be the reward yet I can offer you a retirement till your health or business invites you to prosecute your journey I am reply'd the Stranger so miserable a creature that nothing can increase my being so but the belief that you are a more and though I accept of your civility till my wounds be healed yet I must beg your pardon if I first learn from whom I receiv'd them Are you said Artabanes yet ignorant of that Yes said the Stranger and cannot fancy any that knows me and are my Enemies can be so much mistaken in their revenge as to think killing me is any 'T was such discourses as these that brought them where the marks of their Courages and Victory lay where the Stranger pulling off all the Murtherers Helmets to learn if he knew any of them found himself as ignorant in their faces as in the cause of their malice yet one of them by the benefit of the Air and by the turning of his Body faintly open'd his eyes and being ask'd of the Stranger who 't was that had invited them to so unfortunate
an operation on me that my misery appearing more transcendent than my Princes for awhile he suspended the sad reflections on his own to consider mine but after that through pity or goodness he had given me leave by his silence to utter a throng of sighs and complaints he told me Consider Artavasdes what my griefs are when thine have so strange an influence those that afflict thee are thy misfortunes those that do me are my faults thou hast that consolation that the gods have made thee miserable I have that torment that I made my self so and consequently must consider the cause of my misfortune as great a one as the effect Alas Sir I reply'd that which you alledge for an Argument to console me is an aggravation of my misfortunes for the Actions of the gods are more just than those of men and they having inflicted mine 't is a more pregnant testimony I have merited them than that you have those you have drawn upon your self when I consider the wayes how mine are impos'd I cannot hope they will end since that expectation must be grounded on no less an impossibility than the justice of the gods but the wayes in which yours are inflicted carry their comfort with them for had you been guilty you should not have been your own Punisher and not being so you cannot doubt of your relief but by injuring the highest powers as much as your hopes Were there said Artabazus but as much truth as art in this Argument I might be flatter'd into a belief that I am as innocent as miserable but when the gods make us become our own executioners 't is so much a mark of being guilty that then to doubt it is to have a higher title to our punishment Yet I reply'd we seldom see that Humane Justice which is a Copy of ' the Divine does execute a Criminal by a Criminal But Sir I continu'd let us not contribute to our own misfortunes by so long disputing whose are the greatest rather let us seek out a retiring since by what you have told me I fear this will prove no safe one Alas the King answer'd that we should flie is not more requisite than it is impossible since for ought I see you are as destitute of Horses as I am No Sir I reply'd I have two not far from hence which we will make use of as for Philanax I know he would lose much more hazard his life to preserve his Kings Yes said that faithful servant 't is my inclination as much as duty and next the spending of it in your service the best fortune it can aspire unto is to lose it in it Artabazus embrac'd him for his Loyalty and gave him assurances that if ever he return'd to his former fortune he would build his in so plentiful a way that he should acknowledge he had found his interest in his duty Then turning to me he said But now Artavasdes we are fitted for our journey whither shall we direct it Thospia which is the only honest and secure retreat I can rely on has a way to it as hazardous as continuing here Ah Sir I reply'd why does your memory or suspitions do the gallant Governor of Artemita the Province belonging to it so much wrong you will find that could he rejoyce in any of your misfortunes he would in this which will afford him so ample an evincement of his Affection and Loyalty 'T was said Artabazus neither my memory nor suspitions but I fear my reason that made me not look on Phanasder with the same faith that you do for Crassolis whose judgment if forming opinions is as great as his honesty in communicating them to me has given me so bad and perhaps so just a character of him that I should as soon put my self in Zenaxtus's hands as his Oh gods I cry'd out is it possible that Crassolis could so much bewitch your reason as to make you consider your servants as your enemies and they as your friends Believe me Sir I will make that dissembler appear what he is in the woâ—st extreme as Phanasder will shew himself in the best with whom you shall find a Sanctuary as inviolable as his faith and for which I do engage you both mine and my life Upon your score Artabazus reply'd I will venture what I would not on my own neither would I give my retiring to Phanasder that name were I as confident of his Loyalty as of his that made me suspect it Sir said I going to our Horses this is a time fitter to flie from a Traytor than prove one but I will be contented to wear that name if I do not evince that Crassolis does it already Then commanding Philanax to go meet the rest of my servants and return with them to Artemita which afterwards he did through many dangers and then brought us word how the faithful Governor was put to death in torments as great as his fidelity for not discovering to the Rebels where the King was conceal'd Artabazus and I by very unfrequented wayes and by as great diligence as good fortune in three dayes arrived there also but never was there a more melancholy and silent journey for after I had acquainted my King with all my Adventures since my imprisonment his griefs were so obliging that they gave me the liberty without interruption of entertaining my own where to find a remedy for them appear'd as difficult as the torment which thereby I incur'd We had not been an hour in Phanasder's Government when he who was gone to beat up one of the Enemies quarters return'd with success and presented Artabazus with the Keys of Artemita and with the lives of 200 of his Enemies I cannot express with what assiduousness and zeal he served his Prince you may learn them better by their effects than description which were that they wholly converted Artabazus's suspitions into as great a confidence and made him acknowledge he had injur'd the best of his Subjects when he thought Phanasder was not so who having first resign'd his own magnificent house to the King receiv'd the honour of his orders and doubled his care and guards came to visit and acquaint me that by a Prisoner of quality that day taken he was assur'd that to extinguish all difficulties between Zenaxtus Partisans and Tygranes the latter had engag'd himself within two days to give Altezeera to Palisdes who either to satisfie his ambition his passion or his doubts commanded all his Party to keep their houses till he were in possession of what might invite them with honour and safety to take the field I am then I cryed out a creature as far above being capable of more misery as of relief Sir said Phanasder I would not have told you so fatal an intelligence had not my hopes of relieving your sorrow been as great as the certainty that this would create it Alas generous Friend I reply'd my reason cannot so much yield to hope as to afford me
ravish not contribute to my Victory and in that belief I prest my Army to return to the charge that if they were friends they might see and have no share in our success and if not to fight them before they were join'd But all my persuasions being fruitless I was taking some resolution of an honourable death alone since I was deny'd it in company but those designs instantly vanish'd and gave place to joyes as pleasing by those new Troops falling like a storm on Zenaxtus's Army who by it having lost their hopes soon after did their courages and lives My Army contributing nothing to the Conquerors glory but the not participating in it Zenaxtus's death accompany'd by 40000 of his companions was the end and expiation of their Rebellion all the rest having been kill'd the precedent way and taken in this After the execution was ended I rid up and down the Field to learn from whom Armenia and Artava'des had receiv'd so signal an obligation but I soon found the sight of my Preserver was a greater blessing than the preservation it self for 't was the generous Anexander I flung my self instantly at his feet acknowledg'd him twice my Father in giving me my life and in preserving it and by a million of other demonstrations endeavor'd to manifest a contentment as great exteriorly as it was in my heart That generous Princes extasies were not inferior to mine which being somewhat lessen'd to satisfie my impatient longing in knowing from what kind god he deriv'd his deliverance he told me after I was fallen into Zenaxtus's hands by his treachery to Artabazus which might as easily have been prevented by the King as it was foreseen by me the persidious Traytor had immediately executed me but that he thought a death without lingring rather a mercy than a revenge therefore I was kept alive till some torment as great as his cruelty or as he merited was found out which being at length I was carried out of a Prison that I believe could not be an inferior one to that he design'd me and as the Tormentors were beginning their office my Judge being one of the Spectators of his sentence a Post arriv'd who presented him a Packet which as I after learn'd brought the news of your success against Artaxata the death of Palisdes the flight of Tygranes and your being made Generalissimo of all Armenia this which in all probability should have increas'd his fury suspended the execution of it and return'd me to a less troublesom Prison but though he gave out that he preserv'd me only to make you whom he was then going against participate in my sufferings by imposing them in your sight yet I rather believe my reprieve proceeded from his apprehension of a turn in fortune and that his would be desperate if yours were successful did he extinguish his fury in my blood whatever was the cause I cannot determine yet he carry'd me Prisoner in his Army but as the gods ordain'd it Zenaxtus committed the care of my restraint to a Gentleman who was engag'd in his Cause more by his relation to those in it than his approbation of it This generous Keeper the first night of our march allow'd me half his Bed and taking the opportunity of our being without Auditors by a handsom discourse assur'd me of his pity for my miseries and of his intentions to relieve them that my patience in enduring my Torments was of a quality that convinc'd him it proceeded not from my Fortitude but my Innocence and concluded that he was thereby invited to be of a Cause which gave the Defenders of it power to conquer their Enemies by their very sufferings This proceeding was so free and so like a Gentleman that to have doubted it had been a Crime as great as his Virtue I therefore gave him assurances of my believing his professions and that if he would decline Zenaxtus for Artabazus he should thereby better his Fortunes as much as his Cause Sir said he I will take up Arms to evince that the Quarrel I approve I will defend but I will accept of no Command but an inferior one to what I have here left those that are Enemies to Truth and to me should alledge my interest was my conversion In brief said Anexander the next night he so judiciously order'd our Escape that leaving nothing to Fortune he left us nothing to fear so that without any encounter or interruption we reach'd in three dayes to Thospia from whence my Deliverer sent Zenaxtus the cause of his being there and where by Lindesia's power and care I found that Body of Horse ready for service with which I march'd after Zenaxtus but could not overtake his Army till you had so weaken'd and harrast it that I came rather to act an Execution than a Fight and instead of helping Artavasdes to a Victory I have rob'd him of one This flattery was so palpable that I did not esteem it fit by a Reply to evince it one but beg'd him by his permission to have the honour to be known to his generous Preserver He merits it said my Father for I have seen him this day do more against Zenaxtus than when he gave Anexander his liberty we went thereupon towards those new and victorious Troops to find him but alas we found him too soon for before we had gone half the way Anexander perceiv'd him pale and cold amongst the dead oh gods what did not my poor father at the fight of that fatal object But let us pass over those grateful extravagancies though they abundantly manifested how precious to him the life was whose death was so passionately deplored The next morning after our Victory by a general Muster we learn'd what it cost us which was 10000 men lost and as many unserviceable for the present with this Army we return'd to Artaxata whose littleness made some believe we had mist of success and others that we had dearly bought and deserv'd it Artabazus when my father kist his hand protested he had brought him two things he most ambitiously desir'd Victory and Anexander that he was as much oblig'd to him for the latter as the former and if he were capable of any grief whil'st he lookt upon him it proceeded from a reflection of what his Credulity had so much hazarded and for his having neglected an advice where the punishment of it could not have been greater than the fault My reception was much resembling my fathers so were my acknowledgments which finisht I presented the King my Commission which Anexander's Liberty made my Justice and my Duty to restore But said Artavasdes why do I amuse my self to give you my story by retail 'T is enough you know I kept my Commission because my King would not receive nor my father accept it and by that retension I found the duty of it and my promise oblig'd me to join with Phanasder whose courage all this while had kept the Romans from possessing what they daily saw
the strange innundations which happened then facilitated our overtaking you but your march to Rome so Alarm'd it that the Senate invited Annexander to remove into the Capitol left the City might not prove a secure Sanctuary but that generous Prince declin'd it to convince them he understood their compliment as 't was meant which rather to manifest their care than their apprehension At length that fatal day came wherein I lift up my prophane Arm against the perfectest of Men and in which I had receiv'd the reward of an ignorance I could not excuse since I could not attribute without injustice the miracles Spartacus did to any other Sword than that of Artabanes had not he thought the greatest punishment was to shew me my offence Artabanes could not hear those civilities without interrupting them which he did to tell Artavasdes you might more justly say generous Friend that for ignoring by your prodigious valour who was the master of it and for preserving my self so long after having out-liv'd my defeat you punisht both those Crimes by sparing a life which if then taken away had been exempted from torments that can never cease but with it I believe said Artavasdes it will be a less trouble to you to hear the continuation of my Adventures than to find out matter to commend me and in that Faith I will prosecute them But because the virtuous Callimachus had heard all till our arrival at Rome I will from thence continue my relation As soon as Crassus was return'd to the Senate who deny'd him the honor of the Triumph not but that his success merited it but because as they said the persons did not against whom 't was won and that he himself had refus'd the Ovatio-Triumph which he esteem'd as much too-low in one extream as his Lords esteem'd the other too-high in a contrary one He was immediately dispatch'd with his Army towards Parthia taking Greece and the lesser Asia in his way and though Annexander by servent Commands enjoyn'd my return with the Roman General and to leave his death or recovery to the gods yet my duty submitted to my passion and that which made me confident that the latter would not be suspended by the former for above a Moon was the Physitians confident assuring me within that time Annexander would be past hope or past danger I know too that Crassus marching with a vast Army I might give him so much advance and yet overtake him before he could begin the War besides I esteem'd it my duty to endeavour the Prince Tygranes's deliverance who was daily expected at Rome but my highest motive of continuing longer there was to enjoy the blessing of Artabanes's conversation whose company made me so much a friend to my self and none to gratitude as to rejoyce at his wounds and pray against their speedy cure and since I have begun to tell you my crimes I will not conceal any of them for I was too in some manner satisfy'd that by your Kings cruelties you were out of a capacity of commanding the War and of preserving him in a power to continue it which though from thence I promis'd my self success yet my joy had not so poor a cause but deriv'd its being from a certainty that thereby I should not imploy my life against the preserver of it all these motives the gods rais'd for my ruine which happen'd by my continuance in Rome where I receiv'd a loss which neither the Empire of it nor all those of the world can repair As soon as Crassus had past the Adriatick Sea the same Fleet which transported his Army out of Italy brought Pompey's into it he was receiv'd all the way in Tryumph but especially at Rome where not withstanding the generous Ventidius and my Prayers the unfortunate Tygranes compos'd a part of it This miserable Prince who had in short time resented the two greatest extreams was no more able to endure the latter than he had been to keep the former and though he were not blest with resolution enough to oppose the vice yet he was to avoid the shame of it which he evinc'd by the sad demonstration of becoming his own executioner The gods shall be my record that I shed Tears of grief for the death of him that would have shed some of a contrary nature for mine though too by his fall I was then in a certainty of possessing Armenia which by a legitimate succession was to descend to the fair Altezeera for though Artabazus had a Son call'd Artaxias and that he was born after his Master was Crown'd Queen yet being be gotten unlawfully which blemish the King esteem'd the Marriage would deface all the Armenian Nobility consider'd him rather as their Princes shame than his successor especially too when to be unjust to Altezeera was to be so unto themselves since to have declin'd her rule was to have declin'd the rule of Virtue But though Tygranes dy'd not like a Prince yet he was interr'd like one and no sooner were the solemnities finish'd of that Funeral than I fell into so violent a sickness that Ventidius who never was from my Bed-side believ'd my own would be the next to be celebrated neither for above half a Moon could he find any cause to retract that opinion but asson as my amendment began to dissipate his fears I assum'd them for him and indeed to the best of my memory I never observ'd so strange an alteration in so short a time For that quickness in his look which was admir'd where ever it was seen now was as much for the change his Eyes were dull and languishing his humour was resembling them his discourses were as void of reason as formerly they had been replenish'd with it in a word I cannot describe the condition he then was in than to the contrary in which I first had the honor to know him I suspected a while his care and continual watching had created the alteration and in that faith I apprehended the clearing of my doubts but lest I might by ignoring the occasion of his disorder not offer him my assistance to suppress it I cast out some oblique words which might acquaint him with my desires but he was so far from esteming them a Rise to disclose his pain that he continu'd in a perfect silence from all things but sighs This proceeding induc'd me to believe his sufferings were for me because he appear'd so unwilling to discover them to me I therefore told him I was apprehensive his care of had created mine for him Yes Artavasdes he reply'd with a languishing accent my care of you makes me take none of my self nor deserve it and then with Eyes big with Tears he left me but my admiration at it did not for three days during which time he never gave me the favour of a visit So strange a proceeding had cast me into a relapse but that I esteem'd my health necessary to find Ventidius out and learn what the avoiding
see under my Ensignes Forces that will give her by their Virtue those Kingdoms hers do merit and which my birth deny'd me for I will not presume to declare my self her Servant till I can wear Crowns of Laurel and present her with those of Empire Yes generous Artavasdes I now repent my self I declin'd that Army afterwards conferr'd on Crassus but now I have the ambition to Command I shall not long be without one I will make Glory my Advocate as well as you and 't is fit I should be miserable did I expect any other way to felicity To contract my narration after I had assur'd Ventidius I would so fill Udozia's Breast with the Character of his Virtue that she should be as much taken with his Fame as he was with her Picture and that he did injure her to talk of Kingdoms after she was Ventidius's he retir'd himself in such raptures of joy that in few days he return'd to his former health But alas I was no sooner to mine than the gods cast me into a relapse whose cause was worse than the disease 'T was the death of Annexander to which misfortune I paid so many Tears that I thought though falsly their storc had been exhausted never did any death more convince me there was another Life than his for had not he been satisfy'd of that truth he could not have yielded himself up to eternal Ashes with so absolute a resignation Great Gods continu'd Artavasdes why did you not then acquaint me how miserable I was that I might have left the World when Annexander did and have had so sure a way to eternal Felicity as the following of him and that in the effects of my Duty I might have found those of your Mercy But alas you had destin d me to be as unparallel'd in suffering as in Love and thereby I hope instructed me there is a reward in another world since my constancy is deny'd one in this These passionate words both Artabanes and Callimachus sympathiz'd in which made Artavasdes the sooner finish them which he did by thus resuming his discourse after he had begg'd their pardon for having interrupted Before Annexander's Funeral by passionate perswasions of one of his most confident Servants I caus'd his Body to be open'd wherein alas I too visibly found he was sent to the gods by the wickedness of Men which being not discover'd during his life made me not wonder that the Senate had once expell'd the Physitians out of Rome for in this experiment I found 't was their ignorance and not their profession which was banisht but this sad misfortune and discovery with my impossibility of disclosing the poysoner cast me into a violent Feaver wherein though those we adore were not so merciful as to end my Miseries and my Life yet they were so just as to discover who wickedly would have been so charitable for I had retain'd all my Fathers Domesticks and being prescrib'd after my Physick the drinking of some Broth as it stood warming by the fire one of those little Dogs which are so common and so much cherisht in Rome came and lapp'd it all up but no sooner had he been my Taster than he began to reel then to swell and at last fell dead by the Bed-side This happen'd whilst Ventidius was present who remembring how Annexander dy'd enquir'd of Philanax who had made the Broth and having learnt it was one of my Fathers Cooks he immediately went down seiz'd upon him and presented his naked Ponyard to his Brest in the apprehension of death he discover'd that which made him desire and think it a happiness but as he was ready to expire observing Ventidius and Philanax were spectators of his execution he begg'd and obtain'd leave to speak with them privately where he told them that to dis-burthen his Conscience of a load which might sink it into eternal darkness he acknowledge'd that 't was he by a lingring poyson had murther'd Annexander and that he had been hir'd to that sin by Crassolis This intelligence after Justice had past on the Criminal the only knowers of it told me I kept it private lest the Traytor by the knowledge of the discovery might avoid the punishment of it But though I had in one Moon cast off my sickness yet I did not recover my health and was told should not till I chang'd the Air. Ventidius immediately offer'd me a magnificent Palace of his which stood by the Sea side within the Gulph of Tarentum whither I went after having took leave of the generous Artabanes who I could not perswade to remove thither till his wounds were perfectly cur'd and unto whom I promis'd to return that I might enjoy the felicity of his company as far as Armenia but I never had the blessing to see him since till by his Presence I not only receiv'd my Life but the relish of it too Some ten days after my arrival at Ventidius's by that excellent Air I recover'd strength enough to walk abroad and as we were diverting our selves by the Sea-side we saw a Gally cast Anchor in the Road and mann out a Boat to land her Passengers where to my admiration I found one of them was the gallant Falintus who at first seeing me put on a joyful Look which his Face was so little accustom'd to that I observ'd it was soon expell'd as an intruder But oh gods why do I protract the disclosing my miseries since I complain their having given me no more is a misfortune because formerly they have given me so many Yes Artabanes 't was Falintus told me that Artabazus had displac'd Phanasder as soon as I was gone that by discontenting so gallant a Man he had lost the Hearts of all those which bore that Title That he had lost a great Battel to Arsaces and Pacorus his Army being led by one of Crassolis's creatures who the common Soliers had sacrific'd to their Fury to rob the Parthians of the Glory of an entire victory by acting of a part of it themselves That Artabazus Lindesia and Altezeera had been shut up in Thospia and oh gods that I live to tell it that the last Here the miserable Artavasdes had not fortitude enough to resist the remembrance of his loss but abandon'd himself to effeminacies which made both Artabanes and Callimachus more pity than condemn them The generous Armenian was above half an hour e'r he could dry up his Tears or silence his sighs but as soon as he had gotten the victory of those Passions which had so lately gotten it of him he made use of it to continue his Story which he thus did with the sorrow and attention of the Hearers PARTHENISSA THE THIRD PART BOOK II. IEndeavour'd to tell you said Artavasdes in Epitomy the effects of Falintus's intelligence because I thought the remembrance of those miseries would have deny'd me the possibility of their full relation but now I find that those gods which gave me the fortitude to bear my affictions
than the prisoner could Master of he commanded him to conduct him to his dying Rival whither they were no sooner come than the wounded Gentleman haftily ask'd for the satisfaction of his hopes but Pacorus permitted not his Guide to reply and enjoyn'd all which were present to retire and then presenting himself with much civility to the Picture begg'd him to tell him if he knew whose it was oh gods said the young Crassolis 't is mine and were but my Health as good as my Title who ever you are you should lose it or I would my life Truly said Pacorus I place as high a value on this excellent Copy as you are capable to do and would not be depriv'd of it at a lower price but that you may know I esteem and do not hate my Rivals for then I should all Men I will inform you my name is Pacorus and that I have both Force and Authority to punish your threatenings did not I excuse them upon the same account which I hope you will my detention of both our Conquerors Ah Sir said the prisoner if you deprive me of my Picture and not of my Life you are as cruel in the latter as in the former and will be as severe in your Mercy as in your Injustice for you must permit me so to call your making that Excellence your Prisoner Alas 't is I said Pacorus that am hers If you were reply'd the other you would not be her Besieger Oh gods said the Prince somewhat surpriz'd is she then within Tygranocerta and have they made me so miserable a creature as to endeavour to destroy what I should and do adore No continu'd Pacorus lifting up his Eyes and Hands I invoke the higher powers to manifest theirs in my confusion if the fair object of my flame be within those Walls if ever I shed any bloud near them but for their defence Great gods the Prisoner cry'd out could I believe this Profession how happy were my ruine and how full of satisfaction my death if it might contribute to the preservation of a Beauty whose perfections and cruelty cannot transcend my Passion Yes said the Prince falling upon his knees I do here repeat my former protestation and implore the gods to fill this Excellency as full of Ice as she has me with Fire and to make me hated as much as I do love if I do not consider my Father as an Enemy if he continues hers and leave him no way to act his revenge but through his Son I believe you Sir I believe you said the wounded Gentleman kissing Pacorus's Hands for joy since to doubt so strange a change were to doubt her power that causes it who has evinc'd upon me in particular that it is as much above being limited as resisted for she has inspir'd me with a Passion without hope the greatest miracle but that which created it I know said the impatient Pacorus interrupting him what her Beauty is more by the effects than I can by the description I will tell you the other reply'd that the goddess of it is the Princess Altezeera and though I look upon her as my future Queen yet I find she has a greater Soveraignty over me by her Eyes than her Birth and I resent more despair from the greatness of her perfections than from that of her quality This confession nothing but a certainty of death could have disclos'd and if I should have been so miserable as to be mistaken in my conjecture I am certain I shall not be in my resolution which will prove constant enough to punish the discovery of a secret which neither the tortures of a fruitless Love nor Flames as great as my presumption has or could extort from me Yes Sir I will tell you my short and unfortunate Story I saw the Princess Altezeera and consequently ador'd her but with a Silence as great as my Passion the heighth of my aspiring was to languish and consume in that devotion and because I suspected my Eyes might discover my Heart or my Actions what I knew my words should not having some skill in Limning by a thousand stolen opportunities and by an Idea which was always present I drew this Picture whose Eyes being disarm'd of their light by these faint Colours omitted me to contemplate without dazling what I could not in the Divine Original This is my highest crime and so much I adore what I love that I shall esteem her the highest Mercy if she pardons it But Sir if ever the gods so bless your Flame as to make the Princess Altezeera the reward of it and that your discourses lead you to remember the occasion which made you first a Lover do not mention my unfortunate fire with that scorn the ambition of it merits but with some resentment of that voluntary death I have embrac'd out of a sence of my presumption Let the remembrance too of that safety it will give her and of that blessing it will for you be instrumental in extinguish a Fault for which I extinguish my Life and though I am your Rival yet the way in which I am so being a sufficient punishment for having been so The poor Gentleman was able to proceed no further for either the enlarging his wounds upon the loss of Altezeera's Picture the despair of repossessing it the apprehension of out-living the discovery of his Passion or the joy of his Death being like to prove the preservation of his Princesses Life cast him into a swound from which all Pacorus's help nor the Chirurgeons could recall him any longer than to beg the Prince not to fight against his Conqueror which he had no sooner said than an eternal silence clos'd up his Lips Pacorus was so generous as to celebrate his death with some Tears and Sighs excusing his crime by the knowledge of what created it which by experiment he found was of a quality that to avoid was far more difficult than to imitate but the last summons of his dead Rival made him immediately go into his Fathers Camp where finding him busy about his approaches and all the assistants withdrawing themselves out of respect he told Arsaces after some other common discourses Would it had pleas'd the gods Sir to have given you an employment more suitable to your inclination and quality than this you are now upon for you only labour for that which is already effected and cannot be more successful than you are without rendring your self less worthy of it Your Sword Sir has made Artabazus confess he is vanquish'd let not therefore his ruine do it If he makes any resistance 't is you give him that power and by giving him despair you give him resolution you have conquer'd him already by force do it again by humanity make a King your friend by declining making him your Vassal to conquer your self is a greater victory than to conquer one you have already conquer'd and the Romans hereby will apprehend a power that has vanquish'd
can therefore hardly condemn a fault which justifies so glorious a Truth but if the fair Altezeera does that Arm which has oppos'd her Enemies shall execute one of them and forget the interests of his Master to satisfy those of his Conqueror I render Madam my intentions as visible as my Flame that you may either permit the latter or punish the former were you a Beauty which needed time to evince the reality of my Passion or which perseverance and services might give me a Title to I should use that dull method but since your perfections do not only manifest the former but suppress all hopes of the latter I have the first minute of adoring you as great a Title to my Felicity as I can have the last so that the object of my Flame being different from all others the ways of my addresses must be so too and the refusing me that blessing now is to assure me you will eternally do it since there can never be any thing in me to induce it therefore Madam resolutely pronounce my sentence for next living in your Favour the greatest felicity is dying by your Commands which latter I protest by the Princess Altezeera I will perform but yet Madam do not think I will to pay you one duty decline another and deprive you of my service whilst it is so blest as to be useful to you No before he which adores you shall fall your sacrifice he will make many others do so which fight against you and will never neglect his own quiet till he has establish'd you in yours for your suppressing my hopes shall not my duty and to serve you for any reward but the Honor of serving you were to deserve none Altezeera was extreamly perplex'd at this vow and judging of his resolution by the violence in which he utter'd it she reply'd Your wilfulness Sir reduces me to strange extremities either to suffer your crime or to suffer by it but believe me if I should elect the first I must unavoidably the last Ah Madam Pacorus cry'd out had the gods any way but this to make me miserable whilst you permitted me to adore you No fair Altezeera I will dye sooner than live at this rate and did not my duty enjoyn me this election my gratitude would I will Madam no more hope to raise my felicity since it must be by your sufferings I will languish out this sad Life till it may be no longer useful to you and when it cannot serve it shall not trouble you Pacorus spoke those words so distinctly that Artabazus ran to his Bed-side to learn their cause but the Prince had too-fetl'd thoughts of Death to disclose any thing which might prevent it and Altezeera was too much offended and troubl'd to discover the occasion of either but though the King could not learn the reason of this disorder yet he imagin'd it and in that Faith drew the Princess aside where whilst he was infusing Gratitude if not Love into her some of Pacorus's Domesticks came in who having understood their Prince's condition had abandon'd the Camp to come and pay him their Duties 'T was by them he was inform'd at the Parthians return to Arsaces's Camp and at their telling him the cause of their not taking Tygranocerta that Orodes had assum'd the highest fury that ever Man was capable of that he had call'd him Rebel Traytor and all those injuries which a violent rage is aptest to dictate that he had protested he was more troubled for his Sons crime than for that victory it hinder'd that he hated him as much as he had lov'd him that he would have sacrific'd all those which would have obey'd Pacorus had not they vow'd to sacrifice themselves or redeem him from his voluntary restraint and that the next night they intended to repeat the Assault This news more perplex'd Artabazus than either Altezeera or Pacorus who knowing his Father was unresistable in his fury immediately told Artabazus I know Sir Arsaces will make use of Force and therefore I will he has an Army to assault you and I shall not want one to defend you neither can that Army which has reduc'd you to this condition better repair that sin than to free you from it 't is therefore with your permission I will send Labienus to my Camp that if Orodes does attempt his threatnings I may have wherewithal to make them still bear but that name My Army Sir cannot be more gloriously employ'd than to preserve a pefection as high as the sin that would destroy it and from hindring their King from being unjust and barbarous for the Faith of those I shall draw into Tygranocerta I will mine and that they shall continue within these Walls but to obey you and to defend them I cannot tell you what operation this gallantry had with Artabazus who only exprest it by a thousand embraces but the Princess Altezeera was so mov'd with it that before she left the Chamber she told Pacorus If you do not believe your Life is considerable to me you do me as great an injury as an obligation if you preserve it Madam said the Prince taking the confidence to kiss her hand on which he Printed his burning Lips I will preserve my Life till I know my death will be a greater duty Whilst Labienus was preparing things in his Princes Camp which lay on the West side of the River Nicephorus Arsaces was the next night preparing to assault Tygranocerta yet with intention that so much of it should be spent as the light of day might see his Vicotry He chose to begin the Assault during the obscurity to avoid the Enemies Darts and Arrows before they came to the breach and left the sight of Pacorus might produce a resembling effect to the precedent At the hour assign'd the Arsacian Parthians began the storm and no sooner did the Allarm reach Labienus than he entred Tygranocerta with 10000 of the same Nation but of a different Party The Affailants admir'd to find the breach so well defended and the Defendants that they durst assault it but the day no sooner appear'd than the Stormers wonder ceas'd by another and by their griefs the first to find that those which should have contributed to their victory oppos'd it and the last to find theirs must be won of their Countrey-men to be won of their Enemies these and many other motives too large to be deduced by a motion of Labienus's and by the hazard and crime of the attempt made the Arsacians condescend to return from the Assault of Tygranocerta so the Pacorians would from the defence of it which compact being concluded was immediately perform'd for Pacorus to suppress whatever jealousies Artabazus might have commanded Labienus to retire to his Camp and not move from thence but upon a resembling cause to that which had drawn him from it and truly that generous Prince seem'd to be griev'd at nothing in his Soldiers success but his having had
kill himself in it and that he was confident if they would retire either to restore his Father to his former affection in few days or himself to his Duty they began by little and little to draw off which when they were entirely Pacorus told Phanasder and me that he never had a higher Duty than that which he paid Altezeera and that he only mention'd that word to reduce the Parthians to theirs and to protract the time till he could draw in Labienus and some Forces Whilst we were in the admiration of this generous Prince and upon our return the Centinels upon the highest Towers gave us a fresh Allarm which we found was no false one for we immediately perceiv'd the Parthian Ensignes flying towards us and the foremost of them carry'd by one who Pacorus at last knew to be Arsaces who seeing his Soldiers retreat and learning the occasion of it in that fury both inspir'd he ran to the Ensign of the first Milliary and having forc'd it from him he cryed out to the rest I told you degenerate Parthians 't was your fear you disguis'd under a false Name for now that you fought for Glory and against your Enemies you resign your first to the last in which number I include the false Pacorus who is a Traitor to his King and to his Father and whose sight should rather inspire you with revenge that respect you fight not against your Prince but his crimes which being great enough to make me divest my self of all the dictates of Nature may well invite you to cast off those of respect neither can you avoid punishing his sin but by committing a greater remember from your Prince he is become your Enemy and that in taking Tygranocerta you subdue a Kingdom and a Rebel who is much more considerable neither will I command you to act what I will decline do but follow your King destroy you the Armenians and I will Pacorâ—s Let us go then valiant Parthians by your performances merit that Title which the more to induce you to I vow by the gods I will find in this assault my satisfaction or my death Finishing these words he marcht at the head of his Troops and through a storm of Arrows which were shot before Pacorus knew his Father he came to the foot of the breach somefollow'd him out of Duty some out of Fear but the most as I have been since told to oppose and divert him if affairs were reduc'd to exreams but the generous Pacorus no sooner knew Orodes than he commanded the Armenians to forbear all hostility for a little and that good conclusion of this difference or his death should render his Orders useless or dispence with their infringement of them this being obey'd he raises himself up and leaning on his Sword he cry'd out Arsaces cruel Arsaces here is that Son which thou prosecutest more than Armenia retire thy Forces out of the latter and I will deliver thee up the former and if thy fury has not so entirely divested thee of Nature as to become the executionr of thy Son he will in recompence become his own and thereby evince himself thine since nothing but so near an alliance could induce him by death to exempt thee from what if acted will make thee deserve it There is Divinity Arsaces within these Walls and if thou esteem'st my saying so no Truth thou wilt change thy opinion if thou reflectest on what her defence has made me undertake and what reverence thy Soldiers have paid her Defender or if both these will not invite thee to that belief the seeing of her will but if nothing can move thee to reason or pitty I attest that perfection I adore and which thou committest a sin if thou dost not that the first step thou mak'st towards her destruction I will act mine and perhaps when thy choller has resign'd what it has usurp'd over thy reason thou wilt find some in deploring a Son who thou didst once honor with thy affection and who has lost it in a performance which hereafter but when 't is too late thou wilt confess has given him a better Title to it Whilst Pacorus was thus speaking all the Parthians as their King did make a stand and in imitation of the Armenians had desisted from shooting with Looks in which a small Phisiognomist might have read their Hopes of not doing it again and in a silent eloquence seem'd to implore that Command from Arsaces whose answer they expected and heard with impatience for it was thus Traitor and degenerate Pacorus who to aggravate thy crimes canst mention the name of Son and yet be in Arms and Rebellion against me know that the same moment thou hast cast off the duty of a Son I have divested my self of the relation of a Father and consequently that death thou threatnest me with loses that operation with me which thou act it I shall in part excuse the sins of thy Life and consider it rather as an effect of the greatness of their horror than of thy affection Neither can I commit any higher crime than to pardon thine for thou hast robb'd me in one action of a Son of Glory and of Quiet which two last I must and will restore by the destruction of the first for that Divinity thou mention'st I am confident she is none were it only for inviting thee to sin but if she be one let her shew it in her defence for I am determin'd on so vigorous an Assault that nothing but a Divinity can render it unsuccessful Then turning to the Parthians with a furious look he commanded them to follow him and began in a hasty march to ascend the breach but he was stopt by Pacorus who cry'd out Stay Arsaces stay since thou art so greedy of my death behold I will act it and it the taking out of the World him that robb'd thee of a Son of Glory and of Quiet and if he that restores thee to the latter two can merit any favour from thee I conjure thee by those obligations which I will immediately confer on thee content thy self with the submission and seek not the ruine of Artabazus or if thy rage has stopt all ways to mercy for him yet a least let his excellent Sister be respected as near as you can extend your duties to her merit I conjure thee once again by the name of Father by the name of King by this bloud I shed for thy satisfaction and by my last breath grant me this request Then with a Look which entirely relish'd of Death turning the Pommel of his Sword to the ground and the Point to his Breast he said farewell eternally fair Princess I am capable of no more but to live your Adorer and to dye your Martyr and then cast himself so suddainly on the fatal Steel that though some endeavour'd to prevent it yet they could not so absolutely but that he made a large wound in his left side and fell on the ground
sweltering in a Sea of Bloud which the Parthians no sooner observ'd at the foot of the breach than in that rage the loss of their Prince inspir'd they were going to increase it by that of their King who was so struck with Pacorus's last words and actions that it dispell'd all his fury which had no sooner resign'd its place to Grief Reason and Nature than in those dictates they inspir'd without considering the mutiny of his own Soldiers or the danger of the Armenian he clamber'd up the breach and cast himself on the pale and bloudy Body of his generous Son and by Tears and a million of as pregnant testimonies of his conversion acquainted Pacorus with it so timely too that the least delay had render'd his change as fruitless as `twas real for Pacorus finding after the amazement of his Fall that he was prevented of his intent drew out a conceal'd Ponyard which he was going to sheath in his Heart had not Orodes by molifying his own preserv'd his Sons Great gods continu'd Falintus could I tell you these changes which then happen'd which were as great as suddain I might fill you with that wonder which did all that were present and truly when you consider this mutation the more you do it the stranger you will find it the Father and the Son came to take Tygranocerta the first instead of winning the Town looses both it and his Son and the last both his Father and his liberty and yet commands where he has lost it Artabazus and Altezeera find their Protector in their Enemy Arsaces loses his Army because he will lose his Son ye at last finds his satisfaction in their disobedience Pacorus does the like and learns this truth from thence that Affection is a stronger tye upon Soldiers than Duty and the unhappiness that all the Parthians lov'd another better than their King he finds Death the way to Life and Danger to Safety Th' Armenians who did fear to see Orides within their Walls see it now without any and that breach they intended he should never enter but by their deaths they see him do it with satisfaction Arsaces who had the Armenians at his mercy finds himself at theirs and finds himself so without any apprehension but for the death of him whose life was so lately his greatest The breach which was the Scene of the general dispute is now of the reconciliation and if the Armenians and Parthians had any desires they were mutual for Pacorus's recovery and against Arsaces's relapse So strange an alteration drew Artabazus and Altezeera thither whose presence contributed more to the generous Patients recovery than the Chirurgions Aâ—t by which nevertheless they assur'd the impatient Kings if no new acceâ—s happen'd they would restore him to that health he had so meritoriously lost There 't was that Arsaces saw Altezeera and by that sight what Nature had pardon'd in his Son then reason did 'T was thought awhile by Orodes's silence and first contemplation that the influence of the Princesses Eyes would have run in a Bloud but it seems he was but so far in the way of Love as Admiration which he soon left by the reflection on a Beauty in Parthia who had so large an ascendant over him and so just a one too that his inconstancy could not be more a fault than a punishment These words made the poor Artabanes by a deep sigh acknowledge a truth which he determin'd eternally to deplore but his generous friend to make his attention divert his melancholly thus continu'd his Relation But the calm in Tygranocerta could hardly transcend the storm in Pacorus's Camp which Phraates affaulted with much resolution and found as much in his opposition but if in that day he gave proofs of a large courage he did of as large a cruelty shewing all those which submitted to his mercy that he had none The faithful Labienus endeavouring to force a passage to the relief of his Prince almost found his ruine in his Duty for being pierc'd with two Darts he was at length taken prisoner and the cruel Phraates to punish the fidelity of his Life had given Orders to deprive him of it which was happily prevented by an Express from Arsaces who sent to end those differences in the Camp which he had put a period to in the Town that being but a consequence of this The bloudy Phraates receiv'd the command of his being so no longer and the cause of it with amazement repenting he had shed so much Bloud only because he could shed no more for he esteem'd the difference between his Father and his Brother irreconcileable and by his actions evinc'd that was his Faith which when he found 't was an erroneous one he began by a thousand formal contritions to manifest a Repentance which he neither had nor was capable of and which he counterfeited so that he discover'd he did so But continu'd Falintus the apprehensions I had that Arsaces was guilty of a resembling Crime made me propound to Arbazus the detaining of him now we had the power which I said the gods gave us to raise in us the Will This proposal I fortify'd by never having engag'd our Faiths for the contrary that his change was rather from Passion than Virtue That not being the latter it would soon expire that by having him in our hands we had our safeties too and so good a tye upon the Parthians that we might derive it from our selves and not from their Mercy And that we had wherewithal upon their retiring to gratify the Son by restoring the Father I had too said Falintus to my self as strong a reason as all these together which yet I durst not mention I mean the apprehension that if Orodes were at liberty the Princess Altezeera would be the condition of the peace which being inform'd my King was intent upon though that should the rather have induc'd me to motion it yet it did to silence it since it might have render'd me suspected and that my former allegations were for you not him But Artabazus absolutely declin'd this overture either through Fear or Virtue but indeed all his Arguments for his so doing relish'd of the latter But continu'd Falintus why do I dwell so long upon this subject as if it were to one who were little enough concern'd in it to be delighted with it 'T is too much that you know after Arsaces and Pacorus had had some private discourse accompany'd with passionate gestures and that the Father had kist and embrac'd the Son he took leave of Artabazus and Altezeera in words which resented of nothing but Friendship and Peace and begg'd the last to give him good account of a Son which he entirely left to her dispose and from whom only they both expected his recovery After these civilities were finish'd he descended the same way he came up and was receiv'd with more shouts from his Army which attended him at the foot of the breach for leaving
Paper I durst almost bind my self to submit unto it Then presenting her Arsaces's Letter which was the cause of his visit she had no sooner read it than she coldly said 'T was not with those Arms she was to be vanquish'd it But Artabazus who knew there was a storm in that calm conjur'd her with fresh and powerful motives to make her self a Conqueror by yielding yet all was in vain for though in Tears he implor'd a more merciful answer yet the only he could extort from her was that if ever she were Pacorus's if should be as a Guift and not a Sacrifice The poor Artabazus almost frantick at this ill success went to visit Pacorus who all this while had labour'd under a belief that his Princess was in some extremity and that her being in no danger was rather his information than her condition these being his constant fancies 't was no wonder they were as much his dreams from one of which he was newly waken'd when the King came to see him whose disorder'd look and moist Eyes so abundantly confirm'd his fears that to remove or resolve them upon Artabazus's going away which he did without acquainting him with his Fathers desire and threatening either as thinking it impertinent if he were accessary to it and cruel if he were not Pacorus immediately caus'd himself to be drest and in spight of his Wounds or Servants train'd himself along to Alterzeera's Apartment where having begg'd and obtain'd a permission to visit her he prostrated himself on his knees by her Bed-side and after a short silence which his joy and pain made him keep he brake it to tell her I could not Madam so much as hope a pardon for this presumption did I not tell you the cause of it which proceeds from so high and just a concern in your health that I have endanger'd mine to come and learn the state of yours in which too I shall find for the future what to expect from the gods for if they grant not the fervent'st Prayers I am capable of I must expect they will never condescend to my others and so lay aside Devotion as a needless or at least a fruitless thing Altezeera who consider'd Pacorus as accessary to Arsaces's Crime told him coldly he could best give an accompt whether she were in any danger since her greatest proceeded from his Father and him Oh gods continu'd Falintus how these words struck the poor Pacorus you only can tell but I can that his disorder was such as she took it for his guilt and that astonishment which should have evinc'd his being innocent made her think he was not but after his confusion gave him leave to speak he cry'd out can I then be so near guilty of so horrid a sin as to be thought so by my Princess and is she so much my Enemy that she will wrong her perfections rather than not wrong Pacorus ah Madam if you desire my death for my presumption you might have taken some milder course than to send me out of the world as much hated by my self as you Great gods he continu'd lifting up his Eyes and his Hands why have you given this Excellence so many charms to inspire Love and so little Faith to believe it Yet Madam perhaps I have done already what might create your belief of mine by a more pregnant perswasion that Faith but alas Pacorus why dost thou so wrong thy actions as to believe thy words can create in her a knowledge of that truth when they could not shew her by thy death what thou wert during thy life for she would not use thee at this rate were it not for that end yes Madam he continu'd addressing his speech again to Altezeera I will now satisfy your suspitions or your desires then drawing out a Ponyard which he constantly wore he was about to increase the crime of that design by acting it when the Princess cry'd out hold Pacorus I command you hold if I have any desires they will be satisfy'd in your obedience not in your death and if I have any doubts you may be satisfy'd in this Paper if they were not legitimate Then she gave him the Letter Arsaces had sent Artabazus which he had left with her and which Pacorus had no sooner perus'd than fetching two or three profound sighs he told her Yes Madam I am criminal but I am only so in being the Son of such a Father who before a few hours are effluxt shall send you assurances of another quality or you shall be convinc'd I am a sufferer and not a sharer in his Guilt Thereupon rising up he took his leave with a countenance so well appropriated to his words that those could not more discover his innocency than the other did As soon as Pacorus was return'd to his Apartment the violence of his motion but much more that of his grief cast him into a new Feaver and set his wounds fresh ableeding with which he writ Arsaces a Letter so moving and so passionate that it obtain'd from him one which gave him as much satisfaction as that he had sent to Artaâ—azus did the contrary and another to the Princess Altezeera wherein he protested 't was to accellerate his Sons felicities that he was so rude as to make use of threatenings which though it were a strange crime yet it might serve to evince how infinitely he was concern'd in the honor of her alliance since only as a believ'd way unto that end he made no scruples to act it which he repented of and begg'd a pardon for and to put himself out of a capacity to repeat that guilt he would withdraw his Army if she commanded it into Parthia and till he knew with what Orders she would honor him he would in expectation of them retire a hundred Furlongs from Tygranocerta This Letter said Falintus contain'd many things of a resembling quality which my memory is not faithful enough to retain and which coming to Pacorus when Artabazus was with him he made him the Ambassador to carry it to his fair Sister who receiv'd that testimony of his innocency and power so well that in the dictates those resentments did inspire and in that lively representation Artabazus made her of Pacorus's passion and danger to obey the Kings importunity and perhaps her inclination she forc'd her weakness to write these few but powerful words Live Pacorus if you desire Altezeera should Never any remedy was more suddain nor efficacious than this and if there be any charms in words they sure inhabit in the obliging ones of Love Pacorus idolatriz'd Altezeera's and was a thousand times more satisfy'd with them than with that health they afterwards restor'd and if he had now any desires none were more violent than those of recovery to acknowledge at his Princesses Feet that he ow'd not only his but a more transcending Blessing to her goodness Altezeera too as if her sickness had proceeded entirely from her constancy no sooner
had divested her self of that but she did so of the other and either to sympathize with or please her Servant assum'd her Beauty and Health as fast as he did his But the fair Theoxcena either to satisfy her affection or her doubts went to visit the Princess and Regeliza being then gone to pay one to Artabazus who of late was so taken with her company that many thought it was with her none of Altezeera's other women had either the confidence or the command to deny her an admission When she came in Altezeera was newly fall'n into a slumber which Theoxcena consider'd as so conducing to her health that on that score she deny'd her self the honor of her conversation without any reluctancy and in expectation of it went to a window in the Chamber which afforded a diverting prospect Not above half an hour was expir'd when Regeliza return'd and being ignorant the Princess was asleep by her coming in interrupted it Altezeera knowing 't was Regeliza open'd the Curtains and no sooner saw Theoxcena who was presenting her self to her than shutting them hastily again she cry'd out oh gods Regeliza is not it Theoxcena which I see Yes Madam said the fair Theoxcena somewhat surpriz'd 't is she who has acquainted you with her rudeness that she might with her affection which could relish of no quiet till she were satisfy'd of a health for which she has so great and so just concerns Alas Madam Altezeera coldly reply'd if you have any concerns in mine I shall beg you to manifest them by denying me any more the honor of your visits which will be a way more conducing to that end than any other you can elect 'T were almost as hard to fancy as describe Theoxcena's astonishment the lowest effect it produc'd was an amazed silence which Regeliza observing drew her aside and begg'd her to impute it rather to a suddain and disorder'd wakeing or indeed to any thing sooner than a decrease of her affection in which too she would be a friend both to Altezeera and to Justice But Theoxcena who ascrib'd it to the reliques of that distaste Regeliza had inform'd her of or to her infringing the general Orders which prohibited any visits went again to the Princess Bed-side and told her since the crime Madam of waiting on you is esteem'd greater than the duty which invited me to it I shall henceforward content my self to enquire of your health at a less offensive distance and no more pay you my visits by intrusion but obedience Altezeera having only told her she would esteem it a great obligation she withdrew her self Regeliza waiting on her to her Chariot and making by the way many excuses which sufficiently manifested themselves to be what they were I ommitted to tell you that the next day after the dispute betwixt Phraates and Labienus the first of them hearing of a reconciliation as strange as 't was either unexpected or undesir'd sent to visit Pacorus to implore a forgiveness for an action which because 't was against him he consider'd as a crime though it were a duty and which he might the easilier grant since in his very offence he might read something for his justification for in manifesting he lov'd a King more than a Brother it evinc'd how good a Subject he would prove when he became one by Pacorus's right to the succession But Sir said Falintus to me after a short silence you must now prepare your self to receive an intelligence that I hope will verify the Fiction of Achilles's Launce which not only had the power to give a wound but to cure it too Yes Sir the gods gave Altezeera her health but she employ'd it to so ill an end that we esteem'd her sickness a less misfortune and if Theoxcena by her strange usage had some cause to suspect she was distracted when she kept her Chamber we had much more to believe she was so when she left it since the first action she then did solemnly to promise her self to Pacorus Yet Artabazus impos'd this restriction on the Grant that their Nuptials should not be celebrated in Armenia nor till the Parthians were retir'd lest that which she intended as a gift might look like a constraint and that the Armenians might be consol'd in the loss of such a friend by being freed from so many Enemies If Sir continu'd Falintus you esteem this a loss do but reflect on the cause of it and you can no longer think it one which opinion I have so justly assum'd that for your relief I will not conjure you to make use of your Fortitude but your Reason only Great gods I cry'd out all pale and trembling is it possible then Falintus that Altezeera can be false and that Fear not Love should create her sin Must that which creates it be as great an offence to Virtue as me unjust Heavens I continu'd could you give none the greatest will to ruine me but her that had the greatest power to do it And did you raise me to the highest hopes but to make my despair resembling Alas Falintus I must summon Death and not Reason for my cure since the latter in this occasion does with me as it does in the misteries of Divinity it may confound but cannot help Neither has the reflection on her constancy the power to do it for I find that more my misfortune than her fault and what satisfaction can it prove that she had no imperfection but what was only one to me her crime is not that she wants loveliness but Love and her new Conquest cannot more certainly evince the former than my death must unavoidably the latter If Sir reply'd Falintus 't was Altezeera and not the Crown of Armenia you ambition'd Ah Friend I cry'd out interrupting him may the gods continue me in as great torments as they have cast me into if ever I ambition'd any Crown but one of Mirtles so it were of Altezeera's putting on and having lost the hopes of that Crown if I do not contemn all others as much as she does my Passion Then Sir continu'd Falintus in my opinion your Case is not so desperate as your thoughts suggest for in that very performance in which she has taken away your hopes she has given you some since she that has been once inconstant may be thought with probability to prove so again I but Falintus I reply'd you say she is in a manner married to Pacorus 'T is true said Falintus but that mistery in Nuptials of two being one is oftner visible to Faith than Sence and was there never yet a Wife was kind to any but her Husband Great gods I cry'd out starting up and laying my hand upon my Sword that any but a Friend durst say this and that a Friend should No no Falintus the way you take will give me rather Horror than Love for I should hate her more for being so kind than so unconstant though I am an Enemy unto her I am
not so unto her Virtue which did I but believe were stain'd or so much as capable of being so I should injure her as much as she has my Passion or my Hopes But Falintus who perceiv'd how great my fury was by the pain I had to suppress it that he inspir'd me with as much rage as grief and that he had given me Poison rather than Cordial was so just and so civil as to implore my pardon beseeching me to believe that he passionately ambition'd my consolation since out of but a bare hope of giving me some little he scrupl'd not to tax Altezeera's virtue which too he had done because he esteem'd it a maxim in the cure of Love to give the Lover an ill opinion of her that made him one Yes Falintus I reply'd embracing him with some sighs I forgive you and will only enjoyn you for reparation to believe for my sake what you should for Justices which is that Altezeera has no faults but such as are only so to the unfortuate Artavasdes and that he is as perfect in all things as I am in misery I had rather said Falintus rob you of that Faith than assume it for I fear if it continue yours it may make us lose what we esteem as much as ever you did Altezeera the short remainder of whose story I will beg your permission to tell you that you may find some consolation in her fault since I believe she begins to find in it her punishment I would I reply'd listen to your relation with a higher satisfaction if my Life as well as my Felicity had been ty'd to it and were to expire withit I believe said Falintus if you hated not Altezeera you would never have mention'd so offensive a wish for I am confident your death would prove a much greater trouble to her than her inconstancy can to you Would to the gods I reply'd I were certain of that it should not be long before I acted in one performance both my revenge and my quiet but I continu'd generous Falintus let me not thus interrupt the finishing of your Relation in which perhaps I may find some reasons to make your thoughts my belief and to which I will listen with as much attention as one in so transcendent a torment is capable of I have already said Falintus prosecuting his narration acquainted you with that publique and solemn engagement which Altezeera gave Pacorus which too was in the presence of Arsaces Phraates Surena and Labienus who then was recover'd of his wounds and the Parthian King to evince he had neither any remnants of hatred or fear came into Tygranocerta only with those usual Guards which attended his person The joy of this contract was exprest in a solemn Tilting in which Surena obtain'd entirely the honor which too he purchast at so much the easier rate because Phanasder would not dispute it who had too-deep an impression of your grief to receive any of joy especially in a performance the cause whereof had divested him of all his But though neither he nor I assisted at this publick celebration yet we resolv'd Altezeera should not run into a Sin without being told of it which Phanasder and I joyntly went to her Apartment to perform where we were receiv'd with that grace which is as unseparable from her as charming is from it but as soon as ever we began to acquaint her with the occasion of our visit she imposd on us a perpetual silence and gave us no reason why we should keep it but that 't was her Command only she told Phanasder he had cause indeed to sollicite her in it To which he reply'd That perfect Friendship Madam I pay Artavasdes gives me an abundant cause to sollicite for his felicity and perhaps the care I have of you Madam is not a much inferior one I beseech the gods she reply'd smiling that both Artavasdes and I may deserve your care Phanasder begg'd her to interpret her Prayer and her smile but when he perceiv'd she absolutely declin'd to shew we came on business and not on duty we immediately retir'd cursing either the nature or humour of the Sex which to preserve a charitable opinion of we went to Theoxcena to whom we gave an account of our visit which she would not accompany us in her last having had so unfortunate a success That generous Princess seem'd to be glad that either Altezeera by her silence confest her crime was of a quality where to offer to extenuate was to increase it or that her guilt was such a torment that she avoided all entertainments which could revive it and though this were her opinion of the Princesses silence yet she hop'd it would not be yours but that you would ascribe it to an insolence as high as her Inconstancy that therein since she would not reward your Passion yet at least that she would cure it But Phanasder who could not put an interpretation upon Altezeera's Prayer that you might merit his friendship at last plac'd one upon her saying he had cause to sollicite for you as meaning his not preserving Tygranocerta reduc'd her to need it and though we represented to him she could not act so transcendent an injustice as to lay that to him as a crime in which he had purchas'd so much Glory yet we could not efface his suspitions which he fortified by saying she that couâ—d be capable of so high an injustice as abandoning you for Pacâ—rus mâ—ght justly be suspected to be capable of any other Regeliza who formerly often visited Theoxcena still continu'd that practice protesting to be as ignorant of the cause of her Princesses inconstancy as troubl'd at it she too invited her from Altezeera to continue her vâ—sits who continue her visits who confest she could not more sensibly revenge her injuries than shewing her by a daily conversation those charms of which by her misfortune she had so long depriv'd her self and which she begg'd her to impute to her sickness and not to her change Theoxcena thus civilly invited and knowing that what Altezeera alledg'd would prove her revenge would become her own satisfaction she went to visit the Princess where though she us'd her with the same civilities she had formerly practis'd yet The oxcena's judgement or suspitions deny'd her a belief that they were with the same freedom and indeed it is a common observation in most of that Sex that a division betwixt any of them though it may be clos'd again yet there will be still remaining some Cicatrice that will perpetually shew where the wound has been but Theoxcena who scrutinously observ'd all she did found that her joy was but a part she acted since she was often out of it and as she has told Phanasder and I she has divers times observ'd her ready to shed tears in her highest mirth and in the midst of a discourese to stop and start as if her ill Angel had met her neither was this her
not love Altezeera in the very necessity of his fault besides by services and engagements she could not be more mine than upon both those scores she was Pacorus's and yet I had been so unjust as to sollicit her for Artavasdes and therefore 't were to be more so to punish that in another which I practic'd in my felf that she was only mine by the first grant and his by the last which in all concessions of Love is the bindingst Title and lastly that I ow'd a life unto him which till I had repaid I was his Debtor and therefore should not be his Murtherer Whil'st my Reason and my Passion were thus making War against each other Evaxes who still apprehended the last of them would fling me into some strange Crime and that my continuance where I was might into a proportionate danger all the Guards in the Castle being Parthians he conjur'd me so passionately to retire to an Apartment he had provided for me and there establilsh my resolutions when my resentments were so qualifi'd as not to silence the dictates of my reason that at last by following rather than by promise I obey'd him who led me by a stolen passage to my Chamber not meeting any one by the way which though we had I am confident I had not been discover'd if at least I had been as unknowable to all as I was to myâ—â—lf There I told Falintus and Philanax what had happen'd and there 't was that Evaxes repeating those reasons my rage hinder'd me from hearing which too were strengthen'd by many others as powerful from Falintus I determin'd the next morning as an evincement of their operation to retire into some solitude and there spend as much time as the banishing Altezeera from my heart would take up whose influence there was not already a little eclips'd since I could form a resolution of extinguishing it This Declaration prov'd as pleasing to them as that which created it was the contrary to me but they having retir'd themselves I past the night in such confused thoughts that it had been difficult to have collected any thing from them but that they were the productions of an exorbitant diâ—â—emper The day no sooner appear'd than telling Falintus and Evaxes whither I intended to go the next night and having commanded Philanax to follow me as soon as he had learnt from them whether my being in Armenia and my last Action were discover'd how they were both relish'd and whether I might safely demand justice of Artabazus for Anexander's Murther that in the certainty of being deny'd it I might thereby act it myself immediately before the Court was up I took Horse and was accompany'd out of the Castle by Evaxes who for a long while made no scruples to trust me alone being so newly recover'd from a despair whose effects were yet somewhat visible in my face but having secur'd his jealousies by many vows and by the improbability of my so much contributing to my Enemies triumphs I finally took leave of him and had not Travel'd above an hundred Furlongs when coming into a Wood at the extremity of a great Plain I was stop'd by a violent Cry behind me which turning about to learn the cause of I saw the man that utter'd it come running towards me as fast as his Horse could carry him as soon as he came near me he drew his Sword and bade me defend my self if my Crimes had not divested me of the Courage to justifie them This Declaration though it much surpriz'd me yet I did not near so much as the knowledge that 't was Phanasder which made it but being confident he mistook me I prepar'd my self for nothing but to embrace him and offer him my Sword and Life to join in his revenge but perceiving he esteem'd himself discharg'd of all other Ceremonies by having denounc'd the Combat I cry'd out to him hold Phanasder 't is Artavasdes speaks to you 'T is he Phanasder briskly reply'd that I seek and who to his other Triumphs must add that of my Life or in the loss of his I must repair my wrongs Oh gods I answer'd if my Death could be but as great a satisfaction to Phanasder as to me he would oblige us both in acting it but since such a satisfaction cannot be perfected without as great a Crime let me understand first wherein you esteem me guilty for if I do not so entirely vindicate Artavasdes that you must acknowledge Phanasder criminal for having thought him so I will employ my Sword not to resist but execute your Revenge If thy Crimes said Phanasder were not too-too-much apparent I should not have sought this opportunity which since they are I will not spend it to shew thee thy sins but to punish them Then having again bid me defend my self or my submission should not be my Sanctuary he charg'd me with such fury that I found by experiment the high character I alwayes had of his Courage was but too dangerous a truth But his rude Reply to an offer he could not have declin'd without seeking to be my Enemy and the certainty I found that I must derive my safety not from my innocence but resistance though they made me finally draw my Sword yet I made but use of it to keep him from acting a sin I know he would in a right understanding as much deplore as now he was sollicitous to perform and indeed he prest me so incessantly and vigorously that had not an unexpected Accident ended the Combat my death or his must have done it for making a furious blow at my head and I defending it with my Sword his flew out of his hand in two pieces At this Phanasder was not more astonish'd than I was satisfi'd which I exprest by telling him Phanasder Let that Life I give you convince you that I am still your Friend No no Artavasdes he hastily reply'd it convinces me thou art the contrary for if thou were not having loaden me with such sorrows thou wouldst not deny me their cure being it is in thy power therefore I declare if thou canst be yet concern'd in having me esteem thee my Friend nothing can be more contributory to it than to make use of thy Victory which the more to induce thee to I protest by all those wrongs thou hast done me I will leave no place unsearch'd nor no means unattempted for my revenge If said I my giving you your life after your first declaration has not convinc'd you that I am your Friend I hope the doing it after this latter will sufficiently effect it for were I concern'd in your death I have not only the power but the provocation to act it But Phanasder I had rather expose my life to your fury than secure it by the destruction of what I prefer a thousand times before it which not only my friendship for you but even your hatred to me makes me profess and which I still implore to learn the subject of that if
was receiv'd with new raptures and I found how agreeable my company was to him since it could appear as a great joy in his being already possest with so high an one Udozia made no small scruples to deprive her self at once of both her concerns but when I assur'd her my Presence might in no unconsidrable degree contribute to the preservation of Ventidius whose too-high Appetite to Glory might cast him into resembling dangers and that his conversation and the diversion of War might efface the Reliques of a grief whose entire distinction was not indifferent to her she at last consented to my voyage and perhaps my departure with Ventidius the next morning did not a little contribute to the free liberty of her weepings for since in the very Tears themselves none could read their cause she shed hers the more unrestrainedly and her Brother and her Lovers joynt departure made them as equally ascribable to Affection as Passion though for my part I not only believ'd but was satisfy'd with their relishing more of the last than the first But Ventidius now assur'd his victory over the Parthians would give him a more noble one in Udozia at least one that he valu'd so flew to his Army resolving to bring his own and that Empires fate to a suddain tryal All along the way as we went to Alexandretta he entertain'd me with such passionate discourses of his Flame thaâ— I must acknowledge they set my old wounds fresh a bleeding and by his admirable expressions of a successful Love he not only made me resent more pregnantly my own misery in a contrary Fate but inflam'd me with resolves to act in this War such performances as might force Altezeera to esteem me worthy her Affection though she were uncapable to confer it on me or by a noble Death and my misfortunes and desires together The joy of the Roman Army at Ventidius's coming to it appear'd as great as it could do in a Victory and they were so satisfy'd with it that though he had brought them nothing but his person he had been as welcome as bringing with it the assurance that he had ty'd Artabazus's hands at which all the Romans seem'd to be much satisfy'd not that they wanted the vanity of believing themselves soon able to have done it but that they consider'd all things as misfortunes which retarded their revenging the death and appeasing the Manes of so many of their Citizens as fell with Crassus Ventidius extreamly pleas'd to observe his Army were in so obliging a temper began his March the next morning towards the River of Euphrates where his Intelligencers assur'd him a vast Army of the Parthians lay to justify their Frontiers The Roman General sent an Herauld to them to denounce the War which he said the Romans were not wont to steal upon but to make with their Enemies that since he was determin'd to prosecute them to the end of the World and that nothing could avoid a Battel 't would be more generous if they would exempt him from a tedious march by dividing the length of it between them This denunciation and desire being sent found a generous return from Labienus who commanded the Parthian Army and who advanced four days march into Syria to decline all disadvantages over the Romans since as he said the Parthians * thians needed no greater than they had in their Courages which because so pregnant an Argument as the loss of Crassus and 40000 of his Countreymen could not convince them of he was coming purposely to manifest by a fresh demonstration which he was confident would be so signal a one that though none of them should live to acknowledge it yet their deaths should do it for them Ventidius excus'd this high reply by the Parthians putting themselves in a condition which he was more than perswaded would soon afford him a certainty of revenging it The two Generals having agreed upon a sett day to decide the Quarrel by one of the Parthian Trumpets which past between both Armies for the making of this bloudy bargain I diligently enquir'd after my dear Artabanes who I concluded was not in the Parthian Army because another Commanded it but this Trumpeter either through obedience or ignorance continu'd me in mine but the joy that I should not fight against my generous friend could hardly transcend my grief when I knew I should have the like Fate against Pacorus yet I hoped this Battel would facilitate my desires against another opportunity At last the fatal day came and 't was then I perceiv'd in Ventidius so many Martial Charms as well in his Knowledge as in his Looks that had Udozia but then seen him she must have unavoidably compos'd a part of his that days victory The General of the Romans would have in this Battel resign'd that Title to me but I appear'd as much offended at the offer as he was generous in it and 't was then he protested he deplor'd his not being a Monarch since thereby he had been accountable to none but to the gods and Reason for his Actions and consequently would have forc'd me to have taken that days Command I will not tell you continu'd Artavasdes my return to this flattery 'T is enough you know I did decline it but yet could not the Command of the Italian Cavalry which was compos'd of the Youth and Gallantry of Rome and by which charge I found Ventidius gave me means as ample as my desires to purchase Glory He himself took his place at the head of the Legionary Soldiers and the signals were no sooner given than the Armies began the Battel with such fury that had I not known they were both compos'd of the Warlikest Nations in the World I could then no longer have been in that ignorance I will not amuze my self to give you the retail of this famous day 't is enough you know Ventidius did like Ventidius and consequently pierc'd and broke whatever oppos'd him and though he found a virtuous resistance yet it was so far from hindring his victory that it did but set if it off the better The Parthian Cavalry are generally the best that are and their numbers much exceeding ours we found we needed the Legionaries help which as soon as Ventidius had he advanc'd a precipitate pace to afford it us I include my self in the number of those that wanted it though the gods gad given the Right-wing which I commanded as entire a victory as Septimus a defeat who commanded the left So that the General of the Parthian Horse and I observing our mutual successes rally'd Troops together with what expedition we could but that Nation being more active of their Feet when they cannot use their Hands than the Romans and the execution remaining more bloudy on our side than theirs their Commander had sooner brought his Soldiers under their Colours and in greater numbers than I could possibly under mine yet Ventidius's arrival so well redrest that misfortune as I found it
Revenge acted without being the Judge or Guilty of it For one of my Instructions from the Triumvirat and Senate is neither to give nor receive Quarter so that in my necessary obedience you may derive a satisfaction which perhaps your own nice Gallantry would scruple to confer on you Judge generous Friend said Artavasdes Judge if my astonishment were great at so strange and unexpected an adventure in which I had on small debate whether it were an accident fitter for my joy or grief but after a short reflection and dispute on it I reply'd Ah Ventidius Pacorus must not dye my Honor as well as Reason will oppose it for to let a Prisoner be executed by the Sword of Justice which avoided it by that of War cannot more intrench upon both our Reputations than it must on my Felicity for though Pacorus's death will free me from an injoyning Kival yet alas the way in which 't is done will raise me as great an obstruction as it removes for with what confidence and hopes can I present my self to Altezeera having been in effect the murtherer of her Husband by so horrid a crime if she has any aversion for me it will be as abundantly as justly increast or if hereafter she should discover my Innocency which is too-bright to be eternally clouded I should hereby render heruncapable to reward it No generous Ventidius the gods have too palpably taken the protection of Pacorus to make me become his destroyer and they never yet permitted sin to be the way to Felicity besides I owe him a Life which if I now repay I shall ease my self of a burthen that next to Altezeera's Inconstancy does most load me neither is it impossible but so high a demonstration as this is of my concern in her satisfaction may create in her a proportionate one for mine and induce her to confess what she has done was her fault or at least her misfortune which acknowledgement of her offence I shall esteem the highest blessing next to her repairing it neither shall I ever hope her pardon for having made Pacorus a prisoner but by setting him at liberty and those wounds I have given him cannot more nobly be excus'd nor by so pregnant an evincement that I was ignorant to whom I gave them as that of restoring him his liberty when I knew it I shall therefore generous Ventidius conjure you by all those motives which you esteem most prevalent permit me to dispose of Pacorus before his qualâ—â—y be known to your Army lest so great a gift afterwards might prove a proportionate prejudice to the Giver That this Prisoner said Ventidius is Pacorus is not more certain than that before now all the Army know it for my Spies never being employ'd but about publick concerns I never us'd to receive their intelligences but before such of the Army with whom I use to advise how to improve and act upon them so that this being given me as the custome is and being a thing of so great encouragement to the Soldiers and Honor and advantage to you that took him I was so far fâ—om endeavouring to suppress it that I contributed on both those scores to the divulging it neither can I think but therein I heve abundantly serv'd you which I believe will be your opinion too if you act not as much againct your self as the gods do for you for I know you are too-much a Friend to Virtue and too-knowing in Altezeera's either to desire or expect a reward of your Passion and Services in the condition she now is in so that their being but two obstacles to the attaining of your felicity that of her real Marriage and that of your imaginary Guilt the greatest of them by Pacorus's death will be remov'd and who knows whether therein both of them will not be so for perhaps the danger Armenia was in did invite her to her crime and it may be the more to supress Pacorus's jealousies who could not but learn her pre-ingagement to you she broke with you on your pretended and unmention'd fault the better to palliate her own neither is it unlikely but that Pacorus by some Arts of his has setl'd this misunderstanding betwixt you and after his being possest of Altezeera lest she should learn it privately by some other way and so as a reparation recall you to her has himself disclos'd it thereby to hinder her from such a proceeding besides should Altezeera come to learn your innocency 't will be so far from being an advantage to you that it will be a torment to her and consequently to you and Pacorus according to the course of Nature being as probable to live as either Altezeera or you all you can derive from the manifestation of your Integrity is only to let her know but not render her capable to acknowledge or reward it whereas if Pacorus be sent into another World at the same instant your innocence is clear'd it will undoubtedly be recompenc'd These reasons continu'd Ventidius cannot more evidently manifest that Pacorus's death is necessary to your Felicity than I will that it cannot be so much as suspected to be your action or by your consent for his being a prisoner cannot be more generally known than that my Commission commands me to take none or if any be taken to execute them so that that which is a general order no body nor Altezeera her self can consider as a particular act for your satisfaction or interest what you have already done for Pacorus evinces also that Truth since when you had the power to kill him you not only declin'd doing so when too he had sufficiently invited you to it by leaving only strength enough to perform it but also employ'd that little remnant of life you had left to preserve his which had reduc'd you to that extremity and said Ventidius you must give me leave somewhat to mention my own safety in this particular which will run an infinite hazard by not only infringing my Commission but by letting goe so considerable a Prisoner Would to the gods I reply'd I could as easily answer all your objections as the last since then I could promise my self a Concession of my request as much from your Reason as Friendship for whatsoever is the cause of Altezeera's change I am confident Pacorus being thus remov'd will not leave her a Latitude to repair it but on the contrary 't will make me for ever uncapable of appearing what I am though you alleadge that my having once preserv'd Pacorus will evidence I am clear of his death yet I am satisfy'd it will prove the contrary for to save him when I knew not who he was and to permit his death when I knew him to be Pacorus will justly shew she was oblig'd by my ignorance and wrong'd by my knowledge and indeed will render me as guilty to her as to my self for knowing the perfect friendship Ventidius blesses me withal she cannot doubt if I had embrac'd
Pacorus's preservation with earnestness but my success would have been proportionate to my desire besides should she never know I was consenting to his death 't were enough perpetually to banish me from her that I did Ventidius was about to answer me when Septimus and a great many Officers came into my Tent to visit me and to give him an advice of such importance as necessitated him awhile to leave me alone which I no sooner was than I began to dispute with my self on my admirable and strange fate and to elect some course upon so emergent an occasion at length the gods made me pitch upon one which at Ventidius's return I resolv'd to communicate to him in the expectance whereof I sent for one of my Physitians and Chirurgions who waited on Pacorus to learn how he did they told me that as yet he had not recover'd his senses perfectly nor spoke but they durst undertake his cure if I were concern'd in it Yes I reply'd I am so infinitely and enjoyn you as you value me to have a care of him and that you will not only keep from his knowledge that 't was I which he fought against but my being in the Roman Army both which you may imagine are of no small importance to me since I commend them to you asmuch as his cure or my own This they not only promis'd but undertook to perform which they might the more easily because he was only waited on by my Servants An hour after Ventidius return'd to my Tent where he told me the occasion which drew him from it was an Advertisement brought him that Labienus who was left for dead amongst many thousands that were so was by the care of one of his servants the foregoing night brought to a Countrey-house not far off where beyond all expectation they found him give some symptomes of Life which the diligent Servant to improve went to a Village not far off to fetch a Chirurgion to send advice to the Parthian Army of this rare accident and to let them know how dangerous a place their General was in that they might suddainly remove him from it one of my Spies by good fortune was then in this Village and so industriously play'd his part that he got perfect information of this Truth which then he came to discover to me and which occasion'd me to send a party of Horse to seize upon Labienus and bring him hither they are just now return'd but without him for an hour before 2000 Parthian Horse had carry'd him away in a Litter Ventidius having made me this little Relation began afresh to assault me about Pacorus but when he found my resolution if not my reason was unconquerable he told me since I was so absolutely fix'd upon my prejudice he would afford me his assistance in it were it only to convince me he would not deny it me in anything and that what he had mention'd concerning his own danger was purely to invite me upon his score to yield to what was to prevent mine since I declin'd it upon my own that therefore he was determin'd to send an express to Rome to let the Senate know his victory and the taking of Pacorus whose liberty he would represent as his own opinion would sooner settle the Eastern World than his death since his being of a generous disposition an obligation that was so would invite him to be a friend to Rome which would be a more virtuous Conquest over the Parthians than they had over Crassus whereas his death by rendring the Parthians desperate will render the War so too which otherwise might be concluded without hazard and with glory I will continu'd Ventidius so fill my Letters not only to the Triumvirate and Senate with inducements to Mercy but also all those I shall send to my particular Friends that I hope they will produce what you desire at least if they do not I will be advertiz'd of it by a Post who shall arrive before my Express that if Pacorus's death be commanded before I receive that order I will by letting him escape render it impossible to be executed this course said Ventidius I elect because perhaps I may have no cause to break my instructions and if I have the doing it may prove a greater obligation to Artavasdes besides Pacorus's wounds cannot possibly be cur'd before an Express do goe and return from Rome neither will it be amiss we learn what countenance Altezeera put upon the news of his death or imprisonment This generous assurance made me embrace the maker of it and then I told him since his departure I had given strict Order Pacorus should be kept in a perfect ignorance either of my having been his Enemy or of my being in the Roman Army which I had done in expectation that some advantagious expedient might be found out for me if he gave the Parthian his liberty who I intended to visit in excellent disguise thorough which if Pacorus did not discover me I might be satisfy'd Altezeera could not and having made him know 't was from me he deriv'd his liberty and life I would return into Parthia with him where I made no doubt to learn the cause of my disgrace But said Ventidius suppose Pacorus should know you and yet not seem to do it till he came where he has a power to ruine you and what good too can it do you to learn the cause of your disgrace when it lies not in the Princesses power to redress it If Pacorus discovers me said I which I will almost render an impossibility I cannot yet suspect but what I do for him will confine him from doing any thing against me and to learn the cause of my disgrace will at least silence the torment of my suspension and restore me to Altezeera's good opinion which by her marriage is the highest felicity I can now aspire unto besides who knows what accidents may happen which being upon the place may improve and I must tell you I begin to flatter my self with a belief that the gods are weary of persecuting me since by this new accident they give me some signes of it I will continu'd Artavasdes pass over the particulars of our discourses to tell you the results which were That Ventidius yielded up his Reasons to my desires and assur'd me if he had no answer from Rome by the time Pacorus was able to make use of his liberty he should notwithstanding be restored to it Ventidius immediately after withdrew himself to make his dispatch to the Senate and to let Udozia know of that success which he deplor'd since thereby I was disabl'd from giving her an account of it Whilst we were in expectation of Pacorus's and my recovery the Roman Army Camp'd upon the same place in which it had been so victorious for I could not perswade Ventidius to prosecute his Victory by any hazard of my Life which he thought would run no small one by my removing with the Army or
though Ventidius did much admire at it yet he had by much a juster cause to do so when after he had represented that by his Commission he was to give no quarter to any Parthian and that by Pacorus's death he might have the blessing of revenge and perhaps therein remove the highest obstruction to a more transcendent one Artavasdes was so far from approving the motion that he so absolutely disrelish'd Ventidius for making it as he protested nothing but the giving Pacorus his liberty could repair having assumed any thought against his life and then utter'd so many passionate expressions upon that duty which in spight of your cruelty he had still preserv'd for the fair Altezeera that perhaps if I told you all the truth I might invite you to suspect I did the contrary I was present Madam at this honourable conference and though my wounds were many and as dangerous as those of Artavasdes yet my friendship never made me abandon him and that very friendship and my ignorance of those Charms which I have since discover'd in the Princess Altezeera made me esteem his desires as strange as I now find them just and forc'd me to speak some things against that excellency which though infinite cannot transcend my crimes or his mercy if she pardons them Yes Madam upon Artavasdes's score I perfectly hated you and in those dictates I was often condescending to the death of what you loved nay I would have had Artavasdes done the like and when he represented he had no handsomer way to obtain your forgiveness for what he had done against Pacorus and to shew you the wrong you had done to Artavasdes than to ruine the hopes of the last to settle the joys of the first I reply'd That if you honour Pacorus with your affection he did in that performance but more certainly exclude himself eternally from so much as hope and if you did not That by obliging at least not injuring you he removed his highest Impediment Besides If that were the testimony he would give of his Passion it might bring in Question whether he had any which belief he would render a just one if he prefer'd his Rivals felicity above his own I told him besides It was better to repent if such an action needed it for having acted his Revenge than for the omission of it for besides the felicity of such a performance the first sort of Repentance was a Vertue but the last a Vice Ah! said Artavasdes how ill dost thou reason if the fair Altezeera loves Pacorus I had rather destroy my expectation than her happiness and if she does not I yet commit a sin which unavoidably will clothe me in a proportionate Misfortune and ruin my hopes in the same way by which I elect to establish them for by being the Murtherer or accessary to the death of Pacorus I leave her not the Power if she had the will to reward my Fidelity and Passion and by removing one Impediment I create a greater for 't is much more probable Pacorus will die soon enough by the course of Nature than that Altezeera should marry his Murtherer Above all this said Artavasdes I pay too-transcendent a respect not only to all which the fair Altezeera esteems but to what also belongs unto her to act any thing to the prejudice thereof and 't is upon that score I have hitherto attempted nothing against my own Life which evidently evinces she has still a power over me by being capable to make mine so great a Torment and by then restraining me from ending it without her permission Neither can I apprehend any trouble from repenting an omission which was dictated by Honour by Reason and which is more than both those by that Duty I owe my Princess which is the Name I must eternally give her as Kings though unjustly excluded from their Crowns cease not to call them so nor to have a right unto them which want of possession cannot prejudice He gave me Madam I continu'd as pregnant Arguments as these which I purposely omit not only because the less reason was in his performance the more it had of Merit but also because his actions will give you a better Character of his Heart than his words can But at last when the peremptory Command came from Rome for Pacorus's Death Great gods you only know how it struck Artavasdes but I do that his loving so much Altezeera and Altezeera so much hating him would have made him consider that fatal Order with less horror had it been sent for Artavasdes instead of his Rival But the former's unfortunate condition hindering him to visit Pacorus and to act publickly for his safety he sent for the generous Ventidius and conjur'd him to let Pacorus escape in terms so pressing that I can truly say I was as much affected with them as he which deliver'd them Ventidius represented to him how much the concession of his Request would turn to his own prejudice but finding that would not operate he let him then know how much it would be to Ventidius's own This mov'd Artavasdes much more than the former but nothing so much as did the fair Altezeera's satisfaction which to effect he afterwards sent for me and violently protested That if Pacorus lost his Life he would not survive him since that was the only evincement he had in his power that he was free from so horrid a Sin This resolution I read as visibly in his Heart as words and acquainted Ventidius with it who more concern'd in his Friend than in himself yielded to his desires Never Madam did I see Artavasdes so fill'd with Joy as at that assurance no not when he was in the blessing of your Affection which made me conclude he esteem'd it a more transcendent Felicity to make you happy than to be made so by you 'T was thus Madam that Pacorus was deliver'd both from Captivity and Death and Artavasdes to avoid the possibility of drawing his sacrilegious Sword against the object of your Passion did as absolutely abandon the Roman Army as the felicity of Life which for almost these four Years he has never relisht nor indeed any but what proceeded from this last Service he has pay'd you and which he earnestly enjoin'd me to conceal from your knowledg electing rather to be still thought Guilty than appear the contrary to cloud and suspend your Joys I had no sooner done speaking than the fair Altezeera with some Tears cry'd out Oh gods Parasmanes Is all this possible which you have told me I was going to reply and assure her it was not only possible but true when I might perceive Pacorus and the rest of the Company coming towards us I gave Altezeera notice of it who otherwise was so intent on her Thoughts that she had not minded the Prince's Arrival but as soon as she did pulling down her Vail she endeavour'd the best she could to conceal her Disorder I could not abstain from
Artabbanes in nothing but Vice which is a preheminence he will as certainly resign him as surpass him in all actions of an opposite quality but Sir I hope you cannot seriously expect my affection for a Person who pretends no title to it but by one which renders him unworthy of it I am said Orodes so serious in my request that to deny it me will cast me into as bad a condition as his whose preservation I solicite my Fate and Surena's being unseparable But Arsaces finding I was as constant in my resolves as his Favourite in his fruitless passion at length converted those Prayers for my Affection into some for giving him a visit and that at least I would preserve his life if I would not render it happy The King's importunities forc'd that from me which his reasons could not and taking me with him in his Chariot he brought me to Surena's Palace I found the Master of it in a condition that convinced me Pity is none of the ways to Love for had it been Surena could have been no longer deny'd mine You know continued Parthenissa that his good meen yields to none but to Two which are in this Chamber and yet I found it as remarkable for the change as it had been for the perfection As soon as Arsaces had acquainted him I was come to give him a visit he raised himself faintly up and with a languishing voice told me I know not Madam with what design 't is you do me this honour is it either to see the effects of your Power or to increase them 'T is I replyed purely from my King's Commands that you derive this visit and if mine have any influence over you do not I beseech you by continuing so ill necessitate him to command from me another Alas Madam said Surena why do you then by your sight give me so great a dis-invitation to obey you who can see your Beauty and resolve to banish himself eternally from it your Eyes destroy what your cruelty makes me elect and had I not had the felicity of beholding you now my sufferings in few days had made me obey a command which your words has not now more plainly told me than your usage has Yes Madam he continued since 't is impossible to decline my Flame but with my Life I am taking that fatal and only way of extinguishing it and I hope in a short time so to change my condition that it shall render me as worthy your Pity as my ill Fate has rendered me unworthy your esteem That Death I replyed which you seem to imply is not to obey but injure me and I had rather indure your importunities than avoid them at that rate 't is your change not your ruine I desire Ah Madam Surena answer'd the impossibility that any Beauty can transcend yours is not greater than whil'st I live that I can decline adoring it and if I vow'd your Eyes could act all things I excepted the impossibility of their quenching fires which they themselves inspir'd that miracle is deny'd them by a power which renders that deficiency a greater so that if you command me to live you consequently command my Passion to live with me and you must resolve to suffer the effects of the latter if you enjoyn the continuance of the former I tell you Madam ingenuously what you must permit if you permit me to live That either I may put a period to my Torments by putting a period to my Life or not be deluded into fresh Miseries by fresh Expectations which will vanish as soon as my sickness does and add to the Miseries of losing my Cure that of losing my Hopes So resolute a demand continued Parthenissa was so far from inducing me to say more in his favour that it made me repent I had said so much which I had no sooner told him than Arsaces demonstrated as great a despair as what I had said did involve Surena in And truly the King by such moving conjurations and humblings so far transported me beyond my resolution that the conclusion of our visit was a promise I made Surena of a pardon for all was past But leâ—t this might invite him to actions that might need it again to qualifie my forgiveness I told him he derived it only from Arsace's commands and his own condition He prest me extreamly before I left him to say he derived it immediately from me but that I was so far from telling him that it made me profess if he was not satisfied with what I had already spoke I should rather recall my concession than any way increase it Surena as he said by this visit was in few days able to pay me one which he did and entertained me with retributions not desires To invite him to a perseverance therein I used him with much more Civility and Freedom than either his offence or my resentment for it had made me formerly practice Neither was I out of hope but that receiving favours when he desired none and none when he desired any his reason might invite him then to what it should have done before I must acknowledg I could hardly have been civil to him upon any other score and I had had no small difficulty to perswade my modesty to listen to such constant expressions of Gratitude with satisfaction but that I found it less troublesom to hear his thanks than his request and to have him acknowledg obligations than desire them For a quarter of a year Surena gave me no other troubles but those of his Visits but then he began to add to them those of his accustomed importunities I know not whether he believed what I had elected to suppress his addresses was to invite them or whether those Civilities I did him to reward his silence was to solicite the breaking it but I know if these were his Thoughts as soon as he reveal'd he had no reason any longer to retain them for I gave him so resolute a reprehension that he found I had been kind but to keep him from imploring my being so and that he could not elect a more certain way to be deny'd my affection than to solicite it I cannot certainly acquaint you whether this usage or some internal infirmity which then began to manifest it self was the cause of his Sickness but I can that suddenly after he fell into a very dangerous one and though it were equally so to his former and that Arsaces did me the honour constantly to visit me yet he never desired I should do so to Surena But the satisfaction I received thereat I soon observed was too dearly purchased for in some four or five successive visits I observed Orodes had so incessantly his Eyes fixt on mine and uttered such disordered and disjointed discourses that I began to doubt what his next seeing me made me but too certain of for after all the Court which waited on him were retired into a Gallery contiguous to my Chamber Arsaces spoke
participated in the satisfaction of the Mind it began to amend but yet so slowly that Tygranes had but too many experienees that his success under the gods was derived from the generous Sillaces Neither was the good Fortune of Merinzor's without some Clouds for as he computed the business he apprehended before he could reduce Ecbatan to his Power either Syllaces recovery or Zenophon's increasing Army would cast him into the same despair which that generous Prince's performances had involv'd him in already but when to these apprehensions the intelligence was brought him that not only his design on Artabbanes was destroy'd but that it was so too by Surenâ— he was almost as much troubl'd at the manner as at the thing but yet at the arrival of Vixores and the Parthian Forces he began to hope 't was out of tooâ—much affection for Parthenissa and not of tooâ—little for him that he had saved my Prince and therefore 't was he determin'd no longer to delay an execution which Surena could not well suspend without wronging as much his Ambition as his own Love But whilst Merinzor was employing himself to obtain his designs Artabbanes and Surena did their Healths and Emilia by a seeming spy to the last of them but a real one to her Father had learn'd that Cloriman had only taken those two days respite for the sending for a faithful Priest but to purchase so much time for his unripe Treachery But continu'd Symander to hasten my relation I will no more replenish it with any things but those so essential that you shall be convinc'd I am as much concern'd in the speedy finishing it as my hearers can be It was but half a Moon after the Ryvals recoveries that one day walking in the Palace-Gardens a Captain of the Guards presented Surena with a Packet which the better to read leaving Parthenissa with my Prince he retir'd himself into another Walk where opening the Letters he found the first was directed to him from Merinzor and contained these words Merinzor to the Prince Surena WEre not that esteem I pay you built on a very firm foundation by having so preserv'd one Enemy you might have rais'd your self another and it may be as dangerous a one as him you protected Neither could I but conclude if I consulted with reason not friendship that I have a very considerable share in yours since to confer on me the highest disobligation you are capable of you use your self at that rate Do not I conjure you break with your Friend to preserve your Enemy nor evidence how little I may expect from you when to the obliging me I only desire you to sit still and cannot obtain it I have sent those who will infallibly secure and revenge us if by way of reparation for having hitherto hinder'd it you do not undertake it your self I hope you will not by neither acting nor permitting this give me so much reason to be your Enemy that I must find a Misfortune in the too-much justice of becoming so Surena having read this high Letter open'd the other and though it were without address or name yet by some private mark he was not ignorant that it came from Merinzor's Secretary whom he had corrupted both by large Gifts and hopes it contained these words YOu can no longer have Merinzor and Artabbanes your Friends neither indeed can you undertake to defend the latter from death but you will more than hazard participating in his Fate by endeavouring to hinder it for there are so many engaged in the Design that your desire of preventing it cannot be greater than the impossibility believe it Sir as a certain truth that the first attempt you make for your Rivals defence will be your last and that he which is Merinzor's Enemy and he which endeavours to hinder his destruction will be consider'd under one netion Parthenissa and Artabbanes who concluded by Surena's leaving them alone that what invited him to so unusual an action had an unusual motive did not walk away from the place he had left them in but from thence had fixtly consider'd his actions and gestures as things in which they might discover his thoughts which they found were very perplex'd for having ended his two Letters he walk'd three or four turns then read them over again and after the third time he had done the same pulling down his Hat over his Eyes and folding his Arms one within the other he conntinu'd with as little outward disquiet as the inward was great At length after an hour so spent he came again to the Princess and his Rival and to the first of them presented his Letters telling her withal by whom the last was written and that he had sent it in his Prince's Packet as the least hazardous conveyance Parthenissa whilst she was reading both in her looks and gesture exprest no small disorder and Surena as soon as she had ended having receiv'd his Papers saluted her with as much humility as sadness and then went to the Garden door where his Guards expected him and where he commanded their Captain immediately to seize upon Artabbanes to carry him close prisoner to the Castle and to keep him there in that quality 'till he received further orders Surena having given him these Commands went immediately to the Cittadel whither he remov'd his lodgings and from whence he sent two hundred Soldiers to guard the Place and to permit none either to enter into it or to come out of it without a Pass under his own hand The Captain who had receiv'd direction make Artabbanes his Prisoner being a Parthian and consequently reverencing the high blood of the Arsacides came even in tears to do his duty and protested he had much rather have lost his own Liberty than become the Instrument of depriving my Prince of his who judging by Surena's abrupt departure and by those of the Guards coming towards him what their intentions were went to his weeping Princess and implor'd her to support her Faith on the many precedent deliverances the gods had sent him that Surena had so dearly purchas'd her esteem and so justly valu'd it that it was improbable he would by any Criminal performance destroy what was so long a perfecting especially since his fall herein would be like a Statesmans which admits not of a second He saw in his Looks a reluctancy to his action and that he was too much a Gentleman to be guided by considerations opposite to reason and honour or for the satisfaction of Merinzor's hopes to ruin his own Artabbanes had further enlarg'd himself in consolations of this quality had he not perceiv'd that already Parthenissa's colour began to abandon her as her senses did suddenly after and by falling in his Arms seem'd to tell him she expected no consolation but from Death my Prince that had given her hopes for his own condition could give himself none for hers which lasted not long in that extream for by that time that he Emilia
Adventures but in so confused a way that the disorder could not be greater than his concern'd in them thereby appear'd The ones curiosity and the others obedience were a time suspended by Tygranes's temporary recovery this was but a lightning before death which made such violent and rude approaches that he needed not the Chyrurgeons Art to learn his Fate which he first told the two friends of and that with a constancy which equal'd their sorrows The generous Sillaces whether as a friend to my Prince or Tygranes so successfully made the latter sensible of the wrong he had done Moneses and his whole Family that he seem'd more afflicted for that than for his present condition which receiv'd no small refreshment by Artabbanes protesting he was extreamly afflicted that his first service should be his last and that he would wrong Moneses more than he ever had if he believ'd not to have found out his mistake was the greatest reparation he ever expected for it Tygranes confused with many such flattering expressions publickly declared Moneses was his legitimate Successor and Artabbanes after him which was received with more joy than there were open expressions of it Then turning a languishing look towards Sillaces he told him And you generous Prince cannot you furnish me with some occasion before my death to evidence the esteem I have of your friendship and of those signal obligations you have confer'd on me Sillaces was so struck at that fatal question that he had not the power to make it any return which Tygranes observing he commanded all in the Tent but my Prince and Zenophon to leave it which being obey'd addressing his discourse to my generous Masters friend told him It was with no small satisfaction that I learn'd one of my blood could captivate Sillaces though I have seem'd ignorant of your affairs yet I am not so much a stranger to them but that I know Lindadory is honour'd with a passion you have for her and her Father has declin'd making her the reward of it upon considerations which will more extenuate my usage towards him than any thing I can say in my own justification I conjure you therefore Tygranes continu'd speaking to Artabbanes that you let your Father know my last request which I even deliver with my dying breath is That your Sister may be allowed the liberty of her own election and that he may not be entirely disprovided of what is requisite for the maintaining of both their qualities I hereby confer on Sillaces all the false Merinzor's forfeited Estates and the Estates of all those who have adher'd to him Had the gods been pleas'd to have given me the fair Lindadory I would thus have given her Moneses cannot suspect a counsel I would my self have practic'd and in which he will receive as much satisfaction as I should were I confident he would observe my desires The generous Sillaces at the end of these words would have flung himself at Tygranes feet as some expression of his satisfaction which could hardly exceed the Kings when Artabbanes assur'd him in Moneses name of an exact obedience to his Commands Never was there a Tent at once so replenish'd with tears and joy as this and perhaps never was there more cause for either It seems the gods had protracted the King of Media's life that the expiration of it might repair the faults in it for some two hours after he died in discourses so constant that the manner of his death consol'd the beholders of it Artabbanes and Sillaces having given their tears to so great a fall Zenophon took care to have Moneses proclaimed King throughout the Army and City which was receiv'd with acclamations so loud that in the largeness of them there was evidenc'd a proportionate joy The Funerals of Tygranes were the next day celebrated with a Military pomp his body being afterwards Inter'd in the Tomb of his Fathers over which my Prince erected so proud a Monument that his goodness was known in his Magnificence Whilst these requisite duties were paying Sillaces's recovery was so much advanc'd that the doubt of it was no longer Artabbanes's fear who every day with Zenophon acknowledg'd him the Protector of Media and restorer of Moneses who by a solemn Embassie was invited from a Solitude to a Crown the greatest and least extreams Neither did Artabbanes omit the Gallantry of his Friend nor Tygranes's last request for him and his engagement on it Things of a civil concernment put into this posture the forming of a considerable Army was my Prince's next care which he was more troubl'd how to employ than how to raise for his interest and the many peoples hopes which depended on him and served under him were very rational inducements immediately to march and cut off the roots of so dangerous and so near extinguish'd a Rebellion but the going to attempt Arsacia and to force Parthenissa from Surena were more powerful inducements to flie with his Army to so glorious and ambition'd a design for the undertaking of which he fortified his inclinations with these reasons That no consideration should transcend that of a generous and fruitful flame That an occasion of conquering a Kingdom might every day be offer'd but that of releasing the fair Parthenissa seldom or never who could not be more troubl'd at the cause of the continuance of her sufferings than at the sufferings themselves and that thereby he would more injure her than Surena had That entirely to extinguish the Rebellion there needed not a War but a progress over the Kingdom That Zenophon with such forces as the joy of this Change would draw under his Colours would be more than sufficient to finish what was so far advanc'd and that by the dictates of Reason as well as Love he ought to employ his courage where it was probably to meet with the brightest resistance and that was where Surena was in person who was not only the most considerable enemy for power and resolution but being a foreigner and having Parthia to befriend him ought first to be attempted and dislodg'd The generous Sillaces's opinion and reasons concurring with my Prince's herein he assum'd the resolution and that too firmly to admit of the least shadow of variation The next morning therefore in a general Assembly of the Officers my Prince acquainted them with his design which he fortified with such pregnant reasons and deliver'd in such an accent as made many believe he rather summon'd them to approve his Counsel than to receive theirs so that partly out of judgment partly out of compliance the result of the meeting was an unanimous approving of the motion Artabbanes therefore immediately gave Zenophon Commission to Command an Army for the reduction of Media to Moneses's power and three days after had a general Rendezvous of all his Forces under the Walls of Ecbatan which he divided into two equal parts giving Zenophon the one and taking the other to himself Sillaces was yet so ill of
usage of me which is such that it may with too much reason perswade them to believe I am sooner capable of any thing than of such a neglect I hope Sir Surena reply'd though this may be other mens belief yet it is not your resolution for that sacred contract you made with me was not conditional but absolute so that no ill usage of hers to you can render legitimate a resembling return of yours to her The knowledg I had of your Passion and of the impossibility of her receiving and rewarding it made me intently careful to leave you no way of violating your engagement but by violating your oaths which will raise more to revenge such a performance than your Power can to hinder it This resolute and true reply so incens'd the cruel Orodes who by the then coming into the room of many of his Guards and Courtiers to learn the result of their meeting now no more apprehended to disclose what he was confident could not be prevented and which he only fear'd the discovery of upon that score told my Brother with a furious Look and Tone Traytor that canst have reason enough to make thy Kings actions appear as Crimes and wantest it when thy own are more undeniably so The Tyes thou hast to Parthenissa are but accidental and those thou hast to me are natural yet in thy late Rebellion thou couldst with lesser scruple violate thy Allegiance than thou now reproachest me with violating my Promise Thou didst in thy performance leave me a latitude for the acting of mine and canst not reproach me but with that for which thou art my Example Nay that Contract thou hast so often mention'd and by which thou wouldst tye my hands sets them at liberty especially to the punishing of thee for having attempted it For 't was thy Rebellion gave thee that seeming Power of making one of my Vassals confine me from acting my pleasure upon another now that force being dissolv'd by which thou didst this Crime I have much more reason to punish thy having extorted such a promise than thou hast to demand the performing of it since I but assume a Power I indisputably had before thy Treason eclips'd it but thou canst not exact the performance of a forc'd engagement but thou must remember what thou didst to procure it and that will vindicate me for not observing it Thou by cancelling the first obligation hast taught me to punish thee in the repetition of thy fault and by making Force to be Justice thou hast render'd that Art which destroys Thine to be much more so Surena sensibly wounded with this language reply'd You reproach me Sir with your own Fault for 't was you not I which cancell'd the first obligation and though this was but then evident to a few yet by what you have since menac'd the fair Parthenissa with you have render'd it now so to all and made my performance as clear to the world as it was then to me The obligations between you and your subjects are mutual they promise you obedience and you them protection you then first broke your Engagement before I did mine and I never drew my sword against you but to keep you from a greater Crime than that it self was And though you alledg my confinement to you was natural and to the fair Parthenissa accidental yet when you consider upon what score I ty'd my self to her Interests you will find it was deriv'd from a Duty unto which that you challenge is much subordinate 'T is the Duty I owe the gods and that obliges me more to preserve the Innocent than my birth does to obey you especially when your commands are of a quality that carry in my disobedience the justification of it Whilst you govern'd within your own Laws I gave you that observance due to you in them and was more prodigal of my blood to defend and encrease your Power than when you misemploy'd it I was to oppose it Nay after you were seemingly converted I brought you home a Victory from a people that hardly ever knew what it was to lose one I was in hope the gods by shewing how successful my Sword was for you would have invited you to Actions which it can only be employed in But I now fear you will render me unavoidably guilty for drawing my Sword against you for her cannot render me more criminal in your esteem than the not doing it will render me so in the judgment of the gods and of men Here continued Zephalinda Arsaces's fury was uncapable of a longer silence which made him interrupt Surena by saying Traytor Thou hast not only the wickedness to run into a Rebellion but to declare that performance a greater Duty than the not having acted it That Power which thou shalt know and feel is absolute thou wouldst make conditional that it might not punish thee but that Sin thou shalt be convinc'd is one even in the punishment of it And because thou alledgest thou never drew'st thySword against me but to keep me from a higher crime than that it self was I will repay thy kindness in the imitation of it and by thy Death hinder thee from a greater Sin than the commanding of it is yes I will punish in thy intended Rebellion what thou tiedst me from in thy acted Rebellion and the gods who knew how unjust that concession was thou extortest from me involve thee in new Crimes that thou might'st be rewarded for the old My Justice only is clouded with this misfortune that thou hast but a single Life to appease it with since thy relapse deserves the deprivation of that and consequently thy first Sin will continue unpunish'd Orodes at the end of these words turn'd to the Captain of his Guards and commanded him to seize on Surena who seeing his Life was lost and consequently yours or your Honour resolv'd whilst it lasted to act some such performance as might repair the shortness of it and the length of those Miseries it had so unfortunately involved you in Therefore as the Captain of the Guards came to take his Sword he drew it and past it through his Body then crying out to Arsaces You shall go with me Sir into another World to learn this great Truth That to kill you is a less Sin than that you intend against Parthenissa or the permitting it he ran furiously at him and though so many hands endeavour'd to stop him yet all they could do was to put his thrust so much aside as that what was intended to the Body only pierc'd his Clothesâ— Surena more troubled that he had mist his design than at the punishment he knew attended his having assum'd it was returning and though with a fury but equal to his former yet certainly had had a superior success when all that were present flew upon him and forced his sword out of that hand which if any longer left had doubtless acted a greater piece of Justice than the Guards did in preventing it and
so efface the Crimes of thy Life as to have the deprivation of it so nobly deplor'd and even by her which had most reason to rejoyce at it The first that interrupted the silence though not the weeping was Parthenissa who told Zephalinda I have Madam been so unfortunate to your Family that if you will not grant me on the score of Charity the means of that Death which I implor'd confer it on me at least on that of Revenge my Misfortune and my Condition do equally require it and you cannot in the performance more oblige your resentment than you will me It may be that the greatest misfortune Surena relish'd at his Death was that he left me behind and the eminent danger too he concluded I was involv'd in by Arsaces's Lust. The extinction of my Life will also redress those apprehensions in him and it may be afford him a proportionate joy when I shall carry him the news how faithfully you have observ'd his Desires 'T is not Madam said Zephalinda upon these invitations I am come to pay you my engagement 'T is upon your own and Artabbanes's account that I do it for I find your condition is uncapable of all remedy but by that which will in the future exempt you from needing any other Thereupon taking out a little vial she presented it to Parthenissa with more Tears than would have fill'd it and told her In this Madam you will find that Sanctuary the gods have deny'd your Virtue which I should have offer'd you sooner but that my Brother's Physician who compos'd it was so near death himself at the hearing of Surena's that he could not earlier give me this effect of his Art He assures me it is of a nature so subtil that it conquers the Vitals as soon as it touches them and will afford you as little pain in the operation as you will resent after it This is a Present said the fair Parthenissa wiping away her Tears and kissing it which I have too little time remaining to acknowledg sufficiently but if in the other World our Condition admits the paying of services I will present you with those there which mine here denies me the power of retributing and as a signal earnest of this Truth I leave you the generous Artabbanes as a Legacy she deserves him best that does most for him and you in this last performance have so clearly done so that the very Party is also the Judg and Acknowledger of it You that when the gods cannot preserve Parthenissa fit for him can do it do become more so your self and it may be those Powers had no other way but this to absolve Artabbanes's Constancy from becoming so much his punishment as to prefer Parthenissa before Zephalinda who in all perfections is as much my Superior as in a perfect Flame I am at least her Equal The fair Zephalinda was about to reply when one I had plac'd to discover when Arsaces was coming came running in to tell me so which set a period to the discourse they were engag'd in and made Parthenissa uncover the little Glass and say 'T is now no time to think of any thing but by Death to prevent what is much more to be fear'd With these words in a moment she drank the fatal Poyson with a Constancy great as our Grief I was continued Emilia so drowned in Tears and Sorrow that though the fair Parthenissa spake many things as remarkable as her very performance yet all I can remember she said was a deploring the invitation of her death which was such that her hate for the infamous Arsaces might seem to have an equal share in it to that of her Passion and Constancy for your Prince Zephalinda in the mean time went to a window as if it had been to discover how near Orodes was but alas it was more undisturbedly to pledg Parthenissa in a resembling Liquor which as soon as she had perform'd she return'd to her but with a serener countenance than that with which she had left her and holding up the empty Vial told her This Madam will be my witness that I serv'd not my self but you in acting what the gods had left you but one way to perform Your Virtues shine so clear that whilst I have them for my Guides I can neither be mistaken in the way to felicity nor the end and though this be a high Truth yet it cannot Transcend this other That the obliging Poyson I have drunk will not more certainly make me wait on you now than the beholding of Artabbanes's Grief would have made me do it hereafter when it may be the Then performance would have relish'd of what the Now will absolve me of I had looked like your Murtherer not your Friend had I not thus waited on you so that what my Inclination leads me unto my Reason and my Interest do which are Inducements that none can condemn with so much Justice as that with which I obey them The fair Parthenissa for a while only in Tears and in embraces acknowledged the disobligingness and gallantry of this performance in which latter Zephalinda held her company so strictly that I thought they would prove as unseparable to each other as misfortune had been to both She which last drank the Poyson was the first that spake and to the best of my remembrance these were her words Having now paid the Just and Antedated sacrifice of our Tears to Artabbanes's condition when he shall be informed of ours let us absolutely in the future silence them lest the Tyrant should ascribe ours to his being one and thereby though he be actually denyed the Triumph of his Love he imaginarily possesses that of his Revenge The Cruel Arsaces said Parthenissa cannot so Transcendently delude himself as to ascribe my Tears to his being so to me when he sees what the fair Zephalinda has done which is of such a Quality that he will find his Triumph though we are never so intent to cloud it for I am resolved he glories as much in the destruction of Virtue as of Feminine Honour so that what my resolution has denyed him in the Latter yours has conferred on him in the Former Had I been single in my suffering I should have retrench't from him that Victory for to have been denyed his hopes would have as much eclipsed his satisfaction as the Destroying of Innocence and Constancy would have created it I may said Zephalinda as justly alledge he is not the cause of my Tears since a Death which I esteem so transcendent a misfortune as to believe the acting of my own after it is a less one than to survive it may well peculiarize my Weepings to that solarie cause But whilst we continue ours he may at least have some shadow for Insulting whereas if we intirely silence them and in their Place assume an unclouded serenity he may consider the Way in which we evade his Power to be as sublime a Trouble as the End Here
fairer Dwelling Here the faithful Symander was so vanquish'd with his own Relation that he had not the power to continue it neither had his generous Hearers that of desiring him to do it for they were so sensibly affected with this deplorable and fatal part of his Story that their Curiosity resign'd its room unto their sorrow to which they so justly and unconfinedly abandon'd themselves that they fully justified the vast grief of Artabbanes since they resenting so much only by their being Hearers of the Loss they could not but expect much more from him that was the sufferer of it At length they were so much friends to their Grief that they conjur'd the afflicted Symander by a continuance of his Story to divert them in some degree from being so intent on that sad part of it Symander to obey this Command by many struglings with his grief finally obtain'd so much the victory over it as thus to prosecute what he had brought so near to a conclusion This relation of the fair Parthenissa's death which invaded you with so high a sorrow had so resembling an operation on the unconsolable Emilia that it was above an hour before her tears and sighs would permit her to continue her relation which she did in these terms As soon as the Barbarous Arsaces saw the fair Parthenissa pale and breathless he became so too and continu'd so long in that condition that I began to think Grief had perform'd the Office of Justice and had alone pay'd that debt to the Tyrant which all the world does owe him But he soon return'd again from his seeming Death but it was to act such violences on himself that I thought his recovery was a more signal punishment than his dying could have prov'd In a word whoever had seen the demonstration of his sorrow would have concluded he was the sufferer not the Author of the Loss At length tir'd with the actings of his grief he continued quiet for a time and then ran to Zephalinda at whose feet prostrating himself he conjur'd her to tell him Whether the fears of his violence hast cast Parthenissa into a seeming or had made her cast her self into a real death But this fair Princess gave him an Answer by a Demonstration for in that moment of time the fatal Poyson had so far conquer'd her heart that she had only life enough left to recover the Pallet on which the dead Parthenissa lay and in embracing and kissing her to expire as if she ambition'd in the last act of her life to evince the perfect friendship she had pay'd her through the whole course of it At this second death Arsace's grief turn'd into Fury he began to believe himself so horrid a Murtherer that whoever he spake unto was instantly struck with Death which though true had been a punishment inferior to his Sin And in this belief he ran frantick up and down the Chamber crying in the perfect accent and voice of horror and despair Gods give me Parthenissa again give me Parthenissa again And after a thousand fruitless offers of seizing on the Swords of some of his Guards he at length ran his head with so much violence against the angle of that great Cabinet which stood by the Pallet on which the dead Parthenissa lay that he thereby not only receiv'd a large hurt but fell speechless and sensless at Parthenissa's feet where he continued grovelling in his blood till his Guards carried him into his own Appartment to have him drest Here said Symander to his generous Hearers the fair Emilia ended her Relation and began again her weeping in such excess that it even brought an accession of grief to that which invaded me by her fatal Relation Neither do I believe she would have ended her Tears but with her Life had not the care of Artabbanes been greater than any she had of her self For remembring one of her Princess's last injunctions to her was to let Artabbanes know her last to him was A passionate desire of pardoning her Murtherer and a more passionate one of surviving her Murther that as she carried into the other World the highest Model and Example of a perfect Love so that he would continue the like in this and that Parthia was miserable enough in suffering her Kings Sin without the addition of enduring the punishment of it she conjur'd me to assume that employment whilst she would pay the dead Princesses the duty of Funeral if her grief left her life enough to do it which she hoped yet fear'd it would Emilia further enjoyn'd me by an immediate return to Artabbanes to prevent the fame of Parthenissa's death and by my acquainting him with her last desires endeavour to prevent his This I esteem'd so necessary that after having at Parthenissa's and Zephalinda's feet pay'd the tribute of my Tears and as much as I was capable of attempted to lessen the fair Emilia's I went to Sillaces and after to Lyndadory's Appartment where alas I learn'd that in the confusion of the late disorders she had been carried away by some Arm'd and unknown persons and that the generous Sillaces with what friends he could assemble in so short a warning was gone after her Ravishers With these accessional griefs of the unhappiness of my Prince's sister and of my failing of so necessary and powerful Consolers as I was confident Lyndadory and Sillaces would have been to Artabbanes I directed my steps to him but with a heart so replenisht with sadness that nothing could in degrees equal it but the justice with which it was so You may generous Hearers in some proportion imagine the strangeness of my then employment when I knew not whether I ought more to apprehend that any other should give my Prince the fatal Intelligence of his Misery or that I should but the second day I came to the place of his residence where the horror which possest me by the perfect knowledg I had of what his sorrows would be at the information I was to give him so vanquish'd all those resolutions I had assum'd during my journey that not only I invok'd death as a pleasing expedient to have declin'd it but would have made use of it had not I fear'd that Artabbanes by my that way of avoiding telling him his loss might have receiv'd it worse than by a verbal doing it But though this faith tied up my hand yet by those sudden and various emotions which did agitate me I felt a burning shoot into my veins and that at first with such violence that I was in hope the Fever would confer that obligation on me which my affection to my Prince hinder'd me from conferring on my self or at least if his despair for the deprivation of Parthenissa were greater than his obedience to her my sickness would enable me to wait on him without the help of my resolution or duty At length generous Hearers at length I came into Artabbanes's Chamber and though it were in high tremblings
cruel than Fortune yea than Arsaces himself they but make the highest cure necessary but thou after it is so do'st deny it me I conjure thee by that love thou once did'st pay me by that adoration I pay my Divine Princess who I now behold cloathed with more Glory than she has been with misfortune and by those Tears unusual Advocates for me permit me to follow her with that he shed such a shower of them that I was for a time unable to answer him in any other language which my Prince perceiving he told me Canst thou then Symander give me the highest signs of pity and deny me the least Act of it and canst thou be sensible of my miseries and deny me their only Cure Ah Sir I reply'd what is become of that Fortitude which in all the strangest and intricatest Revolutions and vicissitudes of Fortune has always made you triumphant over her Has it abandon'd you or have you abandon'd it in a season where it was most necessary What will the World believe to your prejudice when you your self act so much to it your Virtue which now is the admiration of all will be believ'd the mistake of all for when any thing can befall it greater than it self 't will be thought it hath acquired its glory not from its own strength but from the weakness of its opposers Hold thy peace said my Prince interrupting me hold thy peace 't is no wonder thou hast lost thy concern for me when thou hast â—ost thy reason which if thou hadst not thou couldst not but see but that the fortitude thou so flatterest me with never aspir'd at so certain a felicity as thy cruelty hinders her from possessing That which thy madness terms despair my reason terms fortitude which high vertue is not given us to continue our miseries but to overcome them Mine are of so peculiar a quality that if my fortitude should continue my Life 't would act against it self as much as against me No Symander my Fortitude never so well deserved that Name as now that it has made me chearfully elect to act my own Death which certainly cannot be a sin since 't will reunite me to the Divine Parthenissa had the gods design'd me Life they would not have taken away hers and the duty of not killing my self by which I must be banish'd from my Princess cannot be so great as that of killing my self to be restor'd unto her But Sir I repli'd what Face can you present your self to your Princess with when to act your satisfaction you decline your duty and leave this world without revenging your self on him who sent her out of it and divested you of all felicity in it This said Symander I spake in expectation that such a duty might qualifie for the present the violence of his despair and that time might silence it in the future but alas I soon found the vanity of that hope by my King 's thus answering me If I were not certain 't were a higher Mercy to kill one of my Princess's Votaries after her death than not to do it I would not beg the blessing to become my own executioner and therefore I will not so much oblige the Tyrant as to become his The gods who know the greatest Crime merits the greatest punishment do now evince that truth on that Monster for the certainty that to be the fair Parthenissa's executioner is the greatest Sin cannot be a greater Truth than after having acted it 't is the greatest punishment to want fortitude to be his own and since Life is the torment of my Princess's Murtherer how can it be the satisfaction of her Adorer besides I am confined and I believe on this score of her last commands from embruing my hands in his Blood So you are I replyed from embruing your hands in your own and that request nay rather command imposed with much more earnestness than the other ah Sir consider how much your despair offences your Love and how unlike this proceeding is to any other of yours where your Princess's commands have acted you you can decline becoming the executioner of her Murtherer to obey her and you will not decline becoming your own when you have a higher confinement to it this is not to obey her but your self or rather your despair by going to her in the other world when she orders your continuance in this and when that order was pronounced with her last breath you shew you value something above her commands which is a crime you have hitherto declined with so much care and she has acknowledged with so many Elogies that your now running into it evinces nothing so pregnantly as that her Memory has not the same Ascendant over you which her Life had though she lost hers but to continue the more gloriously in yours consider too I beg you Sir that the more painful the obedience is the more meritorious 't is that common obeyings are not fit sacrifices for Artabbanes to offer or Parthenissa to receive and that the crime of disobedience cannot be the way to so admirable end as is your reunion with her Yes Sir I tremble to think how she will receive you when the last act of your Life is a violation of the last command of hers Thou dost delude thy self Symander thou dost delude thy self said my King interrupting me the Divine Parthenissa knew too well the greatness of her loss and the just sense I should have of it to enjoyn me the impossibility of surviving it I rather ascribe that to thy cruelty than her commands or if she imposed that on me which thou sayest she did it was but the better to illustrate the vastness of my Love which by contemning my own Life her Revenge and my duty to her commands manifests it is superiour to all those so that by my Death I shall but evince a truth I most ambition'd in my Life nay which at any time I would have laid down to witness which is that my Love was as much above all other concerns as the Beauty which inspir'd it was above all which ever inspir'd that Passion Let not then thy cruelty deny my Flame the most glorious manifestation of it nor let me derive that from Time and from Torments which my resolution is so obligingly ready to confer on me without any nor flatter thy self with believing Time can change a resolution which is as irrevocable as that misfortune which has made me so justly assume it no Symander thou mayst tye my hands thou mayst hinder them from acting my Death but thou canst not hinder me from dying for I here solemnly protest by the highest powers and by my Princess who has increased their number that I will neither eat nor drink nor sleep till the want of those confer that felicity on me which thou hast so barbarously deny'd me Then turning himself from me in a shower of Tears he seemed to continue those reproaches which they had interrupted I
courage proportioned his insolency this usage had no unfruitful return and though it deserved a signal punishment yet he received an honour that was so dying by the hand of Artabbanes By this time the Stranger had mounted himself upon the Horse of the first man that was killed and furiously thrusting into the midst of his enemies by two unresistable blows lessened as many of their number the rest amazed at our assistance and at those admirable deaths made so faint a defence that the Combat soon ended with their Lives The Stranger then lifting up his Helmet which was shaded with a great Plume of Feathers of Aurora colour as his Armour was of the like and garnish'd with such refulgent Stones as sufficiently manifested their Master was of no small Quality came to Artabbanes with so much Grace and Majesty that I was charm'd with it and told him Generous Stranger I owe you my Life and will at any time pay you that debt with as much satisfaction as I contracted it but I must beg your pardon if a consideration much higher than my Life does now force me from you which I should acquaint you with did I not justly fear the time it would take up would hinder me from paying a duty to a Princess who before the obligation you placed on me merited all mine and even yet does merit the most of it But that I may not hereafter be guilty of that ingratitude which my highest concern makes me seem guilty of now I must desire to know my Protector 's Name that when the Beauty I serve has no further employment for my Sword and Life I may know where to offer both to him to whom I acknowledg I owe them and for whom I will with much more joy employ them Artabbanes extreamly satisfied with this Gallantry and as much mov'd with the Cause of that haste the Stranger seem'd to be in repli'd My Name Generous Stranger is as inconsiderable as the little Service you are pleas'd to think I did you But were it as great as your acknowledgments I should yet conceal it lest you might thereby believe I pretended to a debt you have but too abundantly satisfi'd already You retribute so much for so little and you thereby appear so worthy to be oblig'd that I cannot but offer you my service in the relief of that Princess you are so intent upon the inequality of your late Combat makes me believe your Enemies are not acted by the Principles of Honour and therefore if not for your own sake yet for hers you so much value and who perhaps sets a greater value upon your Life than you do on your own refuse not the assistance of a Sword which has been fortunate enough against all but him that wears it This strange conclusion had doubtless given the Stranger a curiosity of desiring to know what occasion'd it if the great haste he was in had not supprest it which was such that it hardly gave him leisure to make this Reply You cannot be so unjust to your self and me as to conceal your Name upon the score you mention and therefore I believe some high Cause invites you to it which shall suspend my desire of learning it Your Virtue I am confident will guide me to you as certainly as your Name and upon better considerations that way of enquiring after you will be more noble and as sure I confess I have the high Felicity of being valued by the Beauty I adore and the misfortune of having an Enemy and Rival who cares not by what ways he reaches his ends but by your valour you have cut off his chiefest assistance and his Crimes are such that I should injure the Justice of the gods if I thought a single Sword which strikes with Justice were not able to act my Revenge and my Princess's Deliverance Besides I am so much your debtor both by act and offer that I should give my self a greater trouble by becoming more so than by undertaking alone the destruction of those few Enemies your Courage has left me That is a consideration said Artabbanes which your civility only has rais'd but your Valour is such that by those effects of it which I have seen I can hardly doubt of any other I wil therfore only beg your pardon for having done your Rival more service by delaying you than I have done you in endeavouring to assist you and that you will give me so obliging a Proof of your having granted it me as the acquainting me with your name I should obey you said the Stranger if it were not to make my self fruitlesly known unto you which would be a manifesting of my self too low both for the obligations and the sense I have of them Permit me therefore to decline that honour till I derive it from my services which I will seek you over all the world to pay you as soon as I am put into a capacity of doing it by having paid mine unto my Princess the necessity of whose condition I beg may appologize for my now leaving you which nothing else could make me hope for or invite me to Thereupon saluting my Prince with much humility and haste he turn'd about his Horse and followed the Tract of a Chariot with such celerity that we soon lost sight of him Artabbanes was so much taken with the good Meen and civility of the generous Stranger and so sympathized in his concerns that he suspended his usual melancholly to entertain me with them which yet he did but for a little time and then in his accustomed manner continued his journey hither where we arrived without meeting any thing else worthy your knowledg and where my King has received an Oracle which makes me hope what I considered as an invention of mine was an inspiration of the gods 'T was thus Symander ended the History of his King's Life and then beg'd Pardon from his generous Hearers for the length of his Relation and for all those faults he had been or those omissions he might be guilty of Artavasdes and Callimmachus having both took notice with much civility of Symander and acknowledged how well he had acquitted himself went to Artabbanes in the Gallery who though they found in an excess of sadness yet by the knowledg of its cause they were so far from condemning that they participated in it But the good Callimmachus who knew the gods promises to him and their power of performing them on those two Subjects endeavoured by the assistance of Artavasdes to change his sorrow into Faith which yet prov'd but a fruitless attempt For Artabbanes knew the utmost extension of Faith was to act above reason not against it and therefore found in his own condition two high a certainty of its admitting a change Several days were spent in such successless employments and to recover the two Princes out of a dangerous relapse into which they were fallen whose cure had retarded their intended Sacrifice ordain'd them by the Oracle
determined that the first of them should keep the field with half their Army to obstruct Scylla's supplies and the last should fling himself into Piraeus to obstruct his conquests and that the Grecians might see they had not invited them into dangers which they declined participating in Ariston who in person continued in Athens having a considerable Garison performed things with it which were so and never any Pyramid gave the builder of it more fame than the walls of Piraeus gave Piriclion an Athenian Captain who had raised them during the Peloponnesian War and which in this Roman War rendered all Scylla's assaults invalid and the battering Ram unworthy that name yet Scylla was not at all dejected hereat but elevated himself with the glory of besieging at once the greatest Army in Greece and the greatest City of it for by this time the gods had taken away the young Prince Arcathias by a sudden death as he was raising an Army to relieve his friends or not to have survived the unhappiness of having been unable to do it so that those forces wanting a Captain fit to employ them were by Archilaus orders come into Athens and Piraeus by Sea which they did safely by the help of the Mithridatick Gallies Scylla having none to dispute the Empire of that element with I must confess continued Callimmachus the first actions of War which ever gave me envy and a desire of imitation were those of this siege for never was there more Art and courage manifested in so small a compass as within the Athenian walls and the Roman Camp But famine put a period to the besiegers pains and the besiegeds glory But yet even famine it self for a time lengthned the siege the death of some continuing the life of others for the living fed upon the dead But in conclusion there was no hands to justifie the walls of Athens and then Ariston retired into the Castle glorying that the Athenians had left Athens rather than that the Romans had taken it but the same misery which had reigned in the Town soon did the like in the Castle where Ariston endured death with as much resolution as he had opposed it proud with the knowledg that Athens and his Dominion over it found their period in one day and that the noblest City of the world accompanied his fall Scylla being thus Master of Athens rewarded his Soldiers patience and courage with all things sacred and prophane and by the great severity he practised upon those Athenians which had escaped the War and the Famine made them know it had been an act of more honour and more ease to have expired with their Countrey than so to have out-liv'd it Archilaus burning with desires of revenge or else to evidence by some high performances after Arcathias death that his having been General had hindered many great actions drew all the Mithridatick Forces into one body determining therewith to place a period or bring an accession to Scylla's glory The Roman General received this Intelligence with Prophetick Raptures and in his high Joy before the Battel manifested his confidence of winning it The Country near Cherovia was the Scene of this Dispute from which City the Battel took its name Murena Galba and Hortensius for a time drew all the Romans admiration till Scylla jealous that those under him should act above him performed such prodigies of valour that the Romans esteemed it more unjust not to give all their wonder unto their General than to have deny'd before a part unto three such men Archilaus in this defeat lost upon the place One hundred and ten thousand men and the hopes of ever having so many together again in Greece which by an Express he advertised Mithridates of who to keep the War out of Asia forthwith sent Dorilaus and the Prince Diogenes with Eighty thousand Foot into Greece to re-inforce Archilaus and to enable him to make one other experiment of Fortune in the Field At the same time also he assembled all the Princes and Tetrarchs of Asia which he suspected or was not confident of and having them in his power put them their wives and children to death his past cruelty rendering this an act of wisdom for he had so offended all mankind that he could not kill any but such as were his enemies Many Noble Cities he used as ill by Zenobius a Lieutenant of his whose natural cruelty equalled his Kings this was the last place he acted his Massacres in and then went to Ephesus expecting like reception and designing the like Tyranny But the Ephesians finding that resistance could not be worse than submission resolved on the first though Philopomenes was Governor thereof and made so by Mithridates This example had so good success that the Cities of Thrales Hippapes and Mesopolites follow'd it which made Mithridates think that though cruelty was pleasant to him yet it was not wise I have not acquainted you with so many Tyrannies of his because he was my enemy but to let you see that 't was not only to punish the unhappy Nicomedes that this Mithridates was raised but to punish all the civilized world To these great revolts he received the certain advertisement that Archilaus and Dorilaus had been defeated in a furious Battel by Scylla who derived his victory from his personal courage for when his Army fled he ran to the first Eagle and taking it up flew with it into the midst of the Asiaticks crying out to his Soldiers If any ask O Romans where you have abandoned your General tell them you left him fighting in Orchomenia which expressions and action raised their shame above their fear and made them return to the Battel in which they did things that defaced the sin of their aflight and presented Scylla with the Victory which though that day far advanced yet it was not till next day perfected for then assaulting and entring Archilaus Camp few scaped out of it but himself But to qualifie the joys of such signal Victories Scylla received advertisement from Rome that Cornelius Cinna and Caius Marius having usurped the power of the City and over the Senate had declared him an enemy to the people of Rome had raz'd all his Houses and had proscribed all his Friends and Partizans Scylla at this so fatal intelligence loses not his courage but resolves by it to form himself as great an Empire in Greece and Asia as his enemies design'd in Europe and then in a fair Field to decide who should have both But Cinna and Marius who knew he had so high an ascendent over his Army that what they could do he could perswade them to do it for him and believing no other design could proportion Scylla's courage and judgment elected Flaccus one of the Consuls and sent him with two of the best Legions to supply Scylla's Office or to force it from him But Flaccus being no Soldier they sent for his Praetor Fimbria who had by many exploits in Arms rendred himself
justly famous This new Roman Army being come to Brundusium part of it with the Fleet which carried them was taken by Mithridates Fleet part of them perished in a storm part that were landed in Thessaly went to Scylla not being able to endure Flaccus his insolenâ—ies and the rest had done the like had not Fimbria by Reasons and Clemency hindred it which yet more incens'd Flaccus than if they had all abandoned him for by their so staying he found one that served under him had more power over his Army than he which engendred such animosities between them that Flaccus not only commanded Fimbria back to Rome but elected one Termus in his place which so enraged him that he took away the Fasces and Rods which were the Praetorian Ensigns as they were carried before Termus who fled to Flaccus for reparation The Consul hereupon commands his Soldiers to seize upon Fimbria who experimented their love was a better commission than the Senate without it could give for all the Army abandon'd Flaccus who was forced to fly to Chalcis whither Fimbria followed and at length found him hid in a Well from whence being taken out though he imploy'd Fimbria's pity even in tears yet he caused his head forthwith to be cut off and flung into the Sea though Flaccus was both Consul and General and Fimbria but a private Citizen But to repair so signal an affront to the Roman Empire he vigorously prosecuted Mithridate's friends which were the greatest enemies of it which he said was the end why the Army was sent out of Italy and which had thitherto been interrupted by the executed Consul's impertinency Amongst his many exploits one I cannot but mention which was his cruelty and treachery to the Illians for finding their strength might give his Romans as long a trouble as it once did the Grecians he left off force and flattered them so successfully under the name of Fathers of Rome that they admitted him into their City with his Army which he soon became Master of and destroyed all that was living in it thereby making crueltly silence many who would have otherwise reproached him with it nay the Images of the gods and the Temples in which they were adored participated of his fury which some thought they deserved for not better defending their votaries Only the Palladium which was sent the Trojans by Iupiter was preserved by miracle a Vault of the Temple giving it at once both a Tomb and safety so that Troy was more unhappy in her children than in her enemies Fimbria being worse unto her than Agamemnon or else her first death having given life to the greatest Empire in the World Fimbria would in gratitude thereunto make her still continue in that condition But Mithridates after the last signal defeat given Archilaus finding though Scylla and Fimbria were enemies to each other yet they were both so to him and believing the first of them wanted but an honourable pretence of leaving the Asian War to dispute the Empire of Rome with Marius and Cinna and to appease the manes of so many of his friends as had been murther'd by them as also fully convinced such a series of defeats had disenabled him from much longer continuing a War sent orders to Archilaus to endeavour a Peace with Scylla which after many a meeting at length at one between Scylla and Mithridates was concluded but on such advantagious conditions for the Romans that even the articles of the agreement were the manifestations of his conquest Scylla having so prosperously put a period to his Mithridatick War to leave all clear behind him went against Fimbria and summoned him to deliver up him his Armies being Proconsul of Asia to which Fimbria returning an high answer Scylla immediately besieged him and reduced him to so low a state that Fimbria hired a Slave to murther Scylla which being discovered all Fimbria's Army were so scandalized at it that many abandoned him and went to Scylla against whom Fimbria had done too much to expect his mercy and therefore contemning it when 't was offered upon the conditions of his departing into Italy and resigning up his Army he stole to Pergamus where in the Temple of Aesculapius he ran his Sword through his own body but finding the wound was not friendly enough to afford him a sudden death he commanded an infranchised Servant of his to dispatch him which he did and then with the same Sword followed him Thus Fimbria died whom the gods permitted to be as cruel to himself as he had been to others thereby manifesting to be so was as much his nature as it was his crime Immediately after his death all his Army yielded themselves to Scylla who received them with so much humanity that they found Fimbria in killing himself had obliged them as much as Scylla who having appointed Curio to resettle Nicomedes in Bithynia and Ariobarzanes in Cappadocia which was one of the Articles of the Peace and having the best he could calmed the differences in Asia and raised five years advance of tribute in all the Cities of it under his dominion which so impoverish'd them that they were necessitated to pawn their Amphitheatres their Town-houses and all their other publick places to enable them to pay it by the assistance of Mithridate's Galleys which also on the Peace were resigned to him he transported his Army first into Greece and thence into Italy which he filled with such confusions and with so many horrid murthers and proscriptions that to such as loved their Countrey death was no ill expedient to avoid beholding the miseries of it The Heavens by many Prodigies seemed to foretell those many others which men should act A Woman in Rome was delivered of a Serpent in stead of a Child The Earth by a furious shaking flung down many Statues and Temples of the gods And the Capitol that proud Fabrick built by so many Kings was consumed by lightning These and many others of the same nature were the actings and sufferings of that part of the World in which I spent my infancy and earliest youth which were the only times of all my life that I was free from the sense of misery which too I derived from Nature not from Fortune who had provided infelicities for me against my coming into the World sufficient to make me for ever detest it But having hitherto entertain'd you with accidents at large I shall now confine my relations to narrower limits being by this conjuncture of time arrived to an age capable of relishing happiness and misfortune to which latter only my stars had deâ—ign'd me In Miletus the place of my then residence there were several young Gentlemen of my age and believed-quality for I past still in the opinion of the World as well as in my own for the Son of Telamon with whom I learnt all those exercises as well of the mind as the body which Greece and the lesser Asia placed any value upon in which I had
Mithridates and consequently of her Father who she assur'd me would acknowledg my obligation in a way much more proportionate to it self than she had the power to do The name of the Pontick Kings Court did so strangely surprize me that when she mention'd it I could not but repeat it but recollecting my self again with a deep sigh I said I would obey her though the place she had nam'd had in it horrors for me which nothing but her commands could perswade me to engage my self in She seem'd at this declaration to be as much surpriz'd as I had been at what constrain'd me to make it which made her conjure me to inform her what high cause of aversion I had for that place and since I had that I would but land her on any shore which obeyed Mithridates his Power Madam I reply'd the knowledg of what you desire will give me so deep a sadness and afford you so little satisfaction that if it may not displease you I should implore your revoking that command which yet if you do not I shall obey it but I must beg your pardon if I observe not your last orders for since they concern my particular I should be too unworthy your Care should I accept of it Then pausing a little and recollecting my self I thus continued No Madam upon more serious consideration I am now so far from being troubled at my going to the Pontick Court and at my detestation of it and perhaps of Mithridates person that I passionately wish if it were possible that the cause thereof were capable of accession that in that performance you might be convinc'd I have no consideration higher than to serve the fair Mithridatia I found her a little troubled at what I had spoken but finding I was unalterable in my resolution of waiting on her thither she at length assented to my doing so and we steer'd our course towards Nicomedia to which place we had arriv'd in two days had that obliging gale which then follow'd us continued so long But it was soon forc'd to give place to a raging North-East wind against which we strugled two days and one night but then it became so uncontroulable and furious that the Pilot forsook the Helm and we soon after our hopes this was about an hour before day During all the extremity of the storm I had declin'd giving the fair Mithridatia any full intimation of her danger that if the gods had deliver'd us out of it she might have been exempted in some measure from the apprehensions of it but now that the longer concealment of our condition might have proved a greater crime than civility I went trembling to the Stern-Cabbin and having desired and obtained the permission of coming in having first acquainted her of the danger with a dejected countenance I told her The gods are my witnesses Madam that the loss of my Life would be my satisfaction if thereby the eminent hazard yours is in might cease but we are now involved in a ruin where neither the actings of Courage nor the sacrificing my self for your safety can any way purchase the ambition'd end My grief at these words rudely disabled me from speaking more which gave the fair Mithridatia an invitation thus to answer me That death generous Callimachus which you are so sensible of merits not your sorrow which might upon a general account be more justly employ'd for your own loss than for mine the World will lose by me but a person who has hitherro given neither much hope nor any evincement of becoming considerable but by you it will be deprived of so much both by expectation and evidence that your private loss may truly be lamented as a publick one but when ever the gods do call us we ought to resign our selves as willingly to death as we would enjoy the felicities of life if they do assign us those for our portion else we follow not their will but ours and serve not them but our selves These words so obliging to me and religious in themselves made me resign all my fears to admiration from which I was soon recall'd by a hideous cry in the Galley by which I too soon and too clearly knew the Vessel was founder'd had struck or sprung some greedy Leak The horror of the noise and danger made me forget all respect so that taking Mithridatia in my arms from off a bed on which she lay in her clothes I carried her on the deck whither I was no sooner come but the conquer'd Galley open'd in the middle and left us to the mercy of an Enemy which she found had none I was unalterably determin'd to carry what I held on shore or dye in the attempting my highest inclination and duty Thrice by the fury of the Sea the fair Mithridatia was struck out of my arms and thrice I recover'd her again but at last my strength failed me and though I yeilded to few in the world in the art of swimming yet in such mountains of water so much obscurity and being confin'd to save another I was much more concern'd for than I was for my self my spirits were so diminish'd that I look'd for no more than to find my burial in that Enemy from whom I receive my death happy only in this That I should not outâ— live a loss that I much more apprehended than death and that mine should be serving nay expiring in the arms of a person of as high a vertue as beauty But the gods who often delight to cast us into dangers the more to endear that mercy which relieves us out of them and to make us think upon a better place by seeing the uncertainties of this sent a plank of the broken Galley to me just in that moment of time upon which with very much difficulty I got and had by that help a little leisure to recover my breath and strength but finding both were too great a load for it I begg'd the fair Mithridatia having first acquainted her therewith not to quit her hold whilst I would swim by it and endeavour to shove it to land which then by the dawn of the morning I discover'd not a furlong from us But that generous person conjur'd me not out of a vain hope of saving two lives to forsake almost a certainty of saving one Ah Madam I repli'd I beseech you do not hope to invite me to save my life by an action which will render me unworthy of it nor think me capable of a performance which if you believ I am you must deny me that esteem which next to your safety I value above all things else no Madam I am unmovably resolv'd to bring you out of this danger or to share in that Fate I want power to alter Thereupon sliding from the Plank I began to thrust it toward the shore where at length through many hazards we arrived the sea and the wind which had brought us to that extremity now contributing to the freeing of us
your condition to mine you but fear that loss which I have already suffer'd 'T is true said she that had first spoken but then you are to consider though the generous Prince you have lost possessed your affection yet there is a generous Prince living who deserves it and who you have confess'd had a juster title to it than he which by death has now lost it You are Madam a felicity great enough for two and therefore the gods have destin'd you to reward those two which have best merited it Oh gods Madam the other repli'd Be pleased not to wound me afresh with such remembrances mine being a grief which if it be to be conquered will be better so by time than by discourse I know not said the young Gentleman what others may do hereafter but for the present I pretend so great an interest in you both and you daily give me such evincements of it that if either of your former Lovers should chance to see it they would conclude me more happy than they could expect to be and think I had took too large a possession to be cast out of it or possibly that 't were vvorth their pain to do it But since your discourses rob you of your quiet and that sleep may restore you to it I vvould move you till the return of your Servant to endeavour to take all this place vvill afford you This motion being relished by both he took off a loose garment he had on and spreading it upon the ground the two Ladies and he laid themselves upon it and having all of them embraced each other endeavoured in that posture to find a repose which the distemper of their bodies but much more those of their minds did render so necessary All the while these lovely Strangers were thus discoursing and thus doing Artabbanes and Artavasdes were in transports higher than till then they had ever been acquainted with for though many things in those two Ladies resembled Parthenissa and Altezeera yet their voices did it in such perfection that our Heroes were often going openly to have resolved their doubts and had certainly done so if their immodest kisses and embraces had not assured them of thelr mistake Artabbanes could much sooner believe his Princess was revived than that she should be unchast and Artavasdes as perfect a Lover as he was could easilier believe that another might be like Altezeera than that she could do things so unlike her self so that whatever hopes or thoughts their ears and sight had given them were destroyed by the actions of those two fair Strangers A thousand times they ran over all the words they had spoke and though they found therein something which might have come from their two Princesses had the one been living and the other in that place yet other parts of it had so little connection with those that the repetitions they made served rather to encrease their wonder than resolve their doubts sometimes also they believed it a delusion of the Devil 's who conspiring with Fortune endeavoured in this last essay to conquer Constancies which till then they could never but assault They were sometimes too about to try if they could see their Faces plainly which during their discourse they had but imperfect glimpses of But those resolutions soon vanished for to think those could be Parthenissa and Altezeera which had done such strange things would have appeared as admirable in our Heroes as that very Immodesty would have done in their Princesses But Callimachus who perceived their disorders and who being the least interessed was the fittest to counsel them advised they would leave Symander in that concealment from whence they had made their discovery and that they themselves would retire to a shade at a farther distance where they might take some refreshment and the better consider and advise what was to be done when Symander should bring notice of their being awake This proposal was no sooner made than accepted of and our two Heroes with Callimachus went to a place within sight of the first where having received a refreshment more proportionate to the Prince of Venus's Priest than the place they conjur'd him to prosecute his Story though what they had seen and heard gave them impatiencies which nothing but their desires of knowing so generous a Friend's Fortunes could have dispensed with Callimochus at length vanquished with their perswasions and believing the Strangers might employ as much time in sleep as he should in telling the remainder of his Adventures in these terms did begin where he had left off The End of the Fifth Part of the History of PARTHENISSA PARTHENISSA A ROMANCE THE SIXTH PART To Her Royal Highness the Princess Henrietta Maria Dutchess of Orleans and Daughter of England Madam WHen I had last the Honour to Wait on Your Royal Highness You ordered me to write another Part of Parthenissa and You gave me leave at the same time to Dedicate it to You. Only Your Commands Madam could have made me Undertake that Work And only Your Permission could have given me this confidence But since Your Royal Highness appointed me to Obey it was proportionate to Your Goodness to Protect me in my Obedience which this Dedication will For all my faults in this Book cannot be so great as His who shall Condemn what has been Written for You and is by Your own Allowance humbly addrest to You. Nothing less than Your Name could be my Sanctuary and nothing more than Your Name can make it inviolable If ever Your Royal Highness can give away so much of Your time as must be Imploy'd in reading this Tome You will find in it the Fairest the Greatest and the most Vertuous Princess of Asia so much divided between what She ows to her Quality and her Obedience and what She ows to Her Inclinations and Her Gratitude as possibly Your Royal Highness may oblige Her at once both with Your Pity and Your Kindness But Madam She has Commanded me to assure You That if You will Honour Her with the Last She will neither desire nor need the First Your Concernments for Her Misfortunes will put a Period to them since She cannot lament any Cause which will Produce for Her so Advantageous an Effect I did once design to have Ended Her story in this Book But the Vicissitudes of Her Fate were so many and so various that I could not confine it within so narrow a compass Nor was I Over-much solicitous to do it For since I limit my self in the main Events to the Truth of the History I was Apprehensive Madam that the ill Result of Her Destiny might have given You as much trouble as the ill Stile in which I should have related it But Madam rather than to Apologize for having Written no more I should humbly beg Your Pardon for having Written so much And since nothing can be a nobler Motive to forgive an Offence especially where the Person offended is equally merciful and
so near losing my life it had almost cost her her own for she fell into divers fits of swounding and the last was of so long a duration that Symander who stood by imagin'd she had led me the way to death but when she was recover'd from her seeming one she begg'd me with a throng of sighs and tears not to cast my self away out of an imagination I was miserable when really I was otherwise which if I would give her a little time to evince I should be assur'd it from Parthenissa Ah! sister I reply'd if you could perform what you say my recovery would be as certain and speedy as my death will be without it Dear Brother said Lindadory give me but one days respite and if I do not satisfie my engagement inflict on me what punishment you please and I will willingly endure it All the penance I reply'd which I will impose on you if you prevail not is That you will give me leave to die for then you cannot more oppose my doing so then my condition will require it While we were in this discourse one of my sisters servants came and acquainted her that Parthenissa was come to give her a visit Lindadory turning towards me told me softly receive this as an earnest from the gods of their future blessing who have doubtless sent her hither purposely to contract the time of your suspension Immediately after she went to her Chamber where Parthenissa was who perceiving by my sisters eyes as well as countenance that some grief sat upon her heart she told her Madam the place from whence you now came and the effect of some great sorrow which is too visible in your face makes me apprehend something of danger in your brother Would it might please the gods reply'd Lindadory that you would as soon apply the remedy to my grief as you have found out the occasion of it which if you will be but resembling to your power you may perform as easily as desire for my brothers danger is the cause of that effect you seem somewhat concerned in for though those wounds Ambixules gave him are very dangerous yet those you have given him are much more so and creates his and my greatest apprehension Therefore Madam consider the ruinous estate he 's in without the felicity of your Favour and receive this as a certain truth that unless you assure him of it now it will be too late to do it hereafter Give I beseech you to my prayers and his condition what I am confident you would hereafter to his services if he could live to pay you them and then gratitude will act in him what hope would Lidadory's reason and the sad extremity I was in furnish'd her with so many arguments both to move Parthenissa's judgment and pity that at last with much difficulty she acknowledg'd never to have had a higher esteem for any than for me and her inclinations wereof such a quality that by my services and fidelity I might in time procure no unfruitful return of them This declaration was as pleasing to Lindadory as my recovery for indeed it was in effect the same thing she begg'd her therefore to give me a visit and assure me of what she had then said Parthenissa would have left that employment to Lindadory but she excus'd herself by alledging it would be too good news to be credited from any but herself adding further that she might perform a visit of that high concernment with so much secrecy that none could ever discover it there being a back-stairs which went out of her Chamber into mine where no company then was least it might interrupt my rest and I am the more pressing in it continu'd Lindadory not onely as it will be the efficient cause of his preservation but that seeing him in the forlorn condition he is in you may never hereafter quarrel with your modesty for condescending to that now which if any longer delay'd would prove ineffectual Then without so much as seeming to suspect a refusal she took her by the hand and having led her into my Chamber she opened the Courtain and told me Brother I here present you with the rarest Physitian in all Asia whose skill I believe your very sight will convince you of I could not fancy that this rare Physitian was Parthenissa and knowing all others disability in my sickness I did not so much as turn my eyes that way but being somewhat offended that she who knew so well the nature of my disease should be so mistaken in the means of my cure I reply'd Sister I perceive that Parthenissa has rejected your Prayers and that you have as a last Essay brought this Physitian to practice on me as on a lost Patient but 't is in vain I that feel the power of her Beauty will never so much wrong the effects of it as to believe any can cure my wounds but she that made them let me therefore desire you to implore this last favor from her that before I die she would look upon the miserable Artabanes and give me leave once again to see that Beauty the cruel but fair cause of my Martyrdome which I have so much reason to hate and yet have more not to do it that she may hear how zealous I 'll pray for the preservation of my murderer and that she may live in joyes as great as she has the power to confer on me These sad words had a powerfull influence on Lindadory who fancying it a sin to jest so cruelly begg'd me to turn about with such earnestness that at last I did but great gods How was I surpriz'd My amazment was such that joy had lik'd to have perform'd what grief but begun Lindadory's raillery and this surprize was of very much use to Parthenissa who was so confus'd when she consider'd the action she had undertaken that though the time of her silence was long yet as she told me often since she was as long before she was able to speak to me but perceiving I was at least in an equal perplexity that did somewhat assure her and then approaching to my Beds-side she told me I am come to know Artabanes whether the power you said I had over you was a Civility or a Truth but I too visibly perceive it is onely the first or else your recovery before now had assur'd me the contrary Ah! Madam said I reproach me not the crime you your self make me commit for 't was not your commands alone could make me live but something added to them which I thought fitter and easier for you to imagine than I to name but your not taking notice of it alass did to too much and being depriv'd of my hopes I resolv'd under an appearance of cruelty to be merciful unto my self and by yielding to one death to free my self from a thousand Neither Madam can I think you will be offended at that Election since by disobeying you once I render my self for ever
uncapable of doing so again but by my obedince either your cruelty must have been as great as your Beauty or my sufferings would have far more troubl'd you then this one breach of your commands I perceive reply'd Parthenissa that you counterfeit an ignorance onely to extort a knowledge which is fitter for my blushes to assure you than my words but to evidence how great a power the Princess Lindadory has over me I do not only command you to live but shall judge of your passion by your obedience and reward it so too Alas Madam I reply'd must I then derive my Felicity from a third person and must the Means lessen the End To which Parthenissa presently answer'd Your scruples are much greater than their cause which intirely to remove I conjure you endeavour Recovery which effected I am confident I shall soon give that to your Merit which I now say I do to your Sisters Commands If I reply'd I must expect that Blessing by that Title onely from this moment I renounce all hope of it and therefore if you are not resolv'd of your self to confer it on me I beseech you let me dye otherwise you may be cruel in thinking not to be so Madam said Lindadora I beg you to receive these importunate effects as coming from a noble Cause a Love so perfect that nothing but a retribution which is so can confer on it any quiet and since you have thus far proceeded let not Words divert you when the Action does not but by assuring him you will be favourable preserve a life which I dare justify is wholly yours and as wholly depends upon what you shall now speak I know not reply'd Parthenissa pulling down her Veil to conceal her Blushes what to say but if what I have already spoken do not satisfy what you are pleas'd to undertake I will confirm Divine Parthenissa said I printing my burning Lips upon her Hand I desire no more and may Torments equal to your Hate if such could be found out fall on me if ever passion was so pure as mine or shall prove so constant After a thousand assurances of my Joy and Fidelity we heard Moneses knock at the door which occasion'd Parthenissa and Lindadory to retire softly the same way they came for we thought it not fit he should then know any thing of our affairs As soon as they were gone he came in and having enquired of my health which he found to be somewhat better'd he went away again In brief my speedy recovery being enjoyn'd me as an evincement of the greatness of my Flame I was so willing to embrace any thing might advance it that in a short time my wounds were fully heal'd and then every day I gave the fair Parthenissa so many new confirmations of my Passion that at last she assur'd me of hers I can truly affirm never two Hearts were more perfectly united than ours And if at any time so many perfections made my Desires rebel against my Reason she immediately supprest them with Reason which was not onely an argument of the vastness of her wit but of the proportionate power she had over me But why do I name the Felicities we possest in those glorious days when they were so short that the time that I have been telling you of them seems to me to be longer than they themselves were and when they do but serve to add unto miseries which are but too great already and are any other way uncapable of accession Fortune which has been always ingenious to persecute me no sooner acquainted me with the blessing of Parthenissa's Conversation then she sever'd me from it For there happened a difference betwixt Arsaces and Artabazus the King of Armenia concerning the bounds of their Kingdoms and as it is ordinary amongst Monarchs which are above the Laws to have immediate recourse to their Swords and make them both plead and determine their dispute so did they and by it engag'd all the Gallantry of both their Kingdoms I was ambitious to do something that might give me an interest in Parthenissa by my Actions and therefore resolved to undertake the Voyage I waited on her to acquaint her with my design and found her alone in her Cabinet as she confest to me afterwards preparing Arguments to divert me from that War which she apprehended my Honor would engage me in but I interrupted her thoughts by telling her Madam the joy of your Affection makes these Wars the way to Glory troublesome for Love delights in none but what it self creates Truly Artabanes she said you can shew me no greater nor pleasanter effects of your Flame than in observing what you now speak since in this one action we give and receive assurances of each others passion for I have sufficient proofs of yours when your Honour cannot vanquish your Love and when you care not to satisfy the World so I be pleas'd And you of mine when the highest condition that of your Glory cannot be of sufficient force to make your absence tollerable Alas Madam I reply'd how miserable am I then that must plead your Commands and make use of Arguments which if they prevail banish me from my Felicity and if they do not make me unworthy of it But since inevitably I must fall into one of these misfortunes I had rather embrace the first which though it make me perfectly wretched yet 't will extenuate your choice unto the World by evincing that the Man you elected to honour with your Affection valued not the hazarding of his life to merit it and since to the further manifestation of that Truth he dare expose himself to the miseries of absence who can suspect he will decline any other proof of it I now perceive said she Artabanes that you onely hitherto pretended a perfect Love for one that is so confines it self to the Object loved and makes the satisfying of it it 's onely end Alas had I stood upon these Niceties and not more consider'd you than the World you had never taken my Heart by Assault but by Siege To which I reply'd 'T is not onely Madam to please the World but to establish my Felicity in the Future for this War will every day create new occasions for my Rivals to purchase Glory and knowing your Justice to be equal to your other Perfections I would not by my idleness provoke yours so much to make me miserable But then it may be you will answer your inclination leads you to honour me with your esteem more than any other but I beseech you Madam consider how weak a Title that will appear when manifested Vertue shall come in competition with it No fair Parthenissa give me leave to act upon this Stage where I will do such things that if Merit could claim an interest in you you should be mine by right and I will no longer own the great opinion you have of me to your Goodness but your Justice Cruel Artabanes said Parthenissa have all
lost too much already and the Ghost of my Brother seems to reproach me for that remissness which my respect to you has made me guilty of to him Permit me therefore he continued advancing nearer the Princess to lead you from a sight which might but heighten your displeasure Touch me not said the fair Statira thy seeming care of me is a real cruelty to me Those impious hands which are to be imbrued in Callimachus's blood must not give me any assistance or if thou hast a respect for me shew it in obeying my Commands or in granting my desires of desisting from a Crime the gods will punish if Men would not Remember the condition thou art now in flying from Mithridates's justice which may make thee rationally fear thou may'st one day feel the highest effects of it Desist from this wickedness and I will engage to procure thee my Father's pardon not only a forgiveness for thy self but for all thy Companions and the remittal of all your Forfeitures Consider what it is to be eternally banish'd from your native Country from your Friends and from all that is dear unto you and to become Vagabonds eternally confin'd to an Element as merciless as thy self for Nicomedes has no place but his Navy on which to set his Foot I do not conjure thee not to bring me to thy King Keep me as Hostage there till what I have promised be performed I ask not for my self I ask for him who in serving me is render'd for ever unable to serve himself Thou needest but not to be wicked to be happy abstaining from one intended Crime shall procure thy patdon for every one thou hast acted No man except thy self but would lose all he has rather than perform that Sin which to buy thee from I offer thee all that thou hast lost But if all my commands my desires and my offers move thee not as I fear they will not for he that is Deaf to Virtue probably will be so to all things else carry thy Rage to the highest add to the Barbarity of giving new Wounds to a generous Person that is Dead and to the forcing away thy King's Daughter that of shedding her blood also for thy Sword can no way be so sensible to me as to see it employ'd against him Can you Madam possibly believe replyed the Nicomedian after having unmovedly heard all your Commands and with disdain pardon me if I must say so all your offers that only an Inhuman desire to shed Blood and not a virtuous Revenge inspires my now resolution And since I am acted by such a Principle in the name of all the gods Madam do no longer fruitlesly endeavour to hinder its effects were Callimachus as much Alive as you would perswade me he is Dead and from my own being Alive would thence have assured me he is Dead were he I say in the condition you wish him possibly his Courage would not have so long protected him as my respect to you has done He that at the Head of a victorious Army could not force a weak House till my Companions fear did more for him than his own Valour is not an Enemy so much to be fear'd as you would have me fear him nor a Friend so much to be esteemed as I perceive he has the honour to be esteemed by you Whilst the Princess continued Callimachus was by more than a Human goodness employing her words for one so highly unworthy of them Nerea had not only stopt the bleeding of that great Wound I had in my Side but also by casting water upon my Face and by several other things practised to one in a Swoon brought me out of that which too much Motion and too little Blood had cast me into and I was no sooner come to my self than confusedly remembring the danger the fair Statira had been in and not being able to imagine what the result of it had been fetching a deep groan Oh gods said I What is become of the Princess Those few words I spoke just as the Nicomedian had ended what I last related and were no sooner heard by him than crying out aloud Madam Does your Dead man speak He at the saâ—â— time struck a furious blow at me and said Take that as a Present sent thee from the Manes of my Brother The violence of the stroak was broken by the interposition of the Princess who finding now my Enemy had lost all respect to her and was carried away by a Deaf fury to my immediate destruction began now to conclude I should immediately be what she but fear'd I had been Nerea the better to afford me her help had set me up against the Stern of the Barge the place in which my strength had so fatally left me which was so narrow that whilst the Princess stood before me none could come on either side to me so that all the blows made at me were over her shoulder therefore more offensive to me being hinder'd at that price than had they all taken an unobstructed effect The Nicomedian's words and actions made me soon imagine what was doing and therefore looking about for my Sword more to punish his insolence to Statira than to defend or revenge my self I endeavour'd to get up but my Treacherous weakness cast me down again and left me to the rage of an insulting Enemy to which I had then been sacrificed had not the fair Statira by a prodigious Cruelty to her self finding all other ways unsuccessful cast her self upon me and by covering me with her Body render'd it an impossibility for the Nicomedian but by her Death to act mine Nerea also seizing with all her strength upon his Legs did so intangle him that he was not able to move one step to force Statira from the posture she was in This made him call to some of his Soldiers to tear that impediment from him and that safety from me who by striving to get up had open'd my Wound again and had thereby repeated my former fainting and therefore was not sensible either of my danger or of the felicity by which yet I was preserved from it The way of it being infinitely fuller of satisfaction than the end The Nicomedian's Soldiers ran to obey their Captain's command and having with much difficulty forced Nerea from from his Knees and with infinitely more rudeness forced the Princess off me lifting his Eyes up to Heaven and his Sword into the Air He cryed out Brother dear Brother accept of this Sacrifice the least that I owe thee and the greatest I can pay thee Statira by a loud shriek endeavour'd to stop his lifted-up Arm from falling on me or by it endeavoured to honour and lament my Death when on a sudden instead of seeing * the Nicomedians's Sword fall upon my Head she saw it fall out of his Hand and him soon after Dead at her Feet Possibly generous Princes continued Callimachus never any Man was so near Death and so strangely escaped it
I have not to make the deliverance seem the greater made the danger seem such for even in that very instant which was between the lifting up the Sword to kill me and the letting it fall for that effect an Arrow shot him through the Heart Statira has often told me she thought it came from Heaven as a Return to her prayers and tears But lest the truth might look like a Fiction permit me to tell you what will free it from that unhappiness The Barge we then were in was that Magnificent one which Mithridates himself commonly made use of when for his Divertisement he would take the Air in the Bay and because it was imbellished with much Gilt and admirable Painting it was kept in a House built on purpose for it upon Pillars some little distance from the shore lest the curiosity of the common people might injure it in either and therefore those to whose care it was committed had a small Skiff capable only to hold the Rowers of the Barge which were twenty in which as they had occasion they went to it and returned from it This Skiff when the Barge was thrust from the shore by the Nicomedians at my Arrival had only six Rowers ready to receive such as in their intended flight to Nicomedes's Fleet could not have room enough in the Barge the Water-men left in the Skiff seeing the Barge hasten away from whence only they could expect their relief were so amazed and terrified thereat that before they could resolve of any thing they were discovered by Demetrius and by his Orders secured He having seen my danger in having cast my self single amongst above twenty Armed men besides as many Rowers and ready at the time I did so to sink under my Wounds calling to him some of the nearest Officers ran with them to the Skiff and just as he was going to leap into it he fell down by the side of it for in the Fight he had received some Wounds which his zeal in my Service had not made him consider The decay of his strength was so great that it hardly gave him power to say hastily to Rebadates I recommend valiant Rebadates Statira and Callimachus's relief unto you which it seems the gods have esteemed me unworthy to contribute unto Fly then and lose no time lest you lose them Some Soldiers forthwith took up Demetrius and carried him to the next Help In the mean time Rebadates and ten more of his Companions leap'd into the Skiff and having not only promised the fearful Rowers their pardon but exceeding great rewards if they carried him time enough to relieve their Princess and me Those timorous Men tugg'd at their Oars so vigorously that Rebadates soon perceiv'd he went faster than those he pursued and therein he was not mistaken for those in the Barge both Rowers and Soldiers being out of all danger from the shore had been at first so intirely taken up with their common design of revenging their dead Captain and after they had been diverted from that by the Princess were so intent in observing what past between her and his Brother that thereby they made such slow way as a small Boat with few Rowers might easily overtake them Rebadates perceiving a far off the Barge full of Men for all in it standing up made it appear so to him he did esteem it advisable by a slight to supply the smallness of his number He therefore order'd the Rowers to continue their diligence and on their Lives by no word or signal to give any notice to their late Companions whowere in the Barge but rather if any question'd them before they came near they should answer they thought themselves happy they had only brought away themselves He then appointed all his Friends to keep themselves undiscovered by lying flat in the bottom of the Skiff with their Arms ready that as soon as ever they came to the stern of the Barge they might with all their Arrows salute the Enemy and second that Salutation by leaping in with their drawn Swords These directions were not more exactly observed than the whole design happily succeeded for of all that were in the Barge some were wholly taken up in the employment I already mentioned and others who looking towards the Skiff saw none in it but the known Rowers belonging to it troubl'd not themselves in asking any questions they might at leisure be resolved off This gave our Relief the opportunity they wished And Rebadates lying himself at the Head of the Skiff when he came near the stern of the Barge seeing a bloody Sword high in the Air was at once confounded and pleas'd at it this in a belief it gave him I still was alive since I alone was in the Barge to oppose them and that from an apprehension 't was so colour'd at my cost Therefore starting up with all his Companions just in that moment the Nicomedian was going to Kill me by a happy Arrow he killed him and springing into the Barge with his Friends he made such an execution amongst his Enemies that those of them who had escaped the first furies of it fled from the stern to the Head of the Barge and there but by defending themselves gave their Assaulters an encouragement which they needed not Whilst Rebadates was thus employing his Valour for my safety one of his Companions was employing his Art for the like end 'T was an Officer who had received so often and so many Wounds that by a dear experience he had no small Skill in the Cure of any which were Curable and because the duty of his Profession often called him unto danger and his Courage oftner he never went without things necessary about him for his own or his Friend's use and seeing me lye in that sad posture I was in and that the fair Statira and Nerea's help which they were honouring me with again was too small for a danger which seem'd so great observing also that his Companions had not so much need of his assistance as I He came to afford me his in so seasonable a time that he told the Princess though he could not warrant the event yet he did assure her Had his Service been never so little delay'd it could not but have proved fatal to me But whilst this obliging person was preserving me his Friends were destroying my Enemies in which they prov'd so successful that by that time I opened my Eyes I could see none of them in a posture of resistance though the last of them which had been so in a despair and expos'd himself to ten Swords that he might pass his own through Rebadates which he did but paid for that Wound by the loss of his Life yet Rebadates by that he had received fell and needed the assistance of that Friend as soon as I had received from him all which then he could afford me Several others of those Gentlemen by whose courage the Princess had receiv'd that deliverance I was