with these hexam eters in the following order he vttered Philisides Echo Faire Rocks goodly riuers sweet woods when shall I see peace Peace Peace what barrs me my tongue who is it that comes me so ny I. Oh! I do know what guest I haue mett it is Echo 't is Echo Well mett Echo aproche then tell me thy will too I will too Echo what do I gett yelding my sprite to my grieues Grieues What medecin may I finde for a griefe that draw's me to death Death O poisonous medecin what worse to me can be then it It. In what state was I then when I tooke this deadly disease Ease And what manner a mind which had to that humor a vaine Vaine Hath not Reason enough vehemence the desire to reproue Proue Oft proue I but what salue when Reason seeks to be gone One Oh! what is it what is it that may be a salue to my Loue Loue. What do louers seeke for long seeking for to enioy Ioy. What be the ioyes which for to enioy they went to the paines Paines Then to an earnest Loue what doth best victorie lend Ende End but I can neuer end loue will not giue me the leaue Leaue How be the minds dispos'd that can not tast thy physick Sick Yet say againe thy aduise forth ' eu'lls that I told thee I told thee Doth th' infected wretch of his harme th' extremity know No. But if he know not his â—arms what guides hath he whil'st he be blind Blind What blinde guides can he haue that leanes to a fancy A fancy Can fancies want eies or he fall that steppeth aloft Oft. What causes first made these torments on me to light Light Can then a cause be so light that forceth a man to go die Yea. Yet tell what light thinge I had in me to draw me to die Eye Eysight made me to yeelde but what first pierst to my eies Eies Eies hurters eies hurt but what from them to me fall's Fall's But when I first did fal what brought most fall to my hart Arte. Arte what can be that art that thou dost meane by thy speche Speche What be the fruites of speaking arte what growes by the words Words O much more then words those words seru'd more me to blesse Lesse Oh when shall I be knowne wher most to be knowne I do longe Long. Long be thy woes for such newes but how reck's she my thoughts Oughts Then then what do I gaine since vnto hir will I do winde Winde Winde tempests stormes yet in ende what giues she desire Ire Silly rewarde yet among women hath she of vertu the most Most What great name may I giue to so heau'nly a woman A woe-man Woe but seems to me ioy that agrees to my thought so I thought so Think so for of my desired blisse it is only the course Curse Curs'd be thy selfe for cursing that which leades me to ioies Toies What be the sweet creatures wher lowly demaunds be not heard Hard. What makes them be vnkind speake for th' hast narroly pride Pride Whence can pride come there since springs of beawty be thence Thence Horrible is this blasphemy vnto the most holy O lie Thou list false Echo their minds as vertu be iust Iust. Mock'st thou those Diamonds which only be matcht by the gods Ods. Ods what an ods is their since them to the heau'ns I prefer erre Tell yet againe me the names of these faire form'd to do eu'lls Deu'lls Deu'lls if in hell such deu'lls do a bide to the hells I do go Go. Philisides was commended for the placing of his Echo but little did hee regarde their praises who had sett the foundation of his honour there where hee was most despisde and therefore retorning againe to the traine of his desolate pensiuenes Zelmanes seing no body offer to fill the stage as if her long restrayned conceates did now burst out of prison she thus desiring her voice should be accorded to nothing but to Philocleas eares threw downe the burden of her minde in Anacreous kinde of verses My muse what ail's this ardour To blase my onely secretts Alas it is no glory To sing my owne decaid state Alas it is no comfort To speake without an answere Alas it is no wisdome To shew the wound without cure My muse what ail's this ardour Mine eys be dym my lyms shake My voice is hoarse my throte scerchte My tong to this my roofe cleaues My fancy amazde my thought dull'd My harte doth ake my life faints My sowle beginnes to take leaue So greate a passion all feele To think a soare so deadly I should so rashly ripp vp My muse what ail's this ardour If that to sing thou arte bent Go sing the fall of old Thebes The warres of ougly Centaurs The life the death of Hector So may the songe be famous Or if to loue thou art bent Rocount the rape of Europe Adonis end Venus nett The sleepy kisse the moone stale So may thy song be pleasant My muse what ail's this ardour To blase my onely secretts Wherein do only flowrish The sorry fruites of anguish The song thereof a last will The tunes be cryes the words plaints The singer is the songs theame When no eare can haue ioy Nor ey receaue due obiect Ne pleasure here ne fame gett My muse what ail's this ardour Alas she saith I am thine So are thy pains my pains too Thy heated harte my seat is Wherein I burne thy breath is My voice too hott to keepe in Besides lo here the auther Of all thy harmes Lo here she That only can redresse thee Of her I will demaund helpe My muse I yeeld my muse singe But all thy songe herein knitt The life we leade is all loue The loue we holde is all death Nor ought I craue to feede life Nor ought I seeke to shun death But onely that my goddesse My life my death do counte hers Basilius when shee had fully ended her song fell prostrate vpon the ground and thanked the Gods they had preserued his life so longe as to heare the very musicke they themselues vsed in an earthly body And then with like grace to Zelmane neuer left intreating her till she had taking a Lyra Basilius helde for her song these Phaâ—eâ—ciakes Reason tell me thy mind if here be reason In this strange violence to make resistance Where sweet graces erect the stately banner Of vertues regiment shining in harnesse Of fortunes Diademes by beauty mustred Say then Reason I say what is thy counsell Her loose haire be the shott the breaste the pykes be Skowts each motion is the hands be horsmen Her lipps are the riches the warres to maintaine Where well couched abides a coffer of pearle Her legges carriage is of all the sweet campe Say then Reason I say what is thy counsell Her cannons be her eys myne eys the walls be Which at firste voly gaue too open entry Nor ramper did abide my braine was vp blowne
possesseth thee But if thou wilt do it canst thou do it canst thou force thy hart Thinke with thy selfe if this man haue thee thou shalt neuer haue more part of Antiphilus then if he were dead But thus much more that the affection shal be still gnawing and the remorse still present Death perhaps will coole the rage of thy affection where thus thou shalt euer loue and euer lacke Thinke this beside if thou marrie Tiridates Antiphilus is so excellent a man that long he cannot be from being in some high place maried canst thou suffer that too If an other kill him he doth him the wrong if thou abuse thy body thou doost him the wrong His death is a worke of nature and either now or at another time he shal die But it shal be thy worke thy shamefull worke which is in thy power to shun to make him liue to see thy faith falsified and his bed defiled But when Loue had well kindled that partie of her thoughts then went he to the other side What said he O Erona and is thy Loue of Antiphilus come to that point as thou doost now make it a question whether he shall die or no O excellent affection which for too much loue will see his head off Marke well the reasons of the other side and thou shalt see it is but loue of thy selfe which so disputeth Thou canst not abide Tiridates this is but loue of thy selfe thou shalt be ashamed to looke vpon him afterward this is but feare of shame and loue of thy selfe thou shalt want him as much then this is but loue of thy selfe he shal be married if he be well why should that grieue thee but for loue of thy selfe No no pronounce these words if thou canst let Antiphilus die Then the images of each side stood before her vnderstanding one time she thought she saw Antiphilus dying an other time she thought Antiphilus sawe her by Tiridates enioyed twenty times calling for a seruaunt to carry message of yeelding but before he came the minde was altered She blusht when she considered the effect of granting she was pale when she remembred the fruits of denying For weeping sighing wringing her hands and tearing her haire were indifferent of both sides Easily she would haue agreed to haue broken all disputations with her owne death but that the feare of Antiphilus furder torments staied her At length euen the euening before the day apointed of his death the determination of yeelding preuailed especially growing vpon a message of Antiphilus who with all the coniuring termes he could deuise besought her to saue his life vpon any conditions But she had no sooner sent her messenger to Tiridates but her mind changed and she went to the two yong Princes Pyrocles and Musidorus falling downe at their feet desired them to try some way for her deliuerance shewing her selfe resolued not to ouer-liue Antiphilus nor yet to yeeld to Tiridates They that knew not what she had done in priuate prepared that night accordingly as sometimes it fals out that what is inconstancy seemes cunning so did this change indeed stand in as good steed as a witty dissimulation For it made the King as reckles as them diligent so that in the dead time of the night the Princes issued out of the towne with whom she would needs go either to die her selfe or reskew Antiphilus hauing no armour nor weapon but affection And I cannot tell you how by what deuise though Plangus at large described it the conclusion was the wonderfull valour of the two Princes so preuailed that Antiphilus was succoured and the King slaine Plangus was then the chiefe man left in the campe and therefore seeing no other remedie conueied in safety into her country Artaxia now Queene of Armenia who with true lamentations made known to the world that her new greatnes did no way comfort her in respect of her brothers losse whom she studied all meanes possible to reuenge vpon euery one of the occasioners hauing as she thought ouerthrowne her brother by a most abhominable treason In somuch that being at home she proclaimed great rewards to any priuate man and her selfe in mariage to any Prince that would destroy Pyrocles and Musidorus But thus was Antiphilus redeemed and though against the consent of all her nobility married to Erona in which case the two Greeke Princes being called away by an other aduenture left them But now me thinkes as I haue read some Poets who when they intend to tell some horrible matter they bid men shun the hearing of it so if I do not desire you to stop your eares from me yet may I wel desire a breathing time before I am to tell the execrable treason of Antiphilus that brought her to this misery and withall wish you all that from all mankind indeed you stop your eares O most happy were we if we did set our loues one vpon another And as she spake that word her cheekes in red letters writ more then her tongue did speake And therefore since I haue named Plangus I pray you sister said she helpe me with the rest for I haue held the stage long inough and if it please you to make his fortune knowne as I haue done Eronas I will after take hart againe to go on with his falshood and so betweene vs both my Ladie Zelmane shall vnderstand both the cause and parties of this Lamentation Nay I beshrow me then said Miso I will none of that I promise you as long as I haue the gouernmēt I wil first haue my tale then my Lady Pamela my Lady Zelmane my daughter Mopsa for Mopsa was then returned from Amphialus may draw cuts the shortest cut speake first For I tell you and this may be suffred when you are married you will haue first and last word of your husbands The Ladies laughed to see with what an eger earnestnesse she looked hauing threatning not onely in her Ferret eies but while she spake her nose seeming to threaten her chin her shaking lims one to threaten another But there was no remedy they must obey and Miso sitting on the ground with her knees vp and her hands vpon her knees tuning her voice with many a quauering cough thus discoursed vnto them I tell you true said she whatsoeuer you thinke of me you will one day be as I am I simple though I sit here thought once my pennie as good siluer as some of you do and if my father had not plaid the hasty foole it is no lie I tell you I might haue had an other-gaines husband then Dametas But let that passe God amend him and yet I speake it not without good cause You are full in your tittle tattlings of Cupid here is Cupid there is Cupid I will tell you now what a good old womā told me what an old wise man told her what a great learned clerke told him and gaue it him in writing and here I
humble gesture beare false witnesse for his true meaning that he found not onely souldiery but people weary of his gouernment and all their affections bent vpon Plangus Both he and the Queene concurring in strange dreames and each thing else that in a minde already perplexed might breed astonishment so that within a while all Plangus actions began to be translated into the language of suspition Which though Plâ—ngus found yet could he not auoid euen contraries being driuen to draw one yoke of argument if he were magnificent he spent much with an aspiring intent if he spared hee heaped much with an aspiring intent if hee spake curteously he angled the peoples harts if he were silent he mused vpon some daungerous plot In summe if hee could haue turned himselfe to as many formes as Proteus euery forme should haue bene made hideous But so it fell out that a meere trifle gaue them occasion of further proceeding The King one morning going to a vineyard that lay a long the hill where vpon his castle stood he saw a vine-labourer that finding a bowe broken tooke a branch of the same bowe for want of another thing and tied it about the place broken The King asking the fellow what he did Marry said he I make the sonne binde the father This word finding the King alredy supersticious through suspition amazed him streight as a presage of his owne fortune so that returning and breaking with his wife how much he misdoubted his estate she made such gaine-saying answeres as while they straue straue to be ouercome But euen while the doubtes most boiled she thus nourished them She vnder-hand dealt with the principall men of that country that at the great Parliament which was then to bee held they should in the name of all the estates perswade the King being now stept deeply into old age to make Plangus his associate in gouernment with him assuring them that not onely she would ioine with them but that the father himfelfe would take it kindly charging them not to acquaint Plangus withall for that perhaps it might be harmefull vnto him if the King should finde that he were a party They who thought they might do it not onely willingly because they loued him and truely because such indeed was the mind of the people but safely because she who ruled the King was agreed thereto accomplished her counsell she indeed keeping promise of vehement perswading the same which the more she and they did the more shee knew her husband woulde feare and hate the cause of his feare Plangus found this and humbly protested against such desire or will to accept But the more hee protested the more his father thought he dissembled accounting his integrity to be but a cuÌ„ning face of falshood and therefore delaying the desire of his subiects attended some fit occasion to lay hands vpon his sonne which his wife thus brought to passe She caused that same minister of hers to go vnto Plangus and enabling his words with great shew of faith and endearing them with desire of secresie to tell him that he found his ruine conspired by his stepmother with certaine of the noble men of that country the King himselfe giuing his consent and that few daies shoulde passe before the putting it in practize with all discouering the very truth indeede with what cunning his stepmother had proceeded This agreing with Plangus his owne opinion made him giue him the better credit yet not so far as to flie out of his country according to the naughty fellowes persuasion but to attend and to see further Whereupon the fellow by the direction of his mistresse told him one day that the same night about one of the clocke the King had appointed to haue his wife and those noble men together to deliberate of their manner of proceeding against Plangus and therefore offered him that if himselfe would agree hee woulde bring him into a place where hee should heare all that passed and so haue the more reason both to himselfe and to the world to seeke his safetie The poore Plangus being subiect to that onely disaduantage of honest harts credulitie was perswaded by him and arming himselfe because of his late going was closely conueied into the place appointed In the meane time his stepmother making al her gestures cuÌ„ningly counterfait a miserable affliction she lay almost groueling on the flower of her chaÌ„ber not suffering any body to comfort her vntill they calling for her husband and he held of with long enquiry at length she tolde him euen almost crying out euery word that she was wery of her life since shee was brought to that plunge either to conceale her husbands murther or accuse her sonne who had euer beene more deare then a sonne vnto her Then with many interruptions and exclamations she tolde him that her sonne Plangus solliciting her in the olde affection betweene them had besought her to put her helping hand to the death of the King assuring her that though all the lawes in the world were against it he would marrie her when he were King She had not fully said thus much with many pitifull digressioÌ„s when in comes the same fellow that brought PlaÌ„gus ruÌ„ning himself out of breath fell at the Kings feet beseeching him to saue himself for that there was a man with a sword drawen in the next roome The King affrighted weÌ„t out called his gard who entring the place fouÌ„d indeed Plangus with his sword in his hand but not naked but standing suspiciously inough to one already suspicious The King thinking hee had put vp his sworde because of the noise neuer tooke leasure to heare his answer but made him prisoner meaning the next morning to put him to death in the market place But the day had no sooner opened the eies eares of his friends followers but that there was a little army of them who came by force deliuered him although numbers on the other side abused with the fine framing of their report took armes for the King But Plangus though he might haue vsed the force of his friends to reuenge his wrong and get the crowne yet the naturall loue of his father and hate to make their suspition seeme iust caused him rather to choose a voluntarie exile then to make his fathers death the purchase of his life and therefore went he to Tiridates whose mother was his fathers sister liuing in his Court eleuen or twelue yeares euer hoping by his intercession and his owne desert to recouer his fathers grace At the end of which time the warre of Erona happened which my sister with the cause thereof discoursed vnto you But his father had so deeply engraued the suspition in his hart that he thought his flight rather to proceed of a fearefull guiltines then of an humble faithfulnes and therefore continued his hate with such vehemencie that he did euen hate his Nephew Tiridates and afterwardes his neece Artaxia because in their Court
because he would reuenge vpon him whom he knew we loued the losse of his brother thincking as indeede he had cause that wheresoeuer we were hearing of his extremitie we would come to relieue him in spite whereof he doubted not to preuaile not onely vpon the confidence of his owne vertue and power but especially because he had in his company two mighty Giants sonnes to a couple whom we slue in the same realme they hauing bene absent at their fathers death and now returned willingly entered into his seruice hating more then he both vs and that King of Pontus We therfore with all speede went thetherward but by the way this fell out which whensoeuer I remember without sorrow I must forget withall all humanitie Poore Daiphantus fell extreme sick yet would needs conquere the delicacie of her constitution and force her selfe to waite on me till one day going towarde Pontus we met one who in great hast went seeking for Tydeus and Telenor whose death as yet was not knowne vnto the messenger who being their seruaunt and knowing how deerely they loued Plexirtus brought them word how since their departing Plexirtus was in present daunger of a cruell death if by the valiantnesse of one of the best Knightes of the world he were not reskewed we enquired no further of the matter being glad he should now to his losse finde what an vnprofitable treason it had bene vnto him to dismember himselfe of two such friends and so let the messenger part not sticking to make him know his masters destruction by the falshood of Plexirtus But the griefe of that finding a bodie alreadie brought to the last degree of weakenesse so ouerwhelmed the little remnant of the spirits left in Daiphantus that she fell sodainely into deadly soundings neuer comming to her selfe but that withall she returned to make most pittifull lamentations most straunge vnto vs because we were farre from ghessing the ground thereof But finding her sicknesse such as began to print death in her eyes we made all hast possible to conuey her to the next towne but before we could lay her on a bed both we and she might find in herselfe that the harbingers of ouer-hastie death had prepared his lodging in that daintie body which she vndoubtedly feeling with a weake chearefulnes shewed comfort therein and then desiring vs both to come neere her and that no bodie els might be present with pale and yet euen in palenes louely lips Now or neuer and neuer indeed but now is it time for me said she to speake and I thanke death which giues me leaue to discouer that the suppressing whereof perchance hath bene the sharpest spur that hath hasted my race to this end Know then my Lords and especially you my Lord and master Pyrocles that your page Daiphantus is the vnfortunat Zelmane who for your sake caused my as vnfortunate louer and cosen Palladius to leaue his fathers court and consequētly both him and my Aunt his mother to loose their liues For your sake my selfe haue become of a Princesse a Page and for your sake haue put off the apparell of a woman and if you iudge not more mercifully the modestie We were amazed at her speach and then had as it were new eies giuē vs to perceiue that which before had bene a present strāger to our minds For indeed we forthwith knew it to be the face of Zelmane whō before we had knowen in the court of Iberia And sorrow pittie laying her paine vpon me I comforted her the best I could by the tendernes of good-will pretending indeed better hope then I had of her recouery But she that had inward ambassadors from the tyrant that shortly would oppresse her No my deere master said she I neither hope nor desire to liue I know you would neuer haue loued me and with that word she wept nor alas had it bene reason you should considering manie wayes my vnworthines It sufficeth me that the strange course I haue taken shall to your remembrance witnesse my loue and yet this breaking of my hart before I would discouer my paine will make you I hope thinke that I was not altogether vnmodest Thinke of me so deare Master and that thought shall be my life and with that languishingly looking vpon me And I pray you said she euen by these dying eies of mine which are onely sorrie to dye because they shall lose your sight and by these pouled lockes of mine which while they were long were the ornament of my sex now in their short curles the testimonie of my seruitude and by the seruice I haue done you which God knowes hath beene full of loue thinke of me after my death with kindnes though ye cannot with loue And whensoeuer ye shall make any other Ladie happie with your well placed affection if you tell her my folly I pray you speake of it not with scorne but with pittie I assure you deare Princesse of my life for how could it be otherwise her words and her manner with the liuely consideration of her loue so pearced me that though I had diuerse griefes before yet me thought I neuer felt till then how much sorow enfeebleth all resolution For I could not chuse but yeeld to the weakenes of abundant weeping in trueth with such griefe that I could willingly at that time haue chaunged liues with her But when she saw my teares O God said she how largely am I recompenced for my losses why then said shee I may take boldnesse to make some requests vnto you I besought her to doo vowing the performance though my life were the price thereof She shewed great ioy The first said she is this that you will pardon my father the displeasure you haue iustly conceiued against him and for this once succour him out of the daunger wherein he is I hope he will amend and I pray you whensoeuer you remember him to be the faultie Plexirtus remember withall that he is Zelmanes father The second is that when you come once into Greece you will take vnto your selfe this name though vnlucky of Daiphantus and vouchsafe to be called by it for so shall I be sure you shall haue cause to remember me and let it please your noble cousin to be called Palladius that I doo that right to that poore Prince that his name yet may liue vpon the earth in so excellent a person and so betwene you I trust sometimes your vnluckie page shall be perhaps with a sigh mencioned Lastly let me be buried here obscurely not suffering my friends to know my fortune till whē you are safely returned to your own countrie you cause my bones to be conueied thither and laid I beseech you in some place where your selfe vouchsafe sometimes to resort Alas small petitiōs for such a suter which yet she so earnestly craued that I was faine to sweare the accomplishment And then kissing me and often desiring me not to condemne her of lightnesse in mine armes she
hauing made a lawe of Polygamie after many tortures forst him to throw himselfe from a high Pyramis which was built ouer Tiridates tombe and so to end his false-harted life which had planted no strong thought in him but that he could be vnkinde But Plangus well perceiuing that Artaxia staied onely for the appointed day that the faire Eronas bodie consumed to ashes should make a notorious testimonie how deepely her brothers death was engrauen in her brest he assembled good numbers of friends whom his vertue though a stranger had tied vnto him by force to giue her libertie Contrariwise Artaxia to whom Anger gaue more courage then her sexe did feare vsed her regall authoritie the most she could to suppresse that sedition and haue her will which she thought is the most princely thing that may be But Plangus who indeede as all men witnes is one of the best captaines both for policie and valour that are trained in the schoole of Mars in a conflict ouerthrew Artaxias power though of far greater number and there toke prisoner a base sonne of her brothers whom she deerly affected and then sent her word that he should run the same race of fortune whatsoeuer it was that Erona did and happy was that threatning for her for els Artaxia had hastened the day of her death in respect of those tumults But now some principall noble-men of that countrie interposing themselues it was agreed that all persons els fullie pardoned and all prisoners except Erona deliuered she should be put into the hands of a principall nobleman who had a castle of great strength vpon oath that if by the day two yeare from Tiridates death Pyrocles and Musidorus did not in person combat and ouercome two knights whom she appointed to maintain her quarrell against Erona and them of hauing by treason destroyed her brother that then Erona should be that same day burned to ashes but if they came and had the victorie she should be deliuered but vpon no occasion neither freed nor executed till that day And hereto of both sides all toke solemne oath and so the peace was concluded they of Plangus partie forcing him to agree though he himselfe the sooner condiscended knowing the courtesie of those two excellent Princes not to refuse so noble a quarrell and their power such as two more like the other two were not able to resist But Artaxia was more and vpon better ground pleased with this action for she had euen newly receiued newes frō Plexirtus that vpon the sea he had caused them both to perish and therefore she held her selfe sure of the match But poore Plangus knew not so much and therefore seeing his partie as most times it falles out in like case hungry of any conditions of peace accepted them and then obteined leaue of the Lord that indifferently kept her to visite Erona whom he found full of desperate sorow not suffering neither his vnworthinesse nor his wrongs nor his death which is the naturall conclusion of all worldly acts either to couer with forgetfulnes or diminish with consideration the affection she had borne him but euen glorying in affliction and shunning all comfort she seemed to haue no delight but in making herselfe the picture of miserie So that when Plangus came to her she fell in deadlie traunces as if in him she had seene the death of Antiphilus because he had not succoured him and yet her vertue striuing she did at one time acknowledge her selfe bound and professe her selfe iniured in steede of allowing the conclusion they had made or writing to the Princes as he wisht her to doo crauing nothing but some speedie death to follow her in spite of iust hate beloued Antiphilus So that Plangus hauing nothing but a rauisht kisse from her hand at their parting went away toward Greece whetherward he vnderstoode the Princes were embarked But by the way it was his fortune to intercept letters written by Artaxia to Plexirtus wherein she signified her accepting him to her husband whom she had euer fauoured so much the rather as he had perfourmed the conditions of her mariage in bringing to their deserued end her greatest enemies withall thanking the sea in such tearmes as he might well perceiue it was by some treason wrought in Plexirtus shippe Whereupon to make more diligent search he tooke shippe himselfe and came into Laconia enquiring and by his enquirie finding that such a shippe was indeede with fight and fire perished none almost escaping But for Pyrocles and Musidorus it was assuredly determined that they were cast away for the name of such Princes especially in Greece would quickly els haue bene a large witnesse to the contrarie Full of griefe with that for the losse of such who left the world poore of perfection but more sorie for Eronas sake who now by them could not be relieued A new aduertisement from Armenia ouertooke him which multiplied the force of his anguish It was a message from the Noble-man who had Erona in ward giuing him to vnderstand that since his departure Artaxia vsing the benefite of time had besieged him in his castell demaunding present deliuery of her whom yet for his faith giuen he would not before the day appointed if possibly he could resist which he foresaw long he should not do for want of victuall which he had not so wisely prouided because he trusted vpon the generall oth taken for two yeares space and therefore willed him to make hast to his succour and come with no small forces for all they that were of his side in Armenia were consumed and Artaxia had encreased her might by mariage of Plexirtus who now crowned King there stickt not to glory in the murder of Pyrocles and Musidorus as hauing iust cause thereto in respect of the deaths of his sister Andromana her sonne his nephew and his owne daughter Zelmane all whose losse he vniustly charged them withall and now openly stickt not to confesse what a reuenge his wit had brought forth Plangus much astonished herewith bethought himselfe what to doo For to returne to Armenia was vaine since his friends there were vtterly ouerthrowne Then thought he of going to his father but he had already euen since the death of his stepmother and brother attempted the recouering his fauour and all in vaine For they that had before ioined with Andromana to do him the wrong thought now no life for them if he returned and therefore kept him still with new forged suspicions odious to his father So that Plangus reseruing that for a worke of longer time then the sauing of Erona could beare determined to goe to the mighty and good King Euarchus who lately hauing to his eternall fame fully not onely conquered his enemies but established good gouernment in their countries he hoped he might haue present succour of him both for the iustnes of the cause reuenge of his childrens death by so hainous a treason murthered Therefore with diligence he went to him by
feele the comfort of the morning Turnde to the mortall serene of an euening Klaius Me seemes I see a filthy clowdie euening As soone as Sunne begins to clime the mountaines Me seemes I feele a noysome sent the morning When I doo smell the flowers of these vallies Me seemes I heare when I doo heare sweete musique The dreadfull cries of murdred men in forrests Strephon. I wish to fire the trees of all these forrests I giue the Sunne a last farewell each euening I curse the fidling finders out of musicke With enuie I doo hate the loftie mountaines And with dispite despise the humble vallies I doo detest night euening day and morning Klaius Curse to my selfe my praier is the morning My fire is more then can be made with forrests My state more base then are the basest vallies I wish no euenings more to see each euening Shamed I hate my selfe in sight of mountaines And stoppe mine eares lest I grow mad with musicke Strephon. For she whose parts maintainde a perfect musique Whose beautie shin'de more then the blushing morning Who much did passe in state the stately mountaines In streightnes past the Cedars of the forrests Hath cast me wretch into eternall euening By taking her two Sunnes from these darke vallies Klaius For she to whom compar'd the Alpes are vallies She whose lest word brings from the spheares their musique At whose approche the Sunne rose in the euening Who where she went bare in her forhead morning Is gone is gone from these our spoyled forrests Turning to desarts our best pastur'de mountaines Strephon. These mountaines witnesse shall so shall these vallies These forrests eke made wretched by our musique Klaius Our morning hymne is this and song at euening But as though all this had bene but the taking of a taste of their wailings Strephon againe begā this Dizaine which was answered vnto him in that kind of verse which is called the crowne Strephon. Klaius Strephon. I Ioy in griefe and doo detest all ioyes Despise delight am tyr'd with thought of ease I turne my minde to all formes of annoyes And with the chaunge of them my fancie please I studie that which may me most displease And in despite of that displeasures might Embrace that most that most my soule destroyes Blinded with beames fell darkenes is my sight Dwell in my ruines feede with sucking smarte I thinke from me not from my woes to parte Klaius I thinke from me not from my woes to parte And loth this time call'd life nay thinke that life Nature to me for torment did emparte Thinke my harde haps haue blunted deaths sharpe knife Not sparing me in whom his workes be rife And thinking this thinke nature life and death Place Sorrowes triumph on my conquerd harte Whereto I yeeld and seeke none other breath But from the sent of some infectious graue Nor of my fortune ought but mischieue craue Strephon. Nor of my fortune ought but mischieue craue And seeke to nourish that which now containes All what I am if I my selfe will saue Then must I saue what in me chiefely raignes Which is the hatefull web of sorrowes paines Sorrow then cherish me for I am sorrow No being now but sorrowe I can haue Then decke me as thine owne thy helpe I borrowe Since thou my riches art and that thou haste Enough to make a fertill minde lie waste Klaius Enough to make a fertill minde lie waste Is that huge storme which powres it selfe on me Hailestones of teares of sighes a monstrous blast Thunders of cries lightnings my wilde lookes be The darkned heau'n my soule which nought can see The flying sprites which trees by rootes vp teare Be those despaires which haue my hopes quite wast The difference is all folkes those stormes forbeare◠But I cannot who then my selfe should flie So close vnto my selfe my wrackes doo lie Strephon. So close vnto my selfe my wrackes doo lie Both cause effect beginning and the ende Are all in me what helpe then can I trie My ship my selfe whose course to loue doth bende Sore beaten doth her mast of comfort spend Her cable Reason breakes from anchor Hope Fancie her tackling torne away doth flie Ruine the winde hath blowne her from her scope Brused with waues of Cares but broken is On rocke Despaire the buriall of my blisse Klaius On rocke Despaire the buriall of my blisse I long do◠plowe with plough of deepe desire The seed Fast meaning is no truth to misse I harow it with Thoughts which all conspire Fauour to make my chiefe and onely hire But woe is me the yeare is gone about And now I faine would reape I reape but this Hatefully growne Absence new sprongen out So that I see although my sight empaire Vaine is their paine who labour in despaire Strephon. Vaine is their paine who labour in despaire For so did I when with my angle Will I sought to catch the fish Torpedo faire Eu'n then Despaire did Hope already kill◠Yet fancie would perforce employ his skill And this hath got the catcher now is caught Lamde with the angle which it selfe did beare And vnto death quite drownde in dolours brough◠To death as then disguisd in her faire face Thus Thus alas I had my losse in chase Klaius Thus Thus alas I had my losse in chase When first that crowned Basiliske I knewe Wose footesteps I with kisses oft did trace Till by such hap as I must euer rue Mine eyes did light vpon her shining hue And hers on me astonisht with that sight Since then my hart did loose his wonted place Infected so with her sweet poysons might That leauing me for dead to her it went But ah her flight hath my dead reliques spent Strephon. But ah her flight hath my dead reliques spent Her flight from me from me though dead to me Yet liuing still in her while her beames lent Such vitall sparke that her mine eyes might see But now those liuing lights absented be Full dead before I now to dust shall fall But that eternall paines my soule haue hent And keepe it still within this body thrall That thus I must while in this death I dwell In earthly fetters feele a lasting hell Klaius In earthly fetters feele a lasting hell Alas I doo from which to finde release I would the earth I would the heauens sell. But vaine it is to thinke these paines should cease Where life is death and death cannot breed peace O faire ô onely faire from thee alas These foule most foule desastres to me fell Since thou from me o me ô Sunne didst passe Therefore esteeming all good blessings toyes I ioy in griefe and doo detest all ioyes Strephon. I ioy in griefe and doo detest all ioyes But now an ende O Claius now an ende For euen the hearbes our hatefull musique stroyes And from our burning breath the trees do bende So well were these wailefull complaints accorded to the passions of all the princely hearers while euery one
the discord of the nobilitie and when other cause fayled him the nature of chaunce serued as a cause vnto him and sometimes the hearing other men speake valiantly and the quietnesse of his vnassailed senses woulde make himselfe beleue that hee durst doo something But now that present daunger did display it selfe vnto his eye and that a daungerous dooing must be the onely meane to preuent the danger of suffering one that had marked him woulde haue iudged that his eies would haue run into him and his soule out of him so vnkindly did either take a sent of daunger He thought the lake was too shallow and the walles too thin he misdouted ech mans treason and coniectured euery possibilitie of misfortune not onely fore-casting likely perils but such as all the planets together coulde scarcely haue conspired and already began to arme him selfe though it was determined he should tarrie within doores and while he armed himselfe imagined in what part of the vault he would hide himselfe if the enimies wonne the castle Desirous he was that euery body should do valiantly but himselfe and therefore was afraid to shew his feare but for very feare would haue hid his feare lest it shoulde discomfort others but the more he sought to disguize it the more the vnsutablenes of a weake broken voice to high braue wordes and of a pale shaking countenance to a gesture of animating did discouer him But quite contrarily Amphialus who before the enimies came was carefull prouidently diligent not somtimes with out doubting of the issue now the nearer danger approched like the light of a glow-worme the lesse still it seemed and now his courage began to boile in choler and with such impatience to desire to powre out both vpon the enimie that he issued presently into certaine boates he had of purpose and carying with him some choise men went to the fortresse he had vpon the edge of the lake which hee thought would bee the first thing that the enimy woulde attempt because it was a passage which commanding all that side of the country and being lost would stop victuall or other supply that might be brought into the castle in that fortresse hauing some force of horsemen he issued out with two hundred horse fiue hundred footmen embushed his footmen in the falling of a hill which was ouer shadowed with a wood he with his horsmen went a quarter of a mile further aside hand of which he might perceaue the many troupes of the enimie who came but to take view where best to encampe themselues But as if the sight of the enimie had bene a Magnes stone to his courage he could not containe himselfe but shewing his face to the enimie and his backe to his souldiers vsed that action as his onely oration both of denouncing warre to the one and perswading help of the other Who faithfully following an example of such authoritie they made the earth to grone vnder their furious burden and the enimies to begin to be angry with them whom in particular they knew not Among whom there was a young man youngest brother to Philanax whose face as yet did notbewray his sex with so much as shew of haire of a minde hauing no limits of hope nor knowing why to feare full of iollitie in conuersation and lately growne a Louer His name was Agenor of all that armie the most beautifull who hauing ridden in sportfull conuersation among the foremost all armed sauing that his beauer was vp to haue his breath in more freedome seing Amphialus come a pretty way before his cōpany neither staying the commaundement of the captaine nor recking whether his face were armed or no set spurs to his horse and with youthfull brauerie casting his staffe about his head put it then in his rest as carefull of comely carying it as if the marke had beene but a ring and the lookers on Ladies But Amphialus launce was already come to the last of his descending line and began to make the ful point of death against the head of this young Gentleman when Amphialus perceyuing his youth and beautie Compassion so rebated the edge of Choller that hee spared that faire nakednesse and let his staffe fal to Agenors vampalt so as both with braue breaking should hurtleslie haue perfourmed that match but that the pittilesse launce of Amphialus angry with being broken with an vnlucky counterbuffe ful of vnsparing splinters lighted vpon that face farre fitter for the combats of Venus geuing not onely a suddaine but a fowle death leauing scarsely any tokens of his former beautie but his hands abandoning the reynes and his thighes the saddle hee fell sidewarde from the horse Which sight comming to Leontius a deere friende of his who in vaine had lamentably cried vnto him to stay when he saw him beginne his careere it was harde to say whether pittie of the one or reuenge against the other helde as then the soueraigntie in his passions But while hee directed his eye to his friende and his hinde to his enimie so worngly-consorted a power coulde not resist the ready minded force of Amphialus who perceyuing his il-directed direction against him so paide him his debt before it was lent that hee also fell to the earth onely happy that one place and one time did finish both their Loues and liues together But by this time there had bene a furious meeting of either side where after the terrible salutation of warlike noyse the shaking of handes was with sharpe weapons some launces according to the mettall they mett and skill of the guider did staine themselues in bloud some flew vp in pieces as if they would threaten heauen because they fayled on earth◠But their office was quickly inherited either by the Prince of weapons the sworde or by some heauy mase or biting axe which hunting still the weakest chase sought euer to light there wher smallest resistance might worse preuent mischiefe The clashing of armour and crushing of staues the iustling of bodies the resounding of blowes was the first parte of that ill-agreeing musicke which was beautified with the griselinesse of woundes the rising of dust the hideous falles and grones of the dying The very horses angrie in their masters anger with loue and obedience brought foorth the effects of hate and resistance and with minds of seruitude did as if they affected glorie Some lay deade vnder their dead maisters whome vnknightly wounds had vniustly punished for a faithfull dutie Some lay vppon their Lordes by like accidents and in death had the honour to be borne by them whom in life they had borne Some hauing lost their commaunding burthens ranne scattered about the fielde abashed with the madnesse of mankinde The earth it selfe woont to be a buriall of men was nowe as it were buried with men so was the face thereof hidden with deade bodies to whom Death hade come masked in diuerse manners In one place lay disinherited heades dispossessed of their naturall seignories in an
other whole bodies to see to but that their hartes wont to be bound all ouer so close were nowe with deadly violence opened in others fowler deaths had ouglily displayed their trayling guttes There lay armes whose fingers yet mooued as if they would feele for him that made them feele and legges which contrarie to common reason by being discharged of their burden were growne heauier But no sword payed so large a tribute of soules to the eternall Kingdome as that of Amphialus who like a Tigre from whome a companie of Woolues did seeke to rauish a newe gotten pray so he remembring they came to take away Philoclea did labour to make valure strength choller and hatred to answere the proportion of his loue which was infinit There died of his handes the olde knight AEschylus who though by yeares might well haue beene allowed to vse rather the exercises of wisedome then of courage yet hauing a lustie bodie and a merrie hart he euer tooke the summons of Time in iest or else it had so creepingly stollen vpon him that he had heard scarcely the noise of his feete and therefore was as fresh in apparell and as forwarde in enterprises as a farre yonger man but nothing made him bolder then a certaine prophecie had beene tolde him that he shoulde die in the armes of his sonne and therefore feared the lesse the arme of an enemie But now when Amphialus sword was passed through his throate he thought himselfe abused but that before he died his sonne indeede seeing his father beginne to fall helde him vp in his armes till a pitilesse souldier of of the other side with a mace brained him making father sonne become twinnes in the neuer againe dying birth As for Drialus Memnon Nisus and Policrates the first had his eyes cut out so as he could not see to bid the neare following death welcome the seconde had met with the same Prophet that olde AEschylus had and hauing founde many of his speeches true beleeued this to that hee should neuer bee killed but by his owne companions and therefore no man was more valiant then he against an enimie no man more suspicious of his friends so as he seemed to sleep in securitie when he went to a battell and to enter into a battaile when he began to sleepe such guards he would set about his person yet mistrusting those verie guards lest they would murther him But now Amphialus helped to vnriddle his doubtes for he ouerthrowing him from his horse his owne companions comming with a fresh supplie pressed him to death Nisus grasping with Amphialus was with a short dagger slaine And for Policrates while hee shunned as much as hee could keeping onely his place for feare of punishment Amphialus with a memorable blowe strake of his head where with the conuulsions of death setting his spurres to his horse he gaue so braue a charge vpon the enemie as it grewe a prouerbe that Policrates was onely valiant after his head was off But no man escaped so well his handes as Phebilus did for hee hauing long loued Philoclea though for the meannesse of his estate he neuer durst reueale it nowe knowing Amphialus setting the edge of a riuall vpon the sworde of an enemie he helde strong fight with him But Amphialus had already in the daungerousest places disarmed him and was lifting vp his sworde to send him away from himselfe when he thinking indeede to die O Philoclea said he yet this ioyes mee that I die for thy sake The name of Philoclea first staied his sworde and when he heard him out though heabhord him much worse then before yet could he not vouchsafe him the honour of dying for Philoclea but turned his sworde another way doing him no hurt for ouer-much hatred But what good did that to poore Phebilus if escaping a valiant hand hee was slaine by base souldiour who seeing him so disarmed thrust him through But thus with the well-followed valure of Amphialus were the other almost ouerthrowne when Philanax who was the marshall of the army came in with newe force renuing the almost decayed courage of his souldiers For crying to them and asking them whether their backes or their armes were better fighters hee himselfe thrust into the presse and making force and furie waite vppon discretion and gouernement he might seeme a braue Lion who taught his yong Lionets how in taking of a pray to ioine courage with cunning Then Fortune as if shee had made chases inow of the one side of that bloody Teniscourt went of the other side the line making as many fall downe of Amphialus followers as before had done of Philanaxis they loosing the ground as fast as before they had woon it onely leauing them to keepe it who had lost themselues in keeping it Then those that had killed inherited the lot of those that had bene killed and cruel Deaths made them lie quietly to gether who most in their liues had sought to disquiet ech other and many of those first ouerthrowne had the comfort to see the murtherers ouerrun them to Charons ferrie Codrus Ctesiphon and Milo lost their liues vpon Philanax his sword but no bodies case was more pitied then of a yong esquire of Amphialus called Ismenus who neuer abandoning his maister and making his tender age aspire to actes of the strongest manhoode in this time that his side was put to the worst and that Amphialus-his valure was the onely stay of them from deliuering themselues ouer to a shamefull flight hee sawe his masters horse killed vnder him Whereupon asking no aduise of no thought but of faithfulnes and courage he presently lighted from his owne horse and with the helpe of some choise and faithfull seruants gat his master vp But in the multitude that came of either side some to succour some to saue Amphialus hee came vnder the the hande of Philanax and the youth perceyuing he was the man that did most hurt to his partie desirous euen to change his life sor glorie strake at him as hee rode by him and gaue him a hurt vpon the legg that made Philanax turn towards him but seing him so yong and of a most louely presence he rather toke pity of him meaning to make him prisoner then to giue him to his brother Agenor to be his companion because they were not much vnlike neither in yeeres nor countenance But as he loked down vpon him with that thought he spied wher his brother lay dead his friend Leontius by him euen almost vnder the squiers feet Then soroing not only his owne sorow but the past-comfort sorow which he fore-knew his mother would take who with many teares and misgiuing sighs had suffred him to go with his elder brother Philanax blotted out all figures of pitie out of his minde and putting foorth his horse while Ismenus doubled two or three more valiant then well set blowes saying to himselfe Let other mothers bewaile and vntimely death as well as mine hee thrust
armour and deuice streight knowne to be the notable Knight who the first day had giuen Fortune so short a stoppe with his notable deedes and fighting hand to hand the deemed inuincible Amphialus Fonthe very cowardes no sooner saw him but as borrowing some of his spirit they went like yong Eagles to the pray vnder the wing of their damme For the three aduenturers not content on For her exceeding faire eyes hauing with continual weeping gotten a little rednesse about them her roundy sweetly swelling lippes a little trembling as though they kissed their neighbour death in her cheekes the whitenesse striuing by little little to get vpoÌ„ the rosines of theÌ„ her necke a necke indeed of Alablaster displaying the wound which with most daintie blood laboured to drowne his owne beauties so as here was a riuer of purest redde there an Iland of perfittest white each giuing lustre to the other with the sweete countenance God-knowes full of an vnafected languishing though these thinges to a grosly conceauing sense might seeme disgraces yetâ—indeed were they but apparaling beautie in a new fashion which all looked-vpon thorough the spectacles of pittie did euen encrease the lynes of her naturall fairenes so as Amphialus was astonished with griefe compassion and shame detesting his fortune that made him vnfortunate in victory Therefore putting off his headpeece and gauntlet kneeling downe vnto her and with teares testifying his sorow he offred his by himselfe accursed handes to helpe her protesting his life and power to be readie to doo her honour But Parthenia who had inward messingers of the desired deathes approch looking vpon him and streight turning away her feeble sight as from a delightlesse obiect drawing out her words which her breath loath to departe from so sweet a bodie did faintly deliuer Sir said she I pray you if prayers haue place in enemies to let my maides take my body vntouched by you the onely honour I now desire by your meanes is that I haue no honour of you Argalus made no such bargaine with you that the handes which killed him shoulde helpe me I haue of them and I doo not onely pardon you but thanke you for it the seruice which I desired There rests nothing now but that I go liue with him since whose death I haue done nothing but die Then pawsing and a little fainting and againe comming to herselfe O sweete life wel come saide she nowe feele I the bandes vntied of the cruell death which so long hath helde me And O life O death aunswere for mee that my thoughts haue not so much as in a dreame tasted any comfort since they were depriued of Argalus I come my Argalus I come And O God hide my faultes in thy mercies and graunt as I feele thou doost graunt that in thy eternall loue we may loue eche other eternally And this O Lorde But there Atropos cut off her sentence for with that casting vp both eyes and hands to the skies the noble soule departed one might well assure himselfe to heauen which left the bodie in so heauenly a demeanure But Amphialus with a hart oppressed with griefe because of her request withdrewe himselfe but the Iudges as full of pitie had bene al this while disarming her and her gentelwomen with lamentable cries laboring to stanch the remediles wounds and a while she was dead before they perceiued it death being able to diuide the soule but not the beauty from that body But when the infallible tokens of death assured them of their losse one of the women would haue killed her selfe but that the squire of Amphialus perceauing it by force held her Others that had as strong passion though weaker resolution fell to cast dust vppon their heads to teare their garments al falling vpon the earth crying vpon their sweet mistres as if their cries could perswade the soule to leaue the celestiall happines to come againe into the elements of sorrow one time calling to remembrance her vertue chastnes sweetnes goodnes to them another time accursing themselues that they had obeyed her they hauing bene deceaued by her words who asâ—ured theÌ„ that it was reuealed vnto her that she should haue her harts desire in the battaile against Amphialus which they wrongly vnderstood Then kissing her cold hands and feete wearie of the world since she was gone who was their world The very heauens seemed with a cloudie countenance to loure at the losse and Fame it selfe though by nature glad to tell such rare accidents yet could not choose but deliuer it in lamentable accents and in such sort went it quickly all ouer the Campe and as if the aire had bene infected with sorow no hart was so hard but was subiect to that contagion the rarenes of the accideÌ„t matching together the rarely matched together pittie with admiration Basilius himselfe came foorth and brought the faire Gynecia with him who was come into the campe vnder colour of visiting her husband and hearing of her daughters but indeed Zelmane was the Sainct to which her pilgrimage was entended cursing enuying blessing and in her hart kissing the walles which imprisoned her But both they with Philanax and the rest of the principall Nobilitie went out to make Honour triumph ouer Death conueying that excellent body whereto Basilius himselfe would needes lende his shoulder to a Church a mile from the Campe where the valiant Argalus lay intombed recommending to that sepulchre the blessed reliques of faithfull and vertuous Loue giuing order for the making of marble images to represent them and each way enriching the tombe Vpon which Basilius himselfe caused this Epitaph to be written The Epitaph HIs being was in her alone And he not being she was none They ioi'd one ioy one griefe they grieu'd One loue they lou'd one life they liu'd The hand was one one was the sword That did his death hir death afford As all the rest so now the stone That tombes the two is iustly one ARGALVS PARTHENIA Then with eyes full of teares and mouthes full of her prayses returned they to the campe with more and more hate against Amphialus who poore Gentleman had therefore greater portion of woe then any of them For that courteous hearte which would haue grieued but to haue heard the like aduenture was rent with remembring himselfe to be the author so that his wisdome could not so far temper his passion but that he tooke his sword counted the best in the world which with much bloud he had once conquered of a mighty Giant and brake it into many peeces which afterwards he had good cause to repent saying that neither it was worthy to serue the noble exercise of chiualrie nor any other worthy to feele that sword which had stroken so excelleÌ„t a Lady and withall banishing all cheerfulnes of his countenance he returned home Where he gate him to his bed not so much to rest his restles mind as to auoid all company the sight wherof was tedious vnto him
Gyantes haue falne dead when I onely sought causelesse aduentures and can one Knight now withstand me in the presence of Philoclea and fighting for Philoclea or since I lost my liberty haue I lost my courag haue I gottē the hart of a slaue as wel as the fortūe If an armie were against me in the sight of Philoclea could it resist me O beast on man resists thee thy riual resists thee or am I indeed Amphialus haue not passions kild him and wretched I I know not how succeeded into his place Of the other side the forsaken Knight with no lesse spite fell out with himselfe Hast thou broken saide hee to himselfe the commandement of thy onely Princesse to come now into her presence and in her presence to proue thy selfe a coward Doth Asia and AEgypt set vp Trophes vnto thee to be matched here by a traytor O noble Barsanes how shamed will thy soule be that he that slew thee should be resisted by this one man O incomparable Pyrocles more grieued wilt thou be with thy friends shame then with thine own imprisonment when thou shalt know how little I haue bene able to doo for the deliuerie of thee and those heauenly Princesses Am I worthie to be friend to the most valourous Prince that euer was entituled valorous and shew my selfe so weake a wretch No shamed Musidorus worthie for nothing but to keepe sheepe get thee a sheephooke againe since thou canst vse a sworde no better So was the forsaken Knight layed vpon clokes carried home to the campe But his two friends knowing his earnest desire not to be knowen couering him from any bodies eyes conueyed him to their owne tente Basilius himselfe conquering his earnest desire to see him with feare to displease him who had fought so notably in his quarrell But Fame set the honour vpon his backe which he would not suffer to shine in his face no mans mouth being barrein of prayses to the noble Knight that had bettered the most esteemed Knight in the worlde euery bodie praying for his life and thinking that therein they prayed for themselues But hee himselfe when by the diligent care of friends and well applied cunning of surgeons he came to renewe againe the league betweene his minde and body then fell he to a freshe warre with his owne thoughts wrongfully condemning his manhood laying cowardise to himselfe whome the impudentest backbiter would not so haue wronged For his courage vsed to vse victory as an inheritaunce coulde brooke no resistance at any time but now that hee had promised him selfe not onely the conquest of him but the scaling of the walles and deliuery of Pamela though he had done beyond all others expectation yet so short was he of his owne that hee hated to looke vpon the Sunne that had seene him doo so weakely and so much abhorred all visitation or honour whereof he thought him selfe vnworthy that hee besought his two noble friends to carrie him away to a castle not far of where he might cure his woundes and neuer bee knowne till he made successe excuse this as he thought want in him They louingly obeyed him leauing Basilius and all the campe very sorrie for the parting of these three vnknowne Knights in whose prowesse they had reposed greatest trust of victory But they being gone Basilius and Philanax gaue good order to the strengthning of the siege fortifying themselues so as they feared no more any such suddaine onset as that of Anaxius And they within by reason of Anaxius hurt but especially of Amphialus-is gaue thēselues only to diligent watch ward making no sallies out but committing the principall trust to Zoilus and Lycurgus For Anaxius was yet forced to keepe his chamber And as for Amphialus his body had such wounds and he gaue such wounds to his minde as easily it coulde not bee determined whether death or he made the greater haste one to the other for when the diligent care of cūning surgeons had brought life to the possession of his owne right Sorrowe and Shame like two corrupted seruaunts came waiting of it perswading nothing but the giuing ouer of itselfe to destruction They laide before his eyes his present case painting euery piece of it in moste ougly colours they shewed him his loue wrapped in dispaire his fame blotted by ouerthrow so that if before he languished because he could not obtaine his desiring hee now lamented because he durst not desire the obtaining Recreant Amphialus would hee say to him selfe how darest thou intitle thy selfe the louer of Philoclea that hast neither shewed thy selfe a faithfull coward nor a valiant rebell but both rebellious and cowardly which no lawe can quite nor grace haue pittie of Alas life what little pleasure thou doost me to giue me nothing but sense of reproach and exercise of ruine I would sweete Philoclea I had died before thy eyes had seene my weakenes then perchaunce with some sigh thou wouldest haue confessed thou hadst lost a worthy seruant But nowe caitife that I am what euer I haue donne serues but to builde vp my riuals glory To these speeches he would couple such gestures of vexation and would fortifie the gestures with such effects of furie as sometimes offring to teare vp his wounds sometimes to refuse the sustenance of meat and counsell of phisitions that his perplexed mother was driuen to make him by force to be tended with extreame corsey to her selfe and annoiance to him till in the ende he was contented to promise her he would attempt no violence vpon himselfe vpon condition he might be troubled by no body but onely his Phisitions his melancholy detesting all company so as not the very surgeons nor seruants durst speake vnto him in doing him seruice only he had praied his mother as she tendered his life she would procure him grace and that without that she would neuer come at him more His mother who had confined all her loue only vnto him set only such about him as were absolutely at her commandement whome she forbad to let him knowe any thing that passed in the castle till his woundes were cured but as she from time to time should instruct them she for her selfe being resolued nowe she had the gouernment of all things in her owne handes to satisfie her sonnes loue by their yeelding or satisfie her owne reuenge in their punishment Yet first because she would be the freer from outward force she sent a messenger to the campe to denounce vnto Basilius that if he did not presently raise his siege she would cause the heads of the three Ladies prisoners to be cut off before his eyes And to make him the more feare a present performance she caused his two daughters and Zelmane to be led vnto the walls where she had made a scaffold easie to be seene by Basilius and there caused them to be kept as ready for the slaughter till answere came from Basilius A sight full of pittie it was to see those three
sake one death may be thought inough for me I haue not liued so many yeares but that one death may be able to conclude them neither haue my faults I hope bene so many but that one death may satisfie them It is no great suite to an enemie when but death is desired I craue but that and as for the graunting your request know for certaine you lose your labours being euery day furtherof-minded from becomming his wife who vseth me like a slaue But that in stead of getting grace renued againe Cecropias fury so that excellent creature she was newly againe tormented by those hellish monsters Cecropia vsing no other words but that she was a proud and vngratefull wench and that she would teach her to know her owne good since of her selfe she would not conceaue it So that with silence and patience like a faire gorgeous armour hammered vppon by an ilfauoured Smith she abode their pittiles dealing with her till rather reseruing her for more then meaning to end they left her to an vncomfortable leysure to consider with her selfe her fortune both helplesse her selfe being a prisoner and hopelesse since Zelmane was a prisoner who therein onely was short of the bottome of miserie that she knew not how vnworthilie her Angell by these deuils was abused but wanted God wot no stings of griefe when those words did but strike vpon her hart that Philoclea was a captiue and she not able to succour her For well she knew the confidence Philoclea had in her and well she knew Philoclea had cause to haue confidence and all troden vnder foot by the wheele of senselesse Fortune Yet if there be that imperious power in the soule as it can deliuer knowledge to another without bodilie organs so vehement were the workings of their spirites as one mette with other though themselues perceaued it not but onely thought it to be the doubling of their owne louing fancies And that was the onely worldly thing whereon Philoclea rested her minde that she knewe she should die beloued of Zelmane and should die rather then be false to Zelmane And so this most daintie Nimphe easing the paine of her minde with thinking of anothers paine and almost forgetting the paine of her bodie through the paine of her minde she wasted euen longing for the conclusion of her tedious tragedie But for a while she was vnuisited Cecropia employing her time in vsing the like crueltie vpon Pamela her harte growing not onely to desire the fruite of punishing them but euen to delight in the punishing them But if euer the beames of perfection shined through the clowdes of affliction if euer Vertue tooke a bodie to shewe his els vnconceaueable beautie it was in Pamela For when Reason taught her there was no resistance for to iust resistance first her harte was enclined then with so heauenly a quietnes and so gracefull a calmenes did she suffer the diuers kindes of torments they vsed to her that while they vexed her faire bodie it seemed that she rather directed then obeyed the vexation And when Cecropia ended and asked whether her harte woulde yeelde she a little smiled but such a smiling as shewed no loue and yet could not but be louelie And then Beastlie woman sayde shee followe on doo what thou wilte and canst vpon me for I know thy power is not vnlimited Thou maist well wracke this sillie bodie but me thou canst neuer ouerthrowe For my part I will not doo theâ— the pleasure to desire death of thee but assure thy selfe both my life and death shall triumph with honour laying shame vpon thy detestable tyranny And so in effect conquering their doing with her suffering while Cecropia tried as many sorts of paines as might rather vexe them then spoyle them for that she would not do while she were in any hope to winne either of them for her sonne Pamela remained almost as much content with triall in her selfe what vertue could doo as grieued with the miserie wherein she found her selfe plunged only sometimes her thoughts softned in her when with open wings they flew to Musidorus For then she would thinke with her selfe how grieuously Musidorus would take this her miserie and she that wept not for herselfe wept yet Musidorus teares which he would weepe for her For gentle Loue did easlier yeeld to lamentation then the constancy of vertue would els admitte Then would she remember the case wherein she had left her poore shepheard and she that wished death for her selfe feared death for him and she that condemned in her selfe the feeblenes of sorrow yet thought it great reason to be sory for his sorow and she that long had prayed for the vertuous ioyning themselues together now thinking to die herselfe hartely prayed that long time their fortunes might be seperated Liue long my Musidorus would she say and let my name liue in thy mouth in thy harte my memorie Liue long that thou mayst loue long the chast loue of thy dead Pamela Then would she wish to her selfe that no other woman might euer possesse his hart and yet scarcely the wish was made a wish when her selfe would finde fault with it as being too vniust that so excellent a man should be banished from the comfort of life Then would she fortifie her resolution with bethinking the worst taking the counsell of vertue and comfort of loue So these diamonds of the world whom Nature had made to be preciously set in the eyes of men to be the chiefe workes of her workemanship the chiefe ornaments of the worlde and Princesses of felicitie by rebellious iniury were brought to the vttermost distres that an enemies hart could wish or a womans spite inuent Cecropia dayly in one or other sorte punishing them still with her euill torments giuing them feare of worse making the feare it selfe the sorest torment of all that in the ende wearie of their bodies they should be content to bestow them at her appointment But as in labour the more one doth exercise it the more by the doing one is enhabled to doo strength growing vpon the worke so as what at first would haue seemed impossible after growes easie so these Princesses second to none and far from any second only to be matched by themselues with the vse of suffering their minds gat the habit of suffring so as all feares and terrors were to them but summons to a battaile whereof they knew before hand they would be victorious and which in the suffering was painfull being suffered was a trophe to it selfe whereby Cecropia found her selfe still farder off for where at first she might perchance haue perswaded them to haue visited her sonne and haue giuen him some comforte in his sicknesse drawing neere to the confines of Deaths kingdome now they protested that they would neuer otherwise speake to him then as to the enemy of most vniust cruelty towards them that any time or place could euer make them knowe This made the poison swell in her
When Zelmane began her speech the excellency of her beautie and grace made him a little content to heare Besides that a new lesson he had read in Pamela had already taught him some regard But when shee entered into brauerie of speech hee thought at first a mad and railing humor possest her till finding the speeches hold well together and at length come to flatte challenge of combat hee stoode leaning backe with his bodie and head sometimes with bent browes looking vpon the one side of her sometimes of the other beyonde maruell maruailing that hee who had neuer heard such speeches from any Knight shoulde be thus rebuffed by a woman and that maruell made him heare out her speech which ended he turned his head to his brother Zoilus and said nothing but onely lifting vp his eyes smiled But Zelmane finding his minde Anaxius said she perchaunce thou disdaynest to answere me because as a woman thou thinkest me not fitte to bee fought with all But I tell thee that I haue beene trayned vp in martiall matters with so good successe that I haue many times ouercome brauer Knightes then thy selfe and am wel knowen to be equall in feates of armes to the famous Pyrocles who slewe thy valiaunt Vncle the Giant Euardes The remembraunce of his Vncles death someâ—hing netled him so as he answered thus Indeed saide he any woman may bee as valiaunt as that coward and traytorly boy who slewe my Vncle trayterously and after ranne from me in the plaine field Fiue thousand such could not haue ouercome Euardes but by falshood But I sought him all ouer Asia following him stil from one of his cony-holes to another till comming into this Countrie I heard of my friends being besieged and so came to blow away the wretches that troubled him But wheresoeuer the miserable boy flie heauen nor hell shall keepe his harte from being torne by these handes Thou lyest in thy throate said Zelmane that boye where euer he went did so noble actes as thy harte as proude as it is dares not think of much lesse perfourme But to please thee the better with my presence I tell thee no creature can be neerer of kinne to him then my selfe and so well we loue that he woulde not be sorrier for his owne death then for mine I being begotten by his father of an Amazon Ladie And therefore thou canst not deuise to reuenge thy self more vpon him then by killing me which if thou darest doo manfullie doo it otherwise if thou harme these incomparable Ladies or my felfe without daring to fight with me I protest before these Knights and before heauen and earth that will reueile thy shame that thou art the beggerliest dastardly villaine that dishonoureth the earth with his steppes and if thou lettest me ouer-liue them so will I blaze thee But all this coulde not moue Anaxius but that he onely said Euill should it become the terror of the world to fight much worse to skolde with thee But said he for the death of these same pointing to the Princesses of my grace I giue them life And withall going to Pamela and offring to take her by the chin And as for you Minion saide hee yeeld but gently to my will and you shall not onely liue but liue so happily Hee would haue said further when Pamela displeased both with wordes matter and maner putting him awaye with her faire hande Proud beast said shee yet thou plaiest worse thy Comedy then thy Tragedy For my part assure thy selfe since my destiny is such that at each moment my life and death stand in equall balance I had rather haue thee and thinke thee far fitter to be my hangman then my husband Pride and anger woulde faine haue cruelly reuenged so bitter an answere but alredy Cupid had begun to make it his sport to pull his plumes so that vnused to a waye of courtesie and put out of his byas of pride hee hastily went away grumbling to himselfe betweene threatning and wishing leauing his brothers with them the elder of whom Lycurgus liked Philoclea and Zoilus would needes loue Zelmane or at lest entertaine themselues with making them beleue so Lycurgus more braggard and neere his brothers humor began with setting foorth their bloud their deedes howe many they had despised of most excellent women how much they were bound to them that woulde seeke that of them In summe in all his speeches more like the bestower then the desirer of felicitie Whom it was an excellent pastime to those that woulde delight in the play of vertue to see with what a wittie ignorance shee woulde not vnderstande and howe acknowledging his perfections shee woulde make that one of his perfections not to be iniurious to Ladies But when he knew not how to replie then would hee fall to touching and toying stil vewing his graces in no glasse but self-liking To which Philocleas shamefastnes and humblenes were as strong resisters as choller and disdaine For though she yeelded not hee thought she was to bee ouercome and that thought a while stayed him from further violence But Zelmane had eye to his behauiour and set in her memorie vpon the score of Reuenge while shee her selfe was no lesse attempted by Zoilus who lesse ful of bragges was forwardest in offering indeede dishonourable violence But when after their fruitlesse labours they had gone awaye called by their brother who began to be perplexed betweene new conceaued desires and disdaine to bee disdained Zelmane who with most assured quietnesse of iudgement looked into their present estate earnestly perswaded the two sisters that to auoide the mischiefes of prowde outrage they would onely so farre sute their behauiour to their estates as they might winne time which as it coulde not bring them to worse case then they were so it might bring forth inexpected reliefe And why said Pamela shall we any longer flatter aduersity Why shoulde wee delight to make our selues any longer balls to iniurious Fortune since our owne parents are content to be tyraunts ouer vs since our own kinne are content traitorously to abuse vs Certainly in mishap it may bee some comforte to vs that wee are lighted in these fellowes handes who yet will keepe vs from hauing cause of being miserable by our friends meanes Nothing grieues me more then that you noble Ladie Zelmane to whome the worlde might haue made vs able to doo honour shoulde receaue onely hurte by the contagion of our miserie As for me and my sister vndoubtedly it becomes our birth to thinke of dying nobly while we haue done or suffered nothing which might make our soule ashamed at the parture from these bodies Hope is the fawning traitour of the mind while vnder colour of friendship it robbes it of his chiefe force of resolution Vertuous and faire Ladie saide Zelmane what you say is true and that truth may wel make vp a part in the harmonie of your noble thoughts But yet the time which ought alwaies to bee one is
heauens do sende The heauens conspir'd to make my vitall sparke A wreched wracke a glasse of Ruines ende Seeing Alas so mightie powers bende Their ireful shotte against so weake a marke Come caue become my graue come death and lende Receipte to me within thy bosome darke For what is life to dayly dieng minde Where drawing breath I sucke the aire of woe Where too much sight makes all the bodie blinde And highest thoughts downeward most headlong throw Thus then my forme and thus my state I finde Death wrapt in flesh to liuing graue assign'd And pawsing but a little with monefull melodie it continued this octaue Like those sicke folkes in whome strange humors flowe Can taste no sweetes the sower onely please So to my minde while passions daylie growe Whose fyrie chaines vppon his freedome feaze Ioies strangers seeme I cannot bide their showe Nor brooke oughte els but well acquainted woe Bitter griefe tastes me best paine is my ease Sicke to the death still louing my disease O Venus saide Zelmane who is this so well acquainted with mee that can make so liuely a portracture of my miseries It is surely the spirit appointed to haue care of me which doth now in this darke place beare parte with the complaints of his vnhappie charge For if it be so that the heauens haue at all times a measure of their wrathefull harmes surely so many haue come to my blistlesse lot that the rest of the world hath too small a portion to make with cause so wailefull a lamentation But saide she whatsoeuer thou be I will seeke thee out for thy musique well assures me wee are at least-hand fellowe prentises to one vngracious master So raise shee and went guiding her selfe by the still playning voice till she sawe vppon a stone a little waxe light set and vnder it a piece of paper with these verses verie lately as it should seeme written in it HOwe is my Sunn whose beames are shining bright Become the cause of my darke ouglie night Or howe do I captiu'd in this darke plight Bewaile the case and in the cause delight My mangled mind huge horrors still doe fright With sense possest and claim'd by reasons right Betwixt which two in me I haue this fight Wher who so wynns I put my selfe to flight Come clowdie feares close vp my daseled sight Sorrowes suck vp the marowe of my might Due sighes blowe out all sparkes of ioyfull light Tyre on despaier vppon my tyred sprite An ende an ende my dulde penn cannot write Nor mas'de head thinke nor faltring tongerecite And hard vnderneath the sonnet were these wordes written This caue is darke but it had neuer light This waxe doth waste it selfe yet painelesse dyes These wordes are full of woes yet feele they none I darkned am who once had clearest sight I waste my harte which still newe torment tryes I plaine with cause my woes are all myne owne No caue no wasting waxe no wordes of griefe Can holde shew tell my paines without reliefe She did not long stay to reade the wordes for not farre off from the stone shee might discerne in a darke corner a Ladie lieng with her face so prostrate vpon the ground as she could neither know nor be knowen But as the generall nature of man is desirous of knowledge and sorrow especially glad to find fellowes she went as softely as she could conuey her foot neere vnto her where she heard these words come with vehement sobbings from her O darkenes saide shee which doest light somly me thinks make me see the picture of my inward darknes since I haue chosen thee to be the secret witnesse of my sorows let me receiue a safe receipte in thee and esteeme them not tedious but if it be possible let the vttering them be some discharge to my ouerloaden breast Alas sorrowe nowe thou hast the full sack of my conquered spirits rest thy selfe a while and set not stil new fire to thy owne spoiles O accursed reason how many eyes thou hast to see thy euills and thou dimme nay blinde thou arte in preuenting them Forlorne creature that I am I would I might be freely wicked since wickednesse doth preuaile but the foote steppes of my ouer-troden vertue lie still as bitter accusations vnto me I am deuided in my selfe howe can I stande I am ouerthrowne in my selfe who shall raise mee Vice is but a nurse of new agonies and the vertue I am diuorsed from makes the hatefull comparison the more manyfest No no vertue either I neuer had but a shadow of thee or thou thy selfe art but a shadow For how is my soule abandoned How are all my powers laide waste My desire is payned because it cannot hope and if hope came his best shoulde bee but mischiefe O strange mixture of humaine mindes onely so much good lefte as to make vs languish in our owne euills Yee infernall furies for it is too late for mee to awake my dead vertue or to place my comforte in the angrie Gods yee infernall furies I say aide one that dedicates her selfe vnto you let my rage bee satisfied since the effecte of it is fit for your seruice Neither bee afraide to make me too happie since nothing can come to appease the smart of my guiltie cōscience I desire but to asswage the sweltring of my hellish longing deiected Gynecia Zelmane no sooner heard the name of Gynecia but that with a colde sweate all ouer her as if she had ben ready to treade vpon a deadly stinging Adder she would haue withdrawne her selfe but her owne passion made her yeelde more vnquiet motions then she had done in comming So that she was perceaued Gynecia sodainely risne vp for in deed it was Ginecia gotten into this Caue the same Caue wherein Dametas had safelie kept Pamela in the late vprore to passe her pangs with change of places And as her minde ranne still vpon Zelmane her piercing louers eye had soone found it was she And seeing in her a countenance to flye away she fell downe at her feete and catching fast hold of her Alas sayd she whether or from whome doost thou flye awaye the sauagest beastes are wonne with seruice and there is no flint but may be mollifyed How is Gynecia so vnworthie in thine eyes or whome cannot aboundance of loue make worthie O thinke not that crueltie or vngratefulnes can flowe from a good minde O weigh Alas weigh with thy selfe the newe effectes of this mightie passion that I vnfit for my state vncomely for my sexe must become a suppliant at thy feete By the happie woman that bare thee by all the ioyes of thy hart and successe of thy desire I beseech thee turne thy selfe to some consideration of me and rather shew pittie in now helping me then into late repenting my death which hourely threatens me Zelmane imputing it to one of her continuall mishaps thus to haue met with this Lady with a full weary countenance Without doubt Madame said
insupportable and yet in deapth of her soule most deserued made it more miserable At length letting her tong goe as her dolorous thoughts guided it she thus with lamentable demeanour spake O bottomles pit of sorrowe in which I cannot conteyne my selfe hauing the fyrebrands of all furyes within me still falling and yet by the infinitenes of it neuer falne Neyther can I ridde myselfe being fettred with the euerlasting consideracion of it For whether should I recommend the protection of my dishonored fall to the earth it hath no life and waites to be encreased by the reliques of my shamed carcasse to men who are alwayes cruell in their neighboures faultes and make others ouerthrowe become the badge of their ill masked vertue to the heauens ô vnspeakeable torment of conscience which dare not looke vnto them No sinne can enter there oh there is no receipt for polluted mindes Whether then wilt thou leade this captiue of thine ô snakye despayre Alas alas was this the free-holding power that accursed poyson hath graunted vnto me that to be held the surer it should depriue life was this the folding in mine armes promised that I should fould nothing but a dead body O mother of mine what a deathfull sucke haue you geuen me O Philoclea Philoclea well hath my mother reuenged vppon me my vnmotherly hating of thee O Zelmane to whome yet least any miserye should fayle me remayne some sparkes of my detestable loue if thou hast as now alas now my minde assures me thou hast deceaued me there is a fayre stage prepared for thee to see the tragicall ende of thy hated loues With that worde there flowed out two riuers of teares out of her fayre eyes which before were drye the remembraunce of her other mischiefes being dryed vp in furious fyre of selfe detestation loue only according to the temper of it melting it selfe into those briny tokens of passion Then turning her eyes agayne vpon the body she remembred a dreame she had had some nights before wherein thinking herselfe called by Zelmane passing a troublesome passage she found a dead body which tolde her there should be her only rest This no sooner caught holde of her remembraunce then that she determining with her selfe it was a directe vision of her fore-appoynted ende tooke a certayne resolucion to embrace death assoone as it should be offred vnto her and no way to seeke the prolonging of her annoyed life And therefore kissing the cold face of Basilius And euen so will I rest sayd she and ioyne this faultye soule of mine to thee if so much the angry gods will graunt mee As shee was in this plight the Sunne nowe climing ouer our Horizon the first Shepherds came by who seeing the King in that case and hearing the noyse Damaetas made of the Lady Philoclea ranne with the dolefull tidings of Basilius death vnto him who presently with all his company came to the Caues entrye where the Kings body lay Damaetas for his parte more glad for the hope he had of his priuate escape then sorye for the publike losse his Countrie receaued for a Prince not to be misliked But in Gynaecia nature preuayled aboue iudgement and the shame shee conceaued to be taken in that order ouercame for that instant the former resolucion so that assoone as she sawe the formost of the pastorall troupe the wretched Princesse ranne to haue hid her face in the next woods but with such a minde that she knewe not almost her selfe what she could wish to be the grounde of her safetie Damaetas that sawe her runne awaye in Zelmanes vpper rayment and iudging her to be so thought certaynely all the spirits in hell were come to play a Tragedie in these woods such strange change he sawe euery way The King dead at the Caues mouth the Queene as hee thought absent Pamela fledde away with Dorus his wife and Mopsa in diuers franzies But of all other things Zelmane conquered his capacitie sodainly from a woman growne to a man and from a lockt chamber gotten before him into the fieldes which hee gaue the rest quicklie to vnderstande for in steede of doing any thing as the exigent required he beganne to make circles and all those fantasticall defences that hee had euer hearde were fortifications against Diuells But the other Shepheards who had both better wittes and more faith forthwith deuided themselues some of them running after Gynecia and esteeming her running away a great condemnation of her owne guiltinesse others going to their Prince to see what seruice was left for them eyther in recouerie of his life or honoring his death They that went after the Queene had soone ouertaken her in whome nowe the fyrst feares were stayde and the resolucion to dye had repossessed his place in her minde But when they sawe it was the Queene to whome besides the obedient dutie they ow'de to her state they had alwayes carried a singuler loue for her courteous liberalities and other wise and vertuous partes which had filled all that people with affection and admiracion They were all sodainely stopped beginning to aske pardon for their followinge her in that sorte and desiring her to be their good Ladie as she had euer bene But the Queene who nowe thirsted to be ridde of her selfe whome she hated aboue all thinges with such an assured countenance as they haue who alreadie haue dispensed with shame and digested the sorrowes of death she thus sayde vnto them Continue continue my friends your doing is better then your excusing the one argues assured faith the other want of assurance If you loued your Prince when he was able and willing to doo you much good which you could not then requite to him doo you now publish your gratefulnes when it shall be seene to the world there are no hopes left to leade you vnto it Remember remember you haue lost Basilius a Prince to defend you a Father to care for you a companyon in your ioyes a friend in your wants And if you loued him shew you hate the author of his losse It is I faithfull Arcadians that haue spoyled the Countrie of their protector I none but I was the minister of his vnnaturall end Cary therfore my blood in your hāds to testifie your own innocencie neither spare for my titles sake but consider it was he that so entituled me And if you think of any benefits by my meanes thinke with it that I was but the instrumēt and he the spring What stay ye Shepheards whose great Shepheard is gone you neede not feare a woman reuerence your Lords murtherer nor haue pittie of her who hath not pittie of herself With this she presented her faire neck some by name others by signes desired them to do iustice to the world dutie to their good king honor to themselues and fauour to her The poore men looked one vpon the other vnused to be arbiters in Princes matters and being now falne into a great perplexitie betwixt a Prince dead
and a Princesse aliue But once for them she might haue gone whether she would thinking it a sacriledge to touch her person when she finding she finding she was not a sufficieÌ„t oratour to perswade her own death by their haÌ„ds well said she it is but so much more time of miserie for my part I will not geue my life so much pleasure from hence forward as to yeeld to his desire of his own choise of death since all the rest is taken away yet let me excell in miserie Leade me therfore whether you will only happy because I can not be more wretched But neyther so much would the honest Shepheards do but rather with many teares bemoned this encrease of their former losse till she was faine to leade them with a very strange spectacle either that a Princesse should be in the hands of Shepheards or a prisoner should direct her gardiens lastly before either witnes or accuser a Lady condemne her selfe to death But in such monefull â—arch they went towards the other Shepheards who in the meane time had left nothing vnassaied to reuiue the King but all was bootles and their sorrowes encreased the more they had suffred any hopes vainly to arise Among other trialls they made to know at least the cause of his end hauing espied the vnhappy cup they gaue the little liquor that was left to a dogge of Damaetas in which within a short time it wrought the like effect although Damaetas did so much to recouer him that for very loue of his life he dasht out his braines But now all togither and hauing Gynaecia among them who to make her selfe the more odious did continuallie record to their mindes the excesse of their losse they yelded themselues ouer to all those formes of lamentacion that dolefull images do imprint in the honest but ouer tender hartes especially when they thinke the rebound of the euill falls to their owne smart Therefore after the auncient greeke maner some of them remembring the nobilitie of his birth continued by being like his Auncestors others his shape which though not excellent yet fauour and pittie drew all things now to the highest point others his peaceable gouernment the thing which most pleaseth men resolued to liue of their owne others his liberalitie which though it cannot light vpon all men yet men naturallie hoping it may be they make it a most amiable vertue Some calling in question the greatnes of his power which encreased the compassion to see the present change hauing a dolefull memorie how he had tempered it with such familier curtesie among them that they did more feele the fruites then see the pompes of his greatnes all with one consent geuing him the sacred titles of good iust mercifull the father of the people the life of his Countrie they ranne about his body tearing their beards and garments some sending their cryes to heauen other inuenting perticular howling musicke manie vowing to kill themselues at the day of his funeralls generallie geuing a true testimonye that men are louing creatures when iniuries put them not from their naturall course and howe easily a thing it is for a Prince by succession deeplie to sinke into the soules of his subiects a more liuely monument then Mausolus Tombe But as with such hartie lamentacion they dispersed among those woods their resounding shrikes the Sunne the perfectest marke of time hauing now gotten vp two howres iourney in his dayly changing Circle their voice helped with the only answering Echo came to the eares of the faithfull and worthy Gentleman Philanax who at that time was comming to visite the King accompanyed with diuers of the worthie Arcadian Lords who with him had visited the places adioyning for the more assurance of Basilius solitarines a thing after the late mutinie he had vsually done and since the Princesses returne more diligentlie continued which hauing nowe likewise performed thinking it as well his duty to see the King as of good purpose being so neare to receyue his further direction accompanied as aboue sayd he was this morning comming vnto him when these vnpleasant voices gaue his minde an vncertaine presage of his neere approching sorow For by and by he saw the bodie of his dearely esteemed Prince and heard Gynecias lamenting not such as the turtle-like loue is wont to make for the euer ouer-soone losse of her only loued make but with curfings of her life detesting her owne wickednes seeming only therefore not to desire death because she would not shew a loue of any thing The Shepheards especially Damaetas knowing him to be the second person in Aucthoritie gaue forthwith relacion vnto him what they knewe and had proued of this dolorous spectacle besides the other accidents of his children But he principally touched with his maisters losse lighting from his horse with a heauie cheare came and kneeled downe by him where finding he could do no more then the Shepheards had for his recouerie the constancie of his minde surprised before he might call together his best rules could not refraine such like words Ah deere maister sayd he what change it hath pleased the Almightie Iustice to worke in this place How soone not to your losse who hauing liued long to nature and to time longer by your well deserued glorie but longest of all in the eternall mansion you now possesse But how soone I say to our ruine haue you left the fraile barke of your estate O that the words in most faithfull dutie deliuered vnto you when you first entred this solitarie course might haue wrought as much perswasion in you as they â—prang from truth in me perchaunce your seruaunt Philanax should not nowe haue cause in your losse to bewayle his owne ouerthrowe And therewith taking himselfe and in deede euill fitteth it me sayde he to let goe my harte to womanish complaints since my Prince being vndoubtedly well it rather shewes loue of my selfe which makes me bewaile mine owne losse No the true loue must be proued in the honor of your memorie and that must be shewed with seeking iust reuenge vpon your vniust and vnnaturall enemies and farre more honorable it will be for your Tombe to haue the blood of your murderers sprinkled vpon it then the teares of your friendes And if your soule looke downe vppon this miserable earth I doubt not it had much rather your death were accompanyed with well deserued punishment of the causers of it then with the heaping on it more sorrowes with the ende of them to whome you vouchsafed your affection let them lament that haue wouen the webbe of lamentacion let theyr owne deathes make them crye out for your death that were the authors of it Therewith carying manfull sorowe and vindicatiâ—e resolucion in his face he rose vp so looking on the poore guiltlesse princesse transported with an vniust iustice that his eyes were sufficient herauldes for him to denounce a mortall hatred She whome furies of loue firebrands of her conscience shame of the
no time nor place will euer bee forgiuen you They that yet trusted not to his courtesie bad him stande further off from his sword which he obediently did So farre was loue aboue al other thoughts in him Then did they call together the rest of their fellowes who though they were fewe yet according to their number possesâ—ed many places And then began these sauage Senators to make a consultation what they should do some wishing to spoile them of their Iewels and let them go on their iourney for that if they carried them back they were sure they should haue least parte of their pray others preferring their old homes to any thing desired to bring them to Basilius as pledges of their surety and ther wanted not which cried the safest way was to kill them both to such an vnworthy thraldom were these great and excellent personages brought But the most part resisted to the killing of the Princesse fore-seing their liues would neuer bee safe after such a fact committed and beganne to wish rather the spoyle then death of Musidorus when the villaine that had his legge cut off came scrawling towardes them and being helped to them by one of the companie began with a growning voice and a disfigured face to demaunde the reuenge of his blood which since hee had spent with them in their defence it were no reason he should be suffered by them to die discontented The onely contentment he required was that by their helpe with his own hands he might put his murderer to some cruel death he would faine haue cried more against Musidorus but that the much losse of bloud helped on with this vehemencie choked vp the spirits of his life leauing him to make betwixt his body and soule an ill fauoured partition But they seing their fellow in that sorte die before their faces did swell in newe mortall rages All resolued to kill him but nowe onely considering what manner of terrible death they should inuent for him Thus was a while the agrement of his slaying broken by the disagrement of the manner of it extremitie of cruelty grew for a time to be the stop of crueltie At length they were resolued euery one to haue a pece of him and to become all aswell hangmen as iudges when Pamela tearing her heare and falling downe among them somtimes with al the sorte of humble praiers mixt with promises of great good turnes which they knew her state was able to performe sometimes threatning them that if they kild him and not her she would not onely reuenge it vpon them but vpon all their wiues and children bidding them consider that though they might thinke shee was come away in her fathers displeasure yet they might be sure hee would euer shewe himselfe a father that the Gods woulde neuer if shee liued put her in so base estate but that she should haue abilitie to plague such as they were returning a fresh to prayers and promises and mixing the same againe with threatninges brought them who were now growne colder in their fellowes cause who was past aggrauating the matter with his cryes to determine with themselues there was no way but either to kil them both or saue them both As for the killing already they hauing aunsweared themselues that that was a way to make them Cittezens of the woodes for euer they did in fine conclude they would retourne them backe againe to the King which they did not doubt would bee cause of a greate reward besides their safetie from their fore-deserued punishment Thus hauing either by fortune or the force of those two louers inward working vertue setled their cruel harts to this geÌ„tler course they tooke the two horses and hauing set vpon them their princely prisoners they retorned towards the lodge The villaines hauing decked al their heads with lawrel branches as thinking they had done a notable acte singing and showting ranne by them in hope to haue brought them the same day againe to the King But the time was so farre spent that they were forced to take vp that nights lodging in the middest of the woods Where while the clownes continued their watch about them nowe that the night according to his darke nature did add a kind of desolation to the pensiue harts of these two afflicted louers Musidorus taking the tender hand of Pamela bedewing it with his tearesâ— in this sort gaue an issue to the swelling of his harts grief Most excellent Lady said hee in what case thinke you am I with my selfe howe vnmerciful iudgements do I lay vpon my soule now that I know not what God hath so reuerssed my wel meaning enterprise as in steed of doing you that honour which I hoped and not without reason hoped Thessalia should haue yeelded vnto you am now like to become a wretched instrumeÌ„t of your discomfort Alas how contrary an end haue al the enclinations of my mind taken my faith falls out a treason vnto you and the true honour I beare you is the fielde wherein your dishonour is like to bee sowen But I inuoke that vniuersal and only wisdome which examining the depth of harts hath not his indgement fixed vpon the euent to beare testimonie with me that my desire though in extremest vehemencie yet did not so ouercharge my remembrance but that as farre as mans wit might be extended I sought to preuent al-things that might fall to your hurt But now that all the euil fortunes of euil fortune haue crossed my best framed entent I am most miserable in that that I cannot only not geue you helpe but which is worst of all am barred from giuing you counsail For how should I open my mouth to counsaile you in that wherein by my councel you are most vndeseruedly fallen The faire and wise Pamela although full of cares of the vnhappie turning of this matter yet seing the greefe of Musidorus onely stirred for her did so treade downe all other motions with the true force of vertue that she thus aunswered him hauing first kissed him which before she had neuer done either loue so coÌ„maunding her which doubted how long they should enioy one another or of a liuely spark of noblenes to descend in most fauour to one when he is lowest in affliction My deere and euer deere Musidorus said shee a greater wronge doe you to your selfe that will torment you thus with griefe for the fault of fortune Since a man is bound no further to himselfe then to doe wisely chaunce is only to trouble them that stand vpon chaunce But greater is the wronge at least if any thinge that comes from you may beare the name of wrong you doe vnto me to thinke me either so childish as not to perceaue your faithful faultlessnes or perceauing it so basely disposed as to let my harte be ouerthrown standing vpon it selfe in so vnspotted a purenes Hold for certaine most worthy Musidorus it is your selfe I loue which can no more be diminished by these showers
shape which by mans eye might be perceaued Vertue is dead now set the triumph here Now set thy triumph in this world bereaued Of what was good where now no good doth lie And by the pompe our losse will be conceaued O notes of mine your selues together tie With too much griefe me thinkes you are dissolued Your dolefull tunes sweet Muses now applie Time euer old and yong is still reuolued Within it selfe and neuer tasteth ende But mankind is for aye to nought resolued The filthy snake her aged coate can mende And getting youth againe in youth doth flourish But vnto Man age euer death doth sende The very trees with grafting we can cherish So that we can long time produce their time But Man which helpeth them helplesse must perish Thus thus the mindes which ouer all doo clime When they by yeares experience get best graces Must finish then by deaths detested crime We last short while and build long lasting places Ah let vs all against foule Nature crie We Natures workes doo helpe she vs defaces For how can Nature vnto this reply That she her child I say her best child killeth Your dolefull tunes sweete Muses now apply Alas me thinkes my weakned voice but spilleth The vehement course of this iust lamentation Me thinkes my sound no place with sorrow filleth I know not I but once in detestation I haue my â—elfe and all what life containeth Since Death on Vertues fort hath made inuasion One word of woe another after traineth Ne doo I care how râ—de be my inuention So it be seene what sorrow in me raigneth O Elements by whose men say contention Our bodies be in liuing power maintained Was this mans death the fruite of your dissention O Phisickes power which some say hath restrained Approch of death alas thou helpest meagerly When once one is for Atropos distrained Great be Physitions brags but aid is beggerly When rooted moisture failes or groweth drie They leaue off all and say death commes too eagerlie They are but words therefore that men do buy Of any since God AEsculapius ceased Your dolefull tunes sweete Muses now apply Iustice iustice is now alas oppressed Bountifulnes hath made his last conclusion Goodnes for best attire in dust is dressed Shepheards bewaile your vttermost confusion And see by this picture to you presented Death is our home life is but a delusion For see alas who is from you absented Absented nay I say for euer banished From such as were to dye for him contented Out of our sight in turne of hand is vanished Shepherd of shepherds whose well setled order Priuate with welth publike with quiet garnished While he did liue farre farre was all disorder Example more preuailing then direction Far was homestrife and far was foe from border His life a law his looke a full correction As in his health we healthfull were preserued So in his sicknesse grew our sure infection His death our death But ah my Muse hath swarued From such deepe plaint as should such woes descrie Which he of vs for euer hath deserued The stile of heauie hart can neuer flie So high as should make such a paine notorious Cease Muse therfore thy dart ô Death applie And farewell Prince whom goodnesse hath made glorious Many were readie to haue followed this course but the day was so wasted that onely this riming Sestine deliuered by one of great account among them could obtaine fauour to be heard FArewell ô Sunn Arcadias clâ—arest light Farewell ô pearl the poore man plenteous treasure Farewell ô golden staffe the weake mans might Farewell ô Ioy the ioyfulls onely pleasure Wisdome farewell the skillesse mans direction Farewell with thee farewell all our affection For what place now is lefte for our affection Now that of purest lampe is quench'd the light Which to our darkned mindes was best direction Now that the mine is lost of all our treasure Now death hath swallow'd vp our worldly pleasure We Orphans made void of all publique might Orphans in deede depriu'd of fathers might For he our father was in all affection In our well-doing placing all his pleasure Still studying how to vs to be a ligh As well he was in peace a safest treasure In warr his wit word was our direction Whence whence alas shall we seeke our direction When that we feare our hatefull neighbours might Who long haue gap't to get Arcadians treasure Shall we now finde a guide of such affection Who for our sakes will thinke all trauaile light And make his paine to keepe vs safe his pleasure No no for euer gone is all our pleasure For euer wandring from all good direction For euer blinded of our clearest light For euer lamed of our sured might For euer banish'd from well plac'd affection For euer robd of all our royall treasure Let teares for him therefore be all our treasure And in our wailfull naming him our pleasure Let hating of our selues be our affection And vnto death bend still our thoughts direction Let vs against our selues employ our might And putting out our eyes seeke we our light Farewell our light farewell our spoiled treasure Farewell our might farewell our daunted pleasure Farewell direction farewell all affection The night beganne to cast her darke Canopie ouer them and they euen wearie with their woes bended homewardes hoping by sleepe forgetting them selues to ease their present dolours When they were mett with a troupe of twentie horse the chiefe of which asking them for the Kinge and vnderstanding the hard newes thereupon stayed among them expecting the returne of a messenger whome with speede he dispatched to Philanax The ende of the fourth Booke THE FIFTH BOOKE OF THE COVNTESSE OF PEMBROKES ARCADIA THE daungerous diuision of mens mindes the ruinous renting of all estates had nowe brought Arcadia to feele the pangs of vttermost perill such convulsions neuer comming but that the life of that gouernment drawes neere his necessarye periode when to the honest and wife Philanax equally distracted betwixt desire of his maisters reuenge and care of the states establishment there came vnlooked for a Macedonian Gentleman who in short but pithye maner deliuered vnto him that the renowmed Euarchus King of Macedon purposing to haue visited his olde friend and confederate the King Basilius was nowe come within halfe a mile of the Lodges where hauing vnderstoode be certayne Shepheards the sodayne death of theyr Prince had sent vnto him of whose authoritye and faith he had good knowledge desiring him to aduertise him in what securitie hee might rest there for that night where willinglye hee woulde if safely hee might helpe to celebrate the funeralls of his auncient companion and alye adding hee neede not doubt since hee had brought but twentye in his companye hee woulde be so vnwise as to enter into any forcible attempte with so small force Philâ—nax hauing entertayned the Gentleman aswell as in the middest of so many tumultes hee coulde pausing awhile with himselfe considering howe
daies what death is so euil as vnworthy seruitude But that opinion soone ceased when he sawe the gallie setting vpon an other shippe which held long and strong fight with her for then he began a fresh to feare the life of his friende and to wish well to the Pirates whome before he hated least in their ruyne he might perish But the fishermen made such speed into the hauen that they absented his eyes from beholding the issue where being entred he could procure neither them nor any other as then to put themselues into the sea so that being as ful of sorrow for beyng vnable to doe any thing as voide of counsel how to doe anything besides that sicknesse grew something vpon him the honest shepheards Strephon and Claius who being themselues true friends did the more perfectly iudge the iustnesse of his sorrowe aduise him that he should mitigate somwhat of his woe since he had gotten an amendment in fortune being come from assured persuasion of his death to haue no cause to dispaire of his life as one that had lamented the death of his sheepe should after know they were but strayed would receiue pleasure though readily he knew not where to finde them Now sir saide they thus for our selues it is We are in profession but shepheards and in this countrie of Laconia little better then straungers and therefore neither in skill nor abilitie of power greatly to stead you But what wee can present vnto you is this Arcadia of which countrie we are is but a little way hence and euen vpon the next confines there dwelleth a Gentleman by name Kalander who vouchsafeth much fauour vnto vs A man who for his hospitalitie is so much haunted that no newes sturre but comes to his eares for his vpright dealing so beloued of his neighbours that he hath many euer readie to doe him their vttermost seruice and by the great good will our Prince beares him may soone obtaine the vse of his name and credit which hath a principall swaie not onely in his owne Arcadia but in all these countries of Peloponnesus which is worth all all these things giue him not so much power as his nature giues him will to benefit so that it seemes no Musicke is sweete to his eare as deserued thanks To him we wil bring you and there you may recouer againe your health without which you cannot bee able to make any diligent search for your friend and therefore you must labour for it Besides we are sure the comfort of curtesie and ease of wise counsell shall not be wanting Musidorus who besides he wâ—s meerly vnacquainted in the countrie had his wits astonished with sorrow gaue easie consent to that from which hee savve no reason to disagree and therefore defraying the Mariners with a ring bestovved vpon them they tooke their iourney together through Laconia Claius and Strephon by course carying his chest for him Musidorus only bearing in his countenance euident markes of a sorovvful-mind supported vvith a vveake bodie vvhich they perceiuing and knovving that the violence of sorovv is not at the first to be striuen vvithall being like a mighty beast soner tamed vvith follovving than ouerthrovven by vvithstanding they gaue vvay vnto it for that day and the next neuer troubling him either vvith asking questions or finding fault vvith his melancholie but rather fitting to his dolor dolorous discourses of their ovvne and other folks misfortunes Which speeches though they had not a liuely entraÌ„ce to his sences shut vp in sorow yet like one halfe a sleepe he tooke hold of much of the matters spoken vnto him so as a man may say ere sorow was a wareâ— they made his thoughts beare away somthing els besid his own sorow which wrought so in him that at leÌ„gth he grew content to marke their speeches then to maruell at such wit in shepheardes after to like their company and lastly to vouchsafe conference so that the third day after in the time that the morning did strow roses and violets in the heauenly floore against the comming of the Sun the nightingales striuing one with the other which coulde in most dainty variety recount their wrong caused sorow made them put of their sleep and rising from vnder a tree which that night had bine their pauilion they went on their iorney which by and by welcomed Musidorus eyes wearied with the wasted soile of Laconia with delightfull prospects There were hilles which garnished their proud heights with stately trees humble valleis whose base estate seemed comforted with refreshing of siluer riuers medowes enameld with all sortes of eypleasing floures thickets which being lined with most pleasant shade were witnessed so too by the cheerefull disposition of many wel-tuned birds ech pasture stored with sheep feeding with sober security while the prety lambes with bleting oratory craued the dams comfort here a shepheards boy piping as though he should neuer be olde there a yong shepherdesse knitting and withall singing and it seemed that her voice comforted her hands to worke and her hands kept time to her voices musick As for the houses of the country for many houses came vnder their eye they were all scattered no two being one by th' other and yet not so far off as that it barred mutuall succour a shew as it were of an accompanable solitarines of a ciuil wildnes I pray you said Musidorus then first vnsealing his long silent lips what countreyes be these we passe through which are so diuers in shewe the one wanting no store th' other hauing no store but of want The country answered Claius where you were cast a shore and now are past through is Laconia not so poore by the barrennes of the soyle though in it selfe not passing fertill as by a ciuill warre which being these two yeares within the bowels of that estate betweene the gentlemen and the peasants by them named Helots hath in this sorte as it were disfigured the face of nature and made it so vnhospitall as now you haue founde it the townes neither of the one side nor the other willingly opening their gates to strangers nor strangers willingly entring for feare of being mistaken But this countrie where now you set your foot is Arcadia euen hard by is the house of Kalander whether we lead you this country being thus decked with peace the child of peace good husbandrie These houses you see so scattered are of men as we two are that liue vpon the commoditie of their sheepe and therefore in the diuision of the Arcadian estate are termed shepheards a happie people wanting litle because they desire not much What cause then saide Musidorus made you venter to leaue this sweet life and put your selfe in yonder vnpleasant and dangerous realme Guarded with pouertie answered Strephon and guided with loue But now said Claius since it hath pleased you to aske any thing of vs whose basenes is such as the very knowledge is darkenes geue vs leaue
in nature vnhappy by fortune But most wretched I am now loue awakes my desire Dorus when he had soong this hauing had all the while a free beholding of the faire Pamela who could well haue spared such honor and defended the assault he gaue vnto hir face with bringing a faire staine of shamefastnes vnto it let fall his armes and remained so fastened in his thoughts as if Pamela had graffed him there to growe in continuall imagination But Zelmane espying it and fearing he should too much forget himselfe she came to him and tooke out of his hand the Lute and laying fast hold of Philocleas face with her eyes she soong these Sapphikes speaking as it were to hir owne hope If mine eyes can speake to doo harty errande Or mine eyes language she doo hap to iudge of So that eyes message be of her receaued Hope we do liue yet But if eyes faile then when I most doo need them Or if eyes language be not vnto her knowne So that eyes message doo returne reiected Hâ—pe we doo both dye Yet dying and dead doo we sing her honour So become our tombes monuments of her praise So becomes our losse the triumph of her gaine Hers be the glory If the spheares senselesse doo yet hold a musique If the Swannes sweet voice be not heard but at death If the mute timber when it hath the life lost Yeldeth a Lutes tune Are then humane mindes priuiledg'd so meanly As that hatefull death can abridge them of powre With the vowe of truth to record to all worlds That we be her spoiles Thus not ending ends the due praise of her praise Fleshly vaile consumes but a soule hath his life Which is held in loue loue it is that hath ioynd Life to this our soule But if eyes can speake to doo harty errand Or mine eyes language she doo hap to iudge of So that eyes message be of her receaued Hope we do liue yet Great was the pleasure of Basilius and greater would haue bene Gynaecias but that she found too well it was intended to her daughter As for Philoclea she was swetely rauished withall When Dorus desiring in a secret maner to speake of their cases as perchance the parties intended might take some light of it making lowe reuerence to Zelmane began this prouoking song in hexameter verse vnto her Wherevnto she soone finding whither his words were directed in like tune and verse answered as foloweth Dorus. Zelmane Dorus. Lady reserud by the heau'ns to do pastors company honnor Ioyning your sweete voice to the rurall muse of a deserte Here you fully do finde this strange operation of loue How to the woods loue runnes as well as rydes to the Pallace Neither he beares reuerence to a Prince nor pittie to begger But like a point in midst of a circle is still of a neernesse All to a lesson he draw's nether hills nor caues can auoide him Zelmane Worthy shepeheard by my song to my selfe all fauor is happned That to the sacred Muse my anoyes somewhat be reuealed Sacred Muse who in one contaynes what nine do in all them But ô happy be you which safe from fyry reflection Of Phoebus violence in shade of sweet Cyparissus Or pleasant mirtell may teach th' vnfortunate Echo In these woods to resounde the renowmed name of a goddesse Happy be you that may to the saint your onely Idea Although simply atyrde your manly affection vtter Happy be those mishapps which iustly proportion holding Giue right sound to the eares and enter aright to the iudgement But wretched be the soules which vaild in a contrary subiect How much more we do loue so the lesse our loues be beleeued What skill salueth a soare of a wrong infirmity iudged What can iustice auaile to a man that tells not his owne case You though feares do abash in you still possible hopes be Nature against we do seeme to rebell seeme fooles in a vaine sute But so vnheard condemn'd kept thence we do seeke to abide in Selfe-lost in wandring banished that place we doe come from What meane is there alas we can hope our losse to recouer What place is there left we may hope our woes to recomfort Vnto the heau'ns our wings be too short earth thinks vs a burden Aire we do still with sighes encrease to the fire we do want none And yet his outward heate our teares would quench but an inward Fire no liquor can coole Neptunes realme would not auaile vs. Happy shepheard with thanks to the Gods still thinke to be thankfull That to thy aduauncement their wisdomes haue thee abased Dorus. Vnto the Gods with a thanckfull heart all thankes I do render That to my aduauncement their wisdomes haue me abased But yet alas O but yet alas our happs be but hard happs Which must frame contempt to the fittest purchase of honnour Well may a Pastor plaine but alas his plaints be not esteem'de Silly shepheards poore pype when his harsh sound testifi's anguish Into the faire looker on pastime not passion enters And to the woods or brookes who do make such dreery recitall What be the pangs they beare and whence those pangs be deriued Pleasd to receaue that name by rebounding answere of Echo May hope therby to ease their inward horrible anguish When trees daunce to the pype and swift streames stay by the musicke Or when an Echo begins vnmou'd to sing them a loue song Say then what vantage do we get by the trade of a Pastor Since no estates be so base but loue vouchsafeth his arrow Since no refuge doth serue from woundes we do carry about vs Since outward pleasures be but halting helpes to decayd soules Saue that dayly we may discerne what fire we do burne in Farre more happy be you whose greatnes gets a free accesse Whose faire bodily gifts are fram'd most louely to each ey Vertue you haue of vertue you haue left proofe to the whole world And vertue is gratefull with bewty and richnes adorned Neither doubt you awhit time will your passion vtter Hardly remains fyer hid where skill is bent to the hiding But in a minde that would his flames should not be repressed Nature worketh enough with a small help for the reuealing Giue therefore to the Muse great praise in whose very likenes You doo approch to the fruite your onely desir's be to gather Zelmane First shall fertill grounds not yeeld increase of a good seed First the riuers shall ceasse to repay their fludds to the Occean First may a trusty Greyhounde transforme himselfe to a Tigre First shall vertue be vice and bewty be counted a blemishe Ere that I leaue with song of praise her praise to solemnize Her praise whence to the world all praise hath his only beginning But yet well I doo finde each man most wise in his owne case None can speake of a wound with skill if he haue not a wound felt Great to thee my state seemes thy state is blest by my
thy presence to such a dust-creeping worme as I am O you heauens which continually keepe the course allotted vnto you can none of your influences preuaile so much vpon the miserable Gynecia as to make her preserue a course so long imbraced by her O deserts deserts how fita guest am I for you since my hart can people you with wild rauenous beastes which in you are wanting O Vertue where doost thou hide thy selfe What hideous thinge is this which doeth Eclips thee Or is it true that thou weart neuer but a vaine name and no essentiall thing which hast thus left thy professed seruant when she had most need of thy louely presence O imperfect proportioÌ„ of reason which can too much foresee too little preuent Alas alas said she if there were but one hope for all my paines or but one excuse for all my faultinesse But wretch that I am my torment is beyond all succour and my euill deseruing doth exceed my euill fortune For nothing els did my husband take this straunge resolution to liue so solitarily for nothing els haue the windes deliuered this straunge guest to my country for nothing els haue the destinies reserued my life to this time but that onely I most wretched I should become a plague to my selfe and a shame to womankind Yet if my desire how vniust so euer it be might take effect though a thousand deaths folowed it and euery death were followed with a thousand shames yet should not my sepulcher receiue mee without some contentment But alas though sure I am that Zelmane is such as can answer my loue yet as sure I am that this disguising must needs come for some foretaken coÌ„ceipt And then wretched Gynecia where canst thou find any small ground plot for hope to dwel vpon No no it is Philoclea his hart is sett vpoÌ„ it is my daughter I haue borne to supplant me But if it bee so the life I haue giuen thee vngratefull Philoclea I will sooner with these handes bereaue thee of then my birth shall glory she hath bereaued me of my desires In shame there is no comfort but to bee beyond all bounds of shame Hauing spoken thus she began to make a piteous war with hir faire haire when she might heare not far froÌ„ her an extremely dolefull voice but so suppressed with a kind of whispering note that she could not conceaue the wordes distinctly But as a lamentable tune is the sweetest musicke to a wofull mind shee drewe thether heere-away in hope to find some companioÌ„ of her misery And as she paced on she was stopped with a number of trees so thickly placed together that she was afraide shee should with rushing thorow stop the speach of the lamentable partie which shee was so desirous to vnderstand And therefore setting her downe as softlie as she could for she was now in distaunce to heare she might first perceaue a Lute excellentlie well played vppon and then the same dolefull voyce accompanyinge it with these verses IN vaine mine Eyes you labour to amende With flowing teares your fault of hasty sight Since to my hart her shape you so did sende That her I see though you did lose your light In vaine my Hart now you with sight are burnd With sighes you seeke to coole your hotte desire Since sighes into mine inward fornace turnd For bellowes serue to kindle more the fire Reason in vaine now you haue lost my hart My head you seeke as to your strongest forte Since there mine eyes haue played so false a parte That to your strength your foes haue sure resorte Then since in vaine I find were all my strife To this strange death I vainely yeeld my life The ending of the song serued but for a beginning of new plaints as if the mind oppressed with too heauy a burtheÌ„ of cares was faine to discharge it self of al sides as it were paint out the hideousnes of the paine in all sortes of coulours For the wofull person as if the lute had euill ioined with the voice threw it to the ground with such like words Alas poore Lute how much art thou deceiu'd to think that in my miseries thou couldst ease my woes as in my careles times thou was wont to please my fancies The time is changed my Lute the time is changed and no more did my ioyfull minde then receiue euery thing to a ioyful consideration then my carefull mind now makes ech thing tast like the bitter iuyce of care The evill is inward my Lute the euill is inward which all thou doost doth serue but to make me thinke more freely off And alas what is then thy harmony but the sweete meats of sorrow The discord of my thoughts my Lute doth ill agree to the concord of thy strings therefore be not ashamed to leaue thy master since hee is not afraide to forsake himselfe And thus much spoke in steede of a conclusion was closed vp with so harty a groning that Gynecia could not refraine to shew her selfe thinking such griefes could serue fitly for nothing but her owne fortune But as she came into the little Arbour of this sorrowful musicke her eyes met with the eyes of Zelmane which was the party that thus had indited her selfe of miserie so that either of them remained coÌ„fused with a sodaine astonishment Zelmane fearing least she had heard some part of those complaints which she had risen vp that morning early of purpose to breath out in secret to her selfe But Gynecia a great while stood still with a kind of dull amasement looking stedfastly vpon her at length returning to some vse of her selfe she began to aske Zelmane what cause carried her so early abroad But as if the opening of her mouth to Zelmane had opened some great flood-gate of sorrow whereof her heart could not abide the violeÌ„t issue she sanke to the ground with her haÌ„ds ouer her face crying vehemently Zelmane helpe me O Zelmane haue pittie on me Zelmane ranne to her maruelling what sodaine sicknesse had thus possessed her beginning to aske her the cause of her paine offering her seruice to be imployed by her Gynecia opening her eyes wildly vpon her pricked with the flames of loue the torments of her owne conscience O Zelmane Zelmane said she doost thou offer me phisicke which art my only poyson Or wilt thou doo me seruice which hast alredy brought me into eternall slauerie Zelmane then knowing well at what marke shee shot yet loth to enter into it Most excelleÌ„t Ladie said she you were best retire your selfe into your lodging that you the better â—ay passe this sodaine fitte Retire my selfe said Gynecia If I had retyred my selfe into my selfe when thou to me vnfortunate guest camest to draw me from my selfe blessed had I bene no neede had I had of this counsaile But now alas I am forced to flie to thee for succour whom I accuse of all my hurt make thee iudge of my cause who
Mopsa that is onely suteable in laying a foule complexion vpon a filthy fauour setting foorth both in sluttishnes she was the load-starre of my life she the blessing of mine eyes she the ouerthrowe of my desires and yet the recompence of my ouerthrowe she the sweetnesse of my hart euen sweetning the death which her sweetnesse drew vpō me In summe what soeuer I thought of Pamela that I saide of Mopsa whereby as I gatte my maisters good-will who before spited me fearing lest I should winne the Princesse fauour from him so did the same make the Princesse the better content to allow me her presence whether indeede it were that a certaine sparke of noble indignation did rise in her not to suffer such a baggage to winne away any thing of hers how meanely soeuer she reputed of it or rather as I thinke my words being so passionate and shooting so quite contrarie from the markes of Mopsaes worthinesse she perceiued well enough whither they were directed and therfore being so masked she was contented as a sporte of witte to attend them Whereupon one day determining to finde some means to tell as of a third person the tale of mine owne loue and estate finding Mopsa like a Cuckoo by a Nightingale alone with Pamela I came in vnto them and with a face I am sure full of clowdy fancies tooke a harpe and soong this song SInce so mine eyes are subiect to your sight That in your sight they fixed haue my braine Since so my harte is filled with that light That onely light doth all my life maintaine Since in sweete you all goods so richly raigne That where you are no wished good can want Since so your liuing image liues in me That in my selfe your selfe true loue doth plant How can you him vnworthy then decree In whose chiefe parte your worthes implanted be The song being ended which I had often broken of in the middest with grieuous sighes which ouertooke euery verse I sang I let fall my harpe from me and casting my eye sometime vpon Mopsa but setling my sight principally vpon Pamela And is it the onely fortune most bewtifull Mopsa said I of wretched Dorus that fortune must be the measure of his mind Am I onely he that because I am in miserie more miserie must be laid vpon me must that which should be cause of compassion become an argument of cruelty against me Alas excellent Mopsa consider that a vertuous Prince requires the life of his meanest subiect and the heauenly Sunne disdaines not to giue light to the smallest worme O Mopsa Mopsa if my hart could be as manifest to you as it is vncomfortable to me I doubt not the height of my thoughts should well counteruaile the lownesse of my qualitie Who hath not heard of the greatnes of your estate who seeth not that your estate is much excelled with that sweet vniting of all beauties which remaineth and dwelleth with you who knowes not that all these are but ornaments of that diuine sparke within you which being descended from heauen could not els-where picke out so sweete a mansion But if you will knowe what is the bande that ought to knit all these excellencies together it is a kinde mercyfulnesse to such a one as is in his soule deuoted to those perfections Mopsa who already had had a certaine smackring towards me stood all this while with her hand sometimes before her face but most commonly with a certaine speciall grace of her owne wagging her lips and grinning in steede of smiling but all the words I could get of her was wrieng her waste and thrusting out her chinne In faith you iest with me you are a merry man indeede But the euer-pleasing Pamela that well found the Comedie would be marred if she did not helpe Mopsa to her part was content to vrge a little further of me Maister Dorus said the faire Pamela me thinks you blame your fortune very wrongfully since the fault is not in Fortune but in you that cannot frame your selfe to your fortune and as wrongfully do require Mopsa to so great a disparagement as to her Fathers seruaunt since she is not worthy to be loued that hath not some feeling of her owne worthines I staied a good while after her words in hope she would haue continued her speech so great a delight I receaued in hearing her but seeing her say no further with a quaking all ouer my body I thus answered her Ladie most worthie of all dutie how falles it out that you in whom all vertue shines will take the patronage of fortune the onely rebellious handmaide against vertue Especially since before your eyes you haue a pittifull spectacle of her wickednesse a forlorne creature which must remaine not such as I am but such as she makes me since she must be the ballance of worthinesse or disparagement Yet alas if the condemned man euen at his death haue leaue to speake let my mortall wound purchase thus much confideration since the perfections are such in the partie I loue as the feeling of them cannot come into any vnnoble hart shall that hart which doth not onely feele them but hath all the working of his life placed in them shall that hart I saie lifted vp to such a height be counted base O let not an excellent spirit doo it selfe such wrong as to thinke where it is placed imbraced and loued there can be any vnworthinesse since the weakest mist is not easilier driuen away by the Sunne then that is chased away with so high thoughts I will not denie answered the gratious Pamela but that the loue you beare to Mopsa hath brought you to the consideration of her vertues and that consideration may haue made you the more vertuous and so the more worthie But euen that then you must confesse you haue receiued of her and so are rather gratefully to thanke her then to presse any further till you bring something of your owne whereby to claime it And truely Dorus I must in Mopsaes behalfe say thus much to you that if her beauties haue so ouertaken you it becomes a true Loue to haue your harte more set vpon her good then your owne to beare a tenderer respect to her honour then your satisfaction Now by my hallidame Madame said Mopsa throwing a great number of sheeps eyes vpon me you haue euen touched mine owne minde to the quicke forsooth I finding that the pollicie that I had vsed had at lest wise procured thus much happinesse vnto me as that I might euen in my Ladies presence discouer the sore which had deepely festered within me and that she could better conceaue my reasons applied to Mopsa then she would haue vouchsafed them whilest her selfe was a partie thought good to pursue on my good beginning vsing this fit occasion of Pamelaes wit and Mopsaes ignorance Therefore with an humble pearcing eye looking vpon Pamela as if I had rather bene condemned by her mouth then highly exalted by the
the matter alone for accompanied they would not haue suffered them to haue mounted and so those great fellowes scornefully receiuing them as foolish birds falne into their net it pleased the eternall iustice to make them suffer death by their hands and so they were manifoldly acknowledged the sauers of that countrie It were the part of a verie idle Orator to set forth the numbers of wel-deuised honors done vnto them But as high honor is not onely gotten and borne by paine and daunger but must be nurst by the like or els vanisheth as soone as it appeares to the world so the naturall hunger thereof which was in Pyrocles suffered him not to account a resting seate of that which euer either riseth or falleth but still to make one occasion beget another wherby his doings might send his praise to others mouthes to rebound againe true contentment to his spirit And therefore hauing well established those kingdomes vnder good gouernours and rid them by their valure of such giants and monsters as before time armies were not able to subdue they determined in vnknowne order to see more of the world and to imploy those gifts esteemed rare in them to the good of mankinde and therefore would themselues vnderstanding that the King Euarchus was passed all the cumber of his warres goe priuately to seeke exercises of their vertue thinking it not so worthy to be brought to Heroycall effects by fortune or necessitie like Vlysses and Aeneas as by ones owne choice and working And so went they away from verie vnwilling people to leaue them making time haste it selfe to be a circumstance of their honour and one place witnesse to another of the truth of their doings For scarcely were they out of the confines of Pontus but that as they ridde alone armed for alone they went one seruing the other they mette an aduenture which though not so notable for any great effect they perfourmed yet worthy to be remembred for the vn-vsed examples therein as well of true naturall goodnes as of wretched vngratefulnesse It was in the kingdome of Galacia the season being as in the depth of winter very cold and as then sodainely growne to so extreame and foule a storme that neuer any winter I thinke brought foorth a fowler child so that the Princes were euen compelled by the haile that the pride of the winde blew into their faces to seeke some shrowding place which a certaine hollow rocke offering vnto them they made it their shield against the tempests furie And so staying there till the violence thereof was passed they heard the speach of a couple who not perceiuing them being hidde within that rude canapy helde a straunge and pitifull disputation which made them steppe out yet in such sort as they might see vnseene There they perceaued an aged man and a young scarcely come to the age of a man both poorely arayed extreamely weather-beaten the olde man blinde the young man leading him and yet through all those miseries in both there seemed to appeare a kinde of noblenesse not sutable to that affliction But the first words they heard were these of the old man Well Leonatus said he since I cannot perswade thee to leade mee to that which should end my griefe and thy trouble let me now entreat thee to leaue me feare not my miserie cannot be greater then it is and nothing doth become me but miserie feare not the danger of my blind steps I cannot fall worse then I am And doo not I pray thee doo not obstinately continue to infect thee with my wretchednes But flie flie from this region onely worthy of me Deare father answered he doo not take away from me the onely remnant of my happinesse while I haue power to doo you seruice I am not wholly miserable Ah my sonne said he and with that he groned as if sorrow straue to breake his harte how euill fits it me to haue such a sonne and how much doth thy kindnesse vpbraide my wickednesse These dolefull speeches and some others to like purpose well shewing they had not bene borne to the fortune they were in moued the Princes to goe out vnto them and aske the younger what they were Sirs answered he with a good grace and made the more agreable by a certaine noble kinde of pitiousnes I see well you are straungers that know not our miserie so well here knowne that no man dare know but that we must be miserable In deede our state is such as though nothing is so needfull vnto vs as pittie yet nothing is more daungerous vnto vs then to make our selues so knowne as may stirre pittie But your presence promiseth that cruelty shall not ouer-runne hate And if it did in truth our state is soncke below the degree of feare This old man whom I leade was lately rightfull Prince of this countrie of Paphlagonia by the hard-harted vngratefulnes of a sonne of his depriued not onely of his kingdome whereof no forraine forces were euer able to spoyle him but of his sight the riches which Nature graunts to the poorest creatures Whereby and by other his vnnaturall dealings he hath bin driuen to such griefe as euen now he would haue had me to haue led him to the toppe of this rocke thence to cast himselfe headlong to death and so would haue made me who receiued my life of him to be the worker of his destruction But noble Gentlemen said he if either of you haue a father and feele what duetifull affection is engraffed in a sonnes hart let me entreate you to conuay this afflicted Prince to some place of rest and securitie Amongst your worthie actes it shall be none of the least that a King of such might and fame and so vniustlie oppressed is in any sort by you relieued But before they coulde make him aunswere his father began to speake Ah my sonne said he how euill an Historian are you that leaue out the chiefe knot of all the discourse my wickednes my wickednes And if thou doest it to spare my ears the onely sense now left mee proper for knowledge assure thy selfe thou doest mistake me And I take witnesse of that Sunne which you see with that he cast vp his blinde eies as if he would hunt for light and wish my selfe in worse case then I doe wish my selfe which is as euill as may bee if I speake vntruely that nothing is so welcome to my thoughts as the publishing of my shame Therefore know you Gentlemen to whome from my heart I wish that it may not proue some ominous foretoken of misfortune to haue met with such a miser as I am that whatsoeuer my sonne ô God that truth bindes me to reproch him with the name of my son hath saide is true But besides those truthes this also is true that hauing had in lawfull mariage of a mother fitte to beare roiall children this sonne such a one as partly you see and better shall knowe by my short declaration and so
they had often made their liues triumph ouer most terrible daungers neuer dismaied and euer fortunate and truely no more setled in valure then disposed to goodnes and iustice if either they had lighted on a better friend or could haue learned to make friendship a childe and not the father of Vertue But bringing vp rather then choise hauing first knit their mindes vnto him indeede crafty inough either to hide his faultes or neuer to shewe them but when they might pay home they willingly helde out the course rather to satisfie him then all the worlde and rather to be good friendes then good men so as though they did not like the euill hee did yet they liked him that did the euill and though not councellors of the offence yet protectors of the offender Now they hauing heard of this sodaine going out with so small a company in a countrey full of euill-wishing mindes toward him though they knew not the cause followed him till they founde him in such case as they were to venture their liues or else he to loose his which they did with such force of minde and bodie that truely I may iustly say Pyrocles and Musidorus had neuer till then found any that could make them so well repeate their hardest lesson in the feates of armes And briefly so they did that if they ouercame not yet were they not ouercome but caried away that vngratefull maister of theirs to a place of security howsoeuer the Princes laboured to the contrary But this matter being thus farre begun it became not the constancy of the Princes so to leaue it but in all hast making forces both in Pontus and Phrigia they had in fewe daies lefte him but onely that one strong place where he was For feare hauing beene the onely knot that had fastned his people vnto him that once vntied by a greater force they all scattered from him like so many birdes whose cage had beene broken In which season the blinde King hauing in the chiefe cittie of his Realme set the crown vppon his son Leonatus head with many teares both of ioy and sorrow setting forth to the whole people his owne fault and his sonnes vertue after he had kist him and forst his sonne to accept honour of him as of his new-become subiect euen in a moment died as it should seeme his heart broken with vnkindenes and affliction stretched so farre beyond his limits with this excesse of comfort as it was able no longer to keepe safe his vitall spirites But the new King hauing no lesse louingly performed all dueties to him dead then aliue pursued on the siege of his vnnaturall brother asmuch for the reuenge of his father as for the establishing of his owne quiet In which siege truely I cannot but acknowledge the prowesse of those two brothers then whome the Princes neuer found in all their trauaile two of greater hability to performe nor of habler skil for conduct But Plexirtus finding that if nothing else famine would at last bring him to destruction thought better by humblenes to creepe where by pride he coulde not marche For certainely so had nature formed him and the exercise of craft conâ—ormed him to all turningnes of of sleights that though no man had lesse goodnes in his soule then he no man could better find the places whence arguments might grow of goodnesse to another though no man felt lesse pitie no man could tel better how to stir pitie no man more impudent to deny where proofes were not manifest no man more ready to confesse with a repenting manner of aggrauating his owne euill where denial would but make the fault fowler Now he tooke this way that hauing gotten a pasport for one that pretended he woulde put Plexirtus aliue into his hands to speake with the King his brother he him selfe though much against the minds of the valiant brothers who rather wished to die in braue defence with a rope about his necke barefooted came to offer himselfe to the discretion of Leonatus Where what submission hee vsed how cunningly in making greater the faulte he made the faultines the lesse how artificially he could set out the torments of his owne conscience with the burdensome comber he had found of his ambitious desires how finely seeming to desire nothing but death as ashamed to liue he begd life in the refusing it I am not cunning inough to be able to expresse but so fell out of it that though at first sight Leonatus saw him with no other eie then as the murderer of his father and anger already began to paint reuenge in many colours ere long he had not onely gotten pitie but pardon and if not an excuse of the faulte past yet an opinion of a future amendment while the poore villaines chiefe ministers of his wickednes now betraied by the author thereof were deliuered to many cruell sorts of death he so handling it that it rather seemed hee had more come into the defence of an vnremediable mischiefe already committed then that they had done it at first by his consent In such sort the Princes left these reconciled brothers Plexirtus in all his behauiour carying him in far lower degree of seruice then the euer-noble nature of Leonatus would suffer him and taking likewise their leaues of their good friend the King of Pontus who returned to enioy their benefite both of his wife and kingdome they priuately went thence hauing onely with them the two valiant brothers who would needs accompanie them through diuers places they foure dooing actes more daungerous though lesse famous because they were but priuat chiualries till hearing of the faire and vertuous Queene Erona of Lycia besieged by the puissant King of Armenia they bent themselues to her succour both because the weaker and weaker as being a Ladie and partly because they heard the King of Armenia had in his company three of the most famous men liuing for matters of armes that were knowne to be in the worlde Whereof one was the Prince Plangus whose name was sweetned by your breath peerlesse Ladie when the last daie it pleased you to mention him vnto me the other two were two great Princes though holding of him Barzanes and Euardes men of Giant-like bothe hugenes and force in which two especially the trust the King had of victorie was reposed And of them those brothers Tydeus and Telenor sufficient iudges in warlike matters spake so high commendations that the two Princes had euen a youthfull longing to haue some triall of their vertue And therefore as soone as they were entred into Lycia they ioyned themselues with theÌ„ that faithfully serued the poore Queene at that time besieged ere long animated in such sort their almost ouerthrowne harts that they went by force to relieue the towne though they were depriued of a great part of their streÌ„gth by the parting of the two brothers who were sent for in all hast to returne to their old friend and maister Plexirtus who
but her own good behauiour hauing followed and seene Zelmane fighting had cried what she had seene while they were drying themselues and the water with some drops seemed to weepe that it should part from such bodies But they carefull of Zelmane assuring themselues that any Arcadian would beare reuerence to them Pamela with a noble mind and Philoclea with a louing hastily hiding the beauties whereof Nature was prowde and they ashamed they made quicke worke to come to saue Zelmane But already they found them in talke and Zelmane carefull of his wound But whē they saw him they knew it was their cousin germain the famous Amphialus whom yet with a sweete-graced bitternes they blamed for breaking their fathers commaundement especially while themselues were in such sort retired But he craued pardon protesting vnto them that he had onely bene to seeke solitary places by an extreme melancholy that had a good while possest him and guided to that place by his spaniell where while the dog hunted in the riuer he had withdrawne himselfe to pacifie with sleepe his ouerwatched eyes till a dreame waked him and made him see that whereof he had dreamed and withall not obscurely signified that he felt the smart of his owne doings But Philoclea that was euen iealous of her selfe for Zelmane would needs haue her gloue and not without so mighty a loure as that face could yeeld As for Zelmane when she knew it was Amphialus Lord Amphialus said she I haue long desired to know you heretofore I must confesse with more good will but still with honoring your vertue though I loue not your person and at this time I pray you let vs take care of your wound vpon condition you shall hereafter promise that a more knightly combat shal be performed betweene vs. Amphialus answered in honorable sort but with such excusing himselfe that more and more accused his loue to Philoclea and prouoked more hate in Zelmane But Mopsa had already called certaine shepheards not far off who knew and wel obserued their limits to come and helpe to carrie away Amphialus whose wound suffered him not without daunger to straine it and so he leauing himselfe with them departed from them faster bleeding in his hart then at his wound which bound vp by the sheetes wherewith Philoclea had bene wrapped made him thanke the wound and blesse the sword for that fauour He being gone the Ladies with mery anger talking in what naked simplicitie their cousin had seene them returned to the lodge-warde yet thinking it too early as long as they had any day to breake off so pleasing a company with going to performe a cumbersome obedience Zelmane inuited them to the little arbour only reserued for her which they willingly did and there sitting Pamela hauing a while made the lute in his language shew how glad it was to be touched by her fingers Zelmane deliuered vp the paper which Amphialus had at first yeelded vnto her and seeing written vpon the backside of it the complaint of Plangus remembring what Dorus had told her and desiring to know how much Philoclea knew of her estate she tooke occasion in the presenting of it to aske whether it were any secret or no. No truely answered Philoclea it is but euen an exercise of my fathers writing vpon this occasion He was one day somwhile before your comming hether walking abroade hauing vs two with him almost a mile hence and crossing a hie way which comes from the cittie of Megalopolis he saw this Gentleman whose name is there written one of the proprest and best-graced men that euer I sawe being of middle age and of a meane stature Hee lay as then vnder a tree while his seruaunts were getting fresh post-horses for him It might seeme he was tired with the extreme trauaile he had taken and yet not so tyred that hee forced to take any rest so hasty hee was vpon his iourney and withall so sorrowfull that the very face thereof was painted in his face which with pitifull motions euen groanes teares and possionate talking to him self moued my Father to fal in talke with him who at first not knowing him answered him in such a desperate phrase of griefe that my Father afterward tooke a delight to set it downe in such forme as you see which if you read what you doubt of my sister and I are hable to declare vnto you Zelmane willingly opened the leaues and read it being written Dialogue-wise in this manner Plangus Basilius Plangus ALas how long this pilgrimage doth last What greater ills haue now the heauens in store To couple comming harmes with sorrowes past Long since my voice is hoarce and throte is sore With cries to skies and curses to the ground But more I plaine I feele my woes the more Ah where was first that cruell cunning found To frame of Earth a vessell of the minde Where it should be to selfe-destruction bound What needed so high sprites such mansions blind Or wrapt in flesh what do they here obtaine But glorious name of wretched humaine-kind Balles to the starres and thralles to Fortunes raigne Turnd from themselues infected with their cage Where death is feard and life is held with paine Like players pla'st to fill a filthy stage Where chaunge of thoughts one foole to other shewes And all but iests saue onely sorrowes rage The child feeles that the man that feeling knowes With cries first borne the presage of his life Where wit but serues to haue true tast of woes A Shop of shame a Booke where blots be rife This bodie is this bodie so composed As in it selfe to nourish mortall strife So diuers be the Elements disposed In this weake worke that it can neuer be Made vniforme to any state reposed Griefe onely makes his wretched state to see Euen like a toppe which nought but whipping moues This man this talking beast this walking tree Griefe is the stone which finest iudgement proues For who grieues not hath but a blockish braine Since cause of griefe no cause from life remoues Basilius How long wilt thou with monefull musicke staine The cheerefull notes these pleasant places yeeld Where all good haps a perfect state maintaine Plangus Curst be good haps and curst be they that build Their hopes on haps and do not make despaire For all these certaine blowes the surest shield Shall I that saw Eronaes shining haire Torne with her hands and those same hands of snow With losse of purest blood themselues to teare Shall I that saw those brests where beauties flow Swelling with sighes made pale with mindes disease And saw those eyes those Sonnes such shoures to shew Shall I whose eares her mournefull words did seaze Her words in syrup laid of sweetest breath Relent those thoughts which then did so displease No no Despaire my dayly lesson saith And saith although I seeke my life to flie Plangus must liue to see Eronaes death Plangus must liue some helpe for her to trie Though in despaire
had receiued that naughtie Plexirtus into a streight degree of fauour his goodnesse being as apt to be deceiued as the others craft was to deceiue Till by plaine proofe finding that the vngratefull man went about to poyson him yet would not suffer his kindnesse to be ouercome not by iustice it selfe but calling him to him vsed words to this purpose Plexirtus said he this wickednesse is founde by thee No good deedes of mine haue bene able to keepe it downe in thee All men counsell me to take away thy life likely to bring foorth nothing but as daungerous as wicked effects But I cannot finde it in my harte remembring what fathers sonne thou art But since it is the violence of ambition which perchaunce puls thee from thine owne iudgement I will see whether the satisfying that may quiet the ill working of thy spirites Not farre hence is the great cittie of Trebisonde which with the territorie about it aunciently pertained vnto this crowne now vniustly possessed and as vniustly abused by those who haue neither title to holde it nor vertue to rule it To the conquest of that for thy selfe I will lende thee force and giue thee my right Go therefore and with lesse vnnaturalnesse glut thy ambition there and that done if it be possible learne vertue Plexirtus mingling forsworne excuses with false-meant promises gladly embraced the offer and hastilie sending backe for those two Brothers who at that time were with vs succouring the gratious Queene Erona by their vertue chiefly if not onely obteined the conquest of that goodly dominion Which indeede done by them gaue them such an authoritie that though he raigned they in effect ruled most men honouring them because they onely deserued honour and many thinking therein to please Plexirtus considering how much he was bound vnto them while they likewise with â— certaine sincere boldnesse of selfe-warranting friendship accepted all openly and plainely thinking nothing should euer by Plexirtus be thought too much in them since all they were was his But he who by the rules of his own mind could construe no other end of mens doings but selfe seking sodenly feared what they could doo and as sodainely suspected what they would doo and as sodainly hated them as hauing both might and minde to doo But dreading their power standing so strongly in their owne valour and others affection he durst not take open way against them and as hard it was to take a secrete they being so continually followed by the best and euery way hablest of that region and therefore vsed this diuelish sleight which I will tell you not doubting most wicked man to turne their owne friendship toward him to their owne destruction He knowing that they well knew there was no friendship betweene him and the new King of Pontus neuer since he succoured Leonatus and vs to his ouerthrow gaue them to vnderstand that of late there had passed secrete defiance betweene them to meete priuately at a place apointed Which though not so fit a thing for men of their greatnes yet was his honour so engaged as he could not go backe Yet faining to find himselfe weake by some counterfait infirmitie the day drawing neere he requested each of them to go in his stead making either of theÌ„ sweare to keepe the matter secret euen ech from other deliuering the selfe same particularities to both but that he told Tydeus the King would meet him in a blew armour and Telenor that it was a black armour and with wicked subtiltie as if it had bene so apointed caused Tydeus to take a black armour and Telenor a blew appointing them waies how to go so as he knew they should not meet till they came to the place appointed where each had promised to keepe silence lest the King should discouer it was not Plexirtus and there in a wait had he laied these murtherers that who ouerliued the other should by them be dispatched he not daring trust more then those with that enterprise and yet thinking them too few till themselues by themselues were weakened This we learned chiefly by the chiefe of those way-beaters after the death of those two worthie brothers whose loue was no lesse then their valour but well we might finde much thereof by their pitifull lamentation when they knew their mismeeting and saw each other in despite of the Surgerie we could doo vnto them striuing who should runne fastest to the goale of death each bewailing the other and more dying in the other then in himselfe cursing their owne hands for doing and their breastes for not sooner suffering detesting their vnfortunately-spent time in hauing serued so vngratefull a Tyraunt and accusing their folly in hauing beleeued he could faithfully loue who did not loue faithfulnes wishing vs to take heed how we placed our good will vpon any other ground then proofe of vertue since length of acquaintance mutuall secrecies nor height of benefits could binde a sauage harte no man being good to other that is not good in himselfe Then while any hope was beseeching vs to leaue the care of him that besought and onely looke to the other But when they found by themselues and vs no possibilitie they desired to be ioined and so embracing and crauing that pardon each of other which they denied to themselues they gaue vs a most sorrowfull spectacle of their death leauing â—ew in the world behind them their matches in any thing if they had soone inough knowne the ground and limits of friendship But with wofull hartes we caused those bodies to be conueyed to the next towne of Bythinia where we learning thus much as I haue tolde you caused the wicked Historian to conclude his story with his owne well-deserued death But then I must tell you I found such wofull countenances in Daiphantus that I could not but much maruaile finding them coÌ„tinew beyond the first assault of pittie how the case of strangers for further I did not conceiue could so deepely pearce But the truth indeed is that partly with the shame and sorrow she tooke of her fathers faultinesse partly with the feare that the hate I conceiued against him would vtterly disgrace her in my opinion whensoeuer I should know her so vehemeÌ„tly perplexed her that her fayre colour decaied and dayly hastily grew into the very extreme working of sorowfulnes which oft I sought to learne and helpe But she as fearefull as louing still concealed it and so decaying still more more in the excellencie of her fairenesse but that whatsoeuer weakenesse tooke away pitie seemed to adde yet still she forced her selfe to waite on me with such care and diligence as might well shew had bene taught in no other schoole but Loue. While we returning againe to embarke our selues for Greece vnderstood that the mighty Otanes brother to Barzanes slaine by Musidorus in the battaile of the six Princes had entred vpon the kingdome of Pontus partly vpon the pretences he had to the crowne but principally
deliuered her pure soule to the purest place leauing me as full of agonie as kindnes pitie and sorow could make an honest hart For I must confesse â—or true that if my starres had not wholy reserued me for you there els perhaps I might haue loued and which had bene most strange begun my loue after death wherof let it be the lesse maruaile because somewhat she did resemble you though as farre short of your perfection as her selfe dying was of her selfe flourishing yet somthing there was which when I saw a picture of yours brought againe her figure into my remembrance and made my hart as apt to receiue the wounde as the power of your beauty with vnresistable force to pearce But we in wofull and yet priuat manner burying her performed her commandement and then enquiring of her fathers estate certainly learned that he was presently to be succoured or by death to passe the neede of succour Therefore we determined to diuide our selues I according to my vowe to helpe him and Musidorus toward the King of Pontus who stood in no lesse need then immediat succour euen readie to depart one from the other there came a messenger from him who after some enquirie found vs giuing vs to vnderstand that he trusting vpon vs two had apointed the combat betweene him and vs against Otanes and the two Gyants Now the day was so accorded as it was impossible for me both to succour Plexirtus and be there where my honour was not only so far engaged but by the straunge working of vniust fortune I was to leaue the standing by Musidorus whom better then my selfe I loued to go saue him whom for iust causes I hated But my promise giuen and giuen to Zelmane to Zelmane dying preuailed more with me then my friendship to Musidorus though certainely I may affirme nothing had so great rule in my thoughts as that But my promise caried me the easier because Musidorus himselfe would not suffer me to breake it And so with heauy mindes more carefull each of others successe then of our owne we parted I toward the place where I vnderstood Plexirtus was prisoner to an auncient Lord absolutely gouerning a goodly Castle with a large territory about it whereof he acknowledged no other soueraigne but himselfe whose hate to Plexirtus grew for a kinsman of his whom he malitiously had murdered because in the time that he raigned in Galatia he fouÌ„d him apt to practise for the restoring of his vertuous brother Leonatus This old Knight still thirsting for reuenge vsed as the way to it a pollicie which this occasion I will tell you prepared for him Plexirtus in his youth had maried Zelmanes mother who dying of that only child-birth he a widdower and not yet a King haunted the Court of Armenia where as he was cunning to winne fauour he obteined great good liking of Artaxia which he pursâ—ed till being called home by his father he falsly got his fathers kingdome and then neglected his former loue till throwen out of that by our meanes before he was deeply rooted in it and by and by againe placed in Trebisonde vnderstanding that Artaxia by her brothers death was become Queen of Armenia he was hotter then euer in that pursuit which being vnderstood by this olde Knight he forged such a letter as might be written from Artaxia entreating his present but very priuate repaire thether giuing him faithfull promise of present mariage a thing farre from her thought hauing faithfully and publiquely protested that she would neuer marrie any but some such Prince who would giue sure proofe that by his meanes we were destroyed But he no more wittie to frame then blinde to iudge hopes bit hastely at the baite and in priuate maner poasted toward her but by the way he was met by this Knight far better accompanied who quickly laid hold of him and condemned him to death cruell inough if any thing may be both cruell and iust For he caused him to be kept in a miserable prison till a day appointed at which time he would deliuer him to be deuoured by a moÌ„strous beast of most vgly shape armed like a Rhinoceros as strong as an Elephant as fierce as a Lion as nimble as a Leopard and as cruell as a Tigre whom he hauing kept in a strong place from the first youth of it now thought no fitter match then such a beastly monster with a monstrous Tyrant proclaiming yet withall that if any so well loued him as to venture their liues against his beast for him if they ouercame he should be saued not caring how many they were such confidence he had in that monsters strength but especially hoping to entrappe thereby the great courages of Tydeus and Telenor whom he no lesse hated because they had bene principall instruments of the others power I dare say if Zelmane had knowen what daunger I should haue passed she would rather haue let her father perish then me to haue bidden that aduenture But my word was past and truely the hardnes of the enterprise was not so much a bitte as a spurre vnto me knowing well that the iorney of high honor lies not in plaine wayes Therefore going thether and taking sufficient securitie that Plexirtus should be deliuered if I were victorious I vndertooke the combatte and to make short excellent Ladie and not to trouble your eares with recounting a terrible matter so was my weakenes blessed from aboue that without dangerous wounds I slew that monster which hundreds durst not attempt to so great admiration of many who from a safe place might looke on that there was order giuen to haue the fight both by sculpture and picture celebrated in most parts of Asia And the olde noble-man so well liked me that he loued me onely bewayling my vertue had beene imployed to saue a worse monster then I killed whom yet according to faith giuen he deliuered and accompanied me to the kingdome of Pontus whether I would needes in all speede go to see whether it were possible for me if perchance the day had bene delaied to come to the combat But that before I came had bene thus finished The vertuous Leonatus vnderstanding two so good friends of his were to be in that danger would perforce be one him selfe where he did valiantly and so did the King of Pontus But the truth is that both they being sore hurt the incomparable Musidorus finished the combat by the death of both the Giants and the taking of Otanes prisoner To whom as he gaue his life so he gotte a noble friend for so he gaue his word to be and he is well knowen to thinke himselfe greater in being subiect to that then in the greatnes of his principalitie But thither vnderstanding of our being there flocked great multitudes of many great persons and euen of Princes especially those whom we had made beholding vnto vs as the Kings of Phrygia Bythinia with those two hurte of Pontus and Galatia and Otanes
some Kill some Saue but euen they that cried saue ran for companie with them that meant to kill Euerie one commaunded none obeyed he onely seemed chiefe Captaine that was most ragefull Zelmane whose vertuous courage was euer awake drew out her sword which vpon those il-armed churls giuing as many wounds as blowes and as many deathes almost as wounds lightning courage and thundering smart vpon them kept them at a bay while the two Ladies got themselues into the lodge out of the which Basilius hauing put on an armour long vntried came to proue his authoritie among his subiects or at lest to aduenture his life with his deare mistresse to whoÌ„ he brought a shield while the Ladies tremblingly atteÌ„ded the issue of this dangerous aduenture But Zelmane made them perceiue the ods betweene an Eagle and a Kight with such a nimble stayednes and such an assured nimblenes that while one was running backe feare his fellow had her sword in his guts And by and by was both her harte and helpe well encreased by the comming of Dorus who hauing beene making of hurdles for his masters sheepe hearde the horrible cries of this madde multitude and hauing streight represented before the eies of his carefull loue the perill wherein the soule of his soule might bee hee went to Pamelas lodge but found her in a caue hard by with Mopsa and Dametas who at that time would not haue opened the entrie to his father And therefore leauing them there as in a place safe both for being strong and vnknowen he ranne as the noise guyded him But when hee sawe his friende in such danger among them anger and contempt asking no counsell but of courage made him runne among them with no other weapon but his sheephooke and with that ouerthrowing one of the villaines tooke away a two-hand sword from him and withall helpt him from euer being ashamed of loosing it Then lifting vp his braue heade and fâ—ashing terror into their faces he made armes and legs goe complaine to the earth how euill their maisters had kept them Yet the multitude still growing and the verie killing wearying them fearing lest in long fight they should bee conquered with conquering they drew back toward the lodge but drew back in such sort that still their terror went forwarde like a valiant mastiffe whom when his master pulles backe by the taile from the beare with whom he hath alreadie interchanged a hatefull imbracement though his pace be backwarde his gesture is foreward his teeth and eyes threatning more in the retiring then they did in the aduancing so guided they themselues homeward neuer stepping steppe backward but that they proued themselues masters of the ground where they stept Yet among the rebels there was a dapper fellowe a tayler by occupation who fetching his courage onelie from their going back began to bow his knees and very fencer-like to draw neere to Zelmane But as he came within her distance turning his swerd very nicely about his crown Basilius with a side blow strake off his nose He being a suiter to a seimsters daughter and therefore not a little grieued for such a disgrace stouped downe because he had hard that if it were fresh put to it would cleaue on againe But as his hand was on the ground to bring his nose to his head Zelmane with a blow sent his head to his nose That saw a butcher a butcherlie chuffe indeed who that day was sworn brother to him in a cup of wine and lifted vp a great leauer calling Zelmane all the vile names of a butcherly eloquence But she letting slippe the blowe of the leauer hitte him so surely vpon the side of his face that she left nothing but the nether iawe where the tongue still wagged as willing to say more if his masters remembrance had serued O said a miller that was halfe dronke see the lucke of a good fellow and with that word ran with a pitch-forke at Dorus but the nimblenes of the wine caried his head so fast that it made it ouer-runne his feet so that he fell withall iust betwene the legs of Dorus who setting his foote on his neck though he offered two milche kine and foure fat hogs for his life thrust his sword quite through from one eare to the other which toke it very vnkindlie to feele such newes before they heard of them in stead of hearing to be put to such feeling But Dorus leauing the miller to vomit his soule out in wine and bloud with his two-hand sword strake off another quite by the waste who the night before had dreamed he was growen a couple and interpreting it that he should be maried had bragd of his dreame that morning among his neighbors But that blow astonished quite a poore painter who stood by with a pike in his hands This painter was to counterfette the skirmish betwene the Centaures and Lapithes and had bene very desirous to see some notable wounds to be able the more liuely to expresse them and this morning being caried by the streame of this companie the foolish felow was euen delighted to see the effect of blowes But this last hapning neere him so amazed him that he stood stock still while Dorus with a turne of his sword strake off both his hands And so the painter returned well skilled in wounds but with neuer a hand to performe his skill In this manner they recouered the lodge gaue the rebels a face of wood of the outside But they then though no more furious yet more couragious wheÌ„ they saw no resister went about with pickaxe to the wall fire to the gate to get themselues entrance Then did the two Ladies mixe feare with loue especially Philoclea who euer caught hold of Zelmane so by the follie of loue hindering the succour which she desired But Zelmane seeing no way of defence nor time to deliberate the number of tâ—â—â—e villaines still encreasing and their madnesse still encreasing with their number thought it onely the meanes to goe beyond their expectation with an vnused boldenesse and with danger to auoide danger and therefore opened againe the â—ate and Dorus and Basilius standing redie for her defence she issued againe among them The blowes she had dealt before though all in generall were hastie made each of them in particular take breath before they brought them sodainly â—â—â—er-neere her so that she had time to get vp to the iudgement-seate of the Prince which according to the guise of that countrie was before the court gate There she paused a while making signe with her hand vnto them and withall speaking aloud that she had something to say vnto them that would please them But she was answered awhile with nothing but shouts and cries and some beginning to throw stones at her not daring to approach her But at length a yong farmer who might do most among the countrie sort and was caught in a little affection towardes Zelmane hoping by this
possession And how possest he strengthens his invasion Dorus. Sight is his roote in thought is his progression His child hood wonder prentizeship attention His youth delight his age the soules oppression Doubt is his sleepe he waketh in inuention Fancie his foode his clothing is of carefulnes Beautie his booke his play louers dissention His eyes are â—urious search but vailde with warefulnesse His wings desire oft clipt with desperation Largesse his hands could neuer skill of sparefulnesse But how he doth by might or by perswasion To conquere and his conquest how to ratifie Experience doubts and schooles hold disputation Dicus But so thy sheepe may thy good wishes satisfie With large encrease and wooll of fine perfection So she thy loue her eyes thy eyes may gratifie As thou wilt giue our soules a deare refection By telling how she was how now she framed is To helpe or hurt in thee her owne infection Dorus. Blest be the name wherewith my mistres named is Whose wounds are salues whose yokes please more then pleasure doth Her staines are beames vertue the fault she blamed is The hart eye eare here onely find his treasure doth All numbring artes her endlesse graces number not Time place lifeâ— witt scarcely her rare gifts measure doth Is she in rage so is the Sunne in sommer hot Yet haruest brings Doth she alas absent her selfe The Sunne is hid his kindly shadows cumber not But when to giue some grace she doth content herselfe O then it shines then are the heau'ns distributed And Venus seemes to make vp her she spent herselfe Thus then I say my mischiefes haue contributed A greater good by her diuine reflection My harmes to me my blisse to her attributed Thus she is fram'd her eyes are my direction Her loue my life her anger my distruction Lastly what so she is that 's my protection Dicus Thy safetie sure is wrapped in destruction For that construction thine owne wordes do beare A man to feare a womans moodie eye Makes Reason lie a slaue to seruile sense A weake defence where weaknes is thy force So is remorse in follie dearly bought Dorus. If I had thought to heare blasphemous wordes My brest to swords my soule to hell haue solde I rather would then thus mine eares defile With words so vile which viler breath doth breed O heards take heed for I a woolfe haue found Who hunting round the strongest for to kill His breast doth fill with earth of others woe And loden so pulls downe pull'd downe destroyes O sheepheards boyes eschue these tongues of venome Which do enuenome both the soule and senses Our best defenses are to flie these adders O tongues like ladders made to clime dishonour Who iudge that honour which hath scope to slander Dicus Dorus you wander farre in great reproches So Loue encroches on your charmed reason But it is season for to end our singing Such anger bringing as for me my fancie In sicke-mans frenzie rather takes compassion Then rage for rage rather my wish I send to thee Thou soone may haue some helpe or change of passion She oft her lookes the starres her fauour bend to thee Fortune store Nature health Loue grant perswasion A quiet mind none but thy selfe can lend to thee Thus I commend to thee all our former Loue. Dorusâ— Well do I proue errour lies oft in zeale Yet it is seale though errour of true hart Nought could impart such heates to friendly mind But for to find thy words did her disgrace Whose onely face the little heauen is Which who doth misse his eyes are but delusions Barr'd from their chiefest obiect of delightefulnesse Throwne on this earth the Chaos of confusions As for thy wish to my enraged spitefulnesse The louely blow with rare reward my prayer is Thou mayst loue her that I may see thy sightfulnesse The quiet mind whereof my selfe empairer is As thou doest thinke should most of all disquiet me Without her loue then any mind who fairer is Her onely cure from surfet woes can diet me She holdes the ballance of my contentation Hâ—r cleared eyes nought els in stormes can quiet me Nay rather then my ease discontentation Should breed to herâ— let me for aye deiected be From any ioy which might her griefe occasion With so sweet plagues my happie harmes infected be Paine willes me dieâ— yet will of death I mortifie For though life irkes in life my loues protected be Thus for each change my changelesse hart I fortifie When they had ended to the good pleasing of the assistants especiallie of Zelmane who neuer forgat to giue due coÌ„mendatioÌ„s to her friend Dorus Basilius called for Lamon to end his discourse of Strephon Klaius wherwith the other day he marked Zelmane to haue bene exceedingly delighted But him sicknes had staied from that assemblieâ— which gaue occasion to Histor and Damon two yonge shepheards taking vpoÌ„ them the two frendly riualles names to present Basilius with some other of their complaints Ecloge-wise and first with this double Sestine Strephon. Klaius Strephon. Yee Goteheard Gods that loue the grassie mountaines Ye nymphes that haunt the springs in pleasant vallies Ye Satyrs ioyde with free and quiet forrests Vouchsafe your silent eares to plaining musique Which to my woes giue still an early morning And drawes the dolor on till weary euening Klaius O Mercurie foregoer to the euening O heauenly huntresse of the sauage mountaines O louelie starre entit'led of the morning While that my voice doth fill these woefull vallies Vouchsafe your silent eares to plaining musique Which oft hath Echo tir'de in secrete forrests Strephon. I that was once free burges of the forrests Where shade from Sunne and sports I sought at euening I that was once esteem'd for pleasant musique Am banisht now among the monstrous mountaines Of huge despaire and foule afflictions vallies Am growne a shrich owle to my selfe each morning Klaius I that was once delighted euery morning Hunting the wilde inhabiters of forrests I that was once the musique of these vallies So darkened am that all my day is euening Hart broken so that molehilles seeme high mountaines And fill the vales with cries in steed of musique Strephon. Long since alas my deadly swannish musique Hath made it selfe a crier of the morning And hath with wailing strength clim'd highest mountaines Long since my thoughts more desert be then â—orrests Long since I see my ioyes come to their euening And state throwne downe to ouertroden vallies Klaius Long since the happie dwellers of these vallies Haue praide me leaue my â—trange exclaming musique Which troubles their dayes worke ioyes of euening Long since I hate the night more hate the morning Long since my thoughts chaâ—e me like beasts in forrests And make me wish my selfe layd vnder mountaines Strephon. Me seemes I see the high and stately mountaines Transforme themselues to lowe deiected vallies Me seemes I heare in these ill changed forrests The Nightingales doo leâ—rne of Owles their musique Me seemes I
Vndermin'd with a speech the pearcer of thoughts Thus weakned by my selfe no helpe remaineth Say then Reason I say what is thy counsell And now fame the herald of her true honour Doth proclaime with a sound made all by mens mouths That nature souerayne of earthly dwellers Commands all creatures to yeeld obeysance Vnder this this her owne her only dearling Say then Reason I say what is thy counsell Reason sighes but in end he thus doth answere Nought can reason auaile in heau'nly matters Thus natures Diamond receaues thy conquest Thus pure pearle I do yeeld my senses and soule Thus sweete paine I do yeeld what ere I can yeelde Reason looke to thy selfe I serue a goddesse Dorus had long he thought kept silence from saying somwhat which might tend to the glorie of her in whom all glory to his seeming was included but nowe hee brake it singing these verses called Asclepiadikes O sweet woods the delight of solitarines O how much I do like your solitarines where mans mind hath afreed consideration Of goodnes to receiue louely direction Where senses do behold th' order of heau'nly hoste And wise thoughts do behold what the creator is Contemplation here holdeth his only seate Bowndedwith no limitts borne with a wing of hope Clymes euen vnto the starres Nature is vnder it Nought disturbs thy quiet all to thy seruice yeelds Each sight draws on a thought thought mother of science Sweet birds kindly do graunt harmony vnto thee Faire trees shade is enough fortification Nor danger to thy selfe if be not in thy selfe O sweete woods the delight of solitarines O how much I do like your solitarines Here nor treason is hidd vailed in innocence Nor enuies snaky ey finds any harbor here Nor flatterers venomous insinuations Nor comming humorists puddled opinions Nor courteous ruin of proffered vsury Nor time pratled away cradle of ignorance Nor causelesse duty nor comber of arrogance Nor trifling title of vanity dazleth vs Nor golden manacles stand for a paradise Here wrongs name is vnheard slander a monster is Keepe thy sprite from abuse here no abuse doth haunte What man grafts in a tree dissimulation O sweete woods the delight of solitarines O how well I do like your solitarines Yet deare soile if a soule closedin a mansion As sweete as violetts faire as lilly is Streight as Cedar a voice staines the Cannary birds Whose shade safely doth hold danger auoideth her Such wisedome that in her liues speculation Such goodnes that in her simplicitie triumphs Where enuies snaky ey winketh or els dyeth Slander wants aprelext flattery gone beyond Oh! if such a one haue bent to a lonely life Her stepps gladd we receaue gladd we receaue her eys And thinke not she doth hurt our solitarines For such company decks such solitarines The other Shepeheards were offring themselues to haue continued the sportes but the night had so quietlie spent the most parte of herselfe among them that the king for that time licēsed thē And so bringing Zelmane to her lodging who would much rather haue done the same for Philoclea of all sides they went to counterfett a sleepe in their bedd for a trewe one there agonies could not aforde them Yet there they Lay so might they be moste solitarie for the foode of their thoughts til it was neere noone the next day after which Basilius was to continue his Appollo deuotions and the other to meditate vpon their priuate desires The end of the second Eclogues THE THIRDE BOOKE OF THE COVNTESSE OF PEMBROKES ARCADIA THis last dayes danger hauing made Pamalaes loue discerne what a losse it should haue suffered if Dorus had bene destroied bred such tendernesse of kindnes in her toward him that she could no longer keep loue from loking out through her eyes and going forth in her words whom before as a close prisoner she had to her hart onely committed so as finding not only by his speeches and letters but by the pitifull oration of a languishing behauiour and the easily discyphered character of a sorowfull face that Dispaire began now to threaten him destruction she grewe content both to pittie him and let him see she pityed him as well by making her owne beautifull beames to thawe awaye the former icinesse of her behauiour as by entertaining his discourses whensoeuer he did vse them in the third person of Musidorus to so farre a degree that in the ende she said that if she had bene the Princes whom that disguised Prince had vertuously loued she would haue requited his faith with faithfull affectiō finding in her hart that nothing could so hartily loue as vertue with many mo words to the same sence of noble fauour and chast plainnesse Which when at the first it made that expected blisse shine vpō Dorus he was like one frozen with extremitie of colde ouer-hastilye brought to a great fire rather oppressed then relieued with such a lightning of felicitie But after the strength of nature had made him able to feele the sweetnes of ioyfulnes that againe being a childe of Passion and neuer acquainted with mediocrity could not set bounds vpon his happines nor be content to giue Desire a kingdome but that it must be an vnlimitted Monarchie So that the ground he stoode vpon being ouer-high in happines and slippery through affection he could not holde himselfe from falling into such an error which with sighs blew al comfort out of his brest washt away all cheerfulnes of his cheer with teares For this fauour filling him with hope Hope encouraging his desire and Desire considering nothing but oportunitie one time Mopsa being called away by her mother and he left alone with Pamela the sudden occasion called Loue and that neuer staide to aske Reasons leaue but made the too-much louing Dorus take her in his armes offering to kisse her and as it were to establish a trophee of his victorie But she as if she had bin ready to drink a wine of excellent tast colour which suddenly she perceiued had poison in it so did she put him away frō her loking first vp to heauen as amazed to finde herselfe so beguiled in him then laying the cruell punishment vpon him of angry Loue and lowring beautie shewing disdain a despising disdain Away said she vnworthy man to loue or to be loued Assure thy self I hate my selfe for being so deceiued iudge then what I doo thee for deceiuing me Let me see thee no more the only fall of my indgement and staine of my conscience With that she called Mopsa not staying for any answer which was no other but a flood of teares which she seemed not to mark much lesse to pity chid her for hauing so left her alone It was not an amazement it was not a sorrow but it was euen a death which then laid hold of Dorus which certainly at that instant would haue killed him but that the feare to tarrie longer in her presence contrarye to her commaundement gaue him life
to cary himself away from her sight and to run into the woods where throwing himselfe downe at the foot of a tree he did not fall to lamentation for that proceeded of pittying or grieuing for himself which he did no way but to curses of his life as one that detested himselfe For finding himselfe not onely vnhappy but vnhappy after being falne from all happines and to be falne from all happines not by any misconceiuing but by his own fault and his fault to be done to no other but to Pamela he did not tender his owne estate but despised it greedily drawing into his minde all conceipts which might more and more torment him And so remained he two daies in the woods disdaining to giue his bodie food or his mind comfort louing in himselfe nothing but the loue of her And indeede that loue onelye straue with the fury of his anguish telling it that if it destroyed Dorus it should also destroy the image of her that liued in Dorus and wheÌ„ the thought of that was crept in vnto him it begaÌ„ to win of him some compassion to the shrine of that image to bewaile not for himself whoÌ„ he hated but that so notable a loue should perish TheÌ„ began he onely so far to wish his owne good as that Pamela might pardon him the fault though not the punishmeÌ„t and the vttermost height he aspired vnto was that after his death she might yet pitie his error know that it proceeded of loue not of boldnes That coÌ„ceipt found such friendship in his thoughts that at last he yelded since he was banished her preseÌ„ce to seek some means by writing to shew his sorow and testifie his repeÌ„tance Therfore getting him the necessary instrumeÌ„ts of writing he thought best to couÌ„terfait his haÌ„d fearing that as already she knew his she would cast it away as soon as she saw it to put it in verse hoping that would draw her on to read the more chusing the Elegiac as fittest for mourning but neuer pen did more quakingly perform his office neuer was paper more double moistned with inke teares neuer words more slowly maried together neuer the Muses more tired thaÌ„ now with changes rechanges of his deuises fearing how to end before he had resolued how to begin mistrusting ech word condemning eche sentence This word was not significant that word was too plain this would not be coÌ„ceiued the other would be ill coÌ„ceiued Here Sorow was not enough expressed there he seemed too much for his own sake to be sory This senteÌ„ce rather shewed art theÌ„ passion that seÌ„tence rather foolishly passionate theÌ„ forcibly mouing At last marring with meÌ„ding and putting out better then he left he made an end of it and being ended was diuerse times readie to teare it till his reason assuring him the more he studied the worse it grew he folded it vp deuoutly inuoking good acceptation vnto it and watching his time when they were all gone one day to dinner sauing Mopsa to the other lodge stale vp into Pamelaes chamber and in her standish which first he kissed and craued of it a safe and friendly keeping left it there to be seene at her next vsing her inke himselfe returning againe to be true prisoner to desperate sorrow leauing her standish vpon her beds head to giue her the more occasion to marke it which also fell out For she finding it at her after noone-returne in another place then she left it opened it But when she saw the letter her hart gaue her from whence it came And therefore clapping it to againe she went away from it as if it had bene a contagious garment of an infected person and yet was not long away but that she wished she had read it though she were loth to read it Shall I said she secoÌ„d his boldnes so far as to read his presumptuous letters And yet said she he sees me not now to grow the bolder therby And how can I tel whether they be presumptuous The paper came from him therfore not worthy to be receiued and yet the paper she thought was not guiltie At last she concluded it were not much amisse to looke it ouer that she might out of his words pick some further quarrell against him Theâ— she opened it and threw it away and took it vp againe till ere she were aware heâ— eyes would needs read it conteining this matter VNto a caitife wretch whom long affliction holdeth and now fully beleeues helpe to be quite perished Grant yet grant yet a looke to the last monument of his anguishe O you alas so I finde cause of his onely ruine Dread not a whit O goodly cruell that pittie may enter into thy hart by the sight of this Epistle I sendâ— And so refuse to beholde of these strange wounds the recitall least it might th'allure home to thy selfe to returne Vnto thy selfe I do meane those graces dwell so within thee gratefulnes sweetnes holy loue hartie regard Such thing cannot I seeke Despaire hath giu'n me my answere Despaire most tragicall clause to a deadly request Such thing cannot he hope that knowes thy determinat hardnes hard like a rich marbell hard but a faire Diamond Can those eyes that of eyes drownd in most harty flowing teares teares and teares of a man had no returne to remorse Can those eyes now yeeld to the kind conceit of a sorow which inke onely relates but ne laments ne replies Ah that that I do I not conceiue though that to my blisse were more then Nestors yeares more then a Kings diademe Ah that that do I not conceiue to the heauen when a mouse climes then may I hope t' atchieue grace of a heauenly tiger But but alas like a man condemn'd doth craue to be heard speak not that he hopes for amends of the desaster he feeles But finding th'approch of death with an inly relenting giues an adieu to the world as to his onely delight Right so my boiling hart enflam'de with sâ—re of a faire eye bubling out doth breath signes of his hugie dolours Now that he findes to what end his life and loue be reserued and that he thence must part where to liue only he liu'd O faire O fairest are such thy triumphs to thy fairenesse can death beautie become must I be such monument Must I be onely the marke shall proue that vertue is angrie shall proue that fiercenes can with a white doue abide Shall to the world appeare that faith and loue be rewarded with mortall disdaine bent to vnendly reuenge Vnto reuenge O sweete on a wretch wilt thou be reuenged shall such high Plannets tend to the losse of a worme And to reuenge who doo bend would in that kinde be reuenged as th' offence was done and goe beyond if he can All my'offence was Loue with Loue then must I be chastned and with more by the lawes that to reuenge doo belong If that loue be a fault more
was enchained His hurt not yet fully well made him a little halt but he straue to giue the best grace he coulde vnto his halting And in that sorte hee went to Philocleas Chamber whome he found because her Chamber was ouer-lightsome sitting of that side of her bedde which was from the windowe which did cast such a shadowe vpon her as a good Painter would bestowe vpon Venus when vnder the trees she bewailed the murther of Adonis her hands and fingers as it were indented one within the other her shoulder leaning to her beds head and ouer her head a scarfe which did eclipse almost halfe her eyes which vnder it fixed their beames vpon the wall by with so steddie a maner as if in that place they might well chaunge but not mende their obiect and so remayned they a good while after his comming in he not daring to trouble her nor she perceiuing him till that a little varying her thoughts something quickening her senses she heard him as he happed to stirre his vpper garment and perceiuing him rose vp with a demeanure where in the booke of Beauty there was nothing to be read but Sorrow for Kindenes was blotted out Anger was neuer there But Amphialus that had entrusted his memorie with long and forcible speeches found it so locked vp in amazement that he could pike nothing out of it but the beseeching her to take what was don in good part and to assure herselfe there was nothing but honour meant vnto her person But she making no other aunswere but letting her handes fall one from the other which before were ioyned with eyes something cast aside and a silent sigh gaue him to vnderstande that considering his dooings she thought his speeche as full of incongruitie as her aunswere would be voyde of purpose whereupon he kneeling downe and kissing her hand which she suffered with a countenance witnessing captiuitie but not kindnesse he besought her to haue pitie of him whose loue went beyond the boundes of conceite much more of vttering that in her hands the ballance of his life or death did stand whereto the least motion of hers would serue to determine she being indeed the mistres of his life and he her eternall slaue and with true vehemencie besought her that he might heare her speak wherevpon she suffered her sweete breath to turne it selfe into these kinde of words Alas cousin saide she what shall my tongue be able to doo which is infourmed by the eares one way and by the eyes another You call for pittie and vse crueltie you say you loue me and yet do the effects of enmitie You affirme your death is in my handes but you haue brought me to so neere a degree to death as when you will you may lay death vpon me so that while you saye I mistresse of your life I am not mistresse of mine owne You entitle your selfe my slaue but I am â—ure I am yours If then violence iniurie terror and depriuing of that which is more deare then life it selfe libertie be fit orators for affection you may expect that I will be easily perswaded But if the nearenesse of our kinred breede any remorse in you or there be any such thing in you which you call loue towarde me then let not my fortune be disgraced with the name of imprisonment let not my hart waste it selfe by being vexed with feeling euill and fearing worse Let not me be a cause of my parents wofull destruction but restore me to my selfe and so doing I shall account I haue receiued my selfe of you And what I say for my selfe I say for my deare sister and my friend Zelmane for I desire no wel-being without they may be partakers With that her teares rayned downe from her heauenly eyes and seemed to water the sweete and beautifull flowers of her face But Amphialus was like the poore woman who louing a tame Doe she had aboue all earthly things hauing long played withall and made it feed at her hand and lappe is constrained at length by famine all her flocke being spent and she fallen into extreeme pouertie to kill the Deare to sustaine her life Many a pitifull looke doth she cast vpon it and many a time doth she drawe backe her hand before she can giue the stroke For euen so Amphialus by a hunger-starued affection was compelled to offer this iniurie and yet the same affection made him with a tormenting griefe thinke vnkindnesse in himselfe that he coulde finde in his hart any way to restraine her freedome But at length neither able to graunt nor denie he thus answered her Deare Lady said he I will not say vnto you how iustly soeuer I may do it that I am nether author nor accessarie vnto this your with holding For since I do not redres it I am as faulty as if I had begun it But this I protest vnto you and this protestation of mine let the heauens heare and if I lye let them answer me with a deadly thunderbolt that in my soule I wish I had neuer seene the light or rather that I had neuer had a father to beget such a child then that by my means those eyes should ouerflow their own beauties then by my means the skie of your vertue should be ouerclowded with sorrow But woe is me most excellent Ladye I finde my selfe most willing to obey you neither truelye doo mine eares receaue the least word you speak with any lesse reuerence then as absolute and vnresistable commaundements But alas that tirant Loue which now possesseth the holde of all my life and reason will no way suffer it It is Loue it is Loue not I which disobey you What then shall I say but that I who am redie to lye vnder your feete to venture nay to loose my life at your least commandement I am not the staye of your freedome but Loue Loue which tyes you in your owne knots It is you your selfe that imprison your selfe it is your beauty which makes these castlewalles embrace you it is your own eyes which reflect vpon themselues this iniurye Then is there no other remedie but that you some way vouchsafe to satisfie this Loues vehemencie which since it grew in your selfe without question you shall finde it far more then I tractable But with these wordes Philoclea fell to so extreame a quaking and her liuelye whitenesse did degenerate to such a deadly palenesse that Amphialus feared some daungerous traunce so that taking her hande and feelinge that it which was woonte to be one of the chiefe firebrands of Cupid had all the sence of it wrapt vp in coldnes he began humblie to beseech her to put away all feare and to assure herselfe vpon the vowe he made thereof vnto God and her selfe that the vttermost forces he would euer employ to conquere her affection should be Desire and Desert That promise brought Philoclea againe to her selfe so that slowly lifting vp her eyes vpon him with a countenaunce euer courteous
steade of blood and making courage arise against faintnesse like a Candle which a little before it goes out giues then the greatest blaze so did he vnite all his force that casting away the little remnaunt of his shielde and taking his sword in both hands he stroke such a notable blow that he cleft his shield armour and arme almost to the bone But then Amphialus forgat all ceremonies with cruell blowes made more of his best blood succeed the rest til his hand being staied by his eare his eare filled with a pitifull crie the crie guided his sight to an excellent faire Ladie who came running as fast as she could and yet because she could not as fast as she would shee sent her lamentable voyce before her and being come and being knowne to them both to be the beautifull Parthenia who had that night dreamed shee saw her husbande in such estate as shee then found him which made her make such haste thither they both maruailed But Parthenia ranne between them feare of loue making her â—orget the feare of Nature and then fel downe at their feete determining so to part them till shee coulde get breathe to sigh out her dolefull speeches and when her breath which running had spent dismayednesse made slowe to returne had by sobbes gotten into her sorow-closed breast for a while she could say nothing but O wretched eyes of mine O wailefull sight O day of darkenesse at length turning her eyes where in sorrow swamme to Amphialus My Lorde saide she it is saide you loue in the power of that loue I beseech you to leaue of this combate as euer your harte may finde comfort in his affection euen for her sake I craue it or if you be mortally determined be so pitifull vnto me as first to kill me that I may not see the death of Argalus Amphialus was about to haue aunswered when Argalus vexed with his Fortune but most vexed that she shoulde see him in that fortune Ah Parthenia said he neuer till now vnwelcome vnto me do you come to get my life by request And caÌ„not Argalus liue but by request Is that a life With that he went aside for fear of hurting her would haue begun the coÌ„bate afresh But Amphialus not only coÌ„iured by that which held the Monarchie of his mind but euen in his noble hart melting with coÌ„passion at so passionate a sight desired him to withhold his haÌ„ds for that he should strike one who sought his fauour would not make resistauÌ„ce A notable example of the wonderful effectes of Vertue where the conquerour sought for friendship of the conquered the conquered would not pardon the conquerour both indeede being of that minde to loue eche other for accepting but not for giuing mercie neyther afâ—ected to ouer-liue a dishonour so that Argalus not so much striuing with Amphialus for if he had had him in the like sorte in like sorte he woulde haue dealt with him as labouring against his owne power which he chiefly despised set himselfe forward stretching his strength to the vttermost But the fire of that strife blowen with his inward rage boyled out his bloud in such aboundance that hee was driuen to rest him vpon the pommel of his sworde and then each thing beginning to turne round in the daunce of Death before his eyes his sight both dazled dimmed till thinking to sit downe he fel in a sowne Parthenia and Amphialus both hastely went vnto him Amphialus tooke off his helmet and Parthenia laid his head in her lap tearing of her linnen sleues partlet to serue about his wounds to bind which shee tooke of her hair-lace and woulde haue cut of her faire haire herselfe but that the squires and iudges came in with fitter things for the purpose while she bewayled her selfe with so lamentable sweetnes as was inough to haue taught sorrow to the gladdest thoughts and haue engraued it in the mindes of hardest mettall O Parthenia no more Parthenia said she What art thou what seest thou how is thy blisse in a moment fallen how art thou euen-now before all Ladies the example of perfect happines and nowe the gasing-stocke of endles miserie O God what hath bene my desert to be thus punished or if such haue bene my desert why was I not in my selfe punished O wandring life to what wildernes wouldst thou lead me But Sorow I hope thou art sharp inough to saue my labour from other remedies Argalus Argalus I will folow thee I will follow thee But with that Argalus came out of his sowne and lifting vp his languishing eyes which a paineful rest and iron sleep did seeke to lock vp seeing her in whom euen dying he liued and him selfe seated in so beloued a place it seemed a little cheerefull bloud came vp to his cheekes like a burning cole almost dead if some breath a little reuiue it and forcing vp the best he coulde his feeble voice My deare my better halfe saide hee I finde I must now leaue thee and by that sweete hand and faire eyes of thine I sweare that Death bringes nothing with it to grieue me but that I must leaue thee and cannot remaine to answere part of thy infinit deserts with being some comfort vnto thee But since so it pleaseth him whose wisedome and goodnesse guideth all put thy confidence in him and one day wee shall blessedly meet againe neuer to depart meane while liue happily deare Parthenia and I perswade my selfe it will encrease the blessednes of my soule so to see thee Loue well the remembrance of thy louing and truely louing Argalus and let not with that word he sighed this disgrace of mine make thee one day thinke thou hadst an vnwoorthie husband They could scarcely vnderstand the last wordes for Death began to seaze him selfe of his harte neither coulde Parthenia make answere so full was her breast of anguish But while the other sought to stanch his remediles wounds she with her kisses made him happie for his last breath was deliuered into her mouth But when indeede she found his ghost was gone then Sorrowe lost the witte of vtterance and groâ—e ragefull and madde so that shee tare her beautifull face and rent her haire â—â—â—â—oâ—gh they coulde serue for nothing since Argalus was gone till Amphialus so â—â—oued with pittie of that sight as that hee honoured his aduersaries death with â—â—â—es caused her with the helpe of her women that came with her partelie by â—â—rce to be conueyed into the boat with the dead body of Argalus from which she â—ould not depart And being come of the other side there she was receaued by Baâ—â—â—â—us him self with all the funerall pompe of militarie discipline trayling all their â—â—â—ignes vpon the ground making these warlike instrumentes sound dolefull notes and Basilius with comfort in his mouth and woe in his face sought to perswade some ease into Parthenias mind but all was as easefull to her as the handling of sore woundes all
cankred brest perceiuing that as in water the more she grasped the lesse she held but yet now hauing run so long the way of rigour it was too late in reason and too contrary to her passion to returne to a course of meekenesse And therefore taking counsell of one of her olde associates who so far excelled in wickednesse as that she had not onely lost all feeling of conscience but had gotten a very glory in euill in the ende they determined that beating and other such sharp dealing did not so much pull downe a womans hart as it bred anger and that nothing was more enemy to yeelding then anger making their tender harts take on the armour of obstinacy for thus did their wicked mindes blinde to the light of vertue and owly eied in the night of wickednes interpret of it and that therefore that was no more to be tried And for feare of death which no question would doo most with them they had bene so often threatned as they began to be familiarly acquainted with it and learned to esteeme threatning words to be but words Therefore the last but best way now was that the one seeing indeede the others death should perceiue there was no dallying meant and then there was no doubt that a womans soule would do much rather then leaue so beautifull a body This being concluded Cecropia went to Philoclea and tolde her that now she was to come to the last part of the play for her part though she found her hard harted obstinacie such that neither the sweetnesse of louing meanes nor the force of hard meanes could preuaile with her yet before she would passe to a further degree of extremity she had sought to win her sister in hope that her sonne might be with time satisfied with the loue of so faire a Lady but finding her also rather more then lesse wilfull she was now minded that one of their deathes should serue for an example to the other that despising worthy folks was more hurtfull to the despiser then the despised that yet because her sonne especially affected her and that in her owne selfe she was more inclinable to pittie her then she had deserued she would begin with her sister who that afternoone should haue her head cut off before her face if in the meane time one of them did not pull out their il-wrought stiches of vnkindnes she bad her looke for no other nor longer time then she told her There was no assault giuen to the sweet Philocleas minde that entered so far as this for where to all paines and daungers of her selfe foresight with his Lieutenant Resolution had made ready defence now with the loue she bare her sister she was driuen to a stay before she determined but long she staied not before this reason did shine vnto her that since in herselfe she preferred death before such a base seruitude loue did teach her to wish the same to her sister Therefore crossing her armes and looking side-ward vpon the ground Do what you will said she with vs for my part heauen shall melt before I be remoued But if you will follow my counsell for your owne sake for as for praiers for my sake I haue felt how little they preuaile let my death first serue for example to win her who perchaunce is not so resolued against Amphialus and so shall you not onely iustly punish mee who indeede doo hate both you and your sonne but if that may mooue you you shall doo more vertuously in preseruing one most worthy of life and killing an other most desirous of death lastly in winning her in steed of a peeuish vnhappie creature that I am you shall blesse your sonne with the most excellent woman in all praise-worthy things that the world holdeth But Cecropia who had already set downe to her selfe what she would do with bitter both termes and countenaunce told her that she should not neede to woo death ouer-egerly â—or if her sister going before her did not teach her wit her selfe should quickly follow For since they were not to be gotten there was no way for her sonnes quiet but to knowe that they were past getting And so since no intreating nor threatning might preuayle she bad her prepare her eies for a new play which she should see within fewe houres in the hall of that castle A place indeed ouerfit for so vnfit a matter for being so stately made that the bottome of it being euen with the ground the roofe reached as hie as any part of the castle at either ende it had conuenient lodgings In the one ende was one storie from the ground Philocleas abode in the other of euen height Pamelas and Zelmanes in a chamber aboue her but all so vaulted of strong and thickly built stone as one could no way heare the other each of these chambers had a litle windowe to looke into the hall but because the sisters should not haue so much comforte as to looke one to another there was of the outsides curtaynes drawne which they could not reach with their hands so barring the reach of their sight But when the houre came that the Tragedie should beginne the curtaynes were withdrawen from before the windowes of Zelmane and of Philoclea a sufficient challenge to call their eyes to defende themselues in such an incounter And by and by came in at one ende of the hall with about a dozen armed souldiers a Ladie led by a couple with her handes bounde before her from aboue her eyes to her lippes muffled with a faire kerchiefe but from her mouth to the shoulders all bare and so was led on to a scaffold raised a good deale from the floore and all couered with crimsin veluet But neither Zelmane nor Philoclea needed to be tolde who she was for the apparell she ware made them too well assured that it was the admirable Pamela Whereunto the rare whitenesse of her naked necke gaue sufficient testimonie to their astonnished senses But the fayre Ladie being come to the scaffold and then made to kneele downe and so lefte by her vnkinde supporters as it seemed that she was about to speake somewhat whereunto Philoclea poore soule earnestly listned according to her speach euen minding to frame her minde her harte neuer till then almost wauering to saue her sisters life before the vnfortunate Ladie could pronounce three wordes the executioner cut off the ones speech and the others attention with making his sworde doo his cruell office vpon that beautifull necke Yet the pittilesse sworde had such pittie of so pretious an obiect that at first it did but hit flat long But little auailed that since the Ladie falling downe astonnished withall the cruell villayne forced the sworde with another blowe to diuorce the faire marriage of the head and body And this was done so in an instant that the very act did ouerrun Philocleas sorrow sorrow not being able so quickly to thunderbolt her harte thorough her senses but first
onely opprest her with a storme of amazement but when her eies sawe that they did see as condemning themselues to haue seene it they became weary of their owne power of seeing and her soule then drinking vp woe with great draughts she fell downe to deadly traunces but her waiting iaylors with cruell pitty brought lothed life vnto her which yet many times tooke his leaue as though he would indeed depart but when he was staied by force he kept with him deadly Sorrow which thus exercised her mourning speech Pamela my sister my sister Pamela woe is me for thee I would I had died for thee Pamela neuer more shall I see thee neuer more shall I enioy thy sweet companie and wise counsell Alas thou arte gone to beautifie heauen and hast left me here who haue nothing good in me but that I did euer loue thee and euer will lament thee Let this daye be noted of all vertuous folkes for most vnfortunate let it neuer be mentioned but among curses and cursed bee they that did this mischiefe and most accursed bee mine eyes that behelde it Sweete Pamela that head is striken of where onely wisedome might be spoken withall that bodie is destroyed which was the liuing booke of vertue Deare Pamela how haste thou lefte me to all wretchednesse and miserie Yet while thou liuedst in thee I breathed of thee I hoped O Pamela how much did I for thy excellencie honour thee more then my mother and loue thee more then my selfe Neuer more shall I lie with thee neuer more shall we bathe in the pleasant riuer together neuer more shall I see thee in thy shephearde apparell But thou arte gone and where am I Pamela is dead and liue I O my God And with that she fell againe in a soune so as it was a great while before they could bring her to her selfe againe but being come to her-selfe Alas said she vnkind women since you haue giuen me so many deathes torment me not now with life for Gods sake let me goe and excuse your hands of more blood Let me follow my Pamela whom euer I sought to follow Alas Pamela they will not let me come to thee But if they keepe promise I shall treade thine owne steppes after thee For to what am I borne miserable soule but to be most vnhappie in my selfe and yet more vnhappie in others But ô that a thousand more miseries had chanced vnto me so thou haddest not dyed Pamela my sister Pamela And so like lamentable Philomela complained she the horrible wrong done to her sister which if it stird not in the wickedly closed minds of her tormentors a pittie of her sorrow yet bredde it a wearinesse of her sorrow so as onely leauing one to preuent any harme â—he should doo her selfe the rest went away consulting againe with Cecropia how to make profite of this their late bloodie act In the ende that woman that vsed most to keepe company with Zelmane tolde Cecropia that she founde by many most sensible proofes in Zelmane that there was neuer woman so loued another as she loued Philoclea which was the cause that she further then the commandement of Cecropia had caused Zelmanes curtaines to bee also drawne because hauing the same spectacle that Philoclea had shee might stand in the greater feare for her whom she loued so well and that indeed she had hit the needle in that deuise for neuer saw she creature so astonished as Zelmane exceedingly sory for Pamela but exceedingly exceeding that exceedingnes in feare for Philoclea Therefore her aduice was shee â—houlde cause Zelmane to come and speake with Philoclea For there being such vehemencie of friendship between them it was most likely both to moue Zelmane to perswade and Philoclea to be perswaded Cecropia liked well of the counsell and gaue order to the same woman to go deale therin with Zelmane and to assure her with othe that Cecropia was determined Philoclea should passe the same way that Pamela had done without she did yeeld to satisfie the extremitie of her sonnes affection which the woman did adding thereunto many as she thought good reasons to make Zelmane thinke Amphialus a fit match for Philoclea But Zelmane who had from time to time vnderstood the cruell dealing they had vsed to the sisters and now had her own eies wounded with the sight of ones death was so confused withall her courage still rebelling against her wit desiring stil with force to doo impossible matters that as her desire was stopped with power so her conceit was darkned with a mist of desire For blinde Loue and inuincible valure still would cry out that it could not bee Philoclea should bee in so miserable estate and she not relieue her and so while shee haled her wit to her courage shee drew it from his owne limits But nowe Philocleas death a worde able to marshall â—ll his thoughts in order being come to so short a point either with small delay to be suffred or by the giuing her selfe to another to be preuented she was driuen to thinke and to desire some leasure of thinking which the woman granted for that night vnto her A night that was not halfe so blacke as her minde not halfe so silent as was fit for her musing thoughts At last he that would faine haue desperatly lost a thousand liues for her sake could not finde in his harte that she should loose any life for her owne sake and he that despised his owne death in respect of honour yet could well nye dispense with honour it selfe in respect of Philocleas death for once the thought could not enter into his harte nor the breath issue out of his mouth which could consent to Philocleas death for any bargaine Then how to preuent the next degree to death which was her being possest by another was the point of his mindes labour and in that he founde no other way but that Philoclea shoulde pretend a yeelding vnto Cecropias request and so by speaking with Amphialus and making faire but delaying promises procure libertie for Zelmane who only wisht but to come by a sword not doubting then to destroy them all and deliuer Philoclea so little did both the men and their forces seeme in her eyes looking down vpon them from the hye toppe of affections tower With that minde therefore but first well bound shee was brought to Philoclea hauing already plotted out in her conceite how she would deale with her and so came she with hart and eyes which did each sacrifice either to Loue vpon the aultar of Sorrow and there had shee the pleasing displeasing sight of Philoclea Philoclea whoÌ„ alredy the extreame sense of sorrow had brought to a dulnesse therein her face not without tokens that beautie had bene by many miseries cruelly battered and yet shewed it most the perfection of that beautie which coulde remaine vnouerthrowne by such enimies But when Zelmane was set downe by her and the women gone away because she might be the
subiect to ende onely your Philoclea because she is yours should be exempted But indeede you bemone your selfe who haue lost a friende you cannot her who hath in one act both preserued her honour and leste the miseries of this worlde O womans philosophie childish follie said Pyrocles as though if I do bemone my selfe I haue not reason to doo so hauing lost more then any Monarchie nay then my life can be woorth vnto me Alas saide shee comforte your selfe Nature did not forget her skill when she had made them you shall find many their superiours and perchaunce such as when your eyes shall looke abroad your selfe will like better But that the speech put al good manners out of the conceit of Pyrocles in so much that leaping out of his bed he ran to haue striken her but comming neere her the morning then winning the field of darkenesse he saw or hee thought hee sawe indeed the very face of Philoclea the same sweetenesse the same grace the same beautie with which carried into a diuine astonishment he fell downe at her feete Most blessed Angell said he well haste thou done to take that shape since thou wouldest submit thy selfe to mortall sense for a more Angelicall forme coulde not haue bene created for thee Alas euen by that excellent beautie so beloued of me let it be lawfull for me to aske of thee what is the cause that shee that heauenly creature whose forme you haue taken shoulde by the heauens bee destined to so vnripe an ende Why should vniustice so preuaile Why was she seene to the world so soone to be rauished from vs Why was shee not suffered to liue to teach the worlde perfection Doo not deceiue thy selfe answered shee I am no Angell I am Philoclea the same Philoclea so truely louing you so truely beloued of you If it be so said he that you are indeede the soule of Philoclea you haue done well to keepe your owne figure for no heauen could haue giuen you a better Then alas why haue you taken the paines to leaue your blisfull seat to come to this place most wretched to mee who am wretchednes it selfe not rather obtaine for me that I might come where you are there eternally to behold and eternally to loue your beauties you knowe I know that I desire nothing but death which I onely stay to bee iustly reuenged of your vniust murtherers Deare Pyrocles said shee I am thy Philoclea and as yet liuing not murdred as you supposed and therefore bee comforted And with that gaue him her hand But the sweet touch of that hand seemed to his astraied powers so heauenly a thing that it rather for a while confirmed him in his former beliefe till she with vehement protestations and desire that it might be so helping to perswade that it was so brought him to yeeld yet doubtfully to yeelde to this height of all comfort that Philoclea liued which witnessing with teares of ioy Alas saide he how shall I beleeue mine eies any more or doo you yet but appeare thus vnto me to stay me from some desperate end For alas I sawe the excellent Pamela beheaded I sawe your head the head indeede and chiefe parte of all natures workes standing in a dishe of golde too meane a shrine God wote for such a relike How can this be my onely deare and you liue or if this be not so how can I beleeue mine owne senses and if I can not beleeue them why should I now beleeue these blessed tidings they bring me The truth is said she my Pyrocles that neither I as you finde nor yet my deare sister is dead although the mischieuously suttle Cecropia vsed slights to make either of vs thinke so of other For hauing in vaine attempted the fardest of her wicked eloquence to make eyther of vs yeeld to her sonne and seeing that neither it accompanied with great flatteries and riche presents could get any ground of vs nor yet the violent way she fell into of cruelly tormenting our bodies could preuayle with vs at last she made either of vs thinke the other dead and so hoped to haue wrested our mindes to the forgetting of vertue and first she gaue to mine eyes the miserable spectacle of my sisters as I thought death but indeede it was not my sister it was onely Artesia she who so cunningly brought vs to this misery Truly I am sory for the poore Gentlewoman though iustly she be punished for her double falshood but Artesia muffled so as you could not easily discerne her and in my sisters apparell which they had taken from her vnder colour of giuing her other did they execute And when I for thy sake especially deare Pyrocles could by no force nor feare be won they assayed the like with my sister by bringing me downe vnder the scaffolde and making me thrust my head vp through a hole they had made therein they did put about my poore necke a dishe of gold whereout they had beaten the bottome so as hauing set bloud in it you sawe how I played the parte of death God knowes euen willing to haue done it in earnest and so had they set me that I reached but on tiptoes to the grounde so as scarcely I could breathe much lesse speake And truely if they had kept me there any whit longer they had strangled me in steed of beheading me but then they tooke me away and seeking to see their issue of this practise they found my noble sister for the deare loue she vouchsafeth to beare me so grieued withall that she willed them to doo their vttermost crueltie vnto her for she vowed neuer to receiue sustenaunce of them that had bene the causers of my murther and finding both of vs euen giuen ouer not like to liue many houres longer and my sister Pamela rather worse then my selfe the strength of her harte worse bearing those indignities the good woman Cecropia with the same pittie as folkes keepe foule when they are not fatte inough for their eating made vs knowe her deceipt and let vs come one to another with what ioye you can well imagine who I know feele the like sauing that we only thought our selues reserued to miseries and therefore fitter for condoling then congratulating For my part I am fully perswaded it is but with a little respite to haue a more feeling sense of the torments she prepares for vs. True it is that one of my guardians would haue me to beleeue that this proceedes of my gentle cousin Amphialus who hauing heard some inckling that we were euill entreated had called his mother to his bedside from whence he neuer rose since his last combat and besought and charged her vpon all the loue she bare him to vse vs with all kindnesse vowing with all the imprecations he could imagine that if euer he vnderstood for his sake that I receiued further hurt then the want of my libertie hee would not liue an houre longer And the good woman sware
when she sawe him come in with a sworde drawne and a looke more terrible then the sword she streight was stricken with the guiltines of her owne conscience yet the wel known humblenes of her sonne somwhat animated her till he comming nearer her and crying to her Thou damnable creature onely fit to bring forth such a monster of vnhappines as I am she fearing he would haue stricken her though indeed he meant it not but only intended to kill himselfe in her presence went backe so farre till ere she were aware she ouerthrew her selfe from ouer the Leades to receaue her deathes kisse at the ground and yet was she not so happie as presentlie to dye but that she had time with hellish agonie to see her sonnes then knowen whom she had in her Countrey but so olde as not able to trauaile but had giuen her soueraigne annointments to preserue his body withall till he might be brought vnto him and that Basilius had graunted leaue either naturall kindnes preuailing ouer all the offences done or rather glad to make any passage which might leade him out of his countrie and from his daughters This discourse Lycurgus vnderstanding of Helene deliuered to his brother with her vehement desire to see the body and take her last farewell of him Anaxius though hee were fallen out with all womankind in respect of the hate he bare the sisters whom hee accounted murtherers of Amphialus yet at his brothers request graunted her leaue And she poore Lady with grieuous expectation and languishing desire caried her faint legs to the place where he lay either not breathing or in all appearance breathing nothing but death In which pittious plight when she saw him though Sorow had set before her minde the pittifullest conceit thereof that it could paint yet the present sight went beyonde all former apprehensions so that beginning to kneele by the bodie her sight ranne from her seruice rather then abide such a sight and she fell in a soune vpon him as if she could not choose but dye of his wounds But when her breath aweary to be closed vp in woe broke the prison of her faire lippes and brought memorie with his seruaunt senses to his naturall office she yet made the breath conuey these dolefull wordes with it Alas said she Amphialus what strange disasters be these that hauing sought thee so long I should be now sorie to finde thee that these eyes should looke vpon Amphialus and be grieued withall that I should haue thee in my power without glory and embrace thee without comfort How often haue I blest the meanes that might bring me neere thee Now woe worth the cause that brings me so neere thee Often alas often hast thou disdained my teares but now my deare Amphialus receiue them these eyes can serue for nothing else but to weepe for thee since thou wouldest neuer vouchsafe them thy comfort yet disdaine not them thy sorrow I would they had bene more deare vnto thee for then hadst thou liued Woe is me that thy noble harte could loue who hated thee and hate who loued thee Alas why should not my faith to thee couer my other defects who only sought to make my Crowne thy foote-stoole my selfe thy seruaunt that was all my ambition and alas thou disdainedst it to serue them by whom thy incomparable selfe were disdained Yet ô Philoclea wheresoeuer you are pardon me if I speake in the bitternes of my soule excellent may you be in all other things and excellent sure you are since he loued you your want of pittie where the fault onely was infinitenesse of desert cannot be excused I would O God I would that you had graunted his deserued suite of marrying you and that I had bene your seruing-maide to haue made my estate the foile of your felicitie so he had liued How many weary steps haue I trodden after thee while my onely complaint was that thou wert vnkinde Alas I would now thou wert to be vnkind Alas why wouldest thou not commaund my seruice in persuading Philoclea to loue thee who could or if euery one could who would haue recounted thy perfections so well as I who with such kindly passions could haue stirred pittie for thee as I who should haue deliuered not only the wordes but the teares I had of thee and so shouldest thou haue exercised thy disdaine in me and yet vsed my seruice for thee With that the body mouing somewhat and giuing a groneful of deaths musick she fell vpon his face and kist him and with all cried out O miserable I that haue onely fauour by miserie and then woulde shee haue returned to a fresh careere of complaints when an aged and wise Gentleman came to her and besought her to remember what was fit for her greatnesse wisdome and honour and with all that it was fitter to show her loue in carying the body to her excellent Surgeon first applying such excellent medicines as she had receiued of him for that purpose rather then onely shew her selfe a woman-louer in fruitles lamentations She was streight warned with the obedience of an ouerthrowen minde and therefore leauing some surgeons of her owne to dresse the body went herselfe to Anaxius and humbling her selfe to him as lowe as his owne pride could wish besought him that since the surgeons there had vtterly giuen him ouer that he would let her carie him awaye in her litter with her since the worst he could haue should bee to die and to die in her armes that loued him aboue all things and where he should haue such monuments erected ouer him as were fit for her loue and his worthines beseeching him withall since she was in a country of enemies where shee trusted more to Anaxius valour then Basilius promise that he would conuey them safely out of those territories Her reasons something moued him but nothinge thoroughly perswaded him but the last request of his helpe which he streight promised warranting all securitie as long as that sword had his master aliue She as happy therein as vnhappines coulde be hauing receiued as small comfort of her owne surgeons as of the others caused yet the body to bee easily conueyed into the litter all the people then beginning to roare and crie as though neuer till then they had lost their Lord. And if the terrour of Anaxius had not kept them vnder they would haue mutinied rather then suffered his bodie to be caried away But Anaxius him selfe riding before the litter with the choyce men of that place◠they were affraid euen to crie though they were ready to crie for feare but because that they might doo euery bodie forced euen with harming themselues to doo honour to him some throwing themselues vpon the grounde some tearing their clothes and casting duste vpon their heades and some euen woundring themselues and sprinkling their owne bloud in the aire The generall consort of whose mourning perfourmed so the naturall tunes of sorrow that euen to them if
any such were that felt not the losse yet others griefe taught them grief hauing before their compassionate sense so passionate a spectacle of a young man of great beautie beautified with great honour honoured by great valure made of inestimable value by the noble vsing of it to lye there languishing vnder the arrest of death and a death where the manner could be no comfort to the discomfortablenes of the matter But when the bodie was carried through the gate and the people sauing such as were appointed not suffred to goe further then was such an vniuersall crie as if they had all had but one life and all receaued but one below Which so moued Anaxius to consider the losse of his friend that his mind apter to reuenge then tendernesse hee presently giuing order to his brother to keepe the prisoners safe and vnuisited till his retourne from conueying Helen hee sent a messenger to the sisters to tell them this curteous message that at his retourne with his owne handes hee woulde cut off their heades and sende them for tokens to their father This message was brought vnto the sisters as they sate at that time together with Zelmane conferring how to carrie themselues hauing heard of the death of Amphialus And as no expectation of death is so paineful as where the resolution is hindred by the intermixing of hopes so did this new alarum though not remoue yet moue somwhat the constancy of their mindes which were so vnconstantly dealt with But within a while the excellent Pamela had brought her minde againe to his olde acquaintance and then as carefull for her sister whom most deerely she loued Sister saide shee you see how many acts our Tragedy hath Fortune is not yet a wearie of vexing vs but what A shippe is not counted strong for byding one storme It is but the same trumpet of death which now perhaps giues the last sounde and let vs make that profite of our former miseries that in them wee learned to dye willingly Truely saide Philoclea deare sister I was so beaten with the euils of life that though I had not vertue enough to despise the sweetnesse of it yet my weaknesse bredde that strength to be wearie of the paines of it onely I must confesse that little hope which by these late accidents was awaked in me was at the first angrie withall But euen in the darkenesse of that horrour I see a light of comfort appeare and how can I treade amisse that see Pamela steppes I would onely O that my wish might take place that my schoole-Mistres might liue to see mee say my lesson truely Were that a life my Philoclea said Pamela No no saide shee let it come and put on his worst face for at the worst it is but a bug-beare Ioy is it to me to see you so well resolued and since the world will not haue vs let it lose vs. Onely with that she stayed a little and sighed only my Philoclea then she bowed downe and whispered in her eare onely Musidorus my shepheard comes betwene me and death and makes me thinke I should not dye because I know he would not I shoulde dye With that Philoclea sighed also saying no more but looking vpon Zelmane who was walking vp and downe the chamber hauing heard this message from Anaxius and hauing in times past heard of his nature thought him like enough to performe it which winded her againe into the former maze of perplexitie Yet debating with her selfe of the manner how to preuent it she continued her musing humour little saying or indeede little finding in her hart to say in a case of such extremitie where peremptorily death was threatned and so stayed they hauing yet that comfort that they might tarrie togither Pamela nobly Philoclea sweetely and Zelmane sadly and desperately none of them entertaining sleep which they thought should shortly begin neuer to awake But Anaxius came home hauing safely conduct Helen and safely hee might well do it For though many of Basilius Knights would haue attempted something vpon Anaxius by that meanes to deliuer the Ladies yet Philanax hauing receaued his masters commandement and knowing his word was giuen would not consent vnto it And the black-Knight who by them was able to carry abroad his wounds did not knowe thereof but was bringing force by force to deliuer his Lady So as Anaxius interpreting it rather feare then faith and making euen chance an argument of his vertue returned and as soone as hee was returned with afelon hart calling his brothers vp with him he went into the chamber where they were all three togither with full intention to kill the sisters with his owne handes and sende their heads for tokens to their father Though his brothers who were otherwise enclined disswaded him but his reuerence stayed their perswasions But when hee was come into the chamber with the very wordes of cholerike threatning climing vp his throate his eyes first lighted vpon Pamela who hearing hee was comming and looking for death thought she would keepe her owne maiestie in welcomming it but the beames therof so strake his eyes with such a counterbuffe vnto his pride that if his anger could not so quickly loue nor his pride so easily honor yet both were forced to finde a worthinesse Which while it bred a pause in him Zelmane who had ready in her minde both what and how to say stept out vnto him and with a resolute stayednes void either of anger kindnes disdaine or humblenesse speake in this sort Anaxius said she if Fame haue not bene ouerpartiall to thee thou art a man of exceeding valour Therefore I doo call thee euen before that vertue will make it the iudge between vs. And now I doo affirme that to the eternall blot of all the faire actes that thou hast done thou doest weakely in seeking without daunger to reuenge his death whose life with daunger thou mightst perhapes haue preserued thou doost cowardly in going about by the death of these excellent Ladies to preuent the iust punishment that hereafter they by the powers which they better then their father or any other could make might lay vpon thee and doost most basely in once presenting thy selfe as an executioner a vile office vpon men and in a iust cause beyond the degree of any vile worde in so vniust a cause and vpon Ladies and such Ladies And therefore as a hangman I say thou art vnworthy to be counted a knight or to be admitted into the companie of Knights Neither for what I say will I alleadge other reasons of wisdome or iustice to prooue my speech because I knowe thou doost disdaine to be tied to their rules but euen in thine own vertue whereof thou so much gloriest I will make my triall and therfore defie thee by the death of one of vs two to proue or disproue these reproaches Choose thee what armes thou likest I onely demaund that these Ladies whome I defende may in liberty see the combate
while it protected her and withal she ran in to him and thrusting at his brest which he put by with his target as he was lifting vp his sword to strike againe she let fall the piece of her shield and with her left hand catching his sword of the inside of the pommell with nimble and strong sleight she had gotten his sword out of his hand before his sence could conuey to his imagination what was to be doubted And hauing now two swords against one shield meaning not foolishly to be vngratefull to good fortune while he was no more amazed with his being vnweapned then with the suddainnes therof she gaue him such a wound vpon his head in despite of the shields ouer-weake resistāce that withall he fell to the ground astonished with the paine agast with feare But seing Zelmane ready to conclude her victory in his death bowing vp his head to her with a countenance that had forgotten all pride Enough excellent Lady said he the honor is yours Wherof you shal want the best witnes if you kil me As you haue taken from men the glory of manhood returne so now againe to your owne sex for mercy I will redeeme my life of you with no small seruices for I will vndertake to make my brother obey all your commādements Grant life I beseech you for your own honor and for the persons sake that you loue best Zelmane represt a while her great hart either disdaining to be cruell or pitiful therfore not cruel now the image of humane condition begā to be an Orator vnto her of compassiō whē she saw as he lifted vp his armes with a suppliāts grace about one of thē vnhappily tied a garter with a Iewel which giuē to Pyrocles by his aunt of Thessalia greatly esteemed by him he had presented to Philoclea with inward rage promising extreame hatred had seene Lycurgus with a proud force not without some hurt vnto her pull away from Philoclea because at entreatie she would not giue it him But the sight of that was like a cyphar signifying all the iniuries which Philoclea had of him suffred that remēbrāce feeding vpō wrath trod down al cōceits of mercy And therfore saying no more but No villain dye It is Philoclea that sends thee this token for thy loue With that she made her sword drink the blood of his hart though he wresting his body with a countenance prepared to excuse wold faine haue delaied the receiuing of deaths embassadors But neither that staied Zelmanes hand nor yet Anaxius crie vnto her who hauing made fast the iron gate euen then came to the top of the staires when contrarie to all his imaginations he saw his brother lye at Zelmanes mercie Therefore crying promising and threatning to her to hold her hand the last grone of his brother was the onely answere he could get to his vnrespected eloquence But then Pittie would faine haue drawne teares which Furie in their spring dried and Anger would faine haue spoken but that Disdaine sealed vp his lippes but in his heart he blasphemed heauen that it could haue such a power ouer him no lesse ashamed of the victorie he should haue of her then of his brothers ouerthrow and no more spited that it was yet vnreuenged then that the reuenge should be no greater then a womans destruction Therefore with no speach but such a groning crie as often is the language of sorowfull anger he came running at Zelmane vse of fighting then seruing in steed of patient consideration what to do Guided wherewith though he did not with knowledge yet did he according to knowledge pressing vpon Zelmane in such a well defended manner that in all the combats that euer she had fought she had neuer more neede of quicke senses and ready vertue For being one of the greatest men of stature then liuing as he did fully answere that stature in greatnesse of might so did he exceede both in greatnes of courage which with a countenance formed by the nature both of his mind and body to an almost horrible fiercenes was able to haue carried feare to any minde that was not priuie to it selfe of a true and constant worthines But Pyrocles whose soule might well be separated from his body but neuer alienated from the remembring what was comely if at the first he did a little apprehend the dangerousnes of his aduersarie whom once before he had something tried and now perfectly sawe as the very picture of forcible furie yet was that apprehension quickly stayed in him rather strengthning then weakning his vertue by that wrestling like wine growing the stronger by being moued So that they both prepared in harts and able in hands did honor solitarines there with such a combat as might haue demaunded as a right of fortune whole armies of beholders But no beholders needed there where manhood blew the trumpet and satisfaction did whet as much as glorie There was strength against nimblenes rage against resolution fury against vertue confidence against courage pride against noblenesse loue in both breeding mutuall hatred and desire of reuenging the iniurie of his brothers slaughter to Anaxius being like Philocleas captiuity to Pyrocles Who had seene the one would haue thought nothing could haue resisted who had marked the other would haue marueiled that the other had so long resisted But like two contrarie tides either of which are able to carry worlds of shippes and men vpon them with such swiftnes as nothing seemes able to withstand them yet meeting one another with mingling their watrie forces and strugling together it is long to say whether streame gets the victorie So betweene these if Pallas had bene there she could scarcely haue tolde whether she had nurced better in the feates of armes The Irish greyhound against the English mastiffe the sword-fish against the whale the Rhinoceros against the elephant might be models and but models of this combat Anaxius was better armed defensiuely for beside a strong caske brauely couered wherewith he couered his head he had a huge shield such perchance as Achilles shewed to the pale walles of Troy wherewithall that great body was couered But Pyrocles vtterly vnarmed for defence to offend had the aduantage for in either hand he had a sword and with both handes nimbly performed that office And according as they were diuersly furnished so did they differ in the manner of fighting For Anaxius most by warding and Pyrocles oftnest by auoyding resisted the aduersaries assault Both hastie to end yet both often staying for aduantage Time distance and motion custom made them so perfect in that as if they had bene felow Counsellers and not enemies each knew the others minde and knewe how to preuent it So as their strength fayled them sooner then their skill and yet their breath fayled them sooner then their strength And breathles indeed they grew before either could complaine of any losse of bloud So that consenting by the
she where the desire is such as may be obtained and the partie well deseruing as your selfe it must be a great excuse that may well cullour a deniall but when the first motion carries with it a direct impossibilitie then must the only answere be comfort without helpe and sorrow to both parties to you not obtaining to me not able to graunt O sayd Gynecia how good leisure you haue to frame these scornefull answeres Is Ginecia thus to be despised am I so vile a worme in your sight no no trust to it hard harted tigre I will not be the only Actor of this Tragedy since I must fall I will presse downe some others with my ruines since I must burne my spitefull neighbors shall feele of my fire Doest thou not perceaue that my diligent eyes haue pierced through the clowdie maske of thy desguisemēt Haue I not told thee ô foole if I were not much more foole that I know thou wouldest abuse vs with thy outward shew Wilt thou still attend the rage of loue in a womans hart the girle thy well chosen mistresse perchaunce shall defend thee when Basilius shal know how thou hast sotted his minde with falsehood and falsely sought the dishonour of his house Beleeue it beleeue it vnkind creature I will end my miseries with a notable example of reuenge and that accursed cradle of mine shal feele the smart of my wound thou of thy tiranny and lastly I confesse my selfe of mine owne work Zelmane that had long before doubted her selfe to be discouered by her and now plainely finding it was as the prouerbe saith like them that hold the wolfe by the eares bitten while they hold and slaine if they loose If she held her off in these wonted termes she sawe rage would make her loue worke the effects of hate to graunt vnto her her hart was so bounde vpon Philoclea it had ben worse then a thousand deaths Yet found she it was necessarie for her to come to a resolution for Gynecias sore could bide no leasure and once discouered besides the dāger of Philoclea her desires should be for euer vtterly stopped She remēbred withall the words of Basilius how apt he was to leaue this life returne to his court a great barre to her hopes Lastly she considered Dorus enterprise might bring some strange alteration of this their well liked fellowship So that encompassed with these instant difficulties she bent her spirits to thinke of a remedie which might at once both saue her from them and serue her to the accomplishment of her only pursuite Lastly she determined thus that there was no way but to yeeld to the violence of their desires since striuing did the more chafe them And that following their owne current at length of it selfe it would bring her to the other side of her burning desires Now in the meane while the diuided Dorus long diuided betwene loue and frendship and now for his loue diuided frō his frend though indeed without preiudice of frendships loyaltie which doth neuer barre the minde from his free satisfaction yet still a cruell iudge ouer himselfe thought he was somewayes faultie and applied his minde how to amend it with a speedie and behouefull returne But then was his first studie how to get away whereto already he had Pamelas consent confirmed and concluded vnder the name of Mopsa in her owne presence Dorus taking this way that whatsoeuer he would haue of Pamela he would aske her whether in such a case it were not best for Mopsa so to behaue her selfe in that sort making Mopsas enuie an instrument of that she did enuie So hauing passed ouer his first and most feared difficultie he busied his spirites how to come to the haruest of his desires whereof he had so faire a shew And therevnto hauing gotten leaue for some dayes of his maister Damaetas who now accompted him as his sonne in lawe he romed round about the desart to finde some vnknowne way that might bring him to the next Sea port as much as might be out of all course of other passengers which all very well succeeding him and he hauing hired a Bark for his liues traffick and prouided horsses to carrie her thither returned homeward now come to the last point of his care how to goe beyond the loathsome watchfulnes of these three vncomely companions and therin did wisely consider how they were to be taken with whom he had to deale remembring that in the particularities of euery bodies mind fortune there are particuler aduantages by which they are to be held The muddy mind of Damaetas he found most easily sturred with couetousnes The curst mischeuous hart of Miso most apt to be tickled with iealousie as whose rotten brain could think wel of no body But yong mistres Mopsa who could open her eys vpon nothing that did not all to bewonder her he thought curiositie the fittest bait for her And first for Damaetas Dorus hauing imploid a whole days work about a tenne mile off from the lodge quite contrary way to that he ment to take with Pamela in digging opening the ground vnder an auncient oke that stood there in such sort as might longest hold Damaetas greedy hopes in some shewe of comfort he came to his master with a countenance mixt betwixt cherefulnes and haste and taking him by the right hand as if he had a great matter of secrecie to reueale vnto him Master said he I did neuer thinke that the gods had appointed my mind freely brought vp to haue so longing a desire to serue you but that they minded therby to bring some extraordinary frute to one so beloued of them as your honesty makes me think you are This bindes me euen in conscience to disclose that which I perswade my self is alotted vnto you that your fortune may be of equal ballance with your deserts He said no further because he would let Damaetas play vpon the bit a while who not vnderstanding what his words entended yet well finding they caried no euil news was so much the more desirous to know the matter as he had free scope to imagin what measure of good hap himselfe would Therefore putting off his cap to him which he had neuer done before assuring him he should haue Mopsa though she had bene all made of cloath of gold he besought Dorus not to hold him long in hope for that he found it a thing his hart was not able to beare Maister answered Dorus you haue so satisfied me with promising me the vttermost of my desired blisse that if my duty bound me not I were in it sufficiently rewarded To you therefore shall my good hap be conuerted and the fruite of all my labor dedicated Therewith he told him how vnder an auncient oke the place he made him easily vnderstand by sufficient marks he gaue vnto him he had found digging but a little depth scatteringly lying a great number of rich Medailles and that percing further into the
suffering them to haue so full a course as it did exceedinglie weaken the estate of her bodie aswell for which cause as for that shee could not see Zalmane without expressing more then shee woulde how farr now her loue was imprisoned in extremitie of sorrow she bound her selfe first to the limits of her own chamber and after griefe breeding sicknes of her bed But Zelmane hauing now a full libertie to cast about euery way how to bring her conceaued attempt to a desired successe was ofte so perplexed with the manifould difficultie of it that sometimes she would resolue by force to take her a way though it were with the death of her parents somtimes to go away herself with Musidorus and bring both their forces so to winne her But lastly euen the same day that Musidorus by feeding the humor of his three loathsome gardiens had stolne awaye the Princes Pamela whether it were that loue ment to match them euerie waie or that her friendes example had holpen her inuention or that indeede Zelmane forbare to practise her deuise till she found her friend had passed through his The same daye I saye shee resolued on a way to rid out of the lodge her two combersome louers and in the night to carrie away Philoclea where vnto shee was assured her owne loue no lesse then her sisters woulde easely winne her consent Hoping that although their abrupt parting had not suffered her to demaund of Musidorus which way he ment to direct his iorney yet either they should by some good fortune finde him or if that course fayled yet they might well recouer some towne of the Helotes neere the frontieâ—es of Arcadia who being newly againe vp in armes against the Nobilitie shee knew would bee as glad of her presence as she of their protection Therefore hauing taken order for all thinges requisite for their going and first put on a sleight vndersute of mans apparel which before for such purposes she had prouided she curiously trimmed her self to the beautifâ—ing of her beauties that being now at her last triall she might come vnto it in her brauest armour And so putting on that kinde of milde countenaunce which doth encourage the looker on to hope for a gentle answere according to her late receaued maner she lefte the pleasant darkenes of her melancholy caue to goe take her dinner of the King and Queene and giue vnto them both a pleasant foode of seing the owner of their desires But euen as the Persians were aunciently wont to leaue no rising Sun vnsaluted but as his faire beames appeared clearer vnto theÌ„ wold they more hartely reioyce laying vpoÌ„ them a great fortoken of their following fortunes So was ther no time that Zelmane encouÌ„tred their eies with her beloued presence but that it bred a kind of burning deuotioÌ„ in theÌ„ yet so much the more glading their gredy soules as her couÌ„tenance were cleared with morefauour vnto theÌ„ which now being determinatly framed to the greatest desceÌ„t of kindnesse it took such hold of her infortunate louers that like children aboute a tender father from along voyage returned with louely childishnes hange about him and yet with simple feare measure by his countenance how farr he acceptes their boldnes So were these now throwne into so seruiceable an affection that the turning of Zelmanes eye was a strong sterne enough to all their motions wending no way but as the inchaunting force of it guided them But hauing made a light repaste of the pleasunt fruites of that countrye enterlarding their foode with such manner of generall discourses as louers are woont to couer their passions in when respecte of a thirde person keepes them from plaine particulars at the earnest entreatie of Basilius Zelmane first saluting the muses with a base voyal hong hard by her sent this ambassade in versified musicke to both her ill requited louers BEautie hath force to catche the humane sight Sight doth bewitch the fancie euill awaked Fancie we feele encludes all passions mighte Passion rebelde oft reâ—sons strength hath shaked No wondre then though sighte my sighte did tainte And though thereby my fancie was infected Though yoked so my minde with sicknes fainte Had reasons weight for passions ease reiected But now the fitt is past and time hath giu'ne Leasure to weigh what due deserte requireth All thoughts so spronge are from their dwelling driâ—'n And wisdome to his wonted seate aspireth Crying in me eye hopes deceitefull proue Thinges rightelie prizde loue is the bande of loue And after her songe with an affected modestie shee threwe downe her eye as if the conscience of a secret graunt her inward minde made had sodainely cast a bashfull vaile ouer her Which Basilius finding and thinking now was the time to vrge his painefull petition beseeching his wife with more carefull eye to accompanie his sickly daughter Philoclea being rid for that time of her who was content to graunt him any scope that she might after haue the like freedome with a gesture gouerned by the force of his passions making his knees his best supporters hee thus saide vnto her Yf either said he O Ladie of my life my deadly pangues coulde beare delaye or that this were the first time the same were manifested vnto you I woulde nowe but maintaine still the remembraunce of my misfortune without vrging any further reward then time and pittie might procure for me But alas since my martirdome is no lesse painefull then manifest and that I no more feele the miserable daunger then you know the assured trueth thereof why shoulde my tonge deny his seruice to my harte Why should I feare the breath of my words who daylie feele the flame of your workes Embrace in sweete consideration I beseech you the miserie of my Case acknowledge your selfe to bee the cause and thinke it is reason for you to redresse the effectes Alas let not certaine imaginatife rules whose trueth standes but vpon opinion keepe so wise a mind from gratefulnes and mercie whose neuer fayling laws nature hath planted in vs. I plainly lay my death vnto you the death of him that loues you the death of him whose life you maye saue say your absolute determination for hope it selfe is a paine while it is ouer mastered with feare and if you do resolue to be cruel yet is the speediest condemnation as in euills most welcome Zelmane who had fully set to her selfe the traine she would keepe yet knowing that who soonest meanes to yeelde doth well to make the brauest parley keeping countenaunce alofte Noble prince said she your wordes are to well couched to come out of a restlesse minde and thanked be the Gods your face threatens no daunger of death These are but those swelling speeches which giue the vttermost name to euerie trifle which all were worth nothinge if they were not enammeled with the goodly outside of loue Truely loue were verie vnlouely if it were halfe fo deadly as your louers still liuing tearme it
I thinke well it may haue a certaine childish vehemencie which for the time to one desire will engage al the soule so long as it lasteth But with what impacience you your selfe showe who confesse the hope of it a paine and thinke your owne desire so vnworthy as you would faine bee ridd of it and so with ouermuch loue sue hard for a hastie refusall A refusall cried out Basilius amazed with al but perced with the last Now assure your self when soeuer you vse that word diffinitiuely it will be the vndoubted dome of my approching death And then shall your owne experience knowe in mee how soone the spirites dryed vp with anguish leaue the performaunce of their ministerie whereupon our life depeÌ„deth But alas what a crueltie is this not only to tormeÌ„t but to think the tormeÌ„t slighte The terriblest tirants would say by no man they killed he dyed not nor by no man they punished that he escaped free for of all other ther is least hope of mercie where there is no acknowledging of the paine and with like crueltie are my wordes breathed out from a flamy harte accompted as messingers of a quiet mind If I speake nothing I choake my selfe and am in no way of reliefe if simplye neglected if confusedly not vnderstoode if by the bending together all my inwarde powers they bring forth any liuely expressing of that they truly feele that is a token forsooth the thoughts are at too much leasure Thus is silence desperate follie punished and witt suspected But indeed it is vaine to say any more for wordes can bind no beliefe Lady I say determine of me I must confesse I cannot beare this battell in my minde and therefore let me soone know what I may accompt of my selfe for it is a hell of dolours when the mind still in doubt for want of resolution can make no resistaunce In deed aunswered Zelmane if I should graunt to your request I should shew an example in my selfe that I esteeme the holy bande of chastitie to bee but and Imaginatife rule as you tearmed it and not the truest obseruaunce of nature the moste noble commaundement that mankinde can haue ouer themselues as indeede both learning teacheth and inward feeling assureth But first shal Zelmanes graue become her marriage bedd before my soule shall consent to his owne shame before I will leaue a marke in my self of an vnredemable trespasse And yet must I confesse that if euer my hart were sturred it hath ben with the manifest manifold shewes of the misery you liue in for me For in trueth so it is nature giues not to vs her degenerate children any more general precepte then one to helpe the other one to feele a true compassion of the others mishappe But yet if I were neuer so contented to speake with you for further neuer ô Basilius looke for at my hands I know not howe you can auoyde your wiues iealous attendaunce but that her suspicion shall bring my honour into question Basilius whose small sailes the leaste winde did fill was forth with as farre gonne into a large promising him selfe his desire as before hee was striken downe with a threatned deuill And therefore bending his browes as though he were not a man to take the matter as he had done what saide hee shall my wife become my misteris Thinke you not that thus much time hath taught mee to rule her I will mewe the gentlewoman till she haue cast all her feathers if she rouse her selfe against me And with that he walked vp and downe nodding his head as though they mistooke him much that thought he was not his wiues maister But Zelmane now seeing it was time to conclude of your wisdome and manhood sayd she I doubt not but that sufficeth not me for both they can hardly â—ame a malicious toong and impossibly barre the freedom of thought which be the things that must be only witnesses of honor or iudges of dishonor But that you may see I doo not set light your affection if to night after your wife be assuredly asleepe whereof by your loue I coniure you to haue a most precise care you will steale handsomely to the caue vnto me there do I graunt you as great proportion as you will take of free conference with me euer remembring you seeke no more â—or so shall you but deceyue your selfe and for euer loose me Basilius that was olde inough to know that women are not wont to appoint secreat night meetings for the purchasing of land holding himselfe alreadye an vndoubted possessour of his desires kissing her hand and lifting vp his eyes to heauen as if the greatnes of the benefit did goe beyonde all measure of thankes sayde no more least sturring of more words might bring forth some perhaps contrarye matter In which traunce of ioye Zelmane went from him sayeng she would leaue him to the remembrance of their appoyntment and for her she would goe visite the Ladie Philoclea into whose chamber being come keeping still her late taken on grauitie and asking her how she did rather in the way of dutifull honour then any speciall affection with extreeme inward anguish to them both she turned from her and taking the Queene Ginaecia ledde her into a baye windowe of the same Chamber determining in her selfe not to vtter to so excellent a wit as Gynaecia had the vttermost poynt of her pretended deuise but to keepe the clause of it for the last instant when the shortnes oâ— the time should not geue her spirits leasure to looke into all those doubts that easily enter to an open inuention But with smiling eyes and with a deliuered ouer grace fayning as much loue to her as she did counterfeit loue to Philoclea she began with more credible then eloquent speech to tell her that with much consideracion of a matter so neerely importing her owne fancie and Gynaecias honour she had nowe concluded that the night following should be the fittest time for the ioyning together their seuerall desires what time sleepe should perfectly do his office vpon the King her husband and that the one should come to the other into the Caue Which place as it was the fyrst receipt of their promised loue so it might haue the fyrst honour of the due performance That the cause why those fewe dayes past she had not sought the lyke was least the newe chaunge of her lodging might make the Duke more apte to marke anye sodayne euent which nowe the vse of it would take out of his minde And therefore nowe most excellent Ladie sayde she there resteth nothing but that quicklie after supper you trayne vp the King to visit his daughter Philoclea and then fayning your selfe not well at ease by your going to bedde drawe him not long to be after you In the meane time I will be gone home to my lodging where I will attend you with no lesse deuocion but as I hope with better fortune then Thisbe did the toomuch
returnes an imagined wrong with an effectuall iniury O foole to make quarell my supplication or to vse hate as the mediator of loue childish Philoclea had thou throwne away the Iewell wherein all thy pride consisted Hast thou with too much hast ouerrun thy selfe Then would she renew her kisses O yet not finding the life retourne redouble her plaintes in this manner O diuine soule saide she whose vertue can possesse no lesse then the highest place in heauen if for mine eternall plague thou haste vtterly lefte this most sweet mansion before I follow thee with Thisbes punishment for my rashe vnwarinesse heare this protestation of mine That as the wrong I haue done thee proceeded of a most sincere but vnresistable affection so led with this pittifull example it shall ende in the mortall hate of my selfe and if it may be I will make my soule a tombe of thy memory At that worde with anguish of minde and weakenes of body encreased one by the other and both augmented by this feareful accident she had falne downe in a sounde but that Pyrocles then first seuering his eye liddes and quickly apprehending her daunger to him more then death beyond all powers striuing to recouer the commaundement of al his powers staied her from falling and then lifting the sweet burthen of her body in his armes laid her againe in her bedd So that she but then the Physition was nowe become the pacient he to whom her weaknesse had bene seruiceable was now enforced to do seruice to her weaknesse which performed by him with that hartie care which the most carefull loue on the best loued subiect in greatest extremitie could employ preuailed so farre that ere long shee was able though in strength exceedingly deiected to call home her wandering senses to yeelde attention to that her beloued Pyrocles had to deliuer But he lying downe on the bed by her holding her hand in his with so kind an accusing her of vnkindnes as in accusing her he condemned himself began from pointe to pointe to discouer vnto her all that had passed betwene his loathed louers him How he had entertained by entertaining deceiued both Basilius Gynecia that with such a kind of deceipt as either might see the cause in the other but neither espie the effect in themselues That al his fauors to theÌ„ had tended only to make them strangers to this his actioÌ„ al his strangnes to her to the final obtaining of her long promised now to be perfourmed fauour Which deuise seing it had so well succeeded to the remouing all other hinderances that only her resolutioÌ„ remained for the taking their happy iournie he coniured her by al the loue she had euer borne him shee would make no longer delay to partake with him whatsoeuer honors the noble kingdoÌ„e of Macedon al other Euarchus dominioÌ„s might yeeld him especially since in this enterprise he had now waded so farr as he could not possibly retire himself back without being ouerwhelmed with dauÌ„ger dishoÌ„our He neded not haue vsed further arguments of perswasioÌ„ for that only coniuratioÌ„ had so forcibly bound all her spirits that could her body haue secoÌ„ded her mind or her mind haue strengthened her body without respect of any worldly thing but only feare to be againe vnkind to Pyrocles she had condiscended to goe with him But raising her selfe a litle in her bed finding her own vnabilitie in any sorte to endure the aire My Pyrocles said she with tearefull eyes a pittifull couÌ„tenance such as well witnessed she had no will to deny any thing she had power to performe if you can conuey me hence in such plight as you see me I am most willing to make my â—xtreamest dauÌ„ger a testimonie that I esteme no dauÌ„ger in regard of your vertuous satisfaction But if shee fainted so faste that she was not able to vtter the rest of her conceiued speech which also turned Pyrocles thoughts from expecting further answere to the necessary care of reuiuing her in whose fainting himself was more theÌ„ ouerthrown And that hauing effected with al the sweet meaÌ„s his wits could deuise though his highest hopes were by this vnexpected downfall sunke deeper theÌ„ any degree of dispaire yet lest the appearaÌ„ce of his inward grief might occasioÌ„ her further discoÌ„fort hauing racked his face to a more coÌ„fortable semblaÌ„ce he sought some shew of reason to shew shee had no reason either for him or for her selfe so to be aflicted Which in the sweete minded Philoclea whose consideration was limited by his wordes and whose conceite pearced no deeper then his outwarde countenaunce wrought within a while such quietnesse of mind and that quietnesse againe such repose of bodie that slepe by his harbingers weakenesse wearines and watchfulnes had quickly taken vp his lodging in all her senses Then indeed had Pyrocles leasure to sit in iudgement on himselfe and to heare his reason accuse his rashnes who without forecaste of doubte without knowledge of his friende without acquainting Philoclea with his purpose or being made acquainted with her present estate had falne headlong into that attempt the successe whereof hee had long since set downe to himselfe as the measure of all his other fortunes But calling to minde howe weakely they do that rather finde faulte with what cannot be amended then seek to amend wherein they haue beene faultie he soone turned him from remembring what might haue beene done to considering what was now to be done and when that consideration fayled what was now to be expected Wherein hauing runne ouer all the thoughts his reason called to the strictest accountes could bring before him at length he lighted on this That as long as Gynecia bewraied not the matter which he thought she woulde not doe aswell for her owne honour and safetie as for the hope she might stil haue of him which is loth to die in a louers hart all the rest might turne to a preatie meryment and enflame his louer Basilius againe to cast aboute for the missed fauour And as naturally the harte stuffed vp with wofulnes is glad greedelie to sucke the thinnest aire of comforte so did hee at the first embrace this conceite as offeringe great hope if not assurance of well doing Till looking more neerely into it and not able to answere the doubts and difficulties he sawe therein more and more arising the night being also farre spent his thoughtes euen wearie of their owne burthens fell to a straying kind of vncertaintie and his minde standing onely vpon the nature of inward intelligences lefte his bodie to giue a sleeping respite to his vitall spirites which he according to the qualitie of Sorrow receiued with greater greedines then euer in his life before According to the nature of sorrow I say which is past cares remedie For care sturring the braines and making thinne the spirites breaketh rest but those griefes wherein one is determined there is no preuenting do brede a dull
man might perceue what smal difference in the working there is betwixt a simple voidnes of euill a iudiciall habit of vertue For she not with an vnshaked magnanimity wherewith Pyrocles wayed dispised death but with an innocent guiltlessnes not knowing why she should feare to deliuer her vnstayned soule to God helped with the true louing of Pyrocles which made her think no life without him did almost bring her minde to as quiet attending all accidents as the vnmastred vertu of Pyrocles Yet hauing with a pretty palenes which did leaue milken lines vpon her rosie cheekes payd a little dutie to humane feare taking the Prince by the hand and kissing the wound he had giuen himselfe O the only life of my life and if it fall out so the comforte of my death saide shee farre farre from you be the doing me such wronge as to thinke I will receaue my life as a purchase of your death but well may you make my death so much more miserable as it shall any thinge be delayed after my onely felicitie Doe you thincke I can accompte of the moment of death like the vnspeakeable afflictions my soule shoulde suffer so ofte as I call Pyrocles to my minde which should be as ofte as I breathed Should these eyes guide my steppes that had seene your murder should these hands feede me that had not hindred such a mischiefe Should this harte remaine within me at euery pant to count the continuall clock of my miseries O no if die we must let vs thanke death he hath not deuided so true an vnion And truely my Pyrocles I haue heard my father and other wise men say that the killing ones selfe is but a false coulloure of true courage proceeding rather of feare of a further euil either of torment or shame For if it were a not respecting the harme that woulde likewise make him not respect what might be done vnto him and hope being of al other the most contrary thing to feare this being an vtter banishment of hope it seemes to receaue his ground in feare Whatsoeuer would they say comes out of despaire cannot beare the title of valure which should bee lifted vp to such a hight that holding al things vnder it selfe it should be able to maintaine his greatnes euen in the middest of miseries Lastly they would saye God had appointed vs Captaines of these our boddylie fortes which without treason to that Maiestie were neuer to be deliuered ouer till they were redemaunded Pyrocles who had that for a lawe vnto him not to leaue Philoclea in any thing vnsatisfied although hee still remained in his former purpose and knew that time would grow short for it yet hearing no noyse the shepheardes being as then run to Basilius with setled and humbled countenaunce as a man that should haue spoken of a thing that did not concerne himself bearing eueÌ„ in his eyes sufficient showes that it was nothing but Philocleas danger which did any thinge burden his harte farre stronger then fortune hauing with vehement embracinges of her got yet some fruite of his delayed end he thus aunswered the wise innocency of Philoclea Lady most worthy not only of life but to be the verie life of al things the more notable demonstrations you make of the loue so farre beyond my deserte with which it pleaseth you to ouercome fortune in making mee happye the more am I euen in course of humanitie to leaue that loues force which I neither can nor will leaue bound to seeke requitals witnes that I am not vngratefull to do which the infinitnes of your goodnes being such as it caÌ„not reach vnto it yet doing al I can and paying my life which is all I haue though it be farre without measure shorte of your desarte yet shall I not die in debt to mine owne dutie And truly the more excellent arguments you made to keep me from this passage imagined farre more terrible then it is the more plainely it makes mee see what reason I haue to preuent the losse not only of Arcadia but all the face of the earth should receaue iâ— such a tree which euen in his first spring doth not onely beare most beautifull blossomes but most rare fruites should be so vntimely cut off Therefore ô most truely beloued Lady to whom I desire for both our goods that these may bee my last wordes geue me your consent euen out of that wisedome which must needes see that besids your vnmatched betternesse which perchaunce you will not see it is fitter one dietheÌ„ both And since you haue sufficiently showed you loue me let me claime by that loue you wil â—e content rather to let me die contentedly then wretchedly rather with a cleare and ioyfull conscience then with desperate condemnation in my selfe that I accursed villaine shoulde bee the meane of banishing from the sight of men the true example of vertue And because there is nothing lefte me to be imagined which I so much desire as that the memory of Pyrocles may euer haue an allowed place in your wise iudgement I am content to drawe so much breath longer as by aunswearing the sweete obiections you alledged maye bequath as I thinke aright conceate vnto you that this my doinge is out of iudgement and not sprong of passion Your father you say was wont to say that this like action doth more proceed of feare of furder euil or shame then of a true courage Truly first they put a very gessing case speaking of them who can euer after come to tell with what minde they did it And as for my parte I call the immortall truth to witnes that no feare of torment can appall me who know it is but diuerse manners of apparelling death and haue long learned to set bodely paine but in the second fourme of my being And as for shame how can I be ashamed of that for which my well meaning conscience wil answeare for me to God and your vnresistable beautie to the world But to take that argument in his owne force and graunt it done for auoyding of further paine or dishonour for as for the name of feare it is but an odious title of a passion giuen to that which true iudgement performeth graunt I say it is to shun a worse case truly I do not see but that true fortitude loking into al humaine things with a persisting resolutioÌ„ carried away neither with wonder of pleasing things nor astonishment of the vnpleasaunt doth not yet depriue it selfe of the discerning the difference of euill but rather is the onely vertue which with an assured tranquillitye shunnes the greater by the valiant entring into the lesse Thus for his countries safety he wil spend his life for the sauing of a lym he will not niggardly spare his goods for the sauing of all his body hee will not spare the cutting of a lym where indeed the weake harted man will rather dye then see the face of a surgeon who mightwith as
indeede you shall haue the ende you shoote at for in steede of one death you shall geue me a thousand and yet in the meane time depriue me of the helpe God may sende me Pyrocles euen ouerwayed with her so wisely vttred affection finding her determinacion so fixed that his ende should but depriue them both of a present contentment and not auoyde a comming euill as a man that ranne not vnto it by a sodayne qualme of passion but by a true vse of reason preferring her life to his owne nowe that wisedome did manifest vnto him that waye woulde not preuayle he retired himselfe with as much tranquillitie from it as before he had gone vnto it Like a man that had set the keeping or leauing of the bodye as a thing without himselfe and so had thereof a freed and vntroubled consideracion Therefore throwing away the barre from him and taking her vp from the place where he thought the consummating of all beawties very vnworthely lay suffring all his sences to deuoure vp their chiefest foode which he assured himselfe they should shortly after for euer be depriued of well said he most deere Lady whose contentment I preferre before mine own and iudgement esteeme more then mine owne I yeeld vnto your pleasure The gods send you haue not woon your owne losse For my part they are my witnesses that I thinke I do more at your commaundement in delayeng my death then another would in bestowing his life But now sayd he as thus farre I haue yeelded vnto you so graunt me in recompence thus much againe that I may finde your loue in graunting as you haue sound your authoritye in obteyning My humble suite is you will say I came in by force into your Chamber for so am I resolued now to affirme and that will be the best for vs both but in no case name my name that whtsoeuer come of me my house be not dishonored Philoclea fearing least refusall would turne him backe againe to his violent refuge gaue him a certayne countenance that might shewe she did yeeld to his request the latter part whereof indeed she meant for his sake to performe Neyther could they spend more wordes together for Philanax with twentie of the noblest personages of Arcadia after him were come into the Lodge Philanax making the rest stay belowe for the reuerence he bare to womanhood as stillie as he could came to the dore and opening it drewe the eyes of these two dolefull louers vpon him Philoclea cloasing againe for modestie sake within her bed the ritchesse of her beawties but Pyrocles tooke holde of his barre minding at least to dye before the excellent Philoclea should receyue any outrage But Philanax rested awhile vppon himselfe stricken with admiracion at the goodlie shape of Pyrocles whome before he had neuer seene and withall remembring besides others the notable acte he had done when with his courage and eloquence he had saued Basilius perchaunce the whole state from vtter ruyne he felte a kinde of relenting minde towardes him But when that same thought came waighted on with the remembraunce of his maisters death which he by all probabilities thought he had bene of Councell vnto with the Queene compassion turned to hatefull passion and lefte in Philanax a straunge medley betwixt pittie and reuenge betwixt lyking and abhorring O Lorde sayde hee to himselfe what wonders doth nature in our tyme to set wickednesse so beawtifully garnished and that which is straungest out of one spring to make wonderfull effectes both of vertue and vice to issue Pyrocles seeing him in such a muse neyther knowing the man nor the cause of his comming but assuring himselfe it was for no good yet thought best to begin with him in this sort Gentleman sayde hee what is the cause of your comming to my Lady Philocleas chamber is it to defende her from such violence as I might goe about to offer vnto her if it be so truly your comming is vayne for her owne vertue hath bene a sufficient resistaunce there needes no strength to be added to so inuiolate chastetie the excellencie of her mind makes her bodie impregnable Which for mine own part I had soone yelded to confesse with going out of this place where I found but little comfort being so disdainefully receiued had I not bene I know not by whom presently vpon my cōming hether so locked into this chamber that I could neuer escape hence where I was fettred in the most gilty shame that euer mā was seing what a paradise of vnspotted goodnes my filthy thoughts sought to defile If for that therfore you come alredy I assure you your arrāt is performed but if it be to bring me to any punishmēt whatsouer for hauing vndertaken so vnexcusable presumption Truly I beare such an accuser about me of mine own conscience that I willingly submit my selfe vnto it Only this much let me demaund of you that you will be a witnesse vnto the King what you heare me say oppose your selfe that neither his sodaine fury nor any other occasion may offer any hurt to this Lady in whome you see nature hath accomplished so much that I am faine to lay mine owne faultines as a foile of her purest excellency I can say no more but looke vppon her beawtie remember her bloud consider her yeares and iudge rightly of her vertues and I doubt not a gentlemans mind will then be a sufficient enstructer vnto you in this I may tearme it miserable chaunce happened vnto her by my vnbridled audacitie Philanax was content to heare him out not for any fauour he owed him but to see whether he would reueale any thing of the originall cause and purpose of the kings death But finding it so farre from that that he named Basilius vnto him as supposing him aliue thinking it rather cunning then ignorance Yong man said he whome I haue cause to hate before I haue meane to know you vse but a point of skill by confessing the manifest smaller fault to be beleeued hereafter in the deniall of the greater But for that matter all passeth to one end and hereafter we shal haue leisure by torments to seke the truth if the loue of truth it selfe will not bring you vnto it As for my Lady Philoclea if it so fall out as you say it shall be the more fit for her yeares comedy for the great house she is come of that an ill gouerned beawtie hath not cancelled the rules of vertue But howsoeuer it be it is not for you to teach an Arcadian what reuerent duty we owe to any of that progeny But said he come you with me without resistance for the one cannot auaile and the other may procure pitie Pitie said Pyrocles with a bitter smiling disdained with so currish an answere no no Arcadian I can quickly haue pitie of my selfe and I would think my life most miserable which should be a gift of thine Only I demaund this innocent Ladies securitie which vntill
thou hast cōfirmed vnto me by an oath assure thy selfe the first that layes hands vpō her shall leaue his life for a testimony of his sacriledge Philanax with an inward storme thinking it most manifest they were both he at least of counsell with the kings death well said he you speake much to me of the king I do here sweare vnto you by the loue I haue euer borne him she shal haue no worse howsoeuer it fal out then her own parents And vpon that word of yours I yeld said the poore Pyrocles deceiued by him that ment not to deceiue him Then did Philanax deliuer him into the hands of a noble man in the company euery one desirous to haue him in his charge so much did his goodly presence wherin true valure shined breede a delightfull admiration in all the beholders Philanax himselfe stayed with Philoclea to see whether of her he might learne some disclosing of this former conclusion But she sweet Lady whom first a kindly shamefastnes had separated from Pyrocles hauing bene left in a more open view then her modesty would well beare then the attending her fathers comming and studying how to behaue her selfe towards him for both their safeties had called her spirits all within her now that vpon a sodaine Pyrocles was deliuered out of the chamber from her at the first she was so surprized with the extreame stroke of the wofull sight that like those that in their dreames are taken with some ougly vision they would fain cry for help but haue no force so remained she awhile quite depriued not only of speach but almost of any other liuely actiō But whē indeed Pyrocles was quite drawne frō her eys that her vital strēgth begā to return vnto her now not knowing what they did to Pyrocles but according to the nature of loue fearing the worst wringing her hands and letting abundance of teares be the first part of her eloquence bending her Amber-crowned head ouer her bed side to the hard-hearted Philanax O Philanax Philanax sayd she I knowe how much authoritye you haue with my father there is no man whose wisedome he so much esteemes nor whose faith so much he reposeth vpon Remember how oft you haue promised your seruice vnto me how oft you haue geuen me occasion to beleeue that there was no Lady in whose fauor you more desired to remayne and if the remembrance be not vnpleasant to your mind or the rehearsall vnfitting for my fortune remember there was a time when I could deserue it Now my chaunce is turned let not your truth turne I present my selfe vnto you the most humble and miserable suppliant liuing neither shall my desire be great I seeke for no more life then I shall be found worthy of If my bloud may wash away the dishonor of Arcadia spare it not although through me it hath in deede neuer bene dishonored My only sute is you wil be a meane for me that while I am suffered to enioy this life I may not be separated from him to whom the Gods haue ioyned me and that you determine nothing of him more cruelly then you do of me If you rightly iudge of what hath past wherein the Gods that should haue bene of our mariage are witnesses of our innocencies then procure we may liue together But if my father will not so conceiue of vs as the fault if any were was vnited so let the punishmēt be vnited also There was no man that euer loued either his Prince or any thing pertaining to him with a truer zeale then Philanax did This made him euen to the depth of his heart receiue a most vehemēt griefe to see his master made as it were more miserable after death And for himselfe calling to mind in what sort his life had bene preserued by Philoclea what time taken by Amphialus he was like to suffer a cruell death there was nothing could haue kept him from falling to all tender pittie but the perfect perswasion he had that all this was ioyned to the packe of his maisters death which the misconceiued speech of marriage made him the more beleeue Therefore first muttering to himselfe such like words The violence the gentleman spake of is now turned to mariage he alledged Mars but she speakes of Venus O vnfortunate maister This hath bene that faire diuell Gynaecia sent away one of her daughters prostituted the other empoysoned thee to ouerthrowe the diademe of Arcadia But at length thus vnto her selfe he sayde If your father Madame were now to speake vnto truly there should no body be found a more ready aduocate for you then my selfe For I would suffer this fault though very great to be blotted out of my minde by your former led life your benefit towards my selfe and being daughter to such a father But since among your selues you haue taken him away in whome was the only power to haue mercy you must now be clothed in your owne working and looke for none other then that which dead pittilesse lawes may allot vnto you For my part I loued you for your vertue but now where is that I loued you in respect of a priuate benefit what is that in comparison of the publike losse I loued you for your father vnhappy folks you haue robbed the world of him These words of her father were so little vnderstood by the only well vnderstanding Philoclea that she desired him to tell her what he meant to speake in such darke sort vnto her of her lord and father whose displeasure was more dreadfull vnto her then her punishment that she was free in her owne conscience she had neuer deserued euill of him no not in this last fact wherein if it pleased him to proceed with patience he should finde her choise had not bene vnfortunate He that saw her words written in the plaine table of her faire face thought it impossible there should therin be contained deceite and therfore so much the more abashed Why said he Madame would you haue me thinke you are not of conspiracy with the Princesse Pamelas flight and your fathers death with that word the sweet Lady gaue a pittifull cry hauing streight in her face breast abundance of witnesses that her hart was far from any such abhominable consent Ah of all sides vtterly ruined Philoclea said she now in deed I may well suffer all conceite of hope to dye in mee Deare father where was I that might not do you my last seruice before soone after miserably following you Philanax perceiued the demonstracion so liuely true in her that he easily acquited her in his heart of that fact and the more was moued to ioyne with her in most heartie lamentation But remembring him that the burthen of the state and punishment of his masters murderers lay all vpon him Well sayde he Madame I can do nothing without all the states of Arcadia what they will determine of you I know not for my part your speaches would much preuaile
euill done the cause of rewarde is the opinion of some good acte and who so rewardeth that holdes the chief place of his fancie Now one man of one companie to haue the same consideration both of good and euill but that the conceite of pardoning if it bee pardoned will take away the minde of rewarding is very hard if not impossible For either euen in iustice will he punish the fault as well as reward the desert or els in mercie ballance the one by the other so that the not chastising shal be a sufficient satisfiing Thus then you may see that in your owne purpose rests greate vncertaintie But I will graunt that by this your deede you shall obtaine your double purpose Yet consider I pray you whether by another meane that may not better be obtained then I doubt not your wisdomes wil teach you to take hold of the better I am sure you knowe any body were better haue no neede of a pardon then enioy a pardon for as it carries with it the suretie of a preserued life so beares it a continuall note of a deserued death This therefore besides the daunger you may runne into my Lady Pamela being the vndoubted enheritrixe of this state if shee shall hereafter seeke to reuenge your wrong done her shall bee continually cast in your teeth as men dead by the lawe the honester sorte will disdaine your company your children shal be the more basely reputed of you yourselues in euery slight fault hereafter as men once condemned aptest to bee ouerthrowne Now if you will I doubt not you will for you are wise turne your course and garde my Lady Pamela thither ward whether shee was going first you neede not doubt to aduenture your fortunes where shee goes and there shall you be assured in a countrie as good and rich as this of the same manners and language to bee so farre from the conceate of a pardon as we both shall be forced to acknowledge we haue receaued by your meanes what soeuer we holde deere in this life And so for rewarde iudge you whether it be not more likely you shall there receaue it where you haue done no euill but singuler and vndeserued goodnes or here where this seruice of yours shal be diminished by your dutie and blemished by your former fault Yes I protest and sweare vnto you by the faire eyes of that Lady there shall no Gentlemen in all that country bee preferred You shall haue riches ease pleasure and that which is best to such worthy mindes you shall not bee forced to crie mercy for a good facte You onely of all the Arcadians shall haue the prayse in continuing in your late valiaunt attempte and not basely bee brought vnder a halter for seeking the libertie of Arcadia These wordes in their mindes who did nothing for any loue of goodnes but onely as their senses presented greater showes of proffit beganne to make them wauer and some to clappe their hands and scratch their heades and sweare it was the best way Others that would seeme wiser then the rest to capitulate what tenements they should haue what subsidies they should pay others to talke of their wiues in doubt whether it were best to send for thē or to take new wher they went most like fooles not reddely thinking what was next to bee done but imagining what cheere they woulde make when they came there one or two of the least discourses beginning to turne their faces towards the woods which they had lefte But being nowe come within the plaine neere to the lodges vnhappily they espied a troupe of horsmen But then their false harts had quickly for the present feare forsaken their last hopes and therfore keeping on the way toward the lodge with songes of cries and ioye the horsemen who were some of them Philanax had sent out to the search of Pamela came gallowping vnto them marueyling who they were that in such a generall mourning durst singe ioyfull tunes and in so publicke a ruine were the lawrell tokens of victorie And that which seemed straungest they might see two among them vnarmed like prisoners but riding like captaines But when they came neerer they perceaued the one was a Lady and the Lady Pamela Then glad they had by happ found that which they so litle hoped to meete withall taking these clownes who first resisted them for the desire they had to be the deliuerers of the two excellent prisoners learning that they were of those rebells which had made the daungerous vprore aswell vnder cullour to punish that as this their last withstanding them but indeed their principal cause being because they themselues would haue the onely praise of their owne quest they suffered not one of them to liue Marry three of the stubbernest of them they lefte their bodies hanging vppon the trees because their doing might carry the likelier forme of iudgement Such an vnlooked for end did the life of iustice worke for the naughtie minded wretches by subiects to be executed that would haue executed Princes and to suffer that without lawe which by lawe they had deserued And thus these yonge folkes twise prisoners before any due arrest deliuered of their iayloures but not of their iayle had rather change then respit of misery these souldiers that tooke them with verie fewe wordes of entertainement hasting to carrie them to their Lorde Philanax to whom they came euen as he going out of the Lady Philocleas chamber had ouertaken Pyrocles whom before hee had deliuered to the custody of a noble man of that countrie When Pyrocles led towardes his prison sawe his friend Musidorus with the noble Lady Pamela in that in expected sorte returned his griefe if any griefe were in a minde which had placed euery thing according to his naturall worthe was verie much augmented for besides some small hope hee had if Musidorus had once bene cleere of Arcadia by his dealing and aucthoritie to haue brought his onely gladsome desires to a good issue The hard estate of his friend did no lesse nay rather more vexe him then his owne For so indeede it is euer founde where valure and friendshipp are perfectly coopled in one hart the reason being that the resolute man hauing once disgested in his iudgement the worst extremitie of his owne case and hauing either quiet expelled or at least repelled all passion which ordinarilie followes an ouerthrowne fortune not knowing his friendes minde so well as his owne nor with what pacience he brookes his case which is as it were the materiall cause of making a man happie or vnhappie doubts whether his friend accomptes not him selfe more miserable and so indeede bee more lamentable But assoone as Musidorus was brought by the souldiers neere vnto Philanax Pyrocles not knowing whether euer after hee should bee suffered to see his friende and determining there could be no aduauntage by dissembling a not knowing of him leapt sodainelie from their hands that helde him and passing
haue a speciall feeling of the present losse wiping his eyes and long white bearde bedeawed with greate dropps of teares began in this sorte to complayne Alas poore sheepe sayde hee which hitherto haue enioyed your fruitefull pasture in such quietnes as your wooll amongst other things hath made this Countrie famous your best dayes are now past now you must become the vittaile of an armye and perchaunce an armye of foraine enemyes you are now not onely to feare home Wolues but alien Lions now I say now that our right Basilius is deceased Alas sweete pastures Shall souldiours that knowe not how to vse you possesse you Shall they that can not speake Arcadian language be Lordes ouer your Shepheards For alas with good cause may we looke for any euill since Basilius our only strength is taken from vs. To that all the other Shepheards present vttered pittifull voyces especially the very borne Arcadians For as for the other though humanitie moued them to pittie humane cases especially in a Prince vnder whome they had founde a refuge of their miseries and iustice equally administred yet could they not so naturally feele the liuely touch of sorrowe Neuerthelesse of that number one Agelastus notably noted among them aswell for his skill in Poetry as for an austerely mayntayned sorrowfulnes wherewith hee seemed to despise the workes of nature framing an vniuersall complaint in that vniuersall mischiefe vttered it in this sestine SInce wayling is a bud of causefull sorowe Since sorow is the follower of euill fortune Since no euill fortune equalls publique damage Now Princes losse hath made our damage publique Sorow pay we to thee the rights of Nature And inward griefe seale vp with outward wailing Why should we spare our voice from endlesse wailing Who iustly make our hearts the seate of sorow In such a case where it appeares that nature Doth add her force vnto the sting of fortune Choosing alas this our theatre publique Where they woâ—ld leaue trophees of cruell damage Then since such pow'rs conspir'd vnto our damage Which may be know'n but neuer help't with wailing Yet let vs leaue a monument in publique Of willing teares torne haires cries of sorrow For lost lost is by blowe of cruell fortune Arcadias gemme the noblest childe of nature O nature doting olde ô blinded nature How hast thou torne thy selfe sought thine owne damage In graunting such a scope to filthy fortune By thy impes losse to fill the world with wai'ling Cast thy stepmother eyes vpon our sorowe Publique our losse so see thy shame is publique O that we had to make our woes more publique Seas in our eyes brasen tongues by nature A yelling voice heartes compos'd of sorow Breath made of flames wits knowing nought but damage Our sports murdering our selues our musiques wailing Our studies fixt vpon the falâ—es of fortune No no our mischiefe growes in this vile fortune That priuate paines can not breath out in publique The furious inward griefes with hellish wailing But forced are to burthen feeble nature With secret sense of our eternall damage And sorow feede feeding our soules with sorow Since sorow then concludeth all our fortune With all our deathes shew we this damage publique His nature feares to die who liues still wailing It seemed that this complaint of Agelastus had awaked the spirits of the Arcadians astonished before with exceedingnes of sorow For hee had scarcely ended when diuerse of them offred to follow his example in be wayling the generall losse of that countrie which had bene aswell a nurse to straungers as a mother to Arcadians Among the rest one accounted good in that kinde and made the better by the true feeling of sorowe roared out a song of lamentation which as well as might bee was gathered vp in this forme SInce that to death is gone the shepheard hie Who most the silly shepheards pipe did pryse Your dolefull tunes sweete Muses now applie And you ô trees if any life there lies In trees now through your porous barkes receaue The straunge resounde of these my causefull cries And let my breath vpon your braunches cleaue My breath distinguish'd into wordes of woe That so I may signes of my sorrowe leaue But if among your selues some one tree growe That aptest is to figure miserie Let it embassage beare your grieues to showe The weeping Mirrhe I thinke will not denie Her helpe to this this iustest cause of plaint Your dolefull tunes sweet Muses now applie And thou poore Earth whom fortune doth attaint In Natures name to suffer such a harme As for to loose thy gemme and such a Sainct Vpon thy face let coaly Rauens swarme Let all the Sea thy teares accounted be Thy bowels with all killing mettals arme Let golde now râ—st let Diamonds waste in thee Let pearls be wan with woe their damme doth beare Thy selfe henceforth the light doo neuer see And you ô flowers which sometimes Princes were Till these straunge altrings you did hap to trie Of Princes losse your selues for tokens reare Lilly in mourning blacke thy whitenes die O Hyacinthe let Ai be on thee still Your dolefull tunes sweet Muses now applie O Echo all these woods with roaring fill And doo not onely marke the accents last But all for all reach out my wailefull will One Echo to another Echo cast Sounde of my griefes and let it neuer ende Till that it hath all woods and waters past Nay to the heau'ns your iust complaining sende And stay the starrs inconstant constant race Till that they doo vnto our dolours bende And aske the reason of that speciall grace That they which haue no liues should liue so long And vertuous soules so soone should loose their plaâ—e Aske if in great men good men doo so thronge That he for want of elbowe roome must die Or if that they be skante if this be wronge Dâ—â— Wisedome this our wretched time espie In one true chest to rob all Vertues treasure Your dolefull tunes sweete Muses now applie And if that any counsell you to measure Your dolefull tunes to them still playning say To well felte griefe plainte is the onely pleasure O light of Sunne which is entit'led day O well thou doost that thou no longer bidest For mourning light her blackeweedes may display O Phoebus with good cause thy face thou hidest Rather then haue thy all-beholding eye Fould with this sight while thou thy chariot guidest And well me thinks becomes this vaultie skie And stately tombe to couer him deceased Your dolefull tunes sweet Muses now applie O Philomela with thy brest oppressed By shame and griefe helpe helpe me to lament Such cursed harmes as cannot be redressed Or if thy mourning notes be fully spent Then giue a quiet eare vnto my playning For I to teach the world complainte am bent You dimmy clowdes which well employ your stayning This cheerefull aire with your obscured cheere Witnesse your wofull teares with dayly rayning And if ô Sinne thou euer didst appeare In
each corner to newe discourses from discourses to wishes from wishes to prayers Especially the tender Philoclea who as she was in yeares yonger and had neuer lifted vp her minde to any opinion of souereignetie so was she the apter to yeelde to her misfortune hauing no stronger debates in her minde then a man maye saye a most wittie childehoode is woont to nourish as to imagine with her selfe why Philanax and the other noble men shoulde deale so cruelly by her that had neuer deserued euill of any of them And howe they could finde in their hartes to imprison such a personage as she did figure Pyrocles whome shee thought all the worlde was bounde to loue as well as shee did But Pamela although endewed with a vertuous mildenes yet the knowledge of her selfe and what was due vnto her made her hart full of a stronger disdaine against her aduersitie So that she ioyned the vexacion for her friend with the spite to see her selfe as she thought rebelliously detayned and mixed desirous thoughts to helpe with reuengefull thoughts if she could not helpe And as in pangs of death the stronger hart feeles the greater torment because it doth the more resist to his oppressour so her minde the nobler it was set and had already embraced the hyer thoughtes so much more it did repine and the more it repined the more helplesse wounds it gaue vnto it selfe But when great part of the night was passed ouer the dolefull musicke of these sweete Ladies complaints and that leasure though with some strife had brought Pamela to know that an Eagle when she is in a Cage must not thinke to do like an Eagle remembring with themselues that it was likely the next day the Lords would proceed against those they had imprisoned They imployed the rest of the night in writing vnto them with such earnestnes as the matter required but in such stiles as the state of their thoughts was apt to fashion In the meane time Pyrocles and Musidorus were recommended to so strong a guard as they might well see it was meant they should pay no lesse prise then their liues for the getting out of that place which they like men in deede fortifying courage with the true Rampier of patience did so endure as they did rather appeare gouernours of necessitie then seruaunts to fortune The whole summe of their thoughts resting vpon the safetie of their Ladyes and their care one for the other Wherein if at all their harts did seeme to receyue some softnes For sometimes Musidorus would feele such a motion to his friend and his vnworthy case that he would fall into such kinde speeches My Pyrocles would he say how vnhappy may I thinke Thessalia that hath bene as it were the middle way to this euill estate of yours For if you had not bene there brought vp the Sea should not haue had this power thus to seuer you from your deere father I haue therefore if complayntes do at any time become a mans hart most cause to complayne since my Countrie which receyued the honor of Pyrocles educacion should be a step to his ouerthrowe if humane chances can be compted an ouerthrowe to him that stands vppon vertue Oh excellent Musidorus aunswered Pyrocles howe do you teache me rather to fall out with my selfe and my fortune since by you I haue receyued all good you only by me this affliction to you and your vertuous mother I in my tendrest yeares and fathers greatest troubles was sent for succour There did I learne the sweete mysteries of Phylosophy there had I your liuely example to confirme that which I learned there lastly had I your friendship which no vnhappines can euer make me saye but that hath made me happy Now see how my desteny the gods knowe not my will hath rewarded you my father sends for you away out of your land whence but for me you had not come what after followed you knowe It was my loue not yours which first stayed you heere and therefore if the heauens euer held a iust proportion it were I and not you that should feele the smart O blame not the heauens sweete Pyrocles sayde Musidorus as their course neuer alters so is there nothing done by the vnreacheable ruler of them but hath an euerlasting reason for it And to saye the truth of these things we should deale vngratefully with nature if we should be forgetfull receyuers of her giftes and so diligent Auditors of the chaunces we like not We haue liued and haue liued to be good to our selues and others our soules which are put into the sturring earth of our bodyes haue atchieued the causes of their hether cōming They haue knowne honoured with knowledge the cause of their creation and to many men for in this time place and fortune it is lawfull for vs to speake gloriously it hath bene behouefull that we should liue Since then eternitie is not to be had in this coniunction what is to be lost by the separation but time which since it hath his ende when that is once come all what is past is nothing and by the protracting nothing gotten but labour and care Do not me therefore that wrong who something in yeares but much in all other deserts am fitter to dye then you as to say you haue brought me to any euill since the loue of you doth ouerballance all bodely mischiefes and those mischiefes be but mischiefes to the basermindes too much delighted with the kennell of this life Neither will I any more yeeld to my passion of lamenting you which howsoeuer it might agree to my exceeding friendship surely it would nothing to your exceeding vertue Add this to your noble speech my deere Cozen said Pirocles that if we complaine of this our fortune or seeme to our selues faultie in hauing one hurt the other we showe a repentance of the loue we beare to these matchlesse creatures or at least a doubt it should be ouerdeerely bought which for my part and so dare I aunswere for you I call all the gods to witnesse I am so farre from that no shame no torment no death would make me forgoe the least part of the inward honor essentiall pleasure and liuing life I haue enioyed in the presence of the faultlesse Philoclea Take the preheminence in all things but in true louing aunswered Musidorus for the confession of that no death shall get of me Of that aunswered Pirocles soberly smiling I perceiue wee shall haue a debate in the other world if at least there remayne any thing of remembrance in that place I do not thinke the contrarye sayde Musidorus although you knowe it is greately helde that with the death of bodye and sences whiche are not onely the beginning but dwelling and nourishing of passions thoughts and immaginations they fayling memorye likewise fayles which riseth onely out of them and then is there left nothing but the intellectuall parte or intelligence which voide of all morall vertues which stande in
the meane of perturbacions doth onely liue in the contemplatiue vertue and power of the omnipotent good the soule of soules and vniuersall life of this great worke and therefore is vtterly voide from the possibilitie of drawing to it selfe these sensible considerations Certenly answered Pirocles I easely yeeld that we shall not knowe one another and much lesse these passed things with a sensible or passionate knowledge For the cause being taken away the effect followes Neither do I thinke we shall haue such a memorye as nowe we haue which is but a relicke of the senses or rather a print the senses haue left of things passed in our thoughtes but it shall be a vitall power of that very intelligence which as while it was heere it helde the chiefe seate of our life and was as it were the last resorte to which of all our knowledges the hyest appeale came and so by that meanes was neuer ignorant of our actions though many times rebelliously resisted alwayes with this prison darkened so much more being free of that prison and returning to the life of all things where all infinite knowledge is it cannot but be a right intelligence which is both his name and being of things both present and passed though voyde of imagining to it selfe any thing but euen growen like to his Creator hath all things with a spirituall knowledge before it The difference of which is as hard for vs to conceaue as it had for vs when wee were in our mothers wombes to comprehende if any body would haue tould vs what kinde of light we nowe in this life see What kinde of knowledge we nowe haue yet nowe we do not only feele our present being but we conceaue what we were before we were borne though remembrance make vs not do it but knowledge and though we are vtterly without any remorse of any misery we might then suffer Euen such and much more odds shall there be at that second deliuery of ours when voyde of sensible memorye or memoratiue passion wee shall not see the cullours but lifes of all things that haue bene or can be and shall as I hope knowe our friendship though exempt from the earthlie cares of friendship hauing both vnited it and our selues in that hye and heauenly loue of the vnquenchable light As he had ended his speeche Musidorus looking with a heauenly ioy vpon him sang this song vnto him he had made before loue turned his muse to another subiecte SInce natures workes be good and death doth serue As natures worke why should we feare to dye Since feare is vaine but when it may preserue Why should we feare that which we cannot flye Feare is more paine then is the paine it feares Disarming humane mindes of natiue might While each conceate an ouglie figure beares Which were not euill well vew'd in reasons light Our owly eyes which dimm'd with passions bee And scarce discerne the dawne of comming day Let them be clearde and now begin to see Our life is but a step in dustie way Then let vs holde the blisse of peacefull minde Since this we feele great losse we cannot finde Thus did they like quiet Swannes sing their owne obsequies and vertuously enhable theyr mindes against all extremities which they did thinke woulde fall vppon them especially resoluing that the fyrst care they would haue should be by taking the faulte vpon themselues to cleere the two Ladyes of whose case as of nothing else that had happened they had not any knowledge Although their friendly hoste the honest Gentleman Kalander seeking all meanes how to helpe them had endeuored to speake with them and to make them knowe who should be their iudge But the curious seruaunt of Philanax forbad him the entrye vppon paine of death For so it was agreed vppon that no man should haue any conference with them for feare of newe tumults Insomuch that Kalander was constrayned to retire himselfe hauing yet obtayned thus much that he would deliuer vnto the two Princes their apparell and iewells which being left with him at Mantinea wisely considering that theyr disguised weedes which were all as then they had would make them more odious in the sight of the iudges he had that night sent for and now brought vnto them They accepted their owne with great thankefulnes knowing from whence it came and attired themselues in it against the nexte daye which being in deede ritch and princely they accordinglye determined to maintaine the names of Palladius and Daiphantus as before it is mencioned Then gaue they themselues to consider in what sort they might defende their causes for they thought it no lesse vaine to wish death then cowardly to feare it till something before morning a small slumber taking them they were by and by after callde vp to come to the aunswere of no lesse then theyr liues imported But in this sort was the iudgement ordred As soone as the morning had taken a full possession of the Element Euarchus called vnto him Philanax and willed him to draw out into the middest of the greene before the chiefe lodge the throne of iudgement seate in which Basilius was woont to sit and according to their customes was euer carried with the Prince For Euarchus did wisely consider the people to be naturally taken with exterior shewes farre more then with inward consideracion of the materiall pointes And therefore in this newe entrie into so entangled a matter he would leaue nothing which might be eyther an armour or ornament vnto him and in these pompous ceremonyes he well knewe a secreat of gouernment much to consist That was performed by the diligent Philanax and therein Euarchus did set himselfe all cloathed in blacke with the principall men who could in that sodainenes prouide themselues of such mourning rayments The whole people commaunded to keepe an orderly silence of each side which was duly obserued of them partly for the desire they had to see a good conclusion of these matters and partly striken with admiracion aswell at the graue and princely presence of Euarchus as at the greatnes of the cause which was then to come in question As for Philanax Euarchus woulde haue done him the honour to sit by him but he excused himselfe desiring to be the accuser of the prisoners in his maisters behalfe and therefore since he made himselfe a partie it was not conuenient for him to sit in the iudiciall place Then was it awhile deliberated whether the two young Ladies should be brought forth in open presence but that was stopped by Philanax whose loue and faith did descend from his maister to his children and only desired the smart should light vpon the others whome he thought guiltie of his death and dishonour alleaging for this that neyther wisedome would they should be brought in presence of the people which might herevpon growe to new vprores nor iustice required they should be drawen to any shame till some body accused them And as for Pamela he
into his inuectiue oration Staye staie Philanax saide shee do not defile thy honest mouth with those dishonourable speeches thou arte about to vtter against a woman now most wretched lately thy mistresse Let either the remembraunce how great she was moue thy harte to some reuerence or the seing how lowe she is sturre in thee some pittie It may be truth doth make thee deale vntruely and loue of iustice frames vniustice in thee doe not therefore neither shalt thou neede treade vpon my desolate ruines Thou shalt haue that thou seekest and yet shalt not be oppressoure of her who cannot choose but loue thee for thy singular faith to thy master I doe not speake this to procure mercie or to prolong my life no no I say vnto you I will not liue but I am onely loth my death shoulde bee engreeued with any wronge thou shouldest doe vnto me I haue beene to painefull a iudge ouer my selfe to desire pardon in others iudgement I haue beene to cruell an executioner of mine owne soule to desire that execution of iustice shoulde bee stayed for me Alas they that know how sorrow can rent the spirits they that know what fiery hells are cōtiened in a self condemning mind need not feare that feare can keepe such a one from desiring to be seperated from that which nothing but death can seperate I therefore say to thee O iust iudge that I and only I was the worker of Basilius death They were these handes that gaue vnto him that poysonous potion that hath brought death to him and losse to Arcadia it was I and none but I that hastened his aged yeares to an vnnaturall end and that haue made all his people orphans of their royall father I am the subiect that haue killed my Prince I am the wife that haue murdred my husband I am a degenerate woman an vndoer of this countrie a shame of my children What wouldest thou haue saide more Oh Philanax and all this I graunt there resteth then nothing els to say but that I desire you you will appointe quicklie somme to ridd mee of my life rather then these handes which ells are destenied vnto it and that indeede it maye bee doone with such speede as I may not long dye in this life which I haue in so greate horrour with that shee crossed her armes and sate downe vppon the grounde attending the iudges aunswere But a greate while it was before anye boddye coulde bee heard speake the whole people concurring in a lamentable crye so much had Gynecias wordes and behauiour sturred their hartes to a dolefull compassion neither in troath coulde most of them in their iudgements tell whether they shoulde bee more sorrie for her faulte or her miserie for the losse of her estate or losse of her vertue But most were most moued with that which was vnder there eyes the sense most subiecte to pittie But at length the reuerent awe they stoode in of Euarchus brought them to a silent wayting his determination who hauing well considered the abhomination of the facte attending more the manifest proofe of so horrible a trespasse confessed by her selfe and proued by others then any thing relenting to those tragicall phrases of hers apter to sturre a vulgare pittie then his minde which hated euill in what culloures so euer he founde it hauing considered a while with the principall men of the country and demaunded there allowance he definitiuely gaue this sentence That where as both in priuate and publike respectes this woman had most haynously offēded in priuate because marriage being the most holy coniunction that falls to mankinde out of which all families and so consequently all societies doe proceede which not onely by communitie goods but communitie children is to knit the mindes in a most perfet vnion which who so breakes dissolues al humanitie no man liuing free from the danger of so neere a neighbour she had not onely broken it but broken it with death and the most pretended death that might be In publike respect the Princes persons being in all monarchall gouernmentes the very knot of the peoples welfare and light of all their doinges to which they are not onely in conscience but in necessitie bounde to be loyall she had trayterously empoysoned him neither regarding her contries profit her owne dutie nor the rigor of the lawes That therefore as well for the due satisfaction to eternall iustice and accomplishment of the Arcadian statutes as for the euerlasting example to all wiues and subiectes she should presently be conueyed to cloase prison and there be kept with such foode as might serue to sustaine her aliue vntill the day of her husbands buryall at which time shee shoulde bee buried quicke in the same tombe with hime That so his murder might bee a murder to her selfe and she forced to keepe company with the body from which she had made so detestable a seuerance And lastly death might redresse their disioyned coniunction of marriage His iudgement was receaued of the whole assemblie as not with disliking so with great astonishmēt the greatnes of the matter and person as it were ouerpressing the might of their conceites But when they did set it to the beame with the monstrousnes of her ouglye misdeede they coulde not but yeeld in their hartes there was no ouerbalancing As for Gynecia who had already setled her thoughts not only to look but long for this euent hauing in this time of her vexation found a sweetnes in the rest she hoped by death with a countenaunce witnessing she had before hand so passed thorowe all the degrees of sorrowe that shee had no new looke to figure forth any more rase vp and offred forth her faite handes to bee bounde or led as they would being indeed troubled with no parte of this iudgement but that her death was as she thought long delayed They that were appointed for it conueyed her to the place she was in before where the guarde was relieued and the number encreased to keepe her more sure for the time of her execution None of them all that led her though most of them were such whose harts had beene long hardned with the often exercising such offices being able to barre teares from their eyes and others manifest tokens of compassionate sorrow So goodly a vertue is a resolute constancie that euen in euill deseruers it seemes that partie might haue beene notably well deseruing Thus the excellent Lady Gynecia hauing passed fiue and thirtie yeares of her age euen to admiration of her beautifull minde and body and hauing not in her owne knowledge euer spotted her soule with any wilfull vice but her imoderate loue of Zelmane was brought first by the violence of that ill answered passion and then by the dispayring conceite she took of the iudgement of God in her husbandes death and her owne fortune purposely to ouerthrowe her selfe and confirme by a wronge confession that abhominable shame which with her wisdome ioynde to the truth perhappes
fellowes accusation was double double likewise my aunswere must perforce be to the murder of Basilius and violence offred to the inuiolate Philoclea For the fyrst O heauenly gods who would haue thought any mouth could haue bene founde so mercenary as to haue opened so slight proofes of so horrible matters his fyrst Argument is a question who would imagine that Ginecia would accomplish such an Acte without some accessaries and if any who but I truly I and so farre from imagining any thing that till I sawe these mourning tokens and heard Ginecias confession I neuer imagined the King was dead And for my part so vehemently and more like the manner of passionate then giltie folkes I see the Queene persecute her selfe that I thinke condemnation may goe too hastely ouer her considering the vnlikelyhood if not impossibilitie her wisedome and vertue so long nourished should in one moment throw downe it selfe to the vttermost ende of wickednes But whatsoeuer she hath done which as I say I neuer beleeued yet how vniustly should that aggrauate my fault She founde abroade I within dores for as for the wearing my garment I haue tolde you the cause she seeking as you saye to escape I locking my selfe in a house without perchaunce the conspiracie of one poore straunger might greatly enable her attempt or the fortification of the Lodge as the trimme man alleadged might make me hope to resist all Arcadia And see how treacherously he seekes to drawe from me my chiefest cleering by preuenting the credit of her words wherewith she had wholie taken the fault vpon her selfe A honest and vnpartiall examiner her words may condemne her but may not absolue me Thus voide of all probable allegacion the crauen crowes vppon my affliction not leauing out any euill that euer he hath felt in his owne soule to charge my youth withall But who can looke for a sweeter breath out of such a stomacke or for honny from so filthye a Spyder What should I say more if in so inhumane a matter which he himselfe confesseth sincerest iudgements are lothest to beleeue and in the seuerest lawes proofes clerer then the Sunne are required his reasons are only the skumme of a base malice my answeres most manifest shining in their owne truth there remayne any doubt of it because it stands betwixt his affirming and my denyall I offer nay I desire and humblie desire I may be graunted the tryall by combat wherein let him be armed and me in my shirt I doubt not Iustice will be my shield and his hart will shew it selfe as faint as it is false Now come I to the second part of my offence towards the young Lady which howsoeuer you tearme it so farre forth as I haue tolde you I confesse and for her sake hartely lament But if herein I offred force to her loue offred more force to me Let her beawtie be compared to my yeares and such effectes will be found no miracles But since it is thus as it is and that iustice teacheth vs not to loue punishment but to flye to it for necessitye the salue of her honour I meane as the world will take it for else in truth it is most vntouched must be my marriage and not my death since the one shops all mouthes the other becommes a doubtfull fable This matter requires no more words and your experience I hope in these cases shall neede no more for my selfe me thinkes I haue shewed already too much loue of my life to bestowe so many But certainely it hath bene loue of truth which could not beare so vnworthy falsehood and loue of iustice that would brooke no wrong to my selfe nor other and makes me now euen in that respect to desire you to be moued rather with pittie at a iust cause of teares then with the bloudy teares this Crocodile spends who weepes to procure death and not to lament death It will be no honour to Basilius tombe to haue guiltlesse bloud sprinckled vpon it and much more may a Iudge ouerway himselfe in crueltie then in clemencie It is hard but it is excellent where it is found a right knowledge when correction is necessary when grace doth more auaile For my owne respect if I thought in wisedome I had deserued death I would not desire life for I knowe nature will condemne me to dye though you do not and longer I would not wish to drawe this breath then I may keepe my selfe vnspotted of any horrible crime only I cannot nor euer will denye the loue of Philoclea whose violence wrought violent effects in me with that he finished his speeche casting vp his eyes to the Iudge and crossing his hands which he held in their length before him declaring a resolute pacience in whatsoeuer should be done with him Philanax like a watchfull aduersary curiously marked all that he saide sauing that in the beginning he was interrupted by two Letters were brought him from the Princesse Pamela and the Lady Philoclea who hauing all that night considered and bewayled their estate carefull for their mother likewise of whome they could neuer thinke so much euill but considering with themselues that she assuredly should haue so due tryall by the lawes as eyther she should not neede their helpe or should be past their helpe They looked to that which neerelyest touched them and each wrate in this sort for him in whome their liues ioy consisted The humble harted Philoclea wrate much after this manner MY Lords what you will determine of me is to me vncertayne but what I haue determined of my selfe I am most certaine which is no longer to enioy my life then I may enioy him for my husband whom the heauens for my hyest glory haue bestowed vpon me Those that iudge him let them execute me Let my throate satisfye their hunger of murder For alas what hath he done that had not his originall in me Looke vppon him I beseech you with indifferency and see whether in those eyes all vertue shines not See whether that face could hide a murder Take leasure to knowe him and then your selues will say it hath bene too great an inhumanitie to suspect such excellency Are the gods thinke you deceaued in their workemanship Artificers will not vse marble but to noble vses Should those powers be so ouershot as to frame so precious an Image of their owne but to honorable purposes O speake with him ô heare him ô knowe him and become not the putters out of the worlds light Hope you to ioy my fathers soule with hurting him he loued aboue all the world Shall a wrong suspicion make you forget the certaine knowledge of those benefits this house hath receiued by him Alas alas let not Arcadia for his losse be accurssed of the whole earth and of all posteritie He is a great Prince I speake vnto you that which I knowe for I haue seene most euident testimonies Why should you hinder my aduancement who if I haue past my childhood hurtlesse to
any of you if I haue refused no body to do what good I could if I haue often mitigated my fathers anger euer sought to maintayne his fauour towards you nay if I haue held you all as fathers and brothers vnto me rob me not of more then my life commes vnto Teare not that which is inseparably ioyned to my soule but if he rest misliked of you which ô God how can it be yet geue him to me let me haue him you knowe I pretend no right to your state Therefore is it but a priuate petition I make vnto you Or if you be hard hartedly bent to appoint otherwise which oh sooner let me dye then knowe then to ende as I began let me by you be ordered to the same ende without for more crueltie you meane to force Philoclea to vse her owne hands to kill one of your Kings children Pamelas Letter which she meant to send to the generall assemblie of the Arcadian Nobilitie for so closely they were kept as they were vtterly ignorant of the newe taken orders was thus framed IN such a state my Lords you haue placed me as I can neither write nor be silent for how can I be silent since you haue left me nothing but my solitary words to testifie my miserie and how should I write for as for speech I haue none but my Iaylor that can heare me who neither can resolue what to write nor to whom to write What to write is as hard for me to saye as what I may not write so little hope haue I of any successe and so much hath no iniury bene left vndone to me-wards To whom to write where may I learne since yet I wot not how to entitle you Shall I call you my Souereignes set downe your lawes that I may do you homage Shall I fall lower and name you my fellowes shew me I beseech you the Lord and mayster ouer vs. But shall Basilius heyre name her selfe your Princesse Alas I am your prisoner But whatsoeuer I be or whatsoeuer you be ô all you beholders of these dolefull lines this do I signifye vnto you and signifye it with a hart that shall euer remayne in that opinion The good or euill you do to the excellent Prince was taken with me and after by force from me I will euer impute it as eyther way done to mine owne person He is a Prince and worthie to be my husband and so is he my husband by me worthely chosen Beleeue it beleeue it eyther you shall be traytors for murdering of me or if you let me liue the murderers of him shall smart as traytors For what do you thinke I can thinke Am I so childish as not to see wherein you touch him you condemne me Can his shame be without my reproach no nor shall be since nothing he hath done that I will not auowe Is this the comfort you bring me in my fathers death to make me fuller of shame then sorrowe would you do this if it were not with full intention to preuent my power with slaughter And so do I pray you it is hye time for me to be weary of my life too long ledd since you are weery of me before you haue me I say againe I say it infinitely vnto you I will not liue without him if it be not to reuenge him eyther do iustly in sauing both or wisely in killing both If I be your Princesse I commaund his preseruation if but a priuate person then are we both to suffer I take all truth to witnes he hath done no faulte but in going with me Therefore to conclude in iudging him you iudge me neither conceaue with your selues the matter you treate is the life of a stranger though euen in that name he deserued pittie nor of a shepheard to which estate loue of me made such a Prince descend but determined most assuredly the life that is in question is of Pamela Basilius daughter Many blots had the teares of the sweet Ladyes made in their letters which many times they had altred many times torne and written anewe euer thinking some thing eyther wanted or were too much or would offende or which was worst would breede denyall but at last the day warned them to dispatch which they accordingly did and calling one of their guard for no body else was suffred to come neere them with great entreaty they requested him that hee woulde present them to the principall Noblemen and Gentlemen together For they had more confidence in the numbers fauour then in any one vppon whome they would not laye the liues they helde so precious But the fellowe trustie to Philanax who had placed him there deliuered them both to him what time Pyrocles began to speake which he sodaynly opened and seeing to what they tended by the first wordes was so farre from publishing them whereby he feared in Euarchus iust minde eyther the Princesses might be endaungered or the prisoners preserued of which choyse he knewe not which to thinke the worst that hee would not himselfe reede them ouer doubting his owne hart might be mollified so bent vpon reuenge Therefore vtterly suppressing them he lent a spitefull eare to Pirocles and assoone as he had ended with a very willing hart desired Euarchus he might accept the combat although it woulde haue framed but euill with him Pyrocles hauing neuer founde any match neere him besides Musidorus But Euarchus made aunswere since bodyly strength is but a seruant to the minde it were very barbarous and preposterous that force shoulde bee made iudge ouer reason Then woulde hee also haue replied in wordes vnto him but Euarchus who knewe what they coulde saye was already saide taking their arguments into his minde cammaunded him to proceede against the other prisoner and that then he woulde sentence them both together Philanax nothing the milder for Pyrocles purging himselfe but rather according to the nature of arguing especially when it is bitter so much the more vehement entred thus into his speech against Musidorus being so ouergone with rage that hee forgate in this oration his precise methode of oratory Behold most noble protector to what a state Arcadia is come since such manner of men may challenge in combat the faithfullest of the nobilitie and hauing merited the shamefullest of all deathes dare name in marriage the Princesses of this cuntrie Certainely my masters I must saye you were much out of taste if you had not rather enioy such Ladies then be hangd But the one you haue as much deserued as you haue dishonoured the other But now my speech must be directed to you good master Dorus who with Pallas helpe pardie are lately growne Palladius Too much this sacred seate of iustice grauntes vnto such a fugitiue bondslaue who in steede of these examinations shoulde be made confesse with a whippe that which a halter shoulde punish Are not you he Sir whose sheepehooke was prepared to be our Scepter In whom lay the knot of all this
that mankind is not growen monstrous being vndoubtedly lesse euill a guiltie man shoulde escape then a guiltlesse perish so if in the rest they be spotlesse then is no farther to be remembred But if they haue aggrauated these suspitions with newe euills then are those suspitions so farre to showe themselues as to cause the other pointes to be thorowly examined and with lesse fauour wayed since this no man can deny they haue beene accidentall if not principall causes of the Kinges death Now then we are to determine of the other matters which are laide to them wherein they doe not deny the facte but deny or at leaste diminish the faulte but first I may remember though it were not first alleaged by them the seruices they had before done truely honourable and worthy of greate rewarde but not worthy to counteruaile with a following wickednes Rewarde is proper to well doing punishment to euill doing which must bee confounded no more then good and euill are to be mingled Therefore hath bene determined in all wisedomes that no man because he hath done well before should haue his present euils spared but rather so much the more punished as hauing shewed he knew how to be good woulde against his knowledge bee naught The facte then is nakedly without passion or partialitie to bee viewed wherein without all question they are equallie culpable For though he that termes himselfe Daiphantus were sooner disapointed of his purpose of conueying away the Lady Philoclea then he that perswaded the Princesse Pamela to flie her countrie and accompanied her in it yet seing in causes of this nature the wil by the rules of iustice standeth for the deed they are both alike to bee founde guiltie and guiltie of hainous rauishment For though they rauished them not from themselues yet they rauished them from him that owed them which was their father An acte punished by all the Graecian lawes by the losse of the head as a most execrable thefte For if they must dye who steale from vs our goodes how much more they who steale from vs that for which we gather our goodes and if our lawes haue it so in the priuate persons much more forcible are they to bee in Princes children where one steales as it were the whole state and well being of that people being tyed by the secret of a long vse to be gouerned by none but the next of that bloud Neither let any man maruaile our ancestours haue bene so seuere in these cases since the example of the Phenician Europa but especially of the Grecian Helene hath taught them what destroying fires haue growen of such sparckles And although Helene was a wife and this but a child that booteth not since the principall cause of marrying wiues is that we may haue children of our owne But now let vs see how these yong men truely for their persons worthy of pittie if they haue rightly pittied themselues do goe about to mittigate the vehemencie of their errors Some of their excuses are common to both some peculiar onely to him that was the sheepeheard Both remember the force of loue and as it were the mending vp of the matter by their marriage if that vnbrideled desire which is intituled loue might purge such a sickenes as this surely wee shoulde haue many louing excuses of hatefull mischiefe Nay rather no mischiefe shoulde be committed that should not be vailed vnder the name of loue For as well he that steales might alleage the loue of mony he that murders the loue of reuenge he that rebells the loue of greatnesse as the adulterer the loue of a woman Since they do in all speeches affirme they loue that which an ill gouerned passion maketh them to follow But loue may haue no such priuiledge That sweete and heauenly vniting of the mindes which properly is called loue hath no other knot but vertue and therefore if it be a right loue it can neuer slide into any action that is not vertuous The other and indeed more effectuall reason is that they may be married vnto them and so honourably redresse the dishonour of them whom this matter seemeth most to touch Surely if the question were what were conuenient for the parties and not what is iuste in the neuer changing iustice there might much bee saide in it But herein we must consider that the lawes look how to preuent by due examples that such thinges be not done and not how to salue such things when they are doone For if the gouernors of iustice shall take such a scope as to measure the foote of the lawe by a show of conueniencie and measure that conueniencie not by the publike societie but by that which is fittest for them which offende young men stronge men and rich men shall euer finde priuate conueniences howe to palliate such committed disorders as to the publike shall not onely bee inconuenient but pestilent The marriage perchaunce might be fit for them but verie vnfit were it to the state to allowe a patterne of such procurations of marriage And thus much doe they both alleage Further goes he that went with the Princesse Pamela requireth the benefit of a councellor who hath place of free perswasion and the reasonable excuse of a seruant that did but waite of his mistres Without all question as councellors haue great cause to take heede how they aduise any thing directly opposite to the forme of that present gouernement especially when they doe it singly without publike alowaunce so yet is the case much more apparant since neither she was an effectuall Princesse her father being then aliue though he had bene deade she not come to the yeares of aucthoritie nor hee her seruant in such manner to obey her but by his owne preferment first belonging to Dametas and then to the Kinge and therefore if not by Arcadia lawes yet by housholde orders bounde to haue done nothing without his agreement Thus therefore since the deedes accomplished by these two are both abhominable and inexcuseable I doe in the behalfe of iustice by the force of Arcadia lawes pronounce that Daiphantus shal be throwne out of a hie tower to receaue his death by his fall Palladius shall bee behedded the time before the sunne set the place in Mantinea the executioner Dametas which office he shall execute all the dayes of his life for his beastly forgetting the carefull dutie he owed to his charge This saide he turned himselfe to Philanax and two of the other noble men commaunding them to see the iudgement presently performed Philâ—nax more greedie then any hunter of his praye went straite to laye holde of the excellent prisoners who casting a farewell looke one vpon the other represented in their faces asmuch vnappalled constancie as the most excellent courage can deliuer in outward graces Yet if at all there were any shewe of change in them it was that Pyrocles was somthing neerer to bashfulnes and Musidorus to anger both ouer ruled by
iudged then rightly I haue iudged myne own children Vnlesse the name of a child should haue force to change the neuer changing iustice No no Pyrocles Musidorus I prefer you much before my life but I prefer Iustice as far before you while you did like your selues my body should willingly haue ben your shield but I cannot keep you from the effects of your own doing Nay I cānot in this case acknowledge you for mine For neuer had I sheapheard to my nephew nor euer had woman to my son your vices haue degraded you frō being princes haue disanulde your birthright Therefore if there be anie thing left in you of Princely vertue shew it in constant suffering that your vnprincely dealing hath purchased vnto you For my part I must tell you you haue forced a father to rob himselfe of his children Do you therefore O Philanax and you my other Lordes of this countrie see the iudgment be rightly performed in time place and maner as before appointed With that though he would haue refrained them a man might perceiue the teares drop downe his long white beard Which moued not onely Kalodulus and Kerxenus to roating lamentations but al the assembly dolefully to record that pittiful spectacle Philanax himselfe could not abstaine from great shewes of pittying sorrow and manifest withdrawing from performing the kinges commaundement But Musidorus hauing the hope of his safety and recouering of the princesse Pamela which made him most desirous to liue so sodainly dashed but especialy moued for hys deare Pyrocles for whom he was euer resolued his last should be and stirred vp with rage of vnkindnesse he thus spake Enioy thy bloudie conquest tyrannicall Euarchus said he for neither is conuenient the title of a king to a murderer nor the remembrance of kindred to a destroyer of his kindred Go home and glorie that it hath been in thy power shamefully to kill Musidorus Let thy flattering Orators dedicate Crownes of Laurell vnto thee that the first of thy race thou hast ouerthrowne a Prince of Thessalia But for me I hope the Thessalians are not so degenerate from their auncestors but that they will reuenge my iniurie and their losse vpon thee I hope my death is no more vniust to me thē it shal be bitter to thee howsoeuer it be my death shall triumph ouer thy crueltie neither as now would I liue to make my life beholding vnto thee But if thy crueltie hath not so blinded thine eyes that thou canst not see thine own heart if thy heart be not so diuelish as thou hast no power but to torment thy self then look vpō this yong Pyrocles with a manlike eie if not with a pittifull Giue not occasion to the whole earth to say see how the gods haue made the Tyrant teare his owne bowels Examine the eies and voices of all this people and what all men see be not blinde in thine owne case Looke I say looke vpon him in whom the most curious searcher is able to finde no fault but that he is thy sonne Beleeue it thy owne subiectes will detest thee for robbing them of such a Prince in whome they haue right as well as thy selfe Some more wordes to that purpose he would haue spoken but Pyrocles who often had cald to him did nowe fully interrupt him desiring him not to do him the wrong to geue his father ill wordes before him willing him to consider it was their owne fault and not his vniustice and withall to remember their resolution of well suffering all accidents which this impaciencie did seeme to varry frō and then kneeling down with all humblenesse hee tooke the speach in this order to Euarchus If my dayly praiers to the Almightie Gods had so farre preuayled as to haue graunted me the end whereto I haue directed my actions I should rather haue beene nowe a comfort to your minde then an example of your iustice rather a preseruer of your memorie by my life then a monument of your iudgement by my death But since it hath pleased their vnsearchable wisedomes to ouerthrow all the desires I had to serue you and make me become a shame vnto you since the last obedience I can shew you is to die vouchsafe yet O father if my fault haue not made me altogether vnworthy so to terme you vouchsafe I say to let the few last words your sonne shall euen speake not be tedious vnto you And if the remembrance of my vertuous mother who once was deare vnto you may beare any sway with you if the name of Pyrocles haue at any time bene pleasant let one request of mine which shall not be for mine owne life be graciously accepted of you What you owe to iustice is performed in my death A father to haue executed his onely sonne wil leaue a sufficient example for a greater crime then this My bloud will satisfie the highest point of equitie my bloud will satisfie the hardest hearted in this countrie O saue the life of this Prince that is the onely all I will with my last breath demaund of you With what face will you looke vpon your sister when in reward of nourishing me in your greatest neede you take away and in such sort take away that which is more deare to her then all the world and is the onely comfort wherewith she nourisheth her olde age O giue not such an occasion to the noble Thessalians for euer to curse the match that their Prince did make with the Macedon bloud By my losse there followes no publique losse for you are to hold the seate and to prouide your selfe perchance of a worthier successor But how can you orall the earth recompence that domage that poore Thessalia shall sustaine who sending out whom otherwise they would no more haue spared then their owne eyes their Prince to you and you requesting to haue him by you hee should thus dishonourably be extinguished Set before you I beseech you the face of that miserable people when no sooner shall the newes come that you haue met your Nephew but withall they shall heare that you haue beheaded him How manie teares they shall spend how many cōplaints they shal make so manie iust execrations will light vpō you And take heede O father for since my death answeres my fault while I liue I wil call vpō that deare name Least seeking too precise a course of iustice you be not thought most vniust in weakning your neighbours mightie estate by taking away their onely piller In me in me this matter beganne in me let it receiue his ending Assure your selfe no man will doubt your seuere obseruing the lawes when it shal be knowne Euarchus hath killed Pyrocles But the time of my euer farewell approcheth if you do thinke my death sufficient for my fault and doe not desire to make my death more miserable then death Let these dying wordes of him that was once your sonne pearce your eares Let Musidorus liue and Pirocles shall liue in
and crying vpon the name of Pyrocles nor seeing nor hearing cause of comfort what said he and shall Musidorus liue after Pyrocles destruction therewithall hee offered wilfully to cast himselfe againe into the sea a strange sight to the shepheards to whom it seemed that beefore being in apparance dead had yet saued his life and now comming to his life should be a cause to procure his death but they ranne vnto him and pulling him backe then to feeble for them by force stickled that vnnaturall fray I pray you said he honest men what such right haue you in me as not to suffer me to doe with my selfe what I list and what pollicie haue you to bestowe a benefite where it is counted an iniury They hearing him speake in Greeke which was their naturall language became the more tender hearted towards him and considering by his calling and looking that the losse of some deare friend was great cause of his sorrow tolde him they were poore men that were bound by course of humanitie to preuent so great a mischiefe and that they wisht him if opinion of some bodies perishing bred such desperate anguish in him that he should be coÌ„forted by his own proof who had lately escaped as apparant danger as any might be No no said he it is not for me to attend so high a blissefullnes but since you take care of me I pray you find meaÌ„s that some Bark may be prouided that will go out of the hauen that if it be possible wee maye find the bodie farre farre too precious a food for fishes and for the hire said he I haue within this casket of value sufficient to content them Claius presently went to a Fisherman and hauing agreeed with him and prouided some apparrell for the naked stranger he imbarked and the Shepheards with him and were no sooner gone beyond the mouth of the hauen but that some way into the sea they might discerne as it were a stayne of the waters colour and by times some sparkes and smoke mounting thereout But the young man no sooner saw it but that beating his brest he cried that there was the beginning of his ruine intreating them to bend their course as neere vnto it as they could telling how that smoake was but a small relique of a great fire which had driuen both him and his friend rather to committe themselues to the cold mercie of the sea than to abide the hote crueltie of the fire and that therefore though they both had abandoned the ship that he was if any where in that course to bee met withall They steared therefore as neere thether-ward as they cold but when they came so neere as their eies were ful masters of the obiect they saw a sight ful of piteous strangenes a ship or rather the carkas of the shippe or rather some few bones of the carkas hulling there part broken part burned part drowned death hauing vsed more than one dart to that destruction About it floted great store of very rich thinges and many chestes which might promise no lesse And amidst the precious thinges were a number of dead bodies which likewise did not only testifie both elements violence but that the chiefe violence was growen of humane inhumanitie for their bodies were full of grisly wounds and their bloud had as it were filled the wrinckles of the seas visage which it seemed the sea woulde not wash away that it might witnes it is not alwaies his fault when wee condemne his cruletie In summe a defeate where the conquered kept both field and spoile a shipwrack without storme or ill footing and a wast of fire in the midst of the water But a litle way off they saw the mast whoâ—e proude height now lay along like a widdow hauing lost her make of whom she held her honor but vpon the mast they saw a yong man at least if hee were a man bearing shew of about 18. yeares of age who sate as on horseback hauing nothing vpon him but his shirt which beeing wrought with blew silke and golde had a kinde of resemblance to the sea on which the sun then neare his Westerne home did shote some of his beames His haire which the young men of Greece vsed to weare very long was stirred vp and downe with the wind which seemed to haue a sporte to play with it as the sea had to kisse his feet himselfe full of admirable beautie set foorth by the strangenes both of his seate and gesture for holding his head vp full of vnmoued maiestie he held a sworde aloft with his faire arme which often he waued about his crowne as though he would threaten the world in that extremitie But the fishermen when they came so neere him that it was time to throwe out a rope by which hold they might draw him their simplicity bred such amasement and their amasement such superstition that assuredly thinking it was some God begotten betweene Neptune and Venus that had made all this terrible slaughter as they went vnder sayle by him held vp their hands and made their prayers Which when Musidorus saw though he were almost as much rauished with ioy as they with astonishment he lept to the Mariner and tooke the corde out of his hande and saying doest thou liue and arte well who answered thou canst tell best since most of my well beyng standes in thee threwe it out but alreadie the shippe was past beyond Pyrocles and therefore Musidorus could do no more but perswade the Mariners to cast about againe assuring them that hee was but a man although of most diuine excellencies and promising great rewardes for their paine And now they were alreadie come vpon the staies when one of the saylers discried a Galley which came with sayles and oares directlie in the chase of them and streight perceaued it was a wel knowne Pirate who hunted not only for goodes but for bodies of men which he imployed eyther to be his Galley slaues or to sell at the best market Which when the Maister vnderstoode he commaunded forthwith to set on al the canuasse they could and flie homeward leauing in that sort poore Pyrocles so neere to be reskewed But what did not Musidorus saye what did hee not offer to perswade them to venture the fight But feare staÌ„ding at the gates of their eares put backe all perswasions so that he had nothing wherewith to accompanie Pyrocles but his eyes nor to succour him but his wishes Therefore praying for him and casting a long looke that way he saw the Galley leaue the pursuite of them and turne to take vp the spoiles of the other wracke and lastly he might well see them lift vp the yong man and alas saide hee to himselfe deere Pyrocles shall that bodie of thine be enchained shal those victorious haÌ„ds of thine be coÌ„maunded to base offices shal vertue becoÌ„e a slaue to those that be slaues to viciousnes Alas better had it bene thou hadst ended nobly thy noble