is that being a Prince I may not be disarm'd nor yield my self a prisoner to any but your Prince I thought it unjust to destroy a Valour as high as the Title of him that possest it and when my Enemy was too much in my power to remember he had been my Enemy and yet I esteem'd it reasonable that those who had been my companions in Action should be the like in Advice I found all their opinions proportionate to my own which I inform'd him of in such submissive terms that he assur'd us Fate had in some sort repaired his Misfortunes that being destin'd by his to be a prisoner he had fallen into hands which knew the respects due unto his quality 'T was observable that in the taking of this prisoner it seem'd we had taken the Hopes of all his Party at least depriv'd them of any but by flight which they so universally began and continued that they gave us more trouble to kill than to break them At the end of the execution I found Pacorus with a joy in his Countenance as great as his success he immediately ran to me and after a thousand imbraces assur'd me that the King owed his Crown and he himself his Life and Honour to me and that the Obligations were such that it would be a Crime as great to hope the requiting of them as the misfortune of the incapacity of doing it many other expressions of his Favour he honour'd me with which I have now as absolutely forgotten as I was then unworthy of them But I remember I besought him to place those high Civilities rather upon my Companions than Me as being an act of greater Justice and consequently more proportionate to his Inclination But Sir I continued the gods have not onely favour'd your Arms by an entire defeat of your Enemies but by furnishing us with the Power of Presenting you with the most considerable of them as well for Title as Vertue I then presented him with our Prisoner at which though his Joy were very great yet it was very short of my amazement suddenly after when the imagin'd King pulling off his Helmet discover'd a Face so full of Beauty and Courage equally mingled that it produc'd in all of us the same effect it had in me and a silence too as general which he begg'd a continuance of and which the Prince having enjoyn'd he address'd himself unto him in these terms Sir there is not one of the Armenians this day but I that hath not just occasion to complain against Fortune since in so publick a calamity she has yet furnisht me with means to serve my King for I am not what I feign'd I was but by seeming to be a King I preserv'd one I know this Declaration doth surprize and incense many but the action is too glorious to be conceal'd I serv'd Artabazus in the beginning of the Battel by force but when Artabanes Sword prov'd too powerful to be resisted for those were his very words I then by policy endeavour'd to perform that which was deny'd me by the other My Joy had been more perfect had my first design succeeded but yet I am not devested of all since the last did the end being still the same though the way be not Some for this Sir might beg your pardon but I will not for that were to confess a fault where there is none neither will I so much as expect my Life at your hands since that were to act with the hope of something besides serving my King which was that I onely ambition'd No generous Pacorus consider that I deprived you of a King to grace your Triumph and put in practice what the consideration of that loss inspires you with so you will oblige your self by sacrificing to your Resentments one that has so highly injur'd you and yet as highly glories therein and you will oblige me by making me a Martyr to my Duty and my Honour The apprehension I had lest this Confident though generous Speech of Artavasdes for that was his name might invite Pacorus to confer on him his desires made me tell him Sir I do not find that you have occasion to be offended at this change for 't is not the Name of King that can make us ever apprehend a contrary success to that the gods have given you this day but Virtue and Gallantry and we have found so much of both in this Gentleman that I believe the Armenians have suffer'd a greater loss than if we had taken their King for his Perfections transcend that Title and 't is more worthy of your Arms to take the gallantest than the greatest of your Enemies And Sir to evince I do not speak this to raise the value of the Present my Friends and I have offer'd you I humbly beg Artavasdes Life which we shall not only receive as a reward above the services we do this day pay you but above all we can ever for besides the preserving of so generous an example for all Men to imitate 't would be an ill president to see a Prince punish a Subject for being faithful to his King Pacorus who truly was generous told me If any thing could make me offended with Artabanes 't would be this unnecessary interceding for the services you have render'd me will drown under the name of Gratitude to you that good usage my inclination leads me to confer on the generous Artavasdes but I here publiquely profess that the Life I give him proceeds from a true sence of his Virtues which I do not onely value but admire and if I may obtain his friendship I shall esteem it a happier purchase than that of his Person or that of his Kings Then addressing himself to Artavasdes he told him If I were absolute Master of my Actions I would from this instant restore to you that liberty you have so meritoriously lost but being accomptable to Arsaces I shall beseech you to accompany me to him whether I shall suddenly go and I am so confident to obtain your freedom that I dare almost assure you it Besides this small time may procure me the happiness of your acquaintance which I so much value that if I do obtain it I shall justly believe 't is the greatest advantage I derive from this days success To this high civility Artavasdes reply'd Sir never till now was I perfectly vanquished the fortune of War could give you but power over my Body my Mind being free retrench'd you from the noblest part of your Victory now 't is entire and you have made me as enamour'd of Life as I was of Death since by enjoying the former I hope to find an occasion to evince my Gratitude to him which gave it me Many civilities past between them and afterwards between Artavasdes and me whose friendship though I have ambition'd with an infinite concern yet as he afterwards assur'd me it could not transcend that with which he desir'd mine At the conclusion of these civilities Moneses
excels all others so the Beauty which inspires it may abundantly find by Obedience the visibility of that distinction to be as great in the Effect as in the Cause But Madam I humbly conjure you if in the duty of preserving you I fail in that other of obeying you ascribe it to the real Cause and give my death that sensibility which you have deny'd my Life This is a Mercy which Compassion may obtain if not Cloak and though I should ambition the last yet I dare not hope it and implore your pardon for presuming to name it I shall know said Altezeera hastily how to distinguish between what seeks you and what you seek And therefore believe me if I find you guilty of the last I shall deny your death not onely the first of those two things you mention'd but both These last words she deliver'd going away into her Closet and her eyes were so cover'd with tears and her cheeks with blushes that I knew not whether compassion or a more obliging cause carried her so hastily away As soon I found I was alone which I had not for a good while so much my doubts my fears and my hopes were predominant I went to give the necessary orders for the reception of Celindus the certainty of whose intended assault next morning I had that night confirm'd unto me by repeated Intelligences Aurora did but begin to give the World notice of the days approach when the shrill Trumpets and other Warlike Instruments invited the Soldiers to draw out of their Camp and to march to the storming of Artaxata which if taken would end the War and satisfie both their avarice and ambition Celindus to animate his Army made them a short speech and therein acquainted them That their interests as well as courages invited them by one gallant Action to conclude that War which time would render more difficult and perhaps unfeasible That his happiness or misery depended upon their Swords as well as their reward and honour did upon his Fortune That since the ties were mutual the hazard would be so likewise That therefore he would be as well a Companion with them as a Commander over them and would have as great share in the danger as the glory which he doubted not was as certain as it would be great having those whose courages would court victory so handsomely that her Injustice must be as high as their Valors if she did not fling herself into their arms The Soldiers encouraged by so obliging words testifyed their Resolutions by a shout which was almost as loud as their guilt and Celindus with the generous Phanasder his Lieutenant-General having order'd the manner of the Storm the first Troops advanc'd and discharg'd a shower of Darts upon those which I had appointed to man the Walls and playing without intermission upon the Battlements they did under favour of their shot advance their Battering-Rams their Rolling-Bridges and their Scaling-Ladders which were all order'd with so much advantage that the Rams having made a breach Celindus in person at the head of Four thousand Men presented himself at the mouth of it with so assur'd a countenance that the dull Inhabitants and some Soldiers which had the guard of that quarter fled and left him the passage clear Whilst these things were acting on the North side of Artaxata I was disputing against Phanasder the weakest place of it which he had assaulted with so much fury that I atttibuted our Victory to the justice of the gods rather than to any humane means and I had but newly beaten him off when a Soldier that fled from the Breach which the Enemy had enter'd came running to me and told me that Celindus with near half his Army was within our Walls This news as you may easily imagine did not a little surprize me and having leisure to exclaim against Fate that thus endanger'd Altezeera I took most of those men with whom I had defeated Phanasder and ran with them to the place the Soldier guided me unto where I found that Celindus had possest himself of that Street which led directly from the Breach unto the Palace and was already beginning to force open the Gates of it when I cry'd out hold Celindus do not think the gods have so much abandon'd the innocent as to permit the King and Altezeera to fall into thy Power the ill success of Phanasders Forces shews that they are under the protection of Divinity and if that argument will not make thee credit it thy own defeat shall Finishing those words we thrust our selves into the thickest Squadrons where my valiant Friends so well acted their parts that we soon cloathed them with their own Livery despair But I must give Celindus that due that what Troops our Resolution disorder'd his rally'd again To be brief we were so tir'd with our former action and this too that we had been absolutely vanquish'd had not Amidor come to our Rescue who having defeated those Assailants that had storm'd his Quarter and learn'd the danger I was in came with 1000 Men to my relief so seasonably that it was when we fought not in hopes to avoid being defeated but to avoid deserving to be so This supply so disheartned Celindus that he began to think of a Retreat which almost as soon was put in practice but the Enemy were much astonish'd when they heard a hideous cry behind them which was occasioned by some 500 Men that Amidor had sent secretly out of a Salliport who unexpectedly falling upon those that guarded the Breach made them fly to Celindus for safety We so husbanded this disorder that we absolutely routed the Rebels and the slaughter had been much bloodier had not I been the occasion of hindring it for during the Fight I receiv'd some wounds out of which ran such abundance of Blood that in following the execution I fell down pale and speechless and suddenly a rumour being dispers'd that I was kill'd Amidor and all the rest were so much concern'd in my loss that they neglected increasing Celindus's who in our disorder found his safety When Amidor and the rest of my Friends came to me they saw me environ'd with dead Bodies and with as little sign of life as those I was amongst yet they carried me to my Chamber and lay'd me on a Bed The news of Celindus's defeat and my death came at the same time to the Palace and as two contraries of equal strength the one destroy'd what the other rais'd onely the King and Altezeera especially the latter seem'd to be more concern'd in my loss than their own safeties The former consider'd me as one whose past service had render'd me considerable and whose present condition made him think my help would have prov'd so which were the grounds whereon he built his grief But the latter besides those considerations added that of her Friendship and perhaps affection which drowned all the lesser ones as the Stars are not seen when the Sun
Evaxes after Falintus's misfortune still disputed the victory though his resistance proceeded more from his resolution than his numbers which were so diminish'd that he was just upon the point of being conquer'd when a Body of about Fourteen hundred Horse and Four thousand Foot sallied out of Artaxata and so opportunely on the Enemy that it restor'd the courage of our fainting friends Gods what prodigies of Valour did I see their Leader act He pierc'd the thickest Squadrons like Lightning and in a word so chang'd the face of affairs that Phanasder from conquering began to defend himself to effect which he had gotten near Eight thousand of those who had most resolution and having cast them into a square Body resolv'd to â—ell his Life so dearly that the Purchasers should repent the bargain In this posture stood affairs when I came from defeating Celindus with nine thousand Horse and all the Foot I could possibly rally I confes it pitty'd me to see so many Armenians expos'd to death whose courages deserv'd a fortune as good as the condition they were then in was the contrary I therefore commanded all the Soldiers of my Army to draw off that I might endeavour to save their Countrey-men So pleasing an Injunction obtain'd a ready obedience and advancing near enough to be heard I represented to them that the care I had to make my Victory as little stain'd with Bloud as the necessity of it would permit made me offer them in Artabazus name a general Pardon so they would lay down Arms and ingage by their future Loyalty to efface their present want of it They all answer'd me that they had vowed their Lives and Fortunes to Phanasder and what he thought good they would submit unto I then desir'd to speak with him which he no sooner understood than he came out unto me all hideous with Bloud and askt me what it was I would have I told him 't was his and the safety of those few the Sword had spar'd That he had practis'd so much gallantry to Falintus that it made me earnest to preserve the posessior of it and that the condition he was in was so unfit for resistance that the acting of his destruction was easier than the desire of it I am said Phanasder interrupting me as much above your Power as your Threatening for the gods which have been so cruel have yet left me a Heart to desire death and a Sword to act for that which I have done to Falintus 't was the self-same honour guided me unto it which makes me hate to owe my life unto my Enemy How willingly said I would I change that name and be esteem'd your Friend to purchase it I will confess Fortune and your want of it reduc'd you to what you are I will engage my self to obtain for you and those under you an Act of Oblivion from the King and I will onely beg that you will confer your friendship on me which I will value at a higher rate than all the other Glory I shall derive from this days success 'T is a strange thing how much civility works on a generous Mind what the advantage I had over him nor the fear of death cold act my kindness did which prov'd so prevalent that flinging away his Sword he came to me and embracing me said 'T is now indeed Artavasdes that I am vanquisht Your goodness makes me confess that which your Sword nor all the World besides could have perswaded me to I should be now as unjust as you are generous did I not with joy embrace a Friendship which I will ever value above all things but my Honour After a thousand Embraces and Assurances of an Eternal Friendship Phanasder led me to the reliques of his Army and commanded them to fling their Arms down at my Feet to whom he said they owed their lives and many other expressions of a quality too tedious to be related Things being brought to this happy period I left my Army in the Field in which they had gained so much Glory and taking Phanasder and some twenty of my intimatest Friends I gallopt to Artaxata to give Altezeera and the King an account of our success and to receive their Orders when we came to the Gates I found them shut and having told the Guards who I was they instantly admitted me and inform'd me the King and the Princess were Sacrificing for the Armies success I went directly thither and lighting at the door all arm'd sprinkled with Bloud gave so hot an Alarm to the people that they began with hideous cries to fly out of the Temple imagining we were Celindus's Soldiers who having got the Battel were come to seize upon the King and that which more confirm'd them in their fears was the sight of Phanasder whose Face by the loss of his Helmet was uncover'd and the great shouts those of the Garrison made when they were inform'd by some that came along with me of our Victory Artabazus all the while I was coming towards him was moveless as a Statue but the fair Altezeera no sooner saw me tread upon the first steps of the Altar but drawing forth a Ponyard which she had conceal'd for a last remedy was lifting up her hand to have plung'd it into her Breast but observing her design I prevented it by seizing that cruel weapon and pulling off my Halmet gods what a sudden alteration did that action cause it was so great that the King Altezeera and all the company hearing at the same time of Celindus's his defeat and death did not then relish that happiness with so high a contentment as they said it deserv'd But at last their joy having dissipated those Clouds which fear had ingender'd their contentment was proportionate to the change Artabazus gave me all the testimonies of his favour he was capable of but Altezeera did in such obliging terms express her contentment and affection that I was ravisht in the contemplation of both But after I had given the King and my fair Princess an Account of our success I presented Phanasder unto Artabazus and having acquainted him with my Engagements and magnified his Gallantry I not onely obtained what I had promis'd to him and his but also Celindus his Government for him That which made me so intent on Phanasders advantage was the high opinion I had conceived of him and the confidence I had that it was grounded on a proportionate Justice But amongst all those friends which came to congratulate my Victory I mist my dear Amidor and inquiring the cause of it I learn'd that the Forces which had sally'd out of the Town were under his Command that 't was he had done such miracles and that probably having follow'd the execution somewhat vigorously he was not return'd to the Camp before my departure from it I rested satisfied therewith and receiv'd the Kings Orders to quarter about Artaxata till he saw whether those Towns which had declared for Celindus would return to their
since for my preservation he had undertaken so great a hazard that my duty would be resembling his care I too well knew those words related to my passion for Perolla which since the impossibility of declining was as great as the injustice I thought that as my silence was the best way of expresâ—ing my resentments for his affection so it was the civilest of assuring him of my legitimate obedience I know not whether he imputed it to my respect or my wilfulness for he went away without speaking one word which might be as pertinently attributed to his satisfaction as his aâ—ger Four days after the Senate sent a solemn Embassy to him to congratulate his success and to furnish him with a Garrison to secure it Though this soon came to Hannibals knowledge yet he was necessitated by the Pretor Cneius Fulvius besieging the City Herdonea to suspend a while his design upon Marcellus and Perolla but to appease so many Lybian Ghosts as were lost in Salapia and perhaps the loss of Izadora had some share in that fury he offered the unfortunate Pretor Battel whose courage being greater than his judgement accepted it and by that fault was rendred uncapable of ever committing any other being killed by Twelve of his Tribunes and the most of his Army That unhappy Plain near Herdonâ—a proved an unfortunate Theatre for the Fluvius's two of them in one year both Pretors and both Generals received the same fatâ— in the same place by the Carthaginian who raised by this accession of Glory march'd directly to Venusia where Marcellus and Crispinus were joyned the better to oppose their common Enemy But because I have not undertaken Hannibal's but Perolla's Story I will pass over all those memorable accidents which happened that active Summer by telling you that Hannibal knowing Asdrabal his Brother as well in Glory as in Bloud had crost France and was coming to him with neer 100000 men as a Torrent to throw down all opposition declined a Battel though often provok'd to it by Marcellus who being not ignorant of the danger of two such Men and Armies joyning thought himself always too far from his Enemy if not fighting with him resolved to remove his Camp to a Hill covered with Wood which lay betwixt his and Hannibals and not suspecting his Fate took Crispinus his fellow Consul with him 200 Hetrurian Horse for their Guard and went to view the commodiousness of the place where alas there lay in ambush above 1500 Numidian Horse who invironing those unfortunate Generals charged them with so much fury that all those false or timerous Hetrurians fled and left the two Consuls no hope but by a glorious death to justify how unworthy they were of so private a one and that Rome without losing a Battel might resent as high a grief as such a loss could inspire Perolla as the gods would have it had been that night upon a Party and was not returned when the Consuls went to perform so fatal a curiosity but he was no sooner come into his Tent than the Alarm of their danger was given by a timerous Hetrurean which Perolla understanding took the first horse he met with and ran full speed to the Theatre where this Tragedy was acting and where the first object he saw was a Numidian Officer that coming behind Marcellus ran that great Man through with his Launce but though my generous friend could not prevent yet he reveng'd his Death and by a furious blow sent that Affrican into the other world to see how great his Virtues were whom he had so treacherously kill'd in this Perolla having thus sacrific'd his Generals Murtherer to his Manes he rescued first the young Marcellus his Son and then perceiving that Crispinus was pierc'd with two Darts and thereby render'd uncapable any longer to defend himself he abandon'd his own Horse and vaulting up behind the Consuls upheld his tottering Body with one Arm and with the other forc'd his passage through a hundred Numidian Swords and brought him into the Roman Camp where their fears had so far clouded their judgements that they only remembred but did not relieve their Consuls danger Never Rome had at once a resembling misfortune and never was that Empire in worse condition to sustain it and though Hannibal was more satisfied at Marcellus death than he could have been at the cutting in pieces of the Roman Army without it yet he was so generous as to be content with the joy without giving any open demonstration of it For he first wept the fall of so eminent a person then in a military pomp burnt his Body and having put the Ashes in a Silver Urn and on it a Crown of Gold he sent it in great state with a condoling Letter to the young Marcellus and executed some Numidians for offering by the way to rob Marcellus Reliques of a Crown which his noble Life and valiant Death so justly merited Spartacus was extreamly satisfied to observe that Izadora's resentments did not silence her justice and that though she were an Enemy to Hannibal yet that she was not so to his Fame and Virtue But she continu'd though Crispinus was mortally wounded yet his care for the publique was as great as if he had been to live and enjoy the effects of it As an evincement of this Truth he sent certain Spies into the Affrican Camp to learn what advantage the Enemy propounded to himself by his success these perform'd their employment so happily that they brought the Consul word that Hannibal having an unextinguishable desire to be reveng'd on the Salapians and having too by the possession of Marcellus Seal which with his body remain'd in the Victors power found an expedient to effect it He had sent false Letters with the true Signet to Blacius in the dead Consuls name to let him know that that night he would come to Salapia and commanded all the Garrison to be in Arms without the Samnite Gate for some exploit he intended to employ them in Crispinus no sooner receiv'd this intelligence than he sent for Perolla to communicate it to him and knowing those concerns he had for the preservation of this place gave him Commission to command the Garrison till Hannibal had lost the hopes of taking it Perolla declin'd it because Blacius was Governor but the Consul told him that it was not to intrench on my Fathers authority but to strengthen him in it for he was confident Hannibals assault would be so vigorous that Blacius could not but think so powerful an assistant a blessing rather than an affront and that he was no true friend to Rome if for a temporary suspension of his power he hazarded so important a place Perolla finding Crispinus was unalterable took Horse and with that speed which Love and Revenge inspires came to Salapia where he soon found the truth of the Consuls intelligence and that all the Garrison were drawing out of the Samnite Gate which was the opposite one to that which
he told Sillaces You have vanquish'd me generous Friend yes I will go to Parthenissa for since 't is she I have offended 't is unfit any other but that injur'd innocence should pronounce my sentence neither can she doubt how sensible I am of my crime since I make her both the Party and the Judge and offer my life unto Arsaces fury only to preserve it to her justice you will find said Sillaces with extasies of joy and a thousand embraces how little cause you have to be apprehensive of either for as Parthenissa's goodness has pardon'd your offence so if Orodes justice does not imitate her example let it be my care to preserve your being in Parthia from his Knowledge My generous Master being brought to this good temper we thought it high time to inform him that the Romans had in a manner besieg'd us and that the vastness of our Army had so exhausted the Island of all Provisions that our necessities if not our courages must invite us to force our passage Spartacus heard this advertisement which till them we had deâ—lin'd giving him reason by of his sickness and melancholly with a singular satisfaction and about some four or five days after having recover'd sufficient strength to make use of a Horse he came out of his Tent which the Soldiers celebrated with so loud a shout that the Romans apprehended their besieg'd were coming to be their Assaulters neither do I believe their fears had been any thing lessen'd had they known the true cause of that Allarm for I dare justly affirm they more apprehended my Princes recovery than a Battel But Artabanes having taken 10000 Men for his Guard went to view that miraculous Trench which he more admir'd than fear'd but lest his Officers might misinterpret his silence he told them That Crassus doubtless had more Pioneers than Soldiers in his Army that since he never declin'd a Battel he rather thought the Romans secur'd themselves than besieg'd him that 't was impossible any people could take that pains bâ—t for their own preservation yet lest the world might believe the contrary he would in few days evince the truth by a demonstration and was more pleas'd to know where he might fight with Crassus than troubl'd at those difficulties he must surmount to do it And indeed not long after when he had perfectly recover'd his strength and when all his Army despair'd of disingaging themselves from so ruinous a labyrinth in a stormy night when the earth was cover'd with Snow he gave orders to all his Forces to be ready to march and whilst he was putting on his Armor he told Sillaces Come generous Friend let us make Crassus defeat the way to assault Rome and having taken it let us retire into Parthia where I will manifest that I prefer not the greatest Empire of the world before lying prostrate at Parthenissa's Feet nay that I relinquish'd it for so glorious and advantagious an exchange yes Sillaces I will in few daâ—s so cover my self with Palmes and Laurels that my criminal jealousie shall not be seen and do such virtuous actions that her justice shall pardon my offence or my Bloud shall expiate it These words were scarce spoken when he put himself at the head of the Army and without the least stop led on those Troops who under such a General could not but be victorious in effect Sillaces and he were the first in person which pull'd down the Roman Eagles planted more fortunate Ensignes in their places and without giving their success any leave to cool with their Swords perform'd so great an execution and so strew'd the ways with Roman Carcasses that the effects of their valour almost hinder'd the progress of it and had they not had a nobler design they might have besieg'd the living Romans with the dead and made as famous a Trench by their victory as Crassius had done by his labour but the unequal'd Friend so much undervalu'd a Conquest where nothing was considerable in it but the number of the Dead and so abhorr'd all things which retarded their return into Parthia that leaving Crassus to deplore and admire his defeat they took the direct way to Rome which was to be the crown and limit of their Conquests but alas that fatal poyson which the Traitor Canitius had given our Soldiers began now to shew how strangely it had diffus'd it self and though Granicus a considerable Officer of our Army were not of his conspiracy yet imagining that Crassus loss had made him uncapable to revenge it and finding the Soldiers prepar'd for any Mutiny he so well husbanded their disorder that the second night as we were in our march towards Rome he revolted with 13000 Men from our Army and campt with them near the Lake of Lucania with intention to set up for himself Spartacus was extreamly enrag'd at this and none appear'd more violent to punish it than the false Canitius who inwardly rejoy'd at so unexpected an advantage and immediately advertis'd Crassus of it lest he might lose that favourable opportunity but though my Prince was sensible of so great a dismembring of his Forces yet the belief he had that in them all the Traytors of the Army were out of it he consol'd himself knowing that they were less dangerous in a distinct body than under his Colours and to satisfy those that prest him to be reveng'd he told them That he knew no way more probable for their punishment than their having put themselves out of his protection and that he doubted not but in their very offence they would receive the reward of it Therefore believing himself for all that loss strong enough to carry Rome by storm he determin'd the next morning to continue his march almost as much troubl'd that Granicus had hinder'd it a day as at his Revolt but the first Squadrons were hardly drawn out of the Camp when advertisement was brought that Crassus who now fought for revenge and the preservation of Rome was fall'n upon Graniâ—us with so much fury that 't was impossible but in it he must find his ruine This Allarm so mov'd the gallant Spartacus's generosity that though Canitius and Crassus who by that time was corrupted too begg'd my Prince to permit the Romans to become his Executioners yet considering the danger and not the cause of it and remembring Granicus's Courage and not his Revolt he lead his Ensignes back to the relief of those who had so often been victorious under them and though his only appearing made Crassus return to his Camp in a hasty march yet it produc'd no other considerable effect for Granicus and all his Soldiers were kill'd before Spartacus's arrival not one receiving a wound in his back or dying out of his rank preserving that Order with their Bodies which they could not with their Lives their Deaths manifesting whose Soldiers they were and their defeat what General they had abandon'd and indeed my Prince was so taken with their resolution that
practice only in her Chamber but in the greatest Assemblies which clearly manifested her resolutions were not as strong as her Grief or Guilt Regeliza told Theoxcena too that she had several times surpriz'd Altezeera in such agonies that had you seen them they would have converted your resentments into sorrow One evening too Theoxcena found she had not made her Prince's condition worse than it really was for coming to visit her and finding no body in the Chamber she stole to the Cabinet door where looking through a crevice of it she discover'd Altezeera acting sorrow so to the life that she apprehended 't would have prov'd her death and indeed Theoxcena found in that sight as much cause to pity as to condemn her inconstancy which had so strong an operation over her that the immediately retir'd apprehending lest the visibility of her disorders might have manifested she had discover'd the Princesses But she was no sooner return'd to her own Palace than she was visited by the generous Phanasder and I where having told us what she had so freshly disclosed which in our judgements evinc'd Altezeera had more inclination to repair than continue her crimes Phanasder after a short debate with himself propounded that which I extreamly relisht but which Theoxcena did not which was that he would cause a powerful insurrection in Armenia which should necessitate the Parthian Army to continue in it and consequently Altezeera not to go out of it that seemingly to suppress it he would raise Forces to joyn with Pacorus's Army that in the mean time upon some pretence of affairs into Syria I should from thence go directly to Rome and inform you of all that had happen'd to desire you to make of your particular interest one of State and to press Crassus who we heard was to invade Parthia to advance speedily into Armenia and to hinder an alliance which if not prevented would render his Conquests impossible and if prevented as facile and lastly to assure you that upon your appearance either with the Romans or singly all the seeming Rebels and his Forces should declare for you and thereby force Alterzeera to as great a necessity of giving her self to you as she pretended there had been to give her self unto Pacorus or at least make it clearly evident her inconstancy was her choice and not her constraint which too you might have the power to punish in him that was the creator of it This generous motion as I told you I infinitely approv'd but the fair Theoxcena seem'd as much averse to it both as induc'd thereunto out of that high concern she had in Phanasder's safety and perhaps reputation which might both run no small hazard in this action as out of a doubt too that it might appear to you rather a disobligation than the contray who perhaps by thus having lost the hope of possessing her had also lost the desire To these and many as pregnant arguments we represented the duty of Friends and the inclination of a Lover the first not more powerfully inviting our assistance than Altezeera's melancholly would the continuation of your Passion and the freeing her from Pacorus's Yet for all this we obtain'd Theoxcena's consent rather by her silence than her granting it Having thus elected this resolve under a pretence of paying a vow to the god Aesculapius when I recover'd of my wounds I begg'd and obtain'd leave from Artabazus to go into Syria to a Temple Dedicated to him which stood upon the Banks of Euphrates Phanasder would have accompany'd me the first days journey which I absolutely declin'd lest it might give a suspition of that which were absolutely ruin'd if any were taken of it we therefore took leave in Tygranocerta from whence in three days he determin'd to depart to put that in execution which we had in design but instead of going to that Temple I went but two days on the way thither and the third without any Servant because 't was a pilgrimage I took the shortest way to Tyre where having hir'd a swift Quinquerem Gally the wind too blowing fair at East till we came to the length of Tarentume to which we sail'd and row'd in sixteen dayes so signally did the gods favour my employment I caus'd the Mariners to put into this Gulph which though I thought a misfortune I now find is a providence and hope you will so improve it as not to make the gods repent they have conferr'd it on you 'T was thus said the generous Artavasdes to Artabanes and Callimachus that Falintus finish'd his Relation which I hope you have too just an opinion of me not to remember and though it be of my telling yet that it was in his words since many of them were so flattering that I could not have been vain enough to have spoke them of my self neither will I trouble you with any of my sorrows or disorders otherwise than by a brief and true assurance that they were proportionate to my loss which to repair or revenge I determin'd to make use of that excess of Gallantry which the generous Phanasder had offer'd me and to effect it immediately to return with Falintus in his Gally But alas this resolve was no sooner form'd than the thought of leaving Artabanes in Rome and of retiring without him destroy'd it suddainly again and that too with more reason than 't was form'd But Ventidius observing my trouble and fancying the cause so absolutely undertook my excuse and the care and protection of you for continu'd Artavasdes you know by your permission I had acquainted him who you were that in the transports of an injur'd and hopeful Lover I at last receiv'd Ventidius's assurances as satisfactory and having again by vows confirm'd him my permission to serve Vdosia and my assistance to obtain her I staid no longer than I writ to my dear Artabanes that I referr'd the cause of my fault and the care of his and the generous Sillace's safety to Ventidius's relation and Friendship which being finisht I went immediately without any Servant but Philanax to Falintus's Gally where after a million of embraces and vows of an eternal friendship I took a final leave of Ventidius who promis'd to apologize for my abrupt departure to the Senate by the advantage they would probably derive from it and who immediately departed for Rome as we did for Asia The same wind which had hinder'd Falintus's Navigation so favour'd ours that in eighteen days we landed at Alexandretta from whence with extraordinary diligence in six days more I arriv'd at Satala a Principality which was fall'n to me by the generous Annexanders death and in which Vdosia resided whom I went purposely to see and to give her those just impressions of Ventidius which should fortify her Heart against the reception of any others I saw her my dear Artabanes and found in that sight how much injury the Painter had done her and how much right Ventidius had done himself in his election
that little blood I have spent in your service is too prodigally pay'd by what you now are pleased to act and speak and had I known my wounds had so sensibly touched you they would have been more painful to me upon that account than their own I should she answer'd blushing have believed those words had they been spoken to me at Miletus or were I a person not far from hence who though I must confess merits them better yet perhaps would not receive them with that satisfaction I should if I thought them not words of Civility rather than Truth Madam I replyed being somewhat moved to be still struck by her in so sensible a place and if possibly to make her think she was mistook permit me to say that had you never given me cause any more to doubt your words than I have given you to doubt mine you had been free from the trouble of such discourses and I from the unhappiness of your believing I deserved them Alas Callimachus said she interrupting me why do you delight so much to torment me as not only to mind me of my unhappiness but to acquaint me you think I was the Author of it No I attest the gods I would now even with joy descend from the Throne to be that to you which I am to Mithridates and rather be his who deserves the greatest Empire of the World than his who possesses it but she continued letting some few tears steal from her eyes since the gods have otherwise designed it I beg but this That you will esteem it a punishment sufficient for me to have lost you and do not augment it so much as to let me see another has got you this is all the unfortunate Monyma desires and if there be any unreasonableness therein ascribe it to a passion which makes me act more illegitimate things for you than I ask of you She went away at the end of these words without staying for an answer and telling the company a relapse of her indisposition was going to assault her she hastily retir'd to her apartment and not long after the hour of rest being come Atafernes enjoyning me to try if I could take any and endeavouring the like himself thereby gave me a licence to reflect upon some things past which so powerfully entertained my thoughts that I could not for some time so much suppress them as by sleep to enjoy that refreshment my mind and my body but too much wanted These last words of the Queen I soon concluded sprang from a passion which would not be easily quenched and which had a being would so much interrupt any progress in that I pay'd the fair Statira that it self would have been a sufficient impediment had I conquer'd the misfortune of many greater I was too proud at my insensibility when I saw a Queen weeping before me and one so full of youth and beauty that she could not be a greater wonder for her Charms than I was in resisting them I must confess I was a little grieved that so signal an evincement of my constancy should not be known to her who was the cause of it but then when I consider'd that the misfortune could not be greater than consequently the merit of it was I concluded she deserved all I could suffer and therefore I had more cause to rejoyce I had done so much than to be troubled that she knew no more Whilest I entertain'd these parts of my fate it was only with sorrow but when I thought upon those parts which related to Ascanius how he was come to rob me of my hopes which was all I had left or indeed ever had and how a few days would invest him in that felicity I was to lose Rage and Resentment so entirely govern'd all my faculties that if I did not follow the extreamest dictates of them 't was only because I thought them too low and disproportionate to their cause At last not having strength enough to persevere in such entertainments sleep by degrees began to conquer me and held me a Prisoner for some few hours which yet it could not have so long done but by letting Dreams continue what my waking had begun whereby and by the emotion of the precedent day the next Morning I found my wound was so inflamed and my Body so feaverish that the Chirurgeons doubted of my Life and informed Atafernes so much who easily imagining the cause having freed the Room of all which waited in it told me so many flattering things and then so reiterately vowed if I mended not he would tell Statira what caused my languishments that partly through hope but much more for fear of that I began patiently to receive those Medicines which the Physicians the Chirurgeons prescrib'd whereby in few days I was past all danger of Death as I wish'd I had been of Life I knew not with what design I liv'd and yet I could not oppose my doing so carried on by an internal motion whose cause I was as ignorant of as unable to resist its effects Mithridatia every day she visited her Brother had so much humility as to enquire of me of my own health and as my answers were of its impairing or mending so her looks put on melancholy or satisfaction Atafernes was so generous as constantly to enquire of the Princess what progress Ascanius had made in the acquisition of her esteem yet could never learn any thing from her but that her duty to Mithridates had left her nothing but obedience This strange perseverance and submissiveness that generous Prince acquainted me with and thereby prepared me to receive a stroak which soon after wounded me but alas not enough to relieve my pain but increase and continue it 'T was with the fatal News that at the expiration of fourteen days Mithridates had publickly declared the Nuptials between Statira and Ascanius should be celebrated who thereupon sent half of his Fleet into the Euxine Sea to conquer what that Element had saved of Nicomedes Ariobarzanes and Murena's ruins The revolt of Archilaus and Neoptolemus having depriv'd the Pontick King of most of his Naval-forces and his design'd Son-in-law's being so strong that he rather thought that proportion of the largest than the least reserving also the residue to carry back his Queen with more pomp into Cyprus which happy Countrey had been once destin'd to the Queen of Love and now to a Beauty which more justly merited that Title In the mean while Pharnaces returned with his Army more troubled that his Father had by Atafernes received his deliverance than if he had entirely failed of it and if he had any thoughts which refresh'd him they were only those which did rise from the speedy probability of Statira's removal and consequently of his Brother's being thereby deprived of his powerfullest Friend and therefore he so incessantly prest the speedy celebration of the Nuptials that thereby he gained as high an interest in Ascanius as a performance so acceptable
the highest Duty But those powers which know he is least unworthy of you which does most perfectly adore you have raised me to life that by your Mercy and Condescention the World and Ascanius may know by the Recompence of that Truth how intirely you believe the reality of it my unsuccessfulness in your Deliverance merited my seeming Death and my unequal'd Flame merited that Resurrection without which your mercy in crowning it would have been render'd ineffectual so that in those several Fates the gods have imposed on Ascanius you may see fair Mithridatia how equally just they are both to my unhappiness and my Adorations After these words the King of Cyprus told the Princess Statira how whilst some of his Nobility were preparing for his Body the requisite Solemnities due to the Monarchs of that Island they found some Symptoms of life remaining in it which they improved with such Art Care Diligence and Secresie that in a few Hours their hopes of his recovery had wiped away their Tears for his imaginary Death That the better to cloud the transports of that change and the more successfully to enjoy the fruits of their Endeavours and Duty they caused the dead Body of a young Cyprian Lord to receive all the Ceremonies due unto his own and did not communicate the Fallacy unto any but those who could not but know it who yet they tied by sacred Oaths to inviolable secresie even from the rest of the Cyprians themselves whose tears and sorrows so well deluded the Subjects and Servants of Nicomedes and Ariobarzanes that they never had the least umbrage of the Truth whereby when the thirty dayes of the usual Funeral Rites were efflux'd the two Kings permitted a Cyprian Galley to transport his supposed Embalmed Corps to Cyprus As soon as the Funeral Galley had recovered the Cyprian Fleet he shewed himself unto them their surprize was not greater than his own when he found in the same Galley with him the Prince Pharnaces who had also recovered his liberty by an unexpected Accident For Enestes who was Vice-Admiral to Nicomedes having lost his life attempting to carry away by surprize the Royal Family of Pontus Many of the Bithynian Nobility were Solicitors to succeed him in that high imployment and amongst those Cleomax favorite to Nicomedes upon that score was most earnest and had most hopes but his King as a reward of the high attempt of the Father conferred that Office on Lixcestes his Son who by many signal Actions of Conduct and Courage had a double Title to that Command to which he added the most powerful one of silence to Merit Cleomax though sensibly wounded by his failer suppresses all Resentments by Words and resolves to manifest them by Actions so that soon after having got an opportunity of a private Conference with Pharnaces offered him to set him at Liberty and to depend on his Favour for his future Fortunes The Prince of Pontus joyfully laid hold of this Overture and Promises Cleomax rewards proportionate to his Service so that when the Funeral-Galley was to begin her Voyage Cleomax disguises Pharnaces and himself and thrusting themselves into the Croud of that solemnity without interruption got into the Galley and escaped Whilst Ascauius said Callimachus to his Generous hearers was thus telling the Princess Statira these admirable Accidents Pharnaces was relating them to Mithridates and then presented Cleomax to him whom the Pontick King received with all manner of Acknowledgments and on the Place ordered him rewards as great as his Infidelity this being done the Pontick King came to Embrace Ascanius to whom the Princess had not answered one word to all he had said so great was her wonder and her trouble at once The King of Cyprus after his Acknowledgments were paid in the most passionate Words and Actions summoned Mithridates of his Promise and implored that as in the publick Temple he had been divorced from his blessing so in the Domestick-Temple he might be possest of it I perceive Generous Prince reply'd Mithridates by this request you are ignorant of the occasion which has brought this Assembly hither No Sir Ascanius answered I heard it since my Landing But Great King I know 't was only my supposed Death led you to what you have done the Cause ceasing the Effects should do the like the chief Motive to the performance failing 't is a necessary Consequence that all built on it should fail with it You would not have given the fair Statira to Callimachus had you known Ascanius was alive 'T is too much your ignorance of my Condition has so much wounded me let not your Knowledg of it wound me more Had I known you were living the Pontick King reply'd interrupting him I would in some other way have endeavoured to reward Callimachus's innumerable Services but I doubt Statira's Engagements and mine are too far past to be recalled so that if I should not keep my Engagements to the Generous Ascanius 't is not my Crime but the Crime of his own Fate Would to the gods the King of Cyprus answered I had really dyed rather than live to hear these killing words What Sir shall your promises be thus observed and shall my Services and Sufferings be thus rewarded Did you only raise my hopes to the most Glorious height that ever any attain'd unto only with more cruelty to precipitate me and them shall your mistake be more powerful for my Ruine than your knowledg for my preservation Oh Sir give me not so much cause to believe that what you say proceeded from your Ignorance proceeded from your Design and let not that Princess Mithridatia be made a Sacrifice to Gratitude who is a Blessing above all that Services can pretend unto do not give Callimachus more than you should and do not give me less than you promised The Services of Callimachus said Mithridates deserve my highest Acknowledgments And in giving him Statira you therefore see how highly I valued Ascanius since to him I once had destined what I thought a full recompence for preserving and restoring my whole Family and my self If these intentions have not had the success I meant them possibly it is not more your trouble than it is mine But my intentions and sufferings said Ascanius have been greater than his in what depended of our selves I have been as much his superiour as in what depended on Chance he has been mine Do not therefore reward Fortune more than you will reward Virtue and let me not so much doubt your Justice as experimentally to feel you give more to my sollicitations than to my services since only to Crown the First you design'd for me the Princess Mithridatia and to recompence the last you condemn me to a loss as much transcending Death as his Condition who shall possess the Princess will transcend the condition of all others While I did nothing you gave me all I could wish and when I have done all I could you deny me what you
ever confess you have any advantage over me and whilst I hold my Sword you shall find me a subject fitter to create your fear than your pity Thereupon he renew'd the Fight with much more strength than I thought he had left him yet for a while I onely defended my self but when I perceiv'd his blows were so brisk that my charity might prove my ruine and that he had so much vigor as I might kill him without a stain I cry'd out to him Since my civility cannot make you acknowledge what your justice should your death shall Finishing these words I made him soon feel the punishment of a fault which might have had a milder reparation if the continuance of his insolency had not render'd him unworthy of it But to conclude this Tragedy as soon as he fell he told me Whosoever thou art I forgive thee that death which by my being worsted is rather my joy than my trouble and though I scorn to beg my Life were it in thy power to save which I thank the gods it is not yet I do not to conjure thee to assure that Beauty which to have fought against does more afflict me than to be reduc'd to what I am that 't was her Eyes which inspir'd thy Arm and weighed down mine and that had not shame been more prevalent with me than truth I had been her Champion and not her Adversary Conjure her to pardon a crime which I expiate with my blood and which my hand should have punisht for her if thine had not He would have continu'd his recantation by which I perceiv'd I had not onely kill'd an Enemy but a Rival had he not found that his Tongue began to faulter which made him though with much difficulty turn himself towards the place where Parthenissa was and not having the strength to speak to her he lift up his hands to implore that pardon his hasty summons hinder'd him to express As soon as Ambixules was dead all his Pages came and presented me those Pictures which had been the rewards of their Princes former Combats and desir'd me that they might have his body to carry into Arabia which I yielded unto and then taking all the consequents of my Victory I went with them to Parthenissa's Scaffold where I found her by an excess of goodness weeping the death of her Enemy which made me envy what I had deplor'd and forc'd me to think my success a misfortune since it created the fair Parthenissa's tears who judging of my disorder by my silence wip'd them away and thereby gave me the confidence to present her with all those fair Captives and to tell her That the Originals of them could no more complain against their Servants unhappy defence since thereby they had the honor to be hers which was a felicity greater than any could have attended their success I then acquainted her with Ambixules last injunction which I said was a proof that not onely he but his reason was vanquisht and that if he had earlier confest a truth which he could not but be convinc'd of I would rather have elected to have employ'd my Sword against my self than him so great and just was the respect I paid all Adorers under which Title I implor'd a pardon for having brought that to a dispute which needed none and that her justice would acknowledge what that of the gods had by the event of our Combat To which Parthenissa reply'd I am convinc't of nothing by your Victory but of your Civility and Courage the last of which you are certainly very confident of when you durst undertake to employ it in so unjust a quarrel neither can I doubt by electing me for the subject of your difference you had an intention to manifest that your Sword needed no other assistance but what it receiv'd from your Arm and the concealing your self after a performance which the severest modesty might glory in confirms me that you injure your Courage to avoid doing the like unto your Judgment and find more shame in owning the object your Quarrel than satisfaction in the effect it has produc'd Ah! Madam I reply'd do not impute the concealing my self to any thing but the respect I pay you which is so great and just that I had rather decline what you are pleas'd to say I may glory in than hazard your anger by disclosing who I am the apprehension of the latter being far more prevalent with me than any advantage I can derive from the former But after some discourses of this quality observing that not onely all the Court but Arsaces himself was coming towards Parthenissa's Scaffold I thought it high time to retire and therefore made haste to tell her that I was resolv'd to a concealment of my name till by a succession of services I induced her to pardon the score upon which they were perform'd A little Blush which this declaration caused gave me a belief that she understood my meaning and the apprehension I had for her reply as well as being environ'd by the crowd made me take my leave but on an instant I found a certain coldness like the hand of Death seize on me and suddenly after I fell pale and speechless at Parthenissa's Feet This unexpected accident had a very powerfull influence on her whilst she knew me not but after she had discover'd who I was by some peoples pulling off my Helmet to give me a little air she abandon'd herself so much to excess of grief that many attributed the effects of her good nature to a more obliging cause and doubtless had I seen how happy I was in my misfortune I had blest those wounds which were the causes of it In brief as soon as those which stood by knew me they cry'd out Artabanes is dead which repeated noise coming at last to Moneses and Lyndadory's hearing they ran transported with admiration and grief to the place where I lay and where they found Parthenissa with one hand stopping a spring of blood which issued fâ—om a large wound Ambixules had given me with the other endeavouring to wipe away two springs of tears which ran from her fair Eyes That charity gave them as high a subject of acknowledgment as the occasion of it did of grief But at last a Litter being brought and my blood stancht I was carried to Moneses's Palace accompanied by the tears of those whose Acclamations I so lately had Arsaces did me the honor to walk a foot by my Litter and to see the first dressing of my wounds where he receiv'd an assurance from the Chirurgions that I had none which were dangerous that loss of blood was the greatest harm I had sustained and that rest was one of the best remedies they could prescribe Wherefore my Chamber was immediately emptied of all but my faithful Symander But this deep silence was so far from producing the effect which those that enjoyn'd it expected that it did a contrary one for then all my thoughts began to
to grant it is that I cannot sufficiently wonder at the best construction I can make of those who are of that opinion is that their fears exceed their judgements may be their honesty Shall his defeats be the steps to his ambition and shall our having given them drown our Courages the gods forbid But Sir allow we were as low as these Mens spirits are which gave that counsel what heavier yoke can we groan under than that we would now submit unto shall our fears give that to Celindus which his Courage ne'r could purchase and shall we by a preposterous apprehension count all those deliverances the gods have hitherto sent us as so many Omens of our ruine or else Sir have these Men seen any coldness in our courages on which they build their despair if not why do they so much wrong them what shall Altezeera who is a recompence too high for Vertue be a sacrifice unto Rebellion O Sir do not by such a recompence invite your Subjects in the future to revolt what guilt can be so ugly that such a reward will not invite us to imbrace let us not then by contributing unto the Crime make our selves worthy of the punishment not let these mens timerousness perswade you to that which if once acted the gods must never after protect you unless they have design'd to appear as unjust as they would have you be to your self and the Princess who are more threaten'd by their fears than our condition But as I was going to continue my discourse upon those subjects that related to the suppressing of the mutinous people and my Fathers particular a Gentleman came in and told Artabazus there was one which wore Celindus Colours being well mounted was scap'd from the Camp and though followed by five or six of the Enemy had recover'd the Port and begg'd earnestly to be presented to the King alledging that it was about affairs of high concernment and which could admit of no delay Artabazus commanded forthwith that he should be brought in The Man no sooner heard the permission for he waited at the door than he flung himself at the Kings feet and told him Sir Anexander after a thousand difficulties which nothing could render supportable but the consideration of him for whose sake he endured them has brought an Army of 30000 Men into Thospia where a violent Feaver envious of his glory has flung him into his Bed and though his torments are very great yet he resents none so fully as those which proceed from the impossibility of his serving you in person but since his fatal sickness as if all things had contributed to increase that misfortune there has happen'd so high a dispute betwixt Stratolis and Falintus who should have the happiness to command the Army for your relief that some sad events are thereby already fall'n out and hourly will be augmented unless Artavasdes who they all beg for their General during Anexanders indisposition be instantly sent to take the charge of the War and lest your Majesty should doubt the truth of what I now deliver I shall humbly desire you to peruse this Ticket which being presented we found 't was sign'd and written by Anexander and onely begg'd the King to credit whatsoever he should relate The joy we all receiv'd at the assurance of so powerful an Army's being ready to relieve us did mitigate our sorrow at the hearing of Anexanders not being able to Head it But Artabazus and the Council to lose no time thought best to dispatch Celindus's Messenger without the honour of an Answer which they concluded was the fittest they could return his ambitious desires and to send me that night away though the wicked Crasolis oppos'd the latter alledging that the Town would doubtless be lost if I were once out of the Walls that probably I might be taken or kill'd endeavouring to pass the Enemies Guards that then not onely Artaxata but the Army would lose its Head and chief Defender and therefore he was of opinion 't were better to send a Commission joyntly to Stratolis and Falintus to command the Army than to expose all to so great a hazard This advice was not given out of any affection to the publique or my particular but that he believ'd by joyning of Stratolis and Falintus there would arise such distractions as Celindus might injoy the advantages of them But as I told you this Council at that present took not place and to omit no opportunity I went to take leave of the King and assur'd him that within fourteen days I would either make him absolute Monarch again or by my death evince that 't would not be the defect of my desire but of my Power and since the time was so short I begg'd him to give me an assurance that he would not before those days were efflux'd admit of any Treaty with Celindus The King having satisfy'd my request embrac'd me very affectionately and conjur'd me not to fail at the time appointed lest the people should force him to accept of those conditions his Reason and Inclination made him equally detest which having faithfully promis'd I went to my Princesses Chamber who not being able to conceal her grief had commanded all her servants out of the room and lay upon a Bed abandoning her self so excessively to sorrow that I surpriz'd her in the greatest height of hers and told her Madam if I could admit any doubts of an ill success where your safty is concern'd so bad an Omen as your sadness is would infuse them into me To which she answer'd I must confess Artavasdes that when I consider the many dangers you must expose your self unto and the many more that you will I find my Tears so just that I esteem it a sin to redeem them neither can you believe the assurances I have given you of my affection to be as real as indeed they are without considering my grief as a necessary Tribute of my Love and not an Omen of your ill success My Princess I reply'd your sadness could not but kill me did I not look upon it as the effect of so happy a cause but pardon me if my zeal to you be so great that I even condemn the demonstrations of my own felicity when they prove troublesome to you Alas said Altezeera what would you have me do not to deplore your absence is inconsistent with my affection and to do it is prejudicial to your contentment but since 't is impossible to suppress the first at least by a quick return make the last cease which can admit of no ease during your absence Madam I reply'd the gods shall be my witness that I will neglect no time nor shall any thing but death hinder me above fourteen days from coming to adore you at your feet Celindus and his Army shall feel what fury possesses me at this separation and my their sufferings know how dangerous it is to oppose Artavasdes when Altezeera's safety is the quarrel
the Rampire I had the honour to be the nearest to him in this action where he did so many noble exploits that Fortune must have been as unjust as they say she is unconstant had she refus'd him this Victory No sooner had our Army perceiv'd how easy a passage my Prince had made than above 6000 of them enter'd by that way and without shedding any more Bloud rendred themselves absolute Masters of the City but whilst Spartacus was taking order to preserve the Salapians as much as in such an occasion was possible and that he had dispers'd many of his Officers and I with them to do the like as I was going through one of the fairest streets I saw a great confluence of Soldiers about a House whose Structure sufficently spoke the magnificence of the owner and being come thither I inquir'd what was the cause of it one of the Officers soon inform'd me that a company of young Gentlemen onely considerable for their resolutions had made so generous a defence and so slighted all Quarter that they were necessitated to make use of numbers to suppress them and that now at last they had kill'd all the Defendants but one who having gain'd a narrow Stair-case was yet making of it good with so much courage that he deplor'd the destroying as much as the effects of it and that he understood this generous man's name was Perolla You may easily imagine the hearing of that name gave me an unexpressible desire to save the Master of it and having conjur'd the Officer to run and acquaint Spartacus with it I thrust my self into the croud and by many actions which shew'd my concernment and haste commanded them in Spartacus's name to forbear any further attempt against so generous an Enemy This Order found a ready obedience as well out of the knowledge they had of the affection my dear Master honor'd me with as out of a desire to preserve Perolla who they now fought against rather to shew that an Army might kill him than out of any design they had to doe so At last by the help of our Officers I came to the place where the gallant Perolla stood who appear'd to me to be less weary with conquering than our Soldiers were with assaulting him and spight of that Bloud which endeavour'd to disfigure his Face I perceiv'd a Countenance so Spiritual and so Lovely together that I knew not which most to admire but my wonder was quickly rais'd to a higher pitch by the sight of a Lady who possest the several Beauties of shape stature complexion and features in so inaccessional a degree that an affection for her could not so properly be called Passion as Reason The contemplation of so many perfections had almost made me forget the design I was come for which fault I soon repair'd by addressing my self to the generous Perolla and telling him The great Spartacus Sir who cherishes Virtue whereever it is plac'd has sent me hither to preserve so great a possessor of it as you are for he believes your Gallantry is a stronger obligation on him to serve you than your imploying of it against him is to make him your Enemy Since reply'd Perolla that is your Generals Principle the fair Izadora here is a worthy object to employ that generosity on which I believe you cannot doubt when I assure you that her exterior parts are as far short of the Beauties of her Mind as the Passion I pay her is unworthy the Object for her sake I can beg though not for my own and will acknowledge you civility as great as your courages if you will promise me she shall receive an usage as proportionate to her merit as you can possibly pay her this engagement will be more obliging farr than my own safety and make that death which my sad fate now renders necessary as full of happiness as such a deprivation is capable of As I was about to answer him I was hindered by a great noise which turning about to discover the cause of I perceiv'd it was my Prince who with incredible haste was breaking through the Croud and came time enough to see the perfect Izadora fling her self at her Lovers feet and tell him Alas Perolla can you talk of happiness in death and yet think of leaving me behind you did you ever find any felicity in separation that you beg it even of your very Enemies or have you so low an opinion of my passion as to think I can survive you Ah Madam said Perolla interrupting and putting himself in her posture if you will lessen my trouble give me rather marks of your disdain than of your love since the vastness of that score now creates my sufferings which are so great they cannot be increast but by new additions of your favour Judge then if it be not time to dye when my highest blessing that of your Affection proves my torment Then reply'd Izadora my condition will as much require death as yours for 't is as impossible for me not to augment your sufferings whilst I live as 't is to survive you which since my sorrow will not permit let my Love anticipate the effects of it this will be more proportionate to my vows and cut off the tortures of a lingring life so Death the enemy to other passions may prove the friend of ours and conferr that union on us in the other life which our Fates and cruel Parents have deny'd us in this Izadora said Perolla flatter not my hopes with an union in the other World the gods which held me unworthy of you here will have much more cause to continue that belief when instead of your mortality they shall cloath you with the reward of Virtue alas then you will be fitter for their adoration than mine Can there be she reply'd a felicity in the other World for Izadora if she be divided from Perolla do not by such suggestions fright me into a hatred of Elizium which if what you say be true will lose its quality and fancy not the gods unjust onely to make us miserable no Perolla we have walkt too exactly in the paths of Virtue to fear Death and as an argument of this truth that minute which separates your Soul from the fair Mansion it now inhabits shall give mine freedom for to dye is a Blessing or a Curse if the first I will not be deny'd it too if the latter I hope 't will hinder your despair when you know I will involve my self in it This noble dispute had continu'd longer had I not told Perolla that Spartacus was come who indeed was so ravished with the Virtue of these Lovers that his admiration made many who knew him not suspect that his suspense proceeded from his being as absolutely vanquisht by the Eies of one of his Enemies as his Sword had been victorious over all the rest But Parthâ—nissa was too deeply fixt to be defac'd and her Beauty had got so absoluâ—e an Empire over
which induces me not to have Perolla kill'd before you see the event of this design is lest if by a miracle she should resent his loss to such an extremity as it may prove her own you may have still your remedy in your power and thereby be in no worse a condition than that which you are in at present The malicious Oristes having done speaking Hennibal continu'd a while weighing the probability of this design and having at last absolutely approv'd it he demanded with much impatiency of Oristes whether yet it might not be acted To which his Agent reply'd that those menaces made against Perolla would make that relish of design which should be esteem'd the contrary since all the hope of the Plot was the managing it with such dexterity that Izadora should rather believe you deplor'd than acted her loss I am said the Carthaginian perfectly convinc'd of what you alledge but those threatenings I made against my Rivals life were spoken when I was in so visible a distemper that I am confident she ascribes them sooner to my choller than design neither were they positive but conditional and therefore probably all the prejudice they will bring will be only to me and not to what you propose for it will tye me to act my part with more dissimulation and protract the time of my sufferings Thus said Izadora Hannibal took up a design whose beginning I have already inform'd you of and whose success was so proportionate to his desires that not only Izadora but Perolla believ'd his conversion was as real as 't was well acted And Blacius on the other side so perfectly made good Oristes assurance to the Carthaginian that in half a year in which Perolla enjoy'd his liberty and the priviledge of living in Salapia I could never have the happiness of seeing or the satisfaction of hearing from him and when so intollerable a separation made the effects of it visible in my humour the artificious Hannibal offer'd and conjur'd me to make use of his power for our union which had formerly been employ'd for our separation that what had injur'd might relieve us But he too well knew I had rather intrench'd upon my Felicity than Duty and 't was upon that confidence he had made me that overture To abbreviate my Relation I shall tell you that all which Oristes advis'd was perform'd and that which contributed to the better executing what related to Perolla's sudden death was that Pacuvius and all his were remov'd to Tarentum and that Perolla who only had Strato to wait on him had employ'd him to Rome about some private affairs Oh gods what my suffering was at that fatal news you only know but those effects of it which were visible prov'd so dangerous that Blacius Physician was immediately sent for to hinder my death from accompanying Perola's and that Traitor detesting my alliance with any of Pacuvius's Family and being corrupted by Hannibal's rewards after he had prescrib'd those things which he held needful for my condition told me That he was apprehensive the Carthaginian had murther'd my Friend to build his own felicity on his ruines that Hannibal had rather counterfeited than extinguisht his Flame and therefore he would go and visit Perolla's Body which if it had receiv'd any violence he would as certainly discover as the gods punish it This proposition suited with my jealousies and though the knowledge of what he suspected would have added to my grief if at least it had been capable of any accession by a manifestation that his Passion for me was the occasion of his death yet I embrac'd his motion resolving if any Symptomes should evince so black a Truth that I would with one stroke revenge his Murther and with another follow him The Physitian some little time after being return'd with many false Tears protested that Perolla's Body had not the least mark of an unnatural death and that he ask'd the gods forgiveness for having suspected so clear an Innocency as Hannibals He then too began to play the Physitian of the Mind and besought me not to afflict my self since 't was not Man that had sent Perolla to the gods but that they themselves had call'd him But alas my afflictions had too just an object ever to cease but with my life which every day so exceedingly impair'd that I was in hopes by a speedy dissolution to make the end of torments in this world to be the beginning of joys in the other In the mean time Hannibal celebrated Perolla's Funerals with so many counterfeit weepings and with so much solemnity that all Salapia believ'd 't was he and not Pacuvius which had lost a Son Two months together he was so far from consoling me by his visits that by them he encreas'd my grief which though it reduâ—'d me to a condition fitter to create his pitty than his affection yet the last had taken so deep a root that no diminution of my little Beauty could bring any to his passion which indeed he could no longer silence therefore one evening he came to visit me and though I was fitter for a Priest than a Lover yet he declar'd himself the latter and begg'd me with the perfect'st imporunities to receive and cherish a flame which he had silenc'd whilst he held it a crime but now that the higher Powers contributed so much to reward its Purity as to take him to them which had hinder'd me from justly receiving it he flatter'd himself with a hope that to recompence his respect and passion and to obey what the gods themselves had so evidently approv'd I would accept of a heart that yielded nothing in the zeal of adoring me to that of my last Servant and his Friend I know he spoke many things of this quality which because I detested to hear I cannot repeat for I so justly disrelisht this motion that I had a strong conflict with my self to silence my resentments for it but at length I told him Ah Sir how can you call your self Perolla's friend and yet endeavour to disturb his Ashes and how can you have a Passion for one who you have hopes to make unworthy your affection by conferring hers on you No Sir I beseech you let me follow my resolution which is to dye Perolla's since I could not live his for my heart after such a loss is not capable of any passion but grief or if it be that passion I had for his Virtues I must now continue to his memory To which Hannibal answer'd Will you then confer a Blessing upon one which is not capable of it to deny it to another who is and perhaps deserves it too Ah Madam if it is your affection for Perilla and not your hatred for Hannibal which produces this resolve you will evince that truth sooner by granting than declining my request for if in the other life we are not ignorant of what is done in this Perolla will be more satisfy'd to know by your giving your self now
he spent two days in giving them a Military Funeral burying their Crimes in their Graves This sad Solemnity perform'd we continu'd our design but as if my Prince's Virtue had not opposition enough from publique and private enemies the heavens themselves conspir'd against him and by continual Rains so swell'd the Rivers that the Romans having broken down all the Bridges it was impossible for him to proceed I leave you to think what his resentments were at so froward a destiny for it not only retarded the Conquest of Rome and which was more intollerable his return to Parthia but also gave Crassus's recruits leasure to joyn with him and the danger of the Empire made them so considerable that before the waters were return'd into their usual channels he came and with much confidence pitch'd his Tents within some sixteen Furlongs of ours where the vicinity of our Camps furnisht frequent occasions of fighting which was our constant divertisement in expectation of more favourable weather but one day Spartacus having advice that Scroffa and Quintus two of Crassus bravest Captains were gone with all the Roman Cavalry for Forrage he sent the generous Sillaces with all his to intercept their return where after a bloudy dispute our Forces by the valour of their Leader had the better who with his own hand having given Scroffa very dangerous marks of his courage return'd into the Camp loaden with Victory and Wounds My Prince receiv'd him in Triumphs but was more afflicted for the latter than pleas'd at the former esteeming the loss of so much precious Bloud too prodigal a payment not only for having vanquish'd those Romans but though it had done the like unto their Empire But the Chirurgeons soon mittigated his fears by an assurance that Sillaces was in no danger and that the greatest trouble he was like to suffer was the keeping of his Bed for some 10 or 12 days Five of which were not expir'd e're the Flouds were so asswag'd that Spartacus might have continu'd his march towards Rome had not his friends weakness hinder'd it Crassus imputed this delay to his Fear and having a while before received advice from Canitius that now all things were in such a perfect readiness that if the Romans could bring Spartacus to a Battel he would bring them to a Victory he determin'd as a provocation to my Prince which was a needless labour to cast up two great Trenches the one to hinder our passage towards Rome the other to hinder our Camp from Watering To interrupt this design Spartacus made many vigorous attempts and thereby necessitated the Romans by fighting to obtain leave to work but the eighth day after Sillaces's victory the morning was spent in so sharp a dispute betwixt us and the Romans and Seconds on either side came so thick and numerous that my Prince perceiving he might engage Crassus gallop'd back into the Camp and Commanded all his Army immediately to prepare themselves for a Battel which whilst they were doing he came in to Sillaces where he acquainted him that before night he would be in a condition immediately to return into Parthia or never to see it again that nothing appear'd a higher misfortune than to be depriv'd of his company and help in so glorious an occasion but since he had so lately engross'd a memorable victory to himself he was hopeful he would not repine if he also laid hold on so favourable and so often ambition'd an occasion to imitate his example Sillaces was extreamly surpriz'd at this Declaration and having sufficiently curst those former marks of honor which now hinder'd him from increasing his Stock he begg'd Artabanes he might wait on him though in a Litter that since he could not be a sharer in he might at least be a Spectator and admirer of his Glory and thereupon forcing himself to rise he found how ill a correspondency his Mind and Strength had together This sad experiment and my Prince's Prayers made him yield to his weakness and his friend who having selected 7000 choice Men more for the Guard of Sillaces than his Camp he gave me the Command of them and though I begg'd with vehement importunities to be near his Person in so famous an occasion yet the consideration of some slight hurts I had receiv'd in Scroffa's defeat and the necessity of a faithful Attendant on Sillaces made him deny me The two generous Friends having took leave of one another with words which nothing but so perfect a friendship was capable to produce and my Prince having done me the honor to embrace me he immediately lead his Troops which consisted not counting those left with me of 55000 effective Men to that Field in which he was confident they would purchase so much Glory where he already found the Roman Army in Batalia and with as much resolution in their countenance and posture as if they had been victorious as often as defeated his Army too being put in order by an Oration he animated his Soldiers and then gave order to the Trumpets Clarions and all the warlike Musick to do the like by sounding the Charge and that his Soldiers might see his resolution in all their sight he kill'd that Horse which he constantly made use of in a Battel saying that if â—e were â—onqueror he should want none and if defeated he would make use of none My Princes Army was divided into two great Battalions the greatest was led by Canitius and Castus which consisted of 30000 Horse and Foot the other which made up 25000 more had my Prince in the head of them who that morning was assur'd by those two Traitors that they would act miracles which indeed they perform'd in betraying the greatest Virtue that ever shin'd upon Earth The ground over which my generous Master's Batalion was to move proved â—o uneven that the other went first to the Charge and those which led it march'd with much order and seeming resolution till they came within shot of their Enemies but then Canitius and Crassus with each of them about forty of their chiefest Officers turning the points of their Javelins to the ground abandon'd their Soldiers and ran full speed to the Romans who opening their Divisions receiv'd them with shouts of Triumph This Treachery you may well imagine brought a world of confusion in those un-officer'd Troops and in the height of it the two Traitors accompany'd with their adherents and some Romans return'd and Canitius in Crassus's name offer'd all those their Lives who would lay down their Arms to which a gallant Thracian that my Prince had honour'd with a considerable Command immediately reply'd Traitor 't is a higher satisfaction to punish thy Treachery than to live by it and 't is upon that score that I decline the latter to act the former thereupon breaking like Lightning through a hundred Swords he past his through Canitius's Body and by so resolute a performance depriv'd him of his Life but Euriles for his Virtue Merits to have
hands which my Princess observing she told me what Artavasdes does a demonstration of my Affection fright you And had you rather I should be unconstant than dead Yes Madam I reply'd for I had rather dye than you should But said Altezeera had you rather have me live in vice than dye in innocency when too that vice would render me as unworthy as undesirous to live Ah Madam I reply'd let us I beseech you break off this discourse left perhaps the evincement how much I love you might induce you to suspect I do not You may said Altezeera smiling impose what Laws you please where you have made your Conquest which I will obey lest you might think it not so entire as it is We had in the Temple some discourses of this nature which at length were interrupted by the generous Phanasder who came to kiss the Princesâ—es hand and to tell her that now she had no more enemies in Artaxata than those which had lost their lives for having been so Have you then said to Phanasder after Altezeera had receiv'd him with a respect worthy his services and virtue given Crassolis the reward of his infidelity No Sir he answer'd Crassolis shall be if you please reserv'd for Artabazus's sentence which pronounc'd from that mouth will be more regular and perhaps more sensible we are too much his Enemies to be his Judges But he continu'd when I spoke of the Princesses Enemies I only intended those in Arms. I believe said I though Crassolis does more merit the name of Enemy than any that have been in Arms yet we shall find it a more difficult task to make the King think him his than we had this day to conquer all ours If he does not Phanasder answer'd he will find his punishment in his fault but were I of your faith I would immediately be just to Artabazus and Crassolis by having the latter executed No Phanasder I reply'd I beseech you leave off that thought for if we impos'd his death we might bring his guilt to be doubted by the way in which it is punish'd I tell you this said Artavasdes the more particularly that you might see how near I was to have avoided all my future miseries and how I my self contributed to the preservation of him which caus'd them for this Inchanter Crassolis made himself appear as innocent to Artabazus as he did faulty to us nay the loss of that life which discover'd his Treason he made a successful argument of his innocency and thereby obtain'd a power whose effects I shall eternally deplore with as much cause as violence but whether continu'd Artavasdes interrupting himself does the reflection on that Traytor transport me I must beg your pardon for a fault which I believe you will excuse when you know the cause and the sooner to acquaint you with it I will return to the fair Altezeera who I left in the Temple and who merited one with more reason perhaps than the Deity to whom that was consecrated She too was so merciful to Crassolis as to think it lust to have his King only his Judge Her opinion was our resolution which we had no sooner elected than we return'd to the Palace and meeting by the way Palisdes's Body carrying to the Grave it had the noble Solemnity of Altezeera's tears which afforded him a feâ—â—city in death better than his life had merited but it may be she shed those for his crimes and not his fall Phanasder and I having waited on Altezeera to her Apartment withdrew our selves to make our dispatches to the King who in few dayes came to his old residence and new conquest where he receiv'd Crassolis into his former favor who made use of it according to his former practice You do perhaps think it strange that I found Altezeera so early in the Temple but I believe you will no longer when I acquaint you 't is the Armenian custom for the Bride to employ half the day of the Nuptials in Prayers and Divine Solemnities to render the gods propitious to the marriage Her first thus happily prevented I was a thousand times ready to implore her permission to beg her of her brother and when I had even supprest my fears and taken up a resolution for so transcendent a request I was diverted from it by the certain intelligence that Zenaxtus with an Army of 60000 men was marching towards Artaxata to recover or lose himself before it and that the Prince Tygranes was gone to Pompey the Great the Successor to Lucullus's Army and Fortune and by his prayers and assurances of a considerable Party's joining with him induced that great Captain for a time to suspend his prosecuting Mithridates to invade Armenia towards which the Roman Eagles were flying with great celerity Artabazus in this great exigency gave me the command of all the Armenian Militia and opening the publick Treasures left them to my dispose with which I immediately levy'd an Army to oppose Zenaxtus great enough to raise my hopes of relieving Anexander if living or of revenging him if dead I gave the gallant Phanasder Commission and Money to levy another to secure and defend the Passes on the Banks of Araxis where then Pompey was Campt till I had decided the dispute with Zenaxtus who was the nearest and the most pressing Enemy To be brief Phanasder who reign'd more in Artabazus's Subjects than he himself did over them so suddenly form'd his Forces that before I thought he had sent his inferior Officers to have rais'd them I learnt they were all ready and possest of the Armenian Frontiers For my particular with 6000 Horse and 24000 Foot I advanc'd to meet the Enemy he relying on his numbers and I on my quarrel and the virtue of those that fought in it we soon came to a Battel which lasted till night did the office of Trumpets and founded a retreat The advantages and the animosities of both Armies were so resembling that we soon found what call'd the Soldiers to rest was esteem'd by them an injury which the next morning was again evinc'd for they could no sooner see their enemies than they went to destroy them and though we omitted nothing of either side which might end the dispute before the day did yet I believe this had been the perfect Copy of the Precedent if an Accident as strange as the Battel had not put a period to it The Scene of this long Tragedy was at the foot of a great Hill which in our hottest dispute we saw cover'd with a great cloud of Cavalry that so terrifi'd both Armies not knowing to which of them the release was intended that whatever Zenaxtus and I could do all our Soldiers at first suspended their Swords as their thoughts then sheath'd them and by degrees return'd under their Ensigns thinking all dispute against so powerful a supply as vain as dangerous I was enrag'd to find that the faith of my Army for I was confident those Forces came to
the Augurs and Victimares the former bearing a Celestial Globe as a Badg of their Profession and the others some Sizers of Gold some Sacrificing Knives and some Axes of Silver as a Badg of theirs Those Youths which carried the Wine and Milk followed two and two in their places and order and last of all some Ten paces before Callimmachus who was followed at that distance by our Hero's there went the Virgin who was to deliver the Oracle She was bless'd with so much Beauty that she appeared a fit Servant for the Queen of it her Robes were as white as her thoughts the tresses of her Hair were so bright and long that they merited better to be converted into a Constellation than Berenices did they were tyed up with Delphian Lawrel and wreathed Garlands of the same crown'd her Head 't was in this order the generous troop arrived at the Temple whose Front extended it self from North to South a Hundred and fifty Geometrical Paces at whose extremities were two Pavilions whose Pinnacles seemed to lose themselves in the Clouds The Walls both of these and the Curtain were adorned with great Branches of Foliage carved in the stone and in a large Compartiment composed of Groteskery were seen Sphynxes Harpyes the Claws of Lyons and Tygers to evidence that within inhabited Mysteries and Riddles Over the Portal was a table adorned with a larger Compartiment wherein there was in big Letters of massy Gold inchased into a great square of Porphyre this Inscription THE TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS OF LOVE AND OF WHAT INSPIRES IT On each side of the Portal there arose from the Earth two square Basements the Plinth of each of them was beautified with Sculptures of great Relieve one of them was crowned with the Statue in Pharian Stone of the Boy the Goddess brought into the world And the other in Corinthian Stone of the Boy she loved best in it Our Hero's had hardly leisure to consider these few exterior imbellishments amongst so many others because Callimmachus having given the Signal the Sacrificers and Victimaries stopt their march and having ranged themselves and their victims on either side the way made a large one for their Prince who still followed by Artabbanes and Artavasdes went into the Quire of the Temple which immediately ecchoed with such divers and harmonious voices that for a while all their faculties resigned up their Functions to their hearing but that Sense at length resigned its empire to the Sight which wanting Parthenissa and Altezeera could not more nobly be entertained than in the adornings of the Temple The first Table was Venus ascension out of the Sea much more white than that froth the Poets say she was composed of Near this was a much larger where the happy Paris stood Judg of those Beauties whose perfections came in competition by that Apple given at Peleus wedding by the Goddess of Discord Never any Beauties more justly merited that name than those the Painter had exposed to the judgment of the happy Son of Hecuba but yet the Artist had so much given the preheminence to her to whom Paris did that he could not have declined doing so without being as blind as her Son Opposite to this Picture was the Goddess's falling in Love with the fair Anchises who grazing his Herds little thought how near he was possessing so much Beauty and being Father to a Son whose Sword was to conquer as many as his Mothers Eyes Near to this last Table was the Beautiful Son of Cinyras who Venus more admired than he did her and in the same Picture was contained all their Amours how she wept his being killed by the Boar or his being drown'd contemplating his own Beauty in the stream for of both those some learned Poets have sung Lastly her converting his dead body into an Annemine which she watered with her tears and who by death being rendered uncapable to reward her weepings by kissing them away seemed eternally to blush at so unfortunate an impotence In a word all the real or imaginary Loves of that bright Goddess were so well represented by the Artist that if she had no cause to blush for her electing the originals she had as little for avowing them in the Copy only indeed her unfortunate surprize in the Arms of Mars occasioned by a Passion as ugly as the Possessor of it was there purpofely omitted but the wound she received from the cruel Diomed was not esteeming it perhaps a greater glory to evince her blood gave a being to the lovely Rose than a shame or prejudice that a Deity could bleed But all these representations being rather evincements she was the Subject than the Goddess of Love in other Tables were the illustrations of that truth There our Princes saw the volatile Iupiter courting and possessing the fair Io the strange Metamorphosis the God made of her to conceal his Amours from the jealous Iuno how in spight of his disguise she discovered them then begs and obtained the transformed Io of her Lord who grants what he durst not refuse how the Nymph was committed by the suspicious Goddess to the care of Argus whose hundred Eyes were too vigilant for the offended god who to make those Sentinels sleep eternally that would not momentarily sends down Mercury who by the charms of his Musick ends his vigilance then with his Sword ends his Life how Iuno having first adorned the train of her own Bird with the Eyes of the unfortunate and faithful Argus to let her god understand she not only knew but could revenge his Murther makes Io as frantick as her jealousie had made her who yet runs with the same celerity over the world as she would to the embraces of her Iupiter The Painter in another side of the same Table shew'd how the Heifer flew to her Father Inachus into whose trembling stream she leaps to quench her heat and thirst from thence he makes her run into Egypt where she resumes her former shape by the permission of Iuno who had then received an assurance from Iupiter to abstain both from the desires and acts of love the grateful Io in her true shape returns to let her Father see it that he might participate in her joy as he did in her affliction which latter had so operated on him that he had wept himself so big he was unknowable to his Daughter as she had been to him but at length maugre their new disguises they knew each other and Io having performed this charitable duty returns again to the Banks of Nyle where her exteriour and intrinsecal Beauties made the People which drink of that Flood elect her for their Goddess under the name of Isis. In another Table was the same inconstant God fallen in Love with the fair Daughter of Lycaon King of Arcadia but knowing that wars of Love are different from all other since in those the conquest by yielding is more pleasing thâ—n that by force the god lays aside his power and
him but as believing it a Sanctuary which Prusias durst not violate for it was from the Romans he had received his Kingdom which he had forfeited to them by that assistance he had given Perseus King of Macedon whose Sister he had married But nothing being able to suppress the Tyrant's cruelty when the dictates of Nature could not he sent Minas to Rome to destroy that life there which the gods had so miraculously preserved in Bithynia But Minas when he was to act his treachery and had on purpose inveagled Nicomedes alone to walk on the banks of Tiber was so overcome with the Majesty of his Person and the charms of his Virtue that instead of executing his crime upon his Prince he revealed it to him and afterwards made him so clearly sensible of the great hazard he should constantly be in of losing his life if Prusias had power enough left to destroy it that he at length perswaded Nicomedes to go to Attalus and implore an Army able to bring Prusias to Reason Minas assuring him that as soon as he entred Bithynia he would bring him forces so considerable that Prusias should not be able to resist In brief all this was performed and after a long and intricate War Prusias scorning all accommodation was reduced to be King of nothing but the City of Nicomedia in which Minas had so good intelligence and so many friends that they admitted Nicomedes and his Army by night who before his entrance prohibited all violence or incivility to his Father upon pain of death But Prusias at the alarm fled in disguise towards the Temple of Iupiter for Sanctuary and being by the way met by some of Nicomede's Soldiers though he told them who he was was yet kill'd This news brought to Nicomedes he ran to the dead body embraced and wept over it punish'd exemplarily all the Soldiers which had had a hand in his death then gave him a Regal funeral and afterwards languished away his own life To him succeeded his Son Nicomedes sirnamed Philopater who no sooner came to the age of relishing a Scepter but his was forced from him by Socrates â—irnamed Chrestus his only brother and thereby necessitated to seek protection in Cappadocia under Ariobarzanes the King of that Country whose daughter he married and when she had presented him with a Son also called Nicomedes she engaged her Father in the War against Chrestus who being a greater Soldier than either Philopater or Ariobarzanes not only after a ten years War drove them out of Bithynia which they had invaded but also out of Cappadocia and forced both the Kings with the young Nicomedes to fly to Rome where some years they continued imploring a Roman Army for their restauration which they at length obtained The Generals were Mannius Aquilius and Lucius Cassius whose Armies being small they were ordered to demand an additional force from Mithridates Eupater who having privately agreed with Socrates to have Cappadocia if he would not assist the Romans in recovering Bithynia deny'd Cassius and Mannius his assistance who yet by that influence the banished Kings had over their Subjects defeated and killed Socrates in a furious Battel and re-seated Ariobarzanes and Nicomedes in those Thrones of which they had been so long and so unjustly deprived But the poor Philopater had no sooner received his Son from Rome whose youth was as promising as either his Parents or the Bithynians could desire but that his Queen died and that loss had so strong an operation upon him that he soon accompanied her and left Bithynia to Nicomedes my Father I have given you this little account of my family the crimes whereof though but inherent to one yet the misfortunes were to all to let you see that such as are eminent in Title are often so in afflictions that the gods by ruining the highest earthly felicities teach us thereby that they are not too solicitously to be prosecuted by those that want them nor to be rely'd on by those which possess them but that they ought to be considered as things which will leave us or must be left by us that we should be no more moved with the fruition than with the deprivation of them and that these just considerations might instruct us to fix upon that place where Fortune has no Empire and to which Vertue only has the title The Kingdom of Bithynia knew few Superlours in extent in fertility in the beauty and greatness of Cities or in the multiplicity of warlike Inhabitants when Nicomedes my unfortunate Father came to govern it and though he were a person replenished with all the realities and ornaments which makes one worthy to ascend a Throne and to be setled in it yet those Powers who from occult causes raise some to a Crown that deserve it not and tare the Scepter from some who deserve to hold it esteemed the unhappy Nicomedes a fit Subject on which to manifest the last of these truths and it was in this manner that they acted their decree When he came to ascend the throne by his Father's death it was in so early an age that he had a higher desire to observe how other Kings did rule their Subjects than he then had to rule his own or else he believed by having a personal inspection into the advantages and defects of the Regiment of others he might the more perfectly know how to carry on his own but from whatever principle it proceeded and whatever danger he incurred yet he was unmoveably fixt to visit in a disguise the Courts of such Princes in Asia whom same had most celebrated and therefore having intrusted his affairs at home to the Prince Astyages his Uncle and then apparent Successor a Person as eminent for the honest as the politick part of Government but so strict a Justiciar that he put his only Son to death for having violated a Law whose infringement was to be accompanied with that penalty he began his travels in an equipage fit to cloud the greatness of his real quality and yet sufficient to manifest he was of no inconsiderable one In brief after he had fruitfully visited all places fit for his curiosity or benefit he at length came to Mithridates Court then the most considerable of all others in every respect for though as then the Prince pharnaces the Prince Ataphernes the Princess Statira and the Princess Roxana were not come into the world yet there was such a confluence of other illustrious persons and beauties which composed it that Nicomedes was often heard say That to be one of that Court was as good as to be the chief of any other But that which raised this opinion in my Father was that the Pontick King who all the world knew was as violent as inconstant in his loves had then newly assumed a passion for the Princess Fontamyris who was only Heir to Cephines a Tributary-Prince unto him yet very considerable for his power and wisdom This Amour joyn'd with
justly famous This new Roman Army being come to Brundusium part of it with the Fleet which carried them was taken by Mithridates Fleet part of them perished in a storm part that were landed in Thessaly went to Scylla not being able to endure Flaccus his insolenâ—ies and the rest had done the like had not Fimbria by Reasons and Clemency hindred it which yet more incens'd Flaccus than if they had all abandoned him for by their so staying he found one that served under him had more power over his Army than he which engendred such animosities between them that Flaccus not only commanded Fimbria back to Rome but elected one Termus in his place which so enraged him that he took away the Fasces and Rods which were the Praetorian Ensigns as they were carried before Termus who fled to Flaccus for reparation The Consul hereupon commands his Soldiers to seize upon Fimbria who experimented their love was a better commission than the Senate without it could give for all the Army abandon'd Flaccus who was forced to fly to Chalcis whither Fimbria followed and at length found him hid in a Well from whence being taken out though he imploy'd Fimbria's pity even in tears yet he caused his head forthwith to be cut off and flung into the Sea though Flaccus was both Consul and General and Fimbria but a private Citizen But to repair so signal an affront to the Roman Empire he vigorously prosecuted Mithridate's friends which were the greatest enemies of it which he said was the end why the Army was sent out of Italy and which had thitherto been interrupted by the executed Consul's impertinency Amongst his many exploits one I cannot but mention which was his cruelty and treachery to the Illians for finding their strength might give his Romans as long a trouble as it once did the Grecians he left off force and flattered them so successfully under the name of Fathers of Rome that they admitted him into their City with his Army which he soon became Master of and destroyed all that was living in it thereby making crueltly silence many who would have otherwise reproached him with it nay the Images of the gods and the Temples in which they were adored participated of his fury which some thought they deserved for not better defending their votaries Only the Palladium which was sent the Trojans by Iupiter was preserved by miracle a Vault of the Temple giving it at once both a Tomb and safety so that Troy was more unhappy in her children than in her enemies Fimbria being worse unto her than Agamemnon or else her first death having given life to the greatest Empire in the World Fimbria would in gratitude thereunto make her still continue in that condition But Mithridates after the last signal defeat given Archilaus finding though Scylla and Fimbria were enemies to each other yet they were both so to him and believing the first of them wanted but an honourable pretence of leaving the Asian War to dispute the Empire of Rome with Marius and Cinna and to appease the manes of so many of his friends as had been murther'd by them as also fully convinced such a series of defeats had disenabled him from much longer continuing a War sent orders to Archilaus to endeavour a Peace with Scylla which after many a meeting at length at one between Scylla and Mithridates was concluded but on such advantagious conditions for the Romans that even the articles of the agreement were the manifestations of his conquest Scylla having so prosperously put a period to his Mithridatick War to leave all clear behind him went against Fimbria and summoned him to deliver up him his Armies being Proconsul of Asia to which Fimbria returning an high answer Scylla immediately besieged him and reduced him to so low a state that Fimbria hired a Slave to murther Scylla which being discovered all Fimbria's Army were so scandalized at it that many abandoned him and went to Scylla against whom Fimbria had done too much to expect his mercy and therefore contemning it when 't was offered upon the conditions of his departing into Italy and resigning up his Army he stole to Pergamus where in the Temple of Aesculapius he ran his Sword through his own body but finding the wound was not friendly enough to afford him a sudden death he commanded an infranchised Servant of his to dispatch him which he did and then with the same Sword followed him Thus Fimbria died whom the gods permitted to be as cruel to himself as he had been to others thereby manifesting to be so was as much his nature as it was his crime Immediately after his death all his Army yielded themselves to Scylla who received them with so much humanity that they found Fimbria in killing himself had obliged them as much as Scylla who having appointed Curio to resettle Nicomedes in Bithynia and Ariobarzanes in Cappadocia which was one of the Articles of the Peace and having the best he could calmed the differences in Asia and raised five years advance of tribute in all the Cities of it under his dominion which so impoverish'd them that they were necessitated to pawn their Amphitheatres their Town-houses and all their other publick places to enable them to pay it by the assistance of Mithridate's Galleys which also on the Peace were resigned to him he transported his Army first into Greece and thence into Italy which he filled with such confusions and with so many horrid murthers and proscriptions that to such as loved their Countrey death was no ill expedient to avoid beholding the miseries of it The Heavens by many Prodigies seemed to foretell those many others which men should act A Woman in Rome was delivered of a Serpent in stead of a Child The Earth by a furious shaking flung down many Statues and Temples of the gods And the Capitol that proud Fabrick built by so many Kings was consumed by lightning These and many others of the same nature were the actings and sufferings of that part of the World in which I spent my infancy and earliest youth which were the only times of all my life that I was free from the sense of misery which too I derived from Nature not from Fortune who had provided infelicities for me against my coming into the World sufficient to make me for ever detest it But having hitherto entertain'd you with accidents at large I shall now confine my relations to narrower limits being by this conjuncture of time arrived to an age capable of relishing happiness and misfortune to which latter only my stars had deâ—ign'd me In Miletus the place of my then residence there were several young Gentlemen of my age and believed-quality for I past still in the opinion of the World as well as in my own for the Son of Telamon with whom I learnt all those exercises as well of the mind as the body which Greece and the lesser Asia placed any value upon in which I had
the happiness to surpass my companions whose stupidity only I fear gave me that precedency But sometimes to divert our selves we used to hunt the wild Boar which was a Game that Countrey was but too fruitful in for often those furious Beasts when press'd by hunger or by those which pursued them would accompany their own deaths with some of their Hunters which made Telamon very unwilling to afford me often so dangerous adivertisement neither would he ever permit it me but accompanied by most of those young Gentlemen over whom my larger proficiency and the rate at which I lived which was eminent gave me some superiority He himself too keeping always by my side One day a hunting-match being agreed on we found a Boar of so immense a size and so largely arm'd with Tusks that the boldest of our Huntsmen would have willingly resign'd the hopes of the quarry to have avoided the danger of the chase had not the fear of shame been more prevalent than the fear of the Boar who having cast off all his followers but me for Telamon's Horse had strained himself so unhappily that he could no longer gallop the inraged beast took along a High-way which came out of a neighbour-wood at the next extremity whereof I perceived some Gentlemen and Ladies by the magnificence of whose equipage I easily judged were of no mean Quality The Boar not deterr'd at the sight of so much company boldly runs into the midst of them and thereby so terrified all the Horses that they fled back into the Wood where one of them cast his rider which the Boar no sooner perceived than he ran furiously to her Her great danger and her greater beauty invited my assistance which without balancing I ran to pay her but finding my Horse might offend her whom I intended to protect I leap'd off of him and with a Javelin in my hand I placed my self between that beauty and the danger which threatned her and darted my Javelin so happily at the Boar that piercing him through and through it put some stop to his course and gave me leisure to draw my Sword with which during his amazement I ran him in at the mouth and sheath'd the blade of it in his body which though it gave him his death's wound yet before he died with one of his Tusks he struck me into my left side so deep and so very near my heart that his not having done me more harm could not be so strange as the grief which invaded the beauty I had delivered was that he had done me so much I had that consolation and misfortune together to observe she was more concerned in my danger than she had been at her own thereby evincing I had freed her from one trouble but to cast her into a greater Never beauty had so many surprizing charms as that of the fair Monyma which yet received some little accession by the condition and dress she was in For her shape and stature which was capable of no addition was perfectly discovered to the obliged and ravish'd sight by the clothes she then wore which were such as the goddess Diana is represented with in her celebrated Temple of Ephesus when in dreams she manifested her self on Latmus to the sleepy Endymion that little paleness which her danger and disorder disobliged her with was yet so well repaired by the reflection of some falls of carnation-feathers which shadowed her face that she seemed to be no loser thereby In a word she was such as made me more apprehend a wound from her than that I had already received In the amazement of that silent Fear the fair Monyma came to me and perceiving my clothes all bloody she told me I fear Sir your highest civility has involved you in a resembling danger but believe me your having so freed me from trouble has made me a great sharer in yours Madam I replyed sensibly moved with so much obligingness you might much sooner ascribe the small service I have paid you to my duty than my civility for 't was but just I should free you from that hazard I only had occasioned and if any thing troubles me in this performance 't is only from its looking so much like my debt that it leaves you no rise to attribute any part of it to my inclinations which Madam are such for your service as they would joyfully manifest themselves by courting danger though it were as high as that goodness which makes you so sympathize in mine I had hardly strength enough to speak these words neither was I able to make an end of them without leaning upon my Sword which being too weak a support I fell at Monyma's feet who by a great shriek acquainted me her trouble at it was the like As soon as her grief permitted her reason to act she perceived a spring of blood issuing out of my side and believing that ebullition occasioned my fainting she tore off some of her linnen and by holding it to the orifice of the wound endeavoured to stop the bleeding But though her care was strangely kind yet it had been fruitless if her reiterated cryes had not drawn a Gentleman to her assistance who having learnt the cause of her concernment for me afforded me so much of his that by it and the help of a Chyrurgeon which happily waited on him my wound was dress'd and my senses restored The Stranger whose care and civility had so largely contributed thereunto immediately came and made me such signal and handsom acknowledgments for what I had done for the lovely Monyma that I concluded by the greatness of his gratitude his concerns for her were not little and though his riper years might well have exempted me from certain emotions I never till then was acquainted with and knew not whilst they disordered me what they were or from whence they proceeded yet after they ceas'd which they did not till Monyma her self told me he was her Father I found they proceeded from a small jealousie to the cause of which I was so meer a stranger that I knew not even enduring the effect of love that I was at all engaged in that noble passion But as soon as ever I understood Philopomenes relation to the beauty I admired I made him such humble retributions that he protested my civility had as much confin'd him to be my friend as the service I had done his daughter and to manifest his care of me was greater than mine of my self he forced me from an entertainment which I esteemed more pleasing than that recovery the Chyrurgeon assured him it was an enemy unto and putting me into his Chariot for though he and the fair Monyma rid when I met them yet it was only the better to enjoy the freshness of the morning he accompanied me to my House in Miletus notwithstanding all my reiterated Prayers to hinder it By the way I met the afflicted Telamon who by the immense sorrow he assumed at my danger
had then made me conclude him my Father had I formerly doubted it I will exempt you from the relation of those visits I received from Philopomenes during my indisposition or from those many inquiries made after my health by his fair Daughter on whom when I was restored to mine I waited so constantly that Telamon began to fear I did it upon some more pressing invitation than bare civility That which made me the more openly make my addresses to Monyma was the then believed equality of our conditions for she was the Daughter of an Ephesian Lord who had so detested Mithridate's cruelty that though by his Commission he was made Governour of Ephesus yet he had invited and perswaded the City to declare against him which injury he apprehended Mithridates would revenge being enabled thereunto by the fresh agreement concluded with the Romans who for the most part were returned with Scylla to rob Italy of that peace they had left Asia in And that his Countrey might not be involved in his misfortunes or occasioned by him he had left Ephesus and retired to Miletus whose strength he thought would prove a better Sanctuary But if Telamon had cause to suspect I had a passion for Monyma this which I am now telling gave him a certainty of it The City of Miletus was in ancient times besieged by a barbarous Prince who having by their obstinacy endured much loss resolved to repair it by the ruin of the place but being informed that amongst the besieged there was a Virgin of such excellent beauty that Nature never had obliged the World with the like this Barbarian desired and obtained a sight of her from off the Walls which so inflamed him that he esteemed to conquer her was a happier Victory than to conquer Miletus so that when the Citizens despaired of safety he sent them word If they would deliver up to his pleasure the fair Cyaxara he would forthwith raise his Siege and never more present himself before their Walls This Nymph having as much Resolution as Beauty devoted her self as a Sacrifice to save her Countrey and only tied the Tyrant to suspend the acting of his lust till she was out of the Territories of Miletus that her people might not behold but only enjoy the advantage of her shame This Contract being made the fair Cyaxara was delivered up to her Ravisher and abandoned her friends with more constancy and resolution than they were Masters of when she did so The next night after he had got out of the agreedâ—on limits he determined to enjoy the reward of the War but instead thereof the vertuous Cyaxara had prepar'd for him the reward of his sin for when he was come into her bed in the height of his Wine and Lust with a Poniard she had conceal'd she pierc'd his heart at which unexpected stroke he utter'd so loud a cry that many of his chief Officers who were in the next room ran to his assistance but it was too late for his black soul had forsaken his guilty body And Cyaxara hearing a throng of people coming into her Chamber with the same weapon all reeking with the Tyrant's blood with which she had preserved her self from the lust of one of her Enemies she preserved her self from the revenge and fury of the rest The death of this Monster occasion'd so many divisions in his Army that thereby Miletus was preserved from the fury of it whose Inhabitants in commemoration of the fair Cyaxara's Gallantry ordained a yearly Festival should be for ever celebrated for their deliverance and for those eternal joys her Virtue had invited the gods to crown her with and that this day might be observed with more solemnity the Magistrates of the City gave the fairest Diamond they could buy to the best Tilter who was to present it to the greatest Beauty in the Assembly and who during that year was to be called Cyaxara This signal day being come and believing my self able enough to manage a Horse and handle a Lance I begg'd Telamon to permit me to be one of the Tilters which he assented unto and it being the first time of my appearing in arms he so beautified mine with Jewels of inestimable value that they drew the eyes of all the people on me at my entrance into the Lists as much as my success did when I went out to present the reward of it to the fair Monyma who was seated upon a Scaffold with others of her Sex who were of highest quality at that meeting As soon as I came to the foot of that Scaffold I allighted from my Horse and having begged and obtained the Ladies permission to ascend it I presented Monyma with that Diamond I had won and told her This Madam which my Fortune has given me my Justice humbly pays unto you I should be as blind as that power from whom only I derive my Victory did I any other way employ the acquisitions of it for 't is so much your Right that to have declin'd presenting it to you had been to have broke the Laws of this solemn meeting This little Complement put Monyma into a small Disorder which having something conquer'd she repli'd That Callimmachus which your merit has given you your civility has presented me but indeed you had but this way of imploying your success to make me think you deserved it not All these Ladies turning to those that were near her will have cause to desire the perpetual extinction of this festival when it furnishes an occasion of acting so high an injustice for 't is as much so to decline making your present to any of them as to confer 't upon me I shall never Madam I repli'd have a belief opposite to the fair Monyma's when her modesty does not form hers but then I must beg her pardon if to avoid the greater offence I commit the less neither do I think these Ladies can esteem me unjust the most they can believe is that I am unfortunate in having a success which confined me to disoblige so many to do right to one since none could have had my power that could justly otherwise have imploy'd it Whilst I was thus discoursing a Gentleman called Diocles who that day I had dismounted in the Tilting came to the Foot of the Scaffold where his Mistris was to whom he apprehended I would have given the prize for 't is none of the least miracles in Love that every one believes the Author of his is the handsomest where finding himself deceived his jealousie turned to anger and he was no more troubled at his first belief than he now was at what had displaced it The beauty he serv'd was called Irene who yielded to none but Monyma she was blest with as many graces of the mind as of the body and therefore had no inclination to receive the addresses of Diocles who had nothing considerable but his extraction his riches and his courage the last of which had been so often
lost too much already and the Ghost of my Brother seems to reproach me for that remissness which my respect to you has made me guilty of to him Permit me therefore he continued advancing nearer the Princess to lead you from a sight which might but heighten your displeasure Touch me not said the fair Statira thy seeming care of me is a real cruelty to me Those impious hands which are to be imbrued in Callimachus's blood must not give me any assistance or if thou hast a respect for me shew it in obeying my Commands or in granting my desires of desisting from a Crime the gods will punish if Men would not Remember the condition thou art now in flying from Mithridates's justice which may make thee rationally fear thou may'st one day feel the highest effects of it Desist from this wickedness and I will engage to procure thee my Father's pardon not only a forgiveness for thy self but for all thy Companions and the remittal of all your Forfeitures Consider what it is to be eternally banish'd from your native Country from your Friends and from all that is dear unto you and to become Vagabonds eternally confin'd to an Element as merciless as thy self for Nicomedes has no place but his Navy on which to set his Foot I do not conjure thee not to bring me to thy King Keep me as Hostage there till what I have promised be performed I ask not for my self I ask for him who in serving me is render'd for ever unable to serve himself Thou needest but not to be wicked to be happy abstaining from one intended Crime shall procure thy patdon for every one thou hast acted No man except thy self but would lose all he has rather than perform that Sin which to buy thee from I offer thee all that thou hast lost But if all my commands my desires and my offers move thee not as I fear they will not for he that is Deaf to Virtue probably will be so to all things else carry thy Rage to the highest add to the Barbarity of giving new Wounds to a generous Person that is Dead and to the forcing away thy King's Daughter that of shedding her blood also for thy Sword can no way be so sensible to me as to see it employ'd against him Can you Madam possibly believe replyed the Nicomedian after having unmovedly heard all your Commands and with disdain pardon me if I must say so all your offers that only an Inhuman desire to shed Blood and not a virtuous Revenge inspires my now resolution And since I am acted by such a Principle in the name of all the gods Madam do no longer fruitlesly endeavour to hinder its effects were Callimachus as much Alive as you would perswade me he is Dead and from my own being Alive would thence have assured me he is Dead were he I say in the condition you wish him possibly his Courage would not have so long protected him as my respect to you has done He that at the Head of a victorious Army could not force a weak House till my Companions fear did more for him than his own Valour is not an Enemy so much to be fear'd as you would have me fear him nor a Friend so much to be esteemed as I perceive he has the honour to be esteemed by you Whilst the Princess continued Callimachus was by more than a Human goodness employing her words for one so highly unworthy of them Nerea had not only stopt the bleeding of that great Wound I had in my Side but also by casting water upon my Face and by several other things practised to one in a Swoon brought me out of that which too much Motion and too little Blood had cast me into and I was no sooner come to my self than confusedly remembring the danger the fair Statira had been in and not being able to imagine what the result of it had been fetching a deep groan Oh gods said I What is become of the Princess Those few words I spoke just as the Nicomedian had ended what I last related and were no sooner heard by him than crying out aloud Madam Does your Dead man speak He at the saâ—â— time struck a furious blow at me and said Take that as a Present sent thee from the Manes of my Brother The violence of the stroak was broken by the interposition of the Princess who finding now my Enemy had lost all respect to her and was carried away by a Deaf fury to my immediate destruction began now to conclude I should immediately be what she but fear'd I had been Nerea the better to afford me her help had set me up against the Stern of the Barge the place in which my strength had so fatally left me which was so narrow that whilst the Princess stood before me none could come on either side to me so that all the blows made at me were over her shoulder therefore more offensive to me being hinder'd at that price than had they all taken an unobstructed effect The Nicomedian's words and actions made me soon imagine what was doing and therefore looking about for my Sword more to punish his insolence to Statira than to defend or revenge my self I endeavour'd to get up but my Treacherous weakness cast me down again and left me to the rage of an insulting Enemy to which I had then been sacrificed had not the fair Statira by a prodigious Cruelty to her self finding all other ways unsuccessful cast her self upon me and by covering me with her Body render'd it an impossibility for the Nicomedian but by her Death to act mine Nerea also seizing with all her strength upon his Legs did so intangle him that he was not able to move one step to force Statira from the posture she was in This made him call to some of his Soldiers to tear that impediment from him and that safety from me who by striving to get up had open'd my Wound again and had thereby repeated my former fainting and therefore was not sensible either of my danger or of the felicity by which yet I was preserved from it The way of it being infinitely fuller of satisfaction than the end The Nicomedian's Soldiers ran to obey their Captain's command and having with much difficulty forced Nerea from from his Knees and with infinitely more rudeness forced the Princess off me lifting his Eyes up to Heaven and his Sword into the Air He cryed out Brother dear Brother accept of this Sacrifice the least that I owe thee and the greatest I can pay thee Statira by a loud shriek endeavour'd to stop his lifted-up Arm from falling on me or by it endeavoured to honour and lament my Death when on a sudden instead of seeing * the Nicomedians's Sword fall upon my Head she saw it fall out of his Hand and him soon after Dead at her Feet Possibly generous Princes continued Callimachus never any Man was so near Death and so strangely escaped it
retired to the Island of Scyros and left those five Galleys I had mentioned engaged against one single Egyptian Galley Which though it defended it self with much Resolution yet I saw at last those in it did not more deserve than need my assistance I therefore hastned to afford it them A young Gentlemen of that Nation and of the colour of those Inhabitants in splendid Arms so animated his both by words and by Example that in his Valour only the hopes and life of their Party consisted The Enemy observing my Approach offer'd him all honourable Quarter and though he was Courted by many Civilities to accept it yet he declined it in words which testified his Resolution as much as his Defence had done And by that time I had joyned his Galley I heard the end of the young Egyptian's Reply which he finisht in these words That it was an unavoidable Fate for every man once to Die but he did not think it was the like for Gallant Men once to yield This generous Answer in my judgment made him and his the more worthy of my assistance which I presented him with such Success that he was soon in a condition to afford his Enemies those Civilities which he had so lately refused to receive from them By that time I came into his Galley to congratulate his Success and give his Valour those Elogies it merited I found him weltring in abundance of Blood which he had drawn from others and lost himself The taking off his Helmet to give him Air discover'd a Face as remarkable for the noble features of it as any I ever saw and which though black and in the Arms of Death retained Charms enough to make me admire it I gave all my Chirurgeons express and repeated Orders concerning him and though I strictly examined all his Soldiers who he was yet none of them would or could satisfie my Curiosity protesting they had never seen him before that Morning in which by the Egyptian Vice-Admiral he was put to Command that Galley upon the Death of the late Captain of it But continued Callimachus I doubt generous Princes my concernment for this eminent Stranger has too long carried me away from the direct Sequel of my Relation which therefore having begg'd your pardons for I will re-assume by telling you That several of the Cyprian Commanders which had fled under my Flags to avoid the Cappadocian King 's Navy assur'd me that their own Prince was fallen dead on his Deck ere Ariobarzanes had taken him and that his last words were It more troubles me to lose my Flag than my Life His last consideration being so worthy of an Adorer of my Princess made me Celebrate his Fall with a grief as real as great and the abhorred Name of a prevailing Rival hinder'd not my paying his Merits the acknowledgments due to his Title and Unhappiness I offer'd all those Cyprian Commanders to employ my whole Fleet to recover his Body that those which could not Conquer him whilst alive might not possess him when dead But they all assur'd me he was past recovery as well out of the Enemies hands as out of the hands of Death for they had seen the Cappadocian Admiral carry under the Castle in the Island of Scyros the Cyprian Admiral 's Galley in which their dead King and General 's Body was This loss appearing past remedy I went to enquire how the generous Nicomedes was and how my Physician and Chirugeon's care of him had succeeded but alas I still found him in that swoon in which I had left him and in so little hopes of Life that hardly any misery had befaln me in the whole course of my own had been more intolerable or sensible to me But those about him either as it was their belief or else to lessen that grief which his condition so visibly invaded me with assuor'd me he was Alive and that none of those Wounds they had sounded appear'd mortal so that his Escaping was not only possible but hopeful And though these words were very welcome to me yet the gods were pleas'd to send me something else which was much more for even whilst I was under my fears of his Death by a deep Sigh and opening of his Eyes he manifested he had Life The eminent generosity of this Prince to all men and the particular effects of it to me which also were in some measure the Causes of his then Condition gave me as high a satisfaction as my sorrow for him had been before both which could not have been more sincere and eminent had I then known the Relation I had unto him And because the motion of the Sea and the small accommodations in a Galley were incommodious if not dangerous to him I forthwith sent a Trumpet on Shore to Ariobarzanes with this Letter Callimachus to the King of Cappadocia I Was till even now in no small apprehensions that I should have done that to you which now upon the score of your Generosity I will hope for from you and by sending to you the Body of Nicomedes have expected from you the Body of Ascanius But the gods having restor'd your great Friend to Life and my best Physicians and Chyrurgeons giving me more than hopes of his Recovery I was unwilling to keep so welcome an assurance from you I believe you will not esteem the Restauration of the Princess Statira and the Prince Pharnaces too disproportionate an exchange for him I have therefore sent this Letter to propound it to you And because 't is below the generous Ariobarzanes to detain the body of a dead Enemy or receive any exchange for it I will with Certainty wait for those effects therein that his Virtue will give me which cannot be greater than my esteem of it and confidence in it I was necessitated both to cloud my passion and not to appear too unworthy of Mithridates his trust to add Pharnaces to the exchange of Nicomedes and only to mention the name of my Princess without particularizing those inducements for her deliverance which her Innocence her Beauties and other admirable persections might have excessively furnishâ— me with Whilst my Trumpet was going and returning I was visited by the Cilician and Phoenician Admirals who in such humble and moving Expressions evidenced their sorrow for coming some hours too late that I was more troubled to console them than I had been at their absence which was occasion'd by an unhappy Difference had fallen out between the Chiefs of both their Countreys which had already drawn some Blood and they doubted would draw more ere it was extinguished Nay they had not now come but that a religious Person who for being such was eminent to both their Nations represented to them That whilst they strove about what was doubtful they acted a Certain evil by employing those Forces against each other which were mutually engaged to serve Mithridates This being spoken from so reverend a Person produced this effect That they all unanimously
his name recorded had not the consolation long to out-live his and Spartacus's revenge yet before his death he gave Castus who was most earnest after it so many wounds that he made him Canitius's companion as well in Death as Infidelity and sent him to learn in the other world the punishment which attends the being treacherous in this But though the beginner of this generous Action found his own end in it yet it had so strange an influence over all those which were ignorant of Canitius's designes that in imitation of Euriles having chang'd their disorder into resolution they oppos'd all those which were not of their opinions so that the numbers being almost equally divided there began a most bloudy dispute and the Romans had that satisfaction to see those Swords which were design'd for their ruine employ'd to ruine those which had that design But whilst the Honest and the Traytors were thus engag'd one against another Crassus being inform'd that Canitius and Castus were dead to whom only he had past his word came and ended both their differences by ending all their Lives which was no small satisfaction to my Prince's marty'rd Friends to see those which their companions fought for to become the punishers of their Treachery But continu'd Symander you wonder perhaps why Spartacus all this while was idle but your admiration may cease when I inform you that the Fates either not to see so unparalell'd a Treachery or to contribute towards it had on a suddain rais'd so thick a Mist for above a quarter of an hour that my Prince by the uncouthness of the ground advancing slowly with his Battalion could not possibly see what had happen'd and perhaps had longer continu'd in his ignorance had not a Trooper which escap'd the Enemy come full speed and aloud advertis'd him of those events which I have told you but not of their cause and immediately after as if that Mist had been purposely sent to contribute to his ruine and then to shew him the greatness of it it suddainly broke up and discover'd the cruel execution the Romans had made and their Army in all its Glory marching a precipitate pace to Charge us Gods what courage but Artabanes had not been startl'd under such misfortunes but his was so far from being thereby impair'd that it increast and turning to those that follow'd him he encourag'd them both by his words and then by his example for advancing some hundr'd paces before all the rest he call'd Crassus out resolving as the Romans had by accident depriv'd his Army of a Wing so he would by his valour deprive theirs of its Head At this Summons two of Crassus valiantest Centurions successively came out of their ranks to my Prince and by a fatal counterfeiting were render'd for ever uncapable of deluding him again Crassus perceiving by those examples what his own Fate had been had his Valour resembl'd theirs declin'd what he was going to undertake and to disguise his fear commanded his Army to cut in pieces all the Reliques of those Slaves for those were his words But why do I dwell so long on so sad a subject let it suffice I tell you that Spartacus was become so horrible by the being cover'd with his Enemies bloud that his Presence was as much apprehended as his Sword that in his was verified the Fable of Anteus recovering strength by his very falls that he never won so much Glory in all his victories as in that defeat and that he perform'd such prodigious exploits that I absolutely believe had he been blest but with twenty of his humour and resolution their valours had supply'd the losses of Canitius Treachery but at length those Divisions he had left being infinitely over-numbred dishearten'd and pierc'd in several places were totally routed and most of the◠cut in pieces Spartacus perceiv'd it and might have avoided so general a Fate but scorning to out-live a loss which he thought would have render'd him worthy of it and observing a Roman who had that fatal day made himself admirably remarkable by his courage he seiz'd upon one of those many Horses which were without Masters and taking a Javelin in his hand he ran full speed after him and having overtaken him alone in the Grove in the midst whereof was a little Meadow fit for his purpose he cry'd out to his valiant Enemy To me to me brave Roman I am Spartacus and seek but a gallant Sword to cure this days misfortune 'T is thee I seek the other briskly reply'd and since thou hast thought me sit to end thy sufferings I should be very unwilling to have thee mistaken in thy choice thereupon they both leapt a Ditch into that little Meadow where having fetcht as long a Career as the place would permit they fell upon each other with more futy than two opposite Storms and their Javelins flying into the Air into a thousand shivers they drew their Swords to supply that loss and to end their combate or their Lives and truly they were so intent upon each others ruine that 't is a miracle they did not mutually act it above a quarter of an hour the dispute was so equally ballanc'd that detesting the faithfulness of their Armours they were often upon the point of moving a truce till they had taken them off but so long to be idle appear'd a greater difficulty than to cut them in pieces in the fight at last my Prince enrag'd that posterity should know one single Sword ended a life which that day had divers times forced a passage through a thousand recollecting all the strength which his Grief and Rage could inspire him with struck his valiant Enemy so furious a blow that cleaving his shield in two it did the like unto the Gorget and made a wound upon the height of his Shoulder He on the other side enrag'd at a resistance which till then he had never found to be only vanquish'd when all the Army he fought in was victorious and to leave so liberal a gift unrepaid stiffening himself upon his Stirrups and inflaming himself with those thoughts by an unresistable reverse which though it glanc'd upon my Princes shield yet afterwards lighting upon his Helmet cleft it in two and left his Head and Face unguarded and uncover'd which his Enemy perceiving and as the gods would have it knowing perfectly those unequall'd Features though his Sword were in the Air to prosecute the advantage my Princes perfidious Armour had given him yet he suspended it there and by crying out Great gods is it not Artabanes that I see not only hinder'd Spartacus by that example and those words from giving him a blow whose strength had render'd it unavoidably fatal to the Receiver but also made him say who ever thou art if thou be'st a friend to 〈◊〉 Romans kill me as Spartacus and if thou be'st a friend to me kill me as Artabanes for this days misery will make the granting that request the highest proof thou