this Sword shall instantly end your life He then proceeded to declare his transcendant passion for her and uses all manner of inducements to bring her to his will tells her That her beauty is the cause of this misfortune that he had considered the fatal event of it but yet had rather endure the greatest torments yea death it self than not to fulfil his desire says he I have debated even in my Soul What wrong what shame what sorrow it will breed But nothing can my furious Love controul Or stop the headlong current of its speed Although repentant Tears insue the deed Together with reproach and enmity Yet I must needs imbrace my infamy He speaks her fair and then intermixes threats but seeing her readier to imbrace death than him rather willing to lose her life than honour he adds disgrace to fear and tells her he would first kill her and then stab a slave and lay him naked by her so that it should be certainly believed she was slain in the very act of adultery Lucrece says he this night I must enjoy thee If thou deny then force must work my way For in thy bed I purpose to destroy thee And then some wretched slave of thine I 'le slay To kill thine honour with thy lives decay And in thy dead arms I resolve to place him And swear I slew him finding thee imbrace him See how this villain threatens to bereave her of her honour that he may thereby bereave her of it Lucretia thus assaulted makes many compassionate pleas in defence of her chastity upbraids him with his unreasonable and brutish lust adjures him by all manner of Arguments not to use violence against a poor weak woman but nothing she could say had the least influence upon him She him conjures by fear of Heaven above By her untimely tears her husbands love Quoth she Reward not hospitality And Friendship with such wicked treachery Think but how vile a spectacle it were Did thy crime in another man appear If ever man was mov'd with womans moans Be moved with my tears my sighs my groans Melt at my tears and be compassionate Some pity enters at an iron gate Thou seem'st not what thou art a God a King. For Kings like Gods should govern every thing Have done quoth he my uncontroulled tyde Turns not but swells the higher by this let Small lights are soon blown out huge fires abide And with the wind in greater fury fret And putting his words into act he first gag'd and then ravished her notwithstanding the utmost resistance she could possible use so that she forcibly yielded to Sextus prevailing lust who having obtained his will goes away over-joyed and returns to the Camp Triumphant while the most unhappy Lucretia remains overwhelmed with grief She sends to her Father Spurius Lucretius and her husband that they would instantly repair to Collatia with two or three of their most assured Friends since a most unfortunate and grievous accident had befallen her They make speed to come and bring Publius Valerius and Lucius Junius Brutus along with them They find Lucretia in a very desolate condition who upon their coming into her Chamber burst out into a floud of Tears Her husband asked her art thou not well my Dear No said she how can that woman be well who hath lost her Chastity the signs of another man O dear Collatine are yet to be seen upon the bed yet is my body only violated my mind is still guiltless of which my death shall be an undoubted evidence but first give me your hands and solemn promises that you will not suffer the Adulterer to go unpunished Sextus Tarquin is the man who like an enemy rather than a Guest came last night armed to my bed and thence forced pleasures which if you are men of courage may prove as fatal to him as they are like to be to me They all one after another engaged to revenge the injury she had received and endeavoured to comfort and perswade her grieved soul that she was altogether innocent and the guilt lay only upon the Ravisher and that her mind not her body could only commit the offence and where was no consent there was no crime Do you says she consider what the Ravisher deserves for though I absolve my self from the crime yet I will not be free from the punishment Nor shall any unchast woman ever plead hereafter that Lucretia was an Example of lendness to her And then proceeded to this purpose And what could unfortunate Lucretia do If she had died that she might have lived Chast you would have thought her slain for having been unchast O most cruel Law of Honour which savest not the innocent A Law never descended from Heaven but came from the deepest Abyss of Hell I who would have my honesty proclaimed to all have more studied glory than chastity and whilst I was ambitious of the name of Chast I am with infamy become unchast I was inforced to chuse life that I might preserve my honour and by my living I have lost it I am resolved to dye if not for what hath already befallen me at least for what may hereafter happen to me But what then If I die I shall seem to acknowledge I have done amiss they will say my guilty conscience kill'd me If I live you will believe I have done so too and say I consented out of two much love of life O of all others the most unfortunate Lucretia whose innocence neither life nor death can justify This Soul O Collatine whose delight was chastity abhors now that body which is polluted and as being wholly thine cannot indure to have any longer a being since I can no more be only thine The wicked Ravisher did never prostitute me it was not Lucretia it was a Carcase for the Soul is not where it consents not sin is the off-spring of the will not of the body where consent is not there is no sin yet I think my self worthy of death ' cause he desired and blame my self though faultless because I pleased him O Beauty perniciously coveted by our unsound minds O frail and fading vanity of the body whereby the eternal beauty of the Soul is clouded they which are endowed with you either sin with you or cause others to sin by you But what was there in me that incouraged this vile miscreant to commit so great a crime perhaps my honesty which he thought greater than others Most sacred Honesty art thou then become an incitement to lust and instead of defending dost thou offend Instead of bridling unlawful desires dost thou provoke to fury and violence His cruel heart that delights only to kill the innocent is likewise a receptacle of wicked lust that covets none but the Chast To attain what they desire is not that which the Tarquins desire they find no pleasure where they use no force and like lightning rend and destroy most where they meet most resistance And whither can
whose mercy and goodness endures forever The people were even transported with joy at this unexpected deliverance and seeing the dismal head only by torch-light were almost perswaded it was but a dream But that the multitude which saw the same thing confirmed them their eyes were not deluded They therefore shouted with praises to the God of Heaven the only worker of Miracles and then turning to Judith they gave her a thousand thanks and blessings for being the instrument of so marvellous a salvation that day Then Ozias the Prince of the people of Israel in Bethulia spake thus to her Blessed be you O Daughter and most excellent above all the women in the Earth and praised be the great Creator of Heaven and Earth who hath assisted your Victorious arm for the destruction of the principal of our Enemies whereby you have rendred your name immortal to all ages to come and shall be had in admiration by all that have any sense of the wonderful works of God while the world endures since none can forget how little you valued your own life and honour so that you might thereby free your Nation from the inevitable ruin which seemed to hang over their heads After this Achior was called to whom shewing the head of Holofernes and assuring him that what he had affirmed of the might power of the God of Israel was now fully verified since he that had vowed their total desolation was now no more and their great Commander Holofernes was himself without a head Achior was even astonisht at her words and action and with the surprize fell down into a swound but at length recovering he threw himself at her feet with so much reverence as was near to adoration and by her means was more confirmed in the true Religion and he with all the people shouted and gave glory to God with a loud voice Judith to perfect her Conquest advised the people to place the head upon one of the highest Towers of the City and in the morning to make a salley out upon the Assyrians who at the alarum would presently run to the Tent of Holofernes to awake him and finding what had happened would be extreamly amazed and sell their lives at a cheap rate and might be pursued and utterly destroyed out of all their Coasts with very little damage to themselves This was put in execution and the Captains instantly repaired to the Generals Tent to receive orders desiring Bagoas the Eunuch to wake their Lord since the Israelitish slaves had presumed to make a sally upon them tho to their own destruction The Eunuch after long tarrying at last ventred in and coming near the bed and hearing no body stir he at length opened the curtains thinking he had still slept with Judith but instead thereof found the dead body cast on the floor and his head taken from him At this fight he cryed out aloud and became so furious that he rent his cloths and went in a rage to Judiths apartment threatning her with a thousand deaths but missing her there he sent out many frightful Schreeches among the People and declared aloud That the Slaves had dealt treacherously with them and that one Hebrew woman had brought shame and confusion upon the House of Nebuchadnezzar who had slain Holofernes and left his carcase without a head All ran to behold this dismal Spectacle and the whole camp was filled with horror astonishment and despair Tears and howling had taken possession of the whole Army when at the same time the head of Holofernes appeared upon one of the Towers of Bethulia which so astonished the Assyrians that they fled and scattered themselves round about the City every one seeking safety in running away and none durst trust another The Israelites pursued with all manner of briskness and vigor making a great noise that their number might appear considerable though there needed no great force to vanquish run-a-ways All the neighbouring Cities came in to take part of the spoil and to pillage their routed enemies whom they cut off with a most dreadful slaughter and the booty in the Camp was so prodigious that the people were thirty days in dividing it The rich moveables of Gold Silver Pearls and Jewels found in Holofernes Tent were all presented to Judith with the praises and acclamations of the multitude who unanimously applauded her as the glory of Jerusalem the joy of Israel the honour of her people the gallant woman the chast and valiant Princess by whose hand God had done great things in delivering his people and whose fame should live to eternal Ages The women of Israel likewise assembled themselves to meet and bless her dancing before her with branches of Olive in their hands whereof they composed a Garland which they put upon her head and then Judith leading the dance before them proceeded toward her own house all the men of Israel following in their armour with garlands on their heads and songs in their mouths Judith likewith made the following song of Praise and Thanksgiving which all the people sang after her SIng to the Lord my God sing praise A new Psalm to him sing Exalt his glorious name always He is our God and King. The Armies he to pieces breaks Of those that are his Foes He me delivered from their hands Who did me round inclose Assur with thousands from the North Came Israel to assail And by his multitudes did not doubt Against them to prevail He boasted he our Towns would burn And our young men destroy Women and Virgins ravish and Our Infants make a prey But they have disappointed been By the Almighty Lord. A womans hand did them withstand They fled with one accord Their Great Commander did not fall By any Giants power 'T was Judiths beauty him inthrall'd And brought his fatal hour For her oppressed people she Her mourning laid aside And to surprize his amorous eyes Her Person beautified Her Charms over his Soul prevail'd And ravished his sight He 's made a Prisoner to her face She is his Hearts delight The Sword quite through his neck did pass And parted it asunder The Persians at her boldness quake The Medes thereat did wonder Th' Afflicted then did shout for joy Thy weak Ones cry'd aloud The Foes astonisht were ' cause God Had overthrown the proud The Young men have them pierced through And wounded them in Fight The Fugitives fiercely they pursue And slay their men of Might I unto God new Songs will sing O Lord thou art most Glorious In power thou art Wonderful Invincible Victorious Let all the Creatures worship thee At whose word made were they At thy voice they created were None thee can disobey The Fountains shall be mov'd at thee The Rocks shall melted be Yet merciful thou art to those That serve and worship thee All Sacrifice and Offerings Unto thee are but small But those that fear the Lord their God To Honour he will call Wo to the Nations that advance Themselves
unfortunate Lucretia go for revenge To the Kings Family It is they have injur'd me To my own Friends It is I have injured them O ye Gods of Hospitality it is you I call upon but to what purpose call I on you since you have permitted it Revenge me you Infernal Powers but why invoke I you since you were his assistants in this horrid crime I my self will revenge my self and will by my own death take greater vengeance on this my Enemy than by living I will dye not to lessen my own faults but to aggravate his villany not because I have sinned but to shew that she did not subject her self to sense who voluntarily deprives her self of sense I will die that I may not live in such wretched times that make life a shame and to be born is the greatest misfortune my fall shall ease your thoughts and make my revenge happy and I who will not live an example of dishonour to Women will die an example of courage to men Ah poor Lucretia what a cruel Guest Didst thou receive How was thy House unblest And by mistake how sadly didst thou prove Thy Table fed a Serpent not a Dove As she uttered these last words she plunged a knife into her breast and fell down dead thereon Her Father and Husband surprized at this sudden stroke set out a loud cry Daughter Dear Daughter old Lucretius cryes That life was mine which thou hast here depriv'd If in the Child the Fathers Image lyes Where shall I live now Lucreece is unliv'd Collatinus her husband seconds these Lamentations My Dear Lucretia in whose breast doth lye My Life is fled unto Eternity She 's dead She 's dead and Oh! if that were all In time I might endeavour to recall My Grief but she 's ah what I speak's too true Ravisht by Death ay and by Tarquin too Brutus while they where full of greif drew forth the bloudy knife out of Lucretia's wound and said I swear by this bloud which was so chast before the wicked Ravisher stained it and ye Gods be ye all witnesses of my vow and resolution that I will endeavour to extirpate Tarquin the proud his wife and all his Race with sword fire or any other violent means that I have power to use nor will suffer them nor any other King to have any Authority or Dominion in Rome At these words Collatine and Lucretius the husband and Father and likewise Valerius were even astonished to see the dull disposition of Brutus so soon altered they therefore threaten nothing but revenge and their Laments are turned into indignation resolving to follow the resolutions of Brutus who thus incited them to endeavour to root out the wicked Family of the Tarquins from among them In prosecution whereof they carried the body of the bleeding Lucretia into the Market place where they endeavoured to inflame the people with the prefence of so dismal an object which occasioned every one to exclaim against the cruelty and violence of the Tarquins yet had not this woful sight nor the doleful cryes of her Father and husband so much effect upon them as the earnest excitations of Brutus who with all manner of eloquence and zeal perswaded them to act as became men and Romans who were sollicitous for the liberty of their Countrey by taking Arms against their common Enemy Upon which the brisk young men immediately assembled ready armed and having left sufficient Guards at the Gates of Collatia to prevent any Intelligence from going to Tarquin the rest followed Brutus their Commander to Rome where being arrived the people of that City were much alarm'd and seeing such considerable Persons command them thought it was no rash attempt they had undertaken So that the multitude running from all parts to the Market place the Cryer summoned them to appear before the Tribune which Office Brutus himself at that time happened to bear Being assembled he made a very ingenious and pathetick speech to them wherein he discovered much more sense and understanding than he had ever before pretended to in words to this effect Most Noble Romans will you still suffer this ravenous cruel lustful tyrant To what end do you bring up your Sons To what purpose do you give education to your daughters Wherefore do you heap up riches for a Cruel wretch which will kill your Sons for a Lascivious Tyrant to debauch your daughters for an avaritious taskmaster who will rob you of your wealth If you bear with Tarquin or any of his Race in hopes they may amend 't is vanity If because you fear him 't is madness A Tyrant is a Monster who is by nature intended only for a scourge to men and therefore none can be safe under him he equally fears and hates both good and wicked men and despiseth lukewarmness and indifferency What is it you expect perhaps the old kings death Who can imagine the Sons will be better than the Father Their tempers are composed of the bloud of two wicked ones They are educated by a Tyrant born in the proud commanding family of the Tarquins and therefore like to be altogether as insupportable as their parents Tarquins lust is not extinguished by Lucretias death 't will be more raging if it remain unpunish't the calamities of other persons may be a lesson to you and he who can learn by others harms though he may want experience yet he is certainly more happy Let your bosoms then be no more exposed to the loss of bloud for increasing the grandeur and dominion of that City which belongs to another And for which you will be rewarded with nothing but bloud and wounds Are you not aware that you conquer Nations only to reduce them under Tarquins tyranny That by bringing others into bondage you make your own slavery the greater No longer then suffer your hands which were formerly accustomed to noble deeds and to bring home glorious Triumphs for adorning your Capitol to be basely imployed in emptying Vaults and removing Uncleanness Courage Noble Citizens deceive your selves no longer through ignorance of your own power but henceforth learn to know your own strength delay no longer in such an enterprize wherein delaying may be your ruin Now you have one to lead you need not fear to want followers all mens wills are alike opposite to Tyrants only few are so daring as to begin I will be your Head to drive out Tarquin I will be your companion in forming your liberty I will be the first in danger and the last in happiness Brutus his words make a sudden impression upon the People and he who would have them follow him need use no other inchantment but the name of Liberty which carries an universal influence with it though very few truly understand what it is The incensed multitude unanimously resolve to abrogate Tarquins power and banish him with his Wife and Children Whilst Brutus and his youthful Volunteers went to Ardea to inflame the Army against the King He
and assembling his most intimate Friends who with horror and silence expected the conclusion of this Tragedy he brings forth the couragious Mariamne who armed with invincible constancy was little concerned against whom the monster belches out this accusation Dear Friends it hath pleased the Almighty to counterballance the prosperity he has given me by many piercing misfortunes and I who have escaped so many dangers and found safety in such great winds and tempests have now met with the most deplorable storms in my own House You are all very sensible how tenderly I have cherished the Family of Hyrcanus even in their greatest calamities and yet I have taken into my bosom a Serpent instead of a Dove by whom I have been often stung but have as oft by patience cured my self yet I am not so unsensible that no injuries will penetrate me and therefore being provoked by new wrongs I can no longer suffer them Behold the Queen my wife who following her mothers example is always studying to disquiet and hinder my repose For after my return from so perillous a Voyage when I brought her the happy news of my success she received me and my intelligence with the greatest scorn and disdain and denyed me those favours which I had right to demand and she ought not to have refused to a husband and not content herewith she proceeded to contrive bloudy designs against me endeavouring to have suborned one of my own servants to poyson me Thus I who returned with my head crowned with Laurel am made the mark of the malice and treachery of a woman whom I can neither reclaim by love nor gifts no more than if she were a Lioness Judge you therefore whether it is not time for me to secure my self from so implacable a creature who can never be safe so long as she lives Mariamne knowing it in vain to defend her self though she was altogether innocent of the charge laid against her being sensible his violent nature would not be contradicted made little reply only as to the business of poysoning she appealed to all the Assembly whether there were any probability of it since she was always more afraid of Herods love than hatred But however she declared That her life was a burden to her having had little comfort in it and much loss in the Court wherein she never enjoyed the least contentment and that if false Testimonies must make her guilty none were safe it being very easy thereby to remove any who should be thought troublesome and though her husband did deprive her of her head yet it was not in his power to bereave her of the reputation of a Princess of Honour which descended to her from her Ancestors and which she would carry to her Grave There were none found bold enough to plead the cause of this Innocent or to endeavour to mollify Herods passion but on the contrary all seemed to approve of his resolution Yet this bloudy man began ostartle when he thought seriously of being deprived of so sweet a Companion commanded her only to Custody But his Sister the inraged Salome continually alleged the danger of some sedition if he should keep her alive in Prison so that at length he spake these bloudy words Let her be taken away Whereupon instantly an Officer was dispatcht to her with this message Madam the King commands that you shall presently dye She without any emotion replied Let us then go my Friend it cannot be more pleasing to Herod than it is welcom to me And to Crown her patience Alexandra her own Mother and the Companion of her imprisonment fearing the like usage from Herod and hoping to free her self from the Suspicion of being concerned with her daughter in those crimes whereof Mariamne was accused went out to meet her going to execution and very undecently laying aside her former magnanimity reproached this dying Innocent crying out she was a wicked and ingrateful woman to her husband and well deserved the punishment she was going to suffer for her vile attempt and her ingratitude to so loving and gracious a Prince yea proceeded so far in her rage that she would have dragged her on the pavement by the hair of the head had not the people prevented her who all condemned her shameful hypocrisy Mariamne took little notice of these horrid indignities only mildly answered Mother Let my Soul depart in peace which is already upon my lips and trouble not the repose of my death Then passing on with a generous filence and invincible courage and unconcern to the place of execution she there put an end to all her sorrows by having her head divided from her body which then began in the Spectators whose eyes were full of tears and their hearts of grief to observe so much Nobility Virtue Constancy admirable Beauty sacrificed to the jealousy of a cruel Tyrant Who after her death became more powerfully inflamed in his affections toward her so that he would not believe she was dead often calling for her as if alive but being at length recovered from this strange distraction his grief for her death exceeded his rage when living wherewith he was so overwhelmed that the Plays and Entertainments which he provided to divert his thoughts profited him nothing a plague happening soon after in the City he interpreted it as a just Judgment of God for the unjust death of his Queen Her unnatural Mother having again attempted something against Herod was put to death Her two sons when they grew up and understood this impious act of their Father accounted him their mortal Enemy whom he at length caused to be strangled So that Caesar hearing of it said He had rather be Herods swine than his Son Because the Jews will not kill nor eat Swine This is that wicked King Herod of whom we read in the Holy Scriptures in whose reign our blessed Saviour was born and who executed that merciless butchery upon the innocent Infants of Bethlem and committed many other horrible massacrees for which at length the hand of God seized upon him by an horrible disease being visited with a vehement pain and Ague With an intollerable Itch over his whole body the Collick daylytormented him His feet and Belly were swoln with the dropsy His privities putrified and bred worms he had great difficulty of breathing and a violent cough was almost famisht with hunger yet could not eat All which terrible afflictions made him weary of his life calling for a knife to cut his throat and five days after died miserably having reigned thirty seven years The History of Clotilda Queen of France THis Virtuous Queen by her True Zeal did cause Renowned Clovis to imbrace Christs Laws Who all his Pagan vain Idolatry Did quite renounce and utterly defie And after by Heavens mighty help and aid His fiercest Enemies his Power obey'd And Clovis by his Strength and Policy Founded the Potent Great French Monarchy Clotilda Earthly Glory did despise And only True