the perils he was going to expose himself unto did no sooner come into my mind but that tumult was appeased but I was not the less unhappy for all this since there is no danger which I did not apprehend for him and which by consequence I did not undergo I imagined that I beheld him ready to make ship-wrack I beheld him in the combats I beheld him wounded I saw him a prisoner I beheld him ready to expire and I think truly that the onely fear of his death had made me die if hope more to make me suffer than to ease me had not preserved my life I hoped then my Lord but to say truly 't was so feebly and with so much uncertainty that that hope was rather a trouble than an help unto me That ill founded hope had no sooner inspired my heart with some pleasing thought but presently my fear quenched it again if the one made me imagine Ulisses returned victorious the other persctaded me he might be then perishing in the waves if one made me behold the harbour the other shewed me nothing but tempests and wracks in fine I alwayes thought him either inconstant or dead and the successive raign of two such contrary sentiments tyrannized so fiercely in my soul that to be in a condition not to fear any more nor to be flattered again with hope I wished more than an hundred times for death You may know from thence if I do not deceive my self that absence is more to be feared than that since t is desired as a remedy for those evils which this last makes us suffer Truly my Lord they are so great and so sensible that if it were possible to comprehend that there could be a sharper pain or a greater misfortune than the death of the beloved person we might yet say that such a losse caused lesse affliction than the torment of an absence whose duration is incertain Yes my Lord those which do not love their husbands so well as to follow them into their graves and who have courage enough or to say better insensibility enough to suffer that separation without despairing have more rest than I have they have this advantage to know that they are unhappy alone and that those whom they mourn are at quiet they fear neither their inconstancy nor their death which is already happened nor can they any more apprehend ought either from that pitiless monster nor from inconstant fortune since there remains no more for them to lose but their own life which is no longer pleasing to them But what do I say insensible as I am No no my Lord do not give ear to what my sorrow makes me speak nor believe that I could ever prefer the death of my dearest Ulisses before his absence how rigorous so'ere it is unto me May he live and may he also live happy though distant from his Penelope rather than I should hear that he lives no more I had rather never behold him than to behold him die and I had rather hear he were inconstant than to hear of the end of his life O heaven to what a strange necessity do you reduce me to make wishes against my self Now my Lord is not absence worse than death and have I not reason to say that I am the most unhappy person of all my sex those that die have this sad consolation in losing their lives that they may consider that from the beginning of ages all men have undergone what they do and as long as the world shall last all those that are born must undergo the very same but of all the Grecian Princesses whose husbands have followed Menelaus I am the only she that have heard no news of mine I am the onely she that yet doth sigh I am the only she that have no share in the publick joy and the onely he alone that dares not prepare Crowns not knowing whether those Crowns should be made of Lawrel or of Cypress branches The victory has been woful only to me alone and Polixena yea Hecuba her self though the unhappiest amongst the Trojans are not yet so unhappy as poor Penelope The first died with constancy and by consequence with glory and last had at least this advantage that she could weep over the bodies of her children and revenge the death of her son whereas I weep and do not know what object my tears should have Perhaps alas thinking onely to weep for the absence of my dear Ulisses I am obliged to weep for his inconstancy or it may be for his death For my Lord how can I think him living and not criminal since he does not come he knowes he is King of this Island and that his subjects have need of him he knowes you are his Father and that you wish for his return he knows Telemachus is his son and that he desires to know him he being so young when he departed that time has effaced the memory of him he knowes in fine that Penelope is his wife and that upon that happy return depends all her felicity nevertheless it is now almost twenty years since he went it is neer ten years since the Grecians conquered and yet we do not know whether we should bemoan him as unhappy or guilty However it be 't is certain that I have cause to complain and to despair on what side so'ere I turn I still finde new subjects of sorrow your old age afflicts me my sons green years disquiets me those that would comfort me increase my troubles those which bear no part with me in my woes anger me and both the discourses of the one and the silence of the others are equally insupportable to me But that which nevertheless is the most cruel to me is that neither time nor affliction hath sullied that little beauty on my face which hereaofore charmed Ulysses 't is not but that if I must see him again I shall be joyful to have preserved it but in the condition I am I finde that t is shameful to me to be yet able to make any conquests Nevertheless you are not ignorant what a number of importunate persons do persecute me though I despise them for my part I am in doubt whether I ought to hide from them my person or my tears for to say truth I think verily I have now no other amability nor any thing worthy of esteem but only my excessive regrets and sorrow for the absence of my dearest Husband and yet Helena hardly ever had more slaves than I have captâ—ves though Helena and Penelope are persons very different and although I take as great care to break their chains as she did to manacle them O heavens who ever heard such amorous discourses as these indiscreet people make to court me to an approbation of their fond passions and to gain my belief that their intentions are legitimate Ulysses is dead say these impatient men and by consequence our love does not offend you ha if Ulysses be dead do
their grief and sometimes of their temperature for a mark of passion Notwithstanding it is absolutely impossible that love and death can ever reign together they think to love their Mistresses and indeed they love only their memory they say they are faithful and constant and yet all their sentiments are changed for of all the tendernesses which true affection inspires there remains nothing in portion to them but grief besides that with time does ordinarily become onely a melancholy habit rather than an effect of their losse or the ressentment they have of it they accustome themselves to sadnesse as to joy their fighes do ease them their tears fall without bitternesse and the recital of their ill fortunes instead of increasing their torments and renewing their displeasures serves them for a pastime and a pleasing divertisement Believe me Arsetes those are not the signs of a violent passion Neverthelesse it is certain that the wisdome of nature works in us whether we will or not this advantageous change Death is an evil too inevitable and too common amongst men to be left without a consolation for the losses it brings and indeed we finde it to be so and reason hath not left us without giving the just limits to the greatest sorrow Ever since the beginning of ages death hath made men shed tears which time hath wiped off again all the children have been comforted for the death of their fathers all the fathers have not despaired at the death of their children the most faithful husbands have attended their wives to their graves without descending therein themselves and the most constant women have buried their husbands and yet did not lie down with them in the same bed of earth In fine Arsetes as there is no joy permanent in this life there ought to be no eternal affection You will tell me that the bands of blood and those of love are things very different and that for the most part the interest of the person beloved has more power in our hearts than any other consideration You will adde to this that we would forsake our Countrey and all our Parents to serve her and that likewise when it happens that we lose her she causes as much affliction she alone as if we lost all together both our Parents that gave us birth and our fortunes and in short all that is left us to lose in the world Though I should agree touching that yet we must still come to my argument which is that either we must comfort our selves after the death of the person whom we love or we must die with her For to think that love is a thing compatible with the darknesse of the grave is a belief of small appearance 't is a thing without reason and without example and which can never happen unless they lose their sence and understanding with their Mistresses As we do not affect what we never see neither ought we to love what we shall never behold more one may preserve the remembrance but we cannot love the beauties since they are no longer in being one may still love the chains and shakels which they wore but as these chains and bands are broken for ever we may without inconstancy or infidelity retake some others provided they be not unworthy of the first We must not break down a golden Statua to put a brass one in the place But amongst some Christians it is usual to adorn the place with more than one Image I do not therefore desire that Tancred should raze out that of his Clorinda intirely from his heart I have more respect to her and more complacence for him I would only have him since he has not renounced all humane society for we know he does both give and receive Orders go to the wars defend his life and imploy the same hand with which he cut the bands that tied him to the service of Clorinda against those whom Clorinda has alwayes served I would I say that having never ceased to be faithfull to his party having never ceased to be valiant in battels and having never forgotten to be generous he may not now omit to be an acknowledger of my affections In the state as things now are he owes nothing but compassion to Clorinda but he owes love to Erminia Clorinda can now no more either love or hate him and Erminia has not only lov'd him before he knew Clorinda but she loves him still even whilst he prefers Clorinda's ashes before Erminia's chaste flames Heavens be my witnesse if I nourish the least thought of hatred against that illustrious person as long as she lived I held as great an esteem of her vertue as I had affection for the Prince whom I loved no Arsetes her death did not rejoyce me on the contrary it did grieve me I honour'd her enough to weep her loss and I loved Tanered enough to desire almost that he might not have such a sad misfortune although according to appearance it might be advantageous to me and if after their interest I may have leave to think of my own I dare avouch again that I believe that I should be less unhappy if Clorinda were not dead than I am now though she be equally incapable to give either love or jealousie Did she yet live I should not take it ill if Tancred would give me but his esteem and friendship and preserved his intire love and passion for her I would say in his defence he loves that which cannot be beloved too much Clorinda is young fair vertuous and valiant and his inclination does prompt him to adore her let us bemoan our fortune then without accusing her that causes it since we can finde nothing to object against his choice But now that Clorinda is no more but a little dust that her youth does subsist no more that her beauty is destroyed that her vertue cannot appear but only by the relations of those that know her that her valour can be no more either useful or hurtful to her friends or enemies and that in fine she is as far distant from us as if she had never been It is not just that Tancred should have more fidelity for the ashes of his enemy than acknowledgment and regard for her who began to love him from the first instant she ever beheld him although that first instant cast her from the Throne to slavery and that the hands which enchained her had torne a Crown from off her Fathers head yea a Crown which should have been placed upon her own temples But perhaps generous Arsetes you do not know all the rights which I have in Tancreds affection by the birth of that love which I have for him it will not then be out of our discourse and way if I tell it you in a few words that so if it happens one day that he hear my reasons with more sweetness than you believe you may not accuse him of infidelity and injustice if he do prefer Erminia
to my grave So long as Achilles lived he hath desired that I should be his slave and now he ceases to live he will have me for his victime Le ts satisfie this last desire since we may do it without shame and le ts rejoyce that we have neither been his wife nor his Mistris hor his slave Whoever goes out of this life with glory ought ever to esteem themselves happy principally if we leave a chain in leaving this world what matter is it whether they unlose the chains that binds us or whether they break them however it is t is still to set us at liberty Be then my deliverer and fear not for your particular that I shall wish you any hurt The hand that frees me cannot but be grateful to me and he that hinders me from being a captive cannot be hated by me But what do I and what is' t I say unhappy that I am I do not think to whom I speak He whom I behold is not onely a Grecian not only my enemy not onely my sacrifier but he was likewise the executioner of my father No Pyrrhus 't is neither as Grecian nor as my enemy nor as Achilles son nor as my sacrifier that I look on you even when I change my thoughts and that I make imprecations against you but t is because you were my fathers murtherer What Pyrrhus could you so hatefully pursue that venerable old man to the very feet of the altar where his sought his refuge to thrust a dagger even into his heart Did your hand not tremble at the aspect of that great Prince Father of so many Heroes truly it should have done so but those that do not revere the gods have no reason to respect men Ha! truly that act hath acquired you a great deal of glory and t is a difficult thing to kill a Prince worn out with age feeblenesse and misery and who seeks his defence onely by the protection of those sacred places which ought to be inviolable Methinks there was no need of staining your arm and name by so barbarous an action the flames which have consumed our City would have sufficed to take away the life of that deplorable King and the least you could do was to let his Palace be his Funeral-pile to be consumed in But you are too nice an observer of Achilles his cruelties not to observe them exactly 'T was not enough to have usurped an Empire and to set Illium all in one flame the altars must be prophan'd they must be sprinkled with humane blood and that not onely with the blood of vulgar ones It must be the noblest blood in all the earth that must be spilt it must be a royall person that must be trampled under foot despising in him and with him all that was holy or sacred in our Palaces and in our Temples after such an unnatural action I was in the wrong to fear lest any pity should enter your soul and defer my death that 's a sentiment which the Grecians in general are unacquainted with and of which the son of Achilles cannot be capable possibly That dagger which I behold in your hand and with which you are a going to pierce my heart is perhaps the same which hath gone through the King my Fathers heart O sad spectacle O too cruel torment why is it that I did not perish in the flames which have devoured so many illustrious persons and that I have been reserved to behold such horrid things am I guilty of Helena's crimes or of Paris his failings No Polixena is innocent and if she have outlived so many misfortunes t is to die with more constancy and with more glory also t is to let the Grecians which did not come to this siege know what the sons of Priam might be since even his daughter dare encounter and confront death without any the least fear If those flames which consum'd Troy had put a period to my destiny I should have had no witnesses of these last sentiments of my soul Posterity might have doubted of Polixena's vertue and might have believed that since Achilles had had the temerity after he had made her Countrey desolate and slain her brothers to demand her for his wife and to say that he was in love with her that she had not done as she should in so strange a business But as things are now I die in publishing that I am an utter enemy to Achilles that I have ever been so and that I shall be so eternally let the ghost of that cruel one come once more forth of his sepulchre let it appear to all the Grecians and let it declare whether Polixena does erre from the truth To justifie what she sayes you need but consider the animosity which he retains for her even after his death and one may easily know that which she had for him so long as he lived For although what ever comes from the Grecians ought to be suspected by the Trojans this apparition of Achilles is not one of Ulisses deceits as that was whereby our City was betrayed No t is a perfect hatred which makes him come forth of his grave to make me enter into mine and this sanguinary ghost did re-behold the day onely to make me lose the light for ever Why do you stay then O Prince unworthy of that title and why do not you end this woful sacrifice Do you respect the daughter more than you have done the Father and does your hand rather tremble to stab Polixena than when you massacred the deplorable Priam hearken to that subterranean voice which issues from the hollownesse of that grand sepulchre with an horrid sound and which with threats commands you to immolate me to his fury Behold that earth which opens it self behold the ghost of Achilles which appears to me or rather Achilles himself who is leaving his grave He is pale and disfigured a terrour inflames his eyes even dead as they are and I behold him just such as he appeared to me on the sad day when he fought with Hector unlesse death or perhaps the remorse for his crimes have changed his skinne and colour Behold Phyrrus behold that hideous spirit which arises little by little and who to his threatening actions joyning his horrid voice does for the last time ordain you to sacrifice Polixena to him Make this Ghost to vanish by obeying it the Victime is ready prepared the poyniard is in your hand and you are accustomed to shed the Blood Royall Strike then as your Slave I conjure you and as the Daughter of a King I command you The effect of this HARANGUE This fair and unhappy Princesse drew the tears of all the Grecians Pyrrhus himself was moved nor could his eyes behold the crime which his hand committed He struck her nevertheless barbarous man that he was and that young and deplorable creature had so much modesty that even in falling struck with the deadly blow she was careful to lay her