with some sodaine death ended my loathed life so that by these meanes I might haue deliuered my selfe from these paines and sorrowes as she dyd her selfe which afterwardes by defaulte thereof dyd continually cleaue in sunder my afflicted hart After these miserable thoughtes and the ruthfull chaunces of vnhappy Heroe of Sesto came to my minde whome mee thought I sawe comming downe from her highest Tower to the Sea bankes and rockes where she was wont sometimes to méete and receiue her welbelooued and wearied Leander into her armes And euen there againe mée thinks I se her with what a pittifull pale countenance she beheld her loouer lying dead before her Sorrow ceaseth when hope is past to regaine the thing which is lost driuē first on shore by a fréendly Dolphin al naked souced in brinish waters laid along vpon the Sea sands wiping with her garmentes the salte water from his pale visage and drowning hym the second time with the flowing streames of her swelling teares Ah what great pittie dooth her cruell passages finde in my sorrowfull mind More truelie then any of those of the foresayd ladyes and sometimes so much that forgetting my owne woes I did wéepe and lament for hirs And lastly cold I conceiue no meanes for her cōfort but one of these two either to die or else to forget him as other dead men haue béene In taking eyther of which her sorrowes I thinke might haue easilie béene finished Considering that no lost thing in recouering of which againe there is no hope lefte can gréeue vs any long time But yet the Goddes forbidde that this kinde of comfort should happen to me which if it did come to passe no counsel in such a case should auaile but that which perswaded me once to a resolute and hasty death For during the time that my Panphilus liueth whose lyfe his happie starres and predominante planettes preserue as long as he himself dooth desire that cannot I hope nor shall not befall vnto me But séeing the enter course of mundane thinges in continuall motion this beléefe is added to my hope that in the end or else perhappes before he shall returne and be mine againe as once he was which lingering hope not comming to effect dooth howerly make my life gréeuous and irkesome vnto mée And by thus much therfore I estéeme my selfe oppressed with greater sorrowe then she was I remēber that in French méeters to which if any credite may be lent I haue sometimes read that Sir Tristram and Lady Isotta haue more then any other loouers French Rimes mutually and feruentlie looued each other and with their chaunging delightes haue had great misfortunes and aduersities enter mingled euen in the floorishing and brauest time of theyr youth who because loouing greatly togeather they haue tasted both of one ende it séemes most credible that not without extreame sorrowe and bitter gréefe on bothsides they forsooke their worldly delightes Which may be easilie graunted if in abandoning this world they thought that in the other the same could not bée found or had But if they had this opinion that they were as ample and common in the other as they had in déede then it is to be thought that death had rather aforeded them some great content and ioy then any sorrow and feare at all For what certaintie of gréefe may one giue with testimonie of a thing which he neuer prooued None at all truely In Syr Tristram his armes was his owne death and the death of hys Lady also For if in embracing her body so straightly and loouingly it had gréeued her at all in opening his armes againe the payne no doubt had ceased And yet for all this let vs admit and say that it is by great reason most fearefull and gréeuous to tast of what gréefe can wée say to be absolutely in a thing that dooth come to passe but onely once and which dooth occupie but a little space of time Certes none Sir Tristram therfore Isotta in one hower ended their delightes dollours The continued time of my stretching gréefe and lasting sorrowe hath without comparison greatly excéeded the breuitie of my enioyed myrth and ioyes But amongest the number of these foresayd loouers my minde did thinke of miserable Phedra who with her voluntary and aduised furie was the occasion of his most cruel death whom she loued more then her selfe I knowe not truely what dammage great inconuenience did follow her of such a great fault but I am certaine if the like had euer happened to me there had bene nothing but violent death that might expiate the guilt therof but if she liued she buried him afterward in darck obliuiō as commonly all thinges as euen now I sayd are wont to bée forgotten by death And besides these sorowes which Laodamia Deiphyle Argia Euadne Deianira and many others felte followed hers in my scanning thoughts all which eyther by violent death or by necessary obliuion receiued some comfort at last Fier the lōger it remaineth in any thing the more it burneth And who doubteth that burning fire red hotte iron and melted leade dooth not gréeuously burne and scalde his finger who dooth but sodainely dippe it in and dooth quickly pull it out againe Why none I thinke And yet this is nothing to that extreame payne whose whole body is in eyther of these tormented and plunged for a good space togeather wherfore how many soeuer I haue described aboue in woes sorowes paynes the same may be said to be but a momentarie while in their superficiall and counterfeite gréefes whereas I haue really felt them continually béene in them and am not yet frée from them Wherefore all these foresayd woes in respect of mine haue béene but amorous annoyaunces But besides these miserable women the no lesse sorrowful teres powred forth of those who with the vnexpected brunts of cruell fortune haue béene confounded came before mine eyes And these are those of Iocasta Hecuba Sophonisba Cornelia and Cleopatra O how much myserie considering well the miserable successe of Iocastas looues doo we sée befallen vnto her in all her life time possible enough to haue daunted and troubled the most stout and strongest minde For she being very young was maried to Layus King of Thebes who commaunded that her first childe should be throwen out to be deuowred of wilde Beastes the miserable Father thinking by this to haue preuented that which the heauens and his ineuitable destinies with infallible course had prepared for him O what a gréefe must I néedes thinke that this was to her soule considering the degrée of her that sente it and that with her owne handes she was constrained to deliuer and to sende it to a cruell kinde of death and afterwardes certified by them that caried her vnfortunate infante of his mangled and deuoured corpes with what intollerable gréefe she beléeued that he was deade indéede And to see her haplesse Husband most miserably slaine of him
cleaued almost a sunder with vnspeakable gréefe and perceiuing my Louer to bee farre from mee like a desperate and franticke Womanne I beganne thus to say to my selfe Behold the very selfe and same occasion which Sidonian Eliza had to abandon this hatefull world cruell Panphilus hath giuen me And alas a great deale worse It pleaseth him that forsaking these I séeke out other regions And since I am become his subiect I will fulfill his hard beheste and pitty-les pleasure and in one howre I will requite my haplesse loue my committed wickednesse and my iniuried and déere husband with a tragicall and vnnaturall death And if oppressed soules deliuered out of thys corporall prysonne haue any liberty in the newe world I wyll without delay conioyne mine with hys And where my body cannot bee my soule shall supplye the place of it Beholde therefore I wyll die and so rydde me of all these paines I thinke it most conuenient that with these handes I execute this last stratageme vpon my selfe Because there can be no other hande so cruell that can perfectly performe that which iustly I haue deserued I wyll therefore without delay willingly take my death the remembraunce of which although it be terrible to my weake sexe and to my womanly thoughts yet shall it be as welcome vnto me as this painfull life is yrkesome vnto my soule And after that I had resolued vppon this last pretence I began to deuise with my selfe which was of a thousande wayes the best to take my life from me And first of all colde and sharpe yrons came to my minde the mortall meanes of many one hys vntimely death considering that the said Eliza by their cruelty did forsake thys cōmon ayre and then after these the deathes of Biblis and Amata were presented before mine eyes the manner of which was offered to mee to ende my weary life But more carefull of my honor and good name then chary of my selfe and fearing more the maner of dying then death it selfe the one séeming vnto me very infamous and the other too extreame cruell in the mouthes and mindes of euery one were occasions to make me refuse the one and not to like of the other Afterwards I imagined to doo as the Sagontines and as those of Abydas dyd the first fearing Hanniball of Carthage and the other Phillip of Macedon committing themselues and all theyr goods to the fury of consuming flames But knowing that thys coulde be no small detriment to my déere Husbande vnculpable and guiltlesse of my euils I refused also this kinde of death as I did the rest before After these I called to mind the venimous iuyces which héeretofore assigned to Socrates to Sophonisba to Hanniball and to many other Princes more their last daies And many of these indéede as they pleased my changable fancie so did I thinke them fitte for the purpose But perceiuing that in going about to séeke them no little time was requisite and doubting leaste by enquirie of them my drifts shoulde bee called in question and sifted out and that my determined purpose also in the meane while might perhaps haue béene altered I imagined to séeke out some other kinds of death Wherefore I bethought me as many times I had doone before to yéelde vppe my féeble spirits betwéene my knées but doubting least it should be known and suspecting some other impediment incident to it I passed to other headlong thoughts And the very same occasion and least I should be also séene made me forsake the burning and swalowed coales of Portia But the death of Ino and of Melicer ta likewise the hunger starued ende of Erisichthone occurring to my memory the long time that I should haue in executing the one and in staying for the other made me also to reiect them thinking that the paine of the laste did a greate while nourishe the languishing body But besides all these wayes the precipitate death of Perdix falling frō the highest Towre of Creete came also to my minde which spéedie kind of death onely pleased me infalliblie to followe as one deuoide of all insuing infamie saying to my selfe Casting my selfe downe from the highest Turrets of my Pallace I shall crush my boanes in a hundred péeces and dashe out my braines and by all those seuerall péeces will yéelde vppe my haplesse soule contaminated with prepared goare and ready broken vp to be offered vppe as a Sacrifice to the Gods And fewe or none there are that will imagine and say that by mine owne cruelty furie or proper will this death besell vnto me but imputing it rather to some vnlucky chaunce with powring out pittifull teares for mee will bewayle my vntimelie death and curse my froward Fortune This deliberation therefore tooke place in my mind and it liked me especiallie to put the same in practise thinking to haue vsed great pittie towards me if I had perhaps become pittilesse and cruell against mine owne selfe This determination therefore had now taken sure roote in my hart and I did not attend for any thing els but fitte time Wicked thoughts euer warre with good when a chillie cold suddainly entring into all my boanes made me tremble for very feare which brought these words with it saying O miserable Woman what dooest thou intende to doo Wylt thou ouercome with madde anger in a senceles rage fury cast thy selfe away If thou wert nowe constrained to die of some gréeuous infirmitie wouldest not thou alas endeuour and séeke to liue because at the length thou mightest sée thy Panphilus once more before thy death Dost not thou thinke that when thou art deade thou shall neuer sée him againe and that no kinde of pittie that hee may vse in thy behalfe may helpe thée any thing at all For what did the slacke returne of Demophoon profitte vnpatient and strangled Phillis She florishing without any delighte felt his comming which if she could haue staied for he might haue found her still a Woman as he left her and not a Trée Liue therfore Fiammetta for he will yet for all this returning as a fréende or as an enemie at length come to thée againe And with what disposed minde soeuer he returne thou canst not choose but loue him still And perhaps thou shalt sée him talk with him and mooue his vnconstant and harde harte to compassion of thy woefull plightes Hee is not made of sturdye Oake nor of Flinty stone nor borne bredde nor nourished in a hollow Caue amongst wylde Beastes and did neuer sucke the milke of Tygres nor drinke any other sauage and cruell beastes blood neither is his hart made of Diamonde or of stéele and is not of so brutishe and rusticall inclination but that he will lend his eares and bende his hart to my pittifull plaints passions and perswasions and take some remorse of coequall commiseration of my sustained sorrowes But if he will not be ouercome with pittie then wearyed of thy lothsome life it shall be more lawfull for
furie And call him the Sonne of Venus saying that he deriueth his omnipotent power from the third Heauen as though you woulde excuse your follyes with a néedlesse kind of necessitie O deceiued soules and vtterlie deuoide of all reason and most ignorant of that which you saie Sent from the infernall furies Wanton loue reproued with a suddain and swift flight he visiteth all the world bringing to him the dooth entertaine him not deitie but dispaire not fréendly felicitie but fendlie folly allighting on those whō he dooth know to a bounde in superfluitie of worldly goods and to enioye them with a vaine and prodigall mind and on him whom he thinketh fittest and most forwarde to make him place And thys is héere most manifest by thée Why doo we not sée holy Venus to dwell oftentimes in little cottages bothe profitable and necessarie for our procreation yes truly But this who by frensie is called Loue coueting euer dissolute thinges lodgeth in no other place but where happy Fortune dooth smyle and where her gyfts abound Thys dainty one disdayning no lesse sufficient foode to satis-fie nature then necessary clothing dooth frame all hys perswasions to delicate fare and sumptuous attyre and so entermingling his secrete swéete poyson with them doth deceiue and destroye vnwarie and ignoraunt soules Thys more willingly and often séene in high and princly Palaces is seldome or neuer séene in poore and Country cottages Because it is a certaine precise pestilence which dooth chuse out onely braue and stately lodginges as most agréeable in the ende to his wicked practises We sée in poore and simple people effects of good and quiet consequence but in the rich wallowing in pleasure and shyning in theyr aboundaunce of gold insatiable as well in this as in all thinges els that he is more then is requisite for the most part founde and that which he cannot doo who can doo most he dooth desire and especially endeuour to bring to passe Among whom I perceiue thée most vnhappy and vnfortunate Mistresse to be one who by too much wealth ease and idle pleasure hast entred into these newe and vnbeséeming cares Whom after I had a good while heard I aunswered thus again Holde thy peace thou olde and foolish dotarde and prate not thus against my God Thou speakest voluntarily against him thy self béeing no lesse impotent for these effects then iustly cast of all menne blaspheming hym nowe whom in time of thy yonger yeres thou diddest religiously adore If other Ladies more noble wiser and more famous thē my selfe haue heretofore thus entitled him and cease not yet to call him by the name of a mighty God how can I then alone giue him anie newe or deuised name To be plaine with thée I am become his Subiect but from whence the occasion of this allegance doth spring I neither know nor can tell thée And what can I doo more My feminine forces conioyned oftētimes wyth hys celestiall power are ouercome and constrained to retyre backe againe Wherefore there resteth no more for the end of my newe and mortall paynes but my néere death or els the enioying of my wished loue which woes I praye thée to mitigate if thou art so wise as I estéeme thée by thy sage coūsel and spéedie helpe which will perhaps lessen them at the least or els by thy bitter reprehensions surcease to exasperate and make them greater blaming that in mee which my soule not able to doo otherwise with all the power and force it hath is wholly disposed to follow She departed therfore out of my Chamber somewhat offended as she had indéede good cause at this my peremtorie answere not giuing mee one word againe but murmuring I know not what with her selfe leauing me all alone Nowe was my louing Nurce I say gone In this place one may see how contrarie sensualitie is to reason without speaking anie more to me whose counselles though vnaduisedly reiected of me yet I remaining all alone pondered all her wordes in my carefull breast And although my vnderstanding was obscured with mistie clowdes of senceles loue I founde in them neuerthelesse a swéete and relyshed taste which making my hart touched as it were with repētance with a wauering and vnconstant mind I did consider better of that which euen now I told her I had resolued to folow Wherfore beginning nowe to thinke to perswade my selfe to let this doubtfull and daungerous matter passe away I thought it good to call her backe againe for my néedeful comfort but this good motion was quickly countermaunded by a new and suddaine accident Venus doth appeare vnto her Because lying all alone in my secrete Chāber a most faire Lady not knowing frō whence she came appeared before mine eyes glittering with such shyning light that compassed her round about that my dazeled eies might scarce behold her who standing thus before mee without either mouing or speaking as much as by the golden light I might illuminate sharpen my eies so far foorth did I cast their beames vntill at laste her beautifull forme and formall feyture of her body was fully arriued to my perfect knowledge Whom whē I did cléerely sée to be all naked A fine description of a fayre woman sauing only a thine vaile of fine purple silk which although it couered some part of her snow white body did neuertheles abridge my sight in looking on her no more then if I had beheld some goodly figure or Image enclosed in cristal or cléere glasse Her maiestical head the haire wherof did so much excéede gold in brightnes as the golden colour of ours passeth the yellowest and softest in fairenes was crowned with a fine Garland of gréene Myrtils vnder the shadow of which I saw two eyes of incomparable beauty and passing louelie to behold did cast foorth a meruailous and splendant brightnes and all the rest of her faire face was in like proportion adorned with such diuine beautie that her like on earth myght not I think be found She spake not a word glorying perhaps in her self to sée me gaze on her so much or els to please and delight me perceiuing me so greatly content desirous to behold her yet at length by little and little in the transparant and shyning light more cléerely discouering to mee the fairest parts of her daintie body because shee knewe the with my vnable tongue I coulde not rehearse her excéeding beauties nor without euident sight of them imagine any such to liue amongst mortall men Which admirable beauties whē she perceiued that I had seuerally earnestly marked and to maruaile no lesse at the rare perfection of them as to wōder at her comming thither with a pleasant and mild countenaunce and with an angelicall voyce she began to speake thus vnto me Venus her speeche to Fiammetta Yong Lady and of all others most noble what dost thou intend to doo disturbed by the new coūsels of thy old Nurce knowst thou not that
from me as it came my eares by chaunce hearde certaine doolefull mutterings and sorrowfull bewaylings vttered forth by my best beloued Wherfore suddainly troubled in minde and my thoughts at warre within themselues for his welfare made mee almoste interrupt him wyth these words Swéete hart what doost thou ayle But countermanded by new counsell I kept them in and with a sharpe eye and subtile eares secretely beholding him turned nowe on the otherside of the bedde I lystened a good while to his sorowfull and silent words but mine eares did not apprehend anie of thē albeit I might perceiue him molested with great store of lamentable sobbes and sighes that hée cast forth and by séeing also hys breast bedewed all wyth teares What words alas canne sufficiently expresse wyth howe manie cares my poore soule all thys while beeing ignoraunt of the cause was afflicted A thousand thoughts in one moment did violentlie runne vppe and downe in my doubtfull mynde méeting all at the laste and concludinge in one thing which was that hee louing some other Woman remained wyth me héere and in this sorte against hys wyll My words were very often at the brinck of my mouth to examine the cause of his greefe but doubting least hee lamenting in this sorte and béeing suddainly espied and interrupted of me he might not bee greatly abashed thereat they retyred back and went downe again and oftentimes likewise I turned away mine eies from beholding him because least the hote teares distilling from them and falling vppon him might haue giuen him occasion and matter to knowe that I perceiued his wofull plight Oh how many impatient meanes did I imagine to practise because that he awaking me might coniecture that I hadde neither hearde his sighes nor séene his teares and yet agréed to none at all But ouercome at the last with eager desire to knowe the occasion of his complaint because hee shoulde turne him towards mee as those who in their déepest sléepe terryfied by dreaming of some great fall wylde beast or of some ghastlie thing giue a suddaine start and in most fearefull wise rouse vppe themselues affrighted out of theyr sléepe and wyttes at once euen so wyth a suddayne and timorous voice I skriked and lifting vppe my selfe I violently caste one of my armes ouer his shoulders And truly my deceit deceiued me not because closely wyping away his teares with infinite though counterfet ioy he quickly turned towardes mée againe and with a pittifull voice sayd My fayrest and swéetest soule of what wert thou afraid Whō without delay I answered thus My Loue I thought I had lost thée My words alas I knowe not by what spyrite vttered forth were most true presagers and foretellers of my future losse as nowe to true I find it But he replyed O déerest déere not hatefull death nor anie aduerse chaunce of vnstable Fortune whatsoeuer can worke such operations in my firme breast that thou my onlie ioy shalt leese me for euer And incontinently a greate and profound sighe folowed these pittiful words the cause of which not so soone demaunded of mee who was also moste desirous to knowe the ofspring of his first lamentations but sodainely two streames of teares from both his eyes as from two fountaines beganne to gushe out amaine and in great aboundance to drench his sorrowfull breast not yet thorowlie dryed vp by his former wéeping And holding mée poore soule plunged in a gulfe of gréefes ouercome with flooddes of brinish teares a longe time in a dolefull and doubtfull suspence before euen so did the violence of his sobbes and sighes stoppe the passage of his wordes he could aunswer any thing to my demaundes againe But after that he felt the tempest of his outragious passion somewhat calmed with a sorrowfull voyce yet still interrupted with many heauy sighes he sayde thus againe O déerest Lady and sole Mistresse of my afflicted hart and onely belooued of me aboue all other women in the worlde as these extraordinarie effectes are true recordes of the same If my plaintes deserue any credite at all thou mayst then beléeue that my eyes not without a gréeuous occasion shed earst such plenty of bitter teares when so euer that is obiected to my memory which remaininge nowe with thée in great ioye dooth cruelly torment my heart to thinke of that is when I remember with my selfe that thou mayest not alas faine would I that thou couldest make two Panphilowes of me because remaining héere and being also there whether vrgent and necessary affayres doo perforce compell me most vnwillingly to retire I might at one time fulfill the lawes of looue and my pittifull naturall and duetifull deuoyre O my aged and loouing father Being therefore not able to suffer any more my pensiue hart with remembrance of it is continually with great affliction galled more and more as one whom pitty drawing on the one side is taken out of thy armes and on the other side with great force of looue is still reteyned in them All these reasons are condemned of louers which perturbe their ioyes These wordes perced my miserable hart with such extréeme bitternesse as I neuer felt before And although my dusked wittes did not well vnderstand them notwithstanding as much as my eares and sences attentiue to theyr harmes did receiue and conceiue of them by so much more the very same conuerted into teares issued out of my eyes leauing behinde them their cruell malicious effects in my hart This was therefore good Ladies the fyrst hower in the which I felt such grudgīg gréefs enuious of my plesures this was that hower which made me power forth vnmesurable teares the like neuer spent of me before whose course and maine streames not any of his comforts consolatory words could stop stench one whit But after I had a long time together remained in woefull walinges enfolding him loouingly beetwéene my armes I praied him as much as I could to tell me more cléerely what pittie what due pyetie that was that did drawe him out of my armes and threaten me his absence wherupō not ceasing to lament he said thus vnto me Ineuitable death the finall ende of all thinges of manie other sonnes hath left me sole to suruiue with my aged and reuerent father who burdened with many yeres and liuing without the swéet companie of his deceased wife and louing brothers who might in his olde yéeres carefully comforte him and remaining now without any hope of more issue being determined not to marrie dooth recall me home to sée hym as the chéefest part of his consolation whome he hath not séene these many yéeres past For shifting of which iournie because I would not swéet Fiammetta leaue thée there are not a fewe monthes past when fyrst by diuers meanes I beganne to frame some iust and reasonable excuse But he in fyne not accepting of any did not cease to coniure me by the essence which I had by him and by my impotent childhoode tenderly
brought vp and nourtered in his lappe by that looue which continually he had borne mee and by the duetie and that looue which I should beare him againe and by that requisite obedience which euery chyld should beare vnto his father and by all other things that he thought most effectuall and perswasiue did like a familiar fréende whose parte is rather to commaund pray me that to commiserate his aged and declyning yéeres and to tender his welfare I would with spéede returne to visite him And besides this with solemnes othes and serious obtestations he caused all his fréendes and agents in these partes and with most earnest entreaties prouoked them incessantly to pricke me on in this behalfe saying that if he did not sée me shortly with him The lawes of nature are most strong his miserable soule would vtterly forsake his olde and comfortlesse body But alas howe strong and forcyble are the lawes of nature I could not presently assent nor yet can scarce resolue with my selfe that by reason of the great loue I beare thée these pittious exorations should take place in me Whereupon hauing with thy good leaue determined to goe sée him and for his great comfort to remaine some short space of time with him and not knowing also how I could liue without thée all these I say occurring and accumulated in my sorrowfull memorie doo make me euery hower swéete Lady most iustly and sorrowfully complaine And thus he helde his peace If there was euer any of you fayre Ladyes that in her most feruent and zealous looue had euer had so hard and bitter a Pille as this euen she I thinke dooth know with what incomparable gréefe my minde nourished long since with foode of his looue and set one fyre with vnspeakable flames of my owne was then afflicted But others frée from such amorous passions could not conceiue because as allegations of extrauagant examples so all my spéeches besides would not be sufficient to induce them to beléeue the same The force of an amorous passion In bréefe therefore I say that hearing these wordes my soule did séeke to leape out of my body and it had I thinke flowen away if betwéene his armes whome most of all it looued it had not béene straightly embraced and forciblye reteyned But all the partes of my body remaining neuerthelesse full of shaking feare and my hart puffed with swelling gréefe and weltring in the passions of these agonies they bereaued me a pritty while of my spéech But afterwards by quantity of time made more pliable to sustaine these neuer felte sorrowes and vnwoonted paynes a certayne féeble and fearefull force was restored to my daunted spirites And my eies whose conduites stopped by the violence of this vnexpected accident did now burst out into great plenty of teares and the stringes of my tongue contracted together with sharpe sorrowe were now dissolued to vtter and breath out the confused anguish and conceiued sorrowes in my minde Wherfore turning me to the Gardien and Lord of my life embracing him I sayd thus O final hope and soueraigne comfort of my afflicted soule let these my pittifull words take place with force in thy fléeting minde diuert thée from thy newe purpose because if thou doost so déerely looue me as thou shewest thy life and mine before theyr naturall and prefixed period commeth may not ioyntly be depriued of this ioyfull and swéete light Haled on by duetifull pitty and drawne backe againe by zealous looue thou puttest all thy future fortunes in doubtfull hazard But certes if all thy words are true with which thou hast not once but many times heretofore affirmed that thou didst looue me no other pittie therfore then this should be more mightie and of greater force to resist nor whyle I liue to withdrawe thée to any other place And harken why It is not vnknowen to thée if thou followest that course which thou séemest to doo in what a doubtfull miserable estate thou leauest my poore life which heretofore hath hardly passed one day not without great sorrowe when I could not sée thée Then mayest thou by this be more acertained that whē thou doost omitte to visite me so long togeather all my ioyes will vtterly forsake mee and this alas would be to much But who dooth not doubt that all kindes of woes sorrowe and anxieties will assaile mee and succéede in theyr place which without any resistance that I can possibly make will perhappes dissolue my vitall powers into nothing Thou shouldest haue already knowen howe weake and impotent young women are to rebacke such cruell and aduerse occurrauntes and what féeble force they haue with a stronge and resolute minde to endure them If peraduenture thou wilte obiect and say that in the fyrst beginning of my looues I haue both wisely and stoutly suffered greater aduersities then these I will truely agrée with thée herein but the occasions of them and of these are diuers My hope placed in my owne vallour made that séeme lyght vnto me which now béeing put in an other his will wil be to heauy for mee to supporte Who did euer denie me when burning desire had beyond all measure kindled my brest and surcharged it with furious passions that being enamored of thée as thou wert also of me I might not enioy thée Truely no bodie Which comfort when thou art so farre sequestred from me will not so easelie fall to my lotte Besides this I enioyed no more then but the sight of thy swéete face and goodlie personage and knewe thée no more but by the outward figure lineaments and proportion of thy body although in my hart I made great account and prise of thée but nowe haue by good proofe perceiued and felt in déede that as thou art nowe to be estéemed a great deale déerer of me then the reache of my imagination could then extend vnto euen so art thou now become mine own with that assured surenes those indissoluble bōds with which true loouers may possibly be held and vnited to those that looue them againe It is a greater greefe to leese a certaintie for an vncertaintie And who dooth not doubt moreouer that it is a greater gréefe to loose that which one hath in holde then that which he hopeth to haue although his hope therein bee not afterwardes frustrate Wherefore considering this matter well I plainely sée my death will soone approch Shall therefore the looue of thy olde father be preferred before that great affection which thou oughtest to haue of me be the ominous occasiō of my vntime lie death And if thou doost so thou art certes no loouer but an open enemie Ah wilt thou make more account of those few yéeres reserued for the miseries of thy olde father then of these many which by great reason and likelihood I haue liuing ioyfully with thée to spende Alas what indiscréete folly were this Doost thou beléeue that any one conioyned to thée in parentage néerest in blood or most
firme in mutuall fréendship dooth looue thee so much as I doo If this be thy beléefe beléeue me Pāphilus it is erronious For truely none can looue thée better and holde thée swéete Pāphilus déerer then I doo If therefore I looue thée more then others He that dooth loue most deserueth more pittie I deserue then to be requited with greater looue and pittie then others Prefer me therfore worthely before the rest being pittiful towardes me forget all other pittie that might offend and preiudicate this and let thy olde father as hee hath liued a longe time without thée enioy a Gods name his wonted rest with out thy companie And lette him from hence foorth if so he please liue amongest the rest of his other fréends and alies And if not let him dye If it bee true as I haue hearde hee hath a good while since escaped the deadly stroke of death and hath liued longer here then was conuenient for his necessary health and if he liue in payne with much troble as cōmonly olde men do thou shalt in thy absence shew thy self more pittiful towards him to let him die thē which thy presence to prolōg his trobled tired life But thou oughtest rather to succour me poore soule whose life hath not béene a good while since but by thy swéet cōpanie preserued nor cannot tell how without the same to enioy this mundane light who being yet in the prime of my tender age dooth hope to liue and lead with thée many ioyfull monthes and yéeres together If thy iourney were to such purpose and could worke such supernaturall effectes in thy olde father his body Medea her medicamentes restored to olde Aeson his youth againe as the charmes of Medea and her medicinall spelles did vppon olde Aeson then would I say that by iust pietie thou wert instiged and would highly commend this requisite pittie and although it would séeme repugnaunt to my will yet would I wishe and allowe of this deuotion in thée and exhorte thée to the performaunce of it But such a miracle passing the lawes and boundes of nature can neuer come to passe according to thy naturall reason as thou knowest well enough Behold then if perhappes thou shewest thy selfe more cruell and rigorous to mee then I beléeue or imagine thou wilt or doost so little care for me whome on thy owne mere choyce and not by compulsion thou hast looued and yet doost that aboue my looue thou wilt for all this aduaunce the lost and helplesse charity of the olde man take some pitty at the least of thy owne estate and caring little for him and bemoning me lesse rue thy owne condition whom if first thy countenaunce and afterwardes thy wordes haue not deceiued me I haue séene to be more deade then aliue as euen nowe thou werte without perceiuing me that did marke thée by some vncouth accident is a most extreame and sorrowfull passion and depriued once of my sight By long greefe and sorrow men dre and debarred of my company doost thou beléeue to lyue so long tyme as this pittilesse pittie dooth require Alas for the looue thou bearest to the Goddes looke better to thy selfe and sée what likely hoode of death if by longe and lingring gréefe men dye as I sée it dayly by others this iourney ah this inopinate vnluckie iourney wil yéeld thée which how harde moreouer and vnpleasaunt it is to thée thy sorrowfull sobbes and teares and the vnwoonted moouing of thy heart which panting and beating vp and downe in thy breast I féele doo plainely shewe And if not apparraunt death which is most like a worser and more cruell condition of life then any death be assured will accompany thée Alas that my enamored hart vrged with great pitty that it hath of my owne distresse constrained by that tender cōpassion which I féele for thée must now play the humble suppliaunt to pray and intreate thée and to aduise thée also that thou wouldest not be so fond what kind of pittie soeuer moouing thée therunto as with euident iminent daunger to hazard thy safe persō Who looueth not himselfe possesseth nothing in this world Why thinke that those who doo not looue them selues possesse nothing in the wide world Thy father of whom forsooth thou art so pittifull did not giue thée to the world because thou shouldest be thy owne minister and occasion of taking thy selfe away out of it againe And who dooth not beléeue but that if our estate were as manifest or could be lawfullie tolde vnto him that he being wise and of mature iudgemēt and experience would rather say Stay there still And if discretion and reason would not pitty at the least would induce him to it and this I am assured thou knowest wel enough It is therfore great reason that what iudgment in his own tried cause he hath giuen he should and is most likely that he wold in our cause if he knew it giue also the very same Wherefore omitte this troublesome iourney vnprofitable to thée vnpleasaunt to me and preiudiciall to vs both As these my dearest Lord are reasons forcible enough if followed to keepe thée from going hence so are there many more not a little effectuall if put in practise to dehort thée from going hence as fyrst for example cōsidering the place whether thou goest For put case thou doost bende thy iourney thether where thou wert borne thy natiue soyle and naturall countrey and a place belooued more of thée then any other as I haue heard thée say in certaine thinges annoyous and for certaine causes hated of thée Because thy Citty as thou thy self hast told is ful of haughtie boasting wordes but more replenished with pusillanimous and vnperformed déeds And that they are not onely slaues to a thousand confused lawes but to as many different oppinions as there are men All which as well forriners as Cittizens naturally contencious and full of garboyles doo dayly rage in ciuill broyles and intestiue warres And as it is full of proude couetous and malicious people so is it not vnfurnished of innumerable and intricate cares the least of which is I know most contrary to the good disposition of thy quiet minde Naples But this noble Citty which thou doost intend to forsake I am sure thou art not ignoraunt with what ioyfull peace it dooth continually florishe how famous it is for plenty of all commodities how opulent shining in glory and magnificensie how heroycally administred vnder the sole regiment of a mightie and inuincible king All which thinges I knowe if euer thy appetite I haue knowen are most pleasant to thy daintie tast It is some times lawful to praise ones selfe And besides all these rehersed pleasures here am I here am I Panphilus whom thou shalt neither find there nor mayst liue within any other place Leaue of therfore thy sorowful determination chaunging the vnaduised counsell into better consideration haue regard I
small time did make them appeare no otherwise to my fancies then if they hadde béene true indéede Sometimes mee thought hee was returned Dreames represent many times those things which are beloued and that in most fayre Gardens frée from all suspicion and feare decked with gréene leaues swéete flowers and diuers kinds of pleasant fruites I sported and played wyth him as other times we did accustome to doo And there I holding him by the hande and hee mee vnfolding his fortunes good and badde and telling all his accidents vnto mee mee thought that many times before hee had perfectly tolde out his tale with often kissing I didde interrupt him in his delightfull discourses And as if the same hadde béene true indéede which but with fained eyes I did contemplate I said And is it true swéete Panphilus that thou art returned againe Certes it is For héere I haue thée And then I kissed him againe Mée thought that other times wyth great sollace I was walking with him vp and downe the sea banks And sometimes my imagination was so strong héerein that I did affyrme it with my selfe saying Well now I doo not dreame that I haue him betwéene mine armes O howe it gréeued me when it came to passe that my pleasant dreames and swéete sléepe were both ended which going away did continually carie that away with them which without any trouble or gréefe to him I must néedes confesse did oppresse me And although that I remained in great melancoly by remembring of thē liuing neuerthelesse al the next day in good hope I was somewhat content and eased desiring still that night would quicklie drawe on because I might in my sléepe enioy that which waking I could not attaine to And although my sléepe did sometimes yéelde mee such néedy fauours notwithstanding it did not permitte mee to receiue such dreames of pleasure mingled without much bitter and poysoned galle of sorrowe because many times me thought I sawe him apparelled with ragged and forlorne garments besmeared all ouer I know not with what foule and blacke spottes and very pale and fearefull as though hee had béene pursued of some cruell enemie with shrikes and outcryes calling to me Helpe me Oh my Fiammetta helpe me Other tymes me thought I hearde diuers talke and mutter of his death And sometimes these fantasies of horror perced so farre into my minde that me thought I sawe him lie dead before me and in many other vncouth and pittifull formes so that it neuer came to passe that my sléepe was of more force or greater then my gréefe Wherefore sodainely awaked and knowing the vanitie of my dreame as one contented yet but to haue dreamed these terrours and terrible daungers I thāked the Goddes Things sene in dreames are some times true or else figures of true thinges remaining yet some what troubled in minde and fearing that the thinges which I had séene if not in all in parte at least they had béene true or else figures of true thinges to come Neither I was content at any time or perswaded by the contrarietie of these although I sayd with my selfe and heard of others that dreames were but vaine vntill I did heare some newes of him of the which I beganne now carefully and warely to enquier after And in such sorte as you haue heard fayre Ladyes I passed away the tedious dayes and irkesome nightes attending one still after other in their long course But the trueth is that the time of hys promised returne approching I déemed it the best and safest counsell to lyue merely in the meane time by which meanes my beautie a little altered and decayed by reason of this long vnacquainted gréefe might returne againe into her proper place because at his arriuall I might not séeme ill fauored and not gratious in his sight and so might not perhaps please his deinty and curious eyes Which was not harde for mée to doo because being since his departure accustomed and well acquainted with sorrowes it made mée endure and passe them away with verie little trouble or no payne at all And besides this the néere hope of his promysed returne made mée euery day féele a little more ioye and content of mynde Wherefore I beganne to frequent to feastes againe not a little while before intermitted of mée ascribing the occasion thereof to my obscured and clowdie dayes perceauing nowe the cléere and newe times to be at hand Nor no sooner dyd my mynde contracted earst with most bitter and pynching gréefes beginne to dilate and enlarge it selfe in such a pleasaunt and ioyfull life but I became fayrer then euer I was before And I trimmed vppe my gorgeous and rich vestures made my precious ornaments fayrer no otherwise then a valiaunt Knight at armes dooth cleare and make bright his Compleate Harnesse challenged to some worthye and famous combatte because I myght seeme more statelie and brauelie attyred with them at hys returne the whych as after it fell out in vayne I dyd attend As then therefore these actions were chaunged into an other tennour so dyd my thoughtes also chaung theyr coppie Vaine thoughts of loouers It came neuer nowe into my minde that I coulde not sée hym when hée departed nor the remembraunce of the sorrowfull signe of hys smytten foote agaynst the doore nor any thought of stynging and enuious iealousie nor hys susteyned troubles nor my suffered toyles nor his daungers nor my dollours did now molest my peace but rather dayes next before the ende of hys promysed returne I sayd to my selfe Nowe it dooth gréeue my Panphilus to bée long from mée and perceiuing hys time néere according to his promise dooth make short preparation and hast for his spéedy returne And now perhappes hauing left his olde father he is on his waie Oh howe pleasaunt were these wordes vnto me and how often dyd I most swéetly deskant vpon this note thinkinge many times with my selfe with what kinde of most loouing entertainement gratious gesture and swéete and fréendlie shewes I might at the fyrst represent my selfe vnto his personne and welcome him Alas howe many times sayde I to my selfe At his returne he shall be more then a thousand times imbraced of me and my zealous kisses shal be multiplied in such store that they shall not suffer one right and perfect word to come out of his mouth and I will make restitution of them a hundred times redubled which at his departure without receiuing on his parte any againe he gaue to my pale and halfe deade visage And in these kinde of thoughtes I doubted many times with my selfe that I could not bridle that burning and feruent desyre that I should then haue at the first sight of hym to embrace hym if I did perhappes sée him in open an publique companie But the vngentle Goddes as you shall hereafter perceiue found out a sorrowfull meanes which perswaded no feare doubte or mistrust of the due performaunce of any such circumstaunces and ceremonies denying
so strongly perswaded of theyr trueth that I turned my breake brayne thoughts into pittifull prayers to the deuine powers that they would take the same from mée apprehending them so forciblie in my mynde and no more nor lesse then if before mine eyes I had séene his imminent daunger and instaunt death And sometimes I remember that with fyrme beléefe I bewayled hys woefull ende as if I hadde séene any of these intellectuall aduersyties indéede But afterwardes I sayd to my selfe Alas what straunge causes are these which my miserable thoughtes cast before my eyes The Goddes forbydde that any such may befall Let him stay still and as long as pleaseth hym and let hym rather then to content mee or to offer hym selfe to any daungerous ieopardie whych may chaunce indéede though nowe they doo but delude my troubled wyttes not returne nor sée mée at all All which perilles though they are indéede possible yet are they impossible to bée kept close béeing most lyke that the vntimely and violente death of so noble and famous a younge Gentleman as hée is cannot longe bée hydden and concealed especiallie from mée of whose estate and welfare I doo carefully cause and with secrete and subtyle inuestigations doo continually procure dillygent enquirie to bée made And who dooth doubte moreouer if that any of these supposed perrilles were true but that flying Fame Fame a swifte reporter of ill thinges the swift reporter of ill newes would haue long since brought the maner of hys death hether By meanes of whych fortune but my least freende in thys would haue giuen mée an open waie to haue made mee the most sadde and most sorrowfull woman that might be Wherefore I rather beléeue that he remaineth in as great gréefe as I am in if that his most willinge returne is forbidden onely by the heauy commaundementes of his father and therefore he will come quickly or else excusing hys staying so long will for my great comfort write to me the occasion thereof Truely the foresayd thoughts although they did fiercely assault mee yet were they easily enough ouercome and the hope which by the terme determined was enforced to flie from me with all my power I did retaine laying downe before it the long and feruent looue which he bare vnto me and I to him his pawned fayth the adiured and sacred Goddes and his infinite teares in which thinges I did affirme and thinke it impossible that any deceite or guile might be hidden But yet I could not so rule my sorrowfull minde but that this hope thus forcibly kept must néedes giue place to many vagrant and vaine thoughtes that were yet left béehinde which driuing hereby little and little out of my woefull brest did worke amayne to returne to theyr former places reducing eftsoones to my minde diuers prodigious signes and tokens and many other vnfortunate accidents And I did scarcely perceiue the peaceable hope being almost quite expelled out of my heart but I did immediately féele theyr mighty and new forces planted in her place But amongst all other murdering thoughtes that did most of all massacre my gréeuous soule hearing nothing at all in processe of manie dayes of my Panphilus his returne was sharpe and stinging iealousie Ah this spitefully galled and wounded my breast more then I was able to endure This did dissanull all excuses which I had made for him as knowing and consenting to the occasion of his absent déedes This did often times induce me to those spéeches condemned of me before saying Alas how art thou so foolishe to beléeue that eyther the looue of his father vrgent affayres or delightfull pleasures maie now kéepe Panphilus from comming hether if he did looue thée so as once he sayd he dyd Dost not thou know that Loue doth ouercome all thynges Loue doth ouercome all things for he hath feruently perhaps enamoured of some other Gentlewoman quite forgotten thée whose pleasures béeing as forcible as new doo hide and hold him there as somtimes thine did kéepe him here Those foresaid Ladies passing gracious in euery thing they doo and as thou saydst in euery poynt moste apt to loue and with braue allurements endeuouring to bee beloued againe hee himselfe béeing likewise by the delicate purenesse of his cléere complexion naturally inclined to such passions and for many rare and commendable qualities in him most worthy to be beloued applying their whole studyes to hys seruice theyr paynes to his pleasures and hee his desires to their deuotions haue made him become a new Innamorato Art thou so assotted with the fame and glory of thine owne beauty that thou doost not beléeue that other Women haue shyning eyes in theyr heads fayrnes in theyr faces and that they are not as full of courtly behauiour good graces and all things els that may commaunde yong mens mindes as well as thou art And dost thou thinke that they are not so skilfull who are alas a greate deale more then euer thou werte in these amorous attempts as thou art Why thou art deceiued And if this be thy beléefe it is false And dooste not likewise beléeue that he on the otherside can please more then one Woman But yet I thinke that if hee coulde but sée thée it would bee a harde thing for him to loue any other But since he cannot sée thée nor hath not séene thée these many monethes how canst thou déeme otherwise then so Thou must néedes knowe that no worldly accident is permanent and eternall for as he was enamored of thée as thou didst please him so is it possible that another may like him and he abandoning thy loue may affectionate some other New things alwaies please For newe things are euer wont to please a great deale more thē those which are daily séene And euery one dooth with greater affection desire that which hee hath not then that which he hath already in his owne possession Againe there is nothing be it neuer so delightful which by long time enioying vsing the same doth not ware yrkesome at last and of lesse if of none account at all Who wyll not moreouer sooner and more willingly loue a faire new Ladie at his owne house then one whom he hath long since serued in a forraine Countrey and vnknown place He did not also loue thée perhappes with so feruent and zealous affection as he made thée beléeue And neyther his teares nor any of his passions were to bee helde so déere and so sure a pledge of such great loue as he did still affyrme and as thou didst thinke that he did beare thée Many men also departing from their beloued are tormented with anguish gréefe of mind with bitter waylings taking their wofull congies swearing déepely and promising many things profoundlie which with a good and firme intent perhaps they meane to performe but some suddaine and newe chaunce controling the same is an occasion to make them forget al their former oathes and protestations The teares
quickly to find out a playster for euery wounde This béeing saide The vaine beleefe of Louers I suddainly rose vppe and ranne to the windowe as if he had vnderstoode my words but I perceiued my selfe alas deceiued in my foolish imagination in thinking that I hearde that which I did not and that he knocked at the dore as he was sometimes wont to doo O howe many times if any of my other carefull Louers had known this might I haue béene dishonourably dealt withall if any malicious and crafty person had fained himselfe to be Panphilus in such a case But after that I had opened the wyndowe and looked towardes the Gate myne eyes made mee more assured of this manifest illusion and so was my vaine ioy tossed with a true and suddaine turbation of minde not vnlike to the tempestious waues after that the strong Maste broken in péeces by blasts of mightie windes with crumpled sayles by maine force of them is throwne into the Sea without resistance doo couer and hide the endaungered shyp And returning after my old wont to my accustomed teares I did miserably beginne to lament and bewayle And forcing my selfe afterwards to giue some reste to my tormented minde drawing vp the vapours of swéete sléepe into my closed eyes in this manner with my selfe I did call vpon them againe Oh quiet sléepe Sleepe the rest of all things and the peace of all mens mindes the most pleasant rest of all mortall things and vaine peace of mens mindes which doost shunne all care like an enemie come to mee and with thy operations driue out of my burning brest these smothered thoughts these heauie cares and these ruthfull and restles fancies O thou that doost restore wearied bodies and hardened in cruel and breathlesse paynes to ease againe and dooest make them fitte and fresh to endure newe labours why dooest thou not come thou giuest repose to others giue also some little rest to me whose néede is more then any others els Forsake the eyes of merry and pleasaunt yong Gentlewomenne who holding nowe theyr Louers in theyr armes and passing the time ioyfully in the exercise of the Goddesse of Cypris games do vtterly refuse and hate thée And enter into mine who lyeth héere alone forsaken and choaked with Seas of sorrowfull teares and consumed with scalding sighes O thou the tamer of fierce and wicked creatures and the better part of man his life let me take some comfort by thée and reserue thy absence vntill that time when Panphilus wyth his pleasant discourses shal delight my weaned eares which shall be neuer wearied in hearing him my desirous eyes with hys braue beauty in looking on him O féeble brother of darke death which doost equally intermeddle false things wyth true enter into my sorrowfull eyes Thou didst once ouerspread Argus his hundred eyes commaunded by ielious Iuno to watch and vnwilling to sléepe Alas come now into mine The propertye of sleepe which are but two and which doo with great desire attende thy gratefull entraunce O Hauen of life rest of light and companion of night which dost come all alike as gracious to high Kings as to base and poore slaues enter in to my sorrowfull breast and making a pleasaunt soiourne there recreate a little my daunted spyrits Oh moste sweete sléepe which doost compell humaine generation fearefull of death with more patience to learne her long and lyngering comming possesse mée with the effects of thy force and driue from mee these infectious hurtes in the which my vnquiet mynd troubleth it selfe without any profit at all Morpheus more pittifull vnto me then any other God to whom I offered vp my prayers admit that he made delay in graunting me that fauour which I besought hym by my importunate orysons after a long space constrayned more by the force of my pittifull prayers and vnpittied disquiet then of hys proper accorde came slowly and silently stealing into my eyes and so my selfe not perceiuing him at all crept in by the windowes Dreames of haples Louers as yet halfe open into my giddye heade which didde greatly néede his presence and helpe and béeing moste wyllingly entertained there did wholy turne himselfe vppe and downe possessing euery place of it But swéete and desired peace although that sléepe was come did not yet enter into my vnsetled minde but in lue of thoughts teares a thousande fearefull visions full of infinite terrors dydde make mée greatly afraide beléeuing verely that no hellishe furie remained in Pluto his Citties but that euery one in most horrible formes and vglie shapes mée thought did appeare many times vnto mée threatning mée of diuers insuinge stratagemes and often times with their gastly lookes breaking mée out of my momentarie sléepe which afterwardes as though I had not séene them at all I was content and gladde with in my selfe that they were but fantasticall and foolishe shadowes And in bréefe there were but a fewe of these nightes after the vnfortunate tidinges of this newe bridegroome and his bride in the which I tooke any pleasure or ease in my forced sléepe and neuer representing to my wandring fantasies my Panphilus with such ioy as they were wont to doo many times before Which thinge did no lesse beyonde all measure gréeue mée then the contrary without meane to molest mée Of all these cares at last of al my streaming teares ceaselesse sobs and sighes and of al my multiplied gréefs but not of the occasion of them my déere husbande had no small inckling and knowledge especially when hee perceiued that the liuely cullour of my face was chaunged into a dead palenesse and that my pleasaunt and shining eyes depainted rounde about with two blewe and purple circles were déepely suncke into my forhead Séeing which things I say caused him many times to maruaile howe all these alterations should happen But perceauing at length that I had lost my appetite to meate and that my woonted sléepe had forsaken me he some times asked mee what was the cause thereof Whom I answered that the weakenesse of my stomake was in faulte which had so extenuated and appalled my face with that deformed leannesse my selfe not knowing no other cause why it was thus gonne from me but onely that Alas how simplie did hée beléeue giuing entier fayth to my deceitfull wordes this feyned excuse and false tale and caused infinite medicines to bée made and ministred to mée all which to content hym I did willinglie take not that I did thinke to get any profitte or ease at all by them No helpe of the body can lighten the passions of the soule For what lightning of the body can ease or asswage the infesting passions of the infected soule None I beléeue But my minde being purged of them they might perhappes alleuiate and helpe my bodie much The medicine auaileable for my maladie was but one which was very precious déere and to farre of to make me receiue my pristinate health But after my
there in hell neuer so much tormented wyth endles payne that séeing these thinges coulde not but féele some respectiue ioy Why not one at all I think For they rauished with the swéetnesse of Orpheus his harpe forgotte for a time their cruell paines and torments But I sette in the mids of a thousand torments and placed amongst a thousande ioyes and continually exercised in many and sundrye kinds of sports cannot I say burie my gréefe in momentary obliuion nor asswage and lighten it be it neuer so little a while And put case that sometimes at those feastes such like I haue with an vnfained and true countenaunce hidde it and haue giuen respect to my tedious sighes in the night afterwards when I did finde my selfe all alone I did prolong not pardon any part of my teares but didde powre out rather so many of them as the day before I had spared and kept in scalding sighes And these thinges inducing mee to more pensiue and percing thoughts and especially in considering their vanities more apt and possible to hurte then to helpe as by proofe of them I doo manifestly knowe the feaste béeing finished and my selfe going from it and not wythout cause complayning and waxing angrye against these vayne shadowes and all other worldly showes I beganne thus to say Oh howe happy is that innocent man who dwelleth in the sollitarie village enioying onely the open ayre The prayse of a solitary life Who employing his sole care and labour to inuent subtill ginnes for simple beastes and to make nettes for vnwarie birdes with gréefe of mynde can neuer be wounded And if perhappes he suffer any great wearines in his body in casting him selfe downe vpon the gréene grasse incontinently he refresheth him selfe againe chaunging his place sometimes in the freshe riuer bankes and sometimes vnder the coole shadowe of some great woode where the chirping birdes with theyr prettie songes and the softe trembling of the greene leaues shaken by some pleasaunt and little wynde as staying themselues to harken to their siluer notes lull him swetlie a sléepe Ah Fortune haddest thou graunted me such a lyfe to whome thy desired giftes are but a cloging care and detriment it had béen better for me Alas how my high Palaces sumptuous beddes treasure and great familie any thing profitable and how little pleasaunt vnto me when my mind surcharged with ouer much anxyetie and wandring in vnknowen countries after Panphilus cannot haue any small rest nor when any comfortable respiration may be graūted to my wearied and breathlesse soule Oh howe delightfull and gratious a thing is it to presse the gréene and swéet bankes of the swift running riuers with a quiet and frée mind and vpon the naked turfes to fetche a sound and vnbroken sléepe which the glyding riuer with murmuringe bubles and pleasaunt noyse without feare dooth nourishe and maintaine These eases are without any grudge graunted to the poore inhabitaunt of the countrie village fréely to enioye and are a great deale more to bée desired then those toyes which with many flattering words I haue often times fawned on and haue with such dilligent and daily care embraced as the fine dames of the Citties vse commonly to doo and which at last with the carelesse coyle of the tumultuous familie or negligentlie broken His hunger if at any time perhappes it pricke him with geathering of Apples in the faythfull and secure woodes hée dooth driue away and manie young and tender herbes which the wyde Champaignes or little hilles of theyr owne frée will bring forth are also a most sauorie and swéete sustenaunce vnto him Oh in how many running brookes Christalyne fountaines and swéete waters lying downe all along may hee quench his thyrste and with the hollowe of his hande in cléere and streming riuers Ah wicked and pinching care of worldlings for whose sustentation nature dooth require but little dooth prepare light things We thinke with the infinite number and sundrie sorts of delicate vyandes to fill the gourmandise of our bodies and to please our queasie appetites not perceyuing at all that in them there lie hidden the very causes by meanes of which the ordinate humors and good bloode are euer more corrupted then nourished And how many times in cuppes of gold and siluer richlie garnished with gemmes and precious stones in stéede of swéete and delicious wines doo wée daily heare that colde and swelling poysonnes are tasted and doo howerly sée that in hotte wines and compound drinckes licentious vnbrideled and wicked lust is drunke and throwen headlong down Whereupon commonly they fall by meanes of these into a superfluous securitie which by wicked wordes or damned déedes dooth bringe to them a miserable lyfe or dooth paye them home with a most contemptible death seeing moreouer by daily proofe that these kinds of vnkinde beuerages make the drinkers bodies in a great deale worser Poeticall conceites and more miserable case then starke madde The Satires Faunes Driades Naiades and the Nimphes kéepe him faithfull and simple company Hée dooth not knowe what Venus dooth meane nor cannot skyll of her byformed Sonne And if hée dooth perhappes knowe her hee perceiueth her beautie to bee but base and little amyable Nowe alas would it had pleased the Goddes that I had lykewise neuer knowen it and that kéeping simple and playne company I had lyued a rusticall and rude lyfe to my selfe all alone Then should these vncurable gréefs haue béene far from me which I now sustaine and my soule The pompe of the world like to the winde together with my most holy name should not haue cared nor desired to see these worldly pompes and feastes lyke to the flying windes and vanishing smoke in the ayre nor if it had séene them should haue béene so full of anguishe and sorrowe as now it is The desire of hygh and princely towers of rich and sumptuous houses of great families and costly traynes of fayre and delicate beddes of shining cloathes of golde and siluer of pampered proude and swifte horses and of a thousand other superfluities of nature dooth neuer disturbe his temperate minde nor clogges his heart with buderning and burning care to kéepe them Not accompanied nor sought after of wicked men he dooth without feare liue in quiet and sequestred places and without séeking doubtfull rest in high and stately lodginges dooth demaunde onely the open ayre and light for his repose And of the manner of his lyfe the wyde firmament is a manyfest and continuall witnesse Oh how much is this life nowe a dayes vnknowen and lyke an enemie escheued and contemned of euery one whereas it should be rather as the déerest and swéetest content followed and embraced of all Truely I suppose that the fyrst age of the world lyued in this sorte which péese-meale brought foorth Goddes and men There is no lyfe alas more frée nor more deuoyde of vyce or better then this the which our first fathers enioyed and with which also he is this
day of all others best contented who abandoning the opulent and vicious Citties inhabyteth the priuate and peaceable woodes O what a worlde had it béene if Iupiter had neuer driuen Saturne a waie and if the Golden age had contynued styll vnder a chaste lawe because wée might all lyue like to our primitiue parentes of the first worlde Alas whosoeuer he be that dooth this day obserue the first and auncient riches euen he I say is not inflamed with the blynde rage of haplesse and helplesse Venus as I am nor he who hath resolued with hym selfe to dwell in Woodes hilles or dales was euer subiect to any carefull kingdome not to the wauering wynde of the vnconstant populare not to the suffrages oppinions and censures of the trothlesse common people not the infectious plagues and enuious pestilences nor to the frayle fauour also of blind and inconsiderate Fortune in all which my selfe hauing put to much trust looue and studie in the middest of the waters like Tantalus doo dye with endlesse thirste To little thinges great rest is aforded although it bee a harde matter without the greater to be able to sustaine the lyfe But he whose thoughts are turmoyled about great thinges or dooth desire to ouerrule great matters the same man I say dooth euermore followe the vaine honours of vading riches What they are that follow riches And highe styles and magnificent titles please for the most part false and deceytfull men But he is frée from feare and doubt and can not decerne of the malicious man swelling in rancour cancred enuie nor of the backbiter by his venemous tongue and viperous téeth who dwelleth in the simple and solitarie woodes and féelds And is also ignoraunt of the sundrie hatreds and incurable woundes of looue and the abhominable sinnes of the people committed one against an other in the Citties and liueth without feare of breach of lawes and cléere of suspicion to be guiltie of ryottes and mutinies and beateth not his branes to forge fayned tales and to vse deceitfull wordes which are notes to entrappe men of pure faith and playne dealing But the other while he is alofte is neuer without feare or perrill suspecting continually the verie same sword that he weareth by his side Oh how good a thing is it to resist naked and lying vpon the ground securelie to take his sustenaunce Neuer or seldome at all did capitall or great sinnes enter into little cotages At the first there was no care taken for golde nor the holy stone nor God Terminus was set a bounde or Arbyter to deuyde féeldes from féeldes and seueralles from commons With tall and stout shippes they plowed not the vnknowen waues of the Sea but euery one dyd knowe his proper coastes and bankes Nor with stronge piles of timber with déepe ditches high walles strong bulwarkes and rampires dyd they fortifie and compasse about the sides of theyr Citties nor cruell weapons and rustie armour were scoured vp and made readie to fight or borne of warriers in those daies neither had they any Enginnes or deuellishe deuises which with great pittie might ruinate stonie walles and breake Iron gates in péeces And if there was perhappes amongest them any little warre with naked brest and vnarmed arme they fought it out in which the broken bowes of trées and stones serued them for theyr weapons and pellets Nor the fine and light speare of horne was armed with Iron nor the stabbing dagger trenching sworde and murdering rapyer were gyrt to any of theyr backes or side Nor the bushy crest and prowd plume of colloured wauing feathers dyd adorne the glittering helmettes and that which in theyr happy daies was the happyest thing of all was that Cupid was not yet borne whereby the chast mynds violated afterwards with his poysoned dartes when he first began to flie with swifte winges thorowe the worlde might liue securely and frée from all tormenting thoughtes Ah I would the Gods had giuen mée to such a world the people whereof content with a little and fearing nothing followed onely their wilde and and sauadge appetites And that of so many great goods and felicities that they enioyed I had not possessed any other then not be molested with so gréeuous looue nor to féele so many smootheringe sighes as now I am do now féele then should I haue liued a more happy life then now I do in this present age ful of so many poisoned pleasures vnprofitable ornāents shadowed pompe Alas that the wicked furie of gaine auarice Mutations of ages that headlong and enraged wrath and that those mindes which of themselues kindled lothsome luste and voilated these first bondes so holy and easie to be kept giuen of nature her selfe to her people And that the thyrst after rule a bloodie Sunne came nowe in place and that the weaker became a pray to the greater and more mightie Sardanapalus came nowe in and first of all made Venus though of Semiramis it was made more dissolute more deintie and delicate and then to Bacchus and Ceres prescribed new orders and customes neuer knowen of them before Then came in also warlike Mars who found out newe sleights and a thousand mortall wayes to death And then al the world beganne to be contaminated with blacke goare and the Sea to be tainted with redde riuers of bloode running into it Then most wicked crymes entred into euerie one his house in bréefe there was no great or detestable sin perpetrated without some former and foule example before Brother killed brother the father the sonne and the sonne the father The husband lay slaine for the faulte and many times by the proper facte of his wife And wicked mothers destroyed daily their owne fruite The infinite crueltie and endlesse enuie of stepdames whych continuallie secréetelie or openlie they beare to their husbandes children I neede not to alleadge because theyr effectes are manyfestlie séene at all times and places Ritches therefore brought Pryde Auarice Lecherie Wrath Gluttonie Enuie and Slothe and euery other vyce with them Looue the worker of all mischefe And with these aforesayd Fiendes the Captayne and worker of all mischéefe and the onely artificer of all sinnes entred also dissolute and vnbrydeled Looue I meane by whose continuall sieges layde to myserable myndes infinite Citties ruinated and burnte doo yet smoake and for whome all nations haue made mortall vprores and doo yet broyle in the lamentable and endlesse warres And the ouerwhelmed and drowned kingdomes by his cruell tyrannie doo yet oppresse many people And concealing all his other execrable effectes let those onely which hée vseth towardes mée suffise for a manyfest example of his mercilesse mischéefe and crueltie which doo so sharpely enuironne me on euery side that I cannot turne my minde to no other thing but onely to the gréeuous obiectes of hys immanitie Discoursing thus with my selfe sometimes I thought that that which I dyd was wicked in the sight of the iust Gods and
them had they not béen mortall But I thinking onely of those vnluckie tydinges which I had hearde to one of you Gentlewomen to which I know not I sodainely became an open enemie and I began to reuolue great gréeuous matters in my perplexed minde And that amassed lumpe of gréefe which could not altogether containe it selfe in my breast with a furious and despitefull voyce I did in this sorte partly driue out of me saying O wicked and false young man O enemie to pittie and pittilesse wretch O Panphilus the worst of all those who with out deserte dooth breath this common ayre Disloyall Panphilus who hauing blotted me most miserable woman out of thy vngratefull memorie doost nowe dwell and delight thy selfe with thy newe deceitfull dame Accursed bee that haplesse day when fyrst I sawe thée and that fatall hower and very instant in whych thou diddest please my simple eyes Accursed be that Goddesse which appearing to mee with her allured promyses flattered my waueringe minde and disturbed the same though resisting with all her forces to the contrarie from the boundes of my right iudgement to lyke of thée wicked wretch and vngratefull monster to looue thée Certes I thinke that shee was not Venus but rather some infernall furie in her shape striking mee with madnesse and filling me with franticke furie as once she did miserable Atamas O most cruell youth whome amongst manie other most noble beautiful and valiaunt young Gentlemen I dyd fondly chuse out for the best where are nowe thy serious prayers which for safetie of thy life with teares thou diddest often tymes offer vnto me affirming that both that and thy death weare in my handes Where are nowe thy pittifull lookes and those two neuer dryed eyes with the which malicious man thou dyddest neuer cease at thy pleasure to shedde foorth teares in my presence Where is nowe the great looue that so brauely thou diddest fayne to shewe me Where are thy swéete wordes and thy sower gréefes thy infinite sorrowes thy paynes and trauels proffered and imployed in my seruice Are all these slyd out of thy memorie or hast thou framed them a new to entrap thy deceiued and newe loouer Accursed be that pittie of mine which tooke that life out of death his mouth that thereby making her selfe thē a ioyfull woman should haue rather sent it to the darkesome denne of death Nowe those eyes which whilome in my presence lamented laugh before their newe Mistresse and that mutable heart hath turned all his swéete wordes and faire offers to her onely and nowe hast thou hereticallie dedicated all thy seruices to her deuotions Alas Panphilus where are nowe those profaned and periured Godheades Where is thy promised fayth Where are thy infinit teares of the which miserable woman I drunke no small quantitie beléeuing them to bee tempered then with as great pittie and looue as now they are turned but to droppes of treacherous deceite All those placed in the bosome of thy newe Mistresse thou hast with thy selfe taken from me Alas how great a corsiue was it to my poore hart when once before I heard that by Iunos lawe thou werte combined to an other woman But perceiuing that the couenauntes in which thou didest binde thy selfe to me were not to be preferred before them although I did painefullie beare it yet ouercome with iust grefe I did with lesse anguish of minde endure it It is a great greefe that that which dooth iustly belong to one should vniustly be an others But now vnderstanding that by the self same lawes by the which thou wert boūd to me thou hast in casting me of giuē thy selfe to an other it is an vntollerable paine for me to sustaine But now I knowe the cause of thy stay openly perceiue my own simplicity with the which I euer beléeued that thou wouldest if possiblie haue once returned againe Alas Panphilus diddest thou stand in nede of so many guilefull artes and cunninge fetches to delude me Why diddest thou so often so solemnlie and so highlie sweare vnto mée with continuall asseueration of thy most entyre and sincere faith if thou diddest thinke thus to deceiue me Wherfore diddest not thou goe away without taking thy leaue or without making any promise of thy returne I did as thou knowest most feruentlie looue thée and thou wert not then so much entangled in my looue werte not so straightly my prisoner but at thy will as to my no small paine I now perceiue thou hast doone and without wasting such infinite and vaine teares thou mightest haue departed from me If thou haddest doon thus then I should without doubt haue sodainely dispaired of thy returne manifestlie knowing thy deceite and then with death ere this time or ese with iust obliuion my tormentes should haue béene concluded But because they might be the more prolonged in giuing me a little vaine hope thou hast continuated and nourished them still But I poore soule neuer deserued this at thy wicked handes Alas how swéete were thy salte teares to me but nowe knowing their vile effects I féele thē to be most bitter to my dying minde Alas if looue did so strongly rule in thée as he dooth féercelie vse his might and signorie in me tell me then if it was not sufficient for thée to be once captiuated but that the second time thou must fall into his forces againe But what doo I talke of looue For thou didst neuer looue but hast rather delighted to iest with young gentlewomen and hast made it but a sport to deceiue which thy subtilty their simplicity If thou had'st loued as I did beléeue thou did'st thou shouldest yet haue béene mine own And whose couldest thou haue béene that had looued thée more then I Alas what dame so euer thou be that hast taken him from me though thou art my mortall and onely enemie yet féeling the great gréefe which his falshood hath engēdred in my breast I must néedes take pittie on thée He that deceiueth once deceiueth euer Wherfore I warne thée to take héede of his deceites because he that hath once deceiued hath for euer after lost his honesty and shame and dooth make it no matter of conscience to deceiue euery one from thence foorth Alas wicked youth how many orisons and sacrifices haue I offered vp to the Gods for thy safetie and now thou must flie from mée to goe to an other O Goddes my praiers I perceiue are hearde but to the profitte of an other woman I haue the sorrowe and an other suckes the swéete I reape but dole and paine for my long deuotions and an other delight and pleasure of him who in right and equitie should be mine Ah wicked man was not my beauty correspondent to thy brauery my dooinges to thy desires and my nobilitie to thy Gentilitie Alas a great deale more Were my riches euer denied thée or dyd I take any of thine Ah neuer Did I euer in déede or demonstration looue any man besides thy selfe
And vnlesse thy new looue make thée degresse to farre from the trueth thou wylt confesse and say no. What faulte of myne therefore what iust occasion of thy parte what greater beautie or more feruent looue haue taken thée from mée and giuen thée to an other Truely none And all the Gods be my recordes héerein that I neuer wrought any thing against thée but that beyond all termes of reason I looued thée And if this hath deserued such treachery as thou haste doone and workest against mée let thy owne selfe disloyall as thou art be iudge O ye Goddes the iust reuengers of our vniust defectes I cal vpon you for cruel and due vengeance I neyther wishe nor goe about to practise his death who by his vile escape from mée would haue wrought mine Nor do pray that any other punishmēt may befal to his deserued guilt but if he looue his new choice as I looue him that in casting him of and giuing her selfe to an other as he hath taken him selfe from mée she would leaue him in that kinde of lyfe that cruel as he is he causeth me to leade And so with vnséemely motions of my body turning me now this way now that way like a franticke woman I tumbled and tossed vp and downe in my bed All that day was not spent in other spéeches then in such of like tennour and in most bitter waylings But the night worser then the day and more apte for all kinde of sorrowe the melancholy darkenes being more conformable too meditating miseries then the light béeing now stolen on it came to passe that béeing in déede with my déere husband and lying a great while silent to my selfe and broade waking yet warring within my selfe with hostes of dollorous thoughts amongest which calling to memory all my passed times aswell my pleasaunt occurrences as sorrowfull passages and especially that I had lost my Panphilus by meanes of a new looue my gréefe grewe in such aboundaunce that vnable to keepe it any longer within with great lamentations dolefull complaints I burst it out albeit concealing the amorous occasion of it And my sighes were so forcible and my sobbes so profounde that my Husbande béeing nowe a goodwhile drowned in déepe sléepe by the great noise and molestation of them was awaked and turning himselfe to me who was spunged in mine owne teares and taking mee louingly in his armes with milde and pittiful words he said thus vnto mee O my swéete soule The loue of a good husband what sinister cause of so dolefull a plaint in the quiet night when thou shouldest take thy rest doth trouble thée thus What thing is it that this long time hath made thée so melancholicke and sad Nothing must bée concealed from mee that may any way displease or discontent thée Is there any thing that thy hart dooth desire and that my witt and substance may compasse for thée or that in demaunding of it thou mightest possibly haue Art not thou my onelie comfort my ioy and my good And doost not thou knowe that I loue thée aboue all worldly thinges yea more then my selfe Whereof not by shewe nor one proofe but by dailie experience thou maist liue assured Wherefore dooest thou therefore lament in such sort Wherfore doost thou afflict thy selfe in such extreame gréefe Doo I séeme vnpleasant ill fauoured or nothing gracious in thyne eyes or am I vnworthy of thy beauty or is not my birth parentage and estate agréeable to thy nobilitie or doost thou think mée culpable in any thing that I may amende Speake and tell me franckly and discouer to me the vale of thy desires There shal be nothing left vndoone or vnattempted for thy sake if it may possible bée Thou doost altered in visage and apparrel and extreamely sorowfull in all thy actions minister a doleful occasion and matter to me of an vnquiet life And though I haue before séene thée continually sadde pensiue yet thys day more then at any time I thought of late that some bodilie infirmitie was the cause of thy palenes but nowe I doo manifestly know that it is gréefe of mind that hath brought thée to this pittiful case wherin I sée thée wherfore I pray thée close to me the roote from whence all thy sorowes do grow Whom with a feminine and suddaine witte taking counsel of fained tales and lies which before hadde serued mee for a shyft I answered thus O swéete Husband déerer to me then all the worlde besides I lacke not anie thing wherein thy forward help may auaile mee and acknowledge thée without all doubt more worthy then my selfe but the death of my déere Brother of which thou art not ignorant hath long before and now since brought me to this extreame sorrow Which as often as I thinke of it with bitter wailings dooth rent my harte in péeces Sometimes the maner of ones death is more lamēted then the death it selfe And certes I bewaile not so much his cruell death a thing naturallie incident to vs all but the strange and pittifull manner of the same which thou diddest know to be violent infortunate and bloodie And besides this the straunge things and vglie sights that appeared to me after his death doo kill my fearefull soule to thinke of I can neuer so little shut vp mine eyeliddes or giue any slender sléepe to my sorrowfull eies but immediatly all pale trembling naked and full of goare shewing me his cruell woundes he appeareth quaking before me And euen then when thou diddest perceiue me to wéepe and lament hee came into the Chamber standing and staring before me as I was a sléepe in likenes of a horrible and fainting ghoste fearefully quaking wyth a breathles and panting brest in such sort that he could scarce vtter one word but at the last with extreame paine sayde O my déere Sister wipe that blotte of ignominie from me which with an appalled and troubled face looking euer for verie gréefe and shame thereof on the ground doth make my sorrowfull ghost wander with great disgrace and scorne amongst other haples sprites And although it was some comfort for me to sée him yet ouercome with terror which I had of his dreadfull habite and mooued with iust compassion of his words with starting on a suddaine I awaked out of my féeble sléepe and thus my teares the which thou dooest nowe goe about to comfort fulfilling the duetie of my conceiued pittie did at hand follow And so as the Gods know if weapons were fitte for Women I woulde ere this haue reuenged his miserable death and with a fierce countenaunce and couragious hart sent the gréedie gutton of his innocent blood amongst other damned soules But alas I can doo no more then I am able Therefore déere Husbande not without great occasion I am thus miserablie tormented in minde O with howe manie pittiful words did he then comfort me applying a salue to the wounde which was healed long inough before and howe did hee endeuour to
that thou treadest on Whose sundry kinds of delightfull seruices and swéete pleasures shall so by little and little driue him out of thy remembraunce as hee hath for loue of his new Gentlewoman banished thee perhaps out of his memory Iupiter laugheth at these promised faithes and solemne oathes whē they are broken And whosoeuer doth vse one but according as he is vsed himselfe what canne the worlde speake or thinke of any more then the deserts of such an one did require To kéepe faith with one that hath broken hys is reputed now adaies but méere mockerye and to requite deceits with deceits is estéemed no small poynt of wisedome Medea forsaken of Iason entertayned Egeus And Ariadne forsaken of Theseus got Bacchus for her Husband and so were their mournings turned into myrth Temperate therefore thy gréefes suffer thy paines patiently because thou hast not any occasion to be sorrowful more for another then to be pittifull towards thy selfe And whensoeuer thou wilt thou shalt finde oportunitie enough to make thē cease considering that the same and greater gréefes then thyne were sometimes sustained and passed away by others greater and more noble personages then thy selfe For Deianira was forgottē of Hercules for Iole and Phillis of Demophoon and Penelope of Vlisses for Circe And all their tormēts and passions were greater then thine by how much the heate of their loue was greater and more feruent then thine And so much the more if their diuine essence immortall powers and the hautie condition of those notable men and Women are well considered and yet they suffered them In these disgraces therfore thou art not alone nor the first And those aduersities in the which patients haue company Greese is lesse hurtfull when one hath company in it are not so gréeuous and painefull to them as thou thy selfe dooest say Wherefore bee merry againe and expell these vaine cares admonishing thée to haue before thine eyes a continuall doubt and feare of thy déere Husband and of his iust anger and yet vnconceiued iealosie to whose eares if perhappes these follies as néedes they must at laste shoulde come admitte as thou saist that he could giue thée no other nor no lesse punishment then death the very same for as much as one can die but once ought euerye one when his howre is come and when he can to take it in the best sorte and order he may And thinke that if that kind of death which in thy rage angrye moode thou dooest so quickly so wickedly desire should followe and happen vnto thée with what greate infamy and euerlasting shame should thy liuing memorye thy déere honour thy good name and thine honestye suruiue and remaine for euer after blotted and ignomiously obscured Worldly thinges shoulde bee vsed not as troublesome substaunces but as transitory shaddowes Wherefore from henceforce let neither thy selfe nor any other put any affiaunce in them whether they haue a prosperous or preposterous issue nor yet throwne downe in aduersitie let not any of the otherside dispayre of the best Clotho mingleth these and those things together and forbiddeth that Fortune bée stable and constant and chaungeth euery fate None had euer the Goddes so fauourable to their willes that they might presentlye binde them vnto them or coulde at any time haue them tyed to their affections For they prouoked by the guilt of our sins turne our affaires topsye turuy and Fortune againe helpeth those that be valiant couragious and stoute minded reiecting those that are pusillanimous fearefull doubtfull in their enterprises And now it is time to prooue if vertue haue any place in thée Admitte that at al times it may neuer be remooued though oppressed with darke clowdes of aduersities and darkned with blacke tempests of mis-fortune it is oftentimes choaked and lyeth secrete and hydden Hope also hath this property annexed to it that it is not a guide to afflictions nor sheweth any way to gréefe or sorrow Wherefore hee that may hope in anye thing let him dispayre of nothing Wee are tossed with the fluctuant waues of our destinies and those thinges beléeue me that they prepare for vs cannot with so light care with so small regarde or with so soone labour bee chaunged The greater part almost of that which we mortall generation eyther doo or suffer commeth from the heauens aboue Lachisis dooth kéepe a decréed Lawe to her Distaffe and doth draw forth euery thing by a limitted way The firste day she giueth thée is the last neyther is it lawful to wrest determined things and wrought aboue with the influences of the Planets to an other course It hath hurt many to be afraid of an inmoouable order and many also in not fearing the same Because while these are a fearing their owne destinies the very same are already befallen to thē vnawares Leaue therefore thy gréefes and sorrowes which voluntarilie thou hast procured and liue ioyfully putting thy hope in the Gods and endeuour to doo well because it hath often times come to passe that when one doth think himselfe furdest from felicitie then with an inopinate steppe he is suddainly entred into it Many Shippes securely sayling thorow the déepe and wide Seas haue béene offentimes cast away in the mouth of the wyshed Hauen And some againe dispayring altogether of succour haue in the selfe same day and daunger yea suddainly arriued to the desired ende of their long voyage And I haue séene many trées smittē with Iupiters scorching lightnings and in fewe dayes after again couered ouer with gréene leaues and loaden with goodly fruite And some againe cherished with great care by some secrete and suddaine accident withered quite away Fickle Fortune doth yéelde sundry effects for as she hath béen the instrument of thy long gréefe so if by hope thou doost nourish thy life shee wyll likewise minister to thée manie occasions wholsome meanes of double ioy againe And nowe she helde her peace But as many times as she perceiued me distracted into these vnwonted and extreamest passions so did the sage Nurce vse these spéeches towardes mee thinking with her selfe to driue these irremoouable gréefes and obstinate anguish out of my minde reserued onely for the full consumation of my death But none or fewe of her graue counselles did touch my troubled mind with effect and the greatest part of them spent in vaine vanished away in the ayre And my sorrowfull soule did euery day more sensibly féele more gréene and gréeuous wounds Wherfore lying many times vpright vpon my rich bedde with my face couered betwéene mine armes I imagined diuers great matters and strange things in my troubled minde And now I will begin pittifull Ladies to tell of most cruell thinges and not credible almost to be hatched in the breast of a simple Woman They that loue vnfortunatly doo often times think to kil them selues if the sequell of these or greater then these were not séene afterwards to come to passe My harte béeing therefore
but euery part of the same ouercome with quaking feare did not suffer me but I fell suddainly downe againe not once but thrise vpon my face in which occurrant I felt a fierce warre betwéene my angry soule and my timorous and vitall spirits which by maine force did kéepe it still that faine would haue flowen away But my soule at last ouercomming them and driuing away colde feare from me suddainly kindled me with a hote and burning dollour and so I recouered my wandred forces againe And yet my face morphewed with the pale colour of death I violently rose vppe and as the sturdy Bull hauing receiued some mortal pricke fiercely runneth vppe and downe beating and tormenting him selfe euen so hellish Tesiphon gadding madly vp and downe before myne eyes made me like a frantick and mad Woman and not knowing mine owne fancies cast my selfe from the bedde vpon the grounde and ledde by this infernal féende I did runne towards the stayres that went vp to the highest part of the house And hauing in a trice leaped out of the Chamber with most extreame lamentations and carelesse lookes viewing euery part of the house at last wyth a hollow and féeble voice I sayd O most vnluckie lodging vnto me remaine thou héere for euer and make my fall manifest to my Louer if euer hee returne againe And thou Oh déere Husbande comfort thy selfe and from hence forwarde séeke out a newe wyfe but a more wyse louing and more loyall mate thē Fiammetta hath béene vnto thée O my déere Sisters Parents and all the reste of my other companions and fréendes wyth all ye my faithfull Seruaunts lyue yée héere styll with all the fauoure that the Goddes may affoord you The goodnes of God oftentimes doth not suffer wicked determinations to come to effect Thus like a madde Woman with sorrowfull words I did hasten to my wicked ende But the olde Nurce as one by some suddaine feare awaked out of a slumber careleslye leauing of her worke at the whéele greatly amazed at the sight of this spectacle lifted vppe her aged body and crying as loude as euer she could made poste haste to followe mee who with a horce voyce and scarcely vnderstoode of me said O daughter whether doost thou run what madde fury dooth driue thée forwarde Is this the fruite that my wordes as thou saydst by the receiued comfort of them did put in thy breast Whether goest thou Tarry for me alas Afterwardes with a lowder voyce she yet exclaimed O yée yong menne and seruaunts of the house come come quickly take away this fonde Woman and kéepe her backe from her furious actions and desperate intent Her vociferations were of no force and their hast lesse spéedie And me thought I had Mercury his winges fastened to my shoulders and that swifter then Atlanta nay then any wynde I did flye to my violent death But of vnexpected chaunces appending as well to good as to wicked purposes one alas was an occasion to make me still enioy this lothsome life Because my long garments wauing and blowne abroade with the force of my hasty flight and fréendly enemies to my furious pretence my selfe also not able to refraine my course were fastened I know not howe to a shyuered poste by the wall as I was running and interrupted my swift passage which for all the striuing and pulling that I could doo did not suffer me to leaue any péece of them behinde me Wherefore whilst I was labouring to vndoo them the sorrowful Nurce breathlesse and panting came vppon me to whom I remēber with taynted chéekes full of burning anger and with outragious outcryes I said O miserable olde woman pack from hence in an euill howre if thy life bee déere vnto thée Thinking to helpe me thou doost hinder me in not permitting me to execute this last mortall duety resolued therevnto and spurred on with an eager desire to cut in sunder the webbe of all my woes Because whosoeuer dooth let one from dying that is disposed desirous and resolued to die Who doth hinder one that is disposed to die he himselfe doth kill him doth no lesse then kill him himselfe Wherfore thou art now become my homicide thinking to deliuer me from death and like the greatest enemy to my quiet rest doost endeuour with thy thanklesse office to prolong my sorrowes My tongue exclaimed and my hart burned wyth ire and yet thinking to haue loosed my garments in hast I dyd entangle and fasten them more and more which as soone as I had founde out the way to vndoo I was immediatly helde and staied by the noise of the clamorous Nurce so that by her féeble forces and hanging vpon me I was greatly disturbed of my purpose But vnwynding my selfe at last out of her handes her strength had profited her nothing at all if the yong Seruants and Women at her continuall exclamations had not come running from euery part of the house and force perforce had not stayed me Out of whose handes with much strugling and diuers frisks and with greater forces also the desire of death adding strength to my mighty wyll I thought to haue vngrappled my selfe but breathles at the last and ouercome by them I was carryed backe againe to my Chamber which once I thought neuer to haue séene againe How many times alas with lamentable and bitter spéeches did I chyde them saying O vile and base Seruants what boldnes is this that makes you so mallepart and what precipitate presumption is this that mooues you so rudely and so roughly to handle her whom you should reuerence and contrary to your duety thus violently to lay hands and grype your Mistresse to whom you should be most obsequious and of whose welfare you should be most carefull and at whose will and pleasure you should be most dilligent and ready What kind of furie madde wretches hath enspyred you to this rash dealings And thou wicked Nurce the cruell example and meane of all my miserable gréefes yet to come why hast thou repugned my last desseignes Why dooest not thou knowe that in procuringe and helping forwarde my death thou haddest doone me a greater pleasure and a better turne then in with-holding me from it Wherefore let this miserable part be playd and let the ende of my tragical life be duely accomplished by me and if thou louest me as I thinke thou dooest leaue mee to mine owne wyll leaue me I say to mine owne selfe to represent the last pagiaunt of my dolefull life And if thou art so pittifull and carefull ouer me as thou shewest employe thy piety and studie in sauing my doubtful fame and honor which after my death shal stil suruiue Because in this péece of simple seruice with which thou doost nowe hinder me thy practise payne and néedelesse labour shall proue at length but vaine For doost thou thinke to take from me those sharp tooles and cruell poynados wyth which I will at last broche this miserable hart of myne and
whom hee had engendred in her owne bowels and that she her selfe afterwards espoused to her vnknowne Son had by him foure children And so how almost in one howre she sawe her selfe mother and wife to this wicked Parricide whom after shée had perfectly knowne when she sawe him depriued first of his eyes and last of his kingdom and how his execrable fact and detested life was published to the whole worlde In what miserable plight her soule was then oppressed nowe wyth manie yéeres which were rather desirous of repose then méete to be diminished with restles anguish shee may well thinke and iudge who hath béene tossed with the greatest or with like gréefes of minde But yet her dispiteous and cruell Fortune heaped vppon her extreame misery greater and more bitter woes For séeing the yéerely entercourse successiue raigne of her two Sonnes with mutuall compositition deuided betwéene them And afterwardes the faithlesse brother pynned vppe in the Cittie and séeing the greatest part of Greece vnder the regiment of seauen Kings lastly after manie blooddie battailes consuming fires myserable spoyle of Virgins wiues and goods When shee behelde one of her prodigious Sons vnnaturally to embrew his sworde in his owne brothers blood and when her Husbands Sonne driuen out and exiled into an other Kingdome she sawe the auncient and olde walles of her noble Cittie builded firste by the swéete harmonie of Amphitrion his Cythern pittifullie ruinated and beaten downe And howe her late florishing kingdome was miserably diuided and vtterlie dissolued and hauing hanged her selfe left perhaps her Daughter in a most ignominous and shamefull life What coulde the angry Goddes the world froward Fortune and the malicious Hagges of hell haue conspired more against her Nothing certes in my opinion For let that gastly place be surueyed and euery torture therein duelie considered and yet I hardlie beléeue that there coulde not in the same such extreame torments and paines be founde Wherefore I approoue and say that euery least particle of her anguish and of her fault to be most gréeuous and no lesse impious And as there is no woman that would iudge that my gréefe were not to be compared to the greatnes of this so truely would I also say had not mine béene amorous For who doubteth but that she knewe séeing the abhominable crymes of her wicked house and of vnnaturall Husband worthy of the condigne anger of the Goddes that duely scanned these aduerse accidents these horrible accidents to be meritorious punishmēts for such heynous guilt and barbarous impietie None truely that would iudge her to be in her right witts And if she were but a foole shee felt her gréefes the lesse because not fully knowing the waight of them they could not so greatly gréeue her And whosoeuer knoweth her selfe woorthy of such calamities troubles that she endureth with little gréefe or none at all shee resolueth with her selfe more patientlie to passe them away But I neuer committed anie thing wherewith the Gods might iustly be offended with me hauing with continual offerings honored them and with holy victimie besought their diuine graces neuer despysing their Godheads as in times past the Thebanes most wickedly did But perhappes some one may well obiect and say Howe canst thou affirme that thou hast not deserued punishment or that thou hast not committed anie fault Why hast thou not violated the holy lawes and with an adulterous youthe defiled thy marriage bedde yes truely But if this matter bee well propounded as I haue not my selfe onely doone thys cryme so dooth it not deserue I thinke so greate punishment and such gréeuous paynes Because shée must thinke that I being a tender yong Gentlewoman was not able to gainesaye and resiste that which the strongest menne in the world nay the Gods themselues coulde not doo And as I am not the first that hath committed such a fréendly fault so am I not alone and shall not bee the laste but hauing almost all Women in the worlde my companions in this excusable errour I am not so greatly to bee condemned for the same And those lawes which I haue infringed are of common course wont fauourably to pardon a multitude My fault moreouer as it was most secrete so it shoulde not therefore be so seuerely and thorowlie punished A secrete fault is halfe pardoned And besides all this Say that the Goddes were iustly stirred vppe to wrath against mee and did seeke to giue mée sharpe corrections for my great offences were it not a greater parte of iustice and more reason to punish him who was the occasion of my fall Nowe whither burning and lawles loue He that is the occasion of sinne ought worthely to be punished or Panphilus his rare beauty braue personage and quallities induced me to corrupt the sacred lawes of wedlock I know not but knowing too too well that both the one and the other were of most great force to torment me most stranglie So that this nowe did not happen by the sinne committed but is rather a newe gréefe and sequestred from the rest more cruelly cruciating the patient and sustayner of it then anie other The which moreouer if the Goddes for my committed offence had giuen me they shoulde doo contrary to theyr right iudgment and accustomed manner in that they should not with the sinne recompence the punishment which béeing compared to the due paynes of Iocasta and to her deserued defaults and considering mine owne errors and the seuere punishment which I doo suffer for the same shee must néedes be saide to be but slightly punished and my selfe with too rigorous chastisement and vnmeasurable paine to be corrected Nor let not any take holde of this that shee was bereaued of her Kingdome depryued of her Sonnes despoyled of her Husband and last of all of her owne life and I but onely of my Louer All which truely I confesse But spyghtful Fortune caryed away with this Louer all my felicitie though that which perhappes in other mens sight and iudgment was accounted happines hath stil remained with me and which is cléene contrarie to my desires Because my Husband my parents my riches and all things els besides are a most gréeuous burden vnto mée and nothing congruant with my wished content Which things if she had taken from me as she did my Louer there had thē remained a most open way for me to haue fulfilled my desires which vndoubtedly I would haue followed By which if I could not haue brought to passe my wil then were there a thousand kinds of deathes readie for me to haue rydde me from all my woes and miseries Wherefore I iustly thinke that my paines are much more greater then any of the foresaide Hecuba Me thinkes that next after these I sée Hecuba cōming to my minde passing sorrowfull in her countenaunce who escaped from that generall ruine and suruiuing onely to behold the dolefull and destroyed Reliques of so goodly a kingdome the subuersion of such an
admirable Cittie the cruell death of so Princly a Husbande of so many renowned sons and most faire daughters to sée the destruction of so manie magnanimious Nephewes valiant Cosins and Allyes the rapine of so great riches the hauocke of infinite treasure the spoyle of so manie Virgins the rauishment of wiues and of all sorts of Women the extinction of such excellencie the losse of so many Kinges hewed and slaine right downe such blodie massacres and pittiful stratagemes of the dismayed and betrayed Troyans the impietie perpetrated in the Temples polluted battered and made plaine with the ground and the indignitie and irreuerence doone to their dishonoured chased Goddes And séeing her selfe to be olde and sorrowfully recalling to her wounded minde what mighty Hector was what valiant Troylus what doughtie Deiphobus what her yongest darling Polydore and the shyning vertues of manie noble men more and howe vnfortunatlie shee sawe them all die remembring also howe the generous bloode of her late mighty and maiesticall Husbande was cruelly shed in her own lappe before the holie Aulters and how she saw fatall Troy whilome reared vppe to the skyes with stately Towres famous for magnificent buildings full of princely Pallaces and very populous with noble and worthy Cittizens consumed with deuouring flames and wholy rased frō the earth And besides all this the pittifull sacrifice of her fayre Daughter Polyxena offered vppe by vnpittifull Pyrrhus to the shadow of Achilles Oh with what excessiue greefe and anguish of minde must we néedes thinke that shee behelde all these thinges But short was the sorrowe which her olde and féeble minde not able to endure the same wandering out of her right course made her madde as her barking complaints amiddes the fieldes and woods did plainely shew But I with a more firme and perfect memory then is néedefull for such woes to my great gréefe doo continually remaine in my sorrowfull and sound witts and doo discerne more and more the preposterous occasions of my present woes and of my future sorrowes Because my manyfolde harmes enduring longer then hers I thinke them be they neuer so light to be more gréeuous as I haue many times said then the greatest and most sensible paines which is ended in a short time Sophonisba equally participating the aduersities in her Widdowhoode Sophonisba and the ioy of her mariage in one selfe same moment almost of time iocande and sad an honorable and glad spouse and a poore prisoner inuested and despoyled of a Kingdome and finally in these shorte alterations of tottering Fortune drinking her fatall poyson full of anguishe and deadly gréefe appeareth next vnto my thoughts Behold her sometimes a most high and famous Quéene of the Numidians afterwards the martiall affayres of her Parents and fréends hauing but an aduerse and lucklesse issue her Husbande Siphax taken from her and become prisoner to Massinissa King of Marsilia warring vnder the Romaine Ensignes and her selfe in one howre depriued of her Kingdome and prysoner also in the mids of her enemies Campe Massinissa afterwardes making her his wife and she restored to the same againe O with what despight gréefe and bitter anguishe of mind doo I beléeue that shee sawe these thinges succéede abruptlie one after another Nor yet secure of her voluble and flattering Fortune with howe heauy a hart did shee celebrate her newe espousalles which gréefes and extreame myseries with a tragicall ende at last and with a stout enterprise she did fully finish Because not one naturall day after the nuptiall rytes béeing yet spent and scarcely thinking with her selfe that she remained in the regiment and that she did beare the former sway of Scepter and warring thus within her selfe and thinking of the newe loue of Massinissa not framed well to her minde the olde loue of Siphax béeing not yet extinct with no trembling hart but wyth a bolde hande receiued the mortiferous poysonne which her newe Husbande sent her by her owne Seruaunt the fearfull messenger of her vntimely death and with certaine dispitifull and premised spéeches without any signe and token of feare in her resolute face druncke of the same immediatly after yéelding vppe her ghost O how bitter may one imagine that her life was if she had had any longer time to meditate and think of her death that did followe Who therefore is not to be placed but amongst those Women To think of greefe maketh it greater who haue béene but meanely and not much afflicted with sorow considering that her spéedy death did preuent her beginning woes where as mine haue continued with me a long time together and yet doo accompanye me against my wyll and are sworne to remaine styll wyth me to make themselues more mighty thereby with their vnited forces to infest more their vsurped habitation After her doleful Cornelia oppressed with infinit sorrow was obiected to my musing thoughts Cornelia whō smiling Fortune had exalted so high to make her the first wife of Crassus and afterwards great Pompey his spouse whose worthy valor had almost gotten him the chiefest principality in Rome attayned to the sole gouernmēt of all the Empire annexed vnto it Who notwithstanding-after that frowning Fortune changed her copie in maner of a fugitiue fled miserably out of Rome and afterwards out of all Italy her selfe also with her husbande béeing fiercely pursued of conquering Caesar And leauing her in Lesboe after many turmoyles of inconstant fortune ouercomming his puissaunt competitour in Thessaly by whose discomfiture and ouerthrowe hee recouered hys force and might againe which not long since by his valiaunt enemy was greatly abated And besides all this with hope to reintegrate and to renue his power in the conquered East floting vpon the surging Seas and arriued in the kingdoms of Egypt offering himselfe voluntarily to the defence and trusty tuition of yong King Ptolomie béeing there cruelly doone to death she sawe his embrued and headlesse troncke tossed and beaten vpp and downe the raging waues Which things if euery one by it selfe or altogether be duely considered we must néedes say that without al compare they afflicted most gréeuously her dying soule But the sounde and comfortable counsell of the sage Vtique Cato and the lost hope in these instabillities of Fortune to regaine her Pompey againe in a little time mittigated nay rather adnihilated her former sorrowes wheras I styll nourished with vaine hope not able by any counsell or comfort to driue away the same but by the simple aduise of my olde Nurce equally knowing of my sorrowes from the beginning in whose hart I knewe good will more ryfe then wysedome rype in her heade because beleeuing oftentimes to remedy my gréefe shee hath redoubled them doo euermore remain liue cōsuming my selfe in bitter plaints and confoūded in a thousand doubts and anxieties of minde There are also many Cleopatra who I think doo beléeue that Cleopatra Quéene of Egypt did suffer intollerable gréefe and that her paines
did greatly excéede mine Because firste séeing her selfe conioyned with her brother in the Kingdome and lyuing in all manner of pleasure and delights and afterwards cast by him into prysonne was thought beyonde all measure to be charged with insupportable dolour But the present hope of that which after happened made her to passe it ouer more lightly For shée béeing deliuered out of pryson became Caesar his louing and belooued Ladie But afterwards forsaken of him there are who think that for gréefe of these crossing cares her tender hartstringes did well nie break a sunder not regarding that there was a certaine touch of vnconstancie breach of loue as wel in her as in him which at both their pleasures they did forsake and take from one another and bestowe it els where as often times she plainely shewed how fitly she could doo the same But the Gods forbid that such consolation befal to my comfortlesse and afflicted soule For he was neuer yet or euer shall be besides him to whom by many desertes I haue auowed the whole terme and trauaile of my life that coulde affyrme or yet can say that I was euer his but in hart affianced onely to Panphilus and whose I wyll for euer remaine Nor let him hope whosoeuer he be that any other loue shall neuer be of such force as to driue his out of my faithful breast Besides this if she had béene at Caesar his departure left altogether comfortlesse by him there woulde be some againe who ignoraunt of the trueth would beléeue that this was very gréeuous vnto her but yet it was not so Because if she were on the one side agréeued at his departure the ioy on the other and the comfort that she receiued of her lyttle Sonne Caesarionem which she had by him and of her Kingdome restored to her againe counteruayling her gréefe nay excéeding all her former sorrowes whatsoeuer did yéelde her treble consolation This ioy hath force and strength enough to ouercome greater anguishe and more extreame cares of mind then those of them who loue but a little and that but coldly to as euen now I saide that she did But that which for the accomplishment of her greatest gréefe was annexed to the rest was that she was the wyfe of Marke Antonie whom shee had with her libydinous entisements styrred vp to ciuill nay vnciuill warres against her owne brother aspyring thereby and hoping by the victory of them to haue béene crowned Empresse of the Romane monarchy But dubble lose arising to her by this in one hower which was the deth of her slaine husband of her frustrat hope of al other womē made her as it is cōmonly thought the most vnfortūat most sorrowful Lady beyond al conceit to be confounded with the greatest cares and gréefes that might be And considering truely so high a mynde and so prowde a conceite which to be first in imagination and afterwardes in indéede sole and soueraigne Ladie and Quéene of the whole circuite of the earth by one infortunate battaile to be dashed and cast downe our sex also being naturally giuen to aspyre and domination besids the foyle of the conquered the triumph of the victor and besides this the losse also of so déere and braue a husband it cannot be otherwise apprehended but that it was a wonderful corsiue to her noble heart and an extreme torment of her dismayed soule But sodanely she found out a wholesome medicine which did spéedely helpe and heale this mortall mallady and that was a straung kinde of death Which although for the tyme it was very cruell and sharpe was not for all that in execution any long time a dooing Because in one little hower two venomous vipers may at the pappes of a yoūg and tender woman sucke out both blood and life as they did out of miserable Cleopatras brest O how many times would I haue doon the like although for a lesser occasion according to the opinion of many if I had béene peremtorilie forsaken or if for feare also of ensuing infamie thereof I hadde not withdrawen my selfe With this and the aforesayd Ladies the execellencie of Cyrus killed of Tomaris and drowned in a boll of his owne blood the fier and water of Craesus Cyrus Craesus Persians Pyrrhus Darius Iugurtha Dionisius Agamemnon the ritch Kindomes of the Persians the magnificency of Pyrrhus the power of Darius the crueltie of Iugurtha the tirannie of Dionisius the highnesse of Agamemnon and the sodaine chaunges of many other more occured to my thoughtes All which were stinged with these gréefes and spurned at the féete of scornefull fortune as the foresayd women or else altogeather comfortlesse left of to worse mishappes Who also with sodaine argumentes of their better fare were aided nor remaining any longe time in them did not féele the greatnesse and gréefe of them so entirely as I doo Company as it is aboue said doth lessen the greefe Theistes Tereus Whilest I went recounting the auncient sorrowes in this sorte as you haue heard and séeking in my minde to finde out some teares and sorrowes in most respectes like vnto mine owne because hauing company I might not so greatly lament and might suffer my gréefe with more patience Those of Theistes and of Tereus bothe which were the miserable Sepultures of their owne Sons were obiected to my memorie And I maruel what vnnaturall and forced patience fearing their inward bitinges and what pittilesse restrainte did moderate those sauage Sires from launching theyr sides and with slicing kniues to make way for their Sonnes strugling in theyr paternall bowels and striuing to come foorth abominating that wretched place into which they were so rauenously gulfed But these also burst out with that they could choaked at once theyr hatred and gréefe togeather and so tooke in a manner a certaine comforte in theyr harmes perceiuing that without faulte they were accounted miserable men but of theyr people that which happened not to mée For I haue compassion borne me of that which did neuer gréeue mee and dare not discouer that whych dooth most of all afflicte me which thing if I durst doo I doubt not but as others in my miserable case haue found out some remedie for theyr paynes Lycurgus so might I perhappes finde out some ease and helpe as well as they The pittifull teares of Licurgus and of his house iustly powred foorth for dead Archemorous killed of the Serpent come also sometimes to my minde and accompanied with the continuall sighes of sorrowful Atalanta mother of Parthenopaeus killed in the Thebane Campes Atalanta which came so properly and so néerely to mée with theyr effectes that I could scarce conceyue any greater then them in my minde If had not prooued them my selfe I say that they were full of such great sorrowe that they could not be more But euery one of them are with so high glory eternished that they might bée estéemed in a manner merry accidents then mornefull
stratagems The sorrowfull teares of Licurgus I meane with the mortall exequies honoured of the seauen kinges and infinite sportes and spectacles made by them in solemnization of that glorious funerall and those of Atalanta made notable and beutified also with the laudable life and victorious death of her young Sonne But I haue not any thing nor any such cause to make my teares scarce well employed much lesse excellent and my selfe content because if it were so wheras I now estéeme my selfe more dolefull and vnfortunate then any other perhappes I should be perswaded to auerre the contrary Vilisses The long trauelles of Vlisses his mortall and imminent perrilles his wandering and weary perigrinations and all his déedes whatsoeuer are next of all shewed vnto mée who neuer tasted them but seasoned with most bitter and extreame anguishe of minde and redoubled many times in my imaginations they make me thinke mine to be farre greater and much more gréeuous and harken why Because first and principally he was a manner and therefore of nature more strong and better able to endure them then I being a tender and young woman and he béeing moreouer continuallie armed with a stoute couragious and feirce mynde and beaten to dailie daungers as one rypened amongest them when hee trauailed and turmoyled dyd séeme to haue but his ordinary repose nay his greatest ease and pleasure in them But I béeing continually in my Chamber and tenderlie serued with daintie and delicate thinges passing my times awaie in pleasures and dailie accustomod to dalliances of wanton looue euery little payne and feare thereof is most gréeuous vnto me He driuen and pricked on by Neptune and transported into diuers partes the of world and of Aeolus likewise receyued his troubles But with careful looue I am infected and with such a lord infested that troubled and conquered them that molested and tossed Vlisses And if daungerous casualties and daylie feares dyd séeme to threaten him of his proper accorde hée wandered continually in séeking of them out And who can with iust cause complaine or be agréeued for finding of that which he dooth so earnestly séeke for None can be sorrowfull for finding that they seeke But I séely wretche would faine liue in quiet if I could and would willingly fly from woes and gréefes if that so rigorously they dyd not rushe vpon me and if I were not my selfe so forcibly driuen vpon them Besides this he was not afrayd of death and therefore without feare did commit him selfe to her force and might But I liue in continuall dreade of it though compelled by extreame sorrowe I haue sometime not without feare of greater gréefe runne willingly vnto it He also by his long trauelles and ieopardies of Fortune dyd hope to get eternal glorie and neuer dying fame But I am afrayd of my escandilized name and infamous memory hereafter if it shoulde come to passe that these secrete looues should at any tyme come to lyght So that now his paynes are not greater and more then myne but are rather in number and quallitie farre lesse then mine and by so much the more as they are fabulated to be greater then euer they were indéede But mine alas are to true so many and more greater then I am able my selfe to recounte But after all these I sée me thinkes the sorrowes sobbes and heauie sighes the infinite woes and pittious plaints that Hipsiphile Medea and Oenone had and the pittifull teares of Ariadne which were more copious then all the rest all which I iudge most like vnto mine Because euery one of these lyke my selfe deceiued of their loouers watred the ground with teares cléeued the heauens with cōtinuall sighes sustained without any frute or hope of future content most bitter tormentes of mynde And admit as it is graunted that these dolours were cast vpon thē by their vngrateful loouers and by theyr iniurious and vndeserued ingratitude yet with iust reuenge of their wronges doone vnto them they sawe the ende of theyr teares which comfortes although I wishe it not my sorrowes also haue not Hipsiphile Hipsiphile admitte that she had greatly honoured Iason and had by due desertes obliged him vnto her perceiuing him to be taken away of Medea had with as great reason as my selfe iust occasion of complaint and sorrowe But such was the prouidence of the Goddes that with righteous eyes beholding euery thing but onely my harmes they restored to her a great portion of her desired ioye because she sawe Medea who had taked away Iason from her Iason forsaking Medea for the looue of Creusa quit dispossessed of her once enioyed praye Certes I doo not say that my gréefe should finishe if I should sée the same befall to her who hath deceiued me of my Panphilus vnlesse I were that she that should alure him from her againe but will francklie confesse that a great parte of my sorrow would for a time cease Medea dyd also reioyce for reuenge Medea that she had although she was no lesse cruell towardes her selfe then malicious against her vngratefull loouer in killing their common children in his owne presence and consuming the royall pallaces of king Creon and the new Lady with merciles flames Oenone also sorrowing along time in fine knewe Oenon that her disloyall loouer suffered due punishment for breaking and corrupting the sacred lawes of looue and sawe his countrie for the wicked rape and exchaung of her selfe for his newe adultersse miserably wasted and his owne Cittie sometimes the seate of demie Goddes and semy Goddesses but now an vncouth habitacle and a poore village of Sheppard swaines ouerthrowen razed cleane from the ground But truely I loue my gréefs a great deale more thē I wold eyther with tongue or hart wishe so sharpe a reuenge of my wrongfull Panphilus Ariadne also being Bacchus his wife Ariadne saw from heauen furious Phedra who was the cause that Theseus abandoning her and leauing her desolate in the Iland being newly enamoured of Phedra miserably bewitched with the incestuous looue of Hippolitus her husbande his sonne So that euery thing duely scanned I finde my selfe amongest the number of miserable and desastrous women to be tormented with more woes gréefes and with greater sorrowe then any of the rest and to haue the sole principallitie and onely name of all other distressed women whatsoeuer And I can doo no more But if perhappes good Ladies you accompt my framed arguments but friuolus assertions and repute all these former examples but weake proofes as forged in the simple conceite of an appassionated woman if you imagine them because procéeding from a blinde mind to be but blind also and of no conclusion estéeming the teres sighes and sorrowes of others more extreame then mine and thinking them to be more vnfortunate then my selfe let this onely and last proposition therefore supplie the defecte if any there be of all the rest before If he that beareth enuie is more miserable and
fol. 2 A presage signifying the aduerse successe of her looue fol. 3 The description of the young Gentleman whome Fiammetta did choose for her loouer fol 4 The spéeches of Fiammetta her Nurce tending to her reprehension fol. 8 Fiammetta her aunswer vnto them fol. idem Venus appearing to Fiammetta dooth with many wordes perswade her to looue fol. 11. The meanes that Panphilus obserued to manifest his looue to Fiammetta fol. 16 The end of Fiammetta her amorous desires fol. 17 The second Booke Panphilus vnfoldeth to Fiammetta the occasion constraining him to depart from her fol. 21 Fiammetta her aunswer againe wherewith she laboureth to withdrawe him from his resoulte iourney fol. 22 Panphilus dooth sweare neuer to bee any other womans then Fiammettaes fol. 25 Sundry spéeches vsed of them both the day and night before his iourney fol. 26. 27 In what plight Fiammetta remained after his departure fol 28. 29 The third booke Diuers perplexed thoughts of Fiammetta fol. 30 Fiammetta by a letter that Panphilus sent her augmenteth her hope of his returne fol. 31 The great iealousie and amorous suspicions of Fammetta fol. 32 Fiammetta counting the dayes and noting the season and course of the yéere dooth afflict her selfe fol. 34 A certaine custome and manner of them that loue fol. idem Fiammetta dooth spend the nightes in vigilles gazing on the moone and diuers other thinges continually fixing Panphilus in her thoughts fol. 35 Fiammetta dooth blame the moone accusing her of too great slownesse in her course fol. idem A short discourse of Fiammetta pertaining to Astrologie fol. idem Fiammetta hath diuers meanes to passe away the long daies and nightes with lesse annoy fol. 36 Fiammetta her imagination thinking that she is with her Panphilus fol. idem The force of a dreame fol. idem What Fiammettaes thoughtes were after the promised terme of Panphilus his returne was past fol. 39. 40 The fourth Booke Fiammetta dooth vnderstande by a certaine Marchaunt that Panphilus is maried in his owne country fol. 43 Fiammetta beléeuing the newes to bee true dooth lament and bewayle with her selfe fol. 44 Her hope of seing Panphilus againe being extinct loue desire encreasing more and more dooth blame her selfe for vsing certaine wordes in her anger against him fol. 49 Fiammetta her prayers to Venus fol. 50 The hard condition of Fiammetta fol. idem The praise and properties of sléepe inuoked of Fiammetta fol. 52 Fiammetta her husband perceiuing her continuall sorrow and demaunding the occasion of it cannot truely knowe it fol. 53 Fiammetta inuited of her husband to visite the healthfull and swéete bathes of Baia goeth thether with him but chang of ayre not applying any remedie to her amorous fier dooth augment it more fol. 53. 54 Diuers sollaces shewed Fiammetta by her husband dooth kindle a desire in her to sée Panphilus againe fol. 55 Fiammetta constrained to goe to feastes beholding her altered hewe and pale face in a glasse hath a certaine feare of her selfe fol. 57 The glée and mirth of other gentlewomen putting Fiammetta in minde of her passed ioyes redoubleth her teares fol. 58 And extraordinarie palenes in her face is a signe of an inamoured heart fol. 39 No looue so feruent nor beset with so many woes as Fiammettaes was fol. idem The exteriour heates ceasing the flames of looue are neuerthelesse augmented fol. 63 Care of the mind is a great annoyaunce fol. 64 Certaine kindes and excersings of fishing fol. idem Fiammetta her vaine hope to sée Panphilus againe fol. idē An auncient custome vsed in Fiammetta her Cittie to inuite Ladies and Gentlewomen to Lordes houses at times of theyr most sollemne feastes fol. 67 The praise of diuers young Gentlemen before whom Fiammetta preferreth her Panphilus fol. idem The manner of Iusting fol. 68 The praise of a sollitarie life and of theirs who doo inhabitte villages fol. 69 The prayse of the Golden worlde and disprayse of the present age fol. 70. 71 Fiammetta not caring to weare any more her wonted Ornamentes is of certaine Gentlewomen her companions reprooued for it fol. 72. Beautie is but a doubtfull and frayle gifte of mortall men fol. 74 Fiammetta her prayers to the Gods fol. idem The fift Booke One of Fiammetta her seruauntes returned from Panphilus his countrie dooth tell her that he is not maried but in looue with an other Gentlewoman there fol. 77 Fiammetta her lamentation fol. 77. 78 Fiammetta neuer looued any but Panphilus fol. 79 Fiammettaes husband perceiuing her to lament wéepe in her bedde and dreames dooth aske her the cause thereof and with many loouing wordes dooth comfort her againe fol. 81 Fiammetta with cruell maledictions dooth reprehend and condemne her selfe fol. 85 The Nurce with many reasons dooth studie to chéere vp Fiammetta fol. 87 A cruell and desperate inuocation of Fiammetta against her selfe and against Panphilus his new belooued mistresse fol. 86 Fiammetta dooth desire death fol. 88 Fiammetta dooth showe that the paines of hell are lesse then hers fol. 91 Fiammetta her Nurce blaming her againe dooth endeuour to comfort her fol. 90 Teares conioyned with beautie are of great force fol. 89 Fiammetta dooth meditate on diuers kinds of death to kill her selfe fol. 92 The reasons the Fia. forged for to kill her selfe fol. idem Fiammetta determined the second time to kill her selfe is intercepted of the Nurce and of her other women fol 95 Diuers Gentlewomen promise diuers remedies to Fiammetta fol. 99 The sixt Booke A description of Springtide fol. idem The misery of Fiammetta fol. 100 The Nurce dooth bring newes to Fiammetta that Panphilus is nigh at hand fol. 101 Fiammetta her prayers to Venus fol. 102 Fiammetta recomforted beléeuing that Panphilus is on his way dooth take againe her forsaken ornamentes and waxeth fayre againe fol. 103. 104 The Nurce dooth tell Fiammetta to whome shee thought was the right Panphilus was an other of the same name wherefore she dooth returne to her former woes fol. 107 The contents of the seuenth Booke Two occasions moouing Fiammetta to sustaine her amorous paines with lesse gréefe fol. 109 Fiammetta compareth her paines with the gréefes of many other infortunate loouers and findeth none equall with hers fol. 110 Io belooued of Iupiter transformed into a fayre Heyforde after many sustained and passed trauelles became at the last Quéene of Egipt fol. 109 Biblis Mirrha and Canace came to diuers sharpe and cruell endes fol. 110. This be Dido Heroe fol 110. 111 Sir Tristram Isotta Phedro Laodamia Argia and others fol. 111 Iocasta Hecuba Sophonisba and others fol. 112 Cornelia first Crassus his wife and afterwards Pompey his Spouse fol. 115 Cleopatra Quéene of Egipt fol. 116 Cyrus Craesus and others fol. 117 Theistes Tereus and Lycurgus fol. 117. 118 Atalanta mother of Parthenopaeus fol. idem Vlisses fol. 117 Hipsiphile Medea Oenone and Ariadne fol. 118 Fiammetta her spéech to her booke fol. 121 The ende of the table Il faite bon fin qui meurt pour bien aymer Il decimo l' Anno terzo d' Aprile 1587.