against all the world These words went very near mee but the command hee laid upon us to embrace each other in his presence was but little more pleasing to me we obeyed him with much coldness though afterward he commanded us to love one another it was not possible for him to gain these proofs of our obedience In the mean time I was most sensibly afflicted and the sight of Parisatis's Letter had wakened my jealousie so violently that it was impossible for me to taste any repose my eyes were no longer capable of sleep and while others unwearied themselves in their beds from those toils and labours which are inseparable from the profession of arms I spent whole nights in mine in the considerations of my misfortunes and of the advantages which contrary to Parisatis's promise Hephestion had visibly obtained above me Must then said I the most accomplished of all creatures and she upon whom the heavens have poured down all their graces be blemished with that vice which of all others I should least have suspected her to be guilty of What reason ô fair but changeable Parisatis What reason moved you to give me those glorious hopes wherewith I believed my passion too highly recompenced if you had a design to favour another with them both to the prejudice of my life and of your own promise What offence have I committed against you since then and what service have you received from Hephestion that should have obliged you not onely in favour of him to change those promises you had made me but also to grant him honours to which I never yet so much as pretended Ah Lysimachus continued I it is with justice the Heavens chastise thy presumption thou hast rais'd thy thoughts to a Princesse too divine for thy unworthiness and the Gods make use of Hephestion not to procure him a fortune which he merits no more then thou but to punish thee for thy foolish rashnesse as they sometimes have made use of thee to crosse a happinesse to which he undeservedly hath pretended In these thoughts I pass'd the night of the desolation of Persepolis and thus it was I entertained my self while Alexander himself with a torch in his hand set fire upon the fairest Palace and bravest City in the world The King after he in the ruines of that stately Town had left marks of his fury and debauch took the Field again to prosecute Darius to the uttermost and not to hold you in the recital of things you know already within a while after wee heard of the lamentable death of that great King and were witnesses of the most pitiful object that ever was beheld You know the sorrow Alexander express'd upon that occasion with how many tears he bewail'd that death and with what pomp he sent the body to the Q. his Mother and to the Princesses his daughters to render him the last duties of burial I will only tell you that my passion for the Princess Parisatis and the consideration of that great Kings misfortunes plunged me in so deep a sorrow that of a long time I was not to be comforted and that only love and the desire of seeing my Princesse again furnished me with strength enough to wait upon the King in the Journey he made to Susa to visit and comfort them in their extreamest affliction You know how he arrived there how he was received by the Queens and Princesses how he testified unto them the share hee bore in their sorrow for that losse and what usage he found from the Princesse Statira when after the fresh occasions she had to hate him he would needs renue the discourses of his passion I will onely tell you what concerns my self and let you know that I was so deeply afflicted both with my Princesses sorrow and that which my own jealousie caus'd in me that I had no difficulty to accommodate my countenance to the grief which appeared in those fair desolate Ladies After that the first days of the greatest mourning were expired and that they were capable of other entertainment then that of graves I addressed my self to Princesse Parisatis and fell again into my old path notwithstanding all the King had said who as I have told you had forbidden me to crosse Hephestions designe but I not onely despised that command but should have disobeyed the Gods themselves if they had required any proofs of that nature from my obedience I found no alteration in my Princesses humour more then what her last losse had caused and though she receiv'd me not with so lively a countenance as before it was not the more severe for being more dejected I did not ill accompany her sadnesse and I expressed mine to her so many ways that two days before our departure being alone with her she asked me the reason of my trouble and seeing that I fixt my sight upon the ground and answered her only with a sigh she prayed me a second time to tell it her With that I lift up mine eyes and having looked upon her a while without speaking Madam said I at last my passion for you cannot be equalled but by the respect that accompanies it as also the greatnesse of my respect to you cannot be compared but unto that of my passion It is that respect Madam which keeps me in that perfect resignation wherewith I have laid my life and all my thoughts at your feet and 't is that respect and that resignation which make me suffer in silence and without murmuring receive all those usages that can open me a passage to my grave as from my Soveraign and from her that cannot erre in her carriage towards me For proof I protest unto you that if you had not imposed your command upon me you should never have learn'd that from my mouth which you discovered in my face over which I have not had the same power I will tell you therefore since you enjoyn me to it that after the pardon you had granted to my fault and the goodnesse you expressed in tolerating its continuance I had banished that despair out of my minde which began to settle it self there and esteemed my self most happy in those limits you had given unto my hopes and in the promise you had made me never to grant my rivall any advantage over me I confesse this hope had begot a pride in me but Hephestions vanity quickly cast it down and his shewing us your Letter made those fair hopes quickly vanish which I had unjustly conceived but yet not without your permission I confesse to you Madam this chaâ—ge of my fortune has touch'd me so nearly that I have not courage enough to bear it and though perchance I have enough to dispute for you with Hephestion to the last moment of my life I have not any that is proof against the Declaration you make in favour of him I doe not at all urge the promise you made me there is no engagement of a Soveraign to his
of this day depends the repose or utter ruine of the Scythians If they prevail Alexander will without question have a free entrance into our possessions and that mighty Army wherewith hee marches already against us will advance without resistance into the remotest parts of Scythia and into the secretest places of your abodes and families but on the contrary by their defeat he will give over the design of invading you or if he should persevere in it you will howsoever gain an infinite advantage by having learn'd to conquer those that were never conquered He said many other things to this purpose and finding they had produced the effect he desired he made the Army march in Battalia straight unto the Enemies who advanced likewise in very good order Then it was that I observ'd a chearfulness in his countenance I had never seen there since the unhappy accidents of his life which had quite taken away his lively humour I had never seen him before at the head of an Army under his own command and I considered him there with so much pleasure that it is hard for me to passe over in silence his gracefulness both in commanding and in all the other Functions of his charge He had so noble and yet so lovely a fierceness in his arms that he moved both love and fear in all that look'd upon him when the Armies were drawn near to one another he put on his Cask all covered with plumes and stones of value and setting himself at the head of the Battel hee commanded Arsacomes who led the Van-guard to begin the Charge Scarce had the Trumpets given the Signal when the first Squadrons clos'd with a fury hard to be express'd the Thracians had not the leisure to make use of their Arrows for the Scythians falling in pell-mell forced them to fight at handy-blows This first encounter was very bloody but after having long contested for the better our Cavalry began to putâ— their Foot into disorder when Zopirio perceiving it came up with the main Body of the Army and thundring in upon our men made a terrible slaughter of them before they could be reliev'd by Oroondates I kept upon the right Wing with my three thousand horse and observing the disadvantage of our side I rush'd into the midst of the Enemies and recovered our affairs a little again while my Prince moving forward with his Battalion made the fight something less unequal Zopirio who as well as my Master had parted his Army into three Bodies made his last advance and Theodates by his example and by the Princes command led on the Rere-guard to oppose him Then it was that the two whole Armies being ingaged fought with marvellous courage and obstinacy each having taken a resolution to conquer or perish upon the Field and I may well assure you with truth that of so many thousand men as fell that day there was hardly so much as one that receiv'd his death in running away The Thracian and Macedonian Infantry seeing themselves trampled under foot by the Scythian Cavalry kill'd their horses with Javelins and keeping close together covered themselves with their shields and bore up stiffely against them to hinder their being utterly routed Our Enemies surpass'd us in number and they were much better arm'd then we but the valour of our General and his wonderful readiness in giving seasonable relief where there was most need made them lose all the advantage which their number and the difference of arms gave them over us He had already done miraculous things and by reason of the blood that was all over him could hardly be known but by his stature and the blows he gave when Zopirio seeing the day incline already to our party observed him among all the rest and considering that the greatest part of the Victory consisted in the death of that Commander he broke through his own men and having a strong Javelin in his hand after he had desied him with a loud cry he rush'd upon him and striking him while he was otherwise employed the point of his Javelin passed between the mailes that defended his arm and gave him a slight hurt in the hinder part of his shoulder Zopirio seeing his Javelin engaged in my Masters arms let it go and was already lifting up his sword to second his first blow but my Prince turn'd about to him with so great a fury and so admirable a readiness that Zopirio frozen with fear began to repent his boldness when the blade that seldome fail'd of making a mortal wound finding passage through the defect of his Curass under the arm which he had heaved up ran him quite through the body and made him drop down dead among the horses feet The death of their General did much abate their courage and the Scythians who saw him fall sent forth a fierce cry which struck yet a greater terrour into them and without doubt hasten'd their defeat Certain it is that we found not so much resistance among them as before and that in the end the Victory declared it self openly for us To what purpose is it Sir to keep you in a tedious Relation the Enemies were defeated as without question you have heard but their obstinacy was so great that not one of them ever turn'd his back or ask'd quarter and our Victory was so absolute that after the heat of the Fight my Prince had much ado to save a small number though miserably hack'd by the cruelty of the Scythians Six thousand of ours were slain upon the place and more then ten thousand wounded After this notable Victory my Prince having given thanks unto the Gods retired into his Tent and would not suffer his wounds to be dress'd till the bodies of the principal Officers were sought and particularly Zopirio's which he commanded to be honourably buried as if he had been the best of his friends Of fifty thousand fighting men that had followed him not one as I told you avoided the fury of our arms by flight and all the rest died most gallantly upon the place except those few prisoners which my Prince sav'd from the like destiny whose ransome he paid himself to those that had taken them and set them at liberty giving leave to those that would to stay in his Camp till their wounds were healed allowing them wherewithal to pay for their cure and showing them as much kindness as they could have hoped for from their own kindred He also gave order to have the wounded men of his own Army carefully dress'd to have those that had fought well recompenced according to their deserts and to have the spoil distributed with justice and without confusion He had three hurts himself yet but light ones and such as kept him onely three or four days in bed Assoon as he was well enough to ride on horseback again he made his Army dis-incamp and sending his sick and wounded men to Olbiopolis in Waggons he marched with his Forces towards
that he had left of the Grecian Discipline Then it was he began to spend whole days and nights in debauches and dissolutenesse and that he exacted adoratious from his Followers which alienated some of their hearts and exasperated him so far against his best friends that by their deaths he gave most fatal testimonies of the alteration of his nature He caus'd the unfortunate Philotas to end his life in torments made the great and renowned Parmenio to whom he owed a good part of his Conquests to suffer death by the hand of Cleander and with his own killed Clitus one of his most necessary and most faithful friends True it is that Philotas and his Father were suspected of a conspiracy against his person and that Clitus by his insolent words drew the Kings anger upon him but in the death of the innocent and vertuous Callisthenes my old Tutor whose interests were like to have buried me in his ruines he showed marks of the greatest cruelty and of the most blameable ambition that ever was The vertue of that great man which could not be swayed to those base adorations which he saw part of the Macedonians stoop to did so animate that Prince jealous of his glory that he commanded that Learned Philosopher to be put in irons and accusing him for having medled in the conspiracy of Hermolaus he caus'd his nose lips and ears to be cut off and shutting him up in a Cage refused him even death it selfe for a conclusion of his miseries I could not suffer the deplorable condition both of so vertuous a person and one to whom I was infinitly obliged without showing some marks of compassion which were like to have been my destruction I visited him in prison and having with tears which that pitiful object made mee shed in abundance offered him all the services I could doe him in his misfortune and which he was in a condition to hope for he desired me to help him to poison but he desired it with such urging prayers that I could not refuse him so cruel a mercy and yet the onely one he could with reason wish in the woful estate to which he was reduced I sent him that fatal Present secretly and with it the means of ending by one death alone the miseries of many others to which he was inhumanely destined The King having been advertised of it was kindled with so great a fury against me that he commanded my person to be seised on and in the first motions of his wrath was ready to make me feel the most harsh and cruel usage his resentment could suggest but in the end he remembred I was a Prince and the consideration of the alliance that tyed us together asswaged part of his anger and saved my life against which he had already pronounced the sentence of death He caused me to be set at liberty but with the most bloody threats his displeasure could bring forth and a protestation never to have regard any more to my quality if ever I was so insolent or so unfortunate as to crosse him in his intentions True it is that besides that cause of complaint the manner of my carriage toward Hephestion had given him many others he had often commanded me to be his friend and had found me so little disposed to obey him that he was thereby infinitly exasperated against me we never spoke to nor never saluted one another and in a quarrel he had with Craterus I offered my self unto his enemy and pressed him with so much earnestnesse to accept my service that all the world saw easily it was rather my hatred to Hephestion then my friendship to Craterus that made me embrace his interests with so much affection In the mean time I was tormented by my passion with such violence that absence in which other souls finde remedy and ease seemed to have produced a contrary effect in mine In all occasions where Alexander fought in which I may say without vanity I was not the last the image of Parisatis was always present to my memory even in the midst of disorder blood and confusion and all the most dismal and most dangerous objects could never put her out of it for a moment I discoursed of her onely with Ptolomeus and the near confidence we had in one another suffered me to declare my most secret thoughts to him alone We were at Maracauda when I told him the trouble it was to me that I could not write to Parisatis not having been able at my coming away to obtain that permission which I had begged of her Ptolomeus thought a while upon what I said and being sensible of the sadness which he found in my words and countenance after he had considered a little Dear brother said he the Gods doe without doubt inspire me a means for your satisfaction and if you approve of what I shall propose to you I believe you may get Letters conveyed to Parisatis I embraced him dearly at that Proposition and beseeching him most earnestly to discover what he knew toward my happiness The Gods and my good fortune continued he have been pleas'd that in spite of the obstacles I have met withal and of the difficulties I have overcome I by the greatness of my love and by my services have won the favour of Apamia as you have heard already from me That Princesse is as deare to Parisatis as her sister Barsina is to Statira and I believe that of all the Ladies near her person there is not any hath a more free accesse to her she trusts her with her most secret thoughts and prefers her visibly before all those she loves I am vain enough to promise my self that out of her friendship to me and her esteem of you shee will not avoid the occasion of doing you good offices and that if you trust a Letter to her she will not onely deliver it to Parisatis but will also make her well satisfied with her liberty and pardon yours she hath a great deal of dexterity a great deal of freedome and a great deal of power with Parisatis Tomorrow I will dispatch Lycastes the most faithful and understanding of all my servants with Letters to her if you send any one of yours along with him to bring you back word what she hath done for you I assure my self you will receive satisfaction from her and I will beseech her so ardently to serve you that my prayers shall not be unprofitable I accepted Ptolomeus his offer with much joy and though I was in a continual fear of displeasing my Princesse J passed it over at that time and assuring my self upon Apamia's discretion that she would not give her my Letter without such precaution as was necessary I in the end resolved to write to her and with that intention having left Ptolomeus that he might have leisure to think of his dispatch I went away to do the like and after having long bethought my self of words to sweeten the
things that may be for his satisfaction and I know that in doing him service I shall not offend Barsina They indeed are worthy of one another and as among all Princesses Oxyatres can find nothing more lovely then Barsina she among all Princes cannot find one who deserves better to serve her then Oxyatres and with whom for the merit of his person the greatness of his birth and the remembrance of his ancient passion she can more worthily match her self Barsina blusht at these words without replying and the Prince judged by her action that perhaps shee would have no very great repugnance to hearken to the proposition he made her They had a little discourse upon that subject after which Oroondates was willing to give his sister liberty to rise and to that end leaving Barsina with her hee went out of her Chamber to Lysimachus his Tent where a good part of his companions were already assembled The CONTINUATION Of the Fifth and Last Part OF CASSANDRA The Fourth Book THe Princes were met together in Lisimachus his Tent to deliberate what order they should take about the assault for which the Army was preparing The Engines they had stayed for were now in a readinesse and all the skill of the most industrious workmen of Asia had been imployed about them but amongst all those that were most expert Demetrius was he that had furnished the rarest inventions For all he was so young and amorous he had bestowed some hours in that study and he there made his experiments in that science which afterwards gave him the name of Polyorcetes or taker of Cities His father all his friends admired the effects of his inventive wit and of the inclination he had to those exercises in which he gave directions instructed those he set a work rather like an old Master than a young Prince prepossessed with an amorous passion and fitter in appearance for any other imployment The Princesses themselves took pleasure to be sometimes present at his work and Deidamia who in all his actions found motives to recede from her severity in favour of him did not hearken without some interest to the praises that were given to such hopefull beginnings Amongst his many severall inventions he caused Engines to be made of a prodigious greatnesse to oppose them against the height of the walls which without that elevation were safe from any scalado These were certain towers or kind of houses on the top of which one might place a good number of men and the under-rooms were filled with Archers who out at open places made for that purpose shot arrows securely against the battlements to favour the approaches of their companions they were moved upon wheels which by reason of the excessive weight of the bodies they carried could be turned but very slowly the Platform where the souldiers stood that were commanded out for the scalado was defended with a good parapet and in the middle of it engines of battery were raised which by the force of certain cables stretched and let slip again with violence cast stones of above an hundred pound weight to the distance of above three hundred paces and more than two hundred foot in height Besides these Engines that wereto be rolled into the Moat after having filled up those places with earth or with brush faggots where they had meant to set them they had made others more manageable to batter the gates for they knew very well that the strength of the Rams would have been but little considerable against such walls as those of Babylon the Princes took great care to see them all in order and intended to make trial of them before they imployed them in good earnest The result of the counsell held in Lysimachus his Tent was that they ought no longer to defer the assault since they were in a condition to give it for fear the courage of the souldiers should slacken by prolonging the siege and least by the arrivall of some relief which the enemies expected their difficulties should grow greater than they were at that present and order was given that at the beginning of that very night they should fell to work about filling up those parts of the Moat whither they purposed to rolle their Engines and by which they were to get unto the wall For this end they had provided a great number of Bavins and the forces appointed for that service had no sooner received command but they put themselves in a readinesse to execute it Eumenes and Polyperchon undertook the care of that service and as soon as night was come they had their men upon the counterscarp of the Moat and set them about the businesse they that were to work had furnished themselves with all materials that were necessary they got earth from the counterscarp which they threw down and took faggots from a great number of Carts which brought them after them There being twenty several places in which they were to work Eumens and Polyperchon who could not be present every where left a Commander in each place with certain Officers to oversee the workmen and a thousand souldiers upon the counterscarp to sustain them against sallies and went up and down to all the rest to provide all things needfull The darknesse of the night favoured their beginnings against the enemies arrows but when it was half spent they sallied upon them in two several places commanded on the one side by Ariston and on the other by Andiagoras They presently made a very great slaughter of the first that happened to be in their passage and interrupted the work by the death of a great number of Pioneers and souldiers but Eumenes and Polyperchon having rallied their forces with a marvellous diligence without calling for relief or giving the alarm to the rest of the Camp stopt their fury in a little time and pressed them so vigorously afterward that having left many of their men slain in the Moat they were constrained to return into the town In the mean while the work was so diligently hastened that before day the third part of it was done the workmen lodg'd and in some measure sheltred from the arrows that were shot from the top of the walls Next morning the besieged with sorrow discovered the progresse of their enemies and how they had lodg'd themselves and would have tried to beat them away from thence if they had not seen part of the army upon the counterscarp in a posture to withstand their resolution The day passed without attempting any thing and the Princes contented themselves with making those parts be kept which they had taken without ingaging their souldiers rashly in too manifest dangers but as soon as darkness had driven away the light which had hindred their proceedings they fell to work again and continued it with such speed that by break of day they had carried it within thirty foot of the wall and needed but another night to bring it to perfection The next
animosity is caused by greater reasons Here it was that Lysimachus constancy vanished and his tears over-flowed with so much violence that it was a long time before he could answer him and assoon as he was able to speak again lifting his eyes up mournfully to Heaven Great Gods cryed he since you have permitted me to survive the greatest perfection you ever sent into this world If you destine me not to revenge those illustrious persons add not one minute to this life which I do but languish in with horrour and which I can draw out no longer without shame You oblige me continued he with an infinite number of sighs by believing I have so much moderation as not to precipitate my self with so blinde a rage into a Combat the cause whereof were slight or common but I have so weighty an one that it is impossible for me to expresse the least part of it and it shall satisfie me to tell you I prosecute that infamous Perdiccas as the murtherer or rather the butcherer of the fair Queen Statyra Widow to Alexander the Great and of the Divine Parisatis her sister Widow to her dear Hephestion He accompanyed these few words with so many tears and doleful lamentations that any other heart except that Strangers would thereby have been touched with compassion but his being too sensible for it self to take heed to the actions of Lysimachus he only changed colour twice or thrice and looking upon him with a wandring eye Lysimachus said he I conjure you by all the Gods tell me true is Queen Statira dead It is but too true she is replyed Lysimachus and if you will hear her end in a few words know That as soon as Alexander the Great was dead pittylesse Roxana who during the life of that great Prince had been racked with an horrible jealousie of her giving Order that that poor Princesse who was at that time retired with her sister to the Castle of Calcis should not be advertised of his death wrote Letters in the name of the deceased King earnestly perswading her to come with speed to Babylon and to give a better foundation to that treachery she and Perdiccas sealed them with the Ring which that great Prince as he lay dying had put into the hands of that disloyal man and which he should have made use of to another purpose then the destruction of that which was dearest to him Thus were these innocent Ladies drawn into the snare which had been set for them and that very day this cruel Woman and that horrible Murtherer causing them to be killed in their presence cast their fair bodies into two Wells and covered them with a great number of stones The Stranger staid not for the end of this Relation but lifting up his eyes to Heaven Great Gods said he with a tone quite different from his ordinary voice to day it is that I receive the effects of your promises and that after a ten years persecution you grant me the Repose you have made me hope for in these Countries And at these words after having looked upon Lysimachus with an affrighted countenance in which death was already naturally painted he drew his Sword and setting the point of it where the defect of his arms gave way threw himself so suddenly upon it that neither Lysimachus nor his Squire had means to hinder him and fell at their feet weltring in a River of his own blood At the noise he made in his fall and at the cry of his Squire Lysimachus start out of the deep study in which the renewing of his griefs had buried him and helping the Squire who in dispair of that accident dis-armed his poor Master with crys of a man besides himself mingled his tears with his with so great testimony of grief as made him judge that his friendship was already exceeding strong even in its very birth When he was unarmed they found he breathed still and observing his wound as heedfully as the trouble they were in could permit they saw that the Sword not having seconded his designe had slipt along his Cuirasse and had onely passed slanting between his Ribs this making them conceive some hope of him caused them to apply all their cares to stanch his blood the losse whereof had already so weakned him that he had almost no longer strength to move while they were busied about this necssary office the Gods sent them two good honest Country men who seeing them in that condition and touched with compassion at so sad an object charitably offered them their assistance Lysimachus praised the Heavens for that happy chance and having learnt from them that their House was in a Wood not above two or three hundred paces distant from thence he resolved to have him carried thither not thinking in that change of affairs that there was much safety for either of them in Babylon the Squire moreover having told him there were powerful considerations which should hinder his Master from retiring thither This Resolution being taken they put him upon the Squires Horse he getting behind to keep him up and holding an Handkerchief upon his wound they began to follow the two Country men But before they arrived at their House Lysimachus speaking to the elder Friend said he it is for thy good fortune if thou knowest how to make use of it that the Gods have sent theâ— this encounter and if thou keepest that fidelity to us which we hope for from thee thou hast found an opportunity to enrich thy self The Country man having made protestations to him in very handsome Language Lysimachus saw he was an understanding man and having also drawn Oaths from him that he would not betray them he commanded him to go to Babylon and having furnished him with all the directions and instructions that were necessary he gave him also two Rings bidding him keep one of them for himself and give the other as a token to his Physitian Amintas and some others of his servants which he thought he should need in that retirement with Order to come presently along with him and bring all things that were needful for them as well to cure the Stranger as to defray their expences Then having above all things enjoyn'd him secrecy he sent him away and being guided by the other who was his son came at last to the House where presently they were well received by Women they found there who being informed by the young man concerning the liberality and quality of their guests offered themselves to serve them with all manner of diligence after which they laid the poor wounded Stranger in bed losse of blood having already deprived him of all strength and knowledge Though Lysimachus misfortunes gave him matter of despair and that being not to be comforted himself he was little capable of comforting or helping another yet his obligation to that Stranger and the interest he believed he had in a mischief which he had occasioned by his Discourse added
Gods continued he what do you think became of poor Oroondates at this woful sight Imagine to your self Sir all that rage and despair can produce in a heart like his and then you may fancy some small part of what he did Seeing him he had so ardently loved trampled under foot by the insolent Soldiers he made such a slaughter of them in a short time that the bloud wherewith he was presently besmear'd all over made him look dreadfully in a moment he fought no longer for his life but having resolv'd to lose it he meant to accompany it with so many others that his friends ghost should bee thereby fully satisfied At that time me thought hee appear'd bigger then hee was wont to be and the horror that attended him which way soever he turn'd and the blood wherewith he was died all over making him hard to be known struck some terror even into me Grief had quite taken away the use of his voice but it had so augmented his strength that seeming immortal and invulnerable he made way on every side and carried infallible death whither soever he went The Gods know that I us'd all the force I had and though they left me my life it was not because of any care I took to preserve it But finding the way open'd and without resistance wheresoever he led I had no great difficulty to follow yet in the end we must of necessity have lien by it and my Master in the points of a thousand Swords had found that death he so earnestly sought for if the flight of a great number of our men engaging us in the midst of them had not carried us away also in spite of us Oroondates strikes indifferently at all but his endeavors were in vain and the crowd lifting him out of his Saddle drew him quite out of the Ranks doe what he could in the world to hinder it Assoon as he was gotten free from that thronging multitude his losse of blood had brought him to such a weaknesse that he fell down without all sense or sign of life Though I was extreamly wounded I sate down by him resolv'd that whatsoever became of me I would neither forsake him dead nor living but seeing that our men by little and little left the Field I determined to look to his security in case he should yet have any remainder of life in him and making him be carried a little out of the Battel by three soldiers who offer'd themselvs to doe that Office I mounted the first Horse I could light upon and followed them in a great deal of pain It was just about the time when the Sun was ready to set and that the two Armies having fought most obstinately were both of them in a manner utterly defeated That of the Persians quitted the Field a little by the cowardise of Narbazanes since the horrible murtherer of his King who that day appear'd unworthy of the Charge hee had and shamefully turning his back put the whole Rere-guard which he commanded in disorder But the Scythians were so weakned by as great a losse as that of the Persians that they were not in a condition to pursue them Judge in the interim of the woful condition I was in by that to which I saw my poor Master reduced when we were at a little distance from the remnants of the Armies causing him to be set down upon the ground I unbuckled his Head-piece the fresh air made him come to himself but scarce had he open'd his eyes when turning them wildly upon those that stood about him he cryed out weakly Ah! Artaxerxes and presently shut them again with all the signes of a man drawing to his end There is no doubt but that I should instantly have employed the small strength I had left to make an end of my self and keep him company if I had not been withheld by the Soldiers who had assisted me and who telling me that I could not without infidelity leave him in an estate which did so necessarily require my service made me take some heart and conceive some hope of life in him We were but two howres riding from Brisa a little Town where my Master had left his Baggage and some few servants before the Battel The remembrance of the conveniency I might have there and the knowledge that that Town though but a little one was not ill provided of things necessary for his succor made me resolve to carry him thither as well as possibly I could causing him therefore to be set upon an horse and a good strong man behind him to keep him up we went a reasonable good pace though my wounds had made me so weak that I could hardly sit upon my Saddle But my ardent affection to my Prince putting spirits in me and being favored by the Moon which seem'd pretty clear coming after so clowdy a day and guided by those charitable Soldiers who knew the Country and were perfect in the ways wee arrived at the gates of Brisa about two howres within night We had much ado to get them open'd but in the end having told who we were after the accustomed Orders at such times and upon such occasions the Governor caused us to be admitted in We went to the house where my Masters servants were and having gotten him to bed the Physitians and Chirurgians of the Town were sent for to look to him though I was extreamly hurt yet would I not go to bed till I had seen his wounds searched and had heard the Physitians opinion concerning them after a long dispute among them they at last agreed that he might possibly live if he were diligently looked to and that no ill accident hapned to him Having receiv'd this assurance and seen the first remedies apply'd to eight or ten wounds he had I went to bed in his Chamber meaning not to leave him though he had very carefull Servants especially those two we had brought out of Scythia who in that necessity gave him very faithfull attendance I had five or six dangerous hurts which yet the Physitians thought not mortall and dressing them in the same manner as they had done my Masters they tryed their endeavours to get him out of his swoun but notwithstanding all the care they could use it was day before he ever open'd his eyes Assoon as he was come to himself he appeared wonderfully astonished to see that he was yet alive and cryed out as loud as his weakness would suffer him O Gods do you force me to live stil he then held his peace and after he had look'd earnestly upon all those that were about him imagining the truth of the condition he was in Barbarous people continued he you strive but in vain to preserve my life and the Gods who have permitted you thus far to prolong it have not deprived me of the means to take it away He would have made an attempt to rise out of bed but he was so faint that he was
it was no longer defended by so redoubted a Warriour Oroondates gave some tears unto his memory and to the affliction of his fair Barsina but his soul was yet so full of mourning for the losse of his dear Artaxerxes that he was much the lesse sensible of all others Araxes would have continued his Discourse if the night which was very near had not made them retire referring the continuation of it till the next day Lysimachus had hearken'd to him with so much delight and grew to have so much interest in the wonders of the life he related that he very unwillingly yeilded to that intermission but being constrain'd to it by many considerations he return'd into the house and ran to the Chamber of Oroondates whom hee found in a condition good enough for the hope of his recovery but his minde was in so sad an estate that one lesse concern'd in it then he would have been deeply touch'd with compassion he would not make him speak that Evening knowing how much it might doe him hurt and fearing to give him occasion to talk he wish'd him good rest and withdrew into his Chamber where after a light supper he went to bed and pass'd the night as he had done that before The End of the Second Book CASSANDRA BOOK III. BUt sorrowfull Oroondates more nearly touch'd with the loss of his Princess instead of taking any repose in a place which seem'd to have been created purposely for it did there linger out the houres of his condemnation for so he call'd the necessity that constrain'd him to live in pains more sharp and insupportable then death it self Night with it's darkness bringing back horrour and silence into his Chamber brought back also most dismal objects into his minde and represented to him the wretchedness of his present condition in so many and such terrible forms that he was like to lose his life with very grief that he was forced to keep it Then it was that all the passages thereof as well the most pleasing as the most fatall came into his memory and that he saw himself most cruelly assaulted both with a remembrance of the blessings he had lost and a sence of the miseries in which he was overwhelmed He made reflexion upon the strange birth the marvelous progress and the tragical success of his affection and from all three he conjectured that the Gods had never ingaged themselves with so much interest through the whole course of his misfortunes but to shew in his life a dreadfull example of their wrath and of the afflictions into which those men precipitate themselves whom they have forsaken He embark'd again upon that tempestuous sea which had toss'd him for the space of ten whole years and recalling to minde all the most memorable accidents of that time where there was any matter of trouble he afflicted himself really but if there were any occasion of joy or comfort he was so little sensible of that that he easily found his soul being prepossess'd with impressions of grief had no entrance at all left for any thing else nor sence of any other touches then those of dispair But when having overrun all he arrived at the bloody Catastrophe of his love and that after the cruelties absences imprisonments jealousies quarrels and rigorous commands of his Princess he came to imagin her death nay a most certain bloody and inhuman death then it was that his constancy utterly forsook him and that courage which had not yeilded to the rest of his mishaps sunk under the burthen of an affliction of so high a nature He fancied before his eyes that fair and magnanimous Queen remainder of the Illustrious bloud of Persia and widdow to the greatest man that ever was holding forth her naked throat to the sword of Perdiccas and to the bloody executioners of pittiless Roxana he represents her to himself all bloody and disfigured with a multitude of wounds which make that fair body hideous and scarcely to be known he then seeks her in the bottom of a well under a heap of stones that buried her and his imagination working very strongly made him behold her in the strangest and most gastly shapes his minde could possibly conceive Then it was that he plung'd himself headlong into his grief and forgetting his resolution of being cured he sent forth cries of lamentation and gave himself quite over to sighs and groans swimming as it were in a river of tears which streamed from his eyes as two eternal sources He broke the silence that was enjoyned him for his recovery and the absence of Lysimachus Araxes and the Physitians gave his tongue liberty to ease his heart of some part of it's sorrow Fair Queen cry'd he with an interrupted speech if your soul be not utterly unloosed from all earthly thoughts and if you still conserve any remembrance of your faithfull Orontes Fair Queen beautifull Statira divine spirit look yet upon this miserable man and if you be the same Statira so religiously adored by poor Orontes see that I am still the same Orontes by whom the divine Statira hath been so religiously adored Yes I am still the same I declare it to my own shame and confusion I am the same unless I be changed by that meannesse of spirit which I have shewed in surviving you yes dear Princesse I live still though you alas are dead but if you know my affection well you cannot doubt but I will shortly follow you this cowardise of which I accuse my self is only a cowardise in appearance but is indeed an effect of my courage and of my love to you I do resolve to die Statira assoon as you are reveng'd and the numberlesse deaths I suffer in expectation of my last ought to satisfie you better then one alone whereby you have outgon me One death great Queen was enough for you but this unhappie wretch that was the occasion of it this unfortunate cause of Roxana's hatred ought to suffer ten thousand to recompence that one life he made you lose He stopt at these words to turn over a thousand furious resolutions in his minde and to invent as many kinds of revenge which all seem'd too light to his indignation fire and sword seem'd too gentle for his satisfaction and Roxana and Perdiccas too mean too feeble subjects to wreak his anger he wish'd the Gods would resuscitate an Alexander to defend them or that the whole world would take up arms for their protection Nay he who in the whole former course of his life had ever appear'd moderate and most religious fell now to contest with the Gods as if he meant to force them to take the part of his enemies Great Gods said he you who to raise an Alexander to that pitch of glory which never any man before attain'd have destroyed the Royal Family of Persia and beaten down the pride of so many mighty Kings you who have submitted so many Empires and sacrificed so many thousand lives to
powerfull affliction and left him so touch'd with her grief and so strucken with her threatning prediction that it was impossible to settle him all the rest of the day After that time she saw him almost daily and entertained him with her passion as much as her mothers absence would give leave he always answered her with the same civility and constrain'd himself so much not to disoblige her with unkind looks that she lost not the hope of being belov'd by him at least in default of Statira who in all appearance was not like to escape easily out of Alexanders hands He was often visited also by the Princesses Occhus his daughters by the wives of Pharnabasus and Artabasus and by the fair Barsina whose vertue and rare qualities wonn all the inclination which his fidelity and the remembrance of Statira could allow she as you are not ignorant was of a very pleasing conversation very knowing in many Sciences and particularly in the Greek Tongue but above all she was endowed with a marvelous discretion and modest freedom This knowledge of her moved my Master to discover himself particularly to her and to tell her all the accidents of his life except the love of Roxana which his discretion or rather his misfortune made him ever conceal from her with much care His wounds had suffered so much by his neglect of them at first that he was forced still to keep his bed and while he was in that condition he received so sensible a grief that since the death of Artaxerxes I had never seen him fall into so great a passionâ— It was for the loss of the bracelet which Statira gave him at his departure from Persepolis and which in all his unhappiness he had dearly preserv'd as his only consolation he was wont to kiss it a thousand times a day and in the delicate hair whereof it was woven seeing something of the person he adored and that wrought with her own fair hands he received an exceeding great satisfaction by it in all his discontents but one morning putting one of his hands to the arm about which he commonly wore it he miss'd that precious favour which he valued at so high a rate instantly all his servants were employed to seek it but when he saw their diligence was vain and that he believ'd it absolutely lost he made such pittifull complaints that all that heard him were deeply touch'd with a sence of his lamentations he wept he tormented himself he threatned his servants and uttered words misbeseeming the greatness of his courage taking it as an Omen of despair and interpreting the loss of that gift as a presage of that of the giver all that day he was not to be comforted but in the end that heart which had resisted so many crosses of another nature was fain to pass over that likewise or at least dissemble it to think of affairs of more importance He was advertised by Barsina that Artaban was ready to deliver up the Town and so many persons of eminent quality as had taken refuge there into the enemies hands and that to that intent he had dispatch'd one Mardus to Parmenio who was encamped within a small days journey of Damascus This information confirming his own jealousie made him leave his bed to oppose as much as he was able the designe of that disloyal man but if by his perswasions he could not bring him back into the path of vertue and fidelitie to his Prince he saw no possibility of doing good any other way being all alone in a great Town where he was known to none but Ladies and where all the Soldiers and the Inhabitants themselves were at the Governors Devotion besides they had all taken such a terrour that they trembled at the very name of Alexander and made no resistance against the designe of that Traytor who had destin'd to him so considerable a prey He resolv'd nevertheless not to spare himself in the business and to give poor Darius in his adversity all the proofs he ought to hope for from his friendship for that purpose causing himself to be made ready and resting upon a staff by reason of a little wound he had received in his thigh he went to the Governors Lodging whither he took no body with him but me I being already nearer cured then he was Artaban received him with a feigned demonstration of joy for his being so well recovered but my Prince having desired him to go into his Closset and entring with him after having been awhile silent Artaban said he I know you and the obligations you have to your good King too well to believe you have any intention to dis-serve him it is a rumour which your enemies spread abroad and which you should do well to take some order in that you may make appear to the whole world the faithfull resolution you have for the service of your Prince Though the Governor was a little moved at this advice yet being upon the point of pulling off his vizor he dissembled his thoughts and answered coldly They that make such a report of me Orontes are little acquainted with my designes which shall ever tend to what they ought while no more is exacted from me then I may perform You may replyed Oroondates do Darius a most remarkable service in the conservation of this Town and so many persons of quality as he ha's deposited in your charge the place is strong enough to endure the siege of a more potent army then that of Alexander and those under your command are zealous enough for his service not to forsake you in so commendable a resolution which you are obliged to by your birth by your Oath and by the consideration of your honour The Governor who began to be angry at this remonstrance answered my Master sharply Do not inform your self concerning my designes Orontes nor teach me my duty in a place which had not been trusted into my hands but that I was known capable of commanding in it you are yet too young to give me my Lesson and I am but little obliged to receive it where I my self am Master At these words he rose up without staying for my Prince's answer and going out of the Closset left him so ill satisfied that without taking other leave he presently went away to Barsina's house and told her all the discourse that had pass'd between them assuring her of the loss of Damascus and of their Liberty unless the Gods relieved them by extraordinary ways He spent the rest of that day in getting some to sound the affections of the Inhabitants and to waken their souls to some remembrance of Loyalty and courage against the Garrison which sold them basely to their Enemies but they answered those that sollicited them so faintly that my Master could do nothing more for that time but detest the poorness of their spirits and deplore Darius his misfortune and the Captivity of so many noble persons as would be involved in the
battel he feared that his Mistress by so long an absence might have blotted him out of her remembrance that her minde might have receiv'd some impression disadvantageous to him and favourable to some other that having only lov'd him to obey her brother she might believe her self dis-engaged by his death from continuing those proofs of her obedience or that after the misfortune of so great a losse it might bee thought a crime in him to appear alive before her whose last parting words had imposed so strict a command upon him to be careful of that charge these apprehensions tormented him in such a manner that they were easily to be read in his eyes and countenance and made him fear to waken her lest perchance her mouth should give him proofs of a misfortune which hee was come to seek so far and with so much pains and hazard His Princess was laid upon her side leaning her head upon one of her arms and the other negligently stretch'd out upon her thigh Her beauty though grief had abated something of her flesh and of the vivacity of her colour was already come to perfection her neck was half uncovered and her sleeve being a little turn'd up shewed part of an arm to whose whiteness snow was but a mean comparison the blackness of her habit did set it off with the greater lustre and her hair which was of the same colour playing by the help of a gentle wind upon so much of her cheeks as appeared unto our sight discovered the delicateness of her complexion so well by that opposition that Ivory and Ebony were never better match'd together Her eyes though closed had left free passage to some tears which stealing along her cheek ran down to her mouth where they ended their coursâ— as the only place that was able to equall the beauty of the sources from whence they flowed I could not forbear making this little Description to you though unseasonable and no way proper in our affliction when I remembred the time my Master spent in considering her which was indeed so long that I feared he by his own fault would lose the fair opportunity the Gods had sent him He took notice of it himself at last and recovering a little courage after two or three deep sighs which he could not possibly retain he bowed his head gently down to steal a kiss of those tempting rubies but the first touch of them struck him into such a rapture that not considering what he did he fasten'd his lips upon them with so much ardour that his very soâ—â— was all at his mouth and had like to have stoln from him in that excess of love and contentment The Princess waken'd by so close and passionate a touch and seeing her self in a mans arms she who though a Captive had never seen any approach her but with such respects as are paid unto Divinities was seised in such a manner that she could not express how much she was surpris'd and frighted any other way then by a loud crying out but when she started up to defend her self against the violence of that enemy and that she had fix'd her eyes upon Oroondates his face whose memory was always present with her and to whose supposed death she gave those tears wherewith her cheeks vvere then bedewed her astonishment turn'd into a cold shievering vvhich deprived all her senses of their function and made her after a second cry fall stretch'd out in his arms without any sign of life My Master quite besides himself and transported with his passion press'd her between his arms bent her forward and wetting her face with his tears took kisses which had never been permitted him with so much liberty nor had he ever ventured on them with so much boldness In the mean time I stepping to the Fountain and seeing how little help she received from my Master cast water several times upon her face but she was in so deep a swoun that she came not to her self and we were in an affliction hard to be express'd when Cleone drawn by the Princesses cry came running frighted to us and at the same time through another Ally the Princess Parisatis Apamia Arsinoé and many other Ladies I make you judge Sir of their astonishment and fear both for the Princess whom they saw in a swoun or dead in the arms of two strange men and for themselves whom the condition of their present fortune made apprehensive of every thing they began already to send forth cryes which vvould in the end have been over-heard by their Guards when I rising up and leaving my Master intent about an employment which their coming made him not forsake address'd my self unto them and discovering my face which was not unknown to them Ladies said I you may destroy us but in ruining Orontes you lose the man who of all the world is most affectionate to your service and who comes to die here for no other end but to give you proof of it by the losse of a life which he lays down for your sakes These Ladies though they were more dead then living at this accident ceased their cryes at these words and remaining immoveable expected the issue of so strange an adventure In this interim Cleone kneeling to Statira unbuckled her robe and threw so much water in her face that at last she open'd her eyes Assoon as she began to come unto her self she cryed out Ah! Orontes and seeing him still present she was like to have fainted away a second time My Prince kneeld down before her and while Cleone more couragious then the rest held her in her arms he kiss'd her hands and bathed them in his tears with so many sobs and broken sighs that she being a little recovered ventured at last to look upon him and the rest becoming confident by her example began to come all round about him When she saw her self fortified by the presence of so many her fear began to passe away and fixing her eyes upon my Prince's after having looked awhile without speaking Are you alive said she Orontes or do you come after your death to visit Prisoners to whom you were so dear during your life My Prince re-assumed by those words and embracing her knees with sudden raptures of affection which cannot be related made answer Yes Madam I am alive and being only born to live and to die for you I come to live and die here at your feet and render to you and yours the service I owe to both till the last moment of my life After these words the Princess Parisatis and the Ladies being a little settled came nearer to him and my Prince kneeling to Parisatis and saluting all the other Ladies with infinite civility drew them by degrees out of the fright they had been in and fill'd them all with as much joy as they could receive in their Captivity Statira was sorry my Prince had given so many proofs of his passion before those Ladies
given ear to what I said commanded us to be carried into his Tent and making us be gotten to bed caus'd our vvounds to be look'd to with much care The Physitians with many several experiments brought my Master at last unto himself and considering his vvounds very attentively they vvere long in doubt whether there was any hope of good success they believed that mine were curable and began to use their endeavours for both vvith a great deal of charity My Prince could hardly speak all that day nor the night following The next morning Eumenes being obliged to go after the King who was already a great way off in pursuit of Darius gave order to have us carried to Arbela his servants obeyed him carefully and having removed us gently to that little Town put us into a good house and recommending us unto the Master of it gave him money to get us looked to according to the command they had received from Eumenes After their departure our Host seeing me in a better condition then my Prince came and asked me his name but scarce had he learn'd it was the Prince of Scythia whom he had seen pass by two days before with Darius when lifting up his hands to heaven he prais'd the Gods for the occasion they offered him of doing his King yet some service in the help he might give to one that was so dear to him and from that time moved by a hearty zeal he ran to the Physitians and Chirurgions of the Town and besought them to take care of my Princes safety with words full of tenderness and affection Those good men wrought upon by his prayers and the knowledge they had of us employed all their art for our recovery and not being ignorant in their profession after having long consulted they agreed in opinion that if without incision they could get out the head of a Javelin which was in my Masters body their remedies with the assistance of the Gods might save his life Thereupon they presently fell to work about it and by the help of their Instruments which they handled very skilfully they in the end drew it out without any incision but with such excessive pain that my Prince swouned many times and was like to have died immediately Assoon as the Chirurgions had got it out they dressed us with more satisfaction then before and injoyned us rest and silence for many days I was so much obliged to my Master that assoon as he could speak he enquired after me and being told that I was in the same Chamber with him and that I was in better health then he he expressed much joy at it But assoon as his memory was come to him again and that he call'd to minde the cause of his wounds and the cruel usage he had received from Statira this grief assaulted him with so much violence that that remembrance was like to have made him lose a life whose preservation was laboured with so much dilligence yet did he appear more moderate then after the death of Artaxerxes whether it were that his heart accustomed to misfortunes had learn'd at last to support them with more patience or that with more age he had gotten more strength of reason and firmness of minde or that in effect he in a generous and just despite thought he ought not to die for one who after having received such remarkable services from him had us'd him so ingratefully and so unworthily True it is indeed he complained in tearms able to have cleft the most rocky hearts with pitty and shewed a wonderfull contempt of his life but he was not so obstinately bent to lose it as the other time he tore not off the plaisters from his wounds nor did he oppose the industry the Physitians used for his recovery It is certain that spite fortified him very much and that making reflexion upon all his services and upon Statira's ingratitude his resentment stifled part of his sorrow and of his love and made him almost repent of what he had done for her and of the designe he had had to die for so ingratefull a person for in the end after having examined all the actions of his life he found them so full of innocence and of the proofs of a real affection that he could not attribute her change to any thing but the inconstancy of her humour and to a meannesse unworthy of her birth which made her prefer an enemy because great and victorious before a Prince who had so faithfully served her and to whom she was engaged by so many oaths and so many obligations He repassed in his thoughts all the progresse of his love full of so many memorable events and of so many brave effects of his passion and seeing all conclude against all the likelyhood in the world in a perpetual banishment he stood in need of all his courage indeed not to sink under so powerfull an affliction sometimes when he was more sharply tormented with these cruel remembrances and that he call'd to minde the last words of Statira which were too deeply settled there to be forgotten Is it possible said he Statira that it should be you your self who pronounc'd this cruel sentence of my banishment you I say who had so many ways testified unto me that you loved me and had by so many protestations engaged your self that you would love me eternally you who had sworn a thousand times that you would never be but mine and who by a thousand proofs of my affection were most assured that I would never be but yours Are not you that same Statira whom I sav'd from the violence of the Scythians the same whose most deserving brother I preserv'd from death and imprisonment she for whom I forsook my Father and my Country for whom I disguised my quality and exposed my self to numberlesse dangers in the midst of my greatest enemies she for whom I fought against mine own Father and my King and receiv'd wounds that brought me so near unto my grave she whose Father I rescued from so great danger with the peril of my life she for whom I suffered the captivity of Artaban Parmenio and Alexander for whom I resisted the affections of the fair Roxana for whom I laid aside all consideration that I was the son of a great King to become a poor contemptible Gardner and she that very she whom but a moment before my ruine I with the price of my blood had ransom'd from the bondage of Alexander Yes you are the same nay more you are also the very same who after such powerful obligations has had the heart to say Get thee gone from before me disloyal man and deliver me for ever from the sight of my most mortal enemy Yes Statira I am your enemy and all these actions which I now reproach you with are indeed the actions of an enemy but if you give that name to me whom will you call your friends From which of your best and nearest friends
while he in the interim laboured my destruction My Prince was so confounded at these reproaches that he was not able to speak to him of a long time he was not at all prepared for that reception not believing his Father so well instructed in the passages of his life and having nothing to reply against the truth of what he said he was a great while studying what answer he should make but in the end lifting up his head and looking upon him with an eye able to have made him relent Sir said he it is true Love hath made me to commit follies which one that were not a Father and a very good Father would not easily pardon but Sir besides my repentance of them which I come to testifie at your feet and the submission wherewith I came to expose my self to all the punishments I have deserved I have suffered so cruel a pennance that your just anger would not have enjoyned me so sharp an one The King no way mollifyed by these words No persidious wretch said he think not to soften me by a forc'd submission thou didest not believe I had been so well acquainted with thy crimes but thou shalt receive a punishment for them which shall serve from hence forth for an example to all unnatural children and Parricides like thy self take away this ingratefull son from before me continued he turning toward the Captain of his Guard and let him be carried to the Castle of Seréy wee 'll first take order for his security and then consider what kind of punishment is due to him At this sentence my Prince arose from before him and believing he had satisfied what he owed unto his Father he was so displeased with him for so inhuman an usage after so long an absence that he daigned not to say one word to him in his justification but followed the Captain of the Guard after he had only demanded that I might not be taken from him We were brought to the Castle of Serey not far distant from the Town it is a very strong place destin'd for the imprisonment of Princes and furnished with all things necessary for recreation as a fine Garden a fair Park and all other ornaments that can befit a Royal Palace We were shut up and kept there two whole years without being able to pacifie the Kings anger He was served according to his quality but so strictly guarded that all hope of liberty was forbidden him True it is he laboured not at all for it nor ever made any attempt to escape or so much as ever got the King to be spoken to for his enlargement I believe the Princesse his Sister and all vertuous persons sollicited it with much industry but the power of the Queen his Mother in Law to whom his death or at least his captivity was very important was so great over the Kings will that her consideration alone strangled all the good motions which nature and the counsell of impartial friends could work in him we believed indeed that the impression she gave him made him persist still in that displeasure and that as long as she had credit with the King she would oppose my Masters liberty but besides that we knew his nature slow to be angred but much slower to be reconciled As long as Darius was alive said he to those that spoke in favour of him we saw him not nor should we see him now if his Fortune were yet on foot and I will make him know that we could have spared the sight of him still In the mean time my Master to whom neither his liberty nor the pleasures he might have enjoyed in the Court were at all considerable endured his Imprisonment very patiently and found a much greater quiet in it then he had done in the throng of affairs and in the conversation of the world his mind was now become so out of love with ordinary diversions that nothing but solitarinsse alone could please him and in that humour Araxes would he say to me sometimes if the King knew how gentle a punishment this restraint is he would without question set me at liberty and would not suffer me to enjoy a tranquility wherein I taste some sweetnesse but rather would precipitate me into those innumerable misfortunes which I have but too much felt already It were of great importance to me to see some Scythian faces after having so long seen and lost the sight of my fair and faithlesse Statira and I might by their help recover what her infidelity ha's made me lose That which is most lovely among them ha's some resemblance of what is most imperfect in her and the conversation of Scythians would be wonderfull delightfull to me after that of Darius and Artaxerxes Invent thou King of Scythia another kind of chastisement for him who is no longer in an estate to receive any addition to his griefs by all thy cruelties Fortune ha's done what she could against me and my soul ha's no free place left for thee to afflict He often entertain'd me with these and the like discourses and led a life that made me wonder a thousand times how he could outlast so many days but the Gods whose wrath was not appeased and who destin'd him yet to sharper sorrows and to his last losses were pleased to prolong the course of them least they should lose the ordinary subject of their cruelties No body was suffered to come into the Castle to us and of all that begg'd it of the King only the Princesse Berenice obtain'd permission to see her brother twice in two years of his imprisonment but both times with such vigilant witnesses which were set on purpose that she could never speak one word to him alone though she express'd a wonderfull desire of it and requested it with great importunity The Prince her brother who lov'd her dearly was extreamly troubled at it and entreated her to procure a greater liberty to visit him if it were possible In the mean time he wasted himself daily by his sadnesse and withdrawing into the most remote and solitary places of the Park plunged himself into fits of melancholy in which he sometimes spent whole days Then the Image of Statira representing it self unto the eyes of his minde more beautifull and more attractive then ever made all the resolutions vanish which he had taken to forget her sometimes he fancied her in the same condition he had seen her in when he received the first testimonies of her affection he found the same sweetnesse in her eyes and heard the same words wherewith she drew him back almost from his grave he tasted some pleasure as long as this thought possessed him but assoon as it made way for another and that instead of that gentle sweet obliging Statira he saw a Statira arm'd with wrath and thunder against him he yet trembled with fear and was ready to die with sorrow and in both imaginations he sigh'd as well for the miseries he felt
Miletopolis and the other Towns which had shamefully deserted their Kings party to receive the yoke of the Macedonians Miletopolis was the first he laid siege to and that City which had not had the courage to oppose their Enemies with honour and justice had yet the stubbornness to stand out against their lawful Prince and to refuse him entrance whether it were because they were dis-affected to their King or that the knowledge of their fault putting them out of hope of pardon made them resolve to expect relief from Alexander or bury themselves in their own ruines The place was very strong and kept us a moneth without the walls but in the end after the losse of some of our men our Prince having storm'd it vigorously on all sides carried it by assault and his mercy was so great that assoon as he saw himself Master of it he stopt the execution and being satisfied with the death of those that were slain upon the breach he generously pardon'd all the rest though they had not so much as a hope of it and placing a reasonable Garrison in the Town suffered the Inhabitants to enjoy all their former Immunities and Priviledges This Act of Clemency was blamed by many of his party who could not approve his so great gentleness to a place so obstinately rebellious and who maintain'd that to terrifie such as were guilty of the same crime and were yet to be subdued he should have utterly destroyed it But my Prince smiled at their Maxims and following the inclinations of his own generous nature attain'd by that moderation to the end which they would have had him tend to by contrary mean for within a few days after the report of his mildneâ—s being spread through that revolted Province all the Countrey submitted it self voluntarily unto him and within lesse then three months fourteen Towns that had declared for Alexander return'd again to their obedience and put themselves into his hands Tagus Caliorbia and Orchilachia seated upon the Frontiers of Tauâ—â—a Cherchonesus stood out the destiny of Miletopolis and having resisted to the last extreamity were taken by force like it and received almost the like favourable usage I passe lightly over these things to shorten the Relation of matters not much important that I may come to the conclusion of my Princes loves I will tell you therefore that while we lay before Orchilachia my Prince saw two or three of his Guard come into his Tent who presented a man unto him Oroondates having asked them why they brought him before him Sir answered they he is newly come out of the Town and being fallen into the hands of our men he prayed them to bring him unto you to whom he would tell something of great consequence we neglected not to do so and though he speaks the Scythian Tongue so ill that we had much adoe to understand him and made us easily see that he is not of this Country we believ'd yet that your knowledge in Forain Languages would assist you to draw that benefit which you may hope for from his Intelligence Oroondates who while they were saying thus had considered the Stranger observed features in his face that were not unknown to him and having call'd me to require help from my memory the man after he had saluted him upon his knee said to him in the Persian Tongue I see you have forgot me Sir but if you please to call to minde those persons I have serv'd you will remember that I have had the honour to do you some service also These words and the tone of his voice put us out of doubt and made us know him presently to be the Eunuch Tyreus that faithful servant to the Princesses of Persia who had been taken with them by Alexander and had never left them but to carry the news to Darius of the death of the Queen his wife and who had led us himself to Sysigambis his Tents where he had continued after my Masters fatal adventure This knowledge of him infinitely surprised my Prince who rising up from his Chair embraced the Eunuch with great kindness and with tears which he could not refrain at the remembrance which his sight awakened in him O Tyreus said he is it possible that I see you and that you have been able to forsake the Ladies you serv'd to come into Scythia Sir replyed the Eunuch if my being in this Countrey has surprised you the caus of it will surprise you a great deal more I 'le tell it you when you please to give me the liberty and will give you a faithful account of the charge that has been trusted to me The Prince startled at this Discourse and was assaulted with so many several inward motions that the changes of his countenance witnessed the disturbance of his minde his mouth was open twice or thrice to speak But in the end he came to himself and considered that without question the Eunuch had things to tell him which required not so many witnesses That was it that made him resolve to stay some few howres that he might discourse with him and hear what he had to say at better liberty with this thought Well Tyreus said he we will talk together anon at night with more leisure and conveniency in the mean time I will assure you that what businesse soever brings you hither you are very welcome into a place where I have some power and where I will endeavour to requite part of the courtesies I receiv'd from you in your Country After these words he afforded me the liberty to embrace him and to renew the acquaintance which we had made together in Persia I took care to give him accommodation to rest himself to welcome him with all the good intertainment I could give him and to divert him the remainder of the day while my Master thought of the affairs belonging to the Siege as much as his new impatience would permit him When it was night and that my Prince after supper had gotten free from the Commanders and other Officers that had business with him he retired into his Chamber and assoon as he was in bed he sent me to call in Tyreus and causing stools to be set by his bedside he commanded us to sit down and to make every body else go forth We were no sooner left alone but addressing himself to the Eunuch Tyreus said he now we are at liberty or rather I am now ready to receive by your Discourse most sensible renewings of my grief and perhaps some change in my present condition Speak without flattery I pray you to him who can neither have any addition to his sorrows nor hope for any kind of joy The Eunuch being sate down by his command and having bethought himself a little of what he had to say began his Relation on this manner The History of STATIRA THE Discourse I am to make unto you Sir will satisfie you and afflict you both together and I think that
yet some other Letters which it is not necessary for me to repeat and after these Messages O Gods can I have the heart to tell it you these poor Princesses received the fatal newes of the death of poor Darius and within a few days the body of that great Prince which Alexander sent them to bestow upon it the honours of Burial Be pleased Sir to give me leave to be brief in this sad Story and as the industrious Painter to cover that sorrow with a Vail which I am not able to represent It will suffice me to tell you that all the most dolefull and lamentable expressions of grief and despair appeared then to the full in the actions of those Princesses and that being overwhelmed with such a bloudy surcharge of affliction they with all hope of consolation lost all their remainder of courage and resolution they lay many days prostrate upon the ground vailed and separated from all conversation and solemnized this last losse with so many tears that we doubted their lives would finde a passage through their eyes I will not weary you with reckoning up the ceremonies which were observ'd at the funeral of that great King they were too deeply afflicted to affect any extraordinary pomp in so sorrowfull an action and Darius was too deeply buried in their hearts to suffer them to imploy their cares in the Fabrick of a Monument lesse sensible and lesse worthy of the ashes of that great Prince Upon his Tombe they offered tears of blood locks of their hair and made imprecations against Alexander but scarce had they allow'd any respit to their first transports of grief when he arriv'd at Susa whether the design of visiting them and giving them some consolation had brought him with som of his friends Among those that accompanied him was Prince Oxiartes the deceased Kings brother who had bin found among the prisoners and whom the King after he had favoured him as his quality and vertue deserved had received into the number of his friends and settled again in all his dignities he would needs wait upon him in a visit to persons that were so near and dear to him and indeed the sight of him gave them all the comfort which this last blow of Fortune had left them capable to receive He sadly mingled his tears with theirs and for Darius his death expressed all the resentments of a good Brother and of a vertuous Prince Alexander found those poor afflicted Ladies in a chamber the windows whereof were close shut up and scarce could he perceive them in so gloomy and mournfull an obscurity By the light of certain great Tapers he saw so many tears fall from the eyes of his Princesse that his heart was nearly touch'd with compassion That first day he did nothing but weep with them the next he endeavoured to give them some consolation he spent many others likewise in that imployment and never desisted from that care till he saw their grief a little abated when he found they were something in better condition and that he judg'd the Princesse capable of other discourse he fell again into professions of love and renewed his protestations with so much ardour that she thereby understood the violence of his passion better then she had ever done before Her grief was very sensibly redoubled by it and having suffered him some time with patience when she saw he persevered with obstinacy she could no longer keeâ—â—n her indignation nor hide the resentment she had against him who had destroyed their house and one day when he had urged her extraordinarily after having looked upon him with an eye inflamed with anger Sir said she you are yet dyed with the blood of Darius and by those winning marks of your affection you would oblige his Daughter to love you the Queen my Mother lately expired under the pains she suffered in her Captivity and you would have me look with a loving eye upon him that has sent her to her grave the fields are yet covered with the carcasses of a million of our Subjects and of the most eminent of our kindred the ruins of our fairest Cities are yet smoaking with the fire that has devoured them and all the Countreys which heretofore obeyed the King my Father are at this present objects only of terror and desolation and you would have me give my self to him who has laid them waste to the murtherer of my nearest friends and to the cruel destroyer of the Kingdom and Family of Persia No no Sir 't is not by such like obligations 't is not by the bloud of her friends nor by the ruine of her Estates that the heart of a Princesse is to be wonn how great vertue soever shines visibly in you and what marks of greatnesse soever I acknowledge I cannot consider you otherwise then as the murtherer of my mother and the murtherer of my father Give at least some truce to her whom you have deprived of a father that was the greatest of all the Kings of the Earth of a mother who most tenderly lov'd her and of the hope of the most flourishing Empire in the world Enjoy that peaceably which they and I resigne to you I neither envie you your victories nor your Kingdoms envie not me therefore the repose I beg and suffer that all that remains of Darius may spend the remnant of her life in tranquility in some little corner of those Territories which were formerly his It is not till the extremity Sir and after the losse of the hope you had given me of Darius his safety and re-establishment that I make this request to you and this declaration I have carried my self toward you hitherto as a Princesse who though she had a thousand causes to hate you had yet a father to preserve and I suffered an affection which the death of the Queen my Mother and that of so many thousands of our Subjects ought to have made me reject with horror only to make use of it to the advantage of a Father whom the Gods had yet been pleased to leave me You have deprived me of him since both contrary to pity which is natural to men contrary to the veneration due to sacred persons and contrary to the promises you had made me your self you have prosecuted him to the last moment of his life and never gave him over till you had seen him breath out his soul by so cruel a death that your self and all that wear a Crown ought to tremble at it with horror Now that I have suffered all and lost all I have nothing more left to apprehend nor nothing to desire and I need no longer dissemble with a person whom I no longer fear and from whom I no longer hope for any thing I am not ignorant Sir of the power which Victory and Vsurpation have given you over me but neither am I ignorant of the means to free my self from it assoon as I shall see you endeavor to abuse it and
the Gods who have caus'd me to be born a Princesse have taught me the way to die also like a Princess These words struck Alexander with a very great astonishment and she had hardly ended them when rising from before him she went into another Chamber and would neither see him nor hear him any more notwithstanding all the intreaties that were used to her and all the commands she received from the Queen Alexander admiring the greatness of her courage and not being able to contradict the truth of her reproaches was yet so stung with them that he protested before Sysigambis he would never importune her more while he liv'd and that he would change the design he had had for her advantage unto the favor of some other Mistresse So without making any longer stay at Susa he took horse vvith those that had attended him and carrying back Oxiartes with him he return'd unto his Army which was in the same place where he had left it a few days before Before he went away he gave order that the Queen and the Princesses with all the companions of their fortune should be no longer kept as prisoners knowing well that after the death of Darius and the losse of all they had their surest retreat was under his protection he therefore settled great allowances to maintain them and left them in a perfect liberty Hereupon many of the Ladies whose husbands and Fathers had continued still at their own houses or had been re-established in them and their commands by Alexander went home again unto them Roxâ—â—a's Mother was one of that number being sent for by her husband who having retired into his Government had not yet felt the power of Alexander She departed from Susa when she had taken her leave of the Queen and Princesses and took her daughter Roxana along with her Statira who loved her not was not sorry for her going away and though cunning Roxana shed some dissembling tears at that separation the Princess to whom her malice was well enough known showed but very little trouble for parting with her The daughters of King Occhus fair and vertuous Princesses and the daughters of Mentor remained still at Susa Barsina would not forsake Statira with whom sheâ— was knit in a most constant friendship though she heard within a vvhile after that her Father Artabazus with the rest of his Family had been courteously receiv'd by Alexander and placed in the number of his dearest and most considerable friends and certainly his vertue deserv'd that usage for having preserv'd so inviolable a fidelity to his deceased King that the changes of his fortune had never made him capable of change The Court of Susa would at that time have been reasonable fair if it had not been composed of persons whose faces were the true pictures of sorrow and desolation the situation of that Town is very pleasant and the conveniency of the Walks invited the Princesses often to divert part of their melancholy in them They spent a whole year there without being troubled with any new disquiet and hearing every day the marvellous progress of Alexanders Forces they learn'd how he had vanquished the Mardes and conquered all Hyrcania how he had subdued the Draches the Evergetes the Hydaspians and all the people that inhabit near Mount Caucasus how he had also made the Bactrians and Zogdians submit unto him and how all the Territories that heretofore were under Darius had already receiv'd the Macedonian yoak and lived under them in a still calm and a very perfect obedience The most pleasing news they heard was that of the punishment of Bessus whom after hee had seised upon Bactria Alexander had taken by his own cowardise and the conspiracy of his friends and that great King detesting so wicked a fellow stain'd with the murther of his Prince had deliver'd him into Oxiartes hands who to revenge the death of his brother had caus'd that Paricide to be put to death by an extraordinary kind of execution he made four Trees to be bended down by a great number of men and causing the legs and the arms of that disloyal man to bee fast tied unto the branches of them they being all let slip vvith violence tore every one its quarter and dismembred that miserable wretch with marvellous suddenness Alexander pardoned Narbazanes at the intercession of the Eunuch Bagoas who was in greater favor with him then he had been with Darius After this news they heard another at which they were very much surprised and that was the Marriage of Alexander to Roxana which by the hastiness of it fill'd his whole Court and all Asia with astonishment At these words my Prince interrupting the Evnuch What said he has Alexander then married the wicked Roxana Yes Sir answered the Eunuch and learn but in two vvords how that adventure was related to us Alexander being come into the Province of the Roxana's father who was Governor of it after hee had delivered up all the Townes and the whole Country into his hands made him a very stately reception and a most magnificent entertainment His fairest ornament in the Kings eye was his daughter Roxana who accompanied by thirty other Ladies chosen among the most beautiful of all that Province waited upon the King all the while he was at meat and that Prince who had formerly seen her near the Queens with an indifferent eye thought her at that time so attractive that he became passionately in love with her and having by long absence by his great imploiments and partly by disdain quenched the affection he had borne Statira he resolv'd to make Roxana his wife and not deferring longer to effect it he declared his intention to his friends and to the Father of that Princess and having the consent of all either through fear or through compliance hee consummated the marriage the same day and rais'd that proud malicious woman to a fortune which she had never pretended to The Queen and the Princesses were amazed at this news and though they did not at all envy her advancement their knowledge of her humor made them apprehend her power and fear some part of those misfortunes which have since befallen them Yet Statira was exceeding glad that she was by that marriage delivered from Alexanders importunities and began to live with more tranquillity then she had done since the losse of Darius and the belief of your supposed infidelity In the mean time notwithstanding all the care she had taken to blot you out of her remembrance yet could she not utterly do it but you return'd into it in so many and so different forms that she hardly knew you any more Scarce did you begin to appear unto her imagination as that brave Oroondates by whom she had been so perfectly loved and from whom she had received so many services but presently a new fancy represented you as that faithlesse and dis-obliging Prince of Scythia who had so cruelly forsaken her and so mortally injured
with an inward shivering for the approach of her he adored we were at a little distance from the place where the Chariots passed but near enough to to discern Statira and to observe that the King was with her This sight made my Master tremble every joynt and put him again in those disturbing conflicts that had kept him all night awake he changed colour many times and seeing him in such a case as I had never seen him in till then I apprehended the effects of some suddain and violent resolution After he had continued a good while in these trances he began to be a little settled when the Chariots made a stand right against the place where we were Meleager mounted upon a wonderfull handsom hors was talking with the King who sate on one side of the Chariot After some discourse which we could not hear Meleager alighted and the King leaping out of the Chariot went to that gallant horse to get upon him the horse was extream fiery and unruly and though two or three men held him the King had very much adoe to throw himself into the Saddle but assoon as he made him feel the spur he fell a plunging and running so furiously that the Kings strength and skill were both uselesse to govern him he no longer obey'd the hand nor heel and having made 100 bounds without giving the King leasure to cast himself off nor those that were round about to stop him he took a full carrier toward the River the bank whereof was something high and flung himself headlong into the Current But Sir you perhaps were present at this accident and without question you know part of those things that passed there Lysimachus presently making answer I was at that time said he in a condition which would not suffer me to be there and though I have heard part of it I beseech you interrupt not your discourse since I am hitherto ignorant what share your Prince may have in that businesse The horse continued Araxes having thus precipitated himself into that deep and rapid stream went to the bottom with his burthen and within a while came up again without it This mischance did infinitely surprise the whole company and with affrighted cries looking what was become of the King they saw him a little lower strugling with the waves which somtimes tossing him up and sometimes swallowing him again made most of those that were present dispair of his safety you know he could never swim and that he was wont often to complain of the carelessnesse of those that had had the government of him because they had not made him to be taught in his youth many leapt into the river to save him but it was so impetuous and the banks of it so steep that 't was impossible for them to help him and two or three being drowned took off the edg of all them that had yet any desire to hazard their own life for that of their Prince My Master and I were also run to the river side a little below the rest of the company and being likewise witnesses of the Kings manifest danger we were assaulted with very different thoughts I am ashamed Sir to confess my own unworthiness though the peril in which I saw this great Prince struck me with some trouble and compassion as well as the rest yet my Masters interest in the loss of a life which was incompatible with his gave me some touch of joy and made me hope this accident would put an end to his misfortunes but while I was rejoycing at his happiness I saw him plunge himself into the water with a marvellous suddenness dividing the waves with so much force that in a moment he swam unto the King who deprived of sence made no longer any resistance against the violence of the stream that carried him away My Prince catch'd him by the hair and swimming with one hand drew him to the shore with a wonderfull strength and with such difficulty that any other man but he would infallibly have perished in the attempt I had thrown my self into the river after him and knowing his generous intention seconded him as well as possibly I could Assoon as we were gotten to the bank my Master lifting up the King by the feet made him cast up a great deal of the water he had swallowed and recover his sences but with so little understanding that he could not discern any thing that was done in his presence Not being satisfied with this action he took him in his arms and forgetting the caution he formerly had of discovering himself he carried him through the company to the Queen his wife who more dead then alive at this accident did by her tears express her true affection to her husband My Prince laying him gently down before her Madam said he receive yet one service more from him of whom you no longer expected any and by the nature of this acknowledge what you owed to all those others I have done you The Princess was so troubled at the first accident that we could not judge by her countenance whither the amazement we observ'd in it proceeded from her knowledge of my Master or from her former fright neither indeed had we the leisure to learn for rising up instantly he went with all possible hast through the company that stood round about and running to our horses he vaulted readily upon his and inviting me by his example to do the like we clapt spurs to them and riding away full speed lost sight of the company in a moment Lysimachus stopt Araxes in this part of his story crying out Good Gods is it possible that our Age should have produced so vertuous a person And was it your Prince then to whom Alexander was indebted for his life Was he the man who vanish'd from every bodies eyes like lightning he who was thought to have been miraculously sent from heaven for his preservation and he to whom the King and the whole Court afterward offered sacrifices as to a God Did Oroondates to whom the Kings death was of so great consequence and so necessary and he who but a moment before had had such excusable designs against his life hazard his own so visibly for its conservation Certainly this generosity has no example and of all the souls that ever were created none but only his could be capable of it While Perdiccas Meleager Leonatus and many others who were present suffered him to perish without relief he receiv'd his life from him to whom it gave a death and whose own could not be saved but by his destruction Lysimachus holding his peace after these words Araxes took up the thread of his Discourse again and thus went on with it We gallop'd away so swiftly that in lesse then half an howre we were gotten above threescore Furlongs from Alexander and those that accompanied him Yet could we not ride without much trouble the coldness of the water in a season that was
and peaceably yours will make her bear that losse with patience and if she love you not the fear of displeasing her ought not to be more considerable to you then your own life yet to keep you clear from a crime vvhich you might believe you should commit in disobeying her Araxes vvill take that charge upon him and this hand shall free you from that enemy before your own be able to undertake it If I be so fortunate as to do you a service of that importance I shall prefer my condition before that of any man alive and if I perish in the difficulty of that enterprise I cannot fall more gloriously then in sacrificing my life to the repose of him to whom I have wholly devoted it My Master having turn'd his head toward me while I spoke cast his arm about my neck and embracing me a long time Dear Araxes said he I am so neerly obliged to the fidelity of thy affection that thy consideration alone is enough to make me desire to live still that I may requite part of the good services I receive from thee thy thoughts are more generous then they are just and thou doest as much agree with mine in proposing the death of Alexander as thou crossest them in offering thy self to be the actor of it Yes Alexander must dye and my reason no sooner return'd to me again but I decreed his ruine he shall die that Conqueror of the whole earth but he shall die only by the hand of Oroondates I will stay no longer then till I have recovered my strength and I will either oblige Statira's affection by giving her the means to satisfie what she owes me or punish her ingratitude by sacrificing him before her eyes whom she ought never to have lov'd unto my prejudice in this despair whereinto she has precipitated me all considerations are extinguished and I am now quit with both of them by so many actions in their favour and to their advantage I have paid Alexander all I was indebted to him by saving his life which his best friends suffered him to lose and since it is destructive of mine he ought not to think it strange if I assault it fairly I will neither use poison nor have recourse to any shameful ways to send him out of this world but I will divide the danger so that the greater share shall infallibly be mine own If I perish in the enterprise Statira you shall for ever be delivered from the importunities of this miserable man and you shall with tranquility enjoy that greatness for which you meanly have forsaken me He said many things of this nature and knowing his humour I persisted not to contest with him about the Proposition I had made During the rest of his sickness he persevered in this resolution and I know not whether it hastned his cure but in effect by the cares of Barsina and of those that had him in hand hee recovered his health sooner then was expected and left his bed two moneths after the day he sickned but he was yet so weak that of another whole one he was not able to ride on horseback This Relation is too long Sir but to come to a Conclusion of it I will tell you that assoon as he had gotten his strength again and that he found himself able to execute what he had in his mind he prepared for his departure But before he went from Susa the disquietness I felt for his misfortunes perswaded me to consult the pleasure of the Gods for him and for that purpose visiting the Temple of Orosmades where famous Oracles are given after I had made my prayer on his behalf the God commanded us to seek our repose upon the banks of Euphrates and without giving me any other answer sent me back with some little hope and satisfaction My Master also was satisfied with it and knowing that Babylon where Alexander then made his abode was situate upon that River he believ'd his intention was conformable to the will of the God that sent him whither he already had design'd to go You may be pleas'd to dispence with me if I omit to tell you what past at the parting of my Prince and the fair Barsina you may easily judge your self that the sense of her last obligations together with the remembrance of so many former ones put into his mouth the most acknowledging words and the most hearty protestations of friendship he could devise and that he went not from her without expressing his trouble by many tears A whole day was spent in their farewels and my Prince not having discovered his design unto Barsina contented himself with saying he would see her again ere long and that he would not make his Journey toward Scythia without taking leave of her once again That good Princess was a little comforted with that promise but shee could not see him take horse without being extream sorry for his departure Thus did we go from Susa and take our way towards Babylon you may well enough imagine the thoughts that entertained my Prince during that Voiage without my standing to describe them to you he persisted still in his last resolution and his impatiency hastned him on such manner that the speed of his horses scarcely could suffice sometimes when he was most sharply persecuted with his remembrances he could not forbear crying out Thou shalt die Alexander thou shalt die and thou no longer shalt possess her whom thou hindrest me from possessing his sadness was sometimes allayed by this thought and the fierceness that succeeded it was visibly to be found in his countenance Thus did we pass the time till we arrived within three days journey of this place and when my Prince was most animated and most firmly resolv'd upon the death of his enemy he heard that he had ended his life in the arms of his friends and that by the wickedness of some of his domesticks who were suspected to have poisoned him Statira was a Widow he freed of a rival and the Earth depriv'd of the greatest man it ever bore In short there it was we learnt that the great and victorious Alexander was dead at Babylon three days before You will have much ado to believe Sir what I now shall tell you I know you doubt not but that by all manner of reason my Prince should have rejoyced at this losse as the best fortune that could befall him for my part I confess I was infinitly over-joyed at it and was ready to have faln down upon my knees to thank the Gods for the mercy they had granted us but I staid my self by considering my Masters countenance who after having held his eyes long fix'd upon the ground shed tears suddenly and spoke words so far from what in all probability one should have looked for that I should have suspected any other body of hypocrisie and dissimulation but I was so well acquainted with his generosity that I questioned not the reality of
his grief but hearkned with admiration to the moan he made for the death of a man whom he was resolv'd to kill and which he ought to have desired as his own life He understood well enough what an advantage that losse was to him and I believe that at first hearing he was touch'd with some sense of joy but coming to reflect upon the admirable qualities of that deceased Prince his noble soul was so moved with that remembrance that it was impossible for him to refuse what he believed due from all vertuous persons to the memory of the greatest man that ever was This change of his affairs made him also change his resolution and after he had passed the night in the thoughts which that revolution caus'd we took horse assoon as it was day and prosecuted our Voiage This report vvas confirm'd unto us by all wee met and moreover we heard the dispute that rose among the Princes about the sharing of his dominions My Master being come within a days Journey of Babylon dispatch'd Toxaris thither with order to inform himself of what passed and to enquire news of Queen Statira and bring him back word to a place which he appointed him within 3 or four howres riding of that City Toxaris parted from us but he made us wait all the day following without hearing of him My Prince being in pain for his long stay sent Loncates after him with the like Commission Loncates return'd no more then he and my Prince impatient of their delay after having expected that vvhole day also went that way himself with an intention to send me likewise and to stay for my coming again near the place where we met with you and where after the news which in spite of the tears my Prince had shed had rais'd his hopes and had made me believe that we were for ever gotten under shelter from the persecutions of fortune we learnt from your mouth the fatal death of that great and vertuous Queen for whom alone he had preserv'd the remnant of his life Behold Sir pursued Araxes shutting up his relation behold the end of my Prince his adventures if the course of them have touch'd you with admiration the conclusion of them will vvithout doubt touch you vvith pity and you will judge infallibly that never vertue has been so perfectly tryed that perchance never man carried it to so high a point and that fortune never fixt her self so obstinately to persecute any man she never gratified him with any of her favours but instantly shee was ready to throw him headlong into a bottomlesse pit of miseries and when after an infinit number of storms she seem'd to have brought him in to the Haven there it vvas she made him finde his shipwrack and ruined him by the utmost crosse that he could and by the onely one vvhich he had not yet endured Araxes thus finished his long narration and Lysimachus vvhom the recital of so many vvonders had strucken vvith great admiration after he had remain'd for some time deeply buried in a study lifting up his eyes suddenly to Heaven O Oroondates cryed he the bravest of all men living thou miracle both of our age and of all ages past have I prolonged my miserable life to suffer with you as I do in the misfortunes of yours and must I carry to my grave the sorrow I feel for the miseries of so divine a person Was not the consideration of my own strong enough to bring me thither and vvere not my own disasters sensible enough vvithout the mixture of yours Certainly continued he turning toward Araxes if that fortune vvhich followed deceased Alexander vvith so much constancy and affection had but declared her self a little in favour of your gallant Prince he vvould not only have obscured his glory and cut off the course of his great victories but also have blotted out of the memory of men the lustre of all those that went before him and have submitted all the habitable world to his Dominion Alexander had no quality which your Prince possesses not with all manner of advantages and he appears so free from all his vices and from all those that can give the least blemish to his admirable vertue that only his misfortunes make us know him for a man whom so many miraculous actions might with justice make to passe for a God Lysimachus would have said more in the affection that transported him if it had not been already night that consideration made him return into the house that he might not longer lose his company whose transcendent vertue had so powerfully gained him and whose absence he no longer could endure with patience The end of the Sixth Boook and of the FIRST PART CASSANDRA TO CALISTA DOE you not believe Calista that 't is an inhuman thing to trouble the repose of the dead And are you not satisfied that by ceasing to live I cease to dispute with you for any advantage unlesse you violate the priviledge of Tombs and pul me from my grave where I have rested two thousand years to draw homages and acknowledgements from me which hitherto I never owed to any body If they justly are condemned who by words of conjuration call up spirits from the infernal shades what doe you expect for the violence you use to me For to say truth fair Calista 't is you alone that bring me back into the world whence I departed so many ages since the Empire you have ver him who makes me live again recalls mee now out of the dark where my abode has been obscure indeed but full of great tranquillity My former life was subject to so many misfortunes that the remembrance I still retain of them makes me fear this second for which you cause me to be born again but it had likewise so many notable advantages as I cannot with justice complain of him that revives mee though he renew my griefs to publish my glory to the whole world The troubles of the Age I liv'd in the disasters of my family and the brightnesse of that flaming light which in a few years kindled almost all the Universe did in part abate the lustre of it but this neccessity which your commands have imposed upon the Author of my new life makes me come forth from under an heap of arms and of dead bodies from under the ruines of our house and from under the flames that consumed my Countrey to dresse my self up again in my former ornaments and to breath a more gentle air and a more quiet life under your protection I ask you pardon therefore O Calista if my first words expressed some resentment against you you ought to receive them as coming from a person not yet well awake and who having much ado to shake off a sleep of twenty Ages had not yet time enough to know who you were Now that by the beams of your fair eyes this first Cloud of my still dazeling sight is dissipated and that you appear
them not of a long time and considering how much Parisatis was above him though a Captive he looked upon her always with the same respect she could have required from him in the Court of the King her Father He visited her very often and the power he had with the King giving him a thousand means to oblige those illustrious Captives made his Company the more considerable to them We were at the Siege of Marathon when the King receiv'd Darius his first â—â—tters by the hands of Mythranes you know what they contain'd and the Answer which Alexander return'd but I will tell you that he was exasperated not onely by the tearms of that Letter which truly were too imperions for one making a request but also by the superscription which Darius wrote to him as to a private person without giving him the Title of King Alexander was so incensed at it that he refused all he desired of him and so the Princesses lost the hope of liberty for that time I would not carry them that unwelcome news but I was there when Mythranes having had permission to wait upon them before his departure came to tell it them himself They receiv'd it with much trouble but also with much moderation and the Queens keeping themselves within the bounds of their ordinary constancy permitted the young Princesses to deplore their Captivity with some tears I had much adoe to forbear accompanying theirs with mine and I gave them so many testimonies of the share I took in their sorrow that they thereby received no slight marks of my affection Drawing near to the Princesse Parisatis who sate upon a Chair with an handkerchief wiping away the tears which fell from her fair eyes Madam said I the Gods are my witnesses that the honour of your sight is more precious to me then the Empire of Asia and that I cannot desire your liberty without making wishes against mine own happinesse but those same Gods will also testifie for me that I would not only forsake mine own interests to restore it you but that I would give my life with joy if the losse of it could be any way advantageous to you The Princess thinking her self obliged by this Discourse took the handkerchief from her eyes and turning them toward me with an air which as sad as it was expressed her acknowledgement replyed Lysimachus these are the effects of your ordinary generosity and your compassion of our deplorable destiny puts thoughts into your mind which are indeed worthy of you I know not what satisfaction you can draw from the sight of miserable afflicted creatures but I may truly assure you both for the Queens and for our selves that in our misfortunes your consolation is dear to us and your person most considerable I had a fair occasion enough to discover my self absolutely and matter good enough to speak but fear forbad me and respect tyed up my tongue only allowing me to make this reply I reap so great a glory from the honour you doe me in suffering me and separating me from the number of your enemies that if this felicity continue I will never envy the fortune of the most happy persons upon Earth Having said thus I drew near the Princess Statira endeavouring by the like discourse to sweeten the sharpnesse of her grief true it is that sorrow appear'd more lively in her and now making reflexion upon it I believe that besides the misfortunes of her Captivity the thought of your absence or of your losse was the greatest part of her affliction she never gave any respite to the deepnesse of her melancholy and how great care soever was taken to divert her she never was sensible of any of those things which perchance gave some abatement to the grief of the Queens and of the Princesse her sister After the taking of Marathon we went into Phaenicia and during all the Voiage I had the happinesse to march near their Chariots it is true that Hephestion of whose diligence I began to be suspicious and many others with him often kept me company but I had at least my sight free and the presence of my rival and of my companions did not deprive me of a liberty which I should not have taken in the greatest solitude The fourth or fifth days march while I was delighted in their conversation and that by the absence of Hephestion I possess'd my Princess a little more peaceably Cleander the most brutish of all men living and he of whom Alexander since made use for the death of great Parmenio having that day charge of the prisoners and of the Baggage came up to the Queens Chariots and with insolent words expressing his anger to see them go so softly commanded the Charioteers to drive on faster This dis-respect touch'd the Princesses very nearly and reading their displeasure in their countenances I could not forbear blaming Cleanders carriage and showing him that such persons were to be us'd with greater reverence but that unmannerly fellow after having replyed that I was too young to give him instructions redoubled his command and not thinking himself readily enough obeyed struck the Queens Charioteer in their presence and one of their Eunuchs who would have said something in his justification This action making the Princesses see they were really Captives afflicted them so sensibly that they could not dissemble their discontent and enflamed me with such anger that I lost all consideration and fear of displeasing the King and crying out to Cleander to defend himself I took a Javelin out of a soldiers hand and spurring up my horse directly to him assaulted him so suddenly that all he could doe was to lift up his arm and receive me with the point of his it glanced upon my arms without doing me any hurt and the fury wherewith I precipitated my self against him hindring me from finding the defects of his Curasse made my blow misse of its effect and my dart fly into five or six pieces The tears which that affront had drawn from the eyes of my fair Princess had so animated me that without being moved by the cryes of those who endeavoured to part us I drew my sword and coming up to him again more enraged then before after having receiv'd a second stroak with his Javelin which gave me a light wound in the side I ran my sword under his right arm which finding free entrance to the very hilt appear'd almost all of it behind his shoulder the wound was not mortal but yet so great that Cleander fell among his horses feet with very little strength and knowledge I made a stop seeing him fall but I could not forbear to say Get thee gone into the other world thou insolent fellow to injure Queens and Princesses and to teach those who are like thee that punishment is inseparable from crimes of this nature By his fall my sword remained still in my hand and putting it up into the scabbard I drew near to the Chariots and
also the displeasure to see me take revenge on him the same way and deprive him by my presence of the means to entertain her in particular We took our leaves that evening and the next morning by break of day we got on horseback and travelled toward the Temple of Jupiter Hammon I will not trouble you with the particulars of our Voiage you have without question heard speak of it and the relation of it is but little important to the knowledg of my life My adventures were like to those of the rest of the company but my thoughts were without doubt more noble and the absence of Parisatis forced those complaints from me which the toil and the incommodities of that journey drew from indifferent persons This Voiage was the sharpest and the most painful of any that ever was undertaken The insupportable heat that scorched us in those dry desert fields we were to passe the want of all manner of water and the deepnesse of the sands which heretofore have buried whole Armies were like to have been the destruction of our party and without the particular assistance of Heaven we could never have escaped We broke through all these difficulties and arrived at that famous Temple whose Oracles are superstitiously adored through the whole world and there it was that whether by chance or by corrupting the Priests or by the will of the Gods the King found the cause of that insupportable vanity which hath since made him commit so many faults and exact adorations from his friends which have cost many noble persons their lives After he had obtained the answer he desired he returned presently and passing neer the Isle of Pharos gave order for the building of the stately City of Alexandria and having drawn the plot of it himself and set workmen about it he went back to Memphis not doubting but that Darius fortified by his absence was again recruited and already in a condition with his Forces to trouble his new Conquests He turn'd aside by the way to punish the revolt of the Syrians who had cut the throats of their Garrisons and burnt their Governour Andromachus alive and having given such orders as were necessary for those unsettled Provinces we at last drew neer that town again where the King Hephestion and my self had left our hearts with the Captive Princesses Hephestion and I met every day but jealousie had extinguish'd all our ancient friendship and had made us so cold that we hardly spoke to one another all the Voiage We found all things at Memphis in the condition we had left them and observ'd no change either in our affairs or in the hearts of our Princesses Parisatis us'd me at my arrival in the same fashion as shee had done at my departure and made mee know by that perseverance in her ordinary moderation that her minde was none of those light ones which are capable of all impressions and that my good or evil fortune ought neither to make me hope nor fear a change Wee made no stay at all in that City and the King drawing his Forces out of their Quarters march'd straight toward Darius with so much diligence that in eleven days wee encamped upon the banks of Euphrates and having pass'd over it upon Bridges of Boat which the King caused to be made we cross'd the Plain that lies between it and the River Tygris which we waded through and having reach'd the bank with an incredible difficulty we found all the Country burnt and yet smoaking for Mazeus had set it on fire by Darius his commandâ— The King lay there two nights to rest the Princesses who were wearied with that hasty Voiage and in spite of the Eclipse of the Moon which put some terrour in his men and was taken by the more fearful for a very ill augury the third he marched with the same assurance toward the enemy Here I cannot omit to recall unto your memory an accident which overwhelmed us all with sadness and to make you judge of my grief by the affliction of my Princesse I was with the King when one of the Queens Eunuchs came to give him notice that Darius his wife was dying and that she was already in a sound in the arms of the Princesses her daughters Certainly how great soever my surprise was at the heaâ—ring of this news the King shewed little lesse and laying aside all businesses wherein hee was employed he ran unto the Queens Tents with a sorrow which appeared most visibly in him But O Gods how great was our affliction when at our coming into the Chamber we saw her expire and our fair Princesses faint away at so sad a spectacle This sudden death of hers surprised us the more by how much it appeared extraordinary and though a few days before I had heard her complain of some indisposition caused by the troublesomenesse of that Journey yet had we never seen her in a condition that could give us any apprehension of a death which did almost prevent her sicknesse All the most mournful expressions that ever grief sent forth shewed themselves visibly in our Princesses and the greatest sensibility it ever produced was imprinted really in my heart The King comforted the Queen Mother with the sweetest and most obliging words compassion could furnish him withal Hephestion held Parisatis's head who languished with little show of life I did the same to Statira who deeply buried in her sorrow seem'd to prepare her self to accompany to her grave a mother she had most perfectly honoured and mingled my teares with hers endeavouring to comfort her as much as my own affliction would permit I did not hear what Hephestion said to Parisatis and though I envied him the happinesse of having prevented me grief swallowed up my jealousie for a few moments and made me without trouble behold the services he did her It is not necessary I should enlarge my self farther upon this matter I see this discourse draws tears from your eyes and you have already sufficiently learn'd all I can tell you of this sad adventure I will only say that Alexander after having wept a long while and paid unto Sysigambis all she could have expected from Darius himself rendred also unto the deceased Queen all the honour that could have been required from that dear husband he caus'd her to be interred with a pomp worthy of her quality and of the glory of her Ancestors Some days were spent in that solemnity and immediatly after the King prepared himself to give battel having sent back Darius his Ambassadors with the answer you have heard I will not entertain you with the particularities of the successe of that bloody battel wherein you did so many miraculous actions and wherein your despair made you seek a death among the arms of the Macedonians which they refused you and which you had so dearly sold them You shall only learn that after that cruel day the incommodity of two wounds I had received deprived me for
fault I committed in usurping a favour which had not been granted me I at last wrote to her in these tearms LYSIMACHUS to the Princesse PARISATIS Madam IF the Queens permission had been necessary for the liberty I take I should have followed your Orders with a most perfect obedience but not addressing these lines without the mediation of one that is dear to you either her consideration will make you pardon my fault or her discretion will keep it from your knowledge If these words have the happinesses to employ your eyes for some few moments they will recall into your memory the image of the most faithfull of all men living and the remembrance of those glorious hopes to which you have given me leave to raise my thoughts Were I but dear enough to the Gods to hope you had still conserv'd the Idea of him who adores you with all the respect we owe to them I should suffer the rigors of this cruell absence with a courage which begins to forsake me with my hope and should only fight to obtain glory whereas now I do it only to seek a death to which my miseries make me run as to the only remedy not forbidden me But if my unhappinesse be as great as my teâ—merity and if the Idea of this unfortunate man be either troublesom to you or be slipt out of your remembrance he will without sorrow lay down a life which he cannot keep without hope and will die without any other grief then that of depriving you thereby of the most zealous and most faithfull of all those that ever adored you This was what I wrote unto my Princesse at that time and having given it to Ptolomeus he showed me a note he had written in my favour to Apamia which hee folded up in his Letter with mine I think the words of it were these or to this purpose PTOLOMEVS To the Princesse APAMIA IF Lysimachus his safety were not much dearer to me then my own I should not demand proofs of my Princesses friendship of the nature of those I now desire I put my life with that of this dear friend into her hands and am encouraged by her goodnesse to hope she will have some care of their conservation shee hath all power with the Princesse Parisatis and if I have any with her I conjure her to get her to receive Lysimachus his Letter and to doe something more if it be possible for his satisfaction I shall take this favour as the greatest I can receive from her next to that of her friendship When we had sealed our Letters Ptolomeus sent away Lycastes and I caused him to be accompanied by my Squire Cleantes in whom I had most confidence of any man about me and whose fidelity I had made trial of in many encounters We gave them charge to make all the haste they could with order to come back to us into the Countrey of the Sacans whether the King was preparing to enter We went from Maracanda some few days after and cross'd the Xenippa where we defeated certain Troops that were drawn together to hinder our passage and from thence we came into the Province of Naura That Countrey by the mediation of Prince Oxyartes put it self into the Kings hands and from thence he marched against the Sacans but Prince Roxana's Father who was Governour of that Province came to meet him and receiving him as his King made very magnificent entries for us through all the Towns of his Government and without drawing sword submitted to him all the Countrey under his obedience You have heard how courteously the King used him and moreover how it was there he fell in love with that crafty woman and accomplished that mariage which was disapproved by all his friends and which hath caus'd us so many misfortunes and so much sorrow The whole Court was taken up with the pomp of that fatal marriage and Roxana was in the highest pitch her ambition had ever made her aim at when Ptolomeus his Squire and mine return'd from Susa Ptolomeus by his received a Letter from Apamia but mine came back empty handed I began to be afflicted at my misfortune and to express my grief for a thing which neverthelesse I was prepared for before vvhen Ptolomeus found a little note in his Letter which we believe contained an answer of the Commission he had given unto Apamia He read her Letter the words vvhereof I do not remember besides the recital of them is no vvay important to that of my life and after that vve open'd the note in which we found these words The Princesse APAMIA to Prince PTOLOMEUS IUdge by the successe with what care I have laboured for your friends interests Parisatis's minde is not easily to be managed but I have so persecuted her that without doubt I have drawn more from her then you expected doe not accuse mee if you bee not both satisfied and believe I will lose no occasions of doing your friend all the good offices he can hope for from a person who hath a most particular esteem of his merit A little below these lines we saw others vvhich vve instantly knew to be my Princesses hand and casting my eyes upon them vvith incredible transports Ptolomeus and I read these vvords Apamia is the most troublesome creature in the world shee is not contented with having made mee receive Lysimachus his Letter but will also make me assure him my selfe that I have not forgotten him and I am willing to give her that testimony of my friendship to her and Lysimachus that of my esteem of him I read these words over a thousand times and kiss'd the Letters as often vvith such excess of joy as J am not able to represent See vvhat my condition vvas and in vvhat manner J acknowledged the merit of that Princess and the price of her favours since after a service of many years J was so overjoyed to receive vvords vvhich scarce surpassed the limits of ordinary civility and yet it is most true that perhaps never Lover vvelcomed the favours he had most ardently desired vvith greater raptures of contentment then J showed at these sleight markes of my Princesses remembrance J vvould not stop at so happy beginnings but making use of the same conveniency and of Apamia's goodness vvho assisted me vvith so much freedome J vvrote to her many times during the rest of our Voiage and vvas us'd by her vvith that equality vvhich J have ever found in her moderate humour Within a few days after Craterus and J were sent vvith a flying Camp against Haustenes and Catenes the most insolent Barbarians that ever vvere and vvho yet refused the yoak to vvhich all Asia had submitted We defeated them in a pitch'd battel and Catenes being kill'd by my hand and Haustenes taken prisoner the King found nothing more to do in that Countrey but prepared himself for his march into the Indies It vvas at that time that the misfortune of the Philosopher Callisthenes
being resolved for death J had allready drawne my sword to make my passage through the guards or find the end of my life in the points of their weapons when the King who came often to visite Hephestion entred into the Court attended by many of his followers and his ordinary guards He showed a great asonishment at that encounter and commanding me to be taken alive J was presently environed on all sides The Gods know and so doe some of those who were present at that action that J made a resistance which was not ordinary and that if the Kings often redoubled command had not been more powerfull then their resentment J urg'd them sufficiently to give me my death J wounded Leonatus in two places J ran Egilochees through the right arme and made some of the guard fall at my feet who never rose again but while I by this defence endeavored to exasperate them against me J felt my selfe seized upon behind throwne downe and disarmed The King commanded J should be tyed like some furious beast and being commonly not Master of his passions he suffer'd himselfe easily to be so farre transported by his anger as to make it appear by most severe and fatall resolutions at that time he could not containe himselfe so well but that looking upon me with eyes sparkling with indignation he sayd thus to me You have not only mock'd and slighted my commands Lysimachus but you have also offended me in the better part of my selfe The dignity of all Kings is concern'd in my affront and never did subject abuse it so contumaciously and so unworthyly but I will revenge their quarrell with mine owne and will find out punishments which shall be able to tame this rage I did not vouchsafe to answer those high threats but looking upon him with an eye which testifyed how little I was affrayd of them I exasperated him more by that disdainfull silence then I should have done by some sharpe reply He turned toward those that were about him and said Lysimachus is a Lyon but wee will use him like a Lyon and shall perchance be able to quell this fiercenesse After these words he commanded I should be carryed to the dungeon and kept like a Tyger or some other more furious creature I was shut up in a very close prison and guarded with such care as was necessary for the custody of a man of my humour and condition All my friends fell downe at the Kings feet and represented to him whatsoever their freindship could make them say on the behalf of a Prince of his blood and of a man that had done him faithfull service but he was still inexorable and not only refused them my life but knowing how much J despised it he resolv'd to make me feele my death by the length of those torments and by the shame of those punishments to which he destined me Jn the meane time J was strictly imprisoned and judging that by my captivity J had lost the hope of that revenge J had proposed unto my selfe J desired nothing more then to end all my paines and avoid the reproach of seing Hephestion triumph over me during my life and of enjoying Parisatis before my death To that end seing my selfe deprived of all weapons which might serve my despaire and not having so much as my hands free J resolv'd to starve my selfe with hunger and by a death J could so easily compasse avoid the infamy of that which the King intended me Thereupon J refused the meate they brought me and continued neare two whole days without receiving any nourishment at all None of my friends had the liberty to see me and scarcely was I suffred to have a man to serve me But Ptolomeus having learn'd my obstinate resolution from my keepers was like to have dyed with griefe and taking recourse to all inventions that could prolong my life he at the last bethought himselfe with Apamia of an expedient to preserve me a while longer and wrought so well by her meanes with the Princess Parisatis that I received this note from her in my prison when I had lost all hope of hearing from her any more The Princesse PARISATIS to Prince LYSIMACHUS I Should never have believed that Lysimachus could hate a life which hath been and is yet very dear to me I conjure him by all the affection he hath born me to conserve it and if I have still any power with him I forbid him to end it but by the will of the Gods and of Parisatis O Gods cryed I as I made an end of reading these words inhumane Parisatis for what torments doe you reserve me yet Are you not satisfied with those I have already suffered and doe now suffer for you being deprived of all hope of recompence but you must destine me to endure pains which yet I have not felt you desire without question to have me see you in Hephestions arms nor are you content to have me die unlesse you assemble at my death all that can make it odious to me Well then Parisatis I obey you and the Gods are my witnesses J would obey you as blindly if you should impose upon me yet greater difficulties This was the invention Ptolomeus used to make me eat and it wrought the effect he had imagined I took the meat they brought me and though my life was as hateful to me as before Parisatis's command and the knowledge she gave me that it was not indifferent to her hindred me from doing any thing to put an end to it In the mean time my friends stirr'd not from the Kings feet nor left any thing unattempted to save me but Ptolomeus was so urgent in the business that the King fearing lest in the extremity he might cause some revolt and knowing his credit among the Macedonians made his person to be seised upon and put into a place of security My other friends were extreamly griev'd at this surcharge of affliction though they vvere in no fear of Ptolomeus his life which they knew was very considerable to the King but they neverthelesse were not at all the colder and not content with their own endeavous they made the Queen and Princesses to intercede for me Parisatis who saw me reduced to that miserable condition onely for her sake imployed her sisters credit with the King but all their intercessions were vain and he alledging his Oath and the importance of the example would never suffer himself to bee perswaded He thought fit to observe some form of justice in my death and to that purpose sent Perdiccas and Nearchus to prison to me with Judges to examine end arraign me They came into the place where I was kept and having made me acquainted with their Commission and the command they had received from the King they would have examined me I did not deign to answer the Judges and onely turning toward Perdiccas with an assurednesse which sufficiently discovered the little fear I had of their proceedings
to that house of his where J had been dress'd and had lien concealed for some time after my combat with Hephestion the situation of it was very pleasing and suitable to my solitary thinking humour it stood in an exceeding high Wood near the River Hydaspes and was beautified with Fountains Grots Allies Arbours and all manner of such like ornaments I spent some time there in an entertainment conformable to my present condition sometimes I sought out the gloomiest shades in all the wood and lying down at the foot of some Oak J recall'd into my memory the past accidents of my life and making a mixtture of sad and delightful thoughts I was so ingenious in tormenting my self that I drown'd all the pleasures and contentments I had felt in the remembrance of my last misfortunes Other while sitting by the River side and fixing my eyes upon the waters which rolled impetuously away I compared the lasting of the delights I had enjoyed unto the swiftness of their stream and Parisatis's coldness to the coldness of that element That Princess had at least this cause to praise the fidelity of my love that in all my deepest melancholy I never accused her in the smallest thought nor spent one moment in the desire of shaking off the yoak she had imposed upon me for the remainder of my days I never complained of her J never made any wishes against the pleasures she enjoyed with Hephestion nor did I ever repine at the years I had spent in her service with so little fruit I kept my self always without wavering in my first inclinations and never repented that I had given my life to her who had given her self to another The place of my retreat was known to very few and not being willing to be troubled in my solitude by the visits of my friends I hardly discovered it so much as to Ptolomeus Yet could I not hinder many others from learning where I was nor my self from being often visited by those that were most affectionate to mee They attempted in vain to bring me back to Court and instead of working that desire in me by their discourse they made me think of seeking a farther retreat that might be unknown to all men living I was not only visited by my friends but in my solitariness I received also a Letter from Parisatis which she wrote to me as I have learned since by Hephestions consent Although I seem'd unsensible of any happiness yet was I sufficiently touch'd with one of that nature and the inward motions wherwith I read her Letter were very far from that indifferency I showed to all things else The words of it I think were these or to this purpose PARISATIS to LYSIMACHUS THough I have not at all contributed to Lysimachus his exile the whole Court asks me what is become of him and they accuse none but me for his voluntary banishment I envy not the delights you taste in your solitarinesse but I pity your friends whom this retirement hath deprived of your company and particularly Parisatis to whom it shall ever be very dear If this Letter had commanded me expresly to return to Court there is no question but how great an aversion soever I had to it the perfect obedience wherewith I had resign'd my self wholly to the will of Parisatis would have made me forsake my desart but seeing it left me still the liberty of that abode I stirr'd not from thence but spent some moneths in my melancholy thoughts and in reading the works of good Callisthenes which he had bequeathed to me alone as to the dearest of all his scholars and he who had the most perfectly honoured him during his life In that Philosophy J sought for some consolation in my misfortunes and doubtlesse J found a great deale more in it then in the conversation of my freinds the solidity of his reasonings affording me wherewithall to â—ull my afflictions asleep for some few moments In the mean time this languishing decayed me insensibly and had wonderfully altered me when my fortune receiv'd a strange revolution I heard by Ptolomeus that Hephestion was sicke and that Parisatis tended him in his sicknesse with a care that visibly testified her affection to him I desired Ptolomeus to visite her from me and assure her that if his sicknesse lasted or grew more dangerous I would forsake my retirement to wait upon him and repay part of his civilities J beleiv'd nevertheless he would not be much pleas'd to see one that had so great interest in his death and so great cause to desire it according to all the appearances in the world This consideration together with my hatred of the Court hindred me from leaving my solitude But within a few dayes after Ptolomeus came to me again and assoon as ever he saw me Cheare up Lysimachus said he take courage and change your manner of life in changing your condition Hephestion is dead and has left Parisatis for Lysimachus I am not able to tell you the astonishment these words caused in me nor to expresse the motions that agitated my soul J was struck mute and unmoveable and Ptolomeus had talked to me a good while before I thought of welcoming or answering him When J was come a little to my self Oh Ptolomeus cried J what doe you tell me is Hephestion dead He is replied Ptolomeus and that above two howers before I came from Susa At this confirmation I remained more surprised then before and in the greatest confusion of thoughts my mind was ever intangled in I protest truly to you J was sorry for Hephestion as well by reason of the fresh obligations J had to him as of the esteem which the merit of his person had wrought in me as well as others and because J knew Parisatis would be most sensibly afflicted Yet will J not dissemble to you that in this encounter J could not forget my interests and that J had not generosity enough to make my sorrow for his loss drown the hopes it revived in me J lov'd my selfe so wel as to â—ind comfort for his death in the advantages it brought me and J was modest enough to dissemble the satisfaction which in probability it was like to give me But not being able to conceale any thing from Ptolomeus J could not long disguise my thoughts to him nor the divers alterations that news produced in me His thoughts were conformable to mine but being really my freind and tying himselfe inseparably to my fortune the remembrance of my interests was stronger then the griefe J might else have had for so great a Man and made him passe over a death which alone seem'd to establish his freinds life When we had discoursed long upon that accident and that he had told me the particulars of his death which were no other then what are ordinary in naturall sicknesse he perswaded me to returne to Susa as well to pay my respects to that Jllustrious widdow as to wait upon the King
failed him and the use of speech forsook him with his life Behold in short what the end was of the greatest man the Earth ever bore and of whom posterity to the last ages of the world shall never speak but with astonishment He remain'd cold and unmoveable amongst us and his death dejected us on such manner that we all seem'd to have breathed out our souls with him Never was so great a consternation seen in so generous persons and the courage of so many gallant Princes who in a thousand dangers had made themselves a thousand ways remarkable seem'd to have taken flight with the spirit of Alexander I will not describe the height of our affliction particularly it shall suffice me to tell you that it was suitable to our loss and that the Macedonians bewailed him as their God and the Persians as their lawful King and the greatest that ever had reigned over them And in brief you need only make a little reflexion upon the life of that potent man to comprehend the effects his death produced in all those that knew him For mine own part I will assure you with truth that his loss imprinted such a grief into my heart that I was hardly to be comforted and though I had received such usage from him as was enough to alienate the affections of the most zealous the last testimonies he gave me of his love had wiped them all so clean out of my memory that there remained not the least sign of them and the remembrance of that great Prince his admirable vertues settled so deep a sorrow in my breast as for some time I suspended the thoughts of my love to give them wholly to the consideration of our general loss The next day we met altogether in the Palace with a generall consent and admitting none into our Assembly but the Princes and the most considerable Commanders we began to deliberate what honours should be rendred to the body of our King and who should be his Successor Perdiccas having placed the Kings Chair in the midst of the Hall upon which was his Crown and his Arms laid the Ring there also which the King had given him at his death and by the sight of that object drew new cries and tears from the whole company which of a long time afforded him not that silence he demanded They all were willing he should speak first and when he saw the Assembly settled he began his Discourse with the praises of the deceased King and with the revenge that was fit to be taken for his death upon those Paâ—â—â—cides if they could be discovered who by poison had shortned so brave and so glorious a life He went on with recommending those honours that were to be rendred to his body and to his memory and ended with the care that was to be taken in the election of a Successor worthy to possesse the place of our late King To that end he mentioned Roxana's being with childe and concluded it fit to wait till shee were delivered that her issue might enjoy the Crown of its Father Perdiccas his motion was seconded by some of the company but a great many others opposed it and particularly Nearchus Ptolomeus and my self who knowing Roxana's spirit and her enraged jealousie against Queen Statira and the Princess her sister desired to prevent the storm which threatned them in the authority of that ambitious Princess Ptolomeus represented unto the Assembly that the condition of our affairs would not permit the staying for an uncertain birth nor the Government of a child who perchance would prove of a different sex from that vvhich ought to have the command over us and then proposed to elect a Prince by plurality of voices among those of the blood-Royal and to yeild the Empire to him with an Universal consent I believe that his friendship to me perswaded him partly to give that counsel to the Assembly knowing that by nearness of alliance I was like to have good pretensions to it Ptolomeus his authority procured him instantly the attention of the whole Company and presently after Ariston nominated Perdiccas Alexanders Successor Some of his adherents approved that Election but we opposed it stiffely and Meleager one of the boldest and valiantest Commanders in all the Army but of a factious turbulent nature vvas not satisfied vvith contradicting those that voted in favour of Perdiccas but after having alledged the injury it vvas to other Princes who vvere more considerable he crowded through the press and putting himself among the Soldiery began to stir up a sedition All things were going into a strange disorder vvhen I bethought my self of the wrong that was done to Alexanders lawful heir and though my own interests were sufficient to have stopt my mouth if I had been of an humour to prefer them before justice I could not suffer them to go on farther vvithout proposing vvhat my conscience and the consideration of the deceased King enjoyned me and addressing my self to the vvhole Assembly What need is there said I to waver longer in the Election of a Prince whom the Gods have left us and who is amongst us Is not Aridaeus Alexanders brother and the son of King Philip Why will you deprive him of the Crown which belongs to him by right and by succession And why will you frustrate him of what Reason and Nature have given him These words appeased all the tumult and the Princes having digested them a little though their interests made them of a different opinion believ'd they could not vvith justice oppose so lawful an Election Aridaeus thereupon vvas call'd and Meleager to spite Perdiccas having guarded him into the Hall with an armed Band he vvas saluted King and named Philip by the Soldiers Though this Election appeared most just the Princes vvere not very well pleas'd vvith it and knowing there were such defects both in the body and mind of that Prince as rendred him in a manner incapable of so important a charge they destined it to the sonne that should be born of Roxana vvhen he should be of a fit age and condition to execute it and named Perdiccas and Leonatus his Guardians submitting themselves unto the new King until such time as Alexanders son should be able to hold his place This was that which gave Roxana that authority which hath proved so fatal to us and the consideration of the King her husband hindred me from opposing those advantages which were aimed at for her son This order appeas'd the uproar for a day or two but presently after it broke forth again more strongly then ever Many Macedonians lost their lives in it and Meleager was assassinated in a Temple by the command of Perdiccas who had usurped the greatest authority These disorders obliged us to assemble our selves again and not being able to agree about the Election of a Prince we resolved to share the Territories Alexandeâ— had conquered towards which we had contributed the best part of our
little that Warlike dame to whose cheekes shame and anger had given a collour which encreas'd her beauty flew at him more fiercely then before and thrusting her sword at his very eyes with a threatning cry Fly not said she neither be ashamed to have usd thy armes against a Woman who hath often died the feilds in the bloud of such as thou art I am not so weake that thou should'st need to despise me and there is more honour to be wonne with me then thou thinkest for Shee accompanied these words with a storme of blowes and enraged by the contempt she thought Lysimachus showed of her ran upon him with so much fury and so little caution that he was often affraid shee would give herselfe a death with those armes which he no more would turne against her he retired still warding her blowes which the wound in her arm allready made but faint ones and when he saw he was out of their reach and that the faire Amazone was forced to give him some respite to the end shee might take breath Madam said he I will rather turn the point of my sword against my own heart then make use of it against you I know too well what is due to your sexe and to your beauty and I should be glad if I could with a good part of my own bloud repaire the losse of that which my sacrilegious hands have drawn from your fair body if this satisfaction content you not pierce this brest which J offer to you I will take off my cuirasse that you may the more easily doe it and in the sad estate of my fortune which makes me wish for death I cannot hope for a more glorious one then that I shall receive from so faire a hand How excessive soever the anger of this valiant Lady was she could not but abate part of it at so great reparations and so profound submissions and beholding Lysimachus with eyes wherein even through the rage that enflamed them one might observe some gentlenesse I cannot said shee ghesse at the cause why thou slightest me thus thou hast not yet had so much advantage over me as to find reason to contemn me I will never pretend to any greater replied Lysimachus then the occasions of serving you and you are armed so many several wayes to conquer men that the victory will always be yours infallibly I desire none answered the Amazone but what I can winne with the point of my sword and though I be a woman my profession is to fight with men nor have I gained so little reputation in that excercise that you should need to be ashamed of our Combat it shall end here since you will have it so and that it would be ignoble in me to persist in it but I could wish also you would quit the interests of a traytour who never deserved the affection of so vertuous a person as your selfe These words were enough to have renewed the quarrell if a man had spoken them but Lysimachus who had not been able to endure them from one of another sexe and who would have taken up the defence of his friend against the most valiant living thought fit to combat the resentments of a woman with mildnesse and was content with answering thus as he put up his sword I know not what injury you can have receiv'd from him who is really the most generous and the most respective to Ladies of all the men in the world I have ever seen him most averse from such crimes as those you taxe him with and in the recitall which has been made me of his life I did not heare that ever he had any businesse with you but if he be so unfortunate as to have offended you I will engage my selfe that he shall give you all the satisfaction you can desire of him For that I passe my word to you and in the mean time Madam be pleased to accept the offer I make you of a place hard by where your wounds may be dressed I have servants there who are skillfull in that art you may be there more privately and also more conveniently then at Babylon and in that place it is you shall receive all manner of duty and submission from Orontes At these words the Ladies countenance was dyed with a colour which Lysimachus knew not vvhether he should attribute to joy or anger And after having wavered a long time in the consideration of what answer she should return I believe Orontes so far from hence said she and so different from what you report of him that I know not what satisfaction you can make him give me but yet your offers are so civil that I cannot refuse them and since you desire to have it so I will go along with you to get remedy for the wound I have received from you Saying thus she put forth her hand to him and calling her Squires she leaned upon the arm of Hyppolita the person with whom she had talked and who also was a woman and went with Lysimachus too toward the hous it was so near that they got not on Horseback and Lysimachus sending his servant who had been spectator of the Combat before to prepare a Chamber led her thither softly by the Garden Gate They found Polemon there who was come out to meet them and to use the civilities he was obliged to in his house his wife caried the fair Amazone to her Chamber and offered her all the service she could expect from those of her own sex While the women undress'd her to put her to bed Lysimachus withdrawing out of respect went into Oroondates his Chamber That was the first day he had left his bed since his wound and Lysimachus giving him an exact accompt of all that had hapned surprised him with a marvellous astonishment After having lent him a very quiet attention I finde said he two things in this adventure very remarkable Lysimachus his friendship and this womans hatred I believe I have deserved neither of them and as I never obliged Lysimachus so much as to afford me a bare good will so likewise I doe not think that ever I by any of my actions gave this woman cause to hate me these are the effects of chance which blindly sends us both good and evil fortune but since after having so generously defended my quarrel you have also engaged your self for me I will free you from that obligation and if this fair Lady be capable of receiving a reparation for those wrongs she pretends J have done her I will give it her so fully that you shall have nothing more to desire for the dis-engaging of your word I will go into her Chamber with you assoon as she is in a condition to receive our visit and I will submit my self to suffer whatsoever her resentment shall enjoyn me While they discoursed on this manner Lysimachus his Chirurgian waited upon the Amazone Lady and having search'd her wound he found there was
and by whom you have been injured but how faithlesse soever he be it is true that that Orontes whom you complain of is son to the Princesse Thomiria the King my Fathers sister I know not whether he be still alive but notwithstanding his nearness to me I shall be one of the first to condemn him and declare my self against him if he be capable of infidelity toward you The fair Amazone answered these words with a great deal of civility and asking him pardon for the errors she had committed before his quality was known to her she learn'd from him also the name of Lysimachus That knowledge comforted her in the disadvantage she had in the combat with him and by most obliging words testifying her esteem of his valour If you be that Lysimachus said he who was always so near to Alexander the Great is it possible that the face of Thalestris should be unknown to you and that you should not remember you had seen me upon the Frontiers of Hyrcania in an Equipage remarkable enough to have preserv'd some memory of it Lysimachus showing a great astonishment at these words What Madam said he are you then that great Queen of the Amazones who came to meet Alexander upon the confines of Hyrcania with so stately a Train and to whom the King shewed respects worthy of the birth and vertue of so great and so generous a Princess I am the same Thalestris answered the Amazone who visited the Court of Alexander for considerations very different from those to which perhaps some attributed my Journey I was at that time replyed Lysimachus gone upon an Expedition where the King had sent me with Craterus and Ptolomeus but when I came back to Court it was yet full of the fame you had left in it nor did any body talk there of the fair Queen of the Amazones as other then a wonder that had fill'd our Army with astonishment The fair Queen made answer with a great deal of modesty and their conversation would have lasted longer if Amintas had not desired the two Princes to let the Queen take her rest the remainder of that day and not to engage her longer in discourse which might be hurtful to her The Princes obeyed and having taken their leave of her retired into Oroondates his Chamber Though Polemon their Landlord lived plainly and out of the confusion of the Court yet was he of one of the Families in Babylon very rich for a man of his quality and the house whither he was then retired one of the fairest and of the best receit any where near the City this made the abode of the Princes the more commodious and they were lodged there very handsomely and with room enough Scarce had they dined when Cleantes Lysimachus his Squire return'd from Babylon whither his Master had sent him the day before They presently enquired after the success of his Journey and Cleantes to give them account in a few words The face of affairs said he is not much altered since your being here Roxana is still absolute in Babylon by the submission of Peucestas who is at the devotion of her and of Perdiccas who is now almost quite recovered of his wounds They have usurped so Soveraign an Authority that nothing is done but by their orders especially since the greater part of the Princes retired into the Territories that are fallen to their share Antigonus is already gone towards Lycia and Pamphilia Eumenes into Cappadocia Leonatus to the lesser Phrygia Cassander is upon his way into Caria Laomedon into Syria and Maenander into Lydia Ptolomeus concerning whom I informed my self most and from whom I learn'd what was become of the rest would not stir without hearing of you I found him Sir continued he addressing himself to Lysimachus incamped with an Army two hundred Furlongs on the other side of Babylon and if I had not told him where you were he was coming back with his Forces to make Perdiccas give an account of you upon the report of your having fought with him I am not able to tell you how vvelcome I was to him nor how much he participates in your sorrows he would have come hither with me but that I assured him you would be with him very shortly and I prayed him to stay with the Army to preserve a power which would perhaps be necessary for you He yeilded to my intreaty with much ado and commanded me to bid you be confident he would be ever ready to give you all the proofs you can desire from his friendship Cleantes having to this discourse added many particularities of his short Journey and answered many questions Lysimachus asked him the Princes began to deliberate what they should do and after long consultation of the means they ought to use for their design they agreed that in the interim while Oroondates were perfectly cu red Lysimachus should go up to Ptolomeus and with him arm all his friends to take a solemn revenge for the death of their Princesses He had a great many whom he believ'd he could easily dispose to his intention and Perdiccas and Roxana stood too strongly upon their guard to be surprised and punished for their crime any other way then by open force and to say truth added Lysimachus the death of those two persons would not suffice alone for the reparation of our losses whole Armies ought to perish for the expiation of their guilt and it ought to be wash'd with the blood of their whole faction We must drown all Babylon vvith it and offer a sacrifice to our Princesses that may be vvorthy of them I vvill join all the vertuous Princes that are among Alexanders successors unto our party and our confederacy shall be so strong that the Traitors shall infallibly be overwhelmed Oroondates approved Lysimachus his thoughts and consented to his departure the next day though his Chirurgion entreated him to stay a day or two longer by reason of his wound which might be something incommodious to him but Lysimachus was too impatient to hearken to his advice and Ptolomeus was too near him to defer so small a Journey longer When they had fully resolv'd it they spent the rest of the day in their ordinary conversation and the next morning no sooner did the Sun appear but Lysimachus was up and called for his arms Oroondates arose assoon as he and notwithstanding all Amintas his perswasions would needs go down and accompany Lysimachus to the Gate I could do no more said he if my life were dear to me then take such care for its preservation With these words he went forth and resting himself upon a staffe and upon Araxes his arm he waited upon Lysimachus down the stairs The Horses stood ready in the Court and Lysimachus taking onely Cleantes with him left the rest of his Officers to serve Oroondates and the Amazone Queen Lysimachus had taken his leave of her the night before and had assured her he would return again within
some morality to be mix'd and to the exercises of the body added also some exercises of the minde able to purge it from those bloody humours that were predominant amongst our women I grew expert and vigorous enough in those of the body and by the toil of hunting whensoever I had any spare time and by the care of my Mistresses I became so strong and so skilful that when I was but 16 years old there were but few women among our Amazons whom I could not dismount and whom I was not able to instruct either how to draw a Bowe or how to fight on Foot or how to ride an Hors vigorously These were our ordinary passe-times and upon the banks of the rapide Thermodoon wee drew up Battalions every day and kept up that Warlike humour which had maintain'd them for many Ages The Queen my Mother bred mee to that aversion against men which is general amongst us and exhorted me daily rather to suffer death then to slacken any thing of our ancient customes or submit my self to that sex which hath usurped so tyrannical an Empire over ours I would it had pleas'd the Gods great Queen that I had followed thy counsels I should not then have drawn Heavens anger upon me for my disobedience nor should I have precipitated my self into misfortunes which I can attribute to nothing but that alone I will not entertain you with the particulars of my childhood which are too trivial for your hearing but I will passe them over and content my self with telling you that I had compleated my fifteenth year when the Queen my Mother at her return from an Expedition in which by reason of my youth I had not waited on her presented the valiant Orithia to me a person of a stature extraordinary amongst us of a most Martial Garb and of a most excellent Beauty She was yet all arm'd when the Queen my Mother brought her into my Chamber and I thought her so handsome that I found no difficulty in obeying the command she gave me to love and esteem her particularly This generous Lady said the Queen to me though she was not born among us yet having the same inclinations hath cast her self voluntarily into our party and in all the encounters wee have had with the Cilicians shee hath showed proofs of such an admirable valour that I took her a long time for Bellona whom I thought the defence of her sexe had armed in our favour In our last action she dis-engaged mee from a throng of Enemies where else I had infallibly perished and succoured me in so great extremity that I cannot deny but that I am indebted to her for my life she in my sight killed the most valiant of all our enemies with her own hand and overthrew all that made any opposition against her In short she hath begot in me so much admiration and so much love that next to my only daughter she shall ever be to me the dearest person in the world She ended these words embracing her and by her example obliged me to welcome her with an extraordinary kindnesse Orithia receiv'd it with great submission and made protestations of fidelity to me in so respectful and so civil tearms that from that very moment I esteem'd her extreame worthy of the judgement the Queen had made of her I am most readily disposed said I to her to second the Queens affections with mine and to requite the vertue of this fair Stranger by all the proofs she can desire from my friendship Orithia kneeled down upon one knee at these words and kissing my hand which I put forth to raise her up Madam said she I make a vow never to be but yours and from this instant I dedicate my self unto you with a passion which shall never end but with my life Shee pronounced these words so gracefully that I was touch'd by them vvith an affection and casting my arm once more about her neck I promised her an eternal friendship Shee went out of my Chamber to put off her arms and return'd thither within a while after in her Womans apparel in which I thought her so lovely and so well shap'd that I gave her the advantage above all those of our Countrey I renewed my endearments at that second sight and begg'd of her not to leave us in tearms which shee accounted very obliging O Gods when I remember the protestations she made to me of an eternal fidelity and the oaths wherewith shee accompanied those protestations I cannot sufficiently admire the patience of the Gods that suffer such perjured souls without darting their loudest thunderbolts against them After I had given her all the proofs she could desire of the friendship she sued for frâ—m me I pray'd her to tell me who she was and what fortune had brought her into our Countries This new Amazone having bethought her self a while what to say spoke to me at last on this manner Although you see me now in the exercise of arms I have not been bred up in it and that little valour the Queen your Mother exalted vvith more affection then justice is rather an effect of my misfortunes then of my nature I am the daughter of the deceased Prince of the Massagetes and Niece to the King of Scythia to whom our Province is Tributary Death having deprived me of my Father in my very infancy I was bred up in the Court of Scythia with the Princesse Berenice and my Brother Orontes with Prince Oroondates his Cousen I spent some years in that Court with pleasure enough but the War between the Scythians and Persians breaking out afresh Prince Orontes my Brother march'd along with the Prince of Scythia and scarce had he begun to show some proofs of his valour in so early a youth when by the fall of a Bridge he was drowned in the Araxis and all the fair hopes he had given were buried with him in the waves of that River I will not trouble you with the Discourse of my sorrow for that dear Brother 't is enough if I tell you that his death making me Heiresse of the Province of the Massagetes moved divers Princes to cast their eyes upon me I had a natural aversion to men but it was visibly augmented by the offer the King made me of one of his Favourites whose birth was obscure and his person unhandsome I received the first overture of it as a mortal injury but the King who desired with my fortune to recompence the services that man had done him was not at all repulsed by my denyal but using his Authority on the behalf of that unworthy Favourite commanded me absolutely to resolve to marry him This forcing of me redoubled my hatred and I should infallibly have rather chosen my grave then his alliance whom I beheld as no other then a deadly enemy and a monster appointed to devour me I need not tell you how many tears I shed how often I cast my self at the Kings feet
gave her self so absolutely to thee that Orithia as she was Orithia could not desire any thing she possess'd not entirely We had besieged Phryne a City in Cilicia upon our Enemies Frontiers and our Rams had made a reasonable breach Orithia at the head of six thousand Amazons prepared to assault it I would needs fight by her side and notwithstanding all her prayers to disswade me from it I was so obstinate in my resolution that she was constrain'd to suffer my company She march'd through the midst of our Enemies Darts and Swords with such a fiercenesse as froze the hearts of the Trojans when Minerva shook their Walls and with her dreadful Gorgon carried terror and death into their City She went undauntedly up those ruines defended by valiant men and despising a cloud of arrows and stones that came pouring upon her shee covered me with her shield and encouraging our women by her glorious example in spite of the resistance of our Enemies got to the top of the breach Wee fought already at handy blowes and I may say without vanity that I had already slain some and given proofs of valour considerable enough in one of my age when I was stunned either with the stroak of a club or with some stone and fell down at Orithia's feet without sense or motion and certainly it was my great good fortune to fal so near her since that without her assistance my death had been inevitable Never was Tygresse when robb'd of her young so furiously sensible of her losse as Orithia was observ'd to be by them that were near her from whom I heard it since shee flew with a great cry upon some of the Enemies who went to make an end of me and sheltring me with her body and her Target gave death to all that came near her and having made a Rampart of dead bodies vvhich left her free room enough shee took me up in her arms and turning towards Menalippa one of our vvomen who commanded vvith her Menalippa said shee the victory is ours take care to prosecute it I can neither fight nor live unlesse the Princesse be in safety At these vvords continuing to make way with her Sword she came down with her burthen through the passage she had open'd her self before and carried mee out of the Fight with such impatiency and sense of sorrow as she afterwards express'd to me and as only she was able to represent Assoon as she had taken off my Cask the fresh air I took restored me to my self and Orithia seeing me open my eyes was like then to have died with joy as before she was with grief I observ'd the mixture of joy and fear in her countenance and desiring to assure her T is nothing said I my dear Orithia I was only fell'd and I need nothing but a little rest Her face grew settled at the hearing of these vvords but not being too confident of them she look'd upon my head where she found no wound at all by reason of the goodness of my Head-piece which had defended me and that sight compleating her joy shee took me in her arms and carried me on into my Tent where she laid me upon my bed but all the way her face was firmly cimented to mine and I receiv'd kisses from her vvhich might have made me know the difference there vvas between her affection and that of our other vvomen The Queen vvho vvith a good part of the Army had continued in arms vvithin the Camp to give Orders and who had in vain endeavoured to keep me vvith her no sooner heard the news but she came running frighted to me but finding me reasonable vvell and knowing shee was obliged only to Orithia for my safety she made such dear expressions to her as it is impossible for me to repeat but that valiant Amazone no sooner had seen me in a place of security and learned from our Chirurgians that there was no danger of me but forcing her affection she left me and went back to the assault from which no other consideration but mine could have been able to draw her Her presence there was very necessary and the Enemies who by her absence had recovered heart lost it again at her return and made but a vain resistance against her valour and the new Orders shee gave But as her return was fatall to them so likewise was it very profitable to them and her mercy saved divers of them from the fury of our Women who would have put all to the Sword without exception Orithia opposed their intention successefully and the credit shee had already gained among them made them slacken something of their ordinary cruelty When shee had set the Town in some Order and had left Menalippa to command there shee came back to us and found mee almost recovered of my blow yet was it incommodious to mee for a few days and during the stay wee made at that City which the Queen entred the next morning I kept my bed continually I will not entertain you with the relation of that Warre as long as it lasted I received proofes of this nature from Orithia's affection but it being ended by an advantageous peace wee entred again into our own Territories and took our way towards the Capital City which as the Province bears the name of Themiscira It was about that time Alexander Invaded Asia and as an impetuous Torrent over-ran all those Provinces the greater part whereof submitted to him without drawing Sword Our Neighbours of Cappadocia and Cilicia yeilded without resistance and voluntarily underwent that yoak which he imposed upon all the Earth Alexander us'd them favourably and continud to them their former Governours and their ancient Priviledges The Queen my Mother knowing her self too weak to resist so Potent an Enemy meant to try gentle ways and sent Menalippa and Clytemnestra to him to represent that his generosity obliged him to leave us in our former Liberties and not to imploy those victorious arms which had conquered all Asia against feeble Women Alexander receiv'd our Ambassadors with much civility and having told them that he had no intention to trouble our quietnesse nor our Laws he turned his Forces another way and entred not into our Countrey The Queen was extreamly glad shee had diverted that Storm and shee had taken that course by Orithia's advice who had acquired such a reputation amongst our Women that every body considered her as an extraordinary person and by the sweetnesse of her manners and conversation shee had so gained the hearts of the whole Court that shee was both the delight and admiration of it Shee had been near upon two years amongst us when from her naturall livelinesse shee fell into a deep melancholy She did all she possibly could to disguise it but it was quickly to be perceived in her countenance which was so visibly altered that 't was no longer in her power to dissemble it the affection I bore her made me one of
should have sent Hippolita to seek him with charge to bring him back to me if she were so happy as to finde him in Scythia Besides this consideration I was withheld by the difficulties or rather by the impossibilities I met with in the state of my affairs since I could not think of taking Orontes for my husband without forsaking both the Empire and Countrey of the Amazons who for my particular interest would never have consented to the losse of their Liberties and of their Customes These reasons made me take patience in my misfortune and turn all my thoughts to my ordinary imploiments and to the care of my Government I pass'd a whole year without other troubles then those of my mind and with much more tranquillity in my Dominions then in my heart I at my coming to the Crown had confirm'd the Truce which the Queen my Mother had made with the Cilicians our Neighbours and our usual Enemies Neobarzanes had been their Governor under Darius and having of late followed Alexanders party he by him was confirm'd in the absolute Authority of that Kingdome and in as Soveraign a power as if he had been lawful King of it That ambitious man desiring to enlarge his Confines and to extirpate us Women who had always held him play and often put him to the worst took the Field and invaded our Territories with an Army of thirty thousand men They at first made some progress upon our Frontiers and defeated some of our Forces whom the Truce had made secure and negligent but within a while after being sate down to besiege one of our Cities they gave me the leisure to raise an Army as strong as theirs I march'd straight toward them in good order and with great diligence and they no sooner had the news but they rais'd their siege and advanced to meet us with Colours flying The Armies met in a plain which is between the Iris and the Thermodoon and having heard that Neobarzanes had given the command of his left Wing to his Brother Tisaphernes a man who by his valour had acquird a mighty reputation in War and kept the right Wing for himself I followed his example and giving my left to Menalippa I took the right my self that I might encounter Tisaphernes whom I believ'd much more dangerous then his brother I was not deceived in my expectation for at the shock of the two Armies Tisaphernes and I charged one another and having broken our Javelins without effect we began a combat with our swords the sight whereof would have been pleasing enough if we had been permitted to continue in it but the throng having parted us we ran both to our Commands I will not weary you with the Relation of that Battel it was sufficiently bloudy and the Victory was disputed by the death of a great number but in the end it proved ours and the Enemies lost the Field with fifteen thousand of their men but not without having slain seven or eight thousand of our Women and wounded many of the rest The night hindred a more general defeat and the next morning by break of day the Cilicians finding their losse disencamped and drew off from us the incommodity of our hurt Women and the suddenness of their departure kept us from hot pursuing them wee neverthelesse march'd after them and falling often upon the Rear of such as were cast behinde we accompanied them to their Frontiers with a great deal of execution While we were in doubt whether we should enter into their Territories after them intelligence came to us that they had received a supply of ten thousand men This news hindred us from passing farther and made us stand upon our guard and Neobarzanes and Tisaphernes were so pufft up with it that within three days after they presented us battel again Some of our Women to whom riper years had given more experience and more fear of danger were of opinion we ought to refuse it the more couragious desired it and I held part with them and had a mind to decide the business by a general defeat The ground inforced me to divide our Army into three Bodies and I gave the third to Clitemnestra Assoon as the appointed day appeared the Armies were in Battalia and march'd toward one another with a great deal deal of eagernesse The day was very fair and the Sun shining upon our arms made the two Armies a gallant sight but it was quickly changed and all the beauty they had in their drawing neer was instantly lost in horrour and in the blood that was spilt My Narration would be too long if I should descend to the particulars of that battel but I believe that never any was more bravely fought and that animosity never produced more strange effects All the Squadrons were mingled pell mell and we killed one another without order and without pity when Tisaphernee knowing me again made way with his Sword to come to charge me and assoon as he was within hearing I pray thee cryed he let us finish the Combat we began at the former battel and let us withdraw out of this crowd that we may end it without hindrance and without advantage I answered him only with my head and making him a sign to follow me I put on my Horse to the place where I saw the freest room He came couragiously after me and when we were gotten out of that thick multitude seeing me turn about he struck me such a blow upon the head that he beat down my crest with the plumes that covered it and perceiving me a little dazled he went to redouble it but I rush'd directly upon him and luckily finding the defect of his Curass I ran my sword up to the hilts in his right side Tisaphernes fell dead with the wound but he was hardly down and my sword free in my hand when I was charg'd behind with a stroak which was like to have laid me among the Horses feet I clapt spurs to mine and facing about toward him that had struck me I saw Neobarzanes himself who to succor or revenge his brother fell upon me with a great many of his men I sought him out in the middest of them and aiming my sword at his very eyes I gave him such a terrible shock that I set him beside his saddle and made him tumble under the feet of his Followers They got round about him presently and some of them helping him again on horseback the rest came pouring upon me with exceeding fury I had then been in a great deal of danger if Menalippa had not rescued me with some of her Troups and the Enemies drawing up theirs within a very short space the most dangerous and bloody service proved to be there We fought so obstinately that both Armies were almost defeated but though the Victory according to probability was more likely to have been theirs we obtained it at the last with the death of above ten thousand of our Women
Predecessors how great aversion soever they have expressed in their government against men they have not conserved themselvs without them nor were you born your self withour their assistance This reproach made mee blush for shame and confirmed mee in the dislike of that ill custom which necessitie had introduced amongst our women whereupon I shew'd Neobarzanes that I resented it by these words If my Predecessors have don amiss I will not imitate them and though I were so base as to follow their evil customs or so imprudent as to abolish their good ones and submit my self to a man by lawful waies I should never make choice of Neobarzanes Time replied hee resing up will inspire you with other thoughts and mitigate that cruel humor which ill becom's so fair a person I give you leisure therefore to consider and to reflect upon the condition you are in and upon what you do despise Hee staid not for my answer but making a low congie went out of my Chamber having first recommended mee to the care of the women that waited on mee I' remain'd in an anger which it would bee very difficult for mee to describe and of all that day I could not digest the words hee had said nor his reproaches of our customs This remembrance wrought so strong an aversion in mee that I thought it impossible for mee to endure his companie a second time and I settled my self in the resolution of dying in his hands rather then to oblige him by the least favor or by the least word from whence hee could draw any advantage The women that serv'd mee alreadie bore mee a real affection and were not so tied to Neobarzanes his interests but that they us'd all their endevors to give mee som consolation I continued five or six daies without his coming to see mee and I imploied them in bewailing my misfortune as much as my courage would suffer mee Have I then said I when I was press'd with the violence of my grief banished my lovely and my faithful Orontes to receiv Neobarzanes and have I so ill used and so ill requited virtue handsomness and services to recompence vice ugliness and scurvie usage Ah! if our laws were to bee violated sure it should bee in favor of Orontes and not of Neobarzanes This heart which defended it self and that too inhumanely against the charms of that lovely imposture is proof against the persecutions of a Barbarian nor need it fear a second assault having escaped the first let that cruel man arm himself with what soever rage can produce hee shall finde this soul in an unshaken seat and since my cruel destinie forbid's mee to give my self to my dear Orithia both Neobarzanes and all men living shall assault it but in vain Discourses and thoughts of this nature were my ordinarie entertainments and though I bore my Captivitie with moderation enough that remembrance often drew both sighs and tears from mee I somtimes questioned my women and endevored to learn of them if our Amazones did not attempt somthing for my deliverance or if Neobarzanes did not think upon som treatie for my libertie but whether it were that they knew it not or were enjoined silence I could never get any information from them Som few daies after Neobarzanes came to mee again and assoon as hee had saluted mee Well Madam said hee have you thought upon our last Discours and have you slackn'd any thing of that severitie which make's you disdain my affections Neobarzanes answered I in what conditions soever you see mee know that nothing is able to shake my resolutions and that you ought to hope for but little satisfaction by your pernicious designs not but I am enclined to peace with you if you will make lawful propositions nor would I to recover my libertie refuse a reasonable treatie which may resettle our Territories in that quietness you have disturbed but if you have any other thoughts banish them for ever and hope for nothing from a courage which misfortune cannot deject I hope replied Neobarzanes that you will hearken to reason and to the advantage of the offers I make you but hope for no libertie Thalestris by any other treatie then by that which I propose and consider that I neither abuse my fortune nor the power I have over you by making propositions which would bee advantageous to you though in perfect libertie Your are not ignorant Madam that in my affection to you I may seek for help by all manner of waies and that the death of my Brother and of so many thousand of my men doth sufficiently dispence with mee if I have not those considerations which are due to a person of your qualitive and free 's mee from the reproaches I might fear for having used violence to a Captive who is stain'd with bloud that was so dear to mee But Madam to testifie that my love to you is full of a real esteem I will onely sue for yours by lawful means and I will forget you are my Prisoner to make you my wife by this alliance wee will unite our Provinces wee will give your women lawful husbands and abolish customs that are enemies to Nature and detested both by the gods and men to live in a more reasonable societie and in everlasting tranquillitie I knew very well that unworthie man made not that proposition out of any esteem hee had of mee nor out of any sens of virtue but that finding advantages to himself by the alliance hee offer'd mee which hee could neither hope for by my death nor by using violence hee was fallen upon that thought not beeing in a condition after so great losses to profit any other way by having taken mee nor to conquer a Countrie which I had not left destitute of persons able to defend it against him And indeed I receiv'd that motion with the scorn it deserved and looking disdainfully upon him Think not Neobarzanes said I that my imprisonment hath so far abased my heart as to finde any advantage in the offers you make mee I am a Queen by birth and virtue both of them are wanting in thee and thou art indebted to fortune and to the goodness of Darius for that greatness which thy base submission to Alexander hath since conserved 'T is not for thee our laws shall bee abolished and if the gods continued I with a sigh had so decreed it that alteration was reserved for another not Neobarzanes Hee was so netled with this answer that hee sate a long time without reply witnessing his irresolution by the divers changes of his countenance but in the end after having darted an angrie look at mee Well well Thalestris said hee since you disdain my offer dispose your self to satisfie mee by other waies this shall never bee proposed to you again and you may bee assured I will no longer neglect the power I have over you Hee pronounced these words with a thundring voice and went out of my Chamber without giving
along with him they all turn'd their points upon mee and made mee see they meant to revenge the death of their Prince by mine the two first that advanced I quickly laid at the feet of their Companions and made them judg that though I was but a woman and in my smock they should not effect their purpose without difficultie I retired to the wall that I might not bee assaulted behinde and those cowardly villains making a half circle about mee began to press mee so furiously that I utterly despaired of safetie I defended my self nevertheless like a wilde bore against so many hounds and somtimes rushing forward at those that were most eager upon mee I made them flie back to the other side of the Chamber and gave them both terror and death it self in the middest of thirtie swords that environed mee but in the end my resistance would have been unprofitable and feeling my self wounded in diveâ—s places I also found my strength began to fail mee and that I prolong'd my destinie but in vain when wee heard a great nois upon the stairs and saw a great many com in arm'd who charging those base fellows that were about mee presently gave som of them what they deserved the Leader of them did the greatest execution and striking no blows that were not mortal quickly cover'd the floor with bloud and with dead bodies When they had made themselvs a passage to com to mee Courage cried one of my Defenders Courage Madam you are delivered and your enemies are destroied beeing very well acquainted with that voice I presently knew to bee my faithful Hippolita's and I soon observ'd they were my Amazones from whom I received that assistance When I saw my self so well succoured I felt my forces redouble and desiring to have a share in my revenge I joyned my self to my valiant deliverers and with them finished what they had so courageously begun all our Enemies lost their lives and our Amazones among whom I had alreadie discover'd Menalippa and many others were so exasperated against them that they gave no quarter My Chamber was then a spectacle full of horror and the bloud which flowed on all sides in which one might see a great number of bodies swim which had newly expired or were yet expiring was able to strike fear and terror into the most resolved mindes After this execution my gallant rescuers took off all their mask's and embraced my knees one after another with words and actions which visibly express'd the ardent affection they had ever born mee but I was so weakned by the loss of bloud which ran down still from my wounds and by the weariness of so long and so unequal a fight that I had hardly strength to embrace them or sens to know them yet did I hear Menalippa among the rest who speaking for them all said Madam you are free and as much Mistress in this Citie as in Themiscira 't is in your own power by the assistance of the gods and the valor of your Amazones who have taken it and all your Enemies are either dead or dying I judg'd by this Discours that the Town had been taken by surprise and that that was the caus of the nois wee had heard in the streets and of Neobarzanes his rage not doubting but that my women would revenge my injuries with a great deal of bloud and that they would extirpate a people innocent of the wrongs I had received I desired to stop those proceedings and getting a little loos from their embrace My dear friends said I I hold my life from the god's and from you let us not stir them up against us after the mercie wee have receiv'd and let us not dishonor our victorie by an excess of crueltie there is bloud enough shed alreadie if any of our enemies bee yet alive let them have quarter given them and let those bee spared who ceas to make resistance Clytemnestra went presently away to execute that Order and my faithful Hippolita upon whom I lean'd feeling mee readie to sink in her arms took mee up with som other of her companions to carrie mee to bed There was no likelihood of putting mee again into my own nor of staying in a Chamber full of bloud and dead bodies but another was found by the assistance of the women that serv'd mee who at the beginning of our fight had hid themselvs in a Closet whence they were fetch'd out in a terrible fear but I reassumed them and promised them all manner of good usage they brought mee into the best Chamber there was where beeing got to bed my wounds search'd were not found dangerous and my Chyrurgians who had don their part in my deliverance having applied their first remedies to them left mee to my rest while Menalippa by my command went to quiet the disorders in the Town and to do what was requisite in such encounters I rested that small remainder of the night and the day following without beeing interrupted no bodie coming into my Chamber but only Hippolita and som women who were necessarie to wait upon mee and with whom I had no discours by reason of the charge my Chyrurgians had given mee to the contrarie but night beeing com I call'd Hippolita to my bed-side and having embraced her manie times with expressions of my former kindness I asked her divers questions and desired her to relate the taking of the Town but shee would not obey mee praying mee to take my rest you are not yet well enough Madam said shee to hold discours have patience but to night and to morrow I will give you an exact account of all you can demand I was willing to bee advised by her and making my curtains bee drawn I spent the night as I had don the day but with great show of amendment and more quietness of minde then I had felt of many months The next morning Hippolita came to my bed-side and having bidden mee good morrow I commanded her to tell mee what shee had deferr'd the day before I am readily disposed to satisfie you Madam said shee and if what I have to say could have been heard by you without alteration I would not have delai'd to give you contentment but I beseech you bee pleas'd to let mee send these maids out of the Chamber that I may entertain you with the more liberty I gave her leav to do as shee desired and Hippolita bidding them withdraw remained alone with mee and beeing by my command set down close by my bed shee spake to mee on this manner When your Majestie engaged your self in the pursuit of Neobarzanes I was not one of the last that follow'd you and I should certainly have had the same fate with my companions if the gods who reserved mee to serv you more profitably then I could have don in that encounter had not suffer'd my hors to fall dead between my legs of certain wounds hee had received in the fight by this accident I
caus of your despair and if it bee a lawful one hee will dispose himself to die with you Though I was but little capable of any discours I forced my grief to complie with with the desires of that youth whose affection had strongly obliged mee and having told him my adventure in a few words hee became as sad and as unmoveable as my self Yet did hee alledg all hee could devise for my consolation and endeavor'd by cunning expositions to sweeten the sharpness of your decree but finding I was not moved with all hee said and that it would bee very hard for him to disswade mee from a resolution which hee saw still written in my face hee cast himself suddenly at my feet and pressing my hands between his Sir said hee if the affection of one who forsake 's all his friends to tie himself inseparably to your service hath deserved any thing of you and if the conjuration I use in the name of Thalestris bee considerable to you grant mee the favour which I beg since it is not contrarie to your intention and that you cannot refuse it unless you will have mee die here in your presence I onely beseech you to delay your resolution for two daies that those hopes I yet have for you may bee made clear by knowing the will of the gods you may leav this Court since you cannot appear in it by reason of Thalestris's anger but as wee go away wee will pass by a Temple of Bellona's famous in this province to whose Oracles if the access were permitted unto men they would com from the furthest parts of the earth there you may instruct your self concerning the pleasure of the gods and after their answer follow your own inclinations which I will never resist while I live I was so extremely obliged to this young man's fidelitie that I could not denie his request and having promised him that delay with an oath I settled his minde from that fear hee was in for mee I was not willing to make a longer stay in that countrie having sworn to him once more that I would not attempt any thing against my life and that I would stay for him at a place in the wood which I appointed hee went back to the Palace to fetch a couple of good horses and other things which he thought necessarie for our departure I should never have don Madam if I would describe all the thoughts wherewith my soul was combated that recital would bee of a tedious length therefore I will onely tell you that never heart was in a more deplorable condition and that the desire of death never was so peaceably confirm'd Lascaris returned within a little while bringing two good horses arms money and jewels which by the Queens liberalitie and yours wee had in great abundance and which hee took without my directions I got on hors-back and travelled toward a little Town two or three hours riding from Themiscira But seeing with Lascaris one of my women in whom I had found a great deal of affection toward mee and whom hee had brought to help him to lead the horses and carrie the arms I took her along with mee to the place where wee lay that night that from thence I might write the letter you received from the hands of Hippolita and so having made her get up behinde Lascaris I went out of the wood with a sorrow which I finde my self unable to represent Wee arrived at that little Town where I passed in melancholly fits or rather in mortal agonies and rising by break of day I gave that woman my letter close sealed up with express order not to deliver it to any bodie but Hippolita and took hors to go unto the Temple Lascaris had told mee of Wee got thither before it was noon and after I had praied and begg'd of the goddess to whom it was dedicated to let mee know her pleasure shee returned this Oracle The Oracle Live go and com to th' edg of Themiscire Ere the Sun's cours a second time exspire Thou on her Empires borders shalt recover The lovely object which made thee a Lover I am not able to tell you Madam in what manner I receiv'd this Oracle and which was stronger in mee the grief to see my self reduced to a necessitie of living of disobeying the gods or the joy which their promises revived in mee by such pleasing hopes I remained a long time without motion wavering in the diversitie of those thoughts and then of a sudden lifting up my hands and eies to heaven Great gods cried I exact not an obedience from mee which I no longer am in a condition to yield you or if you will have mee live restore mee new forces or more evident hopes then those you have confusedly given mee all things conspire to have mee die and shee who dispose's of my fate with you hath pronounced a sentence which you have not revoked These words spoken with a loud voice struck wonder in all those that heard them and the Priestess who took mee for a woman could not imagine the caus of my despair Lascaris in the mean time came to mee and not beeing able to dissemble the joy which this Oracle so conformable to his desires had wrought in him well Madam said hee using that term becaus of them that were present will you doubt still of the goodness of the gods and will you without their consent sacrifice a life the disposing whereof they have reserv'd unto themselvs Ah! Lascaris answered I with a deep sigh my fortune is but little altred and this command of the gods is onely an effect of their goodness which would banish a just despair by unjust hopes they cannot force my soul to continue in a prison the abode whereof is no longer supportable and they will pardon mee a disobedience which I am forced to by a power not inferior to theirs What Madam replied Lascaris wil you add impietie and blasphemie to that attempt against your life which hath alreadie hainously offended them and do you disdain both their express commands and the promises they make you in words that are so little obscure did they ever speak less confusedly or less doubtfully and can you yet bee uncertain of a resolution you should have taken in a moment To these perswasions Lascaris added many others and desiring the Priestess to assist him in requiring that obedience I owed unto the gods and in confirming the hopes they gave mee they used so many arguments that at last they made mee conceiv som glimps of them and defer my design of dying till I should see my self frustrate of my expectation Behold Madam which way I came to bee content to live and to pass the time of that banishment which you and the gods had enjoined mee in other countries beeing this part of my recital was most important to my love I have enlarged my self most upon it and I will tell you more succinctly what ha's happened
my threatnings that I kept them from it and gave the Lacedemonians leisure to fetch off their King and deliver him out of that throng from which hee was no longer able to free himself By his retreat the victorie declared it self absolutely for the Macedonians and Antipater prosecuted it so hotly that almost all the Lacedemonians were defeated but their valiant King beeing unwilling to survive that loss alighted out of a litter in which they had put him and though so weak that hee was hardly able to stand hee caused himself to bee carried back into the fight where after hee had don things that surpass belief and raised a breastwork of dead bodies round about him hee sunk at last as his predecessor Leonidas at the strait of Thermophiles and falling tired with conquering upon the heaps of those hee had slain received a death which ought to make him live for ever in the memorie of men I have enlarged my self contrarie to my design upon this passage becaus I was most sensibly grieved at it and that the memorable end of so great a Prince deserved a particular mention of him By that onely victorie Antipater settled Alexander's affairs again in that countrie and believing I had contributed somthing towards it hee did mee honors and shewed mee kindnesses which were considerable enough I continued with him till having no more enemies to fight withall hee began his march back into Macedonia Then I took my leav of him and of his son though they both were very earnest to keep mee with them and offered mee very advantageous conditions A year was alreadie expired since my departure from Themiscira and I had a desire to return into Asia but I travelled a different way from that I came and was willing to spend the time that still remained in seeing those provinces which were yet unknown to mee I went into Parthia and the countries of the Mardes and of the Bactrians whither the disloial Bessus was alreadie retired after the murther of his King from thence I entred into Hyrcania and in the end I came upon your frontiers There I put on womans apparel again and there the first news I heard was that of your captivitie I need not tell you Madam the greatness of my sorrow my passion is sufficiently known to you to give you som guess of it and you may well imagine that had it not been for the promise of the gods and my belief that in this encounter I might finde som occasion to serv you I should have sunk under that affliction I summoned all my courage together to employ it for your service and begging of the gods to grant mee extraordiuarie forces I went with som confidence toward the place where your armie was encamped Before I would discover my self to the other women I desired to learn of Hippolita whom I had ever known to bee most discreet in what estate my affairs were in this countrey and whether I might yet pass for Oritâ—ia I was so happie that I found a favorable occasion as you have heard and received comforts from her which raised my hopes again I learn'd of her and bee this spoken Madam without stirring up your anger that you had bestowed som tears on my departure and that my memorie was not indifferent to you all my afflictions were counterpoised by the joy this knowledg caused in mee and it so redoubled my courage that I accounted all things too weak to retard the design I had to deliver you You have heard from Hippolita all that passed from the time of my arrival to that of your deliverance and I will add to what shee hath told you that as wee marched toward this Town I praied Menalippa and the chief of those women that had access to you not to speak one word of my beeing return'd but to stay till I discovered my self before you heard that news from any bodie els This was it that favored the dissimulation which wee used so happilie for mee and retiring after the fight while the women did their duties to you I found means when you were in bed to speak with Hippolita and to plot that with her which shee so cunningly hath effected to my advantage Orontes ended his storie thus and by that conclusion of it made mee blush again and fetch'd back part of my shame and part of my anger but beeing no longer in terms to dissemble my affection I gave him all the modest proofs of it hee could desire From that day hee carried himself towards mee very differently from his former manner and cutting off all those liberties I had granted him as Orithia never gave mee any caus to blame him for want of respect or of discretion I am too tedious in my relation but I will shorten the rest of it and tell you that beeing carefully dressed and looked to my wounds were quickly cured and not beeing strong enough to keep the field in Cilicia against those supplies which in probabilitie would arrive within a while I contented my self with putting a garrison in that Town and as soon as I was able to endure a chariot I returned into my own territories and took my way toward Themiscira But before I was gotten to my chief citie hee that succeeded Neobarzanes sent to desire peace with mee and the misfortune I had suffered by war together with the counsels of Orontes whose thoughts were very avers from it perswaded mee to grant it him upon reasonable conditions and to establish an alliance with him which since hath not been violated I shall not stand to recount the welcoms I received from my subjects after a sharp and dangerous captivitie nor the honors they rendred to my valiant deliverer whom they beheld as the protecting Goddess of Themiscira shee took again her former lodgings in the Palace and her former servants and had a great deal more autoritie amongst all our women then in times past but shee abused it not and managed their respect to her so discreetly that shee inflamed them all with a violent affection for mine own part I must confess to my confusion that I found so many amiable qualities in her and had so many causes to bee pleased with her love to mee that I preserved not the least remainder of my former inclinations but gave my self to her as much as my virtue and the informations I had received from her self could permit mee wee had no more but one thought and if I may say so without blushing wee had no more but one soul and one will I made no longer any difficultie to open my heart to him and to confess that I loved him more then my self but what advantage soëver he drew from that confession hee never emboldened himself to take those liberties that were forbidden him My women often admired that they no longer saw that familiaritie between us they had formerly observed and though our conversation was more frequent then ever they found but knew not the
example keep their friends about them The report of your virtue ha's gain'd you a great many here who will bee as much concerned in your interests as in their own and particularly Ptolomeus who hath praied mee to beg him apart in that friendship which you have don mee the honor to promise mee I beseech you stay for news of us in the place where you are without any other disquiet then what you receive by our losses and moderate your grief that you may recover your strength the gods promise us as great a satisfaction as wee can in reason desire and I promise my self the continuance of that goodness you have shewed unto your faithful Lysimachus After that Oroöndates had read this letter in the presence of Thalestris hee asked Cleantes more particular news of his Master and Cleantes when hee had civilly presented his Masters humblest service to the Queen as hee had been expresly commanded answered that hee had left him with Ptolomeus from whom hee had received a welcom suitable to their ancient friendship hee said moreover that Ptolomeus his armie was out above three or four hours riding from them and that it consisted of ten thousand foot and four thousand hors that Eumenes was marching toward Cappadocia with ten thousand men but that they had sent to call him back as likewise Antigonus and Polyperon and many others who were beginning to take their way toward their several Provinces hee told him also that Lysimachus conjured him for many reasons not to stir from Polemon's hous since it was however necessarie the armie should draw that way and that hee would wait upon him there before hee had gotten up his strength again Though Oroöndates was exceeding sorrie for Lysimachus his delay hee was comforted by the hope of his revenge which hee alreadie saw in a very good forwardness hee asked Cleantes many questions to which hee answered very pertinently and the fair Amazon beeing alreadie well instructed in their affairs was desirous to interess her self in them as in her own and protested to Oroöndates that shee would run his fortune and that shee would second him to the death in so lawful an intention Oroöndates who could not slight her assistance after the knowledg hee had of her valor returned her thanks with great civilitie and extolled her generositie in terms that satisfiëd her very much The next day hee sent back Cleantes to his Master with this letter Oroöndates to Prince Lysimachus MY trouble for your absence is moderated by the caus that retard's you it is too just a one to bee complained of and your intentions too generous to bee disapproved if your goodness hath gained mee considerable friends it will likewise keep mee in their good opinion by the same waies and will procure mee a place in the esteem of great Ptolomeus the advantage whereof will bee totally mine Besides those Gallant warriers you have armed to maintain our quarrel wee have here Bellona who engage's her self in our misfortunes and whose assistance will bee both glorious and beneficial to us shorten our discontents the most you possibly can and bee pleased to undertake nothing without giving a share in your glorie to him that bear 's a part in your miserie Cleantes beeing gon Oroöndates continued with the Queen intending to stay in that hous there to expect news from Lysimachus as also the recoverie of his health and the pleasure of the gods who had confined him to the banks of Euphrates The servants Lysimachus had left were so careful of him that within a few daies his wound was quite closed up and within a few more perfectly hardned his strength began to com to him again and though hee recovered not that fleshiness and that lively color hee formerly had hee got up a good part of his wonted vigor and within a short time found himself in a condition to bear arms again and to execute whatsoëver his resentment could require from him Thalestris whose wound had been much lighter was cured as soon as hee and shee might have hoped to bee suddenly strong enough to begin the search of her faithless Orontes again if the design of assisting Oroöndates and those of his partie had not tied her to their interests with so much affection that shee seemed to have forgotten her own The Prince of Scythia acknowledging himself infinitely obliged unto her goodness repaied her all manner of civilities and took as much care to divert her as the extremitie of his sadness would permit him Hee walked often with her by the river side and in the wood where his encounter of the names of Cassandra and Euridice whose misfortunes and whose characters were so like to those of his Princess moved him again to a curiositie of learning news of those strangers and remembring that Araxes had seen Polemon discoursing in his garden with unknown Cassandra hee believed hee might from him receiv the information hee desired to that end having sent for him hee praied him courteously to tell him what hee knew concerning them Polemon without staying for a second entreatie Sir said hee both the qualitie and the adventures of those fair strangers are unknown to mee I can only tell you that perchance the earth never bore more fair nor more lovely persons they were in this hous for som few daies but now they are gon away and as I was ignorant from what part of the earth they came hither so am I likewise to what place they are retired this is all I am able â—o let you know and I most humbly beseech you Sir not to desire any more of mee Oroöndates judging by this answer that either Polemon knew no more then hee had told him or that hee had som reason to conceal it was not willing to press him any further Polemon's servants went every day to Babylon to fetch provisions and Oroöndates would needs send Araxes with them privately to inform himself concerning Barsina and many other persons who formerly had born him friendship but above all hee gave him order to enquire after Toxaris and Loncates of whom hee had heard nothing and whose loss hee bewailed as that of two most faithful servants Araxes acquitted himself very discreetly of those commissions hee had received from his Master and aâ— his return told him that Barsina was not at Babylon no more was Apamia nor Arsinoe who were gon from thence with their husbands that King Occhus his daughters and all those persons that had any affinitie to the Bloud Roial of Persia had forsaken the Town to avoid the crueltie of Roxana Pendiccas and Cassander who menaced them with a general ruine that Perdiccas made the forces of his Allies to advance on all â—ides to defend him against those that were discontented by whom hee was alreadie threatned that there was not so much as any mention of Arideus and that hee had preserved nothing at all of that shadow of Roialtie which had been given him that a most exact
drawn them to end their quarrel while with the left arm each held fast about his enemies middle with the right they struck a great many blows at one another and fighting then with a blinde heedless furie most of them light upon their armor but som having found the defects of it with new streams of bloud drew also the remainder of their forces then beeing no longer able to keep it they let go their hold and their horses beeing no longer stopt by that potent obstacle which had made them till then unmoveable parted and carried away their riders above an hundred paces from one another That of Oroöndates staied first and his Master turning him about with much ado towards his enemie saw him totter in his saddle and presently after fall upon the sand proud of this victorie hee would have cried I have conquered but hee had not so much strength as to speak those words nor to keep his seat so that tumbling from his hors with very weakness hee had no other comfort in his fall save that of seeing his enemie down a moment before him The disconsolate or rather the despairing Berenice ran to him quite besides her self and pulling off his cask in all haste shee saw him faint and pale losing his senses with his bloud which flowed out at many wide passages O gods how great was her affliction then and what lamentations shee made over the bodie of that dear brother it seemed as if inconstant Fortune had onely given her him som minutes before to make her the more sensible of his loss after so unexpected a recoverie and if the conversation of her honor which shee had saved by that encounter had not been a thousand times more considerable to her then that of her life shee would have detested it a thousand times since the gods seemed to have sent it her for no other end but to overwhelm her in the most killing sorrow her heart was capable to receiv in the person of Oroöndates shee not onely lost a brother but a brother who was really the gallantest of all men living a brother that had ever most dearly loved her a brother to whom shee had such fresh obligations and a brother in whom shee had found her onely refuge in a countrey where shee was abandoned to all manner of disasters and destitute of any sanctuary or any acquaintance shee cast her self upon him without moderation or regard and stain'd her self with his bloud as shee washed him with her tears her beautiful face wherein Nature had carefully set forth her chiefest rarities and which in spite of her long afflictions shined like a fair star but som few minutes before was then the true image of desolation and despair or rather the very picture of her dying brother her hands which would have respected it in her ordinarie lustre knew it not in that condition and were so sacrilegeous as to carrie themselvs insolently against it and leav marks in it of the power grief had over them As soon as her voice had forced the passage which her sighs had long made good against it Fortune cried shee injurious Fortune by what crimes have I so hainously incensed thee and what advantage canst thou draw from thy merciless persecutions didst thou seem to bee reconciled with mee so lately for no other end but to make mee the more sensible of thy cruelties and didst thou restore mee this dear brother onely to take him from mee again with so much inhumanitie Dear brother continued shee closely embracing him and joining her face to his the greatest and most lovely Prince in the whole world must so brave a life have so short a thread and so deplorable an end and have the gods brought us together after so long a separation for nothing els but that I might close thine eies and pay thee thy funeral rites will you forsake mee then in an unknown countrie where I had no other refuge but in you and since you have liv'd for my honor will you not live still for my happiness As shee spoke these words after shee had unbuckled his curass shee laid her hand upon his heart and finding there yet som remainder of warmth Ah! dear brother cried shee there is still som life in you and perhaps the gods will yet preserv you assist mee then you gods you that are all good and all powerful and let not the perfectest of your creatures perish for want of succour With that shee rose up from her brother and running through the wood shee called for aid even to things that were the most insensible while shee was in this sorrowful imploiment the stranger's Squire made most bitter lamentations over his Master and judging that alone hee could not give him that assistance which was necessarie left him to beg som help at the nearest houses Hee was alreadie gon and the night that came on apace redoubled Berenice's confusion and despair and plung'd her soul into inconceivable frights and terrors when her good fortune brought them to her from whom shee quickly received assistance It was Araxes Polemon and som of Lysimachus his servants whom the Princesses cries had drawn unto that place Araxes was in pain by reason of his Master 's long stay abroad and had been som hours in search of him with much disquiet No sooner did Berenice see him appear but shee ran affrighted to him and stretching forth her hands in a beseeching posture Whoëver you are cried shee if there bee any pitie in you succour a dying Prince and your assistance will bee bestowed on one that well deserv's it Scarce had shee spoke these words when Araxes thought hee knew that voice and though the little probabilitie there was in that encounter made him very uncertain in his belief yet did it caus him to look heedfully in her face where notwithstanding that darkness began to steal away the light hee observed so much resemblance to that of Berenice that his suspicions redoubled and were strong enough to make him crie O gods Madam what do I see can it bee you my honored Princess These words and her having met with Oroöndates made his faithful Araxes known to Berenice who received no small consolation by his sight shee was not able to dissemble it but forgetting her greatness and her ordinarie gravitie in a time when so many accidents had perplexed her shee embraced him and gave him a reception hee could not have hoped for from her in another season Araxes said shee 't is even I Araxes and the gods have put mee again into the arms of my dear brother onely to make mee a witness of his death Behold him here continued shee drawing near him behold your poor Prince yielding up his life with his bloud through a great number of wounds If Araxes was surprised with the unexspected encounter of Berenice hee was more sensibly strucken with her words and not losing time to answer her hee ran to him so lost and blinded with sudden
used mee with kindnesses suitable to the love hee had ever shown mee but though I was deeply afflicted at his departure I found som consolation in that of Arsacomes who made the voiage with him They went from Issedon and marched toward the Araxis with Forces that had drained a good part of the kingdom and which in probabilitie were like to defeat his Enemies you know better then I brother the progress they made and the circumstances of their first actions when they entred upon Darius his territories This part of the Princesses Discours bringing into Oroâ—ndates his minde the remembrance of Artaxerxes his death drew sighs from the bottom of his brest and tears from his eies in great abundance and the Princess not knowing the caus of them asked him if hee felt not som new indisposition but the Prince having wiped his eies and settled himself a little prayed her to continue her recital which shee did in these terms After the King's departure wee remained at Issedon very melancholie and pass'd all the time of his absence very sadly most of the principal men of Scythia beeing with him amongst whom all the Ladies of the Court had som bodie to griev for Stratonice visited mee often and paid mee great civilities but wee lived no more together with our former freedom and the interests of that ambitious Ladie had taken away part of the friendship shee had born mee Shee received many Letters from the King and Arsacomeâ— was so impudent as to write som to mee but they that delivered them from him were so ill received that they had no more the boldness to com to mee with such like messages As I have excused my self from the discours of the war so I hope you will excuse mee from the recital of what passed amongst us during the King's absence which is indeed of no great consequence and will bee pleased I may pass it over to tell you that having long wished for him wee saw him return to Issedon four Months after his departure the condition hee came home in put all Scythia in doubt what they should think touching the success of that war of that great and flourishing Armie wee had seen march away a short time before with such gallant hopes hee brought back nothing but pitiful reliques laden with wounds and which hardly made up the tenth part of what hee carried with him but these few shattered Forces boasted that they had cut all Darius his Army in pieces and slain his own son and all his chief Commanders upon the field which they had won However it were the King was received as if hee had returned with his whole Army victorious over all Persia and those that had accompanied him in the danger and hardship of his voiage had their part also in his reception Hee shewed as much kindness to mee as I exâ—pected but without doubt I had received more from him if Stratonice had not possessed his thoughts and if hee had not believed hee owed part of that time to her which in another season hee would have given to mee alone I will not lengthen my discours with relating his new expressions of affection to her they went beyond the exspectation of the whole Court and they for many daies were the whole entertainment of it but I was the less troubled becaus by the visites hee made her hee freed mee from those of Arsacomes who never came into my Chamber but with him Hee as they said had made himself remarkable in that war by many valiant actions and that reputation hee had gained had raised his pride to a greater height I had but too much knowledg of it by the continuation of his importunities and in all manner of encounterâ— hee lost no occasion of letting mee see hee persisted in the design of vexing mee all his life I took not more care to avoid his companie then hee did to seek for mine and the assurance hee had that it displeased mee was never strong enough to divert him from it I was one day in the Temple of Mars in the place appointed for mee when the King passing by mee followed by Arsacomes Theodates Cidaris and many others after hee had spake som few words to mee went on to Stratonice who was with her mother on the other side of the Temple and all those that accompanied him going thither also only Arsacomes staid behind with mee This action kindled mee with spite and anger which might have been observed in my countenance if any bodie had taken the care to look upon mee I turned not my eies towards him but keeping them fixt upon a praier book I held in my hand I used him with such a scorn as I was not wont to show to any bodie els yet was hee not repulsed with it but bowing down his head that hee might bee heard by none but mee hee said softly I dare not Madam ask justice for your usage of mee in any other place then before the god's since onely they are not below you and that onely they know with how much injustice you have condemned my zeal to serv you Hee had said more without question if I would have suffred him to proceed but though the consideration of the place where wee were and of the assembly kept mee from breaking forth as I should have don if hee had spoke to mee otherwhere yet did it not hinder mee from replying with a look of resentment and indignation Arsacomes if you continue to offend mee I will require justice my self of the King my father for the insolencie of his subject and since my own consideration is not strong enough to bring you into the respect you ow mee I will know from him whether hee approve's this carriage which so much displease's mee Arsacomes appeared a little strucken with these words but within a while after hee answered The King is so just Madam that I cannot fear his condemnation nor believ that my zeal to serv you will pass in his opinion for an offence These words redoubled my anger and made mee reply I account every thing an offence that com's from you since you have forc'd mee to it and I cannot receiv a more sensible one then that you do mee in interrupting my devotions to entertain mee with your follies Arsacomes who had not utterly lost all respect would not importune mee further and bowing down to the very ground hee went to wait upon the King who was discoursing with Stratonice In many other encounters wee had conversations of this nature and as hee persisted in the design of displeasing mee I persevered in the resolution I had taken to despise him all my life In the end his obstinacie tired but my patience and seeing with how much presumption hee continued to give mee marks of his love by all his discourses and by all his actions I determined to do what I had long deâ—err'd for fear of enraging him and knowing no other remedie to cut off the
in a terrible fright and brought forth words full of distraction and despair After I had let the first brunt of their sorrow pass over putting them back with a feeble hand Leav mee said I softly 't is I that have kil'd Theander Theander turning at these words Griev on Polemon cried hee 'tis I that am the murtherer of Alcione At this the general bewailing redoubled and presently after the Chyrurgians having enjoyn'd us silence desired to see our wounds Think onely upon Theander's said I if you would have mee recover save Alcione cried Theander and let mee die They may save both perchance said Polemon but for gods sake and for the affection you bear to one another suffer them to endeavor it Wee consented to my Father's intreaties and the Chyrurgians having search'd our wounds could not make any certain judgment of the success of them but as I have heard since they had much more hope of mee then of my husband who having struck the knife almost upon his naked flesh and with a greater force then I had made a deeper wound and in a more dangerous place When they had dressed us both they would have parted us but Theander never would consent to it and I opposed it with an obstinacie as great as his I know that I must die said Theander to them and though you flatter mee I feel well enough in what condition I am suffer mee therefore to pass the small remnant of my life with Alcione and envie not my last moments this last consolation After hee had obtained this of them hee turn'd toward mee and though hee was forbidden to speak hee ask'd mee pardon for his late usage of mee in terms able to have cleft the most savage hearts with pitie Ah! Theander said I interrupting him you have too fatally repaired it but 't is the loss of that bloud which was so dear to mee and perchance of that life which was ever mine that I cannot pardon you I would it pleased to the gods added Theander that I had thousand others to loos and that by loosing them altogether I could secure thine 't is I that tear it from thee I who liv'd onely by it and who with the price of my own ought to have defended thee against my unjust suspicions Theander answered I I know not what was the caus of them but I beseech you let mee know it that I may endeavor to justifie my self if you would have mee to die satisfied You are but too much justified replied Theander both by the first and by this last proof of your virtue and your bloud does but too much speak your innocence to him that most wrongfully suspected it yet to justifie my self of part of my cruelties and to obey your will I will tell what you desire to know of mee At these words though hee spake with pain and though he was put in minde that hee did himself hurt by talking long hee told mee his encounter that fatal night when hee saw one of my maids carrying a letter from mee to Cleonimus and then added other marks that Astiages had given him of our intelligence which after that last adventure had made som impression in his minde Although I was exceedingly moved at this discours I hearkn'd to it to the end and when hee had left speaking You had reason to hate mee said I after so great appearances of my infidelitie but to let you see wee have been betraied command the wench to bee called hither I had scarcely said so when shee came in of her self As wicked as shee was her wickedness went not so far as to desire our death and though shee had served Astiages in his perfidious intentions shee had not thought her treacheries would have produced such bloudie and such fatal effects Whatever it were shee was then touch'd with so great a repentance that in stead of flying as shee easily might have don shee fell down upon her knees at the beds feet melting into tears tearing her hair and doing all the actions of a desperate person Make mee bee put to death Madam cried shee and I shall bee too gently punished if I suffer but one death in the sharpest torments that ever were invented I have basely betrai'd you Madam the promises and threats of Astiages and Bagistanes seduced mee to the prejudice of my dutie Astiages instructed mee in this last adventure which hath caused all your misfortunes I did nothing in all that action but what hee directed mee word for word and while I spake unto his brother hee stood conceal'd within the Porch to keep him from hurting mee as I ought to have feared hee would in his anger The wench said many other things to which I lent no attention and while shee call'd to bee put death and that by all her actions shee expressed a heartie repentance I turned toward Theander who lifting up his eies to heaven testified his astonishment by his silence Well now Theander said I have you any thing more to desire for my justication I would have desired answered hee that instead of turning the knife against your self you should have stabb'd it into the heart of this credulous ingrateful man 't is the onely fault you have committed and the only one which I ought never to pardon you Hee made a stopt at these words and of a sudden lifting up his hands O gods pursued hee since you suffer mee to die without punishing Astiages for his perfidiousness Will not you take that care for mee and will you not revenge upon him and Bagistanes this bloud which they have so treacherously and so inhumanely shed Then after hee had held his peace awhile And Cleonimus said hee the innocent Cleonimas what is becom of him Hee is gon answered I after hee once knew that you suspected him and to free you for ever from that occasion I have given him an eternal farewel What replied Theander shall I die then without seeing Cleonimus and shall I die justly hated of Cleonimus This thought touch'd him so deeply that it fetched tears from his eies in great abundance and hee would yet have continued to discours longer but my Father and Mother and many of his nearest friends and mine who were alreadie com into our Chamber did so intreat him and mee also that to satisfie them wee gave our selvs to rest and to that silence they desired of us for the remainder of the day My Mother kept still close by us to make us observ it and the mutual assurance wee had of each others affection and innocence having banished part of our despair perswaded us the more easily to that compliance Astiages was gon from Babylon a day or two before and Bagistanes though hee heard of our misfortune durst not present himself before us The maid that had been the caus of all our sorrows was turned away and though many judged it fit shee should bee punished I praied them to pardon her and to content themselvs with
sentence whereby shee had condemned her self to so many torments but that great Princess stopping my mouth as soon as ever I mentioned it It is just said shee that I should suffer since I have committed faults which deserv the punishment the gods have sent mee but it is unjust that Oroöndates should return and I know very well both how to suffer and how to die if it bee necessarie rather then revoke a sentence which my dutie alone hath pronounced This indeed was the Queen's own resolution but shee was also confirm'd in it by the Princess her sister to whom shee had totally open'd her heart with all manner of freedom and who having in all her actions but particularly in the applications made to her by Prince Lysimachus and Hephestion appeared as a prodigie of sublime virtue gave no counsels to the Queen that were not most conformable to what shee had practised all her life Wee spent our time thus in solitude and in ignorance of all that passed other where when the whole earth almost changed form by the Death of Alexander the Great to whom the Queen his wife had at her departure innocently given her last farewells receiving from him his last embraces I believ it was by the express order that was taken in it that wee alone were ignorant of a loss wherein the whole world was interested when one of the King's guard came to the Castle where wee were with a letter from his Master Cleone would have prosecuted her narration and have told the Prince what hee alreadie had learn'd from Lysimachus but Oroöndates who hearken'd to her with impatience and who was willing to spare her the pains of relating what hee knew before interrupted her in this place I am not ignorant said hee which way you were deceived nor how you were brought before the wicked Roxâ—na and died in the opinion of every bodie but I know not how you were saved nor how the Queen hath lived since and that 's it if you pleas which I desire to learn without troubling you in the recital of things I have heard alreadie These words shortned Cleone's relation and Oroöndates telling her what hee knew when shee had confirm'd it shee proceeded thus I will add to what is com to your ear from the mouth of Tireus that after Perdiccas had put the Queen the Princess her sister and mee into the chariot and was com into it himself with his brother Alcetas and another of his companie hee made it take the way toward Roxana's hous and seeing those poor Princesses express their grief and their apprehension by tears and cries full of despair hee whispered the Queen in the ear so low that hee could not bee overheard but by his brother and the Princess Parisatis Bee not afraid Madam said hee they would destroy you but I will save you with the peril of my fortune and of my life The Princesses were so troubled that they scarcely understood those words which were sufficient either to reassure them or fright them more and in the mean time they drove so fast that within a short space wee arrived at Roxana's hous I will not tell you again the Queens encounter with her nor the words of that cruel woman which in spite of Perdiccas his promise were enough to have struck a mortal terror in persons whose love of life had not been quite extinguish'd but the Queen in whom the fatal news of the King's death had absolutely taken away all desire of it hearkned to her threats unmoved and not hoping for any safetie shee followed Perdiccas and Alcetas who led us out of the great chamber down a back stair while cruel Roxana placed her self at the window to feed her eies with a sight shee had so inhumanely prepared 'T was with much ado that Perdiccas kept her from going down into the Court her self and her interest in the death of Darius his daughters was so great that shee could not believ it certain unless shee were present Wee were half way down the stairs that led into that fatal Court when coming to a chamber door Perdiccas made us go in and leaving us there in the custodie of his brother hee took certain women out from thence with him which hee before had put under the guard of three or four of his men in whom hee had a great deal of confidence They were slaves as wee have heard since which hee had clothed in habits little different from those the Princesses were wont to wear and having plotted with his brother and those whom hee trusted most how hee might abuse the eies of Roxana's sight whom hee was necessitated to obey for very important reasons hee had caus'd them to bee brought into that chamber secretly by men of whose fidelitie hee was most assured With these miserable wretches it was that those cruel murtherers went down the rest of the stairs into the Court stopping their mouths with hankerchiefs for fear their cries should discover the deceit and 't was by the bloud of those unfortunate creatures that they contented Roxana's in humane ambition and deluded her sight true it is that the darkness and distance contributed very much though Roxana stirred not from the window till the end of the execution and that there were lighted torches in the Court but it is certain that in open day and in another place it had been very difficult to carrie the enterprise on that manner In the mean time wee continued in the custodie of Alcetas and of som of his men and for fear the nois wee might have made should discover the Princesses to their enemies they led us out of that first chamber into another further from the stairs Wee were in so great a trouble that neither fear nor hope had leisure to take place in our souls and wee remained for som time so stupified that neither the apprehension of death nor the desire of safetie could work any thing upon us but in this confusion the Queens grief was more powerful then all her other thoughts and remembring the news cruel Roxana had told her of the death of the King her husband shee was so nearly touch'd with it that shee hardly had strength to stand upon her legs and indeed shee cast her self presently upon the side of a bed that was in the room and the Princess Parisatis and I beeing set down by her shee began to solemnize her loss with a river of tears which could not draw its source from any thing but a most sensible and a most real sorrow No Sir I know you will not bee offended when I tell you the Queen was in as great an affliction for the death of that Illustrious husband as could bee expected from so virtuous a Princess and that shee was as deeply strucken with it as if that affection had been settled in her heart from her earliest years and had neither been crossed by the remembrance of her losses nor by her thoughts of you Neither
the fear of death which shee did not believ shee had utterly avoided and the object whereof was still before her eies nor the ruine of her affairs which this change brought into a manifest declining found any place at all in her imagination when shee settled in it the remembrance of that great man whom the gods had given her for her husband and in all her actions shee made it appear that her interest had no share at all in what proceeded from a pure and heartie affection The Princess Parisatis whose greatest trouble at that time was caused by her compassion of the Queen her sisters grief shewed more assurance then shee and did all to comfort her that could bee looked for from so great a friendship as hers Wee were thus mournfully imploied when Alcetas drew near the bed and addressing himself to the Queen Madam said hee fear not the greatest danger is past and if you will but keep silence a while in this chamber my brother and I will save you or perish with you Roxana ha's been as happily deceived as wee could wish and wee onely stay for my brother's return to carrie you away from hence and put you into a place of safetie if you bee discovered wee have those here at our devotion with whom wee can defend you by open force but if wee can save you without nois both your condition and ours will bee much the better While Alcetas spoke on this manner the Queen turned her head toward him and in stead of answering to his offers Is it true Alcetas said shee that the King is dead Hee is Madam replied Alcetas and Roxana to secure the kingdom to the childe shee is now big withal would have extinguished all the race of Darius after him and all those persons that might bring any obstacle to her power If the King bee dead added the Queen why do you oppose Roxana's will and why do you prolong a life wherein I shall finde no sweetness after the loss of such a husband let them perish let them perish these miserable reliques of Darius his familie and if Roxana bee so thirstie of the bloud of those who heretofore were her soveraigns and her Mistresses sacrifice to her rage this unfortunate woman who will live no longer and save onely my sister shee never was Alexander's wife and though shee was Darius his daughter shee is not in a condition to contest for those Dominions that once were his against so many successors of your King The Princess Parisatis interrupting the Queen at this discours Ask nothing for mee Madam said shee since life ought not to bee dearer to mee then to you my losses are of the nature of yours and though they bee neither so fresh nor so considerable by the difference of the persons wee enjoyed know that affection may equal them in our minds and that the part I bear in your affliction absolutely take's away all the advantage it could have over mine The Queen not beeing in an estate to dispute it with her onely pressed her between her arms and bathed her face with tears which ran from her eies in great abundance yet did shee draw strength from her courage to enquire of Alcetas concerning the King's death and hee having given her an exact account of it that sorrowful Queen at the end of his discours fell into faintings wherein for want of help shee was like to have died between our arms After shee was com'n to her self again shee began to bring forth the most woful lamentations that the greatness of her affection and the merit of the person shee bewailed could put into her mouth Alcetas praied her in vain to bee silent for her safeties sake shee was not capable of that consideration and I think verily her cries would have discovered us at last if Perdiccas had not com into the Chamber Hee instantly praied the Queeen to rise from the bed where shee was set to go along with him to a place of securitie whither hee would carrie her but shee made little reckoning of what hee said and if the Princess her sister and I had not raised her up almost by force shee would have continued there to expect her destinie Wee went out of the Chamber without any lights and passed through a Gallerie at the end whereof there was a little pair of stairs which wee went down and so out of that detestable hous wee found a Chariot at the door into which Perdiccas making us get up took his place there with us and his brother and one of his friends with him and then the Charioteer who had his directions what to do drove presently to his hous where wee now are and where the Queen as well as you hath passed a part of her exile Here Oroöndates interrupting Cleone's Narration O gods said hee is it possible my Princess should have so ingratefully concealed her self from mee if shee knew the place where I was the condition I was in for her sake Is it possible shee should have been able to lodg with mee under the same roof without giving mee at least the news of her beeing alive since that of her beeing dead had brought mee so near unto my grave O what an excess of crueltie O what a prodigie of ingratitude Hee ended these words with a deep sigh and Cleone going on with her Relation Stay but for the end of my discours continued shee and then if you finde reason for it you shall bee permitted to condemn her 'T was not under the same roof wee lodg'd but at the end of this Garden there is a little hous containing onely a couple of Chambers and a closet or two where wee made our abode Perdiccas who by one of his followers that was Polemon's kinsman had made an agreement for our retreat hither thought it â—ittest for us to lie in that place as beeing further out of the way less in sight and less subject to those encounters which may happen in a hous where a whole Family is lodg'd Hee proposed it to the Princess and mee as wee were coming seeing the Queen was incapable of all conversation and desiring for the interest of his own affairs and as hee told us for that of their safetie that it should bee unknown to the whole world hee praied us to conceal our selvâ— very carefully since our ruine was inevitable if wee were discovered and that Roxana was so absolute over the Macedonians that it would bee impossible for us to escape if the place of our retreat were known Hee told the Princesses likewise that hee could not undertake their protection openly against Roxana beeing joyned in interest with her and having been declared governor of the childe that should bee born of her but that if they would assist on their part and keep themselvs hid as hee desired hee promised to divert all the dangers that threatned them Hee then endeavored to set a high value upon that obligation and represented to them that
which perchance one might have reproached her if after the death of the King her husband shee had continued in her former fortune or but so much as in any safetie and in short I urged all that I thought reasonable in your defence and the Princess her sister who all her life time had approved a strict severitie finding a great deal of reason in what I said contented her self with hearing it without arguing for it or against it and having alwaies perfectly esteemed your person though her thoughts were the same with the Queens shee would do nothing that might prejudice you The Queen was not at all shaken by my words but after shee had given me libertie enough to speak my minde Know Cleone said shee that besides the interests of mine honor and of my dignitie Love is as powerful in my soul for Alexander as it was heretofore for Oroöndates these two afflictions combat in my heart with an equal advantage but dutie which take's part with the later and the more legitimate make 's the victorie turn to that side Alexander is dead 't is true but my affection is not dead with him and having been really such as it ought to bee I have no difficultie to accommodate my dutie with it But Madam said I what shall becom then of this poor Prince whom you precipitate more then ever into that sea of misfortunes out of which after so many crosses the goodness of the gods seemed to have delivered him In this replied the Queen the gods labor for his repose and mine hee shall live in the same error with the rest of men and the belief of my death will make him retire into his Countrie where hee will live with more tranquillitie then hee ha's don formerly Ah! Madam cried I how full of inhumanitie and ingratitude is this discours you know Oroöndates and the love hee bears you too well to believ hee can live after the news of your death What will you have the heart to hear hee is so near you without letting him at least know that you are alive to prevent by that knowledg the violent resolutious which that error wherein you would have him live would doubtless make him take If you could answer for Oroöndates said the Queen hastily that hee should love mee no more or that hee should no more require an affection from mee which I no more can allow to man I would see him and draw a great deal of consolation from that sight but Cleone do you think you could obtain this of him for our common repose In this proposition replied I thereis so little likelihood and so little justice that I will never make it to him while I live Talk to mee no more on 't then answered the Queen since there is less of both in that you desire of mee The Queen spake these last words in such an imperious way that I durst argue no longer and I believed it not best to set my self so soon to overcom her will in which perchance time would more easily make an alteration wherefore I onely said Do not torment your self so much Madam with the persecutions you apprehend from that poor Prince perhaps Alcione may bee deceived and if it should bee really hee what do wee know but that his wound may be mortal and that hee may quickly bee in a condition to leav you in that repose you so much desire The Queen was not well pleased with that reply as I found by her looks and falling of a sudden into a fatal thought If Oroöndates die added shee I will infallibly die with him and though my sister disapprove these violent passions I will nevertheless confess before her that I should finde less difficultie in dying for him then in consenting to see him again Wee were in this discours when Alcione came back from the errand shee had been sent on and having enquired of her concerning their new guest shee told us that according to the Chirurgians report his wound was not mortal that shee had seen his face a second time and that though hee endeavored very carefully to keep himself from beeing known shee was more then ever confirmed in her opinion that it was Prince Oroöndates The Queen trembled at this confirmation but shee dissembled her sence of it before Alcione and calling mee to her bed side shee talk'd with mee a great while of you in terms full of the marks of a violent passion but of a passion that was subject unto her dutie and that feared and trembled at the memorie of Alexander shee passed all the night in cruel agitations and these new disquiets mingled themselvs so strongly with the former that they banished out of her minde all the hope of quiet which yet was left there If the remembrance of Alexander came into her thoughts with its most powerful advantages you presently appeared before her in the most lovely charming form you ever had and if that figure wrought any effect upon her heart the memorie of Alexander again banished it as a criminal seducer or as an enemie whose very approaches were dangerous to her reputation if in the most violent of her thoughts shee cried out O Alexander O Oroöndates would shee add instantly after it yet shee brought forth that last name but as it were by stealth and that constraint shee used upon her self in favor of it made it more dear to her then if shee had pronounced it in a perfect libertie The whole night was spent on this manner neither her weariness nor her former watchings beeing able to bring sleep upon her eie-lids and the Sun no sooner appeared in her Chamber-window but her cruel disquiets making her hate her bed shee call'd to mee to bring her cloathes I gave her those that were destined to her since the change of her name which were Polemon's daughters and which as plain as they were took off nothing from the Majestie of her ordinarie luster Shee was hardly readie when beeing desirous to clear her doubts with more assurance shee sent for old Polemon in whom shee had alreadie found a great deal of understanding discretion and zeal to serv her and as soon as hee was at her Chamber door shee rested her self upon his hand and went down alone with him into the garden where shee sought out the most private walks to entertain him with more libertie and less danger of beeing discovered but scarce had shee begun to propose her doubts to him when shee saw her self close by two men who as wee have learned since were Lysimachus and Araxes shee was surprised at that sight and beeing unwilling to bee known shee turned away of a sudden and leaving Polemon went out of the garden at a little door which led her into the Wood. Within awhile after Polemon beeing com into our lodging told the Queen that hee was no more able then his daughter to inform her touching what shee desired to know of him but that his thoughts agreed with
at the estate in which shee saw her self What said shee again is it then the wife of Alexander the Great and of Alexander dead but three daies ago that run's impudently to seek a man that ha's loved her in his verie bed This reflection confounding her and stirring her up against her self made her rise up from the chair where shee sate to go out of the Chamber which shee began to look upon as a place of shame and reproach to her Let us flie said shee in anger let us flie from a place fatal to our reputation and make amends for the fault wee have commited by a firm resolution never to do the like again while wee live But at the moment of that separation shee could not forbear casting back her eies upon you and that object insensibly dissipating her severer thoughts pull'd her back with more weakness and more tenderness then before Oh! Orontes added shee with a deep sigh how hard it is to keep ones resolutions against you or rather how difficult it is to see you and remember you without loving you In this confusion of minde shee floated so long that the Sun beginning to appear brought light into the whole Chamber but shee forgot her self so sweetly near you that shee took not notice of the stay shee made and her several disquiets had so distracted her that I believ shee would have staied there longer if shee had not heard you sigh twice or thrice and seen you awhile after stretch forth your arms and open your eies Nothing but your wakening was able to make her go out of the Chamber but besides that shee at the same time heard the other door open and beeing unwilling to bee surprised shee ran hastily away and shutting the door after her went back to Alcione who waited for her in the Gallerie from whence the Princess Parisatis was gon away before having perceived a man at the other end of it This discours of Cleones recalling into the Princes minde the remembrance of his Vision O Statira cried hee I saw you for all the suddenness of you departure I saw you vanish like lightning but my thoughts never reached the truth of this adventure I took you your self to bee but the Ghost of my Queen that came to demand the revenge I owed her against her barbarous murtherers and Prince Lysimachus who had a glimps of Princess Parisatis in the Gallerie had the same conceipt I was far enough from imagining that at that same instant while I bewailed your loss with tears of bloud and while I preserved the remnant of my miserable life to revenge your death you could bee so near mee as not to vouchsafe to draw mee out of that error which had brought mee so near unto my grave the gods would have mee ignorant of it then but 't is their pleasure I should learn it now that I might receiv confirmations of your hard-heartedness toward mee If you have found her so in other encounters replied Cleone I do not think you have any caus in this action to complain of her nor ought you to take it as a light mark of affection in a person of her qualitie and humor and to say truth shee esteemed it one of the boldest and most dangerous shee had ever ventured upon in all her life and if you had desired part of her bloud from her shee would more easily have granted it then such a visit Shee came away so troubled that I feared som strange accident had happened to her and shee told mee all with such tender moving expressions that shee drew tears of compassion from mee I have seen him Cleone said shee I have seen poor Oroöndates but 't was onely to redouble my grief the more heavily as pale as hee is hee is yet as lovely as ever hee was and I would it pleased the gods that either hee had ceased to bee so or that I could ceas to bee sensible or ceas to live since it is not their will that I should live for him After many discourses of that nature shee went forth into the Wood where shee sought out the most gloomie secret places to trust her sorrows to them and that they might bear a share in them shee took a bodkin which I gave her and under the name of Cassandra engraved part of her discontents upon the Rocks and upon the barks of the trees After that day shee passed som others in these sad imploiments without beeing able to resolv to discover her self to you nor to attempt the hazzard of a second visit and I know not whether shee could have persisted in that minde but shee received a surcharge in her affliction which cast her utterly down and which joined to her other sorrows put her into a feaver which made her keep her bed almost all the time that you did so it was the news of the death of Queen Sysigambis whom their loss together with her grief for that of Alexander had brought unto her grave which shee voluntarily preferred before the life shee could lead after the death of those that were so dear to her The two Princesses were so infinitely sorrowful for the loss of that great Queen that they were hardly to bee comforted and if Princess Parisatis had not striven against her grief to take care of her sister in her sickness shee would quickly have been in a condition little different from hers During all the time the Queen kept her bed all her thoughts were divided between you and her deceased husband shee never said any thing that could show any trouble for the loss of Darius his Empires nor of those which shee had since possessed with Alexander in more glorie then any Princess of the world shee never thought of the fall of her hous nor of the prosperitie of her enemies and the little power shee had to revenge her self on them shee never envied Roxana's fortune nor ever made any complaint against her but shee appeared afflicted only for having lost Alexander and for having lost the hope of possessing Oroöndates without blame Shee asked mee how you did a hundred times a day and I informed my self of Alcione and Polemon that I might tell her Wee quickly heard that Lysimachus was with you and the Princess Euridice learn'd that news with inward alterations able to show that hee was not indifferent to her but such was her humor that after that which had passed between them and which was commonly known shee would have been more unwilling to discover her self to him then to all the men in the world That high severitie caused a great deal of constraint in her and 't was not without much ado that shee concealed her self from him to obey that regular virtue yet did shee take such care to hinder all communication between your lodging and ours that your people never suspected any thing of our abode and Alcetas who visited us often but alwaies by night never had the least suspicion of Lysimachus his
him their services and to satisfie the desire they had to know a man of so infinite merit After this conversation they fell upon the discours of their affairs and Lysimachus giving Oroöndates an account of what hee had don since his departure from him made him acquainted that Ptolomeus Eumenes and hee had sent to make levies in the territories that were fallen to their shares that they had advertised all their friends who were gon away to retire to theirs that at the first sending they all had voluntarily joined themselvs with them in a league offensive and defensive and that within a fortnight all their forces were to meet at a little Town but half a daies journie from Babylon that Perdiccas and Roxana made no less preparations on their side that all their allies met daily at Babylon and that the bodie of their armie was formed on the other side of the Euphrates whereof they had the passage free by a great many bridges there were within the citie Oroöndates trembled with a generous impatiencie at this discours and expressed to Lysimachus his fear of beeing kept by his wounds from making one in the first occasions to which hee wish'd for som delay lest there should bee any thing don without him But Lysimachus satisfied him with an assurance that before his recoverie all the forces could not bee com up and in a condition to attempt any thing and that on the other side Perdiccas his wounds were a great obstacle to their enemies designs and that if they did not ruine their affairs they would at least retard them and give a great deal of facilitie and furtherance to theirs They would have conversed longer if Amintas had not put his Master in minde that Oroöndates had disordered himself very much that day for a man so wounded as hee was and that so long talking was very prejudicial to his health Lysimachus beeing in fear for a friend of that importance carried the rest out of his chamber though Oroöndates did his endevors to retain them and going down into the garden they began to walk there with an intention not to see Oroöndates again till the next day In the mean time the impatient Thalestris who guided by Hippolita was gon in quest of Berenice had vainly imploied part of the day in seeking her shee overran all the plain near to Babylon and there was not a place either upon the bank of the river or in the neighboring woods whither her affection had not made her direct her steps shee met no bodie of whom shee did not inform her self and shee had been at the very gates of Babylon to enquire for her but seeing her search was unprofitable on that side shee had turned back the same way towards Polemons hous and leaving it upon the left hand shee kept still along by the river side The separation from such a friend was so sensible to her that shee could finde no consolation O gods said shee did you give the acquaintance of so lovely a Princess to take her from mee so suddenly and must you needs deprive mee of a happiness which sweetned part of my sorrows and which I had hardly begun to taste were you not satisfied with the pains I have taken in prosecution of my faithless Orontes without exposing my bodie to new toils and my minde to new discontents In uttering these and such like words shee came into the walk which beginning at the temple of Apollo reached unto the river side and turning her head upon the left hand shee saw the gate of the Temple at the end of the alley Shee had often heard speak of those Oracles and lately of that which Lysimachus had received there that remembrance gave her a desire to consult the god as well concerning the present design which had brought her abroad as the success of her own fortune and shee believ'd shee ought not to neglect that encounter since it was not without som care of her interests that contrarie to her intention the gods had guided her steps unto that place In this thought shee turned her and went to alight at the gate of the Temple beeing it was not any curiositie that led her thither shee spent no time in viewing the beauties of it but making her praier unto the god both for the recoverie of Berenice and for her own interests shee expected his answer awhile which at last was delivered to her by the mouth of the Priest in these terms The Oracle Heaven to thy rest no more avers will bee To it refer the sisters Destinie Since thine back to the brother summon's thee Where thou thy heart and fortune chang'd shalt see This answer pleasingly surprised the fair Amazon and finding in it more caus of consolation then shee had looked for shee humbly return'd her thanks unto the god for the hopes hee gave her and rising from the place where shee had prostrated her self shee went out of the Temple much more satisfied then shee was before Hippolita observ'd som alteration in her face and having asked her the caus of it the Queen repeated the words of the Oracle to her and getting on hors-back took her way towards Polemon's hous Shee by the command of the god saw her search at an end and since heaven reserved the care of Berenice expresly to it self shee could not without incensing it persevere in her intended prosecution wherefore in obedience to it shee gave over that thought and was confirmed in the design of returning to Oroöndates since that besides the desire shee had to serv him in his affairs 't was there shee was to expect the change of her fortune Shee made a long reflection upon that promiss of the gods and having mused on it a great while what change said shee can I hope for in my condition Is it the forgetting the repentance or the death of my faithless Orontes Ah! for forgetting him I should look for that but in vain and I ought never to think that my soul can lose the remembrance either of its first passion or of the offence I have received both of them are ingraven in everlasting characters and except I ceas to live I can neither ceas to hate nor to remember Orontes Shall it bee from the repentance of that disloial man that I shall draw my satisfaction Ah! I ought much less to hope for that and the offences I have received from him are not of a nature to bee repaired Though hee should begin again to love mee with as much violence as hee expressed in his first passion I should lose nothing of that hatred I bear him and my soul is so harden'd against that ingrateful man that it could never bee touch'd by all the marks hee could shew of his repentance 'T is then in his death alone that I ought to ground my hopes and 't is that infallibly which the gods do promiss mee it is the greatest of all the favors I can receiv from them and when I
Thalestris remembring shee had heard the Prince and Araxes speak of those two faithful servants cast her eies upon Hippolita and praising her destinie which in the persons of men had made her do service to a Prince for whom shee had a very great esteem shee appeared extreamly satisfied with this encounter and stretching out her hands to them you are not unknown to me said shee but now I have don you this good office I will also restore you to your Master who affords mee a place in the number of his friends and in whom your fidelitie ha's caused an exceeding trouble for your loss Toxaris and Loncates who had not hoped in so short a time for their lives their liberties and their Master who was dearer to them then both were transported with joy at this promise and having cast themselvs once again at Thalestris's seet testified by thier actions of what nature the affection was which they bore unto their Master The Queen having confirmed her promise commanded them to follow her and the two Sythian's beeing mounted upon two of their slain enemies horses took her way again to Polemon's hous where shee arrived within a little after Lysimachus Ptolomeus Eumenes and Araxes were in the Court when shee came in and as soon as Lysimachus saw her appear hee ran to meet her and helping her from her hors kissed her hand with much humilitie and received her affable salutation with great respect After the first words of civilitie Lysimachus presented his companions to her of whom hee had spoken to them in terms which had strucken them into an admiration of her valor and the names of those great personages were alreadie so well known through the whole world that the Queen by hearing Lysimachus pronounce them presently knew what shee ought to pay them Araxes no sooner saw Loncates and Toxaris appear but hee ran to them full of joy for their return and embraced them with an extream affection The fair Amazone having staid awhile with the Princes in a respectful and obliging conversation was desirous to see Oroöndates both to give him an account of her little voiage and to present him his two servants but Lysimachus by the counsel of Amintas praied her to deferr her visit till the next morning becaus the Prince had that day committed such excesses as were able to impair the health of one less weakned then hee was The Queen had much ado to consent to that delay but in the end did it as well by reason of their entreatie as in consideration of the Prince who was infinitely dear to her and to pass the rest of the day less tediously Lysimachus desired Hippolita to favor both his friends and himself with the recital of her Mistresses adventures and the Queen having given her leav shee recounted them almost in the same manner as they had been told to Oroöndates but as that discours wrought great admiration in the Princes so did it waken sad remembrances in Thalestris and put her som time into a melancholy which made them almost repent their curiositie In the interim Oroöndates joining his sisters departure to his other afflictions and seeing the day pass without hearing any news of her fell into very sensible disquiets hee often enquired after her of Araxes who alone came into his Chamber and seeing hee could learn nothing when night came on hee was excessively afflicted at that accident The next day as soon as the Physitian gave way hee should bee seen Thalestris went into his Chamber followed by the Princes and by the faithful servants which shee brought back unto their Master Oroöndates no sooner saw her enter but hee raised himself upon his pillow as much as hee was able and welcomed her with great respect and submission hee received the Princes with the same civilitie but when after them hee saw the two servants hee had lost upon their knees by his bedside hee was surprised with astonishment and seized at the sight of them with much joy and tenderness Hee cast his arm which lay out of bed about their necks and asking the Queen who presented them to him which way shee had hapned to finde them shee told him the truth of it in a few words At the knowledg of that obligation the Prince broke forth into the most acknowledging expressions hee could invent to give her thanks for so great a favor and shee received them so modestly that shee engaged him almost as much by the civilitie of her discours as shee had don by the effects of her valor Hee afterwards would have enquired concerning Berenice but shee prevented him by relating the success of her short journie and repeating the words of the Oracle that had been given her Oroöndates thereby received a double consolation one by the promise the gods made him to take care of his sister which ought to put an end to all the trouble hee was in for her the other by the hopes they gave Thalestris whose interests were extreamly dear to him When hee had talked with her awhile about the words of the Oracle and had endeavored to finde the gentlest sens of them and a less cruel exposition then that shee made hee entreated the companie to pardon the desire hee had to learn in their presence the caus that had so long retarded the return of his servants which was like to have som important reason and asking Toxaris what it was hee stept back in the presence of so many persons whom hee knew not and made som difficultie of speaking in so much companie touching his Masters secret affairs but hee knowing the caus of his silence and beeing willing to take away his jealousie speak said hee Toxaris and disguise nothing before these illustrous friends who are not at all suspected to mee and from whom I never will conceal any thing Toxaris having received this command came forward again and thus began his Narration The Historie of Roxana WEe were within a daies journie of this place when your Highness after having heard of Alexander's death commanded mee to go to Babylon to enquire news of Queen Statira and of other persons in whom you had an interest I rode thither with speed enough and arrived at the Citie when it began to grow dark I found all full of mourning disorder and confusion and in that general hurliburly I had much ado to get a lodging I will not detain you with the condition in which the King's death had put all things at Babylon you are better informed of that then I and these great Princes whom I see with you whose interests were the most considerable and whose sidings made part of those disorders may have acquainted you with the circumstances of them I will onely tell you that at the first news I asked concerning the Queen I heard shee was at the Castle of Calcis whither by reason of som indisposition shee had retired with the Princess her sister a little before her husbands death Not beeing
able to learn any thing more particularly I went out of my lodging and in the darkness and general trouble I resolved to make use of all my industrie to instruct my self in all those things which you desired to know and which might bee advantageous to your intentions By the abode of four or five moneths you had formerly made at Babylon with King Darius I was perfect in all the streets of the Citie and knew particularly all the lodgings of the Palace beyond the Lake where Darius commonly kept his Court where King Alexander died and where Queen Roxana lay at that time I walked a great while up and down the streets where I saw a thousand images of desolation sorrow and universal affrightment the windows of all the inhabitants were full of lighted Torches which burned in a mournful fashion there were heard in manie houses as loud cries as if in his death they had found their general loss all the passages were chained and there were fires and Corps de garde in every Market place and all the cross streets were full of armed men who ranked themselvs according to the different parties and whereof the greatest number desired nothing but sedition and disorder One might see the Princes who stood for great Offices and for the Soveraign Autoritie pass up down severally guarded either according to their credit or according to their qualitie in short all things represented a new â—ace of affairs I considered them no further then I thought they might bee useful to your interests and after having wandred about a long hour to no purpose I came to the Palace where Roxana was lodged and whereof all the corners are as well known to mee as if I had dwelt there all my life I found so great a number of Guards about the Gate that I presently despaired of getting in and indeed I was thinking to go my way when I saw Perdiccas com followed with so great a train that the street was even quite filled with it As soon as hee was named the Guards made a lane to give him passage and though there was order given to suffer but few to enter with him the croud was too strong for the resistance of those that kept the Gate and I thrust my self so close among the rest that I was of the number of those that got in Perdiccas having asked where the Queen was heard that shee expected him in the Garden whether shee was gon down by reason of the excessive heat which had been that day and where upon the Bank of the River which washes the side of it shee was taking the cool aër with som of her women Perdiccas having crossed through two Courts came to the Garden Gate where wee likewise found a verie strong Guard and where with as much ado as before I at last got in with him The Torches were all left without in the Court and the Moon which gave light enough for the Queen to walk by served also for the discours between her and Perdiccas I will not describe the fashion of her habit it was so dark I could not well discern it all that I was able to observ was that shee had alreadie put on her night dressing and that the rest of her apparel was black sutable to the condition shee then was in Perdiccas went up to her alone and all those that came in with him staying at the end of an Allie Roxana's women did the same and left her at libertie to talk with him Wee could not hear any thing they said but within awhile after seeing them take their walk in an Allie upon the edg of the stream close by which I knew there was another that was covered wherein I might follow them step by step and hear all their conversation I resolved to hazzard somthing that I might finde an occasion to do you som service That which made mee have such a desire to hearken to them that to satisfie it I put my self in danger was the knowledg I had of the mortal hatred Roxana bore to Queen Statira and my belief that in that revolution of affairs and in those enterviews with Perdiccas by night shee might perchance contrive somthing against her That suspicion which within awhile after I should have thought had been inspired into mee by the gods if they had suffered mee to make use of it to prevent those mischiefs incited mee to play the spie and for that purpose slipping along a pail without beeing taken notice of or having my intention so much as dreamt of I stole into that covered Allie on the outside whereof Roxana and Perdiccas were walking My design succeeded as I could have wished and thinking no bodie over-heard them they spake not so low but that having nothing between them and mee except a few boughs I could easily understand all they said I walked just as they walked and turned at the end of the Allie as they did but with as little nois and as much circumspection as was possible I knew by the first words I heard that my suspicion was not causless for after a little silence Perdiccas spake on this manner How great a design soever I have to pleas serv you Madam I cannot but feel a repugnancie against the proposition you make to mee and I cannot without horror remember that to obey you I must imbrue my hands in the bloud of two women of two great and virtuous Princesses whereof one was the wife of my King and the other is the widow of my friend their sex their qualitie and the memorie of their brave illustrious husbands divert both my arm and heart from that atempt and I could willingly wish som other more gentle and more fitting expedient might bee found to satisfie you and to establish that securitie you demand It is not and I call the gods to witness that I would refuse the most dangerous occasions to obey you nor but that the honor your Majestie doe's mee to link my interest with yours is more considerable to mee then all the fortune I can pretend to by other means but yet I cannot overcom those difficulties in my soul which som remainders of virtue produce there against this enterprise and in this execution even my hand it self refuses to serv in the design I have to obey you Perdiccas without doubt would have said more if the Queen had not interrupted him thus One may bee scrupulous as you are Perdiccas when the question is concerning less then the Empire of the World and I protest to you I feel little less repugnance then you do against this crueltie to which wee are compelled by the necessitie of our affairs but do you think there can bee any securitie for the son and for the widow of Alexander or for the Macedonian Princes so long as Darius his daughters are alive do you believ that this calm which Alexander settled with so much bloud and with so much difficultie can last after his
by the light of the Torches made himself way and coming to mee O Toxaris said hee is it you I instantly lift up my head overjoied to meet one of my acquaintance in that necessitie and fixing my eies upon his face I knew the man who had spoken to mee to bee Arbates that faithless servant of yours that had been who corrupted by Roxana's presents stole the Bracelet from you at Damascus which you had received from Statira who a great while after carried it to her with the Letter you write unto Roxana and who in short had managed all that treacherie which caused such bloudie effects and from which almost all your losses have proceeded Although his infidelitie made mee to abhor him I confess I was glad to see him at that time hoping that by reason of our old acquaintance hee would bee a means to procure my safetie and my libertie as soon as I had perfectly called him to minde and gotten a little confidence by that encounter Yes Arbates said I I am Toxaris Then I presently saw that fals man draw near unto Roxana and having desired audience for two or three words hee spake to her awhile so softly that no bodie could over-hear him and when they had don talking Roxana turning towards one of the Captains of her Guard Carrie this fellow said shee to a place of securitie and use him according to the directions of Arbates who shall let you know my pleasure At that command they took mee from before her who went out of the Garden at the same time and Arbates guiding him that led mee out of the Palace I was brought to a hous which was appointed for my prison where they set guards upon mee whose lives were to answer it if I escape I continued that night and the next day in great apprehensions and disquiets among which the fear of death was not my chiefest trouble Not but that in effect I was afraid of it and had a sens of the punishment which uses to bee inflicted upon Spies especially those who hearken after the secrets of Soveraigns and principally of such as are in the condition Roxana was since I might have been suspected to have had som design against her person and to have been dealt withal by som of the contrarie partie and by those who had an interest in her death but to that apprehension I joined my sorrow what I could not make use of the mercie the gods had shewed mee and that I could not prevent the murther of those great Princesses by the notice I should have given them of that conspiracie if I had been at libertie I was also verie much afflicted that I could not return to your Highness to give you an account of the Commission you had imploied mee in not doubting but you were impatient of my delay That day I was visited by Arbates who highly endeared the good office hee had don mee and protested to mee with oaths that but for his intercession with the Queen my ruin had been inevitable hee afterward promised mee the continuation of his endeavors on my behalf and made mee hope for all manner of good usage To say truth that I received was not ill for a prisoner and the next day I saw a companion brought into mee when I least expected him It was Loncates whom your Highness had sent after mee to Babylon by reason of my stay and who having unluckily met Arbates was known by him and by his direction seized upon by Roxana's guard who brought him presently to the same place where I was In that Arbates was imprudent for if hee had kept us in several prisons hee might much more easily have drawn from us what Roxana had a minde to know then by putting us both into the same chamber where wee had leisure enough to instruct one another and to conform our answers that wee might not bee intrapt if they examined us apart When I had given Loncates an account of the caus of my imprisonment and of the words I had heard from Roxana and Perdiccas touching the design they had against the Queen Statira and the Princess her sister Loncates with a sorrowful look told mee hee began to hear a whispering in the Town that those poor Princesses were dead alreadie and that hee having been at the Palace of Queen Sysigambis had heard cries and seen faces that had confirmed him in that opinion That news surprised mee with a mortal affliction and considering how it suted with the words I had over-heard I no longer doubted of the lamentable destinie of those poor Ladies Wee spent all the rest of the day and the next in bewailing a loss wherein wee knew you would have the greatest share and wee had not yet dried up our tears when Arbates followed with a Guard came into our Chamber and told us hee had order to bring us before the Queen and that wee ought to hope for a good success from the sight of her Wee were so dejected with grief that wee received that message with an indifferent countenance and without informing our selvs of Roxana's intentions wee followed Arbates to the Palace It was alreadie a good while within night and Roxana was in her bed the Guard brought us to the Chamber door but onely Arbates and som of her women went in with us and bringing us on the far side of the bed showed us Roxana in a condition able to have caused love in persons that had not been prepossessed with powerful reasons to hate her the season beeing verie hot shee was almost half naked in her bed and her arms and neck quite uncovered set forth such beauties as in the opinion of other Judges would have found few equals in the world her head dressing though negligent was not unbecoming and her whiteness in a place where all things were black had a very extraordinarie lustre Onely Hesione staied at her beds feet and her other maids beeing retired into the next room with Arbates Roxana after having looked awhile upon us spake on this manner If I dâ—d not believ you to bee civil men and that you have gained virtue and discretion by beeing near the Prince whom you have the honor to serv I should not use you in a fashion quite extraordinarie for persons of my qualitie since however you cannot disavow but that you are faultie and that one of you ha's been taken in an action which in all customs and all Nations make's him worthie of death but the breeding you have had with a Prince who is an Enemie to all evil thoughts doe's partly justifie your intentions and although they should bee criminal his consideration is sufficient to make mee forgive the most unpardonable offences and to move mee to forget all the designs you could have had even against my life it self I will therefore pardon you whatsoëver you can have attempted against mee but I will have your Master thank mee for it and after this small proof of the
persecutions After that cruel day wee had seven or eight of intermission but that time beeing expired they began to torment us again they used us as spies and as persons that had som design against the Queens life but mee especially who had been surprised in the manner as I have told you It is certain also that in that accident there was occasion enough to suspect mee but I believed that that which would bee more hurtful to mee was the having heard by the Queens discours the cruel intention shee had since executed against the Princesses and I thought with reason that beeing desirous to conceal to all the world the share shee had in their death which shee caused to bee reported in a way very different from the truth shee would infallibly dispatch mee out of the world if shee suspected mee to bee a witness of her designs I believ indeed it was that which made her resolv upon it for yesterday the Captain that had us in his custodie beeing com into our chamber took off our irons and telling us that hee would set us at libertie hee made us get up behind certain armed men and brought us out of the Town I know not for what reason the Queen caused us not to bee put to death in Babylon as shee might easily have don but whatsoëver it was they carried us a great while along the River side before wee could guess at any thing of our destinie but at last wee came into a Vallie not far from hence where those cruel men having tied us to two Trees after having in vain tormented us to force a confession of what wee had so carefully concealed they were going to execute their last resolution when the gods sent us this valiant Queen who by the effects of her admirable courage saved our lives and restored us our libertie and our Prince who is dearer to us then both life and libertie Toxaris ended his narration thus and the Princes and the Amazone Queen who had hearkned to him with wonder remained sad and pensive at the end of his recital Prince Oroöndates found much matter of thought in it and after having been a good while silent I know not said hee at last by what crimes I can have moved the gods to stir up this woman to torment mee her crueltie ought to bee satisfied with the ills shee ha's alreadie made mee suffer and when I thought I had been secure from all her practises shee revives again to persecute mee more then ever It is probable said Lysimachus shee will not stop at these beginnings and since shee knows you are out of Scythia and that by great likelihood shee may conjecture you are in this Countrie shee will leav nothing unattempted to finde the certaintie and to have you in her power I should think it convenient if you were of the same opinion that to keep your self from beeing known to her and to many other persons who might hurt you your true name should not bee declared but among those whom you shall judg worthy of your friendship and that among others you should bee made to pass for Arsacomes or for som other stranger Prince whose name may abuse those that are less interessed All the companie approved Lysimachus his motion and Oroöndates himself having consented to it at the entreatie of the Princes I do not think added Lysimachus that in the condition Roxana now is it is hard for her to discover you and to do you a miscief if you continue longer here where I do not believ you are in safetie being in a place without defence and so near to Babylon and if your health would permit I should think it good to remove you into one of those Towns which are at our devotion or into the bodie of our Armie It would bee verie dangerous said Ptolomeus to carrie the Prince far in his present estate I know a more easie expedient for his safetie and one that is almost necessarie for us wee must draw our forces hither and encamp our Armie about this hous by that means wee shall guard him till hee bee cured and bring our men from a place where they have hardly any thing left to subsist on You know that where they are victual or forrrage begin to fail them and that on this side all things are in a better condition som of the neighboring Towns are at our disposing and the open Countrie will make no resistance against us the situation of the place is fair and advantageous for us the nearness of the river is commodious for our Camp and since wee yet are Masters of the field wee ought to make use of our time to take all these advantages Our Armie is not so far from hence nor the daies so short but that sending order thither to day our Cavallerie and part of our Infantrie may bee here to morrow Eumenes and Lysimachus presently confirmed Ptolomeus his advice and onely Oroöndates opposed the care they took of him but when hee saw that it was advantageous for them however and that that order was almost necessarie hee consented to their opinion and approved the choice they had made of that place for the encamping of their Armie It was thereupon resolved that Eumenes should instantly go away to the Camp to fetch the forces and such provisions as could bee gotten and that Ptolomeus whose credit was great and whose vertue was much conâ—idered in that Countrie should take hors attended by Araxes Cleantes and som of his own followers to spend the rest of that day and part of the next visiting som neighbouring places from whence they hoped for subsistence This resolution was no sooner settled but it was put in execution and the two Princes taking a short leav of those they left at the same time went two different waies and only Lysimachus the fair Amazone and som servants remained still with Oroöndates Then it was that hee begun his endearments again to Lysimachus with more libertie then before then these two generous friends gave one another a mutual account of their particular adventures and of their most secret thoughts They both asked Toxaris and Loncates manie questions but they could tell them nothing of their Princess and protested to them that till their coming thither they never heard of their being alive that in Babylon everie bodie believed them dead and that their loss had so stirred up the people that nothing but their fear of the forces of Roxana Perdiccas and their associates kept them in obedience that Roxana declared her self innocent of their death and disavowed all that Tyreus had reported before hee died Lysimachus having asked Loncates concerning the order that was observed in the Towns hee told him their guards were verie strict and that the wounds Perdiccas had lately received hindred not Cassander Seleucus Alcetas and the rest from keeping all things in a good condition nor from drawing forces together on all sides this was all the two Princes
satisfaction Hee passed that night very impatiently and the next morning getting himself readie hee no sooner heard that the armie was in battalia but hee went out of his chamber with the Ladies and when hee was com down the stairs finding a litter which waited for him hee got up into it with Queen Thalestris who as well and as warlike as shee was would needs keep him companie the other Ladies seated themselvs in the chariots prepared for them and all of them together under the conduct of Cleantes and Araxes crossed through the place where the forces had been encamped camped and from whence the Commanders had drawn them out that morning to imbattel them in the plain a few furlongs below The Prince found them in excellent order and presently admired the Grecian discipline and the Macedonian Phalanxes That which had facilitated the leavie of so many men and their so sudden arrival was that all they who commanded them at that time and who had raised them partly in those territories that were fallen to their share had commanded in those same Provinces in Alexander's life time in the qualitie of Governors and many of them resided in them alreadie and had there received the request of Lysimachus and Ptolomeus to arm those in their favor who since the King's death were becom their subjects Those people who were accustomed to obey them acknowledg'd them gladly and followed them without difficultie in that expedition and in those Provinces where the Princes were absent as those of Lysimachus Ptolomeus and many others the Lieutenants they had left there take arms at their first summons and had found no trouble in making those people obey them who adored them for their virtue and who hoped to enjoy the same happiness under their reign which they had tasted under their government The forces were not drawn up in battalions and squadrons fit for a battel nor was the Cavalrie upon the wings separated from the infantrie but they were ranked according to their nations and followed their several Commanders who without such order as is proper for service marched at the head of their new subjects The first that appeared to Oroöndates his eie were those of the greater Phrygia under the conduct of their Prince Autigonus consisting of four thousand hors and eight thousand foot they had somthing of the effeminateness of their countrie but they began to grow warlike under their new Master and to learn a trade of him wherein hee had passed his apprentiship under King Philip and had acquired so great reputation under Alexander Antigonus was mounted upon a very large bay hors all his bodie was covered with well polished steel heightned with gold upon the edges and his hair which began to turn gray was pressed with a little head-piece after the fashion of the Greeks shaded with a plume of feathers hee had two steel-headed darts in his right hand and with the left hee bore a weightie shield the workmanship of the most industrious Masters in Greece The comly presence of Antigonus and that high renown of him which spread it self every where abroad would have obliged Oroöndates to consider him with a long attention if his sight had not been withdrawn from him to fix it self upon a more pleasing object It was his son the young Prince Demetrius who rode by his fathers side with a grace able to attract the eies and hearts of all the world his beautie was nothing inferior to that of the fairest Ladies of Asia and his eies had a charming sweetness in them which gained affections insensibly if hee was handsom hee was yet more valiant and though hee was scarsly full eighteen years old hee in the last exploits of Alexander had given proofs of a growing valor which even in its beginnings yielded not to that of the most renowned warriers but if hee was handsom and valiant hee was yet more amorous Never was soul more capable then his of the sweet impressions of Love and in the whole cours of his life which was one of the most glorious and illustrious that ever was the severest mindes never found any other blemish save a too great propensitie to that passion which criminal Philosophers have condemned Hee was upon the back of a white hors full of little black spots who by his proud carriage and stately trot set off the graceful fashion and pleasing garb of his Master all his armor glittered with gold and stones of value his coat of arms was all covered with an embroderie which did not ill accompanie the richness of them and to shew that soft inclination was predominant in him hee in his shield had the image of the God of love painted by the hand of the admired Apelles The sight of this young Prince did marvellously delight the great Oroöndates and the generous Thalestris but presently after they were not less satisfied with that of two renowned Captains whom Fame had alreadie make known to the whole world they were Craterus and Polypercon Craterus who by his admirable virtue was worthie to share Alexanders affections with Hephestion and who lost nothing in his inclination which hee gained not with advantage in his esteem Craterus who alone obliged that great King to respects and honors from which his greatness excused him toward all the world and Craterus briefly who onely by his virtue did till his death preserv the chief autoritie among the Macedonians and the chief place in the hearts of all the â—oldiers Polypercon for his valor was not less considerable then hee and hee kept up his reputation so well among Alexanders succesrors that not long after hee in the opinion of the great Pyrrhus was preferred before all the rest These two brave men together led the half of those thirtie thousand Macedonians which deceased Alexander had caused to bee raised for his guard and which hee had drawn about him a while before his death the rest of them had refused to follow their companions and had taken part with Perdiccas they were all foot but their arms were light their persons well chosen and their discipline so good that the Princes grounded the better part of their hopes upon them After these appeared the Syrians under the conduct of Laomedon they were heavily armed and never fought but standing still yet though they did little incommode the enemie by going out upon parties and were exempted from all duties or light armed men they made profession to fight in their ranks to their last breath and to suffer themselvs to bee cut all in pieces before they would let their battalions bee broken their number was three thousand hors and seaven thousand foot and their valiant Leader was able to shew an hundred scarrs received under Alexander in a thousand encounters wherein hee had made himself remarkable The Scyrians were followed by the Cylicians under their Prince Philotas who worthily bore the name of the first Parmenio's unfortunate son that ended his life in torments by the
the Princes upon earth and of whom no bodie ought henceforth to speak without detestation the base poisoner of his Master and of his King doe's not onely finde safetie amongst those who were nearest to him and amongst those who hold all their honor and all their fortune from him but also a support against those that were his faithful servants and a protection that would bee refused him even among the greatest Enemies of his memorie Roxana whom hee honored with his bed and with the participation of his Crowns whom from the daughter of Cohortanus hee raised to bee the wife of Alexander and whom from Captivitie hee exalted to the highest degree of honor that ever woman attained Perdiccas whom hee favored during his life and whom hee honored at his death with the chiefest marks of his affection and esteem and a great many others who are little less indebted then they to the ashes of their Master arm themselvs in the defence of his poisoners of his parricides But was there any less to bee expected from those who by actions of the same nature have sufficiently testified that they were of the same inclinations and that they would yet prosecute Alexander in the person of them that were as dear to him as his life Did not Perdiccas and the rest of Roxana's accomplices by a violence without example force the great Queen Statira and the Princess her Sister out of the hands of their attendants to murther them before the eies of that pitiless woman Did they not even bring the knife unto their throats And if Perdiccas out of consideration of his own interest spared their lives hath hee not changed the pain of their death into that of a cruel and unworthie Captivitie Those great Princesses who were so dear and considerable to our mightie King now languish in slaverie to his subjects who impose shameful Laws upon them and who from the bloud of Darius and from the alliance of Alexander would make them stop to that of the meanest of his Followers These are the onely considerations that make us take up arms with a firm protestation before all the world and at the foot of our Altars that wee will never lay them down till Alexander bee revenged and the Princesses freed and satisfied And if our Enemies would perswade indifferent persons that wee make use of these pretences to cover our ambition or other less lawful causes of division let them do justice themselvs upon the murtherers of Alexander and restore the Princesses to their libertie and to their former autoritie and they shall finde us most readie to withdraw our forces from these Countries and leav them in a perfect tranquilitie The Princes having caused a great many copies to bee taken of this Declaration and made them bee spread abroad through the Army and were careful to send them to all places where they desired the justice of their quarrel should bee known The next day they proceeded to the election of a general and to make choice of a Prince among them that should give orders and command the rest with an absolute power but in this enterprise there was no small difficultie and their contestations were very different from those which are usual in the like occasions all of them equally avoided that advantage and that glory which elswhere is wont to bee so much envied found nothing but aversion and disdain among those generous souls All with a joint consent yielded that honor to Prince Oroöndates and protested to him with great submissions that they would not march with him unless they might obey him Ptolomeus Lysimachus Oxyartes Eumenes and many others pressed him to it with most ardent entreaties but hee resisted them with so much modestie and constancie that 't was impossible for them to move him It is enough said hee that you do mee the honor to suffer mee amongst you and I receiv that favor with great acknowledgment I who am useless among you and who am here utterly destitute of forces in the midst of so many Princes the weakest of whom have brought whole Armies Although I had with mee all the strength of Scythia I should still make it my glory to obey men so worthy to command mee and I should bee as firm as I now am in refusing an honor which you cannot offer mee without making mee remember my want of abilitie By such like reasons Oroöndates rejected the command but not one of the Princes could bee perswaded to take it from him and Ptolomeus Lysimachus and the rest were no less obstinate then hee in denying to accept of that autoritie At last by voices of all the Officers the supreme power was put into the hands of six among them who should command by turns every one his day These were Prince Oröondates Prince Oxiartes Ptolomeus Lysimachus Craterus and Antigonus Eumenes Polyperchon Queen Thalestris Old Artabasus and Laomedon who might with justice have pretended to the same dignitie refused it so absolutely that 't was impossible to make them com into the number Artabasus excused himself by his age Thalestris by her sex Eumenes by his humor which was an Enemie to command and by the union between him and Ptolemeus to whom hee remitted the whole care Polypercon and Laomedon by other considerations The six Princes seeing themselvs constrained to submit to that election condescended to it at last protesting to their companions that they accepted nothing of that charge but the care and trouble and that for the honor of it they would alwaies yield it totally to them That day beeing spent in this election all retired to their Tents and the next morning certain Scouts that had been sent abroad brought word to Craterus to whom by reason of his experience of his credit with the Souldierie which hee still preserved since Alexander's time and of Oroöndates his indisposition all his companions had given the first day that they had seen a bodie of seven or eight hundred hors com out of the Citie who made as if they would draw near unto their Camp byasing toward the side of the hill The young Demetrius thrust forward by a generous boiling heat asked leav of Craterus to go with alike number of men to drive the Enemies back into the Town or draw them to a fight and having with som difficultie obtained it from his Father Antigonus who loved him with an extraordinarie tenderness and who could not without great repugnance see him go into danger hee took hors with eight hundred of his men proved to have the honor of striking the first blow in that war hee would not take a greater number with him for fear the inequality of the partie should make the Enemies retire without fighting and rob him of the glorie hee sought besides that the place was proper for his intention and that in an open Campagn hee could not fear any ambushes which in another place the Enemie might have had a design to draw him into The beautiful
hee was met with so furious a shock that he tumbled amongst the horses feet which had trampled out his brains if the care of his safetie had not caused many of his soldiers to alight who drew him out of that danger and set him again on horsback though extremely bruised with his fall In the mean time the unresistable stranger had overthrown Ilioneus and Tiridates and falling in amongst the rest cast fear and death into all places whithersoëver hee turned Demetrius sought him with his sword in his hand and strove by his valor to make his small partie subsist but his endeavors were unprofitable and hee could no longer defend himself against those vigorous enemies whose number was four times as great as his if hee had not been seconded by the Amazone Queen who presently stopt the enemies impetuousness and made the combat equal Amongst those that accompanied Cassander were the young Aristander brother to Leonatus Cleophon the son of Cenos Cleomedes the brother of Egelochus and many other men of courage and of noble bloud The brave Thalestris had laid Aristander and Cleomedes on the ground with two several blows Aristander with one of her javelin which ran him through the shoulder and Cleomedes with another of her sword which made him fall under the horses feet shee seconded those two mightie strokes with many others which soon made her to bee taken notice of and forced the boldest of her enemies to turn the point of their arms against her but shee behaved her self with such a furie as made them believ shee could not possibly bee wounded The nois of this supplie and of her valor came quickly to the ears of the furious stranger whose reputation and the slaughter hee had made in another place was alreadie com unto the Queen this mutual report animated these two valiant persons with a desire to get to one another and forcing their passage with their swords they sought the way that might soonest bring them together The two courageous sons of Mazeus who had made themselvs remarkable that day by a thousand gallant actions and who bloudie all over had don things truely worthie of the memorie of their father opposed the strangers passage before hee could com up to the Queen and Cambyses defying him with a loud crie discharged such a weightie blow upon his cask as made his head sink almost to the saddle-bow and scarce had hee recovered his seat when Araspes vigorously seconding his brother laid upon him again in the same place with such a force that beeing shaken before hee was like to have reeled out of his saddle the two brothers proud of those mightie blows alreadie promised themselvs a happie success but fortune seconded not their hopes and the strangers anger was raised to such a pitch that iron and steel were thenceforth too weak to resist the violence of his arm the first hee met withall in that furie was the unfortunate Araspes at whom making a thrust with such a strength as had few equals his sword finding the defect of his curass died it self in his bloud to the very hilts and appeared all crimson on the other side of his bodie Araspes dying opened his arms and calling upon the name of his brother fell without life among those heaps of dead bodies wherewith the field was alreadie quite covered What shall the grieved Cambyses do at that woful object anger and pitie touched him equally on the one side hee would fain lend a hand to his dying brother who called for his assistance and on the other hee fear 's to los◠his murtherer in the throng if hee imploy himself in that office hee was yet wavering in his choice when his irresolution was determined by the same sword which taking his head from his shoulders made him fall with a river of bloud upon the pale bodie of his brother The Amazone Queen was near that place and beeing present at that sorrowful spectacle shee was touched with compassion for the lamentable death of those two noble brothers and with an ardent desire to revenge them Ah! cruel man cried shee to the stranger this inhumaitie shall not remain unpunished and rushing toward him at the same time shee found him most readie to receiv her their first blows shewed marks to all those that were about them both of their force and of their animositie and they redoubled them with such a fierceness that many soldiers of both parties gave over fighting to becom specators of their combat In the mean time the Troups on both sides were weakened by more then half their men and young Demetrius while the brave stranger was otherwise imploied encouraged his so vigorously and charged the enemies with such valor and good fortune that they began to give back a little They of Babylon were sending new squadrons out at their gates but casting their eies toward the plain they saw other Troups coming from the camp which Craterus sent to succor those of his partie and fearing to engage themselvs insensibly in a battel which they were not in a condition to give they changed their design and sending to Cassander to retire contented themselvs with drawing up those forces without the gates to favor his retreat In the interim the stranger and the high spirited Queen had vainly sought their advantages with the sword and not beeing in a place where they could freely bring their combat to an end they let their swords hang by certain chains wherewith they were fastned to their wrists and seizing one another about the bodie they at the same time clapt spurs to their horses and firmly keeping their hold pull'd each other out of their saddles and began to rowl upon the ground The stranger had the advantage of the Queen a little in strength and perchance might have got the better in that strugling but they were not in a place where they could continue it and fearing to bee trodden under the horses feet they rose up with an equal nimbleness and betaking themselvs to their swords again were again beginning their combat on foot when Cassander came thither and knowing the stranger spurr'd on his hors upon the Queen and rushing against her shoulders threw her all along at her enemies feet hee would also have ridden over her but the stranger catch'd hold of his bit and giving his hors a sudden stop made him run back almost like to have reared quite over and at the same time covering the Queen with his shield Ah! Cassander cried hee wilt thou dishonor thy self and the best of thy friends to day In this interim the Queen got up so furious that if Cassander had staid for her hee had been punished for his incivilitie but at that very instant hee received the order from the Town and commanded to found a retreat The Queen casting her eies upon the stranger saw her self separated from him by a croud which it was impossible for her to break through yet getting upon a masterless hors whereof
surcharge unto his shame to make him kill a Woman whom he was to love or to make him love a Woman whom he had kill'd My crime was before my love my love is the punishment of my crime and both my crime and love will have an equal destiny O Heavens did you ever see a fortune that could have any resemblance unto mine and could you not have made the face of it less strange less cruell If you had so decreed that I must love this Woman could I not have loved her without killing her and if you needs would have me kill her could I not have kill'd her without loving her Others may have kill'd others may have loved but never any except Demetrius lov'd and kill'd both together Love every where else begins and declares it self by Services onely mine begins and declares it self by death nay and by a death which fore-ran both its declaration and its birth Ah Demetrius How cruell are the marks of thy affection and how strange a revolution has thy condition suffered in a short time This morning thou wert both free from love and innocent of Murther this evening thou art guilty of the one and mortally wounded with the other there remains onely since thy love and thy crime are inseparable that thou prosecute both to the uttermost and that in this heart the seat of thy affection thou give the last blows to that unfortunate Image which is engraven in it by thy crime alone These were the discourses wherein the disconsolate Demetrius passed the whole night and if he interrupted them many times 't was onely to leap out of his bed run to the wounded Ladies chamber door and inquire how she did of those that waited on her she to whom they related his disquiets to oblige her to desire life and indeavour her recovery seem'd to be deeply touch'd with them and speaking with much moderation to those that were about her Intreat Demetrius said she to take his rest for my sake and if he will have me pardon him my death let him not redouble her griefs who wants not other causes of affliction These words being told Demetrius wrought some light effect in his minde and testified this to him at least that the marks of his love were not indifferent to her As soon as day began to appear he would have risen and run to her Chamber but the Chirurgians not having been able to hinder him by the consideration of his wounds which held him at last by that of the person whom he loved and made him with great impatience defer the sight of her till the hour her wound was to be dressed and that sentence pronounced which he waited for with mortal apprehensions During that tedious space the conversation of his father together with that of Lysimachus Ptolomeus and Oroondates himself who hazarded his health so far as to come and visit him were not able to divert him so much as a moment from his violent disquiets These Princes who from the Chirurgians had learned how little cause of hope there was in the strangers wound endeavoured to prepare him insensibly for the worst event but they found him so little disposed to hearken to them that they were fain to give over their design At last the hour he so much desired being come he caused himself to be made ready and going into her Chamber with all the company he came softly to her bed-side and kneel'd down against the opening of the curtain without being able to speak one word The wounded Lady who saw him in that posture and who could no longer be ignorant of his passion Demetrius said she if my life were as innocent as yours our fortunes would have some resemblance and if you will love me after my death there will be much conformity in our destinies I would love you after your death replied Demetrius if I could possibly survive you but I should be unworthy of life if I were of so mean a spirit as to preserve it after the loss of you These words struck Antigonus into a very great fear and upon this discourse the Chirurgians being come in began to go about their business Demetrius trembled all the while they were dressing her and looking upon the wound he had made O cursed and sacrilegious hand cried he why did not the Gods suffer the sword of Cassander or of Leonatus to take thee from my body before this fatal encounter Philip and Amintas having taken off the plaister and seen the wound knew presently that it was mortal but because they were forewarned by Antigonus would not deliver their opinion before him and onely said that the success was still doubtfull and that it was to be hoped for from the Gods and from the virtue of the remedies applied Their Patient asked them leave to entertain Demetrius and the Company and they told her she might do it without any danger which liberty so freely granted made her soon know that her cure was despaired of and Demetrius if he had not been so much blinded might easily have judged with the rest of those there present that that permission had not been given her but that rest and silence were no longer available for her recovery She intreated Demetrius to sit down by her bed-side and Oroondates Antigonus and the rest placed themselves round about which done addressing her speech to Demetrius she spake in this manner The History of Hermione I Know very well that I shall die but I feel I have yet strength enough both to live some few days and to make a long discourse which obliges me Demetrius to give you the recital of my life and in this you receive no small mark of the esteem I have of you since it is so guilty that I ought in reason to conceal it to all the world but I pass over that consideration because you from thence may draw the knowledge of many things which will be advantageous to you the first is that of the crimes of this unfortunate Woman whom you love which without doubt will cure you of this affection whereof she acknowledges her self most unworthy the second that of my hearts being prepossessed which though the gods should prolong my miserable life would not leave me any power to answer to this friendship you express to me and the last that of the disasters which make life odious to me and which making you see with how much reason I ought to detest it will comfort you as well as me for the loss of it Besides these considerations which concerns you O Demetrius I have others for my particular interest capable to oblige me to this relation before persons who having perchance known my crime are ignorant of the excuses it may have and who by this naked confession of my life will have a perfect knowledge of the one and of the other Although I have in arms received this favourable wound which by one death alone delivers me from many yet am
I neither an Amazon by birth nor of a stronger and more warlike constitution than the rest of women 't was onely despair that put a sword into my hand and a curass upon my back under which my death hath been my first assay The beginnings of my life were very different from this last profession and if my misfortunes had not altered my face perhaps it would not be unknown to some among you since it hath heretofore appeared to my shame and confusion in places where you have past part of your life and from which my body or my mind ha's never been absent since that fatall engagement of my heart to which I owe the greatest part of my miseries The unfortunate Cradates Prince of the Caspians was my Father his name I am sure is not unknown to you nor what he did against you in all the Battels Darius fought against Alexander he was born his subject and I may truely say he was held in some consideration both by him and by all the Princes of his Court he also serv'd him with an inviolable fidelity till the end of his life and till after his death never yielded to Alexanders fortune But I am to blame continued she to say it was to his fortune since to say truth it was to his merit that he yielded Ah! who was able to resist him that Conquerour of men that Master of bodies and of souls and that sovereign Arbitratour of our destinies Oh that it had pleased the gods that fatall merit which hath drawn me into this labyrinth of disasters had been less known to us and that they had suffered poor Cradates to fall in that famous battell of Arbella wherein he shewed so many proofs of his valour and of his affection to the service of his King without prolonging his dayes to entangle his wretched family in those miseries which accompanied it to the very last It was I say after the death of great Darius that my Father with his houshold and the remainder of those Troups he had commanded came to cast himself at the Conquerours feet Alexander received him very graciously and by the kindness of his reception did in part abate his sorrow for the lamentable end of his Master and wrought an ardent desire in him to serve him also with a fidelity like that which he had born to his deceased King I have begun my Storie in this place without making any mention of the first years of my life wherein there is nothing considerable enough to be told you and the rather because the condition I am in forces me to be thrifty of my speech and strength that I may be able to relate the more important accidents of my life and not spend them in the recital of those which are but of small importance I had lived till those years quietly enough in the Province my Father commanded but at that change of our condition mine also received a particular change and by a fatal sight I lost that repose which I had still preserved in all the troubles of our Countrey I am going to make a confession to you my Lords which perhaps will rather draw mockery from you than compassion but if my folly cause some laughter in you the sad effects of it will in the end oblige you to some pity and will make you impute both my folly and my misfortunes to the cruelty of my destinies I will tell you then that even in the remotest part of our Province the reputation of Alexander had begun to cause some disquiet in my mind and that being born with high spirit enough and bred up with a fame of some beauty and of some qualities which made me be accounted to have something lovely in me I had also lofty thoughts but lofty with excess and even with blindness The flatteries of those which called themselves my adorours had so puffed me up that I disdain them all to fix my whole esteem upon that Alexander whose person was yet unknown to me but whose reputation was already spread over all the earth I heard his exploits recounted with admiration and when they talk'd to me of the greatness of his courage of that boiling and generous ardor which made him rush headlong into the thickest of his enemies of his moderation in victory of his gallant fashion of his youth and of the grace which accompanied all his actions I felt my heart insensibly won and became an enemy to my Countrey lest with it I should pray for the ruine of that lovely enemy who began to extend his victory as far over my heart as over our territories This esteem settled it self in my soul with some disquiet and began to work desires in me which as innocent as they were rob'd me of my former repose I could not forbear to take the part of that great King even before those who wished his destruction nor to set forth his praises in the hearing even of his mortall enemies I remember I was often reprehended for it by those who had power over me yet by their going about to suppress my desires they did but kindle them so much the more In these terms I stood when my Father called me to him and when he communicated to his family the design he had to cast himself at the conquerours feet I was the first who with a more specious pretence covering the desire I had to see that Prince embraced Cradates his knees and said all that my passion could suggest to fortifie him in that resolution If these beginnings of my folly were so powerfull judge what the progress of it was after the sight of Alexander I believed him more handsome and more lovely than he had been presented to me me thought fame had done him wrong and that what she published of him was infinitely below the truth O Gods with what a Majesty did he receive our submissions and with what a grace did he raise us up when we prostrated our selves before him I know not whither my heart prepossessed with its former opinion of him received that impression through the powerfull inclination it had to it or whither it were an effect of the merite of that Great man or a decree of my destiny but whatsoever it were that moment was the last of my liberty and from an adorour of Alexanders gallant actions I really became Alexanders captive his great imployments would not suffer him to hold any long conversation with us yet was it not so short but that I heard him discourse a good while with my Father and had leisure enough to swallow great draughts of that poison which by degrees seized upon my heart and quickly left no part of it untainted When we were come away his image remained still present to my remembrance and when by reasoning I would have made some attempt to drive it thence it settled it self there with a more absolute Empire and tormented me with more violence and Tyranny Foolish Hermione would I
Parricide hand which but few dayes before thou joynedst to mine for a pledge of thy love and which thou gavest to poor Cradates for an assurance of thy fidelity since it is with this noble recompence thou hast re-paid the favours he did thee and with these gallant Characters that thou hast engraven in the memorie of mankind the alliance which thou madest with him spare not this remnant that is left and nourish not for thy ruin a serpent that will devour thee unless thou stiflest it know that thy life shall never be secure so long as Hermione is in the world and that she preserves hers onely to assault thine by all the most cruel wayes she can invent At this discourse disloyal Spitamenes fained to be touch'd with repentance and compassion and having looked a long time upon me without reply Hermione said he at last I am afflicted with thee for thy loss but for the conservation of my fortune and of my life it was necessary for me to seize upon Maracanda and though I was already advertised that thy Father had betrayed me and that he had already promised to deliver me up to Alexander I protest to thee that for thy take I would have pardoned him and that I would not have drawn my Sword against him if he had not laid his hand upon his first with an intention to have kill'd me since he could not give me up alive into the power of my merciless Enemy I contributed not to the death of thy Brothers but they themselves ran headlong upon the Arms of those that accompanied me However it were Hermione if Cradates was thy Father Spitamenes is thy Husband and thou art more nearly tied to me than ever thou wert to him our interests and our fortunes are henceforth inseparable and thou oughtest to become an Enemy to all those that were so to thy Husband The faithless Spitamenes spake on this manner and to jnstifie himself in some sort strove to blemish the memory of my Father by a horrible calumny but his innocence was too well known to me and I could no longer suffer the scandalous slanders of that disloyal wretch Ah! Traitour cried I Traitour a thousand times Traitour to Darius Traitour to Bessus Traitour to Alexander and most of all Traitour to the unfortunate Cradates and to his deplorable Family Spare at least the honour of them whose lives thou hast inhumanely destroyed and content thy self with murdering their bodies without murdering their Reputations in the grave our bloud never suffered any reproach of perfidiousness and all that ever it can apprehend is the having receiv'd faithless Spitamenes into a Race that till then was without any blemish but let the thunder of the Gods bury me with the rest of our poor Family rather than thou should'st ever see Hermione acknowledge thee for her Husband thou thy self shalt acknowledge her to be a revenging fury chain'd unto thy life by an unshaken resolution and which will either give thee thy death in the middest of a thousand Guards or receive her own from those abominable hands yet stain'd with that bloud to which thou wert so unworthily allied I said a great deal more to him with the same vehemence but he grew weary of hearing and went out of the Chamber telling me that his love made him pardon my being transported and that time would restore me reason and bring me comfort I continued many days in this condition disposing my self to live no further than I was forced by the urgent intreaties of many that loved me and testified much compassion of my misfortunes Spitamenes was peaceable Master of Maracanda where he had quartered most part of his men and where Alexander by reason of his weighty imployments otherwhere let him alone quietly for that time but he was not in the least degree master of my heart and notwithstanding all the industry he used to make me forget my resentments it was impossible for him to effect it and I had conceiv'd so violent a hatred against him that I could not consider him as other than the Butcherer not onely of Cradates and of my Brothers but even also of my self I fancied him always dyed with that bloud which had been so dear to me and I continually fram'd horrible and dreadfull Idea's of him to my self which waking and sleeping came eternally into my rememberance in short all that a most just anger can produce in a heart already prepossess'd with some aversion imprinted it self most deeply in mine and I then took a firm resolution to live for nothing else but to take revenge and to sacrifice to the Ghosts of my Father and Brothers that barbarous Fellow who had inhumanly massacred them before my eys He visited me every day but I still receiv'd him as a Dragon ready to devour me and if he forced me to speak to him I onely uttered such bloudy Reproaches that any other soul but his must needs have been touch'd by them and which so wicked an one as his would never have endured if it had not before been really touch'd with a violent passion I was a Prisoner though in appearance I was free and if I had not known how much I was observ'd and how carefully I was kept I should have endeavoured to get out of Maracanda and escape out of the hands of that barbarous man The Gods know and I call them to witness that though I had married Spitamenes without any affection I had done all I could after we were married to banish from my heart the love I bore to Alexander that I had done all that a discreet Woman could do to settle it intirely upon that disloyall man I could not hope to effect it easily but at least I had taken a strong resolution to die rather than suffer the smallest thought that could injure it I continued that design as long as he abstain'd from murdering my nearest Friends but after that he with their bloud had wash'd out all the Characters of that alliance which tied me to him I believ'd my self free from that engagement and afterward when my losses were no longer so fresh that time suffered me a little to unlose my thoughts from them the image of Alexander came again into my minde but it came in such a way as made me instantly observe the difference there was between him and Spitamenes I made no opposition against its return but drove out of my heart all the thoughts I had formerly had to love that Monster placing more noble and more glorious ones in their room O Gods cried I how beautifull is Virtue in respect of Vice and how lovely is my Alexander in respect of Spitamenes Depart from me O you unworthy rememberances of the most unworthy of all men and return to me O dear Idea's of my gallant Conquerour we may submit our selves to him without baseness since the whole earth submits it self with us and may kindle as much love in our heart for him as
amongst them with an infinite number of wounds he had receiv'd that after the great defeat a small number of your men having gained a place of reasonable strong situation capitulated with Spitamenes after which that faithless fellow contrarie to his word given put them all to the sword Here Antigonus speaking to help Hermione's weakness We saw the bloudy marks said he of what you succinctly related within a few dayes after where we found all the Macedonians and their valiant Commander Menedemus who had been our friend and companion full of honourable wounds and the King who view'd the place of that defeat in person after having given some tears to their deplored end and loudly sworn to revenge it caus'd tombes to be rais'd for them and funeral honours to be perform'd with great magnificence After that defeat continued Hermione Spitamenes return'd to Maracanda but would not stay for Alexander there knowing himself to be but weak in that Countrey where he had little credit and Authority wherefore having given order that the Troups which he had left behind should follow him he march'd toward Bactria which Casenes and he had caused to revolt and where he knew he should find a retreat with men and Towns at his devotion In the mean time he carried me along like a Captive though he was carefull enough of my person and that sometimes by flatteries and sometimes by threats he endeavoured to alter my inclinations but they were still firm and instead of mollyfying me towards him I was every day solicited by the afflicted Theano to take the revenge I had promised her the desire whereof was too deeply ingraven in my heart to stand in need of any solicitation This thought and that of Alexander took up my memorie perpetually and whatsoever should become of me after the defeat of Spitamenes I begg'd nothing of the gods but the arrival of his Enemies I blamed their slowness every day and complained against Alexander for being so careless in revenging the injuries that were done him and considering that he had other matters enough in hand which were sufficient to retard him We wandred a long time up and down Bactria where Spitamenes recreuted his Army and when he thought he was able to defend himself he stay'd at Nicea the best Town in all the Countrey and incamped his Forces about it He had not been there long but he heard that Alexander was coming with great marches toward him that intelligence did not much affright him and not being willing to fly before him any longer he resolved to expect him boldly and bury himself in the ruins of that Citie he caus'd the fortifications to be carefully repaired furnish'd the place with Arms and Victuals made Forts and drew a good line round his Camp forgetting no part of an expert Commander This news joy'd me very much and Spitamenes in whom jealousie already was very powerfull finding the marks of it in my face reproached me with it every day Thou knowest not what thou rejoycest at would he say to me sometimes for if thou foresawest thy destiny thou wouldst curse the very approach of Alexander He often threatned me on this manner and then within a while coming to himself again and letting himself be overcome by some remainders of passion he would begin to flatter me and changing his voice and countenance Hermione would he say our injuries are equal let us forget them equally do not thou any more remember that I kill'd Cradates and I will never more think of thy being in love with Alexander Sometimes I deigned not so much as to answer him otherwhile I replied so sharply that he would fall into a rage and to his furious humour In the interim the time so much desired by Hermione came at last and we saw those Arms appear that were victorious over the better part of the world Fierce Spitamenes resolving to go forth with some of his Cavalery to meet the formost Troups came into my Chamber compleatly Arm'd and rowling his eyes which breath'd nothing but bloud and slaughter Hermione said he I am going to make thee sport and perhaps thou wilt know to day whether I can defend my self both against my forreign and domestick Enemies Arm thy prayers in favour of them thou lovest best and if thou wilt behold from the top of our walls the sacrifice I prepare for thee He went out of my Chamber with these words and I was not at all unwilling to grant what he demanded Our house stood upon the skirts of the Town and from the highest windowes one might discover the neighbouring fields as far as the sight was able to reach Spitamenes had no sooner left me but I went up with Theano and casting my eyes upon the plain I saw my cruel jaylor go forth at the head of his men and march in good order towards his Enemies Go perfidious man said I seing him ride on go finde a too glorious funeral under the Arms of my gallant Conquerour and make him blush at so shamefull a Victorie thy destiny will be too noble if thou fallest in this occasion and even thy very death will work an envy in Hermione He was not yet far off when Theano made me observe the dust which rose under your horses feet and within a while after I discern'd the shining of your Arms yet were you at so great a distance that we could see you but very confusedly At that sight I felt a beating at my heart which testified the inward alterations of my Soul and celebrating your approaches with sighes O Theano cried I see yonder is he we have so much desired that Master of my heart and that odored object of all my prayers and of all my thoughts without doubt he is at the head of those Troups which we begin to perceive there it is he is most commonly found and there it is that by his presence he constantly leads on victorie see how the Sun to add lustre to his Triumphant Arms is more beautyfull and sparkling to day than ordinarie all things contribute to his glorie and advantage and Fortune her self in whom common persons find nothing but inconstancie hath chang'd her nature in favour of him and hath yielded her self a slave unto his vertue In the mean time I saw Spitamenes draw up toward you and within a while after the dust rose thicker than before and the sky was so obscured that we lost sight of both parties Then we were confident they were fighting with the Macedonians and then we most ardently redoubled our prayers and wishes Within an hour we found that darkness draw nearer to us and afterwards when we could more easily distinguish objects we saw Spitamenes fly full speed with his men toward the Citie and the Macedonians at their heels eagerly prosecuting their victory That sight begot an unperfect joy in me as soon as the wicked fellow was near enough to be known and though his shame gave me some contentment I could
Valiant man whom he commanded upon pain of death to watch by me all night with a hundred of his Souldiers Untill this part of my life I had never showed too much apprehension of death but I must confess my weakness nor do I think it shamefull in a woman I was then extreamly affrighted at it and formed so cruel an Idea of it in my imagination that I was not free from some of those thoughts which are usual in persons that are much in love with life As soon as Spitamenes was gone out Strato brought me to my Chamber where presently all objects appeared fatal to me by Spitamenes his command all my women left me and scarcely were they that had been dearest to me permitted to take their leaves of me they by a weeping farewell made my griefs more sensible and my terrours greater the face of all things became dismall and my lodging look'd no longer as other than as the prison of a criminal condemned to suffer Onely Theano continued with me because she was destined to the same punishment and that she was to loose a life with me the better part whereof she had already bequeathed to my service one of my most sensible griefs was that I should die without seing Alexander and without letting him know at my death that I suffered it onely for his sake At least said I if he had but any knowledge of the cause of my death and if he might but one day learn with what constancy and firmness I die his I should not be utterly unhappy he would certainly shed a great deal of bloud for my revenge and perchance some tears out of compassion O! Alexander how glorious would my destiny be if I could make thee shed but one and if thou didst but say at the relation of this news I lament the fortune of this poor woman but alas how different are our thoughts thou without doubt involvest Spitamenes his whole family in his perfidiousness and will 't equally bear the ruine of those that have betray'd thee and destruction of those that have loved thee I was buried in these thoughts and preparing my self with all the constancie I had left for that death which I believed inevitable when Strato whose guards were at my Chamber dore came toward me and seing he could not be over-heard by any body but Theano who was not suspected Madam said he you may save your selves but you must have courage to undertake a daring enterprise I had ever observ'd some good will in that man toward me and I then called to mind that he had received some Obligations from Cradates whereof he still had preserved the rememberance This freed me of any suspicion I might have had that he talk'd so to sound me and therefore I replied Oh! Strato there is nothing I would not do to hinder Spitamenes from having the satisfaction to destroy Cradates his whole family you must then kill Spitamenes said Strato I see no other way open to your safety and by that you may both save your life and take the revenge you have so much desired I was surprised at that proposition and though according to my opinion I ought to have received it with joy I was strucken when I heard speak of taking away my Husbands life how great hatred soever I bore him I did not naturally love bloud and though I wished his death I found not my self bold enough to give it him Theano seing me in this confusion was troubled at it and coming towards me with something a furious action What Madam said she do you consult still upon this proposition and when as to so many reasons of revenge you may join that of your own safety do you forget your gallant resolutions Ah! Theano replied I I am no less an Enemy to Spitamenes than I have ever been and I could wish he were out of the world so I had not the guilt of killing him he is the Murderer of my Father and of my Brothers but yet he is my Husband aâ—d I cannot resolve to imbrue my hands in his bloud without an exceeding great violence upon my self Ah! Madam answered Theano drive away these Chimera's from your minde and fear no remorse for a couragious and a virtuous Action you ow this Revenge to your Father and to your Brothers nay and you ow it even to me also who have sacrificed my onely son unto your interests and who yet bear in my heart every drop of that bloud which he shed for you and moreover remember that if you do it not you must die to morrow and die as an infamous Woman and as an Adulteress at the head of two Armies Theano besides these used so many other Arguments to me and did so aggravate the Causes I had to free my self of that barbarous man that in the end I consented to all she desired and asking Strato what order we should take in the business he instructed us in the manner you shall hear by the continuation of this Discourse As soon as Spitamenes was retired to take that rest in his bed which he was capable of in that condition of his affairs Strato who commanded all his Guards went to those that were wont to watch about his Person and having an absolute credit and authority with them he told them that Spitamenes had commanded him to send them to another part of the Town about a business which he invented and giving them charge to go thither presently and to expect his Orders there he feigned that in their stead he would put some of those souldiers which had me in their custody they obeyed him without Reply and left Spitamenes his Quarter destitute of any body that could defend him within a while after he returned to them that guarded me and reserving to himself onely four or five of whom he was assured and to whom he had in part communicated his Design he sent the rest to some other place by the same deceit so having freed himself of all those that might hurt us he came into my Chamber to me accompanied with them that were to assist us in that Design I trembled from head to foot when I saw him enter felt so great a repugnance against that Enterprise that but for the instigations of the revengeful Theano I should never have resolved upon it Madam said he now it is that your courage is needful that you must diligently lay hold of an occasion which can never be recovered if you let it escape Ah! Strato cried I my courage fails me in this Execution pray let us seek some other way to get out of Spitamenes his hands If you had longer time replied Strato perhaps something might be thought on but you have onely the remainder of this night all the Gates are guarded the Walls so thick set with Souldiers that we have no passage open When Spitamenes is killed his Death concealed provided I be at the head of my Guards I le
eternal continuation of my miseries that I utterly lost all hope and courage Ah! Cruel cried I to Alexander who had turned his back and was going away stay but one minute and at least behold the death thou givest me though I was thine Enemies wife I never was thine Enemy all my friends have lost their lives for thy service and all the offence that I have done thee is that I freed the world of thy most treacherous most implacable Enemy If thou wilt fly from me with so much inhumanity fly from my heart which thou tyrannically hast usurped and restore me the liberty thou hast rob'd me of and not that which thou offerest me My crimes are not infectious as thou believest and if the Macedonians learn any thing by my example it shall be to prefer death before an unfortunate life and it shall be to love thee a thousand times more than their lives nay to love nothing in the world more than Alexander As I made an end of these words which were heard by no body that regarded them I fell in a swown in Theano's arms and they that were present at what I said believed without doubt that I was out of my wits hearing me speak such strange things and with so little discretion We were near unto a Citie called Edessa upon the bank of the River Ganges whither Theano seing me very ill found means to have me carried and got me lodg'd conveniently there I was taken with a violent Feaver and fell into a dangerous sickness while Alexander set forward toward the Indies Theano in her cloaths had quilted up some Jewels of reasonable good value which I had put into her hands when we came from Nicea and which by good fortune or for fear of their Commanders Catenes his Souldiers had not taken from us with them she at that time and afterwards procured mony enough to supply our necessities and during the whole course of my sickness she looked to me with so carefull and tender an affection and expressed so great a desire of my recovery that her consideration alone kept me from assisting my disease and made me take those remedies that were given me to regain my health I say her earnest entreaties accompanied with her tears which in regard of my Obligations to her I could not resist hindred me from contributing to my death and when I thought my sickness would save me that labour I found great consolations in that belief Now I shall die said I and by that welcom remedy shall free my self from Alexanders Tyranny that cruel man who despises and tramples me under his foot shall no longer have any power over me and death will deliver me now from his inhumanities yet will I return into the world to visite him again and my Ghost driven by a just desire of revenge shall follow him continually to sting him with remorse and vex him with reproches These were my hopes while I lay sick but at last I began to mend and was not a little troubled at my recovery When I was well again I frequented a society of women in that City who lived separated from the world and had dedicated themselves to the service of the goddess Cibele I found so much sweetness in their conversation and so much innocence in their life that I thought among them I might find some quietness of mind and some truce from the perâ—ections I received both from my love and from my conscience which did every where torment me with a cruel war With this hope I put my self amongst them and Theano with me taking their habit and embracing their manner of life and truly I was not utterly deceiv'd in my expectation their pleasing company diverted part of my sorrows and I received visible favours from the goddess whom I serv'd I remained there a whole year not without disquiets nor without love but yet with some extraordinarie firmness of mind which made me resist my afflictions more couragiously than in former times I enjoyed this little tranquillity till the news came to us that Alexander victorious over the Indies was returned to Susa where from all parts of the world he received homages not much short of adoration This news through the anger of the gods which my crime had stirred up against me with an irreconcileable hatred waken'd those passions with more cruelty than ever which before were in a kind of slumber I in that long absence had supported my misfortunes more patiently but at this return my hopes returned also as ridiculous as before and to fortifie my self in them the more I called to memorie the examples of all those who by long perseverance had at last conquered their ill fortune I resisted these troublesome sollicitations for two or three moneths and used all imaginable endeavours to banish Alexander out of my heart but when I found they were to no purpose and that by a cruel necessity I submitted to my pityless fate I gave way to my misfortune and took my leave of those sweet companions whose tranquility I began to disturb with my afflictions and to whom I was not tied for the remainder of my life by any vow or other engagement Before I took my journey I thought it best to disguise my sex to avoid those accidents it might be subject to and causing Theano to buy mans apparel and horses for us both we accoutred our selves and began our voyage At first I had much ado to endure the toilsomeness of travel but I hardned my self to it by little and little and the desires of my minde at last overcame the tenderness of my body It is neither necessary nor easie for me to entertain you with the particulars of our journey it was very long and had nothing in it considerable but when we were on our way to Susa we heard that the King was departed thence and that having defeated the Cosseans he was gone to Babylon We altered our Road with a purpose to follow him thither but within a few days after we received the onely news which remained for the conclusion of my fortune and that was the death of my adored Alexander After the Relation I have made to you 't is needless for me to weary you with my complaints the discourse of them would be troublesom and therefore I will tell you that I continued for many days void of Reason or understanding and when I came to my self again all that Theano could obtain of me was that I would prolong my life till we came to Alexanders Tomb upon which I vowed to sacrifice the miserable remainders of it I found some sweetness in this resolution and going forward with that Design after many days journeys I at last arrived at Babylon I stayed there for some time but could not obtain the satisfaction of seeing the Body of my dear Lord and Master which is kept locked up in a certain place of the Palace to which all access is forbidden by a great
number of Guards seeing that in the depth of all my miseries that consolation was refused me and that Theano was still obstinate in disswading me from dying by my own hands I resolved to seek Death in the War and Theano was ready to accompany me in that Design not persisting any longer to make me languish out this miserable life Two days ago we were inroll'd in Perdiccas his Troops where to conceal our sex we still kept retired from all company as much as possibly we could and Theano notwithstanding her Age loaded her weak shoulders with Armour as well as I. The other night unfortunate Spitamenes appeared to me in a Dream all bloudy and hideous to behold and looking upon me with a threatning eye I expect thee Hermione said he and thou shalt shortly come to decide the remainder of our Quarrels with me I abhorr'd my life so much that me thought I was not at all terrified with his threats but stretching out my hand to him without any fear Yes said I Spitamenes expect me we will go together and end our Differences before Alexander After this Vision I waken'd in a start and the next day which was yesterday we came out of the Town with those that went to second Cassander but poor Theano going to put forward her Horse amongst the rest fell down at the feet of those that came after her who advancing hastily trampled her to death in my presence I should have been very sensible of that loss but that I was ready to accompany her therefore instead of staying to weep by her whose affection did well deserve my tears O Theano cried I stay for me I le quickly keep thee company and spurring on my Horse before all the rest of my Fellows who had newly received a Command not to stir further from the Gates I ran alone to you Demetrius from whom I received this favourable wound which has so much afflicted you but has given the unfortunate Hermione the onely satisfaction she now could hope for Behold the life of this unhappy Woman on whom Demetrius you blindly have bestowed your affection now that you know her better you will without doubt be delivered from those disquiets which you express for her Death the Gods are my Witnesses that that 's the strongest of all those considerations which moved me to this recitall and the last fruit I hope for from it is that by this knowledge I have given you of my miseries which perchance never had such an interrupted succession in any other life you will bear the loss of mine without any trouble and confess with me that in the condition to which my Disasters have reduced me Death is the onely happiness I could now desire Thus did Hermione conclude her sad Relation which begot both astonishment and compassion in all that heard her They began to pass their opinions of it and to justifie her with a general consent for the Death of Spitamenes by those powerfull Reasons she had to deliver her self from him when amorous Demetrius who had hearkened to her with strange impatiencies interrupted their conversation and replying to Hermiones last word You have told me nothing said he that can diminish the passion I have for you and you were infinitely deceived if you believed you should make your self criminal in my thoughts by your Narration That Monster with whom the Gods had so unfitly matched you that barbarous that faithless Spitamenes did not onely deserve the Death which he received but a thousand worse Deaths alltogether and if you be faulty in any thing 't is in that you so long deferred the Revenge you owed your Father and in that you so long persisted to love a man who did so ill requite your affections as much greater as he was than other men he was too happy in the thoughts you had for him and if he had known you as well as I do he would have forgot the care of all his Conquests to give himself totally to you Ah! I would it pleased the Gods that some small part of that passion he unworthily received had been reserved for the unfortunate Demetrius and that he might die for love alone without the mixture of his griefs and of his remorse which makes his Destiny most terrible to him The passionate Demetrius spake on this manner when he saw Hermiones face grew pale and within a while after her eyes closed up with a fainting fit that seized upon her Her afflicted Lover seeing her in that condition and believing her to be either dead or dying cast himself upon her bed notwithstanding the presence of his Father and of the other Princes that were with him and forcing the obstacles they used to stop his transports and the respect which in a less extremity he would have had for the person whom he loved he imprinted her pale Lips with a thousand ardent kisses able to have restored that heat which had forsaken them And indeed so they did in part for Hermione coming out of her swown found her self in his arms whereof she was much ashamed and putting him back with a feeble hand Ah! Demetrius said she add not shame to the other passions which accompany me to my Grave and content your self that I know your affection by other marks than these which are very indecent and which so little become a dying person Demetrius seeing himself reprehended by these words retired into his place but he was so full of trouble that it almost deprived him of understanding Hermiones strength decayed visibly and the Chirurgians and Women that tended her seeing it was almost night desired the Company to withdraw Demetrius obeyed them with great unwillingness and all Antigonus his authority was necessary to perswade him to it he would not eat one bit but going to bed by his fathers command passed that night in much more violent disquiets than the former The next morning his body being come into that Chamber from whence his minde had never stirr'd he found Hermione so weak that he no longer doubted but she would die and the Chirurgians had no longer confidence to disguise the truth from him he saw but too well that his fair star was going to be eclipsed and to bring into his soul a gloomy night and a night of mortal darkness Alas with what an excess of grief did he receive this assurance and with what passionate fits did he express his despair he walked up and down the Room in a frantick manner with wilde and wandring looks pull'd off his hair tore his Clothes and did nothing but furious Actions Antigonus vainly imployed his words and even his tears to quiet him he was as deaf to the one as blinde to the other and Tiridates who was then in the Chamber coming toward him and taking an unseasonable liberty Why how now Demetrius said he will you die then for a Woman nay more for a Woman of the Enemies party and for a Woman unworthy of the tears you shed
me than to die at Alciones feet after having sacrificed in her presence the cruel Authour of our commom miseries Dispose now continued he lifting up his eyes to heaven O gods dispose now of my destiny when you will and if I cannot die innocent of the loss of Theander and of Alciones misfortunes at least be pleased that this bloud which I most freely give them may serve in part to expiate my faults Cleonimus spoke on this manner while Alcione did all she could to resettle her inward disturbance and called to her courage for assistance to support the present condition of her fortune The first motions she had felt at the encounter of Cleonimus began to give way to her grief for the estate he was in and scarce had her heart begun to receive some touch of joy for the recovery of a person that was so dear to her when by a cruel capriccio of fortune she sees the same persons life reduced to extreamity nor could she longer retain her modesty within those limits which her severity had prescribed it but by a beseeching look begging pardon of the Princess for the liberty she took in her presence she embraced Cleonimus with transports of that affection which as innocent as it was had produced such fatal effects and sending a stream of tears from her eyes which for some years past had been their usual sources she shewed that neither time nor the accidents of her life had made any alteration in those pure and constant inclinations she had to him Dear Cleonimus said she with a voice interrupted with sighs you are come back at last after an age of absence which hath cost us so many tears but if you are come back to die Ah! Cleonimus how cruel is your return to miserable Alcione if life were unpleasing to you you should have died far from her eyes without aggravating by that killing sight those cruel griefs which since her loss and your departure have made a continual war against her 'T was not Cleonimus his bloud that was due to Theanders revenge and to Alcione's repose the bloud of Astiages was enough for both and you ill repair those innocent faults whereof you accuse your self by loosing a life for Theander and for Alcione which was ever dearer to them than their own These wounds continued she looking upon them and endeavouring to steanch the bloud these cruel wounds are mine as well as yours and if you still have any part of that friendship which once you bore me you ought not to put mine to so cruel a proof nor force me to confess that it is strong enough enough to make me keep you company in your grave The effect these words produc'd in Cleonimus appeared presently in his face and not being able to dissemble the consolation he receiv'd by them Dear Alcione said he if it pleas'd the Gods that I might live I would not pray to them for death and though my misfortunes have made me desire it I cannot hate my life if I am still beloved of Alcione Heaven is my witness 't is in that felicity alone that mine was ever bounded and though my thoughts for all their innocence have drawn its anger upon my head I am not able to repent them I was infinitely indebted to Theander but I believe I have pay'd his memory all that he could expect from a friend like Cleonimus for his sake I used a cruel violence upon my most powerfull inclinations I banish'd my self with a great deal of perseyerance from a place where I left the better part of my life and if I contributed to his death by my ill fortune I may protest before all the Gods that the extreamity of my grief for it was such as never was capable of any consolation except this you now have given me yet shall it make no alteration in my thoughts and though the Gods should have suffered my life to continue longer this knowledge of your friendship should never have given me any desire whereby Theanders memory could be offended he so well deserv'd your whole affection that I should be more criminal than Astiages and Bagistanes if I would dispute it with him and 't is happiness enough for Cleonimus that you pardon him your misfortunes without pretending to any greater advantage from your goodness While Cleonimus spake in these terms Demetrius who in those sad discourses found something conformable to his condition and who by that resemblance believ'd himself oblig'd to love those miserable persons had with much charity assisted Acione to binde up Cleonimus his wounds and being desirous to get him remov'd from the place where he lay rose up to look for some body to help him in that intention but scarce had he gone half a dozen steps when passing by Astiages he by some groanes he heard perceiv'd he was not yet quite dead this knowledge made him go nearer to him and Astiages who was drawing to his end lifting up his eyes with much ado Whosoever thou art said he with a feeble voice whither Friend or Enemy for Gods sake let me once again see those Ladies I have so much offended that before I die I may ask them pardon for the injuries I have done them Demetrius who of all men living was most sensible of pity was touch'd with Astiages his words and returning to the Princess Berenice besought her to grant him the favour he desir'd Berenice who was all goodness and who even in another condition would not have refused pardon to the most cruell of her Enemies rose from the ground where she was sitting and Alcione quite mollified with Astiages his repentance would have followed her but that she durst not forsake Cleonimus who was in little better case than Astiages He soon perceiv'd it and not being willing to rob his Enemy of that last satisfaction Go Madam I beseech you said he be generous to the very utmost and in granting Astiages the pardon he desires of you obtain that which Cleonimus desires of him if it had pleased the Gods to give his crimes a lesser punishments than death I should have been very well contented with it and because he is penitent and that he is Theanders brother I could have wish'd their justice had made use of another hand These words oblig'd Alcione to leave Cleonimus for some few moments leaning against the foot of an Oak and drawing near Astiages with Berenice she found him in the very pangs of death yet had he time to ask them pardon for what he had done against them with so great testimonies of repentance that those generous persons forgot all their injuries in a moment and were very sorry for his misfortune but when he had learn'd it was by Cleonimus his Sword the Gods had sent him the recompence of his crimes he lift up his hands and eyes to Heaven and struggling against his weakness O you revenging Divinities cried he how admirable are your judgements and how well do you
upon the shield at first she believ'd that her imagination deceiv'd her senses but having fixed her sight very heedfully upon it she no longer could doubt but that it was really that terrible impress of the Heart torn in pieces by Vultures nor make any question but that it was the same shield which she thrice already had seen born by the hand of the faithless Orontes At this assurance she made a sudden stop like some young shepherd that had troden upon an Adder in the grass and looking in an extreme trouble round about her she saw the Master of the Horse and Shield lying asleep by the side of the Fountain Then instantly a cold sweat with a general shivering seiz'd upon her whole body and the greatness of her surprise was such as hardly left her any sense or understanding the bridle droop'd out of her hand and she scarce had strength enough to keep her self in the saddle That he might take breath more freely in his steep he had put up the Beaver of his Cask and the distance was not so great but that Thalestris quickly knew a face the air whereof was ever present to her fancie what were then the first thoughts of this furious Princess and what strange motions were stirred up in her heart by this encounter so unexpected and so ardently desired she would have been very much puzzled to express them herself and her astonishment had brought her to such a pass as deprived both her mind and body of their ordinary functions At last the force of her courage dispersed these weaknesses and anger succeeded in the room of that perplexity which seemed to have absolutely possessed her Soul she now beheld Orontes with an eye sparkling with rage and wrath and no longer doubted but that the gods to perform their promise had delivered him up to her resentments nay that neglect they testified of his life made her believe they had sentenc'd him to death themselves and in that thought casting a look toward heaven I were unjust great gods said she if I should now complain of you and if I should not acknowledge how exactly you have kept your word Jupiter thou god of Hospitality and thou great Deity of Love whom this Traitour hath so unworthily abused receive the victime which now I offer to your satisfaction The speaking of these words the drawing of her sword and the leaping from her horse were all but the same action in Thalestris she banished all her tendernesses and all her apprehensions and with an eye which spoke the deed she was going about stept forward to poor Orontes who deeply buried in sleep waited for his destiny without resistance see there thou liest O generous man said she darting a fiery look at him thou liest exposed to the mercie of this woman whom thou dost distain and lifting up her arms she was ready without doubt to have given him a mortal stroak when some good angel staid her hand and in that very moment represented to her that without an eternal infamy she could not take away the life of one asleep Will't thou O Thalestris said that charitable Genius will 't thou dishonour thy self by a baseness that never had example and canst thou not kill thine Enemy without joyning shame to thy revenge waken waken this disloyal man thy victory over him is certain and thy strength is not so unequal to his but that with the justice which thou hast on thy side thou mayest confidently hope for a favourable issue of the Combat With this thought she was going to have waken'd him but presently another came into her mind which made her change her resolution If thou awaken'st him said she and if thou givest him time to put himself in a posture of defence hee 'l fly from thee as he has done twice already and so thou will 't loose this occasion of revenging thy self which perhaps thou mayest never recover while thou livest besides these considerations of honour are no longer seasonable nor needest thou stick at them for an Enemy of this nature This Traitour has stifled them all in his perfidiousnesse and by those injuries he hath done thee he has violated all manner of rights and all the most holy and sacred laws whatsoever Waken nothing therefore O Thalestris but thy just indignation and lay this Traitour in an everlasting sleep She then was lifting up her sword again but at the same time she heard Orontes sigh and casting her eye upon his face she saw some tears find passage between his closed eye-lids and heard him mutter something in his sleep Leave me said he leave me inconstant woman At these words pronounced with a mournfull voice the Queens sword fell out of her hand and her resolution was a little startled then she look'd upon his face a little more earnestly than she had done before and observed in it all the features of her lovely and dearly loved Orithia that remembrance wrought a strange violence upon her resentments and in part abated the fierceness of her animosity All the most winning actions that Orithia had done for her in her whole life those tender proofs of love she had given her both before and after her discovery as well by words accompanied with an unresistable grace as by most admirable deeds performed in favour of her came at that time thronging into her memory she represented to herself her lovely imposture upon the walls of Phriney and in the Chamber where she had slain Neobarzanes she fancied her in those discourses so full of love and in those sweet conversations she had formerly had with her and when that whole Idea was perfectly return'd into her mind Now since it is my dear Orithia said she so lovely and so tenderly beloved can I be able to take away her life Ah! no my hand thrust rather this revenging Steel into mine own breast than into the bosom of my sweet Orithia there thou mayest find her still as faithless as she is and 't is there onely that thou ought'st to give her a mortal stroke Thalestris shall never kill Orithia with any other kind of wound and if she be guilty of any infidelity towards her she ought to punish herself alone for not having been lovely enough to oblige her to an eternal constancie let my Orithia live then since Thalestris is incapable of giving her her death and let onely Talestris die since she has not been able to deserve Orithia's fidelity Thalestris continued a while in these compassionate motions but if the remembrance of Orontes his first actions mollified her that of his last kindled her anger with a greater violence and made all those thoughts of love and pitie vanish Ah! Cowardly Thalestris said she again by what unworthy motives dost thou suffer thy self to be transported and what a meanness is this of thine to call any thing to mind that can speak to thee in favour of this Monster of perfidiousness This Orithia whom thou excusest and whom
his Masters Chamber The servant who was ignorant of his intentions made a great scruple of helping him in that design but when he saw him without Arms and so feeble that he could hardly sit upright he believ'd he might do him that service without putting his Prince into any danger and moreover Arsaces his countenance caused so much respect and so much fear in him together that he had not the courage to disobey him By his assistance therefore he rose from his bed and when he was upon his legs he felt himself so weak that without his support he would not have been able to stand yet did he begin to walk leaning upon the servants arm and with much pain and difficulty made a shift to get into Oroondates his Chamber The Prince of Scythia was at that time accompanied with Lysimachus Prince Oxyartes Artabasus and Berenice who by reason of those Princes being there had not been able to clear the doubts he had caused in her scarce had they begun to fall upon some discourse when they saw Arsaces enter with his guide he mov'd so softly and his face was so exceeding pale that he presently stirr'd up more pity than apprehension The Princess Berenice had no sooner cast her Eyes upon him but she knew him immediatly yet whither it were by reason of her excessive astonishment and sudden surprisall or of the effect her brothers words had already wrought in her instead of running to meet him she continued unmovable upon the Chair where she was sitting and appear'd scarce capable of sense at so unexpected an Encounter Lysimachus whose thoughts at that time were far enough from that Adventure knew him not at his coming in and his face was sufficiently chang'd by his loss of bloud to make a man lose the features of it yet all believ'd at the first that it was that valiant Enemy whose last Actions were a part of their Entertainment and all of them at his Entrance rose up from their seats and prepar'd themselves with attention to observe what he meant to say and do Oroondates taking notice of the alteration of their countenances thrust his head a little out of bed and by that sight concurring in their opinion he sate up and without being mov'd expected the success of that Adventure Arsaces being reasonable near the bed found himself so weak that he was constrain'd to sink into a chair where he was scarcely set when casting his eyes toward Oroondates and the Princess Berenice I come not said he O happy Lovers to disturb your contentments nor to oppose a fortune which my rival has built but upon the ruins of mine although he possess it with injustice he has made himself worthy of it by his virtue and I should be ingratefull to the effects of his generosity if I should still persist in the design I had against his life I come O Berenice continued he fixing his eyes wholly upon the Princess both to vent my last reproaches against thine infidelity and to deliver up that life at thy feet which I so blindly gave thee I will neither put thee in mind of thy oathes nor of what thou ow'dst unto the services I have done thee 't will suffice me to tell thee that by thy shamefull inconstancy thou makest thy self unworthy of thy birth and of Arsaces his fidelity the Gods if they be just will never suffer it to go unpunished and to render thee yet more guilty toward them I lay this life to thy charge which to the prejudice of all my estate of all my friends even of my honour I had absolutely resign'd unto thy will whereof through a lawfull despair I here accomplish the sacrifice As he ended these words he drew the dagger out of the place where he had hid it and lifting it suddenly into the air had certainly stabb'd himself to the heart if Lysimachus who was close by had not catch'd hold of him stopp'd his arm just as he was giving the mortal blow Arsaces was so weak that Lysimachus easily got the dagger out of his hand but while he was eager in that imployment the rest of the company was in a marvellous confusion and such an one as all the words in the world could not be able to express Oroondates Oxyartes Artabasus and Araxes had first in Arsaces his face and after in the tune of his voice found so great a resemblance of a Prince who formerly had been dearer to them than their own lives that if by an untimely death he had not been taken from them they would surely have believed him to be the very same Oroondates whom this conceit had made to thrust part of his body out of bed cast his eye upon the faces of the rest and observing in them an astonishment as great as his O Artabasus cried he O Oxyantes is not this the face and voice of poor Artaxerxes Arsaces who was yet struggling in Lysimachus his arms turned his head at that demand and looked Oroondates in the face which till then the darkness of the place where he lay and the blindness of his passion had kept him from discerning At that time it was in open view and Arsaces had no sooner heedfully considered it but he sent forth a louder cry than could have been expected from the littleness of his strength and imploying the Relicks of it to rise up from his chair and creep as far as the bed he there sunk down upon the Prince of Scythia O Oroondates cried he O my dearest brother is it you These words and this action would absolutely have perswaded the Prince and the rest of the company that the Valiant Arsaces was no other than Prince Artaxerxes if they had not remembred that eight whole years were run out since their own eyes had seen him slain in the battel of Selena In the mean time Prince Oroondates received his embraces with an imparalell'd amazement and not being able to comprehend any thing of that adventure O my eyes and ears said he with what illusions do you abuse me Then did he cast his looks upon the Princess his sister who as much troubled as the rest but for different considerations knew not yet which way she should carry her self she perceived the agitations of her brothers minde and being desirous to help him in that encounter Nay brother said she doubt no more on it 't is Prince Artaxerxes without illusion Yes dearest brother added Arsaces I am Artaxerxes and if you love me still me thinks you should not find it so hard a mattter to know my face Oroondates was so besides himself that he could not yet tell what he should imagine and though in Arsaces he observed both the voice the face and all the gestures of Artaxerxes and that by his tender endearments he still perceived his former affection yet could he not bring his minde to so difficult a belief nor contradict his own eyes and the opinion of all Asia for the
to save our selves Aeacidas grew pale at this intelligence and not being able to forsake me nor to fly himself with greater speed he was extream desirous to save little Pyrrhus whom he believed to be the principal aim of his Enemies pursuit and therefore having taken him in his arms and kissed him a great many times bathing his face in tears he put him into the hands of Androclion Hyppias and Meander who were mounted upon fleet horses commanding them to carry him to Glaucus King of the Illyrians his ancient friend and to whom he would entrust that which was most precious to him in all the World These three faithfull servants took charge of my little brother and promised the King that to their latest breath they would with fidelity acquit themselves of the commission he gave them When we had seen them depart we prosecuted our journey but left the high-wayes and under the conduct of trusty guides travelled through the most unknown places toward Byzantium where the King determin'd to passe over into Asia and go to Alexander I will not entertain you Sir with the frivolous particulars of our voyage it pleased the Gods we were not overtaken by our Enemies and that after a tedious wandring we in the end arrived at Byzantium There we remained unknown the King resolving to stay for Meander who by the order he had received was to bring him an account thither of the child that had been trusted to him Meander came and eased the King of part of his discontents by giving a relation of the success of his voyage He told him King Glaucus had taken the child into his protection how he had given charge he should be bred up with as much care and as much affection as his own how he had publickly sworn he would assist him with all his forces toward the recovery of his kingdom and how he complained that the king himself had taken sanctuary any where else but with him Aeacidas was joy'd at this recital but he was come to the conclusion of his miseries and as the Gods would have it to orewhelme the unfortunate Deidamia he fell ill the next day after and felt himself so weaken'd with his griefes that he had not strength enough to resist his sickness upon the sixth day he dyed and I remained in the most sad and lamentable condition that ever Princess was reduc'd to I make you judge of it my Lord without going about to make a description of it and you may easily imagine in what perplexities a maide might be who after having lost what was dearest to her in all the world saw herself deprived of her parents dispoyled of all she had without refuge and without support under the conduct of a few helpless men Certainly 't is very hard to fancy a more miserable estate than mine and all the tears in the world were not sufficient to deplore a part of my disasters I will not tell you what torrents I powred forth but content my self with letting you know that after the king my fathers obsequies when once the condition we were in would suffer us we consulted the Oracle of Mars who by the mouth of his Priest gave us order to proceed according to our former resolution and promised me that upon the banks of Euphrates I should find repose and an end of my misfortunes I received little consolation by that promise the Gods had given me knowing I could not hope for the performance of it any other way than by the end of my life yet was I determined to obey their commands and by the advice of Theogenes to whose conduct I had resign'd my self we continued on our journey toward Alexander who was then at Susa believing that the Queens would afford me a safe retreat and an honourable sanctuary The Gods can tell 't was not any desire to save my life nor to return to the quality whence I was fall'n that made me undertake so painfull a voyage but onely the fear of falling into Neoptolemus his hands and my willingness to comply with the desires of those faithfull persons who had abandoned all they had to serve me and who express'd so great an affection to the miserable Relicks of our Family 't is under their protection that I have travelled through so many Countreys but a long and dangerous sickness I had at Susa whence the King was gone e're we arrived hindred the effecting of our resolutions and before I was able to leave my bed we heard the fatal news of the much lamented death of the greatest man that ever came into the World By this last misfortune I was perswaded that the Gods aim'd absolutely at my destruction since they overwhelm'd me daily with new afflictions and stopp'd up all the passages to that safety and that repose I wish'd for whereupon I would have given my self over to despair if Theogenes and his faithfull companions had not kept me from it and being desirous in the extreamity to which I was reduced to have me try all manner of wayes they were of opinion I might obtain the same relief and the same protection from Alexanders successours and from his Family which I before had hoped for from himself This was the reason Sir that brought us to this place where the ill chance of this war you are all ingaged in began to make me loose the hopes which your goodness has reviv'd and which I now will cherish since I have had the happiness in my first encounter to light upon so generous a man as Prince Demetrius Thus did the fair Princess Deidamia finish her Narration wherein Demetrius was so concern'd that his tears for a great while kept company with those she shed at the end of her discourse but when her silence invited him to speak looking upon her with eyes which testified a sensibility in him that went something beyond compassion Madam said he the causes of your affliction are so great that they cannot justly be disapprov'd but in the loss you have sustain'd by the death of that Valiant King of the Lacedemonians the destiny of this unfortunate man that speaks to you has no small conformity with yours I weep as you do for a person who is no longer in the world and though my passion were neither so long settled nor upon so reasonable grounds as yours it has fortified it self by circumstances which have some thing in them more strange and more unusual-Ile weep with you whensoever you please to let me bear you company in that sad imployment and in this Encounter of our Fates perhaps we may finde some consolation In the mean time give me leave to wait upon you to the Retreat you have demanded and bring you to a great many Princesses who know how to pay what 's due unto your Birth and Person You shall not fail of the protection you hoped to receive from Alexander no nor of Revenge for the wrongs that have been done you for here are many
you sav'd them from the violence of the Scythians I told her the birth of your affection the Encounter you had with Prince Artaxerxes in the same occasion your generous usage of him and the discourse that passed between you your parting and your particular thoughts till you dis-incamped and re-passed the Araxis Having instructed her in the cause of your departure which till then she had been ignorant of I related your Voyage into Persia your gallant entry into the Court how you made your self remarkable in the courses by dismounting so many of the most noted Persians and how under the name of Orontes you were known again by all Darius his family for their valiant Deliverer but I inlarg'd my self more particularly than in all the rest upon the passages between you and Prince Artaxerxes and desiring to work some esteem and some affection in Berenice toward that Prince I forgot modesty to speak things to his advantage the recital whereof would have been very unseemly in my mouth if love had not excused me I heigthen'd the proofs he gave you of his friendship in terms that might make him far more amiable than he is and which caused the Princess to interrupt me saying What Arsaces was he whom you describe to be so obliging and so perfect a friend to my brother the same Prince that was slain in the Battel of Selena Even he himself replied I but make no reckoning of these his first Actions since in his last you without doubt will have more cause to think well of him or at least to abate part of that hatred you bear his family Ah! said the Princess how much am I afflicted for him and how much you would have oblig'd me Arsaces if you had spared me the grief I feel for his untimely death After these words I prosecuted my Narration but I did so exaggerate the affection wherewith Artaxerxes receiv'd the discovery of Orontes to be Oroondates the passion wherewith he sollicited his sister in his behalf the care he took to favour him in his love all manner of ways and in short the last proofs he gave him of his affection as well in contesting with him about chusing sides as in what he did and suffer'd for his consideration at the Battel that when I came to make the Relation of his Death the Princess prepossessed with the impressions I had given her could not forbear to shew how sensible she was of it and looking upon me with Eyes all drown'd in tears which a generous compassion made her shed Ah! Arsaces said she how cruell you are in having given me so great an affection fora Prince whom you meant to kill I would it pleased the Gods he were alive and that Oroondates by a good part of his Dominions and even by a good part of my bloud were able to requite his obligations to him He was resolv'd Madam replied I coldly to give him a more glorious recompence and if you will give me leave I le tell you Madam 't was by the glory of serving the Princess Berenice he intended to repay Artaxerxes for the good offices he had done him to Statira 'T was Artaxerxes Madam whom Oroondates had destin'd for you and if that poor Prince had been so happy to make himself worthy of you 't was by the hope of that double Alliance he aim'd to settle peace between your fathers How often did that Prince flatter'd by the hopes he gave him and in love with you already by the description Araxes made press Oroondates to seek some way with him for the attaining of that happiness he had propounded and would have resolv'd to come disguised into your Country if he could have forsaken Oroondates in affairs wherein he believ'd himself necessary to him Oroondates is now with Darius belov'd of his Princess and in a condition which would not be miserable if he were not mortally afflicted for the loss of his dear friend and brother He was slain poor Prince but his fate is too happy and too glorious since the recital of his Death has drawn tears from your fair Eyes in spite of the hatred between your families he was slain because the Gods knew that perhaps he was not worthy to live for you and that you would have condemn'd both the intention of the Prince your brother and the presumption of Artaxerxes His Estate is a thousand times more fortunate by being dead in such a condition as makes you to esteem his memory and to bestow those tears out of your compassion for his loss than if he had died guilty in your opinion or if he had died for the expiation of such a fault as that of Arsaces Let 's not talk of the fault of Arsaces said the Princess interrupting me it has nothing to do with the fortune of Artaxerxes for if that lovely Prince had had those thoughts for me which my brother would have infused into him he had been guilty of no other fault but of having had too great a compliance for a friend and of having blindly given his affections to a Princess that had not deserv'd them If I believ'd Madam replied I very glad to see her brought to the point I desir'd that you really had those inclinations towards Artaxerxes which you express without doubt I should comfort the trouble his death hath caused in you and should make his destiny so fortunate that the most happy persons in the world should have reason to envy it What consolation can you give said the Princess for losses that are irreparable and if you should tell me that my brothers fortune is at the highest point he ever could have hoped what will that alter this poor Princes condition since in fine he is dead and that our wishes cannot call him back into the world again At these words I took courage and raising the tone of my voice which my passion did extremely animate But if Artaxerxes should be alive said I if he should be in Scythia if he should have seen you if he should have adored you and did adore you still with passions a thousand times more violent than those the Prince your brother indeavoured to inspire him with to what punishment would you condemn his presumption Berenice astonish'd at this discourse look'd upon me without being able to reply but I had not the power to conceal my self any longer and taking my time to fall at her feet while she was in that trouble Behold him Madam continued I behold him that happy and that miserable Prince whose death has touch'd you and whose life has displeased you either cease to hate Arsaces or else cease to love Artaxerxes the one cannot be innocent so long as the other is guilty and sure the Gods did not save an innocent Artaxerxes to make of him a guilty Arsaces If Arsaces his passion has offended you that of Artaxerxes is supported with the friendship with the assistance and with the inspirations of Oroondates repay me some
made me know that my passion had not offended her and permitted me to hope she would not be insensible of it I went away with Raptures of contentment which cannot be comprehended but by those that have felt the like and my disquiets for the miseries of our House were so swallow'd up by such an extraordinary happiness that I had scarce so much as a remembrance of them left As soon as I saw Theodates I made him acquainted with my fortune and he was touch'd with it in such manner that he could hardly have appear'd more joyfull at what had most nearly concern'd his own He strengthen'd me in my hopes by discourses upon that subject and in conclusion he pleasingly perswaded me that by my Princesses goodness and your assistance my fortune might become like yours though our persons were very different O Gods with what contentment did I cherish those sweet hopes and what thanks did I not return to my wounds and to my captivity Ah liberty gloriously lost said I Ah bloud of Artaxerxes most fortunately split how shall I grudge your loss since it has brought me so great Advantages O Empires of Darius how little considerable is the possession of you in respect of the possession of my Princess and how light is the glory of commanding Nations in respect of the glory of obeying Berenice I spoke these words and many others being transported with a joy which was observ'd in me by my friends and they who a few days before had seen me with a languishing dejected face wonder'd to finde so great so sudden an alteration The next time that I saw my Princess she appear'd out of countenance for the favour she had granted me yet did she not express that she intended to repent her self but by most charming confirmations settled me in the hope of my felicity and promised me in the presence of Cyllenia that none of those that pretended to her affection should ever obtain any thing to my prejudice and that she would contribute towards my happiness whatsoever I could hope for from a virtuous Princess I desir'd no more and well might say I then had been in a condition that deserv'd the envy of the most fortunate persons if my felicity had not been troubled by the sad thoughts of the miseries of my Countrey and by the fear of those Reproches I might apprehend Thy father said I to my self has already lost two Battels the better part of his Dominions is in the power of his Enemy thy mother and thy sisters are Captives to a young Conquerour who carries them shamefully along in triumph and perhaps thou art upon the very point of losing the greatest Empire of the world and canst thou lie buried here in love and canst thou have other thoughts than those of serving thy father in this wretched condition to which fortune has reduc'd him of delivering thy so near friends from slavery of saving thy Countrey and of saving thy Reputation But said I again presently after can I be able to leave Berenice in the beginning of my happiness and of my gallant hopes and can I quit a fortune which perhaps my absence may make me lose for ever 'T is no matter added I asham'd of that last reflection let us save our Reputation though with the loss of all the rest we would prefer Berenice before the conservation of our Dominions before the love we bear our friends but we must prefer our honour before Berenice or rather we will preserve our honour that we may not be unworthy of Berenice This indeed was my Resolution but I could not bring my self to it without most violent conflicts My Princess who knew the Estate of Persia and that of our Family did out of her goodness suffer with me in my affliction and took an interest in our misfortunes with inclinations very different from those of the King her father and of all the rest of Scythia She judg'd very well that I could not stay in Scythia without shame and though she then exprest that my abode there was not unpleasing to her and my departure not indifferent yet was she too full of reason to oppose a determination which so pressing a necessity made me take or to desire proofs from my affection which might redound to my dishonour After that I had her consent for my departure and that by the assistance of Theodates I had taken such order as was necessary about it I represented to the King the necessity that pull'd me from his service for a little time and begg'd leave of him to spend a few moneths in visiting my Countrey in those miseries wherewith it was oppressed The King gave ear unto my suit with trouble and testified his affection to me by the difficulties he made in granting me the liberty I demanded he did all he possibly could to stay me offered me the most important Offices of the State and promised to exalt me to such a height that my condition should be look'd upon with envy by the chiefest persons of the Kingdom but these considerations were too weak to hold me since that of Berenice had not been strong enough Sir said I the least I ow unto my miserable Country is to visit it in its extreme calamities I have friends and kindred there to whom I am bound in duty to lend my assistance and I here am useless for your Majesties service I would not leave you if there were any occasion to imploy me in it and I le come back again before this year be at an end if death or imprisonment detain me not I used many other Reasons which at last won his consent unto my Journey after he had made me reiterate my promise of returning as soon as possibly I could When I had obtain'd his permission and that I had taken my leave of a great many friends whom my good fortune had gain'd me in the Court of Scythia I paid my respects unto my Princess Onely Theodates and Cyllenia were admitted to our Entertainment and we wanted no pretences to cover that secret conversation O Gods how were my sorrows sweetned when I saw Tears in the Eyes of my fair Princess and how great consolation did I receive from her charming words which assur'd me that I was not indifferent to her and that I was not afflicted alone for our separations I depart from you Madam said I to her because my cruell destiny ordains it so and that you would have a just occasion to repent the favour you have shewn me if I could indure to live with infamy but this hard necessity which drags my body out of Scythia cannot pull away my heart from thence so much as for a moment and in the remotest places of all Persia Arsaces never can be far from you I go full of resentment against the Usurper of our Dominions the Murtherer of our subjects and the Persecutor of our Family but I am more incensed against the Enemy of my Repose and against
travelled all the remainder of that first night with so much speed that before break of day we were gotten far enough not to fear falling any more into the power of Arimbas yet did we avoid the great High-waies so long as we were in the Province he commanded but when once we were out of it we rode with less apprehension and I for my part with some hope of seeing the Reliques of our desolate House again and with an ardent desire either to dispute the Empire yet with Alexander or to give up my life to his prevailing fortune He shall die said I to my self that injust Conquerour that wrongfull Usurper of our Dominions shall either fall or kill Artaxerxes with that hand which has been the destruction of all our Familie Perhaps he is not immortal though hitherto he have been invincible nor are we perhaps so utterly forsaken by the Gods but that we may pull a Victorie out of his hands which the cowardly effeminate Persians have so faintly disputed with him doubtless thou wert valiant enough poor Darius to trample down that Enemie if thou hadst commanded more generous Forces and nothing but their want of courage has made thee lose an Empire which is not much to be lamented since it extended it self over none but such mean spirited people Perchance there are yet some corners of thy vast Territories where thou mayest finde men that will shew themselves more truly to be men and 't is with them that Artaxerxes may possibly regain part of thy losses and blot out part of thy dishonour This thought had hardly given me a little comfort when presently I fell into a consideration of the estate I then was in and to my confusion saw those ridiculous hopes all vanish in a moment Ah weak abused Artaxerxes said I again with what fond imaginations dost thou flatter thy self Thou thinkest not of the revolution of thy fortune thou consider'st not that thou hast lost all that thou hast no Countrey left to defend and that thou hast no men left to oppose that Conquerour whom thy Father with innumerable thousands and with his whole Forces united was not able to resist stifle ah stifle these vain hopes and limit them all within the design of either making Alexanders person to run some hazard or of burying thy self in the Ruines of thy Familie These were the thoughts wherewith I was tormented but O Gods O Gods they quickly yielded place to far more cruell ones and scarce had I travell'd three daies journey when I saw both my Voyage bounded and my designs orethrown by the dolefull news of poor Darius his death I heard that lamentable end alas and 't is with shame that I confess I heard it without dying They told me how that great and much to be deplored Prince was fallen by the horrible perfidiousness of his own subjects and had given up both life and Empire to his Enemie Although this sad Relation did not absolutely kill me yet certainly it put me into a condition little different from death and Criton with the rest that accompanied me saw me in such a case as made them believe they had unprofitably hazarded themselves to serve me The recital of those swownings I fell into at this fatal narration of my sighs of my tears and of my mournfull complaints would but wearie you and be very difficult for me to make all that sorrow for the loss of a father who had most dearly lov'd me whose person was exceeding great and amiable for that of a mother who went a while before him and who ended her life in her captivitie for that of an Empire which might almost be call'd the Empire of the world added to my shame of having done nothing for them of not having shed one drop of bloud for their conservation and of not having given them any of those assistances which they receiv'd from the meanest of their Allies can produce in the most tender soul imprinted it self so violently in mine that it was like to have separated it from my bodie and I may well protest to you before all the Gods that nothing but the remembrance of Berenice kept me from my grave and hindred me from going then to seek them after their death whom I had so ignominiously abandoned during their life Thou now art free said I glorious Arsaces now thou art free thou no longer hast any Father to assist thou no longer hast any Countrey to defend or to say better thou no longer hast any honour to preserve all things contribute now to thy repose but O Gods how much were the most cruell deaths to be preferr'd before this repose and how much better had it been for thee to have been really slain in the Battel of Selena than to have shamefully out-liv'd Darius and to have seen the ruine of thy House with so much indifferencie what a horrible reproach to thee is the bloud of so many thousand men as lost their lives in thy Quarrell thou wert fighting against the Nomades while the Persians fell under the Macedonian Arms and thou wert sighing at Berenice's feet while thy Mother thy sisters and all thy familie lay sighing under the chains of fortunate Alexander O shame which all the bloud of Arsaces can never be able to wash out O baseness which all my love to Berenice can never be able to excuse I tormented my self on this manner in my bed whither my sorrow had confin'd me and where my grief was so extremely violent that it had put me into a Feaver for many daies After I had deplored my misfortunes in the most mournfull terms my miserie could suggest and that I had spent some daies in lamentations I began to think what I should resolve to do with my self Shall I not go said I and finde out Alexander in the middest of his victorious Forces which triumph over our disasters and since the anger of the Gods has so decreed that I no longer have men to give him Battel shall I not go and execute with my hand alone what the weakness of my condition and the loss of our Dominions will not suffer me to do at the head of an Army Since I cannot revenge Darius by the bloud of the Macedonians shall I not revenge him by the bloud of Alexander and if I die in the attempt shall I not bear my friends company with the least shame that I can possibly undergo Shall I not run said I again after that Parricide Bessus and shall I not make my way through the middest of those faithless Monsters that take part with him to pierce with a thousand wounds the ingratefull and disloyal heart of that horrible Murtherer of his King Is not that the first satisfaction I ow unto my fathers ghost and can I while Bessus and Narbazanes are alive have other thoughts than those of the rigorous punishments that are due to their perfidious Treason But O Gods concluded I shall I never see Berenice more and if as
to come up to his Relief He had his sword in his hand wherewith he defended himself with a great deal of courage but his servants put themselves between him and danger as likewise did those of Arsacomes and Theodates who being unarm'd as well as the King fought very valiantly to save his life I had hardly cast mine Eyes upon that Combat when knowing the party I ought to take I fell in among the Enemies with a fury which proceeded from a quite different cause than the little valour the Gods had given me And indeed it produc'd effects infinitely above my forces and at my first coming into the fight I scarce gave any blow that made not a mortal wound they that were with me seconded me with so much courage that the half vanquish'd Scythians recovered spirit by their example and began to make their Enemies doubt of the issue of the business It quickly grew more equal than it was at our arrival and the number of those murtherous Traitours was in a short time lessen'd by the death of some of the forwardest amongst them Their Head who perceiv'd that change would have animated them by his voice and by his example but he was able to do no great matter and I having known him by many tokens sought him in the middest of his men and in spite of all the obstacles wherewith they opposed my passage I got to him and to his misfortune my sword met so luckily with a place unguarded by his Arms that at the first thrust it ran clear through his body and made him tumble dead amongst the horses feet His fall did so discourage those of his party that they no longer thought of any thing but defending themselves and that they did so ill that the victory over them was not difficult for Arsacomes and Theodates though they were wounded closing up to me with shields wherewith they defended themselves for want of other Arms and being seconded by all the Scythians in whom that alteration had wrought a marvellous confidence we forc'd them in the end to quit the field and to seek for that safety by flight which they no longer could finde by their resistance I then turn'd me about toward the King uncertain whether I should prosecute our Victory or run to him but he put me quickly out of that irresolution by crying Valiant man you yet have conquered but in part and unless you also save the Queen and Princess you have done nothing for my safety These words went so near to me that I felt my strength almost redoubled by them and seeing that the King himself ran toward the place where he desir'd we should succour those dear persons I cast my eye upon the ablest of those Horses that walk'd about us without their Riders and feeling my own begin to fail as well through weariness as some wounds he had receiv'd I alighted hastily and leaping upon the other ran with such speed after the King that I had quickly overtaken him My love guided me so favourably that I soon discover'd the Chariot about which there had been a stout and bloudy Combat all they of the Guard were slain at the boots of it not having abandon'd their Princesses but with their lives and those barbarous Enemies were pulling them violently out of the Chariot O Gods how infinitely did Rage transport me when I saw my Princess in the power of a man who carrying her away in spite of her cries and her Resistances would have deliver'd her into the arms of another that was very well arm'd and bravely mounted certainly all the words in the world are not sufficient to represent my fury and I was so animated by that sight that all the Enemieâ— Forces were not able to resist me I flew most impetuously at those two men but having my sword up to strike at him that held my Princess the fear I had of wounding her made me withhold my blow and turning towards him that was ready to receive her I brought down my sword so forcibly upon his Arms which he had stretched forth towards her that they fell both together from his body to the ground his companion seeing him receive that stroak and fearing such another quitted the Princess but scarce had he disburthen'd himself of that glorious weight when he was also disburthen'd of his head which with a back blow I made cask to rowl and all between the Chariot wheels After this execution I fell in among the rest with a success but little different while the King coming to joyn with us as also Arsacomes and all the Scythians that were left of the former fight brought terrour to those Villains already half defeated by the death of their Leaders and by the loss of their companions They no longer made any considerable resistance and very few of them escaped our just Resentments As soon as we had no more Enemies to fight withall I turn'd to that illustrious Company all stain'd with bloud and in an equipage which as my Princess was pleased to say for all it was terrible had something in it not unpleasing to her I consulted a while with love and decency whether I should run first to the King or to my Princess but love though the more powerfull was content for its own interest to yield to decency and found its advantage more in concealing than in declaring it self so publickly Scarce had I turn'd my Horse to go toward the King when I saw him come forward to meet with all that were about him Whosoever thou art cried he O our valiant Protectour 't is to you we ow our Lives and you have won them to your self with so matchless a Valour and so great a generosity that though you should be born our subject you ought to be the Master of them for ever Instead of answering these words I leap'd from my Horse and cast my self at the Kings feet so suddenly that he could not possibly hinder me and had no sooner pull'd off my Cask but my face was known by the King and the whole Company The King was wonder-strucken that he went back a step or two and then presently coming to me again with open arms O Arsaces cried he O Arsaces and without saying any thing more at that time he imbrac'd me with such affection that I easily saw my absence had abated nothing of that he formerly had honoured me withall Berenice hath since confessed to me that she was fain to use a very violent constraint upon her self in that sudden surprise and that by my good fortune I had part enough in her favour to give her motions of joy in that Encounter which it was very hard for her to dissemble yet did she smother it with much ado and following the Queens example she contented her self with testifying her acknowledgements in the same manner But scarce was I got free of the King when Theodates making his passage through all the rest came to give me and to
take from me and remember that I cannot yield my pretensions to them nor to any body in the world without quitting my life together with them Have a care of your self replied the Princess that you may as well preserve your self for Berenice as you desire she should preserve her self totally for you and do you resist the unjust motions of your courage as well as she will resist the importunities of Arsacomes and Stratonice If your remembrance of me make you more wary in fight and if my interest make you go into dangers with more moderation than you are wont I le combat here for you with all the assurance and all the success you can desire In this Arsaces I shall follow my own inclinations as much as your recommendation but remember that I will be obey'd in what I demand of you and that I shall be sufficiently afflicted by your absence without being tormented with fears of the perill you are in My Princess accompanied these words with many others no less obliging and by those sweet marks of my felicity she made me know that nothing but my departure hindred me from being the most fortunate of all men living I took leave of her with effects of grief which all my constancy could not hinder and before I went out of her Chamber I receiv'd a Skarf from her part of which she had wrought with her own hand and with which I believ'd I should be invincible against the most valiant Enemies At last I was fain to depart and being retir'd with my dear Theodates I spent almost all the rest of the night in recommending my life and fortune to him which next to Berenice I left in no other hands but his By break of day my Lodging was full of persons that came to bid me farewell and of the chief Officers of the Army that were to go along with me I took my leave of those and put my self at the head of these who generally expressed their joy for the imployment that was given me and made me see that for all I was a stranger I had gain'd their affections enough to hope for a great deal of good will and obedience amongst them I answer'd the offers they made me of their service with all the civility I could possibly and indeavour'd to carry my self toward them as Arsaces whom onely the Kings favour had raised above them rather than as Artaxerxes who once was heir to the Empire of Asia This manner of behaviour perfected the winning of their affections and they march'd with a satisfaction whereat I my self had cause to be very well satisfied I will not here make a particular Relation of the number of the Forces I commanded They were the very same Brother wherewith you afterward went to fight against Zopirio and by the muster of them which I made two days march from Issedon I found they consisted of forty thousand Horse drawn out of many several parts of Scythia The Scythians you know seldom use Foot and never draw forth any but upon those Expeditions wherein they mean to imploy their utmost strength We made very great marches directly to Mount Taurus and though I knew not those Countries I had men with me who were acquainted even with the most unusual passages and by the former Voyage I made with the Scythians under Theodates I had so well learn'd their customes and their manner of fight that I was no more troubled amongst them than I should have been amongst the Persians The King had given me divers persons of quality and command but amongst them all he that I made most account of was the good old Cleorestes Araxes his father whom I had particularly demanded of him and whom I lov'd exceedingly both for the consideration of his son whom I had known and esteem'd in Persia and for that of his own virtue Besides that his quality was considerable in Scythia he was much to be valued for his person and there were but few souldiers in the Kingdom that had more experience than he or a more perfect knowledge in matters of war And indeed I preferr'd his counsel before all the rest and gave him the imployments of greatest consequence I le shorten the Recital of this War as much as conveniently I can and onely tell you the most remarkable Events of it We arriv'd at the Frontiers of the Tauro-Scythians without difficulty but when we would have entred we found it defended by some Troops which Amasis had left to guard it The number of men was not great but the places were very advantageous for them and that was it which put us to some trouble in conquering them and made us lose some men about it Yet did we overcome those first obstacles and after a sharp Encounter remain'd Masters of the Field by the death of all those that defended it who never turn'd their backs nor ever demanded quarter The entry into this Province being free by this first success we advanc'd in reasonable good order toward the Town near which Amasis lay incamp'd but I found that War would not easily be brought to a conclusion and by the first judgement I had been able to make of men of that Nation I conjectur'd that they would defend all their places to the utmost and that that Expedition would prove much longer than had been imagined Scarce had we made a days march toward Amasis when we heard he was coming to meet us and having fancied that the knowledge of the Countrey and their being fresh would give his men the advantage over Troops tired out with marching he desired nothing but to give us Battel I praised the Gods for that happy forwarding of our intentions and told my companions that we could not wish for any thing more advantageous than the occasion of putting a speedy end to the War which by other means our Enemies might draw out in length I found them all as resolute and as confident as I could desire but seeing that the Forces I had to lead were a Kings whose affection I indeavour'd to keep and that upon the success of that day depended the beginning of that Reputation I hop'd to gain with him and with it the establishment and Repose of my whole life I was not willing rashly to hazard matters of that importance but resolv'd to seek our Advantages in all the counsels prudence could afford us When we were certain that Amasis was advancing towards us with all the haste he could and with a firm Resolution to give us Battel Let us put them to the whole trouble said I to my chief Commanders and let him weary his men to come up to us while we chuse a place to fight in that may be for our advantage and there wee 'l rest our men and horses all the time that our Enemies are marching thither This counsel being approv'd of we incamp'd in a fair Plain and having a long Hill upon our right hand and a little River behinde us
private I judg'd that all this proceeded but from the first brunt of the Kings anger and hop'd that before my Return the Peace would be made or if 't were not perhaps we might finde occasion to do something in it In the mean time we took the Town by Assault which we were beleaguering and after that some others yielded themselves to obedience but the strongest held us so long in play that Amasis had all the leisure he could desire to fit himself to take the field again and so he did with as great an Army as before and a greater Resolution to decide the War by a final Battel This news was very welcome to me believing it to be the means to finish the War the length whereof I by reason of my Princesses absence began to think insupportable We march'd directly toward him taking the way that could bring us together soonest and most conveniently but we were fain to take many places before we got to him and make our selves Masters either by force or by the terrour of our Arms of whatsoever we met with in our passage This we effected succesfully enough but that I may not tire you with the Recital of all those petty sieges and of many trivial Encounters I le tell you that we were already Masters of the whole Province of the Tauro-Scythians and were drawing near to that of the Agatirsians when the Enemies Army came within sight of us I found our valiant Scythians had a marvellous desire to fight and having incouraged them to it as much as possibly I could I divided the Army into two Bodies whereof I gave the left to Cleorestes and kept the right my self Amasis parted his into four and march'd towards us wondrous resolutely We fought an exceeding bloudy Battel but I will not detain you with relating the particulars for we should not see the end of my Narration of a long while if I should stick upon every circumstance Amasis and they of his party fought like desperate men and like men who if they lost that Battel desir'd not to out-live it They made the Victory hang long in suspence and disputed iâ— almost all the day with marvellous obstinacy but in the end we carried it the Event proved more fatal to the conquered than that of the former Of five and forty thousand whereof the Enemies Army consisted there hardly escaped two or three thousand and those most of them wounded but deliver'd by my Authority from the fury of the Conquerors Amasis fighting in the first Ranks with a great deal of valour lost his life with a great number of wounds and by his death cut up the Root of that Rebellion We lost not above three thousand men but had a great many hurt whom we caused to be dressed exceeding carefully and whereof the most part recover'd by the help that was given them This Victory made us Masters of both the Provinces and those revolted people having neither Forces to dispute them with us nor Heads to stir them up to continue in Rebellion begg'd the Kings mercy and came in every day to make Protestations of their fidelity and to bring me the Keys of their strong Holds We hardly needed to draw our swords any more to perfect the reducing of them but yet we were fain to spend some time in visiting some of those places and in securing them to us and it being then about the beginning of Winter which is extremely sharp in those Provinces we were constrain'd to pass it in some of the Towns and to imploy it in settling a full Peace and in such orders as we thought necessary to esablish a perfect tranquility That long absence would have been intolerable to me if by the means of Theodates I had not often receiv'd Letters from my Princess and if my tedious days had not been sweetned with the assurances she gave me The King did me the honour to write to me very often and in his Letters gave me praises which could not lawfully be due to any body When once we had nothing more to do in those Provinces and that the season was convenient for our Army to take the Field we began our March to return to â—ssedon with a perfect joy and satifaction For my part I could not without being transported think I should shortly see my Princess again and that I should finde my dear Brother in Scythia The fancy of these happinesses grew so powerfull in my minde that it banish'd the remembrance of all my losses and I was marching with contentments not troubled with any mixture of bitterness when I found they were too great to be so easily obtain'd We had already passed over a good part of the way when I receiv'd an Order from the King which hindred me from going further and reading the Letter he wrote I found these words The King of Scythia to the valiant Arsaces IT were but justice my dear Arsaces to let you rest after having taken so great pains for us and I should equally desire your sight and the quietness of my Dominions but I finde all Scythia must be indebted to you for its safety and Arsaces is the strongest buckler it can oppose against its most terrible Enemies The heavens offer you matter to imploy your self for it and for us with the success that usually attends you and with it an occasion to revenge your particular quarrels and to punish that barbarous man who contrary to all the rights of warr detained you in a long and cruel captivity Arimbaâ— the Governour of Pontus is entred into our Territories on the side toward the Boristhenes with fourty thousand men but he has not yet had time to make any great progresses and I am not in a condition to send other Troops than those under your command speedily enough to oppose him Go valiant Arsaces go conquer that unworthy Enemy who hindred you from fighting for your Countrey and who unjustly deprived you of so precious a liberty I hope for the victory from your hand rather than from all our Forces and yet I will take care to raise more to recruit your Army and you shall be sure to receive supplies before you stand in need of them This Order crossing my fair hopes gave me a very sensible Discontent but I quickly found some consolation and had preserv'd so great an animosity against that cruell man who had kept me from paying what I owed unto my friends and what I owed to my Reputation that the desire of taking a glorious Revenge moderated my trouble and made me turn head against him with a firm hope that I should punish him both for the injury he had formerly done me and for the obstacle he then interposed to my present fortune All the affection our Scythians bore me was needfull to put them upon that new Design without murmuring but seeing there was a necessity of it they followed me more chearfully than I expected Our Army was then but thirty thousand
dearest rate which they so unworthily would have taken away made me do things beyond my strength and I gave few blows that dispatch'd not an enemy out of the fight Cryton and my two Scythians assisted me so valiantly that they laid five or six of them at their feet and the rest were so possessed with fear that they left the passage and the door open to me They followed us down stairs but very coldly and those that came in our way to hinder our going out felt such effects either of our courage or of our despair that the last of them were constrain'd to open the outermost gate to seek their safety in the Towa We rushed out after them without delay and came into the street all bloudy and in a posture that might have caus'd terrour in the most undanted persons My Guards cry'd out in the streets and call'd for help in the Kings name their cries drew a great many people together but the sight of us put them to a stand and when I saw them waver in the resolution they should take People of Issedon said I for you I have often given the better part of my bloud and will you favour my enemies in a base and cruell assassinate or rather will you see him murther'd by trayterous ingratefull wretches who at your Head ha's both fought and conquer'd for you I am your generall I am your fellow souldier Arsaces the very man to whom you so voluntarily submitted your selves and the very man whom you have followed in warre with so much affection As I spake these words I open'd my way with my sword among those enemies I still had left and they wrought such an effect upon the people that whether it were that my face representing yet some Idea of that which had commanded them stirr'd up some remainders of respect toward me or that the cruelty and injustice of the usage which was shew'd me caus'd some horrour and aversion in them or that they had still preserv'd some remnant of that love which they had formerly born me they never stirr'd to do me any hurt nay and there were many among them who to facilitate my retreat pestered my enemies and clear'd my passage as much as possibly they could They would have done more for my safety if they had dared but I made such use of those proofs of their good will that I got a great deal of ground toward the City Gate and kept my emies still out of the reach of my sword All this resistance and all this favour of the Scythians did indeed deferre my death but it was not sufficient to have hinder'd it without heavens particular assistance The news of this adventure was already carried to the King and there was no doubt but he would soon send troops against me I was a foot without other armes save my sword wounded with some light hurts but those that accompanied me had few parts of their bodies free and poor Hyander one of my most faithfull Scythians after he had done actions worthy of eternall memory fell dead by me leaving his fellow in a condition little different from his I already saw more souldiers coming to the relief of their companions and in short I saw evident death before my eyes so that what resolution soever I had taken to sell my life as dearly as I could I should certainly have lost it if the Gods had not sent me a miraculous succour I call it miraculous because in the conjuncture of it there was something very extraordinary which made me observe their particular care of my safety I was striving weary and wounded as I was to prolong my destiny when I saw fifteen or twenty horsemen come up to me at the head of whom I knew my dear Theodates Theodates who I thought had been in the Princes army who was then coming into the Town or rather who was then sent thither by the Heavens for my relief Before he came to us he had heard some rumour of that adventure at his arrivall and his eyes then telling him the truth of it he never stood considering what resolution he should take but gallopping up with his sword drawn he did so scatter those that were before me that he had a free and open passage Courage valliant Arsaces cri'd he we must escape and Theodates must either bring you off from this danger or perish with you He gave me not leasure to reply but as he spake those words made two or three of his men alight and offer'd me their horses for all I was so wounded I got reasonably lightly upon the first Criton took another but poor Theocles his strength fail'd and at that very moment his life forsook him and having stayed but just as long as it was necessary to me The death of these two faithfull servants would have been a great affliction to me if I had then been in a condition to be as sensible of it as I should have been at another time As soon as I was on horseback I beleiv'd my self out of danger and trampling those under my horses feet who would have oppos'd my passage I ran with Theodates and his men to the nearest gate We came thither just as the King sent an order to have it shut and a souldier was thrusting out his arm for that purpose when giving him a good slash with my sword I made him let go his hold and with the shock of our horses overturning those that were in our way we got out of the Town and took toward the field to our outmost speed The swiftnesse of our flight carried us off without further difficulty and before those whom the King sent to pursue us were got on horsback we were already above fifty furlongs from the Town Then we were favour'd by the night which presently overtook us and leaving the high wayes we rode crosse the field and in the dark toward those great forrests that are about three or four hundred furlongs from Issedon As soon as Theodates thought us enough at liberty to converse he suffred me to embrace him and give him thanks for what he had done towards my escape Never were more ardentnor more tender endearments us'd between two friends and though I had not lov'd Theodates so well as I did yet I should have been the most ungratefull man in the world if such a service as that I had newly receiv'd had not made me absolutely his My dear deliverer said I or rather the Genius of Arsaces his life and fortune must you needs happen to be or rather must you appear by miracle in all places where you are necessary to my safety and must I never find an occasion to requite you with an office of the like nature I am so extremely ingaged to you already replyed the affectionate Theodates that you have no cause at all to wish me more oblig'd and I much more justly am indebted to you for a life which shall ever be readily laid
disloyall affection shall be more fatall to my enemy then all those ill designes he ha's had against me prepare thy self for his death which I tell thee of my self as thou tellest me of thy perfidious tricks and believe that the onely choice I will leave thee from hence forward shall be that of Arsacomes living or of Arsaces in his grave If the beginning of the Kings discouâ—se had not prepared me for these cruell words they were enough to have made me loose my sences but as well resolv'd as I was I had much adoe to keep my self from falling into a swone and sinking into Cylleni ' as armes who stretched them forth to receive me seeing me change colour I look'd upon the King with a pittifull eye though it were animated with some resentment and struggling against my faintnesse The ashes of Arsaces said I shall ever be dearer to me then the person of Arsacomes and if I must shut up my hopes and my life it self within his tomb I shall esteem my condition happier then if I were possessour of all Europe with Arsacomes These last words absolutely took away all the reason the King had left and though my chiefest desires were bounded in Artaxerxes his safety I innocently procur'd his ruine by these extraordinary marks of my affection The King could hardly retain himself in the violence of his wrath but moderating it by the thought of that revenge he was preparing he was content with expressing his intention by furious looks and went out of my chamber with a face which sufficiently declar'd the action he was going to do I remain'd in an excesse of greif or rather in a mortall agony and all the apprehension I had had for Arsaces before was nothing in comparison of the fears which then assaulted me I knew the Kings relentless nature and his persistance in his cruell resolulutions and that put me into the most sorrowfull condition you can possible imagine Theomiris and Cyllenia knew not which way to comfort me and I think without their assistance I should have been reduc'd to very great extremities I every moment fancied poor Arsaces either dead or dying and the Kings harsh threats had made such an impression in my minde that 't was impossible for me to withdraw my thoughts one minute from that fatall remembrance Oh! King of Scythia said I if thou accomplish thy horrible resolutions thou may'st well prepare thy self for the funeralls of thine own children Berenice will not survive poor Artaxerxes and Oroondates will without question dy for grief when he shall hear that the life of his Brother for the losse whereof he had shed so many tears was preserv'd only to fall under the hands of the King his father I said many other things whose length makes me forbear to entertain you with them and I tormented my self on that fashion from the morning when the King had visited me till it was almost night I did not beleeve he would so soon have gon on to the execution of his threatnings and I thought that to put a man of Arsaces his quality to death there had been need of longer deliberationâ— but I was deceiv'd in my opinion and though my feares were violent they were not of so long continuance as I expected It began already to grow late when there was a great noise in the next Court and amidst a great confusion of voices I heard the name of Arsaces pronounced severall times At that reiterated name my mortall fears were redoubled and I sell immediately into the most fatall apprehension Arsaces is dead cri'd I throwing my self off from my bed Arsaces is dead Cousen and without doubt this confused noise is caus'd by the news of his death As I spoak these words I ran to the window which look'd into the next Cout where I saw a great many people got together who in talking of Arsaces clap'd their hands and did actions that sufficiently express'd their astonishment I then heard a calling for armes and saw a great many of the guard go out of the Palace in hast and in confusion All these things confirm'd me in my fears and I was so affrighted that I had not the heart to open my mouth to ask what the matter was In the end the court remain'd almost quite empty and for a time there was a silence as great as the noise had been before it Theomiris and Cyllenia laid me upon my bed againe in a condition little different from that of persons without life I had not the leisure to expresse my sorrow by any long complaints for before I had been a quarter of an hour upon my bed I heard a second noise in the Palace much greater then the former It wrought the same effect upon me the other had done I ran quite transported to the window where I heard the Officers of the Guard and many others calling for horses with a precipitateness which testified their disorder After I had remain'd a while in a perplexity that cannot be expressed I saw Prince Carthasis my Uncle come into the Court by good fortune he presently cast up his eyes to our window and I no sooner saw that he look'd upon me but I by signs and by a beseeching gesture begg'd a visit from him As soon as he understood my meaning he came up the stairs and finding no hindrance at my chamber door by reason of his quality he entred immediately after He was acquainted with all matters that pass'd both by what he had heard from the King and what I had confess'd to him my self nor had I any cause to repent that he was privy to them seing there were no proofs of affection I could desire of him which he did not give me in all manner of encounters to his utmost power He had a particular esteem and a strong affection for Arsaces and I receiv'd no small assurance of it by his action in coming toward me I cast my self all in tears into his armes but I had not open'd my mouth to ask him the cruel news I apprehended when to put me out of pain he broak silence first Madame said he the King would have put Arsaces to death but his Genius is more powerfull then that of the Scythians and 't is not under such armes as theirs that such a man as he can fall These words began to produce their effect upon me when my Uncle not willling to let me suffer any longer Arsaces is escap'd said he but he ha's made his escape like Arsaces and he ha's appear'd to the ingratefull Scythians the same gallant man that he appear'd to the affectionate Scythians when he fought so valliantly at the head of them They have found him as invincible against them against Armibas and the Tauro-Scithians and if they formerly have seen him winne battels by his sole courage in the front of their armies they to day have seen him alone and unarmed make rivers of bloud run through the streets of their
the Gods repli'd I with more boldnesse then ordinary have depriv'd Prince Artaxerxes of his forefathers Empire they have left him characters which all their anger cannot take away they have left him a sword that can recover his dominions as it hath defended ours and briefly they have left him marks of what he was and what he still is which can suffer no comparison with any of my fathers subjects if he be the son of our enemy 't is of an enemy that us'd the Prince my brother as the dearest of his children and if he be our enemy himself he 's an enemy Madame without whom the King had not been now alive without whom Arsacomes had not been alive without whom both you and I had either been dead or captives and without whom perhaps this Kingdome had been lost The Queen was nettled seeing me take Arsaces his part so sharply and not being able to dissemble it after a blush which appear'd in her face Your affection to Arsaces said she gives you thoughts in favour of him and to the contempt of others which would be very advantageous to him if they were approv'd of by the King your father but it ha's pleas'd the Gods his mind should be different from yours and though he was not unsensible of Arsaces his services while he beleiv'd him to be his friend nor blind to the knowledge of his good qualities yet was not his opinion the same with yours for the choice of him whom he thought worthy to be your servant That Arsacomes whom you despise so much was not so contemptible to him but that he destin'd him to the honour which you made Darius his son to hope for and ha's settled the pardon of the offence he beleives he ha's reciev'd from you in the obedience you shall render him in favour of my Brother The King answer'd I being vext to the very heart at these words cannot destine me to Arsacomes without destining me to my grave and what obedience soever I owe him death is able to give me a dispensation You shall not dy reply'd the Queen rising from her chair but time will make you know what maids of yonr birth and quality owe unto their Father and unto their King and how great difficulty soever you make of submitting your self to it you understand your self too well directly to oppose the will of yours After these words and some other of a feigned civility she went away and left me so ill satisfi'd with her conversation that I was not settled again of all that day I pass'd the next and some others in the same manner till the time we were visited with Arsaces and Theodates Theomiris and I were in bed together and not being able to sleep I was entertaining her with my ordinary disquiets when Cyllenia who took as little rest as we heard a knocking at the grate of my window At first she regarded it not but finding it continued she leap'd out of her bed and comming close to mine told me of it and ask'd me what I would have her do although I did not absolutly guesse the truth and that I believ'd not Arsaces to be in Issedon yet did I imagin it was to give me notice of something that any body came to my window at such an hour and in conceit I commanded Cyllena to open it She had no sooner done so but she perceiv'd two men on horsback one of which presently call'd her by her name and was known to her by his voice to be Arsaces Assoon as she was certain of it she gave him not the leisure to discourse with her but running to my bed-side brought me the news transported either with joy or with astonishment I was strangely surpris'd at it as you may well imagine and notwithstanding the infinite desire I had to see Arsaces again I could not hear he was so near his enemies without being extremely affrighted I rose with Theomiris and each of us taking a night gown we went unto that window and made Cyllenia stay at the chamber door for fear we should be surpris'd at that conversation I had not sooner dicover'd Arsaces and his friend through that gloomy night but my fear and my affection sharing my soul between them made me immovable and and also insensible but as soon as the too Princes knew us they bow'd down to their very saddles and having given us a salute full of respect Arsaces breaking silence first Madame said he Arsaces is yet permitted to see you again and the Gods have sav'd this prisoner this condemn'd man this fugitive to restore him a sight which is a thousand times more dear to him then the liberty they had taken or the life they would have taken from him He would have gon on with his his discourse as he had begun if I had not interrupted him Yes Arsaces said I you see me and I see you again but though your sight be as dear to me as you can wish it causes greater disquiets in me then those your absence would make me suffer and if you had lov'd me as you are oblig'd to do by the last proofs of your affection you had kept my heart from those terrours to which you now exspose it You doubt not that I was as much concern'd in your safety as in my own but you ought as little to doubt that I can see you in the danger into which you precipitate your self without mortall apprehensions What pursu'd I with the same tone is Arsaces in Issedon and under the Palace window Arsaces the sole aim of the Kings wrath and hatred and Arsaces for whose destruction he would hazzard that of his Empire I said a great deal more that express'd my fear for him but all serv'd only to give him new marks of my affection and after he had quietly given me the hearing I know no danger repli'd he than can fright me from the sight of my Princess and I should have scorn'd my liberty and given up my life to them that would have taken it away if I had beleiv'd there had been any consideration strong enough to keep me from seeing you again Do not therefore moderate my happiness by your too obliging fears but suffer me after an imprisonment which nothing but your absence made me think unsupportable to enjoy what was so cruely forbidden me and to return through the middest of all manner of dangers to that felicity for which alone I have pâ—â—â—erv'd my self He accompani'd these with many other passionate words after which I receiv'd Theodates his civilities and gave him those wellcomes that were due to his quality and to his deserts and to the good offices he had done his friend I thank'd him for Arsaces his safety with as much acknowledgement as possibly I could and then I would no longer rob him of the same advantage we enjoy'd but left him to entertain Theomiris with an equall liberty that Lady lov'd him as she was oblig'd by all manner of
to divert his purpose I lov'd not bloud and could have wish'd to be rid of Arsacomes otherwise then by his death and besides I saw such great and manifest dangers to Arsaces in that enterprise that it was hard to hope for a favourable issue of it I represented it to him as well as I was able and endeavour'd to touch him by the consideration of my fears for the evident perill of his life He having ever been very ready to comply with my entreaties strove to appear more moderate and having protested he would make his inclinations yeild to mine as much as he could possibly he left me in some belief that I had obtaind what I desir'd of him I pass'd the rest of that day in those disquiets which that uncetainty causd in me but in the night at the hour when I expected him I onely receiv'd a letter by one of Theodates his servants the words whereof were these Arsaces to the Princess Berenice I depart Madame since my honour since my repose will not suffer me to remain longer near you and perchance I shall not return to you again till I am freed of a rivall and reveng'd of an enemy Remember your faithfull Arsaces and if it please the Gods he dy in this interprise suffer him not to dy also in your memory The reading of these words did infinitely augment my grief and put me again into my former apprehensions I began to be afflicted for his absence and to tremble for the dangers into which he was going to expose himself What likelihood is there said I to Theomiris and Cyllenia that he can attempt to kill Arsacomes at the head of his army without perishing himself in the design Ah! without doubt Cousen we shall never see him more and his despair will make him so farr to neglect the means of his safety that he by his own ruine will secure the pretensions of Arsacomes I afflicted my self on this maner notwithstanding all the consolations I receiv'd from Theomiris and could never be cured of my fears during all the time he continued in that journey But Brother I think I am at the end of the recitall you demanded of me and if you desire to know the wonderfull events of Arsaces his voyage you may learn them much better from himself then me who am little capable of relating such adventures as those you are going to hear from him It is just fair Princess repli'd Arsaces that I should ease you of that pains and you out of your goodness have given me rest enough to be able to finish this narration Arsaces held his peace at these words and when he had thought a while of the discourse he was to make he proceeded in these terms Assoon as I had left the Princess and that I was retir'd with Theodates I made that dear friend acquainted with my resolution of departing the next night to go to Arsacomes and either give him his death in the middle of his troups or put an end by mine own to all the pains to which I saw my self condemn'd Theodates was amaz'd at that design but he argu'd not much against it and only told me he would run my fortune and that into what perill soever I expos'd my self he never would forsake me while he liv'd These tender proofs of his friendship did infinitely redouble mine and not having the power to refuse his company in such an enterprise especially seeing there was no more safety for him in Issedon then for me and that in what part of Scythia soever he could be his abode would still be dangerous because besides what he had done to favour my escape the letter which had come to the Kings eye and which was known to be his hand had exceedingly aggravated his displeasure against him I consented to let him go along with me and expose himself with me to all the dangers which in probability we went to encounter That day we gave order to get good arms and good horses and other things that were most necessary for us but we would take no other company along with us except Criton who had already well reover'd his wounds Theodates his squire and two of his servants to take care of our horses and armes beleiving that a greater train would but make our passage the more difficult and the more easily discover us I wrote those few words to my Princess which she repeated to you and though her absence was the greatest misfortune I was sensible of in that attempt yet would I go away without seeing her for fear she should oppose my intention with her absolute authority I gave my letter into the hands of a trusty servant of Theodates and when a good part of the night was spent we took horse and going out of the Town put our selves into a way that was not unknown to those that attended us By good fortune we had no river to pass that was not fordable nor no Town in our passage which we could not avoid sending only Theodates his servants through them to buy such provisions as we needed This did much facilitate our voyage and we perform'd it without any encounter that was able to crosse our purpose But before we came to the army I thought fit to discover the bottome of my design to Theodates and to that end Do not beleive said I that my resolution proceeds totally from my despair and that my enterprise for all it is so hazardous is without some beam of hope grounded upon a great deal of reason The Army now under Arsacomes is the same you know that I commanded against the Tauro-Scythians in the countrey of the Agatirsians and afterwards against Armibas 't was with it we obtain'd some victories against the King of Scythia's enemies There is no commander among those Troups whom I have not oblig'd by some particular courtesie there is hardly any souldier whose face and name is not known to me and never did any Generall receive more testimonies of affection from his men then I from them while we march'd together This remembrance makes me hope for favour amongst them though I should come to be so unfortunate as to have ill successe in my design against Arsacomes his person and for all he is their Generall perchance he will have much adoe to find more friends then I among them You have reason to beleive it answer'd Theodates and as I can assure you that your memory is still dearer to them then you can imagine I can also tell you that by reason of Arsacomes his pride and of his haughty carriage all the souldiers and all the Officers have a great aversion to him and I am confident they never submitted to his command without a great deal of unwillingness These words of Theodates redoubled my hopes and in the mean time we advanc'd toward the army with as much speed as the compasses we were fain to take would suffer us and we found it sooner then we expected The
to them and which made the greatest part of them fall at the dores which they defended At last that of my Princesse's chamber was open to me and assoon as I had set my foot within it I saw her in a corner of the roome as much affrighted as if our designe had been against her very life True it is that such a spectacle the fight that had beene at her chamber doore the bloud whereof ran all about and the sight of a great many dead and dying Soldiers were sufficient to beget a feare in her neither did I thinke it any thing strange but judging that I had no time to loose in words I onely said Madame you are free nor shall this be the day that you shall marry Arsacomes After these words to which I neither receiv'd nor expected any answer I tooke her in my armes fainting and allmost in a Swowne and commanded Criton to doe the like to Cyllenia then going out againe with that precious burthen and no longer finding any hindrance that could retard me I went down into the Court the same way that I came up In the meane time the Princesse's spirits were absolutely gone which I not perceiving put her into the armes of one of my men while I got on horsbacke and receiv'd her from him againe without observing it so much was I transported in the condition I then saw my self and so extreamely taken up with the thought of what I had yet to doe Scarce was I out of the Palace gate when I saw the King coming accompanyed by Prince Carthasi's Arsacomes and many others but their number was little able to dispute the victory against me He had no sooner known me and seene the Princesse his daughter in my armes but advancing before all his men after he had often call'd mee traytour he darted a javeline at me which he held in his right hand and which came whizzing over my shoulder I trembled for feare of Berenice but that was not able to make me loose the respect I bore to the Kings person wherefore having given my men a command onely to defend themselves and to make the retreate after me King of Scythia cryed I I will neither have thy life nor thy Citty but leave them both for my Princesse Arsacomes may live also since I cannot give him his death without advantage but he shall live without Berenice At these words calling to those of my party to open and give me passage I put on my horse in the midd'st of them covering my Princesse with my shield and crying to my men to follow me since I had gotten what I desired I returned to the gate by which I came in without any other difficulty except the crow'd of my own Soldiers They all followed me out and whither it were that they were glad to receive the command of sparing their country-men or that really they bore that respect to me I could not have wish'd a more exact obedience then they show'd in that encounter I was out of the gates and retiring toward our campe with a Satisfaction which you may better imagine then I expresse when I perceiv'd that my Princesse was in a Swown The knowledge thereof did extreamely moderate my joy and though I very well judg'd that it was but a faintnesse caused by her feare out of which she would easily come to her self againe and that thereby I gain'd the liberty to steale favours that had never been graunted me yet could I not see her in that condition without falling into a mortall Sorrow and I rode back to my tents with a countenance which did but little testify the fortunate successe of my enterprise In the meane time I had sent to Leotaris and the other Commanders to draw off from their assaults and within a little while the Town was left free and in the same condition it had been the day before Assoon as I was come into my tent and had laid my Princesse upon a bed I cast cold water often upon her face sent for Physitians and all persons that were able to give her any helpe but their assistance was not necessary for either the water or time brought her to her self againe No sooner did she open her eyes but shee saw me by her upon my knees having my lippes fast cimented to one of her faire hands She look'd a while about the chamber and presently after having turn'd her eyes upon my face upon Theodates and upon Cyllenia who stood by her shee knew the truth of that adventure and sitting up after she had pull'd away her hand from betweene mine Arsaces said she what have you done I have done what you have reason to expect from my affection answered I and I have drawne you out of the armes of that unworthy husband they intended you Yes said Berenice but you have also pull'd me out of my fathers The Princesse had no sooner spoken these words but a chillnesse ran through all my Veines and my astonishment was so great that not being able to make any reply I onely fix'd my eyes upon her face All they that were in the roome observed my confusion and the Princesse making use of my silence to proceed Arsaces continued she since you have satisfy'd your Love satisfie my Honour also I am not offended at your action but if you have lov'd me I beseech you in the name of all the Gods to restore me my liberty If her first words had astonished me these last pierc'd my very heart and giving me that sence againe which her former ones had taken from me they likewise gave me the strength to expresse it How Madame said I do you demand your liberty of me and are not you free are not you Soveraigne amongst us whereas before you were a Captive and a prisoner in that place from whence I have deliver'd you 'T is true added the Princesse I was a captive and I was unfortunate but that captivity and those mis-fortunes were better becoming and more advantageous to Berenice then this liberty you have restor'd her or this Empire you have given her over you and if you will have me make any use of it it shall onely be to conjure you to send me backe to the King my father This discourse absolutely kill'd me or at least it left me a life much worse then death it self and gave me a desire to put an end to 't before the eyes of that cruell Princesse what Madame reply'd I quite transported would you have me send you backe to the King and put you againe into the power of that Arsacomes to whom you had so great an aversion and who this day should have been your husband ha's half a day been able to make so great a change in your mind and do you now reject Arsaces to prefer that Arsacomes whom yester-day you hated worse then death Arsaces answered the Princesse with a more resolute voice then before never was more deare to me and Arsacomes never
then his Settle thy self said I and do not feare the sight of a single man and of a man whom all thy cruelties have not been able to make thine enemy I neither come with a power nor with an intention to take revenge for so many unspeakeable wrongs I onely bring thee a head which is necessary for thy perfect Satisfaction and a head which with Berenice thou should'st present to Arsacomes Behold my armes which I throw down at thy feet pursued I letting fall my sword and behold at last this Arsaces to whom thou bear'st so implacable a hatred who comes both alone and unarm'd to expose himself to all thy indignation but as it is with no designe to hurt thee so neither is it with any to appease thee that he here presents himself he demands no reparation for the injuries thou hast done him nor does he preten'd to any favour by those thou hast receiv'd from him and he would be a sham'd to receive life from them to whom he ha's been accustomed to give it Powre forth all the effects of thine anger upon this Artaxerxes the sonne of Darius who with thine own forces ha's assaulted thy walles ha's forc'd thy Town ha's pulled thy daughter out of thine Armes and ha's reduc'd thee thy self once more to be beholding to him for a kingdome and for a life which he hath so often preserved but spare Berenice who is not guilty of Arsaces his crimes Revenge not forreigne wrongs upon thine own bloud and since it ha's no affinity with that of Darius wreake upon that of Darius alone whatsoever of greatest cruelty thy rage can thinke Arsaces ha's deserv'd death but Berenice ha's not deserv'd the punishment thou inflict'st upon her or if she have deserv'd it 't is onely for having forsaken me and for having exposed her self a new to the mercy of her enemies Let alone the innocent Berenice then and overwhelm the Criminal Arsaces thou could'st not desire more facility for this revenge to which thou hast run head long by so many base and shameful wayes and besides the conservation of thy life and Kingdome thou hast yet this last obligation to me that I my self have deliver'd thee a person whose ruine thou so often hast in vaine attempted and that I have sav'd thee the labour of seeking out new murtherers to give death to the greatest of thine enemies While I spoake on this manner the whole assembly listend to my words and with a merveilous attention expected what would be the issue of that adventure I will not tell you what Berenices thoughts were at this last expression of my love nor what were those of Arsacomes since they were the Kings that first manifested themselves If he had been astonished at my sight and at the beginning of my discourse he was no lesse at the knowledge of my strange resolution he saw so little likely hood to hope that commanding a potent army wherewith I was in a manner able to dispose of his destiny I should abandon all the meanes I had to frustrate what he had determin'd to come and expose my self alone to his mercy that he could not suffer his beliefe to credit what he saw Wherefore he remain'd a great while in doubt of the truth but when he beheld me alone without caske without sword in the midd'st of a throng of his own followers and that he heard no noise at all in the streets that could make him feare the coming of his enemies he began at last to believe that my love had brought me to that resolution and that my despaire making me despise my life had made me also neglect the meanes I had to preserve it This assurance settled it self in his mind with joy and his feare was no sooner lull'd asleep but his anger was awaked againe The sight of his enemy and the fiercenesse of his words kindled his wrath afresh withal its violence and he had scarce had time to recover his first apprehensions when he open'd his mouth to give it vent Yet wicked wretch cryed he thou shalt dye and this false generosity which thy despaire hath inspir'd into thee shall not save thee from my lawfull fury Yes I will dye replyed I and if I would not have dyed I would have come with a power that might have defended me from thine Boast not of an advantage which thou holdest from no body but my self nor threaten me with a death wherein thou onely seru'st for the Minister of my despaire I rather serve the justice of the Gods answered Macheus and all Kings who are interessed in my quarrel but whether it be from the anger of heaven or from thine own despaire that I have this occasion to revenge me of thee thou shalt not see me neglect it nor for manie considerations spare him that hath seduc'd my subjects and that led an army of rebells and traytours against their Prince into his Citty into his Palaces and even against his owne person He had hardly ended these words making signe to his guard to encompasse me and to hinder my getting out of the Temple when the Princesse who till then had heard us without interruption mov'd from the place where she stood and coming toward me with a countenance animated with an extraordinary confidence You shall not dye alone Arsaces said shee and since you have been so little fearefull to afflict me in lavishing a life that was dearer to me then my own you also shall have the grief to see me run to a death which I owe to nothing but your despaire You ought to have expected the event of what I had resolved to doe for you If I had been so base as to have given my selfe to Arsacomes that basenesse would have been enough to have cured you and if I had preferred death before him you might have followed me to the grave without the blame of having thrown me into it By these words and by my Princesses action so different from her humour and from her usuall moderation I knew the greatnesse of her affection better then ever I had done before and forgetting all that I had taken ill from her I gave my self up againe totally to my love Ah! my dearest Princesse said I what a thought is this of yours and with what a reproach doe you aggravate my sorrowes I defended my life as long as I believ'd you car'd for it and you know that after the losses I have suffred nothing could have made me think of its preservation but the opinion I had that it was not indifferent to you That was it that made me oppose the King your fathers armes which after the ruine of my family I should have welcom'd into my breast that was it that set me at the head of an army and in short that was it that ha's made me do many actions which could not have been expected but from a person that had been much in love with his life Yes Madame I did love it while I
flattred my self with a conceite that it was deare to you but when I saw you help towards its destruction by forsaking me to put your self againe into those hands from which I had delivered you I believed I ought to follow your inclinations and not leave a thing in the world that might be an obstacle to your repose After my death you may live in a greater tranquillity then you have done hitherto and the Gods to whom your vertue to whom your person is deare having afflicted you till now onely to punish me by the part I bore in all your suffrings will cease to torment you any longer when you no more can be infected by the contagious afflictions of miserable Arsaces The Princesse had not patience to let me go on with this discourse but hastily interrupting me Cease to offend me said she with your reproaches and do not accuse me of a change whereof all the considerations in the world shall never make me capable 'T is true I would needs come away from you to put my self againe into my fathers hands 't is an action which I yet would doe and which I cannot repent of but 't is not an action that should make you believe you are lesse deare to me then you have been formerly If I could have staid with you with honour I would not have left you neither for Arsacomes nor for a thousand Empires and in returning to my father to whom the Gods and nature hath submitted me I did not use a lesse violence upon my self then that you suffred nor expose my self to lighter discontents then yours if I had ceased to love you yesterday I would not have begun againe to day and if I could have disposed my self to live without you I would not now dispose my self to dye with you You shall not dye deare Princesse replyed I violently you shall not dye nor can you continue in that thought without making my death terrible to me You shall live for a better fortune then that you yet have met with and if my death cause any sorrow in you as your goodnesse makes me hope it will time the friendship of Prince Oroondates whom the Gods will bring home to you againe and my ardent request at this last minute of my life will cure you of it I will not pray you to live for Arsacomes you deserve a happier fortune and you have too gallant a spirit to stoope to a person unworthy of you moreover I believe my death will change the Kings intentions in favour of you for purposing to give you to Arsacomes not so much with a designe to make him happy as to make Arsaces miserable he by Arsaces his death will loose those cruell resolutions which he had taken against you onely out of his enmity to me he loves you though he ha's hated me and the end of his hatred toward me will waken his affection to you againe I would conjure thee to it King of Scythia continued I turning towards him if I believ'd the latest words of a Prince who abandon'd all his interests to serve thee who sav'd thy life with the perill of his own who fought for thy Dominions insted of defending those he was born to and who to compleat his services gluts thee even at the price of his very life in the greedinesse of thy last desires were able to work any thing upon thee I upbraid thee not with what I have done for thee and thine though it be considerable enough to deserve some place in thy remembrance All I could possibly doe was due to the father of Berenice and Oroondates and the Gods are my witnesses that all thy ingratitudes have never been able to make me repent it but by that memory I may well demand the repose of Berenice of thee I was yet in a posture to defend her against Arsacomes if I would longer have defended her against her father and she her self was in a condition to dispose of her own affections if she had not preferr'd her respect and her obedience to thee before her quiet nay before her life it self If thou art born of Royal or if thou art born but of noble bloud all the incitements of generosity sue to thee in her favour and tell thee that so pure a vertue and so perfect a resignation ought to drive all the cruelty out of thy mind that harbours in it against this lovely Princesse While I spoake these words I fixt my eyes upon Matheus his face where by an unlook'd for effect I observ'd a very strange alteration You have wondred without doubt how in the condition I then was wee had the liberty of so long a conversation without being interrupted by the Kings anger who in probability should not have suffred it with patience but you will wonder a great deale more when I shall tell you that after having given a peaceable audience to the Princesse's words and likewise unto mine he found things in them that were powerfull enough to stop the impetuousnesse of his displeasure Assoon as reason began to find some admittance into his thoughts it made him look upon all his actions with a different eye from what he had done before He admir'd the contempt I show'd of death in seing me expose my self to it so voluntarily when I had so great a strength to have secured me from it He considered my last actions wherein he found a respect from which he thought I might lawfully enough have been exempted He remembred that having made my self Master of his Citty by the right of armes I had left it free to him and that having desired no other advantage by that happy successe but the liberty of my Princesse I had sent her back to him againe the same day and if in what I said he found something that was sufficient to offend him he attributed it to a greatnesse of courage which he could not disapprove From this consideration he returned to that of my former actions and recalling to mind all I had done for him he met with nothing that did not move his heart to love and tendernesse He for a while resisted these new motions but in the end he was neither of brasse nor marble as obdurate as he was and though the interest of Stratonice and Arsacomes who observed his irresolution with mortall trances with held him for a few moments yet was he faine at last to yeild to compassion and to remembrances which he was not able to resist The first token he shew'd of it was a sigh follow'd by some teares which all the assembly saw run down his cheekes but presently after he turned on the other side either to hide his weaknesse or to call back his former resolutions but there was no more room for them in his heart and all his thoughts were so chang'd already that he no longer had power no nor so much as an intention to defend himself O Gods cryed he lifting up his hands and eyes to
In the end I arriv'd there without any encounter worthy to be related and at my arrival I heard of the death of Alexander who had payd the debt of nature a few dayes before I know not how to tell you the severall effects this news wrought in me I was glad for my deare brothers sake who thereby recover'd the hopes he had lost in Statira's marriage but I was sorry in mine own particular being thereby depriv'd of those I had conceiv'd of regaining my honour from him that had taken it from me And though it seem'd to facilitate the recovery of my Empire it gave Alexander the advantage of having kept it all his life and of having been the Conqueror and the Master till his death I then thought upon the condition of my sisters and was joy'd with a hope of coming to the place where they were of seeing them and perhaps of doing them some service in that estate to which so great a revolution of their fortune might have reduc'd them Although the alteration of my face in so long an absence and the general opinion of my being dead might have put me out of all feare of being easily discovered I would not hazard my life how ever knowing that in Babylon I should find persons from whom time had not taken away all remembrance of my features and therefore assoon as I was come into this country I retir'd to the house of a good honest man some three or foure hundred furlongs from this place whom I by guifts in present and by the hopes of more engaged at first to as much affection and secrecy as I could desire The next morning knowing I was nere the Temple of Apollo which I had formerly visited I had a desire to consult the pleasure of that God and implore his assistance There it was I met with Prince Lysimachus and that by his gracefull fashion and his charming conversation I began to give him that esteem and that affection which the recitall of his gallant actions hath since compleated You doubtlesse have heard from him the discourse we had together and the words of the Oracle that was deliver'd to us I thought them so obscure that I could not comprehend any thing of their meaning and onely found by the last of them that the Gods would have me wait their pleasure upon the banks of Euphrates That conformity with my former Oracle did a little augment those faint hopes I had conceived and made me in effect resolve to expect my destiny a while upon the banks of that river The house I had taken for my retreat was seated nere it well enough built and furnish'd to make some stay there without inconveniency and farre enough from the high wayes not to be frequented with any company The Master of it proffred with a great deale of freedome to doe me all the service that lay in his power and finding him to be a discreet understanding man I resolv'd to make use of him to trie if I could learne any news of Berenice For this purpose having given him directions and adresses to inform himself of what I desir'd I sent him to the Citty but O Gods how sorrowfull was the news he brought me home since by him I heard the rumour that was spread in Babilon of the death of the Princesses my sisters This was so heauy an addition to my griefs that it was like to have pressed me down into my grave and though I strove to dissemble it as well as I was able I could not possibly hinder my Land-lord from perceiving that I was infinitely troubled at that news I made the dolefullest lamentations in the world when I was at liberty to utter them and accused my self of meanesse of spirit for having given my whole life up to my love insted of bestowing part of it on the reliefe I ow'd to those poore Princesses I vented a thousand threats and made a thousand designes against their murtherers and was yet in the violence of these thoughts having hardly dryed up my first teares when I met the valliant Lysimachus a second time by the River side He without doubt ha's told you the discourse that passed between us and how just as I was going to aske his name after I had told him that mine was Arsaces it was interupted by a Cavalier who passing nere us enquir'd the way to Babylon It is very true said Lysimachus then to Arsaces the coming of that stranger depriv'd me of your company after it had caused in me an esteem or rather an admiration of you which all I could say was not able to represent to Prince Oroondates when I made him the relation of that encounter That Cavalier continued Arsaces who passed so suddenly by us was Arsacomes You may easily judge by what I have told you that his image was alwayes present enough to my remembrance not to need any long time to know him and that his sight produced in me at the very first all those effects it was probable it should The knowledge thereof oblig'd Lysimachus to pardon me the rudenesse of my hasty departure which would not suffer me to pay all the civilities that were due to him I ran so swiftly after Arsacomes that though he was already a great way of I began to see him againe when we were out of the wood that second sight did so animate me that my impatience doubled my horses speed and at last I got nere enough to my enemy to make him heare my voice Stay cry'd I stay Arsacomes These words which he heard after I had often repeated them caused him in the end to take up a little and looking back to see who it was that called him by his name he behâ—ld me with my sword drawn coming at him as hard as ever I could drive My action and my threatning cryes made him know I was his enemy wherefore not wanting courage he turn'd about and expected me in the posture of a man resolv'd to defend himself He had a javeline in his right hand which he lifted up into the aire and when I was within twenty paces of him he raised himself upon his stirrups and darted it at me with his utmost force The blow missed me but struck my horse so violently in the head that he fell stark dead between my legg's I disengag'd my self presently from my stirrups and leaving my horse upon the ground cover'd my self with my shield to end the combat on foot but Arsacomes gave me not the leasure and whither it were that he disdaind to fight with me upon advantage or that he was call'd other where by pressing occasions assoon as he saw me fall he turn'd about againe and gallop'd on his way at the same rate as he had done before I remain'd in a vexation hard to be imagined and no longer having any meanes to pursue my enemy who rode away from me at liberty I was ready to have vented all my despaire upon my self Yet
did I moderate my rage by a reflection I made upon this encounter for I believed with likelyhood that I had cause to hope in the promise of the Gods and that Berenice was not far from those parts since I had found Arsacomes there This belief comforted me very much and a while after I was confirm'd in it by Criton who came up to me at last his horse not having been so swift as mine and his impatience not so violent He was very much troubled to heare the accident that had befallen me and having alighted to give me his horse I would have gotten upon him to pursue my enemy againe but I found him so spent that I lost all hope of overtaking Arsacomes and was constrain'd to think upon some new resolution I remembred that Arsacomes had ask'd the way to Babylon and I was of opinion I might light upon him in that Citty but Criton whose prudence I had observ'd in all his actions thought it not safe for me to go thither at that time considering the exact guard that was kept at the gates where passengers were search'd and examined whence they came and what was their businesse and where they did many things that would put me in very great hazard of being known He represented to me that it would be much more easy for him to inform himself in Babylon concerning what I desir'd then for me who for feare of being discover'd would be faine to keep still within dores Therefore by his advice in which I found a great deale of reason I with his horse took my way back to the house of our retreat and he went on a foot to the Town which was but a little way of from whence he was to come home to me the next day with all the news he could learne and with another horse which I gave him charge to buy Thus did I return to the place where I made my abode and where I pass'd the rest of that day in discontents mingled with some glimpse of hope but before it was night Criton came back with a brave horse he had bought and asking him the cause why he return'd sooner then I expected Sir answer'd he before I came to the gates of Babylon I met Arsacomes and which is more Sir I met him with the Princesse Berenice Ah! cry'd I what doest thou tell me hast thou found Berenice Yes Sir replyed he I found her in the armes of Arsacomes who in spite of her resistance and in spite of all her cryes carry'd her away before him galloping back the same way we saw him go O Gods added I quite transported what a happy progresse is this toward the accomplishment of your promises If I had had a horse said Criton I should certainly have follow'd them though I had been sure to loose my life but being a foot as I was I could not possibly execute my desires for having presently lost sight of them though I ran as fast as I could after I had complained of my ill fortune I thought the best service I could do you would be to go on to the Town and buy a horse for you as you had commanded me This discourse touch'd me as you may imagine but it was with joy which encouraged me to believe I ought to hope for all things from the promise of the Gods I hardly would allow the night leasure to passe away and assoon as ever it was break of day mounting the horse which Criton had brought me and which I found to be a very good one I began a fresh to seek after my Princesse Yet would I not stirre out of this Country for feare of disobeying the Gods whom I began to find exact in the hopes they had given me and when I had spent the dayes in my search I for the most part came back at night to my usuall retreat There is no Town here abouts which I have not visited no village nor house whose entrance was permitted me where I have not been to look for my Princesse but all my endeavours were unprofitable and after having vainly sought through all the Province I thought at last to return to that Temple where the Gods had promised me the return of my happynesse and where if I might be suffred I meant to reproach them for having deceiv'd me With this intention being departed from a village where I had lien I left Babylon upon the right hand and was hardly gotten twenty furlongs from it when I saw a chariot coming toward me which six horses drew at a very great rate The designe I had of seeking my Princesse every where made me go nere the side of it where I saw a woman in a mans armes who by her cryes and by all her actions show'd she was carried away by force My hopes were waken'd in me by that sight but assoon as I beheld her face againe and heard her voice I knew it was not my Princesse though me thought neither that face nor voice was unknown to me Yet was I resolv'd to succour her whosoever she was and to that end riding up to the Charioteer I commanded him to stand He made a difficulty to obey me but I brought the point of my javeline to his face and made him know there was no safety for him but in obedience In the meane time he that was in the Chariot having observ'd my action leapt nimbly out and calling a man that carri'd his caske gave him charge to hold that Lady if she should offer to get away and making him a light from a gallant horse he was upon he threw himself into the Saddle with a great deale of agility he was no sooner in his stirrups but coming toward me with a threatning action Whosoever thou art cry'd he though thou wert Lysimachus againe if thou opposest my intention thou shalt be sure to meet with death in thine I am not Lysimachus answer'd I but if thine intention be to carry away that Lady by force mine shall ever be to defend her against thy violence Thou must dye then replyed he and with those words flew upon me with a great deale of courage Being he indeed was valliant the combat lasted for some time without disaduantage to either but in the end I was more fortunate then he and after having warded many blows he made at me I gave him two or three wounds which made him fall from his horse unable to fight any longer Then I turn'd toward the Lady I had rescued and he that held her by his Masters command no sooner saw me coming but he let her go and fled toward Babilon The woman presently leaped out of the Chariot and the Charioteere lasshing on his horses toward the City got a great way from us in a little time Scarce had I alighted and set my eyes upon that Ladyes face but I observ'd all the lineaments of Queen Statira my sister You may well enough conceive how great my amazement was at so unexpected an
Stratonice's counsell to begin to accommodate thy self to thy fathers humour and thy stealing away whereby I lost all my fortune with thee had not been so easily effected if thou thy self had'st not consented to it Pardon me deare Princesse pursued Arsaces turning toward Berenice pardon me the injury I then did your vertue and consider that the condition I was reduc'd to made me uncapable of any sound or reasonable judgment yet did I strive to repent my opinion but could not doe it without beâ—ying my own eyes and accusing them for having deluded me in that encounter Perchance I may be deceiv'd said I and my imagination prepossessed with the remembrance of Berenice did it may be present some other object to me insted of her Ah! no cry'd I againe immediately after I was not deceiv'd and Berenice's features are too truely graven in my memory to suffer me to be confer'd in the knowledge of her I saw her but too plainly and look'd but too long upon her to be in doubt whither it were she or no. 'T is she and she is now in the armes of my rivall and of my conquerour and if fortune ha's dealt any better with him then with me they now rejoyce together at the victory he ha's obtain'd In this thought seing Criton who was come to my bedside againe I commanded him to relate the true issue of our combat to tell me in what condition I had left my enemy and what became of Berenice Sir said he I must confesse that the distance the trouble I was in during your combat and a vaile she had put down over her face hindred me from knowing it was the Princesse but the woman that was present while you fought no sooner saw your enemy fall who sunk from his horse at the same time with you either dead or in the same case you were but she ran instantly to him with cryes that came unto my ears as farre as I was off and she still was making lamentations over him when I went from you to seek for help but at my return we neither found her nor the body of your enemy This account of Critons wrought too different effects upon me for though it confirm'd my Princesses infidelity it comforted me in the belief that I had slain my enemy or at least that he had not gotten an entire victory Then I turned over a thousand several resolutions in my mind and though they tended all toward death yet the last upon which I fix'd was that if it pleased the Gods I should escape my wounds I would never dye without being assur'd of my revenge or without finishing it by another combat and moreover that I would never dye but before the eyes of the ingratefull Berenice The Princesse who had often blush'd during Arsaces his discourse could no longer forbeare to interrupt him Ah! Arsaces said she how ingratefull were you your self in those cruell thoughts you had of me certainly my humour should have been well enough known to you to make you believe that no body but my brother ought ever to hope for those kindnesses from me which caused your jealousy If I had had any other witnesses but my own eyes reply'd Arsaces I should never have given credit to them but in short I my self had seen that that was as bad to me as death and I was then so unfortunate that the truth of this adventure never came into my thoughts I rather believed that my deare Brother was no longer in the world since in so great a revolution of my sisters affaires we had not heard the least news of him since upon that of her death wherein he was much more concern'd then any body else he had neither appear'd to relieve nor to revenge her and since my sister who it was likely would best have known it if he had been in this country had not said one word to me concerning him This opinion of your death deare Brother which by little and little settled it self in my thoughts was cause of many of those things that have happen'd to me since and confirm'd me in the designe I have to dye assoon as I was certain of my revenge and assoon as I had powr'd those reproaches into the ears of Berenice which I thought due to her infidelity The desire of prolonging my life till I could find occasion to loose it in her presence made me suffer the help that was given me and assist toward my recovery as much as they about me desired Seleucus who interessed himself in it very cordially came back to me the same day and when once I was in a condition to thank him for his care I endeavoured to let him see he took it not of a person that would ever become unworthy thereof by his ingratitude The Chirurgions could not yet settle any certaine judgment about my cure but they found I was so inconveniently in that little house and in a scuruy chamber where I was almost suffocated with the excessive heat of the season that though there were danger in removing me they beleeved there was more in letting me continue in that place Seleucus whose urgent occasions call'd him perpetually to Babilon and who neverthelesse could have been glad not to bee from me consented willing to the proposition of carrying me thither and I had given my self up so wholly to be ordered by them that I did not so much as enquire what they meant to doe with me I knew not whither it was to Babilon or to some other place that they intended to remove me but though I had known I had preserv'd so little care of my affaires and of all other thoughts but those my jealousy in spir'd me with that I should never have opposed them I therefore suffred them the fourth day to put on my cloathes and lay me in a litter to carry me to the Town whither Seleucus going along with me himself made me be brought to his own house where I was very brauely lodg'd and more commodiously attended It surprised me a little to see I was in Babilon but as I have already told you my despaire swallow'd up all my former feares of being known and I judg'd that happen to me what would my condition could not be worse then it was since Berenice's infidelity Yet did I endeavour to free my self from receiving many visites and to that end having made that request to Seleucus he promised I should be seen but by very few The condition I was in hindred me from seing all the preparations that were made for defence against those forces of yours that began to appeare and Seleucus who by reason of Perdiccas his wounds bore the greatest weight of those affaires knowing my weaknesse made me unfit for that entertainment talke nothing of it to me but when by occasion of discourse he could not avoyd it Yet thus much I understood by what I heard him say and by what Criton told me that the Princes Lysimachus Ptolomeus
motions which were stirr'd up in me by that sight yet could it not have perswaded me Brother to leave you in the condition you then were but I believed I could do no less than use my endeavours to see Arsaces again and to show him Berenice whom he sought and the finding of whom would put an end to all his wandrings this was my onely intention and when I followed the litter 't was with a hope to overtake it quickly seeing it went but very slowly and to come back to my Brother again within a little while as I had done but for the hinderance I met withall and then I had spar'd you both the bloud which you have mutually shed I walk'd as fast as I was able leaning upon Alcione's arm when I unfortunately met with five or six hors-men who presently surrounded us and having cry'd that I was Berenice they leapt from their horses and putting up the Beavers of their Helmets no longer conceal'd their faces from me The first I cast my eyes upon was that villain Astiages and by him with an incomprehensible amazement I saw Eurimedon Eurimedon the Lieutenant of Thrace from whose persecutions I had fled with Arsacomes and whose presence was yet less supportable to me than his To instruct you by what encounter he was then with Astiages you shall know that after my departure his love to me had made him leave Byzantium and not caring to lose his Fortune to obtain me he had substituted his Brother in his command and with a greater number of men than Arsacomes had was come in pursuit of us with a resolution to kill Arsacomes and pull me out of his hands But whither it were that he made not so great speed or took not the same way the Gods would not suffer him to overtake us He was at last arrived at Babylon where he had lyen a while conceal'd not being willing to be known in the design that brought him and not having been able to learn any news of me there he had spent a great many dayes in seeking me about the Countrey but all his search had been to no purpose till the day my Brother killed Arsacomes and laid Astiages for dead with a blow of his Gauntlet As soon as that wicked fellow had recovered himself again he went directly to the place where Arsacomes his body lay and finding there was no life in it when he had lamented his loss according to the affection he bore him he caused him to be taken up by some of his servants that were come thither and was carrying him to the house of our retreat when he was surprised in that imployment by Eurimidon and his party Eurimedon as soon as he knew Astiages ran at him with his Sword drawn but Astiages finding he was too weak had cast himself at his feet and appeased him by the promise he made to serve him in the recovery of Berenice Hereupon Eurimedon had changed his threats intoâ— protestations of friendship and having learn'd all that Astiages knew of Arsacomes his destiny he had kept him from that time to make use of him for the execution of his promise They had together caused Arsacomes to be buried and meeting in each other a great conformity of disposition they by little and little had banished their distrusts heart-burnings and had resolved to seek me together in a Countrey from whence Astiages believed I could not be gotten very far Eurimedon had been carefull to win Astiages by all manner of kindnesses and Astiages who in the condition of his affairs stood in need of a support against those whom his crimes had made his Enemies had really engaged himself to do him service and unfeignedly sought occasions to satisfie his desires He also had brought him to the same retreat where we had been and which Arsacomes his servants had quitted after their Masters death and from thence it was that they were come when my cruel destiny made me fall into their hands Eurimedon appeared transported with joy at that encounter and taking one of my hands which he kissed whether I would or no How great is the goodness of the Gods said he since they restore me the adored Princess I had lost after having punish'd him that stole her from me I was so extremely surprised at this unhappy accident that I neither had strength nor courage to reply but onely pulling away my hand from between his and looking upon him with a disdainfull eye I made him know that if my sight was a contentment to him his produc'd a quite contrary effect in me but this encounter surprised not me alone for Alcione who was with me was like to have fallen down dead when she saw Astiages and Astiages who knew her after he had ey'd her a good while was so astonish'd at that sight that as impudent as he was he had much ado to recover himself In the mean time Eurimedon being got again on hors-back and having set me before him by the help of one of his servants carried me toward that cursed house which my ill Fortune had chosen for the retreat of my ravishers Astiages having overcome his amazement did the same to Alcione and in spite of our cries which made all the plain to ring and of all the resistance we could make after having many times escaped and many times been taken again we were at last partly on foot and partly on hors-back carried or dragg'd to that house with all the violence in the World Astiages his friend who was as wicked as himself lent it him very readily as well out of his inclination to mischief as his expectation of those recompences Eurâ—medon made him hope for As soon as we both were prisoners as I had been before Eurimedon came to me and putting on all the mildness he could alleaged his love to excuse his violence pray'd me to take heart and to believe that his passion should never make him exceed the bounds of that respect he ow'd me and that if I would but take some pitty of it I might expect any thing in the World at his hands and even my return into Scythia and the regaining of that liberty Arsacomes had rob'd me of he also protested that if I had shew'd him but any favour at Byzantium he would from thence have carried me home to my Father and that if by my future carriage I did not oppose the intention he had to serve me I should quickly see an end of those miseries that had cost me so many sighs and tears He said a great deal more to me but I gave no ear to him at all and having learn'd by Arsacomes his last deceit never to believe the promises of wicked persons I was nothing moved by his but looking upon him with an angry eye Hope not said I to work upon me by the hopes thou givest me I will not receive any favour or assistance from thee but scorn thy services as much as I hate and
triall they had made of it in the former Battel were afraid with reason for their General and opposed the design he had to stand the fury of that dreadfull Enemy Oroondates hew'd open his passage to them but not without difficulties and dangers wherein any other man but he would have been lost Python who at the head of his Chariots made a lamentable Massacre of the Foot having a while beheld his admirable Actions notwithstanding the hazard he saw in that Resolution had yet the boldness to encounter him and remembring in how many perils he had out-brav'd pale death under the command of Alexander he thought that without dishonour he could not shun that last With this belief he opposed Oroondates his passage and charg'd him with so weighty a stroke as made the Prince of Scythia know the vigour of his Enemy but he soon gave him better proofs of his for with his shield receiving those blows wherewith he seconded his first he with one single thrust in the default of his Cuirass found entrance to the seat of life That famous Captain opening his arms fell dead at the feet of Agenor his youngest son who not willing to survive his father instead of giving him the last assistance ran desperately as a Lion to his Revenge Cruell man cried he to the Prince since thou hast kill'd my father either die or kill me also As he spake these words he rush'd precipitately upon him with so little circumspection that in the point of the sword yet reaking with his fathers bloud he found the end of that life which he no longer would preserve Nearchus a most intimate friend to Python flew upon his Murtherer with a great many others but the furious Scythian made way amongst them like a thunder-bolt and sending some of the forwardest to bite the ground laid Nearchus himself there also having given him two very dangerous wounds This Action was in the sight of Perdiccas and of his friends who altogether ran upon Oroondates with terrible cries and with Perdiccas whom he sought had like to have made him also finde his death Yet did he lay about him with a more than manly fierceness and there came but few blows from his hand that drew not some of the Enemies bloud He had descried Perdiccas in the middest of them and 't was at Perdiccas he rush'd headlong through the clashings of a hundred swords Are these cried he to him the effects of thy gallant Resolution and of thy love Come out of that Crowd which saves me from thy Valour and if thou art a worthy successour of Alexander shun not the sword of thy Rival and of thine Enemy These words receiv'd no Answer but the blows of a great many swords at the same time and without doubt that obstinate Prince had met his death among so great a number of foes if the Gods had not sent Arsaces and Lysimachus with a Troop of valiant men to his Relief Arsaces was all dyed in bloud and Lysimachus had shed so much that his Arms were red all over with it Those two brave Princes having found Oroondates in so great a danger Courage cried they both together we must conquer we must take Revenge and breaking into that Rampart of men which sheltred Perdiccas from the Prince of Scythia's fury quickly lessen'd their number and with Actions worthy of themselves dis-ingag'd their gallant friend Oroondates was sorry he had neglected the care of a General to follow his particular Revenge and knowing that all the Enemies Army began to incompass them sent word by Alexander to Craterus and to the Amazon Queen that they should bring up the last Battalions to charge This Order was presently perform'd and Craterus on the one side and that matchless Queen on the other came into the fight presently after Alcetas Peucestas and Neoptolemus Then it was that the massacre grew horrible and that the famous Troops of Alexander with the renowned Amazons slew many thousand men whose courage might have prolong'd their destiny against other Enemies But on the other party the Macedonians and the invincible Argiraspides made no less slaughter of those with whom they fought Those fearless women led by their warlike Queen got ground of Neoptolemus his Squadrons and Thalestris being ingag'd in fight with their Commander after some blows that passed without inequality wounded him at last with many others and made him fall under the Horses feet No sooner was Alcetas come up into the battel but Lysimachus had sought him through all the field loudly defying him to the Combat and by provoking words inviting him to use the same diligence on his side but Alcetas was not at liberty to do so for he was then exchanging blows with Demetrius and that with so little advantage that if his friends had not deliver'd him out of the hands of that young Prince there was no doubt but he had lost his life Among all the chief Commanders on either side there was not one but made himself remarkable that day by many proofs of courage Lysimachus did Actions beyond all the fabulous Heroes Ptolomeus thrust on by an old animosity closed often with Seleucus but they still were parted by their men and carried the effects of their anger other where which became fatal to divers valiant Souldiers Eumenes sought all about for his ancient Enemy Neoptolemus but the Amazon Queen had already dispatch'd him to his hand Craterus Oxyartes Polyperchon Antigonus and Laomedon appear'd both in the duties of Commanders and in the Actions of Souldiers worthy of their high Reputation Part of the day was passed without giving any probable conjecture of the success of that bloudy battel when Statanor whom Perdiccas had reserv'd with six thousand Horse advanc'd at the Orders he receiv'd and came pouring down upon the Amazons Seleucus on the other side having rallied the Argiraspides Invincible Argiraspides cried he who have never fought but to overcome will you suffer your selves to be robb'd of a Victory which is your due And will you lose in one single day that high Renown you have acquired in so many years Ah! Let us rather die together and if we cannot be Conquerours let us at least fall with a glory worthy of the memory of Alexander With these words he ran formost into the Lydan Squadrons and having with a shock orethrown their Prince the brave Menander he with two speeding blows slew Cleobulus and Leostenes the sons of Ariobarsanes who fought near his person The Argiraspides encouraged by that glorious Example gave such a furious charge against the Lydians and Cylicians that having forc'd their opposition they made them turn their backs and began to pursue them with a terrible Execution On the other side the Amazons not having been able to resist the brunt of Statanors Cavalry had given back in spite of them and those fresh men falling in when they were tir'd with fighting put them in so great disorder that they wanted but very little of being
defeated The valiant Thalestris doing wonders in her own person saw Clitemnestra Amalthea fall dead at her feet and running headlong to their Revenge her Horse was kill'd under her with a multitude of wounds The danger in which she saw her self could nothing daunt her but fighting afoot with an invincible courage she made a heap of bodies which for a while defended her from her foes Yet was she ready to have lost her life not being able to hope for any Relief from her routed Amazons when the Gods brought Arsaces to her assistance The name of Arsaces struck a fear into the Enemies Troops but before he could make his passage to the Queen her Cask was fallen at her feet and her head being unarm'd would certainly have been wounded by the hand of cruell Statanor if the unexpected sword of a Warriour who appear'd upon a sudden had not slash'd off that sacrilegious arm and with a second blow taken the life of that barbaro us man whom the sight of so much beauty had not been able to make relent After this Action that valiant man slew Sinus also the Prince of Susiana who was one of the eagerest to kill or take the Queen and gave the son of Scytheus a mortal wound By these Exploits he scattred the throng wherewith Thalestris was almost orewhelm'd and had already procur'd her means to get upon Statanor's Horse when they saw the foe give way at the arrival of the redoubted Arsaces Arsaces was follow'd by a squadron of Bactrians and Cappadocians who under such a Leader quickly chang'd the face of the Combat for charging into the thickest of Scytheus his Susians and Zogdians he not onely stopp'd their impetuosity but made them lose the design they had against the life of their Enemies to think upon the preservation of their own How many courageous men fell then under the sword of great Arsaces and how much bloud did he pour forth to the fair Amazons Revenge and to Darius his memory Scytheus was one of the first that felt his fury who being run quite through the body fell without breath in the middle of his Troops Arthous Prince of the Pelasgians would have reveng'd his friend but he met a destiny which differ'd onely in this that Scytheus receiv'd his death by the point of Arsaces sword and he his by the edge for both his arms which he had lifted up to discharge a blow with all his force on his Enemies head being cut off close to his elbows he was carried away a while by his unguided Horse and tumbled at last among the feet of the rest where he miserably lost his life That Warrier who had first reliev'd the Amazon Queen seconded Arsaces with blows little different from his and Thalestris being got on horse-back and having put on her Cask again by his assistance labour'd in her own Revenge with marvellous animosity The Amazons rallied in a little time and being incouraged by the Example of their Queen and by the help of the Bactrians and of the Cappadocians their neighbours they came on a fresh with such a fury that the Troops of Statanor the Susians and the Zogdians having lost their chief Commanders were no longer able to withstand them but having fought a while retiring at last turn'd their backs and quitted the Victory and the Field together The Conquerours seeing them routed follow'd their advantage with loud cries but in the interim on the other wing of the Battel the success was very contrary The Argiraspides and Macedonians led by the furious Seleucus Cassander and Perdiccas who then fought there in person after having broken the Lydian and Pamphilian squadrons were already inlarging their Victory upon the Phrigians and by little and little were putting the better part of the Army in a Rout. They still advanc'd like an impetuous Torrent which nothing was able to resist when the Gods for the safety of their foes brought Prince Oroondates to oppose them who with Ptolomeus and Lysimachus came from another part of the Battel where his presence had been necessary O Gods how great was the indignation of the Prince of Scythia when he saw his defeated Troops fly shamefully before the face of their Enemies Certainly it would be very hard to represent his fury but they that came in his way felt the prodigious effects of it he cast up his terrible brow on every side and having a while considered that sad form of Combat he gallopp'd before the chief of them that fled and raising his voice that he might be heard Whither fly you cried he valiant men Whither fly you What Retreat have you if you lose this Battel What Walls to escape the fury of your Conquerours and how will you save your selves either from Death or from eternal infamy Are you the same men that fought under Alexander the Great and the same men who but a few minutes since had so gloriously begun the Victory By what accident and by what losses are you chang'd and weaken'd In speaking these words he opposed their flight with his sword up and stopping one of the chief Lydian Captains by the arm Stay said he and face about see here are thine Enemies By these words animated with an extraordinary gesture and seconded by others from Lysimachus and Ptolomeus he made some of those frighted men take heart again but he encourag'd them a great deal better by his Actions Follow me said he to them do but follow me the way that I will open to you and at the same time having observ'd Seleucus at the head of the Argiraspides he judg'd that a good part of the Victory consisted in defeating him He advanc'd toward him with a threatning cry and Seleucus who saw him coming expected him with a great deal of Resolution the first strokes they gave were reasonable equal but though at another time Seleucus might have been able to make a long resistance Oroondates his force was then redoubled by his violent anger and he shew'd no small proof of it when being closed with Seleucus he lock'd him so strongly in his arms that clapping spurs to his Horse he lifted that gallant man out of his saddle and having carried him above twenty paces let him fall quite astonied among the horses feet Cassander to revenge Seleucus struck Oroondates a blow behinde but the furious Prince turning about to him made his sword come down with such a force upon his head that his Cask was deeply dinted by it and Cassander himself having his face bath'd in bloud reel'd from his Horse among some of his men who were come up to his Relief Perdiccas could not see these Actions without being terrified yet having courage enough to prefer death before infamy he did not turn his back but dar'd to stand the furious Prince who knowing him by many marks flew at him as an Eagle at his prey Thou must die Perdiccas cried he thou must die for Statira since thou art unworthy to live for her
a condition to be easily taken they staid their impetuousness with very specious Reasons and telling them how well they ought to be satisfied with the Actions of that Day perswaded them to bestow the rest of it in the care of their wounded men and in the help they ow'd unto their Friends many of whom lying among the dead might yet have need and being in a condition to make use of their assistance The two great Princes to whose Valour and Conduct the Army confessed it self indebted for the Victory subscrib'd to the opinion of their Friends and after having imploy'd their care and their Authority in quieting all the Field they caused a Retreat to be sounded on every side moderating their impatience by hope of laying Siege within a few days to Babylon The end of the fourth Book and of the fourth Part of CASSANDRA TO CALISTA AT last Calista at last I am got to the end of that long carreer in which I have run by your command The course perhaps hath been contemptible nor have I been so little aided by the inspirations you have given me as to look back upon it with shame or with discontent But Calista where are the Crowns where is the Prize that should have waited for me at the end of the Race and where is that repose I thought I had labored for in obeying you and which I thought I should have found as well as my now fortunate Heroes They all are in the Haven Calista and I remain alone in those fierce storms from which I for your sake delivered them The compassion you had of their disasters made me seek for their contentment by forgetting my own and you finde so great a satisfaction in the end of all their miseries that you never so much as spend a thought on mine Can I have this cruel this tormenting knowledge without accusing you of injustice and may I not without offending that respect which I have never violated take a liberty to utter some complaints against you Certainly less reasonable ones have been pardoned and I have taken pains enough for your diversion and perchance too for your glory to hope for some kinde of acknowledgement from you The fair name of Calista if I may say so with modesty hath not appeared with any disgrace at the beginning of this Work and Cassandra hath been so happy in her Afflictions as to be able to tell you without vanity she hath added something to your reputation Though it may be I have unjustly fancied that conceit it draws me not from belief much better grounded I know that all I can possibly do comes short of what I owe you and for all I demanded a recompence I am not ignorant that I receive a perfect one in the glory of obtaining your Commands Well then Calista I have nothing to desire of you and shall be fully satisfied if I have but succeeded passably in the design of pleasing you Read this Conclusion you have so much desired of Oroondates his adventures yet as you read it make some reflexion upon him that gives it you and remember with some touch of compassion That while your faithful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put an end to the misfortunes of others he still continued in his own THE FIFTH AND LAST PART OF CASSANDRA The First BOOK THe death of many thousand men which our Princes lost in that Bloody battel could not damp the general rejoycing for so important a Victory and the Conquerors retiring from among the slain to return into their Camp made all the Field of Babylon resound with shrill cryes that eccho'd to the Heavens The Princes though more moderate in their good fortune could not oppose the motions of so reasonable a joy nor themselves dissemble the satisfaction they received from that happy success Yet had they hoped for it before with a marvellous confidence and by the little order they had taken about their Baggage in case of a contrary event and about the conservation of those things and even of those persons that were dear to them They sufficiently had testified that they marched either to Death or Victory The Princesses and the other Women of the Camp who had spent that day at the foot of their Altars had no sooner learn'd the issue but they came forth to meet them transported with an excess of gladness and covering their particular fears in the general satisfaction welcomed them all bloody with cheerful acclamations and would have run on to greater Liberties if the sight of their Blood had not withheld them by an apprehension of their Wounds Though Berenice had not doubted perhaps where she should bestow her chiefest Wishes she doubted where she should bestow her first publike Expressions and though she presently fell upon Oroondates his Neck it was not without fixing her eyes upon Arsaces yet after she had paid what she thought due to modesty she also contented her affection And being no longer in terms no nor so much as in a resolution to hide it when it was approved by all those persons to whom she was to be accountable she gave all the marks of it to her dear Artaxerxes which he could have desired from her in that encounter Alas How often had she grown pale that day at the remembrance of those dangers into which that Prince was gone to precipitate himself And how often had she frighted her self with mortal apprehensions That the Arms of the Macedonians might be more cruel then those of the Scythians and that he might perchance meet that death amongst their Swords which he had so many times escaped in the Wars of her Country But seeing him come off safe from so great a danger and with him that dear Brother for whom her fears had been redoubled she stood in need of all her moderation to contain her self Arsaces received those last marks of her Affection with that powerful interest whereby he had ingaged himself so many years and Oroondates found his satisfaction for that Victory considerably augmented by the tender kindnesses of that dear Sister and by the ravishing contentments of that worthy Brother Apamia and Arsinoe were neither less concerned nor less officious about their noble Husbands and their Brothers and Deidamia seemed to have stopt her tears a while and to have suspended the remembrance of the dead to partake in the joy of those Princesses to whom she was already linked with a very real friendship The first care our Princes took before they went into their Tents was that of rendring thanks unto the gods by Sacrifices which were instantly offered the next that of sending to seek out those among the dead who were yet in a condition to receive their assistance and the last that of causing their own wounds to be searched and dressed The Princesses were present at this action in a terrible fear and the Chirurgions after the Princes were laid in Bed performed their office very carefully Oroondates and Artaxerxes who with prodigious
exploits had sought Death and Wounds among so many thousand Swords by a kinde of miracle had hardly any hurt at all and the Princesses had scarce power enough over them to make them keep their Bâ—ds the next day Lysmachus was almost in the same condition Ptolomeus his left Arm was run through with a Javelin and Eumenes his Thigh with a Sword Thâ—lestris had three or four wounds but all slight ones and the Chirurgions who knew her impatiency gave her hope of being cured within a few days Deâ—etrius had received two deep cuts in the right Shoulder Antigonus and Polyperchon were wounded in the Head Craterus and Prince Oxyartes not at all Laomedon and Menander were brought from among the slain with very little hope of life the condition of Artabasus his two sons was little better and there were very few of all the mâ—st considerable Officers that stood not in need of the Chirurgions help But among those that were most carefully looked to Seleucus for all he was an enemy had the advantage of all the rest and Prince Artaxerxes who had caused him to be laid in his own Chamber and who to leave it to him meant to retire himself into that of Oroondates would not suffer his Arms to be taken off till he had been present at the dressing of his Wounds Seleucus was hurt in the head in the body and in the left arm but they judged him not to be in danger of death At which news Arsaces shewed by all his action how great an interest he took in the safety of that gallant man After he had given him all maner of assurance of it and that Oroondates by his example had with excessive civilities testified his esteem of him they left the Chamber free that he might take his rest and obeyed the desires of the Princesses who constrained them to think of their own healths While they were giving this succor to Seleucus Lysimachus and Ptolomeus did the same to Leonatus and Nearchus who were found all wounded among the prisoners and without doubt had lost their lives as well as their blood if they had not been very carefully assisted Lysimachus forgot nothing that was due unto their quality and to his ancient acquaintance with them and laying aside all maner of enmity he used them rather like his old Friends then like his prisoners Craterus Oxyartes and the rest that were not hurt spent part of the night in that imployment and those that were wounded in that rest which was necessary for them The next morning without expecting to be sued to by their enemies as in probability they might have done they freely sent them leave to fetch off or burn the dead of their party and at the same time Craterus with some of those who were able to accompany him went into the Field of Battle to pay the last duty to their Friends There it was that Brothers with tears sought the bodies of their Brothers and that Fathers found their mangled Sons Those Objects were so lamentable that they were able to touch the hardest hearts with compassion and all that day was spent on both sides in mournful imployments The number of the dead which had already began to be computed by the remainder of the living was then confirmed with sorrow and was so great That the Plain lay covered with heaps of bodies for the space of threescore Furlongs Of our Prince's side there were found above twenty thousand among which Philip the Leader of the Hyrcanians Orestes the Brother of Philotas Prince of the Cilicians Cleomenes Ptolomeus his Lieutenant Euristeus Lieutenant to Eumenes Lamachus Antisthenes Leosthenes and Cleobulus the two valiant Amazones Clitemnestra and Amalthea and many more whom their quality and vertue made considerable in the Army But on Perdiccas his side Fourscore thousand men were slain upon the place and amongst them the valiant Python and his son Agenor Sinus the Commander of the Susians Scythens Statanor and Arthius Princes of the Zogdians Drahe's Argeans and Pelasgians Eucrates and Evagoras the sons of Axiarchus and a great number of others who were with much grief brought off by their Friends from the Field of Battel Onely the most considerable Officers or those that had particular Friends were carried to the Camp and to Babylon to receive Funeral Honors and all the rest were with a mutual consent piled up in several heaps and burnt with the usual Orders and Ceremonies While Craterus Prince Oxyartes and old Artabasus were busied in this office the wounded Princes took their rest in Bed as they had been enjoyned And because the Prince of Persia could not that day pay his Civilities to Seleucus in person he sent often into his Chamber to know how he did Oroondates did the same and afterward he sent to visit Leonatus and Nearchus though Lysimachus and Ptolomeus for all they themselves were wounded omitted not to take an extraordinary care of them Berenice that day kept her Brother and her servant company who lay both in the same Chamber and she had thereby the convenience to follow her inclinations without wounding her modesty and render what she owed to her loved Oroondates without being separated from her dear Arsaces Yet before she went to them she had staid a great while with Queen Thalestris to whom she was tyed with a very particular affection and who that day had a throng in her Chamber of all those persons that were so well as to visit her The gallant actions she had done in the Battel were loudly extol'd by all the World but she could not think of the death of Amalthea and Clitemnestra without a great deal of trouble she had seen those valiant Women slain at her feet for her defence and remembred she had been kill'd her self but for the succor of a Warrier who by effects of Valor that were quite extraordinary had saved her from Statanor's Sword and from a thousand others which then were turned against her notwithstanding all the care she had taken to inform her self she still was ignorant to whom she was engaged for that good service and though such famous actions might have given their Author occasion enough to publish them there was no body in the Army that boasted to have done them When she mused a good while upon that adventure she in that relief found something very suitable to what she in former times had received from her lovely Orontes when she was prisoner to Neobarsanes she fancied that Warrier to have something in his action and in his maner of fighting like her dear Orontes and if she had not believed him then to be a great way off she had thought it might have been Orontes himself to whom she was indebted for her life That thought which yet she stuck upon but very little brought all those others straight into her minde wherewith she was continually perplext and having first represented her Orontes constant and lovely and then her Orontes ingrateful and injurious
from making any mention of it to Toxaris and Loncates when I told them of the journey I had made into Scythia It is certain That nothing stopt my mouth but the fear of destroying that great Prince And if you will do me the favor to believe My Lords That though I was so faithless as to do my Master ill offices in his love I was not so errant a Villain as to sell the Blood of my lawful Prince and to deliver him up to Enemies who had so great an interest in his ruine that they never would have spared him I will not relate any of those things that have passed in Babylon touching the War you have been informed of them both by Prince Artaxerxes and by others who knew more then I but will onely tell you what you are ignorant of and which cannot be come unto your knowledge being passed since the last Battel After that bloody defeat of our Army the remnants of it as you know retired into the Town and of above A hundred thousand men there scarce came back Eighteen or twenty thousand and even of them a great many sore wounded Among the Commanders there was hardly one that had escaped without hurt and scarce were there any of them in a condition to gather up the scattered reliques of our Forces and to present themselves at the Gates to oppose the pursuite of yours in case they should have prosecuted their Victory into the City Alcetas much less wounded then his Brother Antigenes Nearchus his Father and some others did all they possibly could to that purpose and while they were so imployed Perdiccas Cassander Neoptolemus and the rest who had not come off so well went to their Beds to seek repose and remedy for their wounds All things were then in a very lamentable form in Babylon the streets rung with the cryes of many thousands who then finding their losses enquired for their Sons their Fathers or their Husbands with tears and mournful groans the mangled Soldiers begged with cryes to have their wounds dressed To this grief and to this disorder was also added the fear of timorous women and feeble old men who being utterly dismayed by so great a defeat imagined every moment that they saw the Enemies within their Gates and who with mortall terrors expected the taking and sacking of their City Alcetas and his Companions took the best course they were able in that confusion they shewed a great deal of care in quartering the Soldiers who by reason of the vastness of the Town found all room enough they looked to set such Guards as were necessary within and to Man the Out-works which they meant to keep nor did they forget any thing belonging to their charge in so pressing an exigency You may guess at Roxana's sorrow by her interest it was so violent That of all the rest of that day she was not capable of any thing that was said to comfort her and the Physitians who had care of her health told her but in vain That being so far gone with childe she did her self a great deal of harm by such an excess of grief Her disquiets were augmented by the news she heard that day for she was told by those that had escaped from the Battel that Prince Oroondates thatâ—rtaxerxes â—rtaxerxes the son of Darius who had been thought dead so many years was alive in the same party and that it was he himself that had served on her side in the former Battel and who under the name of Arsaces had gained so high a reputation Roxana was as sensible of these news as one can possibly imagine there was no doubt but she was infinitely troubled to know that Artaxerxes was alive who thereby frustrated the cruelty she had used against his Sisters and who much more potently then those Princesses could disturb her in the possession of her Dominions but yet she was more sensible of Oroondates his return The knowledge of his hatred was a terrible discontent to her finding it so great that it had made him side with her Enemies and fight every day against her And though she was not ignorant how just cause he had nor could in reason condemn his resentments she could not choose but be much afflicted at them since they crossed the design she had of drawing him to her affection and that by those expressions of his hatred he shewed the small inclination he had to love her yet was it some comfort to her to know he was so neer her for all he was an Enemy and in this satisfaction and some remaining spark of hope not yet extinguished in her heart she found at last cause to be as much contented as if she had not heard of him at all She passed the night in distractions which according to Hesione's report would not suffer her to sleep a moment and the next morning as soon as she was ready she went to visit Perdiccas whose wounds kept him in his Bed Their first discourse was of the unsuccessful issue of the Battel and they both bewailed the loss of so many thousand men slain for their Interests especially of many brave Commanders who were either dead or prisoners among which Seleucus held the first place and then Leonatus Nearchus and their Companions of whom they had then heard no news at all After some talk upon that subject Perdiccas who either could not or would not any longer dissemble the truth which in the estate of his Affairs was not possible to be still kept secret seeing no body with Roxana but such persons as he suspected not spoke to her on this maner We might have reason Madam to complain of the ill success the gods have sent to our Affairs if we were not conscious by what crimes we have provoked them against us And if the blood of those great and innocent Princesses which you needs would shed for your own Interests did not call upon them for a revenge which they in justice cannot refuse In brief Madam That crime which makes us odious to all the World hath been as unprofitable to us as it is detestable in it self and you have vainly desired to secure the Throne to your self and to the childe you go withal by the death of Darius his Daughters since the gods have preserved the life of his Son Prince Artaxerxes It is he that may trouble your reign a great deal more powerfully then his Sisters and all the advantage we can reap by that horrid cruelty will be nothing but the stings of a guilty Conscience that will torture us for ever Perdiccas made a stop at these words and the Queen replied I was perswaded to that cruelty against mine own inclination by the example of many persons that have done the same in a like condition And though the advantages I desired to procure to Alexanders Son made me conquer my natural pity I have not nevertheless been without a great deal of Sorrow and Repentance for it It is true
the return of Artaxerxes whom the gods have miraculously raised again hath overthrown all our Policy but it is as true that I would revoke what 's passed if it were in the power of mankinde and that I now could wish with all my heart those Princesses were alive They are alive Madam answered Perdiccas instantly and the gods have nâ—t permitted That the most Illustrious Blood in the World should be so cruelly shed Are they alive cryed Roxana in admiration Yes Madam added Perdiccas they are so And he whom deceased Alexander honored with the last marks of his affection was not so base is to destroy what was dearest to him in all the World it was by the death of certain condemned Slaves that your eyes were deceived and your passion satisfied But neither my compliance with you nor the consideration of my Interests were able to make me forget what I owed to my King and to the quality of Prince in which I was born You required too inhumane and too shameful effects of Perdiccas his Obedience and if you were to have employed his hand to do you service it should have been in an action more worthy of him and against other Enemies then those great and innocent Princesses While Perdiccas spake on this maner Roxana hearkned to him with so much astonishment That of a long time she was not able to reply and that strange news surprised her in such sort that she knew not which way she should receive it The return of Artaxerxes which thwarted the security she thought she had established in her Dominions by the death of his Sisters might have made her content they were alive but that of Oroondates bringing to minde the interest of her love incenced her so against her rival whom she saw coming into the World again to deprive her of a happiness upon which she had settled some flattering hopes That she straight repented the wish she had made in her Favor but a minute before What Perdiccas said she looking upon him with an angry eye Have you then deceived a Princess that trusted no body but your self and that put all her Interests into your hand so freely I have deceived you replied Perdiccas as I should have deceived all the most Sovereign Powers upon Earth And though my action stand not in need of any justification know To the end you may be better satisfied That to the Interest of my honor and to that of Alexanders memory I also joyned that of my love which alone was able to overturn all my Resolutions I love Madam since it is no longer time to disavow it I love Queen Statira and for that love instead of attempting against her life I would have given my own She hath no Enemies against whom I would not have defended her at the price of my Blood and I have done a great deal more to content you then I ought to have done since I put her in fear of death since I kept her concealed to avoid your anger though she were all maner of ways the greatest Princess of the World and since I made her lay aside the name of Statira peculiar to the Royalty to take again that of Cassandra the Daughter of Codoman She is now in Babylon and if hitherto my respect to you hath obliged me to conceal from you both her being alive and the place of her abode I think that now I may declare them to you by reason of Artaxerxes his return of the belief I have that her misfortunes may have appeased you and of the hope that you will have some regard to the love of Perdiccas who hath blindly tied himself to run your fortune and who hath endeavored to comply with you even to the prejudice of his honor Roxana was so troubled during this discourse that she knew not in what terms to express her sence of it and after she had long beheld Perdiccas with an eye that seemed to tax him for deceiving her I should never have believed said she that you would so craftily have deluded me me who would have depended upon you for whatsoever was most precious to me I am not troubled that Statira and Parisatis are alive they were other motives then the ambition of reigning that made me to desire their death and in the extremity I will make known that which may justifie my crimes as well as you alledge the cause of your subtil artifice I will not tell you that I will imploy all the power I have to destroy those you have saved to the falsifying of your word and that perhaps I am potent enough over the hearts of the Macedonians to do it though you should undertake to protect them It is not out of inclination that I am led to cruelty and I consider you more then you have considered me The love you bear Statira may justifie in part what you have done but I can tell you you shall profit little by her being alive and that it is not for your self you have preserved her It is for Oroondates the Prince of Scythia the most dreadful of all your Enemies and he himself whom you saw yesterday dyed in the blood of your Soldâ—ers and also of your own that you have plotted and Statira is so totally his even before she was Alexanders That nothing but death alone can possibly take her from him You have that puissant rival at our Gates you shall have him to fight with all without and her constancy to assault within our Walls it is by them without doubt that I shall be revenged of you and that I shall see you repent the Service you have done for your most cruel Enemy This threat of the Queens made Perdiccas grow pale but he recovered himself presently again and desiring to let her see his resoluteness I do not doubt said he but that Queen Statira is prepossessed with some powerful inclination that makes her to disdain my affection nor am I ignorant but the Prince you speak of is a valiant and a terrible Enemy I have already tried his Forces in two set Battels and I have had a discourse with him which hath sufficiently made me understand his intentions but neither the knowledge of Cassandra's engagement can repulse me nor is that of my rivals power able to affright me I should have satisfied him before now if I could have feared his threatnings but if in the open Field he saw me not avoid to encounter him he shall not make me tremble behinde Walls which are strong enough to resist the greatest Army in the World And though Fortune should favor him against me he shall see me perish in the resolution I have taken and defend that against him to my latest gasp which I have too lawfully acquired to deliver it up but with my life Well we shall see replied the Queen extreamly vext which way you will behave your self and I will also think how I shall behave my self in this new face of my Affairs I hope
great deal of modesty Madam I shall be extreamly glad if to adde to these happinesses which I have not merited I may also be worthy of your Friendship since besides the desire your sight hath produced in me the report of your goodness had already absolutely gained me and that among those persons who are tied to Oroondates by blood or friendship my affection to you took birth before I had the honor to know you After the sefirst civilities Berenice permitted Barsina to salute the Princess Deidamia in whose quality she presently was instructed and after her the faithful Cleone whose sight wakned in her the remembrance of her Mistress with a great sence of her misfortunes Prince Oxyartes who chanced also to be with Artabasus and Prince Lysimachus saluted her after the rest but in Oxyartes his countenance Oroondates observed alterations that were not ordinary and believed him either to be indisposed or else particularly interessed in the arival of that Princess Assoon as that fair company was entred again into the Tent some of the persons it was composed of made their complaints to Barsina of her long abode at Susa and of the little care she had taken to give them the contentment that was then occasioned by her presence She was desirous to justifie her self in that particular and for that purpose after she had a while given ear to their reproaches I am not so faulty as you believe answered she and I hope you will pardon me a stay which hath been a greater punishment to me then to any body else The sickness Prince Oroondates had at my house hindred me from waiting upon the Queens as you certainly have heard and I was obliged to render that great Prince in my own house a part of that which all the World owed to his vertue and his person After his recovery and departure I was preparing to leave Susa within a few days but scarce had I given order in some affairs which it was necessary I should provide for before my journey when I received news of the Kings death and of the troubles that were sprung up among his Successors Within a little after I heard of the death of our great Princesses and of the good Queen Sysigambis and without particularising my lamentations I will onely tell you that my sorrow was like to have brought me to my grave When I was able to overcome that grief a little which had kept me many days in Bed I bethought my self of taking a retreat either with my Father or my Sisters whom the authority of their Husbands made consâ—derable among the Successors of Alexander but I found great difficulties on every side Artabasus was in Bactria and to go into that Province I had others to cross thorow the passages whereof were very dangerous for a Woman and my Sisters were at Babylon where all matters were then in a strange combustion and where every thing tended to War Disorder and Confusion so that believing I could not then finde a more quiet abode then Susa I resolved not to stir from thence till I had learned more particular news of my Sisters and their Husbands This was it that staid me there notwithstanding the impatience I had to see them again and afterwards when I heard that all my Friends were met together in this party and that with a puissant Army they were fighting neer Babylon for the revenge of the Princesses my desire to come hither to them was retarded by a sickness which kept me long in Bed and which would not suffer me to take the journey till very few days ago Before I departed from Susa I had heard the success of your former battel the news of this last met me upon the way and yester-night at Laris where I lay some persons belonging to the Army told me How those great Princesses whom all the World had thought dead were still alive and in Babylon how Prince Oroondates was amongst you with the Princess Berenice his Sister his Combats with Arsaces and which surprised me most of all how that valiant Warrier was known to be Prince Artaxerxes whose loss we had so much bewailed and whom we had with so much appearance believed dead for many years I tell you not the effect this news produced in me I was almost out of my wits for joy and never was transported with so violent a desire as that of seeing those dear persons again who had made me shed so many tears Ah! my dear Barsina said Prince Oroondates How welcome would your sight and your consolations have been to me in the miseries I have endured since our separation and in how much a more deplorable condition should you have seen me then that which heretofore made me the object of your compassion I should have suffered with you in it replied Barsina as I have formerly done and as I will do while I live in whatsoever shall concern you but I praise the gods for seeing you now in a different estate from that which hath made me sigh so often for your discontents You have now neither Duty nor Husband nor rival to fight against which both in the Queens opinion and in truth is not infinitely below you and though your Fortune be not yet compleat I see so happy a progress towards it That your impatiency alone will henceforth be the greatest of your sufferings From this discourse the whole company fell into a conversation which lasted the better part of the day and Prince Oroondates who by a just acknowledgement took the greatest interest in Barsina 's coming knowing her curiosity promised her the particular recital of all that had befaln him since their parting and that of the life of Prince Artaxerxes The arrival of Barsina had so taken up the company that it had not allowed them time to talk of Cleonimus his deputation and yet they that were most concerned in it ceased not to wait for the event thereof with much impatiency but the knowledge they had of the humor and passion of Perdiccas made them fear the success of it This disquiet was observed in the faces of Oroondates and Lysimachus and they began already to impart it to their Friends when they saw Cleonimus arrive His return surprised them being more sudden then they expected and Oroondates who was most eager to learn the effect of his negotiation no sooner saw him come in but rising from his seat he ran to meet him Well Cleonimus cryed he will they restore us our Princesses Sir answered Cleonimus they will not be so easily obtained nor can I hope they will return into your hands without more effusion of blood Then we will shed more added the impatient Lysimachus and indeed we have not yet poured forth enough for reparation of the offence that have been committed against them I ever doubted said the sad Prince of Scythia that so great a happiness could not be purchased at so cheap a rate and that those wicked men were too
not have changed your inclinations in favor of them and you should have demanded your Liberty of me by the same ways that took it from you also will I regain it you with the price of my Blood and with a powerful relief which we expect you shall quickly see me in the Field carrying death for your ransom to your Enemies This is all that in the want of power my passion hath reduced me to both you and they can now hope for from Perdiccas I would it pleased the gods cryed Prince Oroondates at the end of this Letter I would it pleased the gods Perdiccas That the fear of thy threatnings were my most sensible affliction and that these Enemies to whom thou boasts of bringing death into their Camp had nothing else to apprehend but the effects of thy courage Ah! how little should I fear that valor which I have tryed already if thou hadst not more potent forces to combat against me and if thou knewest not cruel Enemy and ingrateful Friend That without drawing Sword thou hast the better part of my life within thy power To these words Lysimachus added others full of threats but being neither of them had conceived any other then very faint hopes of that proposal they were the sooner comforted and found ease in their discontents by the hope they had to bring their Enemies quickly to more reasonable terms The night already drawing on they went all together from Artabasus his quarter but Oroondates who could not leave Barsina and who found a marvelous consolation in her company made the Princess Berenice entreat her so earnestly to lodge with her that she knew not how to refuse it and leaving her two Sisters with her wounded Brothers whom she had been to see and whose hurts were then reasonably well recovered she took Prince Oroondates his hand and went along with that good company Before they parted they all together went to the Tent of Seleucus and his Companions and the Princes were desirous to honor them with the visit of those great Princesses who at their requests consented to it very willingly Seleucus who at that time was mortally afflicted dissembled part of his sadness and of his resentment to render to those Princesses what was due unto their persons and to their civility but after he had thanked them for it with terms full of acknowledgement and respect he turned toward the Princes and being no longer able to contain his thoughts If I had to do said he with men less great and less generous then your selves I should wonder at the continuation of your favors after the ill success of the Proposition I made to Perdiccas My Companions and I should have a great deal more reason to fear the effect of your just resentments against our unkinde Friend then to expect this civility from you and these great Princesses He would have gone on when Prince Oroondates interrupting him first as most concerned It is enough said he and you should have wronged us all if you had believed that Perdiccas his ingratitude could have made us loose the esteem we have of you If we hoped for any fruit of the design you had to our advantage it was because we believed that Perdiccas ought not to have refused any thing to such a Friend as Seleucus but though by a base consideration of his own Interests he makes himself unworthy of your friendship we will not fall from our first inclinations by the knowledge of his I tell you not that you are free since we never reckoned him as a prisoner to whom we ow the life of Prince Artaxerxes But I assure my self I shall be avowed by my Companions if I say that maugre Perdiccas his refusal you with your own Liberty may dispose as you please of those of Nearchus and Leonatus We will recover our Princesses by other means if the gods will favor the justice of our Swords and perhaps this last satisfaction will be more entire to us then that we hoped for by your inter-mission This magnanimity you practise toward us replied Seleucus shall not perchance be less disadvantageous to Perdiccas then the ingratitude he hath shewed and my Companions and I will not abuse it so far as to make the libertie you offer us more prejudicial to you then our imprisonment I will take those resolutions I ought to take when once I shall be in a condition to execute them And though the ungratefulness of my Friend cannot so suddenly make me pass from an extream Friendship to an extremitie of hatred and to designs against him I protest to you at least That I never more will fight for him against you The Princes testified their esteem of Seleucus by the joy they made appear at this Declaration and Artaxerxes taking him by the hand and preâ—sing it with much affection The ingratitude of Perdiccas said he will not be disadvantageous to us if it give us such a friend as Seleucus nor can our Enemies party be more weakned then by the loss of a man whose valor alone disputed the Victory against us After this discourse all the company went into the Chamber of Nearchus and Leonatus to whom they had sent Perdiccas his Letter and to whom the Princes by very obliging words expressed That the carriage of their unkinde Friend should be no prejudice at all to them nor should be able to disswade them from the intent they had to offer them their liberty They returned their thanks in very different terms Nearchus who was grave and discreet dissembled part of his resentment but Leonatus who was of a hasty impatient nature could not keep himself from breaking out and declaring all that lay in his heart For my part said he I not onely will never be a Friend to Perdiccas but will be his Enemy as long as I live and if you will receive me amongst you I will not onely serve you in my own person but also will make whatsoever is left of my forces come out of Babylon and solicite all my Friends to quit that ingrateful party We receive you gladly replied Ptolomeus for himself and the other Princes and this is too obliging an offer to be accepted without expressions of a great deal of joy After these and some other discourses which kept them a while longer in that Chamber they went out and retired all together to Oroondates his Tent there they supt and spent part of the night in a most pleasing conversation and there Barsina learned of Oroondates all that had befaln him and all he had suffered since their separation with some part of Artaxerxes his adventures When the time of night obliged them to withdraw Berenice took Barsina with her to her Chamber And considering her as a neer Kinswoman of Prince Artaxerxes and as the best Friend of the Prince her Brother she contracted a very strong and a very particular Friendship with her This union was not hard to be made between two such vertuous Ladies
sorrowful Lascaris after what you have done for Thalestris will you not have the confidence to cast your self at her feet to ask her a pardon which you have so well deserved and to let her know That since you were criminal toward her you have saved her life both by Land and by Water He made a stop at these words as to expect an answer but seeing that his Master in stead of replying contented himself to testifie by shaking his head that he was not in a condition to make use of his advice At least Sir went he on if you want courage in this occasion you that never wanted it in any other of the greatest danger if you have not boldness enough to present your self before exasperated Thalestris and to labor in your own behalf for a reconciliation with her give me Commission to do it I may perhaps perform the business with more dexterity then you believe I will address my self to Hippolita who was ever very affectionate to you I will address my self to Prince Oroondates who hath promised you his assistance and who is obliged by nearness of alliance and many other considerations to give it you and in fine I will manage your Interest in such sort that your fortune shall perchance be better then ever it was and that you shall joyfully dispose your self to quit this dismal habitation where we seem to have laid aside humanity and live like savage Beasts This strange life and this strange diet you feed upon hath changed you so already that you are hardly to be known You have lost all the freshness of your colour your healthful looks and the better part of your strength and if in this last combat you had enough to execute the things you did there it was from your love you drew it rather then from that lean and weakned Body which falls away and decays every moment and which tends most visibly to the grave Lascaris brought forth these words with tears wherewith Orontes was touched but it was not on the fashion he desired as he quickly made appear by his discourse Thou canst not O Lascaris said he tell me any news more pleasing then that I have now received from thee nor give me notice that I am near my grave without giving me a great deal of contentment How great soever my crime hath been it makes my destiny glorious since in dying for its expiation I have the glory to die also for Thalestris that is the aim I ever proposed unto my self through the whole course of my life and in my utmost misery I shall attain to that advantage which I aspired to in my greatest fortune My soul is but too fast united to this wretched body which it would fain abandon and no longer suffers but with shame the company of this accomplice of its crimes it is true That in this desart we lead a life exceeding different from other men but also I ought no longer to be counted amongst men I who have made my self unworthy of that name and who no longer can without horror endure the light of the Sun which they rejoyce in All that I finde most strange and most troublesome to me in my condition is That I have thee for a Companion in my afflictions and that I make thee bear thy part of my punishment thee who hadst no part at all in my offence and who hast been faulty in nothing but in having too obstinately tied thy self to the fortune of a miserable man and of a man that is hated of the gods but Lascaris thou knowest that nothing but thine own wilfulness hath reduced thee to this misery and that I have solicited thee a thousand times to quit this hideous dwelling and to retire thy self where thou mightst spend thy days more pleasingly That which comforts me for thee in the sad condition of our life is That thy sufferings will not now last much longer I have but few more days to linger out and after thou hast closed mine eyes and covered my body with a little Earth thou mayest go home with a perfect satisfaction and with a perfect glory for having served thy master to the end with an inviolable fidelity yet does there remain one service for thee to do me after my death and then it is that I consent nay and desire thou shouldst present thy self unto Thalestris and that thou shouldst endeavor to obtain that pardon from her which then I may handsomely demand she then will hearken to thee by the intercession of Hippolita and by that of Prince Oroondates and perhaps will not be so obdurate but that the recital of my death may make her cast away some part of her just resentments Orontes brought forth these words in so doleful a maner that a heart of Adamant would have been touched with compassion and that of Thalestris was so mollified that after having permitted her tears to overflow with violence her constancy was utterly at an end and coming hastily out of her dark station You shall not die cryed she you shall not die my dear Orithia Thalestris pardons you without dying and Thalestris will not have your death for the reparation of your faults Orontes quite besides himself at these words at the tone of the voice and at the sight of his Princess started suddenly from his Bed and at so unexpected an adventure fell into so strange an astonishment That his soul lost the greatest part of its functions and of a long time he was not in a condition to know what he should believe or what resolution he should take yet did he look unmovedly upon Thalestris and finding in her face those lineaments which were deeply graven within his heart his surprise and his amazement made him absolutely uncapable of doing any thing At last he threw himself down before her while she strove to stop a torrent of tears that had deprived her of the use of speech and lying prostrate at her very feet without daring to lift his eyes up to her face If you be some god said he whom my sorrowful fortune hath drawn from Heaven into this dismal habitation your pity is unworthily bestowed upon the most criminal of all men living and if you are the divine Thalestris to whom I offered my adorations while I was less guilty I now am altogether unworthy to behold you The Queen who had recovered her self a little by the violence she had used and who no longer wavered in the resolution she was to take put forth her hands to have helped him up and looking upon him with a countenance quite appeased I am Thalestris said she but Thalestris who was less sensible of the wrongs you did me then I am of your last services and of the marks of your repentance If I sought you heretofore to give you a death which in my opinion you had merited I seek you now to give you a life which you have gained unto your self by having preserved it I live
knowledge of my crime and began my wandrings with Lascaris alone not so much as thinking whether I would go all Countries were indifferent to me provided I might be but far enough from you and from all places where I might hear speak of you and me-thought that in flying from you I fled from my ill fortune yet did I turn my steps toward Hyrcania that fatal Country where I thought I had lost you and from which Alexander was then departed I arrived there but too soon for my quiet at least if I had any left and intending to inform my self of my misfortune by people of those parts and enquire of them concerning the voyage which the Amazon Queen had made into that Province my evil destiny had so ordained That I addressed my self to none but such as were ill instructed and vulgar people who being ignorant of what passes near the persons of Kings make judgements upon gross appearances according to the reach of their understanding I therefore received from them the most cruel confirmations I could expect and with them a heavy addition to my despair From Hyrcania I went into Parthia and like an Orestes driven about by furies not being able to finde any rest in all the places I visited flying mine own Country and all others where I might meet persons of my acquaintance I resolved to go into the Indies and to seek to the utmost parts of the World for remedy against the rage that tormented me and for some sanctuary against that evil spirit that persecuted me in every place Assoon as I had resolved it I put it in execution after a long and painful voyage I entred into the Kingdom of good King Taxiles with whom Alexander contracted a near friendship afterward and I confess that if my soul had been capable of any tranquility I might have found it in the Court of that Prince whose vertues are admirable and whose Politick-government might serve for a rule to that of all other Monarchs but my tormentor never forsook me and whithersoever I turned my furious paâ—â—on racked me with a pitiless War I did all that possibly I could to banish you out of my minde and a thousand times a day represented to my self the injury I believed I had received from you with all the blackest colours wherein it could be painted to finde by that remembrance the means either to forget you or to hate you But in what fashion soever you then appeared to me you were still Thalestris and my most violent resentings could not race out that deep-graven characer of love you had made within my heart How defiled soever you appeared to me with Alexanders embraces you still came into my minde with an Empire which I could not overthrow And though among the thoughts of Love those of Hatred crept in sometimes Indifferency could never finde a room there and whether sleeping or waking you still were present with me It was to little purpose I changed Climats for I never changed my condition and as a wounded Hind carries the deadly Arrow along with her I in the midst of my heart carried that poysoned shaft which made me finde what I fled away from in all those places where I sought for refuge Alas How often not being able to resist that implacable Enemy did I offer it a more absolute victory by demanding death And how often when I thought to have given it to my self was my hand withheld by the Prayers and Tears of Lascaris whose fidelity having made him considerable to me had gained him a great Authority over my inclination When I left the Kingdom of Taxiles I passed through a great many barbarous Provinces and at last came into that of the Phasiaces which obeyed the great King Porus he who afterwards disputed the glory against Alexander with so much valor and who in his defeat acquired so brave a reputation Certainly all that hath been said to the advantage of that Prince is published of him but with a great deal of Justice and if he had but as much politeness in his maner of living as he hath greatness of courage he might well be reckoned one of the worthiest persons of our age I served him two or three moneths in a war he then had against his Neighbors and having made my self remarkable fortunately enough in some encounters I received favors from him that were infinitely above my services and if I could have been staid there by his urgent entreaties he would have shewed me the Noblest usage I could have hoped for from a magnanimous King There are few Languages in which I have not an imperfect knowledge and that gave me the greater facility in so long a voyage From the service of Porus which I quitted assoon as he forsook the war and a little before the arrival of Alexander I went on toward the Bactriaces and the Seres and prosecuted my course as far as the Caspian Ports I crossed through desarts full of Serpents and dreadful Monsters amongst which I should have met with death a thousand times if I had not desired it but amongst all the fellest Monsters I found nothing so cruel to me as the memory of Thalestris I overrun all the Indies that lie on this side the Ganges that River bounded my wandrings that way and not finding the passage easie because of its excessive bredth which is of two and thirty Furlongs and because of the little communication the Indians on this side have with those on that I was fain to take my way along the Banks of it to return into these Provinces I saw the Country of the Sacans where I heard of the fortune of Roxana and of the progress Alexander made already in those Countries out of which I was come the advantage I thought he had obtained to my destruction having made me hate him I was sorry I had left the Indies and the service of Porus against whom he then was making war Coming from the Sacans I saw the Naura the Xanippa and the Country of Maracanda You will be content Madam that I speak of my voyages but cursorily for the present referring to entertain you more at large when your curiosity shall move you to demand the particularities of them I will therefore tell you nothing else but that after my return from the Indies I wandred above a year in Asia without any other design then that of lingring out my miserable life till I should be so happy as to meet the end of it Never had I any desire of returning into my Country though Lascaris solicited me perpetually but as I avoided nothing so much as persons of my acquaintance and those that might oblige me to change that solitariness into a more sociable life I never would give ear to his entreaties True it is That what he suffered by my occasion touched me sometimes very sensibly and that I did all that was possible to perswade him to forsake me and to go and take a
countenance and accompanied them with an action so little common that Deidamia was troubled at them and remembring the wofull adiew she had received from the unfortunate Agis which according to his promise had really prov'd the last she found so much conformity in the action and in the words of those two Princes that she was afraid for Demetrius of the same successe and of the same effects of despair which had deprived her of the other and which had made her weep away so many tedious dayes In this apprehension being mollified even to the shedding some tears at that fatall remembrance she stayd Demetrius who was already going from her and eying him with a look something more concerned then ordinary Whether you faign sayd she or speak really I will not have you die and I have causes of grief already without your giving of mee new ones by your death I without doubt say something more then I should but to compleat my fault if it be true that I have any power over you I employ it all in commanding you to live that you may give me the assistances you have promised me The sorrow which before was painted in Demetrius his face was partly dissipated by these words and 't was not with a light alteration he found by the discourse and by the countenance of his Princess that his life was not indifferent to her Hee shewed many signs of that sudden effect of his hopes and bowing to the Princess in a very submissive maner My life replied he is not worth one of your tears and by so rich a price it would be too highly paid for but though I were not obliged to obedience by the Empire you have over me certainly I ow to these marks of your good nature the conservation of a life from which by an excess of goodness you are pleased to draw some service I will live then Madam if the Gods will have it so since you command me but it shall be no longer then I can do it without troubling and without displeasing you After these words he took his leave of her and having again observed that she was not without fear for his safety hee went out of the Chamber with some kind of hopes wherwith he suffred himself to be pleasingly flattred Hee was going to the place where he was expected by his men when he met the Prince of the Massagetes who remembring with trouble that he had don nothing but harm to a party for which he beleeved all he could be able to do was lesse then he was obliged to had from the Princess and from Queen Thalestris obtayned permission to fight that day in company with Demetrius That Prince received him with an exceeding great joy and though hee considered perhaps with some emulation that the presence of so valiant a man would eclipse part of his glory yet did he give him no knowledge of it that was not very obliging These two brave warriours placed themselves at the head of those soldiers that were to follow them Alexander and Menelaus did the same on their side and all the Princes being come upon the bank of the River set the forces in a readiness to second them and without stirring from the shore saw them partly upon the Bridge and part in Boats draw neer to the other which was guarded by their Enemies The too great number of our combats will not permit an account of the circumstances of this the particulars wherof after so many such like narrations would perchance be of a tedious length it will suffice to say that Orontes and Demetrius being come neer to the other bank without any hindrance found it overspread with enemies who disputed the descent with a stout opposition but being that they were valiant among the valiantest that Love made them act with extraordinary forces and that they were generously seconded they opened their passage at last by the death of a great many men and made it clear for the soldiers wherwith the shoar was quickly covered as soon as they could fight against their enemies with more equality then before they broke into them with a marvellous vigour and scattered so many dead bodies about the field that Peucestas who commanded on that side as he had done the day before seeing that Fortune was contrary and beleeving that if he should stay the arrivall of all those forces which were comming against him and under which the Bridge seemed to groan in every place hee should not have a free return unto the Town made his retreat as well as he could possibly and leaving a good part of his men either kild or taken prisoners got to the gates of Babylon with reasonable haste The two conquering Princes not being satisfied with that brave success advanced within sight of the walls toward the other side where Alexander and Menelaus fought and marching round that part of the City which stood beyond the River they prepared to go and fall upon the Rear of them that disputed the victory against their companions That relief came to them very seasonably for they had found so stiffe a resistance on their side that they were in doubt with reason of the success of the day although they had done a thousand valiant actions but Ariston who commanded their Enemies had no sooner seen Demetrius his Van appear but fearing to be charged on both sides hee quitted the field and leaving them a free descent retired toward the City as Peucestas had done In that rout many of his men lost their lives either fighting or flying and the victorious Princes pursued the run-awaies to the very gates of Babylon As soon as the passage was clear the forces destined to encamp on that side passed over quietly and before sun-set the Army was equally divided on both banks That part that had crossed the River took three severall posts opposit to those on the other side and observed the very same order Antigonus commanded that toward the East over against Craterus Eumenes that toward the North over against Oxyatres and Polyperchon toward the West within sight of that of Artabasus All the other Princes remained in their former quarters but having free passage over the Bridges they visited one another every day and went to each severall post according as their presence was necessary The yong Demetrius and the valiant Prince of the Massagetes received the prayses that were due to them from the whole Army and if Thalestris openly took interest in the reputation of Orontes Deidamia could not chuse but be secretly concerned in that of Demetrius The Princesses were lodged together and though they had their Chambers apart their whole quarter was encompassed with a wall of Canvas and that little enclosure was defended by a very strong guard which kept watch continually for their safety There was the usuall randevouzes of the Princes and there it was they passed the greatest part of those dayes they had free from action Arsaces at
you from my importunities I never received any from you sayd I which I would bee delivered of by the least of your discontents and if your life depended on my wishes I would make as many for your health as for mine own You have more goodness in appearance replied he then in effect and when you saw me in another condition you contributed nothing to hinder me from falling into this in which you see me for the love of you Yet 't is not continued he with a sigh to reproach you that I tell you this you are too just in all your actions to find any reason to condemn them and being I punish no body but my self of the faults I have committed I ought also to accuse no body but my self of the advantages you give my rivall He had said more without doubt if the Physitians had not entreated him to keep silence and if the Queen 's accompanied by the two Princesses and Prince Artaxerxes their Brother had not entred then into the Chamber and comming to his bed side had not broken off that conversation If I omitted not to visit him Memnon for all he was his rivall and for all he was so ill satisfied with him was not one of the last in offering to perform that duty but the Prince express'd a repugnance for his visits and when he was told that he meant to come and see him he made known that he should do him a pleasure to forbear It sufficeth that I am vanquished said he without shewing me the face of my Conquerour and if Memnon be generous he ought to content himself with his victory without insulting over me in my misfortune These words of the Princes which were told Memnon again hindred him from comming into the Chamber but not from going every day to the door to enquire how he did that very care displeased the jealous Prince and he said to those that brought him word of it tell Memnon that I have but a few dayes to live that he has but a while to exercise his patience and that he should not labour so much to learn the news of my death These words struck Memnon very deeply whose intent was far from Oxyatres suspitions and in the mean time his sickness grew so dangerous that the Physitians could no longer dissemble their appehensions Their did the Kings affection to him break forth into greater signs of sorrow then he yet had shewed and then did that good Prince abandon himself unto his grief with more excess then was expected from the greatness of his courage Memnon who saw him in that estate who as I have told you had the strongest love to him that ever subject bore his Prince and who besides took notice of the admirable goodness he had towards him in letting a Brother perish whom he lov'd more dearly then himself rather then seek his safety to his prejudice fell into a grief wherein he was like to have been overwhelmed and considering that he ought no longer to suffer those proofs of his Kings affection without shewing the utmost he could hope from his hee resolved rather to die then to abuse his goodness in an unhandsome manner and finding him one day deeply buried in his sadness Sir sayd hee to him if I can contribute to the life of Prince Oxyatres be not in fear of his recovery 'T is true I love Barsina but I love my King as I ought to do and to preserve him a Brother worthy of his affection I shall know how to overcome my passion and to yeeld that to Prince Oxyatres which perhaps I have too much disputed against him The King life up his head at these words and after having a while looked upon Memnon without speaking he cast his armes of a suddain about his neck and embracing him with an extraordinary tendernesse My dear Memnonhe sayd I should have let Oxyatres die and should have dyed my selfe before I would have asked you what you offer me with so much generosity but if really you can contribute to my Brothers safety without hazarding your own I shall be indebted to you for all my quiet and shall never find any recompence worthy of you Memnon o'recharg'd with griefe made no reply but only taking his leave of the King with a low obeysance went straight to Oxyatres Chamber and notwithstanding all that they who were at the doore could say to hinder him from seeing the Prince he entred into the Chamber and came to his bed-side Assoon as the Prince knew him he turned his head the other way and by some sighs which he could not retain made appear that he was touched with his sight and that he hardly could endure it but Memnon meant to put him out of that ill humour and drawing near to him with confidence Sir sayd he for the love of the Gods and for the love of Barsina receive me no longer as an Enemy I come not here to tryumph over you by the advantages Fortune has blindly given me but I come to deliver them up to you to abandon all my pretensions and in short to yield you Barsina of whom you are more worthy then I. Oxyatres his resentment against Memnon was not so great but that a good part of it was presently dissipated by these words and he scarce had heard them when turning towards him with more suddainesse then his weake estate could probably have suffred What cryed he Memnon is it to give me Barsina that you come to visit me Yes Sir replyed Memnon 't is Barsina I resigne to you and you may recover upon the assurance that she shall no more be disputed with you And what will Memnon do added the Prince if he lose Barsina He 'l dye answered Memnon and it is more just that he should dye then that the life of Prince Oxyatres should be longer in danger Ah! cryed the Prince if one must dye I know how to dye as well as you and my spirit will be no more daunted then yours with the Image of Death I fear it perchance as little as you can do and if you have no other remedy for my health I account that worse then the disease you would save me from If I had e're a gentler sayd Memnon I would make use of it to content you without amusing your selfe about considerations that are too triviall to oppose the safety of such a Prince as Oxyatres your death would draw the imprecations of all Persia upon me and Darius would have just occasion to detest the ingratitude of a man who by the losse of a thousand lives like his cannot repay the smallest part of what he owes him At these words without staying for a reply he went out of the roome in so strange a condition that he could hardly have been known by his most familiar Friends As he had done that action without making me acquainted and believed that I would find just cause of complaint against him for seeing him so lightly quit
pretensions in comparison of which he a few dayes before would have despised the Empire of Asia he had not the confidence to come into my presence or perhaps fear'd he should want resolution in taking leave of me for the departure he had before determined all that he did to bid me farewell was to get free of all Company and shut himselfe up in his Chamber to write me a Letter the words whereof I think were these MEMNON To the Princesse BARSINA I Leave you my dear Princesse since my cruel Destiny ordains it me and I can no longer dispute you against the Brother of Darius and the Brother of Darius dying for you it is not perhaps that I want courage to defend my interests but I can no longer defend them against the goodnesse of my King who could and peradventure would at last have taken that from me by Authority which I give up to him by a too just acknowledgement Yet do not believe I leave you without also leaving my life I am going to dye but I will dye far from you that I may not trouble by my death the felicities I give unto my Rivall and those to which you are destined with a Prince Worthy of you I beseech you to have but a moderate sence of my losse since my Fortune will be glorious if I can establish yours and never attribute that to any want of love which is a rigorous effect of duty Memnon gave this Letter to one of his Servants to bring it me as he got on Horseback to leave the Champ but the Night was near and came presently after so extreamly darke that having no light at all to ride that Evening he could advance his Journey but a little way You may easily judge of my sorrow at the reading of that Letter since it is very true that I loved Memnon as much as he ought to desire and since I never had been shaken in my first affection by the advantages I might have hoped for in Prince Oxyatres my griefe was so exceeding violent that it deprived me almost of all sence and understanding and I thinke I had sunke under it if I had not been well assisted by the endeavours of those about me I poured forth my teares with all maner of liberty before all my Friends who approved of my affection and I made them all so far concerned in my griefe that their faces seemed little different from mine As darke as the Night was Hydaspes and Cophes my Brothers would needs take Horse that very Evening to ride in search of Memnon but though I was little in a condition to do it they by all meanes would have me write two or three Lines to him believing that they would be more powerfull to bring him back then all the perswasions they could use I satisfied them and with much adoe wrote these few Words which I gave them for him BARSINA To MEMNON I Never will pardon you the injury you do me if you repair it not by your return nor will I ever call that other then an effect of your ingratitude and forgetfulnesse which duty never could have exacted from you Live and come back again if you will have me live and strive not so much to be faithfull and acknowledging to Darius as thereby to become false and ingratefull to Barsina I will not repeat the complaints I made the discourse of them would without doubt be tedious to you and therfore you shall only know that that night was the most cruell one to me of all that ever I had passed in my whole life but if it was sharp to me it was favourable to the health of Prince Oxyatres and he fell into a sweat at the end of which his Feaver was almost quite gone Before it was day they found so visible an amendment in him that they doubted no more of his recovery but as there was a change in the condition of his body there was also a very great one in that of his mind and that Prince after a great conflict all that night had obtained a gallant victory over his passions The carriage of Memnon who had so generously given up his own life for the preservation of his had wrought so far upon him that from that very moment he had resolved to use his utmost endevours to make himself Master of that love wherein he could hope for no satisfaction but by the ruine of so generous a man He found it extreamly difficult as he confessed to us afterward but having a very great courage he did so effectually represent to himself what he beleeved he owed to the action and to the vertue of Memnon that though hee could not dispose his mind to forget me he brought it to quit me to Memnon and rather to suffer all things then to crosse his pretensions any longer I know very well sayd he to himself that 't will be hard for me to lose the love I bear to Barsina but I will oppose vertue against its power and peradventure time and a little absence may work my perfect cure Scarce had he taken this resolution when the King who that day rose extraordinary early came into his Chamber and over joyed with the hopes that were given him of his recovery drew neer to his bed-side As soon as the Prince had cast his eyes upon him Sir said he I shall live nay more I 'le live without Barsina if it please the Gods Memnon had resigned her to me out of an excesse of love and respect to you but I am new in condition not to abuse his goodness The King was transported with contentment at these words and embracing Oxyatres with a great deal of tenderness Ah! Brother said he if that which you tell me were possible how much glory would you reap by that action and how infinitely should I bee indebted to you It is possible Sir replied Oxyatres and you shall quickly see proofs of it While they were speaking on this manner Artabasus came in who told them of Memnons departure and shewed them the Letter he had written to me The King at the reading of it appeared exceedingly afflicted and the Prince having heard it Ah! cried hee let me rather die then cause the death of noble Memnon Sir continued hee turning toward the King for Gods sake send after him instantly and let them assure him that I renounce Barsina and that I 'le renounce her without dying The King delayed not a moment to execute what the Prince desired immediatly he made a great many men take horse and to give them an authority which Memnon should not be able to disobey he would needs have Prince Artaxerxes go forth with them That Prince full of goodness was soon on horseback and having informed himself and those that followed him what way Memnon had taken hee ran to seek him with all possible speed Good Artabasus came presently after into my Chamber where he gave me account of all that had passed and where
his dear brother with acclamations of victory and the Princes who had accompanied him received from the whole army such honours and prayses as were due unto their vertue but when disloyall Nabarzanes appeared before Oroondates Artabasus and those who did yet reverence the memory of Darius his sight transported them in such manner that their high vertue could hardly furnish them with moderation enough to contain themselves all cried out aloud that he should be exposed to the most cruel torments that men were able to invent and scarce was the authority of the Prince sufficient to rescue him from the first fury of those that were most passionate Oroondates turned away his eyes from off his face not being able to look upon it without horrour nor without tears which that tragicall remembrance made him shed and Arsaces being unwilling to condemn him and being unwilling also to acquit him for a crime which his clemency could not mediate for without making it self detestable delivered him up to the judgement of Craterus Antigonus Ptolomeus and Poliperchon none of those that were concerned would have to do in it and those valiant Captains to be exempt from all blame in the punishments they should ordain for a man that seemed to be a prisoner of war would needs have Seleucus who then began to leave his bed and Nearchus whose health was in the same condition to be of the number of his Judges and that they themselves should passe sentence upon a man of their own party This consideration was nothing favourable to Nabarzanes for Seleucus was the first that without having any respect to the design he had had to serve those of his party judged him worthy of the most rigorous torments that could be inflicted Nearchus was of his opinion and then all the rest of them condemned him to the same kind of death which Bessus his horrible accomplice in that fact had suffered This decree which was yet too gentle for his crime was executed with great satisfaction to the Persians who found some comfort in that revenge of their Kings death such was the end of the murtherers of much lamented Darius and the Successours of Alexander did in some measure repair the fault he had committed against the interest of all Kings and against his usuall magnanimity in sparing that Monsters life at the intercession of Bagoas Order was given to cause the dead of each party to be buried or burned the remainder of that day was imployed in preparations for the assault which was intended for the next These last successes had increased their hopes and though their enterprise was one of the greatest that men had undertaken as well in regard of the strength and heigth of the walls they were to storm as of the number and valour of the men that defended them they doubted not of a favourable issue and made themselves ready joyfully for any action the thought whereof might have struck terrour into the most resolute hearts All the Engines were carefully surveyed that they might be fit for service and as soon as it was night Eumenes and Polyperchon set their men to work again and plied them in such a manner that they had made an end an hour before day and the Moat without the Walls of Babylon was filled up and made levell with the counter-scarp in twenty several places for the breadth of above threescore foot No sooner did the Sun discover his earliest beams but through the whole Camp was heard the noise of a thousand warlike instruments which excited the courages of the souldiers for the important action of that day one might see them run on all sides and range themselves under their Standards and Banners with a chearfulnesse full of resolution their valiant Commanders observed it with a great deal of joy and every one amongst his own endeavoured to confirm them in it by all the considerations of honour and of interest the common souldiers in whom the hope of booty produces usually as strong effects as the desire of honour could not think of the pillage of a City proud with the spoils of so many Kings and inriched with the treasures of so many Provinces without preparing themselves for marvellous exploits and they in whose souls more noble considerations were wont to work promised themselves a more perfect glory in this last effect of their valour than that they had acquired in their former conquests The Princes walked about through all the quarters and incited all the Battalions which being drawn up in very good order were advancing already toward the Counterscarp one part of the Cavalry stood in Battalia in the Plain on both sides of the river and the other by order from their Commanders had changed their quality for that day and made a body of infantry to march on to the assault as the rest of the foot those famous Captains having judged that to assault a Town like Babylon defended with twenty thousand fighting men all their forces were no more than necessary Oxiartes had the command that day and the renewing of his flames having added something to his naturall order he seemed to be all fire in the duties of his place and prepared himself to let Barsina see by the actions of that day that without offending the memory of Memnon she well might cast her eyes upon so worthy a successour Artaxerxes Oroondates and Orontes who had no forces to which they were particularly engaged took part in his cares to give him ease and all the other Commanders kept themselves at the head of their men to fall on in the places that were assigned them It was no triviall enterprise to attacque that vast extent of walls on every side and for the exectuion of such a design the Princes in probability stood in need of a far greater number of men than that they had but they likewise made a strong diversion of the enemies forces and all places were not a little weakned which were guarded onely by men that had a circuit of three hundred and sixty furlongs to defend When they had implored the assistance of heaven by the sacrifices that were offred through the whole Camp and that all the forces were in the readinesse that had been ordained they were made to advance at the sound of divers instruments which struck fear into the hearts of those that defended the walls Perdiccas neverthelesse had forgot nothing that belonged to his charge and having found by the enemies working that their design was to give a generall assault he had prepared himself to sustain it and not contented with the souldiery which he had to man the town he had caused the better part of the inhabitants to take up arms Against Craterus his approach he had opposed Cassander Peucestas against that of Oxiartes Andiagoras against Artabasus Antigenes against Antigonus against that of Eumenes his enemy Neoptolemus Teutamus against that of Polyperchon Besides these six principal Posts he had furnished all those
Prince of Scythia had no sooner driven him away but raysing himself with a great deal of activity he sprung to the top of the wall yet it pleased his destiny that part of the Battlement he held fell down by the force he used in striving to get up and tumbling upon those that followed him overthrew them all with their ladder either killed or wounded while they that had opposed the others which were planted cast them down headlong with the same destruction into the Moat and not onely took away the advantages they had gained but also the courage of attempting to scale them any more Those who defended the place where the Prince of Scythia had gotten up were immediately scattered to avoid the death they feared to meet in the point of his sword but when they saw him alone and that by the cries of their companions they had learned the fate of those that were coming after him they recollected their spirits and getting together again began to incompasse him He soon perceived the misfortune he was fallen into and turning his eyes from the top of the walls toward the Camp which he could see all of it from thence he was unresolved whether he should preciptate himself into the Moat rather than submit himself to the mercy of his enemies Must I said he to himself with a deep sigh must I give my enemies the joy to triumph to day over my life or over my liberty This thought afflicted him most infinitely but he had not the leisure to expresse it and they onely gave him time to resolve to sell that dearly which they would have taken from him With this resolution which he took very suddenly he rushed like a Lyon into the middest of those that assaulted him and with his two first blows having layed two of the forwardest of them dead at his feet he made their companions know that he was not yet their prisoner though he were shut up within their walls their breadth at the top which was of two and thirty foot afforded them room enough to fight in but it proved oftentimes too narrow for those who flying the point of his fatall sword to the very brink fell down into the streets and found that death by their fall which they had in vain endeavoured to avoid The most terrible objects that ever had been seen were nothing in comparison of what Oroondates appeared to them that opposed his fury and some amongst them who called to mind just such another accident whereby Alexander had been so near his death in the City of the Mallians thought they saw something far more great and far more dreadfull in this latter He had already covered the place on which he fought with flaughtered carcasses and such was his fortune that his enemies had not yet drawn bloud of him but though he had been yet more valiant if it could have been possible though he had been invulnerable there was a necessity of yielding â—o a world of enemies whose very throng alone was able to have stifled him and for a last effect of his mishap that so redoubted sword having been laid with too potent an arm upon a Head-piece of too hard a temper flew into a great many pieces and left its Master disarmed in that extremity His rage grew to the highest pitch when he saw himself in that condition yet his misfortune was not capable to abate his courage but instantly thinking upon the means to prolong his resistance after having overturned those with a shock that ran first to seize upon him he catched at the sword of one of them that were next him when his enemies surrounding him with lesse fear than they had done before came on so thick that he no longer had the power to stir He was thrown down at last under a crowd that was like to have smothered him and it was by order from one of the Commanders in whom the Princes admirable valour had begot a respect towards his person that the souldiers endeavoured rather to take than kill him Before they suffered him to rise again his hands were bound and his enemies who could not look upon him without terrour durst not adventure to leave them free for all they were unarmed When he beheld himself in that estate so different from that in which he ought to have been and in which he had been but a few moments before he was upon the point of giving himself over to his despair and casting his eys on every side he chose a place from whence he might precipitate himself and was already striving to get thither with that design when he was stopt by those that were about him and reduced to a necessity of following them and of submitting to their will then did he look upon his bonds with shame and turning his eye upon the chief of those that led him these hands said he were destined for other uses than to bear the unworthy bonds thou givest them take them off therefore if thou wilt deserve the glory thou hast acquired to day I will take them off answered the Captain if you will promise me to follow us without resistance and that by some action of despair you will not force us to draw our swords once more against you I promise thee said Oroondates offering him his hands and the man having untied them himself made him go down into the Town and passe amongst twenty naked swords towards the place where he meant to carry him In the mean while the assault had been continued for some time very hotly but after the taking of Oroondates and the wounding of his friends fortune seemed to have declared her self in favour of the besieged and they made so great a number of those that were getting up ladders fall into the Moat that the souldiers lost courage and durst attempt it no more they also broke some of the Engines with the huge stones they rouled down upon them when they were fastened to the wall put the rest in so ill a condition that the Commanders and souldiers were constrained to quit them and retire toward the counterscarp while by the same invention that had drawn them to the wall they were pulled back again from thence Oxiatres finding that day was not favourable to his party loosing hope of a better issue commanded a retreat to be sounded on all sides but he left above six thousand dead in the Moat and brought off above eight thousand wounded It would not be easie to expresse the discontent of the Princes for this ill successe they by the greatnesse of their courage dissembled part of it and comforted themselves by the hope of repairing their losse within a few dayes but when they heard the fate of Prince Oroondates they gave themselves over to their sorrow and received the news as they would have done that of the utter ruine of their party they could not judge whether he were dead or prisoner but whatsoever his fortune were they
comfort Peradventure Madam said she we ought not to take Oroondates his captivity for an effect of his misfortune and of ours for it may chance to be more advantageous for us that he is now shut up within the walls of Babylon than if he were yet before the Town exposed to all those dangers which he out-braves too venturously and in which he might perhaps have met his death He is in safety of his life since he is in Roxana's hands she loves him with too much passion not to divert all the mischief that can threaten him from his enemies or from his rivals Ah Sister replied the Queen is it possible you should be so little acquainted with Roxana's spirit and that you should not judge by our own fortune that after having vainly tried all gentle ways with Oroondates there is no extremity so great to which he is not like to fly But perhaps continued she presently after with a sigh which the remembrance of Perdiccas his threats drew from her breast perhaps it will not be necessary for Roxana to use violence against him and that he will give up himself either to the charms of that wicked woman or to the considerations of his present fortune Ah Madam answered the Princess how unjustly do you wrong a Prince to whom you are so much indebted and how little do those ingratefull suspicions suit with all the actions of Oroondates his life Neither do I believe Madam that you are much tormented with that apprehension and after the little care you had to keep Oroondates yours after the death of Alexander I cannot think you fear his change as the worst fortune that can befall you I do not fear it replied the Queen because I know his vertue too well to believe he can over be capable of it But though it be true Sister that after the death of that great and illustrious Husband the Gods had given me I thought I could not without doing my self an injury preserve any design touching Oroondates it is also true that his infidelity would be less supportable than his death and perhaps less than mine own after having lost the greatest of all men living I believed I could not make any man his Successour and in that belief I used a violence upon mine inclinations which then you did not disapprove but that consideration was not able to hinder me from loving Oroondates still nor from desiring to be still loved by him that 's the onely happiness fortune hath not robbed me of and if I were deprived of that onely consolation which hath sweetened all my miseries I should be deprived of all that could make me love or that could make me suffer life After these discourses the two Princesses had some others upon the same subject and all the rest of that day they entertained themselves with considerations which that event brought into their minds In the mean time they had lodged Prince Oroondates in a quarter of the Pallace and by chance it proved the very same which in another condition he had formerly lyen in during the stay Darius had made there before the battel of Arbella That remembrance touched him with some motions of tenderness and made him bestow a few sighs upon the memory of that great King His lodgings were richly furnished and his prison was so sumptuously disguised that it was not to be known but by the number of Guards that forbad the going in and out of his chamber and by a double grate that was put before the windows in all other things he was used like a Kings son and the will of Roxana who desired it was punctually fulfilled When the Prince saw himself deprived of that liberty which he would have imployed for the recovery of his Princesses freedome and frustrated of the hopes he had to fight for her deliverance he sunk a little from his ordinary constancy and bore that beginning of his captivity less patiently than might have been expected from the greatness of his spirit he made reflection upon the estate of his companions and remembring that â—e had left them in danger for a quarrel the greatest interests whereof were his he gave himself over to an immoderate affliction What said he shall I then be a captive or rather shut up in a Chamber where I am in safety from the enemies sword or javeline while Artaxerxes Lysimachus and their companions fight for Cassandra and Oroondates Shall those gallant resolutions I had taken vanish then without any effect If there be hazard to be run if there be glory to be gained shall my companions have it all and shall Perdiccas and his friends laugh that they have him in their fetters who had so loudly threatned him O my fairest Queen if you were to hope for succour was it not from your Oroondates and since by my captivity I lost the means to give it you ought I not to have prevented it by a death less shameful and more supportable In these unquiet thoughts wherewith he was cruelly tormented he found some consolation by remembring that he was but a very little distance from his Princess and that he was shut up with her in the compass of the same walls We are neither separated said he by Seas nor Provinces and onely a few houses takes up all the space there is between my Queen and me but dearest Princess we both are captives in this City which was once the King your Fathers and which was also the King your Husbands and poor Oroondates for all he is so near you hath no more means to see you and discourse with you than when he was kept in prison by the King of Scythia He had continued two or three hours in this kind of entertainment when he was told that Queen Roxana was coming to visit him That hated name made his colour change and he knew not which way he should prepare himself for the sight of a person whose very remembrance alone he could not but abhor yet did he do all he possibly could to dispose himself to bear it and scarce had he begun to settle his countenance when he saw her come into the chamber attended onely by Hesione and another of her maids Though he was fain to use a great violence upon himself to receive her yet did he go to meet her and strove to pay her what he believed due to the Widow of Alexander the Great but if he were in some confusion the Queen was in no lesse than he and notwithstanding all the preparations wherewith she had armed her self before she came unto that action she could not see the so beloved face of that man for whom she had suffered so much whom she had made so much to suffer without being in the greatest perplexity of mind she had ever felt in all her life she looked a while upon him with eys which sufficiently discovered the motions of her heart and if she had followed them she would without doubt have
subtil Cassander spake on this manner and his words struck like a Thunderbolt into the soul of Parisatis Although that vertuous Princesse had lived til then with such a prudence and discretion as hardly suffered those that frequented her most familiarly to judge of the truth of her thoughts yet was it most certain that she loved Lysimachus and that she could not remember what he had done for her service and in what condition he had been with her even by the will of Queen Syâ—igambis her self without placing him in her esteem above all the rest of mankind the marvellous power she had over her passions had made her dissemble her thoughts in a season when by reason of scruples too ful of severity she believed she could not handsomely discover them but as soon as without offending the memory of Ephestion she had been able to turn her mind upon the actions person of Lysimachus she in them had found so many occasions to love him that she was of opinion that she could not without ingratitude and insensibility defend her self against an affection that was so legitimate and so much approved by them that had the power over her any other body but Parisatis would without doubt have shewed greater tokens of it and if Lysimachus had had to do with one whose humour had not been so full of circumspection he might have conceived more advantageous hopes than those he could draw from the actions of that Princesse but if she loved him before the death of Alexander and before the revolution of their fortune her affection was without doubt augmented by the last proofs of his not being ignorant that it was chiefly for her revenge and for her liberty that he had made all his friends take arms that he fought before the walls of Babylon and that he exposed himself every day to so many dangers she had often quaked and grown pale for fear of him as well as the Queen her sister for Oroondates at the recitall of those battels and combats wherein he might have met with death for her interests and though she had disguised the cause of her apprehensions more carefully than she yet had they been but little lesse than hers Till then neverthelesse she had maintained her self like Parisatis but at this cruell relation of Cassander she shewed more weaknesse than she had done in all the actions of her life and though she made good the Empire she had over her mind she lost that she had over her face and in an instant it was struck with such a palenesse that all they that were near her believed with a great deal of probability she would fall into a swown Alcetas stept to her to hold her up and her aversion against him could not defend her at that time from receiving his assistance nor from sinking in his arms with little sign of life the Queen running to her received her into hers and kissing her with much affection and with words full of tendernesse she touched them in such manner who by their subtile practises had put her into that condition that she made them soon repent what they had done Alcetas was not capable of a long dissimulation and fearing his deceit might produce effects worse than those beginnings and might bring the Princess into such an estate as would not be in his power to remedy he drew near to her again in whom there yet remained some sense and knowledg Madam said he give no credit to Cassanders words it was at my entreaty he made you this recital it was by that device I desired to learn a truth which I never had been able to draw from your former actions I have but too well effected my design and would to God I had stil kept my self in my bare suspicions without clearing my doubts any further we saw nothing nor heard we any news of Lysimachus his being wounded or of the death of his companions all the advantage we had was the taking of Oroondates and the killing of a great many thousand men that lost their lives under our wals but my happy rival is alive and alive but too certainly for my repose he 's safe from all disasters since he hath the good fortune to be loved by you both above his merit and to the prejudice of my life Believe this truth continued he observing by the Princesses action that she gave little faith to what he said since you may be certified of it within an hour and since this second deceit could not but be uselesse to me after having drawn more from the former than I could have wished To these words Cassander added his confirmation and Peucestas in whom the Princesses had more confidence than in them entring then into the chamber by his report took away the apprehensions of Parisatis She recollected all her spirits that were dissipated but she came to her self again with so much shame and resentment that it was impossible for her to dissemble either She turned away her eyes from Alcetas and Cassander being inflamed with an anger that was not ordinary in her and by her action made them see they had mortally offended her Alcetas observed it but being by the knowledge of his rivalls good fortune cast down into an extremity of grief he was no better able to hide his resentments than Parisatis but passing over the fear he would have had in another season to exasperate her more against him Madam said he I beg your pardon for our having deceived you I ought to have contented my self with the former proofs I had of Lysymachus his happiness without using this trick to seek out what I have but too plainly found but to deal with a mind like yours a man is forced to try extraordinary wayes He would have said more if the Princess infinitely displeased had not thus interrupted him You have very well interpreted an effect of my not being well rather than of Cassanders discourse but though it were true that the change you saw in me proceeded from the grief I might receive by the death or wounds of those valiant men that fight our quarrel I should find no cause to fear any reproaches for it and though according to your suspitions it were for Lysimachus alone that I shewed those markes of sensibility I owe enough to the merit of his services and to that of his person to remember them without blushing and I owe so little to Alcetas that it should never be his interest should make me to repent it Though my sister should love Lysimachus added the Queen she should but follow the Will of the Queen her Mother that of Alexander your King and the Counsel of her elder Sister but if she stood in need to justifie that affection to any body living 't were less to Alcetas thâ—â— to any other man in the World I demanded no justification of it replied Alcetas hough perhaps I am in a condition to give my self some satisfaction but I
Theodates one after another they welcommed him with civilities which put him into confusion but yet hindred him not from admiring in the majestick garb of those great men what he believ'd could not be found again in all the rest of the world Orontes renewed the ancient friendship they had made in the Court of Scythia many years before and Oxyatres and Lysimachus who were more concern'd then all the others in the fortune of Artaxerxes gave his friend a most particular reception When he was gotten loose from the arms of all the Princess Berenice began to ask news of the King her Father but Theodates answered he could tell none fresh it being a great while since his comming from Issedon and having wandred through a great many Provinces to see if he could find her and the two Princes whom he sought Berenice sigh'd at that discourse calling to mind her Brothers Captivity Neither you nor we said she receive a perfect contentment in this meeting and the Prince my Brother whom without doubt you seek though he be not far from us is yet in the power of our Enemies I heard that newes at my comming into the Camp reply'd Theodates with a sadder countenance then usuall and nothing else would comfort me in that misfortune but the knowledge that you are in a condition quickly to restore him his liberty After that Theodates had received the welcomes of all those worthy men to whom his vertue and the affection of Artaxerxes rendred him considerable the Prince of Persia desired to possess him more particularly then the rest and to that end led him out of that Chamber and went into the next whither he was followed by none but Orontes and Lysimachus he then demanded the occasion of his journey and Theodates his look becomming more sorrowfull then before When I shall tell you Sir sayd he that I left Scythia out of an earnest longing to see you again perchance the passion I honour you withall is well enough known unto you to procure your beliefe but I must confess it is not the only motive of my journey that it is accōpanied with another which of it self was sufficient to make me undertake it I was not willing to declare it before the Princess and I leave that care either to you or to the Prince her Brother who will have more power to prepare her for the hearing of an unpleasing news The King of Scythia is dead Is the King dead interrupted Artaxerxes Yes Sir replied Theodates he is dead After he had languished a great while for the absence or for the loss as he believed of his children he was taken with a Feaver which finding him weaken'd both by his age and grief deprived the world of him in a matter of eight dayes Arsaces could not hear this newes without an extraordinary trouble nor without a most sensible discontent and though many of that Kings actions had in former times given him occasion enough not to be sorry for his death yet was he so fully reconciled to him by what he had done in his favour afterward and did so much consider the Father of Berenice and Oroondates that he could not be a hearer of that fatall news without being touch'd to the very bottom of his heart His sorrow discovered it self presently by his tears and looking upon Theodates with very sad action Ah my dear friend sayes he how much you moderate my joy to see you by the news you bring it did not please the Gods I should receive it in a time when I should have taken it with more patience but they send it me now when I have a great deal of reason to be afflicted at it Ah how great a fear I am in for the grief of my poor Princess and how discreetly it was done of you to dissemble it before her Artaxerxes said many other things by which he discover'd his sense of that loss to his friends but they comforted him by all maner of reasons and it was likely he would receive consolation for it when he remembred that of Darius of the Queens his Mother and Grandmother and all the rest he had sustained After he had setled himself a little by the force of his courage and that he was able to question Theodates touching the estate of Scythia since the death of its King The affairs of Scythia answered Theodates are in the best condition we can desire and the Scythians now feel no other trouble but their impatience to see their King Oroondates they with acclamations and transports of joy received the proposition I made of sending the Chiefe among them to seek for him and when I began my journey for that purpose they made many of the principall Scithians set forward also to go in quest of their King by different wayes from that I took but before my departure I had the satisfaction to help to set the State in such order as was necessary and to see all the people submit themselves voluntarily to Prince Carthasis whom they declared Regent of the Kingdome till their Kings arrivall And for Stratonice said Artaxerxes what 's become of her together with the affliction she receiv'd for the Kings death reply'd Theodates she was assaulted with two others almost at the same time which moved her to the resolution she hath taken the first was that being some months gone with child she got a hurt that made her miscarry and by that accident she lost the hopes she had grounded upon her great belly and the other was the news of Arsacomes his death which within three dayes after the Kings was brought to Issedon by one of those that had accompanied him Stratonice had sunk under so many occasions of sorrow if she had not indeed had a great deal of courage she bore them so impatiently for some dayes at first that she would not be comforted by any means nor be visited but by very few persons but when she was again become capable of reason she resolved to forsake the world in which she no longer hoped for any satisfaction and bidding adiew to the Court she shut herself up in a Cloyster amongst Virgins devoted to the Goddess Tellus which is but a dayes journey from Issedon with a design to spend the rest of her life within those walls I was of the number of those that visited and took leave of her before her departure though since the crosses her ambition had caus'd you I no longer had any affection for her but that was the least that could be paid her in that condition of her fortune she knew very well that amongst all the Kings Subjects there was none that had a greater zeal and passion for his service then I wherefore she adress'd her self to me rather then any of the rest and before she got up into her Chariot she said thus to me in the hearing of Prince Carthasis Theodates you may tell King Oroondates that 't is not any fear of him makes me
smallest things were sufficient to cast her again into ill humour toward him she found matter enough in his discourse to do it and looking upon him with disdain And what interest had you sayd she that should have perswaded you to oppose my intention I had as much answered Cassander to wish for Oroondates his liberty as you had to hinder it and as to keep one near you whom you love you have used Seleucus ill whose assistance and whose services are very considerable I to oblige a Prince that was ever my friend ought with a great deale more reason to have desired the departure of a Rivall whose presence is destructâ—ve to me The presence and the departure of Oroondates ought both to be indifferent to you and you shall alwayes draw as much advantage from the one as from the other I love nothing but what I ought to love but I will not take care to justifie my selfe to you for it nor will I ever use violence upon my inclinations to content you What added Cassander shall time the fidelity of my services and his disdain whom you unjustly prefer before me worke no effect at all upon you and will you for ever persist in this hard heartednesse toward a Prince who gives himselfe up wholly to your will and who finds neither glory nor contentment but in the occasions of doing you service what reason can you have if my passion may give me the liberty to speak to you in these tearms what reason have you to persist in the undeserved usage I receive from you is my Birth inferiour to yours and if by an effect of your Beauty you were raised unto the Fortune to be the Wife of Alexander may not I by an effect of my love attain the glory of being suffered by the Daughter of Cohortanus do you hope to have another Alexander and in the present state of your Affaires can you expect a better condition for your repose then with one of the Chiefe of his Successors for in fine you cannot be ignorant that you have lost the right you had to the Universall Empire it is divided amongst a great number of Princes who will not restore you the Countries that are fallen to their lot and though you should bring forth a Son of Alexanders he will be very happy if he can but keep Macedon alone and his share without doubt will be lesse then mine and lesse then many of my Companions Do you hope for the reestablishment of your greatnesse from some Barbarian King there is not one amongst them all that can equall himselfe to us and though out of the respect we bear to the memory of Alexander we have not yet taken upon us to weare Crowns we lack nothing else but that formality and when we shall have quieted our troubles we shall undoubtedly attain those qualities the want of which makes you think there is something despicable in us pardon this liberty of speech in a man who is no longer in a condition to dissemble with you and who has too strong a passion for your interests to flatter you unseasonably Yet I demand nothing of you through these considerations and pretend that nothing but pity alone should obtain a favour from you which no maner of reason can oblige you to I know that Cassander is unworthy of your affection but all men living are so as well as he and if any one can merit it 't is he without doubt that gives you all the moments of his life and that limits all his thoughts in you alone if my presumption deserve punishment I have suffered a most severe one nor could you your selfe inflict more cruell torments then those I undergo As you desire the favour of the Gods my adored Queen have some regard to mee out of meer compassion and suffer me not depart from hence without having leave to hope for some change in my deplorable condition As he ended these words hee cast himselfe at Roxana's feet shee being set down upon one of the seats that were in the Alley and embraced her knees so ardently that the Queen much troubled at his action knew not how to disentangle her selfe His Discourse had extreamly offended her as well by reason of the unwelcome truths it contained as because it had been spoken in the presence of many witnesses before whom shee could not approve that hee had entertained her with so little respect wherefore she testified her ill humour both by her action and by her answer and thrusting away Cassander who still had kept himselfe in a beseeching posture Goe said shee and represent their affairs to them that ask your counsell I hope that I shall alwaies be in a condition to stand in no need of you and if I cannot hope to have a second Alexander for my husband either I will never have any or I will have one whose person is more pleasing to mee then yours and whose life is without blemish if from the daughter of Cohortanus I became the wife of Alexander I had qualities in my person that gave him an affection and I see none in yours that give not me an aversion I speak to you with a liberty like your own and to expresse my selfe yet more freely you force mee to tell you that I should think my condition lesse shamefull with a Barbarian King nay or with a private man then with a man accused of the death of the King his Master and my Husband I am constrained to use this reproach once more to you whether I will or no but you have defended your selfe so ill against that accusation that you ought not to think it strange if I cannot suffer you without horrour till you have cleared your selfe Roxana as shee ended these words rose up from her seat and Cassander transported with rage followed her with his face all on fire 'T is not for the Kings death cryed he that you hate a man whom you believe to be most innocent of it I shall justifie my selfe of that crime much better then all those that suspect me for it but you loved him too little to make his death the motive of this hatred and you preferd the same man before him during his life whom you prefer before me now 'T is Oroondates that robd Alexander the Great of the affections of his wife and that robs Cassander of all his hopes but I 'le revenge those injuries that are common both to my King and me and if hitherto I have threatned without effect you now shall heare that in the rage into which you have precipitated me I am capable to execute the strangest resolutions As he uttered these words he turnd away from the company and leaving the Queen in a maner besides her selfe with anger at his injurious reproaches and at his cruell threatnings hee went out of the Garden and being come home to his lodging in an exceeding great fury he imployed the rest of the day and the night following in
miserable man since by Roxana's threats your destruction is tied to the affection you shall expresse to him Though I had death before my eyes answered the Queen it could not divert me from the resolution I have taken to render while I live all that I ow both to the person of Oroondates and to the memory of Alexander For all I am a woman I shall fear it no more then you when I thereby can assure you better then by the complacencies you have desired that I am not ingratefull for the long and for the gallant proofs of your love and if to preserve what I hold a thousand times more dear then my life I need but expose it once again to Roxana's cruelty I 'le do it with a resolution which perhaps shall make appear that my friendship is not inferiour to yours but neither will I oppose the desire you have to keep your selfe wholly mine and since by the perseverance I will shew in favour of you I draw upon you Perdiccas his indignation I never will wish you should divert the effects of it by your infidelity In short dear Oroondates I acknowledge my imperfection and confesse I love you not with so unconcernd an affection as to look upon you with more contentment in the arms of Roxana then in the arms of death I wish the same eye shall behold Oroondates dead and Oroondates inconstant and I consent in fine either that he live for none but me or that he cease to live by my example Ah Madam said the Prince transported with joy what can I have done in my whole life that is not far below so high a recompence Yes my Queen I will die to keep my self intirely yours and that consent that you give to so glorious a death is dearer to me then all the favours you ever granted me You shall see me dead for certain a great deal sooner then inconstant and I cannot chuse but infinitely commend a resolution so advantageous to me although I have more weaknesse toward you No my admired Queen I should not have the courage to see you die to avoid the tyranny of Perdiccas for my consideration but I would willingly die my self that I might never see you in the arms of Perdiccas 't is by that remedy I ought to prevent my last misfortune rather then by the hazard of a life which a thousand such as mine cannot countervail that law is not equall between us nor is my passion the lesse violent for not being able to desire that of you which no maner of right can make mee lawfully demand The Prince and the faire Queen were giving each other these confirmations of their love when the Princesse Parisatis who was present at their conversation mingled her selfe in that entertainment to ask the Prince some account of the last actions of his life and of the passages that had happened between him and the Prince her Brother Oroondates obeyed her in a few words and by the discourse he made to the Queen of his cruell jealousie of the strange effects it had produced in him and of the bloudy combats hee had fought with Arsaces he cast her many times into an astonishment which shee knew not how to expresse but by the alteration of her countenance She often accused the Prince in his Discourse for the opinion he had had of her but when shee remembred the appearances upon which his jealousie was grounded shee was constrained to pardon him and to receive all the violent resolutions he had taken against her Brother for the greatest testimonies of his love The Princesses had been in a great agitation of mind during that recitall but they were quieted by the end of it and could not hear how those two friends came to know one another again without receiving a marvellous consolation Then they desired to learn what they knew not of their Brothers adventures and the Prince was beginning to recount a little more at large what Arsaces had told the Queen his sister but in brief when Roxana and Perdiccas not being able to suffer that their conversation should continue longer sent order to Oroondates his guard to bring him back At that cruell command hee sighed twice or thrice and looking upon the Queen with an action of grief and anger mixt together Wee must obey our Masters said he O Gods how hard is this condition I part from you Madam but 't is with a firm resolution to carry away nothing but my body and to leave my mind tied to you with such bonds as all the mallice of our enemies will not bee able to break Go Oroondates said the Queen and be most certaine that all the violences of Perdiccas and Roxana shall not divert me so much as for a moment from the determination I have setled never to be any bodies if I cannot be yours These words were heard by all that were in the Room and told within a while after to Roxana and Perdiccas but the Prince had not time to give reply and his severe guard making him go out of the Queens Chamber and out of the House put him againe into the chariot to carry him back to his Prison In the mean while jealous Cassander after having rolld a thousand furious resolutions in his head had fixt upon the last which he had taken to kill him that was the obstacle of his happinesse and though he well enough knew him to bee innocent of all his sufferings and that he contributed nothing willingly to Roxana's aversion against him his blinded passion stifled all the motions that consideration might have given him and he fancied such helps to his pretensions by the death of his Rivall and such sweetnesses in his revenge as got an absolute victory in his heart over all that honour and vertue could represent yet did he see some difficulties in his design and the Prince of Scithia was at once both guarded and defended by men whom Roxana had placed about him for his custody and for his preservation 't was in the Palace where he was kept where in probability all the Queens houshold would take arms for the interests of their Mistresse and without comming to a great combat the advantage wherof could not in likelihood be his he knew not how he should be able to execute his design He was beating his brains to find out the means that were least dangerous when he heard that the Prince was gone to Queen Statira and that all his guard being commanded along with him there remaind no body in his lodging but some few Officers who were appointed for his service not for his defence and who likewise might perhaps be ignorant of the Order the Queen had given to forbid his entrance He thought he could not light upon a more favourable opportunity to get into his enemies chamber without difficulty and though to have argued the matter calmly hee might have found some danger in it he in the condition to which his passion
and the resolution they were to take not being able to settle it selfe in their mindes without great contestations and great violence kept them for a while both silent and unmoveable yet did they make their eyes to speak with looks that eloquently enough expressed their thoughts but when they had remained a while in that condition the Prince fixing his upon the Queens face with a most tender and a most passionate action My fair Queen sayd he you for the safety of your life may follow those wayes that displease you least but I for the preservation of mine will never cease to love you My dear Prince answered the Queen you shall live if you can live without me but I am firmly resolved to die for you and yet I do not desire you should live for Roxana No my Princessâ— replyed Oroondates I will not live for her and now you set my death in such a degree of felicity that the most happy life in the World could not be comparable to it but if you think it unjust that I should live for Roxana I think it far more unjust that you should die for Oroondates a thousand lives like his are not of equall value to one moment of yours and you by the losse of it would make him purchase the glory you give him at too dear a rate Yet do I not entreat you to live for Perdiccas he is unworthy of such a Fortune nor will I die for his advantage but it may so fall out that the Gods may blesse the remainder of your dayes with a more happy condition and that by the succour of the Prince your Brother and that of our valiant Friends you may recover both your Liberty and part of your former Dignities Defend her Perdiccas I conjure thee pursued he defend her against Roxana's cruelty thou hast no other way but that for the reparation of thy crimes by that thou mayest obtain the pardon of those potent Enemies that are at thy Gates and I most freely forgive thee my death on that condition Ah cryed the Queen unjust Oroondates Why do you envy me the last of my contentments and why will you oppose the only way that 's left me to acquit my selfe of part of what I owe you and to put you out of the beliefe you had that I lov'd you not enough You have abandon'd Kindred Empire Fortune and life it selfe for me alone you have exposed all you have sacrificed all for me and through the whole course of my life I never till this day was in a condition to let you see how sensible I am of your love and services my ill fortune and the calumnies of our Enemies thwarted the first acknowledgments I ow'd you those you may have desired from me since have been opposed by my duty but now nothing hinders these last proofs I mean to give you of my affection they are permitted me both by honour and by the memory of Alexander and in short I no longer fear to make that known to you by my death which in times past the state of my condition forbad me to expresse by favours The Queen perhaps would have sayd more if impatient Perdiccas had not interrupted her just when Roxana as much transported as he was about to do the same What Madame sayd he with his countenance quite altred is this then your finall resolution and is this all I at last can hope for from the indulgence which for your consideration I have shew'd unto my Enemy Yes Perdiccas answered the Queen this is my finall resolution the greatest cruelty of all thy threatnings can never have the power to shake it and in fine 't is by my death alone that thou canst seperate me from Oroondates 'T is rather by his cryed Perdiccas and all the considerations in the World are not able to make me defer it longer Die continued he turning toward the Prince die Barbarian whom I have but too much spared and restore me by thy bloud the quiet thou hast rob'd me of As he spake thus he drew his sword and stepping forward to Oroondates was going to thrust it up to the Hilts in his Body when Roxana who by his last words had foreseen his action catch'd a Javeline from one of the Guard and presenting it against Statira's brest Hold cryed she hold Perdiccas Statira's dead if thou touchest Oroondates This word made Perdiccas pull back his arm to turn his head toward Roxana and seeing her in that furious posture and the fair Queen in the utmost perill of her life he remained suspended between the motions of his anger and of his love Oroondates despising the death which he had before his eyes did not so much as take notice of Perdiccas his action but turning all his thoughts upon that of Roxana and upon the danger of his Queen Ah Perdiccas cryed he the Queen is dead if thou run not to succour her deliver her out of Roxana's hands and then give me my death with confidence Statira's Constancy was not lesse then that of Oroondates for looking upon Roxana with contempt Strike sayd she thou Daughter of Cohortanus strike the Daughter of Darius and the Wife of Alexander and through this heart pierce the Image of Oroondates who disdains thee These words of both were able indeed to worke some effect upon their Enemies but 't was their love that carryed it then above their anger and they lesse desired the death of what they hated then they did the life of what they loved Perdiccas quitting Oroondates cast himselfe with a great deale of suddainesse before Roxana's Javeline and Roxana leaving her Rivall placed her self between him and Oroondates Thou shalt not die sayd she and as ungratefull as thou art I 'le defend thy life as carefully as mine own I give thee but little thanks for that care replyed Oroondates and all the succour I can receive from thee cannot but be very odious to me after having seen thee present that Javeline against the brest of my Princesse I love Perdiccas a great deale better for all he is so much my Enemy and for his tendernesse of my Queen I easily pardon all his cruelty toward me 't is to him alone I ought to be obliged nor my reall safety since this life which he assaulted is not considerable to me in comparison of that which he defended Roxana found matter enough in this answer to redouble her anger and her resentment against Oroondates yet that resentment could not perswade her to give him up to the rage of Perdiccas nor could Cassandra's scorn incite Perdiccas to expose her to the cruelty of Roxana They looked upon one another with eyes inflamed with choller and stood at the head of their Guards in the posture of persons ready to decide their contestations with the bloud of their men They for some time continued unresolved and perhaps the violence of their wrath would at last have carryed them on to the utmost misfortunes if Alcetas and Peucestas
please the Gods that you survive me as there is some likelyhood you may since Roxana ha's no cause at all to desire your death and if they also permit Oroondates to outlive me assure him dear sister that my last thought was that of keeping my selfe his by my death and that this death is dearer to me receiving it for his sake then the Empire of the whole World with any other than Give him this assurance dearest sister if you love me and for that of my friendship receive this latest kisse The fair Parisatis whom her own danger had but little affrighted was not able to hear the Queens words nor to behold her action without falling from her constancy of mind and receiving her embraces with a tendernesse which she testified by pressing her closely between her arms Madam sayd shee lay no command upon me to be performed after your death since the resolution I have taken not to survive you a moment dispences with mee for all the obedience I ow you As she had ended these words they both heard a greater noyse then the former and then it was they beleeved for certain that all those who had fought for their defence were utterly defeated and that they had nothing more to do but to offer up their brests to the enemies sword That which passed in the heart of the Town hath hindred us from relating what was done upon the skirts of it and what an alteration the affairs of Babylon then received Nearchus with his men was gone down to the gate which Craterus was to assault and at the same time had caused Ensigns to be set upon the Walls and by the sound of many Trumpets rouz'd the Camp which with marvellous impatiency expected so desired a signall The first that spied it had carried the news with loud cries to their Commanders and all those famous warriers had received it with an extraordinary joy The valiant Prince of Persia Lysimachus and all the rest of their Companions had in a moment put on their Arms and in almost as little time their forces who wayted for that command were in a readinesse to march Prince Artaxerxes followed by Lysimachus Ptolomeus Orontes the brave Thalestris yong Demetrius and Theodates was advanced with fifteen thousand Macedonians Thracians and Aegyptians to Craterus his gate where the signall was set up and to make a diversion to facilitate their design Oxyatres Antigonus Eumenes and Polyperchon fell on at other four Never did great Arsaces appear so fierce and terrible as that day at the gates of Babylon nor ever did Lysimachus employ his valour with greater satisfaction nor with greater hope then at that time for the liberty of Parisatis Nearchus fought on the inside against those that defended the gate and though their number was little different from his he pressed them in such maner as made them soon despair of victory Artaxerxes and his Companions batterd the gates in the mean time with their Rams and the small resistance they found by reason their enemies were so imployed within suffered them quickly to make a breach large enough to bee entred Lysimachus was the first that broke in at it and would needs expose himselfe to the first danger before Prince Artaxerxes who rush'd in next they two were presently followed by all the rest and Nearches no sooner saw them appear but discovering himselfe to them by a joyfull cry he drove the terror of their enemies to the utmost extreamity They that first opposed the fury of the Prince of Persia and his Companions lost their lives gloriously by the hands of those renowned men and in the mean while their Souldiers entred rushing after them and when they were absolute masters of the gate they let down the Bridge and opened a large passage to their squadrons All they that had opposed Nearchus were either killed or taken flight when Nâ—optolemus with his men came up to their reliefe but he came only to lead them on to slaughter for the conquering Princes falling furiously upon them covered the streets with mangled bodies and made the chanels run with bloud Neoptolemus was one of the first that charged Prince Artaxerxes but he found his strength to be far unequall and though he lost not his life by that unresistable hand he received so weighty a blow that not being able to sustain it he fell among the slain with all the signs of a dying person his men no longer made opposition and they that cou'd escape the Conquerors hands sought the preservation of their lives by flight The Son of Darius had no sooner gotten to joyn with Nearchus and testified his acknowledgements at that meeting but he learn'd from him the danger Oroondates was in and not being able then to give way to other thoughts save those of succouring his dear Brother he advanced with part of his Forces toward the Palace and left others the care of opening the Gates that were assaulted by Antigonus Oxyatres Eumenes and Polyperchon Such was the destiny of Babylon and the division of those that commanded in that stately City having drawn all the Souldiers to their Factions left almost none at all for the defence of the Gates and Walls and then the Conquerors roved all about with as much liberty as if they had had no Enemies to fight with Artaxerxes had marched part of the way which led toward the Palace when by some Souldiers that cast themselves at his feet he heard how Roxana was then imployed and in what danger the Queen and the Princesse her Sister were unlesse they had some speedy succour This Newes troubled the Prince extreamly but Lysimachus had no sooner heard it but transported with the fury which his passion inspired he parted from him taking some of his men along and marching with a marvelous haste to relieve his Princesse left him at liberty to assist his Brother He was not a little comforted by Lysimachus his resolution knowing the Valour of that Prince and judging well that his Sisters could not desire a more generous Champion and prosecuting his former design with a great deale of diligence he came to the end of the Bridge where the Prince of Scithia and brave Seleucus defended their lives with very little hope of safety They were already so exceeding weary that they were hardly able to lift their swords and their weaknesse having redoubled the courage of Perdiccas and Cassander made them a great deale bolder in assailing them They were going to summon their utmost Forces together that they might finish the combate with their death when casting an eye to the other end of the Bridge they heard the cryes of their Enemies and saw them appear at the same instant Artaxerxes running up toward Oroondates with an incomparable swiftnesse Courage cryed he dear Brother you are a Conquerour and your Enemies are defeated He had hardly ended these words when he was gotten to his side and with him Orontes Demetrius Thalestris and the faithfull Theodates
followed by many thousand Souldiers As Oroondates and Seleucus recovered strength by that reliefe which was then so necessary to them their Enemies were so terrified by the knowledge of their misfortune of the losse of their City and of the ruine of their Party that they were almost quite defeated without the trouble of fighting Yet did their Offices labour to encourage them though not to such a degree but that they presently quitted the Bridge and retired to a more open place where they gave the Princes a greater liberty of defeating them The slaughter then was such that in many places the bloud ran down the Key into the Euphrates and the resentment of those Warriers whose lives a while before were in so great an extreamity made it selfe known then by most bloudy tokens O Statira O Prince of Scithia how fully were your wrongs reveng'd and how many lives were sacrificed to their reparation The Son of Ariston who to revenge his Fathers Death had appeared most eager in seeking that of Prince Oroondates lost his resentments with his life which was gloriously cut off by the sword of Great Arsaces The Prince of the Massagetes and the Son of Antigonus slew a very great number of them the fair Amazone Queen made her selfe remarkable by a thousand valiant Actions and Theodates plainly shew'd by his how worthy he was of Arsaces his affection but Oroondates in whose remembrance the cruelties of Perdiccas and Cassander was very fresh sought them every where amongst their men and made those hated names resound which way soever he turned Where are your Valiant men cryed he is the hot desire you had to take my life so quickly cooled and do you flie so soon from those whom but a few minutes before you had condemn'd to death have you forgot I am your Rivall and do you so easily resign Statira and Roxana to me Scarce had he sayd these words but he repented that he had spoken them as thinking them contrary to modesty and judging that a soule like his ought not to have grown proud upon the change of his Fortune Yet were they over heard by Perdiccas and Cassander though they had thrust themselves amongst their men whether it were to prolong their lives or to seek means to fight yet once again with more advantage Perdiccas who indeed was valiant amongst the valiantest could not without shame heare those reproches from his Enemy and at the same time considering the condition he was in the defeat of his Forces the taking of the Town and the losse of those pretensions he had had upon Cassandra he believed he no longer ought to love his life enough to save it by an act of Cowardize and in that thought inspired either by his courage or by his despaire he rushed once more before his men and calling Oroondates with a loud voyce he drew him presently to meet him but before they came to blows Perdiccas demanded a little attention and having obtain'd it of the Prince by the power he had amongst his Souldiers Behold Perdiccas whom thou seekest sayd he if he had kill'd thee when he could have done it he needed not have fear'd he should have been slain by the hands of those about thee but if thou art truly generous and truly worthy of Statira whom ill fortune forces me to abandon to thee thou wilt endeavour either to take my life or to defend thine own without advantage Thy Friends and mine shall be witnesses of the last actions of one of us and though perhaps the usage thou hast found from me does not oblige thee to observe the Rules of Generosity toward me thou mayest remember that I preserv'd Cassandra for thee and that but for me she had not now been in the World The Prince of Scithia's fury was so moderated by these words of his Enemies that he partly layd aside the design he had against his life and looking upon him with a milder countenance It is true sayd he that thy actions might excuse mine well enough which way soever I should seek to revenge my selfe but that which thou hast lately done for the safety of my Princesse breeds in me so great a consideration of thee that I not only will forbear to assaile thy life with odds but will freely give it thee if thou wilt receive it from me No reply'd Perdiccas the Friends and Kinsmen of Alexander the Great do not use to receive their lives from their Enemies and 't will suffice to confirm me absolutely in the Opinion I have of thy Vertue if thou secure me against thy men and make the conquest of Statira and the defeat of Perdiccas to be the merit of thy single Valour Oroondates without further reply turning toward Arsaces and his Companions Dear Brother and you my Generous Friends sayd he you love my glory too well to envy me the occasions to preserve it I by all your friendship toward me beg the liberty of fighting with Perdiccas upon equall tearms and if it please the Gods I die by his hand let me conjure you by the same friendship to let him have his life and liberty for the prize of his Victory Artaxerxes and his Companions who in all Oroondates his Actions admired the greatnesse of his Courage yielded to his desires which perhaps they would not so easily have done if their confidence in his Valour had not secured them against the fear they might have been in for the successe of the Combat The conquering Part and all that yet were left of the conquered stood in a maner unmoveable to be the Spectators of it and then did those two Enemies precipitate themselves upon each other with an animosity which plainly made appear what the issue of their fight would be Oroondates was wearied with the toyl hee had undergone and wounded though lightly in some few places yet that of disadvantage was seen but little and his anger did so stir him up that Perdiccas as valiant as he was quickly perceived his bloud run down in many parts of his body Oroondates his friends beheld those happy beginnings with a great deal of joy but Perdiccas lost not his courage with his bloud for hee rush'd upon his enemy with a fury which without doubt would have been fatall to any other man Yet was he utterly weakned presently after by a thrust which he received into the body and the Prince who saw him in such a condition that he could no longer fear him took pity of his fortune and retiring two or three steps Thou art no longer able said he to dispute the victory against me but receive thy life which I am willing to leave thee and of which I will have as great a care as thou couldst desire from a friend My life replied Perdiccas is no longer at thy disposing nor can I but with it give up Statira and the victory At these words he strove all that possibly hee could to flie upon his enemy but his strength absolutely forsook him
about Lysimachus his neck 'T was from you said she 't was from you indeed we were to hope for our deliverance and 't was also in your vertue and in the assistance of the Prince our Brother that we had grounded our expectations we ow our lives to you Lysimachus but besides the generall obligation Parisatis ought to adde this last service to those many others wherby you have so well deserved her affection She pulld him up as she spake these words which made the Princesse blush but yet her modesty could not keep her then from testifying her acknowledgement and she believed that an ingagement of such importance might well dispence with her for her severer rules she did it by a salute and an embrace full of affection which she then bestow'd upon that Prince whom she had never favoured so much before and opposing the intent he had to cast himselfe once more at her feet that hee might receive her favours with greater respect Generous Lysimachus said she I am totally your debtor since besides my own life I ow you that of the Queen my sister and this last action is of the same nature with many others which you have done to my advantage I most dearly preserve the memory of them and have as great a sence of this last as you can desire I am then replied Lysimachus with a sigh a great deal more happy then I had hoped to be and the care you took to conceal your selfe from me and to keep me from the occasions of serving you in a season when the services of all those that had any fidelity toward you were no more then necessary had put me into a very ill opinion of my fortune I had reasons answered the Princesse which would perchance be well approved by any other but your selfe but if â— did amisse in your opinion I 'le make amends for my fault by all the reparations that so vertuous and so reasonable a Prince as Lysimachus will demand The glad Lysimachus not being able to expresse his joy by words contented himselfe to testifie it by his actions and putting one knee unto the ground he kissed the Princesses hand with raptures suitable to all those gallant proofs he formerly had given her of his passion Ptolomeus came then into the Chamber and as he took a very great share in the contentment of his friend he received as great a one himself in the acknowledgement of the two Princesses and they both assured him with affectionate speeches that they were extreamly sensible of what he had done in favour of them After that first discourse the Princesses enquired concerning Artaxerxes Oroondates and the generall state of their affairs Lysimachus told them in a few words and though by the knowledge of that happy event he confirmed them in the joy they had conceived for their own liberty he left them in some apprehension for the uncertainty of Oroondates his safety and for the danger of their Brother Let 's go said the Queen to Lysimachus let 's go and take our part in the danger which those dear persons still are in for our sake and let 's no longer stay in a house where we have suffred so much and which we have so much reason to detest At these words she gave her hand to Ptolomeus and leaving her sisters to Lysimachus went out of the Chamber and passed into the Hall which shee found full of dead and dying bodies and where shee quaked with horrour at the sight of so dismall a spectacle The Princesses turned away their eyes but they met with the same objects upon the stairs and in the Court and in all places found new occasions to abhor Roxana's cruelty In the mean time that unfortunate Princess was in a condition very different from theirs and when Lysimachus and Ptolomeus came to relieve the Princesses her fear had made her go up the stairs where she then was to the highest story of the house from thence she had heard the noyse from thence she had sometimes look'd into the Court and from thence by the words of the victorious Soldiers she had learn'd that it was by â—ysimachus her enemies were rescued that the Town was taken and that she was upon the point of falling quickly her self into the power of those persons shee had so cruelly injured She received not that assurance without being cast into despair and horrour and the solitariness of the place where she was joyned to the remorse of her guilty conscience inspired her with the most furious thoughts a heart is able to conceive She could not call to mind the cruelties she had executed upon the Queen without justly fearing those punishments that were her due nor could she dispose her selfe to losâ— Oroondates for ever without desiring the death she was afraid of What shall I do said she in these â—â—â—â—solutions shall I give my enemies the satisfaction to make me suffer a death I have so well deserved and shall I undergo the shame they are preparing to reward my cruelties Shall I implore the mercy of those I have so unworthily abused and shall I beg my life of my Rivall after having assaulted hers with so much inhumanity Ah! no Roxana think not upon that utmost basenesse after so many others that dâ—shonour thee if thy Rivall should be generous enough to grant thee a pardon which thou hast so little merited wouldst thou receive it from her by giving up Oroondates Wouldst thou live wiâ—hout that ingratefull cause of all thy crimes and couldst thou see them both conquerors over those crimes that have so little profited thee Ah Roxana this thought 's unworthy of the wife of Alexander and if thou hast made thy self unworthy of that quality by thy shamefull actions blot out the shame of thy life by a death full of resolution Die miserable woman but die by thine own assistance without standing in need to beg that of thy enemies She then began to consider which way she might kill her self not having any weapon that could serve her for that purpose shee was in a high Gallery that look'd into the Court which she saw full of men slain for her quarrell and 't was from thence she thought she might easily find her death by throwing her self headlong into the Court where in regard of the heigth and the hardnesse of the pavement she must needs in probability be dasht in pieces Already had she given her self over to that resolution and was preparing to execute it when she remembred her great belly and the Child of so great a Father which she carried in her womb That consideration staid her at the first and drew tears immediatly after from her eyes Ah! wretched mother cried she wilt thou destroy a son of Alexanders and shall this only pledge thou hast left of the affection of the greatest man that ever was perish for the expiation of thy offences This unfortunate Child of so glorious a Father is innocent of all thy
her eyes with shame and knew not how to sustain the looks of her whom she had so little obliged to afford her that noble usage Statira embraced her tenderly anâ— beholding her with eyes that had nothing in them of an Enemy You have wrong'd me more sayd she by the opinion you had of my cruelty then by all your former actions and if you were not enough afflicted already I should complain of the injury you have done me in preferring death before my friendship Live Madam to testifie that you cease to hate me and never fear any thing from me nor mine that can any way trouble your repose Roxana by this confirmation of the Queens goodnesse was absolutely brought to a hearty repentance and receiving her kindnesses with more assurance then before You are worthy answered she of the care the Gods have had of your preservation and I have but too justly merited my unhappynesse in my present estate Madam death without doubt would be my most fortunate condition but yet I 'le live for to obey you nor can I better testifie my repentance then by receiving my life from you and in living at your command notwithstanding the many reasons I have to wish for death Statira's resentment and Roxana's despair were appeased in this maner and they were upon these tearms when a great noyse was heard in the streets and at the same time some of the Souldiers brought notice that Alcetas was returned with part of his men and had again begun the sight against those of Lysimachus and Ptolomeus Lysimachus started at the name of his Rivall and praying Prolomeus to stay for the defence of the Princesses he went from them and ran to his men with as much haste as could be imagined It was true that Alcetas with some Souldiers as desperate as himselfe had already charged in amongst them He had run in vain to all the Gates which were seiz'd upon by his Enemies and after having lost part of his men against them he had been up and down at many other places and every where had found his Foes Victorious He had seen death wandring about on every side confusion disorder and cruelty raigning in all the streets of Babylon He had heard the groans of dying men the cryes and lamentations of tender Mothers Children and weake old men and every where had met with dreadfull pictures of horrible desolation He often had broke in upon his Enemies but had still come off again with losse till he arrived at the place where the unfortunate Perdiccas had lost his life Then by the knowledge of his Brothers death he had banished all the desire he before had had to live and seeking nothing but an occasion of dying honourably he believ'd he could not do it better then in the presence of his Princesse whom he had abandoned and to whom he thought he owed the latest moments of his life With this beliefe forcing all the obstacles that were in his passage he was come back again to that house where he had fallen so fiercely upon Lysimachus his Souldiers that at the first he had layd many of them dead upon the ground Lysimachus being come to their reliefe no sooner knew him but desiring to discover who he was Alcetas cryed he behold Lysimachus turn thy sword against him alone and let 's dispute this last time for Parisatis Alcetas stayd not for a second challenge but receiving his Rivall with a furious cry he ran to meet him with an impetuousnesse as great as his all their men afforded them passage and they closed in sight of either party though so unluckyly for Alcetas that having hurt Lysimachus but lightly in the left hand Lysimachus his sword found the defect of his Arms and ran through his body to the very Hilt Alcetas fell dead with that single thrust and yielded up Parisatis with his life unto his Rivall All his souldiers sought death by his example and were going perhaps to find it amongst Enemies grown cruel by bloud and slaughter when Prince Oroondates Artaxerxes Orontes and Thalestris with their Companions came altogether to that place They had cut in pieces whatsoever had made them any resistance and at the same time Oxyatres Craterus Antigonus Leonatus Eumenes and Polyperchon had made themselves Masters of all the severall quarters of the Town all those that had been obstinate in making opposition were put every man to the sword and Peucestas who had gotten some of the Citizens to take arms having seen a good number of them slain was constrained to ask quarter for the the rest and to yield himselfe to the discretion of Prince Oxyatres The Conquerours had promised the Inhabitants their lives but they had found it very difficult to take off the Souldiers whom desire of Pillage precipitated thronging into every house and at first they met with very little obedience amongst them but in the end they had so carefully endeavoured it knowing how much they should oblige Prince Artaxerxes by sparing the bloud of the old Subjects of his Family that they had saved all them that had escaped from the first fury of their men and after having made themselves Mâ—sters of all places where they could suspect any resistance they had drawn up a great part of their Forces under their severall Standards and Colours Thus the most stately Town in all the World was taken and that proud City which might have held out whole years against a world of Enemies saw it selfe contrary to all humane appearance brought in subjection in halfe a day by the imprudent and blind dissention of its Defendants Yet was it happy in its misfortune since the Conquerours used their Victory with moderation not defacing any of its Beauties and washing of the faults of its Commanders a great deale more with the bloud of strangers then of its Citizens While some of these great Princes were busie in that imployment they in whom the interests of love were the most powerfull had affaires of a different nature to take them up Alcetas was no sooner killed with part of his men and the rest fled quitting the place and Victory to their Enemies but Oroondates drawing near to conquering Lysimachus testified by his joy and by his endearments how much he was concerned in his good successe and Lysimachus having at the same time told him of the liberty of their Princesses of Roxana's repentance and of the Queens goodnesse toward her ravished his heart with an excesse of contentment He hardly stayd the end of his discourse while his Companions appeased the rest of the disorder and saved the lives of those miserable Wretches that implored their mercy but burning with impatiency to see his Princesse free he ran immediatly to that house and went to find her in her Chamber whither she was retired with the Princesse her Sister and Queen Roxana under the Guard of Ptolomeus with a good number of Souldiers Oroondates had no sooner cast his eyes upon her but unarming his
since was master of the greatest part of the Earth This consideration ties me to much severer rules then if I had been in another condition and all my engagements to your love and to your services cannot hinder Alexanders Widow from being accused of lightness if after the loss and the so late loss of such a Husband she can consent to give her self unto another All the world that was concerned in his life and in his death looks with another eye upon my actions then if I were only the Daughter of Darius and all the world could not chuse but wonder that I should turn my thoughts upon any man after the losse of him that extended his Dominion over all others of him who by his glory had obscured all those that went before him and perhaps all those that shall live after him and who had seated me in the most considerable place of the whole Universe While the Queen spake thus Oroondates his face grew pale but Artaxerxes was enflamed with an excessive colour and the different motions of those two Princes seemed to precipitate one of them into the grave and transport the other into a violent anger and resentment What sister cried the impatient Artaxerxes is it with these scruples you mean to repay the services of Oroondates and will you kill us both by your ingratitude 'T is I alone will die added the King of Scithia with a feeble voice and I 'le die without complayning if my Queen pronounce the sentence of my death You shall not die my dear Oroondates said the Queen falling upon him with open arms and I my selfe will die a great deal rather then give you any reason to accuse mee I have represented to you all the considerations that might crosse the happiness I wish for you I have told you what the world would censure in this you desire of me but now I tell you that to satisfie what I ow you and to follow my inclination I 'le passe over all these maximes and over all the considerations of peoples discourse to give my self wholly to you I had rather bee accounted light and imprudent by them that know you not then faithless and ingratefull in your opinion I am yours by too powerfull reasons to be ever able to retire and would it pleased the Gods that in giving my self to you I could give you something more worthy of you and of your love I do not wrong the memory of Alexander by bestowing my self on a successor not inferiour to him either in birth or vertue and one who might have extended his conquests as far as he if his passion for me had not given him other imployments then that of invading his neighbours territories Live then with an assurence continued she offering him her hand not only that Statira will never be anothers for that 's a thing wherof you are already certain but that shee will bee yours by lawfull wayes whensoever you shall desire it This answer was solemnized with an acclamation of the whole Company who with an extraordinary joy saw the conclusion of a fortune in which their own seemed to be involved Oroondates could not find words that were able to express the height of his contentment and shewed it only by embracing the Queens knees and by doing many other actions full of transport and extasie His happy successe made all the rest to think at the same time which way they might bring their pains to the like conclusion Artaxerxes was not disquieted with any doubt and having often had assurance from his Princesses mouth that shee would give her self to him as soon as the King her Brother should desire it he was too confident of Oroondates his friendship to enter into any distrust of his happiness And indeed hee then received very potent considerations of it for the King of Scithia turning toward him after having spent some time in the expressions of his joy Brother sayd he now that by my Queens goodness and by yours I have attayned the top of my felicity I cannot but desire our satisfactions should be equall and since you judge my sister worthy of your affections she shall be yours the same day the Queen shall vouchsafe to consummate my happiness I wish that with her I could restore you the Empires you have lost but I know your vertue disdains them or can recover them by that sword which may make you aspire to the most glorious conquests and in the interim dear Brother give me leave to resign one halfe of a reasonable spacious Empire which the Gods have left me It is equally divided you know one part in Asia the other in Europe and Mount Imaus makes the seperation of them You if you please shall have the Asiatique Scithia where you shall raign with the Authority that I shall have in Europe I offer you that as being neaâ—er to those Countries upon which you may have some design and with it I offer you not only all the other not only the strength of all my Dominions to assist you for the recovery of yours but even the lives of my selfe and of all my Subjects which you may dispose of with a most absolute power Oroondates spake on this maner and the Prince of Persia having harkned to him with attention Brother replyed he after the Gift of Berenice there is no Empire that I can consider and I prefer my Princesse not only before that which was the King my Fathers but before the Monarchy of all the Earth yet do I not refuse the effect of your generous Friendship and if I accept not of that part of your Kingdome which you offer â—e 't is because I shall believe I raign in all places wheresoever my dear Brother shall command and that I will not possesse any thing that can be seperated from your Domiâ—ion I 'le retire into Scithia with you and when I shall have breathed there a while in the felicity you allow me I 'le make use of those Forces you offer me to reestablish my selfe if it be possible in part of those Territories that were ours and to give my Princesse a Crown that may not suffer her to fall beneath her Dignity I 'le begin the War upon the Parthians upon the Hircanians and their Neighbours and 't is on that side I hope with your assistance and that of the Gods to establish a Monarchy over the Countries our Enemies possâ—sse without pretending to the recovery of those which Fortune has bestowed upon our Friends Artaxerxes declaed his intentions thus and Oroondates protested to him once more that if he would not accept of halfe his Kingdome he should have it all and that he would not exercise any Authority that should not be common to them both Lysimachus was then at the â—eet of Parisatis where by the Queens example he endeavoured to draw assurances of his happynesse from her mouth She had no repugnance in her heart to grant him them and she was so much indebted
they all of them went from Babylon the same day Oroondates and the Great Arsaces with their Brides and an Equipage befitting their Quality took the way toward Scithia with Lysimachus and Parisatis who would accompany them as far as Byzantium where they were to keep their Court it being the Metropolis of Thrace and where Parisatis hoped for a great deale of comfort in the Neighbourhood of the Queen her Sister since their Kingdoms bordered upon one another Orontes and Thalestris went toward Cappadocia which was to obey them totally by the agreement they had made with Eumenes who with the fair Arsinoe his Wife kept them company the greatest part of their Journy Ptolomeus travelled towards Aegypt which much desired to receive him Antigonus and his Son with the fair Deidamia toward Phrygia Seleucus marched towards Armenia with Forces to make himselfe Master of it in case he should find any difficulty to be admitted Nearchus and Leonatus went home into their own Provinces and no body remained at Babylon but Prince Oxyatres who with his dear Barsina did there establish his Dominion Cleonimus and Alcione with good old Polemon stayd there also with him as in their Native Country and that Prince remembring the request Berenice and Statira had made to him in favour of that laboured all he could for their satisfaction and haveing taken away those scruples that opposed it in Alcione's mind he marryed her at last to Cleonimus whom he setled in all the Wealth of Theander and Bagistanes and whom for his Vertue and for the consideration of Polemon who had done all his Friends so many good services he honoured with the most important Offices of his State THe Design to which I regularly enough have tyed my selfe not to wander from the Banks of the Euphrates and the Walls of Babylon hinders me from following my Heroes in their Voyages I will not therefore relate their fortunate successes their arrivall in their Kingdomes and the crowning of so many Gallant Princes who established a brave and happy Soveraignty which they enjoyed through the whole course of very long and prosperous Raigns You may learn the end of their Lives from Historians Famous in Antiquity who have written them From me you shall only know that the Great Arsaces stayd not long in his Brothers Kingdome but having received such an Army from him as he desired he marched into the Province of the Parthians where he defeated and kill'd Andiagoras in a pitch'd Battle from thence when he had made himselfe Master of that Province and had woon many other Victories over them that opposed his Conquests he subdued Hyrcania Bactria Zogdia the Country of the Mardes and a great number of other Provinces of which he composed that Famous Empire of the Parthians which was call'd the Empire of the East and which was the most potent of the World till the time of â—â—lius Caesar under whom it fell into the power of the Romanes the Founder of it still retained that Great Name of Arsaces under which he had gained his first reputation and that Renowned Name descended to his Successors who to render that homage to his Vertue made themselves all be called Arsaces and made the whole World talk of the illustrious Bloud of the Arsacides He dyed not till he was exceeding old having by the report of all Historians left as great a veneration of his Name in the East as that of Alexander amongst the Greekes of Cyrus amongst the Persians or of Rumulus amongst the Romanes they are the very words of the Historians though amongst many of them the Birth of that Great Emperour was not known Oroondates if he had would might have enlarg'd his Conquests as far as his Brother but he kept himselfe to the Religious Custome of his Ancestors and believed according to their example that he could not without injustice devest a Lawfull Prince of his Dominions Yet did he make himselfe so terrible in his own that all his Neighbours trembled at his Name and desired nothing so much as his Allyance He gave himselfe wholly to the love of his fair Queen and that Great Princesse for ever layd aside the Name of Statira affected by the Queens of Persia and passed the rest of her life under that of Cassandra that was it that made Plutarch believe she was kill'd indeed after the Death of Alexander she having liv'd from that time forward in far Countries and under a Name he knew not That Vertuous Queen and the King her Husband requited the affection of Theodates and that of faithfull Araxes by the Gift of Theomiris and Cleone and by that of many Provinces and places of importance in Scithia nor was Criton lesse rewarded by his Master the Great Arsaces Lysimachus with his dear Parisatis passed his life in so great Glory that after having conquered most of the Kingdomes that had been Alexanders he was slain in the last Battle that was fought amongst his Successors being then fourscore years of Age. The life of Demetrius was so remarkeable that it gave the greatest Authours of those Times occasion to write it Macedonia and many other Kingdomes obeyed him and little Pyrrhus his Brother in Law being come to years acquired the reputation of the Valiantest man in all the World Orontes raigned very peaceably in Cappadocia with Thalestris and all the Lawes of the Amazones were so utterly abolished that there never was any mention of them afterwards Ptolomeus governed Aegypt with so much Glory that his Name as that of Arsaces remained to his Posterity and Seleucus made himselfe so Great that before his Death he became the most Potent of all Alexanders Successors Cassander still persisted in his Crimes and his passion for Roxana turn'd into so violent a Rage that in the end he put her to death with the Son she had by Alexander and also Queen Olimpias the Mother of the Great King He by their death usurped Macedonia and after his Demetrius took it from his Children Eumenes perished in the War he had against Antigonus after having killed his Enemy Neoptolemus with his own hand and by many Gallant Victories acquired the reputation of one of the greatest Captains in the World And Prince Oxyatres passed his life most happily with Barsina I should perhaps say more of every one if all Famous Historians did not amply relate their Actions particularly Justin and Plutarch in the Lives of Pyrrhus Demetrius and Eumenes If I were not out of my Scene which I have limited within the Confines of Babylon and if it were not just that after such a long winded piece of Worke I my selfe should seek that repose which I now have given to others The End of CASSANDRA THere is newly published in English an excellent new Romance called IBRAHIM or the Illustrious BASSA The whole work in four parts written in French by Monsieur de SCUDERY Authour of ARTAMENE or the Grand CYRUS LONDON Printed for HUMPHREY MOSELY at the Prince's Arms in S. Paul's Church-yard WILLIAM BENTLEY and THOMAS HEATH in Covent-Garden 1652. To the Reader YOu will have the patience I hope to read these few Lines I am obliged to adde that I may justifie part of those things which I have written I have been bound up in many passages of this Conclusion by the truth of History though perhaps I have altered it in some places where it is least known If I make Statira and her Sister live again contrary to the report of Plutarch who sayes she was killed by Roxana's cruelty I have followed the Opinion of many Historians and I make her passe the rest of her life in Countries very remote from â—â—ose where she spent her yonger years and under a different name from that by â—â—ich she was known to Plutarch I well might give Darius a Son without conâ—â—adicting the Historians that write of Alexander who only mention his Daughters I make him dead in the opinion of the World before Alexander entred upon his Fathers Territories he comes thither no more till after his death and therefore those Authours might well have been ignorant of Artaxerxes his life he having passed it in very far Countries and under another name after he had lost it in the generall beliefe I with the same licence might make him to be that Great Arsaces who founded the Empire of the Parthians and Historians not â—aving given him any certain birth have offered me the liberty to make him be born of Darius I should undoubtedly have made him recover his Fathers Empire if I could have done it without falsifying truths which are known to all the World and which have not left me a free disposing of my Adventures I should have changed something in the destiny of Roxana and Cassander if I might have been permitted and if I had pardoned Roxana in consideration of her Sex I should have killed Cassander to shew the punishment of Vice as well as the recompence of Vertue but the rest of his life was too well known by his crimes and by his ruling in Greece I have been freer in those of perdiccas and his Brother 't is certain they were slain within a while after Alexanders death by a Sedition amongst their Forces and there is so little spoken of the particulars of their death that I believed I might lawfully frame it to my History FINIS * Aesculapius
That great losse did so exasperate me against Neobarzanes and his soldiers that I was blindly obstinate in the pursuit of them true it is that I disdained all the rest to fix upon the person of the Chief and by killing or taking him prisoner to decide our eternal quarrel This desire made me fall in eagerly among the run-aways and not considering that I was followed by but few of my Amazons I ingaged my self in a Wood where Neobarzanes had rallied part of the Cavalry he had left I found my errour when I was in the midst of them but 't was too late to help it and the Enemy having discovered the smalness of the number that pursued them made an halt and inviron'd us on all sides I may say without vanity that we in that occasion did all that valiant and desperate persons could do in such a like encounter I made part of them that opposed me fall at my feet and getting to Neobarzanes in spite of them I dismounted him a second time but he was instantly taken up by his men and our resistance serving only to exasperate them against us they charg'd us so furiously on every side that all our Women were slain upon the place and my horse being killed with a thousand wounds left me upon the ground at the mercy of my Enemies I expected nothing from them but death and I should certainly have receiv'd it if Neobarzanes had not commanded them to take me alive They presently went about to do it and it was impossible for me to hinder them so that after having vainly defended my liberty I was taken disarm'd of my sword and tyed upon an horse which was presently sent away for feare I should bee rescued by the Troups I had left behinde they caried me away with so much speed that within an howre I was brought to Phryne that same City which before we had taken by the valour of Orithia and which the Cilicians had afterward recovered from us There it was that Neobarzanes gathered up his run-aways and shut himself in with them though the place was not yet very well fortified but he knew our broken Forces were not in a condition to besiege it nor to attempt any thing upon his Territories without fresh Supplies This consideration made him resolve there to expect the event of that War that hee might give Orders upon the Frontiers till more strength came to him from Tharsus Judge Sir of my grief and shame to see my self in the power of my most cruel Enemies and of the imprecations I uttered against fortune that had suffered me to fall into their hands and not to perish in the Fight with the valiantest of my Women I began to deplore my Captivity with the saddest words my sorrow could bring forth when I was led before Neobarzanes some light hurts I had which they vouchsafed not to get dress'd nor I to desire that favour or to hope for any from them after the losse they had sustain'd Assoon as Neobarzanes saw me he could scarce forbear revilings and the remembrance of a brother whom he had dearly lov'd and whom I had killed before his face was so powerfully renued in him that he was ready to have put me instantly to death but having cast his eyes upon my face hee found something there that mollified part of his anger and restrain'd the impetuousness of that fury which caried him headlong to my destruction Yet could he not so well contain himself but that looking upon me with eyes sparkling with wrath The Gods bloody woman said he have at last delivered thee into his hands whom they have destined for the revenger of thy cruelties and if the death of my dear brother and of so many thousand of my soldiers which cries for vengeance against thee cannot be satisfied with that of one woman I shall at least have this satisfaction to punish the head for the crimes of the whole body and to appease my brothers ghost by the blood of her that deprived me of him I heard these words without being terrified and having look'd a good while upon him with a disdain that might have incensed him more I replied at last without being moved I expected neither favour nor good usage of thee Neobarzanes and I should think it a shame to receive that from thee which thou never shewedst to any body doe not believe thou canst affright me with thy threats Fortune the Goddess thou adorest and vvho puffs up such empty souls never had any Empire over mine and can neither deject it nor subdue it to thee thou alone art guilty of those cruelties with which thou reproachest me I have defended my Territories which contrary to the Law of Nations and thy promise given thou unjustly didst invade and if thy brother and thy soldiers have fallen in thy quarrel they died like valiant men and have received that punishment for thy crime from which thou feedest thy self by flight These words were enough to redouble his fury and carry him to extreamities against a person who braved him and injured him though a prisoner But that little beauty wherewith some had flatter'd me upon which he cast his eyes with most base and guilty designs suspended his anger and hindred it from breaking forth with violence but not him from answering with a sharp and dangerous smile Wee will see whether thy constancy will hold out to the end and if thou wilt be as couragious in the certainty of thy death as thou art in the expectation of a pardon which thou vainly hopest for by reason of thy sex Though he spoke these words with a cholerick voice hee cast looks at me which were sufficient to make me doubt his violence and commanding me to be taken away he had also the care to give order that Chirurgians should be sent to dress my wounds I was carried back into the Chamber which was given me for my prison and though my Captivity caus'd as much grief in me as a couragious heart was capable to feel some remainder of that desire which vve have naturally for life made me give way to the care that was taken of my wounds Assoon as I was in bed they were search'd and dress'd but they were such sleight ones that the Chirurgians did not doubt but they would be healed in a few days I was not a little confirm'd in my belief that Neobarzanes his anger was asswaged when I saw women sent to wait upon me from whose sight I receiv'd much consolation That was the thing I had most desired in my misfortune and I feared nothing so much as to see my self among men whose conversation I was not used to and from whom I apprehended violence The second day of my Captivity I learn'd from the Women that served me that they did not believe that Neobarzanes would put me to death and the third they told me he had sent to enquire after my health As I had not been terrified by his threats
by your assistance and you shall live by my desire since your death would now be mine and that you have but too much satisfied me without dying These words penetrated so far into Orontes and produced such sudden and such powerful effects in him That in a happiness so little expected his joy was like to have done that in a moment which his grief had not been able to do in many days He with all his force resisted the vehemence of those motions that transported him beyond himself and embracing the knees of that fair Queen with raptures which she easily understood Ah! said he you are my divine Thalestris I know you now by these miraculous marks and no body but Thalestris could have made me pass in an instant from the grave to this supream felicity Vngrateful Orontes does now sufficiently understand the excess of his ingratitude and that of your celestial goodness but since that without horror you can endure this Monster such as he is and that compassion is stronger in your heart then justice What punishment will you ordain this guilty man to settle him again in that estate from which his crimes have thrown him Where will you finde torments that can expiate a part of them In short as full of goodness as you are Where will you finde enough to blot out their remembrance Orontes brought forth these words keeping still upon his knees whatsoever power the Queen could use to make him to rise but in fine being resolved to draw him out of that woful condition and to take all matters of affliction away from him I command you said she to forget your faults since I have lost the memory of them and that you have made amends for them but too fully by your last actions I command you to leave this abode unworthy of you to seek a more delightful company among the Princes who esteem you And finally I command you to take that place again which you heretofore possessed in my affection and with it all those hopes which you had lost As she ended these words she constrained him to rise and fortunate Orontes taking then the liberty to kiss one of her fair hands How unjust are you said he to shew such favor to so guilty a person And how my sufferings ought to be envied since they end in so glorious a conclusion Such was the reconciliation of these two lovers whom too violent resentments had separated for so many years and this reunion was so sweet to them that it seemed as if Heaven had consented to that breach for no other end but that after such sensible afflictions their happiness might be the more perfect and entire Orontes who saw his fortune so different from what it had been a few moments before had much ado to comprehend that admirable change Thalestris who saw her self delivered from those torturing disquiets which had so long made war against her and who found in her dear Orontes as great a fidelity as she could wish was in an extasie of joy little inferior to his and even Lascaris who with his Masters condition saw his own so advantageously changed could not contain the excess of his gladness and having cast himself at the Queens feet assoon as his Master allowed him to do so received from her the acknowledgements that were due to so faithful a servant The Queen would not suffer Orontes to tarry longer in that melancholly Cave but commanding Lascaris to go and make ready Horses she needs would have Orontes put on his Arms immediately in her presence Never had Lascaris received any command more joyfully then that nor ever did Captive that had languished ten years in Irons receive the news of his liberty with a more perfect contentment Orontes was armed and the Horses ready in a little time and the fair Queen leading that solitary lover by the hand out of his gloomy Cave appeared in that action not much different from Hercules when he drew his dearest Theseus out of the black and horrid Dungeons of Hell Although Orontes left his Grot without unwillingness yet could he not go away without looking back upon it with some affection If it were in my power said he favorable Cave I would consecrate thee to the godess of Love as the place where the most passionate of all Lovers hath received the greatest and the most glorious of all fortunes May it please the gods thou never serve for a Den of Lyons and Tygers and mayest thou never be polluted nor prophaned after having been the temple of those Adorations which I have paid to my divine Thalestris The Queen accused Orontes of impiety for these last words but she pardoned all in regard of his passion and at the same time geting on Horseback they crossed through the Wood by a way well known to Orontes and rode toward the Camp when the Sun was upon the point of seting but before they were out of the Wood Thalestris who knew not in what maner and in what Country Orontes had passed his life since his departure out of Cappadocia being desirous to learn something of it It is not just said she that I should be ignorant on what fashion you have lived since you forsook us let me entreat you therefore to give me some account of it during the way we have to go Madam answered Orontes since you are pleased to desire it and that you have already pardoned my faults I will refresh the memory of them by a brief recital of my life which I shall give you in a few words as well because there hath befaln me nothing of great importance as because in so short a way we have but little time to spend in it but being I shall have happiness to be near you I will recount the particularities of it more at large whensoever you shall be pleased to command me The History of ORONTES I Was in Cappadocia where I had the honor to command your Army under the name and habit of Orithia and where by some fortunate successes I had already secured the tranquility of your Frontier when Arethusa one of the principal among those women that had command in the Army and one of those whom you most esteemed being one day come into my Chamber with more hast then ordinary Madam said she I mean to be the first that shall tell you a pleasing news unless perhaps some other body have prevented me I opened my ears at these first words and natural curiosity having moved me to press her that I might hear the business We have hitherto been ignorant pursued she for what design our Queen was gone from Themiscira in so gallant an equipage but I come now from learning the truth of it and you shall know that being obliged by our Laws to give us a Queen that may succeed after her death and not being willing to bring into the world a Daughter that should be unworthy of her she disdained all her Neighbors to cast her
thoughts upon the greatest man in the World And hearing that Alexander the Conqueror of all the Earth was come near unto Hyrcania she is gone to meet him there to demand an Inheritrix who according to the greatness of both Father and Mother cannot chuse but be a marvellous person Although I ought not to have given credit so lightly to that report yet was I so touched with it that my face became exceeding pale and Arethusa perceiving it asked me presently the reason I finde my self a little ill said I endeavoring to dissemble my thoughts as well as possibly I could but that need not hinder you from telling me from whom you had this news and what certainty you have of it Two friends of mine replied Arethusa that are come unto the Camp not above two hours ago assured me of it and it is a thing so fully confirmed in Themiscira that no body any longer doubts of such a truth It is enough answered I I bear as great a share in your contentment as it is possible for me but I pray you give me leave to take a little rest Arethusa astonished that I received a news so coldly which did so rejoyce all her Companions went out of my Chamber and onely Lascaris continued with me You may judge Madam if you please into what estate I was reduced by that cruel opinion and since that Memory is an Enemy to me you will be pleased to dispence with me for repeating the discourses my jealousie made me utter neither should I be able to do it without awaking your just indignation nor without giving you new causes to condemn my ingratitude I passed the rest of that day in a mortal disquiet the night that succeeded it was not spent in the repose of a minde that no longer was capable of any yet me-thought your humor according to the knowledge I had of it and the promises you had given me agreed but little with that horrible change and that was it that kept me in the beginning from lending Faith to that report but within a while after I considered that you were a Woman that you were yong and that you might possibly be perswaded by the Counsel of those about you and flattered by the reputation of Alexander These reflexions made me in the end incline to that belief which I resisted as much as possibly I could but not being willing to settle it upon the bare report of Arethusa I commanded Lascaris to enquire more particularly among the other Amazones he did it but too much for my repose every one he spoke with confirmed that cruel news And to compleat my ruine there arrived certain women from Themiscira within a few days after who redoubled that belief by their testimony and who told us That at their departure they had left all their Country in the expectation of their Queen who was to come back within a few days and had sent word by some of her women who were come before That she returned very well satisfied with the happy success of her voyage and that she had obtained of Alexander whatsoever she had desired The Queen blushiing at this discourse interrupted Orontes The women who spread that rumor abroad said she and who were neither those of quality nor any that had access near my person had some occasion to take the Message I sent in the sence that they received it Before I departed from Themiscira they assembled themselves and knowing that I was going to Alexander they begged of me altogether To give them a Queen of the Race of that great King and not to return from that voyage without bringing back a fruit which I could not so nobly hope for from any other part of the Earth Being I saw my self reduced by our ignominious custom to endure that request without expressing any anger I heard it without showing my dislike of what they demanded and that was it that made them believe before my arrival that I had followed their Counsel but after my return they were quickly undeceived I would to Heaven continued the Prince of the Massagetes that I had been so too and that by my too great facility in perswading my self of my disaster I had not faln into that cruel error which hath since in a short space of my life made me undergo a thousand tedious deaths In brief Madam I believed and I make you this confession how shameful so ever it be I believed to my misfortune what I never ought to have believed and by that inhumane credulity I drank the poyson that infected the soundest parts of my heart Assoon as I had received that impression all things contributed to settle it in me and in the end I was so fully perswaded of it That I thought without being blinde I could no longer doubt of a thing which no body called in question but my self The first effect this error produced in me was a desire to make an end of my life with my own hand and I know not what good genius took part with Lascaris to divert me from that design or at least to defer it for a few days after which I fell into a quite different intention I will not tell you Madam to spare my self the shame I sould suffer in relating them the discourses I used or rather the reproaches I poured forth against you as I believed I had received an offence which took away all the respect I bore unto your person and even unto your sex I found nothing in the most bitter invectives which seemed not too milde to my resentments I flew out so far as even to wish your death and to make designs my self against your life Those irresolutions full of mortal agonies held me for some days during which I suffered no body to see me but when I had long deliberated I believed I could not without meanness of spirit persist in the thought of dying for you The gods can witness that it was not love of life that gave me those reflexions and that though it had been dear to me before it was then grown odious enough to sacrifice it a thousand times unto my grief if my blinde spite had not represented That she who had so shamefully abandoned me to abandon her self to a man she knew not was unworthy of all the marks of love that I could give her I am compelled Madam against my resolution to let escape some criminal words else it would be hard for me to let you know the sence I had of that imagined injury My last determination was that of absenting my self for ever from you and from your Territories and of banishing you for ever out of my memory I executed one part of this resolution suddenly enough and have labored in vain to do the other during some years which have seemed to me of an extraordinary length I left your Army then without taking leave of your Women after having dispatched that fatal Messenger that gave you the first