them had they not béen mortall But I thinking onely of those vnluckie tydinges which I had hearde to one of you Gentlewomen to which I know not I sodainely became an open enemie and I began to reuolue great gréeuous matters in my perplexed minde And that amassed lumpe of gréefe which could not altogether containe it selfe in my breast with a furious and despitefull voyce I did in this sorte partly driue out of me saying O wicked and false young man O enemie to pittie and pittilesse wretch O Panphilus the worst of all those who with out deserte dooth breath this common ayre Disloyall Panphilus who hauing blotted me most miserable woman out of thy vngratefull memorie doost nowe dwell and delight thy selfe with thy newe deceitfull dame Accursed bee that haplesse day when fyrst I sawe thée and that fatall hower and very instant in whych thou diddest please my simple eyes Accursed be that Goddesse which appearing to mee with her allured promyses flattered my waueringe minde and disturbed the same though resisting with all her forces to the contrarie from the boundes of my right iudgement to lyke of thée wicked wretch and vngratefull monster to looue thée Certes I thinke that shee was not Venus but rather some infernall furie in her shape striking mee with madnesse and filling me with franticke furie as once she did miserable Atamas O most cruell youth whome amongst manie other most noble beautiful and valiaunt young Gentlemen I dyd fondly chuse out for the best where are nowe thy serious prayers which for safetie of thy life with teares thou diddest often tymes offer vnto me affirming that both that and thy death weare in my handes Where are nowe thy pittifull lookes and those two neuer dryed eyes with the which malicious man thou dyddest neuer cease at thy pleasure to shedde foorth teares in my presence Where is nowe the great looue that so brauely thou diddest fayne to shewe me Where are thy swéete wordes and thy sower gréefes thy infinite sorrowes thy paynes and trauels proffered and imployed in my seruice Are all these slyd out of thy memorie or hast thou framed them a new to entrap thy deceiued and newe loouer Accursed be that pittie of mine which tooke that life out of death his mouth that thereby making her selfe thē a ioyfull woman should haue rather sent it to the darkesome denne of death Nowe those eyes which whilome in my presence lamented laugh before their newe Mistresse and that mutable heart hath turned all his swéete wordes and faire offers to her onely and nowe hast thou hereticallie dedicated all thy seruices to her deuotions Alas Panphilus where are nowe those profaned and periured Godheades Where is thy promised fayth Where are thy infinit teares of the which miserable woman I drunke no small quantitie beléeuing them to bee tempered then with as great pittie and looue as now they are turned but to droppes of treacherous deceite All those placed in the bosome of thy newe Mistresse thou hast with thy selfe taken from me Alas how great a corsiue was it to my poore hart when once before I heard that by Iunos lawe thou werte combined to an other woman But perceiuing that the couenauntes in which thou didest binde thy selfe to me were not to be preferred before them although I did painefullie beare it yet ouercome with iust grefe I did with lesse anguish of minde endure it It is a great greefe that that which dooth iustly belong to one should vniustly be an others But now vnderstanding that by the self same lawes by the which thou wert boūd to me thou hast in casting me of giuē thy selfe to an other it is an vntollerable paine for me to sustaine But now I knowe the cause of thy stay openly perceiue my own simplicity with the which I euer beléeued that thou wouldest if possiblie haue once returned againe Alas Panphilus diddest thou stand in nede of so many guilefull artes and cunninge fetches to delude me Why diddest thou so often so solemnlie and so highlie sweare vnto mée with continuall asseueration of thy most entyre and sincere faith if thou diddest thinke thus to deceiue me Wherfore diddest not thou goe away without taking thy leaue or without making any promise of thy returne I did as thou knowest most feruentlie looue thée and thou wert not then so much entangled in my looue werte not so straightly my prisoner but at thy will as to my no small paine I now perceiue thou hast doone and without wasting such infinite and vaine teares thou mightest haue departed from me If thou haddest doon thus then I should without doubt haue sodainely dispaired of thy returne manifestlie knowing thy deceite and then with death ere this time or ese with iust obliuion my tormentes should haue béene concluded But because they might be the more prolonged in giuing me a little vaine hope thou hast continuated and nourished them still But I poore soule neuer deserued this at thy wicked handes Alas how swéete were thy salte teares to me but nowe knowing their vile effects I féele thē to be most bitter to my dying minde Alas if looue did so strongly rule in thée as he dooth féercelie vse his might and signorie in me tell me then if it was not sufficient for thée to be once captiuated but that the second time thou must fall into his forces againe But what doo I talke of looue For thou didst neuer looue but hast rather delighted to iest with young gentlewomen and hast made it but a sport to deceiue which thy subtilty their simplicity If thou had'st loued as I did beléeue thou did'st thou shouldest yet haue béene mine own And whose couldest thou haue béene that had looued thée more then I Alas what dame so euer thou be that hast taken him from me though thou art my mortall and onely enemie yet féeling the great gréefe which his falshood hath engēdred in my breast I must néedes take pittie on thée He that deceiueth once deceiueth euer Wherfore I warne thée to take héede of his deceites because he that hath once deceiued hath for euer after lost his honesty and shame and dooth make it no matter of conscience to deceiue euery one from thence foorth Alas wicked youth how many orisons and sacrifices haue I offered vp to the Gods for thy safetie and now thou must flie from mée to goe to an other O Goddes my praiers I perceiue are hearde but to the profitte of an other woman I haue the sorrowe and an other suckes the swéete I reape but dole and paine for my long deuotions and an other delight and pleasure of him who in right and equitie should be mine Ah wicked man was not my beauty correspondent to thy brauery my dooinges to thy desires and my nobilitie to thy Gentilitie Alas a great deale more Were my riches euer denied thée or dyd I take any of thine Ah neuer Did I euer in déede or demonstration looue any man besides thy selfe
a hote and burning passion wherevpon the foresayde forces returning to their places againe brought with them a certaine heate which driuing all palenes quite away paynted my face like the vermillion Rose and made me burne as hote as fire And yet beholding from whence all this dydde procéede I could not but breathe out a sorrowfull sigh And from that howre forwarde my thoughtes were occupyed in nothing els but meditating of his braue personage and apparant vertues and especially in imagining howe to please him In all these intercourses without chaunging of place or countenaunce he did most priuilie steale now then a looke at me againe And peraduenture as one who hadde béene a tryed Souldiour in other amorous battailes and knowing with what Engines his wyshed praye might best be taken wyth arguments of greater humilitie continually he shewed himselfe more pittifull and full of amorous desires Alas how much deceite was hydden vnder the vaile of that pietie which according as the present effects doo testifie béeing nowe mortified in his hart where it neuer reuiued againe bare onely but an outward show and vysard of loue And because I may prosecute euery thing action in perticuler whereof there was not any which was not fraught with rare fraude and cunning guile whither it was he that voluntarily did worke it or my vnlucky stars that would haue it so thus it fell out that wanting the due skyl exactly to shew you how I found my selfe entangled wyth suddaine and vnlooked for loue as at this present I am not frée from the same Thys therefore was he most pittifull Ladyes whom my conquered hart wyth a foolish conceite amongst so manie noble beautifull and valiant yong Gentlemen that were not onely there present but also in all my Parthenope dyd choose to be the first Naples the onely and last Lorde and maister of my life This was he whom I loued and do loue styll more then anie one in all the worlde besides Thys was hee who was the beginning and principall occasion of all my woes and shal be as I hope the finall cause of my tragicall death at laste Thys was that day in the which first of a most frée and happy Lady I became a most miserable vnhappy captiue Thys was that day in the which I did first apprehende the miserable effects of foolish loue neuer knowne of me before This was that day wherin venereous venoms contaminated first my pure and chaste breaste Alas poore wretch how manie sorrowes and what misery came thys day into the world to thée by thine owne default Howe far alas should annoy and griefe haue béene from me yf thys day had béene turned into darknes and howe great an enemie was this day to my vnstayned honor But euill things alas which are committed and past All things which are doone may be sooner controlled then remedied may be easier reprehended then amended I was therefore taken as I haue sayde and whither it was some infernall furie or enuious fortune which did so emulate my chast felicitie laying snares to entrappe mee may thys day wyth hope of infallible victory tryumph and reioyce in my miserable fall Béeing therefore possessed nay rather oppressed with new kinds of passions as one astonied and like a sencelesse Woman I satte amongst the other Ladyes and Gentlewomen And troubled thus in mind I did neglect the sacred and diuine seruice which as I did scarcely heare so dyd I not vnderstande it at all and thought the sundry speeches and discourses of Gentlewomen that satte round about me but a kind of buzzing and murmuring in my troubled eares And so this newe and vnexpected loue did take suddaine possession of my tender hart so that eyther wyth myne eyes or with my thoughtes I was euer contemplating on my beloued yong Gentleman And yet my simplicitie was such that I did not almost then know what ende I might wysh or desire of such a straunge and feruent passion How many times alas coueting to haue séene him approche néere vnto mee did I blame his staying behind al the rest of the Gentlemen thinking wyth my selfe that that was but a colde kinde of affection in him which he did perhaps craftilie vse and for a pollicie to make mee more desirous to looke on hym and in looking to loue him more And moreouer the companie of lustie youthes that stoode before hym did greatly hinder my sight of whom whilst that I busied myne eyes in looking sometimes amongst thē there were not a fewe that thinking that for theyr sakes I looked so much towards them did vainely perhappes beléeue that I did it for loue of them But while my thoughts and sences were occupyed in these fancyes the sollemne seruice was finished and the Ladyes and the rest of my companions were risen vp to depart when I recalling my wits together which went wandring about the swéete imagination and figure of theyr onely obiect at the last I beheld my louelie yong Gentleman againe And now my selfe risen vp with the other Gentlewomen ready to be gone and turning mine eyes towardes him I perceiued that by his pittifull lokes which I had thought to haue preuented by mine that his departure and mine didde greatlie gréeue him But notwithstanding after certaine secrete sighes and yet ignorant of what parentage estate and condition hee was I went away Alas gentle Ladies who would beléeue it possible that ones hart in a moment and point of time shoulde alter and chaunge so much Who would say that a man neuer séene before might be so extreamelie loued at the first sight And who would thinke that the desire of séeing should bee so feruentlie kindled in ones breast as the very sight it selfe and béeing depriued of that to féele the greatest paine in the world for desire to sée the same thing againe Who would imagin that all those things that haue béene so ioyfull and delightful to vs before in respect of a newe thing come in place should not yéelde anie more pleasure at all Not any one truely vnlesse he had prooued and felt them as I doo nowe Alas that loue is not onelie content to vse such a strange and too seuere kinde of crueltie towardes mee Howe loue is engēdred in diuers parts and soules of the body successiuely but in subduing mee to his might to prescribe new Lawes cléene variant from others I haue oftentimes hearde that loue in others at his first entrance is but light but by nourished thoughtes augmenting his force is made greater But so it fared not with mee for he entred into my heart wyth that same force wherwith hée continued euer afterwardes as one who at the verye firste assault had most entyre and frée possession of me And lyke as the gréene wood which is hardly at the first sette on fire and doth lie a long time before it receiueth flames but after it is once kindled with greater heate dooth conserue the fire longer euen so it happened
firme in mutuall fréendship dooth looue thee so much as I doo If this be thy beléefe beléeue me Pāphilus it is erronious For truely none can looue thée better and holde thée swéete Pāphilus déerer then I doo If therefore I looue thée more then others He that dooth loue most deserueth more pittie I deserue then to be requited with greater looue and pittie then others Prefer me therfore worthely before the rest being pittiful towardes me forget all other pittie that might offend and preiudicate this and let thy olde father as hee hath liued a longe time without thée enioy a Gods name his wonted rest with out thy companie And lette him from hence foorth if so he please liue amongest the rest of his other fréends and alies And if not let him dye If it bee true as I haue hearde hee hath a good while since escaped the deadly stroke of death and hath liued longer here then was conuenient for his necessary health and if he liue in payne with much troble as cōmonly olde men do thou shalt in thy absence shew thy self more pittiful towards him to let him die thē which thy presence to prolōg his trobled tired life But thou oughtest rather to succour me poore soule whose life hath not béene a good while since but by thy swéet cōpanie preserued nor cannot tell how without the same to enioy this mundane light who being yet in the prime of my tender age dooth hope to liue and lead with thée many ioyfull monthes and yéeres together If thy iourney were to such purpose and could worke such supernaturall effectes in thy olde father his body Medea her medicamentes restored to olde Aeson his youth againe as the charmes of Medea and her medicinall spelles did vppon olde Aeson then would I say that by iust pietie thou wert instiged and would highly commend this requisite pittie and although it would séeme repugnaunt to my will yet would I wishe and allowe of this deuotion in thée and exhorte thée to the performaunce of it But such a miracle passing the lawes and boundes of nature can neuer come to passe according to thy naturall reason as thou knowest well enough Behold then if perhappes thou shewest thy selfe more cruell and rigorous to mee then I beléeue or imagine thou wilt or doost so little care for me whome on thy owne mere choyce and not by compulsion thou hast looued and yet doost that aboue my looue thou wilt for all this aduaunce the lost and helplesse charity of the olde man take some pitty at the least of thy owne estate and caring little for him and bemoning me lesse rue thy owne condition whom if first thy countenaunce and afterwardes thy wordes haue not deceiued me I haue séene to be more deade then aliue as euen nowe thou werte without perceiuing me that did marke thée by some vncouth accident is a most extreame and sorrowfull passion and depriued once of my sight By long greefe and sorrow men dre and debarred of my company doost thou beléeue to lyue so long tyme as this pittilesse pittie dooth require Alas for the looue thou bearest to the Goddes looke better to thy selfe and sée what likely hoode of death if by longe and lingring gréefe men dye as I sée it dayly by others this iourney ah this inopinate vnluckie iourney wil yéeld thée which how harde moreouer and vnpleasaunt it is to thée thy sorrowfull sobbes and teares and the vnwoonted moouing of thy heart which panting and beating vp and downe in thy breast I féele doo plainely shewe And if not apparraunt death which is most like a worser and more cruell condition of life then any death be assured will accompany thée Alas that my enamored hart vrged with great pitty that it hath of my owne distresse constrained by that tender cōpassion which I féele for thée must now play the humble suppliaunt to pray and intreate thée and to aduise thée also that thou wouldest not be so fond what kind of pittie soeuer moouing thée therunto as with euident iminent daunger to hazard thy safe persō Who looueth not himselfe possesseth nothing in this world Why thinke that those who doo not looue them selues possesse nothing in the wide world Thy father of whom forsooth thou art so pittifull did not giue thée to the world because thou shouldest be thy owne minister and occasion of taking thy selfe away out of it againe And who dooth not beléeue but that if our estate were as manifest or could be lawfullie tolde vnto him that he being wise and of mature iudgemēt and experience would rather say Stay there still And if discretion and reason would not pitty at the least would induce him to it and this I am assured thou knowest wel enough It is therfore great reason that what iudgment in his own tried cause he hath giuen he should and is most likely that he wold in our cause if he knew it giue also the very same Wherefore omitte this troublesome iourney vnprofitable to thée vnpleasaunt to me and preiudiciall to vs both As these my dearest Lord are reasons forcible enough if followed to keepe thée from going hence so are there many more not a little effectuall if put in practise to dehort thée from going hence as fyrst for example cōsidering the place whether thou goest For put case thou doost bende thy iourney thether where thou wert borne thy natiue soyle and naturall countrey and a place belooued more of thée then any other as I haue heard thée say in certaine thinges annoyous and for certaine causes hated of thée Because thy Citty as thou thy self hast told is ful of haughtie boasting wordes but more replenished with pusillanimous and vnperformed déeds And that they are not onely slaues to a thousand confused lawes but to as many different oppinions as there are men All which as well forriners as Cittizens naturally contencious and full of garboyles doo dayly rage in ciuill broyles and intestiue warres And as it is full of proude couetous and malicious people so is it not vnfurnished of innumerable and intricate cares the least of which is I know most contrary to the good disposition of thy quiet minde Naples But this noble Citty which thou doost intend to forsake I am sure thou art not ignoraunt with what ioyfull peace it dooth continually florishe how famous it is for plenty of all commodities how opulent shining in glory and magnificensie how heroycally administred vnder the sole regiment of a mightie and inuincible king All which thinges I knowe if euer thy appetite I haue knowen are most pleasant to thy daintie tast It is some times lawful to praise ones selfe And besides all these rehersed pleasures here am I here am I Panphilus whom thou shalt neither find there nor mayst liue within any other place Leaue of therfore thy sorowful determination chaunging the vnaduised counsell into better consideration haue regard I
homicide shall quickly ensue And these pleasaunt yéeres which I desired so much to prolong shall be now cut of by thy vniust occasion Oh wicked man and worker of my woes tell mée nowe with what hart thou hast entertained thy new spouse with intent to be guyle her as thou hast doone to mée With what eies didest thou beholde her With those eyes that thou didest entrappe mée most miserable and credulous woman What fayth didest thou promise her that which thou didest so solemnelie sweare to mée to kéepe vncorrupted The thing that is once bound for euer can be bound no more why howe couldest thou doo it Doost thou not remember that the thing which is once bound cannot be bouÌ„d any more then once what Gods didest thou adiure Ah what periured Goddes Alas miserable woman I know not what Sirene slights and Cercian pleasures haue so bewitched thée that in knowing thyselfe to be mine thou shouldest tranforme thy selfe into so wicked a minde and sincke into the deceitfull gulfe of thy pleasing fantasies For what faulte alas did I deserue to be so smallie regarded of thée Whether is the great looue betwéene vs so sodainely flowen away Alas what wicked fortune dooth so miserably corrcte and oppresse dolefull creatures Thou hast nowe committed thy promised fidelitie to the windes and thy fayth also of thy right hand giuen me to the same the periured Gods by whose sacred Godheades with great desire or shewe thereof thou didest sweare to returne and thy flattering wordes wherewith thou wert very well stored and thy fained and forced teares with which thou didst not only hath thy chéekes but also mine all these I say lightly and rudely heaped one vpon an other thou hast rashly committed to the carelesse windes And now scornefully deriding me thou lyuest merrily with thy nowe mistresse Alas who would haue euer béeléeued that such vile and bitter gall had béene hidden in thy hunnied and flattering spéeches and such accursed disloyaltie in thy vnsuspected dealinges or would haue euer imagined that thy teares had béene with such deceiteful arte sent foorth Certes not I. How needfull it is to be merie trusting louers words But rather as thou didest séeme faythfully to speake them and no lesse sincerelie to lament so I did with assured integrity giue credite to thy wordes and teares And if peraduenture thou wilt affirme the contrarie and say that thy teares were true thy othes simply protested and thy faith giuen with a pure and vpright hart let it be graunted But what séemely excuse wilt thou alleadge for not performing them so entirely as thou didst promise Wilt thou saie that the entising beautie of thy new Ladie is the occasion thereof Why this wil be but a weake reason and a manifest note of thy inconstant minde And shall this be besides a sufficient satisfaction for my losse Alas no. The sinne is not pardoned vnlesse the thing which is taken away be restored againe O most wicked man was not the feruent looue which I bare thée sufficiently knowen vnto thée and yet woe is me therefore doo still beare thée against my will Alas yes Thou didst not therefore néede so great skill and such subtile wit to deceiue mée But because thou wouldest shewe thy selfe cunning in the highest degrée thou didest therefore vse all possible arte and malice in thy filed spéeches But boast not Panphilus of thy braue victorie goodlie conquest that thou hast got in deceiuing a simple and young woman and her especially who did put so great trust in thée My simplicitie did merite greater sincerenesse then thine was But what I beléeued the reuerende Goddes no lesse inuoked by thée then thy owne selfe The which with bended knees and bowed heart I pray that they would make this thy greatest part of thy eternall fame to haue deceiued a young Gentlewoman who looued thée more then her selfe It is a great shame to deceiue a young woman that looueth â—â—uely Ah Panphilus tell me nowe did I euer worke any thing against thy mind or was I at any time so oppugnaÌ„t to the féeding of thy humors wherby I deserued so stily to be affroÌ„ted and so iniuriously to be betrayed I neuer committed in sooth any other faulte against thée if this be a fault but when I did so foolishlye enamour my selfe of thée and did beare thée more then was due so great fayth and exteame looue But this offence did not deserue such accursed pennaunce in thy cruel conceite In one thing onely I know I haue too much fayled for dooing of which I haue iustly deserued the anger of the Goddes and this was to receiue thée wicked man and vile monster into my chast and then vndefiled bedde and in suffering thy naked side to lye so néere to mine Admit that I was not as they themselues did well perceiue and say but thou especially wert culpable of this crime who with thy bolde subtiltie and cunning practyses surprising mée alone and fast a sléepe in the darke and silent night as one who at other times was accustomed to deceiue me first taking mee softlie in thy armes my deare honour and vnstayned honesty being almost violated before I was thorowlie awaked what could I doo then alas when I perceiued this Should I haue cryed out and with my bootlesse clamours haue blotted my vndoubted vertue with perpetuall infamy and for thée Panphilus whome I euer looued more then my selfe procured a certaine and sodaine death I striued apace the Goddes knowe and with my feminine forces as much as I could resisted thy eger will which not able to controule béeing ouercome and my selfe wearied thou didst enioy thy gréedie praie O that that blacke day which did in course bring on this damned and wicked night had béene my last to haue ended in the same my vertuous and vnspotted lyfe with an honest and patient death How deerely honesty ought to be esteemed Oh how many bitter gréefs and what griping corsiues wyll assayle mée from hence forth and thou with thy Wedded wife wilt for thy owne pastime and to delyght her by one and one vnrip thy olde looues make mee myserable woman culpable in manie matters abasing my beautyes to commende and flatter hers and discommending my quallities to sette hers foorth the more Bothe which and all thinges else in mée were with highe prayse wonte to bée extolled of thee aboue all other womens in the world And all those vnspeakeable fauours which compelled by méere pittie and extreame looue I dyd so gently bestowe on thée thou wilt perhappes iniuriously affyrme that they sprong of whot and burning luste But amongest many other thinges which thou wilt vntruely declare remember disloyall Panphilus to speake of thy owne deceites by meanes of which thou mayest truely sweare and say that thou hast lefte mee in a lamentable and miserable estate And with these forgette not also to tell of thy receiued honours and infinite curtesies doone thée because thou mayest make thy ingratitude
sufficientlie knowen to thy hearer Ingratiude Nor let it passe thy minde nor escape thy mouth to recken vppe how many worthie valiaunt and noble young Gentlemen haue attempted manie times to get my looue and the diuers meanes which continually they practised for the least hope of it as theyr glorious and dailie musteringes before my windowes in goodly troopes in the day time their ielous contentions by night and their diuine prowesse shewed in feates of armes and yet could neuer vnwind me from the laborinth of thy enchaunted looue And forget not to tell that notwithstanding all this for a woman scarcelie knowen thou hast of mee made a sodaine and dishonourable exchaunge Who if she be not perhappes so simple as my selfe will with great suspect receiue thy dissembling kisses and will warely defend her selfe from thy deceitfull dealinges from which alas I had neuer the power to kéepe my selfe and whom I wishe may by such an one to thée as Atreus his Philomena was to him or as the daughters of Danaus to theyr newe husbandes or as Clitemnestra to Agamemnon or at the least as my selfe thy iniquitie being the occasion thereof haue liued with my déere husbande most vnworthie of all these iniuries And that she may bring thée to such extreame misery which nowe for verye pittie of my selfe I doo woefully bewaile that it may force mée against my will to power out aboundaunt teares for thée All which thinges I pray the Goddes if that with any pittie they beholde miserable creatures may quickly fall and light vpon thée Although that I was greatlie troubled with this intollerable gréefe and not that daie onely but many more after notwithstanding the alteration that I perceyued in the foresaide Gentlewoman dyd stinge mee cruellie on the other syde the which drewe on my minde sometimes to so ruthfull and ielious thoughtes as I was not other times accustomed to imagine And therfore said with my selfe Alas wherfore doo I sorrowe Panphilus for thy long absence and that thou art combined to a newe wife knowinge that if thou werte héere present thou shouldest bée myne neuer the more but an others O most wicked man into how many partes was thy looue discected and howe fitte dooth the etimologie of thy name and calling agrée with thy nature and condition since being Panphilus thou art a fréende to all To her with whome thou liuest there to this who liues without thée here to mée who liues and dies for thée so that to her to this to mée and yet perhappes to none at all And so false wretche by these meanes thou wert in league with manie when I thought though thou diddest defie all women besydes mée And so it came to passe that thinking to vse my owne goods I was to bolde in vsurping that which belonged to others And who can tell thys béeing nowe knowen if anie of these more worthie of fauour at the Goddes handes then my selfe obtesting them for the iniurie receyued by mee and crauing reuenge for the harmes that I haue doone them haue impetrated so much grace to make mée féele these vnacquainted woes and vndeserued gréefes of minde But whosoeuer she bee if any there bee let her forgiue mée because I haue ignorauntly offended And my simple ignoraunce dooth deserue some fauourable pardon But with what fine arte didst thou faine these things with what a vyle conscience didst thou practise thē by what kinde of looue or of what tendernesse of mynde wert thou drawen to this I haue hearde it more then once sayde that none can loue no more but one at one selfe same time None can looue at one and self same time more then one at once But this rule tooke exception in thée For thou diddest looue many or else didest carie a shewe thereof to much by one Ah carelesse wretche diddest thou giue to all or to this one which could not so well nor so craftylie conceale that which thou diddest so maliciouslye hide from me that fayth those teares those signes and promises which thou diddest so prodigally bestowe on mée If thou diddest this thou mayest then securelie liue and at thy libertie looue all and yet not bound to anie woman Because that which is distinctlie giuen to manie cannot bée properlie sayd giuen to one Alas how may it then otherwise bee but that hée who robbeth so many simple women of their yéelding hartes must néedes be despoyled of his by some woman againe Why Narcissus was enamored of himselfe Narcissus belooued of manie and being most rigorous to all was at the last ouertaken with the shadowe of his owne beautie Atalanta most swifte and pittilesse in her race lefte her miserable loouers behinde combatting betwéene looue life and death vntill Hippomenes with a braue and maistered deceit ouer ranne and ouer came her she consenting also willinglie to the same But why doo I alledge olde examples My selfe who could neuer be taken of any one was at last ah mée therefore vnfortunately surprised by thée Hast not thou therefore amongest so many of thy spoile foūd out some braue one who hath entangled thee I doo not thinke but doo assuredlie beleeue that thou wert once subdued by hym who maie tame thée and subiect to her who had but little cause to bee prowde of her captiue But if thou wert whatsoeuer shée was that with so great force dyd conquer thy subtile heart why doost thou not aply thy looue onely to her lykinges But if neyther to her nor to me thou hast desire to retourne at least come backe againe to this who could not couer thy secrete and false looue nor conceale her owne fond passions And if thou wilt néeds haue my fates and fortune so contrarie to me which perhaps according to thy erronious oppinion I haue deserued let not my offences preiudicate the right of other women Returne againe to them at the least and kéepe thy fayth first perhaps promised to them and then to mée and to hurt me onely offende not so many as I beléeue thou hast left héere and else where in vaine and fonde hope And let not one preuayle more there then many héere She is alreadie thine nor cannot although she would but be still thine Leauing her therefore in safetie and with infallible assuraunce of thy looue come because those which are not able to be made thine but with thy presence thou mayest with the same kéepe them also thine After many of these vaine spéeches because they did neither smite into the eares of the Gods nor sound in those of that obdurate and vngratefull young man it came to passe sometimes that sodainely I changed my councelles into these spéeches saying O miserable young woman wherfore doost thou desire that Panphilus should come hether againe Doost thou thinke with greater patience to suffer that consuming corsiue néere thée which being so farre of is most gréeuous to thy thoughtes Thou desirest sond woman thy owne harme And if now thou remainest in peraduēture that he
quickly to find out a playster for euery wounde This béeing saide The vaine beleefe of Louers I suddainly rose vppe and ranne to the windowe as if he had vnderstoode my words but I perceiued my selfe alas deceiued in my foolish imagination in thinking that I hearde that which I did not and that he knocked at the dore as he was sometimes wont to doo O howe many times if any of my other carefull Louers had known this might I haue béene dishonourably dealt withall if any malicious and crafty person had fained himselfe to be Panphilus in such a case But after that I had opened the wyndowe and looked towardes the Gate myne eyes made mee more assured of this manifest illusion and so was my vaine ioy tossed with a true and suddaine turbation of minde not vnlike to the tempestious waues after that the strong Maste broken in péeces by blasts of mightie windes with crumpled sayles by maine force of them is throwne into the Sea without resistance doo couer and hide the endaungered shyp And returning after my old wont to my accustomed teares I did miserably beginne to lament and bewayle And forcing my selfe afterwards to giue some reste to my tormented minde drawing vp the vapours of swéete sléepe into my closed eyes in this manner with my selfe I did call vpon them againe Oh quiet sléepe Sleepe the rest of all things and the peace of all mens mindes the most pleasant rest of all mortall things and vaine peace of mens mindes which doost shunne all care like an enemie come to mee and with thy operations driue out of my burning brest these smothered thoughts these heauie cares and these ruthfull and restles fancies O thou that doost restore wearied bodies and hardened in cruel and breathlesse paynes to ease againe and dooest make them fitte and fresh to endure newe labours why dooest thou not come thou giuest repose to others giue also some little rest to me whose néede is more then any others els Forsake the eyes of merry and pleasaunt yong Gentlewomenne who holding nowe theyr Louers in theyr armes and passing the time ioyfully in the exercise of the Goddesse of Cypris games do vtterly refuse and hate thée And enter into mine who lyeth héere alone forsaken and choaked with Seas of sorrowfull teares and consumed with scalding sighes O thou the tamer of fierce and wicked creatures and the better part of man his life let me take some comfort by thée and reserue thy absence vntill that time when Panphilus wyth his pleasant discourses shal delight my weaned eares which shall be neuer wearied in hearing him my desirous eyes with hys braue beauty in looking on him O féeble brother of darke death which doost equally intermeddle false things wyth true enter into my sorrowfull eyes Thou didst once ouerspread Argus his hundred eyes commaunded by ielious Iuno to watch and vnwilling to sléepe Alas come now into mine The propertye of sleepe which are but two and which doo with great desire attende thy gratefull entraunce O Hauen of life rest of light and companion of night which dost come all alike as gracious to high Kings as to base and poore slaues enter in to my sorrowfull breast and making a pleasaunt soiourne there recreate a little my daunted spyrits Oh moste sweete sléepe which doost compell humaine generation fearefull of death with more patience to learne her long and lyngering comming possesse mée with the effects of thy force and driue from mee these infectious hurtes in the which my vnquiet mynd troubleth it selfe without any profit at all Morpheus more pittifull vnto me then any other God to whom I offered vp my prayers admit that he made delay in graunting me that fauour which I besought hym by my importunate orysons after a long space constrayned more by the force of my pittifull prayers and vnpittied disquiet then of hys proper accorde came slowly and silently stealing into my eyes and so my selfe not perceiuing him at all crept in by the windowes Dreames of haples Louers as yet halfe open into my giddye heade which didde greatly néede his presence and helpe and béeing moste wyllingly entertained there did wholy turne himselfe vppe and downe possessing euery place of it But swéete and desired peace although that sléepe was come did not yet enter into my vnsetled minde but in lue of thoughts teares a thousande fearefull visions full of infinite terrors dydde make mée greatly afraide beléeuing verely that no hellishe furie remained in Pluto his Citties but that euery one in most horrible formes and vglie shapes mée thought did appeare many times vnto mée threatning mée of diuers insuinge stratagemes and often times with their gastly lookes breaking mée out of my momentarie sléepe which afterwardes as though I had not séene them at all I was content and gladde with in my selfe that they were but fantasticall and foolishe shadowes And in bréefe there were but a fewe of these nightes after the vnfortunate tidinges of this newe bridegroome and his bride in the which I tooke any pleasure or ease in my forced sléepe and neuer representing to my wandring fantasies my Panphilus with such ioy as they were wont to doo many times before Which thinge did no lesse beyonde all measure gréeue mée then the contrary without meane to molest mée Of all these cares at last of al my streaming teares ceaselesse sobs and sighes and of al my multiplied gréefs but not of the occasion of them my déere husbande had no small inckling and knowledge especially when hee perceiued that the liuely cullour of my face was chaunged into a dead palenesse and that my pleasaunt and shining eyes depainted rounde about with two blewe and purple circles were déepely suncke into my forhead Séeing which things I say caused him many times to maruaile howe all these alterations should happen But perceauing at length that I had lost my appetite to meate and that my woonted sléepe had forsaken me he some times asked mee what was the cause thereof Whom I answered that the weakenesse of my stomake was in faulte which had so extenuated and appalled my face with that deformed leannesse my selfe not knowing no other cause why it was thus gonne from me but onely that Alas how simplie did hée beléeue giuing entier fayth to my deceitfull wordes this feyned excuse and false tale and caused infinite medicines to bée made and ministred to mée all which to content hym I did willinglie take not that I did thinke to get any profitte or ease at all by them No helpe of the body can lighten the passions of the soule For what lightning of the body can ease or asswage the infesting passions of the infected soule None I beléeue But my minde being purged of them they might perhappes alleuiate and helpe my bodie much The medicine auaileable for my maladie was but one which was very precious déere and to farre of to make me receiue my pristinate health But after my
there in hell neuer so much tormented wyth endles payne that séeing these thinges coulde not but féele some respectiue ioy Why not one at all I think For they rauished with the swéetnesse of Orpheus his harpe forgotte for a time their cruell paines and torments But I sette in the mids of a thousand torments and placed amongst a thousande ioyes and continually exercised in many and sundrye kinds of sports cannot I say burie my gréefe in momentary obliuion nor asswage and lighten it be it neuer so little a while And put case that sometimes at those feastes such like I haue with an vnfained and true countenaunce hidde it and haue giuen respect to my tedious sighes in the night afterwards when I did finde my selfe all alone I did prolong not pardon any part of my teares but didde powre out rather so many of them as the day before I had spared and kept in scalding sighes And these thinges inducing mee to more pensiue and percing thoughts and especially in considering their vanities more apt and possible to hurte then to helpe as by proofe of them I doo manifestly knowe the feaste béeing finished and my selfe going from it and not wythout cause complayning and waxing angrye against these vayne shadowes and all other worldly showes I beganne thus to say Oh howe happy is that innocent man who dwelleth in the sollitarie village enioying onely the open ayre The prayse of a solitary life Who employing his sole care and labour to inuent subtill ginnes for simple beastes and to make nettes for vnwarie birdes with gréefe of mynde can neuer be wounded And if perhappes he suffer any great wearines in his body in casting him selfe downe vpon the gréene grasse incontinently he refresheth him selfe againe chaunging his place sometimes in the freshe riuer bankes and sometimes vnder the coole shadowe of some great woode where the chirping birdes with theyr prettie songes and the softe trembling of the greene leaues shaken by some pleasaunt and little wynde as staying themselues to harken to their siluer notes lull him swetlie a sléepe Ah Fortune haddest thou graunted me such a lyfe to whome thy desired giftes are but a cloging care and detriment it had béen better for me Alas how my high Palaces sumptuous beddes treasure and great familie any thing profitable and how little pleasaunt vnto me when my mind surcharged with ouer much anxyetie and wandring in vnknowen countries after Panphilus cannot haue any small rest nor when any comfortable respiration may be graūted to my wearied and breathlesse soule Oh howe delightfull and gratious a thing is it to presse the gréene and swéet bankes of the swift running riuers with a quiet and frée mind and vpon the naked turfes to fetche a sound and vnbroken sléepe which the glyding riuer with murmuringe bubles and pleasaunt noyse without feare dooth nourishe and maintaine These eases are without any grudge graunted to the poore inhabitaunt of the countrie village fréely to enioye and are a great deale more to bée desired then those toyes which with many flattering words I haue often times fawned on and haue with such dilligent and daily care embraced as the fine dames of the Citties vse commonly to doo and which at last with the carelesse coyle of the tumultuous familie or negligentlie broken His hunger if at any time perhappes it pricke him with geathering of Apples in the faythfull and secure woodes hée dooth driue away and manie young and tender herbes which the wyde Champaignes or little hilles of theyr owne frée will bring forth are also a most sauorie and swéete sustenaunce vnto him Oh in how many running brookes Christalyne fountaines and swéete waters lying downe all along may hee quench his thyrste and with the hollowe of his hande in cléere and streming riuers Ah wicked and pinching care of worldlings for whose sustentation nature dooth require but little dooth prepare light things We thinke with the infinite number and sundrie sorts of delicate vyandes to fill the gourmandise of our bodies and to please our queasie appetites not perceyuing at all that in them there lie hidden the very causes by meanes of which the ordinate humors and good bloode are euer more corrupted then nourished And how many times in cuppes of gold and siluer richlie garnished with gemmes and precious stones in stéede of swéete and delicious wines doo wée daily heare that colde and swelling poysonnes are tasted and doo howerly sée that in hotte wines and compound drinckes licentious vnbrideled and wicked lust is drunke and throwen headlong down Whereupon commonly they fall by meanes of these into a superfluous securitie which by wicked wordes or damned déedes dooth bringe to them a miserable lyfe or dooth paye them home with a most contemptible death seeing moreouer by daily proofe that these kinds of vnkinde beuerages make the drinkers bodies in a great deale worser Poeticall conceites and more miserable case then starke madde The Satires Faunes Driades Naiades and the Nimphes kéepe him faithfull and simple company Hée dooth not knowe what Venus dooth meane nor cannot skyll of her byformed Sonne And if hée dooth perhappes knowe her hee perceiueth her beautie to bee but base and little amyable Nowe alas would it had pleased the Goddes that I had lykewise neuer knowen it and that kéeping simple and playne company I had lyued a rusticall and rude lyfe to my selfe all alone Then should these vncurable gréefs haue béene far from me which I now sustaine and my soule The pompe of the world like to the winde together with my most holy name should not haue cared nor desired to see these worldly pompes and feastes lyke to the flying windes and vanishing smoke in the ayre nor if it had séene them should haue béene so full of anguishe and sorrowe as now it is The desire of hygh and princely towers of rich and sumptuous houses of great families and costly traynes of fayre and delicate beddes of shining cloathes of golde and siluer of pampered proude and swifte horses and of a thousand other superfluities of nature dooth neuer disturbe his temperate minde nor clogges his heart with buderning and burning care to kéepe them Not accompanied nor sought after of wicked men he dooth without feare liue in quiet and sequestred places and without séeking doubtfull rest in high and stately lodginges dooth demaunde onely the open ayre and light for his repose And of the manner of his lyfe the wyde firmament is a manyfest and continuall witnesse Oh how much is this life nowe a dayes vnknowen and lyke an enemie escheued and contemned of euery one whereas it should be rather as the déerest and swéetest content followed and embraced of all Truely I suppose that the fyrst age of the world lyued in this sorte which péese-meale brought foorth Goddes and men There is no lyfe alas more frée nor more deuoyde of vyce or better then this the which our first fathers enioyed and with which also he is this
of my loouing heart and engrafted him false woman in thine And yet I knowe that it is so But with such content and so mayest thou looue and liue I wishe as thou hast made me to doo And if perhappes it be to hard for him to fall in looue the third time then let the Goddes deuide your looues no otherwise then they did dissolue the Grecian Ladies and the Iudges of Ida or as they did disseuer that of the young man of Abydas and of his vigillant and sorrowfull Heroe or as they did breake of those of the miserable Sonnes of Eolus bending their sharpe iudgement onelie against thée he himselfe remaining safe O naughty woman thou must néedes haue thought viewing wel his come lie face that hée was not without some Lady and loouinge Mistresse If thou dyddest therefore suppose this which I knowe thou diddest imagine with what minde diddest thou practise to take that away which appertained to an other with an enuious and fraudulent minde I am sure Wherefore I will as my mortall enemie and wrongfull occupier of my goodes pursue thée euermore and as long as I liue will nourishe and preserue my life with hope of thy shamefull and cruell death Maledictions of anen amoured woman The which I wishe may not be so common and naturall as to others it is but that tourned into a lumpe of massie leade or Ixions heauie stoane tyed about thy necke thou maiest bee cast into some déepe and darke caue amongest the middest of thy enemies murdering handes and that neyther fier or funerall be graunted to burne and burie thy torne and massacred members but béeing pulled in péeces and scattered abroad they may serue to glutte the hungrie mawes of howling dogges and rauenous woolues Which I pray after they haue deuoured thy softe and tender flesh may for thy naked bones fiercelie iarre and cruellie fight one with an other so that gréedelye gnawing and breaking them in péeces with their whetted téeth they may liuely represent thy wicked praie and thée delighted with thy gluttonous rapine which in thy detested life time thou diddest fowlie committe There shall not escape one day not one night no not one hower but my readie mouth shal be full of endlesse curses Sooner shall the Celestiall Beare plumpe downe into the Ocean and the raging waues of Sicilian Caribdis shal be quiet and the barking Dogges of Scylla shal holde their peace and ripe Corne shall growe in the waues of the Ionian sea and the darkest night in her chéefest obscuritie shall shine like Titan his beames and water with fire death with life and the Sea with windes shall sooner with breachlesse faith bée at turce and make concorde togeather before I will reconcile and establishe a péece with thée vile monster of woman kinde But rather whilest golden Ganges shal be hote and Istrus colde and while highe hilles shall beare sturdie Okes and the softe and watred medowes gréene grasse so long foule brothell will I bée at continuall warre and defiaunce with thée which neyther mortall hatred nor death shall determine but pursuing thée amongest the deade gostes and fiendes of Hell with all those tormentes that are vsed there I wyll continuallie plague and eternally punishe thy damned soule for thy condemned and hatefull déede But if perchaunce thou doost suruiue mée whatsoeuer the manner of my death shal be and wheresoeuer my miserable Ghost shall wander from thence perforce I will labour to take it and entring into thy lothsome bodie wyll make thée as madde as the Virgins after they had receiued Apollo Or else comming in thy sight broade wakinge thou shalt sée mée in a most horrible shape and in thy fearefull sléepe oftentymes will I awake The virgins that is the deuiners and afright thée in the vncomfortable silence of the darke night And bréefely in whatsoeuer thou goest about or doost I will continually be a horrible obiecte to thy wicked eyes and a griping corsiue to thy hellishe heart and then remembring this cruell iniurie I will not suffer thée to bée quiet in any place And so long as thou lyuest with such a hideous furie my selfe the onelie worker of it thou shalt be continually haunted And when thou arte deade I wyll minister occasions of more dirie stratagems vnto thy miserably ghost Alas poore wretched that I am to what end are my botlesse words prolonged I barke and threatē thou doost bite hurt me and enfolding my beloued Panphilus betwéene thy vnworthy armes doost care as much for my menacing and offensiue wordes as high and mightie kings for their inferiour and impotent vassailes and no more then conquering Captaines for their confounded captiues Alas would I had now Dedalus hys arte or Medeas Cotche because making wings by the one for my shoulders and being caryed in the ayre by the other I might sodainely alight there where thou doost basely hide and nestle thy selfe with thy stolen loone O how many thundering wordes and what threatning inuectiues with bended browes would I cast out against that false youth and against thée vniust robber of an others felicitie O with what villanous termes would I reprehend your detestable follies And after that I had amazed appaled and attainted your wicked faces with a shamefull blush with recitall of these vnshamefull faultes I would then without delay procéede to sharpe reuenge and taking thy haire false enchauntresse in my handes with pulling and renting them and drawing thée héere and there by thy tresses before thy perfidus loouer I would glutte my swelling anger and tearing thy garmentes from thy disgraced body with reprochfull tauntes I would triumphe ouer thée mall apart and wicked traytresse Nor this should not suffise mee to fulfill my due anger nor be halfe enough for thée to expiate thy odious crime but with sharpe nayles I would disfigure that painted visarde which so much pleased his false eyes leauing an eternall memoriall of their caracters and reuenge in it And thy miserable body with my gréedy téeth péece-meale I should shyuer leauing the which afterwardes vnto him that dooth nowe flatter thée to heale againe my selfe ioyfull for parte of so small vengeaunce would hie me home againe to my sorrowfull habitacles Whylest I spake these wordes with fyrie sparkeling eyes with closed téeth and with bended fist as though I had béene at the very action it selfe I remained a prettie while silent and me thought I had indéede played one Pagent of my gréedy reuenge But the olde Nurce with mournefull voyce lamenting sayde thus vnto mée O daughter since thou doost now know the furious tyrannie of this passion which thou callest thy God who dooth this molest thée temperate thy selfe and bridle thy pittious complaintes And if the due pittie which thou shouldest take of thy owne selfe dooth not mooue thée héereunto The care of her honour must warne euery wise woman frō vaine thoughts deedes let the regarde of thy honour perswade thée to it which for an olde
cleaued almost a sunder with vnspeakable gréefe and perceiuing my Louer to bee farre from mee like a desperate and franticke Womanne I beganne thus to say to my selfe Behold the very selfe and same occasion which Sidonian Eliza had to abandon this hatefull world cruell Panphilus hath giuen me And alas a great deale worse It pleaseth him that forsaking these I séeke out other regions And since I am become his subiect I will fulfill his hard beheste and pitty-les pleasure and in one howre I will requite my haplesse loue my committed wickednesse and my iniuried and déere husband with a tragicall and vnnaturall death And if oppressed soules deliuered out of thys corporall prysonne haue any liberty in the newe world I wyll without delay conioyne mine with hys And where my body cannot bee my soule shall supplye the place of it Beholde therefore I wyll die and so rydde me of all these paines I thinke it most conuenient that with these handes I execute this last stratageme vpon my selfe Because there can be no other hande so cruell that can perfectly performe that which iustly I haue deserued I wyll therefore without delay willingly take my death the remembraunce of which although it be terrible to my weake sexe and to my womanly thoughts yet shall it be as welcome vnto me as this painfull life is yrkesome vnto my soule And after that I had resolued vppon this last pretence I began to deuise with my selfe which was of a thousande wayes the best to take my life from me And first of all colde and sharpe yrons came to my minde the mortall meanes of many one hys vntimely death considering that the said Eliza by their cruelty did forsake thys cōmon ayre and then after these the deathes of Biblis and Amata were presented before mine eyes the manner of which was offered to mee to ende my weary life But more carefull of my honor and good name then chary of my selfe and fearing more the maner of dying then death it selfe the one séeming vnto me very infamous and the other too extreame cruell in the mouthes and mindes of euery one were occasions to make me refuse the one and not to like of the other Afterwards I imagined to doo as the Sagontines and as those of Abydas dyd the first fearing Hanniball of Carthage and the other Phillip of Macedon committing themselues and all theyr goods to the fury of consuming flames But knowing that thys coulde be no small detriment to my déere Husbande vnculpable and guiltlesse of my euils I refused also this kinde of death as I did the rest before After these I called to mind the venimous iuyces which héeretofore assigned to Socrates to Sophonisba to Hanniball and to many other Princes more their last daies And many of these indéede as they pleased my changable fancie so did I thinke them fitte for the purpose But perceiuing that in going about to séeke them no little time was requisite and doubting leaste by enquirie of them my drifts shoulde bee called in question and sifted out and that my determined purpose also in the meane while might perhaps haue béene altered I imagined to séeke out some other kinds of death Wherefore I bethought me as many times I had doone before to yéelde vppe my féeble spirits betwéene my knées but doubting least it should be known and suspecting some other impediment incident to it I passed to other headlong thoughts And the very same occasion and least I should be also séene made me forsake the burning and swalowed coales of Portia But the death of Ino and of Melicer ta likewise the hunger starued ende of Erisichthone occurring to my memory the long time that I should haue in executing the one and in staying for the other made me also to reiect them thinking that the paine of the laste did a greate while nourishe the languishing body But besides all these wayes the precipitate death of Perdix falling frō the highest Towre of Creete came also to my minde which spéedie kind of death onely pleased me infalliblie to followe as one deuoide of all insuing infamie saying to my selfe Casting my selfe downe from the highest Turrets of my Pallace I shall crush my boanes in a hundred péeces and dashe out my braines and by all those seuerall péeces will yéelde vppe my haplesse soule contaminated with prepared goare and ready broken vp to be offered vppe as a Sacrifice to the Gods And fewe or none there are that will imagine and say that by mine owne cruelty furie or proper will this death besell vnto me but imputing it rather to some vnlucky chaunce with powring out pittifull teares for mee will bewayle my vntimelie death and curse my froward Fortune This deliberation therefore tooke place in my mind and it liked me especiallie to put the same in practise thinking to haue vsed great pittie towards me if I had perhaps become pittilesse and cruell against mine owne selfe This determination therefore had now taken sure roote in my hart and I did not attend for any thing els but fitte time Wicked thoughts euer warre with good when a chillie cold suddainly entring into all my boanes made me tremble for very feare which brought these words with it saying O miserable Woman what dooest thou intende to doo Wylt thou ouercome with madde anger in a senceles rage fury cast thy selfe away If thou wert nowe constrained to die of some gréeuous infirmitie wouldest not thou alas endeuour and séeke to liue because at the length thou mightest sée thy Panphilus once more before thy death Dost not thou thinke that when thou art deade thou shall neuer sée him againe and that no kinde of pittie that hee may vse in thy behalfe may helpe thée any thing at all For what did the slacke returne of Demophoon profitte vnpatient and strangled Phillis She florishing without any delighte felt his comming which if she could haue staied for he might haue found her still a Woman as he left her and not a Trée Liue therfore Fiammetta for he will yet for all this returning as a fréende or as an enemie at length come to thée againe And with what disposed minde soeuer he returne thou canst not choose but loue him still And perhaps thou shalt sée him talk with him and mooue his vnconstant and harde harte to compassion of thy woefull plightes Hee is not made of sturdye Oake nor of Flinty stone nor borne bredde nor nourished in a hollow Caue amongst wylde Beastes and did neuer sucke the milke of Tygres nor drinke any other sauage and cruell beastes blood neither is his hart made of Diamonde or of stéele and is not of so brutishe and rusticall inclination but that he will lend his eares and bende his hart to my pittifull plaints passions and perswasions and take some remorse of coequall commiseration of my sustained sorrowes But if he will not be ouercome with pittie then wearyed of thy lothsome life it shall be more lawfull for
thée driuen on on by manifest dispayre to kill thy selfe Thou hast passed away more then one whole yéere without him a pensiue and painefull life and wel maiest thou yet though with redoubted gréefe rubbe out an other Death dooth not fayle at anie time Any may haue death whensoeuer they will whensoeuer one dooth eyther desire or procure it which will be then as prest and more ready to come then nowe he is And thou maiest then depart with hope bee he neuer so malicious and cruell that béeing at thy present and haplesse death he will shedde some teares Recall therefore againe thy ouer rashe and cruell aduise Because whosoeuer hasteneth too much to wicked counsell Who hasteneth to wicked coūsell studieth to repent at leysure studyeth afterwardes to repent himselfe by leysure And this last parte of thy tragicall life which thou doost meane to play is not a thing that may afterwards be amended with vaine repentance which if it did follow could not with all the force it had recall it backe againe My mind béeing thus mollified with these arguments with a suddain altered purpose and inopinate aduise I kept a long time in an equall poyse of moderate reason But dreadfull Megera launcing it with sharpe and mortall woundes of gréefe disturbed by setled sences and dystourned my willing minde from following this good motion and egged me on to prosecute and to practise my first vnnaturall and cruell resolution which now I thought priuily and earnestly to bring to effect Wherefore to cloake it I alwayes shewed mine olde Nurce a merry countenaunce and did finely counterfette my sadde chéere with some pleasant kind of comfortable spéeches to whom because I would haue had her gone out of the Chamber I sayd Behold good Mother how I haue planted thy most true reasons graue coūsels with great profit in my breast but because this blind furie may depart out of my foolish mind withdraw thy selfe from hence a while leaue me to my rest that am nowe verie desirous to sléepe But shée béeing as full of subtiltie as my selfe and as one that did diuine of my secrete intent cōmended much the minde I had to sléepe and as shee was cōmanded went a little way from me into a dark corner hard by but would by no meanes goe out of the Chamber But because I woulde not giue her any occasion to suspect that which I went about cléene contrary to my minde and desire I séemed to like well of her staying still thinking that after she had séene mée sléepe shée woulde haue gone away With quiet rest therefore I fayned this imagined deceite in the which although nothing appeared outwardly yet thinking of that howre which should haue béene my last in this pleasing world full of bitter anguish and enuironed rounde about with legions of stinging gréefes I muttered forth these words to my selfe saying O miserable Fiammetta and of all Women that liue in this world the most miserable behold thy Glasse is nowe runne thy latest day howre and last periode is come And after that from the highest place of thy Pallace thou shalte haue throwne thy selfe headlong downe and that thy soule shall haue forsaken thy brused bodie then let thy teares bee dryed vp let thy sighes then surcease and thy sorrowes and desires be determined and then in one howre with the déere price of thy spilled blood with the raunsome of thy pale death thou shalt redéeme thy selfe from the bonds and captiuitie of loue And then shalt thou cancell the verball Obligation of Panphilus his promised and vnperformed faith Thys day thou shalt haue the deserued embracings of him This day the Millitary Ensignes of loue shall couer thy body wyth a dishonest and vnséemely torture This day thy wearyed spirits shall sée him This day thou shalt know for whom thou hast forsaken thy selfe This day of force thou shalt make him pittifull This day thou shalt beginne the vengeance of the yong and wicked Sorceresse and thy malitious copartner But Oh yée Goddes if any pittie doth harbour in your diuine breasts be fauourable to me in these my last prayers Suffer not my death and the memory of my life to passe amongst the rude populare with blotte of dishonor stayne of infamie And if in taking the same there bee any faulte committed behold there is a present satis-faction since that I die with feare to publish the occasion thereof The reuealing of which shoulde be certes no small comfort vnto mee if I beléeued that in talking of it it might escape without ignominious blame Make my déere Husbande also ye sacred Goddes suffer it with patience whose true loue if I had duely obserued and had rightly performed Iunos holy lawes I might haue yet liued a happye and merry Woman without troubling your diuine Godheads with these earnest prayers But like an ignoraunt Woman of my thrise happy estate and as others of my condition are wont to doo following euer the worst womē take euer the worst in hand and forsaking the best am nowe woorthely appaide with this vnfortunate and due recompence O fatall Atropos by thy infallible blowe to all the world I humbly pray thée that thou wouldest with thy power guide my falling body and dissolue my soule not with too great paine from the thredde of thy Sister Lachesis And thée O Minos receiuer of it by that loue that somtimes burned thée and by this blood which now I offer vnto thée euen by the same by what els may mooue thée infernall Iudge I obtest thée fauourably to conduct it to the places appointed by thy iust iudgment for it and that so cruell and sharpe torments be not prepared for it as to déeme and repute the infinite paines that it hath already passed but light in respect of them to come After I had spoken these wordes to my selfe incensed Tesiphon appeared before mine eyes and with a sencelesse murmure and contracted and menacing forehead made me afraide of a worser life to ensue then that which was alreadie past but afterwards with a kind of confused spéeche saying That nothing which was neuer tryed could be hurtful inflamed my troubled mind with a more eager desire of my owne ruine Wherfore perceiuing that my olde Nurce was not yet gone and doubting least her long tarying might not marre my matters béeing nowe resolued to die or that some other accident might not take it quite away with displayed armes vpon my bed and embracing it I said O bedde farewell praying the Gods that thou maist bee more fortunate and gracious to thy next Mistresse whom thou shalt receiue then thou hast béene to me After which words my eies rolling about the chamber the which I neuer thought to haue séene any more surprised nowe with suddaine griefe I was depriued of the light of the Heauens and groueling vp and downe surseysed I know not with what a shiuering and trembling feare thorow out all my body I would haue rysen vppe
but euery part of the same ouercome with quaking feare did not suffer me but I fell suddainly downe againe not once but thrise vpon my face in which occurrant I felt a fierce warre betwéene my angry soule and my timorous and vitall spirits which by maine force did kéepe it still that faine would haue flowen away But my soule at last ouercomming them and driuing away colde feare from me suddainly kindled me with a hote and burning dollour and so I recouered my wandred forces againe And yet my face morphewed with the pale colour of death I violently rose vppe and as the sturdy Bull hauing receiued some mortal pricke fiercely runneth vppe and downe beating and tormenting him selfe euen so hellish Tesiphon gadding madly vp and downe before myne eyes made me like a frantick and mad Woman and not knowing mine owne fancies cast my selfe from the bedde vpon the grounde and ledde by this infernal féende I did runne towards the stayres that went vp to the highest part of the house And hauing in a trice leaped out of the Chamber with most extreame lamentations and carelesse lookes viewing euery part of the house at last wyth a hollow and féeble voice I sayd O most vnluckie lodging vnto me remaine thou héere for euer and make my fall manifest to my Louer if euer hee returne againe And thou Oh déere Husbande comfort thy selfe and from hence forwarde séeke out a newe wyfe but a more wyse louing and more loyall mate thē Fiammetta hath béene vnto thée O my déere Sisters Parents and all the reste of my other companions and fréendes wyth all ye my faithfull Seruaunts lyue yée héere styll with all the fauoure that the Goddes may affoord you The goodnes of God oftentimes doth not suffer wicked determinations to come to effect Thus like a madde Woman with sorrowfull words I did hasten to my wicked ende But the olde Nurce as one by some suddaine feare awaked out of a slumber careleslye leauing of her worke at the whéele greatly amazed at the sight of this spectacle lifted vppe her aged body and crying as loude as euer she could made poste haste to followe mee who with a horce voyce and scarcely vnderstoode of me said O daughter whether doost thou run what madde fury dooth driue thée forwarde Is this the fruite that my wordes as thou saydst by the receiued comfort of them did put in thy breast Whether goest thou Tarry for me alas Afterwardes with a lowder voyce she yet exclaimed O yée yong menne and seruaunts of the house come come quickly take away this fonde Woman and kéepe her backe from her furious actions and desperate intent Her vociferations were of no force and their hast lesse spéedie And me thought I had Mercury his winges fastened to my shoulders and that swifter then Atlanta nay then any wynde I did flye to my violent death But of vnexpected chaunces appending as well to good as to wicked purposes one alas was an occasion to make me still enioy this lothsome life Because my long garments wauing and blowne abroade with the force of my hasty flight and fréendly enemies to my furious pretence my selfe also not able to refraine my course were fastened I know not howe to a shyuered poste by the wall as I was running and interrupted my swift passage which for all the striuing and pulling that I could doo did not suffer me to leaue any péece of them behinde me Wherefore whilst I was labouring to vndoo them the sorrowful Nurce breathlesse and panting came vppon me to whom I remēber with taynted chéekes full of burning anger and with outragious outcryes I said O miserable olde woman pack from hence in an euill howre if thy life bee déere vnto thée Thinking to helpe me thou doost hinder me in not permitting me to execute this last mortall duety resolued therevnto and spurred on with an eager desire to cut in sunder the webbe of all my woes Because whosoeuer dooth let one from dying that is disposed desirous and resolued to die Who doth hinder one that is disposed to die he himselfe doth kill him doth no lesse then kill him himselfe Wherfore thou art now become my homicide thinking to deliuer me from death and like the greatest enemy to my quiet rest doost endeuour with thy thanklesse office to prolong my sorrowes My tongue exclaimed and my hart burned wyth ire and yet thinking to haue loosed my garments in hast I dyd entangle and fasten them more and more which as soone as I had founde out the way to vndoo I was immediatly helde and staied by the noise of the clamorous Nurce so that by her féeble forces and hanging vpon me I was greatly disturbed of my purpose But vnwynding my selfe at last out of her handes her strength had profited her nothing at all if the yong Seruants and Women at her continuall exclamations had not come running from euery part of the house and force perforce had not stayed me Out of whose handes with much strugling and diuers frisks and with greater forces also the desire of death adding strength to my mighty wyll I thought to haue vngrappled my selfe but breathles at the last and ouercome by them I was carryed backe againe to my Chamber which once I thought neuer to haue séene againe How many times alas with lamentable and bitter spéeches did I chyde them saying O vile and base Seruants what boldnes is this that makes you so mallepart and what precipitate presumption is this that mooues you so rudely and so roughly to handle her whom you should reuerence and contrary to your duety thus violently to lay hands and grype your Mistresse to whom you should be most obsequious and of whose welfare you should be most carefull and at whose will and pleasure you should be most dilligent and ready What kind of furie madde wretches hath enspyred you to this rash dealings And thou wicked Nurce the cruell example and meane of all my miserable gréefes yet to come why hast thou repugned my last desseignes Why dooest not thou knowe that in procuringe and helping forwarde my death thou haddest doone me a greater pleasure and a better turne then in with-holding me from it Wherefore let this miserable part be playd and let the ende of my tragical life be duely accomplished by me and if thou louest me as I thinke thou dooest leaue mee to mine owne wyll leaue me I say to mine owne selfe to represent the last pagiaunt of my dolefull life And if thou art so pittifull and carefull ouer me as thou shewest employe thy piety and studie in sauing my doubtful fame and honor which after my death shal stil suruiue Because in this péece of simple seruice with which thou doost nowe hinder me thy practise payne and néedelesse labour shall proue at length but vaine For doost thou thinke to take from me those sharp tooles and cruell poynados wyth which I will at last broche this miserable hart of myne and
in whose poynts and edges consisteth the onely hope of my desires Or els strangling cordes lothsome and swelling poysons mortiferous hearbs choaking ryuers burning coales and consuming flames What doth this vigilant care auaile thée anie more but to prolong a little this yrkesome life and to reserue it to that kinde of death which euen nowe without touch or staine of infamie might haue set peace to my afflicted soule which by thy pittilesse interruptions deferred thou shalt doubtlesse at one time or other make most infamous vnto al the worlde and moste shamefull vnto mee Because death is in euerye place and consisteth in euery thing Let me therefore nowe die least growing to a more gréeuous condition of life with a more inhumaine minde and cruell hand I prepare for my selfe the most miserable and cruell death that may be Whylst wretched Womanne I spake these wordes I coulde not keepe my handes styll but sometimes fallinge on one Seruaunt and sometimes on an other catching some by theyr locks I pulled the heayre from theyr heade and fastening my nayles in the faces of other some I made the bloode to spynne out of theyr cheekes tearynge from othersome their poore garments from theyr backs But alas neither the olde Nurce nor the mangled seruauntes aunswered me one word againe but lamenting my sencelesse actions executed their pittious functions towardes me whom then with gentle wordes and entreties I endeuoured to gaine to my will which serued my turne nothing at all Wherefore lyke a franticke Hecuba making a great noyse and with outragious spéeches I beganne to exclaime saying O wicked handes and prone to al mischéefe you the adorners of my hurtfull beauties were a great occasion to make me become such an one as to séeme so fayre and pleasing in his eyes that I was desired of him whome I looue most of all Since therefore these euilles haue spronge by your helpe in guerdon of this vse now your wicked crueltie vpon my accursed body Rent it in péeces and open it and diued in my hotte blood pull out from my accursed bodie my miserable heart and inexpugnable soule Teare out I say this false hart wounded with blind looue And since that all meanes of mortall and murdering instrumentes are taken from thée with these reuenging fingers the adorners of my banefull beauties and with these sharpe nayles péece-meale dismember and without remorce of pittie rent it out Alas that my bootelesse spéeches did menace and promise me desired euilles and commended them to the execution of willing handes but the vigilant care of the prying seruantes béeing alwaies ready to the hinderaunce of them withhelde them against my will And the mournefull and importunate Nurce with dolefull speeches after all this beganne thus to say Affectionate comforts O déerest daughter by these miserable breasts which were the scources of thy alimentes I humbly pray thée that with a quiet and appeased minde thou wouldest giue eare to my wordes By them I will labour to mittigate thy passions that thou shalt not sorrow any more or to driue quite away perhapes from thée the blinde anger that dooth incend thée to this kinde of furie or else with a more remisse and calme minde to make thée suffer the same or else spéedely to forsake it Wishing thée to reduce that to thy erred memory that shall reuiue thée and be no smal health and great honour vnto thée It is therefore expedient for thée good Ladie most famous for so rare vertues as thou art endued with al the gifts of nature and fortune not to be subiect to pinching sorrow nor as a woman ouer-come to turne thy backe from daring dollours from threatning mishappes and from persuinge woes It is not a poynt of vertue to require death and to call vpon it nor a parte of magnanimitie to be afraide of life It is not vertue to desire death and to be afraid of life as thou art but rather to countermaund pressing euilles and to flie away before them is not the part of couragious and resolute mindes Whosoeuer dooth abate his destinies and dooth contemne deuide and cast from him the profittes pleasures contentes and goodes of his life as thou hast don I knowe not what néede he hath to séeke death and cannot tell why he feareth life since that the one and the other is a will of a timerous persō Now if into the darke dungeon of extreame misery thou doost desire wil-fully to cast thy selfe séeke not death because this is the last expeller and extinguisher of it Let this foolish fury fly out of thy mind by the which mée thinketh thou doost séeke both to haue and to lose thy loouer Why doost thou beléeue by béeing dissolued into nothing to get him againe To whom I aunswered not a word But there was such a rumour spread thorow out the wide house thorow out the Cittie and country rounde about that all my seruauntes no otherwise then at the howling of some hungrie woolfe all the néerest inhabitauntes are woont to méete together came running to me from euerie place and all of them afrighted with sodaine sorrow demanded what the matter was But I had already forbidden them that knew it to tell any thing at all Wherefore couering the horrible accident with a cunning lie they rested all satisfied My déere husband made hast thether and my louing sisters my carefull parents and fréends with panting fainting breasts came running to me And euery one of them equally deluded with a false tale did instéed of a most wicked woman repute and praise me for a holy Saint And euerie one after much wéeping first reprooued my life punished with so much sorrowe labouring afterwards to comfort me vp againe But from thence foorth it fell out that some beléeued that I was haunted and stinged with some fury and therefore like a madde woman continually watched mee But some more pittifull then the rest marking my mildnes and iudging it as it was indéede but a certaine gréefe of minde with taking great compassion of me laughed at that which the rest both dyd and sayd And visited thus of many I remained euery day more amazed then other And vnder the discrete garde of the sage Nource I was closely kept And as there is no anger so burning or so extreame All anger with time is brought to nothing but by course of time is made colde againe So remaining certaine dayes in this case as I haue set downe I came to my selfe at last againe and did manifestly know the Nurces wordes to be true And with bitter teares therefore I bewailed my passed follies But yet although that the heate of my rage in time was spent and became nothing my looue neuertheles did not one whitte decrease but taried with me still by reason of the melancholie vsed in other accidents before which now continually I had taking it gréeuously at the hart to be forsaken for the vniust looue of an other woman Wherefore I conferred with
that mooueth thée from telling it but onelye that which I feare will prooue ominous vnto mee Conceale it no longer but declare it whilst I am attending for worse What tell me at a worde liueth my Panphilus She pricked on by my angrie wordes and threatnings with a lowe voice and looking downe to the grounde saide Hee lyueth Then said I againe wherefore doost thou not tell me quicklie What enuious accidents stay him from cōming hether Why doost thou hold me in suspence and wauering amidst a thousand fearefull surmises Is he sicke with any malladie Or what froward occasion doth with-holde him that beeing come out of the Gally he doth not come to sée me Then shée said I knowe not whether want of health or any other mischaunce doth detaine him Then said I againe hast thou not séene him or is he not yet come I haue séene him sayd she and he is come but not the same whom we did expect Howe art thou sure said I that he is not my Panphilus Hast thou séene him at any other time and didst thou nowe behold and marke him well Truelie said she I did neuer sée him that I wote of but béeing euen nowe broughte vnto him by that yong Gentleman who tolde me the first newes of hys returne and telling him that I had oftentimes enquired for him he asked me what I would with him His health and welfare said I. And I demaunding of him how his old Father did and in what estate the rest of his thinges stood and what was the cause of his long staying since his departure he answered that he neuer knewe his Father and that hée was a posthumus borne Posthumus is he that is borne after his Fathers death and that all his thinges were in good plight and that he had neuer béene héere before and did meane to stay héere but a small time These thinges made me to wonder and doubting least I was deceiued I asked him his name which curteously and plainly he tolde me and I no sooner hearde it but immediatly I perceiued by the identity and likenes of it with the name of thy beloued Panphilus both thée and my selfe to be greatly deceiued When I hearde these thinges most pittifull Ladyes mine eyes forsooke their lights euery sensitiue spirit for feare of death Effectes of a suddaine passion went their wayes and falling downe in the place where I satte there remained no more force in my body then was scarce able to breathe forth one poore alas Which when the miserable olde Woman perceiued lamenting greatly and calling the rest of my Women about mee caryed mee like a dead woman to my bedde and there labouring to reduce my wandering spirits with colde water beléeuing a great while together to recouer life and yet misdoubting al so the same they watched me with diligent care But after that my forsaken forces came to me againe and after I had powred foorth many teares and sighes I asked the sorrowfull Nurce an other time if it were so as she had sayd And besides this remembring with my selfe howe warye and discrete Panphilus was wont to bee and suspecting that hee had wisely and of purpose made himselfe vnknowne to the Nurce with whom he had neuer talked in his life before I wylled that she should describe vnto me the countenaunce the feyture the gesture the personage and the fashions of that Panphilus with whom she had talked But shee affyrming first with an oath that it was no lesse and no otherwyse then she had tolde me declared to mee afterwardes in order his stature the lineaments of his body face and last of all the manner of his apparrell All which alas made mee gyue too great faith to that which the olde woman told me Wherefore thruste of from all hope I reentred into my former woes and rysing vppe like a franticke Woman I pulled of my sumptuous garments of ioy and layd aside my once déere but now vnpleasant ornaments and my friseled shyning hayre with an enuious Hecuba hand I tore out of order and did carelesly ruffle them together and despysing all comfort I beganne most bitterly to complaine of my incessant and miserable mishaps and with cruell wordes to condemne my failed hope and to blame the good thoughts and like concealed opinions of my vntrue and wycked Louer And in bréefe I returned wholy to my olde life of myseries and hadde a more earnest and feruent desire of death then before which I had not escaped Hope doth still keepe one in life as yet I haue but that the hope of my intended voyage with no little force with-helde me from performaunce of it The ende of the sixt booke ⧠The seuenth Booke of Maister Iohn Boccace hys Fiammetta IN this kinde of lyfe therefore most pittifull Ladies I haue remained as by the recounted and passed accidents you may geather And by how much my vngratefull Lord dooth sée my hope fly from me by so much the more dooth he worke stranger effects in me then he was wont to doo and blowing with more hot desires the glowing coles of looue in my smothered breast dooth make them greater then before which as on the one side they doo mightilie encrease so are my paines and sorrows on the other by like proportion augmented Which neuer béeing with due oyntment asswaged of me are by my own will and follies made more gréeuous and insupportable And béeing more sharpe doo more afflicte my sorrowfull and woefull minde And I doubt not but following theyr headlong course they will at length with some honest meane open mee the way of death which heretofore I haue so long and vnfainedly desired But yet hauing my assured hope as I haue alreadie sayd in my pretended voyage to finde and sée him ah that vngratefull Panphilus I meane who is the originall of all this I did not séeke to mittigate them but was rather now resolued as wel as I could constantly to endure them For performaunce of which I found out one onely possible way amongst many others To resemble ones paine with an others greefes is a lightning of sorrowe which was to compare and measure my paines with theirs who had likewise passed suche bruntes as my selfe fighting vnder the amorous ensignes and in the dollorous battayles of looue Wherof I thinke to reape a double commodity First in knowing my selfe not the first nor to be alone afflicted with misery as not long since my Nurce in her alleaged comfortes told me Secondly that euery gréefe payne and pange of their looue being in my iudgement sufficiently recompenced I determined and resolued with my selfe to passe away euer after with my former euery other gréefe whatsoeuer which I recken no little glory to me when I may say that I am onely she that liuing hath sustained more gréefe and misery then any other woman And with this kinde of glorie forsaken yet of euery one as extreame misery indéede and of my selfe alas if I could
admirable Cittie the cruell death of so Princly a Husbande of so many renowned sons and most faire daughters to sée the destruction of so manie magnanimious Nephewes valiant Cosins and Allyes the rapine of so great riches the hauocke of infinite treasure the spoyle of so manie Virgins the rauishment of wiues and of all sorts of Women the extinction of such excellencie the losse of so many Kinges hewed and slaine right downe such blodie massacres and pittiful stratagemes of the dismayed and betrayed Troyans the impietie perpetrated in the Temples polluted battered and made plaine with the ground and the indignitie and irreuerence doone to their dishonoured chased Goddes And séeing her selfe to be olde and sorrowfully recalling to her wounded minde what mighty Hector was what valiant Troylus what doughtie Deiphobus what her yongest darling Polydore and the shyning vertues of manie noble men more and howe vnfortunatlie shee sawe them all die remembring also howe the generous bloode of her late mighty and maiesticall Husbande was cruelly shed in her own lappe before the holie Aulters and how she saw fatall Troy whilome reared vppe to the skyes with stately Towres famous for magnificent buildings full of princely Pallaces and very populous with noble and worthy Cittizens consumed with deuouring flames and wholy rased frō the earth And besides all this the pittifull sacrifice of her fayre Daughter Polyxena offered vppe by vnpittifull Pyrrhus to the shadow of Achilles Oh with what excessiue greefe and anguish of minde must we néedes thinke that shee behelde all these thinges But short was the sorrowe which her olde and féeble minde not able to endure the same wandering out of her right course made her madde as her barking complaints amiddes the fieldes and woods did plainely shew But I with a more firme and perfect memory then is néedefull for such woes to my great gréefe doo continually remaine in my sorrowfull and sound witts and doo discerne more and more the preposterous occasions of my present woes and of my future sorrowes Because my manyfolde harmes enduring longer then hers I thinke them be they neuer so light to be more gréeuous as I haue many times said then the greatest and most sensible paines which is ended in a short time Sophonisba equally participating the aduersities in her Widdowhoode Sophonisba and the ioy of her mariage in one selfe same moment almost of time iocande and sad an honorable and glad spouse and a poore prisoner inuested and despoyled of a Kingdome and finally in these shorte alterations of tottering Fortune drinking her fatall poyson full of anguishe and deadly gréefe appeareth next vnto my thoughts Behold her sometimes a most high and famous Quéene of the Numidians afterwards the martiall affayres of her Parents and fréends hauing but an aduerse and lucklesse issue her Husbande Siphax taken from her and become prisoner to Massinissa King of Marsilia warring vnder the Romaine Ensignes and her selfe in one howre depriued of her Kingdome and prysoner also in the mids of her enemies Campe Massinissa afterwardes making her his wife and she restored to the same againe O with what despight gréefe and bitter anguishe of mind doo I beléeue that shee sawe these thinges succéede abruptlie one after another Nor yet secure of her voluble and flattering Fortune with howe heauy a hart did shee celebrate her newe espousalles which gréefes and extreame myseries with a tragicall ende at last and with a stout enterprise she did fully finish Because not one naturall day after the nuptiall rytes béeing yet spent and scarcely thinking with her selfe that she remained in the regiment and that she did beare the former sway of Scepter and warring thus within her selfe and thinking of the newe loue of Massinissa not framed well to her minde the olde loue of Siphax béeing not yet extinct with no trembling hart but wyth a bolde hande receiued the mortiferous poysonne which her newe Husbande sent her by her owne Seruaunt the fearfull messenger of her vntimely death and with certaine dispitifull and premised spéeches without any signe and token of feare in her resolute face druncke of the same immediatly after yéelding vppe her ghost O how bitter may one imagine that her life was if she had had any longer time to meditate and think of her death that did followe Who therefore is not to be placed but amongst those Women To think of greefe maketh it greater who haue béene but meanely and not much afflicted with sorow considering that her spéedy death did preuent her beginning woes where as mine haue continued with me a long time together and yet doo accompanye me against my wyll and are sworne to remaine styll wyth me to make themselues more mighty thereby with their vnited forces to infest more their vsurped habitation After her doleful Cornelia oppressed with infinit sorrow was obiected to my musing thoughts Cornelia whō smiling Fortune had exalted so high to make her the first wife of Crassus and afterwards great Pompey his spouse whose worthy valor had almost gotten him the chiefest principality in Rome attayned to the sole gouernmēt of all the Empire annexed vnto it Who notwithstanding-after that frowning Fortune changed her copie in maner of a fugitiue fled miserably out of Rome and afterwards out of all Italy her selfe also with her husbande béeing fiercely pursued of conquering Caesar And leauing her in Lesboe after many turmoyles of inconstant fortune ouercomming his puissaunt competitour in Thessaly by whose discomfiture and ouerthrowe hee recouered hys force and might againe which not long since by his valiaunt enemy was greatly abated And besides all this with hope to reintegrate and to renue his power in the conquered East floting vpon the surging Seas and arriued in the kingdoms of Egypt offering himselfe voluntarily to the defence and trusty tuition of yong King Ptolomie béeing there cruelly doone to death she sawe his embrued and headlesse troncke tossed and beaten vpp and downe the raging waues Which things if euery one by it selfe or altogether be duely considered we must néedes say that without al compare they afflicted most gréeuously her dying soule But the sounde and comfortable counsell of the sage Vtique Cato and the lost hope in these instabillities of Fortune to regaine her Pompey againe in a little time mittigated nay rather adnihilated her former sorrowes wheras I styll nourished with vaine hope not able by any counsell or comfort to driue away the same but by the simple aduise of my olde Nurce equally knowing of my sorrowes from the beginning in whose hart I knewe good will more ryfe then wysedome rype in her heade because beleeuing oftentimes to remedy my gréefe shee hath redoubled them doo euermore remain liue cōsuming my selfe in bitter plaints and confoūded in a thousand doubts and anxieties of minde There are also many Cleopatra who I think doo beléeue that Cleopatra Quéene of Egypt did suffer intollerable gréefe and that her paines
stratagems The sorrowfull teares of Licurgus I meane with the mortall exequies honoured of the seauen kinges and infinite sportes and spectacles made by them in solemnization of that glorious funerall and those of Atalanta made notable and beutified also with the laudable life and victorious death of her young Sonne But I haue not any thing nor any such cause to make my teares scarce well employed much lesse excellent and my selfe content because if it were so wheras I now estéeme my selfe more dolefull and vnfortunate then any other perhappes I should be perswaded to auerre the contrary Vilisses The long trauelles of Vlisses his mortall and imminent perrilles his wandering and weary perigrinations and all his déedes whatsoeuer are next of all shewed vnto mée who neuer tasted them but seasoned with most bitter and extreame anguishe of minde and redoubled many times in my imaginations they make me thinke mine to be farre greater and much more gréeuous and harken why Because first and principally he was a manner and therefore of nature more strong and better able to endure them then I being a tender and young woman and he béeing moreouer continuallie armed with a stoute couragious and feirce mynde and beaten to dailie daungers as one rypened amongest them when hee trauailed and turmoyled dyd séeme to haue but his ordinary repose nay his greatest ease and pleasure in them But I béeing continually in my Chamber and tenderlie serued with daintie and delicate thinges passing my times awaie in pleasures and dailie accustomod to dalliances of wanton looue euery little payne and feare thereof is most gréeuous vnto me He driuen and pricked on by Neptune and transported into diuers partes the of world and of Aeolus likewise receyued his troubles But with careful looue I am infected and with such a lord infested that troubled and conquered them that molested and tossed Vlisses And if daungerous casualties and daylie feares dyd séeme to threaten him of his proper accorde hée wandered continually in séeking of them out And who can with iust cause complaine or be agréeued for finding of that which he dooth so earnestly séeke for None can be sorrowfull for finding that they seeke But I séely wretche would faine liue in quiet if I could and would willingly fly from woes and gréefes if that so rigorously they dyd not rushe vpon me and if I were not my selfe so forcibly driuen vpon them Besides this he was not afrayd of death and therefore without feare did commit him selfe to her force and might But I liue in continuall dreade of it though compelled by extreame sorrowe I haue sometime not without feare of greater gréefe runne willingly vnto it He also by his long trauelles and ieopardies of Fortune dyd hope to get eternal glorie and neuer dying fame But I am afrayd of my escandilized name and infamous memory hereafter if it shoulde come to passe that these secrete looues should at any tyme come to lyght So that now his paynes are not greater and more then myne but are rather in number and quallitie farre lesse then mine and by so much the more as they are fabulated to be greater then euer they were indéede But mine alas are to true so many and more greater then I am able my selfe to recounte But after all these I sée me thinkes the sorrowes sobbes and heauie sighes the infinite woes and pittious plaints that Hipsiphile Medea and Oenone had and the pittifull teares of Ariadne which were more copious then all the rest all which I iudge most like vnto mine Because euery one of these lyke my selfe deceiued of their loouers watred the ground with teares cléeued the heauens with cōtinuall sighes sustained without any frute or hope of future content most bitter tormentes of mynde And admit as it is graunted that these dolours were cast vpon thē by their vngrateful loouers and by theyr iniurious and vndeserued ingratitude yet with iust reuenge of their wronges doone vnto them they sawe the ende of theyr teares which comfortes although I wishe it not my sorrowes also haue not Hipsiphile Hipsiphile admitte that she had greatly honoured Iason and had by due desertes obliged him vnto her perceiuing him to be taken away of Medea had with as great reason as my selfe iust occasion of complaint and sorrowe But such was the prouidence of the Goddes that with righteous eyes beholding euery thing but onely my harmes they restored to her a great portion of her desired ioye because she sawe Medea who had taked away Iason from her Iason forsaking Medea for the looue of Creusa quit dispossessed of her once enioyed praye Certes I doo not say that my gréefe should finishe if I should sée the same befall to her who hath deceiued me of my Panphilus vnlesse I were that she that should alure him from her againe but will francklie confesse that a great parte of my sorrow would for a time cease Medea dyd also reioyce for reuenge Medea that she had although she was no lesse cruell towardes her selfe then malicious against her vngratefull loouer in killing their common children in his owne presence and consuming the royall pallaces of king Creon and the new Lady with merciles flames Oenone also sorrowing along time in fine knewe Oenon that her disloyall loouer suffered due punishment for breaking and corrupting the sacred lawes of looue and sawe his countrie for the wicked rape and exchaung of her selfe for his newe adultersse miserably wasted and his owne Cittie sometimes the seate of demie Goddes and semy Goddesses but now an vncouth habitacle and a poore village of Sheppard swaines ouerthrowen razed cleane from the ground But truely I loue my gréefs a great deale more thē I wold eyther with tongue or hart wishe so sharpe a reuenge of my wrongfull Panphilus Ariadne also being Bacchus his wife Ariadne saw from heauen furious Phedra who was the cause that Theseus abandoning her and leauing her desolate in the Iland being newly enamoured of Phedra miserably bewitched with the incestuous looue of Hippolitus her husbande his sonne So that euery thing duely scanned I finde my selfe amongest the number of miserable and desastrous women to be tormented with more woes gréefes and with greater sorrowe then any of the rest and to haue the sole principallitie and onely name of all other distressed women whatsoeuer And I can doo no more But if perhappes good Ladies you accompt my framed arguments but friuolus assertions and repute all these former examples but weake proofes as forged in the simple conceite of an appassionated woman if you imagine them because procéeding from a blinde mind to be but blind also and of no conclusion estéeming the teres sighes and sorrowes of others more extreame then mine and thinking them to be more vnfortunate then my selfe let this onely and last proposition therefore supplie the defecte if any there be of all the rest before If he that beareth enuie is more miserable and