you in remembrance of all he hath done for you that so it may never out of your memory Give me then leave to entertain you with a slight account of his Life and so let you know after what manner you ought to bewail your Deliverer I need say nothing to you of his illustrious birth you know it as well as I do nor shall I trouble you with any celebrations of the virtue of his Ancestors for his own having exceeded theirs it were unjust to derive his praise from the Virtues of another But I beseech you Romans forget not that tedious captivity of Brutus 's Reason which is the cause of your present freedom and that Rome shall never again be a slave to the Tyrant's Will Remember how that he devoted his whole life to work out your safety that as soon as that favourable conjuncture of time which he had expected for so many years was come he employed all his understanding and all his courage in order to your liberty and without minding either his Fortune or his Life all his endeavours have been only to make you happy to revenge the virtuous Lucretia to punish the infamous Sextus and to knock off those ignominious Fetters of Slavery that we had groaned under for so long time He hath knocked them off Romans and you ought eternally to look on him as your Deliverer and have for him the same respect as you have for the illustrious Founder of Rome Besides you are not only obliged to him for all he hath done to turn Tarquin out of the Throne he had usurped all that by his prudence he hath done to unite you since the Tyrant hath ceased to be your Master all he hath done in the assault of the enemie's Camp where he expressed his valour after so glorious a manner what he did when he wounded the infamous Sextus the great actions he was seen to do when he forced that dangerous narrow passage which hindred us from being able to force Tarquin to a Battel and lastly what he hath done since in the head of our Forces and in the sight of both Armies when he killed one of the most valiant Princes in the world but you are further obliged to him for all we have done to gain the victory after his death since we are only feeble imitators of his Virtue Nay Rome it self is obliged to him for all the greatness and all the glory which I foresee she will arrive to hereafter and as long as there shall be Romans there will be ungrateful men if they have not such a veneration for Brutus as in some sort comes near that which they have for the immortal gods In a word that prodigious voice that hath declared us Conquerors is an infallible presage to us of the interest he hath with the gods Let us therefore bewail our illustrious Deliverer but generous Romans we are not to bewail him as an ordinary person It is not by fruitless tears that we must express the indignation we are in for his sake it is by multiplying our aversion against those that are the occasions of his loss 't is by taking a resolution to put that design in execution which he had to exterminate the race of the Tarquins and to dye a thousand times rather than enter into slavery again 'T is thus Romans that we must express our affliction for the loss of a man that died so gloriously that his Funeral Solemnity is a Triumph for a man I say who for the small time that he durst discover his Reason hath made it appear that he was not only free from all Vice but also that he had a prudence equal to his understanding was as eminent for his courage as his moderation for his mildness as his constancy had more Virtue than all the Romans put together and a thousand times more love for his Countrey than he had for himself While Valerius spoke the people heard him with such an awful silence that it was easily seen that they were pleased with the praises of Brutus He had no sooner left off speaking but though he had forbidden tears there were heard so many cries and so many complaints and such sobbing and sighing mixt with the acclamations they gave the actions of that illustrious deceased and the words of Valerius that people could not distinctly hear one another But since it was a point of prudence not to soften the hearts of the people too much by so sad an object they made what haste they conveniently could to give the illustrious Brutus the last honors he could receive and by the order of Valerius and the Senate it was resolved a Statue should be erected to him at the publique charge the more to immortalize his glory And to conclude so remakable a day with some expressions of joy Valerius according to the custom entertained the most considerable of the Senate The next day visited Brutus's Aunt and Sister where he found all the Roman Ladies in Mourning which they had engaged themselves not to put off during the space of one year so to acknowledge as they said the obligation their Sex ought to Brutus who had so well revenged the virtuous Lucretia In a word there was not a woman in Rome that mourned not for the death of Brutus as if he had been her Father Valerius went also to visit Clelius who was very much troubled because of the danger of Octavius's wound and was so much the more if I may so say out of an imagination that Aronces had hurt him as conceiving him to be still his Rival There were indeed no infallible proofs of it but the circumstances were very pregnant in so much that Clelius being a man of a violent nature if Horatius had been then at Rome would have forced Clelia to have preferred him before Aronces Great then must needs be the affliction of that admirable Lady for she saw her Brother in danger she knew not whether Aronces had hurt him was to learn whether he were living or no she was troubled even at Horatius's absence out of a fear lest he and Aronces might meet together and no doubt but she suffered all that a person that loves truely could suffer Yet was her disquiet encreased three daies after for not only Octavius grew worse than he had been but she heard that Zenocrates was newly arrived at Valerius's and had brought a very sad account of Aronces so that she felt not only those misfortunes that had already happened to her but was also sensible of all those that might The End of the Third Part of CLELIA CLELIA An Excellent NEW ROMANCE The FOURTH VOLUME Written in FRENCH by the Exquisite Pen of Monsieur de SCUDERY Governor of Nostre-Dame de la Garde Rendered into English by G. H. LONDON Printed for Dorman Newman and Tho. Cockerill at the Kings Arms in the Poultry and at the Atlas in Cornhill 1677. To the Right Worshipful The Lady Mary S. Quintin MADAM AMongst all the
rather that Tarquin should be eternally branded with my death than I should be suspected to contribute unto his And generous Prince said she and blusnt since my heart tells me that it hath a tender share of friendship for you I ought to be more circumspect then otherwise I should and it is fit I conjure you to be gone lest this long conference should it be known unto our enemies should give them a colour to hasten their wicked designs into execution However I conjure you to take a care of your self for it would grieve my Soul to hear that I should have a Sister who was the cause of your death Oh! Madam replied the Prince I beseech you never think of me but think how to prevent I may never hear the dismal news that a Brother of mine hath been your death After this abundance of tender expressions passed between these two virtuous persons never proceeded so many heroick so many passionate and so many innocent thoughts from any two upon Earth as from them they resolved at parting to communicate unto each other what they discovered After which the Prince of Ameriola went unto the King in such a profound melancholly as it was impossible for him to hide it and it was observed by all the people and the King himself As for the Princess as soon as the Prince of Ameriola was gone she went unto her prayers and prayed both for Tarquin and Tullia and in lieu of praying for their ruine to hinder her own she only prayed they might repent But whilst the Prince of Ameriola had been with the Princess it happened unluckily that Tarquin who was gone to hunt returned sooner than he intended and in lieu of going to his own house he went unto Tullia's who kept her Chamber that day The reason of his so sudden return was that resting himself under a Tree while they were mending his Bridle which was broken by riding through a thick Wood he began to read over Tullia's Letter unto him and in reading of it in the open light he plainly discovered that it had been opened and that there was some small difference between his Seal and that wherewith it was sealed So as being naturally suspicious and violent he made no question but that it was either the Prince of Ameriola or the Princess who had opened it And judging others by himself he feared being prevented if a remedy were not immediately applyed But lest the business he was about should be too much noted he seemed as if he intended to hunt out the day as soon as his Bridle was mended he got on Horseback and upon the first handsome opportunity he stole away and came with all speed to Rome In lieu of going home he went as I told you to Tullia where he heard that the Prince his Brother was with the Princess his Wife So as according to his natural impetuosity his thoughts ran upon nothing else but what poison he should chuse to give them With these thoughts he entred into Tullia's Chamber he told her that his last Letter had been opened and desired her to look whether hers had been so also and indeed this cruel Woman with Tarquin looking upon it they plainly saw that it had been sealed with a counterfeit Seal which no sooner spied but Tullia speaking first well said she had I not good reason to say that you were too slow in your courses and that you must make all hast possible to remove all these obstacles which hinder our happiness Yes my dear Tullia said he unto her you are in the right and I am in the wrong but to make amends I will make the more hast and therefore without any more delay these two persons who hinder our happiness must be poisoned this very day It hath been so long resolved upon and their ruine is so requisite unto our rest and unto the Grandeur of Rome as it it is injustice to deser the execution any longer Make sure work on your side as I will on mine be not so simply weak as to repent and be sure your eyes do not betray the secret of your Soul Look unto your self replied the wicked and violent Tullia be sure the fair eyes of your Wife do not change your heart Never think upon either gods or Men or Laws but think only upon the Crown which you aim at Remember how Romulus got the Crown by the death of his Brother and that by this death the people will rank you among the gods Consider how those who make a long War to get a Crown do sacrifice many more Victims then you shall and above all consider that Tullia will be yours as soon as the enemies of our happiness are dead For generous Artemidorus you must know that though Tullia was not capable of any scruple nor any Religion nor any virtue yet she would never let Tarquin enjoy her until he was in a condition to marry her for her fears were that if he should satisfie his Love he would not be so diligent to satisfie her Ambition And therefore desiring that the passion of this Prince might help on her Ambitious designs she was very reserved in that point though she expressed as much affection to him as he to her Mean time you must know that Tarquin and Tullia having both of them impetuous spirits and shrill voices and their souls being wholly taken up with the grand Crimes which they were to commit they were not so cautious but a Woman over-heard them one who had been brought up with the Princesses and waited upon Tullia in particular only since she was married she heard this dismal discourse and plainly understood how Tarquin told Tullia at parting that he would send her the poison as soon as he came home insomuch as this Woman who loved the Princess and had some goodness in her she had so much horrour against the crime of her Mistress as being desirous to prevent the death of these two innocent persons whose sentence of death she heard pronounced she went unto her Chamber where she writ two notes the one to give the Prince of Ameriola when she saw him and the other to send unto the Princess But since some time was taken up in writing and some in seeking out a slave trusty enough to carry a note of that consequence unto the Princess her good intentions took no good effect for you must know that Tarquin after he had been a while with the King because he heard the Prince of Ameriola was there and after he had observed that melancholly in his eyes which every one saw he went home in all hast to send poison unto Tullia and to give it unto his Wife But as ill fortune was for that virtuous Princess this Tyrant came in before she was acquainted with the conference of Tullia and him and he came in so just in the nick to hinder her as the Slave who had the note which would have saved her Life had she received it
grieve more to die far from Crete then to die near me Believe me said I unto him I do not understand your reason since I profess unto you that if you were very sick in danger of death I would not see you For what delight soever can be taken in the sighs of a dying Lover I profess I would not be present at your last groan and thereforee I cannot see any reason you have to desire dying in Crete more then the furthest part of Africa Yes Madam said he unto me if I die in Crete I shall have a Tomb and I should hope that the sight of my Urn would hinder you from engaging in a new affection And therefore Artaxander added she and laughed if you take any care for the burial of your Rival you do not know that you do a thing against his intention and a thing which hereafter will be serviceable unto you However since it was his Fate to die I am very glad it was in Africa for I should have been troubled in passing by his Monument and I cannot endure any sad objects for I do not know any greater folly in the World then to grieve when it is a thing cannot be helped by grief Believe me Madam replied Artaxander very discontentedly in this you are the wisest Woman in the World You speak in such a tone said she as if you took it ill I did not cry for the death of your Rival I know not Madam replied he whether I should take it well if you should cry but I confess I think it strange you should so little grieve and to be plain with you I will do what I can to perswade my self that it is my self who gives Consolation to you after his death But Madam it is impossible I should ever be so perswaded for the first time I had the honour to see you in the Carden where you were so 〈◊〉 personating that ridiculous Lover 〈…〉 were a◠after the old mode you had 〈…〉 and blithness in your eyes and mind then ever I saw you since yet it is so short a time since my Rival died and as one can hardly imagine him to be dead Thus I must conclude with sorrow to my self that it was not I who did comfort after your loss but that it is only your own natural temper which is to love the diversion and not the divertor unless it be for such diversions as proceed directly from his person so as such as think to be tenderly loved by you will be much deceived and miserable for since my Rival could not attain to any perfection of love from you no Man else can ever pretend unto it and to be plain with you I think it wisdom in any person to dis-engage himself from such a one as you who is not capable of any violent passion Since you think that you have found out a new fantastical and pleasant way of complaint replied she I wonder not you should make your self a little merry with it and since I think my self a little good at Rallery as if I did believe you spoke your real thought Seriously Madam replied Artaxander I am much afflicted to see you so much incapable of loving aright and that you should so little love the most lovely Man upon earth I assure you said she that I loved him as well as ever I could and that I do not love you better then I did him I do believe it Madam answered he and believe it easily for my Rival was a Man incomparably above me in all things he hath done you a million of services a million of services more then ever I did and I make no question but that you loved him more than you do me And therefore you need not think it strange I should grieve at the small affection which you had unto him For Madam I must tell you again that I wish I had been the Man who had comforted you and that I had seen you weep the first time I had the honour to see you in lieu of seeing you laugh I wish that I had wiped away your tears But had you seen me crying replied she and laughed you would not have loved me and so far would you have been from courting that you would have fled from me and therefore I see no reason you have to complain I complain Madam replied he because you did not well enough love my Rival for being perswaded that you did not love me so well as him It much concerns the happiness of my life to think that you loved him very well and therefore it is not so santastical as you imagine that I should grieve that you grieve no more for his loss I do not tell you replied she that I love you less then I loved him but out of my plain sincerity I told you that I loved you no better then I loved him I do believe you Madam replied he indeed I do believe you and I do too much believe you for my own tranquillity for when I do consider that an absent Lover and a dead Lover are both alike unto Women of your humour and when I consider that as soon as I am out of your sight you will forget me as one whom you never saw my vexation is more then I am able to express Moreover my imagination is so weak and apprehensive as I cannot chuse but think that if I were either dead or absent you would within one month contract affection with some other and would relate unto him all our adventure as merrily as you have related unto me the adventure of my unfortunate Rival And therefore to be downright plain with you I am resolved to the utmost of my endeavours to dis-engage my heart and considering your extreme insensibility if I could revive my Rival I would do it to the end he might upbraid you with your affection unto me Oh Sir said she and laughed if you could work that wonder you would put me to it indeed for then I think I should quit you both together and perhaps make choice of a third before either of you two As Pasithea said so much company came in so as the discourse of necessity became general But as chance would have it the discourse did fall upon the very same subject for Cephisa began to talk of a Lady who after the Death of her Husband did strange things to testifie the excess of her sorrow and who afterwards did so chear up self as if she had quite forgotten him For my part said Pasithea then I think these things the greatest follies in the World for when any hath received a loss of this nature all a whole Town will run to comfort the party afflicted If you chance to meet one of them and ask whither he is going they will answer that they are going to comfort forsooth ask another and they will answer the same and yet those they go to comfort would not be comforted unless they came as if the
tears of others were the Pearls that must inrich them but there is no greater folly in the World then excessively togrieve when there is no remedy and the greatest wisdom is to chear up presently as soon as one can and I assure you it is my maxim that when I lose any whom I love I will do all I can to forget him Indeed I have heard say replied Cephisa craftily that when Pasithea lost a person whom she loved dearly and from whom she had his Picture and several Letters she presently burned all his Letters and threw away his Picture I do confess it replied Pasithea sharply and blusht and so both I and all else ought to what purpose is grief for the dead And to what purpose is your affection unto a living person replied Artaxander since it is a thing impossible to be sure of it Do you think said she that the affection of these death-lamenters is more sure then mine for I am most confident they cry and pule and lament more out of temper than affection I grant they do cry out of their tempers replied Artaxander but it must be granted also that they do love zealously or coldly by the same reason and you are of a temper to love nothing but pleasures and joys you are incapable of any sorrow or affection I would gladly know said a Lady in the Company what precise limits are to be allowed unto sorrow If you will believe Artaxander at this time said Pasithea he will tell you that you ought to live ever upon the grave of the party loved or at least to cry Eternally and make Fountains of your eyes And if you will believe Pasithea replied he she will tell you that you may dance upon the grave of your friends that sorrow is a fond weakness and that the loss of a fair day to take the Air in deserves to be lamented more then the loss of the most perfect Lover or the most faithful friend in the World For my part said Cephisa I love not extreams in any thing I think a middle way may be taken and that without either despair or insensibility we may grieve and comfort our selves in a reasonable manner I would gladly know saith Pasithea how you mean it that when one hath lost a Lover they may know whether they may make another if when one hath lost a Husband she may marry again and if when one hath lost a friend one may get another in his Room You ask many things at once replied Cephisa And which is most strange added Artaxander though you should make the most just Laws in the World yet she would break them all Since I cannot deny Pasithea replied Cephisa I will indeavour to content her though I am as well as you perswaded that she desires to know more then she would learn at least put in practice Though I should break all your Laws replied she yet I should do no such work of wonder since the Laws of the greatest Kings are broken every day Speak then Cephisa said she and laughed and teach me the art of crying handsomely You know so well how to laugh handsomly replied Artaxander that I cannot beleeve you will ever learn to cry if I had known how to laugh so well as you say you would have taught it me since I first knew you replied she but good Cephisa answer unto all my questions one after another and to begin with the first tel me whether when one hath lost a Lover one must bury themselves with him or make a vow against being fair and use ones eyes in nothing but crying for if it must be so I promise you I will never permit any to love me unless he can lay in good security that he is immortal lest I should be put to die with him or else lead a life so melancholy as is not worth the living To give you my opinion clearly replied Cephisa one should never be ingaged in any particular affection but since an innocent love is allowed and one hath the misfortune to ingage the heart to love one whom death takes away one ought never to ingage again without any excessive sorrow yet since it is so natural to be so comforted with time in the most sensible sorrows I will not absolutely condemn one whose heart shall be moved the second time unto a particular tenderness but if any woman shall go beyond twice I profess I shall hold her to be neither reasonable nor virtuous Then you allow one to have a second Lover replied Pasithea after one hath lost the first It were much better never to have any or at least no more but one replied Cephisa but to suit my Laws with humane imbecillity I will allow one to have two Lovers provided there be a long interval between the death of the first and the beginning of the second love also upon condition that the second Lover be worthy to succeed the first and that one should defend ones heart against the second more resolutely then against the first that one should be secretly ashamed of any new ingagement and that one should not ingage until time and reason have allowed some comforts I would not have any new Lover banish the first out of the heart of a Lady but I would have it to be time and reason which should comfort her and to put her into a Condition of loving the second time And I dare boldly say that any woman whosoever which shall ingage her self in any new affection presently after the death of the first Lover as a most unfaithful person more unhumane and more insensible then if she were unfaithful to her living Lover It is manifest replied Pasithea that all your Lovers are living and well but if you were in fear they would dy before you then perhaps you would not speak as you do Yet I am contented with this Article and therefore tell me whether it is lawful to have two husbands as well as two Lovers Since Custome hath allowed it replied Cephisa I shall not contrary it but if you would have me tell you ingeniously what I think I must positively confess that I would more willingly pardon a woman who admits of two Lovers then her that admits of two Husbands for it less wounds a delicate Genius to bestow the whole heart twice for a time then to give it for all the life And indeed if some strong resentments of Love or Ambition will not excuse a woman that marries twice she is inexcusable At least I am sure it is better to be a proud nice Mistress then to be one of those wives who as soon as ever they have buried one Husband are in bed with another and never lament his loss but in hopes that their tears will prefer them unto another more agreeable to their fancy Yet those who are onely possessed with two innocent passions they have much more to say in excuse of their imbecillity for it cannot be denied but that there
not proper for him though it seemed so accustomed himself to answer to it the more to express his stupidity so that insensibly all came to call him Brutus and Licinius himself hath called him so You now know my Lord in what manner this noble Roman returned to Rome was married and lived there not so much as taking notice that Tarquin had usurped all the wealth of his house and gave him onely so much as was barely necessary for his subsistance Nor indeed did Brutus trouble himself about it but his wives father who was nothing afflicted at the misfortune of his son-in law for that the Tyrant enriched him upon his account But Brutus who was not come to Rome but to deliver it from the tyranny of Tarquin was infinitely perplexed for he understood by Licinius Valerius and his vertuous Aunt Racilia who were all intrusted with the secret of his life whatever passed in the particular faction that were in Rome the City and that a Plot was sooner laid and a Party engaged but Tarquin quashed it by the death or banishment of the Plotters and that consequently there was no likelihood of destroying the Tyrant or delivering Rome or ever appearing there with his reason about him though he were resolved to forget all the violences and all the enormities of Tarquin for he was absolutely convinced that if the tyrant should once discover he had any understanding he would soon take away his life He also heard how that the cruel Tullia insolently answered a woman who said It was great pity that Brutus was so stupid that if he were not it should cost him something more than his reason So that not conceiving any probability of doing what he hoped he led a most sad and melancholy life having no other comfort but what he received by the Letters of the wise daughter of Pythagoras for as for his rising love it vanished presently after his return to Rome While he was in this perplexity his wife dies leaving him two sons which she brought him soon after their marriage which accident somewhat encreased his pensiveness for that she was a handsome woman and good natured Not but that he lived with her in a strange awe and caution for though he had a great friendship for her because she was so well conditioned as not to despise him and that she believed him as simple as he made himself yet he never durst discover himself to her as knowing ever since he married her that it was an impossibility with her not to tell a thing she knew and that there never was woman less able to hold her peace than she So that he was forced to an insupportable reservedness even in those hours wherein all others have the greatest freedom Yet could he not but grieve for her death as one in whom he had met with both vertue and mildness But as he had not any great affection for her and what he had might be rather called acquaintance than friendship so had he known no other affliction Time would have overcome it But he saw Tarquin's power encrease every day he saw the greatest part of any worth banished or put to death all the young men slaves to the tyrant's fortune and so little likelyhood of any advantageous change for Rome that he could hardly entertain any hope ever to see his Countrey or his Reason at liberty This brought an unspeakable melancholy which caused him to avoid company as much as he could nay in a manner made him desirous to avoid himself But Licinius who was yet alive and who had discovered this secret to Publius Valerius as being his intimate friend and withal a hearty enemy of Tarquin's perceived well that Brutus became more and more pensive So that he therefore spoke to Racilia with whom was the little Hermilia who knew not yet that she was Brutus's Sister to think of some means to comfort him for he knew that Brutus reposed a great confidence in her He advised her to take him into a pleasant seat she had upon the Tiber's side four miles from Rome To be short she proposed to him the passing of three or four days there to which proposition containing nothing opposite to his Melancholy he consented and went thither but with an intention not to return any more to Rome but to wander about the world until some change should happen in Tarquin's fortune For said he within himself since I cannot hurt the tyrant and so revenge my Father's death and deliver my Country to what end is it to condemn my reason to perpetual slavery and to captivate my self eternally what glory or what advantage is it to me to live obscurely and go for the most senseless and the most stupid of all mankind and be withal an utter stranger to all pleasure and society I cannot in the condition I am in be guilty of either Vice or Vertue but live after such a fantastick manner that since there were men never any lived as I do Yet for all this could the hope of Revenge and of Glory but keep possession of my heart I could have patience but to live without pleasure or so much as the hope of any is absolutely insupportable and that which I can no longer endure Thus was Brutus so ore-whelmed with melancholy and so weary of the life he led that he resolved to leave his Countrey and become a voluntary Exile Being therefore confirmed in this design his onely study was to put it in execution and put himself in a posture to leave Rome and at the first to go no further than Metapont knowing he had still a many good friends in that place He was also somewhat confident that Licinius and Racilia would releive him in his banishment and would send him somewhat to subsist though they were never so angry Not but that when he thought of leaving Rome and losing all occasions which might happen in his absence to do Tarquin a mischief it a little assaulted his resolution but after all consideration seeing no likelyhood of any to happen a long time and being no longer able to endure that reservedness wherein he lived he hardned himself in the resolution he had taken wherewith he neither acquainted Racilia nor the young Hermilia who as I told you knew not as yet that she was Brutus's Sister as being too young to be trusted with a secret of so great importance So that being unchangeably resolved he designed his departure within three dayes pretending he would return again to Rome so to deceive his Aunt whom he avoyded as much as lay in his power because she perpetually pressed him to know whence that new affliction proceeded which she observed in him But affecting solitude as much as might be the day before his departure he walked along the river side and there revolving in his mind whatever had happened to him he remembred the pleasures he found in the conversation of Damo Chrysis and Bellanira and thereupon opposing one passion to
Lucrecia and he carried it with so much judgement that Tarquin consenting to the marriage it was presently concluded and three dayes after solemnized All was done very privately Lucretius giving out that his Daughter being yet in mourning for her Mother it was not fit it should be done with much ceremony So that the first newes that Brutus had of it was that Lucrecia was in the Temple in order to be married to Collatine for having been employed in satisfying those who had taken any alarm at my departure he had heard nothing at all of it But he had no sooner heard this newes but he received this Letter from Lucrecia which contained onely these words Being obliged by a cruel necessity either to marry Collatine or be the cause of your death I have chosen rather to abjure all the pleasures and enjoyments of my life and consequently make my self eternally unhappy than to expose yours to nny aanger Bemoan my hard destiny I beseech you and in gratitude for what I have done for your sake forget me if you can and see me no more for I must love you no longer and yet I should not avoid it if I saw you Obey therefore the cruel command I lay on you to see me no more and assure your self I shall lead such a sad and solitary life that I shall give you no occasion to think me guilty of inconstancy I leave you to consider what a condition Brutus was in when he read this Letter he knows not yet himself what he thought in that terrible instant and all the account he gives of it is that not knowing precisely what he intended to do he went to the Temple where they said Collatine was to marry Lucrecia He was no sooner in but he understood that the Ceremony was past and that all things were performed in much hast because it was feared Lucrecia might swoun He understood also that Lucretius notwithstanding his daughters indisposition had caused the Ceremony to be performed and that as ill as she was the cruel Tullia was gone along with her to Collatine's house Not knowing therefore what to do in this distracted condition he went to Valeria's whom he acquainted with his misfortune by shewing her the Letter he had received But in all things his countenance spoke so much despair that he moved a great compassion in generous Valeria Well said he looking on her with the tears in his eyes what say you now of Lucrecia What must I think of her and what must I do Can you imagine by what charms Fortune hath changed her heart or what strange adventure hath obliged her to prefer Collatine before the unfortunate Brutus For my part replyed Valeria I understand nothing of it nor indeed can imagine either that Lucrecia hath ceased to love you or hate Collatine or altered her judgment But do you understand replyed Brutus why she should not acquaint me sooner with this design or why in case Lucretius have used any violence she hath not given me leave to die before she married Collatine For in fine since the affection she had for me was not strong enough to hinder her from becoming the wife of my Rival she should also have given him the satisfaction of my ruine and spared me the grief to see her in the embraces of another and see my self forsaken by a person for whose sake I was willing to forsake all things and for whom haply I had forfeited much of my reputation It is just in you O ye Gods said he to himself while Valeria was speaking to some one that asked for her to punish me for having admitted into my heart any passion that should divert it or haply hinder it from the deliverance of my Countrey At the first dawning of my love I looked on Lucrecia as the person by whom I was staid at Rome for the execution of this great design but I must now look on her as an unconstant woman who is the cause that I have not destroyed the Tyrant She took up all my thoughts her representation followed me into all places and though I then believed I did all that lay in my power to revenge my Father and Brothers death and to shake Tarquin out of his throne yet now I am of opinion that I was more employed about the love I had for Lucrecia than the hatred I had for the Tyrant But is it possible resumed he that Lucrecia the vertuous Lucrecia should be dazled with a greatness so weakly established since it is grounded on injustice Is it possible I say she should ally her self into a Family which she knows I am obliged to destroy Does she believe that any concernment of hers shall hinder me from turning Tarquin out of the Throne if opportunity favor me to do it Or will she to secure the Tyrant reveal what design I have against him Proceed Lucrecia proceed continued he for by exposing me to the cruelty of the Tyrant you do me less injury than by making me feel your own Valeria coming to him when he had proceeded thus far he renewed his complaints beseeching her assistance at least to find out what might be the motives of Lucrecia's defection for I cannot be perswaded said he to her that she is so poorly opinion'd of my heart as to imagine that I can entertain death with less ease than I can her loss Do me but the favor continued he that I may see her for if she be not so merciful to me I shall certainly think no violence too great for me to do my self This discourse of Brutus came from him with such earnestness that Valeria fearing he might haply do himself some violence promised to do what he desired though she was not certain to prevail for she sufficiently knew Lucrecia's heart and easily fore-saw that since she was resolved to be Collatine's wife she would be no longer Brutus's Mistress But willing to appease the present grief of this despairing Lover she told him not what she truly thought While Brutus thus groaned under incredible afflictions Lucrecia amidst her melancholy had one great comfort in that her Father had kept his word with her for being ready to go to the Temple she got Brutus's Letter returned to her so to secure his life Nor could she but be somewhat pleased that she was taken ill at that time and continued so still because the indisposition of her body served for a foil to that of the mind But all considered what comfort soever she might raise from the present thought of having sacrificed her self to the safety of her Servant yet soon after she thought her self the most unfortunate person in the world for she irrecoverably lost a man whom she infinitely loved and esteemed she married another for whom she had an extreme aversion she ally'd her self into a Family which all vertuous persons endeavored to ruin and she resolved to give her self over to perpetual solitude But at last these considerations contributing to her melancholy
of such afflictions and that it is not the proper office of Eloquence Moreover what measure of consolation is to be applied to such as are not over afflicted The safest course a man can take in such cases is to let his consolatory Letters be very short for to observe a certain moderation therein he is only to acquaint the person he writes to how much he is concerned in his affliction without digressing into tedious Lamentations or high Elogies not ingaging the numerous forces of Moral Philosophy and Eloquence to no purpose It is very true says Amilcar and you are questionless much in the right For how many Women are comforted for the death of their Husbands when indeed they neither need nor care for it Nay how many persons are there of all relations who should people accommodate themselves to their secret thoughts were rather to be congratulated than bemoaned since they are not sorry that they are heirs to those for whose deaths they are complemented I therefore resolve amiable Plotina added Amilcar never to write any Letters of consolation but such as shall be short not to disturb Morality and Eloquence on these occasions to make no more those long exaggerations against the cruelty of death as some do as also not to study high Commendations or spins out long Panegyrick and in a word absolutely to conform my self to your directions I shall not trouble you to tell me how a man ought to behave himself in congratulating anothers good fortune 't is an Art I am absolute Master of and I can furnish you with ten or a dozen beginnings of Letters of that kind abating those that start out thus I congratulate your I conceive my self so much concerned in your and the like which are too low for persons who would be thought Masters of Wit But I should take it as a transcendent courtesie if you would shew me how I might acquit my self well of those Letters of Recommendation whith are given unsealed to those whom one thinks fit to commend and particularly how those to whom one writes may understand whether it be his earnest desire they should do the business proposed or is indifferent whether they do it or not for when I am at Carthage I am in a manner persecuted with such emergencies For my part replied Plotina when I commend a business which relates to such as for whom I have no great esteem I write a short dry Letter yet not wanting as to Civility nay you shall find in it the word Intreat but it stands so alone that it is not fastened to any thing On the contrary when I effectually desire a thing might be done I first of all make appear that what I desire is just I give a good character of the person whom I recommend I express what friendship or esteem I have for him I put the obligation is done in his favour upon my own account I ingage the person to whom I write in point of honour to do him some good office and to make all secure I write by some other hand whereby I confirm all I had writen before For what concerns me said Clelia I would gladly learn how to write to a sort of people with whom onely Civility obliges me to hold a certain correspondence who yet are such as you would not favour with your friendship nor take any pleasure to oblige In the first place replied Plotina I should advise to write to them as seldom as might be for I can by no means away with that sort of people that write to no other end but to write who so readily charge themselves without any necessity with the receiving of hundreds of Letters from persons whom they care not for and are for the most part pleased when they send or receive without any choice And in the second I should wish when one is obliged upon the account you speak of a man would not express in his Letters either too great wit or too much friendship for certainly a man injures himself who writes a high and over obliging Letter to a person of ordinary parts wherefore there must begotten a kind of colder civility which is soon found when looked for which is used towards those for whom we have no great love nor esteem when by some considerations of acquaintance we are obliged to write to them and it is in such emergencies as these that we are to make use of those Letters which are called Letters of Complement wherein there is not any thing particular nothing either good or bad containing a parcel of words and little sence not obliging either those who write them or those to whom they are directed to any thing as being dressed in such general terms that they may be directed to all sorts of persons without any particular address to any Judgement certainly is requisite in all replied Clelia as for instance it might be said there is nothing easier then the writing of news and yet there are some who write it most fantastically They are such replied Amilcar who write news often though they know not any who believe all is said to them write without order or choice who trouble themselves to write things that either none regards or are displeasing in themselves or have lost all the grace and insinuation of Novelty For certainly it is not more necessary that a woman to be a beauty be also young then that news be fresh and sudden to please there being nothing more unseasonable then a long relation of an old adventure Yet it must be confessed replied Clelia that there are certain disastrous accidents which some make it their business to renew the stories of and spread abroad as if they were lately happened which certainly is very troublesom to those who knew them before they were written to them But in my judgement when one writes a Letter wherein he would relate what had happened he is to consider what kind of news the persons to whom he writes are most taken with for I am confident there are some who are only pleased with those general narrations wherewith Fame it self comes for the most part burthened and would hear of nothing but Victories or Defeats the Sieges of Cities Conflagrations Deluges Insurrections and the like There are also those who matter not the general Occurrences of the World so they are but acquainted with what passes in their own Quarter whence it is but necessary we should sift their humours to whom we write when we are to send any thing of intelligence You speak very much reason Madam replied Amilcar but that which I would particularly learn from the fair Plotina since she seems to be so much exercised in it is to know in what Letters a man is permitted to display all his perfections and after what manner he is to discover his wit That certainly is a thing you know better then I replied she but that you may be satisfied that I am able to judge of the
is nothing against us Rome having within its own Walls Soldiers Captains Armies and wherewithal to subsist without the assistance of any thing but its own strength and its own vertue Let us then resolve to undergo the miseries of an eternal War rather than sign a Peace with our Tyrants for even the certainty of death should not fright us from doing our duty since a glorious death is to be preferred before an ignominious life Besides imagine not there is any among us that expects or pretends to be your King for we absolutely declare to you that our design aims only at the destruction of the Tyrant and that we act upon no other Principles than those of the Publick Good Justice and Glory Let us then couragiously take up arms for as I have already told you it were henceforth more dangerous to continue in Peace than to begin a War Let us revenge the innocent Lucretia Let us maintain the priviledges of the Vestals which Tarquin hath violated by detaining the Captives of Ardea Let us recal Vertue into Rome and to execute the first act of Authority Let us expel Tullia out of our City Let us shut the Gates of Rome against our Tyrants Let us make good our Walls if they assault us And in a word let us rather die like true Romans than live any longer like infamous Slaves And now O ye just Gods added Brutus looking up to Heaven who are the disposers of this World and the Protectors of Rome infuse a true desire of glory into the hearts of the people that hears me and suffer not your Altars to be any longer prophaned by the unworthy Offerings of our Tyrants And you illustrious Founder of our City whom Vertue hath ranked amongst the Immortal suffer not your work to be destroyed and let not Rome which must one day be Mistress of the World be any longer subject to the humours of the most cruel of Mankind and suffer not vertue to be at such a distance from the Throne as not to be secured against Vice even in the houses of private persons Divine Egeria who inspired wise Numa with such holy Laws infuse into all those that hear me an ardent desire to destroy him who hath so slightly observed them Diana Goddess of Chastity to whom our late King hath built a sumptuous Temple suffer not the chast Lucretia to be unrevenged Ye sacred Guardians of our Houses for whom we pretend to have a particular adoration forsake us not but resign up our enemies to our just vengeance And finally thou great Jupiter Master of all the Gods to whom the abominable Tarquin hath built a Temple out of sacrilegious motives curb this insupportable Tyrant whose Pride is such as only Thunder can pull down Revenge so many unfortunate men unjustly oppressed hinder Rome from being destroyed inflict the severest punishment on me that may be if the love of my Country be not the only resentment of my heart and as far as it is possible infuse into all Romans the same resentments of treated for their Tyrants as the heart of Brutus is at this time seised with that Rome may be delivered and all Romans put into a condition of happiness Let us proceed generous Romans this is the last day of your Slavery if you follow me Victory expects us and I see her already stretching out her Arms to us Speak that I may know whether your apprehensions are the same with mine or at least satisfie me by certain signs what you would or would not have For if it be true that I and my friends are the only true Romans and such as only deserve so glorious a name and that nevertheless we must quit all hope of delivering our Country This Ponyard added he lifting up his arm that hath pierced the heart of Lucretia and which I preserve to pierce that of the Tyrant if opportunity befriend me shall presently run through my own and ease me of life which I cannot any longer preserve with pleasure or reputation At these words the friends of Brutus Aronces Valerius Herminius Lucretius and Collatine beginning to cry out all together Liherty Liberty all that infinite multitude made the same cry and expressed it self by a thousand tumultuous voices that it was absolutely resolved to shake off the the yoke of Tyranny But Brutus whom the love of Lucretia made then more active than that of his Conntry caused the Body of this admirable Woman to be laid at the entrance into the Temple placing some of the Inhabitants of Collatine to guard it which done conferring with Aronces Lucretius Collatine Valerius Herminius Artemidorus Zenocrates Amilcar Celeres Mutius and divers others who offered their services to him it was resolved that the first thing was to be done was to secure the Gates But the Liberty of Clelia being the main business of Aronces in this deliverance of Rome he was of opinion that while Brutus went to seise himself of the Gates of the City it were fit another party of such as took up Arms for them should be sent to take in Tarquin's Palace so to secure Tullia and to hinder the illustrious daughter of Clelia from being exposed during this Tumult either to the insolencies of his Guards or the cruelty of the abominable Tullia This Proposal of Aronces seeming not unnecessary a Party was assigned him for that purpose nay they permitted Artemidorus Zenocrates and Celeres to follow him and Brutus getting into the head of all those who had already taken up Arms went to possess himself of the Gates The first Gate he came to was that which they called the Carmental gate which was between the Tarpeion Rock of the Tiber Next he went to that which is near Janus's Temple and the Viminal Hill then to Romulus's gate towards the Palatine Hill and lastly to that which is called Pendana or otherwise Romulida But as he went he made a strange alteration in this great City In a short hours time all the Temples were opened all Shops shut up the whole People were in Arms all the Women went to their Devotions and there was nothing to be heard through all the streets of Rome but Imprecations against Tarquin and Tullia Complaints for the deplorable death of Lucretia and the Praises of Brutus The Salii began to sing in their Temples to demand the liberty of Rome and doubled their care for the preservation of that miraculous Buckler which was confounded amongst eleven others like it lest it should be stollen The Vestals came all about their sacred Fire to beg the same thing of the Goddess Vesta the great High Priest sacrificed for the same purpose So that these examples of Piety authorizing the Insurrection had no small influence over the minds of the People In the mean time the creatures of Tarquin those whom like so many slaves to him he had thrust into the Senate or the executioners of his Cruelties were at a strange loss for the rising proved so sudden and
she was desired so as Valeria after she had shut the door had liberty to pour out her tears Now her imagination representing unto her both at once Herminius unfaithful and Herminius dead she was sensible of as much sorrow as love was able to inflict This Ladie having a most tender soul and loving Herminius most ardently her grief was stronger than her anger at the first But when Emilius was gone and Flavia came unto her Closer this afflicted Ladie changed her thoughts For being one who had heard Herminius swear a thousand and a thousand times that he would be eternally faithful her anger grew stronger than her grief Come Flavid said Valeria unto her with as many sighs as words what say you now of perfidious Herminius I cannot tell what to think of his perfidie answered Flavia because appearances are very uncertain and deceitful But I am much afflicted at his death and I must confess I am much surprized to see you more moved at his inconstancy than it Oh Flavia said she I know not well which moves me most for I am so full of grief so full of anger so full of confusion at my own weakness so full of tenderness for unfaithful Herminius so full of hatred for inconstant Herminius and so full of confused thoughts as I know not what I think what I would have or what I say How can I think Herminius whose thoughts I believed so generous should be perfidious he who I have heard say a hundred times that honesty and sincerity ought to be in love as well as in all other things of the world He I say who promised to love me until death he who swore unto me that the loss of youth and beautie should not extinguish his love he who protested unto me that absence would augment his passion And he who imagined that he should be continually melancholy as long as I was out of his sight And yet he forgot all his Oaths he diverted himself at Capua he became unfaithful and which is most strange he did not only forsake me but betray me for the last time he wrote unto me was with all imaginable tenderness Judge then Flavia if I be not the most silly person in the world to lament the death of this ungrateful person for whose sake I have so ill treated Mutius during his absence And I must confess to my shame that maugre his inconstancy maugre my anger and maugre my reason I would fain make a doubt of his perfidie and lament his death But what do I say reprehending her self and not giving Flavia time to speak No no I will not lament him but rather look upon his death as a just punishment of his perfidie and I ought to taste all the pleasure that a sweet revenge can give a wronged heart For Gods sake said Flavia unto her resolve with your self upon one of these thoughts which persecute you either love Herminius or else hate him either only grieve or be only angry and do not pass so suddenly from one thought to another lest this violent agitation should impair your health No no Flavia replied this afflicted fair one I cannot do as you advise nor at the present can I love or can I hate Herminius for as soon as I would hate him my imagination represents him unto me as he was when I was pleased with him and in a minute after does shew him unto me in his grave so as seeing him in that condition I know not what I should think nor do know whether I should wish him living and unfaithful For if he lived I might reclaim him from his infidelity he might repent it and I might hope to see him upon his knees asking pardon for his error and swear new fidelitie unto me But alas I cannot raise the dead and lamentable destinie that has taken him from the earth will never restore him neither unto Clelia nor me But oh Heavens said she and reprehended her self can I pronounce the name of her whom the ungrateful Herminius preferred before me and not hate him who is the cause of this injustice and not rejoyce at his death for though this person were the fairest woman in the world though she had all the wit upon earth and though she possessed all the vertues without exception yet Herminius were worthy of my hatred if he should forsake me for her And yet my imagination never represents his death unto me but I grieve extreamly for him and wish I could raise him from death But presently after imagining that if he were alive again he would not wish to live but to adore Clelia then maugre all sorrows I have not power to wish him alive again but my only desire is that I were dead as well as he After this Valeria was silent for the excess of her grief would not permit her to complain any longer Flavia then said as much unto her as wit and friendship could invent upon such an encounter For sometimes she accused Herminius to see whether that would lessen the affliction of her friend another while she would justifie him to make her grieve only without anger but whatsoever she said she cryed tears as well as she and for a quarter of an hour she did comfort her more by her Tears than her Reasons But love being a passion full of odd devices to torment those that are possessed with it Valeria would sometimes accuse those very tears which did comfort her and take it ill that Flavia should so much lament Herminius Oh Flavia said she never lament the loss of a man who perhaps was as perfidious a friend as a Lover and let me have some share in loose tears which you so prodigally shed Herminius is culpable but I am innocent and miserable and more miserable than ever any was since at one and the same instant I suffer under two of the greatest pains that one can be sensible of Yes yes my dear Flavia added this fair afflicted one I defie the Tyrant Tarquin and all the Tyrants upon earth to invent torments equal unto mine For though Herminius were alive yet the apprehension of his perfidie is enough to make me the most miserable person in the world And though on the contrary Herminius should not be perfidious yet should I be the most unfortunate of my Sex in losing all that I loved all that I ever can love Judge then if in having both these torments upon me at once I am not excusable in giving my self over to despair and in desiring an end unto my life as the only remedie against all my miseries I should never end Madam if I should repeat all the complaints of Valeria who did nothing but complain until night constrained her to go home but when she was ready to go and was upon the stairs pulling down-her hood to hide her tears a thought came into her mind which made her go back into the Closet again and beseeth Flavia to grant her one favour If what
drawn into a party opposite to that of Rome Yet did she not discover her resentment nay was forced to permit Horatius to entertain her for some time after which the company dissolved it self The next morning the two Consuls went and according to the Ceremony opened all the Gates of Janus's Temple which was presently thronged with people to assist at the sacrifices offered on the twelve Altars which were consecrated to the twelve months of the year to the end that when ever the Romans made war they might get the better Brutus made a publick Prayer for the people of Rome which in few words acquainted those that heard it with the justice of their cause and the respect they owed the Gods Which done and the presages proving all fortunate and that that day was not any one of those that are thought fatal to the Romans the people was generally in hope that the war might have a happy issue In the mean time order was taken to put in execution who had been resolved on some daies before Artemidorus and Zenocrates went disguised from Rome to Clusium there with the assistance of the Princess of Leontum to hinder Porsenna from engaging in the War that Tarquin was going to make but this was after conference had with Brutus Valerius Herminius and Amilcar and after leave taken by Sulpicia and her incomparable Daughter On the other side Celeres having sufficiently disguised himself was not discovered at Tarquinia but was witness of the fury Tarquin and Tullllia were in when the enterprize of their Envoys failed at Rome However they took a certain wicked comfort to hear that Brutus had the affliction to see the death of his own children Cileres saw also the despair of the beautiful Ocrisia who would needs die when she understood the death of her servant In the mean time though Tarquin were implacably incensed against Aronces because he was loved by Clelia the Tyrant's ambition being then predominant over his love yet durst he not treat him harshly On the contrary he was so careful of him that he soon recovered of his wounds but was nevertheless very narrowly looked to The greatest enjoyment Aronces had was that the Prince of Pometia and Titus both virtuous persons were permitted to visit him So that from them he understood the transactions at Rome Celeres therefore having observed that these Princes often visited Aronces and not finding any other way to speak to him but by their assistance resolved to trust himself to the Prince of Pometia a person of noble and virtuous inclinations He therefore made acquaintance with him and begged of him the favour to see Aronces to bring him tidings from Clelia assuring him he would not meddle with any thing but what directly related to the Loves of Aronces without the least reflection on the concernments of Rome In so much that the Prince of Pometia sensible of Lovers misfortunes promised Celeres to do what he desired besides that being infinitely in love with Hermilia he in like manner would trust Celeres and intreated him that by the same way as he gave Aronces an account of Clelia he would send tidings of him to the amiable Sister of Brutus He made the Prince his Brother acquainted with this business that Celeres might send from him to Collatina whom he so dearly loved for as things stood then it would have been hard for them to send often to Rome without being discovered But by the means of Celeres they doubted not the safe carriage of their Letters so that having promised him not to write any thing but what related to their Love and he on the other side engaged himself to them not to meddle with any thing but what concerned that of his friend those two Princes carried their business with so much prudence that the officers that guarded Aronces suffered some of their retinue to go in along with them when ever they went to visit that prisoner By this means Celeres disguised like one of those Slaves who wait on Princes in their Chambers attended them when they went to see Aronces The first time he came that illustrious Prisoner was almost out of himself for joy and the entertainment that happened between the Prince of Pometia Titus and him was the noblest and most generous in the World So that from that time Celeres became the Confident of these three Princes and went divers times to Rome to bring their Letters to Clelia Hermilia and Collatina whose answers he faithfully returned to these three Lovers who found some ease in discoursing of their joynt misfortunes For the Prince of Pometia and Titus being great Lovers of Virtue they had a horror for the wicked actions of those to whom they owed their lives and if the same virtue that oblig'd them to abhorr their crimes had not also engag'd them in their interests they had been their enemies for as to the Crown they had no pretence to it Sextus being only look'd upon by Tarquin and Tullia as fit to succeed them What was most remarkable was that this Prince who by the violence he did Lucretia caused the ruine of his House the insurrection of Rome and all the miseries of the King his Father the Queen his Mother the Princes his Brethren and himself groaned under did nevertheless mind his enjoyments in the little Town where he was retir'd and whence he durst not stirr because Tarquin could not in policy have been near his person So that never reflecting on the death of that amiable person or regarding the misfortunes which in all likelihood he must foresee he led as voluptuous a life as if he had been in Rome in absolute peace It was not so with Tarquin and Tullia for they omitted nothing which they thought might contribute any thing to their re-establishment Having therefore sent to Rome and the Consuls having accepted the War they had declared Tarquin went one morning to Aronces to get him to write to Porsenna to assure him of his noble entertainment that so the person whom he intended to send to him might the better be received What I desire of you saies Tarquin to him contains nothing that is unjust and savors not of the Tyranny which my enemies reproach me with For having taken you in Arms against me I might treat you as an enemy and yet not be charged with any injustice But since there is a very strict alliance between the King of Clusium and my self I shall proceed with moderation I am not to learn My Lord replies Aronces without the least disturbance that there hath been an alliance between Rome and Clusium but know not whether there will be any hereafter between Tarquin and Porsenna How it ever may happen added he all I can tell you is that you have taken me in Arms and that accordingly I expect no other favor than to be treated as a Prisoner of War Look not therefore on me in this conjuncture as son to the King of Clusium but as
be more possess'd with choler than grief but at length having determin'd in his mind what to do he went away without approaching to the bed where Hortensius was But at his departure he left half of his Guards with him with order to hinder Hortensius from being remov'd to any other place without his commission Agenor being ignorant what reasons oblig'd Melanthus to this was desirous to abide with his friend but the Prince commanded him to follow him without giving him any reason for it Eumenes also was deny'd to stay behind though he requested it and it was in vain that I offer'd my self to take care of this Illustrious person during the danger of his wounds so that there remain'd with him only a slave the Chirurgeons the Priest the Prince's guards and he that commanded them At this time also the Prince of Cyparissa having purpos'd to return to Pisa after the hunting took leave of Melanthus and departed with his own followers The Prince of Messena being left now in greater liberty appear'd more tormented than before by the way he gave order to some of his Attendants to look well to Agenor and without more discourse went silently to the place where he lay the preceding night As soon as he was arrived there he commanded Agenor to follow him having something to speak to him after which he order'd Eumenes to redouble his care in the guard of Elismonda and sent to seize upon the Cabinet of Hortensius which he caus'd to be brought to him imagining he should find some Letters in it from the Princess of Elis. As soon as he had broke it open instead of finding what he sought for he unhappily found a memorial written in the same character with that of the four Verses in Elismonda's Picture-Case For Love and Jealousie had so deeply engrav'd that hand in his imagination that he scarce knew his own writing better than he did that And now no longer doubting that Hortensius had taken the Picture that Hortensius had made the Verses and that Hortensius was in love with Elismonda he also question'd not but that he was lov'd by her that he had betray'd him that he was ingrateful and that he had some hidden design wherein ambition bare a part He therefore caus'd Agenor to enter into his Closet but in-instead of receiving him well as he was wont for Hortensius's sake he beheld him very fiercely and demanded of him what he meant when perceiving Hortensius wounded he cry'd out asking the gods if this were the manner in which they would cause Hortensius to Reign Agenor at first was a little amaz'd and answer'd not directly So that Melanthus confirming himself in his opinion and letting loose the impetuosity of his humour No no Agenor said he to him seek not to disguise the truth I must resolve this obscure Riddle and know thoroughly all that the perfidious Hortensius has complotted against me Alas my Lord answer'd Agenor Hortensius is the most faithful servant you have Hortensius replyed Melanthus is ungrateful and unworthy and I shall know how to punish his ingratitude and unworthiness if he die not of his wounds Agenor found himself strangely perplex'd at this for Hortensius had forbidden him to discover any of the Predictions which had occasion'd his banishment out of his own Countrey for fear he should Reign there But after having a while defended himself he fear'd he might injure his friend instead of serving him by being obstinate not to discover the cause of his exclamation for there was no other means to put a good construction upon what he had said but by laying open the truth of it Agenor therefore declar'd it ingenuously thinking to justifie Hortensius and so in few words recounted what had been the occasion of that which Melanthus heard him speak But jealousie possessing his mind with a great disposition to interpret all things to the disadvantage of Hortensius this information of Agenor perfectly incens'd him there arising a mixture of divers sentiments in his mind which put him into extream confusion He felt in himself the violences of jealousie choler despight to have been oblig'd by Hortensius regret for having lov'd him and some slight reluctance against ill treating him a great desire to see him die and some fear of seeing what was foretold concerning him come to pass though he was not accustom'd easily to give credit to Predictions Thus love hatred friendship glory and jealousie dividing his mind he continued some time in a great incertainty but at length not being able to contain his grief in his breast after he had commanded Agenor to be taken into custody he went to find the Princess Andronice When he came to the Apartment of this Princess it was told him she was at that of Elismonda but instead of going thither according to his custom he sent to tell her he expected her at her own This proceeding amaz'd the Princess so much the more in that they were newly told some great accident was fallen out though they could not learn what it was Yet Andronice as she was going from Elismonda's Lodgings to her own understood Hortensius had slain Attalus and was himself very dangerously wounded So that she believ'd Melanthus desir'd to see her only to communicate to her the grief he resented for the danger Hortensius was in I come my Lord said she to him to help you to commiserate the generous Hortensius for though I have reason to be glad of the death of Attalus yet the sorrow I have for his wounds that overcame him renders me uncapable to taste the sweetness of revenge Alas my Sister cry'd the Prince you ill understand my thoughts if you commiserate the most unworthy perfidious and ingrateful of men But my Lord reply'd Andronice all amaz'd 't is not Attalus but Hortensius that I commiserate I mean him also answer'd he 't is Hortensius that has betray'd me 't is Hortensius that is my Rival 't is Hortensius that projects to Reign in Elismonda's heart and in my dominions and in a word Hortensius is he that I hate as much as I have lov'd him and whom I will punish so severely that he shall serve for an example of Ingratitude to posterity But my Lord said Andronice I confess I know not Hortensius according to the description you make of him Have you forgot Hortensius was he that hindred me from being carried away by Attalus and that you owe part of your Conquests to his valour and counsels that he had the good fortune to save your life in the last battel that he has done his utmost for you with Elismonda that he was unwilling to dispute the victory with you at the Olympick Games and has newly slain Attalus whom you hated 'T is true answer'd the Prince fiercely he has done all that you speak of but since he loves Elismonda I ought to hate him more than I hated Attalus After which he told her all he had discover'd and then declar'd to her all he
before long you shall repent your having lov'd him Elismonda was going to answer him but he went forth roughly and would not hear her Being violent in all his resolutions and having at that time no person near him to repress part of the impetuosity of his humour he immediately without considering Hortensius's condition sent order to have him carried to Elis. He also commanded Eumenes to convey the Princess Elismonda thither about evening and prepar'd himself to follow them Elismonda as yet ignorant of this order was entertaining her self with her dear Cleontine to whom she related in few words all that Melanthus had spoken for Cleontine retir'd out of respect when Melanthus came to the Princess But after having repeated to her this long conversation Well Cleontine said she What say you of this hard adventure and what do you think of Hortensius's virtue For he never made the least mention to me of his passion but contrarily did all he could for Melanthus I confess I have oftentimes seen in his eyes some tokens of his love but it was against his will And perhaps also Madam answer'd Cleontine he has perceiv'd in yours against your Will too that you have a very great inclination for him for I have observ'd it upon a hundred several occasions I confess Cleontine answer'd Elismonda I have for Hortensius not only esteem but admiration not only friendship but dearness gratitude and inclination and I doubt not but if his fortune and mind had so much resemblance as our affections we should love eternally But Hortensius shall never know what I have now told you and as he never declar'd to me he lov'd me both out of a sentiment of respect and fidelity he resolv'd to preserve for Melanthus though I should see him again he should never know how advantageous my thoughts are of him for I would never betray my self and virtue is not less powerful in my heart than in his But alas added she sighing I shall never see him perhaps while I live for Melanthus will banish or put him to death if he escape the danger of his wounds Thus I see my self expos'd to the violent humor of a Prince whose jealousie may prompt him to strange enormities As Elismonda was speaking thus the Princess Andronice enter'd who told her with very much sorrow that she came to give her notice that she must return to Elis at that very hour This news surpriz'd and afflicted Elismonda but it was necessary to obey and Andronice and Cleontine comforted her the best they could But to the end the departure of Elismonda might not be so soon known to the Prince of Cyparissa who was return'd to Pisa Melanthus thought fit Andronice should continue still all the next day at the house of the virtuous Elisante who beheld Elismonda depart with very much sorrow On the other side Melanthus caus'd Hortensius likewise to be remov'd though the Chirurgeons told him it could not be done without danger So he was by order to be put into a Chariot without being acquainted with the cause of this change for they which were about him knew nothing of it But having a very ready reason he judg'd that being he was remov'd in the night and in such a condition there must needs be some extraordinary matter especially not seeing the Prince and receiving no message from him Yet he imagin'd at first Melanthus perhaps had discover'd that the Prince of Cyparissa plotted something towards the end of the Truce which was almost expir'd and therefore thought fit to remove him further from Pisa But when it behov'd him to dress himself that he might be put into the Chariot that was provided for him he call'd the Slave which was left to serve him and demanded his Cloaths His first thought was to see whether Elismonda's picture were in the place where he had hid it He was much astonish'd when he did not find it there ask'd the Slave whether he had not seen it who answering No he caus'd him to search all about without telling the Guards what he sought for but at length it behov'd him to depart without knowing any thing of the picture Hortensius then demanded where Agenor was but 't was told him the Prince had commanded him to follow him he then began to wonder that none of his attendants had been with him since they knew he was wounded But at last the Priest believing it reasonable to let him know the truth acquainted him that the Prince of Messena appear'd at first very much afflicted for his wounds and had himself assisted to carry him but while he was dressing he chang'd his sentiments went away very sad put guards upon him prohibited any of his servants to come to him commanded Agenor to follow him and that he lately heard he had caus'd his Cabinet to be seiz'd O gods cry'd the unhappy Hortensius is it possible I should be so innocent and so miserable after which he was silent and suffer'd himself to be lifted into the Chariot which attended him One of the Chirurgeons who had dress'd him being unwilling to forsake him took horse with the Guards to follow him and this Illustrious wounded person notwithstanding his late victory in the Olympick Games and the glory he had gotten in several Combats particularly in that fresh one with Attalus found himself the most unfortunate of men Great griefs of mind oftentimes causing forgetfulness of those of the body Hortensius felt little pain in his wounds by reason of his perplexity in imagining Melanthus might perhaps believe he had betrai'd him and Elismonda be offended with him if she came to understand this adventure Yet there were some moments in which he trusted in his own innocence towards his Master and the respect he had had to his Mistriss hoping he might appease Melanthus as soon as he could speak with him but he always believ'd he should be forc'd to quit his former commerce with Elismonda and be at least depriv'd of the contentment of seeing her if he desir'd to cure Melanthus of his jealousie Hortensius entertain'd himself after this sad manner in the Chariot he was put into the diversity of objects did not divert him from such melancholly musing it being night when he set forth to depart But as it is not possible to travel with much speed at such hours day began to appear when he was yet sixty surlongs from Elis besides his being wounded occasion'd him to go very gently The first rayes of the Sun beginning now to break forth and all objects becoming easily discernable Hortensius perceiv'd he was in a Valley at the end of which where he was to pass by he beheld a Chariot broken two Women standing at the foot of a tree and several men on horseback about them but drawing nearer he discerned that those two women were Elismonda and Cleontine This sight amaz'd him and made him almost forget that he was wounded He put forth his head and respectfully saluted the Princess of
no person had liberty to see her besides Cleontine and some women to attend on her But although Melanthus had left Andronice at the house of the virtuous Elisante on purpose to deceive the Prince of Cyparissa and Eumenes had done all he could by his Masters orders to keep the Princess of Elis's departure from coming to his knowledge yet he was advertised of it by a slave belonging to Andronice whom he caused to be corrupted by one of his followers Understanding therefore that Elismonda was carried away to Elis and the Princess of Messenia was to stay a day longer at the house of Elisante he believed he could not better serve Elismonda as affairs stood than by taking away the Princess Andronice for whom Melanthus had as great a friendship as he was capable of He communicated his design to two or three of the most considerable Officers of his Army who were with him and to two men of principal quality in Pisa At first they told him that the truce being to last some days longer this action would be a publick breach of it But the Prince of Cyparissa represented to them that the secret conveying away of the Princess of Elis and the disgrace of Hortensius signified Melanthus not very sollicitous about a peace that he had some great discontentment upon his mind and therefore it would be best to provide for the Princess of Elis's safety Yet they with whom he was thus urgent would not have yielded to his proposal had it not fallen out that precisely at the same time news came that there had been a Skirmish between some horsemen of Melanthus's Army and some Troops of that of the Prince of Cyparissa with assurance also that is was began by the forces of Melanthus So that this first act of hostility serving for a pretext they no longer disallowed the Prince of Cyparissa's design which he betook himself immediately to execute To which purpose he put himself in the head of three hundred horse and went to take away Andronice at the Castle of Melisaris At his first coming Eumenes endeavored to make resistance but being presently wounded he became a prisoner The fair Chrysilia and the charming Claricia had the same destiny with the Princess of Messenia but as for the virtuous Elisante she remained free in the middle of two Enemy-Armies and was alike favoured by both parties so greatly is Virtue respected by all the World But the Princess of Cyparissa who only sought Elismonda's safety and infinitely honored the Princess Andronice treated her with all imaginable respect and all the Ladies of her Train with extream civility He desired pardon of the Princess of Messenia for the violence he did to her he assured her it was only to serve a Princess whom she loved and who loved her and to restrain part of the impetuosity of the Prince her Brother Andronice being very discreet and esteeming the Prince of Cyparissa pardoned the violence he did her upon the account of his excessive passion and told him that he was without doubt in a wrong course for that she could have done the Princess Elismonda better service if she were with the Prince her Brother than he could do by keeping her at Pisa But the thing being already done there was no remedy left Eumenes also said the same to the Prince of Cyparissa at his going to visit him when he was at Pisa which occasioned this Lover the regret of thinking that perhaps what he had done might rather prejudice than advantage the Princess of Elis. But that which compleated his affliction was that the day following he was advertised of that which till then he had been ignorant of namely Hortensius's love to Elismonda and Melanthus's jealousie and belief that Elismonda loved Hortensius for his Maxims having always been to cease to love as soon as he believed his Mistress favored another this incertainty into which this news brought him gave him greater torment than can be imagined But if the Prince of Cyparissa suffered very much Melanthus also suffered all the inquietudes that Love Jealousie and Ambition could afflict him with especially when he understood the Prince of Cyparissa had carried away the Princess Andronice with all the Ladies that were with her and that Eumenes was a Prisoner That which perplexed him besides infinitely was that he perceived the Inhabitants of Elis murmured very much at the imprisonment of Hortensius for having seen that 't was he that hindered Melanthus from continuing to treat them Tyrannically as he had done before his coming they vehemently feared least he should quit the moderation he had used ever since that time and treat them worse than ever And indeed their fear was not without grounds for this Prince resumed his former violence At length War broke out again between both parties yet the Prince of Cyparissa sent Propositions of Peace to Melanthus offering to deliver the Princess Andronice provided he would restore Elismonda but he derided the proposition when it was made him and contented himself to answer fiercely that he would go to Pisa to fetch the Princess his Sister as soon as he had marmaryed Elismonda and put Hortensius to death In the mean time the wounds of this Illustrious Veientine notwithstanding his unwillingness did not grow worse in Prison though he was the most unhappy of all men chiefly because he was the most generous for having always loved without hope he was throughly accustomed to be miserable in reference to his Love But his virtue having ever been immaculate he could not suffer his Master should believe he had betrayed him Besides that fearing also least he should be transported to some violence against Elismonda his perplexities were beyond all conception He found some consolation in thinking he perceived a very tender pitty towards him in the eyes of his dear Princess but this comfort was overwhelmed with so many different sorrows and these moments of sweetness followed with so many tormenting hours that he moved compassion in those that guarded him Upon which he prevailed with him that commanded his Guards to desire urgently the favor of the Prince that he might speak to him once more during his life Melanthus refus'd it at first very roughly but the next day a jealous sentiment induced him to desire what he refused So when the unfortunate Hortensius least expected him he beheld this violent Prince enter into his chamber but with so much fury in his eyes that he had cause to think the Prince came himself to denounce to him the sentence of his death Yet he seemed not moved at it but on the contrary being very glad of the opportunity to speak to him he half rose up to salute him the most respectfully the condition he was in permitted him And beholding him with submission I give you thanks my Lord said he to him for granting me what I desired of you for I should have dyed with despair if I had left you in the opinion that I
a moment the Muses had taught him all the Sciences He writ a Tract concerning Agriculture which he address'd to his Brother he made another of Astrology he celebrated several Heroes and Heroesses of antiquity and spoke much more to the advantage of Women than of Men to be contrary to the custom of Homer who had more highly extoll'd Men than Women relating several examples of illustrious and virtuous Women which had consented to marry with worthy Men for their virtue only Moreover he made the Epithalamium of Peleus and Thetis a lamentation upon the death of Batrachus and a Work which he call'd The Shield of Hercules at the same time also he began that which he call'd Theogonia in which he speaks of the original of the gods he discours'd likewise concerning the art of Physick and Divination and which is remarkable having in one of these Works introduc'd a Nightingale and a Hawk speaking together he gave the first pattern of those ingenious Fables of Brutes whereby Aesop afterwards render'd himself so famous So that having acquir'd a high reputation by this great number of Works which he compos'd in the space of five or six years his heart no longer appear'd sensible to any thing but glory and ambition Then he made several voyages with very much pleasure because into what place soever he went his reputation out-stripping him he found friends every where But that which caus'd him to be most spoken of was the advantage he got over Homer by the judgement of Panis King of Chalcis for having both made Verses at the celebration of the funerals of Amphidamas Hesiode was declared Victor and for having explicated a Riddle which Homer was unable to do he obtain'd a Tripod of Gold which he consecrated to the Muses Indeed the judgement of Panis was not approv'd by all the World for the siders with Homer and the enemies of Hesiode when they observ'd some person to judge unsutably of any thing took up a by-word in derision saying That it was a judgement of Panis But however Hesiode having obtain'd the prize and plac'd it in the Temple of Delphos with an Inscription that signified the glory which he had gained the advantage remained wholly on his side and the Victor of him that had overcome all others could not fail to be glorious Ambition thus possessing the heart of Hesiode he studied only to preserve the glory which he had gotten and that in such a manner as it might prove beneficial to his Fortune To which end at his return from Chalcis he consulted the Oracle concerning the conduct of his life which answered him that he ought carefully to avoid the. Temple of Jupiter Nemaeus for which reason he removed far from Peloponnesus where that famed Temple stands His Father being dead some days before and having his estate at his own disposing he resolved to go to the Court of the Prince of Locri who was reputed a Lover of Verses Indeed it seems the Locrians are more obliged than others to esteem Verses and those which make them for the famous Mountain of Parnassus divides their Country The Opuntines call the Locrians Orientals and on the contrary the Osolians count the Locrians Occidentals the first bear in their Ensignes Aurora as it uses to be painted and the other the Evening Star Now Hesiode having chosen the Court of the Prince of Locri as a Court wherein ingenious persons might advance their fortunes more than elsewhere and wherein he might have some knowledge since his having seen Clymene Antiphanes and the rest of their company at Helicon took his journey thither though without having at that time any sentiment of that beginning Love he had had at eighteen years of age for a Virgin of thirteen Another thing which obliged him the more to go thither was that he was informed the Prince of Locri had a Favorite who as well as the Prince his Master delighted to render justice to merit There was also another reason induced him to make choice of that place for the chief Priest of Helicon had a Niece married at Locri to a man of quality who was in no mean respect with the Prince's Favorite whose name was Lysicrates Hesiode then went to Locri and was entertained at the house of the Niece of that chief Priest of Helicon who was named Belintha and her Husband Artimedes As soon as he was there he enquired tidings of the fair Clymene to whom Belintha was an intimate friend This Woman who was very amiable and sprightly answered him sighing that Clymene was in the Countrey that she preferred sollitude before conversation that she had bid adieu to the world and would return to the City till the rigor of the winter should drive her thither But Clymene answered Hesiode much surprised cannot in my opinion be above 19 or 20 years old which is not an age in which to prefer solitude before the Court unless she have lost her beauty by some accident I assure you replyed Belintha that Clymene is as fair as ever she was and though she were less yet she has so great a Wit that she would be always infinitely amiable It must needs be then said Hesiode that this fair Virgin be possessed with some great discontent which causes her to hate the World but however added he she will at least admit of a visit By no means answered Belintha and unless Antiphanes or Ganetor who are her brothers carry you thither I think I dare not do it for she hates men principally Then some one perhaps has betrayed her said Hesiode Since several have loved her answered Belintha smiling it is no wonder if some of them have deceived her Oh I beseech you replyed Hesiode tell me a little more exactly what has befallen Clymene You shall know soon enough answered Belintha but nothing at present from me Nor did Hesiode know more concerning her at that time And moreover ambition predominating in his heart he was more sollicitous of getting an interest with the Prince of Locri and Lysicrates then learning tidings of Clymene Accordingly he succeeded happily in the design he had made and in very few days became highly in favor with the Prince and Lysicrates and consequently with all the Court for 't is the custom for those who are favorably respected by Princes or men in government to be so likewise by all the rest of the world Thus ambition feeding it self with hope in the heart of Hesiode he considered only how to make this beginning of favor become profitable to him and thought no more of going to seek Clymene in the Countrey nor informing himself particularly of what had hapned to her Yet he contracted a great friendship with Antiphanes and Ganetor her Brothers but being it was not of them that he could learn the adventures of their Sister he knew nothing of them then but imployed himself wholly in the care of his fortune without feeling in his heart any inclination to love any fair one He
the throng to the place where the body lay But coming thither she beheld her dear Hesiode dead who having receiv'd a great wound in the Throat with a Sword seem'd to have been assassinated At the same instant Antiphanes and Ganetor by the Prince's order approaching towards the body to the end they might ascertain him whose it was came thither at the same moment that the unfortunate Clymene did But as soon as they appear'd the Dog which she had given Hesiode and who then lay upon his body leapt up with an extream fury sometimes against Antiphanes and sometimes against Ganetor as if he would fly in their faces and accuse them of the death of his Master which Clymene observing and all the people looking upon it as something prodigious and perceiving the wounds of Hesiode begin to bleed afresh and Antiphanes and Ganetor appearing astonish'd at it Clymene could not contain her self from saying in the transport of her grief turning towards her friend who was near her Ah! my dear Belintha I see not only Hesiode dead but I see also that they which murder'd him are my brothers After this fair and afflicted Lady being able to speak no more resented such an excess of grief that she fell down in a swound near the body of Hesiode Belintha sate down by her and holding her in her arms did all she could to revive her In the mean time the people having heard what Clymene said comparing her words with the action of that faithful Dog of Hesiode did not doubt but Antiphanes and Ganetor had murder'd him besides that they appear'd so astonish'd that their countenances accus'd them Now Hesiode having been very well belov'd and the people having newly heard a Hymn of his composing in the honor of Neptune wherewith they were very much affected believ'd they could do nothing more acceptable to the God whose Festival they celebrated than to sacrifice to him the Murderers of him who had so excellently sung his glory Whereupon the Brothers of Clymene endeavour'd to return towards the Prince but the multitude setting upon them strangely treated and affronted them It being not the custom to wear Arms during the Solemnity of this Sacrifice there was no difficulty in laying hold upon these two excâ—rable murderers who instead of justfying themselves desir'd they might be led to the Prince and that the People would protect them from the violence of those that set upon them but alledging the Prince would punish them for offering to revenge the death of a man whom he had banisht they made their own conviction evident Whereupon the people crying out it was fit to kill them otherwise Neptune would be incens'd This revenge becoming a zeal of Religion it was impossible for the Prince or the Priest to rescue them from being torn in pieces by the multitude and cast into the Sea The unfortunate Clymene hearing the cry on every side They are dead and Hesiode reveng'd understood her Brothers were put to death after having slain her dear Hesiode for it was presently known by some Shepherds who had seen it that these ambitious Brothers had murder'd him with Troilus upon the Bank of the River Daphnus near the place where it falls into the Sea that afterwards they had thrown the two bodies into the Sea one of which was cast up again by the waves upon the shore and the other brought by the Dolphins near the Cape of Rium The Prince hearing Clymene was near the body of Hesiode went thither to her after he had dispers'd all the incensed multitude who so well reveng'd the death of Hesiode that they pull'd down a house standing not far off which belong'd to Antiphanes and Ganetor But as soon as Clymene perceiv'd the Prince she shut her eyes that she might not see him and making a sign to him with her hand to retire turn'd her head towards the other side and swoon'd with grief in the arms of Belintha This sad accident so affected the Prince of Locri that fearing his presence might occasion the death of Clymene if he should continue near her he intreated Belintha to take care of her and retir'd In the mean time partly out of policy and partly out of generosity he commanded the body of Hesiode to be interr'd near a Temple of Nemaea in the Countrey of Locri which stood in the midst of a Wood to the end it might be less in the sight of the people and that the remembrance of his death might be the sooner worn out Thus the Oracle which had formerly admonisht Hesiode to beware of the Temple of Nemaea was accomplish'd though Hesiode forsook Peloponnesus that he might be at greater distance from the Temple of Nemaea which is seen there Belintha after the body of Hesiode was remov'd from thence caus'd Clymene to come again to her self and put her into a Chariot into which her self and her Aunt likewise enter'd and commanded him that drove it to goe to a house of hers which stood thirty Furlongs from thence But upon the way whatever Consolations were us'd to Clymene she answer'd nothing but Hesiode is dead for my sake and I will dye for his And accordingly this fair Virgin who till then imagin'd her self still upon the Sea-shore near the body of Hesiode so troubled was her mind observing at length she was in a Chariot and no longer saw her dear Hesiode believ'd they were carrying her to Locri where the Prince would continue to importune her Upon which making a great shreek Ah! no no said she it shall never be said that I live after my dear Hesiode and go to a place where he can be no more And immediately as if she had had the command of her Fates she fell down in so great a swound that they were forc'd to stop the Chariot Yet their succor to her was in vain for she expir'd in the Arms of her Aunt and her Friend who were ready to dye with grief as well as she But at length seeing their tears were unprofitable they continued on their way in the most sad manner imaginable They had scarce gone five hundred paces into a Wood but Lysicrates without knowing any thing of what had happened came attended with several Horsemen to stop the Chariot with intention to carry away Clymene and to put her into a Ship which he had provided for that purpose But how strangely was he surpriz'd when instead of living Clymene he beheld the fair Clymene dead Come Lysicrates come said Belintha to him who knew his design come see the fatal consequences of your ambition For if you had never been ambitious Clymene had been still alive her Brother and Hesiode would not have been dead nor your self culpable and exil'd but you would have been as happy as I foresee you will be miserable for it is not possible you should be otherwise after having caus'd so many miseries Ah! Belintha cry'd Lysicrates alighting from his Horse and approaching to her that which you say is
friend to render justice to the affection Theanor bears you For in brief amiable Terentia I do not love Aurelisa more ardently than Theanor does you I wish to the gods answer'd she sighing I could love Theanor I should be more happy than I am but however I can assure you I pity you both and am much afflicted I cannot contribute to the felicity of either Alas Madam reply'd he for my part I seek nothing but to dy a little lesse criminal in your esteem and a little lesse hated by the charming Aurelisa I understand you well answer'd Terentia blushing and I will make you see that it is not my fault that you are not happy At these words this fair virgin arose up and told Aurelisa Aemilius desir'd to speak with her Upon which Theanor who had an extreme desire to speak with Terentia told her with much civility he conjur'd her to go and revive his friend by giving him some small hope Aurelisa not daring to refuse because Elinyssa was present went accordingly to speak with Aemilius whom she affected not after having had a conversation with Theanor almost like that which he had had with Terentia When she approacht to him Well Madam said he to her shall the unfortunate Aemilius be hated when he is a dying and shall he not have at least the consolation to think that you will pity him and that if Theanor dyes as well as he all your tears shall not be spent upon that ungrateful person who loves you lesse than another Lady very amiable indeed but yet much lesse than you Terentia answer'd Aurelisa is more amiable than I and you are so oblig'd to her that you are as unjust in not loving her as I am unjust in not loving you But in brief we are not governors of our own destiny However believe that I pity you and if I could render you happy I would do it with joy You may at least let me dy with some consolation reply'd Aemilius by permitting me to believe that you would not hate me but only because you love Theanor and that if you lov'd him not you would perhaps look upon me more favourably After this Madam I shall desire nothing more of you Whilst Aemilius was speaking thus to Aurelisa Theanor us'd all the sweetest and most affecting expressions to Terentia that the most tender love could inspire him with but this Ladie 's mind being disturb'd for having found nothing but generosity in Theanor's heart towards her answer'd him so negligently that this afflicted Lover was ready to die at that very instant and lost his speech through the excess of his grief But tho Terentia was extreamly perplex'd to understand how ardent Aemilius's affection was for Aurelisa yet she left Theanor very hastily and came to help Elinyssa and me to succour him insomuch that not being able to suppress his complaint O gods cry'd he lifting up his eies to heaven with how many torments would I have deserv'd Aemilius's death In speaking which this furious Lover offer'd to pluck off all that was laid upon a wound he had receiv'd in the left arm whereupon Aurelisa leaving him by whom she was lov'd to go to succour him whom she lov'd tho he did not affect her restrain'd his hand and making use of the power her friend had over him to withhold him In the name of Terentia said she to him taking him by the hand restrain part of your grief and believe added she transported by an excess of tenderness which the danger she saw him in excited in her heart that it shall not be my fault if Terentia do not render you happy Yes Theanor continu'd this afflicted beauty since you cannot live for me and cannot live without her I will become the Confident of your passion and serve you with her tho it be to act against my self Alass Madam said she to her 't is enough that I die with grief without causing me to die with confusion Leave an ungrateful person leave me to die and succour the unfortunate Aemilius who adores you and dies only for your sake As we were in this perplexity word was brought to Elinyssa that Tolumnius was fallen sick at his house in the Country and sent for her to come to him So that it was requisite to depart which nevertheless we did not do till after Aemilius was recover'd from his swoon and those that attended on them were call'd for But in fine Madam to shorten my relation as much as I can these two Lovers were cur'd in spight of themselves and Tolumnius dy'd in the Country but at his death he gave all his estate to Terentia and Aurelisa and requested Elinyssa to do the like at hers if Theanor did not marry Aurelisa and Aemilius Terentia These two generous Ladies after the death of Tolumnius would not accept what he had given them Terentia resolving to confer her part on Aemilius and Aurelisa hers on Theanor But they being as generous as their Mistresses refus'd this high munificence Theanor told Aurelisa it was sufficient he could not give her his heart without taking away from her an estate which belong'd to her and Aemilius said the same to Terentia insomuch that Elinyssa has been constrain'd to take care of all the estate of Tolumnius till these four persons resolve what they will have her to do with it The relations of Aurelisa and Terentia after the death of Tolumnius desir'd to take away these two Ladies from Elinyssa and place them about the Queen where they have been ever since with sentiments of equal affection without being able to succeed in changing their hearts tho during four months Theanor Aemilius Terentia and Aurelisa have done all they could to overcome themselvs In the mean time Terentia has not omitted to do any good office for Aemilius nor Aurelisa for Theanor either with the King or Queen so that with the consent of these two Lovers I may say there is no person in the world to whom they have so much obligation as to these two Virgins whom they can never love 'T is true Theanor has more obligation to Aurelisa than Aemilius to Terentia because she has really done all she could to perswade this fair Virgin to marry him And therefore 't is a sentiment of gratitude which caus'd that Lover to act as all the Court has seen when they were in danger of being drown'd For you must know Madam that yesterday whilst the King was speaking to the Queen and you Terentia and Aurelisa passing out of the porch to the bridge which lies over the ditch to go into the garden Theanor and Aemilius who attended on the King were leaning against the gate to speak to them and as persons that love never speak but what has relation to their passion when they can these two Lovers were rejoicing that the Queen being near the Camp they could at least have the consolation of seeing them sometimes during the War Theanor offer'd to speak some obliging words
that it is not to be wonder'd if the husband finding them so different from what they were before marriage change their sentiments towards them Flatter your self Plotina flatter your self said Lucia with some earnestness 't is the custome of all fair and young persons to believe their charms will have more power than those of others but let me tell you once more Martius is an inconstant person and more dangerous than Lycastes In truth Lucia answer'd Plotina I do not much fear either of them for marriage is so much fear'd by me that I hope that thought will help me to defend my heart against the merit of these two Rivals and I dare say too against any light inclination I have for Martius Thus you see what Plotina's sentiments were and how she defended Martius to the disadvantage of Lycastes In the mean time they both lov'd her extreme passionately nevertheless they durst not declare it openly to her but without having such design they did this office one for another although there was now as great a secret hatred between them as there had been formerly friendship For it hapned one day that these two Lovers were in a garden amongst many other persons of Quality and both of them by the instinct of their affections endeavour'd to approach to Plotina but Lucia meeting them fell into discourse with Martius that so she might oblige Lycastes whose friend she was On the other side a Kinswoman of Martius observing the cunning of Lucia made as if she had some important affair to speak to Lycastes about so that these two Rivals were alike unhappy for more than an hour but at length Martius quitting himself something rudely from the conversation of Lucia came to find Plotina with whom I was walking and another of my Friends but being the walk we were in was very narrow Martius soon became alone with his Mistress for I stopt to entertain that friend I mention'd though we stay'd still in the same Walk Plotina being of a very pleasant humor at first fell to tell Martius several divertising things she had observ'd in the company For my part said he maliciously to her I have seen nothing more remarkable than Lycastes so employ'd in speaking to a friend of mine in a place where the amiable Plotina is present But perhaps answer'd she smiling Lycastes does not talk to your Friend but your Friend to Lycastes Be it how it will reply'd Martius if he lov'd you as much as he would have you believe he would be as incivil to the Lady who entertains him as I was but now to Lucia who held me in discourse But to speak truth added he professed inconstants such as Lycastes have no violent affections But who told you Lycastes is in love with me demanded Plotina I have not perceiv'd it Being I know no person whatsoever answer'd Martius who does not or has not lov'd you I suppose a man who is accustom'd to love out of inconstancy only cannot fail but love the most charming person in the World And moreover amiable Plotina added he the eyes of a Rival and a constant Rival discover things much better than those of other people I assure you reply'd she making as if she did not hear Martius I have not perceiv'd that Lycastes loves me more than the other Ladies he converses with However answer'd Martius I know if he does love he will not love you very long for it is not possible for him to love the same person any considerable time and I remember I have heard he once writ to a Lady in the Countrey to desire a private conference with her but when the answer arriv'd and permission to go see and speak with her in private was granted him he had no longer any thing to say to her because he had chang'd his sentiments towards her Ha! Martius cry'd Plotina blushing as if she had been angry it could be believ'd that any one could not love her long that which you say can never come to pass I â—â—'er inspire but an immortal love And such if any will Lycastes prove Then I am very miserable Madam answer'd Martius by being out of all hope ever to be cur'd of the ill which torments me But where had you those two Verses which denounce to me not only that I shall love you as long as I live but always have not one but a thousand Rivals as dangerous as Lycastes I assure you reply'd she they came into my mind without thinking of them and I spoke them unawares for I would have you know added she minding to turn the discourse into railery I do not at all pretend to Poetry but to speak truth I could not allow you to believe that I cannot keep a heart when I have conquer'd it And besides contined she smiling I take so little care in conquering them that I am something jealous of my power After this she stood still and call'd me so Martius could discourse with her no longer but was oblig'd to go and entertain himself with other Ladies By this time Lycastes having disengag'd himself from her that talkt with him came to us and that so opportunely that Plotina going to pass over a little Bridge which lay cross a Brook gave him her hand and so he continued leading her afterwards Being a person infinitely ingenious and subtle to prejudice a Rival I know not said he to Plotina looking upon her whether the conversation you have had with Martius was very divertising but he talkt with you in a place where what passion soever he has for you he ought rather to have sigh'd out of grief than love for I have been told that the first time the fair and charming person whom he destroy'd declar'd she was very willing he should love her it was in this very place where perhaps he entertain'd you with the love he has for you I know not whether Martius loves me or no answer'd Plotina but I know how to make my self so much respected as that none dare speak any thing to me but what I am willing to hear What Madam cry'd he can you eternally hinder such as adore you from declaring it to you No no added he if Martius has not yet told you he loves you he ought to have done it But I confess to you that to prove to you that he knows how to love it behov'd him to entertain you only with sad discourse in this place I beseech you said Plotina tell me in what place of the World you have had opportunity to speak of Love and have not done it you I say who are accus'd of having made a thousand declarations of love But Madam answer'd he I have lov'd only women that did not love me but as for Martius he has been lov'd again and lov'd constantly and the abatement of his affection has caus'd the death of the person whom he lov'd so much As for what you say reply'd Plotina that you have never been lov'd again it