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
had seen you and heard you speak and have found in your hand the mole which ought to be there and seen the Jewels of Clelia there is no question to be made but you are the Son of the King Porsenna and the Queen Galerita and him which hath put Nicius and I to the expence of so many tears Yes Sir added Nicius you are assuredly the Son of a great Prince and Princess and would to the Gods you were more happy than they Aronces hearing Nicius and Martia speak in this manner was so surprised at it that his astonishment appeared in his eyes but it appeared there without causing any transportment of excessive joy in his heart and I may very well say that never any person gave such an illustrious mark of moderation In effect the first motion which came into his spirit was to give me a new demonstration of his friendship For 't is true as soon as Nicius and Martia had related to him his birth he beheld me with an obliging eye in which there appeared without the confirmation of any words that he was glad to see himself in estate to requite my affection by effectual courtesies In the mean time he learnt to Nicius and Martia all that I had already told them and they learnt to him all that I have recounted to you in the beginning of this History that is to say the War of the precedent King of Clusium with Mezentius Prince of Perusia the imprisonment of Porsenna his love for Galerita by what means he had been delivered his marriage the death of Nicetale the second imprisonment of Porsenna and Galerita his birth the manner how he had been conveyed from the Willow Island to put him in their hands their flight their embarquement their Shipwrack and the resolution they had taken to go to Syracusa and not to declare to Porsenna's friends that the child was trusted to them had perisht not because they did not positively know he was dead but because they durst not tell it for fear it should abate the hearts of the friends of Porsenna and Galerita but though is it possible said I then to Nicius and Martia that the child of Porsenna and Galerita hath not appeared so long and how could it be concealed so many years that they did not know where he was The thing hath been very easie replyed Nicius for you must know that having a year very carefully concealed the loss of this young Prince the friends of Porsenna making a secret League resolved that they must have this Child in their hands to endeavour to excite an insurrection among the people so that one amongst them knowing where we were came thither and as we must necessarily confess our shipwrack to him end as 't is natural to flatter our selves with hope and to diminish as much as we could the misfortunes of others we told to this friend of Porsenna that this Child would be one day it may be found and that there had so many escaped ship-wrack that it may be this child should be escaped as well as the others whether it should be so or no replied he to whom we spoke we must not publish his death if it were not for no other reason then not to give joy to the enemies of Porsenna and grief to his friends and conforming our selves to his will published it not and since that have always said that Porsenna's Son was not dead and to endeavour to excite the people to Rebellion we spread a bruit that Mezentius had taken him from us by force and that he kept him prisoner as well as his Father In the mean time as we durst not return into our Countrey because of the Perusian Prince we always remained at Syracusa but as Martia had a long and grievous sickness from which she hardly recovered we agreed to leave Sicily for some time and to choose a more healthful Air and finding no place more agreeable then Capua we came hither and we came hither without doubt conducted by the gods for to find you here since that in the state in which things are your presence is wholly necessary to save the life of the King your Father for Mezentius is more incensed then ever Bianor hath always love and ambition the Princess of Perusia his Sister doth all she can that he may obtain his ends and Mezentius despairing to have other Children then Galerita seems resolved to put to death Porsenna to the end to enforce this Princess to re-marry with Bianor for though she is your Mother she hath not compleated above thirty six years and is yet as I have heard one of the fairest persons in the World You may judge Madam with what attention Aronces hearkned to the discourse of Nicius and how many different thoughts possessed his heart for he was glad to know he was a King's Son he was afflicted to learn in what a deplorable estate the Prince was to whom he owed his Life the certainty of not being a Roman gave him some inquietude because of Clelius the thought that he could not espouse Clelia without doing something contrary to exact prudence gave him displeasure and his soul was strangely agitated but at last got the Victory In the mean time as there lackt the shewing of the two knots of Diamonds to finish the discovery of Porsenna's Son though it was not necessary Aronces after he had said a thousand obliging things to Nicius and Martia and after he had recounted to them the obligations he had to Clelius and a part of that which was happened to him except his love for Clelia he left them to return to Clelius his house but returning thither we met Herminius who came from thence and who told us that it was accounted a very strange thing we should so suddenly leave them adding that a part of the company was already gone In effect when we entred Clelia's house there was but four or five of her friends with her who walkt together in her Father's Garden for we went so timely to the lodging of Nicius that it was not so late when we came from thence but we might walk without any incommodity so that Clelia no sooner saw Aronces but she made war to him for leaving her when she celebrated her Birth-day If you knew what obliged me to do it replied he to her I am assured you will not murmure against me it may be replied she to him and shall not accuse you of it but you cannot hinder me from complaining of you that which you say is so glorious for me replied he that if I should have gained nothing by leaving you I ought to be consolated for leaving you But in fine Madam said he to her separating her five or six paces from the company I must tell you that which hath obliged me to leave you and that you know I have not done it but to cease to be that unknown Aronces without Name and Countrey who hath sometimes been so cruelly
to thank you for I profess the very sight of you hath been the first pleasure I have had since I came into this Prison though for ought I can judge by your face I have been longer in it than you have lived Sir replied Aronces you are much in the right in comparing the time of your imprisonment with my age and life for having the honour to be your son you may conceive there ought to be no difference between the length of the one and the length of the other I see Sir added he that my discourse does amaze you but if you will do me the honour to hear me out I shall make that apparent to you which at the first seemed incredible Your face your voice and my own heart are so suitable to your words replied Porsenna that I am apt to believe it Therefore speak on I beseech you and omit not the least circumstance which may perswade unto a belief of that which does infinitely please me but which seems to be impossible for if you be my son how comes it to pass Mezentius should give you leave to see me hath he repented of his injustice is his reason returned how came you to move his heart Aronces seeing Porsenna in such a good disposition to hear him he began to relate his birth the manner how Flavia got him out of the Isle of Saules where Galerita was guarded his Ship wrack how he was saved by Clelius his sojourning at Carthage and again at Capua the rencounter of Nicius and Martia her acknowledgements and every circumstance concerning them two and in general all that was needful to make him see that certainly he was his Son and that he was worthy to be so For he related unto him the design which he had to come unto Mezentius to deliver him how he had saved the life of that Prince in a Wood near the Lake of Thrasimene and what happened unto him since but he told him not of his love unto Clelia On the contrary though he was not able to relate what had happened unto him without naming her yet he was as careful as he could to avoid it thinking that if he did pronounce the name of that admirable Lady he should discover some of his souls resentments But after he had told Porsenna of a thousand convincing circumstances he shewed unto him a private mark which he had in one of his hands and was so like that which Galerita had upon her face that Porsenna seeing her in seeing Aronces hearing the voice of his dear Galerita in hearing him and understanding a hundred passages which were impossible to be forged he imbraced his Son with abundance of tender joy but Aronces in lieu of joy was extremely sad Porsenna observing it asked the cause Alas alas Sir said he unto him how is it possible but I should grieve to see that at the very same time in which I bring you joy I must also bring you sorrow For Sir Mezentius believes that the Man whom I killed and who would have killed him would never have attempted it without your contrivance and he is so extremely incensed as he is ready to take any violent course I my self come now unto you under the notion of your enemy and I took upon me to visit you under a pretence of pumping you whether what Mezentius believes be true or false Since you are my Son replied Porsenna I will think that you believe you cannot have a Father who would wash his hands in the blood of your Grandfather and I am so far from desiring the preservation of my life by a crime as I charge you to attempt nothing upon the life of Mezentius though there should be no other way to prevent my death For after the indurement of a prison three and twenty years with glory I am able to indure death which is only a moment of pain Therefore dearest Son I charge you not to hinder Mezentius from putting me to death so it be by just ways and be sure never to commit any crime to prevent him After this Aronces gave him an account how all things stood and of the design which Mezentius had to marry Galerita For perceiving the great constancy of the King his Father he did think it not fit to disguise any thing to the end he might have his advice So as after a full consideration of every thing they resolved that to gain time Aronces should tell Mezentius that without all question Porsenna was innocent in the business of Assassination but withal he was perswaded that it was not impossible but that he might be induced unto a consent that his Marriage might be broken off provided things were not done with too much precipitation Aronces did not yet leave the King his Father until he had assured him that he would sooner die than consent he should and until he had yielded him all possible testimonies and expressions of virtue and generosity At his return he gave an account unto Mezentius according as it was resolved upon But though the Prince of Perusia wished to have found Porsenna rather guilty of the Assassination than innocent yet he durst not shew as much but only told Aronces that though Porsenna should consent unto the breaking off the Marriage yet he would not set him at liberty in a long time For said he Prisoners of his Quality must not be dealt withal like others they must never be set at liberty until they be brought into such a condition as they shall not be able to take revenge Aronces replied unto all this according as his great soul did suggest unto him and he did so well know how to manage the mind of Mezentius as he promised not to be too hasty upon the death of Porsenna But as to the Marriage of my Daughter added he after many other things I will do as if Porsenna were already dead for if he will not consent his Marriage shall be broken he dies and if he do consent it is time that I think upon whom to bestow my Daughter Indeed Mezentius was so wholly intent upon this that he resolved to put it in execution and to be think himself upon whom to bestow Galerita Sextilia having a great power with him he never used to do any thing of consequence without imparting it unto her and therefore he asked her advice in this business But she made ado and did not like it for her interest was to marry her unto one who depended upon her but not being beloved by the Grandees of the State she knew not whom to prefer and therefore desired some days of consideration upon a choice of that importance As for Mezentius he did cast his eye upon Tiberinus not dreaming upon the violent love that he bore unto the Princess of the Leontines for besides the ignorance of it he supposed that the ambitious consideration of Reigning would be so prevalent in him as to make him quit all other pretensions whatsoever So as
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
consequently bestow on him the Princess his daughter But in the mean time Tarquin being as subtile as wicked seemed to rest satisfyed with the reasons of Junius and thereupon promised he would do no violence to Herdonius but by just and honourable wayes However he made a shift to dispatch him otherwise for corrupting a Slave belonging to Herdonius who while his Master was out of doors suffered a number of swords and other arms to be brought into his Master's house the cruel Tarquin confidently dressed up an accusation against him insinuating that it was fit enquiry should be made into the business and so engaging all those to whom he spoke of it by the apprehension of their own danger he perswaded them they should be fully enlightned as to what he said to them by searching Herdonius his house This was done and there were found the Arms which Tarquin had secretly conveyed thither and such other circumstances as amounted to make him thought guilty upon which those whom Tarquin had purposely brought along with him seized disorderly every one on a sword of those which were found and without any other ceremony threaten him with death He is taken bound and by Tarquin's order cast into the Spring-head of the Ferentine fountains where he no sooner was in but overwhelmed with stones he was presently drowned The business was done so of a sudden that Junius knew it not ere it was too late to prevent it though as soon as he had notice that some Souldiers were commanded to Herdonius's he went to divert Tarquin from so strange a violence But he could not make such hast but that Herdonius was dead and all he could do was to acquaint Tarquin that he was not ignorant of his crime in it This business broke off all correspondence between him and Tarquin insomuch that he went not to Court but when honor oblig'd him he gave order Tarquinia should go very seldom to the Queen so that both of them made it afterwards their whole business to see well educated two sons which they then had whereof Brutus is one It is true he was then but a child but his brother who was six or seven years elder than he made some advantage of the instructions they gave him Another thing which extreamly exasperated Tarquin against Junius was to see what use he made of that excessive wealth which he was master of for when Tarquin had consiscated the estate of any vertuous Family Junius and Tarquinia secretly reliev'd all those whom he had ruin'd which they did after such a manner as if they conceiv'd themselves obliged to enrich those whom the Prince impoverish'd and that it was their part to restore what he took away from all vertuous people Tarquin therefore thought that their liberality did as it were dis-arm his Tyranny by making him uncapable to make men miserable and that Junius having married his Sister robb'd the Crown of all he was so prodigal of Nay he conceived that this mans Vertue secretly reproved his Vices so indeed that at last he was no longer able to endure it Being therefore resolved to rid Junius out of the way and tempted withall with the advantage of being Guardian to his Children and consequently disposing of all the great Wealth of that house he caused him to be poyson'd But as it is hard to meet with poysons that leave no marks of their malignity the vertuous Tarquinia knew but too much to her grief that her noble Husband was taken away by the cruelty of her Brother But that which was most remarkable in his death was that Junius who had an infinite affection for Tarquinia and doubted not but that he was poisoned at a Banquet where he was forced to afford the tyrant his company yet had the generosity not to tell her of her Brothers cruelty nor ever mind her of revenging his death But if he shewed himself so reserv'd to her he was more open to his eldest Son who was arrived to years of discretion For he sent for Licinius an ancient friend of his whose faith he trusted with all his secrets and speaking to his Son in his presence he enjoyned him to be as dutiful to that vertuous friend as to himself to prefer Vertue before all things never to forget that his Father lost his life through the injustice of an Usurper never to miss any occasion might conduce to the deliverance of Rome and to instil these resentments into his younger Brother as soon as he should be capable to receive them which done he died in an admirable assuredness of mind But Tarquinia's constancy was at the first onset over-mastered by her grief and it was impossible she should not betray some light supicion she had about the death of Junius even while the fierce Taquin and the cruel Tullia were comforting her for the loss which they caused her for this inhumane Princess had a hand in this as in all the rest of her husbands enormities But Tarquin catching at so visible a pretence soon began to ill-intreat his Sister and possessing himself of all the wealth of the Family reduc'd Tarquinia to a very sad condition for he left her not any thing to dispose of nor was she suffer'd to have her eldest Son with her which added infinitely to the affliction of this generous Roman Lady who in that very circumstance underwent the greatest persecution which could fall upon her after the loss she had received For Tarquin observing in his Sisters eldest Son certain great and vertuous inclinations and that he had withal a great understanding and courage caused him barbarously to be murthered and that so confidently that he troubled not himself whether he were accused for it or not or studied any pretence for it as if there were not any other account of his loss to be given than that he feared that that illustrious unfortunate man should revenge his Fathers death and recover that prodigious wealth which he had possessed himself of Tarquinia who had yet hardly dried up her tears for the death of her husband was so transported with that of her Sons that to save what was left she resolved to steal out of Rome with this child and she did it so much the sooner insomuch as she was advertised by Licinius that Tarquin would within a few days snatch him out of her Arms. So that this wise Matron assisted by the counsel of this faithful friend of Marcus Junius absolutely determined to forsake that place where her own Brother reigned with so much injustice It is true she had the happiness of Licinius's company thence for being hated by Tarquin he thought it conduced to his safety to leave his country as well as she So that Licinius Tarquinia and the young Brutus who then had no other name that Lucius Junius departed Rome disguised and pitcht upon Metapont for the place of their retreat That which obliged Licinius to advise Tarquinia to that place was making it his business to bestow
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
doubt be some very handsome things and sometimes also very pleasant in Juvenal He shall live under Domitian he shall be son of a Freed-man but having in one of his Satyrs reflected upon one of the persons in favor he shall be sent in Commission at the Age of fourscore years to the farthest part of Aegypt where he shall dye in a kind of exile But then behold Martial who advances a famous Author of Epigrams and who shall merit to be the first in his kind Not but that the Epigrams of Catullus shall please more because they shall be Epigrams throughout as one day a great Man amongst the Gaules shall say whereas those of Martial shall not be so but at the end but indeed they shall be in a manner of two differing kinds Catullus shall be full of elegancy delicacy and the neat raillerie of the better sort Martial on the other side shall have a raillerie less polite but quick piquant and subtle and shall not want elegance in some places That which shall be good in him shall be excellent but there shall be several mean Epigrams amongst others and several which shall appear flat in remoter Ages because the difference of manners and custom shall cause their agreeableness not to be comprehended Martial shall be born in Spain he shall be a very gallant Man and shall live under an Emperor whose name shall be Domitian Next to him I must shew thee a Poet named Persius although he is to precede Juvenal under the reign of Claudius His Works shall have resemblance with those of that famous Author they shall be very highly esteemed of in his own days but in more remote times he shall appear very obscure to the most Learned yet he shall have this glory that a person of high quality great courage and excellent Wit after having been dangerously wounded in War in an occasion wherein he shall signalize himself having no other Book to divert him during his sickness but this shall translate it admirably for his pleasure and make a Copy which shall far transcend the original though he must also make some things of his own incomparably more handsome But in brief after Martial Poetry shall resemble nothing but old age and decrepitude Yet there shall be under Theodosius one Claudian who shall have a handsome facility There shall also be born in Gaul upon the bank of the Garoone a Poet called Ausonius who shall be Tutor to an Emperor and afterwards Roman Consul and shall compose things full of Wit and Learning But after all it may be said that Latine Poetry shall dye together with the Language 'T is true after this Language shall be no longer in use but among the Learned there shall be Italian Poets in the Ages remote from that of Augustus who shall cause Latine Poetry to flourish again miraculously But since the multitude of Poets can never be found but amongst the living Languages I must shew thee in the same Country as it were another Nation and another Scene for Poetry For my part said Plotina then I am highly pleased with the Prediction of Calliope and though I am sufficiently glad to be living at present yet I think I should not be very sorry to be in the days of Augustus to see the Poets rich then and great Lords worthy persons Being I am not certain what I should be at that time answer'd Amilcar 't is as good to content my self with being what I am and proceed with my reading Which he continued thus Behold now O Hesiode the same Italy again but imagine to thy self that it has been over-run by an inundation of forreign Nations that it has changed its government manners and language that it has groaned for several ages under barbarisme and ignorance that it is now beginning again to understand good literature and to remember its antient politeness Thou seest there the first Italian Poet who shall one day be famous but consider him as a man who shall choose a very difficult Subject to treat of in Verse and express himself so obscurely that he shall scarce be understood by them of his own age He shall be born in a City that shall be named Florence he shall be known by the name of Dante and have scarce any thing but Fiction in his Verses But now turn thy eyes upon that pleasant Valley bounded by a great rock at the foot of which is a famous Fountain which alone gives rise to a River and which being six months high and six months low shall pass for one of the wonders of Nature See on the right hand of this lovely vally in which are seen an hundred Rivulets of living water and inartificial channels a little Meddow wherein is a man who appears very sad and muses profoundly 't is Petrarch who shall be born in the Town of Arezzo He shall love a fair and virtuous Virgin whose name shall be Laura and shall have a very handsome house in Valchiusa so shall the Valley thou seest be one day called because 't is enclosed almost on every side 'T is he that shall give a perfect example of constant and honest Love He shall love Laura both living and dead and he shall preserve so much respect in his passion that it shall be hard to conjecture whether he were lov'd again or no so full shall his Verses be of discretion Nevertheless they shall be very amorous and he shall compose more in lamenting the death of Laura than in extolling her during her life He shall love her one and twenty years with an equal ardour and they shall both love with so great innocence that the glory of their Love shall last as long as that of Petrach's Verses who shall have the honor to be the first of his Nation that understood to speak handsomely of Love in Verse He shall be as deformed as his Mistress shall be fair but he shall have so handsome a Wit a Heart so noble and a Soul so virtuous that he shall be esteem'd by all the most considerable persons of his time Whereby he shall have many marks of honor during his life and shall be crowned Poet with magnificence in the chief City of the World In the next place behold Ferrara a very famous City and in the principal place of it a man who has an ingenious aspect 't is the famous Ariosto who shall make very hansome Comedies and Satyrs but above all a great Poem so full of different inventions that though he ought to be accus'd for being unequall'd yet he shall not fail to be admirable in a thousand respects For he shall have a certain kind of divertising variety which shall charm his Readers He shall have a Style easie natural and amorous the negligence of which shall not hinder it's facility from being extreme delightful and though regularity must sometimes be wanting in him yet he shall please almost perpetually It were to be wish'd indeed that he would retrench some
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
Philosopher that ever liv'd since I am fully perswaded you are of his opinion and 't is only out of an evil bashfulness that you dare not own it seriously Amilcar But what are you concern'd whether I believe that which you do or no Damon 'T is because I would be assur'd to leave a Pythagorean Lover to Plotina to the end he might perswade her of so important a truth as that of the Mctempsychosis or transmigration of Souls is Amilcar How Would you have me perswade her that perhaps she has been a Stork and may possibly become a Hinde which are difficult matters to believe when one is not accustomed thereto I that cannot perswade her that I love her passionately tho it be sufficiently probable for a man that has black eyes an aery mind and a sensible heart to love the most charming person in the world Damon At least be so generous to perswade Plotina that if the Gods hear my prayers my Soul shall pass into the body of some pretty little Dog which may divert her tho she should receive it from your hand Amilcar Could I know you in that condition I should beware of giving you to my Mistress for you might be so dispos'd as to retain the hatred of a Rival under the form of a Dog and to bite me as one of those Creatures when possess'd with madness if I should offer to kiss the border of her robe Damon Alass What then can I wish to be that I may once again enjoy the presence of Plotina Amilcar Verily I think your case very hard herein according to all likelihood you can never see your self her Lover again tho the same moment ensuing your death should be the first of your second life for twenty years hence you would be quite a new Lover whom she would much contemn and besides she makes so little reckoning of her beauty at this day that it 's likely she would then much less esteem it But if you will beleive me desire to become a Mouse and to be hid in her closet I have sometimes made a Metamorphosis of a Mouse into a woman doe you make one of a Lover into a Mouse Damon But you do not consider that she would not love me but rather do all she could to cause me to be taken Amilcar You have reason and I am mistaken not but that according to the example of the Mouse I once told you of which gnaw'd Mars's Love-letters you might have pleasure enough in gnawing all the sweet Letters that should be written to her and especially mine Damon 'T is true but however I cannot think fit to become a Mouse Amilcar Indeed 't is sufficiently difficult to chuse to be a Beast in the company of Plotina Damon Yet I should rather like to be some poor little Animal and made much of than to be a Lover and ill treated Amilcar Every one has his fancie but in conclusion what doe you resolve upon Damon To die without knowing what I would be that I might still serve for something to Plotina Amilcar Trouble your self no more about this matter for I swear to you with all the sincerity of a Rival that whatever you may possibly become I will make you serve for divertisement to Plotina as often as I shall talk with her about your Pythagorean opinions And now die with joy since you can have no greater contentment having troubled her during your life than after your death to serve for the pleasure of the fairest and most amiable person in the world It must needs be confest said Plotina smiling that Amilcar is not over-wise for certainly 't is he that made this Toy Rather say answer'd Valeria that he is an agreeable person and of an ingenious and diverting humor For if Damon did not speak what is in the Dialogue 't is possible he might according to the humor that I understand he is of 'T is true reply'd Herminius that a man who could believe Amilcar remembred he had been a Phoenix might say all that is here ascrib'd to him I beseâ—â—â— you said Berelisa to Plotina give me a Copy of this Dialogue And I desire the same favour added Clidamira and if you please will writ it out immediately Amilcar's consent must be ask'd answered Plotina seeing him enter for no question he has more right than I in what you demand I do not think that can be said he tho I know not what you speak of We speak answer'd she of the pleasant Dialogue between Damon sick and Amilcar in health How cry'd he as for the Amilcar you speak of I assure you I do not know him but thanks to your eyes he that speaks to you is more sick than Damon Since your malady does not appear in your aspect answer'd Plotina it is not easie to believe you therefore you may please to suffer me to take you for the Amilcar in health who has made Damon speak a thousand follies and who alone can grant me permission to give Berelisa a Copy of the Dialogue which he has made Amilcar thereupon said it was true he had a discourse with Damon which deserv'd to be witten but he endeavor'd to deny that he had sent any thing to Plotina Yet it was in vain for all the company so confidently maintain'd that it was he that he could no longer defend himself Well then Madam said he to Plotina since 't is your pleasure I should pass for the Author of the Dialogue in question I consent to it for I am the most complacent person in the world Since 't is so said Berelisa you shall give me a copy of what you have made If Damon dies answered Plotina I shall consent to it but if he does not I conceive it will be best not to let this toy run abroad in the world for fear at length he be angry in good earnest On the contrary reply'd Amilcar if he dies 't is fit it die with him but if he escape as they who attend him beleive I care not if it be seen for since Damon is of a Sect according to which it is not lawfull to sleep with hatred in the heart he will doe me no great mischief In truth said Valeria I conceive whether Damon die or no 't is best to give no copy of Amilcar's Dialogue tho it be very agreeable Your goodness extends too far Madam answer'd Berelisa and 't is enough to say only that 't is not fit to publish this pleasant Toy but too much that it ought not to be given to any whatsoever since delightful things are not made with intent not to be seen No reply'd Amilcar but foolish things as this in question is ought not to be made common Nevertheless said Berelisa when a copy of them is given to a discreet person who promises not to lend them and swears to be faithful to entrust them is not all one as to publish them The world said Plotina is full of such discreet persons who promise
unwilling to commit a criminal Gallantry did certainly all she could to deprive these two Lovers utterly of hope but this rigour augmented their love in stead of diminishing it Wherefore Plotina being loth to trouble her self longer to no purpose left them to follow their own inclinations without being kind or favourable or considering one more than the other Yet one day she gave Lycastes a severe check in the presence of Martius Persander and Lucia who is a very amiable Lady for she profess'd it absolutely impossible for her to love a Lover that has been inconstant If any of those rambling Lovers answer'd Lycastes should become a faithful adorer of you wherefore would you not love him provided he have otherwise desert Because reply'd she hastily that which has hapned once may happen a hundred times and nothing would be more insupportable to me than to be abandon'd by a man to whom I had given permission to love me Therefore not to venture that mischief 't is best avoid giving it to any for the world is so full of inconstant Lovers who dissemble fidelity that it is easie to be mistaken Plotina spoke this with an air that intimated to Lycastes it would be a hard matter for him to win her heart Nevertheless he found he had so well shaken off his old inconstancy and that he should love Plotina faithfully that he hop'd time would mollifie her For my part I confess my inclination then led me to favour Lycastes and though Martius was a very worthy handsome and agreeable person yet I was more concern'd for his Rival But I perceiv'd one day Plotina was not of the same mind but had a little more inclination for Martius than for Lycastes However she carefully conceal'd it but for all her care not only I but Lucia Lycastes's Kinswoman and Friend perceiv'd it too This person had formerly seem'd an intimate friend of Martius's Mistress she saw the beginning progress and end of this love in which she had an interest which I shall tell you presently As we were both one day with Plotina we hapned unwittingly to speak of the power of inclination For my part said Plotina I do not believe it so powerful as 't is reported at least I am perswaded I never yet lov'd any thing without reason You believe this answer'd Lucia smiling and yet at the same time I am speaking to you your inclination prepossesses your reason to the disadvantage of one of my friends Perhaps 't is yours reply'd she which is prepossess'd If you will let Cesonia be judge said Lucia I will explain my self more clearly I assure you said I to them both I am very equitable 'T is a great vanity in you to believe your self so answer'd Plotina for I know nothing more difficult than to please others and ones self too and 't is observable that such as speak best of Justice are usually most unjust But I beseech you why do you accuse me of suffering my self to be prepossessed by my inclination Is it not true said Lucia that I have heard you say a hundred times you could never endure the affection of a man that has been inconstant I confess it answer'd she and 't is for that reason I am not mov'd with the merit of your Kinsman and never shall be But wherefore said Lucia will you suffer Martius more favourably I assure you answer'd Plotina I do not treat Martius much better than Lycastes but if I did I could maintain it were out of reason and not through inclination for Martius has never been inconstant Martius never inconstant reply'd Lucia hastily Ha! Plotina you are but badly skill'd in inconstancy if you believe as you say for I maintain on the contrary that that inconstancy which Martius may be reproacht with is more criminal than that whereof Lycastes has been accus'd before he lov'd you But I do not remember said I then to Lucia I ever heard it said that Martius lov'd any person but Plotina since the death of Lysimira of whom he was so amorous and who was indeed infinitely amiable 'T is true answer'd Lucia but after Martius had lov'd that amiable person five or six years and receiv'd a thousand testimonies of innocent affection from her he came by degrees to have only so luke-warm an amity for her that she is dead with grief although he was not perfidious to her but preserv'd his formalities to her Perhaps reply'd Plotina that person as lovely as she was had some bad humor which caus'd the Love in Martius's heart to be extinguish'd but though it were not so yet I should not conclude that Martius ought to be call'd inconstant for 't is so ordinary to see time abate Love that I still make a great difference between Lycastes and Martius For my part said I I confess I term all changing inconstancy and 't is a mistake not to call any inconstant but such as love several persons For is not that luke-warmness which comes after an ardent love a kind of inconstancy and is it not sufficient to deserve the name of inconstant if we cease to love that which we once affected I know not very well whether you have reason and I am mistaken answer'd Plotina but I know well I do not regard Martius and Lycastes alike That 's it reply'd Lucia you are unjust in Should you say added she Martius is more ingenious deserving and agreeable I should be patient but to treat Lycastes ill for inconstancy and to suffer Martius who ceas'd to love one of the most charming persons in the world is a thing which I cannot approve But Lycastes said Plotina has forsaken a hundred I grant it answer'd Lucia but should he have forsaken a thousand he would be less culpable than Martius who has deserted but one For Lycastes never did more than begin to love till now his heart no sooner inclin'd on one side but it was sway'd to the other by some new inclination wherefore having promis'd scarce any thing nor lov'd long enough to cause himself to be lov'd his inconstancy seems to be free from a Crime though it may be referr'd to levity But as for Martius he lov'd divers years together he was lov'd again and that ardently and possess'd her heart whom he lov'd A thousand respects ought to have fastned the tyes of his affection and nevertheless without cause reason or pretext his passion has ceas'd to be passionate that which formerly delighted him no longer affects him his Mistress is scarce his friend and so changing his sentiments without any extrinsecal cause he becomes in my opinion the most criminal of all inconstants But perhaps you will except that he was not lov'd correspondently as he lov'd to prove what the passion of that unfortunate Beauty was read I beseech you an Elegy which that charming person made under feigned names during a short absence of this Martius whom you would excuse And that you may judge her more passionate know that after Martius
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