But said the Princess interrupting me take heed you do not so much trust your courage as not to consult your judgement and to mitigate that heat which may prove so fatal to us both remember that what Artavasdes suffers Altezeera does and as you love her life preserve your own I should be too prolix my dear Artabanes should I tell you all the words that sad farewell furnisht me with I will therefore hasten to a conclusion and onely let you know that having kist my fair Princess hand I took leave of her and then of Amidor to whom I left the care of Artaxata and what I valu'd infinitely above it and having given a hot alarm to every quarter of the Camp but that through which I past I arriv'd in two days after at Thospia where I found Anexander in much danger by the violence of his Feaver who haing commanded me to leave the care of him unto the gods and to imploy all mine for the Kings deliverance I forthwith acquainted the Army with my Commission who joyfully receiv'd me and lest delays might prove prejudicial we marched with what expedition possibly could be made towards Artaxata and the tenth day after my departure from thence I camped thirty Furlongs off Celindus upon a Hill within sight of the Besieged where having call'd a Council of War by their consents I sent a Trumpet to him with this ensuing challenge ARTAVASDES to CELINDVS DId not your taking up of Arms against your King assure me that you believe there are no gods to punish wickedness I should despair of your accepting a pitcht Battel for the ending of the War lest terrified by the Divine Iustice your guilt should weigh down your Sword but your rebellion demonstrates that you believe no Deity but Power and since your Courage is the best of your Qualities I should gladly receive an assurance that to save many a thousand lives you would venture your own against me in a single combat But whether by Battel or Duel I leave it to your choice either of which shall be highly acceptable as an assured way to punish Celindus by the hand of ARTAVASDES CElindus having perus'd my Letter thought fit to give me Battel knowing that his Army could have no Provisions but what they fought for and that Artaxata had so good a Garrison and my Forces were so numerous that if he defeated not the one or took the other he must in a short while be blockt up and then his party which follw'd his fortune not him would desert him therefore thinking my defeat would be more facile than taking the Town by Storm he sent me this Answer CELINDVS to ARTAVASDES I Accept of the Battel that the gods by your defeat may declare they are as just as you think me the contrary To morrow by the Suns rising I shall be in the adjoyning Plain at the head of Fifty thousand Men who are too greedy of Honour to suffer me by a single Combat to rob them of their share in the glory of an entire Victory which will be as certainly ours as that you have an Enemy of CELINDUS THe Trumpet being return'd with this pleasing Answer I found that nothing but the gaining of a Battel could more satisfy my Army than the assurance of one which being suddenly to ensue every one was employ'd in performing what was fit for so considerable a day which no sooner appear'd but both Armies marcht out of their several Camps and being drawn up expected onely the signal to begin the Fight Celindus who knew that his Fortune depended upon the gaining or losing of that Field had left no Forces to justify the ground he had won by approaches being assur'd that if he were Conqueror Artaxata without the formalities of a Siege would be one of the first Fruits of his Victory yet to delude those of the Town and to keep them from sallying he left as many Colours flying as were usually upon the Guards with certain Men well mounted who had order in case of a Sally to run away with them unto their Army A little before the Battel Celindus made a Speech to his Soldiers and I to animate mine told them these few words Friends and Companions in Arms I speak unto you more out of custom than need if I thought any thing could raise your courages above that which nature has I might represent unto you the justice of the War the glorious objects for whom you are now to decide it your Wives your Families and your Liberties who all expect their settlement from your Swords There is something too above all this which I might mention for these must dye with you sometimes before you 't is Honour which is eternal and will make your memories precious to posterity when other things will be forgotten and turn'd into dust But my generous Friends I see so noble a resolution in every one that I will no longer detain you from that Victory which your Cause and Looks assure me of These words being finisht I advanc'd with the right wing of my Horse and so vigorously charged the Enemies left that we instantly routed them and had an Execution as bloudy as their crimes deserv'd But Celindus who led the right wing of his Army wherein he had plac'd the gallantest of his Cavalry fell so vigorously upon Stratolis who commanded my left that after a small resistance Stratolis being kill'd Celindus made many others follow his fate to redress which disorder I left some few Troops to chase the scatter'd Rebels and rallying the rest ran to the rescue of my Friends whom Celindus on my approach forsook and having drawn up a second time and learnt that it was I that came to fight with him he advanced some hundred paces from his Body and calling me out by name told me 'T is now Artavasdes that I shall satisfy both your desires I have yielded to a Battel at the requests of my friends who would not permit me to ingross that honour to my self which by their valours they were confident would be largely distributed amongst them and now I seek a single combat to please my own inclination to demand satisfaction for Tuminius his Blood and your insolent challenge We were both so earnest to lose no time that we spent no more in words but began a Duel in which the gods so favour'd the justice of my Sword that Celindus fell by it but those Horse which were spectators of his death so resolutely endeavour'd to revenge it that it cost us dear before we could reduce them to what their valours merited but not the quarrel in which they employ'd them Whilst these things were thus acting Phanasder and Falintus who commanded the Foot of both Armies had not been idle but Falintus who was over-power'd after a vituous resistance was taken by Phanasder who to shelter him from the fury of his Soldiers had cover'd him with his own Body and receiv'd some wounds that were design'd for his prisoner
King the Duty I owed his Title Wherefore I went forthwith Aboard him where I was entertained with all imaginable Civility and Honour and with no small expressions of his Trouble that the Cilician and Phoenician Helps were not yet Arrived which he said He esteemed advisable to stay some Days for that they might lose no accessional Force in so Ambition'd a Victory I assur'd him that it was more desirable with the Force we had to proceed in so Glorious a quarrel than to permit the Imprisonment of the Princess so long time as must be spent in the expectancy of their Arrival that the Justice of the Quarrel and the Person for whom 't was undertaken were assurances of Success in the Result of it and if we thought a good Cause was favour'd by the gods we could not but believe thereby we were supplied with more Strength than even the desired Addition could produce And therefore I offer'd with the Naval-Force I had to compose the lest Wing that to stay for those Fleets we expected would convince the Enemy and our own Soldiers that we thought we needed them and if they can not as 't was as probable they would not come at all as that they should not come by the Day prefixed by Mithridates and promised by themselves we must then either wholly decline the Action or attempt it with the evidences of our own doubt of Success nay possibly by a continuance where we were invite Nicomedes and Ariobarzanes to seek us out when also by our continuance where we were we acknowledged we apprehended their Encounter These Reasons and that Offer of mine made the Cyprian King cast off all Thoughts of delaying the Battel or at least of presenting the Enemy with it Possibly their own Weight possibly that none might appear more forward than himself in that Action in which he was to receive the greatest and highest Rewards made him resolve and declare That the next morning he would set Sail for the Island of Scyros and there find the end of his Hopes or of his Life And to evidence his Apprehensions sprung from his fears that my Wing needed assistance not his he offer'd me some eighteen Galleys to Fortifie it But having paid him my Acknowledgments for that offer I declined it thereby to convince him his Fleet and mine that I thought I needed no such Accession After we had resolved on all things for the Decision of the Battel in which he chose the right Wing and assigned me the left He shew'd me several rare Inventions of his own Subjects and of the Egyptians both which had then the opinion of the best and most experienced Sea-men in the whole World as well for Navigation as Fight One of which I cannot omit particularizing which was that the Egyptians in most of their Galleys had divers great Earthen Pots full of small holes in which Pots they had inclosed great Serpents which by the Holes received Air and Sustenance enough to preserve them These were to be flung into such Galleys as they grappled with The fall of the Earthen pots on the Decks of the Enemies Vessels would infallibly break them And then the hungry Serpents being at liberty would wind themselves about the Limbs of the next they could seize on and thereby not only hinder them from Fighting but in a short while put an end to their Lives This admirable and cruel Invention I commended only because 't was to be employed against the Detainers of my Princess though in it self I did not like it esteeming it a Salvage cruelty to employ venomous Beasts to destroy the Lives of Valiant Men. Soon after I had seen some other like Inventions I retired to my own Fleet and according to the resolution taken Aboard Ascanius made all things ready to weigh Anchor with the Morning's light which accordingly we did I having first left Orders for the Cilician and Phoenician Fleets to follow me And with Oars and Sails we steer'd our course to the Island of Scyros where to my unspeakable Joy the Day following by that time the Sun was two hours high we discover'd the two King's Fleets embattelling within the easie prospect of the Castle and as ready to accept of the Fight as we were to present it them I soon perceived the Bithynian Flags composed the right Wing which I was to Fight against and the Cappadocian the left Wing which Ascanius was to oppose Elevated with the Glory of what I sought for and before whom I fought and troubled at nothing more than at the glorious Flag which the King of Cyprus carried I began the Battel which I might truly say was replenished with more various accidents than ever any which was fought before And though the Princess had the trouble to see her Deliverance was a long time in the Balance yet at last she had the satisfaction to see the Pontick and Bithynian Admiral engaged singly and though Nicomedes did all that became a King and a General yet being himself sunk under the weight of his personal Wounds I entred his Galley and took him my Prisoner though when I did it he was by the loss of Blood uncapable to see my Success or deplore the want of his own As soon as ever that Admiral Galley was conquer'd all the rest of his Fleet confusedly fled to the Shore in which Chase we sunk many and took more and prosecuted our Victory as far as the Water would give us leave But the Success could not be more glorious on our left Wing than it was deplorable in the right for on my Return to see whether our Friends needed our assistance I found the Cyprian and Egyytian Fleets as totally vanquisht as the Mithridiatick had the Bithynian nay I saw a Cappadocian Galley carrying That glorious Flag at her Stern which a little before had adorned the main-Top of the Cyprian Admiral The fury I was in at that sight carried my Galley with Wings to so desired a recompence and revenge and the Enemy as proud of their prize as I was inraged to see it theirs disputed their Purchase with at least as much resolution as that with which they had acquired it The Fight was such that even the winning of this Galley cost me not less blood and time than Nicomedes's But at length she yielded and presented me with an Effigies than which nothing to me could be more acceptable unless the glorious Original To recover that noble Trophy was an Honour which needed not to set it off the Foyl of my Rivals having lost it In brief that large Scene in which the Battel had been fought was clear'd of all our Enemies but five Galleys for Ariobarzanes satisfied with his having done that to our right Wing which I had done to his and having been disorder'd in that Success too much to attempt the changing of mine or else apprehending a Forest of Vessels which then began to appear and which afterwards I found were my Phoenician and Cilician Fleets
the very first day being impatient till he recoverd his honour by a Victory or by seeing the ruine of his unjust Countreymen satisfie himself with the joy of a great though not of an honest Revenge yet his intention was better than his words for at a place of advantage called Scaena-Gallica near the River of Metaurus he pitcht his Camp and by winning the Pass hindred Asdrubal's progress who by Letters advertised his Brother of it that then lay on the Banks of Aufidus near the same Plain of Cannes in which he had won his highest glory and that in few dayes he would storm the Roman Generals Camp rather than not join with him but these being intercepted by Nero's Scouts that Consul by the advice of Perolla to relieve Livius's danger took 6000 select Foot and 1000 Horse and having left the charge of his Army which Camp'd within 10 Furlongs of Hannibals to Veturius Philo his Lieutenant-General in six dayes by tedious Marches and with exceeding secresie he came to his Collegue and was received into his Camp by night without enlarging it or any loud demonstrations of joy where in a Council of War it was resolved next day to give Asdrubal Battel which Livius though provok'd unto had thitherto declined The next morning therefore a purple Coat was hung up over Livius's Pavilion and Perolla the better to delude Asdrubal desired the General that a Trumpet might sound in Nero's quarters as well as in Portius the Pretors to make the Enemy believe that either Hannibal was defeated by the Consuls being joined or that it was done in policy to supply the defects of their numbers the first if credited would invite them immediately to a Battel which next to a Victory was most in their desires This was much approved and readily practised and Asdrubal who was perfectly acquainted with the Roman Discipline was extremely surprized at it but yet attributing it to the latter and perceiving by the Signal the Consuls resolution he joyfully drew his Army in Battalia but then perceiving Livius's numbers to be increast and that some of his Enemies Horses look'd as if they had performed a long march this being an accident above his expectation he esteemed it rather a policy than a dishonour to defer an Engagement till he could discover the truth of that mystery and in order to this spent that day in slight skirmishes and by night retreated with all his Army towards the River of Metaurus from which the succeeding Battel took its name but he was followed by Nero and Perolla with all the Roman Cavalry and so vigorously prest that he resolved next morning to decide the difference by a pitch'd Battel lest if he gained any advantage by retiring it might be said a Victory was forc'd upon and not obtained by him and if he were defeated that at least he dyed like Amilcar's Son and Hannibal's Brother The day no sooner dawn'd which was the last that so many thousands were to see than those two great Bodies which consisted of about 150000 effective men were drawn up in a posture to determine all disputes The Carthaginian having the advantage of number and the Roman of resolution which was sufficiently â—vinc'd by their Enemies attending the Battel by necessity and not election Asdrubal placed his Gauls in whom he least rely'd in the Left Wing upon a Hill of impossible access in the Right were his Spaniards and Africans and himself at the Head of them his Lygurians formed the Battel and his Elephants he bestowed in the Front of his several Divisions The Right Wing of the Roman Army was led by Nero who was accompanied by Perolla that commanded those Thousand Horse his Uncle had brought with him the Left by Livius and the Battel by Porticus You cannot doubt the dispute was bloody if either you reflect upon the courage of the Soldiers the resolution and conduct of the Commanders or the glory and advantages which were to attend the Conquerors Livius found a generous resistance from the Africans and Spaniards Porticus from the Lygurians but Nero and Perolla found more difficulty to come to fight than I believe they would after it have found in obtaining a Victory but whil'st they were disputing against a Precipice the scaling of which was not much less difficult than to scale the Clouds the last of them perceiving what disorder Livius and Porticus were in besought Nero to leave those Gauls to a security which Nature and not their Courages had plac'd them in and who by the strange height they were upon were as uncapable of doing as receiving harm and that he would go to relieve the Consul and the Pretor Nero soon found the justness of this motion and imagining by the Precipice the Gauls were upon that Asdrubal had plac'd them there rather to amuse than oppose him yielded to his Nephews request and leaving some 3000 Foot and Horse to keep the Gauls at gaze followed him with all the rest but Perolla with admirable celerity having fetcht a compass behind all the Roman Army fell upon the Right Flank of the Carthaginian so opportunely that 't was when Livius was brought to the last exigency and so vigorously that by it he courted Victory so handsomly that though she were declaring for Carthage yet he won her absolutely for Rome The execution after the rout was excessive bloody the Romans remembring how freely the Africans had opened their veins were not ungrateful in their return The Gauls too found they had been more securely fortified by nature than by 80000 of their companions and though the Roman Swords were almost dull'd with blood before they came to them yet they 'scapt not absolutely that dayes Fate but that which brought a large accession to the honour of this success was the noble Asdrubal's fall who perceiving his glory fled resolv'd his life should accompany it and seeking some gallant Enemy to end his he found none which gave greater marks of that title than Perolla 't was therefore upon his Sword he resolv'd to receive it and 't was upon his Sword indeed that he found it I know continued Izadora that some alledge he had his death from many an Enemy and not from a single one but I know withall that that report had its rise from Perolla's modesty who learning afterwards how great a virtue he had kill'd rather deplored than gloried in the Action This Battel of Metaurus equal'd that of Cannes for in it were left 56000 upon the place 5400 taken Prisoners and 4000 Captive Romans releas'd But if in a Relation which my Sex renders me ignorant in I have failed in the former I have not in the truth for my concern in Perolla made me exactly learn it neither would I have so particularly inform'd you of it had it not so great a connexion to my generous Friends Story that in declining it I must have injured his Adventures as much as his Glory The day after this famous Battel Nero and Perolla march'd
be plentiful motives to induce Syphax to decline Carthage by sitting a Neuter sent Ambassadors to him for that effect with hope that if they succeeded not yet at least the Treaty would draw him into a jealousie with his new friends The Numidian King receiv'd the Ambassadors with a magnificence that evinc'd they were not unwelcome and sent them back to Scipio with this motion That if the Romans would return out of Affrick the Carthaginians should do the like out of Europe But the Consul receiv'd a more pleasing and advantagious intelligence than this though brought by the same persons which was that both the Carthaginian and Numidian Camp were so ill intrencht and their Hutts cover'd with such combustible stuff that it were a thing of as much ease as glory to end the War in one night in brief Scipio held on the Treaty till such time as he had perfectly instructed himself in the truth of this information and the facility of performing it both which being convinc'd of one morning he commanded his Ambassadors to return and sent Syphax and Asdrubal word that 't was in vain any longer to continue the Treaty since he found all his Army unanimously bent to make them yield to their Mercy or their Swords This message blasted the two Generals like Lightning for they had so fed themselves with the assurance of Peace that the loss of that hope appear'd as great a misfortune to them as if they had lost a certainty but at last making Virtue of Necessity they consol'd one another with mutual assurances that as Scipio follow'd the steps of Marcus Atilius so he would his Fate but the same night the Romans who built their confidence upon a firmer foundation than Hope and Prophecies divided their Army one halfe Massanissa and Lelius the General of their Horse commanded these were sent against Syphax's Camp to whom Massanissa was an Enemy by the two most enflaming provocations of a successful Rival both in Love and Empire the other Scipio himself led The first had orders to assault the Numidians who lay a Mile behind the Carthaginians lest if Asdrubal's Camp were first on fire it might be thought a design and not a mischance Massanissa and Lelius march'd two hours before the Consul and before day so exactly executed their instructions that all Syphax's Camp was in a general Flame in the sight of Asdrubal's who attributing it to some disaster for they could not fancy the Romans would attempt the remotest and so engage themselves between two Armies ran without Arms or Order to the relief of their friends but their Charity was their ruine for the Roman Horse of Scipio's Division cut off all those which ran out of the Camp and the Legions assaulting those in it soon kindled as great fire there as that they were deploring and going to extinguish The confusion horror and execution was transcendent and though in both places the flame diffus'd it self above four miles yet 't is thought there was bloud enough spilt to have quencht it for there we killed and destroyed what by the Flame what by the Sword above 80000 and about 8000 were taken prisoners 2000 Foot and 500 Horse were all the serviceable Forces that escaped in which number were the two unfortunate Generals Never did Affrick receive a resembling misfortune neither did all their Hannibal's Victories inspire them with a joy proportionate to the vastness of their grief and astonishment for this loss But in this high Misery the Barcinian Faction shew'd a spirit unworthy of it and not only absolutely oppos'd the sending for Hannibal out of Italy which they said would be a greater victory to the Romans than that they had so lately won but undertook in few days if one of their Family might be General to raise an Army that at least should not be kill'd like Sacrifices without resistance that perhaps might make the Romans acknowledge a succession of victories was as well the way to Carthage as to Rome and that none must present themselves before her Walls but they must be loaden with Lawrels as much as Arms. This motion joy'd and confounded the Senate but the result of their dispute was that not to discontent the Barcinian faction lest they might lose Hannibal they resolv'd not to recal him and not to discontent Asdrubal lest they might lose Syphax they gave Asdrubal again the Command of the Affrican War sent Sophonisba as Embassadress from her Countrey to her Husband to implore him not to abandon them when their condition render'd his friendship an action of Charity as well as â—nterest and besought the Barcinian Princes by joyning their power and affections with Asdrubal to manifest that they lov'd the Common-wealth more than they hated their Enemy In brief Syphax vanquish'd with the abundant Prayers and Tears of the fair Sophonisba and the Barcinians mov'd with the intreaties and danger of Carthage so well improv'd the time that in 30 days they rais'd 30000 Men for Asdrubal who resolving to repair or repeat his disgrace march'd directly towards Vtica which Scipio more intent to vindicate his Honour than increase his Conquest had again besieg'd which the second time he was necessitated to leave and in a bloudy Battel overcame Syphax and his Father-in-law as absolutely by Courage as he had formerly by Policy the last flying to Carthage and the other follow'd soon after by his Queen into his own Kingdom The Consul to husband this victory better than the former resolv'd himself to attempt Carthage the Rome of Affrick sent a select number to continue the Siege of Vtica and enjoyn'd Massanissa with all his Numidians and some of the Romans under Lelius to prosecute Syphax Scipio with his Division took many Towns by his Name and by his Arms and at last presented himself before that stately City which had so long been a dangerous Rival unto his Tunis a great Town in the prospect of Carthage he took by Assault but as he was going to try his fortune upon her Neighbor and Mistriss he was forc'd to alter his design by the Carthaginians sending out their Fleet to destroy his that lay ill-mann'd before Vtica By hasty marches therefore he came thither and so well animated his Soldiers and secur'd his Gallies that his Enemies only return'd to Carthage with six of his Ships where their Triumph was much greater than their Victory In the mean while Massanissa carry'd by the wings of Love Empire and Revenge came with his Army into Numidia where the Masesilii who had never been but his Subjects now publickly declar'd themselves so and joyning their Arms to their Prince's march'd resolutely against Syphax who with 50000 Foot and 10000 Horse was coming to dispute his Queen and his Kingdom Massanissa and Lelius joyfully accepted the Battel especially the first who thought the ways to Empire and fruition were but the same Syphax taught his Men to fight in the Roman order but not being able to give them Roman Hearts he lost
they had presented Massanissa and which he as well improv'd as the Numidian King In the mean time the Battalions of Foot of either Army advanc'd with a slow and confident march till they came within shot but then giving a shout which made the Neighbouring hills to tremble they ran against each other with a fury worthy their dispute at first the barbarous strength of the Mercenaries prevail'd over the Roman virtue but at length the Roman discipline and resolution wrought its accustomed effect for the Principes by sustaining the Hastati reliev'd their fear and disorder but as soon as the Mercenaries retreated the new-rais'd Africans had not the courage to second them which the other sattributing as much to their treachery as fear began to flie but not being able to run away but through the Intervals of the Aâ—ricans those either to punish or hinder their Cowardize would not permit them that way of safety On the other side the Gaules and Lygurians by not being seconded and by then being oppos'd thought themselves betray'd and esteeming it a more pleasing Revenge to destroy their false Friends than their valiant Enemies made use of those Arms against the Carthaginians which they had taken up for them which disorder the Romans soon ended by involving both Parties almost in a general ruine I have said Perolla the more insisted on this part of the Battel to vindicate the justice of the Gods for these Forces were those only which had broke their Faith and Peace and they only were those against whom Fortune so visibly fought that the Romans were convinc'd Victory was on their side because Justice was and indeed they acted their success with so much ease that it appear'd the work of the gods and not of men But all this while Hannibal with his Italian Army stood firm and charged his Pikes and Launces against those Cowards which sought their safety in their feet so that they were necessitated to seek their deliverance in that by which they had thitherto found it Scipio perceiving those gallant Troops with as little fear in their looks as hearts Hannibal too at the head of them and the ground over which he was to march slippery with blood and incumber'd with dead carcasses was in a great apprehension whether marching such an obstructed way his Battalions might not be disorder'd before he came where he was confident they would most stand in need of their discipline and virtue but after a short debate with himself for he was blest with an excellent presence of mind not to lose the victorious heat his Soldiers were in he commanded the Hastati to wade slowly through that Sea of blood and as I may say as soon as they were Landed to draw up all in Front and if Hannibal offer'd to assault them before the Principes and the Triarii were come up immediately to retreat into that purple flood they had made where the Carthaginians might share the inconveniences of the ground and where the dead Africans would assume the quarrel of the gods and hinder the living But these directions though they abundantly manifested the Consuls Soldiery yet there was no use of them for Hannibal either disdaining all advantages from those dead that when living had afforded him none the better to set off the virtue of his old Army or the distance being too great to advance and charge the Hastati before their companions came made that great man decline it and so Scipio had time to draw his Principes and Triarii on the right and left Flank of his Hastati which was no sooner effected than he immediately advanc'd to charge an Army who never saw any defeats but those they had given the Romans and where he was so entertain'd that it made the precedent fight against the Mercenaries and Africans appear not worthy that name for the Romans encouraged with their numbers and success and their Enemies inflam'd with the loss of their companions the hazard of their Empire and perhaps with the glory of having the general safety left to their Swords so mutually fill'd all places with blood and horror that I may truly say the World was well disputed and Victory was so equally and generously courted that she knew not which side to elect whereby you may in some sort conjecture what hazard the Roman Empire was reduc'd unto by the too violent pursuit of Massanissa and Lelius which I may truly say I first discover'd and first made them sensible of for whilst we were following those whose low resistance made them unworthy our Arms we abandon'd those whose resolutions merited our assistance and whose condition needed it Massanissa and Lelius were so far from condemning my confidence that they acknowledg'd their fault and after the Battel confest unto the Consul that he deriv'd his relief from my care this I tell you not to acquaint you with my virtue but to shew you how secure they were in their own I will omit generous Spartacus informing you how that day I kill'd two Aâ—rican Captains that naming themselves Hannibal by deluding me into a false Revenge deluded themselves into a real death It is time to return to Scipio who perhaps we have too long abandon'd in our Story as well as in the Battel that great man at our arrival with all our Horse was upon the point of losing a Victory by our having prosecuted one too far To be brief our return was most happy and in a needful time for the Carthaginian had so well continu'd his practice that he had left Forces enough to prosecute his dawning success and drew a considerable Body as well for their number as virtue to oppose Massanissa and Lelius and that which made this little Army the more formidable was that Hannibal himself lead them the gallantry of the charge was proportionate to the Soldiers and Generals and we were no sooner mingled then I sought him amongst the press who had promis'd to be found at the head of his Troops but I was soon reliev'd from that employment by a voice which I heard often repeat my name I ran with excessive joy to the place where I was call'd in hope that it might be Hannibal I soon found 't was no third counterfeit as well by that majestick grace he had under his arms as by the fury of his blows which I imagined could not be inspir'd but from Revenge and Jealousie Our Javelins working no effect mine glancing upon his shield flew between his right Arm and his Body and his past hissing by my ears we soon made use of our Swords and were so equally animated that our rage for awhile hinder'd the actings of it but not to hold you long in a Combat which did not last so after we had almost cut in pieces those Armors whose goodness we mutually curst and that we had by light wounds drawn of each others blood Hannibal who apprehended that by playing too much the part of a Soldier he should as much
not love Altezeera in the very necessity of his fault besides by services and engagements she could not be more mine than upon both those scores she was Pacorus's and yet I had been so unjust as to sollicit her for Artavasdes and therefore 't were to be more so to punish that in another which I practic'd in my felf that she was only mine by the first grant and his by the last which in all concessions of Love is the bindingst Title and lastly that I ow'd a life unto him which till I had repaid I was his Debtor and therefore should not be his Murtherer Whil'st my Reason and my Passion were thus making War against each other Evaxes who still apprehended the last of them would fling me into some strange Crime and that my continuance where I was might into a proportionate danger all the Guards in the Castle being Parthians he conjur'd me so passionately to retire to an Apartment he had provided for me and there establilsh my resolutions when my resentments were so qualifi'd as not to silence the dictates of my reason that at last by following rather than by promise I obey'd him who led me by a stolen passage to my Chamber not meeting any one by the way which though we had I am confident I had not been discover'd if at least I had been as unknowable to all as I was to myâ—â—lf There I told Falintus and Philanax what had happen'd and there 't was that Evaxes repeating those reasons my rage hinder'd me from hearing which too were strengthen'd by many others as powerful from Falintus I determin'd the next morning as an evincement of their operation to retire into some solitude and there spend as much time as the banishing Altezeera from my heart would take up whose influence there was not already a little eclips'd since I could form a resolution of extinguishing it This Declaration prov'd as pleasing to them as that which created it was the contrary to me but they having retir'd themselves I past the night in such confused thoughts that it had been difficult to have collected any thing from them but that they were the productions of an exorbitant diâ—â—emper The day no sooner appear'd than telling Falintus and Evaxes whither I intended to go the next night and having commanded Philanax to follow me as soon as he had learnt from them whether my being in Armenia and my last Action were discover'd how they were both relish'd and whether I might safely demand justice of Artabazus for Anexander's Murther that in the certainty of being deny'd it I might thereby act it myself immediately before the Court was up I took Horse and was accompany'd out of the Castle by Evaxes who for a long while made no scruples to trust me alone being so newly recover'd from a despair whose effects were yet somewhat visible in my face but having secur'd his jealousies by many vows and by the improbability of my so much contributing to my Enemies triumphs I finally took leave of him and had not Travel'd above an hundred Furlongs when coming into a Wood at the extremity of a great Plain I was stop'd by a violent Cry behind me which turning about to learn the cause of I saw the man that utter'd it come running towards me as fast as his Horse could carry him as soon as he came near me he drew his Sword and bade me defend my self if my Crimes had not divested me of the Courage to justifie them This Declaration though it much surpriz'd me yet I did not near so much as the knowledge that 't was Phanasder which made it but being confident he mistook me I prepar'd my self for nothing but to embrace him and offer him my Sword and Life to join in his revenge but perceiving he esteem'd himself discharg'd of all other Ceremonies by having denounc'd the Combat I cry'd out to him hold Phanasder 't is Artavasdes speaks to you 'T is he Phanasder briskly reply'd that I seek and who to his other Triumphs must add that of my Life or in the loss of his I must repair my wrongs Oh gods I answer'd if my Death could be but as great a satisfaction to Phanasder as to me he would oblige us both in acting it but since such a satisfaction cannot be perfected without as great a Crime let me understand first wherein you esteem me guilty for if I do not so entirely vindicate Artavasdes that you must acknowledge Phanasder criminal for having thought him so I will employ my Sword not to resist but execute your Revenge If thy Crimes said Phanasder were not too-too-much apparent I should not have sought this opportunity which since they are I will not spend it to shew thee thy sins but to punish them Then having again bid me defend my self or my submission should not be my Sanctuary he charg'd me with such fury that I found by experiment the high character I alwayes had of his Courage was but too dangerous a truth But his rude Reply to an offer he could not have declin'd without seeking to be my Enemy and the certainty I found that I must derive my safety not from my innocence but resistance though they made me finally draw my Sword yet I made but use of it to keep him from acting a sin I know he would in a right understanding as much deplore as now he was sollicitous to perform and indeed he prest me so incessantly and vigorously that had not an unexpected Accident ended the Combat my death or his must have done it for making a furious blow at my head and I defending it with my Sword his flew out of his hand in two pieces At this Phanasder was not more astonish'd than I was satisfi'd which I exprest by telling him Phanasder Let that Life I give you convince you that I am still your Friend No no Artavasdes he hastily reply'd it convinces me thou art the contrary for if thou were not having loaden me with such sorrows thou wouldst not deny me their cure being it is in thy power therefore I declare if thou canst be yet concern'd in having me esteem thee my Friend nothing can be more contributory to it than to make use of thy Victory which the more to induce thee to I protest by all those wrongs thou hast done me I will leave no place unsearch'd nor no means unattempted for my revenge If said I my giving you your life after your first declaration has not convinc'd you that I am your Friend I hope the doing it after this latter will sufficiently effect it for were I concern'd in your death I have not only the power but the provocation to act it But Phanasder I had rather expose my life to your fury than secure it by the destruction of what I prefer a thousand times before it which not only my friendship for you but even your hatred to me makes me profess and which I still implore to learn the subject of that if
not sorry that to the invitations of Friendship he had that additional one of obedience for the silencing his designs of vindicating his wrongs but they being of too sublime a nature absolutely to be forgotten lest his disorders might discover he disputed whether he should obey Parthenissa with her permission he conjur'd the generous Sillaces to acquaint them by what strange adventure he was presented with the blessing of serving her Sillaces who receiv'd as sublime a satisfaction in his obedience to Artabbanes and Parthenissa as he had in hearing her story began his own short one in these terms From the time I left Rome till I came to Nineveh there happened nothing worth relating but that there happened nothing that was so But alas this calm was but too severely interrupted for there I understood how that both the Princess Lyndadory and Parthenissa could not more want my service than I did the power of paying it them My duty to Arsaces and hope that by being nearer the Castle of Eden I might be so to an opportunity of what so extreamly and justly I ambitioned made me immediately repair to the Camp where by the King I was received with such demonstrations of affection that I thought Surena's past favour and present condition had thitherto deprived me of that usage and then conferred it on me but my ignorance whether this proceeded from his goodness or design made me keep him in a perfect one of your condition and resolutions and though I endeavoured all imaginable ways to serve you and my self in the Princesses yet the only one in which I did it was in perswading the generous Ariobarzanes to do Surena no more services unless he received an assurance from the fair Zephalinda that in doing them to her Brother he did them too to her This I did out of a confidence Surena had deluded him and this Ariobarzanes did not to shew me in that confidence that I was so but when to many Letters of his to Zephalinda he never received any return he began to disclose a Truth which his so long ignoring had rendered obstructive to his King's ends and his own I believe this proceeding hastened Surena's for with his Intelligence he lost his hopes but whilst I lay languishing in desires and fears a Packet came from Merinzor to Surena and by the Carrier of it was delivered to Ariobarzanes but by what I have related he was become from his Confident his Enemy wherefore opening the Letters he found in them a black conspiracy of raising a mutual Rebellion against their Kings and of affording each other reciprocal assistance This I esteemed our duties to acquaint Arsaces with and this Ariobarzanes did so too as an expiation of having formerly convoy'd some of Surena's Letters to Merinzor when he knew not what they imported and when he was made believe they only were to preserve a Correspondency which might preserve the latter a sure retreat but the difficulty was how to let Orodes know of these Letters and not to let him know we had seen them before this at length we did by causing a Confident of ours to bring them hastily into the Camp as having taken them from one who by the River was stealing into the Castle and which by his Death he had prevented Orodes having perused them found Surena's Rebellion the more dangerous and that a Forraigner fomenting it would render it as long as hazardous 'T was therefore he immediately called me to him where after having told me That since Ariobarzanes had the next Command under him all others in the Army would be under me and that therefore till he could find me out a fit employment he desired I would take upon me that of being his Ambassador to the King of Media to acquaint him with this fresh Treason and to procure a League between them That as two of their Subjects had reciprocally bound themselves to ruine their Kings so that they should do the like to ruine them This continued Sillaces I obey'd partly because I had no employment in the Army but chiefly that my hopes were less of serving the Princesses in the Siege than in my Embassy For I had understood 't was Merinzor's Power in Media which hindered Moneses from having any and I had more than a belief that this favourite having rendered himself uncapable of becoming so again you might assume his place or at least your Right which I was confident to advance being employed as a publick Minister I was also but too certain the Siege would last longer than the journey which six days after I began that time being effluxt in giving me my Commission with my private and publick Instructions but because I designed so short a residence in Media I took only Twenty Gentlemen and some Servants to wait on me and being informed on the Confines of this Kingdom that it was freshly involved in a Domestick War I sent a couple of my Company before the rest to avoid Surprizes These it seemed saw those two of Surena's who fearing Mine began a round Gallop to recover their Companions but they were so briskly followed that one of them was overtaken and so wounded by a Javelin that he not only lost the hopes of his safety but almost of his Life you will believe when I came up that I was not a little surprised when I found this wounded Prisoner was Palurus who had the same employment under Surena that his Brother had under Phraates I concluded by the Servant that the Master was not far off and by threatning to torture him if he acquainted me not where his Prince was and by promising to have a care of his Life if he did he told me How you Madam had been deluded by his Prince and that you were both but a few furlongs before us Oh gods how was I surprised at this strange intelligence and how many oaths did I extort from the dying Palurus before I could believe him but as soon as I did leaving him to the care of some Peasants which were present I ran full speed upon the Traces of Surena two of my Troop I commanded to kill the Chariot-Driver and to cut the Harness lest during the fight I might lose the reward of it with the rest I charged my Enemy in which the first that fell was the false Arzimin You were Madam a Spectator of the residue of my Story and so was Artabbanes who came in when all my Company had killed Surena's and when they had had the honour to sacrifice all their own Lives in an employment which rather deserves my Envy than my Grief Sillaces continued Symander having finished his Discourse all those which had heard it and he himself were of opinion the fair Parthenissa's deliverance was replenish'd with so many strange conjunctures that it relished more of Providence than Chance and that this effect of it was but an earnest of a more sublime and obliging one I know not whether so pleasing a belief by
with his civilities His answer too was so moving and full of Obligation that thereby I the more clearly discovered the height of my passion for the Princess Statira which made me deaf to friendship and justice and resign the power entirely even to a hopeless Love but yet to a Love so glorious and so charming that not to have given it the precedency of all other considerations would have been a greater Crime than to have done it What need I tell you more generous Princes than that this conference ended with the high satisfaction and trouble of us both the one to see we had such invitation to be friends and the other that there was such an impossibility of becoming so But before I took leave of the unhappy Nicomedes I begg'd him to tell me what was become of Atafernes to which he reply'd If he were living he was in the power of Murena's Soldiers for he had been taken by the Roman Legionaries This doubt rais'd in me so many fears and troubles that they were visible to the King of Bithynia who therefore assured me since he perceived I was concerned for him he would thenceforth be the like I pay'd him as many acknowledgments for that promise as for all his other respects which he increased by telling me Lest you may believe the denyal of your friendship to me has supprest mine to you Permit me to tell you Your disorders at Atafernes's danger may be prejudicial to you for I see your Army is ready to begin the Battel having Ariobarzanes and Murena to supply my absence and that yours probably having none to supply yours may sustain a prejudice which this way I would not have it endure were it commanded by Mithridates himself much less being 't is by the brave Callimachus whose refusal of my offers I cannot be offended at since by what he has told me I must believe it springs from a cause to which not only a desired friendship has been inferiour but even a formed one and which I have experimented has been so prevalent with me that I cannot be offended at its now being so against me These words made me at once joy'd and confounded this that he should know the truth of the thing though not of the person and that that it had produced so obliging an effect In brief we parted and I believe as full of thoughts at what had past as at what was to come he galloping to the head of his Troops as I did to the head of mine where I gave all the chief Officers a Relation of Nicomedes's desires to me which only had occasioned and continued our conference of which also I sent an account to the Pontick King that he might have no cause to suspect my fidelity which was tyed unto him by an Obligation though secret yet incorruptible This being done I forthwith sent every Commander to his respective place and having in a short speech incited the Soldiers to manifest their courages for and before their King I commanded the signal of Battel to be given and then the military Musick began to invite us to that glory which so Noble a Field was to present the Conquerour never perhaps was there a Battel in which so many Kings and of Royal blood were Actors or Beholders and never perhaps were Armies so brave and glittering as these The King of Bithynia and the King of Cappadocia appear'd in an Equipage and with Forces worthy their Titles and their hopes and Murena manifested that the people of Rome were sometimes as exorbitant as the Asâ—aticks which their pride or wisdom so much condemn'd On the other side Mithridates Troops which consisted for the most part of the young Nobility and Gentry of his Dominions which their honour as much as his danger had incited under his Ensigns were so gallant and rich in their Furnitures as were also all those Courtiers which shame or glory had drawn out of Nicomedia that they look'd rather like going to triumph after a Victory than to win one Who even that morning had beheld the various multitudes of Colours the Wind and those which carried them did wanton with The glistering of Arms and Swords the vast Numbers of brave Horse all seeming as impatient of delay as their very Riders the variety of Nations and Habits and their distinct Martial Countenances the exact regularity every individual Battalion had within its self and the perfect proportion all of them had with each other whoever too had heard the neighing of the Horse the shouts of the Soldiers and the Military Instruments could not but have confess'd how deformed soever the face of War uses to appear yet that day it had Charms enough to have captivated even that Sex whose Nature is compos'd of pity I must acknowledg how greedy soever I was of a Victory which I hoped might in some measure repair the unhappiness or ignorance of my Birth yet I was so delighted with that Noble entertainment and Prospect that it was with some reluctancy I put a period to it The Enemies Forces consisted as I may say of three Armies and were commanded by Nicomedes Ariobarzanes and Murena out of all which Archilaus and Neoptolemus had a great body of Horse and Foot given them to lead who acted so many high things that day that had it been for their Countrey as it was against it their precedent guilt might have been thereby entirely defas'd In imitation of the Enemies Order I had divided my Army into three equal parts having first chosen out a select Number as a general reserve to answer all Emergencies and because I was exceedingly over-power'd in Foot I placed behind every Battalion of my Foot a Reserve of Horse to countenance and second them which proved of no small use Secretly behind the outwardmost divisions of our wings of Horse I placed some of our best Archers who when we were going to charge discovered themselves and thereby not only amazed but so gall'd our Enemies with their Arrows that the wounded Horses by their disorders made sufficient breaches for us to enter at This too did not a little help us but that which did most was this which I am now going to tell you for I never saw it practis'd before and it was then of so great an advantage that you will perhaps pardon my particularizing of it and possibly one day have occasion to make use of it which if you have I wish it may be as successful to the followers as to the beginner of it I found when our Armies faced one another that the Enemy did much over-over-wing us and that possibly therefore he had neglected to secure his left Flank with a deep stream which ran some three furlongs from it so that he had so much of Champion-ground on that wing and had much more on the other In our embatteling therefore I let him see how much he outwinged us on both sides but when he moved to the Charge I gave strict order to all