CICERONIS AMOR. Tullies Loue. Wherein is discoursed the prime of Ciceroes youth setting out in liuely portratures how young Gentlemen that ayme at honour should leuell the end of their affections holding the loue of countrie and friends in more esteeme then those fading blossomes of beautie that onely feede the curious suruey of the eye A worke full of pleasure as following Ciceroes vaine who was as conceipted in his youth as graue in his age profitable as conteining precepts worthie so famous an Orator Robert Greene in Artibus magister Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit vtile dulci. AT LONDON Printed by Robert Robinson for Thomas Newman and Iohn Winington 1589. To the right honorable Ferdinando Stanley Lord Strange enobled with all titles that Honor may afforde or vertue challenge Robert Greene wisheth encrease of vertuous and Lordly resolutions THe Tripos Right Horable ingrauen with â—etur Sapienti was by the Oracle allotted to Socrates Achilles shielde maintained with the sword fel to Vlisses for his wisedome Pallas had hir library and hir launce and suche as read Non vltra on Hercules pillers pointed out the Caracters with their speares Proportion the mother of Geometry and mistresse of Arts commands that Hector haue his Honors Alcides his glories and that Olympus bee neuer without bright glittering armour nor greene wreathed garlands as well to grace the souldier as to glory the Poet. This considered Right Honorable hauing done my indeuor to pen downe the loues of Cicero which Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos forgot in their writings I presumed to present vnto your Honor not high written poemes as Maro did to Augustus but the fruites of well intended thoughtes as Calymachus scholler did to Alexander Thinking nothing rare nor view-worthy sufficiently patronaged vnlesse shrowded vnder the protection of so honorable a Moecenas Whatsoeuer was pleaded in Rostro was not pend by Hortensius and yet the Senatours heard and gaue plausible censures Homer spent verses as well on Irus the beggar as Eurymachus the wooer Euery sentence cannot Cleanthis lucernam Olere and yet men will reade poemes praise them Then Right Honourable if my worke treating of Cicero seeme not fit for Cicero as eclipsing the beauteous shew of his eloquence with a harsh and vnpolisâ—â—d stile yet I craue that your Honour will vouch of it onely for that it is written of Cicero Ennius labored as hard in his rough poesies as Virgill in high poemes Phidias pensill in his own conceit was as sharp pointed as Pigmalâ—ons chasing tooles meane wits in their follies haue equall paines with learned Clarkes in their fancies Apollo yeelded Oracles as well to poore men for their praiers as to Princes for their presents Stars haue their lights and hayres their shadoâ—es Meane schollers haue hie thoughtes though low fortunes Thus perswaded imboldened Right Honorable I present this pamphlet of Ciceroes loues to your Lordship resolued vpon your curteous acceptance that weighing the minde not the matter your Honour will say if not Bucephalus yet a horse And in this hope resting I wish to your Lordship as much health and happines as your Honour can desire or I imagine Your Lordships humbly deuoted ROBERT GREENE To the gentle Readers health GEntlemen I haue written of Tullies loue a worke attempted to win your fauours but to discouer mine owne ignoraÌ„ce in that coueting to counterfait Tullies phrase I haue lost my selfe in vnproper words but hoping as euer I haue done of your courtesies I haue like bold bayard put my head out of the stable If my methode be worse then it was wont to be think that skill in musicke marde all For the cliffe was so dissonaunt from my note that wee could not clap a concord together by fiue marke Chiron the Sagitarie was but a fained conceipt and men that beare great shapes and large shadowes and haue no good nor honest minds are like the portraiture of Hercules drawne vpon the sands If I speake mistically thinke tis musically and so desiring that you will take Tullies loues as pende for your pleasure I bid you farewell Robert Greene. Ad Lectorem Hexasticon In lucem prodit tenebris exuta malignis Romulei petulaÌ„s vaesanaque flammula Phoebi RoraÌ„tem Authori Lectores spargite floreÌ„ Intyba Narcissos Latacen pictique roseti Dulces diuitias Illum concingite lauru Emerito solers industria reddat honorem Thomas Watson Oxon. Ad Lectorem de Ciceronis amore Hexasticon Miraris fortasse legens Ciceronis amorem Desine mirari qui bene scribit amat Crimen inesse putas semel insaniuimus omnes Quae faciunt iuuenes condoluere senes Linguam qui laudat Ciceronis laudet amorem Greni solus honor sit Ciceronis amor G. B. Cantabrigiensis VArro and Tucca wrote of Maroes verse And Dares dared to tell of Homers skill Of Ouids workes Latins haue made reherse And Poets haue discourst of Pindars quill Many haue writ Cosmographie of lands And tolde of Gihon and of Tagus sands Of Helens beauty and of Ledas hew The winged fancies of the learnd haue tolde But of the prowdest Poets olde or new Who dard sweete Tullies fancies once vnfolde As far to hie for all that yet hath beene Then giue the palme and glory vnto Greene. Thomas Burneby Esquire Now bloomes the blossomes of faire Adons flower Cupid is stolne from Paphos secrete shrine Diana lurkes shee and hir nymphes doe lower Bacchus that tempers sacred Loue with wine Ceres and all the gods haue made agree That Loue is god and there is none but hee The Poemes wanton Ouid set in verse His art of loue that banisht him from Roome Did neuer such quaint Amorets reherse As are deciphred vnder Tullies doome Whose Romain phrase fetcht from Parnassus hill Saies none but Tully in the depth of skill Edward Rainsford Esquire Tullies Loue. THere dwelled in the Citie of Rome being metropolitane of the worlde famous as well for martiall Champions as delicate for beautiful Ladyes a Consul called Flaminius made glorious by fortune as hauing twise roade in the triumphing chariot and worne tâ—e Lawrell wreath giuen as a Palme to such as haue béene happie for manie great victories This consull famous in the common wealth for his martiall exploytes Fortune whose conceit rests in extréemes either too prodigal in her fauors or preiudicial in her frownes to make this man the myracle of her deitie lent him one onelie Daughter of such excellent exquisite perfection as Nature in her seemed to wonder at her owne workes Hir haire was like the shine of Apollo when shaking his glorious tresses he makes the world beauteous with his brightnes The Iuorie of hir face ouer dasht with a vermilion die séemed like the blush that lept froÌ„ Endemions chéekes when Cynthia courts him on the hilles of Latmos So did the proportion of her bodie answere to the perfection of the minde and the honour of hir thoughtes so fitted to the glory of hir fauors as it rested doubtfull whether hir outward beauties
beautifull so vse iustice giue euery one his due Honour to the gods reuerence to thy father faith to thy friend and Loue to Lentulus and if it please thée to grace me with the title to thy husband Lentulus for I couet to like honestly not to loue wantonly I write Terentia as a souldier without eloquence and as a louer without flattery if thou satisfie my loue with thy fauours I doubt not to seale vp thy content with thy fathers and friends agrée If either thou art tied to former loues or mislikest of mine I will close vp my sorrows with silence Howsoeâ—er it shall please thée to returne answere Liue with content and die with honour Terentias newe intertained souldier Publius Cornelius Lentulus If gentlemen I haue not translated Lentulus letter verbatim worde for worde let me in mine owne excuse yéelde these reasons that neither the familiar phrase of the Romaines can brooke our harsh cadence of sentences nor durst I attempt to wrest Tullies eloquence to my rude and barbarous english fearing either to wrong so worthy an Orator in displacing or rather disgracing his phrase or in too far presuming purchase your frowne which I haue euer in all duty sought to auoid But howsoeuer my translation séemes wrested I haue kept his And so to Lentulus who hearing Tully reade the epistle both conceited the methode and allowed of the manner Onely carefull where to get a fit and conuenient messenger Tully at last called to remembrance one Eutrapelus an especiall friend of his who frequented the house of Flaminius by him did Lentulus sende the letter and so liuing in hope of a happy answere he left Tully in his study and went to the Capitoll Cicero no sooner was by himselfe but calling to mind the description of Terentia set out with such excellency by Lentulus in his new learnd poetrie and weighing how al Roome woondred at hir beauties began to féele certaine sparkes of loue kindling in his young desires which made him blush at his owne thoughtes and smile that fancy shoulde lie lurking amongst his library to take him at discouert But assoone as he remembred that Lentulus was in loue with hir the faith to his friend was a cooling carde to his affections and hee quenched those sparkes at the first lest suffered they might grow to a greater flame yet was he maugre his heade forced to say thus much Hast thou liued fortunate and fauoured in Roome hath honour raised thée from a meane cottage to be a companion to the sonnes of Senators Doe the Consuls make thee for thy learning one of the Pretâ—xtati and wilt thou for the hope of foolish beauty staine all thy fauours and fortunes with disgrace Nay rather Tully it will be honor to wooe the daughter of so famous a Romaine but shame to thee to take the repulse and be denied Thinkest thou Terentia will looke so lowe will Eagles catch at flies wil the woonder of our time the paragon of our age allied to the noblest houses in Roome make choise of so base and meane a person What hast thou to deserue hir loue any more then a little babling eloquence Womens eares are not their touchstones but their eies they sée and make choyse not heare and fancy A dramme of honour weighs downe a pound of wit and better is it to court with welthy reuenewes then with swéete lines or fine coucht poemes Thou hast nothing left but a poore farme called Cumanum whose rents quits not the charges of thy studies But suppose thou couldst winne Terentia suffice shée is loued by Lentulus and therefore froÌ„ this day name hir not in thy mouth nor weare hir in thy thoughtes least thou violate friendship which thou ought to prise dearer then life Thus Tully appeasing his passions went out of his study and willed Eutrapelus to deliuer the letter with secrecy who being one of Tullies chief familiars went with all spéede to the house of Flaminius where finding the Ladie Terentia sitting with Flauia Cornelia at worke he being homo facetus began merily to commend their huswifery after some iests broken betwixt the gentlewomeÌ„ him he craued to speak w t Terentia about certain serious affairs y â— greatly imported hir father Wherupon shée rising going with Eutrapelus into hir closet he there deliuered vnto hir Lentulus letter Terentia abashed at the sight blushed as half angrie with Eutrapelus that he made him selfe messenger in so vaine a matter yet considering it came from so honourable a personage as Lentulus shée vouchsafed it wisht Eutrapelus in the euening to come for an answere He was no sooner departed but Terentia vnripped the seales and then red the contentes which being contrarie to hir resolution shée determined to returne with a deniall But for that she would make hir friends priuie to hir new loues passions she went smiling in and shewed them the letter Upon poore Lentulus plainesong they all began to descant Cornelia praysing Terentias fortunes that was so enterely beloued of so honourable braue a Gentleman but Flauia hung the lippe and saying little only askt what a louing answere she would write I know not howe to replie quoth Terentia he hath written so eloquently and so cunningly But quoth Flauia I durst pawne my credite it was written by young Tullie that braue Orator for I haue red some of his Epistles and tis both his methode and his verie phrase That Tullie quoth Terentia whom I haue heard my Father and the Senators so highlie commend for his witte thinking him to excéede either Crassus or Hortensius and with that sitting downe they began to enter into discourse of Tullies excellencies concluding all that he was as singular amongst the Romaines as euer Demosthenes was amongst the Grecians At last Terentia remembring hir selfe tooke leaue for a whyle of hir two friendes and stealing into hir closet stepping to the standish shée was about to write but calling to minde the discourse of Tullies perfection letting fall hir penne she fell into a passion Cupid wayting to spie this vestall at aduantage séeing hir halfe at discouert vulosde a bolt headed with desire and fethered with conceite which piercing the tender briest of this young Damosell he made hir shrinck at the blow and so breath out this complaint Hast thou Terentia béene wondred at in Rome for despising loue and wilt thou now doting gyrle stomble on desire shall fancie eclipse all thy former glories shall Vesta léese a virgin and Venus winne a wanton Wilt thou resemble the buddes of an Elder trée which young are swéete and holesome but blomd foorth are bitter and preiudiciall thinke with thy selfe that Dianas shrubs are more pleasaunt than Cupids bowers the one harbours chast thoughts the other amorous fancies Truth but Lucina is a goddesse loue is diuine and marriage honorable Cedars are fayre but in yéelding no fruite they purchase the lesse estéeme To be a virgin is a glorious title but to liue euer so is to wrong nature in
to Flaminius for their good chéeâ—e they parted to their seuerall mansions Lentulus sâ—ipping from the rest of the companie and with a gratious courage tooke his adue of Terentia and the other of the Ladies vowing to be theirs euer in any due honourable seruice and so staying Terentia by the hande he went home with Titus Annius Milo where he founde Marcus Tullius Cicero then a youth in Rome about y e age of twenty yeres very priuate and familiar with Milo The fame of this Tullies surpassing â—loquence was so bruted abroade in Rome as they counted him the myrror of that time as in Greece they wondred at Demosthenes for his orations and the popular people fedde their eies with his sight so as Tully past through the stréets they cryed out Hic est ille Cicero saying that as Orpheus with his musicke made the stones and trees pliant to his melody so Tully tyed the peoples cares to his tongue by his eloquence And that Plato who for his philosophicall sentences was called diuine in whose lippes bées rested as presaging his future excellencie was inferiour to Tully in the musicall concord of his phrase Lentulus noting his perfections although his parentage was base yet thinking his eloquence might be profitable to his loues grewe to bee very familiar with Tully insomuch that of vnacquainted citizens they grew to be deare and priuate friends that their thoughts were vnited with a sure league of amity and their hearts were receptacles for their mutuall passions so that their most secrete affaires were frankely participated without any doubting suspition But leauing their familliarity conuersing in Milos house Let vs gentlemen sée how Terentia brookt his departure Cornelius Nepos forgets it in Tullies life 〈◊〉 if you will beléeue me it was thus No sooner were the Senatours and Lentulus departed from Flaminius house but Flauia and the rest of the Ladies tooke leaue of Terentia who being solitary by hir selfe sitting alone in an arbour of roses began to ruminate on the Idaea of Lentulus perfection and to call to minde his seueral and singular qualities his parentage his person honors and his great possessions but all in vaine Loues poyson was preuented with an antidote and hir thoughts sealed vp with an inuincible chastity For after shée had long sate At last with a smyle shée burst foorth into these tearmes If Venus could not infuse more dismall aspects in other Ladies thoughts then into my minde they should neither hold hir as a goddesse nor honour hir temples with presents Fonde are those women that are inquisitiue after Astrologers whether Venus be retrograde or combust in their natiuities Had they but tasted the swéete fauour of Vestas incense they would abandon hir as a planet carelesse in their natiuities and not trouble the Augurs or Aruspices to censure of their fatall or fortunate fancies For had they but insight into the swéete life of virgins how secure they liue if they liue vertuous they woulde neuer intangle themselues with the inconstant snares of fancy Vesta allowes vs frée thoughts Venus disquiet passionsâ— at hir Altars we haue swéete sâ—éepes in the others pallace broken slumbers Diana counteruailes our labours with myrth and quiet in Cipres we finde toyle tempered with care and sorrowes Being virgins we haue liberty maried we tie our selues to the variable disposition of a husband who be he neuer so excellent in perfection or exquisite in proportion we shall finde sufficient whereof to gather diâ—â—ike Then Terentia let Lentulus passe with his honors he hath subdued What though Alexander woone the whole world his glories are but fortunes fauours Account him then onely as thou promised thy fathers friend and thine as farre as he treats not of weddiâ—â— and with this vpon a sodaine shée start vp and went to passe away the time amongst companie holding Cupids deity at disdaine and accounting of loue as the Samnites did of golde which they sent as presents to their enemies but banisht from their owne common wealth But Flauia poore Lady was not pierced with so easie a passion for shée hauing more déepely imprinted in hir thoughtes his honours and vertues and measuring the man by the height of his fortunes fell into these bitter complaints With what little proportion doth iniurious Loue bestowe his fauours With howe small regarde doth blinde fortune powre out hir treasures Making in all their actions contrarieties that so they may triumph in inconstancie Loue hath brought Lentulus from the wars to Rome onely to sée Terentia Fortune hath brought Flauia to the house of Flaminius onely to loue Lentulus shée little regarding him he lightly respecting me Thus hath the contrariety of loue and fortune made Lentulus vnhappy and me without hope Ah but Terentia though shée séeme coy at the first will bee more curteous at the last when shée hath had but a moneths meditating on the excellency of Lentulus Then oh then sigh Flauia and say oh then wil Terentia not reiect so honourable a personage When shée considers his youth his beauty his parentage his dignities Lentulus no sooner shall wooe but shée will be woonne This is the coniecture of hir hap the dispaire of my hope And yet it may be that the destinies haue appointed their disagrée For starres are sticklers in loue and fates are principall fautors of wedlocke If my prayers may serue â—o Venus if my incense to Cupid if my vowes to Lucina if my sute to Loue. Let their loue perish in the budde and wither in the blossoms Had I Medeas magicke the drugs of Calipso the inchauntments of Cyrces the skill of Hecate all these should be imployed to breake the loue of Terentia and Lentulus Fond Flauia to be so franticke in thy passions suppose Terentia hated Lentulus can this conclude he wil loue thée No his thoughts are setled his rest set downe his vowes made his fancy fixed all vpon y e beautiful Terentia I there Flauia y â— is y e word y e galleth to the beautifull Terentia For of such surpassing beauty is the Lady that as Cynthia brookes no compare with hir glorious brother so thou must not enter comparison with y â— daughter of y â— Senatour Flaminius But what is this to Lentulus If shée be faire yea as faire as euer was Sulpitia if shée be as coy and disdainefull as Caelia had he not better loue homely Flauia who will counteruaile with loue what shée wants in beautie and proportion out in duety what shée defects in dignity But what of this loue admits no exceptions he cannot misâ—ike â—ught in Terentia Doth not present examples yea instances executed in Roome auerre so much Is not Anthonio enamoured of the blacke Egyptian Cleopatra Doth not Caesar enuy him in his loues and couets to be corriuall of his fancies Affection is oft blinde and déemeth not rightlie The blackest Ebon is brighter then the whitest Iuorie and Venus thought Vulcan at the first a proper stripling Were Terentia neuer so coy
Lentulus will count hir disdaine but chastitie yet Flauia pray then she may liue in this mislike then hast thou yet some cause to hope otherwise wéepe thy fill dispaire and then die for swéeter is death then to liue and sée Lentulus enioy the loue of Terentia Hauing at this period breathed awhile readie to goe forwarde in passions one of hir waiting women came in who breaking of hir complaintes past away the rest of the day in prattle Leauing hir therfore and hir maide at chat again to Lentulus who tooke such inwarde griefe at this newe conceited loue that his colour began to waxe pale and to discouer passions his sighes many and often to bewray his sorrows his sodayne startes in his sléepes and his musinges surcharged with melancholie These noted by Tullie his priuate friende made him coniecture that somewhat was amisse with Lentulus Hauing therefore fit opportunitie he began to sift him in this manner The auncient Gréetians swéete Lentulus y â— set downe principles of friendship account the secrete conuersiâ—g of friendes and their mutuall participating eyther of priuate sorrows or concealed pleasures the principall end of such professed amitie Therefore did Theseus choose Pirithous Orestes Pylades to that end or else you wronge me serues Tullie to his Lentulus If then it be requisite in friendshippe to abandon suspitious secrecie I cannot but take it vnkindly that Tullie is not made partaker of Lentulus passions For as the Carbuncle is not hid in the darke nor the fire shut vp in strawe so sorrowes cannot so couertly be concealed but the countenance will purtray out the cause by the effectes Thinke me not then so blind but I can Iudge of coullors nor so simple but I can deeme of affections what meane these farre fetcht sighes broken slumbers this newe delight to be solitarie but that Lentulus féeling a passion that pierceth to the quick yet séekes to kéepe it secrete from his friend Tullie Knowe this my good Lentulus that smoake depressed stiffleth more deadly That the Ouen the closer it is damd vp the greater is the heate and passions the more priuate the more preiudiciall Stop not then the streame least it ouerflow Conceale not sorrowes least they ouercharge and prooue like woundes that kepte long from the Chirurgian growe to be incurable vlcers If it be a Fathers frowne an enemies wrong a friendes mishap reueale it and séeke remedie If Lentulus gréeues hath left his honours in Parthia feare not Rome will haue more warres and Lentulus new dignities If the Senatoures haue delt ingratefully Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris The most famous Romaines haue forerunne thée in such hard fortunes Scipio subdued Affrica what his rewarde was let our annualles report If Lentulus misliks ought in Rome let him abandon Rome and Tullio will banishe himselfe from his countrie too with his friend Lentulus If since thy comming into this storehouse of natures prodigalitie thiue eye hath made suruaie of anie gorgious Damsell and so my Lentulus be in loue although wisedome wills to hide amors euen from amitie and to tie fancie in the lowest cell of his heart yet reueale it to thy friende Tullie and if any way hee may ease his Lentulus passions hee vowes to salue thy sore though with the hazarde of his owne safetie Lentulus hearing his friende leuell so néere the marke gaue a great grone at the name of loue and fetching a déepe sighe saide Actna grauius Amor. And with that starting from the place where hee sat taking Tullie by the hande he began thus Were it my Tullie that my passions had any hope of remedie or that my wounde were such as might bee cured by counsell long ere this had Lentulus powred his plaintes into the bosome of his friende Cicero but my sorrows as they are piercing so I haue kept them priuate as hoping for no ease and yet delighting in my martiredome The birde flieth the snare of the fouler No sooner doth the woodman bend his bowe but the Déere trippes through the lawnes euerie creature is taught by nature to feare his fall and yet wretched Lentulus hunteth after his owne mishappe So haue I described the furie of my passions as I can not but say it is loue that is thus impatient Loue my Tullie that is such a lord as insâ—nuating his power with fauour he kéeps possession by force Wars haue their endes either honors or death and in battaile prowesse oft makes constraint of fortune but in loue delay is the vnhappie deathsman that holding thée vp neither saues nor killes Since my comming to Rome my Tullie coueting to conuerse with beautifull Ladies as before I had done with martiall souldiers amongst manie curious Pearles I founde one Orient Margarite richer then those which Caesar brought from the western shores of Europe so long I gased at the beautie of this pretious Iem that I founde my selfe gald with such affection as well repeat I might but recall I coulde not and for thou shalt say she is loue worthie heare how in discribing hir excellencie I haue plaide the Poet. Lentulus description of Terentia in Latin Qualis in aurora splende scit lumine Titan Talis in eximio corpore forma fuit Lumina seu spectes radiantia siue capillos Lux Ariadne tua lux tua Phoebe iacet Venustata fuit verbis spirabat odorem Musica vox nardus spiritus almus erat Rubea labra genae rubrae faciesque decora In qua concertant lilius atque rosa. Luxuriant geminae formoso in pectore mammae Circundant niueae candida colla comae Denique talis erat diuina Terentia quales Quondam certantes Iuno Minerua Venus Thus in English BRightsume Apollo in his richest pompe was not like to the tramels of hir haire Hir eyes like Ariadnes sparkling starres shone from the Ebon Arches of hir browes Hir face was like the blushing of the east when Titan chardge the mornings Sun to rise Hir cheekes rich strewd with roses and with whyte did stayne the glorie of Anchises loue Hir siluer teates did ebbe and flowe delight Hir necke colummes of polisht Iuorie Hir breath was perfumes made of violets And all this heauen was but Terentia NO sooner had Lentulus ended his well written Poem and concluded his cunning with the name of his mistresse but Tullie hearing Terentia was the saint at whose shrine Lentulus offred vp his deuotion entring his exordium with a smyle he began to be thus pleasaut And is there no fruit will serue your taste but such as growe in the Gardens Hesperides nor no colour content your eye but such as is stayned by the fish Murex Must your senses be fed with nothing but that is excellent nor your loue haue no meane but to aime at the fairest What Terentia the beautie of Rome the pride of nature the wealth of all the fauouring graces whose excellencies are spreade throught the triple deuision of the worlde I see my Lentulus souldiers haue eyes as they haue hands
and thoughtes as they haue weapons and that howe bluntlie so euer brought vp in the warres yet they are curious in the choises of their loues Well be it Lentulus loues Terentia an honour to set his fancie on hir but hee kept his loue secret froÌ„ Tullie a fault to be suspicious of his friend But why gréeues Lentulus Is not his parentage greater then the house of Flaminius Is not his honours sufficient to counteruaile hir beauties Why then is he so impatient in so agreable a passion Lentulus vpon this discoursed vnto Tullie from point to point the successe of his loues how he gaue his charge ouer to Lepidus onely that he might haue a sight of Terentia and then recounting what prattle had past betwixt him and hir after dinner Hir coy answeres and firmed resolution to remaine chast crauing counsell howe he might ease the disquiete of his thonghts Tullie pittying the extreeme passion of his friende deuised sundrie meanes howe to make him lorde of his desires But after the discourse of sundry plottes it was decreed that Lentulus shoulde write vnto Teren-Terentia Lentulus dispairing of his owne stile and methode required Tully to write him a letter passionate and full of familiar eloquence which at his request Cicero contriued after this manner where by the way gentlemen I am to craue you to thinke that Terentia kept the copy secrete so that neither it can bee founde amongst Lentulus loose papers nor in the familiar epistles of Cicero If the phrase differ from his other excellent forme of writing imagine he sought to couer his style and in his pen rather to play the blunt souldier then the curious Orator neither vsing those verborum fulmina that Papyrius obiects nor that swéete and musicall cadence of words which he vseth to Atticus but howsoeuer or whatsoeuer thus it was Lentulus Terentiae salutem QVod natura in venustatis formae tuae Idaea formauit suauissima Terentia nullo modo silentio praeterire possum Ne cum nimis cautus amoris ignem celare conarer incautus tanquam Aetna meipsum consumens in cineres redigar Cum inter Parthos versarer nihil nisi bellum arma cogitans a Roma vsque formae tuae pulchritudo morumque integritas à multis saepe nuntiata est Cuius rei faema ca iucunditate aures meas permulsit vt syrenum quasi cantu delectatus arma abijcere amorem cogitare coeperim meque totum in Terentiae potestatem tradere non erubescerem Diuinae autem excellentiae tuae cogitatio eos mihi pro tempore in bellicis negotijs addidit animos vt breui deuictis profligatis Parthis totam hanc Prouinciam Lepido commiserim quem vnum tum honoris tum fortunae meae participem feci Parthisque relictis Romam me contuli vt iucundissimo fructu tum aspectus tum consuetudinis tuae frui liceat Formae vero pulchritudinis tuae dignitas tanta tamque excellens fuit vt non modo famam sed expectationem meam longe superarit Vnde exquisitam tuam perfectionem oculis contemplans singulares animi dotes auribus accipiens excellentiae tuae Idaeam in imo pectore collocaui meque totum amori quasi constring endum tradidi Cum igitur tua vnius causa suauissima Terentia famam fortunasque arma proiecerim verum amantis officium fac praestes me non meritis sed amore fac metiare vt in amore tu mihi respondens ego in omni officio tibi satisfaciam Taceo genus parentes quos tamen bonos ciues senatores fuisse constat taceo triumphos qui quales fuerint Capitolium populusque Romanus locupletissimi sunt testes de diuitijs non glorior quas tâ—men mediocres esse constat sed virtutis vim amoris constantiaÌ„ tibi propono quae nec parui facienda nec ingratitudine compensanda sunt Me igitur fac redames mea Terentia pulchritudini comitatem coniungens parentibus honorem aâ—icis fidem Lentulo amorem tribuas vt parentibus gaudio amicis vtilitati Lentulo voluptati esse possis Non disertè vt Orator sed peramanter vt imperator tibi scribo quod si amorinostro consentire digneris de patris voluntate nihil est quod dubites sed si alieno amore non nostro delecteris dâ—lores meos augebo celabo quamcunque in partem te flexeris tibi tum vitam tranquillam tum mortem gloriosam vt fideliss amator exoptabo Vale plus oculis mihi dilecta Terentia me tui desiderio iam pene languentem aut ames cito aut oderis semper vale rescribe Lentulus to Terentia health I cannot swéete soueraigne of my thoughts and chiefe myrrour of our Romaine excellencie smother that with silence which nature hath figured in the portraiture of my lookes vnlesse kéeping the flame too secrete I shoulde like Aâ—tna consume to cinders When seated amongst the Parthians hauing nothing in my thoughtes but warres and stratagemes thy beauty was repeated as speciall newes from Roome amongst the Legions The melodie séemed so pleasing to mine eares as if the musicke of the Syrens had inchaunted my senses I ceased from warres to think of loue and from loue to doate on the conceit of Terentia The thoughtes of thy excellencie doubled such courage in my attempts that I conquered the Parthians yéelded vp my charge to Lepidus made him partaker of my honors and fortunes and came to Roome onely to sée Terentia whose sight was so beauteous and so farre beyond the report of fame that mine eies surueying exquisitely thy perfections and mine eares censuring of thy wit and vertues both in league conspired to present the Idea of thy selfe to the contemplation of my heart which gréedily intertaining such rare beauties hath euer since remained a poore distressed captiue Sith then Terentia thy Lentulus hath left his fortunes to followe fancy and hath forsaken the warres to winne thy loues holding thée more deare then country or honoâ—r shewe thy selfe a Romaine Lady that striuing in minde to be matchlesse thou mayest bee more prodigall in fauours then I worthy in deserts and yéelde mée such méede for my loue as Lentulus for his loyaltie doth merite I â—oast not of my parents they are Citizens of the Senate w t thy father I speak not of mine honors the Capitol can witnes what showtes past from the Romaines as victors what tears from the Parthians as vanquished both these passions growing from the fortunes of Lentulus My reuenewes are such as satisfie my desires But all these are externall fauours which though I rehearse yet I bragge not off But the constancy of my loue the loyalty of my thoughts These Terentia are gifts of the mind deseruing no light estéem much lesse to be requited with ingratitude Consider then swéete goddesse the sincerity of mine affections weigh howe Lentulus loues and so vse him in loue measure his fortunes by his fancies As thou art
is nought and his health is doubtfull in that his thoughtes are disquiet and madame it rests in you to saue so honourable a gentleman not onely from sickenes but from sorrowe Aeneas was a stragling Troian an exile periured and banisht euen from the ruines of Troy yet Dydo the famous Carthage quéene made him hir paramour Demophoon a pyrat a robber in Greece cast vp as shipwrack on the shore yet interteind by Phillis Phao a ferryman a slaue yet fauoured by Sapho Lentulus the hope of the Romains more beautifull then Eneas more couragious thâ— Demophoon more honourable then Phao more louing then them all is refused and reiected by Terentia his neighbour and familiar Thinke not Terentia but loue as hee hath roses so hee hath nettles as he hath perfumes so hath hee hemblocke and holding fauors the claspeth reuenge as ready to pierce as to pacifiâ— If you procure Lentulus death Cupid hath power to inforce your dispaire and to cause your loue to be as fickle to you as you are froward to him Then madam let me be the messenger of life and from your swéete selfe carry such conserues to Lentulus as may recouer his health and increase your honours This discourse of Tully did but sette Terentias heart more on fire For hearing the pleasant harmony of hir Cicero shée likt of the musicke as of the Syrens melody and so intangled hir selfe with many newe conceiued fancies insomuch that forgetting whose daughter shée was shée burst foorth into these tearmes Did I not Cicero tell thée twixt Arpinatum Roome y â— loue hath but one cell wherein to place the Idaea of y â— party loued wilt thou haue me like the Camelion to haue many colours or like Helena to intertain many loues I know Lentulus dignities are beyond my degrée that his honors are more then my fortunes that his loue is great and so I holde him the second in my most secrete thoughtes first he cannot be and that he craues Thou doest wring water out of the flint fier forth of y â— dry sandes immodesty from hir that hath euer béene honoured for chastily so that by wastlesse perswasions for thy friende I am forst to say thou art the friend that Terentia hath chosen amongst all the worthy Romains Before I sawe thée Tully I loued thee and now I haue setled my affection and thou wrongst me with discurtesie but either cease from intreating for Lentulus or looke to sée me worse then Lentulus And with this blushing at hir owne ouermuch loues shée poured foorth such abundance of teares as well might bewâ—ay the sincerity of hir affections Tully gréeuing to sée the goddesse of his thoughtes in this passion answered hir mildly thus Blame me not Terentia if I pleade for Lentulus séeing his sorrow and entring into mine owne promise Then friendship is no swéeter iewell then howe can I but labour ere I loose so rich a prize But séeing Terentia hath vouchsafed of so meane a man as Tully whose honours onely hanges in his studies loue béeing the strictest league of amity and no such friendship as is mariage I vowe by the Romaine gods euer to be a duetifull seruant vnto a Terentia and with my loyalty so to requite hir fauours as Roome shall more admire my affections then they haue woondred at my eloquence yet with this prouiso my swéete Terentia that although I preferre thy fauours before mine owne life yet if thou canst striue to loue Lentulus which if either the gods loue fortune or thy selfe can bring to passe I will with mine owne preiudice conquer mine owne thoughtes to satisfie the content of Lentulus As Terentia was ready to reply one of hir fathers seruants came to request Cicero to come to supper who taking his leaue of Terentia went in to hir father Flaminius who sitting downe to supper passed away the time in ordinary talke Their repast being taken Flaminius calling Tully on the one side demaunded what his daughters answere was Peremptory quoth Tully still to hold Lentulus in mislike Then you shall heare quoth hir father what I will say and so report to Lentulus so calling for Terentia they thrée being together he began thus I knowe not howe Terentia to insinuate my exordium whether friendly to perswade with a smyle or fatherly to admonish with a frowne thy follies are so great and my care so tender Roome hath hitherto admyred thy vertues and I haue praised thy obedience thou hast béene counted honorable and chast wise to eschew wantonnesse but neuer coy to be thought disdainefull and shall nowe all these graces ende in disgrace Then Terentia maiest thou repent hereafter and I powre forth present sorrowes I speake thus for that I heare in the city what maketh me to grieue and may force thée to blush They say Terentia is beautiful and proude witty and ouerwéening hauing coy disdaine crept into the place of curteous desire this men say that enuy thy follyes and grieue at Lentulus fortunes Now daughter thou séest the marke I aime at and maiest iudge of my shot by the leuell Lentulus is fallen into a feuer which Asclapo that famous Phisition of Patras censures to be mortall Thy frowardnes was the efficient of the disease and nowe thou deniest cure of the maladie Unaduised gyrle that neither weighest of thine owne honours nor his miseries Lentulus requires Terentia in mariage let vs make compare of the parties and so examine the cause of thy denials He is descended from the Lentuli and Aemilij two houses that euer haue béene the props of the Romaine dignities His honours are great as proconsul in his youth against the Parthians His fortunes mighty doubled with his conquests and victories His reuenewes such as he may with Crassus maintaine Legions If like Venus darling thou séekest to féede thine eie his fauour is more then his that pleased Cynthia If thou couetest a souldier Lentulus in Roome is as Hector was in Troy If a Courtier who braues it so in Italy To conclude if Terentia couet to loue there is none so fit to loue within the Romaine Empire as Lentulus Whereas Terentia is but the daughter of a meane Senatour hir dowry cannot be much for that hir fathers wealth is not great Beautifull shée is and so are many in Roome who are of meaner parentage Hir glories are but fortunes pelfe that florishe in the morning and fade before night What then can mooue Terentia to oppose hir selfe against Lentulus vnlesse shée fatally presageth hir owne discredit and the ruine of hir fathers house If then daughter thou art child to Flaminius I charge thée by the strickt law of nature which Philosophers call Regius amor a kingly loue if thou be a maide by the holy fiers of Vesta if beautifull by Venus deity if a Romaine by thy Countryes loue that thou loue Lentulus which if thou refuse to performe thy father shall curse thée Vesta shall shut thée from hir temples Venus from hir fauours and thy country
woone Andromache nor the wisedome of Vlisses that intangled Calipso nor the beauty of Priamus sonne that drew Greece in armes to Troy these perfections if combined in one man shoulde not mooue Terentia to listen to the allurements of Venus not that I make light estéeme of Lentulus or that I holde small account of Fabius as two chiefe myrrours of our Romaine gentlemen But that either my vowes are resolute to Vesta or if Cupid hath taken me by the héele it was before Lentulus came from Parthia or you from Arpinatum so that conclude howsoeuer it is I cannot become affectionate to Fabius At this reply Fabius stoode so amated as if hee had beene an vnwelcome guest at the feast of Perseus which Cornelia noting déepely in loue with Fabius shée told him thus Nor may you Fabius thinke much at this repulse sith Lentulus and you are in one predicament nowe both become gainers in liberty that haue béene loosers in loue and either gette the willowe garlande and so mourne for your Ladies frowne or séeke a mistresse that may shewe you more fauor For as for Terentia shée hath chosen and none must please hir but Oratours If there be Fabius but one Sunne that is thought the beauty of heauen yet there be planets that though not in shine yet in influence are as vertuous what there bee Ladies I meane of such course die as my selfe and Flauia that when Terentia is once married looke for husbands Fabius hearing Cornelia thus pleasant noted this quippe that none must please hir but Oratours which made Terentia blush for anger and Fabius to make this answere I knowe no Oratours in Roome quoth he whose yeares are answerable to Terentias thoughtes but onely Marcus Tullius Cicero and if it be he I sweare by the fitch that gaue him his syrname Terentia shall be mistresse of a goodly Cottage in Arpinatum Terentia hearing Fabius to giue Tully the frumpe answered thus The more his fortune if it be hee whose vertues hath made him master of his owne desires for his lands in Arpinatum as they be little yet shall his lacke be counteruaild with his loues and if he hath not one to inrich him with dowry yet I may perhaps content him with beauty And therefore Fabius to take away all suppositions it is Tully none but Tully y â— shall inioy Terentia And quoth Fabius in great choller nor Tully nor none besides Tully but Fabius shall inioy Terentia Whereupon departing without taking his farewell going vnto hir father and discoursing vnto him that Tully was the man that his daughter had chosen for hir husband swearing that his sword ere it were long should end their loues Although Flaminius were grieued yet he sought to pacifie Fabius but in vaine for hee flung out of the dores in a rage and went to Milos house to séeke Tully Where breathing out many despightfull threats against the Oratour it came at last to Lentulus eare Who nowe to make manifest the déepe affection he bare to Cicero trouping himselfe with a crue of the Praetextati and chiefe Romaine gentlemen that had béene souldiers and trained vp with him in the warres he went to séeke out Fabius and found him with certaine his companions about the Capitoll Lentulus not brooking the braue of any as carrying the heart of a Conquerour singled out Fabius and after some wordes they fell to blowes but Fabius part were the weaker so that many were wounded and some slaine Upon this the next day parts were taken the people began to mutiny and to fall to intestine and ciuil iarres that as in the time of Scilla and Marius so the stréets were filled with armed Souldiers The Senatours séeing what bloudy stratagems woulde insue of this strife if it were not pacified sent for the Consuls and charged them to raise vp some of the Legions and to bring Lentulus Tully and Fabius the next day to the senate house with Terentia and hir father They obeying their commaund put this charge in execucution and so qualifiyng somewhat the fury of the people brought these thrée wooers with Terentia before the whole state of Roome Where being arriued Tully fearefull of nature and sicke yet somewhat strengthened with the sight of his mistresse beeing glad Lentulus was his friend in his loues after due reuerence began thus Tullies Oration to the Senate COnscript Fathers and graue Senators of Room I was borne in Arpinatum of base parentage the first of the Ciceroes that euer pleaded in Rostro or bare title in the city If then aduanced by your fauours to these fortunes I should aspire without proportion to clime beyonde my degrée let me be the first and last whose presumption shall grow to this preiudice The temple of Ianus in Roome hath hir gates shut the sâ—reetes are full of armed men the stones of the Capitol blusheth at the bloud of Romaines shed against hir walles and all this mutiny cry mine aduersaries growes from Tully Not that Tully was then out of his bedde but that men of poore families lifted vp to honor are soonest bitten with enuy I appeale graue Senatours for my life to your owne censures if euer I haue not béene more carefull to profit my country then desirous of preferment for my labours But what then say the people is cause of such broyâ—es Terentia the daughter of Flaminius that firebrand that set Troy to cinders Beauty is like to bring Roome to confusion For the greatest houses and families are diuided the Lentuly and Vatinij and this for Terentia Let the cause be examined before the Senators and as they heare so let them doome Lentulus chosen by the Senate was sent Captaine euer many Legions against the Parthians where he tyed fortune to his thoughtes and by his great victories and conquests set vp trophées of Romaine chiualry Returning with glory to Roome hauing set in his place Lepidus he was enamonred not onely of the beauty but vertues of Terentia the fame of whose excellency was spred amongst the Parthians Coueting to match with so honourable a Lady he courted hir but in vaine not that shée disdained Lentulus but that shée had fixed hir fancy before shée sawe Lentulus and the platforme of loue is able to receiue but one impression If honours if conquestes if parentage if reuenewes if courage if goods of fortune body or minde might haue woonne Terentia al this was vnited in young Lentulus But Loue that liketh without exceptions had ouerbard hir heart with such former fancies as the passionate sute of Lentulus coulde haue no entrance His thoughtes were extreame and the disquiet of his minde brought a disease to his body But when he knew that Terentia loued his friend he appeased his passions and rested content with his fortunes The vnconstant goddesse whose smyles are ouershadowed frowns not conteÌ„t honor should spring vp without enuy sends Terentia to walke abroade towards Arpinatum where then Fabius liued as famous for his rusticke and vnciuile life as now he is woondred at for his braue and courtly behauiour Spying Terentia hee was as Lentulus snared in hir beautie that the Romains to report a miracle said loue made him of a clowne braue resolute gentleman The excellencie of Terentia hauing newe pollished nature in Fabius hee sues for hir fauour but hir thoughtes that were forepointed with other passions intreates him to bridle affection and to make a conquest of himselfe by subduing the force of fancie séeing hir resolution was directed to loue none but one and that was Tullie This worde graue Senators and Romaynes sounding basely in the eares of Fabius caused him take armes and Lentulus to defende his friend Cicero as for him before had lost his loue so he ment to loose his life and withstoode him in the face Thus grew this mutinie not against beautie for it is a cheefe good of it selfe nor against Tullie for hee is meane and vnworthie to bee reuenged by armes but against Terentia because shee vouchsafed to loue Tulllie This Romaines is the cause of this mutinie to suppresse which let Tullie die for rather had he pacifie this striffe by death then sée the meanest Romaine fall on the sword The common people at this began to murmour pleased with the plausible Oration of Tullie which one of the Senators seeing stoode vp and saide thus Terentia Cicero here hath shewed reasons why thou shouldst loue Lentulus and Fabius but what reason canst thou infer to loue so meane a man as Tullie Terentia blushing made this answere Before so honorable an audience as these graue Senators and worthy Romayne Citizens womens reasons would seeme no reasons especially in loue which is without reason therefore I onely yeld this reason I loue Cicero not able to ratefie my affection with anie strong reason because loue is not circumscript within reasons limits but if it please the Senate to pacifie this mutinie let Terentia leaue to liue because she cannot leaue to loue and onely to loue Cicero At this she wept and stayned hir face with such a pleasing vermilion die that the people shouted none but Cicero Whereupon before the Senate Tully and Terentia were betrothed Lentulus and Fabius made friends and the one named Lentulus as the Annales make mention maried to Flauia and Fabius wedded to the worthy Cornelia FINIS