stand upon it any longer but let you know how that my father having had some fore-intelligence of the Kings intent as many more of our neighbours did among whom I place the Captain my mothers second husband and therefore thought best to flie unto some other place yet the Kings command being something hastily put in execution it hapned that my father with all the rest were so suddenly assaulted in the night time the they were compelled to leap out of their beds in their shirts and take their flight leaving all they had behind them so that neither my father had leasure to take me with him nor the Captain to save his Philorenus yet was our luck such that though no child escaped untimely death yet we the one not knowing the other found mercy at the souldiers hands that were sent to execute the Kings pleasure For they taking pity on us thought it was then a sacriledge to kill us that were so young and by the disposition of our bodies séemed likely to prove comely men In so much that we were both of us priviledged from death and carried to the City of Naples I by a certain Captain whose hap it was to light on me the other Philorenus by a Sergeant who séeing his father fled ran towards him to bath his sword in the poor innocent child his bloud for spight that his father had by flight escaped his fury coming near him hearing him cry his choller turned into affection and he so loved the child being about thrée years and a half old the he having neither wife nor child intended to carry him to Naples bring him up as his own son Thus we lived in Naples seven years yet had no knowledg one of the other CHAP. XXVI How Philorenus the elder was brought to the Court by the King of Naples who sent him Ambassador to the King of Persia I Shall intreat you most excellent Princesse and ye worthy Gentlemen and shepheards to mark by the way that as we were both alike in name so wee were in like manner so like one the other in favour in plight of the body in colour of hair and in voice that it was impossible for any one by the judgement of the eye to discern the one of us from the other when I had attained the eighteenth year of my age and the other Philorenus to the fifteenth year of his age at which time hee was fully as tall as I and in growth reached to the full proyortion of length and thicknesse that I was of The reason where of was that we both attained to our full bignesse at fourteene yeares of our age in so much that when he reached to fourteen years he was fully in bignesse equal to me This therefore being committed to memory you shall know that after I had dwelled three years in Naples with the Captain who had brought me thither it happened that the same Captain marrying the daughter of a certain Knight of great account celebrated the feast of his Wedding in very solemn manner For not onely the chiefest Noble men of the country were invited thereto but the King himself also who disdained not in proper person to honour my Masters Wedding day The ceremonies of the marriage being finished according to custome in memory of Hymenaeus there was a most sumptuous banquet made ready for the King and those Nobles that were ministred And it came to passe that the King casting his eye upon me who among other my fellows served my masters guests at that feast liked me so well that he asked the Captain whether I was of his affinity or kindred The Captain said that I was no kin unto him but that he esteemed of me as of his son in that a father can but give life to his son as hee had done to me shewing to the King where he had me and how he brought me from the village Cinqueni The King glad that he had saved such a proper lad from so unhappy and peremptory death prayed my master to resign over the title he had to me unto him promising that it should be both for his profit and my welfare To make few words of a Captains boy I became a Kings Page and that day taking leave of my old master I went to the Court where I so served the King that I could not but please him insomuch that his Majesty loved me as dearly as if I had béen some Noble personage suffering me to want nothing allotting me no worse company then his own son being about the same age that I was of who affected me as if I had béen his natural brother Thus I lived in this happie estate about two years till Fortune remembring that she had brought me to the top of her wheel began to threatem my haplesse dawnfall from all felicity into the depth and profundity of adversity wishing me no better luck then my parents had had in their time though she had at the first gladded me with such good hap thereby to make me the more impatient to suffer her crosse and malicious entreatments in time to come For it is a thing most certain that among all men that are oppressed with adversity none can so ill away with their mishap as they that before lived in great prosperity But lest I digresse from the matter know that the King having had intelligence by certaine Merchants out of Persia that the King of Persia mustered his men through all his dominions intending to make a voyage into Spain and to bring a mighty Army to invade the country of Spain because the Kings of Castile Aragon and Portugal had refused to give their daughters in marriage to his son fearing lest if Spain were invaded Italy should become subject and considering that he had entered into league with the King of Persia and divers times joyned with him against other Kingdomes but loth in this expedition so likely to turn to his wrack to become a helper or confederate purposed to send me into Persia unto the King to procure a peace between him and the aforesaid Kings of Castile Aragon and Portugal I though I thought my self altogether unfit to be imployed in such honorable kind of service and matters of such importance yet seeing it was his Majesties pleasure as I thought it no manners to seem unwilling so I prepared wy self to put his Majesties pleasure in practise and to provide all things necessary for such a journey Therefore knowing the Kings pleasure and the effect and sum of my message I took my leave of his Majesty and the Queen and in like manner of his son Hyppolito who was so sorry for my departure that he could scarce bid me farewel so dispatched my selfe from the Court being accompanied with nine men What successe I had since my departure from Naples you shall hear afterwards CHAP. XXVII How the younger Philorenus being taken for the elder was imprisoned by the King of Naples
his command THe second day after I went from Naples the other Philorenus son unto my Mother by that Castilian Captain dwelling in the same Ciwith the Sergeant that brought him from Cinqueni chanced in the evening time to passe by a Noble-mans house where Hyppolito the Kings son had been at supper who standing at the door among certain Gentlemen espyed this Philorenus and thought undoubtedly that I was the man and that I had changed my apparel to the end that I should not be known to be Philorenus which he imagined that I should have done being unwilling to go in Ambassage unto the King of Persia and yet feared to ask leave to stay at home and to be discharged of that so troulesome a service I being unaccustomed to deal in affairs of so great moment and importance He therefore stealing from his company followed my brother for we came both out of one wombe and when he saw him in place where least company was hee tooke him by the slip of his cloak and calling him by his name Philorenus bad him not be grieved though he were overtaken by him seeing it was his lucke first to bee espied by him that was the best friend that he had in the world My brother knowing Hyppolito the Kings son began to fal on his knees to honour him according to the manner of the countrey marvelling that the young Prince used such words unto him But Hyppolito loth that I should be knowne for the King and all the Nobility knew not but that I was departed from Naples for Persia with something an angry countenance uttered these words Philorenus if thou be wise follow my counsell and leave these tekens of honour lest thou be bewrayed and if my request will not serve let my commandement move thee to be more prudent and follow me Philorenus my brother ravished with marvel what this meant and fearing to displease him who might make him repent his offence did as he commanded And so they went together to the court where Hyppolito bearing my brother into his chamber and shutting up the door lest any of the Courtiers should interrupt them and know of my being there thinking nothing lesse then that the same Philorenus was my Brother séeing neither I my self knew that I had a Brother nor my Brother that he had a Brother in the Court by Fortune lifted to so high estate began in this manner to speak unto him Ah Philorenus who would have thought that the great discretion and wisedome whereby you have obtained such love and credit at my fathers hands had so lost his force and vigor that it suffereth thee so indiscréetly and fondly to behave thy self being imployed by his Majesty in a matter which might have beene committed to the chiefest person of the Realme And art thou so berest of all thy wits and understanding that thou thinkest we are all so blinde that because thou hast put on another Garment wee should not know thee Thinkest thou that we are so forgetfull of thy favour that the change of apparel is able to make thée unknown unto us No no Philorenus and although all other men were taken with oblivion of thy Face yet the Picture of thy Visage the Lineaments of thy Face and the very Phisiognomy of thy Csuntenance is so déeply ingraven in my heart that no time no change no alteration no colour nor no deceit is able to rase out the print thereof Wherefore I cannot enough marvel Philorenus that séeing thou knowest how I am affected towards thee insomuch that thou canst not ask any thing of me that lieth in my power to grant thee and be repulsed thou hast notwithstanding so madly sought so dangerous if I may say my mind so cowardly and base means to shake of the charge committed unto thée by the King whereas if thou hadst but let me know how thou wert unwilling to be imployed therein I would have intreated my father and perswaded him to send some other into Persia that I might have enjoyed your company for whose absence I doubt not but you perceived how sorry I was And now first you know that though you were never more seen by us or known yet you should be deprived of all the credit and honor which you had in the Court being compelled to live in obscurity and base manner wanting both wealth and fame Besides also perpend not onely what injury you offer the King but also the losse and detriment unto his subjects and the neighbour kingdomes of Castile Aragon and Portugal in that my fathers intent is frustrated and an embassage of such moment serving for the welfare of so many worthy kingdoms neglected The consideration whereof I hope will make you come to knowledge of your fondnesse yea rather madnesse in committing so heinous an offence and hurtful trespass whereby you hade deserved the Kings indignation who no doubt if he were acquainted with this your franticke kind of dealing would with no lesse pain then death punish your delict But I judge that the Gods tendring thy fortune have made thee so happie as that thou shouldest be espied by me before thy sinister doings were bewrayed unto any other and so revealed to the King my father to the end that I might provide some remedy in this case and save thée from the danger which otherwise thou wert like to incur My brother Philorenus who all this while stood astonished not knowing the event of this matter marvelled what fury haunted the young Prince to make such a large discourse unto him he knew not what he meant by his embassage or what affair the King should have committed to his charge séeing he had never been near the King and was altogether unknown unto him and therefore he knew not what he might imagine of this accident But knowing that who so commeth near the fire is in danger to be burned that who so playeth with the streams may be drowned and that they that are near Kings are subject to their power began to fear lest this sport should be turned into spight and this young Prince his pastime tend to his wrack And therefore he fel on his knées and made Hippolito this answer Most excellent Prince I am a poor young man unknown in all places of honour and especially in the Court howbeit that I know not how your grace knoweth my name For I confesse my name to be Philorenus yet I vow and protest before the Gods and sacred powers of heaven that I never lived in the Court never wore more sumptuous apparel then now I do never spake unto his majesty or your grace and that I know no more of what embassage you speak or what charge you talk of then I knew at the hour when I was first born Wherefore I beseech your grace to pardon me for I speak the truth as your grace well knoweth who taketh pleasure to mock his humble servant What Philorenus replied Hippolito hast thou not told me thy self that thou wert
he had won not passing four or five days before saved himself within the walls of the same from the fury of his enemy that ceased not to pursue him and so my father saw no way to obtain his desire séeing my mother was within the aforesaid Castle which was so strong that it could not be easily incorporated by our men who assailed it fiercely but to no purpose for the souldiers that were scattered in the slight met together about a league from the Castle and having rallied themselves in the night time brake into our camp making great slaughter among our men and although they could not discomfit our men yet they got within the walls of the Castle and were joyned to the rest of their company in so much that our men had no hope to win the Castle and so departed towards the City which my father took very heavily séeing he was cut from his wife and so he returned home very mournfully imagining inventing how he might have my mother again redéem her from captivity though it should have cost him all whatsoever he might make with the sale of his goods Yet his hope was but smal to get her again for any price séeing the maids servants of the house had told him that she was carried away by the Kings command and declared unto him how all things were passed touching the friendly hostility of the Captain the Kings demand the changing of captives and all other things that concerned the carrying away of their mistresse In the mean time my mother whom the King of Castile solicited to dishonesty was most miserably tormented and grieved that her fortune was so adverse that she was in the hands of him that might force her to do that which he pleased though the laws of God nature and the country were contrary unto it But she purposed rather to die then to consent to his lewd will and to esteem more of her chastity then his favour though she were but a mean person and he a King loth to change her honesty for his Kingdome CHAP. XXV How the mother of Philorenus to avoid the lust of the King of Castile secretly fled out of the Castle with the Captain and how supposing her former husband to be dead she married him and had by him a Son named also Philorenus THe foresaid Captain perceiving that my mother was so grievously vexed with sorrow for her captivity came unto her as privily as he might and comforted her as much as he could promising that if she would trust him he would release her from her imprisonment and bring her home to her house or where she pleased This although it did not a little moderate my mothers grief yet she feared least she should not so much be delivered out of her miserie as change the kind of her calamity and shunning one gulph she misdoubted to fall into another according to the saying Incidit in Syllam cupiens vitare Charibdim which caused her to be very doubtful in deliberation not knowing what she might best do in that great perplexity Neverthelesse considering that the worst that might happen was that she should be abused but by a Captain where otherwise she should remain subject to the lust and riot of a King making case of the vice and not regarding the persons she resolved to follow the Captains counsell thinking that it might as well prove for her benefit as contrarily where if she remained with the King she could not hope for amendment séeing lust cannot be quenched by virtue but rather inflamed and stirred up to further wickednesse The Captain hearing her willing to use his help told her that the King intended the next day after to ride to another Castle where he purposed to muster his army and to besiege the City Targonna but meant to let him be as chief governour of the Castle therefore he willed her to feign that she was extreamly sick and to yeeld the King a pleasant countenance at his departure beseeching him to leave her there to rest seeing she was ill at ease promising him that she would be ready her health recovered to do his Majeshy any pleasure and service it might please him to command her And then quoth the Captain if you do but obtain so much of him let me al one for the rest She thâ—nking him for his great deserts towards her promised to use the matter so that shee doubted not but to obtaine so much of the King as to be short she did For the King marched with his bands and left her to the keeping of this Captain who being appointed Governour of the Castle that night came unto my mother and brought her one of his sutes of apparel willing her secretly to put it on her and to come to his chamber assoon as she was ready which she did and was no sooner come but hee commanded the Watch to let down the bridge and open the gates for that he minded himselfe onely accompanied with one Gentleman to make the scout-watch and to espie whether the enemy were about the Castle or had sent any spies to learn whether the King were there or to know what they went about The watch forced to obey their chief Governour although they thought it but little policy notwithstanding that hee might be thought venturous to undertake that Service which most private Souldiers seek to put by they did as their Governour commanded and let him go forth with his companion whom they knew not The Captain and my mother being out of the Castle hee sware there that hee would for her sake never enter into the same again or serve the King his Soveraign any longer but after he had led her home to her husband he would séek his fortune in some strange Countrey where he might be fréed from the harm that might ensue by reason of the Kings anger and indignation against him carrying my mother away from him Which she wept marking bitterly that so valiant a Captain and worthy a Gentleman should be deprived of all his wealth and substance yea of that great honour and credit which by his virtue and prowesse he had won among all his Country-men both in the Court and in the Camp for her sake But he most kindly prayed her to content her self and not to care for him for so he might do her pleasure and so she might by his means injoy her content and wished desire he should be satisfied seeing he desired nothing so much as her blisse and protesting that his chiefest felicity consisted onely in her prosperity She grieved for nothing so much as that she wist not how she might worthily recompence his deserts could not be pasified but wept continually not caring for her self but sorrowing that the good and valiant Knight had abandoned all for to restore her to her former liberty and to frée her from dishonour But by this they arrived at the village where my father was not nor any person in the
world in our house for my father thought not that he might safely stay in his own house for fear least he should be watched for and by the King of Ca stiles command be slain by the enemy But he had put away all his servants and taken me with him insomuch that we were in a certain shepheards house something far from the village which was burned where no man durst dwell The Captain therefore and my mother entring the house and finding no man marvelled greatly and by my mothers intreaty departed thence towards the City Targonna where she made great enquiry for my father and mee but they could not hear of us But you must note by the way that the Captain had changed his apparel and put on a shepheards garment and my mother likewise put off her mans wéed and attired self according to her sex And within two or three days after they had been in city they chanced to light on a certain shepheard whom my mother knew well and who knew my parents as well as any of all our village Of this shepheard did my mother understand that the King of Castile returning to the castle where he had left her and finding her absent and the general Governour whom he would have trusted with a greater charge was so enraged that he hanged the captain of the watch for letting him forth and marching with his whole Army towards our village he destroyed all that he met with and put all the countrey men that he could find to the edge of the sword sparing neither man woman nor child This shepheard told my mother that forasmuch as he had séen my father and me in a little cottage adjoyning to our village he thought certainly that we had not escaped the Kings fury but that wee were both slain which bad tidings so grieved my mother that unlesse the good Knight had persevered in his comfortable consolations she had either died for sorrow or ended her grief by finishing her life with her own hands On the other side my father who by good fortune was forewarned of the Kings furious comming to the village escaped the danger which he was like to incur but when he heard of the proclamation which was made throughout all the country by the Kings command c. That whosoever could bring him the head of the same strumpet which refusing to be his concubine had by her dishonest enticements enchanted the heart of Don Alvares de Bazora one of his chiefest captains in his wars for so was the good captain called and bewitched him to love her carry her from her husband should have all the livings that belonged or appertained to the foresaid Don Alvares I say when my Father had heard this Proclamation thinking that my mother was guilty of the crime she was accused of and supposing that she had changed her praised chastity into wantonnesse he thought that she had allured the Knight to lewdnesse which so grieved him that after he had largely and lamentably complained of her disloyalty he took me by the hand and departed out of Aragon presently travelling toward Italy where in the Kingdome of Naples in a certain village called Cinqueni he purposed to live the remnant of his life In the mean time it chanced that the Kings of Aragon and Castile séeing they could not by war become Lord the one over the other they concluded a wished and durable peace among their countries making a perpetuall league of friendship between the said Kingdomes of Aragon and Castile Insomuch that the King of Castile returned to his Country with his whole army and in short space were the villages and towns that had been sacked and burned newly built up again and all the inhabitants of the country returned home to their houses My mother therefore desirous to know whether my father was slain nr no returned to our village with the Knight to inquire for my father and me but no man could tell her any news of us Insomuch that she verily thought that he was dead and I likewise she lived in that state yet three or four moneths which time being expired the Captain made earnest sute unto her in reward of his service and faithfulnesse seeing her husband was dead to take him to her husband swearing and protesting that he would be as loyall unto her as any man in the world might be unto his wise She acknowledging that he deserved more then he requested yet loth so soon to marry again did drive him of as long as she could till at length not able to gainsay his lawfull request she married her self unto him and to the end she might forget her former deceased husband the better thinking it but meer trouble to be cumbred with the remembrance of her dead husband being remarried she and her new husband went to some bordering town of Castile where they remained four years having a child the first year named Philorenus at my mothers request she being desirous to have a new Philorenus séeing she had lost the other You must in like manner note that the Captain sith the first hour that he departed out of the Castle with my mother named himself as my father was called to wit Coreandro to the end that he might be unknown which name he retained as long as he lived Thus they having long lived as I said four years in the borders of Castile certain mutinies rising in the town of their abode about the strangers that lived in the same place they left that town and went into Italy thinking the further they went from Castile the more they should frée themselves from the danger that might ensue if they should be known In this voyage my mother either by the necessity of her destinies or the labour of her troublesome journey fell sick and passed her fatal day in a certain village of Italy Her husband the Captain though he so impatiently took the death of his dear wife for whom he had brought himself into all these troubles that he cursed the Fates and blasphemed the Gods for ending her life and not rather his own yet after she was buried he took his son and travelled on his journey intending to passe over his life in solitary manner admitting no occasion of joy or recreation but onely such as he might enjoy by the company of his young sonne whom nature had left him as a pledge of remembrance of her whom hee so dearly love and it was his lucke to sojourne in the same village which my father and I dwelled in being called Cinqueni as I have before mentioned where this Captain with his young Philorenus and my father with his also remained a fortnight the one not knowing of the other This space of fourteen days being fullfilled the King of Naples sent two thousand men to burn the same village and slay all the inhabitants thereof for what reason I cannot now so well remember and seeing it maketh not for my purpose I will not
thereof began to be wonderfully discomforted and thought his pain vainly bestowed séeing that Fortune was blinde and made no discretion of persons but ever wrought by chance bestowing her favours not where she would but where they fell Perierio thus discomforted climing on the top of a hil heard a most swéet and melodious voyce sounding to a harp within a little wood where the high Oâ—kes made a pleasant shadow And drawing néer to the wood he marked that it was the voice of a shepheard who after she had ended her song began thus to complaine of her misfortune No doubt but all the starrs that from the skies send light on the earth have agréed and consented to my mishap and ill fortune neither is there any thing on earth that may yield me any comfort or consolation but love which is subject to fear turneth and converteth my sorrowfull soule into pure ice Ah Fortune how canst thou be so cruel How canst thou forbear to succour a heart so distressed as mine séeing that I am falsly suspected of disloyalty And therefore I must accuse thée Lexander thou art the man whom I must burthen with the cause of all my grief unto thée do I discover and unfold my plaints hard-hearted and cruell Lexander in whom no pitty taketh place For if thou wer'st of my side I would not care though Heaven Earth Love and Fortune were against me and enemies unto me After that she had ended her complaint she fetched a heavy sigh from her heart and therewith wept so bitterly that Perierio might easily perceive that she was in that pittiful and lamentable taking by reason that her husband falsly suspected her to be disloyal and unfaithful so that he entred into the wood and found her sitting upon the grasse in the shade néere to a delectable Fountain which issuing from the top of the hill ran along a great part of the wood in divers places But when she saw Perierio comming neer her though she was something discontented that she was interpelled amidst her passions yet beholding that he seemed by his behaviour to be some Shepheard of great account being most courteously by him greeted saluted him likewise with such modesty that he began to misdoubt whether she were Alcida the promised spouse of Marcelio For he called to mind how that Marcelio had told him and his sisters that Alcida had cloathed her self in the habit of a Shepheard because she might be the harder to be found by him and therefore spake thus unto her Beautiful Shepheard for so your coat bewrayeth though your singular grace make me suspect that your calling is contrary to your colours I shall desire you not to be discomforted though I have troubled you at this time intruding my self into your company for as I have discourteously offended so shall you find me most ready to make amends for my boldnes Gentle shepheard answered she I am so forsaken of al comfort and solace that good company cannot offend me therefore where no fault is committed there is nothing to be misconstred of And to put you out of suspition know that I am a shepheard as wel in vocation as in habit called Iâ—menia and born néer to the Temple of Minerva in the kingdom of Portugal But I pray you what chance hath brought you hither into these Countries or do you by hap dwell hereabout In truth Ismenia quoth Periorio my ill fortune hath brought me hither for I neither dwell here nor ever was in this place before I was born in Italy but with my father and sisters transported to the fields annexed to the river Epla about four or five dayes journey hence I know the place very well quoth Ismenia it is not far from the pasture where fair Euphilia so renowned in all that quarter doth féed her shéep I hear you name my sister quoth Perierio and am glad to have met with one that is not wholly unacquainted with our Family What say you quoth Ismenia In truth unto a woman so distressed as I am being desolate and forsaken of my loving husband nothing could have hapned more wished for then to have met with such honest and vertuous company as it hath pleased the Gods to comfort me withall in directing your self towards these woods And forasmuch as I am in mind to go to the Temple of Diana if your journey ly that way I shall think my self among so many mishaps to have received no small favour of Fortune As for me quoth Perierio where I am I know not nor whether I may go and therefore am induced to think that Fortune beginneth to repent her self of her shrewdnesse in that she hath favoured me with so worthy a guide as your self to lead me forth of my straying errours to some place where I may enquire for directions in my journey And I am most passing glad that you go towards the Temple of Diana of the sumptuousnesse whereof I have heard such famous relation among the Shepheards in the Village néer my fathers Farme that I have a long time been moved with great desire to see the same And therefore fair Shepheard take which way you will and Perierio will follow you Ismenia glad that this Shepheard was in her company began to march hoping before Phoebus should attain to his Western home that they should reach to a Farme where she thought that they might be lodged that night But to shun tediousnesse in their wearisome journey Perierio desired her to recount and declare the cause of her griefe unto him Ismenia answered that although the memory thereof could not but pierce her heart with the prick of exceeding sorrow yet notwithstanding because he desired whom she could not say nay she was content to make a pastime of her misery And thus in this ensuing Chapter began the History of her Tragedy CHAP. XI How Lexander was enamoured on Ismenia and how he was crost in his love by his father Filene IN our Village dwelled a certain Farmer that had a comely youth to his son in beauty passing all the Shepheards thereabout being called Alanio who féeding his shéep in a pasture ground not far from ours used sometimes to come to me and keep me company sitting in the shadow by me and telling of tales or passing over the time with some other kind of honest recreation whereby at last grew such a familiar acquaintance betwixt us that love joyning our hearts together we were not well while we were separated the one from the others company To be short he loved me and was loved of me There was in the same Village a fair beautiful Shepheardesse called Selvagia who for her beauty might be compared with Venus in the valley before Parys when she won the golden Apple Of which Shepheard my Alanio became enamoured wherupon I to be revenged on him fained to favour Lexander his deadly enemy Which fained love of mine at length by reason of the acquaintance that grew between us changed into such pure
born about the borders betwéen the Kingdomes of Aragon and Castile that thy father was called Coreandro thy mother Delbia for that was our mothers name and that by reason of the wars betwéen the said Kingdomes thy father came with thee and dwelled in the village Cinqueni being under my fathers subjection whence thou were brought to Naples Is not this most true if not say I lie God forbid quoth my brother that I should be so impudent as to give your grace the lie séeing that I may in more decent manner deny that which is contrary to verity then so And séeing I confesse all that to be true which your grace hath specified concerning my parents my country and my translation from the place where I was born unto this country I hope your grace will pardon me if I deny that I never told the least point thereof unto you for heaven confound me if ever I spake unto your grace before this time Hippolito moved to rage burst out at length into these words Well Philorenus quoth he I perceive thou art more then mad and that thou doest openly mock me for I say that the Gods are not Gods if they confound thee not for thy falshood It were to be pardoned if thou didst onely offnd against me but seeing thou callest the Gods as witnesses of thy horrible falsities and lies I cannot forbear it But I pray thee tel me one thing hast thou any brother living No quoth my brother why then qd Hippolito art thou the same Philorenus that my father the King had from the Captain upon the same day that the said Captain was married who said that he brought thee from Cinqueni True quoth my brother I was brought from Cinqueni but yet I know no Captain that was married or that gave me to the Kings Majesty And if it wil please your grace to go with me or send to the house where I dwell you shall both know of him that brought me from Cinqueni and all his neighbors that I have dwelled these seven or eight years with him even since the time that I was brought from the said village Cinqueni It is a marvellous matter qd Hippolito Philorenus that thou wilt go about to perswade me to a tale and to move me to believe thy lies For if thou wert a God I durst say thou liest For thou hast no brother so thou doest confesse and I take all the Gods to witnesse that one named Philorenus born in the same place that thou acknowledgest thy self to be born in and of the same parents that thou claimest to be thine and of such fortune as thou sayest thine was Then tell me how is it possible but that thou thy self must be the man And albeit thou hadst a brother yet you should not make me believe that he can be so like thee as that I should be so absurdly deceived Therefore séeing thou art so obstinate thou shalt try what thou art able to gain therewith Herewith Hypolito taketh him by the hand and leadeth him unto the chamber of presence where all the Gentlemen and Gentlewomen began to cherish and welcome him asking the cause of his sudden return and why he had so disguised himself in apparel My brother almost out of his wits wist not what to think but that either they were all more then foolish or he born to be scoffed and mocked at yea he could not a great while be perswaded but that he dreamed But Hyppolito looking upon him and séeing what countenance he bore burst out into these words all the Courtiers standing aboot O most cunning counterfeit who ever saw the like No doubt Philorenus doth not or rather will not remember that ever he knew any of all this noble company of Gentlemen and Ladies whereas notwithstanding they all disdain not to acknowledge yea and claim old acquaintance As he had so said the King came into the chamber of presence to sée what the matter was for he had already heard something touching my comming as they thought and séeing my brother welcommed him after this manner Ha our Embassadour you have either had wings to flie or you have as much séen Persia as I have seen Jove but I pray you tell mee what may bee the cause of this your holi-day-coat Have you met with fooles by the way or are you a weary of a Courtiers life if the one I was well addressed to send such a Legate to Persia and if the other I will soon relieve thée from that care With that the King being angry at the heart commanded his son Hyppolito to take order that he might be put into prison till hee had deliberated what death hee should die Which thing when distressed Philorenus heard he fell on his knées and began thus to intreat his Majesty to be mercifull unto him Most excellent Monarch I beséech your Majesty by the religion duty that all mortall men owe to the divine powers to hear me clear my felf of all such crimes which it should séem that I have committed against your majesty For I perceive that either it pleaseth your Majesty to exhilirate glad your Courtiers with my misery and threaten me imprisonment and death to give them occasion to laugh at my simplenesse and innocencie or there hath been some other man of my name and like me that hath committed this heinous offence against your Majesty which most falsly is attributed unto me For I protest before heaven and earth that I am not that Philorenus if such an one hath béen here as I will prove by the souldier that brought me from Cinqueni with whom I have dwelled ever since I was by him brought to Naples as he and all his neighbors shall testifie or I le die what death your Majesty shall please to appoint The King hearing him so soberly protest and swear that he was not the same Philorenus they took him to be commanded him to tell one of his guard where the same souldier dwelt which when my brother had done the King commanded the same man whom my brother said was his master and four or five of his chiefest neighbors should the next day come before him Insomuch that the same Sergeant being called Signori Valentino accompanied with three or four Gentlemen of great credit dwelling in the same Parish with him were brought appeared before his Majesty according to his command and my brother being brought before them the King asked them whether they knew that fellow They all answered yes and told the King all other circumstances concerning my brothers Parents and his comming from Cinquent to Naples affirming all what they had said upon their oaths The King marvelled that all things agréed with the Philorenus for whom he took him to be both his name the place where he was born the name of his parents and other accidents onely this different that he had dwelt with a Captain which gave him to the King where these men testified that that
there and on she went although she knew not whither yet whither her féet led with no certainer guide then Love and Fortune did carry her And having coursed through Italy without hearing any thing of me she visited the coasts of Spain for she knew that I was born in those quarters and so began to think that I might be taken with a desire to take a view of my Country which she resolved to go to because it was my Country deploring nothing so much as that she had not the luck to sée it but with séeking but in it and yet would she have counted that séeking but a pleasure if she might have found me the end of her dessrous But no she sought and so sought that she left no place in the Kingdome of Aragon which she had not seen or rather which had not seen her and she could not hear so much of me as whether ever I had been séen or heard of in that countrey before being the place of my birth the reason was that I lived in exile with my father as soon as my féet had learned that they had no néed of a bearer But to be short at length after many a troublesome journey she came to the village where I was born called Yervedra where lodging one night in an old Farmers house after she had made some enquity after me she learned that I was born in the same village for that old Farmer remembred my name very well though I think few others could have kept it in memory but if she had known my fathers name she had by inquiring for him sooner have come to Yervedra Yet what was she the better for when she knew that that was the place of my birth and that she could not hear any thing of me there then began her hope to fail and to yéeld to dispair insomuch that weary not so much of going any lenger as living any longer she wished either that she might find me or death Yet thanking the old man as heartily and courteously as a civil guest may an old and friendly host away she got from Yervedra thinking to go into Castile and so to sée the beautifulness of that Kingdome which she had so much heard spoken of But having paced about a mile from Yervedra she entered into a little Wood which was nothing either long or large or thick but so pleasant a place as that it seemed to be made by nature onely to delight the neighbours that dwelled thereabout Yet could not this place of pleasure any thing at all mitigate Aureola's grief now even bringing her to the gates of despair but rather increased her sorrow And whereas it was went to be a place where many men came to delight and recreate their minds in unto her it yéelded a memorandum of all her misfortunes and adversities for no sooner had she entered into that place but marking the pleasantness of it she began to remember the unpleasantness of her own conceits then began she to be sorry that she was so grieved with sorrow afterwards she became angry with her self in finding such humours next to that she found fault with Nature for making her so unperfect as not able to resist such accidents But at last paufing at that chancing word accidents she fell a railing at Fortune calling her the sole and onely mistress of all mischiefs that happen unto men And leaving her there busie with her bitter invectives against Fortune which she did as well as she could do and could do as well as she would or list to do being provoked thereto with such affections as anger and despight armed her withal I will in brief manner let you know that after he had béen in divers places and countries having made more spéed and hast in his search then Aureola at length in the borders of France it was his luck to meet with Laurea first called Sylva whose history I have shortly rehearsed untill she was brought home to her fathers house by her brother Otto who had among the shepheards so long courted her but the rest of her adventures she her self may declare unto this noble company opportunity being offered she being now in this house with the Lady Felicia Yet thus much I must say of her séeing it concerneth our history that my brother having found her in the frontiers of France in a defart all alone very nigh in the same plight that Aureola was at first when he saw her before he spake to her doubted whether it was Aureola for she was so drowned in fears that indeed the judgement of the eye could little prevail at first sight to discern what or who she was Nevertheless gréeting bréeding parley and parley knowledge he found that she was some other Gentlewoman that was pinched with the same puâ—ishment that tortured Aureola's soul But after long talk they came to like one of anothers company so well that they purposed to travel together into the Castilian region over the bordering mountains betwixt France and Spain Insomuch that they came into Castile before that Aureola had been in Aragon where in the famous City of Civil my brother was constrained to leave Laurea she having béen dangerously sick yet before he departed from her she was so amended that danger of death was past yet by reason of her weaknesse she was not like to be able to go on her journey in six or seven wéeks after So that he took his leave of her promising her that if he might make the course of his journey serve so that he might within a moneth or twain return that way he would come to her again and so to her no small discomfort parted from her travelling towards Aragon where he happened to passe through the wood where Aureola was lamenting her hard luck and rayling at fortune for so hardly using her Insomuch that my brother before he was by her eyed had espied her a far of and thinking certainly it had been some other kind of woman for that she had but base apparel having put on the Countesse her sisters maids cloaths which he knew not he went softly and used the bushes for a curtain to hide his body from her sight that he might come so near that he might learn by her words what she was for at the first sight he streight perceived that whosoever she was she bâ—re the impression of a distressed mind in her face And therefore listening to her cries he heard her utter these or such like speeches with her knife unsheathed in her hands IS this the world in which men strive to live Is this the life which men as pleasant love Is this the pleasure world and love doth give Is this the gift that age to wish doth move Age life world pleasure seek not to please me For I such gifts most poor account to be Life is a pain shall I with thanks buy pain Life breeds my wo shall I for sorrow wish Life is my losse shall I