to you and if you think I treat you too severely impute it only to your crime or if you are innocent impute it then to your misfortune Saying these last words he left Democrates but in such a condition that was enough to make the most hardy to fear and to stir up pity in those that are least sensible He had a good minde to break out into the violence of his rage and follow Sestianes to make him repent of his so insolent discourse but the excess of that sadness and grief into which those injurious words had put him rendered him powerless and were the cause that the fire and rage that was visible in his eyes was not able to appear in his actions Then did he solemnly swear that he would never any longer think of Sestiana's charms and the hatred he had conceived against the Father and which had an accession by his discourse made him in appearance stifle all the love he had for the daughter Five or six days past in which Democrates did all he could to drive Sestiana out of his thoughts and that fair one all that she could possibly think of to forget Democrates In the mean time Sestianes who feared nothing from our Heroe frequently saw those that were of the conspiracy with him and discovered to them that the alarm which had been given the Prince Theomedes was the cause that he always went well guarded and that they must wait and take up other measures then those they had resolved on He flattered them with the hopes of a happy success and made them foresee that if any of them had the confidence to accuse him he could order 〈◊〉 so that the crime should revert upon him for he would say that he was bribed by Democrates who according to all appearances studied to revenge himself of the sensible affront he had given to his honour in presenting the King with the letter he wrote to Anaxander which had been easie for him because none of them could give in proofs of his conspiracy being all ingaged only by word But though Sestianes feared nothing from Democrates yet he resolved not to let a person live who he knew very well would be his mortalenemy after he had offended him in two such ticklelish points as are honour and love but as nothing did engage him to precipitate his ruin he waited till time furnish'd him with a favourable opportunity to set about it with safety and without fear of being ever discovered and being as expert in his politicks as he was treacherous and wicked he stired up Arcas in covert words to kill Democrates telling him that as long as he lived it was impossible for him to root him out of the heart of his Daughter and that he would have the dissatisfaction of knowing that she loved another besides himself which so awakend the Jealousie of this new Gallant that he narrowly watched the actions of Sestiana to see if after the prohibitions of her Father to love his Rival and evermore to speak to him her love would make her finde out any way to come to discourse with him Whilst these things were happening Democrates was the most perplexed man in the world The love that he thought he had for ever driven out of his breast had by degrees got in again and ruled there with so much violence that he could not finde out any ways to get the mastery of it which obliged him by all means imaginable to try if he could not possibly speak with Sestiana privately to learn if he was still beloved by her and to resolve according as she treated him whether he should persevere in his Love or continue the efforts he made to stifle a flame which tyrannised in his breast with so absolute an Empire and which he had several times unprofitably attempted to remove from it After he had a good while been contriving how to come to the end of this design and to entertain the object of his vows with that freedom he desired he thought it was his best way to intreat the service of one of Sestiana's relations who had always testified to him a very great esteem and also as great a friendship and to begg of her to order it so that this fair one might be one day at her house that so he might have the happiness of discoursing with her there Sestiana who had an absolute confidence in this person and who did as earnestly desire to speak with Democrates as Democrates did to speak with her made her the same request so that this Lady found it no hard matter to give them both a satisfaction The day that these two Lovers were to see one another being come they each of them resolved on their parts to resist with all the power they could the tender sentiments that Love inspired into them and to that end both of them left their lodgings in this resolution but when they were got together a very small matter would have made them forgot what they had resolved upon and have set them upon new protestations of Love for though their design was fully to hate one another and to make their hatred visible by the reciprocal testimonies of it yet they were never in a less disposition to do it But however Sestiana who had a very great ascendent over her self and who was resolved to be as good as her intentions spoke first and said to Democrates I would willingly demand a favour of you which I desire you would grant me in the name of that Love which has reciprocally reigned in both our hearts if you still love me and if you have any kindness for your self you ought not to deny it me it being a thing that will re-establish our repose and keep us from doing that which may be shamefull to us it is a thing that will be profitable to us both and which will spare us a great many sighs in a word it is your hatred I do whatsoever I can to give you mine but I know very well that without the help of yours all my efforts will signify little This request added she looking stedfastly upon him ought not to give you so great a surprise as I see plainly by your countenance it does for I demand nothing of you but what is just you owe me your hatred and I likewise owe you mine you owe me yours after what my Father has done against you and I owe you mine because you have had the confidence to demand of me my heart and even to seduce it yours being stained with a crime which as yet you have not been able to purge your self of but through the bounties of the King and the favours of Prince Theomedes You see by that continued she that we cannot love one another without betraying our glory and not to have a hatred for each other is to wound it and therefore you ought to grant me yours for the price of mine Ah! Madam replied Democrates to her with a
Licensed May 9. 1678. Ro. L'Estrange Fatall Prudence OR DEMOCRATES THE Unfortunate Heroe A Novell Translated out of French LONDON Printed by J. Bennet for R. Bentley and M. Magnes in Russell-street near Covent-Garden 1679. Fatall Prudence OR DEMOCRATES THE Unfortunate Heroe A Novell THe Unfortunate Heroe of this History having through many considerable services merited the good Graces of his King and seeing himself honour'd with his favour and being possest of a very large estate by his liberalities descended a while to make some reflection within himself of that glorious Rank and Eminence he was in at Court by his Prince and to examine to what those of his quality were exposed He look'd on the favour he had not as those use to do who are yet in prosperity he had better eyes then your generality of favourites who know not that it is deceitful but when they can no longer keep it from destroying them He saw very well that it was inconstant and that he ought to mistrust it that it expos'd to all the dangers immaginable those whom it raises to the highest dignity and honours and that in giving them riches and credit it makes their best friends become their Emulators and renders all those inferiour to them enviously jealous of their glory and happiness The consideration of all these things made Democrates for so was this unfortunate Heroe call'd resolv'd to take a very strict care of his least accounts and of all his words that so he might not raise to himself any enemies nor give those whom the noise of his fortune might make malicious any occasion of becoming prejudiciall to him though they should daily watch for an Opportunity to be so nor to undertake any thing which he had not very well examined and to follow the Directions of prudence when those that were equal to him never did consult it He had scarce made this resolution but the Duke Nicanor brother to the King his Master desir'd him to assist him in his Love and acquainted him with the design he had to marry Fulciana a Lady that was one of the greatest beauties that shone in the Kingdome and daughter to one of the first Officers of the Crown but whom he could not marry without blemishing his quality because she had not received so many advantages from fortune as to place her in the number of Princesses as she had from Nature which had made her one of the Charming beauties in the world This confidence gave Democrates a very great trouble for he well knew prudence sometimes was altogether unprofitable in that it could not give happy Councells But yet after he had sufficiently consulted what he ought to do he thought that to oblige at once both the King his Master and the Duke Nicanor it was his duty to disswade the Prince from a design that would be a disreputation to his glory contrary to the esteems that all persons even the highest dignified of the Kingdome had conceiv'd of him He told him therefore he thought he should not deserve the honour he did him if he should disguise his sentiments to him whereupon he represented to him in terms that were as pressing as respectfull all that might oblige him to leave off such a design and that he could not marry Fulciana without lessening himself extreamly and without betraying his quality and lowering that great reputation he had acquir'd The Prince after he had heard all his reasons did as most Lovers use to do when they are perswaded of the truth of what is told them that is to say approve them sighing and told Democrates he was not then in a condition to hearken to his councells because it was not in his power to follow them A little after the King hearing of the Amours of his Brother and fearing he would make an alliance so prejudiciall to his quality told Democrates that as he had always assum'd the care of his fortune so he would also take upon him that of his marriage and give him still new accessions with the beautifull Fulciana though Democrates had not as yet ingag'd his heart to any and had beheld in that person all he was able to desire yet the resolution of the King to marry him gave him a very sensible affliction because the Duke Nicanor who was passionately fir'd with the same charms had made a Discovery of his Love to him and also desir'd him to serve him in it He endeavour'd neverthelesse to conceal from the King's eyes the surprise that that discourse was the occasion of to him and after he had return'd him his acknowledgments for all the favours and kindness he for him and testified to him that he was ready to do all he should command him he made him to foresee that he had no mind to marry Fulciana but through obedience and that he had not yet any design to dispose of himself nor any inclination for that fair one the King who was firmly resolv'd upon that marriage did not seem to apprehend any thing of what Democrates would fain have had him understood and told him he was glad to see him in the resolution of obliging him Democrates went away from him very much troubled and was musing all the rest of the day and all the night about the means to keep himself in the good graces of the King and in those of the Duke Nicanor but Prudence not having furnish'd him with any or at least having given him but very weak ones he went the next day betimes to wait upon the Duke who no sooner preceiv'd him coming into his chamber but he lookt upon him with eyes full of threatning and told him in a very disdainful manner and which show'd a great deal of scorn I do not any longer wonder why you were able to perswade me not to marry Fulciana a Rivall ought not to give any other Councels to his Rival but you ought to regard your difference that is betwixt us not to abuse my confidence to sacrifice all your flame to me and not to demand of the King the object of my vows and that of my earnest desires You may added he with a look capable to make a heart of the greatest assurance and resolution tremble press on this marriage if you are weary of living but let heaven be my witness you shall sooner be in the arms of death then in those of Fulciana Death replied Democrates to him shall not beget any fear in me in the estate to which I am reduced and I do so much the more earnestly desire it as I see it is only that which can deliver me from the confusion into which I am cast by the confidence you have made me of your Love and that extream kindness the King has for me since that that confidence makes me to pass for a traitor and for one ungrateful without having merited that name and that the Bounties of the King in bestowing upon me more then I desire makes me to pass
languishing voice and an air the most passionate in the world if there be nothing but my hatred that can draw upon me yours I am sure you will never hate me as long as you live you demand that of me which is not in my power for love and hatred are not voluntary things and if when one has once began either to love or hate it is impossible any longer to be Master of those two great and violent passions it is very difficult to kindle them when one has not as yet began to resent them But yet I will avow to you if that can bring you any satisfaction that my desires were agreable to yours that I have done whatever I could to hate you and that it has not been possible for me to effect it any more then it has been for you which clearly shows that our hearts do not agree with our desires that they have given themselves up absolutely to love and that they have not any place in them to receive hatred Since you will not hate me replied Sestiana to him I will be more generous then you I will begin first to do my duty and by my example inspire into you those sentiments you ought to have What Madam answered Democrates can you then resolve to hate me when you ought to give me the most signal marks of your love Ah! let me beseech you think of the violence I do to my self for your sake and remember that the ardent affection I conserve for you after those treatments I have received from your father ought to make you have in my favour more pleasant and obliging sentiments That ardent affection which you conserve for me after an affront which ought to be so sensible to you replied she to him produces more effects then you imagine for if it makes me to know the greatness and excess of your love it at the same time makes me to understand your baseness and if according to the rule which is that one should return love for love it obliges me to have a kindness for you according then to that other which is that one should look upon the base with contempt it obliges me to hate you Do whatsoever you please replyed this unfortunate Lover to her I will bear all from you without murmuring I will respect your choller I will respect your hatred and in spight of all your contempts I will conserve for you a love so firm and constant that there shall be nothing in the world capable to shake it Well then answered this Generous Heroin Lover since you force me to acknowledg a weakness which shall never be of advantage to you I do love you I own it and though I would yet I cannot oblige my heart to hate you but in spight of all that love that this perfidious heart will conserve I am going to marry Arcas to make you know that Ah! Madam interrupted the miserable Domocrates whom those words had almost rendered immoveable what crime have committed that can oblige you to punish me with so much rigour hate me rather for heav'ns sake then love me in this manner So long as you shall hate me I shall hope always that my love and my respects may be able one day to o'recome your hatred and render me possessor of one of the fairest persons in the world but when I shall see you in the arms of Arcas I shall only hope from death to derive the end of all my pains and sufferings Yet if you knew pursued he fetching a deep sigh what I do for your repose and if you knew the tears and the cruel afflictions I keep from you I am sure you would treat me with less rigour but whatsoever the evils that my silence causes me your repose is too dear to me not to preferr it to mine I should be afraid I might see you die with regret and grief and that fear forces me to conceal from you a secret which would cost you too dear All that I demand of you continued he for the reward of a service which possibly you will never know the greatness of and which proceeds only from an excess of love and generosity is that you would not marry Arcas You would then interrupted Sestiana oblige me to pay a service without knowing it and even without knowing whether it be true that you have rendered me any or no. Ah! Madam cryed Democrates interrupting he rin his turn this service has somewhat so particuler in it that I cannot render it to you and discover it to you both together the one is incompatible with the other and if I told it you I should not then render it to you Since that this secret is of so great importance replied this charming person to him I will not oblige you to reveal it and show my self curious as the generality of my sex do for fear my curiosity should be punished and I should repent my earnestness in pressing you to discover it This discourse replied Democrates to to her does not surprise me I knew long since how much above other women you were and that you do nothing wherein there is not an extraordinary height of prudence to be observed but in short Madam as this vertue is not repugnant to that which I demand of you and and that it does not oblige you to betray me let me beseech you to tell me what it is you would have me to hope for and if you are resolved to marry Ah! let us not discourse any longer said the fair Lady interrupting him either of love or of marriage do not force me if you love me to discover my weakness to you and do not constrain me to betray my virtue When you were without a Rival I did not finde it so difficult to testify my choller to you but now I must complain of you in spite of all my resistance my heart will not let me resolve to hate you but speaks to me in your favour and tells me you will cost me not a few tears I do not know whence this melancholy foreknowledge proceeds but I perceive very well that pity does interess it self as much for you as Love and indeavours to stifle all those sentiments I ought to have to your disadvantage Do not enquire any further answered-our Heroe from whence those sentiments of love and pity proceed that speak to you so much in my favour my Love and my innocence without doubt are the cause of them and thereby do advertise you not to betray in marrying Arcas the most faithfull and most passionate of all Lovers because that when you come to be convinced of his innocence the death you will have brought upon him by your cruel carriage will oblige you to bestow upon him some tears The Lady staid till then without pouring out any but at those very words she could not forbear shedding a few which she mingled with those sighs that at the same time broke from her and immediately took her
in point of Estate as he but who was of as illustrious a Family Although his passion was very violent yet as he did nothing but with a great deal of prudence he was resolved to know before he would declare it if it were likely to be approved of and would not make a discovery of his flame before that his actions his services and his regards had made the judication Sestianes began to perceive his love and wished with all his heart that his tongue would confirm what his eyes did seem to tell him when her father was sollicited for her by a considerable person Sestianes fearing lest he might fall off gave him his word before he had ever acquainted his daughter with it and came not to tell her the news till after the marriage was concluded on This fair one who began to have some inclinations for Democrates received it with a very cold indifference but she always told her father that she was ready to be led by his commands which she looked upon as her duty to do as much because of the obedience she owed him as because that Democrates had not as yet declared the passion he had for her This unhappy Lover whom Prudence had always betrayed had scarcely learnt this sad and afflictive news but he came to wait upon Sestiana to make a discovery of his love to her She had no sooner perceived it but she was instantly sensible of so great an emotion and so violent a grief in her breast that it was plainly remarkable in her face Democrates on his part appeared so planet-struck that he could not so much as get one word which occasioned them a great while to do nothing but keep their eyes fixed upon one another without having the power to speak a syllable but at last Democrates broke the silence and after he had eased himself of two or three sighs which lay very heavy upon his soul and which made the afflicted fair one sufficiently to know the trouble he had in it he said to her Is it possible Madam that what I have now lately heard is true and that you are within these few days to be led to the Altar by Yes reported she to him in a little kinde of rage I am since you have been willing to permit it Pardon me my Lord replied she immediatly repenting that she spoke to him in that manner and do not attribute it to any thing but the terrible transports of grief I have upon my spirit and which do confound me that they keep me from thinking either of what I do or say Ah! Madam did Democrates answer her flinging himself at her knees You need not longer conceal from me that I should have been the happiest man in the world if fate which continually is persecuting me had not fully opposed it Your eyes and mouth do tell it me they are witnesses you cannot disavow do not make them false for heavens sake but suffer me to feel in all their extent the fatal and yet charming displeasures of learning my happinesse when it is impossible for me to enjoy it They will give me joy and sadnesse both together the former in hearing that I have the glory to be belov'd by so fair and generous a person and the latter in having known it too late and in not having sooner declar'd my passion to you Ah cruel man replied Sestiana to him sighing why did you no sooner speak of it or why do you speak of it so late If you loved me as you say you did you ought to have loved my repose and not to deprive me of it to let me believe that you have never had any kindenesse for me The little worth there is in me replied Democrates to her not rendring my losse considerable ought not to cause that of your repose but as my losse is vastly great in losing you it is only I my self ought to complain and to repent that I have no sooner discovered my flame to you From whence did it then proceed said Sestiana to him that you were so long without speaking of it those who demand a heart answered he her without having merited it by their services by their love and submissions have been often ill received I looked on yours as too considerable to be hazarded besides I was not ignorant that a heart does not sacrifice its self but to the knowledge it hath of the Love of its votary and not to the demand he shall make of it and that there is no beauty but refuses it to those who have not merited it by their Love and Services unless ambition constrains them to it or that the grandeur and the illustrious merit of those who demand it do oblige them as likewise we ought not to be esteemed Lovers as soon as we begin our passion it is time which must acquire that quality and those who have not discovered that they do with justice possesse it are much to blame to pretend that they are beloved because they begin to love The Love of a beautiful and charming person ought not to be the conquest of a Gallants first sigh and those who are so vain to believe they could obtain it before they have learnt to love deserve to meet with the highest severity and Indignation of the fair One whose heart they are so bold to demand This has been it continued Democrates which made me forbear so long to discover the ardour with which I burn and as I fear'd provoking you by the confession of my Love I was willing to dispose your breast to it by dutifull submissions by my assiduities and by a thousand other marks of the most violent passion that ever was Sestiana could not hear this discourse without dismissing some sighs and when Democrates had left of speaking she told him that since she had mistrusted his merit and he had thought he could never obtain her heart before he had made himself worthy of it by his services and by his Love he ought to have prevented the unhappiness that had befell him to have demanded her of her father as soon as he had taken up the design of loveing her and afterwards to have indeavoured by his cares and assiduities to obtain her of her self Ah! Madam replied he to her I was not willing to serve my self that way but would have obtained your heart of your self alone and have had you to render it to the proofs of my Love and not to your duty without that I should never have thought to have the glorious advantage of being beloved by so fair and beautiful a person though possibly you would have consented without any trouble to marry me I should not have known how to distinguish your Love from your Obedience but should have always thought you ought to hate me not doubting but I should have merited your hatred for having demanded you of any other besides your self They continued still some time together in disburthening themselves of their sighs and
of Democrates When those who came to interrogate him were gone he made reflections upon the Letter they had showed him by which he understood that the Author of the conspiracy was of his acquaintance and one of his friends he run over in his mind all those he knew to see if among his friends there was any he could think capable of this baseness and upon whom he might fasten his suspicions but not having found any he remembred what Sestianes had come and told him some time before he was taken prisoner and immediately suspected part of the truth which greatly troubled him and gave him cruel inquietudes for if on one side he was almost ready to dispair to have any reason to suspect the father of his Mistress of an action so foul and so unworthy a man of Honour on the other side he thought himself obliged to tell all he knew and was perswaded that it was to make himself a criminal and to wound his honour to keep it undiscovered yet after he had consulted with himself what he should do he saw very well that he ought not to accuse a man of the quality of Sestianes without any proofs and upon a simple conjecture and that if the evil treatments he had received from the Prince Theomedes made his Enemies believe it was he who had conspired against him it was a motive strong enough to make his friends believe that he was suspected unjustly and that without knowing the truth would be to draw consequences to his disadvantage absolutely contrary to his glory and injurious to his reputation wherefore after he had well consulted prudence to see what he had best do it gave him only the advice to be silent and not to speak of what it was impossible for him to prove and that which might undoubtedly make him lose the heart of his Mistress yet possibly had he hearkned lesse to the Counsels of prudence and had said all he knew that Sestianes astonished confounded and surprised as ordinarily most criminals are when they see they are discovered would not so well have known how to hide his surprise and trouble and that his countenance would have discovered his crime but as he had no proofs it might be not only to run the hazard of losing the heart of his Mistress but also be in danger to be looked upon as an Impostor for uttering that he could not make out not but that if Democrates had been happy fortune might have made him prosperous in acting after this manner but as he proposed to himself that he would follow prudence in all things and not put any thing to hazard he ought not to undertake that which might be in the least perillous In the mean time whilst that this criminal without a crime or rather this innocent victim of misfortune gave himself up holy to his inquietude and sought out means to get rid of the doubt that was upon his spirit Sestianes on his part was in a fear and trouble very difficult to be exprest Sometimes he thought Democrates knew his crime and that the Love he bore his Daughter kept him from speaking of it sometimes he fancied he knew nothing of it and then again he was perswaded that he could not be very long Master of his secret but would be constrain'd to declare it His mind being tost about with all these different thoughts successively gave up it self to fear grief torment and hope without ever getting it dispossest of those wracking Inquietudes no not in those very moments wherein he flattered himself that Democrates knew not any thing or if he had acquainted him with all his love would have kept him from making any discovery Though Sestianes was still in fear and his disquiets were great and though the troubles and cares of Democrates were much more smart and pungent and his griefs by far more sensible yet all those torments came not near the cruel displeasures that Sestiana resented and as glory was a thousand times more dear to her then her life and love it was only despite that caused all her sighs she was more deeply touched at Democrates's being imprisoned because she had loved him then because she did love him and she had a most unexpressable regret that she had suffered a person to get her esteem and tenderness whom she Judg'd unworthy of it and whom she thought was guilty of the most shamefull and horrid baseness in the world This generous Person did not resemble those who cannot hate the objects they have loved and who cannot see the crimes that Lovers do commit after they have once known how to gain their hearts but with the eyes of their love that is to say only to excuse them she looked not upon the pretended crime of Democrates with any other eyes then those of her choller and only aim'd to be reveng'd both of him and of her self for that he had been able to constrain her Love and to make her declare to him the weakness of her heart in bearing him so ardent an affection wherefore she took up a resolution never to marry him although he should get out of prison and be perfectly restored into the Kings favour unless she should be fully purg'd of that injurious suspition with which his reputation had been sullied Whilst Sestiana gave up her self wholly to her despite Democrates was several times interrogated but he still shew'd an equal assurance and resolution and the Prince Theomedes not doubting but that he had some secret Enemies took so great a care over himself that those who had a design to take away his life could not finde any favourable opportunity to put their purpose in execution The Imprisonment of Democrates who could not be thought guilty of a crime so unworthy of him and so contrary to the great reputation he had acquired extreamly troubled several of his friends and above them all Anaxander who was a stranger of an Illustrious Family and whose Name is known throughout a good part of Europe They had made some Voyages together and had contracted so great a friendship that I know not how to express it but in saying that all the Histories have said of the most strongest friendships in the world cannot equal that which was between them It had been already a good while that this stranger had designed to go back into his own Country and his departure had not been retarded but through the great affection he bore to Democrates whom he could not then tell how to leave But yet now he did resolve to go seeing his friend in prison but it was only for his service as you will finde in the sequel This generous and faithfull friend made his departure with all the precipitation he could and went out of the Kingdome without taking his leave of any person and even without saluting the King to whom he was very well known because all these things he thought might be advantagious to him in the designe he had to
this manner it is my glory only that takes up all my thoughts and all that is capable of securing it so sensibly touches me that none ought to admire I show so much of ardour when there is something told me that may serve either to re-establish it or bring an accession to it But Madam did Democrates answer her if by the justifying of my innocence I could render you the glory which you have lost because you have loved me shall not your love be satisfied and shall not this justification be also as sensible to it as to your glory Be you the judge of it repeated Sestiana to him the tenderness you know I have for you and do not demand any thing more of me They were yet some time together during which Democrates knew that if that fair one had any great love for him she had yet a greater ascendent over her spirit and that it would be impossible for him to obtain her hand before he should purge himself of the pretended crime with which she thought he might be yet suspected Democrates was scarcely gone from Sestiana but he was thinking of the means to justify himself in that manner as the fair one demanded but the more he was musing on 'em the more he found himself perplexed for he began to believe that Sestianes was the true criminal and the Councel that he had given him to believe that Anaxander was guilty and to extinguish the remembrance of a crime whereof it was almost impossible to discover the Author added to what he had told him just before he was taken prisoner confirmed him in that thought and redoubled the inquietude that tormented him What if I should said he accuse Sestianes what if he should confess his crime and by his acknowledgment I should be justified I should then do what Sestiana requires of me I should likewise make a discovery of my innocence and satisfie her glory but also as that would cause me to do more than she demands I should in finding out the means of making my self be beloved finde out those of making my self be hated at the same time I should in finding out the means of obtaining her hand find out those of making her refuse to give it me and to conclude I should in finding out the means of justifying my self finde out those of making my self in her esteem guilty of a crime much more odious than this is now lie under the imputation of and such are the rigours and severities of fate which is resolutely determined to follow me that I cannot do the one without the other not pass for innocent before the object to whom I would justify my self without passing at the same time in her thoughts for ungratefull cruel and for much more guilty than I do appear to her at present After that this afflicted Lover had been for some time entertaining himself with these sad and lamentable thoughts and had made all these things be run over in his imagination he was immovable like a statue for a good considerable time and stood as it were so buried in his grief that very scarcely did he give any sign of life when he was a little come out of that trouble which the excess of his grief had cast him into he bethought himself on a sudden that he had found out the secret of geting out of the incertainty and trouble in which he was I must said he to himself declare to Sestiana all I know and discover to her all the reasons that perswade me to believe her father is the Author of the crime of which I am suspected and demand of her that she will marry me by way of recompence for having so faithfully kept the secret and to oblige me to keep it still and I hope that the silence I have observed for her sake and the fear she will have of my breaking it will cause her not to refuse giving me her hand least she appear ungratefull towards her Father and me He had hardly remain'd a moment in these remarkable flattering thoughts but he quitted them to let himself be hurried away by others To act in this manner said he would be to hazard too much if Sestiana should not give any belief to my discourse she would be obliged to have for me an invincible hatred and far from obtaining it by this way I should for ever lose the place I possess in her heart I ought therefore to act with prudence it is too fair a virtue to lose it will furnish me with other means to attain the end of my desires and as I am sure of the tender affections of that divine beauty which causes all my pains I ought to hope that she will have pitty of my torments and that time my services my respects and my innocence will make her at last resolve to marry me These were the flattering hopes wherewith Democrates buoy'd up himself and the deference he had for the Councells that prudence gave him but it ought not to be wondered at he never remembred that it had always been against him he forgot the miseries that it had caused him as soon as ever the danger or the mischief was past and though it had always proved treacherous to him he would nevertheless rely upon it and could not resolve to abandon it A little while after he returned to Sestiana whom he found as invincible as before and who repeated to him only the same things that she had already said which gave him such a cruel vexation and despite that he went to tell her Father how obstinately she refused to marry him and withall to desire him that he would consider his promise to him and to speak to Sestiana in his favour Sestianes who had resolved to ruin Democrates and who notwithstanding all the love this passionate Gallant had for his Daughter did not think himself secure because he perswaded himself that he might very well betray a Father-in Law to reestablish the glory of a friend to whom he was so greatly obliged received him outwardly with the greatest joy imaginable for he had resolved to be very civil to him untill he should finde a fit opportunity to work his absolute ruin he promised him to imploy with his Daughter all the authority of a Father and declared to him that he should be sensible how great his satisfaction was in it by the earnestness of his indeavours to conclude their Marriage Democrates conjured him not to employ all his authority and not to be inraged against the object of his most dear and tender desires and told him that the love he had for Sestiana was too full of respect to desire she should be any whit provoked or to have her obliged to do any thing with violence Sestianes made answer to him that he was exceeding glad to finde in him those sentiments and that he would manage things in such a manner as that both should be satisfyed After that Democrates had given him
a thousand thanks and had conjured him to be as good as his word he took his leave of him but Sestianes to continue the part of a dissembling impostor and traitor that he had accustomed himself to act instead of what he had promised to do for him bid his daughter always to treat him in that manner she had done since that he was got out of prison and forbad her to let him know it was by his order that she treated him so As that generous person thought her Father acted by the fame motives as she did this discourse did not give her any trouble and she presently replied to him that she would obey him so much the more willingly as that he commanded nothing of her but what she had already resolved to do A little while after there was presented to Sestiana a match more considerable by far then Democrates was This blinde Father whose ambition was the only engine that moved him in all his actions immediately bid his Daughter not to reject Arcas for so was this new Lover called but to keep him up with some small hopes but yet without letting Democrates know it was by his command which caused Sestiana to be very much troubled and which made her know more certainly that she still bore our Heroe a far greater Love than ever she imagined Yet Sestianes began to finde himself in a strange perplexity for he durst not let his Daughter marry Arcas because she was long before promised to Democrates and he was terrible afraid that this affront might provoke him so as to make him speak all that he thought he knew sooner then he would have done and on the other side he would not give her to Democrates because he was only searching for a favourable occasion to ruin him During this inquietude of his our Heroe who relied upon his word and upon the Love which Sestiana had not been able to conceal from him began to have his minde now more at ease and setled in him without ever in the least forseeing the new misfortunes with which he was threatned After he had taken order about his Love he was contriving some means not to pass for ungratefull towards Anaxander whom he always thought innocent of the crime of which he had accused himself but not precisely knowing the place where he was and not being willing to write to him by ordinary ways he gave a letter to one of his own Servants and sent him to look him out where he imagined he was most likely to be and as he did not doubt of the fidelity of this Servant from whom he had never any thing of a secret and that he would not have Anaxander believe he had hazarded his reputation to save a guilty person he ordered him to assure him from his own mouth that he was innocent and to tell him to prove the truth of it to him that he thought that Sestianes was really guilty and the authour of that conspiracy but that he had no minde to accuse him because of the love he bore to his daughter and not being willing to trust all this to paper he only writ five or six lines to this most dear friend to give him proofs of his health and to make him see that he enjoyed the liberty which he so frankly had procured him As we live in an age where a secret is no longer a virtue and the things that we would keep the most private and concealed are in a short time known to those from whom we most desire to have them kept a mistery it seems Democrates was not long without apprehending he had a Rival and that a favoured one too not only by the father of his Mistriss but by his Mistriss her self this news was more sensible to him and touched him deeper then all the outragious cruelties that fortune had till then made him suffer he abandoned himself wholly to his grief and rage he called a thousand times Sestiana faithless and Sestianes a traitour and perfidious and even doubted sometimes if he had not best tell all that obliged him to believe that he was the authour of the conspiracy which had been made against Theomedes but as he was too prudent to hearken to those thoughts that were conceived in the heats and transports of a first motion and to follow the counsels of choler he quickly turned from that designe to another viz. of going to wait upon Sestianes and his daughter to reproach them for their perfidiousnesse and their breach of promise but whether they were not within or else that they would not be spoke withal by him it was impossible for him to have a sight of them If the news of Arca's love had been a very great affliction to Democrates Sestianes was quite despairing when he understood that he had heard of it because he saw himself thereby obliged to labour his ruine for his ambition to see his daughter married to Arcas who next to the Princes of the bloud was one of the first of the Kingdom being joyned to the fear he was in that Democrates would discover him one day and that likewise after an affront so sensible to his flame he would declare that he was criminall much sooner then he had or would have done did powerfully sollicit him to procure his ruine in what manner soever it might be but this new misfortune obliged him to take the soonest opportunity he could to do it in wherefore from that day after he had commanded his Daughter to treat Arcas Democrates with an equal kindenesse and to endeavour to keep them both to her until such time that he should make known his choice to her he went his way to one of his Countrey houses with two or three of those that were of the conspiracy against Theomedes that so they might contrive amongst them the means to execute the designe he had projected and to discourse together freely without being afraid of any ones over-hearing them They were scarce got half a league from the Town when they perceived a good way off them a man set upon by three others they did what they could to relieve him but the assailants who were theeves seeing them coming up directly to them betook themselves to flight but the rage they were in to see themselves surprised made them give this person whom they had designed to rob several wounds so that Sestianes and those with him found the poor miserable wretch even without life when they were got up to him they searched him immediately to see if they could finde any thing about him which might serve to make him known but they met with nothing save a Letter which was directed to Anaxander and which was written with Democrates his own hand which made them after they had anew examined who it might possibly be to know for certain that it was one of his own servants for indeed it was he whom Democrates had sent to Anaxander Sestianes had easily got
thousand times more dear to me than my life obliges me to answer you and if I was not afraid of losing it in dying the world should see me run with joy to meet my death since nothing but that can deliver me from the infultation of my evil fortune I will say then since it is honour and not the fear of death that would have me defend my self that none need to wonder if I writ to Anaxander not as to a criminal but as to the generousest person upon earth since I never have believed that he was guilty of the crime which he has accused himself of to deliver me from the danger he saw me threatned withal but am and shall be always perswaded that his generosity and the friendship he has testified to me did oblige him to undertake what he has done in my favour You cannot doubt but that I thought thus as soon as I knew he had imputed that Crime to himself when I shall tell you that I declared it to the King who is a witness you cannot refuse and whom every body will think both in duty and justice you ought to believe Acknowledging therefore Anaxander innocent and that generous friend having declared himself guilty to discover to me the greatness of his friendship and to free me from my chains could I write otherwise to him without deserving to be looked on for it as a criminal then that he had charged himself with my crime in declaring that he was guilty of that which I my self was accused of since that tho he was innocent and I was so likewise it is still true that he did take upon himself my crime since it was that which I was accused of Ought one afterwards to wonder if I write to him that Iowe him both my honour and my life was I not equally in danger either as innocent or as a criminal have not I the same obligations to him also both ways and has he not done as much for me as if it had been impossible to doubt of the crime which was imposed upon me When Democrates had ended his discourse his Judges went away very much satisfied with his answer and made it visible both in their eyes and countenance that they approved his reasons But that did not keep him from complaining of the rigours and injustice of his fate and to shew more concern and trouble at his imprisonment then he had done the first time he had been taken What said he to himself seeing he was alone must my prudence and my love procure to me so sensible an affront must I be aecused by him whom I ought to accuse and must I be in Irons in the room of him whom I ought to have put there before now t is too much to suffer unjustly let us discover the proofs we have of the crime of Sestianes so as he has done those he had against us and if that cannot save us nor is able to work his ruin let us have at least the pleasure of accusing him who impeaches us of making his innocence to be suspected and of giving him some confusion and trouble as well as he has us Yes the lot is cast for it let us no longer hearken either to love or prudence But what replied he immediately if I have too long taken their counsels and if my prudence ruined me I cannot in this case be imprudent without doing a far greater injury to my self then prudence has ever done me since that having let the time be lost of accusing Sestianes I cannot now speak against him without being look'd upon for an impostor and a wicked wretch and without giving them to think that it is only revenge which makes me do so and that I would not ruin him but because he has been the cause that I am now a prisoner Ah! prudence cryed he to himself after he had reflected upon all the misfortunes it had caused him how dear do you cost me now wherefore have you hindered me from putting into the letter I writ to Anaxander all that I had a mind he should know and wherefore have you counsel'd me to have him only know it by the mouth of him I sent to him I do see very well that you resolve I shall have the unprofitable satisfaction not only of having harkned to but also follow'd your counsels in all things that have happened to me of trouble and vexation and to console me in my misfortunes you would have me impute all to Fate which has put things to such a pass that prudence fails in whatsoever it advises and produces effects contrary to those it has been wont to do It is true said he going on talking to himself in that melancholy way that since I resolv'd to be governed by prudence in all things and have learnt to know it I have perceived that one ought to rely no more upon it then upon fortune whatsoever it has made one undertake for the best has often proved to be very unhappy It is at present so suspected that those who are directed by it as a guide of their actions and those who never in the least consult it do equally mistrust it both of them thinking that every body uses it as a vail to hide other designs then what they make to be visible apprehend it in another and are so very fearful of it that they are not sensible of the mischief it does but when they are past all hopes opportunity of remedying it This Illustrious and Eminent prisoner who had no other entertainment then that which his sad and troubled thoughts furnished him withal was three or four days before he knew what to do either to save himself or ruin himself and during this time he resented all that love choler and revenge do make those suffer who are labouring under those 3. cruel passions He laid before him the perfidiousness of Sestianes whom he began to look upon as the most deceitful and wicked of all men breathing and he did whatsoever he could to stifle the love he had for his Daughter but she had too powerful an ascendent in his heart for him to be able to remove her from it in so short a time and he made very unprofitable attempts about it for the more he thought on Sestiana the more her beauty came into his memory and notwithstanding all his resistance it gave an accession to the love he had for that charming generous person which he endeavoured to destroy with so little success As this Irresolute Lover had his thoughts more upon his love than his imprisonment and upon the fetters that Sestiana had made him wear than on those in which his supposed crime retained him word was brought him from the King that his prison was open and he might go out when he pleased This news which he did not at all suspect surprised him exceedingly He thought the right guilty persons were discovered and went immediately to be informed of
it to one of his relations houses who had been very serviceable to him the former time when he had been a prisoner and who since his last misfortune had found a means to let him know in his prison that he would imploy both all his Estate and all his friends to make him fully convinced of the share he took in his intrests As Democrates was just at his house he met him coming out to acquaint him with all that had happened he told him that his Judges knowing the esteem the King had for him and being fully perswaded of his Innocence by the answer he had made them had declared that they believed him Innocent and said that tho he should have been a Criminal yet things were in such a posture that they could not Judge him with any justice He added that Prince Theomedes having been desired by several persons of quality whom he named to him to consent to his being set at liberty that Prince thought himself oblig'd to sollicite for him for fear of making to himself any more enemies in seeking with too great an earnestness and resolution the ruine of a person whose crime was not averred and who possibly had never been his enemy Our Heroe having understood all these things went to return his acknowledgment to the King for all the favours he had shown him He likewise thought himself obliged to go and thank Prince Theomedes which he did after he had been to wait upon the King and the next day he went to visit all those that had interessed themselves in his favour and after all he sent one of his servants where he suspected Anaxander to be to advertise him of all that had happened but he gave him no letter for fear lest fortune which has persecuted him with as much fury as blindness should invert the proofs of his innocence to render him guilty After he had done all that either civility or duty exacted from him he had a great desire to answer the demands of his love to give his flame some satisfaction and to go and see his Mistriss But what Sestianes had done to ruin him made him see so much unworthyness in that visit that he durst not grant any thing to his love for fear of bringing any blemish to his glory Never did any Lover see himself in a greater and more cruel perplexity he would very fain see Sestiana and yet he would not see her love her and yet not love her put her out of his thoughts and yet keep her in them What said he to himself reflecting upon the miseries that his love did make him suffer must I love the Daughter of a man that not only hath desired my ruin but all whose actions have too much encouraged me to believe that he is guilty of the crime of which he has made me twice unjustly suspected but what said he entertaining himself still with his thoughts if Sestianes is base and perfidious Sestiana is one the most generous and most vertuous persons in the world but how can so much virtue and so much baseness be found in one and the same blood noe noe I only help to abuse my self I fall into the same snares that Love sets for me and that Tyrant who is resolved to make me love her makes me see in her such vertues as she has not since she is the Daughter of Sestianes she must needs resemble him and be perfidious and wicked as he is but alas though she be of his blood she is still one of the most charming persons in the creation the Crime of her Father has not changed the beautiful lineaments of her face she loves me I ought to love her since that Love can only be repaid by love Perhaps I have done her an injury when the crime of her Father makes me doubt her virtue it is no new thing to see wicked parents have virtuous children nor wicked children to have virtuous parents After he had strengthened himself in this opinion and had resolutely determined not to banish from his heart the love he had for Sestiana he fully concluded not to recriminate upon Sestianes but to sacrifice his choller and his resentment to his love He was no sooner setled in his resolution but he perceived Sestianes coming up to him That sight awakened again his choller and notwithstanding the resolution he had taken not to discover his resentments to him yet he could not refrain uttering these words to him You ought not said he to him with so much eagerness to lay hold upon all occasions of ruining me for fear lest I should accuse you and I have been secret I think for a sufficient time to oblige you to believe that I could still be so I do not know replied Sestianes to him with a look full of disdain what it is you mean and if I am guilty of any crime of which I ought to be accused it is only in your fancy but I should be too blame to wonder at it added he what my duty has obliged me to do against you very likely may not inspire you with any thing to my advantage but revenge may possibly have made you seek out all ways to ruin me but my innocency secures me from all that you can say against me and those persons that are disinteressed will still know when you speak after the manner you do now that it is only revenge which makes you capable of having any such discourse as for my part continued he though I am very sorry I have lost your friendship yet I shall never repent my having done what I ought for the safety of the Prince Theomedes we owe all to persons of his blood and in the like occasion we are obliged to do the same thing for all the World Have you that confidence to speak to me in this manner replied Democrates to him and have you forgot what you told me some time before I was taken prisoner the first time that I was unjustly suspected whatsoever I might have told you reported Sestianes to him with a very great assurance I never told you I was a criminal and if I had been so and you had known it I should not have had that presumption to carry to the King the Letter that you wrote to Anaxander and as it was by meer accident that I met with it I could to serve you have made it not to be seen and I had done it without doubt if my duty had not obliged me to the contrary howsoever I am extreamly overjoyed that those great proofs of your crime have not produced against you the fatall effects you could not but expect from them But as I am not indued with less virtue then my Daughter I am not willing to have for my Son-in-Law a man who is not clear'd but by favour of the crime of which possibly with too much justice he may have been suspected I take my self to be quit of my promise after what has happened
leave of him not to give him the satisfaction he might have derived from the pleasureableness of a frailty which was of so much advantage to him but she told him as she was going away that if she could make her duty to agree with her Love he might assure himself that she would do whatsoever he desired her and that she would never marry Arcas Democrates after he had this answer return'd back again but not so well satisfied as he would have been if he had had a less knowledge of the power that Sestiana had over her self for he was sensible that although this generous person had more then an ordinary kindness for him yet she would sacrifice her love to her duty and the obedience she owed to her Father would make her to marry his Rival though indeed she had never so great an aversion to him As this Lover whose heart was divided between hope and fear was going to his lodgings he found an occasion to exercise his valour for he met with a numerous troop of seditious persons who had conspired the ruin of all the House Royal. He put himself in the head of the Soldiers whom the King had sent to seize those Traitours and perfidious subjects and to punish by a sudden death those they could not arrest Democrates animated them in such a manner by his courage and words that they wrought miracles by his Example and brought back five hundred of those seditious fellows prisoners The King having heard what was done received our Heroe with a tenderness as you may easily imagine and the Prince Theomedes who was no less obliged to him then the King in as much as the conspiracy respected all the House Royal testifyed to him the esteem he had of his valour And whilst love and fortune were treating Democrates in a more civil and obliging manner then they had done before for I know not how long fear began to take a violent possession of the heart of Sestianes He could not tell what was become of one of those who joined with him in the conspiracy against Prince Theomedes and as it was he of all the number whom he most mistrusted his absence gave him so great an inquietude as would be very difficult to express unless one could be sensible of all that fear produces in the hearts of criminals that are afraid of being discovered But as there is nothing can be kept so secret long as to be a reserve from jealous Lovers Arcas who had very faithfull spies was soon informed that Sestiana had had a long discourse with Democrates at one of her cosins houses He immediately complained to her Father of it who was glad to hear it assured him that for the future he would so order things as they should not be able to finde out any way for a conversation He would have made the same complaint to Sestiana but she receiv'd it in such a manner as made him know that his love his jealousie were both indifferent to her and that he would find it a hard matter to root out of her breast a Rival who had made himself Master of it and who had long before obtained her esteem and had surprized her tenderest affections There was very little wanting to make this Lover who abandoned himself to his dispair lose that respect which is due to so charming a Sex and to speak like one that is jealous and a husband instead of speaking like an inamoured Gallant and the violence he did himself in retaining his jealous transports made him go away from this fair and scornful Lady full of an extraordinary despite and so furious a jealousie that as soon as he was got within his own doors he wrote a challenge to Democrates to oblige him to fight him the next day Our Heroe was too generous not to meet at this assignation of honour and indeed he was first at the place which Arcas had appointed That Rival whom despite and choller animated came thither a little after They were not long before they had their swords in their hands and were ingaged and they immediately by the passes they made gave one another the mutual marks of their valour but at last you must know without any necessity of my describing to you the manner of their combat which I was no eye witness of that Arcas was forced to ask his life of Democrates and to promise him that he would never marry Sestiana Fame quickly spread this news abroad and Sestianes was as much afflicted at it as his daughter had joy and the whole Court commended Democrates and esteemed his prudence in that he had given life to a man of the quality of Arcas and who had in the opinion of all the world such relations and friends as would most certainly revenge his death But whilst hope began to repossess the heart of Democrates and likewise he to feel the joy that fortune never gave him but for a few moments and only to presage new miseries Arcas felt whatsoever rage and despair make those indure who are violently tormented with them and a little more would have made him revenge upon himself the injurious and sensible affront that fate had put upon him If those two Lovers resented the one joy and the other grief Sestiana singly resented both for if Democrates's victory gave her the former she was greatly troubled in that she could not see him nor have the libertie to speak with him and the assurance that her father gave her that he would never consent she should marry him in a great measure allay'd the joy she had at first conceived from the victory of that dear and faithful Lover But as misfortune which never observes any measures in the evils it causes when it has once begun to make a person feel the rigour of its most cruel and piercing malice and which was resolved that our illustrious and generous Heroe should be exposed to the grievous and terrible severity of its assaults and that the unfortunate Democrates should not long make her waver between joy and sadness though she was in a condition much more capable to raise pitty then stir up envy for the joy she had was so far from causing the effects it was wont to produce that it only served to make her the more sensible of the unjust and tormenting pains of her destiny it found that she was still too favourably dealt with and that her grief ought not to be mixt with any joy at all nor with any hopes of ever being able to get out of it nor so much as to see it lessen and decay and therefore made her know with as much diligence as those who thought they brought good news could inform her that the faithful and unfortunate Democrates had been cruelly assassinated the precedent evening as he was going from his lodgings to wait upon the Prince by three men unknown who after they had given him several mortal wounds with all the hast