way of marriage do but so mutch as touche one of these tender péeces they crie phy away away but let one that is married or one that meaneth not marriage dally with them why they are as lose of their lippes and as frée of their flesh as may bee For let a man béehaue himselfe towardes them accordyng to the common course of curtesie hée shall obtayne any thyng of them for they know hée is soone lost if hée bée not soone loued but let one direct his doynges by the lyne of loue and bée drawne into great depth of affection towardes them why they will raygne like princes ouer him yea they will make him glad of one glaunce of goodwill giuen by the eye for they know a litle thyng pleaseth a foole and they thinke him to fast hampred in folly to giue them the slip on the sodayne And bicause they count the number of suters a great testimony to their bentie proufe of theyr perfection they vse twentie shiftes to haue if it bée possible twentie suters some they féede with lookes some with loue some with promises some with practises some with vowes some with vewes some with triflinge some with truth some with woordes some with workes some with kisses some with curtesy some with witte some with wyles some with fayth some with fraude some one way some another so that by their willes they will haue as many suters as themselues haue sleightes to entertaine them And yet these girles on Gods name are to younge to haue a husband they are loth to leaue suckinge their dame But ah blasphemous beast that I am to cast sutch diuelish doubtes of her honesty whose very countenance containeth continency in it whose visage seemes to bee without vice and lookes without lust Is it likely shée will yéeld her body to bée abused by any who wil not suffer her selfe to bée vsed by any And she y will not enter into modest matrimony is it likely shee will fall into filthy fornication No I thinke her to bée as frée from folly as I thinke my selfe far from wisdome who seeme to doubt of her honest dealing bicause shée wil not yéelde consent to my hastie meaning What know I whether shee be consecrated alreadie to some other saint which if it bée so with what reason can I looke to reape any thynge at her handes but a repulse For as gorged Hauks will stoupe to no lure so a woman vowed already to another man the sickenesse of other suters will not cure or it may bée thus that as the Fauconer when hee first draweth his Hauke out of the mew giueth her washt and vnpleasant meates to make her after like better of better meates so perchaunce her pollicie bée first to féede mée with bitter brothes that hereafter dayntie fare may more delight mée and now to tosse and torment me with the rigorous stormes of repulse that hereafter the caulme of her consent may the better content mee For springe time would neuer seeme so pleasaunt vnto vs but by reason of the sharpe winter which went before peace would not so mutch please vs but by reason that warre beefore spoyled and wasted our country So that if shée bée coy of consent to make mée inioy the greater ioy may I thynke my selfe misused Againe would I haue her so light of loue to yéelde to the firste onset No shée deserueth to bee pursued with endlesse paine yea and I will trauayle in continuall toyle but her good will I will attaine Now as the good Spaniell hauing sprung the partridge ceaseth not to raunge the fieldes and beate the bushes vntill hee haue retriued it againe to serue the Hauk which flew at it so hee hauing once séene this saint sought all occasions to come to the sight of her againe and if it were possible surely to seaze vpon her Now it pleased fortune to bee thus frindly to further his purpose with this oportunitie Ther was in the cittie a very solemne wedding sumptuously celebrated where hée by inquiry learned that his Misteris was wherevpon hée assembled his companyons together and prepared themselues the same night to goe thither in a maske and béeing come to the house after they had marched vp and downe the great chamber y first masker hauing taken the bride hée being the second addressed him selfe to his Misteris with great deuotion and when the sownd of the instrumentes ceased hee entred into reasoning with her in this sorte Good Misteris you haue allowed to your lot in stéed of a masker a mourner and for one to delight you with plesaunt discourse you shall haue one to weary you with ruâ—ull requestes for you shall vnderstande I am your careful Curiatius whom nothing but the consent of your good will can cure and hauing no other way to aspire to your spéeche I thought beste vnder this disguised sorte to discipher plainly vnto you the constancy of my good will towardes you And if I could in woordes set forth but halfe the heauinesse which since the first sight of you hath sunke into my breast I hope your hart would not bée so hard frozen but that the shininge sun of pity would thaw it againe For if plaintes may proue my paine I haue still continued in carefull cries if sighes may shewe my sorrow the smoake of them hath reached to the skies if teares may trie my truth the water hath flowen as a sloud from my eyes And as these thinges haue passed heretofore to my paine so if hereafter the sheddinge of my bloud may shew my constancy or woorke your contentation any way assure your selfe I will bee so prodigall therof that your selfe shall haue iust cause to say I liued only to serue you and died to doe you good By this time the instrumentes sowned another measure at the ende wherof shee began to reply in this sorte Sir I am sory you haue taken so great paine for so litle thanke for if the end of your maske bee to make mée marche vnder Venus banner yea or Iunoes either your successe wil be sutch that you shall haue cause to count this your labour lost and that you haue cast away so mutch cost And for my part I promise you I had rather haue bene matcht with a mery masker then a leude louer for the one might delight mee whereas the other doth ut spight mee And if as you say you maske without mirth so assure your selfe on the other side I daunce without delight neither can it but greatly greiue mee to bee troubled with so vnreasonable a sutor whom no reasonable answere will satisfie This rigorous replie of his Misteris conuerted him from a masker to a Mummer for hee was strooke so dead herewith that the vse of his tounge vtterly fayled him But at length béeing come to himself againe hee entred into this vehemency with her O Gentlewoman suffer not the bright sunne of your beauty to bee eclipsed with cruelty contaminate not your cumlinesse with coynesse remember
pangues of death For as the colte the first time he is ridden snuffeth at the snaffle and thinketh the bit most bitter vnto him so the yoke of loue séemeth heauy vnto me beecause my neck neuer felte the force thereof béefore and now am I first taught to drawe my daies in dolour and griefe And so mutch the lesse I lyke this lot by how mutch the lesse I looked for it and so mutch the more sower it is by howe mutch the more soddaine it is For as the Bird that hops from bough to bough and vttreth many a pleasant note not knowinge how néere her destruction draweth on is caught in snare before shée bée ware so while I spent my time in pleasure assoone playing assoone parling now dawncing now dallying sometime laughing but always loytering and walking in the wide fields of fréedome and large leas of lybertie I was sodenly inclosed in y strait bonds of bondage But I se I sigh and sorow to see that there is no clothe so fine but moathes will eate it no yron so harde but rust will fret it no wood so sounde but wormes will putrifie it no mettall so course but fire will purifie it nor no Maide so free but loue wil bring her into thraldome and bondage But seeing the Goddes haue so appointed it why should I resist them séeing the destinies haue decreed it why shuld I withstand them seeing my Fortune hath framed it why should I frowne at it seeing my fancy is fast fixed why should I alter it seeing my bargaine is good why should I repent it seing I lose nothing by it why should I cōplain of it seing my choice is right worthy why should I mislyke it seeing Cephalus is my Saint why should I not honour him seeing hee is my ioy why shoulde I not inioy him seeing I am his why should not he be mine yes Cephalus is mine and Cephalus shall be mine or els I protest by the Heauens y neuer ani man shal be mine Euer after this shee obserued all oportunities to giue him intelligence as modestly as shee might of her goodwill towards him And as it happened a company of Gentlewomen to sit talkinge together they entred into commendation of the histories whiche beefore had bene tolde them some commending this Gentlemans stories some that according as their fancy forced them but Pro. seemed to preferre the histories of Cephalus both for that saith she his discourses differ from the rest and beesids that mee thinkes the man amendeth the matter mutch Cephalus though out of sight yet not out of hearing replied in this sorte And surely Gentlewoman the man thinketh himselfe much mended by your commendacion and assure your selfe you shall as readily commaunde him as you curteously commend him The Gentlewoman blushing hereat saide she thought hee had not bene so néere but touchinge your answere saith she I haue not so good cause to commaunde you as commend you for as I thinke you well worthy of the one so I thinke my selfe farre vnworthy of the other but bee bolde of this if at any time I commaunde you it shall bee to your commodytie I can not sayth hée but count your commaundment a cōmodytie only in that you shall thinke mée worthy to doe you seruice neither will I wish any longer to liue then I may be able or at least willing to doe you due and dutifull seruice If sir saith she softly vnto hym it were in my power to put you to sutch seruice as I thought you worthy of you should not continue in the condition of a seruant longe but your estate should bee altered and you should commaunde another while and I would obey It shal bée good misteris saith he in your powre to dispose of mée at your pleasure for I wholy cōmit my selfe to your curtesy thinking my estate more frée to serue vnder you then to raigne ouer any other whatsoeuer and I should count my selfe most happy if I might either by seruice duty or loue counteruaile your continuall goodnesse towards mee Upon this the companie brake of and therewith their talke But Cephalus seing her goodwil so great towards him began as fast to frame his fancy towardes her so y loue remained mutuall beetweene them Which her father perceuing and not lyking very well of the match for that hee thought his daughter not olde inough for a husbande nor Cephalus ritch inough for sutch a wife to breake the bond of this amitie went this way to worke Hee wrought so with the Duke of Venice that this Cep was sent post in ambassade to the Turk hoping in his absence to alter his daughters affection Which iourny as it was nothing◠ioyful to Cephalus so was it so painfull to Procris that it had almost procured her death For beeinge so warely wacht by herwaspish parents that shee coulde neither see him nor speake with him beefore his departure shee got to her chaumber window and there heauily behelde the Ship wherin hee was sorowfully sayling away Yea shee bent her eyes with such force to beehold it that shee saw the ship farther by a mile then any els could possibly ken it But when it was cleane out of her sight ▪ she sayd Now farewell my swéete cephalus farewell my ioy farwell my life ah if I might haue but geuen thée a carefull kisse and a faintinge farewell beefore thy departure I should haue bene the better able to abide thy aboad from mée and per chaunce thou woul dest the better haue mynded mée in thy absence but nowe I knowe thy wyll wyl wauer with the windes thy faith wil fleete with the flouds and thy poore Procris shall bee put cleane out of thy rememberance Ah why accuse I thée of inconstancy No I knowe the seas will first be drie beefore thy fayth from mee shall flye But alas what shal constancy prenayle if thy lyfe doe faile mée thinkes I sée the hoysinge waues lyke a huge army to assaile y sides of thy Ship me thinkes I sée the proulyng pirats which pursue thée mée thinks I heare the roaring Cannons in mine eare which are shot to sinke thee mée thinkes I see the ragged rocks whiche stande ready to reaue thy Ship in sunder mee thinkes I see the wilde beastes which rauenously runne with open mouthes to deuoure thee mee thinkes I see the théeues whiche rudely rushe out of the woods to robbe thee mée thinkes I heare the trothlesse Turke enter into conspiracy to kill thee mee thinks I feele the furyous force of their wicked weapons pitiously to spoyle thee These sights and thoughtes depriued her both of seeing and thinkinge for shee fell herewith downe dead to the grounde and when her wayting woman could not by any meanes reuiue her shee cryed out for her mother to come help who beeing come and hauinge assayed all the meanes shée could for her daughters recouery and seeinge no signe of lyfe in her shee fell to outragious outcries saiing O vniust Gods why are you the authours
On her chéekes the Lilly and the Rose did striue for interchange of hew her haire cumly curld glistered lyke golde her pierceinge eies twinckled like starres her alabaster teeth stoode as a ranke of precious pearles her ruddy lippes were soft and sweete her handes fine and white yea all her partes so perfectly proportioned that nature sought to winne great commendation in caruing so cunningly so curious a carkas But as a rusty Rapier is no trusty Rampier to defende a man though the Scabbord bee of fine veluet so a woman with foule conditions is coursly to bee accounted of though her face bee faire and body bewtifull But destinies so draue that this King by chaunce cast a glaunce vpon this gorgious goddes and at the first view was so vanquished by vanitie that hee thought his life no longer pleasaunt vnto hym then hee was in her sight And fayled not dayly familierly to frequent the misteris company for the maides cause And hauing attempted her chastitie by shewing her his great goodwyll by beestowinge on her great giftes by large promises of preferment and many other meanes and neuerthelesse fayling of his purpose in pensiue perplexitie fell to parley with himselfe to this purpose I euer heretofore thought a Princes life to bee voyde of strife and that they had alwaies passed their time in pleasure without paine but now I sée wee are subiect to sorow so soone as the meanest subiect we haue Lykewise beefore this I was of opinion that number of frindes aboundinge in wealth abidinge in health and sutch lyke things which pertaine to the body were sufficient to attaine to a happy life in this lyfe but now I see it is the minde whiche maketh mirth and stirreth strife yea the contented minde is the onely ritches the onely quietnes the onely happinesse Good God how vnsauery seeme those sweete meats vnto mee wherein I was woont to delight how vnpleasāt are y sports wherin I was woont to take pleasure how cūbersome is y cōpany which was woont to content mee no game glads mee no daunsing delights mee no iusting ioyes mée no playes please me no triumphes no shewes no hauking no hunting no nothing vnder the Sunne doth solace mee And would I know the cause why I haue not a contented minde the perfect parts of Pasiphae do so diuersly distract my minde that only her sight is swéete onely her company is comfortable onely her presence is pleasaunt vnto mee And would I know the cause why in her y fates haue fixed my felicitie in her the heauens haue heaped my happinesse with her must I liue and without her must I die Why I haue pursued her goodwil with praiers and with presentes with loue and with liberalitie with gifts and with goodwill and yet am neuer the néere And would I know the cause why I sought not her goodwill in the way of marriage Only marriage is the meane only wedlock must locke and lincke vs together And shal I so much debase the height of my estate as to match in mariage with so meane a mate as though many princes haue not as meanely matcht themselues as though the Gods thēselues haue not maried with earthly creatures And for my Pasiphae though shee bee inferriour to me in parentage yet in personage shee is good inough for God himselfe And for her dowry or wealth what neede I way it who haue the most part of the world vnder my dominion no there shall no regard of honour or respecte of ritches detaine mee from that which doth only containe the contentment of my minde And in this minde ment to attempt her in the way of marriage but runninge frō Charibdis hee rusht vppon Scilla flying from one rocke hee fell vppon another thinkinge to quench the coales of his desyre hee fell into hot flames of burninge fier as hereafter you shall heare Now so soone as hee had oportunitie offered him hee made Pasiphae partaker of his purpose in these termes Séeing the onely touchstone to trie true and loyall loue from lothsome lust is marriage I meane if you bee content to consent therto to seale the sincere affectiō I beare you with the sacred ceremonyes and holly rites of matrimony and as I haue preferred your loue beefore all worldli respects so I trust you wil return my loue with such loyalty that I shall haue cause to count my selfe as well matcht as if I had married with the greatest princesse in the world Pasiphae hearing these wordes was so rauished with ioy that shée could not on the sodaine make the kinge an answere but hauing chaunged colour twice or thrise from red to white and from white to red in token of a minde mooued with hope assayled with feare and passioned with pleasure at length shée sayd vnto him As most worthy prince I euer thought my selfe far vnworthy of any sutch honour so if it please your highnes plainly to heare the truth I euer thought my selfe far to worthy to yéeld to your desire in the way of wickednesse which was the cause I made so course account of your curtesy heretofore But seeinge it hath pleased you to lodge your loue thu◠low and to thinke mée worthy the honour of wedlocke with so worthy a wight assure your selfe your maiesty shall finde mée in loue so loyall and in obedience so dutifull towardes you that in the one I wil supply the part of a louing wife and in the other satisfie the duty of a diligent handmayd Neither would I you should thinke that it is the name of a queene or estate of a prince y winneth mee thus willingly to your will for I know that name to bee vaine and that estate full of paine but it is your exceedinge loue towardes mee O noble prince that linketh my lykinge with yours it is your incomparable curtesy which forceth mee to yeelde the forte of my fayth and virginity into your handes For as the sunne the higher it doth ascende in the firmament the more heate it doth extend to the earth so vertue and curtesy in the more high and princely person it is placed the more force it hath to win the wils binde the heartes of people to imbrace it And as my loue is grounded vpon your vertue so I trust so to behaue my selfe that hereafter you shall haue as great lyking to my conditions and vertue as now you haue loue to my colour and beuty that when yéeres shal take away the pleasure of y one you may take delight solace in the other The king was so déepely delighted with this dutifull discourse that hee had not a woorde to reply but satisfiyng him selfe for the time with a few swéete kisses presently gaue commaundement to his officers to make preparation for the sumptuous celebrating of his mariage which shortly after was consummated with sutch royalty as is requisite in a matter of sutch maiesty So this married couple consumed two or three yeres in the highest degrée of happinesse But the sunne
and their déedes dissemblinge You must not Gentlewomen take these words to come from mée who dare not so mutch as thinke so mutch mutch lesse say so mutch for that truth getteth hatred I meane sutch as tell not the truth as hée in no wise should not doe which should blowe foorth any sutch blast of the most faythfull and constant feminine kinde But you must take these spéeches to procéede from Pigmalion who to speake vprightly had some cause to discommend some in particuler though not to condemne all in generall as you shall foorthwith heare For it fell so out that an Ambassadour came out of a straunge country into Piemount and was appointed to lye at the house of Luciano the time of his aboade in the country Now amongest the company which came with him there was vne young Gentleman in whom though there were nothing worthy of commendation any way yet whether it procéeded of the daintinesse of women who as Pigmalion thought wilbée soone wery of one diet or of their wauering who are constant in nothing or of their imperfect nature which tendeth alway to the worst I knowe not but this lady began to conceaue a very good opinion of him and in short tyme in affection far to prefer hym beefore her old faithful freind Which Pigmalion perceiuing being in their presence drunke vp his sorowe in scilence but hauing withdrawen hym self out of theyr companye into his solitarie chamber he entred with hym self into this raging rayling O faigned fawning O counterfayt curtesy O déepe dissembling O hony mixt with gall O heauen turned to hell Now doe I perceiue thy frendshyp heretofore was nothing but flattery thy loue leude thy curtesy of course nowe am I assured thou madest of me a vertue of necessytye to serue thy turne for lacke of other company Dyd I prefer thee before father and freend and canst thou preferre before me a straunger whom thou neuer sawest before of no countenance credite or constansy but wauereth with the wynd Dyd I beare thee faythfull and intire affection and canst thou beare greater goodwill to hym who careth not for thee who beareth stedfast affection to none in whom is nothing but flitting fantasy and meere vanity canst thou thus prefer leudnesse before learning tryfling before truth clownishnes before courtlynesse vanitie before vertue then farewel reason thou restest not in womans head then farewel wyt thou wieldest not womens doinges then farewel fayth thou art no womans pheare then farewel women you are no mates for me And hereuppon verily determined with hym self vtterly to abandon her company for euer but reprehending his owne rashnesse he ment to haue a further troyall of her triflinge towardes him and also to looke more narrowly into the dooinges and behauiour of that other Gentleman that if hée could see any thinge in him wherby hée worthily deserued to bée preferred before him selfe hee might more patiently indure it Whervpon dissembling his greife so well as hée could hee made repaire againe vnto her house and there noting her loue by her lookes her fancy by her face and her conceites by her countenance hee easily perceiued to whom shée bent her best deuotion and who was her holiest Idol Likewise diligently considering the conuersation of the gentleman hee perswaded himselfe that in indifferent iudgment where affection did not make blinde the best guiftes eyther of body or minde which were in him were not to be compared to the worst which were in him self the one being not perfect any way the other imperfect noway So that seeing neither his owne worthynes neither the others vnworthynes could settle her affection as it should be he vtterly apealed from her vnworthy vnequal iudgmēt and geuing her the bezolas manos hee altogether estraunged hymself from her societie See the meruaylous power of his loue who notwithstāding he neuer inioyed y vse of her body and certaynly knewe that the other had not won that poynt of her neither yet he tooke it so greeuously that she should seeme to beare greater goodwyll towardes the other then hym that he fully resolued with him selfe to esche we the company of all other women for her sake and neuer to suffer the loue of any to sinke again so déepely into his harte And surely Gentlewomen this Pigmalion may bee a presedent and proofe to confute the errour of those who thinke there can bee no hot and feruent loue betwéene a man a woman vnlesse it ▪ procéede of some pleasant practise betwéen them And if they sée any freindly familiarity betweene a younge Gentleman and Gentlewoman they forthwith conceiue an euil opinion of their honest affection Which errour as it is most grose so may it bée defaced by sundry reasons For how it is possible that of an il cause can come a good effect That firme freindship can flow from fading fancy That the heauenly consent of mindes should proceed of the brutall coniunction of bodies Which if it were so those men if I may call them men which dayly deale with common women should bee very faythfully and freindly affectioned towardes them but it is so far of that in my fancy after the fact they rather loth them then loue them Both for that a lothsome repentaunce followeth it and also as Aristotle saith men therby are made lesse perfect So that I thinke the coniunction of bodies rather a disiunction of minde then otherwise And true freindship béetweene man and man or man woman is grounded only on that which is good and honest Yea I am perswaded that the wanton louer himselfe is as well satisfied with the good countenaunce louing lookes and perfecte agréement of his misteris minde with his as with the vse of her body Which although hée oftentimes ernestly desire yet I thinke it bée as mutch to know therby her vnfayned goodwill towardes him to confirme it with a naturall bonde and to procure her contentment as for that hée reposeth the fulnesse of his felicitie therein So if then a lewd louer altogether vowed to vanitie can loue without lust how mutch more easily may a faithful freind bée feruent in affection and yet colde in desire And as Pigmalion may bée a playne president that a man may loue loyally and yet not desire laciuiously so may Florinda bée a fruitfull example to the feminine sorte to doe the like who bearyng sutch feruent affection to her freinde Amadour that shee helde him more dere then her owne life that shée receiued more contentacion in the companie of him then of husband father mother freinde or whosoeuer yet shee was so far of from filthy affection towards him that shee auoyded so neare as shee could all occasions which might draw him into any disordinate desire towardes her In so mutch that hauyng occasion of priuie conference with him in a priuie place beefore shee came shee fouly defaced her face and bruised it with a stoane that hee might not bée inflamed with the feature thereof and diuers other
able to requite good will the one belonginge to the minde the others incident to the body but from the equitie of my cause I appeale to your good grace and fauour and at the bar of your beauty I humbly holde vp my handes meaning to be tried by your courtesy and mine owne loyalty and minding to abide your sentence either of consent vnto life or of deniall vnto death Camma hearing this discourse assoâ—e loked red for shame as soone pale for anger neither would disdain let her make him answere neither would her greife giue her leaue to holde hir peace but standing a while in a maze betwéene silence and saying at length shee brake of the one and burst out into the other in this sort If Sir your banquet had bene no better then this your talke is pleasant to mée I am perswaded the dishes woulde haue béen taken whole from the Table without touchinge but as the one was far better then the company deserued so the other for a far worse woman might more fitly haue serued and if your swéete meate haue sutche sower sauce the next time you send for mée I will make you sutch answere as was made to Cratorus the Emperour by Diogenes when he sent for him to make his abode with him in his courte who answered he had rather be fed at Athens with salt theÌ„ liue with him in all delicacy so for my part I promise you I had rather be fed at home with bread and water then pay so derely for dainty dishes Touching the paines you haue indured for my sake I take your wordes to bee as false towardes mee as you would make my faith towards my husband but admit they were true seeing I haue not willingly been the cause of them I count not my self bound in conscience to counteruayle them only I am sory they were not bestowed on some more worthy your estate and lesse worthy an honest name then my selfe which beinge the cheife ritches I haue I meane most diligently to keepe The interest which cauilingly you cleime in me as it consisteth of false premises so though the premises were true yet the conclusion which you infer thereof followeth not necessarily for were it so that your loue were greater towardes me then my husbandes which you can not induce me to beléeue yet séeyng my husbande by order of law hath first taken possession of mée your title succéeding his your successe and sute must néedes bée cold naught for as your selfe say of lawes so of titles the first are euer of most force and the most ancient of most auctoritie Your Wolues example though it shew your Foxely brayne yet doth it inforce no sutch proofe to your purpose but that by my former reason it may bée refelled for y the Woulfe is frée from the proper possession of any but therin truly you obserue decoraÌ„ very duly in vsyng the example of a Beast in so beastly a cause for like purpose like proofe like man like matter Your manly marchyng vnder the ensigne of Iustice if reason bée your captayne generall to lead you I doubt not but soone to tourne to a retire for if it bée goodwill which you beare mée I must néedes graunt you duly deserue the like agayne but when you are able to prooue it goodwill to deflower my chastitie to béeréeue mée of my good name to despoyle mée of mine honour to cause mée to transgresse the boundes of honestie to infringe my faith towards my husband to violate the sacred Rytes of Matrimonie to pollute the Temple of the Lorde with other innumerable enormities when I say you are able to prooue these to procéed of good will then will I willingly yéelde consent to your request But sée the vnreasonablenesse of your suite would you haue mée in shewyng curtesie towards you commit cruelty towards my self should I in extendyng mercie to you bring my selfe to miserie should I place you in pleasure and displace my selfe of all ioy for what ioy can a woman inioy hauinge lost her chastitie which ought to bée the ioy Iewell and Gemme of al Gentilwomen of my callyng and countenance your appeale from your owne cause to my courtesie bewrayeth the naughtinesse therof for if it bée not ill why sticke you not to it if it bée good why appeale you from it but séeynge you haue constituted mée Iudge in this case you know it is not the part of a Iudge to deale partially or to respect the man more then y matter or to tender more mine owne case then your cause therefore indifferently this sentence definitiue I giue I condemne you hencefoorth to perpetuall scilence in this sute and that you neuer hereafter open your mouth herein beeing a matter moste vnséemely for your honour and most preiudiciall to my honestie and in abidyng this sentence if you can bee content with honest amitie for the curteâ—ie which I haue alwayes founde at your handes and for the good will which you pretend to beare mée I promise you you shall inioy the seconde place in my harte and you shall finde mée fréendly in all thinges which either you with reason can aske or I with honestie graunt Synorix hauing heard this angell thus amiably pronouncing these woords was so rapt in admiratioÌ„ of hir wisedom and rauished in contemplation of her beutie that though shée had not inioyned him to silence yet had hée not had a woorde to say and least his lookes might béewray his loue and his countenance discouer his case hée secretly and suddainly withdrew him selfe into his chamber to study what face to set on the matter casting him self vpon his bed after hée had dreamed a while vpon his dotinge deuises at length he awaked out of his wauering thoughtes and recouered the possession of his sences againe by which time the play was ended and his guestes ready to depart whervpon hee was driuen to come foorth of his chamber to take his leaue of them and bidding his Misteris good night 〈◊〉 gaue her sutch a looke that his very eyes séemed to plead for pity so that what his tongue durst not his eyes did His guestes beeinge gone he disposed him selfe to rest but loue which was then his good Maister willed him otherwise to imploy that night whiche was in examyning perticulerly euery point of her answere And though the first part seemed sumwhat sharpe and rigorous and the second contained the confutation of his cause yet the third and last part seemed to be mixt with mettell of more milde matter which he repeated to himselfe a thousand times and there vppon as vppon a firme foundacion determined to raise vp his building again with the two former partes of her answere had vtterly â—ansakt to the grounde But mistaking the nature of the ground wheron the foundation was layd his building as if it had been set in sandes soone came to ruine for by that promise of freendship which she freendly made him hee sinisterly conceiued hope of obtayning that
lothsomnesse but to haue choice of chaung which breedeth appetite and lustinesse The chast eares of Camma not able to indure this course discourse shee cut of her gostely counsayle with these cutting woords gentlewoman if you were indued with as many good conditions as you haue liued yeares you would neuer haue vndertaken so shameles a message and were it not more for reuerence of your yeeres then respect of your errant I would make your filthy trade of life so famous that you should euer hereafter bee ashamed to shew your face in any honest company What do you thinke though mony can make you a baude that it can make mee a harlot and though you for gaine flie no filthinesse that I for glory follow no faithfulnesse either towardes my spouse and husband either towardes my ◠Lorde and god Do you iudge me so couetous of coine or so prodigall of min◠honour that to get theone I wil loose the other Or doth hee that sent you thinke so abiectly of mee that gaine may more preuaile with mée then good-will mony more then a man coyne more then courtesie Iewels more then gentlenesse Perls more then perils and paynes which hee hath indured for my sake no let him vnderstand if any thinge could haue caused mee to swarue frō my duty loue of luker should not haue allured mée therto But as I am fully resolued faythfully to keepe my vow and promise made to my husband so I béeseeche him not to bestow any more labour in attempting that which hee shall neuer attaine vnto for before this my resolution shalbée reuersed hée shall see the dissolution of my body into dust But if hee will not thus giue ouer his sute hee will cause mee to make those priuy to his dealing who will make him ashamed of it and for your part you may packe you hence with this your trashe and trumpery to those which measure their honour by the price of profite and their glory by the gwerdon of gayne This honest woman beeing gone a way with a slea in her eare Camma began to thinke of the matter with aduysed deliberation and entred into reasoning with her selfe in this sort What fearfull folly is this in mee to contemne the frendship of so great a lorde as Synorix is whom the greatest Lady in this lande would willingly receiue for husband and yet I rigorously refuse for seruaunt What is that honoure wheron I stand so stifly shall it not rather increase mine honour to haue so honourable a seruaunt And what is that chastity which I seke so charily to keep do not some men say that women alwaies liue chastly inough so that they liue charily inough that is so that they conuay their matters so couertly that their dooinges bée not commonly knowen for otherwise to incontinency were added impudency likewise for a woman to enter into conuersation with a rascall of no reputation can not but bee a great blemishe to the brightnesse of her name for a foule adultrer is euer woorse then the adultry it self and it is a great signe she greatly lotheth her husband when she liketh one better which is eueri way worse but to haue a freende of reseruation whose very countenance may credit her her husband me thinkes can be no great dishonour to either the one or the other What dishonour was it I pray you to Helen when she left her husbād Menelaus went with Paris to Troy Did not y who le glory of Greece to her great glory go in armes to fetch her again And if she had not been counted a peece of price or if by y facte she had defaced her honour is it to be thought y Grecians would haue continued ten yeeres in war continually to win her againe But to leaue honour and chastity and come to commodity and safety what do I knowe what perils will folow of this repulse is it likely Sinorix wil put vp this reproche paciently may I not iustly lok◠to haue his loue turned to hate and that he will either by tyrannous meanes séeke the subuersion of my husbande his whole household either by trecherous meanes woork the ouerthrow of me and my good name For the first Edward a kinge of England may serue for an example who when the countesse of Salesbury would not consent to content his incontinent desire he so raged against her parēts and friends y the father was forced to perswade his own daughter to folly the mother as a baud to prostitute her to the kinges lust bring her to his priuy chamber For the second the Erle of Pancalier may serue for testimony who when y duchesse of Sauoy would not yeeld to his lassciuious lust wrought sutch wyles y she was condemned for adultry and iudged to suffer most shamefull death by burning Now to preuent either of these perils it lieth in my power seing of euils y least is to be chosen I think it better then to hazard life liuing or good name to lose that which shalbée no great losse to my husband or my self for as the sun though it shine on vs here in Italy yet it giueth light likewise to those that are in England and other places or as the sea hath fish for euery man or as one good dishe of meate may well suffice two persons though very hungry so is there that in mee wher with Synnatus may bee satisfied and Synorix sufficed And this incourageth ▪ mée hereto the rather for that I sée by experience in most of my neighbours y those are euer most made of by their husbandes who that way deale most falsely with theyr husbandes Besides that how openly soeuer they deale in these affaires theyr husbandes neuer heare of it and though they do heare of it yet wil thei not harken vnto it and though they do in a manner se it yet will they not beleeue it and though they doo béeleeue it yet will they loue them the better to haue them leaue it the sooner Againe what know I whether my husband deale falsly with mée row in some other streame which if it bee so I shal but saue my soule in paying his debts oxercise the vertue of iustice in requiting like for like And touching corrupting of my childrens bloud I thinke it made more noble in participating with a bloud more noble then my husbandsis But canst thou harlot cal him husband whom y meanest so wickedly to betray Am I in my wits to vse these witles words Is it my mouth y hath vttred this blasphemy or was it the diuel within me that deliuered it forth No if I were gyltie but in thought hereto I would restore y fault with criminal penance yea if I felt any part in me apt to any such euil I would cut it of for feare of infecting the rest of y body Good god whether now is honour fled which was euer wont to bée the fairest flower in my garland Whether now is chastity
woordes and féeling the force of the poyson to woorke within him assaied all the remedies hée could to cure him selfe but al in vain Camma also féeling the poyson to preuaile within her fell vpon her knees béefore the aulter of Diana vttringe these woordes O goddesse thou knowest how since the death of my sweete husband this life hath béene most lothsome and sower vnto mée and that the only offeringe vp of this sacrifice kept mée from him which now in thy presence I haue perfourmed I thinke my selfe to haue satisfied my duty and purchased therby a pasport to passe to the place and Paradise where my husband hath his habitation Immediatly vpon this so well as shée could shée crauld home to her house where shée was no sooner but shée had certaine tydinges brought her that Synorix was deade Wherwith with great ioy shee cast her selfe downe vpon her bed and called her litle childreÌ„ about her and blessing and bussing them sayd Alas prety Impes who shal now defend you from your foes who shall redresse your wronges â–ª Your father is gone your mother is goinge and you poore soules must bide behinde to abide the brunt and bitter blastes of this wretched world Ah if the loue which I bare my husband had not beene excéeding great nature woulde haue caused mée to haue had some care of you for your sakes to haue suffred my self somtime longer to liue but now as I haue shewed my self a louing wife so haue I scarce shewed my selfe a naturall mother But alas it was reason I shoulde prefer him beefore you who was the autor of you who blessed me with you Wel I sée now my time is come my toung begins to faile come dere children take your last conge of your lost mother god shield you from shame God preserue you from perill God send you more prosperous fortune theÌ„ your poore parents had And thus farewel my fruit farewel my slesh farewel swéete babes and O welcome my Synnatus whoÌ„ I sée in the skies ready to receiue mée and so in sorrow and ioy shée gaue vp the ghost Now I would wish you blazing starres which stande vpon your chastity to take light at this lot to take héed by this harme you sée the husband slaine the ruffian fled the louer poysoned the wife dead the freinds comfortles the children parentlesse But it is naturally incident to women to enter into extremities they are either to louinge or to lothinge to curteous or to coy to willinge or to wilfull to mercifull or to mercilesse to forwarde or to froward to freindly or to féendly the meane they alwayes meanely account of Otherwise shee might with reason sooner then rigour haue repressed his rage But howsoeuer my words run I would not you should take them to tend altogether to her dispraise for as I must condemne her crueltie so can I not but commende her constancie chastitie and thinke her worthy to bée compared to Lucrece Penelope or what woman soeuer that euer had any preheminence of praise for her vertue And I woulde wishe my gallant youthes which delight to gaze in euery garish glasse and to haue an Oare stirring in euery beutifull boate not to row past their reache not to fixe their fancie vpon impossibilities not to suffer themselues to be blasted with the beames of beautie or scorched with the lightning of louing lookes sutch loue towardes the married is euer without lawe sutch fire is without feare sutch suits are without shame sutch Cankers if they bée not at the beginning cured growe to the confusion of the whole body Therefore Gentlewomen I leaue it to your iudgements to giue sentence whether be more worthy reprehension hée or she He had the lawe of loue on his side shee had the lawe of men and of marriage on her part loue led him which the goddes themselues cannot resist chastitie guided her whiche the goddes themselues haue lost he killed him whom he counted his enemy she killed him whom she knew her fleshly freinde shée with reason might haue preuented great mischiefe his wings were to mutch limed with lust to fly forth of his folly Tereus and Progne ¶ TEREVS Kinge of Thrace enamored of Progne daughter to Pandion Prince of Athens obtaineth her in marriage and conueyeth her into his owne countrey Progne desirous to see her sister Philomela mooueth Tereus to go to Athens and to get licence to bringe her into Thrace who on the way fallinge into vnlawfull likinge of her forceth her to his pleasure and cutteth out her tounge that shee might tell no tales Progne hauinge hereof secret intelligence in lew of that foule fact murthereth his and her owne Sunne young Itys and dresseth him in meates for his Fathers mouthe Whiche horrible deede when Tereus would haue reuenged vppon the Mother and Aunt they escape his handes and are transfourmed into Birdes IF it were méete for mortall creatures to complaine of their immortall creator then truly may wee iustly prepare complaint against our maker for that of al his creatures hée hath made man most miserable Herbes Trees and plants hee hath framed without sence wherby they neither féele the force of winters blastes neither y fire of sommers blaze foules fishes and beastes hée hath bée reaued of a reasonable soule wherby they beare the brunt of their bodies onely and are not molested with the motions of the minde but man hee hath made subiecte to infirmities of the body to miseries of minde to all stormes of strieâ—e and panges of paine And as the Cameleon chaungeth him selfe into y colour and hew of euery thing hee doth viewe so man is made apt to bee transfourmed into any misfortune and to receiue any euill y raigneth vpon the face of the earth yea if wee consider the whole course of our life wee begin with cries and end with cares for we are no sooner out of our mothers wombe but we forthwith cry to signifie the sorrow which will insue in our succeeding age in our infancy our tender bodies are subiecte to many infirmities in our childhood our weake mindes are troubled with many toyes wee are plyed sore to silence which is of hard digestion to vs wee feare the maisters lowringe lore which is a continuall torment vnto vs but oh the sea of sorrow and waues of woe which then ouerwhelme vs when wee once arriue to mans estate what vaine desires What fantasticall follies What careles and sparelesse spendinge What prodigall pride What fiery flames of loue What hare-braind heates of hate What pensife feare of parentes displeasure What solitarinesse in single life What minde to marry What misery in mariage What charge in children What care of theyr instruction What fear of their distruction and touching our owne bodies what often surfetinges What perillous plewrises What fearefull feuers What daunger in warre What perill in fight Yea what sorrow which this age is not subiecte to Lastly in olde age wee couetously carke for coine wée toyle for trashe
wee thinke wee neuer haue inough wee thinke all to mutch that is spent wee take litle pleasure in any thing wee thinke the world is changed and that it is far worse then it was when wee were younge only bicause our bodies are changed and our vitall heat so vanished away that nothing seemeth pleasaunt vnto vs though it bee the same it was woont to bee so that wee thinke the alteration to bee in the thing when it is in our selfe And then not onely our memory fayleth our wits waxe weake and returne to infancy againe but our bodies also are broken with cares taken with crampes shaken with paulseies tormented with the stone lamed with the goute dried with dropsies our sight waxeth dim our hearing deafe our smelling smal our tasting vntoothsome our feelinge feable yea all our sences are almost without sence yet we are loth to die leaue our worldly mucke the feare of approching death doeth dayly daunt vs and at length his deadly dartes doe vtterly distroy vs And surely the consideration of this our miserable estate doth so resolue mee into sorrow that if your presence did not sprinkle mee with some deawe of delight I should hardly frame my wittes to procure you pleasure by any pleasant history but rather continew a dolorous discourse of our calamity And yet the history I meane to tell shall not bee altogether estraunged from the argument of my former discourse but though it manifest not our manyfolde misery yet shall it at least set foorth the frailty of our felicity The history is this The flowrishynge common wealth of Athens had to their prince one Pandion whose estate bothe fortune beutified with great wealthe and God blessed with goodly children to wit two daughters of excellent beutie the eldest named Progne the youngest Philomela Now fame béeyng a tatlyng Goddesse blazed the brute of Progne abreade into diuers countries vntill at length the rumour of her renoâ—me ronge about the eares of Tereus kynge of Thrace who béeynge a younge lustie gallant made no great account of the commendations whiche were giuen her knowyng if hée were disposed to marrie hée might make his choyce amongst a great number as good as shée was and more nere neighbours vnto him then Athens was But destinies so draue that shortly after this on a night in his sleape hée séemed to sée her stand apparently before him only a stronge imagination assurynge him that it was shee which sight sunke so deeply into his heart and brought him sutch excessiue delight that hee presently awaked and missyng the partie that procured him such pleasure his ioy was tournd to anoy neither coulde hee euer after that finde any contentation in any thought or deed but only in this determination to goe haue a true sight of her whose seemyng shadow had so dazeled his eyes and with all speed repayred his shippes and prepared al thyngs necessary for sutch a voyage and by the help of good wynde and will shortly arriued there where his hart had already cast anker and sent ambassadours to the kyng to certifie him of his commynge who receyued him with royaltie fit for his regall estate And at the first incountry of the two princes Tereus sayde My commyng vnto you O noble prynce is not as an open enemie to inuade you for you see I am vnarmed neither as a secret traytour to intrap you for you know I am your freend but that you may not meruayle at my sodayne cummyng you shall vnderstand it is to sée your daughter the Lady Progne for you shall soone perceyue I pretende well vnto her Pandian answered As most worthy prince the cause of your comming is friendly so can I not but friendly accept it and how much I thinke my selfe honoured therby so mutch I count my selfe bound vnto you And after a litle parlee passed betweene them of the estates of their realmes and manners of their countreies Pandion preferred him to the sight of his daughter whom after Tereus had saluted with a curteous conge hee entred into discoursing with in this sort If faire Lady I should tell the truth of my comming into this country I thinke you would take it but for a trifling toy yea if I should in woords plainly set downe y cause of this my interprised iourney and the case which through your meanes I remaine in I doubt you would neither beleeue the cause neither reléeue my case for y the straungnesse of the one would bréed great incredulity for the other the small acquaintance I haue with you lesse deserts towards you can craue smal curtesy yet if it please you to know neither the desire to see this country neither the renoume of your vertue beauty brought me hither for though the report therof be great yet now I se I must néedes say y fame hath rather framed your praise maliciously then reported it truly for one good part reported to bée in you I perceiue by your countenance such confluence of good conditions that I can not but counte the rumor which run of you rather sparing speeche then right reporte But the cause of my hasty comminge and heauy case is this it pleased the goddes to presente your seemely selfe to my presence in the same louely likenesse wherin you are at this present what time I tooke sutch veiwe of your sweete face that approchinge this daye to your fathers palaice béefore I knew who you were what you were or where you were as you looked if you remeÌ„ber it out at your chamber window I said to my seruaÌ„ts loe yonder standes the péereles peragon princely Progne and since y sight in my sléepe I take the heauens to witnesse I neuer inioyed one quiet sleepe but continued in coÌ„templation how I might be placed in possession of that personage which draue me into sutch admiration Now seinge it pleased the gods thus miraculously to moue mée to traueile to see you and seeing the sight of your sweete face hath fast fettred my fancy in links of loue these may bee humbly to desire you neither to resist the motion of the goddes neither to reiecte the deuotion of my good wil. And if I haue preferred your loue before all the Ladies of my owne land if I make you that profer which many princes haue pressed for if neither wearines of way neither perils of sea could prohibite mee from pursuing your good will if I bee content to resigne my kingdome liberty and all that I haue into your handes I shall desire you not to coÌ„temne my curtesy but to counteruaile my paine and to returne my goodwill with like loue and affection This request also resteth to make vnto you that you driue mee not of with trifeling delayes for neither will the extremity of my perplexity permit longe delay neyther will the estate my kingdome standeth in suffer mee longe to bee away Progne hearing the ernest sute of this prince and seeinge nothing in him to be misliked considering also what
haste his request required stood not vpon the nice termes of her virginity but with a reuerence of maiesty made him this answere Most worthy prince whatsoeuer were the cause of your comming into this countrey the kinge my father hath to holde himselfe mutch beeholding to your maiestie that it would please you too do him the honour to visite him but touching the cause you pretend I doubt not but your wisdome knoweth that dreames are doubtfull and visions are altogether vaine and therfore I must craue pardon if I hardly beleeue y vpon so light a cause you would vndertake sutch heauy trauayle and I mutch muse that in your sleepe the goddes had no seemelier sight then my selfe to present vnto you but whether beefore you came hether the goddes moued your minde or whether beeing here your owne fancy forced your affection towards mee assure your selfe this if your loue bee as loyall as your wordes seeme wonderfull in shewing the originall therof you shal not finde mee either so discourteous as to contemne your goodwill either so vngratefull as not to requite it mary as I may which is for your harty goodwil to giue you my hart for any benefit of my body it is not in mee to bestow on you for if you do mee that iniury to exacte any thing at my handes lasciuiously honesty will not allow it whose boundes I meane not to transgresse and if you doe mee that honour to pursue my good will in the way of mariage perchance my parents will not permit it who onely haue power to place mee at their pleasuer So that as the one halfe and moytie of mee is not mine so the other part if your goodwill bee as greate as you pretend shal bee yours Presently vpon this he preferred his sute to her parentes who were no lesse glad of sutch a sonne in law then hee of sutch a wife And so out of hand y mariage with great solemnity was celebrated Which done hee ioyfully departed from his sorowfull father in law and in short time safely lande with his wife in his owne land where they liued together the space of fiue â–ª yéeres in sutch ioy as they commonly inioy who cary fortune as it were vpon their shoulders and abound in al thinges which they can wish or desire But see the frailty of our felicity marke the misery which mortall men are subiect to A man would haue thought this maried couple in loue so loyall in estate so high in all thinges so happy had bene placed in perpetuity of prosperity But alas what estate hath fortune euer made so inuencible which vice can not vanquish Who hath euer bene established in sutch felicity but that wickednesse can woorke his ouerthrow What loue hath euer beene so fast bound but by lust hath been loâ—sed Yea the most faithfull bond of frendship betwéene Tytus and Gysippus thorow luste was violated the most natural league of loue betweene Antiochus and his owne sonne through lust was broken and this moste loyall loue betweene Tereus and Progne through lust was turnd to lothsome hate For it fortuned that Progne after they had bene maried together a whyle entred into greate desire to see her sister Philomelia and lay very importunately vpon her husband to go to Athens and request her father Pandion to let her come vnto her Tereus loued his wife so intirely that hee would deny her nothinge but presently imbarkte him selfe and went to fetch Philomela vnto her And beeing arriued at Athens hée made Pandion priuy to y cause of his comming The olde man was assailed with great sorrowe to thinke hee must parte from his faire Philomela the only stay and comfort of his olde yeeres but Tereus intreated so ernestly that hee could not denie him easely and Philomela was so desirous to see her sister that had so louingely sent for her that shee hung about her fathers necke kist him and vsed al the flatteries shee could to force him to yeelde his consent to her departure wherwith hee béeinge vanquished with weeping eyes in great griefe and dolour delyuered his daughter to Tereus saying It is not my daughter onely I deliuer you but mine owne life for assure your selfe my life can not last one minute longer then I shall heare shee doth well and if her returne beâ— not with speede you shall heare of my speedy returne to the earth from whence I came Tereus desired him to bee of good chere promisinge to be as carefull of her well dooing as if shee were his owne sister or childe Where vpon the olde man blessinge his daughter gaue her vnto him But like a simple man hee committed the seely sheepe to the rauening Woulfe Nay there was neuer blouddy tiger that did so terribly teare the litle Lambe as this tiraunt did furiously fare with faire Philomela For beeing in ship together hee began filthily to fixe his fancy vpon her and castinge the feare of god front before his eies rootinge the loue of his wife out of his heart contemninge the holy rites of matrimony and the sacred state of virginity hée fell to fleshly daliance with her and attempted to win that point of her which shée held more dere and precious then her life and which ought to bée of curious regard to al women of honest behauiour But hauing no other weapon but wéepyng to defende her selfe by pitiful exclemations and cries shée kept him from satisfiyng his insaciable desire But as the rauenyng Woulfe hauing seazed in his tearyng clawes some seely Lambe séekes some den to hide him in that nothyng hinder him from quietly inioyinge his pray so hée was no sooner arriued on the coastes of his owne countrey but that hée secretly conuayed her to a graunge of his owne far from any towne or citie there by force filthily deâ—lowred her The poore mayde thus piteously spoyled so soone as her greif would giue her leaue to speake spit foorth her venome agaynst his villanie in this sort Ah most tirrannous Traytor hast thou thus betrayed my father and sister haddest thou no other to worke thy wickednesse on but mée who was the iewell of my father and the ioy of my sister and now by thy meanes shal be the distruction of the one and the desolation of the other O that my handes had strength to teare these starynge eyes out of thy hatefull head or that my mouth were able to sounde the trumpet of this thy trumpery either to the court of my sister or country of my father that thei might take reuenge on thy villanie O cursed bée the wombe from whence thou camst and the paps whiche gaue thee sucke O cursed bée the cause of thy conception and the Father that begat thée who if hée neuer otherwise in his life offended yet doth hée deserue to bée plonged in the most paynfull pit of Hell only for begetting so wicked a sunne Tereus not able to indure this talke and fearyng least her words might bewray his wickednesse made no
ship be shaken with angry blastes yet in time I doubt not but to bee safely landed on the shore and haue my share of that which the showres of shroad fortune shall keepe mee from Hee is not worthy to sucke the sweete who hath not first sauored the sower And as the beauty of a faire woman beeing placed by a foule blaseth more brightly so eche ioy is made more pleasant by first tasting some sower sops of sorrow Did not the perill which Leander ventred in the sea and the paine which hee tooke in swimming make his arriuall to the hauen of his heauenly Hero more happy and pleasaunt Yes no doubt of it for besides the feelinge of the present pleasure the rememberance of the perill past delighteth Beesides that by how mutch more a man hazardeth him selfe for his misteris sake by so mutch the more hee manifesteth the constancy of his loue and meriteth méede at her handes the more woorthily This saying also is no lesse tried then true that fortune euer fauoureth the valiaunt and things the more hard the more haughty high and heauenly neither is any thing hard to bee accomplished by him which hardily enterpriseth it With these and sutch like sayinges incouraginge him self hée purposed to pursue his purpose and failed not daily to attend vpon his Misteris withal dutie and diligence and sought all occasions hee could to let her vnderstande his loyall loue and great good wyll towardes her which she perceiuing disdayned not acknowledge by her amiable and curtuous countinaunce towards him wherewith he helde himselfe as well satisfied as if he had bene made Monarche of the whole world And though he were often determined in woordes to present his sute vnto her yet when it came to the poynt he shoulde haue spoken feare of offending her altogether disappointed his purpose and made him mute in the matter he minded to vtter but at length perceiuing that delay bred danger for that she had many other suters and féeling by experience that as fire the more it is kept downe the more it flameth vp so loue the more he sought to suppresse him the more fiery forces he expressed within him he began to set feare aside and to force a supplye of courage in his faint harte and seeing his Misteris sit in the presence alone he entred into reasoning with her in this manner Madame for that I sée you without company I am the bolder to presume to preace in place wherof though I be altogether vnworthy yet am I altogether willing to supplye it and if my companie may content you as well as your sight satisfieth mee I doubte not but you will accept it in good part and so mutch the lesse I hope my company shal be combersome vnto you for that you are busied about nothing wherto my presence may be preiudiciall And verely when I consider the common cource of life which your sweete self and other maides of your estate leade methinkes it is altogether like the spendinge of your time at this present which is with your leaue bée it spoken idly vnfruitefully without pleasure or profit and if my credite were sutch with you to craue credite for that which I shall speake I would not doubt but to perswade you to another trade of life more commendable in the world more honourable amongest all men and more acceptable in the sight of god For beléeue mée I pity nothing more then virgins vaine piety who thinke they merit meede for liuinge chastly when in deede they deserue blame for spending their time wastly Sir sayth shee as your company â—ontenteth me wel inough so your talke liketh mee but a litle for though I must confesse I sit at this present without dooinge any thinge yet in my fancie it is better to bée idle then ill imployed as your selfe are now in reprehendinge that state of life which excelleth all other as far as the sunne both a starre or light darkenesse and wherin I meane for my part to passe the pilgrimage of this my short life if either god dispose mee not or my friendes force mee not to the contrary God forbid Madame saith he you should continue your time in any such trifling trade of lyfe which indeede is to be counted no lyfe at all as the Grecian Ladies most truly testyfie who as Homer reporteth count their age from the time of their marriage not from the day of their birth and if they be demaunded how olde they be they begin to recken from their mariage and so answer accordingly For then onely say they we begin to liue when we haue a house to gouerne and may commaunde ouer our children and seruants Tush saith the Lady this is but the sentence and proper opinion of one peculyer people who perchaunce by the nature of their country or otherwise are more desierus of husbands then other neither is it any more reason that we should be tied to their example theÌ„ they be bound to follow our virgin Vestals or other who consume the whole course of their life without contaminating their corps with the company of men Nay rather sayth he without receiuyng their perfection from men according to the opinion of Aristotle But Madame I did not produce that example as necessary for all to follow but as probable to proue and shew what course a count they made of virginitie which you so highly esteeme of But to leaue perticuler opinions and come to generall constitutions and customes I meane both naturall humaine and deuine lawes and you shall see them all to make agaynst you And first if you consider natures lawes which in the dooynges of creatures without reason are playnly set downe you shall sée no liuing wight in the vniuersall world but that so soone as by age they are apt therto apply themselues to that life whereby their kinde may bée conserued and number increased Behold the high flyinge Faulcon which soareth so high in the ayre that a man would think she would stoope to neither Lure nor lust yet shee is no sooner an entermuer or at the fardest a white Hauke but that of her owne accorde shee commeth to the call of the tassell gentle her make Likewise the Doe which sâ—ingeth so freely aboute the wooddes as though shée made no account of the male yet shee is no sooner a sores sister but that shee séekes the society of the bucke Yea if it would please your séemely selfe to enter into the consideration of your owne nature or if your curtesy would accounte mee worthy to haue the examination of your secrete thoughtes I doubt not but you would confesse your selfe to â—lee a firy force of that naturall inclination which is in other creatures which being so you must graunt to deale vnnaturall in resisting that naturall motion which cannot bée ill or idle bicause nature hath planted it in you for God and nature doo nothinge vainely or vily And in that some doe amisse in rebellinge against nature their owne scrupulous nicenesse
and parentes it is not vnknowen likewise to you that for your sake I haue sustained some labour in séeking our preferment and getting the Emperours good will who only may prefer vs now as the one hath made your life lesse pleasant then I desire or you deserue so the other shal aduaunce our state so high as your self can wish or I be able to wield so y the commodities of the one shall counteruaile the inconueniences of the other For you shall vnderstand that the Emperour doth not only for the present time prouide for me as if I were his owne child but also for the time to come hath proclaimed mâ—e sole heire to his Diademe and realme Which estate as I neuer sought so mutch as in thought for my selfe knowing mee to bee altogether vnworthy of it so I thinke my selfe most happy to haue aspired therto only for your sake whom I know woorthy of all the honour in the world For as it would haue been a hel and horrour to my hart to haue séene you liue in meaner callinge then you are woorthy of so will it bee a heauenly mirth to my minde to see you a prince in state as well as in stature beauty and vertue Master Germanicus sayth shee I promise you by the loue which I beare you for greater bonde I haue not to confirme my woords by that it doth mee more good to sée you thus pleasantly disposed then to here y newes which you haue imparted vnto me for th' one I am sure cannot hurt you but what harme the other may procure you I feare to thinke and faint to say Alas my Germanicus are you to know the perils which princely stat bringeth the falshood in friendes the treason in nobilyty the rebellion in comminalty the enuy of the weake the iniury of the strong Besides you see boystrous windes do most of all shake the highest towers the higher the place is the sooner and sorer is the fall the tree is euer weakest towardes the top in greatest charge are greatest cares in largest seas are sorest tempestes enuy alwayes shooteth at high markes and a kingdome is more easyly gotten then kept For to get is the gift of fortune but to keepe is the power of prudency and wisdome especially where there bee many that catch for it yea and when a man shall haue no faithfull frendes in sauyng it For Ennius saith flatly there is no fréendly or faithfull dealinge to be looked for at any mans handes in matters pertayninge to a kingdome and Euripides makes it in a manner lawfull for a kingdomes sake to transgresse the limittes of law nature and honesty Which opinions I may iustifie by many examples as of Numitor and Amulius c. who though they were naturall bretheren yet Amulius beeinge the younger deposed his elder brother from the kingdome of Rome sâ—ue his sonnes and made his daughters virgin Vestales that they might not marry and haue issue male to succeede the crowne likewise of Romulus and Remus who beeing bretheren borne at one birth yet bicause Remus should inioy no part of the kingdome Romulus found meanes to make him away The like is reported of Eteocles and Polinices of Iugurth towardes Hyempsal and Adherball all which were bretheren and by natures lawes most neerely linked together But of others that by bloud haue not beene so neere which in cases of kingdomes haue dealt far worse the examples are in straungnesse wonderfull in number infinite and in successe so sorowfull that it maketh mee colde at hart to consider of it I spake not this my Germanicus to forespeake you you may inioy the Empire quietly and so I trust you shall but I know not what the matter is methinkes my minde giues mée some mischiefe will insue thereof Alas good husband was it for my sake you sought the Empire Doo you thinke I can not be content with th' estate which fortune shal assigne to you Yes if it were to beg my bread from doore to doore as Adalesia did with her Alerane I could bee contented therwith so you were not tormented therewith It is you sweete husbande that are the ritches which I séeke to possesse you are the only honours which I looke for you are the only kingdome which I care for for so longe as I may inioy you come pouerty come meane estate come sicknesse yea come death it self so I may die betwéene your armes Therefore good Master Germanicus if you followe my counsayle resigne your title to the Emperour againe to bestow on some that hath more néede of it then thanks bée giuen to god wee haue for for my part I thinke my selfe indued with the greatest riches in the world to wit your person and mine owne contented minde And béesides the euils béefore rehersed incident to a kingdome this inconuenience is commonly incurred therby that it altereth the nature of the person which taketh that name vpon him for honours chaung manners and no doubt the diuersity of delightes which a prince possesseth bée but prickes to pleasure inticementes to folly and allurementes to lust Was not Saull I pray you in the beginning of his raigne a good prince but after declined to impiety Salomon beegan his raigne godly but afterwards gaue him selfe in pray to women Caligula Nero and Hannibal béegan to raigne like good princes but after the whole world was troubled with their tiranny I could aledge infinite other examples to like purpose but these shal suffice neither do I alledge these for that I feare y chaunge of your good nature but to feare you from the chaunge of your estate and yet the better I knowe your nature to bee the more cause haue I to feare the alteration therof For freshest colours soonest fade ripest fruit are rifest rotten But to leaue the louringe lottes which light on high estate which are more then I am able to reherse let this request take place with you that séeinge for my sake onely you coueted the empire at my sute only you will forgoe it againe Ah swéet wife saith hée imbracing her in his armes what is it vnder the Sunne whiche you may not commaunde mee to do without desiryng But I béeseche you suffer not the tender care you haue of mée to depriue you of the honour due to you For to cast the worste of it though open enemies or trecherous traytours or rude rebels shall set mée béesides my regall seate and depriue mée of life yet shall you remayne a princesse and be matched agayne with some other more worthy your estate and so longe I care not what béetide of my selfe Alas sir saith shée I bée séeche you vse no more of those wordes onlesse you count my great greif your great good Can I liue when you are dead shall I bée married again and you made away In deed saith hée I néede not vse sutch extréeme doubtes in a matter nothyng daungerous for the numbers are infinite of those who haue wielded far more waightie empires then
and churlishuesse in a man to deny his wife any thing which is reasonable so is it great imbecillity and childishnesse to graunte her any thing which is vnreasonable and hereof commeth the vtter vndooing of a great number of young gentlemen And as it is wise and louinge carefulnesse to prouide well for ones wife so is it fond and doatinge curiousnesse to seeke and prouide better for her then bee would do for himselfe whereof came the confusion of this noble Gentleman Germanicus Amphiaraus and Eriphile AMPHIARAVS a Gentleman Argiue sueth for marriage to Eriphile a widow either likyng others possessions better then persons Infortunio burnyng in fonde affection toward the same trull seeyng Amphiaraus land preferred beefore his loyaltie is at poynct to destroy himself Amphiaraus hidyng himself to escape from the warres is betraide by Eriphile for couetice of rewarde and settynge foote within the Theban soyle the earth openeth and swaloweth him vp Eriphile eftsoones a widow profereth her loue to her olde suter Infortunio by whom beeyng repulsed in choler she consumeth away and dieth THe aunciet Ppilosophers are of this mynde that there is nothyng that doth more argue and shew a base mynde then couetous desire of coyne ritches and nothyng more signe of a noble heart then not to desire wealth if one want it and liberally to bestow it if hée haue it But I am of this minde that nothynge doth more argue a mad minde then to desire goods which neuer did good but which haue been alwayes the cause of all our calamities What a world of men hath desire of wealth wasted in war What huge heapes hath it drowned in the Sea What infinite numbers hath it caused Phisitions to kill How many hath it mooued Lawiers to vndoe How many hath it driuen Deuines to sende to the Diuell Of how many Murthers thefts flaughters parricides patricides treasons rebellions periuries forgeries adultries fornications hath it been the cause As Iupiter himselfe abused golde and pelfe to abuse Danae that virgin But you will say though the desire of goods bee detestable yet the possession is profitable Wherto I pray you to maintayne vs in brauery in gluttony in venery in securitie in impunitie in pride in prodigalitie yea to brynge vs to perdition and distruction as kynge Midas wished that euery thynge which hée touched might bee gold wherby hée was starued to death Fabritius an auncient Romain waighed wealth so litle that though hée had béen Prince and Consul of Rome three or foure times yet at his death hée had not so mutch goods as might suffice to bring him honorably to his graue but was faine to bée buried at the common charge of the citie But though the immoderate desire of ritches bée to bée reprehended yet must I néedes say that moderately to account of them is not bée misliked for they are giuen vs by God to passe the pilgrimage of our life withall and we may vse them and yet not abuse them wée may make of them and yet not make our Goddes of them And as by duely desiryng and truly vsyng them they conuert to our commoditie so by gréedy couetinge and naughtie consumyng them they turne to our trouble care and confusion as partly béefore hath béen shewed and plainly here after by the hystorie folowing is prooued which is this In Greece amongst the people called Argiues dwelt one Amphiaraus who béeyng a man of great possessions and wealth heard of a Widdow in the same country of like liuyng vnto him selfe her name was Eriphile and her nature was sutch that shée thought gaine swéet how so euer shée got it It fortuned this Gentleman to come to her house to sée and assay her in the way of Marriage and not withstandyng hée had more likyng to the liuyng then wil to the woman yet hée laboured his sute as ernestly as if hée had loued vehemently and at conuenient time commenced his sute in this sort Gentlewomā I think it not néedful to enter into termes in commendation of mariage therby to perswade you the sooner therto for that you know the dignity thereof and haue already tasted the pleasures and commodities béelonginge to the same but this chiefelye lieth mée vpon earnestly to perswade and humbly to requeste at your handes that when it shalbée your good pleasure to enter into that life againe you will count mee worthy though altogether vnworthy to serue you in steede of a steward to order and dispose your thinges as your seemely selfe shall please to appointe and to ease you of the trouble of trauailinge in your owne affaires which I am sure for that you haue not beene accustomed thereto must needes mutch molest you For it is not méete your young yeres should bée tied to any trouble or trauaile but to passe your time in pleasure according to your bringinge vp and callinge and accordinge to the custome of your kinde and sexe And that you may not thinke my sute to procéed of any desire to your goods your selfe I thinke partly know and by litle inquiry may perfectly vnderstande that my landes and liuinges are sufficient to maintaine the port and countenance of a Gentleman of worship all which I willingly yeeld into your handes to bée disposed at your pleasure if it shall please you to yéeld your body into my armes to bée imbraced at my pleasure so y in acceptinge my offer you shall not only increase your substance but also haue a gentleman at your commaundement who shall make more account of you then of all the goods in the world His talke ended Eriphile smylinge made him this smooth answere Sir by how mutch more I know the inconueniences and infinite troubles mixed with mariage by so mutch lesse do I like to enter into that estate againe And as I was once linked with one according to my liking so looke I not to bee placed againe with any in whom I can take sutch pleasure And as by holy oth I firmely bounde my fayth vnto him so in this minde I am in only my death shal dissolue that bond and y sower remembrance of my sweete husbandes death shall take away the renewinge of all pleasures of life and altogether mortifie in mée the minde to marry any more For his loue was so excéeding great towardes mee that I feare to finde the like at your handes or any mans els For where you professe to be my steward and seruant I am sure if you were once sure of that you seeke for you would thinke your selfe good inough to bee my Lord and maister and you would dispose my goods neither at my pleasure neither to my profite but that which is mine should bée yours and yours your owne And where you pretend to prefer mee before al worldly goods I take it rather for wordes of course then talke of troth for as in the fayrest rose is soonest found a kanker so in fairest spéech is falshood and faigning rifest For I knowe the fashion of you men is by
drye neither is any lycour able to alay their thurst yea the more they drinke the more they desire it so she continually heaped in welth and yet was neuer satisfied yea the more she had the more she desired to haue And being possessed with this lothsome lust of lucre she entred into reasoning with her selfe in this sort Who vnlesse they be out of their wits wil refuse offered gold no the sauour of gaine is swéet of what thing so euer it be gotten Why Tarpâ—ia a Romane mayde did betray the Tower of Rome for a few Bracelets to the Sabines that layed siege to the citie and shall not I for great Duches of Gold bewray my husbande to the Kinge who meaneth by his meanes to preserue our citie for if it come to the worst that he neuer come home againe why I know the worst of it two or three dayes wéepinge will wash away al wo sorrow and then shal I be Lady of his landes and lyuings and be maried againe to some that perchaunce shall better content me euery way then hee doth and who is so foolishe that will not be content to chaunge for the better and in this good minde gat to the King and told him that preferring the safety of his person and the profit of the common wealth before her owne priuate pleasure she was constrained to detect her loyall mate vnto his royall maiesty which her deede she humbly desired him to conceale and not withstanding the absence of her louing husband would greatly annoy her yet the commoditie of her country which she hoped through her husbandes help should be procured would as greatlye ioy her And that she might sauely see her sweet husband againe with a few feined teares forcibly wroung forth she humbly requested the King that he might be placed in sutch part of the battaile that he might not be subiecte to the shot and lie open to the army of the aduersarye The King plainly certified by her of the den wherein the fore was hidden geuing her the promised reward went foorth with to vnkenuell him who hearing of the Kinges comming and by what meanes he was discouered fell to raging against his wife and other like women for her sake in this sort Ah fonde foole that I was to repose any trust or confidence in women whose sexe is sâ—btil whose kinde is cruell who are constant only in vnconstancy who are wytty onely in wiles who as Aristotle saith are monsters in nature altogether imperfect weake vessels ignoraunt in al things yea which we may most lament they are naturaly indued with baites to allure men with poyson to infect men and with charmes to chaunge men from men to beastes as Cyrces did the seruauntes of Vlisses yea what man hath euer been so wise but by women hath bene seduced to folly as Pharo his daughter caused Solomon to fall to idolatry what man hath euer been so godly but by women hath béen depraued as Bersabe droue king Dauid to diuelishnesse what man hath euer bene so strong who by women hath not bene made to stoope as Dalila tooke away the force of Sampson by cutting away his heire who hath euer bene so perfect but by women hath bene drawn to imperfection as Adam by the meanes of Eue loste the perfection of Paradice who hath euer bene so faithfull but that women haue inforced them to infidelytie as a handmayde made Peter denie his mayster Christ who so valiaunt but by women hath been vnquished as Omphale made Hercules serue her and spinne amongst her maides and after by Dynira was done to death who so learned but by women hath beene taught new poyntes of schole as Tully by Terentia Marcus Aurelius by Faustina and Ouid by Cornina were often abused with infinet other But if the wise the godly the strong the perfect the saithfull the valiant y learned haue been bewitched beguiled abused by women is it reason I should chalenge any proper or peculier fortune to my self and not remain content with the lot which is coÌ„mon to alâ—yes I am content my rage in rule to binde but not withstandinge the comfort by other mens calamitie be miserable yet it doth me good to thinke that other haue been as sluttishly serued by women as my selfe as Tullia conspired the death of her owne husband Tarquinius then of her Sister and lastly maried the brother of her owne husband who before was housband to her owne Sister as the fyftie daughters of Danae all but one slue their husbandes the firste night of their marriage as Candaules by the counsell of his wife was slaine by Gyges who after married her as Dyonisius notwithstanding his wary watch and watchful warenesse for the preseruation of his lyfe was by his owne wife Aristomacha miserably made away By this time the king was come into his house where vpon hée was driuen with shame to shewe and presente him selfe to his maiesty humbly crauinge pardon for his offence and séeing no remedy made preparation for the warres disposing his liuinge so well as the shortnesse of time would giue him leaue and dispossessinge his wife of so mutch as hée could possibly Which done amongest the rest hée mournfully marched forward but hée no sooner set foote in the Thebane soyle but that the earth opened swallowed him vp Of which newes so soone as his wife was partaker for fashion sake shée put finger in the eye and attired herselfe in mourning apparell but shée quickly cast it of againe and began to cast in her head how shee might bée sped of any other husband and callinge to minde y deep affection wherin Don infortunio was drowned towardes her shee thought none more fit to make a foole of then him and therfore by letters did him to vnderstand that considering his former goodwill towardes her shée thought her selfe bound in conscience to counternayle his curtesie by any conuenient meane shée might and in that béefore time shée set so light by his loue the cause was for that before his comming shée had betrothed her selfe to Amphiaraus so that as thn shée was not able to yéeld him the méede of his merit but now if his affectioÌ„ were not altered if hée were disposed to deale with her by order of honesty limits of law he might bee paied his due debt with double interest Now the young gentlemaÌ„ by the ayde of absence by the assistance of time by the change of diet by remeÌ„brance of his repulse by dregs of disdain by the vertue of necessity and by the help of reason being fully cured of his folly hauing heard also of the trechery which shee vsed towardes her other husband reiected her offer returning her answer y beeing at liberty hée ment not to come in bondes and béeing now set frée from her fraud falshood he would no more bée trayned to her treison Neither sayth hee doth that hold or castle merit mercy which yéeldes rather for want of freshe supplie then at the
sute of the beseiger Neither is y prisoner to bée pitied who beeinge iudge ioyed only in staerity and cruelty neither is that clientes cause to bée considered who beeing a counsaylor dealt in the cases of other without conscience The gentlewoman séeinge her selfe thus reprochfully repulsed in very colorike conceites consumed away and died I am héere gentlewomen to admonish you not to suffer your selues to be caryed away with couetousnesse you sée to what miserable ende it brought this maried disloyall couple and as wel for your sakes as mine owne I would wish you who are indued with wealth sufficient to make a man as they say who are at your owne disposition and choice not to yéeld your selues as a pray to any who hath no néede of your wealth neither will gratefully accept your goodes but rather frankly to bequeath your selues to some poore younger brother who may thinke himself made by marrying you who may thanke his wise onely for his wealth who may impute his happinesse onely to hauing you whom you may binde to you by benefits who will no doubt indeuour to counterpeise your lyuing with his loue and your goodes with his good will who will rather serue you then séeke superiorytie ouer you who will rather be your man then your master your Liege then your Lorde your subiect then your soueraigne wherby you shal liue as you list your profits shall pleasure you your gooddes shall do you good And what so euer bee your common saying that you must as well loue to liue as liue to loue yet surely in my fancie I thinke it farre better for a married couple to liue together without liuinge then without loue for what litle liuing will suffice nature who knoweth not but what lothed liues be where loue doth lack looke but into the liues of the parties but now reported vnto you And if you credite not my report of them no more but marke your poore neighbours how quietly and merily they passe theyr time in pouertie assisted only by the calme of contentment and loue and then conuert your eyes to the view of many oother estates and looke how vnpleasantly and vncontentedly they spende their daies molested by the stormes of strife debate and hate Which contemplation I hope wil so confirme your iudgements that you will alwaies prefer loue before liuing or at least not so to respect th one as to neglect the other or at least if it be posible to ioine the one with the other Another thing also the death of Eriphile may driue into your mindes that you rage not lyke tyraunts ouer those whom your beautye hath made your bonslaues for you must know that it is more glory to vse the victory moderately then to get it mightely and farre more holdes haue bene woonne by clemencie then by crueltie For when the inhabitants know the captaines curtesie they wil rather yéeld to his assured mercy then stand to the doubtfull euent of battayle so gentlewomen if you minde to make breach into the harts of many and to win the fort of their faithes vnto you if you craue to conquer the goodwilles and to be courted with the seruice of suters you must with modestie make much of them with curtesie counteruaile their kindnesse with gratefulnesse accept their good wil with liberalitie requight their loue and with honest plainenesse answer to their demaundes you must not féede them with falshod draw them en with delay and torment them with trifling as Eriphile dyd her Infortunio to her owne infortunate hap as it luckely afterwards did light for it is Gods word and will that such measure as is met shall be measured againe and they that delight to drowne other in dolour shall not swimme long in pleasure them selues I knowe not what effecte my wordes will take for that I know not how you courtlye dames accounte of my cunninge but before mine owne face I am able to assure you this that the girles of our parish think that welch Sir Richard him selfe can not make a better preache then I can but it may be you wil thinke me ouer saucy with my lisping lips to prefer persuasions to them who are as voyde of folly euery way as my selfe of wit any way Yet considering how quietlye you tooke the rude railing of Amphiaraus against you I neede not doubt but that you will take in good part wordes whiche are well ment towardes you and if not follow them yet not mislike them and rather waigh the will of the speaker then the worth of the wordes Icilius and Uirginia ICILIVS a younge Gentleman of Rome fallynge in loue with Virginia is refused by her friendes for want of sufficient wealth but priuily contracteth himselfe vnto her and departeth into the warres Appius Claudius burning with vnchaste lust of the same mayden the better to obtayne her causeth Clodius his client to clayme her for his bondslaue and giueth wrongfull iudgement on his side But Virginius her father at her ernest request slayeth her with his owne handes to preserue her virginitie from the villainie of Appius who for that fact is cast into prison where desperatly hee doth himself to death IT is a doubt often debated but not yet decided whether loue discendeth from the heauens deriueth of our owne nature procéedeth of the similitude of manners commeth of acquaintance and familiarity taketh originall of our education and bringinge vp together whether it ariseth of beauty or of vertue whether it entreth in at the eyes or first bée rooted in the hart whether the cause come from the party that loueth or the party loued or whether it bée in our power to loue or to leaue I leaue to other to resolue vpon for for my part I yeeld god thankes for it I haue as yet been so litle troubled with loue that I know not what it is nor from whence it commeth and when I muse theron I am as bad troubled as Symonides was to thinke and say what god was but if an opinion grounded vpon reason without any proper experience on mine owne part may take place I thinke loue cheifly to bee grounded vpon the similitude of manners shewed and signified by familiarity and abode together For it is daily seene that those parties who at the first incountry and vew haue rather disâ—iked then loued ech other by continuance of conuersation and by conferring eche others conditions and nature together haue fallen into the fire of most feruent affection For true loue and faythful freindship is to will and to nill one thinge to haue one obiect of appetite and to haue like effect of affection I know there are infinite instances to bee giuen to this assertion for that some haue beene surprised with loue only vpon a louing looke some vpon a curteous word some vpon a single sight some vpon a vaine vision some vpon a doubtful dreame some vpon an vncertaine report and some some other way But as one swallow makes not sommer so one
time to time hopinge that time would mortifie the affection of either the one or the other louer But as the smith his forge by casting on colde water burneth more fiercely so their loue by these delayes increased more vehemently which caused them to betroth themselues eche to other But Icilius indued with a couragious minde perceiuinge the lacke of liuinge to hinder his happinesse determined to goe to the warres and by dint of sworde to win either coine or credite or to loose life and loue And béeinge on point to take his iourney hée gaue his Misteris this farewell If euer woful creature had cause to complayne his carefull case then vndoubtedly may I duely preace for the formost place The horse now and then ceaseth from his trauaile the Asse from bearing the Oxe from drawing and so of all other creatures but my poore heart is neuer at rest but as the wheele continually turneth so my minde continually tosseth still deuising how I may aspire to the ende of my desires and bée placed in full possession of your perfecte person And hauing reuolued many wayes in my minde I am now resolued vpon this to goe to the warres and there to win with prowesse and payn that which god and fortune haue denied mee where the remembraunce of your séemely selfe shall arme mée with sutch courage that I shall count nothing daungerous to attempt or hard to attaine And whatsoeuer woorthy feates you shall heare I shall enterprise I shall desire you to perswade your selfe that they are done for your sake And if in my absence it shal please you to continue constant in goodwill towardes mée it is the onely shield that shall shadowe mée in field and fight Remember Penelope passed twenty yéeres in the absence of her Vlisses and assure your selfe Vlisses neuer hazarded him selfe in more perils then I will put my selfe to for your sake Virginia hauing heard this short and sower discourse castinge her selfe into his armes after shée had beedewed his face with the teares which fell from her eyes replied in this sort Ah Maister Icilius my tounge is not able to tell the hurt which my hart sustayneth by the couetous cruelty of my parentes who in a gréedy desire of goods go about to stay mee from that wherevpon my life doth stay and depende and were it not that your great curtesie and loue towardes mee did somwhat moderate and mitigate my martirdome I should neuer bee able to beare the vnsupportable burthen therof But now I vnderstande by you I shall lose your companie which was my only comforte and consolation what resteth for mee but notwithstandinge I was neuer married yet to continue and leade a wofull widowes lothsome life and to spende my golden yéeres in galdynge greeife I could rehearse vnto you and you your selfe can better tell the infinite and imminent perils which alwayes wayte on warre but that I doubt therby I should rather increase your gréeif then alter your determination but this request at least yea and perchaunce the last let mée make vnto you that in warre you be warie in battaile rather to backward then to bolde in field rather to flying then to forwarde and if you take no care of your selfe yet make some spare of mee For perswade your selfe this out of euery wound which your body shall receiue will issue as well my bloud as yours And for constancie in your absence assure your selfe Virginia will alway bée the vowed vassall of Icilius. And as the Laurell or Bay tree ceaseth not to bée green notwithstandyng the parchyng Sommer and pinchyng Winter so will I neuer cease to bee fresh in freendship and green in godwill towardes you nothwithstandyng the sharpe stormes of absence the distance of place and difference of time But here teares stayed the talk of the one and time tooke away any longer abode of the other whervpon they were constrained after a few carefull kisses to giue eche other a faintyng farewell Neither is it easie to poynte foorth the payne wherwith this partinge pinched bothe these poore louers but surely in my fancie of al greifes it is most gripyng when freindes are forced to parte eche from other when one hart is placed in two places when one member is torne as it were from another when ownes selfe is separated from him selfe or at least his seconde selfe But their partyng was not so paynfull but that shortly after their meetyng was as mornefull For not longe after the departure of Icilius as Virginia walked abroade somwhat to recreate and solace her sorrowfull selfe it was her fortune vnfortunately to bée seene by one Appius Claudius one of the Decemuirs who were the cheife rulers of the citie who by the furies of Hell was so set on fire in libidinous lust towardes that virgin that he sought all the meanes possible to winne her to his wicked will but seeyng her to firmely fortified in vertue to bee by consent vanquished by villany hée determined by force to force her to his filthinesse And as nothinge is so impossible which frantike furie will not enterprise nothyng so shamefull whiche vnbrideled desire will not vndertake nothing so false which fleshly filthinesse will not forge so to brynge his purpose to passe hee coyned this deuise hee caused one Marcus Cloudius a client of his to lay clayme to the mayde as his bonde slaue Who partly for awe of the tyrant partly béeyng apt of himselfe to vndertake any euill tooke the matter vpon him and the next time hee tooke her out of her fathers house hee layde handes vpon her commaunding her to folow him home to the end Appius might haue had his pleasure of her But by the pitiful exclamation of the mayde and her nurse a greate multitude of people began to muster about them who hearyng whose daughter shee was and that shee was béetrothed to Icilius thought it vnseemly that in the absence of her father and freind who were both in the warres she should bee violently caried into bondage the title béeyng not discussed by the lawes and therevpon with held M. Cloudius from hauynge hir away Who séeynge his might ouermatcht by the multitude tolde them hee ment not to deale by force but his minde was for the playne proufe of his tytle and interest in her to haue her beefore the cheif magistrate of the citie and only iudge in ciuil controuersies who was Appius Claudius the only author of this euill Béeyng come béefore him hee tolde a solemne tale for the confirmation of his right in the mayde saying shee was the daughter of a bond woman of his that in her infancy shee was stolen from her mother conueyed to Virginius and from that time brought vp at his house and taken for his naturall childe and for proufe hereof hée brought in two or three knightes of the post to depose The freindes of the maide not able to refell this forged tale desired of the Iudas iudge that the matter might bée adiourned vntill the comming of
in as great rage as it had done the former time of their raygne But yet hate caused not sutch hoate skirmishes between the parentes but that loue forced as fierce assaultes between the children For it was so that Lycabas had a daughter named Alcest who what time Admetus was in her fathers court to intreate of peace chaunced out at her chaumber window to haue a sight of him and hee at the same time happened to incounter a vewe of her And as small drops of rayne ingender great flouddes and as of litle seedes grow greate trees so of this litle looke and sight grew sutch great loue and delight that death it selfe could not dissolue it For as women bee of delicate and fine mettall and therefore soone subiect to loue so Alcest after this first sight was so ouergone in goodwill towardes Admetus that shee fixed her only felicitie in framyng in her fancie the fourme of his face and printyng in her heart the perfection of his person And as nothyng breedeth bane to the body sooner then trouble of minde so shee perseuered so longe in sutch pensiue passyons and carefull cogitations that her body was brought so lo for lacke of the vse of sleepe and meate that shee was fayne to keepe her bed and by reason that shee couertly concealed her greife it burned so furiously within her that it had almost cleane consumed her away Her father seeinge her in this heauy case assembled all the learned phisitions hee could learne of in the country who hauinge seene her were all altogether ignorant of her disease and were at their wits ende what medicine to apply to her malady Some thought it a consumption some a burning feuer some a melancholy humor some one thing some another And her father examyning her how it held her and what disease shee thought it to bee shee answered that it was a sicknesse which it pleased god to sende her and that it was not in y helpe of Phisicke to heale her but her health was onely to bee had at gods handes Nowe Admetus on the other side hauinge the profer of many princes made him in the way of mariage made very carelesse account thereof and seemed in his minde to bee very angry with those offers and as the sight of meat is very lothsome to him whose stomacke is ill or hath already eaten his fill so that litle sight which hee had of Alcest had fed his fancy so full that to see or so mutch as think of any other woman was most greeuous vnto him And notwithstandinge the gripinge paine of loue caused some graftes of greife to begin to growe in his heart yet by reason that hée had the conducting of the army royall vnder his father hée was so busily occupied that he had no great leasure to lodge any louing thoughts within his breast But sée howe the destinies dealt to driue this bargaine thorow There aroase a quarrell béetwéene the two armies touchinge certaine pointes wherin the law of armes was thought to bée broken to decide which controuersy Admetus was sent post to Lycabas who sitting by his daughters bed side had woorde brought him that Admetus was come to the court to impart matters of importance vnto him Nowe at this instant there chaunced one of the Phisitions to hold Alcest by the arme and to féele her pulses and where before they beate very féebly as if shée had béene ready to yéelde to the sommance of death shée no sooner heard that message brought vp to her father but that her pulses began to beat with great force and liuelinesse which the phisition perceiuinge perswaded him selfe hée had found the cause of her calamity but for more assured proufe hée whistered the king in the eare desiring him that Admetus might bée sent for thither and there to make relation of his message vnto him which the kinge caused to bée done accordingly Admetus was no sooner admitted into the chamber but her pulses beegan to beate againe with wonderfull swiftnesse and so continued all the while hée was in the chaumber Who séeinge his loue in sutch daunger of her life though hée vnderstood not the cause therof yet hée cast sutch a carefull countenance towardes her that shee easely perceiued hée did participate in payne with her which made her cast sutch glaunces of goodwill towardes him that hée easely vnderstood it was for his sake shée sustained sutch sorow and sicknesse But the feare of her father who was his mortall foe and the vrgent necessity of his affaires forced him to depart without manifesting vnto her the manifolde good will hée bare her And though his departure were litle better then death to the damsell yet for that shée knew her loue to bée incountred with like affectiō wherof before shée stoode in doubt shee beegan to driue away the darke cloudes of dispaire and to suffer the bright light of hope to shine vpon her Admetus béeing gone the Phisition tooke the king a syde and tolde him his daughters disease was not deriued of any distemperature of the body but only of the disquietnesse of the minde and to tell you the truth plainely saith hee it is only the feruent affection shée beareth to that younge prince Admetus your enemy that forceth this féeblenesse and faintnes in her And told the kinge by what meanes hée tried the truth therof The kinge at these wordes was meruailously disquieted perswading himself that it was so in déede and that Admetus on the other side bare affection to his daughter for that all the time of his talke with him hée continually turned his eyes towards her bed and wold often times giue him answeres nothinge pertinent to the questions which hée proposed vnto him as hauing his cogitations conuersaunt in other matters Upon this the king went to his daughter as the phisition first ministreth to his patient bitter pilles and purgations to expell grose and ill humours and then applieth lenitiues and restoratiues to bréede and bringe againe good bloud so hée first vsed sharpe threatnings vnto her to expell the force and fury of her loue and then vsed gentle perswasions to restore her to her former helth and quiet of minde But neither the sowernesse of the one neither the swéetnesse of the other could preuayle for salues seldome helpe an ouerlong suffred sore it is to late to shut the stable dore when the stéede is stolen it booteth not to stop the breach when the towne is ouerflowen it is to late to dislodge loue out of ones breast when it hath infected béefore euery parte of the body For as sowninge mortifieth euery member as pestilence infecteth euery part as poyson pierseth euery vaine so loue if it bée not in time looked too will bringe both body and minde to vtter confusion For this virgin was so vanquished by loue that shée neither forced her fathers faire wordes neither feared his fierce threatninges but tolde him plainly shée would not deny the loue she bare Admetus neither could
they thinke wee doate and that their owne wits are far better then ours if wée warne them to bee wary and thrifty they thinke it proceedeth rather of couetousnesse then of kindenes if wee prouide them no mariages it is bicause wee will departe with no liuinge to them if wée perswade them to mariage it is bicause wée would haue them forsake all good felowship liue like clownes in the countrey by the Plowe tayle If wée perswade them to learnynge it is that they might liue by it without our charge if wée perswade them to one wife rather then another it is bicause the one is ritcher then the other if wée looke seuerely on them wée loue them not if wée vse them familiarly wée feede them with flattery bicause wée will giue them litle and so of all our louing dooinges they make these leud deuises yea when wée haue brought them vp with greate care and coste when wée haue trauailed all our time by sea and by land early and late in paine and in peril to heape vp treasure for them when wée haue by continuall toyle shortned our owne liues to lengthen and inlarge their liuinges and possessions yet if wée suffer them not to royst and to riot to spill and to spoyle to swashe and to lashe to lend and to spende yea and to followe the fury of their owne frantike fancies in all things this forsooth is our recompence they wish an end of our liues to haue our liuings Alas a lamentable case why hath not nature caused loue to ascend as well as discend Why hath shee indued the Storke with this property to féede his damme when shée is olde and men with sutch malice to wish their parents death when they are aged But I speake perchaunce of mine owne proper greife god forbid it should bée a common case for my sonne Ah why doo I call him sonne hath not only wisht my death but wrought it Hée knew hée was my onely delight hée knew I coulde not liue hée béeing out of my sight hée knew his desperate disobedience would driue mee to a desperate death And could hée so mutch doate of a light damsell to force so litle of his louing father Alas a wife is to bée preferred before father and freind But had hee none to sixe his fancy on but the daughter of my most furious foe Alas loue hath no respecte of persons Yet was not my goodwill and consent to bee craued therin Alas hee saw no possibility to obtaine it But now alas I would graunt my goodwil but now alas it is to late his feare of my fury is to great euer to bee found his fault is to great euer to looke mee in the face more and my sorrowe is to great euer to bee saluted And therevpon got him to bed and in fiue dayes space his naturall moysture with secret sorrowe was so soken away that hee could no longer continue his careful life but yeelded willingly to desired death So it pleased God to prouide for the poore pilgrimes who hauing past many a fearful forrest and daungerous desert were now come to the sea shoare mindinge to take ship and trauell into vnknowen coastes where they might not by any meanes bee knowne and béeing on ship borde they heard the mayster of the ship make report that Atys king of the Lybians was dead Wherevpon Admetus desired to bée set on shoare againe and dissemblinge the cause thereof pretended some other matter and got to the next towne wherwith the mony and iewels hée had about him hee furnished him selfe and his lady with the best apparell could bee prouided in the towne and with sutch a trayne of men as hee coulde there take vp whiche done hee made the greatest expedition hee coulde vnto his owne country where hee was royally receiued as prince and shortly after ioyfully crowned Kinge And beeing quietly setled in the regall seate hee presently dispatched Ambassadours to Lycabas his fathers foe and his father in law whose ambassade contained these two pointes the one to intreat a peace for his people the other to craue a pardon for his wife who willingly graunted both the one and the other Wherby hee now liued in great quiet and tranquillity A meruaylous mutabylity of fortune which in the space of a moneth could bring him from happy ioy to heauy annoy and then from annoy againe to greater ioy then his former ioy For as the sunne hauing bene long time ouerwhelmed with darke cloudes when it hath bannished them from aboute it seemes to shyne more brightly then at any time beefore so the state and condition of this prince hauinge bene couered with the cloudes of care now it was cleared of them seemed more pleasaunt and happy then at any time before And verely as sharpe sauce giues a good taste to sweete meate so trouble and aduersity makes quiet and prosperity for more pleasaunt For hee knoweth not the pleasure of plenty who hath not felt the paine of penury hee takes no delight in meate who is neuer hongry hee careth not for ease who was neuer troubled with any disease But notwithstandinge the happy life of this prince albeit hee abounded in as great ritches as hee required albeit hee had as many kingedomes as hee coueted albeit hée had sutch a wife as hee wished for yea and inioyed all things which either god could giue him fortune further him to or nature bestow vpon him yet to shew that there is no sunne shineth so bright but that cloudes may ouer cast it no ground so good but that it bringeth forth weeds as well as flowers no kinge so surely garded but that the gamesome goddes fortune will at least checke him if not mate him no state so plentifull in pleasure but that it is mixed with paine hee had some weedes of wo which began to grow vp amongst his flowers of felicity some chippes of sory chaunce did light in the heape of his happynesse Yea fortune presented her selfe once agayne vpon the stage and ment to haue one flinge more at him For this prince possessinge sutch a pleasaunte life tooke great delight in good house keepinge and gaue sutch good entertainment to straungers that his fame was far spred into forrain countries yea the rumor thereof reached to the skies in so mutch that Apollo as the poets report hauing occasion to discend from heauen to the earth went to see the entertainement of Admetus who was so royally receiued by him that the god thought good with some great kindnesse to requite his great curtesie And as Philemon and Laucis for their harty house keepinge were preserued by the goddes from drowning when al the cuntry and people besides were ouerflowen so the god Apollo ment to preserue his life when all his countrey and people then lyuing should lie full loe in their graues And of the destinies of death obtained thus much for him that if when the time and terme of his naturall life drewe to an end yf any coulde bée
Gods to raise her to life againe I shall thinke my selfe worthy of so good a wife as Alcest was I shall hap to haue a wife who with Cleopatra will sting her selfe to death with serpentes at the death of her Antonius who with Hylonomo will slay her selfe at the death of her Cyllar who with Singer will vanish away into aire for the losse of her Picus and who with Alcest will bee content to lose her life to preserue her Admetus Scilla and Minos SCILLA daughter to Nisus kynge of Alcathoé disdaynefully reiecting the humble sute of Iphis a yonge Gentleman of her fathers Courte becommeth vnaduisedly amorous of kynge Minos her fathers and countries mortall foe lyinge in siege aboute the Citie To whom by the counsell of Pandarina shee beetrayeth her father in stealyng away his golden hayre and presentinge it vnto Minos in token of her loue whiche hee reprochefully reiecteth And beeyng imbarked to depart homewards shee assayeth to swim after him and is drowned in the Sea. MAny are of opinion that the vertues of loue are very many that it is of force to reduce vs from sauagenesse to ciuilnesse from folly to wit from couetousnesse to liberalitie from clownishnesse to courtlinesse yea from al vice to all vertue But if the effectes therof bée rightly coÌ„sidered I sée not but that wée may more iustly say that the inconueniences of loue bée infinite and that it bringeth vs from modesty to impudencie from learnynge to lewdnesse from stayed firmnes to staggering fickelnesse from liberalitie to prodigalitie from warinesse to wilfulnesse from good béehauiour to dissolute liuinge from reason to rage yea from all goodnesse to all vanitie As may bée iustified by the goddes themselues by the godliest men that euer were by the wisest men that euer were and by the valiantest men that euer were Who by loue haue béen brought to most outragious impietie to moste extréeme foly and most vile villany But Gentlewomen bicause most of you bee maydes I meane at least taken so I will manifest vnto you the mischeif of loue by the example of a mayde in that estate though I hope not euery way like vnto your selues that admonished thereby you may auoyde the like incoÌ„uenience in your selues Therfore you shall vnderstande that ouer the towne Alcathoé raigned one Nysus who had to daughter a damsell named Scilla a proper swéet wenche in goodlinesse a goddesse in shape Venus her selfe in shew a saynt in perfection of person péerelesse but in déedes a dayntie daine in manners a mercilesse mayde and in workes a wilfull wenche as by her life you shall perceyue For there was attendant vpon her father in his court a proper youth named Iphis who as the freshest colours soonest fade the hue and as the finest mettals soonest breake so the more noble bloud hee came of and the finer wit hee was indued withall the sooner was hee made thrall and subiecte to loue And the more couragious minde hee had y more haughtie conquest did hee indeuour to atchiue For beeyng in the dayly sight of Scilla hee béegan firmely to fixe his fonde fancie vpon her fine face And by reason of his younge yéeres béeyng ignorant that vnder moste gréene grasse lie most great snakes and vnder intisinge baytes intanglyng hookes hée bit so gréedely at the bayte of her beutie that hee swallowed downe the hooke of hatefull hurtâ— and hurtful heauinesse to his heart But like a man hee sought meanes to subdue his sorrow and to vanquish this virgin and first like a bashfull younge man hee solicited his sute by pitiful lookes thinkyng therby to let her vnderstande his desire But shee on the other side perceiuyng his intent cast coy countenances vpon him to driue him to dispayre so that where béefore his owne â—fulnesse kept him from discouerynge his purpose now her coynesse caused him to couer it Yet extreme loue draue him to this extréeme shift hee imparted his purpose to an vncle of his a noble man of great countenance in y court humbly desiryng him either by counsayle countenance payne or policie to stande him in some stead to the attaynyng of his purpose his vnckel grauely aduised him to auoyde sutch vanitie and not to attempt any sutch enterprise whereby he should incur the Kings displeasure and per coÌ„sequens his owne vndoyng But he tolde this tale to one that had no eares to heare for the deepenesse of his loue caused deafnesse in him to heare any thinge whiche might help to heale his harebraind head for forwarde he would with his folly whatsoeuer came of it The olde Gentleman seeing his vnaduisednes tolde hym he would so far as he durst féele the fancye of the younge Princesse and therby he should perceiue how likely he were to prevaile in his purpose And hauinge conuenient time he fel to sifting her thoughts in this sort Fayre Lady we haue letters come to the Court contayning this newes that two or thrée younge Princes haue directed their course into this Country to see and assay you in the way of marriage wherein I doubt not but you will deale to the Kinges maiesties contentation and to our Countryes commodytie and to consider that the stay of the whole kingdome standeth vpon your marriage for the he whiche marrieth you must after the kings decease succéede as lawfull heire vnto the crowne Now if you match your selfe with a stranger it is greatly to be feared that we shall be greatly molested with the fury of forraine force for that the Kings garde and court for the most part shal be of his owne Country and so strangers shal be preferred to offices and we set besides our liuing wheras if it shall please you to take to husbande some of your owne country you shal be as it were King Quéene your selfe and he as it were your seruante and subiect And so shal you raigne in great soueraignitie and we liue in great tranquillytie His talke beeing ended the Princesse made hym this prowde answer My Lord touching my marriage it toucheth me more néerely then you and my father the Kinges counsell I meane chéefely to follow therin neither will I so respect your coÌ„moditie to neglect mine owne honour neither wil I haue more consideration of the stay of my Countrie then of the state of my callinge neither in that poynt by your leaue will I prefer the common wealth before mine owne priuate will for that it is onely I must marrie which if I doe to my liking I am lyke to liue pleasauntly if otherwise I am sure to liue sowerly all the dayes of my life And for marryinge any of mine country I promise you for my part I know neuer a Prince in all this country my father excepted Meaninge she would matche with none vnder the degrée of a Prince Immediately after this the noble man called his nephew vnto him telling him he thought it as easy a matter to climbe to heauen with ladders as for so meane a man as he to
aspyre to the height of her haughtie minde The younge Gentleman thinking that his â—kle for feare of displeasure durst not deale in so daungerous a matter neither gaue great credit to his wordes neither yéelded him any thankes for his paines but determined notwithstanding of hymselfe to pursue his sute And knowing that proper Gentlewomen delight in prety Iewels and that the Goddes them selues are pleased with gifts he gat the most precious Pearles dearest Diamonds in the country and caused them to be presented vnto the Princesse from hym But disdainfull rigour so ruled her that she would not so mutch as looke vpon them saying she had no néede of his giftes that he might better bestowe them on those who were not his betters and that she thought it shame a Princes person should be purchased with perles The Gentleman though greatly dismaide to sée both his goodwill neclected and his giftes reiected yet lyke a valiaunt Souldiour he gaue a freshe onset vppon her with friendlye louing Letters whiche hee wrote in this wise Most péerelesse Princesse though loue hath almost blinded me in all thinges yet I humbly beséeche you not to thinke me so forgetfull either of the meanesse of myne owne estate either of the maiestie of yours as to presume to practise you in the waye of mariage for in my iudgemente I thinke no man on earthe worthy that honour but my pitifull petition is this that you wyll accept mee for your slaue and seruant and the what country soeuer you shall be married into I may geue attendance vpon you to y intent still to inioy the sight of your swéete face féede my fansy in y conteÌ„plation of your beuty For I am so vowed to your vertue y onely the swéet remembrance of you shal mortifie in me y mind to any other woman whatsoeuer For I perswade my selfe to finde more felicity in one friendly looke of yours then in any others faithfull loue And though these blotted wordes be to base an obiect for your heauenly eyes yet waighing the cause in the skales of curtesye I trust you will take them in good part The cause of the blots was the teares whiche fell from my eyes at the making hereof the cause of the words is the good will of the writer Thus prayinge you to pittie the one and to accept the other I leaue lyving onely to doe you duty and seruice Yours though not yours IPHIS The Princesse hauing this letter deliuered vnto her by one of her waiting women so soone as she knew front whence it came floung it from her sayinge shee had nothing to deale ether with him or his letters and straightlye charged her women not to salute her with any thing from him But Fortune so framed that as she flung the letter from her in came the king her father caused the letter to be reacht vnto him and knowing the contentes therof sent for my youth Iphis shooke him vp with sharp threatnings and charged him vpon paine of punishment neuer after to be séene at the Courte The younge Gentleman séeing the ground which he tilled altogether barren and that it yéelded him but care for Corne and griefe for graine determined to bestowe no more cost or labour thereon and besides fearing the Kings fury and displeasure with as conuenient spéede as he could coueied hymselfe in to the countrie and there asswaged his sadnesse with solitarinesse setting her crueltie towardes him against his curtesie towards her her visdainfulnes against his owne dutifulnes he soone set himself free froÌ„ his folly This matter thus enued greater stormes began to brue such a tempest arose that Scilla who beefore kept other in bandes was now her selfe set in the sandes where before shee sailed in ship with top and top gallant setting out flag of defiance now she was driuen to strik saile and vaile bonnet euen to her fathers enemy For it fell so out that King Minos moued iustly therto for the murther of his sonne waged warre and came with a puisaunt power against King Nysus and layde so harde to his charge that he made him kéepe his Castle Now while Minos lay at the siege therof it fortuned the younge Princesse to haue a sight of him out at the window of the tower wherin shee lay and now Cupid ment to bee reuenged on the crueltie which she vsed to his Captaine Iphis who fought so faithfully vnder his banner and shot sutch darts of desyre into her towards King Minos that vnlesse she might haue him to husbande shée thought her selfe but a woman cast away and after a sobbinge sigh and tricklynge teare she fell out with her self in this sorte Ah fond foolish girle and canst thou finde in thine hart to beare freindly affection to thy fathers feendly foe Can I loue him kindly who seekes to spoyle my country cruelly Coulde I valiauntly withstande the assaultes of a flourishinge young man and shall I cowardly yeeld to a fadinge olde man without any assault O loue without law O rage without reason O will without wit O fansy fraught full of fury and frensy Good God where are now beecome those lofty lookes I was wonte to vse to louers Where are the coy countenances the haughty wordes the solemne salutacions the dainty dealinges the curious congies and sutch like Alas now I am made to stoupe without stale to come without call or lure yea to the empty fist But alas who is priuiledged from the force of loue no there are none so stout but loue maketh them stoupe none so wise but loue maketh them fooles none so shamefast but loue maketh them bolde And though I should first bewray my affection and make loue to kinge Minos the offence is rather to bee pitied then punished Yea the more frankly I offer him my goodwil the more freindly no doubt but hee will accept it and the lesse hée hath deserued it the more will hée indeuour himself to bee thankful for the same Neither can hee but take it as an vndoubted signe of deepe goodwill if I giue the first onset in this skirmishe neither can it any way redound to my shame the end béeinge honest and my meaninge in the way of mariage And if it bee lawfull to follow the example of creatures without reason doth not the Cow loe to the Bull doth not the Mare neigh to the Horse doth not the Yeaw blea to the Ramme doth not the Faulcon call to the tossell gentle the gerfaulcon to the Gerkin the sparehauke to the Musket And so of all other creatures the females are more forward that way then the males Besides that by how mutch weaker women are then men by so mutch the more they are to bee borne with all if they bee lesse able to beare the heauy burthen of loue then men Againe by how mutch more the loue of women is more feruent then of men the more fiery flames of force must fry within vs whiche without great griefe cannot be concealed or
of loue it is so farre without the compasse of reason and bounds of nature that there can no reason no cause no coniectur bee geuen of it Neither what it is working sutch diuers effects neither whence it is procéedinge of so diuers causes neither whether it will béeing neuer satisfied Therfore no earthly thing but some supernal power sure it is as your selues I thinke will say by that time you haue harde the History of Curiatius who was sodenly strocken therewith as if it had béene with some thunder or lightning from heauen For you shall vnderstande this gentleman dwelling in a towne named Albania situate néere vnto the Cittie of Rome hee made dayly repaire vnto Rome both in respect of profit as to deale with marchants in matters of waight and in respect of pleasure as to frequent the felowship of lusty younge Gentlemen whiche flourished in that Cittie Now it was his chaunce as hee strayed about the stréetes to sée a proper Gentlewoman named Horatia sittinge at her Fathers dore to take the aire and to recreate her selfe with the sighte of those that passed by and notwithstandinge he had neuer séene her before yet through the deuine power of loue he was so blasted with her beautie that he presently proclamed her the soueraigne of his thoughtes and gouerness◠of all his doinges And hauinge passed by her twise or thrise with lookes shewing his loue and salutations signifiyng his sute he could not be so satisfied but banishing bashfulnes he couragiously incoūtred her in this māner Gentlewoman God saue you and send you that which you wish and to wish that which I would God Misteris may it please you to know that though my féete haue force to cary my body from this place yet my harte will not suffer mée to turne my head from beholdinge your swéet face whiche is the cause that hath made mée thus boldly to intrude my selfe into your company But setting your goodnesse against my rudenesse I doubte not but you will attribute it rather to abundaunce of good-will then to want of good behauiour and rather take it for good meaning then yll manner But if it please you not thus frindly to interpret it yet at least I beséech you not to impute it to my boldnesse but to your owne beautie for as the Larketaker in his day net hath a glasse whereon while the birdes sit and gaze they are taken in the net so your face hath sutch a glisteringe glasse of goodlynesse in it that while I gazed thereon I was caught in the snares of Cupid Or as the Spider in her webbe doth fast winde the litle Flie so your beauty doth so fast binde mee in the beames thereof that I am faine presently to yéelde my selfe a pray to your good pleasure humbly béeseeching you to account of mee not accordinge to my deserts which as yet are none but accordinge to the loyall seruice which I faithfully vow hereafter to do vnto you Neither meane I to craue other rewarde for my seruice but onely that it will please you in good parte to accept it Horatia hauinge harkened to this talke with a certaine disdainfull and solemne scilence made him this waspishe answer Gentleman this libertie of spéeche in you sheweth the lightnesse of your loue for as I haue harde those that loue most speak least as hearing their cogitations conuersant in the contemplation of the Saints whom they serue but your smooth tale and fine filed words shew that your practise is rather fainedly to pretende loue then faithfully to loue And for my part I would not you should think me either so simple as to beléeue your coloured words either so ouergone in lykinge of my selfe but that I take the commendation which you giue mee rather for triflinge mockinge then true meaninge and I promise you I had rather you woulde vse some other to exercise your eloquence on then my selfe for that I neither like of your vnlykely loue neither meane to be framed to your folly Your comming to mée vpon no acquaintaunce contenteth mee well inough for that I may leaue your company when I lyst and so turned in at the dore frō him The Gentleman séeing her rigorousnesse to excéede his owne rudenesse laying aside a litle more good manner tooke hir fast by the arme desiringe her to stay a worde or twaine which he vttered to this effect O good Misteris goe not about to torment hym so terribly whiche loueth you so intirely depriue mee not of that sight which doth onely work my delight absent not your selfe from him whom nothinge vnder the Sunne pleaseth but your presence And whereas you chalenge my lybertie of spéeche may it like you to vnderstand that though this sodaine loue hath made me loose in a maner the remembraunce of my selfe and caused mee to bee carlesse and negligent in all other affaires though of neuer so great importance yet the beeholdinge of your séemely selfe doth so reuiue my sences and quicken my spirits that it maketh all my partes to doe their part in praying for pittie and praysing your person wherein if I should bee speechelesse I might iustly be thought to spare the trueth and spighte your perfection And that my loue is modest without mocking true without triflynge and vehement without vanytie I take the heauens to witnes and beesids let this be practised for proofe that if it please you to imploy mée you shall finde mée as spéedy to end my lyfe to doe you good as ready to spende my time to doe you seruice Mary saith she perchaunce so for I thinke I shall finde you neither spéedy in the one neither ready in the other But thei that haue once passed the bounds of shamefastnesse may euer after lawfully bee impudent and you that haue beegunne to scoffe and gybe thinke by authorytie you may continue in it sutch a one I count you to bee and so I account of you And so left my youth without dores Who séeinge him selfe so coursly accounted of fell to raginge to him selfe in this manner Ah the brauery of these fine girles the more they are courted the more they are coy the more humbly they are sued vnto the more loftyly they looke And if a man practise them in the way of marriage good God what shew of shamefastnesse will they make what visors of vyrginitie will they put on what colours of continencie wil they set foorth what charinesse wil they make of their chastitie they neuer forsooth meane to marrie sayinge that single life is the only swéet life that marriage is inuented rather for necessitie then for any goodnesse that is in it that their yéeres yet require no hast of marriage that if God would giue them grace their freinds would not force them to the contrarie they would neuer know what man meaneth while they liue Whereas in very deede they desire nothyng more then marriage neither couet any thing more then the company of men Agayne if a man making loue in
the report of the porte and house which I mayntaine be not greate yet it is sutch that it sendeth me many guestes in the yéere it pleased this Cephalus to soiourne the space of thrée or foure dayes with mee and in way of talke to pas away the time hée made relation at large vnto mee of his country of his condition and state of his speciall place of abode and dwelling of his landes and liuing and sutch like I demaunded of him whether hee were married saying all those thinges béefore rehearsed were not sufficient to the attaininge of a happy life without a beutiful saire and louing wife With that hée fetcht a deepe sigh sayinge I haue Sir I would you knew a wife whose beuty resēbleth y brightnesse of the sunne whose face doth disgrace all the ladies of Venice yea Venus herselfe whose loue was so excéedinge great towardes mee that béefore I was married vnto her hauinge occasion to goe in Ambassage to the Turke shee almost died at my departure and neuer was rightly reuiued till my returne Good God sayd I how canne you bée so longe absent from so louinge a wife How can any meate doe you good which shee giueth you not How can you sleepe out of her armes It is not lawfull sayth hee for euery man to doe as hee would I must doe as my businesse bindeth mée to doe Besides that euery man is not of like minde in like matters Lastly it is one thing to haue bene happy it is another thing to bée happy For your businesse sayd I it séemeth not to bée great by the good company whiche I thanke you you haue kept mée this foure daies For your minde I know no man that would willingly bée out of the company of sutch a wife For your present happinesse in déed it may bee your wife is dead or that her loue is translated from you to some other No sayth hée shée liueth and I thinke loueth mee but what good doth golde to him that careth not for it And can you sayd I not care for sutch a golden girle Then may I say you haue a wife more faire then fortunate and shée a husbande more fortunate then faythfull Alas sayth hee with teares in his eyes it is my great care that I doe so litle care but no more hereof I beseech you But my bloud beeing inflamed with the commendation which hée gaue to your beuty and pityinge your case to haue so careles a husbande ouer you I lay very importunately vpon him to impart the whole matter vnto mee with mutch adoe I wrung these wordes from him Sir sayth hee I shall desire you to impute my doings not to my fault but to the fates and to thinke that whatsoeuer is done ill it is done against my wil. It is so that I remained married with my wife the terme of two whole yeeres what time I did not only make of her but I made a goddesse of her and rather doltishly doated on her then duely loued her now whether it were the punishment of the gods for my fonde Idolatry committed vnto her or wehther they thought her to good for mée or whether the destinies had otherwise decréed it or whether loue be lost when fancy is once fully fed or whether my nature bée to like nothing long I know not but at the two yeeres ende I beegan sodainly in my harte to hate her as deadly as beefore I loued her déepely yea her very sight was so lothsome vnto mée that I could not by any meanes indure it And bicause her freindes are of great countenance and I had no crime to charge her withal I durst not séeke diuorcement but priuily parted from her pretendinge vrgent affaires which constrained mée therto Hereafter I meane to béestow my self in the warres vnder the Emperour not minding to returne while shée liueth And for my maintenance there I haue taken order secretly with my freinds to conueigh vnto mee yeerely the reuenewes of my lande Thus crauing your secrecy herein I haue reuealed vnto you my carefull case The straungnesse of this tale made mee stand a while in a maze at length I greatly began to blame his disloyalty to conceiue without cause so great disliking where there was so great cause of good likinge But Gentlewoman to confesse the truth vnto you my loue by this time was so great towardes you that I neuer perswaded him to returne vnto you meaning my selfe to take that paine and knowinge him better lost then found being no better vnto you Shortly after this hee departed from mee towarde the Emperours courte and I tooke my iourney hither as you sée And this is the tale I had to tell you Procris hauinge heard this forged tale with diuers alterations and sundry imaginations with her selfe sometime fearing it was true for that hee rightly hyt diuers pointes which had passed betweene her husband and her sometime thinkinge it false for that shee had firme confidence in her husbandes fayth and loyalty towardes her assoone castinge one likelyhoode one way assoone another another way at length fully resoluing with her self that his wordes were vtterly vntrue shee replied vnto them in this sorte Good God I see there is no wool so course but it will take some colour no matter so vnlykely which with wordes may not be made probable nor nothinge so false which dissembling men will not fayne and forge Shall it sinke into my head that Cephalus will forsake mée who did forsake all my freindes to take him Is it likely hee will leaue country kinsfolke freindes landes liuinge and which is most of all a most louinge wife no cause constrayning him therto But what vse I reasons to refell y which one without eyes may sée is but some coyned deuise to cosen mee No sir knight you must vse some other practise to effect your purpose this is to broad to bée beleeued this colour is so course that euery man may sée it and it is so blacke that it will take no other colour to cloud it the thread of your hay is so big that the Connies see it before they come at it your hooke is so longe that the bayt can not hide it and your deuise is to far fetcht to bring your purpose neere to an ende Gentlewoman sayth Cephalus I see it is some mens fortune not be beléeued when they speake truly and others to bee well thought of when they deale falsely which you haue verified in your husbande and mee who doubte of my wordes which are true and not of his deedes which are false And this I thought at the first which made mee doubte to discloase this matter vnto you for I knowe it commonly to bee so that trauaylors wordes are not much trusted neither great matters soone beleeued But when the time of your husbandes returne is expired and hee not come then will you say that Sir Sulahpec for so turning his name hee termed him selfe tolde you true For my part not withstanding the
béeing at the highest declineth and the Sea beeinge at full tide ebbeth caulme continueth not longe without a storme neither is happinesse had longe without heauinesse as by this couple may bée séene For when the kinges fancy had bene once fully fed the vehemency of his desire beegan to vanish away and hee began to loue his new married wife rather with reason then with rage by reason whereof with indifferency of iudgement hee could now note her naughty nature which at first partialyty of loue would not permit him to perceiue For what Gentleman soeuer shee saw in the court indued with a vertuous disposition and noble minde shee would with the kinge hinder his preferment by all meanes possible still aduaunsing the vylest to tipe of dignity If any Gentlewoman were famous for her honesty and chastity by some sluttish slights or other shée sought to slaunder them So that those in whom the kinge did only delight shée indeuoured with all dilygence to molest and spight Which the king perceiuinge and consideringe how from low estate hee had brought her to heighth of honour thought hée might more boldly refourme her faultes and began with seuerity sufficient and in déede more then was méete béetwéene man and wife to admonish her of her malitious disposition towardes those which were of vertuous inclination and made no curiosity though without curtesy to tell her that shee béeinge ignoble her selfe could not like of those which were noble But to mutch familiarity had bred so mutch contempt in her that shee beegan impaciently to pout to loure to snuffe to chase to thinke her self mutch iniuried by those wordes and sayd plainly shee would like of whom shee lyst shewinge her rude bringing vp her want of wit and gouernment her currishe nature her curst conditions and howe vnfitte shée was for the place shée was in Well the kinge was fayn to make a vertue of necessity and to take paciently that which hée could not take away easily For shée still perseuered in her peruersenesse and hated those chiefely whom her husband loued especially And amongest all other there was one proper yong gentlemā named Verecundus attendant vpon the kinge and in great fauour and credit with him whom when shée could by no means bring into displeasure or dislikinge shee went about to intrap by this traine of treason shee began to cast glaunces of good will towardes him and by alluringe lookes to thrall him in the thread of her beuty The young gentleman beeing made of fine mettall and therfore very apt to receiue the impression of loue in short time was so framed to her fancy that hee yeelded fayth to her fraud and requited her fayned lookes with vnfayned loue And as a pleasaunte praye soone intiseth a simple theife so hee thought her beuty sutch a booty that in his opinion no younge man in the world but would hazarde hanginge to haue it And herevpon fell to debatinge the matter with him selfe in this sorte It is a common opinion amongest men that hée which is once chayned in the linkes of loue is foorthwith restrayned of his liberty and freedome but if true lyberty bee to liue as one list I cannot but thinke my self to liue in most large and licentious liberty for that I lust not or desire to lead any other life then that which I doe which is in the secret seruice and continuall contemplation of my princely Pasiphae Yea I thinke euery sorrow sweet and euery paine pleasure which any passion proceeding of her beuty procureth mee and I thinke my selfe more then happy that the heauens thinke mee meete to suffer any martirdome for her sweet sake And if I might ende my dayes in dooing her seruice I should thinke it the only beginning of ioy the way to life and the readie and perfect path wherby to passe to the pleasures of Paradise Oh that fortune would minister some occasion wherby I might manifeste vnto her the manifolde goodwill I beare her and if without preiudice to her person it might bee done would to god she were drowned in some sutch depth of daunger that nothinge but the hazardinge of my life could preserue her from perill then should shee see the seruice which I haue sworne to doe her then should shee see the duty which I haue vowed to owe her then should shee plainly perceiue that neither the pleasures of the world neither the solace of freindes neither the sweetnesse of life neither the sowernesse of death should withdraw mee from sheadynge the déerest drop of bloud in mee to doe her good And then woulde shee say if any curtesy bee contained in her that my loue is most loyal and my friendship most faythfull then would shee paye if any gratefulnesse bee grafted in her my daunger and perill with the price of her person But alas how can she pay me with that which is not in her own power There is another only who hath interest therin she hath already payd her person as a price of a prince his whole kingdome so that I plough the barrein rockes and set my share into the shoare of the Sea I till with toyle sutch a kinde of soyle whereof another by right must crop the corne But admit she were disposed to incroche somwhat vpon her husbandes right yet is it likely shee will looke so low as let so meane a man as my selfe growe into so great acquaintaunce with her No fortune denieth mée any sutch fauour my good will as yet hath deserued no sutch gwerdon my desire is far aboue my desertes my ambition aboue my condition Why my birth is better then hers why should shee then neglecte mee But her calling is better then mine why should shee then respect mee My desire procéedes of loue why should shee not then accept it But alas it is contrary to law why should shée not then reiecte it I am of noble bloud why should shee refuse mee But shee hath a noble prince to her husband why should shee misuse him Yea if I my self were not a villaine altogether deuoyd of vertue I would not suffer it so mutch as enter into my thought to abuse him who hath alwayes vsed mee honourably who hath sought my prefermente by all meanes possyble who from my childhood hath brought mée vp like a louing lord Maister Shall I requite his liberalytie towards mee with sutch disloyaltie shall I deceiue the opinion whiche hee doeth conceiue of mee with sutche destable villany shall I returne the trust which he reposeth in me with sutch treson shal I defile my faith towards him by séeking to defile his bridly bed But alas loue is aboue lord or laws aboue Prince or priuiledge aboue friend or faith Where loue leadeth no maister is made account of no Kinge cared for no friend forced of no duty respected no honestie regarded but all thinges done accordinge to the passion which preuaileth ouer vs And séeinge it is not in our power to preuent that passion for it is either
for that in nature and conditions there is sutche difference beetwéene vs But repentaunce now commeth to late this only resteth to bee foreséene that vnto the greate greife which mine owne conceite procureth me her abuse adde not infamy and dishonour And if the heauens haue assigned mee sutch heauy fate as due to my doatinge desyre yet this at least let mée take heede that with the losse of her owne honour shee procure not the losse of my lyfe And herevpon appointed certaine of his assured friends to haue the custody and kéeping of the queene who seeinge her selfe thus disloyally without cause abridged of her liberty béegan to curse the time that euer shée came to bee quéene wishing shee had continued in meaner callinge with fruition of liberty rather then to sit in chayre of dignity with suspicion of dishonesty What pleasure sayth shee doth my princely estate procure mee whiche must liue as a prisoner Who wil honour mee for queen which am suspected for a queane and harlot How shall I dare to shew my face in the Courte when the kinge doubteth of my dealinge towardes him My lookes haue not bene so light my curtesie hath not bene so common my glaunces haue not bene so garish wherby hee shoulde enter into this sinister suspicion of mee But loue they say is light of beeleefe and ielousy is grounded vpon loue Auant fond foolish loue God send my husbande rather to hate me then to beare mée any such loue which bereueth him of rest and mee of renowme which breaketh the bond of faythfull freindship and intire amity betwéen vs which causeth him to doubt mee and mee to dread him which maketh both our liues so lothsome that I wishe death to dispatch ether the one of vs or the other But this froward fate I must ascribe only to mine owne fault and fraud towardes Verecundus who hath now iust cause to triumph that I my selfe am fallen into the pit I digged for him Wel I must retire to patience perforce and hange in hope of some good hap to redresse my woe and misery But you shall vnderstand Gentlewomen this was not all her punnishment nay this was but a trifle in respecte of that which after followed a matter in haynousnesse so horrible in desire so detestable and in lust so lothsome that it is no lesse strange to bée tolde then hard to bée beléeued so that I thinke my wordes will rather carry wonder then credite with you For whether it were gods plague for y husbands ielousy or for her iolity pride and subtelty I know not but thus it pleased him to suffer the diuell to deale with her Beeing by her husbandes commaundement in his absence kept from company her cheife solace was to walke in a pleasaunt groue ioyned to her palaice where vsed to feed a heard of beasts amongest which was a goodly white bull I dare not say shee fell in loue with the bull least I should driue you rather to laughinge at my story then listninge to it but surely so it was Yea shee was not only in loue with the beast and went euery morninge and with her owne hands brake downe boughes for him to brouse vpon but which was more shee was ielous ouer him for what cow in all the herd shee saw hee liked best shee caused to bée had from the heard and killed as she pretended for sacrifice but in deed for fatisfiyng her ielous minde And as the beast was opening shee would take the inwardes in her hand saying now goe thy way and please my loue if thou canst And taking delight a while in this daliance at length her lust grew to sutch outrage that shee felt in her selfe an impossibility to continue her cursed life without the carnall company of the bull And notwithstandinge shee assayed the assistaunce of reason the pollicy of perswations the helpe of herbes and the meane of medicines to mortyfy her beastly desire to the beast yet nothinge would preuayle yea beeinge often in minde to make her selfe away her hart would not suffer her hands to doe it not that death feared her but that desyre forced her first to fulfil her filthy lust But GentlewomeÌ„ because you shal not enter into colorick conceites against me for publishing in this presence a hystorie whiche seemeth so mutch to sounde to the shame of your sexe I meane not to iustifie the truth of it but rather will proue it false by the opinioÌ„ of one Seruius who writeth that Pasiphae indéede played false with one Taurus which signifieth a Bul secretary to her husband in the house of Dedalus and after being delyuered had two sonnes the one lyke Minos the other lyke Taurus and therevpon the Poets faigned the fable aforesaide but whether béeing a woman shee vsed the carnall company of a beast or whether lyke a lewde wife shee gaue her husbande the badge of a beast her offence was sutch that I cannot though gladly I woulde excuse it Yet must I néedes say that in my fancy her husbande deserued some blame for no doubt his suspicion without cause caused her in sutche sorte to transgresse marriage lawes For seeing her honestie doubted of and her good name as good as losâ—e shee thought as good to bee naught for somewhat as to bee thought naught for nothing And surely the experience is to common y suspicion and slaunder maketh many to bee that which they neuer ment to bee But some are of this foolish opinion that it is simple and sottishe folly for a woman to deale truly with him whiche dealeth ielously and cruelly with her some againe lewdly thinke y if a woman cannot coÌ„ceiue by her husband y she may lawfully enter into coÌ„uer sation with some other some wickedly wéene that if the husbande bee not able to satisfie the insatiable desyre of his wife that to auoyde concupiscence shee may communicate with some other but surely Gentlewomen I am setled in this opinion that no suspicion or ielousie ought to cause a woman to transgresse the boundes of honesty that rhastitie is the only Iewell which women ought to bee chary of that women hauinge lost their chastitie are like broken glasses which are good for nothing that they make shipwrack of all if the cabels of constancie be once crakt the anchors of honestie slipt y it is better for theÌ„ to be fooles then false to be simple then subtil to be doues then diuels to be abused then abuse y it is better for theÌ„ to be barren then beastly to bée without fruite then faith children then chastitie that concupisence is only to desire other besides their husbandes that they which burne in sutch desire shall burne in hell fire y no adultresse shall inherite the kingdome of heauen that all women ought to bee like y matronesse of Rome which knew y sauour of no mans breath but of her husbandes like the wife of Fuluius Torquatus who died with longinge rather then shée would goe forth of her chaumber in
her husbandes absence to sée a wilde Aegiption with one eye in his forehead whom shee longed to see that women ought to spin with Penelope to spill with Camma to kill with Lucrece to bee slaundred with Susanna with Sauoy and with others to indure any torment rather then to lose one iote of their chastity and honesty Pigmalions friende and his Image PIGMALION a Gentleman of Piemount continuing the space of certaine yeares in honest affection and vertuous loue with PENTHEA wife to Luciano a noble gentleman of the same country is at length by her reiected in respect of a base stranger Pigmalion abandoning the company of all women and giuinge himselfe to the arte of Caruing burneth in loue with an Image whiche himselfe had fashioned whom at his earnest sute Venus transformeth into a faire Mayde and hee taketh her to Wife TO make the reckoning without the host is the way soone to bee â–ª ouershot in the shot to resolue certenly vpon incertenty is the way neuer to be in any certenty to looke for constancy of those y lyke of inconstancy or to determine of those things which are not in our powers to perfourme is nothing els but to bee deceiued of our expectation and to be driuen to alter our determination as the History whiche you shall heare shal yéelde example of both the one and the other In the country of Piemount had his beeinge one Pigmalion a gentleman discended of noble birth indued with perfection of person perfectly pourtraied forth with y lineameÌ„ts of learning so that it was dooubtful whether he were more indebted to fortune for his birth to nature for his beauty or to his parentes for his learninge But as beautie birth ritches and the rest must néedes geue place to learninge so no doubt but his parentes deserued the preheminence of prayse For the other are but dim starres where learninge giueth light And as when the sunne shineth the light of the stars is not séene so where learning appeareth all other giftes are nothing to be accounted of Besides that beeside his learning he was indued with a great dexteritie in all thinges in so mutch as nothing came amisse vnto him whiche was méete for a Gentleman in feates of armes no man more couragious in exercises of the body none more actiue in game or play none more politike amongst the auncient who more graue amongst the youthfull who more merrie so that there was no time no person no place wherto hee aptly applyed not him self By reson wherof he was acceptable to all good companies wel was he that might entertaine him in his hous But most of al he frequeÌ„ted y â—hous of one Luciano a noble Gentleman of the same countri in continuaunce of time grew so farre in familiaritie with his wife that he reposed his onely pleasure in her presence Yea shee had made sutch a stealth of his harts that neither Father nor Mother Sister nor Brother nor all the friends he had in the country beside could keepe him one wéeke together out of her compani Yea this faithful loue hée bare her séemed in a manner to extinguish all naturall loue towards his allies and kinsfolke Who beeinge as they were wont desirous of his company at hauking hunting and sutche like pastimes coulde not by any erauing or importunity obtayne it but being ignorant of the cause they thought it had proceded of this that his minde vpon some occasion had been alienated from them which caused them on the contrarie somewhat to withdrawe their goodwils from him But hee forced litle thereof he cared not whom hee displeased so he might worke her contentation shee was the starre by whose aspect he did direct his doynges she was the hauen wherein he sought to harborough shée was the heauen whyther he coueted to come shee was the saint to whom hée did lend sutch deuotion that hee could finde in his heart to bend no liking to any other whatsoeuer In so mutch y hauing the profer of many ritch maryages hee alway refused them as hauing his hart so replenished with the loue of her y there was no roomth for the loue of any other to remayn within him Now shee on the other side whose name was Penthea béeinge a curteous courtly wenche gaue him sutch freindly entertaynment and vsed him so well in all respectes that her husband excepted shee séemed to holde him most dere vnto her of any wight in the whole world Shée neuer made feast but hée must bee her guest shee neuer rode iourney but he must be her companion shee neuer daunced but hee must direct her shee neuer dised but hee must bee her partner shee in a manner dyd nothing wherin hee did not something Her Husbande all this while beeinge fully assured of her vertue and very well perswaded of the honesty of the Gentleman susspected no euill beetweene them but lyked very well of their loue and familiarity together neither in deede had hee any cause to the contrary For Pigmalion knew her to bee indued with sutch constant vertue that he thought it impossible to allure her to any folly and besides that his loue was so exceedinge great towardes her that hee would not by any meanes bee the cause to make her commit any thinge which might make her lesse worthy of loue then shee was And if at any time as the fleshe is frayle the vehemency of his affection forced him to perswade her to folly he did it so faintly that it might plainly bee perceiued hee was not willing to ouercome For hee deepely doubted that if by the force of her loue towardes him or of his perswasions towardes her shee should haue yeelded the forte of her fayth and chastity in to his handes his loue towards her with the sun beinge at the highest would haue declined and decreased which would haue bene the greatest greife to him in the world No hee liued with sutch delight in the contemplation of her chastity and vertue that hee was voyde not only of Libidinous lust towardes her but also towardes all other women whatsoeuer Yea hee receiued more pleasure of her by imagination then of any other woman by y acte of generation So that betweene these friends was no cause of suspicion no cause of iarre no cause of ielousie but they liued together the space of three or foure yeares in most heauenly hauen of most happie lyfe The floud of their felicity flowed from the fountaine of most faithful friendship the building of their bidinge together was raised on the rock of vertu so y it was to be thought no seas of subtiltie or floudes of fickelnesse coulde haue vndermined it But what perpetuitie is to bee looked for in mortall pretences What constancy is to bée hoped for in kytes of Cressids kinde may one gather Grapes of thornes Suger of Thistels or constancy of women Nay if a man sift the whole sexe thorowly hée shall finde their wordes to bee but winde their fayth forgery
wayes at diuers other times valiantly withstoode all alarms of lust Therfore they are no doubt deceiued which thinke that loue cannot bée without lust neither feruent affection without fleshly fancie And I would not wish any to iudge so iniuriously of the familiaritie of freindes sutch light iudgements proue but a light iudge sutch suspicious opinions for the most part procéede from suspected persons and they are commonly sutche themselues as they thinke other to bee for mala mens malus animus an euil disposition bréedeth an euill suspition But to returne to Pigmalion who for al his feruent loue beyng frustrate of the fruites therof and not incountred with the like got from the house of his fickle freinde and beeing alone in his owne lodginge hée entred with him selfe into this discourse Notwithstandynge my loue hath been alway guided rather by reason then rage and my fancie neuer at any time turned to furie by reason wherof I haue not been greatly pinched with the panges therof yet when I consider the common course of louers and of loue surely of all punishments inflicted on mankynde there is none that doth more afflict vs then the Iewde lots therof and the firie dartes of Cupid For all other euils by nature we flie from by reason we redresse by pollicie wee preuent by pleasure wee mitigate by patience wée moderate by labour wee lighten by payne we appease by counsayle wee cure by time wée take away or by some meanes or other set our selues free from But this hatefull loue by nature wee follow it beréeneth vs of reason pollicie hath no place in it pleasure doubleth our dolour patience purchaseth no ease labour is lost payne preuayleth not counsayle conduceth not time tieth and intangleth vs no nothyng is able to leade vs out of this intricate Labyrinth And though ▪ the pleasures pertayuing to loue séeme great yet who so euer purposeth to purchase them let him assure him selfe to buy them at an vnreasonable rate Euery pecke of pleasure shall cost him a quarter of care for euery pinte of hony hee shall taste a gallon of gall Yea though the entry which leadeth to the lodginge of loue séeme easy the porche paradise vnto him yet shall hee finde the hall a hell and the whole house a hateful prisō and place of bondage For as Marriners y vnder a shew of calme wether cōmit them selues to the sea are oftentimes with tempestes so tossed that rushinge against the rockes their ships are shaken to péeces and they deuoured in the depth of the sea so hee that vnder the curteous countenance of a wauering woman yéeldeth himself to loue is commonly so wrapped in the waues of wiles that hée is altogether drowned in the depth of deceit and hardly escapeth with the losse of his liberty and lyuinge Wee sée the flie playeth so long with the flame that hee is scourched therwith and the experience is no lesse common then lamentable that men dally so longe with dainty dames that at length they are scorched in the flames of fancy and the winges of their frée will quight burned away And then good God it is strange to consider their case how carelesly they deale in all thinges how leudly they spend their time how prodigally they consume their gooddes how negligently they regard their freindes how lothsomely they like good counsayle how resolute they are in their owne fonde determinations how dissolute in their béehauiour howe solytaryly they sit in scilence how secretly they conceale their greife how sorowfully they spend their daies how fantastically their mindes are troubled how feebly their bodies are weakned what broken sleepes what doubtful dreame what vaine visions they haue And touching their beeloued how curiously they commend them howe partially they prayse them how doltishly they doate on them how wilfully they are blinded in thē how supersticiously they thinke of them how idolatroucly they worship them how zelously they loue them how ielously they looke to them how warely they wach thē how willingly they serue thē how painfully they imploy themselues to pleasure them how readily they run vnder their cōmaundements how obediently they bowe at their beck cum at their cal how deadly thei hate their enemies how deeply thei loue their freindes how charily they seeke their goodwill how childishly they feare their ill will how gladly they take a good looke how sadly they receiue a sower countenance how foolishly they fulfil their desires how fondly thei frame thē selues to their fancies how with lookes they shew their loue with signes signifie their goodwil how it greeueth them to haue any other looked vpon or spoken to how in y presence of their ladies they frie as hotly as Mount Aetna how in their absence they frize as coldly as the Hill Caucasus how present they prefer sutes how absent they send salutations how present they flourish how absent they fade to cōclude how present they liue how absent thei dy But on the other side to waigh the dealings of their darlings towards them it makes my hart sore to think that any man shoulde bee so mad as not vtterly to abhorre them For first while they sée a man frée from folly and without the compasse of their cozenage they fetch many a windlas to driue him into the nets of naughtinesse to intrap him in their trechery and if they perceiue him so strongly armed with wisdome that their bolstred beuty cannot bleare his eyes then foorth with they goe about to compasse him with their counterfeit courtesye then forsooth they frame sutch friendly countenaunces towards him and pretend to beare him so great goodwill that hee cannot vnlesse hee will shewe himselfe altogether vngratefull and discourteous but frame his fancy towards them againe Now so soone as they sée him reasonably well reclaimed to the lure of their alluring looks they by and by stop the lure vpon him and cause him to houer in hope and teach him to flie a high pitche for a pray of litle profit or pleasure For then they cast very coy countenances towards him yea they will not so mutch as with a glaunce giue any signe of goodwil but when they haue made him lie so long in the aire that he is redy either to take a stande or soare away they flinge forth a traine of treason and cast some slattringe hope and faigned fawning for him to feed on lest his kindnes by their coldnesse should quaile and so he retire his desyre But if they see him to be so sharpe set y he will stoupe at euery stale or know him to be an eyesse which wil neuer away thē they make him flye and neuer serue him they bangle him out and bob him as they list then they keepe themselues out of his sight to make him more sharp then in his presence they lend louing lookes to other then they make the matter so strange that hee is driuen to beegin agayne and to renew his sute afresh And the ende
bee free from the filthinesse whiche men did force her to for before she had bene rauished by Neptune like as y litle chicke being caught by the kyte would wish with all his heart hée were a Kite and yet the kind of Kites is not to be thought better then of the chicken But to leaue Aristotle his railyng reasons and to reason indifferently of the matter what one perfection any way are men indued withall that women want Do men I say either in natural wit either in politike gouernment either in valiant courage either in skill and learnyng either in vertue and liuyng any thyng excell them And first for wit Aristotle himselfe proueth them to bee more apt in wit for that they are more soft in fleshe and we our selues haue a common sayinge amongst vs that women are neuer without an excuse which is a sure signe of a most sharpe and readie wit. And if I were driuen to alledge exaÌ„ples of witty women I coulde recite whole countries to wit Flaunders Holland Zeland and most of the lowe countries where the women wittily deale in al thinges discreetly order their housholds courteously entertayne straungers and wisely wield most waightie affayres wheras the men deale only with drinke and like drunken doltes lie vnder the bourde In Fraunce also the GentlewomeÌ„ generally are more wittie in words and eloquent in talke theÌ„ the men The like no doubt may bee truly reported of diuers other nations Then for politik gouernment is it likely that they who can gouerne them selues and their affections discréetely their families and housholdes orderly are to séeke in the polytike gouerment of publike matters For no doubt it is far more easy to see wittily into other mens affaires then into our owne and Solon sayth that they only are fit to gouerne other who can well guide them selues neither is the difference so great betweene a priuate family and publike society but that they which can gouerne the one may wyeld the other Againe seeinge in matters of loue which blinde the wisest men that are women can deale so politikely that though they themselues beare great affection to a man yet they will so handle the matter that they shall humbly make sute vnto them and ernestly desire them to it which thei of them selues most ernestly desire seeinge in priuy stealthes they can practise so politikely y their husbands though neuer so wary shal neuer be ware of it but rather the more they are deceiued doate y more of them Is it to be thought they are to learne of men or any way inferiour to them in the conuaigh of ordinary accidents and matters of common moment But women are not admitted to the administration of the common wealth but what forsooth is the cause For sooth the malicious spite of men and I may saye it to my self it standeth vs vpon so to do for if they should be allowed to execute publike offices whereby their discreet and good gouernment might be generally known it were greatly to bée feared that wee should be set to the clout and kitchin another while and they placed in those offices whiche wee now not so worthy of them wrongfully vsurpe And yet to the intent all sutch bright lights should not bee put vnder a bushâ—ll it hath pleased god to set some of them on the hils of high estate to giue light of life and good gouernment to the whole world as namely the wife of Aeneas named Lauinia after his death gouerned the most turbulent state of Italy with sutch policy and wisdome that though the title of her husband to the kingdom were very tickle beeinge a Troian straunger though her neighbours on euery side were giuen to spoylyng incroching oppressyng and vsurpynge yet shee kept her people in peace and her kingdome quiet vntill her sonne Ascanius came to ripe yeeres then safely set him in the regall seate and royall dignity of his father As Debora for her wit and policy was appointed iudge ouer the Israelits by whose counsayle and courage that couragious captayne capital enemy to the Israelits named Sysara was subdued But what should I rehearse examples of the politique gouernment of women whereas lawes the only ground of all good gouernment were first inuented and made by Ceres a woman Therfore to the third point which is valiaunt courage wherin we our selues confesse them to be nothing inferriour vnto vs in that wee say women are alwayes destrous of soueraintie which euidently argueth a noble and haughty minde Béesides that howe mutch weaker their bodies are then mens so mutch the more strength and vertue is contained in their mindes For it is the iustice of God commonly to supply the debilitie of the body with the might of the minde Againe how mutch shorter lyued are they then men according to Aristotle his opinion so mutch the more vertue of body and minde they are endued withall Like as by dayly experience wée sée that those children which are destined to death in the prime time of their lyfe are farre more wittie discréete perfect euery way then those who haue longe time graunted them to liue on earth Lastly if particularyties might proue a generality what man was euer more couragious then Semiramis who in the habite apparell of a man gouerned y Assirians most couragiously then Tomiris who slue the mighty Kinge Cyrus most valiently then the wiues of the citie of Scio who repulsed their enimies most reprochefully with infinite other who in stoutnes of stomack and couragiousnes of minde haue ben equall to any man that euer had any praise for his prowes and vertue The fourth poynt is learninge which to bee proper as it were to women may bee proued by this y the Muses the authors of all lerning were womeÌ„ It may be said that the people called the Latines lent vs mutch learninge but it must bée saide that a woman named Nicostrata first taught them their letters It may be said that Athens hath bene the author of many arts but it must be sayd y â–ª Aspasia instructed Pericles the Duke thereof in learning Solomon was most wise and learned yet Saba was able to dispute with him Zenobia had learned sonnes but shee her selfe taught them So that it is euident that women are rather the author of learninge then any way inferiour to men in learning The last poynt is vertuous life Alas it gréeueth mée to thinke how far we come behinde in this comparison How straunge is it to heare a woman to bée a swearer a stealer a murtherer a traytor a rebel an extorcioner a perâ—urer a cosener or any sutch like â–ª To our shame I speake it we wallow in those wickednesses How hard againe is it to finde a man of coÌ„tinent coÌ„uersation of modest manners of milde minde of gentle disposition of curteous inclinatioÌ„ of pitifull hart To their praise I speake it women abound in those vertues So that to speake indifferently béetwéene the life of men