man in the world for her sudden death for greefe whereof within a little while after he also died And bicause you may knowe faire Nymphes in what great extremities loue hath put me you must vnderstand that being a woman of that qualitie and disposition as you haue heard I haue bene forced by my cruell destinie to leaue my naturall habit and libertie and the due respect of mine honour to follow him who thinkes perhaps that I doe but leese it by louing him so extremely Behold how bootelesse and vnseemely it is for a woman to be so dextrous in armes as if it were her proper nature and kinde wherewith faire Nymphes I had neuer bene indued but that by meanes thereof I should come to doe you this little seruice against these villaines which I account no lesse then if fortune had begun to satisfie in part some of those infinite wrongs that she hath continually done me The Nymphes were so amazed at her words that they coulde neither aske nor answere any thing to that the faire Shepherdesse tolde them who prosecuting her historie saide My brother and I were brought vp in a Nunnerie where an aunt of ours was Abbesse vntill we had accomplished twelue yeeres of age at what time we were taken from thence againe and my brother was caried to the mightie and inuincible King of Portugall his Court whose noble fame and princely liberalitie was bruted ouer all the world where being growen to yeeres able to manage armes he atchieued as valiant and almost incredible enterprises by them as he suffered vnfortunate disgraces and foiles by loue And with all this he was so highly fauoured of that magnificent King that he would neuer suffer him to depart from his Court Vnfortunate I reserued by my sinister destinies to greater mishaps was caried to a grandmother of mine which place I would I had neuer seene since it was an occasion of such a sorrowfull life as neuer any woman suffered the like And bicause there is not any thing faire Nymphes which I am not forced to tell you as well for the great vertue and desertes which your excellent beauties doe testifie as also for that my minde doth giue me that you shall be no small part and meanes of my comfort knowe that as I was in my grandmothers house and almost seuenteene yeeres olde a certaine yoong Gentleman fell in loue with me who dwelt no further from our house then the length of a garden Terrasse so that he might see me euery sommers night when I walked in the garden When as therefore ingratefull Felix had beheld in that place the vnfortunate Felismena for this is the name of the wofull woman that tels you her mishaps he was extremely enamoured of me or else did cunningly dissemble it I not knowing then whether of these two I might beleeue but am now assured that whosoeuer beleeues lest or nothing at all in these affaires shall be most at ease Many daies Don Felix spent in endeuouring to make me know the paines which he suffered for me and many more did I spende in making the matter strange and that he did not suffer them for my sake And I know not why loue delaied the time so long by forcing me to loue him but onely that when he came indeed he might enter into my hart at once and with greater force and violence When he had therefore by sundrie signes as by Tylt and Tourneyes and by prauncing vp and downe vpon his proude Iennet before my windowes made it manifest that he was in loue with me for at the first I did not so well perceiue it he determined in the end to write a letter vnto me and hauing practised diuers times before with a maide of mine and at length with many gifts and faire promises gotten her good will and furtherance he gaue her the letter to deliuer to me But to see the meanes that Rosina made vnto me for so was she called the dutifull seruices and vnwoonted circumstances before she did deliuer it the others that she sware vnto me and the subtle words and serious protestations she vsed it was a pleasant thing and woorthie the noting To whom neuerthelesse with an angrie countenance I turned againe saying If I had not regard of mine owne estate and what heereafter might be said I would make this shamelesse face of thine be knowne euer after for a marke of an impudent and bolde minion But bicause it is the first time let this suffice that I haue saide and giue thee warning to take heede of the second Me thinkes I see now the craftie wench how she helde her peace dissembling very cunningly the sorrow that she conceiued by my angrie answer for she fained a counterfaite smiling saying Iesus Mistresse I gaue it you bicause you might laugh at it and not to mooue your pacience with it in this sort for if I had any thought that it woulde haue prouoked you to anger I praie God he may shew his wrath as great towards me as euer he did to the daughter of any mother And with this she added many wordes more as she could do well enough to pacifie the fained anger and ill opinion that I conceiued of her and taking her letter with her she departed from me This hauing passed thus I began to imagine what might ensue thereof and loue me thought did put a certaine desire into my minde to see the letter though modestie shame forbad me to aske it of my maide especially for the wordes that had passed betweene vs as you haue heard And so I continued all that day vntill night in varietie of many thoughts But when Rosina came to helpe me to bedde God knowes how desirous I was to haue her entreat me againe to take the letter but she woulde neuer speake vnto me about it nor as it seemed did so much as once thinke thereof Yet to trie if by giuing her some occasion I might preuaile I saide vnto her And is it so Rosina that Don Felix without any regard to mine honour dares write vnto me These are things Mistresse saide she demurely to me againe that are commonly incident to loue wherfore I beseech you pardon me for if I had thought to haue angred you with it I woulde haue first pulled out the bals of mine eies How cold my hart was at that blow God knowes yet did I dissemble the matter and suffer my selfe to remaine that night onely with my desire and with occasion of little sleepe And so it was indeede for that me thought was the longest and most painfull night that euer I passed But when with a slower pace then I desired the wished day was come the discreet subtle Rosina came into my chamber to helpe me to make me readie in dooing whereof of purpose she let the letter closely fall which when I perceiued what is that that fell downe said I let me see it It is nothing Mistresse saide she Come come let me
when we were children tooke vs from our fathers and not long after sent vs to Rotindus who also hearing that rare report which fame had blowen abroad of vs sent for vs to keepe Agenestor his nephew companie to whom he was Grandfather by the mothers side being then but one yeere yoonger then vs both As it was strange to see what intensiue loue euery one did beare vs so were the vnspeakable fauours and affection which the yoong prince Agenestor shewed vs so great that needes we must to content him lie altogither in one chamber for whose sake like panie I will tell you what the song was and whatsoeuer else you shall commaunde me since such an one did sing it whom I shall neuer forget nor the song it selfe while I haue either life or memorie IF to my musickes skill Apollo might his praises all resigne And if vnto my will My speech were so diuine That Mercurie for greefe thereat might pine And if that eloquence So famous of Minerua sweete did seeme yet But râ—…ude irreuerence To mine and each one deeme it But harsh and plac't with mine but base esteeme it And if I were adorn'd With hundred mouthes of iron and like wit Or if I had bene borne With Dimond toongs admit Or sawe my selfe in euery part so fit The ruine nor the fall Of those whom Ioue from scaled heauen did throwe Nor that great floud when all The drowned world did flowe I would not tell nor time in them bestowe Onely by me thy praise O Chastitie with honour should be told And with thy heauenly waies I would no lesse vnfold Those goodly partes that thou dost still vphold Thou art a weeder out Of vices from the place of vertues graine And thou dost go about Our honours to maintaine And dost our soules from cancred vice restraine The onely way and signe Thou art that doth the soule to vertue leade A captaine most diuine That vnder foote dost tread Thy foes Thy fort and tower no force doe dread Foule leacherie doth kill Reason if that it conquered hath the same And captiue to her will Doth make it to her shame So to the maid the Mistresse subiect came Thou chastitie dost free Reason if to thy gate she bend her pace In more supreme degree And she in euery place Is onely free that doth thy lawe imbrace The soule with sweetest balme Thou fillest and the senses dost refine And therewith all the palme Of beautie most diuine Thy figure beares where brauely it doth shine The vaine thoughts of the minde Which reason cannot with her counsell tame Nor friendly discipline Thy wisedome doth reclame And apt to each good art the soule dost frame Being sincere and pure Thou ioinest vs to things pure and sincere And so thou dost assure Those that thy robe doe weare Friends vnto God a conscience free from feare In vaine I heere doe waste These wordes wherewith thy praises I pretend Better it were at last In action to commend Thee then with words And so I make an end Hauing made an end of her sweete song perceiuing that she came not againe we rose vp softly to see who had so much ioyed the Forest filling it with so sweete harmonie But casting our eies to the place from whence the delicate voice came a sudden noyse and rushing of the riuer waters hard by made vs suddenly looke that way The cause whereof was the passage of a most fierce Shepherd that in great haste came wading thorow the riuer He was of stature so huge and high that no common tall man might reach with his head aboue his middle to whose high and maine growth each lim of his bodie was proportionablie correspondent In euerie part he was so hairie that the skinne of his bodie might hardly haue beene discerned if the haire like to the bristles of wild Boares had not growen right forth His eies were terrible to behold and full of foggie flesh his wearing of wilde beastes skinnes from whom he rent tooke them was sodden hard for his defence against their sharpe teeth his sleeues came no further on his armes then almost to his elbowes and his hose but a little beneath his knees On his head he ware a broad Shell of a sea Tortuse which serued him for his morion His scrip that hung downe behind his shoulders was made of a wild goates skinne Almost a whole Pine tree big enough for the mast of some tall ship serued him for his sheepe-hooke the end whereof was poynted with sharpe and tempered steele The cause of his passing thorow the riuer in such haste was to follow as we afterwards perceiued a certaine Damsell which was singing the song which you haue heard on the other side of the riuer Whose faire sight filled vs with no lesse wonder then the fierce shew of the huge and monstrous Shepherd with a pale and shiuering feare As soone as the faire virgin had set eie on Gorphorost for so was this deformed fellow called with incredible swiftnes she began to flie away and comming to passe neere vnto the place where we were we iudged her to be some Nymph resembling in face like a faire boy or a boy transformed in countenance like to a faire Nymph for her habit was not altogither manlike nor in euerie point apparelled like a woman Her disshiueled haire in brightnes surmounting the fine Arabian gold in curled lockes hung dangling about her snow-white forehead and from the middes of her head which with a crowne of Laurell and sweete coloured flowers was graced in faire and looâ—… tresses hung carelesly downe The which being spread abroade vpon her euen shoulders and with a sweete sight falling downe beneath her fine waste were gathered vp by the said Laurell crowne bicause they might not hide such singular beautie nor hinder the light of her radiant eies On her bodie she wore a fine little doublet of a most perfect purple tynsell the like I thinke not to be imagined the same being richly died and wouen as curiously as art could deuise and so fit for her sightly bodie that it seemed it was endowed with vnderstanding desiring by no meanes to be seuered from it the which at her faire and smooth necke for some greater respect was somewhat carelesly loose The purple colour of this little doublet with the glimmering beames of her snow-white face reflecting vpon it was represented with such a heauenly grace like to that orient blush which a crimson vale pearced by the Sunnc bright beames is wont to cast vpon some white Palace A little wind gathered by the speede of her swift running fashioned a delicate lap of the same colour of the doublet the white and azure border whereof came downe but a little beneath the calfe of her fine legge when but halfe a light greene busquin wrought all before with flowers of golde was discouered to our dazeled eies with certaine Scarpines or shooes such as Mercurie men say was woont to weare to defend
see it saide I what mooue me not or else tell me what it is Good lord Mistresse â—…ide she why will you see it it is the letter I would haue giuen you yesterday Nay that it is not saide I wherefore shew it me that I may see if you lie or no. I had no sooner said so but she put it into my handes saying God neuer giue me good if it be anie other thing and although I knewe it well indeede yet I saide what this is not the same for I know that well enough but it is one of thy louers letters I will read it to see in what neede he standeth of thy fauour And opening it I founde it conteined this that followeth I euer imagined deere Mistresse that your discretion and wisedome woulde haue taken away the feare I had to write vnto you the same knowing well enough without any letter at all how much I loue you but the very same hath so cunningly dissembled that wherein I hoped the onely remedie of my griefes had been therein consisted my greatest harme If according to your wisedome you censure my boldnes I shall not then I know enioy one hower of life but if you do consider of it according to loues accustomed effects then will I not exchange my hope for it Be not offended I beseech you good Ladie with my letter and blame me not for writing vnto you vntill you see by experience whether I can leaue of to write And take me besides into the possession of that which is yours since all is mine doth wholly consist in your hands the which with all reuerence and dutifull affection a thousand times I kisse When I had now seene my Don Felix his letter whether it was for reading it at such a time when by the same he shewed that he loued me more then himselfe or whether he had disposition and regiment ouer part of this wearied soule to imprint that loue in it whereof he wrote vnto me I began to loue him too well and alas for my harme since he was the cause of so much sorrow as I haue passed for his sake Whereupon asking Rosina forgiuenes of what was past as a thing needfull for that which was to come and committing the secrecie of my loue to her fidelitie I read the letter once againe pausing a little at euery worde and a very little indeede it was bicause I concluded so soone with my selfe to do that I did although in verie truth it lay not otherwise in my power to do Wherefore calling for paper and inke I answered his letter thus Esteeme not so slightly of mine honour Don Felix as with fained words to thinke to enueagle it or with thy vaine pretenses to offend it any waies I know wel enough what manner of man thou art and how great thy desert and presumption is from whence thy boldnes doth arise I gesse and not from the force which thing thou wouldst faine perswade me of thy feruent loue And if it be so as my suspicion suggesteth thy labor is as vaine as thy imagination presumptuous by thinking to make me do any thing contrarie to that which I owe vnto mine honour Consider I beseech thee how seldome things commenced vnder suttletie and dissimulation haue good successe and that it is not the part of a Gentleman to meane them one way and speak them another Thou praiest me amongst other things to admit thee into possession of that that is mine but I am of so ill an humour in matters of this qualitie that I trust not things experienced how much lesse then thy bare wordes yet neuerthelesse I make no small account of that which thou hast manifested to me in thy letter for it is ynough that I am incredulous though not vnthankfull This letter did I send contrarie to that I should haue done bicause it was the occasion of all my harmes and greefes for after this he began to waxe more bolde by vnfolding his thoughts and seeking out the meanes to haue a parly with me In the ende faire Nymphes a few daies being spent in his demaunds and my answers false loue did worke in me after his wonted fashions euery hower seasing more strongly vpon my vnfortunate soule The Tourneies were now renewed the musicke by night did neuer cease amorous letters and verses were recontinued on both sides and thus passed I away almost a whole yeere at the end whereof I felt my selfe so far in his loue that I had no power to retire nor stay my selfe from disclosing my thoughts vnto him the thing which he desired more then his owne life But my aduerse fortune afterwardes would that of these our mutuall loues when as now they were most assured his father had some intelligence and whosoeuer reuealed them first perswaded him so cunningly that his father fearing least he would haue married me out of hand sent him to the great Princesse Augusta Caesarinas court telling him it was not meete that a yoong Gentleman and of so noble a house as he was should spende his youth idly at home where nothing could be learned but examples of vice whereof the very sameidlenes he said was the onely Mistresse He went away so pensiue that his great greefe would not suffer him to acquaint me with his departure which when I knew how sorrowfull I remained she may imagine that hath bene at any time tormented with like passion To tell you now the life that I led in his absence my sadnes sighes and teares which euery day I powred out of these wearied eies my toong is far vnable if then my paines were such that I cannot now expresse them how could I then suffer them But being in the mids of my mishaps and in the depth of those woes which the absence of Don Felix caused me to feele and it seeming to me that my greefe was without remedie if he were once seene or knowen of the Ladies in that Court more beautifull and gracious then my selfe By occasion whereof as also by absence a capitall enemie to loue I might easily be forgotten I determined to aduenture that which I thinke neuer any woman imagined which was to apparell my selfe in the habit of a man and to hye me to the Court to see him in whose sight al my hope and content remained which determination I no sooner thought of then I put in practise loue blinding my eies and minde with an inconsiderate regarde of mine owne estate and condition To the execution of which attempt I wanted no industrie for being furnished with the helpe of one of my approoued friends and treasouresse of my secrets who bought me such apparell as I willed her and a good horse for my iourney I went not onely out of my countrie but out of my deere reputation which I thinke I shall neuer recouer againe and so trotted directly to the Court passing by the way many accidents which if time would giue me leaue to tell them woulde not make you laugh
a little to heare them Twenty daies I was in going thither at the ende of which being come to the desired place I tooke vp mine Inne in a streete lest frequented with concurse of people And the great desire I had to see the destroier of my ioy did not suffer me to thinke of any other thing but how or where I might see him To inquire of him of mine host I durst not lest my comming might perhaps haue bene discouered and to seeke him foorth I thought it not best lest some inopinate mishap might haue fallen out whereby I might haue bene knowen Wherefore I passed all that day in these perplexities while night came on each hower whereof me thought was a whole yeere vnto me But midnight being a little past mine host called at my chamber doore and tolde me if I was desirous to heare some braue musicke I should arise quickly and open a window towards the street The which I did by and by and making no noise at all I heard how Don Felix his Page called Fabius whom I knew by his voice saide to others that came with him Now it is time my Masters bicause the Lady is in the gallerie ouer her garden taking the fresh aire of the coole night He had no sooner saide so but they began to winde three Cornets and a Sackbot with such skill and sweetenesse that it seemed celestiall musicke And then began a voice to sing the sweetest in my opinion that euer I heard And though I was in suspence by hearing Fabius speake whereby a thousand doubtes and imaginations repugnant to my rest occurred in my minde yet I neglected not to heare what was sung bicause their operations were not of such force that they were able to hinder the desire nor distemper the delight that I conceiued by hearing it That therefore which was sung were these verses SWeete Mistresse harken vnto me If it greeues thee to see me die And hearing though it greeueth thee To heare me yet do not denie O grant me then this short content For forc'd I am to thee to fliie My sighes do not make thee relent Nor teares thy hart do mollifie Nothing of mine doth giue thee payne Nor thou think'st of no remedie Mistresse how long shall I sustaine such ill as still thou dost applie In death there is no helpe be sure But in thy will where it doth lie For all those illes which death doth cure Alas they are but light to trie My troubles do not trouble thee Nor hope to touch thy soule so nie O from a will that is so free What should I hope when I do crie How can I mollifie that braue And stonie hart of pittie drie Yet Mistresse turne those eies that haue No peeres shining like stars in skie But turne them not in angrie sort If thou wilt not kill me thereby Though yet in anger or in sport Thou killest onely with thine eie After they had first with a concent of musicke sung this song two plaied the one vpon a Lute the other vpon a siluer sounding Harpe being accompanied with the sweete voice of my Don Felix the great ioy that I felt in hearing him cannot be imagined for me thought I heard him nowe as in that happie and passed time of our loues But after the deceit of this imagination was discouered seeing with mine eies and hearing with mine eares that this musicke was bestowed vpon another and not on me God knowes what a bitter death it was vnto my soule And with a greeuous sigh that caried almost my life away with it I asked mine host if he knew what the Ladie was for whose sake the musick was made He answered me that he could not imagine on whom it was bestowed bicause in that streete dwelled manie noble and faire Ladies And when I saw he could not satisfie my request I bent mine eares againe to heare my Don Felix who now to the tune of a delicate harpe whereon he sweetely plaied began to sing this Sonnet following A Sonnet MY painefull yeeres impartiall Loue was spending In vaine and booteles hopes my life appaying And cruell Fortune to the world bewraying Strange samples of my teares that haue no ending Time euerie thing to truth at last commending Leaues of my steps such markes that now betraying And all deceitfull trusts shall be decaying And none haue cause to plaine of his offending Shee whom I lou'd to my obliged power That in her sweetest loue to me discouers Which neuer yet I knew those heauenly pleasures And I do saie exclaiming euery hower Do not you see what makes you wise O Louers Loue Fortune Time and my faire Mystresse treasures The Sonnet being ended they paused a while playing on fower Lutes togither and on a paire of Virginals with such heauenly melodie that the whole worlde I thinke could not affoord sweeter musick to the eare nor delight to any minde not subiect to the panges of such predominant greefe and sorrow as mine was But then fower voice passing well tuned and set togither began to sing this song following A Song THat sweetest harme I doe not blame First caused by thy fairest eies But greeue bicause too late I came To know my fault and to be wise I neuer knew a worser kinde of life To liue in feare from boldnesse still to cease Nor woorse then this to liue in such a strife Whether of both to speake or holde my peace And so the harme I doe not blame Caused by thee or thy faire eies But that to see how late I came To knowe my fault and to be wise I euer more did feare that I should knowe Some secret things and doubtfull in their kinde Bicause the surest things doe euer goe Most contrarie vnto my wish and minde And yet by knowing of the same There is no hurt But it denies My remedie Since late I came To knowe my fault and to be wise When this song was ended they began to sound diuers sorts of instruments and voices most excellently agreeing togither and with such sweetnes that they could not chuse but delight any very much who were not so farre from it as I. About dawning of the day the musicke ended and I did what I could to espie out my Don Felix but the darknes of the night was mine enimie therein And seeing now that they were gone I went to bed againe where I bewailed my great mishap knowing that he whom most of al I loued had so vnwoorthily forgotten me whereof his musicke was too manifest a witnes And when it was time I arose without any other consideration went straight to the Princesse her pallace where I thought I might see that which I so greatly desired determining to call my selfe Valerius if any perhaps did aske my name Comming therefore to a faire broad court before the pallace gate I viewed the windowes and galleries where I sawe such store of blazing beauties and gallant Ladies that I am not able now to recount
them in earnest and that thou art so content to see me vse him well that thou canst not without doubt loue me at all O how ill dost thou acquite the loue I beare thee and that which for thy sake I do nowe forsake O that time might reuenge me of thy proude and foolish minde since loue hath not beene the meanes to do it For I cannot thinke that Fortune will be so contrarie vnto me but that she will punish thee for cōtemning that great good which she meant to bestow on thee And tell thy Lord Don Felix that if he will see me aliue that he see me not at all And thou vile traitour cruell enemie to my rest com no more I charge thee before these wearied eies since their teares were neuer of force to make thee knowe how much thou art bound vnto them And with this she suddenly flang out of my sight with so many teares that mine were not of force to staie her For in the greatest haste in the worlde she got her into her chamber where locking the dore after her it auailed me not to call and crie vnto her requesting her with amorous and sweete words to open me the dore and to take such satisfaction on me as it pleased her Nor to tell her many other things whereby I declared vnto her the small reason she had to be so angrie with me and to shut me out But with a strange kinde of furie she saide vnto me Come no more vngratefull and proud Valerius in my sight and speake no more vnto me for thou art not able to make satisfaction for such great disdaine and I will haue no other remedie for the harme which thou hast done me but death it selfe the which with mine owne hands I will take in satisfaction of that which thou deseruest which words when I heard I staied no longer but with a heauie cheere came to my Don Felix his lodging and with more sadnes then I was able to dissemble tolde him that I could not speake with Celia because she was visited of certaine Gentlewomen her kinsew omen But the next day in the morning it was bruted ouer all the citie that a certaine trance had taken her that night wherein she gaue vp the ghost which stroke all the court with no smal woonder But that which Don Felix felt by her sudden death and how neere it greeued his very soule as I am not able to tell so can not humane intendement conceiue it for the complaints he made the teares the burning sighes and hart-breake sobbes were without all measure and number But I saie nothing of my selfe when on the one side the vnluckie death of Celia touched my soule very neere the teares of Don Felix on the other did cut my hart in two with greefe And yet this was nothing to that intollerable paine which afterwardes I felt For Don Felix heard no sooner of her death but the same night he was missing in his house that none of his seruants nor any bodie else could tell any newes of him Whereupon you may perceiue faire Nymphes what cruell torments I did then feele then did I wish a thousand times for death to preuent all those woes and myseries which afterwards befell vnto me For Fortune it seemed was but wearie of those which she had but till then giuen me But as all the care and diligence which I emploied in seeking out my Don Felix was but in vaine so I resolued with my selfe to take this habite vpon me as you see wherein it is more then two yeeres since I haue wandred vp and downe seeking him in manie countryes but my fortune hath denied me to finde him out although I am not a little now bounde vnto her by conducting me hither at this time wherein I did you this small peece of seruice Which faire Nymphes beleeue me I account next after his life in whom I haue put all my hope the greatest content that might haue fallen vnto me When the Nymphes had heard faire Felismenas tale and vnderstoode what a great Lady she was and how loue had made her forsake her naturall habite and taken vpon her the weedes and life of a shepherdesse they were no lesse amazed at her constancie and zeale then at the great power of that cruell tyrant who absolutely commands so many liberties to his seruice And they were mooued besides to no small pittie to see the teares and burning sighes wherewith the Ladie did solemnize the historie of her loue Doria therefore whose tender soule Felismenas greefe did most transpierce and who was more affected to her then to any woman with whom she had ouer conuersed before tooke her by the hand and began to say to her in manner follwing What can we do saire Lady against the blowes of Fortune what place is there so strong where one may be safe from the mutabilities of time What harneys so impenetrable and steele so well tempered that may serue for a defence against the violence of this tyrant whom so vniustly they call Loue And what hart though it be harder then diamond which an amorous thought can not mollifie and make tender Certes this beautie this valour and this wisedome deserue not to be forgotten of him who had but once seene and knowne them But we liue now in such an age that the deserts of any thing are the meanes and occasions of not obtaining it And cruell loue is of so strange a condition that he bestoweth his contents without any good order and rule and giueth there greatest fauours where they are lest esteemed but the medicine of so many ils whereof this tyrant is the cause is her discretion courage that suffers them But whom doth he leaue so free that these may serue her for a remedie Or who can command her selfe so much in this passion that in other womens affaires she is able to giue counsell how much lesse to take it in her owne Yet for all this I beseech thee faire Ladie to put before thine eies and consider what thou art bicause if women of such high renowne and vertue as thou art are not able to tolerate his aduerse effects how can they suffer them that are not such And in the behalfe of these Nymphes and mine owne I request thee to go with vs to the sage Felicias pallace which is not farre from this place for that to morrow about this time we may be well there where I am assured thou shalt finde great remedies for thy greefes as many others haue done heeretofore that haue not deserued them as much as thou hast whose profounde skill and rare experiments besides many other notable things in her wherein no man or woman in our times came euer neere her and her princely bountie doth'make her so famous and renowned that the greatest kings and estates in the worlde are desirous of her companie I know not faire Nymphes said Felismena againe who is able to applie a remedie to such an
so deerely againe it seemed that fortune would make an end of all my ioy with the most haplesse euent that was euer seene before For thus it was that Arsileus and I appointing to meete together on a certaine night too darke and dismall for me bicause I neuer since knew perfectly what day meant we concluded that he should come into my fathers orchard and I to my chamber windowe which opened right vpon a Mulberie tree whereon he might easily get vp to be necre vnto me there to talke togither of our matters Accursed Belisa that shalt neuer conceiue to what purpose I brought him to such danger when as euery day sometimes in the fielde sometimes at the riuer side and sometimes at the wood when I carried my kine to pasture and sometimes when I driue my sheepe to the folde he might at pleasure haue talked with me as he did many daies before But my hard hap was the cause that fortune would be paied for the content which she had lent me till then with making me liue all my life time without it For now the appointed hower which was the ende of his daies and the beginning of my woes being come Arsileus came iust at the time and to the very place where both of vs talking together of those things which they may imagine that haue sometimes loued well his wretched father Arsenius that accustomed many nights to walke vp and downe about our house to see if he could see me which if I had so well remembred for it was so far out of my thoughtes as if I had neuer knowen any such matter I would neuer haue consented to put him in such danger in the ende happened to come thither that night and iust at that hower when his sonne was in the tree and so priuily that though he had quickly espied vs we could neither heare nor see him And knowing it was I that was speaking out at the window but not his sonne that was in the Mulberie tree not imagining who he might be it was the principall cause of our ill successe For thereupon he conceiued such great wroth and iealousie that without any noise at all he bied him home where bending a Crossebowe and putting a poisoned arrow in it came againe to the place where we were and aimed so right at his sonne that the arrow pearcing his tender hart he fell immediately downe dead from the tree saying How little time my deere Belisa doth fortune lend me to serue thee according to my great good will desire Which wordes he could scarce vtter when the accursed father who by his speech knew that he was the homicide of his owne sonne with a desperate outcrie saide Thrise wretched and accursed may I euer be if thou art my sonne Arsileus who seemest to be no other by thy voice Whereupon comming vnto him and by the light of the moone that shone vpon his face knowing him well and that he had giuen vp the ghost he saide Since cruell Belisa my vnfortunate sonne by thy means hath bene slaine it is not meete that the murdering father suruiue to lament his vntimely death At which wordes taking out his Woodknife he thrust it into his hart and fell downe presently dead O vnhappie chaunce O strange case neuer heard of nor seene before O greeuous scandale to their eares that shall he are the lamentable discourse of my balefull tragedie O miserable Belisa may thy guiltie hart thinke of these things and not take that way which both father and sonne haue taken for thy sake Alas it shall be great impietie not to mingle thy blood with theirs who desired so much to serue thee But when wretched soule I sawe this vnluckie accident without any more adoe I left my fathers house and went vp and downe wearying the heauens with importunate complaints and burning the aire with smokie sighes vntill I came to this place where accusing cruell fortune and hatefull death that had in so short time taught me to feele the woundes of their cruell dartes I haue liued sixe monethes without seeing or speaking to any person and not desirous of any companie or consolation whatsoeuer Faire Belisa hauing made an end of her pitifull tale began to weepe so bitterly that euery one there was forced with their teares to helpe to bewaile her dire misfortune And adding further she saide This is faire Nymphes the sorrowfull historie or rather dolefull tragedie of my haplesse loues and of their bloodie successe Behold then if this be such an ill that fortune or time may cure and remedie O Arsileus how often did I feare it without thinking of that which I iustly feared But she that will not beleeue her feare and preuent it let her not maruell when she sees that come to passe which she feared for well I knew thou couldst not be any long time without meeting me and that my ioy could endure no longer then when Arsenius thy father perceiued any thing of our loues I woulde to God it had so fallen out that the greatest hurt that he could haue done me had bene but to banish thee his sight and our towne For an ill which is cured with time may with lesse harme be suffered O Arsenius the death of thy sonne is no impediment to the greefe that I also conceiue for thine for the loue which thou didst continually beare me thy vertuous and pure zeale wherewith thou didst euer loue me thy bountie and cost bestowed on me the tempestuous and ill nightes that thou hast passed for my sake will let me doe no lesse then lament and bewaile thy disastrous end for by this time I had bene married vnto thee if thy sweete sonne Arsileus had not come to our towne If I should say that I did not loue thee well I should deceiue the world for in the end there is no woman if she knowes she is truly beloued but will loue little or much againe although otherwise she manifest the same But now my toong holde thy peace since thou hast told more then thou wert asked And pardon me faire Nymphes if I haue bene tedious in my sorrowfull narration bicause so great mishaps cannot be comprised in fewe wordes Whilest the Shepherdesse was telling that which you haue heard Syrenus Syluanus Seluagia and faire Felismena and the three Nymphes coulde not giue eare without some secrete teares although the Nymphes as women neuer touched with loue felt her paine and greefe but not the circumstances of it But faire Doria seeing the comfortlesse Shepherdesse did not leaue of her bitter complaint began to comfort her in this sort Let thy teares cease Belisa since thou seest what small remedie thou hast of them and waigh that two eies are not able to bewaile so great a greefe But what sorrow can there be which is not ended or endes not her that suffers it and yet I could shew thee the way whereby I could a little lighten thy paine Wherefore I pray thee goe with vs
they made an insurrection wherein with ten gentlemen more of their kinred they conspired to kill the King land to diuide the kingdome amongst themselues so to be reuenged of the vnworthie disgrace receiued by him This conspitacie whether it was true or false was discouered before it could be put in practise and they apprehended and condemned to die before the citizens had intelligence thereof who without all doubt for the great loue they bare them would haue risen not consenting that iustice should haue beene done vpon them For carying them to exequution it was the strangest spectacle in the world to see the lamentations that some made the priuie murmuring of one to another and the bootlesse excuses that for compassion of these gentlemen were generally made in all the citie They ran all to the King and offered to buie his mercie with great summes of gold and siluer but such was his seueritie that it expelled all motions of pitie and clemencie Which when the people beheld they began to weepe and lament againe The Lords Knights and gentlemen did weepe and mourne with whom they were wont to keepe companie The tender Ladies and Damsels of the Court wept whom they loued and serued And all the whole citie wept for the great honour and auctority that such noble citizens gaue them The lamentations and outcries were so many and so loud as if the earth had sunke or the world beene drowned anew But the King who to all these teares lamentations and pitifull outcries did stop his eares commaunded that his definitiue sentence should be presently executed So that of all that house and linage there remained not one man aliue that was not beheaded that day except my father and mine vncle who were not found complices in that conspiracie These ils resulted to them besides this miserable chaunce that their houses were ruinated they proclaimed traitours to the King their goodes lands and possessions confiscated And that no Abenceraje should liue any longer in Granada except my father and mine vncle and they but with this condition that if they had any issue they should send the men children as soon as they were borne to be brought vp out of the citie neuer to returne into it againe and if they were women and marriageable to be married out of the Realme When the Gouernor heard the strange discourse of Abyndaraez and the termes wherewith he complayned of his misfortune he could not stop his teares but did shew by them the sensible greefe which of such a disastrous accident could not be but felt And therefore turning himselfe to the Moore saide vnto him Thou hast good cause Abyndaraes to be sorrie for the fall of thy noble house and kinred whose heads I thinke coulde neuer hatch so great treason And were it for no other proofe but that so worthie a gentleman as thy selfe came out of it this onely were sufficient to make me beleeue that they neuer pretended such wickednes This gentle opinion which thou hast of me said the Moore and of the goodnes of my auncestors I know not worthie Gouernour how to requite but onely with vnfained and humble thankes But now when I was borne into the world with the inheritance of the selfe same mishap of my kinred they sent me because they would not infringe the Kings edict to be nursed and brought vp in a certaine fort belonging sometimes to the Christians called Cartama committing the charge and care of me to the Gouernor thereof with whom my father had ancient familiaritie acquaintance A man of great account in the kingdome vpright in the maner of his life and verie rich but chiefly in a daughter that he hath which is the greatest â—…ie which I account of in this life the which I wish I may neuer enioy if in any â—…g but onely her I euer tooke content pleasure With her was I brought vp 〈◊〉 my childhood for she was borne but three yeeres after me and as we were â—…erally thought of all to be brother and sister for like such was our education so did we also thinke our selues to be The loue that I did beare Xarifa for thus is the Lady called that is mistresse of my libertie were but little if I could tell it Let it â—…fice that time hath so confirmed the same that I would giue a thousands liues if â—…ad them but to enioy one momentarie sight of her faire face Euerie day encreased our age but euerie hower augmented our loue and so much that now me thought I was made of another kind of mettall then of consanguinitie I remember that Xarifa being on a day in the orchard of the Iesemynes dressing her faire head by chaunce I espied her amazed at her singular beautie and how me thought it greeued me that she was my sister And by the extreme passion of my loue driueÌ„ out of my musing I went to her who as soone as she saw me with open armes came to receiue me And sitting vpon the fountaine by her she said vnto me Why hast thou good brother left me so long alone It is sweete Ladie said I againe a good while since I hauing sought thee in euerie place found not any that could tell me what was become of thee my hart at last coniectured where thou wert Buttel me now I pray thee what certaintie hast thou that we are brother and sister No other saide she then of the great loue I beare thee and to see how euerie one doth call vs so and that my father doth bring vs vp like his sonne and daughter And if we were not brother and sister saide I wouldest thou then loue me so much as thou dost Oh seest thou not saide she that we shuld not be suffered to go so coÌ„tinually together al alone if we were not But if we were depriued of this ioy that which I feele in my selfe is a great deale more At which words her faire face being tainted with a vermillion blush she said vnto me What couldest thou leese by it if we were brother and sister My selfe and thee to said I. I vnderstand thee not said she but me thinkes being brother and sister it binds vs to loue one another naturally Thy onely beauâ—… said I doth oblige me to this brotherhood which rather qualifieth my loue 〈◊〉 sometimes distempers my thoughts At which words blushing for too much bolâ—…es casting downe mine eies I saw her diuine figure in the cristalline fountaine so liuely represented as if it had beene she her selfe and in such sort that wheresoeuer she turned her head I still beheld her image and goodly counterfaite truely translated into verie hart Then said I softly to my selfe O if I were now drowned in this fountaine where with pride I behold my sweete Lady how more fortunate should I die then Narcissus And if she loued me as I do her how happie should I be And if fortune would let vs liue euer together what a happie life should I
affection and tendernes as if a thousand yeeres had bin past since their loues had first begon between them And that day they all taried there with as great ioy and pleasure as by such a new commenced loue might be imagined vntil the next day in the morning when the two Shepherds and the Shepherdesse taking their leaue of the sage Ladie Felicia and of Felismena and Belisa and likewise of all the Nymphes with great ioy returned to their villages whither they came the verie same day And faire Felismena who had that day put on againe her Shepherdesses weeds taking her leaue of the sage Ladie and being particularly and well aduised what to doe with many teares embraced her and accompanied of all those Nymphes went forth into the great Court before the Palace gate where embracing euerie one by her selfe shee went that way that they did direct her Felismena went not alone neither did her imaginations giue her leaue so to do for on the one side she went thinking of that which the wise Ladie had told her and considering on the other what little hap and lesse successe she had yet in her loue which made her doubt of her future happines With these contrarieties of thoughts did she go warring in her minde which though on the one side they made her wearie yet on the other they did entertaine her with their company so that in the meane time she forgot her solitarie and painefull way She had not trauelled far in the mids of a faire valley when towardes the west part therof she espied a far off a Shepherds coat which at the entrance of a green wood stood amongst many high Okes and inuited thither by her importunate hunger and wearines and also bicause the heate of the day began to come on so fast that shee was forced to passe it away vnder the shadow of those braunchie trees she bended her steps directly towards it Comming to the coate she heard how a Shepherd said vnto a Shepherdesse that sat neere vnto him these wordes Entreate me not good Amarillis to sing since thou knowest what great causes I haue to sigh and weepe all the dayes whilest my languishing soule shall not forsake this wearied and fainte bodie For though musicke is no small meanes to encrease his melancholie that is euer sadde and pensiue as his ioye and mirthe whoe liues a merry life yet my greefe is not of such a qualitie that by any humane arte or industrie may be increased or diminished Heere hast thou thy baggepipe play and sing faire Shepherdesse for well maist thou do it hauing thy hart as free as thy wil exempt from the bondage of loue Then the Shepherdesse answered him againe Be not such a niggard of thy skill Arsileus which the heauens and nature haue so bountifully bestowed on thee for she that doth aske it at thy hands will not denie to pleasure thee in any thing she may Sing if it be possible that song which at the request of Argastus thou didst make in the name of thy father Arsenius when for hir loue you both serued and sued to the faire Shepherdesse Belisa Thy condition is strange Amarillis saide the Shepherd againe still demanding that of me which doth least of all content me What shall I do for perforce I must please thee and yet not perforce since he were very discourteous to say the truth that would not of his own accord do thee any seruice he could But now thou seest how my ill fortune doth euer narrowly pursue me when I woulde faine take some small respite and ease from my greeuous thoughts And seeing the great reason I haue Amarillis to burst out in continuall lamentations and teares why dost thou then command me to sing What pleasure dost thou take to offende the occasions of my sorrowe I pray God thou maist neuer haue the like to feele the greefe that I do bicause Fortune might not so greatly to thy cost informe thee of my paine Thou knowest well enough I haue lost my Belisa and that I liue without hope of her recouerie Why dost thou then commaund me to sing But since I will not haue thee conceiue an opinion of me to be discourteous for it was neuer my manner and condition to be accounted so amongst faire Shepherdesses to whom we Shepherdes and my selfe especially for my Belisas sake owe all respect of loue and dutie and are so much beholding I will endeuour though most against my minde to content thee Whereupon taking vp his Rebecke that lay hard by him he began to tune it and doe that which the Shepherdesse requested him Felismena that was listening to their talke might heare very well what speeches passed betweene them And when she sawe they talked of Arsenius and Arsileus seruants to faire Belisa both which she tooke to be long since dead as Belisa had told not only her but the Nymphes also the Shepherds when they found her in the Shepherds coat in the Iland she verily thought that all that she heard and sawe there was but a meere dreame or some fantastick illusion But giuing attentiue eare she perceiued how the Shepherd began to touch his Rebecke so diuinely that she thought it to be some celestiall musicke who hauing plaide on it a little with a more heauenly then humane voice began to sing this song following O Vainiest hopes Alas how many Daies Haue I beene bondslaue to a braue Deceite And how in vaine haue these two wearied Eies With show'rs of teares watred this pleasant Vale Appaid I am of cruell Loue and Fortune And knowe not yet whereof I doe Complaine No small harmes I must passe smce I Complaine For to endure framed are all my Daies The traunces and deceites of Loue and Fortune But whence Complaine I of a braue Deceite Of such a Shepher desse within this Vale On whom to my great harme I cast mine Eies Yet am I much beholding to my Eies Although with greefe of them I doe Complaine Since by their meanes I sawe within this Vale The fairest thing which neuer in my Daies I thought to see And this is no Deceite In proofe whereof aske it of Loue and Fortune Though on the other side instable Fortune And time occasion and my dolefull Eies And not suspecting this most braue Deceite Caus'd all the ill whereof I doe Complaine And so I thinke to end my wofull Daies Counting my greefes and passions to this Vale. If that the riuer hill the meade and Vale Earth heauen and fate and cruell Loue and Fortune The howers and the moments yeeres and Daies My soule my hart and these two wearied Eies Doe aggrauate my greefe when I Complaine Who then can say I liue by fond Deceite Deceiu'd I was but this was no Deceite For that I haue beheld within this Vale So rare perfection I doe not Complaine But to behold how Loue and cruell Fortune Would signifie vnto these wearied Eies That there should come a helpe after some Daies
so duly And aftervvardes if that the same deceased Body and soule may be in loue increased In life and death and after death so hainous Seluagia shall for euer loue Syluanus Syrenus being very glad for the contentment of their companie and to see them both loue one another with such mutuall and great affection and knowing that it belonged to the dutie of friendship and though he had refused that they woulde entreate him in the end to sing without more ado tooke his Rebecke and sung thus THe Gods graunt you to frolicke in your hall His yeeres that so long time vvith nature striue And that in happie fortune you may liue Free from all kinde of sorrovves great or small And in your loue one haire may neuer fall Of iealousie a plague eid like a sieue Let heauens to temporall 〈◊〉 their fauours giue Fire aire sea earth and nature at your call The rot may neuer touch your soundest stockes Feare of the vvoolfe your shades may not molest And vvily foxe not feare your pretie lambes In plenty may encrease your goodly stockes Tvvo kids may yeerely yeane your fruitfull dams And your faire Evves vvith double tvvinlings blest The Shepherds hauing made an end of their sweete songs rose vp and casting their hairy scrippes on their shoulders staying themselues vpon their knotty sheephooks began to go on their way Who being comen out of that pleasant place into a faire meade to passe the time away and lighten their trauell and length of their way went inuenting and exercising diuers pastorall sports of which they made Seluagia iudge betweene them both sometimes throwing with their slings at some white or marke that they could espie within their reach vpon the side of some hill or tree sometimes trying with great dexteritie the goodnes of their slings to see who coulde giue the greatest cracke with them sometimes striuing who coulde throwe his Sheepehooke farthest sometimes contending to pitch them neerest to some white or Daisie in the way before them and whether of them with the strength of his arme could come nighest to some other marke as farre as they could reach and sometimes striuing who could smite a stone fardest with them In this sort they passed the time and wearines of their way vntill the broade mantell of the darke night beginning to ouerspred those plaines and fieldes made an ende of their sports and warned them to take their rest where they lodged that night The next day in the morning betimes when the prety birdes with their warbling notes filling the aire not yet fully cleere with harmonie foretold the comming of the Vermillion morning they began to make an end of their former iourney And now did the sunne cast downe his beames hotter vpon their heads and with greater heate shewing his forces when the three Shepherds came in sight of their knowne fieldes and plaines so often troden of them before Whereupon they now began to know their wandring flockes and amongst those Dianas sheepe although they were mingled with the flockes of her vnwoorthy husband Delius And so as Syluanus was saying These are the flockes of the vngratefull and disdainfull Shepherdesse Diana and of the Shepherd Delius happie without desert Seluagia saide It is not good to go by and not salute Diana if we finde her there And so they went that way to seeke her out where they had not gone farre but they sawe her standing very sadde and leaning against a great Oke with her elbow vpon her sheepehooke and her cheeke vpon the palme of her hande whereby one might haue iudged the care and sorrow that so much troubled her pensiue minde After a little while as though she was angrie with herselfe for casting her-selfe into so great a greefe she put her hand into her bosome and tooke out a fine little Baggepipe the which putting to her mouth to play on it in that very instant she threwe it to the ground and without more adoe sliding downe along the bodie of the tree sat her downe as if for great feeblenes she had not beene able to staie herselfe on her feete and casting out a sorrowfull sigh and looking vpon her harmlesse Baggepipe she spake these words Accursed Baggepipe consuming fire burne thee for the greefe and anguish that thou hast giuen me I brought thee with me to lighten and asswage my cruell sorrow in which dutie thou hast not onely failed but redoubled it the more Thou shalt not then accompanie me any more for the ill requitall of that loue wherewith I did euer cherish thee Now I am not any more for thee nor thou to serue my turne There shalt thou lie for the parching sunne to open thee making thee as drie as I am comfortlesse and for the raine to rotte thee making thee as moist as my cheekes spunged with continuall teares Ah woe is me how am I deceiued in thinking that the silly and sencelesse Baggepipe is in fault of that which enuious Fortune hath made me feele and in forgetting being so skilfull in other things how more abundantly my fortune surchargeth my soule with paine and troubles then this poore Baggepipe with any fault or iniurie How do I afflict and molest my selfe for a smal cause hauing so many to wearie me withall O God how comes it to passe that the cause of my passed ioy and gladnes is now the occasion of my present sorrow and that those things which before were light and easie are now most greeuous torments and burdens to me Howe soone is pleasure exiled from my poore soule wherein it was woont to make so sweete a soiourne In how short a time haue I lost my deere content whylom my only trustie companion And how easily am I depriued of all ioy and happines which I once so much at will possessed To what end doth it auaile me to be endowed with beauty and wit which with modestie I may chalenge since all do affirme the same in me vnlesse they were sufficient to remooue some part of my greefe But I beseech the soueraigne Gods that I were so farre from beautie and wit as I am at this present from ioy and comfort so that either the first had not brought me to this painfull condition of life or want of the second passed it away without feeling it so sensiblie O Syrenus and Syluanus how are yee now reuenged of me although it be vnknowne to you thou Syluanus of the contempt I did vniustly beare thee thou Syrenus of the ill requitall I gaue thee for thy sincere and earnest loue How neere alas doth the sorrowfull memorie of that ioyfull time come to my minde that did so soone slide out of my hands I would the Gods had beene so pitifull to me at one and selfe-same time to haue ended my daies and those delightfull howers When she had spoken these words she gaue so great a sobbe and such vehement sighes that it seemed she had no more life left to animate her afflicted
a little greeue you to see Syrenus matched with such dangerous corriuals as these two Shepherds are Syluanus and Seluagia though Delius death did a little greeue them forgot not most humbly to thanke Felicia not onely for her good will and friendlie aduise but also for the approoued affection and desire she had to helpe their beloued friend Syrenus And thereupon said vnto her We cannot but obey your command good Lady although we would be faine heere when Coryneus and his companie comes Well well answered Felicia this Shepherd is not so nigh nor cannot come back so soon nor you so far off but that you may be certified when they are to come Since it is then so said Lord Felix with your leaue good Lady I will take Felismena with me and accompanie these Shepherds in whose amorous strife and riualitie which you but euen nowe spake of I shall take no small pleasure and delight The same affirmed Martandrus Placindus Danteus and Duarda with one voice If it please you so said Felicia on Gods name let it be but it behooues you Gentlemen and thee faire Felismena no lesse least the bashfull Shepherds estrange themselues from your companie to borrowe for a while their pastorall habite and condition the which being no sooner agreed vpon but put in practise they went to Syluanus charging him to carie all in remembrance that passed betweene the corriuals the better to report it afterwards when they should meete all togither Whosoeuer therefore is desirous to see the funerall of Delius the riualitie of Syrenus Firmius and Faustus and be at all their meetings and takes any pleasure to know who Stela is and woulde faine knowe what her troubles and those of Crimine Delicius and Parthenius haue beene and to what ende they came as also the loue of Agenestor prince of Eolia and of Lustea daughter to Disteus and Dardanea let him attende me in the third part of this worke which shall come to light out of hande La vita il fin e'l di loda la sora THE FIRST PART OF ENAMOVRED DIANA made by Gaspar Gil Polo To the most noble and vertuous Lady Don̄a Maria de Austria y fuentes IF you were my singular good Lady that heauenly muse and diuine fire from whence this little creature hath borrowed life and light being most happie that it was borne vnder such a constellation whose beames and influence haue guided and indued it with those perfections which now it presumeth by vertues thereof to possesse Reason and dutie then it were to offer vp vnto your woorthines all the seruice it may and humbly to craue of the same That since now it commeth abroad to euery ones view it may in the forhead carie the imprinted golden character and warrant of your noble and renowned name wherewith being protected it feareth not any malignant spirit that may bite it And little though this be which my zealous and dutifull affection which I haue euer borne to you and your honorable house from whence many gallant personages and rare and learned wits haue sprung out can present to such great bountie and vertue the which nature hauing placed in a most beautifull and christalline figure in euery part spread foorth their beames with loue and admiration Yet respecting the minde of him that offers it and the good will wherewith like bookes haue beene receiued by Kings and great Lordes I hope faire Lady you will not condemne me of too much presumption by dedicating this vnto your high patrocinie when as the affiance which I haue in your gentle Graces noble minde and sweete perfections inforceth me heereunto the which duly to be recommended and recounted require a finer wit and fitter place Which if at any time heereafter my happy fortune shall grant me in nothing else so iustly it shal be imploied then in the deserued praise and seruice of your Ladiship whose illustrous person and house our Lord defend and prosper many yeeres with increase of all happinesse From VALENCIA the ninth of Februarie 1564. The first Booke of Enamoured DIANA AFter that appassionate Syrenus by the vertue of the mightie liquor which sage Felicia had giuen him was now deliuered out of Cupids handes Loue working after his accustomed maner wounded anewe the hart of carelesse Diana reuiuing in her brest forgotten loues bicause she should be captiue to one that was free and liue tormented for the loue of one who from the same was most exempted her greefe being thereby the more augmented when it occurred to her thoughts that the small regard that in times past she had of Syrenus was now an occasion of his forgetfulnes of that great contempt that he did beare her She was not only with these griefs but with many more so fiercely assaulted that neither the holy bonde of matrimonie nor the reynes of seemely shame and modestie were able to staie or mitigate the furie of her immoderate loue nor remedie the sharpnes of her cruell torments vntill with lamentable complaints and pitifull teares she mollified the hardest rockes and sauage beasts Wherefore being by chance on a sommers day at the fountaine of the Sicamours about that time when the Sunne was eleuated to the Meridian point and there calling to minde the great content that in that very place she had many times receiued of her beloued Syrenus and counting her passed delights with her present greefes and knowing that the beginning of her sorrowes and the fault was onely in herselfe she conceiued thereof such greefe and anguish of minde and was with such dangerous affrightes sursaulted that euen then she thought desired death would haue made an end of all her troubles But after she had recouered some small vigour yet the force of her passion the violence wherewith loue reigned in her brest was neuerthelesse so great that it compelled her to publish her torments to the simple birdes which from the greene boughes were listening to her and to the branchie trees that seemed to take compassion of her greefe and to the cleere fountaine that with the solemne murmur of the Christalline waters accorded with the notes of her dolefull song And so to the sound of a sweete Baggepipe which commonly she caried about her she began to sing these verses following LOng haue I felt a silent paine of sorrow Cruell by that my senses it importunes To such extremes that I am forc't to borrow This last releefe against my heauie fortunes To publish them vnto the windes that stay them Thorow out the world with pitie to conuay them Then gentle Aire performe this due of pitie Let euery region know my greeuous anguish Breath out my paines and tell in euery citie The life of her that in Loues want doth languish Forgotten of a Shepherd that disdaines her Who once did die euen for like loue that paines her O that this ill death to my vitall powers Hardly maint ain'd amids these cruell fashions Springs of my late obliuion and those howers
Which I bestow'd and thought not of his passions And that the fault that heertofore did blame me Causeth my paine and with my paine doth shame me Hart breake in two for greefe when thought assailes thee Of those fell torments which thou once didst lend him Thou lou'st him now but little it preuailes thee To pardon that wherewith thou didst offend him Who cried once for that which now I crie for And died once for that which now I die for These present greefes of passions that confound me With ceaselesse paine torment not in such measure As thoughts of my late crueltie doe wound me Or when I thinke I lost so deere a treasure For they are heauen to thinke that now I prize him And these are hell to thinke I did despise him For if my little loue more fitly named Iniurious hate whereof I now repent me Were not in fault alas too lately blamed Of all these present greefes that thus torment me Then with complaints I would not cease t' importune Vngentle loue and raile on cruell Fortune But I so proude for my admired beautie That flattred me of sense was so bereaued That carelesse of my fault and forced dutie I owde to Loue I neuer once perceaued That Loue did take reuengement at his pleasure And Fortune change without all meane or measure But Loues reuenge wrought neuer such a woonder Nor to so great despaire did euer driue one As thus on euery side to breake a sunder And ruinate a hope that might reuiue one And Fortune in her change made neuer any So great as from one life to deathes so many Syrenus then how art thou now assured Of thy reuenge which thou hast deepely taken In my disgrace which I my selfe procured That since of late my loue thou hast forsaken No remedie for any greefe is left me That of my woonted comfort hath bereft me For heeretofore as thou hast euen and morrow Seene me disdaine thy sight with so small reason So maist thou now take pleasure in my sorrow And with thy scornes my feeble comforts season For now to loue me lies not in thy power Though I must loue thee till my dying hower So far from Cupids force thy haps haue blest thee And in thy libertie thou tak'st such glorie That gentle Shepherd I doe not request thee To cure mine ill which cannot make thee sorie But to beguile these paines by Loue or dained With one poore fauour though it were but fained And though mine ils which thou art not contented To remedie nor dost pretend to cease them When to thy carelesse thoughts they are presented Whose hot reuenge haue vowed to increase them Yet turne thine eies and see how mine are flowing With riuolets of teares that still are growing Behold my ruine and my life decaied My little hope which in despaire I borrow My teares my sighes my senses all dismaied Though not to take compassion of my sorrow Yet see how with them all I am affreighted In thy reuenge to be the more delighted For though with greefe wherewith I still am calling To mollifie thy hart and haue no power Nor that my teares which euermore are falling Cannot excuse my death one little hower Then will I die for loue of thee and neuer Enioy this breath without I loue thee euer Enamoured Diana had not so soone made an end of her delightfull musicke if on the sudden she had not beene interrupted by a certaine Shepherdesse which behinde a tuft of Hasels was hearkening vnto her Who therefore espying her gaue a pause to her sweete voice by cutting off the substance of her song and was not a little greeued which by a naturall blush that tainted her faire face might easily be coniectured that her song was heard and her griefe vnknowen especially perceiuing the same Shepherdesse to be a stranger and neuer seene in those parts before But she who from a far off had heard so sweete a sound with silent steps drew neere to enioy such daintie melodie and vnderstanding the cause of her dolorous song made on the sudden so goodly a shewe of her excellent beautie before her as the Nocturnall Moone is woont to doe when with her shining beames it pearseth and ouercomes the foggie thicknes of the darke clouds But seeing Diana to be somewhat troubled in minde at her sight with a merrie countenance she thus began to say vnto her I haue not a little faire Shepherdesse with my interrupting presence which to small purpose hath thus disturbed thee offended the great content which I had to heare thee but the desire I haue to know thee and to giue thee some lightning for thy griefe that causeth thee so pitifully to moane may serue if it please thee for my excuse and make me blamelesse heerein For the which griefe though it is bootelesse as some say to seeke any comfort yet by a free will and reasons deuoide of passion there may be sufficient remedies applyed Dissemble not therefore with me thy sorrowes and thinke it not much to tell me thy name and the cause of thy sad complaints since for this I will make no lesse account of thy perfections nor iudge thy deserts to be of lesse value Diana hearing these words stoode a while without answering her againe hauing her eies fastened on the rare beautie of that Shepherdesse and her minde occupied in a doubtfull construction of that which she should answere to her gentle offers and louing words and in the end answered her thus againe If the great pleasure which I take in beholding thee vnknowen Shepherdesse and curteous without compare and the comfort which thy sweete words do promise me might finde any small kinde of confidence or hope in my afflicted hart I would then beleeue that thou wert able to remedie my sorrowes and would not doubt to manifest my paines vnto thee But my griefe is of such tenour that when it begins to molest me it seiseth in such sort on my heart that it stops vp all the passages against remedie Yet know Gentle Shepherdesse that I am called Diana knowen too well in all the fields and villages hereabouts and so let it content thee to knowe my name and not to enquire further of sorrowes since thou shalt profit thee no more then to make thy selfe compassionate and condolent for my tender yeeres seeing them oppressed with so many cares and troubles Thus are they deluded answered the Shepherdesse that make themselues slaues to fonde Loue who but beginning to serue him are become so much his vassals that they desire not to be free and thinke it impossible to be manumitted from his seruitude If loue be thy greefe as by thy song I am sure it is then know faire Shepherdesse that in this infirmitie I haue no small experience For I my selfe haue beene manie yeeres a captiue in like bondage but now am free blinde I was but now haue found out the way of truth I haue passed in the amorous Ocean manie dangerous
greefe may any comfort giue Loue vnto feare subiected euer driue A soule to coldest ice O bitter woe That he whom Fortune did contrarie so Continually with iealousie must liue The fault I must Montanus lay on thee And all my greefe on thee I doe complaine O cruell soule that pitie dost disdaine For if thou hadst but taken part with mee I would not care though gainst me did conspire Heauen Earth and Loue and Fortune in their ire After that the Shepherdesse had sweetely sung enlarging the raines of her bitter and dolefull complaint she powred out such abundance of teares and gaue so many sighes that by them and by the wordes she spake they knew that a cruell deceit of her iealous husband was the cause of all her greefe But bicause they would know better what she was and the cause of her passion they went to the place where she was and found her sitting al alone in the shadowe which the thicke boughes made on euerie side vpon the fine and greene grasse neere to a little spring which rising out of the foote of an oke ranne by diuers waies thorow that little woode They curteously saluted her and she although it greeued her that they had interrupted her lamentation yet iudging by their countenances that they were Shepherds of good regard was not greatly discontented at their comming hoping to haue had the fruition of their good company therefore said vnto them To my remēbrance faire Shepherd and Shepherdesse I neuer receiued so great contenment that might be compared with this in seeing you now since the time that I was vniustlie forsaken of my cruell husband which is so great that though continuall greefe compels me to ceaselesse plaints yet will I make a pause of them a little while to enioy your peaceable and discreete companie To this Marcelius answered I praie God I may neuer see my torments cease if that it greeues me not to see thine and the same maiest thou also beleeue of faire Diana whom thou seest in my companie The Shepherdesse hearing Dianas name running vnto her did with the greatest gladnes that might be embrace her shewing a thousand louing signes and making the most on her in the world bicause she was desirous long since to knowe her for the great report that she heard of her wisedome and beautie Diana maruelling to see herselfe so entreated by a Shepherdesse whom she knewe not requited her yet with like curtesies againe and desiring to know who she was saide vnto her The great fauours that thou hast done me and the pittie which I take of thy complaints make me desirous to know what thou art wherefore tell vs faire Shepherdesse thy name and discourse vnto vs the cause of thy greefe bicause that after thou hast tolde it thou shalt see how our harts will helpe thee to passe it away and our eies readie to bewaile it The Shepherdesse then with a gracious speech began to excuse herselfe from telling the substance of her owne fall yet vrged in the ende by their importunate requestes she sat downe againe vpon the grasse and began thus to saie By the report of Seluagia that was borne in my towne and in thine too faire Diana which is now married to the Shepherd Syluanus thou hast beene told I thinke of the vnfortunate name of Ismenia that is now beginning to tell her sorrowfull tale And I thinke that she tolde thee at large when she was in thy towne howe against my will I deceiued her in the Temple of Minerua in the kingdome of Portugall and how by my owne deceite I was ouertaken then perhaps she hath also tolde thee how I fained to loue Montanus her mortall enimie to be reuenged of Alanius who for the loue that he did beare her forgot me quite and how this fained loue with the riper knowledge of his vertues and accomplishments fel out at last so true that by means of it I suffer this intolerable sorrow greefe which euen now I complained of Therefore passing on farther in the history of my life thou shalt vnderstand that when Filenus father to Montanus came sometimes to my fathers house about certaine of his affaires and bargaines that he had with him for flockes of sheepe and had espied me on a time although somewhat aged yet he was so extreemely enamoured of me that he became almost out of his wits A thousand times a daie he wooed me and euery hower reckoned vp to me his greefes but all in vaine for I would neither harken vnto him nor regard his wordes Yet bicause he was a man of more sufficiencie and of fewer yeeres then many other in his case I did not altogither forget him and the rather for his sonne Montanus sake whose loue had made me now his captiue before The old man knew not of the loue that Montanus did beare me for he was alwaies so carefull and dutifull a son and so discreetly handled the matter that the father had not any notice thereof fearing mightilie if it had beene knowne his fathers displeasure and that with bitter and angrie wordes he might haue iustly corrected him for it And as wisely did the father conceale from his sonne Montanus his owne follie for the better to chastise and amend what he thought amisse in his sonne he was very vigilant not to discouer his owne and greater faults Although for all this he neuer ceased with continuall suites to sollicite my loue importuned me to take him for my husband He discoursed to me a thousand odde matters and made me as many great offers he promised me many costly garments rich iewels and sent mee many letters thinking by those meanes if not to ouercome me at least to mollifie my hard refusals He was a Shepherd in his flourishing age no lesse commended for al youthful sports then cunning in all pastorall exercises one that could tell a smooth tale and with great wisedome and discretion bring his purpose to good effect And bicause you may the better beleeue me I will rehearse vnto you a letter that once he wrote vnto me the which although it altered my minde nothing yet it greatly contented me and thus it said Filenus letter to Ismenia FAire Shepherdesse The cause was Loue Who to acquaint thee with his paine This fault and blame in me did moue To write to thee But to be plaine Who would not be both shent and blamed In thy sweete loues to be inflamed But if my letter doe offend Thy modest eares as to too bold Then vnderstand that in the end The feare I haue to be controld My soule with paine and greefe hath fild And hath the same already kild I haue to thee ten thousand times My torments told wherein I liue Sometimes by speech sometimes by rimes Which first to me thy selfe didst giue The which no more thou dost requite Then mocke vnto thy great delighte With open mouth thou laugh'st at mee And makest it thine onely game To see me