seeming to him he might justly complain of Clelia for detaining such a Jewel from him But whilst the Princess of Perusia entertained Aronces Tiberinus spoke to the Princess of the Leontines who being opposite to his affection could hardly contain her self from shewing that mortal Enmity her Soul had contracted against him for Aurelia she conversed with those Ladies which accompanied the Perusian Princess and Sycanus entertained Celeres but in fine the Princess having performed her visit after she had received a magnificent Collation at the Apartment of Aurelia she returned to the Boat which had wafted her over the Lake conducted by Aurelia to her Chariots which attended her on the other side of the Lake but she was no sooner gone when Nicius and Martia came from those places where they were conceal'd and the Princess of the Leontines spoke to Aurelia to solicit her to remember her promise so that Aurelia having spoke to Sycanus of it and Sycanus to Aronces he was resolved for many important reasons that the next day after Dinner Celeres should go to the Chamber of the Princess of the Leontines to recount unto her all that she desired of the fortune of Aronces whose adventures he knew almost to the least circumstances but to the end he might make a better recital of them he went this Night to the Prince of Numidia's Lodging from whose mouth he learn'd the love he had for Clelia and all the Occurrences thereupon this Prince telling it to him to the end he should tell it to Aronces he being denyed the liberty to speak to him so that Celeres being fully instructed either by Aronces the Prince of Numidia or his own observations in all that which might content the curiosity of this Princess he went the next day to her Chamber where she with much impatience expected his coming there being only with her Sycanus and Aurelia he had scarce entred her Lodging where she importunately solicited him to begin his discourse which after a little consideration he perform'd in this manner The History of Aronces and Clelia I Cannot tell Madam whether my words may seem impertinent when I tell you that 't is not possible for you to comprehend the present fortune of this Prince if I do not intermix in my relation some particularity reflecting on the King his Fathers life What said the Princess of the Leontines interrupting him is Aronces a Kings Son Yes Madam replyed Celeres Aronces is Son of the most Illustrious King of all Etruria and the unhappiest King of the Earth for the King Porsenna is his Father I pray you replyed the Princess of the Leontines if it lyes in the sphere of your knowledge to acquaint me with the adventures of Porsenna as well as those of Aronces not concealing any thing from me if it please you for though I reside sometime in this Country I have heard them but very confusedly because I have had so many unquiet thoughts which have disturbed my Spirit that I had not any curiosity to inform my self of the misery of others when I had no power constantly to support my own Since you command it Madam and that you desire of me is necessary to instance you of the deplorable estate of the Prince Aronces I must deduce my discourse further than I at first intended and tell you that the precedent King of Clusium Porsenna's Father waging War against the Prince of Perusia now regnant gained a famous Battel but the sequel proved unfortunate for the Prince his Son under whose Command his Troops were Victorious too far pursuing those he had vanquished was taken prisoner so that Mezentius believing to have had as much advantage in this occasion as his Enemy the Victory produced no peace between these two Princes but the War continued as before In the mean time Porsenna who was one of the fairest Princes in the World and who is now one of the ancientest Illustrious Kings in the Earth was used with as much Civility as one in his condition could expect though he was kept with as much exactness as if instead of being a Prisoner of War he had been a Prisoner of State he was therefore put in a Castle about six miles from Perusia and which is so advantagiously scituated that one hundred men may defend it against one thousand but for his good or ill fortune I know not which to term it the Princess Nicetale the first Wife of the Prince of Perusia being very sick was ordered to go for the recovery of her health to an Air less subtle than that of Perusia and her Physicians finding none more commodious for her than the Castle in which the Prince Porsenna was kept advised her to go thither for as it 's very great and that it hath one Tower which is so far divided from it she might reside in the Castle without the knowledge of any of his Guard but going thither she carried along with her the Princess Galerita her only Daughter who was then about fifteen years old and who was of such a piercing and prodigious beauty that she could not be seen without admiration the Prince Porsenna whom Nicetale visited many times in the Tower where he was kept would not see her without being sensibly told that he became more captive of the Daughter through the love she gave him than the Father by the Laws of War Nicetale being a Princess of great Spirit no sooner perceived the passion that the young Galerita had produced in Porsenna she joyfully countenanced it for she being naturally inclined to Peace pitch'd upon this productive love as the only means which might establish it between the King of Clusium and the Prince of Perusia her Husband and far from opposing its continuation contributed much to the progression thereof by the frequent visits she vouchsafed this Illustrious Captain who seeing the bloing youth of the Person whom he loved and not seeing her without the Princess Nicetale judged that to acquire the love of Galerita he might first gain the friendship of Nicetale and indeed he had such an ascendant over her that she loved him as if he had been her Son In the mean time he managed his love so discreetly that the young Princess of Perusia knew that he had for her that as she had heard term'd love and she likewise felt that she had for him I know not what tenderness that she never yet had for any Person but in the end without expatiating my self to tell you with what Gallantry and address this loving Prisoner perswaded his love to her which had produced it I shall only tell you that he acquainted her with it by writing and obtained Nicitales permission to speak to her of it which in the high esteem she had for him received this confession of his love for her Daughter in a most obliging manner for she then unlock'd to him the secret of her heart telling him that she knew that the touching of the Estate of the King
under his power called Utica not far distant from Carthage he always accompanied him Aronces by this means being very little in Clelia's company whom he then considered but as Clelius his Daughter to whom he was obliged both for his life and education and it is as natural for those of fifteen or sixteen years to seek those which are elder he having nigh compleated a lustre more than Clelia did not at this time much esteem her the pleasures he found with the Carthaginian and Numidian Princes diverting his eyes from that amiable Object whose Beauty as he hath since confessed to me began then to emit those rayes which have since wounded his heart but he so well behaved himself towards Clelius and Sulpitia that they loved him as if he had been their Son and expended for him as if he had been their Child but Madam that you may the better understand my Narration you must know that the Prince of Carthage hath a man of Quality depending on him named Amilcar whom he much loved and which is the most agreeable and accomplished man in the World who contracted so great a friendship with Aronces that it is reported Amilcar was no more loved by the Carthaginian Prince than Aronces was of Amilcar And this young Prince having taken a resolution to travel unknown Amilcar desired that Aronces should accompany him and Clelia having consented thereto Aronces being then sixteen years old and the young Clelia twelve departed with the Prince of Carthage and Amilcar to see Greece but that which was most remarkable was that at their return the Tempest having cast them in Sicyly instead of returning to Carthage as they intended they resolved to see Rome and the greatest part of the principal Cities of Tuscany and these two opposite Voyages requiring some time to perform them they were four years before they returned to Carthage Aronces being twenty and Clelia sixteen when they finished their peregrination but before I tell you what passed between Clelia and him at their first enterview it will be requisite to acquaint you that at their departure from Rome where the violences of Tarquin continued the Prince of Carthage who travelled unknown encountred an Illustrious Roman named Horatius whom the unjust Tarquin had banished who without knowing where to pass the time of his exile acquainted himself with Aronces who very well understood the Latine Tongue because Clelius who loved his Country even to sacrifice his life for it would not have Aronces ignorant of that Language Horatius having a desire therefore to leave it some time to go into a strange Country was very glad to find one endowed with so many rare qualities which spoke his Language and who having learn'd his design proposed to him to go to Carthage where he assured him he should find Clelius whose name and vertue Horatius very well knew for his Father and his had been alwayes friends though they had been Rivals and Aronces having an Inclination to serve Horatius not only because he appeared to have much Spirit but because he was a Roman and Son to one of Clelius's his Friends entreated Amilcar to pray the Prince of Carthage that this illustrious exile might accompany him and find an asylum with him and Amilcar following his natural generosity and willing to satisfie Aronces whom he loved easily obtained of the Prince of Carthage that which he demanded who became from this time Aronces's particular Friend he not foreseeing that which should one day divide them but Madam before I declare the Arrival of this Illustrious Troop at Carthage you must know that leaving them at Capua I shall somewhat enlarge my Discourse and tell you that during the four years of Aronces's absence Clelia was mounted to such a transcendent height of perfection that there was nothing spoke of at his Return but her Beauty at Carthage and she had had so many attractive Graces that she took all hearts captive and made them do vassalage and homage to her He who had the greatest Authority in Carthage and who was named Maharball was become so amorous of her that he was not in estate to observe the Laws of the Country acknowledging no other than those love had imposed upon him but as he is a violent man and very rich he imagined that if he did but demand Clelia of her Father he should without doubt obtain her and if Clelius had been a Carthaginian he had easily given him his Daughter but as he had a Roman heart and had not renouneed his Country he could not resolve to give Clelia to a man which was not of his Country and without disguising his thoughts he would have at first explicated himself when this Marriage was proposed to him though it appeared to be very advantagious for him for without doubt Marharball's Authority was greater there than any others for the Prince of Numidia who was captivated by this fair Person durst not openly testifie his love for as he was than an Hostage with the Carthaginians by reason of a Treaty his Father had made with this Republique he had been very imprudent if he had declared himself his Rival who held him in his power and which it may be upon sleight pretexts would have arrested him or at least made him depart from Carthage and estrange himself from his beloved Object to whom he only endeavoured to make his love appear though he knew very well that Clelius had said he would not marry his Daughter but to a Roman yet he doubted not but if he could touch Clelius heart to make him alter his resolution and to prefer him before that Puissant Rival who so highly declared himself for he believed that a Numidian Prince ought to be more considered by Clelius than a man which had but a limited Authority and which had it not for ever Thus you see Madam in what estate things were when the Prince of Carthage Aronces Amilcar and Horatius arrived there but as Fortune from very inconsiderable beginnings discloseth those Events which oftentimes prove remarkable Aronces revisited the Fair Clelia in such a gallant manner that it much contributed to that passion which since hath tormented his life for be pleased to know Madam that as Carthage hath been heretofore begun to be builded by the Illustrious Dido in a place which was bought of the Phenicians which then inhabited there and since finished by them it hath ever remained as a mark of dependance of that proud City to that of Tyre for there is built there every Year a Magnificent Vessel in which they send to the Phenicians the tenth part of the Republique Revenue with the tenth part of the Booty and Prisoners that are taken in War they likewise exchange every Year two Virgins chosen by lot and those which come to demand this tribute bring two Phenicians and receive two Carthaginians which are always most advantagiously married in both Countries as this Ceremony is famous there is in one day
yet he had not opened because his mind was wholly taken up with this adventure But he was astonished when at the opening he saw the very same Picture of Pasithea which he had sent her back when he quarrelled with her At the first he believed that these two Ladies were friends unknown to him and that Pasithea had sent Cynesia her Picture whilst he was in the Country but he was not long in this belief for Philiontes told him that they were enemies so as not knowing what to think upon the adventure he was extreamly perplexed For my part said Philiontes unto him I am apt to believe that Pasithea being of no reserved humour she hath giving this Picture unto some new Gallant that hath sacrificed it unto Cynesia But if that be so said Artaxander it must be concluded that Cynesia hath some Lover whom she doth not hate for those who take such pledges do ingage themselves as much as they think to ingage others What you say replied Philiontes perhaps is but imagination which I will think to be but upon an ill foundation for since you are resolved to be in love at what rate soever I must take heed of telling you any thing which may hinder you The truth is replied Artaxander love is an excellent Antidote against wearisomeness in a place where one hath nothing to do for there the sending of a common Message or the receiving of one doth pass for a whole daies work if you be in love you will have no sooner done one thing but you will be thinking upon another your own very musings will please you and nothing doth so sweetly take up the spirits of a gallant love as for great and violent passions they possess them over much For my part said Philiontes I conceive one should either not be in love at all or else love in good earnest for certainly the greatest Passions procure the greatest pleasures It is true said Artaxander but withall they bring with them the greatest sorrows I must confess it answered Philiontes but I am of such an humour as I would have all or none I value not those slight affections which require as much pains about them as a high Passion they will take you up as much time but will not recompence the labour For a thousand of these half loves will never be able to conquer a whole heart and therefore if you will be ruled by me either love not Cynesia at all or else love her in the hight So I am resolved replied Artaxander though it were onely to be revenged upon Pasithea for caring so little to lose me and bestowing her Picture so quickly upon another as it is very likely she hath But whilst Artaxander and Philiontes were thus talking the fair Cynesia slept soundly and it may be well said that by her sound sleeping she prepared new Arms for the Conquest of Artaxander For when she awaked her complexion was more fresh and her eyes more sprightly But in awaking she was all wonder to see a Case about her Arm all set with shining Diamonds in lieu of her own and which was incomparably more rich she no sooner saw this surprizng change but she blusht and raysing her self upon her bed the held her Arm out to the light as if she had been mistaken but the more â—he looked upon this Case the more sure she was that some came into the Chamber whilst she was asleep and did imagine it to be a man thinking such a kind of gallantry could not proceed from any Woman So as a resentment of modesty did for a while raise some inquietudes in her mind Yet upon second thoughts of the adventure she concluded that he who made that advantagious exchange had a noble heart so as she hath since confessed that she was then fuller of curiosity then care Her greater wonder was that she knew there was not any Man in the house but only Philiontes Father who being very old could not be suspected of such a thing She knew very well that he had a Son for she was acquainted with Philiontes And she was not ignorant that Artaxander also had lodged in the house for though she knew him not yet she had heard talk of him But she could not dream of them because she heard say that they were in the Countrey and no speech of their return As she was in this amaze a particular Friend of hers whose name was Cleophila came in to see her and to rejoyce with her that the fire in her Mothers house had done no greater hurt But as soon as she saw her and saw her so fair Oh Cynesia said she unto her it appears by your eyes that you have rested very well for all the trouble of the night But for my part had I been in such a fright I should have hid my self all the day after For my complexion would have been so dull my eyes so hollow and my heart so saint that I should have swounded with fear yet I see that you had not the least fear of being burned It is true said Cynesia I have slept as soundly this night as if no accident had happened or as if I had not changed my Bed And to make it appear true I will tell you of the strangest piece of gallantry that ever you heard of After this Cynesia told Cleophila all the passage and that she might better see the Case she held out her Arm entreating her friend to untie the Ribbond Cleophila had no sooner untied it but Cynesia opened it but she was extreamly surprised at the sight of those Verses which Artaxander had written and so much as that she could not read them aloud but first read them to her self and then recited them unto Cleophila in this manner Night's better than the Day Such Mysteries to discover As you my Love know may And yet not know the Lover Afterwards she looked upon Cleophila who was not less surprised then she And upon serious consideration Cleophila concluded that it must of necessity be Artaxander Not that I can discover it by his stile in Verse said she for he useth to write much better but since they were doubtless writ upon a sudden they may very well be his for I have known sometimes when ex tempore he hath writ no better and therefore I will conclude that it was Artaxander who is the Authour That it was he who saw you asleep and that it is he who is in love with you But Artaxander is in the Countrey replied Cynesia Artaxander then is in more places then one replied Cleophila for I tell you it can be none but he And I must tell you that to conquer such a heart as his sleeping is no small glory to you Alas replied Cynesia as for his heart I cannot pretend unto it for hearts are never taken sleeping I do assure you replied Cleophila that though you had fewer charms then you have yet Artaxander loves you For this beginning of
my self There is such a distance between your fortune and mine replyes modestly Clelia that I cannot easily imagine how the same thing can make us both happy and my Lord continued she can there be any thing wanting to your felicity There is Madam sayes he to her and to acquaint you wherein my happiness is deficient you are to know there are in my soul two passions both which I would fain satisfie that is Revenge and Love for for my part I have every where placed Revenge among the most violent passions since there is not any thing from whence proceeds greater violence as to Desire nor greater sense as to pleasure I therefore conjure your assistances to appease these two passions which exercise such a Tyranny over my soul As concerning Love pursued the Tyrant I shall need onely to tell you that you were no sooner in my chains but I was in yours I need say no more to engage an answer from you which shall make me happy But for Revenge you must tell me which of the Captives is the daughter of Clelius for as for your part I am confident you cannot be the daughter of a man indeprecably hateful to me and one whom I will destroy sometime or other what part soever of the earth affords him a retreat Clelia hearing Tarquin in such a fury could not but blush which he observing and interpreting to signifie as much as that he might thence conceive she was the daughter of Clelius he was surprised into the most horrid agitation of spirit could be imagined However Love prevailing in this first sally Ah Madam cryed he taking her by the hand be not the daughter of my Enemy I conjure you for I perceive that all your beauty could hardly fasten love so in my heart but that hatred would forcibly displease it If therefore you are not Clelius's daughter shew me her whom I must sacrifice to my vengeance but if you are she deceive me if you can and name some other to me who shall suffer all those punishments which the daughters of Clelius the daughter of my most mortal Enemy deserves I shall presently believe you Madam continued he and I shall not afterwards trouble my self to be undeceived so you but satisfie the love I bear you What you tell me my Lord replyed Clelia with an admirable expression of a great courage is so sudden and so strange that I hardly know what to answer to it But now I am provided and shall do it so exactly that you shall not need any further to persecute either my companions or me Know therefore my Lord that I do not conceive my self any wayes obliged to tell you whether I am Clelius's daughter or not and so I shall tell you nothing which may give you any light in that you so much desire to know yet shall not stick to tell you what I truly conceive of your demand whether I am she or not For if I am not she but some one of my companions be daughter to that unfortunate Exile I will dye ere I discover her having heard what I have said But if on the contrary I am she whom yet you would not know but that you might hate and destroy I declare unto you that if the meatal of my heart be right I shall wish rather your hatred than your love and shall never submit to flatter the passion of a man would take away my father's life Therefore my Lord set your mind at rest for this matter for as my Companions will not betray me in case I were Clelius's Daughter so neither shall I discover whether the Daughter of Clelius be among them And to puzzle your enquiry the more I will not positively tell you whether I am or I am not Daughter to that noble Roman I would not believe that you are his Daughter replyed he abruptly but you discover somewhat the fire of his heart and if the mildness of your looks did not abate the sharpness of your words I should immediately treat you as the Daughter of Clelius As I am perswaded replyes Clelia that I have said nothing to you which I ought not to have said so I cannot admit of any repentance for it But my Lord continued she whether some one of my companions be Clelius's Daughter or that I am she is it possible you should not see that your mind cannot be guilty of these cruel sentiments of detestation without a greater injustice than any you now stand accused of All the violence you have committed since you came into the World were done in order to your mounting the Throne but what would it advance you to sacrifice a wretched Captive To be revenged replyed he insolently in the Daughter of all the mischiefs the Father hath or hath endeavoured to do me For I am certain continued he that in what place soever Clelius is he is perpetually plotting my ruine and when he shall not imagine any possibility to accomplish his design he will persecute me with his wishes and it will be his affliction that he cannot do it But to be short Madam there is no mean in this case you must either name me a daughter of Clelius whom I may as highly hate as I love you I have told you already how gladly I would be deceived but my Vengeance requires a Victim for in that transportation I now am in if you do not what I desire I shall deal with all your companions as daughters of Clelius that so I might not be deceived as to that point And so while you receive from me a thousand and a thousand expressions of affection they shall as many of my detestation and pretended cruelty Ah my Lord cryed out the generous Clelia though I were at my own disposal though Tullia were not your Wife and though you offered to raise me into the Throne I should abhor the love of a Prince so unjust as you are How now Coyness sayes he to her do you slight the passion of a man who never loved any thing but Glory and You Who hath brought all that have resisted him under subjection who hath subdued a heart as great and as high flown as yours and yet makes you that offer which never was made to any In the mean time continued he do not imagine that what I say is an airy threat for I go presently and begin the punishment of your Companions by separating them from you To be short Tarquin commanded the Captain of his Guards to be called but Clelia staying him no my Lord sayes she to him with an undisturbed generosity it shall never be said that I have altogether escaped the injustice of Tarquin and my life in the condition I am is not so precious as that it should be preserved by any treacherous act Know then unjust Prince that I am the daughter of the noble Clelius and that my true name is Clelia Ah Madam replied he why do you tell me what I desire not
passion and in this humour I can be almost as trivially pleasant in talk as if I proposed to my self all those indulgences which feed the hopes of the happiest lovers Ah my dear Amilcar cryed Aronces you rather affect Love in general than direct it to your particular Mistress and could I be but of your humour I should be much less miserable than I am Being at this point they heard a certain noyse upon the stairs which enquiring what it was they were told that Brutus was come into the house so that Amilcar to give him way to repair to his lodging stayed a little longer with Aronces yet not without a little reflection on Brutus's late staying out for that he could not imagine that one of no greater designs than he could be guilty either of humour or business to detain him so long But he made no longer discant on it and so parted with his friend after he had once more promised him the utmost of his power for Clelia and to engage Tarquin to a sudden return to the Camp that he might endeavour in his absence to carry away this beautiful person and that so as Aronces and she might return to Clelius at Capua to avoid at once the cruelty of Tarquin and the violence of Porsennas But for Amilcar his intent was to pass into Sicily and thence return to the Prince of Carthage his Master knowing well that by reason of the interests which were to be reconciled between the Republique and that Island Tarquin was not to be thought over considerable Rome being not at that time able to wage a Sea-war But as humane prudence cannot with certainty foresee whatever shall come to pass though one be ever so expert in the art of disputing by conjectures Fortune disposed otherwise of things At first sight it seemed likely things would have happened as Amilcar had imagined for he acted his part with so much subtilty that within two dayes he got Tarquin to return to the Camp It is true the former of these two daies proved infinitely-crosse to Clelia for Tarquin came once more to visit her and talkt to her things so contradictory that it was easie to perceive that Hatred and Love caused a strange disorder in the heart of that Prince But as his soul through the whole course of his life was rather accustomed to hate than to love so he insisted more on things harsh and cruel than those which speak sweetness and passion and he much more easily found out words fit to express his hatred than his love so that he omitted no menace he thought would oblige her to deny her self to be the daughter of Clelius and to resolve to satisfie his passion But she being fortified with a rocky constancy a vertue that hath no parallel and an extraordinary faith to Aronces answered him with a confidence might convince him she would not retract what she had said Whereupon having shook hands with all hope of making her change her resolutions and his love coming to act the last part he remained a certain time silent not so much as looking on Clelia as if he were afraid her beauty might soften the hardness of his heart He therefore leaned on a window which opened towards Mount Palatine and musing on the present posture of his soul Love became predominant and flattered himself with a perswasion that if he could subdue the hatred he bore to Clelius he might conquer Clelia But he had hardly entertained the imagination that to gain Clelia he must send for Clelius and recant his own former apprehensions but Love gave place in his turn and Hatred as being the stronger entred on the government of his Soul So that being resolved to depart the Chamber where Clelia was disorderedly he lifted himself from the window and began to go towards the door But not being able to do it without looking on the beautiful person and meeting with her eyes pregnant with a new birth of tears he once more suffered a change in his imaginations and not taking the least time to consult Well cruel person said he to her what must be done to make you flexible must I stifle the hatred I bear Clelius Must I love you as the Daughter of my Enemy Must his banishment be revoked Must he be preferred before all other Romans Speak Cruelty speak and set a price on your heart that I may purchase it for to be short I will sacrifice the hatred I bear Clelius and the love I profess to Clelia but that heart as obstinate as it is shall one day come into my possession I am perswaded replyes the generous Virgin that if you should send for my Father to come to Rome he would not consent and that it were as hard for him to forget the injustice you have exercised towards him as for you to forget your own cruelty Therefore I have nothing to answer you but what I have already for I am not only against you because you hate my Father but also because he hates your tyranny and that I hate it my self Not but that if you could repent you of all your violences the hatred might dissolve from my heart but my Lord that love should take its place it doth not follow that which you desire of me being so absolutely impossible to be granted that it is not worth your bestowing a thought on 't Ah 't is more than enough cryes out the Prince exasperated by the constancy of Clelia and I cannot suffer this obstinate assurance wherein you so much glory How continued he blushing for anger I shall be thought weak for my desire to love you as the Daughter of Clelius for endeavouring to subdue my hatred and offering a horrible violence to all my inclinations and I shall be ashamed to have been guilty of this baseness to no purpose If it be so continued he with a certain threatning action you shall rather repent your obstinacy As I have never desired any thing but what reason and vertue suggests replyed Clelia so my Lord do I never repent nor can all your power ever oblige me to entertain a thought of that nature We shall see that sayes he arrogantly to her when I shall once be able to hate you which I hope I shall if you learn not that I am well Versed in the art of Revenge and that it is easier for Clelius to undergo banishment than for you to suffer the torments I shall assign you When you once begin to hate me replyed Clelia without the least agitation of spirit you deliver me from one of my greatest torments by disburdening me of your love If I were of your opinion replyed he I would struggle with my passion and love you while I live If you take it so answered Clelia I must certainly be the more wretched but you will be never the happier Therefore my Lord if you will trust me hate me since that thence only you must derive your quiet My life
know him that his heart is susceptible of love But if this Prince merits an high encomium he hath a daughter worthy of him and able to command admiration from all Philonice is the Princess of Agrigentines name she is the most surprizing Person in the world for you must know that as the Princess her mother was wrapt in the cold embraces of the grave ere she compleated a triennial age her illustrious Father having at this time many warlike Preparations which have since impal'd his brow with victorious Laurel instead of leaving her at Agrigentine caus'd her to be educated at a magnificent Castle belonging to him scituated in the Campagne and as she appear'd in the world she was adorn'd with all imaginable politeness and I assure you without flattery that she is acquainted in many things which her only imagination hath dictated to her and for her Person 't is infinitely pleasing her head is crown'd with black resplendent hair she is of a mean stature yet so agreeable and noble that it admits of no disadvantage her action is free and natural without any affectation the circumference of her visage shews the extreams of an imperfect Circle and almost form'd it to a perfect oval the new fallen snow was turn'd in comparison of the refin'd purity of her complexion her mouth for shape shamed the imitation of the most exquisite Painters and all the features of her face had so near a kindred of proportion and symmetrie as the severest master of Apelles art might have call'd it his glory to have copyed Beauties from her as the best of models her eyes darted forth such a radiant splendour as neither the firmest eye nor the strongest soul could arm themselves with resistance of proof against these pointed glories but there results from all these perfections such a modest ayr on the visage of Philonice that her only physiognomie clears what blemish can be imputed to the vertue of her soul and delicateness of her spirit 't is not but when she meets with any that she neither esteems nor pleases her she hath a certain coldness which without being uncivil seems more touching to those to whom it is address'd she 's affable but the grandeur of her soul and habitual probity retains her from making those delusive caresses which by many Ladies of the Court are practised with so much Prodigality but for a person she loves there 's no Princess in the world can testifie her tenderness in more obliging and real expressions she is of such a liberal inclination and all her resentments are so discreet and generous as she believes her action should not bely her words for spirit she hath it to admiration she speaks both naturally and gallantly she writes pleasant Letters in a stile so natural reserving her quality that I can mint no expression to equal their praise she hath a solid vertue glory is the cheifest of her delight her heart is tender spirit firm her amity both constant sincere and agreeable she 's discreet in all her actions she 's never capable of any transportment she is both young and wise she hath judgement without experience and prudence without pride and she is so accomplished that I can tax her of nothing but of too much vertue since 't is certain she is so modest that she doth not well know it at least she speaks as if she esteem'd her self not so much as she ought 't is true she accuses her self in such an ingenious manner that her own words betray her There 's likewise in this place another Virgin whose Father is Governour of the Castle of Agrigentine who is highly esteem'd by Philonice not without desert for besides as she is fair and hath an engaging spirit which both pleases and charms all those who approach her she knows how to fit the humour of all Persons her Discourse is admirable she never appears distemper'd at her company she hath a modest jovialty that gives delight to many persons This Virgin called Berelisa hath moreover such a passionate spirit that she makes her glory consist in knowing how to love her friends and as Philonice hath much inclination for her she is commonly with her The day in which Artemidorus was brought to the Castle of Agrigentine she was with this Princess in a great Hall where the Prince her Father was with many other Ladies leaning on a Balcony which jetted on the Court to see twelve stately horses that had a little before been sent to her Father and she desiring to go next morning to the Chace he would have both her and Berelisa chuse those they would have for that gallant sport as their eyes were wholly imployed in surveying these Horses Terillus who had taken Artemidorus entred into the Hall followed by his prisoner leaving his men at the entry of the gate you know Artemidorus is of a gallant deportment which will easily make you believe that he attracted the regards of the Agrigentine Prince of the Princess Philonice and the amiable Berilisa and all the rest of the company for though his habit was but simple yet had he the ayr of a person of Quality though in the design he had to disguise himself he affected unusual simplicity 'T is true seeing all perfections concenter in these Ladies he would not hinder himself from saluting them with such a grace that disposed them to conceive a good opinion of him In the mean time Terillus who presented him to the Prince of Agrigentioe seeing him prepared to give him attention thus said Sir I come to present to you this Prisoner I am obliged to praise and to excuse the weakness of those who took him and to give you occasion to treat him with civility for to speak as a person of Honour who ought to commend the courage of his enemies it hath sometimes been more easie for me to put five hundred men to flight then to vanquish this valiant man for there was so much difficulty to make him render himself after his Sword was broken that I conceiv'd it requisite to acquaint you with his valour to the end that treating him according to his merit he should repent himself from having exposed his life rather then to be your Prisoner It is so natural said Artemidorus for generous Conquerours to praise the courage of those they have vanquished that I ought to draw no vanity from the praises you have attributed to me He which praises you is so brave himself replyed the Agrigentine Prince that you may glory in his praises and if you had ever seen him in any dangerous occasions as he hath seen you you would retribute the like praises to his Valour and as your great magnanimity and the air of your Visage easily dispose me to believe you are of illustrious blood though your habit contradict that opinion Tell me what you are and what 's your condition and what motive induc'd you to take such an unjust party I know by your accent you are
loved Berelisa with an extream passion that which I told him of Clidimira made him change colour for he then remembred divers things which made him imagine this person had a design to recal him anger was solely seated in his breast and if Berelisa had seen that which passed in his heart in this occasion she would have had no subject of jealousie He did not believe he ought to make known to her this adventure because he held that a wise man ought never to tell without an absolute necessity that a woman loves him nor whether he loves her or loves her not he did not testifie to me that he believed he was loved on the contrary he counselled me not to shake off my Love and I followed his directions but I found a strong resistance that ere the Sun had fifteen times run its diurnal course my passion was buried in its own ruines Though Artemidorus had defended me from telling Clidimira I had acquainted him with what she had told me and though he constrained himself as much as possibly he could yet she saw by his eyes he knew it hoping then that in continuance of time there might happen some slight quarrel between Berelisa and him which might tend to her advantage she acted many things to effect her design for when she was with any friends of Artemidorus she would be lavish in his praise she always frequented those places where he went she oppressed Berelisa with visits and testimonies of friendship and when she encountred the eyes of this Prince she made as if she would shun them though she carefully sought them likewise making him see in her a certain emotion accompanyed with confusion and modesty she excited some kind of trouble in the heart of Artemidorus which obliged him to fly her 't is not that he did not feel himself faithful to Berelisa that he should always be so and that the infidelity of Clidimira would yet much anger him but after all Clidimira acted in such a manner which both grieved and perplexed him This fair person therefore to attain her desires contracted a particular friendship with Terillus she told him she was touched with his merit that she would protect him nigh her Sister and she effectually become the confident of his love and his jealousie of Artemidorus she even gained one of the Maids which waited on Berelisa she entertained likewise some commerce with me and in this manner whether by Terillus by the Maid which she gained or by me she knew all which passed between Berelisa and Artemidorus 't is not that I told her any thing in particular only as I well knew Artemidorus desired she should believe he would love her no more and that he desired not her affection I would confess her he was very amorous of Berelisa but to tell you the truth she knew all things both by jealous Terillus and the aforesaid person so that a furious anger possessing her spirit she plotted all her designs to sow division between these two persons As she hath a subtle spirit she judged that 't would not be easie for her at first to put any difference between Artemidorus and Berelisa for 't is a person who hath a tender heart a regulated spirit who thinks not but of that she loves who believes there ought to be as much probity in love as any other thing and who doth not give the least subject of jealousie to Artemidorus but she thought 't would not be so difficult to put distrust in Berelisas spirit therefore after she had been acquainted by the pre-mentioned ways in several particulars reflecting on the affection of Berelisa for Artemidorus she wrote a Letter to her Sister by an unknown hand and another to Artemidorus under the name of one of his friends who was in the Army she put them both in one Pacquet and by a secret way sent it to Artemidorus he knowing not from whence it came and unripping the Seal he found a little Note directed to him which contained these words I Demand your pardon for not writing to you my self but having received a slight hurt in my right hand I have employed another to entreat you to deliver this inclosed Letter to Berelisa I assure you it comes from a Person who hath much interest in her affairs and who so far engaged me to render it safe to her hands that I believe I could not better cancel my Engagements than directing it to you I shall not excuse my self for the trouble I impose upon you since you will be fully recompenced by the sight of that beautiful person Artemidorus having read this Note did not suspect there was any deception in it for he knew the name they had subscribed to this Letter whose name I cannot at this time remember and 't was true that this man had been hurt in the right hand so that Artemidorus being impatient to perform this service to Berelisa went to carry the Letter to her and as Clidimira had a design to be an ocular witness of the effect of this deceit she went to Berelisa's Chamber where Artemidorus came and imagining this Letter was not of much consequence he gave it her before Clidimira telling her in what manner he had received it Though Berelisas curiosity incited her to peruse it principally because she could not imagine who writ it she would have by a resentment of civility put it in her pocket but Clidimira who saw Artemidorus take notice of it said to him Do not you think my Sister renders you a respect which is the most difficult in the World fot my part I know nothing so weighty to carry as a sealed Letter when one dares not open it by reason of Ceremony Artemidorus being now roused from that Lethargick slumber in which he was buryed by Clidimiras sight told her he would dismiss himself from her company if she would not read this Letter so that being constrained to open it she found it poysoned with these dangerous words I Pray Madam receive with a favourable eye the advice I intend to give you and do not think strange if the person subscribes not her name for your Friendship is so dear to her that not knowing how you will receive this advice she dares not expose her self to your hatred Know then Madam he which renders you my Letter doth not possess your affection without the knowledge of divers persons I know not whether 't is his fault or yours but many know you loved him first and may yet love him last for as he hath not been too strongly touched with Clidimiras change he is not perhaps so faithful to you as he ought to be every one knows you love him that you receive his Letters and return him affectionate answers that he wholly sways your soul and that you vouchsafe him many favours which he doth not receive with such transport of love as Terillus would did you please so far to honour him Every one knows Clidimira doth not hate
against my self Do not murmure if I take my own part rather than yours and so I most seriously entreat you to regulate your thoughts and your words had I not a very great esteem for you I should speak in a worse dialect to you but valuing you at a very high rate of esteem I would have you continue if it be possible within the limits of friendship and that you will not force me to lose you I promise you to do all I can for you and to attribute all your services unto your tenderness of friendship so long as your tongue does not oppose the advantageous opinion which I would have of you Oh Madam cried out Herminius I beseech you do not forbid me to use the sweetest and most pleasing word in the world to those that have that passion in their hearts that it expresseth For the word Love hath such a secret charm in it as joyeth the heart of that lover that pronounceth it and moves the heart of that person who heareth it if she have any tenderness of soul The word Affection is a word ambiguous and suits with Amity as well as Love The word Tenderness as obliging as it is may be applied to them both But the word Love needs no interpretation it alone expresseth all that can be imagined sweet most obliging and most agreeable Deprive me not therefore of a consolation which will not cost you any thing And to put my self in possession of this sweet word be pleased to know That I have towards you the most tender and most respectful love that ever any had and what treatment soever I have from you I shall retain this pure and holy Love till death To shew you my sincerity replied Valeria I will ingenuously confess that if I could handsomely entertain any affection of this Nature you are the only man I know upon earth whom I would most desire should love me For you are transcendent in vertue and of such a spirit as most I love But Herminius it is not permitted unto any woman of vertue either to love or permit being loved Upon this all the rest of the company met them so as they parted without resolving upon any thing However Herminius thought himself very happy in daring to tell Valeria positively that he was in love For though she had not permitted him to love her yet he flattered himself with some hope her mind would bend And yet he found more difficulty than he expected For Valeria who certainly was as virtuous a Lady as ever lived did more strictly forbid him than he thought she would though she did it with much sweetness But at last Herminius was so full of obliging Courtship that the heart of Valeria melted For he prevented all her desires when he could guess at them He contributed a thousand wayes to her delights he rendred good offices to all that she loved he had no pleasure in any place where she was not he was the most respective man upon Earth he writ to her a thousand pleasing letters which could not any way offend her and he behaved himself so that none spoke of him before Valeria but they spoke highly in his commendations so generally was he esteemed Thus Valeria melting by little and little she allow'd Herminius to love her but in allowing him she expresly charged him to give no publick testimonies of his passion and would not of a long time permit him to use the word Love in his Letters but Herminius found out an expedient for that For he Covenanted with Valeria that the Word Amity should betwixt them signifie Love both in speaking and writing to her And accordingly the thing being thus agreed upon Herminius writ letters unto Valeria which passed only for letters of friendship though yet they were letters of Love Herminius therefore obeyed Valeria so well that Spurius seemed to be much more in love with her than he but hoping to hide his own Gallantry under the umbrage of Spurius he went along with him in all he did thus these two Rivals appeared to be very good friends Spurius for his particular was so perswaded that Herminius was naturally Gallant as he did not think him to have the least hidden design upon Valeria So as he was well satisfied on that side and thought upon nothing but how to please that fair one Herminius went on with the more confidence because 〈…〉 who was very glad of that universal civility to 〈…〉 the particular esteem she had of him she did not treat him ill though she did not allow him to speak openly of his passion Also Spurius seeing how vexed Salonina was at his loving Valeria he loved her both out of inclination and out of revenge Mean while Salonina to execute her design of drawing Spurius from Valeria who without intention drew him from her she told Volesus that the world talked very loud of their affection and to stop their mouths she would seem as if she had a will to recal Spurius But Madam said Volesus unto her had you rather the world should say you permit Spurius to love you than me Yes answered she for in such things truths only displease and indeed she was in the Right For because Valeria and she did not love Spurius they shewed him many favours which they did not Herminius and Volesus So as this became one of the most pleasant Passages that ere was heard of For Salonina did all she could to recal Spurius Valeria who quickly found out the design of Salonina and took delight in returning one trick for another she did all she could to retain him So as Spurius though loved by neither yet was he most highly courted by two of the fairest Ladies in all Rome He being in this condition joying to be revenged of Salonina whom he loved not and hoping to be loved by Valeria whom he did love his spirit was swelled with such extraordinary jollitie as he thought of nothing but diverting all the company as well as Herminius and to vex Salonina Not but that he always spoke unto her with much civility but he affected to come out with a hundred trivial expressions which might drive her into despair It hapned one day that Herminius had made a Song which the Salians used in that ceremony which I mentioned before Spurius not thinking that this Song was made upon Valeria he told it unto all the Cabal that it was the rarest song he ever heard Salonina did ask it of him but he answered that it belonged unto him who made it to give it Herminius hearing what Spurius said told her that the verses were not worth the giving nor did deserve the glory to be sung by so sweet a mouth as Salonina's For my part said Valeria then without enquiring whose they are I ask them of Herminius as of one most ready when he is pleas'd to oblige me Should I lay that command upon one whom I know said Salonina and blusht for anger I am sure I
that before it be long all Italy shall talk of the love of Aronces and Clelia whom I love as well as ever I did though I know she does love her dear Aronces as well as I deserve to be loved by you But Herminius replied Valeria the Letters which I have seen are so tender and the Map which was shewed unto me so gallant as I know not whether or no I should believe you Madam replied he you may remember that you upbraided me a thousand times with writing too much flattery and in such a style as those unto whom I writ might think that Love which was only Amity And indeed my tenderness of Passion to you had infused such a passionate character into all my spirits as made all my friends believe all the thoughts of my Soul to be love And Madam should I have given Copies of Letters from the person I loved or should I only have shewed them Alas I was so far from any such indiscretion as I have carefully preserved that cruel letter which I shewed unto you although I cannot look upon it without anger and despair Be assured therefore Madam that I am innocent and you are culpable For Madam though I had been dead and inconstant yet ought you not to have engaged your self in a second affection I should have died of sorrow or if anger had kept me from dying I should have hated all women in lieu of loving any one and perhaps as unfaithful as you was in my belief I should have loved you in your Grave However Madam though you be criminal though you have upon too shallow grounds believed me inconstant and though I have reason to think that you do unjustly deny that cruel letter which I shewed you Though I say you be unfaithful in loving Emilius yet Oh Herminius said she and interrupted I cannot endure you should accuse me of infidelity For certainly according to the common received opinion the death and inconstancy of the party loved does freely set the heart of the lover at liberty and to be disposed of as she pleaseth and therefore thinking you to be inconstant and dead I ought not to be charged with inconstancy And yet I do consent to be accused of infidelity if thinking you faithful I had committed any infidelity unto your memory but as the Case is I cannot endure any such accusation to be charged upon me Then Madam replied he and looked upon her with eyes full of Love if you would not be so accused you must restore unto me that heart which you took from me since I am neither dead nor inconstant For as unfaithful as that heart is I am most willing to receive it upon my knees I will begin a new obligation unto you I will forget all my past miseries and I will love you as zealously and ardently as ever I did so Emilius be driven out of that heart which is none of his and unto which none has any right but my self since I am not dead nor ever was unfaithful But if you cannot do so then be so generous I beseech you as not to deceive me For I should be more unfortunate in having but half your heart than if I had lost it all Emilius is indeed my friend and I do grant that he was innocent both towards you and towards me until his return But alas am I Culpable towards any one Am I any cause that Emilius believed I was dead and that I was in love with Clelia 'T is very true I did not make him the confident of my Love to you but ought I to have done it and would you have taken it well Consider therefore I beseech you how innocent I am and how unfortunate But is it possible replyed Valeria that you should be so innocent as you say you are But is it possible replyed Herminius you should make any doubt of what I say for if I did not love you what reason had I so earnestly to court your affection for you have furnished me with colour enough not to pretend unto it Emilius loves you you do not hate him And were not my love unto you most violent I had just reason never to see you again It is not sufficient replied she that you do love me now at present but you ought to have loved me always If I have not done so replied he may you never love me but for ever love my Rival But added he and sighed one may see a notable difference betwixt you and me for had my heart been so weak as to receive the Image of any other into it you would have rejected it And yet though you have ceased to love me and though you have loved another yet for all that I am ready with all joy to receive that Treasure which I had lost Restore it then most amiable Valeria and to oblige you unto it call to memory all the happy times we have passed together your eyes have told me ten thousand times that you were concerned and troubled at my sufferings your mouth has told me that I was not hated and I was so happy as to have reason to believe you made my felicity yours and that you would esteem your self happy if our condition were such as we could never be separated Strive then to drive Emilius out of that heart unto which he has no right since I told you I am neither dead nor unfaithful for perhaps it concerns your happiness as well as the happiness of unfortunate Herminius And indeed I am sure that if you should be so unjust as not to restore that which belongs unto me but should bestow your self upon Emilius you will be no sooner his but you will mourn for me Yes cruel Valeria I shall defie all your cruely if you shall make me so miserable as I shall be if you do me that injustice Think therefore both of your self and me and you will find all reason to be on one side Whilst Herminius was talking thus Valeria hearkned sometimes looking upon him sometimes upon Flavia and sometimes upon the ground But at last Herminius having done she began in her turn to speak Though all you say were true replyed she and though you never did love Clelia yet I cannot tell whether I ought to restore you my affection you think you have reason to treat me as one inconstant and also have right to be inconstant your self upon the first occasion Yet I conceive that I cannot without injustice be called unfaithful for to discover the very bottom of my heart unto you I had a mind to love Emilius but never any inclination to love him as I loved you Oh Madam said Herminius and interrupted I most earnestly beseech you to alter but one word and in lieu of saying As you did love me say As you do love and then you will make me happy Perhaps replied she I could say so for I perceive my heart is willing to believe you innocent and I know but too well
strong a gale in many occasions and to prove the verity of my expressions consider the Prince of Numidia and Aronces both arrived here at the same time of whom I have received almost an equal description for Sycanus hath informed me that the Prince of Numidia is tall of a fair proportion and though of a brown complexion of a very pleasing aspect interwoven with the rays of an haughty Spirit and a maid who attends me whose genius is excellent at copying shapes and faces when she hath seen them hath told me she thought Aronces was the exactest piece ever nature drew that the air of his looks expressed both grandeur and nobleness his hair light his eyes blew every feature agreeable and his whole composure heroick and if I have known Aronces hath performed a glorious action by saving the Perusian Princes life I know likewise that the Numidian Prince hath equalized it by endeavouring to rescue a noble Virgin who had been forcibly taken away they are both hurt both of incredible valour both strangers and both unknown and I believe both unhappy because a deep melancholy sits inthroned in their faces but there is some difference between them in my spirit for though I know Adherbal is a Prince and do not know the extraction of Aronces yet I have no intention to go to see the Numidian Prince but an impatient desire to visit Aronces and I am so addicted to serve him that I do not doubt but that he is the Prince Adherbals superiour in all noble qualities as I am not sufficiently acquainted with the Numidian Prince to judge equitably of his merits replyed Celeres I dare not presume to give any character of him but Madam I can assure you you will never have reason to change that favourable opinion you have conceiv'd of Aronces In effect Madam he hath all the natural endowments that can be desired in an accomplished man and I desire those who know him better than I do to find any defect in him or to make the least wish to his advantage for first Aronces is of a most pleasant disposition and his knowledge far exceeds that profession he hath practised all his life his soul towring above all common motions his heart seated beyond the reach of fear yet hath he a tender and compassionate spirit he entirely loves and respects his friends and believes humanity ought to reside in all men and that Princes should not dispence with themselves from having particular vertues though they are obliged to have others which are peculiar to them he hath affability mix'd with courtesie and an inexplicable charm in his discourse flowing from him with such eloquence and pronounced with such grace and Majesty that it charms the attention of all his auditors and to define him in few words he is one whom detraction it self cannot mention without Epithetes of applause and merit and a subject fit for nothing but admiration I may very well say said the Princess of the Leontines that the inclination I have for Aronces whom I do not know is not ill grounded though it appears blind to me but the mischief is it sometimes doth not accord with reason for my part said Aurelia that which we often call inclination is not and that the reason for which it inclines more to one side than another is that it can never find such an equality betwixt persons as not to put some distinction between them so that as it is the property of the spirit to discern and chuse it always electeth that the heart is most affected to and that as we commonly attribute to the caecity of our inclinations is indeed an effect of a more perspicuous illumination There is doubtless much ingenuity in what you say replied Celeres but it shall never perswade me that the inclination is an effective thing where reason hath no operation for it is sometimes found that our reason prompts us to one thing and our inclination to another and though we know that which we love merits less than that we hate it doth not at all alter our affections as I have more experience in the world added Martia being elder than all those before whom I speak I have noted an hundred times such prodigious effects of this blind Inclination that I cannot doubt the power of it for I have sometimes seen men of transcendent parts love women which have neither Beauty to attract their eyes nor Vertue to allure their hearts and women of great esteem to favour men which are by all rejected and to despise others who merit much estimation I and I have my self sometimes been swayed to the friendship of some persons more than others not being able to give any reason for it and I very well discern'd that if they had been deficient in Noble Qualities 't would not have changed my contracted Amity therefore I have always put a distinction between those I have loved by Election and those I have affected by Inclination I believe sometimes it doth not chose replyed Sycanus for those which are of a lively Imagination and a penetrating spirit so speedily determine of that they would esteem that they do not perceive the proper operations of their Spirit and ascribe that to Inclination which doth not appertain thereto and that which most authorize those who attribute all to the Inclination is that some men indiscreetly chuse those which are not amiable and every one who cannot comprehend how reason should be capable of such grand mistakes had rather submit to a blind Inclination than to confess it is sometimes blind it self so that by this way we may cloak one bad Election with a seeming excuse for the greatest part of men believe they are but half-justified if they say they could not resist their Inclination for my part replyed Aurelia though I am perswaded of the grand Potency of the Inclination I should not believe I were justified if it made me commit an Errour but I should believe my self to be more excusable if I should commit a fault by the force of my Inclination than by defect of knowledge After that the Princess of the Leontines went to Aronces his Apartment conducted thither by Celeres and followed by Sicanus Martia and Aurelia this Enterview was received on both parts in a manner beyond expression for although persons which are endowed with all the advantages of a gallant Spirit are commonly mute at the first sight their tongues not performing their usual Functions it hapned not so with the Princess of the Leontines and Aronces for their conversation was as free as if their knowledg had been of a long continuance and they were as well acquainted at this first reception with one anothers deserts as if they had been already united in a strict Bond of Amity the Princess of the Leontines applauded his Heroick Action in saving the Princes life and he highly commended the honour she vouchsafed to visit him but these praises were without affectation and which
of Clusium and that of the Prince of Perusia was without doubt the way to put him in a capacity to give law to all Etruria and to dispute the power with the famous Vulturnum and with proud Rome it self but knowing the resentments the King of Perusia had against the King of Clusium his Father she was strongly perswaded that he would never consent to hearken to any terms whilst he was in prison or that if he did hearken to it he would never give his Daughter to his Prisoner 't is therefore said she to him we must contrive a way to render you happy and to give the Peace to two Estates which cannot subsist in War Alas Madam what expedient may a Prince find overwhelmed with so many different chances as I highly esteem your vertue I will propose to you a proposition which according to all appearances may effect happily your design if you follow my advice But generous Porsenna pursued she before I tell it you you must solemnly swear to me and do not promise me that which you will not inviolably keep I promise you Madam said he to her that I will never violate my word I give you and that I will not make use of the priviledge that may be granted to Prisoners not to perform their promise but likewise promise me that you will not command me to disrespect you or not to affect Galerita on the contrary replied Nicetale I intend to put you in a possibility always to love her and to permit her to love you innocently till the expiration of her life but to make this design succeed happily I must steer my course so that you may depart from prison without any suspition that I was privy to it you must therefore said she not go to Clusium for fear you should not be there Master of your self but you must go to the King of Cera who remaining neuter during this War is very fit to be a Mediator between the King of Clusium and the Prince my Husband but before it 's put in execution you must promise me that in case by your solicitations and address you can neither conclude a Peace between these two Princes nor to oblige them to consent that you may espouse Galerita you will come back to reassume your chains for it is not just knowing your valour and good fortune in the War I should put such a valiant man as you in the head of an Army which must fight against Mezentius for though he is sometimes violent and unjust I am his Wife and ought to espouse his interest against all the World think therefore if you are capable to accomplish my desires as Porsenna was amorous and Nicetales proposition was equitable he promised her with joy to perform all the desired on condition she would likewise promise him to use all her power that he might espouse Galerita so the agreement being fully concluded they resolved that this Princess should return to Perusia and he that commanded the Castle absolutely depending on Nicetale should give him leave to escape and Porsenna through an interest of love was obliged to wish the absence of his beloved object as Nicetale desired passionately Peace should be concluded before the beginning of the Spring she hastened her return to accelerate the execution of her design but as she now look'd upon Porsenna as a Prince which should espouse her Daughter she permitted them to have some particular conference the day which preceded her departure whilst she entertained below a Lady of Quality which had arrived there that Morning so that Porsenna in this manner bid adieu to that young and fair Person the Grandeur of whose Spirit equalling her great Beauty made her to tell things most judicious to the Prince whom she was about to leave for after he had made to her a thousand Protestations of fidelity she told him she would not oblige him to so many things as the Princess her Mother had in case that he could not make a pacification between the King of Clusium and the Prince of Perusia she would only desire him not to bear Arms against the Prince her Father but Porsenna having answered her that if he was free honour would force him to fight for his Father and both love and honour equally engaging him to her if he could not conclude a Peace he would come back to re-assume his Irons which seemed to him much lighter than those with which love had chained him in fine Madam this separation was so tender and sensible and those which have related this Adventure say that it was scarce credible that so young a Person as Galerita should have power to draw her self from his conversation with so much judgment and address and assuredly this particular entertainment much encreased the Princes affection In the mean time Nicetale after she had reconfirmed her promises to him and he had renewed his to her returned to Perusia leaving a secret order with him which commanded the Castle who was the Son of the Princess Galerita's Governess to favour Porsenna's escape in four or five days but so privately to act it that he might not in the least appear culpable of it this man over whom his Mother had as much power by her address as by that which nature gave her disposed himself to hazard his Fortune in hopes to advance it and executed it so happily a few days after the Princess Nicetale was returned to Perusia that Porsenna saved himself as if he had suborned some of his Guards who went with him neither did Mezentius know any thing of Porsenna's love to Galerita nor the Intelligence of Nicetale with Porsenna In the mean time this Prince according to his word went to Cera from whence he sent to the King of Clusium to intreat him to endeavour to conclude a Peace with the Prince of Perusia by proposing his Marriage with the Princess his Daughter and he to whom this imployment was committed being a man of Quality very fit to perform this Commission Porsenna fully instructed him of all the reasons which might oblige the King his Father to consent to his Propositions charging him that if he would not effect it to tell him that he was not free but in appearance and that he would return to the Prison of the Prince of Perusia when his hopes were frustrated of espousing the Princess Galerita and to give Peace to two of the most considerable Estates of all Etruria at first the King of Clusium was strangely irritated against the Prince his Son because he went to Cera and not to him and vented his anger against his Proposition but Porsenna having secretly wrote to those which had some credit over this his Father's Spirit that they might induce him to make Peace they knew so well how to represent to him that his people were weary of War and the advantage that the Marriage of his Son with the blooming youth of the Perusian Princess would bring him that in the end he
the end they both comforted themselves for the losse of their child by him fortune had given them and by the consolation they had to see one another after they had believed never to have seen one another again and it seemed that in the shipwrack where they had believed to have lost all they saved that which was of most value for they found a part of their vessel run on ground on a heap of sand where the richest things which they had were and Sulpicia strugling in the water had seised on a plank of another broken vessel upon which was a casket fastned by divers cords wound round about it in that turning which was made at the time of the shipwrack so that this faithfull slave of Clelius who had saved Sulpicia having found her sustaining her self by this plank which was ready to sink by the weight of this casket supported her and brought her to the vessel where Clelius found her for it was very nigh bringing likewise in his hands the casket which was fastened to the plank imagining without examination that it was hers so that after Clelius and Sulpicia had had the leasure to meditate on the accident which was arrived they found that their losse was lesse then they thought of in this occasion for they had found a child instead of theirs and stones of an inestimable value in that Casket In the mean time Clelius believing that he could not better acknowledge the favour that the gods had afforded him by saving his life than in having a particular care of that child he had found prayed Sulpicia to nourish it instead of hers and to love it as her own and as they both felt the grief they had for the losse of theirs they would have restored this child to those which had lost it if they were not perisht themselves but they could not hear of them for the misfortune was that those of the Carthaginian Vessels saved none but those which were with Clelius and the other vessels which were nigh that in which Porsennas son was shipwrackt succoured those which escaped there but as the tempest separated them and their wayes being different Clelius could learn nothing of the birth of this child neither of what country he was neverthelesse his hope was that the vessel which had saved him went thither where he had a design to go he obliged the Captain to whom he owed his life to bring him to Carthage where he had a design to passe the time of his exile to the end said he that I may not have my spirit troubled by the recitall of Tarquins tyranny But to make Sulpicia love the child better the gods had given them he desired he should have the name of Aronces which was the name of the child he had lost but he would not say when he came to Carthage that Aronces was his son though he had for him a paternal affection for fear that should obscure his knowledge and not knowing whether he should have other children he would not disguise the truth but he would carefully keep the Cradle and the swading bands in which this child had been found and likewise imagined that the stones he had found in that Casket might conduce to his knowledge And he had for this child which was unknown to him all the cares which his high birth rendred him worthy of but whilst Clelius rendred to him all the offices of a true father Nicius and Martia which had been saved by a Syracusian vessel were in so strange a despair for the losse of this young Prince which was trusted to their care that they durst never declare his death to the particular friends of Galerita though they were strongly perswaded he had perished for as things were then if this young Prince had been in their power they durst not in any wise have revealed his birth and they remained at Syracusa where they learnt that Porsenna was more strictly kept that Bianor persecuted Golerita and that Sextilia had no children But to return to Clelius and Sulpicia you shall know Madam that they lived at Carthage where their vertue soon gained them many friends and the young Aronces comforted them so well for the losse of their son that if they had had a desire to destroy him to resuscitate the other they could not resolve to do it and indeed I have heard them say he was amiable even from his Cradle and that he ever appeared to have something so great in him little as he was that it was easie even then to imagine that he should be of illustrious extraction he was likewise more dear to Clelius and Sulpitia because they were four years without any children but in the end Sulpitia had a daughter which was called Clelia but a daughter so fair that they spoke of her beauty even at her birth I shall not trouble my self Madam to exaggerate to you all her first attraction though I have heard Aronces say she testified so much spirit even before she could speak for as I have things of more importance to tell you I shall not weary your patience by a recital of that nature and I shall content my self to assure you that if Clelius forgot nothing to bring up the young Aronces Sulpicia likewise forgot nothing to bring up the young Clelia neither shall trouble my self Madam to tell you many particularitis of the Grandeur and Magnificence of Carthage to make you comprehend that these two Persons could not be better in any place of the Earth since it is true they found in it all they might find in the most political Republicks and in the most flourishing Monarchies but as it is not that of which I must treat but it is the life of Aronces you must know I shall tell you in two words that Carthage is one of the richest and fairest Cities in the World and that as all the Africans have a natural inclination to delight though they are a warlike People all pleasures were found in this Magnificent City as much as in any place of the Earth Moreover as Carthage is dreadful to her Neighbours it is never without the residence of men of Quality from all bordering Estates and it hath in its Neighbourhood a Prince which is called the Prince of Carthage because he derives his descent from an Aunt of Dido which did likewise reside there before he imbroyled himself with this Republick the Prince of Numidia here present was at this time there and there was no Prince in Africa which desired not to send his Children to Carthage so that Aronces saw even from his Birth Persons whose conditions were proportionable to his for as Clelius was much esteemed in this City and Aronces was of a pleasant disposition and a dexterous wit he easily familiarised himself with the Carthaginian and Numidian Princes they being all of one Age the Prince of Carthage so entirely affecting his Conversation that when he went to a City
extinguish it so Love hath need of entertainment to increase it but as this spark is fire though it casteth no great heat nor light so Love at first is Love though it is but newly begun It is certain replyed Aronces that Love as friendship may be born in an instant which usually is preceded by many good Offices but I am perswaded that that Love which hath no sudden beginning and which is advanc'd by great esteem and very much admiration is more strong and solid then that which is tumultuously born without knowing whether the person beloved hath either virtue or spirit for I have heard say that there are men which become amorous of women with whom they had never changed aword and there are some sayd Sozonisba which have loved women having never seen them and which have even loved a picture for those added Barce I think they may be rather rank'd with those which have no reason then in the rank of those which have Love Indeed replyed Clelia t is not so strange to see a man very amorous of a fair picture as of a woman which hath neither Beauty spirit or virtue as there are some which are For my particular replied I I find the fair Clelia hath reason and that it is the greatest folly imaginable to love that which is not amiable I am of your opinion replyed Horatius but be likewise of mine and confess that all great passions have a violent beginning and that there is nothing which more demonstrates an ardent and durable Love then when it is born in an instant without consulting our reason I casily am of your opinion replyed Aronces that one may begin to have love at the first sight of an amiable person but I will not confess that those which have this first thought of passion more violent than others love more or longer for 't is rather an effect of their temperament than the grandeur of their passion so that ordinarily those which are of a hot nature love not so constantly as others because not having power over their own dispositions they must necessarily change Love as other things and it consequently follows that those which love the speediest are not the most constant But in fine said Clelia it matters not whether they change or not 't is not of that I intend to speak for that I maintain is that one cannot have Love at the first sight they see a woman I assure you Madam replyed Horatius I know a man which from the first day he saw one of the most admirable persons in the world had I know not what in his heart which entirely possest it which gave him joy and inquietude desires hope and fear and which in fine rendred him so different from himself that if it was not love he had in his heart it was something which very much resembled it I know another replyed Aronces without suspecting Horatius his Passion for Clelia which hath long time had esteem and admiration without loving a marvellous person 't is true I am perswaded that the reason which then hindred him from it was that he believed himself not permitted to love that which he should adore but beginning to love replyed Clelia hath he left adoration for if so I find that which he adored ought to wish he should not love it these two Resentments are not incompatible Madam replyed Aronces and though we might adore things we love not because they surpass our knowledge we do nevertheless love that which we adore for my self replyed Barce between those two thoughts I should love him better which belongs to a mistress than him which appertains not but to a Goddess and the tenderness of the heart is so to be prefer'd before the admiration of the spirit that I put no comparison between those two things indeed added Sozonisbe tenderness is a quality so necessary to all manner of affections that they cannot be agreeable or perfect if it is not there I comprehend well said Clelia that we may say a tender amity and there is a notable difference between an ordinary and a tender amity but said Sozonizbe I have never heard of a tender amity and I ever sigur'd it to my self that this affected and significative term was consecrated to perfect amity and that it was only speaking of it we might sitly imply the word tender so many men use it now replyed I that we know not a truer signification of it I would therefore hinder said Clelia that that word which signifies a thing so sweet rare and agreeable should be prophan'd though Celeres hath said every one useth it For my particular replied Sozonizbe I promise you always to make use of it if you can make me understand its true signification I promise the same thing added Barce for I ingenuously confess unto you that though there passes never a day but I tell some of my friends that I love them tenderly and some friends accost me in the same Language I confess it may be that it appertains not to me to use it As I am perswaded added Aronces that there is a species of an amorous tenderness which puts as much difference between the Loves of those which have it or have it not as ordinary tenderness puts to amity I shall be infinitely obliged to the fair Clelia if she will define tenderness and decipher how I may know it and what value it sets on friendship to the end I may prove in the sequel of it that tenderness joyned to Love much augmenteth its estimation as I have naturally a tender Spirit replyed Clelia I think it appertains to me more than any other to speak of tenderness and that Barce with all her Spirit cannot do it so well as I. I have already confessed replyed that fair person that I do not well know how to make use of this word neither do I precisely know whether I have any tenderness or not therefore I shall be infinitely obliged if you please to tell me the difference between an ordinary and a tender amity it is so considerable replyed Clelia that I may very well say there is less between the indifferent amity than between these two For in fine that which hath no tenderness is a kind of a tranquillous friendship which gives neither great contentments nor great inquietudes to those which are capable of them they have even friendship in their hearts without expressing any sensibility depart from them without being melancholy they think not of them if they see them not they render them courtesies without great joy and they receive them without much acknowledgment they neglect all petty cares the evils of those they love touch them not generosity and ostentation hath as much part in all they act as friendship they have a certain Lethargy of heart which makes them not feel the joy to be beloved of those they love they put little difference between the conversation of other persons and those to whom they have
promised amity In fine they love with so much lukewarmness that the least contestation there is between them and their friends they are ready to infringe their promised friendship Furthermore they are not enough sensible neither of the good or evil of those to whom they have promised friendship for usually they coldly oppose those who defame them and praise them themselves without order or aggravation and we may say they love as if they loved not so lukewarm is this sort of friendship and usually their affection is very much interessed and if any one seek the cause of it they would be found but in themselves And indeed we see every day that those friends without tenderness abandon those to whom they have promised affection as soon as fortune frowns on them there is likewise some of them which cannot suffer the long sickness of those they love and which desire to see them with assiduity when they are not in estate to divertise them That which you now say happened once to me replyed Sozonisbe for I had a languishing malady which made me know there are few tender friends in the beginning when I fell sick pursued this fair person they had very great care of me but when the length of my sickness had made me become melancholy and that I demanded no remedies but of those which came to see me instead of then demanding news of me or to tell them of it I was soon in a very great solitude and I knew that those whom I esteemed my best friends derided at me in effect a man one day of my acquaintance was asked how long it was since he saw me he answered that till he was become so experienced to find some remedies to cure my melancholy he would not see me and the same question being demanded a Lady she said cruelly that unless she knew the vertue of all vegetables she could not make me a visit which would be pleasing to me and that it was better to leave me at quiet than to weary themselves by importuning me 'T is true said Aronces what this fair Sozonisba hath said and it is true added Horatius because we usually content our selves to deplore their mishaps without comforting them judge then I pray added Clelia if friendship without tenderness is a sweet thing and if I have not reason not to account them friends which have not a tender heart as I have expressed to you for in fine it is not that only which makes the sweetness of amity and which makes it constant and violent together tenderness hath yet that of more particular that even ascribeth to it I know not what character of gallantry which rendring it more divertising it inspireth civility in those which are capable of it and there is as great difference between a tender friend and an ordinary friend as between a tender friend and a lover but better to define tenderness I think I may call it a certain sensibility of heart which never soveraignly operates but in those which have noble souls vertuous Inclinations and well weighed spirits and which makes them when they have friendship to have it sincerely and ardently and to feel lively the griefs and joys of those they love as their own 't is this tenderness which obliges them to love better to be with their unhappy friends than to be in a place of divertisement it is this which makes them excuse their faults and defects and to praise with exaggeration their least virtues 't is this which makes them do great services with joy which makes them not neglect the least cares which renders particular conversations more sweet than general which entertaineth Confidence which easily appeaseth any disorder which happeneth amongst friends which uniteth all their desires which makes complacency equality as agreeable to those which have it as to those for whom they have have it and in a word comprehends all sweetness and affection of friendship and in effect it 's this alone which puts joy there and which by a particular priviledge savours nothing of the irregularity of Love but resembles it in many things else those which have but a stupid and common friendship take only the care to keep the fairest Letters of their friends but those which have a tender friendship keep with pleasure even their least notes they hearken to an obliging word with a joy which obliges those which told it them they take pleasure in the least things and by an inexplicable charm those which have a true tenderness in their hearts are never troubled to assist those for whom they have friendship if they should be sick or melancholy judge then what difference there is between friends without tenderness and tender friends Ah Madam replied Aronces if I would as well define the tenderness of Love as you have deciphered that of friendship I should assuredly make this company confess that there is Love without tenderness as well as friends 'T is true added Horatius and the fair Clelia hath admirably represented that precious and delicate part of friendship few are acquainted with For my pariicular said Barce smiling I confess in my life I never fitly used the word tenderness if it be true that it must have positively seat in the heart as Clelia hath said to have it right that is to say to love tenderly It is not so with me added Sozonisbe for it seems that I have an heart made in the manner as it ought to be to beast of tenderness For my part replyed I which have had more Love than friendship in my life it more imports me to know what that amorous tenderness which puts a difference between Lovers than that which is between friends I would therefore desire the fair Clelia to permit Aronces to give his judgment of it though I have less Interest in that kind of tenderness replyed she then you have in that I have spoken of I voluntarily consent that Aronces tell it you If t is true you do not know it Since you then permit me Madam sayd Aronces I will boldly say that tenderness is a quality more necessary for Love then friendship for it is certain that that affection which is produced by the help of reason and which is conducted and governed by it may sometimes act in the hearts of those in which it is as if they had tenderness though naturally they had it not but for Love which is ever incompatible with reason and which at least can never be subject to it it hath absolutely need of tenderness to correct its brutality stupidity and inconsideration In effect a Love without Tenderness hath nothing but impetuous desires which can be confined to no bounds nor limits and a Lover which hath a like passion in his Soul considers nothing but his own satisfaction without considering the honour of the person belov'd for one of the principal Offices of true tenderness is that it takes much more care for the person it loves then its own
manner that if you could see my heart you would never have the injustice to deface your Image from it I know amiable Clelia that I am unfortunate an unknown One but if you knew my flame and the purity of my thoughts you would not be offended to be beloved in the manner I love you take then the pains to know them and condemn me not without it I pray you But to the end I may know if you consent to my demand I declare to you that if you answer me not I shall believe that you favourably entertain my love and that I shall have nothing but to render you thanks for it but on the contrary if you take a resolution to treat me rigorously I had rather receive a cruel Letter than receive none I pray you make me not despair for in the passion I have for you I cannot lose hope without losing my life The reading of this Letter so much surprised Clelia that she could not tell what she felt in reading it for as she much esteemed Aronces and had much inclination towards him she could not entertain a disobliging anger against him Nevertheless her natural modesty checkt her to do it 'T is true as she knew her Fathers thoughts it was followed with some momentary grief to see it was not permitted her to give any reasonable hope to the person in the world she believed most worthy of her if she had known his birth and if her Father had not had an intention never to marry her but to a Roman so that this astonishment anger and grief so much possessed her Spirit that she thought not to read Horatius his Letter and if her distraction had not made her open it without thinking on it she would have slept without seeing it but having opened it without any design to do it and seeing the Song she demanded if Horatius was not there and that it was only a Letter she read it but not without less astonishment than she had done Aronces For in fine Madam I can shew you a Copy of it that I will read to you seeing you will not be ignorant of any thing in which Aronces is interested Horatius to Clelia I Send you not those Verses you demanded of me because having perused them I found they did not merit your sight and if I dare say so they were even unworthy of me but there is another reason which hinders me from obeying you for in fine amiable Clelia I foresee I go to be so cruelly used by you that you would not sing a Song which I made T' is not but that I use all means possible not to be rigorously treated but I sensibly feel that when I tell you now I love you you will soon divine it 't is therefore I had rather declare it to you my self to the end you may have some obligation to me to have concealed it so long from you Know then divine Clelia that the first minute I saw you was the first of my passion and that the last of my love will be the last of my life I know I have not great quality enough to merit you but I know I have divers things which may hinder me from being ill used For in fine I am a Roman I am beloved by Clelius my love and hate runs in the same current as his I am an Exile as he is I am unfortunate and I love you more than can be imagined dispose therefore absolutely of my destiny but if it is possible banish me not from your heart as I am from Rome if you will not be more unjust than the Tyrant which banisht me thence and render me infinitely more unhappy by this second and more rigorous Exile than I am by the first Clelia having finished the reading of this Letter was much perplexed to resolve what she should do for she found something so various in this mishap which had made her receive two declarations of love in one moment that she knew not what to imagine of it That which most troubled her was that Aronces and Horatius were friends and that they might both say they had obligations to her so that having thought a little thereupon it came into her mind that that which gave her so much inquietude was not it may be but a simple gallantry agreed on between them to perplex her for in our Caballa we make an hundred malicious intents one to another in divers occasions Clelia therefore finding some sweetness in believing it to draw her self from that perplexity where she was made as if she really believed it and hath since ingenuously confessed to me that though the Letter of Aronces much vexed and afflicted her yet she felt in her heart that she sustained it more agreeably than that of Horatius but after she had confirmed her self in this belief more by her will than reason she took a resolution to answer those two Letters as if she had certainly known that these two friends desired to deceive her but as she was not assured of it she determined to write to both of them obscurely to the end not to breed any contention between them if her thoughts deceived her and not to discover to them that they had both discovered their Loves to her if it was true they loved her For in fine said this admirable Maid to her self if Aronces and Horatius have plotted this invention they will understand what I shall tell them and know that they have not deceived me and if it is not a deceit and that they have written to me without one anothers knowledge I shall not embroyl them and I shall not find my self in the necessity to answer seriously to two Letters wherein I shall find my self perplexed to do it for I should answer it may be too roughly to Horatius and too mildly to Aronces After this Clelia taking a resolution to draw her self speedily from this perplexity answered to those two Letters by two Notes that I shall tell you for I think I never saw any of Clelia's writing that I have not retained I so much esteem her This Madam was her answer to Aronces Clelia to Aronces YOur deceit hath not succeeded and he with whom you have contrived it shall have no more joy than you to believe it would deceive me believe me Aronces it suffices not to have spirit to be a deceiver but a certain maliciousness of which I believe you incapable therefore enterprise no more to deceive me and to prove that your design both effectually ill succeeded I protest unto you your Letter hath not angred me one moment after this I think I need no more explicate to you my thoughts and that you believe that I believe you are not amorous of me You see Madam what was Clelia's Note to Aronces and so what was that she wrote to his Rival Clelia to Horatius VVHen two have joyned to contrive a Cheat it is easier to be found out pretend not then I conjure you
that yours hath happily succeeded and to testifie unto you that I believe not to be so well with you as you may be evil with me I pray send me the Verses I have demanded of you but I likewise pray you to be strongly perswaded that you can never enterprise any thing that less resembles truth than what you have undertook for in fine to speak sincerely I live after such a manner in the world that one must have lost ones sense and reason if he think to procure my friendship and not my hatred by disclosing his affection to me in an amorous Letter I am assured Madam you know that though these two Notes were written on one subject and by one person and that this person had an equal design in writing them that that which addressed to Horatius was clothed with more rigorous and severe language than the other but I must tell you the effect they produced in the minds of those which received them the next day imagine then Madam that when Aronces received that which appertained to him there was a strange emotion in his heart for as he writ to Clelia that if she answered him not he would believe she was favourable to him he thought seeing she wrote to him he was going to receive his arrest of death and that which made him think so was that Clelia's Slave by the orders of her Mistress had given him this Note without staying for an answer so that he opened it with an extreme Inquietude but when he had read it his spirit was a little more setled but he was much perplexed to divine what Clelia would say when she told him that he had contriv'd with another this deceit Nevertheless after he had well considered on it he believed that Clelia had purposely premeditated it not to be obliged to evil treat him and that it was I that she made him seemingly think which had part in this pretended deceit of which she spoke in her Note so that looking upon this Artifice of Clelia as an obliging procedure for him he found himself more happy than he hoped He likewise received me with much joy when I entred into his Chamber a quarter of an hour after he had received this Note but as I was sufficiently troubled at the anger of Fenice I hearkned not to him so attentively as he would have me so that being angry at me Ah cruel friend said he to me you interest not your self in my fortune You take so little part in mine said I to him that I have more cause to complain of you than you have of me for after you have told me you are not so miserable as you thought your self you demand not of me how I stand with Fenice but for to make you see you are happier than I to read the Letter I leave you that this fair person hath wrote on the adventure of the Echo for I am pressed to go to a friend of hers to adventure to oblige her to justifie me to her After I had left Fenice's Letter in his hands I left him but departing from his Chamber I met Horatius who entred there and who appeared to have something in his spirit which made him melancholy for he took no notice of me In effect Madam you must know that Clelia's answer had highly perplexed him for he knew he had not mentioned his love to any one nor the Letter he had wrote to her so that he knew not what to think of that she wrote to him seeing that on whatsoever side he looked on the thing he found nothing of true semblance In the mean time he felt I know not what in Clelias words which made him believe that he had not any part in her heart he was notwithstanding perswaded that he might have right to pretend thereto if it was not engaged so that now thinking on what he never before thought of he sought to find if it was possible whether Clelia lov'd any one but after he had examin'd it he found that if this fair person had some particular affection in her heart it must necessarily be for Aronces and that it must consequently follow Aronces lov'd her for he suspected her not to love without being belov'd This thought was no sooner formed in his imagination but it excited in him a great disturbance In effect as Horatius is generous and that he had many Obligations to Aronces he had a strange agitation of heart when he thought he might be his Rival it likewise raised a War in his Spirit and he effectualy took a resolution to resist his passion if he learnt Aronces loved Clelia So that endeavouring handsomly to clear himself he went to Aronces his house and he arrived there as I told you when I departed from thence so that he had the Letter of Fenice in his hands I had given him and Clelias answer but as soon as Aronces saw Horatius enter he concealed Clelias Letter and still kept Fenices in his hands for in this inopinate occasion he thought on nothing but his own interest and not mine 'T is true that this Letter was writ in such a manner that the Author of it could not be known if one did not know the writing neither for whom it was it having no superscription and the reproaches of Fenice were in such a nature that one would not divine the cause of them Horatius then entred into Aronces his Chamber with an intention to discover by a familiar discourse if he loved Clelia and endeavour to divert his love if it was so he saw some emotion in his countenance because his mind was then disquieted and according to the nature of love which make Lovers fear the slightest things in certain occasions he feared that Horatius should see Clelias Letter and know it so that this disquised Lover seeing some agitation on Aronces face and seeing a Letter in his hands which was written in Tablets he held open without thinking on it he so little dreamed of me and seeing they were made in a manner as Ladyes ordinarily use to write to men he demanded of him after some complements if those Tablets came from Clelia Horatius having not any other design than to speak to him of that fair Maid on all sorts of subjects to note either by his actions or words if there was any suspicion that he was amorous of that fair person But Horatius had hardly demanded this of Aronces but this Lover which was unprepared was much surprised at it because it was true as you know that he had one of Clelias Letters about him and would not hinder himself from telling him this Letter was not from her so as Horatius noting it and not doubting but those Tablets were Clelia's he spoke to Aronces beleeving it so by your favour said he to him do not conceal the truth from me and tell me if the Letter you have in your hand is not from the admirable daughter of Sulpicia as I do not doubt of
you could not deceive when I did not distrust judge then if you can do it now you have rendred your selves suspected Aronces and Horatius hearing Clelia speak in this manner were strangely surprised for her words agreeing with her writing they knew by this both had written and that both their Themes were love since she used the same terms to them both and not having power to hinder their surprisals and their astonishments they changed colour looked on one another and afterwards looked on Clelia as if they had desired to see her thoughts in her eyes or what they should answer her On the other side Clelia seeing the agitation of their spirits knew she was deceived and blushed by a modest thought mingled with confusion but she did not judge it fit to retract what she had said and she continued to make war to them as she had begun for after Aronces was come from his astonishment For my particular Madam said he to her I protest unto you I had no desire to deceive you and Horatius very well knows I never proposed any deceit to him I confess what you say replyed he but confess likewise I never proposed to you in my life to deceive the fair Clelia to the end that as I shall make yours you may make my justification the path which you tread to justifie your selves will render you more culpable than you imagine replyed she therefore if you will believe me divide the controversie between you concerning the crime I accuse you At least amiable Clelia replyed Aronces with precipitation tell me if Horatius his crime is in the nature of mine I pray you Madam added Horatius yield not to Aronces that he demands of you without doing the like to me and without telling me if the fallacy of which you accuse him is like that you accuse me of If I should consent to your demands replyed Clelia prudently I should give you honour to have deceived me since I should take the pains to tell you a thing I suppose you know but in fine whether your terms be equal or no speak no more of it for in the humour in which I am I cannot tolerate such abuses take then some care to make me forget those you have done me and never propound it more to me if you will not have me fear or flee you as if I had contracted much hatred against you I know not replyed Aronces what Horatius hath done or said which hath angred you but for my part Madam I protest unto you that if I have incurred your displeasure I am disposed to displease you all my life Those which have begun a thing added Horatius do not so easily leave it off therefore Madam you ought not to think it strange if I make use of Aronces his expressions and assure you if I am criminal I shall be so till death I shall suffer the rest of the day replied Clelia seeming to believe that in effect you have deceived me but I declare to you my patience extends no further and that if to morrow you thus speak to me I shall effectually act as if the deceit had succeeded As Clelia had finished these words one of Horatius friends entred and I entred a little after with Fenice with whom I had made my peace since I left Aronces 't is true the better to confirm her I was not very sorry to accompany her to Clelias house to the end she might hear from her mouth that t was Horatius had made the Song which was the occasion of our quarrel she accusing me to have done it and I turned their discourse in such a manner that I finished to Fenice my justification but I was much surprised to see Aronces and Horatius both melancholy that they which used to be very civil had some disposition to contradict one another I assure you Madam this I tell you surprises you for after I had told you that Horatius had a design to discover if Aronces was his Rival to the end to endeavour to vanquish his passion I am assured I say Madam that you are astonished to see this exasperation at first principally in Horatius his Spirit but I may say he is not culpable because it is so natural not to love a Rival that what obligation soever he had to Aronces he would not look upon him as his Rival without feeling in his heart an extreme agitation Aronces on his part not doubting but that Horatius loved Clelia had a most sensible grief and as reasonable as he was he would not hinder himself from telling me afterwards that he was as much incensed against Horatius as if after he had made him the confident of his passion he was become his Rival he therefore endeavoured to overcome the tumultuous resentments of his heart and in effect those two Rivals departed from Sulpitia's house as if they had nothing in their souls which had begun to change their thoughts but the most remarkable thing in this adventure was that Aronces and Horatius both took an equal design for Horatius resolved to acquaint Aronces with his affection and Aronces to precede Horatius resolved to discover first his passion for Clelia to him so that those two Rivals instead of flying one another departed together from Clelia's house as I have told you and having proposed to one another to walk they went into a publick Garden where every one had the liberty to go but they were no sooner there but both being desirous to use one anothers confidence they hindred themselves sometimes by their own impatience and as soon as they were in the Garden Aronces thus said to Horatius As I infinitely esteem you I shall be very glad to acquaint you with the most important affairs which have hapned to me in the whole course of my life I pray said Horatius let me first finish my discourse for there is no reason you should deprive me of that advantage since I first begun to unlock to you the greatest secret in my heart When I have told you I am amorous of Clelia interrupted Aronces then tell me what you please Ah Aronces cryed Horatius you have prevented me and I have nothing now to tell you but that I fear I shall be conscious of ingratitude towards you and shall not have enough power over my self as not to be your Rival What Horatius said Aronces is it true that you love Clelia Yes said he I love her and it was to endeavour to discover if you loved her that I came to your house that day Clelius interrupted us and when I entred into your Chamber I had taken a resolution if I could discover you to be my Rival to vanquish my passion by all means I could possbly use but truly I cannot tell whether my inclination induced me to do it for since I have known you love Clelia I have so terrible an agitation in my heart that I do not know whether I should love Clelia hate you or hate my self
the Antemians the Sabines were all glorious unto Romulus though the power was divided for a while Afterwards the War with the Fidenatians began then the Vientaneans followed and in both Romulus got eternal glory But after he had punished the injustice done unto his Mother after he had established several good Laws after he had performed many glorious Feats of War killed Kings triumphed solemnly and given peace to his people he ceased to Reign in ceasing to live Some thought that the hundred Senators whom he had established procured him to be murthered that they might Reign Others said that he only vanished but the opinion of such as do not use to follow the vogue of the blind vulgar was that there was one whose name was Proculus who seeing the people ready to fall upon the Senators to appease them came and told them that Romulus did appear unto him ascending up into Heaven and assured them that their Town should be Mistress of the whole Earth So as the immortality of Romulus and this happy presage qualifying the people their whole thoughts were how they should render such honour unto him as unto the Gods This Artemidorus was the original of Rome and this was their first King who doubtless was both valiant and wise and fully accomplished for the establishing of an Empire For my part it is such a terrour to me when I consider how the same people who never were governed but by valiant wise and vertuous Kings can brook the government of a Tyrant that I tremble at it And to induce you into my opinion before I satisfie your Curiosity I would speak something of all those who preceeded him Know then that according to the first Law which Romulus had established which was that the people should chuse their Kings and that this election should be confirmed or refused by the Senators which he had instituted A man of high vertues called Numa Pompilius was chosen King of Rome by universal consent and certainly most deservedly for he was indowed with all the virtues of the ancient Sabines ftom whence he was descended He was prudent pacifique and religious and it may well be said that the Gods would by his Prudence and Piety establish that Throne which Romulus had erected by his Power and courage he spent the whole three and forty years which he reigned only in regulating matters of Religion making of Laws extinguishing those vices which the War had introduced in teaching virtue in woing men to Peace in building Temples in doing Justice unto men and in reverencing the Gods It was he who set up the Vestals in Rome the institution whereof was before at Albez This was he who instituted the Salian Priests and all their Ceremonies This was he who did regulate the Months it was he who built the famous Temple of Janus which is alwayes open in time of War and always shut in time of Peace this was he who to testifie his love of the Sciences and Arts did consecrate a Grove unto the Muses unto which he would often retire himself It was said that it was there where a Nymph named Egeria came to inspire him in all things he did But after a three and forty years peace had given him leasure to inspire his people with the love of Wisdom he died and one of the most valiant men upon Earth was chosen in his place But this Prince being a greater Souldier than Romulus he began the famour War of Albe which had such glorious success that he ruined one of the greatest Cities upon Earth or to say better he joyned it unto Rome and of two Peoples made but one The famous Combate of the three Horatij against the three Curatij was fought during his Reign after which the Fideates and the Vecentines incited by those of Albe renewed the War But Tullus maugre all opposition vanquished his Enemies destroyed the famous City of Albe and angmented the glory of Rome he had after another War against the Sabines whom he vanquished but after he had bestowed half his Reign in imitation of Romulus he bestowed the other half in imitation of Numa for he did not only become Religious as he was but even superstitious But at last a Thunder-bolt having ended his life and his Reign another man called Ancus Martius who was Son unto a Daughter of Numa Pompilius was chosen King of Rome so as emulating the glory of resembling his Grand-father he began to cause all his Ordinances to be observed But fearing lest his neighbours should draw some advantage from his Piety he began to bestir himself in matters Military wherein matters of Religion had no share that his enemies might see he thought of War in time of Peace And indeed the people of Latium falling upon him he vanquished them and also the Sabines and afterwards he lived in Peace It was he who built the first Prison in Rome and who built a Bridge over Tiber it was he who inclosed the Mount Aventine and of Janicula within the Wall of the Town and who built the City of Ostia but after a Reign of four and twenty years he died But after he had prohibited all his Subjects from setting up any new Religions of their own fancy and commanded them to be conformable unto that which was established in the State Hitherto Generous Artemidorus all I have said hath no relation to the story of Tarquin the Proud nor would I have related it but because it was your desire But now I am to treat of the fifth King of Rome I must tell you that if he had not been King Tarquin who Reigns at this day had never been her Tyrant And therefore it is requisite I speak a little larger upon the first of the Tarquins who as he was a Greek originally and Ambition made him do many brave things so it is the same passion which caused so many Crimes in his Successor and for divers reasons I must enlarge my self upon this Subject Know then that a man called Demarathius of the City of Corinth being forced to leave his Countrey because it was divided and the side which he took proved the weaker he came to dwell in a Town called Tarquinia where he married and where he had a Son called Lucumo and another who died Mean time Lucumo being heir unto his Father who was very rich he married a Woman of great quality and high spirit who was called Tanaquil And not enduring that her Husband should dwell in a Town where Ambition was an unprofitable passion she perswaded him to go and dwell at Rome where vertue was recompenced and where the happy might happily become Kings as experience had shewed And in order to this they setled their affairs and came to Rome But in coming Lucumo a happy Omen which is known over all the World also supposing you have heard what happened unto him as he was in the Coach with Tanaquil I will only tell you how an Eagle hovering in the Air came
the Senates Consent for him unto whom he should marry her and that this would be a shorter and more sure way to get upon the Throne Also the People loving the Elder much better than the other he preferred her out of Ambition before her whom his own inclination did prefer as most amiable And therefore without any direct answer unto what Tullia said he said that there needed no examination of any particular adventures for he maintained onely in general that it was requisite to sacrifice Love unto Ambition And I maintain the contrary said the Prince of Amcriola that one ought to sacrifice Ambition unto Love For my part said the Princess and turned aside lest she should meet the eys of the Prince of Ameriola since I have nothing to do either with Love or Ambition I know not what to say unto this dispute All I can say is that if any loved me I would not be sacrificed unto any other interest You are so fit to satisfie both Ambition and Love replied Tarquin that you are not in any danger of such an adventure Tullia hearing what this Ambitious Lover said she was in such a chafe that she rise up and broke off the discourse And imagining which way she might be revenged upon Tarquin and satisfie her own Ambition she conceived her self mistaken when she thought that it would be more advantageous to her to marry him then to marry the Prince Ameriola For said she in that angry mood Tarquin is indeed more ambitious then the Prince his Brother He is more busie and daring and able to surmout all considerations that may bring him to his proposed end but he would be his own chuser of the way by which he would come to the Throne and if he rest upon his own choice perhaps he may be mistaken and lose his way for in all probability he will not know how to manage those opportunities which Fortune shall present unto him Whereas on the contrary the Prince of Ameriola is of a more sweet temper and more agreeable to the People then Tarquin is and I may become Mistress of his spirit either by the way of Love or Fear And when I be in that state I shall make him do as I please and shall be then much more happy then If I were tied to the Fortune of this ambitious Lover For the Prince of Ameriola is questionless most accomplished to Mount a Throne Tullia arguing thus with her self began to flatter the Prince of Ameriola and to disguise some part of her thoughts Yet he stood constantly faithful unto that Princess who also entirely reserved her heart for him But the fidelity which they had unto each other conduced to render them the more miserable for they understood presently after that Servius Tullus was fully resolved that Tarquin should marry the Princess and that the Prince his Brother should marry Tullia Not but that this wise King knew well enough that there was no great correspondency of humour between the Princess and Tarquin nor between Tullia and the Prince of Ameriola but in lieu of joyning Virtuous with the Virtuous and the Ambitious with the Ambitious he thought on the contrary that since he made these two marriages only out of policy and to keep these two Princes from raising any stirs in the State he ought to separate interests the Ambitious from the Ambitious And he resolved upon it the sooner when he knew the discourse which I have related unto you for by it he came to know what the humour of Tarquin was If Tarquin and Tullia be joyned together said he one day unto a Senator there is no violence which they will not attempt and unless I should set them upon the Throne upon their marriage day it were folly to make the match for both of them are ambitious spirits both violent bold and scruple at nothing but in separating them perhaps I shall correct their tempers and in giving unto the ambitious Tarquin a person who hath no ambition who is fair sweet and virtuous one who loves and fears the Gods it is probable she will sweeten the harshness of his temper and will keep him from all attempts against justice Also it is likely that in giving unto the Ambitious Tullia a Prince who is handsome generous and incapable of any injustice he will win upon her heart and alter her mind Also he having a legitimate authority over her she cannot attempt what she would as she might if she had a husband of her own temper Servius Tullus being thus resolved the Prince of Ameriola seeing all hopes of changing his resolution taken away he was in extreme despair On the other side the Princess having employed the Queen her mother to endeavour the alteration the Kings resolution she found by her that the King of was unalterable so as she was extremely sad But the most particular of all this Passage was that though the Prince of Ameriola did most passionately love the Princess and though the Princess had exceeding tender thoughts of the Prince of Ameriola and though they knew each others thoughts yet they did never tell one another that they loved For the Princess was so full of modesty her Lover was so full of respect they both of them saw so little hope of happiness Tarquin kept such a vigilant eye upon his Brother the two Princesses were so seldom a sunder that the Prince of Ameriola never met with any favourable occasion to express his thoughts unto his Princess He had told her a thousand times that she was the person whom he most esteemed he had told her that she was the most lovely Princess upon earth but he never told her in plain terms that he loved her However when both sides had received such intelligence as put them out of all hopes then melancholy did so much damp their spirits as they were scarcely knowable Yet they set the best faces upon the matter that they could and did the same things they were used to do Not long after the Princess using to walk almost every evening in a Garden which was in the Palace of Servius Tullus by the Mount Palatine which he built because he thought his Lodging at that house near the Mount Esquiline was not convenient so it hapned that they going thither to walk according to their custom the two Princes whom they were to marry were there also and as chance would have it Tarquin which ingaged to talk with Tullia for he knowing her to be extremely ambitious though he had no mind to marry her and though he was resolved to sacrifice his love to her unto his ambition yet he desired to appease her a little Tullia as fierce as she was had a desire to see whether she could work any change in his mind by a private conference So as having engaged Tarquin to talk with her he durst not deny her and by this means the Princess and the Prince of Ameriola whose sorrows were extreme had the
in all his actions during his Reign After he had made Alliance with the Latines he deceived them in mixing their Troops with his own when they had no Commanders of their own Nation He caused a man whose name was Herdonius to perish upon a bare surmise he caused him to be loaded with Chains and thrown into a place where he was drowned 'T is true he took the City of Pometia with some honour and he shewed himself a great Captain in that Recounter But afterwards he took the City of the Gabians by such a terrible piece of craft as if it did not more relate unto the Prince Sextus his son then unto him I would tell you the whole passage but after he had made that City desolate and put all the Riches of it into the hands of the People except what he reserved for himself he indeavoured to taste the sweets of Peace and to blind the People And for a guise upon all his injustices in ruining so many he set himself to finish that stately Temple of Jupiter whose foundation the first of the Tarquins had laid But there being many other Temples in building near the Tarpeian Rock where the foundation of this was laid and Tarquin having a mind to make this greater than the Prince who laid the first foundation intended he made no difficulty of pulling down all those Temples and not to incense the People by it he made a shew as if he would first observe the flying of the Birds but certainly the Augures were hired and though the Gods had given such an evident sign as should have restrained him yet he would have done it There was yet one Temple standing which was dedicated unto the God Thermes and Tarquin desiring to make use of all seemed to give credit unto the predictions of the Tuscans to the end that giving this example the People alwaies follow the mind of the Prince might also beleeve with him and be perswaded of what he thought good and as they were digging up the earth to lay the foundation of this stately Temple they found the head of a man whose face continued still in form and Tarquin to make some use of this accident he sent into Tuscany and procured the Divines with whom he consulted to say That it was a most certain sign that Rome as Tarquin had ordered it should be the chief City of all Italy and Mistress of all the World and indeed they gave unto that place the name of Capitol which it bears at this present So as after this he pressed forward the building of this Temple after this he made Seats and Scaffolds about the Theatre at an extraordinary expence He established two new Colonies but in doing all these things he still was doing injuries injustices and cruelties He put the eldest son of his own Sister to death he had not married his own Daughter but with an intent to be perfidious and he omitted nothing which might merit the Title of a perfect Tyrant All this while Tullia in the midst of all her Grandure she never had any content since she was upon the Throne for she was still so jealous of authority as she did not think that Tarquin gave enough unto her and that having more inhumanity to wards Tullus then he had she thought that she might at least divide with him in the Soveraign Power So as time wearing out of her heart that lovewhich she bore unto Tarquin she grew most horribly jealous for as soon as she saw this Prince regarded her no more than another woman she began not to regard him and treated him so ill that sometimes she made him go out of Rome Also she was so horribly hated there as when any took the liberty of speech they called her the detestable Tullia As for Tarquin in spight of all his Guards and Power every one called him Tarquin the Proud At the first he did not take this well and did most severely punish such men as had no other Crimes but calling him so but afterwards he was so insensibly accustomed unto it as he thought this Title not injurious nor did he take it ill men should call him so And to merit it he grew so abominably terrible as those who were his most private confidents of all his Cruelties were sometimes so terrified themselves that they durst not come near him That famous Sibyl who came unto him did yet bring him to her ends for all his cruelty and it hath been wordred a hundred and a hundred times that a Prince so violent as he was did not treat her as sharply as he was used to do others who denied him any thing Yet this Sibyl whose name was Amalthea did bring him unto her Bow though he thought to bring her unto his for when she had presented unto him the nine Books which she had composed and which were said to contain such high matters as soon as he denied her the price she demanded she burned three of them Tarquin thinking her to be out of her wits and having a Curiosity to see those which remained he asked her what she would have for them but Amalthea answering him that she would have as much for those six as she would for the nine this Prince took her for one that was absolutely mad but Amalthea without any astonishment at all took three more of the Books and burned them as she did the first insomuch as Tarquin being more astonished he changed his mind and admiring the Constancy of this Woman he asked her the third time what she would have for the last three Books and she answering as before Tarquin did verily believe that they did contain some great matters therefore he assembled the Augurers for though he made a mocking stock of Religion yet still he observed the Ceremonies But those whom he had assembled thinking it fit he should buy those Books at any rate he gave the Sibyl her demands for them after which she went her way Yet the People say she vanished and those who knew things best did say that Tullia commanded her to get out of Rome However it were these Books were to be keept as sacred and consulted with upon every thing but that Rome might feel all sorts of miseries it was infected with a most contagious disease which was so mortall especially amongst Children as there was not a family in Rome which had not some subject for tears So as since Tarquin had always the outside of Religion he sent two of his Sons unto Delphos with grand offerings A Nephew of Tarquins called Brutus went with them though his true name was Lucius Junius but they called him Brutus because his blockishness did resemble that of Brutes Yet he was in such a condition to be envied by those of the wiser sort and his folly made him more safe under the Tyranny of Tarquin than all their wisdoms could He had a father of a great spirit whom Tarquin put to death but for this man
he being harmlesly incapable of hurting any Tarquin was contented to take his estate which was very great without sacrificing him unto his cruelty I shall not insist any longer upon a particular relation of all his wickednesses nor his reasons which moved him to banish me for that would be to relate the whole History of my life which I will not mix with the story of so wicked a man Yet I must be so just as to confess that of four Children which he hath three of them deserve to have a Father less cruel and a Mother more virtuous for the second of his sons who by his first name is called Aruntius and afterwards named the Prince of Pometia because he did signalize himself at the taking of that Town is a Prince that is every way admirable the third who is called Titus is also a man of very noble inclinations and the Daughter of Tarquin who is married hath all the sweetness and modesty of a good woman But as for the Prince Sextus who is also called the young Tarquin he is much different from his Brothers though he be not so very bad as Tarquin the Proud for he is handsom of a good mind and a pleasant spirit he is naturally eloquent his Ambition is not unmeasurable he is merry frollick and of a quick fancy his inclination is to love all manner of pleasures without any distinguishing of the innocent from the Criminal and of the two he loves those of a Licentious Debauchery better than those who are not so So as having a smack of his Fathers fierceness and a little of his Mothers cruelty and mixing these two with his Libertinism and Debauchery it may well be said that he hath a hundred dangerous qualities for one good one This Sir is the Character of Tarquins Family at this day and this is the character of Tarquin himself who now intends to besiege Ardes and who maugre all his Crimes is so terrible and considerable unto all his Neighbours as no Prince in all Italy more and this Sir is the original of the famous City of Rome Herminius having ended his Relation was thanked by Artemidorus by Aronces by Amilcar and by Zenocrates for the pains he had taken and the pleasure they found in his History of the greatest City in the World and the greatest Tyrant that ever was After which reasoning upon all they had heard and considering that Love and Ambition were the chief causes of all these miseries Artemidorus wished that there were no passions in the hearts of men Oh for Heavens sake said Amilcar and smiled make no such dangerous wish since I conceive that if men had no passions in lieu of wishing to live they would wish to dye for nothing is more odious than to have a sluggish luke-warm life without either desires or fears a life that is no more sensible than that which we see in Flowers or Leaves I conceive indeed said Herminius that all pleasures have their rise from passions That is so true said Amilcar that if all the wise men of Greece should rise again I would make them all confess that all their wisdom were not worth a straw if there were no passions in the hearts of men and that wisdom were a treasure which they knew not what to do with I dare go further than so added Aronces for I am perswaded that all the heroick acts which have been done in all ages had never been done had there been no passions I do agree unto what you say replied Artemidorus but yet you must confess with me also that without the same passions few or none of all the great and abominable Crimes had been committed I do confess that replied Amilcar but I must tell you withal that as we do gather Roses though they have some sharp pricks admire the Sea though she causes many Shipwracks love the light of the Sun though sometimes it burns and love the earth though she produces dangerous as well as wholesome Plants so I say the same of Passions and all the evils of them that I should be sorry they were quite taken away from men for if they were all pleasures and delights would he taken away with them as Herminius well observed But yet I would gladly know added he and addressed himself to Zenocrates who had not spoke a word in this dispute what opinion you are of had I known what my self replied he very pleasantly and smiled I should ere this have told you but to be sincere I know not for since I am very sensible of Love I would gladly reserve that passion but otherwise I am so naturally lazy as I should not be sorry if there were no other passions in the World because I fancy that if there were none all would slumber in a continual languor of spirit and a pleasing phantasm of idleness which would be exceedingly charming As for matter of idleness you are in the right replied Amilcar for if there were no passions all brave men would have nothing to do if there were no Ambition millions of men would come and go in and out of the World without any thing they had to do in it Take the passion of Love from a Lover and he 's but an idle creature take from a brave man that which gets him honour and he will never go to the Wars Kings without Ambition might have subjects enough valiant men not having the passion of getting glory would all sit still undistinguished from Cowards I believe likewise that the fields would all lye fallow Cities and Houses would not be built men would remain dispersed in the Fields not seeking for any other lodgings than Grots such as nature shall make them And as for Ladies if there were no passions in the World I know not what they would do for they being the weaker Sex if their beauty did not cause Love in the hearts of men and that beauty hold them in obedience in lieu of force I had rather be a handsome Butterfly than a fair woman for besides their being certainly Slaves they would live in a most irksome idleness since they would not know how to spend away that time which now they employ in dressing themselves do but look upon a fair Woman in a place and at a time when she thinks none will see her nor she see any that would be enough to make one think that if Ladies did know they could never cause Love they would never take so much pains as to spend all the day in dressing themselves to be undressed again at night I once knew a Woman in Africa whom I never saw but twice yet I saw her very different for the first time I saw her she was so well drest and so handsom as she charmed me though she was but of a mean Beauty But a while after this Lady being gone into the Country in a place where she never thought to see any and being alone with her Husband I happened to come
acquaintance and adventure is in such a pleasant way as I make no question but he will answer it as pleasingly It vexeth me exceedingly said Cynesia then that he who writ those Verses hath lest me such a â—ox as I will not keep and the worst is that the Picture of Pasithea is in it which he took from me So as those who know not how the case stands but are ignorant that she and I are enemies will think that I have shewed it out of maâ—ice for as the case is between us they cannot imagine she would give me her Picture How said Cleophila had you Pasithea's Picture and was it in the Case which is taken from you Yes replied she and that is it which most troubles me for I cannot endure to be suspected of being guilty of any malice But I beseech you replied she how came you to that Picture Ah Cleophila answered Cynesia I shall blush to tell you yet know it I must replied she if ever you will know any thing of me Since you will know it replied Cynesia I will tell it in two words So I know it said Cleophila I care not whether it be in two or a thousand words but lest we should be interrupted I pray tell me quickly You know replied Cynesia that Clidamis hath a long time born a little good will unto me and you know also that all the World has laid it in his dish that he hath been an unfortunate Lover all his life long 'T is true answered Cleophila for Clidamis had been in love with above a hundred Women and not one of them ever loved him and yet he is handsome and has wit and spirit enough yet I thought that his misfortune would have ended in you and that you were no hater of him for I know he has been often with you in the Country 'T is true replied Cynesia but it is as true also that the more I saw him the less I loved him And in my opinion the reason why Clidamis makes no better progress in his loves is because whosoever sees him one day shall see him eternally the very same he is always equally handsome always equally civil and respectful he will never love you more nor less nor never hath any spirit and wit more one day then another So as I believe people are so accustomed to see him always the same as their opinion of him is also always the same and he shall be no better loved at the end of the thousand visits then he was at the first But be what he will be added she that 's no matter and to return from whence I digressed know that Clidamis one day being extreamly earnest with me to tell him why I did not love him I answered again that the reason was because I knew that he was never loved by any The truth is Clidamis said I unto him though I would yet I dare not love you for after all your baffles in matter of love I should be ashamed to be more indulgent then any other unto you and I am so addicted to do as others do that I never was the inventer of any fashion you may imagine then that who will not so much as wear a Ribbond which others do not will never give my heart to an unfortunate Lover unto whom never any gave any heart unto And therefore if ever you would have me love you you must first make your self loved by some other that having an example to follow I may the more easily be perswaded to follow but A adam said he unto me should I court another to love me I should seem as if I did not love you Seem what you will said I unto him but I assure you I shall never love you unless some do first begin and unless all the World do know it I believe Madam said he unto me that all this is but ingenious rallery for you being perswaded that I cannot love any but you and that none will ever love me unless I love them and therefore it will be very difficult for me to procure that example which you require and though I should procure such an example yet you would not follow it Seriously Sir said I unto him and laughed I believe I should love you more then I do if any else had loved you We 'le see that Madam said he unto me for I will go immediately unto Crete with a full resolution to try whether I can make any beauty love me upon condition you will not take it ill if I do dissemble with her in seeming to love her Since my aim was only to be rid of Clidamis and believing that he would not be loved in the future more then in time past I told him that I consented unto the condition So he lest me in the Countrey and went to Crete just as Artaxander broke off with Pasithea because she did not lament the death of Philocrates As chance would have it Clidamis heard of the difference between them and hearing of Pasithea's humour he applied himself to her and he sound her heart so inclinable to him as either to be revenged of Artaxander in letting him see she could as readily forget him living as Philocrates dead or for some other cause she received him very well she gave him her Picture which he sent unto me yesterday summoning me to keep my word and assuring me that Pasithea loved him and that he still loved me As chance was I tied this Picture to my Arm intending to restore it unto Clidamis the next time I saw him and so it chanced that it was taken from me in manner as I told you I profess replied Cleophila it is a most excellent adventure for if Artaxander have this Picture as I am confident he hath it will amaze him to think how you should come by it for it is not possible he should be ignorant of the enmity between you and Pasithea Also the Adventure may be more pleasant yet for if Pasithea be drawn with a garland of flowers upon her head very likely it is the same Picture which she gave him and which he restored back to her At least I am sure the Limner told me that he did draw Pasithea's Picture after the same manner I assure you said Cynesia the Picture is so drawn so as if it be Artaxander who took it from me he will wonder extreamly to see a Picture which was once his in my hands However it be said Cleophila I am confident you would not be sorry to see Artaxander your Captive So as it would spite Pasithea replied she I must confess I should not be very sorry Truly replied Cleophila though it should spite no body you could not be sorry for Artaxander is so brave a Man as that to conquer such a heart must needs rejoyce one But I beseech you said Cynesia let us talk no more of Artaxander for perhaps it was not he who came into my Chamber and though it were yet
should be moved with my affection is it probable that Lucrecius a man of spirit and ambition should bestow his Daughter upon a Sot or that Tarquin would suffer me to marry the daughter of a Woman who is not engaged in his intersts but by force No no Brutus said he sighing thou must not love Lucrecia and if thou doest but imagine it thou wilt really be as great a stranger to thy Reason as now thou seemest to be Renounce then at once both the object of thy Hatred and that of thy Love forget Tarquin and Lucrecia stisle together thy growing Affection and thy desire of Revenge since it is fruitless to cherish either and go seek in another climate a gentler Destiny than what thou hast found in thine own Countrey Hereupon Brutus thought his Reason was convinced and that he should infallibly depart But it was not a quarter of an hour that he had been thus resolved ere he had a fresh conflict in his soul which made him a minute after reflect on things quite different What do I said he what do I Am I still the same Brutus who ever was guilty of an importunate desire of revenging the death of an illustrious Father and a vertuous Brother Have I forgotten the commands of the one and the instructions of the other Have I overcome the Love I had at Crotona that I might forsake Rome Have I for no end parted with the sage Damo Have I fruitlesly renounced the use of my Reason and hath that importunate Vertue Patience which in time overcomes all things absolutely forsaken me For my part added he I believe the Gods consider my weakness and have purposely brought me to the sight of this admirable person whom I adore to stay me here and hinder me from being so unworthy as to quit the design I had of delivering my Countrey Certainly there must be something extraordinary in this emergencie for what likelihood is there that a blind chance should direct Lucrecia to his house at what time I had secretly resolved to be gone and that having never seen her I should go as it were purposely when I had but two or three dayes to stay Besides I at first avoyded her as much as lay in my power she hath hardly spoken to me since I have known her and yet methinks I have alwaies been designed to her service so violent is the affection I have for her What probability is there that Love should nestle in my breast amidst so many thorny distractions were it not decreed that the beauty of Lucrecia should cause the safety of Rome by flattering on me a love that stayes me and permits me not to forgoe the revenge I have undertaken to execute Let us then cast our selves upon the disposal of Fortune by submitting our heart to so excellent a Beauty Let the love we receive from the eyes of Lucrecia enflame our hatred to Tarquin and if we must be unhappy in this affection as it is very likely let us bear our misfortunes as just punishment for that unworthiness we have been guilty of in thinking to remove from Rome Let us with courage endeavour to subdue the heart of this illustrious person and at the same time overturn the throne of this infamous Tyrant although if I may truly speak my thoughts I am confident it will be easier for me to snatch the government of Rome out of the hands of the proud Tarquin than deliver my heart out of the power of the divine Lucrecia Let us love then let us love since it is the will of Fate and without considering what may happen to us let us obey the inclinations which directs us to adore Lucrecia Let us look on her as a person hath preserved vertue in our soul which we shall eternally acknowledge even though she should never do ought for us since it is she that hath cherished in us the design of Rome's deliverance This storm being over Brutus's soule was as it were in a calm which made him conceive that this resolution proceeded from some supernatural inspiration and such a friendly correspondence happened there upon this adventure between his Heart and his Reason that he thought no more of his departure his thoughts were wholly taken up with the love of Lucrecia while he expected an occasion to make Tarquin feel the weight of his hatred so that he suffered his heart to wander into the love of that admirable person though he found no other present advantage of his passion than that he was staid in Rome by the attractions of this incomparable Virgin whom yet he neither durst say he loved nor hope to be loved by Being thus resolved to love he was so much satisfied in himself that it was visible in his eyes and countenance insomuch that Racilia having observed it took occasion the first time she had a private discourse with him to ask him the reason of it But he satisfied her not for there being naturally a certain mystery in Love he thought it discretion not to reveal a Secret which he himself knew would be thought extravagant by any one who had not the same apprehensions of it as he had Giving therefore his passion all the liberty imaginable he endeavoured to double those chains whereby he was already fastned and missed no opportunity to see Lucrecia and to hear her speak In the mean time Racilia though she knew Brutus to be much more considerable as to point of gallantry than he seemed to be yet did she allow these Virgins the same freedome as before nay which is more prayed them to admit Brutus to walk with them telling them that it might haply enlighten his mind that they should pity one in his condition and endeavour what they could to disperse that deep melancholy which encreased his natural stupidity adding that their presence had already in some part lessened it Not my Lord but that Racilia was as innocent in this as Vertue it self but she so much pitied the life Brutus led that she was glad any way to make it more comfortable But to say truth she could not conceive he would entertain Love without Hope nor that any thing amorous could lodge in that heart which Revenge had so long since taken up Besides that it is not unlikely but that if Brutus had a design to marry she would have been glad it had been either with Valeria or Lucrecia as for Hermilia she knew well enough that Brutus was not ignorant she was his Sister This Society by this means became pleasant enough for besides that these three Virgins were excellent good company yet the admission of some other persons made it better and more divertive There was a Sister of Collatine's who spending the season of the year in the neighbour-hood came thither often out of a design to render her Brother some service with Lucrecia whom he was in love with The Prince of Pometia and his brother Prince Titus came thither divers times for though they
to Valeria's It happened also that Lucrecia Valeria and my self being very merry together we staid till it was very late besides that Valerius whom I had left with Brutus had enjoyned me to stay his return home that I might know what had been resolved on at the Club whereat for some reasons it was thought fit I should be In the mean time this Slave of Lucretius Lucrecia being gon from Valerius's acquainted his Master where she had been and assured him that none came thither besides but my self Lucretius was hereupon perswaded that I was a Servant to his Daughter and conspired against Tarquin This apprehension had some appearance of truth for he knew I had often seen Lucrecia at Racilia's while she was in the Countrey and there were not many then knew I was in love with Valeria and as Brutus had often made use of my name in divers gallantries and addresses to Lucrecia as I have already told you so had it raised a small report that I had some affection for her insomuch that sometimes Collatine himself knew not what to think Lucretius therefore having received some slight intimations of what I tell you absolutely concluded I was the Conspirator and the Lover for my Father dying in banishment he thought it was likely I might be as guilty of hatred to Tarquin as love to Lucrecia So that having thus reconciled the business he caused this Beauty to be called to him and carrying her into his Closet he began to treat her most reproachfully and that with so much transportation and fury that Lucrecia who is sweetness it self was much amazed at it but what encreased her amazement was to see in her Fathers hands the Table-book which she thought safe enough elsewhere Not knowing therefore how to excuse much less clear her self she resolved to be patient and withal summoning the greatness of her spirit and courage she bore all that Lucretius said to her and heard him with the greatest attention might be so to discover whether he knew who had written to her But she soon perceived he knew not for Lucretius having tired her with the bitterest reproaches told her there was yet one way left whereby she might excuse her weakness which was to acquaint him with all she knew For said he to her since your love hath such an influence on Herminius as to oblige to communicate to you the designs he hath against Tarquin you must give me the particulars and by giving me occasion to do the King a signal service engage me to forget your miscarriage Lucrecia hearing her Father speak in this manner was surprized afresh for she gathered from his discourse that he knew not the truth and was not acquainted with Brutus's writing since he believed me to be in love with his Daughter She at first was a little glad to see that her servant's life was out of danger but was at the same time troubled that I was unjustly suspected She there fore did all that lay in her power to perswade Lucretius that I had not writ the Letter and to convince him that my love to her was as to a Friend not a Mistress But there being a many circumstances which made Lucretius's opinion seem the more likely to be true he was the less satisfied with his Daughter For in fine said he to her if you say true in that why do you not tell me who writ what I find in this Table-book For to think continued he to deny all and confess nothing is absolute madness All I can tell you Sir replyed Lucrecia is that my misfortune is greater then my guilt and if I have entertained his affection whose Letter you have in your honds it was by the commands of the most vertuous Mother in the world I know well that yours replyed he hastily affected Tarquin's enemies but though that be true yet it justifies not you and if you discover not to me all you know of the Conspiracy I shall engage you in such a manner into the interests of those whom you wish ruined that you will be forced to change your opinion I may well change my fortune replyed she but for my judgement it is impossible therefore Sir press me no further all the favour I beg of you is to believe that Herminius is no servant of mine and that he writ not the Letter you now have in your hands as I shall make appear to you by shewing you his writing which is quite different from that But to deprive you at once of all occasions of persecuting me to no purpose I declare that I will never tell you who writ that Letter and and though I knew all the circumstances of any Conspiracy I should not discover it Nevertheless know that my heart is still innocent and that I am not engaged in any thing that is criminal Lucrecius being hereupon enraged against this admirable Virgin treated her with the roughest language he could thinking thereby to terrifie her into some confession But seeing her not to be shak'd out of her constancy he resolved to force her to marry Collatine for he had long since observed her backwardness as to that business Since you will not said he to her discover what I so much desire to know I must needs engage for some concernment of your own to hinder this secret Conspirator from acting any thing against that Family into which you shall be disposed I therefore command you to prepare your self to marry Collatine within three dayes he was importunate with me this morning about it and I will it should be absolutely effected within the time I allot you and that in the mean while you see no body and least of all Valeria for since you have made her the Confident of your criminal loves she is not fit to be acquainted with your marriage Lucrecia hearing this resolution of her Father's cast her self on her knees beseeching him with tears not to force her to marry Collatine You may choose said he to her and to avoid it you have no more to do than to name this secret servant of yours and discover this Conspiracy for if you will be so obstinate as to do neither I will immediately carry this Letter to Tarquin that he may take some course to find out whose writing it is Nor shall I so much as blot out your name and thereby manifest your weakness choosing rather to see you covered with shame than expose my house to the indignation of an incensed Prince who haply will come to know this enterprize by some other hand and thence infer that my Daughter having a Servant among the Conspirators I might be ingaged in the Conspiracy There is therefore no mean you must either discover your Servant or marry Collatine or be content that I carry this Table-book to Tarquin You may easily judge my Lord what an extremity Lucrecia was in for she was confident Tarquin knew Brutus's writing and as confident that if that Prince came to discover
comfort replyed Aronces to know that Lucrecia cannot suffer any thing but what the affection she hath for him imposes on her but for what concerns me I see Clelia exposed to the violence of a Tyrant whether he love her or hate her nor can I yet perceive by what means I can deliver her nor who will deliver my self It being by this time very late Herminius and Amilcar retired and left this illustrious Lover at liberty to compare his misfortunes with those of the illustrious Brutus The end of the first Book of the second Part. CLELIA The Second Part. BOOK II. AS no part of the life of Brutus was reserv'd from Aronces he went the next day to his Chamber imagining he might receive some delight by discoursing with an unhappy lover whose misfortunes parallel'd his and these two illustrious Lovers did at first so Sympathize and love so united both their hearts that though they were both miserable and that their discourse contained nothing but melancholy subjects yet a delightful pleasingness did at this time dispel those dull fumes which clouded their Intellectual Faculties But whilst they did as it were thus sport away the tedious hours and that Herminius endeavoured by the assistance of his friends both to prosecute his passion prejudice Tarquin and serve Aronces the discreet Amilcar acted for Aronces against Tarquin for Clelia and Plotina and all the other Captives and endeavoured likewise to engage the fierce Tullia to deliver all those Prisoners principally those to whom he was obliged both by friendship and inclination He writ to Tarquin to the Prince Sextus to Artemidorus and Zenocrates Yet had he time to compose several things which are usually made but in a pleasing idleness for Herminius and he made each of them a short song according to the African custom They had a certain gallant Air which contained both ingenuity and love pleasure and rapellery they using both simple and natural expressions and it seems that they intended but to trifle time in making these songs and that 't was not impossible others fancies should concur with theirs In the mean time as they had sent to the Camp for Celeres and Zenocrates they came to Rome but could not inform them of any considerable thing in reference to their affairs for during the Truce all the young men went continually from the Camp to Rome and from Rome to the Camp Artemidorus not being willing to permit Zenccrates and Celeres to be more happier than he went with them to see Aronces whom he highly esteem'd and these three being arrived at Rome and having the same liberty as Herminius to visit Aronces they passed some days in a society pleasing to unhappy persons for as these new Comers were of this secret they were commonly together and after Dinner Racilia Hermilia Valeria and Sivelia accompanying them there was doubtless a society composed both of accomplished and agreeable persons For though Aronces Amilcar Herminius and Celeres were men of known integrity 't is certain that Artemidorus and Zenocrates had extraordinary merit Artemidorus was well made he had a judging spirit and a grandure in his Soul but he so equally possessed all good qualities that though he was a complete man he was just one of those which make a particular Character and which resemble not any person though many would willingly resemble him For Zenocrates he was tall of a fair proportion and good deportment white teeth a lively tincture brown hairs a most agreeable smiling and a pleasant countenance which gave delight to all but he had a certain languishing indifferency to which his temper carried him it gave him sometimes a stupidity of Spirit which made him appear as if he were in an idle dotage and obliged him to keep in certain occasions a kind of melancholy silence that he could not suffer without some slight reluctation when he knew he might if he would speak more agreeably than the most part of those to whom he gave such a peaceable audience But for all this admirable dulness the gallantness of his Spirit and ingeuuity appear'd when he writ either in Verse or Prose and I can assure you that if he had an heart more susceptible of loves impression it had been very fit to make illustrious Conquests for Zenocrates was as I have already told you fair and of a good deportment he had much Spirit he was both discreet and wise he had a charming affability all his inclinations were noble he was modest respectful and faithful to his friends but a languishing melancholy so possessed his Spirits that though he was an accomplished Gallant he could not affect any one person though adorned with all the excelling features had he been assured of a correspondency in love so much did he fear dangerous enterprises He had beginnings in love which should have had continuance but the Fire which flamed in the morning extinguished in the evening I know not how he could make an opiniative lover for the faculty would have hindred the augmentation of his passions the great difficulty would have rebated his Spirit and the only thought of a long constancy would have much perplexed him he had no desire to engage himself to love a person which was not above him neither would he resolve with himself to love one of that quality if fortune had forc'd him to do it so little he affected to enterprise difficult things Had he likewise passed the commencements of his life without having any of those Demy-Mistresses that are loved without inquietude that are willingly left on the first occasion that presents 't is not but confessed that he had been in love and he might be again But those which are intelligent in tenderness believe not that he was capable of any great attachment and though he was accused of some temerity and inconstancy in love he was known to be very sincere and agreeable in friendship and he was so amiable and merited such estimation that he would not be known without esteem in love Artemidorus and he being then joyn'd with their illustrious friends this Society had been full of delectation if those which composed it had been more happy there was during this time a small cessation in the distemper of Aronces which deferr'd the Voyage Celeres and Zenocrates had resolv'd on Amilcar having acquainted this unhappy Prince that he had confer'd with Tullia that he was the Confident of her Jealousie and that he did not despair but he should oblige her to deliver Clelia and farther told him that this cruel person had promised him to suborn him which kept her and that on his part he was engaged to carry this fair Virgin into Africa and not let her return from thence He knew moreover that those of Ardea which negotiated with Tarquin demanded above all things the rendition of the Captives and it might be if Tarquin should refuse to do it he would exasperate the people and the Soldiers which might justly murmur to see
estate where he was he would not passe to Rhegium he having no acquaintance there after some consultation with himself he had a design to go to Heraelea from whence he hop'd easily to have notice what transactions passed at Leontine he thought 't would be advantagious for him to take this resolution because there was war now between the Prince of Agrigentine and the Prince of Heraclea for the limits of those two petty estates For as you know Sicily is divided into so many different Dominions that 't is impossible they should alwaies be at peace and as the Leontine was enemy to the Agrigentine Prince Artemidorus believed if he should bear arms against him the Prince his brother after he was inform'd of it would perhaps repent of the injury he had done him against the iuterest of his love 't is not but Artemidorus as he is just did not know that the Prince his brother was injust in hating the Agrigentine Prince who was a man of extraordinary merit desiring therefore to go to the War he had rather take the part of the Heraclean Prince then anothers enemy to his brother after he had spent one moneth at Messina he departed from thence with a design to list himself in the Heraclean Troops but going thither he met some avant coureurs of the Agrigentine Army as he would not have been taken he did what he could to escape them and he having met eight or ten Cavaliers which were returning to the Heraclean Camp he animated them to their defence and they so couragiously defended themselves that there was scarce ever seen a Combate so terrible and of such a long continuance between such an unequal number the Agrigentines being four times as many as the Heracleans for Artemidorus he acted such prodigious things remaining alone in fighting Posture that they which environ'd him resov'd to save his life though he refused to render himself on any conditions at last overpower'e by number he was forced to receive his life after his Sword was broken There was amongst these Agrigentines a man of quality called Terillus who judg'd this action too bold and advent'rous to be perform'd by a simple Cavalier such as his habit represented him and he saw somthing in his ayr so great and noble that he believed he ought not to treat him as a common prisoner he caus'd him to be attended with much circumspection and after he had sent back part of his men to the Camp he went himself to present his prisoner to the Prince who was gone for two or three days to the City of Agrigentine Artemidorus was doubtless much afflicted to be a Princes prisoner who was at so much enmity with his Brother that 't was almost impossible they should come to any reconciliation for he believ'd if he knew his quality he would thereby much advantage himself and the Prince of the Leontines when he was advertised of it would perhaps be transported with anger against Clidimira because he would look upon her as the immediate cause of this inauspicious accident he therefore hoped he should not be known there being no great commerce between Leontine and Agrigentine and having heard he was at a Castle he had built on the further side of the City he thought he should not be expos'd to the view of many persons that he should suffer but the disquietude of Imprisonment and that in some general exchange of Prisoners he should recover his liberty and to flatter himself with some consolation he likewise imagined that the Wars between those two petty States would soon be put to a period and that there was nothing more requisite for him then with constancy to support his Imprisonment Being settled in this resolution he patiently submitted to their conduct But Madam before I declare to you in what manner Artemidorus was presented to the Agrigentine Prince and how he was treated 't is necessary for me to give you a brief character of the Prince to whom he was presented and of the Princess his Daughter and another person of the same Sex who hath much part in this History to the end that in the continuation of my recital you may have a more perspicuous understanding of what I intend to relate for for my part I love to have an accurate description of those of whose adventures I receive a narration Therefore I must tell you that the Prince of Agrigentine is a man in all things illustrious His house to which the principality appertaines is not only most Noble and of great Antiquity but more eminent by the opposition it made against the Tyranny of the cruel Phalaris who rewarded the Inventers of any new punishment and whose injustice is at this time in so much horror amongst the Agrigentines that I dare not pronounce his name but with detestation for to entertain their hatred against him and render his name odious to posterity they one day in a year publikely shew with Imprecations a brazen Bull made by one call'd Perillus to the end those whom the Tyrant would put to death should be therein enclos'd and a fire being made round about it the voices they pronounc'd resembling bellowings would the less attenerate the peoples hearts you may conceive his Tyrannie by this Invention which was made to please him but he found one act of Justice in his life for he put him to death in this brazen Bull who was the Inventor of it though he was accustomed to recompense those who invented such things But if he was just to Perillus the gods were just to him since after innumerable cruelties he expired like Perillus in this brazen Bull and the hatred which the Agrigentines had conceiv'd against him was so great that because his Guards were habited in blew which he employed to exercise those cruelties they forbade their dependants from wearing this amiable colour and 't is but about a year since that the Princess of Agrigentine at the earnest request of one of her friends whom she passionately loved hath again introduc'd it But to resume the thred of my discourse the Prince I have mention'd being of an ancient Race and enemy to this cruel Tyrant he is in much veneration at Agrigentine and if he should be recommendable but by his own vertue he would be very much respected by his Subjects for besides as he nigh governeth the City as if it were a Republique he hath spirit learning capacity and experience He is an excellent soldier and a great Captain he keeps his Troops in exact Discipline he knows the art to make himself fear'd and lov'd by his Souldiers in particular and his Subjects in general he hath qualities befitting a man of his Birth he is courteous civil and obliging principally to the Ladies he understands and speaks with facility many languages he favours learning he is magnificent and liberal and hath an heart sensible of glory he takes all innocent pleasures he retains a certain gallant ayr demonstrating to those which
and I would have your friendship be my sole consolation But generous Berelisa added he why do you not endeavour to heal the passion of Telesis for as Clidimira hath left me for him she will perhaps desert him for another do him this courtesie and by this means you will act my Revenge For what concerns my Brother replied Berelisa I have no desire to blot out his affection it being not so easie to cure a Beloved as a Deserted Lover and for what concerns you I would rather gain Clidimira twenty lovers than deprive her of one that your hatred might extend so far as never to permit any reconcilement After this Artemidorus expressed many obliging words to Berelisa but they were so interweaved with others which glanced on his former affections to Clidimira that she hearkned to them with different resentments when he was returned to his apartment he esteemed himself so unhappy that he wished his death had anticipated that day in which he lost his liberty for he was at variance with his Brother he had destroyed his Fortune he was a Princes Prisoner enemy to him from whom he derived his extraction he saw himself cashier'd by that person who had wounded his heart he had a Rival which generosity and gratitude forbid him to destroy being a Virgins Brother to whom he ow'd the favourable treatment he received in his restraint and who knew him to be the Prince of Leontine's Brother not knowing then how to direct his thoughts his sole consolation was Berelisas friendship On the other side this amiable Virgin was not exempted from inquietude for though her joy exceeded the ordinary limits of moderation she having introduced Anger and Jealousie into a Lovers heart from whence she would have banished love yet she feared his despight would not ascend to such a degree as utterly to extirpate this love and that if this first should be extinct his heart would remain incapable of a second Passion The words of Philonice tending to the conclusion of the War did in some measure heighten her grief because she imagined Peace should no sooner be composed but Artemidorus would receive his liberty and that secret love which had scal'd the Fortress of her heart even forced her to wish the declaration of the true quality of Artemidorus to the end his liberty should not be so soon licensed she conceiving his life would not thereby be exposed to any danger But generosity soon strangled these unjust thoughts which Love would have imprinted in her mind In the mean time the charming Philonice who thought of nothing but how to manage rhe reception of the Agrigentine Prince with most magnificency sent out her Orders to that purpose so that all the Ladies were wholly imployed in providing those things which might most advantage their perfections the Princess was like wise advertised by a Letter from Clisias that the day the Agrigentine Prince should come to Carisalis she should receive a Letter from the Syraousan Princess who is a Person embellished with all those Graces which compleat a perfect Beauty Her Body shaped with such exact Symmetry that Nature hath here shewn how far she transcends the Art of the most curious Pencil For the Prince of Syracusa having sent me to the Agrigentine Prince at that time as he sent Telesis to him the Princess of Syracusa entrusted me with a Letter for the Princess Philonice and having told Clisias when I arrived at the Camp he gave her notice of it and when I delivered her Letter she parted with so much goodness as to receive me with an extraordinary civility bringing a Testimony of the Friendship of such an exquisite Person But before I relate to you what passed that day the Prince of Agrigentine returned 't is expedient for me to acquaint you with three things to the end the Narration of this Festival might prove more delightful to you The first that I had been a long time one of the principal friends of Artemidorus The second that I believed he had undertaken a long Voyage not in the least suspecting he was a Prisoner at Agrigentine The third That 't is necessary to describe the Scituation of that place the amiable Philonice had selected to receive the Prince her Father for I ought to render justice to this Beautiful Princess to demonstrate to you that there appeared both Spirit and Judgement in all her actions and there hapned in this place so many things depending on this History that I believe I shall not traverse my reason by describing a place which hath given me so much delight both by its natural Beauty and by the merit of him who resides there For Cleodamas to whom Carisalis belongs is a Person of eminent desert whether one considers the grandezza of his Spirit or the solidity of his judgement his capacity politeness integrity gallantry or generosity But to execute my Design Carisalis is a place so framed for pleasure that 't is impossible to give you a perfect description of it 'T is not one of those whose Beauty appears by the opposition of the circumjacent places for you no sooner come from Agrigeutine but fair objects salute your eyes the way lies in a direct line a river with its silver streams travelling along with you this pleasant Voyage the diversity in all places where you pass and the only pleasure of the beautiful prospect seems to cheat the length of the way 't is even so singular and the ascension so inperceptible that you receive no incommodity by it though 't is scituated on a mountain this mountain is crown'd with a great Plain it having nothing ordinary but the commodity to discover all the Beauties of the adjoyning fields to limn out in lively colours this amiable Country in general 't is sufficient in particular to character Carisalis Imagine as if you were now in a Court of a proportionate grandeur to a Building your eyes at your entrance survey on the left hand the symmetry whereof framed to breed delight on the Superficies is a Balustrade beyond which is a kind of a Rustick Vestibulum the Columns whereof are Cyprus This Vestibulum is bounded by a row of great Trees placed on purpose there to hinder at first sight the pleasure which doth compose this place on the top Madam of the prementioned mountain there is a grand Parterre like a Terass along which is contrived a Walk flanked with fair Trees you ascend this Walk by two stately steps between which are two Balconies erected fixt to a marble Balustrade from whence one might discover so many different objects that I fear I shall be taxed either of equivocation or exaggeration if I only represent a part of them unto you for in fine Madam there is to be seen all those which frame a delightful prospect you may see many remote and cacuminous mountains embroydred with spreading Trees of a famous Forrest which without coustraining the sight confine it to an agreeable arrest but before your eyes
several embroider'd Cushions for the Ladies who seated themselves in divers ranks on the two sides of this Marble stone leaving the middle void lest any person should hinder the sight of the Princess Philonice as a mark of distinction from the rest Cleodamas placed the Cushions destined for this Princess at the foot of a fair Tree whose distended branches served as an Umbrella to shadow her from the Sun's heat All the company being seated 't was the fortune of Terillus to be next Clidimira and of Artemidorus to be next Berelisa for Lysicoris she was next Cleodomas Philonice seeing these two dear friends separated ask'd Berelisa if she was not jealous to see Lysicoris leave her for Cleodamas Ah Madam said Terillus whose Jealousie even consumed his vital spirits Do not so much injure Jealousie as to believe it can be found in friendship and do not deprive love of that thing wherein its power is effectually seen Berelisa who knew what consequence he would draw from his own words opposed him demanding in an angry voice on what reason he built his conjectures that he durst affirm Jealousie belonged more to Love then Friendship For my part said Artemidorus as I never had but the Jealousie of Love because my friends have always proved constant I cannot give any satisfactory answer to this question For my particular added Clidimira not seeming to take notice of what the Prince had said I believe that as there is not a long love without Jealousie so there is no Jealousie without Love and that it cannot be admitted in friendship For my part said Philonice I am such an enemy to Jealousie that I dare not give my Judgement of it I therefore constitute the sage Cleodamas to be the Soveraign Judge when Berelisa and Terillus have alledged all they can to assert their opinions I consent to 't said Berelisa and I likewise said Terillus whose Jealousie pressing him to speak and he beginning to attaque Berelisa she declared she would not be denyed from interrupting Terillus when her fancy prompted her to do it I consent thereto said he on condition you will grant me the same liberty but to speak ingenuously added he I think you will have sufficient difficulty to confute my reasons without desiring that permission There 's none so ignorant said he but knows Love produces Jealousie and that they are inseparable concomitants and that that which is called Jealousie in Friendship resembles not the true Jealousie Is it not certain that Jealousie is the violentest of Passions That 't is more sensible then Love which produces it 't is restless cloudy and sometimes furious That 't is capable to inspire all crimes that it transports one to revenge and that it often excites a man to dye his hands in blood It admitting then this definition can we believe it may proceed from Friendship and that such a tumultuous Passion can spring from such a pleasing and peaceful Mother To speak truth Jealousie is an effect so necessary in Love that one cannot be wounded with the Darts of Love without being poysoned with the stings of Jealousie For if one hath no Rival it receives production from several other things By a Jealous resentment one envies the glory of the beloved object one desires alwaies to be with her to entertain her alone to admire and adore her one would have sometimes so much Jealousie essentially attach'd to Love that the Beloved person should not love none of her acquaintance that she should have no manner of attachment for sensible things and I know not whether one would have her love her self unless for the love of another I know there 's some injustice in these fantastick thoughts but I likewise know that a prudent love is no love and that the disorders of this passion which are blemished by no crime compose the most sensible pleasures Judge then if Jealousie which is the greatest irregularity of love and from whence proceeds the most various subjects can be found in friendship For if you are not ignorant that this kind of affection is ordinarily produced more by reason than inclination and that if the proper effects of things were ascribed to their right causes Friendship would be termed a necessary effect of merit and virtue since Friendship sways men to love all those who deserve esteem but if it should not be so 't is true there 's friendship for many persons and if one should yield to your opinion there would be many jealousies which would be the terriblest things imaginable All the world should then be filled with crimes and as there 's none but either love many or one particular person it would follow all the world should be jealous and every one would seek to destroy or hate each other and it may be a man would be so unhappy to have resentments of Jealousie mixed with the friendship of his Father Mother Brothers Sisters Kindred Friends Wife Slaves and Mistress You exaggerated this so pleasantly replied Berelisa that I am much pleased at it for when one is constrained to insert agreeable things when solid reasons are necessary 't is an infallible sign one maintains a wrong part What replied Terillus do you believe that by explaining to you 't is possible to have many friendships and many Jealousies my reasons are more pleasant than solid If you could prove your words replied Berelisa I would not have said that which I have done but far from consenting to that opinion I pretend one cannot love nothing of which one might not be jealous For without examining if there 's reason to teâ—â— jealousie a passion or if one ought to consider it as a simple effect of the tenderness of our heart let 's look upon 't in its self Jealousie is not to speak properly but a violent desire to preserve that we either affect or possess and to hinder another from the enjoyment of that we would attain the possession From whence I conclude we may be jealous of all that we love and that we cannot love nothing without Jealousie I know this resentment is sometimes so weak that those which have it have no perception of it but when 't is so 't is doubtless that the attachment we have which gives such a feeble Jealousie is not great and that those which have it have a confiding Spirit which makes them repose so much trust on their own Fortune that they believe no power able to destroy that which they have once gained But after all whosoever loves any thing wishes the possession of it and desires to possess it when he hath acquired it he hath even an inquietude to preserve it proportionable to the inclination and reason which hath fixt it in his thoughts so that the jealousie is stronger or weaker according to the power of the attachment and 't is that which without doubt makes the difference between those effects the jealousie of love inspires and those which are produced by friendship but the difference which
his thoughts before he had occasion to speak to him of his passion I ingeniously confess replied he but above all I believe not to be unfaithful You have reason replied Berelisa and one cannot without doubt accuse you but of a simple inconstancy which hath even nothing which resembles infidelity for as I have already said it to speak of this kind of inconstancy in general it comes from this that those which are capable of of it are sensible to all that which appears fair to them of all which is new to their eyes and to their spirits of that which they seek to please without difficulty of that which they have any irresolution in the spirit which hinders them from chusing of that that the first youth of inconstancy have some resemblance But after all those men there which see pleasures from quarter to quarter from street to street and from house to house do not assuredly betray the person because no person trusts to them and to speak truly the inconstants of this kind only vex themselves since they have pain to attaque an hundred hearts without gaining one one hearkens to their pleasures without believing them one receives their incense without vanity one leaves them without pain one destroys them without regret and they come through the world as Butterflies on Flowers without resting on any thing and without leaving any sign of their passage likewise not doing any discourtefie to a person there would be much injustice to confound those inconstants with the unfaithful I have spoken of sure their inconstancy is without perfidiousness and superchery it is not but to say the truth it should be desired this inconstancy was banished from the heart of young persons for if it is not very criminal it is not at least laudable I will likewise consess with sincerity is not yet altogether a true inconstant and he hath only a simple disposition to be so I am obliged to you replied I for enrolling me in the number of the inconstant persons and not placing me among those which are unfaithful for it is certain I cannot suffer it But said the Prince of Messina I comprehend not wherefore those which vary in their thoughts have not infidelity You will easily be satisfied therein replied Berelisa if you consider that to make a Lover truly merit the quality of unfaithful one must suffer his affection one must hearken to him one must give him hope one must love him if a man on the contrary loves a woman without being beloved and that he hath served a long time without attaining her love he leaves her one loves another one cannot in this case place him in the number of the unfaithful nor that of the inconstant for as one loves not but for to be loved as soon as one destroys the hope Love may diein a Lovers heart without being culpable of any crime and to speak truth it is not even possible that it dies not there 'T is therefore not doing that but which one might hinder themselves from doing one leaves love without inconstancy and one cannot love otherwise without infidelity but the most odious and the most degenerate crime in the world is when there 's a concatenation of affection between two persons and that it happens one breaks the Chain for in this case there it is not a simple inconstancy it is an infidelity where inconstancy perfidiousness and baseness are found And it is in fine as I have said the greatest of all crimes in this point before you engage your self you consider not what you do you examine not your thoughts and do not well know the heart you give nor the heart you receive 'T is true said Philonice I find something very strange to see men of spirit suddenly change their thoughts But said then Lysicoris when one hath this misfortune what shall one do I will replied Berelisa one should continue to love by generosity when one cannot by inclination that in fine when one is promised an eternal affection no reason can dispense with it but the infidelity of the person one loves And in this case we must not only love her any more but hate her despise her slee from her as from a Monster and revenge our selves though ne'er thereby prejudiced For if it is a man which is unfaithful no person should force him to go to say to a woman he loves her and to tell her it often to make her love him therefore when he changes he hath no excuse in effect Probity Sincerity and Fidelity ought to be in love as all other things and more than in other things because the consequences are more dangerous being certained there is no exchange more important than the hearts of two persons which love one another But if a man is criminal of being unfaithful at least confess replied the Prince of Messina that a woman hath the same injury as a man I say replied Berelisa and I 'll maintain she hath more for as cruelty befits women in love they might take him to examine themselves ere they engage to love any one but after you have considered of it a woman accepts the heart is offered to her and that she gives hers she cannot change without insamy and truly a woman at least in my opinion cannot innocently love but once in her life besides baseness and perfidiousness which is common to her with an unfaithful man neither can one yet accuse her of imprudence or little modesty For for my part I conceive not how a woman who hath vertue and good judgment to resolve her should voluntarily renounce the love of a man to whom she hath given many testimonies of affection when she feels her love decay Nevertheless replied Philonice one sees they make no difficult to do it I am of your opinion replied Berelisa but if I was a man I should have an horrible aversion for those women But I pray said the Prince of Messina in what rank do you place those men who make a seeming love when they love not and sometimes obtain love I put them in the rank of deceivers replied she But amongst the unfaithful replied I it seems to me there are many sorts for there are some which become so because they find defects in the person they love that they noted not before and there 's others which cease to love because their own good fortune destroys their love For the first said Berelisa I sustain that when one hath solidly contracted an affection with some one there is but one only defect of love which might be a legitimate cause to break it and the loss of beauty youth change of fortune and health ought to change nothing in the hearts of two persons which have promised an eternal love but for those whose love destroys it self I find them so criminal and so odious that I boldly say 't is impossible their spirits are seasoned with any good qualities or that their heart is noble and the
reasonable Ah generous Clelius cryed he out I will be any thing that will keep me from being hated by Clelia and from being unjust unto Aronces but yet I would adore your divine daughter for ever Yet sir my demand that she would not hate me is because I would die more contentedly for I know that I cannot live long Oh Sir replyed Amilcar after his usual way of freedom If you do not dye of your wounds as I hope you will not and wish you may not you will die either of love or grief time will undoubtedly cure those two kinds of maladies Death will not triumph over Lovers and unfortunate persons without the help of a Feaver or some disastrous accident But to advance your cure added he I will answer for the esteem of your Mistress and for your Rival I will also answer for their friendship if you could but surmount your love Oh Amilcar cryed he out were my heart like unto yours I should quickly surmount it but to my misery we do not resemble Afterwards this Prince who was naturally of a violent temper began to fret and grieve inwardly so as Clelius seeing him in a condition not to be long conversed withal he left him and went to take order for the repair of his house which Brutus caused to be restored unto him to the end he might receive Sulpitia who was to arrive the next day As for Amilcar unto whom Clelius was much obliged he went unto Sivelia's to see Clelia for having had no discourse in particular with her he accounted it as if he had not yet seen her yet he could not have any private discourse with her at that time because Plotina Valeria and Herminius were there But being all persons of strong reason discourse was almost as free as if they had all been intimate and particular friends Herminius having spoken much of Clelia unto Valeria she did not so much constrain her self but both discoursed of their sorrows as freely as if they had been ancient friends After a while of discourse Valeria might easily be found a person of no common rank her Physiognomy was so full of spirit she spoke so well and to the purpose her tone was so charming and her discourse so genuine and free that of all those illustrious Romans which came to see Clelia there was none pleased her more than Valeria so as having a strong inclination to love her she received all the civilities which the charming mistress of Herminius did her with extraordinary kindness I beseech you said Clelia in answer to some applauds which Valeria gave her do not judge of me by what you see now but trust unto what Herminius and Amilcar shall tell you of me for they are my ancient friends and know me I am not to day in my right humor and my face is so much altered that did I care for it I should grieve extreamly not but that I have a thousand subjects of joy For I see my Father again I see him in Rome I see the power of Tarquin demolished and I see my Country delivered But for all that the clouds of displeasure will not dissipate and the miserable condition of the most virtuous Prince upon earth makes me that I cannot gust any joys without ingratitude You see with what freedom I talk unto you and you easily perceive that I reckon our acquaintance from the first day I was acquainted with Herminius You honour me abundantly replyed Valeria and blusht but believe it Madam I will not dye ungrateful but in my humour do requite you in a most extraordinary manner For to discover my heart unto you I confess that I have ever believed a person of any solidity ought not to contract amity so lightly as to close with them at the first sight for appearances are very fallacious there are many who do please the first hour yet when they are better known will displease for ever after And I assure you that since the fair and unfortunate Lucretia betook her self to a course of solitude I never entertained any friend whom I could name particular not but that Hermilia whom every one knows to be the sister of illustrious Brutus is a person whom I love and esteem and that another named Flavia has a great share in my heart But Madam it is not after such a manner as I loved that most excellent Lady whose death would certainly have caused mine if her solitude had not accustomed me to living without seeing her yet Madam I must tell you that I do find such inclination in my heart toward you as I never found for any but for virtuous Lucretia Madam reply'd Clelia I am infinitely obliged to you for ranking me with her who cannot be parallel'd by any without injustice but to retaliate confidence for confidence I must acquaint you that I do more for you than you for me For I must confess unto you that except Plotina and Cesonia unto whom averse fortune has devoted me I have no friends whom I love so well as to trust them with any of my secrecies True indeed friends I have Herminius and Amilcar are so and will be as long as I live but as for feminine friends I have found so few a number of such as are capable of solid friendship as I content my self only with their society But towards you added Clelia I do find a strong disposition to love you and it shall stick of you if I be not at this very day perfectly your friend Whilst these two fair ones were talking thus Cesonia Plotina Amilcar and Herminius were talking of the late Revolutions But Amilcar not affecting over-serious discourse and hearing Clelia name him he interrupted those two illustrious Romans and asked them what they talked of We talk of a business so important replied Valeria as will mar all my felicity and of a thing which neither Clelia nor I ever did before for though we have not known one another yet half a day yet we intend to begin a league of friendship which must last as long as we live Both of you replied Herminius are able to move love eternally and the more you know the more you 'l esteem and love each other For my particular said Plotina I see nothing extraordinary that you have done what wonder is it that two so fair as you both flowing in wit and knowing each other long by reports of friends whom you dare trust should contract friendship so soon For this I am sure of that if you contract amitie with one whom afterwards you find not answerable to your fancy it is an easie matter to break off Though perhaps I am one said Amilcar who makes and breaks these kind of affections which they call friendships though they deserve not that title yet I am clearly of Valeria's opinion and maintain that it is very frivolous to make these imaginary friendships so much talked of in the World For my part said Herminius I must confess that
himself that he never so much as looks upon me if any be present he makes nothing of talking with his Rivals and no longer since than yesterday he had the power to say insolently before my face that he was not in Love which certainly is the hardest thing in the world for one that has a sensible spirit and tender heart As Valeria said so Herminius entred so as Flavia who had a desire to give him an occasion of making his peace she told him that he was very opportunely come to justifie himself Oh Flavia said this incensed Lady if you love me do not tell Herminius any thing I said unto you Since you have intimated that it is dangerous to obey you too much replied Flavia and smiled I do not fear disobeying you in this And indeed Flavia asked Herminius mauger all that Valeria said why he told the Prince of Pometia before his Mistress that he was not in Love Alas replied he and sighed I said it in obedience to unjust Valeria who commanded me a thousand times to hide my passion and I said it with such extream repugnancy as she ought to be infinitely obliged unto me for it No no Herminius replied Valeria and blusht never deceive your self that which you said in my presence can never be pleasing unto me I beseech you said Flavia how came this to pass Imagine replied Valeria that the Prince of Pometia should come hither and ask Herminius what he did the day before in a walk towards the wood where the Nymph Egeria inspired the wise Numa and that Herminius when he had no need should answer him that he knew not what he did but that he was very sure he was not in love and repeated this unnecessarily at least four times Judge I pray whether a man who makes these terrible words to ring in the ears of her he loves without ever being forced unto it does not deserve to be suspected of a shallowness in Love For indeed it was stretching his prudence too far and I should sooner pardon Herminius if out of a rapture of affection and unawares he had said before any one that he loved Valeria than I should if he had said before me with so much tranquillity and aggravation that he did not love me Then Madam said Herminius unto her give me leave to tell all the world that I do adore you and then you shall see whether or no I be too prudent a Lover and whether I shall not make it my greatest glory to wear your Chains Take heed of that said she to him for it is not my intention you should publickly blaze your love Oh Madam replied he what then would you have me do I would answered she that you should bridle your self so far as not to say grosly before my face that you do not love me I assure you Madam replied Herminius that if you had not been within hearing I had not said so but my hopes of doing a thing which I supposed would please you did prompt me unto it But charming Valeria I am so far from retorting any of these reproaches which you have given me that I thank you for them and most humbly beseech you to tell me how a perfect and respectful Lover ought to behave himself when his Mistress forbids him to say any thing of his affection I would not have a Lover said she give any occasion to make it thought he is loved if it be suspected that he is in love I would not have him say at any time or to any person that he loves his Mistress and yet I would not have it such a horrible torment unto him to hide the passion that is in his heart as that he should think it the most terrible of all punishments But above all I would never have him able positively to say before his Mistress that he is not in love especially when he is not forced unto it by any necessity for if he have a tender and passionate heart it is a thing which he cannot imagine much less brook But then Madam replied Herminius what will become of all those absolute commands which you laid upon me not to discover my affection would you have me still use the word Amity in my Letters to express my passion I would replied she but I would not have you say before my face that you do not love me for if you did love me fervently you would not be able to pronounce those cruel words Yet he added she and looked upon Flavia did never so much startle at the sound of them or give the least sign that he was loth to utter them but spoke resolutely and loud and in such a tone as seemed to speak his heart Ah cruel Valeria said he unto her I can no longer indure your injustice I beseech you said Flavia then unto her what should Herminius do to appease you Would you have him go presently unto the Prince of Pometia and tell him that he is ready to die for the love of you For my part I know not how Herminius can give you satisfaction any other way to repair the great injury he has done you I see replied Valeria that you mock me but I will maintain that one who knows how to love aright will not condemn me but confess with me that what I now say will seem a little too nice and perhaps fantastical to those that are not in love but such as are will allow of it Well Madam said Herminius I will confess my self to blame But I beseech you are no errors in Love pardonable Yes said Valeria very many but let me tell you that coolness in affection is seldom pardoned Oh I beseech you replied he do not give my supposed crime a title so incongruent and unsutable for the truth is I am not culpable but of too punctual obedience and of prudence too excessive and my crime if it be one is an excess no defect in Love for had I lov'd you less I had not been so careful to obey you and conceal my Passion After this Flavia having pressed Valeria to pardon Herminius she was pleased to grant it Yet it was two hours before the same sweetness and joy and the same tranquillity which used to shine in the eyes of Valeria returned unto them but at last all Clouds being dissipated Valeria appeared in her accustomed Lustre and humour As for Herminius he was still a little troubled For he was afraid of shewing either too much or too little Love knowing very well that Valeria what ere she said would find as much fault if he discovered his passion as if he concealed it over-much Mean time Salonina seeing none of her designs to prosper she was in a strange perplexitie and the more when she found the humour of Volesus who being of such a Nature as could not love but where he found some difficulties and seeing Salonina did more overtly shew her affection to him than ordinary he grew glutted and less
this malicious woman so negotiated the matter that within three days there were dispersed above a hundred Copies of the letter of Herminius Yet Salonina had not all the pleasure which she expected from this malice For Herminius was so often known to vent such pieces of wit as these without any particular design And Valeria had so great a Reputation of Prudence that few or none believ'd it to be more than only a passage of wit and no particular or applicative aim of any Gallantry in it Herminius found this advantage by it which now I am going to relate unto you The perplexity that he saw in the spirit of Valeria made him fear lest she should take resolution of seeing him no more only to prevent scandal For though Valeria's heart was all innocency yet she knew that scandal seeks only a pretence to calumniate the most vertuous persons So as Herminius who knew that Valerius and Domitia loved him resolved upon two things The First to acquaint Sivelia with his Love and oblige her to consent unto his design and help him The second To ask Valeria's leave to apply himself unto those who had the disposition of her for their approbation of his affection Herminius therefore told his generous Mother of it who commended his design and assured him that she would assist him in all that possibly she could For she found in this alliance all that she could wish for especially Vertue and Nobleness of bloud But when Herminius pressed Valeria to let him speak unto her Father he found greater resistance than he imagined For after he had wooâ—d her unto it with a thousand tender and passionate expressions and prayers he saw she chang'd colour and beginning to speak she would not give him any precise answer So as troubled in mind Oh most Divine Valeria said he unto her do not put my passion unto any further tryal you may know it and to say more do know it And yet you speak unto me as faintly as if you did not know I love you and as if you had not permitted me to hope I should not be hated Indeed answered she I do know that you love me sometimes but how shall I be assured you will love me always How Madam said Herminius and interrupted her can you be so unjust as to say that I love you sometimes I who have not a minutes rest in my passion I who love you more than ever any can I I say who think upon none nothing but you who would not live but for you who cannot live a minute without you Though I should agree that you do love me replied she yet I cannot that you love me as I would be loved But Herminius do not deceive your self but know that if you did love me always equally you could not do as I have seen you There are some minutes some hours and some days wherein you can so well hide your affection even when you are not constrained unto it as I have cause to fear how I do inseparably conjoyn my Fortune with yours Though you are the only man in the world for whom I would without aversion obey my Father if he should command me to marry For I do declare unto you I had rather be the Wife of a man that hates me and always has hated me than of such a man as once zealously loved me and afterwards does not For since the first of these ever hated me I never loved him and by consequence his hatred never troubled me as the indifference of him whom once I loved would But I beseech you Madam replyed Herminius who should you presuppose that I should change my mind Did you ever see me inconstant unto any of my friends Oh Herminius replied she some men may be constant in Amity that are not so in Love And there are some men who never have but one friend who yet have many Mistresses Madam replied he I am none of those For on the contrary I have many friends but you are my only Mistress and I can safely say that I have no other but you For if I did ever think my self in Love with any I now see I was much mistaken when I thought so For I never had such heart-burnings for any as for you Do not fear then I shall ever change when I cannot hope to be better Nor think that though time should offer any injury unto your fair face I should yet alter my mind No no Valeria I do not love you for your beauty only There are other excellencies in your soul and mind which I prefer before the charms of your eyes and all outward Lustre you have a thousand and a thousand beauties over which time and age has no power You have a thousand and a thousand Treasures which are not in the power of Fortune and worth much more than all those she is able to give Fear not then that my Passion will ere diminish as long as it is built upon so sure a foundation and Cause so solid I am nothing of the humor of those men whose Loves are damped as soon as a little sickness has paled the Complexion of their Mistresses I most humbly beseech you Madam think better of Herminius and deny him not that permission which he asketh unless you will have him think you never loved him or that you never will love him and that you would not have him love you any longer Though I should replyed Valeria with a demi-blush you would not believe me For indeed I do not refuse to consent unto what you desire but lest in consenting you should love me no longer or love me less After this Herminius redoubled his prayers and expressed his desires so tenderly and full of passion as she permitted him at last to speak unto Valerius her Father So as Sivelia who knew the vertue of Valeria and much approved of this alliance she moved it unto Valerius who liked the proposition as well as she could desire But though both sides carried the matter very secret that it might not be known untill all was consummated yet the joys of Herminius did betray this important secret and made Spurius partly guess at the truth and fully discovered it by the intelligence of that wench which gave him the Letter of Herminius so as entring into a new despair it caused such a disturbance in his heart as did confirm the opinion of such who say That a violent passion is often stronger than vertue or reason For Spurius who till then had done nothing for which he could blame himself unless loving too long after all hopes of being loved was gone he took a course to hinder Herminius from being happy which he would not have taken if jealousie had not altered the constitution of his soul The truth was he was an enemy unto Tyranny he hated Tarquin and he heartily wished the liberty of Rome yet in transport of passion which then was Mistress of his heart he thought it not
death continue they knew not what to think upon the adventure and were much joyed to observe that Valeria when any occasion presented it self did not mention him with the same tenderness she was wont For in the time when she did love him most tenderly and believed her self loved again she took much delight in talking of him and could not chuse but so highly applaud him as made it eminently apparent what pleasure she took in the mention of him Yet Mutius was not a jot the more happy for having seen him in the time of Herminius she could not now look upon Mutius but she remembred him and was so unjust as to wish him ill and sometimes thought her self a little obliged unto Emilius for being so much mistaken in Herminius However Emilius being of very good quality and being both amiable and rich Valerius who observed the inclination he had unto his Daughter was very glad of it and wished heartily she were married unto him lest if he should dye she should be left to the disposition of the Tyrant Tarquin So knowing no man but Herminius upon whom he would more willingly bestow her he bad him very kindly welcome to his house and commanded Valeria to treat him very civilly on the other side the Parents of Emilius who being desirous to keep him in Rome and thinking to marry him they bethought themselves of another very rich young Lady but they altered that design by reason of his love to Valeria who maugre all the supposed inconstancy of Herminius did continually lament him and though when she imagined him to be unfaithful she was extremely angry against him yet she heartily wished he would revive constant or at least repent of his inconstancy For though it is usual for death to efface or diminish injuries yet it hapned otherwise with Valeria Time did diminish her grief but not her anger and sometimes she thought that since Herminius was inconstant it was better for her that he was dead than otherwise At least said she in talking of you Madam my Rival has lost him as well as I and I may well think that she is more afflicted than I am You may judge Madam by what I have said that Valeria still loved Herminius when she thought she did not But for all that the sweetness of Emilius was not displeasing unto her As for Mutius that which most hurt him was she knew he followed the Counsels of Spurius whom she loved not and that he often saw Salonina whom in her heart she could not endure But as for Emilius knowing nothing but vertue in him finding him to be sweet civil complaisant full of spirit amorous and very assiduous and officious about her if she did not love him she wished she could and did believe she either did or should love him Yet she did not live with him as she was wont with Herminius There was no secret or mystery made of this affection but she permitted him to tell her that he loved her yet not before Valerius had told her his mind Mean while Emilius was very well satisfied with her she received him kindly and hearkned unto him she did not answer him sharply nor ever forbad him to hope for her Love But the strangest thing was that Emilius never heard there was any particular affection between Herminius and Valeria The reason of it doubtless was that falling in love with her as soon as he came to Rome and never making any secret of his Passion none would so far trouble themselves as to tell him a thing that was to no purpose Also he being a meer stranger in his own Countrey he had not any particular friend to give him an account of former passages However Valerius fearing lest Tarquin should forbid him to marry his Daughter unto Emilius as he had unto Herminius he therefore told Emilius that if he would marry his Daughter he desired it might be done speedily lest Tarquin should forbid the banes So as Emilius without more consideration told him that he wished nothing more earnestly than to have all concluded and was the more earnest in it because his Parents were desirous he should marry the Rich Inheritrix whom they had proposed unto him but his Parents being neither a Father or Mother or any such near alliance whom he was obliged to obey he rejected their Counsel and would follow his own inclination So as having the consents of Valerius and his wife it was resolved that Emilius should marry Valeria within eight days and that they should be married in the Countrey at a house which Valeria had lest Tarquin should have intelligence of it Emilius was now as happy as a man could be having no rubs in his Love but the excess of his Passion Valeria on her side she was not much transported with any joy nor was she very melancholy and yet her converse with Flavia was very sad when she came unto the Country house where she was to marry Emilius the next day For beginning then to think upon the engagement unto which she was to enter and calling to memory former passages her heart was much disordered they were both together alone in Valeria's Chamber Emilius was not to come until night So as they had free liberty of speech together Alas Flavia said Valeria unto her If any had heretofore told me that I should marry any but Herminius I should never have believed them but then I thought he would never have left me for any other whomsoever I must confess that had not Herminius been dead I should never have thought upon any marriage for my hopes of his hearty repentance would have defended my heart against the passion of Emilius But he being both inconstant and dead I must confess to my shame that I have some tenderness towards Emilius and look upon him as a man is whom I may be happy or at least not very miserable if I can forget Herminius Yet added she and blusht to be exactly vertuous and also prudent I ought before I marry him to sacrifice unto my revenge all that remains of the perfidious Herminius I never could do 't till now but now both vertue and reason command it and notwithstanding all the elegantness of his letters verses and tenderness towards me I must deprive my self of them for ever Oh Valeria said Flavia do not offer to lose such excellent pieces but rather trust them unto my discretion If I should replyed Valeria it should be upon condition never to be reproached with them again for to discover the bottom of my heart unto you I shall merit your compassion for upon examination of my self I find that when I would hate the memory of Herminius I cannot and when I would love Emilius I cannot bring it to pass Yet at some times I think that I do hate Herminius and love Emilius But for all that I never can find that tranquillity in my heart which is the effect of true joy though I find not any thing
an enemy and that I am also so miserable as to have a Mistress who does not only cease loving me but can love another my journey is at an end I need know no more I came only for Valeria and since Valeria is to be yours I have nothing to do but to die In saying so Herminius with abundance of sorrow in his eyes would have left Emilius to go and take his horse But Emilius whose heart was divided between Amity and Love between his Friend and his Mistress and who perhaps had some sparks of jealousie which he knew not of he was very desirous to know a little more so as taking Herminius by the arm and speaking unto him with much generosity and tenderness I beseech you said he unto him do not offer to leave me thus cruelly but consider I conjure you my innocency towards you For you know that during all the time of our travails together you never acquainted me with your love to Valeria you never so much as named her unto me as I often told you I thought you in love with Clelia 'T is true you would never confess that unto me yet I had good cause to think you were And I had reason to think that if you had had any Mistress in Rome you would have imployed me with some Letter or service to her when I came thither where I met with the Physician of Capua who shewed me a Letter which imported your death I published the news with incredible grief It was confirmed by Sivelia who also published the particulars of it to all the world the Tyrant grieved you had escaped his cruelty all your friends lamented you I saw Valeria I fell in love with her I found her disposed to obey Valerius who commanded her to entertain my affection and I prepared my self to marry her by consent of all even of your illustrious Mother who knew of it What crime then have I committed and wherein have I wronged you In nothing answered Herminius but your innocence does only make me the more miserable for indeed Emilius if it had been any other but your self either he or I should have died rather than endured he should take Valeria from me who as ungrateful and unfaithful as she is yet is she so dear unto me as without death I cannot suffer another should enjoy her Therefore since I cannot with honour be your enemy and since it does not please my capricious fortune I should have such a Rival whom I may ruine I will even go and die in some place or other where my passion shall not force me to any thing against my duty For let me tell you that considering the humour I am in I dare not answer for my self if I see you long Go therefore happy Emilius and gather the recompence of all my services and if you will never tell the inconstant Valeria that I am living since the term I have to live is so short as I shall quickly confirm the news of my death Did I think the sight of me would afflict that ungrateful person who is going to make you happy and hath so long and so cruelly deluded me I would go and upbraid her with inconstancy But since now she loves you better than ever she loved me she will not startle at the sight of me but rather triumph over my misfortune After this he offered to disengage himself from Emilius who held him by force and gave him most obliging language though his mind was much disquieted for he loved Herminius most tenderly he was infinitely obliged unto him and he understood that Valeria had loved him and he knew not what to think Love on one side tormented him friendship raised a thousand scruples in his heart jealousie did mix it self amongst all these several sentiments and he was no less miserable than Herminius who could not conceive how Sivelia could come to so many particulars of his supposed death nor why Valeria should write unto him as she did nor how she could love Emilius so soon nor how Valerius who was a man of great honour could break his word with him for he could not fully perswade himself that he was thought to be dead though his friend told him so because looking then upon him as a Rival he suspected all he said but during this long contest Valeria and Flavia who were walking by the River side they could not imagine who it should be that was talking with Emilius whom they knew because they knew he was to come that way But as for Herminius they never dreamt of him nor thought him living and therefore knew him not and besides his back was turned towards them they were a little troubled at their long discourse which was with that earnestness as made it evident they talked of something which did not please them so as imagining it might be Spurius or Mutius they feared some disasterous adventure Then spying Valerius who was walking to see whether a Fountain was rightly ordered these two Ladies told him the cause of their inquietude Valerius turning about and seeing them he went unto the place where those two men were in such earnest discourse he was come very near unto them before they perceived him for they were so intent upon their discourse that they minded nothing else But Valerius no sooner saw Herminius than he knew him and was not in any such amaze as Emilius because he knew that he was not dead he therefore stept nearer and embraced Herminius who was much surprised to see himself in the Arms of Valerius but much more when Valerius turned towards Emilius and told him that he must now revoke his word For said he if my daughters heart be not changed towards Herminius and if the heart of Herminius be not changed towards my daughter she cannot be yours since now he is returned Oh Sir replied Emilius do not force me to grieve at the life of a friend who is so dear unto me No no replied Herminius faintly never fear the generosity of Valerius the heart of Valeria is changed and I am not so happy as to render you miserable Valerius finding himself betwixt two men whom he loved so dearly and who found it so difficult to please both he thought upon nothing then but how to carry them both to his house lest they should be exasperated against each other At first their spirits did so boil and they knew so little what to do that they would not go with him For Herminius said he had no mind to see Valeria since she loved him not Emilius on his side said that since Valerius revoked his word in all probability Valeria would revoke her heart and Valerius not knowing well what to answer them he heartily beseeched them to follow him Mean time these two fair ones that were walking seeing Valerius bring those he went unto along with him they went unto the door where Valerius was to enter purposely to see who were with him but in
not unknown to you hold the chief rank in her heart for though she inhabite in the Countrey of Elis yet she is originally of Sicily Elisante is in my judgment highly to be admired in one respect which is that loving society naturally she has not withstanding attained the art to dispense with the want of it And conceiving that of all pleasures those which arise from agriculture are the most innocent she is become so perfect in this art which is the most antient and necessary of all others that the wise Timanthus who is her master in this kind of knowledge is not her superior in that wonderful skill which consists in well ordering of Land and improving the advantages of seasons and which affords the most considerable delights of the Countrey to those who understand how to use the same as well as Elisante Moreover in the prudent management wherewith she accompanies her industrious cares about her Gardens Meadows Woods and Flocks she finds all the pleasures of profit imployment and glory this prudent retirement having such a loveliness in all respects that the virtuous Elisante cannot be too much commended for it She hath many Illustrious friends writes handsomly and speaks with a certain vivacity declaring both the accuteness and firmness of her mind Then in reference to her Children the desire of seeing them virtuous haâ— ever been the most ardent of all such as she is capable of In a word Elisante is the Soul of her Desart which as pleasant as it is is indebted to her for a great part of its lustre and loveliness But the better to give you the description of the little Court of the two Princesses I was speaking of it is necessary for me to pourtray forth to you two Persons which made the principal ornament of it one of which is named Chrysilia and the other Claricia The first is unquestionably one of the most lovely women and the other one of the most charming Virgins in the world Chrysilia is a person so amiable that should she design to have her self loved by all the World nothing could resist her But since your silence seems to command me to draw you a picture of her without colours and such in which words alone give the ayr that makes resemblance and a little imagination animates you may please to know that Chrysilia is not tall of stature nor yet of their size who are accounted little for if she sees some taller than her self she also sees others not so tall and her stature is beyond exception well proportioned to the ayr of her whole person Her hair is the fairest black in the world that is the most bright and resplendent so that as her head is very gracefully tired the neglected Rings which fall carelesly upon her cheeks or necks make the most pleasing show possible with her mixt complexion of Lilly and Carnation which is beyond all suspition of artifice and makes her seem both sprightly and pleasing As for the form of her countenance 't is neither round nor Oval but being between both cannot well be defined but by saying It has the perfections of each Chrysilia's eyes are not large but so sweet so black lively and full of spirit and glittering that their beams are almost inevitable She sometimes moves them in a certain negligent manner that pleases infinitely and on the contrary sometimes expresses such a pretty haughtiness in them that makes her rather to be lov'd than feared Moreover Chrysilia's mouth is extreamly graceful and not like theirs whose lips seem shaped after so close a manner that one would think they had never smil'd in their lives She hath little sprightly glances which speak liveliness love and cheerfulness and her beauty has several charms which are not suddenly discovered at once but appear more or less according to the temper of her mind and the people with whom she converses Yet Chrysilia's aspect is extreamly graceful at the first view though she has the happiness to deserve more than she promises She has also white and small teeth a neck admirably well shap'd handsome arms and fair hands But to pass from the charms of her beauty to those of her wit I am to tell you she is infinitely ingenious that she usually less discovers her self to be so than she really is though she always speaks very exactly and never any thing but what is absolutely pertinent and likewise agreeable But having no ambition to be universally praised she is not sollicitous to lay open the whole beauty of her mind to all sorts of people So that sometimes she gives her self up to such a reservedness when she happens in places where the persons do not please her that if she be constrained to speak the words fall from her mouth so carelesly that you would think she were desirous not to be understood for fear any should return her an answer so faintly does she pronounce the last syllables of all her words But on the other side when Chrysilia is with persons whose conversation pleases her her serious air is cleared up and a cheerful grace appears in all that she does She speaks alike handsomly upon all subjects and there is elegancy judgment and all things which she expresses She has a subtle way of raillery and reasons exquisitely upon all occasions in a word she hath wit sufficient that were her beauty less she would notwithstanding be infinitely charming Moreover her heart is capable of great tenderness but having a delicate spirit which is not too hasty in making a choice and being naturally slow to abandon her self to friendship and intimacy she is sometimes reproacht for not being sufficiently endearing to her friends But her Soul is noble and which makes her yet more amiable not haughty or ambitious of any thing She writes also extream handsomly though she does not make semblance of understanding so much as what handsome-writing is to conclude she is unquestionably so amiable as I said before that she may justly assure her self of being loved by whomsoever she pleases As for my part interposed Plotina I love her already and I would not have you tell me there was yet another more lovely than she with the Princess of Elis and the Princess of Messenia for I shall not accord with your opinion Fear not Madam answered Merigenes that I will ever make my self a Judge between two amiable persons 't is enough for me that I make you their pictures and leave you the liberty to follow your own inclinations For indeed never any decision ought to be made between two beautiful and accomplisht Ladies That which pleases one does not another and there is a certain humerousness of which I am to learn the reason which sometimes apprehends defects with approbation and finds pleasingness in things which are not taking However it be in that respect said Amilcar I have great impatience to know Claricia I beseech you interrupted Plotina agreeably speaking to Merigenes if Claricia be a
themselves in all such circumstances as made it evident that he was really the Son of Porsenna so as then seriously considering the State of the business and falling into council about it there grew a very great contest amongst them some thought that the sooner the better if Aronces were made known unto Mezentius considering the services which he had done him But Sycanus was of a contrary judgment and said that if they did so they should too much put Aronces in danger and that to go prudently to work they ought to tarry until the Prince of Perusia had some affection to him grounded upon his merit and also that it was requisite to keep close they not being in a capacity to oppose Mezentius in case he should prove unjust Others of the Company arguing after another method advised that Aronces should go into Clusium there make himself known add after he had there secured himself then to send unto Mezentius and let him know he was there and demand of him the life and liberty of the King his Father Aronces no sooner heard this advice but he did utterly disgust it because he conceived that by this way he should stand too much upon his own safety and too much hazard the safety of Porsenna Also being perswaded that Clelia was within the Dominions of the Perusian Prince he had no genius to be far from thence So as after a very serious consultation upon the matter the result of their arguing was that as soon as Aronces was recovered he should go unto Perusia that he should Court all occasions to win upon the affections of Mezentius and all his Court that in the interim he should make sure of all Porsenna's friends and prepare them to unite themselves and take up Arms if need were that they should hold intelligence with some in Clusium That the Princess of the Leontines should use all her endeavours to engage Tiberinus in the service of Aronces upon all occasions that should present themselves And in order thereunto she should be intreated to quit her melancholy way of life and go into Perusia as soon as Aronces was in a capacity of going thither After the Session of this private consultation all these friends unto Porsenna separated themselves and each one in particular went about the execution of these resolutions excpet Nicius and Martia who sculked in the house of Sicanus until a fit time of shewing themselves useful in the service of Aronces In the interim this Prince was strangely perplexed that no tydings could be heard of Clelia and the more because the Prince of Numidia was also concern'd in it But in spight of all these fretting inquietudes which in probability might have retarded his recovery yet recover he did and that sooner than could be hoped The Prince of Numidia also began to mend upon his first dressing so as Celeres now seeing nothing which could hinder these two Rivals from seeing her he began to be exceedingly perplexed for he knew that the Prince of Numidia was ignorant that Aronces loved Clelia and his heart longed to impart himself unto his friend On the other side he was sure that Aronces knowing how Adherbal and he adored one and the same Saint Aronces would no longer continue a lover of Adherbal He did apprehend some danger in acquainting the Prince of Numida with the truth of this matter and in trusting the secrets of one Rival unto another Also he conceived that this confidence would be to no purpose and that when Adherbal should know both the quality and affection of Aronces it would not at all alter the thoughts of Clelia therefore the advice which he gave unto Aronces was to dissemble his thoughts from that Prince For truly said Celeres to him what will it concern you though Adherbal do love Clelia as long as he cannot come to the sight of her nor so much as know where she is Let him therefore be puling and telling you of his love to her And to set him packing further off from you give me leave to infuse some false intelligence unto him concerning Clelia to the end he may be wandring in quest of her and you be thereby rid of that vexation which his presence causeth you How 's this Celeres said he to me can you think I am able to endure Adherbal should ever come and tell me that he loves Clelia That he will do so for ever and that he intends to seek her all the world over that he will pull her out of the Arms of Horatius and never yield her unto any Would you have me Celeres suffer you to part from me with false intelligence and perhaps send him nearer unto Clelia for since you know not where she is how can you tell but that you may direct him the way to find her No no Celeres added he I have other thoughts than these and though sometimes I would be contented withal my heart never again to see the Prince of Numidia's face since he is my Rival yet I wovld never have him out of my sight until I know where Clelia is In the mean time it goes against my soul to dissemble with him I neither know how I should speak to him nor whether it be expedient to let him know my thoughts therefore if you will let us leave the matter at hazard for when I do see him perhaps I shall not then be able to speak what I now think I am able to do Truth is Madam some two days after this discourse though the Prince of Numidia was much weaker and unable than Aronces yet he gave him a visit at his Chamber and he came in such a nick of time that he found Aronces alone for I was then gone with the Princess of the Leontines and Aurelia You may easily imagine how Aronces was surprised yet for all that he received him very civilly but did not answer the caresses of the Numidian Prince with his usual freeness he began to thank him for the pains he had taken in coming to see him but Adherbal obligingly interrupting him No no said he unto him my dear Aronces you need not thank me for what I have done but if you saw into my heart perhaps you would complain against me for this visit is not a visit of bare friendship since my love unto Clelia hath a share in my affection to you and I come as well to make you the confident of my Passion as of my sorrow for so much sadness in your looks both the last time you came to visit me and now Sir replied Aronces faintly I am so far unfit to be the confident of your Love that if you will be rul'd by me you shall never make choice of me for it And yet replied Adherbal you are furnished with all the qualities requisite in a most agreeable and faithful friend for you slow in wit ingenuity and spirit you have a most tender soul you know Clelia as well as I do you are her
friend and doubtless yet you love me for since absence hath not diminished the least spark of my affection to you I will judge of you by my self and believe that your affection answers mine That I may trust you with the whole secrets of my soul and discover all my infirmities unto you 'T is true Sir replied Aronces that indeed I have a tender heart and do know Clelia but alas added he out of his excess of love sincerity and jealousie it is not so true that I am her friend How replied Adherbal what alteration is this How is it possible you should ever hate that most transcendent person Nay nay mistake me not replied he for I do love her in the same degree you do Now judge whether or no I am fit to be your confident and whether I could possibly give you a more heroick testimony of my friendship than this in acquainting you with my love of Clelia Oh Aronces cried out the Prince of Numidia it is a most cruel testimony for truly since I see that you do love Clelia I need not ask any further why I am not loved my self Upon this Adherbal was silent and so a while continued in the mean while Aronces was something pleased in thinking that his Rival did not now look upon him as the confident of his love so as growing a little bolder I know not Sir said he unto him whether you may accuse me for being the cause why Clelia doth not answer your affection but I am very certain that I my self am not in the Catalogue of the happy nor in all likelihood shall be a long time Yet I conceived that being acquainted with your generosity it was a piece of my duty to tell you ingeniously that I have loved Clelia ever since I was at Carthage That I did love her at Capua and that having hah the happiness to do Clelius some considerable services he freely bestowed Clelia upon me and I was upon the very point of marriage when a most horrid Earthquake did make a separation between us Thus and with reason looking upon her as my own since Clelius and Sulpicia gave her unto me and since never contradicted their wills I conceived it fit to acquaint you with the state of the business and that to dissemble with you did derogate from the maxims of true generosity How Aronces said Adherbal then unto him hath Clelius and Sulpicia both made a promise of Clelia unto you and hath Clelia given her self unto you Yes Sir replied he and that is it which renders me the more miserable But Sir you know that you are no Roman replied Adherbal and when she was at Carthage Clelius then would not bestow her upon any but a Roman but talked as if he would give her unto an ordinary Citizen of Rome before the greatest King upon Earth 'T was so indeed replied Aronces when we were at Carthage but it is as true that though I am no Roman yet I had been a most happy man had fortune been pleased Since you have thus far informed me Sir replied Adherbal I know very well how I ought to answer but to tell you truly Aronces I doubt I cannot I am so grieved to meet with a Rival in the person of my friend and to hear I ought not in reason pretend any more unto Clelia that I dare not answer for my own thoughts And I am so little master of my self added he in rising up that lest I should vent something in my transport of grief that might make me repent it all my days I will take my leave of you not knowing what I shall think when we meet next Sir replied Aronces your virtue makes me ashamed and I will use all the virtue that I have to be both your Rival and your Friend My design is the same replied the Prince of Numidia but I cannot say that I am able to execute it nor do know whether I am able to be both at once the most miserable and the most generous man Upon this Adherbal retired he himself not knowing his own thoughts of Aronces for his soul was so sadded to hear that he could not pretend any more unto Clelia as he was not the master of his own mind Aronces himself could not chuse but grieve that he had such a brave man to his Rival But Horatius being then the most legitimate object of his hatred and finding no likelihood that the Prince of Numidia could ever prejudice him his vertue surmounted all motions of any aversion towards that Prince and overcoming himself he went to visit him the next morning betimes The Prince of Numidia emulating the generosity of his Rival and unwilling to yield unto him in point of generosity he gave him a most civil reception and such high discourses passed between them as made them admire each other though their hearts did beat such a pulse as secretly moved rather to hatred than love of each other After this these two Rivals did meet at the Princess of the Leontines Chamber and at Aurelia's but they met not without many standers by The truth is they continued not long in a power of seeing each other for both being perfectly recovered together they were forced to sever for Aronces was constrained to go unto Perusia and transact about the preservation of the King his Fathers life And the Prince of Numidia seeing no rational hope for himself resolved to wander up and down the world and not to be any longer in quest of Clelia since now he had no pretence unto her and the principal reason of this his resolve was because he would try whether change of place would work a change of mind and whether he could recover that tranquillity which he had lost But finding it a piece of difficulty to take a handsome farewel of his Rival he opened his heart unto Celeres who being very desirous that two such great Princes should part fair without a quarrel he did approve of his intention in departing without visiting Aronces who being ready to go unto Perusia was mightily perplexed For not knowing where Clelia was he could have willingly wished that though the sight of a Rival was a mote in his eye yet he would have had the Prince of Numidia there as well as himself But that wish was in vain For Adherbal went that same night to take his leave of Sicanus and Aurelia and giving them thanks for all favours received from them he gave order that all his equipage should be ready by break of day but before he went he left two Letters with order to be delivered unto Celeres one for Clelia the other for himself which contained these lines Adherbal unto Celeres FOr all you are an intimate friend unto my Rival yet I have seen you so passionately grieved at my misery that I will desire a favour from you 'T is true it is a favour of a strange nature since I heartily wish that you may not be able