and fair Houses and inhabit not Tents and Chariots but when they march in the body of an Army I will say no more of a people who have but a small part in this History and as it altogether for Alcamenes I will not enlarge but upon the recital of his particular actions During the non-age of this Prince the King Arontes his Father a great and redoubted Warriour who dyed lately and during whose raign the most remarkable of his Sons adventures happened had a long and bloody War with Decebalus King of Dacia and the fields of either King had often blusht with the blood of their miserable subjects The Kingdom of Dacia was formerly obscure and of an indifferent consideration But this at present very potent and its Princes may keep file with the greatest Soveraigns of either Asia or Europe To the ancient Dominions of the Dacians are added either by conquest or alliance the Getes and the Gelones and it was as I suppose about the Tribute that the Scythian King demanded of these Nations which bred the quarrel But be the original what it will the process was cruel and for some time doubtful but at length the King of Dacia sunk under the Arms of the Scythians and was killed by the King Arontes's own hand in a battel fought on the Frontiers of his Countrey Arontes after this Victory was in a capacity to have extended his Arms over the Dacian Territories but he contented himself with the advantages he had without seeking greater conforming his Ambition to the custom of his Predecessors who have alwayes believed they could not without a crime invade their Neighbours Possessions He therefore granted to the Widow of Decebalus the truce she demanded keeping himself peaceably within his own limits and governing his subjects with all justice and moderation But the Queen Amalthea that was the name of Decebalus's Widow retaining an inconsolable grief for the death of her Husband and breathing nothing but revenge was not appeased by the moderation of her enemy forgetting none of her resentments though the evil state of affairs forced her to dissemble them and also her impuissance to continue a war the success whereof had been already so mournful The only testimony of her marriage was a daughter then about five or six years old fair amongst the marvellous beauties of the universe and born with an extraordinary spirit and grandure of courage The afflicted Queen sought in this little Princess all her consolation and in her founded all the hope of her premeditated revenge supposing this growing beauty when it ripened to perfection would enslave all the Neighbour Princes and arm them in her quarrel The Princess whose high spirit made her easily consent to the resentments of her Mother refused not to make those advantages which she had received from Nature the incendiaries of that revenge they both equally breathed In this Hope was the young Menalippa educated with all that care could do to advance the design of making her a most accomplished person neglecting nothing that might acquire spiritual ornaments to accompany those of her beauty Like a young Lioness the Queen brought her up inspiring her alwaies with more of the Fierce than the Sweet and during her infancy she never heard the name of Arontes pronounced but with hatred and horrour Her recreations were framed after a sort little common to her sex and seeing she was of a vigorous strong complexion and an extraordinary stature they made her practise the most violent exercises to ride so soon as she was able to sit and chase the savage Beasts with bow and arrows and if she were not entirely an Amazon at least she was capable of those Martial women practices who till Alexanders time inhabited Asia with so much reputation Menalippa marvellously seconded the designs of the Queen her Mother fair to the admiration of all those that saw her her spirit tempered with all the Graces that excellent education can add to excellent Naturals her body accustomed to violent exercises with as much force as those of the strongest men her heart naturally high and proud easily received those fierce impressions from her Mothers inspiration and withal as much hatred to the person name and house of her fathers murtherer as she could desire when the Queen saw her such a one as she wished she concealed her intentions no longer but practizing for succour with her Allies and Neighbours to make a puissant expedition she proposed the fair Menalippa who besides the Marvels of her person was heir to a potent Monarchy the price of that vengeance she continually breathed not scrupling to promise her to that Prince who with the greatest power and most fortunate success would aid her against her enemy Whilst Menalippa was thus nurtured in Dacia the King of Scythia to whom the Gods had given but one Son older than Menalippa by two years this young Prince employed all his study to render himself conformable by education to those hopes were conceived of him and certainly it was not without reason that they expected Marvels from him since Heaven seemed to have inspired this young Prince with whatsoever might entitle him admirable I shall add nothing Madam to what you have said concerning his good Mine which certainly might dispute precedence with all those I have ever seen of great or majestick in the whole course of my Travels his spirit is excellent lively and active his soul adorned with all the vertues and form'd with the most beautiful and grand inclinations but you will know him better by my relation than any description I can make of him This young Prince so happily seconded the designs of the King his father that at the age of fifteen years he not only rendred himself more knowing in all sorts of exercise than his teachers but also appeared at these years the strongest man of Scythia in all exercises wherein address and force of body could shew it doing things which made all that saw him judge that at a more advanced age he would surpass all those whom antiquity had presented for the most famous But in a short time he gave more authentique proofs for scarce had he attained the seventeenth year when the King his father was obliged to march against the Masagetes who were in Arms through the inspiration of the Queen of Dacia and her Allies And being willing to teach his Son his trade gave him the command of a part of his Army he did in this Imploy things surpassing belief defeated the enemy in three or four Combats such as might pass for Battels testifying a marvellous Conduct and excellent intelligence in an occupation which he had but begun to practise he had alwaies the glory to have killed the Chiefs with his own hands at the head of their Troops and did things in his own person so astonishing that the Scythians compared him to Achilles Theseus and the fabulous Heroes of Antiquity and a little after the King his father being
Diligence and having gained that Victory with the slaughter of 50000 of his Enemies and the loss of but fifty of his own Souldiers he was return'd to Rome where he had made three Triumphal Entries the fame of these great deeds pleasingly flatter'd the Soul of Cleopatra and she dismissed all her anxieties with a confidence that such a man could not be capable of infidelity In the mean time no longer able to hide the swelling fruit of her Womb and unwilling to contract the ill opinion of her Subjects she was constrain'd openly to declare the truth of her Marriage and instead of the shame and confusion her Fear suspected from that Discovery she found her Aegyptians possessed with new joy in the expectation of such a King from her Loins as might prove a perfect Copy of Caesar and Cleopatra The Queen was brought to Bed in Alexandria almost at the same that Caesar made his Entry into Rome of a Son not only worthy of his Father and Mother but of all that the most fruitful hope should conceive never did the light salute a thing so beautiful the Astrologers never knew a Birth so advantagious for this Royal Infant immediately became the admiration and delight of all that saw it but because his Childhood was but the spring to that lustre which hath since appeared in him with riper advantages I will not stay upon the beginnings of his Life because they are of less importance By a general consent he was call'd Caesario and we all hop'd that though there was little difference between his and his Fathers Name there would be yet less in their qualities and the greatness of their actions the Queen took a marvellous care of his Education and made the whole world to be searched for the most expert and knowing persons in all Sciences and Exercises wherein he was to be instructed when his Age permitted him and though I did but weakly merit that Honour and a better choice might have been made among the Aegyptians she was pleased to make me his Governour for my Father was too old for that employment and only desired it for my self In the mean time the Queen whatever consolation she tasted in the enjoyment of her Son was galled with bitter grief seeing there appear'd no proof of Caesars promise Not long after she understood he had given the last blow to that War by the defeat of Pompey's Sons that in Rome he had usurped the Soveraign Authority and forced a Master upon that proud City the imperious Mistris of so many Kings and so large a part of the Universe Then her hopes began to swell with the expectation of his Promise and Caesar by frequent Letters endeavour'd to confirm them excusing his absence from her delights with very specious Reasons which for a time appeased her but when she saw a whole year wasted and yet no haste made to accomplish his Vow she began to lose her patience and complain of his infidelity yet before she thought fit to make her resentments speak lowder she sent my Father Apollodorus to Caesar as well because he was the faithfullest of her Servants as that in his presence Caesar espoused her and might therefore better than any other reproach the violation of his word This Voyage of my Fathers proved ineffectual yet when Caesar saw him he hugg'd him in his Arms entertain'd him nobly gave him rich Presents and often mentioned the Queen with dear resentments of affection but could afford him no other reasons for his delay than what he had written to Cleopatra He protested that so soon as he had felt himself sit sure upon his Imperial Throne he would accomplish his promise but in that condition while his Monarchy was yet infant feeble and staggering he found it not safe to enterprize any thing against the consent of the People and Senate whom he had already exasperated with imposing his Yoke Cleopatra was contented for a time to flatter her self with the likelihood of these excuses but in fine after her patience had learned another Lesson as tedious as the first she broke into reproaches against him gave her self up to the sway of a just passion and probably was hatching thoughts to make it known in some deadly blow when news came that Heaven had revenged her and that her faithless Caesar was murdered in the Senate-house with twenty three wounds by those that he thought his dearest friends This report fell like a Clap of Thunder upon her spirit and all her Choler could not disswade her from receiving it at first as the greatest blow that Heaven and Fortune could contribute to her overthrow She solemniz'd this loss with a deluge of tears and such actions as could best express most passion and would possibly have abandoned her self to grief if the last marks of Coesar's ingratitude had not brought her comfort for she learn'd that a little before his death he had adopted his Nephew Octavius who is now the great Augustus Caesar for his Son declar'd him his Heir and oblig'd him to take his Name and Dignity without making the least mention of his Son Caesario or Cleopatra This last assurance the Queen received of her Husbands ingrateful disesteem kindled a despite that dry'd up all her tears and shewed her cause to rejoyce in the same death she so lately bewailed however she ceas'd to bemoan his loss in publick though she rendered to Caesar's memory the Funeral Honours which she believed due as to her lawful Husband but her resentments against the Father descended not to the Son for she nourished the little Caesario with as dear indulgence as if his Father had been still faithful and remembring that perjur'd as he was he had been the greatest of all men in his face she beheld the Image of his mighty Sire as another dawning of her Comfort To him her resolutions intended the Crown of Aegypt and though the Aegyptians perceiving the Ptolomean Race was almost extinct did oft petition her to make choice of another Husband she alwaies denied their entreaties and at last so won upon them by her mild and prudent Government as they were content to approve her Design of passing the rest of her Life in Widowhood Alas how happy had the poor Queen been had she held her resolution she had avoided those famous misfortunes that made so much noise in the World and her miseries with the lamentable Catastrophe of her Life had not forc'd tears from her rudest Enemies Sir I suppose you know that a few years after Julius Caesar's death the unfortunate Antony having shar'd the Empire of the world with young Caesar since called Augustus and with him reveng'd the murder of their Predecessor by the defeat of the Conspirators and by that bloody Triumvirat which produc'd such fatal effects in Rome passing through Cilicia to make war upon the Partbians he summon'd Cleopatra to appear before him and because the Queen was too weak to resist the puissance of that great Master of half
a clearer delight if it had not stood bent to his friends prejudice But if Coriolanus thus moderated the resentment of his own felicity because it oppos'd his friends Marcellus indured his disadvantage with patience since Coriolanus reap'd the profit nor could his own misfortune afflict him without the mixture of some comfort because it conduc'd to his friends success I desire not would Coriolanus say to Cleopatra you should hate Marcellus for if a Man can merit it he is worthy of your effection but if it be destin'd for any Mortal I demand it wholly and entire for Coriolanus Marcellus would almost say the same things only he durst not let his passion come abroad so openly as my Masters for fear to displease the Emperor his Uncle who did him the honour to design him his Daughter helped him to cut out a disguise for his affection and make the borrowed name of Brother injoyn'd by Octavia serve to mask that of Lover Thus had they wasted almost a year during which my Prince doubtless more deep struck than Marcellus daily gathered such fresh causes of displeasure from his friends encroachment as the melancholy it produced began to settle it self in his face and behaviour though the cause was conceal'd from all the World but my self whom by a peculiar preference to the rest he always honoured with the knowledge of his secrets And why said he one day to me should mischievous fortune raise me up a Rival of my dearest friend and such a friend whose repose I cannot combat without wounding mine own Ah! had it pleased the Gods to inspire any other but Marcellus with the design of serving Cleopatra our Swords should decide our titles and sure I should kill any but Marcellus in so just a quarrel In fine his sadness grew to such a height as Marcellus who perceived it with the first began to be much troubled at it and indeed as one that went a deep share in all the resentments of so dear a friend he often demanded the cause though his own suspition did partly answer him but Coriolanus still took care to cover the truth till all his friends reasons growing too weak to satisfie Marcellus care at last he was constrain'd to discharge his heart and one night as they lay together which they often did Marcellus having often prest him upon that Subject and a thousand times sworn he could never be capable of any pleasure so long as he saw him drown'd in so deep a sorrow and himself ignorant of its Fortune the Prince sending one or two sighs before the Discourse he was to make Brother said he for so they always called one another the Gods can attest you do force that from me by your friendship which I ever resolv'd to wrap in silence though you might easily have read it by your own observation and so have spared your constraint of a bad relation Did you believe I could see my self travers'd in a passion that is twined with my vital threed by a friend as dear to me as my self without a mortal displeasure Do you think I could designe the ruine of your content or abandon the care of mine own repose without a cruel violence You know I was Cleopatra's eldest prisoner before your eye had marked her out for a Mistress and had my dear Marcellus prevented my design of serving her I should sooner have ran upon my death than his pretences or expos'd him to the anguish he has made me resent nor did I perceive he was my Rival before I was engaged too deep to render what was due to our amity which if I may say it he himself has forgotten to pay Ah! would to Heavens our contest had been for Crowns or any thing else of higher value you should quicly have seen with what a free heart I would have given up my interest But for Cleopatra my dear Brother 't is that cannot be obtain'd of an enslaved spirit that will never recover strength enough to get out of the Abyss wherein my spighthful Fortune has plunged me I say my spightful fortune for what ever glory I acquire by Cleopatra's service and however my hopes may feed high upon success I shall never think that fortune propitious that must be establisht at the price of your repose nor have I the liberty to Court it so much as with a single wish since it can no where be raised but upon the ruines of yours Coriolanus accompanied these words with many others of the same nature which sunk so sensibly to Marcellus heart as it was long before he could recover strength enough to shape a reply at last his words broke their way through his resentments and embracing my Master with an ardent affection My dear Brother said he Heaven is my witness that when my eye first told me Cleopatra was lovely I did not believe your youth could have been capable of forming a design to serve her and if I have since let my self slip into the snare I rendered my liberty to that in vincible puissance which no heart can resist yet I confess I have sinned against our amity and should prove my self unworthy of a place in Coriolanus heart if I do not strive with my soul to render the reparation I owe you I know my intentions are good but do a little distrust my power however but this night to clear all scores and possibly before we part I shall make it appear how dearly I prize our friendship Coriolanus would have reply'd to this discourse but Marcellus oppos'd it and prest him so earnestly to give him the remainder of that night as he was constrain'd to obey him they both passed it over without so much as closing their eyes my Master often over-hearing the sighs that broke away from Marcellus though he strove to imprison them with all his power and still cut them off in the middle least their noise should convey them to my Masters ear The hour that he was wont to call them up was not yet arrived when Marcellus turning himself to my Princes side with a vivacious and resolute action Brother said he I have combated and conquered for you or rather for my self since by this victory I am directed in part how to expiate the crime I have committed Cleopatra now is yours and I ask your pardon for having so injustly disputed her our friendship with the aid of reason has almost driven her from my heart and all that remaines unfinished of the cure I think may safely be referred to the Chirurgery of time my youth and a short absence wich is already designed I am now entered an Age that allarms me to the trade of my Ancestors and tells me t is time to go seek out reputation with my sword in my hand I will therefore beg the Emperors permission to go serve my Apprenticeship under the Consul Vinicius who marches within a few dayes with a puissant Army into Germany where I hope to perfect my recovery not only
themselves a breach in spight of all his Courage that denyed them passage Gods what a fearful divination of my succeeding mischief did that object shoot into my soul how quickly did my spirit at the same time take the impression of my misery and release my repose I advanced towards Artaban with little less disquiet in mine than his looks had shown me the noise of my approach made him lift up his head and he knew me in spight of the prepossession of those passions that disputed precedency in his Soul the light of me inraged the storms of those transports that shook him and he had much ado to stop the torrent of his griefs from breaking out into a discovery by a loud out-cry though I often called him by his name as I made my approaches it was long before he could digest his woes into words and instead of advancing to meet me he leaned his back against an Arbour and holding his arms a cross upon his breast he staid my coming up in a posture that pierced my very Soul with pity my affection soon reached me a share in his anguish and it cost me no second thoughts to divine the cause of his inquietude the fear I had entertained to learn something from his mouth that would justifie it self made my tongue turn coward for a time and charactered a disturbance in my looks that were little short of his in fine I first overcame the confusion that shared it self betwixt us and violently putting by my own sad apprehensions that my judgement might have liberty to make a more dexterous application of comfort to his How now Artaban said I are your knowledge and courage both wracked with one gust what have you let your self sink under the weight of a grief that appears in your visage below the knowledge of Elisa At these words Artaban drew up two or three groans from the bottome of his breast and fastning his eyes upon me with a wild and half distracted look Yes Madam I do know you said he with a voice composed of almost as many sighs as words and oh that Heaven had pleased I had known you less or better In fine Madam pursued he a little re-inforcing his spirits the same Gods that took me from you have cruelly torn those hopes from my heart that my indiscretion planted there and a King whom I can neither call cruel nor ingrateful because he is your Father does rigorously punish the same offence your indulgence pardoned his refusal exposes me to a death that might have been far less bitter and more glorious had I received it as a just doom of my boldness from your command but in this my destiny is much more cruel that utterly unable to love the man that pays me no other price but Death for all my services it is not permitted me to hate him that disclosed such a mine of Treasure as your self to the World At this period a shower of tears that violently broke their way stayed the pursuit of his discourse which softened my Soul to such a melting temper as forced me freely to unlock the channels of my own and putting my hand before my face with a purpose in part to hide them Artaban said I my fears were always Prophetick of what has befallen you and though your services esteemed aright I believed ever there could be nothing too great for your expectations yet I know the Kings disposition too well to over-see so sad an augury this I may safely protest and possibly with too much truth that the cause and sense of your sorrows have equally divided themselves betwixt us and since you cannot be ignorant that I love you you may easily guess from that how large a share my heart has carved it self in the sufferings of your disgrace would to Heaven it lay in my power to smooth all the frowns in the face of your fortune and that the Gods had as happily suited the Kings intentions to mine as my will is submitted to the indispensible tyes of duty to an absolute dependance upon his Believe it Artaban you should quickly know that your vertue takes place of all those in my choice that swell the titles of the greatest Kings nor has the whole Universe a capacity to court my soul with a clearer satisfaction than by putting you in possession of that priviledge my wishes design you But since the Gods will not let us be happy at our own Election call upon the greatness of your courage for a resignation to their wills 't is that must create you hopes to calm and quiet your displeasures and doubtless cut you out fairer Fortunes than any can flatter your expectations in the Court of Parthia I cannot see my self reduced Dear Artaban without a sad reluctance to offer you this Counsel but you must not be ignorant how poorly my power can befriend my will in a business of this nature and you know with what a precise obedience maids of my birth are tyed to the austere rules of their duty they are those that subscribe me a blind submission to the will of my Father and my King And they are those interrupted the sad Artaban that reduce me to this deplorable estate which draws tears from your fair eyes no Madam 't is not the power of a King that creates my misfortune had I nothing but that to combat perhaps I might find forces enough to hold up my Buckler which now I must lay down at your feet since you are my opposer it may be I should throw down all other difficulties that stand in my way to happiness and I think the powerfullest impediments would all become the Trophies of my resolution if your consent would vote the Triumph but 't is that I know not how to hope and 't is that too Madam that has made a coward of all my courage to demand it no Madam I dare not ask any thing that crosses your humour in behalf of a miserable man nor pretend to the violation of a duty that forbids me to be happy for though I were born to greater Crowns than those that embrace your Fathers Temples I should not suffer so bold a thought but since a Sword is all the portion that Heaven has given me I should be too unworthy of the glory I have gotten by it in serving you should I ask more than what I have already received of your goodness my desires then Madam are all contracted in this single request continued he throwing himself at my feet that you will only suffer me to go away with the honour of being yours and continue it till one short Scene of my life be acted I shall not long trouble you with keeping the Commission and I promise you to make hast into the arms of Death as the only medicine that is left for all miseries While he spake in this manner I had seated my self upon a bank that was behind me and regarding him in what sad estate with all the
easily defaced out of the heart of a person of the age that I was of when I parted from Ethiopia and those which I had received in mine were not so strongly setled as to vanquish the despight which scorn enkindled in my heart It was then almost free when the beauties of Arsinoe presented themselves unto me with charms against which it was difficult to make any defence I likewise did but weakly defend my self from them and whether it were by their power or my own weakness or by my destiny which did not permit me to fix my thoughts upon any but Daughters of great Kings but I suffered my self to be taken without consulting my reason and without making any reflection upon those things which might divert me Neither this second engagement nor that which you will understand in the progress of my discourse proceeded from the lightness of my spirit and naturally I have no inclination to change if I be not carried to it by some more powerful motive than my love I should have loved Candace to my grave if the love I had for her in so tender youth had had time to render it self more powerful in my soul than the aversion I had for her scorn but as I have naturally this unreasonable presumption as to believe that the inequality which is between me and that I love ought not to expose me to disdain and evil usage so by the knowledge I received of it my resentments were strong enough to banish from my soul a passion not well setled I say a passion ill setled for the last I have received into my spirit hath placed it self there after another sort and hath taken such profound root there that neither regret nor despite nor jealousie nor all that the Gods and Men can oppose to impede its course will be capable to alter it for one moment In fine I could not take notice of the amiable qualities of Arsinoe without loving her and though recalling to mind the usage I received in Ethiopia I made some efforts against the birth of this love whereof in probability I ought to expect no better success than of the former yet if this resistance served a while against the sight only of the beauties of Arsinoe it prevailed nothing at last against so many miracles of her mind whereby the advantages of her body were surpassed This inability of defending my self was seconded by the flattery of my natural ambition and looking with Pride upon the beginning of a Fortune which I believed due to my self alone What hinders me from hoping said I but that by this valour whereof the first effects are so handsome I may render my self worthy of being an avowed Servant of Arsinoe and what ought I not to expect from a Sword which hath already advanced me to a rank where possibly it never placed a Person of my age in so short a time Undertake daring Britomarus all that thy courage can inspire thee with it is too good to betray thee and by it thou mayst one day see thy self in a condition not to be disdained neither by Arsinoe nor any Princess upon Earth If Royal Blood and Crowns be wanting to thee thy vertue may supply the defect of the one and may possibly give thee the other this Fortune is not without Example and divers persons of a Birth inferior to thine have attained by their valour to a royal Dignity Arsinoe whose Spirit is not of the common stamp will know how to discern in thee that which is most precious and worthy of her esteem though perhaps concealed under disadvantagious appearences she will conceive that if thou beest not a Prince possibly thou meritest to be one and thou appearest now before her in another condition and in another kind of posture than thou didst before Candace by whom thou couldst not be regarded but as one of her meanest Domesticks and to whom thou couldst not be considerable by any action which could render thee superior to those of thy birth I animated or rather flattered my self in this manner and by indulging my passion I suffered my self to be but too deeply enengaged all things contributed to it and Arsinoe her self was partly culpable of it by the kindnesses she shewed me and the marks of a particular esteem which she daily gave me As she was perswaded that I was owner of some vertue so she gave it as much respect in my person as she would have done in a great Prince and this was that which deceived me and which made me conceive hopes in her goodness whereby I found my self abused Henceforward my love began to produce its ordinary effects I lost my repose and sleep and I saw my self exposed to all the inquietudes which accompany this passion yet mine were greater than those of other persons who have permission to ease themselves by complaint and discourse and knowing my self obliged by the eminency of that which I loved to bury my thoughs in a rigorous silence I suffered without doubt in this cruel constraint what I should not have suffered if I had the liberty to declare my mind I saw the Princess every day and by the account the King made of me and the state he made me take in the Court I had free ingress into places whither none but Persons of Quality were permitted to come the Princess did me the honour to speak often to me she was pleased with my discourse and oftentimes preferred it before that of the Grandees of Armenia by her goodness I was more enflamed and though I received it with a respect which tyed up my tongue more and more yet it could not hold my eyes nor my sighs in the like constraint and they continually spake a language to the Princess which she might easily have understood if all appearances had not been contrary to it Amongst the Persons whose amity I had acquired during the stay I made in Armenia Artamenes a Young Armenian of a very sublime condition and allied divers wayes to the Royal Family was the Man to whom I was the most engaged and which testified most affection to me He had inclinations altogether vertuous and a great sweetness of spirit joyned with a great and lofty courage the rank he held in Armenia caused me at the first to use some submissive respect towards him but in a short time he banished all ceremony out of our Society and esteeming some quality in me which he preferred before Birth and Fortune his absolute will was that we should live in an entire equality and that we should banish all constraint from our conversations and seeing me without any other estate than what I received from the King and what I might hope for from my sword he would often have made me to participate of his and have put me in a condition to out-brave necessity if Fortune should prove contrary to me but I had but too much dis-esteem for things of so mean a value and I alwayes
who would have imagined that she being so possessed with pride should have had baseness enough too to bestow her affections upon Sohemus She continued after these words some moments without speaking with counterfeit signs of amazement and sorrow then on a suddain beginning again Sir said she you have too much courage to suffer your self to be overcome by affection and if you take counsel of persons who are really faithful to you and allyed to you in blood or by ancient affection you will not suffer this proud and disloyal woman to enjoy the glory of having reduced you to the extremity of grief Displeasures of this nature ought not to overturn your repose with so much violence and the offence you have received in your honour is not so much but you may easily remedy it Strip your self only of this love which creates all the misfortunes of your life and makes you blind to your most powerful interests and darkned the light of your understanding draw out by the means you have to do it the full discovery of the treason they have committed against you punish the culpable which expose you to such bloody displeasures and in fine make her submit to your justice whom you could never make submit to your love I am so resolved upon it said Herod to her that all humane considerations shall not be able to hinder me from it and since Mariamne hath not been affraid to reduce me to the extremity of shame and displeasure I will not be more affraid to make my uttermost resentments appear against her than if she were one of my meanest subjects This is a resolution from which nothing shall be able to move me and you shall see me go about it without farther delay They had likewise other discourse together which was related by persons who were near enough to hear them though the little importance of it hinders me from relating it to you By the counsel of Salome before she went out of the Chamber Herod sent likewise to lay hold on Philon the Queens chief Eunuch and other persons in whom she had expressed to have some confidence all presently became suspected to this cruel man and he disposed himself by the advice of his cruel Sister and Pheroras who came a little after and was received for a third person in his Tragical conversation to extort confessions by torments from those feeble Souls wherein they might find an apparent occasion to destroy his vertuous Princess Ah Monster cryed out Tyridates at this part of Arsanes his discourse Ah Barbarian how unworthy wert thou of that precious gift of Heaven which any but a Tygre like thy self would have had in sacred veneration all his life It must needs be that the indignation of the God which thou servest was absolutely declared against this Royal family from which thou hast usurped the Crown with so much injustice and cruelty and it must needs be that the Divine providence was asleep when it abandoned to thy rage the greatest and the most worthy thing of its protection that ever it sent amongst men Tyridates accompanied these words with sobs which hindered him from speaking more and Arsanes having taken this moment of intermission pursued thus his discourse It will not be easie to express to you how the whole Court of Judea took the disgrace of their fair Queen and what the resentments of the Jewish people were when they saw the last and fairest blood of their lawful Kings ready to be shed by the same cruelty which had been the destruction of all their Princes the chiefest of them murmured highly at it the weaker sort did tacitely deplore the disasters of that Illustrious House and both together sacrificed their tears to persecuted Vertue and Innocence Herod the most politick of men desiring to discover all his actions with a Masque of justice whether it were that he feared Augustus his authority who maugre the amity and protection he had promised him made him tremble every day or that he feared an insurrection of an ill affected people appointed Judges for Mariamne to interrogate her upon such accusations as he should produce against her and to frame her process after the ordinary way The men to whom he gave this commission were in appearance without passion but really corrupted by Salome and obliged to comply with the motions of their Prince by a base and dis-honourable interest They received command to go and examine the Queen in the Prison and when they were ready to go upon the design Herod whether it were that he distrusted them or that he was spurred on by an extraordinary animosity or on the contrary touched with some remains of love which still resisted his resentments would follow them secretly in this action and stand behind a door from whence without being discovered he might hear their examinations and Mariamne's answers This curiosity was inspired into him by Heaven which for the safety of the Queen would serve it self with the love which he really bare her He being absolute in his commands the business was executed according to his will and having thrown an old cloak about him which disguised him in part he went along with the Judges to the prison where the Queen was and stood behind her Chamber door which they left a little open to favour his design Mariamne as it was afterwards reported saw those who were appointed to be her Judges enter her Chamber without shewing any sign of astonishment and was no more moved at their sight than at one of her inferiour servants they rendred her the honour which they believed due to her in this occasion and in fine one of them named Joab speaking for himself and his companions declared to her their commission and humbly beseeched her to be pleased that according to the order he had received of the King for it he might examine her upon some accusations which were made against her The constant Queen patiently hearkned to Joab's discourse and when he had done speaking looking upon him with disdain and a smile which though mingled with a little sharpness shewed the undauntedness and tranquility of her spirit I have not learned said she that Princesses of my birth or rather Queens and lawful Heirs of Judea acknowledged such persons as Joab for their Judges and he which gave you this power hath not received enough himself from Heaven to make my spirit bow to so base a submission I can answer before God for all the actions of my life and by his grace they are innocent enough to be confessed to the whole world but it is to him alone that I ought to render an account and by my birth I have been and still am of such a quality as doth not permit me to look upon as my Judges those which were born subjects to my Ancestors and my self We have rendred replyed the Jew what we owed to your birth and quality as long as it hath pleased the King to permit us and
could meet with no where else Elisa was in a very careless dress part of her hair fell upon her cheeks without art or order her complexion was extraordinary pale and her eyes were dulled with watching and red with their continual exercise of weeping and yet she appeared to the eyes of Candace and Gallus like a dazling Star and made them judge that neither art nor nature could produce any thing more beautiful or more compleat Candace being very much satisfied to find this agreeable diversion from the importunate conversation of Cornelius advanced towards the Princess with open arms and giving her the good morrow with a great many kisses full of tender affection she received the embraces and caresses of the fair Princess which expressed no less affection than her own After they had spent some time in some mutual embracings the fair Queen beginning the discourse I longed said she to know how you had passed this night and I had come to inform my self at your Chamber but that I was afraid to interrupt your sleep Alas replyed the Princess with an action full of tenderness and sweetness how little acquaintance have sleep and I together at this time and how ill an office did your goodness render me in depriving me for a little rests sake which is now stranger to me of a sight wherein I find all the comfort of my life Candace repayed these words with others as full of affection and Cornelius seeing them enter into a discourse which did not permit him to pursue that which he had begun with Candace after he had continued a while longer with them in a conversation full of civility he left them alone to go either to muse upon his passion or to employ himself in such affairs as his charge required After his departure the two Princesses began to entertain each other with more liberty than before and the first discourse being bestowed in the comforting of Elisa and upon the hopes which she might yet conceive of her Artaban's safety though she built but little upon them the Princess though she thought upon nothing else but the sad cause of her grief for all that observed some new pensiveness in Candace's countenance and having asked her the cause of it with a grace which left her no liberty to deny the fair Queen prefacing the confession which she was about to make with a little smile 'T is said she because I am a little more unhappy than you in that you did arrive at Alexandria before me for if Cornelius had seen the Princess Elisa before Candace Candace would not be exposed to that persecution which she hath begun to suffer to day Elisa easily comprehended the Queens discourse and receiving it with a modesty like to her own If it be the love which you have caused in Cornelius said she which creates you a new subject of displeasure I was not capable to guard you from it and what your powers have done in one day mine being far inferior to them could not have done in divers years If we had any other Judges but our selves answered Candace the part which you maintain would be very much weakned but in brief such as I am if his words be true my misfortune hath made Cornelius in love with me and he hath newly made a declaration of it to me which hath almost as much offended me as he obliged me by the assistance which he gave some days ago Upon these words she related to the Princess Cornelius his discourse and not desiring to make a secret either of his adventure or the more particular thoughts of her soul Besides the crosses which I foresee will befal me pursued she in the love of a man to whom I am obliged and into whose power I am fallen I cannot see without a great deal of resentment that he who possesses as the Lieutenant of an adopted Caesar the place which my true Caesar ought to possess as Soveraign raises his thoughts to the same place where he hath planted his and my dear Caesario hath received offences great enough from these cruel Enemies by the loss of his Dominions his Parents and Dignities though through his hard destiny the same enemies did not attach him in his love and in that thing wherein he thought himself secure from their persecutions You have a great deal of reason replyed Elisa but I believe that Caesario is very secure upon that part and that if his Enemies had no greater power in relation to the troubles and dangers to which they exposed him in his tender youth he had not only suffered very little by their persecution but had never seen any of the Dominions of Ethiopia I had rather answered Candace never have seen the light and though the affection I have for Caesario may cost me a great Kingdom that loss will be so far from diminishing the content I have to have seen and loved him that I cannot but take it well and acknowledge my self obliged to Augustus cruelty from which alone I have received my beloved Prince and without which though possibly he might have lived in a more peaceable condition he had not lived for Candace Heaven had ordained him for you added the sad Elisa and the admirable perfections of the fair Queen of Ethiopia could not be well matched but with the rare qualities of Caesar's Son yet I advise you that in preferring inviolably what you owe to him you gently manage Cornelius his spirit and do not put your self in danger by too rough usage of him of making him make use of the power he hath over you I am too sensible of it replyed Candace not to follow your counsel and whatsoever difficulty I have to dissemble my thoughts yet so long as the Man shall keep himself within the bounds of that respect which he hath hitherto observed I shall forbear distasting him as much as is possible but if he never so little transgress I will make him know what I am and I have seen death often enough before my eyes already to make me endure the face of it rather than the least offence against my honour or that which I owe to the love of my dear Caesar The two Princesses entertained one another in this manner and they had a very long discourse together besides in the same place wherein having passed from Candace's affairs to Elisa's that Princess according to the Queens Counsel was resolved to conceal neither her Birth nor her Name from Cornelius supposing upon good grounds that she could not find a better Sanctuary against the cruelty of the King of Parthia than amongst the Romans his Enemies where Tyridates her Uncle had found refuge and whose protection was the most puissant that she could look for in the World Candace believed that then she might without putting Tyridates in danger inform his Niece of the place of his retreat and the obligations she had to him which she did without any further delay and by that discourse she
heard through the branches which composed it the voice of a Person that sung upon the other side it was melodious enough to cause some attention in the hearers and Candace in whom all curiosity was not extinct because her hopes were still alive staying Elisa by the arm prayed her to hearken a few moments to that agreeable found which had so sweetly saluted her ear Elisa who was of a complying humour stayed at Candace's request though her grief left her but little inclination to those things wherein other Persons might find divertisement and the two Princesses hearkned a while with pleasure to a very delicate voice which with a sorrowful tone breathed out amorous resentments It was a Woman that sung but her song was interrupted by another that was near her just when the Princesses began to be moved at it but they were the better pleased because they could hear the discourse of those two persons who believing that they were not over-heard did freely declare their most private thoughts Leave this singing ERicia said she who interrupted her leave this singing which is no fit companion for my sadness wherein I cannot as I have done formerly find either ease or comfort let us seek elsewhere the sweetning of my grief or rather let us seek for Sanctuary in death against the persecutions of my pitiless fortune Let me die let me die Ericia and do not oppose thy self any longer to the last remedy that the Gods leave me seeing by that only I can put an end to those cruel sorrows which my destiny hath prescribed me This Woman had hardly done speaking but Cephisa coming near to Elisa Madam said she I know not whether you have taken notice of this voice but I can assure you that it is the Slave's air whom you have sometimes honoured with your discourse who comforted you so handsomely the other day and whom Madam said she pointing to Candace you desired to see and discourse with 'T is the very same said the Princess who easily discerned her voice And that added Candace creates the greater curiosity in me and will make me hearken with the more attention out of the desire that I have had a long time to be acquainted with her These words were spoken so low that they could not be heard on the other side of the hedge and Candace having laid her finger upon her mouth to enjoyn them to silence she laid her ear nearer to the Hedge to hearken to the conversation of the two Slaves She whose song was interrupted began to resume the discourse and discovering by a sigh what share she had in those misfortunes which she lamented in her Song Alas said she will our miseries never have an end and will Heaven never cease from tormenting persons who have not merited by any crime the evils whereunto they see themselves so long exposed Never possibly was a life so innocent subjected to so many disasters and you have reason to believe that neither by my mournful song nor by all the tears my eyes can shed I am able to accommodate my self to the greatness of our mis-haps I am too blame replyed the fair Slave for letting one word slip in my grief whereby I have possibly failed of that resignation which I would alwayes have to the will of the Gods and it proceeds from an effect of our weakness rather than a deliberate murmur that I have made any accusation against Heaven for the cruel continuance of my misfortunes But 't is certain Ericia that I have need of a perfect constancy to support the burthen of my afflictions without sinking under them and that so weak a spirit as mine might possibly be excused sometimes when it transgresses the strict rules of moderation O Gods continued she lifting up her hands and eyes to Heaven Gods whom I have invoked without murmur in my hardest afflictions behold I absolutely submit to your will and if that which I have hitherto suffered be not capable to appease your wrath and repair the crimes of my relations or mine own faults throw down upon this unfortunate Creature more cruel evils than yet she hath been sensible of and only give her constancy enough to suffer them without offending you there are few displeasures to which this spirit hath not been subject few toils to which this body hath not been exposed and few dangers into which my honour and my life have not been thrown and yet Great Gods I will endure all with patience and will not make the smallest complaint against your Divine Ordinances if you render me that which I lost and if you restore me that which is absolutely lost as it can be for me keeps me in grief in misery and slavery This fair afflicted person without doubt had spoken more if the Princess Elisa in whom the meeting with sorrowful persons like her self wrought a puissant effect feeling her grief revived by the slaves discourse had not broken silence with an exclamation loud enough to be heard at a farther distance than that which separated them O Heaven cryed she O pitiless fortune 't is not upon us alone that you let fall the effects of your choler These words were understood by the fair Slave and by her who was known as well as she by Clity and Cephise to be a companion of her servitude At the first they were troubled when they perceived their discourse was over-heard and they continued a good while without speaking or stirring from the place where they sate in search of some means to repair the fault which they supposed they had committed but they were much more amazed when the fair Queen of Ethiopia who had hearkned to their discourse with much more attention than the Princess of the Parthians having found a passage through the hedge a few spaces off passed to that side where they were and shewed her self to them and presently after came Elisa and their women that attended them After their coming the Slave rose hastily from the place where she sate and casting down her eyes at the arrival of Candace she let them understand that it was not without confusion that she saw her self surprized in a discourse which perhaps might have made too large a discovery Candace desired to recompence her presently and looking upon her with an eye full of sweetness Fair Maid said she be not grieved that we have heard some words from your mouth contrary to your intention they have onely made us know that you are in the rank of unfortunate Persons and the conformity you have with us renders you yet more dear to those persons who bad a very high esteem before of your person as well for that Beauty which your sorrows have not been able to conceal from our knowledge though they have a little altered it as for those marks of vertue courage and discretion that we have observed in you 't is a good while since that these good parts of yours have wrought in the Princess whom
befall my self and Elisa without doubt is able to cause the same disorders in my soul and Fortune that Cleopatra had caused in Coriolanus's I have all the reasons that can be to fear it seeing in the space of one night and a day that imperious beauty hath ruined my repose which to all appearance was so well established and hath made a greater progress in this little time than another could have done in divers years I feel and suffer already all that persons grown old in Love can feel and suffer and if in the very beginning my passion handles me with so much violence what may I expect when its forces are augmented and its powers are absolutely established over this heart which it spares so little already Ah! continued he a little after though I should have all the reason that might be to be afraid of this fatal engagement of my heart yet it is too handsome for me to make any attempt to break it off and that destiny that brings a divine beauty from the farthest parts of Asia and from out the midst of our cruel enemies to work that upon my soul which the Roman beauties could not do binds me up already so powerfully that it hath not left my will so much as one single motion or desire to disengage my self As he uttered these words he laid himself down at the foot of an Oak being resolved to pass away the rest of the night there for it was at that season of the year when they are at the shortest In this place he used some vain endeavours to catch some sleep which fled from him and the Image of Elisa which gained an absolute power over his spirit more and more did not a great while permit him to find any repose in the least conformable to the first violences of his Love What said he with a little motion of choller or resentment have I lost all in so little a time and will sleep approach my eyes no more since the beauties of Elisa have fatally appeared to them Well pursued he let us submit to the force of our destiny and seeing we must watch let us watch with the Stars which bear us company and which can only bear witnesse of our sighs and the words which love draws from our mouth Agrippa spake these words as he thought very loud certainly believing that at such an hour and in that desart place he was not over heard by any body and that he really had only the Stars as witnesses of the effects which his passion might produce but he was deceived and that night being to him a night of adventures 't was the will of Fortune that a few paces from him there lay a man under the trees passing the rest of the night and expecting the approach of day in imployments not much different from his This Man whose soul was much more enflamed with love than Agrippa's was and possibly as much as a soul was capable of no sooner heard the amorous words which Agrippa had uttered but he found some consolation in that rancounter and after two or three impetuous sighs beginning to speak loud enough to be distinctly heard by Agrippa Alas said he is it possible then that I am not the only man whom Love causes to spend the night in this dark and solitary place whilest sleep Exercises its Dominion over the whole Earth Agrippa who expected not that accident was a little surprized at it at first thinking that he had been in a place where he might freely discover his thoughts to the face of Heaven yet being of a Spirit not easily daunted he quickly recomposed himself and finding as well as the unknown some consolation in meeting with an amorous person he thought it not amiss to enter into a discourse with him that might render their solitude the more comfortable and returning an answer to those few words he had spoken without stirring from his place No said he you are not the only man whom Love causes to sigh at these hours in solitude and though fortune hath conducted me hither yet 't is certain that Love only keeps me company and takes up all my thoughts They cannot be more worthily employed replyed the Unknown and even amongst those whom hope hath almost deserted there are some which find all the entertainment of their life only in the thoughts of their Love As for those answered Agrippa whom hope hath abandoned their thoughts cannot but be very full of grief and affliction and hope doth not ordinarily leave us but in such extremities when we hardly can tell what to think upon Yea divers persons believe that after the loss of hope Love cannot be easily preserved and as hope in Love cannot be intirely lost but by the loss of the Object beloved so by the same losse it is probable that Love abandons us together with our hope Alas added the Unknown with a sigh how little experience have you so far as I can judge in the effects of this passion to which neverthelesse it seems You have submitted your Spirit 'T is true answered Agrippa that I have passed a good part of my Life in liberty enough and 't is not long since that my soul hath been made Loves subject by such powers as have disarmed my heart at the first sight and which at the very beginning have already made me feel whatsoever others have felt most violent in whole years I easily believe it replyed the Unknown and I do not doubt but that at the first sight a heart may be disarmed and submit it self to Loves greatest cruelty I have had experience enough of it my self to make me believe it upon anothers account but if Your passion be yet in its infancy upon which all Souls do not equally fix themselves at first or at least if you be not so far ingaged that you have no power left over your Spirit avoid if it be possible for you any farther engagement and stop the course betime of an infinite number of paines and sufferings in comparison of which all others are trivial and by which life is rendred worse than the most painful death O Gods continued be with a new supply of sobs how different would mine have been from this deplorable condition wherein I miserably spend my dayes if I had followed the counsel which I venture to give to others how many evils had I been spared from under which my unfortunate Soul alwayes groaned how many troubles both of body and mind had I avoided under which both have deeply suffered And yet O my adorable there he stopt because he would not name her and yet O dear Mistriss of my heart how sorry should I have been if I had followed these counsels which were profitable indeed as to my repose but contrary to the glory and the satisfactition which I find in passing my dayes for your sake in these miseries which are a thousand times more sweet and more dear to me than all the pleasures
this miserable Princess to the only effect of your indignation which as yet she hath not felt She accompanied these words with divers others to the same sence at the end whereof the two Princesses being tenderly moved used all the arguments their invention could furnish them to comfort her and to banish out of her mind that cruel opinion which put her into so pitiful a condition After they had spent some time with her in this employment they believed she had need of rest and that her passionate expressions in their presence might redouble her feaver This belief obliged them to quit her after they had promised her that they would return within an hour and not leave her till she was better setled in her mind The End of the Third Book HYMEN'S PRAELUDIA OR Love's Master-Piece PART VI. LIB IV. ARGUMENT Philadelph misconstrues Delia 's kindness to her fair Companion His jealousie almost heightned to revenge is dissipated by a discovery that he is not the Lover but the Brother of Delia. Delia discovers her self to be Arsinoe Daughter to Artabasus King of Armenia and relates her story to Philadelph She tells him of her departure from the Cilician Court under the conduct of Antigenes who instead of conveying her into Armenia carries her by force into Ciprus and there having unsuccessfully used all probable means to gain her love he at last resolves to storm her chastity As he is about to act his villany Arsinoe's outcries call in Britomarus accidentally there to her rescue By the death of Antigenes and his companions Britomarus frees the Princess and undertakes to conduct her into Armenia At Sea they are set upon by Pyrates but by the valour of Britomarus and of a gallant Slave in the Pyrates Ship the Pyrates are discomfited Britomarus leaves Arsinoe to the conduct of her Brother and suddenly departs Ariobarzanes upon some important occasions takes Egypt in his way and near to Alexandria they are found in a Wood by Philadelph IN the mean time the charming Delia the fair Unknown and the amorous Philadelph passed the rest of the day in little differing cares and employments in the house where Cornelius had lodged them Philadelph being alone in his Chamber began to study with a profound meditation what judgement he should make of his Fortune and considering the blessing he had received from Heaven that day he was ready to give himself up to transports of joy but he quickly found that moderated by the motions of his jealousie I have found my Delia again said he and after so long a search and an absence so cruel to an amorous spirit as mine is the Gods have looked upon me with pity and have restored to me the only aim and object of my life I will live no longer in that dreadful darkness wherein my soul hath been so long entombed and I shall be permitted to look upon my Delia with the same eyes which have shed so many tears for her since our separation Ah my sorrows Ah my languishings Ah my tedious nights You are all dissipated by this blessed day which Delia hath brought back into my soul and from hence forward the sad remembrance of my cruel sufferings shall work no other effect upon my Spirit than to render the good things I am to taste more sweet more charming and more sensible He paused a while upon this consideration of his good fortune but a little after that passion the enemy of repose which having its original from love alwaies endeavours its ruine that importunate jealousie which corrupts the best thoughts bringing to his remembrance the fair Unknown and the marks of amity and familiarity which he had seen between Delia and him overclowded all his joy and troubled him in such a manner that he was but very imperfectly sensible of any part of it What doth it avail me said he to have found Delia again if I find her unfaithful and what advantageous change have I received in my condition if I see her again whom I loved so dearly only to see her in a Rivals arms She travels up and down the World she lies in Woods in the company of a Man endued with all manner of lovely parts she caresses him and treats him with friendship in my presence and indeed forgets nothing that may occasion a just suspicion Ah! Delia how strange an alteration is this in you and how different is this manner of Life from that severe and scrupulous vertue which caused me so many sufferings in Cilicia But on the other side added he checking himself seeing I have so many testimonies of the vertue the sincerity and the purity of Delia's heart and spirit ought I upon the first conjecture to overthrow an opinion grounded upon so many proofs did I find any change in her countenance or in the entertainment I received from Delia and have not I received from her own mouth more clear and ample assurances of her affection than ever she gave me heretofore did there appear any constraint in her countenance in the performance of that action did she vary in any thing which might make me suspect her inconstancy and do I not owe respect and consideration enough to the knowledge I have of her spirit to give absolute credit to her words All this is very true pursued he but yet who is this fair Unknown what is this man who possessing so many amiable qualities accompanies her almost alone in her Voyages that passes the nights with her in the Woods that armed himself against me with so many testimonies of affection and familiarity from her in my presence what is this Unknown if he be not a Lover if he be not a Man beloved and favoured by Delia Ha! whatsoever he be continued he growing into passion he shall be the object of the most just resentment that ever soul conceived and if it be true that he deprives me of Delia the respect I have for her which tied my hands to day in her presence will not be able to hinder me from killing him in any part of the World where I shall find him or from leaving at the point of his Sword a life which he hath already more cruelly assaulted than he can do by the way of arms He entertained himself tâ—us in his thoughts when he heard a noise at his Chamber door and casting his eyes immediately that way he saw the brave Unknown come in who at that time took up all his thoughts and who was no less the object of his hated and resentment than Delia was of his Love Philadelph who was not prepared for this visit grew pale at the sight of him and by the changes of his countenance made him easily guess at the agitations of his soul and the little inclination he had for so unexpected a sight The fair Unknown was not repulsed by the coldness of his entertainment but accosting him with a countenance wherein if there were not all the marks of joy there were at
interressed presently perceived it and reproached me with it upon the place I took little care to justifie my self before a man to whom I thought my self to owe no Duty and if I did take any 't was more for Ariobarzanes's security than out of any respect to my self When he was gone forth the King constraining me to sit down by his Beds-side set his passion defore my eyes in the most moving rerms that it could furnish him withal and representing to me the pains and the hazards to which he had exposed himself in following me as proofs of affection for which he judged I was very reduceable to him but the more he spake of it the more repugnance I had to hear him and at last my patience being tired I so much encouraged my self that contemning all the power he could have over me and looking upon him with a disdain not conformable to the thoughts we ordinarily have for a Brother and a King Adallas said I to him Do not think thou hast found any favourable change in thy condition by this encounter and think that Olympia is not so fallen into thy hands but that she can get out of them when she pleases the wayes are alwayes open to persons who like her know how to condemn death and thou may'st be well assured that to flie thy Arms she will make no difficulty to cast her self into the embraces of death Do not think therefore to triumph over my former Resolutions by the power which Fortune seems to have given thee over me and believe with an absolute certainty that at that moment when thou shalt go about to abuse it I will either throw my self into the Sea in thy presence or sheath a weapon in my Breast or if these means of avoiding thy Tyranny be taken from me by force I will infallibly obtain that by fasting which may be denied me by any other assistance I spake these words with such a resolute action that Adallas did not doubt but that I had Courage enough to execute what I expressed and having a fresh example of what I had lately done he certainly believed that a person who had braved death with so much assurance and by the memory of the dangers which she had lately escaped was not staggered at all in her designs was capable of undertaking any thing and of throwing her self self into greater extremities than the former when she should see her self constrained to it The reflection he made upon it kept him a long time from speaking lifting every moment his eyes to Heaven and using such gestures as did sufficiently express the trouble and the inquietude of his spirit At last breaking silence and looking upon me with an action full of the marks of his passion Olympia said he to me the gods are my witnesses that if it were in my power to cease from loving you I would cure my self of this passion which is so disagreeable to you for our common repose and that hence forward I have so little hope to conquer your inclinations that I would no longer endeavour to contest with them but seeing that in the violence whereunto my love is arrived this hope is forbidden me I cannot Olympia I cannot promise you that I will cease to love you Neither will I promise you that I will give you no more testimonies of my love by my discourse and actions it will be difficult for me to live near you without making that appear to you which takes up my whole life I will love you to my Grave and to my Grave I will testifie to you that I cannot cease to love but I will promise you and do now promise you before all the gods That I will never employ any thing whil'st I live but love perseverance and all the devoiers of a true lover to perswade you without having recourse to the Authority which my Birth gives me and I was heretofore resolved to make use of Yes Olympia you may be very certain that you shall never be forced to give me those testimonies of your affection which I might desire if you be not induced to do it by my love and services and with the assurance you may return without fear into a Kingdom where you shall reign as in my heart but withall believe assuredly that I will never consent whil'st I breath to anothers happiness but will rather undo all and bury my self in the ruines of our Family than permit that any body else should obtain that of you which you so cruelly deny me In fine Olympia I will never enjoy you by force nor will I ever suffer any other to possess you as long as I shall have any life left to hinder and if it be possible for me I will be the death of all those who shall have the intention to do it These words made me tremble upon Ariobarzanes's Account to whom this menace was particularly addressed but finding some consolation in the promise which Adallas made me never to force me to marry him I thought it best to make use of this good motion in expection that Heaven might send more absolute assistance and that by time and the Accidents which might happen in my life there might arrive a greater change in my Fortune Sir said I to him upon this thought you would undoubtedly obtain a very glorious Victory if you could banish out of your Soul this passion which is so fatal to your repose and so injurious to your Reputation and you secure me but from one half of my pains in reserving to your self the liberty of loving me and of continuing to give me testimonies of that fury which you call love Yet I will endure them more patiently than the violence which I feared at your hands and if you observe the promise you have made me never to use your Authority to constrain me I will be contented to wait till the gods shall change your inclinations without using any extremity against my life The King being well pleased to see me a little recomposed confirmed his promise to me and conceived some small hope that time might work some favourable revolution in my Fortune In the mean time the Chyrurgions prayed the King to give some intermission to this long and vehement Conservation if he would not have his wounds grow worse and 't was with a great deal of constraint that he resolved to keep silence and to let me go from him for some few hours I had the liberty to walk in the Vessel and so had Ariobarzanes too the King having taken no care to retain him any other way knowing very well that he had no means to get out of his power but by throwing himself amongst the waves but though I saw him and had a thousand things to say to him yet I durst not speak to him seeing my self observed by all the Kings Retinue who were as so many Spies and could not have informed him that I entred into a particular Conversation with Ariobarzanes
person We have familiar examples enough thereof in our age and they are great persons such as Antony Cato and Brutus who have sought this last remedy either to avoid shame or to yield to the anger of Heaven and not to the assaults of Fortune fitter for feeble souls and ordinary persons The Examples which you alledge replied Megacles have found but few that have approved them and many that have condemned them and though it be confest that Anthony could no longer live with glory after the loss of the Empire neither Cato nor Brutus after the ruine of their party yet it must be granted that fear of their Enemis and their euil Fortune made them forsake that which they durst no longer defend and run to Death as an evil much less than the terror thereof imprinted into their affrighted spirits wheras had they marched with their heads erected against their destiny and had indured until the end all Fortune or the anger of Heaven had prepared for them they had left a more Noble reputation to posterity and had been taken for constant and undaunted for unalterable in good and evil Fortune Well replied the unknown witth a sigh if it be a weakness to seek Death it must be pardoned to our Nature which hath no more strength than Heaven hath given it for my part I will neither justifie nor condemn them that have preceded me herein it sufficeth to believe that life being to me an unsupportable evil to the indifferent strengths of my spirits I have no more reason to preserve it than a Captive to carry his Chains which he may break Nevertheless replied Megacles in case your Despair proceed not from some loss which the gods themselves cannot repair you ought a little to wait their leisure and there is little reason to believe that the gods do consent to your Death or that they preserve you not to a better Fortune for were it so they would have suffered you to perish in that danger from whence you are miraculously escaped Of so many kinds of death that you might have chosen they would have inspired you with another and rather to any of the Rocks that surround the shore would they have directed you than to this you have chosen because perhaps beneath them you would not have found the succors we have given you This is a visible obstacle that Heaven hath cast in your way testifying that it disapproves it and I certainly believe it intends some change in your Destiny since it hath hindred it I exceedingly desire through the interest I take in your life and my advantagious opinion of you that these considerations may arrest your Despair but if they are uncapable so to do and if you think that the assistance I have given you deserveth any acknowledgment and gives me right to demand any thing I beseech you earnestly to receive our Services and to attempt nothing against your life whil'st you are with us we will in time obtain more if it may be done without importuning you but in the mean time give me your word if you think the Service I have done you merits any satisfaction The unknown remained for some time without reply to the obliging words of Megacles but at length beholding him with an Actions which testified his acknowledgment I should be too ungrateful said he for your good intentions for my safety and the pains you take for a miserable Unknown the Butt of angry Heaven and Fortune if I consider not your desire and intreaties but I could wish you had asked something else in recompence of your goodness rather than the prolongation of this miserable life but since from such an unhappy person as I am you can receive no other mark of acknowledgment nor any thing which it may be would be more hard for me to grant I promise you to enterprize nothing against that life which I owe you so long as I am with you I believe it will not be long but be it so long as it will I will exactly perform my promise After this assurance which much rejoyced Megacles the unknown nothing opposed the care they took of him permitting them to take away his wet garment and put him to Bed that he might receive some refreshment after the great quantity of salt water which he had swallowed down Megacles having ordered things towards the assistance of the unknown went to pass into the Princesses Chamber whom he served with much assiduity and secure caution In the displeasure they received through his means he indeavoured to render himself the least odious he could possibly and he the rather hoped it for that he was not of the Number of those who forced them from the shore the day before for the King his Master knowing his little inclination to violent Actions and that he had ordinarily a contradiction of spirit thereto commanded that he should stay and keep the Vessel which was no less important for his return whilst those that he had appointed for the Rape of Cleopatra prepared themselves to execute his Orders Megacles failed not to let the Princesses understand his justification and Artemisa to whom his quality and manners were known forgat not to give a favourable testimony thereof to Cleopatra believing that in the condition wherein both of them at present were they might need this mens assistance and that they ought not to neglect complying with him Cleopatra who with a grandure of courage elevated above the rest of her Sex had an allay of sweetness gratitude and equity easily discerned that he disobliged her only out of fear and if she did not greatly caress Megacles it was through her Souls total occupation upon its own misfortunes rather than any particular resentment Megacles entred not their Chamber till he heard they were up and that it was necessary to sollicite them to some repast The two Princesses sate upon the Bed where they had passed the Night and Megacles having bid them good morrow with a profound respect addressing himself to Artemisa to whom he had the most access he besought her in the most pressing manner he could possible that she would not destroy her self with hunger whilst she was in his guard but receive the food he offered not as from an Enemy since she knew he never had deserved it and that of all the miseries the King had inflicted on her there was not one proceeding from his Counsel Artemisa who saw the truth of what was said receive him with much Civility and as she interessed her self in Cleopatra's health more than in her own she consented to oblige her thereto So that both rifing from the Bed refreshed themselves with a light repast which done though languishing and sick as they were they entred into some converse with Megacles who was a man of spirit and agreeable converse and knew of much the more though his extraordinary Travels having visited the Courts of many Kings both in Asia and in Europe It was by
and Desolation put on their true shape and if the whole Camp groaning for the losse of so many thousands that had been slain that day for the death of the Prince of Bithinia and the King of the Nomades and for that of a great number of principal Officers who had left their Bodies in the Field as Trophies of Scythian Valor The Queen to the great cause she had to regret this loss joyned the grief she resented at Menalippa's despair She caused her to be carried off the Field to be disarm'd and her wounds drest and though they were but light yet the unconsolable grief of the Princess would have put the least bodily distemper into a capacity of indangering of life In vain had the Queen imbraced her and bedewed her face with tears in vain had she conjured her by the most pressing words affection could put into her mouth to declare the cause of her despair and funest resolution The desperate Princess answered not but by sobbs and tears which flowed incessantly from her fair eys or if the afflicted Mother could sometimes force a few words from her they so savoured of rage and fury that they easily discovered her Soul to be possest with a mortal sadness But though Menalippa could not conceal her grief yet she would her love choosing rather to suffer the perpetual demands of the Queen than confesse she had loved Alcimedon and that it was for him she fought with Alcamenes and was faln into despair Notwithstanding the pre-occupation of her Soul she caused Belisa to order the Body of Alcimedon secretly to be buried which was very easie amongst so many thousands that kept him company and this Maid who with Leander had carried it to the Camp according to her orders would nevertheless divulge nothing of this adventure having not yet received the Princesses commands so she put the Body of Cleomenes in an unfrequented place where it could not be known by reason of the wounds in his face and being stript of Alcimedon's Arms which might have made him observed Menalippa in her design of concealing her love from the world received some satisfaction from this discretion of Belisa charging her to recommend the secret to Leander and all those who knew ought of this adventure The Queen pressed her uncessantly to reveal the truth partly to understand the cause of her despair and also to know how she came by Alcimedon's Armour and what was become of that valiant man and how he permitted her to fight in his place yet he could never draw the least word out of her mouth that might give any satisfaction in what she desired and all that she could obtain was a promise to declare the truth within six days on condition that till then she would give her the liberty of her tears without troubling her for a clearer knowledge The Queen who even adored her and placed in her only all her affections and hopes was constaained to be satisfied with this promise and though she disapproved and condemned the furious resolution and Combate of her Daughter which she could not attribute but to a violent despair yet durst she not blame her for this action as she would doubtless have done had she been in a condition capable of reproof Yet was not Menalippa's heart so replenisht with her own misfortunes but there was room left to resent the Queen's and seeing her drowned in tears at her Pillow Madam said she I render my self unworthy by my folly of that bounty you testifie towards me In the Name of the Gods allay the troubles of your spirit and hope with me from the bounty of Heaven that mine will repose it self when yours becomes more serene Ah Menalippa reply'd the Queen with a sigh You have little reason to imagine my spirit can be at rest whilst yours remains in the condition it now appears and you have little valued my repose when you exposed a Daughter more dear to me than my own life to the conquering Sword of the valiantest man upon Earth I am not reply'd sadly Menalippa the first person of my sex that hath drawn a Sword against men and you your self have inspired me with Warlike inclinations by the education you gave me however this action may partly be excused to you by the hatred which with my milk you have made me suck against the Fâmily of Orontes and which I believed might reasonably transport me to this extremity against the Son of my Fathers Murtherer against a man who robbs us of the hopes of revenge and of the possession of Scythia which the Gods hath promised us and against a man to whom for other reasons also I have an irreconcileable aversion It must be Menalippa reply'd the Queen and shaking her head that these desperate resolutions against Alcamenes have some deeper causes than those that are common to us both and were he not born of your Father's Murtherer he hath done nothing in this War nor in the Combate against you but what might rather cause esteem than aversion Pardon me Madam repli'd Menalippa brisquely in that my resentments are not conformable to yours and if I have not generosity to love enough vertue in mine Enemies Amalthea knew by the manner of pronouncing these words that she could not contradict her without augmenting her affliction and a little after going out of the Chamber she permitted her to passe the night through her instant intreaties without any other company save that of Belisa During the remainder of this night which she gave wholly to sighs and tears for unhappy Alcimedon she made often reflections on the actions and words of Alcamenes in the Combate and observing amongst those cruel ones whereby he owned the death of Alcimedon that he was in love with her and offered himself to her with all the marks of a passionate man she became astonisht at the quick birth of his love and flattered her self possibly notwithstanding her mortal grief with the glory of such a conquest and of the quick and marvellous effects of her beauty After a long revery If it be true said she that Alcamenes loves me I praise the gods for the occasions they have given me of revenging his cruelty by that I will exercise against him and if the Barbarian be so happy to escape the death which I prepare for him I will make him feel from this heart pre-occupied by a passion so just all that a just resentment can inspire me with of most cruel and most conformable to the hatred I bear him In these furious thoughts she passed the night and part of the next day receiving some nourishment and permitting them to dresse her wounds not out of love to life but of design to imploy it wholly in revenging Alcimedon Part of the day was past when they came to advertize the Queen that the Prince of the Tauro-Scythes desired admittance from the King of Scythia What hatred soever she bare his Master yet knew she how to treat Ambassadours