of Democrates When those who came to interrogate him were gone he made reflections upon the Letter they had showed him by which he understood that the Author of the conspiracy was of his acquaintance and one of his friends he run over in his mind all those he knew to see if among his friends there was any he could think capable of this baseness and upon whom he might fasten his suspicions but not having found any he remembred what Sestianes had come and told him some time before he was taken prisoner and immediately suspected part of the truth which greatly troubled him and gave him cruel inquietudes for if on one side he was almost ready to dispair to have any reason to suspect the father of his Mistress of an action so foul and so unworthy a man of Honour on the other side he thought himself obliged to tell all he knew and was perswaded that it was to make himself a criminal and to wound his honour to keep it undiscovered yet after he had consulted with himself what he should do he saw very well that he ought not to accuse a man of the quality of Sestianes without any proofs and upon a simple conjecture and that if the evil treatments he had received from the Prince Theomedes made his Enemies believe it was he who had conspired against him it was a motive strong enough to make his friends believe that he was suspected unjustly and that without knowing the truth would be to draw consequences to his disadvantage absolutely contrary to his glory and injurious to his reputation wherefore after he had well consulted prudence to see what he had best do it gave him only the advice to be silent and not to speak of what it was impossible for him to prove and that which might undoubtedly make him lose the heart of his Mistress yet possibly had he hearkned lesse to the Counsels of prudence and had said all he knew that Sestianes astonished confounded and surprised as ordinarily most criminals are when they see they are discovered would not so well have known how to hide his surprise and trouble and that his countenance would have discovered his crime but as he had no proofs it might be not only to run the hazard of losing the heart of his Mistress but also be in danger to be looked upon as an Impostor for uttering that he could not make out not but that if Democrates had been happy fortune might have made him prosperous in acting after this manner but as he proposed to himself that he would follow prudence in all things and not put any thing to hazard he ought not to undertake that which might be in the least perillous In the mean time whilst that this criminal without a crime or rather this innocent victim of misfortune gave himself up holy to his inquietude and sought out means to get rid of the doubt that was upon his spirit Sestianes on his part was in a fear and trouble very difficult to be exprest Sometimes he thought Democrates knew his crime and that the Love he bore his Daughter kept him from speaking of it sometimes he fancied he knew nothing of it and then again he was perswaded that he could not be very long Master of his secret but would be constrain'd to declare it His mind being tost about with all these different thoughts successively gave up it self to fear grief torment and hope without ever getting it dispossest of those wracking Inquietudes no not in those very moments wherein he flattered himself that Democrates knew not any thing or if he had acquainted him with all his love would have kept him from making any discovery Though Sestianes was still in fear and his disquiets were great and though the troubles and cares of Democrates were much more smart and pungent and his griefs by far more sensible yet all those torments came not near the cruel displeasures that Sestiana resented and as glory was a thousand times more dear to her then her life and love it was only despite that caused all her sighs she was more deeply touched at Democrates's being imprisoned because she had loved him then because she did love him and she had a most unexpressable regret that she had suffered a person to get her esteem and tenderness whom she Judg'd unworthy of it and whom she thought was guilty of the most shamefull and horrid baseness in the world This generous Person did not resemble those who cannot hate the objects they have loved and who cannot see the crimes that Lovers do commit after they have once known how to gain their hearts but with the eyes of their love that is to say only to excuse them she looked not upon the pretended crime of Democrates with any other eyes then those of her choller and only aim'd to be reveng'd both of him and of her self for that he had been able to constrain her Love and to make her declare to him the weakness of her heart in bearing him so ardent an affection wherefore she took up a resolution never to marry him although he should get out of prison and be perfectly restored into the Kings favour unless she should be fully purg'd of that injurious suspition with which his reputation had been sullied Whilst Sestiana gave up her self wholly to her despite Democrates was several times interrogated but he still shew'd an equal assurance and resolution and the Prince Theomedes not doubting but that he had some secret Enemies took so great a care over himself that those who had a design to take away his life could not finde any favourable opportunity to put their purpose in execution The Imprisonment of Democrates who could not be thought guilty of a crime so unworthy of him and so contrary to the great reputation he had acquired extreamly troubled several of his friends and above them all Anaxander who was a stranger of an Illustrious Family and whose Name is known throughout a good part of Europe They had made some Voyages together and had contracted so great a friendship that I know not how to express it but in saying that all the Histories have said of the most strongest friendships in the world cannot equal that which was between them It had been already a good while that this stranger had designed to go back into his own Country and his departure had not been retarded but through the great affection he bore to Democrates whom he could not then tell how to leave But yet now he did resolve to go seeing his friend in prison but it was only for his service as you will finde in the sequel This generous and faithfull friend made his departure with all the precipitation he could and went out of the Kingdome without taking his leave of any person and even without saluting the King to whom he was very well known because all these things he thought might be advantagious to him in the designe he had to
languishing voice and an air the most passionate in the world if there be nothing but my hatred that can draw upon me yours I am sure you will never hate me as long as you live you demand that of me which is not in my power for love and hatred are not voluntary things and if when one has once began either to love or hate it is impossible any longer to be Master of those two great and violent passions it is very difficult to kindle them when one has not as yet began to resent them But yet I will avow to you if that can bring you any satisfaction that my desires were agreable to yours that I have done whatever I could to hate you and that it has not been possible for me to effect it any more then it has been for you which clearly shows that our hearts do not agree with our desires that they have given themselves up absolutely to love and that they have not any place in them to receive hatred Since you will not hate me replied Sestiana to him I will be more generous then you I will begin first to do my duty and by my example inspire into you those sentiments you ought to have What Madam answered Democrates can you then resolve to hate me when you ought to give me the most signal marks of your love Ah! let me beseech you think of the violence I do to my self for your sake and remember that the ardent affection I conserve for you after those treatments I have received from your father ought to make you have in my favour more pleasant and obliging sentiments That ardent affection which you conserve for me after an affront which ought to be so sensible to you replied she to him produces more effects then you imagine for if it makes me to know the greatness and excess of your love it at the same time makes me to understand your baseness and if according to the rule which is that one should return love for love it obliges me to have a kindness for you according then to that other which is that one should look upon the base with contempt it obliges me to hate you Do whatsoever you please replyed this unfortunate Lover to her I will bear all from you without murmuring I will respect your choller I will respect your hatred and in spight of all your contempts I will conserve for you a love so firm and constant that there shall be nothing in the world capable to shake it Well then answered this Generous Heroin Lover since you force me to acknowledg a weakness which shall never be of advantage to you I do love you I own it and though I would yet I cannot oblige my heart to hate you but in spight of all that love that this perfidious heart will conserve I am going to marry Arcas to make you know that Ah! Madam interrupted the miserable Domocrates whom those words had almost rendered immoveable what crime have committed that can oblige you to punish me with so much rigour hate me rather for heav'ns sake then love me in this manner So long as you shall hate me I shall hope always that my love and my respects may be able one day to o'recome your hatred and render me possessor of one of the fairest persons in the world but when I shall see you in the arms of Arcas I shall only hope from death to derive the end of all my pains and sufferings Yet if you knew pursued he fetching a deep sigh what I do for your repose and if you knew the tears and the cruel afflictions I keep from you I am sure you would treat me with less rigour but whatsoever the evils that my silence causes me your repose is too dear to me not to preferr it to mine I should be afraid I might see you die with regret and grief and that fear forces me to conceal from you a secret which would cost you too dear All that I demand of you continued he for the reward of a service which possibly you will never know the greatness of and which proceeds only from an excess of love and generosity is that you would not marry Arcas You would then interrupted Sestiana oblige me to pay a service without knowing it and even without knowing whether it be true that you have rendered me any or no. Ah! Madam cryed Democrates interrupting he rin his turn this service has somewhat so particuler in it that I cannot render it to you and discover it to you both together the one is incompatible with the other and if I told it you I should not then render it to you Since that this secret is of so great importance replied this charming person to him I will not oblige you to reveal it and show my self curious as the generality of my sex do for fear my curiosity should be punished and I should repent my earnestness in pressing you to discover it This discourse replied Democrates to to her does not surprise me I knew long since how much above other women you were and that you do nothing wherein there is not an extraordinary height of prudence to be observed but in short Madam as this vertue is not repugnant to that which I demand of you and and that it does not oblige you to betray me let me beseech you to tell me what it is you would have me to hope for and if you are resolved to marry Ah! let us not discourse any longer said the fair Lady interrupting him either of love or of marriage do not force me if you love me to discover my weakness to you and do not constrain me to betray my virtue When you were without a Rival I did not finde it so difficult to testify my choller to you but now I must complain of you in spite of all my resistance my heart will not let me resolve to hate you but speaks to me in your favour and tells me you will cost me not a few tears I do not know whence this melancholy foreknowledge proceeds but I perceive very well that pity does interess it self as much for you as Love and indeavours to stifle all those sentiments I ought to have to your disadvantage Do not enquire any further answered-our Heroe from whence those sentiments of love and pity proceed that speak to you so much in my favour my Love and my innocence without doubt are the cause of them and thereby do advertise you not to betray in marrying Arcas the most faithfull and most passionate of all Lovers because that when you come to be convinced of his innocence the death you will have brought upon him by your cruel carriage will oblige you to bestow upon him some tears The Lady staid till then without pouring out any but at those very words she could not forbear shedding a few which she mingled with those sighs that at the same time broke from her and immediately took her
that otherwise Anaxander could not acquire the glory he aims at from so generous an action and that it would be said he is of intelligence with you and that you are resolved to render that to him which he lends you in the same time he gives it to you Democrates answered Sestianes that all those reasons could not satisfie the scruple he had in him that posterity did not always do justice and that very often it was misinform'd of the truth that it made him almost despair to see the glory of his friend hazarded for ever whilst that the truly guilty liv'd in safety he brought out those words with an air that made Sestianes believe he intended them to be spoke to him which was the cause that he did what we shall tell you in the succession of this History As soon as Sestianes was departed Democrates went to see his Mistresse whom he found all alone he went to cast himself down at her feet but Sestiana prevented his doing it and told him with a great deal of fiercenesse and scorn that after what had befell him she could no longer hearken to his sighs without wounding her glory nor suffer a criminal to entertain her with his passion Ah! Madam replied Democrates to her with an air extream full of respect and as sorrowful as passionate if all the wretched are Criminals I avow to you I am the most guilty of all men since I am the most unfortunate but yet not so much for having been unjustly suspected of the most shameful basenesse imaginable but because I have no longer the glorious advantage of being beloved by the most beautiful and most equitable person in the earth Since you believe me equitable answered Sestiana to him you ought not to complain of me I see plainly reply'd that unfortunate Lover to her that though to this present I always thought my self to be innocent that I had never brought any reproach to my glory and that also now I do not know my crime yet I must needs be a grand Criminal since you doubt of my Innocence I doubt it with Justice reported to him the provoked fair one and if what Anaxander has written in your favour was sufficient to get you out of prison and to restore you your life it is not sufficient to render you your honour nor is it enough to make me believe that I should not love in you a man blasted with a most hatefull crime it is not enough to hinder me from doubting your innocence and it is not enough for my satisfaction for my repose and for my glory Ah! wherefore have I ever seen you wherefore have you discovered your flames to me wherefore have I loved you wherefore have you been able to constrain me in spight of my self to show you my tenderest affections wherefore have you put me in a capacity of regretting all my life the love I have born you and wherefore shall I speak it yes to punish you for your crime to punish you for having known how to constrain me to confess my Love to you and to make you suffer if you still love me wherefore but whence is it that my heart cannot speak it without sighing wherefore base man wherefore notwithstanding all my despite have I still more love for you then I ought to have Though I read in your countenance that this discourse is not displeasing to you pursued she with eyes inflamed with dispite with love and rage and that you meet with nothing in it to punish you yet know that this new confession of my flame ought to make you suffer more then you imagine if you loved me truly since there is nothing in the world can oblige me to give you my hand before your innocence be so fully justifyed that I shall have no further room to doubt of it for in a word continued she though you be pardoned yet you are not sufficiently justifyed When one has once lost one 's honour it is not so easily recovered and there is need of more convincing proofs then what a friend writes who would gladly sacrifice his glory to the friendship he has for you and who possibly would speak otherwise if he once saw himself charged with fetters This discourse gave Democrates both a sensible affliction and as sensible a joy for if on the one side he was even ravished to learn that Sestiana had loved him always and to see that notwithstanding all her despite she had not the power to conceal her love from him on the other side he resented a most incredible grief to see himself not in a condition to possesse her nor that he knew any ways in the world how to justine his innocence so fully that it might be impossible for his fair and beautiful Mistress to be able to doubt of it These thoughts for some time took up his minde and occasioned him for some moments not to answer her but at last he broke off his silence and said to her I do not know any thing Madam that can better prove my innocence to you and that can better make it known to all the world then the passion I have for you and which I have been so hardy as to declare to you A heart that had found it self culpable would not have had a sufficient assurance to give you the marks of his flame and to demand of you the permission and honour to sigh for you it would not have dared to adde this crime to that which it would have been sullied with and it would have apprehended that your wit and your eyes which penetrate all things and which have a particular power of discerning would quickly have found out both its crime and its most secret sentiments Do not endeavour interrupted Sestiana to seduce my â—â—â—pite by this flattering discourse and if you will oblige me let me alone to enjoy it till such time that I shall be no longer able to doubt of your innocence I must then replied Democrates to her wait if so be I can do it without expiring till fortune which has rendered me guilty makes a discovery of my innocence possibly it will labour my justification when I shall least think of it in the same manner as it has laboured to eclipse my glory when I as little suspected it As this inconstant Deity often makes persons guilty that so she may divert her self with the trouble and confusion into which she casts them she is also pleased to restore them their innocence when they believe their virtue shall never be known and when they dispair to see themselves again in the same degree of honour as they were before they had the unhappiness to be attacked by that flitting goodness This time will come Madam and you will know then that I am not altogether unworthy of the Love you bear me Ah! why is not this time come already cried Sestiana to her self do not you imagine replied she immediately that Love makes me speak in
to you and if you think I treat you too severely impute it only to your crime or if you are innocent impute it then to your misfortune Saying these last words he left Democrates but in such a condition that was enough to make the most hardy to fear and to stir up pity in those that are least sensible He had a good minde to break out into the violence of his rage and follow Sestianes to make him repent of his so insolent discourse but the excess of that sadness and grief into which those injurious words had put him rendered him powerless and were the cause that the fire and rage that was visible in his eyes was not able to appear in his actions Then did he solemnly swear that he would never any longer think of Sestiana's charms and the hatred he had conceived against the Father and which had an accession by his discourse made him in appearance stifle all the love he had for the daughter Five or six days past in which Democrates did all he could to drive Sestiana out of his thoughts and that fair one all that she could possibly think of to forget Democrates In the mean time Sestianes who feared nothing from our Heroe frequently saw those that were of the conspiracy with him and discovered to them that the alarm which had been given the Prince Theomedes was the cause that he always went well guarded and that they must wait and take up other measures then those they had resolved on He flattered them with the hopes of a happy success and made them foresee that if any of them had the confidence to accuse him he could order 〈◊〉 so that the crime should revert upon him for he would say that he was bribed by Democrates who according to all appearances studied to revenge himself of the sensible affront he had given to his honour in presenting the King with the letter he wrote to Anaxander which had been easie for him because none of them could give in proofs of his conspiracy being all ingaged only by word But though Sestianes feared nothing from Democrates yet he resolved not to let a person live who he knew very well would be his mortalenemy after he had offended him in two such ticklelish points as are honour and love but as nothing did engage him to precipitate his ruin he waited till time furnish'd him with a favourable opportunity to set about it with safety and without fear of being ever discovered and being as expert in his politicks as he was treacherous and wicked he stired up Arcas in covert words to kill Democrates telling him that as long as he lived it was impossible for him to root him out of the heart of his Daughter and that he would have the dissatisfaction of knowing that she loved another besides himself which so awakend the Jealousie of this new Gallant that he narrowly watched the actions of Sestiana to see if after the prohibitions of her Father to love his Rival and evermore to speak to him her love would make her finde out any way to come to discourse with him Whilst these things were happening Democrates was the most perplexed man in the world The love that he thought he had for ever driven out of his breast had by degrees got in again and ruled there with so much violence that he could not finde out any ways to get the mastery of it which obliged him by all means imaginable to try if he could not possibly speak with Sestiana privately to learn if he was still beloved by her and to resolve according as she treated him whether he should persevere in his Love or continue the efforts he made to stifle a flame which tyrannised in his breast with so absolute an Empire and which he had several times unprofitably attempted to remove from it After he had a good while been contriving how to come to the end of this design and to entertain the object of his vows with that freedom he desired he thought it was his best way to intreat the service of one of Sestiana's relations who had always testified to him a very great esteem and also as great a friendship and to begg of her to order it so that this fair one might be one day at her house that so he might have the happiness of discoursing with her there Sestiana who had an absolute confidence in this person and who did as earnestly desire to speak with Democrates as Democrates did to speak with her made her the same request so that this Lady found it no hard matter to give them both a satisfaction The day that these two Lovers were to see one another being come they each of them resolved on their parts to resist with all the power they could the tender sentiments that Love inspired into them and to that end both of them left their lodgings in this resolution but when they were got together a very small matter would have made them forgot what they had resolved upon and have set them upon new protestations of Love for though their design was fully to hate one another and to make their hatred visible by the reciprocal testimonies of it yet they were never in a less disposition to do it But however Sestiana who had a very great ascendent over her self and who was resolved to be as good as her intentions spoke first and said to Democrates I would willingly demand a favour of you which I desire you would grant me in the name of that Love which has reciprocally reigned in both our hearts if you still love me and if you have any kindness for your self you ought not to deny it me it being a thing that will re-establish our repose and keep us from doing that which may be shamefull to us it is a thing that will be profitable to us both and which will spare us a great many sighs in a word it is your hatred I do whatsoever I can to give you mine but I know very well that without the help of yours all my efforts will signify little This request added she looking stedfastly upon him ought not to give you so great a surprise as I see plainly by your countenance it does for I demand nothing of you but what is just you owe me your hatred and I likewise owe you mine you owe me yours after what my Father has done against you and I owe you mine because you have had the confidence to demand of me my heart and even to seduce it yours being stained with a crime which as yet you have not been able to purge your self of but through the bounties of the King and the favours of Prince Theomedes You see by that continued she that we cannot love one another without betraying our glory and not to have a hatred for each other is to wound it and therefore you ought to grant me yours for the price of mine Ah! Madam replied Democrates to her with a
stifle or at least to conceal the hatred he thought he had for Fulciana but he was extraordinarily surprized to learn from his mouth that he found himself more disposed to Love then hatred and that he begged of him not to demand the cause of that coldness and indifference he had shown the first time he had spoken to him of that marriage That Discourse made the King suspect some part of the truth and he obliged Democrates to tell him the rest which he thought he might do without any imprudence and without loosing the respect he owed to the Duke Nicanor after what he had done for him the King having learnt all confessed he had acted prudently and not being any longer able to doubt of the Love which his Brother had for Fulciana and fearing that that fair one would suffer her self to be vanquished by the charms of ambition again told Democrates that he would have him marry her and that he would protect him from the fury of his Brother which he promised not knowing any means how to turn it off The Duke Nicanor having learnt this news sought every where for Democrates to immolate him to his Love and to his choler but not having found him he resolved to marry Fulciana privately and afterwards to declare his marriage to the King He communicated that design to Fulcian who seeing by that his Ambition satisfyed told him he might be married without fearing any thing and if the King resolv'd to make his marriage void he would then discover to him that he could not bring any into his family who might procure him more considerable advantages then his daughter and that he had still need of Fulcian and his friends There wanted no more to oblige the the Duke of Nicanor to marry the adorable Fulciana which he did in the presence of several considerable witnesses In the mean time news was brought to the King of it who notwithstanding caused her to be sought for to make her marry Democrates in his presence whom she was already married to For indeed he could not give any belief to the certainty of it untill it was confirmed to him by the Duke his Brother who presently came to throw himself at his knees and to intreat him to consent to his marriage He told him he knew very well he was much to blame in that he had done it without his knowledge but he had not the power to be Master of his passion which he had a long time contended with and that it was impossible for him to resist the violence of his Love and to deny his hand where he had sacrific'd his heart to the most beautiful person in the world the King repli'd to him that for a Mistress he could not make choice of one who might be more advantagious to him and he doubted not but Fulciana had that honour but that he did not believe she was his wife and he knew very well that he was too prudent and had too much Spirit to do so great an injury to his Quality and Eminence He replied to him that what he told him was true and named him all those persons who had seen him married The King stood immovable at this discourse with despite and choler in his eyes and especially in his Countenance but yet he durst not let them break out but lightly nor go to break off so unequal a marriage because he saw very well that Fulcian having had that temerity to permit it he had likewise more friends and greater power then he imagined and that he could not oppose him without raising up against him a party of the most considerable Grandees in the Realm which was the cause that he pardoned his Brother and that he agreed to his marriage rather through policy then out of any satisfaction he received by it The choler and despite of the King being thus forcibly stifled in him as that he durst not let it break forth either against the Duke his Brother or against Fulcina fell upon Democrates he was greatly inraged against him and blamed his prudence which he but a little before did so highly value He told him that he was the cause of the injury his Brother had done to his blood and so deprived him of his favour but yet without banishing him the Court where he afterwards lookt upon him for sometime but 〈◊〉 with a great deal of indifference Democrates perceiving that he was deprived of the good graces of his Prince and that he had no favourable place in the minde of the Duke Nicanor because when he had justifyed himself of what that Duke had said to the King he had consented to the marriage of Fulciana knew at his own expence that when misfortune is obstinately resolved to pursue a person prudence signifies very little and how profitable soever it is at other times one consults it then but in vain Is there any one says he in bewailing himself with his friends at the disgrace that had hapned to him to whom prudence can be favourable when he is forced to do evil whatever it is possible for him to do and when he runs the same danger in not pursuing its direction Those whose lives fate has determined shall be miserable and yet who have the Election given them of two or three punishments have enough to consult of prudence to know what they shall do and notwithstanding at last they are necessitated to choose one punishment Fortune has now almost put me into this condition I could not consent to what the King-commanded me without provoking the Duke Nicanor nor consent to what Duke Nicanor would have me without incensing the King and my unhappinesse was such that I did draw upon my self his anger in doing nothing Five or six moneths were spent before Democrates was restored to the good graces of his Prince but at last the King considering that the Marriage of his brother had been more profitable to him then he had imagined and that Fulcian had hindred a great many discontented persons from breaking out into any violences had brought them to their duty and submission looked upon this prudent unfortunate man with as good an eye as ever he had done before his disgrace but he did not restore him to his confidence he loved him without making him his favourite that place cannot be easily rendred to those who have once lost it through the good order that those observe who by their wit and happy addresse have known how to make themselves Masters of it Our Heroe who was not wholly satisfied with the reparation that Fortune then did make him perceiving himself much less employed then when he had been his Princes favourite and was intrusted with all his secrets was resolved to try whether the persecutions of Love were any thing pleasanter then those his evil fortune caused him and gave up himself to be charm'd with the beauties of Sestiana the Daughter of Count Sestianes who was not altogether so happy
person that Anaxander could not make himself guilty but out of generosity and to save his friend and he also did much doubt of the reasons which had induc'd him to give that advice that he had put at the end of his Letter to the Prince Theomedes The King who as I have already told you began to retrive his esteem for our Heroe and who was of opinion that Anaxanders Letter might be relied upon after he had made Theomedes to consent to it who was the most interessed in this affair declared that Democrates was innocent and gave order he should be let out of prison This generous unfortunate person was no sooner set at liberty but he went to throw himself at the King's feet I know Seignior said he to him how dear the liberty which I now receive has cost the glory of the most perfect friend that ever was that too obliging Anaxander has not made himself guilty but to make me innocent all his crime is my unhappiness he has thought he ought to give me at the expence of his reputation those illustrious almost incredible marks of his frendship but too disadvantagious for himself since they make him lose the esteem he had acquired among men I will resume my setters to render him back his glory and his innocence mine will be powerfull enough to free me from 'em or if in spight of all its power I am constrain'd to perish I shall not have the sensible and cruell displeasure of living and of knowing my self the cause of a crime which will be unjustly imputed to the most virtuous of all men You deserve replied the King to him amaz'd at this discourse to have chains put on you far more heavy then those you now have quitted not so much for the crime of which you are possibly too justly suspected as for the trouble and confusion you endeavour to throw into the breast of a King who does all he can to defend you from those perils you are threatned with I cannot secure you from them with justice but in finding another guilty who justifies you and yet when I have found him you implore your Rhetorick to perswade me that he is innocent and do all you can to destroy what I have been hitherto doing for you Cease ungrateful your opposition to my bounties and if you will not do it because I desire it do it then either out of pity to your self or from the obedience you owe me and do not give me the regret of making him perish who has been heretofore honoured with my Confidence Though you should believe Anaxander is innocent yet receive the testimonies of that friendship he gives you and do not publish that he is not guilty but leave it to time to justifie him it renders justice to all the world it does not suffer it self to be corrupted but oftentimes brings to light the innocence of those who have been thought culpable and the crimes of those who pass not only for innocent but likewise for most virtuous Think upon what I say and take you heed of pulling down my anger upon you which should be so much the more violent as you shall have forc'd it to break out The King said no more to him but left Democrates in an inquietude and perplexity from which he found it very painful to relieve himself He was hardly got to his own house but he complain'd of fortune which had too dearly sold him the liberty he had then so lately received insomuch that he did as earnestly desire as ever he had done to be sent back into the prison from which he was but newly delivered and also complain'd of the Kings favours to him which he then found too cruel What said he to himself in reflecting upon what that Prince had told him ought I to suffer so faithful a friend as Anaxaender who gives me such powerfull and generous marks of his friendship to lose for my sake the reputation he has gotten in the world ought I to suffer his name to be dishonoured and posterity to doubt of his Innocence but on the other side ought I to oppose the commands of my Prince ought I to deny him that which he requires of me ought I to despise his bounties and cause a moment of inquietude to a King who hath so much loved me and from whom I have received so many signal benefits no no I owe too much to that Royal Benefactor I cannot without a crime resist his commands but though he should have never bestowed any favour on me he is my Prince and I am his subject and in that quality I owe him all Love and friendship ought to give place to duty Subjects owe all to their Prince and we owe him obedience preferably to those who brought us into the world Democrates thus entertain'd his thoughts when Sestianes came to visit him to congratulate him for the good fortune of being set at liberty After he had payd his compliments Democrates told him what had taken up his imagination before his arrival and the scruple he had to suffer it to be thought that so perfect a friend as Anaxander was should be capable of the most base and infamous of all crimes and the most unworthy the title of a gallant or generous man Sestianes who fearing lest he should be discovered had wished with all his soul they had never spoke of this conspiracy and that Anaxander who was absent had still been thought culpable answered him that if that friend was criminal he ought not to have that scruple and that he was extreamly too blame to conserve it if he was not The generous added he always receive a great deal of renown from their famous actions Anaxander in doing what he has done for you hath labour'd more for his own glory then for yours that interessed generous person in saving your life and in restoring the honour of it to you puts you but in the condition you were before suspected but what does he not do for himself since by it he obtains the immortal glorious happiness of passing in the ages to come for a grand example of friendship since he will have the glory of having been the most generous man in the world and of having done the most remarkable action that ever was and which will make his memory live and posterity speak of him with admiration and Elogies do not you put so many obstacles pursued he to so ma-many glorious advantages that he would presently purchase at the expence of a little honour which he will only lose for a time and which will be restored to him with much more lustre then it will be lost with ignominy this is the fruit he expects from the service that he shall have rendred you and this is that which he will gain in serving of you if you do not oppose it Do not speak any more of crime or guilty and let the remembrance thereof for a time lie dead since
cruel imprisonment should abate my constancy so as it would do my countenance and make those who should be spectatours at my Death to think that I was afraid of punishments and that Death was terrible to me I know very well continued he that I cannot hope for pardon and as I would not desire to live after I had acknowledged my self a Criminal I confess all my crimes and even those whereof I was not accused that so the horrour you ought to have to suffer so great a Criminal to live should oblige you to give a sudden determination of my death and as short a day for it Though Sestianes was long before suspected and even before his confession they ceased any longer to doubt of his crime yet his discourse was very surprizing to those Judges as well as it acquainted them with the Authour of our Heroe's Death They caused him to be lockt up again and went to inform the King and Prince Theomedes of all had passed and what Sestianes had told them Their astonishment could not keep them from bestowing some sighs upon the Death of Democrates whose innocence thereby was fully known to them and reflecting upon the generosity of Anaxander whom the trouble and confusion in which they were had till then kept them from esteeming as they ought to have done Prince Theomedes cryed out that he had never seen a person so generous nor so faithfull a friend and that he had reason to boast of his crime in the first Letter he had sent them the misterious fence of which he so perfectly knew and which he had reason to say that as bad a Criminal as he declared himself to be he hoped that posterity should not be able to reproach his honour since that his crime was so glorious and generous that posterity ought to conserve the remembrance of it to cause it to be admired by all those that should hear it The King having understood by the relation that was given him what Sestianes had said and heard of all the crimes he had charged himself with and that Arcas had caused Democrates to be murthered immediately ordered him to be arrested but as he was of too illustrious a birth and likewise had several Relations and Friends that held a very considerable rank at Court he presently learnt all that had past there and by a hasty flight had escaped the prison they had prepared for him and some time after they heard that he was got into France As for Sestianes he had what he desired and was a little while after condemned to lose his head Prince Theomedes would neverthelesse have used his utmost interest to prevent that sentence against his life if he had been only guilty against him but there was so much perfidiousness in his crime which came from a breast so black and wicked that he was judged utterly unworthy to obtain any favour and that such a perfidious and dangerous man ought not to be permitted to live who knew how to dissemble with so much art and who was capable of accomplishing whatsoever he undertook which could be no other then such things as must needs have most cruel and pernicious consequences This crafty and undaunted Criminal satisfied at the expence of his life the sentence that had been given against him and died as almost all of that Country are wont to do that is to say with a constancy worthy to be admired and so it was by a great number of people who spoke very advantagiously of his Criminal and ingenious carriage and said that he had a wit capable of the most difficult and hazardous enterprises That which was the more remarkable in this History was that Democrates without thinking in the least of it had himself laboured to revenge his death before he died and that Heaven had suffered Cleobis to be among the five hundred prisoners whom that generous Heroe had helped to take in the service of his King without knowing that among them there was a person who could remove the doubt they had of his Innocence and discover the real guilty person and who in re-establishing his glory could hinder posterity from making his memory odious and in a word who could revenge his death by the blood of the most perfidious man in the world I think it is not necessary to relate what Sestiana said and did between the condemnation of her Father and his death nor at that time that she heard of his death for it is very well known than the power of grief makes one at first not to resent it that the surprise it causes keeps one silent and that the extream weakness it easts one into takes away the sence The violence of Sestiana's grief produced all these effects and she could not resent and know all the calamities that were befallen her altogether untill the trouble and seizure were a little over which gave her such fatall and sensible intelligences But when she was a little come to her self and in a condition of resenting the cruel assaults of her grief O heavens said she to her self is it possible you should have resolved that I shold indure so many miseries is it possible that you should permit it and can it be believed that a poor harmless maid should be destined to bear all the rage of the most barbarous and pittiless fate Ah! how did Democrates say to me when I spoke to him of the crime which he was unjustly accused of that the guilty person would cost me many tears Both the guilty and the innocent do cost me so at once I knew not the crime of one untill it was impossible for me to prevent his destruction and I did not learn the innocence of the other untill after his Death I did not demand so much nor would I have known of my Fathers crime only have heard of the innocence of Democrates but I would have known it that so I might have recompenced it and not have been obliged only to pour out tears Ah! too sensible loss of a dear and faithfull Lover into what a sad condition do you reduce me Ah! Democrates how will thy Death cost me tears ah too blind Father what have you done ah but what pursued she am I sensible of what I do I more bewail a Lover then a Father yes it is true I do bewail him and that without shocking either reason or duty or virtue and though I ought to bewail them both yet fate will have it that he who should be the dearest to me should be the least bewailed Ah! wherefore too scrupulous Lover did you not discover your secret to me I should have known your innocence and would have marryed you before my Father had forbid it but you imagined that I would not have believed your discourses and you would not put any thing to the hazard You resolved to be prudent but your prudence which was almost fatal to you has not in this occasion been more favourable then formerly It is true it has spared me many displeasures which possibly would not have been so cruel to me and which perhaps I might have now forgot and I acknowledge this service after thy death But replied she immediately ought I to count that a Service which makes me now to weep and which has caused thy death and likewise that of my Fathers yes continued she it was one but time has made it fatal our common unhappiness has poisoned it and prudence which promises and which affords others so much good fortune will give us only causes of afflicting our selves and after it did make thee lose the favour of thy Prince kept thee from making any further declaration of thy flame to me when thou mightest have married me to have made me doubt your Innocence to have betrayed you in all things and to have rendered all your actions fatal to you and at last to have cost you your life that if it had not hindered you from being the death of Arcas that inhuman Rival had not made you be assassinated It is impossible for life to be any longer pleasing to me after the loss of so faithful a Lover and it cannot but be hateful to me after the death of a Father who has lost his head upon a Scaffold wherefore in honour and Love I ought to be so much the more desirous to die since it is only that which can put an end to all my cruel torments with which my Soul will be overwhelmed as long as I have a day to live The sorrow of this fair and generous afflicted Lady could not possibly meet with any diminution time which for the most part wears out other griefs how cruel so ever could doe nothing upon hers till at last she met with what she so much desired which was so violent a Feavour that in a few days it put an end to all her troubles as it did to her life Five or six months after all these bloody and Tragical adventures they were informed that Anaxander had revenged the death of his friend for having met Arcas in France he obliged him to draw in which duell he only received a slight wound from him but came off a conqueror by laying his Enemy dead at his feet FINIS Novels Printed for R. Bentley and M. Magaes Zelinda a Romance 12d Happy Slave in 3. parts compleat 2s 6d Heroine Musquiteer in 4. parts compleat 3s Cheating Gallant 12d Disorders of Love 12d Triumphs of Love over fortune 12d Almanzor and Almanzaid 12d Double Cuckold 12d Obliging Mistriss 12d Colona's Memoirs 1s 6d Fatal Prudence 1s 6d In the Press The Princess of Cleves The Theatre of the World Some French Books